aznchika: Ky, you're so right! The only ones who have read this are
people from the board... *sigh* it's probably because my editing skills are
so horrible... *sniff* *sniff* You think maybe I should quit doing
this...? well, here's the next chapter from the horrible editor and a
terrible procrastinator named... aznchika!
- - - - - - - -
"ARE there any questions," Jolith suddenly corrected as Schala fumed. That was twice this morning Jolith had gotten under the mysterious woman's skin.
After a small pause, Jolith raised in hand in a mocking style of what a schoolchild would do. "What exactly *is* the Grungir? A ring, some kinda coat-of-arms, or what?" Jolith asked as he shifted into a more comfortable position. "It's gonna be pretty hard to find it if we don't what it is..." he smirked, his voice nearly dripping with sarcasm.
Schala opened her mouth to say something, but Guinevere spoke up. "I know what Grungir is." she said.
"Then tell us." snapped Jolith, getting cranky.
"It's the spear of Odin." Guinevere said softly.
If the group had been shocked, they definitely were now. She knew so much about the legends.
"How do you know this, Guinevere?" Victoria asked, taking an interest in the conversation.
Guinevere smiled. "I learnt it through hacking and stuff...Speaking of which, Schala needs me to do some hacking."
Schala only blinked in astonishment as Gwen explained to the group what the Grungir was.
'Shit! She's going to be major trouble for me. How did she know about it?! Oh well... I'm sure she doesn't know what it does exactly... at least she... shouldn't... this could be a great deal of trouble is she did. No she wouldn't know. Only headmaster, Raecanni, and I know. I'm just getting all jumpy for no reason whatsoever. It's alright... it's alright, take a deep breath. All okay.' Schala thought in her mind, trying to reassure herself. 'Only headmaster, Raecanni, and I... no one else could possibly know, unless one of the other two told... but with something so important, obviously, they wouldn't.' She continued to remind herself, trying to calm herself as much as possible. Thankfully, she didn't hint that she was uneasy, at least, no one noticed.
'Miss Guinevere, if you could, please locate exactly where he is.' Schala then faced the group. 'You are all dismissed. I will be waiting in the front for you.' She looked at the watch on her wrist. 'You have exactly 23 minutes before departure.'
She the casually walked through the group, heading towards the front door. On her way, as she passed by Jolith, she purposely bumped into him roughly. He lost his balance, nearly falling over. She smiled innocently at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She said sympathetically, however sarcasm was dripping everywhere. She continued to walk to the front, cursing at that blasted Jolith under her breath, and smiling at herself for a job well done.
Stumbling, Jolith glanced back at Schala as she nearly tripped him, and he muttered a curse under his breath. 'What was her problem...? Oh well,' he thought. 'Best to concentrate on the mission, and not personal grudges.'
* * *
"Odin..." Razamor whispered thoughtfully. "Grungir... legendary weapon... Slepnir... legendary horse..."
He paced, a habit he tended to have whenever an idea was forming. Lyra watched him from behind, arms crossed comfortably behind her head; one eyebrow raised in interest. She knew that Razamor had a special interest in Guardian Forces... it was basically his only interest besides women and fighting.
"Odin...Grungir...Slepnir..." he continued to muse. "Could such a trio, really be the foundation of Galbadia...?"
"What are you on about, Razi?" The annoying nickname effectively gained his attention.
"Don't call me that," he snapped. "Something about Schala's explanation is a little suspicious... I don't really trust the woman."
* * *
As Celeste finished her coffee, she noticed Schala bump into Jolith. 'What's up with those two?' Shaking her head, she headed up to her room to pack.
Guinevere followed her example and walked back to her own room. As she entered her room, she smiled when she saw that her precious Cinquaeda had not been damaged or touched - - that thing was rare - -.
Her packing was light. She really only needed her laptop, her sword and a few changes of clothing. Guinevere was not one to dwell on past mistakes. Her easy-going attitude was slightly dampened by Schala's odd behaviour, which probably was because of the mistrust Schala had of her. While that was true, Guinevere also harboured deep suspicion about what the true motives of this mission were. She knew the dangers, but was willing to take charge if the occasion arose. Even so, she'd be glad when the mission was over.
Moments later, Guinevere smirked as she pulled her large bag out of the luggage rack with ease. She felt like something was about to happen, something that could make or break the entire mission.
Guinevere casually walked out of her room and into the elevator. After the elevator arrived on the main floor and the doors slid open, she saw Jolith heading towards the front doors.
"Jolith! Wait up!" Guinevere called out. He stopped walking, but didn't turn his head. Gwen ran up to him and they both started to walk out the door.
"Do you think that there's something Schala's not telling us?" Gwen asked, hoping someone would agree with her.
"Probably." Jolith replied.
"Well, nice to know someone agrees with me." Gwen said jovially, trying to keep a happy mood up.
As they both walked to the front of the hotel to wait for the others, Jolith frowned. "What gets me wondering, is how can a guy with a missing and arm and a crippled leg get a hold of something like Grungir..."
Jolith crossed his arms and was leaning casually against the front wall of the hotel. He set the stuff he was bringing - - in a worn red backpack - - on the ground as he started to wonder. But not only did he wonder about the Grungir, he wondered about this Guinevere as well. 'Why was she being so nice?' He really wasn't used to this. Shaking his head slightly, Jolith walked over to the other side of the door, his back facing towards Gwen. 'Maybe she's up to something... I bet that's it... those hacker types are notoriously sneaky...'
Schala stood nearby, reading over some files and didn't notice when everyone was finally ready to leave. After a few moments, Jolith couldn't take this lag anymore.
"Are we ready to go yet?" He asked impatiently.
Schala looked up from her files, slightly perturbed. "I guess so..." She turned to face everyone. "Let's head out. We'll board the train to head to Deling. Instructions will be given once we arrive." She turned around and began walking, not bothering to make sure everyone else was following her.
"Stupid Jolith." she muttered.
