Chapter 8 – Lavender Wings

Well peoples, lots has gotten in the way of the new chapter. Projects, tests, novels, a strange ninja that seems to be stalking me, and Kevi.

Kevi: O.O''''

Okay, CHAPTER TIME!

Shades of Wings

Chapter 7 – Lavender Wings

"HOOOONNEEEY!" Reirana waved to Kevi as he and the other guardians came out with the exhausted Adrian. "Guess what Dad found?!"

"It's the old home movies of you!" Yeinin chortled and Kevi's face drained of color. "Anyone want to see a sphere of the birth?"

"GOTTA GO, IN RUSH, GOTTA HUURRRRRY!" Kevi screamed, dragging along the poor summoner and her troupe along with him out of the temple doors.

"But Adrian needs to rest doesn't she?" Reirana asked hopefully, "Why not here at the temple?"

"Be-because the woods are nicer!" Kevi told her.

"But we might get attacked again," Juka pointed out, and Kevi gave her a sharp smack on the head. "I mean…umm…that sounds good!"

"IT'S UNANIMOUS, WE'RE LEAVING!" Kevi shrieked and practically threw the entire group out of the temple doors.

"See you later honey!" Reirana waved along with Yeinin, "Maybe we can set up a play-date for you and your friends!"

"YEAH, GREAT, WHATEVER, BYE!" Kevi gave one final shout and then threw the doors shut behind him. He turned to the group and cracked a smile, "Ahhh…there's no place like anywhere but home."

"I guess it's back to the Agency?" Briu asked, sighing, "We need to backtrack through the forest to get to the Thunder Plains, right?"

"I'd rather not…" Ashnigh spoke softly and the group turned their heads to look at her, "You know…how I feel…"

Tiffa scowled and started to walk away from Ashnigh and the temple, "Fine, we can sleep in the woods and get eaten! After all, prejudice comes first!"

"You wouldn't understand!" Ashnigh told her, scowling, "Let's get to the woods." She shivered slightly and began to walk quickly, "It's cold here…"

"So we're back here?" Spiler asked incredulously as the group surveyed the pool they had been resting at just a few nights before, "Great…don't I feel like we're making progress."

Luna giggled and ran back to the water, "Ohh....I like it here! It's fun!"

"I for one would rather have been sleeping at the Temple watching movies..." Spiler chuckled at Kevi, who was now blushing.

"Oh stop whining," Adrian snapped and lied down almost immediately, "I'm tired…" she spoke softly, and then noticed Juka grinning at her, "Slightly tired. Let's rest the night…and then it's off to the Thunder Plains."

"Whatever," Tai sighed, sitting down next to his sword, "I for one could use some sleep too."

"I wanna sleep too!" Luna laughed and jumped into the cold water, splashing everyone, but everyone being too tired to notice. Luna got out and then immedietly fell asleep.

"And after that nightmare…" Kevi took off his goggles, blinking repeatedly, as if trying to wash the vision out of his eyes, "I'd rather sleep for eternity…"

Tiffa didn't speak as she picked a spot as far away from Ashnigh as possible and sat down, making sure not to look the White Mage in the eye before falling asleep. Juka frowned at the two women and then gave a heavy sigh, "I…I guess I should go to sleep too…" She sat next to Adrian and tried to find a comfortable tree trunk to lean against. As Briu and Spiler drifted off, she found one and leaned against it. She shut her eyes, realizing that she too was exhausted, and let herself drift off to sleep…

"Lai…you still awake?" Juka looked up from where she was sitting and saw she was at the same clearing she had fallen asleep in. She looked around, and saw Ashnigh. She smiled, "Ashnigh, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Why aren't you asleep?" A voice asked, and Juka looked to the right of Ashnigh and furrowed her brow as she saw a man with blue spiky hair, wearing long and formal cream and emerald colored robes. He held a summoner's staff in his hand, and was looking at her worriedly, "It's late."

"I could ask the same of you," Ashnigh spoke softly and Juka noticed that her hair had gotten shorter and that she wasn't wearing the same clothes as she remembered. "You really should get some rest…"

"Why are you still up?" Lai asked again, not looking Ashnigh straight in the eye.

"I was worried, that's all," she told him, "You're always staying up late…even at the temple… Adrian always noticed because you woke her up during the night."

"I don't think it's any of your concern when I go to sleep," he told her sternly, "You're not my mother…"He turned away from her coldly, "It's none of your business."

