A/N: I posted two new chapters at the same time, so if you haven't seen the previous chapter yet, please go back and read it!
Chapter Thirty-Two
Several months later:
Agrias found herself left with no choice but to leap into the marshy water behind her, as a vicious blue bomb monster began to self-destruct nearby.
Ramza was out of range of the bomb's explosion, but he was busy fending off two circling vampire cats. Their dark purple hides gleamed as they snapped and hissed at him, keeping just out of range of his dual swords, but waiting for him to show any opening, any weakness or distraction, for one or both to pounce.
Still on her back in the disgusting marsh water, Agrias sat up enough to channel her Cleansing Strike attack at one of the vampire panthers. It yowled in pain, rolling on its back as it was stunned, and Ramza quickly ran it through with one of his blades. The second cat took the opportunity to leap at him, but Ramza's other blade quickly removed its head from its neck, even as the panther soared through the air.
No other monsters appeared. At least, not yet.
This was the third time they had been attacked since entering the wetlands several hours ago.
"This job has certainly turned out to be just as difficult as the townsfolk claimed," Agrias said.
"I do not disagree," Ramza muttered. He was disgustedly trying to swipe drops of panther blood off of his new Mirage Vest (which he had bought for this task specifically because it was reputed to protect its wearer from being poisoned. The gods knew, there were plenty of creatures that might like to poison him, in this accursed marshland.)
"They might not even pay us for this errand, if we cannot find the boy alive. I am beginning to feel that we were too charitable in accepting this task," he added.
He and some of the others had been in the town when they heard a distraught merchant begging for help. Apparently, the merchant's sixteen-year-old son had gone missing, and was presumed to be in great danger.
The night before, a traveling bard had come to town, and he had sung at length about a treasure that was supposedly hidden in the marshland nearby. A treasure that no man had dared to find and claim, because the marsh was dangerous with foul, monstrous creatures.
Well, the merchant's son fancied himself a budding knight, as he had been practicing with the sword ever since he was old enough to lift one. And his parents believed that after hearing the tales of the treasure, the boy had left his home before everyone else awakened (they knew he had taken his sword with him, because it was also missing), and entered the marsh to find the supposed treasure.
In the town, the boy's parents had been begging for some brave knight or squire to go retrieve their son, before the swamp monsters killed him. Ramza had been surprised to find himself volunteering for the errand. Mayhap he was not as tired of adventure as he had previously believed he was.
Agrias had then agreed to come with him. She didn't want him wandering through a dangerous marsh all by himself.
As they both did what they could to clean their armor (Ramza's covered in panther blood, and Agrias' covered in marsh mud), Agrias said, "You should know, Ramza, that this might be the last time I am here to look after you! Ovelia and I are thinking of moving out soon; she wants to see more of the world. Travel more. So. You had best think twice about volunteering for errands like this, in the future."
Ramza considered her words quietly, for a moment.
"Moving out?" he repeated. "Hmm. We will all regret your absence… Though I suppose we might turn your empty bedroom into a nursery, then."
Agrias stared at him blankly for a moment. Then, she exclaimed, "Ramza! Did you just… accidentally! Tell me that your wife is pregnant?! Is that why she refused to come with us on this job?"
Ramza blushed beet-red. "I was not supposed to say anything," he admitted. "She is not very far along yet; she said it is bad luck to tell people too soon."
With a flustered sound of deep annoyance, Agrias gruffly hugged Ramza.
"I am happy for you," she said, "I think you will be a good father, you big fool."
Ramza looked half-touched and half-embarrassed at her words.
"I still can hardly believe it. A new Beoulve on the way," he said.
"Well, if you want to live to meet your child one day, then we had better move along," Agrias insisted. "Let's find this stupid boy before we all get eaten by swamp monsters."
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When Ramza and Agrias returned from their errand, right after sunset, Ramza first checked in to let Meliadoul know he was alive and well, and then he went to the bathing chambers to remove his marsh-stained armor and clean himself up.
After this, he decided to knock on Alma's bedroom door, in case she had been worrying about him as well.
From within Alma's room, there was a startled yelp, a sound of great shuffling around, a couple of muttered oaths, and then the door opened.
It was opened by Mustadio. His hair was tangled, and only one of his overall straps was properly buttoned in place. His shirt hung messily out the side of the overalls.
"Hey, Ramza! I was j-just, uh… t-talking to Alma. Glad you're back safe!"
