Hello all, here's another chapter! So this chapter is based on A Behemoth Undertaking. I felt like wandering through the endless rock wall stuff was a bit boring, but nonetheless important, so I had to include it. Let me know how you feel about it, and the big face off with Deadeye. So, Xenova makes his true appearance in this part of the story. I'd like to know your thoughts on him. I want to know how you feel about certain aspects of his character. (You will understand why at the end.)
I do not own any characters other then my own. Some characters have been named and are present in the game, and I do not own them. I would like some entitlement to call anything not canon and original that I have included in here as my own.
Chapter 2 ~ From Four to Five
The fresh morning air of the forest greets the dark-haired prince as he steps out of the tent. He was the last to actually get up as always. He looks around the campsite while taking in the scenery around him. He noticed that his group was the only one here. The strange girl from the night before, and all traces of her, were gone. Noctis looks towards Ignis, hoping for some sort of answer.
"She was gone before I had come out here. I do believe she may have been a bit unnerved about sharing the site with us," He gives Noctis his idea of why she was not there. "She may also have had somewhere to be."
The four pack up their things and get them into the car. They make their way over to the Chocobo post to keep the Regalia parked in a safe place before heading into the lush forest. The four find a dirt path leading towards the destination and decide it would be a bit easier to walk on that path rather than going through the bushes and what not.
They wander to a part of the forest where large rocks appear on either side of the trail, giving a sort of maze feel to it all. Noctis looks up from the path when he hears a deep roar somewhere deeper within. Trees fall easily over on their sides with snapping sounds as the growling and roaring continues.
More broken trees lie up ahead on the ground where the path splits to go further into the large rock formation. Deep scratches gouged into the tree show the reddish-orange colored bark inside. The four wander inside where the rock walls make the path narrower. They look around and at the ground to see large footprints with long claws.
Several smaller paw prints could be seen leading farther in. Ignis squats down to inspect them further when he holds up a few hollow quills, "If I'm not mistaken, these would be Voretooth Bristles. We should continue with caution."
Prompto points to another part of the ground, "There are some shoe prints heading in here too." Ignis walks over to look at the prints. They certainly were shoe prints, and from what he could tell, they looked to be some sort of combat boot. They continue into the area with more caution than before, constantly stopping to look about. Noctis steps into a wider area and notes there is some sort of power pylon to his left.
He freezes once he hears several loud growls, accompanied by footfalls. Noctis holds out his hand as his Javelin appears with a whirl of blue light. Prompto stands back and does his best to land critical shots, rather than up-close ones. Ignis warns, "Their bristles have some sort of neurotoxin coating them, do not touch them."
Noctis jumps into the air and brings the pointed blade down through the flank of one of the creatures, earning a pained howl from it. He turns to look for his next target when a flurry of claws and teeth send him on his back. He uses the javelin to keep the Voretooth from ripping out his throat while doing his best to keep his face from the claws.
Gladio uses his two-handed sword to knock the creature off of the downed prince. After dispatching a few of the creatures, Noctis is able to stand still and look around at the blood and other gore littering the small area. He dusts off his pants and back and looks around to get his bearings.
They continue onwards, noting there are more boot prints in the ground. Ignis could now say that he was near certain a hunter was already making his way deeper into the beast's lair. They wander until they get to a split in the road.
"We can go left, or we can go right," Noctis states. He turns and looks to his friends to see what opinion they might have on the direction they should go. "Well," Ignis walks towards the left path, "The other footprints go this way, so perhaps we should as well?" Noctis nods and begins to lead them down the left path.
They wander through the maze like area until they reach a small opening in the rock structure with metal scraps leaning up against the walls of the stone. Ignis points to the wall on the left, "That blood smear looks fresh." Noctis looks over at the blood smeared on the wall. It looks as if some injured animal had leaned against it for support briefly.
"It seems too high up to be a Voretooth. Perhaps our hunter friend had a bit of trouble?" Ignis looks closer, noting that the blood was still wet towards the center of the mark. "I suppose we will just have to continue onwards until we find out."
Noctis nods and crouches down to get ready to go through the small opening to the tunnel. He hears a deep growl and Gladio pulls him back, "Noct," he gets his attention before peering through the tunnel. He holds up his hand to tell everyone to be still. He shuffles into the tunnel and looks around before waving to the others to follow.
Noctis slowly shuffles in after Gladio. The growling continues to sound softly, accompanied by what sound to be the rattle of a dangerous snake. Gladio stops up ahead when they reach the other side of the rocks to be met with rebar leaning up against the wall, making a sort of cage. The view of the trees above is mostly all they can see from the level they are.
