Odyssey IX:I

"I thought this was gonna be a race…" Breeze sighed as she walked down the rusty metal hallways. Earlier, the two boys had challenged each other to a race. First one gets their crystal, wins. Unfortunately for Breeze and Zina, they had been dragged into the childish game.

"It is!" Bartz argued.

Zina rolled her eyes. "Then why are we still travelling together?" she asked in a rather bored tone.

"Why? Would you prefer to split up? You with me and Breeze with Bartz?" Zidane suggested smugly. He already knew what they would say.

"Hell no!" the two ladies cried in unison. The two looked at each other with frightened looks on their faces. For them, being with each other was the only thing that helped them cling onto sanity.

The two men laughed at the girls' reaction. Bartz continued to stride forward and caught sight of a glittering object floating and rotating in mid-air. "Hey, a crystal!" The wanderer was about to run after and get it, but someone had grabbed his wrist. He turned and saw Breeze glaring intently at him. "Let go Breeze! I'm gonna win this race!"

"Bartz, it might be a trap!" the female brunet pointed out. Bartz ignored her and instead of trying to shake the woman off, he resorted to dragging her along. "Bartz!" she called once again as she dug the heels of her feet into the metal floor, an effort to slow him down, but it provided no traction.

"Bartz!" another voice called, Zidane. Breeze widened her eyes as she saw her counterpart take hold of the crystal. A bright light surrounded them before they disappeared into thin air.

"Breeze!" Zina called, but it was already too late. They were gone. A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the area making the hairs on the backs of the two genomes stand on their ends. "Who's there?" the female genome demanded.

"'Who's there?'" a high-pitched voice repeated, mocking Zina. "Whoops! It looks like we nabbed the wrong person!" the voice said. A man, no, a clown came bouncing into view, a disturbing smile on his face. He stopped in front of the two genomes and looked at them. "Yup, wrong person!" He turned to the side with his mouth open, as if to talk to someone, but immediately frowned when he saw no one. "Come down here!" he ordered in a much gruffer, angrier voice as he pointed a pale finger to the spot beside him.

Zidane turned to the dark area where the clown was looking at and saw another clown emerge from the shadows. This time, the jester was a female with a solemn look on her face. Unlike the man, the smile that was outlined by the makeup was very inappropriate for the frown on her face. She calmly made her way down, choosing to walk rather than bouncing like the other chose to.

"Any time soon?" The woman picked up her pace and soon stood beside the man.

"Kefka, Kuja's plan has failed," she stated calmly as she assessed the people in front of her. The statement earned her a hit on the head.

"I know you idiot!" Kefka muttered.

"Where's Bartz?" Zidane demanded. He felt someone nudge him and turned to see a Zina with an eyebrow raised. "Oh yeah, and the girl Bartz!" Zina hit him harder this time. "I mean, uh, Breeze!"

"Kelpie would you care to explain?" Kefka offered. Kelpie opened her mouth to talk but Kefka snapped his fingers right in front of her face. "Oops! Too slow!" he teased. He then turned to the two genomes. "I'm afraid your friends are SMACK-dab in the middle of enemy territory," he crooned.

"Zidane, we've got to find them," Zina whispered.

"Don't worry, we will."

"Sorry, but we can't let you!" Kefka said as he floated up in the air, "Right Kelpie?"

The woman looked up tiredly at the jester and nodded. "I will resent this, but it seems as though I have no choice," she mumbled as she jumped up to higher ground. Her hands started to glow orange and fire soon formed on them.

"Right you are!" Kefka cackled as he prepared his own balls of fire. "We're gonna have a blast!" Without any other word, he threw the fireballs right at them. Zina and Zidane jumped to opposite directions, each summoning their daggers. Kefka chased after Zina, laughing maniacally all the way. "Run, run, run as fast as you can lil' monkey!"

Zina turned and jumped off of one of the metal pillars and charged right towards Kefka. She crossed her daggers in front of her and as soon as she made contact, she drew them, making a nasty bloody cross on the jester's chest.

"Ow, that hurts!" he complained. He glared at the tailed girl and said in a gruff voice, "You're gonna get yours!" Multiple triangles of light came crashing towards Zina, hitting her and sending her flying up into the air. Kefka followed with lightning falling and landing a direct hit on Zina. The genome managed to land on one of the ramps and took another fighting stance as she breathed heavily.

Kelpie sent three fireballs towards Zidane in quick succession, all of them homing towards the genome. After that attack however, she made a run for it, escaping to one of the darker, but closed areas of the place. Zidane rushed in, expecting an attack, but in a few swift movements, he found himself unarmed. His daggers fell to the floor, creating a clanking sound of metal against metal. He saw a foot kick them away and glared at the woman. He clenched his hands into fists and took a stance. He wasn't good at hand-to-hand, but he might at least try.

