A/N: Sorry I took a while. I was just feeling a bit unmotivated to keep working on this, what with fresher ideas for new stories among other things, so I thought maybe hosting another contest would help to motivate me into finally getting this chapter done, more on that at the end of this chapter.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 53: Betrayal
"I have to say, it is nice to have everyone back together again."
"Life in the castle too boring without all the insanity?" Alex mused, raising an eyebrow at the princess, who sat across from her on the Albiore as Noelle made preparations to fly to Daath. "I know my life wasn't exactly thrilling without Van and the God-Generals there to make it hell. Instead that task fell to the Colonel."
Tear couldn't help but smile slightly, she knew the feeling Alex was talking about well, minus having to be stuck with Jade, and she was sure she wasn't the only one who did.
"Like Jade didn't make our lives hell before," Luke said with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, well, you haven't been stuck in an office alone with him every day."
"Fair enough."
"You two do realize that I am right here?" Jade spoke up, holding his hand to his chest in attempt to feign heartache, "You're hurting this old man's fragile heart."
Tear sighed just as Guy spoke up, "Sure they are, Jade."
Natalia shook her head with a small smile at where the conversation had gone before going back to what it had originally started out as, "I wouldn't go so far as to say boring, I have been kept busy... However, without you all there with me to fulfill the tasks I had been set by my father, life has been...dull. I will settle for saying that I missed everyone."
"One might say the words 'dull' and 'boring' have the same meaning."
Natalia crossed her arms over her chest and gave Jade a deadpan stare, "I'm not certain I missed you as much as everyone else, Colonel."
"That hurt almost as much as Alex's comment," Jade replied, "I fail to see why you youngsters don't care for my presence."
"I think you're funny, Colonel!" Mieu spoke up, and everyone turned their heads to the small fur ball, not sure how to respond to the declaration.
"Why thank you, Mieu," Jade said, "It's nice to be appreciated for a change."
Alex and Luke rolled their eyes, "Whatever."
"Sorry for the delay," Noelle spoke up as she started up the Albiore, "We'll be in Daath in about three hours."
"Do we really have to go to Daath?" Anise asked, and Tear noticed just how quiet she had been up until then, "I don't think it's that important that we go...how about Yulia City instead? We can talk to Teodoro about the Score, can't we?"
Natalia shook her head, "That won't work, we must speak to Fon Master Ion."
"Anise," Alex started, "Why don't you want to go to Daath?"
"I never said I didn't want to go, I just..." she trailed off with a sigh, "Never mind."
Everyone exchanged glances before Natalia spoke up, "Perhaps it's because it has been so long since I last saw you, but you seem quite different."
Anise smiled nervously, "Oh, come on. I'm not the only one acting different, you can't say you didn't notice Alex has been a little cranky!"
"Well, yes," Natalia said thoughtfully, "But I had assumed that was because she had visited the manor and met with the Duke. That must have been stressful for her."
"Have I really been that bad?"
No one wanted to respond to Alex's question, and instead Luke patted her on the shoulder while Jade changed the subject back to Anise. "I'm afraid we're not speaking about Alex right now, Anise. You know we're a suspicious group, it only makes it worse when you try to change the subject."
"Tell us what's going on," Luke added.
"Nothing's going on!" Anise insisted.
"Did you have a fight with your parents?" Tear asked, tilting her head slightly to the side, "Is that why you don't want to see them?"
Anise remained quiet for a moment before a nervous laugh they had been hearing all too frequently as of late escaped her lips, "Yeah, that's what happened. I got into an argument with Mama and Papa about their debt, and it got out of hand, okay? So that's why I don't want to go to Daath."
The others exchanged glances, and it became clear to the melodist that she wasn't the only one who didn't believe Anise's words. There was a silent decision made to leave it alone, and the subject was dropped.
"While that may be reason enough for you to want to avoid Daath, it does little to sway the rest of us," Jade told her while adjusting his glasses, "You'll just have to avoid your parents if it comes to that, I'm afraid."
