Author's Note: This one isn't lengthy. Look in the reviews. Somebody left one saying 'diddums'. That is in fact Bootus. He hasn't read the story, but wanted to annoy me.

Very little of this story is based on fact, but Bootus is worryingly like his real life counterpart and there's the proof.

PART XIV

The evacuation of San D'Oria was fast and smooth. It wasn't the Light Warriors that took the front during the battle, but Andrew and Celphie, who used rifles to keep the troops back. Zinkata and Voldos, armed with swords, dispatched any troops that got near, at least long enough for the civilians to make the airship. The rest of the adventurers beat back the skeletal troops, and soon the heroes leapt onto the Raven ready for departure.

"I hope she holds together!" Olose called. "She wasn't designed for transporting a lot of people!" The Raven began to lift into the air, before being caught in a swirling green energy. Lich stood proudly, holding the ship in position.

"You are going nowhere." He stated smugly. Olose turned to the heroes.

"Can either of you fly this thing?" He asked.
"We had some experience." Zinkata nodded.

"Sure, we crashed the airship we tried to fly into the ocean, but it's experience all the same." Voldos added. In actual fact, they had surrendered control before it crashed, but Voldos didn't feel it important to emphasise this point.

"Good. Get the civilians out of here." Olose began to transform. "I'll distract Lich."

"Olose! No!" Zinkata screamed as Olose, now in werewolf form, flung himself off the airship into the streets below.

The creature instantly leapt at Lich, knocking him back. Lich rose, blasting Olose with electricity. Olose shook himself, and once again charged Lich. The two locked in combat as Lich pushed the gigantic werewolf away.

"You." Lich stated. "You are a creature of darkness."

"I am a creature of my own design." Olose countered.

"You are a creature of the night. You are a creature of evil. Through your blood runs a curse. A curse of evil. The power within is great, but only true evil can access it." Lich began to taunt. "You cannot defeat me without that power."

"And with it I'd only serve you." Olose spat in a roar. "I'm not stupid."

"Oh. If that won't work, I'll have to kill you." Lich once again summoned his silver arrows, and sent them tearing through Olose's body.

Even on board the Raven they heard his screams.

"NO!" Zinkata screamed, struggling with the controls.

"He's dead." Voldos sounded awe struck. "Six hundred years he's lived, and now he's dead." His voice was a perfectly even pace of complete and total shock. Andrew leant into the cabin.

"Come on, we're not out of this yet." He cried with a gesture. Voldos ran out on deck to hear a screech.

"Lich isn't going to let us go." Celphie explained, reading her gun. The elvaan looked out to see two dragons made of bone flying towards them.

"I hate dragons." Groaned Voldos. "I usually don't mind dead dragons, but for these I'm going to have to make an exception."

"Any ideas?" Asked Celphie.

"The cannons." Voldos guessed.

"Cannons?" Andrew asked. "Cannons are going to be far too slow to hit that."

"The cannons are fully moveable according to Cid." Voldos pointed out. "With any luck, we can aim them and take out the dragons."

"This is suicide." Grumbled Andrew.

"Right!" Voldos began to take charge. "I'll take the right cannon, Andrew you take the left. Celphie, fire with the rifle."

"Complete and total suicide." Andrew grumbled.

"Heads up!" Celphie warned. "Here they come!"

The dragons soared in over the top of the Raven. Celphie shot at them, but there was no result. Whether she missed or the bullets just had no effect she couldn't tell.

"You two!" Voldos picked on two random adventurers. "You reload!" He fired the cannon, and the cannon ball shot out in the air, completely missing anything. "Ah, next time, aim up." He said to himself. One of the dragons touched down on the front of the ship. The civilians ran back, the few that were still on deck scrambling into the hold. A few adventurers rushed the dragon with weapons, being flung aside quite easily. Despite this, the rush was enough to force the dragon away. The second flew in behind. Andrew fired his cannon, and the dragon flew higher, meaning the cannon ball completely missed.

"This isn't going to work!" Andrew yelled.

"Have faith!" Voldos told him. One of the dragons flew in, ramming into the Raven hard. The airship faltered, spinning in a flat spin. Zinkata fought with the wheel, managing to steady it due to the incredible power of the stabilising rotor blades Cid had installed.

