Shades of Wings:
Chapter 5: Blue Wings
Hey hey hey! Hello and thank you for the nice reviews once again! I hope you all enjoy these next two chapter (posted at the same time) Enjoy, enjoy!
"We rest here," Kevi pointed to an Al Bhed travel agency in the snowy plains that led to Macalania. Adrian, still asleep on Ashnigh's back gave a small grumble and a giggle escaped Luna's lips. Ashnigh looked worriedly at the ice cold guardian.
"Umm...Mr. Sora?" she asked, "This is an Al Bhed travel agency...the Al Bhed are well..."
"Against Yevon?" Kevi asked, "Yeah I know, but it'll take a while to get to Macalania and right now, with Adrian as she is and the rest of us pretty beat up, this is best plan for now."
"But--"
"Well, if you're really so against it, you can freeze to death," Kevi threw open the doors, "But I myself plan to take a rest."
Ashnigh sighed, defeated as one by one the guardians piled into the travel agency. She was the last one to take the step into the warm comforting building with a smiling blonde Al Bhed behind the desk.
"Welcome to Rin's Travel Agency!" she smiled at them, "You'll be needing rooms?"
"Two rooms," Kevi told her, "With four beds in one, five in another please." He chuckled slightly, "Don't want to relive last time do we, kid?"
"I told you, I'm NOT a kid!" Juka insisted, making a face behind Kevi's back.
"Whatever," Kevi told her, rolling his eyes.
"Yes sir," the Al Bhed attendant bowed and led them to the back of the agency where two rooms were waiting for them, "Here you are. These rooms will be 1000 gil."
Ashnigh fumbled in her skirt for the coins and gracefully placed them in the woman's hand. She made sure that her fingers did not touch the palm of the Al Bhed and quickly her hand retracted. "Thank you, please enjoy your stay." She bowed and quickly walked out of the room.
"See you guys in the morning then," Kevi nodded and walked into the room containing four beds, "Make sure Adrian gets a good night's rest."
Juka nodded and the two genders filed into their adjacent rooms.
"You know Ashnigh," Tiffa eyed Ashnigh angrily as they shut the door, "Al Bhed aren't poisonous...you can at least touch them..."
"They defy Yevon!" she told her, "It's my choice to be this way toward them!"
"They have nothing against Yevon!" Tiffa told her, "Just because they build machina!"
"Forbidden Machina!" Ashnigh pointed out, "I thought that you, of all people, a guardian, would understand!"
"LIKE HELL I UNDERSTAND!" Tiffa yelled and pulled out her guns. She threw them at Ashnigh's feet and pointed at them. "YOU SERIOUSLY BELIEVE THE MAESTERS WOULD APPROVE THOSE?! DO YOU?!" She spat at Ashnigh's high heeled feet, "THOSE ARE YOUR FORBIDDEN MACHINA!"
"I forgive you..." Ashnigh gave the Yevon prayer to Tiffa.
"DON'T FORGIVE ME YOU--"
"Tiffa!" Juka grabbed Tiffa's shirt and held the gun wielding girl back from chopping off the calm Yevonite's head. "Let's not talk about this right now! Adrian needs to rest!"
Tiffa kept her eyes focused on Ashnigh's and then she sighed, "Juka, can I speak to you outside for a moment?"
"Sure," Juka nodded and walked outside with Tiffa.
"Juka?" Tiffa asked, "Do you have an extra sword or something I could use besides my guns?"
"Wha--?" Juka asked, slightly confused by the question. "No...umm...I don't. Why?"
"I need to find a weapon that's not forbidden," Tiffa sighed, "Or Ashnigh and I will be at each other's throats for the entire pilgramige. Adrian doesn't need that."
"Well..." Juka thought, "Maybe the owner has something she can sell us!"
"Yeah! That's a great idea, let's ask!" Tiffa nodded and she and Juka walked down the hall and up to the Al Bhed owner.
"Excuse us?" Juka asked.
"Yes?" she smiled faintly.
"Do you have any weapons for sale?"
"Why yes," the woman smiled and brought out a large ivory white case and opened it. Giant swords, guns, maces, and other weapons lined the case and Tiffa laughed slightly at everything in it.
