Disclaimer: I don't own FFXI. No surprises there!

Author's Note: This story is a little complicated. I'm suspecting some people will remember the FFXI Chronicles series and Twilight of the Immortal, my other stories. This story acts as a sequel to them both in multiple ways, but don't worry, I've tried my hardest to advance and change the characters so that you don't get sick of them!

If you're new to this, I don't think you'll miss out on anything you can't pick up, but the character's have changed in deeply dramatic ways which you may not appreciate if you're not familiar with what they were like beforehand; it may ruin some of the drama of the situation. Hopefully you'll soon adopt to my old writing style, which includes multiple homage's to various sources (which I really should stop doing, but leave in because I think they can be fun to spot) and quite often character based humour and storylines. However, I must admit this time, the usual humorous dialogue between the characters is downplayed at the beginning (at least for the main storyline; you'll see what I mean) which is because of the tragic story elements. Another point is I haven't played FFXI in a long time, and only got to level 30, so there may be multiple inaccuracies. I hope you can live with that, and enjoy the story for what it is, if such things occur, but I will make the effort to make sure they don't. If anybody spots anything, please tell me and I'll do my best to correct it.

I've tried many new techniques with this story also, which may not be entirely successfully, but hopefully people will find them interesting. Not least a movie style intro scene before the 'main title', and multiple uses of time skips, which should lead for an interesting narrative.

People who know me know I used to update once a day. That is gone now, I can't keep that up at Uni, but I'll make sure it's at least once a week. Probably more. (I currently have two more chapters done ready for upload).

Sorry to keep rambling, but this is an important WARNING: this story is rated teen currently, but that's subject to change. The story deals with very mature issues. No, I don't mean it's full of sex and violence. I hate written sex scenes with a passion, and not a fan of blood and gore overly. These are, as I said, mature issues, which even older readers may find deeply disturbing. I know I found and continue to find it disturbing to write. I would like opinions on whether to change it to mature because the issues really don't belong in teen. So far what I'm referring to is only implied, but it becomes fairly easy to guess.

Last but not least, enjoy, and please review if you have time, it only takes a minute or two and really means a lot to me. Or send me an e-mail if you like it, I really love to hear from you. Thanks for taking an interest, and I hope you enjoy!

"She's not leaving."

"You're mistaken. I'm leaving, and she's coming with me."

"She can't. We're under orders. Jeuno swore to hold up their end of the bargain to the Alliance of the Four Nations."

"Pay attention! There is no alliance. Not any more. Bastok and San d'Oria are at each other's throats. Windurst is prepared to intervene with its own might at any moment. We're a stone's throw from war."

"All sides agreed this was the best solution. By allowing her to leave, we would be breaking that agreement."

"You aren't allowing her to leave. I'm taking her."

The guard laughed. A hume in full armour, fairly old, easily in his forties, with a scar running down his cheek. He reached for his sword. The man standing before him didn't move. Long black hair blew in the wind. He wore a simple rugged brown jacket, and looked rough and unshaven. Two swords hung from his belt, loosely resting against his legs.

"You?" He asked. "You realise who I am right? I'm head of the guard. I train hundreds of new guards every week. I'm the best. Turn around and you won't get yourself killed." The figure's dark eyes looked up and down over the guard, and he smiled slightly.

"I'm fairly confident I won't anyway." Came the reply. The guard drew his sword.

"My blade has been drawn. Yours hasn't. There's no way you can draw it time to block if I attack." He smirked. "You're finished."

"I'm taking her." The other man stated simply. "That. Is. Final." The guard swung the sword, and the other man stepped in, close. He rose his arms and blocked at the guard's arms, the sword swinging outside of him. He quickly locked the guard's arms and threw him over his hip. The guard slammed to the floor, the sword clattering away. "I didn't draw my sword because I didn't need to." The guard looked up in shock. The other man placed his foot on the guard's throat. "Now, I'm taking her. If you're worried about the peace between the four nations, then let her go. She's one of the only people who can stop what we both know is coming." The guard paused.

"Who are you?" He croaked.

"The name's Sampson. Olose Sampson." The other man grinned.

