Fuu: Oh my goodness! Hello, fellow readers!
Fini: Sorry for the slow update! Call it laziness!
Fuu: Well, now that we've decided to get this story back on track, we shall proceed with this chapter's DISCLAIMER! But who's going to say it this time, hmm?
The Soldiers from Chapter One: US!!!!!
Fuu: Okay! Go for it, guys!
Soldiers: Fuu DOES NOT OWN Final Fantasy XII. This all includes the plot, settings, and characters. Fuu only owns Fini, Yuko, Misa, Jude, Rozaline, and herself…as well as minor characters like Hiroyuki and Garbuden.
Garbuden: Minor? More like the shi—
Fuu: Okay, settle down, Garbuden…let's move on to chapter 22!
Going into Ivalice
Chapter 22: The Phon Coast
"Wakey-wakey, Fuu." Fini's squeaky voice rang in my ear. I mumbled a bit before opening my eyes. Fini's little face was looking down on me, her long brown hair nearly getting into my eyes. "If you don't get up, you're gonna miss the beach!"
I continued to lie there, looking at Fini with tired, sandman-attacked eyes. I groaned a bit again as I tossed the blanket over my head, shoving Fini away from the premise.
"Another half hour maybe?" I mumbled.
"Half hour? But it's the beach!" Fini hissed through gritted teeth.
"But what if I wanna sleep? What if I don't wanna go to the—…" Wait a second. Wait just a darn second. Did Fini just say…? "THE BEACH?" I sat up, a small gust from my sudden uprising causing Fini to fly backwards a few feet.
"Uh, duh!" Fini said, regaining her balance in mid-air. "We're all going to go to the Phon Coast today. We're going to spend the entire day there…it's our 'break day'. Remember now, smart one?"
"I just did!" I got up, putting on my jacket (I slept in my cami, because the Salikawood was a pretty toasty place) and started to brush my teeth.
"We're not leaving in another ten minutes, but it's best to get up on the bright." Fini yawned. Even through all of her energy, even game guardians need more naptime I guess.
"Can you get some others to help pack up the tents? I have some room in my backpack still." I said, a small amount of toothpaste in my mouth before I spat it out the east flap (There are four "flaps" in the tent, one is a door, and the other three are like windows where you can just barely put your head outside of. We used those as our sinks. Aren't we sanitary?) I arranged my hair, my clothes, and fixed my choker. Sheesh, for my favorite choker, it has seen quite some action during this adventure in Ivalice. It was less of a choker and was more like an actual necklace because of how worn out the string has gotten. I felt satisfied with my appearance, and not long after, Yuko and Penelo entered the tent.
"We'll help you pack up the beds and everything." Penelo said.
"Thanks guys." I said. I got down on my knees and began rolling up the sleeping bags (which were quite comfy). After I got done with Ashe's, and mine I looked over to see Yuko was having difficulties with her sleeping bag. "Here, let me help—." I stopped. I looked at Yuko's face…she had a thin gash across her right cheek, a little smeared with dried blood. I suddenly remembered yesterday, where the guards were beating her. I swallowed when I saw the slightly frustrated look in her eyes.
"Yes please." She said quietly, noticing that she gave me a startling look. I went down on my knees and began rolling up her sleeping bag. "Fuu-chan, thank you for saving me yesterday." She said after a pause. I smiled lightly.
"Those guys were asses. But forget about yesterday, Yuko," I stood up, touching her shoulders. I smiled. "Today's the beach! We're going to have so much fun today, I assure you!" Yuko smiled and hugged me.
"I think so, too!"
"Three minutes!" Vaan called out.
"Okay!" Penelo called back outside of the tent. "Let's wrap this thing up, Fuu."
"Okay! Like THIS!" I kicked one of the poles of the tent, where the entire thing collapsed on top of us.
"I meant…when we were outside…"
"Oh…sorry about that." I giggled nervously. I thought I heard Fini mumble a 'dumbass' while we were finding the door to the tent…
…………………
"Now that the tents are all packed," Jude said as we all gathered outside. "We'll head out."
