When daylight broke, Marin dragged her exhausted feet out of a damaged tent.
Fahd was already breaking camp down, he spotted Marin first. Saying nothing, he plunked some hard objects in a camp chair near her.
Val was standing on the slope above them, watching over the destroyed camp.
"I told you to stay in the cave." He reminded her. Before leaving her alone with her grief.
She put the round objects, Materia, away. Before she moped around in the chair some more.
Val and Danny took turns trying to nudge her out of her grief, get her to do something with her hands. Marin pushed them all away. Sitting in the chair and staring at the cold fire pit.
They were taking down the last tent when someone called out Marin's name.
"Marin," Val called. "Get up."
"She could still be out there." Marin intoned.
Fahd only shook his head as he rolled up the last intact tent. Jamie and Marin's tent was just a pile of torn tent fabric and scattered things now.
Were she not full of grief, Marin could have appreciated the beauty of the mountains. They were unlike any from earth. Mount Nibel and the range of mountains around it. Had a beautiful look that did not hide the dangers in it. The organic-looking dark spires. Reaching like hair or fingers into the sky. Instead of looking like wondrous peaks, they only looked like pointed shrouds, masking the deadly dangers in these mountains.
Those dangers were on Marin's mind.
Even with what Shawn had done to make them unpopular, the town had tried to press a guide on the group, they were so worried about the dangers inherent to these mountains. Even with the camp being just outside of town.
Marin barely saw the mountains, from the smooth peaks surrounded with points, like stems. The mountains looked like they were growing, that they were alive. They also looked harder to climb than anything on Earth.
"It's too dangerous," Fahd said.
"So we're just going to leave them here?" Danny demanded.
"It's better than all of us falling trying to just get a body back." Fahd told her. His voice was as flat as ever.
"They're out friends." Marin said quietly.
"That's funny," Val said. "Shawn didn't act like one."
"Valkyrie!" Fahd said.
Marin sat directly on the ground. The camp chair was being folded up and strung onto a pack. She shook her head sadly. 'What have I come to?' She asked herself.
"Jamie." she whispered. "where are you?"
A cold chuckle filled her ears from her left.
She rolled her eyes and kept her gaze on the ground "What are you doing here? Ardyn." the name twisted in her mouth.
"I was just checking in with a dear friend, see how they were doing."
"I'm not your friend Ardyn."
"Oh, to hear that breaks my heart."
"If you ever had a friend." Marin was in no mood to be polite to the creature.
"Ah, well. Be that as it may. How are you?"
"Mmm." She didn't commit to an answer, not with him.
"That bad huh? Well, it's too bad." He walked around in a small circle, stopping several feet from her.
"Why are you here?" Marin asked him again, looking up this time.
Everyone else was frozen mid-task.
"Such questions. Can't I just be concerned for a friend?"
"Drop the act, Ardyn."
He held up his hands, inspecting the palms, "Why, drop what, my dear?"
"This," she waved at his costume, without looking. "Whatever it is, I'm sick of it. What do you really look like?"
He chuckled again. "My dear, you aren't ready."
She glared at the ground in front of her. "And what makes you say that?"
"Well, if you were ready. You would be able too."
Marin squeezed her eyes shut instead of look at him. He had never tried to hurt her. Whatever he was was no simple Valron. Even the memory of the Valron frightened her more though. She stared at the ground. "I'm sick of your games." She told him.
He laughed at that, "Oh, the irony of that statement. Where do you think you are?"
Marin shook her head. "It doesn't matter. She's not here."
Jamie's voice came from in front of Marin, "But I can be. If that's what you want."
Marin squeezed her eyes shut. "Never use her face or voice again!" A tear rolled down her cheek.
Ardyn's voice returned. "Well, if you won't tell me how you are. And you are for want of nothing. Then, I shant take my leave, until you repay my favor."
Marin scrunched her brow and looked up. "What?..."
He was already gone.
The noises behind Marin picked up again, the rustling. The whispered conversations between the other three.
Fahd walked over to Marin, "Marin. Get up."
Shaking her head and drying a tear, she complied.
"Pack your tent." Fahd commanded.