THE FFXI CHRONICLES: THE DAWN OF THE IMMORTAL

CHAPTER I

FOUR DAYS EARLIER

Olose walked with an angry frown upon his face, not spending time to look at the musketeers that surrounded him. He marched into the President's office in Bastok, the mighty hume and galkan capital. It was a particularly large galka that awaited him.

"Iron Eater." Olose stated, an annoyed tone in his voice.

"Olose Sampson. I'm glad you came." Iron Eater replied.

"Believe me, I'm only here through curiosity. If something is so important you swallow your pride and call me in, I feel I should know what it is."

"Don't' be so cocky." Iron Eater warned. "We have people we could dispatch for this kind of thing. You've been called in for a specific reason."

"I do nothing to serve Bastok. Not after what you did." Olose growled.

"We did what we were ordered! Don't blame the nation for the President's decision." Iron Eater shot.

"The President is the nation." Olose replied. "You're the one that enforced that order. You could have let them go."

"I follow my orders." Iron Eater sighed. "Even when I disagree with them." He paused. "This is important. It involves more than just Bastok."

"Unusual for you people to see past the desires of your own nation." Olose muttered.

"Watch it. The President can be self centred and made a few bad decisions, but-"

"Bad decisions?" Olose cried. "He split them up!"

"Olose, I don't want to be having this conversation. Perhaps it was a mistake to call you here." Iron Eater sighed. Silence fell upon the two.

"Tell me what the problem is." Olose decided after a lengthy pause.

"What do you know of the salvage operations San d'Oria are conducting off their own coast?" Iron Eater responded.

"For the past year or so San d'Oria has been putting funds into salvaging old vessels that were lost at sea, finding ancient treasures and long lost artefacts, as well as antiques of huge value. They've made some priceless discoveries. I can't see why this is important." Olose shrugged. "This had better not be another quarrel between Bastok and San d'Oria you want me involved in." He warned.

"It's not." Iron Eater replied. "But it could become a lot worse. Recently one of San d'Oria's vessels claimed to have made a discovery; just an old transport ship, but with huge historical significance. They began a salvage operation, the ship being unusually preserved. However, at twenty one hundred hours yesterday the ship vanished."

"Vanished?" Olose repeated.

"Yes. It disappeared, without a trace." Iron Eater paused. "Naturally San d'Oria blames Bastok for the incident, and are demanding the return of their vessel. The President personally suspects Windurst's involvement, creating a magical disappearance. I don't believe any force was involved. I think we're looking at something outside the four nations."

"Why involve me?" Olose asked. "I'm not naïve. You have military intelligence, your own agents. Why me?"

"Let's admit it, you're the best, and without allegiance to any nation." Iron Eater gave as an answer. "It's best to have somebody who's neutral investigating this." He paused. "And you're an experienced captain. We need a good captain to go out there at sea and get to this area. See what happened." Olose smirked.

"I have no crew." He stated, an idea forming in his head. "My crew have been disbanded for years. My ship has been decommissioned."

"We can provide you with a ship and a crew-" Iron Eater began.

"No." Olose stated. "I pick my crew. I pick my ship. And then I'll do this job."

"Bastok will do their best to provide you with anybody and anything you need. And obviously your pay will be significant." Iron Eater said with a slight smile.

"I already know who my crew will be." Olose replied.

"You do?" Iron Eater questioned. Olose grinned.

"Oh yes." He smiled. Iron Eater's eyes went wide.

"Oh no. Not them." He simply sighed. "Olose, you know that's impossible."

"Impossible only because of your laws." Olose reminded him. "Lift the order. Let them be reunited. You know what the danger is here. San d'Oria and Bastok haven't seen eye to eye in years, and if an outside party did do this, somebody is trying to manipulate Vana'diel into war. They're heroes. They can stop it."

"Olose, their exile was agreed upon by the four nations, who have sworn to guard each one of them. I alone cannot allow them to rejoin."

"Then I'll do it, alone." Olose decided.

"Okay." Iron Eater smiled slightly. "You understand Bastok has no involvement in this right?"

"Of course." Olose laughed.

"One final detail." Iron Eater pointed out. "I had another reason to pick you for this mission."

"Which is?" Olose asked.

"That transport ship, the one San d'Oria found, it's old. Very old. Yet somehow preserved." Iron Eater paused.
"So the ship is a bit abnormal as well? I'll look into it." Olose told him, slightly confused as to why that concerned him.