"I do not want to fight you," Kelpie said bluntly. Zidane stopped and stared for a moment before shaking his head and taking his stance. The jester sighed. "I am telling the truth. Whether I lose or win, it will mean nothing as long as it would be the likes of you."

"What are you talking about?" Zidane asked, lowering his guard ever so slightly.

"It is not my place to speak, but even if I did, you wouldn't understand," she sighed. She turned towards the sound of explosions and crouched down, picking up the daggers. Zidane widened his eyes and prepared to fight, but Kelpie just offered him his weapons back. "Here, go help her," she instructed, gently pushing him back into the battlefield. "Although she won't die, she will lose. His strength is too much for the likes of her."

"What about you?" Zidane asked, hesitating. "Why are you doing this?"

"You are not for me to fight," she stated bluntly. "I will definitely lose against you anyway. Now, go."

"Wouldn't the clown get mad at you?" he asked once again.

Kelpie sighed at his unnecessary concern. "Yes, he will, but he can only do so much to hurt me." With one final push, she sent Zidane out into the open. Zidane, overcoming his shock, turned and blocked an incoming attack from Kefka.

Kefka grunted at the newcomer and sent a block of ice raging towards him. Zina blocked it and casted her own lightning spell. The jester managed to avoid it, but he got caught in Zidane's spell. He felt the electricity run up and down his body, making him convulse. Added to that, water burst up beneath him, sending him crashing into the ceiling. Zina followed up with multiple strikes from her daggers. The genome widened her eyes when she felt something pierce her abdomen.

"No fair!" Kefka whined as he kicked the stunned genome away and descended onto one of the raised platforms. "Two against one! Kelpie!"

"She's gone! I defeated her!" Zidane lied as he rushed towards Zina's falling figure. He caught her and landed on one of the ramps. He gently rested her body and started to conjure up what little healing spells he knew.

"You're lying~" Kefka chimed. "I would've known if she got beaten." Zidane froze for a moment, but continued to work soon afterwards. Kefka entertained the idea of finishing them off, but Kuja wouldn't like that very much. "Kelpie, wherever you are, we're going!" he called out. He turned to the two genomes, an evil smirk on his face. "Toodles~!"

Zidane turned and just saw the remains of a flash of light. He could still hear the jester's mad laugh echo and bounce off the metal walls, but he chose to ignore it and continued to assess the damage on Zina's body. She had a huge puncture wound on her abdomen and blood was slowly oozing out of it. "Zina, are you alright?" he asked, an attempt to keep the girl conscious. A fist came into contact with his face.

"Well that was a stupid question," Zina muttered as she sat up and wiped away the blood that trickled down the side of the mouth. "Of course I'm not alright!" She widened her eyes and went into a coughing fit. She covered her mouth with her hands and when she checked it, there was blood. She wiped it off on the floor and started to heal herself. She placed her hand on the wound and it started glowing green.

"Let me do it," Zidane offered. "You should be resting."

"Yeah right…" she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Get away you pervert!"

Zidane frowned at the comment. "Hey, I admit that I flirt a lot, but I am no pervert! No let me treat our wound."

"I am- Ouch!" Zidane raised an eyebrow, a smug smile on his face. Zina glared at the genome in front of her. "Fine!" she sighed in defeat.

"You should rest for a the mean time while I take care of this wound. You'll need it," Zidane said.

"Whatever," Zina mumbled. She turned her head to the side, well out of Zidane's sight, to hide her blush when she felt his light touch. "What about Breeze and Bartz?" she whispered.

"We'll get to that, but first-"

"Yeah, yeah… I need to get this wound closed and rest up," she interjected. "Just hurry up!" Zidane chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, you're just a bit talkative for someone who's supposed to be in pain," Zidane mentioned.

"Fine. I'll just shut up then!" Zina stated as she crossed her arms over her chest, making her wince.

The male genome rolled his eyes in amusement. He had never seen this side of her. Sure, she was still the short-tempered genome he knew, but she was way too talkative compared to her usual self. He usually found her quietly conversing with Breeze, but now that she's gone, she had no one to share her thought to except him. Zidane sighed inwardly and focused on what he was doing.

Zina's thoughts drifted to her missing friend. She was terribly worried about her well-being. She was so focused on how to save Breeze when she felt tiredness slowly creep in. A yawn escaped her lips, making her cover her mouth out of instinct.

"Get some sleep," Zidane instructed.

"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" Zina muttered, making him chuckle even more. She just rolled her eyes. "How can he find amusement in this?" She felt the pain on her abdomen lessen and the effects of fatigue kick in. She had to admit, she needed rest. With one last yawn, she crossed her arms behind her head, a makeshift pillow. Uncomfortable, yes, but it was all that she had except for the hard cold metal floor. A fleeting thought ran through her mind before she finally fell asleep…

"We'll find you Breeze. Just hang on…"

Yeah, another late night chapter.

Sleep… I… need… sleep…