ToSS Rewrite

Quiz Start: Genis walked with you back towards the village.
"I'm sorry, Aura," he said again. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."
"It's alright, Genis." You wave his apology away. "I volunteered to come with you to the Ranch. I'm glad I was able to meet your friend."

As you neared the village you spied what looked like Colette, Kratos and Raine heading towards the pathway.
"Oh?"
"Raine!" Genis called, dashing forward to meet her.
"Genis, Aura." She greeted. "I didn't expect to see you two here."
"We were going to meet Dirk." Genis lied. "Aura's never met him before." Raine looked at him for a long moment and frowned slightly, sensing that he wasn't telling the truth.
"It's true," you say. "I'd never met Dirk, or seen Lloyd's home before. Genis volunteered to walk me home."
"Y-yeah. Where are you all going?"
"To see Lloyd," Colette said. "I wanted to talk with him about the regeneration journey."
"Be careful going by the Ranch." The words slipped out before you thought about them, but you quickly continued. "The Desians seemed restless... Maybe because of what happened at the chapel."
"Sound advice," Kratos said. He looked at Colette. "Are you sure you wish to travel so close to the Ranch?"
"It's the only way to Lloyd's," the blonde Chosen said simply, missing the Mercenary's hint.
"I'll go back with you," Genis said. "I meant to ask Lloyd something and completely forgot. If you're all going anyway..."
"What about you, Aura?" Raine asked.
"I'm heading home. I'll see you off tomorrow, before you go. I'll meet you at your house," you say. The blonde smiled at you, and then the Chosen's company started off again, with Genis following behind. Your eyes lingered on Kratos' back for a moment, blurs of memories shifting uncomfortably in the back of your mind.
Kratos hesitated for half a moment and glanced back at you over his shoulder. You quickly look away and continue towards your house, blushing at the fact that he'd almost caught you staring.

You made it to your house without any trouble, though your exsphere still felt strange. Your body felt lighter and stronger than it had before you jumped off that cliff, sort of like a fight-or-flight adrenaline rush, only it wasn't fading away. Some part of your mind told you that exspheres were capable of evolving, and perhaps that's what had happed. You'd probably heard someone talking about it in a tavern somewhere... Could that jump, with the adrenaline rush combined with your fear, caused some sort of evolution in your exsphere? It was an interesting theory, at least. You would have to wait until your next battle to find out, though.
You heard a sharp intake of breath, like someone experiencing sudden pain.
Your sword was in your hand a moment later and you whip back, eyes scanning around your home.
A man stood in the distance to the side of your house, though when he'd gotten there you weren't sure. He had aqua hair with bangs falling over the right side of his face, his form mostly hidden by a dark cape. He stood with one hand pressed against his head as though he was suffering from a headache.
"Who are you?" You call. He jerked his head up and took a half step back, noticing your attention. The image of the man in the magitechnology room from your dream floated to the front of your mind. You blinked. "Do...Do I know you?"
He took another slight step back. He opened his mouth, closed it, and frowned at you, though he looked more contemplative than angry.
"Who are you?" You ask a little louder, lowering your sword. You weren't entirely sure who he was, he could be an enemy for all you know, but if he wasn't... If he could tell you something, anything, about who you were you didn't want to scare him away.
A faint light surrounded his form and a moment later he was gone.
"Wait!" You ran to where he stood but there was nothing. He'd vanished as mysteriously as he'd appeared. Who...
Could that have been the man who Lloyd had seen? You'd never asked the twin swordsman to describe him.