Jolith, on the other hand, was taking longer strides than Schala and passed in front of her as soon as she finished dissing him under her breath. He had heard her, but he appeared un-phased... if anything, he had found humour in it judging by the wry smile on his face.
Flashing his train ticket at the train attendant, he boarded the vessel destined for Deling. The he took a seat near the window and watched everyone else board.
Razamor and Lyra boarded next. They both looked pissed, as though they had just gotten into a fight along the way. Jolith watched them in a lazy manner.
Razamor sat in a seat behind Jolith's, Lyra a seat ahead.
'What's going on there?' Jolith mused.
Victoria got on the train, eventually. She quickly grabbed for her ticket and took a seat on the outside, away from the window so that Mr. Crankypants couldn't diss her because she couldn't see the power-lines and thus couldn't get afraid. Unfortunately the only seats left away from the window was next to Mr. Crankypants. She took her seat somewhat angrily. Not that she looked angry. Then again, everyone else looked angry for some reason or another. So maybe to fit in, she'd look angry anyway... or she'd do something drastic to cheer everyone up with. And everyone was all freaked for some reason. And she was bored again. How long was the train ride again?
* * *
Guinevere smiled as she pulled out her laptop. She *was* going to have some luck this time. Her lucky break had come with the knowledge of Grungir, the Spear of Odin. Now she knew where to look.
firewall: fiu204Guinevere typed in, overriding the firewalls. She smiled as she was greeted with a wealth of information, all dealing with the subject of Grungir.
password:kramer She knew she was blatantly hacking into the Garden's files, but it was part of the job. Not like she minded.
Pages and pages of information flashed up on the subject, making Guinevere's eyes swim with the overwhelming size of the source.
check source code Guinevere typed in, taking no chances with this mission. A long line of HTML came up, and she deciphered it easily.
"Hmm. Interesting." Guinevere murmured to nobody in particular, even though her friend was sitting in the seat beside her.
"Huh, did you say something, Gwen?" Lyra asked.
"Sorry, I was talking to myself, Lyra," Guinevere replied, quick to assure the girl.
"Ok..." Lyra said.
Guinevere was placed in an uneasy silence. She scratched the back of her head, and bit her lip as she started typing away again.
'Computer types...they always seem to know something I don't.' Lyra mused, giving Gwen and her laptop a searching look. 'Then again, even pinheads like Razamor seem to have a better idea of what is going on than I do.'
She looked backwards, catching Razamor trying to burn a hole in the back of her head with his eyes. She scowled and turned back around, returning to her thoughts.
'Just because I haven't paid attention to Instructor Trepe in History of GFs all year doesn't mean I'm personally betraying him... he's such a drama queen.'
* * *
Schala sat on the train watching the other members. She wasn't feeling too good.
'Deling... I have avoided that place so much... and now... I must go there... why...? the pain...' She thought, afraid of something that no one seemed to understand except herself. 'That girl...' Schala turned her gaze to Guinevere, who was still quite busy looking for information. 'she knows too much. She will definitely be trouble.. nothing... is going according to plan. Everything seems totally wrong.' She sighed. There's no point thinking about all that right now.
All of a sudden, the whole train shook violently. Something was going on... but what? Lyra jumped out of her seat, as did Schala. Something was wrong. Schala quickly took out her bow and grabbed an arrow.
"I think we're under attacked!" She shouted as everyone began drawing their weapons. Gwen quickly put her laptop away and took out her weapon. Right on cue, four monsters materialized inside the train.
They were in a woman form, only with horns and wings, and dark, dark ghastly skin.
"What the hell is that?!" Celeste shouted.
"Demonians. The devil's hand-maidens." Schala replied. "Alright. We'll split up fighting them. Lyra, you're water based, so take up the red one with Yuki. It's strength is fire. Razamor, Victoria, take the yellow one. She's lightning based. Guinevere, Celeste, you two take the white one. It's All-Elemental. Jolith, you and I are fire-based, we'll take the blue one. It's ice. Attack!" Schala shouted as she cast a fire spell on her arrow and shot it at the demon. It screeched in pain and sent a gust of wind towards Schala, pushing her back.
'Damn, this could be trouble.' She thought as she got up.
Cursing the bad timing, Jolith nodded at Schala. Her orders made sense. Dropping his pack to hold his gunblade properly, Jolith turned towards the ice monster and was hit with a blast of wind in the face. Gritting his teeth, Jolith stood his ground throughout the attack, and proceeded to hack at the thing with his gunblade. Some may call him foolish for not using fire magic- his specialty- against it, but he called it strategy. Why use magic when you don't *have* to?
Schala, on the other hand was pissed! That beast had attacked her! She began mumbling under her breath and cast Firaga at the beast. Again, it hollered in pain, then suddenly cast Blizzaga at her.
'I shouldn't of known this before.' Schala thought as she staggered. 'It counterattacks when attacked with magic.' She noted as she glanced at Jolith who was hacking at that thing with his gunblade. Once Schala refocused, she cast Curaga on herself. Then waited as her hp went back up. She was about to attack when the beast attacked her once again, causing confusion on her.
'Why is it only attacking me?!' Schala thought angrily. Fortunately confusion had no effect on her. 'Wait. It tried to cast confusion on me. I'm immune to confusion, but Jolith doesn't know that... now does he?' She nearly smirked at the thought. 'This would be a perfect time to get him back... but then, I can't overdue myself, and kill him. Then that would be a lot of trouble. I'd have to use my magic to revive him!!! That's not a good thing. But I'll still have some fun...'
"Fira!" Schala shouted and 'accidentally' cast it upon Jolith. She watched as he screamed in the scorched heat. But she quickly went back to her 'confused' mode.
'Now he can't suspect a thing.' She thought wickedly.
"Argh!" Jolith screamed as a fire spell scorched the whole of his left arm. Grinding his teeth to keep from screaming out again, Jolith grimaced at the smell of charred flesh filling the air. He then looked back to Schala, as he knew this beast could not cast fire spells. Ah, she was confused. So that was it. Pausing in his barrage of slashes at the creature, Jolith pulled a remedy from his pocket with his good arm and tossed it to Schala. That should take care of that.
