~*Thoughts of the Future*~

They had already changed the world so young—what else was in store?

~*X*~

Emil'seyes burned like fire. Launching forward, he lifted his sword and brought the serrated edge crashing down on Marta's spinner.

Her arm shook from the impact, and she grimaced, jumping backwards quickly on light feet. However, he kept coming after her, intent on beating her into submission. The severe set of his face, the determined scowl, it was all his…definitely not Ratatosk.

And why would it be? He was separated from the Summon Spirit for now.

"Demon Fang!" Emil roared, sending a bolt of rippling energy shooting out towards Marta. She guarded hurriedly, springing lithely at him and flipping through the air to deliver a series of stinging kicks and whirling swipes with her spinner as she pirouetted like a dancer.

He let a few of the blows land so that when he shifted suddenly out of her way, she went a little off balance. Seizing the opportunity, he snatched her leg and rotated sharply to his left, sending the girl flying to land in a crumpled heap. Her spinner came to a slow halt, the bright silver edge sparkling morosely in the sunshine.

Emil was breathing hard and scratched in more than one place. Sheathing his sword, the boy approached his fallen partner with a small smile on his face. After seeing how still she was, his heart started to beat a bit faster. Kneeling beside her on the grassy fields not far from lakeside town of Luin, he asked tentatively, "Marta?"

Her eyes didn't even rove underneath the lids.

Truly worried now, he shook her shoulder gently. He didn't understand it. She barely had any scrapes at all…"Marta?" He repeated, anxiety bubbling up from within him. It threatened to clog his throat shut.

No response.

Springing to his feet, Emil stammered, "I-I'll go get—"

A loud sigh interrupted him, and Marta sat up, shaking loose bits of grass from her long brown hair. She arched her eyebrows, her tone scathing but her eyes warm. "Don't you know the only way to wake a pretty girl is with love's true kiss?"

Blushing at her teasing, he grumbled, "Marta, don't scare me like that! I thought something was really wrong with you."

She stood and brushed herself off, giggling softly. "I'm sorry. But you're not very genre savvy, Emil."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Taken aback, he stared at his girlfriend with perplexed green eyes.

Marta just laughed a little more, shaking her head. "It's okay, don't worry about it. It's nothing."

Emil exhaled heavily, and she just kissed him on the cheek in response. Still sort of shy regarding that kind of thing, he gazed very pointedly at the lakeshore. Along the sandy bank crouched his four monsters, his Pacts still intact with them since he was, after all, a part of the Lord of All Monsters. A Fafnir, an Imp, a Chimera—(there because Marta thought it was utterly adorable)—and an Orca were present, with the last splashing about happily in the warm, gleaming water.

It was only three or so weeks after his departure from the Ginnungagap, and the Centurions were busy putting the world back in order for Ratatosk. Their group had split up as predicted; however, they all kept in constant touch through a stream of letters that changed hands from Sheena's Mizuho scouts to court couriers to mailmen to any flying monsters that Emil had enlisted for the job. There wasn't a week that went by without at least five or six letters coming in from all over the world from their friends.

"Meltokio's throwing a ball this time next month, be sure to pass the word around. See if you can get my little banshee to come."

"Lloyd and I are so lost right now! Well, Lloyd said he knows where we're going, but that was before the compass broke!"

"Genis came to see me in Ozzette. I was surprised, since isn't he traveling with Raine?"

"I heard from Colette that her compass broke. Emil, can I trouble you to send one of your monsters out so she can borrow mine?"

Yes, the end of an adventure by no means meant the end of their tightly knit party.

"Emil?" Marta leaned forward slightly, hands behind her back, a typical pose of hers when she was trying to get a good view of his face. "You look really distracted. What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry." He shook his head to clear it. "Let's go down by the lake," he suggested, brushing past her and walking across the soft green grass. The sky was blue and clear, as was the water, and a pleasantly cool breeze blew in from the north. It was one of those beautiful summer days that he would treasure forever, since; after all, he was spending it with Marta.

