Alright, by this point I think you all know the drill with the disclaimer that's been at the beginning of the first ten chapters. So we'll skip that bit. We'll also skip the bit about why I'm not using standard Publishing Industry formatting. All that leaves for me to say is, enjoy.

Mind, Soul, and Body:

Book One: Shadows of the Past

Chapter Seventeen: Forgiveness

By Corlock Striker

Outside of Time, Location Unknown -

Next thing I recall well

I was hanging from a cliff

When an angel came to rescue

Me and held me in her grip

She said, "Everyone who's ever loved you

Gets hurt in the end."

Then she smiled and said, "Forgive me."

As she let go of my hand

She told me

Ah, you better recognize

Ah, you better recognize son.

Of course, I forgive you, Trish. He watched as she let go of his hand, Sad falling backwards, tumbling in the air, his back to the cliff and his head towards the ground that he couldn't yet see. He closed his eyes, heights had never exactly been his thing. If this was how he was going to die, that was fine, he'd just rather not watch.

Just then a voice spoke next to him, "I'm really not supposed to interfere with this."

Sad opened his eyes and turned to see Loki positioned similarly to him, falling endlessly beside him, that slick smile curling the man's lips, "Interfere with what?"

Loki sighs, "Your vision quest. You're given a little clue, and then you're supposed to realize something about yourself, on your own."

"Oh, then why are you here?"

Loki chuckled, "Because you're dense. You'd never figure this out on your own, and while technically we have all the time in the world, what with us being outside of time, I'm easily bored." The man paused, thinking, "Still, I can't just give you the answer. You need to come to the realization yourself." Loki let out an annoyed sigh, "Ugh, this is still going to take forever." He shut his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, "Alright, look, you need to forgive someone, but it's not who you think. You wouldn't think to forgive this person in a million years. It's the person you're hardest on." Loki winced, "Mmm, skirting a bit too close with that. Well, I've helped you as much as I can. Good luck!" And then the man just winked out of existence.

Sad was left falling towards a destination he still couldn't see, wind rushing through his hair, "So, who am I supposed to forgive? I already forgave Trish. My sisters? My parents? No, those are the easy answers. The people who bullied me?" Sad started going through the list of people that had bullied him, forgiving them one by one, but he just kept falling. Was he not being sincere? Or did he have the wrong targets? He let out an annoyed sigh, who else in his life was there to forgive?

He closed his eyes again, "Okay, I've thought of everyone in my life right? But that's not working. What else did Loki say? The person I'm hardest on?" His features contorted in thought, "I mean, that's the big clue, right? Loki said he was getting to close to the answer with that, so that's what I need to focus on." Sad crossed his arms, tapping his right index finger on his left forearm as he did, "So, who am I hardest on? It's not family, I already forgave them. It's not Trish, otherwise I'd be done with this stupid thing already. None of the other people I mentioned. Ugh, why am I such an idiot!"

He slapped his own forehead in frustration, "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Think moron, think! People are counting on you! Stop being such a waste of space!" And that's about when it hit him, "Oh, fuck. Fuck me, I am an idiot. Holy fuck. It's me. I need to forgive myself."

Loki popped back in, "Ding, ding, ding! Wow, you got that faster than I thought."

Sad turned to face the god, "Yeah, well, you were right, I never would have figured that out. So, um, how do I forgive myself?"

Loki shrugged, "It's the easiest thing you'll ever do and the hardest. Also, I leant you all the help I can already. Have fun!" Once more the man simply disappeared.

Sad let out a frustrated groan, he looked down towards the ground that wasn't there, "Fuck!" He could see something approaching now, it was small, and hard to see, but it was getting closer and fast, even though it still seemed far off. He started to panic, breathing getting heavy, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" The ground was still getting closer as he panicked and did nothing, "Come on, idiot, it's not hard. Just forgive yourself, already. Are you that big a moron that you can't figure out something that simple?"

Suddenly the ground was closer, this was bad, "Fuck. Alright, calm down. Take a deep breath." Sad closed his eyes and started trying to control his breathing, it was hard though, he couldn't quite get nice even breaths going, "Come on Sad, you're not an idiot. You can figure this out, just give it a try. There's still plenty of time, if you act now. If it doesn't work, you'll have time to figure it out." He squeezed his eyes shut, "Sadlier Smith, I forgive you."

