A/N: It seems like I did a nice job in making everyone apprehensive about whether or not Ryuu was going to make the flight. Haha, I love torturing you people in the same way that you all love to threaten me. ^o^ Anyways, sorry for the delay, but here's the next chapter!
Robshi: I don't think the technologies I included in the last chapter were that advanced, I mean the radio may be a fairly new invention, but it has been around for a while. Not only that, but this story does take place around 200 years after the game ends. O.o
Tereterhomdark2003: Thanks for the compliments on our character development. Believe it or not we did spend a long time planning out each character's personality, and went so far as figured out what their pasts were like. We don't know if we'll incorporate their pasts into this story or not (it really depends on whether or not the readers want to know), but if not we'll post them on fictionpress. ^o^
Shadow66: He reminds you of Cid? That's great! Cid and Vincent were both of our favorite guys in FFVII (the greatest girl of course was Yuffie). But when we came up with Seth's character, he was literally a mix between FF8's Squall with K-san's sense of humor (from Gravitation).
Keep Yourself Alive: Chapter 7
Mikoto smiled down as she leaned ever further over the railing. She, as well as a few of the other treasure hunters, had gathered on the deck. Seth was leaning against a wall, arms folded, puffing on a cigarette. Kashiya was standing beside Mikoto, looking over the railing as well. Their hair blew in the wind as the airship soared over the ocean.
Already, they had been on the airship for six hours, and they weren't going to land on the Forgotten Continent until morning. The Red Rose was a very old airship, and very slow, but it was sturdy and still in good shape. Even better, it had an autopilot system that was still functional. After the disappearance of the mist, while the Alexandrian royal family still had control of it, they had the mist engine removed and replaced with a steam engine. So, in the end, while the Red Rose didn't look like much more than an antique, it was still a well-built ship.
"I still don't understand how you can use magic…" Kashiya pondered.
Mikoto remained silent. It was true that since a lot of technology had been developed, people didn't use magic anymore. They stopped teaching it because they thought it wasn't needed. So it wasn't as if Kashiya herself couldn't use a few spells, it was just a matter of whether Mikoto taught her some. The only problem the fear of magic most humans had. She was hoping that they would all just drop the subject and forget it ever happened.
"Wow!" someone exclaimed. Footsteps came running onto the deck and Mikoto watched as Ryuu thrust himself over the railing to get a glimpse at the scenery. "Where are we now?"
"Still crossing the ocean," Seth sighed, exhaling a small cloud of smoke. "Just like the last time you asked."
Ryuu blushed and stood next to the railing for a while, letting the salty sea breeze linger on his lips. "Oh, thanks again for letting me borrow your brother's double sword," he beamed at Mikoto. "Now I just need to learn how to use it."
"A double sword, huh?" Kashiya asked. "Where do you get these weapons? Daggers, double swords…they're all so…" she searched for a good word to use, but when nothing came to her she just changed approaches. "No one uses those kinds of weapons anymore."
"Blaise and Blade are using swords," Mikoto pointed out.
"Yeah, but that's different. Swords are still used in the military. But daggers aren't, that's pretty close combat. It takes a special type of person to be able to wield daggers effectively and not put their life in danger."
Mikoto shrugged and said nothing. Finally, she spoke again, but kept her eyes focusing on the water. "Hey, Ryuu, what are the twins doing?"
"They were in there sparring," he said, jamming his thumb in the direction of the door.
"With swords?" Kashiya exclaimed.
"Yeah. It's pretty interesting to watch," the brunette laughed.
Seth threw his cigarette off of the side of the ship and walked for the door. "It's not safe to spar on an airship, especially one this old. I'll break them apart."
As the older man walked past him Ryuu laughed nervously and muttered, "Glad I'm not one of them…"
The Genome sighed and slumped against the railing. She knew she should probably go into the main room of the airship to avoid getting seasick.
Just as she pushed herself up to follow Seth inside, Ryuu stopped her. "Do you know the proper way to wield a double sword? I'm afraid I'll cut myself in half with the way I've been holding it."
Mikoto chewed on her lip for a second before saying, "Okay, go get it." She had never actually tried to use a double sword before, but she had watched Zidane use it.
