Author's Mumblings: In case you hadn't noticed, I've painted Astos in a slightly more sympathetic light. In the video game, he's evil, you go kick his ass, the Prince awakens and thanks you, and all the Elves are happy. I thought that was a little boring. What if Astos was not the bad guy, originally, but became one in trying to reclaim everything that had been taken from him? Gives everyone a lot more depth, doesn't it?
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy is not owned by me, but some changes made to characters and plot are a result of my creative liberties. In case you don't feel like looking it up, "creative liberties" basically means I took someone else's idea and changed it to the way I like it. (This is why movies are frequently nothing like the novels they were based on.) If you don't like the changes I've made, feel free to yell at me instead of SquareSoft.
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Aura washed the blood off of her hands with water from her canteen, carefully drying them off on a clean part of her robes before digging through her pack. She emerged with a small lantern, which she whispered an incantation to. Magically, it lit on its own, glowing faintly blue.
"Look straight ahead," she told Edan. He did as he was told, and she held the magic lantern up to his eyes. Slowly, the darkness drained from them and his sight was restored. Edan rubbed his eyes and looked at her. Aura blew the flame out and stashed the lantern away.
Dax paced near Mace's body, his sword still in his hand.
"Stupid child," he muttered to the corpse. "Stupid, arrogant child."
"Dax," Aura said, walking up to him tentatively. "There is still a chance we can save him. The Elf healers are rumored to be the best in the world. They might be able to revive him, if we can get him back in time."
"How much time?" he asked.
"I do not know," she stammered. "A day or two?"
"A day or two?" he repeated. "It took us over a week to get here!"
Aura started to cry, but Dax was too distraught to care. He took his hat off and ran his fingers through his silver hair, muttering to himself, "I can't do this."
"Dax, you must pull yourself together," Edan said quietly. "We need you to tell us what to do."
"Why me? I'm not your leader," Dax snapped. "I don't even belong here! My Orb was stolen from a corpse's pocket. It isn't mine. I'm not a Light Warrior. I'm nothing. I'm just a stupid half-breed who doesn't belong anywhere."
Edan just gazed at him, his eyes twinkling faintly from the shadows under his broad brimmed hat. Aura sniffled, wiping tears away. Dax looked away from them, at their fallen comrade.
"Is there any way to preserve the body?" He asked suddenly.
"We haven't anything to preserve him with," Edan told him. "There would not be any wine barrels here. Elves do not drink."
"There is no way we could carry a barrel back, anyway," Aura added. "We don't have any horses."
"No," Dax said. "We're forgetting something."
"What?" She asked.
"I don't know. Think! What are we missing?"
The three were silent.
"I could freeze him," Edan said. "I would have to recast the spell every hour or so, but it might work. Carrying a body is much easier than carrying a barrel full of a pickled body."
Aura looked ill, but they didn't notice.
"Do it," Dax ordered. "I will carry him."
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The pace back to the Castle of Elf was grueling. The Light Warriors scarcely stopped to eat or sleep, traveling well into the night and leaving before daybreak. When the terrain allowed them to, they jogged. They ran from all battles, not wanting to be held up in combat while Mace thawed and was lost forever. On the second day, Dax found that he could cast the ice spell as easily as Edan. Nobody seemed surprised.
Aura lost all track of time, but Dax counted every hour diligently, reminding Edan when to refreeze the body. Dax carried Mace wrapped in a thick blanket to keep from harming himself on the frosty flesh, but the weight wore on him. Everything ached, but he refused to rest for longer than he had to or to let the others carry his burden. He doubted that they could; both Aura and Edan were half his size.
When the spires of the Castle of Elf came into view among the tree tops, Dax broke into a run, leaving the others behind. He ran through the last bit of forest, expertly dodging a poisonous asp that dropped down from the branches. He ran straight into the village, oblivious to the stares of the Elves around him, and into the nearest White Magic shop. Inside, an elderly Elf male in White Wizard robes regarded him calmly as Dax dropped the frozen body heavily to the ground.
"I need you to do everything within your power to revive this man," Dax told him. "And I don't care what it costs."
"Very well," The Elf White Wizard said. He peeled back the blanket and examined the young squire tucked inside. "Hm. You've frozen him. That's very clever. I don't know if I can fix him, though."