Heavy footfalls sound as Gladio holds his hand up to stop everyone, "Hold up."
The large behemoth walks forward, shaking its head as saliva flicks from the corners of its open mouth. The horn on its right is broken and the eye is scarred and white.
"Deadeye—the name says it all," Gladio points to his eye as he whispers. The large behemoth begins to feast on whatever he had recently killed. Bloody saliva drips from his mouth as he continues to growl.
"Let's move," Gladio waves his hand towards himself and begins the painstakingly slow shuffle in the tunnel. Noctis looks up at the beast, unable to move his eyes from the hairy beast. He slowly shuffles forwards as he watches the white eye and broken horn. He bumps into Gladio, causing him to stumble forwards.
The behemoth gives a questioning growl as it steps back and turns to look at the semi-caged tunnel. Gladio dives forward to the next spot where there is cover over the path and Noctis backs up slightly to get into the cover above him. Deadeye shoves his muzzle into the exposed part of the tunnel between Noctis and Gladio, giving a deafening roar.
Deadeye gives another smaller roar as he stalks off. Gladio gets off the ground and back into a crouch as the rest of them do the same. They all breathe a sigh of relief as Gladio motions for them to move forward. They do so as Deadeye's ground shaking footfalls become quieter.
They quickly exit the tunnel to see a large wall on their right, much to their relief. Having something like a wall between them and the monster, though it is not much, was nice to have. They stretch their muscles as they wait for the adrenaline to lessen.
"It's weak on the right—no eye, no horn," Gladio states.
Ignis nods and looks around at the foliage, "We'll stay in range until we can exploit its blind spot." Noctis nods in agreement, looking around as the fog begins to thicken and the density of the trees near the rocks does as well.
They wander through the fog until they reach a narrow passageway with a rock and a fence with razor wire curled on top. They each take turns jumping over the fence and doing their very best not to get snagged on the rusty wire. Ignis takes note that there is some clean fabric on the wire that had not come from any of them.
They reach a large open area with thick fog. Rocks pepper the area as well as a few trees. A deep growl alerts them that they are near the huge behemoth. They see the large outline within the fog. "We've got the beast in our sights," Gladio whispers.
Ignis sighs, "But no plan of attack. The behemoth should be headed back to its lair, where we can catch it fully off guard."
Noctis nods, "Yeah, as long as we can stay on guard ourselves."
They wander through the fog to see blood smears on nearly every rock they pass by. "It seems the hunter was here as well. He can't be too far ahead of us," Ignis suggests. They tail the beast until he jumps over the rock wall. The four see a flash of black in the fog headed towards the same direction.
They quickly follow and see the figure slip in between a very narrow passage. Unsure if they will fit as well, Noctis gives a try and steps in the tiny passage. His fingertips touch a warm and sticky wet spot on the wall. He brings his hand to look at what he touched to see them coated in blood.
"It must be the same guy," He quietly calls to the rest of his group. They squeeze through the rest of the way and look around. They enter into some sort of ruins. Noctis takes note of the red barrels that are strewn about the place haphazardly. They wander into a larger area as the fog begins to clear.
Noctis looks to his right when he hears a brick fall. His gaze travels upwards to the sight of a cloaked man perched on the top of one of the ruin's walls. Though his face could not be seen, other than a bit of his mouth, Noctis was quite certain he knew that fellow. The hunter held up a clawed gauntlet with one claw up to his mouth, to tell them to be quiet.
Noctis nods and proceeds onwards as quietly as possible. The fog completely clears to show Deadeye on a miniature cliff, looking directly at the four. Noctis takes a step back with a quiet gasp as the beast eyes them up and down like the food they were certainly about to be.
The behemoth stands and roars the same deafening roar from before. Deadeye jumps down from his perch. Ignis pulls Noctis back, "We should try to stay out of his range."
They watch as a spiral of flames pierces the red barrel to Deadeye's left. They look on in awe as the barrel bursts with a fiery explosion. The cloaked figure stands on the ledge of the broken wall high up in the air. They are so taken aback by the mysterious hunter that they just barely dodge a lunge from the giant beast.
Another ball of fire comes from above and an explosion chars the behemoth's skin on his left. He stumbles around some until he nears the wall. The hunter jumps off and soars through the air like a feline attacking its prey with his claw gauntlets ready to take hold of the beast. He lands on the beast's shoulder and uses his claws to slash his skin near his neck, aiming for a fatal slash.
