In The Shadows
He stood on the crumbling stone gazing out over the barren town of Madain Sari. Inside the circular wall were faded pictures of the great creatures known as Eidolons, that were used by the late Queen Brahne a year ago to destroy the major cities of the Mist Continent. He had no interest in those events, he dealt in simple things such as locating important someones or somethings.
His black cloak rippled in the wind, the sand grating against it. His body was wrapped tightly in the blackness, his blue-grey eyes visible between folds of fabric.
It had taken him a couple of weeks to reach here from Alexandria following the directions of a young girl who once lived here. The moogles that once populated this town had left for their mistress Eiko Carol, yet it wasn't deserted, someone still remained and it was they he had come for.
'Why would you want to go way out there? There's nothing after the Iifa tree came crashing down.' Amarant told him gruffly.
'There's nothing left here either Red. At least there's more chance of finding something out there than here.' He replied.
'And that's your only reason?' Amarant asked dryly.
'Would there be any other?' he answered.
'You're a bounty hunter Black, not a treasure hunter.' Amarant told him, his dark eyes hidden under his mass of red hair.
'Yeah but there's no call for it these days. Besides I wasn't as good as you or her.' Black said softly.
Amarant grunted, shifting his broad blue shoulders slightly. 'You always got your bounty and you never took hostages like her.' He spat.
'Yeah well there's a new world, if only I could find my way.' Black pondered aloud.
'Just get a damn airship.' Amarant said dryly.
'Where's the fun in that?' Black smirked behind the fabric of his cloak.
'Fine.' Amarant sighed and rolled his hidden eyes. 'If you have your heart set on it go to the Qu's marsh and go into Fossil Roo... might be hard to get out after the upheaval but I doubt that'd stop you.' Amarant told him.
'And when I get to the Outer Continent?' Black asked.
'Go talk to a friend of mine. She's annoying but she can help. She's at the castle with the Queen. Her name's Eiko Carol. Tell the guards I sent you.' Amarant told him.
Black nodded and shook Amarant's big blue hand. 'Thanks Red.'
Black reopened his eyes as the memory faded. Black wasn't his real name, but his nickname in the bounty hunter world. Just like Amarant's was Red because of his hair, his was Black because he was hidden in his cloak at all times.
In the distance he could see an old fountain and beyond that a stone hut with smoke rising beyond it.
'So it's true, she is here.' He thought to himself.
He hadn't lied when he told Red he was seeking treasures on the Outer Continent, he was after a rare treasure, only one of which existed in this world and now he'd found her.
He couldn't admit the way he felt about Lani to Red as he knew his disgust at her hostage taking when they were ordered by Queen Brahne to retrieve a gem from Princess Garnet.
This didn't bother Black as he felt Lani was smart to try a different tactic, especially if the man the Princess was with was able to defeat Red by himself.
He knew Lani never noticed him as he blended in with the crowds and shadows so he wouldn't be seen whilst Lani was all about being loud and noticed.
This made her unpopular with most people especially bounty hunters even if they grudgingly respected her abilities.
Black had always watched her from afar and figured she was hiding the real her behind all that boisterousness. And now he'd found her and they were alone he'd see if he was right.
She sat idly at the stone pier holding the fishing rod as she waited for something to bite at the bait below. Strangely she seemed at peace in this dead town, her large axe embedded blade down in a stone never to be used again after her meeting here with them.
Luckily she wasn't exactly alone for no doubt she would've drove herself mad. Almost all the moogles had left when Eiko decided to stay in Alexandria and leave Madain Sari in her hands.
A moogle named Mochi had arrived from the destroyed Iifa tree and decided to stay to keep her company. Plus the stripy purple one, Artemicon, dropped by with letters occasionally.
She sometimes wondered what Red and the others were doing these days as well as whistfully thought about the adventures she had as a bounty huntress.
But this was her life now, strange how she never really needed the attention she strove to get back then.
She sighed softly and leant back, the fishing rod leant against her bare leg as she closed her eyes and lay in the sun.
He had crept from wall to wall until he reached the roof of the hut and now crouched near the edge looking down at her. She hadn't changed since he'd last seen her. Her long dark hair framed her beautifully flawless face whilst most of her tanned lithe body was exposed to the sun as she wore only short black shorts, her usual red and yellow striped skirt with the white fur lining not wrapped around her shapely hips as normal whilst she wore the simple white tube of fabric with red patches around her chest, her shoulders bare of her yellow puffy sleeved top.