He was still falling, "Fuck!" He took another breath, trying to fight back the panic, "It's okay, you're not dead yet. There's still time. It's okay to make mistakes, everyone does. Just don't dwell on it, focus on the here and now, not what's already happened. You can fix this. It'll be okay."

Sad opened his eyes, suddenly he wasn't falling anymore. He was standing, on nothing? There was nothing but white around him, Loki appeared in front of him, "Well done, Sad, giving yourself permission to make mistakes and not treating it like the end of the world, that is exactly what you needed to do. Now, there are a few other things that need to happen."

A man in a cone shaped straw hat and black and white robes showed up, Loki turned to him, "Not now Monk."

He canted his head to the side, "But he deserves to know."

Loki growled, "Yes, he does, but if you tell him now, he won't trust me. And I need his trust, for the next bit. I'll tell him after."

The monk nodded, "As long as you tell him."

Loki nodded, "I will." He turned his attention back to Sad, "Now, where were we?"

Sad shrugged.

"Ah, yes, I was about to explain that we still need to train you. You can barely fight. The Troopers did their best, but they didn't have nearly enough time, and you need a lot of work," Loki paused for a moment in thought, "Hmm, but I'm no good at hand to hand, and you'll definitely need that. Let's see if we can find anyone." He placed two fingers on Sad's forehead and closed his eyes, "Oh, well, would you look at that. You seem to think your father is quite the badass. Maybe he can do what we'll need."

Loki disappeared, leaving Sad alone in this empty space for he wasn't even sure how long. It felt like forever, and yet almost immediately Loki returned, his father, Smitty Smith standing next to the god, "Well, your opinion was quite right, he'll be perfect."

His dad looked Loki up and down, clearly not impressed, "Perfect for what?"

Loki smiled, "Teaching your son to fight, of course." The god looked Smitty up and down, "Though, you're in no condition to do it like this." Loki placed a hand on his father's head and he rippled. When the visual image settled, a twenty year old was standing in place of the sixty year old, with a full head of blonde hair, and a wiry but muscular frame.

Smitty looked down at himself, "What the hell?"

Loki smirked, "I returned you to your physical prime but you still have all your experiences, so you can teach your son to brawl. You were a brawler in your day, yes? And then Special Forces?"

Smitty nodded, "I was."

Loki clapped, "Perfect. Why don't the two of you spar."

Sad was still in a bit of shock, but he slipped into one of the fighting stances Ryo had showed him.

His father scoffed, "What the hell is that?" He tossed a punch at Sad's jaw.

Sad managed to avoid it, lashing out with a kick. Smitty caught his leg, and Sad was left hopping on one foot.

Smitty growled, "Fuck, we've got a lot of work to do. I mean, I knew you couldn't fight, after that incident at the school. I didn't know it was this bad though."

Loki laughed, "Yes, we do. After you teach him how to brawl, I need to teach him how to use a blade."

(POV Shift)

May 19, 2001 Arefu, Romania -

Dark clouds swirled overhead as Ryo stepped out from the gate, he frowned as he looked skyward at the swirling mass. His vision dropped to the small town below him as wisps of smoke flew up towards the sky, odd. His vision turned up the mountain road, towards the run down castle at the end of it. The cars on the road were stopped, the people in them turning to mist and then flying skyward. Ryo's face froze in shock. A moment later he recovered and started up the road, feeling a pull towards the castle. At least he was in the right place.

It didn't take too long to reach the end of the road, navigating around the cars was a bit of a problem, there was still a ways to travel though, as the road ended well short of the castle. He stepped across the parking lot, feet clanking on the asphalt, before he reached the footpath. A set of modern stairs taking him up towards the castle proper. He ascended, the sound of metal on metal ringing out in the empty landscape. He could feel eyes on him, watching his every move. Ryo ground his teeth and chose to ignore the watcher, they'd make themselves known soon enough.

Stairs ascended, he made his way towards the castle, across the narrow bridge spanning a chasm, stopping before the massive iron doors.

(POV Shift)

Outside of Time, Location Unknown -

He was breathing heavily now, they'd been at this for way too long, though it felt like he was making progress. Sad was pushing his father now, spars were lasting longer. He dodged another punch to his face, following it with an uppercut to Smitty's side, his father grunted. Sad followed that up with a cross to Smitty's face hitting him square in the nose, then he swept his father's legs, knocking him to the ground and placing a foot on the man's throat.

