"Seraph, how far are you willing to go to find the truth?"

"The truth...? About you, Lady?"

"Truth isn't about anyone in particular. It just...is. Don't you think so?"

"I don't know. That doesn't sound so believable, though".

"Is that right? Well, Seraph, I think truth isn't something as relative as you think it is. I mean if there weren't a few things absolutely set in stone, we wouldn't have a lot of hope in this world, now would we? And also, without something so scary as a hardcore truth, we wouldn't have anything left to fight for. It simply isn't worth living anymore without that sort of fear".

"Well, I think it isn't worth it if we were never able to find closure. Even if some truth like you say exists, I don't think it is something we all will ever be able to fully accept. And that defeats the purpose. You know, if the world is all about us then the human will is the strongest thing of all. Even a hardcore truth like that would mean nothing against the stubbornness of the human mind. I think that's intriguing."

"Intriguing, you say...well, I find it ridiculously terrifying and hopeless".

******************

I felt like I was riding the wind. Nasty sure was in a hurry and for one, we were on the same page about it. I do think I was dozing off most of the way and if Nasty hadn't been a jerk, I might have really fallen asleep and fallen off of him. When I did wake up, it was because Nasty encountered his fiendish instincts and halted without warning so that my poor self was thrown flying into a tree. I survived, though.

When I opened my eyes to see what calamity had befallen Nasty so as to force him to stop like this, I saw a tall man standing beside him, holding the reins. Not that I was extremely possessive of Nasty, but it did bother me to see how Nasty acted like a good little kid with that cloaked man. I quickly moved to fix myself straight as much as I could and got up to face the man.

"Ah, did that hurt?", he turned to me with a careless grin on his face.

I noticed that he was a young guy with handsome looks and a noble constitution under that cloak.

"I'm sorry. From all my travels, I've just grown impatient now that I'm nearing my home", he extended his hand toward me.

At first, I was hesitant to take it and to be fairly honest, I was a little confused by his demeanor and frankness. Nevertheless, I shook hands with him and he seemed like a positively nice guy, suspicious or not.

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"You've got a nice horse", he complemented Nasty, stroking his mane, "What's his name?"

"Err...haven't given one yet", I didn't want him to get to know Nasty better than me. It almost felt like he was taking Nasty away. I couldn't let that happen, after all, I had somewhere to reach and only Nasty could take me there.

"Oh, that's unfortunate", he smiled at Nasty with a gentle yet pitiful look and then turned to me again.

"I am called Felix", he uncloaked his head, "And you?"

I must admit he had a striking appearance with a light pair of eyes and a golden head even lighter than Lady's. Then again, Lady had a thicket growing on her head all the way to her feet. This guy had a shiny set of hair, flowing lightly with the dense breeze.

"Uh...Seraph", I almost forgot to answer.

"Would you mind if I joined you? I can't help but be intrigued by this amazing horse you have. Maybe I could help you with his name. Well, what do you say?"

"Well, I...", I looked at Nasty, "I am in a hurry and I'm not sure the two of us could go as fast on Na-...I mean, on my horse. I really wish it wasn't the case".

"Ah, that would be problematic, wouldn't it? Good thing, I wasn't planning on riding with you. I'll follow you on foot. It may do both of us good in this foreign land to stick together".

That didn't allow me to form an opinion. I didn't want him to come along, still I couldn't just say no. In the end, it was the three of us on our way to find Deli. And as surprising as it may be, he did manage to keep up. That put me on guard at first but he seemed fine and talked quite a lot. He wasn't just some normal guy for him to be keeping up with Nasty with such ease, though I did notice Nasty would hesitate from going any faster. I think he had taken a liking to Felix. I did want to smack that guy a good deal but not with Felix around. I did feel like a third wheel between the two of them, though.

"Wait!", Felix commanded us and Nasty obeyed him like a dog. I was just perplexed.

"There's someone up ahead", he told me.

"Who is it?", I asked, putting my guard up.

"Seraph, you should get back", he looked sternly at me.

Of course, I wouldn't just say 'yes sir!' and back off. I hadn't been training with Deli everyday for this. I stood my guard as I got off of Nasty and reached for Ebony only to realize it was missing.

Right, I handed it to the old hag in Wallach before I entered her house. Though I think she did throw it at me when she sent me in the storm. But I never did retrieve it. Maybe it's lost ten years in the past. That's a sad thing, Chopper must be in pain this very minute. That's what I was thinking.

"Seraph, what are you doing?!", Felix noticed I wasn't getting back like he'd instructed me.

"Uh, just a second. I lost my blade", I wonder why I randomly told him this but I'm glad I did.

"Your blade?"

Before we could finish our little chat, someone did appear out of the woods.

"Did you take something?", this new guest had his red eyes fixed straight on me. He didn't even look alive but his voice wasn't something to crack jokes about.

"Are you asking me?", I paused a while before asking.

"What did you take?!", he asked angrily.

"Ah, I...I didn't take anything! Are you looking for a thief? Well, I'm not-"

This dead guest had no intention of listening. He launched straight at me with his massive bod.

"Seraph!", Felix pulled me out of the way of his charge and handed me a familiar looking blade, "Take this spare one I found."

"Ebony!!!", I screamed inside, "This is mine!"

I was glad it hadn't been stuck in the past. Chopper must be really be fine after all. But I had bigger problems to think of. I gripped Ebony strongly, waiting for his next charge.

I knew in my heart that I was never running away.