There was a point in time when he had taken her presence for granted. Now he knew better. He knew that every breath he took, every step, every glimpse of golden sunlight was courtesy of Richter and Ratatosk. He'd not be here now, enjoying a lazy afternoon with her, had it not been for them.

Ratatosk's parting words echoed in his head, the Summon Spirit's voice unusually calm and even a little sad.

"Protect her. For the both of us."

The Chimera bounced to its feet with a low mewl, the snake on the end of its tail hissing docilely as the cat-like creature slinked over to Marta and arched its back against her legs. Smiling, she knelt down beside it and started rubbing its yellow pelt, cooing about how completely adorable it was.

Emil rubbed the Imp's head in greeting, pat the Orca, and then proceeded to scratch the massive, scaly white form of the Fafnir at a spot just behind its ridged neck.

"Aw, you got your widdle paws dirty," Marta said in baby-talk to the Chimera. Emil's nose twitched in irritation, an echo of the dragon's, as she picked up the monster and took it to the water. She crouched there, rubbing at its tiny feet in an effort to get it clean.

The Chimera had once been a large, fearsome; slightly mischievous Sphinx that had greatly enjoyed using its Riddle spell on Genis for fun. Over and over and over again as the mage struggled to work out the increasingly complex puzzles. However, after the battling was mostly over, Marta had opted to turn the Sphinx back to its first form…and it was once more a cub, albeit one with all of the same artes.

Emil found himself unexpectedly wondering if monsters had parents. Then he hit his forehead. Of course they did. He still remembered that Elder Dragon that had attacked him that night on the plains, when Richter had met him quite suddenly. Her cub had fled upon seeing that its mother had fallen in combat.

His memories were fabricated. This he knew. However, the most recent ones with Uncle Alba and Aunt Flora really weren't. They were as real as the sun. Still, they weren't his parents. Never had been, never would be.

"Marta," Emil mused aloud. "What…do you mind me asking…?"

She had her back to him, going ahead and giving the Chimera a full body clean up. It stayed still obediently and moved only to fling some droplets from its snake-tail's eyes. "What is it, Emil?"

"Um…what was your mom like?"

Marta's hands dropped to her sides, creating a spray of water that gleamed brilliantly in the overhead radiance. The Orca, as if sensing the suddenly thick atmosphere, ducked its sleek black head and submerged itself in the crystal interior of the lake. The Imp mumbled worriedly.

"She was…really kind." A pause, in which Marta touched her flowery hair decorations absently. "In the morning, she used to sing. Not anything overly fancy, but quiet, soft love songs. Those were the first songs I had ever heard, and she read me fairy tales when I was young."

Emil tried to imagine Marta's mother in his head, and the Fafnir huffed sympathetically. She didn't look much like her father, Brute, so her mother must be where she got most of her qualities from. Appearance wise, anyway. Traits wise, Marta acted similar to her dad, with her defiant eyes, strong will, and bravely lifted chin…

Sometimes it wasn't hard to believe she descended from royalty.

Marta went on, her voice nearly inaudible as it fought to be heard over the monsters' heavy breaths, the slapping of the water, and the rustling of the branches. "She was pretty. Beautiful, even. Daddy says he had to fight off plenty of suitors before she picked him, and she had been wearing these flowers in her hair when they first started dating…but you knew that already. Why do you ask?" On the last sentence, her tone strengthened and grew louder.

"I was just wondering," Emil responded truthfully. He momentarily stopped stroking the Fafnir to scoop up the Imp in one arm, which had fallen asleep near his leg sometime during Marta's short, quiet monologue. After that, he went back to patting the golden-eyed beast.

"Daddy changed when Mom died." The Chimera's quiet meow filled the silence, and the girl stood up, stepping away so the wet monster could shake itself dry. The Orca shot a blast of water from its mouth, landing square on the feline. The fish let out a burst of high-pitched squeaks of laughter before vanishing again into the deeps.

Marta and Emil both laughed, but Marta's died away faster. She faced him, one hand on her hip, eyes soft around the edges. "Daddy's always busy, even now, even before. But I know he means well."

