FFOG Chapter 7

Characters Introduced: Fay Donovano

Villains Introduced: Keero Lio

New Spirits Introduces: Hades (with Keero), Phoenix

Summary: Psycho goes off on his own to reclaim the throne of his homeland, Kazuki. The rest of the group arrives at Valekryie to open arms. Jeice meets Fay, owner of the Dancing Cat Casino, who helps Cid and Siddhearth get in to see the Queen. Meanwhile, Reno leads a small team into the Valekryie catacombs to find the Fire Crystal, involuntarily setting off great disturbances in the city above. Haunted by wicked dreams, Queen Maria has no choice but to send the group away.

Great Responsibilities

Chapters in Final Fantasy OG

0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Masamune

It was still early that night as Jeice watched in satisfaction as Reno cast a powerful spell into the water, creating a small surge in the water. Silver raised an eye at the effect, before returning to his pacing on the ship. Suddenly from the place where the spell had been cast, bubbles began to rise. Several more such risings of bubbles appeared on several ends of the ship. Suddenly jets of water sprayed at their faces, and as the four wiped the water from their eyes, they found seven creatures on the ship. Shark people it seemed, each one hunched over with arms and legs and holding tridents.

Asura frowned, "I think you made some friends, Reno"

The sharks wasted no time in attacking, Jeice quickly prepared his spear and knocked off two off two of the sharks. Silver pounced on one of them and slashed it a few times until it retreated in the water. Reno managed to fend for his own without using magic, while Asura managed to shoot two arrows before being forced to fight close range using her own hunting knife she kept handy.

When Jeice managed to get the two sharks off him, one retreating and the other getting knocked out, the other sharks had been taken care of already. Reno walled over to inspect the shark and nudged it with his shoe, "Friendly thing, huh?"

Jeice shrugged, "I don't think it cared for your fireworks too much"

"What do we do with it?" Asura asked as she looked over it.

Jeice grinned grimly, "I'm sure Silver would enjoy it"

"Bah," Silver grumbled, not wanting to eat in front of them, "It doesn't look to taste good"

Reno laughed, "Wow, a picky tiger!"

Jeice had already been dragging it away and heaved it off the side of the boat. Reno continued a few practice spells and all in all the night was eventless.

The next day was also the same, a nice refresher from the otherwise hectic time it had been before. Except the nightly arrival of the reaper, things were relatively fine. The winds, as Aaron had stated, had been reliable in giving them good speed towards Valkeryie. Of which, Jeice recalled was to the northwest of the Western Continent, (which unlike Valkeryie, was not completely ruled by any one order and remained nameless). Similar to the eastern Imperial continent, it was not just one continent, but also a country. Having been ruled by many generations now by the Queendom. Cullen had claimed to know the queen personally, but without him there anymore, there was no way to test his claim. Laylow Harbor is where they landed, a nice cozy town that rolled off of a hill full of houses the cool breeze of the sea below. A perfectly structured village that was no way complex at all, a place one could lead the most ordinary life they could hope to lead. It was not in the least bit exciting.

Aaron, having taken out a smaller boat, had some difficulty in making arrangement to dock, but was finally able to find a spot. When it was docked, using what small funds they had, they were able to hire some protection of the boat from possible thievery, leaving them only enough to find an inn to sleep in.

Ditto McCloaker

Once having stepped off the gangplank gratefully, the bunch circled to discuss plans. With pleasure, Cid announced that their financial difficulties should no longer be a problem since they were safely in Valkeryie.

"Even providing they haven't closed down all my accounts at the Grundon X-Checker," he explained, "It's best not to leave a trail for them to follow."

Valkeryie, however, was a quickly-modernizing nation, and much of their industry was due to Cid's own enterprises. After patting his pockets in frustration, Cid looked with chagrin as his brother ceremoniously bestowed upon him his checkbook.

They emerged from the docks into the edge of the great city, and immediately the group was impressed at it's quaint, solid, old-fashioned buildings and sunny cobblestone streets.

Jeice smiled as the first thing Cid did was to instruct his 'employee' to find the nearest Choco-carriage office and procure first-class transportation to a place Cid referred to as "Long-missed lodgings of reasonable comfort."

For the first time in a very long time, most of the people stepping off the Gigyas Predator were starting to relax. The pleasant metropolitan landscape of Valkeryie made them feel like they were part of modern civilization again.

Back on the Pred, the dark stalky figure of Ian stood on the bow, along with Silver, who it was determined would not fit in well in the streets of Valkeryie, let alone in a hotel. This was fine, as it suited the white tiger just as well. His master could return at any time, and in any case, he had Ian to keep him company. As had his master, Silver felt drawn to the isolated former general, and, in a faint way, the warrior, too, whose hopes and joy in life among mortals was long extinguished, felt the first bit of comfort he had known in an decades with the samurai and his feline.

With empty, sad eyes, Ian watched the eager bunch gather on the docks, and stroked Silver behind his ears. Silver felt the cold metal of the iron gauntlet which now covered Ian's fatal touch. It was heavy, but he allowed it. Behind it, Silver caught the gentleness behind it. Much like his master...

Aaron announced that he was exhausted after propelling the Gigyas Pred through the night, with his wind magic, which enabled the ship to make the trip in a single night, at a pace never before known to seafaring man. He couldn't help but feel pride, though. Long had he been insecure about his abilities as a captain. Now, thanks to his magic, he was the best on the ocean. He shook his head sadly, at the thought of the fate of his crew, but then remembered their treachery, and thought, if they could only see me now...

More to the here and now, Asura retrieved the small package from her pouch.

As she ran her fingers over the unusual smooth black parcel, she remembered hearing the fairy tales about the little forest-dwelling creatures asking humans to run errands for them.

...The stories always involved something special coming to those who carried out the Moogle's favor, in the form of some good fortune. Silliness, of course. These were moral stories told to kids to make them virtuous. Of course, she had also heard supposed real accounts where Moogles asked people for favors. Of course, the sucker who did so also always claimed that, just like in the stories, some good fortune came to them. She grinned sardonically about how people could be so superstitious.

She couldn't help but wonder why the Moogles seemed to single her out as the one to make the delivery. She hadn't gotten to know them or anything. Since she joined this group in their desperate flee for sanctuary from the Empire, she had remained mostly silent, holding up her end in defending against monsters, but it was just her custom to remain distanced. She peeked out from under her hood at her surroundings.

For a moment, she considered not delivering it... but a second later, realized that being the one to break a trust, especially one such as the Moogle's, was not something she wanted to be responsible for. She stepped away from the group while tapping the package. Looking around, Valkeryie spread in every direction, right up to the water's edge. Where could it be...?

She lowered her hood as she looked back at the lounging crowd. She made up her mind. She approached.

"Which way would Moogles be from here?" she stated flatly. Both Cid and Siddhearth jerked to her with surprise. They blinked at her. Instinctively, she lowered her face to be hidden by the cloak again.

They both thought for a moment.

"Well," began Siddhearth, "Wait, now, I think I do recall. Remember, Cid?" he said, turning to his brother with a finger to his lips. "Years ago, when you were clearing land? We came upon that Moogle society east of here. You left the whole thing alone and went elsewhere." He smiled. "Very generous of you."

Cid pursed his lips and looked off into the distance impatiently. "Indeed. East. Beyond the city limits." he turned back. "Very well, then. After we are settled in, you can make your errand. Tomorrow afternoon-"

"No, now." interrupted Asura. "I want to get this done immediately. East of the city? I'll take a carriage."

"Very well then. I'll escort you," volunteered Siddhearth suddenly.

"No," said Asura firmly. "I'm go alone."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Siddhearth, with a hint of a laugh that ruffled Asura. "You can't expect to find the place on the way. I mean OBVIOUSLY. It's no problem, I'll go. Ah, and here is Jeice with the carriages. My, he looks proud."

Asura remained silent. Cid nodded. "Very well, then. Siddhearth, you and Asura will take one carriage and proceed to the forest. I will take a carriage and go to the X-Checker. The rest of you will take the third carriage. Ah, Jeice. Good boy. Here's a florin for your trouble. Now then, have the driver of the largest carriage convey our associates to an establishment known as Slepnir's Bridle. Here's a blank check. Make sure you procure the finest rooms for everyone."

Siddhearth and Asura bumped along the cobblestone streets in silence. Siddhearth smiled to himself as he looked out the window, happy to be here again. When she was sure he wasn't looking at her, she stole glances out as well. She couldn't help liking the place.

After a surprisingly short ride, they arrived at the edge of the city. The alighted from the carriage, and Siddhearth checked his pistol to make sure it was in good condition. Asura took the hint and checked her crossbow. She still had plenty of arrows. They walked in silence for a while, across the lovely natural splendor, in the direction of thick black forest nearby. A few bizarre creatures popped up, but they were barely more than a half a minute's drama at a time. Finally, as they neared the forest, Siddhearth spoke.

"You know, it's probably safe to pull that hood down now."

Asura didn't acknowledge she heard it. Siddhearth, in his usual, bemused tone, continued casually, "It can't be convenient, after all. I mean, honestly, we're quite far from your home by this point. Who is there to hide from? That is, that we aren't all hiding from?"

Asura stopped a second, and turned sideways. Siddhearth was standing still, arms folded, looking at her quite matter-of-factly. She glared, but didn’t respond. He examined the dirt on his worn shoe, and then finally, continued.

"I'm just saying," he said with a shrug, "It's a bit redundant at this point."

She glared. "Mind your own business."

To her shock, Siddhearth's unassuming, homely face, actually grew stern, and he fixed her with a very hard look.

"I can't believe anyone so self-absorbed as to carry this silly 'outsider' self-image to the degree of out and out rudeness..."

Asura glared from under her hood.

"...deserves to have someone as good as Jeice as a-"

He bit off the word just in time, but it caught Asura by surprise. She actually looked up with her full face, before turning it a bit to the side, bringing the hood down over her face a bit more.

"Jeice? As a... what?" she spoke automatically.

Siddhearth looked off in the distance in disgust. Asura was a bit shaken. "Jeice? What about him?"

Siddhearth pursed his lips, but did not meet her eyes.

"I was going to say, 'as a friend.' "

Asura looked around, and then down again. "Oh."

She thought back. Her mind raced. The sudden change in Siddhearth's demeanor was shaking, as they always are, and on top of that, there was something in his words, indeed.

Whatever her outlook on life before, that life was decidedly not the present one. Perhaps for good. The thought suddenly struck her and hard. There was very likely no way she could go home again. The Empire had long arrived, and it was there to stay, and furthermore, she had made it her enemy. Though she lived, the fact remained: The Empire had taken her life, just as it had taken the lives of her companions. Wherever her life lay now, it was not back there. Even now, it was not secure. And like it or not, she could not pretend to be alone anymore. She looked up in earnest.

"I apologize."

Siddhearth sighed, and after a minute, looked down, then at her. "I am too. It was none of my busine-"

"Jeice... wants to be my friend?" She regretted it as soon as she said it.

"We're all friends now," he affirmed. "Or we need to be, at any rate."Asura sighed deeply, and then reached up, and wrapped her fingers around her hood. At last, she pulled it back down over the back of her neck, revealing her strawberry red hair and face to the sun for the first time. Siddhearth looked at her, and the warmth returned to his face. She gave an awkward kind of smile.

"Not bad," he said, mock-appraisingly. "You know, that's not as bad a face as I had assumed." She looked at him questioningly, and then smiled and shook her head.

"I mean it," he said. "If anyone were to wonder about you... that may certainly help them to er... make up their mind." He held in his laugh. Asura rolled her eyes, and suddenly stopped. Her head jerked to the side.

There, peeking out of the trees at ground level. A spiky, inhuman face leered out, it's eyes fixed on the girl. Immediately, it leapt out, it's claws flashing, a very LARGE imp. She whipped out her crossbow and aimed and fired an arrow straight into the creature's chest. It flew backwards and landed against a tree. Siddhearth aimed his pistol and fired, hitting the creature. They kept his up and the creature let loose a final howl. It dematerialized in a flash of purple light, as monsters do. They looked where it had been. Asura had seen the Red Imp out of the side of her eye, now that her hood was down.

Siddhearth looked at her. "See? It's coming in handy already."

...it was not long before the two entered into the Moogle's Village. Siddhearth stepped out into the middle to address the citizens, and quickly found the Moogle who's name was the same as on the package.

It was a small, female Moogle, who timidly stepped forth. She took the package and quickly unwrapped it, and then looked at the object tumbling in her fingers.

It was a little wooden Moogle doll, with loose jointed limbs. The tiny Moogle let out a joyous and grateful KUPO! She then looked up at Asura.

"Oh, it is my brother! It is my brother! He has sent me a doll of himself! It has his eyes! It is wonderful! It looks just like him! He has sent it so I can have him around until he can return again! This is the best gift ever!"

Asura felt a little embarrassed, but when she saw Siddhearth smiling down on her, she distinctly shared, for just a moment, some of the happiness and joy the little Moogle did. It was tingly, and she smiled.

"My brother is a very good judge of character." said the Moogle, in a quieter voice, confidential to Asura. "You must be a very good person, that he should trust you like this."

Asura was a bit perplexed. "I'm afraid not. I really didn't do anything special for him. I don't know why he chose me."The Moogle smiled at her with a strange affection.

"I think I do. There's something about you. You feel familiar. We Moogles can sense other Moogles because of our magic. I can feel it in you, too."

Asura blinked.

"We'd best get back." suggested Siddhearth.

lzn64

Idle chatter and occasional bursts of laughter drifted from the confines of the carriage charged with transporting the majority of the party to the highly acclaimed and very expensive Slepnir's Bridle; a very classy and extravagant hotel with an excellent reputation, and first class service. It was rumored that occasionally high ranking officials from neighboring kingdoms preferred Slepnir's Bridle to the offerings of the Queen's Palace, a feat that the owners of the establishment took a great deal of pride in. The mood within the carriage was lighter than one would expect with the situation at hand, the group's relief at being among a truly civilized population with an organized system of operation rubbing off on their conversation. Serious matters were carefully avoided, and instead, amusing stories and silly jokes were exchanged as the carriage picked its way among the crowded roads toward their destination.