"Not just that." Iron Eater explained. "It's not any ship. It's your ship. It's the Destiny."

THREE YEARS EARLIER

"LET ME GO!" It was the main noise that tore across the Valkrum Dunes, emanating from a small mithra, kicking desperately in the arms of a large hugely built hume that held her tightly against him. She was surrounded by a group of the thugs, four humes, three galkas, all wearing black and crimson armour with a gigantic dragon's eye painted on it. A straight forward symbol, considering they were the notorious Dragon's Eye gang. Vivli, the particular small mithra that was currently held by one of the thugs took a deep breath and decided to continue. "LET ME GO! HELP!" She bellowed.

"You gonna shut her up?" Snarled one of the gang.

"I dunno. I think she's tiring herself out." Laughed another.

Yeah, just keep thinking that.

Vivli's thoughts had flashed across her mind for good reason. While her capture hadn't been part of the Light Warrior's plan, it had been planned for. Vivli had a habit to end up in all kinds of trouble, no matter what the situation, so when they had decided to send her to do recon, mainly due to her ability to make herself invisible, the Light Warriors had prepared for her inevitable capture. Of course, Vivli knew that Bootus, the hulking galkan monk turned dark knight of the group would never let her live it down, but she was willing to face that in exchange for freedom.

Two thuds and two of the gang went down.

"YEEHAH!" Echoed across the dunes as a long black haired elvaan, currently stood on a shield, surfed down one of the huge sand dunes firing arrows as he moved and taking down the gang members. The thugs were quick to react, drawing their own bows and arrows, but they never quite got any shots off. Voldos, the awesomely skilled ranger of the group, let out a slight grin as he landed at the bottom of the hill, the shield sliding away from him. The bowmen threatening them already had their own issues to deal with.

A mountain of a galka, Bootus, pounced them from behind as soon as they were distracted. Two punches to two thugs, and they weren't getting back up. The gang member holding Vivli released her, and drew his sword. He turned too late to see her casting a spell, and she finished it with a grin. Nothing seemed to happen.

"You're gonna regret trying to fight me." He growled at the little mithra, who seemed to be bizarrely smiling.

"I don't think so." She grinned. The gang member looked down to see a small green rabbit like creature at her feet. A bright red ruby on its head shone at him.

"I'm supposed to be scared of that?" He laughed.

"Oh, it's your choice how to feel." Vivli shrugged. "But fear would be a good emotion. Carbuncle, searing light! Go!" Carbuncle ran and leapt up over the thug, jumping and turning into the air, unleashing a blast of crimson energy into his back. The thug yelped as he went down, crashing unconscious to the sandy floors. Vivli winced. "Carbuncle, you can be mean!" She exclaimed. Carbuncle seemed to smile as his ears twitched.

Zinkata stood calmly, which was no easy feat as the two remaining enraged galkas were charging him. He quickly drew his sword and sliced one up across the chest. Not a fatal wound, he smirked, but enough to incapacitate the gigantic thug. The second came in, throwing a punch, but Zinkata ducked under it, and came up behind, inserting his sword with casual precision into the back of the mighty galka, causing him to drop with a scream. Zinkata pulled the sword out. Neither were dead. He was a paladin after all, and he had to make sure the Dragon's Eye gang would face justice in the hands of the law, not at the hands of the Light Warriors.

Bootus on the other hand let out a disappointed sigh. He hadn't even got a chance to draw his scythe.

"So, care to explain this one?" He grinned to Vivli, who had already retreated into Zinkata's arms for a hug.

"Hey! I'll have you know I was doing a good job spying!" She exclaimed from the safety of the paladin's arms.

"We can see that by how captured you were." Voldos quipped with a cocky flick of his hair. Vivli rolled her eyes.

"I was!" She cried. "But then it went a bit wrong."

"What happened?" Zinkata asked, his voice tinged with more concern that he'd like. Mocking Vivli was one of the Light Warriors' favourite pastimes, but Zinkata and Vivli were, to put it simply, in love, and so when it came to her being in danger, he couldn't hide his feelings.

"Well, it turned out they had a pet at their camp." Vivli muttered, blushing brightly.

