Chapter Eleven
Alexandria; Main Square; Noon
The very second Amarant said "On guard", Freya was charging forward. She moved forward in a blur and slashed Amarant across the face with her spear. Amarant backed up halfway through the attack, making part of the wound shallow. Realizing she wanted to fight rough, Amarant raced forward to slash her in the face. Freya leapt backward, but Amarant kept rushing forward and he slashed her in the face right back. Freya backed up, and Fratley had to keep himself from intervening. Where were the guards? That question was in Fratley's mind.
Amarant knew where the guards were. They had passed by earlier, but nothing had been happening, so they headed off. They wouldn't be back in another ten minutes, and Freya and he could easily finish a battle in that time.
Amarant moved in to make another attack, but Freya leapt in the air to avoid it. The taste of her own blood in her mouth was rather unpleasant, but Freya ignored it as she soared through the air. She charged up her spear with the energy used for Lancer, then threw her spear down toward Amarant. Amarant, having seen the attack, dodged with incredible ease. The spear slammed into the adobe with such force it seemed as if either the lance or the brick had to break. Neither did, however. Amarant snatched Freya's spear and threw it in the air. It was not an attack however; he was returning her spear.
Freya quickly grabbed her spear and slashed Amarant lightly in the shoulder on the way down. Amarant retracted the claws on his right hand and punched her in the face. Freya fell to the ground, but she quickly back-rolled and soon was on her feet.
"Since when were you so God-damn athletic?" Amarant asked.
"Since you noticed, you nitwit," Freya replied.
"Nitwit?" Fratley muttered under his breath, confused at Freya's word- choice.
Amarant, clearly, did not like being called a nitwit. He rushed forward and punched Freya in the stomach. Freya toppled over, but when Amarant tried to hit her back, she kicked him with one of her powerful feet and knocked him to the ground. Freya rose to her feet, a dull pain in her stomach. She waited impatiently for Amarant to get up, for unlike him, she didn't attack her sparring partner while he was down.
Amarant soon rose. His claws began to glow a blackish color. He then raced forward and slashed Freya in the left shoulder. Freya let out a soft cry of pain. The attack was brutal! Freya would have to ask Amarant about it later. For now, she would just nail him back.
"Power of the heavens, lend the power to vanquish!" Freya shouted.
Energy gathered in a star shape in Freya's hand. It gathered slowly, but Freya didn't want to deal much damage anyway. She threw the star of energy at Amarant and nailed him in the stomach. He toppled to the ground again.
"Sorry! Aimed too low!" Freya told him.
"Stupid bitch," Amarant muttered under his breath. He then said in a louder voice. "Then practice your aiming, idiot!"
Amazing, the difference between what he thinks and what he says, Freya thought with amusement.
Amarant rose to his feet and tried to kick Freya. Freya moved out of the way quickly and kicked Amarant in the thigh. Amarant quickly moved and smacked her in the face. Freya backed away and slashed Amarant in the shoulder with her lance. Amarant slashed her with his claws in her left shoulder, making the claw wounds she already had deeper.
They were both getting no where quickly, and they knew it. Freya leapt in the air once more, and Amarant cursed vilely, wishing he could jump like that. Expecting Freya to throw her spear down, Amarant kept ready to dodge.
"Power of the heavens, release the power of the mighty warriors," Freya muttered, knowing the attack had the potential to cream Amarant.
Suddenly a dragons symbol appeared under Amarant. A dragon spirit plowed through him, sending an explosion with it. Amarant leapt out of the way.
"YOU STUPID ASS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?" Amarant roared angrily.
Freya landed on her feet.
"No, I'm trying to heal you," she said sarcastically after muttering an apology.
Amarant sighed. "Forget it. I'll get back at you."
Amarant took a few pieces of Gil out of his pack and threw them at Freya. The Gil streaked through Freya like knifes, leaving bloody cuts. Freya yelped and fell to her knees.
"Oww. Damn you, Amarant!" Freya shouted, getting to her feet.
The two warriors stood for a few seconds, watching the other for any sudden moves.
"Okay, this is stupid," Freya said. "How about we each get one chance to use our most powerful attack, okay?"
Amarant nodded. Freya took a deep breath.
"Do it!" Freya shouted.
A split second later, Freya was shouting.
"Power of the heavens, show off the cherry blossoms of hope!" Freya shouted, though the attack she was using wasn't her most powerful.
At the same time, Amarant shouted something in a different language that sounded like demon grunts. A dragon spirit plowed through, sending cherry flower petals into the air while a small flame appeared in a few feet away from the Freya.
That was when the area in the middle of Amarant and Freya exploded in a massive blast of fire, sending the two warriors backward. They both crashed into walls on the opposite sides of the square and fell to their knees. What came out of their mouths was completely different, however.
'God damn it, that hurt," Freya muttered, among other things.
"Bloody shit." Amarant spat, among much worse curses.
Fratley walked over to Freya to see if she was all right. She appeared to be pretty badly hurt, though she said otherwise. When Fratley handed her a Hi-Potion, she was quick to drink it. She watched at Amarant rose to his feet.
"That was painful," Amarant grunted. "What the hell happened?"
Freya shrugged. "I have no idea. It was a little too weird. What attack did you use?"
