Chapter Five

Lost and Found

Lightning speed, so quickly that you can barely tell what was passing by. The entire world seemed to be spinning around me, twisting in on itself. Trees became dirt, which in turn became the sky. It all molded into one sight, a swirling array of colors that suddenly made me wish I could vomit. Swirling particles, however, do not have the ability to vomit, and it is a miracle that they could see. Being Warped in an interesting yet terrifying experience, one I hope I will never have to experience again.

After a few mere seconds passed, I felt my body bringing itself back together. I was able to feel each part of my body falling into place... First my head, then my neck, and onward, each part of my body found its proper place. It was the strangest experience, worse than the swirling world, and I cursed Puck, even as I was going back together, for not being able to do anything even remotely normal. Hadn't we had enough time to walk?

Puck's laughter came to my ears, and at the same time I felt a great sensation of pain. I soon realized why. Apparently I hadn't been stable when my body came back together, and I had fallen face-first straight into the floor.

Speaking of floor, where was I? I rolled into a sitting position, feeling warm blood welling at my nose. Puck was proceeding to roll on the floor with laughter, pointing at me at the same time. A few people were staring at the two of us with almost terrified looks. One person, however, had enough kindness to at least give me a handkerchief for my bleeding nose.

"More Burmecians?" that person asked, looking at me, then Puck, who had not stopped laughing. "I see that you survived the tragedy at Burmecia... Erm, or at least physically." His gaze turned on Puck.

"It's all right... I think Puck was insane to begin with," I replied, looking at the now-bloody handkerchief with some fascination.

"Or perhaps you, Fratley! The great Dragon Knight, with some of the best skills in the world, can't even take a Warp spell!" Puck roared. "I love this!"

I felt that no comment would've been wise enough to offer, so I merely kept quiet. The person blinked a bit, before sighing, rubbing at his black hair. While he proceeded to apparently think, I allowed myself to get a good look at him. The most obvious thing about him was the color of his skin; it was a brown color. His eyes were green in color, and distinctly shaped like almonds. He looked quite young, probably only sixteen years. He didn't look like a native to the Mist Continent; even my memory could realize this.

"What is your name?" I asked. "I'm Fratley, as Puck informed you."

"Dominic," the boy said, looking over at me. "I'm new here, just like you I think. Just came here yesterday."

"Ya seem pretty comfortable in the middle of Lindblum's streets for someone who just got here yesterday," Puck immediately pointed out.

So that was where we were. Lindblum... The name sounded familiar, though I couldn't recall for the life of me exactly why. I looked around, and finally realized that I was surrounded by towering buildings. In the distance was a massive castle... Even though it looked like we were already in a building of some sort. Buildings and castles within a building? Interesting, I thought, but not my greatest concern.

"Yes, Lindblum is rather large," Dominic agreed. He smiled meekly. "I'm used to large cities, though. I passed through a few of them on my way here."

"Ah, but they couldn't have been half as large as Lindblum!" Puck declared.

"They were close," Dominic replied. "Well, are you planning on sitting there all day? Get up."

Puck and I got up simultaneously. Puck's blue eyes widened with shock, and I too was completely shocked. I hadn't even remembered moving my muscles to get up in the first place! Puck apparently had a similar dilemma. We looked at each other briefly, then back at Dominic, who had a sheepish smile on his face while he rubbed at his hair.

"Do you want me to take you to an inn?" Dominic finally asked, when we didn't say anything.

"Eh... Um... Sure." For once, Puck didn't seem sure of what to say.

"All right then," Dominic said, but he didn't move anywhere. Instead, he glanced at the two of us.

Very suddenly, within one second, Puck and I found ourselves inside a building, without having moved an inch. The room had mahogany-paneled walls, matched with a soft, red carpet. A wooden desk was set up at the end of the room, and the young woman behind the desk was staring at us with shock. A book and pen were set up on the desk, apparently a place to sign in. We were in an inn.

"Okay, now Dominic has me scared," Puck murmured.

I would've replied, if I wasn't interrupted by a female voice.

"Oh my."

