This is the final section of the 3 part saga based around Fayte, Tohma, Styrth, Tornex, and Karrick. It is again set 5 years into the future. After the loss of Alex, Fayte had allegedly went into hiding, but even he doesn't remember everything that happened. As new characters are thrown into the mix this next set of chapters is sure to rouse some interest among Final Fantasy XI fans. At the beginning of each chapter I will have a small bit of text that will help build plot and fill holes. They are reasonably shrewd, but will help none the less. Our story picks up 5 years into the future in the soggy wet marshlands of Pashow. Oh ya! Copyright stuff. Everything related directly to FFXI is copyright to SE. All character traits are copyrighted to me and all characters are copyrighted to the players (yes they are real) who play the game.
"How long has he been back?"
"His memories of the ascension should come back soon…"
"That wasn't my question Theo…"
"12 days my lord"
"And this girl Alex?"
"Removed, as you requested…"
"Good. Keep an eye on him…"
"Yes my lord Hector…"
"What about his friends…"
"They will find him, all is going as planned"
"Excellent. We needn't have a repeat…"
"When should we send the other…"
"How long until he remembers his mission…"
"A few days I would think…"
"Send the other when he remembers why he was sent back"
"Yes my Lord…"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As the rain poured down on the marshy wetlands of Pashow Gaglevan strode along. He needed to find some shelter, at least until it stopped raining. The pitter-patter of raindrops on his armor was beginning to drive him insane. His chocobo took large strides, it wouldn't be long before he would be out of the marshlands, but the rain was growing stronger. As he neared a large tree he thought it would make a good place to stay for a while. As he pulled up to the tree he hopped down. Grabbed the rope around his chocobo's neck and tied it to the tree. He set himself up a small camp, he would be able to keep warm, talk to everyone in the linkshell, it would be good until the rain stopped.
Pashow is known strongly as a wet, damp, dirty swamp filled with bugs and annoyances, rain being one of the most annoying. But it was a quick route to Jeuno, so many took it anyway. Gaglevan, a member of the hunter linkshell, Diabolic Muffins, was going through Pashow to get to a large linkshell meeting that was taking place in Jeuno. He had lots of time. A hunter linkshell is a linkshell group dedicated to finding something, or someone, in this case it was a person. Fayte, a shadow among shadows, someone who came and went like the wind, or had many years ago. It was Gaglevan's and everyone else's job who was in the linkshell to find him.
"Alright Kip" Gaglevan sighed as he sat up against the tree, "I guess we'll take a break."
As he scratched the large bird under the chin he could see a figure emerging from the pouring rain. A thief, riding a chocobo, in the same direction, to the same tree Gaglevan was now at. The hume strode up under the protective branches of the tree and jumped down. He too tied his chocobo to the large tree and set his gear against the roots, with a sigh he slide down the tree to a seated position, directly opposite Gaglevan.
"So…you're the 'Great Giant' are you?" the thief questioned.
Gaglevan, being an Elvaan was sometimes referred to as the Great Giant on the battlefield during raids. He supposed it was a nickname, but why would this man refer to him by it…
"Yes, how can I help you?" Gaglevan questioned, intrigued by the notion that he had some fame outside the linkshell.
"I would like to speak with the leader of that linkpearl you carry…" the thief asked, almost in an ordering tone.
"Alright, here, you can keep the pearl if you wish" Gaglevan said as he pulled a pearl out of the pouch he kept with him.
As the thief took the small pearl from Gaglevan's hand he looked at it, how strange, such a small thing could cause so much trouble for him. He then raised it so it was level with his chest.
"I wish to speak with the leader of this linkshell…"
"Hello, I'm Tohma, I started this linkshell" a girl chirped.
"I recognize the voice, dear Tohma, have you not changed…" the thief responded with a laugh.
"Uh…sure, how can I help you- I didn't catch your name?" Tohma asked.
