They were quick to reassign Fang after that. Found some old ruins up north where the coliseum sat dormant and Deuce demanded that her friend Nine tagged along. The giant child of a man spent the entire time walking toward the ruins complaining about how much he wanted to get back to Valhalla and Fang readied herself for a good head on the pike by the time they finished.

"Keep an eye out," she said. "Our target should be somewhere around here."

"That girl wasn't doing great," Nine mumbled.

Fang raised an eyebrow. "Leonora, you mean?"

Nine said nothing and Fang looked back to see him avoid her gaze. She looked away again. "She had an encounter with Terra, or something. As it turns out, the sick should be our greatest fear."

"Wait, what?"

"Nothing."

Fang caught sight of that girl with the braids from the other day, the one that talked to Sazh.

"Oh, crap." Fang shoved at Nine. "Back, back, back-"

"Hello!" The girl bounced their way. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself! It's Penelo."

Fang managed her longest sigh and said, "Right."

"You know each other?" Nine asked.

"Only kind of." Fang jabbed a finger Penelo's way. "I saw her once and she thinks we're now best friends."

"Maybe not best friends." She clasped her hands behind her back as she walked, arms bouncing as she moved. "But It's nice to know there are so many of us with all this stuff going on."

Nine scoffed. "Like any of you make a difference."

"We can, too!" Penelo shoved at him. "What's with that attitude?"

"Mortals can't do much against the creator of gods, yo."

Fang shook her head. "Don't bother with him. Even he's screwed up."

"Hey!" Nine looked at her with genuine betrayal in his face. "Seven and Ace screwed up! I'm doing just fine!"

"Your charge is wandering about Kohlingen as we speak."

"What does that matter?"

"It doesn't." Fang jabbed a finger at Penelo. "What are you doing here, anyway? Seeing the sights or something?"

"Kind of." Penelo looked around them. "I've heard this place has a strange atmosphere and I wanted to see why."

"Wonderful." Fang trudged forward and the others followed. "And here I hoped we'd split ways."

Penelo struck up conversation with Nine and Fang tuned them out. Felt at Deuce's crystal in her pouch and wondered at the familiarity of it. Reminded her of cold nights on the plains and the comforting breeze that whispered in her ears. Missed Bahamut's presence.

"Oh, there's the entrance!" Penelo gestured toward the decrepit hole into a cave. Stones and rocks laid embedded in the ground and moss overgrew them. Ruins jutted out from the ground, their frames jagged and broken. Stone cut the air as high as the trees in some places. From the lack of growth, this had to be recent.

Fang suppressed a groan and unclipped the spear from her back.

Penelo lit a lantern and slipped through the crevice first. Lit the inside and Fang still couldn't really see anything, not with how thin the crevice was and the distance she had from it. Whatever, everyone had to die some time.

Fang went through next with Nine behind her. Inside, Penelo raised her lantern and Fang exhaled.

The entrance opened up to reveal a cavernous space full of buildings hung upside-down from above and books, toys, clothes, and bones all lay scattered across roofs, stairs, and sideways doors. Fang wrinkled her nose against the scent of rot and death.

"What happened to this place?" Penelo asked.

Fang worked her jaw. "Kefka."

Nine bounced up the nearest set of stairs into a building, one that kinda stood mostly straight. Something about his motion seemed… off. Just a little too fast. "Let's make this quick!"

"Careful, there," Fang shouted, as he pushed his way into the building. They got all too used to graverobbing this past year.

"We should stick together." Penelo followed Nine, and Fang picked up her pace to keep up – didn't want to lose that light of Penelo's if they were going to enter one of those rotting buildings. Walking up slanted stairs wasn't the most comfortable thing she had done. Especially not with the loud, groaning creaks each step caused.

Penelo didn't seem bothered by it all.

Fang took a deep breath before entering the building herself, Penelo holding the door open for her.

Nine was rifling through shelves at the bottom of the whole crooked floor and threw old, ratty pieces of cloth to the ground.

Penelo glanced about them and thankfully wasn't stupid enough to try setting that lantern on the broken and uneven surfaces.

It was nice to have to work to keep up with someone else for a change.

Fang got to work in the next room over, though the dividing wall was in tatters. "You never said why you're out here," Fang called to Penelo.

"It's… kind of a long story."

"One that Sazh knows?"

"Parts of it." Penelo heaved a sigh. "We… Things got dicey on our world and my partner found the first chance he could to get out. We've been moving ever since."

"Not the first to bail on your home planet, I assume."

"We didn't leave it to die." Penelo's voice turned hard. "We left to save everyone else."

"And how many people tell themselves that?"

No response. Fang rapped the floor below her. It thudded – sounded like the level below this one filled with dirt during the catastrophe.

She searched the whole room, but nothing useful turned up. Only rat skeletons and dirt dust. There were some stairs that led upwards to another floor, but the ceiling was full of holes and those steps were missing… quite a few panels.

Fang went back into the main room, where Nine had given up on the shelves and ransacked a few other pieces of old and rotting furniture.