Black was absorbed in her beauty, watching as she lay basking in the sun.
A sound made him lay flat on the roof as Lani stirred.
'Kupo! You're supposed to be fishing!' Mochi scolded her as he came waddling into the kitchen.
Lani sat up her eyes opening. 'Nothing's biting. Give me a break.' She retorted.
On the rooftop Black crawled away listening to their arguing. 'Damn moogle.' He muttered to himself as he disappeared back to the Eidolon Wall.
Night fell and Madain Sari was full of the sound of crickets and other skittering creatures as they came out from hiding from the searing heat.
Black awoke from his sleep and decided to stroll back towards Lani's hut.
As he neared Lani's hut he kept to the shadows, creeping on his tiptoes as he eased himself up over the wall to the kitchen.
He paused in the dark, straining his hearing for anything and then crept down into the lower room where he found Lani asleep.
The covers fell and rose with her shallow breaths, the moonlight streaming in and highlighting her face.
Black paused as he observed his angel, so serene as she slept, her full lips slightly parted and her eyelashes glittery in the moonlight.
He wanted to stand here in the shadows and watch her all night but he couldn't risk her waking and being afraid of his presence. Instead he reached into his cloak and pulled out his gift to her, placing it on a small table and reluctantly left her to dream.
Lani awoke, pale sunlight streaming into her eyes as she blinked sleep away. She stretched, her arms pushing the covers off of her as they rose behind her head and she sat up yawning.
It was then she noticed it sparkling on the table before her, an exquisite rose made of crystal, the stem long and refracting beams of green light through angular leaves, while the flower itself was made up of crystalline petals in various hues of red.
She rose from her bed and padded over in her bare feet, wondering where this ornament could've come from.
There was no note or tag with it suggesting who or why it had been placed there, it seemed as if it had just grown there overnight.
Leaving the rose where it was, Lani wandered out up into the kitchen in her pale yellow nightdress and looked around.
'Mochi!' she called out and the moogle came fluttering in.
'Yes Lani? Kupo!' Mochi asked as he landed on the kitchen table.
'Do you know anything about the crystal rose in my room?' Lani asked.
'Crystal rose?' Mochi replied confsed.
'Damn... I figured it wasn't that simple.' Lani muttered and looked around. 'Someone else is here in Madain Sari.' She said softly.
Mochi fluttered his wings nervously. 'Are we in trouble?' he asked.
'I don't know. Whoever it is seems shy about making themselves known and they haven't tried attacking me. Then again they could be biding their time.' Lani wondered aloud.
Black stalked the rafters of Conde Petie, searching for the items he needed for this coming night. Below him the dwarves ambled about their business unaware what crept above them.
He succeeded in getting his items and wandered back to Madain Sari along the Mountain Path. Black wasn't surprised when the Troll dropped from the thick roots above the lower path.
Black reached into his cloak and pulled out his weapon, a bolt-pistol. He shot three metal bolts into the legs of the Troll causing it to drop. The Troll growled reaching out with a clawed hand.
Black loaded some more bolts into the wooden stock of his weapon and cocked the spring in the metal barrel. Walking up to the Troll, he jumped over its flailing arms until it was eye to eye with him and aimed the bolt-pistol squarely between them and unflinchingly squeezed the trigger, firing the bolt into its skull.
The Troll slumped and faded away leaving the bolts slick with blood on the ground. Never one to waste things, Black leant down and picked up the bolts wiping the blood from them with a cloth produced from the inner recesses of his cloak and replaced his weapon.
The sun beat down on him, the heat absorbed by his cloak warming him. He crept back into Madain Sari and hid in his small chamber near the Eidolon wall, slowly drifting to sleep to avoid the desert heat awaiting nightfall.
Lani and Mochi had the spent the day scouring Madain Sari for the presence of the mystery person whom left the rose. They found no indications of such a person which left Lani frustrated by the whole mystery.
She pulled the bandana from her hair allowing it to fall down over her shoulders. Madain Sari was a blaze of red as the sun set and she knew that they wouldn't beable to carry on this pointless search.
Her stomach growled softly reminding her of her need to eat and sighing she went to the kitchen in search of food.
The brisk cold roused him from his sleep, his blue eyes opening in the darkness. He stretched his limbs and walked out of his chamber, confident in the stealth of his movements.
