Chapter Four is a longer chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Feathers

I plodded on after Vaan and Penelo, who were happily chattering away. The day no longer felt remotely interesting, just another black hole of depression. There was nothing else for me to do today, so I just followed around after Vaan and Penelo. But I had the urge to do something reckless. Like break into the fete tonight and bring a little pain to Vayne Solidor. Then I rolled my eyes. Who was I kidding myself? Even if I did get in, I would probably never find Vayne.

Quite suddenly, something large crashed into me and threw me to the ground. A hyena. It pressed its claws to my chest, and I let out a cry of pain. Quick as a flash, I grabbed my diamond dagger. When its sharp teeth were inches from my face, and I could smell its terrible breath, I jammed the knife into the hyena's chest. Blood spurted out of the wound, splattering onto the ground and onto my white shirt. Why exactly had I worn white today?

Seconds later, the hyena's breathing stopped, and its body lay there limply. I shoved it off of me and got to my feet, dusting myself off as best as I could. I siezed the dagger from the dead creature's body, and wiped it off on the hyena's fur.

Taking a look at my surroundings, I realized Vaan and Penelo were nowhere in sight.

Then I felt a hand clap over my mouth.

Using quick thinking, I shot my elbow back into my attacker. I heard an "oof" as the breath was knocked out of the person. I spun around and in half a second I had my diamond dagger pressed against the person's throat.

A second later, I recognized him. He was taller than me, with long, dark brown hair that fell around his face. He looked like he was eighteen years old. His eyes were a strange ruby color. He looked quite handsome, but I knew of the evil inside.

"Renova," I spat.

The man was an angel like me. His name was Renova-Istad Tysan, created to look eighteen, like I was created to look fourteen. He didn't have his wings out, but if they were, I knew the color they would be--ruby, like his eyes. He was wearing a sleeveless, black silk button-down shirt and black silk pants. He was wearing black boots. Renova was the one who had framed me, made it look like I had killed Nizera-Bhorjo Xisi. But Renova had killed Nizera. Renova had been created around the same time I had. He was considered a savior of the Angels, and had a very respectable place in the Court of Angels. But I knew better.

"Avriella," he purred in a smooth voice that was unconvincing.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed. "Trying to ruin my life even more?"

"Now now, can't we put the past behind us?" Renova asked, a twisted grin spreading across his face.

"You caused me to be exiled from Heaven's Holder," I snarled back. "I think I have every right to be angry with you."

"Come now, that was one hundred eighty-five years ago."

"Yeah? Well, that's not very long to either of us."

We were interrupted by a growling close by. A pack of hyenas were eyeing us with interest, and were advancing. Renova and I exchanged glances. "You first?" he suggested lightly.

I withdrew the dagger from his throat and took up a defensive position, facing the hyenas. They leapt after me, and I jumped high. I came down right on top of a hyena and plunged my dagger into its back. It let out a howl. I took out the dagger and began slashing through the rest of the group, which was about five more. In less than a minute, all the hyenas were lying around me, dead.

A slow clapping caused me to spin around. Renova was watching me, a smirk curving on his lips.

"Leave. Now." My tone left no room for argument.

"Why? I was just beginning to have fun."

I glared at him, and felt my eyes beginning to heat up. This time, I willed the transformation. When my eyes were completely black, I felt a prickling in my back, but I forced myself not to let my wings come out.

"Why are you here?" I demanded belligerently.

"I want just one thing from you." His blood red eyes moved down from my face and focused on the feather that was hanging around my neck. I self-consciously covered it up, and I felt the color draining from my face. Angel feathers were completely useless when a Hume or other creature was using it, but each different feather contained magical properties that caused Angels to get their magick. White Angel feathers were used to heal wounds mostly, but were only to be used in the most dire of situations. They also had the ability to manipulate Angel minds, a magick I had never used before.

I took a step back. "No."

"I'll just pluck one from your wings, then."

I winced visibly. Plucking a feather from an Angel's wings was about as painful as getting stabbed with a knife. "Never."

Renova took a step forward. I took a step back. Renova sighed. "Now is not the time for games."

"I'm not playing a game. I'm using common sense," I snapped.

Renova came closer. I backed up...right into a boulder.

"Just give me the feather."

"No!"

"Please?"

"That's not gonna work."

Renova shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Yeah, right," I growled sarcastically.

"It's true." Renova's red eyes were wide and innocent; too innocent. He was prepared to injure me to get what he wanted. My grip tightened on my dagger's golden handle.

I snorted disbelievingly. Renova took another step. He was now about a foot away.

"I know what you've been through, Avriella," he said.

He was trying to get past my defenses, but I wouldn't let him. I gritted my teeth and tried to force images of his face away.

