Chapter Three- Barheim Hell
"Fuu, wake up!" Fini's screechy little voice called out. I slowly opened my eyes and saw her, standing on the tip of my nose.
"Thank goodness you're okay, those guards really pushed you down hard!" Fini flew up on my shoulder and I sat up. Oh, wow, a prison. Dust was pouring a little bit from the ceiling and all that was around us was piles of dirt and a dead guy. I then saw Vaan walking over to me.
"Good, you're awake. You worried us a bit." Vaan said. I stood up with Vaan's help and glanced at the corpse on the ground. Us? Who else was in here? I didn't see Fran anywhere…
"You speak to dead people?" I pointed at the dead person. Vaan blinked.
"No, Balthier's in here, too, he's right over there…" Vaan pointed at Balthier, sitting on the smaller piles of dirt. He glanced over at me and Vaan, then went back to staring at nothing…some amusement that was. I never really got to talk or introduce myself to Balthier…I just shouted a ton at the Palace and said a few things to him in the sewers. I walked over to him and plopped down right next to him.
"I'm going to take a walk…" Vaan said. I grunted.
"Not a very content place for a walk, Blondie." I said.
"I know, but I wanna see if there's an exit anywhere…just in case Fran doesn't find one." Vaan said.
"Remember what curiosity killed…" Balthier said. Vaan nodded, but left the room anyway, leaving Balthier and me alone together. I was about to take out my iPod out from my backpack, but I noticed that my backpack was gone. The guards were actually thinking smart…but I was distressed, music was my life when I faced boredom! I looked around for it…behind piles of dirt…or did the dead guy have it?!
"Don't bother. The guards took away our belongings, and I don't think we'll be getting them back, either." Balthier said. I sighed. I can't even listen to Flyleaf or Evanescence while I was slowly dying away in a pitiful prison. I sighed loudly and glanced over at Balthier, who was staring at me.
"What is up with you?" I asked him.
"It's nothing…but, what Fran said…you really know what's going to happen to every one of us?" Balthier asked, his face getting close to mine. I blushed and shook my head.
"I thought you didn't believe that." I said giving him a grin. He grinned back.
"I have the right to change my mind." He said.
"Yeah, I guess so…and it is pretty true, to be honest…" I said, putting my hands in my jean pockets. I then felt something in one of my pockets, like a miniature cardboard box. I took it out…Stride forever fruit gum! I forgot that I wore the jeans that had the pack of gum in them. There were 12 pieces left, so I gladly put one in my mouth. Balthier glanced at it, confused at what it was. At first, I thought it would be weird to give a piece of gum to a Final Fantasy character, then I thought it would be something priceless and memorable for the rest of my life...
"Hey, Balthier, want a piece?" I asked. I took apiece out and held it up, offering it to him. He stared at it and, after a brief period of silence, he finally took it. Carefully, he unwrapped it and put it in his mouth, chewing it slowly. "It technically isn't food, you just chew on it." I said. Balthier seemed to like Stride, he just kept chewing. I couldn't help but smile at him, and he saw me grinning like an idiot.
"You're not from this world, are you?" Balthier asked me. This made me feel uneasy, Balthier found out my secret. I finally sighed and stood up.
"No, I'm not. I just know you guys really well…you could probably tell that I was different because of my clothes and my "Trusty Weapon"." I spoke up. Balthier raised an eyebrow and smiled at me.
"Then you truly might be the one Raithwall spoke of long ago." He stated, resting his hands on my shoulders as he stood up. Of course, I didn't believe any of this junk. Raithwall was probably drunk and decided to make something up in a fantasy story…I don't even know why or how he thought it up, again, he was probably just drunk out of his mind. I smirked.
"I am still not believing any of this shit." I said. Balthier let go of my shoulders and put the gum wrapper in his pocket.
"You don't have to…" He said. He walked out of the room to take a stroll, too. I blushed and decided to follow him. We continued to talk.
"So…what else is your world like?" He asked. I blinked; I was pretty stunned that Balthier wanted to know more about me and what my home was like!
