Of Lies and Fantasies

by XtremeManiac33

[SI]. Blake has a broken hand and is the brains of the duo. Alyssa is capable enough to fight for the both of them. He only wants to go home through any means necessary. She wants to help her new friends in any way she can. "They" have other plans for the two of them. Zidane & the others don't need to know and are caught in the crossfire.

36. Break In, Break Out

Of Lies and Fantasies
Chapter 36: Break In, Break Out

A/N: Hello there guys and girls! Welcome to the new chapter of OLaF. I'm pretty excited for this chapter to be uploaded. Hope the wait wasn't long. It's probably one of my longest chapters for this story, so it's gonna be quite a long read. That's surprising too because most of the new chapters tend to go long most of the time. Thank you once again for reading, favoriting, and reviewing the last chapter and I'm excited to see what your thoughts will be after this one.

Edit: A bunch of words in the chapter. If anyone else notices some grammar issues and misspellings around here please notify me so I can edit them. Thanks!

---

- Alyssa -

With most of the hard part done, we now have to put our stealth shoes on and try to board the Red Rose, the personal airship of Queen Brahne. The only way to get there was either to be able to fly or if it the pilot was nice enough to hover low and allow us passage. Since none of those options doesn't have a chance of happening unless we were in chains, we chose to board it via black mage magic bubbles.

Freya made sure Sir Fratley wasn't in any more pain aside from the wound he received from Ellison's rifle before doing anything else. He must be one hell of a survivor if he's still kicking after a shot like that at mid-range. We checked him earlier and it worried me that the bullet is still in him. He's not getting any better unless someone with surgical tools wanders into the tree and finds himself here unscathed. That'll be a miracle when it happens.

Her love for that very man, whom she thought she had lost after years of silence between them, was what gave us the edge to repel General Beatrix's forces. Now it's only a matter of time before she speaks with Queen Brahne and tries to blow up Cleyra. We're going to need to be there for a couple of reasons. First, to know that Dagger is going to get executed. Second, to distract Brahne long enough to prevent her from summoning Odin or take away her summoning stone. Third, get back my necklace.

If Beatrix is capable of magic, I am not leaving my necklace with her. That'll be basically giving her another way to totally dominate us.

In preparation for that, I told Zidane and the others to get some stink pellets from the barrels we weren't able to blow up. We should be able to carry a bunch of pellets safely with us. It'd be a way for us to get in there and snatch the jewel and my necklace.

"Here." Freya gave me my share of the pellets last after distributing the rest to Zidane, Vivi, and Quina.

As I was placing them carefully in my satchel (no use having them if they suddenly go off while in transit), Freya stopped beside me with this curious gaze aimed at me. I would have been terrified of her if I was just a random bystander, especially after seeing her match up with Beatrix just a few minutes ago. But we've been fighting together for a few days now. We're friends, probably not as close as Zidane, but we're still looking after each other through this whole 'war'.

"I have come for my answer." She stated, waiting.

And there's also the part about how sharp she is that I forgot. Not that I was expecting her to forget what we briefly talked about earlier. I did promise to tell her what I know.

I took a breath and nodded, stepping away from the others for a while with Freya right by my side. Once we were at a good distance, one that I made sure by taking a glance at the others, I started to talk in a low voice.

"You noticed my reactions whenever that gun would go off." I began. One of her eyebrows rose at the mention of the weapon, but nodded silently, urging me to continue. "Our encounter with him in Burmecia isn't exactly the first time we met."

"So you two have a past?" Freya asked.

I shook my head. "Not really…? Not in the usual way you think. I crossed paths with him in Dali while our group was helping Dagger get to Lindblum. I thought he was only a weirdo in that village, but that changed when I saw him again in the Festival of the Hunt." There's a good chance she didn't hear his gun go off during that time. Lindblum got pretty hectic and loud during that day so it might've gotten masked by the noise of the audience and monsters in the city. "That's the only time I realized he was carrying that weapon."

"It's not the man that terrifies you, but the weapon itself." Her hand goes to her chin as her gaze goes elsewhere for a few moments. "Then that begs the question, why would you be acquainted with a weapon no one else has used before?"

That's right. Gaia may be a steampunk heaven that also happens to run on fantasy, but they've been stuck using medieval weaponry all this time with a lot magic on the side.

"It was a long time ago, when I was little. Guns are the reason I started living with my grandmother."

I still have nightmares about it sometimes. The smell of gunfire and the sound of a bullet whizzing by my head always comes back whenever I have them. Just because the years pass by and the farther away I am from it doesn't mean I can easily forget it. It just gets easier to act normally again with each passing day. Sure therapy and meds help in a way, but the memory never goes away.

"I apologize…" Freya was looking away when I snapped out of my daze. She really didn't need to.

"It's fine… Don't worry about it." I've never understood why anyone who accidentally brings up those bad memories apologizes to me. I don't apologize to myself for them, why should they?

"But I do worry about this man, who stands against us with this powerful weapon." Anyone with a gun in a world without guns might as well be the deadliest man in the world. Well aside from the guy who could destroy a world with the power of Trance and the few girls who could summon eidolons.

"Maybe I'll feel a lot better if we can take away his guns." I mutter. It'll definitely make it easier for me knowing that I won't be fighting him without him pulling out a revolver to execute me.

"Then allow me to help you when we encounter this man again." I turned to the dragon knight, probably looking a bit confused at her, after she said this. "You and the others have provided so much aid for my people. It would only be fair that I help in return."

I couldn't help but smile at her offer. Knowing she has my back brought my spirits back up, and after what had just happened here I definitely needed it. Not to say that no one has my back, but hearing it just makes me glad. With the both of us agreed to look after each other, we rejoined the others. Apparently they were discussing something.

"I no going." I heard Quina say.

"Why?" Vivi is the first to ask. He's still hurting after getting blasted by Beatrix's Shock, but he's still going strong and he's determined to not let it stop him.

"I no like heights."

Zidane's shoulders slumped when he heard that. "We're in a giant tree and you're telling us that now?"

"Tree stable under feet. Magic air bubbles no good." She made her hand illustrate herself floating in the air like a bubble, ending it with a pop and her hand falling to her side. That made shake her head.

Zidane shrugged conclusively. "Well we can't really force you to go if you don't like it." It's totally understandable. Besides, I already knew this was coming. It's fine though! She'll be alright and we'll be reunited with her in the marsh outside of Lindblum.

Let's just hope nothing changes that.

"Alright gang! We should hurry and see where these mages are heading." I told them before nodding to the few Burmecians detaining the black mages.

They released them and let them stumble away from their captors. We kept our distance, but kept a close eye on them with our hands on our weapons, ready to attack in case they think they can blindside us. After they shared silent glances at each other, they looked up and their strange method of transportation started to appear.

"Now!" I signal the others. There was no way those guys will realistically just allow us to go with them. They would probably rather blast us with their magic until we kill them than willingly help us. Good thing none of us got hurt keeping them here just so we can do this.

We all dashed towards the dissipating black mages just as they are about to go into their bubble. I managed to grab at one of their sleeves once I got close enough. Seeing the mage's form turn translucent under my grasp would have been an incredible magic trick on a normal day, it's still a bit wonderful despite my normal not being applicable anymore. Then that wonderful feeling started to make me dizzy. My arm started to get the same treatment and it spread to my entire body as fast as it did on the black mage. Eventually I could no longer feel the ground under me, my entire body felt so light I could barely feel it.

I could see the others' bubbles around me flying in circles into the sky. We were going away from the settlement of Cleyra and towards the mountains surrounding it. It only took a second for me to see the Red Rose come into view. There's a brief glance I manage to get of Queen Brahne sitting on the ship's viewing balcony. And what was interesting to see is that she seemed to be shouting at her soldiers.

Our magic bubbles then went to an open side of the ship where these vase-like things were placed and our ride is supposed to end up in there. Once we made it in the vase, I started to feel the space around me, a bit too compressed if you asked me compared to the openness of being formless in the sky just a while ago. I climbed out of the cramped vase the moment every part of me returned to normal. I had to take a few seconds to get reoriented with being solid again. Not the best ride I've gotten, but it's something that'll need improving for later use. Maybe there's a way for me to get Regent Cid to recreate this so we can travel via magic bubbles in the future…

Anyway, Vivi is the next to climb out of the "vase station" with Zidane and Freya exit with their best rendition of the jack-in-a-box toy, jumping out with ease before joining us. They ogled the view of the mountains between Burmecia and Cleyra beneath the airship, a big population separated by cultures and beliefs about war, which both cities happened to be embroiled in together against a common foe that ambushed them.

"What do we do now?" Vivi wondered as he looked up to me.

"Get my necklace back." I answered, my hand unconsciously hovering to a spot by my neck. I didn't know that a single accessory would be so important to me after these past few days, especially when I'm just a newbie with magic.

"And they might be planning something else for whatever they're doing." Zidane added. "Whatever it is, they don't know we're here to listen to it. Then we can use it to counter them."

Exactly. To be fair, they needed to hear Queen Brahne's next move from the woman herself instead of me. It carries more legitimacy and would bring less questions than me just nudging them to the right direction.

"Let's be careful. We're on a ship crawling with soldiers. Picking a fight here would be the last thing we want to do." Freya advised, to which we all nodded and headed towards the stairs to our left. Our pace only picked up when we heard a voice somewhere above.

We all scrambled for cover behind the staircase and stayed low just in case, keeping quiet as we heard a lot of footsteps start walking down the stairs. Movement above us stops when we hear a door open, someone probably important probably just stepped out. There's only two people that can stop the army in their tracks with just their presence. The queen and…

"General Beatrix!" A girl exclaimed. "Welcome back, ma'am!"

"At ease." The tone of her voice was almost annoyed at the least and dismissive at the most. "How is the queen?"

"Not in the best of moods, ma'am. She is...uh... demanding you to join her and our comrade in arms." The soldier informed her.

"That man is anything but our comrade. He is a nuisance!" Good to hear that even the bad guys are not working well together. We heard the general clear her throat before she continued. "It doesn't matter. Tell Her Majesty that I will be reporting shortly."

"Yes, ma'am."

And with that they started to move again down the stairs. They were just a group of black mages led by a single soldier and she was directing them towards the vase-like things they call 'telepods'. The soldier didn't follow them though as she stayed by the nearest door to the stairs. We could see her point and address the black mages, that they have to go to Alexandria via for some reason they probably talked about earlier. When their bubbles started to fly away, the soldier entered the door beside her, leaving us and General Beatrix out here with the latter not knowing about us.

"This is ridiculous." We heard her speak to no one in particular. "My troops alone would've been enough to take Cleyra. And because of her insistence to use black mages and to rely on that man, our victory was not absolute. I didn't train all these years to take a backseat to anyone..."

I tried to take a peek of the second level and I could briefly see Beatrix turn away and walk towards the front of the ship. When it was quiet for a good full second, we all stood up from our cover with our attention now towards Beatrix is headed.

"Did you hear that? Looks like Brahne's onboard this ship." Zidane figured out.

"And she doesn't sound happy." Vivi added. And who would be after what had just happened? She got beat by a Tranced Freya and she's going to realize in a few minutes that she doesn't have the summoning jewel. That last part is definitely going to piss her off even more!