"Oh crap," Puck said, almost as if in reply. Immediately he turned his gaze upward, as did I.

On the balcony above the desk, watching the two of us with a stunned gaze, was another Burmecian, one I recognized from the ruins of Burmecia, but not from Cleyra. It was the purple-eyed female -- Rose was her name, my mind reminded me -- that had left Burmecia with another. She was wearing an incredibly simple outfit, merely a white blouse and brown pants. Within a few seconds she had leapt straight over the balcony and landed on the main floor. The woman behind the desk muttered something that sounded distinctly like "Don't you Burmecians use stairs?"

"So Puck, you find my son and can't even race your arse over to Burmecia in time to tell me?" Rose spat, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she turned on Puck.

"I have my reasons," Puck began quickly.

"'Son'?" I muttered to myself, rather loudly.

"Thanks for demonstrating, Fratley," Puck groaned.

Rose immediately turned on me, her purple eyes narrowing slightly. I returned her stare with my own. Her gaze didn't soften, and when she spoke, her voice hadn't either.

"You look older, but all the same you act like a child," she said coldly. "No respect anymore to even your mother?"

"M-Mother?" I stuttered. Well, this was certainly a bad surprise. "You're my mother?"

"Now you sound like you're reciting a children's story," Rose said, with a heavy sigh.

"Rose, I know this looks really bad... And it is," Puck announced.

"What happened to Fratley?" Rose muttered. "Puck, what happened? There's something wrong... Fratley, your sister. What was your sister's name?"

I was stuck. I closed my eyes, tightly, and tried desperately to recall a name. Nothing came up. I couldn't even remember I had a sister in the first place.

"I... Don't... Know," I said slowly, defeated, as I opened my eyes.

Rose looked more shocked than upset. Immediately I supposed that the idea that I had forgotten everything was taking its time getting clear in her mind.

"Yeah, um, Rose? Fratley... Eh... Lost his memory. All of it," Puck managed to blurt out. "Something happened with Beatrix. Got clocked in the head or something, I dunno. But it's pretty bad..."
Rose mouthed "No shit", but not a sound escaped her mouth. Very slowly her hands made tight fists, then even more slowly unclenched. She cast a cold glare on me, her purple eyes able to deliver a deadly glare despite the tears welling up.

"So you survive Burmecia's tragedy by leaving, but lose what you worked so hard to remember," Rose said quietly. "Fratley... Good to see you alive."

With that, Rose moved away, and straight out the inn door. I watched her leave, and was a bit surprised to see Dominic right by the door. He apparently had watched the whole thing.

"Dominic! How did you--?" I began.

"I thought the two of you may know each other," Dominic told me. "You look alike. So I took a wild guess... And was right. Her husband is somewhere in here too. I wouldn't be surprised if he is hiding somewhere, listening to every world..."

"Aireff is NOT a spy! Rose may be, but not Aireff," Puck immediately declared in Rose's husband's defense.

"Aireff..." I murmured, the name ringing a bell, unlike Rose's.

"Eh? Oh great, Fratley. Don't tell me ya remember Aireff but not Rose? Rose will LOVE ya for that!" Puck snapped.

"Aireff is a very distinct name," Dominic said reasonably. "Rose is not. If he remembers Aireff, it will probably be because that name is so distinct, it will be easier to remember. How many people do you know that are named 'Aireff'?"

"Eh... Yeah... But still, these are his parents! And it's not like Rose's looks aren't unique," Puck protested.

"Rose looks very much like a normal Burmecia Burmecian. The only difference is her eyes, and even then, the purple looks almost black. Black eyes aren't that uncommon anymore. As for Aireff, I've seen him around. He's obviously a Dari."

"Dari? The Eoroqu Burmecian tribe?" I asked, not even realizing I was saying anything.

Dominic smiled weakly. "Like I said, Puck. Besides, how long has it been since Fratley was home?"

"Years," Puck replied.

"Exactly. If Fratley met the Dari, he will remember them and their looks more quickly... And thus Aireff, not Rose," Dominic explained.

