It's been a rough week/month again, friends. I think I may have gone gray in some spots, haha. And there have definitely been days worthy of frying pans…hmm…Thank goodness for the miracle of sleep!
Anyway, a thought occurred to me during the writing of this chapter. It had to do with how much traveling the party actually does and how much character development happens along the way. And…if each of the subsequent chapters is from one destination to another…I have to jam quite a bit of jam into these chapters. And possibly some peanut butter, too. The updates might be a bit slower…but they should also all be more on the longer side…
Chapter Eighteen
Edge strode down the hallway of the dwarf castle, agony tearing at his insides which he hid behind a face schooled to show no emotion. How perfect it was that he had just told Rydia he had staved off their doubts for a while—distracting them with inane banter and confrontation—to disallow them from dwelling on their own failings. And now here he was, the one in need of distraction, and the most likely comfort to be found, he had left behind to ponder her thoughts alone. He felt ill, lightheaded, upended, and the strangeness of the dwarf castle was skewing his sense of reality.
He had postponed thinking about the Tower until just this minute, and now that his companions had engaged themselves in other activities, the grief struck him powerfully. He ducked into a dark corner, one with a bench inset into it, and curled up on it, disappearing into the shadow. He brought his head to his knees and closed his eyes, gasping for air in place of the sobs he refused to utter. Their faces—the haunted, tortured faces of his parents swam across his mind's eye. The last he had seen of them, they had been vibrant and alive,not the product of some madman's folly. They had been people.His parents. And now he would be forever left with the image of their bodies grafted with those of abominations. Not completely human, not completely monster, existing and not existing at the same time. Trapped. How terrible had their torture been? Had they been aware of it all or had there been some mercy to be found in their grotesque transformation? It was hard for him to imagine his father, the stern, fearless man that he had been, succumbing easily. And his mother, always with a quick smile and a sharp tongue—had she suffered under the butcher's knife?
He tried to force it all away; to think that it had happened to someone else—to someone else's parents. Strong fingers gripped his knees; fingers trained for combat, fingers that held a sword…fingers that had once been held in turns by both of his parents. Gone. Tears escaped his eyes and traced rivers through the grime on his face. He was alone.
He wished fleetingly that he hadn't driven Rydia off, but at the same time, felt shame for the tears that stung his cheeks. He longed for companionship but was too proud to show the weakness that accompanied the need for it. The only person who could distract him now was himself, and he tried his best, his thoughts wandering to his new companions. What the hell had he been thinking getting caught up with these strangers from Baron? Idiot.
Like it or not, there was no going home. He was separated from everything he knew by a tower he had no chance of climbing, and a path to the Overworld that was blocked. He had thrown his lot in with strangers and could only follow them wherever their journey led.
Which was where exactly?
Who was Golbez? What did he want? What else was he after? He understood the desire for power, the craving for things that couldn't be had, but there was always a purpose. What was the purpose behind all of this insanity? He was too exhausted to think too hard on the subject, and returned to his previous thoughts. He let his grief and sorrow flow from deep within and then he channeled it to anger. He let it grow in the pit of his stomach until it had steeled his resolve. He would find the person responsible for the death of his parents. He would bring justice to the person who had decimated his people. Golbez would payfor this and he decided he didn't care what his motivations were. Someone else should carry the burden of his pain.
This new resolve focused his thoughts, brought some clarity. His breathing became even and his head ceased spinning. He lifted his face, staring absently at the hallway around him. With revenge as his motivation, he could keep placing one foot in front of the other. He could walk to the ends of the earth if it meant he could carve those horrible images out of his head, knowing that the person responsible was brought to justice.
He would return to his companions with the strength to continue, but not just yet. His emotions were still too raw, too close to the surface, to face them all again. They could wait.
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Rydia was dumbfounded. As she marched back to the inn, she fumed with anger. Distraction. Everything he had said and done had been to distract them, to keep them moving. She hated the feeling that she had been manipulated, but another part of her seethed at thinking she owed him thanks for postponing the dread they'd carried. And the way he'd snapped at her, it made her wonder. Was he the one who really needed to have his burden carried a while?
She finally returned to the room she shared with Rosa, and saw the white mage just as she'd left her—asleep. She wished she could be doing the same, but the restlessness that had plagued her earlier bothered her still. She sat down on the edge of the bed she had previously claimed, but only just, as Cecil appeared in the doorway the instant she looked up.
He looked at her with a tight smile, and then cast an inquiring glance at Rosa sleeping in the other bed.
Rydia shrugged. "She's been like that for a few hours now," she supplied.
Cecil's smile turned down into a slight frown. "You couldn't sleep?"
She shook her head, staring at the empty doorway behind him. "I took a walk."
"And Edge?"
She sighed deeply, perhaps a little more deeply than intended, and Cecil raised a brow. "Causing trouble?" he guessed.
"No," she mused. "Not exactly. He wanted to be left alone for a while."
Cecil looked thoughtfully at the floor between them. "I can't say I blame him," he murmured.
They fell into silence for a few minutes, until Rydia finally looked at him again. "Has Cid finished the repairs?"
"Very nearly," Cecil replied, looking meaningfully at Rosa once more.
