The Frogmen of the Apocalypse: Gongaga
by TacomaSquall
Chapter 1
I had been in Gongaga for about three weeks when I first met Jonathan. I was returning from the market with some food that Mommy had asked me get while she was in the woods, locating a stand of rare Gongaga cedar that she wanted to be able to use for her work. I had three bags of groceries, and was struggling to carry them, when someone collided with me! I fell backwards, my bags falling to the ground, and their contents being strewn about.
Looking up, I saw one of the most handsome young men I had ever seen! He stood a few inches taller than me, with blond hair that flowed in waves to the top of his shoulders. He had broad shoulders that tapered slightly to a trim but powerful waist. I figured he was about one or two years older than me. He had dropped the toolbox that he was carrying, and was leaning forward.
"Are you okay?" His voice was a nice, soft tenor. I felt a chill go down my spine.
"I-I-I-I'm fine." I gulped in nervousness. "I didn't see you coming."
"That's okay." He looked at my parcels, haphazardly distributed on the ground around me. "Your groceries are all over. Let me help you pick them up."
"You don't have to do that."
"I helped make the mess. It's only right that I help clean it up. Besides, I have a few minutes before I need to get to the construction site for work."
Construction site?!? He worked on the reactor? That meant he was at least three years older than I was. "Okay."
We quickly gathered up my stuff, and put the parcels back in their bags. He took the bags and smiled at me. "Where do you live? I have enough time to walk a pretty girl home with her groceries."
"Ummmmm… I live out by the edge of town. We just got here not too long ago. Mom goes out into the woods nearby to find materials for her carvings."
"You're Harald and Francene Carpenter's daughter, Maiji, right?" He smiled in triumph. "I work for your dad."
The only person who worked for Dad, right now, was a fourteen-year old townie … This giant was Jon, Dad's apprentice? I blushed and hid my face behind my hand. "You must be Jon." I giggled. "I expected someone who looked younger."
He laughed. "I am big for my age. Let's get your stuff home, and then I've got to go to work."
Over the next few weeks, I found myself spending more and more time in Jon's company. He was fun to be with. He would always tell me his opinion, and it was obvious from the way he treated me that he was taught to treat girls (Daddy calls us 'young women') differently than the boys back in Junon. He would listen to what I said with patient attention, and offer his opinions, when solicited. He was perfectly willing to be dragged along with me when I would be struck by one of my usual flights of fancy. When I was wrong, he would patiently let me go in the wrong direction, and then wait for the moment when I realized I was wrong, at which point he would guide me back in the right direction.
A perfect example of this was the day when he took me to look at the Beggar's Climb, east of town. The Climb overlooked the site where the reactor was being built, and was one of the few spots in the area that was fully cleared. On a clear day, he said, you could see all the way north to the edge of Gongaga rainforest. He added that such clear days were the exception, and not the rule.
That day was one of the days that Jon swore you see the forest's edge on. He talked me into hiking out to the Climb with him, since he was off from working with Daddy, and Mommy didn't need my help on the chair set she was carving. Of course, she asked me to take the Brat along with me. We walked east from town for about an hour, with Jon leading the way. Eventually, the ground started to rise gently, and Jon said that we were nearing the Climb.
We walked for about another ten minutes, and then Zack bugged us to stop for a few minutes because he needed to go.
Jon insisted that Zack shouldn't go alone into the woods, off of the trail, but I cut him off. "Zack is a big boy, and can take care of himself." Jon shrugged in the way that I was coming to learn meant that we'd do things my way, at least for now.
Zack ran off into the brush. After about ten minutes of waiting, we started to worry. We headed after Zack, and found a spot where he had dropped his small pack and run into the bushes. At about that moment, we heard him yell in pain, ahead.
Jon darted in the direction of the yell, his longer strides eating up the distance between him and my brother. I followed after as quickly as I could.
"That hurt!" I heard Zack exclaim, ahead.
"I'm sorry, my boy. I didn't mean for you to get hurt." The speaker had a deep, almost sibilant, voice. "I can sing a song to make you feel better."
Jon yelled, "No!" He crashed through the underbrush and leapt between my brother and a Frog-man! The Frog was larger than Patter, and darker-skinned. He held a short knife in his hand, and was holding it like he was showing it to Zack.
Zack had a finger in his mouth, sucking on it. He had probably tested the edge of the knife and got a minor cut on the pad of his finger for his pains.
Jon raised a hand, balled into a fist. "Stay away from him! Don't you even think of singing a note!"
The Frog goggled at Jon, who towered over it, and decided that it would be a better time to be elsewhere. He hopped into the forest. Once again, I marveled at the leaping ability of the Frog-men, as I watched a single bound carry him a good ten feet up and fifty feet into the forest, where he landed on a tree. The Frog's black eyes stared at us indecipherably for a moment, and then the Frog leapt further into the forest, out of sight.
Jon turned to me, his body shaking in reaction. "The Frogs are dangerous around here. That's why I was trying to tell you not to let him go off alone." He smiled, taking some of the sting out of his rebuke. "You're not from here, so you probably have little experience with the monsters of the Wood."
Wordlessly, I nodded. Patter wasn't dangerous! He saved my life!
We went ahead and completed the hike. The view from the Climb was spectacular, although I think Jon exaggerated when he said you could see the forest's edge from it. Eventually, we went back to town.
Two weeks later, Jon celebrated his fifteenth birthday. All of the teen-aged children of the town were there, along with many of the kids of the construction crew. It was a big affair, with a bonfire, and games, and a group of musicians from the Gold Saucer. It was a lot of fun.
Late that night, as the party was winding down, Jon walked up to me. "Maiji, can I walk with you for a bit? I just wanted to talk."
"Sure! The party is just about over, anyway," I added. The party had been good for me, letting me make some new friends, and even giving me a chance to give a picture I drew of Jon as my birthday gift for him. I got a lot of compliments about the picture, which I drew based on my memory of his confrontation with the Frog-man, except he was protectively shielding a faceless woman from some threat not in the picture.
We walked out of the town and came to a clearing that Jon and I had found during one of our other walks. Jon stopped and looked uncomfortable.
"I don't always plan on being a carpenter's apprentice. I'm going to get a job in the reactor, once it opens, and work my way up the ladder there. There's a lot of opportunity in ShinRa for someone who is willing to work hard." I didn't understand where he was coming from. He wanted to talk to me about his career?
He shyly reached out and took my hand. "I wanted you to know that, well, I have really enjoyed the last few weeks. It has been a lot of fun doing stuff with you." My heart leapt in my throat. Unconsciously, I drew in a shallow breath and held it.
"I wanted to ask you if I could, well, you know…" He left it dangling. His hand felt nice, clasping my tiny hand in it.
"If you could –" I turned his words around on him.
"Well, if you would like…" He shifted uncomfortably. His hand rubbed mine.
"Come on. Tell me what's on your mind. You let me do it often enough." I grinned impishly.
"Well, I like you, and I was wondering…"
I think I knew what he was trying to say, but the way he was going about it, it was going to take forever! I reached up with my free hand and pulled his head closer to mine. He resisted for a moment, and then our lips met for a brief second.
Looking over Jon's shoulder as we kissed, I saw Patter, who I had not seen since our arrival in Gongaga. His eyes squinted for a moment in shock and pain, and then he sprang off into the forest.
I pulled away from Jon. "I'll be back." I didn't know what to do about Jon's question, or the turbulent storm of feelings I was experiencing, but I knew that he and I still had unfinished business.
I ran in the direction Patter had sprang, leaving Jon standing there, with a dazed expression on his face. What did I do to hurt my friend?
To be continued …