Instead of going straight to Lani's room he went to the kitchen and placed a small object in the table before crouching in the shadows, his cloak blending in making him invisible. He didn't have to wait long for Mochi to arrive, drawn by the scent of the Kupo nut. The moogle bit into the nut ravenously and soon it was gone. Black watched as the moogle made contented sounds and started walking off the table, swaying slightly and then fell on its back sound asleep. Tonight he would have no interruptions, Lani was all his.
Her lips moved gently and silently as they mouthed the words being said in her dreams. She lay on her side, one arm curled across her abdomen while the other held the covers to her, her legs slightly bent so she was almost curled into a ball.
Black watched transfixed by her wondering how many would've seen this side of her. His mind tortured him by telling him she wouldn't want to know a shadow like him, that his obsessive love for her would cause her to run from him.
He crept over to her gazing down at her as she rolled over onto her back, the covers slipping down her body. Black gently pulled them back up, covering her from the cold of the night.
Lani's lips smiled faintly as her arms slid out of the covers and over her body. Unable to stop himself, Black reached out and tenderly stroked her hair, brushing it away from her face. Lani murmured softly but didn't stir as his fingers softly traced the curve of her cheek.
He then reached up and pulled the folds of cloth down from his face exposing pale, smooth skin, his thin lips glistening slightly as he licked them nervously. He wiped the back of his hand over his lips to dry them as he leant down over her and gently kissed her forehead, his lips just brushing against her quickly.
He pulled away from her and pulled his cloak back up over his face so his eyes were only visible once more.
He stood watching over her for a while longer, watching as she tossed and turned in her dreams, unaware of him in sleep as in life. As the night grew lighter he pulled away from her unable to trust himself. There was a whisper of fabric and a crinkle of paper as he removed a folded sheet from within and placed it with care on the table by the crystal rose. Then he left Lani with a deep sigh and returned to his daily oblivion.
Lani awoke feeling refreshed, her dreams fading from her memory every second the sunlight filtered into her eyes.
Her face tingles slightly for no reason but like her dreams that too faded. Automatically she slipped out of her nightdress and dressed in her clothes before her eye lit upon the rose and the sheet of paper by it.
Glancing around warily she reached the table and picked up the sheet without unfolding it. She headed up into the kitchen where she found Mochi fast asleep on the table and a number of prods and screams couldn't rouse him.
In the end she sank down onto the bench placing the letter on the table and finally curiosity overcame her and she unfolded it slowly, the word available for her to read. The words written in a smooth, carefully crafted hand.
"Never noticed me, yet I always noticed you.
Too afraid to come near, didn't know what to do.
Forever wonder what hides behind your shell.
Whilst I remain watching from my shadowy hell.
I apologise my dear, if my visits to you have caused you to fear, the fact that I only desire to be near.
Soon I may have the strength to present myself to thee, but I still hold fear it may end in tragedy.
For how could a beauty like you care for someone like me?"
'A love letter?' Lani said aloud as she finished reading it, blushing faintly. She was touched by this strange confession of love because all she had ever known was dislike and even hate. The melancholy of the letter had got to her, a single tear welling in her eye, but now as she read it over and over her heart began to pound in her chest.
Her admirer had to have been someone who shared her world to know her so well, to have seen, at least in part, through the act she put on as a bounty huntress. She had been insecure back then, craved the attention a woman of her abilities could get to make up for the lack of it she had as a child from her parents. She had to become tough but under that hard exterior, the sensitive girl still hid and now someone had noticed her and craved to be with her, to give her the attention she had missed out on.
Lani shivered slightly as her body tingles in excitement. Again he had been here to see her at night and she hadn't sensed him. Curiosity burned inside her as she pondered on who this shadow could be. She folded the letter and hid it in a safe place before she left her hut and came upon another surprise. Her abandoned axe had been covered with numerous coloured ribbons, the coils of fabric running up the whole handle.
She approached it and gingerly ran her hand over it, the handle silky smooth beneath her fingers. The intricate detail and weave meant that whoever had done this had spent a lot of time on it. She wondered what sort of man he was, she didn't know of any bounty hunters like this, but then he did say she never noticed him.
She wished she could go back to the world she left if only to find her admirer's identity. They had come to the Outer Continent to find her, yet how could they have known she was here? Only Red knew... Red... so he would've told them where to find her and she knew Red wouldn't talk to her after she took that kid hostage but it wasn't like she was going to hurt her, hell she knocked her out with Sleep Weed so she'd be out the way but all Red had cared about back then was his honour and duel with that monkey Zidane.
She sighed in frustration, all she could do was wait for them to make an appearance.