Disclaimer: I do not in any way, own Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.
Chapter 1
Blood and Birth
Darkness, heat, not heat, fire, pain, so much pain, and then… Nothing.
Kelanora gently wiped the boy's brow with a damp cloth. His fever was getting worse and the jolting of the caravan as it sluggishly made its way down the road wasn't helping. His normal cowlick was plastered down by the sweat that drenched his entire body and he writhed in pain constantly. His back arched upwards as an agonizing scream tore through his lips, he collapsed back down and began to shiver uncontrollably. Kelanora wiped his brow again and whispered softly "hush child, it will be alright." She then tucked a blanket around his shoulders and hoped out of the caravan to stretch her legs.
"How is he?" Said a soft voice, she looked to her left at Dia, the long haired Clavat who'd been taking care of the boy as well. "His fever is getting worse and using Cure won't even slow it down now, we need to get the medicine in him as soon as possible." Dia absently brushed a strand of her brown hair away from her eyes and looked down the road through the dismal rain. "We should get back to the village in a few hours, we'll make it in time." Another scream rang out from inside the caravan and was lost in the steady beat of the rain. "I hope so" Kelanora said looking at her friend, the fear showing in both their eyes.
Richard stood leaning against the wall of the village healer's house. He was looking down at the boy who was now sleeping soundly, the fever had nearly claimed his life. The medicine had cured him however and now all he needed was rest. Unfortunately in treating him they had stumbled upon another problem, one Richard had thought would never come to Rivera, racism. Rivera was home to representatives of all four races, Clavats, Yukes, Lilties, and Selkies, all of them called this place home and treated each other equally. This boy however, was different, he appeared to be a regular Clavat at first, he had blonde hair that turned up in a cowlick at his bangs and Kelanora had said she'd seen his eyes, they were emerald green. He also had that air of calm about him that most Clavats carried, upon closer inspection though one could see that he was also slightly different, he seemed almost… streamlined, like he was built to move quickly and with agility. What had really tipped them off was his tattoo however, on his right shoulder was a tattoo of a spread wing with a water drop on the inside curve in black ink. He was in fact a mix, part Clavat, part Selkie, this hadn't bothered Richard in the slightest but some of the other villagers had expressed unease, Foremost among them was Jenson, the fisherman for the village. As soon as he had found out he had pushed for them to let the boy die from his fever. As soon as the words came out of his mouth Dia flew into a rage he had never seen before for. She had shouted at Jenson for a good ten minutes while Kelanora poured the medicine down the boy's throat. Once that was done Jenson had begun to assert that they had to at least get him out of the village, abandon him in some town somewhere. This had struck Richard as odd behavior from the Selkie, he was no stranger to discrimination because of his heritage, so why did this boy bother him so much? He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening as Kelanora, Dia, Jenson, and Mark came in.
Kelanora saw Richard leaning against a wall as she came in and removed her dripping cloak. The boy seemed to be sleeping peacefully, she had suggested they never leave him alone until he woke up. She had said it was to make sure he didn't try to steal anything (even though he had to be the same age as her daughter, around 8) her real reason however was because she didn't trust Jenson not to try anything. His utter revulsion at the boy shocked her as much as it enraged Dia, and that had been something to see. They all stood around and gazed down at the sleeping figure, his chest softly rose and fell. "It's been decided" Dia began, filling in Richard. "The majority of us agree he should stay here in the village, but none of us can afford to take on someone else right now…" Her voice trailed off as she finished, Rivera was only a small village and almost everyone had families except for Richard. They agreed that he should stay, but Dia was basically saying that there was no way he could, no one had the gil to feed and clothe another child. Jenson had a smirk plastered across his face and Kelanora looked as if she was about to cry, Mark, who was the Alchemist of the village looked haggard and worn. He was very compassionate like most Clavats and being able to do nothing was eating at him. Dia just stared down numbly, desperately trying to think of something to do. Jenson opened his mouth to speak, making no attempt to keep the satisfaction out of his voice. "Well, obviously there's only one solution, no one can keep him so we'll just have to-"
"I'll take him." Richard cut Jenson off, he unfolded his arms and walked forward to the foot of the bed. "W-what?" Jenson sputtered, his eyes bulging out in shock. Richard was the Blacksmith of the village and he was getting up there in age but was still tough enough to go caravanning. He lived alone slightly off from the rest of the village at the bottom of a small rise, he had never married and as far as everyone knew had no interest in family. He was however a very skilled Blacksmith and often did much of the work for a fraction of what it was worth. "Can you?" Kelanora asked as a glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes. "Are you sure you have enough gil?" A light chuckle rolled out of Richard and he smiled, "Oh don't you worry about me, I make more than enough with all the work everyone gives me. But I'm getting old, I could use a pair of hands to help me out and learn the trade for whenever I decide to go on vacation." "So that's it then?" Asked Marc, he was grinning from ear to ear, he had wanted to help but with Lukas and Via back home there was no way he would have had the gil to spare. Dia seemed to relax and just smiled, while Kelanora lit up like a joy tree during the winter festival. Jenson immediately started to sputter a thousand excuses when suddenly everyone fell silent and looked down at the boy whose body was being racked by spasmodic coughing.
He slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that he was alive. The second was that he was agonizingly thirsty, he could just make out the blurry form of someone leaning over him. "W-where am I?" His voiced rasped out like the rustle of dry leaves, the back of his throat felt like sand paper and his mouth seemed to have no moisture at all. "Shhh, take it easy little one, your safe now." The voice was gentle and kind, it had a soft ling to it that made her sound like she was singing. "We found you on the side of the road lad, we brought you back here to the village of Rivera. If you've got no where else to go we'll take care of you just fine." The voice came from in front of him, he tried to lift his head but was so tired… He began to fade back into sleep as he heard another female voice, this one gentle as well, "what's your name boy?"
"My name?" He blinked once and muttered just before he slipped into the dark, "Michael…"