"Since when did you become leader?" I sneered.
"Since I joined your little party of pipsqueaks, Butch." Jude smirked.
"Butch? What kind of a name is that for me?" I growled.
"Since you proved me wrong yesterday when you killed that creepy judge. You're pretty tough, girly, so your new name is Butch."
"Please don't. That just doesn't sound right at all." I groaned. Fini and Misa were cracking up, and even Yuko was giggling at this nickname I didn't want to own. I growled again, then after a few seconds, I exhaled. "Fine. Whatever. As long as it has some sort of positive meaning to it, I'll deal with it."
"Sure thing, Butch." Jude and Rozaline said in perfect unison, walking away in a snickering frenzy. I was ready to lift up the middle finger, but I felt someone approaching me from behind. I turned around to look up at Balthier. When I saw his face, I thought he was going to look worried and start making me cry again, like what he did after the whole Mateus situation in the Stilshrine of Miriam…but to my surprise, he was all smiles.
"I wasn't thrilled for this 'break day' to be truthful, but as long as you'll have fun, I might find some exuberance in it as well." He smiled at me. I giggled.
"Well, as long as it makes you happy." I grinned. He gave me the oh-so-gorgeous crooked smile and walked past me, grabbing my head and ruffling it a bit. I giggled during this process, feeling his strong and slightly callused fingers lightly scratching my head. It felt like I was the cat to an extremely affectionate owner (Like my English teacher who gets mad if you ask how many cats she has! Hahaha.) I stood there, silently sighing in bliss.
"Let's go, Fuu! Come on!" Yuko said enthusiastically, pushing my butt with her tiny little hands.
"Right, sorry!" I apologized. I started walking with everyone else, putting my backpack on nice and snug. We began our walk through the Salikawood to the Phon Coast!
"Fuu!" Vaan ran up, nearly tackling me. "The walk is gonna be a little long, do you have any new games for us to play?"
"More games, huh?" I let out a little 'hmm' as I stroked my chin, thinking of good games for people in Ivalice. Obviously, guess the song wasn't going to be very good, because 100% of Ivalice citizens wouldn't recognize the tune to "Single Ladies" by Beyonce. What should we play? "Honestly, Vaan, is your life all about playing games?"
"Not at all! Penelo and I are really bored, and we need something to occupy the time!"
"Since when was I involved in the situation, Vaan?" Penelo chimed in.
"Ooh, I got a good game!" I exclaimed excitedly. "We can play questions!"
"Questions? What kind of a game is that?" Penelo asked.
"It's pretty easy. I give you guys a situation and you are two different people. You ask each other questions, and you have to keep the conversation going with questions only. If you answer or if you don't know how to answer YOU'RE OUT! And then the next person takes the place of the other person until I decide to change the situation."
"I'm playing." Jude popped up. "I played this game with my girlfriend all the time."
"Okay, Jude if you want to—whoa! Jude, you have a girlfriend?" I suddenly questioned. Jude was good-looking, that's for certain, but I never imagined him having a girlfriend!
"Yup. Her name's Lena." Jude rummaged through his pants pocket, where he pulled out a small photograph (the kind in those picture booths where you make funny faces) and handed it to me. In the picture was a fairly happy looking Jude (with shorter hair) and a girl who was smiling twice as big as him. She had long, blonde hair that was a bit wavy with perfect side bangs. They actually made an adorable couple…
"Ooh, you lucky little boy!" I teased.
"We've been together since the 8th grade. I'm a junior in high school at the moment." He took the picture back, slightly embarrassed with my comment, and shoved it back in his pants pocket. "She may look like a typical girly girl, but she's really quite the dork. She actually introduced me to Final Fantasy XII." He whispered the last sentence to me.
"Wow, really?" I was stunned. So, if it weren't for Lena, Jude and Rozaline wouldn't really be here in our party.
"Grr!" Rozaline growled. "Are we going to play this damn game or not? Quit blabbing about these teenage romances and get on with the game already!"
