Disclaimer: If you missed the first 2 disclaimers, well, its still the same. I STILL don't own the final fantasy series. Square enix Still does. Sorry guys.
Chapter 3: I never was good at tests.
Feyona walked the streets of Jeuno later that evening, replaying the day's events over and over in her head. She couldn't figure out why the damned ninja had decided to target her. What did she do to him? Who did he think he was? Egotistical jerk… If I ever see him again imma show him the true power of-
"FEYONAAAAAAA!"
Uh-no. Oh god no. Not right now.
"FEYYYY!"
She let out a defeated sigh as she turned around. Half way down the street a familiar figure was waving his arms and running in her direction. I think the Goddess is trying to punish me…Just as she'd fear, Drak was running towards her in full throttle.
Now, Feyona didn't HATE Drak, she just liked to avoid him. He had been after Feyona's hand in marriage since they were new adventurers. He had always been a good friend and ear when she needed him to be, but she never had "feelings" for him. However, even after 7 years, he was still just as much as a love-sick puppy as he was as a kid. She didn't hate him, or even remotely dislike him, she just found herself pitying him.
Finding whatever ounces of patience she had within her self, she faked a smile and waited for him to catch up.
"Fey! Hey! How are you? Haven't seen you in forever!"
"Oh, just the normal. Infact, I just got back from an adventure so… I think imma just go to mymoghouse and rest."
Drak wrapped his arm around Feyona's waiste "Nah, you should come hang out with me. We can go kill that monster that hangs around the Tomb, or maybe we can just relax and go on the Selbina boat, or-"
"No thanks Drak, I'm pretty tired…" She pushed his arm off her waiste nonchalantly and was desperately trying to hold on to whatever patience she had left. Using her hammer to break his hand sounded pretty good right about now, too bad her white-mage code was pretty strict against needless violence.
Drak looked as if she had taken his heart and smashed it (again) but she really wasn't in the mood for this. " You know, Fey… I… and um… well you…"
"Not now Drak, please. I'm sorry, I've had a rough day," She sighed and turned towards the rent-a-rooms.
"Want me to kiss it and make it better?"
Why won't he just take a hint. She didn't even bother with a response and decided to keep walking without him.
"… I love you Feyona."
She stopped and looked back at him. That's it! "Look., Drak, I DON'T love you. And you don't love me. You love the thought of me. PLEASE just leave me ALONE right now. I TRIED being subtle, but it seems subtly is waisted on you. PLEASE just GO AWAY right now."
Without another word Feyona quickly turned away and stormed to her moghouse before guilt could catch up. She couldn't look at his face. She just was too infuriated to deal with a lecture from her conscience.
She slammed the door in her moghouse and leaned against it for what seemed to be an eternity before letting out a sigh. I'm sorry Drak… but its time you cried me a river, built a bridge and then got over it. She finally removed herself from the door only to get to her couch. She laid back and was ready to get some much needed rest.
Her moogle came flying into the room, startled by the loud slam of the door. After assessing the situation and realizing thay he wasn't about to be robbed, the moogle turned gleefully to the couch. "Master! Your home kupo!"
Feyona said nothing, silently wishing for the moogle to spontaneously explode along with it's optimistic tone.
"Master! You have 7 new messages!"
"Hold 'em. No messages tonight. No visitors either."
"Kupo? You ok?"
"Yea.. I just need some silence."
Without another word, the moogle left, and once again, guilt settled in. Why am I acting like this? All because of a stupid ninja? WHY am I letting one encounter ruin my day? She closed her eyes. And why can't I stop thinking about him?
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After an hour of laying down, she figured out that sleep was going to escape her. She was already use to late nights, but upon examining the clock she realized it was only 19:00 She sat straight up and slammed her hands to her side frustrated. A black pearl slipped out of her pocket and rolled onto the floor. Feyona reached down and picked it up. "Techography?"
Out of curiosity she turned on the pearl to listen to it if anything but to drown her own thoughts out.
:Phate: OK soo Faligorn, your gunna meet me in the Dunes right?
:Faligorn: Ayup! I know where all the stone monuments are. I'll navigate. Is Chrias coming?
:Phate: Nah, he's already got some and is busy with whatever it is paladins do.
