Legacy of Hope

By: Chibi-chan

Chapter 5: “Lost Souls”

*

“Well, that certainly sucked,” Ron grumbled after sitting up. Dan Dairam had teleported them in the sky above one of the rare forests found on Filgaia and the group landed thanks to gravity shortly thereafter. “Strange how soft the landing was… What’d I fall on anyway?”

“Me…” the pained voice of Bernard said weakly. “Please get off of me; I think one of your ARMs is digging into my spleen…”

Ron looked down and saw that she had indeed landed on the bard. “… oh. All right then, Illych.” She then obliged and got to her feet. She held a hand out to him then and said, “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Bernard accepted the hand and with a little help soon was on his feet as well. “’Tis no matter, my lady…” Something odd about what the gunner had said then struck him. “Wait, ‘Illych’? Not that other ‘nickname’?”

“You broke my fall. Insulting you right now would just be rude,” Ron said.

Even if the bard wanted to make a “And it wasn’t rude before?” comment (he didn’t; it would only make her start calling him “the other nickname” again), a high-pitched wail of distress was heard coming from a nearby tree. “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Ronnie! Bernie! Help meeeeeeeeeee!”

“Montoya? Where…?” Ron started before the idea of looking up came to her. Looking up at the nearest tree revealed that Mira and her backpack were caught on a branch. “Oh, for the love of Solus Emsu… Hold on, Montoya, I’m on my way!”

*

Cecilia, finding herself just outside Adlehyde, made her way back to the castle, where she discovered Jack was missing. “He wouldn’t have gone that far, not with the children still here and me away…” she mused. “But where would he go?”

*

After Mira was safely out of the tree, the inevitable question of “Where are we?” was raised. “Well, I, er, ‘borrowed’ a Magic Map from the abbey; it’ll indicate where we are now,” the researcher said, rummaging through her backpack.

“Stealing from nuns, Montoya? Do you go straight to hell for that, or do you get a layover in purgatory first?” Ron asked.

“I think that depends on how good you are aside from that,” Bernard answered.

Mira ignored the both of them. She finally found the map, pulled it out and raised it triumphantly. “Aha! Here it is! This’ll tell us where we are!” she proclaimed, jumping to her feet and flashing a peace sign.

“Well, can’t say Sunshine’s not energetic…” the bard muttered to Ron.

“Wha?! This can’t be right!” the girl cried, looking at the map. “This says we’re in Adlehyde, Milama, the Curan Abbey, and some little village named Surf all at the same time!”

“Unplotable on a map…” Bernard muttered to himself. He turned around and said, “I know where we are now. Follow me.”

The two women looked at each other, then at the slowly retreating figure of the bard. Mira followed him quickly, but Ron stood there for a moment longer. “I swear, there’s something funny about that guy, and I intend to find out what that is someday…” she said. She, too, then started to follow Bernard.

*

Earlier that day in Rosetta, Rudy and Zed had arrived there safely not long before dark the previous day and were now on their way to see Mariel. “Erm, Rudy? Maybe I should go back… I mean, she’s an Elw, and… well, you know, my kind and her kind were at war with each other…” Zed said when they were almost at her house.

“Zed, that was over a thousand years ago. I would think she would have gotten over it a bit by now,” Rudy assured him.

They reached the small house shortly after. Rudy knocked on the door. “Hello?” he said. There was no answer. He knocked again. “Hello?” he said louder.

“Rudy? Is that you?” a small female voice asked. The small Elw woman, face, hands, and clothes dirty from her work, walked out from the adjoining garden on the right side of the house carrying a spade and then got her first look at Zed. She yelped, then jumped into a defensive position, wielding the spade like a knife. “YOU! What is one of your kind doing here?! What do you want with me?!”

Zed, startled, reflexively grabbed ahold of Rudy. He blinked, then took a better look at the little woman. “Oh, it’s just a little girl. Sheesh, don’t do that, little girl; you might give someone heart attack someday, scaring people like that!”

Mariel was not backing down an inch. “What are you doing here? What do you want? I warn you; I may not be a great fighter, but I won’t let you do whatever it is you’re planning without a fight!” she told him.