"A pet?" Bootus grinned, already beginning to figure out just what that pet was.

"Yes." Vivli's face was now a bright red. "And while they couldn't see me, they could hear me. And when I saw it, I-" She paused, too embarrassed to say it. "-I screamed. Quite loudly." She buried her face into Zinkata's chest to avoid Bootus's riotous laughter. Voldos's intellect struggled to keep up with the conversation.
"Wait. What did she see?" Voldos asked to satisfy his curiosity.

"Well," Bootus sniggered, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Do you remember the sightings of the Dragon's Eye gang near the Bastok Mines?" Voldos nodded. "Well, I think they took a pet from there." Voldos was still slightly blank. There were a lot of monsters around those parts. "Big. Eight legged." Bootus explained bluntly, the humour gone. Voldos laughed.

"Oh, a spider." Vivli shuddered at the word.

"Giant spider." She pointed out to try and salvage some of her courage. Sadly, it was well known among the Light Warriors she had very little of that.

The clank of armour brought the attention of the group of four, collectively known to the entire of Vana'diel after their multiple heroics over the years, all under the title of the Light Warriors.

"Bastokian troops?" Bootus observed curiously.

"A little early, aren't they?" Zinkata smirked.

"They're getting efficient." Voldos admitted. "Urm, not as efficient as the elvaans, though, you understand?" He added in an after thought. The three other Light Warriors laughed lightly.

"What happened here?" Cried the leading galka, dressed in the armour of the Mythril Musketeers.

"We just apprehended the Dragon's Eye gang that have evaded you for so long." Vivli said happily. The galka looked fearsome, but she was still safely tucked in Zinkata's arms, and so felt she could say anything and remain utterly secure. The galka, Iron Eater, grinned.

"And do you know why they've evaded us for so long?" Iron Eater asked, looking down at the bodies. Voldos's heart jumped into his throat as he saw one of the fallen thugs was gripping a red link pearl, and a similar link pearl was in the right hand of Iron Eater. "How they've always snuck past the guards? How they've always escaped Bastok, unscathed?"

"You're corrupt." Gasped the elvaan ranger. Iron Eater let out a small laugh.

"Not my choice." He gestured at one of the thugs, arrow lodged in his head. "Meet the son of the President." He said simply. "Member of the notorious Dragon's Eye gang. He no longer listened to his father, but we have been under strict orders not to bring him in." The Light Warriors looked to each other in shock. Zinkata's grip on Vivli tightened. "Another criminal brought to justice by the legendary Light Warriors." Iron Eater's words were tinged with sarcasm, "You have murdered the President's son." He turned to the Light Warriors, who had looks of horror upon their face. "You are all hereby under arrest to await punishment at the hands of the President himself. You do not have to say anything, but anything you do say that you do not later rely upon in questioning may be used as evidence against you."

"Wait!" Zinkata cried. "On what charges? He was a bandit!"

"Vigilantism." Iron Eater stated. "Violence against citizens of Bastok, criminal or otherwise. I'm sorry, but I have no choice. The President will want you punished, and this is a crime. Bastok is not a free state, we have laws and law enforcement. Our citizens do not take it into their own hands and walk free." The collective Light Warriors' hearts sank in shock. Bootus's hand twitched, tempted to reach for his weapon and fight his way out, but it was not to be. They were heroes, doers of good, they couldn't fight the law.

The four heroes stood assembled outside the President's office, wincing as they heard him screaming at Iron Eater. It sounded as if he wanted them executed. Iron Eater was doing his best to defend them, or so it sounded. After all, they were the saviours of Vana'diel.

The wait was incredible, but finally Iron Eater emerged. He sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry." He began. It was a bad sign. Vivli retreated into Zinkata's arms. "I did all I could." Iron Eater sighed. "The President has come up with a punishment he feels is fair, considering your status as heroes. He has co-ordinated it via linkshell with all four nations' leaders. An agreement has been made to prevent you from ever making a similar mistake again."

"Mistake? We punished the guilty." Zinkata's voice was a low growl.

"That is the job of the authorities, not of vigilantes like you." Iron Eater responded calmly. "So, a solution was formed." Iron Eater paused. "The Light Warriors shall separate. Never to come together again on pain of death."

