Episode 7: X771
Zaflior, Phoenix Fire Guildhall, X770
"Geez, Rodriguez, you look like you're ready to burst."
"How many times do I have to tell you it's Septim now? Nadine Septim."
A twenty four year old Nadine Septim is laying in one of the infirmary beds in the Phoenix Fire guildhall. She rubs her very pregnant belly, something that's become a habit over the past nine months.
An older woman with short black hair and purple eyes is sitting next to her, an unimpressed look on her face. "And how many times do I have to tell you I don't care for your damn husband?" the woman asks. "If Mach doesn't get here within the next ten minutes I'm kicking him out of the guild." she says.
Nadine rolls her eyes and smiles fondly while staring down at her belly. "My baby boy isn't coming until his father is here." she says confidently. "Have you heard anything from my mom, Neptune?" she asks hopefully, looking up at the woman.
Neptune, the third Guild Master of Phoenix Fire, nods and smiles comfortingly at her. "Theresa should be here-"
"I'M HERE!"
"-right now." Neptune sighs, shaking her head and smiling.
Theresa Rodriguez, Nadine's mother, stands in the doorway of the infirmary, panting heavily. "Did I miss it?" she asks nervously. "Is my grandbaby here?"
Nadine shakes her head and smiles, patting her belly. "He's still sitting in here happily." she says as Theresa takes a seat next to Neptune. "Did you see Mach on your way in-?"
"DADDY'S HERE! WHERE'S MY BABY BOY!?" comes a voice from outside the infirmary.
"Nevermind." Nadine says, smiling patiently while Theresa and Neptune look exasperated despite the man not even being in the room.
Theresa facepalms, give her daughter a tired look. "I will never understand your love for that man." she says, Neptune mumbling an agreement.
Nadine's smile doesn't falter. "Didn't everyone else say the same about you and Dad?" she challenges, raising an eyebrow.
A tall, burly man with pale skin and long white hair throws open the door of the infirmary. "Dina!" he beams, smiling brightly. His expression softens and his amber colored eyes take in the quiet room. "I didn't miss it?" he asks hopefully.
Nadine shakes her head and gives her husband the same answer she gave her mother.
Mach Septim, husband of Nadine Septim for the past four years, smiles again. "Good." he sighs in relief and holds up a small bag. "I managed to get those necklaces you were-"
Nadine suddenly doubles over, groaning in pain. "Y-Yeah, you can show it to me later." she says, pained. "The b-baby's coming." she pants out. "Can one of y-you get me some new sheets?"
A number of hours later, a tired and exhausted Nadine leans against Mach while he holds their baby boy in his arms, smiling lovingly at him. "He's perfect." she says quietly, playing with the little red hairs on his head. "Our little -."
"He looks like you." Mach says and smiles. "I bet your mom's happy about that, hm?" he says jokingly.
Nadine rolls her eyes and yawns, slumping against Mach. "I bet - got your eyes though."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I want him to have your eyes." Nadine snickers. "I've told you before you have beautiful eyes, Mach." she says.
They sit together quietly for a moment, Mach admiring his wife and son while Nadine slowly drifts off to sleep. She's quickly pulled back however, when Mach gasps. "Oh! I almost forgot - the necklaces." he says, gently putting their sleeping baby in a cradle by the bed. He picks up the bag he brought in before and hands it to Nadine.
Nadine sits up, peeking in the bag. "How did they turn out?" she asks, picking out a small rectangular box.
"Just like you wanted." Mach says with a smile, putting an arm around her.
She opens the first one and smiles. She takes out the first necklace - it has a simple black rope chain and a rectangular silver pendant with -'s name engraved on it. Nadine smiles happily, tears prinpicking her eyes. "Perfect." she says. "Bring him here."
Mach does as she says, scooping up their son and bringing him closer to Nadine.
Nadine gingerly lifts up his head and pulls the necklace over it. "Our baby boy, - Septim."
X771
Nobody knows what to make of the sight before them. Their Guild Master, a woman they all know to be in her forties, is standing before them looking like she's back in her twenties.
Neptune scoffs, crossing her arms as everyone stares at her in silence. "What?"
Theresa and Nadine look the most shaken.
"Ne-Neptune-" Theresa stammers, her face deathly pale. "What happened to you?" she asks.
Neptune taps her chin in thought. "I'm not sure." she says. "The merchants I was protecting say that I died, my corpse burst into flames, and then-"
"You died!?" Nadine gasps, interrupting her.
"Apparently so-"
"Did you have a vision about the Goddess?" Theresa interrupts her.
"Well, y-yes, but how did you-?"
"Anything about this alleged twin sister?"
Neptune stares at her in surprise. "You know about the Goddess Fen?"
("Pause," Veiss says, interrupting Emile. "Are you saying the Goddess has a sister?" he asks.
Emile glares at him. "I'm not saying anything, I'm just telling you the story." he says. "None of the scriptures say anything about a twin Goddess named Fen. Now shut up and listen.")
