Chapy two. I've got nothing to say today.
2222222222
Chapter 2: Escape to Mysidia
2222222222
Only two hours later, the day was going by slowly. The grown-ups didn't seem to run out of things to talk about, but the princesses had nothing left to say to each other. Now they were just sitting around, hoping that a new topic of discussion would make itself known before they went crazy.
"Soooo," Red said, rubbing her neck, "How do you know Rydia? She doesn't look like she's part of you family."
"She's an old friend of mom and dad's," Sefi answered.
"They never told us how they met her, though," Angel added.
"We've offten wondered about that, though," Sefi added. They had a teneancy to speak in this manner, being twins.
There was another long pause.
"Is there nothing interesting left to talk about?" Angel shouted, so loud that everyone in the room turned to look at her. She folded her arms acorss her chest and began fuming.
"Something worth disscusing had better happen, or I'll hit someone," She growled.
And then something worth disscusing happened. The door flew open and two people, a man and a woman, walked in. From their clothes (and the faint aire that all mages seem to give off), everyone correctly took them to be mages. The man was fairly tall, but he looked to be pretty young; Sefi guessed that he might be 20 at least. His brown hair came down to his shoulders, and his green eyes sparkled mischievously. He was dressed in in dark brown pants, a white shirt with orange stripes, and a green mage's robe. With him he carried a silver staff.
The woman looked very much like the man; so much so that they could be family. Her hair, also brown, was pulled away from her face, but the front part fell to the sides of her face. The rest of her hair was tied in a bun behind her head, and held in place with a pair of chopsticks. Her floor length dress was white with red stripes, and the cape around her neck was a deeper shade of red than the strips on her dress. It struck several people as odd than she wore a cape rather than a robe, like most mages. Though her eyes were also green, they looked calmer, more quite, and more still than those of the man beside her.
"Our apologies for being so late, peoples," The man said casually, on a commanding but kind voice.
The woman giggled and said, "We'd forgotten how long Devil's Road was." To Angel, Sefi, and Red, it seemed like the two people took up the entire room. It also seemed like a long time before Cecil and Rosa broke the silence.
"Palom! Porom!" Cecil cried happily.
"We'd thought you weren't coming," Rosa added.
The man, Palom, waved his hand dissmisively, and said, "Don't be silly. We wouldn't miss a chance to see you all again for the world."
The woman, Porom, then caught sight of the three open-mouthed princesses in the corner of the room. She smiled at them and poked Palom in the ribs.
"Hey! What was that for?" He demanded of his sister.
"Look over there," She told him. He did as Porom told him and looked over toward the three. When he saw them, his eyes widened suddenly, and he gasped softly.
"Hello," Porom said, and walked over to them. She curtsied and introduced herslef. "I'm Porom, the white mage. I'm pleased to meet you." She paused, waiting for her brother to introduce himself, but when he gave no voice, she looked back at him and said in a demanding voice, "Palom! Get over here and say hello!" Palom snapped out of his daze and hurried over.
He nodded to each of the princesses and said, "Hi. I'm Palom. Nice to meet you," in a hurried voice, as though he couldn't wait to finish talking.
"What's wrong with you?" Sefi asked Palom, wondering why he was acting so strange.
"Uh... Nothing. I'm fine... I'm fine..." He trailed off, starring at Sefi as if he was going to use laser vision (which he didn't posess) to burn a hole through her head. "I just happen to think you're very pretty," He admitted to her.
"Oh," Sefi said, blushing deeper red than Red's ruby pendant. "Thank you."
"It's a very great pleasure to finally meet you both," Angel said, ending the sequence between her sister and the mage. "We've both heard so much about you from mom and dad."
"Yeah, you two were really something," Sefi added. Palom started beaming.
"Why, thank you," He said proudly.
"It was the least that we could do," Porom said. "We're just happy that we were able to do something."
Angel admired Porom's statement. She was not only a brilliant mage, but also seemed to be very selfless.
Red was trying to get Palom's attention, but he was sparking a conversation with Sefi. Red felt a bit left out now. Palom seemed to be ignoring everyone except for Sefi, and Porom was chating with Angel.
"Hey, Red," Angel asked, "Why aren't you talking with anyone? Come over here and join us," She insisted. Red's eyes lit up and she rushed over to Angel and Porom.
