Author's Note: I've noticed something I probably should have noticed about two stories ago. It seems sometimes when I upload a chapter, formatter will make entire paragraphs italic (slanted) when only one word or sentence is supposed to be. I apologise for this, but can't really help it. Flashbacks, memories and diary entries would be paragraphs all in italics. A characters thoughts are also supposed to be in italics, but just the thought, not the dialogue or prose surrounding it. I apologise if the formatting goes wrong/for where it has gone wrong, but unfortunately I'm not sure what I can do.

This is also, disappointingly and to the best of my knowledge, the first update where I have failed to update during the day. I take great pride in the fact that I update once a day. I don't actually think my story writing abilities are on par with any of the talented writers I find on this site, but I can at least update once a day. Until now. However, it wasn't my fault! server was down all of yesterday when I was trying to update, so I couldn't. I apologise.

Hmmm. I blame a lot of which isn't really fair since it's the site I use to post all my work and get the brilliant reviews you guys post. Maybe I should stop blaming it for things. Isn't really fair. Oh well, I'm only telling the truth!

PART XIII

The four Light Warriors had easily assembled having heard the rumbling from outside the town, and Vivli had wasted no time explaining to them the problem they now faced.

"What can we do?" Zinkata asked quickly.

"Organise the masses." The High Priestess instructed. "Get them away from the city."

"I'll set the others right on it." Zinkata decided. "Lucia, Angel, Emilen and the rest. They should all be able to handle that."

"What are we going to do?" Voldos asked.

"We have to find a way to stop this!" Zinkata explained as he rushed into the crowd to organise the retreat. The lava continued to seep out of the ground, spreading towards the stone walls of Windurst.

"So, any ideas?" Bootus grumbled.

"Urm, no." Vivli answered nervously.

"There is one way to stop this." The High Priestess told them. "Why do you think this never happened before in all the battles that were fought with the staff?" She awaited while the Light Warriors stood looking blank. "Another staff was made. One that could counter the effects of this one."

"What staff?" Vivli quickly asked.

"The Staff of Ra. A mythical staff protected by the mithran royalty." The High Priestess explained. Vivli nervously shuffled on her feet, looking at the ground.

"Urm, High Priestess?" She said, her voice trembling. "About that staff. It, urm-"

"Oh no." Bootus sighed as he realised why she was nervous.

"What?" The High Priestess asked, sounding worried.

"It got sliced in half by Chaos during the final battle to save the world." Vivli tried to salvage her breaking the staff by pointing out it was in an important battle.

"This is why we shouldn't trust you with anything!" Bootus cried.

"It's okay." The High Priestess quickly said. "As long as you have the jewel in the top the staff doesn't matter. I can get a blacksmith to rebuild the staff."

"Where's the jewel?" Voldos asked Vivli.
"Well, the two halves of the staff are back in Kazham, so it must be there." Vivli explained.

"We need to get to Kazham and fast!" Bootus decided. Zinkata ran over to join them.

"Any reason why?" Zinkata asked curiously.

"We can save the world, but we need to be quick." Vivli explained. "We have under twenty-four hours to get to Kazham and back with the broken halves of my old staff."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Zinkata asked with a shrug. The four bolted towards the Raven II, still sat proudly on the rapidly decaying ground.

"Cid! Punch it!" Zinkata cried as he bolted up onto the deck.

"Where to?" Cid asked as the rotor blades on the Raven II powered up.
"Kazham, and fast!" Zinkata explained.

"Fast?" Cid laughed, figuring out from the lava that the situation was important. "If you insist!" The Raven II lurched into the air and rocketed off across the sky. "Get in here!" Cid ordered, and the Light Warriors assembled in the cabin. "Pull that lever at the side." Vivli ran over to the large wooden lever, and pulled on it.

"What is this connected to?" She squirmed, unable to move it.
"Two gigantic unfolding engines." Cid answered with a smile.

"Out of the way weakling." Bootus grumbled, pushing Vivli aside and hauling the lever back. The entire airship lurched forwards.

The wooden panels on the side of the ship peeled away, dropping towards the ground below. Two gigantic wooden arms began to unfold, and propeller blades unfolded on the end of each arm. They began spinning at speeds even faster than the usual ones. The ship rocked as it sped up. Vivli was thrown into Bootus, and was sick all over the galka.

"That's what you get for calling me a weakling." She managed to say.

"Now pull the handle in the roof and hold tight!" Cid ordered. Zinkata grabbed it and pulled it. The ship started shaking uncontrollably, and the entire rear of the Raven II broke away from the main ship, backing out of it and spinning. The rear section had its own smaller bow clearly inserted in the back of the front part of the ship. The front part had small propellers that lowered it to the ground automatically as the rear part of the Raven II, now completely separated, shot across the sky so fast the Light Warriors struggled to stand. The two new large propellers and the dramatically lightened ship rocketed towards Kazham at speeds previously thought impossible to achieve. "YEEHAH!" Cid cried. Vivli threw up again from the vibrations.

The tearing noise of the newly divided Raven II attracted much attention from the mithra in Kazham as it hurtled towards them. It spiralled downwards, crashing into the water and sending spray everywhere. Vivli, once again, threw up.

