Authoress' note: Whoops! Oh, man, I feel like even more of a derp. I forgot to even upload this chapter! I'm really sorry about this, everyone... I'm not normally this scatter-brained, but...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy franchise
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Chapter 10: Age of Rebellion
Drake grunted as he woke, sitting up. The hand that had been shaking his shoulder retracted, and the sleepy archer turned his head to regard his friend, who was smiling at him wearily in the light cast by a lone candle. Zidane backed up a bit as Drake sat up on his bed and ran his hands over his face.
"What time is it?" A slightly stale roll was handed to the archer, and the man grumbled a bit, breaking the crust to get to the much softer bread still inside.
"Bells just rang six." Drake grunted a little, and glanced out the window, spotting the night sky outside. "Locke's replacement is waiting in the common room. He's going to sneak us in, but we have to go before the sun's up." Drake grunted again, and popped the crusts into his mouth despite their less-than-desirable texture, and grabbed the clothing he'd set out for the morning.
Once Drake was dressed and had shoved his feet into his boots, the two of them grabbed the bags and walked down the stairs as quietly as they could, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. The young, non-descript man that pushed off the wall at their approach also looked tired, and handed them each a warm roll. He got a smile from each of them, and picked up a bag that Drake had set down.
"None of the Alexandrians are up yet. They've been having a hard time getting good supplies for their ships." Drake couldn't help but smirk a little, and followed the man out of the building. "I've heard rumors that an old friend of mine is to thank for that." Zidane glanced to Drake, who shrugged slightly.
They walked to the warehouse that held the tunnel to the castle. Drake grumbled a little in the tunnel, but didn't complain otherwise. Zidane didn't seem to care in the least, bringing up the rear with two bags on his back. Drake just wanted to get through the tunnel as quickly as possible.
The man seemed to know his way around the tunnel very well, and opened a secret door along one of the walls, and led them through it before the door closed. Zidane noticed that Drake was tense as he grabbed the archer's shoulder to make sure neither of them got lost.
"This tunnel's darker, but shorter." True to the man's word, a sliver of light appeared, and he stuck his head out, looking around. "All clear. We'll need to move fast." Drake and Zidane nodded, and trotted after the spymaster. They reached the elevator without incident, and took it to the lower levels.
"...I wonder what Brahne is going to do..." Drake glanced to Zidane as all three men leaned on different spots of the railing. The archer was still very tense.
"...Do we really have to go to the Outer Continent?" The idea of travelling hundreds of miles underground made him uneasy. He knew that he couldn't do much in a tunnel, as far as fighting. Zidane blinked at him, though, looking slightly startled.
"You might be from there, though. Don't you want to find out more about your past?" Drake was quiet as the elevator continued to hum.
"...What if what I find is something I'd have been better off not knowing?" Silence fell , and the elevator hissed to a stop. The spymaster walked to the gate and opened it, letting the two men off.
The man waved as he took the elevator back up, and Drake glanced to him, wondering if he could send a message to Locke to give the man a hand. He looked like he had more on his plate than he could handle.
"Zidane! Drake!" Drake turned in time to catch Vivi as the young mage barreled into his legs. He stumbled back a step and chuckled a little, glancing to Dagger and smiling a bit to reassure her.
"Where's the regent?" Dagger glanced to the tracks behind her. Vivi shuffled a bit, drawing attention to him. Zidane was pouting about something, probably because Dagger hadn't greeted him as enthusiastically as Vivi had Drake.
"He told us to wait here and then went down the track in the trolley." Drake walked to the side of the platform and looked both ways, an odd look on his face. He leaned a bit more as he spotted the regent, and knelt to help the regent up onto the platform.
"Gwok! I did it!" Drake tilted his head to the side, wondering what he'd done that he sounded so pleased with himself about. "I stopped a trolley between here and the Serpent's Gate! Gwok-gwok! That'll show them not to fool around in my castle!" Drake smiled a bit. "Now go, gwok-gwok." Drake nodded, and followed Zidane and the others to the trolley on the other side of the platform. "The excavation site is like a maze, I've heard. Be careful not to get lost."
Drake was practically quivering, and had to take a deep breath as Zidane placed his hand on his shoulder. Dagger sent him a concerned look, and Vivi tugged on his sash. The regent sent him a concerned look as well.
"And..." The regent pulled a cloth from under his cape, and Drake knelt to take it from him. "Take this with you!" Zidane tugged it from the archer, a dubious look on his face.
"It's a rag." The regent hopped, making an angry noise. Drake hid a smile at that, standing.
"You big dope! It's not just a rag! Gwok! That is a national treasure of Lindblum! That is an ancient map of the entire world!" Drake blinked, and Zidane eyed the regent before handing the fabric map back to the Chosen.
"Wow...thanks." Drake carefully folded the map and tucked it safely into his pouch, knowing that it would be safest there. That's likely why the regent had handed the map to him. Shouting drew their attention to the other track, and Drake tensed, his hand sliding to his bow.
"Now, go, before they find you! Zidane, Drake, Vivi. Please, protect Princess Garnet." Drake and Zidane both nodded, Vivi nodding a heartbeat later.
"Uncle Cid..." Drake started to the trolley, casting a look over it to make sure no Alexandrian soldier had booby-trapped it...or any Resistance member.
"Gwok! Don't' worry about me. I'm stronger than I look! Now go!" Drake stepped onto the trolley and the rest followed. "They'll squeeze all the oglop oil out of my body if we're caught!" Zidane nodded to the regent and flipped a few levers on the trolley.
