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Turned On	By : blackwaltz0 Category: +M through R > Phantasy Star Views: 2172 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Phantasy Star, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 18
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So, in that deep dark place away from his friends and all that could help him, what did Chaz Ashley fear the most? What did he desire the most? And, more than anything else, what could hurt him most of all?

He was an easy person to read. As he stepped down into the darkness and passed through the misty screen he did not think much of the new area he was in. It was exactly the same environment that Wren and Rika had traversed earlier, or perhaps later in every which way, as if they had all been spirited away to parallel yet identical basements and made to continue on in their own particular ways.

Nobody was beside him to pick him up when he stumbled and wondered why it suddenly felt like he was dreaming, his movements slow and clumsy and his head packed with cotton wool. He worried that he might have fallen asleep somewhere, and man, the others would be furious with him if they found him like that, sprawled out in a corridor and just snoring away.

Still, even if this was a dream it would be better if he press on. Perhaps the end of the dream lay at the end of this corridor. Chaz pinched himself as he followed the pathway of lit torches. He felt the pain and it jolted him out of his daze momentarily, but he still stayed down there in the basement by himself. Maybe it wasn't a dream after all.

It was slightly suffocating to be there alone, progressing with the constant threat of attack looming over his head. The forces which surrounded him and stalked him with an invisible presence and silent footsteps found his mind to be quite interesting, probing and prodding so ardently that had the daze been just an iota stronger Chaz would have passed out on his feet, then and there. It was already a battle to which the hunter did not even know he was participating. Furthermore, he was losing that fight.

Yes, that boy had quite an interesting mind indeed. Not open and honest like Rika's, with just a little bit of shy anxiety, young and still learning about the world. Not like Wren's either, put together in a different way and harder to crack, but in essence very old and wise about certain things, but distinctly childlike in other areas. Chaz was not like either of them, though he bore a resemblance to them both. He was young and learning, cynical, still grieving for his mentor, and though wavering in and out of love he was quite uncertain of himself.

Love and lust and confusion and fear and sadness, but somehow the boy had managed to find himself a comfortable content spot amidst all the emotional chaos. So many nerves to puncture, so many delicious ways to hurt. All that was required was a little shove out of his safe haven and back into the tumult of his soul. Right now, in the present, which was the best way to strike?

Tan cloaks rustled momentarily in the shadows. Chaz went stock still and glanced toward that feather-light noise like a frightened little rabbit. He shone the torch in that direction and saw nothing but the purple castle wall with veiny yellow seams fracturing the stone. He blinked dumbly a few times. Now he was hearing things as well. For half a minute he just stood there, waiting to hear that noise again, but when it proved to be just a figment of his imagination he moved on.

His hesitant walk transformed itself into a rhythmic march as time crept on, moving from basement level one to basement level two, then three. No enemies attacked him and that was strange, but none of his friends caught up with him and that was even stranger. He still had this feeling that he was being followed, which grew more urgent as the daze slowly left his mind. Chaz hoped that Rune and Kyra were alright, and Wren and Rika after them. Maybe he should slow down for a while and let them catch up to him. Why not? It wasn't a race, he had nothing here to lose.

He was seriously considering this and taking a short break until the daze was well and truly out of his mind when he heard faint voices coming from up ahead. Chaz jerked his gaze up from where he had been staring at his boots. They sounded a little familiar, though he couldn't be so sure from listening so far away. Had any of the other two groups overtaken him while he had been in the deepest part of his daze? No, that couldn't have happened. Even if he had been totally delirious he would have noticed somebody else navigating past him through the basement maze.

Also, even if any of his friends had passed him by they would not have left him to his own devices. They would have at least spoken to him. The hunter rubbed his head a bit in the hopes that it would clear his thinking. While he did this somebody raised their voice up ahead only for a moment, but that brief snatch of words was enough for Chaz to recognise. Rika.

That immediately motivated him. He clicked off his torch and hastily stuffed it back into his belt before taking off in the direction of the voices. It was something completely subconscious and inherent in his hunter's spirit that made him grab at one of his daggers, in case he was running into a battle in progress. A single knife wouldn't do much but it was better than a bare hand. Chaz rounded the final corner and came to an intersection, then halted suddenly in his tracks.

