A/N: I'm doing my best to keep the character's personalities as intact as
possible, but it was a while since I played the game, and I may fail many
times, particular with this woman. Please bear with me! And again I want to
thank all who have written reviews! It really warms my heart to see that
you like it! Any suggestions on improvement and idea's of what I could
write in this fanfic are still very welcome. I want to become better after
all.
To Era Yachi: Darn it! You are too smart for me! I have to try harder the next time! Also, hope I didn't snatch any idea of yours!
Och till min lillasyster: Här kommer nästa kapitel! Varsågod och läs på egen risk...
(That is Swedish, if anyone is wondering. Don't mind it, it doesn't say anything important)
Chapter Four: Drifter Wings Taking Flight
Virginia's heart beat twice as fast when Jet pulled away his hand from Clive's chest, and the light slowly disappeared. He turned at her, his lavendel eyes held her gaze in place.She couldn't read in the young boy's face if he had succeded or not, so she returned to watch Clive's limp body. When he slowly opened his eyelids and his breathing became more stable, she had to hardly constrain herself from jumping on him and cast him back into a coma.
"Clive?" She asked. Clive looked around before he got up in a sitting position. He turned to her, and seemed happy to see her and the others.
"My apologies for making you worry" he replied.
"You did it! You did it, Jet!" Virginia exclaimed, throwing herself on the silverhaired boy and squeezing him hardly. Jet fell backwards, and blushed as he felt Virginia's body close to his.
"L-let go... you're chocking me..." he gasped. Virginia pulled herself away from him, and he rubbed his sore neck. Clive let the blanket on his body fall down to his side. His body was still cold from the attack, but the fire next to him did its job and helped him recover his normal body temperature. The cold air around them laid down to rest and everbody sighed in relief.
"What kind of dreams do you have anyway? You even scared the wits out of the guardians!" Gallows asked.
"I wished it was just a dream, but I'm afraid that is not the case. There is something I need to tell you, before it happens again" Clive replied. The group sat down around him and he started to tell them about the six months of torture he had endured. And about the the artifact called the Omni orb.
Woman's POV
A loudly gasp was heard in the small room in Yggdrasil. A black and purple- haired woman sat in the middle of the room on her knees, and her arms wrapped tightly around her aching chest. The creeping, familiar feeling inside her body grew more intense, indicating a spirit submerging itself with her. It was weakened and hurt, its pain was transferred to her bio systems and she yelled louder, her head bolted and she was near too loose consciousness. The floor twisted beneath her and she bend down to make it stop. When the spirit had adjusted itself to the woman's mind and started to regenerate itself, the pain decreased and eventually disappeared.
"That was close. Too close" she whispered, giving words to the spirit's thoughts. Slowly she rose up and leaned against a metallic, huge device behind her. It had similar features to the device that once contained the Yggdrasil generator, but it was more huge, covering more than half of the room. Cables ran along the floor, giving the machine the look of a dead tree with a hole in the center. It had taken her six months to build it, with the knowledge of demons and the Council of Seven.
"So, that boy was indeed the Filgaia Sample, Adam Kadmon. I thought I had seen him somewhere before. Elliot did a good job giving it his dead son's looks" she said lowly, remembering a silverhaired boy that always held Clive and the others company.
Don't think about that now. Its interference has been a setback for us. He would have been ours to control by now, if it hadn't intervened. We need to separate them. A voice spoke up inside of her. It had the tone of a child, but spoke like any adult would do.
She stared up at the machine, her creation. She laid a hand on the cold metal surface. It was out of function at the moment, but soon it would get all the power it needed to transform Filgaia into a Filgaia she desired. Her own world was in reach, she felt it in her very fingertips.
"They're heading for Baskar Colony. We shall welcome them, with a nice surprise. A surprise they could die for..." She whispered and turned behind her. Two pair of glowing eyes watched her from the dark corner and roared out in excitement. A smile went across her lips.
"Go" She said, the eyes blinked and in a second, they disappeared into the shadows. She turned back forward and a image of Baskar Colony appeared before her. It was in peace at the moment, the people unaware of what was coming. She could hear the roars of her creations moving closer to the village...
