Hey! Kairikiani here! I'm posting early, because I'm just like that. If I were a good little writer I'd wait a day and edit the story instead of posting it immediately after I finish the last section, but I've waited so long to post finish this chapter that I can't help myself. Thanks to Andrew Parrish, Little Kunai, goldensun1126, abstractmind, Daidairo, lovestory121 and narcoleptic ninny for reviewing!

Felix woke up to a muted pounding in his ears. However, in his half-awake state, he couldn't tell whether the noise was coming from inside or outside of his head. Since the incident with Sheba he'd had a skull-splitting headache, and he went to bed as soon as possible with the hopes that whenever he woke up, both the memories of his sobbing friend and the icy pain in his skull would turn out to be a dream. Unfortunately, if the numb chill behind his forehead was any indication, napping hadn't solved much.

Felix took in a breath full of stale air and inched closer to the wall against his bed. The covers were scratchy and the pillow stank, but the bed was warm and safe. As long as Felix lay under his sheets, he could believe that his conversation with Sheba on the cold, windy deck really did happen in a whole other world. He had the nasty feeling that if he woke up any further, reality and his nightmares would collide, and he'd be overwhelmed with unpleasant feelings like guilt and stress. It was much better to just rest under the sheets and sleep off this headache…

More pounding, faster this time. Oh, someone really was knocking on his door. Probably someone coming to invite him to dinner. Felix nudged the covers off of the bed and rolled into a semi-upright position. If he told them he was feeling ill, would they just let him sleep? Or would they bring Mia to come heal him awake? Felix made his way towards the sliver of light coming in from under the door. He slid the chain out of the notch that kept the door locked, and then pulled the door open to find Picard standing in the hall outside.

Felix blinked a few times to get the sleep out of his eyes. "Picard? I thought you were on dinner duty."

His friend furrowed his brows. "Well, yes. I was on dinner duty…last night."

Last night? As Felix's mind thawed itself awake, he realized that since his and Picard's bedroom had no clocks or windows, he had no idea what time of day it was. "Wait, are you saying it's morning already?"

"It's been that way for a while, yes."

That's odd. Felix was such a light sleeper that he often woke before the sun rose. He definitely would have woken up if Picard had come into the room. "And you're only just now coming back?"

Picard's eyebrows and the tips of his mouth drew up in unison. "Well, I tried to get to my bed last night, but the door was locked, and you weren't responding to anything I said."

A spark of understanding went off in Felix's head, jolting him awake. Felix cringed. "Oh, Picard! I'm so sorry. I must have locked the door out of habit. I'd only intended to sleep for an hour or two. Did I really lock you out for the entire night?"

Picard smiled. "It's all right. Kraden let me sleep in his room."

Felix shook his head. "It's not all right. I- oh, here, come in." He opened the door wider, and his roommate slipped inside. Picard fished some matches out of a satchel and began lighting the lanterns hanging from the walls.

"I really am sorry, Picard. I honestly didn't hear you."

His friend gave a light laugh. "It's all right. You had a rough night, so it's understandable that you would be more tired than usual." As he lit the candles, the room looked increasingly cramped and dirty. Both men tried to keep it as neat and tidy as possible, always folding their clothes and sweeping the dust out from under their dressers. But no matter how often they washed the floors or made their beds, they couldn't do much about the dank, moldy smell or the slick grayish sheen of the walls. In the dark, Felix could pretend that he was in a nice, wholesome inn with dry floors and clean sheets. But once the ship's candles were lit, everything was cast in a greasy yellow that was impossible to ignore.

"You heard about Sheba," said Felix. It was more of a statement then a question.

"I think the whole boat knows about you and Sheba by now."

A sharp chill pierced Felix's skull. He sat himself down on the bed and massaged his temples. So it hadn't been a dream.

"Ah…Felix?" Picard asked softly from the back wall. Felix turned his head to show he was listening. "I don't mean to pry, but…I was under the impression that you liked Sheba."

