Author's Note: I got stuck on this one for a while, too. Thank goodness for friends that give me a nudge back towards old projects that I wanna finish. This is the last chapter of this section of the story. I'll put up a couple of chapters of the new one up before I try to finish the project that kept me away for so long, and then I hand it off to be edited and get to spend some more time trying to finish off this one.

In other news, I'm in the middle of packing for a move. Goddamn I didn't realize I still had so much crap.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy franchise.

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Chapter 14: Another Nightmare

Drake wiped his mouth a little as he glanced back over the chaos that Kuja had created, his water canteen in one hand. The light was starting to hurt his eyes again where there were blue lamps, but at least he wasn't dead, and the majority of light was either purple or red. He couldn't help but flinch as another explosion ripped through the air, and turned to trot after his friends at a not-quite-casual pace.

Drake was towards the rear of the group, while Zidane was leading, so he only heard from the others that they were headed towards the Invincible. Drake shivered a little at that, but followed along anyway, trying to keep an eye on Quina, who was at his back. He paused for a moment as he saw Dagger and Zidane in the distance, looking confused for a moment before following after the others. Zidane could defend the two of them just fine.

"Hey Drake, where's Quina?" The archer paused at Freya's call, and turned to look back at him. He sighed and rubbed his face with a groan. Some things were still going right on schedule, it seemed. A quick glance around showed no sign of the Qu, either.

"He'll catch up." Freya paused a little at that, and Drake rapped the side of his head with a finger before trotting again. Freya nodded, took one more glance back, and waited for Drake to pass her before starting to trot as well.

The entrance to the Invincible wasn't far away, thankfully. Drake took a glance around before taking stock of the rooms. The engine room spooked him a bit; he swore he heard voices that weren't his friends in there. There was a meeting room, where Eiko and Vivi were taking stock of their things. Drake left them to it and found a bunkroom, and a cargo hold. He marked where each of them were in his mind before finding his way to the bridge.

Genomes were starting to pour in by then, and Drake got Steiner to help him to herd them into the cargo hold. Sabin and Edgar came to help as well as soon as they noticed, and between the four of them, they got the genomes comfortable. Drake didn't even realize how long it took until Zidane poked his head in.

"Well, you stayed productive. Everyone's on board, including Quina." Drake sighed with relief at that, and glanced around before nodding a little. Sabin and Edgar cornered Steiner and hauled him out of the cargo hold with them as soon as they saw Zidane.

"Alright. I'm pretty sure they're fine for the time being. Better in there than out there. Let's head to the bridge." Drake clenched his hand as he realized he was shaking a little. He was going to have to concentrate on unwinding once they had a place to rest, he was far too stressed at the moment, not too unlike when he came back to Lindblum under Alexandria's occupation.

"Alright. You look like you need to rest, Drake. You're...twitchy." Drake ran his fingers through his hair as he walked. He really wasn't acting normally if Zidane had noticed so easily. Edgar and Steiner broke into a loud argument behind them, and Drake glanced back before rolling his eyes at them.

"I'll be fine. I just need some time to sit and get out of being battle-ready. And probably get off this ship, it kind of scares the shit out of me." Zidane gave Drake an odd look, and the archer gave him a slightly wobbly smile. "It's powered by souls, and that kinda freaks me out a bit." Zidane shrugged, and they stepped into the bridge. "Nngh. Great. More blue light."

Drake set his back against a wall and rubbed at his eyes as Zidane stepped towards the 'wheel' of the ship. There was a hum that filled the ship as Zidane pressed his hands to the grips of the control station. The ship started to rise and a brief moment of searching revealed the portal back to Gaia. Odette walked over to lean against Drake, hiding her face in his shoulder.

No one said anything for a while. Drake wasn't too surprised, it was a close call. They'd seen one of Kuja's spells fly by the ship, but they'd managed to get back to Gaia. They had the chance to rest for at least a few days, and they were all alive.

"We made it..." That was Zidane, still at the control station. His tail was vibrating a little, but the rest of him was still. That seemed to break the spell in the bridge, and people started to move again. Odette shifted a little, but stayed pressed against Drake. He wrapped his arm around her waist in a hug, and looked towards the screen.

"Yes, but was that the extent of Kuja's tantrum?" That was Freya, off to the side. Amarant was next to her, tucked out of the way. "With the power he has, do you really think that he died with Terra?" Drake was glad that he hadn't told his friends all about what was coming. They'd gotten enough information to keep from panicking, but that was about it.

"...No, you're right, that wasn't the end of it. He'll probably try to destroy Gaia next. Unless...Drake, do you think he would try for Earth first?" Drake lifted his head to indicate that he'd heard, and hummed a little.

"...Probably not. He doesn't know that much about Earth. I hope I'm right, though. The people of Earth would kill themselves before letting him kill them, and not out of honor." Odette shifted a little, and Drake glanced down to look at her as she nodded. "Some of the weapons they have are enough to destroy the world several times over. If he did try for Earth, I think he'd find his own end there."

