Cold as Ice- Resurfacing
Authour's Note: Well, so much for being consistent -_-;... A lot of stuff's been going on over here lately, like college applications and family occasions and things like that. And with me suddenly having intense bursts of inspiration for all my OTHER stories, this one receded to the back of my mind for a long long time. Um... I'm gonna TRY to update again within the next month, I swear ^_^;
As soon as the party stepped out onto the world map, they saw that a new area map had appeared nearby, in the mountains. They ran to it, and when they got there, they saw that it was a cave entrance, recently blown into the rocks. The dust was still settling.
Dagger coughed. "How did this happen?" she asked, looking up at the entrance.
"These mountains are riddled with caves," said Amarant. "She just needed to blow out an opening."
"Boko?" Zidane questioned.
As if in answer, a chocobo with dyed feathers ran out of the caves, with a skirted, caped, feather-wearing moogle astride its back. Mogli stopped just beyond the newly made entrance, and Boko, whose face was now concealed by a mask, cried, "I'll make you pay for ruining me!"
"Ruining WHAT?" Freya protested.
"How dare you insult me!" she shouted. "That's it, now I'm mad! Come, Mogli!"
"Kweh!" he kwehed, and turned and fled back into the caverns.
Zidane blinked. "Well, that was interesting..."
"I wonder what she's planning in there," Dagger mused.
"The only way to find out is if we follow her!" Zidane grinned.
"Why bother? What can she do to the rest of the world from inside that cave?"
Zidane ignored Amarant and ran forward into the caves. Dagger followed him, Steiner followed her, Vivi followed him, and Eiko followed Vivi. Quina followed Eiko just to follow.
Freya turned to Amarant, who looked annoyed with Zidane's having ignored him, and said softly, "Well, I agree with you, if it's any consolation."
He didn't respond. Instead, he followed the others into the cave, leaving her there. She frowned, becoming increasingly aggravated with him, and then followed as well.
Within the caves, Zidane and the others had stopped at a fork in the road. There were two potential paths, and they didn't know which to choose.
"I say we split up," Zidane suggested.
"Splitting up is--"
"I'll go with Zidane," Dagger said, interrupting Amarant. He turned toward her and seemed to be glaring at her from beneath his unruly red mane.
"I must accompany the princess," Steiner announced.
"Okay, so me, Dagger, and Rusty," Zidane said, then he looked at the others.
"I'll go with Amarant." As soon as she'd said it, Freya wondered why. She was starting to feel sorry for him now, the way Zidane and Dagger kept ignoring him or cutting him off. Sympathy, she guessed, and nothing more.
"Okay. Vivi, Eiko, why don't you go with Freya and Amarant, and Quina can come with us."
"Okay," Vivi responded shyly, with a nod.
"We'll meet back here when one of us finds something," Dagger said, and then her group turned and walked down the left passage.
Amarant looked down at Eiko and Vivi. "Hmph. Stuck babysitting."
"Hey!" Eiko protested, pouting angrily up at him.
"It's okay, he doesn't mean it," Freya smiled.
Vivi blinked, and craned his head back to look up at Freya. "Your hat's gone."
"Yeah. It caught fire when we fought Boko. I told you that, didn't I?"
"You look a lot prettier without it," Eiko announced, before she turned to walk down the path. Vivi followed closely behind her.
Freya blinked. As Amarant walked by, she heard him whisper, "She's right."
~
As they wandered through the cave, Freya's thoughts kept turning to what Amarant had said. It didn't seem like the sort of thing he'd normally do. It left her wondering. And the previous incident in Treno with the card-player... He'd stood up for her then. Did Amarant...have a thing for her?
She shook her head violently to clear it of the thought. It was pure nonsense. Amarant couldn't think of anything beyond fighting and himself.
"Are you okay?" Vivi asked.
"Huh?" She looked at him and flashed him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine."
"Anybody else hear anything?" Eiko asked, glancing from side to side.
Amarant held his arms out for everyone to stop, and since he was leading the group, they did. "I hear it," he said.
Freya could hear it too. A quiet series of clicks, like claws against tile, but very even and rhythmic.
"What is it?" asked Eiko, as she looked around the cave.
"Sounds like--"
The clicks suddenly grew together into a long drawn-out tone, and a grinding sound was heard. Freya found herself thrown to the ground as a loud thud sounded behind her. She moved to stand, and saw Amarant doing the same beside her. She realized immediately that he'd shoved her, and she was about to shout at him.
