Disclaimer: I do not own FFTA, bishounen hair and non-conformity. I own Nils and Sotel, Etoile, Darios, all those others and unfortunately Katarina.
Kat: Oi! thwack
Owies!
Thank you to my wonderful reviewers! This story would have drowned in the peat bog of my brain if you didn't review!! cookie Thanks tons you both!! Sorry I haven't written in ages. I have been ritually kidnapped by angry chocobos and offered to the god Choco for revenge from chapter 2. And I got dragged away and beat by angry moogle girls with big, big, BIG sticks for chapter 3.
My big apology – one HUGE chapter. Hope you likey, as this chapter is violent and strange…
Mako-Streak – Yeah, I'm glad you think so!! (.) WHAAAaaaaTT??!?! No STAR THINGIES?!?!? Sorry! The computer stuffed up… it's not allowing me to put star-things…I forget what they're called…(gah!) Anyway, I'm glad you like my characters…I like them to be 3-D! Sotel is one of my favourites, actually…he rules in an inaccessible, distant way.
Agla – (Yes, I finally read your bio and found out what to call you – bad, silly Nada) Well…let's just say that Darios is a little ignorant when it comes the things that are in a different league from magic. In the words of Katarina, "A complete ignoramus." In the words of Etoile, "A dork beyond comparison." In the words of Darios himself, "Hey…how come I got suckered into this?"
() I decline to comment on that bishounen remark. MEHEHE!! BISHOUNEN HAIR! And Nils is another of my favvies! He's like me!
Whoof-! Longest review replies, ever. Another non-conformist strike to my name. On with the story!
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12:15 p.m
5tth of Sagemoon
Before the rest of the story happened
The Golden Gil, Baguba Port
"Kupooooooo…" groaned Montblanc groggily as someone shook him hard and repeatedly.
"Monty. Monteeeeeeeeeeee…" drawled a green-clad apparition, looming beside him. It leaned in close. He opened his eyes wider.
There was a thoroughly satisfying sound as Monty keeled over, the green apparition waving a rapier threateningly with one hand as she flapped the other one to and fro to cool it off. The time mage could actually feel the side of his face starting to warm up.
Sitting up, he glared at her and forced his dizzy eyes to focus.
"What, kupo?" he groaned as the hangover crashed back in with full force.
"Monty. It's me, Kat. Hello." Slowly, the elementalist peered at him, avoiding the wisps of alcohol-ridden breath. "You were out clubbing, weren't you?"
"So what?" slurred Montblanc. "Where coffee, kupo?"
"Don't 'where coffee, kupo' me, Monty. You're little brother's here to visit and boy does he look pissed!" Katarina turned away with evil glee on her face, quickly wiped away as Ingg walked through the tent flap.
"Oh, sweet mother," sighed the ninja. "Have you been telling him that Marche will ground him?" The look on the poor moogle's face was obvious.
"No, I told him that Nono was here," answered the elementalist happily.
"You're so evil it's traumatic," groaned Ingg. "Come on. Help me."
----------
12:46 p.m.
5th of Sagemoon
Also before the rest of the story
The Golden Gil's Pub, Baguba Port
Half an hour of coffee, threats, pleading and cajoling, cold water and prods from a very sharp Aerial Hole later, Monty staggered out with Marche. A little gadgeteer sat up, his eyes suddenly animated and filled with fire.
"Montblanc, kupo!" he cried.
"What?
Whuh? Oh, yes, kupo! This is my brother Nono, kupopo!" said
Montblanc, far more cheerfully than he really felt.
"Hello,
kupo!" said Nono cheerfully, but with a gleam in his eyes as he
looked at his elder sibling. It was a gleam that said, "You went
ahead on Lads' Night without me. You will be reckoned with. Kupo."
"Crud, kupo," muttered the time mage, climbing onto a chair as Nono recounted the story, shooting sharp glances at his brother.
"Are you listening?" asked Darios, white/black mage, quietly, two tables away with the rest of Clan Nutsy. "What're they saying?"
"Something about some gang stole his airship in a hit-and-run. Fun, fun, fun!" Etoile's eyes gleamed, feral and dark underneath the sniper scarf as she gripped her bow tighter.
"Does this mean we get to…" Oskar the juggler let his voice trail off excitedly.
