PART X
Vivli awoke with a groan. Her head hurt. A lot. Her throat felt as if it was made of ash. She tried to move, but apparently while her mind was awake, her body was still asleep. She whined in pain, managing to roll over on her bed. She blinked, looking around. Everything seemed to be fuzzy, and she struggled to firmly focus on any one thing. What did I get up to last night? she thought painfully.
After quite some time, she managed to sit up, and look around her room. Her eyes seemed to take a while to catch up with her movement. It was all very fuzzy. She seemed to recall vomiting on the floor quite badly. One of her arms had quite a large bruise on it. She rubbed it slightly to discover it hurt. She noticed Zinkata was sat looking at her. She jumped in surprise.
"Glad to see your finally awake." He commented. "That must be one helluva hangover." She groaned again.
"What happened?" She asked painfully, her own voice pounding her head.
"You, urm, got rather drunk." Zinkata explained. Vivli let out another groan.
"That doesn't sound like me." She winced as she spoke from the pain of the hangover.
"I think something was bothering you." Zinkata told her. "You got into quite a few arguments with Lucia."
"Who?" Vivli asked, and slowly the memories came flooding back to her. She remembered meeting her, the arguments, being upset. She remembered ordering a drink out of depression. Vivli sighed. She was lightly built, small and so an incredible lightweight when it came to drinking. This meant one drink could give her a hangover, and judging by how Zinkata was talking, she had a lot more than one drink. "What did I do?" She groaned.
"Well, you tried to start a fight with Lucia at one point." Zinkata told her. "She just held you back. Looks like she bruised your arm." Vivli had a vivid image of hitting Lucia as hard as she could, and not being able to hurt her. Then she remembered Lucia hurling her onto the floor by her arm. She remembered how much the grip hurt. "You cried a lot as well." Vivli suddenly went very red as she remembered why she had been so depressed. She started praying she hadn't done anything too stupid, that Zinkata hadn't found anything out. "I have no idea what had upset you quite so much." Zinkata told her, and she let out an audible sigh of relief.
This time however, Zinkata was lying. He was perfectly aware of what had upset Vivli, but had taken it in the wrong way. Lucia had made many unpleasant comments to her, and furthered these greatly during the rest of the evening, calling the little mithra 'weak', 'pathetic' and 'useless'. He had figured out that Vivli was clearly upset about these comments. What he was still unaware of was just why she had been so upset. She saw it as reasons Zinkata would never like her.
"So why are you here?" Vivli asked softly, fumbling around for a hairbrush.
"I carried you home." Zinkata answered. "Thought I'd better stay with you. I'm used to sleeping on the floor anyway." Vivli stopped, touched deeply by the fact that Zinkata had thought of her in that way. "Anyway, today's the day of the festival. I'm going to go find the others." Her heart sank. He didn't want to spend any time with her. "You are alright to be on your own now, right?" Zinkata checked. Vivli was tempted to lie and say no just so she could spend more time with Zinkata, but nodded instead. Her morals rarely let her lie. "Okay. Come catch us up when you feel like it." Vivli slumped back down on the bed, burying her face in her pillow.
"Okay." She let out in a muffled voice. Zinkata smirked and walked out of the small room.
Illuga was slumped against a wall, and let out a yawn.
"So what do we do today?" He asked Bootus, who was stood with him (and Voldos), waiting for Zinkata.
"I was planning on entering the sparring competition." Boouts suggested. "Could be fun." He smiled. "But you wussy mages wouldn't do something like that." Illuga crossed his arms angrily.
"I could make you explode with a simple spell!" He cried.
"Keep telling yourself that." Bootus grumbled. Zinkata wondered over. "There's a strange absence of whining." Bootus observed. "Vivli not coming?"
"She's hung over." Zinkata explained.
"Pfft, lightweight." Bootus laughed.
"It's Vivli." Zinkata stated, as if it was an explanation. He began to take in his surroundings, only just noticing the festival going on around him. A huge banner displaying 'Thank You Adventurers!' was being flown across the streets, and hundreds of people were gathered. "Wow." He remarked in awe.
