Chapter Thirty-two
Three Days Later; Burmecia; Castle; Midnight
The night was quiet. No snow fell from the sky; instead, icy rain streaked down to harm anyone in its path. The guards who patrolled the cities were covered head to claw in heavy furs, and they were still shivering regardless. They couldn't wait until their partners came along to take their spot.
Only a few realized that their partners should've come by that time. None knew that their partners were unconscious in the guard's room in the Castle, each drugged by the misty haze that had temporarily entered the room.
Julius, covered in a white haze that protected him, leapt from the chandelier in the guard room and landed softly on the ground below. He looked at all the guards to make sure they were unconscious. Indeed, it appeared that his little scroll had done its job; the sleeping spell had come into effect all too well. Satisfied, Julius stepped into the hallway and began a steady walk toward the throne room. He heard movement, which pleased him. With an extra-long stride, he shoved open the wooden door to reveal the throne room, dimly lit by one chandelier; the others were dead.
Ebon turned in the direction of the door, but he was too late. Soon he was pinned against the wall, Julius watching him with cold, black eyes. Ebon swallowed hoarsely, then put on the best brave face he could manage.
"What are you doing here?" Ebon asked.
"Preparing to do something I should've done long ago," Julius spat. "I'm getting very sick of your so-called 'help' and 'performance.'"
"You're the assass—"Ebon began.
"And you said you could handle things!" Julius snarled. "I don't think you're much use to me. You do nothing, nothing at all. You're a perfect example of your God-damn race – Greedy pigs who use others to get what they want."
"If you kill me, you don't get money," Ebon said, hiding his nervousness.
Julius laughed, the sharp, harsh tone of laughter echoing through out the dark, large chamber. "Haven't you gotten it yet? I'm not an ass. I know you're not going to give me the money. And I don't need it anyway. And I don't need you, or your smelly race. You cheating bastards, lying pigs – You do whatever you can to get what you want! And you made the mistake of trying to defy, to cheat, to trick me. You have made a big mistake, Ebon. The world is better off without you, and that's what I will achieve."
Suddenly Julius shoved Ebon toward the door, causing the Burmecian to stumble. Ebon turned to stare at Julius, only to find a loaded crossbow to be aimed at his chest.
"I'm giving you five seconds to get the hell out of here," Julius spat.
Ebon stared with shock at Julius for three seconds; he then heard Julius softly counting. He turned around and dashed for the door, but it was far too late. A snap filled the air, then Ebon gasped as an arrow slammed into his back. He staggered and fell to the floor. Julius put away his crossbow as he walked toward Ebon. He took out his sword and, without stopping or even pausing in his walk, slashed open the back of Ebon's throat. He put his sword away, then turned to look at Ebon as he reached the door. Ebon tried to say something, but it failed miserably as his last breath came out choked with blood. Julius smirked.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand you," Julius whispered quietly.
With that, Julius left the castle, only to find himself faced with four guards who had decided to head back to the castle. Guards and hybrid stared at each other briefly before the guards took out their weapons. Julius chuckled softly as he fired up a fire spell. One guard rushed for him, sword raised to crack Julius's skull. Julius side-stepped the attack and sent a blazing "wall" of fire across the guards standing. The three guards fell, while the other guard landed on his feet. He stared at his fallen comrades, then back at Julius, only to find another fire spell aimed at him. The guard bit his lip, torn between trying to avenge his fallen comrades, or saving his own life.
Julius's spell discharged, and the guard quickly chose. He bounced out of the way of the spell and rushed into the castle, only to see Ebon dead. The guard stared with shock, then looked behind himself. Julius was already gone.
It was late noon when Puck came rushing into the eating room of the Underground Chamber. Freya looked up from the bread she had been eating, while Fratley looked over at Puck with confusion.
"Ebon's dead," Puck announced.
Everyone on the room – Freya, Amarant, Fratley, Meander, Kitski, Vivi, Eiko, Dominic, and Cleo – slowly took in this new piece of information. Freya slowly turned her glance to Fratley, who glanced at her, then at Puck. Amarant sighed and shook his head with disbelief. Freya looked over at him briefly, only to find his face expressionless. Meander's tail lashed while his fangs became visible. Kitski's eyes rolled as she leaned against the wall, seeming very unsurprised. Cleo looked around nervously, star-shaped yellow eyes for once not holding good cheer. Eiko looked nervous and enraged at the same time. Dominic sighed softly and chose to stare at the ground. Freya turned her gaze back to Puck.
"How?" she asked.
"Clearly during the middle of the night he was murdered," Puck said. "Arrow in the back and cut to the back of the throat. Very nasty, but certainly painful, and he deserved that."
"Julius," Freya muttered. She looked over at Fratley. "You had the right notion."
"I knew this would happen," Kitski suddenly blurted out.