Felix raised his eyebrows. "You were?"

Picard looked up at the ceiling, as if he were tracing the woodgrains with his eyes. "Well, yes. It's just, the way you looked at her…"

The chill in Felix's head slid down his spine into the gap between his shoulder blades. How had he looked at Sheba? He tried feverishly to remember the last time he had a normal conversation with Sheba, and how his eyes had felt. Felix thought that he'd looked at her like he did everyone else. Had his feelings been that transparent?

Not that he had feelings for Sheba, of course. Not the kind she had for him. But it disturbed Felix to know that others had made the same mistake Sheba had. He'd assumed that Sheba had just been overenthusiastic about her emotions, and had mistaken his simple affection for love. But if both Jenna and Picard had also seen something in Felix's eyes, maybe Sheba hadn't confessed on a whim.

If that was the case…was last night his fault?

If Picard knew what Felix was thinking, he didn't comment on it. Instead, he waved aside the subject and said, "Sorry, I probably just imagined it. Oh well. She'll get over you and find another guy soon enough. And I'm sure she won't be the last girl to confess her love to you," Picard said as he winked. "You'll both get another chance."

Felix looked away. "Right."

"Unless, of course, you don't want another chance?"

"No, no, I just- Look, Picard, I appreciate the fact that you're trying to cheer me up, but I'm just not interested in women right now."

Picard nodded to himself. "Ah, I see. That's-" He froze as if he'd been splashed with cold water. Then he swirled around with an odd, wide-eyed expression on his face. "Wait, what?"

Felix blinked. "Is that so strange?" True, the heroes in the fairy tales wooed every woman they could find, leaving a weeping maiden in every town they left. But Felix had his reasons for not dating every village princess he met, one of them being that he was a little busy saving the world.

Picard waved his hands frantically in front of him. "No, no, I'm perfectly fine with it. You just surprised me, is all. You admit it so…openly," he murmured. Felix stared. "N-not that it's anything to be ashamed of. Believe it or not, you're not the only one who feels this way. There's actually a lot of our kind in Lemuria. It's perfectly natural."

"…our kind?"

Picard winced at his mistake. "Well, I mean..." He caught Felix's stare and sighed. "All right. I suppose since you confided in me, I should return the favor." Picard sat himself gently on the other bunk and gave Felix a strained smile. "The truth is… I'm sort of 'fighting for the other army' as well."

Felix could feel his migraine getting a second wind. What did 'fighting for the other army' mean? "You are?"

Picard flashed a cringing smile. "I'm sorry. I know I should have told you sooner, but you have to understand, not everyone on the mainland is as comfortable with this as you are. It didn't affect our mission in any way, so I figured it would be safer just not to mention it. By the time we joined rooms on the ship, I didn't know how to bring it up without being, well, awkward." Picard slapped a hand on Felix's shoulder. "But I'm glad you confided in me. It's better to be honest about this sort of thing."

They sat there for a moment, staring at each other. Picard's hand felt heavy on Felix's shoulder, and Felix wondered if there was any way he could ask his friend to remove it without offending him.

"Actually, if you want…" Picard glanced at the door. When he'd made sure it was still closed, he leaned in to whisper. "I could help you explain it to the others. I know that it's taboo on the mainland, but our friends are open-minded people. I honestly think if we explained our situation that they'd understand."

Felix shook his head in exasperation. "Picard, what are you talking about?"

Picard's face set into an unusually serious expression. "I'm talking about coming out. Together."

Felix couldn't bring himself to do anything but stare. A strong feeling of déjà vu washed over him. Though he had no idea what this conversation was about, some small part of Felix must have recognized what Picard was saying and felt very uncomfortable about it, because the longer Picard's hand sat on Felix's shoulder, the sharper his migraine became.

"Together," Felix echoed.

