Chapter 7-Mateus and Llednar

"So, she's still alive then." Eldana said. It had been half an hour after the battle. Thenardi was still needing convinced that it wasn't an alchohol induced hallucination. Largo and Madeline were with Eldana, talking about what had just happened.

"Ok, who's she?" Largo asked.

"Shara's my sister, she was different from other Viera. She had accuracy with a bow that few had. Not only that, but she was always willing to do the right thing."

"So why did she attack you?" Madeline asked.

"One day, a black mark came over the village we grew up in, and a massive demon came to town. It basically ripped everyone it came up against into two. He made his way to our house, and grabbed Shara and my mom. I never saw either of them again. Until today. But she'd changed."

At that point, they saw a sand dune rise up into the distance. "Delia Dunes, everyone," said a voice, which transformed into Agatha.

"Hiya," she said quite placidly.

"Hi," Largo replied, proving that his dialogue was just as witty as Foobar's. Speaking of which, he appeared too. "Hello."

"I intensely dislike you," Thenardi replied, still sour over being turned into a frog.

"Why are you here?" Quin asked. It was a good question, as they were near the middle of a desert.

"Look over there." Foobar pointed to an area where a clan was. "It's Clan Nutsy vs the palace round two, with added Llednar!"

Everyone stared at his pathetic attempt at humour. Thenardi had to be stopped from setting him on fire. "What?" Foobar asked.

"Annnyyywaaaay, Llednar's there. That's bad, so we're gonna help. Wanna come with?" Agatha asked.

"Yeah, sure." Largo said.

After everyone had agreed, they moved on down to help. - - - Marche was scared. He was surrounded by people with big pointy spears. Not only that, some guy who looked like Mewt was leading them. "I think we're screwed, Kupo," Montblanc said.

"I cannot let you hurt the prince," the boy said, with a hint of malice. He sounded like he'd attack suddenly for no reason than to protect Mewt. 'Where's super mages when you need them?' he thought. He was answered by a Gunner going flying past, set on fire. The Judge who was there shouted, "THE LAWS TODAY FORBID KNIGHTSWORDS AND SLOW!!!"

"Ah crap," said Marche and the boy simultaneously. The mages flung another Templar to the side. The Summoner formally known as Red Mage started chanting, and old man Ramuh appeared to fry some more Palace troops. The viera in the dress walked along stabbing people with the katana in her hand.

"Ok, same formation as last time, folks!" Marche shouted. "Montblanc, come here, would you?

The newly appointed Time Mage walked forward. "Quicken Grisanbela a bit would you?"

"Of course kupo!" he replied, then started chanting. All of a sudden, the Assassin/Sniper had appeared on the other side where the main battle was.

"Ahem. I will still stop you. After all, how can you defeat me when you cannot hurt me," the boy grinned, suddenly behind them, and cut down Bensom, a hunter.

At that point, the Judgemaster appeared. "You know the laws for today, Llednar! RED CARD!!!"

He could hear the boy whisper, "Damn," as he was teleported to prison.

Then the warp happened. - - - Everyone there was sucked in, except the Royal Guard. Thenardi woke up to find that only Largo was with him in the room. "Where's everyone else?" he asked

"No idea," Largo replied.

All of a sudden, a section of the wall moved away, and they saw Quin, Schneider and Eldana stagger through triumphantly.

"See!" Quin exclaimed. "There will always be a secret passage in the wall."

"Yesss, I sssee that now." Schneider replied. "But where'sss Madeline and Agatha?"

Eldana took on a look of horror. "Oh damn! We must have left them behind at the entrance of the secret passage!" - - - While they were arguing, and Madeline and Agatha were getting lost, Foobar was in a strangely lit corridor. He had no idea where Agatha, or the others were. Then he saw someone, facing another direction.

"Don't you like it here, Marche?"

"Yes...but it's not real!"

Foobar realized he must have found himself the 5th Totema. As he walked forward, the Totema noticed him. "Who are you?"

"Err..." Foobar found himself without his quick wit, to everyone's delight. "I'm Foobar."

"You should not be here. Leave."

"I can't, there's no exit!"

"Then...you shall die!"

"Eep!" Foobar ran.

"So anyway, where were we Marche." - - - Madeline was lost. With Agatha. So she decided to ask about the Nirvana Staff.

"Err...any special things about the staff?"

Agatha sighed. "I already told you the abilities. AutoLife for White Mages, Phoenix for Summoners."