"Jealous." Misa coughed.
"I heard that, jerk." Rozaline hissed at her fellow game guardian.
"Okay, let's play." I cleared my throat. "Vaan and Jude. You guys are in Rabanastre in Migelo's Sundries. Vaan, you're Migelo. Jude, you're the customer. Jude you're buying stuff and you don't have enough money. A feud starts. Go!"
"Sir, can you give me the right amount?" Vaan played. His voice of Migelo was disturbingly good, and Penelo and I nearly peed my pants for laughing so hard. Even Yuko and the game guardians were giggling.
"Did you forget to pull the stick out this morning?" Jude smirked.
"Ohh, snap!" I laughed.
"What are you talking about?"
"Can I just buy these items?"
"Would you put something away so you can have enough to pay me?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Why wouldn't you?"
It went on like this for about fifteen minutes before Vaan accidentally answered. We continued playing for a good hour or so, and it was a true success. We even got Ashe and Basch to play in at one point, although they didn't find it quite as amusing as the rest of us. We continued to laugh (Jude was even laughing…hard!) and we didn't even realize that we stepped onto white sand. I looked down and saw the sand sink into the bottom of my sneaker. I gasped happily, looking up to see what I've been wanting to see for a little while…
Blue seas…blue skies…palm trees…sand…sunny skies…
The Phon Coast!
"Race you to the water!" Penelo said to Vaan, where they dashed off further on the beach.
"Wow! This place is so…dazzling!" Yuko exclaimed.
"What are we waiting for?" Fini asked. "Let's get in the water!"
"I won't fail your task, Fini!" I pumped a fist into the air and began to take off, until Rozaline grabbed onto my hood, dragging me backwards a bit. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"How old are you, really?" Rozaline scolded. "Act like a proper, mannerly person and stay here. Go on the path to adulthood instead of acting like you are nothing more than a toddler, like Yuko-chan here." Yuko puffed out her cheeks and glared at the blonde game guardian. "Act like Jude, for a grand example. Isn't that right, Jud—," She glanced over, where Jude was once standing, and then saw that Jude had taken off with Vaan and Penelo. He also wasn't afraid to take off his jeans, where he was now in his red and blue plaid boxers.
"I think I know how he got the girlfriend." Yuko said.
"YOU'RE FIVE YEARS OLD! HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?" Misa exclaimed.
"What were you saying about the path to adulthood like Jude, Rozaline?" I snickered, looking at Rozaline's speechless expression. I immediately ran off, Yuko's hand in my own, and we ran into the water. I took off my jacket and rolled up my jeans to my knees, tossing my jacket on top of Jude's jeans (and T-shirt, which I did not see him remove). I felt the coldness of the water on my feet and ankles, and it took me a while before I gained courage to step further into the water.
"Isn't it pretty, Yuko?" I looked behind to look at Yuko, who was still on shore, who was in the process of removing her long-sleeved shirt! "Yuko! Keep that on!" I ran up to her and pulled down the shirt before it went above her belly button. She gave me a quizzical stare that lasted for about a good ten seconds. "Here, just do this." I took her little arms to take out of her sleeves, and with that, I tied the sleeves in a little bow behind her back. And now her shirt looked like a strapless dress good for swimming!
"Thanks Fuu-chan!" She giggled happily and ran into the water. Misa and Fini hovered close above her, incase anything bad would happen. I was ready to get back in the water where I saw Balthier out of the corner of my eye. He was talking to Ashe…
This was when he was talking about his insane father, Dr. Cid.
I stood there, my jealousy biting me in the butt again. Ashe looked like she was listening intently to Balthier's somber tale, and how I wanted to be in her place…to comfort him…to help him stand tall and tough through his crappy past…I found myself completely ignoring the crystal-like waters and found myself standing in total gloom, looking Balthier talk to Ashe.