Back to the group
Virginia felt a shiver run down her spine as she listened to Clive's story about the nightmare he had just experienced and the woman following him around everywhere for six months. She at first thought why Clive hadn't told them anything, but as he progressed, she came to understand him. Had she heard this sooner, she would have thought that he was just hallucinating from an illness. Gallows and Jet seemed as stunned as she was.The fire had burned out a short while ago, the group however didn't notice it.
"...And that is what happened. Forgive me for not telling you sooner, I misjudged the situation, a mistake on my part" Clive finished and bend down his head.
"Had I heard a story like that when I was little, I would have nightmares for six months too" Gallows implied, putting a hand on Clive's shoulder.
"Is it Beatrice? Or another dream demon?" Jet asked.
"And exactly is that, whatchamacallit... oh yeah, the Omni orb?" Gallows filled in.
"I'm not certain just yet. I need to look further into this to find the answers. With the leader's permission, I would like to head for Humphrey's Peak, to look for clues. I'm certain my professor once during his journey came to hear about the artifact"
Clive turned to Virginia. She sat quietly, her arms crossed over her chest. Then she clapped her fist into her open palm, her face lit up.
"Well, I guess the return of the Teardrop can wait for a while. A dream demon is after this artifact, so it must be very powerful. We must stop her from gaining control of it"
"And how are we supposed to go there? Walk or by horse for free? Both will take days, even weeks" Jet replied, casting Virginia an glance.
Virginia bend down her head, knowing that Jet was right. What if they sneaked onboard a train? No, the risk would be too great that they were discovered and that they had to fight other Drifters again in the panic.
"Okay, then we'll do this: First, we head to the Secret Garden and then Baskar Colony as planned. Then, when we have some money, we'll head to Humphrey's Peak by train and look for clues to stop this demon. Is that okay with you, Clive?" Clive put a hand under his cheek for a few seconds, then he nodded. He was concerned that he would loose control again in the presence of his family. But his longing for them overcame his fear.
"I shall abide by your decision. However, I'm requesting that you take precautions in my presence. I'm not certain how stable I am at the moment" Clive replied.
"No worries. If she tries anything, Jet could kick her behind again"
Gallows said and lifted up his hands in a gesture. Virginia turned back to Clive and detected the small scratch marks he wore on his right cheek.
"What have you done on your cheek?" She asked. Clive lifted a hand and moved it along the scratches. His skin felt soar under the pressure, and he thought he felt her nails dig into his skin once again.
"A scratch I received from her" He replied and pulled his hand down.
The moon was slowly setting in the horizon behind them. Agreeing that they wouldn't catch any more sleep that night, they decided to move on. Gallows killed of the ashes from the campfire with his ice arcana spell, while the others packed theirs and his stuff. They threw up their belongings on their horses and mounted. After that, they set course for Secret Garden. Virginia took the lead, with Jet closely behind her. Gallows pulled up next to Clive, who again was in deep thoughts.
"So, this dream demon.... Was she good looking?" He asked, bringing Clive back to reality. Clive looked at him, thinking how he should reply.
"She had outer beauty, her inside beauty however, was no better than the demons" He said.
Virginia and Jet were slowly moving away from them, and the duo pushed their horses to catch up to them. When the sun slowly came up before them, acknowledging a new day and morning, they reached the gorge that separated the barren wasteland and the lushly woods apart. They pushed their horses and they flew over the gorge. They took the path around the forest, as it was harder to navigate through the trees on horses.
The small cottage came up before them and they entered. Florina sat bend down next to a patch of flowers, holding her small hands around the crown of a flower. She looked up when she heard footsteps behind her. She gave up a sigh of relief as she saw the Maxwell team.
"Good morning, Florina" Virginia greeted, and waved her hand. Jet stayed in the background, holding himself out of sight for the small girl. He still remembered the punch Virginia had given him the first time he was here, and tried his best to avoid a situation like that again. He leaned against a tree and waited for Virginia to finish their errand.
"How are the flowers?" Virginia continued. Florina looked behind her, and then back to Virginia.
"They are fine. They say it's easier for them to grow now, since the planet is recovering. But the monsters are still around. I saw a monster near the cottage the other day, in the woods. It looked like a huge cat. No monster have been this close before" Florina replied. She glanced over nervously to the woods, almost as she expected to see the cat coming at her.
"You want us to do something about it?" Virginia asked, bending to the same level as the girl. She shook her head. She listened to the voices of the flowers which only she heard.
