A week in Flanoir
By Fenris Amon

Day Four: the cold of winter

Sheena

I'm a long ways from Flanoir now, I can no longer see the smoke from the chimneys rising into the air. In all directions all I can see is snow and ice except for the forest of evergreens I'm in at the moment. The sun is beginning to rise now, it's the fourth day since we lost the Rehairds, I open my eyes and notice that there was no sun today and it was starting to snow. I felt fur behind my neck and body, when it came into focus, I noticed that it was Noishe; he whined.

"Hey boy. What's wrong?" I asked. He looked around furiously, as if he notices as if someone is approaching. "Huh? What are you…by Martel!" I see a person, dressed only in Red, his eyelids and lips were turning blue with clear signs of frost bite. Suddenly, the figure collapsed. "Noishe! It's Lloyd!" Both of us quickly came to our feet. I instinctively mounted Noishe as we ran out into the snow-storm. It was cold, even with my warm jacket on and my fire charm, I felt like I was going to freeze to death.

"Lloyd!" I screamed as we came closer to the body. No response. We finally made it to him, his skin was badly frost-bitten, his eye-lids nearly frozen shut, he would die if I didn't help him, but with the snow-storm increasing in strength and power, there wasn't much choice. There's a cave nearby, that should do. I put Lloyd on the back of Noishe and we rode quickly and swiftly into the cave. The sudden warmth of the cave seemed almost unfamiliar, but it was still a welcome change.

I heard a sleight rumbling in the cave, but I never paid attention to it, Lloyd was far more important. I placed him on the hard ground, I opened up a wing-pack and unloaded some firewood. I was always told that when in/near Flanoir, it's always a good idea to have firewood. I placed the wood in a triangular position on top of each other and I placed a seal on top of it, underneath my breath I whisper, "Pyre seal." it suddenly lit up and burned in an instant, setting the rest of the wood ablaze within a few minutes. I changed my focus to the other person in the cave with me, I placed my hand on his neck; No pulse. My heart raced and my mind blurred, "C'mon Sheena. Get a hold of yourself." what if I lost him? No, I won't lose him. Not again.

I closed my eyes and thought only of him, the person whom I held my heart so close to.

I placed another seal on top of Lloyd, with three around him. A magic circle formed as I whispered again, "Purgatory seal.", yellows, blues, reds, began to surround him. Feathers formed around him as I could hear him starting to breath laboriously. He was alive now, but barely. I took off my fleece coat and put it on Lloyd as a blanket. I heard something coming from behind me, it was large. Just my luck, I happened upon the nest of a 'Silver.'

The large blue and grey worm looked upon me, then to Lloyd, it wanted him as food. Completely ignoring me, the Silver started to crawl quickly towards me. It's large mouth wide open. The Silver was much larger then me, at least fifty feet tall. "Dammit! There's no way I'm going to die here!" I ran in front of the Silver and Lloyd, I placed a seal in front of myself, "Guardian seal!" the worm harmlessly bounced off and winced in pain. It began to look at me as a threat now. "Dammit." I yell underneath my breath. I couldn't let Lloyd die. I had to tell him, I can't live with this guilt all my life. I can't die either. I feel a sudden urge of power rush through my veins, "Crescent Cherry Blossom!" I yelled, letting out all my anger and frustration in one concentrated attack. The magic circle around me grew the Silver froze, it completely engulfed it, a blue mist filled the air. I heard separated voices in the air.

I caught notice of Undine, her large sword in two hands, she brung it up high above her and with a crushing downwards pull, hit the Silver, blood started to gush from where it hit it. Then I saw the three Sylph, Sephie doing the same as Undine, Yutis firing almost non-stop into the Silver, and Fairess pushing the giant worm back. Efreet appeared and began to pummel the Silver with non-stop punches filled with the fires of rage. Volt formed a magic circle beneath himself and the worm, the 'master field' that so devastated Mizuho and my allies now worked to kill the Silver. For some reason, all I saw Gnome do was fall on the Silver, but that still had a devastating effect. Fenrir ran up behind me and ran through the Silver with the 'sled fang' that I hated so much. (A/n, guess what that's from!)

