Chapter VII

-Rabanastre-

"That's all, then," said Valkyrie, placing the dark stone and silver clasp on the counter.

"I recognize this," murmured Penelo, "it used to belong to Vaan's vest. I cannot ever thank you enough for what you have done. Anything you need, just ask."

"How about this?" Zeus called from the corner of the shop, holding up a nihopaloa.

"Of course," said Penelo, smiling warmly. She returned her attention to Valkyrie. "I must say, I'm especially glad you're alright. The illustrious Judge Magister Ffamran turned up on my doorstep a few days ago, saying that if you didn't come back within the week that I was to go look for you all by my lonesome."

Valkyrie groaned. "He happens to be my cousin. I'm terribly sorry; I'll talk to him about that." He pushed the two relics toward Penelo, but she handed the stone back to him.

"It's the Stone of the Condemner," she said, "After all this time, you deserve to have it."

Zeus' ears perked up. "Wait, seriously?" she said, bounding over to the counter.

"Yes, I recognize it even after all these years," replied Penelo.

"Man, that would've come in handy last summer," said Zeus. A grin lit up her face. "Of course, that doesn't mean we still can't investigate."

"Zeus, it's mid-February," said Valkyrie, "the rift is going to be freezing."

"So we'll pack coats," she replied. "Hey, Penelo," she began, holding up a heart-shaped charm, "what does this do?"

"Nothing magickal," answered Penelo. "I'm just selling them for tomorrow. You know, Courtesan's Day."

"Courtesan's Day!" cried Valkyrie. "I completely forgot! Err, anyway, thanks for everything, Penelo."

"Come back and visit," called the blonde woman as the two friends exited the shop.

"Why does Courtesan's matter anyway?" Zeus asked Valkyrie. She smirked impishly. "Unless you're planning to send something to Beth?"

Valkyrie's face blanched. "Never in a thousand ages. Besides, we aren't really on good terms right now anyway."

"Why?" asked Zeus.

"Actually," said Valkyrie, "Courtesan's Day, come to think of it. She wanted me to come home for it to see her, and when I told her how that might look and what it implied, she got all hot under the collar."

"So we aren't going to be in Archades for a little bit?" Zeus frowned. "I heard there was a big festival for Courtesan's every year and I've never seen it."

"Believe me, it's not really that grand," said Valkyrie, rolling his eyes, "too many lovey-dovey couples everywhere."

"Well then," Zeus piped, "looks like we have nothing to do except...go talk to the acolytes at Mt. Bur-Omisace about the stone."

Valkyrie sighed.

-

"Shit Zeus, it is freezing."

"Oh, come along, you didn't really need your toes anyway, did you? Besides, the Stilshrine is just up ahead."

A quick meeting with the members of the Kiltias had provided the two with a few bits of information, the most crucial being that the stone would prove its use at the Stilshrine's teleporter.

"This certainly is majestic," remarked Valkyrie as they traveled down the long walkway to the temple's entrance.

"It's especially impressive when you consider how old it is," said Zeus. "The Kiltias have kept in great condition."

After greeting the acolytes at the shrine's entrance, the two stepped through the massive doors into the dark of the entrance hall. A few bats came to investigate their presence, but upon noticing how strong Valkyrie and Zeus were, they quickly fled in terror.

"The waystone is supposed to be in the entrance, correct?" asked Valkyrie.

"All the way at the back of the hall," replied Zeus.

As they approached the teleporter, Valkyrie removed the Stone of the Condemner from his pocket.

"So," he asked, "are we proceeding with the usual plan of attack?"

Zeus shrugged. "I'd say we should just be adaptable," she replied. "We're facing an esper here, so anything goes."

"Alright." He took a deep breath. "Ready?"

She nodded.

"Then we're off," said Valkyrie, touching the Stone of the Condemner to the transport.

The two blinked out of the murky entrance hall and into a tiny room, containing only another waystone and a gigantic pair of engraved doors. Valkyrie, unsheathing the Tournesol, heaved one open and stepped through.

At first, all he could see was a thin milky tail extending from the ceiling. Then, with a stately flip, what appeared to be a gigantic suit of armor dropped to the ground with an earth-shattering thud. Though the glinting golden finger tips of its outstretched left hand were unnerving, what was truly menacing was the violet claw on the opposite arm, licked through with fiery veins and cracks. Its shoulders glittered with deep purple gemstones, and though its face was helmeted and expressionless, it still radiated with a perilous, judicial evil.

