Balthier led the way, as the self proclaimed 'leading man' always did, but there wasn't much to protect us from. As the god said, no animal nor monster, bird above, or insect lived here. A wind stirred the thick evergreen foliage above, and something seemed to whisper along the ground, in the trees, carried by the wind, fleeting and speaking for only a moment. It was the same forest I traveled in months ago, but somehow it felt different, as though something was moving.
After two hours or so of walking, it was clear we were getting closer. The wind had picked up and blew in all directions.
"Where was it we entered last time?" I called to Balthier, trying to get my voice above the wind.
"Somewhere up ahead." He called back to me. "I think I remember where."
"Is it far?" Penelo shouts. "I don't like this wind!"
"I just don't like this." Vaan mutters behind me.
"Come on now," Basch says in an almost encouraging way, "he says it as just up ahead." We stopped talking and pressed on for about fifty or so yards. I recognized the area, not tree for tree, dust speck for minuscule dust speck, but I knew the gist of the area. I began to look for the place we had entered the tangle of bush before, and thought I glimpsed an area to which we could enter; the wood seemed a little sparser there, vines not as thick, moss a little softer, trees a little more bent for entry.
"There!" I tug on Balthier's sleeve. "I think that's it."
"You sure?" He raises an eyebrow.
"You're the self proclaimed leader, you should know." I answer back. He nods.
"Seems like it." He waves a hand to the group, nodding to the small, opening. "I believe it is there we enter. Mind your footing, the roots are thick." He says as he steps through. We trip, duck, and weave, our way amongst the plant life. I wince as a thorn rakes along my good arm, drawing up a small pool of blood which dribbles to the forest floor below. "Careful here," Balthier nods to a plant on his right, "she doesn't look like she wants to be touched." Large horned and red prongs stuck out at odd angles, and the entire plant was a violent deep shade of purple. Luckily, it was the only one we came across. Our adventure through the tangle-wood was short lived, thankfully, and before long we stood on the perimeter of the large dead circle of plants in the trees. The scary thing was, was that it looked fresh, as though it had just erupted into flames or something. And stranger still, I thought I could see bones of something, decayed, lying to my left, sixty yards. No animals lived here though. I shiver and look away, wondering how many more dead things besides plants lived here.
"Now," Vaan say, folding his arms and looking around the lifeless circle, "where do we get in?"
"There's got to be some sort of an entrance." Penelo thoughtfully replies, voice a little softer now that the wind was dying down.
"Not much good standing around." Balthier starts to carefully make his way through the fallen rubble. "Careful not to trip. You'd give yourself a nasty cut I fear."
"She said," I say, taking a few steps in, following after Balthier, "we're looking for a large hole, like a rabbits warren."
"Careful you don't fall in." Vaan comments beside me, helping Penelo over a large fallen and blackened tree.
"I wonder what did that." Penelo looks at the dark and deceased trunk sprawled across the ground. "And it looks like there are bones over there, and there."
"Let's not stick around and find out." Basch says, interrupting Penelo's horror, trying to sound comforting. "We have a job to do."
"Faster it's done, faster we're out'ta here." Vaan sidles passed me, craning his head around a large fallen bolder. "You guys!" He shouts, waving one arm madly around as he stares around the massive rock.
"Found it?" I say, carefully stepping over a few unstable looking rocks.
"Yeah," He looks over his shoulder, We come around to Vaan's side of the bolder and peer around. At the base of the stone lurked a large gaping and ovalish hole that descended into the ground at an easy pace. It was large enough for three humes to walk comfortably down it, side by side.
"It's so dark." Penelo whispers to herself, getting a little closer.
"Scared?" Vaan teases.
"No!" Penelo snaps up at him. "I just don't like the idea of walking into that place without a light."
"Fran ever teach you that light spell she always uses?" Vaan says to Balthier.
"As a matter of fact, she did. Haven't go the hang of it yet, but now might be a nice time to try."
"Casting spells might be harder here." Basch observes. "This place is a leech for any sort of energy."
