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Chapter 3: Ice Cavern
The cavern was freezing and Blank, Vivi, and even Steiner wanted to quickly leave this frozen 'paradise'. However, the princess seemed to love the cavern, even Blank couldn't deny that it was beautiful, but he wanted to quickly leave.
"Look at this flower!" Garnet exclaimed, crouching down an examining a frozen flower, that Blank thought looked like a violet.
"Please don't touch anything, Princess!" Steiner exclaimed, grasping the princess's wrist so she wouldn't be able to touch anything.
"Oh please, Steiner!" Garnet immediately spoke back. "It is just a flower! And a frozen one at that! It wouldn't be able to hurt me!"
"..." Steiner immediately let go of the woman's wrist, and looked down at his boots. "I-I'm sorry, Princess..."
"Can we please hurry?" Blank asked, having his hands covering his arms, making him wished he had asked for a sweater instead of a muscle shirt. It also seemed Vivi was shivering beneath his blue jacket and large hat.
"I suppose..." the princess muttered, slightly saddened by the fact that she can't study the gorgeous frozen floors of the cavern. The team slowly walked across the cavern, trying their best not to slip and fall off one of the treacherous trails. Blank had once heard of this place, though he couldn't quiet remember from where, but, from what he could remember, is that as the path went on it got so cold that if didn't move for over ten minutes, you could be frozen in your spot.
Blank kept his hands on his arms, as all the rest of the party members did, and rubbed, creating the friction that warmed him ever so slightly that it would probably never make a difference, but it seemed to satisfy Blank, along with the rest of the four person team. Blank tried to keep his mind off his team, but knew he it was inevitable. I should write them once I get to Dali, Blank thought, I wonder why they escaped. And I wonder how bro's doin'. I guess I'll ask them about it once I write to them.
Blank and the team continued their short trek across the icy cavern, when they suddenly felt a cool wind blowing against their necks. Blank looked to the source of the wind, and saw it coming from a small hole carved into the ice. Blank decided against staying long, so he quickly went past, however, the instant he pasted, three huge beasts broke through the wall and turned to the rest of the crew. The beast had thick fur across it's large body, and had two huge fangs that curved up above their heads, that, Blank and the rest of the team could clearly see, would be their main source of attack.
Immediately, one lowered it's head and began to charge at the princess, however Steiner quickly leapt in the way, and sliced his blade into the beast's skull. The next beast did tackle Steiner and, even though the knight was wearing his heavy armor, he was able to knock Steiner back a few feet, now leaving the princess open. The third beast then charged at Garnet, and nearly tackled her, until Blank's sword went through the beast's stomach, causing it to stop in it's place and allow blood to flow from it's wound that nearly chopped the beast's body in half.
The second beast, the one that had attacked Steiner, was now up once more and attacked Vivi like he did Steiner, however, due to Vivi's condition, he was thrown against the wall and instantly fell unconscious. Blank then swiped his sword at the beast, making a non-fatal wound that still gave access to blood-flow, however the beast was still standing and ready to fight.
It stood, nearly fell back down as it did, and stumbled towards the princess. However, unfortunately for the beast, the princess was prepared to strike it this time, and she did, causing the beast to fall back to the ground and fall unconscious, where it would stay until it probably froze to death. Blank then immediately rushed over to the little black mage and attempted shaking him awake, "Vivi! Wake up Vivi!" Blank called.
"Oh dear..." Garnet muttered. "Steiner is unconscious as well..."
"Damn it!" Blank exclaimed.
"What shall we do?" Garnet asked.
"..." Blank thought through all his options. "Maybe... some healing items would heal them..."
"I suppose it is our only chance..." Garnet muttered. Blank took out a potion and quickly feed it to Vivi, and massaged the young mage's throat to make certain it would go down. Soon enough, the little mage fluttered his eyes open, and stood up once more, holding his head.
"You ok?" Blank asked the mage.
"I'm fine..." Vivi muttered.
"That's good," Blank nodded. The thief then took out another potion and turned around to feed Steiner one, however he saw that the knight was already standing. "Wha... Garnet? You had a potion too?"
"Nonsense!" Steiner exclaimed. "The princess is a white mage! She can summon upon white magic!"
"Really?!" Blank exclaimed.
"Umm... can we talk about this elsewhere?" Garnet asked, holding her arms. "It is very cold in this cavern."