His father grunted, "Finally. Don't think there's much more I can teach you. Remember, if you're going to kick, keep your foot below your opponent's knees, makes it harder for them to grab. You want to hit higher with your legs, use your knee."

Sad pulled his foot from his father's throat and offered him a hand up.

Loki started clapping, "Bravo, bravo. Finally, we have a fighter! Now, sadly, Mr. Smith, I'm going to have to send you back to the moment just before Odin captures you. But let's give you a parting gift, shall we?" Loki slapped his hand against both of Smitty's knees, his right elbow, and his right shoulder, "There, no more joint issues." His father's image rippled again, transforming him back into his sixty year old self. Then a moment later, Loki and Smitty were gone.

Sad collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. A moment after he sat down, Loki returned, "Well, now it's time to teach you how to fight with a weapon." Two staves appeared in Loki's hands.

Sad got to his feet with a groan, then gave the staves a puzzled look, "I thought you were going to teach me how to use a blade?"

Loki smirked, "Ah, yes, well." He tossed one of the staves to Sad, "You've got an interesting weapon, it can switch between being a staff and a two handed sword by mental command. So, we're going to teach you how to fight with both, then with a weapon that switches between them. Make sense?" Sad nodded, "Good." Loki gripped his staff with two hands then swung with one end towards Sad's ribs.

Sad managed to block the blow with his own staff. He'd fooled around in the backyard with Mike using various imitation weapons, he kind of knew the basics of how to use a staff.

Loki smiled, "Oh, good, this won't take nearly as long. Probably has a bit to do with your father, but I think some of this is you. Wonderful." Loki twirled the staff about himself and started firing a rapid series of blows at Sad, it was all he could do to keep up.

(POV Shift)

May 19, 2001 Arefu, Romania -

Taking a deep breath Ryo pushed open the doors, stepping inside. The interior was dark, though as he stepped inside, the electric lights, long since installed in the walls, snapped back to life, only those in his immediate area though, giving him just enough light to not trip over anything, but not enough to really see where he was going. He let the pull he felt towards the other armor guide him. Who was he going to find here? Well, there was only one way to find out. The link between the armors guiding him deeper into the castle, and down into its depths.

Soon there were no lights in the walls to guide him, he'd traveled into unused portions of the castle the public and even the staff were not meant to see. He drew one of his swords, flames licking up the blade and providing just enough light to see. The warmth of the fire was welcome, an icy chill tried to wrap itself around him the deeper into the castle he descended. Eventually, he found himself in a massive, high ceilinged room, almost like a crypt from an old vampire film. The light from his blade stretched farther now, but couldn't reach the walls or ceiling. He continued to step forward, until the light from his blade revealed what looked to be a coffin sitting on a stone altar in what he could only assume was the center of this massive room. Did they really build anything this big back when this castle had been constructed or was someone playing tricks on him, feeding into what his mind expected to find in Dracula's Castle.

A blur of blue light flew past him, a strange blue cube resting on the head of the coffin. Ryo drew his other blade. Tales from Toma, Seiji, and Shu alerting him to what was coming next. He slowly turned around, the light from his twin blades stretching farther now. A figure in Greek armor stepped into the ring of light, hanging just at the edge of it, "Decided to show yourself now, hmm?"

The man didn't answer, hefting up a large, round bronze shield that covered most of his torso and brandishing a long spear. He advanced on Ryo, ready for a fight. The trooper grinned, finally, something he understood. The spear thrust towards him, Ryo sweeping it aside with one blade as he pivoted on his forward heel, bringing around his other blade towards his opponent's head. The blow was deflected by the shield. That was going to be a problem, wasn't it?

Ryo tried to step in further, only to be staggered back by a blow from the shield, the spear once more thrusting towards him. It took both blades to deflect the blow this time. He was in for a real fight, it seemed, finally.

(POV Shift)

Outside of Time, Location Unknown -

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" The training with Loki had finished a while ago, Sad now supposedly ready to take on the challenges ahead, "What the fuck is the point of all this then?!"

Loki sighed, "Look Sad, Odin needs to be stopped, after that, well, things get tricky."

Sad growled, "Of course they do, you're the God of Mischief, right?!" His vision was going red, and then all of a sudden, it went purple. Before he could focus on the future, Sad fell back into his past, as he had so often done before.