Drake had to grab hold of the railing to keep from falling over, his other hand grabbing Vivi to make sure he didn't fall over either. They were all quiet as they rode the trolley, each of them mentally preparing themselves for a journey when they couldn't see the end of it.
Once they all stepped off of it, Drake and Zidane handed Dagger and Vivi their own bags. Vivi's was significantly smaller than the bags of the rest of them, which only made sense, as he was so much smaller than they were.
Drake waited for Zidane to talk to the moogle, looking around warily. The door to the plains was closed still, though the moogle nodded to Zidane and fluttered up to a set of gears and started to tug on it. Zidane walked back to them, rubbing his head a bit. Dagger and Vivi looked about nervously, and Drake sighed a bit as he settled on the stairs.
"It's gonna take a while to get the foot gate open. It's kept shut by machinery, to keep the Mist monsters out. Should be open in a few minutes." Drake nodded to Zidane's explanation, and pulled an arrow out of his quiver, rolling it over in his fingers. It was one of the ones that he'd bought from Dragoos.
"Kupopo." Drake blinked as the moogle fluttered over to him, and caught the pouch that was dropped into his hands. He flipped the note pinned to it so that he could read it, and lifted an eyebrow.
'Drake:
Here's the wages Sarisa said she owed you. And something that I won off a young man over two years ago that reminds me an awful lot of you. Stay safe.
Locke'
Drake tilted his head to the side and dug into the pouch a bit, and blinked as he pulled out a necklace with several fangs from some sort of creature strung onto a beaded leather cord. They almost seemed to be tinted purple. He shrugged a little and tied it around his neck, over his armor. Immediately, his awareness of it disappeared. It was like he'd just put on a necklace he'd always had back on.
"What's that?" Drake blinked towards Vivi as the boy sat down next to him, looking a bit clueless until the little mage pointed towards the necklace the archer had just put on.
"Hm? Oh, it's just a necklace that Locke gave me. Said he got it a few years back from someone that I remind him of." Drake took a closer look at the objects hanging from it, part of his mind knowing that the fangs came from a wolf, or something very similar to it. Where the dye came from, he wasn't sure.
"Gate's open." Drake lifted his head to look to Zidane, and nodded, putting his arrow away and getting to his feet. He flashed a small smile to the moogle, who nodded to him, showing he understood the brief, unspoken 'thanks'. Dagger fumbled with her bag a little as she stood up from where she'd sat down, and Vivi did the same until Drake crouched to help him. "Everyone's set?" Drake glanced over the others, and then nodded to Zidane, doing his best to hide his concern for the future.
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Drake sighed as he sat by the fire on the plains, his bow laid crosswise in his lap. His fingers were running over his necklace, but he wasn't really aware of it, his eyes on the flames dancing between him and the tent that Mogrika had set up.
Zidane was walking around the little camp, making sure that there weren't any Mist monsters near. Dagger and Vivi were in the tent, asleep. Mogrika was with them, her squeaky snores soft in the air.
They were halfway to the swamp already, and were planning on staying the night at the edge of the marshlands, then finding their way to the tunnel during the day. It was a harsh trek, but they weren't in as much of a rush as they had been on their way to Burmecia, so they could afford to slow down a bit for Dagger and Vivi. Drake had no idea how long they'd be in the tunnels, and he was quite anxious over it.
Drake needed plenty of space to fight the way he was best at, and he wouldn't have that in the tunnels. He had a back-up style, apparently, but he didn't know if he could use it on command. He didn't want to leave most of the fighting up to Zidane and Vivi, but it looked like he didn't have much of a choice.
A hand on his shoulder made him jump, and he turned to look at Zidane, who had moved to sit next to him. The archer shifted and rubbed at his forehead above his eyes, sighing. When he let his hands drop, he realized that his hands were shaking.
"You're really freaking out about this." Drake dipped his head in a nod, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in.
"I'm not comfortable with tunnels, and not knowing how long I'm gonna be in one is getting me all worked up." Even his voice shook slightly, and his right hand found his necklace again.
"Well, if you were able to get through it before, we should have no problem." Drake's hand clenched around his necklace, and he winced as one of the fangs dug into his palm.
"That's not what has me so freaked out. I can't fight in the tunnels with my bow and arrows. You'll be the one taking all the damage." Zidane sighed a little and shoved Drake's head gently.
"I can handle it. It's you I'm concerned about. With those headaches of yours, who knows when you'll pass out next?" Drake dipped his head as he considered that, his eyes finding an ember that had fallen off of one of the logs. "Go to sleep, Drake. You look like you need it." Drake lifted his head and glanced at his friend, and nodded a bit, moving to the tent and settling down in a corner with his bow tucked against his neck.
When Drake next woke up, it was morning, and Vivi was just starting to stir. Dagger was up already, talking with Mogrika and Zidane. Drake cracked his neck and slipped out of the tent, and stretched his arms over his head. His shoulders popped a bit, and Zidane looked over the low fire to him.
"Morning. You look a little better." Drake smiled a little and removed part of his armor to stretch properly.
"I'm feeling a little better for moving again. Even if I'm not sure about going through a tunnel." Zidane nodded, and passed the archer a bit of food. Drake pulled his armor back on and plopped down next to the fire, munching slowly on the jerky he'd just been given.
