Legends: Beginnings

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is related, remotely related, or is in the game, Illusions of Gaia. It is owned by Enix and all related companies. All Original Characters, Stories, and anything else that is not in, related to, or remotely related to the game, was solely created for creative and entertainment purposes. Thank you for your time.

Chapter One - To The Ocean

The day was clear and bright as it should be, with the waves of the ocean lapping against the water and the barely cloudy day smiling down upon the sunny side of the planet. Sea gulls cawed from the lonely shores of the bay, circling around the bodies of the dead fish that washed upon the dark sand and ate the rotting meat and sun bleached bones of these same fish. The rumbles of a past storm were long since gone, at least two days had passed since the ocean here had churned and hissed and clashed with the land; now the water was calm and carefree as it had been before.

The dark clouds had moved in the direction some boats were going in but none - save for a few weary travelers - took much notice of the sounds of the angry weather. It was just too much of a beautiful day to spend indoors and the day would be wasted if anyone were afraid of a small storm. It was expected to have storms along the seaside, common in most regards, and a part of the life that lived in this small section of paradise. Those that made their lives by the sea did not even bother to dwell on the storms, they had seen much worse.

The sun bore down from the light blue sky above, casting its shadow down upon a small port town that was far away from any large cities or towns - those were at least an hour and a half away at the most, save for the small village a mile and a half away. The name had been changed countless times since the port had been founded a number of years ago and was the center of fishing tours, shrimp boats, and small fishing charters that sailed up and down the coast. Tourists came year-round for the sole purpose of relaxing in the small town when they placed their lives behind them for a short while and became another being entirely when they walked along the free beach a half of a mile away from where the docks ended.

Out on the open water or closer to the docks, horns from the fishing boats indicated that they were either coming in from the water with their catch or going out to sea to find the things that they were looking for or taking people out into the deep blue nothing. People walked along the upper dock - a cobble, stone, and metal walkway that sat twenty feet above the lower pier and was more of a boardwalk then an actual dock - and gazed out into the open ocean; some were of the seaman type as they went back and forth from the upper dock to the lower dock by way of ramps or ladders that went down to the lower dock, others were onlookers. Tourists that wanted to get a glimpse of the life that those at sea had or were going out into that same uncertain water.

Three did not fall in either one of those categories as they stood silently apart from the hustle of a bustling port that seemed to have very little rest even during the off season. A boy of about ten or so stood between a woman of about forty and a younger woman of about seventeen, pushing his sunglasses down to stare blankly at the latest batch of tourists that wandered by them. He barely even took notice when a smaller child - around the age of three - wandered up to him and smiled up at him without knowing that he was a complete stranger. The boy had his eyes diverted somewhere else, even when he pushed a strand of dirty blonde hair over his right ear. He work a pair of neat blue jeans and a baggy black shirt with a pair of white sneakers, clothing not meant to be worn in a place such as the port.

The older woman was constantly looking at her watch, tapping a heeled foot on the ground before looking out into the ocean beyond their reach. Impatience read on her face like a book, a frown deepening her features even more so, and her arms uncrossed and crossed many times over. There was annoyance in her eyes that went hand-in-hand with her impatience, her eyes rolling beneath the green-tinted sunglasses that she wore to protect her eyes.

It appeared that she had other plans then to stand at a port's upper dock and wait for someone to show up for a tour or to return her and her family back to the cities just beyond their reach. She was a pretty woman, clothed in a pair of light colored pressed pants and a short sleeved white polo shirt with a pair of high-heeled tan shoes. Neither herself nor her son appeared to be tourists or would stay long, just until they dropped off the woman's daughter elsewhere.

The only one that appeared to be enjoying the docks was the teenage girl with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes staring out from black sunglasses. Although she did have a slightly worried expression on her face she was determined to take in all that was around her, even smiling at the woman who came to retrieve her child that was trying to get her brother's attention. Her mother sniffed when the other woman walked away, looking down at her watch again and taking in a deep sigh of annoyance and boredom.

The girl did not seem to notice, taking out a yellow band to tie her hair up with out of the purse she carried and pulled her hair into a small bun at the back of her head. She was the only one that seemed to wearing any kind of clothing fit for the port, shorts that were an inch and a half above her knees with a short sleeve shirt and sandals for shoes.

There were very few luggage at the girl's feet, just enough to get her through a few days' trip to somewhere other than the port and where the smaller boats would be able to take her to. Two small luggage sat in front of her, things that she did not already have elsewhere and one was nearly empty save for some underwear and bras; it had been intentional that she had done that as she would be bringing back more than what she was taking. Strapped to her back was a dark green book bag that carried small things that would help bring some sort of comfort on any trips that she would go on.

The other two did not have anything with them besides the clothing that were on their bodies and perhaps a change of clothing in their car; they were not planning on going on an extended trip like the young lady was and would return for her in several months' time.

"Where is your father? He should have been here by now," the woman muttered hurriedly as she took off her sunglasses, putting them far away enough from her eyes to see if there was anything to clean off. "Always late, he is. I wish that he wouldn't do this. We may have had other appointments today."

