Heya! O' Clock . Nine here! Hopefully you liked the prologue because I have absolutely NO idea how I'm supposed to go on with this. But this I promise, this first chapter is longer than the prologue. Though… I hope this chapter didn't confuse you because as young as I am, I haven't still yet to learn how to control the point of view.
Oh! And I want to thank TsumeLover666 and TogetherAtLast (once again) for giving me the enthusiasm to finish the official first chapter of From Nabradia, With Love! Thank you! *waves/flail* Okay. I'm done. Read now.
P.S. - I totally know that this chapter was supposed to be up last week or so but I had issues. Forgive me?
Chapter Title: Chapter 1 / Mimics
Description: Navigating through the Barheim Passage, Vaan noticed something about Kirit as they stopped to rest.
Warning: Confusing statements, to me at least, and a horrible cliffhanger
Characters: Barheim Passage Party, Kirit, and the random, yet important, merchant
Disclaimer: All characters and settings in this story belongs to the creators who made this awesome game, except for my character and the random, yet important, merchant.
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"Spill it."
A pair of glaring eyes stared into nonchalant ones. The merchant was feeling good today now that he have had caught the thief. Though… It's a strange one. The male thought the kid had blonde hair but when he saw the thief "up close and personal", it was actually white. And he was actually a she.
'Who have white hair that young anyway?'
He berated himself mentally as he realized that the answer was sitting in front of him.
'One, that's for sure.'
Stress was the first thing that popped up in his head but a kid should be happy and stress-free. Y'know, skipping in a field of flowers (cactoids) and all that. So he crossed that off his list and thought up another idea. Dye; granted, there was a hair dye of the color white. Narrowing his eyes, the elder crossed that off his shortening list as he realized one thing: the kid is not from Archades. Finally, he settled for waiting for an answer. An eye twitched as he realized that the kid probably glued her lips shut and wasn't planning to open them anytime soon.
"Alright," the merchant sighed, crossing his arms, but it didn't mean he was going to give up. "At least tell me one thing. How did you get all that Gil? Starfruits are very expensive, y'know."
A minute or two passed rather slowly and the older of the two was starting to get uneasy. What if she was actually an assassin, ready to kill him on the spot and take all of her money back? Or if she had a bad incident and actually glued her mouth shut… somehow. He sighed once again for thinking such impossible ideas and looked down to his crossed arms. The kid couldn't be more than 12, and that's saying a lot.
"It's cheaper from the Mosophoran Highwaste."
Almost missing the quickly spoken statement, the merchant drawled, "And?"
Hearing no reply from the girl, he looked up to the crate and the girl perched on it. He shuddered as he was fixed on with a pair of narrowed eyes, a proof of anger.
"I'm doing you some benefit," she snapped rather harshly. "You have competition. Their fruits are cheaper, which means more people would buy from them. Your's are too damn expensive."
The male cocked his eyebrow as he heard the swear come from the small child. But her flailing arms almost hit his face as she rambled on.
"Jeeze. Why do I have to help everyone?! I SWEAR you will be the last person I'll help. Ever."
She punctuated her rant with a finger pointed to the elder, which he blinked from the action. The girl growled before stomping off in the distance. He swore he heard another growl from the other before she screamed something unintelligible.
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"Why did you want to join?"
A slender arm quickly lifted a Cypress Pole, its opposing arm held onto the bottom as it was brought down to the metal creature upon the ground. It made contact with a loud metallic crunch before it swaggered and became motionless, its' legs disconnecting themselves from the body.
The female turned to the owner of the voice and found it to be Vaan. They stood in silence and returned their weapons to their respective holster. The rest of the party went on ahead to find the infernal Mimic that is draining the energy from the pipes.
The woman shook her head and replied, "…I thought you didn't mind."
"Well… I'm just curious."
The pirate wannabe sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he glanced to the woman at his side. The lights darkened for a moment before brightening a bit more, but the tunnels were still dim. The party had found and defeated the other Mimic. Around a half hour ago, the group had figured out how to kill the Mimics and stop the energy from draining. The metal creatures usually feed on the power lines rather loudly so it wasn't that hard to find them. Once they were finished with killing it, that is if they found one, either female would cast Blizzard to freeze the sparking pipes.
"We had best be catching up with them, hm?" The older of the two spoke, jerking the boy from his thoughts.
Almost missing the question, he hesitantly answered, "Huh? Oh… Yeah."
Nodding to himself to calm his beating heart, he fell in step with Kirit's stride. For a young woman, her legs are damn long. Not as long as the sky pirate's partner's, of course. But if Vaan had to say something that the two females had in common was would be their hair. Not the type, per se, it would be the color. Though the Hume's was a little brighter than the other's.
"Took your time, eh Vaan?"
