This story belongs to me and my creative mind. However, most of the characters, names, and places all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! Remember, Italics represent a person's thoughts or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...

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:Faraway Dreams:

Chapter Nine:

"Who could have done this!?" Illis asked angrily of the people around her. "What kind of person could attack an unarmed man so easily!?"

"Illis, please remain calm. We all know that only the Fire Bandit is responsible for this."

"But why? Why would a mere bandit decide to attack someone so viscously and not steal anything? It makes no sense!"

"Please, Illis, stop asking questions that cannot be answered!" Gordan begged, placing his hands across her shoulders and looking into her eyes. "There are answers to be found, but not until we gather more information from Mackenzie when he wakes. Until then, do not torture yourself by seeking the unseekable."

Illis was surprised at Gordan's words, but she calmed down and gave a weak nod. "Okay."

Gordan stepped back, then crossed his arms and glanced over at the window to the Medical Hall, seeing the afternoon sunlight through the layers of clouds covering the sky. The day was just beginning, and already they had suffered a casualty to their newly ordered mission. Gordan's brow furrowed, wondering if the attack was sheer coincidence, or if the Bandit somehow learned of the Regulators involvement and made a preemptive attack to weaken their moral. A door at the end of the waiting room opened, and a familiar doctor walked in with a quiet motion.

"How is he, Doctor Harris?" Ruthy asked first.

"He's in good shape despite the burns, but he's pretty tired from all the healing herbs we gave him. He'll pull through in a few days, although it will take much longer for the wounds to heal completely."

"Can we see him?" Illis tried, Gerick standing to follow.

The Doctor scrunched up his face. "Not all of you at once, he needs to stay relaxed! I'll let two of you in and the rest can wait 'till tomorrow."

"Thank you." Illis nodded, heading for the door with Gerick at her side.

The two passed through the door and were presented with a large room, medical equipment and paraphernalia scattered across the tables. Resting on a bed in the center of the room was Macky, his chest wrapped in bandages and his face wrinkled with exhaustion. He looked at the door to see his visitors, and smiled lightly when recognizing them.

"Hey...what's up?" Macky asked.

"Not much at all." Gerick muttered. "Although it looks like you've been through some kinda hell."

"You could say that..." He grinned, looking at Illis. "I'm glad that you're here, though..."

"Why?"

"The Bandit, he wanted to know where you were...this morning. I didn't tell him, and he did this to me. He wanted me to tell you...that 'Elric the Fire Bandit is here to collect'..."

Illis' face registered shock and fear, her body motionless as the words sunk in.

Oh no...what is he doing here? Why did he come to get me after all these years?...

"Illis?" Gerick started.

"Huh?" She breathed, looking back at the elder man.

"You okay? It looks like 'ta devil danced on your grave."

"I'm fine...it's just that I remember than name from my past..."

Gerick was surprised. "You mean you know this guy!?"

Illis frowned. "More like I knew him from a long time ago. He was nothing...nothing more than an acquaintance. But why did he come here after so long and attack my friend...Tell me, what did he looks like?"

"He was tall, a bit shorter than you, Gerick. Thin looking guy through his wide shirt, and he had short red hair, green eyes, maybe brown. He seemed really pissed about something when he came," Macky added. "He said that you crossed him, and that he wasn't going to let it slide so easily. Illis, what kind of person is he?"

"I already said he was just an old friend, but he was never so bold as to do this...or strong enough to..." She spoke, musing on her past. "I imagine he would be upset after I left, but he isn't the type to do something this evil just for revenge, and it's been so many years since then..."

"Well it seems time hasn't lessened whatever you did, Illis." Gerick frowned, rubbing his beard. "It sounds like the guy's gotta bone 'ta pick with you, and he's too strong for you to fight if it boils down to that."

"That's pretty obvious." She replied.

"So what are you gonna do?" Macky asked.

Illis remained silent, unable to think of anything that could help. The Fire Bandit was a powerful enemy, and it seemed that his focus was no longer solely on thievery and fighting the Guards. She had been away from him for so long, yet he was able to find her only after a week of residence in Lindblum. If he was able to track her so easily, then she feared that his efforts would hurt even more of her friends.

"I...don't know..." She finally uttered.

Gerick was quick to speak. "Well, it's obvious that you're not gonna be safe here if he's out 'ta get you, despite your own power. I wouldn't put it past 'im to find out where 'ya live and try to get you there."

"What would you do, though? I can't ask you all to follow me everywhere and wait for him."

"Then what would you have us do?"

Illis' gaze hardened. "He's going to come for me sometime, so we need to get him first, and we can do that by using Cecil Greenbel's plan as soon as possible. That's the only time we'll have the advantage over him."

"Alright then." Gerick began, crossing his arms. "I'll head back to the Armory and let Cecil know what's goin' down. Hopefully, he'll be willin' to push the plan ahead so we'll not waste any time gettin' this guy off your back. You should go home 'an rest yourself, but I'll have 'ta insist that Gordan and Fedrich go with ya for safety's sake."

"Okay." She agreed.

"Well then, Macky, I guess we'll be leavin' you to the Docs. Hope you get through alright."