Once Vivi came out of the tent, Mogrika broke it down and packed it back onto her chocobo. Each of the travelers took their time stretching and making sure that they hadn't misplaced anything. Once Drake had kicked dirt over the fire, they were on their way, waving goodbye to the perky little moogle girl.
The four of them made their way across the semi-solid ground to the planks that were set across the marshiest areas of the swamp, and Drake pulled his bow off his back, remembering the last time they had been there. Dagger looked a little startled as not just him, but Vivi and Zidane tensed as well.
A loud ribbit proved that their wariness was well-deserved. A Gigan toad jumped out of the marsh weeds towards them, blinking its huge eyes. Vivi started to mumble, a sure sign he was about to cast a spell. Drake hesitated, glancing to Zidane to see what he was going to do.
"Aiyah! You chase away frogs! I eat you!" Drake and Zidane met glances as they heard the familiar voice, and they both started to smile. Vivi's Thunder spell slammed into the toad, making it croak in pain, and a fork stabbed into the top of the monster, killing it.
"Quina!" Drake paused a bit as Zidane called out to the Qu, and then put his arrow away, covering Dagger's eyes with one hand as Quina took a big bite out of the toad. "Eugh..." Vivi turned away as the chunk of toad was spat out.
"No taste good!" Drake did his best to avoid looking at the carnage, looking instead at Quina.
"I'm glad to see you're alright, Quina. How was your trip back from Cleyra?" The fact that the Qu hadn't been with them hadn't been missed by Drake, but he hadn't had cause to think that the strange being was dead, seeing as the settlement of Cleyra had been saved from destruction.
"Drake! You and others go poof at Cleyra! Leave me there with no yummy-yummies!" The archer dropped his hand from in front of the princess's eyes and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile.
"Everything was sort of happening at once, Quina. Sorry." Zidane was the one to apologize. Drake had a decent reason to disappear without warning. He'd gone up to the airship to take care of a target he'd been unable to reach otherwise.
"You take me where yummy-yummies are!" Quina shook his/her fork at them, and Drake glanced to Zidane.
"We do need another melee fighter..." Granted that Quina's attacks were rather unpredictable in their strength, but at least he'd be another body between the enemy and the princess. Zidane nodded, seeing what Drake was getting at as the archer's eyes flicked between the corpse and Vivi and Dagger. Drake was agile enough to dodge, but Vivi was still a bit clumsy, and Dagger's reflexes weren't as high as theirs.
"Right. Alright, Quina, you can come with us. We're trying to find a tunnel to another continent. It's supposed to be in this marsh." Drake looked around, and blinked as he realized they were at the frog ponds, where he and Zidane had met the Qu the first time.
"Other continent...Maybe I find more delicious frogs?" Drake couldn't help but smile, and slid his bow over his shoulder and head to keep it on him while freeing up both hands to make sure that neither Vivi nor Dagger would fall.
Out of curiousity, Drake pulled the map out of his pouch and looked at it. He had it backwards for a moment, and blinked as he noticed some writing on it. He looked at it closer, and blinked before a small smile crossed his face.
'Let fear propel you forward. Do not look back. Do not let failure stifle you...' The words weren't captioned, but he had a feeling that a certain dragoon that they were missing would be able to recognize the handwriting, if he remembered the description from the game right. As it was, the words bolstered his courage.
A glance to the front of the map gave no clue as to which continent the tunnel led to, or to where the tunnel entrance exactly was. Drake sighed and folded the map carefully before tucking it back into his pouch. When he glanced at Dagger, he saw her looking at the rather large peridot that Ramuh had given her after testing her.
The group was starting to move off when Drake looked back up, and he trotted a couple of steps to catch up. He noticed that they were headed towards Quina's master's house, and sighed as he thought about how much help the Qu might be. Which was to say, none at all.
"Quina! Where are you going!" Drake blinked as Zidane yelled after the Qu that had proved its worth fighting through Burmecia as s/he ran off into the tall grass. Fortunately, the being left a rather wide path for them to follow, so they did.
"I smell! I smell frogs!" Drake tilted his head to the side at the answer, and caught Vivi as the little black mage started to fall. In front of him, Drake saw Zidane shake his head, an aggravated look on his face.
"No, we have to look for the entrance to the Outer Continent!" The thief was about to head off on his own and forge another path when Quina sped up again.
"I smell frog this way!" Drake sighed and picked up Vivi, moving him to his back, where the boy grabbed hold, seeing that it would be much faster.
"Hey, Quina! Hold on!" Zidane trotted after Quina with a soft curse, despite Dagger being nearby. The woman glanced to Drake with wide eyes, and he shrugged.
"Might as well follow. Quina knows this area better than the rest of us." Dagger shook her head a bit and carefully picked her way over the fallen and crushed weeds that now made a path for them.
Surprisingly soon, they entered an area that was actually paved, preceded by Quina's shout of 'FROGS!', of course. Drake let Vivi down and looked around. He blinked as he realized a certain sound hadn't come, and walked up to the broken and rusted chains that had been crossing the entryway in the game.
A sudden headache hit him, and he had to plant his hand on the ground to keep from falling over, his other hand on his head. A gentle, cool hand brushed his hand away, and he blinked up at Dagger's concerned face. Zidane was looking towards them like he only just realized what was happening, and looked freaked out.
"I...I think I remember this place." Drake ran his hand through his hair again, and stood. Dagger steadied him as he wobbled a bit. "Nngh...Certainly giving me a headache." Zidane walked up to Drake, a worried look on his face.
