The Hope MOTHER Trilogy

This group is designed to house the 'Mina Trilogy' of MOTHER fanfics. A trilogy of MOTHER based fanfics that tell tales of hope, the over coming of grief, forgiveness, friendship and finding where you belong in the world. MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: COMPLETE ; Going through final revisions MOTHER 5 Rebirth: Starlight Oblivion: TBA MOTHER 6 Reloaded: Sounds: TBA NAVIGATION Home Message Submit Table of Contents Cast Art Contact Theme

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Epilogue

It’s needless to say, but, when Mina and Claus finally returned home they received got quite the chew out when they return home. The two parents yelled and screamed for hours on end and when it was finally done they cry tears of joy for their two children have returned home safe and alive.

Val was an unfortunate to witness such a mess.

The young lady and her dog was able to say the night before she left for home and her mother with a bag full of priceless gemstones and pearls. The Jones family informed her she was more than welcome to come for a visit when she wanted.

As soon as the news came that Mina and Claus returned home everyone was rushing over to see the two. Everyone asked them questions to where they went to and what they were doing. As it was predicted no one took them seriously so they decided the answer ‘to see the world’ would suffice instead. Everyone seemed to buy it over the truth that they went off to fight a creature that was some embodiment of humanity’s regrets or something.

Mina chose to lock the heirlooms away in her closet under a pile of old clothes that had grown too small for her. She decided it was better like that. She preferred that her parents couldn’t recall their past life as royal rulers of the Jinjirus and intended to keep it that way. She would carry the knowledge of the old world and pass it along to the next generation in time, just like Lucas did.

But for now she would live in the moment and to it’s fullest.

. . . . . . . . .

Mina wakes up one day. It seems normal as ever but. . .Claus never came down for breakfast.

She decides not to question it, assuming he’s simply tired, and heads to the basement for band practice. Loud music blasts from the downstairs for hours. Within those hours the parents wonder how Claus is doing, they decide visit his room with lunch to find his room empty.

His clothes were folded and stored away in the closet and dressers like always. His desk was neat as can be, chair pushed in and all his school supplies was stored away with his bag leaning against the desk. Not a thing was out of place the exception of purple envelope resting neatly on top of his pillow.

There was not much written down, just a simple thank you addressed to the family for loving and caring for him, even if he acted like an ass, and a request not to search for him.

The parents were hysterical. Claus may of not been bound to them by blood like Mina, but he was still their son. They looked everywhere and it was a matter of time before everyone in town knew. People searched every nook and cranny of the town and even the forest but to no avail. Mina on the other hand, had an idea.

Emerald Fields.

The place where they first met and it all began. It began on a summer’s day years ago. She took off on her scooter and made way to the family farm. She was panic stricken, yes, but at the same time she was prepared. He warned her long ago he would die when the fighting ended he would die.

She walks into the barn and approaches the same spot she found him years ago. Claus was found nestled in a stack of hay with a peaceful face and serene smile. He looked like he was sleeping but his chest made no movements, making it rather clear he had already passed on.

Mina stares blankly at Claus’s unmoving body. She carefully sits on her knees, brushing back his orange bangs. She cups his cheek in her hand. Initially the the ice cold temperature of his skin makes her flinch. Her heart is clenched in a painfully tight vice grip. Tears fall with a cry of anguish.

But. .  . truth be told, no amount of preparation could of truly prepared her for this day.

Mina weeps, hiding her face within her hands for several moments, before she decides she should move the body to somewhere better than this. Mina lugs the boy onto her back and into the house with her copy of the house key. She places Claus’s body down on his bed in the room they shared together every summer.

She stares at his body once more. Her eyes were empty and hollow, reflecting nothing but grief. She reaches out to brush his hair back once more but stops herself. Her hand limply falls to her side.

She never got the chance to tell him she loved him. . . Part of her is certain he knew however. . .and she knew he loved her like a sister and not as she loved him. Even if he never returned those feelings. . . she wanted to tell him at least. Tell him she loved him and she was so glad he came into her life.

Slowly, she exits the room. In the hollow empty home she makes a few calls and waits.

The doctor from the town quickly arrives and Claus’s body was taken away to be assessed. Her parents arrived an hour later, both hysterical. When the morning came the doctor had results. It seemed Claus’s heart was replaced along ago with an artificial heart.

Since he never went to any major hospitals it went unnoticed and without anyone to attend to it, it stopped and so he died with it. . . .Had they known sooner he could of been saved. . . but Mina knows he did not want that.

Claus died long ago and by some miracle he lived a happy life this time. . . He was glad with this life.

Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end. It matters not who you are. . . Death awaits you.

. . . . . . . . .

The first person Mina informed, besides her parents, was Olivia. Olivia was not close to Claus as Floyd or Mina was but he was still a good friend. . . and an early death for him was unforeseen.

She called up Jane to fill her in on the situation and began to strum notes on her guitar in the darkness of her room to relieve her self sadness and heartbreak as tears stream down her face.

Jane was always sensitive and a nervous wreck but she truly meant well. Claus helped her make it clear to her parents that she was not fond of the fact they wanted force her into an arranged marriage.

Claus was a good intelligent boy with much potential and promise. That’s why she cried so much when she got the news. Her maids attempt to get her out of her room when they heard the first sounds of sobbing but she refused to leave.

Once they managed to get into her room, Jade is long gone to the other side of town and sobbing in the arms of her beloved Floyd, soaking wet from the rain.

With his girlfriend in tears Floyd relayed the message to Chaz. Chaz took it all as a prank at first and laughed. Claus? Dead? Impossible! Floyd wasn’t laughing although.

Why wasn’t Floyd laughing?

Did he ruin the prank was that why he wasn’t laughing?

Floyd only repeated the message and hug up to return his attention to Jane.

Chaz quickly became hysterical and was soon unable to breath through his tears to the point that Arc, who happened to be visiting his parents on that very day, had to come into his room to calm his brother.

Chaz held onto Arc tightly as if he was his only lifeline and begged for this all to be some cruel and unusual joke.

Misha was the last of the circle of friends to receive the message. She wasn’t that worried as she answered the phone and peeked though the blinds of her room to watch the rain fall.

Claus was a smart kid, he would be fine. She takes a bite out of a rice ball of Chaz speaks to her in a shaky tone, when he’s finally able to spit it out Misha loses the will to eat and that bubbly attitude of her’s was blown out of the water in seconds. She didn’t eat any dinner nor dessert and that worried her parents, who went to console her.

No amount of sweets, or simply food in general, could fill that hole that was ripped open by such terrible news.

From there the news got around fast and by the next day everyone knew Claus Howle had passed on. People went to the Jones household for answers but there was no one home. The whole town waits on baited breath for answers.

Days pass and the family finally returns home to deliver the news personally and even more days passed with preparations made, the wake is finally here. The whole town is able to gaze upon Claus.

He lays in an open casket dressed in his finest formal clothes, hands laying flat on top of each other on his stomach with that smile of serenity. Yellow tulips, periwinkle, dark pink roses, white and blue violets and many more beautiful flowers fill his coffin to join him in the afterlife. Mina stands alongside her parents in black, holding a portrait of Claus showing off this rare smiles.

Chaz was in a terrible state when he arrived. He yelled and screamed at the body of his friend, telling him it to wake up. He wanted Claus to yell surprise and laugh at him and everyone would join in on it.

‘Let it be a joke’ he begs but Claus did not move, he remained limp in Chaz’s shaking hands with his head tilted back, flowers are split and splayed across the floor. William carefully pries Chaz’s hands from Claus’s body and Arc has to pull his brother away despite screams and protests.

William carefully lays his boy back in his casket and tucks a white rose into his shirt pocket.

Mina isn’t sure how but word caught on fast, somehow even Val learned about this news and came to pay her respects with her mother. What was even more surprising was the appearance of Lucas with Fuel. Pain was evident in Lucas’s blue eyes and he looked over Claus’s body.

Mina was sure he was able to recognize him as his lost brother.

It was still a mystery how Claus returned from the dead in the first place but Lucas didn’t seem to question it, he seemed to be content that he was allowed to bid his brother farewell for once.

. . . . . . . . .

The wheels of time spin forward with no regard to the past and with all time all wounds heal and good will rise from the heartbreak.

Rosebush Clockwork has risen to fame in the years. They’re without Jane, since she and Floyd took off hand in hand and with as much money as they could to elope together, but they made it work. The band still gets mail from the couple despite the distance between them.

Still, years have passed and Claus is hardly forgotten in this future. He’s still remembered, loved and cherished. Olivia has written a song or two about Claus, and they’ve made the musical hit list for touching the hearts of so many people.

The Jones family have cleaned his room out and donated many of his belongings to those who would need them. The family keep a few moments and memories of Claus ranging from pictures or items he personally prizes. Mina keeps his silver pocket watch, which originally was a gift from William.

Mina looks up from said watch as someone takes an awkward seat next to her on the bus stop bench. She peers over her sunglasses to look at the newcomer.

It was a young man with scraggy black hair, bundled up in a heavy forest green coat that reaches his knees. Heavy denim covers his legs and worn black sneakers on his feet.

She was glad he had no interest in her, rather the paper his brown eyes stared intently in his hands. She didn’t need anyone bothering her while on a short termed vacation.

“Jones residents. . .” He says softy, exhaling a puff of air in the cold air. Okay. What’s up with that?

“Why would you want to go there?” Mina asks. He blinks before scratching at his blush stained cheeks.

“Oh, sorry, was I talking too loud?” The blonde simply shakes her head. “I see. . .Well, I have an internship with Mr. Jones.”

“Oh, so you’re the person boarding at home?” Mina droned. She stands up, shaking snow from her shoulders and offers a hand to the young man. “Willamina Jones. You seem pretty lost, why don’t I help you out huh?” He looks to her hand before smiling and giving it a shake.

“Miles Moore.”

. . . . . . . . .

“Mattie said he wants to stay here.” Khrystie says as she unpacks things away in the small house they’ve purchases in a far away country.

It was a small quaint house in a clearing among tall stone walls. Outside the house nature is abundant in it’s beauty, a single waterfall covers over the wall and fills the small pond with clear water and flowers bloom in just about ever available location in the green grass.

Her love casts her a tired glance, he’s a bit weary but the look soon fades when he recalls the origins of Matt. He’s the adopted son of Khrystie and much like his mother he is far more older than he appears.

Residing in the human world wouldn’t kill him. . . he’s apparently ventured off into this realm on his own many times before. The kid is more like his mother than he realizes.

“If that’s what he wants.”

“Do you like children?” He blinks. What a weird question. . .

“Huh? Yeah?”

“I want to adopt when finally settle down.” He makes a small strangled sound as Khrystie sits on his lap. She looks at him with smiles and cheer. He sighs, grabbing her by forearms and dragging her down to wrap arms around her waist. A large hand strokes her long blonde hair.

“That doesn’t sound bad. . .” she smiles, curling up on his chest. He sighs. Ex-warrior or not she’s such a child. . .

A single blue butterfly flaps it’s wings on the window still before flapping it’s wings and taking off into the sky.

. . . . . . . . .

Do you wish for your adventure to end now?

Yes >No

. . . . . . . . .

Death is inevitable. It’s a common fact about life but we should not fear it’s eternal essence despite the shortness of life. We should live everyday and life to it’s fullest. The impact we will leave on others will always be significant and a reminder to how special we truly are.

. . . . . . . . .

She ate the forbidden fruit. The fruit of dreams and hope. Hope was sweet but the despair that followed was even sweeter.

Man lost a dream.

Man lost hope.

Man gave up.

Watching man fall was all too sweet. She wanted more. She stole more of the forbidden fruits and watched them all give up.

She was kicked out of home land and bared from the fruits. The tree lost it’s fruits for the season, She screamed. It would not matter. She would return just like the fruit and they would bow before her in time.

The sweet flavor of despair was addicting.

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Twenty One

Fully dressed in all four heirlooms it was a now a question of how to get to the Silver Witch. She was residing in a pocket of time and space and Mina was nowhere capable of getting there. Hell, she wasn’t even sure what the heirlooms were capable of. There had to be more than. . . protecting, stabbing and looking decorative.

“Ding-a-ling!” Mina shrieks in response and stumbles away. Of all the people. . . it’s Ibuki. 

Wait. 

What? 

How the hell did she manage to get in here with all the fighting going on outside? Ibuki couldn’t have seriously beat up all of those Jinjirus. . . could she?

No. She probably didn’t. . . She was just some odd musician, it’s not like she was sitting in here waiting this whole time. Still, she was the one who gave her the key after all. With that in mind, that only raises more questions in retrospect.

“Ibuki. . .why are you here?” Ibuki smiles with serenity. Mina blinks, baffled by this change in the girl. She seems so mature suddenly. . . wiser as well. Why is that?

“I have come to guide you my child.” Ibuki completely dropped her tic where she uses her name in place of I. She must have been serious. . .but why is she referring to Mina as ‘my child’? “I have followed you for quite some time. I intended no harm when I watched your show. My children took this as warfare and they were swallowed by greed and selfishness. From distances I watched you grow and develop to where you stand now.”

“Your children. . .” Mina repeats slowly. Yes, she is the reincarnation of the last Jinjiru heiress. . . that would make her Ibuki’s ‘child’ and on the night of her show at the talent contest she was attacked by a . . . “You mean the Jinjirus?”

“Yes.” Ibuki calmly closes her eyes. “I am their goddess. Willamina. I have but one request, once the fight ends, I wish for you to directly tell the Jinjirus what I desire.”

“What would that be?”

“I want them to build a civilization where they can rely on each other, without a royal family. We Jinjirus can live for millions of years when in our pocket and despite their lies, they desire the return of the royal family, or at the very least someone strong to command them. They don’t know how to live without someone telling them what to do.”

“What makes you think they’ll listen to me?”

“All you have to be is assertive, show them who is the boss and what will happen if they do not follow your orders.” Ibuki smiles once more. “I trust you are capable of winning this upcoming battle and you can steer that kingdom into a greater generation.” Ibuki carefully takes Mina’s hand. With a snap of her fingers the world blurs and it feels like everything is plunged into darkness.

The world slowly ceases spinning and Mina looked around her. There was no Ibuki. There was only one winding cobblestone path in all of this darkness. It was lined by old trees with black bark that curled and twisted oddly. Each tree was missing their leaves, and under theses conditions they probably would not ever come back. Small lanterns hung from branches, illuminated with simple spheres of light.

Mina sighs. There’s nowhere to go but forward.

She moves forward and time marches on. The path takes her to what appears to be a mountain summit. The lantern lit trees line the summit, illuminating the inevitable battle field in a dull light. There waits the Silver Witch, even up close she cannot see the true form of this. . . thing.

“I must admit, I’m impressed that you made it so far.”

“Yeah, well, I had help.”

“Such a strange child. . .Do you honestly think you can defeat me?”

“Like I have a choice. It’s either you or me.”

“That is true.” The entity smiles.

“Why the hell do you look like that. . .?”

“Oh, this? You humans cannot grasp my true form and so your puny minds perceive some foolish image instead. I suppose it truly proves how tiny and insignificant you humans are…” She giggles. Mina makes a face. Fists curl tightly around the hilt of the blade, pointing a blade to the Silver Witch. The lanterns swayed as an non-existent wind came through. This was really it. It was all down to this. Striking down the Silver Witch before she could start this dreaded war.

She ran at the blot swinging, only to have the attack deflected as she was thrown onto her back, but quickly clambered back onto her feet. The Witch only giggled in its barely tangible reality blotting form. But the giggle was silenced flatly, as thunderbolts began raining down. Mina scrambled out of the way of the bolts narrowly evading many of them but still being struck by a few, forcing her to bear the brunt of the psychinetic electricity.

