Long time no write

:Flint: You're telling ME

Shut up Flint.

Anyways, new chapter. More updates will follow, since I finished the project at Fictionpress that was bogging me down. I really like where this story is headed, and the next few chapters will hopefully be as fun to read as they were/are to write.

So enjoy this chapter. I'll be updating again soon.

:Flint: Yeah right... :is smacked:

Chapter 3: Walk The Skies Once More

Sheba froze.

"Anemos?"

"Yesssssssssss… Anemos…"

"You… but Ivan is from Contigo, not me!"

"No, child. Anemos." With this the Angel pointed a gauntlet finger at the moon hovering above the epileptic lights. "We still exist. When Alchemy was sealed our city pooled our powers and rose above this failing earth. But now, with Alchemy's return our angels walk the skies once more…"

The angel's voice faded with a hiss.

Sheba turned to Ivan.

"I- I have a home. And… a history…"

Ivan pulled her tight and looked at the angel, shouting loudly.

"Does she have a family there, in Anemos?"

"Yes, Contigan, she does. But there is much wrong in Anemos and she must come with me to reconcile."

"Reconcile?"

"Yesssss… The royal family is in disarray and we of the Archangelica believe that she could help."

"Can I- come?"

"No Contigan, this is something she must do alone."

Ivan felt very small, under the shadow of this seven-foot angel. He'd always been small, sure, but even Garet hadn't diminished him like this.

"Come with me… Sheba…"

Sheba kissed Ivan heavily, then stepped forward tentatively into the bathing light of the angel. A beam of light arced towards the sky and they levitated upwards. Sheba gasped for a mere moment, but then closed her eyes and likened the feeling to using Cyclone in the Jupiter Lighthouse.

"Ignis, Terra, Ventus, Aqua!" the angel commanded.

Just before Sheba and the angel could leave, Ivan flung himself towards the light. He fell short and tripped, leaving him reaching desperately into the rising shaft of light, hoping for salvation.

"Dear GODS why!" Ivan cried, tears streaming down his face, "WHYYYYYY!"

Before he could stand up, Garet flung himself from out of the crowd- sword on his back- and dove into the light. He followed the angel and Sheba up the lightshaft as it faded from the ground, yelling to the crowd.

"Don't worry Ivan I'll take care of her!"

"Gods Garet, wash your face and be courteous!"

"Yes mom!"

The shaft of light disappeared, but for some reason the flashing skies did not stop.

"For the last time Isaac, will you marry me YES OR NO?"

Isaac wheeled on his pursuer, a one Maris Tairfield. She was by even the most lax of standards, the hottest of the hot. Her well-formed breasts were always tastefully displayed, along with basically every curve on her body- but not so much so that nothing got left to the imagination. She had flowing dark hair, tinted green, and wide brown eyes that combined with her earthy clothes to make her look like a dryad.

An irony of course, since she was prominently a Fire adept.

"Maris. I'm just not interested in you, maybe you should take the hint. It's not a real hard one. Besides, you do realize that we only happened ONCE. Now you want to marry me?"

"Isaac honey, you've saved the world! You deserve the best that Vale has to offer! Besides, I'm smart, I'm beautiful, and I don't like to brag, but-"

Isaac snorted.

"BUT I've gotten lessons on sex from Tolbi. The best. I know all the latest positions, styles and such."

"Maris, I'm the last person to turn down a beautiful woman."

It was Maris' turn to snort.

"Really! But I'm just not interested in you. For three years you've viewed me as nothing but property and it needs to stop. Go find another man Maris."

She turned on her heels in a huff and stalked off to find another man who would be willing to tease her hips like Isaac could have. And had, once.

"That was mighty big of you Isaac," Felix laughed, dropping down from his roof, "Before the storm I almost sold my soul to bed her. Hell, I'm not sure I could resist her even now."

"Really?" Maris asked, poking her head around the wall of Felix's house.

"No. Go butter up somebody else."

She left, pouting.

Felix waited until she was definitely gone, then turned to Isaac.

"So you saw what happened?"

"Yeah. What do we do?"

"We go after them!"

"That's a great idea," Isaac responded sarcastically, "How? The laws of Vale specifically forbid us from getting involved in external affairs, so that whole thing with the angel kind of set that one down. Oh, and we also can't leave Vale without permission.."

