"The crystals said they came here."

"But for what purpose?"

Krile shrugged. "I don't know. But, I'm sure Bartz has gotten himself and Faris into trouble," she said wryly.

"So you've said," Lenna remarked as they walked through the cavern.

It had been several days since Krile had come to Castle Tycoon, sensing some dread in regards to Bartz and Faris. The other Warriors of Light took Krile's sixth sense quite seriously, and after leaving the country in the hands of her chancellor again, Lenna was off to where ever the crystals whispered they go. It so happened that they ended up Hiryuu Valley, their destination a cavern on the northern mountains' side.

There was a lavender glow up ahead.

Lenna let out a puff of air. "Did they teleport somewhere?" They came closer to the light. "Oh, where could they have ended up..."

Krile examined the square of dancing purple light. She knew those two had to be somewhere beyond this portal. But where would it lead them? She knew there was no time to hesitate, and she grasped Lenna's hand. She looked back into the Queen of Tycoon's forest green eyes, finding the same worry and uncertainty she held in her heart. She gave a firm nod of her head. "They're waiting."

Lenna tensed her jaw but nodded back. Coming to Krile's side she looked down at the portal, softly glowing and swirling silently beneath them. Her foot went out, and so did Krile's. "To faraway lands!"

"One, two, three..."

Stomp. Stomp.

"We're still here..." Lenna looked about the cavern blandly. What was its problem?

After a moment it felt like they had moved despite not having taken a step anywhere else, like something had tugged on their navels and landed them on solid ground in an instant. The two looked about, and noticed that a pillar of rock was suddenly five feet from them, and the tunnel in the stone leading outside was somewhere else. There were tiny red lights on little squares all about the small cavern.

Is this where Bartz and Faris ended up?

They hesitantly left the portal's surface and walked towards the tunnel quietly. If they were still in Hiryuu Valley, they would figure out what to do next while spending the night in this new cave. It felt different, somehow. The air was drier, dustier. The humidity of the valley was completely absent.

Krile peeked out of the entrance first, and found the sun lazily falling towards the horizon, the sky still blue. There were more metal squares, a beep issuing from them every few seconds. She didn't feel good about them. Something in her gut was telling her they should leave. "Lenna, we...we should get out of here."

Her friend looked about, pink hair lifted by the dusty wind. She noticed that they had come out of a meteorite, and wondered if Bartz or Faris commandeered the thing to this strange place. There was a grey colored settlement nearby, full of rectangular buildings. She pointed at it. "Perhaps there?"

"I don't know. I think...I think this whole place is bad." A chill went up Krile's spine, like a ghost brushing against her back. She grabbed Lenna's wrist and started to take off with her down an incline. Krile was taking them away from both the meteorite and the settlement.

Lenna almost tripped, but kept up with her panicking friend. "What has gotten into you?!"

There was the sound of quick footfalls behind them. Krile knew Lenna would turn to look but she had no intention of doing so. She tugged on Lenna's wrist again, urging her to keep up.

"Halt!"

Don't stop!

Krile didn't look back at whoever was yelling at them. They had to get away from this place and their pursuer. Something loud went off behind them and she felt something whiz by her ear and impact the dirt yards from her position. She thrust out her hand and weaved a teleport spell; they both stumbled on the lifeless plain as they ended up someplace far enough away that they could be considered safe for the time being.

Lenna dusted off her orange tunic and let out a tiny sneeze. "Oh, this place is horrible!"

The feeling Krile had abated for now, but she still tugged upon her friend's wrist. "We really should continue on!"

"Yes, I suppose we should...but where?"

"Um..." Krile looked around them, then pointed in a direction that was at least the opposite way of the rather distant city. "Maybe we should put as much space between us and that place as we can."

Lenna frowned at the endless wastes, but began to walk as her friend did. "It has to open up to something else eventually...Right?"

"Yeah..."

