Chapter 22

Hope

"Alicia..." he whispered. Rufus slowly rose from his throne. If time did not already stand still in Asgard, it would have stopped right then and there. His body did not want to function properly and he took two awkward steps down the stairs.

"Rufus!" Alicia broke into a full out run, not caring if she was breaking any sort of etiquette rules.

His awkward steps were not as fast as hers, and she threw her arms around him when they reached the bottom of the stairs. Alicia sank to her knees, and Rufus did the same. She buried her face in his cloak as tears began to stream down her face.

Still in shock, Rufus raised his hand and buried his fingers in her hair. "I never dared to dream this day would actually come..." he whispered.

Alicia choked out a sob. "I'm so happy to be here," she whispered back.

"She has been asking about you since the moment she regained her memories," Silmeria remarked.

Rufus turned pink at her comment and pulled Alicia closer to him. "Oh!" he chuckled nervously. "That's great!"

Freya let out a light peal of laughter. The sound surprised Silmeria, and she turned to look at the goddess with wide eyes. "It seems that fate has a way of leading us where we want to go," Freya stated with a smile.

Rufus looked up to meet her eyes, but upon seeing Lezard, his mood changed. He tensed up and stood, pulling Alicia up with him. She pulled away slightly to look up at his face, confused.

"Lezard... you bastard," Rufus growled. "I am glad Silmeria brought you here. I need a new target on my shooting range."

"No!" Alicia cried as she grabbed Rufus' arms. "Don't hurt him! He's the reason I remember everything."

Rufus looked down at her, surprised. "What?"

"He broke the seal on my memories. He's done nothing but good things since Silmeria threatened him! He helped us get information in Dipan, and journeyed with us! He has protected us and was ready to sacrifice himself to Odin to keep us from dying! And..." Alicia stammered, "and... well um, he made me this outfit..."

Freya let out a light giggle.

"Silmeria..." Rufus questioned incredulously, "is this true?"

Silmeria nodded solemnly. "It seems that he has changed. He has proven this to Alicia, Arngrim, and myself."

"Arngrim helped you too, huh?"

"Um, my lord, if I may speak?" Lezard asked quietly.

Rufus glared at him and nodded curtly.

"I know that what I did to you and everyone else in this room was unforgiveable. I'm not hoping for forgiveness because I don't think I deserve it. However, I do want to redeem myself. I will do whatever it takes to prove to you that I am a changed man, even if it means that you must strike me down now."

Rufus' face softened slightly and he closed his eyes to ponder this for a minute. "Alicia does not want me to harm you. Silmeria seems to think you are okay. Freya, what do you think?"

"Quite honestly, I would like nothing more than to see his head on a pike. But perhaps we can give him a chance to prove his loyalty."

Rufus nodded. "Then Lezard, this is what I will do. You may remain here as a servant for the time being. But I'm not going to give you a lot of slack. Don't screw up, because there are plenty of gods here who would take pleasure in torturing you to death. If you give any indication that you might be hostile, you're gone. Understand?"

Lezard nodded. "Thank you, my Lord. I understand."

Freya cleared her throat. "Lord Rufus, perhaps you should show Lady Alicia around Asgard? She did not have time to enjoy it the last time she was here."

"I'd like that," smiled Alicia.

"Yes, that seems like a good idea." Rufus grabbed her hand. "C'mon Alicia, there is a lot of cool stuff here that we didn't get to see!"

Once Alicia and Rufus had left the room, Freya turned to Lezard and gave him a stern look. "Do not take his generosity lightly. If you set so much as a toe out of line here, I will personally exact your punishment."

Lezard sighed. "Believe me, I understand."

"It would be best if you keep yourself out of sight for now," Silmeria stated. "Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with Valhalla. Go look around, just stay out of sight."

Lezard hesitated, but when no objection to this came, he slowly opened the doors to the throne room. He took one glance back before exiting.

Alicia was positively overwhelmed with the beauty of Valhalla. The splendor of the halls was beyond anything that existed on Midgard. There were rooms for everything – bedrooms, banquet halls filled with endless amounts of food, dance halls, fighting halls, training rooms, and even rooms filled with artistic masterpieces. The outdoor gardens overflowed with flowers, trees, and beautiful stone accents.

Rufus led Alicia by the hand into yet another fantastic garden. "This one is my favorite," he whispered. "It's called the Serene Grotto."

Not only was this garden overflowing with a variety of flowers, a huge stone fountain filled with detailed statues stood in the center. She walked up to it and skimmed the water with her hand. "It's gorgeous, Rufus," gasped Alicia. She looked up to meet his eyes, but he was looking away.

His jaw was clenched, his eyes focused off in the distance.

"Rufus? Is everything okay?"

"You could have seen this all before. If things had been...different..."

Alicia lowered her gaze and looked back at the fountain. "Maybe. But we had to save Midgard. We didn't have a lot of choice."

Rufus balled his fists and then relaxed his hands. "But you did. Brahms offered to be the one to serve as the vessel. He knew he might die. But you chose to take his place."

"Rufus..." Alicia whispered. "Brahms was injured. He was weak. We might have lost the battle if I had let him serve as the vessel."

