A/N: Sorry about the long wait for this. I'll try to update faster, but no promises. Also, thanks to whatshername429 for betaing this for me. Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Trust

The sunlight flickered through the blinds of the room, startling me from my slumber. I tossed the plain white sheets off me and got up; noticing the wooden floor beneath me was cold. I walked a couple feet to the window, where I gazed out over the vast plains before me. The dark blue in the distance was likely the ocean, but I guess that was a several miles away.

It then occurred to me that something was a bit odd.

I had no idea where I was or what I was doing here.

Last I remembered… there was the battle in the base against Orion, we got our butts kicked, Sydney came and saved us, and then we escaped.

Except I didn't recall ending up in this building. It might be a good idea to see if anyone else is here.

I opened the wooden door, causing it to make a slight creaking noise, and I apprehensively walked into the next room. After rounding the corner I saw the heroes eating at a table. My nose quickly detected the presence of what would probably be sausage patties, and waffles covered in a light maple syrup.

"Good morning," I said sheepishly.

"Ah, so he's finally awake," Genis said

"How long have I been out for?" I asked.

"About 15 hours," Raine said calmly.

"I've been sleeping that long?!" I exclaimed, not quite as calmly.

"Yeah, you collapsed while we were running from the base, so I had to carry you to the Rheairds," Lloyd explained.

"Sorry," I said weakly.

"It's all right," Lloyd said calmly, "It only took about five minutes to get there, and then it was easy to hold on to you while we flew here."

"Aw man, I missed flying on the Rheairds," I complained. "I've always wanted to go through the sky on one of those."

"It's a lot of fun," Lloyd said with a smile, "Just don't try going upside down."

"Let me guess, you tried it?" I responded, knowing how the hero's mind worked.

"It was a good thing we were over an ocean," Genis said, "Otherwise Lloyd's head probably would have broken the ground."

"Hey!" Lloyd said, responding to the insult by tossing an orange at the mage's head.

"We need to get going soon," Raine said before Genis could pour a glass of milk on Lloyd's head. "We need to tell the Tethe'allan government about this."

"You think they will do anything to help though? They weren't exactly thrilled about changing the laws about half-elves," Genis said

"Well Zelos should be able to give us some leverage with them, so it might be a good idea to talk to him first," Lloyd said

"That would be the best course of action," Raine said analytically. "It would be best to leave as soon as possible if we want to talk to Zelos before heading over to the castle."

At this Lloyd scarfed down the rest of his food at a rate that defied all reason. And I thought I ate fast. "Lloyd, Genis could you please get everything packed up to leave upstairs, there are a couple things I want to ask Tiger."

"Last one there has to put away Raine's stuff," Lloyd said bolting up from the table with his friend right behind him.

"What do you want to know?" I asked as I nibbled on a piece of toast.

"Tiger, please sit down," she said sternly.

I did as I ran my story though my head to make sure there wouldn't be any inconsistencies. I was from Luin, had lived there most of my life. My parents were farmers on the outskirts of town, and we were traveling through the reunited world when we were separated and that's when Colette found me.

"There is something about you that you haven't told us yet."

"What do you mean?" I responded acting as composed as I could. I felt my cheeks starting to blush and I felt my palms beginning to sweat. Calm down, I just have to convince myself I'm not lying and she will believe me. This is just like that acting class I took.

"Tiger, be honest with me, parts of your story don't make sense, why is that?"

"Most lives don't make much sense when you get down to it," I said shrugging my shoulders. It wasn't a lie; in what logical universe would it make sense for me to randomly come to a different world. If I ever get back, remind me to do as much research as possible on parallel dimensions.

"I see you have secrets you don't want to reveal," she said resting her chin in her hands and gazed across the table at me. "I understand this, but if you are going to be traveling with us, I need to know I can trust you."

"I see how you feel Raine," I said through a sigh, "There are a couple things I can't tell you, but I assure you, it won't put you in any danger."

"And how can I be sure of that? I know that you aren't really from Luin."

"How di-" I cut myself off before I could say something I would regret, "I mean why would you think that?"

"For one, the fact that you had no knowledge of Luin's history, except for that fact that it was attacked by the Desians during our journey, and that we helped to rebuilt it. This could be due to the fact that you were from a poor family."

"Yeah, my parents had to work hard for what little money they had," I said, hoping she wouldn't see through my lie.

"Understandable," she said seeming to relax a bit, "But while you were learning about the history of the world, you seemed to have an unusual amount of knowledge of Tethe'alla for a poor farmer. That combined with the fact that you were traveling across the world seems a bit unbelievable to me."

