-Duke's Archives-

Jinta dove forward, to get away from the cursing breath of Seath The Scaleless. With no way out, and an opponent that healed damage faster than Jinta could ever hope to deal it, Jinta saw little options aside from accepting death. But there were other options. While Seath finished his attack, Jinta took off a gauntlet and extracted a ring from his belt. A Rare Ring of Sacrifice, something he'd found in Sen's Fortress long ago. With the ring on his hand, and his weapons sheathed, Jinta fit the open end of his gauntlet over the pouch he kept his Estus flask in.

Next time Seath attacked, Jinta didn't dodge. He was petrified on the spot, and Seath's prison guards, snake-men, came to carry him away…

A/N: Ravine of Silence, composed by Fukasawa Hideyuki

Seiko woke up in a cell somewhere. There was more blue crystal covering the bars, and everything was quite dark. She was still in her armor, with her hood on, gold-hemmed robes about her neck and hanging down her back like a mantle. Since the bars were mostly crystal, Seiko got up and immediately tried to punch them. With a hearty thunk, she broke every bone in her hand. With her other hand, eyes tearing up from the pain, she reached for her Estus flask. Empty.

Seiko sat down, leaned against the wall opposite the door, and conjured up her healing Pyromancy. Nothing like a field test after punching metal bars. While she waited for her hand to heal, since her Pyromancy didn't work nearly as fast as a real bonfire, Seiko got back up and looked outside her cell.

She was in a large tower lined with bookcases and cell doors. Snake men from Sen's Fortress paced the circular staircase that went from top to bottom, as far as she could tell. It was then that Seiko noticed two more things, less mundane, and hard for her to put to words given her inexperience with magic. First, there was an ominous power hanging over everything, like a haze or a static of impending danger. Second, something incredibly strong was also trapped below. She'd never felt that from a Pyromancer or someone like Jinta before, so what it could be, Seiko didn't know.

She went to sit back down, her hand healed, and considered her options. She could conjure Pyromancy with Power Within to break herself free, but she was very likely to set the entire tower on fire because of all the wood and bookcases. There could be others trapped that she would be killing just to save herself. She was also curious about the thing below.

A plate clattered to the floor in her cell, interrupting her thoughts. It was a food tray. Seiko quickly stepped up to the door and saw the guard walking away. She took off a gauntlet and shot a chain of Abyss through the bars at its calf. The chain struck and she yanked it back, then snatched the keys off the guard's belt as soon as it was within reach. Seiko pulled the Abyss back in and snatched up her gauntlet. She backed away from the door, inhaled, and used Acid Surge. It didn't do much to the bars, but it forced the guard away from the front of her cell.

Seiko ran forward and unlocked the door, unaffected by her own technique as always. An alarm began sounding, a signal that someone had escaped, and the snake-men of the tower took up their arms.

One crack, near an elbow. Another on the opposite shoulder. One all the way around the waist. Up the side of the head. More and more formed. All at once, the petrified figure shattered between the two snake-men carrying it, revealing Jinta.

He landed on his feet and, in one fluid and spinning motion, drew his swords, hamstrung his opponents, and stepped away from them to take in his new surroundings. He was outside on a walkway, and his captors had been carrying him toward a large turret apart from the Archives. With a few cuts, Jinta killed the two snake-men, then proceeded in the direction they had been taking him. There was no doubt in his mind that it was toward Seiko.

A/N: Battle With The Espers (Final Fantasy: Dissidia Duodecim) arranged by Ishimoto Takeharu

Two metal doors flew across the inside of the tower, carried by the explosive push of Jinta's Force miracle. As gravity carried them down, so too did Jinta's gaze scan down the tower. Below him, on the spiral staircase, he saw a small silver knight fighting the snake-men. As expected, Seiko hadn't just been sitting peacefully in her cell.

Jinta slid down the ladder to the top landing of the staircase, drew his swords, and started a fight of his own. For reasons he didn't bother to think about, Seiko was fighting down the tower instead of up. He'd need to move fast to catch up.

A snake-man took notice of him before he could sneak up, spinning to cut him down. Jinta ducked the swing and slashed up with his falchion, carving a red line from the snake-man's stomach up its neck to its chin. He stabbed it through the head with his estoc, then spun around it as he yanked out the blade. As the beast hit the floor, Jinta began running down the wide steps to start catching up with Seiko.

Seiko, far below and fighting lower, had stolen one of the snake-men's swords and was using the Abyss to bind it to her hand. There were chips of it missing where she'd swung too wildly and hit the railing of the stairs, or smashed it over a shield too hard. The trend continued as another guard held up a shield and charged at her. Seiko slammed the sword down, right into the center of the shield. The guard must have been hoping she wasn't strong enough to stop its charge, because it had been rushing at her without flinching or signs of stopping, ready to bowl her over. Instead, Seiko's crushing blow snapped a part of her sword off, ruined what was left of the cutting edge, and broke the snake-man's arm while also throwing it backward down the stairs.