On the other side of the room, the grown-ups were watching the five conversing with each other. Cecil and Rosa looked pretty impressed and content with what was going on. Confused, Edward stepped forward and asked them,
"I thought you'd want to talk with them. They seem to have forgotten that we're even here."
"Talk about fair-weather friends," Edge mumbbled just loud enough for the king and queen (of Baron) to hear.
"What's wrong?" Rosa inquired the ninja. "This is what we wanted to happen."
"What?" Edge asked, also confused.
"Our kids seem to be making friends with each other," Cecil explained. "And they also seem to be getting along with two very influential people. Why wouldn't we want that to happen?"
"That makes no sence," Edge complained.
"I think it makes perfect sence," Rydia stated. "Besides: I think the girls needed to meet Palom and Porom," She added.
"Well then, we're all happy. We're all getting along, and our children have new friends," Alara said.
"I couldn't agree with you more," Kain said to her.
2222222222
After their meeting with Palom and Porom, there wasn't a quiet moment between the five friends. The past 14 years had apparently been very productful for the mage twins. They had all kinds of stories to tell and interesting facts to give. The spring of disscusion topics never seemed to run dry with these two.
"You know," Angel said after a while, "We had an idea his morning."
"Actually, it was Angel's idea," Sefi corrected. "She thought that maybe we, Red, Angel, and I, could steal an airship and run away. Isn't that a neat idea?"
"It is," Palom said, sounding impressed with the plan. "Why not go?" He asked.
Porom smacked the back of his head and said, "Because it's the wrong thing to do."
"Actually, we wanted to run away because we're tired of the lives we've got," Red said, ashamed of their motive for wanting to run away; Porom's reason for staying was far more virtuous than their's.
"What's so bad about the lives you have?" Porom asked.
"Well," Sefi explained, "Red dosen't want to be a queen, but she's being forced to become one; Angel has the same problem. Meanwhile, I want to become a dark archer and Angel wants to become a paladin, but mom and dad won't let us. That's why we want to run away."
"Ah... Life's unfair around here, so you think that running away's going to fix everything," Palom said whistfully, recalling the time that he ran away from home because he thought that life was unfair. He came back home because Porom found him and dragged him back, and also because he found out how hard it was to live alone in the forests surronding Mysidia. "Trust me: you guys are better off here," He said.
"But we have dreams that won't come true while we're stuck here. If we're going to make those dreams come true, we've got to escape," Angel explained.
"Yeah, you want to be a paladin and your sister wants to be a... What did you say again?" Porom asked.
"A dark archer," Sefi said.
"...Riiiiigh..." Porom said, not sure what to say to that.
"Cool, yes," Palom said. "Practical... I don't know. Aren't you afraid of what could happen?"
"What could happen?" Angel asked.
"Don't you know what you have to do to become a paladin?" Porom asked.
Angel shook her head. "No. Daddy only told me that you have to go to Mount Ordeals and go through the trial. He never said what kind of trial, though," She said.
"But she could make it through the trial, whatever it is; I'm sure of it," Sefi insisted.
"Trust me, it's harder than you think. It's not the test of strength that you're probably anticipating," Porom assured them.
"But... I still want to do it," Angel said. There was a moment of silence for the first time since that morning.
Fnally, Palom said, "I'll help you escape and take the trial."
Angel's eyes went wide. "Really? You'll really help me?"
"Yeah. Mount Ordeals is to the east of Mysidia. We can take Devil's Road back to the city," Palom explained.
"I'm coming with you," Sefi put in. "No sister of mine's going through a trial of any kind without me."
Red stepped up and said, "Count me in. I didn't make friends just to watch them run off and leave me behind."
Palom turned to Porom and asked, "Hey sis, are you in?"
Porom crossed her arms and said, "I'm not helpping you run away. It's not the right thing to do."
"Oh fine. Be a goody goody. We'll go without you," Palom said, and hit the floor with the bottom of his staff like a gavel. "We leave tonight!" He proclaimed. "Be ready, all three of you. It's a long way to Mysidia."
2222222222
That night, Angel, Sefi, and Red slipped out of their bedroom and into the hallway to meet Palom downstairs. The plan had changed drastically after a brief disscusion. The twin sisters knew how dangerous Devil's Road could be, and didn't know how wise it would be to take it. Besides, Sefi knew how to pilot an airship always wanted to fly one across the ocean. At first, Palom thought that taking an airship was a bad idea because, God forbid, someone found out about their plan, they could be caught in fairly short order. And, if everyone knew how badly Angel wanted to be a paladin, they'd be smart enough to guess the missing children had made a beeline for Mysidia. Red, however, insisted that this wasn't a problem. They could take the long way and any search parties would be gone from Mysidia before they (the foursome) got there.