"How so? And why didn't you say anything?" Freya asked, immediately turning to face the cat Demi.
"Having lived on Eoroqu for most of my life, Julius and his COL are no big news for me. And why didn't I say a word? You didn't ask," Kitski said nonchalantly.
"I guess I should've expected as much," Freya said in reply to Kitski's last sentence. "Julius had warned of something like this!" Eiko blurted out. "He had said someone was going to pay!" "Who would've guessed it'd be Ebon?" Freya wondered out loud. She then looked to Meander. "Well, there goes that plan."
"What plan?" Meander asked.
"Don't be stupid. Clearly killing Ebon wouldn't have helped our situation since Julius just killed him himself," Freya replied with slight agitation.
"How do you know Julius killed him?" Meander asked, seeming frustrated himself.
"Who else do we know who can shoot arrows and cut people's throats open?" Freya asked.
"Wanderer?" Meander guessed.
"I wouldn't kill a king unless for my life."
Everyone whirled around to see Wanderer limp steadily into the room. He leaned against his walking stick and stared at everyone with russet eyes.
"Ebon is dead, indeed. Julius killed him, yes. For not only was Ebon killed, but so were three guards that clearly assaulted him after he left the castle. The guards who were supposed to go on duty were put to sleep using sleeping mist. One guard who had been with the other three had managed to survive it all. He was right at the scene when Julius killed his comrades; the upset Burmecian figures Julius must've killed Ebon, and he is correct. It seems that Julius had been planning this thing for quite some time," Wanderer explained, startling most of the group.
Freya took a deep breath. "I would ask how you know all of that, but that's not important."
"Then you need to get your priorities straight," Kitski muttered.
Freya chose to ignore Kitski. "It appears that Julius clearly isn't after me for money after all."
Everyone in the room nodded with disappointed agreement. Freya slowly turned to face Meander, whose fangs were hidden and whose tail was still. He stared at Freya was emotionless black eyes.
"Meander? Surely you know of something that could make Julius hunt Burmecians? You are, after all, his brother," Freya requested.
Meander exhaled softly while he slowly rose to his full height. He walked around the room a bit until he finally came to a stop near Amarant. He then slowly turned his gaze to Freya.
"Yes, I know something," Meander admitted quietly. "I'm sure you've figured out that Julius and I were both an accident... Still not completely sure on what happened, but I do know my father was drunk... Anyway, there were only two of us, the humane gene not wanting to permit anymore. Not wanting to care for more than one 'abomination', my mother quickly chose a favorite—"
"Where was your father?" Puck interrupted.
"You think a drunken baboon will stick around to care for his mistakes? He left long before I was born. Anyhow, my mother was quick to pick a favorite – Julius. While I looked more like a demon, I was too good- natured, hating to fight, liking to play, and to smile... Julius liked to fight, and he was just plain mean, to put it short. Therefore Julius got a name, and care – I, on the other hand, was dust.
"So of course Julius and my mother got along perfectly well and were quite attached. I think the only thing that was attached between Julius and I was his fist to my skull. Anyhow, that's not really important. Around the time we were – seven? No, it was later. Anyway, around the time we were nine or so Eoroqu had suddenly decided not to hide and therefore Burmecians hoping to learn from the Dari and kill things came over. And guess what they killed?
"Demons. They were there to hunt demons and gain strength from killing them. Clearly raising even one hybrid had weakened my mother considerably. I don't think chasing me around after I bit Julius for punching me helped her either. So in the end, a Burmecian came along and killed my mother. Almost killed Julius too, since he was dumb enough to interfere. Didn't bother with me, mainly because they felt sympathy held better for me since I was so skinny. So yeah, I guess you could say that Julius may want revenge on our mother."
"That makes sense," Freya muttered, seeming a little stressed about something.
"Enough sense to explain our situation," Meander grunted bitterly.
"One question for you," Freya said. "If you don't mind. You said he got a name... Who named you?"
Meander moved toward the door to leave. Once he reached the door, he looked at Freya with a hard glance.
"I named myself," Meander declared. "Through the years of stealing, enduring, and fighting, I noticed that I had been changing from an innocent child to a unpredictable hybrid. So I figured Meander would be suitable."
With that, Meander left the room. Freya watched him leave, then turned to the remaining group of people.
"Well, we have our reason... I think," Freya said. "But that isn't really important right now... What's important right now if picking a new king. And that's not going to be fun."
"You could make it easy by just reelecting me," Puck pointed out.
"I'd love to, but you're too young – And I mean that in a good way, you deserve something better than that – and the people will most likely disapprove. And stop staring at me like that, I'm not in the mood," Freya said, moving her gaze to the wall. "Someone... Anyone come to mind, Fratley?"
"Him," Fratley said simply, motioning to Wanderer, who immediately looked stunned.
