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Oneshot about the relationship between Ro and her father. I'm feeling nostalgic for him, Erin just killed him off and it was fun being a baddie...
I could probably put this in the actual RP, but I think it's too long, and it's more of a songfic anyway. Song is 'My Father's Wings' from Quest for Camelot.

Ro contemplated more ideas of what songs to put on the glorious mp3, then remembered the movie fests she and her mom used to do.
Ro threw a kernal of popcorn at Zac Efron's head. "Mom, I like Hairspray, but why did they cast HIM?"
Mostly musicals, anything from Disney to My Fair Lady. Ro smiled, remembering one of the movies and searching it on a whim. She closed her eyes and clicked on one of the songs, as she'd been doing to find songs so far.
If you were with me now
I'd find myself in you
If you were with me now
Your the only one who knew
All the things we planned to do
Ro was shocked for a few seconds, then smiled nostalgicly. Didn't that suit her well?
I want to live my life
The way you said I would
With courage as my light
Fighting for what's right
Like you made me believe I could
Ro stood on the side of the stage, the dancer next to her shivering lightly. She gave her an encouraging smile and turned back to the stage. her mom was stealing the show again. She danced like light and grace as a person. The other dancer smiled. "Do you think she'll teach me that jump?"
"If you ask nicely. And buy her a smoothie. She's kind of obsessed with the things."
And I will fly on my father's wings
Ro blinked. Her father... Dead. Killed. It should have been one of the happier moments of her life, him leaving it.
"Roliana, stand up straight!" She blinked. Who was Roliana? But then, it seemed appropriate, she didn't feel like herself. Why shouldn't she get a new name, everything she'd known was gone, bundled into a casket and a wedding ring. The casket taking her mother away, the ring telling the world she was to go with this man instead. This cold man who knew nothing about her and wasn't bothering to learn.
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
She frowned. No matter how she felt about his death, she wouldn't wish him back.
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
Great things on HIS wings? If he even GOT wings, to be specific. Ignoring details, why would she want to follow him? What he done in the world except make everyone unhappy? Except...
"Now Ro, I know this will be weird, but just grin and bear it, alright? Your father is a difficult person, but he'll be happy to see you, he just might not show it, so don't worry, OK?" Ro nodded shortly, not looking at her mother's face. Stupid man, thinking he could just butt into their lives and expect perfection.
But when the man entered their apartment, ignoring the young girl, her mother's face lit up.
This world I'll never see
My dreams that just won't be
This horse's stride
with one days ride
Will have covered more
distance than me
Not true. She'd gone through more than she'd ever wanted to. But still, being normal, normal family, those were gone.
But I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
And yet, as always, a 'but' came up. She was not a teenager struggling just to know who she was. She had found friends. And... At the moment she'd looked him in the eye last... He had finally figured it out. He had not wanted her, but had thought she was safer with him, he had always spent too much time in the lab. But in that moment... He'd known. He might not have regretted what he'd done to others, but he had known what he'd done to her and Maria. And perhaps regretted it.
And someday, with his spirit to guide me
And his memory beside me
I will be free to
Maybe... Maybe she didn't need his help or spirit to watch and guide her. Maybe he needed her. To pull him back from the edge, to forgive him.
Fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
On my father's wings
She had no idea if she could possibly forgive him, no idea and she wouldn't say she did if she didn't.
So she started small. Whispering to herself, "Mom forgave you. When she got sick, she told me to tell you. She apologised to me for being selfish and asked me to tell you she forgave you. I was too mad and confused and sad to tell you. But she forgave you."
And maybe... Maybe someday I'll forgive you too.

Yay for part two...
Three months later.

