Guardians Of Life - The Phantom Forest
Hey-hi! You remember me, right? The fanfic-er who hasn't updated this story for six months? I'm pretty sure on that number, too. I counted. Sorry there. Spilled juice on my laptop, adjusted to 6-form, faced family illness, went to a con - the usual suspects. But as it's my 3-year FanFiction.Net anniversary... now! (I just waited three minutes to say that...) It's March 17th, and I've been on FFN for exactly three years to the day. Updating this story as a 'birthday' treat. I warn there will be many a typo. My new laptop doesn't have Microsoft Word. I'm using WordPad. And yeah, there's a reason for the title. It's the name of an FF6 track, but it ain't where they're going. Today, I am better informed, for I have an FFX-guide with monster PICTURES in it! On with the SHOW!
Dedicated to Ag, Bright, and of course, Leita. You guys just bugged me waaaay too much for me to give up.
"Know what? Not meaning to be nasty or anything, but for some reason I don't like the idea of being led around by a bunch of glowys, Q..." Duo said nervously, as the scenery around them seemed to become less and less welcoming, and the sky became less visible as they disappeared into the vegetation.
But his blonde companion seemed not to listen to, or at least not to care about, Duo's concerns as to following the forest guardians. They had offered to help, after all. With Duo busy feeling jumpy, and some of the more mischievous faeries taking advantage of that, Trowa had a chance to take in the scenery, to figure out just where they were going, really. The area of the woods they were entering was unfamiliar to him, and that in itself was a surprise. The path they were walking on was not well travelled - the undergrowth had slowly creeped into the cracks in the once worn earth - but by the same merit, it was not overgrown. It was very strange.
Focusing on the centre of his crystals power, he reached out through the roots of the trees whose lives seemed waning, through the moss and grasses of the lush greenery behind, and deep into the Earth they walked upon. In it's propensity as the Earth crystal, it would be able to test the danger for them in the area ahead. Trowa had become quite adept at using his crystal this way throughout his travelling - it had become invaluable of late, as the many monsters of the land had begun to grow restless. He was used to focusing his mind and letting instinct take over as it was.
Naturally he stopped when he could read nothing of the ahead territory.
Duo, vigilant as ever, stopped too. "Tro? Something up?"
He frowned. "I don't like this. I can't figure out where we're going."
"'Course not. We're following little glowy thingys, are we supposed to know where we're going?"
"No, no, not like that. I was looking with my crystal..." continuing before Duo asked he question he looked like he wanted to, "I couldn't 'see' anything. Either we're going somewhere that doesn't exist, or I don't know where..."
"Right, right, let me get this straight. You 'looked' with your crystal?"[1]
Trowa sighed. He shouldn't've said a thing.
"You gotta show me how to do that!"
Actually, that might not be a bad idea... see what the Winds can tell us...
"Very simple - focus you energies on the crystal, and what you want to do with it. Think about... well, I think about the Earth, so I guess you should thin about the Winds... and think about how you want to get this information... that's all."
Duo then got a very calm expression, and closed his eyes, as if he were retreating deep inwards.
"First, think about where we were last night. Just to test it."
The violet of the pendant flashed slightly, and Trowa wondered if his did the same when trying this.
"I uh... think I hear something."
"What does it sound like?"
"Words... the wind whispering... well duh... course its the Winds, isn't it? They say... that it's safe there now - but also that it wasn't safe there before."
"Okay, that's good. Now think of ahead of us. What's ahead?"
His expression grew concentrated. "Uh... I think... maybe danger?"
"Maybe?"
"Only maybe... same as anywhere else..."
"Now try and see it. Try to see what the Winds see."
A tense moment passed, before Duo opened his eyes. "Nothing. Won't let me."
"Something strange is happening... Earth, and the Wind, are everywhere... how could they not find anything?"
"I'm not so worried about that. We've got some catching up to do, if you didn't notice already!" With that he took off after their absent companion.
He was found only a few meters away, standing in front of what looked like some kind of door. The branches of the trees had knotted across some kind of opening, and brilliant blue blooms covered a good deal of the branches. The faerie guides seemed apprehensive.
"What's this?"
Quatre turned to face the two, smiling benignly. Something seemed a little of about that, however.
"I don't think we should go ahead. Neither Duo nor I can tell what's there. It's just a... blank."