Freya frowned slightly. "Go on. One word isn't going to suffice."
"Well, first off, as you've probably noticed very quickly, he is very on top of situations. He appears to know everything without problems," Fratley began, acting as if Wanderer wasn't there. "Second, he's a powerful warrior. I'm not sure what type of warrior he exactly is, but I think he's a Spirit Warrior of some sort. Third, he's very kind and extremely smart. He could bring this whole kingdom back to a good state again."
"That sounds likely," Freya agreed.
"I think you'd be best to just put me back as king!" Puck declared loudly, seeming very angry. "I was doing fine running this kingdom and I can continue to—"
"Puck, sew your mouth shut," Dominic said calmly.
Before everyone's eyes, Puck's mouth sewed itself shut. Everyone stared with shock as Puck tried to remove the clearly painful stitches, but didn't succeed. Freya turned a very surprised gaze on Dominic.
"Okay, this is only getting weirder by the second. Dominic, how are you able to make anyone do anything?" she asked.
Dominic sighed softly, seeming rather nervous about telling. Regardless, he spoke, "I'm the Commander."
"The Commander? I never heard of such," Freya replied.
"The Commander is a special Black Mage who, while having extremely weak Black Magic, is able to command a person to do absolutely anything. He can make one freeze, sew their mouth shut, as you observed, and even command a person to die," Wanderer declared. "It runs within an ancient Black Mage family... Dominic, do you—?"
"I'll continue," Dominic muttered. "My family has been trailed back to the times before the Lindblum Wars. Historians are very interested in my family. Even back then, we were feared because of our commanding abilities. Back then, the entire family had it. Most of them were killed due to fear, but my 10th Generation mother was allowed to live. She passed her traits onto two of her seven children. Despite this, all the children but one were killed. It continued like that, and it still is that way. That's why I'm not on Eoroqu. They want me dead."
"I'm sorry," Freya muttered, finding that the conversations were getting more depressing by the second. "Well, I suppose now we—"
Suddenly Anita made her way into the room. She seemed in a panic, and sniffed the air quickly. Seeming to have smelled whom she wanted, she took a deep breath.
"Freya, I need you. Now," Anita said quickly.
"Why?" Freya asked, hearing the stress in Anita's voice.
"It's Arana," Anita said quickly. "And it's bad."
"What about Arana?" Freya asked as she rose to her feet. "Now what happened?"
"The COL got her," Anita told Freya. "Come on, now. Stop asking questions!"
Freya didn't have any more questions to ask. She immediately followed Anita out of the room. They swiftly walked out of the underground chamber, Anita moving swiftly despite her blindness. Outside, the streets were covered in snow, yet Burmecians clogged the streets. Anita and Freya soon left the alley and joined these Burmecians. Most of them parted to allow Anita and Freya through. Soon, the two arrived on a huge crowd of Burmecians that were muttering nervously. Freya shoved her way through them.
There, lying in the snow on her side, was Arana. A massive gash was in her thigh, and a slash had cut open her right eye. Her right arm, the arm she fought was, was at an odd angle and clearly broken. Freya immediately knelt by her.
"So there you are. During this time, you've been in hiding. I know it," Arana muttered, seeing Freya. Her voice was very calm, and didn't hold its normal bitterness. "This morning the king was killed. Just a while ago I was attacked."
"The COL," Freya spat. "So they targeted you?"
"Don't forget," Arana muttered. "I was engaged. I was just the perfect victim."
"Stop talking. How do you expect to live through this if you're going to spend all your strength talking?" Freya asked, seeming worried.
"Who says I want to live through it?" Arana asked.
"I want you to! That enough for you?" Freya spat.
Suddenly, Freya found herself one her back, three feet away from Arana. Confused, she rose to her feet, only to be very surprised to see Kitski kneeling down beside Arana. The Demi had moved so quickly, Freya couldn't react. Clearing, the healer was stronger than she looked.
Freya watched as Kitski opened up her pouch and took out a small sack. Freya's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as Kitski opened the pouch. From inside it, she took a bluish powder. Kitski rose to her feet, staring down at Arana.
"I don't want you to heal me," Arana spat bitterly.
"Sorry, but I don't grant wishes," Kitski replied with equal bitterness.
Kitski tossed the powder over Arana. The powder landed on Arana, causing her body to glow bluish. Freya stared with complete shock. When the glow cleared, all of Arana's wounds were healed, except for her arm, which was still clearly broken, and her eye, which was still cut open. Kitski nodded, seeming pleased with the results as she put away the pouch. Freya rose to her feet.
"How did you do that?" Freya asked, clearly confused.
