A/N: So it's been... what, 8 months since my last chapter? Sorry about that. This chapter was pretty hard for me. I just couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to do with it. The next one should come easier, and hopefully be out within a month or two.
EDIT [6/15/2015]: Wasn't satisfied with the end of the chapter, so I added another scene. Also, CH008 should be out by end of July.
Disclaimer: I don't own jack.
Cheat Codes: On
Chapter 007
Skip Marlboro Boss Fight Cheat: On
Location: ?, Cosmo Canyon Area
Date and Time: Aug 7, [ µ ] εуλ 2000, 11:00 AM
I don't let myself indulge in senseless laughter for too long, though I'd love to continue for the rest of the day. I laugh loudly, and loud noises that usually come from humans would attract others to our location. I still haven't downed that tincture, and I don't want to sit around long enough to think on the fact that I've added murder to my list of sins.
I mean, I doubt my blows actually killed him. Even with my Limit Break, SOLDIERs are tough. Still, it was my fault he was unable to move when the roof dropped down and crushed his... everything.
I slap my cheeks twice. I don't have time to walk down emo lane when I can still hear the sounds of battle rolling down from over the cliffs. Though mostly muted by the walls of stone between us, there's a little too much exploding going on to not hear it.
"Maya, you all right?" I grunt as I sit up and pull my bag around to get that tincture.
"I think so," she replies innocently, standing up and walking to me. "What about you, mister?"
I drink the dark blue liquid quickly. The taste is sour and kind of weird, but not bad. I don't particularly care for how gritty it is, though.
"I'm not okay, but I'll be all right." I sigh, shaking my head. "Story of my frickin' life."
How do people do this for a living? It's tiring: physically, mentally, and emotionally. While the first two can be taken care of real quick with proper medicine and rest, the last is...
Something. There's something I want to say about it, but I don't know. Something important. It's just sitting there on top of my brain, but I can't reach it.
I tuck those thoughts away for later.
"Maya, you're ten years old, right?" I ask, forgetting about trying to avoid straight out asking for her age. Since I feel it would be weird to just ask for no reason, I'll just make one.
Truthfully, I feel I should at least know how old she is if one of us gets killed. Rather, I feel like it wouldn't be right to know so little about her if we're risking our lives together.
Not that I'll tell her that. I don't want her prying.
"No, I'm eight! I'm a big girl!" she giggles like the child she is. "How old are you?"
"I'm twenty-two," I reply evenly. "Tell me, where did you get that gun from? I didn't see anything like that on you earlier."
"Auntie Jane gave it to me!" she lights up proudly. "It's called the Vantage Rage MM, and it isn't a gun! It's an ARM!"
That's something I've been finding kind of odd for a while now. Every time I come across a word in all capital letters, like SOLDIER or AVALANCHE, it turns out to be in Anglish. I wonder if people even know what they're saying since Anglish is all but dead.
Although, even stranger than that is how every language seems to have the sounds of other languages. I mean, Wutaian is derived from Chinese, yet it has the 'r' sound. Chinese does not have that sound, yet it is clearly there in the ruling family's name.
Weirder than even that is that people who clearly only speak Continental will name their kids in languages they can't properly speak. Cloud, Barret, Aerith, and so on. This world's naming non-sense is absurd.
"Oh? What's the difference?"
"A gun is just a gun, but an ARM is more," the Schrodinger girl answers matter-of-factly. "ARM means 'ARTIFACT from RUIN: MEMORIES.'"
"And what does that mean?" I ask. "Do you know?"
"Nope!" she grins, "But Auntie tells me that they're made from the bones of dragons with the demon techniques."
And what the hell is that supposed to mean?
"They don't work for everyone. You have to be synchrollized-"
"Synchronized," I correct.
"Yeah, that. Your spirit has to be synchrolnized with the ARM. The more synchrolnized you are, the better the ARM works for you. Auntie said this one is the best match for me!"
She finishes by drawing the Vantage Rage MM from her hip. Somehow. Even though there is no holster, she draws it. Even though there is no ARM, she still somehow draws it.
Extra-dimensional space, maybe?