Picard jerked his hand back as if Felix had burnt it. "Not like that! I didn't mean together together, I just meant at the same time. To make it easier." When Felix didn't reply, Picard hunched his shoulders and gave Felix an awkward smile. "No offense. You're a good man, Felix, but you're a little young for me. I see you all on this ship more like little brothers and sisters than…you know. Sorry, but you're just not my type."

Felix closed his eyes and took a deep breath in a failed attempt to clear his head. "Picard, I'm sorry. I can see you're trying to tell me something really important, but I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't even know what 'fighting for the army' means."

"Oh, of course!" Picard tapped himself on the forehead. "I should have known you wouldn't recognize the Lemurian idiom. It just means that you like men."

"As in being altruistic? Loving mankind?"

"No, I mean as in…" He made an odd gesture with his hands. "You know." He stared at Felix. "Don't you? I mean, if you don't know about the other army, how do you know you're fighting for it?" Picard put his hand to his chin and stared at the floor. "I mean, I suppose it's possible that you could just know and not have to be told. I mean, if you're not interested in women, then you're just not interested in women. Unless, of course-"

Picard's eyes grew wider. "Oh. Oh, you meant you weren't interested in courtship!" His eyes met Felix's. "Then you're not..." He sunk his head in his hands. "Felix, I am so sorry."

"I forgive you?" Felix had long past given up trying to understand what his friend was talking about, so he had no idea what he was forgiving, but it seemed the right thing to say.

Picard spread his fingers so that one green eye peered out. "Um, Felix? Can you do me a favor? Can we pretend we never had this conversation?"

Felix nodded. Yes, he'd like that very much.

Picard picked himself up. "Okay, then in that case, I'll just let you rest. And I'll go…do something productive. I hope you and Sheba work things out." He stepped backwards into the bedpost. "Ack! And I hope you feel better. Maybe you should just take the day off and rest. Wait, I just said that."

Picard let out a strained laugh. "Maybe I should just leave before I make things more awkward. I'll see you around." He then sped out of the room, leaving Felix on his bed.

If Felix's head felt ten pounds lighter, he might have gone after Picard to ask what they were talking about and why it made Picard so nervous. But instead he decided to lay his pounding skull back on the pillow. If Picard was acting this strangely, who knows what the others were doing. Felix just didn't have the energy to deal with any strangeness right now. Maybe he should just follow Picard's advice and spend the day in bed.

"Come on Felix, just try it! What have you got to lose?"

Felix could think of many things he could lose by going out into the crowd of dancing villagers. His pride, for one thing. The last time he had danced was at Vale's harvest festival before Mt. Aleph erupted, and even then he'd done it poorly. He just couldn't understand how he was supposed to move, and when he tried imitating other people, he couldn't think of anything except how they natural they looked and how ridiculous he felt.

He turned to his sister, who'd long ago lost her hair tie from a night's worth of twirling. The thick, humid air was making her hair spike out in every direction, so that she looked as if she were floating in water rather than standing on the cobblestones.

"Jenna, you know I can't dance."

"Can't, or won't?" Sheba pried. The candlelight of the buffet table reflected off her eyes, making them shine like jewels.

One of the villagers squealed as her partner spun her around in a complicated move that ended with her head three inches from the ground. "Both," he replied.

Picard cleared his throat. "Felix, you know that the Baragians are throwing this party for us, right? They already know that you're a strong warrior. I mean, they all watched us slay that dragon. They aren't going to lose their respect for you if you dance poorly."

Felix looked out over the laughing villagers jostling against each other as they spun around with their partners. He certainly didn't want to offend them by spurning their show of gratitude, but twisting his body to a dance he couldn't follow in a crowd of people he didn't know wasn't his idea of a good time. Even if one of the villagers was patient enough to try and teach him, he'd probably annoy her by stepping all over her feet. Everyone would have a much better time if he just kept to the side and watched.

"I…"

"Come on, Felix, pleeaaase?" whined Sheba, giving him her wide-eyed stare that Felix was finding increasingly difficult to say 'no' to these days. "I want to keep dancing, but all of the village boys are taken."

