The Feywood mist had thinned a little since they last visited. But still too thick to even see the rest of the party who were only a few yards away. Basch sighed as he clomped through the snow in his armour, it was rusting. He knew it. He could feel it scraping and squeaking loudly, so loud the rest of the party could hear it over the howls of the beasts that dwelled in the mist. As Vaan, Penelo, Fran and Balthier proceeded through the wood, Basch stopped to fix his helm. Even mist could find its way inside the metal. As he removed the heavy metal piece he noticed a familiar figure in the mist he walked further and there standing there, head bent was Ashe,
"You're Majesty, you must hurry. The others are too far ahead for a rest.", the princess sniffed slightly as the mist blew her blonde hair wildly but she just stood there. Still no reply,
"You're Majesty, please." ,he glanced round and frowned. Great. Now the others were vanishing more and more by the second,
"This….place", she spoke quietly almost whispering, "It brings me memories.", she brought her head up to meet his own. Tears filled her eyes as she began speaking again,
"I know I should stay strong but….but I" ,she blinked rapidly as more tears poured down her pale face. The mist was becoming heavier by the minute,
"You're majesty, I am not surprised that you are upset. I would be too", He smiled, "As Vaan said, you have good friends.", she smiled slightly as Basch helped Ashe through the thick mist.
.
The Judge and Queen had now reached the rest of the party who were standing in one of the Feywood Glyphs, cleaning their weapons,
"I'm glad you two have finished you're little chat. We need help bringing down the rest of the creatures." , Balthier spoke as he rubbed his Formalhault clean with his cuffed sleeve,
"The mist grows thicker and thicker, we must make haste or stay." , Fran spoke her exotic voice huskier than usual as she twisted her Artemis arrows tighter. Her ears bent slightly. Vaan sighed,
"I'm not going back out there again!", Vaan moaned holding his Deathblade lightly. Penelo ,slightly shoving Vaan, snapped,
"Vaan don't be so immature!", she polished her pole, Whale Whisker, briskly. As Ashe smiled slightly at the group, Vaan and Penelo argued and Balthier sighed heavily. But Fran stayed quiet, as per usual.
Basch looked ahead as the mist built up and mirror images of them appeared more frequent,
"I think Fran's right," Basch announced. It was hard to murmur under pure metal. The whole party silenced. Except Vaan,
"What!? I told you, I'm not going out there. It's too….hard and….misty.", Basch frowned slightly,
"How is it hard, Vaan?", Vaan froze slightly and blushed pink. Basch tried not to laugh. Ashe seemed to find it tricky too,
"Well?", Vaan opened his mouth but was interrupted by Penelo,
"Vaan! Stop it, just deal with it! We're going out and that's that! Okay!?", Vaan eyes widened and his mouth shut quickly.
Basch frowned at Penelo's outburst ,
"She's still got the side-effects of berserk " , murmured Balthier raising a brow,
"The nearest exit is across the glyphs, it is well hidden.", Fran spoke simply as she set her bow on her tall back,
"A short-cut", Ashe said cautiously, "Through the Feywood?", Fran nodded and pointed ahead into a thick area of mist,
"As I said it is well hidden, but we may need to set up a camp.", Vaan's jaw dropped but before he could speak Penelo nudged him violently as he mumbled out a quiet apology.
It had been a while since they had set off. Basch's armour was now squeaking so high it gave him slight ear ache. He still wore it, it was his duty. The Queen strolled through the thick snow as the Masamune strapped to her back shifted back and forth. That katana cost a lot, it was himself who got. But he still got one of Larsa's servants to deliver it.
Finally, the mist had became less thicker and he could see where he was actually going. Bloody mist. Balthier had always hated it, the colour, smell ( even though it didn't have much of a smell ) and the beasts and humes that lived on it. Especially his father.
He sighed heavily as they trudged through the freezing cold snow, his feet were starting to feel like giant ice blocks. If he knew he was going trekking through the somehow snowy Feywood then he wouldn't of wore these damned sandals but….a little to late. This then started a long think. How did Fran survive the cold, snowy climates? He remembered in Paramina Rift, fran never at all complained. Strange. He shrugged since there were a lot of questions he'd wanted to ask Fran. Some answered but a little painful, course he was young then. But now he's stuck in the damned Feywood with two blooding kids! It had been about, what, ten minutes they had been arguing. He could sense Fran smirking away at this. She always found it funny when he was being wound up, the only time she actually laughed…..nearly,
"There.", he heard Fran murmur. God. All it was, was a collapsed glyph, maybe a little bigger but still. Were they camping under that? He bloody well hoped not.
Penelo and Vaan were already moving small sandstone boulders away to make room to sit under. Vaan moving the fastest probably because he was scared, Balthier had tried so hard not to even snort with laughter. Luckily he didn't. He didn't want his head bitten off by some 18 year-old.
