CHAPTER 4

HELP IS ON THE WAY

"Man, this jungle's rough!" Alma complained as the six adventurers walked through the underbrush of the luscious jungle.

As Everhart led them on a winding path through the trees and shrubbery, the others began to fall behind, and the Lancer continuously had to stop and wait for them. The pace he had set was quite difficult for the party to duplicate, though Orlandu seemed to be able to keep up better than the others.

"(He's walking pretty fast,)" Ramza thought. "Hmmm... Orlandu doesn't seem to be having as much trouble as the rest of us. Of course, that's probably because Excalibur casts Haste upon its user. Maybe Everhart's lance does the same for him?)"

Everhart stopped again and waited for the others to regroup. "Would you like to rest?..." he asked.

"No," Ramza said.

"Awww, Ramza," Ovelia complained. "We've been walking all day! Do you know how sweaty I am with all these lousy regal robes heaped on me?!"

"Then take them off," Orlandu muttered.

"I can't do that!" Ovelia argued. "I'm not wearing anything else under 'em that wouldn't count as indecent exposure!"

"I have an idea," Ramza said. "Everhart, if you can, could you cast Haste on the rest of us? We'd be able to keep up with you better."

"So be it," Everhart said as he held his hand up and pointed at the others. "Layer upon layer, make your mark now. Haste."

Ramza felt magical energy wash over him, and felt much better. He started walking at a much faster tempo than before, and so did everyone else.

"How very strange," Worker No.8 noted. "I am immune to magic, and yet I am moving faster because of the spell."

"(That IS kind of weird,)" Alma thought to herself.

Despite his kindness in renewing Haste upon the party every time the spell wore off, Everhart declined from answering any questions about himself.

"Everything will be made clear... eventually," Everhart would say whenever any query about him was made. The others had no choice but to bite their tongues and wait.


Law stood in the dark room, seemingly alone. He had removed his shirt and bandana and stood erect, with his black-leather-gloved hands grasping his sword tightly. His well-built torso was dashed with scars of previous battles. A dark smirk was on his face.

A shape appeared before him in the darkness, and then another, and then another. Without even opening his eyes, he pulled Dark Rival from its sheath and dashed forwards. In three seconds, it was over.

"Lights, please."

The curtains were pulled from the room's windows to reveal a gruesome sight indeed. Law looked down and kicked one of the carcasses over with his boot. He sighed crossly. "Ahh, they walked right into it," he muttered.

"Er, excuse me..."

Law whipped around. A lone Chemist stood in the doorway, gawking at the carnage.

"Hey, you!" Law snarled as he pointed Dark Rival at the boy.

"Who, m-m-me?" the Chemist gulped.

"No, I was talkin' to Harvey!" Law snapped. "Yeah, of course you! Who trains these Knights? They suck!!!"

"I don't know, sir," the Chemist replied weakly.

"You don't know, huh?" Law chuckled darkly. "Then you're of no use to me!"

"Uwaaaahhhhh!!!" the Chemist yelled as Law charged at him. "I just came in to bring you what you asked for!!!" he cried.

"Eh?" Law asked, stopping the sword just millimeters away from its resting place between the boy's eyes. He put his hand out and the Chemist put a package into it. "Oh. Thanks, kid. You're all right," Law said as he lowered his blade.

"(Phew..)" the Chemist wheezed as he left.

Law opened the package and grinned at the bottle of booze inside. "Good," he chuckled as he pulled out the bottle. "Penot Noir, circa 622. A good year, if I do say so myself."

"Law..."

Law's eyes shifted to the door quicker than a leopard getting hit by lightning. Gideon stood in the entryway, pressing a scented handkerchief to his nose and frowning at the icky sight.

"Stop abusing the King's hospitality," the Cardinal reprimanded. "We could have used those soldiers."

"Well, I need to stay in shape," Law snapped defiantly. "That Delita guy ain't gonna win fights with this kind of crap. They need lots of training. And as far as I know, I haven't abused any hospitality." Law turned away from Gideon and swung Dark Rival a few times in the blood-scented atmosphere. "Bah! No women, no battles, no cash. I'm starting to worry, Gid. Getting my reward seems to be about as tough as getting drool on your shirt."

"Patience, Law. You'll get your reward," Gideon muttered. "But in the meantime..."

Law eyed him sharply. "Yeah, what?" he snorted. "Don't leave me hangin'."

"Aren't you going to clean your sword?" Gideon asked as he pointed at Dark Rival, which was still dripping body juices from its previous campaign against the three Knights. "That blood will ruin the metal."

Law grinned. "Nahh. Cleanin' Dark Rival would be a crime against nature. She craves blood; even a little bitty taste makes her deadlier."

"Swords are not living creatures, Law," Gideon muttered.