Emil, stuck in his thoughts, replied absently, "…I'll try to be there for…our kids…no matter what."

The poor boy yelped in shock as Marta abruptly dashed at him and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. The startled Imp took flight with a distorted mutter, and the Fafnir snorted at this intrusion of its peace, rising to its clawed feet and lumbering off with a dignified flap of its great wings. The Chimera was still hissing in annoyance at the screeching-with-mirth Orca, which was safely beneath the surface of the lake.

Emil, meanwhile, struggled to pull away, but he wasn't able to get Marta off of him and he fell onto his back with a thump. "M-Marta, what're you doing?" He protested weakly, his face flushed.

Her blue eyes blazed with joy. "'Our kids'! You just said 'our kids'!"

"I-I-I…What?" He had? Had he really? He didn't…that is, it wasn't like…

Marta was grinning so much that it looked like it should be painful.

I-I'm part Summon Spirit! Or at least not a normal human…if we did I—what am I saying?

"Marta…" He succeeded in prying her off of him, but he didn't have the heart to say anything else since she just looked so ridiculously blissful that it was…silly. "Why does that make you so happy?"

Marta's eyes rolled, but she went right on smiling. "It means you think we'll end up married!" She hugged him again, and all of the breath left his body in a whoosh.

He opened his mouth to testify against that statement, but upon seeing her contented expression, he sighed and hugged her back.

"You ever think," said Marta after a while. "About where we'll be ten years from now?"

"I've never thought about it. What about you, Marta? Where do you think we'll be?"

"Easy, of course!" Her blue eyes sparkled. "We'll be married and taking care of our children."

The thought made his knees feel weak, and he was glad that they were sitting down. Emil sighed and ran a hand over his stubborn strand of hair that seemed intent on defying gravity. How can she be so comfortable about this? He merely chuckled nervously.

Marta took his hand in hers and told him in a more reasonable tone, "But that's far away from now, right? Let's get back to Luin so we can drop the monsters off at the Katz Guild."

He helped her up, and then called the Fafnir, Imp, Orca, and the Chimera. The latter simply sprang into Marta's waiting arms, the Orca swam through the air with elegant swirls of its glossy tail, and the Imp settled on the dragon's broad shoulders with a sigh.

"So I guess your interest in love comes from your mother?" Emil stated as they headed back to Luin, the monsters walking close behind.

"I guess it does. She and I used to talk about it a lot together, but I've become more interested in it since she died." Marta brightened, as if warmed by a nice thought. "She told me I'd know when I found the one I was looking for, and I just know you're it!"

She clung to his arm, and Emil suppressed the urge to sigh. He loved her, he really and truly did, but sometimes she bordered on clingy and approached extreme, especially after battles when she tried to trick him into declaring his love for her. Which might not be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that Lloyd and the others were all present, not to mention the very intelligent Tenebrae and the equally intelligent-in-their-own-way monsters.

Marta deflated suddenly, her eyes on the grass.

"Marta, what's wrong?" Emil asked, looking down at her.

"Why won't you hug me back?"

Without hesitation, he grabbed her in a tight embrace and said in a subdued tone, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just kind of nervous."

She seemed incredulous. "Still?"

"You're the first girl that's ever liked me…I'm not sure what to do."

Marta laughed, winking cheerfully. "Just follow my lead."

They entered Luin hand-in-hand, dropping their monsters off at the newly updated Katz Guild. Not long after, Emil received a letter from Sheena via a Mizuho messenger hawk.

"What's it say?" Marta inquired, leaning over his shoulder to get a peek.

"We're supposed to go to Mizuho in a month," he informed her between spouts of laughter. "To stop Zelos from dragging her off to the Meltokio Ball."

"Come on, let's go to your place and write a response," Marta giggled, taking his hand and heading off excitedly.

He let her lead the way.

Author's Note: For a very hardworking Midnight Critic. Apologies, it'd be longer but I ended up losing my train of thought with this. Might end up as a one-shot collection for these two I guess. Review?