"Try."
The old White Wizard gave him an irritated wave. "You may leave, now."
Dax blinked. "Excuse me?"
"This will take some time," The Wizard explained. "I must concentrate. Go, now, and let me do my work in peace."
Nonplussed, Dax walked outside without another word. The door swung shut behind him with a hollow clatter. At the village entrance, he could see Edan and Aura arriving. He felt the need to apologize to them for leaving them in the woods, but the words would not come to him.
"What did he say?" Aura asked.
"He said he would try," Dax said, dazed.
"Light Warriors," A voice said. The turned around to see a middle aged female Elf approaching them cautiously. "I've been given instructions by Sarila to accommodate you. Please come to the inn when you are ready to rest and clean up."
As she said the words "clean up", she wrinkled her nose at Aura's robes, which were still brown and stiff with Mace's dried blood. Aura looked down at herself as though she hadn't noticed the stain, before. So much had happened, she'd almost managed to forget it. Now she wanted to rip her clothes off and burn them.
"We all need rest," Edan observed. "There is nothing more we can do for Mace. Let us go tend to our own needs."
Reluctantly, Aura and Dax followed the inn keeper. They were so tired, they did not notice Edan hanging behind. Edan waited until they were out of sight, then began searching the ground for something.
"What'cha lookin' for?" A voice chirped. Edan turned around and found a very small Elf child watching him.
"A plant," he told her. "It's called a 'dandelion'. It has a yellow blossom on it. Have you seen it?"
The little girl nodded and pranced away. He ran after her, surprised that one so small could run so fast. She guided him to a yard between two small cottages. There were several dandelions growing here. A few had already traded their sunny blossoms for round balls of fluff. He ignored these and focused on the ones with blossoms. The child squatted next to him, blowing at one of the fluffy ones and giggling as the seeds sailed away on tiny white umbrellas.
"Mama says they're weeds," the little girl told him. "And my brother told me they're poisonous."
"They're not poisonous," Edan said distractedly, carefully choosing which leaves to harvest. "Humans make them into dandelion wine."
"What's wine?" The girl asked.
Edan paused to consider this question. "Actually, it's a kind of poison."
The child nodded solemnly. "Told you so."
"Lila, come here," A woman rushed over and grabbed the little girl's hand, pulling her away from Edan. "Don't talk to that man. He's one of the Dark Elves."
"What's a Dark Elf?" The child asked innocently.
Edan did not hear the reply. One of the Dark Elves? It would seem I'm the only one left.
Suddenly, Edan felt very lonely.
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When Edan got to the castle, the guard motioned him in without a fight. Sarila was waiting for him in Prince Alfred's bedchamber. Edan handed her the leaves. She frowned at them, then recognition spread on her face and she let out a mirthless chuckle.
"Of course. We should have known it would be something so simple. He wanted it to be right under our noses so he could laugh at us," She said, then frowned at the young Dark Elf. "But I had heard your mission was a failure. I heard your leader was killed."
"We have no leader," Edan told her. "We cooperate with one another."
She blinked slowly. "How fortunate for you. How do I know this is the cure and not some trick?"
"I do not even know for certain," Edan admitted. "It was what Astos told me with his dying breath."
Her expression didn't change, but her hard eyes looked… hungrier. "He is dead, then?"
"Yes. They all are, except for me."
A smile spread across her face. "You've done well, Edan. You have redeemed yourself."
"I did not do it for you."
"Do not speak so soon," she said, taking the leaves to a table with her other medical supplies to prepare them. "You may some day grow tired of adventures with your strange cooperative group. Perhaps you'll wish to come home."
"I have no home."
"You have done us a great service that will not be forgotten," she went on as though she hadn't heard him, chopping the leaves up very fine on a cutting board. "You are a hero."
"I've betrayed the rightful King of Elfland and handed his head on a silver platter over to the traitors who banished him," Edan spat. "That is not what heroes do."
She finished mincing the leaves and swept them into a small bowl. She added a few drops of liquid from one vial, then from another. "Astos might have been the last of the multiple kings, but we all know he was unstable and would have driven this country further into the ground than it already has been. With Prince Alfred in control, peace and prosperity can be restored, at last."
