"Freya, you're leaving soon, are you not?"
"Yes, I can hardly wait to see everyone."
"Alexandria…I went there many years ago…how long will it take to rebuild Burmecia?"
"I don't care, as long as I am with you."
"I love you, Freya."
Amarant watched as Freya tossed in her sleep. They had been traveling since eight in the morning, and it was well past midnight. They were two thirds of the way to Burmecia and had set up a tent. Bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, Amarant pulled out a rugged map and mentally went over the path they had taken. They had gotten much further in one day then he thought they would. They would be in the city well before sunset, as Freya had said. Closer to a little after noon, he guessed. Freya's head tossed from side to side as she muttered something incoherently. Amarant ignored it and went back to the map. He planned a course for the next day as best he could. He wasn't too familiar with the area around Burmecia. He spent most of his time in the southeast part of the continent, near Treno.
"How long will it take to rebuild Burmecia?"
"I don't care, as long as I am with you."
"I love you, Freya."
Freya's eyes jerked open and she sat up quickly, out of breath. "Fratley?" Amarant set down his map and looked at her. She looked around the tent, trying to get her bearings. She was shaking, and small beads of sweat had formed around her forehead. That conversation…she remembered it vividly, as if it had happened no more that an hour ago. She looked back at Amarant. "How do you feel?" she asked him.
"Huh?" he questioned, not sure what she meant.
"How tired are you? Are you up to moving on? It's obvious I won't be getting a good rest, and it would be a waste of time for me to stay."
Amarant was very tired. From being up late the night before, and then traveling all day, he was in need of a good rest. "Freya, it was one bad dream. Go back to sleep." With that, he began to make a bed for himself.
But Freya was already wide awake. "Fine. I'll go on ahead by myself."
"Freya, don't be foolish. It's almost one in the morning. We'll be heading out in no more than a few hours anyway. Go back to sleep," He repeated himself again, with a bit more edge.
"No. I'm going on ahead," Freya said stiffly. Amarant rolled over so he wasn't facing her. "Fine. Do whatever you want, but I'm staying here."
Freya picked up her spear, put her armor back on, and stepped out of the tent. She knew the area fairly well, and once she got closer, she could find the way with her eyes shut. Gripping the spear, she headed off. She felt a slight twang of guilt for leaving Amarant in the middle of nowhere, but she had to keep moving. Besides, it's not like she asked him to come. That was his own idea. She hadn't needed him there in the first place, and she certainly didn't need him to hold her back.
Amarant had fallen asleep soon after Freya had left, and it was now close to four that morning. He yawned in his sleep, and rolled over, but quickly sat up as a sharp pain hit him in the side. Looking down at what had caused it, he rolled his eyes as he realized he had rolled right onto his set of claws. Getting up, he wondered whether or not he should try to catch up with her. He felt a little guilty for not going with her…but not too much. As he shrugged it off, he picked up the map trying to figure where she would be about now. "She should be a few miles out by now," he thought. There was no way he could catch up with her on foot. He would need some sort of transportation, like…like a chocobo. Good chocobos were hard to come by these days, and most couldn't run for more than a mile at a time. Unless you had a quality one, they were more trouble than they were worth. But, right now, there was really no other choice, he thought as he picked up some greens and set out to catch a chocobo.
Lack of sleep was starting to heavily set in on Freya. Fighting off the monsters that littered the path didn't make it any easier. She was ill equipped for a journey from the start, and she was down to her last few potions and a few ethers. She was beginning to question if she'd actually make it to Burmecia when she was attacked from the back by an ironite. The flying dragon quickly swiped at her with a sharp claw. Freya quickly cast Reis's Wind and then jumped, hoping to gain as much health back as she could before she attacked. Levitating, and ready to pounce on her enemy, she positioned her Dragon's Hair right above her foe and started to descend. Driving the spear into the dragon, she realized it had been dead before she had even touched it with the spear. She became even more confused when she heard a sickly "Kwee…." She turned to find a chocobo that looked half dead and Amarant standing next to it, rune claws equipped and still in a battle stance. He straightened and walked over to dead dragon, searching for gil and any other items it might have had. Finding a hi-potion, he handed it to Freya. "You look like you need this more than I do."
Freya took it, but didn't take her eyes off Amarant. "How long have you been following me?" she asked, not sure whether to be grateful for the help, or mad that he had left her in the first place.
"Haven't been following you. Didn't start off until after four. It was luck that I actually found you. I'd have been here sooner if I could have found a halfway decent chocobo."
Freya looked at the sun and guessed it was probably after nine. Amarant saw her eyelids were heavy and that she was having trouble keeping them open. "You should have listened to me last night, you know. You're in no condition to be traveling." They started to walk together and after a while, Freya felt a few small raindrops. Her spirits lifted as she knew they were getting closer. She began to walk slightly faster, and Amarant followed suit. Wordlessly, they continued to walk together until they entered the 'city of perpetual rain'.
***********
Well, there's chapter 4…please give me some feedback. I'm really trying to keep everyone as close to their character in the game as I can. I probably won't get to chapter 5 until Thursday night, so if you have any comments or suggestions please review or email me (ilac03@yahoo.com), especially suggestions concerning what to do with Fratley. Still not sure what's gonna happen to him…
