Hi everyone! It is I, Anasazi, here with a change in the flow of the story. From now on, anything spoken in Al Bhed will be quoted with slashes (/). Also, I would like to give props to ChakaTehMoogle for reviewing. Anyway, here comes the new chapter.

Chapter 6: The Prince

…Flash…

Auron stood in a brilliantly lit field full of flowers, and watched as two figures approached him. One was a knight clad in shining silver armor and, in place of a cape, a pair of diamond-bright feathered wings. The other was a tall, blond-headed young man with blue eyes and an earnest expression. The blond youth stepped forward, and as he approached, the swordsman heard a song that he had not heard in quite some time.

"The 'Hymn of the Fayth'?" Auron was confused.

The youth grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm still not used to that."

"Who are you?" the swordsman asked, warily eyeing the knight, "And who is that?"

"Oh, us?" the boy waved dismissively, "You'll find out later, but right now I need to tell you something important."

"And what would that be?"

The youth's humorous expression became grave. "Ria has some difficult times ahead of her, and she may want to give up. I want you to be there for her."

When the guardian gave him a shocked look, the boy held up one hand. "No, that's not what I meant! I'm talking about being there as her friend."

Auron's look became suspicious. "What's supposed to happen?"

"I can't tell you that. Just please look after Ria for me." The young man's eyes were pleading.

"All right."

"Thank you, but now it's time for you to wake up…"

…Flash…

Auron opened his eye and stared bemusedly at the ceiling. "What an odd dream," he said to himself.

"What?" Ria yawned, sitting up next to her comrade.

"I had a really strange dream, but now I can't remember what it was."

The young sorceress got to her feet. "Well, maybe you'll remember it later, but right now we need to get ready to leave."

The two of them changed back into their usual clothes, packed up the rest of their things, and left the hotel. Once outside, they ran into Hank, who had a frantic look on his face. "Oh, I'm so glad I caught you two before you left."

"What's the matter, Hank?" Ria's voice was full of concern.

"We found another monster in town."

"What? I thought that the dragon was the last one," Auron growled.

Hank gave them a nervous chuckle, "Yeah, that's what I thought, too, but apparently there's another one hiding out in Carver's Grocery Store. If I had known it was in there, I would've asked y'all yesterday."

"Auron…" Ria began.

"All right, all right," the swordsman conceded. "Just tell us where this 'grocery store' is, and we'll deal with it."

The old man led them to a building several blocks away, and said, "The thing is in there, and we've tried to get it, but it's almost as strong as that dragon. But I'm sure that the two of you can handle it."

'Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," Ria dryly replied.

Auron and Ria stalked through the store, their weapons held at the ready, not knowing what to expect. They tiptoed around a corner into the dairy aisle, and that was where they found the "fearsome" fiend. "Oh, how cute." the young woman cooed.

It was small, standing at about knee-height, and green-skinned. The little fiend wore a brownish-gray hooded monk's robe, and faded orange shoes. It also had a little silver lantern and a rather large kitchen knife in its hands. The tiny creature looked up, with round yellow eyes filled with fear, of all emotions, and it made a threatening gesture with its knife.

"D-don't come any closer," it squeaked in a high-pitched, but undeniably male voice. "If you come any closer, then I'll stab you."

"It's a Tonberry," Auron explained. "This is the youngest one I've seen, but it is still very dangerous."

"Oh, come off it, man!" Ria negligently flipped her hand at him, and turned her attention back to the little fiend. "Come on," she said in a coaxing tone, "No one is going to hurt you."

The Tonberry watched her carefully, and he said, "Do you promise? You promise that you won't try to kill me?"

The woman nodded at him, "I swear to God that neither one of us will try to hurt you. Now come on over here."

Auron grabbed her elbow and hissed, "Ria, have you lost your mind?"

"I thought that we agreed to stop questioning each other's sanity, my dear guardian," she gave him a baleful stare.

Meanwhile, the Tonberry slowly shuffled to where the would-be slayers were standing and looked up at the both of them. "Okay, I'm here, so are you going to keep your promise?" He gave Auron a fearful look.

The swordsman sighed, and said, "Yes, we won't hurt you, but I'm not so sure about the people outside."

"I won't let them hurt…Wait, what is your name?" Ria wondered.

"Bob."

"I won't let them hurt Bob." she finished as she picked up the creature.

They went back outside, where the townspeople had gathered. "Hey, I thought you were going to kill that critter for us," one person shouted angrily.

"We didn't say that we would kill a child," Ria snapped back.

"We're taking it with us when we leave town, so you won't have to worry about it anymore," the swordsman told the populace.

The three of them walked past the crowd, and went to Bakkuri's shop, where the merchant and his wife were waiting with the chocobos. /Are you sure this is wise, Sir Auron?/ the Al Bhed asked in his native tongue.