You jump inside your house and lock the door behind you. Who was that man? You recognized him somewhat, the same way you had recognized Kratos, though you had a clearer image of that man in your mind. He'd helped you somehow, in your dreams he always told you to run. Run where, and from what? He'd mentioned Lake Umacy... That was the first clear memory you had: waking up on the shores of Lake Umacy four years ago.
Could that man have been a Desian? If he was the same man as who Lloyd had seen this morning, he could have informed the Desians of your location. A small doubt in the back of your mind needled at you as you tried to connect his face with Desians. It just wouldn't work. Part of you knew him, and that part knew he wasn't a Desian. He didn't frighten you, either. You were more startled by his appearance tonight, his stubborn silence, and the fact that he had been watching your house this morning.
It was some time after dinner and after dark that someone knocked on your door. You fidgeted for a moment and then drew your sword, holding close to your side as you unlocked the door and pried it open an inch.
Colette stood outside, smiling. "Hello, Aura."
"Colette?" You relax and open the door a little more. "What are you doing here?"
"I forgot to tell you when we were leaving. I just stopped by to..." She trailed off, "Why do you have your sword?"
"Huh? Oh--it's nothing." You quickly step away and sheath your blade. "Nothing. What's up?"
Colette pouted slightly at you but didn't press the issue. "I just wanted to tell you that we're leaving around noon tomorrow, okay? Be in the village around then?"
"Of course!"
"We should be going, Chosen," Kratos said from where he, Raine and Genis stood a few feet away. "We'll need to be well rested for the journey tomorrow."
"Yes, I'm coming." She smiled her goodbye and headed off.
Kratos caught your eye as you began to shut your door, and both of you stopped for a moment. Despite the distance you could tell by his expression that he was looking for something as he stared at you, something in your face. A crease was forming in his brow as he looked at you, similar to the contemplative frown of the man from earlier.
You broke the gaze first, glancing down. "Goodbye, Kratos. It was...Nice meeting you," you say, your voice coming out softer than you meant.
"Don't do this, Aura..." A voice not unlike Kratos' whispered.
You jerk your eyes up to him. "What?"
He simply looked at you, expression as stoic and plain as it had been all day. "I said it was nice to meet you, as well. May the Goddess keep you safe."
"Ah...Yes..." You wanted to ask about that whispered sentence, but from the expression on his face you had the feeling Kratos hadn't actually said it. Not right now anyway.
He followed after Colette, Raine and Genis and you closed the door quietly.

For once you were disappointed to not have the dream of the man in the strange room. You had been hoping that the foggy figure would have cleared slightly, perhaps even been fully revealed.
Instead your dream was darkness and warped voices. You heard that same whisper from earlier, "Don't do this, Aura..." amongst a dozen others. All of the whispers and words were heavy with sadness and regret. People demanded things of you, of others, people yelled, people cried, everyone was shouting...
You hardly felt rested in the morning, but couldn't bring yourself to go back to sleep. You sat in bed for a while, simply thinking about those voices. That voice had almost been Kratos' but it was slightly off somehow.
When the time was nearing noon you buckled on your sword and got ready to meet with Colette. Someone knocked on your door.
Opening it, you found Lloyd and Genis standing outside, both of them out of breath.
"What's going on?" you ask.
"Colette's left already!" Lloyd exclaimed.
"What?!"