(POV Shift)

May 19, 2001 Arefu, Romania -

That shield was getting annoying, any forward progress he made halted abruptly by shield slam, quickly followed up by a thrust from the spear. That was getting annoying as well. Ryo closed the distance between him and his opponent once more. Another shield bash, this time he dropped his swords behind him as he staggered back, catching the shaft of the spear as it thrust out to try and hit him. Before his opponent had a chance to try and pull it back, Ryo jumped up and then slammed both his feet into the shield.

A massive clang of metal filled the room as his opponent staggered back for once, his spear firmly gripped in Ryo's hands. The Trooper grinned, twirling the spear in his hands, tip pointed at the silent man facing him. He gathered up all his strength, pushing off with his back heel and thrust forward, right at one edge of that circular shield, twisting it his opponent's grip, causing him to drop it. The spear tossed away, Ryo rolled back, grasping his swords, just as his opponent pulled out one of his own. It had a heavy curved blade, somewhat like a falchion, and a the guard and the pomel extended on one side, and bent upwards to wrap around the knuckles, each coming to a point, so it almost seemed like two fangs closing around the man's fist.

Just as Ryo was getting ready to advance once more, a blur of blue crossed his vision. A strange, glowing blue cube held in the opponent's free hand. The man pivoted on his front foot, flinging the cube at Ryo's face. He brought his hands up to try and block it, but blue light filled his vision, and he fell back into loneliness and pain.

(POV Shift)

He woke up in darkness, the edges of it red, he needed to punch something, and he did, fist impacting with something heavy that went flying. Whatever it was slamming to the ground loudly, a faint blue glow filling his vision, allowing him to see he was in a coffin. He gripped the edges and pulled himself out, breathing raggedly. He'd just relieved his entire life, all the teasing, all the mistakes, all the embarrassment. Someone needed to die.

He used more force than he realized while pulling himself out of the coffin, as he actually went flying into the air, what? He landed with a clank but perfectly balanced, eyes scanning the area around him. Slate blue gaze locking on a figure in Greek Armor, red eyes glowing out from the eye sockets, the rest of the face in the narrow opening of the helmet cast in shadow. And that was when Sad lost it, doubling over and letting out an uncontrollable laugh, the rage that had built up inside of him instantly gone, "Oh, my god, you're fucking Ares!"

The man lashed out with his sword and Sad side stepped it, still laughing. A nasally, whiny yell let out in response to the laughter, "Stop laughing!"

"Or what? You'll run off and hide in a jar? I know how you are. I know what you are," Sad's eyes narrowed slightly as he easily brushed aside another attack from Ares' sword, the staff moving easily in his hand.

"And what am I, exactly?" Ares yelled back.

Sad stepped in, closing the distance between them, slamming a fist into Ares' gut, "A coward. As soon as you get hurt even a little bit, you go running off to cry. I've read the myths. Pop culture thinks you're this badass warrior, the God of War. But I know better." He stepped back, twirling his staff above his head, building up momentum. Then the thicker end with the large jewel at the end slammed right into one side of Ares' head, "So, go on, run off to find a jar to cry in. You're not winning this fight, and you know it." Sad still laughing.

Ares looked around in a panic, red eyes wide with worry, stunned by the blow to his head. Then some form of confidence returned to his gaze, "Well, it's not like I need to stay any longer anyway."

Sad scoffed, "That's what I thought."

"I have everything I need."

He frowned, "What?!" A blue blur crossed Sad's vision, a glowing blue sphere held in Ares' free hand.

"As I said, I have everything I need," Ares stood up.

As Sad lunged for him, the God of War took a step backwards, fading away. Sad looked around quickly, catching sight of two objects in the darkness fading away as well. Then he heard a groan and turned his attention towards that. Ryo stepped into the faint light emanating from the coffin.

"Ah, Sad, it's you. Good, that'll make it easy to get back. We're heading to Arago's Castle. Think you can open up a Gate?"

Ryo sounded tired, Sad just nodded his head, "Yeah, I can do that." He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, the ground around them rumbling before a Red Torii Gate emerged before them, doors swinging open. The two stepped through to join up with whoever remained at the castle.

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter took so long. I've actually been waiting to write this chapter forever. Got slightly stuck on where POV changes needed to happen to make things work. But once I figured that out, it all flowed nicely. Been waiting to write the "fight" between Sad and Ares since I started writing this, honestly. Hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway, I have no idea what the next chapter is called. Hmm, I wonder who we're running into next.