Arthur's Note: I, of course, don't own anything about the Final Fantasy series but I do claim to own these characters themselves, a select few places and locations. I'm adding a bit of my own touch to the story and I'd hope to read your opinions on it.

Fire crackled in a campsite that four people surrounded while eating the meat of two dead wolves whose carcass still laid several feet from them. The genders of the four were divided equally; two male and two females. One of the males wore rather bulky burgundy and gold tinted armor that suited his broad, muscular tan form. His sandy brown hair was somewhat short with the back of his hair going up in spikes and cool, blue gray eyes that held a thoughtful look as he unconsciously ate.

Yellow vacant hues turned to stare at the male before it and spoke with a voice that was unmistakably female and held little emotion besides curiosity, "Alec…how long?" She wore a large navy blue robe that covered her whole body, not even her feet could be seen, that had long sleeves that could hide her yellow gloved hands if she wanted them to. She broke a piece of the wolf meat that was pierced through a stick and brought it up to her hidden mouth to eat it. On top of her head was a large straw hat that helped to cover her face, making it appear to be a dark void besides the eerie eyes.

The warrior, Alec, turned to look at her and nods as he brought a backpack that was close to the log he was sitting on closer to him and dug through it. He took out a map then stared at his as his deep voice spoke, "Should be getting to Cornelia within a few hours if we walk fast enough." Unconsciously a hand cupped his tan face and large fingers ran over the stubbles along his chin.

A short laugh came from the male sitting across from him as he seemed all too happy from the news, "About damn time. We truly need to stock up on more nourishing sustenance before we have to eat more of this revolting meat." He growls a little as he turned to glare at the carcasses with his lavender eyes. Despite having long gray hair he didn't seem to look aged at all. He wore light weight crimson armor over his thin but slightly muscular form. A dark red and gold tinted cape was draped around his shoulders with a blood red feathered hat sitting beside him.

Emerald green eyes shone with amusement as the female turned to look at the red mage with a slight smirk, "Don't be so spoiled, Rowan. One gets used to eating any grub they can in the streets." A bronze hand moves to mess with the bangs of her naturally slightly dark teal blue hair while the sides of her head were shaved almost completely off and the back was cut low but at the very bottom was a length of hair that went a few inches out in a ponytail. Her right eyebrow had two slits with her left eyebrow only having one and a piercing on it. On her lap was a leafy green bandanna that would normally be around her head and raised her other hand up to tear out a piece of meat.

She was wearing a brown crop top that stopped at her upper midriff with a green unbuttoned shirt that was tied a little under her breast which weren't exactly large but could catch a male's eye. Mid-thigh length dark brown shorts hugged her thighs well with a worn black belt around the loops. Slightly mudded boots covered her feet as she taps her left foot on the ground. Her shoulders shook as she laughed at the former noble.

Rowan, the red mage, turned his glare to the female, "Lumia it is not my fault that I am more attuned in the finer aspects when it comes to what I am feasting on." He huffs as he sounded offended by her words then turned to the black mage, "Delita…please tell me that you find this just as appalling as I do, correct?" He gestures towards her with his hand, one smooth brow arching downward while the other arched upward, and his lips were curled in an awkward smile as he hoped for her help.

Vacant yellow hues turned to him and seemed to burn with one or two emotions: annoyance and/or anger. "Just how daft is that silver head of yours? Refer to me as Crow, not by my name." Her voice didn't raise but the sudden infuriated tone was all she needed to make Rowan's hopeful look melt away. She quickly turned her gaze away from him towards the fire that they were all facing. Her eyes became emotionless again and the annoyance in her voice was gone as she spoke, "It matters little to me about the food as long as I am able to swallow it with little problem and I do not get ill afterwards."

Lumia slaps her knee and burst out in laughter, "That's our Crow for you! Isn't that the third time she has owned your ass in the week we were together?" She shakes her head as she found this all too comical.

Alec sighs a little, "Crow and Lumia are correct in this subject. It is better that we have something that is edible and will not kill us even if it does have a horrid taste than having naught to eat for days at a time." He turns his gaze to him with a deep frown on his face, "Or would you rather starve while we eat what we can?"

