A/N: This is a Final Fantasy story that takes place in the world of Ivalice some time after the events of Final Fantasy XII. It's not quite an FFXII fic, though, as it is about original characters, but...hey, maybe we'll bump into folks you may recognize. ;) I was originally going to incorporate these characters into my Winds of Fate series way back, but...Their story should still work well as a standalone piece in the Same Skies series (you can find info on that series in my profile). Understanding of FF lore is not required to enjoy this story, I am writing it for both FF fans and those who know very little about FF games.
This story has its own little twist that makes it different than most anything I've written with the 'Diary' element, and Final Fantasy fans will also notice the tributes I pay to the series as a whole, which I hope you enjoy. This is meant to be a kind of tribute to the franchise's history and characters, as well as a story about sibling-hood, sacrifice, and living with regret.
Dear Diary,
The past couple of days have been rough. Hot days, freezing nights. I've been trying to act real tough about it around Randy but I'm completely wiped. I think he can tell (he always can) but at least if I make the effort he can't bug me about it. You know how ruthless he is when it comes to picking on me.
I'm getting really damn sick of all of this sand getting everywhere, though. Some places I can tolerate - feet, face, hands - but ears? Ugh. It drives me crazy. My hair's not exactly doing so well, either, but like I said, not making a big fuss. I know Randy's leg's probably killing him so I have no right to complain, right? It seems to be progressing much worse for him than me for some reason. Hopefully we'll find the answers we need soon.
Catch you on the other side~
~(heart) Ryndy
Raw fingers clutched at her tattered white hood as she trudged blindly through the whipping winds. Her sore hands were wrapped in loose sleeves with large red triangles trimming the edge. At least the storm had died down from a blender to a salad toss, but the difference wasn't very noticeable to a body numbed by the sandstorm. She dragged her feet through the grains as if it were mud, ankles aching, feet worn and blistered, until at last her movement was halted when she collided into a lump of cloth and flesh in front of her. The sudden stop jarred her body from its relentless march and she collapsed to her knees, trembling.
"Wh-wh-?" she sputtered, face still buried in her hood. A slender arm wedged its way into her arm pit and tugged her back up to her feet.
"Take a look."
She pushed her hood back just enough to try to see what was ahead, coughing at the particles of sand that blew their way into her throat. She clasped her hand over her face, squinting through the blowing grains.
"See it?"
Flustered and confused, she had to brush gritty strands of gold from her face, but at last she was able to make out that which they had strived to find. In the distance, a stone wall was in view. At this pace it was probably another half hour until they reached it.
She sighed of deep relief and drew her hood over her head.
"Thank the Crystals," she grumbled. "I was getting worried we were lost."
She waited a moment as her brother limped ahead a few paces before setting her own body back into motion. After a few seconds, momentum took its course and her rubbery legs were somehow pushing her forward once again.
"Lost?" her companion scoffed, tipping his long-tipped, floppy wizard's hat far enough where his amber eyes could meet her gaze. "Come now, Sister. Surely you never doubted my navigation." His words were a spear pointed with jest. The twine holding this sharp stone in place was confidence.
"Never," Ryndy played along, tightening her hood over her head. She spat into the sand, her mouth riddled with earth. Perhaps this was finally when their luck would turn around.
Dear Diary,
We finally made it to Rabanastre. Can you believe it? Weeks of travels have led us here...Hopefully this will finally be where we find the answers we've been looking for. The first thing we did was check into an inn and clean up! Randy let me wash first. What a gentleman, right? He's been acting so different lately, though. He's angry. I try to ask him why he's angry but he won't say. I can't tell if it's with me, or with himself, or what. It must be me, or else he would just tell me, don't you think? Whatever it is, it's been making him a lot more quiet than I'm used to. I don't like it.
I feel so powerless. I'm following him around but what can I do to help? The one thing I'm good at is something that is useless to him. His pain is incurable by my hands. What good is a White Mage when the sickness is beyond her power? I have to find a way to make this all right.
I hope the mage we heard about is really here and can really help us. I don't think there's a lot of time left for my brother, and I don't know what I would do...But what am I saying? That won't happen because we'll find an answer.
~(heart) Ryndy
"Wow," Ryndy whispered in awe at the magnificent structures before them. The massive well of stairs that brought them to a plaza were breathtaking in and of themselves. The architecture was overwhelming, and all manner of citizen of every race bustled through the streets like fish in a stream. "It's so...-" She couldn't find one word to describe it all.
"Impressive," Randy finished her sentence knowingly, tilting his worn, pointed hat up with his old wooden staff. "Isn't it? I knew you'd like it here."
"I do, I do!" Ryndy gasped with delight, clasping her raw hands together in jubilant relief. Her mind raced with all of the possibilities of a city such as this. She dropped her cloak's hood and brushed away sandy hair strands to soak it all in.
"We're on a mission, remember?" Randy's stern tone snapped her back to attention.
"R-right!" she remembered, saluting her brother. She held her attention for a moment before her pose crumpled over in exhaustion. "So...Where do we go now?"
"First, we'd best reserve a room at an inn for the evening and get you cleaned up."