"Can't hurt to try." Balthier shrugs and cups a hand in front of him where the small orb should appear. We listen intently as the pirate mutters strange sounding words under his breath. Something dim and almost fire like starts to materialize, but it wasn't the same fire that Fran could whip up. This one provided just enough light to get us where we needed to go. I couldn't tell if it was Balthier's poor magick conjuring skills, or the power we were about to face that made the light so dim, but I didn't say anything.
We stepped down into the mossy, mud scented, and filthy tomb like hole, carefully placing our feet where the ground was smoothest.
"Mind your head," Balthier calls back to us, "the ceiling is low."
Walking downward was like walking down to hell. The deeper we dived, the hotter the temperatures became. Sweat trickled down from my hairline as, running off into my eyes. It was one of those hot and humid, dogs breath like, temperatures and made you itch. Made you simply want to shed your clothes and run about stark naked, not caring who saw.
I wasn't sure how long we had been trekking for, but I could no longer see the opening of the tunnel, so we were pretty far down. The tunnel never curved or turned, never bending. I wondered, faintly, whether I could just roll down the shaft, summersault my way down. But I thought against it; a sudden dip in the path could prove very uncomfortable.
Nobody spoke, the air was humid, and each breath seemed to be a struggle, like the air on hot days usually is. My breaths were short and close together, clogging my throat with dust that floated in the air. I wouldn't be surprised if I got TB after this. Not to mention I was already starting to feel sick. The dim light of the orb hurt my eyes, my head pounded in my sinuses, making me go cross-eyed, and slowly, a nausea began to bubble in the pits of my stomach. At first it felt like nothing, but as time began to slowly creep by, I slowly started to feel worse and worse. I looked at everyone else, none of them looked sick, just tired and covered in dirt.
"Stop a minute." Balthier called back to us. We obeyed. "There looks to be a sort of river here. I'm not sure if it's just water, or the stream we search for." He walks forward a bit, and we don't move. Balther kneels down by the water's edge and slowly lowers a hand to it.
"You sure you want to be doing that?" Vaan rasps to him, half choking on a bit of floating dust. Balthier looks back.
"What else should we do?"
"Let me do it!" I volunteer. "If it is the stream, you might loose that hand of yours. Let me dip my dead hand in and see what it is."
"But you can't feel with it." Penelo points out.
"No, I can't, but I don't think feeling it will help." I make my way to Balthier's side and un-sling my arm from it's holder.
"You're sure about this?" He says. I nod once.
"Positive."
"Well I'm not taking the brunt from Phathe if that arm completely falls off." Balthier crosses his arm and stands up. I took my good arm and scoped up the bad, slowly lowering it to the water. My fingers sank beneath the surface, and I let them stay there a few seconds. Nothing happened. I lowered my arm even more, and still nothing.
"I think it's okay. Nothing seems wrong." Balthier sits back down and puts his own hand in.
"It's only warm, like bath water." He concludes. "No telling how deep it is, so be ready to swim." Tentatively, we waded in, and I was secretly grateful for the relief of the water, however warm. It soothed my head a bit and stomach. Pretty soon, my feet couldn't touch the bottom, and I dared not dive down to see how far it went for fear of finding something on the bottom that was better left there.
The water was stagnant, unmoving, or at least from what I could tell. There was no noticeable current as it gently flowed downward, and I hoped the swim back up would be just as easy as the one down. I could feel watery mud taking refuge in my hair, and I began to feel like the refuse I was swimming in. Water passed through my clothes, soaking through, becoming heavy on my body. I felt lopsided and leg my legs float up to meet the rest of my body so I floated down my back.
"Can you-" Penelo called to Balthier, her voice strained as she swam on, water filling her mouth. "see how much longer we have to swim?" Balthier held the light out as far as he could, but there was nothing for it. All we could see was the next feet or two of water ahead.
"I'm afraid not, but I don't think it's much farther, I can feel ground beneath my feet."
"That's a relief." Vaan sighs and swims a little faster. We all do. I roll from back to stomach and start wading again, noting the sloshing of water in my underpants as very uncomfortable. There is nothing worse than waterlogged knickers.