"I want you to discontinue your search for the man named Fayte…"
"What, why?" Tohma asked.
"I don't wish to hide anymore…"
There was a moment of silence. Gaglevan knew in that instance that he was sitting no further than 3 yards from the man he was supposed to find and bring in if he could. What should he do? Tohma was silent, the whole linkshell system was silent.
"Fayte?" another voice came from the pearl.
"Hello Styrth…"
"Where the fuck are you?" Styrth yelled, he sounded infuriated.
"Stop looking for me…"
With that as a final statement Fayte crushed the small pearl in his hand, the sounds of his comrades from his past gurgled off as it cracked. He looked at it in his hand, the shattered linkpearl pieces glistened, then faded. This elvaan wasn't trustworthy, if Fayte stayed he could end up getting into some trouble.
"Thank you" Fayte said as he stood up to find Gaglevan already standing, weapon in hand.
"I cant let you leave Fayte…" Gaglevan said softly, yet surely.
"You cant stop me…" Fayte said with a smile.
"I don't need to stop you, just keep you busy for a few minutes…" Gaglevan said as he looked off in the direction Fayte had come from.
Someone was coming, someone who could help, someone, from the linkshell. But who? Who else was already in Pashow? Fayte was going to find out, fairly soon.
"You wish to fight me?" Fayte said with a laugh.
"Don't make me hurt you…" Gaglevan said slowly sliding into a battle position.
"Your will is justified, but its an ill choice…" Fayte said as he turned and began to untie his chocobo, calmly.
As he finished untying his chocobo and getting ready to leave Gaglevan made his move. He stepped forward and picked Fayte up by one of his arms. Fayte was hanging in mid air, his free hand had grabbed one of his daggers. With a quick slice upward Gaglevan let him go.
"Ugh…" Gaglevan groaned holding his arm, a large cut now torn through his armor and flesh.
"I warned you…" Fayte said as he put his weapon back.
"Now you have to deal with her" Gaglevan said pointing out from under the tree.
A small hume running toward them. She had a lance in her hand and a wyvern behind her. It was Tohma, no doubt about it. She now wore a complete dragoon set of armor however, impressive to see. She strode gracefully, her face was filled with emotion, Fayte couldn't tell what she felt more, resentment, pain, angry, sadness, happiness?
"Fayte!" Tohma yelled as she came to a stop on the threshold of the tree, she remained outside, the rain was coming down harder now.
"What can I do for you dear Tohma?" Fayte said as he walked out and gave her small Wyvern a stroke under the neck.
"Your coming with me, we're going to Jeuno, and you have a lot of things to explain to us…" Tohma ordered, hitting his hand away from her wyvern.
Fayte looked at her. He almost wanted to cry, he hadn't seen her in so long. But everything seemed like a dream. He smiled and walked up to her. She wouldn't allow him inside the radius of her lance, she kept him at that distance.
"Dear Tohma…" Fayte said as he simply kept walking toward her, the end of the lance was now cutting his chest.
"Don't make me hurt you Fayte…" Tohma said.
"You can't hurt me more than you already have…" Fayte said as he sidestepped around her lance and continued walking, now drawing his daggers.
As he leapt toward her he drove himself into her small wyvern knocking it out of the air and onto the ground. With a quick dash he picked up the small creature.
"Put Felix down!" Tohma said, fear in her voice.
The wyvern was crying out, it wanted to be freed. Fayte hadn't hurt little Felix, but he wasn't letting go of her. He held her and kept the same distance from Tohma, he was smiling and stroking Felix along her back.
"I wouldn't hurt her Tohma…" Fayte said as he put the wyvern into the tree on a branch, Felix, having been massaged was now content, almost asleep.
Tohma, now in her ire leapt forward and stabbed toward Fayte, putting all her strength into her attack. He dodged it with a mild step to the left and dashed forward under her arm and into her chest, knocking her off her feet. Gaglevan watched as Fayte seemingly played with her.