Sarila stirred the contents of the bowl with a tiny spoon, pausing to sniff it. She made a face and added a pinch of yellow powder from another bowl. Edan watched her silently, trying not to think about anything. She noticed his gaze and smiled at him.
"Try not to despair, young one," she said in a sympathetic tone that made him ill. "It's all over, now."
Edan watched as she gently pried open the sleeping Prince's mouth and spooned a small amount of the concoction under his tongue. He tried to hate Prince Alfred, but found that he couldn't. All of the hate was used up, and now he could feel nothing but sorry for this poor young man. Alfred had no idea what his father and his people had done, had no idea that he had been manipulated from birth to believe that he was of a royal bloodline. He was being used, just as the Light Warriors had been.
The Prince let out a long sigh and opened his eyes.
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"He's alive," Edan said.
Aura and Dax had been eating together at a small table at the inn. They both jumped up so quickly they nearly took the table with them as they rushed out of the building and across the village to the White Magic shop. Edan did not follow, but went to the room that had been prepared for him on Sarila's orders. He stripped down to his underwear, crawled under the blankets and, finally, slept.
Dax and Aura burst into the room to see Mace sitting up, a thick bandage wrapped around his neck like a winter scarf. He smiled and mouthed the word hi to them, unable to speak. Aura threw herself at him and cried, her face buried in his chest.
"I didn't know how I was going to explain to your mother," Aura wailed. She said something else, but Dax could not make out what it was.
"Shh," Mace shushed her, holding her close.
Dax stood in the doorway trying to sort through the kaleidoscope of emotions swirling within. He felt bewildered, awed, relieved and a nagging sense of jealousy as he watched Mace stroke her beautiful hair. He thought back to the Northwest Castle when Aura had cried and he had failed to comfort her. He now deeply regretted that decision and wondered if she would ever really forgive him for being so cold to her.
Don't be silly, he admonished himself. She never felt that way about you.
Aloud, Dax said, "It's great to see you, again, Mace."
Thank you, Mace mouthed to him.
"Can you speak?" Dax asked. "I mean, will you be able to, later?"
I don't know.
Dax chewed on that for a moment, then announced "I'm going to go check on Edan."
Aura sat up, wiping tears on her sleeve. She was wearing a white tunic with no hood and her long red hair spilled across her shoulders and back. Mace plucked at one of the curly strands playfully.
"I have to get a new robe, again," she said sheepishly.
Mace smiled, then did something he had not done since they were children: He made a big show of taking her hand and bringing it to his lips. Aura smiled, remembering the game, and pretended to swoon. They giggled silently, like children with a secret.
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Outside of the small magic shop, Dax encountered the Elf White Wizard, smoking a pipe. This surprised him, as Elves prided themselves on abstaining from human vices, such as alcohol and tobacco. Smoking in public was a very risky thing to do, and it showed that the Wizard had a high social status, since he did it without fear of judgement. The Wizard offered the pipe to Dax, but he shook his head at the old man.
"Your mother got me into this dirty habit," The Wizard explained, puffing on the pipe and staring at some distant memory. "Humans are susceptible to vices, and I can see why. I do so love tobacco."
Dad blinked, unsure of what to say. He waited.
"Something wrong?" The Wizard turned to him again, gesturing with the pipe. "You are Lexander's son, aren't you?"
Dax nodded.
The Wizard nodded, too. "I thought so, especially after I saw you looking at Erdrick's grave. I am your grandfather. My name is Galen."
Dax's chest felt tight. He looked away from the old Wizard and spotted the same children who had mocked him, before. They were hiding behind a nearby house, watching them and giggling.
"There are many here who still believe that banishing your parents was the right thing to do," The Wizard went on. "I was once one of them, but I miss my son. I didn't realize this until after I received word of his death. Death has a funny way of changing your perspective on things."
The Wizard came towards him suddenly and gripped Dax's face with one hand, scrutinizing him closely. The pipe smoke made Dax's eyes water, but he didn't move.
"You look more like your father, but you sure smell like a human," the Wizard Galen announced. Dax wondered how he could smell anything over the pungent tobacco smoke. "Do you know why humans have such a hard time learning Black Magic and Elves have so much trouble learning White Magic?"
Dax shook his head.