Theresa doesn't respond, instead pulling Neptune and Nadine away from the crowd and outside the guild. "The same thing happened to my husband, Nadine's father, you know." Theresa says as she leads the women away. "It was how we met. He was an old man but he died saving my life. He emerged from the fiery remains of my airship as a young man who was suddenly skilled in Fire Magic." she says, finding a bench and sitting the two women down. "Santiago and I told Theresa this before, of course." she adds quickly.
Nadine grumbles unhappily, a pensive look on her face as she cradles - in her arms.
Neptune narrows her eyes at Theresa. "I know the story, Rodriguez." she says. "Santiago claimed that he had some divine mission to complete with an 'old friend' and that he'd put it off long enough." Neptune says. "And in the letter, he left the guild to me. Some townspeople claimed that they saw a fiery bird flying away from your place late in the night - similar to how The First disappeared when he left the guild to your husband all those years ago." she says. "What are you trying to imply, Rodriguez?" she asks Theresa. "That I'm gonna go crazy about finding Fen and leave everyone behind like The Second?"
Nadine and Theresa flinch, hurt looks crossing both of their faces. "We're just worried about you, Master." Nadine says, looking at Neptune pleadingly. "Please just promise you'll tell us if you get any strong feelings about going out to find this alleged Goddess." she says. "I don't want to lose you like I lost my dad and Mom doesn't want to lose her best friend."
Neptune sighs, rubbing her face with her hands. "I know, I know. I'm sorry." she apologizes. "I just...like I said, I know everything about what happened to Santiago and The First. I don't want that happening to me." she says. Neptune cracks a smile. "Hey, y'know, now I'm like a sister to Nadine instead of an aunt."
"You're insufferable." Theresa deadpans.
"You love me."
Nadine cracks a smile too, "Yeah I do...sister."
Theresa rolls her eyes and stalks away from her daughter and best friend. "I hate you both."
Weeks later, X771
Neptune disappeared.
Theresa noticed the change started happening a lot faster than it did to Santiago. She got to build a life with Santiago for a little over thirteen years after he reverted to a young man. With Neptune, it started the next day.
After interviewing the townspeople, the guild concluded that she disappeared exactly the same way Santiago and The First did: as a fiery bird in the night.
The lack of leadership threw Phoenix Fire into chaos.
There were people that wanted to continue the search for their dear Guild Master and others who insisted that they needed to elect a new Master.
Nadine and Theresa, although they had little hope of finding her, were on the side of the people that wanted to keep looking for Neptune. Mach, being the ever devoted husband, agreed with Nadine. They left one of their guild members to watch over - and they set out to search the area surrounding Zaflior with a handful of other Phoenix Fire members.
They returned several days later to find the streets of Zaflior deserted. Upon returning to the guildhall, the team was horrified to find the bodies of their guildmates littering the outside and inside of their precious home. Instantly, Nadine, Mach, and Theresa's thoughts were with the newest addition to the Septim-Rodriguez clan.
They found the body of the guildmate they left to watch over baby Septim but not - himself.
Phoenix Fire Mages and Zaflior citizens reported that a large group of Dark Mages arrived in town and immediately started attacking people and causing all around devastation and chaos.
It was a brutal, unprovoked attack according to everyone's testimony. It was as if they were just seeking easy bloodshed. News had quickly spread of Phoenix Fire's disarray and missing Guild Master - they were lucky only one group came to terrorize the town.
Devastated from the kidnapping of her son, the loss of the woman who helped raise her after her father disappeared, and so many friends and guildmates, Nadine and a number of other Phoenix Fire Mages spiraled for three years. They just cried and wept for their losses while helping Zaflior rebuild and recover.
The people of Zaflior were the only ones who accepted Phoenix Fire's apology for not being there for them. The guild had protected their town for almost a century and this had been their only slip up. Zaflior was devastated from the disappearance of Neptune as well so they understood. The rest of Valiance shunned the guild for being responsible for so many deaths.
Their reputation as a strong, dependable guild took a devastating hit. For years Phoenix Fire rarely, if at all some weeks, received any missions from outside of Zaflior. As a whole, the guild refused to elect a new Guild Master, still holding out hope that Neptune would return to them. They also frequently went out on reconnaissance missions, searching for any information about who attacked them and who took - from his parents.
Three years after the attack, Nadine stepped up and took charge, frustrated by their lack of progress and the way the rest of the country is looking at them. She pushed her own feelings to the side and declared herself the new Guild Master.
Nobody argued with her.
They respected the way she told them they can't live like they are anymore; depressed and frantically searching for leads and constantly hitting dead ends. After all, Nadine was one of the ones who'd been affected by the attack the most. If she can get her act together, they can too. And so, in the year X774, Nadine Septim became the Fourth Guild Master of Phoenix Fire.