"Special powder I've developed over the course of two years," Kitski said, moving her hand over Arana. White balls of light fell onto Arana, who fell into a slumber within two seconds. Freya blinked with surprise while Kitski continued, "I combined magic, herbs, potions... Whatever I could use. The powder has the ability to seal up to three skin and muscle wounds, but I have yet to develop it to heal broken bones and severed 'organs', so to speak, like her eye. The powder already has enough flaws, like leaving scars."
"Are you a mage?" Freya asked.
"I know very little White Magic. Most of the magic for my remedies comes from scrolls," Kitski replied. She noted the Burmecians staring at her with suspicion. "Relax, everyone. I'm a healer, I can help her."
"She speaks the truth," Freya announced when the Burmecians didn't disperse. "Arana's all right in her hands, eh, paws, eh... Hands?"
Kitski let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Hands will do."
Freya nodded as she walked a little closer. "Why couldn't you do similar to these?" Freya lightly touched the scar tissue developing on her face.
Kitski shook her head while taking a sharp knife out from under her sleeve. "Unfortunately I have yet to perfect a burn healer. There are few herbs and almost no magic created to get rid of burns. The magic that there is around is full of flaws, and many of the herbs are poisonous... You see, normal Cure spells do a very bad job with burns. They sometimes heal them, they sometimes don't, and sometimes they heal them and leave a big mess. The herbs' poison is what makes them heal burns, making things worse. I have to distill the poison without ruining the herb, perfect the magic, or pay someone to do it... It's a lot of work. The burn remedy I used on you, which is only made to stop the burn from spreading and to reduce swelling and chance of scar tissue, took three years and 150000 Gil to make."
Freya's eyes widened slightly with shock. She had not noticed that Fratley had come on the scene, and was watching Kitski. Kitski, meanwhile, had swiftly removed Arana's eye and swiftly wrapping bandages around the wound.
"How many eyes do you Burmecians like to lose? First Fratley's, now hers, and you nearly lost sight in one. What's next, Wanderer?" Kitski asked.
"The COL apparently likes to blind people," Fratley announced, causing Freya and Kitski to look in his direction with surprise.
"They're smart," Kitski muttered.
"Back to the original topic," Freya said. "So you couldn't heal the burns because you have yet to come up with something?"
"Exactly," Kitski replied, examining Arana's broken arm.
"And you can't get rid of the scar tissue because?" Freya continued.
"Scar tissue is the body's response to healing a burn," Kitski said matter-of-factly. "The burns you suffered completely burned away your skin. I can heal something if there is something to put together. When Fratley's stomach got ripped open, I used a potion that pulled the torn stomach wall, muscle, and skin together. It did not regrow anything. With your burns, there was nothing left to put together, so the body had to do work, resulting in the scar tissue. The scar tissue is not considered a problem since it's 'natural', so to speak, so spells won't work either. With an eye, the potion is too sensitive, and bringing the eye together doesn't help restore any sight anyway, so it's best to just remove it."
"So the scar tissue has to stay," Freya muttered downheartedly.
"Afraid so," Kitski said. "I can't grow back your skin, and on the topic of growing back, I can't bring fur back over scar tissue. Neither can your body. Not yet in my abilities."
"You said once that you can only not restore nerves," Fratley pointed out.
"Everyone lies when they boast," Kitski replied, lifting Arana into her arms. "I can't take care of the broken bone here. You have a hospital?"
"Yes," Fratley replied before Freya could say anything. "It's somewhere... Down there." Fratley motioned in the direction he had earlier come.
"Can you teleport me there?" Kitski asked.
"You're just determined to use all my Warp scrolls, aren't you?" Fratley asked sarcastically.
"Why not? You can buy more," Kitski spat sarcastically.
Fratley rolled his eyes and sighed. He took out a Warp scroll and tossed it to Kitski.
"I think you can teleport on your own," Fratley said.
"How? My hands are full," Kitski growled.
"Oh, Great Dragon, help me," Fratley grumbled, snatching the Warp Scroll from the ground. He quickly opened it, unrolled it, and tossed it back to Kitski, who read it in two seconds. She and Arana soon dematerialized and sped off toward the hospital.
"Impressive way of helping, Fratley," Freya said, smiling painfully.
"I just wanted her to leave," Fratley replied with a shrug. "Come, let us go..."
Freya nodded. The two soon headed toward the Underground Chamber to discuss important matters at hand...
---- Rewrote ending (again). Okay, people are starting to get a little confused on Kitski's abilities. Kitski NEVER restored Fratley's eye. As for Ebon's curse... Don't ask me, I'm not too sure on what I had her do myself OO Reality check time! Anyway, I tried to fill in the plotholes from the previous chapter... Kitski's abilities are explained a bit, and basically I tried my best... Anyway, so Ebon is FINALLY out of the picture... By Julius?! For once, he did something good (except kill those guards afterwards)
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.