"We get to kick arse, kupo!" grinned Basil, firing a round into the roof with a war-whoop. There were screams, no amount of small confusion and a lot of trouble in general. Five minutes later, when Katarina had trussed up the little gunner, she yelled, "It's okay now!" Various grumbling clanners, one distressed pubmaster and a very shocked gadgeteer emerged from under various tables as Marche rhythmically bashed his head on the table in disgust and Montblanc sighed a long, slow sigh.
"Oops," commented Ingg, leaning back casually.
--------
1: 12 p.m.
5th of Sagemoon as well
On the other side of Ivalice
At the same time as the above two
"Are you sure this was a good idea?" muttered Matias uneasily. "You hear things about the jagds."
"Nils will explode anything that endangers us. He's taken out a firewyrm and a grenade. Don't worry," said Sotel distantly.
"Sotel?" asked Miserie, quietly as always. "Where did Ivolt go?"
"He's on a mission," said their ninja leader, staring ahead blankly. It was a lie and they all knew it. The tension in the airship crackled like a knife, very unlike the casual and cheerful nature of Clan Nutsy, a world away as they schemed to bring about the downfall of Clan Archmaster. For a very high price, that was.
"Have any of you fought jagd fights before?" asked the ninja, turning to them. Although he was facing them, he seemed to be staring through them, right into the back of the airship where a huge and hungry monster resided in his imagination. One place where the law couldn't reach: the jagds.
"No, but isn't it that if you die here, it's true death? No chance of coming back?" asked Loraine nervously. That was what made the blue mage the most afraid. The plucky sniper was scared out of her wits.
"Yes," sighed Sotel, quite sadly and quietly.
"I don't want to die," stated Miserie simply. Somehow, that small comment sent the already teetering ninja over the brink and he turned on the suddenly fearful fencer.
"You don't, do you?" he roared. "You should have thought of that!" Miserie scrambled backwards, and, in her haste, tripped and fell.
"Miserie!" yelled Loraine, fear forgotten as she lurched forward with the ship, worried for the fencer, who was definitely scared of something very deep. And Sotel in a rage terrified the poor viera.
"You might not have come on this trip if you knew, eh? Well you know now! Do you want to jump out and go back?" Miserie was huddled up, backed into a corner, whimpering as she held her hands out before her like shields. The scene was chillingly painful to Loraine, and she stepped in front of the fencer, facing Sotel.
"Don't!" she yelled. "You'll make the situation worse by yelling!"
"Does it matter?" shrieked Sotel furiously as Matias grabbed his arms, twisting them up behind the ninja's back. "We're going to die whether she likes it or not!"
"Stop being so negative!" howled the viera over the engines as Sotel lunged, stopped by the surprisingly strong blue mage. "Stop it! Shut…" She thrust a hand forward in fury, going for the throat as she was taught. "…up!"
The ninja stopped dead and went completely limp, tipping forwards and almost taking Matias down too. The blue mage's eyes flicked from the unconscious ninja, to panting sniper, down to the surprised fencer in the corner.
"Was that just…" stuttered Matias. "Assassin…"
"Last Breath? Oh, please. Of course," gasped Loraine in reply, collapsing. "I haven't done it in ages. I'm out of shape."
"You know Corner abilities!" whispered Miserie in awe. "That should be useful in the jagd!"
"Maybe," shrugged the viera. "I need to change job classes, though,"
"That's easy," Matias said, still in shock. "And we've got a good katana or two."
"Why are you two gaping?" asked the sniper, getting up. "Are you just surprised?" She smiled at them tightly, trying to lighten the situation. "I didn't spend all my time before I met my clan bumming around at home, you know."
"I never thought so," sighed Matias, nodding. "Do you have any phoenix downs?"
------------
1:24 p.m.
The same date
The same timeline
Baguba Port
"In a jagd," said Etoile flatly. "A jagd, eh?"
"You son of a coerl! You signed us up for a jagd mission?!" screamed Katarina as Oskar attempted to lever off a certain human, who had fainted right on top of him. For the twelfth time, he fell back down, gasping.
"Some help, kupo?" he panted, squished under the weight of a human easily three times his own mass. He was ignored by all but an observant ninja, who detached from Marche's side to help lift Darios off the little mog, who was starting to turn blue.
