I picked up my book and began to slip it into my bag. "You read Shakespeare?" Gabranth asked.
I shot a glare at him. "Got a problem with it?" I retorted.
He held up his hands in an effort to appease me. "No, no, I am just surprised that is all. From what Lord Larsa told us about your first encounter, it sounded like you were not the biggest fan of Archadia or her people."
I stared at him. "I wasn't the biggest fan of Archadia's leadership or its tendency of taking over other countries to gain access to its enemies, simply to continue a worthless fight. Who cares who has more land? I certainly don't. Two of my friends, one of whom I loved as a sister, were murdered because of Archadia's advances and subsequent occupation of Dalmasca. But that is the result of Archadia's leaders, not her people. The people follow because they must. As I follow Ashe because she is the Queen of Dalmasca. Shakespeare's only flaw was that he was born to an Archadian family," I concluded with a authoritive nod of my head.
Gabranth smirked. "You did not have to tell me. Come on. We must get to the base," he said as he began to walk away.
I made a sound in the back of my throat, as I finished shoving the book into my bag. It was then I saw the new glyphs. I remembered Aerith saying that I would receive new summons in this world. These must be some of them. There were five of them. One was pink, which I immediately identified as Aerith's. It seemed right for her. It was covered in swirling flowers and divided in half by a long piece which looked like a staff. At the bottom there was a round stone, with what looked to be pieces signifying light shining out of it. It was extraordinarily beautiful.
I shuffled the glyphs around to get a better look at the other four. They were all extremely similar, all of them being black in color and having small black lines connecting the ornamentation. The main difference was what each of the glyphs featured. One featured a pair of crossed guns that looked like they had blades attached to the barrels. Another featured a strange weapon, a pile-bunker I believe, while the third was dominated by a two-bladed sword. The last though was different. It was sort of like Aerith's, except it lacked flowers. On it was depicted an object that looked like a falling meteor. Cutting the entire glyph into diagonal halves was a large katana that looked somewhat familiar to me. I shrugged and slipped the glyphs back into the pocket designated for them. I grabbed my staff and hurried to catch up to the retreating form of Gabranth.
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I eyed the contraption nervously. "It is just a motorcycle. It will not kill you." Gabranth stated, amused.
I looked at the contraption again. I recalled the hover bike that had crashed during the escape attempt after Vaan had robbed the royal treasury. He had dragged me with him, and I could still remember the crash. The bike had not been made for three humes and one viera to be carried on. Especially when two of the humes were precariously hanging on by one side of the bike. I could still remember the sensation of fear I had felt as I hung onto Vaan's legs while he gripped the side of the bike, with Fran and Balthier safely on top as we flew over the battle and the Airship Ifrit firing down upon us. I shook my head.
"I'm fine," I fibbed. I noticed that Gabranth's sword was stored in one of the motorcycle's compartments. I saw no place large enough to place my staff. "What should I do with my staff?" I asked Gabranth, shifting my bag to a more comfortable position on my shoulder.
"Keep a tight grip on it," he advised. I groaned and climbed on the bike behind him. "Ready?" he called back.
I frowned. "As ready as I'll ever be." I shifted to get into a better position on the bike. I had a bad feeling about this. Gabranth smirked, revved the bike, and took off. I grabbed his waist in reflex to the speed of the motorcycle. "Holy S&#!!!!!" I screeched. The motorcycle went waaaay too fast. Gabranth snorted. "Oh shut up," I snarled. He snorted louder and made the bike go faster. "I hate yoooooooooooooooooooooooou," I bellowed, not even noticing the man on a black motorcycle with spiky blond hair.
After a few minutes of torturing me, Gabranth went at a speed that I wouldn't freak out on. I was silently thanking the gods. 'Never again,' I vowed to myself. I can still hear the sniggers of the Espers, along with several masculine voices that I had never heard before. I presumed that they were the voices of the new summons. I decided to talk to them later. Right now, I concentrated on getting through this without freaking out again. Sadly that was not to be.
I noticed the bike a few minutes later. I watched it for several more minutes before I told Gabranth. He glanced behind us at the bike. He attempted to lose the bike that was following us by going at breakneck speed and trying crazy maneuvers. They didn't work. All it managed to do was to scare the bejesus out of me.
We had emerged into a desolate city scape, a scene of destruction. All around us lay ruined buildings and faint traces of human existence.
Obviously nobody had lived in this part of the city for several years.
"He's still following us," I called to Gabranth over the wind.
"Summon something!" he called back.
"Alright!" I replied. I dug in my bag and managed to find Adrammelech's glyph. I concentrated on the glyph, clearing my mind. I began to mutter words in an ancient language as a circle with many strange and arcane symbols within it appeared. A ghostly image of Adrammelech appeared behind me and quickly solidified. "Go attack the man on the bike back there," I ordered the winged humaniod esper. He nodded and flew back towards the man. I saw Adrammelech attack the man with Flash Arc, before Gabranth and I disappeared around the corner.
I didn't see the man defend himself. I didn't see his look of defeat as he saw the esper disappear, the last trace of finding me gone. I didn't hear his anguished cry of "Aerith". I didn't know that he had mistaken me for the woman he loved. I only knew that I was quickly approaching a group of people who I had only known as enemies, and several people who I had never met before. As the wind whipped my braid out behind me, I was left wondering what my friends would say to me if they saw who I was about to help.
A/n: There you go, Cloud appeared. More people from both games will appear in the next chapter. Probably noy those you'd expect though from FFVII. I would like to thank Lady Karai for reviewing. She gets a Gabranth Plushie!!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you review you get a figurine of Cloud on Fenrir!!!