I literally have been working on this all day, I kid you not.
It was supposed to be up earlier, but I had projects and exams to worry about. Fun times.
Oh well. It was made better by spending my birthday with my best friend yesterday! She made me cupcakes. I knew there was a reason I kept her around. I've had 6 since then...5 of them being yesterday...three of them being when she gave them to me. So, maybe I like cupcakes a little.
*Also, I was rereading the last chapter last night and realized how many grammatical errors there were. Yikes. I tried to fix them but I couldn't even remember where half of them were. Meh, hopefully there aren't as many here. My italics tend to inexplicably run together with other words when I transfer it over from Word. Sometimes I can fix it, sometimes I can't. Anways: Please enjoy! :D
We ran through the halls of the condemned ranch, the sound of the alarm drowning out any conversation we would have attempted to make. For me it felt like some kind of terrible burden had been lifted and I found myself running faster than most of the others.
Neil was waiting for us when we arrived outside. Lloyd skidded to a halt and asked, breathlessly, "What happened to the captives?"
"The Palmacosta Army is escorting them to Palmacosta as we speak," Neil informed.
"Then Neil, please get out of here, too!" Genis said urgently. "Hurry!"
Neil looked rather lost. "What?"
"It's going to explode!" Colette cried.
His eyes grew wide and he stumbled a bit as Lloyd grabbed his arm and pulled him along behind him.
I pushed myself to go as fast as I could. There couldn't be much time left before the ranch exploded, and if we were caught in-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
"Gaaaaaaaaaah!" I screamed as I was flung into the air and brought back down with a painful thud. Burning debris rained down around me and smoke filled the air. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand and crawled, as best as I could, away from the flaming mess behind me.
Once I figured I was a safe distance away, I collapsed onto the dirt.
"Aurelia!" I heard someone call. It might have been Colette. Then again, it also may have been Kratos. My ears were ringing too badly to be able to distinguish any kind of voice.
"Over here!" I groaned to whoever had called me. I found my voice to be scratchy and hoarse from all of the smoke I'd inhaled.
It turned out that the speaker had been Genis (so I wasn't even kind of close). He jogged over and crouched down beside me. "Are you okay?"
I nodded feebly. "I guess I should consider myself lucky I wasn't closer. Still, oww."
He offered me his hand. "Come on, Raine will heal you."
I let him help me up and we headed over to where the group was being healed by Raine.
"I thought I was going to die," Lloyd was saying.
"I'm glad everyone's alright, though," said Colette. She glanced at me. "You are alright, aren't you?"
I grimaced. "I'll be fine once Raine heals me." I cast a smile at the healer, who was presently casting First Aid on Lloyd. She nodded.
Neil hesitated before speaking. "Ah…what about Chocolat?"
There was a long pause. As in most situations, Raine was the one who spoke up.
"I think she was taken to another location," she said coolly. She hardly looked up from her work.
Neil stared at the ground. "I see…"
"If she's alright, she can still be rescued," said Kratos. Oh sure, now he was all about the rescuing of ranch victims.
"Yes," Neil said decidedly. "If you learn Chocolat's location, please let us know immediately. Even Dorr really wanted to save her."
There was a bit of a sad moment when everyone stopped and remembered Dorr. I wished that I could feel hard feelings towards him, I really did- especially after everything he'd done, but when I took Clara and Kilia into account…I just found myself feeling sorry for him.
Lloyd clenched his fist in a show of determination. "Right. I swear, we'll find her." His eyes shone and I knew it was more than just keeping a promise to Neil. He needed to find Chocolat and set things straight with her.
"Also," Genis piped up, "the captives have something called an Exsphere embedded in them."
"It's dangerous to leave them as they are now," said Lloyd. "You need to send a letter in my name to a dwarf named Dirk who lives in Iselia. I'm sure he'll help you get them removed."
Neil made a mental note of this. "Dirk, in Iselia. I understand. Then, I shall go back to the city. Please stop by Palmacosta and visit us again anytime."
"What's going to happen to the city?" I questioned nervously. "With Dorr gone…"
"I will be taking Dorr's place," he replied. "Though, I never thought that would come about like this…anyway, thank you so much for all of your help. I must be off." With that, he left the remains of the ranch and headed towards Palmacosta.
Colette watched him walk away before turning to the group. "Where next?"
"That geyser place, right?" said Lloyd. "We need to get the Spiritua Statue for Koton." He looked less than thrilled at the thought.
"Thoda is only a day's journey away," said Kratos. "We can get there by noon tomorrow, no later."
Raine moved onto me next. I wasn't too badly hurt, just some scrapes from where my dress left my arms uncovered. She looked up at me for a moment. "Huh? Aurelia, what are you smiling about?"
I blinked. "What?" But then I realized that she was right, I was smiling. "Oh I…I really don't know. I wasn't even aware that I was smiling." Really, when I looked at everything that had happened, I didn't have much reason to. Dorr was dead, and so was his daughter, and who knew what was going to happen with Clara. I'd just assisted in the assassination of a Grand Cardinal and the destruction of a ranch, along with the slaughter of countless Desians. I should have been miserable.
"We're not like them Genis…we're different."
I think it was those words that changed things. I'd been so busy worrying about what Lord Yggdrasill might think of this, or what Lady Pronyma might say about that, but honestly? It all seemed so pointless now. I had new friends now- people who I was determined to help save the world and stop the Desians, whether I was one or not. I didn't need to hold on to a perfect lie anymore, because I finally realized- perfect or not, it was still a lie, and I didn't need it.