He ripped his gaze away from Sheba's pleading eyes to look at the crowd. "So dance with Picard."

"Sorry, no can do. I'm too tired, and besides, I think I've sprained my ankle," said Picard with the self-satisfied air of someone whose ankle was perfectly fine.

Sheba grabbed Felix's hand and tugged. "And I want to dance with you."

He glanced back at his friend and got caught in her will-sapping stare once more. "I don't know the dance they're doing," he tried, but the excuse sounded weak, even to him.

"So we'll make up our own! Come on!" Sheba pulled him into the crowd, tugging him through the gaps between couples. When they reached the middle of the town square, she turned around and grabbed his other hand with a smile.

The experience was worse than he'd feared. He could barely hear the music over the shuffling of feet and chatter of the couples around him. The crowd was so dense that dancers kept ramming into his back, jostling him forward so that he stepped on Sheba's feet. At one point a couple stepped backwards in between him and Sheba, and he had to leap forward and clutch her wrist so that she didn't get swept away in the crowd.

Felix could see from her pout that Sheba was getting annoyed. He leaned forward and half-shouted at her that while he was grateful that she'd tried to teach him, they should probably head back to the buffet table and find a partner for her that knew how to dance. She shook her head and grinned.

Felix felt a sharp gust at his feet which ruffled the skirts of the girls nearby. The surrounding couples snapped their heads towards them, and, seeing the cause of the gust, maneuvered a foot or two away, leaving Felix and Sheba in a small yet clear circle of floor.

"There, that's better," said Sheba. "We just needed a bit of room, was all. Now do what I do. Step with your left foot…"

Before Felix could protest, his partner was rattling off instructions faster than he could think. By the time he followed one step, she was halfway through telling him about the next. He couldn't even focus on where he was stepping; all he could do was listen to Sheba's instructions and hope his body was following them. Evidently it was, as her instructions got slower and sparser, until eventually she just closed her mouth and smiled.

Felix waited for the next instruction, and when it didn't come, he asked, "What do I do next?"

Sheba twirled under his hand, her body so light that it practically spinned itself. "Just keep dancing."

Felix looked down and saw his foot move forward of its own accord. He had been dancing without even realizing it. He- Where was he supposed to step next? He tried to remember, but his mind was blank, and his feet had lost their momentum.

"Right foot crosses over," Sheba reminded him. She glanced up."You think too much, you know that?"

"I thought that was a good thing."

"Usually it is. But for dancing, you just have to-" she broke off her sentence to twirl again, "move. It's like fighting. You don't focus on where you step as you run towards the enemy, right? You just let your body tell you what to do. Otherwise all that planning just paralyzes you, and you get a sword in your chest."

Felix followed Sheba's lead, trying very hard not to notice his feet. "But how am I supposed to memorize the dance if I can't think about it?"

"Your body will do that for you. All you have to do is enjoy it," she answered. Something in Felix's expression made her laugh. "Don't worry so much. Just do what you feel is right, and everything will fall into place after that."

"Felix, I know you're not actually asleep. Come on. We need to talk."

Felix opened his eyes to see the hazy red figure of his sister standing over his bed. He wanted to tell her that he hadn't been faking, that he'd been in the middle of a rather nice dream when she let herself into his room, but considering he was awake now, it was probably pointless to argue. Instead he pushed himself up and gave his sister what he hoped was a very tired, guilt-inducing stare. "Good morning Jenna."

Jenna plopped down on Picard's bed and rested her chin in her hands. "Good afternoon Felix."

Afternoon? Felix looked around his room and then remembered that he didn't have windows. But the candles were slightly shorter than before, and his sister wasn't the type of person to play with someone's head.

Felix examined his sister to see what kind of mood she was in and was met with a stony stare. He could tell she was trying hard not to twist her hair, a tic she had whenever she was nervous, but he also knew from the way she bounced her leg that her patience was wearing thin. He decided to wait and see how long it would last.