Rydia followed his gaze, noting the concern on his face, the love there.
"You want to talk to Rosa," she surmised, and by the expression on his face, her words had caught him off-guard.
"It's—no, I—" he stammered ineffectually.
"It's alright," she said, standing up. "I'm going to take another look around."
"I didn't mean to force you out, Rydia," he confessed.
"I know," she said with a small smile. "I wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway. You may as well talk."
She left Cecil with Rosa and returned to the halls wondering where she should go. She climbed to the upper halls and onto the ramparts where the glowing magma sea shimmered in the distance. Beyond the castle gates she could see Cid and Kain working on the airship, hammering a coat of silvery metal to the ship's hull.
She gazed at their work for several long minutes before turning to walk the length of the wall, fingers trailing over the crenellations. She wasn't paying attention to where she was walking, and so when she finally lifted her head from the horizon to look at another section of the wall, she was surprised to see Edge leaning into one of the crenellations—equally entranced with the sights of the Underworld.
He hadn't noticed she was there, so she took the rare moment to study him. He still wasn't wearing his mask, it was hanging loosely at his throat; and without the mask to hide his features, the magma illuminated his face with a ruddy glow. He had a distant look in his stormy eyes, and in that instant, Rydia was startled to find him quite handsome.
He half-turned his head in her direction and saw her out of the corner of his eye. He didn't look particularly pleased to see her, but he didn't look angry either. He just gazed at her sideways, assessing. Rydia gathered her nerves and approached him slowly.
When they were a few feet apart, she looked down at her feet, unable to think of anything to say. "Are you alright?" she asked sheepishly, daring to give him a fleeting look.
He met her gaze for a second before averting his eyes to look beyond the castle wall. "As alright as anyone who's just found out dwarves are real can be," he answered lightly.
She looked closely at his face for a moment. His eyes looked red, tired, and she was fairly certain he knew the real reason behind her question.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," she offered, finding the act of apologizing to him galling.
He let out a sharp breath, a half-laugh. "If you're worried that you've hurt my feelings you can relax. I've endured worse."
She tilted her head to the side, considering. "No, of course not. What could ever harm you—you're invincible, right?" she asked acerbically, turning away to lean against a crenel of her own.
There was a pause before he spoke again. "I never said I was invincible," he amended.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Oh?"
He narrowed his eyes a bit and a small smile crept onto his face as he leaned forward. "Nearly indestructible, maybe."
She hummed, unconvinced.
Another pause.
"So," he began. As far as openings went, it was a precarious beginning and Rydia arched a brow waiting to hear how he finished the sentence. "If you're from Mist, how did you wind up with Cecil?" he finally inquired.
Rydia looked at him, but didn't see him. She was suddenly taken aback by memories. She didn't really want to explain her full story to him, a stranger, but hadn't she just witnessed the death of his own parents and the wasteland that had once been his kingdom?
"My village was destroyed by Baron," she answered after a minute. "They dispatched two knights to do it, to carry a magical item into the middle of the village that would be released once within the village walls. Everything burned. The villagers—" she choked out, finding it harder to form words as her recollections brought old emotions to the surface.
"You lost family," he ventured.
"My mother," she said with a nod.
"And the two knights?"
"They had no idea what they were carrying with them," she continued. "One of them tried to rescue me, but I—I refused to leave my mother's side. I was so young, I reacted by instinct and summoned an Eidolon to protect myself. By the time I woke up, there was the two of us. Cecil and myself."
Edge studied her closely. "Just how long ago was this?"
Rydia frowned, trying to calculate months. "Seven months ago? Maybe more?"
"You said you were young—are you sure you didn't mean naïve?"
"Naïve?" she asked, offended.
He caught the flash of anger in her words and hastily added— "You'd never encountered that kind of violence before. You hadn't seen the attack coming."
She comprehended his meaning. "Well, yes, there was that. But I really did mean young."
This time it was his turn to frown. "I'm confused."
She toyed with her fingers. How did she explain her time in the Feymarch to someone who'd only just discovered Dwarves weren't a myth?
"Do you remember when I told you about the Feymarch?" she asked.
"The magical place where your Eidolons live," he answered.
"Well, you see," she fidgeted. "It's normally off-limits to humans, but I was an exception."
"Because you're a summoner?"
"Because I'm the last summoner."
She met his eyes again, and he was still frowning at her, still waiting for more of an answer. "So you were allowed into a magical land where magical beings live. I'm still missing something," he prodded.
"Time flows differently there," she elaborated. "For Cecil and the others, six months passed. For me…"
His eyes suddenly widened with wonder. "For you it was years."
She nodded. "Ten years."
"You aged ten years in six months?" he was incredulous. He ran a hand through his silver hair and exhaled in disbelief. "This explains a lot, then."
"How so?"
"Why they still treat you like a little girl."
"You said that earlier, too," she said, pursing her lips.
"Was I wrong?"
Rydia looked at her feet, annoyed. "No. You weren't wrong," she admitted.
"How old are you, then?"
"Seventeen. Why does that matter—how old are you?" she asked, meeting his eyes again.