"It's apart of the story." I whispered to myself. "It's not like they're in love or anything, right?" I folded my arms and tried to think positive, but the positive feeling never showed up. I then found myself unfolding my arms and sitting down on the sand. I grabbed my knees and cradled them to my chest as I stared at my feet. A small gust of wind blew on my nearly bare back, where it tingled and gave me goosebumps…but in the two spots I felt intense pain back in the Stilshrine…as the wind blew, one part of my back felt heated as the other dot felt chilled. Belias was obviously the heated spot as Mateus was the chilled. I wanted to see my marking again. It would distract me from my gloom, right? I walked up to the water so my reflection was showing. I kneeled down on my knees and turned my head as far as I could to see the reflection of my back. I actually managed a couple of glimpses. The marking, which looked more like a large tattoo, now had two circles out of 13 filled in. One was a deep red and the other was a light blue. 2 Espers out of 13…
"Fascinating, no?"
That voice.
I turned my head forwards again and saw Balthier looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. I giggled a bit; quite embarrassed that Balthier caught an image of me in such an odd position. I stood up, my neck aching a bit from all that stretching, and stared into his chocolate brown eyes.
"Can I show you something?" He asked in a smooth tone.
"I uh-uh-uh what?" I stuttered. The tone he used made it sound extremely dirty. He raised another eyebrow at my stutters.
"Here. In the water…come with me." He made a hand gesture and I immediately followed him. He walked through a shallow part of the water, looking in as if he were searching for something. I looked in the water too, but I had no idea what I was supposed to be looking for. "Ah." I heard him say. He then bent down and scooped his hand in the water, grabbing a handful of wet, sloppy sand. He carefully let the wet sand drop in the water until he uncovered something glimmering in his palm. I peeked over to get a better view, where I saw what he had found in the sand. It was a white stone. But this wasn't just a normal white stone; this stone was smoother than a pearl and shined like a diamond. It was probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen.
"Balthier…it's gorgeous." I said, awestruck.
"I need help finding more. If you think this one is tantalizing, just wait until you see other ones." He smiled, tossing it lightly to me, where I clumsily caught it with both hands. "You think you can collect as many as you can hold."
"I will certainly try!" I beamed. He gave me a smile as he walked away, leaving me on my knees, already trying to find more of those stones. I probably spent almost four hours looking for them, and I found a TON. There were so many colors. There were black ones that had a gorgeous rainbow reflection that shined off of them, and yellow ones with gold speckles that shined like pure crystal. I gathered so many, and I couldn't decide which one was the prettiest. I put them in my backpack and I finally had enough of bending down and reaching my hand in wet, sloppy sand.
"A Clarity stone." Penelo came up to me.
"Is that what they're called?" I held up the one I had, which was an emerald color with light blue, glistening lines in it.
"Yeah. It's been years since I've beaded one."
"Beaded? Like making bracelets and stuff?"
"Yeah. When Vaan was practically a girl, we made some for each other all the time. We had to sell them all to have enough money for food, though. But if a group of close friends has a clarity stone, it supports the friendship and brings strength and peace to the group of friends."
"Oh, like a good luck charm on steroids." I added.
"I…guess so."
"Tell me, Penelo," I wondered. "Do you still know how to bead them?"
"Yeah. It's not that hard, really." Penelo replied. "You just need a thin knife to make a hole and then put the string through and then there you have it."
"I have an idea, Penelo!" I said with a smile on my face.
…………………………
It was sunset, and we set up our tents to stay the night. We built a campfire and we all sat around it, eating a meal of some kind of meat that tasted like pork-off-the-bone dipped in a lemon juice. We just sat there for a while, and that's when I gave Penelo a little nod.
"Hey guys!" Penelo exclaimed. "Look at what Fuu and I made for everyone." Penelo got out a little bag and dropped the necklaces we made in her hand. They were made from Penelo's skills and the Clarity stones. "There's one for everyone."
"Vaan." Penelo tossed a dark blue one with silver speckles over to Vaan, who caught it with ease. He glanced at it, placing it in front of him to see the shimmering of the stone from the flames of the fire.
