Chapter 19: Time to Dance
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"Hey, look at this!" yelled one of the red-headed airship workers as he burst into the dinning room one evening in late April. He was waving a letter over his head excitedly. "This just appeared—poof!—on my brother's desk! I think it's from your brother, lady," he said, handing the letter to Mira.
"Thank you," Mira said calmly as she took the letter and noticed with a visible twinge that the letter had already been opened and had oily fingerprints in the margins. "Did one of you already read this?" she demanded.
"My brother did, lady," the man admitted. "I told him not to, but he didn't listen to me. Want me to go hit him for you?"
"No, that's okay," Mira insisted and opened the letter. She read in silence for a few minutes, her face animating in different ways as she read.
"Honey, what's the matter?" Jackie asked. "Has something happened?"
"Something indeed; something not good," Mira answered, not looking up from the paper.
"Does it have anything to do with Cecil?" Porom asked from across the table.
"It's mostly to do with him and his friends," Mira answered. "Rai brought up The Lunar Whale for them and they took off to the moon."
"We know that already," Palom pointed out impatiently. "He wrote us a letter about it weeks ago. What happened?"
"Don't speak to your mother like that," Jackie warned. "Go on, Mira."
"Well, they went up to the moon and have stayed there since April fourth, remember? Well, they're on their way back here, and they've brought something dangerous with them."
"What?" the twins asked in unison.
"Rai thinks it might be… a Lunarian."
Jackie tilted his head to one side. "A Lunarian? I thought they were a dead race."
"So did I… They've also woken up something that was supposed to be in hibernation. Some dangerous creature that Rai can't name yet. But there's something strange going on in the area surrounding the tower of Babil. He says it may take more than Cecil and company has. We might need to help him."
Palom jumped up on his chair so that everyone could see him. "Yeah! We can do that! We're, like, super good at helping him, aren't we, Porom."
"Please sit in the chair," was Porom's answer. Her brother wilted, sad that no one had cheered for him, and sat back down.
"Babil Tower… I could have gotten back up here from the Underworld if I had had the resources," Jackie mentioned regretfully. "What exactly is going on?"
"There's a monster hidden there," Mira answered. "And it looks like it's coming to life. If it is allowed to roam free, the thing they've awoken on the moon will take control of it and raze the Overworld."
"Raze? What's that mean?" Palom asked.
"It means that it will destroy everything," Jackie explained grimly. "Rai's right; we need to get there and help. It won't be easy if we're alone, though."
"We won't be alone. He's sending for help from all across the world. Cecil's been all over the place, and he knows everyone. They'll all be flocking to Babil to help."
"But how are we going to get there?" Porom asked. "We can't walk; it's too far away."
"You'll have to fly!" answered the red-head, who was standing forgotten by Mira's chair. "Big brother and I are getting an airship ready for you. You can take off in the morning!"
Mira gave him a "you've got to be kidding me!' look. "Tomorrow morning? That fast?"
"Well, we can go a little faster and you can leave later tonight, if it would suit you better," the red-head informed. "It won't be as well prepared, but—"
"No, no, tomorrow morning is fine," Jackie insisted, cutting him off. "It's just all… happening so fast…"
"Our middle names are Fast and Faster, my brother and I. Cid doesn't like slowpokes, you know! Tight ship and all that good stuff."
"I see…" Mira said slowly, never sure of how to deal with the doltish brothers and their fast-paced natures. "Tomorrow morning, then?"
"Absolutely! See you lot in the morning, ma'am!" The red-head saluted the family—mostly Mira—and dashed back out the door, whistling a bight tune.
"Those two are the oddest people…" Mira murmured, shaking her head at the boy.
The twins sighed in unison and Palom folded his arms on the table, resting his chin on his arms. "I was afraid when they went to the moon. I'm glad that they're alright."
Porom gave him a firm whack. "But now they've brought a monster to the Blue Planet! It's going to destroy everything! Aren't you afraid of that?!"
"Cecil can take it on," Palom insisted. "And with all the help everyone's giving him, I don't see how he can't win. I'm not scared at all!"
