Chapter 4: Upon a Fire and a Night Sky…

The sounds of sizzling meat popped the silent, dark layer. With each pop, waves of fragrant aromas taunted nearby creatures of their goodness. The cook, Tiz, hummed a tune that reminded him of the old times, when he was merely a boy trying to protect his ray of hope. The nearby village of Norende was quiet, and the stars above were blocked by a familiar shade of orange.

"Neh, Tiz, are you almost done?" whined Edea.

"Yes, almost done!"

Agnès looked around excitedly. "So this is Yu's tent. Truly interesting..." The youngest of the group merely smiled. "Thank you, Agnès."

Edea clapped her hands, ready to devour Tiz's simple cooking. "Well I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Tiz! Hurry up!" In seconds, the Norende miracle arrived with three plates on his arms. "Here, Edea. Try to be more patient next time." She absentmindedly muttered an apology, too absorbed by the delicious dish before her.

"Time to eat!"

Agnès gratefully accepts her plate and began to chew the vegetables. "Wow! This is really good!" Tiz lit up brightly. "Ah, thank you, Agnès. I haven't cook in a while so..." Magnolia patted him on the back. "I have to say, eating Tiz's cooking is something!" The shepherd sheepishly scratched his head. "Please, it's nothing special." Everyone sported small grins at the embarrassed chef.

"Oh, that's right. Edea, how is the wedding going?" Tiz asked. Agnès sensed the underlying anticipation in his voice, and she couldn't help grinning at his eagerness. "Amazing, actually. I already found the place, the dresses, and I replaced the wedding cake. All that's left are the invitations and Tiz's formal wear. We can't have our lucky guy in overalls, after all." Tiz frowned at Edea's statement, but she didn't notice it, as she was too busy devouring the tasty food in front of her.

"Mmm...so good~ Neh, Tiz, can I have seconds?"

"Eh? But we only packed enough for one meal per person."

"Wah?! You should know that I always want more!"

"Edea! I'm not exactly floating with money here!"

Agnès laughed at their bickering. Looking around the comfy tent, she commented, "It must be nice to travel with this in your possession. It felt so long since I went on a journey..." Agnès's smile turned bitter, turning away from her meal to glare at the floor.

"Agnès…" Tiz murmured.

Edea seated herself next to the former wind vestal. Sobs shook Agnès's figure, and she flew into Edea's arms.

"I'm...sorry. I couldn't help but feel a bit jealous...thank you for giving me the chance to sleep in your tent." She shook less now, but her head was still covered by yellow hair. "Of course you can sleep here. I never had the opportunity to spend time with you like this, so this is a new thing for me, too," Yu assured, but his frown didn't shrink in the slightest.

The food is now cold as everyone stared morosely at the crying girl. "Agnès...maybe you would like to share some of your adventures with us." The retired pope looked up to Magnolia with grateful joy. "Right...I suppose I should. You probably don't know the full story of our travels two years ago, huh?"

And so, she launched into an array of colorful, intricate collections of stories from her journey to awaken the crystals. Tiz and Edea often pitched in their thoughts, and Yu and Magnolia stayed planted on the earthen floor, listening with attentive ears.

"And the time Ringabel and the sage wanted Agnès to wear the Bravo Bikini for the Sacred Flower Festival? That old geezer wondered whether Tiz had any fire in his blood." Edea chuckled at her sentence. Magnolia and Tiz brightly flushed, but the most embarrassed was Yu; both head and ears were stained a brilliant red.

"A-A-Agnès in that?! N-no way!" He backed up slowly, trying to refrain from imagining her in that skimpy suit.

The oldest of the group frowned. "Yes, I remember. I'm afraid I still don't understand what sex appeal really is." Tiz quickly shouted, "That's okay, Agnès. You don't need anything like that anyway!" His fiancée tilted her head in confusion. "If you say so, Tiz..." Her attention was then turned to Magnolia, who was still blushing, her head hiding behind her face.

"Magnolia, what's wrong?" she addressed. The flower-wearing girl only shook her head, muttering, "Nothing. Nothing at all. Can you continue your story?" Sensing her discomfort, Agnès fulfilled her silent plea, picking back up to when they first traveled across worlds.

By the time she got to Airy's betrayal, the outer world was pitch black, with only the sound of a nearby river providing some sort of presence. All three former Warriors of Light shivered as Agnès retold their fight with the cryst-fairy.

"How horrible. With Magnolia and me, we knew right away the fairy Nii-san was with was evil," Yu commented. Tiz found the floor intriguing now. "We couldn't mope over our failure. We had to keep going. That's what I told everyone. We had to stop Airy," he continued, "We found Airy was lurking in the Dark Aurora, waiting for her new powers from Ouroboros."