"Well, you've done lots of insane things, kupo, but this takes the cake!" exploded Basil as Ingg untied him. "How could you sign us up for a jagd mission without telling us?"
"You're my clan, and I'm you're leader," retorted Marche, turning slightly red. "I'll choose what's best for us!"
"Yeah, and how would you know what's best for us?" snapped Katarina angrily. "I don't think you can make that judgement!"
"I'm
doing this for the clan!" yelled Marche, frustrated.
"You're
doing this for yourself!" yelled back Etoile. "Stop thinking of
the clan as your meal ticket and start thinking of us as people!"
With that reply, the blond human's face completely drained of all
colour and he turned away. Finally, he said in a very subdued voice,
"All right. What would you have done?"
"Asked," snapped Oskar. "You could have just asked us, kupo."
"So will you follow me or not?" asked Marche tiredly, running his fingers through his fringe and looking back at them.
"Of course we will," growled Katarina. "We just wish you'd see us as people, that's all." Just in time, Marche stopped himself from saying, "But you all don't exist. It's just a game." Instead, he muttered, "I'm sorry."
"What
was that you said?" taunted Etoile. "We didn't hear it."
"I'm
sorry," he said, louder. "Look, all I've been trying to do is
get home. I'm sorry if I've been ignoring you guys."
"So you should be," snapped Katarina, but Ingg hushed her. Turning to Marche, she said quietly, "We appreciate your honesty. Just lighten up a little, Marche. Don't be so intense about getting home. Have a bit of fun at least, because we'll try and help you, but until you go home, we're your family. We'll be your friends. Don't see each battle as a stepping-stone to the way home, see it as a good point for your clan."
There was silence as the rest of them looked at her with newfound respect.
"So let's go," muttered Marche. "Let's make this a team battle, then."
-----------
2:56 p.m.
Whatever you want it to be
I don't frankly care
Jagd Dorsa
"Dear god," whispered Matias, gripping the controls. There was an odd look of relief on his face as he saw the jagd, the kind of look that you saw on someone returning home after a long trip. It was quickly wiped away.
"Dear god," echoed Sotel, staring at the blasted and miserable landscape of the jagd.
"Wow," said Loraine, looking at the blasted landscape of the jagd. "Our new home, huh?"
"Yes,"
sighed Sotel. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, we're all in
this together. So long as you don't spazz out," grinned Loraine.
"You're unbelievable," said Matias, shaking his head. "You're so calm about it."
"It's a gift! What can I say?" asked Loraine, twirling dramatically and examining her new assassin gear.
Fifteen minutes after a chaotic touchdown, the two viera climbed out and looked at each other. Nils swooped by overhead, howling "BANZAI!!" at the top of his voice. They both ducked as he leapt off a few metres down, bounced off a tattered awning, landed on a crate and stood up, brushing himself off.
"Talk about reckless," remarked Miserie quietly.
"So am I," Loraine answered airily. "I'd jump off that tower if you gave me five hundred thousand gil."
"No, that's just greedy," cut in Matias. "You know, when you're actually in the jagd itself, it's not so bad."
"Just pre-moving jitters, eh?" joked Miserie. It was the first joke she had made, and it was a good sign. She was warming up to her clan.
"Now what do we do?" asked Matias, turning to Sotel.
"We go and bomb the fruit with chocobos!" cackled the ninja. Matias blinked. It wasn't Sotel; it was Nils. The blue mage whirled around, expecting to see the clan leader standing behind him, but the ninja had disappeared.
"Sotel?" yelled Matias. His voice bounced back in echoes. "SOTEL!"
"He's gone!' exclaimed Loraine in bewilderment. "I didn't even see him leave!"
"Where'd he go?" asked Matias.
"He's gone," repeated Loraine, shocked. "He's gone."
----------------
3:34 p.m.
6th of Sagemoon
Whaddya think?!?!
Lutia Pass
"Take Lutia, you said! It's beautiful this time of year, you said!" howled Katarina over the blizzard.
"It is if you look past the snow!" yelled Marche. Ignoring this, the other viera surged on with, "It's peaceful, you said! It's easy, you said!"
"It is peaceful!" protested the clan leader guiltily.