The blonde turned back to the 'door' and started gently pressing on different branches, as if looking for something.
"Really. I don't think it's wise if we can't see-"
"Of course you can't see it," he replied calmly, before pressing decisively on a branch. "There we go..."
"Whaddya mean, 'Of course we can't'?" Duo asked, feeling slightly agitated, for some unknown reason.
"The Winds have long since ceased to blow away the clouds, and the Earth is blinded to all that occurs there. There is no need for you to see this place, without your own eyes." He walked clean through the branches. No questions asked, they followed him in.
"The woods of Ice and Silence are no place for true plants to flourish, and the lands are accustomed to the clouds. There is no need for Winds nor Earth in this place."
And so they looked upon the lands, and saw a forest entirely of the most beautiful and undisturbed glass.
"The Macalania Woods."[2]
"Yui. What do you see?"
"WuFei… I have a first name."
"That's besides the point. What do you see?"
"Ah… something heading my way."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Think I'll go and greet them."
"What the…?" Duo looked infinitely surprised. A glass forest? "Q, what the hell have you led us into?"
The blonde was smiling. "The Macalania Woods, Duo."
"You said that already! But it's all made of glass! That ain't like no other woods I've seen!"
Quatre shook his head slightly. "No, not glass, ice!"
Duo's face fell. "Oh great. We're in a forest covered in ice. Bet some weird monster covered the place in ice. Thank you, glowy thing!" He then flopped onto the ground, his expression showing some deep agitation. He pulled out one of his dirks and started fiddling with it nervously.
The blonde cocked his head to one side, slightly. "Is something wrong?"
Still twirling the sharp blade, Duo laughed. "Oh no, nothings wrong! I'm just sitting in a stupid forest made outta ice! What could be wrong?" With that he slammed the dagger into the earth beneath him.
Quatre sighed and sat down by him. "What's wrong, Duo?"
The braided boy hung his head slightly, and took a deep breath. He was obviously making an effort to calm down. "I dunno, it's just this place… it doesn't feel safe. You know how good my instincts are, and they're telling me to get the hell outta here."
"But Duo… we need to find the Water crystal, right? It's here somewhere… or through here… and I'm sure that it's just as safe at the forest we were in before was! The forest guardians wouldn't have lead us here if it was dangerous, would they?"
"I'm telling you, it's not safe here. You gonna trust a bunch of little lights more then you trust me?"
The blonde visibly saddened. "Am I to take that as you don't want to look around..?"
"Why the hell would I wanna look around this place? The only thing I wanna be looking at right now is the way out!"
"Trowa? What do you think?"
The green-eyed boy had gone very quiet. "I agree with Duo, actually. This place doesn't exactly feel welcoming to me…"
Quatre frowned. "I don't understand. This place seems perfectly alright to me…"
"Well I'm not feeling the friendly vibe from this place, and neither is Tro. That's two against one. We are not staying here. Got it?" Duo said, very much in no mood for argument.
"Duo, I don't think-"
"And I don't care! This decision is FINAL!"
At first the blond looked shocked at Duo's outburst. He was hardly ever so commanding, not to mention just plain rude. Then the natural stubbornness kicked in. He calmly stood up and brushed off his cloak, looking like he was about to comply. He then smirked and took off deeper into the forest anyway.
That certainly surprised the braided boy. "HEY! GET BACK HERE! HEEEEEEEEEY!!!" His cries were to no avail. Certainly he was a faster runner then his blonde friend and could easily catch up if he wanted to, but he absolutely refused to move any further into the forest. Something held him back. Instead he kicked one of the ice trees, before leaning against it in anger. Breathing deeply, he calmed himself down, slowly, and sat down against the tree. "Dammit…"
Trowa sat beside him, feeling the same anger at their now missing companion. "We can't go after him, can we?"
Duo sighed. "No, there is no way I'm backing down from what I said. It's his own fault if he gets lost."
"That's not what I meant…"
Once he was sure they were out of sight, the blond boy stopped running, and burst out laughing instead. Sometimes it was just too easy to rile Duo up. What was their problem anyway? There was nothing wrong with the forest.
Once he'd managed to calm himself down a little, he took a good look at his surroundings. The woods were beautiful! All the trees and plants looked as though they had been sculpted in glass, though he knew it to be ice. Yet when he touched it, it wasn't cold at all. The woods themselves seemed to echo the air, creating a haunting melody [3]. The sun no longer shone down upon the woods, and instead it seemed the plant life itself was generating the ethereal blue light. And the woods were alive… truly living. There was some great power moving through them, and it made him feel calm, and at peace.
