This chapter is brought to you by an absurd case of shingles. For the love of puppies and all things fuzzy…don't ever get shingles (adult chicken pox, not roofing material).

So…having written this while in extreme amounts of pain I apologize if it's a bit…weird. (re: see author's note)

Chapter Seventeen

Their fall continued unchecked from the crystal room to an unknown depth below. Rydia's scream ended in a panicky note as she had long run out of breath on the downward plunge.

In between frantic pulls for air and the wind whistling in her ears, Rydia heard Rosa chanting. Rydia couldn't tell if the woman was praying for their souls or casting a spell, but she applauded the woman's absurd amount of focus. When it seemed nothing was going to save them, she felt something tug at her back, like someone pulling hard at her robes—abrupt and uncomfortable. She sensed her fall begin to slow down, the lights of various floors becoming more even and less rushed in the blur of her vision. She could only imagine that Rosa had cast Float on them—it was the only explanation—but Float had never been meant to deal with this.

It slowed them down, but they still hit solid floor at a greater speed than was comfortable.

"Hell's teeth!" Kain bellowed, a graceless heap of limbs and armor sprawled out on the floor.

Cecil fared little better, his legs buckling beneath him and his armor clunking heavily onto the tile, cracking the floor and shorting out the lights that ran within it.

Edge stood with a pained expression on his face. "I really hate this place," he muttered, rubbing his hands up and down his shins.

Rydia agreed with every fiber of her being, but she couldn't make her mouth form words and merely wobbled in place, feeling like the contents of her head had been turned to jelly.

It took them a few minutes to collect their bearings, but once Cecil had mastered his balance, he was looking up to where they'd fallen from. "How is it," he said angrily, "that we keep getting so close to what we've been trying to reach, only to have it snatched away from us?"

Edge gave him a look with both eyebrows idly raised. "Do you really want an answer to that question?"

Rosa sighed, and in it, an implicit warning. "Not now," she said to Edge.

Edge simply shrugged and walked away while Rydia took a moment to gaze upwards as well.

"I can't even see where we fell from," she complained with a disappointed sigh.

The frustration on Cecil's face matched the tone of his words. "There's no getting back up there," he agreed.

"There has to be a staircase, and we did see Rubicante use a teleportation device so we know such things exist," Rosa insisted, trying to be helpful. "There has to be a way to get back up there."

"I hate to be the voice of reason here, but it's time to move on to the next order of business," Edge interrupted her from across the room.

They all turned to look at him with varying degrees of annoyance.

"There's no getting up there," he explained, contrary to their hopes. "If there was, you would have succeeded the first time you climbed this damn tower. The only way to get back up there is to return to Eblan however you got there in the first place and start all over again," he bluntly pointed out. "That in mind, there's no time. You need to change your strategy and we need to find a way out of this tower."

"You're telling us to give up?" Cecil asked.

"I'm telling you to find another solution," Edge replied. "It sounds like you've been wandering around in circles. Why not just cut off the monster's head? Why not go after Golbez directly and not the crystals?" he asked.

They all stared at him. Rydia was slowly coming to understand what he was going on about. They'd been putting so much of their energy into retrieving the crystals and so little into pursuing Golbez himself, that until now she hadn't given it a thought.

"Even if you'd stolen back the crystals, what then?" Edge continued. "Return them to where they belong only to have them stolen again? Constantly live on the run until Golbez found whoever was holding them?" Edge asked, tapping his temple with a finger. "Think, people."

"What, then?" Kain asked, acerbity on his tongue. "What do you suggest we do since you seem to have all the answers?"

"Get the hell out of this place," Edge answered flatly. "The rest is up to you," he said, looking directly at Cecil.

"Me?" Cecil asked, a little wryly. "And here I thought it was you who wanted to be in command."

Edge shook his head and smiled. "Some leader you are if you let an outsider usurp your command in only a few short hours," he laughed, but his expression was serious. "It's you they answer to, not me. Besides, you seem to have some knowledge of the man you're after. I'm just here to streamline the process."

"You'll follow my lead?" Cecil inquired, skeptical.

"Do I have a choice?" Edge asked lightly.

Cecil studied the prince anew and narrowed his eyes. "No, you really don't."

"It's settled then," Edge answered, gesturing for Cecil to step forward. "Lead the way."