There was silence for a bit, and Drake looked up again. Dagger looked concerned, Zidane looked like he was trying to get his mind around that sort of power in the hands of normal people, but Edgar... Edgar looked like he was trying to figure out what kind of weapon it was.

"Right. Generally accepted theory is that Kuja's going to try to destroy Gaia first, then. Only question now is, how?" That was Sabin, scratching the back of his head as he looked around. Drake bit his tongue to keep quiet. He knew how, and he could feel Amarant staring at him, but he wasn't the one to volunteer this information.

"There was something Garland said..." Zidane pushed off of the grips of the command station, standing straight. "Something about a tree that serves as a gateway of souls between Gaia and Terra." Odette shifted and pulled away from Drake just a little.

"That must be the Iifa Tree." That was Amarant, surprisingly. He was usually quiet, so his speaking up made several people jump. Drake glanced down at Odette and saw she was frowning. He smiled a little, knowing exactly why.

"There's stories of a 'World Tree' on earth, in the culture that remained connected to Gaia. It's portrayed in a positive light there, but...That's very much not the case here, is it?" She shrank a little when people turned to look at her. Drake squeezed her a little to remind her that he was there.

"Look!" The topic was derailed as Steiner pointed at the screen showing the bow of the ship. Everyone turned. Even though he was expecting it, Drake felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of Mist covering the sea. He'd spent so much time struggling with how the Mist had affected him in Burmecia that it was almost ingrained into him.

"So? They're just clouds, we must have risen in the sky while I wasn't paying attention." Drake shook his head a little, his mouth in a tight line. The Mist didn't behave like clouds did. Drake had spent more than enough time daydreaming as a child to know the difference.

"It's not a normal cloud..." That was Dagger. Drake nodded his agreement, and had to remind himself that most of the settlements on the Mist Continent were up above the Mist, and his clans lived in the mountains, so they were above it as well.

"What? Let's lower our altitude and see." Drake shook his head a little and stepped forwards to point at one of the holographic screens that were hovering around the command station. There was writing there, but the important thing was the image that showed the ship's altitude.

"We're almost at sea level already, Zidane, and this is all we can see." The Genome frowned, looking concerned, but the instruments weren't lying. "The clouds are far too thick to be fog, though we are in the right region for fog to be created around a source of warmth." There was a map on the other side of the command station.

"It's Mist." Everyone turned to look at Vivi, who was standing off to the side, very still. Drake glanced from him to the viewport, wondering how Vivi could tell just from looking at it. Drake knew because of the game; he couldn't feel its effects just yet. Perhaps it was because he'd been made from the same stuff. "It's what Black Mages are made out of, and what used to cover the Mist Continent..."

"The Mist...It must have covered all of Gaia, if it's covering the ocean like this." Drake idly wondered about what could have triggered the Iifa Tree to release all the Mist willy-nilly, when it had stopped months ago. He had no idea and couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

"How...? Kuja, what are you planning now...?" Drake blinked. Of course, Kuja could easily be behind the Mist. Which meant that he was either on his way to the Iifa Tree or already there, and set up the rest of what happened in the game.

"We won't know until we see him face to face again, and we've got other things to worry about. This ship wasn't built to act like a flying colony. We need to drop the Genomes off somewhere." That was Edgar, pushing off the wall to look around at everyone. "And then I think we all need to take a break somewhere. After seeing the state of Lindblum and Alexandria, I think Caledonia would be best for everyone. That way no one gets tempted to help rebuild instead of relaxing." Drake nodded, and saw the others nodding as well.

It also meant that they could keep an eye on the Iifa Tree, if just from a distance. It also meant that they could stay near the Genomes to watch over them from a respectful distance as well, to make sure that they were adjusting well. Drake was pretty sure that sending someone to trade with the Black Mages would be an acceptable way to do so.

"Why not have the Genomes stay with the Black Mages? They've got similar mental states, and the mages are friendly. I think they'd get along well." That was Eiko, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she stood next to Vivi. Drake paused like he was thinking, and started to nod. The others were doing the same.

"Hopefully the Mist won't have an adverse effect on them, the village is in the lowlands," Edgar said as Zidane turned back around and gripped the handles of the command station. Drake felt the ship hum underfoot as it turned and started to fly off towards the south. Something was bothering him just a little.

"This ship is so silent..." Drake nodded, Dagger had pegged what was bothering him about the ship. He'd gotten so used to the constant noise and clatter of a normal airship that the quiet hum of an efficient engine unnerved him.

"I'll go tell the Genomes where we're going to drop them off. Maybe getting out of Terra will be enough to start waking them up." Drake waved a little as Sabin headed back out of the bridge, and backed up to the wall again.

