Chapter Six
ALLIED ENEMY
"Sarah." Zamen Kensata's voice echoed from beneath hundreds of tall trees.
"Yes, Zamen?" A mature, slightly robotic female voice replied.
"Put on some music." Zamen ordered.
"Your headphones are right there." Sarah pointed out.
"I'm not fighting right now." Zamen sighed. "Put on something epic."
"How you remind me?" Sarah suggested.
"Nickleback…" Zamen named the song's band. "Sure."
Zamen leaned back against a hard metal surface with his hands behind his head and a cigarette trapped between his lips. "I'm bored."
"So?" Sarah asked.
"Entertain me." Zamen demanded.
"How do you propose I do that? I'm strapped down to a flat rack." Sarah replied in annoyance.
"You' re a giant mechanized battle robot…" Zamen stated.
"Strapped down by specially designed harnesses on a giant cargo truck with a flat rack." Sarah finished the sentence.
"Useless…" Zamen sighed in annoyance.
"Explain." Sarah challenged with an aggressive tone in her voice.
"Don't get all logical with me." Zamen warned.
"I'll do whatever I please." Sarah said, her voice losing some of its mechanical origins.
"Would that include entertaining me?" Zamen wondered.
Silence was Sarah's answer.
A soft constant chime echoed from Sarah's cockpit, interrupting the argument between man and machine.
"How many?" Zamen asked his Lancer's artificial intelligence equipped computer.
"One." Sarah replied.
"How much?"
"Three million."
"Where?"
"Purgatain…you said you would put off assassination jobs for a while."
Zamen let out one last breath of smoke before tossing his cigarette to the ground. "Not my fault that's all people want done these days." The moment his hand rested back behind his head a loud shriek pulled his attention and stare to the west.
"A woman…eighteen through twenty-five years of age to the…" Sarah's sensors and scanners hummed silently as she spoke.
"West, southwest…five hundred meters." Zamen finished Sarah's sentence then slowly rose to his feet. "Back in a minute."
Forest: Half Mile From Zamen's Position
Claire slid to a halt on the rocky dirt ground after diving forward. "Will any of this ever end?" She shouted.
"Zee war'z juzt begun!" Cynthia spread her arms out then slowly brought her hands together as flames erupted around them. The fire spell launched from her hands and smacked into the eyeless face of a giant green mutant causing it to recoil in pain.
The beast's upper body took on a round form with short round tentacles bulging out from its head. Over fifty long snakelike tentacles slithered beneath the creature giving it the ability to glide across the Earth with great speed. The center of the faceless creature's head was made up of a gaping mouth lined from top to bottom with yellowish fangs. Small bead shaped tentacles lined its head and slithered along with its movements as it roared towards the four humans.
"Claire…" Cynthia took in a deep breath.
"Yeah…?" Claire gazed out at the creature using most of her willpower to hold back her terror.
"Get down!" The veteran Techmage charged the mutant then leapt high into the air. As her body descended towards the beast a crystalline formation of razor sharp ice surrounded her clenched fist.
"No!" Clara shrieked. "That's a Marlboro! You touch it you die!"
Clara's warning came too late as Cynthia's ice armored fist slammed into the center of the top half of the Marlboro's head. The ice shattered and the shards sliced into the creature's head causing greenish-red blood to gush out onto Cynthia's forearm. Cynthia kicked herself off of the beast and landed lightly ten feet in front of it. Seconds later her eyes widened and her gaze shot down to her arm.
"Oh god!" Cynthia shrieked as the green poison burned into her skin. Large red bumps spouted along her forearm and an agonizing pain rattled her muscle and bone. Cynthia fell to her knees as her vision blurred and coughed up one of the field rations she had eaten aboard the switchblade submarine before arriving in Kazun. Her back hit the soft grassy ground of the forest before the blood flowing through her body began to boil.
"Cynthia!" Claire shouted. What do I do?
Before Claire's mind could grant her a solution to the current crisis, the Marlboro roared then slithered forward towards her, crushing Cynthia beneath its massive tentacles. One of the few Techmages that managed to survive Koren Danton's wrath inside Marotherma let out an ear piercing scream as the Marlboro's tentacles tore her body apart. Clara vomited up the small portion of the field ration Cynthia had given to her inside the submarine after reluctantly taking in the gory sight of the fallen Techmage's corpse. Karen grabbed her daughter's hand and turned in the opposite direction of the Marlboro.