Then she saw the large section of ceiling that was missing from the cave roof immediately behind their group. Metal wires were attached to the sheet of rock on the ground, and with a groan they started to shorten, pulling the piece of roof back up into its spot. As soon as it settled there, the clicking started again.
"A timer," Amarant finished, as he dusted himself off. He looked to Freya. "Are you okay?"
Why did he ask? That was definitely out of character of him. "I'm fine," she nodded. "Thanks." She looked over at the two children, who were staring wide-eyed at the cave roof. "Are you two all right?"
"We're fine, you were the only one standing under it," Eiko responded.
"I wonder if there are more things like this in the cave," Vivi pondered.
"Probably. That Mog's crazy." Amarant turned away from Freya and started walking down the path again. "Keep listening for another one of those timers."
Eiko and Vivi ran after him, and Freya followed behind at a slower pace than the two children. Why had he saved her? Could he possibly have grown attached to her somehow during their trials in the Ice Cavern? No, that was madness. If Amarant was "attached" to anybody, it was probably Lani.
Freya didn't like Lani much. The woman was just annoying. What did Amarant see in her, anyway?
She shook her head. 'I'm being silly,' she thought. 'Amarant doesn't have a thing for Lani.' The thought was ridiculous. Amarant having feelings for anybody was an absurd notion. He probably had saved her just because he knew he'd need somebody more skilled in battle than the two children to get through here. The random battles were pretty tough.
The clicking sound reached her ears again, and she looked up. There was a slit on either side of the wall, up ahead, near where Amarant was. She realized what was going to happen, and ran forward just as the solid tone was starting. She grabbed Amarant's collar and hauled him back, just as parallel spikes slammed out from each of the slits, creating a wall of bars in the middle of the path.
Amarant stared at the spikes as they receded back into their proper places. "Are you okay?" Freya asked, and he turned to her.
Her eyes widened as soon as he did, because now she could see blood running down his arm. "Oh god, you're bleeding," she said, leaning down to inspect it.
He looked down at his right arm. There was a gash down his forearm; the spike had grazed him as Freya had pulled him away. "It's fine," he said, pulling his arm away from her.
"That looks really bad," Eiko piped up.
"It's just a flesh wound," he protested coldly.
"Let me take care of it." Freya tried to look at the wound, but he turned away from her.
"It's fine," he insisted.
Freya glared at him. Why was he doing this? She had saved his life, and now she was just trying to help. Why was he always so cold to her?
"I have Cure," Eiko offered.
Freya shook her head. "That only restores HP. It doesn't heal wounds."
"I'm perfectly fine," Amarant insisted again.
"Well you won't be if you just let it bleed," Freya responded, annoyed, glaring up at him with her arms akimbo.
After a short silence, he grudgingly extended his arm to her. "Fine, then fix it."
She blinked. He'd relented. That didn't seem like something he'd do. But she took the opportunity as it was given, and took out a first aid kit to bind the wound.
"Why weren't you paying attention to the timer?" she asked, as she started bandaging the gash.
"My mind was on something else," he replied, with that same flat tone to his voice that he always had. As he said it, his gaze moved up to her eyes, and she involuntarily moved hers to his, or where she thought they were, anyway.
They stared at one another like this for quite some time, until Eiko waved her hand between them, blocking their gazes from one another, and asked, "Hello? You two okay, there?"
The solid tone sounded again, and the spikes slammed out behind them. Freya looked at the wall of bars, and then back at Amarant. Wordlessly, she went back to bandaging his arm.
The way he'd looked at her after saying "my mind was on other things"... That had to mean something. Did it mean...his mind was on her? She frowned at the thought. Of course his mind wasn't on her. And if it was, should she even care? She had Fratley to think of. She--...kept thinking about Amarant instead.
She looked up at his face, and when she saw that he was watching her, she blushed and focused on his bleeding arm again. When she had finished, she stood without looking at him, and said, "Okay, let's go."
"Thanks," he told her.
She found herself blushing deeper, so she turned away from him.
Eiko's loud voice interrupted the moment. "Are you sick or something, Freya?"
"No, I'm fine," she replied, shaking her head. "We should wait for the trap to activate again before we go."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amarant nod in agreement. She took a deep, cleansing breath, and tried her hardest not to think about him.