"There needs to be benches and the like in here. There's absolutely no comfort in here." Odette was settling herself on the floor with a grimace. Drake smiled down at her, then turned his attention back to the Mist that was flying by underneath them. It was almost hypnotic in the way that the wisps sticking out of the mass of cloud zipped by.

At some point, Drake sat down as well, though it ensure that he couldn't see the Mist going past anymore. Odette leaned against him, and he wrapped his arm around her. They were safe for now, he just had to keep reminding himself of that.

It only took a couple of hours before they got to Caledonia, a bit faster than what Regent Cid's best ship would have been. Drake stood guard with Odette and Freya as the Genomes were gently herded off the ship and through the forest to the Black Mage Village. Once that was done, they all climbed back onto the Invincible and landed in the corral canyon again. Seeing as the new ship was actually a bit smaller than the Hilda Garde III, it fit with no problem.

Unlike last time, though, they landed during the day, and had a wary greeting party come and meet them halfway. Among them were a few members of Drake's extended family, who sighed with relief when they saw him.

There was a distinct feeling of anxiety in the village, when they got there. Of course, they were all greeted with relief, most especially Drake, Edgar, and Sabin, who were pretty important to Caledonia. They were brought to the main hall and fed, and some of them told the villagers about what they'd gone through. Drake wasn't one of them, preferring to just sit, eat, and drink.

It took a while before any of them fully relaxed, especially Odette, but nightfall came finally, and Drake's father tugged him out of the hall to the commons. The archer wasn't quite sure what his father wanted, but looked up at the sky when it was gestured to. He froze and blinked a few times before finally turning to look at his father.

"Is it...It's exploding." The man nodded, and Drake turned to look at the moon that was once Terra. Judging by the pace of the expansion, Drake had to guess that it would be several days before the rubble would be landing on Gaia. Still, he had the impression that it was still remarkably fast for how far away the planet was.

"I'd say you an' your friends have finally earned a place in legends." Drake swallowed a little as his dad clapped him on the shoulder. No wonder the village was so grim. A large change like this was frightening. "Think I know what else to put on your pole, too. S' not talked about often, but there was a prophecy that a wolf would be the one to eat the moon, long, long ago. My own grandpa mentioned it once, but only in passing." Drake had to concentrate on breathing.

This had never been in the game. Terra's exact location had never been confirmed, all the fear had been about the roots of the Iifa Tree causing havoc all over the world. The tides of the oceans were going to change because of this. The war between the Einherjar was ending, and the war against Kuja was ramping up to the final battle, but this...this was a battle of nature adjusting to match Earth once again.

"It was indeed prophesized, but even we Constellato didn't know the identity of the one that would carry it out." Drake jumped a little at Lady Maria's voice, and turned to look at her. She was dressed drastically different from her appearances in Lindblum. She smiled at him a little before looking up at the sky again. "The seal on us has been broken, but we must still limit ourselves, or the world will be consumed like Terra." Drake frowned a little and looked up at the exploding moon.

"As it is, life's going to be hard for a long while." Drake's father didn't seem too surprised at the appearance of the Constellato, just sounded resigned. "Atch, I'm too old for this nonsense." The archer started for a moment and turned to tell his father that there was no way he was too old. But, from the light of the two moons, he noticed for the first time that his father had more wrinkles than he had expected. "Soon as everything's sorted, Drake, I'll be steppin' down and letting the younger generation lead the way to the future." Drake's shoulders drooped a little at that thought, though he still leaned into his father's hug.

"I'm just getting more and more responsibility...I think, after everything's done and dusted, I'm gonna hang up my bow." That got a couple of surprised sounds from the other two. "My eyes aren't as good as they should be, not after I was temporarily blinded at Alexandria. My body's still strong, but an archer's life is his eyes, and I'm planning on getting married next year. I've a duty to Odette's ancestral home in Treno, but I've also got a duty here. That'll keep me busy enough. My apologies, Lady Maria."

The constellato just smiled and placed her hand on his head as he turned to look at her. She didn't look disappointed in the least. Drake felt the remnants of his anxiety melt away, and he stood taller. Someone shouted for Drake from inside, and he and his father turned to look. When they looked back, Lady Maria was gone.

"She's well and truly fond of you, lad. Though from what I've heard the legends say, those that bow to her tend to retire earlier than most." Drake shrugged and trudged up the hill to the hall again. He didn't want to tell his father that it was because archers knew exactly who they killed, and they had the distance to think on it more than other fighters did.

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End Notes: While I was researching stuff for this, I actually discovered that Bran Bal is supposed to be inside of Gaia, like in the core of the planet. Well, that didn't work very well for this, so I changed it. Also, the legend about the wolf eating the moon is an idea I took from, I think, norse culture. Only there, it was to explain the phases of the moon. Or maybe it was to explain eclipses, I don't quite remember.