For the Love of Adventure

This is my story for the FFT Writing Circle's second challenge. I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics

'Words'-thoughts

Lightning lit up the sky as Ophelia ran into the cave and winced at the thunderous boom that had soon followed. She clutched her side as she leaned against the wall of the cave, hoping that her pursuers had not seen her enter the cave. Ophelia slowly sat down; she no longer had the energy to stand. She was soaked from the rain, her side was badly injured, and she was out of breath from running away. 'All of this because of a lie,' she thought, 'all because of a stupid lie that we were foolish enough to believe.' Ophelia closed her eyes and tilted her head back until it rested against the wall of the cave. She wished Indurain was there with her, she wished that they didn't decide to go separate directions, she wished that she had decided to learn white magic this month instead of next, but most of all she wished that she could turn back time and keep herself from ending up here. 'That's all they are. Wishes, wishes that will never come true.' Ophelia sighed as softly as possible, but the act still aggravated the injury on her right side. She thought back to earlier that morning. It seemed like years ago to her now, and it disturbed her how fast the weather turned for the worst.

--

That morning held no signs of what was to come. It was very sunny with a few lazy wisps of clouds lingering in the sky. Ophelia had been waiting in the Fireside Inn for her best friend Indurain. He had told her that something 'very awesome' planned. She knew that he probably had another adventure for them to go on. 'As long as it keeps him from stealing,' she thought while she sat at a table waiting for him to arrive. Ophelia knew of his past as a thief; it was how they met. She had happened to be at one of his 'marks' and stopped him. She wondered how they had gone from that to being best of friends. 'I guess making the deal that if he agreed to stop stealing I wouldn't turn him in helped.'

While she was lost in thoughts of how she and Indurain met, Indurain had wandered into the inn along with another person. He looked around until he saw his fellow mage, and best friend sitting by herself at a table near a corner. He motioned to the person who came in with him to follow. They sat down at the table but Ophelia did not notice. Indurain waved his hand slowly in front of her face but got no response.

"Ophelia?" He wished that her hat didn't keep any light from illuminating her face. That way it would be easier to tell whether she was just messing with him or if she was really deep in thought. A few moments past and Ophelia still had made no acknowledgement of their presence. Indurain sighed and slowly reached for her hat. He made a small, startled yelp as Ophelia's hand fiercely grabbed his wrist.

"If you don't want to be electrocuted," she uttered darkly, "you'd be wise to keep your hands away from my hat Indurain." She looked into to his eyes to emphasize her point. He nodded slowly, still shocked at how fast she reacted. Ophelia let go of his wrist and watched with some amusement as he started to massage it with his other hand. "So what do you have planned for today?" she inquired cheerfully.

"Besides staying away from your hat?" She smirked although she knew he couldn't see it. "Well first let me introduce you to my buddy here. Ophelia this is my pal Marlow. Marlow this is my friend Ophelia." Marlow nodded his head in acknowledgement while Ophelia simply waved her right hand. Indurain sighed at his friends silent greetings. "Anyway, Marlow, since you wouldn't tell me what the 'big secret' until we got here; now would be a good time."

"All right I know how you guys like adventure and thrills." Marlow said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. He handed it to Ophelia and winked. She took parchment and read the words scrawled on it.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Those are directions."

--

An almost deafening clash of thunder interrupted Ophelia's memories. She opened her eyes and looked outside. The storm had grown even worse in a relatively short amount of time. She felt that what was happening outside could no longer be rightly call a storm; she felt that it would soon be a great tempest. Ophelia got up slowly and walked further into the cave with her right hand along the wall for support. She stopped where she could still see the entrance to the cave, but also far enough in that anyone or anything that enter would not be able to see her right away. Carefully Ophelia took of her cloak, and started to tear of long strips to make crude bandages. As she started to dress her wounds, tending to the one on her side first, she began to regret not going through with her education at the Academy. The material they would have taught later in her chemist classes would have been very useful right now. Ophelia sighed heavily; she had to stop thinking about all of her misguided decisions. After a few minutes she had finished dressing her wounds to the best of her ability, and was leaning against the wall once more. Her eyes closed once more as she continued to relive the day.