"You'll be scared when we get there," Porom bet, and her brother stuck out his tongue at her.
"No I won't."
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"We're flying on that thing?" Porom cried in delight when she saw the airship the next morning. "It's huge! I've never seen anything like it!"
"You won't find anything like it anywhere else in the world," informed the older of the red-heads. "It's the second best ship—after Cid's Enterprise. 25 cannons on either side, total of 50. (The Enterprise has 50 to a side.) You kids want to see how to work them?"
"Yeah! That'd be awesome!" Palom agreed. Porom looked excited too.
"I don't think so," Jackie interrupted. The twins wilted sadly together.
"Little brother and I will be your pilots for the day, and several dozen cannoneers are already on board. All supplies have been loaded, and we're ready for take off. We await you four mages," the red-head said, bowing over-exaggeratedly with a comic flourish. "Shall we fly?"
Five minutes after take off, Palom felt ashamed to admit (Only to himself.) that Porom had been right. Flying was terrifying. Let alone the impending doom that they were flying towards, which was also starting to seep in.
Porom, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying herself. While Palom stayed as close to the middle of the deck, practically clinging to the mast for safety, his sister ran up and down the side of the railings, leaning over so far that their parents and the red-headed pilots had to save her from falling overboard a few times. At length, she realized that her brother had cloistered himself uncharacteristically out of the way and came to talk with him.
"What's that matter, Palom? I thought you were excited," she teased; she probably already knew what was bothering him.
Palom scowled at her and wound his fingers tighter around one of the ropes dangling from the mast. "Do you ever get tired of being right about how I feel?" he demanded.
Porom smiled understandingly. "I thought I was going to be scared and you were going to have fun. You sounded so sure of yourself last night…"
"I thought it would be fun too. Why didn't I think it would be so… high?"
"It's an airship; we've seen them already. You know that they fly in the air. You saw them before I did, anyway."
"…Let's change the subject."
"We have to talk about it sometime; it'll be one year since Mysidia was attacked in August... Oh, and then we'll be seven on September fourth!"
"Wow… What do you think the monster's gonna look like when we get there?"
"Don't know. Dad says he read about it in the Land of Summons; he said that it's like a big robot-looking thing, like the toy that Dharma gave you when we turned five."
"Oh, I get it. (Man, that was a cool toy…)"
"Well, it's going to be really dangerous, so I'm going to enjoy myself while I can. Come play on the deck with me; it's a little scary at first, but it's really fun! You'll never stop being afraid if you keep sitting there."
"…Okay."
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"Yo, kids! Come check this out!" hollered the pilot, and the twins came scampering to see what was going on.
"Look out ahead," the red-head instructed. "There's the Giant of Babil!"
Thy were there already? It felt like they had just left Baron! The fight was so close at hand... Porom felt her heart beating faster and her breath shortening.
Another airship pulled up alongside theirs and someone called out, "Ahoy!" They turned to look and saw that the man calling to them was leaning on a crutch, his blonde hair blowing in the wind. Strangely, the other people around him were female.
"Are you coming from Baron?" asked the man.
"Sure are," answered the red-head. "Are you from Troia?"
"Yep; came running as soon as we heard."
"That was fast, dude. When'd you get the call?"
"Just last night."
"Fancy that! We got the call last night too!"
"Then you're hardly one to talk! Do you know if Cecil and his friends are alright?"
"Our Lady Mage seems to think so; her brother is the Elder of Mysidia."
"...Mira Faraxhae is onboard?" the man asked after a pause.
"Her hubby and kids, too. Sweet, eh?"
After another pause, the man said, "Tell her that Edward Chris von Muir wishes her and her family luck, and that he's been pulling for her children since he heard about them."
The red-head nodded to the blonde man as the airship pulled ahead.
"Sir," Porom asked, turning to the pilot, "who was that man?"
"How did he know about us?" Palom asked, almost suspiciously.
"That was Edward Chris von Muir, the prince—I mean, King—of Damcyan. He was involved with your uncle somehow... or your cousin. I can't remember what they said."
"That must be the guy that Anna ran off with and made uncle Tellah really mad," Palom realized to his sister.
