Chapter 13

Damn. Guy looked from left to right but he couldn't see where Sync had gone. He turned back down the stairs. If nothing else, he should help the others. After all, they had two God-Generals and a bunch of ligers to deal with, and two of their party couldn't fight. He rounded the corner to the room where the giant machine was—

—and heard a shrill scream.

He couldn't believe what he saw. It happened as if in slow motion. Raine had stumbled back, away from the liger Jade had washed into the ocean.

She threw her arms out, flailing and falling backwards from the platform. Her scream sounded like the pure terror of staring down death itself. As a trained rescuer for maritime sports, he knew what to do, and his instincts kicked in before he had a chance to realize she was a woman. He sheathed his sword and ran for the edge. A quick peer down, and he dove, focusing on the splash of highly disrupted water.

The cold water shocked his face and skin as his clothes soaked up each icy bite. He swam where he could see Raine's kicking feet and wild limbs. He grabbed her wrist and broke the surface for a gasp of air. He pulled her back up above the water and tugged her towards the cliff to where the small outcrop led back to the machine.

He pushed her up onto a ledge and pulled himself up after her. She coughed. The stiff, robotic posture returned, only this time, she didn't move. She shook, staring straight ahead with pale lips. She looked a lot like a drowned chirpee and it had nothing to do with the liger staring her down. It had been drenched, too, but the fight had been soaked out of it. It shook, throwing salt water everywhere.

The liger growled and retreated.

"Are you okay?" Guy asked. She looked physically unhurt, but something about her posture reminded him of her hopping from one dry stone to another back at the Fubras.

He reached for Raine, but then his own brain kicked in. A woman. She's too close! He jerked back, suddenly feeling his own terror. Even so, he recovered first. She gulped for air, but her breathing finally slowed.

"Guy! Raine! What are you doing?!"

"Luke?" Guy glanced up. Sure enough, Luke ran towards them. But when Guy glanced up, he realized the ligers had dispersed, and Arietta retreated up the stairs where Sync had gone. "You stay here with Raine. I'm going after the God-Generals."

He didn't wait for Luke's protest or for his own heart to settle from the panic.

Raine could still hear the splashing in her ears. She definitely felt cold and wet. Her vision cleared, though, and she found herself looking into a pair of green eyes framed in red hair.

"Are you okay? You really don't look okay." The concern in his eyes woke her up.

"Yes, I'm—fine. What happened?" Then she realized the absurdity of his being in front of her. "We're here to rescue you! Where did you come from?"

"You fell," Luke pointed to the water. "I woke up and saw you hit the water." Oh, yes. Water. That's why she felt so cold and panicked. Yet again, someone had saved her. By the looks of him, it wasn't Luke.

He helped her up, still shaking, but she felt herself calming. Raine felt like she had just swallowed a pail of water and her nostrils stung from the salt of it.

That's right. They found him lying on the machine. She straightened as Ion ran over, Mieu just behind him.

"Raine!" Mieu said floating right up to her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She smiled at him. "Thank you, Mieu."

"Arietta and the ligers went up that way," Ion said. "We should probably follow them."

"Ion, what are you doing? Come on guys!" Anise shouted from the base of the stairs. "Let's go, before they get away." She chased after Tear who disappeared around the corner. Jade had already gone ahead, Raine supposed.

"Right, let's go." Still stiff and now soaked, she led Ion and followed Luke, staggering up at the stairs in waterlogged boots. She felt her toes swimming in the cold, shivering her. "Hang on." She sat and dumped the water on the stairs, for the first time in her life cursing how dramatically tall her boots were. Shorter boots wouldn't have collected so much of that spiteful stuff.

It wouldn't take long to catch up to the others, well, most of them at a landing in what looked like a square tower. Jade watched Luke, Raine, and Ion coming up the stairs, but the expression on his face startled her. It was like he looked through them, not at them, and his eyes swept from one to the other, finally settling on Raine, at whom he stared the longest. Anise's attention, however, focused up the rising tower staircase.

"Man... That's a long ways if we're not riding ligers. Stupid Gloomietta. Why'd she have to go up?"

"Should we even bother with them?" Raine asked. "We got what we wanted."

"It might be worth asking what's going on, though," Tear replied.

"I'm glad you're safe, Raine, but what happened?" Jade asked. "The spell should not have affected you."

"That wasn't on purpose?" She asked, incredulous. "You already forgot your promise to Elder McGovern. We're not at Kimlasca yet and you're leaving me to drown."

"Of course it was intentional," he replied with a smile. She grit her teeth and glared. His own smile vanished. Now was not the time to tease her. "I am sorry. You're marked an ally and not my target so it should not have affected you."

So it was intentional. He was only after the liger, which meant he didn't know about her fear of water. Well, she was going to keep it that way! "No, I'm fine. I was just startled by the suddenness of it."

"Ah." And yet, he didn't seem wholly convinced.

She also noticed he was damp only from sweat and his clothes weren't drenched like hers. Not only had he used a water spell near her, he didn't bother to jump in to save her. She knew as much! But that was okay. She would've done the same thing, though for different reasons.

But someone had... She glanced around and while Tear, Ion, Anise, and Luke all looked damp from ocean spray, none of them were soaked like her. The God-Generals wouldn't save her...

"Where's Guy?" She asked.

