Chapter Thirty
Gizumaluke's Grotto; Early Morning
Fratley had been keeping an eye on the weather, and on Rose's condition. Rose, indeed, had been quickly cured of the blindness curse. But Rose's recovery was taking much longer than expected. Her eyes didn't seem to want to accept the fact that she could see again. Kitski was doing what she could as quickly as she could, but some things just couldn't be rushed.
Thankfully, Rose was showing the best improvement that morning. Fratley hadn't gotten sleep in days, mainly because nightmares haunted his sleep. Nightmares that Freya was dead, or being tortured, or something else that made no sense yet he dreamt of anyway... No sleep had become better than the nightmares. And therefore, when Fratley heard a mysterious, naturally created roar outside the Grotto, he was the first to frown. Something was wrong, and things were wrong enough.
Fratley rose quietly to his feet and walked out of the small chamber they had chosen to rest in. He walked through the rocky, blue-stoned walls. He walked through a cracked door that had once been gorgeously decorated with serpents – It was nothing now. He stepped through the doorway and into the final chamber. It seemed dark and gloomy, with the great basin that once held Gizumaluke now holding bloodstained waters. The waterfall that had once fallen from near the ceiling of the chamber had long stopped falling.
Fratley walked straight through the death-haunted room and over to the cracked yet standing door at the end of the hallway. It let outside, and when Fratley put his hands against it to push it open, it felt unusually cold. With a deep breath, Fratley pushed against the heavy door, and it reluctantly opened.
Fratley was met with a rush of cold air. Fratley could smell snow on the air. He padded outside swiftly, sensing something very wrong. He looked in Burmecia's direction, and his mouth nearly fell open with shock and horror.
Within two days, a massive storm had developed within the mountains and moved forward. It was now falling over Burmecia, but Fratley could see that its path led straight toward the Grotto. Fratley groaned.
"Oh no," he muttered. "Not this too."
Immediately Fratley moved to go back into the Grotto, only to find Vivi standing in the doorway. Vivi's oval, yellow eyes were on the storm, watching it with no emotion present. He turned his gaze on Fratley.
"That's a big storm," he said with worry. "What if it comes this way?"
Fratley swallowed hoarsely, trying to rid himself of the lump in his throat. He looked down at Vivi, who lifted his gloved hands and shifted his pointed, slouched hat upon his head nervously.
"We'll be stuck in the Grotto," Fratley replied. "And we'll be unable to move out yet again."
"We should set out, then," Kitski announced, making herself seen as she walked toward Vivi and Fratley. "We can't be stuck here. There's no way to get food and water. If we're stuck in a storm in the middle of the wilderness, the snow can be our water, and the monsters our food."
"What about shelter?" Fratley asked.
"We'll figure that out when we get there. Everyone is awake, Fratley. We should move out and make as much progress as possible before that storm comes... And it's moving quickly."
Fratley nodded slightly, understanding. He could see others coming, most likely Rose, Wanderer, Landloper, and Cleo. Vivi watched everyone approach with worry. He clearly did not like the idea that they were going to walk straight into a massive storm.
"Are you sure we shouldn't stay here?" Vivi asked nervously.
"Positive. We don't want to be stuck here," Kitski said.
"I don't want to be stuck here," Rose snapped, rubbing at her right eye irritably. They were a lighter purple than usual, and Fratley had a saddening feeling that her eyesight had left considerably. "It's too damn depressing."
"You feeling all right?" Fratley asked.
"Eyes hurt, that's all. I think I need fresh air," Rose replied, looking at Fratley sternly. "I want to move out. Will we?"
Fratley looked at the group he was with. He focused on Cleo.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"That storm move fast. It from mountains. As it move, it decrease in power. By the time it reach us, it won't be strong. It last for two days at most, but leave lots of snow. Progress slow, but we no be stuck from storm," Cleo announced, watching the storm with star-shaped yellow eyes. "We reach Burmecia soon if we travel now."
"How soon?" Fratley asked as Rose tossed him his pack.
"Four days at most," Cleo replied.