Ryuu ran for his sword. Mikoto had let him borrow Zidane's Ultima Weapon, since it was the lightest and most maneuverable of his collection, and it was made with a metal that was only found on Terra.
He returned carrying the weapon in a very awkward manner, and handed it to her. As soon as she touched the hilt of she felt a rush of knowledge enter her brain, be it because it was a Terran-made weapon, or because Garland programmed her to comprehend things instantly after Zidane died. Smiling lightly, she swung the weapon around a few times, then handed it back to him.
"Okay, it goes like this…" she started slowly, but already she could feel his eyes boring holes into her; making her feel uncomfortable.
"You made it seem so simple," he breathed.
She sighed and disregarded his comment. "Grip the handle like this," she fixed his grip around the hilt. "That in itself should help you out, you were holding it incorrectly."
"Wow, that feels strange," Ryuu said, examining his new grip.
"Now, when you bring it down on your enemy, hold it over your head, using both hands," she instructed, using her own hands to show him. "And bring it down on the fiend."
The brown haired teenager practiced the attack several times before he got used to it. He sat down to rest and Kashiya approached him. "Can I hold your sword?"
Ryuu nodded.
The medic carefully picked it up and swung it around. "What an interesting weapon," she thought out loud. "It's so light. What is it made of? Mythril?"
Kashiya was a very smart woman, but Mikoto almost thought she knew too much. "It's a metal that no longer exists. That weapon was built a long time ago," Mikoto lied.
"Hmm…" Kashiya continued to fumble around with the double sword. "The workman-ship is spectacular, do you know who the synthesist was?"
Mikoto shook her head, though she could have easily said Garland. But, even if she had, Kashiya wouldn't have known who he was.
"I'm going inside," the Genome finally said, opening the main door and leaving Kashiya and Ryuu.
She walked past the twins in the main room and went into the one of the bedrooms. The ship had three. In each room there was two beds. Tonight, she would have to share a room with Kashiya. This didn't bother her, but she didn't want anyone to know about her tail.
She walked into the room, shut the door behind her, and locked it. Her tail wasn't used to being wrapped around her leg everyday all day, so she changed into a skirt and allowed her tail free movement. As long as she was alone in there and no one saw, she could give her tail a break.
She sighed and sprawled out onto the bed she claimed as her own, laying on her stomach. There was a window by the bed, so she stared outside at all of the birds flying alongside the airship. She was tired, she had woken up early that morning to meet the treasure hunters at the airship dock, but she knew better than to fall asleep with the door locked. Kashiya would be wanting to go to bed at some point.
So, quietly, Mikoto crept to the door and unlocked it, then she ran back to her bed and jumped under the sheets. She yawned wide and fell asleep.
* * *
It was pitch black outside when Mikoto shot from her bed and covered her mouth to muffle the scream already threatening to escape. She looked desperately around and clutched her heart. From in the other bed, Kashiya groaned and shifted her weight to a different position.
Was it a bad dream? Whatever it was about, she couldn't remember. But she knew Garland was in it, sneering down at her in a pompous way. The old man had been dead for two hundred years now, why couldn't he leave her alone?
Still, the Genome's heart was beating unbelievably fast. Her breathing now labored, she leaned against the headboard of the bed and tried to calm down. Her cheeks were wet from tears, but she didn't understand why. She worked so hard during the days to keep her emotions under control, even though it was ten times harder with Ryuu around, but what was the use of it when she couldn't control her emotions when she slept? What if one night she had a dream that sparked an emotion powerful enough to trigger Kamikaze? She shuddered at that thought.
All of the promises she made would be for nothing. All of her struggling would have been pointless.
As much as she tried to fall back to sleep, every time she closed her eyes she saw Garland's face, laughing at her and her pathetic struggle.
Heart still pounding, her hands clammy and her nightshirt soaked with sweat, she glanced back over at Kashiya. She was still sleeping very soundly. The clock on the wall said that it was almost three in the morning, and since Mikoto knew she had no chance of going back to sleep, she pulled herself from the bed.
Quietly, so as not to awaken the sleeping woman, the Genome tiptoed across the room and very quickly changed into some clothes to once again hide her tail. Besides they were due to arrive at the Forgotten continent in a few hours; she would just get a head start.