"Neat. How'd you do that?"
She just shrugs. "I don't know. I just do it. When I want it here, it comes here. When I want to put it away, it goes away."
Magic Weapons... Hm... Weapons are tools made for killing. Even so, they aren't to blame for the death. After all, people kill. Weapons only help. SOLDIER... I wonder if they consider themselves weapons or people?
The sound of the SOLDIER choking on his own blood as the caves came down on him haunts my ears.
"Doesn't that sound just dandy," I remark evenly, careful to not get snarky with an eight year old.
Thunder crashes above us. What I can only assume to be the sounds of Zangan and Lightning's battle rudely interrupts our moment's reprieve, forcing us to remember that we are not safe. It was a nice delusion, but I suppose we shouldn't get too attached to it.
"Let's get moving," I sigh, resigned.
Location: ?, Cosmo Canyon Area
Date and Time: Aug 7, [ µ ] εуλ 2000, 10:00 PM
It's been a long day. Traveling without knowing where we are is hard and frustrating. The high canyon walls blocking our view so we can't even see our destination is annoying, but it helps prevent us from being spotted by enemy forces.
Man, I hate necessary evils. I hate them almost as I hate not being able to see where I'm going. Really, what's up with large vehicles driving right in front of my dinky '99 Saturn? Can't see a damn thing.
Aside from my useless rambling, not a lot has happened. Every now and then, we'll see a huge flash of light, but so far we haven't come across any enemy forces. We've hit a few monsters even with the Enemy Away materia, but those were at least within our level. Well, when they appeared alone so we could double team them, that is.
It was hard at first, but we've managed to sharpen our battle instincts since then. Still, it'll be a long time before we're anywhere near Zangan's level. How long has he even been fighting? Ten, maybe twelve hours now? It's dark now, and I don't want to check the phone in case the light attracts attention.
"Kae," Maya called as she tugs at my shirt. "I'm tired. Do we have to keep going?"
The moon is full, so I can actually see her when I look at her. It seems I forgot in my worry and frustration that she's still just a little girl. She hadn't complained all this time, and that didn't help either.
Well, I'm pushing myself as well. It would be better if we got some sleep.
"Yeah. We'll camp out in that cave up there," I say, pointing to one only fifty or so feet away. I then pat her on the head and gently ruffle her hair.
"You've done a real good job today. Being patient and toughing it out is hard. Good girl."
The smile she gives me in return is really bright. It's sunny and cute. She must have picked it up from her aunt.
We get to the cave shortly. I pull a pair of bedrolls from my bag for Maya to rest on. I suppose I shouldn't be carrying two since every pound counts, but my 'just in case' mentality says I should always have at least one spare of everything.
"Here," I say while stacking the bedrolls, "The ground is hard, rocky, and uneven. You can sleep on this."
Maya happily climbs her tired body into the top bedroll. With only her head of blonde hair, now messy and dirty from today's activities, sticking out of the cloth she looks like some sort of Alice in Wonderland caterpillar. Maybe Wizard of Oz. I forget.
I clear some of the rocks near the wall with my hands. I've been sleeping against walls since before I can remember, which has been a surprisingly useful life skill. If I don't have good ground for sleeping on, I can ignore it as long as there is a wall. If nothing else, I know I can be confident in this single talent of mine.
"Kae? The sleeping bag is over here," Maya informs me quizzically.
"I'm fine," I reply, suppressing a yawn with a long breath. "I'll sleep here."
"But you'll be cold," she argues weakly.
"I'll be fine," I assure her. "Just sleep. I'll be counting on you waking up early just in case I sleep in."
A lie, but it gets her to settle down and go try to sleep.
She's out in sixty seconds.
I'm not so lucky, however. My mind whirrs and buzzes with thought after thought. Worries about the world around me, plans to secure my future, ideas to increase my chances of survival, all run through my head until I finally fall asleep.
That would be normal for me. Unfortunately, tonight is not a normal night. The Earthshaker fights tonight, and his epithet doesn't do justice to the amount of shaking his fists cause.
