The Stranger

By Xenomorph666

Disclaimer: I own only the characters of Wraith, Skalla, Perf, Moggly, Captain, Birch and Beano. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and all related artifacts are owned by Square-Enix

Summary: He arrived with no knowledge, no family, no way of knowing that the miasma should kill him. Now the strange young man journey's with the caravan that has welcomed him as they collect their myrrh, while he journey's for the truth of his past.

Tag

As left the Mayor's house I saw Moggly running around with several children in a circle. At first I thought the children were trying to harm the little one. Then Skalla and Captain came running after the children.

"Who wants to play some tag!" Captain said as he hefted his gloved hand into the air.

"WE DO!" All the children yelled as one.

"OH! I DO!" Moggly squealed in his high pitched voice as he bounced on one of the young children's head.

"Alright, then you'd better run or the big bad Giga Lord is going to get you…" Captain immediately looked at me. "AND THERE HE IS!" I spun around expecting to see a monster, but nothing was there. Then I heard the children laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, confused by their sudden jovial outburst.

"You thought Captain was saying a monster was behind you!" One of the small children, who reminded me of Perf, chuckled.

"Yes, I did." I said, still confused, "But how is that humorous."

"Because we're playing Tag… and you're it!" The little boy said with another chuckle.

"Tag? It?" My confusion was apparently obvious, though I would have thought Captain would have know that I did not know this game.

"Wraith, it's a game. All the little kids try to run away from you while you try and tag them out so they have to sit by the fountain. When they're all by the fountain you win, but one of them can come up and tag the fountain to send the others out again." Captain tried to explain it to me.

"Is this a training exercise?" I asked, trying to comprehend "tag's" purpose. Captain only blinked a few times.

"Ok, lets try this again." He pointed to the young man who resembled Perf. "Jake, you and Mimie act it out." The two bowed at me and then to Captain. "You see, if Jake is 'it' he is the tagger. His point in the game is to tap the people he's chasing and one he does so, they have to sit at the designated "home base"."

"Ok…" I nodded as he explained further.

"However all the other people in the game who have not been tagged can run up to the home base and "release" the ones currently there." The children acted out a small scene, pretending to be afraid of Jake until Mimie tapped the water fountain. Then they scattered. "The person who is "it" is supposed to 'capture' all the other players, when he does so another 'it' is chosen and the game starts over again." All the children nodded.

For a few seconds I looked back and forth between the group of children and Captain. "I do not understand." I said, slightly ashamed that I could not understand this child's game.

"Well why don't you watch us play then." Mimie said as she waved her elder brother over. When he finally came she tapped him on the nose. "Tag, you're it." Then she and the others, including Captain, scattered around the village and Birch chased them all. Skalla however simply sat at the fountain and began to brush her hair.

"Do you understand 'tag'?" I asked as I sat next to her, confusion crossing my face.

"Of course, everyone know how to play tag." She said, then she winced. "Sorry, forgot about your uh… memory issues."

"I don't mind that so much. But not being able to understand a child's game, it confuses me." I absentmindedly took one of my daggers out and twirled it around.

"Well, it's not really anything to be ashamed about. I mean you don't even remember your name so really we shouldn't expect you to understand or remember pretty much everything." Skalla said as she fidgeted with the brush in her hair.

"I wish I could understand, but I can't." I sighed. "A child's game is beyond my knowledge."

"Well, maybe you just like a different kind of 'fun'." Skalla said as she continued to brush her hair, the long strands looked somewhat like water as she brushed them lightly.

"Fun, another alien concept to me." I sighed again, what was I doing here other than causing myself so much grief. "I should go…" I went to get up, but Skalla grabbed my arm.

"What's wrong?" A look of what I assumed was worry crossed her face.

"Nothing. I just don't belong here." I said as I tried to gently pull my arm free.

"Yes you do, you just have to find you niche." It was something I would have taken as uncharacteristic of Skalla. Was she trying to truly comfort me? "Come on the sun's setting and the festival's about to start, you have got to see this." She then pulled me away from the fountain as Roland sat the chalice on the edge.

"Wraith, come with me please. Skalla, join the others please." I obliged the older man once again as Skalla walked off and waved goodbye.

"Roland…" I started. "If I take your offer, I must insist that I do something for your village between the caravanning."

"I understand, it's not fun to feel helpless." Roland said it with an understanding smile. "Well since you seem to be so good at sensing the monster's you could patrol our borders to make sure no more get in."

I mulled the idea over for about to seconds. It made sense and it would get me away from the crystal for a bit. It would also afford me time alone, time to think and to wonder. "That sounds, like a good idea." I agreed in a soft voice.