Still trying to remain silent, she lit a candle and crept past Kashiya's bed. The door creaked when she opened it. She glanced back at the older woman, but she was still asleep. Letting out a sigh of relief, she closed the door behind her and walked in the direction of the deck. The ocean was always the prettiest late at night when you could see the moon and stars reflecting off of the waves.
To her astonishment, when she arrived someone was already standing at the railing. He turned to look at her and she could see a smile spread across his face.
"You're up early, Ms. Tribal."
It figures that he would be the one who is awake, she inwardly sighed. Of course, fate hadn't been kind to her for her entire life, why start now? The candle in her hand flickered then went out due to a small gust of wind. She sighed and placed it down on the deck.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked, motioning for her to stand beside him.
Wearily, she moved next to him and once again leaned over the railing. It was cold outside, mainly because of the altitude. But they weren't so high that they couldn't still see the ocean.
Dabs of white and silver were splatter painted across the black waves. The moons were especially bright that night.
"You know what I heard?" Ryuu finally spoke up, "I'll have to ask Kashiya about this one day, since she seems to know so many legends, but I heard that one of the moons had life on it at one point. But you see that crater there in the center?" He pointed up at the blue moon, which was in fact, Terra. "That was caused by a cataclysmic explosion, wiping out all existence on the planet."
Mikoto smiled emptily up at her home. "Yes, you should ask her about it," she said quietly. While she could have easily told him the story, she was much more interested in hearing how much the legend had evolved over the generations.
"All right, I'll do that," he beamed up at the sky.
She shivered as the cool sea breeze swept over her bare skin. She had on pants and a tee shirt, but they weren't doing anything to keep her warm. She was not wearing shoes or socks, so she figured she should probably go inside before long. That was, until Ryuu draped his jacket over her shoulders.
"A skinny thing like you shouldn't be out here dressed like that," he laughed.
She smiled and pulled the jacket tight around her shoulders, it was still warm from him wearing it and it smelled just like him.
"So, did you have a bad dream?" he asked.
"Well…" she started awkwardly; she felt her cheeks burn red.
"Don't feel bad, I did too. I think it's the full moons," he glanced up at the sky again and the moonlight bathed his entire face a silver color. "What was yours about?"
"I can't really remember…" she said slowly. "I know it sounds silly, but I can only remember parts of it."
"It's not silly," he shrugged, "It happens to me all the time. Then I'll see something that reminds me of my dream, and I can remember it again."
"I don't think I want to remember this dream," she shuddered.
"That bad, huh?"
She nodded and didn't say anything else; she just stood there, shivering slightly within Ryuu's jacket.
"Well," he sighed, pushing his wild brown hair back with one of his hands, "My dreams are always strange, even the scary ones," he chuckled, as if remembering one particular dream, but if this was the case, then he didn't voice his memory.
"What was your dream about, Ryuu?" she asked, softly. Her voice was tired and soft, he almost had to strain himself to hear it.
"Mine? Well, I have to admit, that I can't really remember much of it either. But I was being chased by something, something that I couldn't get away from. And I could hear it gaining on me…" he paused for a moment. "Crazy, isn't it?"
Mikoto didn't answer. She constantly felt that way, as if Garland was always behind her, and as much as she tried to dodge the obstacles he put in her way, there was no way to do it.
"I didn't scare you, did I?"
"No, no. It's not that…"
"Then why'd you get quiet all of a sudden?"
"I was…thinking…"
The Genome shivered again, "Maybe we should go back inside. It's really cold out here."
"Okay, sure…" Ryuu said reluctantly, then glancing back at the sky again, he followed her to the door. When they got there, she stopped right in front of it without doing so much as touching the doorknob.
It hit her like a wall. Just standing there in front of the door did it for her. The entire dream came back to her in one mind-blowing instant. She felt dizzy and fear overtook her again. She could no longer keep her balance and she fell backwards onto the boy.
"Ms. Tribal!" he exclaimed, lunging forward to catch her just as she was falling. "What is it?"
"L-Let's g-go ins-side," she managed to stammer out, her eyes wide in terror. Still holding onto her, Ryuu helped her inside the main room of the airship and she sat down on a small crimson couch.