"WHAT?" Bootus bellowed. Voldos looked as if he had been shot. Vivli started sobbing against Zinkata who shut his eyes tightly, resisting the urge to reach for his sword.

"You shall be exiled to one of the four main cities, never to leave its borders." Iron Eater continued. "Bootus, you are to remain in Bastok. You shall be assigned to work in the mines until the time comes when you can find another profession more suiting your exile. Zinkata, you shall go to Windurst, acting as an emissary for Bastok as well as a bodyguard for the patrolling mages who need a warrior at their side. Voldos, you are to return to San d'Oria, where you shall be positioned training temple knights. Vivli, you shall go to Jeuno, where you shall be working in the local hospital, treating the injured that are brought in from Quifim." Iron Eater paused. "These assignments are not permanent, but more a form of income until you find jobs you prefer. You shall be assigned a small apartment in which to live in each city for your convenience." Iron Eater took a deep, drawn out, breath. "You must leave tomorrow, you have one last night together. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

"I bet you are." Growled Bootus.

"Sorry." Iron Eater turned and left, leaving only Vivli's quiet sobbing echoing around the room.

THREE YEARS LATER:

Olose stepped off the airship with a sigh. It would have been quicker to get Bootus first, but he wanted to find her. Jeuno was big, too big. He cursed to himself. He'd never find her. His enhanced senses might have helped had the city not been so full of people, but as it was, it was impossible to pick out any single person. He sighed again. He had a long search ahead of him.

It was quite late in the day when he decided to stop by the item shop. Everybody needed items from time to time, and so he decided to stop by and see if anybody had seen a mithra matching Vivli's description. For a split second, he thought he had gotten lucky. There was a girl outside, struggling over a heavy crate; a mithra. She must have worked in the shop, Olose assumed, trying to bring in the latest shipment. It was much too heavy for her. For a moment, just a moment, he thought it was her. Closer inspection revealed him to be wrong. She seemed slightly taller than Vivli, and had long silky hair, brushed and washed to perfection (now hanging down over her face as she struggled with the load), it was the same colour as Vivli's, ginger, maybe that was why he almost mistook her, but Vivli's was short, with little ponytails hanging down the front, completely unlike this girl's. She wore a long blue dress too, unlike the robes Vivli always wore. She seemed skinnier also, built even lighter than Vivli was. Olose sighed. Just for a moment, it had been her.

He tried not to look like he watching her, and walked inside. He decided he'd help her after he had asked in the item shop. It wasn't fair to leave her struggling like that. He wondered over to the counter, and waited in line, behind a particularly large and ugly galka. He tapped his foot as the galka was slowly being served.

"You said you'd have them in today." The big bear like man grumbled. The older woman behind the counter, a hume, sighed.

"Yes, and we will. The shipment just arrived." She explained. "Where is that girl?" She whispered under her breath. "I swear, if she needs help again, I'm gonna fire her." The woman grumbled, tensing her hands into fists. Olose sighed. Not the most pleasant atmosphere. The woman waited for a moment, impatiently tapping her hand. "This is ridiculous." She sighed, before leaning out across the counter. Olose winced as he realised she was going to scream a name. "VIVLI!" She bellowed. Olose's jaw hit the ground.

It was her!

The long haired mithran girl walked in, her footsteps clicking as she did. High heels. No wonder she looked taller. She pushed her hair back to reveal her familiar face. Vivli. She sure had changed in three years. She looked pretty, but none too healthy, her lighter build a sign of under eating, Olose figured.

"I'm sorry." She sighed to the angry looking woman behind the counter.

"Sorry? Like you were sorry the other three times?" The woman spat.

"Well, you could order smaller loads." Vivli suggested shyly.

"What did you just say?" Snapped the shopkeeper.

"Nothing." Vivli quietly replied. Olose was too stunned to say anything.

"Now look, my ad said I needed a strong hand to help around the shop. Which part of that didn't you understand?" Grumbled the shopkeeper.

"You hired me." Vivli muttered, too quiet to be audible to anybody but herself.

"What was that?" The shopkeeper asked. "Listen, if you can't do your job, then I'll have no choice but to lay you off. Can you?"

"I don't know." Vivli whimpered. The shopkeeper growled.

