Disclaimer: I wish I owned Squaresoft/Square/SquareEnix. However, I don't. Nor do I own any of their characters or intend to make a profit off of them. The same goes for Xellos, though he's only mentioned in passing, from The Slayers anime. Ny and the group known as the Balance Keepers, however, are mine. (If Square wants to include them in a video game, I will happily entertain any offer they wish to make!)
Though new ones may be born, it is said that the Balance Keepers never die. Even the Creator never knows when and where She may need Them. Therefore They exist in perpetual agony, never resting. Their power is so terrible that, were They to rest, Their nightmares could destroy the world. They never Sleep. They never age after they are Woken. In Their insanity They hope for Normalcy, though the Gods forbid Them peace. Wherever They walk, Chaos becomes Order and Order becomes Chaos.
Legends of Immortality, Second Age
Who knew that such a beautiful place as the Kingdom of Baron would cause such problems? Here she was, with that jerk Edge, trying to save the world. Edge still couldn't believe that that "poofter" Cecil thought that he would be the one to save the planet. He did have some sort of prophecy on his side. But really, a "whale" for transport?
Rydia walked through the airship with a spring in her step. Her shoes making insanely loud clanking noises on the metal floor. The Caller smoothed her emerald dress, and nearly walked into Nyssia. It wasn't her fault. She just had a lot on her mind and wasn't paying attention... Okay, so maybe it was her fault.
Rydia swung her green hair over her shoulder and smiled at the newest member of their group. The woman had joined them shortly after Tellah, a great Sage, died casting Meteo on Golbez. Oddly, she knew how to cast the spell as well. It was a very odd coincidence, but Rydia found it difficult to focus whenever she thought about it.
She smiled back at Rydia, apparently unperturbed by the accidental assault, and her silver eyes twinkled. "Edge and Cecil are arguing again. He heard Cecil saying that we should have brought Yang instead."
Rydia giggled. "We all know Yang's wife would have killed him if he'd come with us. We had a hard enough time convincing Cecil to let Rosa come along."
Right then, Rosa chose to leave the refreshment chamber at the back of the ship. She was in the process of putting her blond hair into its customary ponytail. The willowy White Mage flashed a smile at Rydia, clearly ignoring Nyssia. She then frowned as she heard shouting at the front of the ship. "Are Cecil and Edge fighting again?"
Kain, also walking out of the refreshment chamber, nearly bumped into Rosa. He was, however, in time to hear both the noise and her question. The Dragoon sighed. "What do you expect? Cecil thinks Edge doesn't take this seriously enough and Edge thinks Cecil is too uptight about it."
Rosa thumped Kain's battered breastplate. "Jerk, you can't be too serious about saving the world. It's incredibly important. If we let that monster that was controlling Golbez get loose, who know what will happen."
Rydia looked at their newfound friend, only to find her playing with the ends of her raven hair. She seemed to be ignoring the exchange. Ny and Rosa had about as much goodwill between them as Cecil and Edge. She must have been listening, though, since she sighed and looked up. "Simple, Rosa, there will be all sorts of natural disasters, like earthquakes and tornadoes. The planet will die, taking all the plants with it. The herbivores will die out for lack of vegetation, both to eat and to take shelter in. The carnivores will become extinct for lack of prey and the scavengers will soon follow. The people will expire because there would be no plants and animals..." Her eyes went distant. "I wonder if they would resort to cannibalism or if standards of civilization would prevail even in starvation?"
Rosa's face went red with fury. Her hands clenched into fists at her side and Rydia tried to inch out the door before Rosa blew her top. She was too late. "How can you be so casual about it? The end of the world would affect you too, you know! Everyone on that planet you care about would be dead... And, who asked for your opinion anyway, Nyssia?"
Ny shrugged, infuriating Rosa even more. "No one. But then, I always have been an assertive bitch." She turned to sashay away, throwing one last comment over her shoulder. "What makes you think that the gods would be so merciful as to let me die, anyway?"
Kain stared after her. "That is one strange woman..."
Rydia grinned at him. Ever since Ny showed up, he had stopped mooning over Rosa. Some part of her wondered if that wasn't why Rosa hated Ny so much. She hadn't known the White Mage long enough to be certain that she would or wouldn't succumb to jealousy. She sighed and went scavenging for food in the galley. It was none of her business, anyway.
Idly, Rydia wondered if Kain was more interested in Ny or the way Ny looked wearing that skimpy leather outfit. She looked down at her own dress. At least Ny's leather was easy to move in and the stiffness of the leather offered some resistance to weaponry. Forgetting food, she leaned against the fridge and debated a wardrobe change.
Making up her mind, she went to look for Ny. They were about the same size. Maybe, just maybe, she could borrow one of those scandalous outfits.
Edge's eyes widened and Cecil turned to look at the group coming onto the bridge. Everyone looked fine to him... Then his eyes landed on Rydia. She was in one of Ny's usual outfits, black leather pants and corset. However, where Ny usually wore a shockingly low-cut red silk shirt Rydia was wearing what had apparently been the top half of her comparatively demure emerald dress.