"...No, it's alright. The flowers say this monster is different from the others. It won't attack us" Florina replied. She was little anxious, but if the flowers said it was okay, then it was okay.
"Let's just do what we came here for, and move it!" Jet said impatiently. Florina turned to him and seemed happy to see him.
"Hello, Mr. Jet" she said happily and smiled. Jet turned his head away with a grunt.
"Looks like she still remembers you, Mr. Nice Guy" Gallows teased and buffed Jet's arm with his elbow, only to bite the grass on the ground, and watched stars dance around his head as Jet hit him with a toy hammer.
"Call me Mr. Nice Guy one more time and you'll be really sorry" he threatened. Florina giggled, Clive smiled and Virginia shook her head.
"You have come for the harvest, right? Wait here, I'll get it" Florina hurried over to her small cottage and vanished behind the door. Gallows got up from the ground and patted his sore neck. The sudden pulsation that ran through them completely caught them off guard. Their hearts beat twice as fast, and their breathing sped up, as something was scaring them.
"Not again..." Jet held a hand to his chest, to ease the feeling.
"The guardians are trying to warn us" Gallows said, looking at Clive for a split second. He wasn't the one that emitted the feeling this time.
"It appears that she has chosen to take on a more active role" Clive said and adjusted his glasses
"You think..." She said but didn't finish as she turned back her head and saw Gallows's face turn pale as a white sheet. A sticky stench filled their noses and turned their heads north. A large pillar of gray smoke covered the young sky
"...Has she attacked Baskar Colony!?" Gallows stammered.
"There has been only a few occasions that my instincts have been incorrect" Clive replied. Florina came back out and in her tiny hands, small bags was placed on top of each other. The harvest have been good this month.
"I have already sorted them equally, so you don't have to do it" She said and placed one bag into each Drifter's hand. She noticed the anxiety among the group, and looked up, noticing the pillar in the sky.
"Isn't that where Baskar Colony is located?" She asked. That was enough for Gallows. He put the small bag into his pouch, rushed to his horse and mounted it in a quick swing. He turned the horse around and vanished out of the Garden
"Gallows, wait!" Virginia called. Florina looked sad, like she had said something awful. Virginia turned to her.
"Thank you, Florina. You have been of great help. And don't worry, we'll take care of the situation. We'll be back and tell you how it went"
Virginia shook hand with the little girl and turned to her horse. The others mounted their horses and turned to the exit. Virginia turned back her head one last time to look after Florina. She gasped when she saw two red eyes stare out from the woods. She blinked. They were gone.
"What was that?" She whispered. Stybba, her horse, neighed as the others got too far from them. Virginia pushed her horse and rode after them, thinking that those eyes had been her imagination.
Normally, Gallows was always the last one in the line, but now he pushed his horse as fast as he could, like he had the fires of hell behind him. The mere thought of Shane lying torched on the ground and his lifeless eyes staring out into distance made him freeze into his very soul. Even the others had a hard time catching up to him.
They continued their mad dash until the saw the large pillar of dark gray smoke rise from Baskar Colony.
"Oh, no. Shane!!" Gallows yelled and galloped into the village.
"Gallows, wait!" Virginia called out, as he disappeared behind the rocky entrance. "Let's follow him" She commandeered and they followed the priest.
The sight was shocking. Screams of pain was heard over the small area. People ran around and tried to get the wounded into shelter, while themselves were bleeding from big, open wounds. Blood was spilt over the ground and the house walls and colored the world red. The house next to Gallows's home had been leveled to the ground, the others had large holes and fires licked the dry grass and the woody roofs, spreading quickly. One man lay dangerously close to the fire and moaned as he felt the heat slap him in the face. The Maxwell team's horses neighed from the stench of blood filling their noses and the fire coming at them, almost got up on their hind legs.
"What the..." Jet said, stunned and unable to express himself properly, and fighting with Arod to keep still.
"Let's help them!" Virginia jumped of her horse, Clive and Jet did the same. Mearas, Gallows's horse, came running at them. Jet leaped to the side to avoid being trampled down by the frightened horse. Hasufel, Stybba and Arod followed after the black horse, ran through the entrance and vanished into the wasteland. Gallows was running all over the village, holding his hands around his mouth and yelling the highest he could:
"Granny!! SHANE!!!"