"There's a loophole. Since Sheba is with them we've done two things. First, we've violated the law so there's no sense in stopping now. Two, we got Garet involved- that means it's no longer an 'external affair'. We're not only cleared to continue, but required!"

"Fine. But how do we get out without getting blacklisted by the Mayor?"

"Remember that trip to Prox we were planning?" Felix asked Isaac, who nodded, "We just go ahead with the plans anyway!"

Isaac frowned.

"Where do we go from there? We need a way up to Anemos!"

"Think about it. We have the two things we need to get in."

"And those are?"

"Ivan and the ruins of Anemos," Felix grinned, wincing at how uncharacteristic it was, "There has to be a way up hidden in those ruins."

Isaac nodded, both worried and excited by the prospect of another journey.

They shook on it and headed off to round up the rest of their team. Behind a large boulder, Maris Tairfield frowned. This sounded dangerous. She snapped her fingers, igniting a small flame that followed her as she ran back to her house to prepare.

The ship still roiled away, albeit much more smoothly now that they were in southern waters. Most of the old books he'd read always stated that the mid-southern seas were the warmest, but upon taking a dip Felix decided that if THIS counted as warm than the other seas must be cold enough to freeze a man solid.

Karst had laughed at him, stripping down to silk undergarments and diving in the sea whenever the ship stopped for any reason. Felix finally realized that it was because she was a Mars adept, naturally warmer than any other adept, that she could swim without freezing. He experimented with ways to do something similar, to swim and play with her in the water without losing consciousness.

He finally stumbled onto something as they rounded back towards the north. By focusing, he could surround himself in sort of an earthen shield, a green aura that insulated him against cold temperatures.

The ship stopped off the coast of Loho in order to make a few last minute preparations before entering the Northern Reaches, a vast maze of ice and rock. Karst was off the ship and in the water before Saturos and Menardi could leave the boat. Felix stood on deck, watching Karst frolick. She was surprisingly water savvy for a Mars adept. He wondered if he should join her in the water, because they were heading north and this could be his last chance to swim for a long time.

"You know, she likes you," Saturos said, walking up behind Felix, "Which is odd. Usually she shies away from boys, especially since her parents died. Menardi took it fine, but she turned dangerous and introspective fast."

Felix blushed. He knew all about the dangerous part. He'd asked her about Prox and her family and she'd explained it to him with her boot. His ribs were still bruised, but eventually she'd apologized and explained about her parents. Proxians were a hard, tough people.

"Well..."

Before Felix could do anything, Saturos shoved him into the water- clothing and all- laughing as he strode off. Karst started cursing at him and tried to drag Felix towards the shallows before he drowned. He waved her off, not wanting to appear weak.

"I got it Karst."

She huffed, but swam back a few inches, treading slowly. He stripped off his shirt and gasped as the water fully hit his chest. Karst was instantly there, her hand dead center of his torso as she steadied him. The heat emanating from her soothed him, but she'd hit a bruise and he winced in pain, coughing up water. It subsided after a moment though, and he took careful aim. With a single throw his shirt hit the ship's deck, making a satisfying smack as it did so.

He pulled off his boots, successfully throwing one up but accidentally deflecting one off the side and dropping it into the water. It sank.

"Ah Gods, Saturos'll kill me," Felix sighed, preparing to dive for it.

"No, keep going. I'll get it," Karst told him, diving into the water and shooting towards the wayward footwear.

His pants took three tries, hitting the side of the boat and floating complacently, waiting for him to retrieve them and try again. Eventually they smacked onto the deck next to his nearly-dry shirt. Karst finally arose from the ocean and tossed his boot upwards, watching as water flew from the top. It hit his other boot, which sat on the deck, and rebounded on the guard rail; coming to rest after a few more bounces. She laughed, and he flashed her a thumbs-up.

"Nice shot."

"Thanks," she giggled, "I try."

He suddenly gasped as the cold came to the forefront of his mind once more. His skin was whitening quickly around his neck, threatening to overtake his head. Karst screamed at him to get out of the water, but he waved her off again as she darted towards him. He knew he was going into some sort of Hypothermic shock; prompting him to try and focus in order to bring up his protective aura. His mind wouldn't clear, he couldn't do it. He started slipping lower into the water, his eyelids dropping dangerously low.

He felt Karst's hand on his chest, and another hand on the small of his back above the wasteband of his cotton underwear. She supported him, pulling him around the prow of the boat towards the shallows. He summoned all his energy and managed to focus long enough to surround himself with the aura. His body heat began to return quickly, aided by Karst's soft hand on his skin.