"Run!" Karen shouted while fleeing the monster with her daughter.
"It's too fast!" Clara shouted.
"Run anyway!" Claire ordered. She turned and darted towards Clara and her mother.
The three humans dashed through the trees as fast as they could with the Marlboro in close pursuit. Several small animals unfortunate enough to cross the Marlboro's path met a gruesome poisoned end with the slightest touch of the beast.
"It's closing in!" Claire screamed.
"Well you're the soldier! Do something!" Karen shouted.
"Fine!" Claire slid to a dusty halt then turned and glared down the Marlboro. "Back off!" She blasted the beast with a fire spell then stumbled back as it charged forward unfazed. "Shit!" As Claire turned to continue fleeing one of the forest's giant trees filled her vision in the split second it took for her face to slam into it. Her back hit the ground and her refocusing vision caught a glimpse of the Marlboro's tentacles before they blocked out the small rays of sunlight peeking in through the trees. No! Sweat dripped from Claire's forehead as her body began to overheat. Strangely however, her sudden rise in temperature wasn't from the Marlboro's poison.
An enormous stream of fire swirled through the air and slammed into the Marlboro. Three of the creature's tentacles snapped off from the sheer force of the blast, and the Marlboro was flung into the air then smashed into one of the giant trees causing several hundred pieces of bark to shoot out in every direction. Claire slowly turned her aching face to the side and two black sneakers came to a halt in front of her eyes.
"Whu…wha…?" Claire managed to stutter. What the hell is that music?
Zamen Kensata ignored the shocked and confused woman beside him and kept his gaze on the wounded Marlboro. He walked towards the beast with a slow fearless stride. The beast shrieked in rage slamming its remaining tentacles onto the ground causing an insignificant portion of the Earth to shake beneath Zamen's feet. Zamen cracked his neck then drew one of his desert eagles. Two seconds later a led bullet enchanted with a fire spell shot through the Marlboro's gaping mouth and bore a hole in the back of its throat. Zamen holstered his handgun as the lifeless Marlboro fell over.
"Claire!" Clara shouted as she ran over to the dazed Techmage. "Claire!"
"I'm fine…" Claire muttered as she sat up with Clara's unneeded assistance. "What just happened?"
"He…saved us." Karen stared at Zamen.
"Who…" Claire's eyes centered on Zamen's back. "Who are you?" The shock and pain from the blow to her head made her legs wobble as she rose to her feet. "Hey!" She shouted as Zamen began walking away. "Wai…" Blackness overtook her vision for a moment. "I said…" Claire fell in mid-step towards Zamen.
"Claire!" Clara ran over to the disoriented Techmage.
"Zamen." Sarah's robotic voice seeped through the thousand year old rap music emanating from his headphones into his ears.
"What?" Zamen kept walking back towards his colossal war machine.
"Why did you bother to help them if you were just going to leave afterwards?" Sarah wondered.
"Good deed for the decade?" Zamen suggested.
"Mom!" Clara screamed. "She's not breathing!"
"What?" Karen ran over to Claire then knelt down beside her.
A bright white light sparkled from Clara's hands and fused with Claire's body. "It isn't working!" Clara scanned Claire's body. "She isn't poisoned, the Marlboro didn't touch her…I don't know what's wrong!"
Karen lightly ran her hands over Claire's head. "When she hit the tree…she must have fractured her skull…brain damage…it's preventing her from breathing!"
"Shouldn't my cure spell have healed that?" Clara shouted in panic.
"It wasn't strong enough…" Karen glanced up at Zamen. "You…whoever you are!"
Zamen kept walking as if he didn't hear the scientist. "More like good deed for the lifetime." He said to Sarah.
"Hey! Claire is going to die if you don't help her! Why save us if you're just going to let her die?" Karen screamed.
Zamen continued walking for a handful of moments before a flash of white light overtook his eyesight for three seconds. He turned slowly, his eyes gazing out at the fallen Techmage through his shades. Moments later he found himself kneeling over Claire and staring down at her. How could you! A voice familiar to him echoed inside of his head. How could you save her and then let her die? You can't! A young woman covered in her own blood filled his vision. She was soon replaced by Claire's dying form. "Because I can." He began to rise.