"He always said bad things about Edward; he doesn't look bad at all," Porom added sadly. "I hope it's because uncle Tellah was just mad."
They turned to look across the sky over the Babil region. The place was dotted with airships of varying sizes, shapes, colors and coats of arms. The ship that Edward was on, a brown vessel half the size of their ship, The Bowzer, joined a small company of similar ships. They all flew the flag of the kingdom of Troia, the sparsely populated but vast kingdom on the northwestern corner of the continent. Far off to their right, a much smaller company of ships with Eastern-style sails hovered together under the banner of Fabul, Yang's home country. On the ground below, an army of large metal cart-looking vehicles with long tubular cannons was advancing on the tower.
"Do you see the Enterprise anywhere?" Palom asked.
"How should I know? I've never seen it," Porom argued.
"She isn't here," the pilot informed sadly and nervously. "Leastwise, I don 't see it here..."
"Wait! Look at that ship over there," Palom said excitedly, pointing at a big black ship that was sailing around from the other side of the tower, previously hidden.
"That's not one of ours," the pilot informed hungrily, probably wishing that it was. "I've never seen an airship like that! It's... beautiful!"
Porom inhaled sharply. "I'll bet that's the Lunar Whale, the ship that uncle Rai brought up while we were in Baron!"
"Then that means that Cecil's on that ship!" Palom added.
"I say we go check it out," the pilot said decisively and steered the Bowzer toward the tower and the Lunar Whale.
Even from a distance, it was great to see Cecil again; at least he was alive. They didn't recognize anyone else in the large window of the Whale, though. There were two women in the window, one of whom had blonde hair, and the other of whom had wild green hair. They knew instantly that the blonde woman must be Rosa, and they wondered briefly if the green-haired woman was Rydia.
Apparently, the giant window was open, because they both heard Cecil yell their names. Their hearts jumped into their mouths; he saw them!
"Cecil, Cecil! Look! They finally revived us!" Palom yelled back, hoping his voice would carry across the distance.
"We're gonna help you beat that monster!" Porom added "Just like before! We're gonna do it together!"
They had no idea if he could hear them, but they hoped that he could.
"Wait... what monster, exactly?" Palom asked his sister. "Nothing's happened yet."
Almost as soon as he finished talking, the air began to hum and the tower stared moving from side to side, as if it were being blown around in a storm. The tower suddenly yanked itself up from the ground, like someone pulling out a weed. Its side walls and the lower levels split apart from it, becoming like arms and legs. The top 15 stories either fused or split up to form eyes and a mouth. The Giant flexed its limbs, blinked its eyes and roared, testing its newfound voice. The air buzzed again with the noise, even sending the small Troian ships back several yards.
"Oh, you just had to go and say that, didn't you, Palom!" Porom shouted, smacking her bother over the head.
"I didn't do anything!" Palom insisted, rubbing the sore spot. "I was just wondering!"
"So what are they going to do now?" Porom demanded.
The pilot let out a whoop. "Now we rock and roll, sister! Hey! Little brother! Tell those cannoneers to start firing at that thing!"
"Can do, big brother!" called the other red-head from somewhere. The ship was still for a moment longer, despite the lingering echo of the Giant's roar. Then the whole thing shook violently with an even louder thundering noise as the cannons were fired. They were still little far away from the monster, but the cannon balls hit its body hard enough to make it stagger back a step. All the other ships caught on, as did the tanks below, and everyone began firing heavily at it.
"Woohoo! Nothing can withstand a good-old-fashioned cannon blasting!" exclaimed the pilot as he drove the Bowzer around to the back of the tower. In the process, they pulled up so close to the Lunar Whale that the sides nearly collided.
"Dudes! How's it going?" the pilot yelled over the railing.
"How does it look like it's going, fire-top?!" yelled back a voice.
"Hehe, pick up a new pal there, Cecil?" the pilot called.