Rika and Wren stood within the crossroads and were partaking in a rather heated conversation, complete with gesticulations and some rather acidic words. When Chaz came around the bend and ran right into them the argument immediately shut down and they stopped and stared at him. They actually seemed more surprised to see Chaz than Chaz was surprised to see them. The blond hunter straightened up and put away his knife. "You guys were supposed to be back there�" He told them in perplexity, pointing back in the direction of the stairs.

The numan and the android just looked at him for several seconds in silence. Rika had her arms folded while Wren was holding onto his weapon with one hand, in the middle of a gesture with the other, but he aborted it and dropped it to his side after a moment. He was the first of the two to speak, and with a smile. It struck Chaz as wrong not because Wren rarely smiled, but because the smile seemed somehow insincere. Wren never smiled unless he had a perfectly honest reason for it. "Ah, Chaz. You have come at just the right time. You need to clear up this disagreement that Rika and I are having."

Rika nodded resolutely to Wren's request, frowning just a little. She too didn't seem quite right, though for the moment Chaz couldn't figure out why. He let go of the idea that their presence here was impossible and just decided to go with it; it was easier that way. Thinking otherwise made his head hurt. "Disagreement? What's the problem?" He asked.

"You need to tell us here and now who you like better, Wren or me." Rika declared in an unusually sharp voice, making a curt hand motion toward her friend before tucking it back across her chest. Wren did not even register her acknowledgement to him. Rika's pretty blue eyes were cold and determined. Talk about a frosty atmosphere.

As for Chaz Rika's words stunned him so much that nothing else in Algo could have achieved the same result. Not only did it feel like his heart had stopped beating, his blood had also frozen in his veins and time had stopped flowing around him. The colour of his skin drained down to white porcelain. She knew. How did she know? "You uh, you uh� nuh� know about that?" He stammered with wide eyes and a manic grin that had come out of nowhere. Maybe it was there to keep him from screaming.

"About how you feel towards me, and what you've been doing with Wren behind my back? Of course I do. It's not something you could keep secret forever. Don't think I didn't notice those little puppy-dog glances you'd give me when you thought I wouldn't notice." Rika emitted a small laugh, pretty yet hard, like a gemstone. Chaz felt like he was going to have a heart attack. It had been just about killing him and she had known all along? "But of course Wren and I can't share you. You have to decide who you want to be with, him or me."

"Chaz prefers me." Wren said in his bland, emotionless way. "He came to me first, not you. You frightened him, your attitude scared him because he was afraid that if he told you how he felt you would ignore him or hurt him, or both. He prefers me because I will never judge him or force anything from him, so he is always in control. He has already begun to forget you, and I welcome the chance to take your place."

"'Never force anything from him'?" Rika repeated in cold amusement. "What about the night you kissed him and scared poor Chaz half to death? Did he ask for that? Chaz only went to you because he thought he wouldn't be good enough for me. You're the second choice, Wren, and your perverse behavior proves it. If you didn't 'perform' to Chaz on command do you think he would even give a damn about you? I don't think so!"

This was a nightmare. It was the worst argument he'd ever have to listen to, by its nature of course, but also because he didn't know whose side to take. When Wren attacked Rika he wanted to valiantly defend the woman of his dreams, but when Rika lashed back at Wren Chaz just wanted to switch sides and protect his lover. He could barely wrap his mind around the idea that his secret had slipped, he wished a hole would just open up in the floor and swallow him alive. "Um, we can talk about this�" He said ineffectually, for the argument was already well and truly on.

Wren was becoming angry, but in a restrained way. If Chaz didn't know any better he could have sworn that Rika had just accused the android of being a slut. "Everything that I did for him was only because he asked me to. You are only jealous because Chaz does not like you in the same manner in which he appreciates me. If you didn't want his infatuation to stray then you should have done something when you had the chance. Are you thinking of Chaz or are you thinking of yourself, Rika?"

He might as well have slapped Rika in the face, the indictment had basically the same effect. "I'd rather be an aloof ideal for Chaz to fantasize about and keep my dignity than sink as far as you have! I guess it can't be helped, you wouldn't know the first thing about how relationships work, but I won't have you turning Chaz into a confused homosexual just so you can learn more about the world! Chaz deserves a woman, he deserves a future! What can you give him that I can't?"

