I don't really have much to say, except to beg your forgiveness on this being almost a MONTH late (I had to sort out the story arc and put in the main part of this chapter before moving on), and to explain a little about the quote. It's from Lightning from FFXIII (which I still have yet to play. Geez I need to get a PS3...), and I can't help but feel how this really fits in with this whole chapter. And here I thought I would end up quoting Balthier! "You know what they say about the leading man? He never dies." I guess that will have to wait until next chapter. Come to think of it, it'll fit a lot better….

There are more references to Silkscreen Requiem by greyrondo than ever in this chapter, but I'd just like to give an awesome story the props it deserves. Check it out sometime.

One more thought: This chapter is where the plot starts to thicken the most. Things are going to be revealed right and left here, and hopefully all of your unanswered questions are going to start making sense. At this point, the other villains are going to start to show up, and a lot more battles are going to take place.

Also, even though I know I've referenced it before a lot of times, let's all pretend that the warriors don't have their crystals yet, okay?

Okay, enough rambling. On to the story! Please R&R!

Chapter 15- Sora

It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do.

((((()))))

"Mobliz!"

Gilgamesh grabbed the back of Terra's cape before she could dash off towards the town. "You don't want to go there," he warned, his silence spell having been worn off long ago. "Old man Garland and Kefka rigged the village. There're traps and ghosties and who knows what else down there."

The blonde's face fell, but she didn't argue. Instead Terra asked, "Why would they do that?"

The warrior shrugged. "I dunno. Trying to get you to go crazy so Clown could take control of you again?"

Both Terra and Luneth's faces flushed white.

Celes clenched her fists. "That's it. The first time I see Kefka again, I'm smashing his face in."

Terra was shocked into a laugh. That definitely wasn't the reaction Celes was looking for, but seeing her friend happier was good enough. The knight then turned to Tifa. "You'll help me, right?"

"Count all of us in!" the bartender cried, grinning ear to ear.

((((()))))

"That's unfortunate," Kuja deadpanned from one of the burned-out houses in Mobliz. "Who would've thought that Gilgamesh wouldn't let them fall for the trick?" Walking towards the entrance to get a better look at the departing warriors, he sighed and crossed his arms. "And here I thought this would go smoother. Oh well. I suppose rushing things a little won't be too bad after all."

Jecht slowly grinned. "Exactly. 'Sides, I haven't got to properly talk to Braska's kid yet."

"You all may do whatever you wish, but make sure to give me time to unravel the plan," Kuja said, looking back to Jecht and Golbez.

Jecht and Golbez nodded.

"Then let's be off, yar," Bikke grinned, raising from his seat with an elegance unbefitting of a pirate. Only Kuja, again, noticed this.

Kuja stopped for a moment. "Actually, …Bikke, I have another task for you. Would you mind going to Palamecia Castle to help out our dear friend Leon? I do believe that battle shall be starting any moment now."

Bikke nodded, the smirk wiped off his face. "Ye'll be sending the two brats?"

"I don't think I'll necessarily have to send them, but rather they'll go there on their own. After all, if Maria is as fond of Leon as he is her, she'll be dragging Firion along with a murderous intent for the Emperor," Kuja explained. All four villains took a moment to picture this in their heads. They burst out laughing. "I'll be sure to inform them," Kuja chuckled despite himself. "Be careful not to reveal yourself too soon."

With that said, the Chaos Warriors went their separate ways. Golbez unrolled the map Kefka had crudely drawn on his rounds around the new worlds and pointed to the Tower of Owen, then to the Western Keep. "The warriors should be headed to either of these locations."

Jecht thought a moment before saying, "Probably the Tower, if that black chick and Cloud's heard about the Desch guy the brats knew was an Ancient. Didn't Spiky once say something about a friend being one of those Ancients? Aeris, or something?"

"Aerith," Kuja corrected. "And yes, both of them will definitely want to go there. This was the area from those two kids' world, right? Luneth and Arc?"

"Yeah. So, we're almost certain they'll be going here?" Jecht said, stretching with a yawn. "Boy, doing next to nothing like this is making me feel old."

"You mean feel like your actual age?"

"Shut up, Golbez!"

"Fine, fine. Excuse me, then. I was merely noting that you're in your forties already, and that you are the eldest among us…."

And so the two shot jabs at each other until they reached the tower.