"Please…" Clara gazed up into Zamen's eyes.
Zamen waited to hear her beg again but she didn't, she only stared at him. There was nothing more she could say. "I…" Why am I even considering? He continued to hesitate, something he wasn't used to. Fuck it.
Zamen reached into one of the Materia boxes on his utility belt and pulled out a small green orb then placed it into his left wristband. Seconds later a formation of white sparkles, larger than the ones Clara generated, swirled throughout Claire's body. She coughed violently as air returned to her lungs then groaned in pain. Her eyes opened slowly and Zamen's mysterious form filled her vision.
"What happened?" Claire wondered.
Clara glanced up at Zamen as he stood up and walked away. "He saved us."
Claire sat up and looked over at Zamen, who was lighting up a cigarette. "Hey." She called out. "Can I get one of those?"
Hot and she smokes. Zamen stared at nothing in particular for a moment then pulled out another cigarette and flicked it towards Claire. "Keep the change."
"What?" Claire asked confused. When Zamen didn't answer she shrugged then lit the cigarette with an incredibly small fire spell. "So what are you doing out here anyway?" Claire sighed while Zamen remained silent. "Ok…you wouldn't happen to know the way to Purgatain would you?"
"What the hell business do you have there?" Zamen spat.
"He speaks." Clara clapped sarcastically.
"We are on our way to rescue Claire's friends." Karen explained.
"Well we don't know if they're actually there or not but…hey!" Claire shouted at Zamen as he walked off again. She stood up and ran after him.
"What are you doing?" Karen asked Claire.
"Following him." Claire answered.
"Why?" Clara wondered.
"He's going to Purgatain!" Claire replied.
"How do you know?" Karen asked.
Claire took a moment to ask herself that question. "I…" She hesitated then continued after Zamen. "I just know."
Several hours went by and Claire, Clara, and Karen continued to follow Zamen through the forest. Claire didn't know why she was following the young man, but she knew that she had a better chance of escaping the dangers of the forest if she stayed close to him.
"So are you going to tell us your name at some point?" Claire asked him while pushing a strand of brush away from her face.
Zamen continued to walk through the thick brush, ignoring Claire and her companions. "Sarah."
"Yes Zamen?" Sarah's voice flowed through Zamen's headphones.
"Who's Sarah?" Clara wondered.
"Twelve clicks south by southwest." Zamen ordered.
"Charting course to Purgatain." Sarah complied.
"You have a transmitter?" Claire asked. "Can I borrow it?"
"When will you be there?" Sarah asked while powering up her systems.
"Whenever." Zamen replied.
Claire froze after a loud monstrous screech echoed throughout the forest. "Shit…"
"There are more of them out there…" Karen shuddered.
All three women turned and scanned the forest for a few seconds then turned around to find Zamen had vanished. The three Vandarians spread out twenty feet and scanned the colorful world of plants and insects, neither of them spotting their young savior.
"Where did he go?" Claire shouted.
"Shh!" Clara hushed Claire. "They'll hear you."
"Well we have to find him!" Claire shouted in a whisper.
"Why?" Karen asked.
"We just do. He knows the way to Purgatain." Claire concluded.
Clara sighed in annoyance. "Whatever."
"There he is!" Karen whispered, pointing towards a large grayish rock formation.
Claire darted over to the rocks and the small mouth of a moderate sized cave was revealed to her behind the branches and leaves of one of the forest's massive trees. "There you are." Claire spotted Zamen relaxing against the front left wall of the cave.
"Go away." Zamen said coldly.
"He speaks." Clara smirked after stepping into the cave behind Claire.
As Karen rounded the rock formation and peered inside the cave her body froze and her eyes widened after Zamen drew one of his handguns and aimed it seemingly at Claire. "What is going on?"
"You saved me from that thing out there so you can shoot me in here?" Claire asked.
"If you don't get the fuck out of here." Zamen warned.
Karen noticed that the barrel of Zamen's gun was centered on her chest rather than Claire's and her body instinctively took a step back. "Why?"
"We only want to get out of this forest." Clara pleaded.
