A/N: Well, I would have had this up sooner, but my computer has a virus ;_; luckily I back up all my files! Thank you all so much for sticking with me and continuing to review! ^-^ Oh! I almost forgot! It seems I've been confusing a few people, plz forgive me! But Nomi and the "mysterious swordsman" are the same person! I guess I didn't make that too clear ^^'' Oh well, now you know!

                                              **** Jade's P.O.V ****

I saw nothing for a while, just felt the repetitive jerking of the sword in my hand as it continued to swing freely and violently back and forth. When I was able to see again, I was standing alone, holding a blood stained sword. The dagger that was taken from me was lying on the ground at my feet, and I felt disoriented for a while. I looked around and seemed to still be at the lookout mountain, where I had left the world seemingly minutes before.
    "...What… happened?"
I looked down at the sword that was held lightly in my hand, then threw it to the ground and retrieved my dagger. A lengthy sword like that was just not my style, now this, I thought as I held up the dagger, is much better. I tossed it in the air, caught it by the handle, and stuck it through my belt loop.

 I was still a bit confused about what had happened, but decided not to worry about it for now. Besides, that swordsman might come back! With that thought, I turned and ran back towards town; paying no attention to the giant spiders that turned as I passed.

 Panting, I fell to my knees as I reached the sanctity (look! I learned a big word!) of the village.
 Zidane and Dagger were exiting the inn, and both stared blankly at me as I lay trying to catch my breath.

 "Oh Jade!" Dagger exclaimed, "Where were you? Are you alright?"
She helped me up. I would have resisted were I not so exhausted.
 "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…" I tossed my hair in front of my face to try and hid the wound on my neck.
 (Too late…) I thought, as Zidane cast me a worried glance.
 "I'm fine." I stated firmly, but he didn't seem convinced. I rolled my eyes, and walked towards the windmill, knowing that they must be going to search for Vivi.

 Why was everyone so worried about me? I mean… no one had ever been worried about me before. Well, not like this anyway, my parents did sometimes worry about my mental health though, considering I was always in front of the T.V.
 "Wait Jade," Dagger shouted behind me, "You're not leaving again are you?"
I sighed, "No, not like I really have anywhere to go anyway… If you're looking for Vivi, you'd better hurry up."

 The two jogged to catch up to me, and I was soon bombarded with questions.
 "How did you know Vivi was missing?" Dagger asked.
 "'Cause he wasn't with you." I was exhausted, and in no mood for 20 questions.
 I pretty much spaced everything else they said, and quickly preceded into the windmill, opened the hatch lying in plain sight, and practically jumped down the stairs leading to the underground factory.
 "Jade! Where the hell are you going!?"
 "Just trust me, ok?"
Realizing I had delayed the game by showing up when I did, and that Vivi had probably already been stuffed in a box, I raced down the corridors, not wanting to leave the little mage alone for too long. Sure, while playing the game, I had thought Vivi an annoyance, but this was completely different. I guess I'd kind of developed a soft spot for the kid. Once I reached the room where the box where Vivi was being stored, I had one hell of a brain attack while trying to figure out which one he was in. I bashed my head against the wall for a while, although all I had succeeded in doing was giving myself a worse headache.
 "I-is somebody there?"
 The words "common sense" damn near slapped me across the face.
 "Vivi, where are you?"
One of the coffin-like boxes shifted, and his muffled voice came again, "I'm in here!"
I nodded to myself, "Alright… stand back Vivi, I'll bust ya out."
 I bashed the living shit outta that box, and had Vivi hugging me no more than a second later.
 "Jade! How did you know where I was?"
 "I uhh… overheard some guys talking, and… well, here I am."  ^_^''
Zidane and Dagger just stared at me with a kind of awed confusion and exchanged glances.
 "Vivi, what happened?" Zidane asked.

I sighed with relief that my interrogation didn't commence any further.
 The little mage peered up at Zidane and shifted nervously.
 "After you left, some men kidnapped me and brought me here. They told me to stay put… I was so scared, I didn't know what to do."
He dropped his head and focused on the floor, "They asked me, 'Why were you outside?' and then they said, 'The cargo ship isn't even here yet.' I didn't know what they were talking about, so I didn't say anything, and then they said, 'Let's put it in today's shipment.'"
 "And then…" I sniffled, "they stuffed you up in that awful box???"

He nodded and I couldn't resist hugging him… a little too tight. ^-^'' Whoops…
 "I'm so sorry!!!" I sobbed, "If I hadn't gone away this would have never happened!"
Zidane tapped my shoulder, "Uh, Jade?"
 I blinked and stared down at the now nearly unconscious mage I held clutched to me. Immediately loosening my grip, I continued to apologize.

"Look!"

  I felt my left eye twitch in irritation, "What now?" I gave Dagger an irritated glance and stood up.

"I-I've seen these crates at the castle! … So then, this place must have some connection with Alexandria Castle!"
 (Observant aren't we?) I thought sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
 "I have to know what's going on!" she shouted.
Zidane crouched down next to Vivi, "I need to ask you a favor Vivi… we want to check out what's ahead. I know you might not be too thrilled with the idea, but-"
 Vivi interrupted, "I want to know what's going on too." He turned around to face a large machine, "Look, what is that thing?"
 Zidane nodded, "Alright, then we'll all go together."
  After inspecting the machines and determining it was creating eggs, we continued along the line, poking and prodding at the oddities. {Or at least I was… poking and prodding that is.}
 "I hear something…" Zidane stared at a window, but dropped his head noting that there was pure darkness on the other side, and he couldn't see through. "…I can't see anything… I think… Are the eggs hatching?"

A/N: Dum dum dummm!!! Yes, they are about to discover the mages! What will Jade's reaction be? Will she even care? Why am I asking a bunch of questions I can't answer? We'll either find out or not, in the next chapter! Now plz review! ^-^