((((()))))

Just as the Chaos warriors had predicted, the warriors first went to the Tower of Owen at Luneth, Arc, Cloud, and Tifa's constant inclinations. Arc grabbed Garnet and Rinoa's arms, dragging them off into the tower. "This is from our world!" he unnecessarily explained. "This is where our friend Desch is from!"

"Is Desch really an Ancient like Aerith was?" Tifa asked, staring up at the soaring dark tower.

Luneth nodded, pulling the rest of them in. "Yep. I wonder if he actually knew Aerith. You know, since Gil here thinks he knows Bartz, Squall, and Zidane, too, I think it may be possible. I'll have to ask him whenever we get back to our own worlds."

Dagger suddenly stopped, wide-eyed. "Zidane… everyone back in our world thinks you're dead. What… what if they think I've died too? Who's ruling Alexandria! Is Steiner and Beatrix's wedding still planned! Oh, no!"

Rinoa gasped too. "That's right! Oh, geez, my father is probably blaming Balamb for this! Do you think he'll attack, Squall?"

"Rikku, Cid, and Brother are probably tearing about Spira right about now, trying to find me…," Yuna groaned. "Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri are probably cheering them on, too."

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to Locke or any of the others, either," Celes murmured in realization.

Lenna and Kain both shrugged. They both had come up with a nice little ploy to explain their disappearances, as well the Mage of Light. Arc was sure that Refia believed he had found Luneth and was hogging all of their "treasure" from Ingus and herself. Crazy girl.

Maria knew that no one would even make a fuss of her and Leon's sudden disappearance but Guy and Hilda, but it was likely they hadn't even noticed yet what with all of the chaos from the Emperor's stain on Fynn and the kingdom.

The Warrior of Light, suddenly caught unaware because of Dagger's question, turned to Mage. "Is that how the others think of me? That I've died?"

She was silent for a moment. Mage took off her hat, golden curls falling down her back. Instead of answering his question, she softly said, "This is actually Red Mage's hat. He said that if I really wanted to be a red mage, then I'd need a lot of friends to lean on when it got too hard."

Light didn't know how to respond, so he asked, "Is it hard?"

"…Not really."

He stole a look at her face, shadowed by the tower. She looked up an him and drew her sword. "This is yours. I never bothered to ask whether or not it bothered you that I used it. You can have it back, and I'll just use the one we got from that manikin of Celes earlier."

Light gripped the hilt, staring down at the blade. "I…-"

"JUST KISS HER ALRE-"

"Shut up, Zidane!" Cecil shouted in an attempt to cover the thief's mouth. "We're finally getting him out of his emotionless shell!"

Bartz cocked his head. "Light is in an emotionless shell? I thought only Cloud and Squall were locked in that."

Tifa pulled the boys off, giving the blushing two an apology before shoving them inside the tower with the rest.

Light cleared his throat and handed Mage her sword back. "I think the others are getting impatient. Let's hurry and explore this area, and head next to the Western Keep and Palamecia Castle."

Mage nodded, also putting on her best sophisticated front. "Yes. Let's go."

((((()))))

Upon entering Palamecia Castle, Bikke was met by Sephiroth and Zemus standing guard. He gave the two an unholy grin, drawing a scythe out of shadow from his left. Sephiroth drew his katana as the pirate grasped the sickle. "I've come to fight, boys, not play," he said, easily dodging the attacks bombarded at him.

Bikke blocked a downward slash from Sephiroth and threw out a dark bomb spell at Zemus to push back his own dark magic. Both jumped back in surprise. "Who are you?" Sephiroth demanded. His eyes widening, he look down at his arm and noticed a tear in his jacket. Underneath was a scratch- when had Bikke done that!

Bikke chuckled, swirling around to try and chop at them with his scythe. "I can't very well tell you that, now can I?"

"Sephiroth, go inform Garland of this. Tell him that Bikke's going after-"

Zemus let out a cry as Bikke hit him back into a wall, cracking the bricks behind him. The warlock glared up at him and seethed, "Who are you! Kary? Lich? Astos? Who!"

Bikke slashed out at him again, then turned and jammed the pole of his scythe at Sephiroth. The SOLDIER jumped back, narrowly avoiding the stab. Zemus teleported away to tend to his wounds, leaving him alone against Bikke. "All alone, Sephy? That's how you prefer things, right?"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, ignoring the jab. "It doesn't matter who you are. I'll erase your miserable being from existence."