"And attack Purgatain." Zamen finished Clara's thought.
"Well what's so wrong with that?" Claire asked with a bit of humor in her voice, shrugging while raising her arms up at her sides.
Zamen remained silent for a handful of moments before lowering his gun and re-holstering it. "I'm Kazunian."
Karen put her hands on Clara's shoulders and pulled her back from Zamen. "Then…why?"
"Kazunian or not I'm going to follow you to Purgatain." Claire walked over to Zamen and sat down next to him against the wall.
"Claire…" Karen made no attempt at hiding the fear in her voice.
"If he wanted us dead he could have just let that Marlboro kill us." Claire said, more to calm her own wrecked nerves than Karen's. "So…" She turned to Zamen, smiling warmly. "What's your name?"
Zamen put his hands behind his head and closed his covered eyes. "Go away."
"You're not a people person are you?" Claire sighed.
Loud snoring from the young mercenary was Claire's answer.
"Oh well…" Claire let out a deep breath. "I guess we're sleeping here tonight."
"Are you serious?" Clara asked shocked.
"Why not?" Claire wondered.
"He'll just leave when we fall asleep." Karen pointed out.
"No he won't." Claire assured herself more than Karen.
"Look…" Clara walked over to Claire. "I know you want to find your friends. But the only thing we know about this guy is he's Kazunian." Clara glanced at Zamen. "And really cute." She blushed. "But still he's the enemy."
"He's a Kazunian Techmage. That's all we know. That and he saved my life." Claire corrected.
Night fell on the Kazunian forest and the human inhabitants of the gray cave had long since fallen asleep. All but Claire, she wandered the thick woods close to the stone structure. "Damnit." She sighed. "Where am I?" Her eyes glanced back to the cave entrance then gazed up at the tree filled sky. "I'll find you Matt...I promise." Her eyes twitched at the echo of rustling brush growing at the base of a tree. "You gonna ditch us?" Her head turned to the source of the noise.
Zamen Kensata stood silently beside one of the massive trees of the forest, staring out at nothing in particular.
"If you were I suppose you wouldn't have let me know you were out here." Claire continued.
Zamen let his dark eyes gaze upon Claire. "What the hell do you want from me?"
Claire lowered her stare to the ground. "I…just want to find my friends."
"They're dead." Zamen said coldly.
The statement was like a knife stabbing deep into Claire's heart. At first she felt nothing, then a sharp tremor of pain made her eyes glisten as tears built up behind them. "I don't believe that." She gazed up into Zamen's eyes. "And you have no way of knowing if it's true."
"Koren never takes prisoners." Zamen leaned back against the tree.
Claire lowered her head and remained silent for a handful of moments. Her lungs pulled in a deep breath of the fresh air that gently rustled the large tree leaves surrounding her as she turned and faced Zamen. "Why did you save us?"
"I saved you." Zamen corrected.
"Why?" Claire asked again.
Zamen took in a breath of his own, his gaze still glued to the ground. "You…" He sighed and gazed up at Claire then took five steps towards her, closing the distance between them. He found it hard to speak as his eyes met hers. "You…remind me of someone."
"Who…?" Claire managed.
Another long silence ensued between the two before Zamen finally broke it. "It doesn't matter." He stepped around Claire and walked off towards the cave.
"Will you take us to Purgatain?" Claire asked without turning around.
"I'll take you." Zamen said. Before he vanished into the dark cave Zamen glanced back at Claire one last time. "My name is, Zamen."
Morning came faster than Claire expected and her eyes twitched from the bright heat of the sun shining through the tall trees into the cave. Her body slowly began to stir and her arms reflexively rose above her head as she stretched and yawned, her mind preparing her body for another day of life. Something unexpected interrupted her morning ritual however, a loud shriek bounced around the cave into her ears. Claire's eyes shot open and her hands instinctively grasped the hilts of her daggers. "The hell was that?" She glanced around the cave and saw Karen quickly rising to her feet after being awoken by the scream. Zamen was nowhere to be found.
"Clara?" Karen glanced around the cave. Her eyes widened as another loud scream rattled her brain. "Clara!" She darted out of the cave.