Anise's gaze went back to her feet, her bangs covered her eyes so Tear couldn't see the look on her face. She imagined the younger girl looked disappointed though.
The group felt a bit awkward for a few minutes afterward, with only the sound of the Albiore's engine to break the silence, so Tear decided another change in subject was in order.
"Guy, where did you get that sword? I'm sure I've seen it somewhere."
Guy looked a little shocked about the sudden question, and Natalia spoke before he could answer.
"Is that not the same sword displayed in Fabre manor?"
"It is, yeah," Guy replied, "It belonged to my father before he died."
"In that case, I'm happy for you for getting it back," Tear told him.
"Thanks," Guy said, "I am, too."
Alex smiled at him before speaking to the entire group, "So how do you think the people of Auldrant are going to react to this summit and the idea of living without the Score for good? They're already having riots."
"Yeah," Guy agreed, "I don't know if they'd really be able to go on without it."
"Yeah, whenever we've been faced with a decision, the Score has been there to guide us through it," Anise argued.
"But has it always told us the best answer?" Alex asked. Tear sensed it was about to get awkward again, she and most of the others already knew that Anise and Alex didn't see eye to eye on the Score. "Mohs seemed to think that war was better than peace between the two countries just because the Score said so."
"Yeah, well we're not all as brain-dead as Mohs," Anise shrugged.
"The Score foretold prosperity after the war," Tear said, "I think Grand Maestro Mohs was just doing what he thought was best for Auldrant."
"I don't really see how prosperity now without a war in the first place is better than years of war and then prosperity later."
Luke cleared his throat before Alex could continue, "Hey, Natalia, what do you think about it?"
"I don't know... The Score is embedded so deeply into society, even politics. The world has diverged from the Score, and we all understand why, but most people are unaware of the circumstances."
"That's true," Tear agreed, "They don't even know it's diverged from the Score in the first place. They all believe it's a part of the Closed Score."
"We can't just expect everyone to agree to living without the Score the second we mention it," Luke said, "They've pretty much already shown us they won't be happy about it."
"It is a guidepost to life, after all. It would be like telling someone to walk around in darkness without a light."
"It would more than likely take decades for people to accept a life without the Score," Jade said, "I myself will need some getting used to the idea of not getting the Score read on my birthday, after so many years of having it read."
"Yeah, yeah; you're old, we get it," Alex waved her hand down at him. Anise snickered at the comment while Jade made another of his suggestions for Alex to treat her elders with respect. "I think humanity will be better off without the Score in the long run. I'm totally fine with making my own decisions, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is. People need to start thinking for themselves."
"Unfortunately, people are not that simple."
"I hate it when you say things like that, Colonel."
The entire rest of the way to Daath, Anise continued to fidget and appear as if she were off in her own little world. The others all grew more concerned for her, and watched her closely for the duration of the flight. Tear and Alex in particular were watching her like hawks for any signs of whatever it was she was hiding. It was obvious to them after the girl had almost admitted she was up to something in Baticul that something was wrong.
Anise didn't even seem to notice that all eyes were on her.
Her odd behavior worsened as Noelle landed the Albiore just outside of the city, only Tear was distracted from the girl the second the door opened and they all stepped outside.
Immediately, Tear began to feel faint. Her breathing slowed slightly, and she felt nauseated. It was very similar to when she activated the passage rings, only it was much easier on her.
She had no idea what could have caused the sudden feeling, she had just taken her medication a couple hours ago, there was no way it would wear off that quickly. On top of that, the miasma was gone, she wasn't supposed to be getting any worse.
"You okay, Tear?" Luke asked.
"Yes," she lied quietly, "I'm all right. I just suddenly felt a little dizzy, that's all." She was given away by a sudden coughing fit as they entered the city, and everyone turned their attention to her.
"You look really pale, Tear," Alex commented.
"Yes," Natalia agreed, "Have you taken your medication today?"
Tear nodded while the coughing subsided, "Yes, just a couple hours ago. Maybe my body's growing immune to it and it's wearing off faster."
"I doubt you'd look that pale if it was just your medication wearing off," Jade told her, "We should get her to a bed."