"So, what do you think I am?" I had to get her to reveal what she thought so I'd know, and then maybe I could find a way out of this

"I haven't figured that part out yet, but I have some suspicions. The fact that the only knowledge of history you seem to have about the world is about the Journey of Regeneration seems suspicious. At first I thought you might be a spy sent to keep tabs on us."

"Do you still think that?" I asked, trying to see where Raine was leading me. Keeping someone as wise as her from getting me in a corner was proving difficult.

"It's still a possibility, although I'm starting to doubt it. If you were a spy, it's likely you would have been stronger during our battles in the base. The fact that you nearly died makes me believe that was really all your strength." Translation: 'A real spy would be able to fight his way out of a paper bag.'

"You're not going to let this go?" I asked, deciding I might as well tell her. If they were going to be protecting me as we traveled, I felt they had a right to know. "You're right, I'm not from Luin."

"So where are you from then?" she asked, and I could tell she was thirsty for more information.

"I'm not from Sylvarant or Tethe'alla either."

"How is that possible?" she asked, trying to make sense of this seemingly illogical information.

"I am from another world, and somehow I was brought here. I really can't explain the details. All I know is that your world, the journey of world regeneration is like a story where I am from. I thought it was all fantasy, and never thought it could be real."

"Fascinating," she said while eyeing me suspiciously.

"I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's the truth."

"That would explain most things," she said.

"One other thing," I said, not sure I should reveal this last bit of information, but figured I might as well. "In my world, before I came here, I was a human, not half elf. I'm honestly not sure what caused the change, but that's why I'm so inexperienced with magic."

She looked down, apparently shocked that something like this was possible. I couldn't blame her, after all, I had just told her about another world, me somehow changing races, and that I had absolutely no idea what's going on.

"You don't believe me, do you?" I asked worriedly. Even though I hated lying to them, I feared what would happen if I told them the truth. The story was so unbelievable that if someone came up to me and told it to me, I'd think they were crazy. After all, what part of being sucked into your favorite video game seems at all possible?

"I have no reason to doubt you. Your story seems genuine, even if it is hard to believe. After learning about Tethe'alla during our journey, I've learned that the impossible can be much more real than I would think."

"I can tell you more about my world later, but for now we should probably leave for Meltokio."

She nodded her head and we got up from the table. I went back to the room where I was sleeping to help them pack. To my surprise, when I got there, they were already done.

"Wow, that was fast."

"Well, we've learned how to leave in a hurry during our journey," Genis said.

"So, you up for flying on a Rheaird?" Lloyd asked.

"Sound's great!" Flying is something I've always wanted to do.

"And don't worry, only two people have ever fallen off while with me."

"That makes me worry even more…"

After carrying our supplies outside, Raine released the Rheairds from the wing pack. Against my better judgment, I got on the flying machine of death with Lloyd, which I must say didn't make me fear for my life as many times as I thought. I was surprised how simple they seemed to be to control. Well, at least Lloyd made it look simple, but that could be he had done this probably a hundred times before. In the middle was a steering wheel, kind of like a car, on the left there was a blue lever, and on the right there was a red joystick

"Okay, so to bring it up, you just pushed the blue lever forward," he explained as we flew up in the air. I couldn't believe it, the wind blowing through my hair, the ground slowly falling out from under us, the bird nearly flying into my face, we were actually flying! Not flying like in an airplane, or even like jumping off a swing, but actually flying, actually soaring through the air. This is so awesome!

"And now that we're in the air, the real fun begins," Lloyd said gripping the red knob that looked more like a video game joystick. "Now you just push forward and we go forward."

"Like this?" I nervously asked grabbing the control, slowing pushing it forward, and to my surprise, it moved forward. The head of the Rheaird pointed down slightly as it flew through the sky. Who needs a car when I have things like this?

"Yep, you got it!"

"So, I just move it to the side to turn it, right?"

"No don't!"

I moved the joystick before he could stop me, and the Rheairds started to turn on its side. I quickly moved it back to the center, glad to have the leg restrainers below me.

"That's not how you turn it," Lloyd informed me. Thanks for the useless information Lloyd… "You have to use the wheel in the center." As he moves the wheel, the awesome flying machine of death turned, just as I thought the other should have done. Why do they have to make these things so complicated?

"This is so cool."

"A lot better than walking and fighting monsters all the time."

Maybe this new world isn't so bad after all.