"I don't know, how about happiness?" Wren spat back acidly. The more they argued the less they appeared to be like themselves. Chaz had never heard Wren use that tone of voice before, and he didn't know Rika could be so cruel. The android realised he had come up with something good and stuck with it. "When I spoke with him that night he was a miserable wreck. I couldn't let him continue like that; I had to do something. If it cost me my so-called dignity to make Chaz happy then it was a worthy trade!"

Rika closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "All this doesn't matter. I don't care what you say. You could have slept with Chaz a hundred times but what difference does that make when his heart belongs to me? You're just an easy harlot to pass the time with while he works up the courage to talk to me."

"That's a lie!" Wren cried, but that was all he was able to say. The android was so upset that his fists were shaking. He had no way to disprove what she had said and no more information to bolster his own view of things. It was because in some way that was what Chaz believed to be true, because he could not say anything that Chaz did not know or feel.

"Hey-" Chaz started to say in a feeble attempt to break up the argument.

"Shut up!" Both Rika and Wren turned to him and shouted in perfect sync. Chaz cringed.

They didn't even need him there to continue bickering. Tears welled up in Chaz's eyes and he sunk down onto the floor, wrapping his arms around his legs and huddling into a little ball. He couldn't lie, he cared about them both, but he wished they wouldn't shout and carry on like a pair of selfish children. This was what he was afraid of, for Rika to find out about their indiscretions and for Wren to defend it like an angry bear, but the worst of it was not being dragged into the center of the mess; it was being ignored.

He wasn't actually crying, but he had to blink frequently to keep his vision clear. There was a lump the size of an asteroid deep down in his throat that he couldn't swallow or cough away. They were still fighting over his head and he tried to mentally block out the sound. It was sweet that Wren was fighting for him, but Rika still seemed disgusted by their rather eccentric relationship.

Wait a moment. Chaz froze again and bit his lip in wild, disbelieving hope. He was so dense, he hadn't realised it until now. Rika was fighting for him. For him. She knew about his strange relationship with Wren and yet she still wanted him. His heart fluttered like an epileptic butterfly in his chest. Great Light, Rika liked him!

They were up to nasty name calling when Chaz stood with sudden determination in his eyes. He didn't have to be afraid of getting his feelings hurt now; he already knew how she felt. If he had only known about this sooner, like a few weeks ago he might not even have needed to bring Wren into his problems. He felt incredibly light and warm, even the tips of his fingers were tingling. "Hey!" He shouted loud enough to catch their attention. "You want to know who I like? Be quiet for a minute and I'll tell you!"

Surprisingly they both obeyed. Rika tossed her pink hair over her shoulder and Chaz realised the one thing that seemed wrong about her, besides her oddly aggressive behavior. The small white flower that Raja had given her to wear this morning was gone. Had she lost it somewhere? Well, no matter. He steeled himself to speak. "The thing is, for a very long time I have loved Rika. I don't know when it started but I guess it began shortly after we left Motavia. There's so many things I love about you Rika, you're beautiful, you have an awesome intellect, and I dunno� lots of other things I can't quite put into words."

"But," Chaz continued, "Wren was right in a way. I loved you so much that I was afraid to talk to you about it in the chances that you wouldn't love me back. I didn't know what to do and I sort of went to Wren for advice, then� well, things happened and before I knew it we were like this. I just needed to be close to somebody, or else the pressure of this quest we're undertaking would have crushed me."

Wren had gone quiet. Perhaps a little too quiet. He had a feeling he knew exactly where this was going. "What are you saying, Chaz?" He asked softly, lowly.

Dampening the euphoria of getting his feelings out to Rika Chaz felt extremely bad for Wren. He knew this day was coming but he hadn't expected it to come so soon. He felt like he hadn't gotten enough time with his very first lover. Chaz regarded his android friend for a moment then averted his gaze. "I'm sorry Wren. If I had to choose between the both of you I would choose Rika. I really like you so much, but I love her. You need to see the difference. What we had was wonderful but it was only a comfort thing. It wasn't going to last."

The dark-haired machine processed this for a maddening amount of time, then he bowed his head and nodded slowly. Of course, it could never be a serious relationship. Chaz focussed back on Rika, letting out a deep exhalation of breath as if his troubles could be released in that way. It made him feel much better. "So there you have it, Rika. I love you. What you're going to say next is either going to kill me from joy or from sadness. What do you think? Do you like me too?"