So we all followed Beatrix to the second floor of the ship until we were stopped by a door. It leads to the balcony view of the Red Rose, where the queen is probably surrounded by a handful of soldiers and black mages along with an effective gunman and their best swordswoman, whom are probably not in a good mood. Zidane gently opened the door and checked to see if anyone was guarding it on the other side. Luckily for us, no one doing guard duty by the door.

As we entered through the door, my ears started to pick up a voice that went on and on about tactics and armies. It was loud and almost obnoxious, and it got worse the closer we got. My ears felt like they were getting personally attacked when we found a good place right behind what was Her Majesty's royal seat. A peek at the balcony gave me the sight of the soldiers (along with their general) with their heads bent down, the black mages staring blankly, and Ellison leaning against the railing and looking away at the ranting queen.

"...Just when I thought we already had the upper hand after crippling them in Burmecia and attacking before the day even got started, we still get stalled by a bunch of rats stuck in a tree! They were able to stave off our attack! How could they have prepared us!? We had them right where we wanted them, yet they managed to fight back!"

"Killing all of them isn't on the major agenda list, right?" A laidback voice finally interrupted her. I could just picture Ellison brush off the queen as if she was just some random angry person on the street.

"You will hold your tongue and let Her Majesty speak without interruption!" Beatrix's angry voice was followed by the sound of a sword being pulled out.

"Well then, permission to speak freely, Your Majesty?"

"Beatrix, stand down. Let the cretin talk." Man, she's letting everyone know that she's not in the mood right now.

"I don't see why you have to focus on wiping out those rats. You already beat their knees in and cut their legs from under them. Why not just move on with the next target?"

"And this is why I am queen and you are just a man on the frontlines! But I'll forgive you just this once for speaking out." Brahne berated him. There was a loud sigh that followed from the man and was followed by something mumbled under his breath. It went unnoticed as the queen went on. "If they aren't wiped out now they will surely fight back later! You've seen what they are capable of while they are cornered. That is why it is best for us to remove them from the equation. Which is why I have drawn all of the eidolons from Garnet."

"At least you got what you wanted." Ellison remarked, deadpan.

"Eidolons?" I could hear Vivi repeat quietly. That got our crew's attention since this is the first time they are hearing about Dagger's hidden ability as a summoner.

"How is the princess doing? Drawing all of the eidolons must have been taxing for her." Beatrix inquired. Oh no, this is where her world slowly starts to crumble. But it's all out of order. The destruction of Cleyra had to happen first before she finds out about this. Is this happening because of what happened during the siege?

"It doesn't matter. She's no longer of use for us." Brahne dismissed her question. That got Zidane to look around the corner. I also looked above him and saw the confusion on Beatrix's face.

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

"Garnet has committed a crime. I shall have her executed for stealing the jewel." Confusion became horror at the mention of an execution. When she tried to understand what was happening with a mumble of 'what?', the queen shouted at her. "Don't make me repeat myself! When we get back to Alexandria, I'll have Garnet beheaded!"

Freya and I had to put our hands on Zidane's shoulders just to stop him from running out there and picking a fight with the matriarch of Alexandria. It'd be useless and we'll be trapped here if that happens, meaning we can't stage a rescue. I know I'm striving for positive changes to this world, but fighting now would only cost us instead of improving our chances.

"Speaking of which, Cleyra's jewel! Give it to me!" The queen had her hand open in front of her general. She was in a daze despite the Brahne's screaming. Everyone was waiting for her to move and obey the command given to her. But she just stared at the blue hand in front of her.

Beatrix finally looked up, her face basically having the word 'Why?' written all over it as she spoke. "Your Majesty…"

"I'm waiting, Beatrix." Her hand demandingly grabbed the air, her statement made the general snap out of it. She silently put her hand in her coat pocket to take out the jewel she had taken during the attack. But as expected, when she pulled out the contents she is surprised to see that it had changed to a necklace with a tiny glowing purple stone.

There were two different reactions to this. Beatrix's confusion came back in full force while Brahne was too eager to get any jewel that she tried to grab it, only for Beatrix to pull away before it could transfer to her blue hands. Of course, such an action made her leader a bit miffed.

"Your Majesty, this is not the jewel." She tried to inform her, yet it did not register when my necklace was forcibly taken from her.

"That's definitely not the one we took from the harp," Ellison tried to interject. "That one was bigger and red. This one is smaller and purple. Someone switched them!"

"What are you talking about? Isn't this what I instructed you two to get?" She scowled at them, ignoring their valid points as she started to take something out from her royal pockets. "Now we can be rid of this world of those rats!"

"But Your Majesty! The jewel you want may still be in Cleyra!" Beatrix tried to argue, but her words were left ignored once again.

In her other hand held a grim-looking stone that made the entire balcony tense up at the mere sight of it. One look at Freya and we were all in agreement that it was time to intervene. A second later we were all going for our pellets so we could throw them for our distraction. We don't really need to hit anyone with the pellets. All we need to do is just make sure that we hit areas of the balcony and to spread out the stench. But that doesn't mean we can't hit anyone.

"Hold your breath, everyone." Zidane told us.

"And for what are you holding your breath for?" A person emerged from the balcony and pointed something at Zidane's head. One look at them and I realized it as Ellison. The gun in his hand clicked, ready to be fired the instant we made any sudden movements. His eyes hover over to me, stopping me from going for my sword. Seeing him there ready to execute on of us had made me freeze up. "I did not expect you to be ballsy enough to infiltrate our ship that fast."

"It's easy when your troops let us on in the first place." Freya answered back.

"Let's remedy that, shall we?" He stepped back a bit and gestured to the balcony. Three soldiers joined him with their swords drawn and they pushed us out of our hiding spots towards Queen Brahne.

She had this satisfied expression on her face when she saw us being forced on our knees right in front of her, one of them hit me in the back with her sword hilt and the pain was enough to put me down where they wanted me. They took our weapons and threw them behind the the balcony near where Ellison found us. Thank goodness they didn't throw them overboard. It wouldn't be easy getting there since we're surrounded in a small space like this, unless they all turned around to look at something else, which would require a miracle.

Freya took an opportunity she saw for a second. She would have socked Ellison in the mouth if he hadn't moved. He knocked his revolver against her head after dodging, knocking her down to the floor. "I'd prefer it if I don't have to splatter blood on the queen's fancy balcony of her flying machine. But if you make one more move like that, I'd gladly do it."

"I see we have a rat in our midst! Your little attempt for revenge won't matter by the time I am done with it. Your people will be destroyed by the might of this eidolon." Brahne showed her the stone she'll be using to summon the creature she took from Dagger. "Once I'm finished with the tree, I'll have you executed right here."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" I interrupted her before she could start laughing. That got her attention. "If you haven't been listening, your general doesn't have it. Your precious jewel is still down there." Actually, I still have it, but she doesn't need to know that.

Brahne finally let that sink in and demanded to see the necklace Beatrix showed her just a minute ago. It was satisfying to see her blue face turn red in anger and embarrassment as she inspected it. Beatrix won't even look at her, either for not trusting her word about the jewel or for what she said about the princess.

"Ellison, execute this girl for talking back to me." Brahne shouted, her voice getting so shrill I could feel my eardrums wanting to crack.

The man she ordered looked at me and then at the queen before shrugging. "I may have been ordered to follow your command, but HIS order to not kill her is absolute. I cannot do that as much as I want to."

Alexandria's leader looked like she was about to explode from what she had just heard. It's a hilarious scene actually and I would be laughing if there weren't any swords pointed at me and my friends. It'd be inappropriate, but a good hearty laugh would brighten up my day after a long a fight and it'd reinvigorate me for the upcoming prison break we're about to do. Laughing, however, would only further piss off Brahne, and she's already looking to remedy her own embarrassment by turning her attention to Beatrix.

"Beatrix. Execute. Them. NOW!" Her soldiers flinched at the order. They're probably not used to this side of the queen if that's their reaction. Ellison merely sighed and trained his gun on the others instead.

Nonetheless, Beatrix stepped forward, glancing at the large woman ordering her to do this as she drew her sword and laid it to my shoulder. I could feel its cold edge starting to bite into my skin, pressed any harder and it'd cut me and draw blood. Even when they had a brief disagreement, she knew her place in the hierarchy of the army and always followed commands given to her. One look at her sent a shiver down my spine as she coldly acknowledged my presence.

Then she raised her sword with both of her hands.

I closed my eyes. I didn't think that my time in this world would be this short. Maybe this is what happens when I try to change the world, I get executed. This is the risk I knew that could happen to me and I took it despite that. Well there's that and for being a smart ass. That's what literally got me on my knees with a sword about to chop my head clean off my shoulders anyway. Though I wish a big fight brought us to this moment instead of being found out…

I thought death would be a whole lot painful when it comes to beheading via sword, but I didn't expect the whole airship to rock back and forth. It rocked me hard enough to fall to the floor on my side.

"We're being attacked!" A voice somewhere in the airship announced.

That made me open my eyes. Attacked? Here? In the sky? With what?

The Red Rose rocked and swayed once again, this time an explosion behind the ship caused it. Everyone around me were all over the place. Soldiers were either trying to help their queen maintain their balance or were hanging on to the balcony railing. The rest of my friends were already on the floor with uncertainty written all over their faces. Ellison and Beatrix were trying their best to stay standing, only for the Red Rose to suddenly start turning, which was enough to send them to their knees.

"Who in the world is attacking us!? Someone find out!" Brahne ordered the troops around her.

"Now!" Before they could take action and follow their orders, Zidane threw his pellets at the soldiers around the queen. Vivi and Freya did the same, this time hitting various spots of the balcony around Beatrix instead. I pulled out my own after recovering from the ship's constant rocking and threw them at Ellison.

The soldiers were about to draw their swords to attack, but the pure disgusting odor filling up the balcony made them hesitate. Majority of them were gagging and groaning, the soldiers starting to fall to their knees at the invasive smell. I'd be like them too if I was caught off-guard, but I felt a bit clever by hitching up my shirt to cover my nose.

...Okay, shirt's not enough. I can still smell it. It's making me dizzy and sick at the same time. Just hold your breath. We don't have to stay long.

I could see Zidane through the light haze of the pellets made after being smashed. He held his breath well as he approached Brahne quickly, tapping the large woman on the shoulder as she coughed out orders to find the source of the smell. This added to their current dilemma, making it easy for him to take my necklace and the stone from her grasps.

"Stop!" We all turned to see Beatrix braving the pellets effects with a hand on her face with the other wielding her sword. Right behind her I could see Ellison struggling to cover his nose with his jacket.

Freya blocks Beatrix's attack on Zidane with her spear. The thief uses this as an opportunity to throw one of her soldiers into them, causing a chain reaction of sending them down to the floor with Ellison tumbling over the railing. If he didn't have fast enough reflexes he would have kept falling down to the ground until he was just a stain on the sand below, but he was able to get his arm around the railing to save himself.

"Let's get outta here!" Zidane hands over my necklace before running over to the exit. We all follow his lead, however I stop by the door and take another look at the balcony.

