"Chapter 2: Farewells"

Whatever moroseness had overcome Leblanc the night before, it was absent now as she was back to being the Boss. She was in her element, and in control. She may not have won Nooj's heart yet, but one thing she knew she could achieve was his gratitude as she continued fetching spheres for him. And in this task she rarely failed since she handled sphere hunting with the ease and grace of an expert. Her confidence was back in full force, and she led her two boys and a pack of goons straight out of Guadosalam and into the ThunderPlains in search of the sphere that might make Nooj really smile.

They, the trio and the gaggle of goons, now trekked through the muck brought on by the ever-constant rain. Professionalism aside, they looked a miserable party, but no one uttered a word of complaint. It may have been from their professionalism, or it maybe that they feared her heel if they did, but the group were effectively covering a lot of ground just the same. Even as the boom and crash of thunder, which so named the plains, rolled around them and the flash of light that was precursor to it half-blinded them. These happening at an increased frequency than when they had first entered.

"There's a storm brewing," An Al Bhed technician working on the towers had warned earlier.

"There's always a storm," A smart-alecky voice shot back. Leblanc had quite a few Al Bheds in her employment, mostly those that missed Home and couldn't follow Cid anymore, but the particular one that spoke was a young and smart-mouthed one that had come into her chateau for different reasons.

"Don't worry, Boss!" He cheerfully assured her in his goofy voice as they stubbornly pressed into the plains. "Those towers seem to be working just fine as far as I can tell! Anyways, we'll find that sphere in no time thanks to my new invention!"

"New invention?" Leblanc raised her brow, and blinked at the rain that whipped through the air. She couldn't quite believe him to say that everything was in working order, since quite a few lightning strikes hit the ground off in the distance, but she tried to not let that worry her on her quest for this new sphere. However, a new invention, if it worked and helped them on the sphere-hunting, would be a welcome change.

But Leblanc didn't let her hopes up too much since a lot of things Taji, the goon, invented never worked right away.

"You sure about this?" A voice sounding similar to Taji, but a bit softer, chimed to his side in a tone that probably wasn't meant to carry to Leblanc's ears. "I mean, we didn't give it a proper test run!"

"I did too Daji!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Boys," Leblanc said testily. The Al Bhed twins were constantly bickering, and she never was in the mood to tolerate it. They sheepishly peered at her and she sent them off with a wave.

"Sorry Boss," They replied in unison, before sinking a little into their shoulders. Off they shot away from her with a couple of bounds and flips to set back to work. Just as they were out of sight, Leblanc shook her head exasperatedly.

"You nuisances!" Logos's voice echoed not far off. Leblanc mounted the hill, and discovered that the twins had apparently slipped in the mud and bumped into him in their excited in-sync leaping. Also, she found Ormi had a meaty hand clasped over both their faces and holding them in place, talking to them about taking things seriously once in a while.

A little later on, there was a girlish scream, followed by a quick report of a gun. A She-Goon had encountered a low level fiend, but the gunslinger made quick work of it, although he seemed a bit disappointed that no real threat presented itself to try out his new ammo on. This much was apparent as his head hung low under the beating rain, and he shoved his revolver back into his holster with a slap of wet leather.

His mood didn't stop the ever optimistic attitudes of the goon.

"Thanks a lot!" There was a cute little salute for his efforts, which was of course answered only with a slight roll in his eyes. Neither Leblanc nor Ormi was concerned with Logos ever trying to pursue the girls that accompanied them on this mission, since they were the She-Goons and Fem-Goons that actually lived with them in the chateau. These girls were close-knit companions of each other, considered dear friends of Leblanc, and constant teasers to all the male occupants of the mansion. Demonstrated as the She-Goon the gunner just saved sidled closer as he barked another command to the twins to cease.

"Aawwww," The Al Bhed girl, the She-Goon unmasked, cooed in a very Gullwing-like way and then jabbed a playful elbow into the tall man's side, "Somebody a widdle gwumpy?"

"Oh don't do that, Anomi," Mara, typically Leblanc's Fem-goon turned masseuse, who also had been selected to came along, put her hands on Anomi's arm and ushered her a step away before Logos bit her head off. She and Anomi were best friends, and would be the same rank if not for the fact that Anomi was more than happy to elect that they skip work once on a mission to Mt. Gagazet. An idea that got Anomi demoted, although Mara kept herself out of hot water that day.

"I was just playing," Anomi said in a harmless tone, which did little good for her argument seeing as that was always her excuse. Still, her face cracked into a large grin under the rainfall and she shimmied her way up to her friend and started to push and prod here and there to try and rouse a giggle. There erupted a laugh that could give the entire plains cavities, if it had teeth.