Rydia raised one delicate brow, once again not comprehending. Ever since Edge had joined their group there had been a back and forth of power, with Edge always instigating the battle of wills. He'd fought Cecil the entire way, questioned his judgments, but now he was deferring to Cecil's leadership. What was he playing at?

With Cecil re-established as the leader of the group, Rydia suddenly felt Edge's gaze on her and she could only give him a quizzical, disapproving look. There was something in his glance, a little glint of mischief in his gray-blue eyes that she hoped wasn't meant especially for her. Before she had a chance to wonder, he'd turned on his heel and walked away.

"Maddening," Rosa muttered close to her ear. "I know he's a prince, but who does he really think he is?"

Rydia glanced at the white mage, whose usually soft features were angled in concentration. "Rosa?"

"I'm just," Rosa began, and then sighed. "I'm tired of the constant bickering, the questions. We had a clear mission, a goal, and he keeps finding faults in it."

Rydia stared ahead where Edge and Cecil were keeping the lead. "But what he's saying makes sense, doesn't it? What would we have done once we had the crystals?"

Rosa emitted what sounded like a groan, and Rydia took it to mean the other woman had no acceptable answer to that question. Instead, "I'm just worried that without a clear purpose, Cecil might be too discouraged to continue," Rosa said.

"He's gotten us this far," Rydia answered confidently, more confidently than she felt.

Rosa's mouth quirked into a wicked grin. "How far is here?" she asked.

Rydia frowned. "At least it's somewhere," she said quietly.

"It means we're lost again," Rosa said knowingly and lengthened her stride.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Being lost had never been a feeling that Rydia enjoyed, even as a little girl. She remembered vividly, a time when she'd left Mist entirely on her own. Despite her mother's warnings, there was a pool in the woods that the other children always spoke about. A pool, they said, that could tell you your future if you looked into it. It was a rumor, of course, but Rydia had been too young to know the difference and the excitement of it led her away from the comforts and familiarity of home into the unknown world beyond the village walls. What she found wasn't a pool, but a snarl of undergrowth and tall grasses, and she'd been lost for hours before her mother had found her—cold, exhausted, and frightened. She felt that way again here in this tower. They were in uncharted territory, in corridors that spanned miles. The tower had not yielded any of its secrets and there had been no staircases leading up, only several flights leading down. It felt that each step downward only escalated their defeat.

But something peculiar had happened to the five of them as the minutes stretched into hours. They were not four and one fighting separately, they were five altogether. When they had seamlessly acclimated to each other, Rydia wasn't sure, but in light of all the other uncertainties that surrounded them, this small bit of unity lifted her spirits.

She also felt relieved, that with everyone working so well in tandem, she had less and less cause to use her magic. Even the bickering ceased after a while.

They might be lost, but they were efficient. Edge had taken a position at the front of the group, a scout of sorts. He guided them past obstacles and fiends and overall kept the pace brisk.

"Tell me again," Edge said after a long pause, "everything you know about Golbez."

Cecil explained what they had seen and heard about the dark knight during their travels. Edge listened with occasional nods, asking a few pointed questions during the telling. Rydia also listened intently as much of the information Cecil was explaining was new to her ears.

"He refused to kill you?" Rydia was surprised to hear herself ask when Cecil recounted the incident in the Tower of Zot.

Cecil glanced to where she stood by his shoulder, startled to see her there. "He hesitated," Cecil answered with a distant look, his thoughts somewhere far away.

Rydia looked at Edge and for once the ninja's confusion mirrored her own.

"Is it possible the two of you knew each other in the past?" Edge asked.

Cecil shook his head. "No, I'd never met him before he took over my former command."

"Where in the world did he come from—if not from Baron?" Edge wondered aloud.

"No one knows for certain," Kain answered from the back of the group. "But he is well-trained, well-placed, and the men, women, and fiends under his control are in many places."

Edge looked back at Kain, his brow furrowed with suspicion.

"Excellent," Edge muttered, turning his attention to the hallway in front of them. "I like a good challenge."

They walked for a while longer until the ceilings became higher and the rooms larger.

"This is starting to look a little familiar," Rosa mentioned, gazing up at the scaffolded ceiling.

Edge suddenly sprinted ahead.

"Edge?" Cecil called out, jogging to keep up. "What do you see?"

But Edge was too focused on something else to attend. Finally he stopped in front of a large set of metal doors and began to pull at them until they budged. Cecil comprehended the situation and began pulling on the opposite door until there was a gap of several feet on either side, Kain joining them an instant later.

