Chapter 31
The forest wasn't really as pleasant as it had looked from the outside. Instead of dry leaves and twigs lying on the ground, there were human skulls and bones scattered all over the place. Phillona just seemed to walk on as if none of it affected her. The trees were so densely packed that not even a whiff of air passed through them. The pathway was quite small and obstructed now and then with thorny bushes that Sifan had to cut with his gunblade to cross through. Just when he was about to slash down one of them, Phillona stopped Sifan.
"What?" he asked, his sword still raised over the bush.
"Listen..."
There was a faint rustle of leaves as if a thousand snakes were moving in their direction. Sifan swallowed hard.
[Maybe I WAS acting like a wise guy choosing this place...]
"A Marlboro..." Phillona whispered, "Their tentacles make noises as if there were hundreds of snakes slithering on dry leaves..."
"M-Marlboro...?" Sifan gasped.
"Look..." Phillona said, "Just close your mouth and nose, when it uses its bad breath attack..."
"And then...?"
"Run."
"No way..."Sifan replied, "Can't Bahamut take care of him...?"
"Yeah sure..." Phillona said sarcastically, "By the time you remove your hands from your mou-"
The Marlboro appeared from between a couple of trees and turned towards them.
"You know..." Sifan said, "When I was small, I used to think this thing was a giant version of those cauliflowers mom used to serve..."
"Cover that mouth of yours..." Phillona cried as the Marlboro started to open its mouth, "...and your nose..."
Sifan did as Phillona told him to.
The Marlboro opened its mouth and released a dark greenish gas that soon blurred the air around them. Sifan felt his eyes water. He was running short of fresh air and he had the urge to take his hand of his mouth. But he decided against it and then, the two of them broke into a run. They ran, hoping the Marlboro wouldn't shoot out one of its tentacles and grab either of them. Fortunately, it didn't happen and after a few minutes of exasperating running, they found themselves far from anything that looked like a Marlboro.
Sifan gasped for air, panting badly as Phillona took in large draughts of air.
"Hoo boy..." Phillona said, "That...that was close..."
"A-Are we there yet?" Sifan mumbled.
"Yeah well, just a little farther..." Phillona replied, "and we'll reach a cave...filled with more Marlboros, Iron giants, hexa dragons, ruby dragons, tonberries and-"
"Enough already..." Sifan said, now breathing normally, "Are there any good materia there?"
"Good? Yes..." Phillona replied, "but the best ones of course, are in the cave after that...."
"Lemme guess..." Sifan sighed, "That's where good ol' Omega Weapon's hangs around..."
"Yup..."
"Dad kicked Omega's butt back in our world..."
"Wow..."
"...Squall Leonhart was unstoppable...even Ultima Weapon had his share of the lionheart..." Sifan said, feeling a bit proud for a moment.
Phillona smiled, "Well, I don't mean to boast but my father took down four weapons.... Ultima, Diamond, Ruby and Emerald..."
Sifan's jaw dropped, "No kidding..."
"Uh-uh..." Phillona shook her head, "He was a great fighter..."
"But he never got to be my father..." she completed as Sifan watched her walk away to the end of the pathway leading into a cave.
He felt bad for Phillona as he walked up to her and stood beside her. She was staring at the rocky cones protruding from the ragged top of the caves. The uneven ground showed no signs of moisture and it was as dry as it could get. The walls were dirty and had moss growing on it. The entire place looked like it hadn't been disturbed for ages.
Phillona just waited, thinking of something and then she turned to Sifan, "This is it...we can most probably take on all the monsters here...except maybe a Marlboro...and then we'll get the materia at the end of this cave...after that, its up to you if you wanna flirt with Omega..."
"Maybe we'll stop with the materia in this cave..." Sifan replied, "I am not all that eager to fight Omega either..."
"Okay..." Phillona replied, "It's dark in there though..."
"Yeah well..." Sifan said, "I am sure we'll be able to see a bit at least..."
They slowly began to make their way into the caves, still not knowing where they were going. However, their eyesight adapted to the dark in a few minutes and they were able to see, even though they couldn't do so very clearly.
A giant footstep thundered in their ears around a corner and a few bats screeched over Phillona and Sifan's heads.
"Must be an iron giant." Sifan mumbled taking out his gunblade, "this is my luckiest day yet..."
"Hey I've got a sleep coral..." Phillona said, digging in her leather skirt's pocket.
"Neat..." Sifan sheathed his sword.
The Iron giant came rushing out of the corner and Phillona threw the sleep coral straight at the iron giant. It caught him on his forehead and burst into pieces, releasing a pale yellow gas. The iron giant took a lazy step forward and dropped his humungous weapon. He hung his head and began to snore straight away.
They tiptoed past the ice giant further in to the zigzag pathways of the cave.
"Hey, you're not bad as I thought..." Sifan muttered.