Without really watching to see if she had gotten the remedy, Jolith turned back to the creature and continued to beat on it with Adversary.
As Guinevere heard Jolith shout, she rushed into battle, Cinquaeda drawn.
"Curaga!" she shouted over the noise, curing Jolith, who needed it the most.
She rushed forwards, attacking the shadow beast with her sword, not wanting to use her valuable stores of offensive magic.
Guinevere noticed Schala acting suspiciously, "Watch Schala, Jol, she's dangerous".
Jolith nodded, a little bit taken aback by being called something other than Jolith.
Schala caught the remedy and put it into her pocket. No point in wasting it if she didn't need it. Luckily, Gwen and Jolith didn't notice.
Schala then realized something. Gwen had joined the fight. 'Hmmm, I thought I told her to get the white one... I see this one won't obey orders. This isn't good.' Schala thought, slightly peeved at Gwen.
"Argh..." She mumbled loud enough for Jolith to hear her. Meaning, he should know she was not 'confused' anymore. "Okay, come on, we gotta kick some monster ass here!" She shouted to the both of them while changing her equipment. From bow 'n arrows to staff. The staff was long and black with gold embroidered dragons all over it. On the ends where small grip areas and in the middle was another grip area. Schala held her beloved staff by the middle.
"OVER THE MOON!" Schala shouted as she cast her limit break, throwing her staff high up (breaking the roof of the train) into the sky. Next she too jumped up after it. After a brief moment, she came diving down onto the beast's head, injuring it immensely. She then leaped off the beast and returned back to her team-mates.
"Unbelievable." She heard Jolith mutter.
"Fukk! How strong is this thing?!" Schala shouted, getting quite annoyed.
'What a limit break...' Jolith thought. He hid his impress-ment though, and continued the fight.
"Not much stronger!" Jolith called back arrogantly to answer Schala's rhetorical question. He drove his gunblade into the thing's heart to finish it off after the powerful 'Over the Moon' attack.
A strange, high-pitched screech erupted from the creature, similar to the sound of nails being scraped upon a chalkboard, increased by 10. Cringing, though not bothering to cover his ears, Jolith turned to see how many of the other creatures were still asking for a beating.
Guinevere had a shaky grin on her face as she wiped a strand of hair from her eye. That had been one hell of a tough battle, but it would be nothing compared to what the next one was.
She took a small phial out of her pocket, placed it to her lips, and swallowed the contents. She felt much better now.
Throwing a backwards glance at Jolith, she smiled softly. He seemed embroiled in an argument with Schala, over the remaining enemies.
* * *
Lyra balanced shakily on her knees, the battle already wearing her down quickly. Yuki was standing firmly in the back row, casting wave after wave of water and ice magic at the Demonian. Lyra stood in front, attacking with her knives, and throwing them when possible. Unexpectedly, the beast cast Blind on her to obscure her vision, and ruining her aim.
"Dammit!" she roared, searching her pockets for a remedy. The problem was she couldn't tell one bottle from another, which was a potion or not. "Yuki! Do you have any Esuna stocked?"
"Yeah..." Yuki murmured, sounding drained herself. "Hang on..." Lyra soon had her vision cleared. In fact, it seemed even better than before. She unsheathed two knives from a hidden place in her belt, gave them a twirl, and threw. One landed right at the Demonian's jugular. The other lodged inside its chest cavity.
Lyra did a forward flip, pulling out the two knives, and flipping back to stand beside Yuki. The beast gave a bloodcurdling howl, and finally slumped over, dead.
Lyra sighed and looked over Yuki, scrutinizing. The girl was panting, and wiping sweat from her brow.
"Here," Lyra said crisply, pulling a Potion from one of her many pockets. "It'll help you perk up."
As Yuki drank the Potion thankfully, Lyra reached up to her neck, feeling the cold chain of her necklace resting there as usual. She was grateful that she didn't have to resort to it in the battle. She didn't want to raise unwanted questions.
"If YOU hadn't cast Fira on me, that thing could be dead LONG ago!!!" Jolith argued.
"Well I'm SORRY if I was just trying to kill that thing and that think happened to attack me!" She shouted back at him, stressing the 'sorry' with pure sarcasm. "And besides, I was CONFUSED!!! How the hell was I supposed to know you're not that beast!! Anyone could easily mistaken you two... you look hideous..." She mumbled the last part.
"What?! What did you say?!"
"I said I WAS CONFUSED!!!" She screamed into his ear. He flinched.
"You don't have to shout..." he mumbled, walking away from her.
"You're a pathetic little boy, aren't you?" She muttered as she glared at the back of his head.
Schala then noticed that Lyra and Yuki had defeated that monster. She was about to go over to them to heal and congratulate them, but suddenly, she felt a piercing pain on her abdomen... exactly where that demon attacked her. She placed a hand over the area and winced in pain. Removing her hand, she saw blood. The blood had stained through her dress. Lightly clutching her wound - - which was getting more painful as the seconds passed - - she staggered back and fell over backwards with a loud thud. Jolith, Lyra, and Yuki turned their heads to face her - - as Gwen was busy helping Celeste defeat the monster - -
'What's up with her?' Jolith thought.
Guinevere gave one last furious hack to the monster that was attacking Celeste, sending the monster to it's death.
Now her attention was on Schala, the injured one. She walked over to her and placed a hand on hwe shoulder, she forced the raven haired girl to face her.
"Are you ok, Schala?" Guinevere asked concerned for any team member.
Schala snarled at the girl. "Get away from me," she said, as she hid the blood on her dress.
"You're hurt, Schala." Guinevere said softly, "You can't fool me."
Guinevere looked towards Jolith for support, but saw that he was busy helping Razimor and Victoria with their fight.
Schala glared at Guinevere, obvious dislike upon her face. "I told you, I'm *fine*."
Guinevere smiled sadly, taking her chances, casting Curaga on the girl.