"Could we move along please?" Logos, some paces ahead, snapped over his shoulder to the two girls messing around. The two quickly followed on his tail, and joined the Al Bhed twins in flanking their three leaders.

Leblanc stopped the entire party before looking down at the drenched paper wetly crumbling away in her hands. The coordinates were becoming harder to see, and it was always hard to find something in the vastness of the Thunder Plains in the first place.

"Alright time to split up, loves." Leblanc snapped her fingers and sent off some goons to look in the general vicinity with the Boys, and the girls naturally accompanied her.

It seemed like short work when they were in the warmth and comfort of their home in Guadosalam, but out here in the chilled rain it was proving more difficult than first realized. Their progress was hindered by the apparent failings of the towers, and the growing ferocity of the storm. They were well out of ear-shot of each other when any of them made any headway. However, even that didn't seem to go as planned, much like everything else in this increasingly wretched day. The boys had come across something promising, although none of them would have called it that looking down in the sludge pit.

Having no time to waste, since the rain was thoroughly pelting the small group in swells and the crack of thunder and flash of lightning was growing more frequent, they dived right in to get to feeling for it. Logos gagged in disgust. It was raining and the mud they dug through could have easily been fiend waste for all they knew. The grayish green certainly was disheartening enough.

Daji, the little Al Bhed that guarded Leblanc's door, refused to step foot in it. No one could necessarily blame him, since they wouldn't have done it either if they had a choice, but here they were and the pit could only fit so many of them at a time. Logos, out of pure frustration for them not being able to find it quick enough, had switched with Ormi some time ago.

"Guys I think we should hurry," Daji, shivering on the edge of the pit, wrung his hands together. It wasn't a good idea to be out in the flat plains, open to getting struck and meeting your ends. They all wanted out of the rain and out of the open and Logos wanted out of the knee deep…whatever it was.

"I think I got it!" Taji, bent down, was shoulder deep in the nastiness, his cheek, showing bare since he had shed his mask that had plastered itself to his face from the cold and wet, was laid against the top of the greyish slop. He yanked, and pulled, clearly struggling. Logos grabbed his shoulder and yanked as well. Here, Ormi had to assist, as both members were stuck in the mire and had to be rescued.

When at last freed, Taji held a sphere of a dull green color victoriously.

"Let's go find the girls!" Daji shouted excitedly and took off as fast as he could away from the mud-hole. There was a skittish way he dodged here and there, and for good reason, since lightning was striking the ground far too close for comfort now.

The girls they searched for were almost as miserable as they had been, and didn't have the relief of a sphere in hand. Leblanc silenced the complaints of Anomi before taking the lead to stalk off to find cover.

"Over here!" Leblanc, hair dripping and clothes soggy, called them over to where she was under a sad looking pile of ruin. Part of an ancient dome, so gray it was almost black, provided a cover from the rain and lightning and a destroyed cracked wall would serve as a nice, though damp, backrest. Leblanc shook her spikes, sending droplets loose from her hair and away, before settling down on the moist ground and pulling her knees up to her chest. She hated the damp.

"Wonder how the boys are doing…" Mara's voice spoke of worry.

"The boys can take care of themselves," Leblanc sounded certain, but there was an edge that pressed inside her. She ignored it, before making sure her Goons settled beside her, as she was sure that they were stuck there for a while. Her loyal subordinates plopped beside her and the focused on waiting for the storm to pass. As most of the day, it was a disappointing venture, since it only seemed to grow worse the longer they sat.

"Uh? Boss?" Anomi watched as the drops got heavier and the ker-crash's started to shake the very earth.

"What?" Leblanc flinched at another bolt that attacked the earth. She had to blink away the shivers.

"The storm isn't letting up at all."

Leblanc turned her face to look at her from her knees, eyes a shade dull from its usual state.

Anomi flinched a little, sensing the change in mood. "Jus' saying."

"I think so too," Leblanc looked drearily back at the storm, the wind howling past their alcove. Leblanc let her shoulders fall as she continued to stare out into the dismal scene of water falling off the side of dome in a thick waterfall, making a wall between her and the rest of the sad world outside. Whatever confident airs she had regained was being leaked out of her, although the same could be said for all of them. It was hard to keep up spirits in such conditions.