"It is about time we adventurers got some appreciation!" Illuga remarked. "So many people hate us for just being freelancers. This should help set the record straight and actually give them a chance to thank us for all we do."
"You mean have some fun." Voldos smiled. "They have an archery competition later." He smirked. "When I win, the girls will just fall into my lap!"
"A little optimistic aren't you?" Illuga asked.
"Hey! I'm good at what I do!" Voldos cried.
"Sure you are." Illuga laughed.
"Shall we go get some food?" Bootus asked. "Festival food is always the best."
"Yeah, I am pretty hungry actually." Zinkata told the others. "Let's go."
Some time later, Vivli rushed through the busy streets. She was finally back in a comfortable robe, and looking for the others. She was feeling much better due to a combination of rest and some very useful white magic. She was actually surprised to discover she was perfectly fine with being alone. Ever since she had saved the others, she had felt infinitely better. Unfortunately, she had underestimated how busy the streets would be and couldn't see her friends anywhere. In all of her life, she had never seen the streets of Windurst so full. She dodged elvaans, humes and galkas desperately trying to avoid being knocked over. Ironically, it was a tarutaru rushing by her legs that eventually caused her to fall. She stumbled, and hit the ground, luckily stopping her fall with her hands. She looked around at the multiple people passing her. Somebody stopped behind her.
"Aw, the little baby get knocked down?" Lucia taunted. Vivli folded her arms on the ground angrily.
"I'm small, alright!" She cried. Lucia bent down and lifted her up. Vivli felt her entire body leave the ground and be placed back down. She was a little stunned at how effortlessly Lucia had lifted her up.
"You look a little lost." Lucia commented.
"I was looking for Zink-" She paused. "Urm, my friends." Vivli paused again, this time much more awkwardly. "Lucia, I'm really sorry about last night." She finally said. "I wasn't exactly very nice. Or so I hear."
"It's okay." Laughed Lucia. "You were drunk."
"Very." Vivli mumbled.
"Besides, it gave me an opportunity to remind you just how weak you are." Lucia taunted.
"Shame I can't remember." Vivli said bitterly.
"I can always remind you." Lucia challenged. "My offer for sparring is still open." Vivli tensed up.
"Come on! That's not fair!" Vivli cried. "I'm only little, and a mage. I don't stand a chance."
"Exactly." Lucia folded her arms in triumph. Vivli groaned in frustration.
"If the sparring matches allowed spells." She suddenly found herself saying. "Maybe I'd reconsider."
"Your magic?" Lucia laughed. "You're a healer."
"I know white magic. White magic can be offensive as well!" Vivli surprised herself, actually matching Lucia's challenge.
"You know, I might just accept." Lucia growled at Vivli.
"Don't." Zinkata advised. The two women spun around to see the rest of the Light Warriors assembling. "Vivli's just upset. She'd never fight normally." Vivli looked at Zinkata, and sighed.
"He's right." She admitted. "I was just a bit hurt by what you said."
"Truth hurts, huh?" Lucia taunted.
"Stop being so mean to me!" Vivli whined. Voldos looked on in awe.
"What's wrong with you?" Bootus asked.
"Zinkata has the greatest thing in the world and doesn't even appreciate it." Voldos commented.
"What does he have?" Illuga questioned in confusion.
"Two women fighting over him." Voldos answered with a smirk. Bootus laughed, and Illuga smirked. Vivli walked over to them, sulking.
"It's not fair." She grumbled.
"Hey, everything Lucia says is true." Bootus pointed out. "If that bothers you, then it's your own fault."
"I didn't choose to be born smaller than everybody else, less well built than everybody else and weaker!" She cried.
"You're a mage." Bootus sighed. "You could always change your job if you'd prefer."
"No! I love being a white mage!" Vivli quickly cried.
"Then stop complaining." Bootus told her. Something felt odd to Vivli about taking advice from the galka.
"So where are you all heading?" Lucia asked.