"I hope that makes you feel better, Schala," Guinevere said kindly.
"Look, Guinevere... I don't need your help!" Schala snarled.
Schala had serious issues. Not only was she arrogant, but she was a sneaky, ungrateful bitch as well. Jolith had come across stubborn people before, and he had learned that it was best to just let them have their way. If it didn't hinder the mission, of course. Why did it matter if she had cast Fira on him by accident, anyways? What's done is done. Whether it was on purpose or not, there was nothing to be done about it now.
Jolith took in the scene before him - the group had fought their first battle and won. Not a very hard one, true, but a battle.
And everyone came out alive. Jolith sighed and leaned against the wall of the train car as a small smile playing on his lips, perhaps the first true smile from him in days. We can do this.
He glanced up at the clock. Only a few minutes until they arrived. Thank Hyne! His normal expression returning, Jolith scanned the room once again to see Gwen attempting to heal Schala. He smirked.
* * *
Guinevere gave up after her third unsuccessful attempt at healing Schala.
Her stock of Curaga was running low. She'd need to go to the Island Closest to Heaven to stock up on more.
"Damn you," Guinevere hissed, finally losing her patience with the ingrate.
"Look Guinevere, I told you not to do it, yet you insisted on it! Why the fukk do you want to keep trying?" Schala almost yelled.
"I do it because I care, Schala... I don't want to see my team members in any pain. If I could, I'd take all the pain in the world."
Guinevere turned now to her friend. "What do you think happened, Jol?" she asked, sympathy in her voice.
"It's Jolith. *Not* Jol," Jolith said. He sighed and got back to the topic. "Not like it matters what happened anyway... what's done is done," he said, starting toward his pack. "Oh, and if I were you, I'd quit trying to help that little bitch out. If you actually heal her, she may just kill you for it," he said sarcastically, intent on angering Schala.
Just then, the train began to slow to a stop, and the train was pulling into the station.
Guinevere turned to look at Jolith.
"You know something, Jolith? I think you're right. She probably will kill me." She said, as she left Schala lying somewhat uncomfortably on the ground.
Guinevere moved on to the others. Checking to see if they were alright, or if they were in pain.
"No, Gwen, I'm fine," Victoria said, as Guinevere was about to heal her.
"You sure?" Guinevere asked, a note of concern colouring her voice.
"Go on... I don't need it." Victoria repeated, managing to force her body into an upright sitting position.
"Ok. If you say so, Tori"
Guinevere nodded, glad of a break. With all the spell casting she had done, she started to feel rather drained. Usually, this was no problem for her, she'd simply rest until she felt physically able to go on.
However, with such a multitude of people wounded, Guinevere felt like she had to help them all. With a small glance at Jolith, Guinevere walked down the corridor, and fainted.
By this time the train had stopped, and had pulled into the station as well. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Jolith made his way towards the corridor that connected the room they were in and the way off the train.
"Damn, girl!" Jolith said as he caught sight of a fainted Guinevere. Rolling his eyes a bit, he and the nearest person- Victoria- managed to pick her up, one on either side of the girl and supporting her with their shoulders.
"Don't nearly get yourself killed healing everyone else..." he muttered to Gwen, though he knew she couldn't hear him.
* * *
Schala knew they didn't like her. But who cared? One does not need allies to survive. And besides, she had to survive all by herself when she was little, why need it now? She took a deep breath and cast curaga on herself. She felt a stinging feeling on her wound as it healed itself. After it healed, she took a deep breath and stood up, grabbing her bag with her. The train had stopped, and they finally arrived in Deling. She quickly got off the train with the SeeDs following her, only stopping to notice Gwen fainting.
'... poor girl... I guess it would be pretty much MY fault... afterall, she did try to help me, but I just wouldn't allow her...' She thought as she carefully walked over to Gwen and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Gwen... please be alright..." She mumbled, hoping no one heard her kind words. "Celeste?" She called out. Celeste walked over to Schala. "I want you and Victoria to take Gwen to the nearest hotel. Make sure she gets all the rest she needs. When she wakes, I want you three to head to the northeast part of this city. There you'll find a rundown hotel and bar. I want you to find ANY information there. But... make sure she is feeling better when you decide to head out." Schala said the last part softly so Celeste could only hear.
Schala then stood back up and began walking to the exit, only to turn around to face Celeste, Gwen, and Victoria again. She tossed a few x- potions and phoenix downs to them. Victoria caught them. "Use these on her if she needs them"
Schala then turned to exit, with the other SeeDs following her. Each one looking back at Gwen and wishing her well.
"Okay, now we're gonna split here. Lyra, Victoria, you two will head up to the Southeast area. That is, after Victoria has dropped Guinevere off at the hotel. Find any information there. Razamor, Yuki, you two will head northwest. Same drill. Jolith, we'll be going southwest." Next she went into her bag and pulled out some envelopes and some weird devices. And began handing one envelope and device to each group. "There's 1000 gil in the envelope. Don't use it generously. We may need it for a while. The black thing I just handed each of you, are communicators. We'll communicate through those. Oh, and one more thing. Remember, we're undercover. You all know what that means."
Schala turned around to face the city. It was huge. Much bigger than she remembered.
- - - flashback - - -
A small little girl with black hair is running down a dark, damp alley. It is raining, and she is breathing heavily.
"Come back you little wretched kid!" A man screamed at her as he was chasing after her. She ignored him and continued running as fast as she can, splashing through the puddles. But she wasn't as fast as the man. He soon caught up to her and tackled her down to the hard, wet, cement ground.
- -- end of flashback - - -
Schala closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
"No..." She whispered as a single crystal tear slid down her cheek.
- - - - - -
aznchika: yup. I know I'm a procrastinator! But it's not my fault!!! . Well, maybe it isn't, but I don't wanna take the blame!!! . Actually, I had something to say here, but I forgot... so I'll move on to another thing I was gonna say. How come only the people at the Seiftis Board are only reading this?! Is it that bad.? Or is my editing skills that terrible?! PLEASE tell me!!! . I'll cry if you don't!! Please?!