"Father comes when he comes, mom. Can't blame him for not coming sooner," the girl told her, shifting her weight from one foot to the other without even looking towards her mother. "You've cleaned your glasses ten times in the last fifteen minutes. Don't you think they are clean enough as it is?"

"Around here, Katherine dear, one has to clean themselves every few minutes so that they don't bring anything home with them." The woman gave her daughter a sideways look that told her to be quiet, putting her glasses back onto her nose and rolling her eyes behind the glasses. A passing tourist gave the woman a look, as the girl, Katherine, rolled her eyes as well but had her head turned elsewhere just in case her mother was watching her. "Honestly, honey, your father is always late and rarely early. Maybe he should get a better watch or something in order to keep himself on time."

"Don't assume that he is late just for the sole purpose of annoying you," Katherine told her with a deep frown as she turned her head towards her. "Sometimes you don't notice he is right next to you for twenty minutes until you turn around to see someone standing next to you."

"Don't give your mother such a headache, Kat," a low voice said from not far from her right before the woman could say anything to her daughter. Katherine jumped slightly at the voice, turning around sideways as her frown vanished and a big smile replaced it. A man walked the last few steps towards them and stopped, his own sly smile appearing on his lips when he reached the trio. He was not much older than the woman with sandy blonde hair, baggy jeans, and a tucked in shirt that looked like it was too faded and too old to be wearing. Many years spending outdoors gave him a tan and a few extra wrinkles that he did not need but was in otherwise good health.

"I don't like you to call her that, Michael," the woman growled huffily as Kat threw her arms around her father for a hug. The boy that stood next to his mother did not move when he saw his father, his arms crossing over his chest and his own frown taking shape. And he would not budge until his mother told him that they were leaving, keeping still like a statue and remaining cold towards the man that he was forced to call father. "It is such a horrid name for her even when she was younger. It's not proper for her to..."

"And she doesn't like it when you call her by her full name," the one called Michael interjected with a dull tone, glaring at the other over top his daughter's head just before she broke off the hug. He patted Kat's shoulder and smiled rather forcibly so that the discomfort of having to be borderline nice with his former wife would be too apparent on his face. "She is off from school now, right? Just making sure that she won't be late for her last year of school."

"Yes, she is. She'll be going back to it at the beginning of September so I would like it if you had her back by the middle of July. You have a solid month with her," the mother told him as Michael picked up the luggage that was next to the girl, giving the boy a quick look; he did not expect his son to hug him as well and, despite his cool appearance, felt a passing of hurt at that.

"Why? I am sure that she has everything all set for her to go back already since you seem to like to get that settled half way through the school year," he said in a rather forced disappointed tone. "Besides the ship she's scheduled to be on coming back from the island won't be docking back here until the twenty-first of August so I'm sure that she can get everything together before school starts."

Despite knowing that this conversation would not be finished that easily, Michael turned around and stared to walk in the direction of the closest ramp to them and where he had come from to make sure that the family they were leaving behind did not know the exact boat that he had been on. Kat gave her mother a fleeting look, said a rather quick goodbye to her and her brother, and followed her father all the while fixing the straps of her book bag. She couldn't say that she was sorry that she didn't give them a more proper goodbye and was more than a bit glad that she would be leaving them behind; she was, however, sad that the summer spent away from them would go by too quick for her liking.

The woman had watched the two of them go without any other words with her mouth hanging open slightly for twenty seconds before she stomped towards the two that were leaving her behind. The boy stared after his mother, sister, and father as he blinked his eyes without so much as a word, thought, or movement coming from him; as long as it didn't concern him he wouldn't budge an inch. It was best to let his mother get out the pent-up frustrations on someone else rather than himself and he was in no rush to divert any more attention to him then there had been, as little as it was.

"If you don't have her back when I want her to be back, she isn't going," the mother snapped as she caught up with Michael and her daughter. Kat slowed down her pace enough so that she wouldn't get any part of her mother's wraith, her head shaking and fleeting smiles to passerby's as they stared and moved away from them.

"She will be eighteen at the end of the week, therefore you won't be able to say anything about her coming back after that," he responded as politely as he could in the presence of his children. Inside, however, a boiling pit of anger was slowly rising up. "You wouldn't want me to take this birthday present away from her, now would you? You do realize that this kind of trip won't happen again in our lifetime, right?"

"Michael, this is your - our - daughter we are talking about here," she reminded him as she stepped in front of him, causing him to stop walking and give her his total attention. Katherine stopped as well, moving her sunglasses down her nose in order to give both of her parents a look. "I don't like the idea of her going into an unknown territory without any supervision. You don't know what is out there."

"While you may be right that we don't, I've been living on that island full-time since well before we divorced and both of our children have been it since before they could walk. Remember?" Michael told her with a knowing look. "You've been there before and know what it's like so don't act like you don't know."

"I'm not talking about that island," she shouted at him with a very raised voice. "The ones that have little to no civilizations on them are the ones I'm worried about."