Rowan's face turned light pink in embarrassment as he was ganged up on by not only their thief but also by Delita, or the name she prefers to be called Crow, and even their 'leader' Alec. He stared at all of them then would fold his arms to stare elsewhere, making sure not to catch any of them from the side of his eye, "Whatever you wish. I suppose it would be better than allowing myself to waste away." He grumbled to himself then would mutter in a lower tone, "Wish my parents did not convince me to be a part of this whole adventure. Why couldn't one of my older brothers play the role of a damn hero?"

Lumia raised an eyebrow as she stared at Rowan, "Did I hear some royal bitching coming from you?" She tilts her head to one side, "If any one of us has the right to reject joining this damn party it should be me!" She slammed her bare fist against the log she was sitting on. She turns her head to look at all of them as she had gotten their attention, "I was perfectly fine living my life out on the streets, living by my own rules and giving not a damn about my parents. Those ungrateful bastards practically kicked me out of our home." She turns her head away to glare at the ground as her emerald eyes blazed in anger.

This was the first time the group shared anything that was this personal to each other. They have made small talk since awkwardly having been gathering together but now was the first one of them has shown their real vexation of their thrown together party.

Crow sighs and turns to look at Lumia, "I agree that the way we were gathered together was rather surprising but we should try to play our parts." One of her gloved hands vanished inside of her robe then slowly took out a crystal that was longer than her hand but wasn't big enough for her hands to not go around it. Yellow eyes stared down at brown crystal that represented Earth in her hands. At one point in time it used to have a glow and would shine brightly but now it had lost its luster and has a muddied appearance.

Following her lead the others would also take out their crystals that they had hidden as well. Alec held out the faded red crystal that represented the element of Fire; Lumia took out her blue crystal that was a representation of the element of Water and had a rather gloomy look to it; Rowan holds his clouded gray crystal that signified the Wind element. They each stared at their own crystals for several moments in silence besides the crackling sound of fire and the natural songs of the night's forest.

Lumia puts her crystal back where she hides it as she stands up, "Sorry for ruining the mood but I will be hitting the sac now." She tossed her stick to the fire and made sure her hand was gripping her bandanna as she walks to her personal tent then crawled inside it.

Alec nods his head as he watched her then would stand up himself, "I think we all could use some sleep." He turns to look at Crow as he arched a thick eyebrow upward, "You are able to watch over the camp for the night thanks to your…er-"

Crow interrupts him as the faintest hint of amusement was in her voice, "My clairvoyance?" A shift of her straw hat showed that she was nodding her head, "But yes, I can predict any future attacks for this night." She stands up and turns her gaze to Rowan, "Take out the fire." The amusement was quickly replaced with a more serious tone since she did not like the male much.

Rowan only kept quiet as he watched the thief going to her tent but now the black mage was also telling him what to do? He opened his mouth to argue but she had already gone inside her own tent to sleep. A growl escaped his lips as he stands up and kicked at the dirt, "Damn her!" He turns to their warrior and frowns at him when he heard sounds coming from him, "What are you chuckling at?"

Alec shakes his head as he was chuckling, "Not a thing. Come, I'll even help get the fire out." The two of them took their time in getting out the fire then they would make their way to their own tent to sleep the night away. It took a while but soon enough the four heroes were sleeping peacefully in their own little tents and with Crow not raising any alarms they had nothing to worry about throughout the night.

Hours passed as the heroes slept through the night and the sky was starting to turn pink as one of them climbed out of their tent to call out to the others and alert them to wake up. The warrior was the first to wake up and is still wearing clothing that he preferred to sleep in which is a large gray button shirt and shorts that stopped close to his knees. He yawns against his hand as he turns his gaze to the other three tents, "Arise and wake up. I can see a castle in the distance so Cornelia must be close by."

The next one to crawl out of their tent was Crow wearing a needlessly long bedrobe with a large hood that gave her face a deep shadow and hid it well, just like her typical blue robes and straw hat. Her vacant yellow eyes stared at him as she spoke tiredly, "Morning….excuse me." She turns around to walk past her tent to hide behind a tree to relieve herself.