The four join the fight, doing their best to break his claws and send him off balance. The hunter jumps off and lands near his hindquarters. The claws on his left gauntlet begin to turn a bright orange before a swirl of fire magic energy manifests in his palm. He looks to see the placement of the others and looks back at Deadeye a bit too late.
The huge tail comes full force towards him, knocking him off his feet, sending his ball of fire magic into a random barrel and sending him flying about twenty feet away. He crashes into a rock wall and falls to his knees. He coughs heavily as speckles of blood paint the ground beneath his chest. The hunter looks towards the battle as Noctis brings a two-handed sword down on the behemoths head. Deadeye falls to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.
The hunter hears footsteps coming towards him. With a wisp of blue, his gauntlets are gone and he breathes heavily as he watches the four near him. He looks as a fellow with light brown hair and glasses reaches out his hand. The hunter warily takes the offer and gets some help off the ground. He coughs again, speckles of blood dot his hands as he tries to keep it from getting on anyone.
"Noct," He turns to the black-haired fellow, "You wouldn't happen to have any extra potions on you?" Noctis holds out the bottle of liquid. The hunter takes it and drinks it quickly, taking some time to slightly lift his shirt and splash some on his side where three deep gashes were.
The wounds begin to slowly stitch themselves back together and disappear with the only sign they were there as faint pink scars. The hunter feels the broken ribs begin to mend as well. "Now, I'm very certain you will still be in quite a lot of pain, however, now it is not detrimental to your health," Ignis states.
The hunter nods and puts a hand over his side. He gives a nod as thanks. He pulls out the flier for Deadeye and hands it to Noctis. He walks slowly over to the hulking monstrosity of a beast and pulls out a cellphone. He snaps a few photos of the large paws and of the face. He makes a great deal to inspect the beast before taking out a hunting knife.
He cuts into the gums and digs with the knife until she gets the large canine loose. After inspecting it a bit, it disappears with a blue light just as the claw gauntlets did.
"Excuse me," The hunter turns around to see the blond photographer approaching him. Prompto dangles the dog tags. They all notice how the hunter tenses up as he slowly approaches the blond. He holds out his hand and gently receives the tags.
"We saw you at the diner. You left that in the trailer. It was pretty hard finding you," Prompto takes out his camera and snaps a photo of the hunter holding the tags up. The hunter holds out a hand. Prompto shakes it with a smile.
"Oh," Gladio steps forward, "I think we saw the girl in that photo last night. She left before we got up. Do you know if she is alright?" The hunter dangles the tags. He points to the tags and then to himself. They all look at him like he's crazy. He shakes his head in frustration and jangles the tags and points to himself again.
"Maybe it would be a bit easier for us to understand you if you talked to us," Noctis crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. The hunter puts the tags in his pocket and reaches into the hood. Long silver tresses of hair fall neatly out of one side of the hood. The hunter, now confirmed to be a she, points to her silver hair.
"So then what about Xenova? The guy that these belong to?" Noctis questions. The she hunter pinches the bridge of her nose and wanders over to a pile of scrap. She fishes out a stick and wanders over to the dirt. She draws two stick figures. One that is assumed to be male and the other had long hair to show it is female.
She writes the initials 'SX' over the male and 'QX' over the female. She taps the stick on the dirt beside the 'QX' and then points to herself. "So then these were your tags," Gladio points out. She gives a smile and an enthusiastic nod.
"But those guys in the diner thought that you were your brother. Even the old guy, who said he knew your brother, thought these were his," Prompto adds. She writes the last name 'Xenova' above the figures in large letters. She draws a circle around the entire picture.
Ignis examines her drawing for a moment before looking up at her, "Do you mean that you both just go by Xenova?" She nods.
Prompto raises his hand and gets Ignis' attention, "How come they would go by a last name instead of their first?"
"In some cultures, they go by surnames. They might go by Xenova because it is part of their culture," he turns back towards the she hunter, "I'm going to guess and say that you most likely go by something else in the presence of your brother, correct?" She nods again enthusiastically.
"I see. Calling you by your first name would be quite rude then? And calling you Xenova might be a bit confusing, so how shall we address you?" Ignis crosses his arms and waits for an answer. "Before you give an answer, any way that you do. May I ask a personal question?"
She puts a finger under her chin and looks up, doing her best to continue to keep her face hidden by the shadow of the cloak. She nods after a few seconds. "You are a mute, are you not?" She gives a smile and presses her finger to her nose. "Ah, just as I thought. We will likely have to stick to yes or no questions."
