Chapter 1

An After Story

Character Used: Jowy Atreides

He felt uneasy as his best friend munched on the carrots.

The crunchy sounds made him flinch; it almost made his teeth grit.

He watched in horror, and was finally able to release a sigh when Riou took the last bite.

He kept on reminding Nanami not to include carrots in their food, but she never listened.

It's been a year since they went on a journey, just the three of them.

It has also been a year since he last saw Jilia and Pilika.

Of course, he's happy to be reunited with Riou. He never even thought that they would be together again. They were fated to fight, and now, they are making up for the lost time they could have spent with each other.

However, he couldn't help but worry about his girls.

His thoughts were interrupted by Nanami smacking him upside the head.

"OUCH! What was that for?"

"You weren't listening."

Riou laughed, and annoyed as he was, he laughed with him. Eventually, Nanami joined in.

"I was asking if you ever had sex with Jilia."

The laughter stopped. Jowy looked at Riou as a plea for help, but Riou turned away, whistling and showing fake interest on the scenery.

Jowy decided to evade the question by pretending he didn't hear Nanami and asked Riou what he was looking at.

"I saw a griffin. Reminded me of Feather."

"Feather?"

Riou nodded.

"Who was that?"

Nanami wasn't going to let the subject go, though.

"Jooooowy~ did you ever do it with Jilia? Come on, come on. Tell me!"

Jowy and Riou have this strange habit that makes all Nanami noise blurry once they start talking. Not that they intentionally do this, but that's how best friends are.

"One of the 108 stars. Yes, you don't know most of them, now that I think about it."

"Does this Feather guy own a griffin?"

"No. But he is a griffin."

It took a minute before he finally spoke again.

"A… griffin?"

"Yes. A griffin."

"Monsters? A part of your entourage? You've got to be kidding me, right?"

"Hey, that was rude. Feather is a friend, not a monster."

"Griffins are monsters. Yes, we can make Wind Hats out of their feathers, but still, monsters."

"Feather is… different. We only talked once, but he has a kind soul."

"How did you become friends with a griffin, anyway?"

"Feather. Y'see, I was helping Clive with some quest…"

"Who's Clive?"

"Not sure if you remember him, but he was the gunner we met in Muse."

"Oh."

"I was helping Clive look for Elsa, and then we saw Ayda defending Feather from two townsmen."

Jowy was about to ask who Ayda was, but decided not to.

"I was there, too." Nanami answered, taken in by the conversation of the two boys.

"Yes, she was. She even got scared when other griffins suddenly arrived at the scene."

Nanami gave Riou a why-did-you-say-that look and Jowy grinned.

"Apparently, those griffins were Feather's enemies. Ayda attempted to protect Feather, but she was outnumbered. And since I am impulsive and always ready to help, (Jowy nodded at this statement) we fought the griffins. One of the crystals Badeux gave me started shining, and by instinct, I raised it. We heard Feather speak. He thanked us, and joined our cause."

"Wow. That sounds cool."

"Not as cool as being able to suppress the Beast Rune."

"In the end, you guys were the one who destroyed that beast."

The three of them got quiet. They don't usually talk about the things that happened during the times they weren't together, but this time, they did.

Jowy now prefers Nanami's pestering instead of this silence none of them were breaking.

"I miss Pilika. We should visit her," Jowy couldn't help but think that their conversations keep on going into the wrong turns.

"No."

"Why not? I'm pretty sure she misses you, too."

"I know. But Pilika and Jilia are better off if they don't see us."

"If you say so."

"I say so."

Jowy sighed. "Riou, convince Nanami that I am making the right decision."

Nanami countered. "No, Riou. Prove to Jowy how wrong he is. He loved them so much. He deserves to see them, doesn't he?"

Riou considered both options.

"Let's just watch them from a distance. Jowy's right. Jilia loves him. But Jowy was also the reason that her father and brother died. Not exactly, since Luca died in my hands, but that's not the point. However, it's pretty obvious that Jowy misses them. Let's just take a peek, then leave."

The other two were reluctant but they agreed.

Two weeks passed, and the three are now standing in front of the house Jilia and Pilika are staying at. Nanami noticed that Pilika has grown a bit taller, and Jilia was tending to the flowers.

Nanami saw the longing in Jowy's eyes. From the distance, Riou noticed, too, but he was the one in charge of making sure that they won't be seen, and since there aren't much place to hide, he's to take this task seriously.

"Are you sure you're not going to approach them?"

"It's enough to know that they're fending off for themselves."

"Why are you like that? Jilia loves you. You love her. Why can't you let her see you?"

Jowy smiled. "I love her. But I want to see the world. I want to see as many things as I can. How the food is like in other lands, to know the concept of rain, there's a lot to experience. And I can't bring them with us. It's dangerous. As much as I love them, it would only break them more if I showed in front of them now and leave them the next day. Because, as much as I love them, I would still leave."

Jowy knew that Nanami was astonished with his answer. She is now seeing Jowy in a different light.

"And Nanami?"

"Yes?"

"I did."

Author's Note:

When I played the game for the very first time, I thought that Jowy would be my sprite. Or controllable character. Whatever you call it. I was a little disappointed when it turned out that he wasn't.

Don't get me wrong. I like Riou. And as I went along with the story, I soon got attached to him. But Jowy was my first love, although I now prefer Riou over him.

I am sorry for this chapter being a little inaccurate. If they were on the Clive quest, recruiting Feather would still be unavailable. Unless you didn't run to Forest Village after receiving Elsa's letter and decided to do it for later. In which case, there is little chance that you would have seen Clive's quest to the end.