"Okay." The shopkeeper rubbed her temples. "Vivli, I'm very disappointed in you. I hope you know this. I have no choice but to-"

"Sorry! Fine! Fire me! I don't care!" Vivli snapped, half crying, before running out of the shop.

She didn't get far before something grasped her arm solidly. She tried to pull away before turning.

"Let go of me!" She snapped, sounding petrified. Olose just grinned as her eyes met his. Her mouth fell open in disbelief.

"Hi." Olose laughed.

"Hi." She managed to say in a shocked whisper. "You didn't see that back-" He nodded. She blushed with embarrassment.

"It's okay." He said gently. "Looks like you had every right to quit."

"She always gives me the hardest jobs, just like it's to shout at me when I can't do them." Vivli grumbled. "I'm glad she fired me." She paused. "Of course, now I'm jobless."

"What happened to you working at the hospital? That's what I heard you got assigned to do." Olose asked.

"I did for a bit. As a nurse, using my magic. Wasn't particularly good. Adventurers were always insulting my lack of fighting skill, or hitting on me. So I quit." She paused. "Not my brightest decision." She decided, looking back at the shop.

"Admit it, your calling was to be a white mage, not some nurse or a shop assistant." Olose smirked.

"Yes, but I can't do that anymore." Vivli grumbled. "Besides, when I was younger, I always wanted to be a nurse, rather than an adventurer. I'd get to help people with none of the danger, but life didn't quite work out like that."

"Never does, does it?" Olose laughed. Vivli yawned.

"I'm tired." She muttered.

"It's still pretty early." Olose gently mocked.

"I keep getting tired early." Vivli sighed, rubbing her eyes and exposing her skinny arms.

"Viv, you haven't been taking care of yourself on your own, have you?" Olose guessed. Vivli pulled her arms back down.

"Urm, it's not that I don't want too." Vivli explained. She sighed heavily. "I haven't been eating properly." She admitted. "I keep trying to eat, I just can't. I'm so exhausted and fed up, I hardly ever eat anymore." She grumbled. "I take good care of the rest of me though!" She smiled, playing with her hair. "Like it?" She asked with a smile.

"Suits you when it's long." Olose replied, smiling back. "Didn't recognise you at first."

"Because of the hair?" Vivli laughed.

"Because of everything." Olose explained. "You look so different."

"Not like you haven't seen me in a dress before." Vivli grumbled. "And what happened to your fabled sense of smell, shouldn't you have recognised me through that?"

"You can imagine how many things affect a scent. New shampoo, new perfume, suddenly you're unrecognisable. You smell totally different now." Vivli sniffed her arm curiously, and Olose laughed.

"So much for your fabled tracking abilities then." Vivli mocked. Olose smirked.

"Not gonna invite me back to your place then?"

"It's a bit of a mess." Vivli blushed again.
"Hey, if you'd seen where I live, nothing would be a mess."

Olose stood in the doorway to Vivli's tiny room; her current home. To one side was a bed covered with a light blue duvet, and to the other, a desk with a large mirror over it, cluttered with various things Vivli obviously tried to keep her appearance up with, which was slightly unlike her. Olose looked over her, and decided she must be fairly self conscious of just how skinny and underweight she had become, and so was trying to draw attention away from it.

"There's a kitchen down the corridor, but everybody on this floor shares that. I don't go in there very often." She explained.

"You should." Olose stated.

"Did you just come here to lecture me?" She asked. "I already know I'm doing a lot wrong. I know I should eat more. I know I should get a decent job. Life is just so hard." She sighed, sitting down on the bed. "I feel so ill all the time. So weak. All this stress. Being on my own. It makes me barely have the willpower to keep living."

"Hence why you don't eat enough?" Olose guessed, concern resonating in his voice. Vivli nodded sheepishly.

"I guess so." She said, wrapping her arms around herself self consciously. "I'm not that bad, am I?" She asked, worried.

"No." Olose smiled. "Sure, you're skinny, but you always were, and your as cute as ever." Vivli laughed, brushing her long hair back with a hand.

"Thanks." She said. "I wonder what Zin would say if he saw me now." Olose paused, and a slight grin spread across his face.

"Wanna find out?" He offered.

