A/N: First off, I apologize for the delay. I know I said I would be updating in September and then that didn't happen. Life attacked with a vengeance. In fact it was so vengeful, that not only was I working too much, sleeping too little, and fighting the plague, but my poor car died in battle…leaving me car-less, whiplashed, and angsty.

Things seem to have calmed down, and SO…I am finally getting back to this chapter…which…seems to be in need of being split up again. If only so that I can get rid of the page breaks titled: "EPIC BATTLES THAT MAKE ME WANT TO STAB THINGS WITH SPORKS". Meaning? I'm giving you more potatoes and withholding the meat…because the meat is eating ME at the moment (how perverse).

Um…but after writing this, reading it, editing it, re-writing it, throwing things at it, printing it off, reading it again, editing it again…this is what's become of it (and the next three or so chapters). This was hovering around 17 pages before I split it…

Also, I realize that lamias and coeurls don't appear in the tower until after Edge has joined the party…buuuuut I don't really care that much…it's kind of an amalgamation of several tower fiends…this is by no means a bestiary or a gamefaq…plus I think coeurls are cool.

Chapter Nine

A dragon on the last floor, and now couerls? Black's warning of how dangerous they could be now struck uncomfortably close to home. Rydia decided that she definitely hated the feline fiends, and ardently, at that. Their claws, their teeth, and the whiskers that splayed out like whips—everything about them, she loathed. Her robes, right down to the leather vest she wore, were torn and slashed. She had hurts in places she never knew she could hurt and she couldn't help but wonder: what next?

Her tired feet carried her forward, the cracked soles of her boots making scuffling sounds on the cold tile floor. It had taken them hours to find the last set of stairs, and that discovery had been pure luck. The search for the next set was proving to be equally long and far less fortuitous. She'd started counting time by the quantity of couerls they had slain. The current tally was twenty—she estimated that to be, well, a long time. It was hard to tell whether they were wandering in circles, all she knew for certain was that her magic reserves were dwindling to nothing. She glanced at Rosa and had only to notice the other woman's dogged pace, to know they both felt the same way. When were they going to rest?

Cecil had led them through a number of corridors and into a few chambers which she held high hopes of being safe havens, but each room turned out to be guarded. When a Flame Hound jumped out at her from the corner of one room, she reacted so quickly with a blizzara spell that she encased the entire room in ice, frosting even the hem of her robes.

Rosa gave her a look bordering on wonder and disbelief.

"What was that?" Cecil asked.

In truth, she had no idea. Her head was still swimming from the after-effects of the spell. Had she really conjured the blizzaga spell by reflex? Her tired mind couldn't really wrap itself around this development, but she welcomed the new addition to her arsenal even if she dreaded the headache that accompanied its use.

It was only after the ice melted and water pooled on the floor, that Cecil noticed a chest lying on the floor.

"That explains the guard," Yang remarked, loosening the straps of his claws.

Cecil stooped to break the lock and furrowed his brow when he saw what was inside.

"You would think Golbez would want to make this more difficult, not easier" he said, holding up a breastplate that shimmered like snow.

Kain stepped forward, grasping a corner of the breastplate. "These weren't meant for us," he said after a moment. "These were meant for the humans in Golbez's employ. They need protection from his monstrous creations as much as we do. It might even be the personal supply of whoever works in this part of the tower."

"Doesn't he have control over his own minions?" Cecil asked, looking up at his friend.

Kain shrugged. "Whip them into a frenzy and set them loose. No one's safe no matter what side they're on—though, most of the humans under his control aren't much different."

Rydia glanced at Kain in that instant and saw a shadow fall on his face. Was he also talking about himself?

"Still," Kain continued, "This is a good sign. It means there are others close by."

Rydia couldn't imagine many humans working for Golbez, especially if their own allies, the fiends, had as little love for them as they did for herself or Cecil. But knowing that they were getting closer made her heart pound faster.