:Faligorn: This is gunna take a while. It requires a lot of traveling. From West Ronfuere to Garlaidge Citadel, to the Necropolis…
Feyona bit her lip. Hmmm I've always wanted to do that quest… and I can help with traveling. "Hey guys… um.. I think I can help if you don't mind me tagging along.
:Faligorn: Eh? Who's that?
:Phate: Oh yea! Meet Feyona, she's the white-mage I told ya about earlier… You sure you don't mind Fey?"
:Feyona: Not at all. You guys are going to the dunes right now right? I'll meet you there.
She picked herself up off the couch. "Kupopo?"
The moogle flew in from the other room and flew in a cheerful circle around her. "Kupo master?"
"I'm going out for a bit," she walked towards the door and shot a smile back that the purple winged creature. "I'll probably be gone for a while. I think I have some Melon pies in the cabnet, go help yourself. Alright?"
"Kupo!"
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She sat outside Selbina in the cool evening, waiting for the others to catch up. Thank god for teleport spells. If you can't teleport, warp, chocobo, or airship to it, it ain't worth going to. She laughed under her breath.
"What's so funny?"
Feyona recognized the voice and felt a part of her shutter. She calmly looked over her shoulder. "What are you doing here, Tai is it?"
The ninja approached her smoothly, destroying her level of comfort with each step he took. He wasn't looking up at her, but at full moon rising. "I suppose the same thing you are, waiting for Fali and Phate."
"I see." She wrapped her arms around her knees and looked down. Don't make conversation. I'm here for the quest, not for him to play with.
"You look like shit," Tai still stared up at the sky, a smug smile forming on his face. "Stressed out about something?"
Feyona clenched her fists. Don't let him get the best of you again. You're better than that. "It's nothing worth concerning yourself-"
"Who said I was concerned?"
"Nevermind then, don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."
They both remained silent for a moment. Fey decided to use this time to regain her composure until another stream of calm, even words hit Feyona's ear, causing her whole being to shatter in a single instant. "Who was that poor sap who's heart you smashed today?"
Drak? How does he.. She stared up at him, seeing his face had indeed turned serious. "What? THAT'S none of your business! How do you know about that?"
"You did it in a public place."
Damn. She looked away from him and closed her eyes to keep herself calm, "It's none of your business anyway."
"You seemed pretty angry. Never saw the wrath of a white-mage before. I thought you guys were suppose to share love, not shatter it." For someone who wasn't concerned she believed Taiyang was making this out to be something much bigger than it was.
"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm also mortal."
"Do you deal with all your love affairs so harshly?"
She looked back up at him. His face was still focused on the moon which only infuriated her more. "WHAT is it about 'It's none of your business' don't you understand?"
The awkward silence set in again, only this time, Feyona couldn't regain her composure. Why does he care what I do with my life? Why is he interigating me? What is his problem? Is he… "Are you testing me or something? Seeing how much I can take before I run away like a sniveling little girl?"
"Why would I test you, Feyona?"
"I don't know, you tell me. You know what? Nevermind, because I know it's an answer you won't give."
Just then, she heard Phates armour clanking. She turned around to see Phate followed by another tall elvaan.. That must be Faligorn. Perfect timing, She stood up quickly and ran towards them relieved to see them.
The new elvaan seemed much younger than Phate, however it was hard for her to guess the age of elvaans due to their long lives. Before Feyona could completely reach them she watched Phate lean over to the younger elvaan and whisper a few words.
The elvaan turned towards Feyona and then back to his black-clad companion. "Wow! This is Feyona? We need more chicks in the linkshell, Phate!"
"Haha back off Fali, She's too old fer ya, youngin." Phate bowed to Feyona and waved a hand towards Faligorn, "Glad ya could make it Fey. Meet Faligorn, our ranger and expert navigator."
She bowed to both Phate and Faligorn. After a few minutes of introductions Feyona turned to the leader of the group. "Are we all that is going?"
Phate nodded. "Yep. Me, you, Fali," he motioned his head to someone who seemed to be standing directly behind Feyona, "and everyone's favorite ninja. First stop is La Theine. Let's go!"
She didn't have to turn around to figure out who it was behind her, though 'favorite' would not have been her word of choice to describe him. "Alright, Gather together." She started chanting her spell and in a flash of light, all four of them disappeared.