Shadow Cycle
Part Two: Acrobat
Aeyly was completely back to her old job of spy. She had shoved Erin's little ritual out of her head: she'd defied stupid rules before, and this wasn't even a rule! Just a superstition.
She was dressed as a Beorc and headed towards a village on the Begnion side of the small Begnion-Crimea border. Despite the cloth on top of them, her ears picked up noises. It sounded like... Hissing and hitting. Usually a bad combination. She turned and headed towards the sounds, making sure to keep her steps quiet.
When she got there, she saw a group of Beorc surrounding a dark-furred Cat and hitting him lightly with spears. They had just managed to tie him up when she threw her knives, hitting three out of four. Not bad for once.
Then she stepped out the bushes cover, jumping on the nearest Beorc and trying to get her rope around him.
Bad idea when there were five more to grab and tie her up. She kicked herself for going in without a plan. Again. Two of the Beorc held her arms behind her back while the one she'd attacked (who was appearently their leader) rubbed his shoulder. "Just a girl... Although a pretty one. Hmm? What's this around your neck?" He reached for her pendant's string, the actual pendants under her shirt.
She bit his hand.
He pulled away, cursing, and she loosened her jaw so he could get his hand out. He hit her on the head, although she had to admit it was rather pathetic as hits go. "Crazy girl! What do you think you are, a filthy sub-human?? Should I take YOU as a slave too??"
She couldn't resist. "No. I don't think I'm 'a filthy sub-human'."
He didn't seem to get it, his henchmen didn't either. "What do you think you are then?"
"I like to think of myself as a pretty dang amazing Cat, thank you sir!" She pulled both feet off the ground, kicking the guards who held her arms square in the chest so they let go, stumbling backwards. She used the force to go into a flip, landing away from the othe Beorc. She shifted as she landed. Despite the fact that she'd TOLD them, their faces were still pretty hilarious. She took her oppurtunity, pouncing.
When she was done, she stood among the fallen bodies and other wreckage and tutted. "With all modesty, they didn't stand a chance. I TOLD Phell I should have been an acrobat. And look who was right!" She tutted again, more at Phell then the Beorc this time.
A voice came from behind her. "Who are you? What did you just do??" She turned around quickly. Oh. The Cat. She had forgotten about him...
"Aeyly Byrun, agent of the King of Gallia. I'm pretty sure I just kicked butt!" She MIGHT have had some sugar earlier that day, but shhh, don't tell. He just stared at her mutely, shifting so he could slip out of the ropes. He had black hair, blue-green eyes, and a lot of bruises. "Can you walk? We need to get you back to Gallia... Don't even think about arguing, I have SPECIFIC orders, and I am NOT about to disobey THOSE again..." She shuddered. The village would have to wait, the King had told them if they ever came into contact with slavery, that became FIRST priority. As in, above saving your best friend's life. Not REALLY literally (at least she thought), but that was the gist of it.
She hauled him to his feet, then dug in her bag for an Elixer. "So who're you? And how'd you run into the Doofus Group? AHA! Here ya go." SHe handed him the Elixer and watched the bruises fade away with the usual amazement.
"I'm Thomas Schofield. I was just walking and they ambushed me."
"They tend to do that... Do you live in Gallia? I've never seen you in the castle or anywhere else." Not that she knew EVERYONE, but still.
"Never been there." He said it sharply and Aeyly ended the interoggation.
"Alrighty then, we'll shift and be off. Just follow me and when we get there, don't tell anyone they actually captured me or made me shift. I have bet with Matt that I CANNOT LOOSE."
He just looked at her and shifted.

Shadow Cycle
Part Four: Pepper
Aeyly quietly and unnoticably ate a bite of her food, watching and waiting. Thank the Goddess for Matt's girlfriend! Five more seconds and Matt would be distracted enough to let go of the pepper. Honestly, sometimes she thought they could have been brother and sister, they were both rather obsessed with the stuff.
And he let go! She grabbed and put it on her food, stirring then tasting. She really had this down to an art... She had just gotten into eating and ignoring Matt and Jenna's love talk (however good at distracting him, it was pretty disgusting) mode when the bench moved under her. Someone had sat down. She looked up and saw Phil, the scientist.
"Have you seen the new guy?"
She choked on her food. Ugg, rumors. They always seemed to ignore the good part. Like how she'd SAVED HIS BUTT! "Seen him, talked to him, left him in the King's cloud of memorial joy... Yeah." He looked kind of offended, but she was back to eating her pepper-ified food and ignoring the world.
Later she passed by the throne room on her way to the training and was practically sucked into the room by the King. After she got out of THAT confused mess, she rubbed her throat. "Honestly sir, MUST you do that??" Is it bad that I expect that when he wants to give me missions? I mean, he's going to do serious damage one of these times... Oh, he's talking.
"Aeyly... Are you aware that your mother and father worked together? Because they did. An excellent pair..." Please don't be going senile... Was all she could think of. There had been a little too much memory lane today to be good. He went on, "Of course, you have your father's way of fighting and his knack for spreading false rumors, if not finding information... I suppose you're wondering what my point is?"
Nod.
"Well, ever since the Ross Fiasco-"
"OH COME ON!! JUST because I got caught up in Goldoa and COULDN'T contact you DOES NOT mean I'll do it again!! I got captured and stressed out because I couldn't fight back because of your politics and they locked me up! And look what came of it anyway! Erin's Queen, she married Shale, Goldoa is safe and we have better relations with them than ever! And with the Wolves!!" She took a deep breath and went on, thankful he was a King who could take constructive critism. "PLEASE do not tell me I need a partner JUST BECAUSE I listened!!" She shut her mouth and focused on even breathing. She wasn't extremely mad, she just wanted her fellings known, and it was pretty annoying he KEPT bringing that up. Honestly...
He looked amused. "You aren't getting a partner Aeyly. I need you to take Thomas on your next mission and see if he should join the program. That's all. Nice, calm evalutation. While doing a mission of course."
"Of course."
"Good. I'll tell Thomas, you leave tomorrow. I'll give you details before you leave. And try not to wake me up at dawn again..."
"Yessir." It was rather sulky, but he didn't seem to notice.