Rika cocked her head slightly to the side and smiled. She had her hand in his chest, enclosed around his heart. She could either rip it out or merely squeeze, that would be enough to finish him off. If she left it in there though he'd be the happiest man in the world. She looked at him with those deep blue eyes he had always loved. Gently, her hand came up and touched his cheek, soft, pressing so lightly and the sliding down to the side of his neck. Her touch was cool, not overly so, but not warm. That was odd too, but he gratefully ignored it.

In the background, a slip-up. Chaz didn't see the wren-type's secret smile, didn't hear the barely audible laugh.

"Why Chaz," Rika whispered in a sweet, cruel, horrible voice, her eyes half-lidded as she murmured into his ear, "that's really very� pathetic."

Chaz went cold. Huh? Rika straightened and began to fiddle with her claw gloves, pleased with herself. Had he really just heard that? Maybe his ears had played a trick on him within the light daze. Rika had just gone on about wanting him to like her, why would she say something so nasty as that? "Uh?" Chaz grunted in incomprehension, retaining his hope even as he felt it slipping like sand between his fingers.

"You don't really think the feeling is mutual, do you? Don't make me laugh. It's flattering to have an admirer but don't you think I could do much better than a little orphan boy too scared to admit his feelings for me?" Rika lilted, laying her cards down on the table. Her tone had become flat, businesslike. "Frankly I don't care whether you fawn over me or not, but you will look at only me and nobody else. Forget about Wren, he wouldn't want you anyway since you have discarded him. I'm going up ahead now."

She turned to leave, taking one path of the split intersection. Chaz just stood there in utter befuddlement, blinking like a baby owl, the reality of the situation slowly sinking through to him. The tears came and this time there was no restraint, audible and pitiful. "Rika!" The boy cried like a lamb's bleat, trying to coax her back. There wasn't any coherent meaning behind his cry, he just needed to call her name. "Rika, please!"

The girl hesitated, perhaps wondering whether she should go back. The pause almost gave Chaz cause to hope again, but Rika shook her head without turning around. "Sorry. Someday you'll understand the reason why." Then she vanished into the shadows down the hall.

When she was gone Chaz's mind just wanted to deny everything that had happened. It couldn't have been real, it was just too heart-wrenching to be reality. The boy's legs gave out on him and he sunk to his knees with a sob, then lent forward and slammed both his palms hard onto the floor. He wanted to scream his lungs raw but his sobs would get in the way, the tears running down his cheeks and pattering to the ground. "Rika�" He whimpered again weakly.

He had become so immersed in his sudden violent heartbreak that he didn't notice Wren crouch down beside him until the big android reached out and gently placed a hand upon Chaz's head, mussing up the hunter's hair slightly like one would pat a dog. It quieted him down a bit and he turned to his friend with bleary, watery eyes. Chaz wiped his nose with a sleeve of his bodysuit and sniffed. Wren was looking at him very carefully.

"Am I� am I really that pathetic?" Chaz croaked through his restricted throat, ever on the verge of bursting into tears again. He must at least look pathetic after how he had reacted to Rika's rejection. He had never had his heart broken before. It felt worse then he ever could have envisioned it, so many times when imagining the very conversation that had just taken place.

"Come here Chaz." Wren ordered softly and picked the boy up from the ground, setting him back on his feet. He wobbled but he was still okay, catching a quick peek at Wren's face before looking away in shame. Wren was expressionless but his actions were quite tender. He reached into Chaz's pocket and pulled out a handkerchief he knew the hunter kept in there, then used it to wipe the tears from his face.

Chaz let him do it in semi silence, quiet save for the occasional hiccup or sniffle. It was surprising just how intimate this simple action was. It calmed Chaz down somewhat but now he had a horrible dull aching in his heart, like the pull of a black hole. Would it be permanent? If so then he wouldn't be able to stand it. "I love Rika." He protested weakly, his voice breaking near the end. "How could she do this to me? Wren, please hold me. I can't take this by myself."

He stepped towards him with his arms held out, wanting more than anything the touch of somebody who cared. He wanted into cry into somebody else's arms until the initial shock of the pain went away. He couldn't stand to be by himself, to experience that would just be too much. Wren would help him, they were lovers, so he would always help him through all his troubles. That was one of the reasons why Chaz had started to like him in the first place.