Coffee could do nothing for Leblanc's miserable mood now. Leblanc blinked, feeling just as bad as she had before she got up that morning. The wretched state of affairs led Leblanc's mind back to what had her frowning yesterday. She found herself ghosting over the thought of Nooj, which often occupied her idle mind, but they weren't accompanied by the triumphant certainty that she could work hard enough and get whatever she wanted. Leblanc's eyes drifted, and she looked to the side and observed the two friends with heads close together and chattering somewhat nervously.

"Don't worry, this can't last forever." Mara said sweetly, and reassured, Anomi smiled back past her mask that she removed to wring out the rain from.

Those words rung differently, oddly, as Leblanc titled her head back to look at her folded arms. This wouldn't last forever. Of course, Mara meant the storm, but in Leblanc's stagnant love life, she felt it meant about her and Nooj. It gave her a bit of heart, thinking that eventually she could win Nooj over, but with the way things are now, could she? She had to do something different. Spherehunting was not a fun adventure every time, a statement that their situation proved true, but what was all this suffering for? Could Leblanc really win Nooj's heart by simple compliments and...of all things...spheres? Even the right one? The miracle sphere that she always strove to obtain was always infuriatingly out of reach.

Nooj won't notice me if I just keep giving him spheres same as always. That seemed obvious, especially since yesterday. Leblanc felt her chest heave as she sighed. Then a sudden thought struck her, and made her strangely sick to her stomach the moment it was conceived.

"Boss! We's thought youse might've drowned out there!" Ormi was already in her face the moment she walked through the front door. He was happy enough though, as he smiled broadly upon her entrance and excitedly rushed forward. Checking over the soaked group up and down, he stepped out of the way as some idle goons ran to meet them with towels. His booming voice had alerted almost everyone that the leader of the chateau had come home, and they wasted no time in making themselves useful. As for Ormi, he wasted no time in apologizing.

"We's was worried. We thought youse guys headed back before us!" Ormi explained, obviously feeling a little uncomfortable for leaving his leader, who he often guarded himself, out in the open like that. Leblanc took a towel from an eager Goon's hand and started drying her hair, making a vague dismissive noise in her throat to indicate that all was well.

At least, as well as it was going to get before she broke the news.

They were stranded for some time, but not enough time for Leblanc to change her mind. The storm had finally let up enough for them to make the return trip home, empty handed and very down-hearted, her goons for a different reason than herself, of course. However, Mara and Anomi, who had followed her in, cheered up instantly when Logos stepped forward to give up the sphere for Leblanc's inspection.

"It's good." She said, hardly looking at it. She had far heavier subjects than a simple sphere's value weighing in her heart. Her voice did a poor job concealing this fact, and all of the Goons quieted their enthusiasm.

"Something wrong?" Ormi laid a big hand on her shoulder, and his usually trumpeting voice lowered to a level that one would call normal volume, "Youse ain't feeling sick, are youse?"

Sick? Oh she felt sick alright. Sick of this situation, sick of her own thoughts leading her to what's to come, and sick to her stomach that she'd go through with it.

"We could get Rouk to prepare something if you require it," Logos suggested, putting aside the sphere for the moment on the little cabinet that was to the left of the living room door. The goon, having heard his name, leaned in from the doorway, the front entry having been left ajar in Leblanc's wake.

"Won't take long." His grouchy and grumbly voice said matter of factly, and the sound of it caused Logos to start.

"Why are you standing at the door?" He demanded to know, "And wearing the-"

"Got to make sure to be in matching greens, don't I? Taji and the other guy got into an argument and so I am taking his shift." Rouk, usually blue-clad Dr. Goon now turned green clothed sentry, replied before lowering his voice and mumbling just loud enough to be heard, "Though it's not like I'll get paid for it. Everyone just ask Rouk to do something, why don't ya? Not like he's got anything better to do. And, what, you walked right past, without even saying hello? The young people these days…"

"I can barely tell who anyone is with those stupid masks," Logos snapped, before irritably folding his arms under his chest, "Look, just go fetch the boss some concoction of yours and then-"

"No," Leblanc shook her head, and Rouk, who with a grunt turned on his heel to follow through with the order, stopped in his tracks.

The goons took on a slightly nervous air, before Mara stepped forward and in her honey-sweet voice inquired if the boss would like a massage instead?

"No, I don't. Listen all of you," Leblanc took in a breath to steel herself, aware of all the eyes watching her. It would be best to tell as many people as possible at once since it wouldn't be easier to break the news again and again. Her voice lowered as she announced, "I have something to tell you-."

To this, the boys stiffened considerably. The last time she had something important to tell them, it was involving the whole Vegnagun business.