"I'll go tell Ion about this!" Anise exclaimed before running off in the direction of the cathedral.
"I'm all right," Tear insisted before she went into another coughing fit. The corners of her vision grew blurry, and before she knew what was going on, she was on the ground with Luke holding her up. The others stood around her, all wearing identical looks of concern.
"Forgive me for choosing to believe you aren't 'all right'," Jade said while adjusting her glasses.
"Is she getting worse?" Luke asked, panic in his voice.
"It shouldn't be possible for me to be getting any worse," Tear explained quietly as Luke helped her off the ground, "I haven't inhaled any more miasma."
"Still, something has to be wrong," Guy said, "We should get her to the cathedral, Anise is probably preparing a place to rest. Can you walk, Tear?"
"Yes..." Tear sighed, "I'm fine. Thank you."
They walked to the cathedral in silence. Luke had his arm around Tear for support the entire time, and though it was nice, at the same time it felt a bit awkward to her.
"Everyone!" When they entered the cathedral, they were greeted by Ion, who appeared as though he had run from his chambers to meet them. He looked out of breath. "Anise told me what happened to Tear."
"Fon Master," Tear greeted him, "I'm all right. I'm sorry to have worried you."
Ion shook his head, "Tear, you look far from all right to me."
"Hey, where did Anise go?"
Tear and the others scanned the room quickly after Guy's question. She hadn't even noticed the younger girl's absence until he mentioned it.
Ion looked socked at her absence as well, "That's strange. She said she was heading back to meet you all..."
"We haven't seen her," Alex said slowly. Tear noticed Jade adjust his glasses, and came to the same assumption he probably had. Anise was up to something, and whatever it was was the reason she didn't want to go to Daath. Her mind went back to when Anise began to ask Alex and herself that question in Baticul, but snapped back into reality when Ion spoke up again.
"She was probably just asked to do something for the Guardians before she could get back to you," Ion explained, "I'm sure she'll be back shortly. Let's all head to my room in the meantime, so Tear can rest."
One fonic glyph and an unnecessary amount of hallways later found them in Ion's chambers, with Tear resting in is bed. She felt awkward about taking his bed, but she was tired, and appreciated it all the same.
"Something isn't right," Ion said, after the others had explained what had happened to Tear, "Barring further exposure to the miasma, she shouldn't be this tired."
"The miasma could have pervaded the Planet Storm," Jade explained.
"That's possible?" Alex asked him.
He nodded, "Yes. If it is the case, then it should pass through the fon belt, exiting the atmosphere. It's impact shouldn't be great."
"But it seems to be enough for Tear to be getting worse," Guy said.
"So, wait... You mean if the Planet Storm continues to get stronger, more and more miasma will appear?" Alex asked.
Luke seemed the most concerned about this, "But then Tear will get worse!"
"Shouldn't we be more concerned with trying to remove the miasma from Tear's body?" Natalia asked.
"Doctor Shu said that was impossible," Tear replied.
Natalia looked dejected, "I wish there was something we could do to ease your pain."
Tear shook her head, "This is no one's fault. Natalia, weren't you going to propose that summit on the Score to the Fon Master?"
Natalia looked shocked at the change in subject, "Well, yes, but..."
"Actually," Ion said slowly, his green orbs watching Tear closely, "I do have an idea on how to remove the miasma from Tear's body." Everyone's gazes immediately moved to the Fon Master, even Jade looked surprised. "But to do it, I-"
"Ion! We have a problem!"
Before Ion had the chance to continue, Anise was in front of him, waving her arms around in a panic.
"Anise, just where have you been?"
"That's what I'm saying, we have a serious problem outside!" Anise told him, "The miasma's everywhere! Ion, please come quickly!"
Ion wasn't given the opportunity to respond before Anise grabbed him by the hand and dragged him out of the small room. Tear wasn't honestly sure what the Fon Master was meant to do about the miasma, but she had a bad feeling.
And she was sure it wasn't because of the miasma.
"We should go, too!"
