A/N: HAI. I have nothing much to say here, so... Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final fantasy. Wish I did, but I don't.
Chapter 12: Wait, What?
We walked away from the city of Alexandria the next morning, leaving at first light (much to many of our number's displeasure). Personally, I was glad to be back on the move, and out of that city, but something was bothering me.
Namely, the fact that Lizi was walking next to me. After being emotionally and logically tag teamed by her and Tayla, I really didn't have much choice other then to let her come along. And thus, our little group grew to 15 members. All I knew, was that it meant another person to keep a eye on.
"So, where we headed?" asked Robbie, running up beside me, Mathew not far behind him.
"Ask her," I said, nodding my head at Lizi, which caused my hat to fall off the top of my head. Sighing, I grabbed the hat and repositioned it so the sun was out of my eyes.
"Well..." reaching into her traveling jacket, Lizi pulled out a map. "We are here." She pointed at the map, finger resting on a area just east of Alexandria. "We are heading this way, to Luca." She pointed again, this time at a dot on the map. Between where were we are it, there was a mountain range, a swamp and what looked like some plains. "We are gonna go this way." she then traced a path with her finger, one that I noticed complete bypassed the mountains and plains.
"Why don't we just go straight through?" I asked. Lizi looked at me funny.
"Because those mountains are home to dragons and all sorts of nasties, and those plains... Lets just say, those Behemoths that you see around here? Those things are ants compared to some of the beasties in that area," she replied, putting away the map.
"Ok. That seems like a good enough reason to me," I said. Mathew and Robbie readily nodded.
"So... How long will it take for us to get there?" asked Mathew, dusting something off of his hat.
"About two weeks," replied Lizi, smiling. Our jaws dropped.
"What?" we collectively shouted.
"No need to shout in unison. The map isn't very good at showing distance, ok?" Lizi said, rubbing her forehead. I sighed. This was gonna be a long two weeks. Just then, I was snapped out of my thoughts by a rumbling... A very familiar, and for some reason scary, rumbling.
"Guys..." I said, turning around to see the others bolting past me, eyes wide in fear. Blinking, I looked at Lizi, who also blinked, then we looked in the direction from which they were running. And there, stampeding towards us, head down, eyes furious, was a Behemoth. I looked at Lizi. She looked at me.
"RUN!" We both screamed, turning on the stop and running full tilt in the direction that the others had run in.
"Jesus Robbie, what did you do this time?" I yelled, not trusting myself to look behind me and see if the Behemoth was catching up.
"I did nothing! I swear!" the blond yelled back.
"Well, why is that thing chasing us like we pissed it off then?" I shot back.
"I dunno! Maybe it just doesn't like us!" Robbie suggested.
"What you do mean by that?"
"It's the one I thought was a deer!" My eye twitched.
"God damnit! I knew I should of fucking tripped you up last time! Reece! Slow the thing down! NOW!" I yelled at our resident Time Mage. I nearly tripped over, then looked behind us to see the Behemoth slowing down.
"Good job Reece!" I shouted at him, running up beside him.
"I did nothing... But ok, thanks," he said, looking confused.
"Then... Why are we still alive?" asked Tayla, who walked up to us, confusion all over her face.
"Hmmm..." Looking around, I noticed what looked like the remains of a pillar on the ground. Looking more, I saw what appeared to be what was left of a stone temple, evidently forgotten many years ago.
"Maybe it didn't want to come into the ruins..." I pondered.
"Could be. Why, though?" said Tayla.
"Well, whatever the reason, we just found our camp for the night. We can't move until we're sure the Behemoth is gone," I said, looking around for said rampaging monster.
By the time it was dark, we were sure that the Behemoth had either left, or fallen asleep. We, well I, lit a fire, Robbie and Morgan went and found a wild boar and turned it into dinner, and I sat away from the group, watching the light of the fire reflect through my crystal.
"Whatcha doing?" asked Tayla, appearing at my shoulder and looking at the crystal as well.
"Is that Bahamut's crystal?" said Lizi, appearing at my other shoulder.
"Yeap. And the way it reflects light is... Cool," I replied, not thinking of a better word. Tayla smiled, said something along the lines of "that's nice", then disappeared again, leaving a mysteriously blushing Lizi behind. I looked at her, and then patted next to me. She blinked for a moment, and then sat beside me. Pulling back my sleeve, I held the crystal to the brand on my arm, then watched as the crystal faded into it.
"Cool," Lizi muttered softly. I looked up at her, shaking the sleeve of my jacket down. She had ditched the travelling coat and revealed what she was wearing underneath: a red shirt, black jacket that was currently done up, some loose black pants and a pair of red and black boots. All in all, she looked good.
"Thanks," I replied, suddenly feeling awkward. Looking around, I saw Tayla and Kathryn giggling. I felt the sudden urge to set them both on fire, which Lizi must have sensed, for she put a hand on my rising arm gently.
"How do you do that?" I asked.
"I know anger when I see it," she replied simply.
"Yea! And, you must admit, it feels nice to have a chick touch you, right?" said Reece, demonstrating his talent of saying the worse thing at the worse time. I twitched, there was an explosion, and Reece was given a flying lesson that ended with him crashing through the wall of the ruined temple.
"Why didn't you stop me that time?" I asked.
"It was funnier not to," Lizi replied, evidently trying to not laugh, and failing. I started to laugh as well, when Reece came back out of the hole he had created and went to find Shayna for healing. I kept laughing, and then stopped when I noticed a strange glowing coming from within the temple. I was about to stand and look, when Lizi stopped me.
"No. Get some sleep, and then we'll look in the morning. Go, I'll take first watch," she said sternly. I nodded, then slid off the rock we were sitting on, sat down with my back leaning against it, then closed my eyes and went to sleep.