They returned to the main corridor and continued on. Every room for the next while turned out to be treasure troves of equipment and much needed supplies. Some of the items they found were useless, and most of what they found were mechanical odds and ends that had been dumped into heaps, but there were a few gems among the trash. It was the continued presence of traps and guards that let them know they were traveling in the right direction.

More hours whittled away, and a sullen mood crept onto the company. No one spoke, or at least not very often. Cecil was dedicated to the path ahead, Yang was grim, and even Rosa was subdued and reticent. The white mage glanced furtively at Kain from time to time, and then at Cecil, as if trying to reassure herself that her companions were real, that this place was real, and that she was as lost as they were. Rydia couldn't help but feel everyone's worries and mirror them herself. What would they find at the end of this journey? Would they be able to find the crystals? Where would they go with the crystals in hand? Would Golbez return to stop them? Her head swam with possibilities, wondering if this entire climb had been worth the effort at all.

Finally, after traveling down an endless corridor, the group came upon a branch in the hall. Cecil paused, trying to decide which way to go.

"A split," Yang said tiredly. "I'm tired of this maze."

"I agree," Rosa sighed.

Cecil was still deliberating when Rydia spotted something. A door? Her interest was piqued by that discovery alone.

"Hey, isn't that a door?" she said, but no one seemed to have heard her. Kain and Cecil were having a debate over whether or not to split up, and Yang and Rosa were arguing that there was no way they'd be able to find each other again if they got lost.

Rydia rolled her eyes. This could go on for ages. Besides, the hallway was straight and unobstructed. She could quickly investigate and return with good news before they realized she was gone.

They hadn't even encountered any fiends for a long while, and the strange noises had ceased. Only the thrumming of the tower gears remained, and something about the headiness of the air made Rydia feel completely at ease. She would be safe. She headed in the direction of the door, hoping it would turn out to be a staircase. It wasn't that far away…but when she reached the section of hallway that looked most like the door she had seen, it was just a different kind of panel. She blinked. Had she been seeing things? She was sure it had been a door. She was about to return the way she'd come when she saw another doorway just a little further onward, around a bend in the hall. She hesitated, wondering if she should go back or investigate. If it really was a doorway, she could at least tell Cecil what she had found.

Desire overrode caution, and she reached the doorway, and this time her eyes didn't deceive her. It slid open, and she spied a staircase that was faintly lit by lights on the floor, outlining each step in silhouette. Stairs! Her mind rejoiced. She was about to return to her friends, when she realized she was incapable of doing so. Why weren't her feet moving? Why couldn't she turn away? The impulse to go up the stairs was overpowering. The lights began to shimmer, as if they were insubstantial, not even real. It was around that moment, she realized that something was wrong. Panic began to build in her chest. She'd been lured here and now she was trapped!

Focusing her will on moving her legs, she managed to twist herself to face the other direction. She let out a gasp and nearly stumbled when she found what had lured her here. It was a lamia, vaguely human, but grotesque in the manner of a corpse—merely a shadow of humanity. The lamia's face was structured like a woman's but her eyes were black. Her teeth were sharp and pointed, protruding from red, parted lips. The rest of her was the body of some great worm or slug, the pallor of gray dying flesh. Rydia retched up nothing, and still unable to move, eyed the monster with growing concern. Had Cecil realized she'd gone off on her own? Why hadn't she made sure they knew she'd gone to investigate before she'd wandered off? But this section of the tower had been so peaceful and quiet…she hadn't anticipated…she'd been so stupid!

Shiva's voice screamed in her ear—fight back! Move your arms! Think! Belatedly, Rydia realized that while she'd been so focused on her feet, she'd neglected her arms. She fumbled for her whip, but the lamia was faster. The creature lashed out with one clawed hand, slicing into Rydia's right arm like a knife. Rydia cried out in pain, her fingers going numb and lifeless as blood poured from the wound and down her arm to the floor. All of a sudden, the hallway began to spin. Rydia fell to her knees and began to see things that couldn't possibly be right. It wasn't a lamia in front of her…it was Cecil.

"Cecil?" she called out, bewildered.