Beatrix had just thrown the soldier off her and Ellison was already trying to fight through the dry-heaving he was going through to get back on the ship. We'd have no chance in escaping if we let them get back up. Blowing them up would be too much if I ask Vivi for help. Hell, it might disturb him if I ask, especially after what we'd seen happen to the barrel explosion earlier.

So I just hold my necklace in my hand and feel its power again after a few minutes of being separated. I pointed at the entrance to the balcony, a purple barrier appeared and sealed their only way out. Of course, the smell will eventually subside since it's an open area, but it's still smells like multiple destroyed bathrooms rolled into one in there so it's still terrible.

"Quick, we have to get to Alexandria!" Zidane called as I was about to catch up with them.

"The telepods!" Vivi pointed to the things we got out of earlier. "These can take us to Alexandria, right? That soldier earlier said so."

"It's better than nothing!" I shout as I make my way over to them, clearing the stairs in one jump.

I tried looking out to the morning sky to see what was attacking the ship. Just half a kilometer away I could see multiple ships approaching, cannons on its front launching another wave towards us. I hung on to the railing before impact, the ship shaking once again, but this time it wasn't as bad as the ones earlier. Who are they?

I could see the others share a look before Zidane shrugged. "Here goes nothing then." He then climbed into the pod he chose and dropped inside.

By the time I got there I could already hear something humming as if it was activated. One of the telepods produced a bubble as I got in mine, staying there for a few moments as I started to feel the telepod transform my body. It wasn't as dizzying like the first time, but it was disorienting until I felt lighter than a feather. I only got my senses back when I was with the others in the air. We only stayed there for a second, just to make sure all four of us were ready, before leaving the airspace of the Red Rose.

I could see the Red Rose starting to gain speed and turning away from the attacking airship in an attempt to get away from it. Seeing its efforts to chase away the now retreating Alexandrian ship, I couldn't help but wonder who is in that ship. It didn't look familiar from any of the major ships in the game like all of the versions of the Hilde Garde. So I overtake the bubbles of the others before turning towards the ship in an attempt to tell them where I was going. I didn't look to see if they were following, but this is just something I have to do to know who is helping us.

My little magic bubble flew towards the ship in an attempt to find where the driver is. I peered inside what looked like the windshield and was surprised to see something small jumping around the deck to various people. I only realized I should be glad of this thing's presence when I saw the large mustache where its face was supposed to be.

It's Regent Cid! This isn't his ship, but he's here! He really did read my letter!

The others started to float behind me as I tried to find a way to communicate with them. I'm not really sure if I can talk while I'm like this anyway. Should I though? Right now we're on a rush to get to Alexandria and we're using valuable time. But who knows how much time we have after seeing the Red Rose get attacked like that. We probably bought us more time to escape the castle, which might have a negative effect since it's Beatrix who wakes up Dagger. If we have less time, we might experience heavy resistance. Maybe I can just rattle off as much info—"

"Hey Cid!" I heard Zidane's voice through the windshield. Wait, through the windshield?

I look inside and see Zidane out of his bubble with the regent in his hands. What is he doing!? We're running out of time!

"Zidane!? How did *gwop* you get here?" His small voice carried through the air as the rest of us moved over to find an entrance. It took us a good few seconds, but we found a door to them and flew inside. His shock at seeing us made him squeak like an oglop. "And what are those!?"

"Don't worry about them! That's Freya, Vivi, and Alyssa." Zidane briefly explained. "We don't have much time to explain things. You have to get some of the wounded out of Cleyra. One of them is bleeding pretty badly but he's still kicking. Probably get some of your guys to stay behind too. They're pretty beat up down there. And we're gonna go to Alexandria to stop Brahne from executing Dagger."

"They are going to execute the princess!?" If Regent Cid could squeak a little harder it would have been torture on everyone else's ears. Zidane nodded quickly to confirm this.

"Yeah, we have to go!" He let the regent down on the ground and went to my bubble.

It felt weird when he touched me, it's like a hand touching water that had settled for a while and was now sending waves around, and I was the water.. Even if I felt like I wasn't there or ghostly, the space around me got smaller as Zidane started to disappear right in front of me. Once he was fully gone, moving felt like stumbling over a straight line with two left feet. Flying out of the ship's interior would probably have been a good comedy skit if we had time to laugh at ourselves, but we were on a timer now.

It took a good minute or two of slipping through the door after the others, but we eventually got out of there and was free to commit any mistakes without bumping into any solid surfaces. With the Red Rose already ahead of us by minutes, we need to get there and bust out the others before it's too late.

- OLaF -

You know how it feels to sit in a plane for the first time and think that you're going to be flying? Or that feeling when you go down your first zip line (assisted by a professional of course)? All that wind zipping by and your hair wildly flapping behind your head while you're screaming at the top of your lungs! Well, you probably can't scream like that in an airplane. You know what I mean.

It was kinda like that when while flying to Alexandria. Though I can feel Zidane's presence since we shared the same bubble, but it was still fun to have that exhilarating experience. It's never gonna happen again (I think) so it's better to enjoy it while it lasts. Which wasn't much when it felt like we zoomed to this dark place lit by torches a bit too fast.

Our bubbles deactivated one by one, depositing us on the stone floor with only a hint of grace. I landed on my butt hard before I could even see the floor under me. My behind stung for a few seconds, which no amount of complaining would help as I tried to stand, while Zidane managed to stick the landing beside me. Vivi shared my skill at falling, his groan made me wince sympathetically for him, while Freya was ready with her weapon the moment her feet touched the floor.

"This doesn't look like the right place." Vivi observed as I helped him up. "It happened so fast. I think we missed the castle."

"Looks castle-y enough for me, but more like dungeon-y or basement-like." I said. Though I hope I never have to go to an actual castle dungeon in my life.

The sound of armor clanking entered my ears from the staircase below. Everyone else took out their weapons for the incoming guard, but I just settled with just crossing my arms since I was behind everyone. When they found out it was Steiner running up the stairs, everyone put their weapons down in surprise with Zidane and our favorite knight exchanging words.

"Rusty?"

"What are you doing here!?"

"We do not have time for this." Freya warned them.

"Steiner, is this Alexandria?" Zidane hurriedly asked. This only made him frown followed by a dismissive shake of his head.

"I have no time for your silly questions! I must escape this wretched dungeon of Alexandria and rescue the princess!"

"We'll take that as a yes," I spoke up and took the front so I can easily catch Steiner up. I look past him for a second with the thought that I was missing something. "Okay, we don't have time to explain everything. Long story short: Dagger's in danger, Brahne's coming back here after attacking Cleyra to execute own daughter, we heard her say it, and we have to get to her in time."

"E-Execute? Is this really true?" He looked at the others and their silence gave him enough proof of how twisted it was.

"That's why we have to get to her first before the Red Rose docks. Let's go!" Zidane is the first to break from the group, running towards what we think is the exit. It's either that or run downstairs, which I'm betting isn't the way. But we did follow his lead when we started to hear voices from the stairs.

All we had to do was run do a small hallway and round a corner to find Zidane waiting for us with a familiar thief with a bandana on his head right beside him. Both of them were waving at us, urging us to run faster, all the while the voices we heard started getting louder. It took a brief glance over my shoulder to see five women in Alexandria's signature military outfit coming right at us.

Steiner, Freya, Vivi, and I barely manage to exit the hallway before Marcus kicked the steel gate lever on his side, cutting off the guards from catching us just in time. I had to take a second to catch my breath while the two Tantalus members briefly caught up in just a few words. Marcus wished him luck before leaving us to our devices.

"Wait." Steiner suddenly said as we were walking out. He turned to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. Why does it feel like he's going to say something very bad? "There is one thing I failed to mention. Your friend, Skylark, he came with us when we left Lindblum."

I blinked at him and then my brain starts to berate me internally. Blake was with him and I got too focused with anticipating changes in the story that I forgot about him! Why wasn't he with Steiner?

"You mean the injured boy who fought with us against the Zaghnol?" Freya clarified. "And you thought it would be okay to bring him along?"

"Where is he? Isn't he supposed to be with you?" I asked.

He looks away briefly, choosing to address Freya's question first. "He insisted to come along with his pet and promised to not get in the way, not that his word would last long. Now he's imprisoned somewhere else. They..." He hesitated, frowning at a spot on the floor as he tried to finish what he was saying. "The first time I saw after they interrogated him, all I can say is that I thought I would never see the day that our...their... interrogations could become so...violent."

"Is...Is he alright?" The implication wasn't lost on me, but...I just... it's shocking. Looking at Steiner trying to find the right words only made it worse. "Steiner, please! You have to tell me if he's alright!" I took hold of his arms and shook them as I begged him to tell me what he knew.

"I saw him after the first interrogation when they tried to question us as a group. He looked bruised, but fine nonetheless. When we attempted to escape, however, we were stopped and we were separated. I do not know what happened to him afterwards."

They tried to escape? Did he plan that or just go along with it? If he thought it would change anything in the story's events, Blake would have never agreed to it. The interrogation was concerning, but Steiner not knowing Blake's condition after it made me worry even more. And to think I've forgotten about Blake when I knew he would be traveling with Steiner and Dagger. I should be ashamed for letting that happen, but what Steiner had told her made my blood stop cold. Thinking of the possible cruel things they could have done to Blake turned my shame into anger.

And here I thought they only stuck Steiner and Marcus in a massive bird cage was to humiliate them and not isolate them. There was no hint of interrogations in the source material before they were put there. Oh god, what methods did they use!? I need to see if he's okay. What if...what if he's not…?

Then I felt a hand on my shoulder, it's owner standing beside me with a determined look on her face. "We will find him." Freya assured me.

"We'll need to split up then." Zidane concluded and everyone almost agreed. Things tend to go wrong when you divide a group to multitask, but I believe we can make it work. It has to. "Steiner, Vivi and I can go and find Dagger. Freya and Alyssa is on Blake duty." That's a fair split. Zidane's group needs more people since they are going deeper into the castle and will encounter probably more obstacles than us.

"Once you find your friend, we can meet on the second floor just past the painting. You will know which one I am talking about when you find it." Steiner added. I'm sure I already know which painting he's talking about. "I can direct you to where we were held before being put in that cage."

With everyone briefed on what we should do, we exited and found ourselves on the castle grounds. Strangely enough, there was no sign of a 'welcoming party' to meet us there, which is a positive for us. Steiner gave us directions to the dungeon where they were held before breaking away with the others. We had to circle to the back of the castle, where there might be guards stationed to keep the prisoners there from getting too rowdy, which might involve a few fights.

Keeping close to the castle walls and some shrubbery, which might not help when it's too bright out here, Freya spotted the entrance and the three guards stationed there all sharing some small talk. There's nothing covering us for a stealth approach during broad daylight, but I might have a way of distracting them.

"What in the world is that!?" One of them exclaimed when they saw my barrier appear to their right. It disappeared right before they could touch it, only to reappear a bit farther ahead of them.

This kept happening three more times until one of them just ran at it to try and grab it. She did catch it, but it was enough of a distraction for Freya to jump in between the three and hit the closest one with a swing of her spear's shaft, nailing her right in the helmet and knocking her lights out.