He gave her a sly smile. "A bit older than seventeen."*
Frustrated by his lack of an answer, she made a face, but he had already nodded to something beyond her shoulder. She pivoted to see what he was looking at, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she turned.
"Seems your friend Cid has finished his repairs," she heard Edge say, and looked back to see he'd already started walking away.
She hurried to keep up with him, exasperated.
"Don't you know how to wait?" she asked angrily and heard him laugh.
"And miss all your entertaining comments?" he asked, giving her a mischievous glance over his shoulder.
She pondered pushing him down the stairs the whole way back to the infirmary, and it took a great deal of restraint to resist the impulse.
When they arrived in the infirmary, they found everyone there already and the nurses helping Cid back into his bed. The engineer looked exhausted but smug as Cecil and Kain each wiggled a boot off of his feet while he settled into the blankets.
Rydia and Edge approached the side of the bed as Cid was explaining his work to Cecil and Rosa.
"That ought to let you fly over anything you want," he said with satisfaction.
"Thank you, Cid," Rosa told him warmly, gripping his hand as he laid back and closed his eyes.
He didn't respond, and for a frightening minute, they all thought he'd lost consciousness.
"Cid!" Kain cried, shaking the engineer's foot.
But the engineer was still breathing, and quite deeply they realized, when he let out a snore.
"He seems to have worn himself out," Rydia observed with a smile.
"He always pushes himself too hard," Rosa agreed.
Cecil smiled and shook his head. "Cid, thank you for everything," he said to the sleeping man, and then nodded to Kain that they should depart the room.
Rydia looked at the engineer sleeping so peacefully and caught sight of something poking out from beneath his pillow. She slipped it out.
"What's this?" she asked, flipping a long envelope over and back in her hands.
When they had returned to the hallway, Rosa stopped to ask her what she'd found. "A letter," Rydia revealed, holding it up for all of them to see.
Rosa took the letter from her hand and opened it, unfolding a piece of parchment creased into three parts.
"I'm writing this letter in case the worst should befall me," she read. "If you're reading this, I suppose it has. Make sure you give all those baddies an extra whack on the head for me! We owe it to our late king. No, we owe it to everybody in this world—even these people down here with their lousy food! And please apologize to my daughter for me, for all I put her through with my selfishness. All my love, Cid," Rosa finished reading. "That man…" she said with a sigh.
Cecil just smiled. "At least he had the decency to write a letter."
Rosa swatted him with it. "You call jumping off an airship and making us all think he was dead, decent?"
Cecil shrugged, amused. "It's Cid, Rosa. What did you honestly expect?"
"Something a little more poetic, at least," she grumbled, staring at the letter in disgust.
"At least he was able to finish the repairs to the airship, which we owe him a great deal for. I think, for now, we can forgive him his lapse of judgment." Kain pointed out.
Rosa gave Kain a frigid look.
Cecil cleared his throat, distracting them. "I think it's time we spoke with the king about our journey to the Sealed Cave," he said, redirecting the conversation.
The five of them returned to the main floor and were allowed to re-enter the throne room. The king was in the middle of speaking with another dwarf in armor, but looked up when they entered.
"Your flying contraption has been fixed, I take it?" the king asked eagerly.
"It is, your majesty," Cecil answered with a bow.
"Good!" the king said heartily, clapping his hands. "This means you can depart immediately."
"The Sealed Cave," Cecil mentioned. "Where exactly will we find it?"
"It is west of here," the king explained. "Past the magma sea and surrounded by plateaus."
"Directly west?" Cecil asked.
"Well," the king vacillated. "It's sort of thatway," he reflected with a pointing gesture toward one of the walls. "But mostly it is west."
"Do you have a map?"
"A map? No," the king answered with a curt shake of his head. " We dwarves do not require maps to know where we are going. It should be easy enough to find if you fly."
"Is there anything else we should know about the Sealed Cave?" Cecil inquired.
"So long as you have the proper key, the entrance will let you through. Beyond that, it is a matter of getting the crystal and escaping with it before Golbez can get his hands on it."
"With your blessing, we will be on our way, then," Cecil announced.
"Very good. Be on your way with my blessing and the blessings of all the dwarves. Our future rests within your hands." The king decreed with his hand over his heart.
The five of them bowed and were escorted out of the throne room once more.
"West-ish?" Edge asked as they walked to the castle gates. "Could he be any more vague?"
"I have to agree," Kain added. "How will we know which direction is which without the sun to guide us?"
"I'm sure it won't be that difficult," Cecil argued. "If the dwarves don't need maps from the ground, surely we'll be alright from the sky."
The other four members of the group each turned to look at him, doubtful.
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"You veered north when you should have veered south," Kain intoned close to where Cecil was standing at the controls.
"I didn't veer north," Cecil contradicted.
"You veered north," Kain repeated.
Rydia sat on one of the stair steps on the airship, listening to the argument behind her. Hours had passed since they'd left the dwarf castle, and for a while the journey had gone well—until they'd sailed above the magma and lost sight of land. In the unceasing glow from the molten sea, they had begun to think they saw land where they didn't, north had become south, and east had become west. The landscape below was so unchanging that there was no way for them to find their bearings despite Cecil's earlier proclamations.