Their driver was well versed in the shortcuts the city had to offer to any perceptive enough to locate them, and soon had picked his way through traffic and common metropolitan bustle to pull up into the Bridle's passenger drop off area, located near the front of the impressive building's frame. Swaying trees boasting vibrant green limbs stretched around the entrance, and a multitude of brightly colored flowers lay planted in the soil around these. The place itself was one of the largest buildings in the district, a modest sign near the main entrance identifying it as the famed inn in a flowery script. Windows graced the walls at every opportunity, though the expertly crafted texturing made it difficult to look in and see anything clearly from the outside. Higher up, turret like structures blossomed from the central build of the hotel, and one could make out several figures standing upon them, pointing at various sights in the city. Undoubtedly these were additions to suites located on the upper floors. At the top, an exquisitely decorated belltower tapered off to a point, a masterpiece in architectural art. Large, well polished brass bells shone in the morning sun, and none had any doubt that the sound they made would rival that produced by even the finest cathedrals in the land.

Jeice looked doubtfully at the blank check clenched in his hand, and turned to glance at the expectant driver, who was standing politely near his green hued Chocobo. Slightly embarrassed, the red mage dug around in his nearly empty pockets, and with some help from the others, managed to rummage up an acceptable tip. The driver tipped his hat at them and inquired about any future services of his that might be required. Jeice, after a moment's debate, told him that he would be called in if any transportation was required.

As the carriage bounced away, the party looked to the establishment before them, quite taken aback by its size and beauty. The sun rose ever higher, however, and as the day approached noon their desire to be out of the sun overrode their trepidation at entering such an esteemed place. Jeice, somewhat accustomed to the Seamus brothers' tastes, led the way, pulling open the master crafted and beautifully decorated double doors to admit them into the main lobby. Quite a sight greeted them from within. They shuffled in aimlessly, glancing around at their surroundings. The check in counter lay at the other end of the lobby, and their feet echoed hollowly on the stained marble floor, depicting a beautifully executed depiction of a great flaming bird, spreading its wings before the sun.

"That looks like a Phoenix to me," Uargo pointed out with a smile. "Magnificent creature."

"Magnificent place," Reno breathed, looking up at the crystalline chandelier that hung from the center of the room. The ceiling in this main lobby was semi transparent, and although the lights on the chandelier were unlit, the sunlight filtered in from the domed ceiling reflected off the crystal and illuminated the room with a dazzling elegance. Mirrors and assorted artifacts lined the walls, ranging from bronze plated statuettes of mythical creatures to vivid murals depicting key events in the history of the known world. The group made their way through the crowds, composed of both richly adorned men and women staying at the hotel, and less finely clothed tourists and city dwellers content to simply take in the sights the famed place had to offer.

Jeice stepped up to the main desk, a kind looking employee smiling expectantly at him. "Will you and your party be staying with us tonight, sir?" she inquired, but none missed her subtle expression of disbelief as she eyed their somewhat tired attire.

"We will be staying, yes," Jeice confirmed, and the woman's eyebrows raised. She quickly composed herself and rather smugly informed them of the price for one night, for a party of their size. Reno coughed in something not unlike shock at the price, but Jeice found himself somewhat irritated by the woman's demeanor, and carefully lay the blank check flat on the desk. "There are three others aside from us," he informed her, then smiled as he continued "among those are Cid and Siddhearth Seamus." He felt unmistakable satisfaction at her immediate change in expression and attitude; she even seemed to stand up a bit straighter. "This check is courtesy of Cid Seamus himself, and we are staying under his name. I think that he would like to stay in a suite, in fact; we're due for a bit of luxury, and I'm sure he would agree."

Reno nudged Jeice with his elbow, his eyes wide as his mind mulled over what such a thing would cost. As the woman, with a great deal more respect in her tone, quickly read off the price, the poor boy looked as though he might faint. Jeice simply plucked up the quill provided by the hotel at the desk, wrote out a check for the amount requested, and flippantly slid the check to the woman's expectant hands.

"Enjoy your stay," She advised them, informing them of their room number and handing them two keys that would open their rooms. "Your room is located on the seventeenth floor." She seemed to be finished with her instructions, but Jeice found that he still had no idea where to go. They stepped away from the counter for a bit of a group discussion, each somewhat bewildered. "There are stairs right there," Karolie pointed out with a shrug, gesturing toward the counter. Two separate stairways stretched up and met at the top, presumable to a small indoor balcony, where a few people stood looking out over the lobby. On either side of this stairway, two open doorways led to more stairs, which presumably led upward into the rooms.

"I am not climbing seventeen flights of stairs," Reno complained. Just as Karolie was about to reply with some comment about laziness, a noble-looking woman interrupted them with a light hearted laugh.

"If they made you climb stairs to your room, this place wouldn't be so highly acclaimed!" She advised them, her tone suggesting the very idea was preposterous. "I'll show you the telesule."

"That sounds like a bad name for a torture device," Reno muttered, and the woman laughed again, beckoning for them to follow her.

"The man responsible for it named it, and there's no theorem that states that geniuses have to be well versed in naming their inventions -- this is quite an ingenious one, I've never seen anything like it elsewhere." She led them to a silver gilded capsule, emblazoned with the image of a battalion of knights heading into battle, located on either side of the stairway entrances. She expertly retrieved her key from somewhere beneath her flowing robes, and inserted it into a slot on the contraption. The doors slid open, and she stepped in. The others moved to follow, as the space was quite roomy and could easily admit them all, but she held out a hand to stop them. "When you open the doors, your key will set the machine to transport you to your floor. It's quite simple. Have a good day," She wished them merrily, as she pressed a silver button on the inside, and the doors shut firmly behind her.

"Transport?" Karolie asked, a bit suspicious of the thing.

"When can we open it again?" Jeice asked, knocking on the doors. "I mean, how long does it take to transport people?"

"May as well try it now," Uargo advised, a somewhat curious expression on his face. Jeice shrugged and did so, turning his key into the slot that the woman had used. The doors obediently opened, and Jeice removed the key to step inside. The others followed, some a bit more hesitant than others, and when they were all gathered in, Jeice proceeded to press the small silver button on the inside, closing the doors. They waited a moment, nervously, and suddenly a greenish light seemed to illuminate the walls, and a strange sensation passed through them, as though a breeze had blown through the transporter. Then, suddenly, the doors opened, and they blinked to find that their room stretched out in front of them.

They shuffled out, understandably surprised, and as the doors shut behind them Reno examined the capsule with interest. "There's no real mistaking what that feeling was," He told no one in particular, "Just a basic teleport spell. But how on earth do they get it to just work on command like that, with no one to cast it? And how does it know where to send you?" "I don't pretend to understand technology," Jeice shrugged, "and especially not technology fused with magic."

"Wait, guys," Karolie interrupted them, turning from where she had been standing, in front of an expansive window that seemed to overlook much of the city, all the way down to the ocean. "This thing took us directly to our room... is this entire floor ours?"

"Seems like it," Aaron answered her, somewhat surprised himself. "I'm pretty sure these things are fairly large, so you may want to join me in exploring our quarters?"

"I hope we have one of those balcony things we saw from outside," Karolie exclaimed in delight, following Aaron as he left the room to see what else the suite had to offer.

"Just don't fall off," Jeice warned, grinning despite himself.

Asura and Siddhearth rode away from the forest, toward Slepnir's Bridle, very little conversation marring the increasingly frantic commotion from the city, as they neared its inner districts. Siddhearth contented himself with watching the ever bustling city through the carriage window, while Asura fidgeted nervously in her seat. She constantly found her hands returning to her hood, wanting to pull it over herself as they rode further and further into the populous city. She restrained herself out of respect for the man sitting beside her, although she honestly found herself bewildered at his reaction to her personal preferences. She certainly hadn't meant to be rude, and although he did have a point with his insistence that there was no reason to hide, she knew inwardly that it had more to do with habitual behavior than needing to hide herself. She trusted these people far more than anyone else she could say she knew; and honestly couldn't think of a good reason herself as to why she should continue hiding herself.

This, irrationally, infuriated the woman. It was more of a matter of pride at this point, she realized; being scolded by a nobleman she had hardly exchanged words with during the course of the journey-- and knowing that he was right was profoundly irritating. And yet she still found her hands returning to her hood as though to pull it over herself as though they belonged to someone else entirely. She made a face and folded them curtly in her lap, wondering if she would really be able to keep it off when they found the others. Her mind wandered to the Moogles, wondering what on earth the little one had meant with her cryptic words. She could find no conclusion, and she was thankful that Siddhearth refrained from asking, though she was sure that the young Moogle's words had not gone unnoticed by him. The carriage pulled to a slow stop, and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that they had arrived at their destination.

She had little time to gawk at the place as the others had, as Siddhearth was more than accustomed to staying at such places. He politely offered his hand as she left the carriage, tipped the driver and led her matter-of-factly into the lobby. Asura gasped at the sight, following Siddhearth and attempting to take it all in without losing him in the crowds. "This place is amazing!" She whispered in awe, and he chuckled as he gestured around at the various artistic images adorning the area.

"That on the floor is a Phoenix; a mythical bird said to have the power to restore life to others, and even itself. These things on the walls are donated by both well established artists and upstarts attempting to make their work known in the world; that accounts for the diversity. Some are actually artifacts purchased, no doubt at great cost, by the hotel for display; and that picture there, above the registration desk, is the Queen of Valkeryie herself," He pointed at a large painting, depicting a somewhat chubby yet kindly looking woman, a charismatic smile on her dimpled face. "Don't tell anyone," he whispered, as they approached the woman at the registration desk, "but rumors said that Her Highness, bless her heart, had somewhat of a crush on my dear brother once upon a time..." He winked at the amazed archer, and calmly requested a key to the room given to the Seamus Party.

Asura had quite forgotten the absence of her hood as she looked around the lobby, and followed Siddhearth silently as he made his way knowingly toward the telesule. She was suddenly snapped back to attention as he invited her in, having opened the doors already with his key. "After you, Asura," He said with a slightly mischievous smile. "This should be interesting for you, at least. I hope the others figured this out; we should have mentioned it."

"Figured what out?" Asura asked quietly, peering into the capsule suspiciously.

"Just get in, you'll see," He advised her, the same smile still on his face. He followed after her, then informed her in a practiced, comically snobbish tone, "This, madam, is a telesule. It is named, quite ingeniously, by splicing the words "Teleport," and "Capsule." It generates energy designed to emulate a bonafide teleport spell when I press this button, here--" He abruptly switched to a normal tone, "And although I haven't the slightest idea how it goes about doing such a thing, Cid and I have never run into any problems with it, and so I trust that it still works quite well." He pressed the button, the doors shut, and several seconds later they found themselves emerging into the seventeenth suite.

"Incredible," Asura said in surprise, staring out at the room before them, which branched off into two hallways on either side, presumably leading to other bedding areas. Jeice looked up in surprise as they emerged, and greeted them with an informal wave. His eyebrow raised slightly as his eyes were drawn to Asura's uncloaked countenance, and she immediately moved to pull her hood down. Siddhearth shot Jeice a warning look of sorts, did the same to Asura, freezing her hands before they could accomplish this task, and smoothly interjected a question to ease the awkwardness of the scene.

"Where are the others? Exploring, I assume?"

"Yeah," Jeice said, switching his gaze hastily to Siddhearth. "Cid isn't back yet, although we expect him soon."

They all blinked in surprise as a sudden, rich chiming interrupted. The bells in the tower above them boomed, their sound quite awe inspiring from their position."Ah, the belltower..." Siddhearth smiled, looking up above them toward where the sound came from. "It's been some time since I heard those bells ring in the afternoon."

"It's only noon?" Asura said in surprise; it had seemed like more time had passed since their return to dry land and city living.

"The bells never lie," Siddhearth shrugged.

Karolie suddenly bound into the room from the left, Aaron following somewhat less jovially. "This place is the best place ever!" She exclaimed, nodding a brief greeting to Siddhearth and Asura. "We do have one of those balcony things, and I DEFINITELY claim the room on this side--" She pointed down the corridor excitedly. "The beds are all so nice and soft, and the artwork in all the rooms looks so expensive, I'm afraid to get too close! I can't believe this place!"

"I think we all agree with you and your brother's decision in quarters," Aaron directed toward Siddhearth, stepping nimbly past Karolie as she took off back toward her self-claimed area of the suite. "Even though we may not be quite so vocal about it..."

"Of course you do," Siddhearth smiled.

Aaron glanced at Asura, an imperceptible look on his face as he studied the face of the only one of his companions he'd never gotten a clear look at.

"What?" She snapped at him nervously, carefully folding her hands behind her back.

"Oh, nothing..." He said hastily. "Nothing at all," He added, catching a subtle gesture from Siddhearth that clearly instructed them to refrain from asking.

"I think I'll go find my own room," Asura muttered, her face flushing as she departed from the room, in the direction Karolie had gone.

"Where is that brother of mine?" Siddhearth wondered aloud, looking toward the telesule expectantly.

As though on cue, the doors opened, startling him somewhat, and a rather flustered looking Cid stepped from them and into the room.

"No problems, I'm hoping?" Siddhearth questioned expectantly.

"No, no. Everything is in working order. My accounts as full as ever, in fact," He sounded rather smug as he said this, and pat an unmistakable bulge in his robes. "Let's just say that we won't be running into money problems for awhile..."

"Assuming you're not robbed, strutting your wealth around like that," Aaron warned him, only half joking. Cid and Siddhearth both laughed as though such a thought was preposterous to even consider.

"This is our territory, Captain. Every thief and thieves' guild in this city knows not to steal from Cid Seamus... and those who learn slower than others are having a wonderful time in the dungeons of Valkeryie, I'm sure."

"If you say so," Aaron shrugged, although he realized that he didn't particularly doubt this bold claim.

"I do... now let's gather the others and plan our next move, shall we?" Cid requested, settling immediately into an all-business demeanor.

Eventually, all of the beds in the suite were claimed, and the sleeping quarters of each individual were decided. After such formalities had been taken care of, the group conference commenced in the main room of the suite; everyone gathered in a circle to listen and perhaps contribute to the discussion.

"The first thing we must do is inform Her Majesty of what Zel and his cohorts are up to," Siddhearth began, folding his hands in front of him. "I'm sure the Kingdom of Valkeryie has resources enough to contend."

"The Queen? Wasn't Cullen supposed to be our link to her, though?" Reno asked questioningly, and everyone flinched as one at the mentioning of their lost companion.