"It's because I'm not like them. I'm different," I whispered.
"What was that?" Raine asked.
I felt my smile widen. "Nothing. I suppose I'm just happy that Palmacosta doesn't really have to worry about the Desians anymore, that's all."
She nodded. "They'll finally be at true peace."
"Yeah!" Raine…thank-you. It's thanks to you that I don't have to feel guilty anymore. That part of my life is gone. I'm different.
Lloyd shook his head and laughed. "You're weird, Aurelia. Anyways, let's head to that geyser!"
Raine finished up the rest of my healing, and we were on our way.
After an uncomfortable sleep on the ground, we walked the morning away and ended up at Thoda almost just when Kratos had said we would (he really needed to quit doing that). Thoda wasn't really a town or a village or much of anything really. There was a building that was reminiscent of a House of Salvation, and a dock with no boats. That was about it. However, a nearby sign announced it as "Thoda Island Sightseeing Boat Dock! Experience the natural wonders of the Thoda Geyser!"
…yes, this place sure looked exciting.
"Where's the geyser?" asked Lloyd, confused.
"The geyser isn't actually here," I told him. "It's on an island. Isn't it?"
"…that would be correct," said Kratos.
"Well how do we get to this island?" Lloyd said impatiently.
"Let's head inside and see if there's someone we can ask," Colette suggested.
The six of us headed inside the House of Salvation-type building, which was pretty deserted except for a young girl sitting boredly at a counter. Her name tag read "Candy". When we entered, she perked up and plastered an incredibly fake smile on her face.
"Hi!" she chirped. "Welcome to the Thoda Island Sightseeing Boat Dock! This is the most convenient-" She cut off. "Well, the only way to view the Thoda Geyser." She paused to let her rambling speech sink in. "It will be 200 gald for a round trip. Would you like to use the boat?"
"Sure," said Lloyd, at the same time I muttered to Genis, "I didn't see a boat out there…did you?"
He shook his head.
"Thank-you very much!" said Candy when Lloyd handed her the money. "Just head on out to the docks!"
I shot a glance back at her as we were leaving, and sure enough, her smile was gone without a trace of it ever being there.
"Where's the boat…?" Lloyd wondered. He headed over to the dock and I saw his head tilt to the side in confusion. "It's a…washtub?"
Genis burst out laughing. "What? There's no way. Let me see." He led the group over to the dock. His face fell when he saw Lloyd was right. "Y-Yep. It's a washtub…"
"Washtubs, hmm…" said Kratos.
"Wow! This looks like it'll be fun!" Of course, this enthusiastic reply came from Colette.
"'Fun'?" I repeated under my breath. I crouched down to get a better look at the things. No wonder I hadn't seen them at first. They were shorter than the dock! Just round tubs with paddles. And we were supposed to cross the sea on these? I didn't have any problems with water, not like Raine, but this was clearly a death trap!
Speaking of Raine, she was practically shaking in fear. "I-I'm going to wait here," she said. "Go ahead without me."
"What's wrong, Professor Sage?" Lloyd asked her concernedly.
She shook her head slightly. "N-Nothing," she gulped, and then contradicted herself by saying, "I'm not getting in that thing."
"I agree," I said. "Maybe for slightly different reasons than Raine, but those things do notlook fit to cross the ocean in." At that moment, as if the angels were trying to prove my point, Noishe came bounding down the dock towards Lloyd. "Especially not with Noishe gallivanting all over the place. If we do go, I call 'not it' for being in one with him."
Lloyd scowled at me. "Oh come on, Aurelia, not you too. Noishe is fine! I thought you liked him."
"I do," I said firmly. "But that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to trust him in a washtub across the sea. You think he's so great? Then you can go with him."
"That's perfect," Raine spoke up. "That will it will be even- two people to a tub. I certainly am not going to go and ruin the balance of people."
Colette grinned. "Aw, come on, Professor, it looks fun! Come on, let's get in!" She eased herself into one of the tubs and sat down, knees folded beneath her.
Genis, meanwhile, had been creeping towards his sister. "Yeah, Raine!" He grabbed her hand and tried to pull her towards the washtubs.
"AHHHHH!" she shrieked. Genis dropped her hand in surprise. We were all a bit surprised, actually.
"What's with the scream?" Lloyd asked, frowning. "Professor Sage…are you…afraid of water or something?"
Her cheeks went red. "I-I was just starting to say…'Ahhhh this should be fun!'" Shaking, she lowered herself painstakingly into one of the washtubs. She sat cautiously as though she was going to flip over and drown at any moment.
"Um…sure…" said Lloyd. Clearly he, along with the rest of us, wasn't buying it for a minute.
As we were getting into the washtubs, I saw Kratos shake his head and laugh. It caught me surprisingly off guard.
"Wait a minute," I said slowly. "Kratos…I can't believe what I'm seeing. It can't be true! You…you-!"
"What is it?" he snapped. He almost seemed paranoid.
"You…laughed," I finished incredulously. "You actually showed emotion besides anger or annoyance!"
Right now, in fact, he was looking very angry and annoyed. He didn't say anything and got into his washtub with Raine (it was decided that since he was the most composed, he would travel with Raine so she'd stay calm).