"You don't want to know," Amarant told her.
"Actually, I do," Freya replied, some of her wounds beginning to heal themselves.
"I'm not telling you," Amarant grunted.
"Fine, then." Freya paused as she rose to her feet. "What do you think happened?"
Amarant shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps the attacks we used were a little too strong." He trailed off, staring at the center of the square.
The smoke had finally cleared from the square's center, and in the middle was a hole. The adobe had been completely fried away, leaving a smoldering dirt hole in its wake. Freya couldn't help but laugh slightly.
"Imagine how much that costs!" she told Amarant.
"You pay for it," Amarant grunted.
"Why me?" Freya asked.
"It was your idea to use our most powerful attacks."
Freya sighed. "Fine. Blame the whole thing on me! But you will agree with this, though. That fight ended in a draw."
Amarant was silent for a while before he finally spoke. "Unfortunately, you're right." His voice held regret.
"Are you two done?"
Amarant and Freya both turned to the direction of the familiar voice. Standing near an arc that lead to a moat was a blonde 17-year-old with a tail. His blonde hair reached his shoulders, while he had blue eyes. He wore a green vest over a white sleeveless shirt, along with blue pants, gray gloves, a leather belt, and large shoes. A small scabbard hung from his thigh.
"You two are pretty lucky the guards weren't around, and you're even luckier I didn't call them! Sometimes I wonder about you two. Are you someday going to kill each other?" the blonde asked.
"Hello Zidane," Freya said, completely ignoring his question.
"Shut up, monkey brat," Amarant said at the same time Freya was speaking.
Zidane looked over at Freya.
"What are you doing here? I thought you returned to Burmecia to help rebuild. I know you couldn't have rebuilt it in two months!" Zidane said.
"I kind of had no choice but to come here," Freya told him, but she didn't elaborate.
"Hmm? Really?" Zidane asked, seeming interested. "What for?"
"You honestly don't want to know," Freya replied.
"She was kidnapped," Amarant grunted.
"Hate you too, Amarant," Freya spat.
"Kidnapped? He serious?" Zidane asked.
"I'll tell you about that later. Right now I need information," Freya told Zidane. "Do you think I could see Garnet?"
"I highly doubt it's a problem. Garnet gladly sees old friends. Even if she barely spoke with some of them," Zidane replied, turning in the direction of the castle. "Coming, Amarant?"
"Yeah right," Amarant grunted. "I have better things to do."
"Like mope," Freya muttered.
"Shut up," Amarant growled. "You know what I'm going do."
"That I do. Good luck," Freya told him.
"Whatever." Amarant walked away from the group and headed toward the exit of Alexandria.
"I'll never understand him," Zidane muttered. "Well, come on! Don't just stand there!"
Zidane ran off through the arc. Freya nodded at Fratley, then headed off. Fratley quickly followed, and even though they didn't notice, a butterfly was following them. They soon arrived at a small river that separated Alexandria Castle from the city itself. The three (well, four counting the butterfly) got onto the boat, and the knight on the boat carefully rowed the boat across the shallow river and to the castle. The four then entered the castle.
"Garnet!" Zidane bellowed. "We have more company! How popular are we, eh?"
Freya shook her head with disbelief. Soon, a young black mage entered the room. He wore a simple blue shirt tied with leather. His pants were striped green and white, though they looked rather old. He wore a large belt with a large buckle, and he wore simple leather shoes. He had a tall lopsided hat, and his face was completely hidden from view except for yellow eyes.
"Gosh, Zidane, I won't be surprised if Lindblum heard you," the black mage said.
"Hello Vivi," Freya said. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came by to say hello," Vivi replied. "What about you?"
"I need information, and I kind of had no where else to go," Freya said.
"You look like you've been in a fight. What happened?"
"I was in a fight with Amarant but before that. I'd rather not say."
Garnet soon entered the room, stepping down from the stairs of the castle. She was dressed in her casual outfit, which was a simple yellow jumper with buckles at her thighs, a white shirt under the jumper, a clasp in her black hair, and red gloves and boots. She smiled at her new guests.
"Hello," she said in her normal polite voice.
Freya smiled and bowed. "Hello, My Queen." She then cuffed Fratley in the arm, for he had not bowed and was simply staring at Garnet.
"Oops." Fratley muttered, quickly catching the idea. He bowed as well.
Garnet laughed. "It's all right. Why don't we go to the dining room for some tea?"
Freya nodded, while Fratley went back to his rude stare. Freya glared at him and sighed, muttering "men" under her breath. Garnet lead the group into the dining room, and everyone sat down. Fratley was admiring the architecture of the castle while Garnet disappeared to get the tea. Freya stared at the walls, trying to figure out how to say what she needed to say. Vivi noticed her slight worry.
"What's wrong?" he asked Freya.
"Nothing," Freya muttered.
"Uh-huh," Zidane grunted. "Yeah, sure. You need to work on you lying skills."
Freya smiled slightly. "I guess I do, huh?"
A familiar "clank-clank" made Freya look toward the doorway. A knight wearing rusty armor entered.
"Where is the Queen?" he asked in a serious voice.
"She's getting tea, Rusty," Zidane said.
'Rusty' snorted slightly at the nickname. He then looked at the all the company in the room.