Alec turns his head away to the other tents as focused on making sure to wake the others up. He walks over to Lumia's tent and coughed into his hand as he spoke up, "It is time for our party to continue our journey so get out of bed and rise up." He paused for a while and blinks as she didn't make her usual grumble of waking up forcefully nor respond by giving him an answer. He balled his hands into a fist and pressed them against his hips as puffs his chest out, "I cannot forgive this silence! You would be wise to get up before I-"

Crow walks back from behind the trees and interrupted him, "She left earlier." She walks towards her tent but stopped when the warrior blocked her path. He easily towered over the black mage with her having a short height of five foot three and him being nearly a foot taller than her, six foot two.

He stared down at her with a raised eyebrow, "What do you mean she left? Where had she gone at such early hours? Why did she feel the need to leave without a word or leaving a message?"

She raised a gloved hand to stop him from asking any more questions, "I don't know…maybe to steal breakfast?" She shrug her shoulders and eyed up at him to move out of her way.

With a deep sigh at not only the situation but also the lame joke he walks away from her tent so she could enter it without disruption then walks over to their red mage's tent, "Alright…time to wake up."

A whine and grumble came from inside the tent with the sound of blankets shifting. After a moment of silence Rowan grumbled, "Too exhausted. Need sleep."

Alec sighs and kneels down with his hand on the zipper, "If you continue to refuse to awaken then I will get in there and force you wake up. One sexual innuendo from you and I will make sure to break that pretty nose of yours."

Rowan cussed under his breath as a sound of blankets being tossed around and shifting before the tent was quickly opened he'd glare at Alec with a small hint of bags under his lavender eyes, "Fine! I will need time to prepare myself for the day so if you will excuse me." He quickly zips the tent shut.

Lumia's chuckle was heard as she walks over to the warrior, "You sure do know how to rile everyone up in the morning." She grins as she was fully dressed with her green bandana covering most of her hair with the small ponytail sticking out at the back. In her hand was a bird's nest with six pale gray bird eggs, "I brought breakfast."

Alec nods his head, "Thank you but we do not have time to cook these as I would like for us to reach Cornelia as quickly as possible."

Lumia grins and winks at him, "Which is why I didn't bother trying to find any meats for this meal. Simply break the egg and eat it as is."

Alec fold his arms over his chest as he arched his brows with a thoughtful look, "Is it safe to eat raw?"

"It actually is." The black mage stated as she got out of her tent, fully dressed and had heard their conversation. She starts taking down her tent then spoke softly, "I will eat only after I have finished packing."

The warrior nods his head once then reached out to grab one of the eggs and stared at it for a few short moments before he tilted his head back and broke the egg so the yolk would fall straight to his mouth and he swallows it immediately. 'It went down easy enough.' He thought to himself.

"Hold it!" Rowan quickly climbs out of his tent with his red hat in hand and was fully dressed besides not having his boots on yet, "Are you going to suggest that I eat raw sustenance?" He points to himself as he stands up, "I will not stand for such torture!"

Crow stopped messing with her tent as she turned in his direction with annoyance lacing her glowing eyes in the dark shadow of her face, "Impulsive man."

The red mage's face turned pink in anger as he points in her direction, "Be that as it may but at least I am not afraid to show my features! My thoughts are easily known while yours is shrouded in mystery. I find it distasteful."

Crow just continued to stare at him while being frozen at her spot with her eyes hardening being the only change that she made. After what felt like an hour long of awkward silence, which was only a few minutes, she turned her gaze away from him and finished her packing as she states, "I will take your share then."

Rowan fold his arms under his chest and nods, "Exactly what I- wait what?! No! That is not the point I was trying to make!"

Crow turns her attention to Lumia who was ignoring their argument by packing up her own tent. She walks over to her, "Help?"

Lumia grins and nods, "Sure~ I'd like that." Together, she and Crow worked on putting down the tent.

Alec had already finished putting down his tent and seemed ready to go, "Rowan would you make haste? We should be leaving in only a few minutes."

Rowan gasped as his face burned from anger and embarrassment. "I swear! Are all of you against me?! Fine!" He got on his knees to put down his own tent while grumbling with annoyance over the situation. It was dreadful that he had to degrade himself in partaking the consumption of wild wolf but also raw eggs and practically nothing else until they get to this Cornelia!

After several minutes the four heroes were all ready to go and any negative emotions had already melted off of them. With a strict face Alec held the map in his hand as he leads them in the direction where they could see the large castle that could only be Castle Cornelia.