"Ohhhhh, man, that sounds like a good idea," Ryndy whimpered in relief.
The leather wizarding hat sat patiently on the tidied bed, its pointed top flopped down. Randy was hunched over the foot of the bed, reviewing his notes with care. He scratched his dirty hand through his shaggy but brown hair, ignoring the sweat and grease it was drenched in.
"It looks like we're going to need to find her shop in the tunnels below the city," he mused carefully.
"Below?" Ryndy pondered, scrunching her hair with a towel to dry it. "Like...underground?"
"Mm. Yes," Randy solemnly replied. "There's an entire network of tunnels beneath the town."
"That just sounds gross," Ryndy whined. "Living like urchins in dirt?"
"It's not like that," Randy chuckled. "I assure you, it's surprisingly pleasant down there." Ryndy huffed dubiously at his statement.
"I guess we'll see," she concluded tartly.
"First, we'll want to stop by the local pub to gather information."
"Huh?" Ryndy winced, clearly disapproving of the idea. "Wh-why would we want to go some place like that?"
"The person we're looking for keeps herself well hidden - not just anyone is able to meet her. A pub will be a great place to seek information."
"Oh," Ryndy muttered. "Guess that makes sense..." she grumbled to herself, tapping at her chin wistfully.
"Then it's settled," Randy concluded, closing his weathered notebook and placing it beside his cap. "We'll head out after breakfast tomorrow."
Dear Diary,
Have I mentioned that I hate pubs? Really can't stand them. They're gross and infested with bugs and crazy drunk people who are also gross and infested. At least, that's what I thought. But this pub in Rabanastre? The Sand Sea? It was actually OK! And I met a really sweet and funny girl there, too. I think we really hit it off. Uh, well...not right away. She's kind of crazy, I think. But she's growing on me. I hope I see her again tomorrow - she promised we would, after all. She might be able to help us out, and we could use all of the help we can get!
Anyways, I guess I shouldn't be too worried about keeping friends right now, given our situation. It's all kind of pointless if we can't solve this problem, huh? Randy was right about going to the pub, at least. He was able to get some info on what we need to do to meet this mystery woman under the city.
I feel hopeful for the first time in weeks. Maybe we really can do this.
Fingers crossed,
~(heart) Ryndy
Ryndy stood dumbfounded beside her brother, her hood drawn over her head as if to protect her from the horrible, wretched people she was expecting to descend upon them. Randy drew his bandana down to reveal his face as they stood in the pub's entrance. Ryndy's eyes remained glued to the thin scar across his right cheek for a moment, her mind being tugged back in time. She viciously pushed the dark hands of her past away and turned to the crowd of people littering the tables and counter before them.
"There's no need to be nervous," Randy assured her plainly, adjusting his cap. "Perhaps you should have a drink and relax."
"Wh-Wha?" she sputtered, appalled. "No way, I don't drink! You know that!"
"Very well," Randy sighed with a shrug. "It'd do you some good, Sister. You seem very stressed."
"Excuse me?" she trilled in a whisper as to not draw attention to themselves. "I believe being stressed is the proper reaction to this situation."
"It truly isn't helping either of us, Ryndy," he disagreed with a dulled sigh. "I am going to speak with the bartender, order myself a beverage, and mingle with the townsfolk for information. Do what you please - no one made you come here." He rolled his eyes at her and made his way through the bustling activity of the bar to the main counter, sitting himself down beside a crotchety, reptile-like Bangaa.
Ryndy gave him a cross scowl as he sat there, all smug and ignoring her. She huffed indignantly and decided that if he was going to treat her that way, then she'd go ahead and occupy herself. How she would do that in a place like this, she had no idea, but she was deadset on figuring something out.
The first thing that caught her surveying eye, by the entrance, was a large board with all manner of parchment nailed to its surface. Each piece of paper had a sketch of a beast drawn upon it, with various rewards and information. A bounty board, she concluded. Fortunately, they had no need for money presently, but if they did, such a thing could prove useful.
"So!" Shocked out of her wits, Ryndy spun around to face the peppy, if somewhat gratingly cheerful voice that greeted her. "What's a little mage like you thinkin' she can do to vicious lil' beasties like these, huh?" The girl was probably about her age - early twenties - with a lean face and eyes that sparked with child-like energy. She was garbed in a yellow shirt and bright orange overalls with thick working boots. Her bright yellow hair was a mess of tangles, bangs, loops, braids, beads, and feathers. Streaks of black and brown marked her lockes, and her face had the slight shine of oil coating it. A solid red band of cloth was wrapped around her forehead. She stared at Ryndy expectantly, sipping from a square-shaped glass half full of bright green liquid.
"Uh, w-well, I'm, um...I'm from out of town," Ryndy explained, baffled by this girl's forward approach.
"He-ey!" the girl cheered, tossing an arm up. "Me, too! Just moved here last month!"
"Oh," murmured Ryndy as the girl came to her side and slapped a grease-ridden hand on her shoulder across her back. She winced at the thought of that filth soiling her White Mage robes, but conceded to herself that they were already grody from their long journey and needed to be cleaned anyway.
