Rain tapped the windows of my room as thunder gently rumbled from a distance, threatening a storm to come

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy, because if I did...we would see some yaoi...possible yuri? ;; Point: Do not own FF. Onto the story!

Warning: There will most likely be yaoi and maybe yuri in the future, just letting you know now.

1. The Friendship of a Lifetime .1

Lucas

Rain tapped the windows of my room as thunder gently rumbled from a distance, threatening a storm to come. Getting depressed of the droopy weather, I pushed myself away from my homework and sighed. Weather like this always got me down—staying inside was one of my few pet peeves. Then again, what can you do? It's not like I could control nature. Thankfully, my mother broke the boredom—I prayed she wouldn't' tell me to do some chore or something, though.

"Oh, Lucas! It's good that you're still here." My mother—Christie—sighed in relief. "Quickly, your father needs you!"

Where else would I be? In response I jumped up immediately, grabbing my sword and shield. "What is it? A monster?" I asked, ready for battle.

She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "Lucas, stop joking around, this is urgent! Hurry!"

Urgent? If it's not a monster, why would it be urgent? Much to my dislike I stowed away my weapon and rushed outside. The rain was coming down hard, and it was hard to see. I could barely make out my father's figure waving for me to follow, and cautiously followed him to the edge of town, where the river was flooding.

"Lucas!" My father—Elrond—bellowed over the clash of thunder. "Someone's stuck in the isle on the river!" He pointed to the isle (which I almost didn't see) and sure enough, someone laid there, unmoving.

I peered through the rain, the waved of the water roaring threateningly. Still, there was no way I couldn't help. "Give me the rope!" I shouted, which sounded meek compared to my father's bellow. Focus Lucas! No time to think on how meek-looking you are! I tied the rope around my waist and gave a few yanks, making sure the other men would be able to pull me back up. In town I was the one of the best swimmers, and it looked like I was the only nimble one who could go against those threatening waves. I gave the signal and dove into the water.

Normally, it would have felt refreshing—I loved swimming. However the water was pushing me this way and that, and soon water forced its way into my nose and I almost drowned. So I surfaced and fought my way to the isle.

It was a girl—she looked at me through droopy clear blue eyes under a mess of long blue hair. "Don't worry!" I told (well shouted) her, hoisting her onto my back and tying her to me. "I'll take you to safety!"

She looked at me, her eyes still half closed. "...Thank you for saving Usagi..." she whispered, and her eyes closed before I could ask.

..

"Careful!" My mother instructed as I put the girl on the couch. "Poor thing...how did she get in the middle of the river?"

"No idea." Piper—the lilty neighbor—sighed, his hand scratching his head. "All I know is Keri's daughter spotted a falling star before the storm started, towards the river."

I ignored the adults' talk and looked at the girl. She thanked me for saving Usagi—I guessed that was her name. Her face looked at peace, lit by the fire not too far away. The dress she wore hugged her curves, but was simple. I thought she was kind of cute. When would she wake up?

To my surprise, she opened her eyes, but they weren't the blue I saw before—they were green! "Where...am I...?" she asked groggily, slowly sitting up.

"You're in Tipa." I told her, smiling. I guess the rain messed up my sight. "We found you on the river, are you okay now?"

She looked around. "Tipa...?" She looked so confused, but shook her head. "Yes, um...I'm Usagi."

"Lucas." I grinned in response, but inspected her carefully. "Are you...a Clavat?"

The girl laughed in response. "No, I'm not."

"A Selkie? No problem!"

"I'm not a Selkie either." She giggled. "You're so odd, suggesting those races...Everyone knows those kind don't live in Lunari."

It was my turn to be confused. "What's Lunari?" I asked, frowning.

She laughed again. "You're so funny! You don't know the name of the Moon Village?"

"So you indeed fell from the sky..." My father crossed his arms, and I realized the adults had joined us.

Usagi's eyes went big, and she jumped up from the couch. "I fell...? It can't be!" she gasped, horrified. Without warning she ran to the window and looked at the moon above. "I did...I fell..."

..

"From the sky?" Choky asked, unconvinced. "No way!"

"It's true!" Lila insisted, turning to Kelly. "You're the one that saw her fall!"

Kelly pondered for a moment, and then responded. "It's true—The Elder is planning on hiring mercenaries to get her to Rebena Te Ra for help to get back on Lunari." She explained.

"Mercenaries? Why don't they just send Lucas to do it?" Choky asked with a frown. "You know, instead of wasting their Gil..."

I grinned, folding my arms. My father and I were watching the conversation from a couple of feet away, under the old tree. "You see? Everyone thinks so except for you." I pointed out, victorious.