"Look at all this Tiffa!" Juka told her, picking up the heavy mace, "You can pick any weapons here! How about this one?!" she tried to hold it, but it instead fell hard on the ground. "EEKS! It's heavy! Sorry about that!"
"That's okay," the Al Bhed woman laughed and helped Juka picked it up with the greatest of ease and put it back in the case. "Miss, why are you looking for a new weapon when you already have those handsome Al Bhed guns?" the woman asked, pointing to Tiffa's belt guns.
"Al Bhed guns...?" Juka asked and Tiffa started to sweat.
"Umm...the mace is too heavy Juka," Tiffa told her, "These...these are better." Tiffa pulled out a pair of twin boomerang knives. "I'll take these."
"Yes, a very nice choice," the Al Bhed woman nodded, "But ma'am, why are you buying a new weapon?"
"Because not everyone agrees with my weapons..." Tiffa sighed.
"Oh, you have some Yevon followers with you?" the Al Bhed woman laughed slightly, "I understand. But still," she put her hand on Tiffa's, "In the end, it's your own decision. You protect your summoner as you see fit. Molding yourself...to please others...will never do you good."
Tiffa's eyes widened and she studied the Al Bhed woman who just peacefully smiled. "How...how did...you know...?"
"Know what?"
"WHEEEE! We're in a hotel!" Luna came cart wheeling into the room, laughing and giggling to break the silence and interrupt the tension.
"You should probably get to sleep," the woman smiled.
"Yeah...let's..." Tiffa nodded to them and the three girls walked briskly back to their room.
When they arrived Ashnigh and Adrian were already asleep. Tiffa gave a relieved sigh and tucked the knives and her guns under her bed. "I'm going to hit the hay, see you guys..."
"G'night," Juka yawned and crawled into bed as well, "G'night Luna..."
"Nighty night!" Luna jumped on her bed as the rest of the girls drifted off to sleep.
"Ahhh man am I tired..." Spiler threw himself on top of one of the beds, blitzball tucked underneath it, "That battle sucked with a capital S!"
"I think I need a shower," Briu commented, wiping some imaginary slime off his arms, "I still feel like that thing..."
"Too bad they don't have any," Kevi muttered and Tai once again shot him his, "Grr I hate you" look.
"Hey Kevi?" Spiler asked the axe wielding warrior.
"Uh huh?"
"You said you were from Macalania right?"
"Uh huh."
"So...do your parents live there?"
Kevi's eyes shot open and he sat up in bed, panting and sweating.
"Uhh...dude?" Spiler asked, "You okay?"
"Uhh...uhh..." Kevi stuttered for a couple seconds, "Can...I...Umm...what I mean is, I think I should go to the Temple first, clear the fiends out of our path, then you guys and Adrian can follow."
"That seems pretty dangerous," Briu pointed out, "I can go with you."
"No, no, I'm going alone," Kevi told them, "It's really no big deal..."
That morning, when Adrian and the other woke up, Kevi was already gone. Spiler recounted the night before to them and Adrian sighed, annoyed, "That idiot! With the amount of experience he has he should KNOW not to go off alone!"
"He might get lost," Briu pointed out. "We should probably follow him!"
"Yes, yes we should," Ashnigh nodded, and then added under her breath, "The sooner we get out of here the better."
Tiffa once again shot Ashnigh an angry look but Juka noticed her fingering the throwing knives she had bought in her small bag.
"Let's go," Adrian sighed as they walked out. The Al Bhed woman bowed to each of them as they walked out, and Tiffa was the last one to leave. The Al Bhed woman did not bow to her, she just smiled.
"What?" Tiffa asked her with an icy voice.
"Matthias misses you," the woman told her, "He told me himself, although he's much too proud to admit it."
Tiffa bit her lip, "I'm not going back. You know that..."
"I know it better than anyone," the woman nodded, "But Tiffa..." she stopped Tiffa just as she was walking out, "Cid...he regrets his actions... And so does everyone else. You can come home..."
"You can tell me to go home," Tiffa told her, opening the doors of the agency to head out, "But one who does not know where they are going can only get lost..."
With that, she closed the doors and followed the rest of the guardians out into the icy tundra of Macalania.
FINISHED! . Kinda short, but I hope you all like it! What happened to Kevi? OO Why did he want to go alone?! Who knows!
Readers: And I don't want to know (destroys fic)
Ahhh crap...oh well, enjoy!