"I... am reasonably sure that my brother is quite capable of securing an audience for us," Siddhearth replied, carefully avoiding insulting Cullen and reassuring them at the same time.

"Now, Siddhearth," Cid coughed, looking vaguely uncomfortable, but before the conversation could carry on in this vein, Uargo interrupted, seeming a bit perturbed.

"You cannot possible be thinking of leaving this daunting task to the whims of politicians?"

"Which daunting task is that? Uargo, our priorities must be kept in order. To leave Jeice to the whims of the reaper is inhumane, and we must find a cure."

"There IS no cure," Jeice insisted quietly, the renewed realization of this rather painful to him.

"Nonsense," Cid snapped, ending the protest, though it was apparent that no one else shared this optimistic opinion. "Furthermore, I believe that dealing with Zande, Zel, and who knows what other antagonists in this whole mess is simply an impossibility for a band of varied talents such as we. An army is far more sufficient for the task, that much is certain."

"An army will not understand these matters as intimately as we do," Uargo protested. "To them, it is simply another task, and their hearts are not in it..."

"Whose to say ours are?" Aaron suggested darkly, earning him a rather withering glare from the mediator.

"We all have our separate goals in this," Siddhearth soothed them quickly, searching for a diplomatic solution. "I sincerely believe that we should, at the very least, consult with Her Majesty to gather whatever help can be offered-- we can decide our own paths from there."

"Fair enough," Uargo stated calmly, although something in his gaze suggested to them all that their path was no longer theirs to choose.

"Well then," Siddhearth said, wanting to quickly end this discussion, "Cid and I will depart to the palace to secure an appointment for tomorrow, if possible. You all must be itching to explore this city, it's certainly been awhile. Although if you plan on buying souvenirs, or perhaps something more useful, you may have to fight him for his money before we separate."

Psycho

Blaine sat in the captain's quarters of the ship he had 'borrowed' from the Empire, finishing up a small chain he had welded to the shaft of his katana. The chains were small and could be retracted to where his gauntlets attached to his armor. Soon after welding the second chain on the other katana, a crew member knocked on the door.

"Come in," Blaine said flatly, hiding his rage quite well for once in his life.

"Sir, we're approaching the archipelago you spoke of, and like you said, the waters are getting quite nasty. Also, some kind of sea serpent is blocking our path, so--"

"So I'll take care of it like I said I would," Blaine interrupted. "You and the rest of the crew just have to get us through these waters as quickly and safely as you can."

Minutes later, he was on the deck, staring down at what looked like the Tidariathan. “You again...?” A cruel smirk crossed his face as he faced the palm of his right hand at the beast. He cried out "Bolt Beam!" and a beam of electric energy struck the beast. The blast was devastating, its effect aided by the water and the pouring rain. In what seemed to be a suicide attack, Blaine drew his katanas and leapt at the beast, lopping into its head by using them like a pair of scissors. Blaine landed safely on deck, but something he didn't expect happened; the serpent fell forward, crushing the ship under its deadweight before disappearing like before.

"Sir? Are you awake, sir?" A kindly old voice inquired of Blaine. Blaine merely groaned in return. The samurai's eyes slowly opened, then fell closed. They opened again, and he was staring at the face of an elderly scholar. He slowly sat up and checked his gauntlets to see if the chains were intact. To his relief, they were. "My head... ugh. Where am I, sir?" Blaine asked kindly.

"Why, you're on Kirai, the main island of the Caussack Archipelago, Kazuki territory, young samurai," He replied.

"Thank you. Can you tell me how far off the palace is? I need to speak with Emperor Chang Yien," Blaine inquired politely.

"What?! How do you know that? You shouldn't even know these islands exist!" The scholar exclaimed, both excited and confused.

"I am Blaine Hala Yien, first and only son of Kai Hala Yien. I was born after his exile from the islands, caused by my uncle's revolt," Blaine explained, with a slight smirk on his face.

"I'm... inclined to believe you, sir, but I need proof... so..." the scholar walked over to a cabinet and pulled out two metal gauntlets emblazoned with the Yien family crest; a tiger claw in a blue circle, with two katanas going through the outside circle in an "X" formation. He put them into Blaine's lap. "Take off your gauntlets and put these on. If they do not crush your hands then you are who you claim, but if your hands are crushed then you are a liar, and I'll have to kill you for your deceit," The old scholar warned.

Blaine put on the right handed gauntlet first, then the left, and waited a full ten minutes, and nothing happened.

"I can't believe it! You are the heir! But how did you get back here? I found you floating in the water two days ago!" The scholar exclaimed, overcome by confusion and excitement.

"It's quite simple, you see. I 'borrowed' a ship from the empire trying to overtake the world, but when I got to the storm ring I had to fight the legendary Tidariathan. I figured it must have been exhausted, because it didn't use any combat skill... but unexpectedly, the beast fell onto the ship, crushing it. I just blacked out after that," Blaine answered calmly. He tried to pull the gauntlets off, but they refused to move. "I can't get these off!" Blaine exclaimed, frustrated.

"You don't need to, as they have become a part of you," The scholar replied knowingly. "They will remain so until you die. Your other gauntlets can simply slip over them. By the way... I'm Aero, one of the counselors that helped guide the emperor. I served your father; he was a fine man. But, your uncle is the exact opposite. He wishes to rule over all men, and through his projects has advanced our technology beyond other nations; but we all live in poverty. Please, you must overthrow him. However, you should wait a few days to regain all of your strength; you are going to need every ounce of it."

Luigi of the Pipes

Karolie had been reading to herself quite a bit lately, as if she herself was trying to become a scholar. This Aaron noted as he peeked into Asura's room at the Slepnir late that afternoon, after all exploring had been done for the day. Investigating the city had gone fairly dully for everyone save the Seamus brothers, who knew the town well enough to find all the best places to visit. They had all been back at the inn within a few hours, and hoped that the next day would be more lively, since they would be able to go beyond the confines of Laylow Harbor. More time was spent examining the floor they occupied in the suite, in fact, and they found a moderately stocked kitchen, where everyone had a well-deserved supper prepared by some of the finest cooks on the continent, then spent the rest of the night sorting their stuff about in their individual rooms.

The aforementioned dancer was curled up in a chair with a small reading lamp, and the archer rested in bed after the early jog through the Choco Forest and roaming of Valkeryie. Despite having claimed a room of her own, the resident dancer still seemed to enjoy Asura's presence, and after much pleading, Asura allowed her to read there that night. Of course, Asura would then be allowed to read in Karolie's (slightly nicer) bed the next morning, if she so pleased... The book Karolie was reading, Aaron noticed, was the one that she had shown him at Goralend. It seemed to be some sort of baby book of herself.

The captain cleared his throat, causing Karolie to jump and glare up at him. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Just checking up on you both," he replied casually, disguising his real motive to being there. Getting to that would be difficult. Ever since their walk together at Colnelia, Aaron and Karolie had become somewhat indifferent, save for their exploration of the suite together. If he said the wrong thing...

"And if I hadn't been decent?" the dancer continued. "Or Asura?"

"You're always clothed. You seem to make a point of being so. Not that we all don't, but you more than others. You wear those rags when you bathe, too?"

Karolie gave him a hard look.

"Besides," he said, quickly changing away from that, "there IS a lock on the door." He gestured toward the long-stemmed hook on the doorframe and the corresponding metal loop on the actual barricade, as if she hadn't noticed them.

Karolie's look became even more sour, but it brightened into curiosity as her eyes drifted slightly downward. Aaron reached up and rubbed his chin. While it still had a bit of hair covering it, the beard was significantly thinner. "I found one of Biggs's knives," he confessed.

"So I see. Why don't you get down to why you're really in here, captain?"

She was good, that was for sure. "Well," Aaron gulped. "I couldn't help but notice how touchy you got back at Colnelia."

"I asked you to forget about that," she said abruptly."You don't know scholars that well, apparently."

"Aaron, what I said back there... that was of my own concern." She cringed at the words left her mouth, seeming to not like that phrase.

"You said you lived in a city that was destroyed six years before you were even born, and you want me to just ignore that?!"

"Aaron, I really don't want to–..."

"And you wouldn't happen to know a ‘Rella Bessadio', would you?"

Karolie stood and slammed the book shut. "Don't you ever mention her again."

"Look, Kayla, I kn–..."

"Who did you just call me?" she interrupted, teeth grit in anger.

Aaron froze. Who had he just called her?

"I think you need to leave."

"Karolie, I..."

"GET OUT!!" Despite her petit size, Karolie rushed forward and shoved Aaron out the door. He dropped to his rear outside just as the girl slammed the aperture shut... on his left foot. It creaked back open as Aaron tried suppressing a howl of pain. Karolie kicked Aaron's foot out of the doorframe, then slammed the door shut again.

And then Aaron screamed.

"Don't you think that was a bit harsh?"

Karolie jumped and twisted around to face the beds. "How much did you hear?" she grunted at Asura, who was sitting up under the sheets.

Asura sighed. "The whole thing. Not that I could sleep, anyway. If you two get us kicked out of here with all the noise you're making, Cid's liable to explode."

Karolie walked to a bed and flopped down face first. "Don't you start too..." she mumbled through the pillow.

"Alright, alright. Aaron did seem to come on strong, but you also seemed to overreact."Karolie looked up angrily. "You don't understand! Drop it!"

"No, I don't. Personally, and with no offense meant, I don't care either. Hearing about all your lives just makes mine that much harder to deal with.

"But I bet Aaron does care. And know, for that matter. If he has a hunch who this Rella is..."

"I don't want to bring her up."

"C’mon, at least tell me who she is, so I'm not in the dark."

"She was my mother," Karolie sighed, in defeat.

"Ah. Guess I'd better not ask why she'd get you so riled."

"Nope."

"Aaron was brave enough to ask. What does that mean to you?"

"It means to me that he's pushing himself into my business, that's what."

"It means that he cares. Look, Karolie, it's obvious that you've got problems with your past. I don't blame you for trying to hide it. Heck, I've got more secrets than anybody, so I'm probably the worst example of what you should do.

"But... well... how can I put this? Alright, here." Asura tugged at the hood of her robe, which had been down ever since she came back from the forest. "I feel a lot better about myself now that I don't wear this hood. You'll feel better too when you stop wearing yours."

"Asura..."

"Alright. I'll stop."

To the archer's surprise (and mild embarrassment), Karolie got up and wrapped Asura in a hug. "No, thank you."

"Glad to see this discussion went better than the last one," she grinned nervously.

"Yeah, well, you're not a man."

"I'll agree," the white mage chuckled.

"While we're on this topic now... have you ever... er... been friends with a man?"

"Who says I'm not friends with them? In fact, Siddhearth...""I just assumed... since we're always making jokes about some of them... and since you really weren't fond of Biggs and Cullen..."

"Biggs and Cullen were show-offs. Immature. I don't dislike men, I just dislike the way some are childish. But then, I'd even consider those two friends, too. Odd friends, but friends."

Before Asura could say more, Karolie hugged her again. "Thanks."

"No problem. I remember what it was like to be a teenager."

So have I, Karolie thought. For twenty-five years, so have I...

"Well, I guess I should go apologize, at least. If I say anything else to him, then all the better... or worse..."

Aaron reclined back in his room, alone. His ankle hurt tremendously... For being a dancer, Karolie could slam a door.

Unfortunately, that couldn't be allowed.

Karolie was a nice addition to the team; despite her lack of fighting skills, she was a good cook, easily raised the spirits of the others, and, when she thought no one was looking, proved herself to be a bit of a thief when she pick-pocketed one man (upon which she was promptly amended. Only Biggs would have been doing the stealing in this team.)

But ever since Colnelia, Karolie seemed to be verging on mutiny. There was probably a better term for her minor dissension, but to the sailor part of Aaron's mind, that word was all that fit it. The captain simply couldn't allow for another uprising. Nor could he guess who the others would trust more between him and her.

It was insane, really, to even consider than any of them would throw him overboard after all they had been through. But it was also insane to think that his grandfather had (helped) defeat the Fiend of the Earth, or to think that he had sailed with the Great Spirit Odin.

He would give Karolie her resignation in the morning...

A knock sounded on the door.

...or much sooner.

The girl in question peeked into the room. "Um... hi," she said meekly.

"Hello." Aaron motioned for her to come in and have a seat across from him as he dropped his feet to the floor.

"I... just wanted to say that I'm sorry for breaking your foot," she stammered nervously as she sat down. "And for being so testy to you."

Aaron nodded. "You're a teenager, I know. I'll apologize for being so intrusive." Well, this was a turn. Maybe Karolie could stay after all...

"Thank you." The dancer seemed to be torn by whether she should say more or leave, but finally blurted, "Rella was my mother."

"I thought so. What was wrong with her, that you would get so emotional?"

"She..." Karolie shook her head. "She and my father were, well, embarrassed of me."

"Embarrassed?"

"She was a white wizard of an illustrious adventurers group, he was a chemist that could make just about anything. What was I? A petty pocket-picker, doomed to live in the streets without their help."

Irek, that malboro, Aaron mused silently. He didn't become a chemist to stop Lich's rot, he became one because he assumed Rella was attracted to them...

"They never let me tell others my name, never coddled me," the girl went on dismally. "The one time Rella did do something especially nice for me was when she gave me a jewelry box, when I was two. And that was only because Jasko had died..."

"Your father?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I'm sure there was a good reason for them t–..."

"No there wasn't! They hated me! I should've changed my name when I had the chance. Should've found that boy..."

"Who saved you from the Great Tsunami?"

"Yeah, him. I should've found him and mar–... How did you know?"

"Er... lucky guess." Married him? Oy oy oy... "I think I've determined that you aren't nineteen..."

"You have. I'll explain that as I go. But anyway, the boy got me onto a ship. That made me feel kinda bad, because I had stolen something from his house before we left. A bottle, I think..."Aaron paled. "Can you describe it?"

"I dunno, but I think it was red. I tripped on the way to the ship, and the bottle must have broken open then, because it was like that when I checked it on the boat. There was nothing inside it, though, so maybe I shouldn't feel too bad about taking it."

The captain exhaled the breath he had been holding. Lich's vial hadn't been red. Or empty.

"So, I went around the ship, and the sailor with me was trying to find my parents. Poor him, he didn't know that one was dead and the other had abandoned me to some stranger. While we were looking, I saw someone. For some reason, I couldn't look away. He just beckoned me over, slowly, and I was drawn to him. Maybe I was hoping he wanted to be my father. A real father.