Olose explained the situation to Vivli, the missing ship, the problem, the fact that he had been given a form of permission to reassemble them, even if it wasn't quite legal. Vivli listened, constantly rubbing her hands or brushing her hair with nervousness. He finally finished and just waited.

"I can't." She finally said. "I'm not a mage anymore. I haven't cast a good spell in two years. I don't even know where my staff is, I don't think I have my robes anymore, I don't have any travelling boots." She pointed down to her heels. "These things won't do." She sighed. "I'm just not an adventurer. Not anymore."

"Don't you want to see them again?" Olose asked. Vivli's ears twitched with anticipation.

"Of course I do." She answered quickly, before sighing. "But what's the point? I bet he doesn't even remember me."

"Zinkata?" Olose laughed. "You never moved on, did you? Why do you think he will of?"

"I'm not the luckiest girl alive, that's why." Vivli almost laughed. "Look, even if I did go with you, I'd be no use. Look at the state of me!" She muttered. "I was always weak and useless, imagine what I'm like now."

"Hey! You were never useless!" Olose cried. "You were one of the most powerful mages I've ever met."

"I could cast a couple of spells, but I couldn't handle myself at all. You know that." She sighed. "And that was when I was in a lot better condition than I am now."

"Vivli, you're a Light Warrior. A destined protector of Vana'diel. Something is stirring, something that is planning to send us all to war and death. Something is trying to destroy the very land itself. You're a hero! Be a hero again! Fight along side me! Fight along side Zinkata, fight along side Bootus, fight along side Voldos. As long as the Light Warriors are united nothing can harm this land." Olose extended his arm. "Take my hand Viv. Be a champion of Vana'diel again. We need you."

"No." Vivli stated. "I'm useless. It's pointless."

"Aw, come on. I didn't give that speech for no reason." Olose laughed. Vivli smiled slightly.

"Being a 'Light Warrior' is just a name." Vivli stated. "Any destiny I had I fulfilled."

"You're a hero!" Olose cried.

"I'm a shop assistant!" Vivli shot back. "Or at least I was, but I got fired for being too weak." She pointed out. "I was too weak to be a shop assistant. I can't help you save the world." Olose paused, and marched over to Vivli's wardrobe. "Hey! Don't go through my things!" She cried, rushing to his side. He opened the wardrobe and smiled. Multiple dresses, all soft colours, hung there. But that wasn't what he was smiling at. Hanging quite happily to the side, separated, was her old white mage gear. The white robe with the red triangles on, looking old, battered and worn, but still there. Her staff resting against the side, her trousers, pure white, hanging below the robe, and her well worn boots on the floor below it.

"Don't think you have your robes anymore, eh?" Olose laughed. Vivli smiled meekly.

"Well, I thought maybe one day, when I got stronger again-" Vivli began.

"Strength has nothing to do with this. You're a mage!" Olose pointed out. "Besides, you were never strong." He added jokingly. Vivli laughed. She picked up the robes off of him.

"These are heavier than I remember." She observed, comparing them to her light dress. "And the cloth is all itchy." She added.

"Now you're just looking for excuses." Olose grinned. Vivli paused, before smirking herself.

"Let me give it a wash, and I'm in." She smiled.

Two figures walked towards the airship dock in the dead of night.

"Can we really leave?" Vivli asked excitingly, fidgeting in her uncomfortable robes. They were itching her skin badly, and felt heavy, like they were weighing her down. She wasn't used to wearing them anymore. It didn't feel natural. And her staff on her back felt horribly awkward, and surprisingly weighty.

"Well, they know to watch for me because of my ties to you, and they know it's illegal for you to leave, so I'd imagine we'd run into some resistance."

"HALT!" Came a voice, and the clatter of armour as guards approached.

"Speak of the devil." Sighed Olose. "Hide somewhere." He ordered Vivli. She nodded, and hid behind a barrel.

"I know what you're planning to do." Came a voice from the leading guard.

"Do you now?" Olose turned.

"She's not leaving." The guard stated.

"You're mistaken. I'm leaving, and she's coming with me."

Once the guards were taken care of, Vivli and Olose quickly made their escape onto the airship.

Jeuno was soon just a memory, and Vivli looked wishfully to the stars, waiting desperately for her chance to see the others again.