"Welcome to Rabanastre, Amiga!" the stranger exuberantly greeted, easing her along by the back to the nearest empty table. "This pub here's the Sand Sea! What brings ya here?"
"I-I'm, erm..." She fumbled, perplexed by her situation as she was seated. "My brother and I are-"
"Ohhh, brother, eh?" the bizarre girl cooed. "Where is he? Is he cute?"
Relishing a moment where this girl's attention wasn't directed at her, Ryndy directed a shaken finger to where Randy was intently having a discussion with his neighbor.
"H-he's the mage over there," she pointed out, following through with the thought, And you'd better not be getting any ideas, crazy-person.
"Oh-ho!" the girl bellowed. "He's a Black Mage! Im-pressive..." That excited gaze snapped back to Ryndy's face with realization. "Wait - you're a White Mage! Well, isn't that just so adorable? Like salt and pepper! You match!"
"Yea, we sure do," Ryndy nervously agreed, wondering why on Gaia she had been so determined to find something to do. It had certainly found her, at any rate.
"So why are you here?" the greasy blonde asked with seriousness, taking a swig from her drink, her elbow planted on the wooden table.
"We're...looking for someone," Ryndy replied with hesitation. The less this nutcase knew, the better.
"Well," the nutcase mused, cocking a brow. "I hope you find 'em." She raised her glass with such vigor that she nearly spilled some. Ryndy's eyes followed it with a fear of precisely that occurring. Another dainty slurp of beverage and the girl broke their moment of silence by asking, "So, what's yer name, Cutie?"
"My name is Ryndy," she sighed out, trying to maintain her manners as best she could.
"The name's Rikku," the freakishly enthusiastic young woman declared, deepening her voice. "My wark is worse than my bite!"
"I'm sure it is," Ryndy squeaked to herself sheepishly.
"Why are you so nervous, Ryn?" Rikku queried. "You look like you haven't had a drink yet!" she immediately concluded, shaking her head and loosely flapping her wrist in Ryndy's direction. "We oughtta fix that right up!" she insisted.
"No," Ryndy objected politely, pushing her palm out. "I don't drink."
Rikku gasped, her eyes bulged in disbelief.
"Tragedy!" she moaned with embellished remorse.
"I just don't see the point," Ryndy explained curtly.
"To each her own," Rikku accepted with another raise of the glass before chugging down the rest in a few gulps. "You look soooo tweaked out, though, Ryn," she mourned with sympathy. "What's eatin' at ya?"
Ryndy was quickly warming up to being called 'Ryn.' She always liked that name back before...everything had happened.
"Huh?" Rikku pressed, snapping the mage back to their discussion.
"Oh, a lot of stuff," Ryndy sighed, tucking her hood further around her face.
"Ah," Rikku whimpered meekly, her face drenched in sympathy. "Well...I sure hope you can figure that all out."
"Yea," Ryndy sighed, her expression dulled.
"Heyyyy, don't give up," Rikku encouraged, scooting her stool over and rubbing her grubby hand across the white robes. And there was another streaking stain, which was just great, of course.
Don't give up. There must be a way.
Why was this freakish girl so concerned with Ryndy's well-being? She was worming her way into Ryndy's trust at an alarming rate. And then she said it, and Ryndy knew.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
It didn't matter how bizarre she was, how odd it was that she suddenly tossed herself at Ryndy - she just had a gut feeling that this was just the Crystals' way of helping them out. She wasn't going to turn down any help from anyone - at this point, what could she lose by doing so?
"Actually," Ryndy slowly replied, considering her words carefully. "There is something you could do, um...Rikku, was it?"
The bright-eyed girl nodded emphatically.
"Meet me here tomorrow, at this time." Rikku's face perked up in determination at this request. She saluted, eyes burning with courage.
"Youuuuu got it, stranger!" Rikku acknowledged with a devious wink. Ryndy prayed that the Crystals knew what they were doing and that she wouldn't end up regretting placing her trust in this 'unique' woman.
"Ryndy," called the ever-solemn tone of her brother, his raspy tone cutting through the surprisingly busy morning crowd.
"Ooo, got a dark voice, too," Rikku whispered fiercely in Ryndy's ear, glowing eyes intent on her brother. "That hat looks so good on him, too."
Quite uncomfortable with all of this talk about how attractive her twin brother was, Ryndy rose from her seat and gave Rikku a shy smile and a nod.
"Thanks for your company. I...guess I'll see you here tomorrow?"
"Cross my heart!" Rikku assured, dashing her finger across her chest with a wide grin.
As the two wizards left the Sand Sea, Randy had a smug smirk about him. Ryndy suspiciously glared at him with threatening emerald eyes. He shrugged in reply, his snark coming through his own amber irises.
"Found a friend, did you?" Randy teased.
"More like I fell into one," Ryndy chuckled.
"Are you sure it's such a good idea to be making friends right now?" the Black Mage asked her with dire doubt.
"I think it may be our only choice," the White Mage decided with aplomb, pulling her hood from her head and nodding to herself.
"I remember the last time you felt that way about something," Randy bitterly pointed out, his nostrils flared and his eyes cold.