The sky booms and thunders, the ground rumbles and groans. Even who-knows-how-far-away and blocked by thousands of tons of rock and dirt, the echoes of his martial mastery serve as a constant reminder of the reality of my own weakness.
I can't save anyone like this. I'm not strong enough to face down the monsters of this world and come out alive. Forget about saving others, I wouldn't even be able to save myself.
Not yet, anyway.
Over the next few hours I manage get some sleep in the form of power naps of no longer than thirty minutes. Every now and then, the sounds of Zangan and Lightning's clash dies down for a few minutes, only to restart again not much later. That they could fight for so long without rest is unsettling.
I'm pretty sure the human body doesn't work like that.
It's in the early morning, before sun's light even starts to appear above the cliffs, a gentle breeze blows by my ear. A rather annoyed gangster's voice is carried on said breeze. I hold in my groan as evidence piles up in the 'not human anymore' camp.
"Man, why we gotta be out here searching for some stupid kids?"
It isn't like I'd have a problem with actually being a Sacaean, like I've been lying to Zangan about. It's just that it would be too convenient, which would automatically make it suspicious. Things like that don't just happen. This isn't a story book, where things can happen just because the plot demands it.
"CO wants them brought in for questioning," a more stern voice responds.
I quietly go wake Maya. She tries to go back to sleep, but I take none of it. I pull her out of the warmth of the sleeping bag so I can put it away while I try to stop her complaining.
"What? Why's that?" A woman.
"Yeah, why's that?" The gangster.
"I know you didn't get enough sleep, but we really have to go," I whisper. "I can hear them!"
"Them...?" the blonde repeats sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"I don't know and I don't care. Orders are orders," the stern man, maybe a squad leader, says. "Now shut up and keep moving!"
"The SOLDIERs!"
She doesn't dally or shally after that.
Location: Mushroom Forest, Cosmo Canyon Area
Date and Time: Aug 8, [ µ ] εуλ 2000, Early Afternoon
Crawling about in the dark to escape the SOLDIERs wasn't fun. At least it was mostly safe. The dark blinded them as much as it did us, and even if they had super hearing, the winding labyrinth that is the Cosmo Canyon Area would produce echoes. Their superior senses were useless unless they got close.
Then the sun came up.
"On one hand, one could say that not being caught by super soldiers means we're doing pretty super ourselves," I say to Maya, who walks behind me as we try to find a place to rest our sleep deprived minds.
"On the other, nope. That's approximately how I feel about the situation. Just... nope. Nope nope nope. Don't want to deal with this."
This situation of being on the run from the world-wide megacorp that is sending its private army after us.
Well, it could also be the giant mushrooms.
That's right, we had somehow wandered into the Mushroom Forest. To be fair, we were found by a squad of SOLDIERs and had to run away quickly. One wrong turn became one weird turn when we found ourselves surrounded by many more colors than provided by the dirt of the canyons.
As per the usual fantasy world insanity, the Mushroom Forest is not a forest filled with mushrooms but a forest of mushrooms the size of trees. I already knew this from studying with Tellah, but seeing it first hand is already different. Partially because I can see the spores in the air and I have no way of knowing which ones are horrible for us, and partially because I know Marlboros live in this place and I have no intention of us fighting one.
When half your party is less than ten, fighting is very much not the answer.
"I don't like it too," Maya helps me complain, "I'm sleepy, and I'm almost out of chocolate."
"It's 'I don't like it, either,' not 'I don't like it too,'" I correct gently. "Also, if you have chocolate then please share. I could use some cheering up."
"Okay, but just because you promised to teach me magic!" Maya teases, pulling out and breaking a chocolate bar in half.
"How cheeky," I ruffle her hair good-naturedly, taking my half of the bar with my other hand.
Walking though the Mushroom Forest is, quite frankly, scary. The background music isn't bad, but combined with the aforementioned spores of varying colors, the danger of monsters, and the shifting shadows caused by the occasional glowing fungus and the nature of very tall mushrooms? Somehow it all adds up to being a nightmare out of my childhood.