Seiko took the Abyss back into herself and threw what remained of her weapon at the snake-man. Whether because there was enough of an edge left or by sheer force, the sword embedded itself in the head of her enemy as well as the stone stairs underneath.

Jinta, for the moment free to simply run and watch, at first wondered why Seiko wasn't using Pyromancy. He quickly realized just how many books and bookcases there were in the tower, despite it being a prison. He refocused his gaze on his path as he neared a pair of snake-men, the last two in his way before a straight shot down the stairs to Seiko. One of them swung down at him, so Jinta parried the attack with his estoc and cut the throat of his enemy. The second smashed the first aside, writing off its partner and clearing the way to fight Jinta.

This one slashed from its right to its left, diagonal to try and keep from being parried. Jinta didn't have the strength to meet the slash and stop it, so he jumped toward the wall, kicked it to try and redirect himself, and ended up mostly behind the snake-man but landed badly. Jinta rolled down a stair, scrambled to his feet, body aching, and turned to run and ignore his enemy.

The snake-man gave chase, throwing defense and caution to the wind as Jinta sheathed his weapons. Jinta, however, had a plan. He watched the enemy over his shoulder, drew his talisman, and all at once spun around and hurled a Lightning Spear at the snake-man. It, with its shield down and sword raised, took the bolt full in the chest and was blown back. Jinta spun and sprinted after Seiko, the way clear.

Seiko had reached the bottom of the stairs as massive prison doors swung open, releasing failed monstrosities that were kept at the base of the tower. They gave Seiko pause, but she realized that they weren't much of a threat as long as she stayed out of reach. Still reluctant to use flames, she moved further toward the center of the tower, glancing up at where she needed to be and back down at her potential enemies.

Jinta reached the bottom as Seiko jumped up to the balcony above, likely using Power Within to make the leap. He doubted she'd be able to hear him yell for her over the alarm, so instead he engaged the Pisacas swarming about the bottom floor. He launched Emit Force, a chance direct hit killing one and stunning others, then cast Tranquil Walk of Peace. He started carving through the crowd of strange snake-like beasts to clear the bottom floor of threats.

Seiko jumped down after turning off the alarm to find all was quiet. Jinta, spattered with odd-smelling purple blood or goo, was sitting on a large fallen brick, still out of breath. Seiko walked over with a grin on her face and took off her hood.

"You're late," she said. "I figured you'd show up to break me out."

Jinta raised his head to look at her through his helmet, his chest still heaving labored breaths.

"I'm glad… You have that much… Faith in me…" he said, broken up by his heavy breathing.

"Do you trust me like that?"

"I'm blindly faithful, so… Yes. I'd assume you would come," he replied, then took off his helmet to get more air.

"Even after how we met? What I said?"

"You're worried about… Something like that… Right now?"

She didn't say anything, just stood and waited. Jinta sighed.

"Let me answer your question with a question. Why are you here?"

"Because…" Seiko had to stop. She didn't have a good answer prepared.

"You were told, you said, by Gwynevere that you had to help me or I'd fail. But you don't believe that because Solaire and Tetsuro would have to do it too. So if I'm not 'chosen,' and you and I both know Solaire and Tetsuro can complete the task perfectly fine without me here, why do you care?"

"You… Did break me out of the Asylum…"

"That's not even an answer you accept. Listen to yourself."

"Look, all I did was climb out of Blighttown like I was told. I met Tetsuro, traveled with him til we got separated, then I chased him to Anor Londo and met Siegmeyer on the way. But when I met him again… He seemed like a different person, and he's only continued to change after that. Gwynevere, lies or not, at least gave me a purpose."

"So you're here, risking your life, dying, getting captured and potentially experimented on, because you were lied to and needed a purpose."

Jinta said it more as a statement than a question.

"You don't even believe Frampt or Kaathe," said Jinta, as a silence stretched.

Unfortunately, that statement only gave way to more silence.

"I trust you," he said after a while. "I trust you because I've seen your passion to make a change in the world. To do the right thing. You were harsh and abrasive when we met because you had a lot to worry about. You had a big decision to make, from your perspective, and you thought about it a lot harder than I ever did."

He stood up, leaving his helmet on the brick he'd been sitting on. He was a full head taller than Seiko, and she wasn't more than an arm's length away now.

"I trust you because you stuck by me. Rather than test me - like you'd wanted to - rather than watch me and judge me and betray me, you've fought and died beside me until you trusted me enough to risk my life to save you. You - the daughter of legends, practically a Daughter of Chaos, one who faced down the Abyss itself alone and came out on top - trusted me - the weaker of two Knights of Astora, duped into service of the Way of White, unquestioningly throwing myself at a task I might not even be needed for - to save you. Think about that."