A/N: Brighter and brighter every minute, huh?... Guess not. Well, next up, digging a little deeper into Clive's past! (As it is in this fic, anyway)
To Era Yachi: Darn it! You are too smart for me! I have to try harder the next time! Also, hope I didn't snatch any idea of yours!
Och till min lillasyster: Här kommer nästa kapitel! Varsågod och läs på egen risk...
(That is Swedish, if anyone is wondering. Don't mind it, it doesn't say anything important)
Chapter Four: Drifter Wings Taking Flight
Virginia's heart beat twice as fast when Jet pulled away his hand from Clive's chest, and the light slowly disappeared. He turned at her, his lavendel eyes held her gaze in place.She couldn't read in the young boy's face if he had succeded or not, so she returned to watch Clive's limp body. When he slowly opened his eyelids and his breathing became more stable, she had to hardly constrain herself from jumping on him and cast him back into a coma.
"Clive?" She asked. Clive looked around before he got up in a sitting position. He turned to her, and seemed happy to see her and the others.
"My apologies for making you worry" he replied.
"You did it! You did it, Jet!" Virginia exclaimed, throwing herself on the silverhaired boy and squeezing him hardly. Jet fell backwards, and blushed as he felt Virginia's body close to his.
"L-let go... you're chocking me..." he gasped. Virginia pulled herself away from him, and he rubbed his sore neck. Clive let the blanket on his body fall down to his side. His body was still cold from the attack, but the fire next to him did its job and helped him recover his normal body temperature. The cold air around them laid down to rest and everbody sighed in relief.
"What kind of dreams do you have anyway? You even scared the wits out of the guardians!" Gallows asked.
"I wished it was just a dream, but I'm afraid that is not the case. There is something I need to tell you, before it happens again" Clive replied. The group sat down around him and he started to tell them about the six months of torture he had endured. And about the the artifact called the Omni orb.
Woman's POV
A loudly gasp was heard in the small room in Yggdrasil. A black and purple- haired woman sat in the middle of the room on her knees, and her arms wrapped tightly around her aching chest. The creeping, familiar feeling inside her body grew more intense, indicating a spirit submerging itself with her. It was weakened and hurt, its pain was transferred to her bio systems and she yelled louder, her head bolted and she was near too loose consciousness. The floor twisted beneath her and she bend down to make it stop. When the spirit had adjusted itself to the woman's mind and started to regenerate itself, the pain decreased and eventually disappeared.
"That was close. Too close" she whispered, giving words to the spirit's thoughts. Slowly she rose up and leaned against a metallic, huge device behind her. It had similar features to the device that once contained the Yggdrasil generator, but it was more huge, covering more than half of the room. Cables ran along the floor, giving the machine the look of a dead tree with a hole in the center. It had taken her six months to build it, with the knowledge of demons and the Council of Seven.
"So, that boy was indeed the Filgaia Sample, Adam Kadmon. I thought I had seen him somewhere before. Elliot did a good job giving it his dead son's looks" she said lowly, remembering a silverhaired boy that always held Clive and the others company.
Don't think about that now. Its interference has been a setback for us. He would have been ours to control by now, if it hadn't intervened. We need to separate them. A voice spoke up inside of her. It had the tone of a child, but spoke like any adult would do.
She stared up at the machine, her creation. She laid a hand on the cold metal surface. It was out of function at the moment, but soon it would get all the power it needed to transform Filgaia into a Filgaia she desired. Her own world was in reach, she felt it in her very fingertips.
"They're heading for Baskar Colony. We shall welcome them, with a nice surprise. A surprise they could die for..." She whispered and turned behind her. Two pair of glowing eyes watched her from the dark corner and roared out in excitement. A smile went across her lips.
"Go" She said, the eyes blinked and in a second, they disappeared into the shadows. She turned back forward and a image of Baskar Colony appeared before her. It was in peace at the moment, the people unaware of what was coming. She could hear the roars of her creations moving closer to the village...
Back to the group
Virginia felt a shiver run down her spine as she listened to Clive's story about the nightmare he had just experienced and the woman following him around everywhere for six months. She at first thought why Clive hadn't told them anything, but as he progressed, she came to understand him. Had she heard this sooner, she would have thought that he was just hallucinating from an illness. Gallows and Jet seemed as stunned as she was.The fire had burned out a short while ago, the group however didn't notice it.