"Is there something wrong? Can I get you anything?" he asked desperately.
"No, I'll be fine."
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"I…remembered…" she said slowly.
"Remembered what?"
"My dream…"
"Oh," he gave a sigh of relief. "You gave me a scare there. I thought maybe you were anemic and you were going to pass out on me."
The Genome shook her head, then stood up and tried to light a candle, but her hand wouldn't stop shaking long enough for her to light the match. Ryuu jumped up and held her hand in his to stop the trembling. He led her over to a couch and set her down, then he lit the candle for her.
"What was it about?" he asked worriedly.
Still shaking violently, she shook her head a second time. There was nothing she would have liked better than to tell him. To just let all everything spew out, one by one. But she couldn't. She was afraid of a lot of things, but most of all, she was afraid that if he knew anything about her, he would think of her as some sort of monster. A hideous beast. He would probably avoid her, just like what happened to Zidane.
"I can't tell you…"
"Why not? It's better to get these things off your chest, ya know?"
"I…don't want to think about it anymore."
"Okay, okay. I understand. But are you sure you'll be all right?"
She nodded and pulled her legs up onto the couch with her, still tugging the jacket around her. In her mind she was sorting through the dream, trying to make sense of it all. But there was no way she could.
She was running through catacombs. The smell of rotting wood and moisture stuck in her nose, and along the walls several torches were lit. Someone was calling out for her, but she knew that it couldn't have been Kuja or Zidane. The voice was familiar; there was no doubt in her mind that it was Garland.
The catacombs came to a place where they split up into several separate caves. She tried to get as far away from his haunting words as possible, she ran down the middle cave, and before long she came face-to-face with a door. Panting for breath, she stared at it when suddenly from the center something started to protrude. She stared in horror as Garland's face stared at her through the door.
Eyes wide, she turned and fled. "You can't escape…" his hoarse, growling voice followed her.
She turned down another cave, and ran as far as she could until she came to another dead end. There was another door, Garland's face protruded from it as well. "I built you, I have ultimate control over you actions."
"No…" she panted, running from there as well. All of the caves seemed to lead to doors, and all of the doors led to Garland. Each time he reminded her that she was fighting a losing battle.
"Just give in, and open up the door…"
"No!" she screamed and ran even further away.
Still, no matter where she turned, he was there, sneering down at her in a haughty manner.
Desperately, she ran through all of the caves, only to find that there was no escape. Everywhere she turned to, he had beaten her there, or maybe he was everywhere at once. Out of breath, she made her way down one last corridor, the torches that lit the path were further apart and didn't offer as much light. When she came to the dead end, it was almost completely dark.
With nowhere else to go, she collapsed in front of the door and cried. Was there no way to beat him? Then, she looked up, and noticed this door was different from the others. This one was a plain door; Garland's face was not jeering at her from it. In a last ditch effort to get away from his reprimanding words, she threw the door open and ran through it, not looking at where it led. When she did see what lay ahead, it was too late. She was already standing at the foot of a cliff, trying to keep her balance. The earth beneath her already began to give away.
Frantically, she started waving her arms, trying with all her might to push herself back onto the land, but despite her efforts, she had still fallen. She couldn't do anything about it, and all she could do was watch the bottom grow closer to her. An ocean? A lake? She couldn't tell, but whatever it was, she was getting ready to fall directly into it.
The wait wasn't long until she finally smacked against the water. Somehow it felt no different than what it would feel like to fall against concrete. The cold liquid stung her lungs and paralyzed her insides, and she didn't think she could breathe. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, she realized all too late that she couldn't swim. She struggled to keep her head above water, but all of her struggling only kept pushing her further down.
Then…she had woken up. Sweating, crying, and scared out of her mind. What did her dreams mean?
If she had been brave enough, she would have asked Kashiya. Surely she would offer some sort of idea of what the dream could have meant, but that meant revealing secrets. And by revealing these secrets, it would change her life forever, for better or for worse.
"Ms. Tribal?" someone was calling her. Still, she was lost in her thoughts, but the mantra of 'Ms. Tribal' replayed itself in her brain over and over. "Mikoto?"