They had come to the right place. It was Zeromus the Condemner that awaited their challenge.

As Valkyrie rushed forward to begin parrying the creature's blows, he heard a cry of "Shit!" from behind.

"What is it?" he called back, fending off the giant claw that squealed against his greatsword.

"An anti-magick field," she said, shooting two bullets into Zeromus. "I can't get a cast of anything off. Hey, a little help back here!"

Valkyrie dodged a thick sphere of gravity magick and turned to look at Zeus, who had been surrounded by skeletons. He raced for the undead, trading the Tournesol for the Masamune as he went.

"The katana will be faster," he yelled, cutting down the first of the bony beasts.

"Excellent," she said, plowing her shots into the Condemner.

Settling into a familiar pattern, Valkyrie kept the skeletons at bay so that Zeus could attack Zeromus. However, the anti-magick field was real trouble for them. When Zeus became afflicted with Stop, Valkyrie was nearly slain tending to her manually. After she could move her limbs again, she burrowed into her pack for a set of armlets that would keep the ailment at bay, but it was difficult with the unrelenting skeletons all around them.

As Valkyrie continued to chop up their undead foes, he suddenly blacked out. He came to moments later, the familiar warmth of a phoenix down filling his limbs. Slicing the head off of the nearest skeleton, he whipped around to see Zeus, downing some potion.

"It has a deadly gravity attack!" she yelled hoarsely. "Be on your guard!"

In response, Valkyrie began taking on the next wave of skeletons. As he tried to dodge a side assault, he felt a blow strike his backside. Though he managed to cut down his attackers, he stumbled, vomiting on the nearby floor.

Rushing forward, Zeus poured something onto his face. Though the rush of liquid was less than pleasant, Valkyrie immediately shaped up as tasted antidote in his mouth.

"Behind you!" he choked.

Zeus spun rapidly, shooting off a skull with one gun and firing into Zeromus' chest-plate with the other. Greatly pained by the blow, the esper roared and raised its monstrous claw, readying to strike.

Zeus retreated as quickly as she could, but the Piercing Graviga caught her just as she reached her perch on the steps. Valkyrie spat out a curse and hurried to her side, administering the necessary phoenix down. However, a skeleton caught his ankle on the way, afflicting him with poison. Swallowing the sensation in the back of his throat, he reached into his pack and grabbed an antidote, forcing down the contents as Zeus stood up.

However, it seemed that repeated bullets were beginning to wear on Zeromus. The esper, clearly growing tired, was firing off more and more blasts of gravity magick. Though Zeus was able to weather the blows fairly readily, Valkyrie was less lucky. He fell twice and was gravely injured many more times. Gasping for breath, he managed to avoid the blow from yet another horde of skeletons and quickly snatched a potion from his pack, swallowing the whole bottle with one entire gulp.

It wasn't a potion. A red haze clouded Valkyrie's vision, and he felt fire consume his limbs. Adrenaline pumping through his body, he roared with fury, cutting through three skeletons in the blink of an eye. He slammed into the oncoming wave, shattering skulls and kneecaps and shoulders and Gods know what else. Behind him, his ears registered a shriek, and he spun, whipping through more skeletons on his way. Forget the goddamned undead, he would cut off Zeromus' claw if he had to.

However, it seemed his aid was no longer needed. With a great, gurgling cry, Zeromus curled its limbs into its chest and receded into a sphere of purple-rimmed light. The sphere exploded, shining a great torrent of brightness onto Zeus. As the scarlet fog cleared from Valkyrie's vision, he at last understood that she had slain the esper. The cry wasn't one of peril, but delight.

As he sheathed his sword and strode toward her, still feeling tingly from his Berserk rush, she gave a whoop of joy.

"We did it!" she cried, grinning at him.

Matching his grin to hers, he abruptly pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

-

When they finally broke apart, the atmosphere turned very, very awkward.

"Um, uh, err," Valkyrie stuttered, turning his trademark shade of red.

"Ah, yeah, so," replied Zeus, just as shaken. "So, we won, and that's great, and I have a crest here, and I think we should go now, because there's nothing else to do here, and, uhm, yeah."

She stumbled into the waystone, touching it and returning presumably to the entrance hall.

