Author's Note: Hello there! Here is chapter two. I hope you like it and thank you for reading!

I stayed right where I was for a few minutes after I managed to catch my breath. I was just. . .beside myself. Here I'd been all geared up for a normal night with a couple of days off from work. Now I was outside of the South Gate with this Lamont fellow.

"Excuse me, are you alright?" he asked as he crouched down before me. I could see the genuine concern on his face, even in the darkness.

"What was that, Lamont? What happened back there?"

He sighed and sat down next to me, this guy that I didn't even know. This guy had dragged me into who knows what and I felt strangely comfortable, somehow at ease as we sat there together. "Forgive me," he said somewhat quietly at last. "I truly do apologize for begetting your involvement in such a dilemma. Those men were after me and I slipped into Lowtown in the hopes that I could lose them down there. Unfortunately, it was a feat I was unsuccessful at. I happened upon you as you were opening your door and took that as an opportunity to. . ."

"To scare the living daylights out of me?" I finished his sentence.

He smiled slightly at my choice of words. "Once again, you truly have my apologies."

I shook my head and shifted enough to face him. "So why were they after you in the first place? Those guys were like. . .big. And they were fast. Why would some people like them be after you?"

"Big and fast, yes," he agreed. "I must make a comment, though. The one you hit with that. . ."

"Coat rack," I supplied.

"Yes, thank you. Coat rack. The one you hit with that coat rack never stood a chance."

I didn't want to smile at that. This was a serious situation, right? So why couldn't I stop the corners of my lips from lifting up at his words? "I guess lifting heavy stuff at my job made me pretty strong, huh? I kind of hit him harder than I thought I could. . ."

Lamont let out a sigh after a while and looked at me rather seriously. "It really was not my intention to get you involved in this."

I ran my fingers through my hair as I considered his words. My fingers got snagged on a stubborn curl and I pulled them out. "You still haven't told me, Lamont, what exactly this is."

"Well miss. . .miss. . .I am so sorry, but I am afraid I never asked your name in the midst of everything. Could I trouble you for a proper introduction?"

Goodness, that guy had manners, didn't he? "I'm Lydian," I told him, holding out my hand.

"As I said before, I am Lamont," he told me, taking my extended hand. Rather than shaking it as I expected him to, he raised it up to his lips and kissed it. "I apologize for neglecting to do this properly sooner."

I tried to fight the warmth in my cheeks, but I couldn't stop myself from blushing. I cleared my throat and looked away as I did my best to regain my composure. I had never been kissed on the hand before and especially not by a guy like him. "N-No more apologies, alright? Just do your best to explain what's going on and I promise I'll listen."

He nodded and took a few moments to compose his thoughts. Whatever was going on, it seemed to be weighing heavily on his mind. I knew that I was a complete stranger, but it seemed that I really was now involved in whatever this was. As such, I felt that I had a right to know even if we'd only just met.

With a sigh, he looked over at me and frowned. "I am afraid that I cannot inform you about everything," he began. "I will, however, tell you as much as I am able. If you can live with that, that is. . ."

He trailed off and waited for my decision. I thought it over in my head. He was willing to tell me something, just not everything. He was going to leave something out, something he didn't want me to know. On the one hand, this bothered me. What was it that he was holding back? On the other hand, he didn't know me well enough to trust me. Right? Also, it was probably better for me not to know all the details just in case I encounter one of those guys who chased us again.

"I. . .Yeah. I can live with that."

"Good. Then," he began before I cut him off.

"For now."

He blinked and shook his head. "For now?"

"Yes," I told him. "For now. Somewhere down the line you're going to have to tell me more. For now, though, I'll take what you're willing to give."

"I am afraid I have misunderstood the content of your words. You have made it sound as if you are," he started before I cut him off again.

"Coming along wherever it is you plan on running off to when we're done with this little chat?"

"Yes, that. You are not, by the way. Were you to maintain a low profile long enough for me to lead those men awry, you would be able to go home. If they do happen to come back, you will not know enough to be of any real interest to them."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You asked me to come before, did you not?"

"That was," he said, but I continued on.

"And I came. In addition to that, they probably would've caught you if you didn't have me to sneak you out of Lowtown. By the way, let us not forget who knocked that guy upside the head with a coat rack."

He studied me for a long minute before he had anything to say about that. "You certainly have been rather helpful, I must admit. I am afraid you would be in more danger, though, were you to involve yourself any further."

"That's my call to make, don't you think? I'm my own person and if I want to risk it then I will. Unless you just don't want me to come. . ."

He seemed surprised by that last part of my sentence. "No, I was not attempting to say anything like that."

"Then you do want me to come, hmm? That settles it then. Now how about you tell me what you can about what we're up against."

