The ship from the empty city of Mahura had just finished docking at the pirate city of Norg. This was one of the last refuges for the survivors. The city was strongly defended. The adventures that resided with in the walls were there for a reason. During the attacks on the cities these were the only people not to be killed by the demon army.
Once the ship let down a ramp people crowded around to see if lost family members or friends would be walking down. Once the crew had filed out there were cheers coming from the citizens. The moment Andrew had gotten off of the boat he walked directly to the closes bar. He was holding his head in what seemed like pain.
"Dear brother why do you put yourself through such agony?" Celphie asked
Andrew did not answer her. He pushed the doors open and found a stool to sit. The bartender walked up and asked him his order.
"Something hard." Andrew answered
He walked off and fetched him a bottle of alcohol. Coming back he had a glass.
"Leave the bottle." Andrew said putting down a large amount of gil
The bartender walked off to serve some other customers.
Outside in the city Vivli was rushing around looking for something. She asked around with several dozen residents. The Mithra was looking for her friends. Hoping they would be here, she was loosing hope rather fast. Everyone she asked hadn't seen the people she described. Upset Vivli was slowly walking the streets of Norg with her head down. This proved disastrous when she walked into someone. But in this collision she was the one to fall over. Hitting the ground she landed with a thump.
"Ow…" Vivli said rubbing her hips.
She had run into Angel, who also wasn't paying attention to her surroundings.
"Hey, you ok?" Angel asked
Vivli had a distinct expression of sadness on her face.
"I… I was looking for my friends. But no one here had seen them…" Vivli said quietly
The frail white mage looked like she was about to cry.
"Hey, don't worry. Maybe there are other ships coming in. Besides maybe they are here and are in an area you haven't checked yet." Angel said consolingly
Angel helped Vivli stand up. Once she got on her feet they started walking again.
"I haven't had anything to eat in a while. What say you we go get some food?" Angel proposed
Vivli nodded. They two Mithra moved to what looked like a bar of sorts.
"Hey, what do you wanna bet that I can get any woman here?"
"300 gil says you get slapped in the face."
"Deal."
The Elvaan got up from his chair and walked over to the bar. He had spotted this one the moment she walked in the bar. She carried her coat in her arm rolled up in what looked like a case. She had sat down at the bar and was drinking a lot of liquor. He thought he had more than enough of a chance with this one. She wore all black and it showed off her curves nicely. Her long black braid of hair was a beacon to him. Stepping up to the bar he stood next to the woman, who was trying to hide her face.
"Hey there, you tired?" He asked
She just sighed not even noticing him.
"Cuz you've been walking through my mind all day." He finished
She drank another glass of a strong alcohol not even noticing him. He tried again.
"If I said you had a beautiful body would you hold it against me?" He continued
She moved her eyes to him. She put the glass down.
"You know you need a nice strong Elvaan to tuck you in at night." He said
He got up and moved behind her. He put a hand in her braid.
"It must take you a while to wash all this hair. Maybe I can help you with it." He finished
Even in her state she moved quickly. With one leg she kicked her coat up in the air revealing what was under it. Picking up the large rifle with one hand she turned and pointed it at the Elvaan.
"You picked the wrong guy to hit on." Andrew said
Outside Vivli and Angel were walking towards the bar's entrance when there was an explosion heard inside. An Elvaan came running out of the building. The doors swung open again and there was a gunshot. He fell over crashing to the ground holding his leg. Andrew walked out with his rifle. He cocked it and aimed at the Elvaan. He was pretty drunk.
"Andrew!" Vivli yelled. "What are you doing?"
"Shat guy wash hitting on me, then she touched my shisters hair." Andrew slurred
"That's no reason to kill him… wait… he was hitting on you?" Vivli asked
She looked to see who was the unfortunate victim. She saw a familiar Elvaan on the ground.
"Voldos?" Vivli yelled
"Vivli?" Voldos yelled back
"Andrew put the gun down." Vivli said running to her lost friend
Andrew lowered his weapon when he saw Vivli running out to the man.
"Ah, damnit…" Andrew said
He slung the rifle over his shoulder and walked back into the bar.
"Vivli, what are you doing here? Voldos asked
"I can't leave you alone for a second with out you getting in trouble." Vivli called out
She rushed over and saw the wound on his leg. Quickly she cast a curing spell sealing up the wound.
"Dude, that woman is crazy." Voldos said
"Ha." Vivli laughed. " That "woman" saved my life."
"Really, knowing the trouble you get yourself into she must have gone through quite a bit." Voldos said
"You could say that." Vivli answered
She helped her friend up. Walking back to the bar Voldos hesitated.
"I'm not going back in there." Voldos said
"You better, you need to apologize to Andrew." Vivli said
"That chick's a guy?" Voldos yelled
Angel had walked in looking for Andrew. He was at the bar back to drinking heavily.
"It's a little early to drink that much." Angel said
"So…" Andrew spoke back
"What about your sister? Don't you worry about how it effects her?" Angel asked
"Please don't." Andrew said painfully
Vivli and Voldos came walking back in the building
Andrew drew his gun in a second pointing it at Voldos again.
"What does lover boy here want?" Andrew asked
Voldos put his hands up defensively.
"I just wanted to say I was sorry." Voldos said
Vivli sighed and sat down at a table. Voldos joined her. Andrew eyed him and put his gun back down.
As the hours dragged on the two friends talked about their lives, and how they were doing up until this moment. But when it came down to asking where the rest of their friends were Voldos stopped smiling.
"They didn't make it." Voldos said
These words tore at Vivli's heart. Her friends were gone. The only one that was left sat before her.