"Do you want me to bash you with a coconut again...?" Phillona retorted.
"Geez...ok...I am sorry..." Sifan mumbled as they approached a large boulder blocking their way. Fortunately, there was a small opening at the lower right corner that was narrow enough to fit only one person.
"You go first..." Phillona said, quickly.
Sifan nodded and squeezed himself through the passageway. After he crawled out of the opening to the other side of the boulder, he heard a distant rumble in the direction from which he had come.
"Seef!" Phillona cried, "Something woke up the iron giant..."
Soon enough, loud and crashing footsteps began to echo in the air as Phillona crouched to crawl through the opening. Sifan crouched to the ground as the giant's feet appeared around the corner a few feet away behind Phillona. The iron giant gazed at her and rushed to her, his gigantic sword raised over his head. Sifan noticed that she was not crawling fast enough and that a part of her body was still under the Iron giant's sword. He reached out his hand to her and yelled, "Take my hand!"
She hesitated for a second when Sifan screamed again, "Take my hand, DAMMIT!"
She reached out and grasped his hand tightly. As the sword came swishing down, Sifan yanked Phillona with all his strength and she slid out of the passageway. The sword crashed behind her and the ground shook heavily. The iron giant let out a frustrated holler and marched away as Sifan sat on the ground, still holding Phillona's hand.
"You're and idiot!" he screamed, "An absolute idiot...couldn't you crawl faster...?"
She looked at him quietly.
"He almost killed you..." Sifan continued yelling, "H-He...Y-You would have died and...."
She continued watching him.
"I swear Phillona...if you ever...scare me like that again..." he said, still shouting.
A small tear rolled down her face.
"Don't start crying!" Sifan screamed, "You're still alive for God's sake!"
She nodded and wiped the tear away from her face.
Sifan took heavy breaths, and looked at her.
[What's wrong with me...]
"I am sorry..." she said quietly.
He stood up from the ground and stretched out his hand to her, still not saying anything to her.
She took his hand and stood up near him, "Why w-were you so upset with m-me...?"
"....................."
The other side of the boulder was still as dark as the previous one as Phillona let go of Sifan's hand.
"...You would've died....." He said slowly.
The both of them were quiet for a few minutes when Phillona spoke again.
"S-Seef..." she said quietly, "I've always...wished.... for the past ten years...t-that...I'd j-just die..."
"Don't be ridiculous..." Sifan muttered, irritated at Phillona's aspiration.
"And..." Phillona replied slowly, "W-When...Mideel...was burnt up yesterday by someone I once loved and w-when they booted me out...I couldn't take anymore..."
[Oh my God...don't tell me...a few minutes ago...t-that iron giant incident....]
"Seef, the only reason I crawled so slowly was..." She sniffed, "...so that I can d-die..."
She burst into tears, as Sifan stood paralyzed with the thought that the only reason Phillona was crawling so slowly through the opening was to kill herself. To be cut into half by the iron giant's sword.
Sifan swallowed as she continued to cry. He didn't know what to do or what to say.
[But ...an hour ago...you kept smiling...a-and imitating me...and...saying all those stuff...arguing with m-me...as if it was all fine...now, you're telling me you wanted to d-die...?]
"P-Phillona..." Sifan said, "I never thought.... I mean...the way you were an hour ago..."
Phillona continued to sniff.
"Don't cry..." was all Sifan could say.
"....................."
"Screw materia hunting..." Sifan snapped, "We're going back..."
He walked past Phillona when she caught him by the arm, "N-No...we've come this far..."
"Yeah..." Sifan grunted, "But who knows what you'll try next time..."
"I won't try anything...." she sniffed.
Her tear-filled eyes strayed on to his. He walked to her and looked at her for some time and heaved, "Alright... but ...If you try anything, Phillona.... I will never forgive you..."
"Seef...?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"Yeah...what is it?"
She replied in a small, frightened and pleading tone, "Hold my hand...."
*************************
------------------------------________________________________-
Note from the author: ok guys...sorry for making this chapter really short (shorter than the last short one)...but I have this sudden writer's block (sigh...I know every other author gets it too...)...and I couldn't really think of any heavy action or plot twists for that matter...and also...I had to add a bit of fluff...(to be honest...I don't think I am too good at it. Neither do I think I've added enough actually...)
Anyway, you can expect some serious action in the next chapter...hopefully, I shouldn't have any sort of writer's block...AH YES AND OF COURSE! THE BEST NEWS FOR THE LAST! I AM taking my friend's Laptop to med School! Meaning there's no business of waiting till December... I am going to keep updating regularly as I am doing now...so people! REJOICE AND REVIEW! And of course, please keep the faith...my first reviewer stopped reading and kicked my fic out of his/her favorites list...kinda upset about that actually...anyway...you guys rock...keep reviewing...