"That's different from the barrier we went through to get to Vega, right?" Magnolia asked. Tiz nodded in response. "Yes. And there...we fought Airy in her final form, but before we finished her, she...was swallowed by her master." Yu and Magnolia gasped in horror, silent over the sudden information.

"..."

Agnès chose to intervene in his explanation. "That's right. And after speaking with him...we fought him. But he kept regenerating...by destroying the worlds that Airy connected in her quest." The newest members of the group grew more horrified. Finally, Magnolia spoke out, "That's...terrible! Were their worlds recreated?! I can't imagine the fear, the sadness of..." The mood darkened significantly. Airy was always a touchy topic with them.

"I don't know what happened to them, but we managed to defeat him. We succeeded in saving the multiple worlds that we could save. And after that...we returned to our regular lives..." Tiz trailed off. It was clear that he didn't go back to Norende. He instead faced his death as he released the celestial being inside of him.

"Tiz..." Edea murmured. Agnès placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, looking at him with unspoken regrets. "I assume you know the rest," Edea implied. Yu nodded slowly.

"Yes, afterwards, the Crystal Orthodoxy and the duchy of Eternia worked on repairing the damage caused by that incident. It really was a surprise when I first saw Agnes and Edea's father walking side by side without any hostile intent. At the time, I was working my way up the ranks of the Orthodox Knights. After being promoted to leader…I got my first..." Yu stopped there. Everyone else leaned a bit closer to the knight.

"How odd...I...don't remember what my first mission was…But how? It was the most important quest of my life."

Magnolia gripped his shoulders; the distress was evident on Yu. "In fact, I don't clearly remember anything up until Nii-san attacked us and kidnapped Agnès…" The former pope rocked in her seat, trying to recall what she assigned Yu at the time. "If I remember correctly, you were in Istantal, right? Jean and Nikolah were there also." The soon-to-be-wedded woman scrunched her eyebrows. "Oh my...even I don't remember what happened that day…"

Edea sported her own frown. "Agnès, surely something must come to mind." The retired pope leaned into Tiz's chest, digging deeper into her mind. "I...can only see...Yu talking to me when he first started out...and...being introduced to someone...but I don't recall his or her face." Tiz, who now had his head on Agnès's shoulder, hummed, blowing some of her hair to the front. "Agnès, you usually have very good memory…" She bowed her head down.

The other two females in the vicinity couldn't stand the atmosphere of impending dread. Edea coughed, "Neh, Tiz, do you have any desserts?" He nodded and stood up, proceeding to start cooking again. "What do you feel like having, Edea?" The Eternian swayed, her face lighting up once she made her decision. "Cake. Strawberry shortcake please." Magnolia pitched in, "Ah, give me a slice, too." Yu snapped out of his gloomy mood and instantly turned beet red.

"Yu, what's the matter?" Agnès questioned. He could only look away, claiming it was nothing.

While Edea and Magnolia sat patiently for their sweets, Agnès and Yu proceeded to rack their brains for any other piece of information regarding what was that fateful encounter. The tent once again entered a moment of silence.

As if unconsciously, all of the sudden, Yu muttered, "...flower…"

Heads immediately snapped at that one word. Magnolia mimicked his phrase, "Flower…?" Yu nodded. "I just remembered it. There was a flower and an overwhelming amount of sadness...but I don't know what that flower is, or why I feel so sad…" He gripped the ends of his hair and pulled slightly, upset over his lack of memory.

"Why can't I…"

"Everyone, sorry for making you wait."

Tiz walked back to a hardly comfortable group, but the instant Edea saw the delectable treat, she shot up, grabbed the plate out of his hands, and swallowed half of it before anyone could say anything.

"Mmm...ngr...hum...mm…!"

Agnès giggled despite herself. "I bet it's tasty, Edea. Tiz, may I have a slice?" As he handed her portion to his eager lover, Yu sat wide-mouthed. "You can understand Edea, too?!" Agnès grinned at his astonishment. "Yes, of course." Magnolia and Yu staggered back in surprise. "That's Agnès for you…" they muttered in unison.

Once Edea was satisfied with her fill (she took Yu's slice, seeing how he couldn't look at it without blushing), the rest of the group settled back to silence.

"Ah...let's talk about something else…" Edea pitifully choked out.