He smirked. "We'll see about that."

((((()))))

"There's a price to every freedom, Leon."

The dark knight's grip on his sword, the Deathbringer, tightened as he glowered at the Emperor sitting on the throne that he once used to sit in when he thought that Mateus was finally dead for good. "Just like there's a price for cheating death, Mateus?" he countered.

The Emperor smirked at the boy's dark look. "Kuja sent you all alone, did he?"

"I'm not here because Kuja sent me."

"Oh? Then you've come for revenge only, eh? Well, I suppose you won't be a complete waste of my time to fight," he said, rising from his seat. The Emperor summoned his staff and pointed it down at Leon. "Our battle begins now."

They charged.

((((()))))

Arc lit the top of his staff aflame to provide light as the Tower grew darker the higher they went. Even though every vibe received from this place was pure evil, neither boy felt any fear and kept walking, chattering and reminiscing. "Ooh, Arc, this is where Refia started to yell at Desch for talking about all of those foreign women again, remember? And then you and Ingus both had to cast Silence on her before she finally shut up. Then I had to go and steal all of her weapons so she wouldn't kill us for it."

The black mage laughed and nodded. "Man, Refia had such a temper, you know?"

Terra, more than shocked at their companion's description, finally broke into the conversation and asked, "Was she really like that? Refia?"

They both solemnly nodded. "Refia was scary person."

"Especially in the mornings," Arc noted. "There was one time when me and Luneth had to throw sea water on her before she woke up, and she nearly bludgeoned us to death with a hammer."

"And whenever we stopped by a blacksmith's place, swearing up and down that the smith wasn't a friend of her dad's and that we weren't going to turn her in for ditching her lessons," Luneth said with a slight shiver, "she pulled out the hammer then, too."

Both cringed at the thought. "I'll never look at that tool the same way again…," the onion knight muttered.

Terra blinked and was silent the rest of the trip. Luneth finally turned to Cloud and Tifa. "So, who was Aerith?"

Cloud paled and seemed to go into one of mopey stages, so Tifa instead answered for him. "Aerith was a good friend of ours who used to sell flowers in the slums below Midgar. She grew these really beautiful yellow lilies in the church near where she lived, too." Tifa shook her head, fondly thinking back to the young woman. "Aerith and I were pretty much the only responsible ones, too, besides Vincent. Cloud would always rush into enemy territory too soon if he knew Sephiroth was nearby. Barrett just wanted to blow up anything even remotely related to Shinra, and Red XIII thought the same, though he was a lot less destructive. Cid was just as impatient and destructive as everyone else, Cait Sith was a freaking robot, and Yuffie…. Dear Lord, that girl stole our materia so often that I could have just strangled her and-"

Luneth cut off her rants. "And then Aerith died, right?"

Tifa slowly nodded. "Sephiroth killed her." She clenched her fist. "And that's why every time he dies, no matter how painful, it'll never be enough to account for her death."

"Double for Zack."

Even Squall was surprised by Cloud's voice this time. It wasn't just a monotone, and it wasn't a hate filled declaration, either. Cloud irritably looked around at the warriors. "Don't we have somewhere to go?" he blandly asked, the moment of pride and sorrow long gone from his mako eyes.

Luneth and Arc exchanged glances before giving a hesitant nod and moving forward.

Feeling the silence weigh down, Yuna started to hum that upbeat tune again. Rinoa cocked an eyebrow at the gunner. "You can sing?"

Yuna shrugged timidly, the shyness she once had as a summoner coming back. "Um… I've sang a few times…."

Rinoa's face lit up. "Do you know Eyes on Me?" Without waiting for a response, she burst into song, despite Squall's best attempts to quiet her down. No one at all could bear to listen to anymore, but they had already had enough of her sulking from before that they were sure they could stand a few minutes of her singing.

Everyone but Bartz, anyway. "Hey, how about Yuna sing now?" he asked a little overly ecstatic. Rinoa seemed a little hurt, but reluctantly agreed.

Tidus poked her in the arm. "No fair. I never knew you could sing."

"I-I really can't. I mean, the first wasn't even me, and then the second time was Leblanc posing as me, and Lenne was with me in the Thunder Plains…." her voice trailed off into more excuses.