Fratley sighed. Four days seemed like an eternity, but it was better than nothing.
"Let's go," Fratley announced.
The large group slowly moved out of the Grotto, and not a single person looked back.
It smelled of blood, decay, and sadness. The air was thick and stuffy. The ground was hard and cold. And outside, Freya could hear winds whipping through the city. She opened her eyes, only to be met with darkness. It was not, however, from the worn-off blind scroll. It was very simply the light-deprived room. With a soft groan, Freya rose into a sitting position, and quickly heard the clinking of rusty chains clinking together. Freya looked down at the chains quietly. They were old metal, and probably hadn't been replaced in years. They were rusty and smelled horrible. Come to think of it, the whole place smelled. "Damn it," Freya muttered in a hoarse, water-deprived voice.
Freya quickly found the only window in the entire dungeon – It was high up, and covered in bars. It was also on the other side of the dungeon. Freya looked down at the chains, then tried to find where they were connected to the wall. She couldn't see where they were, so she assumed they weren't. Cautiously, Freya began to walk toward the window, where she could see dirty water coming from it. The chains managed to hold, and she was able to get a rather distasteful yet still refreshing drink. From there, Freya sat down next to the window. She was once again feeling groggy. She looked around her new home wearily.
The dungeon. This was what it was like, and Freya now knew why some prisoners went insane when they were here. And Freya knew she would never associate any place with a prison again.
Things were bad. Then again, bad was an understatement. Freya was missing, Amarant had not woken up, Fratley had not returned, and Meander was stuck hiding underground with Puck.
"Relax," Puck said, watching Meander. "Freya's fine, I'm sure of it. We would've heard if she was dead."
"But I'm sure she's in similar condition to Amarant, maybe worse," Meander growled, looking over at Puck. "If only Amarant would wake up, I'd be able to ask him."
Puck shrugged helplessly. "For now, there's nothing we can do, except hope Amarant wakes up. When he does, we can ask him a question or two. For now, we're stuck."
"And we're especially stuck here, with that storm brewing," Dominic added, entering the room.
"Storm?" Puck asked, looking over at Dominic.
"You bet. There's a massive storm brewing above us. It's heading straight out for the Grotto. No doubt it'll hinder any travelers," Dominic explained, sitting down near Puck.
"Damn it!" Meander snapped, punching the stone wall. "That means Fratley will be even later than normal." At this point he groaned. "Shit, that hurt."
"You punched a wall, you ass," Puck replied.
"Out of frustration," Meander grunted. He looked over at Dominic. "Where's Eiko?"
"I'm not sure," Dominic replied, shrugging. "I think she headed off to spy or something."
"Why didn't you stay with her," Meander asked.
"I didn't see her leave," Dominic replied.
"Oh shit," Meander spat, staring at the ground. "This is proving to be one hell of a situation."
Indeed, Eiko had escaped. Mass snowstorms didn't bother her much. She wanted to find Freya. She knew she couldn't rescue her, though she desperately wanted to try. But she wanted to at least find her.
Eiko slipped through the empty streets, fighting through the mass storm. She headed toward the castle looming in the distance, thinking that it was the most likely place to find a prison. She was swift on her feet, though she kept tripping since the snow was piling rather high. Regardless, she wouldn't give in.
Soon, however, it was too difficult. Eiko fell into the snow and stared up at the sky. Snow came down endlessly. It fell in huge flakes. Eiko muttered angrily under her breath. She was getting no where all too quickly, and she hated to get no where.
A chirp startled her. She tried to leap to her feet, only to find that she fell to the ground with a plump. She looked around, and soon spotted a chocobo padding toward her. Eiko gasped.
"Duchess? How did you get here?" Eiko asked as Dominic's chocobo padded over to her. "Dominic called you, didn't he? He must know I'm out here. Oh well. Come on, Duchess, let's go the castle, okay?"
Eiko made an attempt to get onto Duchess's back, but it failed miserably, and she ended up on her own back in the snow. Duchess lowered herself to the ground, making it easier for Eiko to mount. Soon, the chocobo padded steadily through the snow, brown eyes wide and looking around constantly. Eiko looked around constantly as well, trying to find an exact route to the castle. It was failing. The snow was too great. She had an odd feeling that they were going in circles.