"Thanks for coming you two, I'll be back before you know it, or maybe before the Doctors know." He grinned.

Gerick laughed. "I'll be waitin'!"

The two left the room and went back to the others, all of them standing to hear whatever news they had.

"How is he?" Ruthy asked.

"Macky's doin' fine, but he have more problems to deal with." Gerick warned. "It turns out that 'ta Fire Bandit's, who we now know as Elric, is after Illis for somethin' she did a long time ago."

The people present were all shocked, Gordan most of all.

"Good Gods, Illis, what kind of thing did you do to upset a man of his power?" He asked.

"He wasn't that powerful when I knew him! It's been so long since he ever saw me, that there has to be some other reason he's come after me."

"Whatever reason that may be, I will not allow him to harm you!" Gordan declared.

"Well, that's the general plan." Gerick agreed. "I'm insistin' that you 'n Fedrich walk her home just in case."

"Alright, but are you sure she'll be safe at home?" Fedrich asked.

"No, I'm not, but at 'ta moment, it's the only place that can offer her the most protection."

"Then we should depart and get her home as soon as possible as well as Ruthy. At the rate this Elric is moving, there is no telling how long it will be until he attempts to confront Illis with whatever accusations he has."

"Okay, I'll be goin' to meet with Cecil. See ya all later."

"Are you sure that you will be safe at home, Illis?" Gordan asked.

"For the last time, I'll be fine! There's no way that Elric could find my home out of the thousands of others here, and even if he does, I'm not completely defenseless against him and his magic."

"Don't worry so much, Gordan, I'll make sure no one messes with my sister and gets away with it." Ruthy added.

Gordan sighed, rubbing his head. "You know I ask merely out of concern for your safety. I would not be able to forgive myself if I let him injure you and I was not around to stop him."

Illis rested a hand on his shoulder. "I appreciate the thoughts, but I'm hardly the defenseless maiden. Gerick's gonna need your help finding this guy more than me."

With a not so gentle shove, she pushed the nobleman back towards the door. "Now why don't you go out and relax, you've been stressing yourself too much for a single day."

"But-!"

Illis raised a hand to silence him, then reached into a pocket and flipped a fifty Gil coin to Fedrich. "Fedrich, go get him something to drink or his head's going to explode."

The Burman grinned. "Yes, Ma'am."

"And make sure it's something with a lot of alcohol!" She added.

"Okay!"

Fedrich gripped the nobleman's shoulder and lead him out of the house, closing the door with a gentle latching of the handle. Illis sighed happily and fell into a chair, resting her head against her arms as she studied the ceiling.

"He's certainly devoted to you, huh?" Ruthy asked with a smile.

"Ah, he's just being old fashioned, thinking ladies aren't able to protect themselves."

"I think it's cute that he does all that for you, though."

"Yeah, he does every little thing he can to make things easier, but I'm sure he's just trying to revive his failed reputation as a prominent noble of the Lindblum upper crust."

"You sure about that? He seems really attached to you out of everyone else."

Illis looked down at her sister, the younger redhead leaning against a wall. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I mean, he acts proper and nice to the ladies he meets, but he practically falls over his feet trying to do everything he can for you. Don't you think that's a little much more than just being polite?"

"So...you think he's got something for me?" Illis asked.

"Well, he certainly acts like it sometimes." Ruthy replied with a smirk.

"Huh..." She muttered, looking back to the ceiling with a reflective expression. "I suppose there is some truth to that, but I never really considered it to be anything more than just being nice to me because of my past."

"Maybe you ought to think about it more, then." Ruthy suggested.

Illis nodded, then looked back at her sister with her arms crossed over her lap. "Perhaps, but why did you bother to bring this up?"

Ruthy raised an eyebrow. "I just think that if Gordan does have a thing for you, then maybe you should look into it. We've both been through a lot since we left home, and I just want to see my big sister happy."

"Well, why don't you ever look for someone to be with, eh?" Illis asked with a grin, reversing the situation.

Ruthy blushed immediately. "Hey, I don't know many guys, and none of them show any sign of liking me more than friends!"

"Cheap excuse, sister!" Illis laughed. "I'm sure there are a lot of nice guys who'd fall for you."

"But I don't know where they're all hiding." She countered.

"Why not try the places you're around?"

Ruthy made a face. "Yeah right! All the men in the Regulators are too old, and the others are too dull or too weird!"

"What about Fedrich? He looks about your age." Illis pondered.

"Now that's just wrong! He's a demi-human, I'm a regular human, there's no way that could ever work!"

"Who says it can't?"

Ruthy was about to reply, but the words died in her mouth as her mind thought it out. Illis stood up from her chair and walked by Ruthy, patting the youth's head, getting her attention.

"Give it some thought. You two seem to get along well enough, so what's there to stop you?"

Ruthy was going to speak, but Illis walked away and headed up the small flight of stairs to their bedrooms, cutting her off. Ruthy got to her feet and walked to the small window by their front door, looking out into the open expanse of the Lindblum skyline. She recalled the times that they were together, and she did find that he was nice around her and that they did have things in common.

...Who says it can't?...

"Fedrich's a nice person...but could such a thing really work between two different people?"