The three of you sprinted into the village and to Colette's house. Phaidra greeted you and sat herself at the table. It felt empty with no one else there but her and Frank
"Hello Lloyd, Genis, Aura," she said pleasantly.
"Phaidra, is it true that Colette already left?" Lloyd asked.
"Indeed."
His shoulder slumped and his expression deflated. "Did she tell me the wrong time...?"
"Lloyd, Colette told me to give this to you," Frank said, approaching the twin swordsman. Lloyd read it in silence, his expression shifting as he read it and ending in confusion.
"What's this? It sounds like a will," he said.
Frank opened his mouth, and an explosion sounded outside.
"What the--?" The three of you dashed out the door...And found the village burning. A fireball crashed into an empty cart not far down the street, setting it ablaze.
"What's happening?" Genis gasped. "The village!"
"People might be gathering in the town square," you say. "Let's check there."
Weaving through the streets was easy with them deserted, and you hoped everyone had found safe places to hide from the fire.
A voice boomed as you approached the square, "Lloyd Irving and Aura Asakura, come forth!"
Standing in front of semi-circle of crowd was a group of Desians.
"You've come to attack the village again!" Lloyd yelled as you three pushed your way to the front of the crowd. "I've had enough of this?"
"What's he talking about?" One of the Desians muttered.
"He speaks nonsense, ignore him," a half-elf ordered, the ranks of Desians parting so he could pass. He stood almost as tall as Kratos with flaring aqua hair, an eye patch, and a cannon that replaced the bottom of his left arm. "Listen up inferior beings, I am Forcystus, ruler of the Ranch where we cultivate you pathetic humans." *Forcystus...* you thought. The name was dimly familiar. "Lloyd Irving and Aura Asakura are accused of breaking the non-aggression treaty. You HUMANS have been in contact with host body F0192, and attacked our guards. Therefore, I bring judgment on you, and this village."
"You broke the treaty, too! You tried to murder the Chosen and kidnap Aura!" Genis shot back.
"Us? Kill the Chosen?" A Desian said. He burst out into laughter, "I get it...they must be after the Chosen. And what would we want with a pathetic inferior being like her?"
Forcystus sneered at Genis and then you, and he paused. His sneer faded slightly as he stared at you.
"They?" Lloyd asked. "Are you saying you aren't the ones that attacked Colette?"
Forcystus finally looked away from you. "I see no need to explain myself to the likes of you.
"What have you done!" The mayor yelled, pushing his way to the front of the crowd and coming in front of the two of you. Why he would do something like that you weren't sure, but he looked so mad he probably wasn't thinking.
"We're sorry..." Lloyd muttered as you bowed your head. How could it have ended up like this? How had they known about you and Lloyd?
"We have prepared an appropriate punishment for your crime," Forcystus said.
A huge humanoid monster, almost too tall to fit through the town's gate, staggered forward through the Desians. Its arms were so long its hands dragged the ground.
Attaching an exsphere directly to the skin makes you worse than sick... the parts of your conversation with Marble came back, merged together into one sentence. Could this thing be...?
"Now, receive your punishment." Forcystus waved an arm and the great monster smacked the mayor aside.
"Damn!" Lloyd cursed.
"Lloyd, I'll help too," you say, though you were slow to draw your sword. There was no way that this monster was a human... "I fought the guards with you."
"And me," Genis said, drawing his kendam. "It's my fault this happened."
'Stop me...' A voice whispered from the monster as you charged to meet it.
"That voice..." you whisper, swinging low at the monster's leg while Lloyd jumped at its chest and Genis cast a spell.
'Can you hear me?' the monster asked.
It didn't feel like you'd stopped moving, but you were standing perfectly frozen when the monster collapsed. The fight was over? It was bleeding from more wounds than you remembered it getting.
"Sir, it's just as you thought," a Desian said. "That boy has an exsphere."
"Yes, and that girl is who our leader has been seeking!" Forcystus said. He continued to speak, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the monster's ragged breathing
'Aura...please...' The voice whispered. 'You must kill me...'
"Who are you?" You ask.
"What?" Lloyd stared at you.
'Marble... I met you at the Ranch yesterday,' she whispered. Her voice was distorted and rough, but when you listened you could hear her kind, grandmotherly tones.
"Wh..."
'Please, Aura...Kill me.'
"No...! No, Marble, I-I can't." You take a step back.
"Marble?" Genis asked. "Is she here?"
"Aura who are you talking to? You have to focus!" Lloyd said.
'I don't want to hurt anyone else... I don't want to kill anyone. There is no way to cure me,' she said gently. 'Please kill me. Lloyd and Genis will understand.'
"A...Alright..." You clutched your naginata so tightly that it began to shake and swung down into the monster's chest, piercing clean through until you blade stopped in the ground. Your whole body began to shake as your blade morphed back into a sword.
"That's it! Take them both!" Forcystus yelled.
Lloyd grabbed your arm and pulled you back. "no! I won't let you take Aura or this exsphere!" He pressed his exsphere hand to his heart. "This exsphere is a memento of my mom, who you Desians murdered!"
"What are you talking about?" Forcystus scoffed. "Your mother was--"
Marble lurched off the ground and onto Forcystus' back, clutching him to her with her huge, mutant arms.
'Thank you...Aura.' From the gasps around you it was clear that everyone could understand her speech now.
"M-Marble! It's really you?" Genis asked, mouth hanging open. "But Aura just--"
'I asked her to. She had to.' You closed your eyes, feeling them stinging with tears, and looked away. Marble began gasping for breath, her voice coming out weaker and softer. 'Genis... you were like...A grandson to me. Thank you... Goodbye...' She sucked in mana from all around her and exploded in a flash of energy that left almost nothing behind. Her exsphere flew through the air, landing at Genis' feet. Forcystus fell to the ground, badly injured from being so close to it.
"Marble, no!" Genis yelled, collapsing and clutching the exsphere.
"What...what have I..." You whisper.
"Protect Lord Forcystus!" One of the remaining Desians yelled. They quickly swarmed around their leader, taking defensive stances, but none of you were up to more fighting.
"Lloyd, we will always come after you for that exsphere, and Aura for our lord." The half-elf promised darkly. "Always." He and the Desians teleported away, the same way the man at your house had last night.
"Why..." There must have been something, anything else you could have done. Why didn't you try to think? Why had you killed an innocent woman!?
Lloyd put a hand on your shoulder. "Aura, don't blame yourself... It's as much my fault as--"
"Why did I do that?!" You yelled, cutting him off. "What if... What if we could have saved her?!"
Lloyd and Genis stared at you in silence.
"Why did I do that!" You turn and flee, running away from the village as fast as your feet would carry you and not looking back or listening to your friends calling you.