"I took his hand, and suddenly, we were alone."

"He was a wizard?"

"Yeah, he used some teleportation spell. I didn't know what to say to him. Before I could figure something out, though, he held up the jewelry box Rella had given me. There was a figurine of a dancer in it that I used to watch spin round and round for hours. The wizard said he could make me just like it."

"He said he'd make you like it?" That felt familiar...

"Yeah. I jumped at the chance. My mother might actually be proud of me, then." Karolie grunted. "Of course, I never saw Rella again. But it was very nice being a dancer. The wizard also aged me until I had skipped from five to nineteen, and said I could stay like that for as long as I wanted. The only lie he ever told me.

"We arrived at the Hashule Islands a few days later, and I was already a hit with the Colnelia refugees on the boat thanks to the new skills. I traveled all over Hashule, dancing my routine in every bar and rolling in gil. I traveled so much, in fact, that I forgot all together that I had come from Colnelia. It wasn't until you brought it up that I went back and read that book to recover my memory.

"The wizard, Eli he called himself, was kind enough to visit me every day, as well. Yeah... those first fourteen years were great.

"Then I became nineteen for real, and an unexpected flaw showed up. I stayed nineteen, and even my personality was stuck to that of a teenager, unless I really pushed otherwise. I asked Eli to take it away, but he stopped visiting me, then. Life was still good, but it began to get boring. Nothing changed for the next eleven years. NOTHING.

"Then maybe a month before you all showed up, people stopped coming to my shows, and I was barely earning enough money to live on. All the gil I had earned before had been spent on things, pretty things that couldn't be pawned for more than a few days worth of food.

"Those next few weeks were harder than I ever expected. I was stuck on Goralend, which at the time had become a haven for pirates, allowing the more ‘immodest' dancers to steal all the attention. I considered following them, but eventually talked myself out of it. Thumbed my nose at strippers, even, what with this costume."

"So I've noticed," Aaron nodded. "Just like your ‘decency' fetish."

Karolie nodded, then grabbed at the hem of her dress. She tugged it up to her waist, revealing a pair of red slacks with the legs cut off at her mid-thigh. "I even wear these, in case my skirt billows."

"So I've noticed."

Karolie glared at him a second. "I'll bet, smuggler. Anyway, instead of becoming a stripper, I had to put my childhood skills to use and steal from people to help myself survive. Just as evil, now that I think about it... But, well, life was rough. I didn't care.

"Then a man showed up at the bar one day, and helped me remember some things about myself, and I was so grateful to him and his friends, who invited me along with them, even though I didn't show it, and am quite sorry for it...

"That's when I met you guys..."

"You wished to see me," Emperor Zande commented to Zel Robbins, his back turned from the man as he studied a mural depicting the Empire's rise.

"Yes," Zel replied, sucking in his breath. "I have further reports on my progress. They aren't good."

"After all that funding..."

"The first super-soldier I produced, code-name Project Omega, has... um... failed."

"Failed?"

"This was my first attempt at giving a man the power of a Great Spirit without the Spirit actually present to provide the power, mind you."

"You thought you unlocked the secret of their power, but you didn't. I expected so much from you. Tell me, how did it fail?" "Well... heh... how can I put this simply...?"

"Get on with it, Robbins."

"He was too powerful. His body couldn't control the massive strength, couldn't even begin to. Thank Heavens I was behind a blockade, or I might have been injured in the impending explosion."

"Explosion?"

"Ahem, shall I continue? Yes? Alright then. There is more bad news. My first human project, ex-Major-General Ian Zarrier, is rebelling against us now and has joined the forces of the Seamus brothers from Grundon, as you are likely aware."

"I a–..."

"They've grown a considerable amount," Zel interrupted, "finding allies in such as that smuggler who was secretly against us ten years ago, the should-be-Emperor of the Caussack region and apprentice of Keero Lio, another of my projects, and the boy from Telo'Nak who escaped you."

"Still alive, that one? No matter, get to the point, Doctor."

"Yes... Two members of the team, the Grundon Society of Polite Inquiry as I'm fond of calling them, have learned to fuse with the Great Spirits. Without the help of my scientifical magic. Gilgamesh and Carbuncle are presently out of my reach."

"You disappoint me, Doctor..."

"Oh, be silent, Zande. I–..."

"Emperor."

"To hell with your fancy titles! As I was saying, there is good news in this. Due to these ‘sacrilegious' fusions, the Emperor Fiends have finally agreed to Project Epsilon."

"Project Epsilon?"

"I shall be fusing those four into humans."

"That is a great risk, especially considering your latest work. Will they withstand it?"

"Dear Brigid survived her fusion in her incredibly weakened state, and the young Lugi survived fusion with Leviathan, second-most powerful Aesir, so I am led to believe that they will. These will be no ordinary humans, though. I have, with the help of Dove Davies, chosen four people who are incredibly important to the mages of the GSPI to be fused, in hopes of deterring them. Like my hopes of baffling that one Cullen the Red with Brigid."

"Who are these people?"

"Oh? You care to hear them? Very well.

"The one I have chosen for Scarmiglione is Umbriel Apalock, a former dragoon with a small gift for magic, or teaching it, in the least. He was a foster-father and mentor to Jeice Apalock, the red wizard of the group.

"For Rubicante I have selected Kelvin Crism, a mage knight from Desdemona that the one who calls herself Asura Crismon, their resident white mage, became confidential friends with. Of course, that was ten years ago, but considering our resources on this girl... you'd understand.

"Cagnazzo will be fused with Telo'nake Lupus, past mayor of the city sharing his name until the Red Reapers deformed him in the Firey Pit. This one had been a foster-father to Reno Lupus."

"The boy at the camp?"

"The black mage at the camp."

"Ah. And who is for the wind-demoness? Valvalicia, was it?"

"Barbariccia. One of my servants is currently studying the vessel I picked for her..."

"Ever since I met up with you guys," Karolie continued, "things have seemed to be getting better. I don't need to steal, or even dance to survive. I've got what seems like a family now. And Eli's been talking to me again."

"What?"

"He... he doesn't come. It's just that I hear his voice. He asks me how my day went and such."

Aaron's face scrunched. Something about that... well, never mind.

"Dang, Asura was right. It feels a lot better to take that hood off."

"And it's good to know more about you, Karolie. We Colnelians have to stick together."

"Uargo too?"

"Well, we NEO Colnelians have to, then." He covered her small hand with his own. "I'm sorry if, earlier, I–..."Aaron stopped, eyes growing wide. A scythe slid smoothly through Karolie's back.

"Aaron?" the girl said, then glanced down. She screamed and turned to look behind her. "Eli?!"

The man behind Karolie, holding the scythe, wore a red, tattered cloak, hood up. Though Aaron couldn't make out any real features, he could see the skin slowly melting away to reveal frail bone. "The bottle you opened twenty-five years ago, dear Kalindiera," he muttered, "was black."

Eli was replaced by the Reaper. Lich... "It is about time you figured out, Nyoran," he sneered. "For being a scholar, you are so dim sometimes."

"That's the thing about scholars," Aaron said peevishly. "We only notice what we read in books."

Karolie tried to move, but Lich's bony fingers entwined themselves in her hair and tugged her toward the reaper. "Do not move, dear. It would be a pity for this scythe to materialize while you were still on it."

"Look, Lich," Aaron interrupted, "whatever bone you're picking with us Nyorans doesn't involve her. Why don't you–?"

"You dare try negotiating with a Fiend?"

"A Fiend?" Karolie squeaked.

"Well, you know Lich, we always had those nice talks right before you demanded I join you. I figured our relationship was close enough that–..."

"Shut up."

"Alright."

"This one..." Lich tugged Karolie even closer, "has been quite useful in finding out how your little group is faring. So she really is part of my business."

"You were Eli?" the girl asked.

"Eli, Lich, I go by whatever name or form I must."

"Yeah, he wouldn't have been able to thank you for releasing him if you had been scared away by his Reaper form."

"Shut up."

"Alright." Aaron made a slight motion toward the ground. Nothing happened.

Lich shook his jawless head sadly. "Who taught you that trick, Nyoran?" A quintet of vines sprung from the floor, despite them being seventeen stories up, and wrapped around Aaron's wrists, then ankles, and finally neck.

"As I recall, I taught myself that trick. You just provided the ability. And it always did work bef–," he stuttered, as the vine tightened around his neck.

"I always underestimated you before."

"You make a valid poi–..." Aaron was cut off again as a pillar of stone shot out of the ground and slammed into his chin, snapping his head back. Karolie screamed for him.

"Now you know how that feels like," Lich scowled as the stone sunk back to whence it came. The vines jerked backward, pounding Aaron hard against the wall. "Now you listen to me, Nyoran. And you, Bessadio. The secret that I am Lich, Fiend of the Earth, is NOT going to leave this room." The reaper pulled his scythe away from Karolie, turned the pole end toward the captain, and jabbed it painfully into Aaron's gut. Karolie screamed again. "Still listening?"

Aaron mumbled, his jaw disconnected. "What? No witty remarks anymore?" Lich crowed. He swung the scythe up into the geomancer's chin, snapping his head back again against the wall. "No one else is going to know Miss Bessadio's life story, either. In fact..." The Fiend dropped his scythe, then smacked Aaron's face once... twice... three times. "... you had better stay as far away from Kalindiera as you can." The vines finally recoiled and sunk into the earth, dropping Aaron to the floor in a heap.

"Aaron!" Karolie cried all the while, words coming out in a frightened jumble.

"As for you, wench," Lich grunted, yanking Karolie about to face him. "You are going to continue spying for me, or else this weapon..." he motioned to his scythe "... will displace the mass of cells you call a heart in both your's and his body. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Karolie nodded fearfully, and Lich disappeared as mysteriously as he had come. The girl quickly scampered over to Aaron, lifted him up into her lap, and cradled his head to her neck. "I'm sorry," she sobbed, burying her face in his brown hair. "I'm so so sorry..."

"That bumbler," Zel muttered as he entered his laboratory. Dove and Jinn looked up from their respective meditations to glance at him silently. Respective indeed, for while Dove meditated by sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, arms splayed to her sides, and eyes closed, Jinn meditated by trying to break out of the energy cage he was contained in (in his uncontrollable fury, he could make a real mess out of the good doctor's papers). "Zande," he explained as he glanced over at them. "That man couldn't determine a Thunder Dragon from a Forest Imp." The two bodyguards watched him a bit longer, then returned to their reflective operations. How typical... No company from them.

Zel sat down at his chess table, took out the figures of Fenrir and Stray, then pressed them into his temples and massaged. They were all idiots...

"Jinn, keep that noise down!" Dove abruptly shouted, looking up from her peace as Jinn began to howl in his anger.

The scientist glanced across the table to the GSPI's side.

"Jinn, I'm trying to meditate!" Dove persisted.

What had once been a full opposition was now missing three characters.

"Jinn, don't make me...!"

Nine figures rested beside the board, those that had left or died.

"Alright, that does it."

Pathetic.

"Enjoy living in a popsicle, buddy."

"Dove," Zel interrupted.

The woman turned to face him. "Yes?"

"Leave Jinn be. You and I both know yelling does no good. And do shut up, while you're at it."

"Yes sir."

Perhaps I should turn down that girl's free will levels... he sighed silently.

Or perhaps I can just put the samurai back on the chess table. Zel continued his pondering as he returned to the game. His last report from Hades, before abruptly cut off by some odd interference, was about a samurai fitting the description of this "Psycho" causing trouble for him. That one wasn't out, after all. Just playing a new strategy.

His thoughts were interrupted as a robed figure appeared behind him. "My Master," the Reaper grunted, dropping to one knee and bowing his head.

Zel quickly tossed the pieces aside and swivelled in his chair. "Lich, there you are. I assume the scouting went well?"

"I have tasted the girl's essence. She and Barbariccia will go hand in hand."

"Yes, very good. And you are sure she is in ‘love' with the last of those mages? I was not eager to divide up the Grundon Society, you know..."

"She is infatuated with the mage, yes, and he with her. Speaking personally, it would be a great joy to myself to make that man suffer."

"Very well. Zande has condoned Project Epsilon for us. Once I have created the crystals to encase the Fiends, which will take many a day and night due to the strength they must be, we shall start our search for them. Lupus first, then Crism, next Apalock, and you may save Bessadio for last..."

"Lich enjoyed that just a bit too much..." he moaned.

"I know. And it's my fault. It's all my fault..." she replied.

Aaron turned his face to look up at her purple eyes. "You had your head in the sand," he coughed. "You couldn't have known that Lich was using you like that."

"And he'll never use me like that again, either," Karolie replied promptly.

"Wrong."

"What?"

"Did you NOT see how he just beat me back there?! We sure as hell can't fight him, nor can we risk provoking him."

"But... I understand. We must do what he says, even if it means..."

"Staying as far apart as possible."

"Yeah." The thought only made the darkness linger more, so Karolie quickly switched topics. "How’d you know that was Lich, anyway?"

"My grandfather helped defeat him almost fifty years ago. Lich was put in a vial that my father watched over. The one you stole..."

"Oh... no..." "I helped you get onto the ship, and from there..."

"That was you...?"

"Yeah. I didn't want to tell you right away, would've sounded desperate for your attention..."

Both paused, as if looking back through their lives. "Paths are doomed to keep crossing." The dancer tried to smirk, but with the seriousness of the situation, found it quite impossible.

"Look how far we've come..." Aaron cut her off.

Karolie nodded, tears beginning to well at her eyes again. "Another reason this is all my fault. And I hurt the one who saved me, twice. It'd be better off for everyone if I hadn't been born."

Aaron pushed himself up with some effort, then turned and came back down in a crawling position, so as to face her. "None of us were guilt-free when we joined this party, Karolie. Lich would still be hunting after me and Jeice, even if you weren't involved as a spy. Ian has his lethal touch. Heck, Reno failed to save a whole town. We've all got things to regret. And we all accept that. Leave the moping to Jeice. You're supposed to be the one who's youthfully optimistic."

Aaron suddenly realized how close his face had drifted to Karolie's. It felt a bit uncomfortable, but something told him that it would be even more discomfiting if he were to back up now. "Besides... I wouldn't be better off without you..."