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Travelling through Ordelle's cave wasn't too bad. She enjoyed Faligorn and Phate's conversations as she followed them. She chimed in whenever she could and was happy with the company. She'd watch the 3 compete in silly competitios on who could kill the most monsters, who could get the most bats to follow them, who could find the infamous Stroper Chyme. Taiyang seemed so different when he was with the other two. He seemed considerably less harsh and even knew what to say to make the other two men burst out into laughter. So why am I different? Why does he keep trying to destroy me?
They found their monument and left. It was getting late at night, so the group decided to go for one more monument before disbanding. After a group vote, it was decided on the Pashow Marshlands.
The Marshlands had proven to be a more dangerous journey than expected. During the travels through the marshlands, Feyona had happened to step on a "vine" that happened to be a Marlboro tentacle. The worse part of the whole ordeal was the person who took note of it first was Taiyang, who sliced through the tentacle before it nailed Fey in the back. Now I owe him one. Yay.
When Faligorn led them to the monument Feyona couldn't help but be astonished.
"Wow… this is beautiful. Look at the flowers!"
Phate took off his helmet admist a laugh. "Yea. GROUP PHOTO!"
Taiyang, Faligorn and Feyona sat down infront of the monument while Phate set his camera. He ran to sit down with them as they posed and the photo was taken.
Feyona felt like crying. It had been a long time since she felt like accepted instead of 'the tag along whitemage'. Infact, the last time she felt is was journeys in-which she accompanied Darc. She had not wanted to be close to anything since his death, and she didn't realze how much she missed moments like these. "Hey Phate, when that photo gets developed, can I get a copy?"
"Yea, you'll all get a copy. But for now, I gotta go. If I don't get home soon the wife is gunna kill me."
The three laughed and waved goodbye to their friend as he casted a warp spell on himself.
"I gotta get goin too ya guys. Promised a friend I'd meet 'em San D'Oria." In a moment, Faligorn waved, and used his Flee ability to get away.
Feyona smiled as she watched Faligorn disappear before turning towards Jeuno's direction and walked.
"Where ya going?" Taiyang's voice echoed from not too far behind her.
"Jeuno I suppose. I'm not tired, so I figured I'd walk."
As she kept walking she turned her head over her shoulders to see Taiyang following her. "Hm? And where are you going?"
"Bastok."
She raised an eyebrow at his apt response. "That's the other way."
"You shouldn't walk out here alone. You might- "
"Step on a malboro vine? I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."
Tai's usual leveled voice seemed to fall down in tone. "With what happened in Selbina, one would say I should. Guilt. Anger. Loneliness. You have too many things on your mind, none of which is your own safety. I'm coming with you."
Feyona stopped and turned towards him. "… So you were testing me. Why?"
He stopped on front of her and looked down into her eyes. She felt nervousness creep inside her. What is it he wants from me?
"How is it that one who brings such happiness and such comforting wherever she goes can feel so much guilt and sadness inside those blue eyes?"
She narrowed her eyes and could feel the anger growing inside her, "It's my cross to bare Tai, and it's none of your business. I help people because it's something I know how to do. Maybe if you don't expect so much from me, I won't let you down."
"You know how to help people, but do you know how to help yourself?"
"Why… do you care what I think about myself?"
"I just do."
She sighed and looked at the ground. She should be feeling uncomfortable about the close distance between them, but she wasn't. She wasn't even scared. She was vulnerable in every aspect as the stood there, but it could have been worse. He could have been Drak. "Let's just go, ok?"
"To Jeuno?"
"Where else would we go?"
"Anywhere you want."
She looked back up at him. Fine. Now its Your turn to be tested. "Ever been to bibiki bay?"
"No…"
"Then lets go."
She started mumbling the spell for teleport Mea. If He was going to hang around and study her, then she had the perfect test in mind. Two can play this. You want to play mind games? Then its on. I may look sweet, but I Don't lose. Let's see how well you do in my game.
And its time once again for
----------AUTHOR'S NOTES-----------------
Yea. Still proof-reading. BUT this is the last chapter I have to proof read ((thank the gods)) so FROM NOW ON I'LL BE ON THE BALL……. Or atleast around it.
Seems the chapters get longer with each addition. I just get more inspiration to continue writing and become some-what of a detail fanatic. I'm done with this rant for now. )
Taiyang: You didn't let me call Drak a chicken wuss ; ;
Feyona: Get over yerself xD
Taiyang: I remember our first night in bibiki bay…. Rawr::nibbles on fey:
Feyona: TAI stop givin away the damn plot!