"You're going to lose a limb one of these days," Genis said under his breath.
I snickered and got into my own tub with Colette. We each took a paddle to row with, but apparently being an angel makes you really strong, because I found myself barely having to row at all. All I did was keep us from going in a circle- Colette was the one who was really pushing us forward.
Luckily, the island wasn't horribly far away. It only took about an hour or so to reach it, and it was a good thing because by this point, I'd had enough of this forsaken washtub. As I hopped onto the dock and stretched my arms out, all of my muscles screamed in protest at having to be crammed into that tiny thing with another person and row for an hour. If we didn't need it to get back to the mainland, I would have set it on fire.
Raine remained in her washtub. Her knuckles were white as she clutched the side for dear life. "We've…finally…arrived…" she breathed.
Colette ignored Raine's suffering and clasped her hands together. "That was fun, wasn't it, Lloyd?" she said excitedly. Lloyd nodded and grinned in response.
"I disagree completely," Genis grumbled. "Sea water came in and I thought it was going to sink!" He glared at Noishe, who stood wagging his tale and panting happily.
Lloyd cleared his throat and focused on Raine. She didn't seem to be making any sort of attempt to get out of the washtub. He offered his hand to her. "Here, Professor."
She held her own shaking hand out to accept it. "Ah, right. Thank-you." She tried to let him help her onto her feet, but ended up collapsing onto her hands and knees.
Kratos looked from Raine to the washtub thoughtfully. "…that was a rare experience."
I glanced at him. "Are you referring to crossing the sea in a washtub, or Lloyd's show of chivalry?"
He thought a moment. "Both, I suppose."
"I hate both of you," Lloyd sighed.
I giggled. "I know. It's alright. Come on, let's go see that geyser!"
As if on cue, a monstrous pillar of water shot into the air from a spot we couldn't see up the hill. Droplets of water rained down on us as it fell back to the earth.
We headed up the rocky path to where the geyser was located. All kinds of tourists were milling around, despite how deserted the dock had been on the mainland. The cliff surrounding the geyser was framed with a wooden railing, the most logical reason being so that no one fell into the geyser and boiled alive.
Remind me again, why people liked to come see this thing?
Lloyd ran to the railing and stared down into the depths. As he did, the geyser erupted once again. He scrambled backwards. "Wow!"
"Lloyd, a geyser is a type of hot spring that periodically erupts with boiling water and water vapor," Genis reminded him.
Lloyd gulped and stared at the geyser, blushing. "Y-Yeah…I knew that."
I approached the railing myself, once the geyser had died down. I stared down the geyser, which, when calm, looked like some kind of hot spring, and searched for what might be Spiritua's Statue. I noticed something on the far side.
"There!" I shouted, pointing at the ledge in the cliff side. On it sat a marble statue of a woman, the diamond of the halo glinting in the sunlight. The others joined me to examine it.
What I would like to know is how that priest managed to get it way over there, I thought, shaking my head.
"That must be it!" said Colette.
"There's an opening in the railing over there," said Genis, nodding towards a spot where there was no railing. Why this was, I had no clue. It couldn't be safe, by any means. "All I have to do is stop the geyser with my magic, right?"
I glanced around nervously. "I don't know, you guys. Is it really such a good idea to freeze it with all of these people around? What if something goes wrong somehow?"
Kratos nodded. "Aurelia is right. We don't want to draw unnecessary attention."
"The tourists should start to leave once night approaches," said Raine. She seemed to have regained her composure, somewhat. "Why don't we wait a while and then try it?"
"That sounds like a good idea," said Colette. "We need to break for lunch anyway, right?"
We settled down in one of the few grassy areas nearby, luckily away from all of the people, and had our lunch. It was kind of interesting to just sit there and watch all of the people. It was quite relaxing, actually. It seemed like we'd done nothing but run around for weeks, so a chance to just sit back, with nothing immediate urging us to keep moving, was nice.
I was actually so relaxed, that I felt myself begin to drift asleep.
Which brought me into a dream. I was standing in an endless plain, completely flat. I dimly realized that the swaying blades of grass matched my eyes perfectly- a pale, jade green. The sea of green stretched on endlessly under a rose sky; the view was broken only by a pedestal rising up out of the earth.
Frowning, I decided to go see what it was. I felt a weird mana radiating from it as I approached. I tried to think where I had felt such a thing before…
I knew once I saw it. This pedestal…it was an oracle stone. I was sure of it.
Hmm…I wonder what will happen if I put my hand on it?
Obviously nothing could happen, because only the Chosen, Colette, could operate the oracle stones and open passage to the seals. If I tried to do so, nothing would happen. So why bother?
Still, I was gripped by this fierce urge to lay my hand down. It just seemed right.
"It's a dream," I said aloud, which really, should have tipped me off right away that something was going on. People dreaming tend not to realize it's a dream. "What's going to go wrong?"
I pressed my hand down into the depression. Mana streamed from my hand into the stone and I felt the ground shudder under my feet. Something was changing alright, but looking around, I didn't see what was. The field remained the same.
"Aurelia, what are you doing over here?"
Colette's bright voice echoed through the field, which was beginning to melt away. It morphed into where I really was- the Thoda Geyser, which was drenched in the golden glow of sunset.