Rydia and Rosa were the last to reach the doors, but once they did, Rydia's eyes widened with surprise when she saw what was on the other side.

An airship. Un-manned, undefended, and sitting docked in a large bay.

Edge squeezed through the opening in the doors and began striding toward the ship, the others following at a safe distance.

"An enemy airship?" Cecil asked, staring at the airship like it was a miracle he could scarce believe.

"Let's take it," Edge announced, climbing up the gangplank with his gray cloak billowing behind him. They followed him up in a daze. Never had Rydia expected them to get out of the tower so easily.

Once they were standing aboard the ship's deck, the shock wore off enough for sense to return to Rydia's mind. "Steal an enemy airship?" she protested, her eyes finding Edge's. "What if it's another trap?"

"I stole this elixir from Rubicante, does that mean it's going to be any less useful?" He asked, walking toward her and waving a glass vial in the air in front of her face.

"That's what you were doing?" She demanded, finally learning the answer to a question that had been in the back of her mind for hours.

"What, did you think I'd go rummaging around in his trousers for no reason? No, don't answer that," he suddenly said, giving Kain a glare that all but dared the other man to try.

Cecil actually cracked a smile, the first in hours, and shook his head.

"Besides," Edge carried on. "It wouldn't make sense for them to sabotage their own ship. As I understand it, there aren't a lot of these in the world."

"That's true enough," Kain muttered in agreement.

Edge walked farther onto the ship's deck. "I like this ship!" he announced, hands planted on hips as if he'd just conquered a new land.

"Do you know how to pilot anything like this?" Cecil asked doubtfully, looking eager to take the controls himself.

The look Edge gave him was unimpressed at best. "You Baronians have all the fun and leave so little joy for the rest of us. We're always getting your second-hand junk," he said bitterly, looking around at the ship's deck. "But this is brilliant."

"It might be brilliant," Cecil intoned, "But there is a certain amount of training involved with operating one of these ships."

"How hard can it be?" Edge asked as he strode over to the controls and started flipping switches until the engine sputtered to life. "What is it you people name your ships after?" Edge asked over his shoulder, still fiddling with the controls. "Birds? How about we call this one the Falcon—that sounds heroic enough."

Rydia scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Edge turned to wink at her. "Somehow I knew you'd agree," he said with a smirk beneath his mask.

Disgusted, Rydia marched to the opposite side of the ship; arms folded, and hoped they didn't end the day as a blazing pile of wreckage. Cecil and Kain were arguing with Edge at the helm, but she was too tired to care anymore about the finer points of aviation. She just wanted to be free of this tower and hoped that someone got the ship into the air.

Finally, Edge pushed another knob on the console that opened the bay doors in the outer tower wall. On the other side of the doors was the sheer rock that made up the core of the earth somewhere between the over and underworlds. This did get her attention.

The ship moved forward unsteadily, Cecil and Kain both eyeing the sides of the bay doors as Edge navigated the ship through. Once they were clear of the tower, the nose of the ship angled downward and they began to descend. Slowly.

Cecil strode closer to the ship's wheel where Edge was standing, brows crawling closer together with concern.

"If you would just let me—" Cecil tried saying, but Edge forestalled him with a gesture.

"If I want your help I'll ask for it," Edge replied.

Cecil's frown deepened.

Rydia watched the whole exchange with amusement and heard Rosa stifling a laugh close by.

"I've never seen Cecil so flustered to not be in command of an airship," Rosa giggled against her hand, trying to hide her face.

Rydia smiled as well, seeing Rosa's mood lighten.

The airship continued to descend at a slow pace, Cecil staying close by the helm while Edge learned the controls for himself. It was like watching a concerned parent reluctant to give up the wheel.

When the ship finally leveled out, Rydia saw the base of the tower to be exactly as she remembered it. The field of fiend corpses and the line of dwarf tanks with the encampment behind it.

"The dwarves are still holding ground!" Rosa exclaimed, leaning over the railing.

"Dwarves?" Edge asked, perplexed.

Rydia realized Cecil's story of their account had ended in the Tower of Zot, and they hadn't had a chance to brief the prince yet about the existence of the dwarves.

Edge stepped away from the ship's wheel, hands in the air. "Ship's all yours," he announced with a laugh. "No one said anything about Dwarves and I have absolutely no idea where we're going."