“Mariel, relax, he’s not here to hurt anyone,” Rudy said, waving a hand at her with a strained smile. She raised an eyebrow at this. “Really, he’s a friend of mine. He’s a little weird, but he’s really quite nice…” he continued. Maybe Zed was right about not coming along… he thought.

Mariel looked Zed up and down and finally decided to lower the spade. “If you say so, Rudy. But if he steps one inch out of line…” She then knelt down and thrust the gardening tool into the ground as hard as she could. She got back up, dusted her dress off, and walked to her door. “Well, we can’t stay out here all day. Come in.” She entered the house then, leaving a pair of very stunned males outside.

“That… was unexpected,” Rudy said.

“Still think she’s over it, Rudy?” Zed asked.

*

Inside, it was Zed who repeated the story Bernard had told him and the others back in Adlehyde, since he was the one who heard it. “So, do you know anything more about this?” Rudy said after Zed finished the story, feeling he had to contribute something to the conversation.

Mariel nodded. “Yes, I do. But I’m curious as to who told you this; it’s been over a thousand years since this took place and stories like this usually change a lot after such a long time, but this one… It’s like whoever told you this was alive when this happened…”

“But all the Elw are gone, right? All except you, and I know if I didn’t hear about it, then it’s possible that none of the others heard about it either, so who’d be left on Filgaia who could’ve been around then?”

A theory popped into Rudy’s head and demanded to be voiced. “Someone both Elw and human? Or Metal Demon and human? Or…”

*

“We’re almost there,” Bernard said. They had been walking for a good hour and night had already fallen wherever they were.

“It’s about time. Where exactly is ‘there’ anyway, Illych?” Ron asked, holding back a low branch of some tree for Mira.

“The village of Sylik, also known as the ‘Village of Lost Souls’,” the bard told her. “It’s a hiding place for those who were condemned unjustly after the Demon War. Not many know about it and even fewer can find it. I’d say where on Filgaia it was, but we’d all be killed if I did. Code of silence and all that.”

“Sylik? It does exist?!” Mira exclaimed. “Then is it true? Is it the last place on Filgaia with an Elw community? And do you think they would know about the Yggdrasil?”

“Perhaps. You have an interest in Elw technology?” Bernard asked.

“Just the Yggdrasil. Fascinating thing; I wonder just how it was supposed to revitalize the world…” Mira began.

Ron had just completely tuned them out at that point. She didn’t particularly give a flying crap about ancient technology she couldn’t shoot or cities of the damned. She was, however, interested in the new clues as to what was so peculiar about Bernard. Let’s see… first, making flowers grow out of a monster through a knife he somehow enchanted, next, knowing more about the current situation than anyone else back at Adlehyde, knowing about a lost city of refugees from the Demon War, knowing where the city is… Is he even human? Or just a descendant of any humans who may live in the city, where they may or may not have better records from the days of the war than we have? she thought. She shook her head. I’m thinking way too hard about this, aren’t I?

*

It was a half-hour later that they reached the edge of town. The only marker that it was such was someone who appeared to be an average human male standing watch. “Hmph, Bernard, you’re back. Lovey was starting to worry about you,” the man said. He looked at Ron and Mira and snorted. “Friends of yours, I hope. If not…”

Bernard raised a hand to silence the man. “They are. This may not sound believable, but the Guardian of Time himself sent us here. May we pass?”

“Dan Dairam sent you? Well, if it’s his doing, you may pass. He was always on our side…” the man said. He stepped aside and with a wave of his hand, a portal to somewhere that was definitely not further into the forest opened up where he was standing. “Go on.”

“Thank you,” Bernard said. He turned to the women and said, “Normally, I’d say ladies first, but it’d be safer for us all if I went in first.” He then stepped through the portal.

“Been a weird day today, eh, Montoya? First a mirror, now this…” Ron said. She got no reply. “Montoya?” She looked around and didn’t find the girl. “Now where’d she…?”

“Already went through. She seemed quite excited about it,” the man said.

Ron sighed. “Of course. Just leave me here alone in the dark with Mister Personality here, why don’tcha? I’ll be fine, no, not creeped out in the slightest…” she grumbled, going through the portal.