It had been about half and hour before they had finally tidied up the place and made it more of a shelter than a pile of sandstone. Ashe had literally ordered Basch and himself to go fetch firewood. He would be happier if he could just sit and think without someone interrupting, but there was nothing he could do since it was Queen's orders,
"So done anything exciting apart from attend the Lord Larsa?", Balthier smirked at the fact that Basch was attending to a about what, a 13 year-old? God, he must love his so called job,
"Ha, Balthier being a server of Lord Larsa is an honour and probably as much as exciting as being an…", he saw him hover over it. He still wasn't used to anything was he,
" Skypirate, I know but what do you serve him for? His bedtime stories?", he really wanted to chuckle then but came out as awkward cough. Basch gave a slight annoyed sigh or growl which made Balthier smirk wildly.
They had reached a place which seemed to have as much firewood to light a bonfire. Basch began searching through the area and round a corner until he heard him call,
" Balthier, I think you should come and look at this.", Balthier frowned as he made his way round to Basch,
"Ugh, what no-.", he stopped short as he came across the most strangest thing he had ever seen, " Bloody hell….".
It was some sort of warp hole, purple with black glowing from the centre. A slight hum noise came from it too. It was tricky to see it with all the mist. What he wanted to know though, was what the hell it was doing here,
"I'll go get the others.", Basch mumbled hypnotically as he walked backwards away from the…..thing.
Great. Now he was alone with something that would probably suck him up an spit him out somewhere where flying bloody seeqs live. God he wished he stayed in bed this morning, he really did. Eventually Basch had brought back the others and were all now gawping at the purple warp hole,
"What is it?", Penelo whispered shakily,
"A warp hole.", Fran murmured. Yes, we already knew that Fran. What we want to know is what the hell its doing here, Balthier thought,
"Hey, lets see what happens when I throw this….", Vaan ran up to the warp hole and stupidly threw a nearby piece of sandstone at the warp hole. It rumbled slightly at first but grew silent,
"Well that wa-.", Vaan begun but suddenly something shot back out of the warp hole and whacked Vaan round the head,
"OW!!", Vaan shouted rubbing his head, dazed by the event. Penelo frowned down at the rectangular object that flew at Vaan. She gingerly picked it up and cupped it as if it was some new-born creature.
Suddenly a loud ringing noise bellowed out from the object, filling the silent air around them. Penelo let a incredibly loud squeal, making Vaan jump backwards. He was now on his heels on the verge of falling into the warp hole,
"Penelo! Help me!", Vaan shouted as he waved his arms about frantically, trying to maintain his balance. Penelo gasped as she ran to Vaan but it was too late. Vaan was now being sucked into the huge purple….monstrosity? Penelo cried out to Vaan but it was too late now. They all stood there. Taken aback by what just happened. Penelo took a deep breath and stood in front of the warp hole,
"Penelo, your not going to do what I think your going to do….are you?", Ashe said sympathetically as she wandered towards the warp hole or in Penelo's case, the monster that sucked up Vaan,
Penelo carefully stepped in one foot and then the other,
"Penelo, wait. It could be dangerous!", but like Vaan, Penelo was already gone in a flash. Ashe peered into the warp hole,
"Well then….", Balthier murmured, " I guess that that's that.".
Ashe glared at Balthier giving a chilling shiver down her spine,
"That's that!? Is that all you can say!", Ashe shouted. God, was she berserk too? Balthier paused slightly before trying to say a respectable (formal leading-man) answer,
"Well Ashe, they are 18 now and pretty sure they can handle it themselves.", he thought that quietened her down but no,
"Well they helped me so I'm going to help them too.", Ashe stepped towards the warp hole closely , inspecting it,
"Stay away your majesty!", as Basch clunked over to a
Ashe, in that ridiculous armour,
"Are you going to let them go?", she looked right into Basch's eyes. I'm glad I'm not him right now, Balthier thought. Basch didn't ask Ashe's question so she stepped into it and in a flash, she was gone,
"God, no!", Basch shouted into it and as Balthier guessed, stepped into it. Balthier gave out an annoyed sigh. Oh well, its Fran and himself now. Suddenly Fran walked towards the warp hole,
"Fran please, you must be joking!", Balthier shouted over. But Fran shook her head,
"I'm not joking, Balthier.", she inspected the purple whirl carefully,
"Why?", Balthier spoke sternly. Fran sighed slightly as she stood back,
"They all helped us, we should help them…no?", Fran raised an arched silver brow. He had no choice. Oh well, he guessed he best get ready for some flying seeq spotting then. He stepped into the purple hole with Fran.
Suddenly in a bright smear of light, the warp hole vanished, and the peaceful wind of the Feywood was restored.
A chilling dark laugh echoed after……