"We're in trouble." Andrew said, looking over the edge to see one of these rotor blades had stopped spinning.

"Don't worry!" Zinkata cried. "She'll hold together!" The airship creaked awkwardly. "I hope!"

"Reassuring." Growled Voldos as he fired again. Once more he missed. "Damn, this is difficult."

"Beginning to doubt your plan?" Andrew asked with a stressed laugh.

"My plan is undoubtable!" Voldos cried, completely ignorant to the fact he had just made up a word. Another dragon soared in to land on deck. Andrew fired his cannon just as it was about to land, blasting it away. The bones shattered, causing it to fall from the air.

"YEEHAH!" Andrew screamed, and the crowd cried.

"One down, one to go!" Voldos announced.

"Wow. You can count!" Andrew cried to Voldos.

"Yeah, took a while, but I mastered it." Voldos replied sarcastically. The dragon swooped in again, and Celphie blasted at it.

"This rifle is useless against it!" She yelled as it swept down and flew upwards, ramming into the Raven from underneath. The airship rocketed upwards, knocking the crew to the floor. It shook with the force of ripping through the sky, during which the cannon Voldos was by ripped out of its place and fell.

"Uh oh!" Voldos cried as the ship shook.

By complete luck, the cannon fell intothe dragon, smashing it into tiny fragments of bone.

"HAHA!" Voldos laughed triumphantly. "That counts as my kill!" The airship shuddered as it stopped moving upwards, and it began to fell. "Urrrr, Zin? ZIN?" The elvaan screamed. "FLY! FLY UPWARDS!" The Raven plummeted towards the ground. The engines had stopped.

"It's not working!" Zinkata screamed.

"This is it!" Voldos whinced. "We're going to die!"

Vivli woke up in bed with a sneeze. She sniffed, and shivered slightly. She had no idea where she was, but didn't feel well. She felt like she had a cold.

"Stupid Bootus." She grumbled. She sneezed again. She wasn't feeling well, but at times like the ones they were in now, this was of very little concern. She looked around her room, slipping into her top and trousers, but not seeing her robe anywhere. She stopped, puzzled, before sneezing again. There was a knock on the door. "Urm. Yes?" She said, a little uncertain. Dedji opened the door.

"Oh, good. You'rrrrre awake." The taller mithra smiled.

"I think so." Vivli replied with a slight sarcastic tone. Then she sneezed again, ruining it.

"I washed yourrrrrrrr rrrrrrobe forrrrr you." Dedji threw it to her. Vivli failed to catch it, and it dropped on the floor.

"Aren't you a warrior? What do you know about washing things?" Vivli asked, picking it up and slipping into it.

"Not much. I figurrrrrred I put it in waterrrrr and soap." Dedji answered. "I only did it because I thought you'd apprrrrreciate it."

"I do. Thanks." Vivli said with a smile. Bootus stuck his head through the door.

"What is wrong with you two?" He asked. "You're sisters! Siblings! You're supposed to argue all the time, but secretly love each other anyway."

"I argue enough with you." Vivli told Bootus.

"Does that mean you secrrrrretly love him?" Dedji asked, bursting into laughter. Vivli hit Dedji playfully across the head.

"Don't even suggest that!" She cried. "That's the most horrific thing in the world!"

"That's more like it!" Bootus laughed. "Wait. I'm insulted!" He suddenly added as he figured out Vivli's complete detest of the suggestion.

It had been revealed they were staying at an inn in Jeuno, having carried Vivli back from Quifim. The three had gathered around to grab some food before deciding their next course of action. Dedji was chewing on some strange kind of fish on a stick.

"This stuff is great!" She told Vivli. "Trrrry some!"

"Urm. I'll stick to things I know, thanks." Vivli had a plate of noodles in front of her, and was eating them happily.

"This is imporrrrrted from Kazham! Made for mithrrrrra!" Dedji explained. "Come on, how can you not like it." Vivli sighed, turning to Bootus.

"You got in contact with the others yet?" She asked.

"Strange that, actually." Bootus told her. "Been trying all morning. I get no response." Vivli stopped eating.

"That doesn't sound good." She gulped.