I tackled the one who grabbed my barrier and punched her in the face while Freya dealt with the last one. The feeling of my knuckles connecting with the side of her face didn't feel good to me, which it shouldn't because I've never done this to a person before getting here, but there's this hint of satisfaction when the thought of them torturing Blake came into mind. After hitting her one more time, this time done for Blake in case she did have a hand in his treatment, I followed Freya through the dungeon entrance.

Lit torches along a staircase going down a dark passage really made this place feel very homely. As unsettling it is for me to be in an actual dungeon keeping people locked up, the many voices yelling behind the locked doors made it more atmospheric and somewhat scary, we had to find Blake. However there's no way of knowing which one is his unless we try every single door. That'll take forever.

One of the doors ahead of us opened and Freya was quick enough to pull me to the side before I could be seen. Whatever it was they were talking about it sounded very serious. So serious in fact that they nearly walked past us if they hadn't noticed Freya swing her spear. The one in front had her legs swept from under her and jabbing her helmet multiple times until she was unconscious. I, on the other hand, took hold of the other soldier's hand so she couldn't draw her sword, slipped behind and kicked at the back of her knees before pulling both of her hands into an X-gesture over her shoulders, trapping her arms around her own throat.

"Tell us where you're keeping Blake Skylark." I demanded, pulling at the straight-jacket hold on her when she tried to resist.

"Damn it, all this for a cripple?" I drove my knee on her back and pulled harder on her arms, putting her closer to the floor with her arms constricting around her own neck.

"That cripple is my friend!" I told her. Freya pointed her spear at her, the barely lit dark hallway behind her as she stared down the soldier through her pale hair made her more menacing.

"Alright, alright!" The woman tapped out. "He's in 617! I have the key on my belt! Just stop it already and leave me alone!"

I released her arms and was about to run down the stairs to find Blake's door when I felt something cut at my back. Shocking pain flared all over my back as I fell down. I didn't have a chance to get my sword when Freya had brought down the retaliating soldier with a swift cut on her stomach and a silencing jab to the throat with the other end of her spear.

Freya drew a potion from her pocket as she helped me up. We grabbed the keys from the wounded soldier and kept moving down the stairs as I drank her potion and thanked her for the healing item as it was starting to heal my newly gained wound. The blood was gonna stay, but at least it's closed up now.

It took us a good minute to find the doors starting with '6'. This is probably not the only dungeon in use in Alexandria, which is not a good thought to elaborate on. The deeper we went, the quieter it got. There's still the wailing for freedom and sounds of crying from one of the doors though, so we weren't all that lonely in our search.

After frantically running down and counting the doors, we found the one the soldier said. It was quiet and still when we looked inside, the only movement was coming from the three torches placed around the room.

"Blake?" I unlocked the door and quickly pushed it forward. No one answered, but I did manage to hear this faint mewling. That's probably Nero!

Freya points to the closest door after a second of listening to the noise. We opened the door and the low light from the torches behind us showing a curled up body in the center of the cell, his back against us with no plans of moving, and the straps he wore for his armor were a mess due to missing armor pieces. They were actually scattered throughout the cell as if they were thrown away. Hiding away in one of the armor pieces was Nero.

"Blake!" The smell of sweat and alcohol became obvious the moment I rushed inside to kneel beside him. I thought that would be the only problem, but I was wrong. The sight of Blake like this made my heart drop. The closer I was, the harder it was to look at him. It's obvious he's hurt, but seeing his shirt ripped in various places like his back with deep dark bruises decorating his skin made it obvious to me that his treatment was worse than I imagined.

I turned him over on his back, only to see a trail of blood from his mouth and the side of his head had dried up. His hands were bound by these wooden handcuffs with a simple lock on one end. Didn't they see him with a sling and a cast? Why would they do this?

He gave us a sign that he's still alive by groaning while I was trying to get the lock and free his hands.

"Blake, it's me, Alyssa. Freya and I here!" I finally manage to unlock it and get rid of the wooden handcuff. I wince as he starts roughly coughing out some spit and blood into his hand. All I could do was just hold him and watch. It's painful seeing him like this. It's like knowing what's wrong and not being able to do anything about it. And to think the last time we saw each other was when we were arguing about what we should be doing with this world's future. He eventually settled down, however he was barely breathing. I tried shaking him awake before remembering that I still have potions. "It's going to be alright, Blake. Just hold on."

Placing the now open potion vial against his lips, I started pouring its contents slowly so he wouldn't cough or spit it out. He tried to fight it by trying to push me away. His efforts as wasted when I could barely feel him put any force on it, probably due to the injuries he's suffered. His eyes finally opened a few seconds later, that brief moment he looked up at me was enough to stop him from fighting. I waited for him to speak, only to have him lay there motionless yet breathing.

"We have to get him out of here and meet up with the others." Freya finally spoke as she knelt beside me. "Take his left, I'll carry his right and then we can carry him out."

I nodded, adjusting Blake so I had his left arm over my shoulders. Freya moved over to take his right arm on her shoulders. Noticing a certain chocobo's tweets, I look down and see Nero dragging the discarded sling he used to ride in. I indulge the growing chick by putting the sling around my neck and place him inside. The pieces of armor scattered all over came to mind, but then he wouldn't be in any fighting shape by the time we can get him to a hospital or to a white mage who won't mind using all of her magic on him. With that in mind, we left the pieces behind and start to leave his cell.

Carrying up an unconscious and injured Blake is easier said than done. Sure he weighs fairly like a college student on a ramen diet, but the number of steps we have to climb didn't do us any favors. I couldn't help but look at him a few times in case he's woken up, only to see this tired wince on his face as we moved. I squeezed his hand as we pushed on, hoping he felt that in his sleep.

It felt like we were walking for forever despite picking up the pace. We stumbled into a sign that we were getting close to the exit when we saw a small puddle of blood on the ground where the two soldiers used to be. They're calling for back-up now and they might be just outside waiting for us.

A minute later when we finally reached the door, we could hear a faint rustling outside. Movement. A lot of it and that meant danger. We don't have time right now to fight them and we still have to catch up with the others. Just as I was about to ask Freya what we should do, she started putting down Blake's right arm to his side.

"I'll keep them at bay for a while. You get inside and find the others." Freya told me as she readied her spear.

I would have argued against it and told her we should stick together, but a pained moan from the Blake made me stop. I have to get Blake to safety first. Most of the guards in the route of Zidane's group should be taken care of, or at least I hope so or it'd be harder fighting off soldiers while protecting Blake, so I could just rush to that room with the secret passage. Even if it feels wrong to leave Freya behind, I know she can handle herself.

"Whenever you're ready," I answer, "And please stay safe."

She nodded as she opened the door. Alarmed shouts followed by various weaponry clashing was my signal to start moving. I adjusted my hold on Blake, I lifted him up so his entire body was on my shoulders instead of just supporting one side. I'm willing to correct myself earlier about his weight. College students can still be heavy, and Blake sure is for me to carry him. But I've already got him there so I might as well start moving now!

I hastily exit the dungeon and run to the left. Sure some of the soldiers saw me, but I wasn't really planning on being very stealthy outside. I'm also sure that got them hit and wounded for not focusing on the dangerous Burmecian with the long spear and quick reflexes.

But one of the soldiers is really insistent on blocking my path. "Where do you think you're going with MY prisoner!"

"Your prisoner?" I repeated as I carefully watched the sword of the helmeted woman in front of me. Then it finally crossed my mind about what she meant. "You're the one... You did this to him!?"

"Revenge for what he did a week before." Then she pointed her sword at me. Wait, she's that girl he pushed off? The one he almost killed? "There's still a lot more where it came from, so you better hand him over! I've yet to start breaking his bones."

"The hell you will!" I shouted back. And to prove a point, a spear landed between the two of us before Blake's torturer got a step closer. Freya landed and instantly went after her, giving me a chance to retreat and find an entrance to Dagger's massive home.

I continued running until I reached the double doors leading inside the main castle. And what do you know, I see a couple of soldiers knocked out on the floor or lying against the pillar. A couple of them either had burns on them or a frozen part of their body while some were wounded as they groaned in pain. I'd feel sorry for them for just doing their job, but then I become aware of the weight on my shoulders and this bitter feeling overcomes me for their possible treatment of Blake.

Jogging up the stairs, past the staff lockers, and up a shorter set of stairs eventually brought me to lounge-like room that had the secret entrance to the castle's hidden underground path. It's already open, meaning they're down there laying the smackdown on Zorn and Thorn. Having just three of them might make it a bit of a close fight, though I wish I was down there to help them out. But I can't right now. Who knows what would happen if I leave Blake here alone.

...Maybe I could just lock the door. That's actually a good idea.

The moment I lock the doors, I could hear Blake groaning in pain. I put him in that fancy couch by the fireplace/secret entrance and it doesn't seem like he's getting comfy on it, though Nero was glad enough to be placed on security duty by sitting on the arm rest near his head. I should've put him on his side or his front since his back looks worse the entirety of his body. Is it worth doing all this to him just because he threw her off an airship? At least she's alive, that she should be grateful for. But this is just too much.

I was inspected his wounds and the potion sure was taking a while to take effect. His bruises still looked gross and near black, but it was smaller than the last time I looked at it. Before I could pull out another potion to make his recovery go faster, I felt his hand graze against my arm.

"Who's there..?" His voice sent Nero into a tweeting frenzy. "Nero…? You carried me...out of that hellhole?"

"He wishes he did that." I said once I was right beside him. He turned his head slowly, a grave wince on his face until he finally saw me. His eyebrows knit together as he stared at me, as if trying to focus. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Obviously…" He coughed. Okay, it was a stupid question. But I'm still worried about him! I can't help but ask and get confirmation from the source instead of just assuming. "I need to tell you something."

Did he find out something important while he was imprisoned here? Is it about Kuja or Ellison? Maybe they have something else planned that we didn't know because of other factors changing this world's events. I knelt beside him to get closer, wondering what info he had.

"What is it?" I moved some of his hair from his eyes that blocked part of his eyes. He looked back at me as he tried to relax, which didn't work when he hissed when my finger barely touched him.

"I...I…" HIs voice was coarse. My hand held on to the potion vial that I just got in case he needed a drink.

"You what?" His hand lands on my shoulder and holds it as tight as he can. I let my hand cover his as he tried to finish, squeezing reassuringly that he can do it. "What is it?"

"...I should've pushed her harder off the ship."

I stare at him for a second. There was something I was expecting, something crucial. But then he mentioned something about a woman. He's not really close to any other women in this world. My brain takes a while to piece together what he meant and it took an image of that soldier that tried to stop me earlier to figure out what he meant.

"Blake!" I stand abruptly, only to see his lips trying to smile. Even if that wasn't nice of him to say, I'd say she deserves to fall off a higher airship for what she did to him.

"What took you so long?" Pain painted a frown on his face.

"Big fight at Cleyra. But I'm here now. We're all here now." I answered as I sit on the available space on the couch. It's the first time since the start of Brahne's attack on Cleyra that I've sat down. Felt like a long time since then too. Wish I could just sit back and take this all in for a few minutes, just let all I've done and decided to do sink in. " We need a vacation from this whole thing."