Mina staggered trying to focus a Life up on herself as the Witch created several lines of fire that began blasting their way towards Mina. The health PSI did the trick just in time for her to move out of the way of the next flame line as the rest began to go out.

She charged once more at the Silver Witch jumping over flames and attempting to attack the blot with her sword again, it deflected but only threw her partially off balance as she released a PK Rose in the witch’s ‘face’. This seemed to do damage as chunks of ice began forming around Mina causing a noticeable temperature drop. She switch to her Keytar and began bashing away the ice chunks before they shattered. She then tried to run but found her feet had frozen to the ground. She kicked at them but it was too late, the miniature icebergs shattered cutting away at her legs making her kneel. She whispered lifeup and slowly got to her feet. At that same moment an over head star seemed to twinkle strangely. Growing ever so bigger, followed by other stars following suit.

“What the he. . .”

A jetting light impacted with a tree leaving a crater as other lights, stars, impacted with the earth all around Mina. One aimed itself for her as she dodged just in time, but only to have another nearing impact right after, slamming into her, leaving her charred and beat up in a crater.

Mina staggered, forcing herself to stand. She cast life up on herself, and pulled herself out of the crater. The Witch seemed to be resting, partially vulnerable. Mina made her way over to the silver witch, launching a PK Rose in her face once again. And then again. And again. But it still stood. How. . .?

Mina backed away. A feeling of hopelessness beginning to spread. She frowned and shook the feeling off. Now was not the time for that. There had to be a way. Mina drew her sword once more and began slashing away at the Silver Witch, many slashes deflected until one managed to finally break the counter and inflict damage.

This absolutely displeased the Silver Witch. Mina could tell something had jutted from the body of the witch, even if it was not visible. She’s proven right when she feels something grab her around her neck, hoisting her into the air with a choke hold. She struggles to pull whatever was from her neck, while trying to keep consciousness. Her eyes were wide as she gasped and hacked trying to inhale. This was unacceptable. She was not going down this way.

Mina held out a hand towards the blot and wheezed, “PK Rose!”

The Silver Witch was stunned by the attack releasing her grip on Mina, after a quick recovery, heart beating, collected the sword and stabbed it right through the blot. Light shined through as the witch screamed and moaned and shook. In a swift attack the heart was pierced and life was extinguished.

“. . .Take that you bitch” Mina spits.

+ + +

Hands tied behind their backs Val and Claus are thrown onto their stomachs before a soldier steps on their backs to keep them in place. They fought so hard and for so long. It was only a matter of time before this ended up happening unfortunately. . .

“Now, how to execute these two trouble makers. . .?” Hime coos. She uses her rapier to tilt Claus’s head upwards so he may gaze upon her face. He grimaces.

“There will not be a single execution today! Let them go!” Everything quickly comes to a halt. Mina exits the Temple of Trials. The armor is dirty and scrapped from her previous battle and her blade is covered in an inky black goo that drips onto the desert sand. Hime giggles as Mina inserts her sword into the sand.

“Why should we listen to you?”

“This is order of your queen! I have exterminated the Silver Witch making me the most powerful being! My orders are absolute!” Sunned silence followed.

“De. . .defeated the Silver Witch?! How could that be!?”

“I am your queen. That is how. Now, I believe I issued some orders? I do hope you’ll follow them.” The warriors glanced among themselves, sweating a little. The fact she’s wearing the heirloom armor is enough proof that she is their queen. The clover blade is soaked in the blood of her enemy, this only backs up the thought they all have, this truly is their ruler and she has defeated what they could not. Reluctantly the soldiers pull Val and Claus to their feet and set them free. Hime looks at her soldiers with disbelief.

“What are you fools doing?! How dare you listen to this low life human!”

“Human or not, she has done what we could not. She is far more stronger than we thought. I am starting to think. . . Melody was right all along. We can learn a thing or two from these humans.”

“Don’t bring that wretch into this!” Hime growls, clutching her rapier so tightly it would snap at any second. Even after her exile they think highly of her?! “I am the ruler of Jinjiru! Not that wretch! And most certainly not this human! The soldiers looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Such sounds only infuriated Hime even more than before. “Cease your laughter you fools!”

“It’s just so funny! Ruler! She thinks she’s our ruler!”

“Anyone with a brain wouldn’t let Hime rule a thing!”

“What is the meaning of this!? I am obviously your ruler! I was the only who single handedly overthrew that wrench! I AM THE ONE IN CONTROL!”

“You used a captive. You could not kill Melody. You have no power at all. We simply allowed you to lead this mission, not to lead us.” Hime’s face was red with fury and anger. She was ready to blow in a matter of seconds.

“You’ve only proven how weak and desperate you are,” Mina pulls her blade from the sand, pointing to Hime’s backside. “Let’s finish this.” Hime began to laugh. She laughed and laughed to the scales of hysteria and madness swirls in her eyes. She faces Mina, swinging her rapier and shooting PSI to the girl. She’s just a weak human. What is she to do? How is she to win against her?!

Dust and clouds fly from the point of impact. Hime begins to laugh assuming it’s all over just like that. She prepares a mock only to be struck down, bleeding from a gaping hole in her side. Mina sheathes her blade.

The Silver Witch’s influence on the Jinjiru will dissipate in time, but she could tell this was a completely natural reaction. The Silver Witch never had a hold on this one.

“It’s over.” Mina looks to the remaining warriors. They all stood tall and attentive to their queen. “You all will carry out my final orders. First off, Khrystie Melody, no one will lay a hand on her or the family she wishes to have. She is to be left alone. She wishes for her ties to Jinjiru to be cut off completely. Respect that.”

“Next, this woman.” She motions to Hime, who is still bleeding all over the place. No one remotely seems to care although. “Exile her. I don’t care how. Just do it but remember, we cannot have her bringing harm to whoever lives in where she is exiled to. Make sure where ever the hell she’s dumped it is a place where she is alone.”

“You cant do that to me!” Hime snarls as she is pulled to her feet and restrained.

“If it is what our queen wants, then it shall be.”

“My final order, this shall stand as long as Jinjiru’s live and may it be remembered for generations to come, the royal family will be no more. I want Jinjiru’s to stand on their own. I want you all to rely on each other. Even without me to lead you, you will complete your everlasting goal to protect what is smaller than you.”

“Are these three orders understood?” It took a moment for everything to sink in, even if they did not like it and showed no signs of dislike, the soldiers bowed deeply.

“Yes. We understand your orders your majesty.” Hime was dragged away into exile screaming profanities, Mina ignored her. She turned to Claus and Val smiling.

“So yer the heiress all along, huh?” Val teases. Mina sighs calmly with eyes closed.

“I was, I suppose. My rule is already over.”

“You did a good job.” Claus pats her back with a smile and juts a thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s just go home. I want to finally spend my summer relaxing.”

“I can agree with that.”

The three of them exited the city of ruins and downfall. As they walked the Jinjiru soldiers cheered, recognizing their short lived queen, but long living hero. They exited out into the vast desert taking steps, one after the other. It was midday and the sun was comfortable. Distant silhouettes of our heroes began to blend with the sun. Peace had returned, their job, finished.

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Twenty

“Twenty years ago. . .” Mina bites her lip. “Twenty years ago, you died Claus, right?” He does not respond at first. Several minutes of silence is enough as he sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

“Yeah.” He admits. “Electrocution. I knew the attack would fly back to me. I short circuited and I collapsed.”

“. . .Why? Why did you do that?” That’s the mystery. No one knows why, you can’t ask the dead after all, and it tears everyone apart to this day. 

“A lot of reasons I guess.” Claus scratched his head. “I know I didn’t have control over my body but I did a lot of terrible things. I died when I fell off that cliff like a dumbass kid. I. . . The most important one is the bomb.”

“Bomb?” Mina repeats slowly. “I wasn’t informed about this.” Claus laughs. It’s not mockingly. It’s care free. Almost nostalgic.

“No. That crybaby didn’t know either. Just that fat bastard, the scientist forced to breath life back into me. . . and myself. If I was to regain consciousness and self awareness the bomb would detonate and I would die because I would be deemed an unfit ‘toy’.”

“T-toy? But you aren’t a toy. . .!” Mina gasps in horror. She could grasp how terrible this Pig King guy was from Lucas’s story. . . but this worse than she thought it was. To strip one of their very humanity and make them into a. . . toy was just absolutely disgusting!

“Not to that bastard.” Claus laughs once more. “Everything was a toy or a game to him because he was immortal. It was also insignificant to him.”

“That isn’t fair nor is it right. . . !” Mina hisses. Claus finally turns to her. He’s grim but not upset or crying. He’s already accepted this past of his. This is just who he is and he can understand it even if he hates it.

“Life isn’t fair.” Claus says simply. “It’s short, bitter and sweet. Either way, I’m glad it was your family who found me. You gave me a wonderful third chance at this life shit.”

“Why are you talking like that. . . ?”

“I’m. . . I’m sure when everything ends I’ll die once more.” Claus steps forward, patting Mina on the head as if she was a child. She might as well be. Her face is scrunches up into a scowl and tears threaten to spill over.

“Don’t say that. . .”

“Death is inevitable for me. I’ve somehow defied it twice but this is the last and my time in this life is running low. I can feel it.” His hand sides down to the backside of her head. He pulls her forward, he leans down and forward to whispers into her ear. “Thank you for everything.”

+ + +

The trio departs from the grotto that afternoon. It’s not the best timing but it cant be helped. With the directions from Khrystie the trio located Toplaza Congregation and it’s a wreck. Buildings broken and in the process of crumbling. There’s not a person around. That leaves the conclusion that everyone is dead or they abandoned the city all together.

“According to Khrystie, the tallest building is where we need to go.” Claus explains. Mina sighs.

“Alright, let’s go.” Mina walks ahead of the others making Val give Claus a look.

“Somethin’ bitin’ at her?”

“Don’t worry much about it.” He manages a smile but she’s not blind to the pain in it. Val decides its not he time to question it and pushes forward. The trio trucks through the ruins in undisturbed.

It is mildly disturbing knowing there was a recent revolution in Jinjiru. One would expect some sort of attack. . . and boy did it come. An arrow strikes the ground next to Mina. Claus readies his blade as he surveys the area. Several Jinjiru’s appear with spears in hand lead by some woman with blonde princess like curls.

“So you are the three that traitor have helped for so long.” She hums, disappointment evident in her voice. “Huh. What a bunch of disappointments you all look like. Can you really defeat us?”

“Come on down and see for yaself!” Val hisses. They take that invitation to fight without a second thought. No reason to hold back. They were the only thing blocking them from he armor they needed and once they had the armor they would be one step away from ending this bullshit war. 

Val sicks her dog on any Jinjiru that gets close and Mina either bashes them in the face with her keytar or blast them back with PSI. Claus objectively aimed to destroy weapons with swift strikes or electrocuting warriors using their spears as lighting rods.

At first the trio had the upper hand but the Jinjiru warriors seemed to come at them endlessly leading to them choosing a tactical retreat. On the count of three the trio turned heel and ran in the direction of the Temple of Trials. 

Several pillars lined a cobblestone path to the entrance way. The foyer where the entrance door resided had no natural lighting but was illuminated with torches. It hard to keep her cool once she finally reaches the door since she can hear the warrior coming. 

Mina struggles with the key Ibuki had given her a while back, it takes her several tries before she can insert the key into the lock and open it. The lock makes an eerie creaking sound as is pops opens, chains fall from the door and to the sand with a dull thud. Claus placed a hand at the small of her back and pushed her forward through the crack in the doorway.

“Go on ahead. We’ll make sure they don’t get in.”

“Are you serious. . .?!”

“Just get movin’” Val barks. Left with no choice Mina pushes forward. The doors of the temple close behind her with a loud thud. It's quiet and dark for several moments before torches lining the wall illuminate the hallway before her. Pressing her lips into a thin line, Mina traverses forward fast as she can. The hall is thankfully straight forward and maintains only one path that leads into another room, this one with a gaping tall roof and against the farthest wall is a stone staircase where manikin rests.

The manikin is adorned with silver gauntlets, a silver breastplate and shoulder guards adorned with small rubies and red leather skirt. To finish up the suit of armor was a white cape decorated with a red spade pin.

Yeah. That was the armor. . . but. . . 

“If this is the Temple of Trials, where’s the trial?” At that second a throne made from gold and plush red velvet seats falls from above and hits the ground with a loud thud. Sitting in the throne is Mina.

Well she looks like her but it can’t be. She’s a mirror replica in everyday, if one ignores the fact she’s wearing that damn school uniform, white leather knee high boots tied with red laces on her feet and a royal coronet of gold and red velvet on her head. “What the hell.”

“Why are you so surprised?” The copy scoffs. “Then again, you were smart but refused to apply yourself. The trial is the one thing so many people cannot complete. The trial is to face one’s self. All those deep, disgusting inner thoughts you suppress in an attempt to keep everything at bay and look natural.” Mina does not reply. “So where do we begin? Childhood, adolescents, or those dreams for the future?”

“Do we really not fight?”

“Of course not. That would be too easy! I am you and you are me. We are one in the same, so our skills would be the same!” She hops to her feet and walks circles around Mina. “Let’s see. . . ah yes, you are hopelessly in love with Claus. It’s really dumb actually. I mean, he’s dead and you’re just a sister to him! He’s gonna die soon and all of those silly little dreams and wishes to get married together.”

“That’s not true!” Mina quickly snaps. Her other self giggles.

“Then why do you question your relationship so much? You always ask ‘how do I feel about Claus’? Didn’t you feel your heart break when he told you he would die and leave you soon? Sure it hurts to lose someone you care for but your feelings for Claus are far more intense than just a friendship.”

“It’s not-”

“You claim that but that’s not the truth. When this war ends he will die and leave us behind like the selfish prick he is!” Red painted nails point directly in Mina’s face making her lean back to avoid getting her eye jabbed out.

“. . .We still have a long way to go. We don’t have an heir.”

“Wrong!” the other screeches. “We know the answer. There was a secret reason why Khrystie wanted us to inquire about the world’s origins. She knew once we knew the truth we would realize it, the Jones family is the royal family of Jinjiru, reincarnated! When the world was reborn by Lucas’s wish of pure heart the Dark Dragon reached out to the souls of the dead, spanning across all of time and space. We were among them and so we too were reincarnated!” The familiar royal sword appears in her hands and Mina reaches over her shoulder for the blade to find it missing. Yeah. She had the real deal. The double raises the swords above her head like a heroic warrior leading an army to war.

“It will be us who takes up the Emerald Clover Sword and fight the Silver Witch!” She shakes her head as she shrugs. Her arms fall to her sides uselessly. “It was so obvious from the start! The sword, the shield and the tiara was so light in out hands but once someone else picked it up it was like trying to pick up lead at the bottom of the ocean. It was an impossible attempt for anyone that wasn’t you.”

“I. . .” No. It’s true. She did notice that. She noticed that when she stole the sword form those monks. Claus couldn’t carry it but she could. It was weird but she didn’t think much of it at the time, but now, it’s just so damn obvious.

“There’s no freaking point to deny this fate we are saddled with. We will fight. We will lose what we love. We’ll rebuild from the rubble unless we decide to screw the pooch. Admit it, you thought about it,” Mina takes a step back but her other follows. “It will be easy,” the copy was right behind her in a blink of the eye, arms reaching under her’s, pointing a knife to her chest. “Won’t it be better this way anyway? Even in a reborn world people are still cruel. Let them be crushed by the Jinjirus and then they’ll realize how pathetic they are and how perfect life was for them. Throwing it away would be easy, right?”

“They’ll only rise up.”

“Oh?”

“It’s human instinct to rise up again what is bigger than them. No one wants to be oppressed.”