"Hey, yeah, Guy isn't here. We can't just leave." Luke started up the tower stairs and looked up to see what Anise saw. Raine looked, too. Several flights of stairs...

Stairs and more stairs, but she couldn't help looking around some more. Her eyes just raked the interior and she felt her own excitement flourish despite the exhaustion. As dangerous as this place was, she couldn't help but feel excited about it. Ruins were ruins, whether they were Sylvarant's or Tethe'alla's.

But the stairs allowed her time to think about what happened. After all of this time, Guy wouldn't approach her within a few feet, but the moment she needed him, the moment she fell into the water, he rescued her. He knew she was a half-elf, and he saved her. Why? Why the hypocrisy? A part of her stung from the thought of it. She was clearly worth saving on some level. It still must be the flying machine. His passion lit up his face every time the topic came up. Perhaps he hoped to fly it? She wasn't sure.

Guy emerged from a room off the landing and peered down at them coming up the stairs. It was definitely him. Though he drip-dried some, his clothes hung with damp weight on his body. "Oh, good! You're safe." He seemed genuinely happy about that.

Raine walked up the steps to him, but when he realized it, he stepped back, step for step. She stopped. What was up with that?! She pointed back to Luke.

"Him or me?" Raine asked, bitterly. Guy frowned.

"Does it matter?" Luke asked. He brushed past her. "He means me. Did you get Sync?"

"No, but he dropped this," Guy held up a disc. Immediately, Raine's disgust disappeared in favor of her interest in the disc. She reached out a hand as if to take it.

"May I see it?" Jade asked before Raine could open her mouth.

"Uh, yeah, here. We should probably find a place to have it analyzed."

She glared at Guy. "Why would you come after me? Did Jade tell you to?"

"Huh? No. I saw you fall. I'm trained in maritime rescue."

"Really?" Luke asked. "I'd never heard that before."

"Yeah, sorry. I never told you."

Anger flared within her. Was he lying about that, too? "Don't act like you care, human." Raine muttered. She brushed past him in a fury and he leapt back, nearly hollering as he did. She didn't care.

"What? Come on," he said impatiently. "What's up with you?"

She turned around. He had started following her, but still kept his distance. "As I said, don't pretend like you care about me. I've known for a while that you don't like me. You don't have to pretend to be civil on my account, nor anyone else's for that matter. I'm used to it, don't worry. I can handle it."

"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I don't deserve to be treated like that."

He let the silent "I saved you" hang in the air. She heard it and her hard expression softened. She didn't want to admit it, especially aloud. He had indeed saved her. Even as she recognized her hostility was outwardly unwarranted, she couldn't help how she felt. But he was correct. He didn't deserve to get snapped at for saving her. Finally, Raine said, "thank you."

"You're welcome, but seriously what's going on? You've been acting this way since I spoke with you in Saint Binah. Did I say something back then?"

"It's hypocritical, saving me when you don't even like me."

"What happened to 'if I never forgave, I'd never be happy'?"

"Perhaps we should keep going," Jade suggested. "I'm not interested in another lover's quarrel while the God-Generals are getting away."

"Yeah, seriously," Anise added.

Raine huffed and continued walking up the stairs after them. As she passed Guy, he spoke to her. "You know, it hasn't occurred to you that maybe you're taking it a little too personally?" He paused. "I never had a problem with you, but you make it harder to be nice when you're throwing barbs like that."

Raine frowned. "Of course I take it personally when someone has a problem with me."

"It's not you," he said solemnly and hurried to catch up to Jade, leaving her confused.

How could it not be?

Searching for Memories

One of Arietta's monsters came and grabbed me. I blacked out, but I thought I heard something about opening my synchronized fon slots or something... (What the heck are "synchronized fon slots"?) When I came to, I was lying on that machine we saw earlier. Sync, one of the Six God-Generals, was there too, but when I was about to ask him what was up, everybody came back and found me, and Sync fled the scene.

As Sync was leaving, he dropped a fon disc. I thought I saw Sync's mask fall off too, but I couldn't see his face. I wonder if Guy did? Not that I actually care what he looks like.

Anyway, Sync took off and Guy chased after him, but I guess he lost him because he came right back. Then Raine fell into the water and Guy jumped in after her. That really surprised me because Guy normally doesn't get too close to women.

Jade was acting weird, too. He looked like he recognized the machine I woke up on, but he wouldn't tell us anything about it. We ended up just leaving it behind and heading on to find the God-Generals. Guy had run ahead, but when we caught up to him, he told us about a disc that Sync dropped. Guy had picked it up and said we should try and find somewhere to analyze it.

We eventually found out that Arietta was on the roof, but I wasn't about to fall for a stupid trick like that twice. We dodged the monsters' attacks and knocked Arietta out. Jade was about to kill her again, but Ion said he'd take her back and have her stand before an inquiry.

Then, Master Van arrived, and he agreed with Ion.

Apparently Master Van found out that we hadn't arrived in Kaitzur, so he came to meet us here. I guess we ended up causing him trouble after all.

We handed Arietta over to Master Van and started back for the Kaitzur military port. Finally I can get back to Kimlasca! Though it'll be a pain to get confined in the mansion again...

A special THANK YOU to Bite_of_the_Dragonfly for being such a consistent reader/reviewer. =^-^= It's motivating to know someone is (impatiently) waiting! I posted this chapter early, just so you wouldn't have to wait long. :)

~~Kat