Claire sprung to her feet and dashed out of the cave then slid to a dusty halt three feet from the entrance. "Oh my god…"
Clara trembled in terror in the center of a circle of five Marlboros. "Stay back!" Her hand rose and a small bolt of lightning shot from her palm into one of the monsters. Her eyes widened as the spell only angered the beast.
Claire charged a fire spell and blasted the center Marlboro in the back of the head causing the beast to recoil forward. "Clara!" She screamed. "Run!" Fire. Another large fireball smacked into the back of the Marlboro knocking its face into the grassy ground of the forest. "Now!"
Clara didn't hesitate, she sprung to her feet and ran through the briefly opened hole between two of the monsters barely missing a swipe from one of the tentacles of the two Marlboros. "Mom!"
"Clara!" Karen wrapped her arms around her daughter as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Look out!" Claire shouted.
The three women fell back in horror as three of the Marlboros shot toxic bile from their large mouths towards them. Claire did not have any protective magic, however, her protective nature made her throw her body in front of Karen and Clara even though she knew it would do nothing to stop the poison streaming towards them. One second before the toxic liquid splashed over Claire's body, Zamen's teenage form, enhanced by a haste spell shot out head first from the trees and hovered sideways in front of her. A magic barrier pushed out from the Materia in his wristband and scattered the toxins in several different directions. Claire's eyes widened in shock and remained glued to Zamen.
Although a powerful Techmage, Zamen's barrier could not completely hold back the combined blasts from three Marlboros and as their toxic breath attacks subsided, Zamen's barrier shattered and the remaining poison splashed onto his forearm. The wounded warrior slammed into the ground and slid to a halt.
"Zamen!" Claire stood up about to dash over to Zamen when she noticed one of the Marlboros had turned its attention back to her. "Shit!"
"Mutha fucker…" Zamen growled through clenched teeth. He slowly rose to his feet, his eyes glaring a hole through all five Marlboros. "Hey!" He shouted.
All five Marlboros turned and snarled at Zamen.
"Get the fuck over here!" A dim red glow glistened behind his caramel eyes. "I'm not done with you bastards yet."
The Marlboros slithered across the ground towards Zamen.
Claire, Clara, and Karen looked on in shock as Zamen glared down the five mythical monsters.
Zamen's eyes closed and his body slowly rose a foot into the air and hovered there. His hands drew the two desert eagles holstered at his waist and aimed them out to either side of his body as a sky-blue aura emitted from him. Several tiny sky-blue orbs of light rose from the green grass around Zamen's body. Seconds later the orbs of light flattened then vanished and a circular sky-blue wave of energy erupted around Zamen. The Marlboros had closed most of the distance between themselves and Zamen and as the lead monster came within five feet of the mercenary the beasts roared in bloodthirsty anticipation then screeched in terror.
Zamen's eyes shot open as the wave of energy dispersed and a second later his desert eagles were in front of him, aimed at the Marlboros.
Icestorm. Two gold bullets covered in a sky-blue aura shot forward from the barrels of the two black an emerald colored desert eagles towards the lead Marlboro. In the split second before the bullets ripped into the Marlboro the aura consumed the golden metal. The bullets vanished and in there place a massive wave of icy mist exploded in front of and entangled the Marlboros.
"What…" Karen blinked, her arms still tightly wrapped around Clara. "What just happened?"
"Magic…very powerful magic." Claire said softly while trying to see through the thick icy cloud of mist.
Slowly, each Marlboro appeared out of the dissipating mist, the beasts reduced to sparkling ice statues.
Suddenly an ear piercing bang rattled Claire's brain and one of the statues shattered into thousands of pieces. "Zamen!"
"Fucking pieces of shit!" Zamen shouted as he shot another statue.
Claire ran over to Zamen and stopped two feet away from him. "Zamen! They're dead!" The bloodlust in his eyes frightened her. "You'll just attract more if you keep..." Another shot from Zamen's handgun shattered another Marlboro statue. "Stop!" Claire begged.
"Fucking…" Zamen gasped and his hand trembled from the weight of his desert eagle. "Bast…" His gun fell from his hand and he fell to his knees.
"Zamen!" Claire dropped to her knees and grabbed Zamen's shoulders. "What is it? What's wrong?"
Zamen chuckled and his lips formed a confident smirk before his eyes shut and his body fell forward.