"Well…there are schools…they're pure evil, though, they shouldn't exist…there's only one race and that's Humans…you may call them Humes, though. There's also a—…"
"Let me go! OW!" Vaan shrieked out of nowhere. I turned around and saw a room where big, fat, ugly Seeqs were dragging an injured Vaan into a fighting ring. I sighed along with Balthier as we both looked at each other.
"Guess we gotta go save him, huh?" I said.
"What else is there to do down here, anyway?" Balthier asked. He had a point, time for some action…empty-handed style…damn. Balthier walked up to see three fatty Seeqs trying to kill Vaan, who finally woke up from his unconsciousness. Without even thinking about strategies or anything like that, I jumped down into the arena and helped up Vaan, who had a nasty cut on one side of his face.
"Are you okay, Vaan?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but these guys are relentless." Vaan said as he looked at the three Seeqs. Balthier suddenly appeared at the top of the ring.
"This place stinks…I was wrong, this isn't a prison, it's a sty." Balthier spoke up. The Seeqs looked pretty outraged and didn't glare at us, I was going to give Vaan a potion, but I completely forgot that our things were gone. To cheer myself up before I was about to detonate in utter frustration, I thought of something clever.
"I can translate Seeq language." I whispered to Vaan. At first, he stared at me like I had "Kick Me!" written in Sharpie on my forehead, but then he got the gist of what I was doing. One Seeq spoke his language, a short sentence.
My fake translation was… "Guess who's a homo, you guys?"
Another Seeq spoke up, a longer sentence this time…
My fake translation was… "Wow, I never knew! No wonder you were gone with Jerome all day last week!"
The last Seeq spoke up, he spoke the longest sentence of all his partners, and he finally ended his everlasting sentence.
My fake translation was… "My sash is green." Vaan was cracking up, as well as I, even though the situation we were in was quite serious, we didn't care. Balthier gave a grin at us and spit out his beloved gum in the other direction.
"I said you're the one who stinks, Hamshanks. Here me now?" Balthier said as he was cracking his knuckles. Finally, he jumped down into the arena and helped Vaan up. I stood up and used all my knowledge I remembered in my karate class to fight the three fatsos…Okay, it was a karate class intended for the ages of six through ten, but I got a black belt in it, so there.
"We each take one…" Balthier said, aiming for the green Seeq. Vaan shrugged and took the red Seeq, making me go for the blue Seeq. Surprisingly, they weren't that tough. I kicked the Seeq's club out of his hands (It was pretty hard to kick in jeans, although they weren't extremely tight) and I punched him right in the pit of the stomach, as unpleasant as that was. He fell back and I stood up on his belly, looking down at him.
"Nice fighting, bitch!" I said as I stomped the pit of his stomach again. His eyes shut, probably because he was unconscious, and I jumped off of the Seeq in pride. I looked over to see that the other two Seeqs were babies and decided to retreat, so they dragged their friend out of the arena, leaving the three of us stuck in it.
"Quickly, this way." Balthier gestured Vaan and I to head over to a dark, shady area near a closed gate. I looked behind the gate and saw Fran's pointy feet standing there.
"Is there a way out of here?" I asked her.
"Through the oubliette, but—…"
"But you sense the mist." Balthier said. Fran nodded. We all looked up and saw a guard, a judge, and Ba'Gamnan the Bangaa chatting angrily about whatever…I didn't want to hear it, it smelled awful in the place and I wanted to find my stuff, I was already missing my beloved iPod. We snuck underneath the gate and headed to the oubliette. While we were passing, Balthier spotted a room full of materials…and I saw my backpack! I sprinted over to my old backpack and made sure everything I packed was inside of it. Yup, including my iPod and Soapy with all of his deadliness.
"Ah! The prison repository of wrested relics and raiments…" Balthier said. (Don't ask how I memorized that line, I just love it WAY too much XD)
"So, our stuff is in here?" Vaan asked. Balthier smiled.
"That's what I said…" I put on my backpack and Fini hopped in one of the black side nets of the backpack, making it nice and cozy for her during our travels.