Nadine, after talking about it with her husband, stopped the incessant searches for their son, and everybody started to come to terms with the fact that they might never see little - Septim again. She did however, create a team of Mages with particularly sneaky skill sets and someone she could trust with anything and everything to lead them and investigate the murders and kidnapping. Nadine put her mother in charge of the team (a team that consisted of her husband, Mach, as well).
Nadine instructed everyone else to return to business as usual: carrying out missions and restoring their reputation.
The next year, Phoenix Fire got thrown into chaos again when Nadine's special team was attacked in the mountains by Arkcester. Several Mages on the team were murdered: one of those Mages being Nadine's husband, Mach Septim. Fortunately for Nadine's sanity, Theresa survived. Nadine demanded that everybody stay in check and she puts her team on their murders too.
X793
"Master Nadine keeps up her serious and stoic facade in front of everyone, only letting herself break down when she's by herself or with Theresa." Emile finishes. He lets the three of them absorb the information and throws himself on his bed, waiting patiently.
"Wow…" Mana says.
"Damn." Akane mumbles. "Attacked twice…"
Veiss doesn't say anything. There's an unreadable, distant look on his face and he looks like his mind is elsewhere, not on Emile's story.
Emile yawns. "And now you know why Master is the way she is and why we get like, two missions from outside Zaflior whenever the mailman comes." he says. "Any questions?"
Akane waves her hand at him, "What did you say her son's name was?" she asks.
"It says his name on that necklace she's always wearing, right?" Mana says.
Emile nods. "Yeah. His name is - was - um," he scratches his head. "It's Oliver. Oliver Septim."
In Wisteria Village…
A man with burgundy colored hair and amber eyes sighs, staring at the doors of Silver Sabelum.
This man is the lonely new Guild Master of Silver Sabelum, a rather small Guild compared to the other Valiant Guilds. He has messy, shoulder length burgundy colored hair with most of the back tied into a little high ponytail. His face is framed by bangs that go just above his collarbone and he also has bangs that fall just over his eyes that constantly tickle his eyelashes; which in turn makes him constantly run his fingers through his hair so they're out of his way (no, he will not cut them or style his hair differently). He has tanned skin and amber colored eyes. The man wears a wide necked white t-shirt with a black tank top underneath. His pants are knee-length black trousers with white ribbon ties and today he wears a pair of red and green socks with the opposite color slip on shoe on either foot.
"Oliver, it's your turn."
The man, Oliver, sighs again and turns back to face the table. He narrows his eyes at the chess board, unsure of what move his opponent made while he wasn't paying attention. He glances between the board and his foe, trying to read her expression for any indication of what she did.
His opponent is Lenox Arachnia, a fairly senior member of Silver Sabelum in terms of experience. She has her black hair up in a loose chopstick bun and wears a pink headband to keep her hair in place. She has pale skin and pink eyes. Lenox wears a multi-colored pink, white, and brown oversized hoodie and a black skirt. She has on black leggings under that and brown boots on her feet.
Oliver gives up and sighs for a third time, pouting. "Lenny, I'm bored." he states.
Lenox gives him a small, sympathetic smile. "We've all been telling you to pick a right hand so they can watch over the guildhall and Wisteria and you can go out on missions." she reminds him.
"I know but no one stays here long enough for me to even have a conversation about that!" Oliver whines. "They're always in and out of here in less than a minute."
Right on cue, Akito Kageyama enters the guildhall. He's a young man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes who opts for a more simple outfit: a white t-shirt with blue jeans and black sneakers (he's dodged his guildmate's many attempts of dressing him up in something more elaborate, claiming there's no point in buying different outfits when his usually gets destroyed and torn up in battle; although he has taken to wearing a black choker and a matching black wristband).
True to that claim, he's walking in with his shirt and jeans torn up. "Hi Master. Hi Lenox." Akito says as he passes by without looking at them.
"Hi Akito."/"H-Hello." Oliver and Lenox respond in unison, watching him immediately head to the Request Board.
"I finished the mission for that old man, he should come back with the reward later today. Hold it for me or put it in my room, I don't care." Akito says as he reads the board. He scans it for about ten more seconds before he picks one and walks back towards the pair. "I'm taking this one." he says, holding it out for Oliver to read.
Oliver reads it and nods. "Yeah, okay, but listen, I-"
"No time to talk. Gotta shower and head out." Akito says, turns on his heel, and exits the guildhall.
Oliver groans, dropping his head onto the chessboard and scattering the pieces. "See what I mean, Len?" he says. "I'd ask you but I know how you feel about attention and I don't want to put that pressure on you. Maybe I can try asking Koz when he gets back..." he trails off, letting out yet another sigh.
Lenox blushes shyly at the comment. "Th-Thank you, Oliver." she says. "Um, do you want to go entertain the village children?" she says.
Oliver quickly lifts his head up, beaming. "Brilliant idea, Lenox." he says and stands up. "Come on, let's go." he says, grabbing Lenox's hand, and dragging her out of the guildhall with a squeak.