Author's Note: A few things before I get on with the finale. About proof reading. Yes. I'm extremely guilty of not proof reading things I write. I generally enjoy writing, not reading what I've written, and rather selfishly, writing this story is really for my own enjoyment. Luckily I have reviewers who often point out the errors. Please continue to do so if you see them, because it gives me an opportunity to fix them.

Other things. Thefrogkiller mentioned he was never sure who the main character was supposed to be. Well, to be honest, there isn't supposed to be one. It's the story of four. Vivli appears quite often to be the main character, but that's because (to me at least) she's the most relatable. No, that doesn't mean I think everybody's a cowardly white mage, it means she's the inexperienced one who's almost new to the world. As the one who doesn't know what's going on, it makes her easier to relate to. At least, to me. Zinkata was the warrior in the final battle because he's the most 'serious' character and I thought it fitted him best. Voldos and Bootus are more comical.

The fiends, and questions about their size. They're supposed to be fairly big. Pretty much the size they were in Final Fantasy 9, but at times it sounds like they're smaller because of the sword battles. That's just my poor writing.

This chapter is short, and to be honest, crap. I've never been good at tying up a story, and this one came off poorly. I'm not sure what I can do to improve it, but I'll happily listen to suggestions. I've changed it once already now in an attempted improvement. I don't think it worked.

PART XXVIII

The outside of the Chateau was packed with people of all nations. Huge flags from every city were flying. The leaders of each stood before the crowd. The King of San d'Oria stepped forwards. He looked out over the crowd and took a deep breath.

"Today, we celebrate victory." The crowd cheered. "We have been victorious, we have destroyed the evil fiends and have saved our fair city. This was not without sacrifice. But let it be known, those that died, died for a reason. They died saving our world, so that we may live. Make no mistake, they were heroes." He looked out facing across the crowd, who split to form a path. "But if there are any heroes worthy of celebrating this day, they are the ones that live." Four people emerged, walking down the now formed path. One, a tall elvaan. One, a hume. One, a gigantic galka. One, a small mithra. They smiled as the crowd erupted in a cheer. "The Warriors of the Light, and the heroes of our age."

"Light Warriors!" Growled Voldos quietly.

"Shush." Vivli told him.

"These four risked their lives to save the world. And that they have done. Everything around you exists only because of their courage." As the four reached the King, he dropped to one knee. "From the bottom of my heart, Light Warriors, I thank you." One by one the leaders of Vana'diel dropped to their knees as a sign of respect in front of the heroes. The crowd fell also.

"I feel tall." Whispered Vivli.

"Well, you're not." Bootus shot. The entire city had dropped in respect before them.

"Are we meant to do something?" Voldos asked.

"I have no idea." Zinkata replied. They were all speaking in whispers to avoid being overheard. The crowd raised again, and erupted into cheering.

"I give you, the heroes of Vana'diel!" The King exclaimed. They roared even louder.

"If this doesn't help you pick up chicks, nothing will." Bootus whispered to Voldos. The four laughed as the crowd cheered, praising their efforts.

The victory celebrations filled the streets. After the pressure everybody had been under, and despite the damage to the city, people felt better off celebrating. The streets were lined with games, stalls and anything else fun enough to warrant being at the celebration. The four Light Warriors joined in. Huge banners displayed the date of the victory, a day forever to be remembered. Vivli looked up, and laughed.

"What?" Zinkata asked.

"Give me a present." She said, strangely.

"What? Why?" Zinkata replied in confusion. Vivli pointed up at the gigantic date displayed.

"It's my eighteenth birthday." She laughed. The other three also laughed.

"Wow. Talk about coincidence." Voldos remarked.

"You realise now every year your birthday is going to be overshadowed?" Bootus told her. "This is going to be a national event."

"Yeah, 'Victory Day', as they're calling it." Zinkata explained.

"I suggested 'Voldos Appreciation Day' but it didn't take." Voldos said. Vivli laughed.

"Well, come on then." Vivli told the others. "I want a present."
"You can have this teddy bear." Bootus said, holding out Vivli's bear.

"How do you keep getting that?" Vivli snapped., taking it off him.

"You're easy to rob." Bootus joked.

"Yeah, I found that out a long time ago." Zinkata laughed.

"Good thing it is too." Vivli said, folding her arms. "Or else none of this would have ever happened." They looked at the celebrating people in the streets. "I'd of never met any of you. Probably still be a little girl lost in Bastok." The three sniggered.