"Okay, let's get a move on. I'm so sick and tired of standing in this filth." I said. They all agreed with me and we departed from the prison chamber. We snuck past lots of imperial soldiers guarding the whole frickin place until we entered a room…I then saw a shirtless Basch (Ewww…) tied up in a cage. I glanced over and immediately saw Vaan get majorly pissed off. I knew that Vaan thought that Basch killed his brother, but Basch's twin brother killed him, instead.
"Fini, distract them…I see Fran sensing the Mist…" I said. Fini nodded and left her snuggly little pouch, flying to a whole other room, causing a commotion. The guards and judge left, the judge saying something to Basch before leaving, and we entered the scene. Basch seemed startled by our little entrance.
"Who's there?" Basch asked. I admit, I felt bad for the guy. He was super thin, I could see his ribs through his skin…and he was claimed as traitor, but it was a big mistake. I never liked to use Basch that much in my game, he was always the one with the lowest level, but I really felt sorry for him now. I walked over to his cage.
"It's okay, Basch. We're gonna get you out of here." I said. I was being kind to him, you know, soothe the mind, and give him some relief for once. Vaan, however, was starting to hate me for being kind to Basch. Basch looked a little stunned for me saying his name, but all he would think about now was getting the hell out of the place.
"You're not imperials? Thank goodness…for the sake of Dalmasca, get me out of here quickly…" He said. I was really trying to get him out of the cage. Wow for me…but before I jumped onto the cage, Vaan beat me to it, growling in fury.
"DALMASCA?! WHY DO YOU CARE ABOUT DALMASCA?! EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU! EVERY ONE THAT HAS DIED…EVEN MY BROTHER!! YOU KILLED MY BROTHER!" Vaan screamed on top of his lungs. Basch took it rather nicely, though…
"I did not kill him…" He said softly. Vaan growled in anger.
"I'm dropping it…they're coming back…" Fran said as she pulled a lever, slowly dropping Basch's cage, Vaan still clutching onto it in anger. In the game, Vaan probably looked mad in your POV…that was the TV…seeing Vaan extremely angry in person is, seriously, one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen in my life.
"A sky pirate without a sky…" Balthier sighed. With tons of courage, he jumped onto the cage before the cage was lost in the mist. Fran jumped on after. I wanted to jump right after her, but I forgot all about Fini. Right on cue of thinking, she jumped on my head.
"We've got company, Fuu!" Fini shrieked. I turned around and saw three or four imperial guards, all spotting an innocent girl like me.
"Shit!" I shouted. Then, I remembered that I had my weapon in my backpack. With as much agility (And clumsiness) I got out Soapy, my Neutrogena Wave, and put on a cleansing pad to attack the soldiers (I was totally oblivious that I had the ninja sword the princess gave me in my backpack as well, which would've been 40 times more effective than a pore cleanser, but, hey, we all make stupid mistakes when we're in a big hurry, right?). Fini didn't trust my idea, that stupid fairy.
"We don't have any time for this! We're missing our way out of this dumpster!" Fini screeched loudly. She was going to go down herself, leaving me behind, but she ran into my shoulder, catching me off guard, and making me fall backwards into the mists. I was screaming on top of my lungs, plummeting into the dark, mysterious depths of the mist.
Damn pixie.
I continued to scream like crazy as I continued to plunge down to the very bottom where everyone else was probably alive…of course, I had to be the dead one. Surprisingly enough, though, two arms catching me in one piece rescued me. I looked up and saw Balthier, giving me a raised eyebrow and a cute smile.
"I found our young lady…" Balthier said. I liked being held by Balthier, but I was pretty ticked when he didn't address me by my first name…seriously, does he purposely do that just to infuriate the hell out of me or what?
"Fuu…" I corrected him, jumping down from his arms. I saw Fini, sitting cross-legged on a small jagged rock, shaking her head.
"Now the guards will find us…all because someone got carried away…" Fini scowled. She pointed over to where my Neutrogena Wave dropped. It was a little dirty, but I stuffed it in my backpack before anyone found out that the guards saw me and I tried to fight them off all by myself…again, damn pixie. After Fini dove into my backpack net, I saw Vaan running over to Basch, sitting peacefully on a pile of rocks. Vaan was about to punch him, but Balthier drew him back.