“Just like you?” The reflection ponders, spinning Mina around. “Fate is a terrible word isn’t it? Everything is down precise and pre-chosen acts and interactions.”

“I can do what I want with life.” Mina snarls.

“They why the hell aren’t you, you coward?!”

“I. . . Because. . . ”

“Coward!” The copy screams, jabbing an accusing finger in her other’s face. “Then do something with your damn life! You’re afraid of losing value once this over, afraid you’ll lose the boy you love! You’re scared. We may not be able to stop Claus’s death but we can still go on and live and find where we belong! Don’t give up you dumb bitch!” The copy is breathing heavily at the end of her rant. Mina runs a hand through her hair.

The shit she keeps bottled up. No one will ever believe the thing she did this summer. Only Arc would but only because he saw it. No one will know the crisis she would of averted. After all of that. . . What the hell would she do with life?

“We’ll find something but to give up on this world is unforgivable.”

“Yeah it is.” Mina agrees slowly. “People. . .they suck but, they don’t need to die. It sucks no one will know what I’m doing. . . It sucks Claus will die but. . . He was happy living with my friends and family so. . . I guess that’s fine with me.” The double smiles softly at Mina’s words. She steps forward, presses her forehead to Mina’s as a pale aqua green light envelops her.

“That’s right. Life sucks and it does not always bare rewards but that’s no reason to give up on it. Let's pick up our heirlooms and fight.” The double’s body disintegrates in a flurry of bubbles. She takes a deep breath and approaches the waiting armor.

Celebrate life's grandeur. . . Its brilliance. . . its magnificence. . .

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Nineteen

Mina left the Saturn Valley early in the morning. Her farewells were not heartfelt as many things swarmed her mind but neither of them seemed to notice. Khrystie gives Mina a hand drawn map and her prized item, an old brass door knob with faded words carved into it.

The grassy plains of the east. . .were different. She wasn’t sure how or why but she could feel that they were. There were more animals out here than she has seen in all of her life, and just about each of them are unfamiliar to her. It’s all very odd. . . She’s soon walking down a poorly made dirt road as she checks over the map. According to it, if she continued to follow this path she would soon arrive to this mysterious destination.

What could be all the way out here? Why would anyone want to live all the way out here in this desolate area? Sighing, Mina allowed her thoughts to fester. What was Claus’s secret? Who was this person who knew it? What was the secret of this world?

“Mina! Hey! Minaaaa!” She stopped dead in her tracks. 

Well then. . . 

She turns to face the person, who turns out to be Fuel much to her surprise. The part timer kneels over, grasping his knees in an attempt to catch his breath. “I never expected to meet you all the way out here. . . Going for a hike?” She’s tempted to ask him the same thing since he’s wearing I giant backpack but she holds her tongue.

“I’m visiting someone.” She simply replies looking down at her map once more. He looks over his shoulder and smiles.

“Hey, I know this hand writing!” He beams. This is my pal’s girlfriend’s writing. What was her name again? Khristin?”

“. . .Khrystie?”

“Yeah, that’s it!” Fuel laughs but it dies out a moment later. “I wonder if he’s alright. . .” She remembers Arc mentioning one of his friends went missing. Guess it was Khrystie’s lover boy all along. . . 

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Mina says to reassure him. Fuel laughs again.

“Yeah, he’s not easy to take down. . . Now, who exactly are you visiting? Not many people live out here.” So this place was populated after all, but why was the first time she heard of it?

“A friend of a friend. His name is Lucas.”

“Lucas? Wow, he doesn't get many visitors. . . ” The adult scratches his head as he ponders a thought. “I think Khrystie was the only one outside the village that visited him.”

“Village?” Mina parrots. “Why is this the first time I ever heard of it?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s not easy to get there and not many people come out here because of the lack of established towns. The animals help too.” There wasn’t much to say after that so Mina did not reply and continued her hike in silence. The path leads up to hills of green that the duo stand at the top of, where they over look a green valley together. Smack dab in the middle of it all is a small brown village, making it stick out like a sore thumb.

“There it is,” Fuel smiles “Tazmilly Village.” Mina raises a brow, pondering what the hell kind of name is that.

“Tazmilly?”

“Yep, the place I was born and raised. It’s a nice small little farming village.” Fuel jogged in place next Mina as if he has ants in his pants. His grin grows wider and he bolts down the path. Mina blinks. 

Well, he was obviously excited to go home. . .  She’s never really seen anyone act like that before. It was kinda odd but it was apparent despite his life in the big city, Fuel loved his village. 

With a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders Mina followed after.   + + +   Mina looks around this village with scrutinizing eyes. It was different compared to Emerald Fields but it was hard to explain why or how. The town square was lined with a series of white houses with yellow shingled roofing. 

To the center of the town square was a well, which a couple of women gossiped around. Children rushed to an exit to the east, probably to get to a field to play in, laughing happily. 

There seemed to be some shopping exchange at the moment as stands were set up and all sorts of goods were on display. Fuel had said it was a small village but it did not seem like it with all these people walking about.   “Hey! Welcome back Fuel!”   “How was the city?” People asked Fuel questions as he leads Mina through village square. He simply smiled and waved at them all before coming to a stop and turning to the girl, a huge smile still present on his face.   “If you keep heading forward you’ll go find Lucas’s house. Take care.”   “Alright, thank you Fuel.” She bows her head and heads the direction she was instructed. 

To the south was a huge piece of property right on the water. It was quite an open space with a couple of fruit trees and hills, sitting on one of the hills was a small hill is an old wooden house and livestock barn.

As she approached the household she noticed someone working with a small group of livestock. When she was close enough a dog began to bark at her. The brown dog was old and lethargic. If she had to be honest, it looks like it’s ready to kick the bucket any second.   “C’mon Boney,” The young man laughs. “I doubt she’s here to cause any trouble.” Mina glances over this person. He’s tall and thin like a stick but he has minimal muscle build. His blue eyes are kind but they also seem tired, as if they’ve seen too much. His hair is in a blond cowlick (how old school). 

Clothing wise he’s wearing a dirty white dress shirt with a brown drawstring necktie adorned with a sunflower charm. He had a pair of khaki pants that tucked into simple pair of brown work boots.

He takes a moment to clean his hands on his pants before he climbs to his feet.

“You must be Mina, right?” He asks with a kind smile   “How did you know?” She asks curiously. He smiles. 

“Khrystie told me. She talks to me sometimes.” He taps the side of his head. “In here. She’s got some telepathy PSI, she’s pretty good at it.”

Ah. So, this was Lucas. . . 

“. . . So you know why I’m here then?” Mina asks slowly. An odd expression crosses Lucas’s face. Something like pain, but also relief?

“Yes,” He nods. With a kind smile he offers a visit to the lake. As, according to him, no one would bother them there. Mina simply shrugs. If he say so. She might as well go. It’s not like she knows this place at all   + + +   As Lucas said, not a soul was out. With the setting sun many people in town square began to take apart their stands and began to head home for the evening, so it was just the two of them. 

For whatever reason, Lucas is up to his ankles in the water with his pants rolled up and socks and shoes stowed aside on a nearby stump.   “So, what exactly do you need to know?” The adult asks, pulling a flat stone out of the water and gives it a throw. The stone makes three skips before sinking into the water. Silence exists between them for several moments. 

Lucas already knows the reason. He just needs the ‘proof’. The doorknob.

Mina pulls the object from her bag in a silent confusion. She has no idea how this thing can be remotely significant. Sighing, she rises to her feet and hands the item to Lucas.   “I want the truth. . .  the truth about this world and why it should be protected.” Lucas chooses to inspect the doorknob for several moments. At first Mina thought he was trying to check if it was real or not but that wasn’t the case. He was smiling fondly as he ran his fingertips over the faded words carved into the dirty aged metal. It was like. . . he was remembering something.   “I always knew I had to pass this story on one day. . .  Alright,” He puts his free hand into his pocket as he looks over the horizon. “It’s a bit of a long story Mina, take a seat.” Lucas takes a deep breath. “It was. . .  about twenty years ago, this little village was all that existed. There were no other settlements, just the small village of Tazmilly.”   “That doesn't make sense. What about Rubiton? Or Emerald Fields?” Lucas shakes his head at her confusion.   “They didn't exist yet.” Mina raises a brow.   “Yet?”   “Let me tell my story. . . I’ll answer your questions at the end.”   “. . . Alright.” Lucas smiles, gratefully. Together, they sit at the bed of the lake and Lucas continues where he left off. “Everything was within this village, everyone was friends and everyone knew everyone. One day, my mother and brother and I went to my grandpa’s house. . .” 

Lucas spent many hours retelling the tale of his youth, the story how his family fell apart, how this village changed and people become selfish and self-centered and the story of a great dragon that slept under the island and the quest to awaken it before his only rival, the fierce Pig Mask commander dubbed the Masked Man lead by a piggish king that has vanished long since then.   “I discovered. . . the Masked Man was my own brother. . .” Lucas tried to utter the name but it got stuck in his throat. “In the end, we were forced to fight to the death. . . and he took his own life after an internal power struggle. I. . . did not have the time to mourn him at the moment; I had to pull the final needle. So I did. . . from the bottom of my heart I wished for a new slate. I wanted a new world so we could try again and live. And so. . . people appeared and new cites were build, as if they always existed, and the people were none the wiser of what happened.”   “This world we live on is one built from heartbreak and sorrow but also hope. It is all we have we need to treat it well so history does no repeat itself. . .”   “That. . . Is a lot to take in. . .” Mina ruffles her hair and looks away. Lucas nods, tossing another stone into rippling water.   “It is. I won’t blame you if you can’t take it in right now. . .”   “Can I ask you something?” Mina slowly inquires. Lucas nods.   “I told you I would answer your questions after I finished my story, right?”   “Uhm, right. . . Do you. . . Do you know anyone by the name of Claus Howle? Is that familiar to you?” Lucas looks melancholy.   “That’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. . ." Lucas laugh a little. His eyes sad now. "Yeah. He was my brother. He was bold, brash and a giant goofball.” A smile makes his way to his face before it falls. “Who told you about him. . .?”   “Fuel. . .” She lies. She tunes out his response. Her mind is reeling too much to listen anyway. She’s so confused and yet, everything is coming together.   Claus knew PSI and knew how to fight with a sword.   Claus hid his past and there were no records on him at all.   Claus hated pigs and selfish people.   All because of his experiences as the Masked Man . . . but could her Claus really be Lucas’s? The dead can’t come back. . . but he was undoubtedly here. Why? What’s going on. . .? She would of asked. . .but she was sure that no one had the answer to that.

“Why don’t we head back to the village, it’s getting late. I’m sure there’ll be a room open in the Yado Inn.”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Eighteen

The trio left Steel City and it took about two days to cross the great plains to reach the edges of the desert. Before leaving for the desert Mina slipped into a small shop near by and grabbed as many wet towels and bottles of water as she could get. It was a weird location to put a shop. There wasn’t much past east anyway so who was the owner expecting to see?

Nonetheless, there was no clear idea how long it would take to cross the desert but Arc was nice enough to provide them with his own hand made map from his visit to the desert a year or so back. It was doubtful that Arc was pulling their legs, but would there seriously be aliens in the desert?

Still, even with a map and passing hours the trio find themselves lost. What a delight. It was even greater for Val, the poor girl was dressed in a long skirt and fur. They went through many bottles of water and wet towels allowing for everyone grow irritable. Claus and Mina began to bicker at each other and Val told them both to shut up, which did nothing to help the situation.

The sudden sandstorm didn’t help either.

“Oh look! A sandstorm!”

“You’re not going to blame this one me are you?”

“Of course I will! You’re the one with the map! We’re lost and it’s your fault!”

“Are you kidding me? It’s in Arc’s shitty hand writing!” Mina threw the map at Claus’s chest. “You try to read that goddamn thing!” Claus looks at the map and grimaces. Okay, yeah. Arc sucks pretty bad at map making. Did he seriously think this piece of crap would help them?

“Okay, but we’re still fucking lost either way.” The situation only got worst was Val suddenly collapsed. Claus groaned loudly.

“Just pick her up.”

“Why do I have to?”

“Because I said so.”

“That’s not a valid reason!”

+ + +

After even more bickering and stumbling about the heroes found a cave that climbed deep into the earth with a series of natural made stone stairs. The cave was a cool and chilled, the source for such temperature most likely came from the water that ran through the cave… from somewhere. The group cross a bridge of stone and at long last Arc’s map began to make some sense. All though the winding path was riddled with monsters the group soon made it to a grotto inhabited by… aliens.

They were round and pudgy with tiny stubby feet. They had beady eyes and whiskers on their… faces along with giant fatty noses. On top of their heads was a single hair decorated with a red bow. Even with seeing them in front of her Mina could not believe this.

“I. . . I need to take a seat.”

“We are all Mr. Saturn.” The alien introduces itself, or species as a whole. “It is nice and cool here.”

“Mr. Saturn. . .?” What kind of name is that?

“Are you friend?” it asks. “Friend waits at hotel.”

“’Friend waits at hotel’? What does that mean?” Claus ponders.

“I donno? Someone is waiting for us?”

“Do you think it’s Khrystie?”

“Its possible,” He shrugs. “She wasn’t in Steel City. . .Maybe she was waiting for us to come here?” The duo decide to investigate the matter once Val is placed in the safe hands of. . . Doctor Saturn. They make way to the biggest building in the grotto, labeled as hotel. Why did they have a hotel anyway? Who comes here often enough to need it? Why did these buildings have doors anyway? How. . . how did the Mr. Saturns even open the doors?

So many questions. . .

“Friend of friend?” The receptionist Mr. Saturn inquired as the two approached him.

“Sure. . .” Mina’s tone was uncertain. She had no idea who this friend was anyway but Mr. Saturn seemed not to care or notice as he pointed his nose down the hallway before returning to his paperwork.

“Big room on left.” As they stand before the door in question the two glance at each other. After a round of rock-paper-scissors Claus is the one left with the job of knocking on the door. He is greeted by the sound of a male groan and a soft feminine voice. The door opens moments later and there’s Khrystie, dressed like a normal person for once.

Her long blonde hair is down in long curls and decorated with a blue headband, she wears a v cut long sleeved blue and powder blue stripped shirt, on top is a light white shirt and on her legs is a pair of paling blue jeans. For some reason, she’s also wearing white framed glasses.

Why. . .?

“Ah, you children made it!” She smiled gratefully, she sidesteps and motions for the two to come into the room. The teens comply with an awkward shuffle into the room. Surprisingly. . . it looks luxurious and expensive inside the room. . . and there’s some guy laying in the huge satin bed.

He looks pretty beaten up from the looks of it. He’s got bruises, a black eye, a busted lip (assuming from the band-aid) and he was covered in many bandages. He didn’t seem to notice them at all although, as he was dead asleep in the bed.

Khrystie directs the two to a small table with a couch on each side. On the table top is a kettle coffee and plate of some kind of snack, a Mr. Saturn specialty perhaps? Khrystie begins to pour a cup of coffee when Claus asks her a question.

“So. . .Who’s that? In the bed?” Khrystie goes red and almost spills the kettle all over the table top.

“W-well, in human terms, he would be my boyfriend.” The two teens give her a questioning look. Yeah. . . Out of context it looks like she beat the shit out of him. . . Um. It’s not like that. “Before you ask, no, I did not injure him. Hime, the leader of that dreadful revolution, did. For quite some time I tried to talk the other Jinjiru’s out of warfare but they did not listen. They soon came to doubt my skills to lead but feared my power until recently they thought I was unbeatable. But, somehow, they discovered my other,” She casts a glance to the man in the bed with sorrowful eyes.