"It's funny to think, our journey's over." Zinkata reflected. "Every battle, every fight. The world is saved. Again."

"For good this time." Vivli smiled.

"Our quest isn't over." Voldos reminded them. "I still haven't got a girl."

"Well, if that's our quest, it'll never be over." Laughed Bootus.

"HEY!" Voldos cried, offended. "Mock me now, I bet I have hoards of screaming fan girls." As if on cue, a group of girls walked past, cheering. "See?"

"WE LOVE YOU BOOTUS!" They cried. Voldos's jaw dropped. Zinkata's jaw dropped. Vivli almost fainted.

"Hehehehe." Bootus giggled.

"How does he have fans?" Zinkata asked, baffled.

"Probably some galka fetish." Voldos said to try and excuse the lack of girls screaming his name.

"So what shall we do after this?" Zinkata asked.

"All buy me a present?" Vivli suggested.

"After that." Zinkata sighed.

"Go to Kazham?" Vivli suggested again. "I wouldn't mind spending some time with my parents still."

"Yeah, and there's no way those mithra could resist me." Voldos said proudly.

"There really is." Grumbled Vivli. "You don't have to come." She added. "But I'd like it if you did."

"Of course we will." Zinkata laughed.

"First, there's something else I need to do." Vivli said quietly.

It was some time after this that in the darkness of a cave outside Jeuno a tiny figure entered. She walked cautiously along, looking around in the gloom. She had the impression of somebody that was tense, but she continued anyway. Vivli couldn't believe it. After all they'd been through, she still wasn't over her fear of the dark.

"Fiorel?" She asked softly. A figure began to shimmer before her.

"I am glad you're back." The spirit said.

"Fiorel. What now?" She asked.

"Now I leave." Fiorel told her. "Chaos has been defeated once and for all. My purpose here is at an end."

"I guessed as much." The small mithra muttered. "I came to say goodbye."

"Goodbye, Vivli." Fiorel seemed to smile as he faded away.

"Goodbye, brother." Vivli said sadly before turning and leaving.

A small black airship settled down on the water outside Kazham. A ramp fell down and the four Light Warriors emerged. One looked very pale and very ill.

"I hate flying." Vivli said, shaking.

"Make a good impression for your people, Princess." Bootus mocked.

"I am." Vivli replied. "I'm teaching them not to fly." She laughed. The others remained silent.

"You're not funny." Bootus told her. She sighed. "Not a good example for a Princess."

"I've grown. I'm not going to get annoyed by you." Vivli said, crossing her arms.

"Lie all you want." Bootus smirked. "Princess."

"Shut up!" Vivli snapped.
"See?" Bootus laughed.

"Viv, you really need to stop getting annoyed by that." Zinkata advised.

"That? As in Bootus?" She repeated.

"You're a 'that' now." Voldos said to the galka with a laugh.

"I meant being called 'Princess'." Zinkata sighed. "A lot more people'll be doing it now."

"But it sounds so odd." Vivli whined. "Besides, when he says it, it's meant as an insult."

"What?" Bootus cried in mock offence. "I'm entirely serious!"

"Isn't it supposed to be every girl's dream to be a princess, anyway?" Voldos asked.

"Not when that girl hangs out with you guys." Vivli grumbled.

"So what do you want to do, now that you're here?" Zinkata decided to move the subject away.

"Go and spend some time with my family." Vivli replied. "You guys go and do whatever you usually do."

"But I usually insult you." Bootus pointed out.

"That you do." She grumbled. "I guess I'll see you guys later." She paused. "I, urm, don't know the next time I'll go adventuring with you though. I mean, this is my family. I was never an adventurer. This is where I belong."

"We understand Viv." Zinkata said. "Everybody needs a family at some point."

"Come on." Voldos gestured, "Let's at least walk her there."

The four walked to the hut in which Vivli's family lived. They stood outside. Vivli turned around to say her final goodbyes.

"Urm. Thanks. I guess. For everything." She said.
"Don't go getting all mushy. You'll make Bootus cry." Zinkata told her. She laughed.

"See you around, Li." Voldos smiled to her.

"Bye, Princess." Bootus taunted. Vivli had tears forming in her eyes. She turned to the door, and paused. She reached for the handle. Her mind began to race with every thought. Every memory. She had been through so much, longing for a place to belong ever since she left the Monastery. But at some point that feeling had gone away. She realised the truth. She had found that place. And it wasn't Kazham. It wasn't with a bunch of hunters. It was with them. She quickly pulled her hand back.