Tiz closed his eyes, raking his head for something worth noting. "Ah, that's right! Edea, you remember the special moves, right?" She nodded in confirmation. He went on, "Now that I think about it, isn't the music that played different from when we journeyed to awaken the crystals?" Edea opened her mouth in shock. "That's right...I don't remember having that much guitar in my other theme…"

Magnolia sat in confusion, turning her head to face Agnès. "Huh...they were different before?" Edea's hair swung back and forth as she nodded. Agnès rested her head on her hand. "Is that so? It would be great if I could hear it." Displaying a smile that melted the former vestal's heart, Tiz energetically added, "Ah, we could do some special moves tomorrow then. There's bound to be some monsters on the way. There are also special moves that you never seen before, Agnès, so umm...if you don't mind…" His fiancée giggled at his bashfulness. "Of course, Tiz." Edea swooned at the two, and Magnolia giggled herself at the pair. Yu has a silly grin on his face. "Oh by the way, Agnès, don't you have your own theme?" Yu asked.

"Yes. I wonder if it'll still…" Edea interrupted her, "Of course it'll work! It's been so long since I heard it." Agnès joined the group of smiles. "Yes, I'll try my best!"

"I wonder how Tiz's and Edea's old themes sounded like…I remember Ringabel's when he assisted us with our fight with Yoko." Yu thought out loud.

"Why don't we find out?"

Everyone turned to the shepherd as he rummaged through their traveling packs. He brought out a flute and a saxophone.

"Umm...Tiz, how and why are those in our bags?" asked a confused Yu.

Magnolia did not know these unfamiliar instruments and curiously examined it from her seat. "Neh, Tiz, what are these?" He pressed down a few keys on the flute. "These are instruments in Luxendarc. You blow in this one," he gestured to the flute in his hand, "and press a different combination of these keys in order to make sound. Each one is different and some don't necessarily need air for it to work." Tiz blew a quick scale to warm up, while Edea fingered some notes on her saxophone.

"It's been too long since I heard Tiz and Edea play. How long was it since...?" Agnès pondered over her unfinished statement, prompting Tiz to laugh and peck her cheek. "Almost three years, Agnès." Everyone seemed to have their eyes on him now, and he shifted nervously.

"Neh, Edea, why don't you go first?"

"Why should I go first?"

"I thought maybe yours would be more interesting."

"Well...if you say so…"

The captain of the Eternian Imperial Guard pressed the reed to her mouth and blew a tentative note. It came out flat, and Edea played another note, this time more confident and round.

"Here I go!"

The tent became filled with a tune of soft, innocent resolve. As Edea played, Tiz and Agnès swayed their heads to the beat, while Yu and Magnolia sat wide-mouthed. It started out slow and almost tentative, but it quickly turned into an upbeat, energetic tune, mirroring the growth of a little bird.

Once she finished, she received a very energetic round of applause from Magnolia. "Good gravy! That was really good, Edea!" The saxophone player merely gave a huff. "Thank you, thank you!" Agnès once again giggled, this time at Magnolia's enthusiasm. "It was as beautiful as I remembered. So pretty~" she praised.

Yu turned his attention to the flute player. "Tiz, now I really want to hear yours! Please, Tiz!" The older male chuckled at his fan's excitement. "Okay, okay. I got it."

When Tiz played the first few notes, Yu was instantly reminded of a countryside with little villages and little livestock. The flute's crisp tones spread to the ends of the tent. Yu thought it was fitting for Tiz when he first started out.

"Amazing! It totally fits you!" Magnolia lauded. "Yes it does. That's Tiz for you!" Tiz rubbed his head at Yu's compliment. "Ah, thank you. I was afraid that I would forget a couple notes here and there." Edea yawned not-so-subtly, falling back on her section of the tent. "Well...tonight was tiring. I'm going to sleep so I can kick some monsters tomorrow." With that, she collapsed, lightly snoring.

Soft mumbling from the sleeping woman floated like the fire in the center of the tent. Magnolia, Yu, and Agnès stared at the fire quietly, while Tiz laid his head onto Agnès's shoulder, already passed out.

"Neh, Agnès?" Yu started after a moment.

"Yes, Yu?"

"Do...you find our lack of memory...disturbing?"

The retired pope turned away from the flames and instead lifted her head to the covered sky. "Of course I do. As tiring as it was to be in my position, never have I once forgotten the steps I took to attaining peace with the duchy of Eternia. Why this would be erased...I do not know."

Another uneventful silence.

"Yu, should I tell you what happened with Jean the other day?" Magnolia attempted to change the conversation. A fragment of worry and curiosity shattered his dreadful expression. "Yes, please do. I'm quite disheartened that Jean won't tell me exactly what's wrong."

Magnolia explained how she was studying the various meanings of flowers in Istantal (to which Yu was left shocked. Didn't she particularly prefer to avoid studying?) when Jean and his companions bumped into her. She elucidated their mission, and her desire to help them solve the disturbances. When she got to the actual fight itself, she hesitated.