"Do you think is a game?" Tohma said sitting on the ground, "you think its funny?"
"Actually, now that you-" Fayte began but was interrupted as Gaglevan took a swing at him from behind with his large sword, Fayte again ducked under it.
Fayte, now faced with one of the linkshells finest simply jumped up and kicked the elvaan in the side of the head. Gaglevan fell, hard, and fast. He must have almost been knocked out. But Fayte didn't have time to check, he had another person to deal with, Tohma, who was now on her feet swinging away at him with her large lance.
"How…is…this for…funny!" Tohma said as she lunged forward and caught Fayte in the shoulder.
Fayte gave a cry and fell to his knees, blood draining from his shoulder down the lance. He looked at her and smiled. She was a lot stronger than he remembered. Fayte stood up, the lance still in his shoulder and walked forward, sending it completely through him. He stood face to face with the girl, the rain coming down on them both.
"Not bad…" Fayte whispered as he layed his head on her shoulder and fell to one side.
Tohma watched, as his body seemed to become a rag. He lay there gasping for air, she had hit is lung; there was no doubt about it. Fayte reached up and pulled the lance from her hand, she was in shock, she couldn't believe what she had just done. She watched as he pushed it through the wound and pulled it out the other end. Struggling he pulled himself to his feet and hobbled over to his chocobo. As he was about to mount the bird Gaglevan grabbed him by the shoulder, which was now a gaping hole. Fayte cried out in pain and simple hung there.
"Gaglevan, we need him alive…" Tohma said as she looked at Fayte hanging like a doll.
"I can heal this for now, but we are not going to be able to keep him alive very long, he needs medical attention, you did some serious damage…" Gaglevan said looking at her.
"I…I couldn't control myself…" Tohma said, "I missed him, and I hated him, but I didn't want this…I didn't want this…"
Tohma got up onto the chocobo Fayte was riding and Gaglevan put Fayte up with her. They tied his hands around her waste, he was now unconscious, they needn't worry about him escaping, but they needed to worry about him falling off en-route. The rain was getting worse, if Rolanberry wasn't nicer they would have to camp out in the crawlers nest overnight.
"It's a 2 hour ride to the Crawlers Nest Tohma" Gaglevan reminded as they rode out from under the tree.
"I know, I think we should camp there for the night" Tohma answered.
"I agree, ill go on ahead and set up a camp" Gaglevan said as he gave his chocobo a light kick.
As Gaglevan's chocobo increased speed he was soon out of sight. Having a camp already setup would save a lot of time for Tohma. She wanted time to question Fayte about everything! All that had happened in the years he was in hiding. As she rode through the marshlands time seemed to flow in and out.
She wasn't sure how long she had been riding before she noticed it, Fayte's hands trying to untie the knot, but she was fairly sure the Crawlers Nest wasn't to much further. Fayte, who was now awake was in a lot of pain, his shoulder was still bleeding badly, he didn't know where he was.
"Where…are we?" Fayte asked as they went over a small bump causing his head to slam into the back of her armor.
"Are you alright?" Tohma said as she brought the chocobo to a slower speed.
Fayte was almost comatose after the blow. He went like a rag and slid off the side of the chocobo, bringing Tohma down with him. The chocobo stopped and looked at them, then went to a small tree not to far off and somehow managed to fit under it. Tohma, who was a little worried now untied the knot and rolled Fayte over. He was almost unconscious again.
"Fayte, are you alright?" Tohma said as she lifted his head to see if he was bleeding.
"I…Alex?" Fayte mumbled as he dosed out of consciousness, once again.
"Damnit…" Tohma muttered as she walked over to the chocobo and got him ready to go again.
As she pushed Fayte up onto the bird he almost fell off the other side. But she managed to jump up behind him and steady his frail looking body. With a "Hah!" Tohma had the chocobo going again. Fayte was not tied down like before, so she had to go slower.