She snapped from her daze and stared directly into Ryuu's eyes.
"Are you all right? Are you sure I can't get you anything?"
"I'll be fine…" It was like playing chicken with him. She couldn't stop from looking into his eyes, and he wouldn't pry his away from her. His dark eyes were filled with concern, and it was the first time in so long she had seen someone that was truly worried about her. The last person to care that much about her well-being had been…Zidane.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"No, I'll be fine."
Still, he didn't take his gaze away from her. Her head was spinning again. Not only could she not look away from him, but so many other things were on her mind. It wasn't until she heard a male voice cry, "Get a room, you two," that the awkward moment between them passed.
"Get a life, Blaise," Ryuu retorted, turning to look at the boy who had made his way out of his room. Mikoto on the other hand turned a bright red and pretended to be very interested in a stain on the couch.
"What the hell are you doing up so early anyway?" the twin asked them, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Nightmares."
"Awww, how cute. You had bad dreams?" the blond laughed and started walking off.
"What are you doing up so early?" Ryuu called after him.
"I'm going to use the men's room," Blaise beamed, giving them a thumbs-up.
"Okay, maybe you didn't have to tell us," Mikoto mumbled. Still giving them a sly smile, Blaise wandered into the ship's bathroom. "Even when they're tired they're obnoxious," she sighed again, leaning her head against the arm of the sofa.
"Yeah, but it wouldn't be as interesting without them," Ryuu laughed.
"Perhaps not…" she sighed.
For a few moments it was silent and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of boards creaking in the old airship. The bathroom door opened and Blaise stepped out, still smirking at them jokingly, and then he disappeared into his bedroom.
"So, do you plan on going back to sleep?" Ryuu finally asked, trying to stifle a yawn.
"I don't think so."
"Oh, then I'll stay up with you. I'm not tired."
She could tell that this was a lie. "You can go on to bed, I'll be fine."
"Nope, I already told you, I'm not tired."
"Okay…" she said slowly.
"So, Mikoto, tell me more about yourself," he smiled and leaned back against the couch.
"There's not much to tell…" she lied. "It would be boring anyway."
"Naw, I'm sure it wouldn't. Come on, I'm interested!"
"No, maybe another time," Mikoto stated, lifting her head from the arm of the couch.
Ryuu smiled and laughed, "Okay, but I'll hold you to that, you know?"
"Yeah, yeah…"
It was silent again, and from beside her, Mikoto noticed Ryuu begin to nod off occasionally. But as soon as he closed his eyes and let his head droop, they snapped back open and he shook his head, almost as if he were trying to shake his tiredness out.
"Just go to bed," she sighed, "You're tired."
"No, I'm not tired," he argued, "I'm tough, I can stay awake. I'm not tired…" and he continued to repeat this over and over, more to himself than to her. "I can last a night or two without sleeping."
"Or two?"
Ryuu blushed a bit and tried to change subjects, but she stopped him. "You didn't get any sleep last night either?"
"I was too nervous to go to sleep; you know how it is, right? It was going to be my first time off of the Mist Continent, I was going to go treasure hunting…"
"You need to get some sleep."
"No, I'll be fine."
Mikoto still had her doubts. The boy looked as if he was about to fall asleep at any given second. Still, he was adamant on not going to bed, thus she didn't argue with him anymore.
Ryuu talked sleepily for about ten minutes, then it got silent again between them. Mikoto looked to her side to see the boy struggling to keep his eyes open. Then, without any warning, he slumped over and fell over her lap, dozing peacefully. The action startled her, but she almost laughed when she saw what happened.
"He claimed to not be tired," she smiled, looking upon his sleeping face. When she realized that she was staring, she blushed and looked over at a dark corner of the ship. Still, as if a magnet was pulling her, she always found herself stealing glances at the boy. The more she looked at him, the more strange thoughts ran through her head. I'll bet his hair is really soft…she thought, then she scolded herself, Get a grip, Mikoto! Pull yourself together!
Yet, she couldn't help herself, and before long she found herself stroking his long dark hair. She felt strangely at peace, and despite her efforts to stay awake, she found that she was losing the battle herself. Her eyes, no, her entire face felt heavy.