Ta-da...
I think I'll dedicate this post.the whole dang thing to Erin, cause she keeps bugging me to post... It does wonderful things for my self-esteem.

Shadow Cycle
Part Six: Heroics
Aeyly lept over a final log and came in view of the village. "Oh my God..."
It was burning. The entire village was up in flames. Beorc on horseback were riding off, laughing. They wore Begnion's armor, which under normal circumstances would have sent her head spinning in confusion. It would, however, explain why there were no kidnappings.
But there was no time for astute thinking. People were outside buildings, hacking or crying. Most of the village seemed to have made it out, probably trying to reason with the soldiers. But there was one group screaming at a building, a few of them being held back by others.
A voice filled her head. Her own, only younger: Daddy, why did you break your arm to save those people? Especially the Beorc ones. I don't get it...
A male's voice, around tenor range and calm and gentle: I save people no matter who they are Aey. Just because they were born to Beorc parents doesn't mean they ever did anything wrong. Most Beorc are good, so I save them as well as Laguz. It's part of being a good person.
She ran for the building, the words replaying themselves over and over in her mind. Dodging the people and ignoring shouts she kicked the not-quite-burning door down and ducked into the ex-house.
Ignoring the feeling of a cliched hero she looked around and tried not to breath the smoke (which was insanely hard as it was everywhere) and spotted a boy about tweleve huddled in a corner.
Why must they ALWAYS make it hard to get to them?? She dodged a few burning things and grabbed him roughly, heading for the door before her body could complain about his weight and slow her down. It's all in the mental perspective. She didn't know he was there, he might as well not be.
Ignoring the cliched feeling again, she nearly jumped through the door/hole as the building's fire crackled over her head. She dropped the boy roughly and hacked onto the ground, hoping her cloak would be kind enough to hide her tail and ears while she attempted to purge her lungs of ash.
That was insanely stupid. She thought. Or thought she thought. It wasn't her voice or anything like her normal thinking-voice(s). Actually it sounded like... "Are you listening??"
Thomas. She fell sideways from her hands and knees position so she was laying on her side.
Blearily she quoted: "'We save anyone if we can. No one should be left behind just because we were too afraid to try, always try to save those you can. Always always try.' My mother said that nearly every day, I was brainwashed by it since I was born. Not my fault." She could get up now, the villagers were still purging the boy's lungs so she looked at Thomas. "Can we go now? I'm tired of doing stupid things... And if we wait I'll have no choice but to hunt down the morons that did this."
He was about to reply when Aeyly's hatred of close building increased ten-fold. Everything was collapsing. One of the men grabed the boy and all the villagers made a run for it. Aeyly swore, they were in deep tro--
She was cut off by being roughly grabbed around the middle and carried out of the burning village(she would later regret treating the village boy like this. It was not pleasant).
When he put her down, she resisted the urge to kick Thomas. "Thank you for that, but I'm going to point out that we have now both indulged in heroics and you can't yell at me. Much as I love being yelled at."
He just rolled his eyes. "Someday I'm going to make you give me a real thank you for saving your sorry life."
"How about when you thank me!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Haven't I done that? Oh well, how about after we get away from the villagers that are slowly creepiing towards us?"
A few days later when they reached Gallia with a little bit of information and a lot of bruises, she would remember he'd never thanked her and nearly decapitate a maid who asked her why she looked so annoyed.

The posting party continues... And Shale's joined in, yay!
I would like to start a movement to rename this whole little area "Writer's Block."
I like it...