The man muttered to himself, “You’re no prize yourself, sweetheart. Can’t say I’m surprised he’s keeping you around, tho’; if you were a little curvier, you’d be his type exactly…”

*

For a city of lost souls, Sylik seemed quite nice. For a town living off the scraps of the distant past, however, it was quite disappointing. It didn’t look much different than any other town on Filgaia, except it was perhaps a little greener. The architecture wasn’t radically different from that of other towns, aside from the odd metal poles that jutted from the ground a couple house distances away from each other. They were part of whatever kept the town hidden, Mira reckoned.

“All right, so we’re here. Now what, Illych?” Ron said.

“Well, first-“ Bernard started, but before he could get further than that, a strange woman with hot pink hair and, well, decent “attributes” came out of nowhere and tackled Ron. Mira looked puzzled. Bernard, however, behaved as if this was nothing out of the ordinary. “I see you’re just as energetic as ever, Alicia,” he said to the strange woman.

Alicia had absolutely no interest in whatever Bernard had to say. She was too busy purring and nuzzling the poor, confused Ron. “And who are you, precious?”

“About ten seconds from shooting you if you don’t get off of me,” the gunner, starting to become just a little peeved about her personal space being invaded in this manner, told her.

“OK then… One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand…” Alicia said brightly, counting off the remaining seconds she could stay attached without being shot.

Mira whispered to the bard, “A little hyper, isn’t she?”

Bernard shook his head. “You have no idea…” he replied.

After the ten second were up, as promised, Ron drew her revolver. “… you were being serious? You’re no fun…” Alicia said with a pout, backing off and away sadly. She then turned her attentions to Mira. “Aw, you’re so CUTE!” she squealed and pulled the researcher into an extremely tight hug.

“Can’t… breathe…” Mira squeaked, feebly holding a finger up in protest.

“ALICIA!” a very assertive female voice yelled. A small, non-descript Elw woman stormed up to the very touchy-feely woman and grabbed her by the ear. Alicia understandably let go of Mira at that point. “Honestly, do you have to do that?!” the Elw woman scolded.

“But, Leti, this one’s so cute and you know I can’t resist a cross-dresser!” Alicia whined. “I wasn’t going to do anything else to them, really! You don’t have to be so possessive!”

Leti was not having any of this. “That’s not the point! You must have given them such a fright!” she said. Leading Alicia by the ear, Leti said, “Forgive her, she’s a little too friendly around new people. Come, dear, we’ll talk about this in private.” She then grumbled something about “damned bimbo Metal Demons” that really shouldn’t be repeated.

Ron, dusting herself off, muttered exasperatedly, “Guardians, do I give off some kinda weird Utena vibe that makes women wanna pounce on me or something!? I mean, really, just because I prefer jeans and a trenchcoat to a skirt and tights doesn’t mean anything other than that I like jeans and a trenchcoat better…”

“If it makes you feel any better, were I not married, I’d consider pouncing on you as well,” Bernard told her.

“Oh, shut up,” Ron grumbled, but not without feeling a little bit flattered. Not much, but a little bit. He might be attractive, she reckoned, if only he’d shut up for one minute, and a compliment from an attractive man was good, no matter how stupidly phrased. “So, now what do we do? Stand here until someone else decides to get touchy-feely?”

“Well, it is too late now to go talk to Elmire now…” Bernard muttered. “I guess I’ll just have to take both of you home with me for lack of other accommodations,” he told them. With a raised eyebrow and a bit of a grin, he added, “Unless, of course, you’d like to board with Alicia and Leticia…”

Ron glared at him for that. Mira squeaked and shook her head violently in opposition of the idea. “Just lead the way, Illych,” Ron told him flatly.

*

A little later, the group stood in front of a small two-floor house. “Here we are, ladies,” Bernard said. “Would you be good enough to stand out here for a moment while I get things cleared with Lovey? Thank you,” he said, going into the house without waiting for their response.

Ron blinked. “More strange behavior… Whaddaya think is up with that guy, Montoya?”

Mira didn’t answer. She was too busy investigating a plastic pink lawn flamingo that had somehow remained intact for hundreds of years. “Guardians, I’m traveling with a mysterious idiot and the human equivalent of Kiki the ferret…” Ron grumbled exasperatedly.

*

“Lovey, I’m home.”