--

"Where do they take us?" Indurain asked Marlow.

"To a secluded and cool place. You guys will like this place, but I'm not going to tell you anything more about it."

"Why would you? It would only ruin the adventure." Indurain looked at Ophelia. "So, what do you think Ophelia?"

"As long as you don't try to take anything when we get there; I'm fine with it, and before you say anything: yes I believe that you might take something."

"Fine. I'll get the candles." Indurain got up and went to his room. Marlow looked at Ophelia with his eyebrows slightly raised. She chuckled and explained to him that it was a weird tradition he had. It was supposed to bring luck or something. Indurain came back to the table holding two six inch candles. He placed them on the table and looked at Ophelia. "Whose turn is it to light them?"
"Mine, I believe." Ophelia concentrated on the candles and lit them with a very weak fire spell. Three minutes passed before Indurain and Ophelia blew out the candles simultaneously.

"I hope you guys have fun. See ya." Marlow bowed to each of them and left the inn.

"So, Ophelia, you ready for this?"

"As ready as I can be." Ophelia got up from the table and started for the door. She looked back at Indurain and noticed that he had not left his seat. "What's wrong?" He was examining the candles.

"They're uneven." Indurain put them next to each other.

"That's to be expected Indurain."

"No. No. Every other time they have burned evenly."

"That's impossible; you're just over thinking things."

"One of us is going to have bad luck…"

"Indurain…please, I'm telling you you're over analyzing. Come on now." Indurain still didn't move. Ophelia sighed and went to Indurain. "Things will be all right." He looked at her not really convinced, but he started for the door with her following closely behind. When they got outside Ophelia looked up at the sky and notice the change in the clouds. There were more, and they were gray. She would have pointed this out to Indurain, but she didn't want him to be anymore concerned. Ophelia handed the directions to him and continued to look at the sky. Once Indurain was finished he handed the paper back to Ophelia, and started to head northeast. It was about two hours after they started on there adventure that it started to rain. They stopped for a moment.

"Indurain, we could stop and try to continue tomorrow."

"Oh, come, now Ophelia. A little rain can't stop us, besides your spells work better in this weather." Indurain pushed on with Ophelia flowing close behind, but she was starting to get a bad felling about the excursion. It was about another hour before Indurain asked for the directions once more. He smiled; there weren't many instructions left on the paper and that meant they were close. He paid no mind to the fact that it was raining a little harder now. Ophelia still had her doubts and didn't like being soaked, but it hard for her to convince Indurain to change his mind once he was set on something. They continued on and after about five hours since they started they came to where the directions lead.

"This place would look nice if it wasn't raining." Ophelia commented, but Indurain, wasn't listening. He was looking off in the distance at something. "Indurain…"

"Ophelia I think we should leave now."

"What's wrong?"

"We should just turn around and go back." Ophelia tried to find what Indurain had saw. He grabbed her hand and started to pull her away. "Come on Ophelia lets go." She was about to give up looking when something caught her eye. She saw figures moving towards them.

"You know what? I'm beginning to think that you were right about the candle-luck thing." Indurain let go of her and they began to run as fast as they can. They thought they were making good time until a few arrows landed in front of them. They both stopped, but Indurain slipped a little. They turned around and were met with about ten knights. Their leader stepped forward and looked at Indurain.

"Are you Indurain?"

"Why does it matter?" He crossed his arms and looked at the leader defiantly. The leader smirked and looked at his troop.

"Yeah it's him alright," he turned to face Indurain and Ophelia. "So finally we catch you, thief. I will admit though if it wasn't for an anonymous tip we got, we would still be looking for you." Ophelia and Indurain looked at each other and then the knights. "Now if you would come-"

"Angry spirits of the world strike now! Bolt4!"