"Where did you all come from?" 'Rusty' asked.
"The mountains," Freya replied.
"The mountains? You mean you didn't come here straight from Burmecia?" Zidane asked.
Freya shook her head. "No."
Garnet entered the room with a tray holding tea. She looked over at 'Rusty.'
"Hello, Steiner. Care to join us?" she asked with a smile.
"Uh, well, uh, s-sure," Steiner said. He sat down.
Garnet handed everyone a cup of tea before she sat down as well. Everyone was silent for a while as they each thought of how to start a conversation. Zidane was the first to speak.
"So why were you in the mountains?" he asked Freya.
Freya looked up from her tea and stared out the window. It was a few minutes before she spoke.
"I. Kind of ended up there," she said quietly.
Zidane looked confused. Steiner, however, said something.
"Were you taken away or something?" Steiner asked. It was clearly a simple guess.
Freya continued to stare out the window. Then she slowly nodded.
"Yes. I was kidnapped," she said quietly and with a little shame.
Zidane immediately looked angry.
"I thought Amarant was kidding! Who kidnapped you?" he asked Freya, clearly angry at whoever had kidnapped her.
Freya shrugged. "I don't really know. There are two suspects, Meander and Julius, but I know nothing about them. With my luck, they could be the same person."
Garnet gasped slightly. Everyone looked over at her.
"Did you say Meander?" Garnet asked.
Freya nodded.
"There's a huge section about Meander in the royal documents," Garnet explained. "He has done a lot of awful stuff. The section is nearly three pages long. It's longer than the document of almost anyone else."
Freya blinked. Could Meander have been the one to kidnap her?
"Do you think I could please see the document?" Freya asked.
Garnet nodded. "Certainly." She turned to Steiner. "Steiner, could you please get the document on Meander?"
Steiner rose to his feet so quickly that the chair fell over. Everyone stared at him. Blushing slightly, Steiner cleared his throat. He saluted the queen, then raced off. His clanking armor soon faded away.
"What did the person look like?" Garnet asked. "Was he a Burmecian?"
Freya shook her head. "No, he was a human. He dressed completely in black and had pitch-black eyes."
"That sounds an awful lot like Meander or Julius," Garnet said. "They both have pitch-black eyes and commonly wore black."
"Is there anything truly different about them?" Fratley asked.
Garnet nodded. "Yes, though not many things."
Steiner's armor could be heard clanking once again, and he soon entered with three pieces of old parchment. Garnet nodded at him, and Steiner gave the papers to Freya.
Name: Meander
DOB: Unknown
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Skin: White
Height: 6 feet
Weight: 175 pounds
Last Seen: Treno
First Offense: Robbery of Lindblum bank, 1769
Second Offense: Beating of little girl in Alexandria, 1771
Third Offense: Killing of Female Burmecian in Alexandria, 1772
Fourth Offense: Beating of young male Demi-human, 1772
Fifth Offense: Robbery of Burmecia, 1773
Sixth Offense: Robber of Four Nations, 1774
Seventh Offense: Killing of Dragon Knight Eroy, 1778
Eight Offense: Robbery of Burmecia, 1780
Ninth Offense: Severe Injury of Dragon Knight Rose, 1800
The list continued endlessly until the very last page, where it had reached the twentieth offense. Most of the offenses were robberies, with a few murders mixed in. Shaking her head with disbelief, Freya handed the papers to Fratley. She rubbed her forehead, face strained.
"So much in such a short amount of time." she muttered. "How did he possibly do it all?"
"Some people say that he was framed," Garnet explained. "I'm not so sure."
"Who would've framed him?" Freya asked.
"Julius," Steiner grunted. "Few people believe it, though, because Julius' record is so much shorter."
"Seems to me that that could explain Meander's long record," Freya said. She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. It's just too much. How could he have done it all? Maybe a few offenses, fine, but twenty?"
"It doesn't make much sense," Fratley said with agreement, reading the papers. "Weird."
"It is completely possible he did it all. I mean, look at Kuja," Zidane said quietly. "He accomplished so much in only a few months."
"But Meander, as this paper seems to show, is completely normal," Freya replied. "Kuja was. well. Kuja."
Zidane shrugged. "Kuja was 'completely normal,' in a way."
"I suppose, but he had powers like I've never seen," Freya commented. "There is nothing in those papers that speak of super-natural powers within Meander."
"He could hide them," Zidane suggested.
"True." That was when Freya remembered something. "The person who kidnapped me had an extremely aggravating and surprising defense bonus. Physical attacks don't hurt him."
"WHAT?!" Zidane roared, startled.
"Nothing? Not even a scratch?" Garnet asked in a quieter, calmer voice.
"Not even," Freya said. "If you tried to attack him, you wouldn't even pierce the skin."
"Then how the hell did you hurt him?" Zidane asked.
"Dragon Abilities. Apparently he is vulnerable to magic. Though my Dragon abilities probably aren't nearly as powerful as true magic, they did hurt him," Freya explained.
Vivi was thinking all this over. "Do you think Armor Break would help with that?"
"I don't know," Freya replied.
What the hell is Armor Break? Fratley thought to himself, and his confused face mirrored this thought. Freya saw his confused look and just managed to hold back a sigh.