Mustadio clapped his hand warmly on Ramza's shoulder, and then he darted off down the hallway.
Ramza blinked; once, then twice. His mouth gaped open for a long moment.
"Hi, Ramza!" Alma said, as she emerged out of her closet. She skipped over and gave him a hug. "How was your errand?! Did you find that missing boy?"
"Uhh…" Ramza shook his head, snapping back to the present moment. "Yes! He had been slashed by some creature or other, but then, luckily, he found this hollowed-out tree to hide in, so nothing else came after him. He heard us calling for him, and then we brought him back to his parents. He will be all right; it was nothing a few potions couldn't fix."
"Well, that is good," Alma said. "And, what about the treasure?"
"Hah. No, there was no treasure to be seen. Only mud and more mud. If there is any treasure in that swamp, then the monsters are welcome to keep it."
"Well, I am only glad that everyone came out alive," Alma said. "It was kind of you to offer to go rescue him. Especially considering that you didn't really need the payment money."
Ramza shrugged. "A Beoulve knows his duty; I could do no less."
Alma's extremely cluttered desk caught Ramza's eye, and he quickly wandered over to it. "I've not been in your room in ages; what is all of this?" he asked.
"Notes!" Alma said.
There were multiple stacks of parchment. It was, mayhap, more writing than Ramza had ever seen outside of a library.
"You wrote all of these?" Ramza asked, as he picked up one of the top pages and looked it over. "What is it all about?"
"I suppose… it is all about everything that has been inside my head, these past few years. I wrote down everything that happened to me, and everything that happened to you, and Teta, and Izlude, and Meliadoul, and everyone else who has told me about their adventures," Alma said.
"Wow," Ramza muttered, sliding through a few more pages.
"I know we have to keep our stories secret for now, while you are still wanted as a heretic in Ivalice," Alma added. "But… I thought maybe, one day, after we're all gone… maybe someone in the future will find these papers, and remember us. Remember the good things we did, instead of just remembering you as some evil heretic."
Ramza felt his eyes tearing up, but he tried to stop himself from fighting it, this time. Alma had been encouraging him to stop feeling ashamed of crying. He was beginning to agree that mayhap their father had not always been correct about everything.
"I also wrote down most of Altima's memories," Alma said briskly. "And the safer spells that she knows; at least, the ones that do not require bloodshed in order to work."
"I did not know she had any spells like that," Ramza murmured.
"Oh, yes!" Alma insisted. "She truly is not what meets the eye. I've spent so much time, now, sorting through Altima's thoughts and memories. And… We see her minions, these Lucavi demons, and we assume Altima must have been evil, to allow such creatures to do her bidding. But I do not think that was the case. The world was…" Alma sighed. "When Altima first enlisted the Lucavi, the world was even worse than it is now. Clans warred with each other constantly; there was theft and starvation everywhere, all of the time. Lives were so short, and miserable while they lasted. Altima looked at her world, and she saw a hell. And she thought, perhaps if she used her special types of magic in certain ways, then she might be able to change that world. To make it better. All Altima ever wanted, really, was to turn this hell into a heaven."
Ramza snorted. "Well, she certainly had an interesting way of showing it. I must confess, I doubt I could ever be convinced to think of Cuchulainn as heavenly."
"I agree," Alma grinned. "Her intentions were good, but her methods left something to be desired. She sought to control the world, thinking that if everyone was forced to obey her, then things would simply have to improve. She unleashed the Lucavi on humanity to try to gain that control. To kill the various clan leaders, and try to unite what was left under her own single banner."
"It did not work," Ramza said.
"No. Of course not. The humans managed to defeat her, eventually. And she had placed a spell upon the Lucavi—as a safety measure—so that upon her own death, all of the Lucavi would be pulled safely back inside each of their zodiac stones. You see, she did not want the world to be ravaged by demons, even if she herself lost the fight."
Ramza picked up the Sagittarius stone, which was also lying on Alma's desk.
"Why do you have this here? We agreed to keep all of the stones locked up when we are not using them to power the Constructs, no?"
"Ah, I only borrowed it for a day. I have been drawing illustrations of each of the stones, one by one. I needed to see it to copy it. I thought it would be nice to add some pictures along with my notes… Although Mustadio hates that I have it in my room right now. He has been acting quite skittish around the stones, lately, though he will not tell me why. He even asked Malak to do all of the work with the stones, the last few times we did Construct powering."