"This one is," Law snickered. "Dark Rival here is the reason your church branded me a heretic. She was forged deep in Bervenia Volcano by two Black Mages, cooled in the spilt blood of a dead Summoner and given her name by a Master Time Mage. Even wielding this thing is a sin."

"Monstrous," Gideon said as he instinctively stepped back a bit.

"You bet," Law said as he smiled. "You can't even hold the damned thing without protective gloves. Of course, that ain't even the best part."

"Which would be what, exactly?" Gideon asked.

"She's got a twin; a sister, if you will," Law said. "The legendary Rival was the twin. It was formed out of Meteor rock that was plucked from the battlegrounds of distant lands..."

"Errr... What did you do with the mechanic?" Gideon asked, trying to change the subject.

"That stogie-sucking doofus?" Law asked. "I put him to work with some other engineers on a little project. I'm gonna bring Ivalice into this century- whichever century this is, anyway."

"What did you do?" Gideon asked. Now that his interest was piqued, he didn't even notice that he had removed the handkerchief from his nose and the stench of the rotting Knights was unbearable.

"I'm building Ivalice an airship fleet," Law said as he bared his teeth. It was obvious he wasn't joking around anymore. "By noon tomorrow I'll fly on Zeratul."


It was well past sunset by the time Ramza and company had left the jungle. As they stepped out of the underbrush, they were greeted by a very majestic sight. For miles around, there was nothing but grass and hills. A light mist covered the area, making it look very soothing in the pale light.

"It's... beautiful..." Ovelia whispered.

"We'll rest here for the night," Everhart announced.

After about five minutes, things were settling down. Woker No.8 had retreated back into the jungle to gather some firewood as the humans sat around in a circle. Everhart was the farthest away from the others and he said nothing. Even after Worker No.8 returned with a lot of firewood and Ramza lit them up things remained deathly quiet.

"Errr... so... how'd you come to be here?" Orlandu asked Everhart in an attempt to break the silence.

Everhart shifted his position and set his lance across his knees. "What do you mean?" he asked calmly.

"You said this place was pretty desolate," Orlandu explained. "Why're you here?"

Ramza studied Everhart as best he could, for it was difficult to gauge his feelings with such black armor on and in such weak light.

"I... come here to train," Everhart said after a pause. "There are many monsters here of great strength."

"But we haven't seen any since the Plant Spider," Alma argued.

"We've been avoiding them," Everhart said. "They'd be too strong for you. A battle so soon after your crash would have been unwise."

"Yeah, that reminds me," Ovelia piped up. "The canopy in the jungle was so thick that I couldn't see the sky. How'd you see us come down?"

"I did not," Everhart said. "The crash could be heard for kilometers around."

"Aha," Ovelia said and grew quiet again.

"...What did you say your name was again?" Everhart asked Ovelia.

"Ovelia," Ovelia replied promptly.

"...The Queen of Ivalice," Everhart said without any sound of surprise, joy or loathing in his voice.

"I'm afraid not," Ovelia said as she shook her head. "Former Queen is more like it. Maybe Ex-Queen would be a better title, even..."

"Hmm..." Everhart said. "The former Queen of Ivalice has joined forces with a group of Heretics. How uncanny."

"We may be Heretics, but at least we're not criminals anymore," Orlandu said. "President Maclus and Captain Flite both pardoned us."

"That may not matter anymore," Everhart said emotionlessly. "With King Hyral back in power, you've probably been branded a common crook once again."

"Delita's back in power?" Alma gulped. "Great. Just great..."

"How'd you know about Delita?!" Ramza asked.

Everhart was silent again for a moment. "I... have heard his name before. I put two-and-two together when I recalled my... modern literature."

"Modern literature?" Orlandu asked. "Well, I suppose the church has already begun publishing books about how great Delita is and how evil we all are. Go figure."

"Yeah, and they'll be able to spread the word a lot faster with that printing press some guy invented about a year ago," Ovelia added.

"Sheesh," Ramza muttered. "Delita's back in power, he's spreading lies all over the world, we're criminals again and he took Rafa. Why must things turn out like this?"

"I'm sorry, Ramza," Ovelia said as she put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it gently.

"Where are you from, Everhart?" Alma asked.

"A country beyond the eastern seas," Everhart said. "I doubt you'd know of it or ever be able to reach it in your lifetime."

"So how'd you get here?" Orlandu asked.

"..." Everhart said.

"OK, you don't wanna talk about it," Alma said. "Forget it. Why don't we talk about something else?"

"I could read the phone book for a few hours," Worker No.8 said.

"Phone book?" Ovelia asked.

"He found one in Zeratul," Ramza explained. "We haven't been able to get him to put it down."

"Ahem," Worker No.8 said as he opened the book. "Aardvark, Atlas. 622 Touga Boulevard NE. 675-0764. Abadon, Benjamin. 754 Frogman Lane. 432-0965..."