Suddenly Duchess screamed in alarm. Eiko looked around and soon spotted a figure dressed in blank. Her green eyes narrowed as she recognized Julius. She took out her trusted Angel's Flute, a weapon she would never let out of her sight.
"Get back!" Eiko shouted angrily. "I'll kill you!"
Julius chuckled. "How so?
"What are you doing here?" Eiko asked angrily. "You're here to kill Freya, aren't you? You meanie! I'll make sure you—"
"I was hoping to get to that bitch, yes, but problems are arising. You won't get far either," Julius interrupted, looking toward the castle (or at least where it should've been, for the snow was blocking out everything). "Ebon is treading on dangerous ground. He doesn't know whom he's messing with. None of you do. Summoner, go back to your friends and tell them this: I'm not happy. And someone is going to die as a result."
With that, Julius vanished. Eiko sighed, angry and confused. She turned Duchess around and had her head toward the underground entrance. She found Dominic waiting for her there.
"Where did you go?" he asked with worry as he opened the secret door.
"I was going to see Freya, but I found Julius instead," Eiko said. "He says he's angry, and that Ebon doesn't know what he's messing with. He says that someone's going to die."
"Oh no," Dominic muttered. "Come on. No matter how much Puck says we can't move, we have to tell them this!"
Eiko nodded in agreement. Dominic, Eiko, and Duchess then rushed underground. When they told Meander and Puck the news, however, they got the same answer Meander had gotten.
"We can only wait."
------------- Er.... Crappy chapter? Yeah, that describes it. Anyway, so Fratley's on the move (FINALLY!), Freya's in a (or is it an?) hopeless situation, and no one can do anything about it because they aren't exactly sure where she is!
I will probably upload the next chapter extremely quickly, as this one is so short it can barely count as its own O_o I wanted a cliff-hanger... Well, I got one at a price...
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.
Gizumaluke's Grotto; Early Morning
Fratley had been keeping an eye on the weather, and on Rose's condition. Rose, indeed, had been quickly cured of the blindness curse. But Rose's recovery was taking much longer than expected. Her eyes didn't seem to want to accept the fact that she could see again. Kitski was doing what she could as quickly as she could, but some things just couldn't be rushed.
Thankfully, Rose was showing the best improvement that morning. Fratley hadn't gotten sleep in days, mainly because nightmares haunted his sleep. Nightmares that Freya was dead, or being tortured, or something else that made no sense yet he dreamt of anyway... No sleep had become better than the nightmares. And therefore, when Fratley heard a mysterious, naturally created roar outside the Grotto, he was the first to frown. Something was wrong, and things were wrong enough.
Fratley rose quietly to his feet and walked out of the small chamber they had chosen to rest in. He walked through the rocky, blue-stoned walls. He walked through a cracked door that had once been gorgeously decorated with serpents – It was nothing now. He stepped through the doorway and into the final chamber. It seemed dark and gloomy, with the great basin that once held Gizumaluke now holding bloodstained waters. The waterfall that had once fallen from near the ceiling of the chamber had long stopped falling.
Fratley walked straight through the death-haunted room and over to the cracked yet standing door at the end of the hallway. It let outside, and when Fratley put his hands against it to push it open, it felt unusually cold. With a deep breath, Fratley pushed against the heavy door, and it reluctantly opened.
Fratley was met with a rush of cold air. Fratley could smell snow on the air. He padded outside swiftly, sensing something very wrong. He looked in Burmecia's direction, and his mouth nearly fell open with shock and horror.
Within two days, a massive storm had developed within the mountains and moved forward. It was now falling over Burmecia, but Fratley could see that its path led straight toward the Grotto. Fratley groaned.
"Oh no," he muttered. "Not this too."
Immediately Fratley moved to go back into the Grotto, only to find Vivi standing in the doorway. Vivi's oval, yellow eyes were on the storm, watching it with no emotion present. He turned his gaze on Fratley.