Reasonable explanations were definitely not what Puck wanted. Come to think of it, Puck never likes to hear anything reasonable unless he's the one saying it. Already he was coming up with some reply, but I just becoming eternally bored, and a little aggravated. Being talked about as if you weren't even there isn't a pleasant experience. I soon was rescued from such, however, by someone grabbing my arm and proceeding to drag me out of the room. For some reason or another -- I think I was too surprised -- I didn't struggle.

"Ya looked awfully bored."

The accent sounded incredibly familiar.

"So ya 'eaded off an' forgot 'bout everythin', eh? It figures. Our family can never keep its luck for more than five minutes."

"Where are you?" I asked stupidly.

The reply was a weak laugh.

"Great, now ya forgot 'ow ta turn 'round too."

The grip on my arm was released, and I immediately whirled around to view the speaker. Many memories exploded from my mind as I examined him with my eyes. Before, when I had seen him in Burmecia, I had been too far away to really see him clearly, and perhaps too distracted anyway. Now, looking upon the Burmecian, a million memories came to me, begging to be released.

"Aireff...?" I said quietly, slowly, staring at the male's orange eyes.

The male smiled weakly. "Dominic always did seem like a smart one. Yes, Fratley, it's me. Aireff, ye father."

"I saw you before, at Burmecia," I murmured. "You didn't ring a bell there. I didn't recognize you at all. Something was there... But there were too many memories and I couldn't sort through any of them."

"Do ya really expect all ye memories ta come back at one glance?" Aireff asked calmly. For someone who just realized their son had forgotten everything, he seemed awfully calm, a great contrast from Rose.

"Well... I hoped." I ended miserably.

"A false 'ope, Fratley, a false 'ope," Aireff immediately told me. "Ya 'ad a poor memory ta begin with. Ya are not goin' ta remember within a year. It's goin' ta take years for ya ta remember most o' it... And the rest, ya may never even remember."

"Aireff, you're encouraging."

I turned around to see Rose coming toward the two of us, a miserable look on her face. She sighed, waving something away with her hand.

"At least you're alive," she said miserably.

"If only I could do more," I replied.

"What, hit yourself in the head and hope it reverses the problem?" Rose asked sarcastically.

"Rose..." Aireff said warningly, glancing over at me.

I guess my feelings were clear on my face. Upset, guilty, helpless, and useless... All of these feelings must've been painted clearly upon my face. Rose blinked a bit, then sighed. She walked over and gave me a quick hug, before I could react in the least.

"At least you're alive," she said again, this time with more sincerity, more happiness if it was even possible. "It's more than could be said for everyone else."

"Everyone else?" I asked. I looked toward Aireff, the one person who seemed familiar, the one person who could bring up so many memories in a single glance.

"Ye brother..." Aireff replied.

"Brother..." I repeated the word, send it through my memories, and shook my head. Even Aireff couldn't help with that one.

"'E's dead, Fratley," Aireff said slowly.

"All that's left is you," Rose said, then continued more quietly, though I still heard her as clearly as if she had been shouting. "And even you are gone."

"HEY! FRATLEY!"

Puck always did know the worst times to interrupt. He did so now, charging up to me and leaping up and down in his typical fashion. It took me a few minutes to realize that he had not come from the inn, but from the street.

"You have ta come look, it's damn awful!" Puck shouted, before turning around and making a mad dash into the streets.

Rose and Aireff dashed after Puck, and I decided that I had "permission" to go, if they were going as well. Quickly we slipped around the massive crowds, and soon we found ourselves running with another group of people heading in the same direction. Whatever Puck had seen, many others knew of it as well, and all wanted to get a look.

After ten minutes of running, we had come upon a staircase, leading downward. We, the mob of people, dashed down the stairs, and soon headed through two sets of doors. Soon, we found ourselves out in the misty outside. Puck immediately raced to the left, and Aireff, Rose, and I followed him. The others in the crowd all went their own ways, as if not knowing where to go.

Soon, we had managed to run to the relative north, facing the mountains that separated Cleyra and Burmecia from the rest of the Mist Continent. Immediately, I could see the problem, for while my memory was gone, my eyesight was not.

