So yeah, it happened again. I know, I’m slack and don’t put nearly enough time into important things, this included. Still, I haven’t quite figured everything out for this story. It kind of comes to me as I go some of the time, but there are key things I have planned, and even short sections of future chapters I can hardly wait to just copy and paste straight into the story. I’m just that happy with them, and a little excited about one or two in particular. Anyway, now that I’m super busy with uni work I find myself trying to get distracted from it by writing this. It’s weird the way my mind works sometimes. But I won’t keep you with this intro any longer. Here’s…

Chapter 24

Mist could see Lani beginning to become visibly tense from her conversation with Meranim. She didn’t know much about Exodus, and couldn’t contact her either, so there was little she could do to alleviate Meranim’s curiosity. The combination of that and her attempt to remain polite, despite her probable desire to strangle the Nu Mou healer, was more than Mist had seen Lani take without exploding before. She was extremely relieved, as she felt Lani would be, when Erebi finally rolled into view.

“I don’t think we’ll be needing ssupplies now,” Guiness shouted back to the group in the cart, “Sso there’s no need to go shopping. We can head straight back to my place and have dinner.” He smiled broadly, which Mist had often found looked creepy from a Bangaa, however Guiness managed to pull it off with a degree of charm.

Mist partly attributed the grin to his generous payment for the delivery he made just before the group left town. It had been a simple mail package of some sort, but the woman who received it recognized Lani from her spectacular light show and decided that a friend of hers ought to be paid well. Lani was less impressed since she got none of the payment, because as brash as she was she wouldn’t go as far as to ask for something she wasn’t offered if she hadn’t earned it. Well, unless it was Mist or Zan.

As the cart rolled into town, Mist looked around at the sight of shops closing and the sun setting over the roofs ahead of her. Erebi was becoming a familiar and comforting sight, and its small, quiet streets were a sight mostly unknown in Andandrea. Mist had grown up in the busy streets of a city and loved the contrast of all the little towns she’d passed on the journey already, but Erebi was the only one actually on the main road between cities. Every other town was off a short road, keeping out the general traffic that had picked up again after word had got out that bandits were being caught. Of course, the three that the party had caught days earlier were only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, but it was enough to give traders confidence again. Traders with guards, at least. The inns seemed somewhat busier thanks to the increased traffic, which made Mist glad that their accommodation was already settled. Guiness pulled up in front of the door with the chocobo on it and let the party out of the cart.

“Head on in,” he called back to them from atop Storm, “We’ll be with you shortly,” and with that, he and Kerta took the cart around back.

Lani knocked on the door and Krayl greeted them warmly, apparently acquainted with Meranim from some prior business between her and Guiness. Mist quite gratefully flopped into a big, soft armchair before Krayl could finish telling everyone to make themselves comfortable. Even with the mostly soft uniforms to sit on, Mist was still sore after travelling all afternoon. She’d hoped more than once for a bandit or some random encounter with a creature or two just as an excuse to get up. Sadly, the trip had been much less eventful than that.

Guiness and Kerta came in through the back door and set the piles of uniforms on a shelf.

“Krayl,” Guiness called to his brother, “Would you mind giving me a hand with dinner?”

“Be right there,” Krayl replied, wrapping up a conversation with Meranim.

Mist’s gaze wandered about the room as she let her body sink into the soft cushions of the seat. Lani had taken up the other armchair, slumping into it probably as ungracefully as Mist had herself. Rigby sat on one of the thick armrests, laying flat without reaching either end. Meranim and Kerta had taken seats at the table near the kitchen and were chatting with Guiness about business and the post-chaos of Sandros. And Zan was…

“Mind if I join you?” Zan asked, standing right in front of her. Mist was visibly startled to see Zan so close. He’d been by the table only moments before and she’d begun to relax a little too quickly. Zan stifled a laugh, “If it’s ok with you, of course. There are only two armchairs here, and as you can imagine my butt hurts probably as much as yours.”