"That's a big storm," he said with worry. "What if it comes this way?"
Fratley swallowed hoarsely, trying to rid himself of the lump in his throat. He looked down at Vivi, who lifted his gloved hands and shifted his pointed, slouched hat upon his head nervously.
"We'll be stuck in the Grotto," Fratley replied. "And we'll be unable to move out yet again."
"We should set out, then," Kitski announced, making herself seen as she walked toward Vivi and Fratley. "We can't be stuck here. There's no way to get food and water. If we're stuck in a storm in the middle of the wilderness, the snow can be our water, and the monsters our food."
"What about shelter?" Fratley asked.
"We'll figure that out when we get there. Everyone is awake, Fratley. We should move out and make as much progress as possible before that storm comes... And it's moving quickly."
Fratley nodded slightly, understanding. He could see others coming, most likely Rose, Wanderer, Landloper, and Cleo. Vivi watched everyone approach with worry. He clearly did not like the idea that they were going to walk straight into a massive storm.
"Are you sure we shouldn't stay here?" Vivi asked nervously.
"Positive. We don't want to be stuck here," Kitski said.
"I don't want to be stuck here," Rose snapped, rubbing at her right eye irritably. They were a lighter purple than usual, and Fratley had a saddening feeling that her eyesight had left considerably. "It's too damn depressing."
"You feeling all right?" Fratley asked.
"Eyes hurt, that's all. I think I need fresh air," Rose replied, looking at Fratley sternly. "I want to move out. Will we?"
Fratley looked at the group he was with. He focused on Cleo.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"That storm move fast. It from mountains. As it move, it decrease in power. By the time it reach us, it won't be strong. It last for two days at most, but leave lots of snow. Progress slow, but we no be stuck from storm," Cleo announced, watching the storm with star-shaped yellow eyes. "We reach Burmecia soon if we travel now."
"How soon?" Fratley asked as Rose tossed him his pack.
"Four days at most," Cleo replied.
Fratley sighed. Four days seemed like an eternity, but it was better than nothing.
"Let's go," Fratley announced.
The large group slowly moved out of the Grotto, and not a single person looked back.
It smelled of blood, decay, and sadness. The air was thick and stuffy. The ground was hard and cold. And outside, Freya could hear winds whipping through the city. She opened her eyes, only to be met with darkness. It was not, however, from the worn-off blind scroll. It was very simply the light-deprived room. With a soft groan, Freya rose into a sitting position, and quickly heard the clinking of rusty chains clinking together. Freya looked down at the chains quietly. They were old metal, and probably hadn't been replaced in years. They were rusty and smelled horrible. Come to think of it, the whole place smelled. "Damn it," Freya muttered in a hoarse, water-deprived voice.
Freya quickly found the only window in the entire dungeon – It was high up, and covered in bars. It was also on the other side of the dungeon. Freya looked down at the chains, then tried to find where they were connected to the wall. She couldn't see where they were, so she assumed they weren't. Cautiously, Freya began to walk toward the window, where she could see dirty water coming from it. The chains managed to hold, and she was able to get a rather distasteful yet still refreshing drink. From there, Freya sat down next to the window. She was once again feeling groggy. She looked around her new home wearily.
The dungeon. This was what it was like, and Freya now knew why some prisoners went insane when they were here. And Freya knew she would never associate any place with a prison again.
Things were bad. Then again, bad was an understatement. Freya was missing, Amarant had not woken up, Fratley had not returned, and Meander was stuck hiding underground with Puck.
"Relax," Puck said, watching Meander. "Freya's fine, I'm sure of it. We would've heard if she was dead."
"But I'm sure she's in similar condition to Amarant, maybe worse," Meander growled, looking over at Puck. "If only Amarant would wake up, I'd be able to ask him."
Puck shrugged helplessly. "For now, there's nothing we can do, except hope Amarant wakes up. When he does, we can ask him a question or two. For now, we're stuck."
"And we're especially stuck here, with that storm brewing," Dominic added, entering the room.
