Twisted Temptations
Story by: Kidria
Title Ownage: Celos
Disclaimer: Vana'diel and such belong to SquareEnix, the characters' personalities belong to them and myself, the story belongs to me, title to Celos. Do not steal. I have no rights to Vana'diel, San d'Oria, or any areas/elements belonging to SquareEnix.
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language mostly.

Chapter 2: Dead to the World

My name is Taea.

Obviously I'm an adventurer, and I'd like to fancy myself as a strong one. I am a warrior ninja, meaning I don't give a damn about magic and more about killing. Or that's how some people believe, but what do I care?

I actually care about what people believe now. I was in Bastok when I heard the news. Halystaru was dead, skinned and all. I'll admit it was disgusting to hear, and the messenger threw up just thinking about it. I didn't let him continue after that... I had heard enough. I was just rushing to the airship when I got a message from Fxeni that Fupac as well was dead.

"How do you know?" I had asked.

"Kid told me," he had replied. "She's spooked...better stay out of Jeuno, Taea."

Of course I refused. I wasn't going to sit back in a safe town as my friends are being butchered; like hell I was! I was going to stop it. On the airship everyone was gossiping. It's the assassin of the Shadow Lord I heard some say. Some said it was a lunatic from the gates beyond the Hall of the Gods. But whatever it was, I wasn't going to let it kill those I cared about.

As soon as I hit Jeuno I went looking for Celos. I figured it would be hard to find her, even if she was in Jeuno. I pushed through the crowds and ran right into Kidria. At first I thought it was Celos, but then I saw the true length and color of her hair. Those two look so damn alike...

"..." Kidria only stared at me.

I stared back, half-expecting her to jump and hug me, like she would do most people she knew. But she just stared at me with blank golden eyes. It was unnerving, and before I could ask she actually spoke.

"Go back."

I figured she meant Bastok. "No, Kid. I—"

"Go back!!"

Kidria shoved me away and there was a large explosion. The city rocked and the ground from under me began to crumble. Kidria grabbed my hand and attempted to pull me to solid ground, but my heavy armor only heaved her down with me. We both fell into the hole, rubble piling on top of us.

Taea rubbed her forehead, feeling blood smear on her fingers. "Damn..." she looked to the side to see her younger companion, knocked out cold. The warrior ninja winced as she saw that a large rock pinned Kidria's leg and a pool of blood was seeping out of it. It had to be broken, in the least.

The first thing she did was strip off some of her armor and tore some cloth off what she wore under it. As soon as she completed that task, Taea bent down and with a grunt, began to lift the rock. Thankfully her experiences with great axes gave her enough strength to lift the rock enough to move it away. Instantly Taea wrapped the bleeding leg up and pulled Kidria over to her closer, carefully moving the hurt leg. Kidria stirred but didn't wake up. She may have a head wound...

Taea ignored the small pebbles falling down the larger rocks of their prison as she shifted Kidria's hair, looking and feeling for swollen areas or blood. As she searched, the daylight in the only hole in the rock wall was shrinking. The hole was too small to climb through, and it was far too risky to try and make it bigger. However, it was big enough to allow air to come in and out, and that comforted the redhead. It meant they wouldn't die from the lack of air.

Ignoring one's surroundings was a bad, dangerous habit of hers.

I was scared—I'll admit it. Kidria was hurt, knocked out, and for all I know she could have been dying. She wasn't my sister but I still cared for her like one, so I wasn't going to let her die.

How did she know the explosion was going to happen, though? Was there something behind me that tipped her off? But what was happening? Why were my friends getting targeted and killed?

In this dark prison I just focused on my companion and the fact my friends and I were being hunted down by something. What I didn't know, and that's what scared me. It could be a beastman, a shadow, a deranged person or for all we know, someone we are friends with. But why? I don't recall ever letting a beastman live, a shadow able to sneak up on us, a person who would try to hurt us...or anyone who acted suspicious enough to hint at it. We could be random targets to a thing.

Yes. I'm scared. I half wanted to be the knocked out one and not think about this. I wanted to stop what was hurting everyone but now that I actually thought it through, I had no idea what it was, or what it could do...what it will do.

I'm lost. I don't know what to do now. We can only wait here until someone saves us but what if whatever triggered the blast will come after us?

Am I next?