- - - - - - - -
"ARE there any questions," Jolith suddenly corrected as Schala fumed. That was twice this morning Jolith had gotten under the mysterious woman's skin.
After a small pause, Jolith raised in hand in a mocking style of what a schoolchild would do. "What exactly *is* the Grungir? A ring, some kinda coat-of-arms, or what?" Jolith asked as he shifted into a more comfortable position. "It's gonna be pretty hard to find it if we don't what it is..." he smirked, his voice nearly dripping with sarcasm.
Schala opened her mouth to say something, but Guinevere spoke up. "I know what Grungir is." she said.
"Then tell us." snapped Jolith, getting cranky.
"It's the spear of Odin." Guinevere said softly.
If the group had been shocked, they definitely were now. She knew so much about the legends.
"How do you know this, Guinevere?" Victoria asked, taking an interest in the conversation.
Guinevere smiled. "I learnt it through hacking and stuff...Speaking of which, Schala needs me to do some hacking."
Schala only blinked in astonishment as Gwen explained to the group what the Grungir was.
'Shit! She's going to be major trouble for me. How did she know about it?! Oh well... I'm sure she doesn't know what it does exactly... at least she... shouldn't... this could be a great deal of trouble is she did. No she wouldn't know. Only headmaster, Raecanni, and I know. I'm just getting all jumpy for no reason whatsoever. It's alright... it's alright, take a deep breath. All okay.' Schala thought in her mind, trying to reassure herself. 'Only headmaster, Raecanni, and I... no one else could possibly know, unless one of the other two told... but with something so important, obviously, they wouldn't.' She continued to remind herself, trying to calm herself as much as possible. Thankfully, she didn't hint that she was uneasy, at least, no one noticed.
'Miss Guinevere, if you could, please locate exactly where he is.' Schala then faced the group. 'You are all dismissed. I will be waiting in the front for you.' She looked at the watch on her wrist. 'You have exactly 23 minutes before departure.'
She the casually walked through the group, heading towards the front door. On her way, as she passed by Jolith, she purposely bumped into him roughly. He lost his balance, nearly falling over. She smiled innocently at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She said sympathetically, however sarcasm was dripping everywhere. She continued to walk to the front, cursing at that blasted Jolith under her breath, and smiling at herself for a job well done.
Stumbling, Jolith glanced back at Schala as she nearly tripped him, and he muttered a curse under his breath. 'What was her problem...? Oh well,' he thought. 'Best to concentrate on the mission, and not personal grudges.'
* * *
"Odin..." Razamor whispered thoughtfully. "Grungir... legendary weapon... Slepnir... legendary horse..."
He paced, a habit he tended to have whenever an idea was forming. Lyra watched him from behind, arms crossed comfortably behind her head; one eyebrow raised in interest. She knew that Razamor had a special interest in Guardian Forces... it was basically his only interest besides women and fighting.
"Odin...Grungir...Slepnir..." he continued to muse. "Could such a trio, really be the foundation of Galbadia...?"
"What are you on about, Razi?" The annoying nickname effectively gained his attention.
"Don't call me that," he snapped. "Something about Schala's explanation is a little suspicious... I don't really trust the woman."
* * *
As Celeste finished her coffee, she noticed Schala bump into Jolith. 'What's up with those two?' Shaking her head, she headed up to her room to pack.
Guinevere followed her example and walked back to her own room. As she entered her room, she smiled when she saw that her precious Cinquaeda had not been damaged or touched - - that thing was rare - -.
Her packing was light. She really only needed her laptop, her sword and a few changes of clothing. Guinevere was not one to dwell on past mistakes. Her easy-going attitude was slightly dampened by Schala's odd behaviour, which probably was because of the mistrust Schala had of her. While that was true, Guinevere also harboured deep suspicion about what the true motives of this mission were. She knew the dangers, but was willing to take charge if the occasion arose. Even so, she'd be glad when the mission was over.
Moments later, Guinevere smirked as she pulled her large bag out of the luggage rack with ease. She felt like something was about to happen, something that could make or break the entire mission.
Guinevere casually walked out of her room and into the elevator. After the elevator arrived on the main floor and the doors slid open, she saw Jolith heading towards the front doors.
"Jolith! Wait up!" Guinevere called out. He stopped walking, but didn't turn his head. Gwen ran up to him and they both started to walk out the door.
"Do you think that there's something Schala's not telling us?" Gwen asked, hoping someone would agree with her.
"Probably." Jolith replied.
"Well, nice to know someone agrees with me." Gwen said jovially, trying to keep a happy mood up.
As they both walked to the front of the hotel to wait for the others, Jolith frowned. "What gets me wondering, is how can a guy with a missing and arm and a crippled leg get a hold of something like Grungir..."
Jolith crossed his arms and was leaning casually against the front wall of the hotel. He set the stuff he was bringing - - in a worn red backpack - - on the ground as he started to wonder. But not only did he wonder about the Grungir, he wondered about this Guinevere as well. 'Why was she being so nice?' He really wasn't used to this. Shaking his head slightly, Jolith walked over to the other side of the door, his back facing towards Gwen. 'Maybe she's up to something... I bet that's it... those hacker types are notoriously sneaky...'
Schala stood nearby, reading over some files and didn't notice when everyone was finally ready to leave. After a few moments, Jolith couldn't take this lag anymore.
"Are we ready to go yet?" He asked impatiently.
Schala looked up from her files, slightly perturbed. "I guess so..." She turned to face everyone. "Let's head out. We'll board the train to head to Deling. Instructions will be given once we arrive." She turned around and began walking, not bothering to make sure everyone else was following her.
"Stupid Jolith." she muttered.
Jolith, on the other hand, was taking longer strides than Schala and passed in front of her as soon as she finished dissing him under her breath. He had heard her, but he appeared un-phased... if anything, he had found humour in it judging by the wry smile on his face.