I blinked sleep out of my eyes. Yes, I'd been sleep-walking. Perfect. "Oh, Colette. Um, hi." I wasn't in the grass where I'd fallen asleep, but closer to the cliff's edge. I stood behind a sign, pretty much out of view, with my hand resting on…oh. The-the oracle stone?
Colette didn't appear to notice it. "We didn't want to wake you up, so we just went ahead and froze the geyser without you. The others just finished getting the statue, so we're going to…" she trailed off, staring at the cliff wall suddenly with wide eyes.
I followed her gaze and gasped. A bridge of light had formed from our side of the cliff all the way up to a ledge on the cliff wall, where there was the mouth of a cave that hadn't been there before.
It wasn't difficult to put two and two together. This was the oracle stone. That bridge of light had only just appeared. And here I stood with my hand resting on said oracle stone.
Colette was looking at me now with wonder in her eyes. "Aurelia, you just…that's the…"
I wrenched my hand away from the stone as if it had shocked me. "No I didn't!"
She stepped closer and stared down at the oracle stone. "But this is the oracle stone!"
"N-No it's not!" I stammered. I stepped away from it.
"Aurelia…" Her eyes bore into mine. "Um, I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you just found the next seal."
"No I didn't!" I insisted. I cast a nervous glance over at the others, who were now fixated on the bridge. "It-it must be something else."
She sighed. "I'm the Chosen? I'd know an oracle stone when I see one. What happened?"
I bit my lip. "I…I don't know! I fell asleep and then I had this dream about a field and that oracle stone and I pressed it and I woke up and it actually had worked so I must of slept walked over here and-" I cut off and continued in a frantic whisper, "Listen, Colette, you cannot tell the others about this because I see them coming over right now and you just-just need to pretend that you did it, alright?"
"Wait, what? Aurelia, why can't I tell them? What's going on?"
I cast another glance over at the group. They were really close now. "Because, I don't even know what's going on, and I don't want to deal with all of the questions, and Kratos' suspicious looks and…and I just need some time to let this sink in and think about it. Promise you won't tell? Quickly promise you won't tell?"
She hesitated a moment before saying, "All right, I won't tell. But we'll talk about this later, okay?"
I nodded quickly, just as the group approached us.
"Guys what is this!" Lloyd exclaimed. "That bridge just appeared out of no where!"
"I did it!" Colette announced. "Um, this is the oracle stone, and um, Aurelia found it for me and so I used it and um, that's why that bridge is there."
There was a long pause.
Great! I thought panickedly. They're not buying it for a second. What-do-I-do-what-do-I-do-what-do-I-
"So this is the Seal of Water!" Raine concluded.
I sighed in relief.
"Aww, that sucks!" Lloyd grumbled. "I didn't even need to get that Spiritua Statue!"
Colette looked relieved as well that the others had believed her. "Cheer up, Lloyd! Just think of it as giving you the opportunity to have fun riding in the washtubs."
He didn't look convinced. "Yeah, I guess, but…"
"Besides," said Raine. "It wasn't for nothing. This is only one seal. We still don't know where the remaining ones are, so that book is vital to obtain."
"Fine…"
"S-So are we going to go in now, or…?" My voice shook horribly.
Kratos raised an eyebrow at my obvious nervousness. "...I don't see why we shouldn't. Now would be the ideal time, when there is no one around."
Genis shrugged. "Yeah, it'll be dark inside either way."
I ran ahead to the bridge. It felt solid beneath my feet, but I still had that feeling that it was going to fall through. It was made of light, after all.
"Well then let's go! That seal isn't going to release itself!" Oh wow, I sounded like Lloyd.
"Excellent!" said Raine. She followed me across the bridge. "Now, let us begin the excavation at once!"
Lloyd sighed. "We're not here to excavate anything…"
I let the others pass me, a fake grin stretched across my face. Kratos was the last one to pass, but we both froze when we saw someone approach the beginning of the bridge.
It was Sheena, the assassin from Ossa Trail. Kratos and I exchanged a look.
"Stop!" she cried. The others had entered the cave already, so we were the only ones to witness this.
"What do we do?" I exclaimed.
Sheena ran at the bridge but was cut short as Noishe leapt in front of her. He wagged his tail and barked at her.
She skidded to a halt. "Ugh, w-what the hell? Corrine!"
A small, fox-like animal appeared in a puff of smoke. It began throwing itself at Noishe, trying to get him to move, but Noishe didn't react at all. He still stood panting happily at Sheena.
"What's wrong?" I called to her.
She glanced up. Her eyes narrowed with annoyance.
"He's just a dog," I continued with a smirk. "Surely the great assassin can handle it?"
Kratos sighed impatiently. "Enough of this." He grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me inside.
The last thing I heard Sheena shout was, "Grr, I'll get you next time for sure!" I laughed at her, loudly so she was sure to hear.
Everyone else had been waiting for us, it seemed.
"What took you two so long?" Lloyd asked, annoyed. Our faces must have shown that something had happened, because then he asked, "What's wrong?"
Kratos almost smirked. "It looks like that girl didn't make it inside."
"What girl?" Lloyd's forehead crinkled in confusion.
"That annoying assassin from the Ossa Trail," I replied. "She was out there."
"She followed us?"
"You didn't notice?" asked Kratos. "You didn't hear the shouting from outside?"
"Oh, I wondered what that was," said Colette. "What did she want?"
...really though…?