“They did not treat him well. They beat him and then threatened to kill him unless I stepped down. I no longer. . . control Jinjiru. If the Silver Witch is not defeated soon, Jinjiru will soon lose itself and a terrible, unwinable war will occur.” She looks to the two with pleading eyes. “Please tell me you have collected the tiara, shield and sword.”

“Yeah,” Mina nods. “We collected all of those things so far. It was a pain in the ass but we did it.” The adult looked so relieved and tears appear in the corner of her eyes.

“Oh thank The Council! My faith was placed correctly all along.” Khrystie suddenly looks serious, and it’s almost frighting. “Willamina Jones.” Mina attempts not to gag at her full name. “Before you pursue the Spade Armor I want you to understand the value of this world and why it must be saved.”

“Are you going into hippie dribble like my parents do?” Khrystie blinks. She tilts her head.

“What? ‘Hippie dribble’?” She had no idea what that meant. “Ah, never mind that . . . This world is special. It want you to understand why. There’s only one man that can explain it. You will go alone.” Alone? Why the hell did she have to go alone? “Claus knows the answer already. You friends will be safe in my hands. You can leave in the morning.”

+ + +

“What did she mean by that? That you know the answer already?”

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Do you not trust me or something?” Claus sighs heavily, glaring halfheartedly at the waterfall.

“I trust you but not myself.” He uncrosses his arms and looks to his feet. “Look, if you play your cards right tomorrow, you’ll get your answers. I. . . I really cant speak about this without getting sick or upset. I’m sorry. I really am Mina.”

+ + +

“Couldn’t sleep?” Khrystie asks Mina as she appears at her doorstep that night. Mina huffs.

“No. Not really.” The older invites the other into her room and brings her to the couch once more. Khrystie pours the girl a cup of coffee with a smile. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Khrystie smiles, placing the cup on a coaster before Mina. Mina presented the woman with the gemstone from the battle with the Silver Witch. “Oh? Where did you get this from?”

“The Silver Witch, she jumped us back in Marganpolis.”

“That was bold of her.” Khrystie scoffs. “She didn’t even visit in person either but, it was still bold it make an appearance.”

“How bold?”

“Very,” Khrystie sighs, setting the stone down. “The stone is a charm to make a physical appearance from a distance, how far it reaches depends on the strength of PSI or mentality.” Seeing the confused girl’s face she continues. “She cannot walk the mortal realm but she can influence others, our pocket is one of those few places she can walk with ease.”

“Your pocket?”

“We Jinjirus are not human. We are guardians of time and space and we live with in a special pocket of the cosmos to watch life beyond our gates and to intervene when threats become too big for humans to handle but when the royal family died we lost a sense of purpose. I haven’t been able to get them back on track to our true calling even after all these years and now with the Silver Witch’s influence . . . I don’t think I can help them. I believe they will have to learn on their own.”

“Isnt this illegal?” Mina suddenly asks. Khrystie blinks, trying to understated the meaning of her words before laughing.

“I no longer wish to live as a Jinjiru. I am exiled and even when the war ends I do not think I will be allowed back into Jinjiru. I will live with my lover in the human realm. It does not matter if I explain my people’s purpose to you.” Khrystie motions to the cup of coffee. “Why don’t you take a drink and go soak in the springs. It will help you unwind.”

“If you say so,” Mina looks at the coffee skeptically before taking a sip.

. . . 

. . . . . . . .

You’ve traveled very far from home. . .

Can you remember how this treasure hunt and quest to live began on that night of the talent show? It all began when that Jinjiru warrior attacked you.

You’ve never gone farther than your humble home in Emerald Fields. You’ve seen many things and met many people but you have never once lost your desire to protect those close to you and you’ve only grown stronger since then.

You have not taken on such a quest alone, Claus Howle, who’s been at your side for many years, a mystery he maybe but he’s sincere about keeping you safe.

Valeriya Marina is also at your side, although she is younger than you she is full of all kinds of knowledge and willing to help so she may help her mother.

It’s hard to believe isn’t it? For so long life seemed to be so normal and now the wheels of fate have turned to deliver a great destiny to you.

Once you finish this cup of coffee you will continue your adventure. You will meet a man named Lucas in a small village surrounded by mountains and untamed nature. And from him you will learn the truth.

Ibuki Amaya has gifted you with the key you need to access the Temple of Trials. You’re at the final stretch Willamina, it will get hard and great secrets will be given to you. It maybe hard to understand and you might not want to accept it, but, I am sure you will be all right.

I am certain, if you keep pushing forward for the ending you desire and give it your all, you will come out on top. Life will return to it’s calm in time, and you will laugh and smile like never before.

Willamina. . .

Claus. . .

Valeriya. . .

I wish you luck. . .

Mina was confused by what happened when she came back to consciousness. Khrystie smiles. Mina excuses herself from the room. Khrystie bids her good night before returning to the bed. She sits on the edge of the bed, brushing back his hair from her lover’s forehead before she strokes his cheek and he leans into her touch. Khrystie smiles a little.

“Are you going to tell her?”

“No. I think she can figure it out on her own. . . She’s a smart girl.”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Seventeen

“Mina, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yeah, well I do.” Mina sighs exasperated. “I. . . I don’t know anything about. You’ve lived with my family for years, you know us but we don’t know anything about you. It’s not that. . . I don’t trust you. A lot of things aren’t making sense about you now.” Claus remained silent. It was obvious he was trying to distract himself with the eternally falling snowflakes of Marganpolis. She followed in suit and remained silent as well. Ibuki told her she needed to learn when to pick a fight. Maybe this was one of those moments. Forcing an answer out of Claus would only make this worst, right?

“I just want an answer. An explanation. One day. . . Okay?" With a sigh she turns away and walks off in the direction of the apartments Val claimed to live in. She previously stood in town square with Claus to give the girl some time with her sick mother but now she needed time from Claus. Why must everything be so complicated? Life would of been so much simpler if those crazy warrior women didn’t try and attack them. She would be home with her friends. With her parents.

Yeah. With her parents. . . She ran off to protect them but damn it, she was. . . really missing them now. Mina’s eyes rest upon a phonebooth in the sidewalk. Well. A phone call wouldn’t hurt. . . right? Mina shuffles the contents of her pocket to find some coins, more than enough for a call or two. Mina enters the phonebooth and slips coins into the machine before dialing her home number. Hopefully at least one of them are home. Without her or Claus around she’s doubtful that they would bother going to their farm on Emerald Fields.

“Jones residence, this is William Jones speaking.” Mina swallows a lump and scratches the back of her head.

“Hey. . . dad.”

“Willamina?! Is that you?” Mina made a vomit sound at the mention of her full name. Ugh. She hated that so much.

“Yeah. It’s me dad,” She twirls the wire of the phone cable, avoiding the machine as if her father could see her at the moment.

“Willamina, where are you? Do you have any idea how worried we were?!”

“Mina,” She corrects. “And I know, I’m sorry for not. . . doing something I guess. Things have been hectic for me.”

“Things? Willamina what have you been up to?”

“It’s. . . hard to explain and it would take too long. I just want you and mom to know I’m okay.”

“Please come home. . . We’re worried.”

“I will dad. Just. . . not yet.” Mina sighs heavily. She runs a hand through her bangs and rests her elbow on the pay phone.

“What? Why can’t you return home Willamina?”

“Look, things are complicated. Really. . . really complicated. Claus is with me so don’t worry. I. . .I love you guys okay? I don’t want to worry you but I have to do this. I’ll come home soon.” That’s right. Khrystie said there were four pieces to collect, they had three. Once they got their hands on the final piece, the Spade Armor, they just had to find the heir and end this war. They’re so close right now. . .

“Willamina. . .”

“I’m sorry dad. I ju-” Before she could properly end the call the door was ripped open and she was pulled out of the phonebooth. The two fell into the snow and with good timing, seeing how the phonebooth suddenly imploded seconds later.

“Jesus Christ. What was that?” Claus points to her left. Someone. . . is approaching but who? Ugh. It was hard to tell. Even as they came closer. . .their form seemed to be ambiguous. What a creep. “Who is that. . .?”

“I’ve been watching you long time. I am the Silver Witch.”

That. . . was unexpected. Neither teen ever expected that they would be the ones to be confronted. Claus places a hand on her shoulder, backing her away from the enemy. “Don’t try to run,” the being sneers. “Now, be good little children and give me the heirlooms.”

“We’re not handing them over.” Claus hisses.

“Why do you even want them?" Mina demands. "We were told they only work for the heir.”

“Quite true but I simply want them.” The Witch scoffs. “Made from rare materials and beautiful gems. The heirlooms are a one of a kind. Such beauty should belong to me and me alone. Not only that, once I have my hand on those items the Jinjirus will have no choice but to bow down to me and destroy this new world and raise a new one as I please from the ashes because I have destroyed you with my two hands!”

“. . .That’s your objective?”

Wait. . . This new world? What the hell did that mean? Okay. That made no sense at all.

“Don’t be surprised. I want so much, no one understands how I need it. You humans think too small. I’ll expand my dreams so they’ll cover the world. To reach that… I’LL HAVE TO DESTROY YOU!” Thunder flies and the two make an attempt to run. Thunder booms and cracks once more, blocking off their path. Thunder dances across the floor and surges through their bodies from their feet.

It dosen't harm Claus as much as it effects Mina but god it was a terrible feeling. Claus's mechanical limb sparks ever so slightly but he ignores it to draw his blade.

With a powerful roar, he swings the blade but on contact with the Silver Witch it shatters as if a football plowed through a window. Mina counter attacks with a PK Roses but the PSI dissipates before it can even reach the Silver Witch.

With a malicious cackle, they're both thrown into the air like dolls by an unseen force. They collide face first into the streets. There was no one around to help them, hell, if Val was here it was doubtful she could do much herself. . . 

"Now. . . hand me what is mine. . ."

"Go to hell!" Mina snarls.

. . .In retrospect, the thought that they could beat the Silver Witch was incredibly dumb. . . but, they can't give the heirlooms to this. . . thing! They couldn't do that.

She can tell that the Silver Witch is looking down at them with contempt and disgust. The witch's writing mass of a body twitches and with an unearthly screech a mass of psychic energy falls from the sky like stars.

Without even thinking about it Mina raises the Diamond Shield to defend themselves from the attack. The sturdy materiel and unique properties of the shield deflects the attack all together. Sadly all that seemed to do was piss off the Witch some more.

The two teens backed away from the woman as she gave off a new aura, one worst than before. She’s about to strike once more when a familiar dog arrives on the scene with what seems to be a gem in it’s mouth and the witch is gone. Mina and Claus collapse in exhaustion.

“I can’t believe this. She wasn’t even there. . .”

“So, it was an illusion. . .? Really?” Claus takes the stone from the dog and glaces over it with tired eyes. He’s never seen such a thing before… but it also feels vaguely familiar. “I guess we owe Val now. She and her dog saved us from whatever happened here. . .”

+ + +

To the south-eastern deserts lies an abandoned and lost city, untouched by modern man. All is rubble and devastation except for one building, the very same building that caused the down fall of this civilization, the Temple of Trials.

Wind blows sand around but the only one with in the city does not care. She stands before the tall doors to the Temple of Trials. She holds a giant intricate looking lock with a single keyhole in her hands. With a sigh she releases the lock from her hands.

“Ah geez. They’re running behind. . . Or maybe Ibuki is calculating too fast. . .” The girl scratches her mulit colored hair with a sigh. “This is so disappointing, yo ne. . .” There’s no one around to answer her so she sighs once more. “Standing here will do Ibuki nothing. Ibuki should do other things. . .” In a flash and a snap of fingers Ibuki vanishes, pondering things.

+ + +

After that, everything seemed to be fine. The two returned to Val’s house just as the girl was leaving. It seemed her mother was fine, for now, but with the money from Mina she would be able to get some help. With nothing left to do in this city the trio left, making way back to Steel City. When they arrived something seemed a midst and the city seemed even more restless than before.

The trio returned to Arc’s apartment but Khrystie was not around. Arc himself was although. He was sitting on the couch with his hand in a box of cereal dressed in nothing but his boxers and a nightshirt. How mature.

“You’re alive.” He smiles. “That’s great.”

“What happened to the city?” Mina asked as she walked to a closet the hall. Claus and Val took this opportunity to collapse on the couch while Mina retrieved the Clover Sword. Arc sighed and slouched into the couch.

“No one really knows. There were explosions, tons of people got hurt and then one of my friends go missing. It’s just been hectic. This hasn’t happened before so people are freaking out left and right.”

“Well. That sucks.” Mina coughed. “We’ll rest here for the night and then we’ll be off. We need to head out to the desert.”

“The desert? What are you up to now?”

“Collecting ancient lost treasures to stop a war against humanity. We just need one more.” “What.”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Sixteen

“Did you REALLY have to punch it?” Mina asks. Claus gives her a look.

“Are you seriously asking that?” He demands. The box was locked. What the hell did she think they had to do to get it out of there? Not his fault that the damn thing had an alarm system on it. “Just get the window open.”

“Locked,” Val sighs.

“Then break it!” Claus shouts with urgency when he hears footsteps coming. Mina rips her keytar off her back and smashes a near by window open. Claus tosses Mina the shield since she’s closer to the window than anyone else. She is the first to make the escape, with Val following behind her. Once Val jumps onto the fire escape the door flies open.

“Is that. . .?”

“It can’t be. . .”

“He’s. . .” The men murmur and Claus feels himself sweating. Claus hastily salutes and jumps out the window himself, rushing to catch up with Mina and Val.

“H-hey! He’s getting away!” He just wants to get out of here fast. Coming to this place was a terrible idea. Shield be damned. It was crawling. . . with them. They even recognized him. It’s been years. Still they remember him. The part of him he wants to forget and wished that never existed.

“It’s the commander!”

“I thought he was dead. . .”

“I saw his face! It look exactly like the commander’s!”

“Who cares, we need to get him and those other kids he’s with!”

“Claus. . .What the hell are they talking about?” Mina demands as Val hurries her down the ladder.

“Can we please. . . talk about this later?”

Honestly, he would prefer never actually.

Mina gave him a nasty glare as she tucked the shield under her arm and climbed down the ladder. Val climbs down next and Claus simply jumps down. Like hell if he waits any longer. Those creeps are getting too close to him. He just wants to get away. Away. Away. Away!

Sadly Claus loses his focus and actually ended up flipping off the edge of the fire escape railing and landed flat on his face on the concrete below.

“Holy shit, Claus! Are you alright?!” Mina yells with worry as she climbs down the ladder to touch down on the ground. The boy raised his head to show off a nose bleed. Mina winces as she helped him back to his feet with a single arm.

“Worry ‘bout his nose later,” Val huffs. “We needta keep movin’. We can hide in Marganpolis, no one around here has an ID.”

“And you do?”

“Course I do, how else did you think I got outta of tha' city?”

“Broke the law? Cheated the system?”

“Oh hush up!” Val hisses. Too bad the bickering only captured the attention of the people they were trying to avoid leading to them being cornered in the alleyway. “Dang it! They got us surrounded!”

“We have no choice, we gotta fight these guys!” Val let her precious dog jump on a man and bite his arm. He howled and waved his arm around, trying to shake the dog off. He had no luck for he had an iron grip on his arm. Claus drew his blade in a fashion that seemed to frighten the men. Some squealed, and the sound reminded Mina of pigs. The very sound of pigs pissed Claus off for some reason. . .

She never really knew anything about Claus. He lived with her and her family for years but. . . they just, knew nothing about him. He was very smart and honest hard worker but lone and reserved, still polite when he needed to be (although it was stiff sometimes.). Now that light has been shed upon it, there’s the matter of his PSI, his swordsmanship, and this commander thing.