So he hadn't expected Wren to say; "No." and brace him at half an arm's length, keeping the boy away. Wren didn't want Chaz to touch him. Blandly he regarded the confused expression on the blond palman's face, silently asking why. "You are not the only one who has been rejected tonight. It does hurt very much, but I will not let you near me. I will not have you hurt me again."

"What?" Chaz breathed. "What do you mean?"

"You are so selfish." Wren stated with slight bitterness. "You only ever think about yourself and what you want. Nobody else matters. You chose Rika and everything that she said about me was the truth, wasn't it? I am only the second choice. That is all I will ever be to you. You cannot have Rika and so you immediately come running back to me, because I will not object to you looking for a real love in your spare time. Why should I? I am only an easy harlot whose sentiments are always in question!"

By the end Wren was almost shouting. Hearing the android yelling, specifically at him completely pulverized his already frayed nerves. "I can't help it if I care about the both of you! I was only being honest! I never wanted to hurt you but there was no way out of it! I love Rika and I couldn't lie and say that I love you instead!"

Wren frowned. There was the stark truth. "You have made your decision very clear. Stick with it. Follow Rika around as much as you like but I assure you she will never love you back. I may not know as much about relationships as I should but I am not stupid enough to get rejected by the same person twice." The android let go of Chaz's arm and the boy could still feel the cold familiar touch for a few seconds, lingering through the red fabric of his bodysuit. Wren sighed. "I can't believe I was actually falling in love with you."

What? He walked off down the same pathway that Rika had chosen, taking firm, purposeful steps. Chaz stared. The very last thing Wren had said, did he really mean that? He would never have known. Wren was an android, he didn't think anything like that could happen for real. Chaz was on both the giving and receiving end of admissions tonight. The hunter burst into panicky action and chased after his friend, frantically grabbing onto the wrist which wasn't carrying his gun. "Wait!" He cried. "Wren, please! Let's talk about this!"

"Talk to Rika instead." Wren replied coldly and yanked his arm back from the boy, the frost from his words enough to ward Chaz away. He fell back onto the floor again and covered his face with his hands, only this time there was nobody left to pick him back up again.

Ah, a beautiful result. The chaos sorcerers could not have hoped for a better conclusion. Emotional chaos, heartbreak, tears and yelling and pain, it was just as good as shredding living bodies to disorderly pieces, if not better.

The two magicians had done their duty, walking back into the familiar random entropy.

The physical assault was up to their master now, the great king Lassic.

��

The anteroom to Lassic's chamber had been turned into a tiny camp while the real Rika and Wren waited for their friends to catch up to them. If they were the last members of the team to enter the darkness and the very first to reach the end then it was possible something horrible had happened to the other three members of the team. Rune, Kyra and Chaz, out of communication and out of touch. It worried them.

Rika was sitting a little ways down the corridor and watching the blurry mists flowing around the purple stones. It had grown back like mushrooms as soon as they had found the end of the path. The doorway to Lassic's chamber stank like sulphurous fire and rotting flesh, like a cannibal's banquet had been left lying out in the open for hundreds of years. She feared to go in there alone. Wren was around, busying himself with a casual patrol in the hopes of spotting the others arrive. He seemed anxious about the delay as well.

She was nibbling on a few pieces of dehydrated apple as she thought long and hard about what had just happened, along with what they were about to do. Faintly she could hear the heavy clank of Wren's footsteps elsewhere in the area. They were very lucky Wren had realised that the Kyra they had seen was a fake, if he hadn't destroyed her in time they might both be dead. It had looked just like her, down to the last inch.

That may well have been what had happened to the others, fooled by doppelgangers without an android around to point out the fakes. No, they were more reliable than that. They wouldn't be tricked like she had been; they were much smarter than she was. If anything they were just delayed, yes, that was it.

But she couldn't get out of her mind what the fake Kyra had said to her. If you want to know, look at Wren. She already knew that Wren was aware of who their leader liked, but the way that Kyra said it made it seem like more than it was. It was like she was accusing Wren of more than keeping Chaz's confidence. She could take the credibility of the fake Kyra with a grain of salt, but that one grain of salt was something and not nothing. It bugged her like a little splinter in her mind.