"But he might have survived the battle! He was strong, even with the injury." Rufus inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself. "We both know why you made the choice. You needed Silmeria. You didn't feel complete without her. None of us could have ever hoped to fill that void. You would have rather died than live without Silmeria." His voice had an icy edge to it.

Gently, Alicia took his hands and clasped them in hers. "Rufus..." her voice was barely audible. "When I said that I needed Silmeria, I did not mean that I didn't need you." Rufus swallowed hard and stared at her feet. Alicia released his hands and placed her own against his cheeks. "Without you, I never would have had the courage to become the vessel and take down Lezard. Without you, we never would have freed Lenneth. And now, look. Without you, I never would have been reborn in this world – because you are the reason it is no longer on the verge of obliteration."

Alicia lowered her eyes as tears began to spill out of them. "I'm so sorry that I hurt you. Please forgive me. I needed you then just as much as I need you now."

Rufus placed a hand on her cheek. Gently, he tilted her chin up so that he could look into her eyes. Before she could form the question in her mind, his lips met hers.

Lezard sighed as he walked out into the garden. They had spared him. After an entire lifetime of striving for everything he wanted, it seemed that luck had finally sided with him.

He closed his eyes and turned his face up to the warm sunlight. The heat felt cleansing.

"Your aura is different, Lezard."

His eyes flipped open at the sound of that voice. Desperately, he searched for the owner of that voice.

She stood merely a few paces in front of him, gazing out into the distance. She did not turn to face him. Her silvery braid swayed in the slight breeze.

"Lenneth..." he breathed. Lezard did not dare to step toward her. He had nearly destroyed the world because of his obsession with her, so he did not dare to do anything that may re-ignite her wrath.

"It is a bit odd," she continued. "Everything about you is the same, but that aura has changed. You seem... less angry."

Lezard stared at the ground. He absentmindedly rubbed his shoe over a small rock that entered the pathway. "Maybe... living Josef's life changed me a bit."

Lenneth turned to face him now. "I do not think so. In the end, you still remembered your life. Silmeria tells me that you even tried to kill Alicia for rescuing me. Your vengeful spirit still existed when you broke the seal on your memories."

Lezard kicked the small rock to the side, but did not look up. "I have already walked the path of a power-hungry necromancer. I set everything in motion to bring me what I thought was the ultimate joy. But all it brought me was despair and humiliation. It seems futile to attempt to live that life again."

Lenneth pursed her lips. "But it would still be natural for you to hold on to the anger you would have from losing everything. I do not understand. Your aura shows that you do not hold the capability to let those trivial thoughts consume you."

Lezard shifted uncomfortably, but still did not meet her gaze. "Perhaps part of my punishment was to lose part of my personality?"

"I do not think so. Why would fate have allowed you to remember yourself then?" Lenneth furrowed her brows and then sighed.

"Lezard, before... well, I suppose it technically happened in the future... after our confrontation, and I destroyed your homonculous laboratory, I chose an Einherjar named Badrach."

"Before I traveled back in time?"

"Yes. Badrach was a thief in Artolia. He accompanied Arngrim when they unknowingly smuggled Princess Jelanda out of the city. After that incident, Badrach continued to make his living through these awful means. Then, he became angry with one of his 'employers' and helped a young girl who was to be sold as a slave escape. He took her to a nearby village and gave her a new chance at life."

Slowly, Lezard raised his head to look at the Valkyrie. She no longer faced him, but was looking off into the distance.

"When Badrach was fighting for his chance to become an Einherjar instead of joining Queen Hel, he told me this story. His committed terrible acts throughout his whole life, but in that one moment, he demonstrated to me a quality of humans that has always fascinated the gods."

"What quality is that?"

Lenneth turned to meet Lezard's gaze. "That even the human who commits the most evil of acts can still be a good person. Even a soul consumed in darkness has the capacity to be redeemed."

The magician's eyes widened. "Lenneth... are you saying that you believe I can be redeemed?"

"You are human, are you not? Did you not escort Alicia here? Did you not offer yourself as a sacrifice to Odin so that she and Silmeria could continue on safely?"

"Yes... I did do those things. But how do you know that it is not an act? How do you know that I am not just trying to dupe you so that I can try to seize control of Asgard again?"

Lenneth smirked. "Gods may be easily fooled. But Silmeria has the ability to read your soul. Forgive us, I asked her to do so without your permission. If you were lying to me, I would know it."

Lezard looked down again and shuffled his feet. "Even though I am truthful, nearly everyone here wants me dead. What good does it do? My soul may be redeemed, but I am still a hated man."

"When you become an Einherjar, the gods will forgive you."

"Einherjar?" Lezard's voice rose an octave too high and broke. "Why?"

"We are not so arrogant that we would refuse a good warrior simply because of some unfortunate deeds that were done in the past. Asgard needs warriors for protection and in the unlikely event we go to war with other realms. Magicians who have a great knowledge of the ancient arts are hard to come by. Simply put, you are too good at what you do for us to simply send you back into the cycle of rebirth."

A/N: Good grief! I thought I had published this chapter at the beginning of December, and apparently I only got as far as editing the document. Yikes! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.