Marin nodded. Head bowed, she returned to the destroyed tent. It was a flattened mess of broken tent poles, scattered things, and shredded tent-fabric. Marin had to re-pack everything of Jamie's and make it fit. Which meant rolling what was not damaged, and shoving it into her own pack.
Fahd helped by cutting the tent the rest of the way open, laying it out like a flower.
When Marin got to the pillow case, something fell out, something hard and shiny.
Marin looked down at the small, round object.
It was a ring. The ring that Marin had given Jamie last year. They had exchanged cheap costume jewelry as a promise.
Jamie's ring to Marin, was still on the chain around Marin's neck. Next to the moon pendant Ardyn had given her. His token.
Angry with herself, grieving Jamie. Marin picked up the ring and slipped it onto the necklace, next to the one from Jamie. Marin let the pendant fall off. 'Jamie took it off when she slept?' Jamie had taken the ring off, they really were over.
Come to think of it, Marin couldn't remember the last time Jamie had worn the ring, even before Fahd had warned the two of them of de-gloving during practice. Just in case the ring was caught on something in a fight. Marin had asked what that word even meant, and the definition Fahd had given made her glad to keep her ring on a chain.
Marin glared at the charm, the 'token.' She slipped it in her pocket before continuing to pack hers and Jamie's things. At least what was undamaged enough to be worth keeping.
She found her notebooks, in her torn sleeping bag. After picking up her music notebook, the wind found the other one.
Marin grabbed in vain as the pages scattered in the breeze. Torn to shreds, nothing was binding the pages together anymore. Her notes scattered to the wind.
In Marin's grief, she only watched as the paper swirled and tumbled. Before the pages fluttered into the canyon. Taking all their words with them.
Defeated, Marin dragged herself, her pack, and a pile of refuse off of the tent.
Once the tent was cleared, Danny started rolling it up. Marin had just one last thing to do before she helped Danny.
"Marin!" Danny called. "What are you doing?" He sounded worried.
'He shouldn't be.' As Marin approached the cliff.
"I'll help you in a sec." she called back to Danny.
Not looking back at the group, she took the token out of her pocket. Staring at the mountains below. They really were a sight to see. She wished she had a camera for the moment. So she could look back on these mountains when she cared about it. But she didn't, so she couldn't.
Taking a breath, she pitched the moon charm as hard as she could into the canyon.
The tiny gold token glittered in the sun light, then disappeared. Gravity took it below the lip of the cliff. She did not approach the cliff closely enough to see it fall into dawn's shadow.
"What was that?" Danny asked, when Marin joined him in taking the tent down.
"Nothing." 'I hope I never see you again,' She promised to herself. 'Whatever you really are, Ardyn.'
Interlude 2:
Shawn's phone rang. It had been hours since he had come home from the car accident. He had done what triage he could before the ambulances had gotten there. And was finally in a clean change of clothing. What he had been wearing was in the trash, since it had a lot of not-his-own-blood in it.
He thought he had no energy to answer the phone, until he saw who was calling.
"Yes?"
"Shawn?" Jamie's voice.
"Yeah?"
"Oh, thank- you're alive Shawn!"
"Yeah." Not one, but two brushes with death in one day.
"I-just," Jamie was sobbing on the other end. "I think I just got back from whatever that was."
"Can we talk about this right now? Where are you?" Shawn asked.
"I'd feel better if we talked in person. Can I come over?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's Saturday right?"
"Um," she paused. "Yeah, Saturday."
"Have you texted Marin?"
Jamie said "She won't answer."
"Oh. Well. Come over any time. And Jamie…"
"Yeah?"
He flipped over the heavy gold coin in his hand, a Chocobo, with their feathered tail, was on both sides. He had no idea where he had gotten it from. Marin had described something that looked like this to him. That she had left it behind on Earth.
"Jamie, bring over anything you find unusual, okay?"
"What? Um, I'm not sure what you- oh!"
"Jamie? What is it?" He asked.
"My necklace. It must have fallen off in my sleep." She sobbed. "I need to look for it. Then I'll head over. Okay? Oh, hi mom."