"...And that is what happened. Forgive me for not telling you sooner, I misjudged the situation, a mistake on my part" Clive finished and bend down his head.
"Had I heard a story like that when I was little, I would have nightmares for six months too" Gallows implied, putting a hand on Clive's shoulder.
"Is it Beatrice? Or another dream demon?" Jet asked.
"And exactly is that, whatchamacallit... oh yeah, the Omni orb?" Gallows filled in.
"I'm not certain just yet. I need to look further into this to find the answers. With the leader's permission, I would like to head for Humphrey's Peak, to look for clues. I'm certain my professor once during his journey came to hear about the artifact"
Clive turned to Virginia. She sat quietly, her arms crossed over her chest. Then she clapped her fist into her open palm, her face lit up.
"Well, I guess the return of the Teardrop can wait for a while. A dream demon is after this artifact, so it must be very powerful. We must stop her from gaining control of it"
"And how are we supposed to go there? Walk or by horse for free? Both will take days, even weeks" Jet replied, casting Virginia an glance.
Virginia bend down her head, knowing that Jet was right. What if they sneaked onboard a train? No, the risk would be too great that they were discovered and that they had to fight other Drifters again in the panic.
"Okay, then we'll do this: First, we head to the Secret Garden and then Baskar Colony as planned. Then, when we have some money, we'll head to Humphrey's Peak by train and look for clues to stop this demon. Is that okay with you, Clive?" Clive put a hand under his cheek for a few seconds, then he nodded. He was concerned that he would loose control again in the presence of his family. But his longing for them overcame his fear.
"I shall abide by your decision. However, I'm requesting that you take precautions in my presence. I'm not certain how stable I am at the moment" Clive replied.
"No worries. If she tries anything, Jet could kick her behind again"
Gallows said and lifted up his hands in a gesture. Virginia turned back to Clive and detected the small scratch marks he wore on his right cheek.
"What have you done on your cheek?" She asked. Clive lifted a hand and moved it along the scratches. His skin felt soar under the pressure, and he thought he felt her nails dig into his skin once again.
"A scratch I received from her" He replied and pulled his hand down.
The moon was slowly setting in the horizon behind them. Agreeing that they wouldn't catch any more sleep that night, they decided to move on. Gallows killed of the ashes from the campfire with his ice arcana spell, while the others packed theirs and his stuff. They threw up their belongings on their horses and mounted. After that, they set course for Secret Garden. Virginia took the lead, with Jet closely behind her. Gallows pulled up next to Clive, who again was in deep thoughts.
"So, this dream demon.... Was she good looking?" He asked, bringing Clive back to reality. Clive looked at him, thinking how he should reply.
"She had outer beauty, her inside beauty however, was no better than the demons" He said.
Virginia and Jet were slowly moving away from them, and the duo pushed their horses to catch up to them. When the sun slowly came up before them, acknowledging a new day and morning, they reached the gorge that separated the barren wasteland and the lushly woods apart. They pushed their horses and they flew over the gorge. They took the path around the forest, as it was harder to navigate through the trees on horses.
The small cottage came up before them and they entered. Florina sat bend down next to a patch of flowers, holding her small hands around the crown of a flower. She looked up when she heard footsteps behind her. She gave up a sigh of relief as she saw the Maxwell team.
"Good morning, Florina" Virginia greeted, and waved her hand. Jet stayed in the background, holding himself out of sight for the small girl. He still remembered the punch Virginia had given him the first time he was here, and tried his best to avoid a situation like that again. He leaned against a tree and waited for Virginia to finish their errand.
"How are the flowers?" Virginia continued. Florina looked behind her, and then back to Virginia.
"They are fine. They say it's easier for them to grow now, since the planet is recovering. But the monsters are still around. I saw a monster near the cottage the other day, in the woods. It looked like a huge cat. No monster have been this close before" Florina replied. She glanced over nervously to the woods, almost as she expected to see the cat coming at her.
"You want us to do something about it?" Virginia asked, bending to the same level as the girl. She shook her head. She listened to the voices of the flowers which only she heard.
"...No, it's alright. The flowers say this monster is different from the others. It won't attack us" Florina replied. She was little anxious, but if the flowers said it was okay, then it was okay.