"It was your fault he died," Renova continued.

This time, Renova had struck gold. I let out a gasp of pain as I clutched my chest. It felt like my own dagger was stabbing my heart. "Just...shut up..." I muttered, closing my eyes.

"You are a backstabbing fiend," he said ruthlessly, watching my face with obvious enjoyment. "How could you let him die?"

I sank to my knees, gasping for air. I couldn't seem to breath properly. I felt something warm and wet run down my cheek. My heart felt like it was on fire.

"Why would anyone love you?"

"Stop...please..." I moaned weakly. The tears were running freely down my face now. I was in agony. "Make it stop..."

I heard Renova chuckle coldly, but all noise was fading into the background. The only thing in my head now was his face, his black hair, his warm gray eyes, his relaxed grin...

Suddenly, I felt something force my chin up. I reluctantly opened my eyes. My vision was blurry with tears, but I could still see Renova's face. His hand was under my chin, and he was on his knees beside me. He was forcing me to look at him.

"Go away..." I said faintly.

"I can make the pain stop," Renova promised. "Just give me your feather."

Did he think I was that gullible? Part of me wanted to give him my feather, just so he could stop taunting me, but the other part of me knew that if had one of my feathers in his possession, the whole world would fall apart.

"Never," I whispered.

Renova looked like he was experiencing some sort of sick thrill from my pain, and it wasn't with reluctance when he opened his mouth to bring back more anguishing memories. But a familiar voice in the distance called out in a worried tone, "Rei!"

"I will see you again," Renova vowed. He got to his feet, and suddenly his wings were out, gigantic and red. Renova took flight, and then he was gone.

I quickly got to my feet. My eyes changed back to dark green, and I wiped my face so it didn't look like I had been crying. By the time Penelo and Vaan had found me, I looked perfectly alright, except for the blood splattered all over my clothes.

"Rei!" Penelo said, looking relieved. "We finished making the Sunstone! When we were back at the nomad village, we realized you weren't with us, and we decided to wait for you to come to the nomad village. But you didn't, so we decided to come looking for you. Are you all right?"

"Yes," I lied. "Just got into a few fights."

Vaan looked at me, slightly impressed. "Looks like you didn't even get a scratch."

I shrugged, and turned my head away. Not entirely true. I did get hurt--but not in a way Vaan would think.

"Come on, let's go back to Rabanastre," I muttered, still not meeting anyone's gaze.

---(Whew, this is a long chapter!)

Back in Rabanastre, we went down to Lowtown. I was just tagging along now, not exactly sure of what to do. We stopped outside of Old Dalan's place. Old Dalan was very smart, and he was one of the precious few Humes who knew what I was.

"Hey, Vaan?" Penelo said to Vaan. I hung back to watch.

"Hmm?" Vaan asked.

"It's been a long time since we did anything together. Too long. I had a really good time. Well, I should probably get back to the store. Actually, I was kind of supposed to be watching the place for Migelo. And, Vaan--"

"I'm not going anywhere. Okay?" Vaan assured her. I noticed his voice had a slightly guilty tone to it. Penelo didn't seem to notice. She smiled.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Seeya later! Oh, and nice meeting you, Rei!" she added to me, before walking away.

As soon as Penelo was out of earshot, I heard Vaan sigh and mutter, "Sorry, Penelo."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Vaan's head snapped to me. "You're still here?"

"Yes. You should know by now that I'm an ever-constant nuisance."

"You got that right," Vaan grunted.

"What're you getting yourself into?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"I'll just follow you again."

Vaan groaned. "All right, you win." He lowered his voice and came closer. "I'm planning to sneak into the fete tonight, to take back some of the treasure that's for Dalmasca."

I blinked, hardly believing my luck. He was sneaking into the fete tonight! This was my chance to do something reckless. I also admired his intentions.

"You mind if I come along?" I wondered. I would probably go along even if he didn't want me to.

Vaan raised his eyebrows skeptically. "You're just a kid."

"I've proved myself to you time and time again that I can take care of myself," I protested hotly. "How long will it take you to realize that I'm not 'just a kid'?"

"Fine, I guess. You'd better be able to keep up with me, though."

"Don't worry about it." My mind was racing. I was going to break into the palace tonight.

Yikes, long chapter. :-)

But anyway, the Tragic Incident Challenge is still going on! Lemme hear your ideas, mkay? However, whether someone's got the correct answer or not, the Challenge ends next time I post a chapter. So keep the ideas coming!

By the way, Renova's evil, isn't he? He's such a hottie, but he's so wicked! But my fav character from FFXII, whether canon or original, is Lord Larsa. -drools-

Review!

Amy (WinterLoveSong)