Leblanc flinched inwardly, detecting their justified apprehension, and feeling a sudden pang of guilt from it. Although that emotion, as unexpected as it was for her, didn't ring as sharp through her breast as the regret. She shouldn't have done it like this, she thought miserably immediately after she said. "I'm giving up sphere-hunting."

"Like, youse want to do something else instead?" Ormi asked, his head tilting slightly. The air thickened, and Leblanc could feel the questioning pressure. The goons hovering behind the sizable warrior held their breath, waiting for an explanation. They had all been thrown off kilter, coming down from where they had been flying in high-spirits due to acquiring the Thunder Plain sphere. Leblanc wished they could just understand, as it was not easy, and the words caught in her throat. She scanned the room, hoping she could find something to anchor her and help her with this very difficult thing. Her eyes found the gunner.

Then, Logos laughed, actually laughed!

"Feel like having another concert?" Logos, who usually took things seriously, didn't realize the gravity of her statement. She was hoping he could help hold the situation together, to understand and help her make this easier. Instead he was making jokes. Leblanc, for a brief moment, felt helpless.

In the time the group seemed to regain their earlier mood.

"Oh, could we?" Taji asked excitedly, his head popping around the still open door from his post as guard outside. "I've been practicing my guitar!"

"This time we's could probably just ask to borrow Yuna's garment grid too!" Ormi chuckled.

"Or maybe we could just throw our own concert?" Mara suggested, and Anomi squealed with delight. "Yeah, we should!"

Here, another female goon, who was one of the goons who carried in the towels, joined in with a helpful- "I made pretty good friends with Tobli the last time I auditioned. I think we could just ask him if he could set up a venue for us!"

"Zizi, that's great!" Anomi turned to her fellow Goon and put a thoughtful hand to her chin, "Maybe we could get our hands on some of those floating platforms too? There's nothing like slapping some bass while practically flying!"

Suddenly it seemed like several conversations about the possibilities suddenly broke out between the goons, with Ormi occasionally loudly interjecting his thoughts. They rose to a level din that attracted a few more curious goons from the living room.

"Who's throwing a concert?" A dreary voice asked, and the girls instantly recognized it as Erie, a somewhat klutzy goon who had been avoiding social situations for a while since she had dropped the Floral Fallal sphere some months back.

Zizi turned on her heel and exclaimed, "We are!"

This conversation was out of hand. Leblanc snapped her mouth shut, from where it was earlier hanging loosely open in hopelessness, and regained her composure as she stomped her foot. "No. We. Are. Not! Listen to me, loves!"

Heads snapped to her, and she exhaled a long breath through her nose, steeling herself. Her chin dropped and she said in a clipped and heavy voice, "Look. I'm giving up sphere-hunting…and the Syndicate."

And it was quiet, the tension returned. Leblanc studied the intricate floor for a long time, the only sound she could detect her own breathing, before she dared to raise her eyes again. To look at them like this was to realize how little she knew them.

Of course, she expected them to be upset. Naturally, they all had become good friends in the time they had known each other despite all professional relationships. Leblanc was sure that she would miss them as much as they would miss her. But this was beyond what she expected or had prepared herself for. She looked out at the little mass of covered faces and sensed nothing from them but complete devastation. A sort of quiet despair consuming them not unlike when Nooj had abandoned her.

"What?" A voice carried down to her ears from above. Daji had been at his post guarding her bedroom door, and had been joyfully listening in. However, after her announcement, he was the first to break the following silence with a teary and wavering voice. "Oh boss, tell me you don't mean it."

"Why?" Another voice joined him, and this cry was also tear-lined and practically shouted at her, demanding, in a pain-ridden whine. Taji entered the chateau from his post guarding the front door, and turned fully to his leader, "Why all of a sudden?"

"It's…hard to explain." Although she had made it seem easier in her head earlier. Leblanc felt herself faltering, but she had given it so much thought, and mentally prepared herself. And yet, this was just going terribly. She let her eyes wander, as if she'll find the words somewhere floating aimlessly in the air. Instead, the sight that met her just hurt all the more.

It was strange how she kept looking to the second-in-command for help, to make this easier. It was strange that just this once he kept disappointing her.

Logos looked away, his arms crossed so tightly around his chest that it made a deep indention in his coat, and Ormi looked up from his belly, his eyes big and hurting like a dog kicked by it's revered owner.

Ormi couldn't help his voice cracking a bit, like he did if he received a heavy blow in battle or was otherwise injured. "Youse ain't leaving right now are ya?"