"You call that a landing?" Screamed Bootus.

"Hey, this has never been tested. I think it worked pretty well." Cid laughed.

"Never been tested?" Vivli repeated in horror. "You forgot to mention that!"

"We don't have much time." Zinkata said, trying to get a serious grasp on the situation. "Let's get a move on." The four threw the ramp down and it thudded into the side of Kazham. They ran into the town, drawing many interested looks from the surrounding citizens.

Vivli cut ahead of the others, knowing exactly where she had to go, and almost running into her sister in the process.

"Vivli!" Cried Dedji, the sister Vivli only discovered existed ten months ago. "I hearrrrd an airrrrrship almost crrrrrrrashed into the water outside the town. Figurrrrrred it must be you guys."

"Hey! We normally land perfectly fine!" Zinkata sarcastically protested. Vivli giggled while staring at him, which Dedji frowned at.

"Yes, I'm surrrrre you do. That's why you'rrrrrre on the Raven II, isn't it?" She smirked. "You definitely didn't crrrrrrash the first one into a city!"
"That was different!" Zinkata protested.

"And that's on the theorrrrrry that the ship you just landed is the Raven II. Looks differrrrrrent. You on Raven III now or something?" She mocked.

"Nah," Bootus laughed. "We just wanted to make Vivli more airsick than normal."

"As fun as the jokes are," Zinkata sighed, "The fate of the world is hanging in the balance here."

"Should have known." Dedji groaned. "Not like you'd come and visit yourrrrr family otherwise!" She sarcastically snapped at Vivli.

"Hey! I've been busy!" Vivli protested.

"We need Vivli's old staff. The one she got sliced in half." Voldos explained. "Don't worry, we won't let her hold it. She always destroys her staffs somehow."

"That is not true!" Vivli protested. "I've had this one for ages!"

"Only because you got it from the monastery after you left your last staff in San d'Oria." Voldos pointed out. Vivli folded her arms.
"It's not my fault! Staffs just run away from me whenever I'm near them!" She cried, acting sarcastically upset. Zinkata laughed, which brought a huge beaming smile to her face.

"We need to use the staff to fix a hole in the planet." Bootus explained, trying to ignore the starry eyed looks Vivli was giving Zinkata. "Before it consumes everything."

"I'll go grrrrrab it rrrrrright away." Dedji told him. "Come on Viv, you can say hi to Mum and Dad while we get it." Vivli nodded.

"I'll meet you back here in a minute." She said to the other warriors, and the two mithra ran off. Zinkata went to go with her, but Bootus held him back.

Zinkata turned curiously to Bootus.

"Urm, why are you holding me, Bootus?" He asked sarcastically.

"Because we can't separate you from Vivli any other way." Bootus explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zinkata asked.

"She is so in love with you." Bootus answered. "Can't you see it? Just watch the way she stares at you." Zinkata nervously laughed.
"How can you be so sure?" He asked. "I'm sure you're just imagining it." Bootus paused, remembering how he promised he wouldn't mention Vivli's diary.

"It's actually quite amusing." Voldos pointed out.

"It is?" Zinkata questioned.

"Yeah, that's just how head over heels in love she is." Bootus explained.

"Actually I meant that you thought any girl could fall for anyone who's not me." Voldos remarked. The two just shot him a blank stare.

"The real question is, do you feel the same way?" Bootus asked. "You have been spending huge amounts of time with her." Zinkata laughed.

"It's Vivli! Not exactly the kind of thing you feel about her, is it?" The warrior was proud of his reply that successfully avoided the question completely.

"Well maybe you should be careful, if she finds out you don't feel the same way-" Bootus paused. "-well, let's just say I think she'll be crying even more than usual."

Elsewhere, Dedji turned to Vivli as they walked through the empty streets.

"So, you told him?" She asked.

"What?" Vivli said, confused.

"Zinkata. You told him how you feel?" Vivli looked at Dedji in astonishment.

"How did you-" She began.

"It's so obvious it's unbelievable." She laughed.

"Dammit! Is everybody going to figure it out?" Vivli cried.

"Maybe you should trrrry telling him before he does." Dedji suggested. Vivli paused, pondering this.

"I tried." She admitted. "But I couldn't quite get it out. Besides, how do I explain it? And what if he doesn't feel the same way? What if he stops being my friend because of it?" Vivli was obviously getting very worked up, voicing all of her fears. Dedji laughed as she opened the door to her hut.

"If you never tell him, how will you find out?" She asked. Vivli looked puzzled as she tried to think of an answer. Dedji laughed. "Here it is." She said, handing Vivli the two halves of the old staff. "I know you'll manage to save the world, but I'm worried about you and Zinkata. I mean, just how many boyfriends have you had to be used to this kind of thing?" Vivli suddenly turned very red.

"Hey! You can't ask me that!" She protested.

"None then?" Dedji guessed. Vivli went redder.

"I was raised in a monastery." She whimpered as defence.

"Viv, just watch yourself. I don't want you getting hurt." Dedji said softly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Vivli grumbled.