"Armor Break eliminates enchantments that cause physical damage to be ineffective. I don't know if it will work on Julius or Meander or whoever kidnapped me, though." Freya told Fratley.
"That's true. After all, it could just be natural and not be an enchantment at all," Fratley commented.
"Not many monsters have that, though, let alone people," Steiner grunted. "It has to be an enchantment."
"Unless the guy's not a human," Zidane commented.
"What are the chances of that?" Freya asked him.
"I don't know," Zidane said with a shrug. "But it's all too likely. After all, we barely know anything about this guy. We don't even know what his name is!"
"If only we did," Freya muttered.
The group was silent for a while as they thought over everything. It was clear to all of them that instead of getting answered, they only got themselves more confused. Freya finished her tea and stared into the empty mug. Garnet and Zidane were discussing something in low voices. Freya, not concerned about what they were speaking of, did not listen to the conversation. Steiner had, for some reason, taken out his sword and was polishing it. Vivi was watching the window nervously. Fratley was clearly thinking furiously.
The fireball came through the window so quickly and hit where Freya was so fast that everyone thought she was hit. Soon, however, the thought was doused as Freya landed near the doorway. She had jumped to avoid the attack as quickly as it had come. She stared at the window, eyes flashing angrily.
Suddenly the human that had kidnapped Freya leapt through the window, landing smoothly on his feet. Freya noted that he appeared to still be injured from their last encounter, though considerably less than Freya ever thought possible.
Vivi immediately took out his staff while Steiner readied his sword. Zidane took out his daggers, made Garnet go behind him, and looked to make sure Freya was all right. Fratley had drawn his spear and leapt in front of Freya to protect her. A butterfly that had been flying around the room suddenly began a blob of goo, then became a behemoth. Clearly, the butterfly had been Cleo the whole time.
"Get out of here," Fratley snarled at the human.
The human gazed at Fratley with cold eyes. He then drew his black sword. Steiner's sword was gathering white energy. Noticing this, the human rushed forward to attack him. Steiner blocked the attack with ease, then slashed the human in the shoulder with Armor Break.
Nothing happened. The human's shoulder was slashed, but nothing else happened. Everyone was stunned except the human, who chuckled bitterly. He then brought his sword up and tried to bring it down on Steiner's head. Steiner blocked the foolishly made attack with ease.
"Get out of here, everyone!" Steiner shouted.
No one moved. Instead, Vivi began to prepare a powerful Firaga spell. Freya took out her Heavy Lance and began to charge it for a Lancer attack. Fratley held his lance out in front of him, and it began to brim with bluish energy. Garnet took out her Tiger Racket while Zidane tried to usher her out of the room. She finally gave him a light tap on the head with her Racket, as if saying "I'm not leaving."
Suddenly a load of attacks shot straight toward the human. A Firaga spell sped toward him, but the human dodged. By dodging that attack, he was nailed in the right arm with Freya's Lancer attack. He swung his fist and clubbed her in the head with it.
Fratley spun his spear around, making a blue circle. He then rushed forward and stabbed the human in the right shoulder blade. A deep wound was made as the bluish energy made the wound severely large. Freya stared with surprise.
"What was that?" she asked.
"I don't know!" Fratley replied. "I just suddenly knew I should use it."
Freya sighed with frustration. Clearly she wasn't the only one frustrated. The human swung his sword around and clobbered Freya in the head, causing her to fall to the ground. As she slowly rose to a sitting position, dazed, a whole cataclysm emerged. The human was hit with a Thundaga spell. Seconds after he was meeting an explosion coming from Zidane's Thievery attack. He backed up and away from the crazy mess, looking rather injured. Garnet nailed him with a ball of energy, knocking him over. Steiner raced forward to deliver a devastating Shock attack, but he was knocked backward and into the wall by a sudden fireball coming from the human's hand. Freya kicked the human hard. The human kicked her in return as he rose to his feet. He picked up his sword, but found he had trouble holding it. Suddenly, his sword was gone as Cleo raced forward and knocked it out of his hands using her massive horns. The sword clattered to the floor and was picked up by Freya.
The human looked truly enraged. He lifted his hand prepared a fire spell. Before it could come to full capacity, though, he gasped and fell to his knees. Everyone was confused until they saw what was in his lower neck.
A flaming disk with several deadly points was buried deep in the back of his lower neck. Though probably not in a deadly position, the Wing Edge throwing disk had hit in a good area. The human lay gasping while Amarant stepped through the broken window. He had another Wing Edge in his hand.
Freya lifted her spear to make a final blow. Before she could, however, the human had vanished. She let a stream of curses escape her mouth from shear frustration. Amarant held the Wing Edge at ready, looking around the room suspiciously. No one put away his or her weapons.
Suddenly the human reappeared and dragged Freya to the ground, startling everyone. Freya readied her spear, struggling, but the minute she and the human hit the ground, they vanished into thin air.
--------- All right, so that's Chapter Eleven. I know that the guards probably would've stopped Amarant and Freya from fighting, but I just had to have them fight because I'm weird. So. Yeah.
Anyhow, what the heck is with this human? How can he survive five billion attacks? How did he 'vanish', and take Freya with him? Will we finally figure out who is responsible for this? Find out eventually =)
This story is copyright to me. Most characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.