"My guess would be to kill you," Genis said sarcastically.
"Noishe should keep her busy for a while," I said, "or she'll at least give up and wait for us at a different place. Let's just get this seal released!"
"You're beginning to sound like Lloyd," Raine mused.
"I know," I muttered. "Let's just go."
We set off down the rocky slope of the cave. It was pretty dark; the only light came from faintly glowing blue ore in the cave's wall. The sound of trickling water was ever-present.
I couldn't stop thinking about the oracle stone. Add one more question to the vault, I guess. What was that? There was no way that should have even been possible! And yet…here we all were, at the Water Seal, and Colette hadn't had to lift a finger to get in.
"Ugh, I just don't understand…"
"Don't understand what?" Lloyd asked.
…oh damn. Had I said that out loud? Maybe I needed to just stop thinking about these things around other people.
"N-Nothing," I told him. "Just, um, why that assassin is after us, I guess. It worries me."
"I kind of am too," he admitted. "I wish she would just talk to us so we could understand her better."
I nodded, but didn't say anything.
We finally reached flat ground. It was a cavernous room that was at least a bit brighter than before. Water poured down the majority of the walls, pooling in a stream that circled the whole room. Another thing that I noticed was that it was really warm in here, and the air was damp.
"The Sorcerer's Ring is being weird again," said Lloyd. He held it out and a stream of water shot out. "Whoa! Water came out of the Sorcerer's Ring!"
Genis looked around the room. "Well, the Thoda Geyser is a plentiful source of water, so maybe it reacted to that."
"With this power, we can supply water even to distant areas," said Raine.
Lloyd frowned. "But if all it does is squirt water, that sure seems kind of…weak."
"Well it certainly wouldn't be very useful in combat," Raine agreed, "but I'd imagine that it has something to do with the trial and unlocking the way to the seal room."
"I guess…"
"Bored already?" asked Kratos.
"No!"he snapped. "C'mon, let's go!" He ran through an opening in the wall without a second thought.
"You know," I began. "Just for that, I kind of hope he gets attacked by monsters. He really doesn't think things-"
"AHHHHH!"
"-through."
Genis slapped his forehead. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
We all rushed after Lloyd to help him. The next room was like an assault on my eyes. It was so much brighter than the last one, with plenty of glowing ores that almost made it seem like we were outside. It was made up of a series of bridges over waterfalls and rivers.
Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I took in Lloyd and his…attackers? I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.
What I had expected to be some kind of huge sea monster (as we were at the "Water" Seal), was actually not so menacing. It seemed that Lloyd had been attacked by a horde of moderately sized starfish. Hmm, yeah. Not quite as menacing. They were latched onto him, weighing him down. He thrashed and kicked in an attempt to get them off, but they stayed stuck on.
Genis collapsed into a fit of laughter. "Oh, wow, Lloyd! You really outdid yourself this time, huh?"
"It's not funny!" Lloyd screamed. "Get them off of me!"
"They're so cute!" Colette noted. "I don't think they mean you any harm, Lloyd. They're just hugging you, that's all!"
"No, Colette, they really aren't! They're trying to kill me!"
This got me and Genis going again.
"Alright, we don't have time for this," Kratos said, being a killjoy as always. He approached Lloyd and started to pry one of the starfish off of him, when it suddenly detached itself from Lloyd's arm and reattached itself to Kratos' face! He stumbled backwards and tore the thing away from his face, slamming it into the ground. Angry red welts were left behind.
Genis and I instantly sobered.
"Still think they're cute, Colette?" Lloyd asked her bitterly. He was still struggling to free himself from the starfish when something dropped from the ceiling- a giant tortoise, with a rocky blue shell that looked like it could easily crush two of us at the same time.
Now this was more like what I'd been expecting.
"What the hell?" Lloyd blurted. "This is ridiculous! It's like they're working together!" He began fighting even harder to break free.
"See Lloyd?" I looked pointedly at him. "This is what happens when you rush into things without thinking. You get pinned down by oversized starfish and trampled to death by a giant turtle."
He glared at me. "Or you could not make fun of me, and SAVE ME!"
"Sure thing." I whipped out my spear and charged at the beast. Seeing as my spear obviously wasn't going to pierce that shell, I instead dove to the ground and stabbed its underbelly. The beast reared up with the intent of stomping on me, but I rolled out of the way.
"Maybe you should focus on getting these damn things off of me first?"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't yell at me when I was only trying to stop that thing from charging at you. Ungrateful, really."
"AURELIA!"
I cringed. "Sorry, sorry!" Okay, now how was I going to get those starfish off of him without falling victim myself? Hmm…
"Okay Lloyd, I have an idea. Just try not to get hurt, alright?"
He blinked. "Wait, what?"
I stood in front of him and took a deep breath before crying, "Whirlwind!"
"Aurelia?"
I twirled my spear in front of my, kicking up the fierce wind that went with this attack. I tried my best to drown out Lloyd's screams of protest and instead focused on hitting only the starfish. Only the starfish…
Meanwhile, Kratos, Genis and Colette and taken on the tortoise monster. But I wasn't paying any attention to that, because I needed to focus on only the starfish. Only the starfish…do not hit Lloyd…he will kill you…only the starfish.
Finally, all the starfish lay dead on the ground, and Lloyd was free. Not that he was at all grateful towards me about it.
"You could have killed me!" he fumed.
