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...
:Faraway Dreams:
Chapter Seven:
"You lost!?" Gerick sputtered, spilling his coffee as the mug fell to the tabletop.
"Yeah..." Fedrich repeated the statement, leaning against the doorframe.
"Well...Damn! I thought fer sure you'd be the one to come out on top!" He mused, noting the spilt drink. "I know you did your best, so I'm not blamin' you for it. I guess that they meant it when they said that there's always someone better'n you in the world."
"It's okay. I did as much as I could, no shame in that." He walked inside and sat down in a chair, slouching against the back.
"So who won?"
"Ivan Theend. He killed the prize monster before I had a chance to."
"Bad luck."
"The strange thing was, just before I was going to kill it, I was hit by something and knocked out. I woke up after the Festival was over, and I barely had enough time to get my points counted. I don't remember what happened, but I'm starting to think that Ivan was the one who did it."
"Treacherous little merchant! Didn't you-"
"I didn't complain to anyone about it. Besides, how could I prove he did it? They'd simply look at me as a sore loser and ignore anything I said against him."
"But still, you shouldn't have just let it slide! What kind of a reputation are you tryin' to make, letting people walk over you?"
"It wasn't like I wanted that to happen! Besides, it's too late to do anything about it now."
"I would've brought holy hell on them." Gerick muttered as an afterthought.
"I know, but I chose not to..."
Silence fell onto the two Regulators. Gerick stood up from his chair and went to the wash basin, taking a spare rag and wiping up the spilt coffee. He cleaned his mug off, poured another cup, then sat back down and took a deep swig of the bitter brew. Fedrich crossed his arms and let his head sag, studying the pattern of bricks on the floor. The clock near the double doors of the Hall ticked away a minute, pendulum swinging back and forth in the immortal sway of time.
"I'm thinkin' about retiring." Gerick spoke in a casual tone.
Fedrich shot up in his seat. "Retiring!? Why?"
"I dunno...something in me is just been feeling strange for a while. Illis is unsure if I can lead the Regulators now, and even I'm seeing some truth to it." He sighed, rubbing his beard. "I've been getting more and more anxious to find monsters and to fight 'em. I hardly ever think about the money nowadays, and that was always on my mind. Maybe she's right, maybe I'm getting too old to lead people into a fight an' bring them out safe."
"That's not true! You're doing just as good as you were when we first met!"
Gerick chuckled. "Thanks for the confidence, but I'm not sure anymore, and that's more dangerous than going in blind. If you can't stay sure about what you're doing, then how can you do it right? For seven years I've led the Regulators on patrol...maybe its time 'ta let someone else take the reigns."
"But...this is your dream, isn't it? How could you think to let someone else control it?"
"I'm not so selfish 'ta take it down with me, Fedrich. You an' the sisters are good people, you don't deserve 'ta be thrown out of a job because I'm tired of it. I've been chatting with some old buddies from the Guard, and they oughta do a good job at the command."
"But...!"
"Now hold on a second, Fedrich! Look, you've been a damn good man in the Regulators. You've got as good a head on your shoulders as you've got skills with a sword, better than I can say of most men I've worked with. It's because I know you're a good man that I ask you this. Would you be willing to accept command of the Regulators?"
Fedrich's body went slack at the question. Suddenly he was going to be the one leading Illis and Ruthy into battle? He would be the one to start the patrols every morning, to calculate battles and to calculate wages earned and lost, to be the leader of men who trusted him with their lives? The idea made him nervous, his fur ruffling from a chill running along his spine. Looking at Gerick, the man who he worked under for nearly five months, gave him little comfort. His perpetual smile was gone, replaced by a look that begged a favorable reply.
"Does anyone else know?"
He shook his head. "No. Macky would be the only one who suspects it, he would be able to tell right off..."
Fedrich stood up and murmured to himself, walking back and forth as if the rhythmic motions would ease his worries. He stopped and faced Gerick, swallowing deeply as he tried to speak the sentence he had planned, the hardest thing he ever had to say to anyone.
"Gerick, I...I can't accept, because I'm planning on leaving for home tomorrow..."
The elder man made a gargled noise, standing up as well. His expression read as surprised as Fedrich's was when the question of command was given to him. "You're leaving? Why?"
"I was planning on going home once the Festival was over...and I've always held myself to that. Don't take any insult, the night before the Festival I realized that I was just at home here as I am in Burmecia. I struggled with that knowledge. I still am. How could I value my friends at home more than my friends here? How can I choose one family over another? That's the truth, Gerick, you and everyone else have been like family to me. But now...I have little choice in the matter, I have to return home."
