Nascent
Disclaimer be in Part I
Author's Note: So... how do you think things are going so far? I know that the Original-Final-Fantasy-With-A-Twist thing is kinda common on FF-Net, but this is a different twist and a different novelization and... heck, it's more of an FF:U fic than an FFI fic. I think.
My story-to-plug of the day is "Fleeting Fantasies", a very amusing romance fic that pairs Kaze up with... ahh, that would be telling. Just note that it's one of the rarer pairings. The author, Klyre, characterizes everyone well (especially Kumo) and I'm waiting VERY impatiently for the next update, which I hope comes soon. Heehee. As a warning, there are hints of past Kiri/Kumo in the story, but that does not seem to be a major pairing, and besides, that ends up in a lot of my stuff too (sometimes as a normal sibling relationship, and sometimes as a romantic relationship). Read it!
Story now! Remember to give me nice, long, insightful reviews here! One-line reviews are one of my biggest pet peeves!
(Aura)
The soldier drags Lisa off, so naturally, the rest of us follow.
We end up at the big castle at the center of the city, in the chamber atop the main building. There, a big guy in a dark robe with curly hair and a curly beard sits in a simple chair, looking sad. A shrewd-looking bald dude in fancy clothes sits at his right side, giving us a look like we're something smelly being waved under his nose.
The soldier goes and whispers something to the guy in the chair, who seems to be the king. The man nods, then addresses us directly.
"Welcome, travelers." His voice is rich and deep, and he speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I am told you carry crystals. Is this true?"
The four of us look at each other; Lisa stares at her rabbitskin shoes and fingers the jewel at her throat. I slowly pull out my blue stone; Kumo takes out his mint-green one, Kiri displays his rubylike gem, and after a pause, Kaze shows the king his golden-brown one.
The king nods, looking thoughtful. "It's just as Lukahn's prophecy foretold... when darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall come."
The nasty guy points at Lisa with a snooty face. "Your Majesty, we cannot be certain that these are the warriors foretold by the prophecy. Lukahn mentioned four warriors, not five. Who is this girl?"
"A friend," Kiri snaps, giving the man the evil eye.
"They stand before us with the crystals," the king says slowly. "I cannot dismiss this as mere coincidence. Crystal bearers, there is a task I would ask of you. Will you not rescue my daughter, Sarah?"
The snooty man rolls his eyes, sighs, and speaks. "Garland, a knight once in His Majesty's service, has abducted Princess Sarah. I ask for your aid in the name of His Majesty, the king of Cornelia. Garland has taken refuge in the Chaos Shrine, which lies to our north. Of course, we did attempt to save the princess ourselves... but Garland is the finest swordsman in the kingdom. We have none who can match him."
As he speaks, Lisa's dark eyes get bigger and bigger, and she starts to shiver. Does she know something about this?
"I've heard that you wish to journey to the continent to our north," the king begins again. "The bridge leading north was lost long ago, making passage impossible. If you can rescue Sarah, I will have the bridge rebuilt as a sign of my gratitude. Go now, Warriors of Light, and do not fail me!"
"We've heard some talk of a crystal in the north," Aura explained as the five of them headed back through the castle. "If it has something to do with ours, we have to at least check it out, right? I mean... we have no idea what we're doing or where we're going, so we need to examine every lead we find."
Lisa nodded, feeling cold. A knight who had captured a young girl and held her hostage... it had to be the man who had... she shivered again, unable to control it.
"What's wrong?" Kumo asked, a crease forming at the center of his brow. "Lisa..."
"It's just that, well..." she faltered, grinding her toe into the castle's stone floor.
"Something's the matter, certainly," Aura said sternly, planting her hands on her hips. "That look on your face says it pretty plainly."
"I think that man Garland... is the one who hurt me," Lisa replied in a very small voice, still grinding her toe, tucking her chin, and twisting like a little girl.
The others stared at her in stunned silence.
"He must be stopped," Kaze said in a low and angry voice.
"Oniichan's right," Aura echoed. "If he's the one who did that to you... I am personally gonna have a little 'word' with him, and that word ain't gonna be 'blessings'!"
"But he's... very strong," Lisa tried to tell them. "He..."
"We aren't that weak ourselves, thank you very much," Kiri cut her off with a snort. "We've gotta go get rid of him. He's a nasty jerk if all he can think to do is pick on girls."
Kumo nodded, pale-faced and wide-eyed.
Lisa bowed her head. "I... I want to help you..." When she looked up at them, her expression told them that she'd resolved herself. "I couldn't defend myself, but I can avenge myself... I hope."
Aura's crooked smile returned as she gave the other girl a whack on the shoulder. "That's a good girl. I knew you'd be useful somehow."
