Standard disclaimer: I don't own the series.

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AN: Hehe, I made a mistake when I responded to Meeerf's review last week. I misunderstood what she was asking me about a certain character. To answer that question, yeah, the girl's dead. Sorry about that Meeerf! ^_^;;;

Anyway, yeah. Another chapter :) This one was really fun to write cuz it... well... yeah. ^_^;;;; I love writing the characters acting really silly. And drunk. ^_~ Right-o. So, yeah. This is another semi-lemon chapter… and I was REALLY nervous about posting this!!! This story is rated T for crying out loud!!! And then I remember that Nina’s something of a prude and Ryu’s all “uh huh!” And then I remember that the couple that I am writing about it not Ryu and Nina… and that these two people are NOT prudes… Uh, yeah.

Okay, I know I said something about like five or six more chapters. I will try to have this wrapped by at least seven. ^_^;;; No promises, though lol

Here are the reviews!

Meeerf: Hee ^_^ that sounds like fun :) Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence. We all know that I need all I can get ^_^

Yup, Yui is dead. Hee, glad you liked the visit. Well, yeah. I only wished it wasn’t so late in the series. Hee, Valerie’s story ain’t done yet. ^_~

Ah, he meant like he was a protector. He’s not a guardian like Garr, a human that was turned into a gargoyle by Myria, but more like a protector. I originally had that as the name for what Jin and Yuki were, the agents for the Overseers, but kinda changed it cuz of the confusion. Sorry about that ^_^

Heh, then you will LOVE this chapter ^_^;;

More reviews! Hehe, once again you will love this chapter ^_^;;;

Hee, should I have Hawk in the final battle?

Uh, yeah. You’re right about that ^_^;;;

Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Troy was quickly noticing that it was not wise to let Wyatt and Hawkeye near his wine cellars. The two men were quickly finishing off yet another bottle. It was still hard for him to think of Wyatt as a grown man, instead of that obnoxious twelve-year-old he was use to seeing.

He did pity Hawk, though. Troy knew that he could not understand what Hawk was feeling at the moment. He did know that drinking himself into oblivion was not the correct way to handle it. But then again, Hawk was a grown man… sorta… and Troy was not his father.

Troy was growing concerned. He had tried to get in contact with some of the other countries, but was unable to reach them. He had managed to contact Wyndia, via Strife, and the man had said that there were no signs of attack by Gideon. For now at least.

Troy sighed and drained yet another glass. He watched as Hawk slumped up against the counter top. The man looked like he was about to pass out on the spot. Wyatt looked as fresh as a daisy. He was already pouring another glass. Troy rolled his eyes and figured that Wyatt’s system could just wipe out the alcohol from his body before it could do any real damage.

Troy glanced over at Garr and Mina. The Guardian didn’t seem to be affected by the several hours of drinking either. Mina merely sat all prim and proper, evidence of the many years she trained and spent as the former princess of Windia. If he watched, he could tell that she was between somewhat amazed and shocked by Hawk and Wyatt’s drinking.

He was just glad that she wasn’t getting drunk, either. He didn’t think he could handle Mina doing a strip tease in front of two drunken idiots. Besides, he didn’t want to have to clean up the mess that Garr would cause when he ripped those boys’ heads off after they got done fawning over Mina’s body.

Troy only had a few seconds before he realized that there might still be a problem. The door to the room opened and in came Miyuki. Mina’s mouth dropped open slightly out of shock and Garr could only stare. Troy shook his head.

Miyuki was clad in nothing but a lacy black bra and matching panties. Troy was having trouble processing WHY Yuki was running around in nothing but her underwear. She pushed her dark brown hair off of her shoulder and walked up to the bar.

Wyatt jerked around and turned beet red. Hawk apparently wasn’t as drunk as he appeared. He turned around and practically eyeballed Yuki. The girl was by no means small like Nina or Sari, but she wasn’t big either. Yuki placed a hand on her hip and gave Troy a big grin.

“Hey, do you have any whipped cream and strawberries down here? I was in the kitchen and the cooks threw me out,” Yuki muttered.

“Uh…” Was all Wyatt could get out.

Troy shook his head and tried to keep his eyes off of Yuki’s near naked body and right on her face. He reminded himself that she was Jin’s little sister, and he was happily married and the father of two. He kept his eyes focused on Yuki’s face.

“Err…” Troy began. He wasn’t exactly sure how to begin this conversation. “Yu… WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!”