Ignoring the argument between Cecil and Kain behind her, she looked across the ship to see what the others were up to. In the middle of the ship, Rosa was speaking to Edge. He didn't look to be joking around with the white mage as he had with her, and in fact, his expression was very serious, thoughtful. She wondered what they were talking about, but was too content upon her step to move. Instead she stared at the red ocean below. She was so relieved that Cid had survived his fall—that they were flying again! She thought about Astrid in Baron and wondered if she had really known all along that her father was still alive. Would she smile or cry when she learned for certain that her father had lived; or would she shrug it off with a knowing grin as she often saw Edge do? Rydia smiled at the thought of the red-head crossing her arms with a proud expression on her face declaring "I knew it!" at the news.
Two miracles had brought her friends back from the brink, she realized. She had never expected to see Edward or Cid again, and yet here they were. If Cid had survived…she shook her head, curls falling loose about her shoulders. There was no possible way for Yang to have survived, she silently scolded herself. But she couldn't shake the feeling that perhaps…. There could always be room for one more miracle.
She looked up from the magma sea and saw Rosa and Edge both pointing at something, and then Edge shouted up to Cecil at the helm.
"There's land on this side!" he informed Cecil. "And a cliff you probably shouldn't fly into," he added, his voice rising in a crescendo of concern.
"A cliff is something you mention first!" Cecil shouted back.
"You've got eyes!" Edge retorted.
And sure enough, a cliff loomed in front of them as an unsurpassable wall. Steam had caused it to not be as visible from a distance as it was up close, and now that it was swiftly approaching, the scope of it made Rydia's heart drop into her stomach. Cecil veered the ship off of a collision course and they flew northward. Or at least, Rydia guessed it was north.
After their brief brush with disaster, Cecil continued to pilot them along the cliff face, and Rydia joined Rosa and Edge at the railing.
"I don't think Giott meant to go this way," Rosa was saying, looking down at the ground beneath them.
"He said the cave was surrounded by plateaus, didn't he?" Edge asked.
"He did. Why?" Rosa asked, giving Edge a curious look.
Edge took a few steps away from the railing. "There's a cave over there!" he shouted to Cecil, making both Rydia and Rosa cover their ears, dismayed.
Rydia leaned over the railing and saw what he was talking about—a cave nestled into plateaus and bordered by the steep cliff face.
"You don't think—" she began, directing her question at Rosa.
"No I don't," Rosa replied without waiting for her to finish. "But even I'm curious at this point."
Cecil seemed to be in agreement with Rosa as Rydia noticed the airship begin its descent.
Cecil landed the ship near a boulder field and they disembarked, looking around. On one side, the cliff rose above them to heights unknown, and on the other, plateaus hedged them in from the magma sea. It was in the plateau directly in front of them that they saw the gaping black hole of the cavern they'd seen from the air.
"It's worth a look," Cecil said with a tired sigh, leading the five of them away from the airship.
Once they were standing at the mouth of the cave, did Rydia have the strange sensation that they were being watched.
"Does anyone else feel that?" she asked, rubbing her arms nervously.
They all looked at her nonplussed. "Feel what?" Rosa asked, looking around.
The sensation passed and Rydia just shook her head. "Nothing, I guess," she said a little ruefully.
Rosa gave her a quizzical look and then shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised if we encounter any more oddities than we already have. This is uncharted territory, after all."
"If you sense it again, whatever it was, let us know," Cecil added.
Rydia nodded and watched her companions enter the cave before her. Edge hung back with her for a minute.
"After you," he said, beckoning her onward and giving her a shrewd look as she passed. Had he sensed it too and just wanted her to think she was crazy? Insufferableninja.
A pained shout from within the cavern caused Rydia to momentarily forget her irritation as she and Edge both ran after their companions. They didn't have to go far to find Kain on the ground clutching his leg and Rosa at work with one of her spells.
Rydia took a closer look at what had happened once she was standing beside the dragoon. It was his foot that had been injured. The leather and metal on the tip of his right boot looked to have been melted away and his toes were severely burned. As she watched, Rosa's spell was knitting the flesh back together and smoothing it over, as if time was reversing. Kain's pain visibly diminished as the spell neared completion, but the tautness remained in his jaw long after Rosa had stood.
"The cavern floor gave out beneath him," Cecil explained as Rosa inspected the glowing green ground around them.
"It doesn't look like magma," Rosa mused. "But it's certainly just as dangerous."
"Is there any way to avoid it?" Kain asked, standing up.
Rosa placed a hard look on Kain. "Who was it that cast Float in the Tower of Babil so you wouldn't be a pile of crushed bones on the floor after our fall?" she asked matter-of-factly.
Kain rolled his eyes. "My apologies."
Rosa tossed her golden hair indignantly, and then looked farther down the cave passageway. "It seems that most of the floor is this way. I don't think we'll have a choice but to Float while we're here."
Cecil looked at Rosa seriously. "Do you think you'll be able to keep the spell up for that long?"
Rosa sighed and began rummaging through her pack. "I have enough ethers. We should be fine," she answered with pursed lips.
"Just to be clear, this passageway counts as the entryway to the cave, right?" Edge asked, from Rydia's left.