You ran for hours, it seemed like. Running blindly with tears streaming down your face until you finally tripped on the uneven road. You sprawled into the dirt bonelessly, too tired to catch yourself, and just laid there sobbing. Why? Why, why, why... You didn't try to heal her, you just killed her. You didn't even think about trying to heal her!
Your mana started to rise, similar to what happened at the cliff. Only this time it didn't stop--instead rising and rising until you felt like it was going to tear you apart. "Wh...What..." You close your eyes and try to concentrate, try to force it back down, but it only rose higher. Running out of options and with your head spinning, you force your mana into your exsphere. The terrible pressure all over you redirected, instead gathering in your back for a split second before rushing out of you.
You lie on the ground and catch your breath, confused by the new weight hanging from your back. After catching your breath you push yourself up to sitting and look at your back... And your sparkling, silver wings. Your breath rushed out of you as you stared, and a whirlwind of images passed before your eyes. You having wings wasn't a new thing, in fact you'd had them for years...
"Angels, the perfect thing to run this act," a man with long blonde hair said. He hovered off the ground with a pair of wings larger than himself. "What do you think of yours, Aura?"
Worry about why you had wings could come later. You needed to hide now. If anyone came and saw you with wings...You weren't sure what would happen. You took off up into the air, and as you hovered there, higher than most buildings. Floating there for a moment you realized what you'd done. Your wings moved easily with hardly a thought, and it took practically no real effort to rise from the ground. Despite your reservations about height with your wings it simply didn't bother you anymore. You felt safe in the air so high above the ground.