Perhaps, unconsciously, she was attempting to deny what the tiny, near invisible clues were trying to tell her. It never touched her forebrain but in the back it was there, gathering itself together. Chaz and Wren had become very good friends in the span of just a few weeks. They spent quite a bit of time together now, usually on their own. Lastly, fake Kyra had told her to look at Wren when wondering who Chaz liked. The pieces fit together almost perfectly, but the picture it portrayed was simply impossible.

Rika did not think about this. She was certain it was only all a ploy from her own mind tampered by Lassic to turn it into a hallucinogenic nightmare. After all, what she had been told was her very own personal bad dream. A very clever trap she supposed, but defused by her friend who was unable to dream. He had seen straight through the nightmare.

Little did she know, however, that the illusion they had seen didn't entirely belong to just her. Half of it had been her fears, the other half of it had been Wren's, though the android would have never admitted it to anybody but himself. Their fears had been so compatible that the chaos sorcerer had turned it into a combined production, not that it had helped the dark creature in the end. Still, extra credit for the effort, one would suppose.

Footsteps grew louder again but they were softer, not as heavy. It was hard to eat with the stink of death in the air but if she didn't have something eventually she'd feel too weak to fight properly later on. Everything in the Air Castle was designed to wear them out, scare them out, altogether make it easier for Lassic to snuff them out. She smiled as she thought that the best way to get back at the enemy would be to march into his throne room singing and laughing. That would show him spirits could not be broken so easily by simple magical illusions.

Or so she thought. When the footsteps were loud enough for Rika to notice properly she looked up and saw Chaz walking slowly towards her, head down, his shoulders drooping and depressed. There were tear stains on his cheeks and his breaths were raspy and ragged, enough to cause Rika's heart to sink. Somebody has been cruel to him, somebody's made him cry. Oh� She thought, her feeling of anger mostly drowned out by her concern for him.

"Chaz!" Rika called out to him and was up on her feet within a second, running towards him with her arms held out. The boy glanced up quickly, startled, uttering a little gasp of surprise. He didn't have enough time to do anything else before Rika flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, squeezing to make sure he was all there. "Thank goodness you're not hurt! Never go off on your own ever again!"

"�H-Huh?" The boy sniffed, going rigid with his arms by his sides. Her body against his was warm, soft and clinging, but this only confused him even more. Rika had told him that she was not in love with him and willfully broke his heart, how could she just turn around like she didn't remember and hug him like this? Hadn't he been hurt enough tonight? It had taken just about all the effort he had left to pick himself up off the floor and continue on to the end.

"Are you alright? What happened to you? What did you see?" She demanded, hitting him with a three question combo before he could even gather his bearings. The poor dear was trembling, still in shock. Rika let go of him and grasped his hand, leading him over to where she had been leaning back against the wall. "Come over here. Sit down, you look like you're about to fall over."

How could he refuse? He had absolutely no idea what was going on. Chaz sat back against the wall and sighed, resting his head against the cool stones, then he looked up at the numan girl standing over him. Part of his sadness slipped away to reveal a brief spark of post-rejection resentment. "Why do you care? After everything you said to me why do you care about how I feel now? I don't understand."

Oh no. Those illusions. It seemed like Chaz had never figured them out. Rika bit her lip a little and fidgeted with her hands. She had to figure out the best way to explain this without confusing him further. It even sounded like he had met an illusionary version of herself back there in the daze. If it had damaged their friendship in any way then she would definitely make Lassic pay.

"Chaz, what you saw in the hallways wasn't quite real. Wren and I had a similar experience back there too. The mists separated us and revealed things that would frighten or confuse, to make us lose our will to fight or to split us up. Don't believe what you saw because it wasn't true. None of it was. It was nothing but lies." She explained to him as simply as she could. Chaz just looked back at her dumbly. That might have been her sitting there had the fake Kyra not been unmasked in time.

"So� you and Wren don't really hate me?" The hunter asked in a meek voice.

"Of course not! You're our leader and our friend, none of us could ever possibly hate you. Even Rune likes you in a big brotherly kind of way." Rika stated vehemently and with feminine firmness, slapping a hand against the wall for emphasis. She watched Chaz allow the information to sink into his mind. All of a sudden he gasped, then immediately sighed with deep profound relief. He wrapped his arms about himself and gave a shaky smile. Rika wanted to give him another hug and reinforce his sense of relief but she didn't, instead turning around to the sound of more footsteps down the hallway.

