Author's note: This is the second chapter of my first fic, and I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer:I don't own Wild Arms 3. Nuff said.

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Shock coursed through her body. The answer that Raftina told the startled girl took its toll on her feelings. Tears began to stream down her face; the tears were not for her impending death, but for what she was going to miss out on. Clive, Gallows...Jet...

Raftina put a comforting arm around Virginia, and she tried to console her. "Don't cry. I know this task will be very difficult for you to perform, but think about it. You will keep everyone in Filgaia alive! And there is a huge chance you will restore our Mother Planet to her former glory!"

More tears spilled from the Shaman's eyes. "I(sob)...I know that's a good thing(sob)...but(sniffle)...I'm going to miss everyone!" Virginia turned to Raftina. "Explain. Why me?"

Raftina let go of her Virginia and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I will explain everything just as soon as you stop crying, okay?"

Virginia tried to quiet her sobs by shutting her eyes tight and wiping the rest of her tears by lightly rubbing her eyes. She soon calmed down. Raftina then began her explanation.

"There is a simple reason why you are the chosen sacrifice," Raftina said. "You are a Shaman."

"I know I am a Shaman, but how can this save the planet?"

"Let me explain. The planet itself kept us Guardians from knowing its imminent death. Filgaia also didn't let the humans know what was coming. Our Mother Planet kept the secret of its death so she wouldn't cause a panic. As our mother, she didn't want her children to be frightened, and so acted as though everything was allright. Us Guardians noticed something was up, and it took a great deal of persuading to make Filgaia finally tell us her secret. We were shocked by the news. Of course, we Guardians quickly tried to come up with a plan to save our Mother Planet, but we didn't have an answer yet. All we knew what we had to do is that we needed to procure a vast energy source to replenish the planet. Of course, we wanted to use the Teardrop, but that energy alone will not be enough to properly restore our planet's energy. We kept thinking for many months. Time was running out on us. We were searching through our vast knowledge of history to find a powerful item. And that's when it hit us. As we were searching through the history of Shamans with the help of our planet's memories, we found out that the race of the Shamans started when Filgaia found devoted people taking care of her. She replaced the human blood of her devoted followers with her own blood and power. Thus the age of Shamans began."

"The Shamans, as you know, were able to communicate with the Guardians and the planet itself, and they are able to use magic by Crest sorcery." said Justine."All of this was possible because of Filgaia's power and lifeblood coursing through their veins. You, Virginia, have that lifeblood of the past Filgaia in your blood. This means that you have the glory and strength of the Filgaia of old in your blood. This means that you are a worthy sacrifice for Filgaia, able to give back the strength it had once before."

"And if you sacrificed yourself by using the Teardrop to magnify your strength, surely you will replenish our Mother Planet's energy greatly!" exclaimed Luceid.

"But...I am still going to miss everyone!" Virginia wailed pitifully. "The news is good and all, but it doesn't change the fact that I won't be in this world anymore." To her surprise, there was no tears. Sadness didn't claim her. Instead, some courage began to slip into her face. "But I must do it...for Filgaia," she said. "For everyone.."

Determination shone on the Drifter girl's face as she faced the Guardians. "I will do it," Virginia said in a calm voice. "Just tell me what to do."

Justine stepped forward and said, "You must go to the Sacrificial Altar right now."

Virginia became a bit dazed. "You mean...right now!"

Raftina blinked. "Of course, silly girl. Filgaia's death is fast approaching!"

Virginia gave the timing of the sacrifice some thought. Filgaia will die in around two weeks, so...maybe I can persuade the Guardians to let me spend some time with my family and friends...

"Guardians, is it possilble for me to postpone the sacrifice until later?" Virginia asked. Seeing the somewhat shocked look on the Guardian's faces she added, "I won't postpone it until Filgaia's death is a few seconds away! I want to spend some time with everyone before I'm gone."

The Guardians began to consider it. "Well, you have helped us out on a lot while you were on your journey..."

"Please?" Virginia pleaded. "Pretty please with a cherry on top?" A look of hope and pleading was on her face; she desperately wanted some quality time with everyone important in Filgaia. Please Guardians...please grant me this wish...

"You really want this time, do you?" Raftina concluded, seeing the look of hope on Virginia's face. Virginia gave an affirmative nod. Raftina gave a small sigh. "Of course you can spend the remaining time with your family. You truly deserve it. This will be the last visit you will ever have with everyone in the realm of the living so make sure you spend a good time while you're there, okay?"

Virginia became very happy with Raftina's reply. She couldn't help but to scream for joy."WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" With her usual oh-so-happy attitude, she kept shouting, "THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THAAAAAAAAANK YOU!"

The Guardians laughed. "Okay, calm down, Virginia." Luceid said in an amused tone while watching the Drifter girl jump for joy. "You will have the two weeks to stay with your friends, but remember this: there is no backing down from this mission. Do not let the memories of your loved ones get in the way of your choice of backing away from the sacrifice."