Alex? Tohma thought to herself, he better tell us everything about Alex…
As the two came to the Crawlers Nest Fayte jumped down and watched the chocobo make a sharp turn, sending Fayte falling off the other side. He was having a rough day, and he wasn't even awake for most of it. Tohma walked over to him and picked him up over her shoulder. Only wearing light cloths as a thief made him far lighter than when she tried lifting Styrth while he was wearing his samurai armor. At the thought of that she giggled a little.
"There you are!" Gaglevan said as he took Fayte from her shoulder and layed him down next to the fire on a small blanket.
"So, what happened?"
"What do you mean?" Tohma asked as she walked in with the gear that was on the chocobo, the chocobo was running off into the rain.
"His head, it looks pretty bad…" Gaglevan said as he touched the large cut on Fayte's head.
"It didn't look that bad before…" Tohma said, more worried than ever.
"Here, ill see what I can do" Gaglevan mumbled as he pulled out a staff.
As Gaglevan began to cast a high leveled curing spell Tohma noticed both the shoulder and head wounds mend themselves. It looked like they were sealing reasonably well, but as Gaglevan has said, it didn't look good enough.
"He should be ok, but he needs rest, and we need to get him to Jeuno tomorrow" Gaglevan said.
"Alright, well its getting late so we should all probably get some sleep" Tohma said with a yawn.
As Gaglevan arranged his sleeping area Tohma arranged hers. They set it up in a triangle, Fayte against the far wall, the fire in the middle, Tohma furthest into the cave and Gaglevan near the enterance. Tohma had always been known to curl up against those she slept next to, but she hadn't done it since Alex was killed. So many things about her changed when Alex died…
As the two dosed off Tohma kept remembering all the fun times she had with her friends. The time she thought Fayte had died. So much had happened, she couldn't believe she had actually stabbed him. This was the boy she trusted when she was younger. The 4 of them were unbreakable, Styrth, Tornex, Herself…and Fayte. How could so much have changed. As she finally began fell asleep her thoughts were banished, all there was left was peace.
"Ahhugh…" Tohma groaned as she pulled herself out of her sleeping bag.
She was in her under garments, but Gaglevan was sound asleep and so was Fayte. She threw on some older piece of gear she wore in the morning and walked out barefoot into the cave entrance. To her surprise she saw Fayte, sitting on a rock outside looking at the sun rising. He was in some pants he must have had in his sac, no shirt, no shoes, almost the same thing she had thought of.
As Tohma slowly walked closer to him she could hear him humming something. She recognized it, but she didn't know where it was from.
"Fayte…" Tohma whispered.
Fayte turned around to see her in what looked like a robe that was far to big for her. She was barefoot and her hair was a bit of a mess.
"I'm not going with you" Fayte replied, turning back to look at the horizon.
"Your injured, you don't really have a choice…" Tohma said again, in a calm comforting voice.
"Was, I was injured" Fayte said as he turned around and stood up.
Tohma watched as he walked up to her. She noticed the hole in his shoulder was almost completely healed, but how? That was going to need medical attention or he could die, over one night of sleep it healed this much? The gash on his head was not a small cut.
"Now. I am going to get my gear, and I am going to leave…" Fayte said as he walked past her.
"I wont let you leave" Tohma barked out, she was getting annoyed.
"You cant stop me…" Fayte whispered.
"I did yesterday, didn't I?" Tohma said in a provocative tone.
Fayte turned to look at her. He looked at her up and down then he smiled. This beautiful girl her had known since almost birth was now an adult. He walked up to her slowly, she stepped back a few steps, almost as if she was afraid. Fayte, on one quick step had his mouth to her ear.
"Don't make me hurt you…"
Tohma ran past him and grabbed her lance. Fayte was still standing there, now looking at her again. She had her weapon in her hand and this time she was concentrating, she wasn't angry. She wasn't in a rage, she was ready to do what she had to, to defeat him.
"I wont let you simply leave Fayte!" Tohma yelled, "I wont!"