Not long. "Well?" said Jenna, leaning forward with her eyes wide.

He leaned against the side wall. "Well what? You're the one who said we needed to talk."

His sister glared. "Don't act smart with me, Felix. You know why I'm here."

He sighed. Usually his sister was fairly patient when he didn't want to talk, but apparently she wasn't going to let him off so easily this time. If that was the case, his best option was to just be as open as possible and get the conversation over with. "I don't know what you want me to say. Sheba confessed to me. I turned her down."

Jenna crossed her arms. "Felix, we both know there's more to the story than that. It's obvious you have feelings for her."

"Really. Wish someone would have informed me of that before Sheba confessed to me."

Jenna stopped bouncing her leg. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"What? No, it's not anyone's fault, I just-" Felix's forehead began tingling, and he massaged it with the hopes of staving off another migraine. "Why would you tell Sheba I loved her?"

"Because it's obvious. I mean, remember when Sheba got sick outside Sulhalla's Gate, and Saturos and Menardi wanted to make her walk, but you insisted on carrying her all the way to Idejima? Or the time that creepy sailor in Madra started hitting on her and you scared him off with psynergy?"

"Well of course I did those things. Just because I don't love Sheba doesn't mean I don't care for her."

His sister leaned back and tilted her head. "All right, what about when you gave her that gigantic silver bracelet for her birthday?"

"I found that in a chest the week before. And it was your idea to get her birthday gifts."

"That doesn't change the fact that her bracelet was worth more than all our weapons combined at the time. Come on, Felix. The pampering, the over-protectiveness, even the way you look at her would be enough to tip someone off."

Felix blinked. Someone had mentioned the look again. Had he really looked at Sheba as lovingly as everyone said? True, he'd always had a special…affection for her, ever since they met. It didn't make much sense for him to feel that way, since they'd only known each other for several months, and their personalities were so different. But something about her just made him feel calm, like everything had a chance of turning out all right.

Perhaps Sheba was right. Maybe Felix did love her, and he'd just needed someone to point it out to him. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been wrong about that sort of thing.

No. No no no. Absolutely not. He couldn't be in love with Sheba and not know it, that wasn't possible. And even if it was, Felix had made a promise. A promise he would keep, even if it meant hurting Sheba's feelings.

"Felix?" asked Jenna with a smirk.

He shook his head. He needed to focus. If he started doubting himself now, his sister would catch on and read more into his silence than was actually there. "Jenna, why would I lie about this?"

She frowned and wove her hands behind her head. "I don't know. That's what's bugging me. I can't figure it out."

"Maybe there's nothing to figure out."

"Maybe, but..." She looked to the side and started twisting her hair.

"But what?"

"Well, it's just," Jenna glanced at Felix and then looked back to the side. "you have a habit of making things a lot more complicated than they need to be."

Felix followed his sister's gaze to a round piece of green wood tucked halfway behind his dresser. His old mask. He turned back to his sister and glared. "That was a completely different situation. In case you don't remember, I wasn't exactly free to speak."

Jenna waved her hands in front of her. "Yeah, I know, I know. Saturos and Menardi blackmailed me into silence too. But you have to admit that our quest would have been a lot easier if we'd been able to tell Isaac and Garet the truth about why we were fighting them instead of letting them think you were a traitor."

"It's also a lot easier to judge from hindsight."

"But it still would have been better, don't you think?"

He crossed his arms. "I suppose."

Jenna leaned forward and put one hand on her brother's knee. "Felix, you know you can tell me anything, right? I won't judge you for it. You can trust me."

He stared at his sister for a moment and wondered if she knew his secret. No, probably not. If she knew, she'd have told Garet by now, and Garet definitely would have confronted Felix by now if he knew. He considered telling her, but her knowing wouldn't change anything. The truth would only make things worse.

She removed her hand. "Or not."