"What was causing the discrepancies wasn't a normal monster. It was a demon- the same demon we fought in that slashed up cave."

"W-What?!" Yu blurted. "That's...no way…" Magnolia gravely nodded, answering his unheard question. "I...was paralyzed in shock. Looking back at it, I should have known that we never pursued it when we reset the timeline…" she slumped in mortification before shaking her head and continuing, "Jean, on the other hand, was suffering almost as badly; he kept clutching his head. We were having a difficult time defeating the demon, and I had no choice but to use Bravely Second. And...while I killed it, Jean collapsed to the ground. Once we were a safe distance away, Jean kept looking back with a bothered look on his face." Yu's frown became bigger with each word spoken. He couldn't understand why Jean couldn't tell him at least that much. Did he not trust him?

Tiz started to mumble something about sheep and Agnès moved to place him on his makeshift bed. Before she could slip away, Tiz grabbed her wrist, muttering, "No...Agnès…" The retired pope blushed, turning awkwardly to the other awake occupants. "I-I think we should talk about this another time. Both of you get some rest please," she requested. As the rest of the crew slipped into their blankets, a moonbeam flashed into the tent, and Yu heard a faint female voice,

"I know we'll meet again...soon...for sure!"

The next day…

"Alright! I'm ready to beat something to a pulp today!" The Eternian cheered. She sported the pirate asterisk; the giant purple axe she equipped was gripped with fervor. Magnolia chuckled, her signature flower replaced with the feather headpiece of the tomahawk asterisk.

"Oh, Yu, what is this asterisk? The design looks familiar." Agnès wondered as she took in the regal brown coat her lead knight was wearing. "This is the emperor asterisk, the one that Nii-san has." He felt a sense of warmth whenever he wore his brother's job. Maybe he could feel the desire of his brother's dreams and his hopes (or maybe because the coat felt very comfortable).

"Agnès! Which asterisk would you like?" Tiz exclaimed, holding out an assortment of orange and black diamond-like gems. Today, he decided to dress in the kitsune asterisk, hoping to experiment with the different summons they gathered. When Agnès first saw him in it, she couldn't help but hug him tightly and coo about how cute he looked, which left him a blushing mess.

She picked at the selection. "Hmm...Eh, what's this?" A bright glow disguised her transformation, and the light cleared away to reveal a blue robe tipped with white stars. A chest piece covered her chest while a blue veil hid her brown hair. Her surprised eyes were framed by a pair of purple round-lens glasses.

"Oh, this is the astrologer asterisk. It provides lots of great support through the power of constellations. I think it pairs well with bishop or time mage," Tiz explained. His ray of hope twirled in her new attire. "It feels rather comfortable," she commented. She pulled out a rod from her bag.

"Hurry up, everyone! We're wasting daylight here!" Edea cried. The others scrambled to catch up to the outgoing pirate.

Party Chat: What Ringabel Would Have Said.

Tiz: "Slow down, Edea! You're going to exhaust your energy if you spend it all in one go."

Yu: "Tiz, do you have trouble catching up with Edea?"

Tiz: "I wouldn't say that I have trouble keeping up with her...more like I'm worried one of us will have to drag her around once she drops."

Edea: "Hey! I'll have you know that I'm filled with limitless amounts of energy!"

Agnès: "Indeed. Edea could fight for days. It's actually quite inspiring."

Edea: "I-I don't think watching me fight is inspirational in any way!"

Agnès: "Nonsense! The first time I saw you fight, I have never seen such passion and rage directed towards an opponent before...except when Ringabel fought DeRosa after you were captured."

Edea: "Oh really? I remembered through my haze of memories that he was unusually tense."

Tiz: "Yeah...he was pretty shaken up about the whole incident."

Magnolia: "So Edea attracts trouble like how women attract Ringabel?"

Agnès: "That sounds...like something Ringabel would say about himself to woo Edea, but then fail horribly."

Tiz: "Sure sounds like it."

…

"Torrent!" A mighty wave crashed down onto a particularly stubborn group of kobold archers. Health was not an issue, as Agnès could heal away any damage they take. However, Edea seem especially blood-thirsty today, and the group is experiencing their fifteenth consecutive mob of these goblin archers.

"Edea! Can we take a break?! Yu looks ready to drop!" Tiz was right, as Yu could feel his legs trembling under the strain. Edea swung the axe behind her shoulder.

"Then let's finish this quickly!" she shouted.

Agnès immediately knew what was coming next. "A special move?!" Just like what Tiz and Edea were talking about last night, a different tune flowed through her head as Edea jumped up, spun the axe, and slammed back down. The shockwave crushed the frail goblins, and their remains lay limp in front of the Eternian.