"Tear, you should stay here," Natalia tried, "You may have fainted because of a strong sensitivity to the miasma."
Tear shook her head, "I'll be affected by it no matter where I am."
"You're always so damn stubborn," Luke said, looking a little annoyed.
"Stubborn, and right."
Luke sighed, "Fine, just don't push yourself."
"I won't. Thank you."
They wasted no more time in following Anise and Ion back to the main part of the cathedral. If there was ever a time when they were annoyed by the amount of hallways in the place, it was certainly then. They were getting particularly impatient by the time they reached the fonic glyph, and Tear was already almost out of breath by that time. Perhaps she should have stayed behind...
She was snapped out of her thoughts the moment they materialized again on the bottom floor of the cathedral, surrounded by Oracle Knights.
"What?!" Guy asked, as the knights all drew their blades and moved into a battle stance. Tear and the others were forced to draw their weapons as well, before they heard the familiar sound of a gun being loaded behind them.
Tear was quick to react - she spun on the spot and threw a couple of her knives in the direction the sound had come from. Major Legretta was just as fast in blocking one of them with her gun, while dodging the other completely.
"I've told you before, Tear, you throw too slowly," Legretta said, "Now, don't move!"
"What the hell is this?!" Luke demanded.
"We can't afford to have you meddling now. We also have a few questions about the Key of Lorelei. Now, behave yourselves."
A loud crash and a sudden rumbling of the ground interrupted her before she could ask any of her questions, and before any of them knew what was happening, a full grown liger was charging at them.
Tear and the others quickly prepared to be attacked by the beast, but to their immense surprise, they didn't appear to be the liger's targets. One by one, the liger plowed into the Oracle Knights surrounding them, sending them into the air and crashing into the walls and ground around them. The sheer force of the attack left them all unconscious.
Legretta was distracted by the surprise attack, so Tear took the opportunity to try again with her knives, only to have them be dodged and blocked yet again.
"Don't make the same mistake twice," Legretta scolded her, discarding one of the knives she had blocked.
Tear growled, disappointed in herself for not being able to get her even while she was distracted.
She didn't have much time to dwell on it before the pink-haired God-General entered the fray, the liger from before quickly going to her side. Arietta glared at Legretta while blocking Tear and the others from the older woman's aim.
"What are you going to do with Ion, Legretta?"
"Arietta, stand down!"
The Wild fiercely shook her head, "I won't! Are you really going to make Ion read the Seventh Fonstone Score?!"
"The Planet Score?" Tear asked in shock, "But that would..."
"It would kill him!" Arietta shrieked, "His body's too weak! I won't let you do that!"
"It's the most convenient bait to lure Mohs. It's necessary in order to raise the Isle of Feres-"
Arietta was having none of it, "Luke! Anise has taken Ion to the Sephiroth in the cathedral here."
"Anise?!"
"Arietta!" Legretta sounded furious, "You'd betray us?!"
"Van said he wouldn't kill Ion! You all are the traitors!"
Luke went to ask Arietta more questions, but the Colonel cut him off. "Luke, let's hurry to the secret passage!"
"Anise has been acting strange lately," Alex pointed out, "What Arietta just said is probably the truth."
Luke nodded, "All right. Arietta, thank you."
Without any hesitation, the group left the matter of Legretta to Arietta and hurried as fast as they could up the stairs to where the secret passage was located. They continued to run through the hallways leading to the secret library, all the while fearing for Ion's safety. It was that fear and the rush of adrenaline that kept Tear going.
They caught up to Anise, Mohs, and Ion in the library that lead to the Sephiroth. Tear noticed that Anise looked almost relived to see them, though she appeared to be trying to hide it from Mohs. What surprised her though, was that Ion didn't even look too concerned for his own life. He had to understand what was happening?
"What the hell is Mohs doing here?" Luke asked, glaring at the man, "Anise, what are you trying to do?!"
"I..."
