((A/N: Yeah, you know the story about who I own and who I don't... basically I own everyone you don't recognice and who isn't from the game. Though I don't own the Al Bhed... yet sometimes I wish I did... cuz the Al Bhed are sexy... oo; I'll shut up now. Read, Review, Enjoy. I'll have more eventually... Oh yeah, and if you want to know what Naji and Ren are saying, google an Al Bhed translator... I think pretty much any of them work...))
Chapter Five
Runaway
Come morning, Ren found herself rudely awoken by Aitigus once again. "Get up," he said and pulled the blanket off of her.
Sitting up, Ren said, "I hate you," and went to get dressed. Putting on a pair of black pants and boots, she put on a green shirt that had detached sleeves, leaving her shoulders bare. Grabbing the bag she had packed the previous night at the praetor's request, she left the room and walked down the hall, Aitigus at her back. At the end of the hall, the praetor joined her side, and the three of them then went into town.
As the Baralai spoke to citizens outside of an inn, Ren stood idly by and simply listened, eyes lowered in a submissive gesture. In privacy, she felt she could "talk crap", even if it was "little crap", but in public, she wouldn't challenge him. It would be disastrous if she did, not for them, but for her village. "Ren?" Baralai said, turning to her.
Attention snapping up to him, she seemed very lost and confused. She smiled pleasantly after a couple of seconds and said, "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."
He repeated himself, but once again she wasn't listening, for she had zoned out into her thoughts once again. A gentle hand on her shoulder snapped her attention back once more. Baralai stood before her, a concerned expression on his face that she felt was purely an act for anyone paying attention. Acting, that's what they were doing now. In privacy they could be reluctant and regretful all they wanted, but in public they had to be the caring couple. An act, she could do that; in fact, she knew she could do that.
Shaking her head slightly, she looked him straight in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry. It's nothing, I was just thinking."
After a few moments, a crowd began to gather, and Baralai spoke to them as Ren stood at his left, slightly behind him, eyes on the ground, thinking. A long moment passed before Baralai turned to her and held his hand out. Ren swore softly under her breath and gently took his hand, stepping up to his side. Then, as he had done the day before, he knelt down, holding her hand in his. "Ren," he said, "I offer you my love and undying devotion. My world is yours, and I wish to be part of your world as well. You deserve better, but will you accept me as your husband?"
A sincereness in his voice made Ren think that these words had meant something once, but something to someone else. He had said this before, and curiosity struck her to think, "Who?". A broad smile crept upon her lips and she replied, "I accept you as my one and only, now and forever." The words she spoke had meant something to someone else once, and saying them forced a pit of sickness in her stomach that tightened and made her want to cry.
The sick, tightness grew and tears stung at her eyes. The praetor slipped a ring onto her finger as he got to his feet. A look of confusion burst over his tanned face as he noticed tears now spilling from Ren's eyes. The crowd believed them to be tears of happiness, but he knew otherwise. He forced a smile upon his lips and slipped an arm around her waist. "Don't fight back," he whispered and drew her close, one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders.
The praetor tensed slightly when the softly crying Ren buried her face against his chest, her back arching slightly. She had no intention of fighting back at the moment. The crowd began cheering for their praetor, and Ren then knew that she had to pull it together, else someone would get suspicious. Moving back slightly, she wiped her eyes and couldn't meet his eyes once again. Her gaze drifting over the crowd, she forced herself to smile, and surprisingly it looked natural.
"If you'll excuse us," the praetor said to them and, arm still around Ren's waist, he led her to the inn and into their room. As Ren went and sat down on her bed, since they had requested two beds, telling the innkeeper that one was for Aitigus, Baralai looked to the brunette Ren and asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she replied. She set her head in her hands for a moment and then sniffled. "Just gotta stop thinking," she said softly. Laying back on the bed, she spread her arms out at her sides and stared at the ceiling.
An hour had barely passed when Ren sat up quickly and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Going to leave the room, she stopped in her tracks when the praetor opened the door, standing there, looking at her strangely. "This's how it's gonna go," she told him. "Tomorrow we're getting married, sure, no problem, but whether you like it or not, I'm going back to visit my village one last time before I'm stuck in Bevelle."