Three Days Later; Burmecia; Castle; Midnight
The night was quiet. No snow fell from the sky; instead, icy rain streaked down to harm anyone in its path. The guards who patrolled the cities were covered head to claw in heavy furs, and they were still shivering regardless. They couldn't wait until their partners came along to take their spot.
Only a few realized that their partners should've come by that time. None knew that their partners were unconscious in the guard's room in the Castle, each drugged by the misty haze that had temporarily entered the room.
Julius, covered in a white haze that protected him, leapt from the chandelier in the guard room and landed softly on the ground below. He looked at all the guards to make sure they were unconscious. Indeed, it appeared that his little scroll had done its job; the sleeping spell had come into effect all too well. Satisfied, Julius stepped into the hallway and began a steady walk toward the throne room. He heard movement, which pleased him. With an extra-long stride, he shoved open the wooden door to reveal the throne room, dimly lit by one chandelier; the others were dead.
Ebon turned in the direction of the door, but he was too late. Soon he was pinned against the wall, Julius watching him with cold, black eyes. Ebon swallowed hoarsely, then put on the best brave face he could manage.
"What are you doing here?" Ebon asked.
"Preparing to do something I should've done long ago," Julius spat. "I'm getting very sick of your so-called 'help' and 'performance.'"
"You're the assass—"Ebon began.
"And you said you could handle things!" Julius snarled. "I don't think you're much use to me. You do nothing, nothing at all. You're a perfect example of your God-damn race – Greedy pigs who use others to get what they want."
"If you kill me, you don't get money," Ebon said, hiding his nervousness.
Julius laughed, the sharp, harsh tone of laughter echoing through out the dark, large chamber. "Haven't you gotten it yet? I'm not an ass. I know you're not going to give me the money. And I don't need it anyway. And I don't need you, or your smelly race. You cheating bastards, lying pigs – You do whatever you can to get what you want! And you made the mistake of trying to defy, to cheat, to trick me. You have made a big mistake, Ebon. The world is better off without you, and that's what I will achieve."
Suddenly Julius shoved Ebon toward the door, causing the Burmecian to stumble. Ebon turned to stare at Julius, only to find a loaded crossbow to be aimed at his chest.
"I'm giving you five seconds to get the hell out of here," Julius spat.
Ebon stared with shock at Julius for three seconds; he then heard Julius softly counting. He turned around and dashed for the door, but it was far too late. A snap filled the air, then Ebon gasped as an arrow slammed into his back. He staggered and fell to the floor. Julius put away his crossbow as he walked toward Ebon. He took out his sword and, without stopping or even pausing in his walk, slashed open the back of Ebon's throat. He put his sword away, then turned to look at Ebon as he reached the door. Ebon tried to say something, but it failed miserably as his last breath came out choked with blood. Julius smirked.
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand you," Julius whispered quietly.
With that, Julius left the castle, only to find himself faced with four guards who had decided to head back to the castle. Guards and hybrid stared at each other briefly before the guards took out their weapons. Julius chuckled softly as he fired up a fire spell. One guard rushed for him, sword raised to crack Julius's skull. Julius side-stepped the attack and sent a blazing "wall" of fire across the guards standing. The three guards fell, while the other guard landed on his feet. He stared at his fallen comrades, then back at Julius, only to find another fire spell aimed at him. The guard bit his lip, torn between trying to avenge his fallen comrades, or saving his own life.
Julius's spell discharged, and the guard quickly chose. He bounced out of the way of the spell and rushed into the castle, only to see Ebon dead. The guard stared with shock, then looked behind himself. Julius was already gone.
It was late noon when Puck came rushing into the eating room of the Underground Chamber. Freya looked up from the bread she had been eating, while Fratley looked over at Puck with confusion.
"Ebon's dead," Puck announced.
Everyone on the room – Freya, Amarant, Fratley, Meander, Kitski, Vivi, Eiko, Dominic, and Cleo – slowly took in this new piece of information. Freya slowly turned her glance to Fratley, who glanced at her, then at Puck. Amarant sighed and shook his head with disbelief. Freya looked over at him briefly, only to find his face expressionless. Meander's tail lashed while his fangs became visible. Kitski's eyes rolled as she leaned against the wall, seeming very unsurprised. Cleo looked around nervously, star-shaped yellow eyes for once not holding good cheer. Eiko looked nervous and enraged at the same time. Dominic sighed softly and chose to stare at the ground. Freya turned her gaze back to Puck.
"How?" she asked.
"Clearly during the middle of the night he was murdered," Puck said. "Arrow in the back and cut to the back of the throat. Very nasty, but certainly painful, and he deserved that."
"Julius," Freya muttered. She looked over at Fratley. "You had the right notion."
"I knew this would happen," Kitski suddenly blurted out.
"How so? And why didn't you say anything?" Freya asked, immediately turning to face the cat Demi.