"Ashe." She tossed a pink one with white streams to Ashe, who also caught it. She smiled gently, putting it around her neck.
"Thank you."
"Basch." We tossed him a light green one with gold streams in it, and he caught it nicely as well.
"I give my thanks to your giving."
"Balthier." Penelo held up an amber-colored Clarity stone with gold streams all around it. I picked that one out especially for him, because it just felt so much like him. He caught it and had his amazing crooked smile across his face.
"Fran." She held up a gray stone with purple speckles and tossed it to Fran, who caught it with one hand. She said nothing, but put it around her neck in joy.
"Jude." His was white with black speckles, like a Dalmatian, and he caught it too. He smirked and put it around his neck. I took that as a 'thanks'.
"Yuko." She handed Yuko hers (since she was sitting right next to Penelo), which was red with orange streams, which looked similar to her over-sized long-sleeved shirt. She took it, beaming.
"Thank you very much!" She did not hesitate putting it around her neck.
"I made you guys some, too," I whispered to Misa, Rozaline, and Fini. Fini's was light blue with green streams. Misa's was turquoise with black and white speckles. Rozaline's was red with gold and white streams.
"But what about yours, Fuu?" Vaan asked, putting his necklace around his neck.
"Oh. I didn't make one for myself."
"But why not?" Yuko asked, a bit saddened…
"That's because I made one." Balthier spoke up. I gasped silently to myself and looked up, where he was rummaging through his pocket and pulled out something glistening. He tossed it over to me, where I managed to catch it quite gracefully this time. I opened my hands to see the Clarity stone necklace Balthier made for me…and my gosh, it was prettier than the one he found earlier. It was pure white, a bit more oval as the others were more circular shaped, with thin, rainbow streams going across in various places of the stone. But there were also little silver speckles in other parts of the stone, making this thing glisten a rainbow like none other.
"Balthier." I said breathlessly. It was definitely the prettiest thing ever. "I don't know what to say." I almost wanted to cry because he picked such a gorgeous stone.
"Here." He stood up and walked over to the shore. He motioned for me to follow him, where I looked at everyone surrounding the fire.
"Uhhh…shall we head to bed?" Penelo stood up.
"But its only sunset." Yuko whined.
"We have a big day tomorrow." Ashe stated.
I giggled quietly to myself as I then followed Balthier, who was still walking to the shore. I jogged to catch up with him, and when he stopped, I was now standing directly in front of him.
"I didn't add the string yet." He said. I handed him the stone while he pulled out the small, durable string from his pocket. "Beading was never my kind of activity to partake in when I was a child, but I decided to try it just this once."
"You didn't have to." I said softly. He looked up at me and smiled gently.
"The Clarity stones only work if everyone has one. If you didn't have one, then Penelo's beading would've been a waste of time and sweat."
"I guess you're right." I watched as Balthier slowly put the string through the small hole until it as perfectly in the center, hanging in the glimmer of the sunset. The colors shined off and nearly blinded me, but it was beautiful. He walked a little closer and tied the string around my neck in a good couple of knots. His fingers tickled the back of my neck in the process, and I looked up to see our faces were only inches away. He didn't look in my eyes, though. I stared up at his perfect face, and after he was done tying, he looked down at me. I looked down and noticed my choker was still on, so carefully, I removed it. So now, the stone was the only thing above my chest. I shoved the choker in my pocket and looked up.
"Thank you, Balthier." I smiled. He smiled down at me, staring at me for a bit, until the unimaginable happened next…
He lightly grabbed my chin and pressed his lips against my own.
My first kiss…with the man I never imagined would be in existence…
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE!
OHEMGEEEEEEE! YESSSSS! I HAD THIS CHAPTER WRITTEN ABOUT A DOZEN TIMES, BUT AFTER WRITING IT SO MANY TIMES, THIS CAME OUT AMAZINGLY!! And the kiss scene…that was just steamy right there. Yeah, I know Balthier is 22 and Fuu is 14…but can't they get a little love, hmm?
Please review!
BYE!