“For good this time?”

“I’m… I’m sorry, not yet… I seem to have gotten myself pulled into something else as well.”

“Oh… Figures; you’ve always seemed destined to be caught in interesting times. Anyone else pulled into this ‘something else’ too?”

“Funny you should mention that, Lovey…”

“You want them to stay here, right? *pause* Do they know about you?”

“Not yet. I haven’t the time to explain, plus… you know…”

“I know, dear, I know…”

*

After a while, the door opened and Bernard poked his head through the doorway. “It’s all right to come in now, ladies,” he said.

Once inside, the two women found themselves in a tiny but decently furnished living room. Mira noted the couch, the most out of place thing in the room due to its design and fuchsia velvet upholstery, looked like it was purchased from a house of ill repute. Ron’s attention, on the other hand, was focused on a black-and white photograph on the wall.

Bernard beckoned a perfectly normal human woman with gray hair and had aged quite gracefully to come closer. He then cleared his throat to get his companions attention and said, “Sunshine, Miss Derringer, this is Lovey. Lovey, these are Miss Mira Montoya” (he gestured to Mira, then to Ron) “and Miss Veronica Derringer.”

Lovey bowed slightly, “Well, it is nice to meet you, Miss Montoya and Miss Derringer. I hope you’ve been taking care of Bernard here; he’s such a scatterbrain sometimes…”

“Just call me ‘Ron’, OK? ‘Miss Derringer’ make me sound old,” Ron told her, peering at her curiously.

“And Mira’s just fine with me!” Mira said brightly. “It’s funny… I thought you’d be his wife…”

Ron stared down Bernard as he tried to avoid eye contact with her. Lovey just wore a strained smile…

*

Back in Adlehyde, it was about midnight when Jack had finally come back from wherever he was, dressed in less formal garb. He was, of course, greeted by a disgruntled Cecilia. “And just where were you, dear?” she asked coldly.

“You followed up on the story your way; I was following up on it in mine,” Jack simply said as he took off his coat.

“Which means?”

“Asking Dream Chasers at the bar. You can find out just about anything if you ask the right questions (and buy a round or two of drinks) that way, you know,” he told her.

Cecilia wasn’t exactly convinced it was purely business that lead her darling husband to the bar, but if he had found something new out, she could overlook it. “So what did you find out?”

Jack shook his head. “Not much. Turned out only two people I asked even knew about the story, and only one was able to tell some semblance of the story we were told. ‘Evil Guardians sealed away to protect the world’, was basically her story.”

“’Evil’? But the story Mister Illych gave us seemed to imply that they were some kind of ‘balancer of the Force’, to use Luceid’s comparison,” Cecilia said thoughtfully.

“Luceid?”

“It’s a long story,” Cecilia said with a wave of her hand. “I’ll tell you in the morning, all right?”

“Oh.” The man watched as the queen got into bed, wanting to say something but hesitant to say anything right then. He shrugged off the hesitation and said, “Since you’re here, Princess, I can go to Milama to check something…”

“Check what? Is there something wrong?” the queen asked, a little confused.

“No, nothing wrong…” Jack said. He sighed and continued, “I don’t wanna say any more until I know something for certain. There’s no point in getting you worked up if there’s nothing for you to be worked up over.” Cecilia started to look a little worried now. “It’s important; I’ll just leave it at that for now. If what I was told is right… Then I’ll explain it all to you. But for now, just don’t worry about it.”

There was a long moment of silence. “Just don’t be gone too long,” Cecilia finally said.

“Gotcha, Princess. With some luck, I’ll have some explaining to do…”

*

All the way back in Sylik, Ron Derringer laid awake on the fuchsia couch, staring at her pocket watch. “Five-one thousand, four-one thousand, three-one thousand, two-one thousand, one-one thousand… Happy twenty-first birthday to me,” she whispered, not wanting to wake up Mira, who was sleeping quite soundly in a chair across the room. “And happy fifth anniversary of getting the hell away from the Derringers with a little self-respect left.”

“Good for you,” the sleepy blue Wind Mouse that was lying on her chest mumbled. The rest of what she said finally hit him. “Fifth anniversary of what?”

