A/N: Long delay. More health issues, more insurance issues…buuuut moving on…approaching the entrance of the Doctor. Which may yet be another chapter away…*sigh*

GWnN is on hiatus. I won't be able to get back to it for some time, given that I have a hard enough time keeping on track with one project. The character from that fic will not mingle with present cast until POST-GAME, so there's no real conflict of story lines.

I'm going to set a deadline for myself to get from here to the moon by January, because once January hits I'm GONE. I have one month to write roughly 50,000 words…Yay NaNo a month late! Haha…eech…

Also, Rydia's outburst in this chapter…sooo matches my current mood, haha.

Chapter Ten

Rydia noticed Cecil's eyes settle on her from time to time as they climbed the tower stairs. She felt her cheeks redden involuntarily, mostly from shame but partly from annoyance. Ever since she'd gotten separated, he'd been intensely cautious about letting anyone out of his sight. She didn't appreciate being babied and she was tired of still being regarded as the seven year old trapped in the body of a girl ten years older. She had known, returning to the group, that there would be differences between her expectations and reality, but the thin veneer of confidence she'd had had been beaten and tattered to pieces.

"I'm not going to get lost," she said a little heatedly as they walked.

Cecil glanced back at her in what had become too much of a routine. He knew exactly where to find her eyes. "What?" he asked.

"I'm not going to get lost," she repeated, meeting his gaze with one of her own, green eyes flashing. "You keep checking to make sure I haven't wandered off again."

"I'm not—" he fumbled for words.

"You don't keep checking to make sure Rosa's still here," she countered.

He made a strangled sound in his throat and looked away, but Rydia was not about to back down. She quickened her pace so she could catch up to him.

"What is it?" she insisted.

Cecil came to a complete stop and gave her a steely look. Rydia suddenly felt like she had stepped into the jaws of a lion and was only vaguely aware of the rest of the group in her periphery staring at the two of them in utter confusion.

"You could have died," he said firmly.

"I didn't die!" she pointed out.

"I told you I would protect you. Did you think that age had anything to do with it?"

His eyes were begging her to understand, and part of her did, but her pride was still wounded.

"I can take care of myself!" she argued, full knowing that if it hadn't been for Black, she very well could have died.

To his credit, he refrained from laughing in her face at the boldness of that statement. "I have no doubt that you are very capable of taking care of yourself. We all are. But none of us has ever faced what we're facing now—not alone. And if you find my concern wearying," he said, his voice rising, "just remember that not all of us have had the luxury of time to adjust to your transformation as you had!"

"Luxury?" she balked, and noticed that he winced at the word. "Do you honestly think I enjoyed spending ten years of my life away from all of you—away from sunlight—never knowing where you were, what was going on, and hoping that someday I'd be able to join you again? Do you have any idea what it's like to spend ten years worrying?"

"Rydia," Rosa tried to intervene.

Rydia held up a hand to stall her. "We've traveled for weeks, completely ignoring how things have changed. Not just for me!" she said, placing a look on Rosa, who blanched.

"Rydia," Rosa repeated, her voice dropping low.

"Rosa was a prisoner. She was in a place like this; have we forgotten that already? And Kain-," she barreled on, "—he was with her! If he's really joined our side, why isn't he telling us where to go? He's been here before! Shouldn't he know? Well?"

Everyone looked at Kain until Cecil interceded. "We can't expect him to be a master of this maze after only a few months of being here."

Rydia was not pleased. Not at all. She and Kain stared hard at each other for a long drawn out moment.

"It's—I'm fine, Rydia," Rosa said, severing the tension. "I know you're worried about me, but that's behind us now," she added, glancing at Kain, who bowed his head. "What's done is done."

Rydia moved her eyes to Rosa's face. She saw the worry in Rosa's brow, the dark circles under her eyes. She was begging Rydia to let it go, to allow the illusion that nothing had ever happened to continue. Rydia closed her eyes, respecting Rosa's wishes—for now. Then she returned her attention to Kain.

"Where are the crystals?" she asked him directly, changing the subject.