"You don't have 'ta do anything you don't want. If you want to stay here, do so! I'm more than willin' to accommodate you!"
Fedrich smiled weakly, leaning against a wall. "I know you are, and I thank you. But I have...obligations at home, more than I do in Lindblum. Knowing that...I feel it's necessary to go home and take care of them, even if I wanted to stay here. You have an obligation to protect the people of Lindblum from monsters, and you take that seriously and above anything else. You should understand that I must do what I must do, before anything else I want."
Gerick's face argued the logic, but he understood the dilemma a moment later and the pains associated with it. "I'm sorry."
"Thanks for understanding..."
The elder Regulator sat back down, drinking his coffee. "It's a shame, isn't it? How lives can be ruined because of obligations 'ta others, because we're the type who puts others before ourselves. We're always gettin' the short end of the stick."
"It's not so bad a thing. The honor of serving others, of placing their needs above your own, certainly helps to balance the scales. A knight swears his life to the king and a priest to the church, and they lead powerful and remarkable lives. Knowing that helps to ease the pain..."
"True, true." Gerick muttered. "When are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow morning, before dawn. Hopefully with an early start I can make to Gizamaluke's Grotto by sunfall, then spend one last day on the road until I reach the gates of Burmecia."
"Have you said anything to Ruthy or Illis?"
Fedrich winced at the reminder. "No...but I will. Tonight."
.
The sun had fallen, the bright afterglow barely evident in the sky as stars shone brighter from the sky between clouds traversing above. The streets were mostly abandoned, the majority of the population at home and preparing to get a deserved nights rest. The alcove he stood in, little more than an extension of the street into the open air of Lindblum, was quiet enough to provoke the Burman to talk to himself.
"How am I supposed to choose between Ruthy and the mission?" He asked the winds, getting no reply. "How am I supposed to choose between my friends and family here with those at home? I just can't..."
He paused a moment. "Mum...dad, I miss you both so much. Galt, Weste, Eliza...I'm heartsick because I miss you and our daily antics. I miss just lying around in my bed, getting vanilla cakes and gingersnaps from Mr. Harbur, even just lying on the grass and talking about the future." He snickered. "You were always saying that you'd be the greatest comedian in Burmecia, Weste. You were going to be a scholar, Galt, and you, Eliza, just wanted to raise a family and live a normal and happy life. And me...I always said that I'd be like father and become a sergeant, even a Dragon Knight. Then I said I'd win the home a hero and a champion..." His voice faltered. "Some champion I am..."
Silence returned to the alcove as Fedrich simple stared over the walls of the metropolis, staring deep into the night sky. The moon had risen, the waxing shape following the trail left by the sun and coming higher into the deep blackness overhead. Broody reflections became vocal again.
"Luna, guardian spirit of the moon, seer of our pains and our dreams, guide to the ether and to heaven." Fedrich mused over the written scriptures of Burman lore he learned in classes in his youth. Although he hadn't liked it, the words in those thick tomes seemed so very relevant to him now. "Speak to her your sorrow, for she will wipe your tears away. On her name wish your dreams, for she will light the needed path. Dedicate to her your soul, for she will take it away to heaven and to eternal happiness in the wafting breeze of the ether..."
Fedrich felt a sudden anger take his emotions, hands clenched on the railing at the edge of the alcove. "And what good does it do? I've been doing nothing but wishing for a solution, and I haven't found one. That's why I hated that part of class, because no matter how many times I sought wisdom from those words, they never helped my problems! Words never helped me, they only told me what to do after the fact! Now what words can help me? Can anyone find a way for me to stay with Ruthy and still save my homeland and my people from the future!? Why did it have to come to this?"
He looked up to the moonlit sky, and he gave up hope of controlling his voice. "Why did you have to choose me!!?"
The words echoed off the buildings nearby, then sailed into the open within Lindblum's walls and faded, and no answer came to him. Anger abated, he crumpled and sat on the cold stone and let his mind think on that dilemma. Why did the phantom have to choose him to save his people? Why did Ruthy have to fall in love with him? Why did fate force him into a situation where he couldn't avoid hurting someone? He could never come to a decision when either choice would hurt someone. However, in the back of his mind, he knew what course of action he would take. That thought made him shiver, knowing what it would do to his friends.
"Then that's what I'll do..." He whimpered, almost to tears.
..........