"Let's just do what we came here for, and move it!" Jet said impatiently. Florina turned to him and seemed happy to see him.
"Hello, Mr. Jet" she said happily and smiled. Jet turned his head away with a grunt.
"Looks like she still remembers you, Mr. Nice Guy" Gallows teased and buffed Jet's arm with his elbow, only to bite the grass on the ground, and watched stars dance around his head as Jet hit him with a toy hammer.
"Call me Mr. Nice Guy one more time and you'll be really sorry" he threatened. Florina giggled, Clive smiled and Virginia shook her head.
"You have come for the harvest, right? Wait here, I'll get it" Florina hurried over to her small cottage and vanished behind the door. Gallows got up from the ground and patted his sore neck. The sudden pulsation that ran through them completely caught them off guard. Their hearts beat twice as fast, and their breathing sped up, as something was scaring them.
"Not again..." Jet held a hand to his chest, to ease the feeling.
"The guardians are trying to warn us" Gallows said, looking at Clive for a split second. He wasn't the one that emitted the feeling this time.
"It appears that she has chosen to take on a more active role" Clive said and adjusted his glasses
"You think..." She said but didn't finish as she turned back her head and saw Gallows's face turn pale as a white sheet. A sticky stench filled their noses and turned their heads north. A large pillar of gray smoke covered the young sky
"...Has she attacked Baskar Colony!?" Gallows stammered.
"There has been only a few occasions that my instincts have been incorrect" Clive replied. Florina came back out and in her tiny hands, small bags was placed on top of each other. The harvest have been good this month.
"I have already sorted them equally, so you don't have to do it" She said and placed one bag into each Drifter's hand. She noticed the anxiety among the group, and looked up, noticing the pillar in the sky.
"Isn't that where Baskar Colony is located?" She asked. That was enough for Gallows. He put the small bag into his pouch, rushed to his horse and mounted it in a quick swing. He turned the horse around and vanished out of the Garden
"Gallows, wait!" Virginia called. Florina looked sad, like she had said something awful. Virginia turned to her.
"Thank you, Florina. You have been of great help. And don't worry, we'll take care of the situation. We'll be back and tell you how it went"
Virginia shook hand with the little girl and turned to her horse. The others mounted their horses and turned to the exit. Virginia turned back her head one last time to look after Florina. She gasped when she saw two red eyes stare out from the woods. She blinked. They were gone.
"What was that?" She whispered. Stybba, her horse, neighed as the others got too far from them. Virginia pushed her horse and rode after them, thinking that those eyes had been her imagination.
Normally, Gallows was always the last one in the line, but now he pushed his horse as fast as he could, like he had the fires of hell behind him. The mere thought of Shane lying torched on the ground and his lifeless eyes staring out into distance made him freeze into his very soul. Even the others had a hard time catching up to him.
They continued their mad dash until the saw the large pillar of dark gray smoke rise from Baskar Colony.
"Oh, no. Shane!!" Gallows yelled and galloped into the village.
"Gallows, wait!" Virginia called out, as he disappeared behind the rocky entrance. "Let's follow him" She commandeered and they followed the priest.
The sight was shocking. Screams of pain was heard over the small area. People ran around and tried to get the wounded into shelter, while themselves were bleeding from big, open wounds. Blood was spilt over the ground and the house walls and colored the world red. The house next to Gallows's home had been leveled to the ground, the others had large holes and fires licked the dry grass and the woody roofs, spreading quickly. One man lay dangerously close to the fire and moaned as he felt the heat slap him in the face. The Maxwell team's horses neighed from the stench of blood filling their noses and the fire coming at them, almost got up on their hind legs.
"What the..." Jet said, stunned and unable to express himself properly, and fighting with Arod to keep still.
"Let's help them!" Virginia jumped of her horse, Clive and Jet did the same. Mearas, Gallows's horse, came running at them. Jet leaped to the side to avoid being trampled down by the frightened horse. Hasufel, Stybba and Arod followed after the black horse, ran through the entrance and vanished into the wasteland. Gallows was running all over the village, holding his hands around his mouth and yelling the highest he could:
"Granny!! SHANE!!!"
A/N: Brighter and brighter every minute, huh?... Guess not. Well, next up, digging a little deeper into Clive's past! (As it is in this fic, anyway)