Cecil took the wheel and turned the ship, looking relieved to be in control again, and guided them south.

"Rosa, you might want to wave something white in the air so the dwarves know not to fire upon us," Cecil called to her from the other side of the ship*.

Rosa nodded in understanding and began to un-fasten her cloak. In Rydia's eyes, Rosa's cloak had always been white and pristine, but now she saw it was stained with dirt, grime, grass, blood and flame. How interesting, she thought—the differences between her perceptions and reality. Rosa flung the cloak over the side of the airship, waving it vigorously for the courtesy of the dwarves down below. Rydia watched, waiting to see what the dwarves would do, and held her breath.

No shots were fired and the airship continued to sail the warm air above the encampment.

"Thank goodness," Rydia said, relieved, as Rosa pulled her cloak back over the railing to re-fasten it at her shoulders.

Their journey over the magma plains and plateaus continued without incident. No one pursued them from the tower and no interference came from the ground. After several hours, they finally saw the Dwarf Stronghold and Cecil landed the ship as close as he possibly could before the five of them disembarked.

As they walked to the castle's gates, Rydia noticed Edge's expression become more and more quizzical.

The guards at the gate recognized them and hurriedly opened the gates to grant them entry. As they walked underneath the portcullis, Rydia realized she had forgotten how squat and burly the dwarves were and felt like a giant walking beside them. More guards came to collect them once they were past the gate, and these escorted them to the throne room where King Giott would be waiting for them.

They walked in silence, the feeling of dread building. They had intended to come back with good news, and what they'd returned with was news of failure. Rydia looked ahead at Cecil and saw his brow creased with concern, no doubt considering how he was going to explain himself to the king. To her left, she saw that Edge was no longer wearing his mask and appeared uneasy, completely bewildered by the surroundings and the dwarves carrying axes on either side of them.

Their escorts bade them pause while they opened the throne room doors, and with bows, they were ushered in to speak with the king. This meeting was far different from the last time Rydia had been here, racing from the ramparts to save Cecil and the others. She'd been robbed of this experience the first time, and was a little in awe of the pomp and circumstance of this visit. King Giott stood from his throne when they entered, wearing war armor that glittered in the torchlight. All five of them bowed, and when they lifted their heads, the king was searching each of their faces.

"I've been waiting for weeks, after the news of your flight from the tower reached my ears. What has become of the crystals?" the king asked, his bushy brows knitted together.

"Your majesty, it is with great regret that I tell you the mission was unsuccessful. Golbez had moved the crystals beyond our reach by the time we arrived," Cecil explained.

The king nodded. "My men informed me you were pursued on your way out of the tower. I had hoped it was because you had retrieved the crystals, but now I know it was not."

"We were unable to retrieve the crystals, but we were able to dismantle a weapon within the tower, and its destruction alerted Golbez's soldiers of our presence. Yang bought us the time we needed to escape."

The king's expression turned gloomy. "This is hard news to hear. I see Sir Yang is not with you and I am sorry for your loss. He seemed a good man."

Rydia felt the tears gather in her eyes at the mention of Yang but she fought them off.

"We did attempt another foray from the top of the tower but that was no less successful aside from removing one of Golbez's generals as a threat," Cecil elaborated.

"We are back to where we started, then. The crystals are beyond us aside from one," the king mused.

"We plan to go after Golbez directly, no more games," Cecil informed the king.

"I understand," the king answered, gazing off at something no one but he could see. "Presently, Golbez has been hard at work attempting to acquire the last crystal by forcing open the Sealed Cave. It is only a matter of time before he succeeds. If you wish to confront him, that would be the place to find him. Though, I was hoping you might go and remove the Crystal before he does."

"But if we enter the cave, what's to stop Golbez from doing the same? We may as well give him the Crystal," Kain objected.

"Either he obtains it on his own, or you intervene and we stall his plans for a while. There's not much we can do at this point other than slow him down," the king replied and then gestured to someone standing in the room behind them. Rydia turned and saw a little girl with dark skin and reddish hair start walking forward.

"Luca, bring me your necklace," the king instructed.

The little girl trotted up to the king and snaked a long chain from around her neck, handing it to Giott.

The king held a key in his hand for them to see. "This necklace, you see, is the key to the Sealed Cave. Golbez has been trying to find this object throughout the Underworld for weeks now with no success. With good reason, for it has been well hidden in plain sight. No one can pass through the entryway of the cave without it. Please take it and do what you can to ensure the safety of the final crystal."