“Oh?” Yuki glanced down at her body. “I’m… hehe, kinda drunk. I think…” Yuki giggled. “I wanted to go talk to Leon, but I got all nervous, right? So, I went down to the kitchen and found this really good alcohol and um… drunk the whole bottle! Yeah! It was really goood! And then… hehee, I wanted to take some… stuff to the room that Leon’s in… but they kicked me out before I could raid the fridge anymore!” Yuki finished with a whine.

“Did you strip in the kitchen?” Troy asked in a cracked voice. Dear God, his wife and Jin were going to kill him.

“Oh, well… it was really, really hot!” Yuki giggled again. She turned her attention to Wyatt and Hawk.

“Hiya!” Hawk grinned like a madman. “Say, are you seeing anyone at this moment?”

“Uh, huh!” Yuki said. “But we can still be friends!”

“Friends with benefits!” Hawk laughed.

“Okay!” Yuki giggled again.

Wyatt’s eyes widened in shock. “Friends… with benefits…?” Wyatt mumbled. Wyatt’s eyes lit up like a fireworks display. “Hey! Hey! Let’s play!!!”

Hawk nodded excitedly. “YEAH! Take your top off!”

Yuki looked at the two men and giggled. Images of Yuki parading around in nothing but a pair of panties seared threw his brain. Troy screamed and shook his head rapidly as Yuki reached behind her back to undo the latches on her bra.

“DEAR TITUS!” Troy yelled. Mina flinched and covered her eyes in horror and Garr merely rubbed his snout and shook his head.

Hawk and Wyatt pumped their fists in the air and shouted, “Take it off! Take it off!”

Yuki giggled once more and before their guy realized it, Yuki moved her hands from the latches on her bra and knocked both of them in the back of the head with her fists. Both men yelled in anger and annoyance as Yuki gave them a triumphant grin.

“The fuck?!” Hawk yelled.

Yuki gave in an arrogant look. “Eeesh, I’m drunk, not stupid!”

Troy sighed in relief. Mina groaned in annoyance as she took her hands from her face. Garr merely continued to drink his drink as if nothing had ever happened. Wyatt glared up at Yuki.

“The hell?!” Wyatt growled. “What exactly do YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!”

Yuki gave the two perverts a sly smile. “Just fucking with you, that’s all.” Yuki then turned to Troy. “So, do you have any whipped cream and strawberries?”

Troy nodded numbly. “Uh, yeah. What for?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Yuki giggled again. “You’d be surprised what one can do with strawberries, whipped cream, and the right motivation.”

Hawk grunted. “Ah, I see what you’re gonna do…”

Yuki smiled as Troy begrudgingly handed her the stuff she asked for. “And what am I gonna do?”

Wyatt snorted. “Just… get out of here and do what ya’re gonna do. Quit messing with us…”

Yuki sighed and smiled. She turned to leave, but Hawk got her attention. “By the way, nice ass!” Hawk laughed.

Yuki giggled and waved bye as she walked out of the room. Troy sighed and shook his head. “Jin was never like that…” Troy muttered. “Thank the gods…”

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Yuki giggled to herself as she walked down the hallway. Yes, anyone that was standing in the hallway could see her clad in nothing but her underwear, but it wasn’t like she was one for modesty.

Okay, so she told a little lie to Troy and the others. She wasn’t exactly drunk. Okay, maybe a little. She failed to mention to the group that while she was in the kitchen, she accidentally spilled tarter sauce all over her clothes and had to quickly change out of them. Maybe stripping in the kitchen was not the brightest idea in the world, but the stuff was sticky and… and…

Maybe it was Yuki’s inner obsessive-compulsive rising to the surface that caused her to take her clothes off. Maybe she really was drunker than she thought.

She just had to distract herself, that’s all. She couldn’t stand the look on Jin’s face when she went to talk to him a few hours ago. He had looked like he had just lost his best friend. The sick reality of the situation was, he had lost his best friend… and wife. Yui was dead and she was not coming back.

Manna had revived her, but it came with a price. The price of protecting someone dear, someone she loved. She had given her life to save Ryu and Sari’s. She had not wanted to die, but she knew there was no other way. And in the end of it all, she had been revived for what she did.

But not without a price. The price of knowing the future that clung to a tiny thread of hope. She had walked the line with full knowledge of what it meant. She knew what her price would be. Her job now was to protect Ryu and Nina and make sure they lived at all costs. Even if she had to die to achieve that goal once more.

The price of knowing what she knew, but not allowed to talk about it. She now knew the truth. She knew who Manna really was… who Ladon and Myria were… how Deis was tied in with it all. She had seen the truth, and it frightened her.

Yuki stopped walking. She wanted nothing more than to run back to her brother and let him take care of everything. Jin had always been there, protecting her, guiding her. With what she knew now, it scared and frightened her.