Shadow Cycle
Part Eight: Reassigned
Aeyly was getting used to abusing herself. Hitting you head with your hand is very soothing. Not that hitting something else with your hand wouldn’t be equally relaxing… Which was what drove Aeyly to the training grounds while the King enjoyed his dinner and decided what to do next.
Being in charge did not sound like fun.
Three dummies later, a servant came out (warily, she noticed. She really needed to stop taking out her anger on the poor innocents…) to tell her the King “requested her presence.” She went in quickly.
Times like these the King relished his power to make decisions that no one could change. He had called in Aeyly and Thomas and was watching them squirm with impatience. Rather than waiting for one of them (and Aeyly knew it would be her) to burst, he spoke. “So your mission was both a failure and a success. You did not gain information on what you were supposed to, but we learned that Begnion either knew we got information there or they had rebels in that village. Either way, the village can’t help us now.”
He paused to scratch his knee idly. Aeyly butted in, “But if you don’t care what am I supposed to do? I’ve given you my opinion on other options.”
She had. Being an officer had been vetoed in record time. She didn’t want to be a normal soldier either, she was used to and enjoyed being in charge of herself and no one else. That way when you fail, you fail. You win, you win. No variables, easy to figure out. She had also told him her opinions on partners. One in particular.
“Yes, yes… But you are aware that you have to do SOMETHING? You can’t sit around.”
“I wasn’t planning on it!”
“Good. So you won’t object to keeping Thomas around as your trainee? Good, it’s settled, you know where the door-“
“No thanks.” Aeyly spun around. That hadn’t been her. “I’d like to either know why I need “training” before I decide what I want to do.” Thomas glared at Aeyly and gave a more reserved version of the look to the King.
“Technically speaking… You don’t. But there’s nothing else for you to do. And unless Aeyly changes her mind on partners… There really is no other option.”
Aeyly butted in again, “I never even agreed to this arrangement!” They both glared at her. “What?? It’s the truth!”
The King got the look in his eye that made Aeyly nervous. It was a combination of the knowing look and the one a five year old gets when he comes up with an evil plan. “I’ve made a decision. If you acknowledge me as your King you will obey me. Refuse to acknowledge me and I’ll have no choice but to throw you in jail. You will be partners. As you have no immediate assignments, you will spend the next four days doing teamwork exercises, starting right now while I go to bed and you two stay here and BOND.” He glared at them, daring them to refuse.
They didn’t. “Good. See you in the morning.” And he locked them in.
“I hate him.” Thomas sat down, glaring at anything and everything.
Aeyly plopped down next to him (without being next to him), the same expression on her face. “For once we agree.”


I know, I'm evil.
But you know you love me... *winks*

So here it is! I don't know what I think about it, but whatever. I'm OK with it so I'm putting it up before people start to actually care that I haven't.
Enjoy...

Shadow Cycle
Part Ten: Hunger
“I’m hungry.”
“And I should care… Why?”
Aeyly gave Thomas a look that should have killed him. Of course, like all looks we wish would kill people, it didn’t work and he remained alive. She voiced her disgust, “Well if I’M hungry, then YOU haven’t eaten EITHER, so YOU’RE hungry too!” This bonding thing was getting on her nerves. It was breakfast time and she had no breakfast!
Something was wrong with the world. And Thomas still wouldn’t spill. Aeyly had a sneaking suspicion that the King was spying on them, so the fact that they were still here was HIS fault.
She threw a ball in the air and watched it bounce away and sighed, not getting up to get it. “I’m bored. I need one of those stone things so I can bug Erin and Shale… Or ANYONE for that matter… Aren’t you bored? How can you not be bored??”
He was actually looking at her while they had a conversation for once, so she guessed he had nothing else to look at, AKA boredom. OF COURSE he wouldn’t admit it. “I don’t get bored.”
“LIAR!” She managed to point accusingly at him, despite her position on her back. He was sitting cross legged with his elbow on his knee and his head in his hand.
He didn’t respond and Aeyly decided that he was one of those people who exerts as little effort as possible when bored or tired. Or maybe he was just that way all the time. She sighed and wished there was something to climb or run or SOMETHING to do.
“Hey, do you think there’s any chance we could escape? We’d have to work together so we could shut the king up by saying we “bonded” and never speaking of this again.” He shook his head in response and Aeyly turned her head back to looking at the ceiling, completely bored out of her mind.
“I’m still hungry.”
“Tough.”
“You aren’t any fun at all, did you know that??”
He didn’t seem to care and Aeyly stuck her tongue out at him. She turned her thoughts back to escape. She could most likely bash one of the windows the bordered the ceiling all around the room. If she could get to them, which she couldn’t.
Well, she could stand on the top of the back of the throne and jump for it…
She stood up and clambered onto the huge chair, then grabbed the top and pulled herself up, standing very slowly and hoping she wouldn’t fall over…
“What are you doing??”
She wavered and kneeled down so she could grab the chair with her hands. Once she was balanced, she sent a glare over to Thomas. “I’m trying to get out! If you’re nice and don’t distract me again, I might come and let YOU out too!”
She waited for a response and when none came, she stood up again and found her balance. She braced herself and bent a little before jumping for the windows still about fifteen feet above her head. She shifted as she jumped and grabbed the wall with her claws, clambering up quickly. She reached the window and shifted so she was hanging, kept above the ground only by her hands on the windowsill. She looked a little to the side and down and groaned.
“The maids are going to KILL me, look at the hole!”
She was still trying to figure out a way to fix it as she pulled herself up so her elbows were on the sill.
She lightened up a bit as she was able to hold herself up. “Huzzah for upper body strength!”
It was quiet, said with an almost embarrassment, but she heard it. “Please don’t fall; I don’t really want to have to catch you.” She looked down, having been about to try bashing the window in. He was actually down there.
Apparently chivalry wasn’t dead: it was just extremely reluctant and sarcastic.
Which might have been worse. She would have shrugged but she couldn’t, so she just went to bash the window.

