After what seemed like hours (but was only thirty to forty minutes), Alice finally crawled onto a boulder that sat at the top of the cliff. She splayed herself all across the rocky surface, exhausted from all the climbing. At one point, a chimaera had suddenly decided to try and abduct Alice right off the cliff to feed to its babies. Luckily, one good jab in the eye with her sword got that settled with. Alice had watched as the chimaera squawked, and fell to the ground (coincidentally, it was the very spot where her fellows were just about to walk into. Marine had shaken her fist at Alice, enraged that the bloody bird had landed right on her shoes. It's not like Alice had managed to get away unscathed either; she now sported a nasty claw-induced cut from just below her right eye all the way down to her jawline.
As she layed there, waiting for her companions to catch up, she reached a hand up to wipe off the blood and see how bad it was. She held her hand up to her face to see that it was stained by blood. Ah... without Sheila's immediate healing, it'll probably leave a scar... Damn. I'd rather not have a single mark on our skin, if only because she'll suffer just like me. (Sigh)
"What are you doing? That does not look sanitary." Alice looked up to see Iris towering over her, looking slightly amused from the sight.
"...I was waiting. Where are the others?"
"Oh, that chimaera body attracted other predators, so Marine got sidetracked fighting them. Sheila stayed back to make sure she does not get horribly injured." Iris paused, and pulled out a small piece of cloth from her pocket, motioning for Alice to sit up properly. Iris licked the cloth and gently dabbed at the bloody cut. "Well, I do not see the mayor or Miss Jona, so perhaps we should wait for the girls before we continue searching."
Alice shrugged, not really concerned. After all, what kind of cliff could be called a fishing spot?
"Gee, thanks a bunch for leaving all that work to us, Iris! Really fucking appreciate it!" Marine scowled at said friend as she and Sheila passed the two of them, with Marine looking rather worse for wear, despite not having a single scratch.
"Anytime, Marine." Iris smiled brightly, following after them. Alice rolled her eye and trailed after them.
It only took a little walk in silence for them to reach the edge of the cliff, and they spotted four people standing; two all the way at the edge, and the other two standing about ten feet away from them, just watching. Of course, the two people by the edge are Jona and the mayor. They sneak closer to listen to what is going down.
The mayor gestures towards the vast ocean before them, "Isn't it beautiful, love? Fancy a little chat here to clear youer head?"
Jona looked down, not responding. The mayor placed his hand gently onto her shoulder. "You pooer thing. It must be awfully tirin' to perform the summonin' ev'ryday like they've been makin' 'ya. Well, I just wanted 'ya to know that if you truely want to stop, youer Uncle Bryce here will put a stop to the summonin' tomorrow, alright? I'll just tell ev'ryone that you've lost the power to call Lleviathan."
Jona looked up at him, her eyes shining from awed tears, "...Mayor... I-"
"And, if youer ever feelin' up to it, we can pop here once in a while, and the two of us can have a little summonin', just between the two of us. Out here, there's all kinds of coral and pearls and all kinds at the bottom of this here ocean, see? Not to mention all the ships that crash here, with their treasures sinkin' to the bottom. You wouldn't mind askin' ol' Lleviathan to bring up some of those for you now, would you? Much better than plain ol' borin' fish, hm?"
Jona flinched, wrenching her arm away from him. "What...?! Pearls? Treasure?! Heaven Almighty- I can't believe what I'm hearin'! Youer out of youer mind!"
Mayor Bryce hovered around her, "Now, don't get all heated up, dear. I said only when youer feelin' up to it, you see? Only if you wanted ev'ryone to be so much happier than we are now. Y'know? All rich and content?"
"...Rich? Wh...What?"
"That's right, bach. To get that high life, all you have to do is accept that youer father is never comin' home and just let me adopt you. Easy, right? I'll be youer new father, and we'll live a right tidy life." The mayor reached an arm out to her.
Jona shrieked and smacked his hand away. "No! Youer not my father, and you never will be for as long as I live! My father-"
Alice couldn't hear the rest of her sentence, because just then a large creature came out of the water, and flew onto the cliff; startling the two on the cliff so much that they fell over. It was a gigantic, indigo colored whale with a red underbelly. It had bright yellow irises, encircled by dark indigo eyelids. The whale opened it's mouth with a roar, almost scowling, showing off its giant, pointed teeth. Attached to it were several silverish wings sticking out haphazardly; also, it seemed to have horns. The mayor threw himself onto his knees, bowing/worshiping the large creature.