Mohs was infuriated by their presence "Legretta's useless. She couldn't even keep this band of children occupied?" He scoffed before turning his squinting eyes to Anise, "Take care of this mess! Do not betray me, Oliver and Pamela are counting on you." He didn't wait for a reply before grabbing Ion and escorting him to the secret room where the glyph that led to the Sephiroth waited. Ion didn't even put up a fight.
"What does he mean by that?" Guy asked as they slowly approached Anise.
"Shut up!" she snapped, "It's been my job from the start to keep Mohs informed about Ion!" She threw a stuffed animal in Guy's direction before running after the Grand Maestro and Ion.
"Stop!" Jade shouted after her as they all made to pursue her. They entered the secret room just in time to see her vanish, and the glowing light signifying the glyph was working faded completely.
...
Luke attempted to get the glyph to respond by stomping his foot repeatedly on it, but no matter what any of them tried, it wasn't working.
Guy went to inspecting the small stuffed animal Anise had thrown at him while the others spoke about trying to find a way into the cathedral. There had to be a reason for Anise throwing it to him, a hint, maybe?
Then he found it - a small note hidden underneath the plush's collar.
"Hey," Guy interrupted what Alex was saying while pulling the note out of the collar, "Take a look at this."
"A note?" Luke asked before taking it from Guy's extended hand and reading what Anise had written on it. "You can reach the Sephiroth thought the volcano's shaft in Mt. Zaleho. I'm sorry."
"It sounded like Mohs had her parents hostage or something," Alex said, "It's obvious she didn't want to do this."
"That's why she's been acting so strange lately," Natalia said quietly, "If only we'd figured it out sooner..."
"Why didn't she just tell us?" Luke asked.
"Something might have happened to her parents if she did," Tear told him, "Besides, I think she was trying to tell us with her behavior."
Guy sighed, "Well, now we know why she didn't want to come to Daath."
"Should we trust Anise and head to the volcano?" Alex asked.
"We have no time for speculation," Jade replied, "We don't have any other leads. We need to hurry, or Ion won't make it. He's a replica. The moment he reads the Planet Score, the Seventh Fonons in is body will run out."
"Yeah," Luke agreed, "We have to save him."
They hurried back through the cathedral, noticing along the way that there were no signs of Legretta or Arietta. They took no time to wonder about what happened to them, continued out of the cathedral, and headed for the city's entrance where they had landed the Albiore.
Every minute was precious now, but at the same time they couldn't overexert Tear.
It was strange to think that just hours earlier they skies were clear and bright blue, but as they made their way through the city, the clouds of thick, purple miasma got heavier. Guy tried to keep an eye on Tear at all times, in case she collapsed again. She seemed to be doing fine, but she was even more pale than she had been earlier.
She seemed determined to stay on her feet. Guy chalked it up to adrenaline.
They were stopped, annoyingly, by a crowd at the entrance to the city. As they drew closer, a feeling of dread swept over them as they noticed the line of familiar people that formed a barricade to prevent people from entering or leaving the city.
Familiar people that were meant to be dead.
"What is going on?" Natalia wondered aloud as they pushed their way to the front of the crowd.
Guy found himself in front of an older man wit a blonde mohawk and eyebrows that covered his eyes. He couldn't explain the feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked at the replica - he couldn't believe how far Mohs was willing to go to stop them.
"Iemon?" Luke asked, "That's not possible!"
"Shut up and move!" one of the civilians shouted at an unfamiliar man who stood in the line blocking the exit. Guy noticed that all of the people in that were wearing the same grey, lined, clothes.
The man, whose eyes were like those of the dead, merely forced the civilian back with a strong shove that caused him to fall on his backside. Natalia rushed to see if he was injured.
"Steady, everyone," she advised, while some of the civilians stepped back in apparent fear of the people forming the line.
"Replicas," Jade said quietly.
"What?" Luke asked.
"Might these perhaps be replicas? The military experimented with programming replicas to perform a set task. These people's eyes are the same as those of the subjects of those experiments."
Guy was sure this was what General Frings was talking about when he spoke of soldiers with dead eyes.
And speaking of Frings...was that him at the end of the line?
"Target sighted. Move to secure them now."