I trudge out of the water, droplets cascading to the muddy ground beneath my sodden feet. My boots are soaked through too as it seems. I can feel my toes swimming. I take a few steps from the lake, and instantly am over come by sickness. A loud ringing pound fills my head as it throbs, eyes streaming. I lean against he tunnel for support, gagging.
"Fidel?" Vaan notices at once and tentatively comes over. "You not feeling so good?" I feebly shake my head, unable to talk. I knew why I felt so ill. It was like Fran and her anger. I was simply reacting to the energy down here. I knew we had to be close because I felt as though I would pass out at any moment. Either that or I was out of steam.
"What's the matter?" Penelo comes over quickly, worried.
"Don't know. How bad is it?" Vaan asks. I felt sick as a dog. My eyes water, head pounded, heart raced, and my stomach felt so putrid I wouldn't be surprised if died.
"It's the energy down here." Basch says conclusively. "Whatever those people did to her, it made her sensitive to strong energy belts."
"Can you walk?" Balthier asks. "Or do I need to make Basch carry you?" I shook my head.
"I'll manage." I squeeze out. We continue on, but I stay close to the wall, holding onto it as the world around me spun about wildly. It was like walking on the deck of an unsteady ship, but I knew if I sat down, I wouldn't get any relief, not until I had finished what I needed to do.
After the incredibly large mud puddle, the journey did not last much longer. The sicker I became, the more I vomited, the closer we grew, until on the dark horizon appeared a faint greenish glow. It appeared as a speck, but soon grew egg sized, and then the size of a child's ball. Balthier's light snuffed out unexpectedly, and I nearly collapsed for exhaustion. My legs didn't want to move any more, nor did I want to do anything more than give up and lie down. I closed a hand around the small glass vial, wanting to draw some sort of comfort from it. It had remained ice cold, even in hell, and seemed to give me a little more oomph to keep going.
As we drew nearer, I could hear bubbling, a thick gluttonous gurgle coming from what I could see as a cavern up ahead, everything bathed in an emerald green glow. As we approached the stream and stepped into the cavern, I could see the river, a magma like green liquid that extended on in either direction, left and right, endlessly. Miles and miles went on the cavern, and it would come as little surprise to learn that the river went all around Ivalice, like a great belt hidden under the surface.
Steam rose up from the magma, bubbles exploding on the surface, but unlike lava, there was no stench of sulfur. All I smelled was fire.
"Now what?" Vaan asks, staring at the bubbling green ooze. "I don't think touching that stuff is a good idea." I shake my head softly in agreement.
"No," I whisper, voice hoarse and choked with hot ash, "we don't have to touch it." I remove the vial from around my neck, the long chain's purpose suddenly clear.
"Nice thinking!" Penelo brightly says.
"Here," Balthier holds his hand out for the vial, "dont want you falling in in your state." I hand the vial over without complaint. I don't doubt if I got right up to the magma that I might just keel over in it. Balthier slowly approached the river, flicking the lid up on it's hinges, Basch coming behind him for support if he needs it. Gingerly, the chain and vial were lowered into the magma. A vicious hiss erupted as the vial sank into the liquid, bubbles frantically rising to the top, and steam issued upward. And just as gingerly, he pulled it back out after a few seconds. The vial and chain were intact, lid already safely shut over the full glass carrier, having closed seemingly on its own. Balthier moved away from the lava of gods blood, and put a finger to the glass.
"Still cool." He commented and carried it back to me, placing it over my head. "Keep it safe." I nodded weakly, and he bent down, wrapping my arm over his shoulders for support. Despite my half dead feeling, I couldn't help but let my heart stop a beating for a few seconds while he helped me walk.
"That was fast." Vaan commented as we walked out of the center of hell.
"Are you complaining?" Basch asks, bemused.
"No, I just thought there would be more to it than that."
"Like some god would come down and give us a speech or something." Penelo added.
"Already done." Balthier said over his shoulder. "Now come on, Ivalice is in jeopardy, and you want to meet a god?" He shakes his head. "Where are your priorities?" Penelo giggles a little, and Vaan laughs a bit.