With the assurance that taking an airship would be alright afterall, they agreed to go on the best ship available; The Enterprise.
Meanwhile, several hallways away, Rosa woke up with a start. She felt like something was happening somewhere, but she couldn't tell what or where. She focused on the disturbance and, after a minute, felt that it had something to do with the girls.
"Cecil, wake up. Somethings wrong," She whispered in her sleeping husband's ear.
Still to used to hearing Rosa whisper that in the middle of the night, Cecil was awake in a flash and looking around for something to stab with the sword he didn't have.
"Calm down," Rosa said gentley, laying a hand on Cecil's shoulder. "I think something's wrong with Angel and Sefi," She explained.
"What?" He asked, not fully able to believe what Rosa had just said. He sat very still and felt for the vibe that Rosa was picking up. Finally he felt it too; a strong metalic sort of feel in the air, but when one focused on it just right, one got a clear mentle picture of Angel and Sefi. The mage and the paladin used to feel these vibes all the time when the twins were little and often had nightmares. When this happened, Rosa would run to their room and wake them from their dreams. But this time the feeling was much stronger, and seemed to promise something much worse than a bad dream. Neither of them had felt one for years, either.
"I think maybe we should go and check on the girls," Cecil said slowly, rising from the bed and going to the door. Rosa quickly followed, worried about what this abnormally strong feeling meant.
The princesses had just left the stairs and were moving towards the end of the hall where Palom was waiting for them.
"Angel! Sefi! Where are you two?" Someone yelled fromt he top of the steps.
"It's mom!" Sefi nearly shouted, but managed to keep it at a whisper.
"What do we do now?" Red asked, begining to panic.
"We run and hope they don't catch us," Angel said, taking Red by the wrist and pulling her along the corridor.
When they rounded the corner and saw Palom, he ran up to them and asked,
"Who was just screaming your names?"
"Mom. She found out we left," Sefi explained, leading the charge down the hall.
Palom snorted angrily and grumbbled, "I bet Porom could get over her consience and squealed on us. We've got to get to the airships fast."
The twins led the strangers down the hall, toward the airship hanger as quickly and quietly as they could. Unfortunately, the hanger was five minutes away, and the halls of the castle were filling with people searching for the two... no, three missing princesses. Several times, they nearly ran into their own parents. Angel was mildly surprised that Cecil and Rosa weren't able to sence the presance of their own daughters, who were only 15 feet away at times. But she guessed that they were very worried about the situation, so they were to blinded by their worry to notice anything else. However, the danger of being caught led to taking several detours and it took the four about 10 minutes to get to the hanger.
When they finally rounded the corner that led them to the hanger door, they bolted forward, happy that this adventure was almost over. But then, a tall figure stepped from the shadows, blocking their way. In the small light that Red cast to light their way, the Angel and Sefi immediately, and unhappily, identified the figure as Rydia.
"And where are you four going?" She demanded. No one could get an explanation, they were suddenly so terrified. Palom was sorely tempted to cast a spell on Rydia; after 10 nerve racking minutes they were only 12 feet from their goal, and he wasn't going to let anyone interupt the mission. Not even the summoner.
Red noticed something slip out of the shadows from which Rydia had appeared, and come to rest on the green haired woman's shoulder. Rydia suddenly gasped and sunk to the floor, unconsious. The party was quite startled by what had just transpired. Two more people stepped forth from the shadows. One was Kain, and the other was Porom.
"Get on an airship as fast as you can, and get out of here before someone else catches you. I'll hold off the others," Kain directed, and collapsed on the floor next to Rydia, pretending to be unconsious as well.
"Thanks, uncle Kain. We owe you something," Angel whispered to the dragoon and led the party to the door, noting that Porom was following them.
"Changed you mind?" Sefi asked her.
"Yeah. I don't know why, but something tells me that you'll need a white mage before this journey's over," Porom said with a heavy sigh. Palom didn't say anything to her, but cast a mean glare at her.
When they all came to the door, Palom tried to turn the knob but found that it was locked.
"How do we get to the hanger? We don't have a key," He said.