Smoke was billowing over the tops of the mountains.

"Great Dragon," Rose muttered with shock, her purple eyes widening.

"Cleyra?" Aireff asked weakly.

"Yeah," Puck replied.

I was so absorbed watching the black smoke in the distance that I almost didn't catch the cries of people that didn't follow us. I tore my gaze from the smoke and dashed toward the cries.

"What is it?" I asked a nearby person.

"Look, sir! An Alexandrian ship in the distance!" the person replied, pointing to the distance. "I think it's almost in Alexandria, I don't know. We're lucky we can still see it! The Mist is awfully thin right now."

I followed the person's finger, and soon saw what they were staring at. There was indeed a ship in the distance, quickly being lost into the mist. Yet even at a distance, it looked familiar. The general shape of the quickly disappearing ship looked exactly like the shape of the ship I had managed to see before the Warp spell had distorted my vision.

"Alexandria...?" I muttered.

"Alexandria, indeed!" Rose's ever-familiar sharp voice replied. She soon appeared beside me, staring at the disappearing ship with disgust. "Damn them! First Burmecia, now apparently Cleyra. What's next? Lindblum?"

"Goodness, Rose, not so loud!" Aireff, who had appeared beside rose while she was speaking. "Scarin' the people 'ere isn't goin' ta do us any good. Regent Cid surely knows what's goin' on... He can take care of it all."

"Burmecia... Wasn't everyone killed in Burmecia? Everyone that was still there?" Puck asked as he walked to my side. He looked at Rose and Aireff quietly.

"Most. Some escaped here... Most, if not all, of the warriors died, however, fighting for the city," Rose explained.

"Well, then I just realized the both of ya owe an explanation," Puck said. "Why aren't YA dead?"

Rose nearly choked on her own saliva. Aireff blinked very slowly, and sighed heavily, rubbing at his brown hair. Immediately Puck's eyes narrowed, and I couldn't help but be suspicious of my own parents. Their reactions were definitely not encouraging.

"We fought... Yes, we fought for our country," Aireff muttered, his accent suddenly gone. "Or at least, until we realized everything was doomed."

"Ya... Didn't..." Puck muttered. "Did ya desert?"

Aireff closed his eyes, shaking his head. I wasn't sure if he was responding to Puck's question, or trying to clear his head. Perhaps he was doing both.

"The King gave orders," Aireff said. "After he realized all was lost, he told everyone to escape with their own lives. Most didn't, most refused. Only a few decided to flee with him. Most stayed behind, showing true courage. We stayed behind, yes, but we didn't fight."

"Ya... Hid?" Puck asked, recognition coming on his face. "Yeah, ya hid. All was hopeless and so..."

"Yes," Aireff said. "The two of us split and hid in separate locations."

"Dammit, it was cowardly!" Rose spat suddenly. "We shouldn't have hidden, we should've kept on fighting!"

With that, Rose stormed away, heading back toward Lindblum. I blinked slowly, then looked back at Aireff, my mind slowly grasping the situation. My parents were alive because they had hidden from battle, failed as Burmecian warriors (Puck's lessons on Burmecian ways, an attempt to get my memory back, had managed to stay remembered). It was a hard situation to grasp, and as I looked over at Puck, I realized he was having trouble understanding it as well.

"That's... Dishonorable," Puck said slowly, making Aireff bow his head. "IF my dad's orders had been ta keep on fightin'."

Aireff looked up slowly, and I looked at Puck curiously. Puck's face was struggling to keep impassive, though anger did not seem to be one of the emotions he was struggling to keep down. In fact, I realized soon, Puck wasn't angry at all.

"But my father's orders had been to flee with your own life, not to keep on fighting. You followed his orders... You fled with your own life," Puck said in a strangely reasonable voice. It wasn't common that Puck was reasonable, and even less common that he actually thought this hard.

"Ah, but it was still cowardly," Aireff pointed out.

"To hell with 'cowardly'!" Puck roared, suddenly no longer able to keep reasonable. "What's more cowardly, fleeing from an unbeatable enemy, or sending a bunch of mindless creatures to do your dirty work for you?!"