Shawn heard mumbling on the other end, Jamie had put the phone down for whatever she was talking about with their mother.
"A friend?" Shawn heard his mother cry. "Is Marin feeling better then?"
"No mom. Another friend from school." another pause. "Yes, I'm done all my homework for the weekend. Thanks mom."
There was another pause before Jamie continued to Shawn. "Don't say anything, I'll be right over." Without another word, Jamie hung up the call.
Danny and Marin sat at the base of the stairs to the ShinRa Manor. The townsfolk left them alone, and what they were about to do felt better outside, than in the Inn's dining room. Even bundled up against the chill of a day in the mountain town.
As soon as Fahd and Val had recovered, they had formed a group with Zangan, and a few others from Nibelheim. To go back into the mountain trail, to deal with the Dragon that had come down from the mountains. When one got that close to the town, it would remain a danger to anyone in the area. Leaving Danny and Marin behind in the town, to finish recovering their hearts and bodies from the short hike.
Danny had gotten a candle from the staff at the inn. And tried to heal the wounds they carried on the inside.
"Paper?" Danny asked.
Marin nodded, she had some paper she had pulled from her notebook.
Danny lit the candle. "Did you want to say anything Marin?"
Marin was barely holding back tears. "I- I don't-. Here's a paper." Marin handed Danny the paper that said 'Shawn.'
"I'm not religious." Danny said. "And Shawn and I didn't get along."
Marin shrugged. "We could have been friends. If he wasn't such a dick."
"Hah, well. We don't have anything else of yours Shawn. So…" Danny held the piece of paper to the squat white candle. Holding out the paper in front of the both of them. They watched at the flame burned through the word 'Shawn.' And slowly crawled to where Danny had a corner pinched between two fingers.
Marin felt a tear slide down her cheek anyway. She looked down at the paper that had her girlfriend's name. "I think Jamie wanted to break up with me." Marin talked into her lap.
"No she wasn't" Danny said. "She just wanted you to apologize for not talking to us for months."
"That's it? That's all she wanted? For me to say sorry? For going crazy?"
Danny wrapped an arm around Marin's shoulder. "You're not crazy. Jamie just wanted to know you still cared."
Marin felt the tears go, "And now she never will." Marin crushed her face into Danny's chest, sobbing. "This memorial is bad and it's making me feel bad."
Danny took Marin's hand in his own, bringing the paper near the candle. "I won't do it for you. But …" He trailed off. Marin knew what he was going to say, that the closure would be good for her.
Marin kept sobbing, pulling the paper to her chest, clutching it like a precious thing. Holding it to her two rings. Where they sat on a chain under her shirt.
Danny rubbed Marin's back slowly. He didn't say anything. They were both upset, and this mini funeral was exactly for that, for them to grieve. Tears ran down his face as well.
Marin didn't keep track of time while she sobbed, wiped her face and cried again. It was not long before her head started aching from all the crying, even her jaw was sore. The things that happened to a person when they cried a lot. Another pounding headache would hit her before long.
"I'm sorry." Marin told the piece of paper. "I'm sorry Jamie." 'I never wanted this.' Marin felt so guilty for telling Ardyn that she hadn't wanted to be alone. And she had gotten what she had wanted.
In losing Jamie, it hurt even more, knowing that the other woman was dead.
"It's all my fault, Danny. All my fault."
"Shush now, Marin. None of this is our fault."
Marin shook her head and only cried, still clutching the paper. She didn't have the strength to tell Danny that he was wrong. That it WAS Marin's fault. She only cried.
'I'm such a fucking coward.' She thought to herself, as she raised her head. And set Jamie's name on fire.
Marin let the flame lick to close to her hand, letting it burn a bit before even she had to let go of the paper. The remaining corner floated in the air, before going out, and the last little bit was blown away on a mountain breeze.
Marin and Danny sat on those steps, until the cold chased them back inside.
Marin sat at the dining room table, watching the candle burn down while Danny sobbed.
Two weeks later. Marin, and the other survivors, walked into a small town a ways down the roadways past Cosmo Canyon. They had run into trouble along the road from there to here. Nothing as noteworthy happened to them in the days between.