"In the first siege they fought the demon army. But they did not stop fighting. Those two kept on going until they were struck down. I was in Sandoria when it happened. That's when a ship left from there to this city. I've been here ever since." Voldos finished
"Yeah, I was in Windurst when the demons attacked." Vivli said almost crying
Andrew had passed out from all that he was drinking. When that happened Celphie took control of their body and walked to the table. Seeing Vivli in tears and Voldos with a sullen look on his face she was about to leave. Angel came up and told her to sit down. Voldos saw the two women join the table. He tried to lighten the mood.
"So… what are you…" Voldos said
Celphie cut him off.
"Stop while you're ahead. While my brother would soon enough just kill you, I'd just make you suffer." Celphie said
Voldos turned to Angel.
"Don't look at me, I'm married." Angel said defensively
"Damnit. Isn't there a single woman in this city?" Voldos asked
He glanced at Vivli. He soon heard a metal tick and looked at Celphie. She just placed her rifle on the table. Angel laughed at the warning.
Hours later the alcohol's effect wore off and Celphie took her leave. Walking out of the bar she stopped. There were two dark figures standing before her.
"Lust…" Celphie said.
Looking at the entrance to the city they guards were dead. Quickly raising her gun she aimed, but could not fire. Seres was quick to put the binding spell on Celphie. Cifer, with his sword out, walked to Celphie.
"Remember me? I was thinking we could start where we left off." Cifer said
Putting the sword at her chest he slid it across slowly along her skin. It opened a large gash; blood was flowing freely from this wound. Cifer stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear.
"Such a beauty, too bad I must corrupt such a thing." Cifer said
He put the sword to her throat. He pulled it quick. But it never touched her. Andrew's spirit materialized and pulled her sister down out of the way. The enchantment was broken long enough to yell out for help. The people inside quickly rushed out to see Celphie bleeding on the ground. Voldos saw this and in a rage he rushed Cifer. Swords were clashing as people were attacking the corrupted soul. But no one noticed Seres. She walked to Celphie; silencing her she drew a dagger and lunged at her. The knife got as far as her chest before she was pushed away. Vivli had tears going down her face.
"What are you?" Vivli was screaming. "Why are you killing these people?"
Seres grinned at her.
"Because I love it." Seres said
This time she lunged at Vivli. Celphie gathered together what strength she had and fired the gun. The recoil sent her in a wave of pain from her wound. The bullet hit Seres in the side blowing a large chunk away with it. She screamed in pain. Holding her side she was bleeding black. Cifer heard this and freaked. A force of dark energy pushed Voldos back. He rushed at Celphie.
"I going to kill you!" He yelled
With his sword out he swung down. Celphie had just enough time to raise her gun blade side up to block Cifer's sword. He came down hard. The force from the strike sent Celphie's weapon out of her hands. She was lying on the ground defenceless. About to strike again something else stopped the blow. An intangeble force materialized again. Andrew's spirit took shape and was standing in front of her sister holding Cifer's weapon stopping it from hitting Celphie.
"What are you?" Cifer asked
Voldos came from behind him and pierced his flesh with his sword. Cifer lowered his weapon and turned around.
"Do you think that will kill me?" Cifer asked
"No, but this will." Celphie said
Angel and retrieved Celphies gun. She cocked it and aimed it at Cifer's head. Pulling the trigger the crystal bullet struck him in the head. It punctured his skin but did not kill him. Reeling back Cifer held his head.
"Carbuncle!" Angel yelled
A white summoning circle grew out of the ground. The blue summoned creature Carbuncle jumped out.
"Now. Searing Light!" Angel commanded
Carbuncles ruby started to glow. Jumping in the air it flashed. A huge flux of light energy shot from it. Hitting Cifer it pushed the corruption out of him. His skin lightened and turned back to a tan. He fell limp and Angel used what magic she could to fix him and cure his wounds.
"One down one to go." Angel said
Looking around she could not see Seres.
"Where did she get off too?" Angel asked
Vivli was tending to Celphie. She was trying her best to cure her wounds. But the large bleeding gash in her chest was proving to be most difficult.
"Why wont it stop bleeding?' Vivli was crying
He hands were pushing on the wound trying to keep enough pressure on it so it would slow the blood flow. The white mages hands were covered with Celphie's blood. Vivli had never seen things like this before. Sure she had helped cure gashes and cuts but this one was deep, and just the amount of blood she was seeing was making her feint. Celphie put a hand on Vivli's.
"I need to tell you something before I go." Celphie said meekly
Vivli's eyes widened in horror.
"No, you're not going to die. Just keep breathing and stay calm." Vivli was panicking
"This needs to be said." Celphie struggled to say
Vivli looked her in the eyes. Before Celphie could speak something was coming from behind the two. Seres had snuck up behind them.
"Time for you to die." Seres yelled
The Mithra conjured an orb of shadow magic. Launching it at the two Vivli stared in fear. Closing her eyes she could only wait for it to hit her.
"Vivli!" Voldos yelled
He jumped in the way of the attack. Absorbing the full impact he fell dead on the ground still holding his sword.
"There!" Angel yelled
She and Carbuncle came rushing over. Seres threw shadow magic at Angel. She was able to dodge the attacks. As the orbs of magic exploded around her Angel commanded Carbuncle again.
"Searing Light!" Angel yelled
Again Carbuncle absorbed light from his surroundings and shot out a beam of concentrated light hitting Seres. A black aura faded out of Seres. Her body fell limp and Angel cured this one too.
"There that's done…" Angel finished
Then she saw Vivli and Celphie. The pool of blood the two were leaning in.
"Oh no…" Angel gasped
Legal notice. I do not own FFXI. It is property of Square-Enix. All PC's and NPC's have thier respective owners. Vivli and Voldos are from the story The Final Fantasy XI Chronicles. Go read it, now...