Disclaimer: Does anyone else think that Meliadoul might be bald under that hood? Seriously, I don't think anyone doesn't know I don't own FF Tactics. But I'm serious about Meliadoul. I think she IS bald. That's why she wears the hood. Rofel could be bald too, though his picture doesn't make me think so the way Meliadoul's does.
Author's Notes: Not much to add here. Just a quick dash over to my reader response corner:
tenshi no ai: Yes, I am rather pedantic about all details matching as much as possible. I'm not the sort who takes a lot of liberties making up additional stuff.
The last chapter was basically from Lakus' viewpoint. Naturally I couldn't try to write it to be sympathetic towards Ramza because he's trying to hunt him down. I'm not overly good at portraying emotions either, though I'm trying to practice.
I felt sorry for my generic characters too. I like them, but making up a whole bunch of identities and personalities and then integrating them into the big bunch of Ramza's other allies is too much for me. Maybe instead of saying they're dead I'll just plain ignore the fact they ever existed. Yeah. That'd work.
I hate abstract titles too. =) Must be a carryover from all those stupid "How do you relate the title of the story… blah blah blah" questions from old English classes.
hybrid: Thanks. I did think that the 'never seen again' bit was just officially, in the history books. They probably settled somewhere where they were unknown. Either that or they were just ghosts or something… bah. I'm just confusing myself again.
Uh…(blank): Well, I didn't quite say ages would come from my game file. I'm deliberately avoiding any reference to age because people would've finished the game at different times. What I was trying to say was that I'm just assuming some time passed between the final battle at Orbonne and Alma's funeral, giving Lakus and the Shrine Knights enough time to get there. What will be based on my saved game will be the abilities of the characters and the varying skills they will use. For example, my Ramza's got all the Draw Outs, all the Throws, and Vertical and Level Jump 8, so don't be surprised if he starts using them.
Also, yes, I am not going to be writing any romantic scenes. I've come to the conclusion I'm not very good at those, though I've been working to improve with no visible results. I agree that Ramza's relationships with his companions are rather vague, but I find Agrias to be an odd choice to pair with him. Working from the story I don't really see much between them. Like I said before, it's my opinion that Rafa or Meliadoul would be better choices, but never mind about that. (Whispering: Did anyone else get the impression Agrias was frigid? Might just be me, but I'm pretty sure that girl is good at scaring off potential suitors.)
Whew. It's almost a blessing that I only got a few reviews. These responses would go on forever if I had more. Anyway, on with the story.
Chapter Three
"Alma! Wait for a second!"
The brown-haired girl reigned in her mount, looking over her shoulder with an inquisitive expression. Ramza rode up beside her, swaying easily in the chocobo's saddle while glancing around.
"We've run them for long enough. We don't want to tire them out too much and then end up having to walk them for a while. It's still a good distance to the camp."
Alma sighed and nodded. She urged her chocobo forward again, but at a more leisurely pace, staying beside her brother.
"It's such a nice day for a ride, though." She tilted her head back to study the sky. It was as blue as she'd ever seen it, the endless expanse of open space dotted here and there by fluffy white clouds that drifted aimlessly like gigantic sheep. Somewhere in the trees, birds were chirping brightly, and the wind carried the fresh scent of the grassland around them.
"It is," Ramza agreed. It was a peaceful scene, but he continued to study the woods around them anyway. Caution was something his training at Gariland had bred into him, and it had further been enforced by all the traveling he'd done and all the double-crosses and ambushes he'd lived through. Alma noticed his intense scrutiny.
"Ramza, stop staring at the trees like that. Sooner or later they're going to burst into flames or something. Relax a little."
"Sorry." He looked apologetic. "It's just that I'm worried about monsters or bandits. After the war, roads are probably lined with opportunists or deserters, and monsters are probably roaming further out than normal these days."
"So, how many people do you think are left at the camp?" Alma flicked at a bug that had landed on her shoulder.
"I don't know. I told everyone before we left that they could all leave now that everything's over. I wonder how many of them actually did."
They rode in companionable silence for a while, enjoying the trek through the outdoors. It seemed to Ramza that he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever had nothing of importance to do. He'd spent the past few years running through the country with some quest or other to accomplish, and he'd always had another battle waiting around the next corner. Now he was rather short on things to do. It was an odd change, but not an unwelcome one.
Ramza glanced up into the sky to judge the time by the position of the sun. Since he was looking up, Alma was the first to notice an oddly shaped stone that vaguely resembled a sword jutting up from the side of the road. It was a landmark she'd memorized, and it told her they were near their campsite. Ramza was just returning his eyes to the road, so she took the opportunity to spur her chocobo forward, turning her head back to shout at the surprised warrior.
"We're almost there! Come on, brother, I'll race you!"
Ramza blinked, then grinned as he brought his own mount into a run, but she had a head start and also had the advantage of being much lighter than her brother in his armor. The chocobo she was riding was young and had a great deal of energy, but was also as surefooted as almost every chocobo was, so she let it have free rein and run to its heart's content.
