Chapter 9: In which moves are made…

Chris woke.

"Well, I didn't expect you to sleep so long. And by the way, keep your eyes closed."

"Why?" Chris said, or rather thought.

"You won't like what you see…"

"I won't play 20 questions. Tell me what's up!"

"Ok, fine. We're in Mizuho, they carried you here.

"How long was I out?

"Hard to say, I don't really keep track when I'm… uh… sleeping."

"Sleeping? Do you even..." but Chris's mental discussion was interrupted by his helmet falling off, onto the floor. He opened his eyes… and saw exactly why the wolf had told him not to open them.

Raine rushed over to Chris, who had fallen. "First Aid!" she said quickly, healing Chris's ahem wounds. She bent over, monitoring his vitals. "We may be here a while, before he's stable enough to move." Genis took this as an opportunity to sidle over to Presea, who was biting her lip.

"Hey, are you okay? You look worried."

Presea's heart skipped a beat. Genis… "I… I don't want him to be hurt…"

"Well, don't worry about it too much. Raine will take care of him… Let's just leave her be." Genis said.

Presea turned away. Genis 1, Chris 0, thought Genis with a smile.

"I'm going to need something to make a stretcher out of…" Raine said.

Presea unsheathed her axe. "I'll get some wood…"

"W-wait, I'll help!" Genis added on.

Presea turned. "Alright then, I could use some company I suppose…" They walked off towards the nearby woods, leaving the rest to get ordered around by Raine.

WHACK! WHACK!

The axe blade made huge gouges in the tree, felling it within seconds. Genis cut off the smaller branches using Wind Blade. Presea dragged the trunk off, Genis following with some branches. "Thank you… for your help…" Presea said slowly.

Genis smiled. "No problem." Presea's stomach quailed with nervousness. Normally Genis would have felt the same way, but right now he was too busy thinking about how he'd just one-upped Chris. This gave him the appearance of a cool confidence, and Presea moved slightly closer…

Genis cursed for two reasons. Reason number one, he couldn't hold her hand, because his hands were filled with branches. Reason two, they had approached the camp, and Presea was biting her lip again, seeing Chris immobile. "Look," he said in a cool voice. "Let's see if we can fashion this into a stretcher."

Presea looked over. "Do you think we can? I don't really make these things normally…"

Genis smiled. "Of course! You're the best craftsperson I know!"

"What about Lloyd?" Presea questioned.

Genis frowned. "Well he's good too, but…" His smile returned. "You're much better looking than he is."

Presea appeared to stay focused, but inwardly she was a maelstrom. He had just… He complimented… What about Chris??? But Genis… She smiled. "Thank you," she said, the faintest tinge of a blush crawling onto her cheeks. "Shall we start?"

Several minutes, a few snapped twigs, and two growing affections later, the stretcher was complete. The two of them brought it to Raine. "Good," she said quickly. "Get it under him, he needs to get somewhere with shelter."

"Mizuho, then." Sheena said decisively. She met no opponent, even though Mizuho was farther by 30 minutes than Ozette. Even Raine agreed that it was probably a good idea to stay away from the half-elf hating village.

The journey passed uneventfully, with no exciting events to speak of… until they reached the gateway to enter the village. Lloyd smiled. "I'm sure glad to see this place, my legs are killing me," he said, running towards the gate and contradicting what he had just said. Sheena smiled at this, but the smile disappeared rapidly. The pilgrimage… "STOP!" she yelled out suddenly. Everyone froze, except for Colette, who tripped and fell over. She stood up, but nobody had noticed, because they were all looking at Lloyd, who, in a matter of seconds, had been grabbed by Sheena and hurled away from the gate.

"Ow…" he said, rubbing his head, which had been used as a shock absorber. "Sheena, what the heck are you,"

"Shhh…" she replied, cutting him off. "I need to concentrate." She closed her eyes, and slowly walked down the arched gateway towards the town in a curious pattern. Circles, triangles, all kinds of geometric shapes were represented. She finally paused on a stone at the far end. "OK, you can come now," she called out.

Lloyd walked in front. "What the heck was that for?" he said indignantly.

Sheena grimaced. "If I were to step off this stone, you would all be unconscious in a matter of seconds." Everyone looked shocked, and the general pace picked up slightly. "It's the annual pilgrimage," Sheena explained, as the walkers sped faster. "The village is empty, so security is tight. As a matter of fact," she said to the now-joggers, "there's no way in or out other than this archway, and even then not unless you know the pattern."

Running now, a question came from Regal, who was bringing up the rear. "Surely one could get in through the forest…"

Sheena frowned. "Even the best trackers can't find their way through the forests north of here. There's actually a post at the edge, with 3 pieces of string attached. It's apparently unbreakable, so they tie that to themselves so they can get back." Sheena frowned as the sprinting group bolted through the archway, Colette tripping again and bringing everyone down in a heap. Raine was the first up, smacking Zelos and Lloyd's heads with her staff for dropping Chris. Sheena rolled her eyes.

Soon later…

Presea sat by Chris's bedside. She wasn't sure if she wanted him to wake up and kiss her, or just vanish. Her thoughts whirled in a never ending circle. Genis or Chris? Genis or Chris or Genis or Chris or "Presea?" Genis said questioningly. "What are you doing?" He walked into the room, sitting next to Presea on the loveseat.

"I'm just…" Presea began, but realized she could find no good reason to explain why she was there. She let the sentence hang.

"You worry too much." Genis said. "It's not healthy. I'm worried for him too, and so is everyone else, but just sitting here isn't going to help him!"

Presea nodded slowly. She opened her mouth, but was cut off by Chris's helmet falling to the floor. She bit her lip again. Genis moved closer as she stared over at the fallen helmet. Presea turned back. Tears in her eyes, she moved closer. "Thank you, Genis…" She leaned in…

"Screw him," Chris thought angrily. He opened his eyes. Scanning the room, he saw nothing out of the ordinary, until... He slammed his eyes shut again.

Genis had a trumpet fanfare going in his head. Presea moved closer and closer… He moved forward too, and their lips met, sending a fireworks explosion going off in Genis's brain. He moved his arms around her, and she around him, and for a moment they were one… Genis moved back, breaking the kiss. "Shall we go outside?" he said with a broad smile. The two of them left the room, leaving an eerie vacuum in their wake. Nothing moved… Other than a solitary tear sliding down Chris's face.