Kain looked like he'd been punched in the gut as he let out a long slow breath. "I've never been to this stretch of the tower," he explained. "The tower of Zot was a pinnacle, but not the entirety of the tower. Golbez didn't trust me enough, for one thing, to allow me to do any exploring, and the crystals were only in his keeping."

"I don't believe you."

"That's your prerogative," he replied, gaining some confidence. "I have no directions to give; no comfort, no explanations. All I can do is follow wherever this rabbit trail leads and hope we can find the crystals before Golbez returns."

She began tapping her foot on the tiled floor in an agitated fashion, sweeping her gaze over everyone. "Then someone explain to me again—what is it that Golbez plans to do with the crystals?"

Cecil shook his head, the plating of his armor clinking as his shoulders moved. "We're not sure. All we know is that the combined energy of the crystals could create a calamity or open some kind of pathway."

"Pathway? A pathway to what?"

"The moon, maybe, or maybe that's just a diversion from something else."

Rydia pursed her lips. "How does the moon fit into all of this? Is Golbez trying to bring it down or create some kind of magic?"

"I'd rather not find out," Cecil said finally.

"And what happens when we get to the crystals?"

Cecil sighed, staring straight back at her. "We'll figure it out as we go."

Everyone looked at him apprehensively. Rydia was dismayed that after all their time spent climbing, they still hadn't a clue what they were going to do afterwards.

"That's good enough for me," Yang said reassuringly. "We've gotten this far already, what's a little more walking?"

Cecil nodded appreciatively to the monk, and it was obvious that Yang had just saved him from another uncomfortable explanation. "Any more questions?"

No one spoke. Cecil took this is a cue to continue walking, and they did for several stretches of corridor.

Rydia found that she couldn't stop shaking. Her outburst had left her jittery and unsatisfied. She'd been met with more questions, and she was sure that Cecil and Rosa both hated her for dredging up the past.

"Easy, easy," Yang assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It needed to be said. Just let it rest," he whispered.

She looked up at his warm brown eyes, finding comfort in how calm and steady he was. Somehow, he always managed to make her feel safe.

She smiled weakly and focused instead on her feet. She was avoiding the furtive looks that Rosa was giving her. She shouldn't have brought up the white mage's imprisonment, but she wanted to know! How was it that Rosa could carry on as if Kain had never been one of her captors?

After an hour, she convinced herself that Rosa would only discuss it when she was ready to do so and not a moment sooner. If Rosa could pretend that everything was normal, so could she. Besides, she still had to prove that she could hold her own, that she could be relied upon; that she wasn't a child.

She pursed her lips and put on her bravest face, relieved to find that there were no more mazes to contend with on their continued upward climb. The route had become straighter and narrower with fewer chances for her to become a damsel in distress. The next four floors followed each other in quick succession—staircases breeding staircases—and after hours of mind numbing indecision on previous floors, it was a joy to be making progress.

As they climbed higher, the sting of the argument seemed to wear off, and moods improved as well. She and Rosa were palpably delighted to note, for at least a few minutes, that the coeurl population had dwindled. Instead, they found new fiends to take their places. Kain at one point stopped to investigate something on the floor and found a snakeskin twice as long as he was tall. Weary glances were exchanged. It was obvious by the collective expressions that no one had any interest in encountering the fiend that had once belonged to the skin.

The odds of this happening didn't improve as they moved forward.

"Look at all of them," Rosa said when they'd come across a great pile of snake skins, pale and opalescent in the light.

"I hope we don't find the nest," Yang said, sifting through them, and then pushing them aside. "There are dozens of them."

"Could it all be from the same fiend?" Cecil asked, trying to be optimistic.

"Maybe," Kain supplied, "But I wouldn't count on it."

Rydia chewed on her lip, gaze flitting between Cecil and Kain. She had never been fond of snakes, let alone snakes that could swallow her whole. She toyed with an errant strand of green hair, wondering if the way ahead had been cleared. Maybe this time, they'd get lucky. After all, there was an Eidolon roaming the halls…. After finding more snake skins and evidence of recently eaten meals, she reached the conclusion that she and the others were on their own. The pang of jealousy that Black had come here for any other reason than her was hard to ignore.