"It isn't with Clan Dip surrounding us, kupo!" yelled Basil. There was silence. The blizzard began to ease up slightly. Marche sighed in defeat. Montblanc sighed in exhaustion. Oskar sighed in extreme irritation.
"He's right," hissed Katarina, whacking Marche across the back with her rapier. "You are an idiot beyond comparison, Marche."
"I stand corrected on all counts, then!" Marche yelled, his pride stung. "Now are we going to be arguing and arguing, or are we going to kick Clan Dip all the way to kingdom come?"
"Kick their arses!' screamed Etoile, stringing her bow and howling a bloodthirsty howl.
There was silence. Even the blizzard seemed to stop for a few seconds, as if saying "huh?" There was snickering from further up the pass.
"Umm…too much?" asked the sniper sheepishly. The moogles nodded simultaneously.
"Too much, " agreed Darios.
"Whatever! Are we going to talk, or are we going to fight?" yelled Ingg, drawing her Charfire and her Nosada.
"Fight!" chorused the rest. The weariness seemed to slip away at the mention of a fight, and the small company lunged up the pass.
"Firaga!" called Darios. The soldier and thief of Clan Dip went up in flames, further up the pass. A second later, the white mage staggered out, Slowed by Montblanc's trigger-happy powers. The human archer took five arrows to the torso and staggered up, only to be struck down by a katana through the torso.
"Surprise," whispered Ingg, withdrawing the Nosada.
"One! Two! Five!" shouted Katarina, and called down a Fire Whip on the viera archer.
"Three, kupo!" Basil yelled. Oskar slashed at the moogle thief, creeping up behind the gunner.
"Whatever!" Katarina blasted the two archers and dropped her hands as the blizzard died down and revealed the bodies of Clan Dip.
"Now, wasn't that fun?" asked Etoile happily.
"I hate your definition of 'fun'," gasped Darios, sitting up from a snowdrift. "Someone help me get this arrow out of my leg."
"Clumsy black mage, kupo!' exclaimed Oskar.
"Clumsy I may be, but dead is what I will be once I change job classes," panted the black mage. "Ready to be elevated to Illusionist-ness, Marche."
"You mastered it, finally, kupo," sighed Basil. "I'll get the stuff."
"Do I have to wear the robes?" asked Darios pleadingly. "They look girly!" The instant the words were out of his mouth, he regretted it. Two viera loomed over him, one aiming a very sharp arrow at him, the other holding a multicoloured ball of magic in one hand and vaguely tossing it up and down.
"I can't decide what spell this will be," said the elementalist conversationally.
"I can't decide whether to just kill him outright or make him die a slow and painful death," answered Etoile, sighting down the bow.
"Slow and painful, definitely, kupo," commented Basil, enjoying the scene. "What do you think, Ingg, kupo?"
"I say knock it off, you lot," said the ninja, pushing through between the two violent viera and the traumatised human. "Darios, keep your sexist comments to yourself. Etoile, Kat, save your aggression issues for counsellors, or, even better, engagements." She paused. "And I think you both mastered something."
"Really? Let me check…" Kat paused. Her face brightened, a moment later. "Hey! I can be a summoner now!"
"Very good," grinned Etoile. "Blast 'em with Ifrit, Kat!" Oskar brightened.
"I've finished the juggler jobs, kupo," he pointed out. "Can I go back to being a thief?"
"I don't see why not," answered Marche, distracted with his own stat check.
"We'll set up a job change tent," directed Ingg. "Over there, in that clump of trees. Darios, melt the snow. And no one peek at Kat while she changes, or he is asking for slow and painful castration."
---------------
8:47 p.m.8th of Sagemoon
sigh
Jagd Dorsa
"Well, that's that," shrugged Loraine, slicing through the fighter of the clan and finishing them off. "You can be a red mage if you want."
"Really?" asked Miserie, her eyes lighting up.
"Hell, yeah…you don't have to ask me, Mis, just go for it," laughed Loraine.
"We've
changed, you know," muttered Matias. The vieras looked at him.
"Since we came to the jagd…we've changed."
"We're
reckless and lawless now. Is that what you mean?" Loraine sheathed
her katana. "Because we ourselves haven't changed. Except maybe
you, Matias. You don't joke as much as you used to."