Cecil and Rosa looked at him curiously. "Yes, I suppose it does," Rosa answered, swinging her pack to rest over her quiver.
"King Giott said the key you're holding would grant us access if this was the Sealed Cave. I was half expecting something more spectacular than Kain burning his foot in a puddle of acid as a sign that we were welcome."
Kain gave the ninja a piercing, unappreciative look.
"I had the same thought—though not about your foot, Kain," Rosa admitted glancing first at Kain and then Cecil. "I don't think this is the Sealed Cave."
"We're already here," Cecil said instead. "There might be something in this cave that could point us in the right direction; or at least items here that might be useful."
"So you still want to go ahead rather than turn back?" Rydia asked.
"There's so little that we know about the Underworld, and we hold the only key to the Sealed Cave. It's been weeks since we set out for the Tower of Babil and Golbez still hasn't managed to get into the cave in that time."
"Very well," Rosa said with a shrug and then began to chant. Within a minute, the five of them hung suspended a few inches off the ground. "Shall we?" she asked, looking at Cecil.
The paladin took his cue and turned, leading the five of them onward.
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They walked a few hours through the cave and marveled at the peculiar green glowing walls and floor. The cavern didn't have the feel of any of the caves Rydia had traveled through in the Upper World. In fact, the structure of the walls reminded her of ancient vines, or the roots of trees that had burrowed so deep they had turned to stone. The ebb and flow of the eery green light made her think the cave was breathing—that it was a living thing—and she spent most of her time glancing at the surroundings.
The monsters in the cavern were as peculiar as the cave itself. Some were plant-like, others were just plain bizarre, and one in particular…Rydia shivered at the memory of the barrage of maladies it had thrown at them. In the back of her mind she recalled seeing an entry in one of the Feymarch bestiaries that described an ancient creature called a Marlboro of similar characteristics. She hoped they didn't encounter another one. Watching Cecil turn on Kain under the madness of a spell was a sight she never wanted to see again.
The cavern passages were winding, like they'd been carved by the passage of water. Perhaps sometime long ago, there had been water here, but its presence was long absent. The group had doubled back several times in the circuitous passages, often finding that passages were linked through small crevices. Rydia wondered at times if they were making any progress at all.
Hours passed and they had battled their way through an unusual number of amphibious and other assorted fiends, when Edge's voice startled her.
"Oh, look, another frog," Edge complained beside her. She looked ahead and saw the cause of his disgust—a blue and green spotted frog the size of a toddler. They had encountered a great many of them in the passageways, and where there were frogs there was usually also…
"Another mage!" Rosa exclaimed, shrugging her bow from her shoulder and nocking an arrow to the string.
These encounters had become so routine, Rydia knew what to do and immediately closed her eyes and began to chant. She wove words with meaning, summoning sky fire—lightning. She was dimly aware of all else around her, as she usually was during the casting of a spell, but she could sense movement, blades being drawn and employed. The buzz of magic filled the passage as spells were exchanged, and as she spoke the final words of Thundaga, Rydia finally opened her eyes. Lightning erupted from the ceiling, sizzling the frogs that remained to a crisp and leaving only a heap of robes where the mage had once stood.
"I've never found frogs to be so irritating before," Cecil said, sheathing his sword.
Rosa turned, and then let out a little laugh. "Oh dear," she sighed.
Rydia's senses were readjusting to reality, so she hadn't taken the time to see how all of her companions had fared. She followed Rosa's gaze to the floor and saw two small frogs hovering above the roil of vines. One was a dark cobalt blue, the other silver and gray. She could only imagine they were Kain and Edge, and the frogs staring up at her looked none-too-pleased.
With a smile, she began to chant one of the most basic of black magic spells. She cast Toad, and the enchantment on the two of them faded, turning them back into two humans. Kain looked at his limbs and frowned, while Edge brushed off his arms as if he were still covered in slime.
"Mages and their frogs," Rydia heard Edge mutter.
"I thought you said you were indestructible," she countered with a sly tone.
He gave her a tight, irritated smile. "Nearly. I said nearly," he answered.
They sheathed their weapons and carried on. The passageway led to stairs that had been carved into the rock and each new chamber yielded new surprises. There were secret passages that ran along the main walls and they often found old wooden chests that had been laid into nooks. There were numerous ethers and elixirs and Rydia wondered who had left them there.
They had just entered a wide, long cavern with a high ceiling, when suddenly Rosa had pulled Cecil forward, pointing. Rydia rounded the corner to see what had caught the other woman's interest. In the center of the chamber was an elaborate arrangement of marble stanchions driven into the cave floor. In the center looked to be a dias of some kind, or a platform long in disuse.
"What—?" Rosa asked, leaving her question hanging in the air.
"I almost thought it was a Crystal dias," Cecil said with disappointment.
Kain walked forward, looking the entire chamber over. "It might have been," he said thoughtfully, resting a hand on one of the stanchions.
Rosa also walked forward. "These look like wards," she added, walking within the circle of stanchions. "Yes, definitely wards," she confirmed, holding out her hands palms upward as if she were collecting raindrops. "I can feel their magic."
The rest of them followed, walking within the circle and inspecting the platform.