The voice made Vaan look up from the ground. They had arrived in a small area, and a gate crystal was nearby. The one who had spoken was Balthier and the Viera was standing next to him.
With an indignant scowl, the boy replied, "Not my fault."
The sky pirate cocked an eyebrow and stated, "I think someone is rubbing off on you, Kirit."
The said female gripped the wall behind her and prepared to sit down, she replied monotonously, "Not my fault."
Blinking twice at the déjà vu, Kirit shrugged and slid down the wall on her back, landing with a soft thump. She want into a daze and zoned out from the conservation between the trio. It was about how the former captain ended up here, apparently. Balthier went near the crystal and Kirit watched uninterested as the life-giving crystal stitched up his clothes and somehow got rid of the dirt. That man couldn't go on one minute of his life when he got dirty. A soft groan escaped her as she shifted, trying to ease her numbing butt. A soft clatter resonated through the temporary hollow tunnels and all head turned to Kirit.
Or rather, next to her.
She stanched up the fallen item from the ground quickly, preventing any eyes from landing on it and their mouths from asking too many questions. Unfortunately, one did see it.
"What was that?"
'Shit.'
Sighing, she replied, "What was what?"
"That," Vaan, undoubtedly, asked once again with fervor. "Y'know, the round thing that fell out of your bag."
The woman's jaw slacked slightly before pulling it taut, "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Oh come on," he whined. "Are you paranoid or something?"
"Something like that."
The retort was met with a lunge from the young boy to her left, where she was concealing the object with her hand. Kirit quickly jumped on her feet and scooted back a few feet away. The mystery item was safely tucked away into her pocket along with her hands. The blond huffed before lunging again for the woman but his face met the floor. Picking his head up from the hard ground, Vaan looked around and found the woman standing a few meters away. Her hands were out of the pockets, balancing her for the moment. With an extra energy, Vaan got up and sprinted to the woman, the distance quickly closing between them.
Closer…
So close…
Now!
The pirate wannabe lunged for Kirit once only a couple feet was between them. His face once again made an unkind greeting to the railing as the woman moved unexpectedly.
Snapping his head to the woman behind him, unfazed, he shouted with exasperation, "How did you keep doing that?!"
Shaking her head as if she was daydreaming, "Doing what?"
"That! You moved too fast! No one can do it. Ever!"
"Apparently she can." Balthier came in between them and glared at the wore out boy, "and I suggest that we get going and then you can ask her whatever when we are out of here."
And so they did.
But little did they notice that the crystal dimmed to gray as Kirit passed it but returned to its sparkling orange glory when she left the area. There wasn't much in the next space, only a few fake Mimic treasures and some real ones. Vaan had discovered that the fake ones would pop open from their disguise and it scared the shit out of him the first time. Though they had to kill one Battery Mimic before moving on to a very large area. Vaan gawked at the cavern's height and width but snapped out of it after a couple of seconds. Kirit looked around in the darkness and noticed that there were some lit lamps on the other side of the… lake, as she called it, which had some green stuff floating on it. There were some fireflies skimming the water while blinking on and off slowly and gently. An unidentifiable scent rode the air but no one paid any attention to it as they went off (again) to find the Mimic. Kirit watched as the party of four ran to the left then she went to the right. Her eyes were greeted with five treasures.
Five.
Frickin'
Treasures.
Oh how the Gods were in her favor now. With a grin on her face that could rival a Dark Skeleton, the woman went to one of them and pressed her hand on the top. The chest popped open and revealed a faded bag. She grabbed it without a mere glance in it and went for the next four. There was some good stuff in those; some Gil, a Zwill Blade, and a small magicite of Ice. Nearing the last of the rusty treasures, the lights flickered dangerously before unexpectedly blacking out. It was very silent save for the electrical slurping of the energy from the pipes by the undefeated Mimic. Nothing was visible, not even the sparks from the hazardous pipes nor the gentle fireflies.
Pained screams ripped through the air consecutively, save for a certain Viera, of course.
"AAAH!"
And the last of the three was an octave higher and is drowning in a sea of darkness.
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A/N: Your second chapter of From Nabradia, With Love, hopefully it was enjoyable. This chapter was six pages, excluding the A/N notes here and at the top. I also have a question: Do you like the flashbacks or do you think it should be omitted for the rest of this story? I'd like to know and why, thanks. Oh and... I just noticed that this chapter had less dialogue than I expected... Sorry if that irked you.
P.S.S - While playing the game again yesterday, I had discovered that the starfruits actually exist in the game! Only, it grows in the Mosophoran Highwaste not the Estersand. Just pretend that there is actually a caravan from the Estersand.
Again, if you spotted some typos, or are confused about a point in this chapter, review or send me a message, I'll fix/reply as soon as possible.