That voice... Even without emotion it sounded the same. Chills were sent up and down his spine as Guy slowly turned his gaze in the direction of the speaker. When he laid his eyes on her, everything else around him became irrelevant, he didn't even care that he was suddenly surrounded by people who were supposed to be dead.
"Mary..."
"Mary?" Luke asked, "Guy, what are you talking about?"
"Why...? Why is my sister here?!"
"Guy..." Alex reached out to try to comfort him, but perhaps the sight of his sister caused him to have a momentary relapse into his old phobia. When Alex made contact with him, his mind flashed right to seeing Mary shielding him during the Hod war, just like it always used to. He smacked her hand away and jumped away from her in shock before he realized what he just did. She stared at him, wide-eyed, and Guy opened his mouth to apologize before Luke brought the attention back to the group of replicas.
"What's going on?!"
"General Frings, too!" Tear said, pointing to the replica at the end of the line that Guy had spotted earlier, "But we saw him die in Grand Chokmah!'
"I see others who have already passed away," Natalia added, "The Colonel is right, they must be replicas!"
"You all know Grand Maestro Mohs' orders," Mary began, in her emotionless voice, "Kill them."
The group drew closer together as the replicas moved in on them. "Any fonic artes here would hurt civilians as well," Jade explained, "We should eliminate the replicas by the exit, and-"
"Wait!" Guy exclaimed, finally taking his eyes off of Mary, "That's where my sister...where Mary is!"
"It's a replica!" Jade snapped back.
"I know that! But still!" That didn't make it any easier for him to attack someone who looked exactly like his sister...or Frings, or Iemon.
"Even knowing that they're replicas doesn't mean we could just kill Iemon and the others," Luke agreed.
"And that's exactly what Mohs is counting on!" Jade told him.
"Leave them to me," Tear said before pulling out her staff and singing the first Fonic Hymn. The familiar Nightmare arte took its effect on each of the replicas, and they all fell to the ground, unconscious, Tear fell too.
"Tear!"
"I've never tried to put so many to sleep at once," Tear explained, though everyone knew that wasn't the only reason the arte had taken that effect on her. "I doubt it will last long, let's get out of here, fast!"
Guy hesitated slightly as they passed the unconscious form of Mary. He tried to remind himself that she wasn't his sister, she had no memories of him... But she looked exactly the same...
"Guy."
He snapped out of his thoughts and finally turned his gaze away from the replica and toward Alex, who stood waiting for him. The other were waiting at the Albiore.
"Guy, we need to hurry."
He nodded, and they ran to catch up with the others. Noelle had the engine started as soon as everyone was on board, she seemed to understand the severity of the situation before Jade could even tell Guy to explain it to her and where they were headed.
Thankfully, it only took minutes for them to locate the shaft in Mt. Zaleho that Anise was talking about, but even then, they were all restless while they waited for Noelle to land inside the volcano.
"Damn it," Luke said as Noelle figured out how to go about landing, "So much has happened, I don't even know what to think anymore!"
"Deciding what to do about the Score is the least of our worries now," Natalia said.
"I never thought I'd see a replica made of my sister," Guy said darkly, more to himself than anyone else.
"Are you all right, Guy?" Alex asked. He merely nodded in response. He couldn't think about Mary now, Ion needed them to stay focused so they could save him.
"It was probably a plan to shake us up by making replicas of people close to us."
"Mohs is such a bastard!" Luke exclaimed, slamming his fist on the arm of his seat.
"But an effective one."
"Don't say things like that, Colonel," Alex told him with a glare.
"My apologies. In any case, the first order of business is aiding Ion. If we don't help him, he will die."
Guy wondered how they would even be able to hurry through the place and get to Ion in time. The volcano was huge, and on top of that, it was too hot for them to possibly be able to keep up a steady pace without proper supplies. They would have to ration the water they did have on them, or risk dying of dehydration and heat stroke.
Sure, it was hot and humid in Daath, but in the volcano...it was hell.
They could hardly breath in normally without burning their throats and lungs, it was a wonder they could even keep going for the first couple minutes, especially Tear.