Yuki turned her head back in the direction of the infirmary. She was about to walk off in that direction, when she stopped right in her tracks. Yuki had forgotten that she was still in her underwear.

Oh yes. That would go over well with her prude of a brother. Yuki blushed like mad and turned around and continued her trek to Leon’s room. She paused when she reached the room. How was she supposed to explain why she was in her underwear?

The door opened, shattering Yuki’s inner monologue. Before her was a really surprised Rekks, his hands on the handles of Nunnally’s wheelchair. The Brood princess let out a surprised “eep!” and covered her quickly reddening face. Rekks merely raised an eyebrow.

“We are heading off to the infirmary,” Rekks explained in a cool voice. “The princess wanted to see her brother.”

Yuki dumbly nodded. She stepped aside so Rekks and Nunnally could be on their way. Yuki giggled when they left her line of sight. Nunnally was worse than Jin!

Yuki squared her shoulders and walked into the room. Leon was sitting on the bed, looking like he was deep in thought. He didn’t even notice her in the room. Yuki almost felt insulted. She cleared her throat, causing Leon to look up in surprise…

…and that surprise turned into utmost shock. Yuki smiled nervously and only then remembered that she was carrying whipped cream and strawberries. She suddenly felt very, very sober.

“Ah…?” Yuki could not get her vocal chords to work properly.

“Ah, indeed,” Leon said. He shook his head and stood up. It was only then that did Yuki realize that he was wearing only his pants. Leon gave her a once over and smiled slightly. “That’s… an interesting idea for attire.”

Yuki stiffened. “Ah…” she closed her eyes and mentally slapped herself silly. She opened her eyes and smiled brightly. She held out the stuff she was carrying.

Leon raised an eyebrow. “Err… what exactly is that for?”

Yuki winked. “Guess.”

Leon’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “I see. So you came here with… that…” he pointed to the stuff. “In hopes of…doing something with that?”

Yuki giggled nervously and nodded. Leon coughed and blushed slightly. “And… is that the same reason you are parading around in your underwear?”

Yuki giggled. “Not… exactly…”

Leon shook his head and took the stuff from Yuki’s hands. “We can… use that later…” Leon said as he placed the stuff by the nightstand. He smiled slightly and closed the door. He then turned around and took Yuki by the hand and led her over to the bed.

Yuki giggled and looked up at Leon. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Yuki asked.

Much to Yuki’s infinite relief, Leon released Yuki’s hand and grabbed hold of her back. He drew her close to him and kissed her on the lips. Yuki quickly responded by kissing Leon back with just as much equal force that he had given her.

Yuki knew that she was rather experienced in this field, but she didn’t know about Leon. For the first time, Yuki was finding herself wondering if Leon was a virgin or not. Did he even know what to do with a girl?

About a million thoughts ran through Yuki’s head. Several of those thoughts did not even warrant an answer. She did quickly have the answer to her main question when she felt Leon trying to relieve her of her bra.

Okay, she had her answer. The bra was thrown to the ground and Yuki could only giggle at the entire situation. She did take a moment to make sure that the door was locked. She didn’t want Jin to catch wind of what was going on and come in there and kill Leon. She was having too much fun!

Yuki blushed. She didn’t realize just how close Leon was to her. Her body was pressed tightly against Leon’s. Yuki’s heart started to race as she felt her blood rush to her face. She quickly found her hands moving and trying to relieve Leon of his pants. The next few seconds were a blur as Leon kicked off his pants and both found their way to the bed.

Yuki looked up at Leon, who was on top of her. She grinned like a maniac at the look in his eyes. Oh, yes. That one look told her that Leon had not only done this before, but knew EXACTLY what he was doing. Yuki’s body shook with excitement.

She had heard from Manna that Nina and Ryu had FINALLY gotten their groove on. Knowing what she did about Ryu’s life during the tens years they were separated, Ryu had been something of a Casanova. So, she could only wonder how Leon was. After all, she had never had sex with a dragon before. Would he Ascend if he got too excited?

Yuki shuttered in excitement at the thought. This was going to be a fun night!

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Sari and Manna stood outside on the balcony for a long time. Manna had not wanted to tell the girl the truth, but she felt if she didn’t, there could be dire problems later on. Manna knew that Deis agreed with her on those matters. Sari was family, after all.

Manna had not wanted to go that far with her interventions. She knew that the mortals were strong, her mother had taught her that after all, but things had changed. Manna knew that Myria had always been a little unstable. Destroying Legence during the past had been the thing that tore her in two. It had not been Lucien’s intention, but the fact still remained.