"We could rest here," Rydia realized, enjoying the feeling of protection the wards offered as she walked between them.
"We could," Rosa agreed, sitting gingerly down on one of the dias steps.
Cecil smiled. "I see you've already made the executive decision," he noted.
Rosa had a satisfied look on her face. "I need to rest my voice, after all."
With the decision to rest already made, they each shrugged their packs from their shoulders and found places to sit down along the platform steps.
Cecil and Rosa sat beside each other and Kain sat close, but far enough to give them some privacy. Rydia sat on the opposite side of the dias, which was at least thirty feet in diameter. She set her pack beside her and began to rummage through it, looking for an ether. A few minutes later, Edge joined her on the step.
He handed her an ether as he sat down. She looked at it like it was anathema, having just found one in her pack and not wanting to accept his generosity. She gave him a look, but grudgingly accepted the phial from his hand.
"I had plenty of my own, you know," she said a little caustically.
"I know," he said simply; turned so he was facing her and the rest of the group simultaneously. She realized he wasn't actually looking at her, but at Cecil and Rosa. She followed his gaze and frowned.
"Why are you looking at them like that, like you've caught a scent or something?"
He spared her a look with a small grin. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
His look became flat, and then he quirked an eyebrow upwards. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"About what?" she asked, unaware, removing the stopper from the phial.
"And you've been traveling with these people for how long, again?
"Months," Rydia answered in between sips of ether.
He shook his head in disbelief and then nodded in the direction of their three companions. "You've got a regular love triangle over there."
"A love…what?"
Edge waved his hand dismissively in the air. "Nevermind that for now. She's in love with him," he said, pointing from Rosa to Cecil. "He's in love with her. But heis also in love with her," he added, nodding in Kain's direction.
"Who, Kain?" Rydia asked, aghast.
She had said the dragoon's name loud enough, that Cecil turned to glance at her quizzically.
She made an apologetic expression and to her left she saw Edge shake his head, feigning innocence. This seemed to satisfy Cecil who returned his attention to Rosa. When Rydia turned to face the ninja again, Edge was giving her an accusatory look which she took to mean she should keep her voice down in the future.
"Anyway," Edge continued with his voice at a conspiratorial volume. "Shesenses it. Cecil doesn't. And this makes Kain angrier."
"How long have you known?" Rydia asked, amazed.
Edge let out a soft chuckle. "From the moment I met you people. I'm good at what I do, and that's rubbing people the wrong way and reading them quickly. You, on the other hand. You're harder to read than they are."
"Me?"
He leaned closer, a little too close for Rydia's comfort, and looked her in the eye. "Guess I'll just have to keep trying to figure you out," he said with a roguish glint in his eye.
Rydia leaned back, supporting her weight with her arms.
"Why are you always paying so much attention to me?Why don't you ever talk to Rosa half as much," she protested.
"I have no intention of being the fourth pillar of a love square," he countered, pulling away. "That's just bad form."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rydia complained.
"And this is precisely why I find you more interesting," he answered with a smile, standing up.
Annoyed, she threw the empty ether phial at him, and with no small amount of disappointment, he caught it in mid-air with reflexes fit for a cat.
He looked down at her, unimpressed, and then flicked a finger at the corner of his mouth, as if he had a crumb there and grinned. "You missed your mouth a bit," he informed her, walking away a little too smugly.
She hastily rubbed the errant drop of ether from her mouth and glared at him as he sat down at another point of the dias' circumference.
Whyishesoobnoxious! she fumed. She glanced back at Cecil and Rosa and this time it was Rosa who had turned to look at her. The expression on Rosa's face was amused, and a little coy, as her gaze slid significantly from Rydia to Edge and back again. Rydia felt her cheeks warm with embarrassment. But embarrassment for what? She hadn't done anything embarrassing, had she? She had absolutely no idea what secret meaning was hidden within Rosa's appraisal.
Rydia spun around and resolved to facing the cavern wall and onlythe cavern wall until they started moving again. But as she sat staring at nothing in particular, Edge's words came back to her. Kainwas in love with Rosa, too? She wondered at it, re-playing all the moments they'd been together in her mind. Suddenly so many other things made sense to her—why there had been all of the tension, all of the long looks, the arguments…and then she was furious because shehadn't figured it out. She glanced once more in Edge's direction. He had said that she was harder to read than the rest of them. What did that mean? She wasn't deliberately hiding anything. She was just herself…wasn't she?
When they finally stood and resumed their explorations of the rest of the cavern, Rydia discovered, with some perturbation, that Edge had taken to walking closest to her out of all the group. He caught her elbow when the Float spell wore off and she tripped on a peculiar ancient root affixed to the cavern floor. He pushed her out of the way of fiend attacks, casually tossed her ethers when she felt the fatigue of magic casting beginning to wear on her. How he knew to do any of these things without her saying a word, she wasn't sure, but she eyed him suspiciously. For all of his irritating remarks and comments, and the confusion he caused, his actions surprised her.
As the caverns delved deeper, the footing became more varied. There were hills and slopes, tight corners, and more fake walls. Vines began to hang from the ceiling like hair and a short way farther, unusual leaves unfurled from the cavern walls. They were pale and waxy and glowed in concurrence with the luminescence of the cavern floor.