Zidane rolled his eyes. "Well, Dagger can sing really good, too."

The queen's face went red. "Zidane!"

"What! It's true! I mean, you could even get Eiko and Vivi to go to sleep whenever you sang, and even Amarant liked it, even though he'd never admit it, and Rusty wouldn't scream so bad whenever I did something, and you know Freya and Quina loved your songs."

"B-but…!" Dagger protested. "I mean, Rinoa was singing really well just a moment ago, and-"

"NO!" Squall, Bartz, Firion, and Luneth shouted.

A gruff voice interrupted her before she could start the horrid song again. "Ah, let's not talk about singing, alright?"

Tidus growled. "Old man."

Jecht's eye twitched. "What is with everyone pointing out my age today? Sheesh!"

Golbez cheerfully popped in a comment of his own about his age, "It's a joke old as dirt, Jecht, just like you!" before Kuja exasperatedly groaned, "Stop it, you two!"

Zidane and Dagger drew their weapons as Kuja sighed and looked up at the group. Paying them no mind, Kuja started, "Well, I guess you all know that we've been trying to get rid of the other warriors, correct?"

Everyone but Light, Gilgamesh, and Bartz let out a "HUH!".

Kuja cocked an eyebrow. "You three didn't tell them? I… didn't actually expect that. Well, in short, since I basically hate everyone on Chaos's side- with the exception of Jecht, Golbez, and a few others with actual brains- I've decided that I'm simply going to get rid of them."

"Didn't you say we were going to explain what exactly is going on?" Jecht deadpanned to their elected leader.

"Yes, before the Mimic boy hurts himself with realization," Golbez said, eyeing Bartz rocking on heels, biting his lip to prevent him from shouting out anything.

Bartz let out a deep breath and inhaled again before rapidly saying, "''tlikethem,butthey'!"

"I've known you to say a lot of crazy stuff, Bartz Klauser, but I must admit this is the first time I can honestly say I didn't understand a word of that," Lenna stated, staring at him in disbelief.

"I said-"

"We're trying to keep you all alive so you can help us with a task later on," Jecht said for him. The blitz ball star crossed his arms across his chest. "So, you guys alright with that or whatever?"

Light furrowed his eyebrows, confused. "Then… you, Golbez, and Leon aren't following Kuja because you think he has your family hostage?"

Jecht burst out laughing. "You think I'd really be afraid this crybaby being kidnapped by Gay-Skirt-Man here? The worst he'd to do him is read sappy poetry all day."

"'Gay-Skirt-Man'?" Kuja quietly asked.

Zidane pulled Dagger behind him, wincing. "Um… guys, let's get out of here, alright?"

Maria ran past him. "Wait a minute! Where is Leon?"

Golbez, seeing Jecht and Kuja a little occupied at the moment, answered, "He's fighting the Emperor. We sent Bikke to help him, but-"

"Where is he?" Maria demanded, already getting her bow loaded and ready for action.

"At Palamecia Castle," Golbez told her.

Maria nodded her thanks to him and grabbed Firion's arm. "Light, Mage, we're going to help Leon!"

Firion gaped, trying to pull her back, but the archer was adamant about going. The weapons master turned to the two leaders with an apologetic smile. "We'll try and be back by nightfall. Shall we meet up at the Western Keep?"

Light shook his head. "If Kuja is offering us protection, we'll stay here tonight."

Everyone took note of what his actual meaning was: We'll stay here so we can keep a closer eye on them.

The siblings nodded. "We'll back soon. Uh, and thanks for sending Bikke."

Kuja still didn't pay attention, in the middle of threatening Jecht with a plethora of spells. On his behalf Golbez took the thanks and replied, "It's the least we could do."

((((()))))

Leon slashed through a magic spell sent flying in his direction, jumping through the split magic circle with his sword aimed at the Emperor. Mateus only smirk and teleported across the room preparing more spells to send at him. His spell casting faltered as he heard a sharp cry of pain on the other side of the wall behind him.

With a sharp turn, but adversaries looked towards the door just in time to see Sephiroth fly through and crash into the ground. Bikke, wielding a giant scythe, sauntered in, faintly grinning. "Hello, Leon."

The dark knight noticed that whatever magic had been keeping his act up thus far was fading from how different his voice was. Unlike the rough, deep voice he had before, it was now his true voice- softer and eloquent, like it had been trained in royal speech. Bikke ran a hand through his hair, the touch turning it into a bleached white. "Ah, it seems wasting my magic on the likes of his rabble has caused my façade to break."