"I'm going to go check out these sparring contests." Bootus decided.
"I'm going to go win some chicks with my awesome archery skills." Voldos smiled.
"I'll go see just what the black mages around here are up to." Illuga commented.
"I was going to go and check out the information they had on white magic." Vivli softly said. "But I didn't really want to go on my own."
"I'll go with ya, Viv." Zinkata told her. Vivli beamed a smile.
"Hey, Zin." Lucia said. "I was going to go check out the dark knight stuff they have here. Could show you. You might learn something." Zinkata laughed nervously.
"No thanks, Lucia, I don't want to be a dark knight." He paused. "Besides, Vivli wants me to go with her."
"Aw, the little girl need somebody to hold her hand so she doesn't get lost?" Lucia said in a patronising voice.
"Shut up!" Vivli snapped, completely unable to think of a good comeback.
"Well, come on then, Viv." Zinkata sighed. "I have no desire to stand around and listen to you two argue." Vivli nodded and walked off with Zinkata, shooting a triumphant glance at Lucia.
The two wondered down the busy street of Windurst.
"Viv, do you really want to see white mages casting spells you know anyway?" Zinkata asked sceptically.
"I just wanted to get away from Lucia." Vivli said with a laugh. Zinkata smiled.
"You must be starving." He pointed out.
"I haven't eaten in a while." She confessed, with a rumble of her stomach.
"Come on, we'll go grab something to eat." Zinkata paused. "I'll pay. My treat." Vivli couldn't repress a smile. Of course, Zinkata had already eaten, but he wasn't going to point that out.
"Ha ha!" Voldos cried in triumph as his arrow thudded into the bullseye mark.
"Fancy shooting." Came a female voice. "For a warrior." Voldos turned around to see a fairly tall blonde hume. She looked in her twenties and was fairly attractive, so instantly got Voldos's attention.
"You think you can do better?" He said playfully.
"There's no thinking about it." She countered, firing an arrow casually. It thudded into the bullseye, next to Voldos's own arrow. The elvaan tried to repress his surprised expression. "My name's Emilen. And you are?" Voldos did an overly fancy bow.
"I am Lord Voldos, Light Warrior and defender of Vana'diel." Emilen couldn't repress a laugh.
"Voldos?" She smiled. "Then-"
"Yes, I am an amazingly great Light Warrior." He beamed.
"Then you know Zinkata?" She asked. Voldos angrily folded his arms.
"Why does this always happen to me." He grumbled.
"No, no." She laughed. "It's nothing personal. There's just something I desperately need to ask Zinkata."
"You know him?" Voldos questioned.
"No. Never met him." Emilen explained. "But when I heard about him, you guys, when you saved the world, I knew I had to find him."
"How come?" Voldos asked.
"It's a long story." She confessed. "You've heard of Tavnazia, right?"
"Yeah, the old city that was crushed by the beastmen." Voldos nodded.
"I was-" She paused, as if recalling a painful memory. "I was there." She gulped, knowing she'd have to tell the whole story now.
Two children ran through the tunnels of Tavnazia, orcs in pursuit. They bolted down a side passageway, and came to a solid wall, a small hole at the top. The girl quickly realised what had to happen.
"Oldo, Oldo, listen. You've got to climb." Emilen said to her brother. She bent down, giving her brother a boost up to the hole. Oldo paused, looking out into the world beyond.
"Urr, sis?" Oldo muttered, prompting Emilen's next panicky request.
"Can you lower yourself down?" She quickly asked, glancing around to see if the beastmen were approaching.
"I think so." Oldo managed to say. He disappeared from Emilen's sight. She prepared to climb up herself when an orcish axe flew through the air, embedding itself in the rock beside her. She turned in horror to see multiple orcs closing in on her.
"Sis? Are you alright?" Oldo cried from outside.
"Aldo, just run!" Emilen cried in panic, turning around, banging on the stone.
"No! Emilen!" She heard Oldo cry from outside. Emilen jumped for the hole, but an orc reached and flung her back. She hit the ground hard. The orc turned to her. She shut her eyes. Death was now inevitable.