Just. . . who the hell was Claus Howle? Why didn’t he want to talk about anything? Did he. . . did he do something bad. . .?

. . .

. . .Not now. This needed to wait for another time. . .

+ + +

There were very few ways to describe it, a simpler phrase would be ‘Junjiru is an odd place’. She could not deny that. Not after sneaking into the human world and living along their inhabits behind her people’s back. (In no way has she betrayed her sisters and comrades, she was merely curious of what was outside and wondered why it was so terrible.) She could not see why the humans were as terrible as she was told.

They were different from Junjiru’s for sure, they were simpler and aged faster than she thought possible. Still, they were all unique, they didn’t live the same lives everyday, they liked and hate different things and acted different from each other. Sometimes they clashed and changed another instead of melding into the hive mind many, if not all, Jinjiru’s had.

One day it finally dawns upon her; this war should not happen. They were only falling into the Silver Witch’s hands. Fighting humans would solve nothing. They would only become as bad as the witch herself! At first she believed the reincarnation of their heir would be the answer to the end of warfare but the nation of Jinjiru has become bitter to the idea of a royal family that they say they are self-sufficient as they are. They need someone of power to help them change.

Khrystie Melody realizes she would have to turn an entire country’s opinions and feelings around if they were to continue living. . .but they are suborn. Millions of years they have lived and thought like this but that train of thought and belief was only going to kill them now. She points this out and that’s why Jinjiru was slowly turning on her. They didn’t need her anymore.

She no longer fit their description of a perfect leader. The only reason they had not acted against her was her strength but they found the chink in her armor. Damn them all.

Before her is a scene she never wanted to see. The most precious human to her with a blade to his neck and she struggled to keep her cool. It wasn’t an easy task for him as well. He stood tall and stiff with his arms bound behind his back. His left eye was black, his lip was broken and his clothes were stained with blood. He struggled to keep his breathing in order as the blade inched closer to his neck.

“You damn well explain yourself Hime.” Khrystie hisses as her fingers twitch, slowly uncurling from closed fists. The young woman before her sneered, casually playing with her blonde curls.

“I don’t have any explaining to do. You are to leave Jinjiru, now.”

“And I refuse?” Khrystie only managed to make a few steps forward before that blade was pressed to the throat of her loved one. Blood seeped from the small wound. Her hand twitched and her eyes widen briefly. She couldn’t be obvious about her fears. She had to get him out of this in one piece. That’s all that mattered at the moment.

“He dies. The human you’ve become attached to. . ..” She snarls. Although it’s not with hate or disgust like the other Jinjiru’s. No, Hime is in control of her self and that lust for power she has. Of course, no one with brain power would let her lead.

“. . .Fine. I shall take my leave from this country.” Her steps forward were cautious but, to her relief, Hime made no sudden movements. Once she was close enough blades lowered and he was shoved into her arms. Khrystie held onto him tightly and he leaned into her, burring his head into the crook of her neck to tell her he was just fine. “. . .but, I’ll be back Hime. I can promise you that.” Before a resort could be made, Khrystie utters a PSI under her breath. “PK Chronos.” And like that the pair vanish.

+ + +

“Are you alright?” shes asks him as she unties his wrists. They’re red with traces of dry blood. He shrugs it off although, simply rubbing his wrists. She takes a seat on the best at his side.

“I told ya, I’m fine.”

“Yes. . . but you could of just said that not to worry me back. . . there.” Her voice is small and he glances over to her. His heart twists seeing that upset face with unsheathed tears. He leans in close and pecks her lightly on the lips.

“Don’t worry Melody, I’m fine.” he pauses for a moment. “But. . .you have to. . . explain what all that was.”

“Yes. . .” she grimaces. “That much is inevitable. . .I miscalculated the situation long ago. . . but, my people, we were once attacked by an entity known as the Silver Witch. For long we kept our guard for her return and she has made her return recently but the greed and selfish desires of others she feeds off has taken over the minds of my people and she wishes to use it to make a war against the rest of the world! Twisting arrogance and superiority into reasons to wage war.”

“Why weren’t you affected. . .? You were the General and stuff, right? Wouldn’t that make you the prime target of all this mind control junk or whatever?” Khrystie blushes and glances away for a moment.

“. . .You. Because I had a light in my life, I did not scream warfare like the other of Jinjiru I could see everything for myself and thus that influence could not reach me. . . At first I tried to contain the warfare as. . . two strange children were viewed as threat. I tried to prove the kids were not bad or reasons to fight but they kept attacking them without reason.” Khrystie sighs, climbing to her feet and walking to the window. There was no sight within the grotto, just water and stone. She sighs once more. “Those kids are now out collecting the four royal family heirlooms so they can find the heir to defeat the Silver Witch. I’ve done just about everything I can. . .I can only wait and see what happens now. . .”

“Yeah. I’m sure you did good. You have an eye for perfection.” He mumbles into her ear. She was so lost in her own thoughts she actually failed to notice him stand. His arms go around her waist, drawing her close to his body, and he holds her as tight as he can without hurting her. Khrystie smiles softly, resting her head against his chest.

“Yes. Thank you. . .”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Fifteen

“Please, end my life.” Claus muttered pulling up his hoodie. It took a couple of days and countless times getting lost to find The Preserves. And it was as Khrystie said, it was indeed over run with shady people. Mina and Claus looked sorely out of place, Val, on the other hand, didn’t seem so out of place other than her age.

“How about later Claus, we have to find that auction house.” Claus only grimace at Mina’s response. She wouldn’t ever understand but this place… made him feel wrong for so many reasons.

“Alright, I’m going off by myself.” Val suddenly announces. “Go eat or something. I'd stay out of the shops, we already stocked up and they’d probably rip us off anyway.”

Agreeing with Val’s words the two decided to waste time at a nearby restaurant. It was rather simple place. Faded red leather booth seats, counters lined with red leather stools, white and black checkered floors. To the back was a single stage where an amp and microphone stand waited.

The two teens seated themselves it wasn’t even seconds later they were approached by an…. eccentric girl. She was rather pale, but her eyes were bright pink, which stuck out more than her white hair decorated with streaks of pale pink, blue and purple. She had a pair of silver piercings, one at each side of her bottom lip. The young lady was dressed in a sleeveless button down shirt that exposed her mid drift. Around her neck was a blue tie that had a heart shaped pin made from pearl and onyx attached to it. To finish her off was a navy skirt that almost reached her knees, purple and white striped stockings and heavy black lace up boots.

“Ibuki saw you two come in! Ibuki is glad to meet you!”

“Um… glad to meet you…?”

“Ibuki thinks those confused faces are cute!” She laughs. “but they are not fitting of heroes!” Shit. Who was this clown?!

“…What?”

“Ibuki knows why you are here! You want the Diamond Shield to stop the great war happening under the nose of humans!” She stifled a laugh, as if warfare was the funniest thing in the world. “You’re still maturing… but one day you’ll know what it means to be a hero!” Claus suddenly stood and she giggled at his reaction.

“Who are you?”

“Ibuki is Ibuki Amaya. ‘Breath of the Heavenly Valley’. Nice name? Ibuki picked it out all by herself.”

“No, what are you is a more accurate question.” Mina snaps. Ibuki suddenly looks mad. She crosses her arms with an aggravated huff.

“She is not human nor a Jinjiru. What Ibuki is does not matter because Ibuki is Ibuki.”

“Okay, then why are you here? Why are you here teasing us?” Ibuki digs into the pocket of her shirt and places whatever she pulled onto the table. Her manicured blue painted nails slide the item closer to the two.

“A gift from Ibuki, Ibuki knows what you are planning and this will help.” Ibuki scratches her head. “Ibuki also thinks Mina’s music is very nice…”

“You know about my band…?” Mina climbs to her feet, ready to fight. This girl was really starting to piss her off, not only with her way of talking, but with how she was being so vague with so many questions. How did she know about the shield? If she’s not human or a Jinjiru what the hell is she? Also why is she talking about vending machines?! What a weird girl!!! Ugh.

“Ibuki is not looking for a fight! Ibuki loves music so she went to the talent show in your town! Do not instigate what is not there! This is what Ibuki means when she says you need to mature!” With a huff Ibuki walks up to the stage to prepare for a show. Supposedly. Was she really the entertainment. What low standards….

Except, she didn’t suck. No wonder they kept the crazy chick.

Claus just wished her lyrics didn’t speak so strongly to him as they did. It was… almost painful to listen.

+ + +

“Did you get the information Val?”

“Ya. They store all the goods on tha second floor, tha door is locked all tha time but tha’s a hole in the floor and you can see it right here.” Val points to the ceiling right above her. There was indeed a hole but it seemed to be covered.

“It’s covered.” Claus deadpanned.

“Not with anything heavy. A lot of people are poor in mind and pockets, so they didn’t do anything professional. All we need to do is get the ladder from storage and move it aside to get in.”

“So once we’re in we have the shield we just exit and leave?”

“Not exactly, thay go up for an item one atta time. Usin’ tha door will get us noticed real quick but there’s a fire escape rail outside so we can use that and slide out unnoticed.”

“Well thought out, well, let’s get moving then.” The trio waited for the auction to begin and made the move to the storage closet. They grabbed the ladder and shuffled away without making too much sound. Just as Val said the hole cover was moved with ease. One by one they climbed up and into the storage room.

“Okay, so, where’s the shield?”

“It should be to the back, it was listed as the special auction for the night. From what I heard those are usually the last of the night.”

“AND SOLD TO BIDDER 413”

“Shoot, someone is comin’!”

“Hide!” the teens scattered, rushing to take hiding spots in the room. The door opens a by some god sent miracle they aren’t noticed by the employees. How that was even possible is amazing knowing the fact they didn’t cover the hole and the ladder is still out in the open. The trio pushes the idea aside and they quickly return to their search. Items are carefully moved around, on a few occasions does something fall and make a loud sound. Still, no one returns so they are still safe for the time being.

“Here it is!” Mina suddenly calls. Claus and Val come rushing over. Under a series of paintings was a glass case on a podium. Inside the case was a shield crafted from marble and topaz. Yeah. This was the shield for sure. Mina tired to open the case it wouldn’t budge at all. It was locked…

They didn’t think of that possibility.

“Great.” Claus sighs throwing his arms around with exasperation. “Now how do we open it?”

“We have to break it, we don’t have much options there.”

“I…I have to agree, but we need to wait until the current item is sold off and the next one is taken down. That will give us time to get that window open and get out of here without being caught.” And so they did just that. They pulled the paintings over the glass case, Claus and Val drew back but Mina lingered for a moment. The painting on top grabbed her attention. A black dragon with it’s body curled into a spiral on a background that seemed like an explosion.

What an odd painting…

At the sound of footsteps although she goes off running to hide with the others. The men come and go, taking something with them. The trio throw aside the paintings and Claus punches the glass. An alarm sounds immediately.

“Shit.”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Fourteen

With a huff Mina exited the bathroom, her mind angrily brewing. Something as dumb as this shouldn’t be bothering her. She threw her clothes into the hamper on her way out of the bedroom she claimed as her own with a grunt.

Mina proceeds to storm into the kitchen to pour herself a bowl of cereal. Arc had only one box of cereal out of his limited breakfast supply, Cinnamon Toast Crunch (what a kid), unfortunately it looked like Khrystie had gotten into the box yesterday and finished it off but forgot to throw the box out. Mina threw the box to the ground.

“Goddamn it! What a tease! What an ass!" She bellows, taking out all of her anger and frustration on the box with her foot. "Everyone knows you’re supposed to throw the box out when you’re done!”

Everyone but some apparently ageless general in charge of a tribe of warrior women.

Throwing the box away Mina decided to take measures into her own hands. She would go buy cereal herself. This was clearly not a way to distract herself from a question she had no answer from. Nope. No way at all. No siree.

Mina shoves a decent amount of money into her pockets and made her way down town by foot. Too bad she got lost. Unfortunately, She never found a grocery store but she did find a convenience store. She decides it's good enough and approached the little store.

Right by the front doors were two teenagers loitering about. They looked like they were trying a little too hard to be tough punks. Mina rolls her eyes. Like she said, this is good enough.

“Ey baby,”

“You got any money?”

“Don’t be like that!” One growled as Mina strolled past them without even stopping.

“She just fuckin’ ignored us!”

“What a bitch…” The blonde scoffs as the automatic doors close behind her. The convenience store was much bigger than the one back home, and probably had more unnecessary crap too. There seemed to be one whole aisle dedicated to nothing but magazines rather than one small rack. If there were this many magazines there had to be cereal somewhere…

Mina drifted up and down aisles, finding weird people in just about every aisle (she was sure there was a lady with ten cats looking for dinner in the soda and various drink fridges section). In time she found cereal but not boxes of cereal. There was a variety of prepackaged small bowls of cereal.

“Well, I guess this is better than nothing…” At least it would stop people from eating a crap ton of cereal in one go… the only problem now was choosing what to get. Her mother never got sugar cereal growing up, as close as she would get to that was LIFE cereal and even then getting to eat that was rare. And she had no idea what Val liked to eat.

With a shrug of her shoulders Mina grabbed two of everything that looked appealing to her and made her way to the register. The woman at the register raised a brow at all the bowls.

“Is this enough?”

“I don’t need sass.” Mina frowned, slamming her fists on the counter. “I need sustenance!”

“Don’t get diabetes kid.”

“I’m not eating all of it, nor by myself.” Mina tossed the money at the woman and grabbed the plastic bag containing her cereal. The checkout girl just blew a pink bubble of gum and slapped Mina's receipt and change into her hands.

It was too early to explode but if she could, she would of. The woman put all of Mina's change on top of the receipt and now it's sliding everywhere.

Who does that? Why would you do that? You're just making more trouble for everyone!

And so, Min leaves the store in a huff. The young lady strut out of the store’s automatic doors and right into the thugs she previous brushed off. Neither of them looked happy. She glanced back to the lady at the register. She was obviously avoiding contact.

Jesus.

What a rude woman.

Well, not like it mattered. Sure, she didn’t have her keytar to smack them around but she had her PSI. She readied a blast of PK Roses when a sheathed blade suddenly reaches over her shoulder and hit one of the males on his head.

“Oh come now, ganging up on one person? How low and rude do you have to be?”

“Dang man, you just hit my amigo with a sword!”

“Sheathe.” The young man corrected.

“You’re the rude one. You’re crazy, I’m gone.” The guy proceeds to drag his unconscious friend away rather slowly. Mina furrowed her brows. He seemed pretty weak to get knocked out with one blow his on the head and the other seemed to be incredibly wimpy.

Mina spun around to face her savior. She had to at least thank them. Her brow shot up in surprise finding the young man from the musical instrument store. He was dressed far more casually then before, making obvious he was off duty at the moment. A gray coat with red sleeves over a simple white shirt, brown slacks and boots with a red neckerchief around his neck.

“…Fuel. Right?”

“Yeah,” he extended the blade to her. “Your friend dropped this last night.” Mina blinked. Her mind suddenly recalled why Claus even went out last night, it was to look for a new sword.

“…You saw Claus last night?” He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Yeah, he seemed kinda scared of something and dropped his sword.”

“Huh…” She sighed. Claus was afraid? What the heck could he be afraid of?

“So.. uh, you’re one of the kids at Arc’s place, right?”

“You know Arc?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty tight.” Fuel smiled lightly. “We’ve known each other for several years or something. So he told me some kids were laying low in his place.”

“And that doesn’t sound weird to you?” Fuel laughs lightly.

“I’ve had my fill of weird things in my life. Hearing my friend’s friends crashing at his place isn’t weird.” Fuel glanced aside for a moment. “I mean he never explained why, but I’m sure you aint hanging out at his place for some bad reason…”

“Right.”

