Chapter 13: Obstacles

They passed Iselia and did not even begin to think about entering the city. If their parents already noticed their absence, this would be the first place they'd look. They avoided the place and kept off the main roads. The entire time, they did not see any frantically flying Rheairds and Leona wanted to keep it that way. Cecil didn't think they had anything to worry about. She had a habit of disappearing from the house from time to time and coming back the next day. They could very easily assume that they had simply joined her.

The trio ran into a good amount of fights along the way. Watching Cecil fight was like watching the female clone of Lucas out on the field. She struck first and finished off her enemies first. Yet there was something more elegant about her swordplay. Perhaps not at the same level as the twins, but there was certainly beauty and art there as she spun into various positions and struck the enemy at dizzying moments.

Cathe did not fight up close, she primarily used her archer abilities. She aided in damage dealt with her often magicked arrows and the fights did seem to move along faster because of it. Though Leona did not have her greaves, she still used her martial arts. She felt ineffectual next to Cecil's blade, but she was certainly needed. She noticed that Cathe mostly used her arrows on the creatures that she was fighting on her own.

Daytime came and went turning out to be an uneventful day considering. Leona was glad that Cathe had thought of bringing the tent so that they could have some semblance of shelter when they slept. No one kept watch that night and they all fell asleep at roughly the same time.

Now that they were actually doing it—traveling to the ruins—Leona no longer felt anxious. She felt as if it was simply a matter of time before everything would be resolved. She slept peacefully and had Cathe not woken her, she might have slept the morning away.

Still no sign of their parents and they were less than a day away from their destination. Leona found the pace had increased considerably on the last leg of the journey. Cecil's eagerness was mirrored in the near jog she began to move. Of course no one could tell her to slow down, they just had to speed up much to Leona's annoyance. Rather than forcefully demand that they move slower, Leona decided that it would be better avoid an altercation with the high-strung Cecil and Cathe made no complaints either though Leona could tell the poor girl was tiring out quickly.

Finally they made it and Cecil let everyone know that they did as well.

"You sure that's the entrance? It looks blocked," Leona said as she observed what looked like a near translucent wall over the stone doorway that served as the entrance.

"What are you going on about? I can see the inside," Cecil argued.

"Careful," Leona warned as the other marched forth.

Their argument was stilled when Cecil's progress was inexplicably blocked by what she described to be a "damned invisible wall." That was when Leona realized that neither of the other two could see the barrier. Cecil, remembering Leona's last comment twirled on her heels and approached her rapidly. For some reason, Leona held her breath as intense gold flecked eyes peered into her.

"What do you see?" she asked with little pretense.

"I almost missed it, but there's a barrier magically placed there. I've read about it before."

"And can you disperse it?" Cecil asked.

Leona shook her head. "Unfortunately…I'm not that far along in my studies."

She felt ashamed as soon as the words left her mouth and she expected Cecil to retaliate accordingly, but she simply crossed her arms and looked off into the distance.

"In that case, we'll find some elf who will do it for us."

Leona's brow crinkled at this, "Just grab some random elf?"

"That sounds like a great idea. I'm sure we'll find an elf who can take care of this barrier—just let me do the talking," Cathe said clapping her hands once.

It sounded more like an arbitrary plan that left far too much up to chance. "We can't just assume that any elf we approach will know how to do this—this is a pretty advanced skill," Leona clarified to the girls.

"Then we'll keep asking until we find the right one," Cecil responded unperturbed. "Either way, we won't get anywhere just standing here."

True… Leona thought depressingly and she didn't have a better plan either.

"If only we had Genis or your mom, we'd already be through there," Cecil said as an afterthought as they headed away from the ruins.

Also true…I make for a poor companion. I'm the only one who can do magic and I can't even do it that well…They were headed towards Triet the nearest town. Surely they could find help there. She hadn't realized her head had been down the whole time until Cecil stopped their entire procession in order to inform her.

"Will you stop doing that—it's annoying!" Cecil said to Leona.

Wide-eyed she looked up at the tumultuous girl.