Alexandria; Main Square; Noon
The very second Amarant said "On guard", Freya was charging forward. She moved forward in a blur and slashed Amarant across the face with her spear. Amarant backed up halfway through the attack, making part of the wound shallow. Realizing she wanted to fight rough, Amarant raced forward to slash her in the face. Freya leapt backward, but Amarant kept rushing forward and he slashed her in the face right back. Freya backed up, and Fratley had to keep himself from intervening. Where were the guards? That question was in Fratley's mind.
Amarant knew where the guards were. They had passed by earlier, but nothing had been happening, so they headed off. They wouldn't be back in another ten minutes, and Freya and he could easily finish a battle in that time.
Amarant moved in to make another attack, but Freya leapt in the air to avoid it. The taste of her own blood in her mouth was rather unpleasant, but Freya ignored it as she soared through the air. She charged up her spear with the energy used for Lancer, then threw her spear down toward Amarant. Amarant, having seen the attack, dodged with incredible ease. The spear slammed into the adobe with such force it seemed as if either the lance or the brick had to break. Neither did, however. Amarant snatched Freya's spear and threw it in the air. It was not an attack however; he was returning her spear.
Freya quickly grabbed her spear and slashed Amarant lightly in the shoulder on the way down. Amarant retracted the claws on his right hand and punched her in the face. Freya fell to the ground, but she quickly back-rolled and soon was on her feet.
"Since when were you so God-damn athletic?" Amarant asked.
"Since you noticed, you nitwit," Freya replied.
"Nitwit?" Fratley muttered under his breath, confused at Freya's word- choice.
Amarant, clearly, did not like being called a nitwit. He rushed forward and punched Freya in the stomach. Freya toppled over, but when Amarant tried to hit her back, she kicked him with one of her powerful feet and knocked him to the ground. Freya rose to her feet, a dull pain in her stomach. She waited impatiently for Amarant to get up, for unlike him, she didn't attack her sparring partner while he was down.
Amarant soon rose. His claws began to glow a blackish color. He then raced forward and slashed Freya in the left shoulder. Freya let out a soft cry of pain. The attack was brutal! Freya would have to ask Amarant about it later. For now, she would just nail him back.
"Power of the heavens, lend the power to vanquish!" Freya shouted.
Energy gathered in a star shape in Freya's hand. It gathered slowly, but Freya didn't want to deal much damage anyway. She threw the star of energy at Amarant and nailed him in the stomach. He toppled to the ground again.
"Sorry! Aimed too low!" Freya told him.
"Stupid bitch," Amarant muttered under his breath. He then said in a louder voice. "Then practice your aiming, idiot!"
Amazing, the difference between what he thinks and what he says, Freya thought with amusement.
Amarant rose to his feet and tried to kick Freya. Freya moved out of the way quickly and kicked Amarant in the thigh. Amarant quickly moved and smacked her in the face. Freya backed away and slashed Amarant in the shoulder with her lance. Amarant slashed her with his claws in her left shoulder, making the claw wounds she already had deeper.
They were both getting no where quickly, and they knew it. Freya leapt in the air once more, and Amarant cursed vilely, wishing he could jump like that. Expecting Freya to throw her spear down, Amarant kept ready to dodge.
"Power of the heavens, release the power of the mighty warriors," Freya muttered, knowing the attack had the potential to cream Amarant.
Suddenly a dragons symbol appeared under Amarant. A dragon spirit plowed through him, sending an explosion with it. Amarant leapt out of the way.
"YOU STUPID ASS! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?" Amarant roared angrily.
Freya landed on her feet.
"No, I'm trying to heal you," she said sarcastically after muttering an apology.
Amarant sighed. "Forget it. I'll get back at you."
Amarant took a few pieces of Gil out of his pack and threw them at Freya. The Gil streaked through Freya like knifes, leaving bloody cuts. Freya yelped and fell to her knees.
"Oww. Damn you, Amarant!" Freya shouted, getting to her feet.
The two warriors stood for a few seconds, watching the other for any sudden moves.
"Okay, this is stupid," Freya said. "How about we each get one chance to use our most powerful attack, okay?"
Amarant nodded. Freya took a deep breath.
"Do it!" Freya shouted.
A split second later, Freya was shouting.
"Power of the heavens, show off the cherry blossoms of hope!" Freya shouted, though the attack she was using wasn't her most powerful.
At the same time, Amarant shouted something in a different language that sounded like demon grunts. A dragon spirit plowed through, sending cherry flower petals into the air while a small flame appeared in a few feet away from the Freya.
That was when the area in the middle of Amarant and Freya exploded in a massive blast of fire, sending the two warriors backward. They both crashed into walls on the opposite sides of the square and fell to their knees. What came out of their mouths was completely different, however.
'God damn it, that hurt," Freya muttered, among other things.
"Bloody shit." Amarant spat, among much worse curses.
Fratley walked over to Freya to see if she was all right. She appeared to be pretty badly hurt, though she said otherwise. When Fratley handed her a Hi-Potion, she was quick to drink it. She watched at Amarant rose to his feet.
"That was painful," Amarant grunted. "What the hell happened?"
Freya shrugged. "I have no idea. It was a little too weird. What attack did you use?"
"You don't want to know," Amarant told her.