They hadn't been able to enter the commune, Cosmo Canyon, in the hills south of Nibel. So they had driven past, toting extra fuel in Danny's extra batteries. They had all been denied entry into the Canyon. That was not unusual. But Marin had hoped that one of them could have talked their way in. But that community was closed and exclusive, especially to strangers.
Somewhere in the twists and turns, the car's engine had died, again. This time the map said that they were not anywhere near someone that could tow them. And there was very little traffic in this area, at this time of year. Their phones had signal, but Danny and Marin had no idea who they could call for a tow.
Fahd and Val were empty handed. Marin was un-surprised that a veteran, in 'enemy territory' didn't carry a phone.
They were rarely passed by locals, who were already doing the bare minimum they could, with the war on. And even energy for cars had begun to be rationed that week.
When the car's power cells finally died there were was no one to help.
"Wouldn't there be people heading to the Gold Saucer even with the war on." Marin asked.
"The what?" Val had asked.
"Never mind." Marin said in response. She kept her mouth shut, upon realizing that this world's version of Las Vegas wasn't open yet. She couldn't tell on her map where it would be built. Somewhere in the large desert north and east of their dead car.
After abandoning the car and the camping supplies Fahd insisted they didn't need anymore. He had determined that whatever the Nibel's had done to the engine, had been only a stop gap to get them out of town.
Marin kept her complaints to herself, about having to travel on foot. She was just glad to be away from that town. She had lost too much there already. Marin touched the two rings through her coat. Whatever had happened to them, she just wanted to see Jamie again, to hold her or be held by her again. They had searched that mountainside for hours in the daylight, turning up nothing.
She had Danny's harmonica in her pocket. He had given it to her a few days out of Nibelheim. There hadn't been a good time to give it to her as a surprise. It was supposed to be from him and Jamie. There would never be a good time for that.
She knew it well enough to not offend the ears of the other three, but she only played it when they stopped for the night. Which meant not while they traveled on foot. She still had her music, though it was written for a damaged ocarina now. Marin held onto the cracked clay for a week before tossing it away. It sounded bad and she had no means to fix it. So now she had a harmonica and all her music was written for an instrument she no longer had.
The harmonica would not replace Jamie, or her precious notes. It wasn't the same as Roceler's ocarina, but it was better than nothing.
'Roceler.' Marin thought. If Danny had not tried to surprise her with a harmonica, she would have had nothing, but humming.
She also had the few Materia that Fahd had found in the cave, with weeks of study she finally know what it was. A Leviathan summon and Final Attack. 'And if that's what Fahd gave me, what did he keep for himself?' she didn't give it anymore thought. After the price they paid for finding Materia in a cave. She didn't care.
Lost in thought as she was, Marin didn't miss the next thing that passed them on the highway.
A loud military convoy passed them on the highway, they didn't stop for the walkers. And no one flagged the ShinRa troops down for help.
The dejected group only camped when they had too, otherwise they hugged the edge of the highway, for the relative safety of the road. Fahd had put their training on hold ever since the car had died for the second time. And it had been shortened on the road between Nibelheim and Cosmo Canyon.
Marin was mixed on not being allowed in without a recommendation. She didn't want to interfere with the time line, yet that place seemed as good as any for rest. Somewhere that wasn't influenced by the ShinRa corporation. The war with Wutai was half a world away, but there was no escaping the signs that there was a war going on.
She wondered if this was how Ayame had felt, living just far enough away from the coast that she had only ever seen the indirect effects of the war. Marin could barely remember the woman. She couldn't remember her face, the only clear memory she had of her great-grandmother, was an old color photo, from the family album. Ayame's first color photo, from the 50's, and she was resolute in a yellow, flower-print, dress. Ayame was ten years and a world gone from asking for help, on how to survive a war.
Marin abandoned the thought as they proceeded north.
Fahd had not declared their final destination, both groups had set out in similar directions by the time they had crossed paths. Marin didn't know where Val or Fahd were actually heading.
Marin herself just wanted to stop, to rest. She was done with fighting and trouble.