"Having lived on Eoroqu for most of my life, Julius and his COL are no big news for me. And why didn't I say a word? You didn't ask," Kitski said nonchalantly.
"I guess I should've expected as much," Freya said in reply to Kitski's last sentence. "Julius had warned of something like this!" Eiko blurted out. "He had said someone was going to pay!" "Who would've guessed it'd be Ebon?" Freya wondered out loud. She then looked to Meander. "Well, there goes that plan."
"What plan?" Meander asked.
"Don't be stupid. Clearly killing Ebon wouldn't have helped our situation since Julius just killed him himself," Freya replied with slight agitation.
"How do you know Julius killed him?" Meander asked, seeming frustrated himself.
"Who else do we know who can shoot arrows and cut people's throats open?" Freya asked.
"Wanderer?" Meander guessed.
"I wouldn't kill a king unless for my life."
Everyone whirled around to see Wanderer limp steadily into the room. He leaned against his walking stick and stared at everyone with russet eyes.
"Ebon is dead, indeed. Julius killed him, yes. For not only was Ebon killed, but so were three guards that clearly assaulted him after he left the castle. The guards who were supposed to go on duty were put to sleep using sleeping mist. One guard who had been with the other three had managed to survive it all. He was right at the scene when Julius killed his comrades; the upset Burmecian figures Julius must've killed Ebon, and he is correct. It seems that Julius had been planning this thing for quite some time," Wanderer explained, startling most of the group.
Freya took a deep breath. "I would ask how you know all of that, but that's not important."
"Then you need to get your priorities straight," Kitski muttered.
Freya chose to ignore Kitski. "It appears that Julius clearly isn't after me for money after all."
Everyone in the room nodded with disappointed agreement. Freya slowly turned to face Meander, whose fangs were hidden and whose tail was still. He stared at Freya was emotionless black eyes.
"Meander? Surely you know of something that could make Julius hunt Burmecians? You are, after all, his brother," Freya requested.
Meander exhaled softly while he slowly rose to his full height. He walked around the room a bit until he finally came to a stop near Amarant. He then slowly turned his gaze to Freya.
"Yes, I know something," Meander admitted quietly. "I'm sure you've figured out that Julius and I were both an accident... Still not completely sure on what happened, but I do know my father was drunk... Anyway, there were only two of us, the humane gene not wanting to permit anymore. Not wanting to care for more than one 'abomination', my mother quickly chose a favorite—"
"Where was your father?" Puck interrupted.
"You think a drunken baboon will stick around to care for his mistakes? He left long before I was born. Anyhow, my mother was quick to pick a favorite – Julius. While I looked more like a demon, I was too good- natured, hating to fight, liking to play, and to smile... Julius liked to fight, and he was just plain mean, to put it short. Therefore Julius got a name, and care – I, on the other hand, was dust.
"So of course Julius and my mother got along perfectly well and were quite attached. I think the only thing that was attached between Julius and I was his fist to my skull. Anyhow, that's not really important. Around the time we were – seven? No, it was later. Anyway, around the time we were nine or so Eoroqu had suddenly decided not to hide and therefore Burmecians hoping to learn from the Dari and kill things came over. And guess what they killed?
"Demons. They were there to hunt demons and gain strength from killing them. Clearly raising even one hybrid had weakened my mother considerably. I don't think chasing me around after I bit Julius for punching me helped her either. So in the end, a Burmecian came along and killed my mother. Almost killed Julius too, since he was dumb enough to interfere. Didn't bother with me, mainly because they felt sympathy held better for me since I was so skinny. So yeah, I guess you could say that Julius may want revenge on our mother."
"That makes sense," Freya muttered, seeming a little stressed about something.
"Enough sense to explain our situation," Meander grunted bitterly.
"One question for you," Freya said. "If you don't mind. You said he got a name... Who named you?"
Meander moved toward the door to leave. Once he reached the door, he looked at Freya with a hard glance.
"I named myself," Meander declared. "Through the years of stealing, enduring, and fighting, I noticed that I had been changing from an innocent child to a unpredictable hybrid. So I figured Meander would be suitable."
With that, Meander left the room. Freya watched him leave, then turned to the remaining group of people.
"Well, we have our reason... I think," Freya said. "But that isn't really important right now... What's important right now if picking a new king. And that's not going to be fun."
"You could make it easy by just reelecting me," Puck pointed out.
"I'd love to, but you're too young – And I mean that in a good way, you deserve something better than that – and the people will most likely disapprove. And stop staring at me like that, I'm not in the mood," Freya said, moving her gaze to the wall. "Someone... Anyone come to mind, Fratley?"
"Him," Fratley said simply, motioning to Wanderer, who immediately looked stunned.
Freya frowned slightly. "Go on. One word isn't going to suffice."