They walked briskly, always looking behind them. There were a few moving dots in the distance, and the meteorite looked so small from where they were. Were those people too busy with the meteorite to follow them? Krile had a feeling they might be, but instead of relief it filled her with dread. Something was going to happen, she knew it.

She wondered when these wastes ended, or if there would be a place they could go to for safety. Krile's intuition told her that there would be a bone thrown their way; she just had to wait for it. Or it would come to them. Perhaps both?

It was as they trudged deeper into the wastes that a thunderous roar came from the distance, and they felt the ground quake beneath them. Snapping their heads back, they saw a tall pillar of dust sprout out from the meteorite's position. Lenna took a few steps towards their former position with a look of shock on her face. "The portal!"

Krile looked at it with dread filled eyes. They were stuck here, unless they could find another way to get back to their world. She let out a sigh and turned around. "We have to find them."

It was another half an hour into their march that their luck was beginning to change. As it was, the two were beginning to tire from their travels; they had been at it since the morning broke on their world. Lenna noticed something moving from the corner of her eye, and she squinted her eyes at whatever it was.

Krile did much the same, and hoped it wasn't a mirage. She blinked. "Chocobo?"

She started to jog and wave at it. The creature took notice of her, and sprinted closer. Lenna was close behind her as the bird warbled a greeting at them. It was a strange looking chocobo, with green feathers and deep blue eyes; both of them noticed it had a rider's seat atop it. Krile let it come to her outstretched hand as she stopped, and slowly it moved its clicking beak towards it.

"Hello, I'm Krile. What are you doing out here?" Krile cocked her head, and Lenna raised a brow as she waited for answers. For whatever reason, Krile was a special girl who could speak to moogles and chocobos. Of course, that was the most common usage of her peculiar abilities. Her three friends had just grown used to it, not that they weren't thankful on multiple occasions for her psychic abilities.

"Oh...Yes! His name is Bartz, you saw him with a spiky haired man that had to ride you...Oh, I'm so sorry about your friend, that's horrible!" Krile's expression went from sad to eager. "Could you please give us a ride to this town? We are trying to get out of here."

She turned to Lenna, and motioned towards the chocobo. "He said he'll take us to a town called Kalm." Krile began to mount the bird, then helped Lenna up behind her. It took off quickly, leaving the pillar of dust far behind it.

Lenna held onto her friend's shoulders. "He saw Bartz?"

"Yes! And Faris, too. They went with a large group of people to an unknown place."

Lenna was glad to hear the both of them were at the very least alive. After riding a while she looked behind them, and noticed a few black dots far in the distance. Some were in the sky, and some were on the ground, but they seem to be spreading out with a few headed their way.

"Do you think he can go a little faster?"

Krile patted the side of the chocobo's neck. It kwehed and began to sprint upon the dusty earth. Lenna looked back, and there were those black things, but she couldn't tell if they were gaining on them or if they hadn't caught sight of them yet. All the better if whatever they were had not, she thought.

Soon the wastes began to flow into green fields, tinted gold by the angled rays of the sun. The chocobo began to slow down as they approached a hill, and at its crest they saw what they figured must be Kalm in the distance. As they drew closer the two women could make out the grey-blue stone wall surrounding the town, keeping it safe from monsters.

Dusk was beginning to set in as the chocobo strided into town, the local guards giving a curious, almost suspicious glance at Lenna and Krile as they entered. The bird continued its journey towards an empty stall, and stopped in front of it to let the two travelers dismount.

"This is his owner's stall," Krile explained. She rubbed the chocobo's beak after it entered the stall, chirping at the attention. "Thank you so much for your assistance, friend."

The green chocobo chirped again, then went to drink water from a trough. The two women turned and looked about the large town, magical lights standing by the cobblestone streets glowing one by one as the sky grew darker. There was a little foot traffic, and more stares as people glanced their way.

They noticed that they were not dressed at all like the locals.

"Hm, I don't think we fit in, Lenna."