"You gonna be alright?" Drake nodded, and then looked around. For a moment, he thought the others had disappeared, but when he shook his head, they were right in front of him again.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna have to try to not space out." Zidane smiled a bit and looked around at the paved area. "Think this is the excavation site that the regent mentioned?" Zidane looked around as well, and then nodded, a confident smile on his face.
"Gotta be." Quina walked up, loudly chewing something. More likely than not a frog, Drake had to guess.
"First time I see this." Drake's shoulders drooped for a moment, and he shook his head with a small smile. "Zidane, we going inside?" Zidane blinked, and chuckled a bit with a nod.
"Of course we will. It might lead to the Outer Continent. Let's go!" Drake nodded to his best friend, and started down the steps into the tunnel, pulling his bow off his back and pausing to unstring it before sliding it and the lone quiver he'd taken out into his pouch.
The archer rolled his shoulders once the weight was gone, feeling almost naked without the comforting weight on his back. It apparently showed, as Vivi grabbed his hand almost immediately.
Dagger almost stumbled over some debris that had fallen in form the roof, and Drake looked up. They actually had entered into an ancient building, which he didn't exactly remember. They entered the Roo, or tunnel, itself soon enough, and Drake looked to the portcullis to the left as the others walked ahead.
"Drake?" The archer glanced to Zidane, and leaned a little close to the gate, squinting as he tried to look through the darkness.
"Thought I heard something in here. I can't really make anything out, though." Zidane tilted his head to the side and walked over to investigate as well. He shook his head after a moment of squinting, though.
"I can't see anything but dark." Drake smiled a little and shrugged, and the two of them headed back towards the others. "Let's go." Drake glanced at what looked like a mask as he passed it, and jumped as he saw the eyes flash red.
"Uhh..." Everyone else jumped as everything around them rumbled, and Vivi grabbed onto Dagger's leg to keep from falling over. "...I think we just triggered something." Zidane turned to snark at Drake, and yelped before racing down the hallway, grabbing Dagger's wrist as he went. Drake glanced and did the same, snatching up Vivi.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Drake caught up with Zidane pretty quickly, his long legs stretching out. A glance back showed that Quina was doing its best to keep up. "Drake! Didn't you have a memory or something that warned about this?" The archer shook his head as the group raced past a swinging pendulum.
"Not a one!" A crash made Drake glance back again, and speed up. "Keep going!" They passed six pendulums, and Quina was starting to get out of breath. "Quina! Come on!" Drake slowed a bit, allowing Zidane and Dagger to pass him and Vivi. The princess was starting to look a bit out of breath as well, but Zidane kept pulling her along. The spear on that strange monster wasn't looking friendly at all. "Vivi! Do something! Torch it or something!"
The little black mage squeaked a bit, but started to chant, right in Drake's ear. Not that he paid attention, though. He was too busy trying not to get the two of them sliced in half by the seventh pendulum.
The little black mage cast his spell just before Drake carried him past the eighth pendulum, slowing the monster enough for Quina to get past the pendulum. Drake put on a burst of speed and jumped clear over the gap, landing ahead of Dagger and Zidane. He ran several steps to slow down, passing through a doorway, and then turned in time to see the monster fall down the hole in the platform, and Quina start to slow down.
Drake set Vivi down next to the door, and quickly jumped aside for Quina to run in. Zidane ran into the back of the Qu, falling over with a yelp. Drake moved to help Dagger up, holding her up as he saw that she was well and truly out of breath, and shaking.
"Th-that was a close call. Everyone alright? Everyone present?" Drake nodded and took his hands away from Dagger as he noticed she was able to stand on her own again.
"Geez...That didn't do much good." Drake whipped around as he heard someone talking behind him, staring down yet another stairwell. Zidane did the same, his hands dropping to his daggers.
"Who's there!" Drake backed up as he spotted the woman walking up the stairs towards them. Or rather, when he spotted her axe. It was a massive thing, almost bigger than her torso. Dagger backed up as well, taking her cues from the archer.
"I've been looking for you, Princess Garnet." Drake narrowed his eyes and moved in front of Dagger protectively as Vivi edged behind Zidane. Unlike Drake, the thief's eyes were on something other than the woman's face.
"H-have we met?" Drake grunted a little and kicked Zidane's tail sharply, breaking his attention off the woman's considerable chest size. Not that Drake had an easy time ignoring that part of her body. He was a man, after all. "Ow!" Behind Drake, Dagger glared at Zidane. She hissed something at him, and he cringed a little. "Yes, ma'am..." The thief lifted one hand to rub at his head, looking away from both Dagger and the woman in front of them.
When Drake turned his attention away from Zidane and back to the woman, he blinked to find her staring at him with an odd look on her face. He narrowed his eyes a bit and tilted his head to the side, a wary look on his face. Was that just the shadows, or was she...blushing...?
"You're the archer? Hm…Such a shame." Drake glared a bit at the woman, on edge. She turned to the others, a confident smirk on her face. "I'm Lani. I'm under order by the queen to find you, princess." Drake glanced to Dagger, who had inched away from him a little.
"My mother? What does my mother want with me?" Even Dagger sounded on edge and somewhat defensive. "I'm not returning to Alexandria." Drake glanced to Zidane, getting a bad feeling.
"I've got bad news for you, princess. It's not you I'm after." Zidane edged towards Dagger a little, to cover her in case the woman attacked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Drake swallowed a bit, his whole body practically vibrating. He wanted the fighting to just be done with already.