Ny smirked. "Relax, Paladin. She decided that the leather was better protection than a wool dress. I don't think it's permanent... Edge, pick your jaw up off the floor. What kind of Ninja are you anyway?... Never mind, are we there yet?"
Cecil blinked, then ducked his head forward for his platinum hair to hide his reddening face. Ny's behavior – and her outfit – always seemed to make him blush. "Um... We'll be landing on the moon in a few minutes. Are you sure you want to come with us?"
Rydia glanced between Rosa and Cecil. So Rosa wasn't jealous over Kain, but over Cecil. She chuckled at how ridiculous it was. Ny had already told her she had no interest in any of the men. Rydia didn't understand why, but Ny seemed to think they were too young and inexperienced. Or, perhaps, it was simply because all men seemed young.
Ny sighed. "I haven't had a decent challenge in a while." Her face took on a sinister smile and Rosa would later swear she saw horns and a tail. "Besides, you should know by now how much I love killing. Why not do it for a good cause?"
Cecil nodded and busied himself with landing.
Rosa sighed. First, she gets desert fever. Then, she's kidnapped by Golbez. Next, they had to pick up that self-proclaimed bitch. Both Cecil, her true love, and Kain seemed taken with that harpy. Now, they were forced to walk to that blasted over-grown crystal. To top it all off, her shoes were giving her blisters from all that walking and she had been ordered – ordered! – to not heal it as they would need her powers later.
She glanced up as Ny fried a Mind monster with a Fire spell, the wave of heat washing over all of them. She couldn't help but wish that this was all over and they were out of there. Then she could have Cecil and Kain all to herself. Her face hardened. Things were perfect until that slut came along. She glared at the back of Nyssia's head, and mentally consigned her to the darkest depths of hell.
Without even turning around, Ny knew that Rosa was glaring at her. So, she smirked and flipped her off. Chuckling at the growl, Ny continued on. Aggravating Rosa was so much fun. It was too bad Xel had had to miss out on this little adventure. The demon would have loved devouring the hate the White Mage was radiating.
Ny picked herself up of the ground and looked around her at her wounded comrades. Fortunately, they had all survived Zemus/Zeromus' wrath and were picking themselves up off the floor. She smiled at Rydia, then shot a malevolent grin towards Rosa. Ny licked the blood off her scimitar and smirked as Rosa's eyes widened.
Rosa couldn't believe the woman had just swallowed blood. It was unnatural. It was monstrous. It was... What was she doing now? Rosa's eyes widened as Ny spread her arms and was surrounded by an celestial glow. The pale blue light danced across her skin and then spread over the group, healing them all.
"You – you could have helped with the healing all along?" Rosa charged her. "You fucking whore!"
Ny sidestepped easily and grinned as Rosa tripped and fell. "Where's fun in that?"
Rosa threw herself at her again, and Ny calmly dodged the rain of fists. Infuriated, Rosa pulled her staff out and tried to slam it into Nyssia's head. Ny laughed and caught hold of the staff. "Really, not much of a White Mage, are you?" Rosa growled and Ny chuckled. "Just look at all that repressed anger... Xellos would have loved this."
She plucked the staff out of Rosa's grip and threw it across the room. "It's such a pity that I have to leave now. Things were just getting fun, but you folks have had all the supernatural help you're going to get for the moment." She smirked at the shocked faces. "Surely, you knew I wasn't from around here?... Don't tell me that my arrival didn't seem a little convenient?"
She vanished in a wave of swirling shadow, leaving a room full of stunned people standing around a monstrous corpse. Slowly, Cecil moved to check Rosa over and discovered no injuries. Everyone else was in perfect health as well. Even the bone deep gash on Kain's arm was gone.
Rydia grabbed her pack as the shell shocked group left for home. She couldn't help but wonder who Xellos was.
None of them ever realized that Ny was only there because Tellah had died. Had he not, they never would have known her.
Rosa's wedding to Cecil was the event of the year, to hear the citizens of Baron tell it. This was understandable, since he was their newly crowned King. Rydia, however, felt a bit like something – or, rather, someone – was missing. Who was that girl they had traveled with? She had done something spectacular... What was it? She smoothed nonexistent creases in her form fitting emerald gown.
Through her developing headache, Rydia heard a buzzing noise. She shook her head to clear it, but the sound got louder and was now clearly distinguishable as hundreds of voices whispering. Even Edge failed to attract her attention with his normally humorous antics. Finally, the voices in her head spoke all at once. "Rydia, it is time for you to AWAKEN!"
All the others saw was an amazing surge of magic. It scorched the floor where she had been standing. And then it was gone. Rydia was nowhere to be found.
Rosa swore it was the Gods, smiting her for daring to engage in Black Magic. Cecil looked at his new wife and wondered how she could be so vindictive towards an apparently dead friend. Yang, his wife, the twins and their Elder all simply stared at the smudge as they wondered what magic Rydia had tried to cast. Edge simply collapsed to the floor, sobbing.
Author's note: The Balance Keepers will be a recurring theme in many of my fan fiction stories about the Final Fantasy games and several other works (Harry Potter, included). I may flesh this particular story out some more and turn it into a longer narrative with more explication... We'll see where inspiration takes me.