"Can we call you Silver?" Prompto questions enthusiastically. "Because you have silver hair, y'know." She crosses her arms and thinks for a few moments before shrugging. She holds out her hand to shake Ignis'. He formally introduced himself. She shakes everyone's hand and they introduce themselves.
After having met everyone, Silver feels that she is more comfortable with them and removes her hood. After fixing her hair a bit and looks back at them and smiles again. "For someone who can't talk, you sure do express a lot of emotion," Prompto points out. Noctis elbows him and shakes his head.
"Well, Silver," Ignis begins, "Will you be accompanying us to the Post? It would be rude of us to go there and claim your bounty." She gives a nod and begins wondering towards the other end of the area. She crawls through a short opening in the rock and waits for the four on the other side.
They take the long way around to the Chocobo Post, giving the four a good few moments to explain to Silver all the things they had learned and heard of from the other hunters and the diner manager. She smiles through their conversation, nodding from time to time to acknowledge that she was paying attention.
Once they see the post, Prompto runs ahead, dragging Noctis with him. Silver puts the hood of her cloak back on and tucks her hair in. Gladio and Ignis give her a sideways glace but don't question her behavior. Before they get too close to the post, Ignis stops and requests to have a word with Silver. Gladio walks on ahead, leaving the two on the path.
"Please, stop me if I become too imposing, but I wish to know how you became a mute. You did hum some tune the night before, so your vocal cords must still be in tact," He puts his hand up to his mouth to think a bit. She smiles and walks off to get another stick.
She finds a patch of soft dirt and draws a family of stick figures: a mother, father and two children. She crosses out the two parental figures and draws a picture of a brain. She connects it to the little girl with a line. She points to the brain and draws a question mark next to it.
"Ah, so something happened to your parents; something traumatic for you. Thus, you are unable to talk because of the trauma. You are able to hum and most likely make a few other vocal noises because that travels a different path through the brain," Ignis crouches down to look at the drawing. She crouches down next to him and points at him and then taps her nose. "I'm being nosy?" She snickers and nods.
"I see. Let us be on our way then," Ignis stands and starts walking. "One other thing. I'd like you to confer with Noctis. I believe we could make a valuable partner of you yet." She follows closely until they get to the post and stand before the owner, Wiz. She stands tall and strides over with the gall most hunters have.
He thanks her, believing her to be a male hunter who keeps to himself. He pays her the bounty, of which she gives half to the group of four, and tells them they are free to rent Chocobos. She shakes his hand and gives a polite bow before going to stand by the group of four.
"Noctis," Ignis gets the prince's attention, "I had a quiet chat with out new acquaintance. Perhaps it would do some good to team up? She has an unusual weapon, knows a bit of magic and is a relatively skilled fighter."
"Oh, well the car will be a bit cramped, but I don't see any downside to her joining," He looks at the hooded girl. "You will have to lose the hood though. We already stick out, but the whole cloak thing you have going on is definitely not helping." Silver nods and pushes the hood down. She fixes her silver hair a bit before looking around.
They all walk to the car and get situated, forcing Silver to sit in the middle. They make their way to Lestallum. She entertains herself by playing on her phone or listening to the playful banter of the car. The four sometimes ask her questions, but generally forget that she can usually only answer yes or no questions.
"Can we see your claws?" Noctis questions. She holds out her hands in front of her as the leather and metal claws materialize. She hands one gauntlet to Noctis and passes the other to Prompto. She hears the camera shutter a few times and snickers when she realizes how interesting they think her claws are. Prompto soon passes the one he has to Gladio.
"Fine weapons like this must have a name right?" Gladio looks the claws up and down, testing how sharp they are. She takes the gauntlet from Noctis and puts it on. She makes the blades red hot before pointing to them and then to the floor of the Regalia.
"Burning carpet?" Prompto questions. She shakes her head and points down again, then to the hot blades. "Lava?" She points down again. "Hell?" She nods and pulls out her knife. She points to its blade and then to each of the claws. "Hell Blades?" She gives a smile and points to her nose. She lets them vanish with a wisp of blue light and sheathes her knife under her cloak.
…
Innocent she hunter? Spy sent by the empire? Trouble in the form of a silent but deadly woman? Wild trickster hiding behind the guise of a quiet woman?
Who is Quinn Xenova? Why does she let them call her Silver? Will she show her true colors in Lestallum? What will Iris think of her?
Find out in Chapter Three: "Silver's Day Out"!
Please review or send me a private message. Tell me your thoughts. Did you love it and want to see more? Do you want a certain ship to happen? Do you dislike it and want to tell me why? Anything you have to say, I want to hear.