"Look Chaz, Wren's back. He can tell you that he doesn't hate you himself." Rika smiled as Wren came back from his patrol, walking with a more casual step now that he was no longer on the search for his friends. He was smiling a little, Rune and Kyra walking along behind him. They were all back together now. Chaz nearly jumped up from his sitting position and Rika happily waved to the rest of their party.

"Chaz! Rika! You're okay!" Kyra called from the back of the line, breaking away and rushing up to the other girl. She seemed fine, more than fine actually, she was happier now than when she had first stepped down into the darkness. Rika was ripped away from Chaz's side by a full-bodied hug from Kyra.

"I just found them on the other side of this basement area. Kyra is healthy but Rune requires some medical attention. Rika, with your techniques can you oblige?" Wren reported, meeting up with the two girls and the hunter. Rune stepped up from behind him and waved briefly yet encouragingly with his staff, wordlessly letting everybody know he was okay. The magician was holding a bloody rag to the side of his head, soaking up the bleeding from a nasty-looking head wound.

"Sure, no problem. C'mon Kyra, you can help me. What happened to him?" Rika questioned the esper girl as they walked over to inspect Rune. Wren considerately moved out of the way.

"I had an� uh, 'disagreement' with a chaos sorcerer who was trying way too hard." Rune muttered as the girls came up beside him. He winced as Rika brushed aside his hand and removed the compress from the wound. There was an awful lot of blood. "Ow! It's not as bad as it looks, head wounds just bleed a lot is all. I'm more worried about getting the stains out of my cloak later on."

The wimpy 'ow!' sound that he made caused both girls to giggle. They took him around a corner and set him down, getting the medical equipment out of their inventories. Rune would probably enjoy them playing nurse with him as long as he could ignore all the pain. Chaz sat there in silence. He'd rather have a head injury than a messed up cauldron of emotions and a broken heart. Only� it wasn't really broken now, was it? Rika still liked him, that Rika from earlier hadn't been real.

Well, it had certainly fooled him. He needed some time to get his thoughts in order, like, a few months would be nice. Now that he thought about it he had sensed something wrong about that Rika and Wren, like a counterfeit coin. It looked the same and weighed the same, but it was made of different materials and simply wrong. "I'm such an idiot." He murmured, rubbing his temple as if to discourage a headache.

"Hm?" Wren had just been standing aimlessly in the hallway, but when Chaz spoke he turned to him with curiosity. He walked over to where he was sitting and looked down on him. "Is something the matter, Chaz? Are you also damaged?"

The hunter laughed a little, mostly at himself. "I'm okay, I just had a rough time in the tunnels back there. I didn't realise they were illusions. They must be laughing at me so much right now." Wren didn't say anything so Chaz contined, asking the question that needed to be said before he could experience total relief. "I saw another you back there, who I thought was the real you. Do you resent me, Wren? For being in love with somebody else and only liking you?"

"I thought we had already discussed this last night." Wren answered, taking a seat beside Chaz. The boy blushed as he briefly remembered the night before, more than just the conversation they had. He nodded. "I do not harbor any resentment towards you. I am beginning to believe that you deserve Rika more than you deserve me. I just want to enjoy the rest of the time we have left together. When that time runs out I can still be happy for you and Rika. I do not resent you."

The funny thing was that during the illusion Rika leaving him had not been the event which shocked him the most. Somewhere in his cynical mind he had expected nothing more than a rejection, so his feelings had been braced somewhat. He couldn't deny that when she turned away the first thing that had streamed through his brain was; 'I knew it.' It had hurt of course, made him cry, but he had been prepared.

It also hadn't been Wren leaving him either, Chaz secretly thought him a saint for staying with him even though the chances of infidelity and a hasty break-up were a near certainty. They were going to go their separate ways someday, he was always prepared for that as well. He cast a sidelong glance at the android sitting next to him, listening to the antics going on around the corner.

What had shocked him most of all was the admission that Wren had been falling in love with him. The illusion was a product of his own mind, fears and desires, so what did that mean to him? Did Chaz want Wren to fall in love with him, even though it probably wasn't possible? The idea had a certain amount of appeal to it but of the fantastical variety, like a daydream of what could never be. Chaz was realistic. If Rika could just like him back then that would be enough of a miracle for him. He wasn't greedy.