Virginia nodded and stopped jumping. "I know...I 'm going to miss everyone..." Her face began to lose some of its cheerfulness, but soon after that tiny change her face brightened up. "But I will keep everyone alive! I will keep everyone's hopes and dreams from disappearing. People will be glad about me saving the world!"

Shuffle. Fidget. Some faces with discomfort. "What's the problem?" Again the Guardians didn't answer. Then Zephyr walked (okay, glided) in front of Virginia.

"It's time for you to wake up," Zephyr stated. A small glow began to radiate from Virginia's body. "This meeting is adjourned."

The Guardians began to disappear to return to their mediums. And soon after that, Virginia felt herself drift away, slowly coming back into consciousness...

Virginia woke up.

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"Strange dream..." Jet whispered, stretching his well-defined muscles to shake off sleep. It was morning. An orange-pink light began to rise on the horizon, casting a somewhat fuzzy light on the camp that the gang was currently sleeping on. Jet gave off a loud yawn, and looked over to his companions. There was Gallows, sleeping and lightly snoring, head resting on a rock. Then there is Clive, chest rising and contrating peacefully, not disturbed by the faint light coming form the morning sun. Jet looked to find his female companion, wanting to see her before she woke up. At least she isn't loud when she goes to sleep, Jet mused. Also, she looks beautiful when asleep... Whoa, hey Jet, snap out of it! You DO NOT like the chatterbox! You have NO feelings for that loud, annoying, bossy, pretty chatterbox...

Jet shook his head. He recently found out about the strange feelings he has when he talks to her, stands next to her, thinks about her...even though he didn't say anything to his comrades. He didn't know what these feelings were caused by, but he had a hard time concealing them from everyone, especially Gallows.Stupid oaf can't keep to his own business, Jet thought angrily. He still kept searching for that certain someone, but didn't find her.

"Virginia?" Jet called out softly, hoping that the Drifter girl will respond. That's when Jet realized that he was calling out to her. This alone was so unJet.

He stood up, walking around the vicinity of the camp to see where Virginia has gone off to. No sign of the girl at all. Concern began to take over Jet's feelings, and he found out that Virginia wasn't with them. Quickly he went over to Clive and Gallows, trying to rouse them from their nap by shaking them...roughly.

Clive's eyelids began to open, and a yawn escaped from his lips. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked in a slurred voice, the sleep in his eyes present.

Gallows began to wake up, his body still in sleep-mode. "Whazzamatter?" he managed to ask before he also let out a huge yawn. Seeing that Jet was the one that woke him up got him riled up already. "Okay, sulky punk, why are you disturbing my sleep, huh?" Gallows sneered.

"I want to know, too." Clive asked. The two men were waiting for an answer from the silver-haired Drifter.

"In case you haven't noticed," Jet said in his usual cold voice, "our leader's missing."

These words made Clive and Gallows look for Virginia around their camp. No sign of her whatsoever.

"Where is she?" Gallows asked, a worried look appearing on his face. Gallows stood up and began to search around the perimeter of the camp to find the leader.

"That's why I woke you up for," Jet replied coldly. "To search for her, you lazy oaf."

"Hey..." Gallows growled angrily before he felt a hand on his shoulder. Clive did that to restrain his friend. "Gallows, this is not the time to fight." the sniper stated. "We have to look for our leader. She can't be far from us, knowing her."

"Okay," Gallows grumbled, and he began to leave the vicinity of the camp until he noticed a silhouette approaching their location. Gallows immediately turned to his teammates. "Someone's coming," Gallows whispered. Jet and Clive turned towards the direction Gallows turned to look at, and indeed they saw someone coming their way.

Clive immediately aimed his ARM towards the person; his gun has a scope to see enemies from afar much more clearly. A smile appeared on his face, and he turned towards his comrades. "It's Virginia." he said.

Relief was apparent on Gallows' face when he heard the news; Gallows truly cared for Virginia. Jet, on the other hand, merely shrugged, hiding his feeling of relief by pushing it to the back of his mind.

Seconds later, Virginia appeared, looking a bit tired and sleepy. Jet thought that she looked a bit surprised when she saw her comrades awake.

"Good morning!" Gallows said heartily, walking towards Virginia to give her a hug.

"Good morning," Clive said, also walking towards the lady. "You gave us quite a scare while you were missing."

As usual, Jet said nothing.

"Good morning!" Virginia said happily, all sleepiness vanishing right away. She gave Gallows a hug, and gave a hug to Clive. To Jet's surprise, Virginia gave him a hug too.

"W-why are you hugging me?" Jet stuttered, a blush appearing on his face. Virginia let go of him and looked a bit confused.

"You don't like hugs?" the Drifter girl asked. Jet immediately noticed that her face was a bit red too. He ignored this observation, intent to answer her question.

"I despise hugs," Jet said to Virginia, "and what's with the happy attitude today? In fact, why weren't you with us in the morning?" Another astute observation that Jet made revealed Virginia had flinched a bit when he asked that question.

"Ummm...I wasn't with you guys because..." A moment's pause.

"Spit it out already!" Jet said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay, I left because Gallows passed gas like a hurricane. Satisfied?" Virginia answered. Gallows immediately went red and began to bicker.