Bikke merely laughed and strode over to where Sephiroth was, scrabbling to his feet with a look of sheer malice in his bright mako eyes. The silver-haired SOLDIER stood, paying little mind to the deep injuries Bikke had inflicted, and reclaimed his katana.

Leon gritted his teeth, tearing his eyes away from them and redirecting his attention back to the Emperor, just as stunned as he had been. Taking his moment of vacillation of whether or not to fight back or help Sephiroth fight against whoever this was, Leon ran up to the Emperor and, with a cry, stabbed his sword through him.

Firion and Maria ran in just in time to see their brother shout out from the spell the Emperor pressed into him at the same time as he had stabbed him. Maria shot an arrow into Mateus's hand, making him recoil back instead of attacking Leon while he was down. Bikke turned ever so slightly to see them come to Leon's aid before turning back to a nearly defeated Sephiroth. "Shall this be your final stand, Sephiroth? You, who once thought yourself to be invincible… reduced to nothing at another's feet. This is your true defeat; knowing that you have been bested, that you now lay bleeding before someone else as countless others have done before you."

As Bikke's scythe slashed down, a black portal enveloped Sephiroth, pulling him away from the blow. Bikke growled out a curse under his breath and turned to where Maria, Firion, and Leon were now fighting against the Emperor. Bikke didn't bother to help them fight. Mateus was going to retreat soon anyway. Instead, he used his magic to conceal his hair and voice again, turning back into a flawless copy of Bikke, the pirate from Pravoka.

Just as he had expected, the Emperor teleported away using the same black portal that had rescued Sephiroth. Bikke's scythe disappeared back into a wisp of shadow that instantly dissipated. Leon, leaning heavily on Firion, turned to Bikke. "I didn't ask for your help," he growled.

Bikke laughed and replied, "Your welcome, kiddo. The rest of the guys are back at the tower, except Kefka. I think he's supposed to get rid of those three for us."

"'Three'?" Firion asked. "Who else was here?"

"Oh, right. You guys came in late, didn't you? Zemus and Sephiroth were out standing guard, so I took care of them," Bikke explained with a dark grin. "Now Kefka is going to finish them off and come back sometime later tonight."

((((()))))

The Warrior of Light and Luneth stood, or rather sat, on guard that night, despite Light's earlier words of letting Kuja and the rest take care of things. He had earlier lied that he was just paranoid, and Luneth wasn't ready to stop chattering on and on about his world.

With the onion knight busy talking Light's ear off, it was easy for Zidane to sneak off.

The thief wandered down the halls of the tower, his eyes already adjusting to the darkness well enough to see a little in front of him.

"Looking for me?"

Zidane turned his head to where Kuja's voice came from. "Yeah. I have a couple questions for you, actually."

Kuja conjured a flame, bringing light to the once shadowed corridor. "Then ask away, Brother."

((((()))))

"Where is Zidane and Dagger?" Kain asked the next morning, noticing the two gone.

Light palmed himself. "That monkey ran off last night, didn't he?"

"He's out doing me a favor. I told him to meet up with you all at the Western Keep. That's where you're going next, isn't it?" Kuja explained before the warriors could start panicking.

The Mage of Light scowled at the mage. "You sent him and Dagger off in the middle of the night without our consent?"

"Zidane came to me first, I'll have you know, and Dagger simply followed him. She is getting quite good at that," he mused.

"That's not the point!" Mage snapped. "Just what 'favor' did you ask of them, anyway?"

Kuja smirked. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

((((()))))

"I told you not to rush into battle like that!" Dagger chirped, healing Zidane's bleeding arm.

The thief pursed his lips. "I wanted to get the upper hand…."

"And so you ran up, tripped over a rock, and almost fell into lava."

"It's not my fault Tidus's world is a lava pit!"

"Well, of course that can't be helped! But don't just run off like that! What if I hadn't been there to catch you, hmm? You'd be a fried monkey right now!"

Zidane frowned and sulked forward as soon as Dagger's first aid was done. "Let's just hurry and get that stupid thing for Kuja, alright?"

Dagger crossed her arms with a "Hmph! Ignore me, will you?".