SO. SORRY.

Shadow Cycle
Part Twelve: Side Trip
At around noon the King decided he needed his throne room and went to unlock his prisoners, just to realize they had already left, and taken out one of his beautiful windows along the way. He sat through the NEED-TO-DO-NOW business glaring at inanimate objects, and then finally called the two in.
Aeyly wasn’t particularly happy to be yelled at, especially when she had made the executive decision to take the situation into her own hands. Number one trait of a good agent; thinking for yourself. But of course not…
After the lecture, the King sat silently, watching the two of them. Aeyly squirmed but didn’t say anything, showing a small amount of restraint for the first time in a few months.
He finally spoke. “Since you two managed to get out of the throne room in such a surprising way, I’m going to assume you have what it takes to work together. At least for one mission, we’ll go from there. You’ll leave… Tomorrow morning. Yes, that would be best.”
Aeyly sighed and looked at one of the intact windows with an air of disgusted defeat. As she and the ever-silent Thomas left the throne room, the King seemed to remember something. “Aeyly! When was the last time?”
The sad thing (in her mind because she wished she didn’t) was that she knew what he was talking about. She paused before answering, “About a year. I meant to before I left for the mission that led to the super-long mission, then when I came back in the middle of it, then before Erin and Shale’s wedding, then after… And so on. But I haven’t.”
“You should or we’ll all be in trouble. You’ll do it tomorrow morning? I’ve been meaning to as well and Thomas won’t mind a side trip. You won’t mind company?” However much they sounded like questions, choices, they weren’t. He was coming and so was her un-official arch-nemesis. Whoop-dee-doo.
She didn’t have a very exciting rest of the day and slept lightly, jolting awake at small noises. So, in the morning, she wasn’t extremely happy. Thomas was confused, showing it on his face but not saying anything. She sighed as they waited for the King.
He showed up and none of them talked. Aeyly led the way through the forests to a large clearing, almost the size of the castle but flat. It was foggy, looking rather graveyard-ish. Which was fitting; since it was a graveyard. Despite not being there for a year, she picked her way quickly and easily to a spot on the far edge of the open ground. Twin markers stood surrounded by flowers. They were growing on their own, one of Aeyly’s greater gardening accomplishments. She promptly sat down right in front of them. The King stood behind her, merely bowing his head.
“You can go ahead and do what you normally do, it’s been a year and I know you talk to them, don’t break it because of us.” He was one to talk… Yes, let’s just spill our guts to some graves in front of people, that sounds great… But now he was expecting it. “Hi Mom, hi Papa. I suppose you know all the stuff that’s been going on… Being almighty spirits and whatnot…” This was beyond awkward. “I need to put some lilies or something out here, it’s starting to get an over-all BLUE affect. And yeah… Miss you.” She stood up and brushed her legs off in an attempt to not make eye contact with anyone.
“Can I go now?”
The King nodded absently and Aeyly strode quickly out of the clearing, shifting as she reached the trees. Thomas was right behind her and for once she was glad he didn’t ask any questions, it was easier to forget he’d seen that.