"Jenna-"

His sister gave him a wide, strained smile that made her eyes droop. Felix had seen a lot of ones like it on this trip. "I'm not mad. Honest. I trust you have a good-" she bit her lip, "Well, maybe not a good reason, but good intentions at the very least." She pushed herself off of Picard's bed and walked towards the door. "And maybe I'm completely wrong. Maybe you really don't like Sheba in that way, and last night really was my fault."

Felix opened his mouth, but held his tongue when his sister looked over her shoulder. "But if it isn't," she said softly, "If you love Sheba, but have some melodramatic reason why you can't let yourself be happy with her…I think Sheba at least deserves to know what that reason is."

Author's Note: Poor Felix. It's bad enough having a migraine without having people barging into your room accusing you of being a tease. It only goes downhill from here.

About the first scene: I've obviously never written anything like that before, so it might have been confusing. In case it wasn't clear, Picard thought Felix rejected Sheba because he was homosexual. Picard admitted that he was also homosexual and offered to help Felix explain his situation to the others. When Picard realized that he'd misinterpreted Felix's words and that his friend doesn't even know what homosexuality is, he got embarrassed. Personally, though, considering that Felix has spent his entire life in two very isolated towns, I'd be surprised if he and the others DID know what homosexuality was. Most of the Valean kids didn't even know what the ocean was, and I doubt Kraden would have focused too many of his lessons on sexual orientation.

Just to be clear, Picard was telling the truth about not being interested in anyone on the ship. Because he's, what, 120 years old? And everyone except Kraden and Felix is underage. Regardless of sexual orienation, a romance between Picard and anyone on the ship would be a bit questionable (Don't even get me started on Nowell.). That said, just because he isn't involved in the main triangles doesn't mean he won't get his share of the spotlight. Also, I'd like to put it out there that anything I do with Picard, like make him a tidy person, is characterization of an individual, NOT a commentary on the homosexual community. So if one of the characters says or thinks something offensive, please assume it's either part of Weyard's culture or bad writing on my part.

About the second scene: No, there was no Baragian village with a dragon. I just made that up for the hell of it.

About the third scene. Yes, I know I'm breaking a rule of good writing by teasing you with Felix's "secret". Don't worry, you should be able to get enough clues within the first few chapters to piece together why Felix is being difficult. Then again, this is the guy who spent most of the story avoiding his childhood friends because he thinks they won't understand that the Proxians are blackmailing him. I actually made the whole "blackmailing Felix into silence" thing up just to make things more realistic: the canon never actually gives a reason for why Felix doesn't just tell Isaac about the Proxians' blackmail. Felix could have stalled while pretending to work towards lighting the lighthouses, and Isaac and company could sneak into unsuspecting Prox with their flying ship and rescue the parents. Or even if telling Isaac's group didn't change the fact that they had to fight each other, it still would have made Isaac and Garet feel better to know their childhood friend hadn't turned traitor for kicks. So in my headcanon, the Proxians explicitly ordered Felix and Jenna not to tell Isaac that his dad was still alive. Why? Who knows. Maybe they were waiting for the right time to blackmail Isaac with the knowledge, or they wanted to keep Felix and Isaac as enemies so Felix didn't turn on them.

Then again, I consider Felix the type of antihero who accepts that people will hate them and doesn't even try to explain himself. The kind of guy who takes his problems all on his own because he's too nervous that asking for help will backfire. If you've played any other RPGs, you know the kind of guy I'm talking about. It's like a syndrome with RPG villains: the "I have a tragically good reason for causing chaos but won't tell you until after you've stabbed me in the chest" syndrome. I think if alchemy hadn't turned out to be a good thing, Felix would have ended up dying as one of those villains. Personally, I think Alex is probably going to turn out as one of those villains too...

Okay, I am rambling way too much. The explanations for the chapter are almost half as long as the chapter itself, and written in a tenth of the time. I should really just freaking post already.