Flashing his train ticket at the train attendant, he boarded the vessel destined for Deling. The he took a seat near the window and watched everyone else board.
Razamor and Lyra boarded next. They both looked pissed, as though they had just gotten into a fight along the way. Jolith watched them in a lazy manner.
Razamor sat in a seat behind Jolith's, Lyra a seat ahead.
'What's going on there?' Jolith mused.
Victoria got on the train, eventually. She quickly grabbed for her ticket and took a seat on the outside, away from the window so that Mr. Crankypants couldn't diss her because she couldn't see the power-lines and thus couldn't get afraid. Unfortunately the only seats left away from the window was next to Mr. Crankypants. She took her seat somewhat angrily. Not that she looked angry. Then again, everyone else looked angry for some reason or another. So maybe to fit in, she'd look angry anyway... or she'd do something drastic to cheer everyone up with. And everyone was all freaked for some reason. And she was bored again. How long was the train ride again?
* * *
Guinevere smiled as she pulled out her laptop. She *was* going to have some luck this time. Her lucky break had come with the knowledge of Grungir, the Spear of Odin. Now she knew where to look.
firewall: fiu204Guinevere typed in, overriding the firewalls. She smiled as she was greeted with a wealth of information, all dealing with the subject of Grungir.
password:kramer She knew she was blatantly hacking into the Garden's files, but it was part of the job. Not like she minded.
Pages and pages of information flashed up on the subject, making Guinevere's eyes swim with the overwhelming size of the source.
check source code Guinevere typed in, taking no chances with this mission. A long line of HTML came up, and she deciphered it easily.
"Hmm. Interesting." Guinevere murmured to nobody in particular, even though her friend was sitting in the seat beside her.
"Huh, did you say something, Gwen?" Lyra asked.
"Sorry, I was talking to myself, Lyra," Guinevere replied, quick to assure the girl.
"Ok..." Lyra said.
Guinevere was placed in an uneasy silence. She scratched the back of her head, and bit her lip as she started typing away again.
'Computer types...they always seem to know something I don't.' Lyra mused, giving Gwen and her laptop a searching look. 'Then again, even pinheads like Razamor seem to have a better idea of what is going on than I do.'
She looked backwards, catching Razamor trying to burn a hole in the back of her head with his eyes. She scowled and turned back around, returning to her thoughts.
'Just because I haven't paid attention to Instructor Trepe in History of GFs all year doesn't mean I'm personally betraying him... he's such a drama queen.'
* * *
Schala sat on the train watching the other members. She wasn't feeling too good.
'Deling... I have avoided that place so much... and now... I must go there... why...? the pain...' She thought, afraid of something that no one seemed to understand except herself. 'That girl...' Schala turned her gaze to Guinevere, who was still quite busy looking for information. 'she knows too much. She will definitely be trouble.. nothing... is going according to plan. Everything seems totally wrong.' She sighed. There's no point thinking about all that right now.
All of a sudden, the whole train shook violently. Something was going on... but what? Lyra jumped out of her seat, as did Schala. Something was wrong. Schala quickly took out her bow and grabbed an arrow.
"I think we're under attacked!" She shouted as everyone began drawing their weapons. Gwen quickly put her laptop away and took out her weapon. Right on cue, four monsters materialized inside the train.
They were in a woman form, only with horns and wings, and dark, dark ghastly skin.
"What the hell is that?!" Celeste shouted.
"Demonians. The devil's hand-maidens." Schala replied. "Alright. We'll split up fighting them. Lyra, you're water based, so take up the red one with Yuki. It's strength is fire. Razamor, Victoria, take the yellow one. She's lightning based. Guinevere, Celeste, you two take the white one. It's All-Elemental. Jolith, you and I are fire-based, we'll take the blue one. It's ice. Attack!" Schala shouted as she cast a fire spell on her arrow and shot it at the demon. It screeched in pain and sent a gust of wind towards Schala, pushing her back.
'Damn, this could be trouble.' She thought as she got up.
Cursing the bad timing, Jolith nodded at Schala. Her orders made sense. Dropping his pack to hold his gunblade properly, Jolith turned towards the ice monster and was hit with a blast of wind in the face. Gritting his teeth, Jolith stood his ground throughout the attack, and proceeded to hack at the thing with his gunblade. Some may call him foolish for not using fire magic- his specialty- against it, but he called it strategy. Why use magic when you don't *have* to?
Schala, on the other hand was pissed! That beast had attacked her! She began mumbling under her breath and cast Firaga at the beast. Again, it hollered in pain, then suddenly cast Blizzaga at her.
'I shouldn't of known this before.' Schala thought as she staggered. 'It counterattacks when attacked with magic.' She noted as she glanced at Jolith who was hacking at that thing with his gunblade. Once Schala refocused, she cast Curaga on herself. Then waited as her hp went back up. She was about to attack when the beast attacked her once again, causing confusion on her.
'Why is it only attacking me?!' Schala thought angrily. Fortunately confusion had no effect on her. 'Wait. It tried to cast confusion on me. I'm immune to confusion, but Jolith doesn't know that... now does he?' She nearly smirked at the thought. 'This would be a perfect time to get him back... but then, I can't overdue myself, and kill him. Then that would be a lot of trouble. I'd have to use my magic to revive him!!! That's not a good thing. But I'll still have some fun...'
"Fira!" Schala shouted and 'accidentally' cast it upon Jolith. She watched as he screamed in the scorched heat. But she quickly went back to her 'confused' mode.
'Now he can't suspect a thing.' She thought wickedly.
"Argh!" Jolith screamed as a fire spell scorched the whole of his left arm. Grinding his teeth to keep from screaming out again, Jolith grimaced at the smell of charred flesh filling the air. He then looked back to Schala, as he knew this beast could not cast fire spells. Ah, she was confused. So that was it. Pausing in his barrage of slashes at the creature, Jolith pulled a remedy from his pocket with his good arm and tossed it to Schala. That should take care of that.
Without really watching to see if she had gotten the remedy, Jolith turned back to the creature and continued to beat on it with Adversary.