"The pendant. Does that sound familiar?" Drake glanced down as he felt a tug on the fabric he still wore around his hips, and eased a bit as he saw Vivi holding onto one of the loose ends. Dagger gasped a bit and backed up, holding her hands over the pendant she still wore. Lani stepped forwards, reaching out towards the princess. "Let's have it back. It belongs to Queen Brahne."
Zidane pulled his daggers out finally, but held them loosely as he eyed Lani. The woman eyed him as well, looking wary. She pulled the axe off of her back slowly, not missing when Dagger shook her head and backed up.
"Dagger, Drake, stay back." Drake clicked his tongue as he gently pulled Dagger and Vivi back, until his back was against the fence that was keeping any of them from falling into the abyss behind them.
"Listen carefully, princess. You escaped unscathed from the monster, but you're not gonna be so lucky with me." Drake glared a bit at Lani, letting go of both mages and clenching his hands by his sides. "Hand over the pendant." Zidane finally moved directly in front of Dagger.
"Are you the one who set that monster loose?" Lani looked at Zidane with impatience, a frown creasing her somewhat pretty face.
"Retrieving the pendant far outweighs the safety of the princess." Dagger gasped a bit, and Zidane set the hilts of his daggers together, giving them both a twist in opposite directions to lock them together. A flick to the mechanism made sure they wouldn't be able to split apart in the middle of battle.
"...What do you mean by that?" Drake almost shivered. Zidane's tone of voice was low and dark. He sounded much more dangerous than Drake had ever heard him before. Lani looked like he'd caught her off guard, but she didn't back down, or take a step back.
"I meant exactly what I said. My orders don't include Princess Garnet's safe return." Drake glanced at Dagger as the girl grabbed hold of his arm to keep herself up.
"What...? My mother would never order that..." She looked pale, and in shock. Lani looked like the tenseness in the air had gotten to her as well, and she lifted her axe from the handle at the end and slammed it onto the ground, making them all jump, though Zidane landed in his ready stance.
"That's enough! Give me the pendant! You're trying my patience!" Zidane's tail twitched, and he didn't move from his stance.
"Hmph. What if we refuse?" There was a slight teasing tone in his voice, though the dark, dangerous tone was still there. Lani growled and pulled her massive axe from the ground, flipping it around a bit until her other hand found the second handle in the middle of the axe's spine.
"Stubborn fools! Have it your way!" Vivi pulled his hands away from Drake's sash and started to mutter, beginning to cast his spells. Lani immediately lunged for Dagger, and Drake pulled her to the side, lashing out towards the would-be assassin with his legs in a kick. "Give me the pendant and-Agh!"
Drake felt a small thrill of accomplishment as the woman rubbed her cheek with a grimace, showing where he'd kicked her: exactly where he'd been aiming. Perhaps he was better at fighting unarmed than he'd thought. So long as he allowed his body to react and didn't overthink things, he might be able to pitch in to the fights a bit.
A flash of light in front of each of them made Drake glance to Quina, who was uttering something that sounded like 'mighty guard'. In the meantime, Zidane was lunging for Lani and slashing at her with his double-sided weapon, making her jump back to avoid getting injured. The assassin threw something at Dagger, and Vivi released his spell.
The spell and the object collided in the air, and Drake took a step back as fire and ice warped around each other and created a bit of a smokescreen out of mist in front of them. Drake yelped as something flew through the mist and hit him, and then sputtered as water drenched him. Dagger held up the racket she'd been using as a support and started to chant softly to cast a spell. Drake shook his head and wiped the water from his face and hair, blinking past the stinging pain from so much water hitting him at once, and with such force. Dagger was casting a spell past the dissipating mist, and Zidane was darting to Drake's side, something that looked suspiciously like a sword that Drake had glimpsed hanging off the back of Lani's belt.
"You alright, Drake?" The archer nodded, and shook his torso to get more water off. Another spell hit Dagger, and Drake quickly pulled a potion out of his pouch.
"Slow!" Dagger shook her head to Drake, showing that she didn't need it, and started to chant another spell. Lani lunged through the mist again, and Drake jumped to the side, having to swing his entire body out of the way so quickly he didn't have time to counterattack.
"Shell!" The magic glittered around Dagger for a moment, and she then started to chant again, preparing to cast the spell again. Zidane nodded to Drake to show that he'd understood the archer's quiet answer, and ran towards Lani again, spinning his weapon again to get it into a more comfortable position.
Quina sorta bounced towards Lani as well, and Drake kept an eye on Dagger and Vivi, and dodged the spell items that Lani kept throwing at him. He was starting to get the idea that Queen Brahne had told the assassin to kill him as well as get the pendant back.
Lani blocked the attacks with her axe, though Drake could tell that she was having a bit of a hard time, swinging her massive axe around in an area that restricted her so much. Dagger inflicted Blind on Lani, and Vivi cast Bio. Lani gagged a bit, and shook her head, but kept fighting.
"Why aren't you giving up?" Drake pulled back a little as Lani tried to hit him, and kicked her in the stomach, thrusting her away from him and the mages. The woman coughed, and rested on her axe for a moment, trying to breath. "Rrg...What do you think you're doing?" Zidane attacked Lani again, and the woman got away with a gash on her leg. She was starting to look out of breath and exhausted. Drake hesitated for a moment, and glanced at Zidane and Quina. Both were looking like they were starting to get worn down.