"Spare us your quiddities…" Balthier said sternly.
"But he's a…a—…"
"Traitor, I know. You may fight if you want…" Balthier finished what Vaan was going to say. He then turned to Basch. "If you can walk, then come with us…" Basch gladly stood up and followed Balthier into a barely lighted hallway. Vaan seemed a little stunned by Balthier's words to Basch.
"You're taking him with us?!" Vaan asked. Balthier turned around from his walking.
"We could use another fighter." Balthier stated. Basch nodded.
"And you shall have one." Basch said. I adjusted my backpack as I walked besides Vaan, who seem really frustrated and ticked over this whole situation.
"Vaan, just believe the guy, I mean, he seemed pretty serious to you." I said to Vaan. He didn't buy it.
"I don't trust the guy at all…period." I growled, getting pretty annoyed with Vaan's anger.
"Maybe you should, I mean, he's fighting with us not against us." I pointed out. Vaan didn't respond to my words, then I decided that he needed some time alone. I decided to get to know Basch more (I attempted to talk to Fran…let's just say that she doesn't want to socialize much…). I walked right beside him.
"So…Basch…what's up?" I said. Basch seemed slightly confused by my greeting, since he actually looked up at the ceiling. I sighed. "It means what's going on…"
"Your welcomings need improvement…" Basch said as his pace increased, avoiding me. I sighed.
"It's not like I invented the frickin statement." I mumbled. We continued the halls, they were getting awfully dark…not like I was afraid of the dark or anything, I just didn't want a creepy guy with a knife to pop up out of the ceiling or something freaky and terrifying like that. Thankfully for all of us, none of that happened for a while…we finally reached a room with light and a save crystal! We replenished ourselves from minor injuries and looked over to see a light switch. I remembered this part in the game and I also remembered how much I loathed it. Vaan pushed the switch…aaand…nothing happened…spectacular.
"The fuse is out." I said, yawning, knowing what the whole problem was with Barheim Passage. They all glanced over at me, none of them believing me…until Balthier examined the switch closer. He then looked over at me.
"Our young lady was correct…better know her as the one Raithwall had spoken about…" Balthier said. Again, he didn't use my name…damn him.
"One, it's Fuu, and two, I'm still not believing that, Balthier." I groaned. Balthier seemed to get a kick out of my frustration, he decided to keep it up from now on, and I had a feeling that was going to happen.
"Really, it sure seems like you could be her…" He grinned, watching my reaction get more irritable.
"Bloody pirate…" I mumbled (Hahaha, Pirates of the Caribbean! XD I just HAD to do that sometime!!) Basch then glanced over at me and walked over and took my hand.
"You…the one who knows all about the future of our land? That is you?" Basch asked. I blinked.
"Er…well…I don't think, everyone else here seems to think that…" I stated to Basch.
"Then you must know what Dalmasca's future is!" Basch said, kneeling down to me, and also completely ignoring what I said. It was weird…Basch was holding my hand, kneeling down…was he proposing to me?! O.O
"I'm not your type…" I said. Basch blinked but ignored my remark, since he was utterly confused by it, as expected. I then sighed softly. "I have an idea about its future…but, I'm afraid it is forbidden to tell one who lives in Dalmasca…I mean, I could be haunted by Raithwall's ghost…!" I said. Ever since Basch started worshipping me as "Raithwall's Told Legend", I've kind of liked the idea of thinking that I was the real legend. Basch nodded.
"Yes, I understand what you mean by that…" Basch said. Before he stood up, he kissed my hand! I mean, Basch is nice but I wouldn't want my hand to be kissed by him! I mean…sheesh! I immediately found some hand sanitizer in my backpack and used it well. Honestly, I don't even know why I packed the hand sanitizer with me back at home, since it was kind of a last minute item I packed, but I'm glad I did pack it.
