Author's Note: Right. I realised it had taken me so long to update the last chapter I completely forgot to respond to reviews, which I feel a bit mean for doing, since you were all nice enough to leave me really nice comments, then I ignored you. Sorry! So urm, let's see.

Phabrizoe - Rest assured. Crazy Steve will be in here! Wouldn't be the FFXI Chronicles without him. Oh, and I'm glad you liked Voldos! I was quite proud of his scene, thought it was quite funny.

Dark Axem - Thanks a lot for the compliment. Believe me, I'd love to be a writer, but I don't think I'm good enough. Not yet anyway. I guess this works as a nice way of practicing skills though!

Neo Xain - I think I pretty much responded personally to most of your comments by e-mail, but thanks a lot for the help, and I did go back and correct that thing you pointed out about Razio using contractions, so it's no longer a problem! Thanks for pointing it out, and thanks again for letting me use him!

Wiegraf - Thanks for the review and kind comments! I'm not sure what you meant by 'reading the second part of Vivlis', I'm not very interesting to read, and I'm fairly certain there's only one of me! Seriously though, thanks!

TheFrogKiller - About time you gave me a review! 'Course, I'm joking. But thanks! I've been missing them!

Poiso - I can't remember if I responded to your review or not, but thanks a lot for the kind words! World building is a little beyond me, I've tried it, and it becomes generic fantasy jargon. It's much easier just to use an established one, and more fun for me. Plus I love these characters. And, as stated above, I'm not good enough to be published, so there's no real point, I just write for fun, so can use whatever I want. Oh, and I appreciate being told I'm a few notches above FFXI fanfics, but I'm really not. I mean, when you have writers like TheFrogKiller, Akkiko, SierraNightBorne, Brian Conely and Whren, I look like a two year old with crayons next to Van Gogh!

Okay, onto this chapter. This chapter marks a bit of a shift in gears for the tone, it steers away from tragedy here. Why? Because I want to show why the Light Warriors are so important to Vivli, and why she needs them to be together. Which means this chapter is almost like old times (including one of Vivli's old complaints arising).

I can't write out the tragic aspects, so they will return, Vivli still has a lot of personal demons to face, but for the time being I wanted to write a fun chapter, and show why her friends were so important, as suggested in the previous chapter!

CHAPTER VI

Vivli had given up trying to read into the signs around her. She couldn't help but feel that everything was bombarding her with hidden messages, like that stupid song. Part of her wanted to go back to her room in Jeuno, collapse, and never move again. Be on her own, away from all the stress. But another part of her knew that she needed her friends more than she needed anything in the world.

"Hello Vivli." Came the smug voice of Voldos from behind her. She suddenly sprang up with a massive grin and threw her arms around him.
"Voldos!" She screamed, overjoyed to see him again.

"Whoa, hold up. I know I'm dammed irresistible, but I'm married now." He laughed. Vivli pulled away and playfully hit him in the chest, only hurting her own hand against his armour. She pulled it back and scrunched up her face painfully. Voldos laughed. "Plus you still hit like a girl." She frowned at him. "Of course, I'm so strong and manly, I wouldn't really notice, no matter how hard you hit." He laughed to himself, and Vivli chuckled. "It's good to see you Viv." He said warmly, actually hugging her back. "You're looking good. Really pretty." It was a strangely pleasant thing for Voldos to say, and Vivli could only guess that the others had told him to be nice to her. It never occurred to her that he might be doing it because they had been separated so long.

"Thanks." She chuckled. "You don't look too bad yourself. Very dashing." She said with a smirk, pointing to his armour.

"Don't I always?" Voldos grinned.

"Not as such, no." Vivli replied without thinking.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Voldos cried.

"I said nothing!" Vivli squeaked, retreating back to Zinkata and Olose, who stood nearby. They laughed as she cowered behind them. Voldos almost had a tear in his eye. He'd missed this. Them, together, as friends again.

"So, Olose told me something about you guys needing my fantastic brilliance." He grinned sarcastically. "Might have figured you would."

"We need to find a missing ship." Vivli explained.

"I know." Voldos smiled. "Olose did tell me that much."
"But first we need to find Bootus." Zinkata pointed out.

"Why bother? I count for at least two Light Warriors." Voldos joked. "No, better make that three. It's still an understatement of my true awesomeness, but I've always been modest." Vivli burst into laughter, just relishing in Voldos's foolishness. "Although I guess it would be nice to have Bootus around again." Voldos admitted.

"Yeah, I do miss him." Vivli said without thinking. "Urm, I mean, you must miss him!" She quickly corrected. The other three were already laughing.

"Knew you liked him really Viv." Zinkata chuckled.