It was hard for her to even keep her eyes focused, so instead of fighting anymore, she allowed herself to fall back to sleep, with Ryuu's head in her lap, and her own head tilted to the side.
* * *
When Seth awoke the next morning, the first thing he realized while he was dressing himself, was that he needed a cigarette, and the second thing he realized, was that Ryuu wasn't in his bed. Rubbing the side of his forehead with the palm of his hand, the man walked into the main room of the ship and saw on the couch the two teenagers sleeping.
He stared at them for a few seconds, then walked back into his room and returned with an instant camera. Quietly, so as not to disturb them, he turned the flash off and took a picture of the sleeping figures. The camera automatically spit out the photo, and lighting a cigarette, the man walked out onto the deck to wait for the picture to develop.
The next to awake was Kashiya. She walked out of her and Mikoto's room, wondering where on Gaia the teen could be. When she saw the two she had to cover her mouth so as not to awake them with a squeal. "Oh God, I wish I had a camera!" she whispered, "I wish I could draw! I wish I could do something! That is the cutest thing ever!"
She tiptoed past them, watching them all the while, and joined Seth on the deck. "Did you see them in there?" she asked, once she had shut the door behind them. "Isn't that the most precious?"
Seth smirked, and showed her the picture. "I thought so too."
"When we get back to Lindblum you'll have to copy this for me!"
"Whatever," he shrugged, taking the picture back.
"Are you prepared for today? It's our first real day of adventure!"
Seth lifted up part of his shirt to show off a gun that was placed at his hip. That was basically all he had on him. Kashiya on the other hand seemed to be laden down with all sorts of things. On each of her arms she wore bands with pockets on them for holding herbs. On her hip and thigh she had a pouches for potions and other medicines. Lastly, she carried a backpack on her back filled with first aid bandages and antiseptics.
"I just hope I haven't forgotten anything…" she said slowly, fumbling with the charm on her necklace. As many had noticed, Kashiya always wore a black choker around her throat, and in the middle a diamond shaped charm hung down with some weird symbol carved into it.
"What does that symbol stand for?" Seth asked, throwing the cigarette butt over the side of the airship. They were no longer flying over ocean, but land.
"Oh, it's the symbol for 'Leo'. That's my horoscope," she beamed.
Seth nodded and looked forward.
"You're a Scorpio, aren't you?"
"How'd yo-"
Kashiya giggled and leaned over the railing. "You don't talk too often, and you seem very aloof and mysterious. Not only that, but your eyes really give it away. You may not talk very often, but all of your feelings show through your eyes. That was a dead giveaway."
"Wow, that's a dead ringer!" someone said from the doorway. With a sigh, Kashiya turned to see the twins come out onto the deck as well. "You're pretty good with that astrology stuff."
"Did you get a load of Ryuu and Mikoto snoozing on the couch in there? It reeks of something illegal," Blade laughed.
"Yeah, we came up with a new nickname for him. The pedophile. We can call him 'The Ped' for short."
"You two are sick," Kashiya rolled her eyes. "Besides, there's nothing illegal about it. He's seventeen and she's fifteen. If he was your guys' age it'd be a whole different story."
Blade stuck his tongue out at her and walked over to start bothering Seth. The older man just so happened to still be examining the picture he had taken. Blade peered around his shoulder and caught a glimpse of it as well.
"You soul stealer!" he gasped, pointing an accusing finger at the silver haired man. Seth stared at him in bewilderment, as did Kashiya.
After thinking for a while, Seth finally figured out what he meant. "Oh, don't tell me you believe in that stupid old lady's tale."
"So what if I do?"
"You believe that a camera sucks people's souls out?" Kashiya laughed.
"It's no joking matter!" Blaise argued for his brother.
Seth smiled evilly and pulled his camera out, the twins promptly ran back inside the main room, zipped through there, and locked themselves into their bedroom.
The sudden noise, startled Mikoto and she opened her eyes. She glanced around the room for a while, trying to get her eyes to focus when she looked down to see Ryuu doing the same. She gasped in shock and jumped, knocking Ryuu off of her lap. He landed with a thud on the floor.