They picked their way through piles of snake skins, and Rydia's mind had begun churning thoughts beyond the here and now. She wondered about Black; she wondered about his mission. He was rescuing a spy? The same person who had warned them of the attack on the Feymarch? Who was this person? Would they ever meet? And why had the queen allowed two Eidolons on a mission beyond the Feymarch without the support of a Summoner—namely, her?

She brushed shoulders with Rosa, and the white mage shot her a quick look. "Rydia? Something else on your mind?"

Rydia pinned her eyes ahead, right where she approximated Cecil's shoulder blades to be beneath the long white cape slung over his armor. She had a mind to sulk for a good long while—about Black, about Kain, about everything—and was a bit chagrined that Rosa had chosen just then to suddenly find her interesting.

"Just tired," she muttered.

Rosa didn't seem to buy this explanation, but she merely pursed her lips and put one soft-leather booted foot in front of the other.

After several miles of long, straight corridors, Rydia finally decided to trade all of those issues with another. She hadn't lied when she blamed her foul mood on exhaustion, and now she was beginning to worry about the fact that none of them had stopped to rest in several hours. They hadn't encountered any fiends, but they were all becoming footsore from the forced march through the tower. Kain had begun to favor his left foot, and Cecil's shoulders sagged.

She and Rosa had been drinking ethers often in order to stay sharp and alert, but they still had not found a place Cecil deemed safe enough to take any real sort of respite. They paused from time to time in dead ends and alcoves, but they hadn't slept in days. It occurred to her that the sleep deprivation probably had something to do with the fact that it had taken them so long to traverse some of the trickier floors.

As if reading her thoughts, Cecil slowed down and finally stopped completely. They had arrived at an alcove, more like a hallway that had been forgotten and half completed. There were many levers and dials on the wall, but all of it was incomprehensible. Nonetheless, it proved to be an excellent way-station.

"We'll sleep in shifts," Cecil said, loosening the straps of his pack with the hilt of his previous sword jutting out the top.

Rydia leaned up against the wall and allowed her body to slide downward. Her legs rejoiced at no longer having to carry her weight, but her mind was still wide awake. Nerves tended to do that. Instead, she relied on a ritual she'd begun several days earlier to quiet her mind. She recited incantations to herself, taking the time to make sure she did them properly. She had tucked a few scrolls into her belt before leaving the Feymarch and she pored over them intently when she struggled on a few of the phrases.

This activity helped her. Not only did it calm her down, but it helped to keep her sharp. If this journey had proven anything to her, it was that her magic had changed in ways she hadn't expected.

She had been practicing often in the hallways, testing any alterations to her spells on the closest fiends. What she'd come to find was that the source of her magic—the crystals—was amplified. She didn't have to strain to channel their power, and realized belatedly that it probably had something to do with their proximity. The whole tower practically buzzed with energy, and the higher they climbed the more she felt it.

It explained why she received more power from her intermediate spells, and why certain spells were no longer behaving like they once had. It was exhilarating and a bit terrifying, but she refused to let her spells get the better of her, not in front of Cecil.

She closed her eyes and began reciting some of the longer incantations to spells she'd half learnt from Ramuh. She hoped that in doing so, her mind might unload itself of some of its burdens and settle into sleep.

"What are you doing?" she heard a deep voice ask, and it broke her out of her reverie.

She opened her eyes slowly, irritated that she'd been interrupted—especially since she knew who it was that had done it.

"Practicing spells," she answered, looking up at Kain.

"I'm sorry," he said a bit hurriedly. "It's just that you looked like…" His words failed him and he shook his head. "It's nothing—nevermind," he said finally and left her.

She raised her brows and watched him walk to the edge of the alcove, peering out into the hallway beyond. He fidgeted with his gauntlets and refused to look back at her or anyone else. She glanced at Cecil and saw him looking at her curiously, a dozing Rosa leaning against his shoulder. His regard surprised her, but she knew why he was interested.