“Getting away from the Derringers. I just keep the last name as my own little ‘middle finger’ to their so-called ‘respectability’. Having their name associated to a rude tomboy is the best revenge I could think of for now,” Ron said. “There’s also the minor bonus of it sounding cooler than ‘Stampede’, but mostly it’s because of the ‘middle finger’ thing.”

“‘Stampede’?!” Hanpan exclaimed loudly (well, loudly for a little mouse, anyway).

“Sssh!” Ron hissed, pointing to the sleeping Mira. “You wanna wake her up or something?! Yes, Stampede. You got a problem with that?”

“No, no, I don’t,” the Wind Mouse said. “It’s just that… Well, let’s just say Jack wasn’t ‘Jack Van Burace’ when I first met him.”

Ron smirked and said, “He was ‘Garrett Stampede’, wasn’t he? Heh, it would make sense; he just about flat-out said it back at Adlehyde…”

“You’re a sharp one… for someone related to Jack,” Hanpan remarked. “But then again, he’s not stupid insomuch as he is thick-skulled.”

“Eh, reading people’s always come naturally to me,” the gunner said. “I even think I finally figured out what’s so weird about Illych.” She picked up the mouse with one hand, got up and went to that black-and-white photograph from earlier. She put a finger on a younger woman next to Bernard and said, “Tell me, does this or does this not look like Lovey when she was younger?”

“Yes, so?” Hanpan replied.

Ron then put a finger on Bernard’s image. “So, Illych doesn’t look any younger than he does now!”

“I seem to get what you’re saying now,” Hanpan said with a nod. “Although there is little known on the subject now, the possibility for interbreeding with longer-lived races is there, especially when it’s been proven in one case that I know of…”

Ron stopped to think of what the mouse could possibly be referring to. The proverbial lightbulb then when on in her head. “The Boss’s kid, right? Little May? The one that… that blue-haired little prick left her with?” She continued with a grumble, “I shoulda popped that guy one when I had the chance back at Adlehyde, but there was too much going on…”

“You showed maturity by taking care of the twins and Sunshine instead,” Bernard said from the stairwell. “I’m quite sure Her Highness appreciated that a lot more than she would have knowing you ‘popped him one’.”

Ron almost dropped the Wind Mouse in surprise. “How… How long have you been over there?”

“Since about ‘what’s so weird about Illych,’” the bard said. “Insomnia always seems to lead me to witness all sorts of interesting things. Shall we step outside and discuss what you think is so strange about me, so not to risk awakening Sunshine there?”

*

Oustside…

“So, Miss Derringer, what is it do you think is strange about me?” Bernard asked.

The lady gunner, with Hanpan perched on her shoulder. “First, let us consider the evidence: First, the flower thing with the monster. Only one ancient culture I know of specializes in life magic-type things. First, you seem to know more about, well, everything that’s been happening as of late. The people from the same culture are remarkably long-lived. Third, you led us to a village of those who had to hide after the Demon War for whatever reason. I’m not sure why the people here are in hiding, but they, as well as you, must have some reason to hide. Four, Lovey and the picture. The woman in the picture and Lovey are the same person, just at different ages. You, however, looked the same (except for attire) as you do now in the picture. You haven’t aged,” she said, pacing back and forth as she ticked off the items on the list. “But,” she added, “You don’t have funny ears like the others. So therefore…”

Suddenly and swiftly, Ron was about three inches from Bernard’s face. “My guess is that you’re, to some degree, part Elw!” she proclaimed, jabbing him in the chest with her index finger.

Bernard stood there in shook for a few moments. “You’re more clever than I give you credit for. Yes, I am half-Elw on my mother’s side,” he finally said. “I would have thought, if either of you were to figure out part of it before I made mention of it, it would be little Mira. Guess life’s surprising in ways like that.”

Ron stepped back a little and asked, “Part of it? What’s the other part?”

“That… is a story for another time. Suffice it to say that it alone would be enough to give reason for my being here,” the bard said. “Good night, Miss Derringer,” he said, going back into the house.

Ron stared at the door for a moment. “Hanpan, does that guy make your head hurt too, or is it just me?”

*

End Chapter Five

Chibi’s notes:

Creativity slump for a while causing me to not work on this for a month or so? Naaaaaaaaaaah…