"No, but soon," Leblanc bit her lip. She was never one to feel sheepish for anything, but this was getting harder and harder to say. "I need to make a few arrangements, but they shouldn't take long. I'm…I'm going to Mushroom Rock…to see-."

"The Meyvn," Logos had lifted his face to look at her again, his expression indiscernible. That simple name seemed to shrink the forms all of the Goons present, realization finally dawning.

They never liked mentioning it, but it was impossible to not think about the future when the Boss continued to fall for the Meyvn. Of course it had come up in whispered discussions among the Goons, but usually it was brushed off casually. As worrisome as the mere thought was, it could have always been put off another day. After all, she wasn't leaving any time soon, or so they thought.

"What'll we do without ya?" Taji's goofy voice sounded hopelessly small.

They all exchanged looks, before giving all of their attention without breathing to their soon to be ex-leader.

"Logos is in charge," Leblanc surprised the gunner, not to mention the rest of the Goons, and even herself with her words. In response, the aforementioned employee's eyes widened, and he stared straight at her, unblinkingly. After a little time and a few false starts, he managed to spit out-

"I can't," His chest rose with a shuddering breath, which he hid as he looked down again, "Boss, I couldn't possibly do what-"

"You'll do fine," Leblanc assured him, the others, and herself all in the same breath, "You have an excellent performance record on solo missions Logos, and you have no problem in telling the others what to do."

As a bonus, he had been great at keeping things running when she fell into a depression over Nooj before. There'd be no problem in repeating that when she was gone.

Logos shook his head, "Boss, I couldn't, no, can't- possibly-"

"Oh, stop sniveling," Leblanc managed to summon back her earlier authoritative tone, finding some comfort in her new appointment, before saying in a hopefully light-hearted voice, "You'll manage. It's not it's the end of the world, loves."

"It's the end of our world," Daji said rather melodramatically from where he still stood at the balcony.

"I'm serious," Leblanc gained a slight edge to her voice as she looked all around the room with a stern eye, "I've made up my mind. I don't want to hear anything more about it, understand?"

"Yes, Boss," They all habitually piped up, but their voices were all weighted down and heavy when they did.

Leblanc pulled her frown closer to her teeth, her brows arching up delicately. "You're all free to do what you like now, loves."

She walked past them in silence, up to her room, her creaking door a cold sound when it closed. Then she heard some of them sobbing, which called forth tears to her own eyes, wetly trailing down her reddened cheeks.

This had to be the right decision. Leblanc slipped, her back against the door, and folded her arms over her bent knees, her forehead falling forward. She had thought about it every which way and it was the only choice-

If she did establish a long-awaited relationship with Nooj, as she always had every intention of doing, then that would have to spell the end of her sphere-hunting career no matter what. Nooj would want spheres still, but it wouldn't suit someone in a committed relationship to run around all over Spira, all the while running her own organization. Leblanc was willing to put all her efforts and energy into love, and would never short-change Nooj. So this realization, as obvious as it seemed to be, suddenly struck Leblanc as she waited in the gloom of a Thunder Plain storm. However sad the thought, it had always been true. She'd have to quit the Leblanc Syndicate for good. It was so clear, so eventual, that Leblanc was surprised it was never paid any mind. Even she had never bothered to think about it before, until the thought had bubbled to the surface, as if dropped from the sky by a dismal rain drop that slid down her face as she waited in the dampness she hated so much.

However, those goons were so much a part of her life now that she found it hard to think about moving on without them. They were always around, always two or three steps behind her, and now they just wouldn't be. A tear slid down her face and she gasped a little as her lips curled around a weak sob. Leblanc had never before considered what their absence would mean, or her absence to them.

She had a basement full of people who looked up to her, depended on her, respected her, and gave their complete trust and loyalty just to her. Leblanc felt the real weight of that honor now and she felt a dull pain grow in her chest. She had just destroyed all of that. Regret flooded through her, and she bit back another sound that rose in her throat, burying her face into her legs.

She wasn't worried about the Syndicate itself, groups came and went sometimes. Even the Gullwings went their own separate ways after defeating Vegnagun. Surely as tight-knit of group as that still kept in contact with each other, right? The former High Summoner girl was back home in Besaid, the thief was in Djose, the goth still in the ship and the little Al Bhed one, with the brain, was with Rin the last time she heard the snippets of gossip about them. The other two were on the ship too, but she couldn't be sure what their names were. Suddenly, Leblanc felt her spirit sink even lower, if that could even be possible.

With all them spread out like that, Leblanc couldn't imagine them all staying in touch with each other.