Rosa reached out tentative fingers to one of the leaves and it curled away from her touch.
"How curious," she mused. "It's like this whole cavern is the underbelly of a tree. It seems sentient."
"I'm not sure whether to be amazed or concerned," Kain noted darkly.
Rydia found that she rather liked the cave. It reminded her of somewhere, though she couldn't quite put her finger on where. If it wasn't infested with fiends as bizarre as the environs, it would actually be a pleasant place to stay for a while and study.
The chests and crates that they discovered in these deeper portions of the cave held some very curious items as well. Cecil was right in thinking that there would be something of use for them to find. Rosa had come across an old but sturdy bow made of a wood that had the appearance of oxidized copper. It was speckled and mottled but slender and strong. Rosa discarded her previous bow for this new one, admiring the craftsmanship and tautness of the bowstring. Rydia, on the other hand, had become the new owner of a dagger with a delicately filigreed handle with runes carved into the blade for the purpose of binding mages. Convenient, she thought, since they had fought a witch and her frog army in order to get to the blade itself.
There were oddments strewn about other forgotten chests and barrels. Had it been dwarves or humans who had left all of this here, Rydia wondered, finding another stash of potions in a crate.
Their journey continued, the passages widening again and becoming more like roads with vaulted ceilings above them. This was odd, Rydia thought.
They descended a well-tended stone staircase and found themselves in a passageway that, despite the glowing floor, looked like it belonged inside a castle. They followed this passage to its end at a tall, wide chamber with a peculiar building with a porch and stairs set against the far cavern wall.
They all came to a halt, staring at the unexpected building and at each other.
"What is that?" Rosa asked, her voice hoarse from having to cast Float so many times in succession.
"I don't know, but it's worth a look," Cecil answered, leading the way forward.
They walked up the steps to the door, and for all appearances, it looked to be an ordinary home made of speckled green wood. There was a peculiar glow that emanated through the windows, a greenish tint that was different from the rest of the cave. Cecil's hand gripped the door's latch and he slowly pushed it open. When the door was opened more than a crack, small creatures with the vague appearance of fireflies flew angrily out of the house and flitted and buzzed around each of their heads, casting magic that crackled on their skin and felt like nettles.
Rosa began casting a Protection spell on them and once the glow of white magic surrounded them like a shield, did their miniature opponents cease their attack. Once they'd stopped moving around so frantically, Rydia saw that they weren't fireflies at all, but more like Faeries. The Faeries* hovered at the edge of the Protection spell, eyeing the humans with fear and distrust.
Cecil held up both of his hands in surrender. "We mean no harm," he offered with a soft, even tone.
The Faeries glared at the five of them, wings beating the air furiously.
Rosa startled everyone when she suddenly exclaimed, "Yang!" and rushed past the open doorway and into the room, taking her protection spell with her. The faeries' expressions turned to dismay as they flitted after her, trying to obstruct her path.
At the mention of the monk's name, Rydia's spirit sang. Could it be? Was it possible? The rest of them followed Rosa in stunned silence until they'd entered an annex of the room where a man lay sleeping in a bed. There was a green glow encasing the bed, much like that of a white magic spell, and through it, Rydia saw Yang. His skin was badly burned in many places and he looked bruised overall, but the slow rise of his chest revealed he was still breathing.
"He's alive!" she exclaimed.
They had time enough to glimpse him injured upon the bed, before the Faeries renewed their magical assault.
"We can't stay here!" Cecil cried.
"But what about Yang!" Rosa protested, clearly distressed at the thought of leaving their companion in the hands of pint-sized strangers.
"We'll think of something, but right now we have to leave!" Cecil said, grabbing Rosa's wrist and pulling her away from the bedroom. The Faeries pursued them across the length of the house, driving them up a set of wooden stairs and into a room with nothing in it but a strange device set into the floor.
The Faeries surrounded them, harassing them with the obnoxious magic that felt like stinging nettles and they were herded onto the device that seemed to be a curious looking glass. The instant all five of them were standing on it, it whisked them away.
They found themselves dazed and blinking at the entrance to the cave.
Rosa took a few furious steps forward, pacing. "I can't believe it," she muttered, hands on hips.
"Rosa?" Cecil asked.
Rosa swiveled to face him, tears brimming at the edges of her eyes. "He's alive, Cecil. Alive," she warbled out.
"Yes, and we'll find a way to bring him home," Cecil assured her calmly.
"How? Who—what—who werethose faeries caring for him? Is he their prisoner or their ward?" Rosa insisted.
Rydia's gaze flitted from Rosa to Cecil, and she saw Cecil furrow his brow, choosing his next words carefully.
"He didn't look to be in any danger," he admitted.
"But they attacked us," Rosa persisted.
"We were intruders in their home," Kain pointed out. "Wouldn't you have attacked strangers many times your size?"
Rosa hung her head and sighed. "Yes, I suppose I would, but…"
"He's alive," Rydia said quietly, surprising them. When they all turned to look at her, she blushed. "At least he's alive," she repeated. "We know where he is now, and Meiling doesn't have to be sad, thinking that he's dead."