"I'm sure they're fine." Bootus said in his most comforting tone of voice (which wasn't very comforting). "They're always fine."

"So what do we do?" Dedji asked.

"Head to Mhaura." Bootus decided. "We'll wait there for the return of the others."

"And if they don't rrrrreturrrrn?" Vivli was thinking it, but didn't have the guts to say it.

"They'll return." Bootus said confidently. "Let's just hope they destroyed the earth crystal or all of this may have been for nothing."

"They couldn't have." Vivli grumbled. "Not alone."

"We'rrrre still no closerrrr to winning this warrrr." Dedji pointed out. "Our plans so farrrr have been fool harrrdy. Charrrge in, beat that, steal this, it isn't going to worrrrk forrrrever."

"Well, excuuuuuuuuuse me if our plans aren't up to your high standards, Princess." Bootus taunted. "Besides, it usually works."

"I get the feeling Chaos was verrrrry incompetent." Dedji grumbled. "If you guys beat him."

"Hey! Chaos was incredibly tough!" Bootus protested.

"Yeah, and who's the one who finished him off?" Vivli asked proudly.

"Voldos." Bootus put in. Vivli paused.

"I meant who cast the final spell!" She cried.

"You're our only mage! Of course you cast the final spell!" Bootus was beaming a smile as Vivli got angrier and angrier.

"But I actually cast Ultima! I really hurt him! I pretty much killed him!" She was clearly upset that Bootus wouldn't acknowledge this, and Bootus was clearly proud to be annoying her by not acknowledging it. "I hate you sometimes!"

"Diddums." Bootus said irritatingly.

"That word doesn't even make sense!" Vivli screamed.

"Diddums again." Bootus repeated. Vivli screamed. Bootus smiled.

"Well," Dedji began, attempting to get some order back between the three, as well as get them back on topic. "As long as the others managed to find something out about the earrrrrth crystal and whetherrrrr it exists or not, we should be able to plan our next step as soon as they're back."

Voldos looked up from amongst the junk in the hold of the Raven.

"I feel we forgot to do something." He said, rubbing his head.

"Forgot what?" Andrew asked. He was somehow upside down, and inside the hold. The last he remembered he had been on deck.

"We were meant to be looking to see if Lich had rebuilt the old earth crystal. It was Olose's new theory on his plan. " Voldos answered. "In the battle and excitement we must have forgotten." The airship shuddered, throwing everybody across the hold. Celphie landed on top of Voldos. "Please. Stay there forever." The elvaan groaned. Celphie pushed off of him.

"Zinkata!" She yelled, climbing onto the deck. "Can't you keep this thing steady?"

"Hey! I managed to stop it hitting the ground!" The warrior cried back. "What more do you want?"

"How did you do that anyway?" Celphie asked.

"Just flicked all these levers around here until the engines started again." Zinkata pointed to the levers. "I don't actually know what they do."

"I feel like I'm in such safe hands." Celphie muttered despairingly.

"Not as safe as you'd be in my hands, baby." Voldos said, coming up from the hold. Celphie turned around and kicked him again. He screamed.

"Stop messing around and get up!" Zinkata ordered Voldos.

"In so much pain." Voldos groaned.

"Use the linkshell to contact Bootus and Viv. See what they're up to." Zinkata told him. Voldos searched his pocket.

"Must have fallen out. Not there anymore." Voldos answered.

"Hm. Mine's fallen out as well." Zinkata said. "Look around the ship. They must be somewhere."

"Black pearls in a black ship." Voldos grumbled. "Clever."

"Look for shape, not colour, moron." Zinkata told him wearingly.

Vivli, Dedji and Bootus rode across the deserts near Windurst on chocobos.

"I hate-" Vivli began.

"-chocobos." Bootus finished for her. "We know. You say it all the time."

"Well nobody else was saying anything." Vivli grumbled in protest.

"Yeah, it was nice, wasn't it?" Bootus said happily.

"Shut up." Vivli grumbled. Mhaura was falling into view. "You see anything on the horizon?" She suddenly asked, looking up at the sky.

"Looks like a bird or something." Bootus answered with a shrug.

"Too big to be a birrrrrd." Dedji observed. "Looks like an airrrrship, but limping oddly."

"It's the Raven!" Vivli gasped. "And it's crashing!"