Drake ran towards Lani, and jumped up as the woman swung her axe at him. He kicked her in the head as he jumped over her, rolling on the landing and spinning on his knee to look at her.
"Heh...You're pretty good. Didn't know you could fight without your weapon, though." The assassin limped past Drake and the others, pulling a potion from her pouch and pouring it onto her injury. "What a drag. I'll let you guys go for now!" Drake sighed as Lani ran off, and looked over the others.
"Everyone alright?" Dagger started to cast a cure spell, and waved both her hand and her racket. The spell washed over all of them, easing the aches they felt. Even Drake sighed with relief.
"Glad she ran off. How was she able to swing that axe around?" Drake shook his head with a wry smile at Zidane's comment, and started down the stairs Lani had come up. The archer paused as he found the bottom of the stairs, his eyes widening.
"Woah. I could actually use my bow in here without worrying." A few confused noises behind him announced the others, and Drake moved out of the way with a small smile. Despite his fears, he didn't feel claustrophobic at all.
"Wow! No kidding. Hey look! A Gargant!" Drake glanced to Zidane, and grinned at the look on his face. The thief looked energetic and excited. More so than Drake had ever seen him. "Doesn't look tamed. Maybe I can ride it!" Drake cringed at that suggestion.
"You do that, and we'll get split up." Zidane rubbed the back of his head, grimacing. "Unless..." Drake looked around, an idea hitting him. He jumped and grabbed a vine, trying to yank it down, but then dropped. "Nah. I don't have the tools." He blinked at the odd looks he was getting from Dagger and Zidane. "What? I thought I could make an improvised gondola, using the vines to snag a Gargant." Zidane rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, and Dagger simply gave Drake another odd look.
"Go figure you'd think of that. You think in an entirely different way from anyone else I've met." Drake grinned at his brother, and trotted up to the tunnel the Gargant Root went through. He always had thought it sounded odd, naming a tiny shrub on the surface after a bug that crawled around on its roots, but he saw why, now.
"Wild Gargants usually travel in groups. We must have just seen the tail end of that pack. We'll wait for the next group to come by, and hop on them." Drake blinked, and then shrugged. Zidane apparently knew more about the creatures than Drake did. "Might take a-" Zidane cut himself off as they all heard a distant sound, and Zidane smiled. "Well, maybe not. There's the next pack." Drake stooped to pick the yellow flowers, and passed them around.
"Don't eat it, Quina, you need it to get the Gargant to stop." The Qu paused with the flower near its mouth, and then tilted its head towards Drake. Then the Qu ate it anyway. Drake and Zidane sighed in unison. "Zidane, how about you go ahead first. You're the leader, so we'll get off where you do." The thief nodded, and lifted his flower. The lead Gargant paused long enough to eat the flower, and Zidane jumped on in that brief span of time. "Dagger, you go next. Then I'll help Vivi up, and grab one for myself. Quina, will you be alright on your own?"
"Drake have unique scent. I follow." Drake tilted his head to the side, looking at the Qu oddly as Dagger jumped onto her Gargant, showing some considerable acrobatic skill, but dismissed it as he picked Vivi up and helped him onto a Gargant.
"Alright. We'll wait for you on the other side." Drake held up his flower, and let the Gargant take it, jumping up and grabbing hold of the bug's carapace and hooking his heels just behind its head, looking forward and up. He couldn't help but wonder how Quina was going to follow.
It was quite a while before he spotted the others waving to him and he waited for the Gargant to be directly over them before unhooking his heels and dropping down. He huffed as he landed a bit stiffly, landing on his rear. Zidane helped him up and dusted him off.
"Where's Quina?" Drake looked back the way they came, a frown on his face. Zidane tilted his head to the side with a quizzical look on his face.
"Said he'd catch up to us. Not sure if he can, though. That was going straight up." Zidane sighed a bit and crossed his arms. "So much for having another fighter in the group." Dagger looked back, and smiled a bit.
"I'm sure Quina will catch up to us. Qus are known to take a promise of good food seriously. Quina will do his or her best to catch up." Zidane and Drake looked to each other, and then shrugged at the same time. Neither of them had Dagger's confidence on the matter, but they weren't about to say anything otherwise to her.
A sound made Drake look towards the stairs, and he blinked before trotting that way, ignoring the yell Zidane cast after him. The sound got louder, and the small headache that had been nagging Drake since the dash across the bridge got stronger. A few more steps, and he emerged into a cavern that showed definite signs of habitation.
"You here for-Hey!" Drake blinked towards the man that spoke, his headache getting suddenly worse. "It's you! How are you?" Drake merely stared at the man in confusion as Zidane and the others trotted up behind him.
"Drake, you know this guy?" The archer turned to look at Zidane, one hand reaching up to his head to rub his temples.
"Drake? I thought your name was...Hey, you alright?" The archer had suddenly cringed, his headache getting worse.
"Drake!" Three pairs of hands caught him as he fell forwards. He felt a cure spell wash over him, but it didn't do much to his headache. He grimaced as he gripped his head with both hands, groaning at the pain. "Sleep!" The spell washed over him, and all tension left his body as he slipped into unconsciousness.
~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~
Dagger looked down at the man that lay curled up on the ground, his face still creased in pain, even in his sleep. The man that had greeted the archer looked shaken, and looked to Zidane. The thief looked concerned.