After that whole situation, we headed down and saw a stranded merchant by the name of Burrogh. He kind of creeped me out, but I stuck with it and bought some potions and other handy-dandy items to put into my backpack, which was now my trusty inventory. He also handed us a tube fuse, which was terribly nice of him. Since I discovered the switch's problem, I got the opportunity to use the tube fuse to get on all of the lights in the room and to open the only way out of this place…I'm the type that was afraid to activate something electrical, it might electrocute me or just paralyze me…but, fortunately, I didn't get paralyzed. The gate opened, the lights were on, yay for us! We were about to head through the rest of Barheim Passage before Burrogh stopped us in our tracks from continuing.
"If you dare let the lights lower, the passage gets pretty dangerous…make sure you always keep the power at an acceptable amount…" Burrogh warned. I knew that. I've been through hell sitting in my basement going through Barheim Passage, so now I'm actually going to live it…dammit.
So, it really wasn't that bad at first. We saw the mimics sucking away all of the electricity in the wires, getting the rooms darker. As soon as we defeated them (Lemme reword that, Balthier, Basch, Fran, and Vaan defeated them…), the rooms would get lighter again. The paths were long and tiring, my feet were hurting…I needed to get in shape, since I had no athletic ability except self-defense. As we continued the passage, we found another corpse out of fifty…this time; he wore knight's armor. Basch decided that fighting empty-handed and shirtless wasn't a very good idea (Um…Yeahh…), so he put on the armor and took the corpse's sword. This is kind of creepy, but I think Basch had a tiny thing for me, so he was showing off his sword techniques for everyone and me.
"Nice moves there, Captain." Balthier said.
"You mean traitor…" Vaan mumbled loudly. I scowled at him and smacked him on the head.
"You're so rude, Vaan! I mean; Basch has done a lot for us so far! Can't you just accept that already?" I said angrily at him. Vaan had never seen me angry before, so he was pretty speechless and didn't know what to say. After a while, he spoke up.
"He killed my brother! He killed—…"
"Reks…" Basch and I said in unison. Basch, after minutes of worshipping me again, turned his attention to Vaan. "You must understand, young man…I have a twin brother…he was your brother's murderer…"
"A twin brother? Fancy that…" Balthier said.
"And all the pieces fit, so I say it's believable to me…" I said.
"I still don't trust you." Vaan said, turning his face away from us.
"Vaan quit being such an ass!" I snapped. Vaan ignored my insult.
"You don't have to trust me, you could trust your brother, instead. He was a fine soldier. He fought to the last to protect his homeland…no…he fought to protect his younger brother…" Basch said looking in Vaan's eyes. Vaan felt pretty pissed off now.
"You don't know anything!" He shouted.
"I have so had it now!" I shouted louder than Vaan. Vaan wanted to make up an excuse, even though he knew that I was irritated at him.
"Fuu, he's the one who—!"
"SHUT UP!" I screamed. "Just shut up, Vaan! You just feel too sorry for your brother's death! It doesn't mean that you have to believe the first thing someone says in the god damn rumors! Basch didn't kill Reks, I know it!" I was REALLY pissed. Everyone stared at me, a little shocked to see my angry behavior (Some enemies ran away from my anger, too…hahaha…I win…). I sighed and tried to calm myself down, but nothing really worked. "Let's just get out of here…" I said with more serenity. I walked away into a large room while everyone else just stood there.
I stomped into the room in fury, I've never been so annoyed by someone in my life. Vaan was like raising fifteen children in one household except twenty times worse.
"Honestly, can he be more rude to someone who didn't kill his brother?" I said through slightly gritted teeth. Fini bit her lip, I was guessing that she didn't want to push any more of my buttons, and didn't say anything. Suddenly, before I knew it, I felt a huge shadow over me…it felt pretty eerie, too. I looked up, praying to God that it wasn't the Mimic Queen…God was busy with someone else at the moment…it was the Mimic Queen indeed. Immediately, I ran to somewhere where the shadow was not hovering over me, but as it landed hard on the ground, one of its feet landed on my jacket hood and brought me down to the ground. With its leg, it brought me up into the air so I was hanging off of the Mimic Queen so she could look at me and gobble me down for dinner. I immediately began screaming for help. Suddenly, I saw everyone storm in the room, seeing me hanging there like a fish on a fishing hook, struggling to get free to go back into the lake. I was expecting for someone to rescue me, but they were all blocked by tiny mimics…the only one not blocked by a tiny mimic was Vaan.