"Oh my gosh, are you all right?" she asked, bending down next to him. "I'm so sorry, you startled me…I completely forgot…"
"I'm fine," he laughed, sitting on his knees.
"Are you sure?"
Ryuu smiled big and looked her, directly in the eye. "Yes, you scared me more than anything else," then still smiling, he tickled her in the side and stood up. "Well, I don't know about you, but I slept really well last night!" He walked out to the deck.
Mikoto didn't say anything for a while. Her heart was still pounding. But all she could think was that she had slept really well too.
"Wow!!!" she heard Ryuu exclaim. "This is amazing! So this is the Forgotten Continent?! Where are we landing?" She walked outside to see where they were as well.
"Calm down, lover boy," Seth was telling Ryuu.
"And get down from that railing! You're making me nervous!" Kashiya yelled at him.
Instead of walking completely outside, she walked back into the ship and headed in the direction of the cockpit. Everyone had probably seen them on the couch when they had woken up, why hadn't she woken earlier? She typically didn't have a problem with sleeping in, only recently did she have this problem.
When she made it to the cockpit, she saw that they were indeed hovering over their first stop: Ipsens's Castle.
While they weren't going to actually go inside, there were bound to be some artifacts from a long time ago around the ruins of the strange castle. "Everyone, please stand inside the ship," she said into the intercom. "I am getting ready to begin the landing procedure."
She waited for a few moments before actually landing the ship to make sure that everyone got a chance to get inside. The Red Rose shook when it touched ground, and with a sigh, Mikoto walked back into the main room to see everyone gathered.
"Okay," she said quietly. "Everyone, grab your belongings. We're going to set up camp."
"Why can't we stay on the airship?" Blade asked.
"Yeah, there're beds in here!"
"Because, we're going to wander from the airship. If you want to walk back to this every time we travel, you're nuts."
It seemed as if everyone groaned in unison, but they said nothing and went to get their luggage and one by one everyone exited the ship and stepped onto the parched, soil of the Forgotten Continent.
"This place is desolate…" Seth said, glancing across the vicinity.
"Yeah, standing on the ground you can see for fifty miles. I'm sure if you stood on a tuna can you could see about one hundred!" Blade laughed.
"Why's the dirt red?" Blaise asked, kicking at the ground, making the layer of topsoil rise in a cloud of dust.
Kashiya shrugged, "What an ingenious question. Next time, why don't you ask why the sky is blue?"
"Enough bickering, you two…" Mikoto sighed.
The first day, as the Genome recalled, was always the longest day, because, not only did they have to set up camp, everyone was still just getting used to having to live with each other. Not to mention, today they had to find a reliable source of water.
"Hey, Seth, I didn't bring a tent, did you?" Ryuu asked as he dragged all of his belongings from the airship.
"Yeah."
"Do you have any room?"
"Yeah."
"Can I tent with you?
"Yeah."
"I love your one word answers…" Ryuu laughed, dropping all of his suitcases at the end of the boarding ramp.
Kashiya ran over to Mikoto, "I had a short budget for this trip, and since I was supposed to be a medic, I spent a lot of money on different medicines. By the time I was done, I didn't have much money left, and I couldn't afford a tent."
Mikoto would have groaned aloud had she not remembered her manners at the very last second. "I don't think I have any extra tents…"
"Hey, Kash! You can stay in our tent!" the twins yelled, winking at her.
The woman's lips formed a scowl and she turned around to flip them off. "Sorry about that, but I was wondering if you had enough room in your tent for me to squeeze in."
"Sure," the Genome sighed. The only thought that helped keep the poor girl optimistic was that Gaia was home to many different races of beings; maybe seeing a tail wouldn't be such a big deal with Kashiya. Then again, Mikoto would do her best to hide it from her, and if the day came then…it came.
"Seth, where do you think would be a good place to set up camp?" Mikoto yelled.
The man meandered over to an area where the ground was less rocky and more flat. "This would be fine."
With a grunt, Mikoto dropped the tent and all of her belongings where he indicated. "All right, Kashiya, help me with the tent."
The rest of the gang followed in suit.