"Much worse than last time. Maybe bringing him with was a bad idea..." Zidane sighed a bit and pulled Drake's hands away from his head, frowning slightly.
"What 'appened to 'im?" Zidane looked at the man warily. "I met 'im when 'e came through these tunnels, comin' from t'other way. Introduced 'imself as Wolfe." Zidane's eyes widened a little and then softened as he looked down at the archer.
"He can't remember his past. He started to remember a bit, and then started to get bad headaches." The miner's eyes widened.
"Maid'n, Muther, Crone'n Lord..." The strange oath made the others stare at the miner as he sighed. "Worst thing t'appen t'a clansman. When'd 'is memories get burried?" Zidane tilted his head to the side and narrowed one eye at the miner.
"Clansman?" The miner looked Zidane solidly in the eyes, as if weighing him and his ability to keep a secret.
"Nay, it's best I don't tell ye if he's havin' headaches jus' by meetin' sommun 'e stayed with for a few days. As is, I'm t'only one based outta this 'ere camp 'e spent much time talkin' to." Drake groaned softly, and all four conscious eople looked down at him. "'E should be layin' up'n a soft bed, not 'ere on t'ground. C'mon, bunk's're this way." The miner stood with a grunt and gestured for the others to follow him. Zidane slung Drake's arm across his shoulders and Dagger ducked under the other, helping him to carry the tall archer after the miner. Vivi did his best to pitch in, carrying Dagger's pack as he waddled along after them.
~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~
"Wolfe!"
"Wolfe! C'mon man, your mom made somethin' special for your birthday!" Drake blinked his eyes open, and hopped out of bed, stumbling as legs weak from several hours of sleep complained about the sudden movement. For a moment, he was confused, until he recognized that he was having a dream.
"What'd she make?" The two boys that had woken him, both blondes with their long hair tied back, exchanged grins, their identical faces lighting up.
"Come an' see!" The two charged off, dropping through a hatch in the floor and thudding into the ground below. Drake pulled on a pair of rough trousers and a loose cream shirt before doing the same.
"Wolfe! How many times have I told you not to do that?" Drake/Wolfe grinned sheepishly towards the woman by the hearth, who was waving a wooden spoon at him with a small frown on her face.
"Sorry, Ma." Wolfe didn't sound in the least sorry, but the woman's frown melted away into a fond smile. She held out her empty hand, and Wolfe trotted over to hug her, his head only reaching her shoulder.
"You're so accident prone yet. I don't want t' have to heal you again." Wolfe grinned widely, and peered at what his mother had been stirring. "Get yourself out and doing your chores. You'll get breakfast when it's done." Wolfe pouted at his mother, but trotted obediently to the door and sat to pull socks and boots on his feet before he was out the wooden door and running.
The two blonde quickly outstripped him as they raced to the barn, each carrying a bucket. It was then that Drake was able to tell that their hair was actually two different lengths. One had hair that fell to between his shoulder blades, and the other had hair just barely long enough to be pulled back.
"Sab! Ed! Wait up!" Neither boy slowed, and the ground was suddenly in Wolfe's face. "Augh!" The footsteps ahead slowed, and then came back.
"Wolfe! You alright?" Wolfe pushed himself up and then sat carefully, hugging his knee. His pants had torn, showing a bleeding gash just below his knee. "Ooh! Ed, I'm gonna run and get th'lady." One of the twins, Drake couldn't tell from the front, ran past, probably back to the building the three of them had just left.
"Wolfe, what happened? Did you trip?" The boy Drake was watching from nodded, sniffles coming from him. "Alright, let's get you up and back to your mum." Wolfe looped an arm over Ed's shoulders, and limped back the way they came.
By the time they got there, the woman was pouring boiling water into a wooden bowl. She gestured for Wolfe to sit on a stool by the hearth, and he did so. Sab returned from another room, his arms full of a few rolls of bandages.
"I don't need that many. Wolfe, let me see." The boy whimpered softly as his trousers were pulled up over the injury. A cloth dipped in the hot water dabbed gently at the injury, and the boy flinched at the heat. "Cure." The familiar sensation of healing magic washed over him, and the woman frowned. "Deeper than I thought. Wolfe, how do you keep getting hurt?" The boy sniffled again as his mother took a bandage from Sab and tenderly wrapped it around Wolfe's injury, and up around his knee.
"It's kinda our fault...We were racing..." Wolfe's mother glanced to Ed, her dark eyes soft. Wolfe was meanwhile stretching his leg out, wincing as he tested what his body would let him do.
"You two know better. Shoo and go do your chores, the three of you. And you two no racing." Wolfe stood and limped out the door. Sab and Ed followed him, both still carrying their buckets. Drake could feel himself floating, and everything went dark again.
~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.~
Next Drake was able to see, he was standing behind a rather tall rock, hearing a battle going on beyond. A couple of people stood on either side of the rock, their purple-y black armor ringing a bell in his head. One of them turned to talk to the other, and paused, looking directly at Drake.
"Hunh. Thought he was lying. Anton!" The one that was still paying attention to the battle beyond the stone turned his head a little, but not all the way. "ANTON!" The man grunted and turned around, a scowl on his dark face.
"What do you want, Ailbhe?" The one that had noticed Drake nodded her hooded head towards the living Chosen. "Eh? Oh. Old man wasn't joking. Andreas was replaced." The dark man, Anton, turned and shot an arrow while barely sighting.