She looked like she was going to cry. Fayte stood there, silent, guilty. He felt as if he had done something, but he didn't know what.
"Why do you pursue me?" Fayte asked walking slowly towards her.
"I want to know why you left Alex for dead and left us all for God knows what!" Tohma demanded.
"Alex…I recognize that name…" Fayte said.
"You should, you should remember everything about her…" Tohma said, tears were forming in her eyes as she crouched into a battle stance, ready to strike.
"I don't remember anything but the name," Fayte answered, continuing his slow stride towards her.
As Fayte walked up to her he put his hand on the end of her lance and lightly pushed it down. She didn't resist, he continued walking till he was no further than an inch from her. He looked at her; her eyes were focused on the ground. As Fayte wrapped his arms around her she dropped the lance and held him, tears streaming down her face.
"I missed you so much Fayte…" she managed to say.
"I…I'm sorry…" Fayte said.
As he held her she continued to cry. He thought of all the good times he had with her and the others. But he didn't know this Alex person, who was she? Tohma seemed as if it was almost a joke that he couldn't know who Alex was. He was also wondering how he had healed so fast. So many questions, but he didn't have any answers…
"Why did you leave us?" Tohma sobbed.
"I…don't know…" Fayte said, shock in his voice.
"Why couldn't you have come back?" Tohma cried as she hit him with a closed fist in the shoulder, over, and over again.
"I…" Fayte tried to say something that might comfort her.
As he held her he noticed Gaglevan was rousing from his sleep. Fayte gave her a pat on the back and let go. She leaned down and picked up her lance. Wiping the tears from her eyes she walked back into the campsite to get dressed. Gaglevan had now gotten up and was in his gear. Fayte walked in and dressed himself in the gear he had on the day earlier.
"Lets get going…" Fayte said as he finished packing his things into his bag.
"I don't know how it healed Gag…it just…did" Tohma whispered to Gaglevan.
Fayte walked by the two, still whispering. He was set to go, having his chocobo released he was going to have to go on foot. Tohma, who was now also packed walked out and stood next to Fayte. Gaglevan followed shortly after. He untied his chocobo and mounted it.
"Ill meet you two there, ill try to get the members organized for your arrival…" Gaglevan said as he ran off into the distance.
"We have a lot to talk about…" Fayte said.
"Huh?"
"The only reason im coming with you is because I need to ask you a lot of questions…"
"You ask, then I will, got it?" Tohma said, trying to make it into a game.
"Alright, you can go first…"
As the two began to walk toward Jeuno the sun was beginning to get hot. Questions bounced back and fourth between them for quite a while. Tohma, who was asking a lot of questions about the battle Alex had died in, was getting annoying, Fayte didn't have any answers. Fayte, who was more interested in what had happened within their small group of close friends.
"So, how are you and Styrth doing?" Fayte asked.
"We aren't…doing" Tohma sighed and leaned her head back looking into the sky.
"Oh, what happened?"
"I caught him with someone else…" Tohma muttered.
"I'm sorry to hear that, I didn't think Styrth was like that…" Fayte responded.
"He isn't…he was drunk at the time and we were already having a lot of trouble"
"Ah, well for the best I suppose…"
"So, you said you don't remember anything about the battle?" Tohma questioned, a little confused.
"No, I don't remember it at all…"
As Tohma continued questioning him with the same general questions over and over again Jeuno was in sight! They were almost there. But what was going to happen? Fayte didn't need anything more really, and Tohma seemed annoyed that he couldn't remember anything about the battle.
"Here we are…" Tohma sighed as she walked through the threshold into Jeuno.
"What am I even doing here…?" Fayte asked.
"Styrth and Tornex would probably like to see you, and, oh ya, Karrick too…"
The two walked through the streets watching people go by. Tohma seemed much happier than she did the previous day. Fayte wasn't sure what was going to happen, he was beginning to remember things he couldn't explain though. It was almost scary having memories simple spawn in his mind, he didn't know if they were real or just dreams.
