Chapter 1: Nethicite-Ridden Mines
Luna stumbled over the steps and fell flat on her face.
"Well, so much for being so graceful. Ughh…. If my brother saw that, he would say I was a disgrace to our noble heritage." She sighed and got up, dusting herself off quietly. Luna clutched her necklace and said a small word of thanks for letting her escape the Imperials.
With that done, she proceeded into the mines, not knowing that her cover may have been compromised. The Imperials had spotted her birthmark, the Solidor family crest, on her right forearm when she had first began running from them. She cursed her birthmark quietly, knowing that it alone would have told them who she really was.
In fact, Luna was not her true name. She had taken the cover of Luna Tolly when she had first come to this 'timeline'. She was of the Solidor bloodline. The great-great-great granddaughter of Gramis Solidor.
Her name was Larsa Ferrinas Solidor the Second, named after her great-great-great grandfather's youngest son. She was held in great expectations. But she had opted to leave the royal lifestyle and test out her 'powers'. One of these so-called 'powers' included the ability to time-travel.
Luna herself was seventeen, having reached her seventeenth birthday a few days before she began to flee from the Empire. In this timeline, apparently, Archadia was a very awful place to be around, or even be related to. She sighed, hoping that no one would know that she was a part of the Archadian Empire.
Luna tugged her sleeve slightly as she walked through the mines, hoping to find something of interest, like the manufacted Nethicite she had heard so much about. Her parents had told her stories of the manufacted Nethicite. Since it no longer existed in the modern-day Ivalice, Luna had been forced to travel back in time to see what the Nethicite looked like.
All she knew is that it was possibly a relative to the Magicite.
"Stop here and rest, huh." Luna said quietly to herself. She heard footsteps. The footsteps told her that five people were headed her way. She hid slightly in the shadows, allowing the group to pass her by. They all looked quite familiar, but Luna couldn't place their faces. Where had she seen them before?
"We know you're there." The Viera said, stopping suddenly. Luna let out a breath and took a step out of her hiding place.
"Umm, yeah, uh…. Just checking up on these mines, ehehehe…." Luna rubbed the back of her neck slightly and observed them with sapphire eyes.
They were an odd group, indeed. A sky pirate and his partner, a thief from the slums of Rabanastre, a disgraced captain and a young prince. Luna took a mental note to stay on their good side, but that meant she would be lying to them forever and constantly. She had no desire to be mixed up with the Archadian war. They had already taken Rabanastre, and the thought of letting them know a princess from the future who has ties to the Solidor household was terrifying.
So Luna sighed, brushed her bangs out of her eyes and smiled. "I'm, ah, a miner here in the Lhusu Mines. Even with the Imperial inspection an' all, I decided to come down here and see if I couldn't get some minin' done." She said with a slight 'ghetto' accent. Luna then laughed at her own incompetence.
"Sorry, trying something new." Luna placed a hand on her birthmark, squeezing tightly before she let her arm drop to her side. Of course, they would know she was from Archadia, because of her slight Archadian accent.
"You're from the Empire!"
Luna was drawn aback. "No, no I'm not! I used to be in Archadia! They're after me, damn it!"
The sky pirate put his hands on his hips. "Your birthmark there. You've decided to deceive us, haven't you?"
"Gosh, was it that hard? Look, my name's Luna. Sure, I'm from the Empire, but I'm a hell of a better person than whoever decided to have the Imperials come after me!"
Uggh, Luna, you are so persistant…
Anyways, this little chapter goes a bit back into Luna's past, telling you readers what her real name is and everything.
Pfffttt…. The Imperials are after me…. :3
2