The Stranger

By Xenomorph666

Disclaimer: I own only the characters of Wraith, Skalla, Perf, 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.

Birch

Two days later I had finished the mold for my new weapon and was busily working on my armor. I had decided that the many belts I had bought would be used as padding for my back and other sensitive areas and the rest would bused to strap and secure my boots and gloves. Though I did run into the small problem of having only one set of clothes to build off of, so I found myself returning to the Almota's tailoring shop, this time with a small allowance from Roland to help pay for the extra clothes. When I tried to repay him, Roland insisted that I take and not worry and as much as I wanted to flat out refuse the charity I knew I needed it so I took it and bought my new clothes.

After I had purchased the clothes, I went back to Roland's home and gathered the leather belts and padding I was going to apply to the new clothes. From there I went to find a quite place to do my work. I found it in the form of a small cliff overlooking the ocean, a few trees were scattered around so I chose to sit in the branches of one. The tree I chose had a small gravestone right under it and it struck me as slightly odd to put a grave on a cliff.

I then began to work on my tailoring, the thimbles that Mrs. Almota had given me proved to be quite useful for protecting my thumbs. And by the time I had finished the lower section of my armor the sun was still high in the sky, all I had left to do was to craft my upper armor, a much more complicated task, but still I found it done in only a matter of a few hours. When I looked up from my crafting I saw the sun was starting to set, a brilliant red and orange hue cast itself over the ocean. For those few moments I felt completely at peace. Then a sharp pain shot through me as a rock collided with my skull and I fell out of the tree. Despite the fall; however, I landed on my feet and saw Birch not far from the tree. Had he thrown the rock?

"Get out of here!" Birch shouted at me as he raised a weapon similar to Skalla's above his head.

I just stood there staring at him with a blank expression, before I spoke, "Did you throw the rock at me?" I asked, slightly confused.

"Yeah, now leave you don't belong here!" He charged me, I just ducked and then pushed him forward. He stumbled from the push, which gave me enough time to reach for me new armor, I couldn't risk damage to it just yet.

"Get out!" He growled as he turned and charged again. I was still confused as to why, but I did have to defend myself, so with three swift movements my daggers were drawn, Birch's weapons were knocked from his hands and my daggers were back in their sheathes.

"Why are you attacking me?" I asked as I walked over and picked up Birch's weapon, and I saw a look of awe and confusion in his face.

"How'd you do that? All I saw was a blur!" Shock still covered his face as I handed the weapon back.

"I reacted, now why were you attacking me?" I asked, a slight annoyance in my voice.

His face got very hollow then, a look of sorrow and grief. "That's my mother's grave." He said as he walked over to the stone. "Or rather what would be her grave."

"I don't understand." I said, confused as to his meaning.

"When I was born, my mom got depressed, very depressed and she thought that ending it all would be best." He looked at the cliff's edge. "So she jumped."

"But your younger sister?" Another confusing fact crossed my mind.

"My dad remarried when I was ten." Birch's voice was stone cold with hatred. "He tried to forget her, tried to make me forget."

A downcast look crossed my face, apparently I had violated some unknown taboo. "I apologize then, I had no idea this was for your mother."

"Like that would have made a difference." He sneered at my apology.

"It would have." I said, a slight shock from his comment. "I respect life and death, I would have chosen a different tree to work in had I known."

Another soft look crossed his face as the sun set into darkness, then it returned to normal. "What were you doing up there anyway?"

I held out the pieces of my armor to show him. "I decided I needed my own armor, something light and durable, but more protective than a single piece." I shrugged as I folded them, "It must seem odd to you and your people, how I act and behave."

"Sometimes, yeah." Birch said as he motioned for me to walk back to town with him. I quickly fell into step. "But give us some time, we'll get used to you."

"I think it would be better to adapt here than to have you adapt to me, don't you think?" I said in genuine curiosity.

"Now that's a brilliant idea." He snapped with a sarcastic tone. "Trust me, don't change who you are, that's how you end up like Geeko-Suprem-o Perf."

"You don't like him?" I asked, recalling their earlier fight.

"We used to be friends." Birch propped his hands behind his head. "Then he lead the caravan and he changed, he stopped being fun, started being more concerned with stupid things."

"Like?" I asked.

"Weapons, armor, artifacts. Personally I have a firm belief that the fighter is the real weapon, and if they're good enough they won't need artifacts or any of that junk." Birch explained his philosophy to me.

"Maybe…" I said, "But it also stands to reason that even the best fighter makes mistakes from time to time, correct?"

"Yeah…" He gave me a sideways glance.

"Then is it not better to be prepared than to be ripped six ways from nightfall." I said with my own return look.

"Maybe, but he takes it to a whole 'nother level. That scroll for the Excalibur, getting it nearly cost Beano his life. Perf will do anything for more powerful weapons." Birch said as we came to a door. "Well, see ya." He waved to me as he walked in.

"Goodbye." I said as my blood rand cold and my thoughts blazed back to my dream of the lich and Perf's odd treatment of the weapon scroll. He wouldn't try to make a weapon of destroying the world, would he? At the time, I said no. I had no idea how incredibly wrong I was…