Cecil stepped forward to retrieve the key and bowed. "We will try."

"By the way, it should interest you that the man named Cid was found by some of my men near the entrance to your world. He's been brought to our infirmary to rest."

Rosa looked sharply at Cecil. "It can't be—" she breathed.

The look he gave her in return was one of disbelief and relief. "Could it?" he asked.

Remembering where they were, Cecil hastily turned back to the king. "Your majesty, with your permission, we'd like to meet with our companion."

"Of course. Please take your time. We can speak more of plans later."

They took their leave of the king and were allowed to find their way to the infirmary. The room had the smell of sickness and herbs, and it didn't take long to find who they were looking for among the beds of dwarves being tended for a variety of wounds and maladies. Two dwarf nurses in simple gray robes were fussing over him and he was raising quite the ruckus.

"What, is it time for dinner again already?" his surly voice boomed across the room. "I tell you, the cuisine down here could use some work. If I have to eat one more—"

"Cid!" Cecil blurted out, rushing forward to join his friend at his bedside and leaving two bewildered nurses to back away believing that the troublesome man was now someone else's problem.

"You're alive!" Rosa cried, hand over her mouth from shock.

Kain stood at the foot of the bed and gave the engineer a sly grin, shaking his head. "Put on a real show, didn't you?"

Cid grinned back at the dragoon and chuckled.

Edge, who had been waiting for all of two minutes for someone to explain what was going on, nodded to Cecil. "Who's this old codger?" he asked.

Cid swiveled so fast upon the bed that Rydia jumped back a little. "Codger?" Cid demanded. "Did that unmannered lout just call me an old codger?"

Edge made a face. "You're the unmannered one!" he shot back.

Cid whirled toward Cecil. "Who is he?" he asked with an accusing bandaged finger still pointed in Edge's direction. "Who is this snot-nosed little brat?"

Cecil, at a loss, looked back at Edge.

"I'm Prince Edge of Eblan," Edge supplied with a half-smile. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, old man."

Kain sighed, eyeing the prince. "He has a foul tongue, but the matter of his royalty seems true enough," he answered darkly.

"Let's not forget my dashing looks and mystifying skills," Edge reminded the dragoon with a now-devilish smile.

Rydia rolled her eyes and groaned. "Edge please!" she scolded him, gesturing toward Cid on the bed. "This man is injured!"

Edge gave her an amused glare but bit his tongue and Cid pointed at them triumphantly.

"Ha!" he bellowed. "So Rydia's got you reined in with that pretty little face of hers, eh?"

Edge screwed his handsome features into a scowl, but didn't answer.

Satisfied, Cid returned his attention to Cecil. "Now that's settled, what's become of Golbez? Did my plan to block their passage to the Overworld work? Were you able to reach Eblan and get the crystals?" he asked in a rush, and then turned to Edge curiously. "Eblan, you said? Oh, so you were able to get there," he mused, looking at Cecil again. "That makes more sense, then."

Waiting for a turn to speak, Cecil jumped into the midst of Cid's revelations. "We weren't able to retrieve the crystals, Cid. But your plan worked brilliantly. No one followed us."

"But you were able to get back into the tower, yes? And still nothing?"

Cecil shook his head, looking at Rosa. "We defeated the last of the Archfiends, but Golbez still holds all of the crystals save one."

"And the Enterprise is still above ground, of no use to us," Rosa added.

"Besides that, the enemy ship we stole cannot cross the magma. It looks to be an earlier design than the rest of the Red Wings," Kain mentioned.

Cid grinned widely and leaned back against his pillows, closing his eyes. "Doesn't sound like you can do much at all, does it? Guess it's up to me again! I swear, you kids would never get anything done without me," he announced, throwing his feet over the side of the bed and pushing himself up.

Rosa had a look of outrage and disbelief on her face. "Cid! What are you doing?" she exclaimed.

The dwarf nurses, seeing the commotion sped back to Cid's bedside. "Sir, you must stay in bed—at least until you've healed!" they fussed.

Cid shook them off, wavering on his feet, but still standing. "We young folk are quick to recover!" he declared. "There's no time to be lounging about. If you want me on my back again, you'd best come and lend me a hand!" he added, striding out of the room with the nurses in tow.

Everyone stood stock still for a moment, watching Cid leave and not believing he was getting out of bed in the first place.