Porom felt her heart jump into her throat, and she was sure that her brother felt the same. They both peeked over the railing to see. They were staring straight into the open plate-glass window of the Lunar Whale at five people. One was a tall, ancient-looking man who shone white like the moon. Another was a young man with white hair, dressed in eastern style clothes with a gossamer silk scarf tied around his face. Two were the women they recognized before: blonde, willowy Rosa, and the green-haired girl who could only be Rydia. The fifth, of course, was Cecil; and he looked healthier than the twins had ever seen him.
"You're alive!" Palom exclaimed, jumping up from the floor.
Cecil inhaled sharply, and his blue eyes looked like they would pop out of his head. "You're alive! We had heard it, but it seemed too good to be real! What are you doing here?"
"Helping you, like everyone else!" Porom answered as the Bowzer began to pass the window and circle to the other side of the tower. "We'll talk more later! Beat up the Giant for us! We don't know how you'll do it, but we all know you will!"
"Why can't I believe it?" Palom asked when the Whale was out of site. "He's alive! And he found Rosa! I've heard all about it, but I just can't believe it!"
"I know! I can't believe it either!" Porom answered, beaming in the face of certain danger. "It was… so good to hear his voice again. And he looked so much better than before."
"He got Rosa back—and that cutie, Rydia, too," the pilot said. "Happier? Healthier? You betcha!"
"You know what this means, Porom? We've gotta get outta here, so we can 'talk later', like you said. And we've gotta meet Rosa and Rydia!"
"…You're right!" Porom held out her right hand. "Promise we'll both get out alive?"
"You got it!" Palom agreed, shaking her hand as the ship rocked with another cannon.
As the rumble of the cannon faded, they heard the red-headed pilot chuckle to himself and say, "I can make that happen, kids; don't worry 'bout that."
For another five hours, the Bowzer, the other airships around, and the tanks below continued to assault the Giant with heavy fire from every possible side. The Giant had finally figured out how to use its legs and that it could move forward, forcing the army to follow it. Several ships cruised by the Bowzer, asking the pilot if he knew where Cecil and company had gone.
"You mean he's gone?"
"The Whale's still parked way over there," informed one of these other pilots, pointing about a mile behind them to where the Lunar Whale was still hovering alone in midair. "But there's no one inside. Any idea where they could have gone?"
The pilot shook his head, looking worried. "I can't imagine where…"
That had been during the earlier hours of the battle. Mira and Jackie remained below deck, helping with the cannons and casting massive spells. All this time, the twins remained on deck, helping the red-heads navigate around the monster and among other ships; even casting a small spell or two. But as the hours progressed, Cecil and his team failed to show up anywhere; though the other pilots seemed to have a few theories of their own.
"Maybe they chocked and jumped ship?" naively suggested a Troian pilot, who may have still been upset over the loss of the Earth crystal
"I think they may have gotten inside the Giant somehow," informed a young man driving one of the green Fabulian ships. "I don't know how they could have done it, but they've already been to the moon and back so I'm ready to believe they can do anything!"
"Maybe the monster already KO'ed them," said another Troian pilot without pretense.
"Don't say something like that in front of little kids, you dolt!" snapped the red-head to the nonchalant Troian when the twins gasped in terror.
"Geez, sorry," she said indignantly and flew off again.
As the fifth hour began drawing to a close, the Giant appeared to be weakening ever so subtly, seemingly out of the blue.
"I wonder what's going on with it?" wondered the pilot. "It can't be us; we haven't' been able to damage it. We're just a distraction!"
"Maybe they did get inside the Giant and they're making it sick somehow," Porom said excitedly. "Like giving it a stomachache."
"Giving a giant robot a stomachache…? Cool!" Palom responded. "Wish I could be there."
"You'd only get in the way."
Something started beeping and the pilot gasped. "The radar's saying that there's a rogue ship coming up from behind; one of you go run and check that out," he directed. Palom jumped up first and dashed toward the rear of the ship; Porom stayed where she was, but strained to try and see it from where she was. She couldn't see anything, but her brother came back quickly, panting from running awkwardly up and down the deck.
"It's just the Whale," he said cheerily. "It's flying this way."
"Someone stayed to drive it?" the pilot wondered out loud.
