Author's Note: This chapter is shorter than I expected, but it does get the story moving and adds a couple threads to the plot. If I'm lucky.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One, 'cause I hate repeating myself.
The Scroll Hunters
by Judanim
Chapter Two: "Ramifications"
Riana thanked whatever gods existed in the universe (Yevon in particular) as she stepped onto the cobblestone street of the First District of Traverse Town. Pegasus and Auron weren't too far behind her, and both seemed just as grateful to be back on solid ground and in a normal climate. There was a moogle pacing back and forth across the courtyard. It noticed the three and waved, then went back to its mindless pacing. Riana smiled. Yep, it was definitely good to be back in a world where predictability reigned.
"Guys! You're back!" a female voice called from the café on the left.
Riana looked up and noticed the speaker. It was Yuffie Kisaragi, a female ninja whom she had managed to make pretty good friends with. "Hey! Anything important happen while we were gone? You know, besides Leon getting broodier."
Yuffie giggled. "Not really. Cid's a little grumpier, but that's no surprise." She walked closer to the group. "I take it you were successful in finding a scroll?"
"Yep. I hope Cid's newfound grumpiness won't prevent him from giving us a good price for it," Riana replied. "We went through a lot of trouble to get it."
"Well, if there's anything that's going to prevent Cid from giving you a fair price on a scroll, it's not going to be his grumpiness," Yuffie laughed.
"More like someone else's…" Riana glanced at Auron and laughed.
"Very true." Yuffie threw an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Come on, I'll buy you a sandwich at the café while you tell me all about this little adventure of yours." She looked over to Auron. "Cid's in the shop now, Auron. You can go and negotiate if you'd like."
Auron muttered his thanks and headed towards the Accessory Shop while Yuffie and Riana went over to the café. The shop was empty when he opened the door, so he walked right up to the counter and put down the scroll.
Cid Highwind looked up with surprise. His alarm turned into a glare when he saw the caller. "Well, you found another one, eh? Can't say I'm surprised. Where'd you find this old piece of junk?"
"In a sand trap called Agrabah," Auron replied, cordially returning the glare. "And I don't think it's a piece of junk. Look at the writing. It's some sort of spell or curse. That has to be worth something."
The merchant and gummi expert opened up the scroll and stared at the writing on the fragile page. "Must be some kind of scroll hunter trick that you're trying to pull on me or something, 'cause I don't see anything but scribbles and chicken scratches. Four hundred, and that's my final offer."
"What?" Auron exclaimed. "There are useless accessories that are worth more than that! You're insane! It's at least a thousand, if not more."
"Four hundred, or it's free."
Auron groaned and stared at Cid. He stared right back. And thus the typical negotiation over the worth of a scroll began inside the Accessory Shop, as it had many times before.
Squall Leonhart, more commonly known as Leon, jumped over the stack of crates that blocked the shortcut from the Alleyway to the First District. He had just been training in the Secret Waterway, and he didn't really feel like taking the long way round to get to the café.
The Accessory Shop wasn't too far away, and Leon could hear shouts coming from inside. Frightened moogles were scampering out of the Item Workshop, while most everyone else seemed oblivious. "So, Auron and Riana are back. Great." He walked up to the shop and went inside, grinning a bit as he saw Cid and Auron in a heated argument.
Neither of the two men seemed to notice Leon's entrance. They continued arguing. Leon picked up the scroll from the counter and began reading it. He raised an eyebrow as some of the legible text made a good deal of sense. "Um, Cid, you might want to reconsider debating this one. If we lose it…" He didn't have to finish the sentence.
Cid sighed. He hated giving in, especially to scroll hunters. "Fine. What do you think it's worth, then?" He glanced at Auron.
"What's the man's asking price?"
Auron looked up, a smirk forming on his usually calm features. "One thousand."
Leon held up a finger, as if to say "one moment," while reading through more of the scroll. He held his palm towards the ceiling and indicated upwards.
"Two?" Cid yelled.
Another moment passed and Leon's hand went up again.