"Not really," I told him. "It wasn't that strong of an attack. Raine could have healed you."
"That's not the point!"
"Are you done, Lloyd?" Kratos asked impatiently. The others must have already felled the giant tortoise because it was nowhere to be seen. "Because if you have no further complaints, we need to move on."
Lloyd stared him with outrage plain on his face. "'Complaints'? But she-!"
"Now, now Lloyd," I said teasingly. "Kratos is right. There's no time to dawdle."
Kratos nodded. "Let's move on, and please, take more caution. We don't want this to happen again."
Lloyd gave both of us an angry look.
Not far ahead there was a set of something like scales, only instead of trays there were jars with different amounts of water in them. Another set lay below us on a lower level. Finally, a platform holding a warp point stood unconnected from us.
"I'm guessing that warp point is how we get to the seal," said Genis.
"But how do we get over there?" asked Colette. "I can fly, but the rest of you can't. I could lift you and-!"
"That won't be necessary, Colette," said Raine. She was closely examining the scales. "I assume that these scales probably have something to do with being able to gain access to that platform. My guess is that we have to set them at a certain balance by using the Sorcerer's Ring to fill them with water."
"Huh. Well that doesn't sound too hard," Lloyd said. "Let's just fill these jars with water until we get the right balance!"
"It's obviously not going to be that simple, Lloyd," said Genis. "See those other scales down there? We probably have to do something with them, too."
"I agree." Raine's eyes scanned the room. "Hmm, I wonder…Lloyd, would you mind filling this jar with water?"
"O-Okay…" He approached the side of the scale she referred to and used the Sorcerer's Ring to fill it with water. There was a loud rumbling sound, and across the bridge, a section of the stone slid away to reveal a passage. At the same time, a wall of stone slid into place across an opening on the lower level.
"Thank-you," said Raine. "Now, then, let's move on to the next area. We need to search for something that will grant us access to that platform."
We headed across the bridge and through the passageway, which cloaked us in temporary darkness as we headed down the slope. We emerged into the lower level, which didn't show much difference from the last, except for the fact that it was slightly less in tact. Pieces of the bridge were crumbling into the water.
"So…what now?" Lloyd asked blankly. I could see where he was coming from- there was nothing of interest in this room except for a block of stone and the faint outline of a doorway on the wall.
"Then that must be the door that closed," I noted, pointing at it.
"'Closed'?" Lloyd repeated.
I nodded. "Yes. When you filled that jar with water, and the door opened, there was one on the lower level that closed. This must be where it leads to."
"So then as long as one door is open, then the other one can't be?" said Colette.
"It would seem that way," Raine said. "Hmm, then Lloyd, could you run back to the scales and empty that jar? I'll give you further instructions once you get up there."
He looked confused. "Huh? How will you do that?"
"This door leads to the same room, but on a different level. We'll be able to see you. Just wait for us."
"Um, okay…" He ran back up through the dark passageway.
"What do we do?" Genis asked his sister.
"Just be patient."
Sure enough, several minutes later the door Lloyd had returned through sealed itself shut, while the other door slid open.
"Alright, now before we go through, we need to move that block of stone," Raine instructed.
I gulped as I stared at it. "It looks pretty heavy."
"I'll do it," said Kratos. "Where would you like me to move it?"
"Just below where the door drops," she told him.
He did as he was told and, with a great effort, began sliding it across the floor towards to doorway. After a minute or two he got it into place.
"Now let's go," said Raine. She slid past the stone block and headed to the previous room.
"It'd be nice if she actually told us what was going on," Genis muttered.
"Hey, at least she's not going into that crazy ruin mode," I said to him.
He looked up at me. "Oh, just you wait. It has to be coming any minute!"
We followed Raine into the next room to find that she was already instructing Lloyd (who stood leaning over the railing of the bridge) on what to do next.
"Now refill that jar, and then come back down here. You'll find that the passage will remain open."
He nodded and filled the jar with water. As he did, the door on his level rose up, but as the one down here dropped down, it was caught on the stone block that Kratos had pushed into place. Now I was getting it.
Lloyd hurried back down to meet us. To kill time while Lloyd was on his way back down, Raine had begun to gush over the scales. It was about time.
"Really though, you have to admire the beautiful craftsmanship," she was saying. "It couldn't have been an easy feat to connect these scales to the doors over there, which might I add are quite smooth. I highly doubt they are a natural occurrence in this cave. And another thing-"
"Oh look Lloyd's back!" I cheered as Lloyd pushed past the stone block and joined us. "Lloyd, how are you, dear Lloyd?"
He blinked. "Is the Professor finally in Ruin Mode?"
I nodded sadly.
Lloyd cleared his throat loudly to get Raine's attention.
She whirled around. "Ah, Lloyd. Ahem, yes. If you would, please fill these jars with equal amounts of water." She paused. "Precisely equal, if you could."
"But that'll take forever!" he protested.
"We'll wait."
He muttered a couple of curse words under his breath, but approached the scale anyway.
Colette looked at Raine. "This could take a while, couldn't it?"
She nodded. "It is quite likely."
"Well then." I settled down on a part of the ground that wasn't too wet. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable, hmm?"
"I hate you," Lloyd said cheerfully over his shoulder.
I responded by holding my hands up in the shape of a heart.