"Yes! We shall speak of this elsewhere!" Steiner exclaimed.
"Fine, geez..." Blank shrugged, and they continued walking. "Next time we should be ready for an attack. The next time you fell any wind blowing up against you, tell the rest of the team immediately, alright?"
The rest of the team nodded, and so they began traveling down the icy trails once more, when Blank found a wall of ice and stopped. "What is it Blank?" Garnet asked.
"We must hurry!" Steiner exclaimed. "The princess is cold!"
"There's something behind this wall..." Blank muttered, and thought of how to get through it, when an idea came into his head. "Hey Vivi, come here."
"Y-Yeah?" Vivi nervously asked, walking up to Blank.
"Use your magic to break down the wall!" Blank exclaimed.
"I-I'll try..." Vivi muttered, and walked up to the wall. Vivi put the palm of his hands up against the icy wall, which made him slightly twitch away from the wall. Immediately, the wall began to melt down the wall, which revealed some gil behind the wall.
"Alright!" Blank exclaimed, and picked up the gil, which came to a total amount of 134 gil, but then gave it to the little mage. "Here, Vivi, you deserve it."
"Oh... well, it's ok," Vivi said. "We can spend it on food and a room at the inn once we get to Dali."
"You sure?" Blank asked.
"I noticed the money you had when you paid for the food and stuff," Vivi told the thief. "So we'll need the money..."
"I'm sorry," Garnet sighed, looking down to the ground. "I should have brought some money with me!"
"It's alright, this wasn't to be expected," Blank slightly sighed.
"Of course it wasn't!" Steiner exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Blank. "You thieves weren't supposed to capture the princess!"
"Steiner please!" Garnet exclaimed, making Steiner instantly step back. "We shall continue this later! Let's get out of here!"
"Yes, princess..." Steiner mumbled, looking down at his boots.
The team continued traveling through the slippery cavern, occasionally being forced into battle with the beasts that came with the wind. However, they were all easily enough defeated, since they were much more prepared this time, and they were able to continue. Also, they found a few more treasures, about 453 more gil, a dagger that Blank hopes he will be able to pawn off for plenty of money, and a new staff for Vivi, which intensified his magic.
As they traveled, they came to a fork in the road, to the left looked a normal place, but to the right a lot of wind was blowing, and Blank seemed to be able to hear a strange tune, but he could barely hear it over the wind. "Which way should we go?" Garnet asked the team.
"Which way do you suggest, princess?" Steiner asked.
"I have no clue..." Garnet muttered. "What way do you suggest, Blank?"
"I think we should go left," Blank suggested. "Since there's wind blowing from the right, there are probably a group of those beasts back there."
"It sounds like a good idea..." Garnet nodded. "Let's go."
"Very well!" Steiner exclaimed, "Let us go!" The team then took the left path, however, it was a dead end, which meant they would have to go down the right path. However, there was a strange statue that nearly looked like it was sculpted.
"What is that...?" Garnet asked, walking up and inspecting the statue.
"Princess!" Steiner cried. "Please don't touch anything!
"It looks like a... moogle?" Blank muttered, tapping the ice. "Hey, Vivi, come here..."
"Alright," Vivi nodded, already knowing what he would be asked. He walked up to the statue and hit it with his fire spell, causing a moogle leap out, putting out any fire that may have been on his head.
"Damn it! You bastard!" the moogle cried, then instantly stopped, as if realizing he was freed. "Thank you, kupo!"
"Do you know how we get out of here?" Blank asked.
"You're almost out, kupo!" the moogle exclaimed. "All you have to do is go out and go down the right path instead!"
"Oh... alright," Blank nodded, hoping there was another option.
"Can I go with you, kupo?" the little moogle asked.
"Uhh... I don't see why not..." Blank muttered.
"Are you mad?!" Steiner exclaimed, pointing his blameful finger at Blank. "We are traveling with the princess! We can't just let random people be joining our travels!"
"He may be in league with Alexandria..." Garnet responded. "But other then that, I would not mind if he were to join us..."
"I will just leave!" the moogle shouted. "I hate it here! And I think there's some sealion near the exit, kupo!"
"A sealion?" Blank asked. "Then leaving might be a little hard..."
"People don't go by very often, kupo, so I don't really know how strong the sealion really is..." the moogle mumbled.
"I think we should bring him along," Vivi purposed. "I mean, it seems like he just wants to leave, and he was frozen..."