Karolie looked at him, seemingly dazed by his jade green eyes. "But..."

"But what?"

"But I–..."

The lips of the two slowly grazed each other, stopping Karolie short. Immediately both recoiled, glanced at each other nervously, then tried to laugh. Within moments they had fluttered closer again, gave each other another slight peck, and backed up again. Finally, on the third attempt, the kiss lingered on. Mouths connected, they rose to their feet as one, hugging close despite Aaron's injuries.

A second more ticked by, and at last they parted their faces, keeping close in each other's embrace. A few moments more, and they parted again, this time simply holding hands. Aaron gazed at her, then finally parted his hands and staggered to the door. Whether it was his own injuries or their embrace that had taken away his graceful step, the captain couldn't be sure, though he personally hoped the latter.

Aaron placed his hand on the doorknob, then turned around to face Karolie again. "For the record," he sighed, "this is all my fault. For getting close to you." Well, that sounded wrong... should've run that sentence in his mind first...Karolie smiled anyway, and replied with, "Keep telling yourself that, smuggler." She kept the smile on her face until he was out the door. Then she dropped to the floor and wept.

Jeice and Reno, the former having just been removed from stone, left their respective rooms, met in the hall, and headed off together to find some food. As they went, they passed by Aaron's room. The captain was just leaving, and he didn't look very good...

"Aaron?" Jeice asked, walking over to give him a hand. "What happened?!"

Reno peeked into the room, where Karolie gave him a meek wave and turned her back to the door. "At the risk of sounding really stupid..." the boy interrupted, "did... uh... did she beat you up?"

Aaron paused a bit, as if considering the situation. "Yeah," he said finally. "We were chatting, and I think I touched on one of her family taboos. It was just a natural reaction."

"What was?" Jeice coaxed.

"She hit me, a lot harder than she intended to. I stumbled back, tripped, and crashed into a bed table. More my fault than her fault, really..."

"You're serious?" Reno replied, surprised.

"Yes, now would you mind helping me over to Asura's? No wait, Karolie's. Asura went there, earlier tonight..."

The wizard and mage traded glances, then grabbed the geomancer's sides and led him to the room.

Four magicians huddled together as Asura put her healing skills to good use. Red mage, white mage, black mage, terrain mage. All oblivious to what was someday coming...

Karolie entered a moment later, and she and Aaron traded places wordlessly as the latter headed back to his room.

Across the inn, dancer and captain lay down in their respective beds. They kissed their hands, pointed their fingers, and blew, knowing the smooch would reach its mark.

Once done, both tucked themselves in, having gotten no rest last night thanks to Lich, and sobbed themselves to slumber.

Masamune

CONVENIENT NUMBERS...

Jeice woke up refreshed, stretching in his beds as he looked up at the ceiling, mentally creating images from the formations above. He lifted his arms out from under the sheets, stretching and yawning all at once and sat up. He looked over; Reno was on his stomach, one arm hanging off the bed, his head on the end of the bed with just the smallest bit of drool forming.

He then showered and washed, dressing in some complimentary clothes, having given his wardrobe to the maid to be washed, which he planned to pick up later. He felt the slightest bit odd wearing the pair of brown trousers and white shirt he was wearing, but he had to admit they were much lighter on him.

Jeice went over to Reno's bed giving him a little nudge. The young mage opened one eye and looked up, "Wha....?"

"Going down for breakfast, better hurry up," Jeice explained, leaving the room. Reno closed his eyes again, mumbled something unintelligible and purposely fell out of bed and drug himself to the washroom.

Most everyone was already awake. Cid and Siddhearth were eating, the former reading a paper and eating a bagel, while the other was finishing off his tea and explaining some things to him. Uargo was telling Karolie of some old Colnelian tales that were before her time, while Aaron kept his distance, but close enough to hear Uargo. Asura sat near the window, looking out at the landscaping outside of the building.

Jeice took his seat with Cid and Siddhearth, after having brought his own plate of food. "So, when are we leaving?"

Cid raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"

"I am your employee, still," Jeice explained, taking a bite out of a biscuit and swallowing before continuing, "The least I can do is drive the carriage"

"I don't really thi-" Cid began.

"I see," Siddhearth said, interrupting his elder sibling, "That would probably be a good idea, but we will likely be forced to stay overnight..."

Jeice finished one of his eggs, "Yeah, I know... I'll get Reno to tag along for... moral support"

Cid leaned over his chair to look to Aaron, "I suppose that puts Captain Nyoran here in charge"

Aaron nodded, "Just what IS the plan?"

Siddhearth steepled his fingers thoughtfully, "Since Grundon, we have slowly been edging away from Voltaire..."

Karolie perked up, "Voltaire?"

"Voltaire," Cid explained, "Is the region where the emperor resides, 'Voltaire Empire' it is called sometimes"

Karolie nodded in understanding.

"Indeed," Siddhearth continued, "From here in Valkeryie we hope to push some leverage against the Empire, then work on procuring an airship again"

Uargo frowned, "Why an airship?"

Reno was coming down the stairs and was able to answer that question, "Because the New Land is always under protection from a navy or two"

Aaron nodded, "My crew had smuggled some stuff there for some of the colonies of the Cortez Kingdom, all the political strife because of it made it tough to get in there without a few ships blowing you apart"

Siddhearth nodded, "Indeed, Grundon has already showed their support... Cortez Kingdom still seems content with their few claims on the New Continent to go against Voltaire... and Valkeryie has not so much as batted an eye through it all."

"They gave up with that after being run out of the Hashule Isles a few times by Grundon," Cid concluded.

"That may prove ill when speaking with the queen," Uargo noted.

Siddhearth pulled out a pocket watch, "Speaking of which, we had best hurry. Reno will you be-"

Reno nodded, "Yeah, I heard. Sure."

Aaron stood up, "I'm going to be heading to the shipyards to check in on Ian and Silver for now"

"Very good," Cid as he stood, "Jeice, be a good fellow and fetch the carriage"

Finishing off the bit of food on his plate, he nodded towards the others in the group and headed to the reception level of the building. He had no problem renting a Chocobo and carriage, it was a bit larger than what they were needing, but beggars can't be choosers, Jeice said to himself, almost chuckling at the thought of the money Cid had given him 'just in case'.

Siddhearth and Cid took their seats inside the carriage, while Reno insisted on sitting by the driver's seat, "After all," he explained, "Who wants to sit with two old fogies"Jeice simply laughed, "Don't tell Uargo that, he'll insist those two are just little kids"

The carriage strolled down the road out of Laylow Harbor, taking the open road towards the capital. Indeed robbers were not a problem, there were guards enlisted to patrol the main road and kept thieves on less important roads. It only took two hours to arrive at the capital, Erikaira City. If Grundon or even Laylow was a marvel to see, this town was no different. The palace exterior was crafted in smooth marble stone, expertly cut and made. After their failures in olden times at conquering, they had become contented to make their continent a wonderful place. And it was true, that should any enemies ever rise up against the country, it would be such as throwing jewels to rodents.

Reno and Jeice waited outside while Cid and Siddhearth entered the palace to speak with the Royal Minister.

"We would wish to speak to the king," Cid insisted, "If you simply tell her-"

The Minister cut him off by raising his hand, as his thick mustache rippled, "The-the Queen, sirs, has many pressing duties"

Siddhearth nodded, "When will she be able to have an audience?"

"You cannot-not," The minister said, "Simply stroll in announced and seek audience. It-it takes many weeks of warning and we-we will tell you when it is appropriate to visit"

Cid sighed, "If you tell her it is Cid Seamus-"

"She-she would not care," The minister replied forcibly, "We already know what you are-are here for"

Cid sighed, "Times do change... come brother, we will have to change plans"

"The Seamus brothers you say? I have heard some of them," Said a woman who had come upon Jeice and Reno, who had introduced herself as 'Fay Donovano', Jeice assumed she was around his own age, perhaps older or younger. She was a strange character, dressed in an odd black outfit with a red overcoat, topped with a long-brimmed brown hat, but the oddest part was the small black and white cat that sat on her shoulder, it's calm blue eyes glancing about, and it almost never using it's claws to hold on.

Reno shrugged, "They went to seek an audience with the queen"

Jeice frowned, not liking to openly give information about their group, but Reno had not gave away anything important. The Seamus brothers were well known in these parts, as it was, hiding it would be even more suspicious. She did not reveal much of herself, aside from the fact she was a profound believer in luck and due to it, she was what she was now.

"They will not get in," Fay explained, "That much is true"

"Why do you say that?" Jeice asked warily.

"The queen has much business to deal with lately, in fact-"

Reno stood up, "Oh, they're back!"

Siddhearth and Cid walked up the carriage, both glumly. Siddhearth was the first to notice and raised a questioning eyebrow, "Ah... Apalock, who is your err... friend?"

"Fay," Jeice explained, "We eh... met her after the two of you left, how did it go?"

Siddhearth sighed, "Cid's reputation is neither enough, nor his former dealings with the queen either"

"Another dead end," Cid agreed, "We would do best to move on"

"As I was saying before," Fay said suddenly, "I have a meeting with the queen this afternoon on the arrangement of a certain... business venture among other things. That fool of a minister would have no choice to let you in"

Siddhearth frowned, "I am not so sure"

"What have we to lose?" Cid said in resignation, "Without Cullen, we have not other leads to the queen"

"Good," Fay replied, "I'm due... right now. You two had best come along"

"Do you trust her?" Siddhearth asked.

"You worried?" Cid replied, "I see no possible way of this being a trap... especially with us being in the palace and all"

Just outside, Jeice and Reno simply watched them go in, looking at the small cat that had stayed behind and was now sitting between them purring. He shivered as he stroked the feline, but quickly associated it with hunger. He realized it was far past lunch now, he looked over at Reno and grinned.

"You hungry?"

Reno shrugged, "Yeah, why?" Jeice pulled some money from his pouch, "You want to get it, or will I?"

Reno snatched the money and made a quick wave as he went off towards the closest food vendor.

Lupus

It seemed it was found before the search had even begun. A small bakery lay off to the side of the main street, and Reno slammed through the front "push to open" door. He half-ran to the main counter, which was of complete glass, showing various assorted breads and baked goods. Slamming a large sum of money on the counter, he read off nearly all the food he could, finishing with a grin.

"Are you sure you're going to eat all that?" the female shopkeeper asked, "And how are you going to pay for it?"

"It's all there. Check it if you don't believe me."

The woman nodded with amazement as she dropped the money into the money bag, and slowly handed over everything Reno had ordered. Grabbing it all in a bear hug, he turned around to see Jeice walk in, eyes nearly popping at how much the younger was holding.

The two quickly sat down at a table near the bakery's window, Reno almost instantly stuffing about ten muffins in his mouth.

"Woah, slow down there. You'll get sick."

Reno swallowed heavily, and said "Ha, you wish. Let's just call this... a Birthday Feast?"

"Eh, who's birthday?" Jeice asked, pulling out a cheese bun.

"Well, it's mine." Reno grabbed a huge bread roll, breaking it in half with his hands and stuffing one half into his mouth.

"I didn't know it was your birthday."

"That would be because I haven't told anyone yet." He finished on the first half and began on the second half.

"Well, happy birthday then! Forgive me for asking, but you'd be... fourteen now, correct?"

"Thirteen."

"Wow. I thought you already were a teenager," exclaimed Jeice, astonished.

"Most of our group do. I just didn't correct them because the title of teenager suits me more, you know?" Reno laughed, and gulped down the rest of the bread roll. "Anyway, I'm full. Let's go..." Reno stood up, but stopped. Jeice had only just finished his cheese bun. "On second thoughts, I'll wait for you."

He sat back down, Jeice smiling. "Where would you suggest we go if I had been finished?"

"Good point."

Jeice began on a toffee swirl, while Reno took something out of his pocket. It was what looked like an old scroll, a red ribbon holding it together. Pulling the ribbon off, Reno sprawled the paper across the table. It was a rather large map of Erikaira and the country to the right of it. Jeice stared at it, swallowed the swirl, and said "Where did you get that?"

Reno grinned up at Jeice and clicked his fingers. Then he stared back down at the map. Avoiding the question, he began "There are five sections of Erikaira. The first is Drayin, home to the uptown markets and mansions. The second is Hahrin, the residential sector. We're currently in Poorin, which is practically the same as Drayin only on a smaller scale. The fourth section is Palace Intarkria, which consists of the palace and the palace alone.

"These four sections create a sort of compass map. Drayin in the north, Hahrin in the east, Poorin in the south, and the Palace in the west. The compass cross is the final area, Vornin. The slum of the city. Most people just pass it as a section of Hahrin, but its marked on this map as a separate place.

"Mind you, I think this map was made a few hundred years ago. By now Vornin had either been un-slumminized and turned into part of Hahrin, or been totally destroyed altogether. A hole in the center of the city, maybe. Anyway, to get to the point, have a look at this."

Reno planted his finger on the center of the map, where Vornin was. Imprinted was a tiny picture of a red crystal. Jeice examined it, then looked up. "So?"

"That crystal is the Fire Crystal. There's no doubting that. Why the hell it is imprinted here is anyone's guess, but you DO know about the crystals right?"

"Psycho... uh, Blaine said that his hideout near Desdemona was the Wind Crystal's Shrine. In that, Blaine has the Wind Crystal's spirit inside him. His hideout, according to him, is the only accessible path leading to the Shrines of Earth, Fire and Water."

"Correct. So, my theory is the Fire Crystal's Shrine is underneath the city. Blaine told me that even though he knew the way to the other Shrines, he didn't know WHERE they were located on the surface. If I'm correct in what I think, we're this close to the Fire Crystal." Reno smiled from ear to ear.

"Forget it. If Blaine was telling the truth when he said the Imperials were attempting to capture the crystals, which, in line, would raise the Dove, and cause world destruction yada yada yada, they've probably already gotten them all." Reno frowned. "They haven't gotten the Wind Crystal, which would've been the first they would've gotten."

"How do you know?"

"Aaron stole it from Blaine a bit back. And the seal of the crystal is blocking the path to the other crystals."

"And how do you figure this?"

"The Wind Crystal Shrine is the ONLY ACCESSIBLE PATH leading to the other three crystals. The Wind Crystal is the first in line."

"Even if you say is true, the Fire Crystal is still unreachable for us. Its deep below the ground, and as you say, Blaine's hideout is the only access." Jeice frowned too. "I wish it were easier."