Authour's Note: Well, so much for being consistent -_-;... A lot of stuff's been going on over here lately, like college applications and family occasions and things like that. And with me suddenly having intense bursts of inspiration for all my OTHER stories, this one receded to the back of my mind for a long long time. Um... I'm gonna TRY to update again within the next month, I swear ^_^;
As soon as the party stepped out onto the world map, they saw that a new area map had appeared nearby, in the mountains. They ran to it, and when they got there, they saw that it was a cave entrance, recently blown into the rocks. The dust was still settling.
Dagger coughed. "How did this happen?" she asked, looking up at the entrance.
"These mountains are riddled with caves," said Amarant. "She just needed to blow out an opening."
"Boko?" Zidane questioned.
As if in answer, a chocobo with dyed feathers ran out of the caves, with a skirted, caped, feather-wearing moogle astride its back. Mogli stopped just beyond the newly made entrance, and Boko, whose face was now concealed by a mask, cried, "I'll make you pay for ruining me!"
"Ruining WHAT?" Freya protested.
"How dare you insult me!" she shouted. "That's it, now I'm mad! Come, Mogli!"
"Kweh!" he kwehed, and turned and fled back into the caverns.
Zidane blinked. "Well, that was interesting..."
"I wonder what she's planning in there," Dagger mused.
"The only way to find out is if we follow her!" Zidane grinned.
"Why bother? What can she do to the rest of the world from inside that cave?"
Zidane ignored Amarant and ran forward into the caves. Dagger followed him, Steiner followed her, Vivi followed him, and Eiko followed Vivi. Quina followed Eiko just to follow.
Freya turned to Amarant, who looked annoyed with Zidane's having ignored him, and said softly, "Well, I agree with you, if it's any consolation."
He didn't respond. Instead, he followed the others into the cave, leaving her there. She frowned, becoming increasingly aggravated with him, and then followed as well.
Within the caves, Zidane and the others had stopped at a fork in the road. There were two potential paths, and they didn't know which to choose.
"I say we split up," Zidane suggested.
"Splitting up is--"
"I'll go with Zidane," Dagger said, interrupting Amarant. He turned toward her and seemed to be glaring at her from beneath his unruly red mane.
"I must accompany the princess," Steiner announced.
"Okay, so me, Dagger, and Rusty," Zidane said, then he looked at the others.
"I'll go with Amarant." As soon as she'd said it, Freya wondered why. She was starting to feel sorry for him now, the way Zidane and Dagger kept ignoring him or cutting him off. Sympathy, she guessed, and nothing more.
"Okay. Vivi, Eiko, why don't you go with Freya and Amarant, and Quina can come with us."
"Okay," Vivi responded shyly, with a nod.
"We'll meet back here when one of us finds something," Dagger said, and then her group turned and walked down the left passage.
Amarant looked down at Eiko and Vivi. "Hmph. Stuck babysitting."
"Hey!" Eiko protested, pouting angrily up at him.
"It's okay, he doesn't mean it," Freya smiled.
Vivi blinked, and craned his head back to look up at Freya. "Your hat's gone."
"Yeah. It caught fire when we fought Boko. I told you that, didn't I?"
"You look a lot prettier without it," Eiko announced, before she turned to walk down the path. Vivi followed closely behind her.
Freya blinked. As Amarant walked by, she heard him whisper, "She's right."
~
As they wandered through the cave, Freya's thoughts kept turning to what Amarant had said. It didn't seem like the sort of thing he'd normally do. It left her wondering. And the previous incident in Treno with the card-player... He'd stood up for her then. Did Amarant...have a thing for her?
She shook her head violently to clear it of the thought. It was pure nonsense. Amarant couldn't think of anything beyond fighting and himself.
"Are you okay?" Vivi asked.
"Huh?" She looked at him and flashed him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine."
"Anybody else hear anything?" Eiko asked, glancing from side to side.
Amarant held his arms out for everyone to stop, and since he was leading the group, they did. "I hear it," he said.
Freya could hear it too. A quiet series of clicks, like claws against tile, but very even and rhythmic.
"What is it?" asked Eiko, as she looked around the cave.
"Sounds like--"
The clicks suddenly grew together into a long drawn-out tone, and a grinding sound was heard. Freya found herself thrown to the ground as a loud thud sounded behind her. She moved to stand, and saw Amarant doing the same beside her. She realized immediately that he'd shoved her, and she was about to shout at him.