"I think that is probably because the Libra stone spoke to him, last winter," Ramza said, "It spooked him pretty badly. He asked me not to tell anyone else about it, but… oops. It was just like when the Aries stone called to Wiegraf—it floated up in the air, and tried to offer Mustadio a formal contract. Obviously, Mustadio declined, but… I suppose he is embarrassed that one of the stones recognized him."
Alma was left gaping, for a moment. Mustadio, associated with the Libra stone? Mustadio, connected with her old servant…
No. Just do not even open that door, Alma thought to herself. Even if he is, who cares? Leave it in the past, where it belongs.
"Gods," Alma said, "Do you think… could that be why he managed to get so tangled with you and your fight over the stones? The Taurus stone could have been discovered by anyone in Goug, but it chose to land in Mustadio's hands. And then… even Mustadio himself seems to be unsure of why he chose to stay with you and keep fighting for the stones, after you had already helped him save his father. Maybe he had no choice, really. Perhaps destiny stepped in, and he simply had to go where the stones went."
"I do not know about that," Ramza said. "I prefer to think we all have free will."
Alma nodded. "I am not claiming we do not. But maybe, somehow, both are true."
Ramza grinned. "I am only a simple squire, my lady. I think I will leave it to you to solve that mystery."
Alma grinned back. "Actually, I might not have time for mysteries like that. The other thing I meant to tell you—I am quitting working in the mine! After I sorted through all of Altima's memories, I think I found a better way to fill my time. I'm going to start a special training program for Orators and Mediators. Much of Altima's magic was associated with those types of skills. In the most extreme forms, it was how she kept the Lucavi obedient to her over the years… but I won't be teaching the most extreme form," Alma quickly added.
"Wow… that is… great, Alma. As long as you are sure it is safe, teaching this sort of magic?" Ramza asked.
"Very safe," Alma said. "The most important thing is that Altima could literally weave a desire for peace, even a sort of bliss, within those she affected directly with her spells… Mayhap I am dreaming too big, but imagine if the highest Orators in Ivalice and Ordallia knew how to work that sort of magic. The Fifty Years War, The Lion War… we might never have to see their like again."
Ramza felt at a loss for words.
"Altima is not entirely convinced that it will work," Alma said brightly.
Ramza flinched a little. He sometimes, sort of, chose to forget that Alma could literally hear Altima's voice in her head, at times. It creeped him out to remember.
"Altima always believed that force was the only way. It never even occurred to her to try using her… softer… magics to try to fix her world. But, she seems happy that I am trying. She hated it when I was just working in the mine, and not using all the magic she had to offer. But now that she knows I am trying to use her gifts, she has stopped complaining. She offers me new ideas all the time, I can hardly write them down fast enough to keep up! And, even stranger… now that she is not so angry, sometimes I can hardly tell the difference between her thoughts and my own thoughts. I think she is becoming at home with me. She is excited to try something new; she does not ask me to wake up her Lucavi servants any longer."
Ramza was silent for a while. He flipped through a few more pages, absentmindedly.
Eventually, he said, "I think… I do not know… If you need any help, with setting up your school, then let me know what I can do for you."
Alma grinned at him. As Ramza took a step away from her desk, she started to straighten the papers he had ruffled.
Ramza walked out of Alma's room feeling… he was not even sure what.
He was certainly happy that his sister seemed to finally have her feet underneath her again. He was… less certain… how he felt about the fact that he was now, essentially, working alongside Altima.
He was the descendant of her ancient enemy; or at least, she had said that, while they fought on the abandoned airship deep within the bowels of Hell.
It already felt like it was so long ago.
Ramza's mind also played over and over again that one thing that Alma had said: Altima's greatest desire had been to turn her hellish world into a heaven.
He thought, mayhap, that he and his friends had already begun that work.
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A/N: The end! On one hand, I can't believe this fic is over, but on the other hand I'm so glad I managed to finish it! After a whole year with no inspiration for how to end it, I was starting to wonder if it would just have to go without an ending forever. Then, happily, the last two chapters came to me all at once. Thank you so much to everyone who has read along with this fic over the years! I had so much fun writing it, and I'm glad you could join me in enjoying it. Can you believe it ended up as long as a novel?! It was only meant to be a few chapters long, when I first started writing it! It was lots of fun to spend this much time with Ramza and his crew. Thanks again to everyone who has read, or left me a comment or a 'favorite', it's always cheering to know that someone else is reading this fic and having a good time with Ramza and company.