"Freezing wind, speak of forgotten truths! Ice3!" Ophelia and Indurain said in harmony. The hair on the back of Ophelia's neck stood on end as the sky lit up while the spells began to take effect.

"Run!" she yelled to Indurain.

"You go that way and I'll go this way!" he said as the spells hit their targets.

"Be careful!"

"You too." They ran in their own directions, and brief glanced back to see that the knights were starting to recover. Ophelia felt her fingers sting a little, but she remembered that it was a side effect from using the spell during a storm. She was running with all her might but her vision was hindered. She was running against the wind and rain kept hitting her eyes.

'Got to keep moving, can't get caught, got to keep moving.' Ophelia kept repeating the mantra, while her steps became even more hurried. She glanced back briefly to see if she was being followed and slipped. Ophelia fell to her knees; she got up as quickly as possible only to find three knights in front of her.

"Are you going to come quietly or will he have to do this the hard way?" the knight closets to her asked.

"Swirling bolts, gather and-" Ophelia didn't get the chance to finish the incantation as one of the knights caught on to what she was doing and thrusted his sword in her direction. She evaded the full force of the blow by side stepping to the left, but she still got a gash on the right side of her body. She backed up and tried to do the spell again. The knights laughed as they avoided the spell. Desperate, Ophelia tried to use her magic to blind them, fortunately it work and gave her time to escape. She ran past them holding her side leaving them to fumble around in their pack for eye drops.

--

Ophelia opened her eyes and shivered. The direction of the wind had changed and was now blowing into the cave. She tried to think of a reason why Marlow would set them up if Indurain was his friend. She sighed and gave up. There was too much she didn't know. She decided to just let her exhaustion carry her to sleep, and closed her eyes once more. Within 20 minutes she was asleep.

The tempest outside continued to rage as a group of travelers found their way into the cave. Their leader, a blonde haired squire, lead them towards the back of the cave.

"Look! There is someone against the wall there." The group's white mage pointed out. She walked over to where Ophelia lay and check her over. "She's alive, but she's also injured, and drained. I'll tend to her." Her leader nodded. He ordered the others to see if there any materials to get a fire going. The others in his troop searched but after their fruitless attempt he suggested that they stay close together for warmth. They all agreed and sat near Ophelia.

In the morning Ophelia was the last to wake up. She first noticed how much better she felt and then noticed the absence of pain from her side.

"Well good morning!" The healer greeted. Ophelia looked at her slightly started to see someone else in the cave with her. "It's all right we won't hurt you." Ophelia looked around the cave at the mention of 'we'. She saw about eight others in the cave with her. "My name is Daisy, and I was the one who help you get better if you were wondering. What's your name?" Ophelia nodded slowly taking in everything.

"O-Ophelia and thank you."

"Nice to meet you Ophelia. The others over there are Eric, Fink, Nastasia, May, Algus, Delita, and our leader Ramza." Each of them waved when there names were mentioned. Ramza got up and came over to Ophelia.

"We were just about to leave the cave. Would you care to join us?"

"What about the…" Ophelia looked outside to see that the tempest had died down. 'Indurain…' "I can't. I have to find my friend. We got separated in the storm."

"Well, he might be in the next town. Since we're heading that way why don't you travel with us? "

"I guess I could do that."

"All right troops lets move out." Everyone gathered there things and headed for the opening of cave. When Ophelia got outside the cave she took a deep breath and looked up at the sky. A brief look of disgust crossed her face as she gazed at the same wispy clouds she had seen the morning before. A frown now made its way onto her façade. "Indurain please, please be okay."

"Hey Ophelia, hurry up." Daisy called to her.

"Coming!" She took another deep breath and put on her damp hat. Ophelia looked back at the cave one last time before running to catch up to Ramza and the others. "Another day, another adventure. Right, Indurain?"

Well here's another complete story. I hope you liked it. If you see anything that needs to be fixed or improved please let me know.

2SSC