"Storm?" Puck asked, looking over at Dominic.
"You bet. There's a massive storm brewing above us. It's heading straight out for the Grotto. No doubt it'll hinder any travelers," Dominic explained, sitting down near Puck.
"Damn it!" Meander snapped, punching the stone wall. "That means Fratley will be even later than normal." At this point he groaned. "Shit, that hurt."
"You punched a wall, you ass," Puck replied.
"Out of frustration," Meander grunted. He looked over at Dominic. "Where's Eiko?"
"I'm not sure," Dominic replied, shrugging. "I think she headed off to spy or something."
"Why didn't you stay with her," Meander asked.
"I didn't see her leave," Dominic replied.
"Oh shit," Meander spat, staring at the ground. "This is proving to be one hell of a situation."
Indeed, Eiko had escaped. Mass snowstorms didn't bother her much. She wanted to find Freya. She knew she couldn't rescue her, though she desperately wanted to try. But she wanted to at least find her.
Eiko slipped through the empty streets, fighting through the mass storm. She headed toward the castle looming in the distance, thinking that it was the most likely place to find a prison. She was swift on her feet, though she kept tripping since the snow was piling rather high. Regardless, she wouldn't give in.
Soon, however, it was too difficult. Eiko fell into the snow and stared up at the sky. Snow came down endlessly. It fell in huge flakes. Eiko muttered angrily under her breath. She was getting no where all too quickly, and she hated to get no where.
A chirp startled her. She tried to leap to her feet, only to find that she fell to the ground with a plump. She looked around, and soon spotted a chocobo padding toward her. Eiko gasped.
"Duchess? How did you get here?" Eiko asked as Dominic's chocobo padded over to her. "Dominic called you, didn't he? He must know I'm out here. Oh well. Come on, Duchess, let's go the castle, okay?"
Eiko made an attempt to get onto Duchess's back, but it failed miserably, and she ended up on her own back in the snow. Duchess lowered herself to the ground, making it easier for Eiko to mount. Soon, the chocobo padded steadily through the snow, brown eyes wide and looking around constantly. Eiko looked around constantly as well, trying to find an exact route to the castle. It was failing. The snow was too great. She had an odd feeling that they were going in circles.
Suddenly Duchess screamed in alarm. Eiko looked around and soon spotted a figure dressed in blank. Her green eyes narrowed as she recognized Julius. She took out her trusted Angel's Flute, a weapon she would never let out of her sight.
"Get back!" Eiko shouted angrily. "I'll kill you!"
Julius chuckled. "How so?
"What are you doing here?" Eiko asked angrily. "You're here to kill Freya, aren't you? You meanie! I'll make sure you—"
"I was hoping to get to that bitch, yes, but problems are arising. You won't get far either," Julius interrupted, looking toward the castle (or at least where it should've been, for the snow was blocking out everything). "Ebon is treading on dangerous ground. He doesn't know whom he's messing with. None of you do. Summoner, go back to your friends and tell them this: I'm not happy. And someone is going to die as a result."
With that, Julius vanished. Eiko sighed, angry and confused. She turned Duchess around and had her head toward the underground entrance. She found Dominic waiting for her there.
"Where did you go?" he asked with worry as he opened the secret door.
"I was going to see Freya, but I found Julius instead," Eiko said. "He says he's angry, and that Ebon doesn't know what he's messing with. He says that someone's going to die."
"Oh no," Dominic muttered. "Come on. No matter how much Puck says we can't move, we have to tell them this!"
Eiko nodded in agreement. Dominic, Eiko, and Duchess then rushed underground. When they told Meander and Puck the news, however, they got the same answer Meander had gotten.
"We can only wait."
------------- Er.... Crappy chapter? Yeah, that describes it. Anyway, so Fratley's on the move (FINALLY!), Freya's in a (or is it an?) hopeless situation, and no one can do anything about it because they aren't exactly sure where she is!
I will probably upload the next chapter extremely quickly, as this one is so short it can barely count as its own O_o I wanted a cliff-hanger... Well, I got one at a price...
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.