"Hey there!" Tornex shouted as he came running past someone holding a mithra by her hand.
"Hi Tornex, and hey there Vernia" Tohma said.
"Hey Tornex, how have you been?" Fayte asked as he looked at the mithra.
"Pretty good, better than you I can see" Tornex said making a gesture at the large hole in Fayte shoulder plate.
"Your Fayte?" Vernia said with a wince.
"That I am, and you are, Vernia?" Fayte said with a smile.
Vernia smiled and squeezed Tornex's hand. She seemed to be a very nice person. Tornex simply laughed and urged Tohma and Fayte to follow him. As they walked through the busy street Tornex began explaining some things.
"We have a place to meet" Tornex said as he entered a large door.
"Here we are!" Vernia chirped as she ran into the room.
"Styrth, he's here…" Tornex yelled.
"Hey Fayte…" Styrth said as he came around the corner.
"Styrth, how has it been?" Fayte asked.
"Not bad, finally found you…" Styrth answered in a low mono-tone.
"I wasn't hiding" Fayte said with a laugh.
"Like fuck you weren't…" Styrth said, anger now filled his voice.
"Hey, cool off, I didn't come here for a fight…" Fayte said.
"Who do you think you are? Simply running off without telling anyone?" Styrth asked furiously.
"I don't need to explain myself to you Styrth…" Fayte said with a smirk.
"Yes, I'm afraid you do…" Styrth said as he pulled out his Katana.
"I don't want to hurt you Styrth, but your looking to leave me no choice…"
"Never lost that cocky attitude either did you?" Styrth said.
Fayte turned his back and left the room. Styrth followed, everyone followed! No one knew what was going to happen, Styrth was by far the strongest of the group. As they entered Rolanberry Fayte turned to face him. Styrth had always been somewhat of a hot head, but never so much as to make a challenge so suddenly. As they stared at one another for a moment Styrth smiled.
"You think you can just disappear for 5 years?"
"I think…if you want to do this you had better get moving…" Fayte said.
"You don't even have a weapon!" Styrth said.
"I don't need one for this" Fayte said laughing.
Fayte, who had already been through a lot with Tohma the previous day seemed very sure in himself, but why? Everyone was watching from the sidelines, everyone knew Styrth had the right to be angry, but this angry?
"You asshole!" Styrth shouted as he lunged forward opening the first attack.
Fayte jumped over Styrth's katana and slammed the backside of his fist into Styrth's face. Styrth, who couldn't believe what had just happened stumbled backward and almost fell. Fayte, who had a large grin on his face took a few steps back, he was provoking Styrth.
"GRAH!" Styrth shouted as he again sliced across.
This time Fayte ducked under the blade and jumped up into the air, in a swift motion the laces of his boots were imprinted onto Styrth's face. Styrth was lifted off his feet and thrown several feet. He slid to a stop in the grass, stunned. How could Fayte be causing so much damage without even a weapon!
"I know your angry…" Fayte began.
"You don't know anything…" Styrth said as he lifted himself to his feet.
"But please, don't make me hurt you anymore…" Fayte said as he put his hands behind his back.
"You left us! Remember!" Styrth said as he leapt forward and sliced upward this time hoping it would do some damage.
Fayte sidestepped the large katana and grabbed Styrth by the wrist on the arm that was wielding the sword. In one quick thrust he threw his leg into Styrth's gut, sending Styrth back a few feet, his weapon no longer in his hand, but now in Fayte's.
"Ugh…" Styrth groan as he held his stomach laying on the ground.
"Stop it! That's enough!" Tohma said as she ran out to see if Styrth was ok.
"Where did you…" Styrth tried to ask one final time before passing out in Tohma's lap.
"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself…" Tohma said looking up at Fayte, "Where did you go after you left us…?"
"I…" Fayte began, "I died…"