A/N: HELLO MY PEOPLES. God, I REALLY should of posted this a week ago! Anyway, as you can tell, I follow no uploading pattern at all. And bitching about it won't make me upload faster. So, be glad with what you , this ones a bit short, and a tiny bit fluffy, but oh well!
DISCLAIMER: Square Enix owns everything but the characters and the general storyline. I would say otherwise, but I like living and not breathing through a straw.
Chapter 7: Finally, A Break From It All
When I woke up, there was no one around. Sitting up and looking out the window, I saw that the sun was high in the sky
Wait... Wasn't it afternoon when we got- OH SHIT I clicked, realizing that I must have slept for an entire day!
Jumping up from bed, I shot off downstairs to the bar.
"Your friends are around the city," said the barmaid, not looking up from the glass she was cleaning. Looking around, I saw that, like the rooms, the ground floor was devoid of life.
"Oh. I noticed," I said, sitting at the bar. She looked up at me, sighed, then walked over to where I was sitting and looked at me like I was some form of deranged piece of art.
"Well, what'll it be, then?" she asked, looking at me with brown eyes that possessed a tint of rosy red.
"Well... " I started, but my stomach finished my sentence by growling to high heaven.
"Gotcha. I'll cook up something," she said, giving me an amused grin as she waltzed into the kitchen and started cooking. As I watched, I realized a few things. One, she had REALLY pretty eyes. Two, I should really stop staring at her; she might get the wrong message. And three, I was really fucking hungry!
About 10 minutes later she came back, with a plate full of bacon, eggs and sausages. And I had a question in my mind.
"What's your name, anyway?" I asked, accepting the plate and digging in.
"What makes you think you get to find out?" she replied folding her arms and smiling a "push your luck and I'll break your legs" smile.
"Because I'm a handsome devil and I wanna rock your world. Also, it's getting really old being able to talk to you and having to remove all uses of pronouns relating to your name," I said, knowing that I had won when her smile morphed into one of amusement.
"Well, when you put it like that... Elizibeth. You don't get a last name yet," she said with a wink.
"Well, Elizibeth, wanna just sit and talk for a few hours? I've got nothing better to do and you're hardly doing a roaring trade," I said, smiling. She gave me a look, and then disappeared into the kitchen again. I sighed, thinking that I had blown it beyond belief. Which is why I got a shock when she came back out a few minutes later, holding a jug fill of that elixir of life, coffee, and two mugs.
"Thought I should get a drink for us both, before I got comfortable," she said, placing the jug and mugs down, before walking around the bar and sitting beside me.
"How thoughtful. But seriously, I love you," I said, going straight for the coffee, my addiction getting the better of me. Much to her amusement.
Over the next few hours, I learned quite a few things about Elizibeth. For one, she was only 17, which was a bit young to be running a bar. Another thing: She was actually training as a Paladin, until she had to come home for "unforeseen reasons". It didn't take much pushing on my part to get her to tell the truth: She had been kicked out for taking her temper out on her trainer. She stated several times that it wasn't her fault that the first Black Magic spell she ever cast was Comet. I found this wildly amusing, even more so once she told me that the poor bastard's horse had been killed by the same spell. As for the bar, it was actually her families, currently being run by her and her father, with her older brother traveling the lands. As for where her father was...
"Well... My dad's sick. Like, really sick," she finally said, eyes glazing over with tears. I went to say something, no sure what, but she cut me off.
"No, it's ok. He's fine. The local Sage is taking care of him. Apparently, the Sage was once the most powerful White Mage in the world. Not anymore, if looks are any judge, but that's not the point. The point is, he can keep my dad alive... But he needs some herb or plant or something like that to cure my dad... I didn't really pay attention," she finished, sighing and looking like she was about to cry. Not good. I got the feeling that if she started crying, she would be hard to stop.
"Hey... At least he's alive. Trust me; there are things far worse than being sick..." I heard myself say that, and my voice trailing off. I suddenly felt the surge of emotions that came with any mention of the horrible human being that called himself my father, and found myself tearing up.
"Hey... You ok?" Elizibeth asked, looking at me with concern written all over her face.
"I'm... Fine... Just some... Unresolved issues... That's all.." I managed to choke out, while trying my very best not to scream in frustration. Clearly able to tell that something was up, Elizibeth reached over and put a hand on my arm.
"Hey. Any issues you have can't be as bad as mine," she said, smiling in an attempt to reassure me.
"Trust me, Elizibeth, you have no idea," I replied, though I did return her smile, which caused hers to widen.
"Call me Lizi, ummm..." her voice trailed off, before I realized something.
"Josh. My name's Josh," I said.