"Three?"
The hand went up again.
Auron's smirk turned into a confident grin. Finally, something was going right today.
"Four?" Cid looked desperate. "Please tell me it's not five!"
A couple longer moments went by. Suddenly, Leon's eyes widened, and his hand flashed twice, palm facing towards Cid.
The gummi ship expert was appalled. "Ten? Leon, are you out of your mind?"
Leon quickly rolled up the scroll and nodded. "I'd pay it myself, except I don't have that kind of munny." He looked at Auron. "Thanks for getting this. If Cid decides to stiff you, you have all of Traverse Town's permission to kill him."
Auron's grin widened a bit more. "Excellent." He looked expectantly at Cid.
Cid was at a loss for words. He had just gone from losing four hundred to ten thousand munny in less than ten minutes. Silently he pulled out the munny and handed it to Auron, who promptly pocketed it with a smug grin and walked out of the shop.
"I can't believe that just happened," Cid muttered, shaking his head and staring at the counter. This was definitely not his day.
I cannot believe that just happened! Auron walked down the steps in front of the shop, a triumphant grin spread across his face. This was definitely his day. Of course, there was the exception of the incident in the desert, but that could be forgiven for the price of ten thousand munny. He looked over the café and saw Riana having a sandwich with Yuffie. He decided to let her be for now. They all probably needed a break. So, he headed over to the Third District. If he were lucky, he'd run into a couple of Heartless. Actually, that was a certainty.
Riana laughed as Yuffie recalled a day of training in the Secret Waterway. She took another gulp of water, relishing the cold liquid as if she wouldn't have another drink of water for the next thousand years. Fighting magic-to-sword combat in the middle of a strange desert would do that to a person.
"So, what was the trip to Agrabah like?" Yuffie asked. "Any cute guys?"
"Just one, I'm afraid," Riana replied. "It was this guy we fought in the middle of the desert. He was cute, but seriously arrogant. I wanted to smack that sneer right off his face."
Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "Did you catch his name?"
"No. There wasn't any time to." Riana stared at her friend. "Why?"
"Well, what did he look like?" Yuffie asked, completely ignoring Riana's question.
The scroll hunter was mystified. What did any of this matter? "He was tall, blonde, and had a scar across his face." She thought for a second. "It was kind of like Squall's. In fact…he also carried a gunblade. It didn't occur to me then, but yeah, he had a gunblade. Nice little coincidence, huh?"
The ninja's eyes went wide. "That's no coincidence. On Hollow Bastion, there was only one other person with a scar and a gunblade: Seifer Almasy."
It was at this particular point in the conversation that Leon decided to walk up to the two. He sat down in an empty chair between them and glanced at Yuffie. "What about Seifer? What does have to do with anything?" He didn't appear happy to use the name.
"Apparently, we fought him in the desert," Riana replied. "He was after the scroll." She pointed to the object in Leon's hand. "He probably would've killed me if Auron hadn't come along. Why? Who is he?"
Leon grimaced. "Seifer is an old 'friend' of ours from Hollow Bastion. Actually, he was my rival and we hated each other. What he's up to now, I can't tell you."
Yuffie smirked. "He could be a scroll hunter, like Riana and Auron."
"No, I don't think Seifer would stand for that. If I wouldn't, then he certainly would want nothing to do with it," Leon replied grimly. "Judging by the contents of the scroll he wanted," he held up said item, "I'm guessing he's working for someone."
Riana rolled her eyes. "Great. Something tells me that if he wanted that scroll so bad, then whomever he's working for will want others like it. This is seriously counterproductive. Here we are trying to stop the Heartless from spreading, and there's something working against us, and it just so happens to be one of your old buddies. Beautiful."
"I thought you said you weren't on anyone's side?" Leon rested his chin on his fist, watching the scroll hunter thoughtfully.
"Well, since you seem to be more than happy to pay us for going out and helping you basically stop the spread of the Heartless, then I guess I'm on a side," Riana answered. "I just hope Auron does, too."