Jinta turned and picked up his helmet while Seiko processed what he'd said. When he turned back to her, she was the one red in the face, not him from his exertion earlier. He'd caught his breath; she had never been out of breath in the first place. Given that she was much paler than he was too, it wasn't even a question of if she was flushed or not, it was why. She was looking off into space past him, right through him, still thinking about who-knew-what.

"Seiko?"

"Huh?!" She looked up at him suddenly.

"Are you feeling alright? You look like you're boiling in your armor."

She spun around and cleared her throat. "I'm fine. We should go."

"You want to talk, then you're suddenly in a hurry to move on? You've either realized something that's embarrassing or shameful, or you're acting like a proud young lass in love. At this point, though, I'm fairly certain you wouldn't admit to either."

Seiko whirled about and her hair continued with the momentum, whipping across her face. She paused a moment. Her exposed ear, poking out because of the mess, turned red. She brushed her hair away and looked angry, but embarrassed at the same time.

"When you make a face like that it makes it even harder to tell which," said Jinta, trying to stifle a laugh.

"This isn't some romance novel penned by a girl in love," he continued, "If you act strange I'm not just going to brush it off so the end of the book can be our big confession and we all live happily ever after. For all we know, I'll be dead in a few days when I feed myself to the First Flame anyway."

Seiko smacked into him bodily, out of the blue, and hugged him. Jinta laughed a bit and hugged back.

"There ya go. For the life of me, I don't know why you'd come to this conclusion, but I'm certainly too happy to complain about it."

Seiko said something that was muffled by her face being pushed into fabric hanging from his cuirass.

"Hmm?"

"I said shut up," she said after turning her head to the side.

"Hmph."

A voice called out and interrupted them.

"If you two are quite finished," said the voice, "I could use some help over here."

Seiko jumped back, heaved a sigh, and pulled her hood up again, hiding her hair in it as usual. Jinta put his helmet back on. Seiko was the first to turn and get moving, which Jinta figured meant she knew where the voice was coming from so he followed. As they jogged to the voice, Seiko said one last thing on the subject.

"I can tell you the why later, but the short answer is that you're dumb."

"Clearly that's only going to confuse me more, but I can agree to putting this off until a bit later."

The two had entered a large cell at the base of the tower. Two more Pisacas lay against the walls, making no motion to attack. The voice had come from a man in dark robes who was sitting in the cell, just inside the door. He wore a pointed hat with a massive brim that hid his entire head under it. How someone would see beyond the thing was the first question in both Seiko and Jinta's minds.

"Sorry for the delay," said Seiko. "I knew you were down here… I think…"

"Did my name precede me, or are you a fledgling mage yourself?" asked the man, not bothering to stand up yet.

"Neither," said Seiko. "I can… I guess feel some powerful forces here. You're one, but there's a much larger one somewhere too."

Seiko took out the key she'd stolen earlier to unlock his cell, but it didn't work. As she tried it, this mysterious character caught sight of her eyes.

"Well, I'll be! No wonder you could sense me. You're a Pyromancer. And not just any, but the Blue Child herself, I see."

"You know me? And how does being a Pyromancer let me sense you?"

"Oh, I've heard of you, yes. Word is spreading, too, and quickly. Your visit to the old Sealer and Rickert, and your travels, have done that well enough on their own. A Pyromancer, my lady, by nature, must have a knowledge of the arcane and faith in herself. It is not the precise and nuanced knowledge required for spellcasting, but a more instinctive, primal thing. I've not the sense for it - Anyway! As you can see the key for the rest of the cells doesn't work, and the guards have been especially cautious of me."

Seiko blasted bars far to the left with Fire Surge, trying to heat them up so they'd melt or bend, but there appeared to be something of a barrier covering them.

"Of course," said the man, raising his voice over the roaring flames to interrupt, "I've tried magic myself!"

Seiko stopped. "Well, then what, should we search the entire Archives for the key?"

"You could try lifting or dislodging the door," suggested Jinta.

The man in the cell tilted his head up, as if looking up at the door through his hat.

"That door must be heavier than two men! Not to mention the magic probably cast on it to keep it in place. I doubt-"

Seiko gripped the door under the horizontal metal section that the lock was fused to. She lifted, inspecting the door while she did so to figure out where the hinges were and how they were constructed. It was a far cry from her old attempts to rip the entire thing out of the bricks.

There was a metallic grinding as something ripped out of place, then the screeching of metal sliding on metal as the door lifted free. The man in the cage stood quickly and stepped back to get out of the way as Seiko stepped in and set the door down.

Seiko huffed and rolled her shoulders, shook out her arms and hands, and that was the end of it.

"You're quite the paragon of humanity! A Pyromancer with monstrous strength! I suppose all you lack is dexterity and grace, which, given this display, isn't much of a disadvantage."

"Thanks?" said Seiko. "Who are you, anyway? A powerful mage, I know, but, your name…"

"Ahh, my apologies! I am known as Big Hat Logan!"