“So um, Claus… he’s… fine, right?” She raised a brow. Why was this guy so interested in Claus? What a weirdo. Well, if he is Arc’s friend she can’t really bitch about it.

“I donno,” she shrugged. “He was sleeping when I left to pick up cereal.” she made a motion to the white plastic bag full of goods.

“Oh, well, I hope he feels better…” Fuel glanced to her hand and smiled, almost nostalgically. “You too? You’re the second person with powers like that I’ve ever me.” For a moment Mina forgot she prepared a PK Roses and her hand was still glowing with a faint power. She blushed and ceased the flow of psychic energy.

Wait… he knew someone with PSI? Could it be someone around his age, with experience?

“So, you know someone else with these powers? Could they teach me and Claus something?” Fuel’s eyes widened, but only for a second. He regained his composer and cleared his throat.

“Honestly, I don’t know if he’s still in practice… It’s been about, I donno, a long time since I’ve last seen him in action… I don’t know if he can really teach you anything.”

Now that she could think about it, didn’t Claus say PSI varied person to person? Maybe he couldn’t teach her anything then, still it would be nice to talk to someone more experienced who knew about PSI.

“I see, well, I should get going…”

“Oh right, sorry for holding you up for so long… but, what’s your name? Arc never did tell me your names…” Mina sighed. Arc was so damn forgetful some times.

“Mina Jones.” He nodded, taking that as a signal to go Mina departed.

+ + +

“I’m home,” she received no response. She glared at nothing in particular followed by scratching her head. Bunch of lazy assholes. What the hell are they doing sleeping in this late? She threw the cereal on the counter before making her way to Claus’s room. She opened his door, quite not to wake him, to find that he was already awake. He was just staring at the ceiling with a look of dread.

“What the hell is with you?” She demands. He jumped and snapped his head to her.

“I… can’t sleep.” Mina snorts, crossing her arms.

“You’re a real pain in the ass you know.”

“Sorry.”

What?

No snappy come back? No insult? No yelling? Just a flat out sorry? Mina’s shoulder slouched, losing the previous tension she gained for unknown reasons.

“Look, did… something happen last night? Arc’s friend ran into you last night, he said you were afraid, or upset or something?” Claus rolled onto his side and pulled the heavy quilt over his head.

“No I wasn’t.” He mumbles. His voice is soft and . . . almost timid.  She sighs.

“Yeah, well, he found your sword and returned it to me. Don’t lose it again.” She could hear a muffled okay and turned her back on him. “We’ll head out tomorrow morning to The Preserves. And if your hungry there’s some cereal.”

“Don’t we have real food?” He asked, pulling the covers down from his face. Mina stuck her tongue out.

“Well, if you were awake I could of told me what you wanted and I would of picked it up while I was out. I could go out now and get something…” Normally she wouldn’t offer him such things, but, just this once she would.

“I want an omelet.”

“That all?” He nods.

“Alright, I’ll get you some damn eggs.” she muttered, placing the sheathed blade against the door frame as she made her exit.

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Thirteen

Due to an overlooked note, the newly formed trio was trapped on the island since it was a weeklong cruise. The group opted to remain on the ship and waste time.

Sadly there was not much to do. Mina and Claus swapped roles this time around, Mina spent her time trying to read up on things, Claus slept for many hours and wandered the decks at late hours and Valeriya, who insisted on being called Val, ate as much food as she could and brought a decent amount back to her dog.

Days wasted away and the ship began its return home. A day later the group returned to Steel City.

“Now what?”

“Dunno.” Claus shrugged. “Mina, did you learn anything about the desert?”

“Nothing. It’s really weird how there’s nothing.” She crossed her arms and sighed. “Well, nothing but Arc’s claim of aliens in the desert that I found in some alien cult magazine. But that’s a bunch of bullshit.”

“So we’re stuck until our mole returns?”

“I guess, she’s the only one that isn’t hostile and has a brain for that matter.”

“Geez. You got a mole?” Val raised a brow.

“I don’t know if mole is the right word.” Mina sighed. “She’s supposedly the leader of them all and she’s only contacting us to end this dumb fight.”

“You know that’s dumb and blindly following someone that wants ya dead.”

“I don’t like it either.” Claus muttered. “But as it stands it’s all we can do.”

+ + +

“You ordered a pizza?”

“Yes!” The leading Jinjiru smiled. “It looked appetizing on the screen so I ordered it!” She soon frowned, somewhat upset. “It does not entirely resemble the food that appeared on the screen, though it still tastes quite nice…”

“Yeah, that happens.” Claus grumbled, grabbing himself a slice. He took a large bite out if his food, and as he began to chew he asked his question. “So, you got any info on that desert?”

“Oh yes,” the woman looked quite pleased with herself. “The desert houses a lost civilization known as Toplaza Congregation. A man overthrew the ruling family and locked away the Ruby Armor in a temple known as the Temple of Trials. He said if anyone could successfully navigate the temple he would step down. Many tried to retrieve the armor to end his terrible reign, but there were no survivors.”

“Oh.”

“I recommend going after you retrieve Diamond Shield.”

“Why wait that long?”

“You can and will pass those trials, but not yet. You are not powerful enough, so going to The Preserves is your best course of action.”

“The Preserves…” Mina repeated. “What is that exactly?”

“It’s a hidden city that houses many criminals. They have a lot of black market dealing and auctioning of the shady variety. My intel tells me that within the week the shield will be sold off. Your options are to buy it or steal it.”

“Oh, well, that’s in Val’s territory.”

“If ya want me to steal anythin’, I need to check out the area beforehand.” the girl interjected. Khrystie waved off the girl.

“Now, The Preserves are along a hidden path to Marganpolis but if you pass the snow cabin you’ve gone too far!” Khrystie glanced out the window and pulled herself to her feet. “Aaah, it’s getting late. I must return home.” The woman snapped her fingers and disappeared once more.

“I should go search a store, maybe I can find a sword or something.” Claus sighed. “I can’t keep using this antique…”

“There’s probably a hobby shop somewhere…” the boy pulled himself to his feet and simply exited the apartment with the backpack full of goods.

“Is he always like that?”

Mina shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

+ + +

As Mina mentioned there was indeed a hobby shop in the city, and to his luck it was stocked with swords.

What hobby involved swords like this was beyond him, though. These weren’t exactly fencing swords… The boy let out a growl as it began to drizzle. He did not need this right now. He had no umbrella or anything. Well, nothing other than a sword. But a sword was not an umbrella.

Grumbling at his misfortune, he hardly noticed someone else walking down the sidewalk. He bumped shoulders with that person but he made no attempt to apologize and continued walking until the person spoke up.

“Claus…?”

He flinched. He suddenly found it hard to breath as he recognized that voice. Although altered with age, he could recognize it. Why was he. . .?

He slowly turned to face the person. His eyes widened and his legs suddenly felt like lead, and he began to shake violently. It was harder to breath now. It was like he was suffocating under an intense pressure.

No.

He shook his head slowly as he came closer.

“Claus?”

No.

Adrenaline, fear and horror pulsed through his body. Claus forced himself to move and once his feet listened he took off, refusing to look back.

“Claus!”

Why?

Why was this happening?

Why was he here?

Why!? Why?! WHY?!

+ + +

Mina looked up from the television with irritation as she heard a slam against the door from the other side and an urgent jingle of the lock. She raised a brow. What the hell had Claus’s panties in a bunch? She opened the door with a bored expression, ready to tell him to calm down, when he forced his way in as soon as the door was unlocked and stumbled into her arms, breathing heavily. Mina lost her footing for a moment but quickly regained it . “Geez Claus. What the hell is wrong with you?” He wouldn’t reply. As he continued to shake Mina realized it was more of a couldn’t. He seemed utterly terrified. But of what? She hoped this wasn’t related to that phantom limb thing her mom mentioned. She suddenly wished she paid more attention when her mom told her how to handle it.

She kicked the front door close before she starts to drag Claus to an unoccupied room. She awkwardly set him down on a bed and exited the room slowly. She closed the door behind her and let out a tiny shriek as Val made her presence known.

“Does he always do that?”

“Jesus Val, you scared me.” Mina let out a tiny sigh as she glanced aside. “He… I don’t know? My mom says he gets this thing called ‘phantom limbs’ sometimes… I don’t know what it is but it hurts him and I always leave because I thought it was annoying. That might have been an attack I guess? I’m not sure.”

“How can you not know? Aren’t you his girlfriend or something?” Mina groaned loudly.

“Not you too. Where did you get that idea from?”

“Guy and girl traveling alone?”

“You travel with a dog. You don’t see me asking you questions about dating your dog.”

“I’m like ten and it’s a dog. Of course I’m not dating him! That’s just weird to even say that…”

“Yeah, well, whatever… he’ll be fine in the morning.” At least she assumed that much.

“What is your relationship with Claus anyway?”

Mina opened her mouth to answer but to her surprise she… found none.

What was her relationship with Claus? They would fight and curse but they didn’t really hate each other. They lived under the same roof for nearly two years to their friends they looked like siblings that annoyed each other but that bond definitely did not exist.

He also mentioned in the heat of battle that she was ‘the precious daughter’ to the people who cared for him over the years. That seemed to imply that was his only reason to be here and for some reason that did not sit well with her.

What the hell were they to each other?

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Twelve

The door was partially open, water began to pour in both ways, into the room and out onto the ship’s deck despite the fact the ship had yet to sink.

“A rift?!” the Jinjiru exclaimed. “These kids found a rift?!”

“Uh, Mina?” Claus called, water up to their waists now.

“Yeah?”

“Pull on your wet suit. We found our ticket home.” Mina complied with his wishes and he did the same. The door was wide open now and the two swam out of the room. The ship looked the same as they left it. They briefly wondered if that pirate was okay. Even if they didn’t know her, it would kinda suck to die at the hands of a crazed self righteous warrior, but they pushed the thought away and returned to their waiting boat.

“Wow, there you two are. I was starting to get worried. You were down for a long time.”

“We were having fun,” Claus stated simply, standing before Mina and blocking the man’s view of her as she stowed away the tiara and other stolen goods from their trip. The duo returned to the island, and after dropping off their rental diving gear they made their way into the tiny town. Many locals greeted them and offered ideas of what to do. Tired out, the ideas were rejected for a small restaurant for a late lunch.

As the duo waited for a waiter Mina moved her leg to feel for her bag, a normal habit of hers. She blinked when she didn’t touch anything. She looked under the table to find that it was indeed missing. But how did she lose it so fast? No, who the hell took it so fast?!

“The bag is gone!” Mina shouted, jumping out of her seat.

“What?”

“The bag with the tiara and the jewels! It’s gone!”

---

“Oh. It was that pickpocket…”

“OH!?” Mina screeched. “OH IS ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?! THAT BAG WAS FULL OF VA-” Claus shoved his hand over Mina’s mouth to keep her silent for a moment.

“Look, our bag was full of valuables, not to mention the bags of other tourists as well, so why the heck is nothing being done about this pickpocket?”

“We’ve been looking for the suspect for the longest time but we just can't find them. It’s like they vanish every time….” Mina shook her fist at the man as Claus dragged her off.

Why were the police so goddamn useless?

“We’ll have to find this thief ourselves.”

“What a pain in the ass…” Mina grunted. The island was very small so it was not like the pickpocket could get that far and the ship wasn’t boarding until six tonight so they couldn’t escape onto the ship. The duo separated and ran up and down streets and in between buildings but after hours of searching they didn’t find the thief. Mina was ready to tear her hair out at that moment. Claus tried to calm her down but that was no use.

Suddenly a figure rammed into the boy. He fell onto his side as various items and the person who possessed them fell onto their behind. His head throbbed as a dog barked, circling the group. Judging by the sound the dog was worried, yeah, well screw the owner for not paying attention. Mina suddenly shrieked, making his head hurt more. Claus’s mind was still a bit scrambled. He finally managed to pull himself to upright. He examined everything around him. Some messy, scraggy looking spotted dog was now barking at Mina, presumably because she was shaking it’s master.

The girl had long black hair, a bit messy, decorated with a purple headband with dangling gold buttons. A purple strap could be seen on her right shoulder, while fur lined her left shoulder and a portion of her white corset. Another sash was tied around her waist and her outfit was finished with an ankle length skirt and purple slip-ons.

“This is my stuff!!” Mina was shaking the thief, completely disregarding it was some ten year old girl.

“Then take ya stuff back!” the girl snap backed, pulling herself from Mina’s grasp. “It’s more trouble than its worth! Gee! Why the hell did ya have to steal it from some crazy broad!?”

“I aint stealin’ it! I’m returning it to the proper owner! And what do you mean crazy br-”

“Oh. It’s you.” A voice came from behind the group. Claus quickly jumped to his feet and drew his blade.

“She’s back…” She should have seen this coming some how. Jinjirus were rather unpredictable and seemed to have this tendency to pop up as they wished.

“That’s a cute lie… returning our heirlooms? But to whom if I may ask?”

“Your freaking heir! You know, so the loser can end this stupid fight!”

“Not like we need the royal family,” the woman scowled “We have survived this long without them, we do not need them now.”

“Excuse me?” Mina asked slowly, rather surprised by the response she received.

“We don’t need the royal family. They were useless when we needed them the most, they’ll be useless now. All we need is a strong warrior to lead us and only then will we survive!”

“You gotta be kidding me…” Mina scowled. “Then why the hell are you so grabby over these royal items if you don’t want a royal family!?”

“Quite simply because it still belongs to the Jinjirus and it does not belong in the hands of you pathetic humans. Now, hand it over.”

“Fight me!” Mina barked, pulling the keytar from her back. She handled the instrument like a bat, ready to swing it and smash it into the face of the woman. Claus and Mina attacked the woman head on with weapons and an onslaught of assorted PSI. As for the little girl, she felt rather annoyed by all of this. She couldn’t put her finger on why it annoyed her so much. She grabbed her dog by the scruff of his neck and threw it at the Jinjiru. It nailed the woman in the face and he began to scratch at her.

Infuriated, the woman threw the dog aside but it began to bark violently, slowly gaining the attention of surrounding people and authorities. People began to gather to see the ruckus going on in the middle of the road. The woman launched a blast of PSI which Claus deflected with a PSI shield. The police tried to jump into the fight but they were literally slapped aside and people began to scream. That confounded dog jumped on her once more, biting and hanging off her arm.

The nostrils of the Jinjiru flared. Was this really happening? Was she really losing what should have been an easy battle to humans and their stupid pet?! With a defiant roar the woman jumped back, making a distance between the group.

“You will pay for your crimes in time, mortals, you and your little dog too…!” she snarled. “We will take back what is ours and you will suffer.”

“Shut up and leave.” Claus groaned. “Your threats are hollow and we won't lose to you or your sisters.” She did just that, leaving in a flash of white.

--- “And this is why you don’t steal people’s stuff,” Mina huffed.

“I’m sorry… I just needed the money.” The girl speaks in sad somber tone. The girl's friend, her dog, whines pitifully. Mina squints her eyes. This girl didn't seem to be lying. . .

“Why?” Claus asks. “Don’t you have a family…?”

“Well, yeah, but that’s why I need the money. Mum is really sick and we’re really poor.”

“Man, I don’t think your mom wants dirty money to help her.”

“What do you expect me to do then!” the girl snapped. “I can't work! I am only ten years old.”

“Maybe she can work for us.” Mina shrugged. Claus gave her a look.

“What?”

“That crazy Jinjiru said she would come after ‘our little dog too’ but we don’t have a dog,” Mina motioned to the young thief. “she does, so she must be associating her with us. She can come with us and help us find the remaining heirlooms and find the heir to end this stupid fight. For helping us we can give her some money. Besides, a little thief would be useful to us you know.”