"There." Val said, picking out the change in terrain as the grasslands started to giveaway to scrub brush desert. Eventually the desert proper revealed itself. As the highway curved to continue north to Corel, through the last strip of grasses between the mountains and the desert. The signs on the highway said to keep right to keep going to Coasta Del sol.
There was a small town below, built around the exit to the overpass, where it split off to the resort town, and Corel. There were just enough rest stops and villages to keep people going. The bright side of having no car, was not dealing with the new Mako rations. Though it took far longer to get anywhere.
It helped that the lands around here were far less dangers this far from Nibelheim. Even with the group down to four, they could more than handle the things that prowled after them. No dragons or Valrons were to be seen after Cosmo Canyon.
Marin had expected to see the Golden Saucer in the middle of the Desert. The desert went on for miles and miles, with the highway disappearing further north.
There was no golden building rising out of the desert. No lights and no spotlights.
The four of them sat in a booth at the restaurant at the edge of the town. Had Marin known it was to be her last meal with these four, she would have ordered less than a feast.
After the meal was mostly eaten, Fahd began. "Well, what's your plan?" He asked.
"What?" Danny asked, his second-last morsel of food was in his mouth.
"What do you mean, your?" Marin asked. The last of her fries were half to her mouth.
"I know what we're doing." Val pointed out herself and Fahd. "But what's your plan?"
"I need a break." Danny said.
Marin yawned. "I just want to sleep for a week, after all of that walking."
Fahd sighed and plunked his prosthetic arm on the table. They were all tired.
"I'm going to freshen up." Val said. Her food was mostly gone. She left for the bathroom.
"Good idea." Fahd said, yawning. "Cold water sounds good." He yawned again.
After Fahd was also out of earshot, Danny whispered to Marin, "Did any of that seem weird to you?"
Marin yawned, "We're all exhausted." She touched her Materia bracelet, to reassure herself. Danny had returned to Fahd the Materia he had borrowed. And Marin had paid to replace it. Her and Danny only carried their own weight now.
"No, I mean." Danny looked to the way Fahd had gone, "Isn't the bathroom the other way?"
"What?" Marin looked after the door Fahd had taken. Her tired brain slowly coming to the same conclusion of Danny.
Fahd and Val had left in opposite directions. Fahd was going the wrong way to wash his face.
"Fuck."
The waitress intervened with Marin before she could chase after Fahd. Somebody had to pay for the food.
"Dammit!" Danny cursed.
Fahd and Val had slipped away, leaving Marin and Danny with the bill.
Marin would have ordered far less food if she had known that she would have had to pay for all of it.
Worse, in order to afford a bed too-small for her and Danny. The two of them were stuck washing dishes in the back of the diner that night. If they wanted Gil leftover to afford to stay in town and have enough to feed themselves.
With Fahd's wallet no longer covering them. They were stuck in the small town-and-rest-stop. To look for a job in the meantime. And a cheaper place to sleep at night.
The next morning, Marin and Danny had at least had a hot shower. And were sitting in the Diner for breakfast. They would be washing dishes for at least another day.
"Whatchu want?" the morning shift waitress asked Marin.
"Is water free?" She looked down at her sad eggs. They didn't look sad, except for the work day she had ahead of her.
"Nah, but I won't charge yah for the coffee. Don't tell the boss." She poured two cups of coffee for Marin.
Marin put milk in her coffee. Danny took his black and no sugar.
This was the first day of just her and Danny.
Poking at her sad eggs, she could tell that today was going to be a very long day.
Where Mel's Diner had been a truck stop on the edge of town, with apartments on the second floor, some let to traveler's. Sanford was a town built around a highway exit. Part truck stop and village proper.
There were no mountains or forests around the town. Where Nibelheim was dusty, Sanford was made of sand. It was on the outside of the desert. Which had a clear demarcation. Where three sides of the small town was surrounded by grasslands, the north side was scrubby desert. And the sand liked to blow in every day.
Marin and Danny were technically not stuck in town. Neither did they want to leave and try their luck on foot without Fahd or Val beside them.
With no direction, and no obvious signs of trouble. Marin and Danny agreed on the lack of a plan. For the two of them to take a break and think of a plan later. For them to hope trouble didn't come for them, be prepared for it anyway. And get jobs in the meantime.