"It is too my damn business!" Lai's eyes widened and he turned his head to face a crying Ashnigh. "It's my business because I'm in love with you!"

"Ashnigh…" Lai started to speak, but was cut off by a strong hug from Ashnigh, who was crying into his robes.

"I love you…that's why I came with you as a guardian!" She told him, "Because I love you…"

"Ashnigh…" Lai spoke again, and then, he put his hand on her head and smiled, "I love you too."

"Sniff…hicc…hicc…" Juka opened her eyes wearily to a crying Ashnigh, now back to her usual form.

"Ashnigh…?" Juka rubbed her eyes and Ashnigh turned to Juka, her eyes wide with surprise and her eyes red and puffy from crying, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing…" Ashnigh told her, rubbing her eyes, "Sorry if I woke you up."

"But you were crying…" Juka told her, coming over to her, "Why are you upset?"

"I told you, it's nothing!" Ashnigh pushed Juka away, "Just leave me alone!" With that, she stood up and walked out of the clearing, leaving Juka alone.

"Lai…" Ashnigh spoke softly, "That place…it's such a fond memory for me…" Ashnigh stood outside the clearing on a tree branch, looking over the entangled vines of the forest. "So fond…"

"What is wrong Miss?" Ashnigh looked up suddenly and almost screamed as she saw a bird like creature with a long headdress, cloak, and harp. (This is an actual person in the game.) He strummed a few notes on the harp and then turned to her, "Why are you so melancholy in such a beautiful forest as this?"

"It's nothing…" Ashnigh laughed, "Really…"

"Lying is a fickle thing that only affects humans," the bird smiled, "Not us creatures of the forest."

Ashnigh sighed, and then brought her knees to her chins, "Just bad memories…that's all…"

"Bad memories…" the bird nodded, "I see…"

"It seems that all those bad memories out way the good…" She spoke, her eyes dull, "You know?"

The bird smiled at her, and then, with its plumed hand, it touched her head and a small spark came from his hand. "But those good memories are the most beautiful in the world aren't they?"

"Perhaps…" Ashnigh spoke, her eyes getting hazier, as if she couldn't focus anymore.

"Think of a happy memory for me…" he told her and she smiled widely.

"I love you too…"

Out of no where, a blue butterfly materialized and started to flit around Ashnigh. She giggled, trying to catch it, but it flew out of her reach, "You cannot touch memories…" the bird explained. "Only relive them…"

Ashnigh burrowed her face in her knees, "There are some I don't want to relive…"

"He's…he's gone…"

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Ashnigh grimaced and tears started to form in her eyes. But with two "flicks!" out of the air came two red butterflies that went chasing after the red. She blinked a few times and then turned to the bird, "Think of another happy memory…"

"She's my lover, got a problem with that?!"

Another blue butterfly rose out of the air and Ashnigh this time stood up and tried to catch it, it still reaching out of her grasp. She laughed and watched her memory fly into the air.

It continued on like this, the bird kept strumming its harp and Ashnigh kept thinking of memories, both bad and good, until all the butterflies that she had created were flitting around the woods, playing with one another, the good and the bad. The bird smiled at the butterflies, and then at Ashnigh. "These are quite nice…"

"Oh thank you," Ashnigh smiled to the bird as she counted her butterflies, "There are more red than blue…"

"Are there?" the bird asked, counting with her, "That's funny," he pointed to one red butterfly and Ashnigh gasped as she saw it becoming blue, "I think there are more blue than red…"

"But…but how?!" Ashnigh asked him, "How did that memory become erased?!"

"Maybe someone shared a happy memory with you," the bird explained, smiling serenely, "And that turned the butterfly blue…"

Ashnigh didn't ask who could have shared her memory as she looked at her beautiful mind butterflies, "So…" she asked the bird, "Will they go away?"

"Not as long as the memories stay alive…" the bird told her, "Or unless a very special person can catch them…only memories can catch memories," Ashnigh blinked as the bird spoke, "Remember that."

"Oh my!" Ashnigh smiled as she saw the sun shining through the tree tops, "It's already morning! I was having so much fun, I completely lost track of the time."

"As most do," the bird nodded, smiling at her, "I hope we will meet again Ashnigh…"

"As I hope I will meet you again Mr. Bird," she bowed, not inquiring why the bird knew her name as she ran off, "Now, I must get back to my friends, goodbye!"