"Actually, I do," Freya replied, some of her wounds beginning to heal themselves.
"I'm not telling you," Amarant grunted.
"Fine, then." Freya paused as she rose to her feet. "What do you think happened?"
Amarant shrugged. "I don't know. Perhaps the attacks we used were a little too strong." He trailed off, staring at the center of the square.
The smoke had finally cleared from the square's center, and in the middle was a hole. The adobe had been completely fried away, leaving a smoldering dirt hole in its wake. Freya couldn't help but laugh slightly.
"Imagine how much that costs!" she told Amarant.
"You pay for it," Amarant grunted.
"Why me?" Freya asked.
"It was your idea to use our most powerful attacks."
Freya sighed. "Fine. Blame the whole thing on me! But you will agree with this, though. That fight ended in a draw."
Amarant was silent for a while before he finally spoke. "Unfortunately, you're right." His voice held regret.
"Are you two done?"
Amarant and Freya both turned to the direction of the familiar voice. Standing near an arc that lead to a moat was a blonde 17-year-old with a tail. His blonde hair reached his shoulders, while he had blue eyes. He wore a green vest over a white sleeveless shirt, along with blue pants, gray gloves, a leather belt, and large shoes. A small scabbard hung from his thigh.
"You two are pretty lucky the guards weren't around, and you're even luckier I didn't call them! Sometimes I wonder about you two. Are you someday going to kill each other?" the blonde asked.
"Hello Zidane," Freya said, completely ignoring his question.
"Shut up, monkey brat," Amarant said at the same time Freya was speaking.
Zidane looked over at Freya.
"What are you doing here? I thought you returned to Burmecia to help rebuild. I know you couldn't have rebuilt it in two months!" Zidane said.
"I kind of had no choice but to come here," Freya told him, but she didn't elaborate.
"Hmm? Really?" Zidane asked, seeming interested. "What for?"
"You honestly don't want to know," Freya replied.
"She was kidnapped," Amarant grunted.
"Hate you too, Amarant," Freya spat.
"Kidnapped? He serious?" Zidane asked.
"I'll tell you about that later. Right now I need information," Freya told Zidane. "Do you think I could see Garnet?"
"I highly doubt it's a problem. Garnet gladly sees old friends. Even if she barely spoke with some of them," Zidane replied, turning in the direction of the castle. "Coming, Amarant?"
"Yeah right," Amarant grunted. "I have better things to do."
"Like mope," Freya muttered.
"Shut up," Amarant growled. "You know what I'm going do."
"That I do. Good luck," Freya told him.
"Whatever." Amarant walked away from the group and headed toward the exit of Alexandria.
"I'll never understand him," Zidane muttered. "Well, come on! Don't just stand there!"
Zidane ran off through the arc. Freya nodded at Fratley, then headed off. Fratley quickly followed, and even though they didn't notice, a butterfly was following them. They soon arrived at a small river that separated Alexandria Castle from the city itself. The three (well, four counting the butterfly) got onto the boat, and the knight on the boat carefully rowed the boat across the shallow river and to the castle. The four then entered the castle.
"Garnet!" Zidane bellowed. "We have more company! How popular are we, eh?"
Freya shook her head with disbelief. Soon, a young black mage entered the room. He wore a simple blue shirt tied with leather. His pants were striped green and white, though they looked rather old. He wore a large belt with a large buckle, and he wore simple leather shoes. He had a tall lopsided hat, and his face was completely hidden from view except for yellow eyes.
"Gosh, Zidane, I won't be surprised if Lindblum heard you," the black mage said.
"Hello Vivi," Freya said. "What are you doing here?"
"I just came by to say hello," Vivi replied. "What about you?"
"I need information, and I kind of had no where else to go," Freya said.
"You look like you've been in a fight. What happened?"
"I was in a fight with Amarant but before that. I'd rather not say."
Garnet soon entered the room, stepping down from the stairs of the castle. She was dressed in her casual outfit, which was a simple yellow jumper with buckles at her thighs, a white shirt under the jumper, a clasp in her black hair, and red gloves and boots. She smiled at her new guests.
"Hello," she said in her normal polite voice.
Freya smiled and bowed. "Hello, My Queen." She then cuffed Fratley in the arm, for he had not bowed and was simply staring at Garnet.
"Oops." Fratley muttered, quickly catching the idea. He bowed as well.
Garnet laughed. "It's all right. Why don't we go to the dining room for some tea?"
Freya nodded, while Fratley went back to his rude stare. Freya glared at him and sighed, muttering "men" under her breath. Garnet lead the group into the dining room, and everyone sat down. Fratley was admiring the architecture of the castle while Garnet disappeared to get the tea. Freya stared at the walls, trying to figure out how to say what she needed to say. Vivi noticed her slight worry.
"What's wrong?" he asked Freya.
"Nothing," Freya muttered.
"Uh-huh," Zidane grunted. "Yeah, sure. You need to work on you lying skills."
Freya smiled slightly. "I guess I do, huh?"
A familiar "clank-clank" made Freya look toward the doorway. A knight wearing rusty armor entered.
"Where is the Queen?" he asked in a serious voice.
"She's getting tea, Rusty," Zidane said.
'Rusty' snorted slightly at the nickname. He then looked at the all the company in the room.