She shook her head. "I don't think so, either." Her eyes again looked over their environment. "So, what shall we do?"

Krile took her time looking over the town. Shops, restaurants, a church of some kind that stood roughly in the center of Kalm. The streets were paved with a bluish cobblestone, and the buildings were similar in design to those in Bartz's hometown. She remembered passing an inn near the entrance. She pointed that way.

"Maybe we could ask for information at the inn," she said.

Lenna looked unsure. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at a few gagglers. "Do we have any currency?"

The blonde fiddled with a sack on her side, and looked at the copious pile of small gold coins within. They held a small hole in the middle. "I brought some...but would they take it?"

"It's gold, so I don't see why not..."

"Hello, there!" The two turned to see a man walking towards them, his blond hair slicked back and thick rimmed glasses on his face. He was wearing the earthy tones of the other locals, and held a small sack. "I've never seen you two around these parts. Are you lost?"

Krile was hesitant while Lenna came forward, all royal grace and a naivety that she never seemed to ever shake off. "Yes, sir! We ah, came from far away, looking for our friends."

There was a glimmer in his blue eyes, and a smile grew on his face. "Is that so? Well, things have been rather quiet around these parts...But a few friends of mine said they've seen an odd traveler near the Chocobo Farm."

"Oh, really?" Lenna clasped her hands together. "Where would this Chocobo Farm be?"

Krile looped her hand around Lenna's arm. "I think we'll be able to find it ourselves, thank you."

"Just a minute!" The man held out his hand. "There's maps at my place. You don't wanna get lost out there, especially at night."

"I don't feel quite right about this," the blonde whispered into Lenna's ear. Her intuition wasn't screaming at her to run, but something about the man seemed less innocent than he was letting on. This stranger was more than he was letting himself known to be, she could tell. She glanced at the chocobo, who was barely paying attention to the three. It wasn't worried at all.

Lenna frowned, then took a step back. "I...No, we'll be fine. Thank you for the information."

The young man's smile faltered, and he leaned in. "If you want to find Bartz, you will come with me," he whispered.

The two women looked at him stone faced. The pink haired queen looked at Krile. "Do we have any other options?"

"I'm afraid you don't, considering you'll be wanted by the authorities if they caught sight of you," the young man said in a grim manner. "Come with me. We're allies of his."

They hesitated a few moments, then took a few steps forward before following him back to his home as he turned to walk. He let them in, then looked about before entering and locking the door. The two women looked around the house. It wasn't particularly large, but it had a cozy feel to it. The floors were hardwood and the walls a white plaster. There was a a woman with cinnamon hair looking over a book as she sat on a graphite grey sofa.

"What are these magic lights?" Lenna finally asked.

The woman glanced up at them and did a double take at the three. Her brows scrunched together. "Chuck, who are they?"

"Bartz's friends." He walked in front of them, then motioned towards the woman on the couch. "This is Cissnei. And the lights are called lamps. They run through electricity."

"Oh." Lenna didn't know what that was, but figured she could ask later. She made a short bow, Krile following her lead. "I am Queen Lenna of the Tycoon Kingdom."

"I am Princess of Bal Castle, Krile."

Cissnei raised a fine brow. "Royalty?" She looked back down at the book. "I thought queens and princesses stayed inside castles."

Chuck shook his head with a snort before taking his glasses off. "Princess Yuffie should have changed your opinion on that." He gave a solemn look to the royalty. "Bartz is in the care of my boss. We had to flee the city after saving one of his friends from certain death."

Cissnei pointed at the sofa across from her and the coffee table, and Lenna and Krile slowly walked towards it and sat. It was soft and giving, a godsend after hours of either walking or riding a chocobo. Cissnei closed and lowered the book she had been reading. "We were planning on leaving here at nightfall to go to North Continent."

"Is Bartz there?" Lenna asked hopefully.

Chuck shook his head. He still had a professional air about him, but it faltered for just a moment into worry. "We heard reports of an attack on Bone Village this morning. We've been preparing our leave since this afternoon."