"Guess he's right." Vaan says, and we begin the long haul back up the tunnel.
Hours later, evening now, after the mud and dirt had permanently seemed to have made a home in my pants, shirt, hair, everything, did we finally reach the main path again. I kept the vial tucked under my shirt for safe keeping, and the sickness I had felt had worn off. My mind was dumb, tired, and strained, but for the most part I was okay, but in serious need of water. I wasn't the only one. Everyone appeared battle worn, weather beaten, and shaggy, sapped of energy. Getting back to the ship wouldn't be a walk in the park.
My feet dragged on the ground, and it was only now that I began to appreciate the 'no monsters' attribute of the forest. I don't think I had even the strength to lift a gun, let alone fight. But as we drew closer to the ship, something in my heart didn't feel right. I wasn't sure what it was, but something felt amiss. I turned my head upward, trying to get a peek through the leaves and thought I could see a trail of smoke issuing up from somewhere.
"Look." I point to the sky where I could see smoke.
"What?" Vaan and Penelo say together. Penelo's head turns to the sky, struggling to see through the leaves. Basch is the first to notice the trail of smoke.
"Something's burning." He says gruffly.
"Funny," Balthier says, scratching an itch on his nose with his index finger, "I thought we were the only ones here besides Fran." A roaring sound came from above, almost like the engines of a an airship. I jump.
"What's that?" Penelo says, looking up. A large shadow passes over the canopy, and through gaps in the leaves, I can see that it is an airship, but not Nedakh.
"Who's ship could that be?" Basch wonders, voice dark.
"Not a friend, I think I am safe in saying." Balthier looks at me as he says this. "Hide that vial."
"Where?!" I say, panic stricken.
"Your mouth. Take it off the chain and hide it under your tongue as best as you can." He was dead serious. Wordlessly, I took the crystal glass off its chain and slipped the cold little vial under my tongue. It fit well enough. Balthier took the chain and put it in his pocket.
"We should hurry." Basch says with urgency. "Fran may be in danger."
"Right." Balthier turns. "If it is them, nobody say anything." Energy and adrenaline began to pump through my veins, heart beating fast. Although I ached to run, I didn't. We had to be as careful as possible, just incase. The sound of airships flying over head, smell of smoke, and whisper of leaves surrounded us. I felt afraid, afraid for what might beyond those trees there, that turn in the path. Voices were carried on the wind, men's voices, but I couldnt understand them. We stopped walking, and listened.
"Off the path." Balthier whispered.
"What about Fran?" Vaan hissed. Too late. We were too late. From around us came the collective click of guns, and from behind trees and bushes emerged heavily armed men and women.
"Hold your fire." Their leader commanded, a burly guy with heavyset muscles. I hadn't seen him before. His bald head caught the dying sun, eyes glinting with malice as a mustache twitched. "Tie 'em up. Hands behind their backs, and confiscate those weapons. Anyone who opposes gets a belly full 'uh bullets." The troops closed in around us. We didn't move an inch, didn't fight back. How'd they find us so easily? We couldn't have been seen. Couldn't have. The soldier ripped away my guns, my dagger, and felt me up for any other weapons before tying my hands behind my back.
"Where's Fran?" Vaan spat at the commander. The bald man smirked.
"You mean the pretty thing with legs? Tied up and waiting for you to get going. But unfortunately that ship won't be going anywhere. Seems to have, er, suffered a minor malfunction." A few soldier laughed. I felt a hand push me from behind, the signal to get walking.
"How did you find us?" Penelo spoke up, but was slapped instantly by a guard.
"No talking." The man snapped at her.
"No, I'll tell her." The commander said, bursting with glee. "Was going to save it for later, but I can't wait." We were brought around a bend in the path, and there stood the smoking remains of Nedakh, her body on fire as a small army of men stood around her, their ships, four or five, large and black, hovered above. By her base Fran was tied. She looked up as we were brought into our landing site and thrown down at Nedakhs base. "Listen up, all of 'yahs." The commander said to us. I nervously ran my tongue over the vial. I was hunched next to Fran who said nothing. Her head was bowed, fingers flexing. "You girlie, wanted to know how we found you so quick. I'll tell yah, it was one of your own men who wen' and told us."
