Chapter 10

Return

I felt around the soft ground, not feeling Garnet. My eyes shot open and I jumped up. I quickly looked around, panicking. I saw a large cliff, and my though immediately went to the assumption she fell off it. I looked over the edge into the foggy abyss. I heard a rustling from behind me and turned to see Garnet sitting against a wall. I sighed. She saw me and smiled.

"Hey," I said, walking over to her. "How are you doing?"

"Good," she replied. I helped her up and she hugged me. "Thanks for saving me," she whispered. She kissed my cheek. I hugged her back until I heard some leaves rustling. I turned my head to see the others walking toward us.

"Well, well," Zidane said, grinning. Garnet and I broke apart and blushed. "So, where are we?" he asked.

"We're in Pinnacle Rocks," I told him. "We're just outside of Lindblum, and I know what we need to do. We need to find four projections of Ramuh, the thunder god. Garnet and I will head this way," I pointed to the swamp. "You three head off that way," I said. They gave me the thumbs up and ran off.

"Okay, let's get going," Garnet said. She led the way to the swamp, and we walked across a small path over the marshy water. It slowly ended, not reaching the other side. I looked down, remembering the location of one of the projections.

"One's down there," I told her.

"What?" she asked, staring at me.

"I'll jump down, and I'll catch you after wards," I told her. Before she could object, I jumped off the path to the water. It was ankle-deep and muddy. "Okay, come on down." I told her.

"It's really high," she said, leaning over the edge.

"No it's not," I replied, coaxing her down. She took a deep breath, and leapt down. I caught her in my arms and stood her up. She looked up and stared at the path we her on. She turned to me and began to hit my chest. I laughed.

"It was high! I could've gotten hurt!" she yelled. I was still laughing.

"But you didn't," I told her. "That's the important thing." She stopped hitting my and nodded.

"You're right," she said. "Thanks." She shivered, and I slowly took off my green jacket. I put it around her and she stopped shivering.

"Sorry if it's a little wet," I told her. She traced the edge with her hand.

"No, it's fine." She smiled. We walked a little further, and saw the outline of an old man appear. It was Ramuh. He had a yellow and white robe on. He held a staff, and had a long, white beard. He told us the story I immediately recognized as the beginning. Garnet and I continued one, finding another one after the previous figure disappeared. This one told us the middle one.

As we tried to find the third one, there was a growling from the forest on our left. I immediately drew my two swords, and stood in front of Garnet.

Two yellow eyes stared at us from the forest, and two tusks emerged from the tree line. As the red body appeared, I recognized it as a Zaghnol. It roared, scrapping its feet on the ground, readying itself to charge. I held my swords in an X formation as the monster charged at me. It hit the swords, its tusks going past me. The force knocked me back a little, but I regained my footing. I pushed it back, knocking it off balance. I kicked it in the face, jumped off, and darted at it, both swords at the ready. I sliced with both consecutively, leaving a large gash in its snout. I ran at me again, recovering from its daze, and charged at me again. I side stepped and slashed its side. The monster crashed into the wall behind us, and I heard it roar. I walked to it and stabbed it one final time, making sure it was dead.

I looked around slowly and saw that more eyes had gathered around us. I took Garnet by the hand and rushed into the woods. As the eyes grew closer, I realized what I need to do. I turned to Garnet and grabbed her shoulders.

"Listen, Garnet," I said. "I'll go out there, distract them, and you go meet up with Zidane and the others.

"But you'll – "

"Your safety is the top priority right now. If that means facing Death in the eyes, then so be it," I told her. I slowly stood up and hugged her. I kissed her forehead and smiled. "See you," I said, waving. I ran out into the open and began attacking the onslaught of enemies. I quickly took out the scorpions, then moved onto the trick crows. I saw Garnet run off to the main area, and I sighed. I continued fighting, and soon was faced with the Zaghnols. Within minutes the three Zaghnols were defeated, and I stood amongst the fallen bodies of monsters. I limped over to the grass ramp and lay down. I looked at my chest and arms. There were small holes in my arms and chest, a green fluid oozing out. My vision was flashing red, my head throbbing. I lay there looking up at the sky.

Back home, I was a "geek". I never talked to others, and never participated in class, or in outside activities. All I did was stay at home and play video games. When I would a child, I had found a copy of Final Fantasy IX, and soon grew obsessed with video games. I had still found no "clique" in school, always sitting alone in class and lunch, working alone in group projects.

My grades were near-perfect as always, but I had felt extremely disconnected from the world. I near the end of junior high, I had gotten into numerous fights, even with people I knew as my 'friends' in the past. After that one fight where I beat three kids within an inch of their life, I had separated myself from the world more, and went about a daily routine I would continue for the next four years. I was a senior in high school now, and went about the routine of waking up, walking to school, coming home, and spending the rest of the day playing video games. I soon found myself a social outcast, and never went outside apart from school.

But now, I was here, inside a game….

And everything had changed…

I was snapped back into reality by Garnet's face near mine.

"Leo! Snap out of it! Come back to me!" she yelled, tears forming in her eyes.

I smiled. "Don't worry," I told her. "I'm here." I looked behind her and saw the others.

"We found them all," Zidane said. Garnet slowly helped me up and we headed toward Lindblum, past the last silhouette of Ramuh. We walked across the plains slowly, but stopped as a large airship passed overhead.

I looked at it as it neared Lindblum and my eyes widened. Brahne's airship. "My God," I said. An onslaught of cannon balls were fired at the largest tower of the city, and it slowly collapsed. Other buildings were destroyed, and soon, outlines of people fell from the walls. There was a pause in the destruction, and I realized what was happening.

"No," Zidane muttered.

"What's happening?" Garnet asked.

"Eidolon summoning," I told her. Just then, the ground started to shake. A large chasm opened up and a square, fleshy being rose out of it. It grew, showing hundreds of teeth. Bricks and pieces of the rubble started flying into the eidolon's mouth, and soon people did too. Windows shattered, more buildings collapsed, and the air was filled with people's screams. Garnet ran ahead of us and collapsed into the grass, yelling.

"Why, Mother, why?!" she yelled. I walked up to her, ignoring the pain. "Why would you do this?" I put my arm on her shoulder and she pulled me down. She hugged me tightly, sobbing into my chest. I rubbed her head. When the ship disappeared, we stood up and Garnet looked around.

"Should we head on?" she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes. I nodded, and so did Zidane. I walked behind Garnet toward Lindblum, but felt a sharp pain in my chest. I collapsed, grabbing at my heart, which was pounding harder than ever. I rolled over, falling onto my back on the ground, and stared into the eyes and my vision started to fade.

Garnet's head came into my vision again. "What's wrong with him, Zidane?!" she yelled. No response. I turned my head with much struggle to see him making a fist and staring at the ground. "Zidane, answer me!"

"Poison," he muttered. He looked into my eyes. "I'll save you, Leo!" I saw Garnet smile, and I did too. My vision finally faded to black.