Illis knocked on the door before pushing it open, letting Ruthy enter first before she followed. Gerick was resting against the edge of the central table, eagerly drinking from his mug. He didn't move to acknowledge their arrival, content to drink and stare at the floor when he wasn't.
"Morning." Illis announced.
"G'mornin'." He muttered in reply.
"Fedrich's not up yet?" Ruthy asked as she stepped over to a chair and took a seat.
Gerick paused at the question, setting his mug down and turning to face her. "What do you mean by that?"
"I meant what I said. Why?" Ruthy gave the elder man a curious look.
"He's been gone since the break of light." Realization struck him like a blow to the gut. "Wait, he didn't tell you!?"
"Tell us what?"
He pounded the tabletop with a fist. "I don't believe it! He lied and never saw you! Of all the things, guts enough to fight dragons but can't break bad news to his closest friends?"
"Gerick, what are you talking about?" Illis demanded, motioning to herself. "What was he supposed to tell us?"
"That he was leaving the Regulators 'ta go back home!"
The statement floated in the air for a long moment, leaving a deafening silence in its wake. Both Illis and Ruthy looked shocked, but the redhead felt the impact pierce through her heart like one of her own arrows. She stood and hurriedly walked to the door to the Hall's spare room, Fedrich's sleeping quarters. Throwing it open, she looked inside to see a room cleaned and tucked away properly, personal items missing. Gerick and Illis stepped next to her a moment later.
Gone was his sword that always was propped next to the window. Absent was the water canteen he kept on the top of the dresser with his hat and combs. His cot, normally a mess of sheets and pillow, was neatly made up as if no one had slept in it for weeks. However, a loop of thick cord was on top of the pillow along with a small fold of parchment. Ruthy went to the bed and picked it up, seeing it was his necklace that bore the large tooth from Gizamaluke's jaws. She unfolded the paper, and after reading the words within, proceeded to whimper and fall to her knees and cry. Illis stepped to her sister's side and patted her shoulder, taking the paper that slipped from her hands. It had short and concise writing, curved with the flair of Burmecian script, filled with the deepest of feelings.
"Ruthy. I'm sorry that I've caused you pain, but I had to leave. There is something at home I need to take care of, something I cannot set aside. The times I had here were the best, and the times I had with you can't be expressed by words alone. I leave you with the memories we made together, but I will find a way back to you. With much love, Fedrich."
In a moment of anger, she crumpled the paper and stood. She looked back to Gerick, the elder man flush with embarrassment at the scene. "Gerick, watch over her."
"Hmm?"
She moved to leave the spare room, pausing next to him. "I'm going to bring him back."
"Illis, wait-!" He shouted, but the woman had already passed out of earshot.
Illis stepped into the square, then took off in a sprint for the Aircabs. The streets were still dark, nightfall at it's edge and the sun starting to illuminate the sky with blues and oranges. People turned as she ran by them, uncommon to see anyone so hurried at the time of the morning. Pushing aside anyone in her path, she entered an Aircab and slammed her hand against the bulkhead.
"Business street, closest to Hunter Gate." She ordered of the pilot.
"Now miss, I've-"
She pounded the wall again, leaning close to glare at the worker. "Go now or it's your life."
He paled at the anger in her words. "O-Okay Miss! Heading for the Business District."
The craft lurched and sped into the morning sky, making a controlled descent as it headed for the lower levels of the Lindblum walls. After a minute of steady flying, he leveled the cab off and slid into dock at the terminal the woman asked for. He opened the door and she flew out in a moment, black form disappearing down the stairs a second later. Illis didn't give her body a chance to rest, running at an even pace for the Hunter's Gate and the unending flights of stairs to the actual plains below. She looked around for any sign of the Burman, seeing none except tired merchants and travelers traveling up and down the paths. Stumbling at times, but keeping rhythm, she jumped down the stairs three at a time and cut corners whenever possible.
After a strenuous ten minutes of jarring movement, Illis nearly fell down at the bottom of the stairs. She leaned on her legs to catch her breath, sweat coating her face and making her hair stick to the back of her neck. The sun had risen up, bathing the plateau in a bright morning sun that stretched shadows long and made the ground vaporous with mist. Taking a final deep breath, she stood up and looked around the plains before her, eyeing each traveler and seeing none that fitted Fedrich's thin appearance. A rage, burning strong from the shared pain she felt from her sister, billowed up and reached her throat in a guttural cry.
"Fedrich, you bastard!!"
Anyone near her stared in wonder at her outcry, but did not move to address her worry. The person whom she screamed for was too far gone to hear.