He was probably relieved that they had spoken since the argument. Cecil wanted her to be able to see the good in Kain, to overlook his shortcomings. She chewed on her lip. As much as she cared for Cecil as a friend, she wasn't ready to breach that gap.

Before she could get lost in her own thoughts, Yang was beside her. Apparently, he hadn't been able to fall asleep either, and he offered her a dry piece of bread.

"It's not much, but it's something," he said, as she took the proffered bread from his hand.

"Thank you," she said, breaking off a smaller piece and munching on it.

"You look confused," Yang said after a moment.

She glanced at Kain again and sighed. "First he keeps his distance, then he tries to open up, and then he moves away again. I can't decide what he's up to. Whether he's being repentant or if he's staying close for protection."

"I haven't seen him do anything to cause concern," Yang mused. "In fact, in the weeks I've traveled with him, the last few days have been the most enlightening. Whether or not he's fully on our side, I'm willing to say that he is."

"How could you know that?" Rydia asked. "You don't trust him, too, do you?"

"I had my doubts, I still have some. But," Yang paused, looking over all of them. "We can't afford to be divided. It's dangerous, especially this far into enemy territory. We need each other for survival even if it's not our choice of company."

"What if he's leading us into a trap?"

"He isn't leading us anywhere," Yang pointed out. "We're trapped already, really. We can only go up."

"I can't believe I'd eventually have to place my trust in him," she muttered. "All those years of seeing his face…of knowing what he did to Cecil, to Rosa, and now here we are."

"If he begins to act suspiciously, you and I will know. I'll support you if it means we have to protect ourselves from within—I've said that before. For now, we have to admit that staying together is better than being separated. He's an asset to us now, and until he ceases to be an asset, we have to rely on him."

Rydia steepled her fingers against her nose. "I know—I mean—I understand. I just don't like it."

"Get some rest," he said with a smile. "After all, where would we be without our grown-up Summoner?"

She snorted. "You're not going to let that go, are you?"

He made a face. "Not any time soon."

She rolled her eyes and watched Yang scoot to the other side of the hall. Their brief conversation had done what her recitations couldn't, and she found her eyelids becoming heavier by the second. Within a few minutes, her exhaustion had taken over and she was asleep.

…

Cecil's hand on her shoulder shook her awake. Her head shot up, but instantly, she felt fatigue creeping over her senses again. It had only been a few hours since they'd stopped, but Cecil was getting them up again.

She pulled herself to her feet, grabbing her pack and swinging it over her shoulders, feeling somewhat sick to her stomach. The unbearable march was about to resume.

The snakes that they had feared for the last few floors finally made their entrance after the group had rounded a few bends. A few of them were frightful to be sure; after all, they were giant creatures with the faces of men but for their long pointed ears and long scaled bodies. In the end, they proved to be not as impressive as their shed skins made them out to be. The five of them made quick work of the beasts, and Cecil led them past several more snake dens with similar success. In the course of their fighting and traveling, they passed many more rooms than they'd seen in several floors. In a few of them they found more equipment that had been left by previous occupants. Even Yang came upon a weapon he could use—a set of what he called "cat claws". They had long razor sharp metal protrusions that extended a good foot in length. They were different from his other claws, Rydia noticed. They looked more delicate, ornate, but in battle proved to be made of finer metal than anything else he'd used. Against the snakes that slithered down from ceiling beams and around corners, Yang's new weapon was a boon.

They had been walking down one straight stretch with doorways on either side for a while and Rydia's eyes had taken to wandering again. There was one alcove in the hallway cast in shadow from the ceiling lights. She fancied there was something there; lurking in the darkness, but Cecil passed by it without incident and she began to wonder if her nerves were playing tricks on her again. She was about to pass it by herself, but somehow she couldn't resist.

All it took was one glimpse and the next thing she knew—she was stone.

…

"Rydia!" Rosa's voice called out to her. It always seemed to be Rosa's voice, Rydia thought ruefully.