As Guinevere heard Jolith shout, she rushed into battle, Cinquaeda drawn.
"Curaga!" she shouted over the noise, curing Jolith, who needed it the most.
She rushed forwards, attacking the shadow beast with her sword, not wanting to use her valuable stores of offensive magic.
Guinevere noticed Schala acting suspiciously, "Watch Schala, Jol, she's dangerous".
Jolith nodded, a little bit taken aback by being called something other than Jolith.
Schala caught the remedy and put it into her pocket. No point in wasting it if she didn't need it. Luckily, Gwen and Jolith didn't notice.
Schala then realized something. Gwen had joined the fight. 'Hmmm, I thought I told her to get the white one... I see this one won't obey orders. This isn't good.' Schala thought, slightly peeved at Gwen.
"Argh..." She mumbled loud enough for Jolith to hear her. Meaning, he should know she was not 'confused' anymore. "Okay, come on, we gotta kick some monster ass here!" She shouted to the both of them while changing her equipment. From bow 'n arrows to staff. The staff was long and black with gold embroidered dragons all over it. On the ends where small grip areas and in the middle was another grip area. Schala held her beloved staff by the middle.
"OVER THE MOON!" Schala shouted as she cast her limit break, throwing her staff high up (breaking the roof of the train) into the sky. Next she too jumped up after it. After a brief moment, she came diving down onto the beast's head, injuring it immensely. She then leaped off the beast and returned back to her team-mates.
"Unbelievable." She heard Jolith mutter.
"Fukk! How strong is this thing?!" Schala shouted, getting quite annoyed.
'What a limit break...' Jolith thought. He hid his impress-ment though, and continued the fight.
"Not much stronger!" Jolith called back arrogantly to answer Schala's rhetorical question. He drove his gunblade into the thing's heart to finish it off after the powerful 'Over the Moon' attack.
A strange, high-pitched screech erupted from the creature, similar to the sound of nails being scraped upon a chalkboard, increased by 10. Cringing, though not bothering to cover his ears, Jolith turned to see how many of the other creatures were still asking for a beating.
Guinevere had a shaky grin on her face as she wiped a strand of hair from her eye. That had been one hell of a tough battle, but it would be nothing compared to what the next one was.
She took a small phial out of her pocket, placed it to her lips, and swallowed the contents. She felt much better now.
Throwing a backwards glance at Jolith, she smiled softly. He seemed embroiled in an argument with Schala, over the remaining enemies.
* * *
Lyra balanced shakily on her knees, the battle already wearing her down quickly. Yuki was standing firmly in the back row, casting wave after wave of water and ice magic at the Demonian. Lyra stood in front, attacking with her knives, and throwing them when possible. Unexpectedly, the beast cast Blind on her to obscure her vision, and ruining her aim.
"Dammit!" she roared, searching her pockets for a remedy. The problem was she couldn't tell one bottle from another, which was a potion or not. "Yuki! Do you have any Esuna stocked?"
"Yeah..." Yuki murmured, sounding drained herself. "Hang on..." Lyra soon had her vision cleared. In fact, it seemed even better than before. She unsheathed two knives from a hidden place in her belt, gave them a twirl, and threw. One landed right at the Demonian's jugular. The other lodged inside its chest cavity.
Lyra did a forward flip, pulling out the two knives, and flipping back to stand beside Yuki. The beast gave a bloodcurdling howl, and finally slumped over, dead.
Lyra sighed and looked over Yuki, scrutinizing. The girl was panting, and wiping sweat from her brow.
"Here," Lyra said crisply, pulling a Potion from one of her many pockets. "It'll help you perk up."
As Yuki drank the Potion thankfully, Lyra reached up to her neck, feeling the cold chain of her necklace resting there as usual. She was grateful that she didn't have to resort to it in the battle. She didn't want to raise unwanted questions.
"If YOU hadn't cast Fira on me, that thing could be dead LONG ago!!!" Jolith argued.
"Well I'm SORRY if I was just trying to kill that thing and that think happened to attack me!" She shouted back at him, stressing the 'sorry' with pure sarcasm. "And besides, I was CONFUSED!!! How the hell was I supposed to know you're not that beast!! Anyone could easily mistaken you two... you look hideous..." She mumbled the last part.
"What?! What did you say?!"
"I said I WAS CONFUSED!!!" She screamed into his ear. He flinched.
"You don't have to shout..." he mumbled, walking away from her.
"You're a pathetic little boy, aren't you?" She muttered as she glared at the back of his head.
Schala then noticed that Lyra and Yuki had defeated that monster. She was about to go over to them to heal and congratulate them, but suddenly, she felt a piercing pain on her abdomen... exactly where that demon attacked her. She placed a hand over the area and winced in pain. Removing her hand, she saw blood. The blood had stained through her dress. Lightly clutching her wound - - which was getting more painful as the seconds passed - - she staggered back and fell over backwards with a loud thud. Jolith, Lyra, and Yuki turned their heads to face her - - as Gwen was busy helping Celeste defeat the monster - -
'What's up with her?' Jolith thought.
Guinevere gave one last furious hack to the monster that was attacking Celeste, sending the monster to it's death.
Now her attention was on Schala, the injured one. She walked over to her and placed a hand on hwe shoulder, she forced the raven haired girl to face her.
"Are you ok, Schala?" Guinevere asked concerned for any team member.
Schala snarled at the girl. "Get away from me," she said, as she hid the blood on her dress.
"You're hurt, Schala." Guinevere said softly, "You can't fool me."
Guinevere looked towards Jolith for support, but saw that he was busy helping Razimor and Victoria with their fight.
Schala glared at Guinevere, obvious dislike upon her face. "I told you, I'm *fine*."
Guinevere smiled sadly, taking her chances, casting Curaga on the girl.
"I hope that makes you feel better, Schala," Guinevere said kindly.
"Look, Guinevere... I don't need your help!" Schala snarled.