"On second thoughts," She began, "I already have a family. Right here." She turned around. "I have everything, right here."

"Aw damn, thought we'd gotten rid of her then." Bootus grumbled.

"I'm not going anywhere." Vivli smiled. "We're a four. We're a party. We're a family." Zinkata and Voldos both smiled. Bootus sighed, and decided to say it anyway. The four spoke at once.

"We're the Light Warriors."

Ending Notes:

Right, firstly, thanks again to everybody who read and reviewed. I really appreciate it. If you haven't reviewed but read this far, I'd love to hear what you think, and it only takes a few minutes, so please do so. I'll happily listen to any criticism as well as compliments, so feel free to generally moan and complain at me.

And again, a big thank you to Thefrogkiller, who's been so dedicated he's reviewed every chapter and read every single one daily. Thank you!

Now, I am going to write the FFXI Chronicles 3, I've pretty much got some ideas I want to start on so that should at least begin very soon. A few things about that. Firstly, there will be a fifth character joining the Light Warriors as we have a new friend who joined us on FFXI. Secondly, I'm planning to make it more character related, rather than 'oh no! We have to save the world again!'. I say 'planning', I can't guarantee it'll stay that way. I have back stories for both Voldos and Zinkata to explore, and a new character arc for Vivli. Bootus I have nothing for yet, but I'm tempted to just leave him as the ever present obnoxious galka because it's funny. I have a faint idea for an evil villain and big 'save the world' plot, but if I can avoid it, I will, because saving the world gets tiring by a third story. Also, it's a bit of a stretch. (Yet another old Squaresoft villain).

This time around, there were a lot more characters as well. So here I ask for a favour. I exist in a linkshell of five. The five Light Warriors, as it were, with our new addition. I'm not really good friends with anybody else on FFXI, which means characters I can use are limited. Thefrogkiller leant me his, which was useful, but the rest I've made up. Dedji, Arcane, Cruth, Olose, Fiorel, Signot, even Crazy Steve (although he does have a history). This means if you have a character you wouldn't mind seeing in a story, I could seriously use them. After all, this is FFXI, so it would be nice to have real people in it instead of made up ones. If you have a character you'd like to see, please tell me (e-mail, review, I don't care how) their stats, and how you would want them to act (if you have a preference, if not I can just use the name, race and job). I know Thefrogkiller tried this once, and didn't get a very positive response, but I'm trying it just to avoid making up names. If you can, that's great. If you'd rather not, don't worry. If I do use your character, I can't quite guarantee how, or whether it'll be a big part or a small part, but I do know I usually need more characters than I have.

Speaking of characters, inspired by Akkiko's work on Omoide Raivu Matsudai I have a character page I'll upload as the next chapter after this one.

Finally comes the idea of what else to do. I like writing these stories obviously, and I really like the characters. This means I have lots of spin off stories I could tell as a side project while writing FFXI Chronicles 3. These would update less, but I could try them anyway. I had a few ideas, such as a spin off about Olose, a prequel explaining just how Vivli ever got to Bastok (I mean, how did she manage the journey from Windurst to Bastok when she's as inexperienced as she is?), doing a few journal entries of the heroes from the original stories and a comedy (with an insane crossover) explaining just why my lore doesn't match FFXI's. Again, if there's any spin off stories you'd like to see, feel free to tell me and I'll try and write them. I'm probably over-estimating response since I think I only have about four or five readers, but I'm really appreciative of who reads this so want to do everything I can in return.

I also have a few FFXI Chronicles 'extras' I can put up. These include the original chapter of the FFXI Chroncles 1 when I tried to make it a fully blown comedy for the competition because I thought comedy writing may have a better chance of winning (basically a few more jokes and funny moments); a very strange crossover I did with the last story I wrote before the FFXI Chronicles, which was a comedy story about a teenager turned superhero told through first person, in which he ended up in Vana'diel, and time travelling and fighting for the fate of the universe occurred, won't make much sense without having read the original story, but I could stick it up anyway; and I have Zinkata's original entry for the competition when me, him and Bootus took part. Zinkata dropped out due to lack of time. I can't upload that anyway without asking him to make sure he doesn't mind, but these are things that I might end up putting up if anybody cares about seeing them. They're pretty crazy, so I can't see why you would, but the offers there.

Anyway, thanks a million for reading this far! I really appreciate it, and I hope you've enjoyed the story.