Rose led the group across the desert sands, stopping by the oasis to rest and drink, "Well, Symonne, how's it working out for you, all this walking?"
"I'm fine, we'll be there soon, though, right?" Symonne replied, intently watching the Shepherd stare at the sky.
Rose nodded, "Yeah, soon, but I thought a short rest was in order."
"It's important to take breaks now and then." Lailah remarked, "So if you need to take breaks, Symonne, we can always slow down."
"Unnecessary, I'll be tired long after you." Symonne assured, "Now, if you're done, I'd like to hurry."
"Okay, fine," Rose shrugged, "so long as you're sure."
"What about me?" Edna scowled, "What if I wanted to make some tea, there's enough water, and I'm tired of plain water."
"U-uh, if that's okay with Symonne." Rose replied, "And Alisha and Lailah, too, naturally."
"I'm good with whatever you decide," Alisha confirmed, "some tea should keep us in good spirits, that's as important as rest."
"Agreed, plus I have come tea cakes," Lailah smiled enthusiastically, "we should definitely stop for a snack!"
Symonne waited for the others to occupy themselves before addressing Edna, who stood alone by the water, staring at the sky's reflection, "I don't know what to think of you right now."
"You could start by thanking me," Edna spared a glance at the dark seraph before returning back to the water and shrugging, "or, you know, not."
"First Rose, now you?"
"Rose is a mind reader, but anyone could see you were struggling to keep up, I suppose you are pretty delicate," Edna smirked, "never running from place to place, trying to hold the world together, instead you just took your time, confident that your master would succeed."
"That's the other thing, I don't know which Edna to believe in."
"Other...oh, not knowing what to think of me, right." Edna looked at Symonne and smiled, "I guess you'll have to figure that out yourself, you have to have something keeping you here, some reason to let us walk your feet off."
"Like I need a reason." Symonne growled.
"We're not about to start fighting here, are we?" Rose chuckled, "No infighting, as your leader, I forbid it!"
"We're not fighting." Edna smiled at Symonne, "She's just thank-"
"Thankful you've come to save me from her, she talks way too much!"
Symonne stomped away and Rose shared an inquisitive glance with Lailah, "Well, time to head out again, Bors Ruins still has someone lurking around, this is a good time to split into teams, when we reach Glaveind Basin Alisha, Lailah, and Edna will go to the forest and swoop on through there, Symonne and I will go through the hillside entrance, we'll corner this thief and see what's up!"745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWPTUlDk5C
"Rose...are you sure about this?" Lailah wondered wearily, "I sensed the presence was much closer to Falkewin then Volgran."745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWLXLQPKbS
"I'm sure," Rose nodded, smiling at the fire seraph, "but I understand your concern...so I'll promise to be careful, unless you're really sure you want to change that plan."745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUj04DB4sGv
"I'll...take your word for it, you and Symonne are both strong...I guess our teams are sort of evened out." Lailah rested her hand on Rose's arm, "Still...be careful, Rose."
"Of course, I can't go leaving Symonne to fend for herself, now can I?" Rose smiled broadly before continuing ahead, "Onward!"
"Why are we splitting up like this, anyways?" Symonne wondered, "Wouldn't it be better to attack together?"
"Well, I can tell you from experience, it's always easiest to escape when your way out is clear," Rose explained, "we're not going to give this guy a way out...keep forgetting it's not actually a human, though...might even be a seraph!"
"If Lailah was concerned...could it be a mutant?"
"Probably not, we got a lot of orbs, and I'm sure we'd have seen it by now, anyways." Rose shrugged, "For all we know, it might be a new type of monster."
"So...what's the deal with," Symonne scowled as she tried to find a nickname for Edna, "what's the deal with Sunflower?"
"Oh, Edna? Just in case I didn't introduce you two, her name's Edna." Rose teased, nudging Symonne in the back, "Her deal is...complicated, her brother was hardly around her, but brought back trinkets for her and stuff, but later he turned into a dragon, and she spent hundreds of years in denial, thinking her brother could be saved somehow...but dragons can't be purified, only killed...so she's been through a lot...kind of like you, I guess, you're alike in that you mask your true feelings, out of fear you'll be hurt again."