"Just 'cus you couldn't dispel some barrier doesn't make you completely useless! We ran into some bumps in the road and we'll get over them eventually. Nothing to do with your own abilities! You can still fight and that's all that matters."

"She means," Cathe said drawing her attention, "It's not your fault. No one knew there would be a barrier and there was nothing you could have done to prevent that. That doesn't make you any less of a person."

"Silly girl—that's not what I meant at all!" Cecil said quickly and with a slight blush, "We just don't need deadweight and you're not one yet. The minute you do become one, I'll let you know."

"Oh, sorry—everyone always hates my interpretations. I should probably stop doing it all the time."

"But you won't," Cecil stated as a matter of fact.

Leona giggled at this. She'd gathered what they were trying to say ages ago.

"I'm glad someone can get some amusement from this. Let's go and stop wasting time already," Cecil said haughtily.

And without further ado they followed her further into the desert. Leona was glad to have Cecil around. She seemed to know where she was headed even as she hadn't the slightest clue. She'd be completely lost otherwise and in a desert no less. The heat was really beginning to get to her as the day wore on, but she dared not complain. She was sure Cecil wouldn't stand for such things. Cathe dragged behind and Leona noticed her face was beet red. Much more and Leona would demand that they take a break. It was silly to be going at such a rapid pace through such an unforgiving environment.

"We're almost there," Cecil spoke up. "Don't give up on me now. No one wants to camp in the desert."

She seemed to be talking more to Cathe than Leona who could bear another hour of walking. For the time being, she was glad that she wasn't wearing her greaves. They would have weighed her down immensely out here. By the time they reached town, Leona was beginning to see double, Cecil's pace had actually slowed and poor Cathe was stumbling along.

When they entered town, Cecil immediately stopped their forward momentum, grabbed both of them and ran behind a building. Leona hated being pulled around so arbitrarily and she almost furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance afterwards—almost because she simply did not have the energy for such things at this point.

"They almost saw us," Cecil said in hushed tones to her hard breathing companions, "Good thing I was here or else you would have ran headlong into your parents—and Dad was there too."

"All of them?" Leona asked a little shocked, "How did I miss them?"

"We're tired out of minds. Let's just catch our breaths here, but we can't stay long."

"Did Dad…did he seem worried?" Leona asked despite herself.

"I have 20/20 vision not 50/50…" Cecil said haughtily, "What does it matter? We still have a mission to do with or without their approval."

True enough, but it was at that moment that Leona began to think of the consequences of her actions. She'd felt useless before, she felt as if she had not been needed as her parents were planning how to fix her stupid mistakes. Then she made a rather big decision while she was too angry to rationally think things over and now here she was on a foolhardy adventure trying to not be caught by her parents. She didn't want to be caught now—she'd gone too far and it would be beyond embarrassing to give up now. But…was her father alright? He'd been known to have bouts of conniptions when she was out of his sight for more than five minutes and he was supposed to be watching her. Couple that with the fact that he was already on edge, already emotionally spent with her mother's mounting pregnancy and Leona simply did not see him faring very well. Her mother she did not worry about. Even in the midst of total cataclysm, her mother would keep a cool head, but her father was different. Lucas was gone and now so was she. Would he blame himself? Was he blaming himself right now?—she didn't want to think about it.

They had sat down to catch their breaths, but they wound up falling asleep despite their fear of getting caught—their tiredness won out in the end. Cecil might have been the last one to drop off, but she did not even attempt to stave off the inevitable. Luckily, they were not found and by next morning they were well rested albeit a little cramped from their sitting positions.

Where would they go now? Searching the city even though their parents might still be there, seemed like a terrible idea. The first chance they got, they exited the city and finally they voted on their next destination—Meltokio. No one had voted against it, but Leona didn't like how far away it was. They'd have to go through her hometown, Altamira, just to get there. They'd take a ship just like she'd done to get to the tournament and finally have access to a nice array of people without fear of being caught by their parents—they hoped. They did have Rheairds…

Leona was ready to take a nice, hot bath by the time she set foot in Meltokio and Cathe would probably agree with her. However, Cecil was more concerned about their inventory and how depleted it was. They finally decided that they'd visit the general store, replenish their stores and then find a room and relax—Cecil was outvoted when she declared that they did not have time for such luxuries.