The sun beat down over their heads. Morning, and already the weather was miserable. Sweat rolled down Mikoto's face and stung her eyes as she hammered stakes into the parched soil. On the other side of the tent, Kashiya was doing the same. After Mikoto finished driving one stake into the ground, she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, then started in on a new stake.
From behind her, she heard one of the twins swear loudly then heard the sound of a mallet hitting the ground. The other twin was laughing at his brother, "You idiot, you can't even use a mallet without hitting your own thumb!"
"Shut up, I didn't ask for your opinion!"
Mikoto stood up and once again wiped the sweat from her face, leaving a trail of dirt across it. "Look, you two, since you don't seem to be getting anywhere, I'll set up your tent.. Will you go look for water?"
"Water? On a continent like this? Does this place look like it has water?!"
"I've been here several times before, Blade," she rolled her eyes, "You can trust me, there's water."
"I'm not drinking water that just comes out of some pond! I'll get malaria or something!"
"You get that from mosquitoes, moron," Seth grunted as he and Ryuu worked to pull canvas over the top of their tent to create a small overhang for shadow from the sweltering sun.
"You get my point."
"It's not for drinking purposes," Mikoto said, "I have bottled water that should last us the entire journey. If we use it sparingly."
"Then what do we need to find water for?"
"You're going to want a bath eventually, won't you?" Kashiya yelled.
The twins grumbled something incoherent and walked off. Mikoto shook her head and helped Kashiya finish with their tent before moving on to the twins'.
After camp had been set up, and after water had been found, everyone used the rest of the day to lounge around. There wasn't much of a point doing any digging that day anyway, since they'd already worked all morning.
When it was dark, the air finally started to cool down. But not in a good way; the absence of the sun beating down on them turned the atmosphere much cooler. After Seth started a fire, he, Mikoto, Ryuu and Kashiya all sat around it. Kashiya read a book, while Ryuu made small talk. Both Seth and Mikoto sat there and listened, neither spoke very much. A few feet off, Blaise and Blade were sparring with each other again. That had seemed to become their favorite pastime.
Still, after an hour or so of sparring, the twins decided that they were sick of it, and sat down around the fire with everyone else. They sat on either side of Kashiya. With a giant sigh, she pushed them away from her. "You smell awful," she complained, "Did you put on deodorant today?"
"Nope, forgot to pack that…"
"Oh, gross!" she gasped, then promptly stood up and sat on the log next to Seth.
Blaise and Blade were snickering, "I was just kidding!" Blaise gasped. "C'mon, Kash! We were just joking with you!"
"I didn't find it very funny, just disgusting. And stop calling me Kash!"
The next one to stand up was Mikoto. She knew she had to beat Kashiya into the tent so that she could get dressed without the woman noticing her tail. "I'm going to bed," she announced, throwing the stick she had been fumbling with into the fire.
"Goodnight," several people chorused at once.
Mikoto nodded at all of them, and walked over to the tent she would be sharing with Kashiya. Tiredly, she crawled inside. By the time she finally hit the pillow, sleep was easily overtaking her tired body. Just as her eyelids were slowly closing, she saw the outline of Kashiya crawl into the tent as well and occupy the sleeping bag beside her. Outside she saw the shadows of the twins going into their own tent.
The Genome yawned wide and nuzzled her face deeper into her pillow. This time around she had managed to hire a very interesting crew of treasure hunters. God permit they would get something accomplished the next day.
* * *
And thus ends Keep Yourself Alive, chapter seven. Sorry for the wait, but at least you got to read it, ne? If anyone is interested, we have a lot of art posted on our website if you would like to check it out. Most of it is for KYA (As of now we have two pictures of Ryuu, one of Kashiya, one of Blaise/Blade, one of Mikoto, and one of Mikoto/Ryuu). If you have time, it would be great for you to check them out! (And sign our guestbook!) Also, if you keep up with our other stories (like 'Taming the Lion') we have three fanarts posted that are Squall/Selphie pairing (from FF8). The link is on our profile if you want it! (And if anyone is interested in drawing a fanart of Seth (or anyone else for that matter), that would be awesome since neither Bree or I could draw a good picture of him) -- Email all drawings to us at CuteMooglez@hotmail.com ^o^ Oh, and don't forget to review!
Kupo!