I can't freak out, though I want to pretty badly. What if Maya's current calm is only because I'm calm? What if Maya starts freaking because I start to freak? That'd... really just be too much of a bother. I'd have to waste time and energy calming myself down so I could calm her down, and there's no guarantee it'd work.
Really, too much of a hassle.
"We need to find a good resting spot," I ponder aloud. "That Mastered Enemy Away materia is useful, but it won't work all the time."
I should know. We both gained five levels from this whole excursion just from fighting the random monsters we rarely ran into. It didn't help that they were all so many more levels higher than us.
"Luckily for us, we've had the numbers advantage so far. It's always been two against one, so even if our enemies are stronger and faster, we're trickier. Since teaming up won't be an option while you sleep, it'll need to be a place I can set up traps around."
"Where do monsters come from, anyway?" the blonde asks. "I asked Auntie Jane, and she told me they come from Whisperwind Cove, where the Queen of Dragons makes them."
"Eh, there are a whole bunch of reasons. I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of them."
The most common reason, actually, is due to animals mutating and then breeding with their non-mutated brethren. The Lifestream promotes life, after all, which is great if you get a little bit on you and you're wounded. You'll heal right up, provided you don't die.
That is to say, wells of Lifestream, or Mako Springs to Shinra's scientists, have a very high concentration of this life promoting energy. It has to, if it's condensed enough to have become a liquid. So what happens when an energy that promotes life is added to a living creature in high concentrations?
The first thing that happens is the rapid multiplication of cells. Since that can lead to complications in DNA structure, mutations are common at this stage. If this doesn't cause cancer, give the creature mutations that make it impossible to survive in its environment, or outright kill the creature from lethal dosage of a foreign substance, then it'll increase the desire and capability to mate.
That's part of the reason the Nibel Mountains are so densely populated with monsters. The Lifestream is so close to the surface, the weak monsters find it easier to live to adulthood. The air literally healthier.
Well, that and the fact that they have so many babies.
There is also that mutated creatures, the monsters, have looser inter-species mating requirements. This has resulted in some very strange crossbreed monsters throughout history. The time honored profession of monster taming and breeding has something to do with it as well.
I've always considered monster eugenics a strange topic. After all, it's a legitimate and established field of study in this world. However, there are certain phenomena that only occur in Mana-mutated creatures that are important for mages to know about.
First and foremost is that those who interact with the Lifestream regularly are more likely to develop cancer by several thousand times. That isn't to say the risk of cancer is high. It's just that under normal Gaian circumstances the chances of cancer are so amazingly low.
This has to do with the various mystic energies of the body acting as redundant systems for DNA and memory. In this world, something the Planet has decided is 'alive' will have its form and planned growth detailed in its Mana. If the physical DNA is altered, the person's Mana can be checked and then used to correct the discrepancy. It doesn't work in more extreme instances, since an instinctual response of a person's magical energies can't really compare to the greater healing magics.
As one might imagine, I studied this the best I could given my abilities with Para-Magic.
Anyway, introducing one's bodily and spiritual systems to foreign Mana with the potency of the Lifestream is going to screw up one's insides something fierce. All things with Mana have their own identity written into said Mana. To have another being's Spirit Energy attempt to interact one's own is often invasive and is rejected immediately. This is the basis of Magic Resistance in this world.
As for resisting the damage one could take from directly touching the Lifestream? A single person's Mana isn't even potent or dense enough to be a gas. The Lifestream has condensed to the point of being a liquid. How many thousands of lives could even one milliliter contain?
With the back-ups and reduntant systems scrambled, disrupted even a bit due to a moment of direct exposure, it becomes easier to see how someone could die from exposure to the Lifestream. Rampant growth of cells, potential damage to core indentity, increased propensity for actions that contribute to living or surviving, potential toxicity damage to the brain as well as the memory back-up in the Mana systems, all from just touching it.
Okay, maybe I'm playing up how dangerous it is to just touch it. I mean, just living near the Lifestream is much less dangerous than all the things I'd read about. It's actually healthier to do so as long as you stay a certain distance away, with at least twenty feet of soil in between you and it. Really, aside from the risk of cancer shooting up to be similar to Earth's in 2009 and the abundant monsters, of which there are likely more powerful variants lurking around...