"Vaan! Help her!" Balthier said as he shot down a tiny mimic. Vaan looked up at me.
"But…she's..."
"Go! Do not fret if she was angered by you, she will be glad for her rescue!" Basch said as he was clashing with his tiny mimic. Vaan nodded and ran towards the Mimic Queen, who kicked him against the wall, knocking him out.
"Vaan!" I shouted. I had to do something…Fini then got out my ninja sword and gave it to me in my right hand. With one stroke, I cut off the tip of the Mimic Queen's leg and was descending rapidly to the ground. I landed with a thud at the hard ground, spraining my wrist. One sprain didn't bother me, though; I was too busy on trying to save Vaan. I ran over to him as fast as I could and immediately gave him two potions. He opened his eyes and saw me.
"Thank God you're okay, Vaan!" I said. I was so happy that I hugged the poor guy.
"Fuu! Watch out! Behind you!" Fini screamed. I stopped hugging Vaan when the Mimic Queen was going to strike both of us. We quickly ran out of the way and watched at what the attack would've done to us when we saw the wall dented.
"What should we do to win this?" Vaan asked me. I remembered what I read in the strategy guide when I was facing the Mimic Queen in the game. Ice magick! I immediately stood up on a fallen rock from the wall, to get a better view of the Mimic Queen, and I wanted to use a blizzard spell on her…problem was…I didn't no how to use magick…damn, that's a problem there. I knew I had to make haste because the Mimic Queen was focused on the ones who weren't busy with her little cronies.
"Fini, magick, help, here, now!" I said through pants and quick wordings. Fini blinked and rubbed her chin.
"I remember now! Think of the element!"
"WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, WOMAN!?"
"It means you have to imagine what the magick attack is like! Like, for example, if you wanted to attack with fire, you had to think of flames or embers!"
"WELL I DON'T WANT FIRE, YOU IMBECILE!"
"Stay calm, good Lord!" Fini said. "Pull yourself together!"
"Well…what would I think of if I wanted to use a blizzard spell…I mean, snowflakes aren't very dangerous, you know…!" I mentioned to Fini.
"Dodge!" Fini yelped. I looked over and dodged another Mimic Queen's attack. I jumped on one of her enormous legs and ran up it (More like climb, though, it was scaly and rough to just walk your way up) so I was now on her head.
"Um…avalanches are pretty powerful!" I shouted down to the pixie, which looked even smaller as a spec floating around the place.
"Then think of it!" She shouted back up to me. I nodded and raised my ninja sword into the air. I thought of an avalanche…destroying everything with its storming power. I then shot my ninja sword up higher…and the blizzard spell came down! It froze the Mimic Queen's legs so it wouldn't attack anyone anymore. I smiled at my work, but I completely forgot that I was standing on the Mimic Queen's head. She shook me off violently and I was, once more, plummeting to the ground. I landed on a tiny mimic, killing it, as I felt my ankle get sprained now. I barely managed to stand up, and the ankle was really making it difficult to walk. I glanced over and saw a tiny mimic heading towards me. All I could do was block its attacks from taking a bite out of me. Sparks flew off of my ninja sword as the tiny mimic was unremitting and kept trying to attack me. It got fiercer after each attack and pushed me down, making the sprain in my ankle hurt when I fell back on it. The tiny mimic was now examining my head…great, an insect was going to decapitate me…some whacky death that was. As it was about to bite down…Balthier came up and shot it from behind! The tiny mimic screeched in agony and pain and it finally disappeared. Balthier offered his hand to me.
"Come on, let's defeat this bloody insect." He said. I nodded and took his hand, helping me stand. The sprain was really hurting, so my running was more like a pitiful jog now.