My father scratched his beard, thinking carefully. "Protecting someone is a big responsibility." He started. I groaned, but he ignored me and continued. "I'm guessing you want me to skip the speech, huh?"

"I can do it." I told him. "I'm almost eighteen. Give me a chance, will you?" I grinned. "After all, I learned from the best!"

He laughed and shook his head with a sigh. "Lucas, Lucas...just like your mother when she traveled the world...It's a bit too late to take back the money, but I only requested one mercenary for help." He stole a glance at his watch. "He should be arriving any minute. He will accompany you and Usagi."

I shrugged but agreed. "I won't let you down." I assured him. "Who's the mercenary—"

"There he is."

?? (Mercenary)

Tipa was the image of a peaceful town—children were running around, doing their parents chores and their share of work. Today seemed like a busy day, but nonetheless I made my way to the center of town, where a handful of people had gathered.

"Welcome!" the oldest mad—The Elder, I assumed—greeted me at once.

I gave a bow of respect and scanned the people. The Elder, a boy, a girl, and an older man were there. What really caught my attention were the boy and girl.

She stood timidly, her waist-length hair into a braid. She wore a white-and dark blue dress that looked very sexy on her, but I didn't say anything yet.

Then there was the boy. He was dressed in green, with his light brown hair. His arms were crossed, but he didn't look mad—he actually looked a little excited.

"This is Usagi." The Elder spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts. "The boy is Lucas—he'll be accompaniying you."

Usagi and Lucas...ordinarily, I'd object to having a third wheel, but it didn't bother me—not this time.

"I am Xander." I introduced myself, brushing back my short blonde hair. "I will be escorting you two to Rebena Te Ra."

"Thank you." Usagi spoke. Her smile was heavenly and contagious—I found myself smiling before anything.

..Usagi

"We'll go to the Iron Mills first." Xander spoke, walking a little ahead of us. It was a bit difficult to keep up but I managed—it would be rude to ask him and Lucas to slow down on my behalf.

"Sounds good." Lucas replied, and I nodded in agreement.

We reached a small, rocky hill. "We can climb over this." Xander nodded, and simply walked up. Lucas and I followed, but I found it tricky—some of the rocks I stepped on gave way, and I almost tripped. I still tripped, however, on this one rock that unexpectedly gave way. I never fell, though—Xander had grabbed my arm before I could fall.

"If you needed help, all you had to do was ask." He chuckled, and I felt my face turn crimson. Before I knew it, he had hoisted me onto his back, and was walking faster than ever.

Lucas had beat us over, but we kept walking along the path as soon as Xander let me down.

As we walked the sun went down slowly, and then darkness. The moon shone brightly, and it was then Xander decided we should make camp. While Lucas went searching for firewood, I looked for two flat rocks to spark a fire with.

"If you brought any more firewood, we could have built a house." I heard Xander laugh as I found one rock.

Lucas dumped the firewood and arranged them into a circle. "It's for the whole night." He explained as I found the other rock.

"How do you use these for sparks?" I asked, handing them to Xander.

"Watch and learn, princess." He winked, and my cheeks turned slightly pink as Lucas looked the other way, crossing his arms. Xander made three strikes, and in an instant a fire was ablaze, hungry for more wood.

"Excellent!" I smiled, and found Xander's eyes locked onto me.

"Anytime." He smiled back.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I turned to Lucas. "Can you do that as well?"

"Yeah." He replied quietly, poking the wood around the fire. "It's not that hard."

There was a silence as we listened to nature's music. An idea popped into my head and I motioned for the two to come to me. "Why don't we form a bond?" I asked, getting feathers and bands from my pocket.

"How so?" Lucas asked curiously.

I handed him a single white feather along with the green band, handed Xander two white feathers with the red band, and kept three feathers for myself with the last blue band. "Do as I do." I instructed, lacing the feathers together with the band. Afterwards I put the band on my head, and saw they did the same. "These feathers are from the same bird." I explained. "In Lunari, to signify true friendship, we take feathers from the same bird and put them in our hair." I explained.

"Why do you want to be friends with us?" Lucas asked. "You just met us."

"It was fate that brought me here." I told him. "It was fate that bound us together, don't you see?"

Xander shrugged. "If you say so, then so be it."

I nodded. "The bonds of friendship are strongest of all." I told them.

"Sounds good." Lucas grinned, his hand out.

Xander laughed but agreed. "Friendship, huh?" he said, putting his hand on Lucas'.

I put my hand on his. "Indeed." I smiled, thanking the stars that I fell from Lunari.