All right, perhaps it really is that dangerous.
Even so, crops often grow well in such places, so people are going to settle there anyway. I think Shinra sent out a public notice a while back because of that, saying not to get too terribly close to visible Mako without proper gear. Although I don't want to praise Shinra, their research has proven that close proximity with the Lifestream carries a high risk of detrimental long term effects on the human body and psyche. These effects often don't manifest for years, by which time it's usually too late to do anything about them.
Somehow, I never thought I'd consider the possibility of being Life'ed to death.
I don't know if any of that applies to Cetra or Sacaeans, or even Limit Breaks due to the great amount of Mana involved, but mages like me are at greater risk of things like cancer. Even though our magic resistance is higher, we access and manipulate our internal Mana so often that some of our Data may get misplaced. Accessing external Mana is just as bad since one has to connect to it to guide it or accept it into oneself in order to channel it.
I'm certain that the pollution from the Mako Reactors has a similar mutagenic effect to being near the Lifestream, but aside from the Nibelheim Reactor I don't know if it'd be stronger or not without knowing how they actually work.
I don't even want to get started on the Nibelheim Reactor and Hojo's mad experiments.
Well, although it's actually a pretty big deal among the magic community, the diagnosis rates are comparable with women's breast cancer on Earth. Not that it's pleasant to think about at all, but it could be worse. I mean it could-
"-ey!" Maya's curiously tugs on my sleeve so that I'd have to actually pay attention. "What's that?"
Her outstretched finger points to a river of shifting green-white light.
"What." I deadpan.
I shake my head in disbelief.
I look again, but it hasn't changed.
I shake my head and rub my eyes, followed by a deep and calming breath.
"What."
"You don't know, too?" Maya asks innocently, not quite grasping my expression.
"I know what it is!" I retort irritably, "I just don't know how I didn't notice it until I was right on top of it!"
Seriously, now that I can see the Lifestream that's just sort of there I can sense just how much Mana is there.
No, that's a lie. I can't sense just how much there is because there's so much.
Also, it's probably the reason the Mushroom Forest even exists. It makes a lot of sense now. It also probably explains why Marlboros live in the Mushroom Forest, since the aberrations can also be found near Banora, Mideel, the North Crater, and in the Nibel Mountains, which are places the Lifestream gathers close to the surface. I don't know why, but maybe it's because-
That can wait until later. Safety and survival first.
"Seriously though, what the sh-crap?" I mutter to myself, cutting off the dirtier word just in case Maya's SOLDIER baby hearing could catch it.
"Anyway, this is the Lifestream. Stay back and don't touch," I warn casually. "And it's 'either,' not 'too.'"
"Right," she nods.
"We still need to find a place to rest up. Let's go that way," I hum, pointing in a direction away from the Lifestream. "Also, keep this flow of Lifestream a secret, okay? Don't want it getting back to Shinra. They'll wreck everything. Again."
With another nod of acknowledgement from the child, we set off. It takes about an hour for us to find a good spot and another to have it trapped up enough that we can feel safe enough to sleep. Once we finish setting up camp, we eat a dinner of trail mix and jerky.
We go to sleep hoping that tomorrow will be better.
Location: Mushroom Forest, Cosmo Canyon Area
Date and Time: Aug 11, [ µ ] εуλ 2000, Mid Morning
The last few days haven't been so great. Between the dodging random encounters, trying to find a way out of the forest, and a Marlboro that I'm pretty sure is actually tracking us, I keep thinking back to our departure from Little Twister. Zangan knew he was wanted by Shinra, which makes sense when you consider that he's supposed to be the last of a near dead race.
Shinra seems to like those, for some reason.
He also knew that Lightning has had some sort of grudge against him for a while now. Something to do with some Sarah girl. Maybe it's Lightning's lover? I never did get to play Final Fantasy 13.
I kind of hope she's Lightning's lover. Maybe it's bad of me to think such a thing when something bad probably happened to her, but I think just about everyone would be interested in there finally being a homosexual protagonist. Not just because they'd be lesbians, either.