If only she could bring them all with her to the Youth League. Surely if she asked them they'd do it in a heartbeat. They had done crazier things, on even the most slightest of her whims, before now. Maybe she should go ahead...Leblanc swallowed hard, hot tears bubbling and bursting form her eyes in a new wave. How could she think like this? She couldn't just continue to drag them around through her life. She didn't own them, and they weren't her pets. They really had done all those things in the past, all that she asked of them, with very little protest if any. They would even look death in the face, as Ormi and Logos had both proven with the whole Vegnagun affair. But...that was wrong.

Leblanc realized this in a sort of epiphany that left her a little breathless. They could have died, and she didn't even leave them the option of staying behind. What stake did they have in all of that business? Generally those two made it their business to stay out of that kind of thing, and she didn't even consider them in all that. They could have died...and whatever for?

Logos and Ormi had been worse for wear upon coming back home. They protested against it, reasonably, and did she listen? No, she loved Nooj and nothing would stop her from chasing even his shadow. But she should've gone by herself. They didn't need to risk their lives for something other than sphere hunting. They were sphere hunters, after all. They certainly weren't in the business for Nooj's sake. Not like her.

What a terrible leader she turned out to be. Leblanc wiped at her face, sniffing in, and biting another sharp breath. The Goons had revered her, and she didn't even think about them more than half the time. She was always thinking of what she wanted, and her own desires blinded her. She didn't deserve them, and they certainly deserved better than her.

Logos would make a better leader. He was more logical, and temper aside which Ormi could most of the time manage to check, he never let too much emotion leak into the main objective; just simply to collect spheres. He was very efficient.

Her plan seemed all the more solid now. She needed to leave them, for their own good, not even considering for the good of her own love life. This was going nowhere and it was a waste there; her relationship with Nooj, the constant risking of their lives over things that they'd just give away….

This was right. And even if it wasn't, it was too late to turn back now.

Logos and Ormi, like they always had, stayed beyond what was expected of them. They waited for her to show herself again, but as they stood there for a long time, it was mentally decided that Leblanc was busy enough with arrangements and wouldn't be out for a while yet. No one dared to disturb her either. Ormi said something vaguely about checking on the others, before he waddled back to the living room, where the grieving goons had gone off sniffling, and said over his meaty shoulder that he would be right back. Logos simply nodded.

Upstairs, Leblanc had silently cried to herself until the salt dried on her eyelashes and made them heavy and somewhat rough to blink. She was not one to shed tears often, but detaching herself from the Syndicate hadn't been as painless of an operation as she would've hoped for.

She got up stiffly and made her way into the bathroom, offset from her bedroom, flicking on the light as she entered and wincing at the sudden brightness. She hadn't even bothered to turn on the bedroom light, instead recovering from that emotional encounter in the dark. Leblanc felt horrible, but still resolved. With one grimace at her puffy reflection, she turned the hot water faucet on full blast in her shiny white sink and shed the dark violet gloves.

That could have gone better…Leblanc thought with a soreness in her heart, as her hands collected pool after pool to splash against her face. The warmth helped, and before long Leblanc was moving on to continue freshening up. She needed to change, since the Thunder Plains mission had left her bedraggled looking. She fished around and found some clothes more suited for what was to become her new life, something that looked less iconic to the Leblanc Syndicate. She wanted to be very clear to Nooj from the start that something was different. But then, she hadn't worn something in plain colors or style since establishing her business. It took some digging but she found them, and it seemed right that she returned to them after saying goodbye.

She did what more she had to do, calling to inform the Youth League Headquarters to expect a visit from her and a proposition as well. Then, she set to work sorting her things in a bag, and found time to write a few further instructions on a sheet of stationary for Logos, the new Syndicate leader.

She dabbed some of her favorite heady perfume on her person before looking around her room sadly. Even saying goodbye to the damn mansion was hard. She found her resolve again with one more glance at Nooj, the artificial one that is, before making her way back to the front entryway.

"Look-" Ormi was saying to Logos with a grated tone, "Some of them girls are still crying-"

"Well, what would you have me do about that?" Logos shot back before Ormi punched him in the arm to get his attention. His glare was hard, especially after being punched, before following Ormi's eyes and exclaiming along with the warrior, "-Boss!"

Both of the boys changed expressions immediately. Her heart, back alive again, took another plunge but she stopped it in the pit of her stomach. "I'll miss you, boys," She smiled down at them, before descending the stairs.