She slowly felt her senses return to her and heard the crunching of stone as it crumbled off of her skin.

"What happened?" she asked, bewildered.

Rosa didn't answer, instead she had turned her attention to an exact stone replica of Kain. She began to chant the esuna spell, and Rydia took the moment to look around. The body of a woman lay on the floor, punctured in many places by Cecil's sword and slashed by Yang's claws. Blood covered the hall, and where she had expected to see the woman's head, she saw a mass of snakes, all limp.

"Don't look at her eyes," Cecil told her quickly, making her dart her gaze away.

"What was that?" she asked again.

"A Medusa," Yang supplied. "She turns whoever meets her gaze into stone."

Rydia was flustered. "But we were almost past that alcove, what was she waiting for?"

"Someone to look back," Kain answered for her, shaking pieces of stone from his armor. "She can't spring a trap if the victim knows they're walking into one. Looks like she got us both."

Now Rydia was angry, mostly at herself. This was the second time she'd been caught off-guard and she was annoyed that she'd shared the experience with Kain. Far-be-it from her to admit they had something to bond over.

"Well. That was fun," she replied sarcastically.

Cecil assessed the both of them. "As soon as we can find another place to stop, we'll take a rest."

Rydia appreciated this bit of good news and took a few shaky steps forward, testing her newly liberated limbs.

There would be no more Medusas and no more life threatening encounters for the rest of the present floor or the next two. The group accepted this gratefully, relieved that they could conserve their strength.

Finally, they paused to rest in another small alcove, and they were all drinking from canteens, when Cecil jerked himself away from the wall he was leaning against and rushed forward.

Rydia followed his movement with her eyes, searching the hallway for what he had seen. There was a swish of gold and the swipe of a tail, and she sensed the unmistakable presence of an Eidolon. At that, Rydia sat up straight, setting her canteen aside. Was it Black? She stood to join Cecil, and they both caught each others' eye.

"Couerls," he said quietly. "I think they're following us."

Rydia stared into the hallway, and saw another great feline bound into view. It was as though time slowed down for an instant, and the span between the creature landing one stride and beginning another, was enough for Rydia to be taken aback.

Magic. Powerful magic. Illusion. It struck her so hard, it stole her breath away. It had looked at her, and she at it, and for a millisecond, they'd had an understanding. The creature's eyes were a stormy blue and filled with consciousness.

Without thinking, Rydia laid a hand on Cecil's arm, halting him.

She couldn't pry her eyes away from the spot in the hallway where the creature was now absent, but she knew Cecil was looking at her inquisitively.

"I assume you have a reason for not letting me draw my sword."

"They're no threat to us," she said, breathlessly.

Cecil shifted to face her better, and Rydia finally brought her eyes to meet his. They were somewhere between blue and lavender, and she realized for the first time, how anxious he was about surviving this place. "Rydia…are you alright?"

She knew that for him, it must seem strange that she would be acting this way. What would she think, if he or any of the others suddenly decided that a fire breathing dragon was harmless?

"That wasn't a couerl," she said finally. "I don't know who or what it was, but it most definitely wasn't a fiend, and it wasn't some mindless creature. The other creature you saw, the first couerl, was an Eidolon, though I'd hardly call him a couerl…he's somewhat different…it's hard to explain."

"How could you tell from so far away?"

Rydia shook her head. "I can sense it. And I know for a fact that there was someone of interest to the Feymarch within this tower."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"Because we have our mission and the Feymarch has its own. That Eidolon is a friend of mine. I trust him with my life."

"I've never seen you summon an Eidolon such as that."

"He hasn't given me leave to summon him. He comes and goes of his own accord."

"Just like a cat," Cecil wryly observed.

"Just like a cat," Rydia agreed.

….

A/N: Okay, I'm ending it here because it felt like a good place to split this chapter. This chapter and chapter eleven are very much straight continuations of each other and I'll try to have eleven up soon, especially since it's mostly written minus some tweaks.

Happy Thanksgiving, to those of you celebrating it this week!