"It's out over the sea still." Bootus observed. "That should give them a soft landing."

"Let's get overrrr therrrrrre!" Dedji decided, and shot off on her chocobo. The other two followed.

"Zin?" Voldos called. "ZIN?" Zinkata stuck his head out from the cabin.

"Yes?" He inquired.

"You are aware we're quite rapidly losing height right?" Voldos checked.

"Engines are dieing." Andrew observed.

"Okay, I'll try to put us down in the water." Zinkata shouted to everybody on board. "We should be able to float at least."

"Do you know how to land this thing?" Celphie sounded worried.

"Urm. No." Zinkata answered. "But I figure if it keeps going down it'll hit the water eventually."

"We are all going to die." Voldos found himself saying.

Bootus was slightly surprised at the size of the splash.

"Are they alright?" Vivli quickly asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Bootus shot back.

"Stupid to ask." Vivli grumbled. "I know you don't know anything."

"I can see it." Dedji stated, looking at the floating black ship. "Looks like it can't get in to porrrrt though."

"It's designed to fly, not go on water, that's why." Bootus explained.

"Yes. I figured." Dedji muttered.

Luckily the people in Mhaura dispatched a ship to bring in the Raven meaning soon the adventurers reassembled in the small port town.

"You're alive!" Vivli cried happily as she saw them. "For a moment, we were worried."

"We had it under control." Voldos answered with a cocky grin. She watched as the still shirtless Andrew and Celphie walked out. Celphie scowled at Voldos.

"Yes. I can see that." The tiny mithra said, looking at the strange company. She turned away, slightly embarrassed from Andrew. "Urm. Where's Olose?" There was an awkward pause. Vivli's eyes went wide. "No. No! Tell me! He has to be somewhere, right?" She sounded almost hysterical.

"I'm sorry Viv. He distracted Lich. Let the rest of us get away. We couldn't stop him." Zinkata paused. "He saved everybody here, you know? Every last citizen of San D'Oria survived because of Olose Sampson." Vivli had broke down into tears, and didn't hear anything else. Zinkata held her in his arms to comfort her. Dedji and even Bootus looked a little shaken by hearing that Olose was dead.

"Did you find out about the earth crystal?" Bootus asked, trying to get off the subject before he showed any emotion.

"Not a thing. Lich engaged us in combat before we could." Zinkata paused. "We confirmed he's trying to resurrect the other fiends though."

"We know." Bootus told him. "We retrieved one of the orbs. Now he can never complete his plot." Bootus held up the orb.

"If we don't stop him, the land will rot anyway." Voldos pointed out. "At least if this earth crystal theory is right."

"Not to mention the fact he's already taken San D'Oria and by now Seblina, it won't be long before he launches an attack on Bastok." Zinkata said, still with his arm around the sobbing Vivli. "What did you find out?"

"We found Fiorel." Vivli sniffed, breaking away and trying to calm down.

"Fiorel?" Zinkata cried in disbelief.

"His spirit." Bootus filled in. Vivli was too distraught to speak properly. "Turns out he's been watching events."

"Then why don't we go back?" Zinkata suggested. "He could help us. We have the orb. He can suggest what we do next."

"Sounds like our best shot." Voldos admitted.

"Then let's go." Dedji said, before looking to her sister with concern. "Vivli? Are you going to be okay?" She asked.

"I'll have to be." Vivli wept, before taking a final gulp and wiping her tears away. "For Olose's sake. Lich will pay. I swear."

"Then we go back to Fiorel." Zinkata announced. "I doubt Lich will cross the ocean before striking Bastok, so at least the civilians should be safe here."

"What about us?" Andrew asked, having been fairly left out of the conversation.

"You two are excellent rebel leaders." Zinkata said to the two siblings. "You should stay here and organise the defences."

"Stay here?" Andrew sounded a little surprised.

"It's too risky to gamble." Zinkata explained. "We have to keep this place safe, and you two are best for the job."

"Makes sense." Celphie grumbled.

"I guess." Added Andrew. "Fine. We'll turn Mhaura into a fortress. Lich isn't going to get in here!"

"We'll get going then." Zinkata turned to leave.

"Oh, one last thing." Andrew said. "Good luck!"