“That’s a possibility… besides, coming with us would benefit her and her safety no less.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. You help us and we pay you and we’ll keep you safe from the crazy people.”

“You’re not pulling my leg…. are you?”

“No, I don’t have time for that, and 'sides, you handed over my stuff anyway so I don’t have a grudge. Now what is your name?"

“Valeriya Marina.”

“Now we have to find a way to sneak her onto the ship…” Claus piped up, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Mina jumped slightly. She hadn’t thought of that…

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Eleven

With a sigh, he closed his book and left the library. Were there really no books around here that had information on the desert? This was starting to feel like a dumb waste of time. It’s been fifteen years… there should be some information! So why the hell wasn’t there any?!

Tiredly, he unlocked the door to the room he and Mina were sharing and threw himself face down into his bed. Well, at least by this time tomorrow they would have the next of those royal armor pieces. According to the paper it was some tiara. If anything that would imply the heir was a girl…

Claus let out one final sigh before pulling the sheets over his head.

---

“One boat and equipment for two people.” Mina yawned. The man behind the counter nodded, preparing the goods for his customers. After matching the co-ordinates with a map, a poorly made one at that, it indicated that the location of the tiara was in the coral reefs surrounding Sapphire Isle. Seems like Khrystie only labeled it as such for convenience sake. That or she was dumb.

The two exchanged money for goods and Mina made her way to the docks with an armful of diving gear. Claus took half of the gear as they made their way to the boat labeled with a red number four. The boat driver greeted them and took off to the designated diver location. After the man gave them a runthrough of the rules and how the tanks worked he let them run free.

On the count of three the duo jumped into the water. Bubbles blinded both on impact and when it cleared the sea floor below was quite a sight. Colorful curly coral covered the floor, sea weed swayed across the floor and small colorful fish swam about everywhere. It was quite a sight to see.

‘You can hear me right?’ Mina blinked. Was that Claus? It sounded like him but how could he talk under the water?

‘Telepathy, it’s a basic that many PSI users have.’

‘Are you in my mind…?’

‘No, we’re just communicating with thought.’

‘Huh… this is a pretty useful thing for a situation where we can’t speak!’

‘Yeah, well, let’s get moving.’ Claus took the lead. Mina followed behind to him, weaving between the corals to a sunken  ship.

’What’s this doing out here?’

’It’s an artificial reef.’

‘Artificial reef?’

’It’s a man-made structure left in the ocean to create a habitat for the sea creatures. Normally it wouldn’t be needed in a place with so many reefs, like here, but it’s probably been here for a while so any attempts at moving it would probably bother the sea life living here.’

‘Do you think the tiara is in there?’

‘Most likely,’ The diver instructor informed them not to go into any reefs but right now, they really didn’t have a choice. The duo entered the sunken ship through the giant hole in its hull, to be greeted with the sight of trunk loads of jewels and golden coins. Claus swam around the chests, taking what he could grab.

‘Isn’t that stealing?’ she questioned in a rather deadpan tone.

‘No one is going to know! Besides, we can sell this for more money. We can’t rely on Arc forever…’

‘I guess, that’s true…’ she sighed, pocketing a few gemstones herself. She circled the room a few times before declaring the tiara wasn’t here. She quickly explained why when Claus made a face at her. He frowned.

‘So you can sense where the pieces are?’

‘It only happened once before, but I’m sure it can happen again… it might be due to my PSI. I mean, you did say some have specials and personal PSI.’

‘That is true. Some PSI are connected to mystical items…’

‘Really?’

‘Uh, yeah… I knew,’ he paused for a moment, hesitating. Mina raised a brow. He gulped. ‘A friend… I knew a friend, he could use his PSI special to collect items.’

‘Knew’? Did he pass away or something…?’

‘S-something like that.’

‘Oh.’ In an awkward silence the two left haul through the broken doorway and to the captain’s quarters. Mina struggled with the door for a moment before Claus simply punched it open. The pair entered the room to find it in good order. Besides the fact that everything had been turned over and the room was flooded with water.

‘It’s a dead end…’

‘No, I can sense it. I mean it’s here but at the same time it isn’t…’

‘Well, Khrystie said there’s a rift supposed to be located here… so maybe it is here but not in this time.’

‘How do we even find the rift though? Last time was just on pure chance!’

‘Hope lady luck guides us I guess?’ The two made their way to the door, only to crash into it. What a pain. Claus yanked it open to be blinded by sunlight.

“Well… that was easy.” The two abandoned their wetsuits, goggles and diving tanks. “I wonder where everyone is.”

“Don’t.” Claus interjected. “We don’t know who they are and if they found us they probably wouldn’t be happy that we took some of their stuff. Let’s just get the tiara and go.”

“So, it’s my tiara you lot are after?” The two flinched, slowly turning to the voice. Behind them was a young woman dressed in a pirate like fashion. No, wait. She really was a pirate. They managed to land on a pirate ship… Of all the places to end up…

“Well?” the woman repeated.

“Bite me.” Claus grunted. The woman raised a brow.

“Oh, what a snappy little boy… you children should leave. I’m feeling merciful today, so consider yourselves lucky.”

“We can’t leave without the tiara.”

“Then,” the woman approached Mina, and slammed her knee into the stomach of the girl before tossing her aside like a doll.

“I guess you won’t be leaving at all.” Claus drew his blade and struck the woman. This hardly made her stand down, rather she drew her blade. The two blades of steel clashed against each other making sparks fly. Mina struggled to breathe for a minute or two. Wow, could she kick. The girl focused her PSI and shot a blast of golden energy. The pirate was struck in the back, creating the opening Claus needed to wound the woman. The woman fell to her knees clutching the wound on her chest.

“You can use that fancy magic too?” She scowled, “I should have known! So you’re here to finish the job?”

“What.” Mina frowned. “You attacked us first. We need to find the rightful owner of that tiara to get a bunch of psychos off out backs.”

“Could it be? Are these psychos dressed exotically and primarily women?”

“Pretty much,” Claus shrugged.

“Those fiends! Attacking children, how low can they be?!” What a strange statement to come out of a woman like her. “Don’t give me that look! I attacked out of self defense! That wretched exotic woman killed off my crew! I’m all that remains of of the Midnight Robins!” The woman let out a sigh and glanced away. “It took me years to be where I am today and in ten minutes that woman wrecked it.” The pirate clenched her fist. Claus took pity on the woman and pointed a finger to her. A pale green light enveloped her, healing her of wounds.

“Ah… Amazing! How can you-” she was suddenly cut off as something hit the hull of the ship, blowing a hole clean through it.

“Damn it! What the hell was that?!” Whatever it was, made it’s way to the ship deck. It was the exotically dressed woman, another one of those Jinjirus. Dressed in shades of blue that matched the ocean’s blues and overly decorated with golden bands and sapphire jewels.

“You have not returned the sapphire heart tiara to us! You must, or I shall end your life.”

“You’ve already taken my crew! For me to run would dishonor them, so come at me you wretched wench!” The woman glanced over, noting the presences of Mina and Claus. She drew her blades and charged for the two teens only to be intercepted by the pirate.

“Your battle is with me! Scarlet, the captain of the Midnight Robins!” Mina and Claus took this to their advantage grabbing their stuff and absconding back into the room they were in before this madness occurred: the captain’s quarters. Mina found a red jewelery box on the table. She opened it up on instinct and just as she predicted a finely crafted tiara made of gold and encrusted with a sapphire shaped hard was inside. Mina closed the box and tucked it under her arm.

“Let’s bail!” Claus hollered, he reached for the door, but a sword suddenly sliced through the upper portion of the door. “…Shit.”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Ten

“Do you think you could be the heir?” Mina asked once again.

“No.” Claus's tone embodied bluntness and irritation. As if it was a terrible thing to even consider it.

“Don’t act like that.” Mina frowned in response. “That woman totally recognized you, or at least your name and we have no idea where you even ca-”

“No. Just trust me on this, no. I’m not the heir they’re looking for,” He grumbled.

“So, what about this paper? We gonna go to the locations or what?”

“We really have no choice. It may be a trap, but it also might not be, and besides, it's the only way to get those crazy women off our backs.” Mina shrugged in response.

“Well, I was only checking. The closest point is Sapphire Isle, the other is some place in the desert. We should gather information on the desert before we visit it.”

“Right, that’s a good idea. Well, let’s find that money Arc left. Without it, we can't get to Sapphire Isle since we’re dead broke.”

“I bet they charge a fortune to get to the isle…”

“We should also eat what we can of our dinner supply before it spoils.”

“Probably a good idea.” Mina called as Claus walked down a hall and into a room at the very end of it.

“Holy shit!”

“What?”

“She broke a window!”

“What??”

“Khrystie! The side window in the room is broken! She broke it!”

+ + +

Mina was left with cooking duty that night as Claus researched ticket prices to get to Sapphire Isles on Arc’s computer. Arc had a decent amount of money stored in his house but they couldn’t spend it all in one go. The main problem was that no boats went to Sapphire Isle. Just cruise ships. That meant they would be paying a fortune regardless.

That night the two ate dinner separately, Claus at the computer and Mina in front of the TV, trying to catch up on the news. The event at the mountain lodge was covered on the news. She groaned. At this rate her parents would surely find out what was going on…

+ + +

“I was away on business,” Khrystie simply explained, throwing her cape over her shoulder. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

“You cannot keep leaving on these business trips!”

“I will do what I must in order to preserve Jinjiru. Everyone in this country is unable to grasp the gravity of what we are facing. Our answers cannot be found in Jinjiru, rather, in the human realm. We are only blinding ourselves by thinking we are saviors.”

“That is blasphemy!”

“You young ones would think that. We Jinjiru are merely servants to the Lady of Hope. That is why were born. Nonetheless, do you believe in reincarnation, soldier?”

“Reincarnation?” The soldier repeated. “To be reborn anew?” The general looked up to the sky with wonder in her eyes.

“I think our royal family is out there, somewhere. Waiting for us to find them... they will aid us in battle against the Silver Witch.”

“And so you plan to waste time looking for Jinjirus that might not even exist?! If they were reborn, they wouldn’t be among us! They would be human! Why would humans want to help us?! Humans are our enemies!”

“You think too much…” Khrystie muttered. The general turned on her heel and left.

+ + +

While Claus was picking up tickets, Mina was left to pick up a small amount of supplies for this afternoon’s trip, along with searching for items to use as weapons on the side. Relying on PSI all the time was probably a terrible idea…

Mina passed a music store. She glanced over the items on display in the window. There were guitars, microphone stands and keyboards. There was probably even more instruments inside. She rubbed her chin. This could be a good thing to exploit. Musical instruments and tools were heavy and blunt, and in most cases, easy to swing and hit with.

The store was far bigger than the one in Rubiton. It was to be expected though, since Steel City was a big tourist trap as well the home of many businesses. Mina strolled briskly into the keyboard section, and luckily for her keytars were lined upon the wall as well. They varied in size, color, material and make. They had a limited amount of money, at least for now, and she needed something that wasn't too big or heavy. She chose a silver keytar and threw it up on the counter.

“I’d like this.” The young man behind the counter scratched his head, wondering if she wanted why if she wanted it, why the heck would she throw it around like that? The young man sighed and then smiled.

“Right, that will be $350.” Mina noticed the young man’s name tag as she pulled money from her back pocket. Fuel? Weird name. She handed over the bills to the cashier and took back her change, receipt and keytar. She flipped open her cellphone, disregarding her parent’s texts and missed calls from them, to check the time.

“Shit, it’s almost one o’clock. I’m never going to hear the end of it from Claus if I’m late…” Mina pulled the keytar over her head and rushed out of the store. The cashier had a nostalgic look on his face for a few brief moments. He let out a small laugh.

“Claus, huh? It’s been a long time since I heard that name…” he shook his head.

+ + +

“You’re late,” Claus frowned as Mina came to a stop before him. “You’re lucky I told you to get here at one, the ship doesn’t leave until two.” The blonde wheezed, still trying to catch her breath. She soon enough straightened herself up.

“What’s with the ship’s size? Isn’t it kinda big?”

“I need a damn vacation from watching your ass all the time,” Claus glanced aside with a slight glare. Mina made a face right back at him. “and to get to Sapphire Isle it will take a couple of days so I booked a small cruise ship for us. At least that way we’ll unwind. And don’t worry, they were having a sale on the porthole rooms, so we got them pretty cheep.”

The two boarded the ship and headed to their room after being informed just about everything wouldn’t be open until they were out at sea. Shortly after the passengers climbed aboard the ship there was some meeting about safety protocol in various points of the ship depending where a person’s room was. Needless to say both teens were barely conscious during the meeting. They once more returned to their room until dinner.

“Ugh. The only thing open is the giant ballroom dining hall tonight,” Claus grunted, face down in his pillow as he hung up his phone. “And it’s required to dress well.”

“Grin and bear it.” Mina shrugged.

“But I don’t have GOOD clothes! My good clothes are at your parent’s house!” Claus rolled onto his back and glanced to Mina. “And the rental clothes are so expensive! It’s like a hundred dollars! How much more money can this place siphon from me?!”

“Probably a lot more. Besides, be grateful it’s not a couple hundred dollars. I have my band dress. It’s pretty fancy.” Mina explained pulling out the dress she wore on the night of the talent show. It looked clean and pretty, with a few wrinkles that she could easily iron out. Notably, it didn't have any traces of blood, because...

“Didn’t I bleed all over that?” Claus asked, puzzled.

“I cleaned it out while you were at the hospital.” Claus made a face and sighed.

“Well, fix it up and let’s go pick up something for me,”

“Nah, go ahead. I’ll catch up to you.”

+ + +

Claus sat at the reserved table with a bored look on his face, drumming his finger tips against the top of the table. “You know you’re only making this night worse for you by acting like this, right?” He huffed once more, slouching forward to hand a menu to Mina.

“Shut up and find something to eat. A waiter should get here soon.”

“Sure thing, mister grouchy pants.” Claus remained silent, eying Mina as she glanced over the menu. She quickly picked up on his stares.

“What is it now?” she sighed.

“You look good in that dress.” he muttered. The young woman’s cheeks glowed a vibrant shade of red.

“Oh… thank you…”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Nine

I promise not to tell your parents about what's going on… I know it sounds weird but I mulled it over and it just, feels right. I’ll leave you the key to my apartment in Steel City.