"Where did you all come from?" 'Rusty' asked.
"The mountains," Freya replied.
"The mountains? You mean you didn't come here straight from Burmecia?" Zidane asked.
Freya shook her head. "No."
Garnet entered the room with a tray holding tea. She looked over at 'Rusty.'
"Hello, Steiner. Care to join us?" she asked with a smile.
"Uh, well, uh, s-sure," Steiner said. He sat down.
Garnet handed everyone a cup of tea before she sat down as well. Everyone was silent for a while as they each thought of how to start a conversation. Zidane was the first to speak.
"So why were you in the mountains?" he asked Freya.
Freya looked up from her tea and stared out the window. It was a few minutes before she spoke.
"I. Kind of ended up there," she said quietly.
Zidane looked confused. Steiner, however, said something.
"Were you taken away or something?" Steiner asked. It was clearly a simple guess.
Freya continued to stare out the window. Then she slowly nodded.
"Yes. I was kidnapped," she said quietly and with a little shame.
Zidane immediately looked angry.
"I thought Amarant was kidding! Who kidnapped you?" he asked Freya, clearly angry at whoever had kidnapped her.
Freya shrugged. "I don't really know. There are two suspects, Meander and Julius, but I know nothing about them. With my luck, they could be the same person."
Garnet gasped slightly. Everyone looked over at her.
"Did you say Meander?" Garnet asked.
Freya nodded.
"There's a huge section about Meander in the royal documents," Garnet explained. "He has done a lot of awful stuff. The section is nearly three pages long. It's longer than the document of almost anyone else."
Freya blinked. Could Meander have been the one to kidnap her?
"Do you think I could please see the document?" Freya asked.
Garnet nodded. "Certainly." She turned to Steiner. "Steiner, could you please get the document on Meander?"
Steiner rose to his feet so quickly that the chair fell over. Everyone stared at him. Blushing slightly, Steiner cleared his throat. He saluted the queen, then raced off. His clanking armor soon faded away.
"What did the person look like?" Garnet asked. "Was he a Burmecian?"
Freya shook her head. "No, he was a human. He dressed completely in black and had pitch-black eyes."
"That sounds an awful lot like Meander or Julius," Garnet said. "They both have pitch-black eyes and commonly wore black."
"Is there anything truly different about them?" Fratley asked.
Garnet nodded. "Yes, though not many things."
Steiner's armor could be heard clanking once again, and he soon entered with three pieces of old parchment. Garnet nodded at him, and Steiner gave the papers to Freya.
Name: Meander
DOB: Unknown
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Skin: White
Height: 6 feet
Weight: 175 pounds
Last Seen: Treno
First Offense: Robbery of Lindblum bank, 1769
Second Offense: Beating of little girl in Alexandria, 1771
Third Offense: Killing of Female Burmecian in Alexandria, 1772
Fourth Offense: Beating of young male Demi-human, 1772
Fifth Offense: Robbery of Burmecia, 1773
Sixth Offense: Robber of Four Nations, 1774
Seventh Offense: Killing of Dragon Knight Eroy, 1778
Eight Offense: Robbery of Burmecia, 1780
Ninth Offense: Severe Injury of Dragon Knight Rose, 1800
The list continued endlessly until the very last page, where it had reached the twentieth offense. Most of the offenses were robberies, with a few murders mixed in. Shaking her head with disbelief, Freya handed the papers to Fratley. She rubbed her forehead, face strained.
"So much in such a short amount of time." she muttered. "How did he possibly do it all?"
"Some people say that he was framed," Garnet explained. "I'm not so sure."
"Who would've framed him?" Freya asked.
"Julius," Steiner grunted. "Few people believe it, though, because Julius' record is so much shorter."
"Seems to me that that could explain Meander's long record," Freya said. She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know. It's just too much. How could he have done it all? Maybe a few offenses, fine, but twenty?"
"It doesn't make much sense," Fratley said with agreement, reading the papers. "Weird."
"It is completely possible he did it all. I mean, look at Kuja," Zidane said quietly. "He accomplished so much in only a few months."
"But Meander, as this paper seems to show, is completely normal," Freya replied. "Kuja was. well. Kuja."
Zidane shrugged. "Kuja was 'completely normal,' in a way."
"I suppose, but he had powers like I've never seen," Freya commented. "There is nothing in those papers that speak of super-natural powers within Meander."
"He could hide them," Zidane suggested.
"True." That was when Freya remembered something. "The person who kidnapped me had an extremely aggravating and surprising defense bonus. Physical attacks don't hurt him."
"WHAT?!" Zidane roared, startled.
"Nothing? Not even a scratch?" Garnet asked in a quieter, calmer voice.
"Not even," Freya said. "If you tried to attack him, you wouldn't even pierce the skin."
"Then how the hell did you hurt him?" Zidane asked.
"Dragon Abilities. Apparently he is vulnerable to magic. Though my Dragon abilities probably aren't nearly as powerful as true magic, they did hurt him," Freya explained.
Vivi was thinking all this over. "Do you think Armor Break would help with that?"
"I don't know," Freya replied.
What the hell is Armor Break? Fratley thought to himself, and his confused face mirrored this thought. Freya saw his confused look and just managed to hold back a sigh.