Anyway, Lightning, a high ranking member of SOLDIER, has a grudge against him. So why did he agree to take the two weakest with him? If anything, shouldn't have Maya and I gone with Tellah? That way the child isn't being put in danger and I can get more instruction. What, I wonder, was he trying to accomplish?
Maybe he's just going senile? I can't think of any good reason for this.
Even if he was planning on training us during the trip, shouldn't he have known something like this could happen? It doesn't seem very responsible of him.
Then again, Zangan is the kind of man who, for training purposes, will punch you into the wildlife so hard that it teams up with you to defend yourselves from him.
Really, it all goes in circles. I can't be sure of anything.
I feel the weight of my bag shift. I turn to find Maya lifting the flap, brows drawn tight in concentration as she tries to sneak something from it. She realizes that she may have been caught when I stop walking. The fact that I'm look directly at her helps get the point across.
"Kae, I'm hungry," Maya says pitifully.
One thing I can be certain of is that Maya eats twice as much as I do. Probably because she's the daughter of a SOLDIER. I would blame it on her being a growing girl, but I have a two cousins around her age. They eat as much as me, at most.
While normally I wouldn't be concerned, the amount of known edibles around here is kind of low. It's highly improbable that I'll be able to supplement my rations through foraging. With us going through the food I packed three times faster than expected, we only have seven more days to reach Cosmo Canyon before we run out.
Water is also an issue, but nowhere near as dire. We can refill at a stream we found. A regular stream, with water in it. One that hopefully will not poison or mutate us.
Plus, Maya drinks like a normal person. That means we have 15 days worth of water compared to the now 7 of food. Add in various tricks for finding water in a wasteland like this, taught to Maya courtesy of the world's most dangerous woman, we're honestly more worried about going hungry.
"Fine, go ahead and eat. Just remember not to leave any crumbs this time. The Marlboro almost got us last time because of that," I tell the girl gruffly.
I want out of this damn forest.
"I said I was sorry," she mumbles back.
(Un)fortunately for me, her pouting is cute enough to dispel my bad mood. In thanks, I ruffle her hair. She waves her hands at mine to try and knock it away, but I pull back in time.
"Don't do that!" she whines.
Considering that she's normally fine with me ruffling her hair, I'm guessing her hunger is making her grumpy.
"Aww," I tease, smile wide and cheeky, "I'm not allowed to do that?"
"You're not!" Maya puffs up her cheeks to show just how upset she really is.
I'm not quite sure how much that is since I've only known her a few days, but my best guess is that she won't be mad for long.
"How am I supposed to thank you, then?" I reply with amusement.
"Like a normal person! Just say thank you!"
"But that's boring!" I whine playfully, drawing out the 'i.'
Maya almost retorts, but then stops and adopts a thoughtful expression. After which she cheerfully admits I'm right, jumps on my back, and proceeds to ruffle my hair with both hands. Most importantly, she's smiling, laughing, and playing.
Just like a kid her age should be.
"Ah! I've been ker-ruffled!" and good, too. "I must have my revenge!"
So began the hair ruffling war of August 11th, 2000. It was a mighty struggle, but in the end the win went to Maya Schrodinger. Her boundless energy of her youth rang triumphant against the greater reach and experience of Kae Lin Zheng.
At least, it did until both of our stomachs started complaining.
Location: Mushroom Forest, Cosmo Canyon Area
Date and Time: Aug 11, [ µ ] εуλ 2000, Mid Afternoon
It was good to play for a bit, in retrospect. It eased the heavy pressure of just trying to survive. I file that information away for later. When the main game starts, we will almost literally be taking on the world.
"Mmm... We probably shouldn't have played around so much," I comment offhandedly as we finish eating and getting our hair back to normal. "Your aunt is waiting for us in Cosmo Canyon. She's probably worried."
Maya's mood transforms. As if struck by a lightning bolt cast down by the Fates, her face stiffens and her body shakes. Cold sweat starts to roll down her ghostly white skin while her eyes are wide, captured by some terror yet unknown to me. If I were to hold a black panel behind her with a white star-burst centered on her head, she would fit perfectly into a manga.