"I'm
worried we'll get caught," answered the blue mage, sitting down
heavily. "I just don't feel comfortable as a criminal."
"Hell, if that's what bothers you, then don't think of yourself as a criminal, Matias!" exclaimed the assassin. "Think of yourself as an individual. A rebel. Authority-challenged! Whatever!"
"Authority-challenged…hah, that's a good one," sniggered Nils. "That's almost as good as that old saying that you can't mix creams, flans and jellies together…but I showed them…I showed them all! Of course, I had to clean up the guts afterwards…"
"You never cease to amaze me," sighed Matias, lying back and folding his arms under his head. "Do you think the stars care? No." It was such a random comment that it completely threw Loraine off.
"What do you mean?" she demanded, staring at the blue mage. He sat up on his elbows and looked at her.
"Look at the stars, Raine," he said. "Then maybe you'll understand." He got up and walked away, leaving a very bewildered assassin, a laughing fencer and a joking hunter behind.
"Are you
going to get any rest?" asked Miserie, red mage, later.
"No,"
answered Loraine snappishly. "Not until I figure out what he
meant!"
"It's no good losing sleep over it, Raine," protested the red mage quietly, trying to climb up the side of the deserted building. "Come on."
"No," repeated the assassin stubbornly. "Matias is my friend. I'm worried about him."
Miserie struggled up to the top and brushed off her new red clothes. "I think he's in love with you," she said, quite calmly. Loraine whirled, eyes wide with shock.
"What?!" she exclaimed. Her voice bounced off the buildings of the jagd and echoed back at her.
"Raine, I think he's in love with you," repeated Miserie.
"No way," answered the assassin sternly. "Now look! Miserie, he doesn't love me, he's just a really good friend! I don't love him, I think of him as one of my closest friends, and that's why…" Her voice trailed off.
"That's what's making him sad," said the red mage quietly, sitting down next to her. Away from the city pollution, the stars were gorgeously clear.
"I don't think he loves me," groaned Loraine, but with less conviction.
"Ask him," was all the red mage said. A cool breeze whistled across the normally harsh landscape, lending it some peace.
"Tomorrow," said Loraine, procrastinating. She really had no intention of asking the blue mage.
-------------
5:53 p.m.
9th of Sagemoon
Do you get it or not?! Just…before…
Jagd Dorsa
"We're here," sighed Ingg.
"We're here, kupo," agreed Montblanc.
"I was born in a jagd. Did I tell you that?" she asked, glancing sidelong at the clan leader. Marche shook his head.
"I don't think you ever did," he said honestly. "That's an interesting life story."
"Are you mocking me?" she said, her face completely straight.
"No!" he gasped, panicked. "No, no!" He shook his head vehemently. "Just saying it like it is!" She leaned over to him and stuck a slender finger between his collarbones.
"Are you trying to make a fool of yourself, Marche?" she asked sweetly.
"No-I mean, yes," he answered unthinkingly, watching the frantic motions of Darios and the three moogles behind her back.
"Good." She shoved him, ever so gently, and he fell backwards into a small pothole. "Because you're a real idiot." She winked at him and, hoisting her pack a bit further up her shoulders, walked off. He stared at her, gaping.
"Marche? Ma-arche…" called Darios, waving a hand up and down before the fighter's face.
"Ivalice to Marche, kupo," chimed in Oskar. "Marche…"
"No use, kupo," said Basil sorrowfully. "He's been zombified. Cast a spell on him and kill him, quick, kupo."
"I know a better way," grumbled Etoile, uncapping her water flask. "Hold this, would you?" She handed her bow to Katarina and poured the water over the stunned fighter's blond head. For a few moments, the two ridiculous bits of fringe that stuck up like a rooster's comb from Marche's blond head drooped soggily. The vieras inhaled, shocked and relieved.
A few seconds later, the blond plumes sprang up again, showering everyone with tiny droplets of water.
"Damn!" cursed Etoile, adding a few more vulgar, obscene, rude and definitely insulting words to describe the aberrations of fashion.
"There's only one way to solve that, kupo," said Montblanc, amused.
"His hair?" demanded the summoner.
"No, his daze, kupo," answered the time mage patiently.
"Kupo?" asked Oskar, interested despite himself.