Why in the world was I suddenly so gung-ho about getting all up in the middle of whatever was going on? I was already involved to an extent, yes. He was right, though. I would probably be able to return to life as I knew it before too long and he could go on his way to wherever he was going. I just had this feeling, though. I don't know how to explain it, but I had a feeling. And this feeling compelled me to convince him to take me along. I wanted to help him. I didn't know how much of a help I'd be or what I could do to help in the first place, but. . .

"Your family would surely miss your presence. They would worry about you, would they not?" he asked in one last attempt to deter me.

Shaking my head slowly, I smiled a little more brightly than I normally would have if he'd asked me any other question. It was brighter than necessary. It was brighter than I was feeling and it didn't reach my eyes. "Trust me, they. . . they won't."

He raised an eyebrow. "There is no winning against you, it seems. To have been so utterly defeated within the course of a few mere minutes. . .Alright." He glanced around to make sure we were alone. After that, he pulled something out of his pocket. It was blue and glowing a little and I wasn't sure what I was seeing.

"What is that?" I asked as he let it fall into my hand. I turned it over to get a look at it from all sides and glanced up at him to see him staring at it in a strange way

"Nethicite. Manufactured nethicite, to be more specific."

I gasped. I'd never seen any kind of nethicite before, manufactured or otherwise. But I had definitely heard about it. I knew what it was and what it could do. According to my sources, nethicite was being used the day that. . .the day my mom died. "What are you doing with something like this?!"

"Know you anything of the Emperor or Archadia?" he asked me quietly, still staring at the manufactured nethicite.

"Not much, actually," I admitted with a shake of my head. "I know that he's young and that he came into power back during the battle just outside of Rabanastre. Why?"

"There has been a bit of. . .unrest in the empire as of late. There are some people trying to usurp his authority. A plan has been hatched by these people to use manufactured nethicite to take control of Archadia by force. They even made an attempt to end his life recently."

"A-An assassination attempt, you mean? That's terrible, but. . .what does this have to do with you?"

"He was in Archades at the time of this attack and has now for his own good. It is my task to track down where this manufactured nethicite is located and put an end to it."

"Wow. . ."

"There is a bit more, I am afraid. These people who are making an effort to come into power. . .They have been trying to create doubts about the emperor, saying perhaps he is not truly qualified. If they can succeed in generating enough doubt in the hearts of the citizens, their transition into power would be much smoother."

"He's been the emperor for what? About six or seven years now, right? It seems he's been doing a good job. It shouldn't be that easy to make the citizens of Archadia doubt him now," I said as I thought about that.

"It should not be, no. Still, there needs to be absolutely no doubt about the emperor. He needs absolute proof of his qualification so that nobody can ever place doubt on him again and disrupt the peace," he said as I handed the manufactured nethicite back to him.

"I have a feeling this involves you as well?" I spoke as I watched him put it away again.

He nodded. "I am also responsible for that."

"How so?" I asked, basically on the edge of my seat now even though I didn't have an actual seat.

Lamont sighed and shook his head. "A chance exists that I have told you too much already. I really did not mean to tell you as much as I did. I have a proposition. How about we just start with what I have told you thus far and. . .perhaps I shall divulge more at a later time?"

I sighed, too. After all, I did agree to only a portion of the story. I looked over at him and gave a quick nod. "I can live with that. So. . .what now?"

He leaned back against the wall and stared up at the sky. He seemed deep in thought. He snapped out of that quickly enough, though. "Now I. . ."

"We," I corrected.

"Now we begin our journey toward bringing an end to that manufactured nethicite. I must warn you that such a journey poses threats of much danger," he said as he stood up, dusted himself off, and held out his hand to me. "Are you ready?"

Looking at his hand, I placed mine within it without a second thought. He smiled. There was a slight tightness around his eyes, no doubt coming from the weight of the responsibilities placed on his shoulders. His smile was genuine, though.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said. "Wait, no. Are you sure you're ready? What I mean is how are we doing on supplies?"

"Supplies," he repeated.

"Mmm-hmm. We're going to need a few things if we're heading out on this big quest of ours, you know."

"This is not the first time I have set out on a big quest before, you know," he informed me. "I did have myself well prepared with a bag of supplies. Unfortunately, said bag was actually lost during my altercation with those men. Even so, luck is still on our side. I hid my weapons and armor. I hid a slight amount of food as well."

I didn't know the full extent of what we were facing. I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into. Why in the world was I getting ready to traipse across the world with a complete stranger? Life is funny like that sometimes. We can't always explain why we do things. At those times, could we possibly chalk it up to fate whispering in our ear? Could it be our destiny beckoning us forward?

"I guess that means I'll be a little more useful because I do believe I can help you with that little supply problem."

"How, pray-tell, do you plan on doing that?" he asked me, a bit dubious.

"It's all about connections, Lamont. Connections."