"I wish we had that luxury."

We both sighed. To think we were in summer vacation mode before we were transported to Gaia. Makes me wish I spent the few days of vacation in a more meaningful way before getting here. As much as I wanted to make this last, Blake had other plans as he tried moving to get on his elbows. "What are you doing? You should just lie down and rest."

"I've been on the floor of my prison cell for what felt like half a day. The other half was spent being brutalized by a maniac. Besides, we don't have time for rest with all the running and fighting we'll be doing in a few minutes." He had fair points, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't prioritize his health instead of preparing for the big fights that's about to take place. "Come on, I need to get off this thing. My back is killing me."

"Are you sure? You can't really fight or move that much in your condition." Despite saying that, I've already stood up to make room for him.

He struggled to get up to a sitting position, pulling himself with one hand by grabbing the back pillows until he could swing his legs and step on the floor. I extended my hand and pulled him to his feet, but he stumbled when his legs failed him.

"Whoa!" One grip on his hand turned to both of my arms opening to catch him. Nearly all of his weight crashed into me as he stumbled forward, but I managed to save the both of us a nasty spill. He might've gotten his head scrambled if he hit the floor so carelessly. Blake already has enough injuries that I can count them on both hands. Probably. Most of them might be internal.

His head rested against my shoulder and I could feel his faint breath against my shirt. I didn't think I'd see him this out of it. I just kept him up against me, my hands not knowing where to go on his back since he's battered all over there. He's hurt enough as it is. He doesn't need me making it worse. So I just laid them on his side to avoid touching his bruises.

I never expected to see someone I know be treated like this. Thinking what they might've done to hurt him to this point made me sick. I know that girl earlier said it was for revenge, but they also interrogated him so they probably also hurt him for info. Knowing Blake's own strict belief of not sharing what we know of this world, he definitely gave them a hard time. That probably got him close to dead. Thankfully he dodged a bullet by just being tortured instead of straight up killed. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him.

Feeling another breath leave him, I look at him and for some reason he looks like a dainty and frail boy in my arms, like he doesn't belong anywhere here. Well, we both don't belong here, but him even more than me. Maybe if he had something like my magic necklace he would be able to do much more than simply jumping on a monster's back. If he keeps doing that I'm sure it'll backfire even worse than the time he did it on Black Waltz No. 3 and become more of a lia-

No, he's not a liability! He'll be angry with me if he hears I said that!

Even if he claims he's more of the brains of our group, he's the only one careless enough to be hurt more times than everyone combined. But at least he's fighting with us. It's the thought that counts. I'm sure that's a consolation he would not want to hear from anyone. But the truth is he always gets hurt and I don't want to see that happen anymore. Someone has to keep him in line and protect him to prevent him from suffering anymore injuries.

If he needs someone to protect him, then I'll be there for him.

He groans against my shoulder, probably already regretting his decision to stand now. My hand goes over to his head, running them through his hair to soothe his pain.

"C'mon let's get you back to the couch." I tell him. But just as I was about to move us towards it, he shakes his head against me. His hand moves over to my shoulder, holding tight as if telling me to stop.

Blake pulls his head out away from my shoulder just enough for his tired eyes to look back at me. The way he stared made me curious and sad. Our proximity didn't help matters too. We were TOO close, in fact that I could feel the exhaustion in his eyes. And he was just staring at me. What is he thinking...?

"Are we interrupting something?"

Zidane's voice makes me jump, nearly shoving Blake off me in surprise. He stumbled back and teetered, struggling to regain his balance until I pulled him back safely into my arms again just before he could fall to the ground. The others had started coming out of the secret entrance with Zidane getting out first. Surprisingly, he didn't have Dagger in his arms. Steiner was actually the one carrying her with Vivi stopping right in front of him. Their wondering faces focusing on me made everything from my neck upwards warm up.

"No! You're not interrupting anything! Blake was...uh...just trying to stand." I explained. It looked like they accepted my answer when Zidane walked to me. He was just about to help me put Blake back on the couch when he saw the extent of his injuries. The expressions of the trio darkened.

"The man may have been a nuisance, but he certainly did not deserve such treatment." Steiner shook his head, looking away from Blake and instead went to put Dagger on the couch.

"And we don't have a way to heal him. Damn it." Zidane cursed.

"We can use our potions," Vivi suggested, but I turned it down.

"If we use all of them to make Blake better, we might run out. We still have to find a way out. Besides, I've given him one potion already." We need to have our priorities straight. Escape first after Dagger wakes up.

Vivi walked over and scanned Blake's back. "But he still looks hurt."

"I know. One isn't enough. If he needs it, I can give him another. He'll pull through. I know it." I transfer my gaze to sleeping beauty herself. "What about her? Is she alright?"

"Dagger's still alive, but…" Vivi couldn't finish, his saddened tone made me think of the roller coaster of emotions they had when they found her. Even Steiner had turned away from us, the mere sight of the princess in such a vulnerable state made him shake. If I didn't know what was happening and found Blake in his current state, I wouldn't know what to do. "Do you think she will wake up?"

Zidane tries place the blame on himself by getting here too late. Steiner, on the other hand, noticed the change in Zidane's attitude and wanted to shift the blame to himself since he had traveled with the princess and was not able to stop this from happening.

It wasn't actually both of their fault. This situation is complicated for the both of them and there was no one to blame. Dagger wanted to come here to talk her mother down, Steiner wouldn't have known things would happen like this, and Zidane didn't know she would go home instead of trying to help in Burmecia.

If anything, the blame should go to Blake and I. We all knew this was going to happen but didn't try to stop them. I only stepped in when it was too late to stop her.

Amidst the blame shifting and quiet despair around us, Vivi's the one to get us back on track. "Shouldn't we find a way out of here? We might get attacked if we stay here longer."

We all share a look, one that we can finally agree on. Steiner is the one to follow in the black mage's effort by pointing to the secret entrance they had come out earlier. "Master Vivi is right. We can use this entrance to the underground passage and use the gargant system to reach Treno." Only Vivi seemed to notice the mention of the gargants, repeating the last part of Steiner's statement quietly.

"But before that, everyone's not yet here." Zidane observed, noticing a lack of red in our group. Freya should be done distracting those soldier to cover my escape. Wonder what's taking her so long. "I'll find her, won't take long."

Knowing Zidane he'd be slipping past most of the soldiers that come his way. Both of them should be able to meet up in a minute or so and then come back before we could ask what's taking them so long?

The thief quickly unlocked the door and ran out. What we didn't expect was to hear him having trouble outside if the sounds of clashing steel were any indication. They found us out easily. That means Zidane has to draw them out of here before they surround us.

Well, that would've been my guess as to what he was planning to do until we heard a loud crash outside. I was the first to come out of the room, with Vivi following close, when I found Zidane on his back and the doors to the hall broken off its hinges.

"I guess that's one way to open a door."

As if to dampen our spirits, four individuals stood at the doorway, a faint stench hung in the air as they entered. One of them was Ellison, sporting a grin as he entered first. Right behind him were the queen's jesters, pointing at Zidane and rambling on about how they attacked them just a few minutes ago (in normal sentence form and Yoda sentence form). Last to enter behind them is General Beatrix. The moment I felt her eyes land on me, I felt a shiver go down my spine. Nothing was more terrifying than the death glare Beatrix was aiming at us. If she wasn't a normal person I would have already turned to dust.

"What do we have here? Think you can infiltrate this castle and leave unscathed?" Ellison questioned as he sauntered forward, his eyes going over to me afterwards. "If you want we can put you all in the same cage so all of you can be comfy together."

"We took you down once, we can do it again," was my lame comeback. We all drew our weapons and formed a wall between our defenseless friends in the other room and them. Ellison took out his knives from his sleeve (Does he ever run out of those?) and stepped forward, until Beatrix stopped him with her sword barring his way.

"Step aside. I will finish this once and for all and I will not have you ruin this." Beatrix left her ally with her queen, ignoring the shrug and the eye roll from the gunman. Any hint of irritation started to fade when she spotted the knight join us in our formation. "Welcome back, Steiner. Where have you been all this time? Don't tell me you have been enjoying the company of these scoundrels."

"The only scoundrels around here are you, that guy behind you, and your fat queen!" Zidane shouted. His words barely registered as Beatrix pointed her sword at us.

"Fools like you will never learn."

Beatrix made the first move, cutting at the air as her sword cracked with thunder, sending a wave of frightening magic at us. All four of us scattered to avoid it with Zidane the first to recover and run at her. She easily blocked his attacks and was often dodging them to counterattack.

Steiner and I followed suit, coming around her flank while Zidane had him in a deadlock. After pushing back Zidane to create some space, she raised her sword to let Steiner's own slide against it until a flash of thunder hit him in the chest. It blinded me for a second, making everything disappear in a brief blinding brightness for a good full second, but it was enough for her to deflect the lousy attack I went for. If it wasn't for the barrier I put up after I would have gotten stabbed or cut down.

Vivi successfully connected with a Thundara on the general. However, she only slid back a few feet while still standing with part of her uniform burned from the attack. She was about to hit back, probably with intent on doubling the pain, when I noticed the jewel on her sword glow. Vivi would've been toast if I hadn't put up a barrier between them. It blocked most of it and is still powerful enough to break through it, but it was half a second enough for Vivi to move out of the way and fire back with another spell.

Zidane approached from the front after Vivi's second Thundara missed, catching the skilled woman with a swift cut on the leg, only for his next strike to be deflected extremely hard that he stumbles back a few steps. Steiner was there to pick up where Zidane left off, trading blows with each other's swords. Both were equally matched. It would have lasted longer if this was a fair fight and was just for fun, but that wasn't the case right now.

The air went cold for an instant as the floor underneath Beatrix after pushing away from a clash with the knight. A massive spike of ice rose by her feet. It would have skewered her if she hadn't kicked off Steiner, back flipping off his armor to safety. One second later, the icicle leaned to one side, majority of it coming off and from behind it was Beatrix. Did she just cut a big block of ice like it was cotton!?

Escaping the icy debris occupied Steiner enough for Beatrix to move on to me. I backpedaled super hard just to avoid her, blocking with my sword barely worked when one swing from her completely opened me up and sent painful aches up my arms. That forced me to use barriers instead. I could barely keep up with her as she easily broke my defenses by anticipating where I placed them, feinting to the sides instead of a frontal assault. I thought I could be clever by blocking where she was about to feint to the side, but it turned out to be a ruse when she went direct instead of switching sides, nailing me with a long slash up my left arm.

She battered the barrier I set up between us, trying to break through with each mighty slash from her sword. Thunder started cracking around her blade as she went for one more go at my magic shield. Zidane tackled me into safety before she could hit both me and my barrier. Steiner took my place, occupying her again and matching her with his own skill with the sword.

I look down and wince at the nasty wound I got. It's gonna scar without magic, but it'll impress a whole lot of people when they know this was from Beatrix. The thought of using a potion came to mind, but despite Zidane's protests I pushed past the pain and went back in the fight. We're gonna run out of items if we keep using them upon getting hurt. Might as well save it up until we really need it.