"Like this, kupo." Montblanc raised his Terre Rod, and, with a happy smile on his face and the words "This is for enrolling us in a jagd mission without asking," he brought the staff down, hard, on the human's head.
For a few seconds, there was no visible effect. Then Marche slowly looked up at the grinning moogle and began to say "Hey-"
"Andthisisforleavingmetomylittlebrotherafterwards!" added Montblanc quickly, bashing Marche again. The blond human keeled over, in slow motion, hitting the ground with a thump.
"Bravo! Encore!" cheered the audience, clapping.
"He's unconscious," said Darios, kneeling down beside his fellow human.
"You say that like you actually care, kupo!" scolded Basil scathingly.
"Well…he is the clan leader," said the illusionist nervously, backing away.
"And who gives a panther's shi-"
"Keep it PG-13, Kat, kupo," warned Oskar, raising a small hand. Then he blinked.
"Where'd that one come from, kupo?" asked Monty, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know," muttered Oskar, looking down at his Dash Boots.
"Authorspace," proclaimed Ingg solemnly, picking Marche up. "Come on, help me revive him. I have no desire to drag him to our camp."
--------------
Actually…why do I bother…it's not as if anyone cares…I quit
Ya hear me?! I quit!! Find some other sump to do the job! Haha!
"What the hell?" muttered Loraine, spotting the lone ninja dust cobwebs off a door and enter an abandoned building. The ninja came back out a few minutes later, wiping her/his katanas on a tattered rag near the door, looking around and spotting the assassin.
Loraine could have sworn that the ninja smiled. She couldn't be certain, seeing as the base half of the ninja's face was hidden behind that damn blue scarf, but she could almost feel the smile. Then the strange ninja nodded at her and walked back down the road where she/he came from.
Of course, she could have shot the intruder, but why would she?
"Miserie!" she hissed. "Miserie!"
"Raine-aah! Ow!" Alarmed, the assassin popped back to the crude ladder where the red mage sat at the base, rubbing her head, dazed.
"Are you ok?" the assassin whispered.
"Yes! Why are you whispering?" asked Miserie, puzzled.
"Because a strange ninja just walked in, opened up one of the buildings down the road and nodded at me!"
"Are you sure?" asked the red mage quietly.
"Very!"
"I'll tell Sotel," whispered the viera, and slipped away. A few minutes later, the clan leader poked his head above roof level and asked, "Are you very, very sure?"
"Very, very, very, very, very sure!" Loraine growled. "How many times do I have to repeat myself?"
"Calm down, Raine," sighed Matias's voice. She climbed to the edge and peered over. "Maybe they were scavengers."
"I doubt it," scoffed the assassin. "Bounty hunters more like. The law's come for us."
"Do you know who it is?"
Loraine sat up again. A procession of sorts was coming down the unused road: the ninja who she had seen before, two bickering viera, a trio of joking moogles, one gloomy-looking illusionist and one blond young man, closer to a boy, who stumbled down the road as if drugged.
She blanched. She knew that bad hairstyle and those shabby soldier clothes from anywhere.
"It's Clan Nutsy," she forced through the corner of her mouth.
"What?" demanded Sotel.
"It's Clan Nutsy! Clan Nutsy, I tell you! Clan Nutsy!"
Sotel was silent for a very long time. Matias had buried his face in his hands. Miserie was leaning against the wall for support.
"This is it," said Sotel finally, emotionlessly. "Get ready. We'll engage tomorrow."
"Matias?" said Loraine guiltily, when all the rest had left. The blue mage was turning to leave, but she leaned over and grabbed his arm.
"What, Raine?" he asked tiredly.
"A-a-are you…I mean…d-do you….I mean, do I, I mean, d-d-do you…" she paused in her exasperation to gather her wits.
"Matias Haiver," she said finally, "Do you love me?"
He stared at her for a very, very long time before saying cryptically, "I see you've looked at the stars, Raine," and leaving. She let go.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Matias!" she yelled after him, half angry, half disappointed. He sped up until he was running, away from the camp, away from her, away into the labyrinth of the jagd. She harboured a few seconds of brief suspicion as she wondered how Matias seemed to know exactly where to run, but banished it for the former emotions.