"It is. We have Aaron, right? He can easily remove anything in the way to the crystal."

"Wouldn't Zel already have gotten one of his slaves to do that already?"

"If Blaine doesn't know where the crystals are on the surface, Zel sure as hell doesn't either."

"Good point," Jeice commented.

Reno looked back down at the map, where Vornin was. The red crystal had gone. "The hell?"

Jeice glanced over. "What?"

"The crystal is gone."

"Where’d you get this map?"

"I'll tell you later. Come on!" Reno jumped to his feet, grabbed Jeice's arm and pulled him into the street. "Do you think Cid will mind if we go back now?"

"What? We're not going back now!"

"I have to. I'm going with you or without you."

Jeice glared, and stood there for a second or two. "Alright, let's go."

lzn64

"We have to find Aaron, first," Reno pointed out, as he and Jeice made their way further from the Queen's Palace.

"Easy... the Captain said he was to spend some time at the shipyard," Jeice replied, taking the lead and heading in that general direction. "Ian and Silver should be there, too..."

"Yeah, so?" Reno inquired with a shrug, practically jogging to keep up with the red wizard's pace. "What's the rush? I already told you, Zel can't possibly know about this."

"I want to get this over with as soon as possible," Jeice explained, glancing back nervously at the Palace behind them. "I'm hoping we can persuade Ian and Silver to accompany us, as we really have no idea what could be lurking in an ancient underground shrine, or in the ruins of Erikaira."

"Afraid of what Cid's reaction to this will be, eh?" Reno teased, rather amused at his demeanor. "I see your point, though... anything could be down there, and rounding up the other members of our party could take awhile, assuming they decided not to waste a day like this in that hotel."

"Exactly."

Psycho

The samurai still felt a bit weak... but other than that, he was fine. He spent the day in preparation for his journey to the palace to retake the throne, and set things straight. He was alone in his loft where his new ally had let him sleep.

Blaine concentrated...

Greetings, Dr. Robbins. How have you been? In case you do not remember me, this is the guinea pig for project Omega again, but you probably know me better by my alias by now.

In any case, I just wanted to warn you that once I leave the Caussacks, I'm going to rejoin with my old comrades, and the next time we meet Dr., I will be with great pleasure that I stain my katanas with your blood. Oh if you're wondering about Keero, I've captured him. Once you are dead, he will have his free will back and vengeance will belong to myself, Ian, and Keero and every one you have used.

I now have matters to attend to, but once I’ve finished you and Zande will at last face me in battle. Now if you can excuse me I must attend to my business. Good bye... for now.

His eyes opened.

"I've got to study this map of the palace... it's not going to be easy dodging the guards and not killing them if they attack. I'll just have to subdue them carefully. My uncle shall be my sole target on this quest..."

Blaine murmured to himself quietly as he studied the map his new scholar friend had given him. Secret passages were marked with red. They were twisted paths but unguarded. On the inside the one he planned on using would put him right behind the throne. Perfect...

lzn64

Aaron returned to the Giygas Pred with little difficulty, plodding over the harbor's docks with a thoughtful and somewhat sad look upon his face. The first thing he saw as he boarded the ship was the placid form of Blaine's white tiger, sitting on all fours near the ship's railing and looking out to sea. Aaron briefly wondered if the tiger was having a conversation with the samurai, and attempted to walk quietly across the deck so as not to interrupt. He was somewhat surprised as the tiger let out a decidedly feline chuckle, and turned to face the captain.

"Sensei is well," He reported, eyeing Aaron with an unmistakable arrogance. "But I wasn't exactly speaking with him just now, so you can stop sneaking around like a thief."

"Well, excuse me for trying to be courteous," Aaron snapped, crossing his arms.

"You're a foolish human if you think that any of your kind could sneak their way past my hearing ability," Silver pointed out. Aaron flushed slightly and seemed to be preparing a reply, but the tiger continued before he could come up with something adequate. "I apologize; I'm sure Sensei warned you of my temper when he is away. Did you bring any food?"

"Er..." Aaron stuttered a bit, surprised by the abrupt apology. "I'm not exactly sure what you'd eat, but a brought a few things. Where is Ian?"

"Brooding in his room, where else?"

"Thanks." Aaron turned toward the cabins, and the tiger watched him go, motionless aside from his occasionally twitching tail.

Aaron knocked lightly on the wooden door that led into Ian's cabin, waiting patiently for a reply from within. After a few moments, he sighed and called inside "Ian? Are you there?"

"Aaron?" A surprised sounding Ian replied. "Just a moment..." The door opened seconds later, and Aaron stepped back politely to allow him to exit the room. "I wasn't sure who it was," Ian explained rather sheepishly.

"Wouldn't Silver have caused some trouble had I been an enemy?" Aaron pointed out logically, then waved his hands in dismissal. "I brought some food in any case, care to join me on deck?"

Ian shrugged passively and followed him back to where Silver sat, still in the same position he had been in. "Cid was able to... refinance us, shall we say," Aaron informed them lightly, as he passed around what he had brought for breakfast. He informed them of recent happenings, and the unofficial plan to see the Queen as they ate, and the two listened wordlessly to his monologue. When he had finished, he stood and looked back toward the city, his arms crossed.

"Heading back?" Ian inquired. "No..." Aaron shook his head slightly and turned around. "I think I'll stay here for awhile."

"Something bothering you, captain?" It was hard to tell if Ian was truly concerned or just making conversation, but he sounded sincere enough. Aaron turned away again, wondering how long he'd have to lie about his situation.

"Not exactly," He explained, wondering if his voice betrayed this blatant falsehood. "I just prefer the sea to the city, is all. Surely you don't mind if I stick around for a bit?"

"Not at all..." Ian assured him, raising his eyebrows. "It's your ship, after all..."

The ship lapsed into silence as each of them pondered their own situations, the ship gently swaying over the minute swells in the harbor. Aaron remained standing at the back of the ship, his hands folded on the railing and his eyes wandering over the skyline of the city before them. Ian contented himself with sitting near the outside wall of the cabin, and Silver took the opportunity for a quick nap. Things remained so for some time, until something caught Aaron's eye on the docks.

"Is that Jeice?" He asked in surprise, leaning over the ship.

"And that wizard kid Reno, too," Ian confirmed, standing and glancing in the direction Aaron indicated.

"But what are they doing here? They were supposed to be accompanying Cid and Siddhearth to the Palace."

"Maybe they spoke to the Queen, and they're here to tell you of what was decided," Ian suggested with a shrug.

"So soon?"

"I'm sure they'll let us know soon enough," Silver reproached them, standing and stretching languidly.

Jeice and Reno boarded the ship a few minutes later, panting slightly from their long trek across the city.

"What's happened?" Aaron demanded, looking from one to the other.

"Here, take a look at this," Reno suggested, handing him the map. As Aaron looked it over, somewhat confused, the two informed him of their spur of the moment plan to retrieve the crystal. Ian looked on, looking somewhat interested, and Silver shook his head at the plan's general lack of organization. When they had finished, Aaron slowly shook his head, incredulous at their spontaneity. "You guys haven't thought about this much, have you?" He sighed, rolling up the paper. "I mean, no one else knows about this... what if something were to happen to us? No one would have the slightest idea of where to look for us."

"We don't have time to waste coming up with some complicated plot!" Reno exploded. "It should be easy, come on. You magic us a tunnel, we go in, we get the crystal."

"Don't you think you're oversimplifying things just a little?"

"All right, how about this. We know that Zel doesn't know about this YET, but who's to say he's not busy figuring it out? If HE gets the crystal we're screwed," Reno pointed out, hoping this tactic would convince the geomancer to aid them.

"...You want me to help you get into the Fire Shrine."

"Yes."

"Without anyone else knowing about it."

"...basically."

"Without any real plan to speak of."

"Hey, we have a plan!"

"Without any proof that the crystal is here except for some old map you're just now revealing you have?"

"We don't have time for this!" Reno cried angrily, narrowing his eyes at him. "Come ON. What's going to stop us? A red wizard, a black wizard, a geomancer... and if they come, a swordsman and a ruthless tiger! This‘ll be EASY, you're just being stubborn."

"You want us to come?" Ian interrupted quietly, raising his eyebrows. "Isn't that... a bit dangerous, though?"

"Ian... you're as capable as any of us, and I've heard stories of magic resistant monsters in the world... it might be a good idea to have a fighter in the party," Jeice pointed out with a shrug. "Besides, doesn't it get boring on this ship?"

"..."

"Wait, wait. I still haven't agreed to anything," Aaron objected. "This is incredibly irresponsible, and if we fail... or if the crystal isn't there..."

"We gotta TRY, man!" Reno pleaded. "Before someone else does." "Aaron..." Ian quietly began.

"What?"

"...Perhaps this will get your mind off whatever is bothering you."

"I told you, nothing is bothering --"

"At least temporarily," Ian continued, ignoring him. "Just a thought."

"All right. Fine. But I want it to go down in the record books that I was against this from the start."

"Whatever, let's just go!" Reno exclaimed, nearly bursting with excitement.

"Are you two coming?" Jeice asked, directing the inquiry to Ian and Silver.

"...if you wish," Ian shrugged.

"I suppose my nap can wait. If this concerns obtaining the crystals, Sensei would undoubtedly want me to aid you in successfully completing the objective..."

"All right!" Reno grabbed the map back from Aaron, and studied it for a moment. "Just follow me!" He advised them, heading off the ship and back toward the city.

"I'm going to regret this later," Aaron muttered, following after them.

Some time later, the group stood on the outskirts of the city, gathered around Reno and the map he held. Aaron had opened a small entrance into the underground, directing it to lead into the already present tunnels that comprised the underground, and abandoned city of Erikaira.

"This map should get us there in no time," Reno assured them optimistically. "We can enter the tunnels of Poorin through here, and just keep heading north until we reach Vornin, and the Fire Shrine there."

"Let's go, then," Jeice suggested grimly. He searched for a moment, locating several sturdy sticks to serve as torches... without the fire, to be safe. "Light," He muttered, enchanting them to emit a soft glow. He handed them out wordlessly.

"Nice trick," Reno praised him, examining his with interest as he led the way into the cave.

"This tunnel is kind of steep..." Jeice observed, following Reno in. The path sloped downward, the walls and floors of the magically created cave rough and uneven. "How far does this go before we join with the main tunnels?"

"No idea, but I'm guessing it's pretty deep. After all, the entire city of Valkeryie sits on top of it," Reno shrugged.

"What I'm slightly more interested in is who inhabited this city at its height," Aaron muttered from behind Jeice. "And if they left any guardians behind."

"Ancient civilizations probably depended on superstition and magic for that sort of thing," Silver scoffed, padding along beside Aaron. "You humans always have to be depending on some higher power or another for your own protection..."

"Not all of us," Ian corrected him sardonically, keeping his distance from the others and taking up the rear of the march.

"It shouldn't be too long," Reno assured them from the front. "Like Jeice said, this thing is steep; it should be a pretty direct trip down." The group plodded on, deeper into the earth, straining their eyes and ears for possible threats or a sign of the city that supposedly lay ahead. None knew when Aaron's tunnel and the ones from the city would intersect, or what to expect when they did.

"Whoa, wait!" Reno cried suddenly, causing them all to jump at the sudden noise. "The ground drops off here..." He got on his knees and held the torch out, trying to see how far the ground was from the end of the tunnel. "It looks like it extends both ways," He explained, "but I can't see the floor."

"We can probably climb down..." Jeice said doubtfully.

"I'm sure we can," Aaron muttered, wrinkling his brow as he focused on the rock around them. The others realized what he was doing and cautiously stepped away. A moment later, the solid wall of rock that made up the left side of the tunnel shifted forward slightly, and shuddered as Aaron formed a crude stone stairway with his magic, leading downward into the unknown tunnel beneath them.

"Good idea!" Reno praised him, making use of the stairway first.

"...yeah," Aaron agreed with a shrug, as the others followed suit.

The newer tunnel was not a large change from the one they had just exited, aside from having smoother walls -- a lot of work had probably been put into refining the tunnel. Aaron consulted his compass to determine which way to follow the tunnel, and the company shuffled along the northern path.

"Does this thing go straight to the Fire Shrine?" Jeice asked, peering over Reno's shoulder to see the map he held. "It's supposed to be a straight line, but there are chambers of the city we'll run into along the way... and there's no telling if the tunnels down here have deteriorated any."

"They look pretty well made," Aaron noted, running his hand along the smooth rock wall.

"These guys had to have been well skilled at it to create such an extensive underground network," Reno agreed. "I'm expecting it to be in pretty good condition still, but you never know."

"What do you mean by chambers of the city? Are those where the people lived or something?"

"I'm not sure what they are, the map just shows them as large rooms, with several paths out. This is one of the main tunnels of the city," Reno explained. "It's wider and longer than most... like a main street. The two main streets intersect like a cross, through the four main areas of the city... the Fire Shrine is where the two meet. Get it?" He indicated their location on the map. "We should be coming to one of those chambers soon. Like I said, this was one of the industrial areas of the city... Poorin. There are probably buildings that housed businesses and stuff."

"Does anyone else hear water?" Silver interrupted, causing everyone to turn to him in surprise. "Oh... never mind. I keep forgetting, human hearing is awful."

"You hear water?" Reno asked, interested.

"It makes sense that they had a water source down here... no big deal. How long is this going to take?" Jeice asked nervously.

"Relax, we should be done before night, at least!" Reno assured him.

The group eventually emerged into an impressive dome shaped structure, and soon discovered the source of the water each of them had eventually began hearing as they neared the underground chamber. The dome's walls were deliberately ridged, forming rings around the perimeter of the chamber, until it tapered off to a single dot at the top center of the stone ceiling. The room was dimly illuminated by natural means; Aaron easily picked out the flourescent plant life gathered in great numbers on the wall, forming a type of permanent coating. There were rings carved into the stone at regular intervals, and the party attributed their use to holding torches or something similar, though they sat empty now. The path that they were on led directly to a stone pillar, situated in the center of the dome, then past that and out of the room, toward the center of the city. The room itself contained several abandoned stone structures, and the group wordlessly agreed to keep away from them. There was no telling what could nest itself in an underground city... but what was most disturbing was that the place was in such good condition. A relatively shallow stream flowed ahead from a tiny pool around the stone pillar in the center, along two smaller paths leading out of the dome on the east and west sides. The water was somewhat brighter than the rest of the room due to the higher concentration of flourescent plant life living in it.