After about three hours of the phone book, most of the group had fallen asleep. Worker No.8 eventually bored himself to sleep too and slumped over. Only Ramza and Everhart remained awake.

"...I have heard of your adventures, Ramza," Everhart finally said.

"Oh?" Ramza asked. "Gee, I didn't know I was famous..."

"You are known throughout the land that I come from," Everhart said. "The people enjoy reading of your escapades."

"What?" Ramza asked. "Who'd enjoy reading about me?"

There was a brief silence as the readers rolled their eyes.

"I understand that you lost a valued friend in Zeratul," Everhart said.

"Cinna..." Ramza said. "Yes..."

"I am sorry," Everhart said.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Ramza chuckled faintly. "I mean, it's ironic, you know? We went into the Realm of the Dead to win back Ovelia from Ajora, and when we come out, Delita kills Cinna! What are the odds of that?!"

"It is a pity," Everhart answered.

The two warriors sat in the darkness for a little while longer.


"Cloud, dinner's ready!" Tifa called to the spiky-haired warrior as she poked her head into his study. After defeating Sephiroth and stopping Meteor, Cloud and his friends had gone their seperate ways. Tifa and he had decided to stay together and build a new life in Nibelheim.

"Oh?" Cloud asked as he looked up. "OK, Tifa. I'm coming."

Tifa giggled. "Ever since you were sucked up by that weird warp and spat back out, you've been in that study reading history books," she said. "What's up?"

"Would you laugh if I told you?" Cloud asked.

"You know me better than that," Tifa said as she gently put a hand on his shoulder.

"I was pulled back in time," Cloud said. Tifa looked at him for a few moments before she burst out laughing. She clutched her stomach and roared for about five minutes. Cloud stood still and shook his head as he chuckled a bit himself.

"I'm serious, Tifa!" he finally said.

"(Sniffle) Oh, Cloud, you're so funny," Tifa chuckled.

"I'll prove it," Cloud said as he fished out the Rooster Stone- the Chinese Zodiac Stone that Ramza had given him- out of his pocket and held it up. "See?" he asked.

"Oh!" Tifa said, immediately sobering up and holding the spherical gem in her hands. "Wow... I've never seen anything like this..."

"My friend Ramza gave it to me," Cloud explained.

"Ramza Beoulve?" Tifa asked. "The heretic from Ivalice that saved the world?"

"That's him," Cloud said. "I was just reading about him in this book."

Tifa looked down at the thick book that was on Cloud's desk. There was a large chapter on the adventures of Ramza Beoulve. The book itself was called The Lion War and Beyond, written by Alazlam Durai.

"This book's old, isn't it?" Tifa asked.

"Real old," Cloud said.

"Hmmm..." Tifa said as she started reading.

Ramza Beoulve was the son of a noble hero. He stopped the demons known as Lucavi from reappearing in the world and he defeated the evil St. Ajora before he could try to conquer the planet.

After this escapade, Ramza was branded a heretic and he fled from Ivalice with his friends. He ventured to Zeratul where he battled valiantly against the Mechannites, another group of beasts that served St. Ajora, and defeated the saint once again in order to regain the soul of the late Queen Ovelia Atkashka.

After this, Ramza flew off to Steronn, where he married his lover Rafa Golthana and set up a new town in the strange and deolate country, and...

"Interesting, huh?" Cloud asked. "And I helped him get that queen back."

"Yeah, that's cool!" Tifa said as she kissed Cloud on the cheek. "I'm so proud of you! You're a hero in more than one time!"

"Well, how about we get some dinner?" Cloud asked. "And after that, we can-"

"Um, Cloud," Tifa said as she glanced back at the book. "...Is that book magical?"

"What?" Cloud asked. "No..."

"The words are changing," Tifa said as she looked at the book.

"What?!" Cloud asked as he stared wild-eyed at the book. Sure enough, the last sentence was changing. Now it read as follows:

The vile enemy Ramza and his vicious band of heretics were slain and eliminated by good King Delita and his loyal soldiers Gideon, Law, Silas and Adela. Delita won over the beautiful Rafa Golthana and made her his new queen. Delita has been heralded as a hero for generations because of his miraculous acts.

"WHAT?!" Cloud yelled. "This is... this is impossible!!!"

"What's it mean, Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"I've got a horrible feeling that history is being changed," Cloud growled. "I've got to go help Ramza!"

"What?" Tifa asked. "You're going to leave me again?"

"Sorry Tifa, but I must go!" Cloud said as he held the Rooster Stone up high. A portal opened up in front of him. Through the hole they could see a dark plain with mist swirling around on it. Cloud grabbed his Materia Blade (his Buster Sword was at the cleaner's) and hopped in.

"Not this time, Cloud!" Tifa said. "I won't lose you again!" She leaped into the time warp just as it closed up. They were both gone.