The forest wasn't really as pleasant as it had looked from the outside. Instead of dry leaves and twigs lying on the ground, there were human skulls and bones scattered all over the place. Phillona just seemed to walk on as if none of it affected her. The trees were so densely packed that not even a whiff of air passed through them. The pathway was quite small and obstructed now and then with thorny bushes that Sifan had to cut with his gunblade to cross through. Just when he was about to slash down one of them, Phillona stopped Sifan.
"What?" he asked, his sword still raised over the bush.
"Listen..."
There was a faint rustle of leaves as if a thousand snakes were moving in their direction. Sifan swallowed hard.
[Maybe I WAS acting like a wise guy choosing this place...]
"A Marlboro..." Phillona whispered, "Their tentacles make noises as if there were hundreds of snakes slithering on dry leaves..."
"M-Marlboro...?" Sifan gasped.
"Look..." Phillona said, "Just close your mouth and nose, when it uses its bad breath attack..."
"And then...?"
"Run."
"No way..."Sifan replied, "Can't Bahamut take care of him...?"
"Yeah sure..." Phillona said sarcastically, "By the time you remove your hands from your mou-"
The Marlboro appeared from between a couple of trees and turned towards them.
"You know..." Sifan said, "When I was small, I used to think this thing was a giant version of those cauliflowers mom used to serve..."
"Cover that mouth of yours..." Phillona cried as the Marlboro started to open its mouth, "...and your nose..."
Sifan did as Phillona told him to.
The Marlboro opened its mouth and released a dark greenish gas that soon blurred the air around them. Sifan felt his eyes water. He was running short of fresh air and he had the urge to take his hand of his mouth. But he decided against it and then, the two of them broke into a run. They ran, hoping the Marlboro wouldn't shoot out one of its tentacles and grab either of them. Fortunately, it didn't happen and after a few minutes of exasperating running, they found themselves far from anything that looked like a Marlboro.
Sifan gasped for air, panting badly as Phillona took in large draughts of air.
"Hoo boy..." Phillona said, "That...that was close..."
"A-Are we there yet?" Sifan mumbled.
"Yeah well, just a little farther..." Phillona replied, "and we'll reach a cave...filled with more Marlboros, Iron giants, hexa dragons, ruby dragons, tonberries and-"
"Enough already..." Sifan said, now breathing normally, "Are there any good materia there?"
"Good? Yes..." Phillona replied, "but the best ones of course, are in the cave after that...."
"Lemme guess..." Sifan sighed, "That's where good ol' Omega Weapon's hangs around..."
"Yup..."
"Dad kicked Omega's butt back in our world..."
"Wow..."
"...Squall Leonhart was unstoppable...even Ultima Weapon had his share of the lionheart..." Sifan said, feeling a bit proud for a moment.
Phillona smiled, "Well, I don't mean to boast but my father took down four weapons.... Ultima, Diamond, Ruby and Emerald..."
Sifan's jaw dropped, "No kidding..."
"Uh-uh..." Phillona shook her head, "He was a great fighter..."
"But he never got to be my father..." she completed as Sifan watched her walk away to the end of the pathway leading into a cave.
He felt bad for Phillona as he walked up to her and stood beside her. She was staring at the rocky cones protruding from the ragged top of the caves. The uneven ground showed no signs of moisture and it was as dry as it could get. The walls were dirty and had moss growing on it. The entire place looked like it hadn't been disturbed for ages.
Phillona just waited, thinking of something and then she turned to Sifan, "This is it...we can most probably take on all the monsters here...except maybe a Marlboro...and then we'll get the materia at the end of this cave...after that, its up to you if you wanna flirt with Omega..."
"Maybe we'll stop with the materia in this cave..." Sifan replied, "I am not all that eager to fight Omega either..."
"Okay..." Phillona replied, "It's dark in there though..."
"Yeah well..." Sifan said, "I am sure we'll be able to see a bit at least..."
They slowly began to make their way into the caves, still not knowing where they were going. However, their eyesight adapted to the dark in a few minutes and they were able to see, even though they couldn't do so very clearly.
A giant footstep thundered in their ears around a corner and a few bats screeched over Phillona and Sifan's heads.
"Must be an iron giant." Sifan mumbled taking out his gunblade, "this is my luckiest day yet..."
"Hey I've got a sleep coral..." Phillona said, digging in her leather skirt's pocket.
"Neat..." Sifan sheathed his sword.
The Iron giant came rushing out of the corner and Phillona threw the sleep coral straight at the iron giant. It caught him on his forehead and burst into pieces, releasing a pale yellow gas. The iron giant took a lazy step forward and dropped his humungous weapon. He hung his head and began to snore straight away.
They tiptoed past the ice giant further in to the zigzag pathways of the cave.
"Hey, you're not bad as I thought..." Sifan muttered.