Beatrix didn't mind Steiner's challenge to him, but we were on the losing side of things. He glanced at the black mage on stand by and nodded, both men having the same idea in mind as it seems, as he started to push back at Beatrix. Steiner readied himself, catching a long downwards cut from the enemy general and moving to the side, dodging it just mere inches, and then attacking. His sword was swallowed by a red aura mid-slash. It caught Beatrix off-guard as she tried to block it, but the attack wasn't just physical but also part-area-of-attack as fire swirled around her.

I tried to help by literally blocking off Beatrix's escape attempt with my own magic, stopping her in her tracks as the fire worsened form Steiner and Vivi's combo. A bright glow shined in the contained fiery storm, followed by a loud grunt as Steiner flew a good five feet from where he stood. One small part of his armor was singed and smoking. Beatrix emerged from the fire wounded and breathing hard, but her resolve still remained strong as she carried herself proudly even after that attack.

My ears was then assaulted by the familiar noise of a bullet hitting the ground. It actually stopped Zidane from advancing on the hurt Beatrix. All of us turned to the cause, even Beatrix spared him a glance, as Ellison grinned behind the iron sights of his rifle.

"I told you to stay out of my fight!" Beatrix yelled at her 'comrade'.

He merely shrugged before aiming at us again. "It's taking too long. Here, let me end this for you."

Ellison wasn't able to get a second shot in when something small in blue hit him in the back. A second figure, this time in red, collided with his legs and knocked him down on his back. Both Zorn and Thorn were screaming their heads off as they rolled off Ellison's body on the threat of getting kicked. Standing tall behind them was Freya, spear pointed at the three fallen men.

"The end will only come for you, you treacherous coward." Freya said, advancing on the main threat of the trio. Zorn and Thorn were about to use their magic on her, but was simply swatted away while her target slinked away towards Beatrix.

We surrounded them, with Freya coming up to block the exit and the rest of us completing the circular wall around Beatrix. Even with the greater numbers it felt like they have the upper hand.

Ellison pulled Beatrix out of the way and threw knives at the rest of us. A simple back step was enough to dodge them, but it was all a ruse for him to draw his revolver. I was the first to run away when he started pointing it at us. Every other second it would unload a bullet, the BANG it would follow got louder than the one before. I had grabbed Vivi by the arm and dragged him along in case he was targeted. One glance at him and I saw him firing like a cowboy, one hand braced against his side and the other doing something to the back of its barrel. Whatever it was, he was shooting faster than a usual revolver can allow.

Our group basically started to run around in random directions to avoid his gunfire. Beatrix can't even get to any of us in fear of getting caught in the crossfire. The massive glare she was aiming at Ellison did nothing as he reloaded and unloaded as fast as he can. At this rate, he's gonna run out of bullets, but that begs the question of how much bullets does he have.

Zidane didn't want to wait around to find out as he redirected himself for a direct approach. I caught sight of this and put a barrier directly in front of Ellison to prevent him from shooting at him. The thief uses the combined length of his thief sword to vault over it and landed square on his arms, knocking his gun out of them. To further add to the disarming, Zidane kicked the gun across the room where his filthy hands couldn't reach.

Ellison didn't like that at all, so he got his knives and went at the thief. Precise and quick cuts came at him, he either dodged or blocked them by swinging and spinning The Ogre around. Right beside them, Freya and Beatrix continued what they weren't able to finish in Cleyra. Sword and spear, hitting against each other or missing by mere centimeters in an intense one-on-one fight. Steiner and Vivi considered where they should help, but the two noticed another threat in the room. Well, as threatening as pair of jumpy gnomes, that is. Just a simple Thunder spell on the two knocked them out.

Getting the rifle first while Ellison is occupied became my first objective. Once I had it, I put the strap over my head and let it hang from my side. I sure as hell won't be using it right now because I might accidentally hurt my friends with it. Only when I have a clear shot I'll do it. Of course, Ellison sees me with his deadly weapon and wants it back, only for Zidane to stop him from getting close. With one of his guns in my hands, it's better to focus on the real threat in the room: Beatrix.

I shout to Steiner, catching both his and Vivi's attention, and point to Beatrix before going in to help Freya. Didn't have time to check if they knew what I meant as I helped Freya separate herself from the fearsome woman with a barrier. I came running to Beatrix's flank, letting my magic run out before trying to attack. I got her attention and it left her open to an attack from the Burmecian. We switched mainly to distract and attack, and it only got worse for Beatrix when Steiner came in with a Blizzara Slash. He might have missed, but it froze the floor and it disoriented her graceful movement enough to nearly cause her to slip.

Freya caught just as she was regaining her balance, the spear going in and out of her shoulder before carefully backstepping away from her sword. Steiner came in for a strike and was block, retaliating with her own stab at the knight, only to be stopped by my barrier. Both Steiner and Freya got Beatrix on the ropes as she's trying to defend against both of their attacks. She really tried to prevent us from getting the better of her by upping her blocking and dodging. However, I would always help by activating barriers whenever Beatrix would attack. Most of the time it works and she gets staggered by magic working against her and then having to block Steiner and Freya, save for the couple of times she got in faster. I stuck to defending us since the cut she got on me is starting to hurt more and more now.

Still, three on one is still unfair even for the best swordswoman in Alexandria, and she wanted to even the odds. This humming sound starting filling my ear for some reason. Then I noticed Beatrix's sword shimmering with energy as she blocked Freya and Steiner's onslaught. Just as I was about to stop her next attack, the humming got louder.

"Stock Break!"

In one swift movement, her sword sliced into my barrier like it was a hot knife through butter. Not only that, but her sword gave this intense wave of pressure in that single movement that I could barely feel my legs under me. I couldn't even lift up my arms or focus magic for another barrier when she raised her sword again. This time it had a orange hue to it. Whatever it was, I could already tell it was going to be extremely painful.

"Climhazzard!"

Her sword was engulfed by this orange energy that felt like it detonated in front of my face. Nothing could have protected me from it. A powerful force impacted against my chest, like a truck had gone and hit me at full speed. The floor under my feet felt nonexistent for a second before my back harshly bounced off the floor at least twice and then rolled at least thrice until I came to a stop.

My head was ringing and every part of my body was shaking. Moving was painful. The thought of moving made my senses ache! Everything I wanted to do, from basic stuff like breathing and blinking to what I want to do like get up and fight, felt impossible when it felt like my bones are crushed.

The sound of someone shouting came, only for that same voice to be silenced as a pair of new bodies joined me on the floor. Blond hair came into view followed by a light brown hat. Zidane and Vivi. Did Beatrix get them too?

"Like I said. Fools like you never learn." Beatrix's voice sounded so muddled that I could blame her if I really had any hearing damage.

Camoflauged boots walked over, making sure to plant one on my gut, drawing a gasp from me as its owner stepped off a second later. When my vision eventually cleared, I could see Ellison grab the strap of the rifle and pull it over my head. After taking back his weapon, he drew a knife and pulled Zidane over with a handful of his blond locks.

His knife touches my skin lightly as he started to talk. "I may not be allowed to kill you, but no one said I can't make you suffer." Then he pressed it hard enough to cut through, drawing a yelp from me as blood started to trickle out. But he didn't continue when he pulled away, which was a relief. His knife then turned to Zidane's face. "Or I can just hurt your friends as you've hurt me—"

Ellison's stopped talking when I saw something sharp be pointed at his neck. "What do you think you are doing?" Beatrix's cold tone interrupted him. I could ask her the same question. Wasn't she just fighting side by side with this guy?

"Compensation? Eye for an eye? There are more terms I can call this, but I'm sure you get the gist of it."

"You do not deserve to decide if they should live or die today. The queen will pass judgement on them first."

Ellison scoffed. "Like how she 'passed judgement' on her daughter? As if she wants to wait for an actual 'trial' on these fools. Might as well alleviate her schedule." He then turned to me with a wicked grin. "Let me carve you a good warning with this guy. Maybe that will teach you from intervening in matters that don't involve you."

My eyes widened when he struck Beatrix's sword away from his face, the suddenness of the attack catching her off-guard and caused her to stumble back. Sure it looked like they didn't like working with each other, but I didn't expect them to break out into a fight right now.

With Beatrix off his neck, his focus went back to the unconscious Zidane. He raised his knife over his head with the intent of harming him. I tried to reach out and stop him, but I felt too weak to do anything. Damn it!

"Zidane!"

CLINK!

The knife never came down. Both Ellison and I looked up at his hand and saw it had this bright light wrapped around it. The light dissipated a bit to show that it was actually chains, and they were holding Ellison's arm back. He tried his damndest to move it, but the limb would not budge. Looking past him I could see the source of the chains.

Barely standing by the secret entrance with his left arm extended at us, the same limb also wrapped in chains was…Blake!? He's doing that!?

It proved to be enough of a distraction for Zidane. He sat up from the floor and headbutted the knife nut, giving him enough space to push him off. Once Blake's job was done, he had fallen on one knee, the chains disappearing. Staggering from the unexpected hit, Ellison covered part of his face with his hand as he wildly went at Zidane, missing majority his attacks as Zidane managed to retrieve The Ogre from the floor and defend from the reckless assault. Ellison tried to whip out his gun from his jacket, but was thwarted when Zidane smacked his hand away from it, stabbed him in the foot, and used his tail to pull him down to the ground.

Despite being attacked earlier, Beatrix charged Zidane with her sword about to come down at him. It ripped through his vest and made it to the skin, letting loose a sizeable amount of blood through the cut. Beatrix and Ellison may not like working with each other, but we still count as a combined threat to them. They'll probably fight it over once we're out of the picture.

Planning to finally put the nail in our coffin, Beatrix gave off that ominous orange energy as she approached the defiant Zidane. Oh god, she's gonna do Climhazzard again. It's deadly against a party of four, but on one person? She's gonna kill him!

I tried to get up on my feet, but I fought through the body aching, shouting at me to stop moving and managed to get on my knees. Even if I did force myself up, there's still a good few feet between us. There was no way I could stop her now.

As if hearing my thoughts, I see movement at the corner of my eye. It's Blake again! And he's doing the same thing again, but this time he's stopping Beatrix!

His forearm started to glow, the links then forming around it. Then they shot out three bright yellow chains and wrapped itself around Beatrix's upper body. It effectively stopped her from further hurting Zidane.

We still didn't have enough time to celebrate our victory when I heard the dreaded click that haunted my memories. Just an arm's reach away from me was Ellison. His nose looked bigger than usual- wait, it's bent to the left a bit- and he's audibly growling. He was bringing up his rifle as his eyes focused on the injured boy trying to help us. Oh no, he's gonna shoot him!

Gritting my teeth and wishing for the best, I ignored the pain everywhere in my body and threw myself at the gunman. The moment I landed him, a shot rang in my ears before we hit the ground. I desperately held down Ellison while trying to get a look at Blake. He was still on one knee, wide-eyed with surprise after hearing that gunshot, but his hands were patting himself everywhere. It didn't look like he was hit. When he realized this, he gave me a thumbs up and a wide grin.

And that had to change when Beatrix charged him and had her sword against his neck. His functional hand was raised in surrender, the steel barely touching his skin.