"They say it's something in our blood," The Wizard Galen told him. "Not everyone believes it, but I sure as hell do. It took me nearly six hundred years to master White Magic. That's something like twelve generations to the humans, maybe more. But that's why Elf healers are the best in the world: they have to work their asses off to prove it. Ha!" The old man cackled and finally released Dax's face. "Some humans have a natural talent for magic, but there aren't a lot of them that can learn the Black spells. I don't believe any have ever managed to master it. They just don't live long enough. Your father was a Black Mage when he lived here, and your mother was a White Mage. Did they ever tell you that?"
Dax shook his head wordlessly.
The old man plucked at Dax's red cape and hat, puffing his pipe again, thoughtfully. "We often speculated on what would happen, mixing the blood, like that. I thought it might create a new kind of Mage. Someone who could learn both without any trouble."
What are you saying, old man? Dax wondered. That I was an experiment? Or just a side effect?
The White Wizard tapped the last of the ashes out of his pipe. "Well, I have a patient to tend to. I'll see you later, Red Mage."
Red Mage? Is there such a thing?
Dax stood in the same spot for a moment longer after the old man had left, trying to absorb what he had heard. He reached up and rubbed his cheek where the old man had squeezed it. Nearby, he could hear the children laughing at him.
"Ugly half-breed!"
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Aura and Dax slept at the inn with Edan while Mace spent the night under the care of the White Wizard. Dax didn't tell anyone about his conversation with the Wizard, and Edan didn't tell anyone about his conversation with Sarila. By morning, they both felt a heaviness in their chest that comes from knowing something terrible. Edan was the first to break. During breakfast, he confessed to his comrades. Dax was not terribly surprised that the Elves would do such a thing, given his own experiences with them, but Aura was shocked and outraged.
"They used us!" She banged her fist on the table, making their dishes bounce. "I can't believe it. How could they do such a thing? All this time, they acted like victims, while Astos lived in the woods, and…"
"Aura," Dax said gently, putting his hand on hers. "We don't know for sure that Astos didn't deserve it. Today he was corrupt and evil, and driven to madness by the power of the Fiends and his own thirst for vengeance, but we don't know for sure that he was so innocent years ago when he was banished by the Elves. Maybe he was their rightful King, but maybe he was denied that because he was already corrupt."
Aura looked at Mace, but he still could not speak and would not meet her gaze. She turned to Edan for help, but he shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know Astos very well. When I was very young, he sent me to Crescent Lake to apprentice with their Wizards. I had always planned on going back to serve him after becoming a Wizard, but Lukahn called upon me to be a Light Warrior."
There was a soft knock at the door, and a young elf messenger poked his head in. "The Prince wishes to see you."
The Light Warriors exchanged looks with one another, then got up to follow him. The messenger guided them to the castle and past the guards at the gate. Instead of going to the sick room on the first floor, however, they were led to an impressive reception room where the Prince sat on his throne in full dress. Sarila stood nearby, waiting to do anything he commanded of her. Respectfully, the Light Warriors all bowed before him.
"Please rise," Prince Alfred said. His voice, to Aura, sounded angelic. "I wished to thank you formally for saving my life. I understand you have a quest of your own you must complete, but I had hoped you would stay for a few days longer. I wish to have a reception and banquet in your honor."
Dax looked at his fellow Warriors. Edan stared at the floor, hiding his face in the shadows of his hat. Aura and Mace both gave Dax plaintive stares, obviously wishing for him to speak on their behalf. Dax sighed and turned to the Prince.
"We thank you very much for your kindness and hospitality, Your Highness," Dax said smoothly. "But I am afraid we must politely decline. Melmond is in grave danger, and we must help them as soon as possible."
"I understand," the Prince nodded. He looked at Sarila, who snapped her fingers, and from another doorway emerged two guards carrying a large trunk. The guards set it at Dax's feet and opened it for him. Dax felt his breath catch in his throat. It was packed with TNT, so much that it made him nervous just standing near it. He fought the urge to take a step back.
"Please accept this gift on behalf of myself and the Kingdom of Elfland," Prince Alfred said. "Light Warriors, go forth and make the Orbs shine again!"
Dax peeled his eyes away from the TNT and locked gazes with Sarila. She smiled at him, and Dax felt dirty.