"This is no different than all of the times that I had her on other trips when she was a mere child, unable to walk. I seriously doubt you realize how much trouble it took for this to happen," he answered, now attempting to step around her yet she matched every movement that he made. Annoyance set on his face and the restraint he had in keeping calm and nice was starting to crumble. "Look, if it makes you feel any better there will be a lot more people around then me, my travel guides, and a few other people. They know the land better than anyone else and know what to do in case something happens. Besides it is not like we are going into the territory without any protection."

"That's also what I am afraid of." She glanced in Kat's direction who, while looking out into the open ocean, had almost the same expression on her face. "What if she turns on you?"

"Just because she placed a knife at your throat three years ago doesn't mean she will do the same to me." Michael smiled absently as he shrugged. "Then again, I wasn't the one that backed her into a corner while yelling things in her face. Or don't you remember?"

She stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, her mouth open enough so that her face looked more shocked then her eyed-liked look told him. Then her mouth moved into a thin line, her eyes darting over towards her son before resting upon her daughter. Now she had narrowed eyes at the girl - who was looking out into the open sea - and fought back the urge to take her by the hand, turn her around, and take both of her children away from the ocean. All to spite the man standing before her; the thought of it made her smile, her attention moving solely on Michael.

"Be that as it may, I still have some say in this before she legally becomes an adult. I do not think that you should take her so lightly especially since you are the one that lets her get away with more than enough." She smiled tightly and with a joy in seeing Michael's face tense up.

"She is old enough to take care of herself and has been able to do so since she was younger than our son is." He glanced over his shoulder for a moment before returning his gaze forwards. "I really do not have the time to continue this discussion at this time. We are going to miss the boat so please step out of my way so she doesn't spend another miserable summer stuck on some forsaken yacht that she doesn't even want to be on."

"Fine, have it your way," she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest as she stepped several paces to the left. "Even to this day I do not know why you turned away from everything that you had."

"Because it wasn't - isn't - me." Michael gave her a swift nod and a half-hearted smile as he placed a luggage bound hand around Kat's upper back to guide her forwards. They walked away from the mother and towards the open ocean in silence until they were away from the dock and on the waves of a new journey. The woman turned around to watch the two walk swiftly down the dock to a ramp that would allow them to get to the lower docks, the boy moving to her side with a confused and dark look on his face.

"You're going to let her go, aren't you?" He asked, looking at his other before turning his gaze to the two figures that descended the ramp. The woman sighed, closed her eyes for ten seconds then longingly looked out into the deep blue sea.

"I suppose I have to let her go," she mused thoughtfully, watching the two laugh at something before they disappeared out of their sight. "She is, after all, old enough now to make her own choices. But that still doesn't mean anything other than that she is still too much of a child."

"Sure she is, mother. Sure she is." Shaking his head, he turned around and started to walk towards where their car was parked and away from the salty air. He knew better to judge how his sister did, after all Kat knew things that he did not. The woman stood where she was at that position for another two minutes, a sigh escaping her lips as she also turned around and followed her son. It was a bit hard leaving her daughter in the hands of her former husband but it was what she wanted and she couldn't stop it none the least.

Maybe it would be for the best. Maybe.

XXX

A pair of eyes had watched the entire scene unfold in front of it as its material body shifted under the shadow of a tree that had been planted near one of the few bait and tackle shops at the upper portion of the dock. It was clothed entirely in black and stood out from the rest of the workers, tourists, and sight seekers but kept to the shadow underneath the tree - it would not cause any disturbance while it was in the company of the public. Besides having a few stealing glances towards it, it received very little attention outside the wondering glances and the pressed smiles that came it's way. And that's exactly how it wanted this to be.

The shadow watched as the girl and the man walked down the ramp to the lower docks, the boy and the woman watching them go before they turned around and started to walk away from the port. They only held its attention for so long before it returned it's gaze to the distant ramp that the girl and the man had walked down, keenly interested in that particular area for a few seconds.

It stood there for a moment longer before it moved out from underneath the tree and to the edge of the upper dock where it had the advantage of being able to see almost all the way down to the lower docks. The sounds of the ocean called to it and beckoned it to come back and it would once it made sure that the girl and the man were on their way from the mainland and out into the ocean.

It watched as the two stopped not far from where the ramp ended and were chatting with a dockhand and pointing to one of the boats that would - hopefully - take them out into open waters. The dockhand nodded several times and pointed to a seaworthy boat at the far end of the docks, the man nodding before beckoning the girl to follow him in that direction. The shadow watched them as far as it could until it could not make the two out from the rest of the bodies that were scurrying on the platforms like mice in a maze. It wouldn't know for sure if they would make it out to the open ocean or not but it remained firm on its belief that someone would come out of all of this.

A tingling sensation came over it, the shadow standing frozen where it was it before a soft moan came from within it. There was something tugging at its body to come back to where it should belong, a longing that only it could feel. It knew that everything now was in place for something even bigger would take place then it standing out in the open without restrictions - and those events would play out in the next week.

Or so it hoped.

Until Next Time