"Oh damn!" Vivli cried, stamping her foot not unlike a spoiled child. "Well, he is a friend. Just a very big, annoying, friend." She finished.

"Yeah, that about sums up Bootus." Zinkata laughed.

"So, to Bastok then?" Voldos sighed.

"Where it all started when some meanie robbed me!" Vivli pointed out, behaving particularly childishly, but having fun while doing it. She was happier than she had been in a long time this way, and wasn't going to give it up for the world.

"Really? Who did that?" Voldos asked, baffled.

"Zinkata you stupid-" She paused, trying to think of an insult. "-elf, person!"

"It's pronounced Elvaan. El-vaan." He said to Vivli in his most patronizing tone of voice.

"It's like old times and Bootus isn't even back yet." Olose grumbled.

"Is that good or bad?" Zinkata questioned.

"Good!" Vivli beamed, smiling. Zinkata let a smirk creep across his face.

"It's good to see you happy Viv." He told her.

"And all it took was to be insulted and patronized. Is that a commentary on her?" Olose asked with a laugh.

FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

"I'm always in a situation where I'm about to die. Is that a commentary on me?" Olose asked with a sigh as the massive monster approached him. "Okay foul beast! Taste steel!" Olose reached for his swords, only to discover they were no longer there. "Typical." He growled. "Oh well, maybe I can talk this thing to death." It swung one of its massive claws in at Olose, and he dove between its legs, avoiding it. It brought its tail around and hit him, sending him flying across the cave and crashing down in a pile of rubble.

It took Olose a mere moment to realize that the rubble was in fact a pile of bones. He sprang out quickly, looking back with a gulp.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." He decided to state, noticing that there were bones scattered all around him. The creature roared, and the crowd peering down through the cage-like roof of the cave cheered enthusiastically. Olose bent down and grabbed one of the bones. "Okay, it may be morbid, but it could come in useful." The creature began to march towards him, and swung down it its powerful hand, grabbing him and lifting him up. It opened its mouth to consume him and he thrust the bone in, pinning its mouth open. It roared, letting him go and staggering back. The bone quickly shattered under the pressure of its mighty jaw, and it renewed its attack. "Okay. I need a new plan." Olose sighed, grabbing a rock from the floor. He threw it, hitting the beast in the head, causing it to stumble back. He ran, ducking under its legs, and coming up by its tail, which he leapt on, and ran up the beast, until he ended up on its head. "Here goes nothing." He sighed, jumping his most powerful jump and grabbing hold of the metal bars in the roof. The crowd roared with anticipation as he pulled his legs up to the bars, and pushed with all his might. His mighty muscles quickly bent the bars and he climbed through the gap, leaving the creature and the cave behind. He mentally thanked his ability to jump so far; a side effect of being a werewolf, and turned around.

Only to come face to face with Leanne and a silver arrow leveled at his face.

He cursed.

Arcadia woke up on an uncomfortable bed. At least, it was uncomfortable by the standards she was used to. The room she was in seemed pleasant enough, a simple domesticated hotel room, almost. Were it not for one of the walls being replaced by metal bars. She sighed. She had been taken captive by somebody, obviously. At least she got a nice cell.

She heard footsteps approaching. The corridor outside the bars looked much more like a traditional dungeon; obviously the room had been inserted for her benefit. She listened curiously. The footsteps were the clicking of high heels, not the expected noise in a dungeon. She approached the bars as they got closer, waiting to see just who was approaching.

She raised an eyebrow as the figure emerged. She looked more like Arcadia than Arcadia would like to admit. She wore a pink evening gown, down to her ankles, exposing her stiletto heels, and wore blonde hair tied tightly up above her head. Her lips glistened with pink lipstick despite the lack of light, and she was ordained with expensive jewelry, perhaps even more excessively than Arcadia.

"This is disgusting." Commented the stranger. "I told them to make sure you were taken care of, and they give me this." She spoke with an upper class, yet dismissive accent, as if she was talking down to the world. She looked young, but wore so much make-up, it was impossible to guess her true age.

"I thought it was nice." Arcadia shot, knowing better than to lose her cool, despite the strangeness of her captor. "I mean, not enough people put thought into kidnappings these days. Here I've got a bed, a nice desk, even a candle."

"I wouldn't be caught dead sleeping there." The stranger announced.

"I hope your caught dead soon though." Arcadia shot back with a smirk. "So, who are you? You do not appear to be the usual kind of kidnapper."

"Kidnapper? Oh no, I'm not involved with that." The stranger looked disgusted at the suggestion. "I am Lady Aura, and I only work with these people through circumstance."

"These people?" Arcadia asked skeptically.