Then she saw the large section of ceiling that was missing from the cave roof immediately behind their group. Metal wires were attached to the sheet of rock on the ground, and with a groan they started to shorten, pulling the piece of roof back up into its spot. As soon as it settled there, the clicking started again.
"A timer," Amarant finished, as he dusted himself off. He looked to Freya. "Are you okay?"
Why did he ask? That was definitely out of character of him. "I'm fine," she nodded. "Thanks." She looked over at the two children, who were staring wide-eyed at the cave roof. "Are you two all right?"
"We're fine, you were the only one standing under it," Eiko responded.
"I wonder if there are more things like this in the cave," Vivi pondered.
"Probably. That Mog's crazy." Amarant turned away from Freya and started walking down the path again. "Keep listening for another one of those timers."
Eiko and Vivi ran after him, and Freya followed behind at a slower pace than the two children. Why had he saved her? Could he possibly have grown attached to her somehow during their trials in the Ice Cavern? No, that was madness. If Amarant was "attached" to anybody, it was probably Lani.
Freya didn't like Lani much. The woman was just annoying. What did Amarant see in her, anyway?
She shook her head. 'I'm being silly,' she thought. 'Amarant doesn't have a thing for Lani.' The thought was ridiculous. Amarant having feelings for anybody was an absurd notion. He probably had saved her just because he knew he'd need somebody more skilled in battle than the two children to get through here. The random battles were pretty tough.
The clicking sound reached her ears again, and she looked up. There was a slit on either side of the wall, up ahead, near where Amarant was. She realized what was going to happen, and ran forward just as the solid tone was starting. She grabbed Amarant's collar and hauled him back, just as parallel spikes slammed out from each of the slits, creating a wall of bars in the middle of the path.
Amarant stared at the spikes as they receded back into their proper places. "Are you okay?" Freya asked, and he turned to her.
Her eyes widened as soon as he did, because now she could see blood running down his arm. "Oh god, you're bleeding," she said, leaning down to inspect it.
He looked down at his right arm. There was a gash down his forearm; the spike had grazed him as Freya had pulled him away. "It's fine," he said, pulling his arm away from her.
"That looks really bad," Eiko piped up.
"It's just a flesh wound," he protested coldly.
"Let me take care of it." Freya tried to look at the wound, but he turned away from her.
"It's fine," he insisted.
Freya glared at him. Why was he doing this? She had saved his life, and now she was just trying to help. Why was he always so cold to her?
"I have Cure," Eiko offered.
Freya shook her head. "That only restores HP. It doesn't heal wounds."
"I'm perfectly fine," Amarant insisted again.
"Well you won't be if you just let it bleed," Freya responded, annoyed, glaring up at him with her arms akimbo.
After a short silence, he grudgingly extended his arm to her. "Fine, then fix it."
She blinked. He'd relented. That didn't seem like something he'd do. But she took the opportunity as it was given, and took out a first aid kit to bind the wound.
"Why weren't you paying attention to the timer?" she asked, as she started bandaging the gash.
"My mind was on something else," he replied, with that same flat tone to his voice that he always had. As he said it, his gaze moved up to her eyes, and she involuntarily moved hers to his, or where she thought they were, anyway.
They stared at one another like this for quite some time, until Eiko waved her hand between them, blocking their gazes from one another, and asked, "Hello? You two okay, there?"
The solid tone sounded again, and the spikes slammed out behind them. Freya looked at the wall of bars, and then back at Amarant. Wordlessly, she went back to bandaging his arm.
The way he'd looked at her after saying "my mind was on other things"... That had to mean something. Did it mean...his mind was on her? She frowned at the thought. Of course his mind wasn't on her. And if it was, should she even care? She had Fratley to think of. She--...kept thinking about Amarant instead.
She looked up at his face, and when she saw that he was watching her, she blushed and focused on his bleeding arm again. When she had finished, she stood without looking at him, and said, "Okay, let's go."
"Thanks," he told her.
She found herself blushing deeper, so she turned away from him.
Eiko's loud voice interrupted the moment. "Are you sick or something, Freya?"
"No, I'm fine," she replied, shaking her head. "We should wait for the trap to activate again before we go."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amarant nod in agreement. She took a deep, cleansing breath, and tried her hardest not to think about him.