"Armor Break eliminates enchantments that cause physical damage to be ineffective. I don't know if it will work on Julius or Meander or whoever kidnapped me, though." Freya told Fratley.
"That's true. After all, it could just be natural and not be an enchantment at all," Fratley commented.
"Not many monsters have that, though, let alone people," Steiner grunted. "It has to be an enchantment."
"Unless the guy's not a human," Zidane commented.
"What are the chances of that?" Freya asked him.
"I don't know," Zidane said with a shrug. "But it's all too likely. After all, we barely know anything about this guy. We don't even know what his name is!"
"If only we did," Freya muttered.
The group was silent for a while as they thought over everything. It was clear to all of them that instead of getting answered, they only got themselves more confused. Freya finished her tea and stared into the empty mug. Garnet and Zidane were discussing something in low voices. Freya, not concerned about what they were speaking of, did not listen to the conversation. Steiner had, for some reason, taken out his sword and was polishing it. Vivi was watching the window nervously. Fratley was clearly thinking furiously.
The fireball came through the window so quickly and hit where Freya was so fast that everyone thought she was hit. Soon, however, the thought was doused as Freya landed near the doorway. She had jumped to avoid the attack as quickly as it had come. She stared at the window, eyes flashing angrily.
Suddenly the human that had kidnapped Freya leapt through the window, landing smoothly on his feet. Freya noted that he appeared to still be injured from their last encounter, though considerably less than Freya ever thought possible.
Vivi immediately took out his staff while Steiner readied his sword. Zidane took out his daggers, made Garnet go behind him, and looked to make sure Freya was all right. Fratley had drawn his spear and leapt in front of Freya to protect her. A butterfly that had been flying around the room suddenly began a blob of goo, then became a behemoth. Clearly, the butterfly had been Cleo the whole time.
"Get out of here," Fratley snarled at the human.
The human gazed at Fratley with cold eyes. He then drew his black sword. Steiner's sword was gathering white energy. Noticing this, the human rushed forward to attack him. Steiner blocked the attack with ease, then slashed the human in the shoulder with Armor Break.
Nothing happened. The human's shoulder was slashed, but nothing else happened. Everyone was stunned except the human, who chuckled bitterly. He then brought his sword up and tried to bring it down on Steiner's head. Steiner blocked the foolishly made attack with ease.
"Get out of here, everyone!" Steiner shouted.
No one moved. Instead, Vivi began to prepare a powerful Firaga spell. Freya took out her Heavy Lance and began to charge it for a Lancer attack. Fratley held his lance out in front of him, and it began to brim with bluish energy. Garnet took out her Tiger Racket while Zidane tried to usher her out of the room. She finally gave him a light tap on the head with her Racket, as if saying "I'm not leaving."
Suddenly a load of attacks shot straight toward the human. A Firaga spell sped toward him, but the human dodged. By dodging that attack, he was nailed in the right arm with Freya's Lancer attack. He swung his fist and clubbed her in the head with it.
Fratley spun his spear around, making a blue circle. He then rushed forward and stabbed the human in the right shoulder blade. A deep wound was made as the bluish energy made the wound severely large. Freya stared with surprise.
"What was that?" she asked.
"I don't know!" Fratley replied. "I just suddenly knew I should use it."
Freya sighed with frustration. Clearly she wasn't the only one frustrated. The human swung his sword around and clobbered Freya in the head, causing her to fall to the ground. As she slowly rose to a sitting position, dazed, a whole cataclysm emerged. The human was hit with a Thundaga spell. Seconds after he was meeting an explosion coming from Zidane's Thievery attack. He backed up and away from the crazy mess, looking rather injured. Garnet nailed him with a ball of energy, knocking him over. Steiner raced forward to deliver a devastating Shock attack, but he was knocked backward and into the wall by a sudden fireball coming from the human's hand. Freya kicked the human hard. The human kicked her in return as he rose to his feet. He picked up his sword, but found he had trouble holding it. Suddenly, his sword was gone as Cleo raced forward and knocked it out of his hands using her massive horns. The sword clattered to the floor and was picked up by Freya.
The human looked truly enraged. He lifted his hand prepared a fire spell. Before it could come to full capacity, though, he gasped and fell to his knees. Everyone was confused until they saw what was in his lower neck.
A flaming disk with several deadly points was buried deep in the back of his lower neck. Though probably not in a deadly position, the Wing Edge throwing disk had hit in a good area. The human lay gasping while Amarant stepped through the broken window. He had another Wing Edge in his hand.
Freya lifted her spear to make a final blow. Before she could, however, the human had vanished. She let a stream of curses escape her mouth from shear frustration. Amarant held the Wing Edge at ready, looking around the room suspiciously. No one put away his or her weapons.
Suddenly the human reappeared and dragged Freya to the ground, startling everyone. Freya readied her spear, struggling, but the minute she and the human hit the ground, they vanished into thin air.
--------- All right, so that's Chapter Eleven. I know that the guards probably would've stopped Amarant and Freya from fighting, but I just had to have them fight because I'm weird. So. Yeah.
Anyhow, what the heck is with this human? How can he survive five billion attacks? How did he 'vanish', and take Freya with him? Will we finally figure out who is responsible for this? Find out eventually =)
This story is copyright to me. Most characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.