"Who are you and why are you helping them?" She questioned him, ignoring Nero courageously tweeting at her.

"Get away from him!" Caring for my own well being went out of the window when I saw her threatening him. I was not as intimidating as I thought I was after that yell. Beatrix merely took a glance at me before pressing her sword harder against his neck, repeating her question to him.

That was the breaking point. You can threaten a friend's country with war. You can point a gun at my face. But you won't harm an already injured person when he can barely defend himself right in front of me, especially when he's my friend!

And of course, just as I tried to stumble towards them, Ellison grabbed both of my feet and pulled. My face painfully met the floor and found a weight crash onto my back. "You're not going anywhere, girlie."

"It really doesn't matter who I am." Blake's voice was scratchy and rough, but hearable enough to see it cause Beatrix to slightly tilt her head. "I just traveled with the princess. She wanted to come back home so she can talk to the queen. But Her Majesty put me, Marcus, and Steiner in jail instead and had us questioned and tortured for information. Then she had the princess put to sleep. We did nothing wrong, yet we suffered for it. But you wouldn't know when your underlings do all the work for you."

"Tortured?" That got her attention. She turned to Steiner, who was starting to get up, as if to ask if that was true. Even without any words traded between them, the nod she got from him was enough of a response for her. She lowered her sword and circled the kneeling man, her eyebrows tightly tied together as she finally saw his injuries.

"You're the general of this kingdom, right?" Zidane spoke up as he tried to remove himself from the floor. "What's your sworn duty anyway? Isn't it to protect Dagger- Princess Garnet!? I'm sure you know who's sitting over there."

"It can't be…" His finger pointed towards the couch and Beatrix's eyes followed. Her feet guided her to Dagger's sleeping form. "Princess...so it is true. The queen really did mean to kill her."

I was expecting a certain someone to defend Queen Brahne, but the man in the old armor didn't have anything to say. In fact, he looked somewhat downtrodden at Beatrix's words,as if it confirmed something to him.

"My heart is set...All this time, I've been mistaken." She looks down at her sword before facing Freya, a look of grief on her face. "Citizens of Burmecia, please forgive me."

"It's too late to seek forgiveness. But you can still save Dagger." Freya urged her to do the right thing. "I tell you this because I acknowledge you powers. Help your princess."

The general sheathed her sword, making everyone else feel less threatened than before and confirming that things have calmed down. Sure my bones still ache and I still can't get up properly, but at least we're not fighting anymore. A few minutes not fighting Beatrix is a godsend.

She kneels beside the sleeping princess and places a hand on her arm. "I don't know if I can, but I will give it a try-"

"What is this nonsense!?"

Everyone turns to the only man standing in the room. Ellison stares back at everyone in a frustrated confusion. It would've been funny to look at if it wasn't for the knife in his hand and the fact that he had his foot on the back of my knee. He wanted me to stay there, probably as leverage. It looked like everyone else realized this too. But I tried to get my sword, which wasn't possible at the moment when it had fallen out of my hand when I was promptly taken down a minute ago.

"When did you suddenly gain a conscience?" Ellison demanded, his tone was close to make it look like he had been personally insulted. "What happened to the cold, faithful, ruthless general of Alexandria that wasn't satisfied with the bloodshed in Burmecia? Did she die in Cleyra after her defeat and out of the shell came this weakling?"

"Traitor!" Zorn declared, jumping in place to support the gunman.

"Disgusting!" Thorn added. However, one glare from the woman made them cower behind Ellison's legs.

"I would watch your next words if I were you." Beatrix's hand went to the hilt of her sword as she eyed her mouthy comrade.

"Just because you've become aware of some horrible actions the queen has encouraged does not make you less guilty of them. You've killed in the name of honoring your kingdom. And now you lose your spine because your queen wants her daughter punished."

"By killing her?!"

"Exactly! You heard her on the ship. She committed a crime and she is being treated like a regular human being. Maybe if she wasn't a coward for running to Lindblum and a numbskull for coming back then maybe she would have avoided this fate. She deserves what's coming to her. What you think you're doing won't matter-"

His next words were cut off when most of his upper body was wrapped in chains. Zorn and Thorn didn't bother to stick around when their tough buddy got silenced. I was able to get out from under his boot after he got caught, kicking at his knee to fully knock him down as revenge. Petty, I know. He deserved it though.

"Sorry, listening to him was starting to get irritating. As you were saying, general?" Blake admitted when our curious stares got to him.

With a nod, Beatrix put all of her attention on Dagger. She was silently whispering something to herself, these words causing her hand to glow blue, before touching Dagger's shoulder. A blue wave spiraled above the sleeping princess a few times until it disappeared. As she tried to do this a second time, everyone else was starting to get up from the floor. Since we knew we were far from safe, we took out hi-potions to heal some of our wounds. I gave one to Blake when I helped him up from the floor.

"Thanks." He breathed, patting me on the shoulder. I couldn't help staring at his left hand, thinking back the two times he stopped someone in their tracks with the magic he used.

"How did you do that?" I asked as he tried to pick up Nero, which he wasn't able to do when his body froze up, requiring help to get up again.

"Do what?" He looked at me, curious what I meant, but he got what I meant when I nodded over to his able hand. "Oh that. That's...a recent thing actually. Hard to explain and I might need to experiment on it some more." Honestly, he looked more annoyed as he scanned his left hand, specifically the armor worn on his forearm. I just noticed that it looked more worn down than the ones he had left. Seeing its odd symbols made me think of secret artifacts in movies that can grant powers to whoever wears it. Did he take this from someone?

"Oh…" That was the only sound I managed to make when I tried to answer back. Blake didn't take any offense at my speechlessness. In fact, he didn't say anything back because everyone else was celebrating.

Their reason for celebrating: Beatrix's magic had broken through the clowns' curse, successfully waking up the princess. Zidane and Steiner were right by her side as she sat up while Vivi and Freya were okay with celebrating from afar. We joined them eventually, greeting Dagger with welcome smiles. As confused she is about her current situation, everyone else was just glad that she's awake and alright.

Unfortunately, that doesn't last long.

"What is all this ruckus!?" Queen Brahne walked in, still fanning herself and accompanied by Zorn and Thorn. Her clowns tried to get Ellison off the floor. Poor guy was still wrapped in chains and was basically trying to get everyone else's attention .The initial annoyance on Brahne's face was immediately replaced by anger when she saw us. "The insolent fools who attacked me in the Red Rose…"

"Don't think you are without sin!" Freya countered. "We were not just going to lie down as you attempted to destroy my people."

"And now you try take my daughter as well."

"She'll be far safer anywhere else than here." Zidane said, putting himself between Brahne's glare and Dagger.

The queen turns to her trusty clown after scanning the entire room. "Hmph. It doesn't matter anymore. Have you extracted all of the eidolons from her?"

Both clowns nodded. "Yes, we have, Your Majesty!"

"Then what are you waiting for? Take Garnet and throw her in prison!"

This time, it's Beatrix that comes to cover for the princess. She stood in front of Zidane's spot and drew her sword. "I won't allow that."

Brahne's expression twisted into a deep snarl. She could have simply broken fan with how tight she was holding it, the whiteness of her knuckles apparent despite how far she is from us. Yet she tried to hide her anger with her soft tone. "Oh? Are you defying me as well."

Beatrix's sword lowers a bit, but the resolve was still there. "Your Majesty, it is my sworn duty to protect the princess. I beg you, reconsider. Please do not harm the princess anymore." She then turns to the rest of our group and nods to the exit behind us. "All of you, leave at once!"

The first to move was Blake, pulling me with him towards the exit. I can't say I disagree with his decision because of his health. Might be for the best we get closer to the exit in case people start running at us. We're at a disadvantage because I'm gonna be carrying Blake, meaning I can't really pull out my sword and fight effectively.

But for some reason, as he's pulling at me, the air around me started to get thick. It was like being trapped in an enclosed space despite being in an open area. It got harder to breathe. Am I having another episode with my breathing?

Freya moved to take Beatrix's side, extending her spear to her side to block us off from trying to join them. "I'm staying! Zidane, go! Now!"

"Perhaps one more hand can tip the scales to our favor?"

A new voice joined the fray. It was gentle, but had this commanding tone to it, one that isn't too familiar. Queen Brahne slightly turns her head as someone waltzes into the room, a man in a silver coat and white hair. If being beside the queen didn't obviously say he's a bad guy then the white hair does it. When he stopped beside the queen and looked in my direction, I could feel Blake start to shake.

"Ah, Inoire. If you want to dirty your hands with these fools, then so be it. Get rid of them." Snapping her fan closed, Queen Brahne stepped out of the room with a flourish of her royal robes

The man called Inoire approached, drawing the sword by his waist as Zorn and Thorn cackled with glee. He then tapped the magic-chain-wrapped Ellison with its blunt side. I thought he was just wondering what was up with him when the chains started to disappear! Did he do that on purpose or did Blake's magic wear off?

"Fate will never be kind to you at this rate, Mr. Skylark." Inoire spoke as he pulled up Ellison to his feet. "Since you are our prisoner and you are trying to escape, I have no choice but to punish you for your disobedience."

"We should really get out of here! Like right now!" Blake hissed, pulling me towards the staircase. Whatever his beef with Blake has to be so big that he's willing to retreat and be loud about it. Something tells me there's more to it than just beef…

"Can't do that, buddy. Whatever HE wants, HE gets." Ellison chuckled before running at us. He didn't get far enough when Freya met him in the middle and kept him occupied. But then the silver-coat rushed forward at a surprising speed, passing Freya before she could do anything about it. Beatrix, however, clashed swords with him and stopped him in his tracks.

And it looked like she's struggling against him! Who is this guy!?

"Steiner," I could see Beatrix look over her shoulder just a little bit. "Protect the princess. Fight for her sake."

The two Alexandrians share a second of silence between them, the captain eventually nodding before guiding everyone to the exit. Before I could step down the staircase, I saw Beatrix push Inoire off, and shot a Shock at him to make him backpedal some more. He merely lowered his sword and looked past the general as this big wooly monster emerged from the door. It jumped over Ellison and went on the attack against the Burmecian and her Alexandrian ally. We didn't get to watch how it turns out when Zidane and Vivi shouted at us to follow them.

Seeing the inside of the secret passageway made me experience vertigo upon looking down. With the stairs going down having no way to prevent falling off from any misstep made me hug the wall closer. And to further complicate things, the first thing we encounter is a spinning platform we have to jump on to in order to get to the rest of the stairs.

Getting the timing right was Zidane's job at the moment. I kept looking at the platform and the doorway, expecting another monster to come out. But it wasn't the Bandersnatch that exited to stalk us, it was Ellison and Inoire that came. Both men chose to walk towards us as menacingly as they can. Ellison with his rifle pointed at us and a sick smile on his face. The mystery man just stared at us, hands placed behind him.

"Everyone get on!" Zidane's voice got me to focus on our escape again. All of us hopped on the spinning platform and it transported us to the other side in a full second. Despite the fast movement that could've been dizzying, we all got off just in time for it to spin back.

Everyone flinched when we heard a gunshot, a bullet whizzing in the air until it hits a spot above us. Warning shots. We're this far now. We're not gonna stop just because of some flimsy warning shots, so we all kept running while glancing at the stalking twosome above us.