Schala had serious issues. Not only was she arrogant, but she was a sneaky, ungrateful bitch as well. Jolith had come across stubborn people before, and he had learned that it was best to just let them have their way. If it didn't hinder the mission, of course. Why did it matter if she had cast Fira on him by accident, anyways? What's done is done. Whether it was on purpose or not, there was nothing to be done about it now.
Jolith took in the scene before him - the group had fought their first battle and won. Not a very hard one, true, but a battle.
And everyone came out alive. Jolith sighed and leaned against the wall of the train car as a small smile playing on his lips, perhaps the first true smile from him in days. We can do this.
He glanced up at the clock. Only a few minutes until they arrived. Thank Hyne! His normal expression returning, Jolith scanned the room once again to see Gwen attempting to heal Schala. He smirked.
* * *
Guinevere gave up after her third unsuccessful attempt at healing Schala.
Her stock of Curaga was running low. She'd need to go to the Island Closest to Heaven to stock up on more.
"Damn you," Guinevere hissed, finally losing her patience with the ingrate.
"Look Guinevere, I told you not to do it, yet you insisted on it! Why the fukk do you want to keep trying?" Schala almost yelled.
"I do it because I care, Schala... I don't want to see my team members in any pain. If I could, I'd take all the pain in the world."
Guinevere turned now to her friend. "What do you think happened, Jol?" she asked, sympathy in her voice.
"It's Jolith. *Not* Jol," Jolith said. He sighed and got back to the topic. "Not like it matters what happened anyway... what's done is done," he said, starting toward his pack. "Oh, and if I were you, I'd quit trying to help that little bitch out. If you actually heal her, she may just kill you for it," he said sarcastically, intent on angering Schala.
Just then, the train began to slow to a stop, and the train was pulling into the station.
Guinevere turned to look at Jolith.
"You know something, Jolith? I think you're right. She probably will kill me." She said, as she left Schala lying somewhat uncomfortably on the ground.
Guinevere moved on to the others. Checking to see if they were alright, or if they were in pain.
"No, Gwen, I'm fine," Victoria said, as Guinevere was about to heal her.
"You sure?" Guinevere asked, a note of concern colouring her voice.
"Go on... I don't need it." Victoria repeated, managing to force her body into an upright sitting position.
"Ok. If you say so, Tori"
Guinevere nodded, glad of a break. With all the spell casting she had done, she started to feel rather drained. Usually, this was no problem for her, she'd simply rest until she felt physically able to go on.
However, with such a multitude of people wounded, Guinevere felt like she had to help them all. With a small glance at Jolith, Guinevere walked down the corridor, and fainted.
By this time the train had stopped, and had pulled into the station as well. Slinging his bag over his shoulder, Jolith made his way towards the corridor that connected the room they were in and the way off the train.
"Damn, girl!" Jolith said as he caught sight of a fainted Guinevere. Rolling his eyes a bit, he and the nearest person- Victoria- managed to pick her up, one on either side of the girl and supporting her with their shoulders.
"Don't nearly get yourself killed healing everyone else..." he muttered to Gwen, though he knew she couldn't hear him.
* * *
Schala knew they didn't like her. But who cared? One does not need allies to survive. And besides, she had to survive all by herself when she was little, why need it now? She took a deep breath and cast curaga on herself. She felt a stinging feeling on her wound as it healed itself. After it healed, she took a deep breath and stood up, grabbing her bag with her. The train had stopped, and they finally arrived in Deling. She quickly got off the train with the SeeDs following her, only stopping to notice Gwen fainting.
'... poor girl... I guess it would be pretty much MY fault... afterall, she did try to help me, but I just wouldn't allow her...' She thought as she carefully walked over to Gwen and placed a hand on her forehead.
"Gwen... please be alright..." She mumbled, hoping no one heard her kind words. "Celeste?" She called out. Celeste walked over to Schala. "I want you and Victoria to take Gwen to the nearest hotel. Make sure she gets all the rest she needs. When she wakes, I want you three to head to the northeast part of this city. There you'll find a rundown hotel and bar. I want you to find ANY information there. But... make sure she is feeling better when you decide to head out." Schala said the last part softly so Celeste could only hear.
Schala then stood back up and began walking to the exit, only to turn around to face Celeste, Gwen, and Victoria again. She tossed a few x- potions and phoenix downs to them. Victoria caught them. "Use these on her if she needs them"
Schala then turned to exit, with the other SeeDs following her. Each one looking back at Gwen and wishing her well.
"Okay, now we're gonna split here. Lyra, Victoria, you two will head up to the Southeast area. That is, after Victoria has dropped Guinevere off at the hotel. Find any information there. Razamor, Yuki, you two will head northwest. Same drill. Jolith, we'll be going southwest." Next she went into her bag and pulled out some envelopes and some weird devices. And began handing one envelope and device to each group. "There's 1000 gil in the envelope. Don't use it generously. We may need it for a while. The black thing I just handed each of you, are communicators. We'll communicate through those. Oh, and one more thing. Remember, we're undercover. You all know what that means."
Schala turned around to face the city. It was huge. Much bigger than she remembered.
- - - flashback - - -
A small little girl with black hair is running down a dark, damp alley. It is raining, and she is breathing heavily.
"Come back you little wretched kid!" A man screamed at her as he was chasing after her. She ignored him and continued running as fast as she can, splashing through the puddles. But she wasn't as fast as the man. He soon caught up to her and tackled her down to the hard, wet, cement ground.
- -- end of flashback - - -
Schala closed her eyes and clenched her fists.
"No..." She whispered as a single crystal tear slid down her cheek.
- - - - - -
aznchika: yup. I know I'm a procrastinator! But it's not my fault!!! . Well, maybe it isn't, but I don't wanna take the blame!!! . Actually, I had something to say here, but I forgot... so I'll move on to another thing I was gonna say. How come only the people at the Seiftis Board are only reading this?! Is it that bad.? Or is my editing skills that terrible?! PLEASE tell me!!! . I'll cry if you don't!! Please?!