"..." Steiner looked at Vivi for a moment, as if thinking of what to suggest, but then said, "what do you purpose we do, princess?"
"I think we should take him along," Garnet told the knight, which made the old knight frown. "I do not see how he would hurt us..."
"I suppose..." the knight sighed.
"Great thanks!" the moogle exclaimed and quickly rushed out of the room.
Blank sighed, "I don't see how he could hurt us..."
"He better not...." Steiner muttered.
"He shan't," Garnet said, trying to reassure them. "What could he do? Moogles will not take money... will they?"
"Actually, I had to pay a moogle 100 gil to find Tantalus," Blank sighed.
The moogle then ran back into the room and shouted, "Let's go!" then he ran out, and, this time, Blank and the team followed him. They then followed the moogle down the right path, where icy wind was harshly blowing on the team, and Blank would have sworn that he heard bells, but decided to ignore it for now. The moogle rushed into the room and instantly stopped, as if hit by a mighty spell that froze him instantly.
"Is something wrong?" Blank asked the moogle after a couple seconds of the little creature standing still.
"Shh..." the little moogle muttered. "I think I hear... words..."
"Words?" Blank asked.
"Yes... an ancient spell..." the little creature muttered. "Coming from... bells..."
"Bells?" Blank asked, instantly knowing what the moogle was speaking about. "I heard bells a little earlier..."
"Really?" the moogle asked. "I thought only moogles could hear such spells..."
Just then, Vivi fell down and into a small ledge that was off the path, "Vivi!" Blank exclaimed, attempting to reach out to the little mage, but it was too late.
Vivi fell out of sight and Steiner immediately rushed up and looked down, "Master Vivi! Get up!" Steiner continued looking where Vivi was, when he slowly turned and looked at the princess, then fell down to the small ledge, making a large crash.
"Steiner?!" Blank and Garnet exclaimed, rushing over to the ledge and looked down, only to see them both unconscious, or what he hoped to be unconscious. "Are you guys ok?!"
"They should be," the moogle answered. "It was a sleeping spell... they should be out for a few hours..."
"They would be frozen by then!" Blank exclaimed. "We have to get them out of here!"
"Blank..." Garnet silently muttered. Blank looked over to see her eyes barely open, and then they closed, and she collapsed on the ground.
"Princess!" Blank exclaimed, then turned to the moogle, "What do we do?!"
"Here drink this!" the moogle took a vial that had a purple liquid in it out of his mysterious pocket. "It should protect you from the spell!"
Blank quickly grabbed it and, with the option of trusting the moogle or freezing to death, he quickly swallowed the liquid. It tasted horrible, but Blank quickly guzzled it anyway, knowing his options. "Now," the moogle ordered. "You have to find the source of the spell, or else they will freeze to death!"
"But... what if those beasts attack them?" Blank asked.
"I'll protect them!" the moogle exclaimed.
"???" Blank looked confusedly at the little creature who looked very innocent and that he may never be able to hurt anything.
"Hey! Don't judge me by my size!" the moogle exclaimed. "Us moogles can use magic!"
"... right..." Blank muttered, then continued down the path to find the bell sounds. Blank eventually found a fully grown black mage who was crouched over and had bells in his right hand and had black wings on his back and wore clothes similar to Vivi's. Behind the being was a frozen waterfall which lead Blank to believe that at one point this cavern was not frozen.
"How did you resist the spell?" the strange mage question, but then seemed to ignore his question, "I summon you, Sealion!"
Immediately, a huge sealion with huge fangs bursted through the frozen waterfall, and attacked Blank. Blank immediately drew his sword and slashed the attacking beast, which made it quickly recoil back near the waterfall. It then roared, and an explosion of water came from the waterfall and hit Blank, it's coldness nearly giving him frostbite. Blank quickly countered, but the mage used a blizzard spell, which made Blank even colder, and he was certain he would need to heal his wounds quickly. So, Blank took out a potion and quickly drank it.
Blank then saw the sealion preparing to attack again, so, when the titanic beast attempted to dive into Blank, Blank leapt in the air and landed on the beast's head. Blank took his sword and dug it deep into the beasts skull, causing the mighty thing to fall to the ground, twitch once or twice, then stop completely.
