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The Edge of Forever

Chapter 4: Blood Spatter

The sound of the Strahl hitting the ground was deafening to Vaan, but he didn't seem to be hurt, only jarred and scared half out of his wits. Balthier and Basch had taken most of the impact, mainly because they had gone out of their way to make themselves shields for the others. Vaan had never felt anything quite like the impact of the Strahl diving nose first into the hard ground of the Ozmone Plains, and had it not been for Balthier's tight grip around him he might have very well been thrown into a bulkhead and killed.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Penelo.

Balthier coughed and waved his hand around to clear some of the smoke and dust that hung in the air. He quickly glanced Vaan over for wounds, "We're fine over here," he said.

"You do realize you have glass sticking out of your back," said Penelo.

Balthier craned his head around to see that he had indeed been impaled by a dozen or so little shards of glass, "Goddamnit," he muttered, "They aren't deep, I'll be fine. You're bleeding yourself there little missy."

She looked down at her arm where the pirate was pointing, she had a nasty cut, but it was nothing serious.

"I'm fine," said Ashe, who was dusting herself off nearby, "What about you Basch?"

She received only a cough in way of an answer.

"Basch?"

Balthier peered through the smoke and caught sight of Basch's red shirt, he motioned Ashe away as he made his way toward him, "Basch?"

Basch was slumped against the wall, a thin stream of blood coming from his mouth, "I'm fine," he whispered.

Balthier looked him over, "Fucking hell," he muttered, "You've got a piece of metal sticking out of your stomach."

Basch chuckled, sending a spattering of blood from his lips, "I had noticed, Balthier," he said sarcastically.

Balthier attempted a halfhearted smile, "We're going to have to pull it out."

"By 'we' I assume you really mean 'you'."

Balthier nodded, "Shall we get it over with then?"

Basch frowned, "No choice I suppose."

"I'll need the rest of you to hold him down," Balthier instructed, "Fran, put something in his mouth. Can't have him biting his tongue off."

Everyone scrambled into position.

"Ok, I'm going to pull on three," said Balthier, "One…two…"

Basch screamed a mumbled stream of obscenities in Balthier's direction.

"What was that captain?" asked Balthier.

Fran removed the gag from the captain's mouth, "I said you pulled on two you stupid fucker!"

Balthier held up the jagged piece of metal, "Don't be a baby; I got it out didn't I?"

Basch said nothing.

Balthier smirked and muttered a cure spell.

"Don't be a baby Balthier!" chided Penelo as she yanked another chunk of glass from the pirate's back.

Now it was Basch's turn to smirk as they sat around their campfire beside the ruined Strahl, watching Penelo remove the glass from Balthier.

"I'm not being a... OUCH! Goddamnit Penelo, don't just yank it out!"

"If you don't hush I'll let Basch do it," she said, "I think he wants a little revenge."

Balthier shot Basch a dirty look, but said nothing.

"Do you think the ship can be repaired?" asked Ashe, bringing a somber feeling down on them all.

Balthier sighed, "Yes, but not by me…and not out here."

"We don't have time to wait on repairs," she said, "We'll have to move on now, on foot."

Vaan shook his head, "You want us to travel to the edge of the world…on foot?"

"I don't see that we have a choice," she argued, "It is of the utmost importance that we get to the Anovan and destroy it before anyone else gets it and tries to use it."

"I think you know more about this Anovan than you're telling us," said Basch.

Ashe fell silent.

"Basch is right," said Balthier, "You've already cost me my ship princess, and you'll not get my life without telling me exactly what the hell is going on. And who it is that just tried to kill us."

"I don't know what you mean," she said.

"You think we just magically fell from the sky?" he asked, "We were shot down princess and I think you know by whom."

She furrowed her brow in defiance.

"If you want us to go any further you'd best tell us the truth," he warned.

She sighed and stood her, turning her back to him, "There is a faction of Vayne's army who survived the fall of Bahamut. They went into hiding for a while but there are still many who sympathize with their cause, so it didn't take long for them to strengthen their numbers. The Anovan is a legend, or so I thought. Just a made up story my father told me when I was small."

"What is Anovan princess?" asked Basch, "I don't see how you expect us to find it if we don't even know what it is."

"It's power," she said, "That's all I know. I received a letter from Al-Cid in Rozarria nearly a month ago. He said that there were men loyal to Vayne that had passed through, speaking of finding the Anovan. He warned me that they would use it against my kingdom, and that it was too powerful to fight against once my enemies have it. He was supposed to contact me again, when he found out more, but no one knows where he is now."

"So this is…what?...a rescue mission to save Al-Cid now?" asked Vaan.

Ashe shrugged, "We have no reason to believe he needs rescuing. We just don't know where he is."

"But," said Basch, shaking his head, "If we want to find out what the fuck is going on…we have to find him, right?"

Ashe nodded, "Whatever Anovan is, Al-Cid knows about it. We have to find him."

Balthier sighed, "And we start looking for him where exactly?"

"The last I heard he was following these men, they were headed towards the edge of the world," she said.

Vaan shook his head, "This doesn't make sense. Why would Al-Cid follow them himself, doesn't he have people that do that kind of thing for him? And where the hell is this 'edge of the world' you all keep going on about."

"This is too important to not do oneself," Ashe argued, "And the edge of the world is past the Nam Yensa Sandsea. How far from there I don't know. I just know that is the end of the territory we know, and the edge of the world is somewhere beyond it."

To Be Continued…

Sorry that took so long to get out, I'm trying to do some updating today but you know how things get all hectic sometimes! Hope you enjoyed!