"Hey, I did not fart last night!" Gallows said in an indignant tone. Virginia gave an apologizing look towards Gallows. Jet began to sneer.

"So, the big oaf let out wind like crazy, right?" Jet said in an evilish amused tone. "In that case this answers my question, Chatterbox."

Jet almost let out a chuckle when he saw Gallows' face turn into a deep shade of red. "I swear you guys, I did NOT fart at all." Gallows turned to Jet. "I bet it was the sulky punk that let loose yesterday. I mean, we all ate his cooking, right?"

Virginia giggled, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "I know what you mean, Gallows." Both the big Baskar and the young lady began to laugh like crazy.

Immediate fight.

"What the hell does that mean!" snarled Jet, his look of loathing aimed at the two laughing Drifters. Gallows settled down a bit, still chuckling, and replied, "Your cooking sucks. It sucks ass."

"That's not true, Gallows," Virginia said. Jet felt another blush coming on his face when he saw Virginia defending him. "But I agree. Jet, your cooking is...umm..."

"Mediocre," answered Clive. The blush deepened a bit, but it was from anger.

"Clive, you're agreeing with them?" he muttered, his fists clenching tight. "Allright, my cooking sucks, and what? Remember Gallows' 'Mystery Stew'?"

Both Virginia and Gallows tried to hold in their laughter as they remembered the result of the "stew"...

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Flashback

"Wow, Gallows, you overdid yourself." Virginia stated as she saw the thick stew being tipped on her bowl. It looked thick and hearty, and its aroma was pleasant. Even Jet looked slightly impressed by the looks of Gallows' cooking. Clive passed out the spoons and napkins in case someone spilled something. The gang settled down, and Clive began to eat first.

"My, this soup is delicious, Gallows." Clive said in an impressed tone. Virginia and Jet thought that the soup was safe to eat until...

"Oh, my stomach!" groaned Clive. He was very pale, and a thin sheen of sweat coated his face.

"Jet, Gallows, we must do something!" Virginia exclaimed, rushing to get a clean bowl of cool water and a clean cloth to wipe Clive's face. Jet merely shrugged, saying 'Whatever', and Gallows just stood there dumbly, shocked by what his cooking did to the poor sniper. Seeing that the two men didn't do anything to help out Viginia, she grew frustrated, and she continually wiped Clive's face with the wet cloth.

"Clive, are you all right?" Virginia asked. She noticed that her friend's face looked like he was struggling to hold something. "Are you okay?"

A single noise answered Virginia's question about the nature of Clive's face, what Gallows' cooking did to his fellow comrade, and resulted in a smirk from the punk's face.

Ptffffffffff(splurt)ptffffffffffff...BAROOM!

"Damn, Clive, that was some wind..." Jet sneered.

The sniper's face went red and had to face ridicule from his friends...

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The memory of the event made Virginia and Gallows laugh again, tears forming in their eyes as they struggled to keep their insides from exploding.

"All right, my cooking sucks, but you gotta admit, the result was funny." Gallows said. Virginia's laughter began to subside, but her tone became a bit serious.

"Guys, we need to leave now. The Arkists are still out to get us, so we must leave right away." The gang nodded in agreement, and immediately mounted their horses.

Jet gave a sigh as he felt his blush-ridden face. Why does this keep happening? Jet wondered. He looked towards Virginia, and he couldn't help but notice that she had slight pained look on her face. He quickly rode towards her, and asked, "Something bothering you?"

Virginia looked at Jet and hesitated a bit until she answered,"Uh, nothing's wrong. Really." And with that she left Jet, spurring her horse to run ahead of everyone.

"Come on, guys, let's go." she urged her teammates, and with that, the team began to ride forward.

I think she's hiding something, Jet concluded. I hope its not too important.

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Virginia began to think about her imminent death, and about the pain that she would cause when she leaves this earth. I have to say goodbye...by acting like nothing is happening at all.

With these thoughts plaguing her mind she rode on. The threat of Arkists washed away her previous thoughts, and she immediately made plans for today.

I'll miss you...I'll miss you all very much...

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Author's Note: I'm a sucker for long chappies, so if the length troubles you, let me know. Please review. PLEASE! Ahem. Seriously, I want some reviews, I need comments on what to do to please you all. Also, check out my sister's (Euphoria6A) fics. THEY ROCK! You won't be dissappointed.

Sephiroth: Okay, Lady Aeris1997, that was one hell of a long chappie. Now to kill you.

LadyAeris1997: Eep! Oh! (turns to readers) Hope you liked this chappie, and send comments! (starts to run from Sephiroth) AHHHHHHHHHH!

Sephiroth: You can't run from the One-Winged Angel, wench!

Cloud: STAY AWAY FROM MY GIRL, YOU ONE-WINGED FREAK! (stabs Sephiroth)

Sephiroth: NOOOOOOOOO(dies)

LadyAeris1997: My hero!

(starts heated make-out session with Cloud. turns to readers.)

LadyAeris1997: Back off! He's mine!

(goes with Cloud on a date)