They did their best to ignore the immense heat nonetheless, but that became impossible as they found their way into a huge cavern filled with molten lava. There were occasions where they had to stop completely to avoid being hit by flaming blasts of the viscous liquid as they moved along the narrow paths of hardened lava as quickly as they could without risking falling to their deaths. Even Mieu, who normally didn't have any problem with the heat, was having a hard time.
Slowly but surely, they managed their way through the volcano, becoming more and more impatient as they went - Ion was probably already reading the Planet Score.
They came to a complete halt when Jade held out his hand to stop them as they reached a large platform of hardened lava. Guy spotted the entrance to another part of the volcano at the far end of it, in the form of what appeared to be a large hole in the ground.
"Jade! What are you doing?"
Alex shushed Luke before pointing out why Jade had stopped them. Being right beside the soldier, it was easier for her to see it.
There, beside the huge fissure in the ground that almost surely led to where Ion was being held, was a dragon.
Guy couldn't believe what he was seeing, dragons weren't even supposed to exist - they were myths! Then again, he had seen his deceased sister earlier that day, so who was he to say what wasn't real.
"Do you think Anise knew it was here?" Tear asked.
"If she did, it's quite possible sending us here was her way of getting rid of us in one fell swoop."
"How would Anise have known about it?" Guy asked, jumping to the girl's defense. He doubted Anise would want that, she was still a friend.
"Yes, don't say such things, Colonel."
"I was joking," he replied with a shrug, "Well, half joking."
There was a pregnant pause among them. "Do you think we'll be able to get through that hole before it notices us?" Alex whispered.
"We'll have to find out," Guy replied, "We don't have time to fight it, Ion needs us."
"Agreed," Tear said, "The cavern isn't far away, we might be able to make it."
All at once, they made a break for it, with Alex and Jade in the lead. The two of them had just made it into the entrance of the cavern when a blast of fire cut the others off. They were forced to back up to avoid the wave of intense heat, and by the time the smoke and fire cleared, Alex and Jade were nowhere to be seen, and the dragon stood on all fours blocking the others' path.
"Damn it, there's no way around it!"
"We'll have to trust in Alex and the Colonel to save Ion," Tear said, breathing heavily as she pulled out her staff and prepared to cast. The odds were certainly against them now, Luke and Guy's swords wouldn't be of much use against a dragon, nor would Natalia's arrows, Tear only had a few offensive Hymns, and she was already in a rougher shape than the rest of them because of the miasma. Things didn't look good.
They all jumped out of the way when the dragon unleashed another blast of fire, followed by a roar that was loud enough for some of the volcanic stalactites on the ceiling to crumble and fall into the lava around the floor.
"We'll have to wait for an opening to attack," Luke said while the dragon continued its uproar.
As he dodged another blast of fire from the dragon's mouth, all Guy could do was hope that Alex and Jade could make it to Ion in time.
A/N: Contest!
I am hosting another contest for this story! I have a journal with the details about the rules and prizes on my dA page, there's a link to it on my profile here if you're interested! You can enter anything you want though: drawings, writing, etc, so long as there's no mature content, and at least one of my OCs in this story is involved.
The prizes as stands are more for deviantartists, since prizes that way are easier considering there's not a lot for me to do prize-wise on FF, but if you don't have a deviantart page and are interested in participating, send me a PM and I'll adjust the prizes a bit for you if you win. :3
First prize (as stands): 3-month dA premium, 700 points, 3 drawings by me (of whatever/whoever you want, with limits explained in my dA journal). The other prizes and such are listed there on the journal as well.
There's no end date as of yet, though it will probably be around early-mid June. You can start entering whenever you want! :D I'll make an update in an A/N whenever I decide on that end date but I'll decide at least a month before that date comes around. I'll try to have it decided by my next update.
Anyway, this was a shorter chapter, but it mostly leads into the next one. I am SUPER excited to write the next chapter, so it might not take too long.
Serious, SERIOUS changes to the plotline beginning next chapter.
Please review! They'll help keep me motivated!