Thank gods everything was still okay in reality. The only thing that really troubled him now was a pounding headache from that earlier crying fit. He could hear the girls giggling as they tended to Rune's injury and Rune himself making some no doubt sarcastic comments and weak sounds of torturous pain. They wouldn't be finished for at least another ten minutes. "Wren?" He asked, quietly enough so the others wouldn't be able to hear.

"Yes?"

"The kiss that you owe me from back on the ice digger, do you think I could have it now? Please?"

Wren turned to him and smiled modestly. He had nearly forgotten about that. "Very well." He said in agreement but then he paused when he got a slightly closer look at Chaz. The hunter stared back at him questioningly. It wasn't anything serious. "Just a moment." The machine added and borrowed the hunter's handkerchief again, paternally wiping the boy's face.

"What is it?" Chaz asked, letting Wren do whatever it was that he was doing.

"It's nothing. Your face was just wet." He explained. Oh, from the crying. Chaz couldn't help it, he had just been so upset when he was left alone. It was a little weird though, this was exactly what the other Wren had done for him just before he had been rejected for the second time. At least he was being very gentle about it. When he was done he pulled Chaz closer and progressed with a series of kisses like it was the very last time they were going to do so, and it probably was.

Chaz made little appreciative noises between light breaths, almost a moan or a laugh but neither. Wren was gripping his arm just a shade too tightly, but that made things seem more exciting than anything else. They pulled away just before it became too dangerous to continue, in case the others finished up and wandered back to them or they became too carried away.

"That was worth waiting for." Chaz chuckled, patting Wren gently on the side of his face before pushing himself up to his feet. He stretched to work the stiffness out of his body, so glad that things were better now. The nightmare had been just that, a bad dream which faded with time. "About tomorrow night�"

"What about it?" Wren inquired politely as he looked up at his friend, knowing full well what he was referring to.

"Um, are we still on with that? After we defeat Lassic and stuff?" He couldn't help but blush as he asked. He wasn't used to propositioning people for things, especially for things like that, but Wren had mentioned something about it on the ice digger and he couldn't just let that go.

The android appeared innocently thoughtful but Chaz knew it was just an act. He knew exactly what he was talking about. The words of the illusions came back to haunt him for a moment, about Wren being an easy harlot and nothing else, but it was a lie. More than a lie, it was a load of bullshit. He was a system control for an entire star system, a warrior who had proven himself in combat time and again, and a very loyal friend. He was a good person, that was all there was to it.

"I don't see why not. There isn't any reason to cancel it, is there? I would like to see you again very much, if you'd permit me." Wren intoned with a nod. Oh boy, the thought of a repeat of last night made Chaz's mouth go a little dry. All the more reason to win against Lassic, he guessed. As for Wren he knew that any motivator for the boy was enough to get Chaz high-spirited again. He was kind of looking forward to it too.

"You really have changed these past few weeks, Forren." Chaz laughed.

"For the better or for the worse? I have yet to hear you complain about it."

"I'd have to be mad. I like you this way, happy."

Wren seemed like he was very close to actual laughter himself, smiling that sunny smile that Chaz loved so much, when Rune and the two girls came back to join them by the throne room door. Rika and Kyra looked like they had had a whole lot of naughty fun playing nurse with the Lutz. Rune had carefully treated bandages around his head and a scowl on his face.

Good thing that the hunter and the android hadn't been doing anything incriminating at the time. "Hey! Chaz!" Rune shouted out to their young leader, jerking a thumb at the two girls beside him. "You know first aid and the gires technique, don'tcha?" Chaz nodded in silence. "Good! You're going to fix me up next time then! Those two are sadists when they're working together, I'd rather be patched up by a brainless idiot than them again!"

"Is that why you specifically asked Chaz for help?" Kyra suggested in her sweetest tone possible.

"Hey, shut up." Chaz bit back good-naturedly as the party came back together. Despite his crying headache he was feeling pretty much okay now. "Come on, let's go. The bad guy's only one room away. The sooner we do this the sooner it'll be over."

They assembled into their battle positions, weapons drawn. Espers protected, fighters supported, vanguard ready to defend. The door to the final chamber was wide enough to accommodate them all walking abreast. A rank smell washed over them as they entered, devouring them, and there was no going back.

For a moment, and for only one moment mind you, Chaz and Wren held hands, reinforcing the hope that everything would be okay. No more splitting up and walking away into the darkness.

This time they were together.
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