A minute later, the Giant stopped dead in its tracks, making the entire airborne army and the tanks come to a screeching halt. The monster's stone body creaked and groaned with weakness, like it was going to collapse at any given moment.
"I hope to highest heaven that they didn't go in there," the pilot said worriedly. "If they did, they'll be trapped inside when the Giant falls!"
"What about the Whale?" Palom insisted.
"What about it? It can't get inside the Giant."
"Well, how do you think they got in?" Porom asked, fishing for a vein of hope.
"How should I know? We don't even know if that's what really happened!"
"Maybe they'll jump out of the mouth," Palom suggested, ignoring the pilot. "That thing can't seem to keep its mouth shut; they could get out that way."
"Well, whatever they've been up to, that thing looks like it's gonna fall apart. If it does, pieces of stone are going to go flying all over the place; that could do a lot of damage to the ships, and not to think of those poor tanks below. We need to skedaddle, fast," the pilot explained and sent the helm spinning counterclockwise. The Bowzer began to turn sharply, making everything tilt and slide toward the opposite railing. Out in the airspace around, most of the other ships were doing the same.
"But we can't leave them there!" Porom protested.
"What can we do?" the pilot asked. Porom grimaced, realizing that there wasn't anything that anyone could do.
"It's just not right that we lost them all, got them back for half a minute, and then lose them forever like this!" she said, on the verge of crying like a little baby.
"Maybe they're okay somewhere else already," the pilot suggested firmly, like he believed his words as strongly as the twins believed that Cecil had gone inside the Giant. "Come on, you two; this is Cecil we're talking about. He'll be fine."
One Fabulian ships pulled up alongside the Bowzer and a man came to its rail to call to the pilot.
"Sir, where are you headed now? We must regroup!"
"Not sure yet," the pilot answered, squinting at the man. "I know you! You were with Cecil at one point, back when those two turned to stone, right?" he asked, nodding at the twins, who stood up to look at the other man.
"Yang!" they exclaimed together.
Yang blinked several times, as dazed as Cecil had looked earlier. "You're alive! When did this—Where are you going?"
"We don't know yet," Palom stated matter-of-factly.
"I say we make a beeline for Mysidia," the pilot suggested. "Where else is there to go?"
"I agree," Yang yelled over the wind. "We will follow you, yes?"
"See you there!" the pilot said with a playful salute.
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For a second, Cecil wasn't entirely sure of where he was; he was slightly surprised to find that he didn't care. Everything was immaculately clean and white, and shone bright with the light streaming through a window nearby.
Oh… I stayed in this room while I was in Mysidia, he remembered. It was the same as he remembered it, except it was warmer and more peaceful than he remembered. His sight still slightly hazy with sleep, he turned over in bed and found himself staring at Rosa's beautiful face.
They had arrived in Mysidia late the previous night; they followed the retreating ships all the way back, but at a distance that they couldn't seem to make up for. They had landed a few hours after everyone else. Tired and frazzled from their trip through the Giant, Rai, Dharma and Sheila had shown them to a few rooms where they immediately collapsed.
"It's good to see you alive," Sheila had said emotionlessly as she shoved Rosa, already half asleep, into his room with him. He wondered vaguely if she did and said those things purely to be spiteful, and hoped that he hadn't left her bitter. It was hard for him to imagine a white mage in such a state of mind, but he had never know a white mage who was really capable of being so; Georgette, Rosa, Porom, himself—to a smaller degree—they could never act like that. But he didn't know Sheila very well.
Oh well. I can't be held responsible for how she decides to be, he thought to himself, reaching out and caressing Rosa's face softly. I'm just glad that you're okay, Rosa.
Her eyelids fluttered and she opened her eyes slowly. Even half-closed, her bright, dark brown eyes stood out against the pure whiteness of everything else around them. She smiled gently.
"I almost thought I was in heaven," she whispered, her voice slightly rough from sleep and her fair share of screaming the day before.
"Maybe you are," he answered.
"Think we should go check on the others?"
"…..Nah, not now. It's still a little early."
"Oh. It seemed so bright and I thought…"
"It is June; the sun comes at such an ungodly hour now."