The look in his eyes was angry, accusing. Somewhere in Rydia's mind it registered that somehow this was her fault—that she was the problem. Had she been about to attack her own companions? Was she suffering from some kind of spell? Had she been dazed all along and was now coming to her senses? But…why would Cecil strike her? He would never do anything to harm her…he'd promised. Then his expression changed. He was relieved? He offered her a hand, and overcome with a sense of security, Rydia began to extend her left hand…but when she was so close to reaching him, all of a sudden his hand retracted. There was nothing for her to grab but empty air. She blinked furiously, trying to figure out what was going on. She was feeling dizzy and sick all at the same time, and it seemed like she was seeing things in double. Cecil and the lamia were both fighting to occupy the same space in her vision. And there was something else. A couerl? What was going on? Why were its claws sunk deeply into the flesh of Cecil's shoulders, pulling him away? Sense was escaping her…

There was a ferocious snarl and a loud snap, and in that instant, Rydia realized that Cecil had never been in the hallway with her. It was the Lamia all along that now lay dead on the ground, its gray tongue laying slack out of its mouth, and the head twisted at an awkward angle where the neck had broken. Rydia's disgust made her crawl backwards, now that the paralysis had worn off, and with the paralysis, the poison that had been clouding her mind. Now she just felt sick to her stomach, and the burning sting returned to the wound on her arm. She gazed at it like a sleeper, prodding her flesh gingerly, trying to find where the laceration began and ended.

She only attended to it for an instant before she looked up and saw the coeurl staring at her with green blood on its fur. It wasn't growling. It wasn't advancing. Instead, it was sitting back on its haunches observing her. That was unusual. The poison began to wear off further and Rydia slowly made sense of what was going on…in fact, the revelation almost made her cry tears of joy. This was no coeurl.

"Black?"

"What are you doing—getting dazed and half-killed?" he asked, cocking his feline head to the side.

Rydia attempted to regain some composure, but her head was dizzy. "It isn't as though I planned this…What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Right now? Checking up on you."

"Right now?" Rydia parroted, squinting at him.

"I came here on a mission from the queen, but it's just coincidence that I found you. Lucky thing, too, or you would have been mincemeat by now."

"Oh."

"You're welcome. Now," he said, walking towards her and patting her left shoulder with a paw. Rydia couldn't help but find it patronizing. "How are things?"

Rydia stared at him. "Fine," she said simply, her mood souring by the minute.

"Yes, I can see that. No potions? Not even bandages?"

Rydia sighed wistfully, closing her eyes. ""I wish I hadn't forgotten white magic…"

Black gave her a reproachful stare. "Not even potions? What in the world did we train you for?"

"I gave my last potions to Cecil," she answered sheepishly.

"Excellent."

Black closed his eyes and brought his muzzle close to Rydia's injured arm. He exhaled a soft mist on her skin.

"That should stop the pain and help stem the bleeding, but it's not healed, not by a longshot."

Rydia looked at her arm, relieved that it no longer hurt. Then she looked at Black anew. "You were sent here on a mission from the queen? Why?" she asked, changing the subject.

"The spy who helped us learn about Golbez's plans is in terrible danger. I've been sent to help them escape, if at all possible."

"You'd go to all this trouble to help a spy? You're sure you can trust them?"

"Fenrir argued a case in their defense. I'd say we owe this brave soul quite a lot."

"All that trouble for a stranger, but not for a friend, huh?"

Black ignored the barb. "So explain to me where your human friends are. Why aren't you with them?"

Rydia scowled at that. Leave it to Black to get right to the point, and while she was injured on top of things. "Well, I just…I thought I saw a door."

"They didn't follow you?"

"No." thinking quickly, she added, "I figured they'd notice that I'd left."

He stared at her intensely. "You were hoping they'd notice without you having to tell them, weren't you."

The thought honestly hadn't popped into her head until he'd said it, but once he'd put it into words, that was exactly what she'd been hoping.

"It would have been nice if they did," she admitted grudgingly.

"That's a good way to get yourself killed."

"I wasn't going to go far," she protested, "but I was tricked into wandering farther and farther off. By the time I realized I'd been trapped…well, you know the rest."