It was a surprising if not pleasant surprise to see some familiar faces in the general store when they visited it. Leona did not expect to see the twins there. Was there another tournament?

"Ladies, always a pleasure to see to all of you," Eros said in over-welcoming tones. It caused rolled eyes from both herself and Cecil.

"And I as well," Zeph said though far more reserved than the other. He still wore his trademark kimono clothing.

Eros looked as dashing as always if not more so. Leona really wanted to know why they were there, but thought it would be rude to start with such a question…

"What are you two doing here," Cecil asked unashamed.

"That's my Cecil, always straight to the point with you," Eros said without even blinking an eye. Cecil was largely unamused.

"Getting some gels," Zeph answered her, "Thought we might kill some time entering into the singles tournaments."

"So this is just a pastime?" Leona said incredulously, "Travel all the way to Meltokio for the tournaments—

"And other things," Eros interrupted her. "But there's far less traveling. You see, during the summer when we're not in school, our family vacation here. Far better than dying of boredom in that hick town."

Now it made a lot more sense why they would run in to them in Meltokio of all places.

"Might I ask, what brings you all here," Zeph said.

Cathe looked at Cecil and then Cecil in turn looked at Leona. She ended up nodding to the unspoken question: Should we say? She was sure Zeph had caught all of that and an eyebrow raised ever so slightly.

Cecil began and then Eros stopped her. "Yeah, we know Lucas is missing. Leona's parents and Lloyd came over days ago and explained the whole thing—including the fact that you girls were missing. My brother and I knew for a fact that you must have gone out to look for him yourself. Anyways, Mom's on her way back to that hick town to use her intelligence networks to locate all of you including Lucas."

"You knew and you just pretended as if it was otherwise?" Leona asked incredulously.

"Just wanted to make sure your stories matched up and I've decided just now that I'm going to join you—you know where he is, don't you?" Eros said.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Cecil said confidently. "But why are you helping us? You really want to take time out of your busy schedule."

"Listen, Cecil, I care about Lucas too," Eros stated matter-of-factly. "If he's in trouble I want to be the one who helps him. Also," he stared with a grin, "I want to see how 'intelligent' Mom's intelligence network is. Word is they've lost their touch, not nearly as in tuned with the world as they used to be."

"The more the merrier!" Cathe said excitedly.

"Indeed," Zeph said with a smile. "My intentions are a bit more simplistic. I'm only doing what any friend would do for another. I'm not trying to make Mom look bad or prove anything—I just want to find him and bring him back if we can. I do believe he was taken against his will."

"We won't know until we find him," Leona said to him. "Now, however, we need to find an elf or half-elf—anyone who could help us break a seal. I know he's in the Triet Ruins—we just need to get in there."

"You'll tell us how you know all this on the way, right?" Eros asked.

"We'll fill you in," Cecil said quickly, "But we're wasting daylight, let's get a move-on already!"

As usual, Cecil was anxious to move on. The twins had been prepared to go to a tournament so they had on appropriate battle gear. Leona took this time to buy herself some decent greaves before leaving the place. Instead of just three people they now had five and Leona's fear that she was going about this all wrong was placed on the backburner. It was too late for those kinds of thoughts. They were going to do it and she had the support of all her friends.

Zeph, being the polite person he was, made small conversation with her, but she could tell that he was more interested in Cathe who for some reason was stuck at Cecil's hip. His eyes kept traveling to her. Leona simply called her over leaving Cecil and Eros to themselves. From what Leona could see, Eros seemed to be doing most if not all the talking and every once in a while, Cecil would reply haughtily sometimes even angrily. She wondered if she should interrupt soon…

Leona found herself listening rather than talking. She no longer felt like holding dialogue and especially not for more than an hour. She tired of such activities quicker than most. In this instance, she was glad that Cathe was there to distract Zeph and draw her out of the conversation. Eventually she was in her own world, her eyes looking to the skies watching the sun travel across and eventually set. The easy laughter of the two beside her and the low tones of the two ahead of her was mere background noise. It was Zeph who called her out of her reverie—they would be setting up camp now.