"O Mighty Lleviathan! Thank you for hearing ouer callin' for Youer holy help once again!" He glanced at Jona, who was frozen from fear, and glared. "Jona! Show youer respect, bach! Lleviathan has come to help bring us some treasures!"
Not allowing a response, Lleviathan lets out another mighty roarn that sent the mayor flying back five feet, shaking wildly. Jona held her arms in front of her face to protect herself, but it didn't stop Lleviathan from swallowing Jona whole. Everyone in the vicinity jerked back, shocked at the present situation. The mayor even let out a little shriek of horror. Letting out another roar, Lleviathan jumped closer towards the mayor, further onto the cliff. Alice was slightly amazed that the entire thing didn't collapse under its weight.
Alice was beside herself with pent-up rage, and quickly took out her sword, ready for battle. She was not angry that Lleviathan had suddenly appeared (which complicated things slightly), or that it had eaten Jona (also complicating things), or even that the mayor was a money-crazed loon. What really boiled her blood was the conversation that she had witnessed take place. It infuriated her; it was something she had experienced herself numerous times in her life.
It's always "for the good of others". If you want to "move on", you have to give up the most important thing to you- which completely destroys the purpose of trying to improve yourself! When you "move on", those "others" will turn their backs on you, and then you're alone, without your only comfort in life.
Alice hopped onto the nose of the whale, and stabbed her sword as deep as she could, spewing some of the whale's blood onto her clothes. Alice made a mental note to wash her clothes later. Luckily, she won't have to, because as a knee-jerk reaction, Lleviathan summoned a powerful tidal wave to crash onto the cliff, almost knocking her off of the large whale, if it weren't for the sword that was acting as her anchor. The same could be said for the others, who had each grabbed one of the bystanders (including the mayor- even though he sucks) and either stuck their weapon in the ground (Marine), or hid behind a rock (Sheila and Iris). Marine grit her teeth, threw the mayor towards where the other citizens were, and flew into battle, with Iris and Sheila following quickly, but were stopped when Alice's body glowed a bright blue, and let out a frustrated scream, cutting numerous large, gaping wounds on its body. After a while, Lleviathan let out a piercing wail and collapsed on its side.
Alice stared at it with narrowed eyes, wondering why it just suddenly kicked the bucket. Did it finally realize that cliffs don't have a steady source of water?
Not being one to wait, Alice pried its mouth open wider, and walked inside, much to the horror of everyone. After a good ten minutes, Alice walked back out, leading Jona out by the hand. Sheila flailed her arms, checking for injuries on Jona's person. Marine, on the other hand, smacked Alice upside the head for being stupid and acting on mere impulses.
"O-Oh, I'm f-fine! I'm more worried about Alice... you didn't hurt youerself, did you?" Alice looked over to Jona, and waved her concern away, which only made it worse. Jona started to quickly advanced towards Alice, when the eyes of Lleviathan shone like a beacon. Somehow it revived itself, and stood up before tryingto take another bite out of Jona. Sheila pulled the stunned Jona out of the way just in time for Lleviathan to snap at only the air, just barely missing the tip of Alice's feather headband. Jona's eyes widened, and she threw herself in front of Alice when she saw Lleviathan get ready to just eat Alice as an appetizer.
"N-No! Please don't hurt her! She's done nothing wrong!"
Lleviathan snorted, but closed its mouth. Everything seemed alright for the moment, until they heard a voice come from it.
"In't she one of Mayor Bryce's lackeys?" It was an unfamiliar voice to Alice, but Jona seemed to know it perfectly well.
"...Y-Youer voice...!" A bright light formed at the base of Lleviathan's head, revealing a man in his late thirties with straight brown hair, blue eyes, and a scraggly beard. "...Father?"
Alice grit her teeth and turned away, covering her ears to block out the voices.
She doesn't want to hear the two of them reunite.
She doesn't want to see the happy tears streaming down Jona's face from relief.
She doesn't want to watch as the two of them are torn apart from her father having to pass on to the afterlife after just reuniting with his worried daughter.
She doesn't want to.
Go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away go away GO AWAY.
I don't want to be forced to see him!
I don't want to be forced to think of him! Remember him! Feel him! Smell him!
I DON'T WANT IT I DON'T WANT IT I DON'T WANT IT I DON'T WANT IT-
This was FINALLY completed at 3 a.m., so I am fucking exhausted. Why do I keep losing track of time? It was 1 in the afternoon, and then suddenly 3 a.m.! Fuck.
I felt really stupid halfway through this, because I FINALLY got the implication of "Jonah and the Whale". Wow, I'm such an idiot for not getting that the other times I've played this. I really hate Port Llaffan.