We sat there for quite a while as Lloyd continuously filled the jars, and poured them out when the water levels weren't even enough. He'd often burst out with random expletives, which Raine would yell at him for.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour, a platform suddenly rose up out of the water beside us and continued up to connect the upper level with the once unreachable platform.
"I DID IT!" Lloyd exclaimed joyfully. "THEY'RE EQUAL! IT'S A MIRACLE!" He even went so far as to start doing a little dance.
"That's great Lloyd!" Colette cheered. "Now we can use the warp point! Come on, let's go!"
We practically had to drag him away from his little happy dance so we could go back to the upper level. We all gathered onto the warp point (I got sickening flashbacks to the Palmacosta Ranch) and were transported to what was assumedly the seal room.
It looked much like the seal room from the Triet Ruins, with the seal resting in the middle, only the standing room was much more limited. I blamed this on the pool than ran around the length of the room. It was darker in here, so I couldn't really see into the water. It unnerved me.
Lloyd wiped sweat off of his forehead. "This place is all dark and humid. Let's hurry up and get out of here."
"We must release the seal first," Kratos reminded him.
"I know that."
We stepped off of the platform and Colette approached the seal.
"I feel mana…welling up…" said Genis. "It's the same as the Seal of Fire."
I tensed. "Then that means-!"
Water suddenly sprayed forth from the seal like a geyser, bringing, of course, enemies with it. There were three, I think, but they instantly dove into the water so I didn't get to see what they looked like.
"What do we do now?" Lloyd asked panickedly. He drew both of his swords, throwing frantic glances at the water.
"Does anyone happen to specialize in underwater combat?" I asked in a weak attempt at a joke. Naturally, no one thought it was very funny.
"Genis, why don't you zap the water with a lightning spell?" Lloyd suggested. "Water is weak against lightning, right?"
At that moment, one of the creatures leapt through the air and sailed over our heads. Water rained down as it passed. I'd only caught a quick glimpse of it, but it looked to be some kind of mer-creature.
Lloyd sighed. "Never mind. I'd rather not be electrocuted."
Raine, who was usually pretty focused on the situation at hand, froze. "Lloyd! You remember that-!"
"Professor, watch out!"Colette cried out as one of the mermaid creatures soared through the air again, catching Raine's shoulder in the teeth of the shark heads it had for arms. She was dragged backwards until Colette sent one of her chakrams sailing at the mermaid and it dropped Raine.
"This is like the boat ride all over again," I said, readying my spear. "At least these guys aren't growing-"
"DON'T JINX IT!" Lloyd and Genis shouted at me.
I laughed sheepishly. "Um, sorry I-AHHH!" I screamed as something suddenly grabbed hold of my leg. Like that I was on my stomach, being dragged towards the water.
"Aurelia!" Lloyd yelled, running to help me, but he was just too late. I felt his fingers brush against mine before I was pulled into the water.
It was a lot deeper than it looked on the surface- deep enough for me to be completely submerged and not even touching the bottom. I looked into the face of my attacker, which had the faintest resemblance of a maiden's face, but only in shape, I realized, as it smiled pointed shark teeth at me.
I gave a muffled scream and kicked my leg into its gut. Its grip didn't loosen. In fact, it bit down even harder with its shark mouth hand, and the fangs punctured my boot and ankle. I could feel the rush of water around me and knew that the other two mermaids had arrived. Dammit.
I'd managed to keep hold of my spear, so I tried to swing it at whatever it could connect with. It swung so much more slowly in the water, and so the cut I inflicted on the largest mermaid, my attacker's, face didn't do much to hurt it other than cause its grip to loosen. I took this opportunity to kick my leg free and swim towards the surface.
I'd almost made it when the two lesser mermaids grabbed onto both of my legs. I started panicking then. I was certain I was going to drown- I was up against three mermaids, and quickly running out of oxygen. In one last, desperate attempt, I pointed my spear up out of the water, desperately hoping that someone would grab onto it and pull me out.
There was a violent tug on my spear and I knew someone was trying to pull me out. I looked up and saw Lloyd and Kratos both holding onto the shaft of my spear and pulling with all of their might.
With one, momentous tug, I was out of the water. I gulped in breaths of air gratefully. However, one problem remained- I was still in the grips of the mermaids.
Lloyd ran to them, crossed his swords and plunged them each into a mermaid's face. Horrible, high-pitched screeches erupted from them and I heard a splash as my legs were released.
"T-Thanks," I coughed.
"Be more careful," Kratos said irritably, as Lloyd helped me to my feet.
I glared at him, and then suddenly remembered something. My hands flew instinctively to my ears, which, thankfully, were still covered by my now soaking hair. I gave a sigh of relief. That had certainly been close.
"One of those lesser guys is dead," Lloyd reported. "Two more to go."
"Any injuries?" Raine asked me.
"My ankle. Mutant shark-mouth-for-hands freaky-"
A huge pillar of water came crashing down on the group, knocking us all to our feet. The other lesser mermaid dove at Genis. Its mouth opened wide, intent on ripping his throat out.
I came to my senses the quickest and lunged at the thing before it could get to Genis. "Frenzy!" I aimed my attacks solely at its neck and soon enough, its head came clean off. It landed with a sickening plop at my feet.
I slapped my hand over my mouth. "Oh gross!"
Everyone was back on their feet at this point. Our casters were casting, and then there was Kratos, Lloyd and I. We stood at the ready, waiting for the leader of this freaky fish pack to show itself.
