if you go to http://www.thegia.com then click on "games" and select "playstation" titles, it will lead you to "vagrant story". if you select "screen shots" from there, you will be able to read the storyline of the whole damned game and help me with this pairing -- I don't think Al's interested anymore.
here's what I got so far:
A shaft of sunlight stabbed at Sydney's eyelids, filling the quiet blackness with a red glare. He groaned and squeezed them together tightly. With great effort he lifted one of the metal claws that served as hands to block out the light of the setting sun as he opened his eyes. He found himself alone at an encampment outside of Lea Monde. Following the agonizing throb that trailed upward from his abdomen with his eyes, he looked down where the wound that surely should have cost his life had been. Gone. He quietly gasped as he put his hand on his belly. He wondered about his back. Had that healed as well? If it did, he hoped that his blood-sin had grown back as well. Somehow he doubted it. As a comfort, he had a good idea who got him out of the crumbling city.
So Ashley Riot had succeeded; Lea Monde was no more. The riskbreaker had taken up the task Sydney had entrusted to him to and defeated Guildenstern. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, but could sense nothing. Had his powers diminished so? Was there nothing left? He couldn't help but wonder. His body must have healed of its own accord, unless someone else had seen to it.
He struggled to get up with a groan. So weak... Raising himself to a sitting position, he leaned back on his metal hands and concentrated harder, trying to scan his surroundings, to draw out a psychic presence. Was that..? No, it was gone. He must have imagined it.
From the deepening shadows of the surrounding trees came a rustle of leaves. Sydney's eyes snapped open, focusing on the source of the sound as a figure emerged from the darkness.
"How long have you been watching me?" he queried.
Ashley Riot appeared, carrying a brace of hare. "How are your wounds?" Sydney smirked. **Talkative as ever, I see.**
After a pause, Ashley approached and knelt down with his catch, drawing his knife. "I guess you feel better." he said.
"Barely," Sydney winced as he sat up. "Amazing. You were able to conceal yourself completely from me. I chose well when I selected you to be my successor."
Ignoring his words, Ashley turned his attention to skinning the rabbits and skewering the flesh with the sharpened branches he had brought back with him from the wood. Sydney gazed at the riskbreaker while he bent to his task, watching each shift of his sinews, the efficient movements of his hands. As he finished, Ashley cast a fire within the stone circle in the center of the clearing.
The smell of cooking flesh broke the reverie of Sydney's admiration. "I have not known of mortal hunger for years," he murmured.
Ashley looked up from what he was doing. "How can that be?"
Sydney simply chuckled at the question. Ashley regarded him with narrowed eyes. Sydney returned his gaze, a small smile playing upon his lips. "What's the matter, Riskbreaker? You should be able to see what's in my mind." Inwardly, Sydney hoped he would simply look into him and spare him the effort of searching for a segue to making his desires known. Perhaps Ashley did not know how to.
"Is this another of your games?"
"No, it is the simple truth; you have inherited my powers. You have already learned much of them, but there is more to it than that."
Sydney reached out with a steel claw and snatched a gobbet of sizzling meat from one of the skewers that leaned into the fire, nibbling gingerly at the hot morsel. "Now, for example; have you appetite?" he asked Ashley.
Ashley paused. He had not though about it; he had simply known that it had been long since he last ate, had hunted for food out of habit, but in truth... "No," he answered.
"You should eat regardless," Sydney continued, pulling apart his portion. "The Dark can sustain you, but only so much..." He indicated his own lean form with a languid gesture. Ashley studied it for a long moment before replying.
Posted on Dec 6, 2000, 4:43 PM from IP address 63.71.97.59