Ormi lightly smiled back and stuck out his hand. Leblanc, her spirit and smile rising, took it and he pumped his arm in a handshake.

"Be safe, Boss," Ormi's eyebrows curved upwards and big round tears fell down his puffy cheeks, "Uhm," He swiped them with his other hand before looking back at her with a dry face and enthusiastic smile, "Youse know's we'll be right here if ya ever need us. So's-…don't be afraid's to call on us if youse are ever in a pinch, or someone makes youse mad, or makes youse sad or even if youse are just lonely! Youse can always- I mean always-"

"Good heavens Ormi, she get's it," Logos snapped before uneasily trailing his gaze over the buff arm and thick hand to the slender one cupped in the large warm palm. He stopped there for a moment, swallowed painfully, before looking into the golden brown eyes that stared into him. He coughed and lowered his eyes to the floor, rubbing the back of his neck, "Well, erm, goodbye then…"

"Goodbye," Leblanc echoed and turned to leave, finding it harder and harder to leave the more she stayed.

The door slammed behind her and Logos felt his chest tighten. He patted his chest, coughing again, but it didn't help.

The sound of the front door had summoned the earlier occupants again, and as Ormi had said, some of the girls really hadn't stopped crying. One particular, Erie, with her pale face revealed behind her now pinned mask, had a harshly trembling lip as she looked upon the front door that had shut with a resonating boom.

"Logos, do something!" She finally screamed, stomping her foot and finally breaking out into a whole new fit of barely contained tears. Her face, twisted up in emotion, cracked under the strain of holding back a sob. When it broke through anyways, Mara stepped forward with a few soothing sounds and took her arms into her hands to rub them softly.

Logos stared at the scene, hardly believing any of it. "What could I do?" He said after a while, his voice a little heavy with breath, but harsh and biting. The Fem-Goon looked ready to strike him. She didn't get the chance to.

Rouk, the Doctor Goon having materialized same as everyone at the final farewell at the large front door, stepped forward with his head tilted to the side in his heavily bent shoulders. His gravelly voiced grumbled, "You brought her back last time, didn't you?"

"Barely. " Logos said dismally. They didn't need to ask him to fetch her back last time, they did anyways but just as he was already leaving, of his own volition, the moment they realized she had gone. Unfortunately, this was not the same. Logos shrugged his arms, although not in a motion of apathy, but a sort of protected helplessness. His voice rose a pitch, and if Leblanc were there she would call it sniveling as he continued, "At the time, she only came back because we would help her find Nooj. She's not going to have trouble finding him now."

"No, she won't," Rouk replied, "But so what?"

"You saw her, heard her," Logos nearly snarled, his head jerking rather violently towards the door as his temper mounted. "She's made up her mind."

"Oh, cut that out!" Rouk snapped, sharp as a whip. It surprised not only the gunner by the tone he was using, but the other goons as well who would've never dared to use such a voice to their second in command even before he had become their first. "What do you want? An invitation? Look, 'leader', I'm not expecting you to be the boss of us for long. If you want your very short time as our Head Honcho to be good, you better do what's right starting right here, and right now."

Logos seemed to be chewing on several words for the harsh insolence, but the Dr. Goon had his ear. He didn't interrupt as the Goon took another step forward, closing the little distance. "Quit wasting all of our time," Rouk's crackly voice began and he held out his bent arm to point at the door, "If you want to stop her, then do it, gunslinger."

They stared at each other for a strained second, one face covered and devoid of emotion, the other clearly struggling between getting angry and something else. Something else that had such a solid hold on him that he was already turning towards the door, as if yanked there by a hook in his spine, before he had entirely made up his mind to say a snapping comment or not. Logos turned his wide shoulders away so quickly that he checked the Dr. Goon in his passing, but not a negative word was said as their new leader pushed through the mansion's front doors and into the street.

Guado that had returned from the woods and travelers alike looked at him with slight curiosity as he weaved through them and tried to spot the familiar blonde head. With a hairstyle like hers, it should stick out. It always had before. He thought this before being disappointed yet again when his sharp eyesight revealed nothing. Damnation, where did she go?

Logos's eyebrows arched upward as he could not make out anything familiar. His breath hitched as he pushed through the crowd, "Boss!"

Leblanc heard his voice before she saw him. What he and the goons always called her aside, his voice was not an easy voice to simply blend and get lost in a crowd. She recognized him instantly, and found his tall form easily enough as she turned. She had made good headway, mostly because she had to literally run away from the temptation to turn back. The temptation was burning her from the inside out, and her chest lurched at the sight of him, his shoulders pushing past the throng of others. She suddenly felt like she should run again, but her feet were planted rather firmly despite herself. Logos spotted her, she could see the relief pool into his very thin eyes. As he approached her with labored breathing, he finally gasped and bent forward, shrinking his lean form to where he exposed the top of his helmeted head.