"Wow...it surely was a drastic change from her other theme…" To Edea, she said, "Amazing, Edea! It sounds like a much more mature style for you!" The pirate laughed sheepishly, enjoying Agnès's enthusiasm. "If you think I've changed, just wait until you hear Tiz's!" Magnolia joined their talk, "That's right! Now that I listened to his other theme, it's really a big change!" Tiz ran his hand through his still-disheveled hair.

"Is it really that different…?"

…

"It's my turn!" Magnolia readied her gun, shifting a few switches before pointing her weapon at the sky. Three shots were fired, and Magnolia changed the direction of her gun to the group of tree-like creatures. She charged up another shot, and when she released it, it broke off into multiple beams of blue light, along with the other three balls of light she fired earlier. Lighting up the field, the cage of energy hit them dead on (quite literally).

Once she finished wiping out the mob of monsters, she was greeted with a starry-eyed Agnès, who gripped her hand firmly with hers. "Amazing, Magnolia! That special move looks so beautiful to watch! Neh, neh, can you teach me how to use that gun?" The others hid their laughs behind their mouths, watching Magnolia's face turn pink at the sudden barrage of compliments.

"Oh...umm...of course, Agnès."

…

"Oh, Magnolia, can I try to use Bravely Second? It's been too long…" Agnès gestured to the hourglass that was clipped on Magnolia's bag. "Of course. I see some monsters over there. Let's go."

Once the group debuffed the monsters enough, Magnolia tossed the hourglass to the astrologer. "Go get them, Agnès!" She nodded, and holding the hourglass to her chest, she shouted,

"Bravely Second!"

The landscape faded to gray. As the retired pope summoned the blade hidden in the depths of her wand, both Yu and Magnolia felt their breath hitch. At first, they were in awe of Agnès's pure and floating notes of her theme, but when she slashed the time-stopped monsters with her blade of light, a sudden pounding in his head broke Yu's speechless state, and he screamed to the heavens. The rest of the group rushed over in a hurry, but he was unresponsive; he already passed out under the pain.

"Actually, I have a bit of a favor…"

"Favor? Us?"

"Yes, a favor. To be honest, my homeland needs help with reconstruction."

"Reconstruction… like the Norende area…?"

"My homeland...is devastated...everyone is helping to rebuild it."

…

"Yu, please fulfill my request. Give her a hand please."

"Well, if it's Agnès, might as well."

"Mmm. Alright ... We'll do anything we can."

"Thank you! Everyone! Agnès, too. Thank you!"

"Yu! Yu! Please wake up, Yu!" Magnolia shook his shoulders, almost on the brink of crying her heart out.

"I can't lose him! Not like this!"

Edea tried unsuccessfully to pry the frantic woman off of her lover. Tiz and Agnès could only look with apprehension. After a few seconds, Yu's eyes snapped open.

"M-M-M-M-Magnolia! What are you-" he was cut off by a tight hug from the tomahawk. "Yu, don't scare me like that! The poor boy was blushing profusely at the close contact. "I-I'm sorry, Magnolia. I'll try to not worry you like that again." Despite calming down after his answer, Magnolia kept close to him, getting lost in his pale blue eyes.

"Magnolia?" Edea called. Her voice broke Magnolia's trance, and she stumbled away from Yu. "S-Sorry," she murmured, her face bright red. Letting out a heavy sigh, Yu gripped her hand, grabbing Magnolia's attention.

"Thank you for worrying about me, Magnolia." With that, she felt a light, quivering brush of lips against her lit-up cheeks. Yu pulled away slightly flustered, but his content smile said otherwise.

"Y-Yu?! W-w-what is the meaning of this?!" Their moment was ruined by Edea's very subtle stammering. To her surprise, Tiz laughed and swiped at the bang that covered his left eye. "It's about time, Yu! So, when did this happen?" The interrogated couple turned away from each other.

"I-I-It's a secret!" he managed to reply back. All of the girls, including Magnolia, giggled at his discomfort. Despite her giggling, Magnolia's cheeks was stained a brilliant pink color.

That night…

The tent was silent. Everyone had already gone to sleep, but Yu was up, scribbling away at his journal.

"And so, everyone knows about me and Magnolia. Granted, the look Magnolia gave me after I woke up sparked an urge too powerful to ignore. However, the vision I saw when I was unconscious felt nostalgic and familiar. Who was this person that needed our help? Why was there a place where my voice was suddenly muffled? That's not the most pressing question, though. What I really want to know is…

Why did I feel so unbearably sad whenever I recall it?"