"How do you deal with her?" Symonne hissed.
"By understanding something very important: I don't know what it's like to be her, and I'm not her, and...she means well."
"That's three things." Symonne remarked wistfully.
"So, you understand that?"
"W-what?"
"You acknowledged that it was three things, plus the way you said it."
"Well...you're the one who's supposed to know your team."
"Speaking of which." Rose held up her hand and waved at the three figures in the distance, "Looks like they haven't seen anything yet."
"I sense something." Symonne stared down the path ahead and charged forward.
"Hey, wait, it's dangerous to go alone!" Rose growled quietly and turned to the others, who were running over to her, "Go down that path over there, whatever we're dealing with might try to escape that way!" she ordered, running after Symonne.
Rose found the dark haired seraph fighting what resembled a spider, but the appearance was hazy, "Hey, Symonne," Rose yelled, storming over to her new seraph ally, "you okay over there?!"
"I'm fine, just hurry over!" Symonne blocked several rapid attacks before she was thrown across the area, and as she struggled to her feet she watched helplessly as the monster darted up to her, bright red eyes glowering at her, "Rose, stay back!" she cried, tense as she awaited the final strike, "Rose, stop, it'll only kill you too, I'm finished"745Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliwloh8XkN
"Not going to happen! Lord of Shadow," Rose cried, leaping up and falling towards the monster while Symonne watched in horror, knowing Rose wouldn't stagger the monster before Rose found herself one seraph short of her current party, knowing Rose would likely not lay a finger on the spider before Symonne was dead. She thought once more how stupid and how easily some humans could be lost to baseless hopefulness, but her thoughts were swiftly swept aside when she heard Rose's voice, "Lux Tenebris!"
Instinctively Symonne answered by floating up, over Rose, and down around her, draping her with the cool purple glow of her armatus, and heard her voice alongside Rose's as the Shepherd allowed them to take hits in exchange for striking back with the edge of their mirror, "Shadow Glare! Dawn Batons! Noon Strike! Dusk to Dust! Moonlight Shadow! Shadow Glare!"
Symonne sensed their allies behind them, racing to aid the seraph and Shepherd, and she felt Rose grin to her as though to give her a cue. Symonne nodded, or felt as though she did. She was uncertain if her gesture was reflected in the armatus, but knew the idea got across to Rose, who leaped up to strike the monster with their mystic arte, "The play comes to an end! Curtain Call!" suddenly a violet veil fell on the monster, a white and black flames broke out from their respective sides of the curtain and the monster collapsed in a silver flame.
The pair split as the others made their way over, and Rose gave Symonne a light nudge that surprised the seraph, "We did it, Symonne!"
"Y-yeah...that was the armatus." Symonne stared at her hands and smiled, "This is the kind of power humans and seraph can wield when they work together in unison."
"Ah, I'm disappointed in you, Petunia," Edna sighed, "you're getting all soft on us...like melted ice cream."
"Hmm, that actually sounds pretty good right now!" Lailah piped, looking around at the battlefield, "And there seems to be no more of whatever that was, so we've got free time!"
"Sounds good to me." Alisha agreed, jumping when an umbrella stabbed her shoulder.
"Make mine a double with sprinkles." Edna ordered.
"Well, we should hurry back to town, then!" Rose took a quick look around, "After finding all the stolen supplies."
"Yeah." Symonne smiled and followed after the others, when Edna made a suggestion.
"Why not just let the two countries get their stuff back on their own, we're not getting paid for deliveries...or at all."
"There will be suspicions," Alisha predicted regretfully, "a third party like us won't make things simpler, we should just report our findings and leave the rest to the appropriate authorities."
"Then it's a one way, nonstop shot to the nearest ice cream parlor!" Rose declared.
ANs: I'm fairly confident in the direction we've taken here...and I'm just talking to myself, as Pit would say.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