Alma looked behind her and laughed at Ramza, who was still a goodly distance behind. She raised a hand to wave a jaunty goodbye, but instead crashed forward into her mount's neck as it came to an abrupt halt. Her ponytail flew over her back and landed squarely on her face. She heard Ramza's chocobo coming to a halt somewhere behind hers as she gingerly eased back so that her body was totally in the saddle before flipping her hair back out of her eyes. Standing scant inches away from her chocobo was Malak, holding a bucket he'd filled with water from a nearby stream. He looked unnaturally pale.
"I swear, Alma, when that chocobo came around the turn right at me, I saw my life flash in front of my eyes."
She managed a weak laugh. "Sorry."
"Malak? You're still here?" Ramza dismounted and walked his chocobo over.
"Yeah." The Hell Knight rubbed the back of his head. "Rafa and I…don't really have anywhere to go. We talked it over, but we decided we'd wait for you to get back before we decided. I know it doesn't make much difference, but just leaving without saying anything seemed pretty cold. You're not good at goodbyes, Ramza."
The Beoulve shrugged. "No, not really. Sorry."
"Come on. Let's get back to the camp." Malak grinned briefly. "Seems you might be a tad bit more inspirational than you think you are, though…"
The puzzled siblings followed Malak to their campsite, where they silently surveyed the semicircle of tents and the fire pit. Ramza finally scratched his head, just for a lack of anything better to do.
"Well…looks like almost everyone's still here."
"Mustadio left," Malak offered. "He said he had some stuff to do with his father. He took Worker 8 and Cloud with him. I know they were talking about trying to send Cloud back where he came from."
"Oh." Ramza continued looking around. "Well… good for them, I guess."
Orlandu had seen them arrive and made his way over.
"So, how was the funeral?"
Ramza shrugged.
"I don't know. We weren't really at the funeral. We just watched." He looked at Alma. His sister smiled.
"Well, you only get a funeral once. You might as well be there, right?"
"By the way…Cid…Olan was at the funeral."
The old man turned to face Ramza when he delivered that bit of news.
"Really? How did he look? Was he alright?"
"Well, he looked ok. We didn't really stop to talk. People could've been nearby. Cid, what are you still doing here? Maybe you should go talk to Olan…"
Orlandu sighed and tapped the pommel of his sword. His answer came slowly.
"No… not now, anyway. You're right- Delita's spies will probably be watching Olan. Besides, I'm supposed to be 'dead', remember? It would be awfully inconvenient for the new king if I reappeared. Besides, now that Prince Goltana is dead, there's no reason for me to surface again."
Ramza nodded briefly. He knew the pain of being separated from your family, but Orlandu and Olan were both strong. They'd be all right. He turned to the rest of the people who'd either been sitting there all along or had emerged from tents when they heard him arriving.
"Agrias? You're still here?"
The Holy Knight nodded. "The Prin- the Queen doesn't need me anymore, and I can't return to the St. Konoe Knights after aiding a heretic." She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face before settling her hand on her hip. "You've led me this far, Ramza. I suppose I'll just have to stay with you until I find something else I can do."
"Oh." Ramza felt a bit foolish. There wasn't much else to be said. He turned to the green-robed female knight who was sitting near the fire pit.
"You too, Meliadoul?"
"I'm not going back to the Shrine Knights after everything I've seen." Her voice was firm. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do now, so I'd rather stay with you for a while longer, if I can."
"Well…sure." Ramza executed a final turn. "Beowulf? Reis?"
Reis looked at Beowulf expectantly. The Temple Knight shrugged.
"I'm a heretic too, Ramza. Reis and I don't really have anywhere we need to go in a hurry. Actually we don't really have anywhere to go, period. If you don't mind, we'd like to hang around a little longer."
He paused a moment, then suddenly grinned.
"Looks like you've done a great job of gathering a lot of people with nowhere else to go, Ramza."
The Beoulve looked perplexed. "I really wasn't expecting this."
Rafa laughed.
"It looks like you're stuck with us a for little while longer."
Malak nodded.
"C'mon, Ramza, is it really that bad?"
"No… I just guessed everyone would have other things to do. I thought with the fighting over you'd all go back to your lives…somewhere." He knew it sounded lame, but he couldn't think of anything else. He hadn't exactly thought of what he was going to do when the fighting was finally done, much less what his comrades were supposed to do.
Well, it wasn't as though he really had any place to settle down, and since it seemed likely he'd still be traveling, having a few companions wouldn't be a bad idea anyway. He looked over the mixed group of people and had to smile. They all came from a variety of backgrounds, but they'd all proven themselves to be completely trustworthy. After all, they had literally followed him to Hell and back.
The thing was, what was he going to do? Ramza turned and stared down the road. Well, as always, he'd just have to put one foot in front of the other…he could always figure things out as they went along.
Little did he know how precious little time he had to relax.