But first, they both wanted to rest. Neither of them knew how long it would last. But whatever happened, they could face it together. As friends.
Interlude 3:
Shawn sat across from Jamie, in his living room, in his apartment. Their gold coins sat on the table. As far as they could tell, the two-tailed Chocobo coin was the same in every way. They had no idea where they'd come from. Or how they had gotten back to Earth, but they both knew. Something was up.
"What do we do now?" Shawn asked.
"What else can we do?" Jamie said, "We keep looking."
"She's gone Jamie."
Jamie glared at Shawn. "Don't you DARE! Say that. Marin is still out there."
"As far as anyone knows, she had another episode between home and the drug store."
"Fuck you Shawn! Marin is NOT crazy!"
"I know that." Shawn said, deflated.
The lull in the conversation hung for a few moments.
"Jamie." Shawn started.
"What?"
"Let's say we tell everyone we all disappeared into a video game. Tell them that Marin is still in there."
"But she is…." Jamie moaned. "And Danny..." They hadn't heard anything from Danny either.
"What are we supposed to tell everyone?" Shawn asked Jamie. "They'll just think that we're crazy too."
Jamie's head lowered to rest her chin on her chest. "Marin has to be OK, she's still in that place."
"Then we have to go back. Maybe?" Shawn offered.
Jamie shrugged. "I don't even know how we got there in the first place."
"It would be simpler if we could just get Marin and Danny back here."
"How?" Jamie asked.
Shawn explained, "Marin disappeared two nights before we both 'came back' from that world. It was over 16 hours before her mother even noticed she was gone. We both came back right before something terrible happened to each of us. As far as we know, Danny and Marin will come back the same way soon."
"Well, the pharmacy had Marin on camera. So whatever happened, was between there and her house."
Shawn shrugged, "She has almost almost a whole day missing, before her parents even noticed," Shawn repeated. "Us, and her parents, and the police have been picking it apart for days. She hasn't turned up anywhere. How do we even still know if she's here, there, or anywhere?"
"Jamie rubbed tears away, "I'm not giving up, Shawn. I'm NOT!"
Shawn put a hand on his sister's shoulder. "What else can we do but worry right now?"
Jamie shook and shook her head back and forth, she couldn't speak.
"What are you proposing Shawn?"
He shrugged. "We try to put our lives back together."
"You expect me to forget all of that?" Jamie asked.
"No, of course not. But we have lives here. Responsibilities."
"Fuck high school. There are more important things in life than exams or graduation." There was not a dry eye between either of them now. As Shawn held Jamie.
"Maybe," He told his sister. "But nowadays you'll have a had time living a life with no high school degree."
Jamie shook her head. "It would be easier if Marin's mom actually gave a fuck about getting her daughter back."
Shawn only shook his head. Jamie was in his arms now, her sobs had stopped.
They sat down in mute silence. For once, they had no plan, no leads, no ideas. And they had no way to know how to either go back to that planet, or bring Marin and Danny home.
Jamie pulled herself back into her own chair. "I've been trying not to think about this."
Shawn straightened in his own chair, "I just don't know what else to do."
"Neither do I. I just want Marin to be okay. Even after she ghosted me for months. I still...I dunno. And Danny had a funeral here. Can we even get him back?"
"I dunno." Shawn shrugged, "But it'll be okay, it's okay for our feelings to be complicated."
She shook her head, "that's the thing. It's all so complicated. What if Marin was kidnapped here? Or she's in that other place without us. Without me."
In a bedroom with no occupant, the dust has already started to accumulate on the furniture. On the shelves, the desk, the unfinished homework. Only the bed sheets and carpet showed any sign of maintenance. The carpet was vacuumed regularly, same with the other carpets in the house. And the bed was made, neatly, every month.
The curtains were drawn, they were laundered once a year, and were due for their next washing soon.
On the night stand, was an alarm clock, a pile of music notes. And a single, large coin. Under a fine accumulation of dust. A match to the ones Jamie and Shawn held in their hands in another part of the city.
Under the dust in the dark room, a golden Chocobo coin lay there, unattended.