Cecil slept far away from everyone else purposefully. Eros, despite what Leona had interpreted as misgivings towards his brother, slept near Zeph. In fact, Leona wondered if they slept a bit too close together, Zeph turned on his side slightly curled and then Eros inside of the slight cup that the other had made both turned more or less towards each other though their heads were at different levels and impossible to look directly at the other. They'd fallen asleep almost instantly. Cathe, by design, slept by herself and Leona kept watch.

Her eyes kept returning to the twins. She had to admit that it was one of the cutest scenes she beheld with her own eyes. Despite everything, they were clearly quite comfortable in each other's presence. She wondered about her own soon to be born sibling. Would they be as close as that? At a moment's notice, could they fall asleep together? Would they be able to talk about anything to one another? Only time would tell.

Leona had fallen asleep before the night ended, but she was the first to awaken the next day, but she still laid down. Everyone else hadn't even moved. The first movements was from Eros. He obviously didn't think anyone was watching as he looked up towards his brother and gazed at him for an inordinately long time. Even she was becoming uncomfortable and she wasn't the one who was being stared at. She cleared her throat once drawing Eros' immediate attention. She must not have been able to conceal her confused look because when he sat up he was smirking at her.

"What are you looking at?" he asked startling her. She hadn't expected him to say anything.

"N-nothing," she said despite herself.

"It's amazing," he said with a sigh, "to know that there'll always be another person who has the same fabulous face, don't you think?"

"I…guess…"

"Ah, well, you wouldn't understand. Did you happen to come up with a better plan other than randomly find an elf who can do magic?"

"Sorry, that's the best plan I have."

"Same. The world must be ending if we all agree with one of Cecil's half-baked plans."

"Why do you have to say things like that?"

"Cecil's half-baked plans?"

"No, the world ending."

"It's a figure of speech," he said dismissively.

"Maybe, but…"

"Leona is there something you're not telling us?"

"I told everyone everything. You know about the prophecy."

"Oh that? The world isn't ending, alright? I've seen no signs of that. Have you? Besides, I don't believe in silly words that may or may not make sense. They're vague for a reason. It's so we idiots can attach meaning to it after the fact and pretend that some prophecy helped in figuring out the future."

"I suppose."

But it did not change the fact that Lloyd had heard the same words years earlier slightly differently and the circumstances in which they ceased. Something terrible was going to happen and Leona simply wanted to put her fears to rest. If only they could find someone, anyone that could help them. She wanted a miracle or at least close to it. Elves lived in this world alongside humans. It was only a matter of time. They might have stayed in Meltokio but there were too many eyes there. Too many people to spot them.

Then, a miracle was granted even if she didn't know it at the moment. After the rest of the crew awoke and they were on their way again an explosion went off in the distance. Immediately, Cecil spurted off to see what happened and the rest followed cautiously. It was a caravan, now in poor condition. Leona thought it would be a good idea to hide first before running to it. Had Eros not dragged the headstrong Cecil into cover, they might have been seen by the man who stepped out of the now steaming caravan from some mysterious fire blast.

"An elf!" Cathe said in which Zeph covered her mouth quickly.

Leona's breath caught in her throat when she thought the man was looking towards them and the bushes they hid behind, but his attention was drawn elsewhere as two guards struggled back to their feet.

"That caravan," Eros said in low tones, "I remember it now. I've only seen it one time before. It's what they use to transport criminals to the Meltokian prison."

"What are you saying?" Leona asked in harsh whisper.

The guards barely had a chance to bring up their weapons in defense. The ground crackled beneath them and two small balls of fire struck them clean in the chest and they were knocked out easily.

"I'm saying…we should probably make a run for it."

AN: So many ideas, so little time. I know I've been negligent, but I've simply had no time to write and this chapter is shorter than I wanted, but it'll do for now. A small treat for my audience. Our lovely assortment of companions are now embarking on their journey. Let's hope they fare well. Will they find Lucas on their own or will their parents beat them to it?