Tiny blue faeries, the guardians of these trees, circled slowly around the area, as if on some kind of watch [4]. He closed his eyes and breathed the crisp air in. It was so invigorating to him.
He was starting to feel a little tired, but he brushed it off as a result of the night watch, followed by a decidedly difficult sleep. He simply hadn't gained any energy from it, and would probably have been better off staying awake in the first place. He could always try and sleep some more once he went back to the others. Which meant he should probably go back pretty soon. But a little more exploring wouldn't hurt, would it?
Looking to his right, he spotted a path made entirely of light. It was beautiful! By the look of it, it carried right over the woods. It wasn't a particularly long path either. He walked along it, and the view was spectacular. Looking across the long and winding roads below, he was glad for his discovery. Once he got to the end of the path, he saw an saw the spring.
"Wow…"
The small lake that surrounded the spring was swarming with faeries of the water, and a large tree-like structure sat directly in the middle of the spring. There was something otherworldly about it; it seemed like a natural structure, yet by the same merit, like it was built.
He raised his hand to his face as what had been slight lethargy suddenly turned to full-blown exhaustion. It was starting to get hard to keep his eyes open [5]. He walked closer to the spring, and splashed some of the icy water on his face to try and jolt himself awake. It didn't really work all that well, except to make him feel a bit cold, really.
He then really started to notice the structure in the middle of the small lake. It was so strange… it wouldn't hurt to take a better look…
Meanwhile, the other two of our intrepid heroes were sitting around contemplating what to do. Their friend had been gone for quite some time now. Trowa was starting to get worried, and Duo? Duo was still angry.
"Duo… we've waited long enough… shouldn't we at least try and look for him?"
"Nope," Duo replied instantly, stabbing a dirk into the ground, pulling it out, and repeating the action, the friction between the bland and the earth making a slight noise every time. "He went off all on his own. He can sort this own problems out."
"I'm starting to get worried though… it seems like it's getting dark here a lot earlier then it should do."
"Ha! Don't. Q can look after himself just fine. He can go off and have fun with his little glowy pals, for all I care."
"Then why are we still here?"
The knife fell out of his hand and landed on the now soft dirt with a clang. After a pregnant pause, Duo finally sighed and leaned back on the ground. "Ah… I dunno. Of course I'm worried about him, he's like a brother to me… can't help but be a little overbearing sometimes, right?" Duo smiled a little at the thought, and Trowa with him. "But… when he gets all stubborn like that, and does things that are just plain stupid, it makes me feel kinda angry. It's like he does it deliberately just because he doesn't want to be told what to do. There's nothing wrong with just listening for once, is there? But it's like he's trying to prove himself… even I don't know who to."
"I don't think your shouting made the situation any better, Duo."
"I couldn't help that. This place, it's just… I don't like it. I don't want to be here. Yeah, I probably coulda handled it a lot better, but hey, we all make mistakes, right? This place has just put me on edge. Even when we were just getting close to it. I can't go any further then this; I physically can't."
"Duo… there is other ways to find people, aside from actually moving around…"
Duo practically lightbulbed at this. "Ah! Like earlier? Why didn't you say anything?!"
"Because I was debating just how angry you were,"
"Then why didn't you try it?"
"I did. I just couldn't tell much except he was moving. The winds move around; they can look, and see what is happening. Try it, Duo."
The younger boy smiled at the idea. It wasn't a band one, for sure. "Kay! I just concentrate, and listen and…" A long pause followed, "Gotcha!"
"What is it then?"
"He's on his way back here, actually. Bit of a problem though."
"And that is?"
"Something, or someone, is coming with him."
TBC
W00t! Cliffhanger.
[1] Hehe, I liked the idea. Also, somewhere around here I called Trowa a boy. He's 19.
[2] After playing 10-2 I fell in love with this place. Hence, here they are.
[3] Again, 10-2 influences. In Macalania, the BGM is this sorta creepy wind-whistling noise, with some tinklies throw in
[4] They remind me of Pyreflies
[5] After getting the first bit of this started until 1-30 am, then writing in school, this is how I feel right about now.
Well, that was kinda lame. Till next time!