He was still slipping into shock though, and she leaned down to give him mouth to mouth. His senses returned in a snap, and he reached up to push her away. But with his eyes closed he only managed to lightly graze her breasts before he dropped his arm again. He tried to pull away from the mouth to mouth long enough to tell her he was fine. She stopped and sat back on the light sandy ground under the water.

"Don't get any ideas Felix," She giggled, "I don't like you that much."

But before he could sit up, she leaned down again to give him mouth to mouth. But then she slid her tongue into his mouth, running it across his very lightly as she traced a pattern on his chest with her finger. As quickly as she had done so, she was gone from his mouth and looking down on him with concern.

"Are you okay Felix?"

He nodded, trying to find his voice.

She ran her fingers through his rough brown hair, tilting her head.

"You look... green..."

He nodded again.

"Yeah. I found a way to create an aura so I could swim without... without..."

"Having THIS happen?" she finished, a smile creeping onto her face.

"Um... yeah."

He explained it quickly, distracted by the hand she had in his hair. She nodded, and kissed him quickly on the lips, excited by the fact that this stranger was so interested in swimming, much less with HER! Karst dove off into deeper water and swam about while Felix recovered, his shivers giving way to heat as he lay in the sunny shallows. Finally he joined her, and they swam until the sun began to set.

Saturos and Menardi returned, with several carts of supplies. When Karst asked them why so much, Saturos only replied "For Prox". Karst seemed satisfied by that response.

Menardi walked over to where Felix's clothing sat.

"Who the hell left their rags on my nice clean deck?" She yelled down to Felix and Karst.

Before they could explain, Menardi had kicked them off into the water. Felix muttered curses under his breath. He took a moment to gather the clothes, snagging his boots before they sank, and returning them to shore. Before he could return to tell Karst they should get out before the sun went down too much further, he heard a shout from Menardi.

"Ye GODS! Karst, watch out!"

Karst gave an uncharacteristic scream and Felix sprinted into the water, rounding the prow to see what was the matter. A beast, some sort of merman with a trident, had grabbed Karst and was dragging her out to sea. Up on the deck, Saturos was stripping armor off as fast as he could with Menardi's help. Felix knew there was no time.

"Saturos, your sword! Throw me your sword!"

"No! Why would I trust my sword to some farm whelp?"

"For the sake of MARS Saturos give him the damn sword!" Menardi screamed, panicking at the thought of losing her sister.

Saturos hesitated, then reached down and drew out his curvy blade. With a deft motion he tossed it to Felix, who caught it lightly and whipped around to face the Merman. He had paused, curious about the new development and possible opposition. Karst took advantage of this to cast Fume and dive away. The merman, angered, dove towards Felix who hefted the sword defensively.

"Run Karst, RUN!" Menardi shouted from the deck.

Saturos motioned for silence.

"Quiet Menardi! I want to see what happens next."

Felix's sword caught between the center and right prongs, allowing him to use the hilt to deflect the trident upwards. Up on deck, Saturos nodded.

"Good form. If he's got sense, he'll-"

Saturos stopped talking as Felix kicked the Merman in the gut. The Merman tried to dodge, but Felix's foot caught it in the ribs and spun it around. In retaliation it continued its momentum and reached out with a clawed hand, grasping Felix's woven necklace and snapping it off. It retreated, angrily defeated for the day, wrapping the necklace around its arm.

Felix lowered the sword and stepped back out of the waist deep water. Karst was there, smiling shyly.

"Thanks," she said, blushing and kissing him lightly on the cheek, "I'm sorry about your necklace. I... I can make you a new one."

"It's alright," Felix answered, mindful of the adults above on the ship, "It was a gift from my Grandmother before she died. She told me the day she gave it to me she hated it, so it wasn't a loss to anyone."

Karst pulled a necklace off and handed it to him. It was a black chain with a little tiny sapphire encased in swirls of steel.

"Well take this one. It will remind you that you're more than just a farm whelp, and tell people that you're a warrior of Prox."

He clutched it tight and didn't let go until long after he'd fallen asleep that night.

Felix sat up panting heavily, clutching the chain around his neck. It'd been so long since he'd thought about it, and it was cold against his bare torso- despite the fact it'd been exposed to his body heat for most of the night. The sapphire glowed, indicating something... something. Felix paused, then slid down to the pillow and thought no more.