She heard a thud, and opened her eyes. The orc was dead. Another closed in, and somebody slashed it with a powerful looking sword. Another of the beastmen lunged for the hole, its powerful hands trying to find a way through to Oldo. Emilen watched in panic. The figure drove his sword through the back of the orc, and it fell away, dieing. The other orcs turned to retreat. The figure dropped to his knees. He was bleeding heavily, covered in many stab wounds. He wore the cracked and beaten armour of a paladin.
"Are you alright?" She quickly asked.
"Go." He gurgled in pain. "Get out of here." He motioned to the hole.
"I'm not going to leave you to die!" Emilen announced.
"Your brother needs you more than I." The paladin managed to say.
"I'm not leaving you!" Emilen snapped. She struggled to help the paladin to his feet, and the two journeyed through the tunnels.
Soon they made the outside. They found a small cave to hide in. The paladin collapsed. He had clearly used the last of his energy saving Emilen.
"Thank you." He muttered. "But I feel your efforts were wasted. I am not going to last in this world for much longer."
"Don't say that!" Emilen quickly cried to the fallen warrior. "You'll be fine." The paladin forced a smile. He was already missing an eye, Emilen could see, but that was not a fresh scar. He had a rough beard and short hair, and was now breathing very heavily.
"I am sorry I cannot protect you any further." The paladin groaned.
"If you are to die, can I at least know a name, so that I may tell everyone of what you've done for me?" Emilen requested.
"My name…" He groaned again. "My name is Zinkata."
Voldos looked up in shock.
"Zinkata?" He gasped in disbelief.
"That's not all." Emilen told him. "He gave me this." She motioned to the sword in her scabbard. "His sword. It's served me well over the past twenty years. But I carry it for a different reason."
"What's that?" Voldos asked.
"He gave it to me, and asked me to promise I find his son to pass it on to him." Emilen explained. "He said his son was last seen during the defence of Tavnazia's front lines, a child out of place. He was badly wounded in the fight, so badly left for dead." A tear fell down her face at the memory. "Those wounds finished him off, but not before he saved my life. I never saw my brother again either." Voldos paused. He felt incredibly guilty about trying to hit on her now.
"I'll take you to Zinkata." He said bluntly. "I don't know who his parents were. Not even he does. I doubt it's his son. I mean, they literally have the same name."
"I just have a feeling it isn't coincidence." Emilen explained. "I'm sorry. I really ruined the fun of the competition."
"Don't think twice about it." Voldos said with a bow. "I'd do anything for a lady."
Vivli looked up from her food, and found herself gazing into Zinkata's eyes dreamingly. He stared back at her for a moment, until she blinked and realised what she was doing.
"Urm, sorry." She laughed nervously.
"What is it, Viv?" Zinkata asked curiously, almost playfully.
"It's urm, nothing." She sighed. She had almost worked up the courage to tell him just how she felt. He smiled warmly at her.
"Come on." He said. He had to admit to himself, he was feeling more and more attracted to Vivli the more they were together, but certainly didn't want to admit that. She smiled at him. He gazed into her large blue eyes, noticing just how pretty they were.
"Zin, I, urm, I-" She paused. "It's just that, I-" She couldn't quite bring herself to say it. "I think I-"
"Hey! Zin!" Cried Voldos. Vivli sighed heavily, partly with disappointment and partly with relief. "I think this is somebody you'll want to meet." Emilen stood beside him.
Author's Note: I suppose I should reference my blatant stealing of the FFXI intro as a back story. Reasons for this? Well, I am, in many ways, a wuss. That is to say, I dislike sad endings. And I liked the character of Emilen (the little girl in the introduction) who risked everything and sacrificed herself for her brother. So I realised something. You never saw her die. It was heavily implied, but you never saw it happen. So I constructed a way to 'save her' as it was. Hence, she is still alive, and I stole another bit of history from a Final Fantasy game, although at least this time it wasn't from a completely different Final Fantasy game.
Not that isn't going to happen of course!