"Yes, well we shall discuss it a bit more tomorrow, eh?" Then we came up the crystal, I had seen it earlier and it was little more than an eye sore to me. It's energy, just like that of the chalice sent waves of nausea and pain down my body, but I hid the pain and fear.

I waited in the dark recesses of a nearby building to watch their ceremony. Soon all the villagers had gathered in the around the crystal. I counted nearly two hundred people before I could count no more, but at estimate I would say the village held at least three hundred souls. Then Perf, Beano, Captain and Skalla all approached the crystal with torches held high and Roland gave a speech.

"This year our caravaner's have endured more than any other caravan before them. They have faced monsters with renewed strength, beyond that of even the Arch-Lich of the long forgotten city. They have face the angry souls of Tida. And with in these harsh battles they found a lost soul, a young man with no memory. But a young man with a good soul, for twice he saved our loved ones, twice he gave much more than should have been expected." Roland looked around for me, I could tell, he was searching for my green cloak. "Well he is a bit shy, but I hope you will welcome him into out community and please be patient with him, he has lost what most of us often take for granted. Memories. So let us help him build new and happy ones and pray for the recovery of the old ones, for only together will they help him find who he truly is."

After his speech the town cheered and smiled as Roland began to make gestures about the chalice. I don't quite know what happened next, but all I felt was searing pain, far worse than anything else I would ever come to know and the next thing I knew, I was in another world. It was wrapped in darkness, but I could see clearly.

The area I was in, was small and contained, as if built to house a single entity. And the entity was quite clear, in the center of the darkness was a purple glowing mass. In it I could feel the hate and rage of a millennia's worth of lost souls. And then all at once they stopped as I came back to consciousness. As I looked around I noticed I was in a bed and it was morning. To either side of me was Captain and Skalla, both were asleep though and looked as if they had not had sleep in a week. Then my thoughts turned back to the darkness. Was it a dream, or was it something more, a memory perhaps? Or the hallucinations of a freak?

"You're awake." Skalla said as she woke up, surprise lined her voice as she ran to the window and screamed out. "HE'S AWAKE!" Outside I could hear several loud murmurings and several people sighing, with relief or despair I could not tell. Then a familiar fluff ball filled the window.

"WRAITH! My friend Wraith is awake!" Moggly came zooming in through the window and plowed his soft body into mine for a grand moggle hug.

"How long…" I began to ask.

"Two weeks." Beano said as he walked in. "My family offered to give you a room, but Roland insisted that you stay here."

"Here?" I asked in confusion.

"You passed out at the ceremony, gave us all quite a scare. Isn't that right Skalla?" Beano's voice was laden with a hidden meaning, but then I did not notice it.

"Shut up beak boy." Skalla growled back at him.

"Anyway, you've been out for two weeks, and Roland insisted that you stay at his place. His son's old room to be exact." Beano said.

"His son?" I asked, something already telling me the answer, his son died in a caravan.

"Yeah, Roland's son was the leader of the caravan before Perf." Not a surprise to me for some reason. "They were best friends to, so he's a little sore about this."

"I have offended him?" I asked, slightly shocked.

"No, not you. Roland did, but it's not your fault." Skalla said as she sat at the foot of the bed.

"I see…" Again confusion crossed my face, and it was apparent.

"Come on, let's let him rest." They were about to leave when Beano motioned for Skalla to wake Captain up.

"No, let him be. He needs the rest." I said as I got up and looked for my cloak.

"What are you doing?" She asked in slight surprise.

"I need to speak to Roland." I said when I found my cloak on the other side of the door.

"You need rest." She said in a very overprotective tone.

"I've rested for two weeks, I need to move now." I said as I began to look for my daggers. "Where are they?"

"Drawer." She said "Well I'll let you kill yourself today, but tomorrow we're going clothes shopping for you." She said as she pointed to the clothes I had on. Dirty brown clothes, nothing special, just clothes.

"What's wrong with my clothes?" I asked again confusion, but also a slight sting of pain. Had she just insulted me?

"For one, people don't wear burlap sacks as clothes, not even Birch and he's fashion defunct times two."

"I heard that!" Birch's voice called from outside the window.

"Of course he also has the hearing of a hawk." Skalla grumbled. "Just don't go killing any monster's today, ok?" She said as she placed he hand on my shoulder, "Promise me?"

A few seconds passed as I looked into her eyes, a sadness was there but I could not exactly tell why. Still I agreed, "I promise." I said as I moved to the door and made my way downstairs.