/No, I'm not, but if I try to stop her, then she'll probably give me some speech on it being the 'right thing to do'./

"I really wish that the two of you would stop talking about me," Ria complained.

She was now mounted on Snow, the white chocobo, and Bob was seated in front of her. The two men stared in shock at how calm the bird was with a fiend being on its back. "Snow likes him," the sorceress announced, rather loftily.

Auron chose not to reply, but mounted the black Chocobo, Shadow, while Bakkuri handed Ria a book. "This is a book of Al Bhed, the language of my people. If you're going to travel with such a famous guardian, then you may need it someday."

"Wow, thank you, I don't know what to say."

The merchant smiled. "You don't have to say anything, just practice hard and come visit me again someday."

She nodded. "I will."

Auron, Ria, and Bob left Discovery that afternoon, and continued their journey to Panama City. That evening, the three of them sat around the campfire and the guardian finally spoke to the Tonberry. "So, Bob, what's the Crown Prince of the Tonberry Nation doing wandering about outside of the caves? Isn't your father going to be irate when he finds out that you've run away?"

"What? Bob, you're a PRINCE?" Ria couldn't believe her ears.

The little fiend winced, "Yes, but I didn't run away from home, honest. One minute, I was exploring a new passageway in the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth, and the next minute, all these humans and their machina are chasing me. I hid in that building, but they kept coming after me, and I was finally forced to defend myself. Unfortunately, I kind of lost the Silver Crown, and I just know that Dad's going to pitch a fit when he finds out." His shoulders slumped and his little fishtail drooped. "That's if I can ever find a way back home."

Ria patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, Bob. Auron and I will help you find your way back home."

The swordsman was astounded, and it showed in his voice. "So, you're willing to come with me to Spira after we find your family?"

"Yes, I am," she replied, "Besides, I don't really have a job anymore, so I might as well keep traveling with you."

Suddenly, as if he remembered something, Auron began to dig around in that weird infinite space where he kept everything and pulled out the wad of papers Bakkuri had given to him the day before. "Here," he said, handing the paper to Ria, "Bakkuri gave this to me yesterday, and said that you might know what it is."

The young woman carefully opened up the papers and gasped. "Auron, do you know what this is?"

When he shook his head, she cried, "Auron! This has got to be at least a thousand dollars!"

"Ria, I don't understand what you're saying."

"This is money, and a lot of it! Where did Bakkuri get all of this?"

The guardian shrugged. "He said that the people in the town kept trying to give it to him, but he didn't know what it was, so he gave it to me."

Ria smacked her forehead and groaned. "Here, you hold on to it, for now," she said, handing the bills back to him.

Bob cocked his head to one side, and said, "I don't think I'll ever understand you humans. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed." Then the Tonberry Prince shuffled over to the chocobos and tripped over his feet when he was halfway there.

"Are you all right?" Auron asked him.

The little fiend got to his feet, dusted himself off, and casually replied, "Yeah, I'm used to that sort of thing. Good night, everybody."

A little while later, both Bob and the chocobos were in blissful slumber, but Ria and Auron were both wide-awake. The sorceress poked the fire with a long stick and absentmindedly hummed to herself in the same haunting melody from their trip in her car. The guardian jumped and Ria stopped singing. "What's wrong?" she wanted to know.

"Nothing."

Ria gave him a hard look. "It can't be 'nothing'. Auron, why is it that every time I sing that song, you act like a ghost just popped up and slapped the hell out of you?"

He responded by giving her a piercing stare. "Why is it your business?"

"Because you keep acting weird if I so much as hum a note of that song. Now why the hell do you keep acting this way?"

"I already told you that it doesn't matter, so why can't you just leave it alone?" he snarled at her.

"Tell me, DAMN IT!" she shrieked.

"FINE! If you must know, that song you've been singing is called the 'Hymn of the Fayth', and they've been singing it on Spira for the past thousand years. The Fayth sing it endlessly and that's how a person knows that the soul of the Fayth is still active! Of course, a better word for it would be 'imprisoned'."

"I…I didn't know," Ria was taken aback. "Auron, I'm sorry."

He sighed, "It doesn't matter anymore, anyway, because all the Fayth were set free when we defeated Yu Yevon. What I don't understand is how you could have possibly learned that song when you've lived here your whole life."

"I've already told you: I remember hearing it when I was very small. Maybe someone sang it without knowing what it was and I just picked it up?"

"Maybe the two of you should be quiet and get some sleep," Bob interrupted.

Suddenly a cloud surrounded their heads, and both Ria and Auron dropped off under the effects of a 'Sleep' spell. Satisfied, the Tonberry Prince put out the fire, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Well, it looks like Auron and Ria have a new companion. Yes, I know that Bob is kind of FFVIII-ish, but bear with me, okay? Anyway, I'd really like to hear what you all think about him, so send in those reviews.