"What?!" Vaan exploded. A guard hit him in the stomach with the butt of his gun. Vaan doubled over with a groan. "Liar." He managed to croak out.
"Calling me a liar, eh?" The man laughed. "I kid you not, smart mouth. Apparently, one of your men was a little miffed he couldn't join your party to come up here, yeah we know about your 'plan.' But unfortunately enough for you, he flew his ship right through enemy lines. Wasn't long 'afore we captured him and got him to sing like a canary. Needed some help with that though." He laughed darkly and looked to each of us, relishing the moment. "So, where is it?" Nobody said anything. Nobody moved. The man began to turn red in the face. "Where the bloody hell is that damn vial?!" So, he did know everything. But who would know enough to tell them everything? For the most part our meetings were secret. And who was stupid enough to fly out after us? Who was that blind- I froze, realizing who.
"You there?!" He screamed at Basch. "Mr. Ronsenburg?" The captain struck Basch hard across the face. I looked in horror at the knight. Blood fell down his mouth, into his lap, but he refused to let himself fall over, eyes blazing. "Or you, you damn pirate?!" Balthier received a heavy kick in the stomach. "Search these men! Soon as we get on the ship I want them searched!" He barked to a few guards who nodded. Then his beady eyes fell on me, me who was trying hard not to shake with fear. "But maybe it's this redhead." He turned to me, eyes dancing with cold fury. "I've heard about you." He stooped down to my level, face inches away. I could smell his disgusting breath, see the red lines darting in his eyes. "You, Fidelynn is it? Suppose you dun' like that name now, you don't." He took my chin in his strong hand, squeezing my cheeks. "You got it, dun you?" His voice was soft, yet deadly like a viper. I tried hard not to look away from those manic eyes. He raised his hand to strike, but at that precise moment, Fran screamed. Her shriek was like a banshee, the rope tying her hands breaking free of her arms. The captain dropped my chin in surprise as the viera struck at him. Her power knocked him flying backward, skidding painfully along the ground. A few men ran up to stop her from injuring the captain anymore, but she easily sank her long nails into the men, silencing them for good.
"Fran!" Balthier shouted in alarm. "Don't-" A man ran up from behind, gun ready to fire, but she swung viciously around, cutting the man down fast as her talons plunged deep into the man's neck. "Fran!!" More men piled in, but she struck down at least five others, sinking her hands into whatever body part she could get at. It was nothing like that time she went insane in the forest. Nothing. The anger that possessed her now was deadlier and more untamed than the wildest of mists.
And then, without warning, a gun went off, piercing through the screams of dying men, battle cry of viera warrior. I blinked, mind numb, body shaking, as I watched Fran's body jerk suddenly. Her cry was ended, and she staggered around drunkenly, tripping over her feet. She swung at another man, but there were more shots from a gun, and Fran's body fell to the ground before she ever touched him, the bullet wounds in her back bleeding, blood cascading from open wounds. Silence filled the little glade, all except for the burning ship's crackle.
Fran did not get up. She lay grotesquely where she had fallen, snow white hair tinged with blood, fingers covered in the red wine of her enemies.
"FRAN!" Balthier screamed. "FRAN!!! GET UP!" He shouted, seeming to have lost his mind. "FRAN!" A guard smashed the end of his gun into Balthier's stomach, making his cough up blood.
"Shut the hell up!"
"Fran-" Balthier continued to rasp. "Fran-"
"Get them and go." The captain stood up, wiping a small trickle of blood from his maw. "We're taking you to Archades. First one to speak, and you'll end up like her." He nods crudely at the fallen body of our friend. Our companion.
We were hauled to our feet, jabbed and prodded with guns, and marched off. I turned my head to look at Fran. We couldn't leave her! She was my friend, a necessity to our fight. She couldn't be-not dead.