"He seems to like you enough." Dedji observed. "And I could tell how you felt about him right away, so trust me on that."

"I need to work on covering that up, actually." Vivli decided. "Every single person we run into can tell. The beastmen are probably making jokes about me and Zin behind my back."

"Maybe if you stopped trying to hide it, it would be a lot easier." Dedji suggested.

"That's easy for you to say." Vivli shot back.

Zinkata, Voldos and Bootus had decided to sit down, and watch the Raven II float on the water.

"Anybody wonder where Illuga got to?" Voldos suddenly said. "He just seems to have disappeared."

"Just back in Windurst." Bootus grumbled. "He's a big boy. I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"Wonder where Vivli is." Zinkata mumbled.

"Ah ha! You do like her!" Bootus cried triumphantly. Zinkata looked at him, confused.

"Of course I like her!" He snapped. "She's a friend!"

"You know what I meant." Bootus shot.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to acknowledge it." Zinkata told him. "Besides, I only asked where she was. Why does that prove anything?"

"We move the conversation away from her, and you bring it back." Bootus explained. "Typical of somebody with a crush."

"I don't have a crush on Vivli!" Zinkata yelled.

"Oh." Vivli mumbled. "Nice to know." She added in her attempt to cover up her own feelings. Surprisingly, hearing Zinkata declare this in such a passionate way just made her suspicious that he did have feelings for her, or else he wouldn't have gotten so defensive and would have just laughed it off.

"Where did you come from?" Zinkata cried in surprise.

"Over there." Vivli answered, pointing down the street, enjoying acting like she didn't feel anything for him.

"You got the staff!" Zinkata exclaimed, spotting it. "Good job, Viv!" He said as he took it off her, giving her a hug. Vivli felt her heart melt as her emotions turned warm again So much for covering it up she mentally mumbled. "Urm, you can let go now, Viv." He told her. She suddenly realised she was still clinging to him and pushed away with a nervous giggle.
"It's like they enjoy pretending they don't fancy each other." Bootus whispered to Voldos.

"Urm, shouldn't we be saving the world?" Vivli said quickly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Nice changing the subject there, Viv." Bootus mocked.

"She's right though." Zinkata admitted.

"You would say that." Shot Voldos.

"She is!" Zinkata protested. "We need to get out of here and back to Windurst."

"Oh, fantastic." Sighed Vivli as she looked at the Raven II, floating uneasily on the water.

From the deck of the Raven II as it hurtled towards Windurst, Zinkata leant back, watching Vivli.

"You know," He casually said to Bootus, "If I did fancy Vivli, and I'm not saying I do, the constant throwing up would be a definite turn off."

"Ha! Knew it!" Bootus cried.

"Hey! I said if I did!" Zinkata protested. "But you have to admit, it's not exactly attractive."

"I'm a galka." Bootus countered. "I don't find anything attractive."

"That explains so much of your attitude." Sighed Zinkata. Vivli wondered over to join them.

"Sorry about that." She said, motioning to the vomit now on the dramatically shrunken deck of the Raven II. "I really can't help it." She added, as if sensing their previous conversation.
"I understand Viv." Zinkata said warmly. Vivli looked up to him, eyes sparkling. "You want a hug?" She nodded, and Zinkata hugged her.

"Eugh. To hell with this." Bootus grumbled, wondering off to find Voldos who was inside the cabin. Vivli looked up at Zinkata. She took a deep breath.

"Urm, Zin, this is really hard to say, so I'll just come out and say it. I-" The ship jolted, and she threw up all over his armour. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" She quickly cried. Zinkata laughed.

"It's alright Viv." He smirked. "It isn't your fault, like you said." Vivli quickly took off her robe (leaving her mithran separates underneath) and started to sponge out the vomit with it.

"I'm not going to be wearing this in a while." She muttered to herself as she wiped off Zinkata's armour.

"You look incredibly hot without the robe, I don't mind." Zinkata said. Vivli looked at him.

"What did you say?" She snapped.

"Urm, I said, what were you going to say to me just now?" Zinkata decided to rapidly change the subject. Vivli sighed.

"It's really difficult to just come out and say." She muttered. "Zin, I really, truly, deeply-"
"Windurst, coming up!" Cid announced.

"AHHH!" Vivli screamed. Am I destined to never say what I want to? she yelled in her thoughts. Zinkata laughed. Of course, he now had a sneaky suspicion as to what she was going to say, but wanted to hear her say it to be sure. The two looked out over the edge, down at Windurst. Vivli gulped, not quite realising how high up they were. Bootus and Voldos came over to join them. Voldos noticed the robe on the floor.

"I knew you two were into each other, but I didn't realise you were just going to strip and do it right here on the deck." He muttered.

"It's covered in sick for your information." Vivli snapped. "And I'll throw it at you if you keep that up."

"We don't have long." Zinkata decided. "The lava is reaching Windurst's walls. We have to move quickly if we're going to have any chance of saving the city." He turned to the cabin. "Cid! Take us down!" He paused. "Gently! I don't want any more vomit on my armour!"

"I'm so sorry about that." Vivli muttered as the airship descended.