Krile put a hand to her mouth. An attack? "What kind of an attack?"

He shrugged helplessly. "We don't know, but..." Chuck turned his head away. "There were a lot of casualties."

"Your friend should be safe with everyone, if you're worried about him," Cissnei offered as she stood up. "We haven't had any contact with our boss or the Director, but knowing them they're all fine."

Lenna looked at Krile. "But Faris..."

"I'm sure she found Bartz. I don't think she's in any immediate danger."

The queen of Tycoon nodded, then looked at Chuck, then Cissnei. The portal was blown up, and Bartz and possibly Faris were with a group of strangers watching over them. "We would like to help, if we could."

Chuck had a relieved smile creep onto his face. "Thank you, your majesty."

She stood, and Krile followed. "Just Lenna, please. I'm no queen in this land."

There was a stern knock at the door before Cissnei could speak, and all eyes were upon the door as another set of rapping hit it. She silently motioned the two women towards another room as Chuck went to greet whoever it was, glasses back on his face.

"Here." Cissnei led them to a door in the kitchen that opened to a basement, or so Lenna and Krile assumed. "Go down these stairs and take a left. Kick at the wall, it'll open to another stairwell. It'll lead to our escape boat."

She left them before they could ask anything, closing the door that was in front of them. Wasting no more time they went down the stairs and took a left as told, then hesitated at the wall. There were a few boxes on the floor and lights above them. Two odd, white boxes stood in the far corner with folded clothing in a basket on one of them.

"Kick at the wall?" Krile tapped her foot on the grey stone. Nothing happened.

Lenna tried her luck on another portion of wall. "In the castle we just used switches..."

"They must want this hidden well," the blonde commented before another swing of her foot. It struck true, hitting a part of the stone wall that sunk in. A section of wall turned, and there were two narrow entrances to a dimly lit stairwell. It smelled damp.

The two made their way downward and to an underground dock. A small ship rested by a pier, lazily bobbing with the small waves that splashed its way. Up ahead and through a cavern entrance was a starlit sea or river, they couldn't tell.

"I suppose we will have to wait for our new friends to arrive..." Lenna watched the entrance warily.

Krile felt uneasy as she heard footsteps come down towards them. She readied her magic, just in case. She wasn't sure if Chuck and Cissnei were the ones coming down, or more of those strange people that chased them near the meteorite.

She was rewarded with both.

Their new friends were first to show, then a trooper. Then another showed. Krile knew she had to do something, and hit the troopers with a sleep spell. They fell and skidded down the stairs, and the others behind them tripped over them.

"Get them!"

Cissnei and Chuck ran over to the boat, and Lenna and Krile followed suit. The blond went to the boat's sheltered wheel, fiddling with this switch or that button as Cissnei held her weapon out and watched the back of the boat. A bullet grazed her shoulder, and her weapon flew out to hit at the soldier who attacked her. It came back after slashing at the man's chest.

Lenna went to heal the wound, and almost fell over as the boat lurched and accelerated away from the dock. More shots were fired, mostly ricocheting off the hull, and a few whizzing by the women. Cissnei looked at the other two. "Got any spells to get them to stop?"

Krile nodded, and used a stop spell. It only worked on the nearest two soldiers, but it was enough to make the other ones panic.

Cissnei sighed. "Hopefully we can get to Bone Village without any more trouble."

"Is it important to your boss?" Krile asked, curious now that they weren't in immediate danger.

The woman shook her head, and pointed in Chuck's direction. "His family lives there."

Lenna's eyes widened, and she grimly nodded. "We would be happy to help."

Cissnei smiled thinly. "Thank you. We'll need it."

The ship glided out of the cavern and into a wide bay, easily lost within as other ships came and went. As Krile went to watch the front of the boat Lenna looked to the sky, watching a shooting star pass overhead. She made a wish: That they would find Bartz and Faris, safe and sound.