Valkyrie blinked. His heart was pounding like it wanted to burst out of his chest. Suddenly, he realized that he was standing abandoned in Zeromus' chamber and started forward, tripping over his own feet as he touched the transporter.

When he reappeared, he was greeted by the sight of Zeus fending off two angry-looking Nightwalkers. Hastily drawing the Tournesol, he helped her to cut them down, extremely grateful for the distraction. However, the fight did not last forever, and as the fiends fell, the two were yet again met with an uncomfortable feeling in the air.

"I, uh, suppose we should report back to the Kiltias and the acolytes," stammered Valkyrie, "and tell them, you know, what happened and such."

"That is a fabulous idea," replied Zeus, "it's, um, wonderful and I think we should do it uh, I mean, we should tell them. Yes."

-

They made a silent mutual decision to return to Bur-Omisace on foot, which gave them the great distraction of killing everything in sight. The Nu Mou were impressed by their feat and showered them with praise, but Valkyrie didn't to hear any of it. As it was late in the day and there was nowhere to stay at the temple, the two took the Gate Crystal back to Archades, where they immediately split.

All through his lonely dinner in one of Archades' less-expensive restaurants, Valkyrie wondered whether or not he would be alone at the apartment that night. However, he felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach when, very late that night, Zeus quietly entered their living quarters and headed for the shower straight away. As the hot water thundered nearby, Valkyrie stared blankly at the ceiling. When she emerged soon after, she climbed right into bed, clearly believing he was asleep.

He could stand it no longer. Something had to be done.

"We need to talk," he said.

His words hung thick in the darkness. And at last, he heard a sigh. "I know."

Well, shit. That was all he'd planned up to here.

"So, um, where did you go tonight?" he asked.

"I went out to the uplands," she said. "I just thought if I focused on the hunt, it would, y'know."

"Yeah, I know," said Valkyrie. "Did you go down to the camp?"

"Nah," said Zeus. "I didn't really feel like seeing anyone. Plus, it would be hard to explain, and I really just wanted to come back here."

Valkyrie sat up. "You did?"

"Yeah, I did," she replied.

Fuck, he could almost hear her grinning. "Look, Zeus," he began, "I really should have said something instead. I'm sorry."

He heard her sit up as well. "You don't need to apologize," she said. "I guess this would have happened at some point or another."

She stood, quietly padding across the room to sit next to him on the bed.

"Err, now what?" asked Valkyrie, sweating a little.

"I don't know," Zeus responded, sighing. "This isn't really something I do. I'm not good at this sort of thing. Shit, Valkyrie, I'm not good with people. It's why I spend most of my days killing horrible monsters."

Gently, he put his arm around her and felt her stiffen a little.

"Calm down," he said, "it's not like I'm going to sweep you off your feet and make love to you all night long or something." He paused, suddenly realizing how terrible that must have sounded. "I mean, you'd probably break both my legs."

Zeus laughed, relaxing into the crook of his arm. "You're something else." She bit her lip. "I probably should have told you this sooner, but...I remember what happened in the Great Crystal."

He blushed, cursing inwardly. "I should have told you what happened. Just –" He clutched his forehead. "It really...wasn't great, to see you like that."

"I know. It wasn't easy to see you either. I owe you a lot for sticking by me." She brushed her lips against his cheek. Immediately, they both drew back. He could feel the heat of her blush against his arm and was unable to stand the tension any longer.

"Ah, hell," he muttered, "let's just do this proper."

Placing a hand behind her head, he closed the distance between them, kissing her full on the mouth. She smelled like mint and gunpowder and something else he couldn't place, but soon forgot about as she nibbled on his lower lip. When the kiss broke this time, they weren't quick to separate, but instead kept their faces close.

"I like you," Valkyrie said, lost in a world of his own.

Zeus laughed. "I never would have guessed."

"No, really," he protested, "I've liked you for a really long time."

"How long?" she asked, laughing again.

"Hell, I don't know, forever?" He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I guess if I had to place it, I've liked you ever since we spent the night with the Viera." He blushed again. "Err, well, that sounded dirty."

"Only because your mind's in the gutter right now," said Zeus, smiling all the same. "You know, I realized earlier tonight that we actually made it back in time for Courtesan's Day tomorrow."

"Mm," he said, running a hand through her hair, "ironic, eh?"

She giggled a little. Fuck, he loved that sound. "Beth is going to hate me."

He laughed. "Never you mind," he scoffed, pulling her against his chest.