"I'll go with you," he said.
"I don't need your protection," she replied rather rudely.
"I never said you did," he told her. "But how would it look to Spira if you departed on your own and I remained in Bevelle?"
Without another word, she waited for him to grab his bag before the two of them set out, not telling Aitigus a word of their decision.
Leaving Bevelle, they walked through a small bit of Macalania forest and headed toward the Thunder Plains. The silence stayed between them. Ren had no reason to speak, and neither did Baralai, and since idle banter seemed pointless, they remained quiet. Setting foot on the Thunder Plains, Ren looked toward the Travel Agency, waiting to see if lightning struck the ground. Sighing heavily when she noticed it didn't, she grumbled, "Sure it's safe, but where's the fun in that?" For the longest time, she had been hoping that the towers would break, but that wasn't the case.
Setting off across the plains, they became cautious of fiends. When one finally attacked, Ren went to cast a spell, but became highly irritated when Baralai destroyed it before her. "Lucky strike," she muttered.
"Oh really?" he replied.
And from there it became a competition. Not only did the two fight against the fiends, but they struggled against each other's speed and strength to destroy the fiend first. Arriving at Guadosalam, they found themselves out of breath and exhausted. They had gone out of their way to find fiends, and occasionally it required climbing small rocky paths and searching every nook and cranny.
Standing up straight, Ren said, "I won," and began walking toward the entrance to the Guado city.
"Now you're lying," Baralai said, walking up next to her. "I defeated two while you were busy with that Greater Drake."
"Sure," Ren replied, "but you missed those two that I got while that Gemini was kicking your butt."
"It was not!" the praetor replied, a half incredulous and half humored expression upon his face.
Taking the path through the forest, they arrived at the Moonflow and took the shoopuf across. On the other side, Ren walked over to a Hypello and asked, "Is Tobli around?"
"Yesh," the Hypello replied. "Jusht around the bend, yesh."
"Thanks," the commoner said and began walking again, ignoring the stares she was receiving, though most of the looks were directed to Baralai, who walked closely behind her. Walking along the Moonflow, they came across a small wagon, with a couple of Hypello standing about, dancing, if that's what it could be called.
Striding up to them, the brunette woman opened her mouth to speak when an annoying voice shouted, "Naoska!"
Turning, Ren crouched down and hugged the duck-billed person when he reached her. "Long time no see," she said.
"What're you doing here? We were worried that you would've been caught by the Bevelle guards. Looks like you got off scot-free, yup yup!" he said energetically.
Laughing, Ren replied, "Not exactly."
It was then that Tobli glanced around her and finally saw Baralai, who waved casually to the small, hyperactive person. "The Praetor of New Yevon?" Tobli said. "What did I miss?"
"Go watch the sphere waves," she told him. "It'll be everywhere come tomorrow."
"Can't you tell me now, Naoska?" Tobli said, tilting his head slightly.
"Of course not," she replied. Grinning, she then pat him on the head and said, "We've got to be going. I'll see you around, Tobli."
"See you around Lady Naoska! Yup yup!" he said and ran off to speak with his Hypello friends.
As they walked away from Tobli's wagon, they moved in silence for a while before Baralai finally asked, "Lady Naoska?"
"Long story," she replied.
"We have time," he told her.
"No we don't," she said.
A strange tension spread between them for a moment, and vanished as soon as they reached another path where an Al Bhed man stood with a few small hover machina. As soon has his eyes landed on Ren, he stood up straight and said, "Myto Naoska! Ed'c paah y frema."
"Y muhk frema, Naji," she replied in his language. "Ruf'ja oui paah?"
"Ar, cu-cu, so myto. Yht oui?" he said, smiling.
"Eh, so-so," she told him and he laughed.
Baralai seemed lost for a moment. He couldn't remember much of the language, but he understood bits and pieces of it, enough to now understand what was going on if they switched languages again.