((((()))))

"I'M BACK~!" Kefka crowed, popping in and startling them all. "I apologize deeply for being late, all, but I have now arrived!"

Celes narrowed her eyes, drawing her sword. Gilgamesh caught her arm, yanking her back before she could run up and stab the clown to death. The Magitek knight turned her smoldering glare to the traveling knight. "Let. Go."

Terra nervously started, "Um, Celes, I think he's supposed to be on our side…."

"He destroyed everything we've ever loved!" she burst, trying to free her arm.

Gilgamesh didn't even seem to put up a fight, his grip too strong for her to peel away. "Darn it, Gil, let me go!"

Kefka floated up to knight, apparently having no regard for his own personal safety. "Little Celes has come to play?" he asked with a small giggle.

Kain put his javelin between the two. "Please don't provoke each other, you two." Kefka drew back, pouting. Celes continued to try and free herself from Gilgamesh to no avail.

Leon rolled his eyes, leaning back against a wall. "Let's get on with this, shall we? You guys have to go find the crystals, and then we'll get to together and fight Chaos."

"C-Chaos!" Lenna stuttered. "We're going to have to fight him!"

"How else do you expect to get home?" Leon pointed out. "You all need to worry about finding those crystals while we create enough chaos around here to draw him out so can all fight and defeat him."

Light suddenly gasped with realization. "That's why you made Seymour and Xande make it rain. It was to create chaos and confusion among us, wasn't it?"

Kefka nodded. "And even little Celes hating me is creating chaos to draw him out!"

"DON'T CALL ME 'LITTLE CELES'!" she shouted.

Bartz nodded slowly. "And that's why you killed Kadaj that day, too. You wouldn't let him in on the plan, because he wanted to kill Cloud, who'd help us all fight Chaos."

"Right," Jecht affirmed. "We killed off Xande for that reason too, and tried to kill Seymour, but-"

"The freako never dies?" Yuna offered with a scowl.

Jecht shrugged. "Technically, he's already dead, but someone didn't send him when she should have…."

Tidus snorted. "Told you so."

"He would have killed you all!" Yuna burst hotly.

"Like he wasn't going to right after you freaking married him!" Tidus retorted.

"I did that for you all!" she pressed.

Jecht let out a groan. "Forget I mentioned it."

"And you mean to say that Kuja came up with this whole plan?" Squall asked in disbelief.

Annoyed, he snapped, "Of course I did!"

The SeeD nodded. "Sure you did. So, we've got to find the crystals, right?"

Golbez nodded. "Yes. I wish we could give you freebies, but the others have them respectively."

"I have the one Zemus had~!" Kefka sang, drawing forth Cecil and Kain's crystal. "Freebies!"

Cecil gingerly took it, eyeing the clown carefully. "Uh… thank you. This means… Zemus is dead as well?"

The clown cackled, floating around. "It sure does!"

Kain raised an eyebrow, but kept silent. Yuna drew her guns, looking at them appraisingly. "I really hope I get to shoot Seymour with these. Tidus, don't be a glory hog and let me get in a few shots, alright?"

The blitz star grinned evilly. "Of course. How chaotic'll be when Seymour's taken down by his wife."

Yuna glared at him. "I told you to never speak of that again."

Tidus let out a nervous laugh, looking down at the guns in her hands. "Uh… yeah. Never mentioning again."

"Good."

"Have you sent Zidane after his crystal, then?" Light asked as it occurred to him.

Kuja faintly grinned and shook his head. "No, I've sent my little brother to get something else for me. If he looks hard enough, he'll be able to find his crystal as well." He clapped his hands. "Now that we know what we've next to do, let's get to work, everyone."

The Light warriors turned to Light and Mage. Light nodded. "Split up into groups of two. Everyone remember that will be no knee-jerk reactions-" he said pointedly to Squall "-if something is amiss. Also, if someone acts differently, do not assume it is Ultimecia."

As they dispersed, Mage cocked her head. "Didn't Kuja tell Zidane and Dagger to meet up with us at the Western Keep?"

Light nodded. "We will head there and meet up with them, explaining the situation. I hope they'll be in one piece…."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In case you haven't noticed, those two are prone to being injured quite often seems like. You still remember your white mage spells, correct?"

Mage chuckled. "It's a good thing I came instead of the others, to say the least."

((((()))))

"Aha! Here it is, Dagger!"