Rosa gave Cecil a sidelong glance. "He certainly seems well enough," she said dryly.

"Indeed," Cecil laughed with a nod.

"So Cid is…" Edge began, fishing for a response.

"An old friend, and the engineer behind the construction of the airships," Kain supplied.

"Ah," Edge answered, comprehending at last.

"Will he really be able to mend our airship?" Rydia asked, perplexed. "The last time, he had to go all the way to the Overworld."

Cecil shook his head. "Who knows," he said with a shrug. "Cid has a way of making the impossible happen."

"Any idea of how long it will take him to mend said airship?" Edge inquired.

"Why, are you that impatient to move on?" Kain asked.

Edge shrugged. "If these airship repairs are going to take a few hours, I was thinking of maybe sitting down? We haven't exactly paused to rest much in the past few days."

Kain snorted. "Tired already?"

One of Edge's brows shot up in an amused fashion. "I was only thinking of the ladies," he replied, pretending to be deeply wounded by the dragoon's words.

Kain pursed his lips and shook his head.

"The ladies can speak for themselves, thank you," Rosa pointed out angrily, "But I admit, that's not a bad idea," she agreed reluctantly, looking meaningfully at Cecil.

"I'm going with Cid," Cecil said instead. "The rest of you can take it easy for a while."

"If you're going with Cid, I'm coming with you," Kain mentioned, inviting himself along.

Cecil nodded. "I'll come find the rest of you once the repairs are complete."

Cecil began to walk to the door, but Rosa reached out and gripped his arm. "Don't let him do anything…well, Cid-ish," she said, looking him directly in the eyes.

"I'll look after him," Cecil assured her with a knowing smile and then left the room with Kain behind him.

Rosa then gave Edge a penetrating look. "I realize you haven't been here before, but please don't do anything to wear out our welcome among the dwarves."

Edge smiled, placing his hand over his heart. "You have my word; the only person I'll pester is Kain."

Rosa was not amused. "I know that you're a prince and used to a certain level of leniency, but we are all guests here as well as in the rest of the dwarf territories."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Good."

Rosa led the three of them away from the infirmary at a brisk pace and back to the inn where they had been allowed to rest the last time they were here. Rosa spoke to the dwarf in charge of the room and the dwarf nodded, gesturing toward the beds.

Rydia saw that the room was just as they had left it—short beds pushed together—and she flopped down onto the closest one. When she opened her eyes again, only Rosa was still in the room with her. She sat up, frowning.

"Where has Edge gone?" she asked.

Rosa, who looked to be half-way asleep, just shrugged. "So long as it's quiet, I don't mind where he's gone," she answered sleepily.

Rydia thought about taking a nap, but another part of her was still annoyed. Annoyed with Edge. Careful not to disturb Rosa, Rydia crept out of the room in pursuit of the ninja. Her journey was longer than expected as she walked down long hallways and into rooms and towers with no sight of him.

She was meandering aimlessly down one of the castle's wings when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Are you looking for someone?" she heard Edge ask. "Or just me?"

She spun on her heel and found him closer than she'd expected. She jabbed a finger at his chest and he gave her a confused, lopsided smile. "Explain something to me," she seethed, doubly frustrated by him finding her and not the other way around. "One minute you're joking, the next you're deadly serious. Make up your mind! Why do you keep chipping away at Kain, and arguing with Cecil's decisions, and why do you keep giving me those strange looks of yours! Your parents they—" she trailed off, but then found her resolve, lowering her voice. "This should have been your time to grieve and instead you're making jokes and enjoying yourself at our expense. Do you feel nothing at all?"

Edge gave her a mildly apologetic look but his gaze turned hard. "Tell me this. Since we left the tower, how often have you thought about the failure of your last mission?"

A response died on Rydia's tongue as she considered his question. "What?"

"How often have you thought about failing to take back the crystals since we left the tower?" he repeated.

She looked away, frowning. "I haven't."

"Exactly. There's a time and a place for things," he replied, pushing past her. When it was obvious she was only going to keep following him until he gave a better answer, he went on. "You needed someone to remind you what your true purpose was," he said with a sigh. "Cecil needed to be reminded why he was leading you on this insane journey in the first place, Kain needed someone to distract him from himself, and you needed to be kept informed one way or the other."

"What do you mean, informed?" she demanded. "I've always known what's been going on—what we've been doing this for."