"Do you want me to bash you with a coconut again...?" Phillona retorted.
"Geez...ok...I am sorry..." Sifan mumbled as they approached a large boulder blocking their way. Fortunately, there was a small opening at the lower right corner that was narrow enough to fit only one person.
"You go first..." Phillona said, quickly.
Sifan nodded and squeezed himself through the passageway. After he crawled out of the opening to the other side of the boulder, he heard a distant rumble in the direction from which he had come.
"Seef!" Phillona cried, "Something woke up the iron giant..."
Soon enough, loud and crashing footsteps began to echo in the air as Phillona crouched to crawl through the opening. Sifan crouched to the ground as the giant's feet appeared around the corner a few feet away behind Phillona. The iron giant gazed at her and rushed to her, his gigantic sword raised over his head. Sifan noticed that she was not crawling fast enough and that a part of her body was still under the Iron giant's sword. He reached out his hand to her and yelled, "Take my hand!"
She hesitated for a second when Sifan screamed again, "Take my hand, DAMMIT!"
She reached out and grasped his hand tightly. As the sword came swishing down, Sifan yanked Phillona with all his strength and she slid out of the passageway. The sword crashed behind her and the ground shook heavily. The iron giant let out a frustrated holler and marched away as Sifan sat on the ground, still holding Phillona's hand.
"You're and idiot!" he screamed, "An absolute idiot...couldn't you crawl faster...?"
She looked at him quietly.
"He almost killed you..." Sifan continued yelling, "H-He...Y-You would have died and...."
She continued watching him.
"I swear Phillona...if you ever...scare me like that again..." he said, still shouting.
A small tear rolled down her face.
"Don't start crying!" Sifan screamed, "You're still alive for God's sake!"
She nodded and wiped the tear away from her face.
Sifan took heavy breaths, and looked at her.
[What's wrong with me...]
"I am sorry..." she said quietly.
He stood up from the ground and stretched out his hand to her, still not saying anything to her.
She took his hand and stood up near him, "Why w-were you so upset with m-me...?"
"....................."
The other side of the boulder was still as dark as the previous one as Phillona let go of Sifan's hand.
"...You would've died....." He said slowly.
The both of them were quiet for a few minutes when Phillona spoke again.
"S-Seef..." she said quietly, "I've always...wished.... for the past ten years...t-that...I'd j-just die..."
"Don't be ridiculous..." Sifan muttered, irritated at Phillona's aspiration.
"And..." Phillona replied slowly, "W-When...Mideel...was burnt up yesterday by someone I once loved and w-when they booted me out...I couldn't take anymore..."
[Oh my God...don't tell me...a few minutes ago...t-that iron giant incident....]
"Seef, the only reason I crawled so slowly was..." She sniffed, "...so that I can d-die..."
She burst into tears, as Sifan stood paralyzed with the thought that the only reason Phillona was crawling so slowly through the opening was to kill herself. To be cut into half by the iron giant's sword.
Sifan swallowed as she continued to cry. He didn't know what to do or what to say.
[But ...an hour ago...you kept smiling...a-and imitating me...and...saying all those stuff...arguing with m-me...as if it was all fine...now, you're telling me you wanted to d-die...?]
"P-Phillona..." Sifan said, "I never thought.... I mean...the way you were an hour ago..."
Phillona continued to sniff.
"Don't cry..." was all Sifan could say.
"....................."
"Screw materia hunting..." Sifan snapped, "We're going back..."
He walked past Phillona when she caught him by the arm, "N-No...we've come this far..."
"Yeah..." Sifan grunted, "But who knows what you'll try next time..."
"I won't try anything...." she sniffed.
Her tear-filled eyes strayed on to his. He walked to her and looked at her for some time and heaved, "Alright... but ...If you try anything, Phillona.... I will never forgive you..."
"Seef...?" she asked in a trembling voice.
"Yeah...what is it?"
She replied in a small, frightened and pleading tone, "Hold my hand...."
*************************
------------------------------________________________________-
Note from the author: ok guys...sorry for making this chapter really short (shorter than the last short one)...but I have this sudden writer's block (sigh...I know every other author gets it too...)...and I couldn't really think of any heavy action or plot twists for that matter...and also...I had to add a bit of fluff...(to be honest...I don't think I am too good at it. Neither do I think I've added enough actually...)
Anyway, you can expect some serious action in the next chapter...hopefully, I shouldn't have any sort of writer's block...AH YES AND OF COURSE! THE BEST NEWS FOR THE LAST! I AM taking my friend's Laptop to med School! Meaning there's no business of waiting till December... I am going to keep updating regularly as I am doing now...so people! REJOICE AND REVIEW! And of course, please keep the faith...my first reviewer stopped reading and kicked my fic out of his/her favorites list...kinda upset about that actually...anyway...you guys rock...keep reviewing...