"Well, first off, as you've probably noticed very quickly, he is very on top of situations. He appears to know everything without problems," Fratley began, acting as if Wanderer wasn't there. "Second, he's a powerful warrior. I'm not sure what type of warrior he exactly is, but I think he's a Spirit Warrior of some sort. Third, he's very kind and extremely smart. He could bring this whole kingdom back to a good state again."
"That sounds likely," Freya agreed.
"I think you'd be best to just put me back as king!" Puck declared loudly, seeming very angry. "I was doing fine running this kingdom and I can continue to—"
"Puck, sew your mouth shut," Dominic said calmly.
Before everyone's eyes, Puck's mouth sewed itself shut. Everyone stared with shock as Puck tried to remove the clearly painful stitches, but didn't succeed. Freya turned a very surprised gaze on Dominic.
"Okay, this is only getting weirder by the second. Dominic, how are you able to make anyone do anything?" she asked.
Dominic sighed softly, seeming rather nervous about telling. Regardless, he spoke, "I'm the Commander."
"The Commander? I never heard of such," Freya replied.
"The Commander is a special Black Mage who, while having extremely weak Black Magic, is able to command a person to do absolutely anything. He can make one freeze, sew their mouth shut, as you observed, and even command a person to die," Wanderer declared. "It runs within an ancient Black Mage family... Dominic, do you—?"
"I'll continue," Dominic muttered. "My family has been trailed back to the times before the Lindblum Wars. Historians are very interested in my family. Even back then, we were feared because of our commanding abilities. Back then, the entire family had it. Most of them were killed due to fear, but my 10th Generation mother was allowed to live. She passed her traits onto two of her seven children. Despite this, all the children but one were killed. It continued like that, and it still is that way. That's why I'm not on Eoroqu. They want me dead."
"I'm sorry," Freya muttered, finding that the conversations were getting more depressing by the second. "Well, I suppose now we—"
Suddenly Anita made her way into the room. She seemed in a panic, and sniffed the air quickly. Seeming to have smelled whom she wanted, she took a deep breath.
"Freya, I need you. Now," Anita said quickly.
"Why?" Freya asked, hearing the stress in Anita's voice.
"It's Arana," Anita said quickly. "And it's bad."
"What about Arana?" Freya asked as she rose to her feet. "Now what happened?"
"The COL got her," Anita told Freya. "Come on, now. Stop asking questions!"
Freya didn't have any more questions to ask. She immediately followed Anita out of the room. They swiftly walked out of the underground chamber, Anita moving swiftly despite her blindness. Outside, the streets were covered in snow, yet Burmecians clogged the streets. Anita and Freya soon left the alley and joined these Burmecians. Most of them parted to allow Anita and Freya through. Soon, the two arrived on a huge crowd of Burmecians that were muttering nervously. Freya shoved her way through them.
There, lying in the snow on her side, was Arana. A massive gash was in her thigh, and a slash had cut open her right eye. Her right arm, the arm she fought was, was at an odd angle and clearly broken. Freya immediately knelt by her.
"So there you are. During this time, you've been in hiding. I know it," Arana muttered, seeing Freya. Her voice was very calm, and didn't hold its normal bitterness. "This morning the king was killed. Just a while ago I was attacked."
"The COL," Freya spat. "So they targeted you?"
"Don't forget," Arana muttered. "I was engaged. I was just the perfect victim."
"Stop talking. How do you expect to live through this if you're going to spend all your strength talking?" Freya asked, seeming worried.
"Who says I want to live through it?" Arana asked.
"I want you to! That enough for you?" Freya spat.
Suddenly, Freya found herself one her back, three feet away from Arana. Confused, she rose to her feet, only to be very surprised to see Kitski kneeling down beside Arana. The Demi had moved so quickly, Freya couldn't react. Clearing, the healer was stronger than she looked.
Freya watched as Kitski opened up her pouch and took out a small sack. Freya's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion as Kitski opened the pouch. From inside it, she took a bluish powder. Kitski rose to her feet, staring down at Arana.
"I don't want you to heal me," Arana spat bitterly.
"Sorry, but I don't grant wishes," Kitski replied with equal bitterness.
Kitski tossed the powder over Arana. The powder landed on Arana, causing her body to glow bluish. Freya stared with complete shock. When the glow cleared, all of Arana's wounds were healed, except for her arm, which was still clearly broken, and her eye, which was still cut open. Kitski nodded, seeming pleased with the results as she put away the pouch. Freya rose to her feet.
"How did you do that?" Freya asked, clearly confused.
"Special powder I've developed over the course of two years," Kitski said, moving her hand over Arana. White balls of light fell onto Arana, who fell into a slumber within two seconds. Freya blinked with surprise while Kitski continued, "I combined magic, herbs, potions... Whatever I could use. The powder has the ability to seal up to three skin and muscle wounds, but I have yet to develop it to heal broken bones and severed 'organs', so to speak, like her eye. The powder already has enough flaws, like leaving scars."