Penelo shook her head and Fang took that to mean it was time to move on.

Outside the building, Fang took a moment to orient herself. The buildings on the wall and those hanging from above wouldn't be accessible and even if they were, nothing useful would have survived being turned over like that.

There were only two other buildings that sat upright and looked reasonably safe.

Fang strolled up to the next one with gritted teeth. This one was smaller, closer to a shack, and when she pushed the door open, her lungs filled with dust and she doubled over in a coughing fit.

Penelo and Nine hung back until she recovered her breath. Once Fang gulped down sufficient air to breathe normally again, she gestured and they got to searching again.

It was a single room. Fang would have guessed it was some sort of storage building behind a house once, but there was a broken bedframe in the corner and a pile of cloth scraps that resembled clothing.

Fang turned around and walked right back out of the structure and straight into the next one.

"How much longer is this gonna last?" Nine asked.

"You have something better to do?" Fang called back.

Nine didn't respond. He might complain, but at least he didn't drag his feet.

The final reachable house had a single floor and a few rooms.

Fang stepped onto creaking wood and took in the sight. Most of the furniture stood strong without as much sign of decay. Fang got to work on those closest to the door.

Nine started rifling through some drawers and Penelo stood in the center of the first room, still holding her lantern.

"Where's your partner?" Fang asked, tossing aside an empty jewelry box. "You said you left your world with your partner – is he dead?"

"Thank the gods, no." Penelo squirmed. "We split up for a bit to check out a couple different places. His idea. He's… not the most responsible."

"You got plans to meet up again?"

"Yeah, I managed to get him to focus long enough to figure all that out." She crouched to the ground and crossed her arms over her legs. "I hated leaving him to get into trouble."

Fang found a bottle with some fluid hidden in the corner of a shelf. "Hm."

"You know, it's scary, wandering around unfamiliar worlds and not knowing when something might show up. When some monster might come and take your will away."

"What did you see?" Fang asked, uncorking the bottle. She took a whiff of the contents. Definitely a potion.

Penelo drew a shuddering breath. "I didn't see it. A friend of mine had his body snatched and used to get at others." Her face twisted. "They're both okay, last I checked, but it was… it left a mark."

Nine shoved a dresser over. It crashed and rattled the whole frame of the house. Fang rolled her eyes and pocketed the potion. Nine glared at Penelo and said through grit teeth, "That was Ivalice."

Penelo gave him an alarmed look. "You know Ivalice?"

"Seven didn't take it well." He kicked at the remains of the dresser. "There must've been something else they could've done, yo!"

"Take it down a notch, would you?" Fang stepped past him to start looking through the next room. Penelo jumped up to follow with the light.

Oh, nice. A crate. Fang strolled over and kicked the lid off. Inside sat rows of bottles that rested comfortably in packaging cloth and neat rows.

"This should be worth something." Fang pulled a bottle out and sniffed the contents. More potions. She put the bottle back and replaced the lid. "Sabin's gonna like this."

Nine grumbled and came out from another room, carrying a smaller box on his shoulder. "There's a box of jerky and junk in this, yo."

Fang nodded and hefted the crate of potions into the air, hands on the bottom. It should survive the trip back. "Let's get going."

"You know," Penelo said, "I knew a guy that could make potions from the cheapest resources. If I could get my hands on some mossfeather, then I could maybe replicate them."

"I don't know any mossfeather," Fang said. "And if I did, I'm sure it wouldn't grow on this world."

"… Oh. Right."

"Yo, this sucks." Nine swung a lance onto his back as they exited the cavern. "I'm only doing chores for you guys! And this planet is doomed! Why are we even trying when we could just-!"

He hissed in pain and stopped.

Fang didn't slow down. Penelo did.

"S'nothing," Nine muttered before they caught up again. "Just Queen being a bitch." He flinched again.

"Ace didn't seem to think of her that way." Penelo rested a hand on Nine's shoulder. "I'm sure it'll make sense eventually."

Nine stiffened. "What do you know about Ace?"

"I met him on another world. He told me a little about what you guys do and I think it's really cool. Who knows? Maybe we'll work together some day."

"I don't like this, yo." Nine pulled away from her. "We're supposed to get our people and leave."

"Maybe." Penelo swung her arms. "Or you could leave an impression. Couldn't hurt to be a little flashy, right?"

Fang snorted. "Or a lot."

"See? Even Fang agrees with that."

"Yeah, but she's super weird. I don't like her."

"Right here, you big buffoon."

"That's kinda the point, yo."

And that matched the tone they kept for the rest of the trip back, which didn't feel as long as the journey out. Eventually Penelo met up with some guy that looked almost identical to her and insisted on finding pretty rocks or something to appease a friend. Those two split off to do their own thing and Fang appreciated the newfound quiet.

The midmorning sun was comfortably warm when Sabin patrolled up north with Gau and Relm. Daytime patrols were quieter than night ones, so it was the only time Relm convinced Strago to let her go.