"My sealion!" the mage exclaimed. "I shall slay you for that!" The black mage then began to summon another blizzard spell, which hit Blank directly. Blank shivered a moment but then charged at the mage, and slashed it's stomach, which made the being grasp it's stomach and take a step back. "Damn you!" the mage hollered.
"This is it for you!" Blank shouted, and charged at the beast and stabbed the beast through the center of it's chest.
The beast looked up and it's beading green eyes glared at Blank a minute, but then they seemed to shut down, and the creature's head fell limp. Blank then tore his sword out of the beast's chest and wiped the strangely black blood against the snow, cleaning the blade. Blank then put the blade back in it's sheath, and turned to head back to the rest of his team, when he heard a strange voice that seemed to be from above him.
"You may have defeated black mage number one, but number two and three will reclaim the princess!" the voice hollered, and then Blank heard footsteps rush off.
Blank shrugged, since the current problem concerned the condition of the princess, and ran back to them. Blank then reached the team and saw the moogle was looking over the princess and that Vivi was up, but all the rest were still unconscious. "You the only one up, Vivi?" Blank asked.
"Yeah," Vivi nodded. "The moogle told me that you went out to look for the source of the spell, and that you stopped it."
Blank felt the frostbitten, or soon to be frostbitten, parts of his body, specifically his arms and legs. "Yeah, let's just hurry and get out of here," Blank muttered.
"Wha...?" Garnet muttered, rubbing her head and rising up. "What... what happened?"
"You were put under a spell to make you fall asleep," Blank answered. "You alright?"
"Yeah," Garnet nodded, and then stood up.
"Good," Blank responded, "You were put under a sleeping spell, now let's just hurry and get outta here. Then we can discuss this."
"Discuss what?!" Steiner exclaimed, climbing up to the main platform from the ledge.
"The sleep spell!" Blank exclaimed. "Let's get outta here! We'll discuss this later!"
"You probably made the spell!" Steiner accused.
"Shut up!" Blank shouted. "Come on! Let's go! We'll talk about this later!"
"Yes, Steiner," Garnet told the angry knight. "I am very cold. May we please speak about this later?"
"Yes, princess," the knight fell to his knee and bowed. "I am terribly sorry."
"It is fine, Steiner," Garnet responded. "Now let's hurry. Blank will tell us what happened later."
"Of course, my princess," the knight quickly bowed again, then the team took off once more. They reached the area where Blank fought the black mage and the sealion, however, the only body there was the sealion's.
"What is this?!" Steiner exclaimed, taking out his sword and stabbing it through the titan's skull.
"It's the sealion!" the little moogle exclaimed. "This was what prevented me from leaving the cavern! Did you defeat it?!"
"Yeah, now let's get outta here!" Blank commanded and they all, surprisingly enough including Steiner, quickly followed the thief through the cavern. The cavern quickly began to heat up a little, and Blank could see that the water that lead to the frozen waterfall had some water flowing through it, and it wasn't completely frozen.
A short while later, they were able to reach the end of horribly cold cavern, where, Blank immediately noticed, the moons hung high in the sky. "We're finally out!" Vivi smiled, and slightly leaped in joy.
"Yeah," Blank grinned, it was cold that night, but compared to Ice Cavern, it felt like they were in the depths of hell.
They continued walking out of the cavern, to find that they were close to the top of the mountain, but, fortunately, on the other side of it. They all looked down and could see that in the distance was a village that they all presumed to be Dali. "That must be Dali..." Garnet muttered.
"Yeah!" the moogle exclaimed. "I'll see ya there!" The moogle then, at it's supersonic speed, rushed down the mountain.
"Let us go!" Steiner proclaimed. "Perhaps we will be able to reach the bottom of the mountain before it becomes to late..."
"What a minute," Blank immediately said. "We need to give the princess an alibi..."
"Nonsense!" Steiner exclaimed. "We, along with YOU, shall call her princess!"
"Are you stupid?!" Blank exclaimed. "People will be looking for her!"
"A new name..." Garnet silently said to herself, ignoring the two swordsmen's fight.
"You are merely a thief!" Steiner shouted. "You will probably give her a secret name that you thieves know about! A codename for you damned thieves!"
"No way!" Blank shouted in responded. "She can choose the name if she wants! I don't really care! I just want her to be safe!"
"You lie I shall smote yo-"
"Steiner!" Garnet shouted with her hands on her waist to the knight. "I agree with Blank... I do need a new name..."
"Yes, my princess..." Steiner muttered.