Why? she scolded herself. It's not as though you loved him too…
-----------
The next morningsob No one cares…nobody missed me…
I'm unappreciated… sniff Nobody loves me…
Chocobos and pretty wyrm greens…Easter eggies, yesamamie?
Push off, Nils…I'm depressed as it is…
The fancy banter passed between the leaders while Loraine stood ready for battle. That ninja, the one she had seen earlier, was standing almost face to face with her.
"Let's engage!" yelled Sotel and Marche simultaneously.
-----------------
I give up…Ingg afforded herself a quiet smile. She had been telling Marche the truth. She had been born in a Jagd and had grown up in one…therefore, she was more than ready for this fight.
She had been born in this jagd. Right here. In the building they had camped in for the night. She and her brother.
She wondered, almost wistfully, if her brother still remembered their old tricks. When the call to engagement came, she sprang. The rest of her clan called to battle exploded in all directions, raring for a fight. Darios cast his first Illusionist spell – Prominence. The fires blazed down, striking the viera in front of her and the blue mage. But the viera struggled back up, just as the blue mage did. He cast White Wind on the both of them, healing them. He saw her, immediately looked away. He remembered.
Lunging for the assassin, she said, aloud, "Remember me, assassin?"
"I remember," hissed the assassin through gritted teeth, bringing a Masamune up and around to parry the two opposing blades. "You're that damn ninja from yesterday."
"Of course," said Ingg, casually bringing around a sideswipe. "Wondering why?"
-------------------
I'm gone. Goodbye.
"Are you here for the bounty?" snarled Loraine. She knew the ninja was probably trying to distract her.
"Maybe!" replied the human, dodging a thrust and slashing at Loraine's torso.
"You're a bloody liar," shouted Loraine, leaping backwards and preparing Last Breath for the ninja. "Why would you be here otherwise?"
"Because you're criminals!" answered the human. Now that Loraine was close to her, it was a bit of a shock to realise that the ninja was female.
"Why are
we criminals?" challenged Loraine.
"You ;re trying to benefit
from another's work!" yelled back the human, jumping aside as the
dark power of Last Breath swept the space where she had been.
"So
maybe we are!" shot back Loraine.
"I'm bringing you down! Matias!" screamed the ninja. Distracted, the assassin looked aside at the mention of her friend's name, that moment of non-concentration making her slip backwards on a jagged pave.
-----------------
That old pave, Ingg thought. The one Matias slipped on and hit his head when he was little. When we were little, she corrected. Turning her attention to her foe, as the assassin fell, she stabbed out quickly. She wouldn't get another chance like this. The viera was too wary.
--------------
A Charfire melted through her torso, piercing something vital. She screamed breathlessly and collapsed completely as lancing pain tore through her insides.
"Matias!" repeated the ninja. There was a cry of anger, a voice Loraine recognized, from the far side of the battlefield. Staggering back up again, she stabbed blindly at the ninja.
"You're a liar-" she gasped, coughing up something fluid. "You're a liar and a cheater, you didn't play fair-" She coughed again. The dusty, grey tiles below her were spattered with blood.
"You
didn't either," shouted the human. "That's why we're
bringing you in!" As the viera launched herself again, her opponent
turned one of her katanas around and clubbed Loraine on the head with
the hilt. Stunned, Loraine dropped and sank.
"Can't…die…"
she managed, her katana slipping from limp fingers.
"Why
not?" asked her foe, almost emotionlessly.
"Never…told…Matias…"
she coughed up blood again. The ninja bent down next to her, dodging
an arrow quickly and lifting the viera's head off the ground.
"Never told Matias what?" she asked quietly.
"Never…told…him
I…told him I…" Loraine coughed again. The ninja didn't
flinch, and caught the next arrow that came at her.
"Tell me,"
she whispered. "I'll pass it on."
"Told him I…watched the stars…for a long time," gasped Loraine, just as the world went black. She somehow knew that this ninja would make good on her word. She felt her head slipping back onto the ground.
-----------------
Matias cried out as he saw Loraine fall. His heart stung, suddenly, that he'd never really got to tell her what he felt.
"Loraine!"
he yelled, surging towards her through the crowd.
"Not so fast,
bucky!" howled Etoile, sliding in front of him and holding an arrow
to his head.