"Goodbye Ashnigh," the bird waved and smiled at the butterfly that had been changing colors, "The spreading of memories…" he strummed a few notes on his harp and smiled to himself, "Has always been a specialty of mine. But it is even more of a specialty of those humans who pass their memories on…" He chuckled to himself and walked on down the wood path, "That young girl was the only one who had not felt pain like Ashnigh did," he explained, almost to himself, "Therefore only she could harbor the memories…treating them as a fleeting dream." He smiled and tried to touch one of the butterflies, only to have it fly away from him, "Of course," he chuckled, "Only he can touch these…can't he? I shouldn't have to remind myself…" With that, he walked off, playing his wing harp with the most pacific of tunes…

"Morning already?" Spiler grumbled as he and the rest of the group woke up, Ashnigh waiting for them, quite awake. "Yevon…where does the night go?"

"Ashnigh, you okay now?" Juka asked her and Ashnigh smiled.

"I'm fine Juka," she told her, "Just needed to let some memories take flight."

Juka opened her mouth to ponder upon this, but Adrian stepped forward, "Let's move on…we've got a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time."

The group walked on through the blue forest, Ashnigh keeping spirits up with jokes and stories. The rest of the group remained silent as Ashnigh monopolized the conversation, none of them really minding. "Finally," Tai spoke at last, "We're here."

"WE'RE HERE AGAIN?!" A loud voice came from behind the group, and they spun around to see none other than Carolynin and Lindsayay behind them, Tala in the center, joined by a dog with a smoother coat, short stubby tail and colored black. Both dogs looked at their trainers with slightly bored looks. "THAT IS IT, CAROLYNIN, I SHOULD HAVE NEVER GIVEN YOU THE MAP!"

"WHAT MAP?!" Carolynin asked, "YOU JUST SAID, "Oh…I think it's this way!" AND NOW WE'RE LOST!"

"We aren't lost," Lindsayay told her, rolling her eyes slightly, "We're just misplaced."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Umm…need some help?" Briu spoke up and the two turned to look at the summoner party, along with the two dogs.

"Hey, it's you guys again!" Carolynin smiled and waved, "Could you help us out, we're in kind of a fix!"

"What kind of a fix?" Adrian asked, raising her eyebrows.

"We're lost…" Lindsayay cried, "We were trying to get to the Calm Lands, and now we're lost!"

"Umm…just head north up this path…" Adrian pointed, "That should lead you there..."

"North up the path!" Carolynin nodded, "Easy enough to remember!"

"Oh and look!" Lindsayay pointed to the new dog, "I got a new doggy!"

"WE got a new doggy!" Carolynin insisted, throwing her arms around the dog's neck, "His name is Artemis!"

"Umm…he's cute…" Juka laughed and Artemis gave her a low growl. "ACK!"

"Ahh don't mind him," Lindsayay laughed haughtily, "He's just been trained to attack at the word "cute"!"

"That's an odd codeword…" Kevi asked, sweatdropping slightly.

"I like it…" Adrian smiled widely.

"Speaking of which," Carolynin sighed, "We haven't gotten any orders from Master Kinoc in a while, have we?"

"Not really," Lindsayay shrugged, "But I'm sure we'll get a message in a day or so!"

"What about?" Tiffa asked.

"THAT'S TOP SECRET!" they screamed simultaneously and the group fell back. "Well anyway!" Carolynin laughed cheerfully, "I guess we'll be seeing you guys around, won't we?"

"Umm…sure…!" Juka laughed and then screamed as Artemis leapt on her and chewed on a bit of her hair. "ARRRGHHH, HELP ME!"

"Ooops!" Lindsayay giggled, "I forgot, he's trained to attack on the word "Umm!" How stupid of me!"

"Really, how could we forget?" Carolynin chortled to herself and her companion.

"It seems so irresponsible!"

"SOME HELP OVER HERE! OH CRAP I THINK HE'S GOT MY EAR!"

"Oh Arty, come over here!" Carolynin whistled and Artemis leapt off of Juka, knocking the wind out of her and making her scream in pain. "Silly puppy!"

"Well, see you guys later then!" They waved and walked off with the two dogs towards the upper path.

"Owie…" Juka whined, "That dog is a monster…"

"I like him…" Adrian smirked.

"I'm sure you would."

THE END! ENJOY AND MORE IS ON ITS WAY!

Next Chapter:

Chapter 9 – Yellow Wings!