"Uh, actually..." Kiri gave an almost barking half-laugh. "You wanted to leave her at the healer's because you thought she wasn't strong enough to help us."
Glaring and blushing, Aura shook her fist at him. "Shut it, you! I did not!"
"Did so!"
"I did NOT!"
"Yes you did..."
Kumo shook his head. "There they go again..."
The Chaos Shrine the king had spoken of lay to the north of Cornelia, at the tip of a peninsula that jutted slightly from the surrounding land. From the look of it, it had surely seen better daysits higher floors had been destroyed by time, leaving only the ground level intact. Its gray marble walls were stained with age, and cracks ran through the stone, threatening the once-great building with destruction.
Slowly, the little party straggled through the door, looking around.
"Garland's somewhere in here," Aura muttered dubiously, fingering something in a sheathlike slip of leather at her belt.
Kaze and Kiri, meanwhile, were glaring around the structure, as if the errant knight was lurking around a corner somewhere and they had heard or seen him.
Lisa walked timidly forward, twisting at the rough hem of her shift. Although her earlier words had been brash, even brave, in truth she really did not want to do this. If Garland had attacked her, he could do it againand to Aura as well, perhaps even to Kumo, who was young and childishly naive and even feminine, if you wanted to look at him that way. And surely he would not hesitate to kill Kaze and Kiri. She shuddered at the thought and wondered guiltily why she had gotten her new friends into this.
Kumo sighed dreamily and took a few waltzing steps into the shrine, pressing both hands to his heart in rapture. "I love this place," he said with a smile. "I love it, I love it, I love it..."
"What's with you, chibi-chan?" Aura asked, also smiling in her crooked, likable way.
"It just feels so, so... warm," Kumo breezed happily, still half-dancing. "It's a beautiful, beautiful place... but also sad, because so much that should have been treasured was lost..."
Kiri, relaxing, went up to his little brother, giving Kumo a gentle hug which the white-haired boy enthusiastically returned. "Ototo-chan... has a strong connection to the elements," he told the others by way of explanation. "This place... seems to be under the focus of an elemental current. The essences of everything are almost alive in here, and it has... a euphoric effect."
Lisa nodded. She could understand what he meant; the spirits flowed around her, as if trying to bolster her confidence. "I see..."
Kaze raised his eyebrows, then pointed to the chamber at the center of the shrine. "He's in there," he said, sounding almost amused. "Garland's in there. In this place... it's hard to miss such amorality."
"Shall we?" Aura asked enthusiastically, an unholy expression of cheer on her face. Lisa twitched.
"Yes, let's," Kiri replied, just as cheerfully. For once, they were in perfect agreement. Though still a little uneasy, Lisa couldn't help but smile, feeling some of her anxiety fade away.
And so the five of them headed into the very core of the Chaos Shrine.
A man in black armor stood in the middle of the room, in front of a strange crystal that looked like a ball of night without stars. On the floor next to him was a girl in a white dress with wavy teal hairshe was unconscious but seemed otherwise unharmed. Five bats keened mournfully as they flitted around the room.
"The king will have no choice but to trade the kingdom for his daughter's life," Garland gloated. "Cornelia is mine!"
"OI! Pedophile!" Aura barked. Garland jumped and turned around, glaring. "That's Sarah, if I'm not mistaken? Then would you mind handing her over? Maybe that way we'll spare your miserable life."
Lisa barely kept from slapping herself. Aura had to put it so bluntly...
"What's this?" Garland asked snidely. "The king's lapdogs?" Aura replied with a particularly foul curse that made Lisa wince and Kiri clap his hands over his brother's ears with an angry glare at her. "You actually think you can take the great Garland?" He laughed, as if they'd made some uproarious joke. "Fine! Then I shall cut you all down!"
And with that, he lunged.
Lisa barely managed to get out of the way, but the others leaped as soon as Garland shifted his weight. Kumo and Kiri both whipped out wicked-looking broadswords (Kumo's white, Kiri's red), and Aura pulled out a silvery thing that looked somewhat like a miniature cannon. Kaze also drew one of the cannon-like things, although his was longer and red in color.
Kaze was the first to reacthe fired the cannon device, but the ball bounced off Garland's protective armor. With a growled curse, the tall man put it away and ran to grab Lisa's wrist, pulling her out of the fray.
"Stay with me," he ordered her. "I will protect you."
Lisa stared up at him, but only for a moment; the sounds of the fight drew her attention again.
Kiri and Kumo danced around Garland, each wielding his monstrous sword in one hand. The knight was doing a remarkable job of fending off both of them as they attacked as one; however, he was getting hit. After a few slashes that Lisa had trouble seeing clearly, both brothers leaped backwards. Lisa turned in time to see Aura raise her silver device to eye level and fire it. Instead of a miniature ball like the one Kaze had fired, from the barrel of this little cannon burst a blast of raw lightning energy, which hit Garland and knocked him off balance.