"Why did the inhabitants of this place leave?" Jeice wonder aloud, making his way to the stone figure in the center of the dome.

"Who cares... here, look at this. The map says that there are two more chambers, probably like this, before we reach the Fire Shrine in the center. The smaller paths that lead out toward the east and west go to Hahrin and the Palace, respectively." He indicated the two paths that the underground creek followed and continued on. "Vornin is just ahead... so far, so good."

"Look at this platform," Jeice said when he had finished, leaning over the water around it to examine it. "It's like you could light it if you wanted... that stuff in the center looks like what you'd put on a torch."

"I'd rather not," Ian replied curtly. "They could have been used for something beside light."

"You can move the top, too," Aaron pointed out, shifting it slightly to show them. "It probably emits sparks if you turn it in a circle, lighting it automatically."

"This river probably goes all the way round the city," Reno indicated the flowing water, ignoring them. "There are probably other ones in the other chambers like this, too."

"The water smells awful," Silver announced, padding impatiently toward the northern exit. "Let's just keep going."

They shrugged and did so, continuing through the abandoned city. Each chamber was nearly identical to the others, yet they grew progressively smaller as they neared the city's center. Their footsteps echoed hollowly over the stone, the silence undisturbed by any telltale signs of hostile activity. The only signs of animal life they came across were blind insects, spiders and one rather large group of bats sleeping near the top of the second chamber. Upon reaching the end of the third chamber, they were feeling quite assured that nothing would complicate this underground outing.

"Almost there," Reno whispered, quickening his pace.

"There's something blocking your way ahead, humans," Silver replied, sounding rather smug. "So don't get your hopes up."

"Something?" Ian asked worriedly, reaching for his sword.

"I don't think it's alive. It feels like magic," Silver clarified. "A force field?"

"Naturally the crystals have some kind of protection," Reno said confidently. "I bet the Wind Crystal can take care of it."

"The Wind Crystal's Shrine had something like this," Silver agreed. "But we had no crystal to take care of it..." He seemed to be purposely dancing around the solution to the predicament, which the others found rather irritating. They reached the end of the tunnel, and indeed, a faint red mist seemed to hang in the air in front of them, solidified into a barrier. They could see through it, however, and the final dome that made up the area of Vornin was indeed in bad shape, as Reno had previously suggested. Instead of proud stone buildings and calmly flowing creeks, there lay only shrapnel and piles of rubble.

"Somewhere in there is the Fire Crystal..." Reno said softly, but it was clear that he was somewhat disturbed by this.

"I have this horrible feeling that whatever cleared out this city decided to take up residence in there," Jeice muttered. "I don't want to know what it is."

"We don't really have a choice. We've come this far..."

"Excuse me," Silver interrupted impatiently, "But did you want to hear what it was that was guarding the Wind Crystal or not?"

"Fine. What was it?" Reno demanded, glaring at the tiger.

"Just a protect spell," Silver finished, obviously amused at such an anticlimactic solution. "Got rid of it with a simple dispel spell."

"THIS isn't a protect spell!" Jeice exclaimed in frustration. "Nor a reflect, nor a wall. It's like a barrier, but judging from what the place on the other side looks like, I think it may have been constructed to keep something IN, instead of the other way around."

"Well, we're going in," Reno insisted. "And we need to get through there and back out before night... Jeice, you're the only one with white magic here. Maybe Dispel will still work."

"You're kidding. We should go back and get the others."

"Come ON!" Reno exclaimed angrily.

"Reno, what if we can't handle what's inside there?" Jeice attempted to explain, his own voice rising in anger. "Don't be so impulsive... if we let something out that's been imprisoned in here, and we can't handle it, what will happen to Valkeryie? We're right in the middle of that city too, in case you happened not to notice."

"What if we leave and Zel's been tracking or something and he finds this place?!" Reno retorted. "I doubt he'd stop just because he was too afraid to see what was in there."

"It's not FEAR, Reno, it's common sense!" Aaron joined in, and soon the three were completely engrossed in their argument, their voices steadily rising and echoing in the hollow cavern.

"I think you humans should fight a little quieter..." Silver advised them, looking around nervously, but they were certainly paying no attention to him. "They're going to wake up whatever's inside there," Ian muttered, and the tiger nodded wisely. "I think that that barrier was designed to keep people out... by whatever's in there."

"Probably," Silver agreed placidly.

"Just SHUT UP!" Reno shouted suddenly, bringing the two's attention back to the situation at hand. "Stop treating me like I'm some stupid kid that doesn't know what he's doing! I KNOW that this is right, and I KNOW that if we don't get the crystal right now someone else will, and then what --"

A shudder tore through the cavern, cutting him off. The barrier before them flickered briefly, and cut out with a surprisingly loud snap. Silver bristled sharply at the sound, and hunched low to the ground, ready to spring; Ian already had drawn his sword, and now stood facing the entrance to the ruined portion of the city before them. Reno stared with his mouth open slightly, and Aaron and Jeice fumbled for their weapons as they realized what they had done.

"Something's coming," Silver announced, his words followed with a hair-raising growl as his ears twitched in response to sounds the humans could not hear.

Seconds later the unmistakable sounds of claws scraping on stone were heard, which seemed to snap Jeice to attention, as he quickly shouted "Protect!" Identical blue screens of energy sprang from the air in front of each of them, and not a moment too soon as the running beasts ahead of them came into view, climbing over the piles of rubble to head relentlessly toward their quarry.

"Chimeras!" Silver growled, "Fire demons!"

Catching sight of the group, the two creatures reared up on their hind legs, spread their wings and let out twin roars. Their heads looked like that of a lion, with red gold manes that resembled wreaths of fire. Their hind legs were hoofed and goat shaped, and long serpentine tails trailed behind them. Their wings were like those of a dragon, but instead of using them to fly they instead continued their charge, folding them to their backs.

"Fire demons..." Jeice muttered. "Blizzaga!" he and Reno shouted at the same time, seemingly both having the same idea at once. Both Chimeras were hampered only slightly by the spell; they did not freeze as both wizards had been hoping would happen. They seemed somewhat surprised, though, and faltered in their charge, giving the group time to filter into the larger space of the dome rather than fighting single file in the tunnel.

Ian and Silver both charged separate beasts, neither afraid to engage in close combat, even with such creatures. Their magical shields flared to life as the Chimeras countered. Unable to get a hold with their front claws, they whipped their tails at them, leaving several sharp wounds where the barbed ends penetrated their already weakening shields. Silver, infuriated and well trained in combat, gained the upper hand against the frenzied demon, jumping for its throat. Both animals tumbled heedlessly across the ground from the force of impact, while Ian landed several slashes across the muscular body of his opponent. Unable to get a clear shot at the beast Silver fought with their magic, Jeice and Reno concentrated on pummeling the one engaged in combat with Ian with multiple Ice spells. Aaron set to work aiding Silver, attempting to formulate a strategy that would impede the Chimera while sparing the closely entangled tiger. He pulled a sharp spire of stone upward beneath the fumbling demon, breaking its grapple with Silver, who watched with satisfaction as it stumbled away, dazed and wounded from both the tiger and the geomancer's offensive. It shook its head vigorously, snorting angrily, and let out a blast of superheated breath from its bloodied maw. Silver saved himself by sheer reflex, and suffered nothing but a case of singed fur. Aaron dove for the cavern floor, holding his hands above his head for what minor protection it offered. He grit his teeth as he felt the exposed skin of his hands blistering from the heat passing above him.

The geomancer parted the cavern floor beneath the monster, and it dropped down with an infuriated and fearsome cry. He made a shoving gesture with his hands, closing the chasm he had just created, with the monster inside, crushing it. He turned to do the same thing to the other one, and found that his colleagues had fared quite well with it. He watched as Ian drove his sword into the creature with a well timed attack. The chimera reared in pain, nearly wrenching the blade from the man's grasp, and was instantly blasted with simultaneous ice spells once again from the two wizards. Obviously mortally wounded, but too stubborn to retreat, it fell at the hands of Ian; the grim soldier complete the grisly task with a final blow.

They panted heavily as the cavern descended into an unreassuring silence, still poised for battle.

"Come, fools, before others arrive!" Silver ordered them after a moment, dashing further into the ruined chamber, head low to the ground. The others followed without a word, adrenaline driving them onward. "I can smell something else; but there are more of those around, too!" The tiger announced, climbing over the ring of rubble that obstructed their view of the chamber.

They soon reached the top of the dismal mountain, and Reno was the first to point out the obvious...

"The rubble... it's all arranged... like in a circle?"

"Something arranged it like this on purpose," Aaron agreed, gasping as he caught his breath. "Like they just pushed over the buildings and... put the remnants together like this."

"It's a nest!" Jeice and Reno said together, then looked surprised at both themselves and each other.

"Did you hear that from...?" Reno inquired, rubbing his head as though he was dazed.

"Gilgamesh," Jeice muttered, "He knows what this is... it's a nest... the Shrine for the Fire Crystal is the Phoenix's lair..."

"The Phoenix?" Realization dawned on Aaron, "That giant fire bird painted on the floor of Slepnir's Bridle, you mean?" "That's it," Jeice whispered, pointing ahead toward the center of the room.

They all stared in awe as a red light focused in the center of the room, then expanded in a flash to form what looked like a giant egg; easily taller than any of them. The ground began to shake, slightly at first, then with more force as cracks formed over the surface of the red tinted egg. The cracks glowed with a golden color, illuminating the room with their brilliance, and forcing them to shield their eyes. A charge of heated air threatened to blow them from the edge of the "nest" they stood on as the egg shattered. From it a golden red bird spread its wings, and a cry that sent chills down their spines reverberated through the cave.

The Phoenix hovered in the air; it was hard to tell if it was made of fire or feathers. It watched them silently for a moment, then spoke, its voice seeming to come from inside their minds rather than being registered by their ears.

Who are you? It asked plainly, And why have you come?

"I..." Jeice looked around helplessly, unsure of what to say to it. "I am Gilgamesh," He finished finally, unsure of what else to say that might impress it.

"And I am Carbuncle," Reno added, following his strategy.

The bird peered at them, and all gathered could feel its gaze searching their very souls, as only a spirit could.

And you? It directed toward Ian, who could only stammer a half hearted reply.

"I do not know who I am..." He replied helplessly. The bird did not press him, strangely; it simply returned its focus to Jeice and Reno.

Humans who do not lie... such a thing I though I'd never see. How you persuaded Gilgamesh and Carbuncle to trust you is beyond even my understanding... It paused slightly, as though it were letting the slight insult sink into the junctioned spirts' awareness. ...I will not be such a fool, but I will entrust you with what you seek, rather than my essence...

The bird shifted slightly, then addressed them once more, and for the final time.

It is not the nature of the Phoenix to lay imprisoned in either rock walls or human souls... take this burden from me and use it well, for I am through with guarding it. You have my gratitude for granting me my freedom; but nothing more from me, humans. Now depart from this place, lest you be consumed by the demons... however you came about this place, make sure you seal it well... and you, it focused on Ian-- You carry quite a burden in your soul; yet I am not the one to tell you what it is. Leave this place, now.

The bird folded it's wings about itself, seemed to dissipate into molten fire, and shot upward, disappearing before impacting the ceiling of the cave... yet somehow, they all knew that it had reached the outside. Glittering gold feathers drifted down lazily from where the spirit had disappeared, and landed lightly near the small, glittering red arrow left behind where the egg had hatched.

"Phoenix Pinions," Silver informed them, drawing upon his knowledge of the world from his many travels with Blaine. "I suggest you grab them, follow the arrow to the crystal and grab it, and then we run back to the surface as fast as we possibly can."

"I'm with the tiger," Ian shakily agreed. His face was somewhat pale as he contemplated the words of the Spirit.

The others needed no further encouragement, as the growls of what were unmistakable more Chimeras reached their ears.

From outside, Fay, Cid and Siddhearth exited the palace, their audience with the Queen of Grundon ended after several hours. Eager to get back and share the proceedings of the meeting, they weren't quite surprised to see that Jeice and Reno had departed.

"After so long, I suppose I can't blame the boy," Cid shrugged. "At least they were thoughtful enough to leave the carriage."

"Busy exploring the city, no doubt... or getting into trouble, knowing Jeice," Siddhearth agreed.

"I'm sure they found an agreeable way to spend the day..."

Their conversation was interrupted by an odd occurrence; a sudden cry brought the attention to everyone in the city toward the sky. The Phoenix, finally free from guarding the Fire Crystal, flew straight up from the center of the city, the glow from its majestic form rivaling that of the sun itself. The bird disappeared a moment later, leaving behind nothing but a burning imprint of its form in the minds of all who had beheld the sight. In a sudden uproar of activity, shouts came from the city-- had anyone else seen that? What had it been? Rumors began to fly, and only a select few really knew what it was...

"I think, Siddhearth..." Cid said quietly, still looking absently at the sky, "That our dear employee will have an interesting story to tell us tonight."

Lupus

A slight rock passageway lead off from the cavern to the north, swirling this way and that, up and down and around, until it finally arrived at a large rock pillar blocking any further way in.

"So, what do we do now? Aaron?" Jeice turned to face the geomancer. Aaron looked at Jeice, raising an eyebrow. "Why is it that I have to solve everything around here?"

"Just do your stuff already."

Aaron raised his hand, and the huge rock pillar crumbled almost instantly. Behind it was the biggest cavern any of them had seen, easily stretching multiple miles in all directions.

"This is it. The center of Vornin." Reno glanced around. The entire cavern seemed like a destroyed village. Rock, rubble and smoke lined the huge room, and flashes of red that mixed in with the grey in the far off distance. "Chimeras..."

"Talk about a village in ruin. This place is totally wrecked," Aaron remarked, stepping forward out of the corridor into the huge cavern, glancing around. Above them was another floor, with a huge hole in the middle leading upwards. "No doubt there are more destroyed buildings up there."

The group stepped completely out into the cavern, all following Aaron's lead by looking around. Aaron fixed his gaze to the opposite side of the cavern, where another passage was leading off. "Hey, guys. I think that's where we go."

