CHAPTER 10: A JOURNEY HAS ENDED.

It was dark, and the cloud-less sky was covered with a thousand stars. The only thing lightning up the darkness in the desert was a small campfire. Only a few days before three shadows had surrounded this very campfire - this night, only two were left.

Jaileen was standing a few steps away, her back turned to the fire. She looked up at the stars, thinking back at the journey they had had. She remembered the fight against the gryphon, and she remembered how Jack had tried to convince her that the wedding in Conte Petie would only be a cover-up, and nothing special. She remembered his smile as he looked at her during the fake ceremony, as if they were sharing a special secret, for them alone. It is what I have left to remember. she thought, and buried her hand in her pocket. She frowned as something hurt her hand, and took the item out of the pocket. With tears in her eyes she watched the hand-made Pegasus in the starlight, and slowly turned it in her hand. "As always your feelings were right," she said to herself. "It was the only right time to give me this. And I'm sure you know how much I hate it - and wherever you are, I will always remember that."

I wonder where he went, Melody thought as she stared into the fire. I wonder what he is going to do... we all thought he was dead. Everyone thought of him as a hero, a martyr. And now... all this. I started this journey, without wanting anyone to get hurt. Instead someone dies. Dies in front of me - dies because of me. That place was best to be left alone.

"Jaileen," Melody said as the female knight returned to the camp. "Jaileen, why were they after you...? Why did they have to..."

She sat down in front of the fire with a deep sigh. "It is a long story. Jack and me once worked together with them. I guess I would have called them my friends back then." She was silent for a while as she remembered that time. "I resigned as a knight back then - I don't know why. I was regarded as one of the best among my rank, but my life there was getting boring. I longed for adventure, and shortly after I left I met Jack in town. He was an adventurer, a treasure hunter. He introduced me to the rest of the gang - Gav and four of his companions. They told me about this treasure they were planning to find - the tree of power. I got so caught up in this plan along with the others, it all sounded so exciting and great. This new content, just waiting to be explored and experienced. And I had got a very close friend in the gang along with Jack." She paused for a moment, and even though Melody longed to hear the rest she did not force Jaileen to continue.

"His name was David," the knight said. "I really liked him. I guess I thought it was some kind of love back then. But our hunt for the Tree of Power... we never even got to leave Alexandria on this grand quest. Some information came up, about things that had happened. The Mist disappeared, and everyone found out about this giant tree that was supposed to have spawned the evil monsters along with the Mist. And it was also supposed to have created the mages that destroyed our homes and families in Lindblum.

All this made us change our mind, and the idea of searching this tree and the unknown, dangerous power seemed less attractive. Jack and me wanted to leave, but Gav kept going. Much happened. And it didn't stop until a life was taken. David's." Jaileen sighed.

"That was when we left the gang completely, me and Jack. That day Gav got angry and said that no one could ever leave his gang, and they ended up fighting. Jack wounded him severely, and we ran. We never saw them since, but we heard of them. They never gave up the hunt. And Gav never forgot the wound that Jack had given him."

Melody looked away. Jaileen who had lost the one she cared for, and that she thought she loved, only to lose her true love too in the end. "I am sorry," she whispered.

"Its not your fault!" Jaileen said. "Gav and Jack would have had to meet again some day. I think that even Jack would have wanted that. To even it out - or maybe to forget what had happened, so that they could become friends again." She shook her head. "But at least he could have given Jack the opportunity to die fighting."

Staring up in the endless sky, Melody suddenly thought of her old home again, for the first time in a couple of days. She once again wondered where Kuja had gone. She would have asked him if there were a way to return. but he had told her that the Iifa Tree was truly dead. There could be no other way back... and with this in mind, she watched the glittering stream of stars, flowing north to the frozen parts of the world.

...To the place where the stream of souls could walk between worlds.

END OF CHAPTER 10

Notes/Comments:

I finally did it! My first fanfic on this page is finished! I'm sorry it took so long, but I still hope you like it, and I hope you would please write a review.

I know that the story leaves a bit of a loose end. When I first started on this, I planned it to be much longer - the journey to the Iifa Tree and the rescuing of Kuja was only meant to be the beginning of a much longer story. But as I wrote, I thought that it would be a good idea to stop here. at least for now. (I didn't even mean to kill Jack in the beginning! Actually I hate killing my characters.)

But thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!

~ Vatina