At this, Leon grinned. "I'm sure he will, considering he just got ten thousand munny for this little piece of work."
"What?" Yuffie screamed. "Ten thousand? I bet Cid was pissed!"
"Oh, you bet he was. But, I didn't want Auron to walk away or anything. Besides, it's probably worth it. This thing holds one of the secrets to the final Keyhole." Leon looked at Riana. "You don't seem surprised."
Riana was staring at the table, deep in thought. "I read part of the scroll on the gummi ship. It got me thinking…What if we're not in time to stop whoever it is that's trying to allow the Heartless to take over all the worlds? We have one of the secrets to the final Keyhole, yes, but will that be enough to stop them?"
"For now, it will be," Leon answered. "But that Keyblade better show up soon. Otherwise, we're toast."
"I heard that," Yuffie and Riana said in unison.
"You insolent fool!" Maleficent exclaimed. She hit Seifer with Dark Meteor, watching with some satisfaction as he went rolling to the floor. "How could you let them get away with the scroll?"
"The man blindsided me," Seifer gasped. Two strong spells had hit him in the same day, with very little healing in between. Not exactly his best record. "He snuck up on me. There was no way that I could've defended against his attack if I couldn't see him."
"I imagine you couldn't see him because you were too busy staring at the girl!" Maleficent was tempted to hit him with another Dark Meteor, but refrained. The pain was worse when it was a fresh sting. "You should've at least been able to get the scroll away from her. She was easy enough to eliminate!"
Seymour watched the scene with a sick grin. One couldn't call his type of evil being a result of a sordid past. He really was sadistic through and through.
Seifer, however, was not happy about it. "There was nothing I could do! She had powerful Guardian Forces at her beck and call! I can't fight that! Only someone with Eidolons, aeons, or summons just as strong could negate the attack." These last words were intentional. He saw the blue-haired man's expression, and it made him want to punch the guy. Of course, he was in no position to do that at the moment. So, he did the next best thing: cornered him.
The witch at first was angry, but the emotion lessened. Instead, a grin as sick as Seymour's formed on her face. "Fine. We will fight mage with mage."
Aerith Gainsborough walked up to the café. She had just come from the makeshift "Heartless Fighters" (which consisted of her, Yuffie, and Leon at the moment; Cid was more of their technical support guy than one of the actual fighters, but he could kick butt if he wanted to) headquarters at the Small House in the Third District, so she had business on her mind. She was glad to see Riana already sitting with Leon and Yuffie at a table.
"Hey," she said, pulling up a chair from another table.
The other three responded with their own greetings, Leon's being hardly an acknowledgement. Aerith didn't take it personally. She directed her attention to the scroll hunter. "So, did you manage to find anything in Agrabah?"
Riana indicated to the scroll sitting near Leon. "Yep. Thanks to a combined effort of Pegasus and Ifrit, anyway. You were right about the scroll not being inside the city. Instead, it was inside some sort of cave guarded by a big tiger head and at the bottom of a bottomless pit."
"Well at least you found it," Aerith said. "Anything else?"
Leon cleared his throat. "Seifer's working against us."
Aerith pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Great. That tells us who our true friends are." She leaned back in her seat. "Well, you might meet him again. There's another scroll to be found, this time in a place called Halloween Town."
"It's not another sand trap, is it?" Riana asked with a smirk. "'Cause I don't want to go through that mess again."
The quiet mage shook her head. "Agrabah will seem like paradise compared to this place. It's darker than even here; that's probably due to a lack of a warm, inviting atmosphere."
Yuffie looked thoughtful. "I don't know. Have you ever opened that door with the flame on it in the Third District? That place is pretty creepy."
"I thought it was kind of funny looking actually," Leon replied.
The ninja sent a glare Leon's way. He only laughed.
Riana shook her head and looked back at Aerith. "Well, I guess to Halloween Town it is. And if we do meet Seifer again, I hope you guys won't mind me not hesitating in calling both Bahamut and Eden on him."
"Go ahead," all three answered.