The group began walking through the thick rubble towards the other side, and it took them nearly half an hour before they arrived at the other end. The group continued onwards, and the passage sloped up and around, until they finally came to a huge stone door, with patterns running all down it. Before anyone could do anything, Aaron delivered a mighty kick to the door which slammed it off its hinges and blasted into the room it protected. It hit some blue tiled floor, shattering into multiple rocks.

The room ahead was a total contrast to the dank and uninviting caverns they had just triumphed. It had white crystal walls, blue tiles on the floor and some blue steps leading up to an altar holding a small red crystal.

"I told you this wasn't a waste of time," Reno laughed.

"So what, no big enemy we have to fight? No crystal holder we have to convince to join us?" Aaron grinned to the side of his face. "What a cinch." He put his hands on his hips, glancing around at the small room.

"I wouldn't say so," Ian said in his usual dull tone.

"So what are you waiting for, you fools?" Silver Strike growled. "Grab the crystal and lets go!"

Reno walked forward, snatching the red crystal from the altar. As soon as he did this, a massive force slammed him against the wall behind the altar, holding him there. "Ouch..."

"What the...?" Jeice ran forward, only to be thrown to the ground and forced there."Something really weird is going on here." Ian gripped the handle of his sword tightly and span around to face the doorway that Aaron had recently de-doored. Standing there grinning was Zel, holding his hand up, remnants of a spell still swirling on his palm.

Zel reformed his position, standing tall. "So, I see you got here first. Not surprising, since I... followed you." Reno and Jeice, who were practically nailed to the wall and floor respectively, couldn't move to save themselves. Zel grinned at Reno, then said "I see you're stuck there. Let me help you." The force removed itself from around Reno, the boy crumpling to the floor in a heap. Zel moved his hand at Ian, disarming his sword and impaling it into the crystal wall to one side. "I hardly think you'll be needing that. No fighting will be going on here... that is, of course, if you hand over the two elemental crystals you own without much of a fuss." Zel held his hand out, palm facing upwards. "Well, I'm waiting."

Aaron glanced at Jeice. "What do I do?" he mimed, Jeice noting what he was trying to say. Jeice waved his hand at Aaron slightly. Jeice glanced around at Reno.

"Reno, hand it over. It'll be useless to resist," Jeice spoke, and added something in mime that no one but the boy could see. Reno nodded.

"My exact words. Thank you, Apalock." Zel grinned. Jeice held his hand out at Reno, then quickly withdrew it. Reno felt his pocket and grinned, then he approached the Imperial, placing the small red crystal in his hand. "Thank you, my dear spy. Now, I understand you also have the Wind Crystal. Am I correct?"

Reno returned to the altar, as Aaron got reached into his pocket. A funny look slashed across his face, but a second later, the crystal was in Zel's palm.

"Thank you for being so kind. As promised, there will be no fighting over the crystals. However, I must punish you for unleashing Phoenix." Zel pocketed the crystals, and held out his two hands together. A bright ball lunged from his hands, destroying the entire room a split second after the Imperial had teleported away.

The group were thrown madly about, the entire Crystal Shrine collapsing above them. Rocks and rubble knocked all of them out but Ian, who was blasted across the Vornin Cavern, hitting rocks and rubble as he hit the ground. Clambering to his feet, he looked around. His sword lay unscathed in the middle of the cavern, under a huge rock. Kicking the rock away, the man sheathed his sword, looking around for the others. Before a minute had passed, he saw Aaron laying under a ton of heavy rubble.

"Uh... I can't touch him... I better find Jeice first..."

Easily found, Jeice was lying in the middle of the cavern, out of it. Ian pulled him up, sure that his touch wouldn't do anything worse to him, and Jeice fell awake.

"What happened there?" Jeice said, blinking and cleaning his outfit from dirt and dust."Help me get the others," Ian ordered, ignoring the question.

The two ran over to where Aaron lay, and Jeice started work on pushing away the rubble. Reno joined soon after, holding an egg that could only be Silver in hibernation. Aaron was pulled out, gasping, and clambered to his feet.

"Oh man, Zel got away again," Aaron sighed.

"With the two crystals as well," Ian added.

"Ha!" Jeice laughed. "A simple Double spell fooled that moron. Unfortunately there's one problem. When I doubled it, the double has the exact same properties as the first crystal. WHICH MEANS, technically both we and the Empire have two crystals."

Reno and Aaron each took out a crystal, showing Ian.

"Nice trick, Jeice. Now let's take that egg and get outta here."

A quick look around noted the two exits off the Vornin Chamber were blocked with rubble and huge rocks, easy pickings for Aaron.

Before they could move, a huge monster emerged from the rubble at the opposite end of the hall, towering over them as if they were tiny fleas. It was a huge, red, muscled humanoid character, blades extending from its huge fists. It roared in anger, then ran at them across the multiple mile long cavern.

Aaron gulped. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a Blood Ogre."

Ditto McCloaker

The sight of the charging giant stunned them for a few moments. Had they not already faced so much, they might not have been pounded into the ground like tent-stakes before they recovered. Of course, by now...

Reno had the first idea as to how best handle the monster. He needed help, though, and nervously wondered how he might go about requesting it.

The answer came immediately, as a voice in the back of his mind. Relieved and encouraged by the simplicity of communicating with his Spirit, he requested assistance. He began to recite out loud what the voice in his mind dictated, then overtook, and proceeded on his own to the end of the spell...

Wait a second! shouted Carbuncle from the back of Reno's mind. It was not in time, as Reno completed the spell with a shout.

"BLIZZAGA!"

Arctic winds swirled around the Ogre. Reno smiled, as a fire-based monster would, he recalled from his Mage School training, be especially vulnerable to cold magic. But a warning welled up frantically in his mind. It directed his attention at the Ogre, and he wondered at the strange reflections of light surrounding him.

As the others looked on puzzled, Reno's face went stark with shock. Then, all of a sudden, the ethereal image of Carbuncle appeared around him, large enough to envelop Reno's small body. Then the group collectively gasped in horror as they beheld his robes flying madly as if in a powerful wind. He huddled up within himself as a tornado of crystalline ice dust pelted him brutally. The image of Carbuncle loomed around him, and green flashes of light burst from him.

The backfired Blizzaga came to an end. Carbuncle's image faded from around the boy. Heavy frost coated the huddled form of Reno. Then the mound fell sideways, and Reno sprawled out motionless on the ground. Jeice ran over and knelt beside him. His face was bloody, where the particles of stinging ice had battered him. His face was clenched, but he was clearly alive. Jeice began to work on a good Cure spell, drawing on Gilgamesh's magical strength.

The Ogre drew closer. Jeice also heard the voice in his head:

"The monster is protected by a Wall Spell," came Gilgamesh's commanding voice.

Aaron realized it was up to him to buy them time. He wondered what he could do to stop such a giant beast. One idea came to him, and he considered it worth a try. He willed a split in the floor of the cavern, and part of the floor between them and the Ogre jutted up sharply. The floor split several more times, under Aaron's direction, and soon most of the cavern floor was jagged and uneven. It worked. The Ogre's foot caught on one jut, and he lost his balance. Aaron literally jerked the floor under him, and the Ogre fell face forward.

Jeice completed his spell. Soon, the blood on the boy withdrew back into his wounds, which then sealed themselves up. He stood up, dazed, but well again. He didn't waste a second.

"Carbuncle says the Ogre is wearing a Reflect Ring," he began. "He saw it just in time. If he hadn't helped keep me safe..."

Ian drew out his sword and gripped it in both hands. He felt something stir within him, and could feel a pair of leering eyes looking at him from inside. Horror jerked his heart as he had the familiar sensation of an ominous hand reaching out to him in offering. Desperately, he instead tried to invoke another technique, drawing purely on his own inner resources. Almost recklessly, he concentrated his aural energy and moved it out through his arms, into his hands, and from his fingertips into the metal of his blade. And then, he realized at the time it was still a few seconds premature, he swung his sword and jammed it into the ground. A green spark shot forth from the metal, through the ground, toward the giant.

As it passed under him, the swordsman tightened his muscles and detonated the Shockwave. It burst in a green flash that radiated through the Ogre and into the air. The physical form of the Ogre shuddered and rippled momentarily. The General's Shock doesn't blast holes through things, but rather, sends the user's energy rippling through and weakens the physical structure of anything it touches.

The Ogre, in a surprising show of stamina, began to push himself up with his hands. He clenched his fists, and brought them down into the ground. Explosions burst forth from the ground, and roared toward the group. The powerful eruptions blasted them off their feet and charred them. Damaged, but surviving, they struggled to their feet.

Reno shouted, commanding Jeice to hold out his spear. He was puzzled, and was surprised when his arm thrust out almost of it's own accord. It was Gilgamesh, and he apparently knew something. Reno also chanted with the aid of his Great Spirit, and as he held out his palms, icy magic enveloped Jeice's spear. He was baffled, but he suddenly felt an urging from within. Gilgamesh was commanding him to run forth towards the monster. He obeyed, and felt a surge of extraordinary strength go through him.

He found himself charging straight towards the hideous face of the Blood Ogre, which was pushing itself up by on it's massive palms. With a push of his legs, Jeice leapt straight towards the beast's exposed chest. He plunged the spear with superhuman force into the monster's ribs and gave it a twist. What's more, the Blizzard magic from the spear coursed through the beast, radiating up into it's head. Jeice removed the spear from the disintegrating form of the magical beast and leapt to safety.

The five of them watched as it dissolved into purplish light. Jeice felt his strength abruptly leave him as he staggered to his feet. Everyone stood awed for a moment, and then broke into exuberance and relief at the heralding of their victory.

With the Fire Crystal firmly in hand, it was time to return to the surface, through the gaping hole overhead.

The next few hours were a blur of excitement, panic, and pandemonium from the citizenry of Valkeryie. At some point, the crowds were parted by some guards and the Seamus brothers filed through, and the odd company were led to a carriage. They filed in, squeezing to make room. Ian clung to the rails on the back, and Silver sat in the middle of the floor, free already from his shell of serenity. The riots continued outside as the now somewhat cramped carriage rattled through the roads.

Inside, minutes passed in silence, with neither side knowing what to say. The Seamus brothers both eyed the red bauble visibly held in the hands of a sheepish Reno. Nervously, the boy looked at Jeice, sitting beside him, quietly urging Jeice to hold it. Siddhearth and Cid now looked at him. Jeice eyed them back, looked down at it, and then back up, and licked his lips.

"Well, I suppose you want to know what this is," he began.Siddhearth raised his eyebrows. "Well, not if it's going to ruin the surprise," he said, dryly. Cid gave his brother a sidelong glance, and started to say something, decided against it, and adjusted himself on his seat.

"Where are we going?" asked Jeice, more to confirm the instructions he had heard being given to the driver.

Siddhearth answered. "Queen's Palace." He paused. "It merely seemed the polite thing to do, considering the commotion you've made." Jeice gulped, despite himself.

"Well, I'm sure you have a perfectly reasonable explanation for it all. I'm rather positive you wouldn't do this on purpose. There's no reason to worry... eh... right?"

Reno quickly opened his mouth as if to protest, but no words came out. He, Jeice, and Aaron shuffled uncomfortably. Silver just blinked silently.

Once they arrived at the Palace, they all waited for several minutes until Asura, Karolie, and Uargo arrived, in another carriage sent for them. Their faces were shocked and questioning. Wordlessly, they came up and looked at the rest of the silent group. Once they were all gathered, Cid gave the signal to a guard, who led them towards the Queen's chambers. Inside, apparently having just arrived at the throne herself, sat the Queen of Valkeryie, a very large and corpulent woman, with round yet alert features, tense with worry and apprehension, but, comfortingly, seemingly devoid of anger.

The next hour was spent as Jeice, Aaron, Reno, Ian, and, every now and then, Silver testified before the concerned and distraught Queen and the rest of their companions. They spoke of Reno's map, the plan hatched by himself and Jeice, discovering the underground realm beneath the city, the Phoenix, the arrival of Zel, and the Blood Ogre, sparing as much as they could the gruesome details.

At the mention of Zel, Cid himself addressed the Queen.

"Zel Robbins, Your Highness, we believe is an agent of the Voltarian Empire, whom we believe may have ties to Zande." he explained, in carefully measured tones. "A man, we have all observed, and may testify to, as having most... er, inexplicable capabilities. These claims are extraordinary, Your Highness, and I would not believe them myself on word from unreliable sources. However, I am confident of the faculties of several of these individuals, and do also affirm, as my brother and I have witnessed these phenomena ourselves."

The Queen's distress did not subside. She wrung her hands and shook her head in complete anxiety, but at no point did she give the slightest sign of protest to the claims. If anything, she appeared, in her anxiety, to accept every word.

As the story drew to a close, Siddhearth examined his pocket watch. He turned to the Queen. "With your permission, Your Highness. Midnight approaches, and it is of the utmost importance that we make haste to leave. We will await your response."

The Queen acquiesced without hesitation, the informality of the entire proceeding having been obvious from the start. As the group were led back out, Cid paid the proper formal respects to the Queen, ending with an assurance that they would await her word. As they left, they heard the Queen at last break down completely, her wails and sobbing echoing through the halls. Jeice cast a last look at her Majesty, her face buried in a handkerchief, her large body convulsing with sobs. The carriages rushed back towards the hotel covertly, as the pandemonium outside continued. By now, all were shaken at the sight of the Queen. On the way to the hotel, and well on until they were back in their Suite, the Seamus brothers gravely explained what they had learned from their previous meeting.

The group listened in horror as Cid explained the reason he and Siddhearth had previously been barred from seeing the Queen was because of a conference she had had with an ominous messenger who warned her of inevitable catastrophe if she gave permitted Cid and his companions refuge in her Kingdom.

Of course, such a thing alone would not have intimidated the Queen, who Cid explained was normally a stout-hearted and brave woman, but for this warning had been accompanied that night with a premonition in her dreams of horrible terror that overtook her that night, as she claimed a vivid nightmare involving just such a catastrophe as the messenger described.

As soon as the tale was finished, Reno and Jeice left to find a quiet place to make ready for the nightly visit. Not a few minutes after they left, a Royal message was brought to their room. Cid unraveled it and his lips pursed as he read it.

He looked up at the remaining group.

"Her Majesty has insisted that we leave the nation of Valkeryie as soon as possible," he said simply.

Chapters in Final Fantasy OG

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