"Yes...but is it powerful?"

"Yes. It's the second most powerful staff, after the Dream Watcher."

"Oh...ok."

And they continued walking. - - - "Ssso, Foobar, what did you sssee again?"

Schneider was trying to calm Foobar down. Unfortunately, it was extremely hard. Foobar was scared out of his wits. After another few minutes, he gave up and said, "Ok, I'm bored now. Let'sss go to find Marche and his clan."

As they went through the corridors, Schneider wondered what this thing was which scared Foobar so much. Foobar was still gibbering, while Thenardi was unusually quiet. 'Probably missing Madeline,' he thought. As they went through to another chamber, they saw Marche, talking to...himself?

"I'm not strong! And I'm going to do this!" said the one who was more real

Then the other, less real one transformed into a Vampire, along with three others. Also, a woman appeared, a very tall, heavily armoured woman. Mateus...

"Err...little help?" Marche asked. - - - Thenardi watched silently, thinking about he actually hadn't done anything in a battle yet. What was the point? His way guaranteed living. And living is much better than being dead. Mind you, he didn't know where Madeline was. 'Where is she?' he thought. Then he saw Mateus, Totema of Humans.

The rest of Clan Destiny were readying themselves. With Madeline gone, Eldana, having finished learning Ramuh, cast Kirin on them all to bestow Regen, while Schneider cast Barrier on everyone. Quin had already started battling, casting Giga-flare on the Vampire nearest them, reducing him to critical, but not killing him. 'Damn, these things are strong!' he thought. Marche was engaging Mateus, while the Judgemaster, who was judge, was trying to shout out the laws. "TARGET: ALL IS BANNED, PEOPLE!!! Ah screw it," he yelled.

He saw a vampire headed towards him, and no-one was there to cover him, so he yelled, "FIRAGA!!!" summoning a huge Firaga-ball and sending it right at him, frying him, but not killing him.

"What the hell...?" Thenardi thought. The Vampire was very close now, and it took a swipe at Thenardi. Thenardi dodged, but only just. He tried again.

"BLIZZARA!!!" he yelled, this time freezing the Vampire. 'Hehehe,' he thought.

He ran off to help Marche, who was ducking and dodging like there was no tomorrow. Thenardi charged up a Firaga Ball and sent it straight at Mateus. It struck her right in the face, and she screamed in agony. She ran over to Thenardi and went to whack him one. He dodged. "Ha! It'll take more than that to hit me!"

Mateus grinned. "But I did. Look."

Thenardi looked down. There was his hat, the sign of all Black Mages, on the ground, crumpled.

Everyone knew that the hat of a Black Mage was sacred. It was an honour to wear one, and no-one was allowed to touch it. Not even monsters touched one, being so fearful of its owner's power. "To touch the hat is to touch death" is a Black Mage saying that is often true.

Mateus was screwed. - - - When Madeline and Agatha finally walked in, they saw Mateus being beaten severly round the head by Thenardi, who was yelling, "NOBODY...TOUCHES...THE...HAT...EVER!!!" Everyone else had stopped fighting to look, even the Vampires.

'Eep...Mateus must have touched the hat,' thought Madeline.

"Holy crap! Mateus must have touched the hat!" Agatha shouted. Mateus just screamed.

Five minutes later, when they were sure that she was dead, they looked at the crystal expectantly, and true to form, it exploded. Marche wooped. "Yay! I can go home!"

Madeline looked for some sort of flashing fun happening. But instead, the queen appeared. "Eh?" Schneider said. Everyone silently agreed.

"Why hasn't the world turned back to normal!?" Marche yelled at her.

"Because the people who made it exist still desire it." Queen Remidi replied.

"Doned, Mewt, Ritz...and myself." Marche said, an air of defeat about him. The queen disappeared. Then they all blacked out. - - - When they woke up, Quin noted that the Royal Guard had gone.

"So Marche, I will see you around," the Judgemaster said. It wasn't a question.

"Yup. Probably around Present Day."

"Ok, see ya." Cid mounted his Chocobo and rode off. Marche grinned.

"See you guys around too. Thanks for saving me there." Then he and the rest of his clan went off.

Schneider piped up with, "Where to now?"

Before anyone else said anything, Largo piped up with, "A shop for Thenardi to get a new hat."

"I second that," Thenardi said.

And so they headed for Muscadet.