Kumo, seeing his chance, darted forward again, but as he was about to strike, Garland's crude blade thrust forward, taking the young teen off guard.
And the strike connected.
Garland's blade struck the helpless Kumo squarely beneath the diaphragm, transfixing him.
Kumo gave a short cry and let his sword slip from nerveless hands, clattering against the cracked tile floor. Sneering, Garland kicked his victim, dragging his sword from Kumo's body. The swordsman crumpled to the ground, his eyes shut loosely, his hands tucked to his belly as if to cover the wound. Blood coursed over his fingers, between them, spreading in a low pool under his body.
Kiri, who like the others had stared horrified as Garland attacked, snapped into action. His eyes glowing, he shot at the evil knight with a cry of hatred and loss, swinging his heavy broadsword with all the strength he could muster.
His blow connected at Garland's neck, sending his head flying, face locked in a perpetual ghastly grin. The twitching corpse fell against the nightlike crystal and disappeared, but the party paid it scant notice.
Kiri stood breathing raggedly, then sheathed his great sword after slashing once to clear the blade of blood. Trembling slightly, he walked unsteadily to his brother's side. Aura and Kaze still stood frozen, but Lisa too ran to kneel next to Kumo.
The wound was bad and the bloodstain on the tile spreading quickly. Kumo's face was already pale as death, and his breathing was coarse and uneven. It was clear that he didn't have long.
"No..." Kiri whispered, stroking his little brother's soft hair. "Please... don't leave me here..."
Lisa roughly rolled Kumo to his back, pressed both hands to his fading heart, and let the light inside her rush out until she thought she would burst. As her palms began to glow, she let out a frantic scream: "LIFE!"
Even as she said it, the wound flickered and filled, becoming only a shallow slice out of Kumo's skin; painful but nowhere near fatal. At the same moment, Kumo's back arched inwards and he let out a sobbing gasp for breath, his chest heaving.
Kiri glanced at Lisa, surprisedshe'd slumped backwards, exhaustedthen turned his attention back to his brother. "Kumo-chan? Ototo? Are you...?"
"Niisama...?" Kumo asked weakly. Kiri swept his brother into his arms and held him with a fierce love that bespoke how close he knew he'd come to losing his dear one.
Kaze and Aura both stared at Lisa, looking impressed. "So you are useful after all." Although Aura's tone was joking, her voice was shaking. "That's powerful white magic. Why didn't you tell us about this before?"
Lisa gave her friend a bleary-eyed look that communicated how much she really did not want to talk at the moment.
They were saved from the awkwardness of the moment when little Princess Sarah started to wake. The small girl sat up woozily and scrubbed her blue eyes with the knuckles of her delicate hand. Slowly, she looked around the room, taking in everyone who stood there, as well as Garland's absence. "You saved me...?" Her voice was soft and hesitant, and her slow manner of speech was not unlike her father's. "That's the first time anyone's ever defeated Garland. Please, allow me to take you back to Cornelia to show my thanks!"
(Aura)
The king had been so grateful, he'd sent one of his men off to begin repairing the bridge to the next continent at once. Even his snooty chancellor fairly sang our praises. Sarah, nearly in tears (either from thankfulness or the fact that we were leaving), gave Kumo the lute of the royal house, with the explanation that it might help us in our quest.
Lisa, who collapsed once we left the palace, is asleep. Kaze, sitting against a nearby tree, might not seem to care much, but I can tell that he is watching her to make sure she's alright. Kiri, too, is sleepinghe didn't even make it to his bedroll but is curled up on the ground with the tight wad of futon under his head as a makeshift pillow. Kumo, like me, is still wide awake. He's sitting and staring into the fire, his soft-toned eyes seeming to be lit from within by the reflection of the embers.
It's my guess that what almost happened to him today is starting to sink in. If not for Lisa, he would be dead right now; it's questionable if Lisa even knew what she was doing when she healed him. She has a straightforward mindset and wouldn't hide something like that... or would she?
At any rate, it's Kumo that I'm worried about. The rest of us are in our later teens, considered adults at home... capable of making our own choices within our destinies. But him... he's young, and sweet-natured, and very sheltered from the realities of life. A trip like this is going to take a heavy toll on his innocent heart. As young as he is, he's going to be forced to grow up.
He already is.
I can see it in his eyes, behind the blank mirrors of carefully schooled calmness. For perhaps the first time in his life, he's really afraid.
And according to the legends passed down in our village from mother to daughter, he should be.