"Cast blizzard spells, everyone!" I called out. They all nodded and began doing so. Each blizzard spell built up ice around the Mimic Queen, freezing it even more than usual. Suddenly, Fran shot her arrow in it, and it screamed and disappeared…(I used Fran as the grand finale to finish off the Mimic Queen because in my file of the game, she was the one who finished the Mimic Queen off…so…yeah…in case you were wondering…). We were all extremely exhausted and then found the exit of the Barheim Passage. I was relieved as we all saw the light that was leading to the Dalmasca Estersand. We got out into the hot temperatures of the Estersand and saw Rabanastre not too far from where we were. I was extremely excited to see Rabanastre, I never really got to see it other than the Palace and a few streets…now it was the time to see it.
First...we had to get through the Estersand...
Everyone walked fine, marching happily and cheerfully to Rabanastre like a parade was greeting them or something...me, however, I still had my ankle and wrist sprained...well, the ankle was the injury that I was focusing on, since it hurt pretty bad. Every once in a while, I would trip over tall piles of sand and fall down, making it harder to stand up on my own. They're not showing much assistance, are they? I thought to myself. Just when I was thinking that very sentence, Balthier turned around and saw me in the sand. He raised an eyebrow.
"This isn't a sandbox, you know..." He said walking over to me. I gave him a scowl and attempted to stand up, but the sprain jumped back at me and made my fall backwards. He then saw the problem now and, suddenly, picked me up! He was going to carry me bridal style! Balthier showed no signs of struggle carrying me, since I was, just for reminders, only 89 pounds (I probably lost a few during the walk and battle in Barheim Passage). I blushed a ton when I glanced up at Balthier's face...so handsome...every once in a while, a fiend would come up and attack us. I was in no condition for fighting, so I wrapped my arms around Balthier's neck for protection. Hey, I did this on my own, so it was hard not to. Besides, I couldn't resist...
"We're almost there..." Basch said from up ahead. Then I wondered something, what would everyone in Rabanastre think when Captain Basch returned? He was claimed as traitor, so probably wouldn't be a very warm welcome for him.
"Basch, what are you gonna do? Rabanastre isn't gonna greet you with fireworks and balloons, you know..." I said. Basch stopped his tracks and then turned around to grab my hand once more. If he kisses it...I swear to God...I thought to myself again.
"You should know, since you know all, Raithwall's Legend..." Basch said softly. Well, I did. I just wanted his answer given to me. Then, I decided to drop it.
"Um...right, stupid question! Doi!" I said smacking my head. Basch turned around and continued the walk to Rabanastre. Fini then popped out of my backpack and landed on my shoulder.
"I sense a human...not a hume, but a human." She said quietly whispering to me. I was confused by her words at first. Aren't humes and humans pretty much the same thing? Then, I really thought about it and finally got it. Another person from my world was somewhere nearby...this got me a little worried, for some odd reason.
"Can you make out their appearance?" I asked Fini, who looked quite serious.
"I don't think I can...I'll try though..."
"Is he close?"
"I'm not quite sure...but probably, since I didn't sense it back in Barheim Passage...so, that person is probably in Rabanastre." Fini replied. I nodded and looked ahead...seeing the entrance to the great city of Rabanastre. Fini then flew closer to my ear. "Make a correction to your sentence earlier...it is a girl...funny, though...she's quite small to be playing Final Fantasy XII..." Fini whispered. I blinked.
"How old is she?" I asked.
"About five years old, I suppose..." Fini responded after a short period of waiting.
"Either you're examining the wrong person or the little one has good talent..." I said. Fini and I continued chatting, but it was strange that Balthier, Vaan, or anyone else did not notice my fairy guardian. I mean, she was tiny, but everyone is pretty smart, so I was expecting someone to notice my companion.
"Hey...are you invisible or something?" I asked Fini. She had her eyes closed in concentration, so she opened one eye.
"Why do you ask that?"
"I mean, no one else can see you but me, right?"
"Incorrect, anyone can see me...if they are from the human world..." Fini said. I rolled my eyes.
"That's what I meant, Fini..." I stated.
"Oh...your wordings need improvement." Fini said. I lightly shook my head, since it reminded me of what Basch said about my welcoming to him. After a couple of minutes, I finally saw a path to the Grand city of Rabanastre! I got pretty excited, since Rabanastre was one of my favorite places in the entire game. We entered into the city...and my God, it was enormous!
To Be Continued…