We only got stopped for a moment when a platform gave way to a trio of Type-C black mages. If that wasn't bad, a Bandersnatch emerged from the previous room and jumped down behind us. Cornered, we were forced to fight.

I stopped the trio in front of us from hitting us with Thunder magic when I made a tall barrier to intercept it. Vivi and Steiner teamed up to fry the Bandersnatch with a Fire Sword slash while Zidane used his athletics to hop on the new platform and attack from behind the Type-Cs. With their backs turned, I made the barrier disappear and used my sword to cut at the nearest one. After clearing out our front, we didn't have any incentive in taking out the wooly monster behind us, but looking at the damage the knight and his 'master' dealt, it looks like we don't have to worry about it.

Bullets came our direction the closer we got to the lower levels. I could see them move past the spinning platform, but it looked like they were taking their time going after us. Ellison's shots weren't even pinging close, just in our general direction. What are they planning?

We were just a few steps away from the bottom when we had to slow down. Running down stairs, as much as helpful gravity is with our effort, we were starting to tire out. All the fighting and running we've done all day from Cleyra and here is going to kill me if the monsters don't get me first… But anyway, we got there and Zidane starts to slow down, looking back to see if we have anyone pursuing us. Following his lead, I noticed we were missing one of us.

"Where's Steiner?" Zidane asked all of us.

Since we were all just going in one direction, we all looked behind us for an answer. I expected him to be just walking down behind us, but seeing him tumble down terrified me. He landed in a heap at the bottom of the staircase as everyone else went to check if he was alright. What they failed to see was another Bandersnatch hop down to attack them, separating Blake and I from the others. I say 'another' because this one looked fresh. And because the one we wounded was stalking down the stairs.

Thinking I could give the others some time, I stopped the wounded Bandersnatch with a tall barrier. Seeing that I'm stalling for them, Zidane is the first to strike by launching himself on the monster's back, digging into its with fast stabs from his dagger while Vivi froze its dirty paws on the ground to keep it still. Once Steiner was given a healthy dose of White Magic, he managed to get back on his feet and take a swipe at the monster's leg, severely cutting it. A horrible case of burns was Vivi's second contribution to the fight, causing most of its fur to burn with a Fira after Zidane had jumped off. It desperately tried to stop the fire by rolling around, which wasn't a good idea with the small space we all had, but it didn't care when it wildly hit both me and Blake.

I tried to push Blake away to minimize the damage he'd take, but it only made me an easier target to hit. That's second time that day I had been swept off my feet, which was bad because so far none of them have been with romantic intentions. If that wasn't bad enough, my back slid on the floor until there was no more floor to slide on. The sudden disappearance of any hard surface and gravity taking a hold of me got drew a panicked scream from deep in my throat. Just one glance over my shoulder only showed me the dark depths the architects of Alexandria's castle did not build over. I never imagined my life would end over a bottomless pit.

My scream hitched to a stop when I felt my something grab my arm. I look up and see Blake looking at me, his face contorted into a pained expression as he tried to keep his hold on me. Relief came over me at that very second when I realized I was still alive.

"Damn it, you're so heavy!" Blake said through gritted teeth. Thanks for ruining the moment, hero.

"Sh-Shut up and pull!" I shouted at him as I tried to get leverage on the wall in front of me. Even Nero chirped to urge Blake into action.

"With what!? I'm one-handed at the moment!" Then he turned his head to the fighting in the side. "Someone help the injured man!"

"Gotcha!" Zidane then came in and took a spot beside the injured teenager, using both hands to get a hold of me. With their combined efforts they were able to pull me up to safety. All three of us started laughing after my brief brush with death. But it didn't last long.

"They're down there! Capture them all!" Voices of various women running down the stairs from the top of the entrance.

The echo of a gunshot got our attention back to our escape plan. The burned Bandersnatch was still moving after the damage Vivi put on it and was now trying to get off its side while Steiner and Vivi fended off the other one. Dagger didn't have a weapon on her, probably taken away from her when she was put under Kuja's spell, and was forced to resort to a support role with her white magic. Despite their wounds, they are still fighting as ferociously as if they weren't wounded. Blake was eyeing the exit just ahead of us just a single staircase away, the one leading to the trap used by Zorn and Thorn.

After infusing one more spell on the knight's sword, Steiner struck down the already hurt Bandersnatch with a Thundara Slash, the air around the sword crackling with electricity-based magic right before it connected against the monster's neck. It let out one more howl before Steiner wedged the blade deeper, which was enough to put down the Bandersnatch. Steiner didn't have time to relax when Ellison made his presence known once again by shooting at the now dead monster, just inches away from the knight's head. Vivi took his and Dagger's hand before running at our direction. But before we could make any progress, the last Bandersnatch jumped the gap to the circle platform that leads to our exit, effectively blocking us. Sure there's six of us and we could dogpile on it, we just didn't have enough time to contend with it.

Just as it is about to give an aggressive howl, something had landed on top of its skull, and instead of a howl it gave out a yelp. When it fell down into a slump on the floor, we finally noticed what had landed in front of us.

"Freya!?" Vivi was the first to realize that the dragon knight had dispatched the monster blocking our way.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you back, but what happened to 'I'm staying'?" Zidane questioned her just as we reached her side.

Freya stumbled off the dead body of the Bandersnatch holding her arm and spear with a brave face. "Beatrix insisted that I follow you after a brief exchange with the white-haired newcomer. More like she demanded. She said, 'I will fight to atone for the sins of my queen and my kingdom alone if I have to. Just make sure that the princess escapes safely.' There was no way I would refuse her of honoring her wishes just like that."

"I would really give her praise if she didn't kick our ass so many times." Zidane chuckled. "So you're actually coming with us?"

"Absolutely. We have to stick together now-"

"Wait, what!?" Blake spoke up, trying to push through to the wounded dragon knight to get a clear answer. The sudden concern did not go unnoticed by the others. "...I mean, is Beatrix sure? Does she have a death wish?"

"If she has to face monsters and her own army, she said she will, whether it is a wise choice or not." She answered.

I could clearly see the gears turning in Blake's head when he turned away and walked back to me with a deep frown on his face. His mouth moved silently as he looked around like he conversing to himself. As if on cue, he looked at Steiner. "And you. You're not going to help YOUR general? You're just gonna leave her hanging?"

"I swore an oath to protect the princess and fight for her sake. Beatrix is not just a regular general. She is the strongest person in the land to ever wield a sword."

Blake was trying to figure out what to say next, each attempt stopped when he stumbled over his words. He gave up after the eighth attempt as his knees started to buckle. I managed to catch him before he lost his balance. With his injuries starting to pile up, it's going to be a matter of time before he passes out. Dagger noticed this and occupied Blake's other side to help. The sight of his injuries made the princess gasp, but had to move past it to start focusing on her white magic. Dagger's magic came like a wave of light over Blake's body. I expected Blake to feel more relieved as the magic passed through him. I did feel him shudder after a second of it. His wounds started to close, his breath shaky as the bruises turning back to its normal color once again, and strangely enough others parts weren't affected and remained bruised. At least this is improving his condition. He just leaned into me quietly, as if trying to hide the pain into my shoulder.

"We should hurry." Freya urged us to move. "We can all rest once we are out of the castle."

"Let's take the Gargant. It can take us to Doctor Tot in Treno and be safe there." Dagger suggested.

"Gar...gant?" Both Zidane and Vivi repeated curiously. They didn't have time to wonder more about it as Dagger started leading us to the exit. Freya was kind enough to help me with Blake, taking his right side while I picked up Nero from the ground, to make it easier to catch up with the others.

Shouts of the soldiers closing in behind us made me look over to see how close they are getting. They were rushing down at a considerable speed without tripping all over themselves, their reinforcements were stuck at the spinning platform at the top. But what was concerning was the sight of their silvercoat floating down the middle, ignoring the stairs and instead let gravity help him down before walking towards us again with his hands still at his back and eyes watching the floor. It would've been majestic if he was on our side. This guy is definitely not normal.

When we caught up with the others, Zidane was about to cross the room with the rising wall trap. Of course, before he could even get past it, it came up and blocked his way. Before we could even consider going back the other way, the second trap behind us rose and finally caged us in. The two clowns responsible for this finally emerged on the floor above us, cackling with glee for making the trap work twice.

"They fell for it again!" Zorn laughed.

"Really stupid, they are!" Thorn pointed at us as they continued to have fun in our expense.

"Try saying to our faces down here, you bastards!" Zidane challenged them, only for the clowns' laughter to grow louder.

"We may be bastards…"

"But clever, are we." Their enjoyment plus the arriving reinforcements of soldiers, along the casually walking Inoire right behind them, was a bad sign for us. Fighting them off would be a massive mistake even if there were more of us compared to how this is actually going to happen. If things were indeed changing, this would be a bad time for the world to suddenly make things worse for us.

"Well, well, guess who's going back to prison." One of the soldiers hit the bars of the trap with her sword. She removed her helmet as she took a spot at the front, her glare behind those wild red fringes going straight to Blake. He saw her and instantly got behind me. "At least this time you have more friends to be with. You won't be lonely in screaming in pain after today."

What is with this girl...?

Zorn and Thorn suddenly yelped and cried in pain, deeper voices exerting effort replaced the giddy laughter. When both clowns were thrown off their stage and landed on the soldiers converging behind the separating wall behind us, we knew we were saved.

"Hey, what's up!?" Marcus looked down from the platform Zorn used to occupy.

"That was fast!" Vivi exclaimed. Yeah, I didn't know the travel time going to the Evil Forest and going back was around an hour. But after what's been going on it felt definitely longer than an hour.

"Zidane, are you alright?" Another voice asked from where Thorn was positioned. When he looked down, Zidane brightened with a wide grin.

"Blank!?" He couldn't keep his excitement from seeing his formerly petrified friend back to normal. "You're alright!"

"Pretty much. Still feel a bit stiff though…" Blank replied, trying to stretch his joints.

"Someone stop them!" Zorn shrieked at the soldiers, pointing wildly at the two thieves helping us.

"Time to go! You guys can use the gargant downstairs." Marcus told us as he deactivated one side of the trap, giving us a free pass to our ride out of here.

"We'll keep everyone else occupied. Have to distract the ladies somehow." For some reason, I can't help but think that Blank just winked at us underneath that bandana of his.

"Man, I love you guys! We owe you big time! C'mon, let's get outta here!" With the brief reunion of the Tantalus thieves now done, Zidane lead us down to where the gargant is.

"Ms. Forsyth," As we were leaving, another voice gets my attention. I look back and see that man finally reach us. The soldiers parted like the red sea as he walked over to the front. When he looked up from the floor, his green eyes shined as he looked at me with a gentle smile. "I will be seeing you and your friend very soon."

A chill ran down my spine. It felt like he had just stabbed me despite sounding so polite with his ominous warning. Maybe Blake has the right reaction for this guy. Even if he's polite, there's this underlying ominous tone his words had. And how did he know my name anyway? That makes it even more concerning...

I would have asked him that very question if Blake and Freya didn't drag me away.