She hated the fact that Myria had fractured Ladon and even in that broken state, he still challenged his counterpart in the form of the Destined Child. She hated the fact that Myria was as broken as she was in the first place. Thousands upon thousands of years of rejection, persecution, and hatred had turned the Mother Goddess into a Goddess of Destruction.

Legence was supposed to have been destroyed something bothered the crap out of her. How was he still among the living? Yes, he had to steal the life force of followers and others to keep his strength… but… that still didn’t explain how he managed to bridge the gap between life and death. Unless someone had conjured him back to the land of the living.

But who would meddle in the magicks of death? Manna felt a cold chill run down her spine. Manna’s eyes widened in shock. Were they that blind?! Had something happened in the Grand Design itself that no one could have predicted? Yes, Manna knew that the Gate was dangerous and she knew that Legence was getting very powerful, but how did he get to that point?

Manna slammed her hand on the railing, causing Sari to glance up at her with a confused look on her face. Manna shook her head and swore under her breath. How did she miss THAT?!

Manna knew now who had been helping Legence. She swore under her breath once more at her own stupidity. It was not every day that Manna made a mistake of such a grand scale. She knew that the situation was dangerous, but this was something different all together.

However, if she were right, then taking down Legence would be easier than she thought. If he was truly conjured, then all they had to do was destroy the caster, and there goes Legence. Unless that was not the case. Manna had the sinking feeling that was not the case.

Manna figured that it was more or less someone helping Legence. The bastard had not been able to make a direct move, after all. At least not yet. So, there was someone helping him instead. Moving about the mortal world for him. An avatar…

“Damn, damn, damn!” Manna said through gritted teeth.

Sari looked over at Manna. “Something wrong?”

Manna sighed. “I think that Legence has an avatar… or at least someone that’s been helping him. I think that Legence is still just a spirit… or something…”

Sari nodded. “Someone has been helping him to revive all this time? Who would do that, and why?”

Manna shrugged. “I can’t say why they would do it, but I have a feeling that I can answer the who part.”

“Yeah?”

Manna’s throat constricted. “Aaron. Aaron is helping Legence… it makes sense if you think about it.”

Sari’s face turned pale. “Yuki and Jin’s father? But…”

“Yuki is a former Maiden and Jin’s a former Overseer. Maybe it was fate…” Manna sighed. “Whatever it was, we did not foresee it, and that has me VERY concerned.”

“What are we going to do about it then?” Sari asked.

A soft moan caused both women to look in Nina’s direction. Nina groaned as she sat up on the bed. She looked around and shuttered.

“What… what happened?” Nina asked in confusion.

Manna sighed. Sari nodded in silent agreement and both women turned their attention to Nina. Nina cringed under the looks. “Did something bad happen?”

“Navare has been destroyed,” Manna said finally. “Ryu went berserk as the Kaiser and blasted it to kingdom fucking come.”

Nina paled. “What…?”

Sari sighed. “Yeah, and you used the full force of Eternal Session.”

Nina blinked in confusion. “I did what now?”

Manna nodded. “She is telling the truth. You went crazy too and were about to blast everyone with a massively powerful spell. I stepped in and resealed that power. For now,” Manna added as an afterthought.

“I… don’t have that kind of power…” Nina said in a small voice.

“Eternal Session is the power of the Goddess reborn inside of a mortal body,” Sari said. “You are the Maiden of the Mother Goddess, remember?”

Nina shook her head in denial. “You are LYING!” Nina wailed. She shook her head violently. “How… how could I have that kind of power?!”

Manna groaned and shrugged her shoulders. “Were you not listening? Saria just told you. You are the part of Myria’s powers reborn, just like Ryu is part of Ladon reborn.”

“Powers reborn…” Nina muttered darkly. “I am nothing but powers reborn?”

“No, you have become more than just a tool of destiny,” Manna said. “You and Ryu are living, breathing people, that have your own destinies outside of fighting.”

Nina looked up at Manna and Sari, tears streaking her face. “I… don’t get it…” Nina said. She sighed. “I…”

“We can’t let ourselves come unglued right now because we can’t come to terms with what is going on,” Sari said, her gaze soft. “I know it’s hard, but we have to handle this.”

Manna nodded. “She’s right. There will be plenty of time to mope later. Right now, we have to focus on the problems at hand.”

Nina sighed. “You’re right, of course. But, okay. I can have a mental breakdown later then. So, tell me what you really know.”

Manna gave Nina a determined look. “You sure?”

Nina nodded. “Yes. I want the truth.”

 

To be continued…