The door suddenly flew open and crashed into the wall loudly, startling them both to sit up and look around for something to attack. What hit them was a pair of brown and white blurs yelling, "Cecil! Cecil! You're alive! You're alive!" repeatedly and clinging to him tearfully, as if he were going to slip away forever.
"Palom! Porom! I need to breathe!" he laughed through tears, prying them off so he could take a breath.
"You're crying," Porom noted, sweetly brushing a tear off of his face with one hand, and one from her own with the other.
"Look who's talking," Palom teased, brushing tears off his chin. "You're such a crybaby, sis."
Cecil sighed inwardly. It was almost… comforting to hear them squabbling again. It seemed like a long time that he spent just staring at them, feeling like a million bucks. Almost everything that he had lost recently had been returned to him.
What was it I said once, about everything I hold dear being lost in order to save the world? Guess I was wrong that time.
"You disappeared yesterday," Palom scolded. "Everyone was asking where you went. What happened?"
"Did you get inside the Giant?" Porom asked eagerly.
"Well… Yeah, we did. How did you know that?"
"Ha!" Porom cheered, throwing her hands triumphantly into the air. "We were right! Wait 'till we tell Leon!"
"Leon? The pilot?" Rosa asked.
"Uh-hu. That's him," Palom answered. "He told us that it was impossible, but we didn't listen to him. Wait… Are you Rosa?" he asked, a look of wonder coming over his face.
Rosa laughed, amused, and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I am. And you must be Palom and Porom," she guessed, reaching over and tousling Palom's hair. "The last time I saw you, you were both stone, and your parents were working on reviving you."
"We heard you had been to Baron," Palom added personably. "Come on, Porom. Say something to Rosa."
Porom blushed and looked shyly down at her lap. She waved weakly and whispered, "Hi."
"Don't mind her," Palom insisted. "She's just shy. She'll come around soon… I think."
Porom grew indignant and whacked her bother sharply. "Stop it!"
"No hitting!" Cecil reprimanded. "How many times do we have to tell you…?"
For a second it was comfortably like old times, except for Rosa, trying to stifle laughter behind her hands. Her laughter was incredibly infectious and everyone was laughing uncontrollably in a matter of seconds.
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Ah…! The chapter that WOULD NOT cooperate! I missed my deadline entirely! T.T
Oh well. Two more chapters left! (Not including the epilogue… -.o)
With the Giant defeated and Golbez brought to his senses, it's time to take a well deserved break, reunite with old acquaintances, and meet some new allies.
"I've heard a lot about you," the green-hair woman said good naturedly. "You're Palom and Porom, yes?" she asked, pointing to each of them in turn.
"Yep; that's us," Palom agreed. "You're... you're Rydia, right?"
"Summoner extraordinaire, that's me," she said with a grin. "I've been waiting a long time to get to meet you two."
"So have we," Porom said shyly.
"Yeah.... You're a lot older than we thought you'd be," Palom added.
But Cecil's battle isn't over yet! And this time, there's nothing that the twins will be able to do for him!
"All we can do this time is...pray, I guess," Palom said, once again remaining as calm as he could.
Porom stomped her foot angrily. "No! We can help him more than that!"
"He told us to stay here. It's not we were the only ones we won't take with him," he pointed out.
"It bugs us too," someone behind him said. He turned to look and saw Rosa and Rydia standing over him.
"If Cecil thinks he can beat Zemus with only Edge and Kain, he's dead wrong," Rydia said stoutly.
"Oh," Palom said, noting the full backpacks both woman had slung over their shoulders. He rested his hands casually on the back of his head and grinned mischievously. "Sneaking off, huh?"
"Stowing away in the cargo hold, to be exact," Rosa added. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"
"Sure thing, Rosa."
Stay tuned! The Faraxhae Family Circus will return after this very short break!
Brought to you in pat by...
Final Fantasy XVIII, the 18th installment of the extensive Final Fantasy series! Relive the excitement of the classic RPG gameplay as ever before, with bold new graphics, new weapons and armor, and 400 new monsters to slay! Not coming in fall of 2010!