Everyone who had stayed outside now stared at Puck with shock. Puck took a deep breath, apparently preparing to yell some more. For once, I found myself welcoming the child's loud voice, and it looked like Aireff was ready for what he had to say as well.

"So you fled with your own life! Did you flee before the battle even started? Did you flee and leave others to die around you, knowing that the enemy would murder your entire city? Did you even flee away from the city? Dammit, no! You went into battle, you got hurt, you got dirty! Did the Alexandrian soldiers do that? Or did they send a ton of mindless, super-powerful dolls to do most of the dirty work for them?" Puck bellowed. I immediately noticed how incredibly professional his voice and accent had suddenly become. "Who killed more, the dolls or PEOPLE? How about Brahne and Beatrix? Sure, they showed their arses. But did they even fight the armies? Did they get injured, fight those who could hurt them? Or did they attack the helpless, allowing the others to go forward and do the dirty work? Sure, that's the way of the human general, but what do Burmecians do? Their generals went forward and FOUGHT! My father STAYED with the people, for as long as he could! You want to know who the REAL cowards are? I say it's Alexandria! They were the cowards, for using dolls to fight and for keeping all their precious people away from the bloodshed when Burmecia's people fought tooth and nail!"

A long, stunned silence followed Puck's words, the most I had even heard him say at once. Aireff's orange eyes were wide with shock. I stared at Puck with disbelief, his loud words echoing in my mind. Puck merely glared at everyone there, his arms across his chest in typical child fashion. Yet Puck was not a typical child. A typical child would not shout an entire speech without fear, would not seem so logical, would not be so immature yet mature at the same time.

"They were using strategy," Aireff began weakly.

"Strategy my arse!" Puck replied. "Mindless dolls who cast fire aren't strategy! Strategy is using your army, sending them in specific locations with a specific plan! Cleyra held a remote strategy, tricking the people, I suppose. But where was the strategy in Burmecia's battle? Sending a wave of dolls isn't strategy, it's a cheap victory!"

Another stunned, long silence followed. Aireff's mouth opened and closed, and no more words escaped his mouth. I merely stared at Puck, unable to say anything to refute his comments. It was not necessarily because Puck was right; it was because I knew of nothing that could prove Alexandria had any strategy. To me, it seemed like sending the mages was strategy enough, but to Puck, it was just a cowardly way to achieve a victory.

"Keep your honor, Aireff," Puck said in a much quieter voice than he had been using five minutes before. "Even though you fled, you still hold much more honor than Alexandria. They lost theirs, and it shall not be found for a while."

With that, Puck walked away, back into Lindblum. He was obviously aggravated. Aireff merely watched him go back to Lindblum with some admiration. I also turned back to where Puck had disappeared.

"My doubts are wrong." I just managed to hear Aireff say this, he uttered it so quietly.

Quickly Aireff dashed into Lindblum. Not wanting to get lost (it was all too likely), I decided to follow Aireff. He, Puck, and Rose were all I had found that I could trust and hope to help me find my memory again.

And so we ran.

---- I had trouble wrapping this chapter up, I was having so much fun with it. Puck's speech was particularly enjoyable, if a bit tricky to write. Yes, I remember that technically it wasn't Alexandria and all that, it was Kuja. But no one knows that... Yet, anyway. Also, I know that my timing is a little bit off, but it's not too bad, so I think I shall leave it. In this chapter, I tried to fix up the time mess-up a bit by having the Red Rose (or whatever the Beatrix's ship's name is) far off in the distance, perhaps a wee bit TOO far off. Ah, well, I'm not perfect. Don't expect many updates, as I seem to have lost my muse for FanFiction a bit. I'll try to update everything, but no guarantees. See you all, and hope you enjoyed this one!

Note: The inn I described is quite obviously NOT the inn you stay at. I couldn't remember what it looked like, so I made up my own. Also, doesn't the line "We, the mob of people" sound like the line in an important United States of American document?

This story is copyright to me. Final Fantasy IX and all related material are copyright to Square-Enix.