"Well, yes, but how can we go back for him? We were in that cave for hours and we don't have the time to go all the way back."
"It looked like they were tending his wounds," Kain said thoughtfully. "Why else would they keep a dying man alive but to heal him?"
"So we just leave him there?" Rosa asked.
"What else can we do?" Cecil asked.
Rosa planted her hands on her hips and stared absently at the cave entrance. "You're right, you're right, I know. I just…after all he's done for us, it's hard to leave him lying in a cave."
Cecil steered her around, walking back to the airship with his arm draped across her shoulders.
They all followed, Rydia feeling thrilled and thwarted at the same time. She felt as frustrated as Rosa that they had to leave Yang behind, but was overjoyed that he was alive.
She'd barely noticed Edge was beside her again until he spoke, interrupting her thoughts. "As the new person, is there something I should know about my life expectancy with this group?" he asked. "It seems that the people you pick up on your travels tend to end up maimed in beds somewhere."
Rydia scoffed at him, and smacked him in the arm.
He gave her a serious look. "It's a fair question," he pointed out.
"If the only person you're concerned about is yourself," Rydia replied sourly.
"So what exactly is it that makes these people end up the way we've found them? Do they jump off of buildings or throw themselves into the path of explosions?"
"Cid jumped off of an airship," Rosa supplied from the front, sounding more annoyed with Cid than Edge.
Edge's eyebrows crawled together with concern. "I thought you people were joking. He actually jumpedoff of an airship? For what possible reason?"
"To set off a bomb that would create a cave-in, allowing us to escape from pursuers," Cecil answered.
Edge eyed each of them. "Seriously?"
"You went up against the Fiend of Fire by yourself, is that any more unbelievable?" Kain asked.
Edge smirked at Kain. "Touché," he replied. "But what about the man we just found—Yang? What happened to him?"
"He held down a dead-man switch to destroy a cannon inside the Tower of Babil," Kain supplied.
"He voluntarily blew himself up," Edge confirmed.
"He sacrificed himself to spare an entire people," Rosa added in the monk's defense. "He is a man of honor, always thinking of others."
"Interesting," Edge said, his expression bored.
Rydia was the only person to observe his blatant lack of respect and swatted his arm again. He looked at her sidelong.
"What do you have against people who sacrifice themselves for others?" she demanded.
"Nothing," he answered idly. "They're just so…" he trailed off, screwing his features into a displeased expression as he searched for the right word. "Predictable," he finally answered.
"Predictable?" she asked.
He sighed, clearly wanting to say something but thinking better of it. Instead, "Rest assured, I will never throw myself into the path of an explosion for you," he said with a mocking expression.
Rydia returned his look with a bland one of her own. "How noble," she retorted, as they climbed back aboard the airship.
"To each their own," he said with a shrug.
Rosa let out a groan. "For now can we focus on reaching the Sealed Cave?" she asked, looking expectantly at Cecil.
Cecil seemed offended by Rosa's lack of confidence. "We'll find the Sealed Cave," he assured her.
Rosa looked at Kain. "Maybe you should pilot for a while," she suggested.
Kain seemed genuinely surprised. He looked between Rosa and Cecil as Cecil glared at them both.
"Hell, I'll pilot," Edge complained, striding toward the controls in the midst of the indecision.
"No!" Cecil and Kain both shouted in unison, running after the ninja who had taken off at a sprint. The three men crashed to a stop at the controls, arguing over who knew where they were supposed to go.
Rydia raised her brows and looked at Rosa.
Rosa's face was clearly not amused, and the white mage had only to utter one word to sum up the entire situation:
"Men."
A/N:
*In my narrative, Edge isn't 26…he's 21. Cecil and Kain are 24, Rosa is 23, and Palom and Porom are 12, not 5. Why the changes? Because sometimes, friends, Squeenix just makes crap up that doesn't make any sense.
*I call the Sylves "faeries" because the party doesn't actually know what they are yet. I will address this later.
I feel like this chapter took me FOREVER and a day to write. Even though it didn't take THAT long to write it…I just kept checking word counts and going…only 2600 words? How can this BE it should be LONGER BY NOW.
Ugh.
Mmkay, so how I organized this…if you've been checking my profile now and again you may have seen that I added a new section in the chapter break-down. I've arranged it so that the party goes to the Sylvan Caves, then the Feymarch, and then the Sealed Cave. The reason I did this is not because of the weapons and equipment acquired along the way but for the sake of story development. There are also still five people in the party pre-Sealed Cave which helps with the whole character development aspect of things… (plus after Kain leaving and the tower getting all glowy-the party wouldn't really be in the mood to waste any time by exploring).
From there…Sealed Cave as the last stop is the most sensible place to end the serious plot-related events in the underworld.
As for the Feymarch…hmm…that could wind up being one very long next chapter or several shorter ones, I haven't decided. But I definitely want to have Rydia shine a little in her hometown, so to speak. You can expect that soon-ish. Hopefully before Thanksgiving because…I won't have much of a brain left after Thanksgiving (yay retail). Perhaps it'll be a Thanksgiving tribute chapter, haha.
Thanks again for reading and reviewing, friends! Really appreciate it and enjoy your Halloween!