He looked at her over his shoulder, doubtful. "You must have sensed it long before now. How they always neatly hedge you out. For some reason they view you as someone much younger than you actually are, someone they feel they have to protect."

Rydia felt her chest constrict uncomfortably. He was right. Annoyingly, he was right.

"What about you?" she asked, trying to keep up with him.

He stopped walking so suddenly she almost bumped into him. "I'll grieve when and how I choose to. It's none of your business," he snapped, once again taking Rydia off-guard. It felt like he had been drawing her into his confidence only to force her out again. Was he being nice to her out of desire or necessity?

"So all of your jokes and nonsense has been to distract us?" she asked angrily.

He gave her an irritated look. "Why can't you just appreciate the gesture and move on?" he asked. "I understand that the four of you have some history behind you, and yes, I'm the new person, but even I can see there are issues. Now if you don't mind, I'd kind of like to distract myself from all of this," he went on, gesturing to the castle around them.

Rydia stopped trying to follow him and stood in the middle of the hallway just as confused as when she'd set out. His whole demeanor had changed toward her again and she wasn't sure which version of him was real.

Damnation she silently cursed, and then groaned. Between Cid and Edge, she wasn't sure who was worse of an influence. But why did the prince intrigue her so much—that mystery of there being more than what there seemed to be.

Frustrated, she turned and began walking in the opposite direction, back the way she'd come.

A/N:

*This is assuming, of course, that the dwarves understand the white flag's significance. We'll just say that they do.

On the list of most painful things that have happened to me and I don't wish on others:

Shingles.

Black widow spiders.

…looking at spiders.

Y'know…it's a sad commentary on the stress in one's life when they are in their mid-twenties and suffering from SHINGLES.

Moving on to more writer-ly things…this chapter was delayed yet again for a few reasons. One of those reasons was because I was also working on something else…and you may be seeing the fruits of that labor in the near future. Hopefully I will be in a more coherent frame of mind when that happens.

Things to look forward to in the coming weeks/months/years:

Something coming out of hiatus ;)

Why is it coming out of hiatus? Because I have now run out of excuses not to finish that fic.

Post-game fic: it IS happening. Some of it is written. Some of it I am currently writing. All of it is EPIC.

How post-game? Quite far, actually…

Will I follow the After Years? And skip all the years in between? No. But I might steal bits from it. Ceodore's name will not be one of them.

Romance? Um yes. Eventually. Between whom? Lots of people ;)

Angst? Definite yes. Double portions.

Multi-character focus? Yes, but mostly Rydia. And Edge. And Kain… Reasons why this is are because there is an over-saturation of Cecil/Rosa everywhere in existence always. Some of you are already writing some quite wonderful fic/novelizations about Cecil and, by default, Rosa's exploits. I leave them in your very capable hands. I have a niche to fill. I must fill it. Like caulk.

Will the Eidolons return to the story and stop hiding in some hazy corner as they have been doing for all of WoTC? Um. Yes. Eventually. Will things from TSL be explained at some point? Will they? WILL THEY? Yes. Eventually.

Will there be children? Must that question even be asked?

Do I have an overarching plan? Yes, generally. Some things fall where they may, but most things are all shaping up to go to very specific places and have been for all the years I've been working on this series. If you're wondering…why on earth is she doing this, where is she going with this, will she abandon this epic!fic mid-way and should I even bother reading it even though there are, on average, six months between updates? The answer is, yes I will finish this. Someday. Eventually.

I must also say, that another huge part of the reason I haven't updated in a while again is because of a HUGE case of plot bunnies. They attacked with reckless abandon and some of the material they've churned out is stunningly beautiful. If only all of you could see the different characters in my mind and directions this story goes…IF YOU ONLY KNEW you'd be freaking out as much as I am right now! Okay, maybe some of you already are, in which case, I apologize because I've just increased your anxiety.

I had every intention of writing two nights (two weeks) ago and sat at my screen dreaming up more plot bunnies instead of being productive and, y'know, writing. Fail.

Also I've been noticing a few new faces on the reviews page! Welcome! It's been exciting to see some new readers—I appreciate that you've taken the time to wade through all this material (and my infernal author's notes) to this present chapter :)

Some of you may have noticed me lurking about in your review pages as well. I'm excited to see more FFIV fics popping out of the woodworks!

Keep up the momentum, friends! And thanks for reading!

Haha, oh pain medications…

~myth