Sefi jumpped up and held onto the door beam. She tried to pull herself over it, but lacked the strength to do so. "Porom, could you please cast float?" She asked.
Porom cast the spell without a word and Sefi floated up just over the beam. Sefi pulled a lose brick out of the wall and reached inside.
"Bring me down," She directed, and Porom stopped the spell. Once she was on the ground, Sefi held up an elaborately toothed silver key on a purple leather cord.
"When mom and dad became king and queen, they had all the locks and keys in the castle replaced," She explained, unlocking and opening the door. "They had the locksmith make a particularly special lock for the airship hanger. You can't pick it, melt it, or magic it open unless mom uses the proper spell. This is one of only four keys to that lock; the locksmith gave one to mom, one to dad, one to Cid, and they hid the last one over the door beam as a spare."
"Very clever," Palom said once everyone was through the door. Sefi quietly shut the door behind her and locked it behind her, hoping that Cecil and Rosa didn't have their keys on their person at the minute, and that Rosa would forget about the unlock spell for a little while.
The Enterprise was on the far end of the long row of airships, so it took a while for the sisters to find it. But when they did at last, they ushered everyone on board and Sefi ran to the front. She took the key once again and put it in the ingnition. When she looked up and noticed the curious looks on everyone's faces, she quickly explained that the key was made from a copy of the mold that Cid had made for several of his airships; it was basically a skeleton key to everything that had to do with the airships. Angel was surprised. She'd never heard that part before. But it made no difference, because Sefi also knew how to operate the crafts, and took the ship up with ease considering that she hadn't piloted anything for months.
2222222222
20 minutes later, Kain finally heard someone coming and shut his eyes, trying to look like he was sleeping. The someone who was coming was Edge, who was making looking for his wife a side quest. He rounded the corner, and the first thing he noticed was Kain and Rydia, asleep on the floor.
"Cecil! Rosa! Come quick!" He yelled over his shoulder and ran to Rydia's side, wondering what had happened, but mostly angry that it had happened to the summoner and thatthe dragoon had been with her when it happened. A minute later, Cecil, Rosa, Edward, and Alara all came around the bend. Upon seeing what was going on, Alara ran forward and began working white magic on Kain and Rydia (she's a white mage, in case you don't know).
Rosa would have helpped too, but she was frozen with panic. Cecil couldn't move either. Edward looked back when he realized they hadn't moved and asked, "What's wrong?"
"That door," Cecil explained, "Leads to the airship hanger."
"What?" Everyone else (except Rosa) gasped.
Rydia suddenly bolted up and shouted, "The kids! They're all headed for the airships! Stop them!"
Cecil ran to the door and tried to turn the knob, but found it locked. He reached for his key, which he usually had, but remembered that it was sitting on the dresser in his bedroom. He also reached over the beam for the spare, but found the lose stone out of it's place, since Sefi had forgotten to put it back.
"Rosa, the key's gone!" He called over his shoulder. "I need that spell," He added.
Rosa rushed forward and cast her unlock spell on the knob. The lock clicked open and Cecil flung the door open. He looked down the long row of ships, and noticed one ship on the far end was missing.
Edward ran forward too. There was silence for what seemed like a long time.
Finally, Edward asked, "Where do you think they'd go?" There was another pause as Cecil and Rosa tried to think of where there daughters might run to.
"Mysidia," They both answered at the same time.
"We've got to get to Mysidia. We might catch them if we hurry," Cecil said.
"I'll go get Cid," Rosa offered, and ran off.
2222222222
And there you have it; chapter two. Hope y'all enjoyed it.
I have a little more to say now. One thing that I realized is about Kain. I know he did some pretty rotten stuff, and ran off for an unknown period of time (I'm not exactly sure what happened; I've never finished the game. But, from all the fanfiction I've read, I make educated guesses). The thing about Kain's character changing so drastically from a rather melancholy traitor to a normal, upbeat dragoon has to do with the presance of Angel and Sefi. Having the twins around gave Kain something to live for, so, basically, the twins were his redemtion.
Another thing that I should have explained before was that Red's little dream is to become a master of fire based magic. So, a trip to Mysidia promises to be somewhat beneficial to her. However, their actual stay in Mysidia's going to be fairly brief, what with Mount Ordeals right there. A three day trip by air, a quick stop to get supplies, check in with the elder, and then off to the mountain is what's in store. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I'll elaborate on that.
Well... Chapter three won't write itself. Adios!