Just then, a voice echoed down the hallway.

"Rydia?" the voice called. "Rydia are you there?" It was Rosa.

"Over here!" Rydia shouted back.

Black's ears twitched in the direction of Rosa's voice. "Ah, good. Your friends have come looking for you."

There was something about the tone of his voice, that made Rydia pause. "Will I see you again?" she asked.

Black gave her a sympathetic look. "That lonely, eh?"

"No. I never said that," Rydia squirmed, annoyance gnawing at her.

Black laughed, which was strange coming from his feline mouth.

"Do you need me to walk you back?"

"I'll be just fine, thank you," she answered, and then added, "Thank you for your help, Black."

He nodded, "Well, I'm off, then. Be careful. There are still traps around here. I can sense them."

And with a shimmer in the air, he was gone. Rydia was left where she was, clutching her wounded arm until the others finally rounded the corner.

"Rydia!" Rosa exclaimed, running toward her.

"What happened? Cecil asked, overtaking Rosa in a few quick strides. "One minute you were with us, the next you were gone."

"I thought you were following me, but it turns out you weren't," she replied, chagrined.

Rosa shook her head, golden hair cascading around her face. "This tower is getting the best of us. Fiends aside, we can't afford to get separated again," she added, giving Cecil a piercing look.

The look in Rosa's eyes was so earnest, that Rydia felt guilty for wandering off on her own without a word. It was true, she was relieved that the five of them were together, but the last few floors had been draining on her, physically and emotionally. She had begun to believe she was invisible. Rosa's regard of her injury, however, revealed just how un-invisible she was.

Rydia winced when Rosa pulled at her sleeve and prodded the wound to determine its severity. "Ow!" she cried.

Rosa gave her a stern look with her blue eyes, and swiped a lock of out of her face. "However you managed to stop the bleeding, I can't figure out, but you're lucky. Several of your tendons are severed and you've lost a considerable amount of blood. You shouldn't be conscious."

The white mage began an incantation and touched Rydia's arm, allowing her magic to flow directly into the wound. Sinew and muscle knit back together, vessels and veins re-joined, and then the magic faded. Rydia looked down at her arm and saw that it was mostly healed.

Rosa sighed deeply and rocked backwards, but Cecil caught her shoulders and kept her upright. "That's all I have left," she murmured.

Rydia had guessed that Rosa was nearing her limit, but now she knew for certain. She hadn't been able to completely knit the skin back together, so all that remained was a thin scratch of the much deeper, serious injury. Rydia didn't mind. It would heal on its own.

"Rosa, I think you should take this," Cecil suggested, removing a phial from his pack. It was made of crystal and sparkled in the light of the hallway.

"Ether," Rosa said tiredly. "Not nearly as good as sleep, but it'll have to do."

While Rosa rested, Yang was inspecting the lamia's corpse. He saw the claw marks and gave Rydia a curious look.

"May I ask how you managed to defeat this creature by brute force without the use of one arm?" the monk asked.

"I had the help of an Eidolon," she admitted. "It was close."

"Very close," he repeated, nodding at her arm. "Next time let me in on the hunt," he added with a hurt expression.

"I won't be wandering off again anytime soon," Rydia promised.

"Speaking of wandering," Cecil mentioned, "I think we've found the next staircase."

That cleared through Rydia's thoughts like a bolt of lightning. "Wait, you mean the staircase was real?"

"That's the first bit of good news to come our way in hours," Rosa said, easing herself up to standing.

"Are the two of you able to keep going?" Cecil asked Rydia and Rosa. The two women looked at each other and then at him.

"I think so," they answered in unison.

Cecil sighed and nodded, looking all his companions in the eyes. "Let's go," he said.

Rydia linked arms with Rosa. "I wonder what we'll find on the next floor," she said hopefully.

Rosa grinned. "Hopefully no more trouble than we've already encountered. I'm tired of coeurls."

"I know," Rydia agreed.

Both women smiled at each other, relieved to be together, and followed Cecil upward into the unknown.