"Are you a mage?" Freya asked.
"I know very little White Magic. Most of the magic for my remedies comes from scrolls," Kitski replied. She noted the Burmecians staring at her with suspicion. "Relax, everyone. I'm a healer, I can help her."
"She speaks the truth," Freya announced when the Burmecians didn't disperse. "Arana's all right in her hands, eh, paws, eh... Hands?"
Kitski let out a sharp bark of laughter. "Hands will do."
Freya nodded as she walked a little closer. "Why couldn't you do similar to these?" Freya lightly touched the scar tissue developing on her face.
Kitski shook her head while taking a sharp knife out from under her sleeve. "Unfortunately I have yet to perfect a burn healer. There are few herbs and almost no magic created to get rid of burns. The magic that there is around is full of flaws, and many of the herbs are poisonous... You see, normal Cure spells do a very bad job with burns. They sometimes heal them, they sometimes don't, and sometimes they heal them and leave a big mess. The herbs' poison is what makes them heal burns, making things worse. I have to distill the poison without ruining the herb, perfect the magic, or pay someone to do it... It's a lot of work. The burn remedy I used on you, which is only made to stop the burn from spreading and to reduce swelling and chance of scar tissue, took three years and 150000 Gil to make."
Freya's eyes widened slightly with shock. She had not noticed that Fratley had come on the scene, and was watching Kitski. Kitski, meanwhile, had swiftly removed Arana's eye and swiftly wrapping bandages around the wound.
"How many eyes do you Burmecians like to lose? First Fratley's, now hers, and you nearly lost sight in one. What's next, Wanderer?" Kitski asked.
"The COL apparently likes to blind people," Fratley announced, causing Freya and Kitski to look in his direction with surprise.
"They're smart," Kitski muttered.
"Back to the original topic," Freya said. "So you couldn't heal the burns because you have yet to come up with something?"
"Exactly," Kitski replied, examining Arana's broken arm.
"And you can't get rid of the scar tissue because?" Freya continued.
"Scar tissue is the body's response to healing a burn," Kitski said matter-of-factly. "The burns you suffered completely burned away your skin. I can heal something if there is something to put together. When Fratley's stomach got ripped open, I used a potion that pulled the torn stomach wall, muscle, and skin together. It did not regrow anything. With your burns, there was nothing left to put together, so the body had to do work, resulting in the scar tissue. The scar tissue is not considered a problem since it's 'natural', so to speak, so spells won't work either. With an eye, the potion is too sensitive, and bringing the eye together doesn't help restore any sight anyway, so it's best to just remove it."
"So the scar tissue has to stay," Freya muttered downheartedly.
"Afraid so," Kitski said. "I can't grow back your skin, and on the topic of growing back, I can't bring fur back over scar tissue. Neither can your body. Not yet in my abilities."
"You said once that you can only not restore nerves," Fratley pointed out.
"Everyone lies when they boast," Kitski replied, lifting Arana into her arms. "I can't take care of the broken bone here. You have a hospital?"
"Yes," Fratley replied before Freya could say anything. "It's somewhere... Down there." Fratley motioned in the direction he had earlier come.
"Can you teleport me there?" Kitski asked.
"You're just determined to use all my Warp scrolls, aren't you?" Fratley asked sarcastically.
"Why not? You can buy more," Kitski spat sarcastically.
Fratley rolled his eyes and sighed. He took out a Warp scroll and tossed it to Kitski.
"I think you can teleport on your own," Fratley said.
"How? My hands are full," Kitski growled.
"Oh, Great Dragon, help me," Fratley grumbled, snatching the Warp Scroll from the ground. He quickly opened it, unrolled it, and tossed it back to Kitski, who read it in two seconds. She and Arana soon dematerialized and sped off toward the hospital.
"Impressive way of helping, Fratley," Freya said, smiling painfully.
"I just wanted her to leave," Fratley replied with a shrug. "Come, let us go..."
Freya nodded. The two soon headed toward the Underground Chamber to discuss important matters at hand...
---- Rewrote ending (again). Okay, people are starting to get a little confused on Kitski's abilities. Kitski NEVER restored Fratley's eye. As for Ebon's curse... Don't ask me, I'm not too sure on what I had her do myself OO Reality check time! Anyway, I tried to fill in the plotholes from the previous chapter... Kitski's abilities are explained a bit, and basically I tried my best... Anyway, so Ebon is FINALLY out of the picture... By Julius?! For once, he did something good (except kill those guards afterwards)
This story is copyright to me. Some characters, locations, and Gaia in general are copyright to SquareEnix.