"We weren't expecting you to show up so soon. Old Fabool said that you were improving fast. There a war on your side?" Drake nodded, still looking around. "And y'popped up in the middle of a battle here. You got crap luck." The living one shrugged a bit.
"Had crap luck my whole life. Doesn't seem about to stop, either." Ailbhe eyed him a bit oddly, but then turned and shot an arrow from her silver bow as a figure in white armor came around the stone. The dark fletched arrow slid through the figure's visor, and down they went.
"Destined one, then. Awfully rare." Drake lifted an eyebrow as Anton moved to the side of the rock. Drake moved then, and peered around the stone that the two were using to their tactical advantage.
The battlefield beyond the barrier was scattered with clumps of fighters. The heavily-armed knights seemed to be fighting alone, whereas the others were fighting in organized groups. There was one clump that was bigger than the rest, with several archers shouting in between loosing arrows that seemed to simply form in their hands. Ailbhe looked where he was looking, and smiled.
"Aye, if you act on your potential, you'll be counted amongst that number. Gaia always seems to reveal the Destined when there's the most need for 'em. Last 'mongst our number was Fabool. You prob'ly know him as Cid the First." Drake jumped a little, and looked at her, his eyes wide.
"Cid the First? That explains a good deal about Lindblum, then." Anton turned and smirked at Drake, his hand resting on the belt he wore. Drake could see now that he had a quiver on his back. Ailbhe didn't.
"Aye, it does. How fares it?" Drake winced a bit, and turned to look back at the battlefield. The knights seemed to be falling rather quickly now, for some reason.
"Partially destroyed. The queen of Alexandria stole something from the girl she raised as her daughter. Summons, I think." The two Chosen that Drake had appeared nearby sucked their breath in suddenly. Drake glanced at them, and blinked as Ailbhe tugged down her black hood, revealing her somewhat mussed hair, held back by dark grey wrappings extending down her very long hair. The tail had been peeking out of her hood.
Now that Drake got a good look at her, he couldn't help but stare. Her eyes were a grey so light they almost looked silver, and she had painted her lips and eyelids the same shade. On top of that, she was stunningly beautiful, with a thin, angular face and high cheekbones.
"The summoners are yet unrepresented where you are...There's been some talk that they'll join the knights." Drake frowned a little, and dipped his head, crossing his arms. A part of him couldn't help but want to fix the problems here. The dead had fought their whole lives. Fighting after they've been buried for centuries just seemed unfair. Never mind that Drake was apparently destined to do the same.
"There are new types of fighters emerging. Cid the First told me that the war is because the knights are running out of people following their steps. I haven't heard anything of the Dark Knights, but I've encountered a Paladin." Anton stared at Drake, and then lifted a gloved hand to run his fingers over the gaps in the braids his black hair had been plaited into, running from his forehead to the back of his head. The half-cape he wore rustled as he did so, and the man sighed.
"The last Dark Knight has fallen, then? There is no return for them, unless the Constellato listen to the pleas of their Chosen." Anton and Ailbhe touched the metal feather that secured the harnesses protecting their shoulders.
"What are the fighters you speak of?" Drake smiled a little to Anton's direct move on to the subject that had caught his attention. Ailbhe was peering towards the battlefield.
"Black mages. The red mages, I know, are able to use the elemental spells, but I've been traveling with a boy who casts only those spells, and with more skill and power behind them than I've seen in any red mage but one." Anton looked now, as Ailbhe turned to Drake.
"And that one has wronged you in some way, yes? I can see it in your face." Drake sighed a bit, and looked towards the battlefield.
"She played with my heart, and then I discovered that her loyalties lay with the one responsible for the war that has consumed the known land. That Paladin there is heading this way." Ailbhe and Anton both knocked arrows and pointed them at the approaching knight, who sheathed his gleaming sword and held both his hands up. At least, Drake thought it was a man. The face under the silver hair looked rather androgynous.
"Hold your arrows, friends. It's me." Anton squinted at the paladin, and then slowly released the tension in his bow, Ailbhe doing the same. Drake lifted an eyebrow at that, wondering how many Paladins and Dark Knights were fighting against the others.
"Cecil. You ought to announce yourself sooner. We of the Sagittarius have a boost right now." The Paladin's eyebrows shot up, and he looked around. Drake couldn't help but grin and link his hands behind his head, remembering when Cid Fabool the First had told him that only a Chosen of Sagittarius would be able to see him.
"Ah? The others were clueless as to how they were suddenly performing better. He is here?" Anton glanced to Drake, and laughed as he saw the young man's easy stance.
"Aye, he's here. And knows you can't see him." Cecil laughed, throwing his head back. Drake was sure then that he was a man. It was the very rare woman who would laugh like that.
"I see. Is he as sharp as Fabool said he was?" Ailbhe nodded, already tugging her hood up as she moved to cover the others.
"A Destined one, for sure. He has news of the living world. Lindblum has been attacked. Your home has started a war." Cecil looked pained at that, and looked down.
"Once more? If only the rulers of that kingdom were as incorruptible as the people living there believed." Drake tilted his head to the side, lifting his eyebrow. He was apparently missing something.
"Lad." Drake turned to look at Ailbhe, who was near him now. She wordlessly held her hand out, and Drake looked at her for a moment before taking her hand. Her glove felt smooth against his palm, and intensely cold. The young man almost jerked away from her at how frigid her grasp was, but controlled himself at the last moment. "It's time you woke."
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End notes: I still feel so bad for derping so much...