"Logos?"

He was bent over his knees as continued to attempt to breathe, unable to answer for a beat before he managed.

"Boss," He stood straight and she could see sweat dappled his face, although he didn't seem to notice. The corner of his mouth twitched, almost forming an uneasy smile, before he eased out past his lips, "Please, reconsider. Put this off for a while more so we could properly discuss-"

"There's nothing to talk about," She instantly regretted the frigidness of her statement, but it had just come out as she felt her feet underneath her again. She wasn't even out of Guadosalam and she wasn't sure she wanted to go through with this quite yet. But, she never went back on a plan, never doubted herself. Leblanc wasn't going to start now.

"Would you please just listen-!" Logos started, saying the same thing and using the same tone he had when he finally found her, after tromping all over Spira looking for her, that time she disappeared looking for Nooj. Exasperation coated his words with the slight detectable twinge of desperation. It made Leblanc raise a brow, effectively checking his attitude, but giving him her attention due to the particular sound, the inflection, that managed to play at her heartstrings. Especially now.

Logos huffed, trying to find words, and gesturing a little erratically with his usually well controlled hands as he faltered, "It's...too soon. Boss-just...let's think this through-"

"I have thought it through," Leblanc's voice held a defensive edge before she swallowed, her brows furrowing, "Logos, it's not going to get any easier. You know that. I know it's not fair. I should have done that differently but there is no turning back now, love."

Logos huffed, looking momentarily astonished, and staggered back to peer around as if in disbelief. Leblanc's already present frown deepened as he gathered himself again and scoffed, "Boss, of course there is! There is a lot that needs to be said! You can't just run off again, not like that! It's not-"

"I-" For once Leblanc had trouble controlling her voice, but it didn't last long. She knew that she had wasted a lot of time with that hard good-bye, she had a hover round and a lonely trip over the Moonflow on a Shoopuf to catch, after all. It was now or never, and Leblanc had already long since chosen now. She never turned back on a decision. Her voice broke off in a crack as she forced out, "I can't go back."

Leblanc turned away quickly to retreat from him, the back of her clenched fist rising to her mouth as she wheeled around to flee. But, she felt a yank that pulled her back. It hadn't been rough, but enough to make her gasp and look down incredulously. His hand had reached for her wrist and grasped it tightly, a dull pain springing up from how hard he clenched. She suddenly was aware that her breath had caught in her throat.

"Boss…just…don't-" He started again when her eyes lifted back to his face, and although she still felt like she could free herself and run, especially as his grip loosened almost apologetically as if he hadn't meant to reach out at all, she found she still could not leave. Logos was finally becoming overcome with an emotion he was suppressing, and it clearly was a struggle. She watched as his expression opened up in a way she never seen before. His lean face seemed to grow softer, if that was physically possible, and his foreign looking eyes opened and deepened until she could clearly see the dusky brown color. They surprisingly appeared warm, despite his usual disposition, and it made her uneasy as they stared intensely and directly into her own golden brown ones.

A silence passed for a bit before he looked down again, his face closing up as fast as it had opened. His voice was quiet.

"Boss...please, don't-"

No, don't say it. I can't hear it from you. Leblanc thought and felt a string of sudden fear buzz through her and she retracted into herself, appearing much smaller than she actually was. Quickly, she opened her mouth to say the first thing that came to mind.

"Logos, I'm leaving…now." Before he could react, she wrenched her wrist free, her heart once again feeling the plunge downward. Her own words surprised her, and as they registered they stood awkwardly among the current of people traveling towards the Moonflow. Leblanc lightly gripped her own wrist in her palm when he didn't reach out to her again and held it to her chest for a moment, tears threatening to pool in her eyes once more as she simply stared at the obviously crestfallen gunner. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry." Leblanc repeated herself as she turned and ran.

A/N: I'm not going to lie, this chapter was hard to write (Teary drama, anyone's cup of tea?) I look forward to the rest of the story although I am kind of worried if I'll ever finish it…heh, if I can even write it properly. (Love has never been in my playing field really, and I don't know how to write about it to say it simply?)

Still I appreciate all those reading on and reviewing at your leisure. For some reason it makes me want to write, and summons inspiration from odd places to know people like these stories. If you like I'll do my best to see this through! :-)