There’s a box of money hidden in the apartment for emergencies, so take it and put it to good use. I don’t remember where the box actually is, though. Sorry! Take care. -Arc Mina pocketed both letter and key. She approached Claus’s bed and shoved him right out of it and onto his face. The shock of the shove and pain of the impact were more than enough to wake him up. “Jesus Christ, what the hell was that for?!” “Wake up loser, we’re going to Steel City.” “That’s no reason to shove me out of bed!” “I’ll be waiting in the lobby.” And with that she left the room. Claus groaned. She could be such a bitch sometimes. Claus let out a sigh. He pulled his eye patch from ever his eye and stared into the mirror. Frustration and a tinge of disgust bubbled up. How much longer did he have to live with this body? He just wanted to rest… --- “How much longer do we have to wait?” “This is a waste of time! The humans have obviously sided with that witch! They must be exterminated!” “I’m starting to believe our general has left us for the humans.” “Watch your tongue!” “She has such a fascination for them! What’s to say that she has not sided with them and the witch?” “You’re not planning a rebellion, are you?” “So what if I am?!” “You must be mad! General Khrystie is the most powerful in all of Jinjiru! She even has the blessing of the Lady of Hope!” “If she has betrayed Jinjiru she will no longer have her holy protection.” “What if there is the possibility that she is not siding with the Witch or humans?” “She must leave regardless. She’s far too soft and unjust to lead this country in the leave of the royal family.” “How would that even work?! She’s the most powerful in the kingdom!” “I’ve got a plan and she’s far too soft to not do as I say!” --- When Mina and Claus reached Arc’s apartment after long hours of travel they found someone already inhabiting the apartment. Someone they had never seen before. It was a young woman dressed in a fashion like the other various attackers the duo had met during their travels, but she seemed much calmer as she ate bread and stared at the television in awe. Reality seemed to come to this woman as she finally noted Mina and Claus. “Oh. You two are finally here.” The woman climbed to her feet. Mina and Claus prepared themselves but she made no attack. “You two took longer than anticipated. I hope you don’t mind that I ate a small portion of your grain supply... It was simply too good to stop.” “Who the hell are you? How did you get in?!” The woman blushed and glanced away. “That’s not important,” the woman was suddenly on her knees, bowing deeply. “On the behalf of my sisters, let me apologize.” “Sisters…? Wait, you mean those crazy broads that attacked me and Claus?” The woman flinched at the name Claus. She seem surprised and examined the boy. “Yes… I am sorry. I had requested that they simply watch you but they assumed you were our enemies and attacked you without reason or fact.” “Enemies…? Enemies of what?! You people keep chasing me and don’t give me any explanation!” “That is why I am here. I am here to explain and apologize on the behalf of the Jinjiru army. You see, long ago we were attacked by a being known as the Silver Witch. Many people in our kingdom died, including my parents and the royal family. For a long time, as the world changed, we searched for the Witch but she seemed to have disappeared forever. She has recently reappeared… my warriors have assumed you are allied with her.” “Why the hell would they think that?” Claus grumbled. “Because… our goddess follows you. The think that means you are a threat, but they do not understand. The goddess only follows strong-willed and powerful people... in other words, heroes.” “Heroes…?” Mina raised a brow. “You’re trying to say we're heroes?” This whole country had to be mad. She was no hero and she sure as hell knew that Claus wasn’t, either. She was just an average girl...as long as you disregarded the PSI. “There’s another one, but yes. You and your group will be heroes we need in time, I can feel it. I believe the goddess wants you to find the heirlooms of our royal family and return them to the reborn heir of our kingdom. Only the royal family members can wear the heirlooms and only they can take down the Silver Witch. If you can do this you can prove to the people of Jinjiru you are not their enemies and you can return to your normal lives in peace.” “Where the hell are we supposed to get these lost heirlooms from?” Claus huffed. “And why can’t you get them?” “That… is hard to explain.” The woman walked to the balcony and watched the city from behind the sliding glass door. “The heirlooms are almost alive, sentient I believe is the right word, in a sense. When the attack began, the heirlooms scattered throughout time so they would not be stolen by the Silver Witch, which was why the kingdom was at such a disadvantage. They are currently scattered throughout time and space, but there are rifts in time-space in certain locations. You’ve already encountered a rift and obtained an heirloom. The Clover Sword.” “You mean this sword I picked up off the monks?” Mina motioned to the blade strapped to her back. The adult nodded. “Yes. Written on it is our language, which bares similarity to yours.” “I guess that explains why nobody had ever heard of the place before.” Claus spoke up with a thoughtful look. “We traveled to the past, to a point where it was still inhabited.” “More or less, yes.” “’More or less’?” “It is a little more complicated than just that, but the laws of Jinjiru dictate that I may not speak it. I know of a human who can in my place but that is another story.” “Why can’t this human talk about it now?” “I have specifically asked them not to talk about it unless the person asking has my most prized possession as a sign of trust.” The adult looked back to the teenagers and motioned to a paper on the table. “This paper has the location of the two rifts where two of the four royal heirlooms are located. The last item is located in this era but I have no idea where. I will try to find it and inform you as soon as I can. I must leave now... with the royal family gone, I have been taking care of Jinjiru these past couple hundred years...I need to spend time away from it as little as possible." “C-couple hundred years?!” “I’ve heard rumors of the army wanting to overthrow me as of late,” She ignored the yells and continued. “So it was… a pain in the ass, I think that is the phrase, to come out here and contact you. Please. Find the heirlooms and our heir. With the proper heir back we both can return to normal lives on the defeat of the Silver Witch.” “Wait, before you go tell me, who are you?” “Khrystie Melody,” With a snap of her fingers a vortex appeared behind her. “The general of Jinjiru and follower of the Lady of Hope. Take care.” And with that final farewell the woman walked into the vortex. The hole vanished seconds later, leaving the pair alone. Mina sat down on the couch and folded her hands. “Well… that was eventful.” “At least we got an explanation out of all of this. Some crazy civilization thinks we have an alliance with their enemy but their general thinks otherwise and wants us to find their lost heir and heirlooms.” “…Do you think…” “Huh? Out with it Mina.” “Do you think you could be the heir?”

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Eight

She stared at the sliding door, rooted to that spot. That feeling wouldn’t leave with the passing seconds she spent standing there, rather, the longer she stood there, the stronger that feeling became. She slid the door back and entered the dimly lit room. Her eyes scanned the room in search of whatever was in here.

She soon noticed a sword in a white leather sheath perched on an iron stand. Without a second thought Mina pulled the sword from the sheath. The blade had an interesting design. The hilt seemed to be made from emerald and shaped like a three leaf clover. The blade itself was thin but finely crafted with some intricate language or ancient text carved into it.

If her mother knew what she was doing she would probably cry.

But… she had to take this thing with her.

---

Claus was flipping everything over and shoving through the crowd of villagers as he searched for Mina. Where the hell could this girl be?! Of all the times for her to go missing, now had to be one of the worst. Some crazed monster was attacking and every warrior monk was being mobilized to fight back.

He forced his way through the crowds and to the temple when Mina burst through the doors with a sword in hand. Claus made a rather deadpan face. Did she steal that? Like… really Mina? Really? The blonde girl did not even wait a second before she grabbed him by the hand and took running to the exit. It looked like she even knew what was going on here. The pair passed through the gates and ended up falling flat on their faces.

Claus pulled himself up and continued to run while Mina stood and stared at the scene behind her, mouth agape. Claus soon returned to her side, and together they stood before the collapsed and suddenly very old village gate. Wait...what happened? The gate had been completely intact moments ago. They suddenly realized that the village itself was severely damaged and falling into disrepair. The oddest part of it was the lack of people and the monster, and the damage looked like it had been dealt so long ago... This was further indicated by vines that had managed to grow in this snowy weather.

“…What happened?”

“I’m… I’m not sure… this place is suddenly abandoned….”

“But, that monster… it just appeared. How could this happen so fast…?”

“I don’t think it was recent.” Claus spoke slowly as he inspected a vine. “These vines are evidence enough that whatever happened, happened long ago.”

“That monster jumped this place not even ten minutes ago! How could time move that fast between us running away and falling on our faces?!”

“I don’t know,” the boy sighed. “The nature of this world is still largely unknown to us…” He glanced around once more. As he stared at Mina he suddenly remembered the pilfered sword. He held his hand out to her.

“What?”

“That sword. Hand it over. You can't use it anyway.”

Well, that was true… but did he really have to say it like that?

Mina handed over the sheathed sword, but much to her surprise, Claus fell forward and face down into the snow. He struggled to pull himself and the sword up. Mina found this completely baffling. She knew she wasn’t as strong as he was but she could easily carry that sword.

She unsheathed the sword and haphazardly waved it about. It was almost weightless to her. If she hadn't been gripping the hilt so tightly, she would have forgotten it was there.

“That’s… weird.”

“I’ll say. I can't lift up that sword, but a weakling like you can.”

“Let’s not pick a fight here.” Mina frowned. “Whatever is up with this sword will have to come later, we need to find civilization… or something.”

“You’re right,” Claus sighed. “Let’s get moving.”

---

“Your report, general?”

“Of course,” the woman coughed to clear her throat. “My observations concluded nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing, ma’am? You came back injured!”

“That was at the hands of the Silver Witch, not the initial targets.”

“Well, shouldn’t it be obvious the targets are with her! Why else was she hanging out with humans?”

“We don’t know that. For all we know her reason to attack was to kill me, not defend those humans. My death, or rather, the death of any Jinjiru, would cause an unnecessary revolt against humans in this delicate time. All we can continue to do is make our observations.”

---

“I’m sorry, but without an ID we cannot let you into Marganpolis at this time.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Mina screeched. Ugh. She never once though of bringing any form of identification with her when she left home. Why she even need one?!

Reluctantly Mina and Claus began their return trip to the snow lodge where they would formulate their travel plans and maybe access the internet to search for information on the sword, if there was any.

Mina threw herself into a chair before the fireplace as Claus made arrangements for a room. She began to space out and didn’t even notice that someone had taken a seat next to her until that person touched her shoulder. Flinching, she sent a glare and slapped the person’s hand off of her.

“Still jumpy, Jones?”

Oh hell… it was Arc. She knew his voice all too well by now. How did he find her? Did her parents send him? No. No no no no. This cannot be happening.

“Arc? Why are you here?”

“What do you mean why?” He frowned. “You and Claus ran away from home and nearly gave your mother a heart attack!”

“I had to leave.” Mina huffed.

“Why the heck would you have to leave?” Arc barked. “You have two loving parents that support you, take care of you and love you. Why on earth would you have a reason to leave!?”

“It’s because of that I had to leave.”

“What? That makes no sense, were they smothering you? You wanted to be some big girl and leave?” With each passing second his volume became louder and louder with more and more anger behind it all. Mina furrowed her brows.

“Why are you getting mad?”

“Because how you're acting is irresponsible!”

“No it’s not.” She snapped, finding herself self finally irritated. “What would be irresponsible would be if I stayed home and brought danger to my parents!”

“Danger?! You’re only fifteen years old, what kind of danger do you even face?!” Mina clenched her jaw.

“I was attacked, okay? On the day of the talent contest at the school, I was targeted and attacked by some crazy woman with psychic powers. She was out to kill me. She failed because Claus protected me and he got hurt…Claus knows how to fight, he’s got experience and training. My parents don’t. If my parents were there when I was attacked they would have been killed. No matter what, I was labeled as a threat to existence by that woman, she’s bound to return… That was why I left.”

“You… you want me to believe that?! That’s worse than the time I fed that garbage to Chaz about giraffes hiding their heads in holes in the ground!”

“I can bring Claus over here! He’s still got that wound from that woman. Would seeing bodily harm be enough to you? Or would you prefer I make my own psychic powers jump out of my fingers?” Mina snapped, letting a gold spark flicker on her finger tips. “I might've never liked a lot of what my parents did or how we lived our lives because it was so boring and dumb but I am not going to run away without a damn good reason.”

The tense silence soon faded.

“I… I still can't believe someone would hurt you or Claus. You’re both good kids… so why would someone…”

“Because someone sees us as a-” Without even a warning the west wall of the lodge was blown down. Arc completely flipped out and pulled Mina to the side. A female figure walked through the hole (she must have been the one who did that). She was dressed much like the talent show assailant, her clothes although were a shade of pale blue and lined with white fur. The woman shook off the wolf pelt revealing her face, which was very human with matching light blue face paint.

Sharp blue eyes examined the crowd of people that gathered. The woman took a step forward and everyone scattered. Claus soon came rushing into the room, a worried look plastered on his face. As the woman eyed him she lifted up her right arm and pointed a heavy spiked club at him.

“You. You’re my target's bodyguard, according to my sisters. Where is she?” Claus’s face slowly became blank as he shrugged.

“Dunno. She has a tendency to wander off.” The woman scowled.

“Do not lie to me! I saw the two of you enter this building with the sacred sword. She cannot obtain the sacred treasures, because if she does-”

“Look, lady,” Claus interrupted with a heavy sigh as he ran his prosthetic through his hair. “I don’t care. If you want a fight, I can give you one.” Claus’s hand went to the blade attached to his belt and in a smooth move he unsheathed it. The woman unleashed a primal scream and pounced on Claus. He jumped back and swung the blade. The two weapons clashed against each other with equal force.

“W-what the hell is going on!?” Arc screeched.

“Is this enough proof for you?” Mina sighed. “It’s as I told you, they’re after me and Claus is protecting me. It's for this reason we left home.” Arc bit his lip, mulling over his thoughts. What the hell should he do? Claus was still a kid, even if he was really good with a blade for whatever reason.

“S…stay here.” Arc finally spoke. He stood up, marched right up to and in the middle of the two warriors. The woman scowled but held down her weapon, at least for now. “Stop fighting you two! We’re in a public building and other people can be hurt.” he turned to the woman. “And why are you targeting Mina? She’s a good girl! She wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

Yes, she would.

Flies were terrible creatures.

“That is none of your concern, human. You creatures have such low intellect that you would never understand the plight we stuffer.” Arc crossed his arms, thoughtfully.

“…‘creatures’ and ‘humans,’ that’s what you’ve been using to identify us, and you say it with such disgust.” He uncrossed his arms and stood straight. “You… you’re not human yourself, are you? By that logic, neither is that sister of yours that attacked Mina and Claus at the talent show.” The woman huffed in response.

“Interesting, it seems some of you pathetic creatures have some brain power after all! Bravo!”

“If you’re not human, then what the hell are you?” Claus demanded. “Are you a… chimera?” The woman roared with laughter.

“Oh please! A chimera? Those nasty things are creations of humans. We are far above humans! You could very well call us your gods!” And with that she swung her club, striking Arc across his face and sending him flying into some near by furniture. The people who remained to watch the fight erupted into screams and scattered once more.

Finally fed up with the scene Mina made her appearance, finger tips glowing blue, she swung her arm launching an attack of psychic energy.

“PK Roses!” waves of PSI pelted the woman, taken by surprise she stumbled back. She scowled once more and swung her club, send a flurry of chilly PSI waves. Spikes of ice covered the wood and carpeted floor which collided with the fireplace, extinguishing the fire and chilling the area, as Mina jumped aside. She avoided the attack, just barely.

Together the pair unleashed an onslaught of attacks, Mina’s PSI based and Claus’s physical. The woman was soon brought to her knees, burned and charred by the raw psychic power and bleeding from many opening. Even though she claimed to be not of human nature she had many human qualities, one of those being rational thinking. She was bleeding quite heavily, the bodyguard was more than he seemed… very unusual for a kid.

She expected him to be pathetic, her sister did relayed the information that he was left with a a deep wound as the result of their battle. Maybe she assumed wrong about that battle. Maybe he was ill equipped at the time of the attack. What a fool. None the less, the boy had proven he he could handle the blade in a way that would best her ‘style’ of fighting (which was in reality was just savagely beating a foe with her club).

“Keh… another setback…” the woman snarled. “I’ll have to report this to the general and my sisters…”

“Don’t you run off!” Claus barked. The woman obviously paid no heed, and her body was enveloped in light and vanished. “Damn it…”

“Someone get this man a doctor.” Mina quickly ordered, pointing to Arc’s body. He was still unconscious in the pile of ruined furniture. His arm looked broken and he seemed to be bleeding from the head. The people began to scatter, looking for the lodge’s doctor or even the phone to call the man. It soon turned out the man was there all along with a rather bored face, he claimed he did not treat men and Mina proceeded to beat his ass. The doctor quickly complied and got to work while Mina hung over his shoulder in his clinic. The repair man was also called and got to work as soon as Arc was taken to the clinic.

Claus retired early that night. He laid on his back, staring at his prosthetic with a distasteful blend of feelings.

‘…those nasty things…’

“Chimeras are nasty things, huh?”

…

“I’d believe that.” Claus rolled onto his side and pulled the covers over his head.

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Seven

[mother-trilogy]

MOTHER 4 Redux: Precious Jewels: Chapter Six