"Go
away!" yelled Matias helplessly, casting Matra Magic on her as he
ran. She sank to her knees, temporarily stunned. He was stopped short
in his tracks by a slender form.
"Ingg!" he shouted,
desperate. "Just let me get to Loraine!"
"She's dead, Matias," Ingg answered. He stopped.
"D-dead…" he stared at her, drawing his saber and holding it between him and his sister.
"She told me to tell you she watched the stars for a long, long time." Leaving the blue mage dumbstruck, Ingg leaped away.
A few seconds later, Matias got up with a new respect for the world, only to be blasted by one illusionist who was taking out the frustration he was bearing concerning the Illusionist robes out on the enemy, and one time mage who was very, very superbly pissed at what his little brother had done in evil retribution for missing out on Lads' Night.
----------------
"We'll let you go," said Marche, "If you promise never to do it again."
"Aww," whined Etoile, none the worse for wear, "Can't we just murder them a little bit?"
"No," said Marche firmly. Nils was mourning over the bodies of his precious monsters. Sotel was being slammed against the wall by a furious Katarina, surrounded by a mog, a ninja and an illusionist. Miserie had her eyes closed as she huddled against the wall. A very pale Matias was crouched in the corner. He looked up, his eyes dull.
"You won't send us to jail?" he asked quietly.
"No," sighed Marche. "I won't. But come back, do it again, and so help me God I will rip your spine out, garrotte you with it and leave what is left of you to the strays."
"Nice," said the summoner, pausing from beating up the ninja briefly. "You're learning how to threaten, Marche!"
"Thank you," said Matias, getting up. "I won't."
"Put the clan leader down, Kat," warned Ingg.
"Okay, okay…sheesh…" grumbled the irked summoner, dropping the dazed ninja. Ingg helped the clan leader to his feet, and Matias came and lifted him.
"Until
we meet again, Matias," Ingg said quietly.
"Until we meet
again, Ingg," he agreed, slinging the clan leader over one
shoulder. "Nils! Come and help!" Miserie followed, silent.
Watching the company stagger off onto the road out of the jagd, Marche looked at Ingg.
"I thought they had one more clan member?" he asked.
"They do," she whispered, paling. "Oh, no."
She raced after them.
"Wait!" she called, Etoile following her. "Wait! Stop!" The four of them turned.
"What now?" asked Matias tiredly.
"Your other clan member. You left her behind."
"Leave
her," growled Sotel, abruptly regaining consciousness.
"What?"
asked Miserie, shocked. "We can't leave Raine behind!"
"She's dead, isn't she?" asked the ninja callously. "Leave her."
"But-" Nils began to speak.
"I'm the clan leader," snarled Sotel. "And I say: Leave her." Etoile peered at him, then nodded and took Ingg's arm.
"Come on, they don't want her," she said quietly, drawing the ninja off. Ingg knew better than to ask questions. Etoile just knew these things. Beneath her aura of violence and general confidence was a little viera who had seen her parents and brother murdered before her by a bandit clan, a little viera who could see madness.
"Why?" demanded the human later.
"He's snapped," declared Etoile. "Gone mad. The loss of drove him insane."
"Of the
battle, or of her?" asked Katarina.
"Of both, I guess,"
shrugged Etoile.
"That's all fine and well," said Darios, "But what do we do with her?" He motioned to where the assassin lay, on an unused bed. He saw the seven glares fixed on him and asked, "What? What?"
---------------
That evening, the fallen clan nursed their wounds in silence while Matias recuperated his magic. The blue mage limped out of his tent, walked to the nearby stream and took a drink, then looked up at the stars. A pang filled him with guilt. He was about to turn around and go back to his tent, to sleep, to forget, but he saw a rabbit jump out of the bushes nearby.
"You loved rabbits, didn't you, Raine," he whispered to himself.
"Are you
worried about her?" asked a voice from behind as a comforting hand
landed on his shoulder. He turned. It was Nils.
"I hope she's
ok," he answered.
"She made it to peace, Matti boy," said
Nils, patting his shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."
"Really?" asked the blue mage miserably, ignoring the second comment.
"Raine can take care of herself," the hunter replied, and left.
Matias sat down and cried for a viera he knew, a viera who was his friend, who he had almost loved, now lying dead in a jagd.
