Departure
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic
By:
Chison
"so…" Mareo started, "that was the guy we needed to see…but he just sent us away with a sheet of paper…" he said looking back to the door, but was smacked on the head by Alena, "he gave us a lot more than a mere sheet of paper, it's a map of where the goblin city has traveled." "Oooh…" Mareo said, looking at the paper, seeing three landmasses with Jeuno connecting them. Using red ink, a curving, swirling line sprawled across the map, Alena put her hand on one of the markers, "see look, its passed under Jeuno, and it goes down to Bastok and then to San d'Oria." Mareo nodded his head, and also planted a finger on the paper, "and it looks like it goes over here…Windurst? Where, or what is that?" He turned to Alena. "The Federation of Windurst is where most of the Mithra and Tarutaru live. They were the first to develop Magic." Walking down the stairs towards the busy lower section, they made their way back to port Jeuno. They stopped when they heard the guard's voice, "Where are your tickets?" Alena turned back to him, "tickets?" she asked, and walked back to him, "we are on official San d'Orian business…" The guard shook his head, "the request from the princes was only travel to Jeuno, not any where else." Mareo walked beside Alena, "what's going on Alena?" he said, looking at the guard then back to her, but she stormed off.
Running to catch up to her, he found Alena sitting on a bench, hunched over. "Alena?" Mareo asked, but she didn't respond and he slowly sat down, "what's wrong?" he asked, trying to get a response from her, and she lifted her head and looked to him, "well. I have no funds to purchase tickets for both of us, and only I would be able to get on." Mareo sighed and looked off to the horizon, seeing they sky and ocean meld together then he had in idea, "wait. What about those Chocobo things?" Alena looked to him with a smile on her face, "I totally forgot about Chocobos!" she shouted, jumping to her feet and Mareo chased after her, trying to follow her through the hordes of people wandering around the city. Rushing down a set of stairs, he found the rest of the city sprawled out in front of him, a clear alleyway to the rest of the outside world, lined with shops. "ALENA!" Mareo shouted, trying to find her, and he saw someone stop momentarily, and look for the source and saw him, and she waved her hand, "how…How is she so quick?" he thought to himself as he ran down the steps towards her.
Finally catching up to Alena, Mareo slumped over, catching his breath, "Mareo! You're a genius! We can ride the Chocobos to Bastok." She said with glee and turned back to the counter, finishing the transaction. Within moments, a man followed by two massive, yellow-feathered birds came from the side of the building. "Are…" Mareo started, "yes, these are Chocobos, don't worry, they only eat vegetables." He walked up to the one on the left and cautiously put his hand on its beak, rubbing it slightly, suddenly the creature gave a loud Kweh sound in response. "it looks seems that one likes you…" the man said to Mareo who simply nodded, "yea, they are really cool…" With that, the man disappeared, shortly returning with two saddles, and began on place them on the Chocobos. Alena had already climbed onto the bird and waited for Mareo to do the same, he stopped rubbing its beak and climbed onto the back of the bird, "Thank you." Alena said nodding, and she began to leave, "Uh…Alena?" Mareo shouted, "how do I make him go?" She reared her head back in laughter, "they are like the horses from your world, just give them a light kick and they will walk in the direction you want to go."
With a little kick, the bird started trotting and he caught up with Alena, who nodded, "all right. You ready to go?" Mareo smiled and nodded, causing her to put pressure on the bird with her foot and they raced out of the city. "Wow! This is awesome!" Mareo shouted into the wind, feeling it rush past his hair, taking in all the sights whizzing past him, the large plants with white buds. "Alena!" Mareo shouted, "What were those?" She turned back to him, "its cotton, these are the Rolanberry Fields, although most of it is in control of the Beastmen…" They continued to ride on, passing through the fields, when the ground became slowly wet and soggy. "Where are we?" Mareo asked, looking around, "these are the Pashhow Marshes, all kinds of monster live here…I hope we can leave here soon…" she let her voice trail in the wind, and they made their way around the maze of the marsh, dodging monsters, and jumping from the occasional swamp bubble that would pop. Finally crossing the marshland, their Chocobos suddenly stopped, "What…what's with them?" Mareo asked, and Alena got off of the bird, "Chocobos are animals, they get tired too… and when they are tired, they go back home." "Oh." He responded and climbed off the Chocobo who gave a loud Kweh and began sprinting back towards Jeuno.