Claire gasped as Zamen's chin landed on her shoulder. "What…?" She pushed him forward and scanned his body for any wounds then almost stumbled back at the sight of his poisoned forearm. His light brown skin had mutated into a pitch black pulsing lump of dying flesh with green and purple veins of poison coursing through it. "Oh my…!" Claire turned her terrified gaze to Karen and Clara. "Help me carry him inside! Hurry!"
"Two water pouches…three grenades…a useless beam rifle…" Claire repeated the supplies she managed to gather from her wrecked shuttle over and over again while gently rubbing a clean wet handkerchief across Zamen's forehead. "There's got to be something we can do!"
"There isn't anything we can do." Karen said grimly. "If any of us had any type of spell used to cure poison it would be him and he's in no condition to use it. Furthermore he would have used it before it got this bad and..."
"Enough!" Claire shouted.
"Fine." Karen sighed
"So what do we do?" Clara asked.
"I…I don't know." Claire admitted.
"Well…maybe…" Clara began.
"What?" Claire stared back at her.
"Well…we have cures for all types of poison back in Vandaria." Clara's voice was muffled as she had her hands wrapped around her legs and her mouth pressed against her knees.
"So? We're not in Vandaria." Claire said annoyed.
"I know that." Clara snapped. "What I mean is they produce the antidotes from the immune systems of the monsters that generate the poison."
"You mean…" Claire began.
"The liver…the pancreas…kidneys…" Karen started catching on to her daughter's plan.
"So if we just…" Clara began.
Claire pulled her daggers from her belt and glared out at the two remaining Marlboro ice statue's. She rose to her feet and darted out towards the beasts.
"Wait!" Clara got up and ran after Claire. "You have to be careful or you'll cut a hole in the organ before we're ready!"
A few minutes later after the three women had gathered all of the tools they needed; Claire blasted several key points around one of the Marlboro ice statues exposing dead bluish green flesh. She then cut deep into the beast and carefully removed the required organs with the flat sides of her daggers making sure none of the fluids touched her skin or clothes. After another handful of minutes Claire and Clara had mixed together a combination of leaves mud and Marlboro fluids that formed a thick paste that they spread across a large tree leaf. Claire placed the leaf over Zamen's forearm then poured the remaining fluid down his throat.
"You think it'll work?" Clara wondered.
"It has too…" Claire whispered.
"The chemicals inside the organs are what protect the Marlboros from their own poison. It may be a crude method of delivery but this should work." Karen assured them.
Zamen had watched the three women the entire time and willingly drank the fluid from the Marlboro organs. He didn't seem to care if the makeshift antidotes would work or not. His eyes remained glued to Claire as she stared down at him, hoping for some positive sign from the medicine. Suddenly his eyes rolled back and his body convulsed violently for ten seconds then went limp after he breathed out all of the air in his lungs. His eyes closed and his heart stopped.
"Zamen..." Claire placed her hands on his shoulders and shook him. "Zamen!"
All three women remained silent and motionless as if they were trapped within some timeless limbo. For twelve seconds they stayed this way until finally, Zamen began breathing again. All three women let out a sigh of relief then fell back against the cave wall. Claire picked the handkerchief up and smiled then she leaned back over Zamen and placed the cloth on his forehead. "You're a tough little guy aren't you?"
"Little?" Zamen asked with more annoyance than anger in his voice after coughing a few times.
Claire blushed without realizing it then held in a giggle. "Well…I didn't mean it that way."
"Fucking better not…" Zamen warned silently.
"So how do you feel?" Claire asked while dipping the handkerchief in a bowl of water she gathered outside of the cave.
"Are you serious?" Zamen sighed.
"What?" Claire asked confused.
"Just go to sleep, those other two weirdos did." Zamen closed his eyes.
"You're kinda cute when you're angry." Claire smiled warmly.
"You don't want to see me angry." Zamen's voice grew darker.
"Well…whatever you are right now, you're cute when you're it." Claire giggled.
"So what? You wanna make out or something?" Zamen groaned.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" She frowned at the crease in the young warrior's forehead. "You have a really bad headache don't you?"
"I was poisoned." Zamen spat.
"Aww…" Claire smiled again.