"I don't like these colors," Relm announced, as she did at least once a day. "There's no life. I have good paper, but nothing worth drawing." She kicked at the brown grass. It crunched under foot.

"Green come back." Gau crouched down and ran a hand over the grass. "Will take time."

"Gau, it's a lot more complicated than that." Relm huffed. "It's not going to come back like it's some seasonal change."

Gau gave her a short look. "Season change."

"Okay, Sabin, do you know if its gonna get better now that we have a comatose healer?" Relm bounced up beside him, clutching the air like she hadn't left her sketchbook at home.

Sabin put his hands on his hip and tried to look as reassuring as possible. "That'll be the first step, Relm."

Gau ran on ahead without another word. Sabin bit back a yell and reminded himself that this kid already survived his whole life in the wild.

"It's not good enough." Relm sighed and dropped her hands. A moment passed and she stopped walking to kneel in the grass. "This sucks. There's gotta be something we can do."

"Sure, there is." Sabin didn't want to get her hopes up, but if no one believed they could do it, then they may as well dig their own graves. "We just need to keep trying."

Relm regarded him with a flat look, then rolled her eyes and stretched back up to her feet. "That's worthless."

Sabin took a step to follow then froze. Another presence joined them, but…

"Positivity isn't the only tool at your disposal."

Sabin raised his fists and darted his eyes about them. Took a step in front of Relm. "Who are you?" Sabin raised his voice. "State your purpose!"

"Who are you talking to?" Relm hissed behind him.

A shadow of both dark and light faded into view and took the shape of a man. "I apologize for the alarm. I forget how the living takes to the appearance of spirits."

The man's hair was graying, and he raised his hands in surrender. His form remained translucent.

Sabin steadied himself. "You didn't answer my question, ghost."

"My name is Galuf." He took a step forward and slowly lowered his hands. "I've come here on behalf of the Council of the Dead to assist you and your world."

Sabin blinked. Council of the Dead? "Isn't the phantom train a one-way trip?"

"It usually functions that way." Galuf rubbed at his chin. "We're in special circumstances."

That was just about the worst news he'd received. Ever. "If you can come here, who else might?"

Galuf's jaw hung for a moment. "Oh, of course, I'm sorry." He waved his hands in the air. "You shouldn't worry about Kefka. Much as it pains me to admit it, Hell does a good job of keeping its own contained. Mateus is especially pointed about keeping their appearances."

Sabin understood maybe half of that. The important half.

"Sabin!" Relm stiffened up beside him. "Who are you talking to?"

"She can't see me." Galuf gave Relm a soft look. "But that's a good thing. I can't repeat what it takes to develop sight for the realm of spirits."

"Galuf," Sabin explained, eyes still on the man. "Says he's a spirit here to help us."

"Oh, great." Relm put a hand on her hip. "Either you've lost it or I'm missing the perfect chance to capture the likeness of a dead person."

Sabin slowly dropped his hands. "How do you propose 'assisting' us?"

Galuf hesitated. He looked toward Kohlingen. "Ideally, I would guide you in saving this world. But we may have to accept that it's beyond saving."

Relm snatched Sabin's hand and ran forward, trying her best to pull him with her. It was a pitiful attempt. "Come on, Sabin! I gotta go get my sketchbook! It's been forever since I got to draw a ghost!"

Galuf's expression brightened again and Sabin couldn't help relaxing at the man's warm presence.

"Thank you for your offer." Sabin pulled his hand free of Relm, who grabbed it again. "But unless you're here to offer concrete advice, then I've got better things to do. Relm, we have to finish our job."

"Come on!" Relm yelled, still pulling. "It's a ghost!"

Galuf took steps toward them. Sabin pulled Relm back behind him, but he doubted it was necessary. "We have a few options to choose from."

Sabin started walking the way that Gau went. Relm harrumphed next to him, then ran ahead. Galuf followed.

It didn't take long for Gau to rejoin them, remarkably unhurt from his expedition. "Nothing there. Ghost man?"

Sabin groaned. "Why does everyone-?"

"Oh, no." Galuf stepped toward Gau. "This one has seen too much."

Gau blinked. "Too much?"

Sabin stopped short. "You can see him?"

"You can see him?" Relm demanded. "Not fair!"

"Why too much?" Gau cocked his head. "Eyes bad?"

"Not bad." Galuf stepped forward and kneeled to Gau's level. "Special. You've experienced enough of life's cycle to see through the mortal veil. Your hardship has won you a sort of alliance with the dead, I suppose."

Gau scrunched up his brow. "Hard make dead seen?"

"In a sense." Galuf looked up at Sabin. "This isn't abnormal to him – I'll ask after his exposure, but I doubt this is anything worth stressing."

Sabin folded his arms. "I'll take your word for it."

Relm jumped up and grabbed his arm. Held on with surprising strength. "I need a picture! Have him stay!"

"We'll get to that later." Sabin shook her off and they resumed their travel.

Much later.