"Do you need a ride?" the Al Bhed man asked.
"Can I race you?" Ren said.
"And what about your friend? Are you... That's the Praetor of New Yevon..." The man seemed shocked for a moment, though it was more confusion than anything.
During the moment that the man stood, baffled, at the sight of the praetor, Ren ran over, jumped on a small hover and started it up, flying down the path before he knew what had happened. Naji jumped onto one of the other crafts and motioned the praetor behind him. They took off and caught up to Ren in mere seconds. "You've forgotten how to ride?" the Al Bhed asked.
Grinning, Ren replied, "No, I just wanted to give you a fair chance of winning." And with that, she switched gears and sped off , standing up a bit as the craft practically flew down the road. The praetor watched as she hit a raised group of rocks and sailed above the ground before the craft hit hard and the engine died. Smoke rose from the front of the craft as a cloud of dirt rose all around her, stirred up from the impact. "Whoops," she said. Getting off of the craft, she turned and looked to Naji and the praetor, who were coming to a stop as they neared.
"Need a ride, miss?" Naji asked, grinning.
"Oac bmayca!" Ren replied leaning forward, hands behind her back in a innocent and slightly girlish manner.
"Ha!" Naji laughed and sped ahead. "Kuut milg, so myto!" he called back to her, waving.
"Naji! Come back here!" she shouted to him, chasing the speeding craft.
The Al Bhed man and the praetor stood casually at the end of the road, waiting for Ren as she slowly approached. Passing by the road that led to the Youth League Headquarters and a soldier ran out to greet her. "Lady Naoska! Is that you?" he said happily.
Stepping back, a little surprised, Ren nodded an looked to him awkwardly. "Yes," she said.
"Do you remember me?" he asked grinning.
"Gimmie a hint," she told him, right brow raised curiously.
Crouching down, he removed the shin guard on his right leg and showed her a tattoo on the outer part of his leg. As soon as he stood up, she lunged at him, shouting, "Yaibal!" and she wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. Stepping back, she said, "It's been forever!" Looking him up and down, she said, "Praise Yevon, you got big."
"Yevon?" he said and looked at her awkwardly.
Snapping to what she said, she laughed and said, "Old habit!" Grinning, she then said, "Let me rephrase... Holy flying chocobos you got big!" She held out her hands to him in a gesture that meant she was still comprehending it. "You're just... So... Yaibal!"
He laughed and said, "And you've gone back to your old self."
Blushing slightly, Ren looked down and said, "I guess that includes Yevon too, huh?"
"Not really," he said, grinning. "Because now you can join the Youth League and we can work side-by-side, just like old times!"
"That sounds great, Yaibal," she said softly. "But I can't..."
"Naoska!" Naji called from the end of the road, waving his hands above his head.
Ren and Yaibal looked over to him, and while she nodded, his eyes landed on the praetor. "You've sided with New Yevon?" he asked.
Eyes darting over to Yaibal, she said quickly, "No! It's not my choice!"
"You're travelling with the New Yevon Praetor, Naoska!" he replied.
Ren recoiled slightly. "Yaibal..."
"I'll see you around, Naoska," he told her and turned around, returning to his post.
Watching him walk away, Ren took a deep breath and walked toward the Al Bhed and the praetor. Jogging over to meet her, Naji stopped her in her tracks and put his hands on her shoulders. "Ajanodrehk ugyo, Naoska?" he said softly.
"Hu," she said just as softly. "Hudrehk'c ugyo."
Drawing her into a tight embrace, he kissed her forehead and whispered, "Don't let yourself get drawn into the fight between New Yevon and the Youth League. It'll only lead to heartache." He was silent for a moment before whispering, "Join the Machine Faction."
Ren shoved him away, laughing. "You're just as bad as the rest of them!" she said, grinning.
Naji laughed and got her in a headlock. "You'll join the Faction! You'll do it!" he laughed.
"No!" she said and struggled to get out of his grip. Succeeding in her escape, she ran off toward the Mi'ihen Highroad and the Al Bhed and the praetor followed.