"Rammash!" volts of concentrated electricity formed in front of Origin, and hit the Silver, going right through it. Finally, Maxwell appeared, he didn't attack, but formed several orbs of mana around me. Each one a different color. I felt power welling up in the palms of my hands. I remembered now, at the tower of salvation and at the hidden human ranch. The mana cannon. I thrust my hands forwards, the massive beam of light hit the Silver and expanded. The mist subsided and so did my beam. There was no more Silver. There was only a bleak empty cave containing two humans; one a hero, the other a clan chieftain. Pink energy blossoms slowly scattered around me and gathered on Lloyd, I ran to him as the last of the energy leaves dissipated. His pulse came back, harder. He was alive. Thank martel a million times.

"Sheena…" I heard his voice, but how was he awake?

I turned around sharply, his eyes still slightly opened, "Lloyd…" as soon as said that, he fell back unconscious. It was still only past noon.

I rummaged through Lloyd's stuff, no gels, no bandages, how did he honestly expect to…oh. Maybe he wasn't expecting to live. I felt a sudden wave of guilt wash over me, this was all my fault to begin with.

Lloyd slept the entire time, I watched over his body. Staring, watching, thinking. I won't lose him again. Noise wouldn't be happy either ya know Lloyd. If you died.

Celsius

I guess I can still have this have a happy ending. I sat alone in the bedroom meditating. Everyone else was either in the dining hall or in their own rooms. I made sure the door was locked while I contacted Fenrir.

"Hey. Wake up mutt!" I yelled silently.

The ice wolf suddenly appeared in front of me, his eyes half-closed. "What now?"

"Can you make the storm any stronger?" I ask.

He sighed, "You and your plans. I still constantly wonder why I made you my guardian in the first place."

I chuckle slightly, "Well, I'm stronger then you, I'm sexier then you, I'm female, I have breasts, I can kick you ass..."

The large blue wolf sighed, "I know, I would be so lost." He said jokingly.

Regaining my serious tone, I looked at him square in the eyes, "Well? Can you?"

"You should be careful for what you wish for, Celsius. The storm is very strong at the moment. Any stronger and I could KILL Lloyd and Sheena."

"You have a point, just see what you can do, okay?" I waved him off as he disappeared. I had to meld my plans with the failed to make this have a happy ending. I can travel well oddly enough through heavy snow storms, so I had to increase the amount of snow, at least a bit.

Lloyd

The warmth, the love, the cradle of my mother's arms. Is this a dream? Then I don't want to wake up. I opened my eyes, I could see this women, tall, graceful. She had long brown hair and a mischievous look in her kind brown eyes. Beside her stood a man, my father; Kratos. He bent over and touched my cheek and whispered something to me that I couldn't hear, I wanted to say how much I loved them both, but I couldn't, all I could hear were coos and baby talk. I close my eyes trying to sleep.

I blink once. I now see Kratos crying, waves of soldiers heading towards him. The edge of the cliff began to brake, I feel her warmth cradle me once again. As I look up, I see blood being splattered, I saw Kratos look back and say something before I try to close my eyes and hope this disappears.

I blink again. I'm at the bottom of the cliff now, in the strong arms of a bearded man. He looked upon my mother softly with mercy and pity, the man bends over and checks for my mother's pulse, he's a dwarf, he looks at me and says something that I can't understand. I close my eyes hoping this nightmare will end.

Blink. I see myself in the Iselia school, standing alone. A blonde girl walks up to be and introduces herself as 'Colette'. I smile as she takes my hand to introduce me to the rest of the class, she says something that I can't hear. I close my eyes and smile.

Blink. I see myself and Colette sitting down next to the 'elf.' We say hi, and he says that he is the brother of the school teacher, his name is "Genis." he says something but all is muted, I close my eyes and introduce myself.

Blink. I see myself watching a women dressed in a strange purple outfit run, before she says that her name is 'Sheena.' she looks at me carefully, for the first time I fell in love with her. I know what they said now, 'Live you life how you will live it.'. Maybe I'll give my life another chance, maybe I can fall in love with her all over again.

My entire life flashed before my eyes. Then I feel the warmth of love surround me, like the caress of my father, like the warmth of my mother, like the mercy of my other father, like the smile of Colette, like the friendship of Genis, like the love of Sheena. Maybe if Martel lets me, I'll fall in love with her all over again.

Aht uv Lrybdan