"Yes. It's a mere logical choice. Once they approached me with their offer, I couldn't refuse." Aura replied. "They're planning to take over the world. They will succeed as well. But they needed an operative who was high enough in status to find out the information they needed. They picked me with the promise that I could go on living. I accepted."

"And my capture?" Arcadia sighed. "How does that fit in?"

"Only one person can stop us." Aura admitted. "But with you our prisoner, he won't try anything."

"Olose." Arcadia smiled. "You underestimate him."

"And you underestimate us." Aura shot. "I'm now here, having to make a rather unpleasant journey I might add, to have good relations with you. They felt that I could communicate best with you." Arcadia took a step towards the bars.

"Well, let me give you some advice." She began. "Leave now. Because when Olose comes here, he will rip through this dungeon like a tornado, and no pretty dress or innocent smile is going to save you."

Aura paused, turned, and walked out.

FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT YEARS LATER

Four chocobos rode away from San d'Oria, and one tiny mithra let out a long and annoyed groan.

"Three years since I've ridden one!" Vivli whined, awkwardly sat sideways on the saddle due to her dress. "Three years and they still smell!"

"Urm, Viv, the smell doesn't just go away." Olose laughed.

"I think it's gotten worse." Vivli wrinkled her nose.

"It's really not that bad." Sighed Zinkata wearily.

"It's horrific!" Vivli exclaimed. "It makes me feel ill!"

"Nobody else has ever complained. Ever." Olose pointed out. "I mean, have you ever seen somebody else complain about chocobos?"

"They must all be superhuman." Vivli muttered. "They stink!" She leant over to her chocobos face, or the best she could from her sat position. "Don't you, you stupid, smelly bird?" She told it.

"Kweh?" Came the curious, yet almost insulted sounding response.

"Don't give me that! It's your own fault." Vivli told it. "You'd be really cute too, if you didn't smell so bad."

"Kweh!" The chocobo snapped angrily, and Vivli leapt back in fright.

"Don't go getting angry at me." She pouted. "You do smell bad! Really horrible! And my clothes are going to stink of it for days!" The chocobo didn't make a sound this time, but just angrily snapped its back to the side. Vivli fell off, crashing down on the ground. She looked up, only to see ginger hair. By the time she had pushed it out of the way, her chocobo was long gone. She stood up, hearing the laughter of Voldos, Olose and Zinkata. "Hey! That hurt!" She whined.

"The ground is soft here Viv." Zinkata laughed. "Don't complain."

"Come on Viv, get up here and I'll give you a ride." Olose joked, gesturing to his chocobo. "Just don't insult it, or else it might throw both of us off."

"Very funny." Vivli moaned, walking over to Olose's chocobo and climbing onto it.

Or at least attempting to climb onto it. It was bigger than her small chocobo, and she couldn't get up, instead ending up uselessly struggling. She stopped, and looked helpless for a moment before Olose picked her up and placed her on the back.

"You really remind me of a kid sometimes." Voldos laughed.

"Funny. I often say the same about you." She replied, sticking her tongue out in a purposefully childish way.

"That better?" Olose considered, before grinning. "You know, I don't see why you complain, your chocobo may have stunk,but you smell great." Vivli blushed brightly.

"It's not just my chocobo." She said sheepishly, trying to move on, deciding not to dwell on that moment. "All chocobos stink. It's like genetic."

"Or maybe it's just the stables they keep them in?" Zinkata suggested.

"Well, whatever it is, it's horrible." Vivli complained.

"I really don't think it's that bad Viv. Maybe you're just prissy." Voldos suggested.

"I'm WHAT?" Vivli screamed.

The others just burst into laughter. It was like old times, and Bootus wasn't even there yet.

In fact, at that very moment, the mighty galka was stood outside the walls of Bastok.

"Move it soldiers!" He screamed in orders. "Come on you pansies! Do you want to live forever?" One of the small galkan children turned to their mentor.

"But Mr Bwootus swir." He said sweetly. "We just wanted to see the desert."

"Geez, no sense of fun, you kids." The large galka laughed. He looked at the class he had been given. Community service after he finally got charged for abuse after constantly insulting the guards. "Well, this is the desert, but it's dangerous. You never know what you might find out here, so you kids stay within the city walls, right?"

"Yes Mr Bootus." They all droned together.

"And remember-" He began, turning out to the sandy desert, only to see three chocobos approaching. He did a double take. It had almost looked like-

No. It couldn't be. Wait. That was. That was Voldos! And Zinkata! And Olose! And a little mithra behind him? Vivli! That was impossible!

"Urm. Remember, class finishes early today." He finished in awe. "Go home now." The children looked confused, but the galka was already running out into the desert towards his long lost companions.