"Okay, I know that face," I sigh. "It says we screwed up n' are in for a beatin'. What'd we do?"
"Auntie Jane..." Maya gulps, "doesn't accept tardiness."
I admit, that's not what I was expecting.
"Even if we're super fast, we're going to be late when we said we'd not be late, and we didn't even tell her we might be late!" Maya repeats that last bit of information two more times, looking a little traumatized as she does so.
Oi, oi... Is this all right? Traumatizing kids like that is kinda... Well, it's good fodder for fighting off infatuations I don't have time for. I think I'll investigate more later, though. Just in case.
"Maya, when did we say we'd meet her there?" Because I was never told we had a deadline. Maya is surprised by my question, which has the nice side effect of temporarily putting off her impending mental breakdown.
"Uhh..." her face scrunches up as she does her mental math, "In 3 days."
So a week from when we left is when we were supposed to arrive. We've wasted three by being lost in a forest of giant mushrooms in a maze of canyons that neither of us know how to navigate. We have limited food and there are SOLDIERs and a Marlboro out for our blood.
If Jane's punishment is as scary as Maya's making it out to be...
"Well, if we're going to die we might as well do it smiling!" I give her two thumbs up and a cheery smile in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Maya starts crying.
Apparently that was not the right thing to say. Whoops.
Not really knowing what else to do with a crying child, I look to the sky and sigh. I let her cry for a good half a minute before I get down on one knee and ruffle her hair. I smile, hope it's reassuring, and snort in faked amusement. Maya looks like she's about to start screaming when I speak.
"Hey, we'll be fine. This isn't our fault, remember? As long as we get there safe and sound, everything will fall into place. You understand?" I say to her evenly, looking her calmly in the eyes.
The blonde, I'm starting to realize, is actually really mature for her age. She sobers up pretty quick, and takes the time to contemplate my words before nodding. I don't spend a lot of time around kids, but even I remember what it was like start crying and screaming in fear of prospective punishment. That she managed this so quickly speaks a lot of her childhood. Maybe her battlefield discipline, as well.
"Getting there safely is all that's important right now. Everything else is unimportant," I continue. I stand and take a step back. "Now, all you have to do is repeat after me."
"All you have to do is repeat after me," she replies, familiar with my method of teaching camp songs after four days of hiking. The girl still has a few tears in her eyes, but that's okay. She can wipe them in a second.
"Sunshine and cookies, everything'll be aaall right~!" I do a little spin at the beginning of the last word, finishing facing toward her with a wide smile. The index finger on both my hands poke the center of my cheeks. With palms outward and all my other digits tucked away save for the thumb, I have an upside down L on both sides of my face.
Maya has no qualms about laughing in that face.
"You're silly!" she giggles.
Just as I'm thinking that it's much better to see her smiling and laughing, a Marlboro bursts into the clearing.
Maya tackles me to the side, knowing her reflexes are better than mine. We land near a patch of the bioluminescent mushrooms that dot the forest, kicking up dirt and spores as we do so. I'm quick to cast Structural Analysis, aka Structural Grasping, on us. Thankfully, we are not poisoned.
Though an eight year old girl would normally not knock over a twenty two year old man, she's also a SOLDIER's kid and that does wonky things to normality.
Just as we're drawing our weapons to defend ourselves, we notice that the Marlboro isn't even paying attention to us. Its clearly attacking someone else, though. A few someone elses, actually, and they all are in SOLDIER uniform.
"Let's get going while they're distracted. If the SOLDIERs are starting to search the forest then that means we aren't really safe here anymore. Plus, we need to get to Cosmo Canyon in less than 3 days," I half explain, half think aloud to the blonde.
She only nods, and then we're on our way.
A/N: So yeah, not a lot actually happens in this chapter. To be honest, I was debating whether to even finish it. I mean... nothing of note really happens. I could have just skipped it, right?
Well... I don't know. Probably. I was already pretty far in when I thought of that though, and it had been 6 months since my last update. I wanted to put out something.
Anyway, leave your thoughts, comments, and concerns in a review. Thank you for your time. =]
... That is all.
-Maxxus Herald