Swoooosh!
I whirled around. "There!"
"Angel Feathers!" Blades of light sailed towards the place I'd pointed at. There was a faint, warbled cry and blood pooled in the crystalline water.
"Did I get it…?" Colette asked hesitantly.
The mermaid soared out of the water once more. One of its shark hands had been sliced clean off, and it appeared to know who to blame. Colette let out a squeal and flew out of the way of her attacker. However, it clamped down on her leg with its remaining hand and they both fell painfully to the ground.
"Colette!" Lloyd rushed forward and immediately began hacking away at the creature's arm. The mermaid let go of Colette and aimed for Lloyd's legs instead. Wow, this thing sure had a thing for chomping on legs.
While Raine healed Colette, Kratos and I ran forward and unleashed as many attacks as we could to get Lloyd free. When Lloyd finally managed to liberate himself, Kratos brought his sword down on the creature's neck. Blood clouded the puddles at our feet as the three bursts of mana appeared around the room. They all floated towards the altar and congregated there. It was much like before: the seal reacted, a strange mana momentarily appeared, and then it was done. It had been released.
Remiel's voice echoed through the chamber. "Chosen of Regeneration…you have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar."
Colette nodded. "Yes!" She approached the now soaked altar and kneeled down. "Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!"
Colette's wings unfolded from her back and she lifted into the air. A light shone from above, and just like before, Remiel floated down.
Here we go, I thought. What lies has he come to spread this time?
Remiel smiled at her, but it held no warmth behind it. "You have done well, Chosen One, Colette. The second seal is now released."
"Thank-you, Father."
Ugh, I couldn't take it. I just couldn't take hearing her call him "Father" anymore. I took a step forward. "Colette! I-"
I should have known what would happen. As soon as I'd started to speak, my throat closed up and I began choking.
Lloyd stared at me in alarm. "Aurelia? Again?"
I glared at the angel, who looked calmly down at me, as though waiting for me to finish. When the violent coughing finally subsided, I simply said, "I must have had some water left in my lungs. I'm really sorry, please, continue." My voice was hoarse and barely audible. I locked eyes with Remiel, and willed him to hear my message: You're not fooling me, Remiel. I know that you're lying to Colette, and I will find a way to tell her. You can let Lord Yggdrasill know all you'd like. We'll see whose side he takes.
Although I doubt he truly read my mind, I could tell that he got the gist of it because his eyes had suddenly grown even colder. He returned his attention to Colette.
"…accept this blessing from Cruxis. I hereby grant you additional angelic power."
Colette, who couldn't possibly have seen mine and Remiel's exchange, seemed confused at his sudden coldness. "Ah…F-Father…?"
He raised his hand and sent a stream of mana towards Colette. It didn't change anything physically about her this time, like her wings, but no doubt something had changed within her.
Remiel was speaking again. "The next seal lies far north, in a place that gazes upon the end. Offer your prayers at the altar in the distant land."
Colette frowned, and I could see hurt flash through her eyes. "Father, have I done something to displease you?"
Remiel's eyes flicked towards me before saying, "…it matters not. All that is needed is for you to become an angel. I will be waiting for you at the next seal. Colette…my daughter. Hurry and become a true angel." He began to rise back up, his body fading from sight.
His last words echoed just as his first. "Do not disappoint me…"
Colette floated back to the ground. No one spoke for several moments. It was Genis who broke the silence.
"What's up with him?" he said irritably. "He always talks like he's so important."
Colette flinched and rejoined us, her head hung slightly.
"Genis!" Raine exclaimed. She slapped him in the back of the head. "Apologize to Colette!"
"I'm really sorry!" he said hastily.
"It's alright," Colette said quietly. "Father…Remiel really does sound like that."
I stared at her sadly. Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps I wasn't the only person doubting Remiel's intentions. At the moment, Colette certainly didn't look like she believed much in them herself.
Lloyd coughed awkwardly. "Um, well, shall we get going to the next seal? Although, he was confusing as usual."
"Stop complaining," Kratos told him.
"Yeah, we're going to be getting the book, remember?" Genis reminded him. He still rubbed where Raine had hit him.
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Then let's get moving," said Kratos.
They all started to gather onto the platform, but I noticed that Colette stayed where she was. Her eyes remained fixated on the ground, like she was thinking deep thoughts.
I approached her. "Colette?" I said gently. "We're leaving."
She looked up at me. "Oh, r-right."
I tried to pour as much as I could into my eyes. Please understand me, I silently begged. There's something wrong, and I know you feel it too.
To my surprise, she nodded ever-so-slightly.
I've always found it kinda random that Remiel just suddenly gets all cold towards Colette. So, I decided I'd give it a more obvious reason!
ALSO. I have a question for everyone. Answer it if you want, it's okay if you don't.
I recently downloaded the song "Balance" by A Skylit Drive. At one part, the lyrics say something along the lines of:
"Listen to my story, this may be our last chance
Cuz people die, and people dance"
Now. Does this, or does this not sound like a Final Fantasy X reference? People die and dance= Summoners performing the sending
And the first part, Tidus actually says in the game
Sorry. I had to get this out there hahaha. I'm curious about it! It sounds like one! Rawr!
Anyways. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoy cupcakes.
Reviews are always super appreciated! And make me go like this: :D