You flew higher into the air and then continued the way you were traveling, not turning back to see the smoke that was probably still rising from Iselia. Brooding made time slip by you, and late in the afternoon desert was passing under you. You vaguely recognized Triet coming closer, though everything looked different in the air. You landed away from the village, and withdrew your mana back into you exsphere. When your wings vanished you didn't really feel it. Even after rubbing your face and trying to calm yourself for nearly ten minutes you felt like your expression was still morose at best, but at least you weren't crying anymore.
Inside Triet people were moving around in the cooler, late-day air. As you passed through the main square you heard something that might have been your name, but brushed it off. The inn was the only place you could think to go, the semi-familiar building where you'd spent plenty of nights in the past.
The innkeeper greeted you with a smile, but it was difficult for you to return it. "A room, please. For...one night." As you climbed the stairs to your room the door to the inn opened and someone called,
"Aura?"
You pause at the top of the stairs and look back. "Colette... What are you all doing here?"
"Us? We left this morning."
You try for a smile. "Hey, you told me noon."
She didn't smile back, and the trio only looked worried. "Why are you here?"
"Things happened in Iselia..." You consider talking about it, but the idea of what you did to Marble still choked you up. You shake your head, "I really don't want to talk about it."
"Things? Is everyone alright?" Raine asked. She was worried about Genis.
"They were when I left," you say. Guilt nagged at you for taking off the way you did, and you wondered how worried Lloyd and Genis were about you. "I... I need to be alone, ok?"
"Ok," the Chosen said quietly.

You hardly slept as night passed by, your brain too active to let you sleep. The moon was high in the sky, and your room was starting to feel stuffy. Some fresh air might clear your head. You attempted to be quiet as you left the inn, only pausing for half a second to look at the figure sitting alone in the dark common room. Kratos? Strange, why would he be sitting alone in the dark? Perhaps he was guarding the door to the Inn. The streets were comfortably cool, and you walked through town utterly alone until you found the lake that made Triet an oasis.
You sat down on the small dock, watching the moon on the water. Footsteps sounded behind you. You glance over your shoulder to find Kratos had followed you. "Oh, hey Kratos. If I woke you, I'm sorry."
"I wasn't asleep," he said. He walked closer and stood next to you in silence for a long moment, then asked, "Will you tell me what happened in Iselia?"
Your eyes stung suddenly and you rubbed them with the back of your wrist. "I... It's a long story," you say evasively.
"I'm the watch for the night, I wasn't going to sleep anyway," Kratos said. You glance up at him and then look back down at the water. The part of you that almost recognized him told you that talking to him would be just about the best thing you could do for yourself. Perhaps talking would do some good, after all.
"Colette... Colette told Lloyd and I that you all were leaving at noon." You start, sighing heavily.

By the end tears were rolling down your face, and you wiped them away with your sleeves.
"You did the right thing," Kratos said, his voice gentle but firm. "Marble asked it of you, and she was right that she would have just gone on to kill. She would have gone on living that life as a mindless monster without you. Taking life is cruel, but in this case...it was a mercy."
"Do you really think that?" You ask.
"I had a friend who was changed as Marble was," the Mercenary said softly. "There is no cure."
"I...I'm sorry to hear that." you murmur. "You're right, though... if there's no cure, she would have just gone on like that... I can't even imagine..." You shake your head. "Thank you."
Kratos offered his hand and helped you to your feet. "Come, we should get back to the Inn. It's late, and you need to rest."
"Go ahead," you say. "I...I want to stay and think."
He gave you an odd look.
"I just need to think a little more." You assure. "I'll be back soon. I promise."
"Don't stay out too late. You need your rest, and Raine and Colette will want to speak with you in the morning," he said. Then he turned and left, disappearing down the street.
You felt considerably better as you looked out at the lake again, and you sat to continue thinking. The silver moon glinting off the lake brought your silver wings back to the front of your mind. Wings. How in the world had you gotten wings? And who was that blonde man?
"Sorry." It was barely more than a mumble.
Strong arms wrapped around you, one pinning your arms to your sides and the other pressing a damp cloth over your nose and mouth. You struggled against their grip, giving an involuntary gasp that let the chemical odor in the cloth seep into your nose. Your vision started to go blurry almost immediately, and the more you struggled the dizzier you felt. Cloth tore near your right hand, and when you took another accidental breath darkness flooded over your eyes.