"What…" Zamen slowly opened his eyes, "the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Claire replied.
"You know I've killed hundreds of your countrymen right? Cut the girly bullshit you only helped me to get to whoever you think is at Purgatain." Zamen snapped.
"That's not true." Claire frowned. "You saved my life, twice."
I know how to make her go away. Zamen smirked. "And you saved mine once."
Claire nodded. "Yeah."
"So you still owe me." Zamen continued.
"I suppose…" Claire let her head lean to the side a little. "Where are you going with this?"
"Just figured out how you can even things out between us." Zamen's smirk widened almost forming a smile.
"What…?" Claire wondered.
"I think you know." Zamen said.
"I'm not going to kiss you." Claire almost laughed.
"You wouldn't be kissing anything ever again if I decided to ignore you're pathetic screaming earlier." Zamen frowned.
"You…you can't be serious." Claire stared at Zamen dumbfounded.
Why the hell hasn't she left me alone yet? Fuck it I'll just be blunt. "That's how it is huh? You Vandarians don't honor your debts. Just go away, this headache is better company anyway."
Claire's eyes widened. "Why you…" She sighed. "You're serious?" Before Zamen could reply Claire pulled the handkerchief back, leaned forward, and pressed her lips against his. Three seconds later she pulled herself back. "Happy now?"
Zamen only gazed up at Claire in true bewilderment.
"Well…you better be." Claire said leaning back against the wall.
What the hell just happened? Zamen wondered.
"So…" Claire gazed out at the forest. "I was wondering about something for a while." She continued as Zamen was still too shocked to speak. "Who was it I reminded you of when you saved me the first time?"
"I…" Zamen's mind slowly began to function again. "My…my…a friend."
"A girlfriend?" Claire smiled.
"No." Zamen said softly.
"Is your headache getting any better?" Claire wondered.
"Headache?" Zamen's pain was gone and he had long since forgotten about it.
Claire giggled then yawned. "Well, that's good. I guess we should get some rest. How much farther is it before we get to Purgatain?"
"I don't know." Zamen replied.
"How can you not know how long it's going to take?" Claire laughed teasingly.
"I just go places." Zamen said. "I don't pay attention to how long it takes."
Claire chuckled before speaking. "Well…I hope it won't take too long." She yawned again. "Well…good…" she glanced outside the cave, "afternoon." Her eyes closed and her breathing slowed.
What the fuck just happened? Zamen glanced around the cave.
The Next Day
The warm soothing heat of the sun caressed Claire's eyelids. "Zamen?" When her eyes opened the realization that Zamen had disappeared generated a slight tremor of surprise in her chest. She scanned the cave and quickly spotted Clara and Karen still sleeping against the cave wall. Several loud howls and screeches from the forest wildlife brought the young Techmage to her feet. As she peered outside the cave, she saw Zamen standing about ten meters from the entrance. "There you are." The fact that he didn't answer didn't surprise her. She walked over to him then stopped beside him.
Zamen stood as still as a stone statue with his arms folded and his gaze piercing the dense plant life of the forest. "It's time to go."
"Yeah…" Claire agreed. As she glanced around she realized that the sunlight was dimmer than she remembered before falling asleep. "It's morning. Holy shit we slept the whole day and night!"
"The edge of the forest is this way." Zamen said, titling his head to the left.
"Ok." Claire replied. "I'll wake up, Clara and, Karen."
Author's Note: Well there it is, chapter 6. Thanks to everyone who put this story on their alert list and a very big thanks to my (one -_-) reviewer. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to take things from here and at the same time I know exactly where I'm going to take things from here. Weird huh? Hope I haven't pissed off too many FF7 fans but if I have...oh well ._. I mean come on it's not like I'm disgracing anything from FF7 this story basically has nothing to do with it if that wasn't obvious from America and friggin Britain being some of the countries on the planet. I'm just borrowing the Materia. There are going to be (already have been for those keen on their Final Fantasy history) references to other FF games in this story. From the 1-5 world to 8. Won't go past 8 though as I feel the games have been on a steady decline since then...except for the online version that one was ok. But since the fighting system is mainly FF7 I put the story here in the FF7 category. Anyway hope you all enjoyed this chapter and are kind enough to jot down your thoughts. Until the next chapter...