"What do you want it to be?" Blank asked.
"How about... Claire..." Garnet muttered.
"Claire?" Blank asked.
"As in clarinet," Garnet explained. "I used to play the clarinet at the castle. It shall do, will it not?"
"Yeah, it's fine," Blank nodded.
"Excellent!" the princess slightly jumped. "I shall finally be able to roam a village like an average woman!"
"Talking like that, you won't be able to," Blank told her. "You still look and sound like a princess. You have to talk more like... well... me."
"I... I shall try," the princess muttered.
"No, no, no," Blank chuckled. "Just say... I'll try."
"Very well..." the princess nodded. "I'll try..."
"There you go," Blank grinned, along with the princess.
"The princess need not talk like that!" Steiner exclaimed. "She-!"
"Steiner!" Garnet exclaimed. "You must not call me princess! I order you to call me Claire from now on!"
"But... very well... now what are your plans on returning to the castle?" Steiner asked.
"I have no intention on returning to the castle," Claire answered. "Now let's hurry down the mountain, and set up camp."
"... Very well, prin... Miss Claire..." Steiner muttered, and then they all rushed down the mountain.
They were lucky and were able to make it down the mountain before nightfall, and then, they set up camp, Steiner and Blank collecting the wood, Vivi starting the fire and Claire... watching them work.
"So Steiner," Blank started. "Let's set up a night watch. I'm not very tired, so I'll watch first. I'll wake up later, and you can watch then, alright?"
"Nonsense!" Steiner exclaimed. "Why should I trust you watching the Prin... the missus?!"
"What have I ever done to harm the princess?" Blank asked. "Have I ever done anything secretive that you don't know about?!"
"You never told us what happened in Ice Cavern," Steiner told the young thief who immediately realized that he did never tell them.
"Oh yeah..." Blank muttered, slightly blushing at his own stupidity. "It was weird... there was this... adult black mage who used the spell, but it was weird... he had black wings..."
"Black wings?!" Steiner exclaimed. "How can a human have wings?! That is absurd!"
"It's true..." Blank muttered. "I don't really understand, but I know black mages, specifically adult black mages are extremely powerful. Maybe he used his magic to get them. I don't really know, but the mage then summoned the sealion and attacked me. I managed to kill them both, but then, I heard someone say that it was a black waltz, and that number two and three will... reclaim the princess..."
"What?!" Claire exclaimed. "How... how did they find me?!"
"I have no idea," Blank answered, though he wouldn't have been surprised if Steiner had something to do with it.
"They're obviously willing to use force," Blank said. "So I think we should be ready for anything... that's why I suggested the night watch..."
"Then we must keep that standing," Claire said. "Steiner, Vivi, let's rest now. Blank, you keep watch."
"Right," Blank nodded. The three went into the tent, and Blank lied down, and looked up at the night sky, and here, unlike at Lindblum, he could see all the stars perfectly. And it seems like at Lindblum you see less of the sky everyday, with all the lights and technology they have. But, Blank was glad, he could now see them.
"The sky is beautiful," Claire silently said behind him about half an hour after everyone, but Blank, went to bed.
"Yeah," Blank agreed.
"Blank... why are you being so... well, nice to me?" Claire asked.
"What do you mean?"
"I am supposed to be your prisoner, aren't I?"
"Well... I suppose... but I'm just not that mean. I think you all have your own rights and stuff, I just want to take you to where I need to, I don't want you, or Vivi and even Steiner, to get hurt or anything..."
"You are... very nice, Blank," Claire said as she sat down next to him. "I am confused, though. You help me so much. You thought of making me an alibi, so I would be safer instead of forcing me to stay in a room until we're ready to leave..."
"Well... I trust that you won't return to the castle," Blank told her. "I mean... I know you want to go to Lindblum..."
"I know, but still..." Claire muttered. "It just seems... strange that you would be so nice to me and be so helpful..."
"It's just my way..." Blank told her. Blank looked over at her and saw how beautiful, even more beautiful then normal, she was when the moon showed her face. Blank never would have thought she was so kind and not so stuck up, but Blank shook any possible thought of him being with her out of his head. After all, it was him who said, "She isn't even my type..." but then again, he didn't really know her back then...
There's chapter three! How do you like it?
And that was my ridiculously corny and pathetic romance part... and, sadly for me, I will probably have to make more...
And thanks to wonwingangel for Garnet's name!
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