Mist tried her hardest to hide the fact that there were three words in what he’d said that were now stuck in her mind, and the imagery to match. She decided just to focus on his face and what he had to say as she nodded and moved over to let Zan sit beside her on the generously sized chair.

“I’m beginning to wonder,” Zan whispered, “How long we can travel with our new friends before it becomes impossible to hide our real quest. And when the time comes that we must disclose it, how much we can entrust to anyone.”

Mist looked around at Rigby, Meranim, Kerta, and the brief glimpses of Guiness in the kitchen. “I think we can trust Meranim, certainly,” she whispered back, “And I like Guiness. I trust him.”

“And so it comes to Rigby,” Zan interjected, “Whom I’ve been wondering about as well. Just how far can anyone trust a thief?”

“I know what you mean,” Mist mused, carefully glancing at the relaxing Moogle whom Lani was now trying her hardest to ignore, “But he’s just a kid. I just don’t see him being dangerous.”

“Hmm,” Zan replied, which Mist felt was more a consideration of her decision rather than the implications it made. Zan was measuring her by her choice, as he did sometimes when he did that careful planning thing of his. He’d look at everything, take other people’s opinions, and then make up his own mind. Mist felt a bit of a chill sometimes when he did that because it gave her that feeling of being judged, even though she knew that wasn’t what he was doing. “Perhaps you’re right. Without any proof to the contrary, I suppose there’s no reason not to trust him. Still, not just yet, right?”

Mist looked back at Zan, suddenly reminded of just how close he was sitting, “Uhh, right,” she replied with a gentle sigh, cautiously looking back across the room at nothing in particular, “No need to say anything just yet.”

--

The small house was beginning to feel more compact as they shared it with yet another travelling companion for the night. Rigby had slept in Krayl’s room, Zan and Kerta had shared Guiness’ room, and Mist, Lani, and Meranim had shared the guest room. Mist decided that the house had certainly not been built with so many residents in mind. Thankfully the night went quickly after all the excitement of the day before. Soon enough, breakfast had passed in a similarly rushed style to their last stay and the group were aboard the cart ready to leave for Andandrea.

Home, Mist thought. We’re going home.

It was an odd thought. She hadn’t been so far away from home before, so the feeling of going back was new, as well as the knowledge that it was just a pause on their way to the blitzball tournament. Again, that was only the short-term destination. It was likely that after the tournament it would be even longer before they would see Andandrea again.

Mist was surprised that she wasn’t more disheartened by the fact that she would be spending so much time away from home, doing dangerous things, facing great odds. She was impressed by her own apparent courage.

Guiness turned the cart south as they approached the only major road to connect with the route between Duntarine and Sandros. The air was still cold as the sun was only just beginning to rise above the tall canopy of the Venomwood to the east. Shadows still stretched across the plains near the forest and even as far as the road they were on, though not for very long as the road curved away from the woods and towards the enormous bay to the south west.

Technically speaking, it wasn’t a bay. It was far too large. It was more of a gulf, but it was named Lau Bay long ago and people just didn’t seem to care that the name was wrong. Mist loved looking out into the water near Andandrea, watching the ferries and other vessels pass by. It wouldn’t be too long before the coast was in sight and the smell of the sea would fill the air.

In the meantime, the journey would take most of the day and Mist had things to consider. First of all, something had been bothering her in the back of her mind that she had been hesitant to allow into conscious thought. If Omega was running around and trying to regain his power, why hadn’t he come after them himself? Where was he hiding? And why hadn’t anyone actually seen him, apart from the Head Sorcerer and Evelyn? Both were questions that would be very hard to find a satisfying answer to, and Mist was just happy that the former hadn’t happened yet. The longer it was before she had to face something as tough as Omega the better. Of course, if he was only getting stronger…

Mist sighed as she leant over the side of the cart, not very happy at where her thoughts were leading her.

How do you fight something like that? She pondered. The warm glow of the morning sun began to light the back of Mist’s head and she gently dozed off back into a disturbed sleep.

--

As Mist looked around, she recognised her surroundings. The tables of candles and spectacularly wide diamond tiled floor of the Hall of Sorcery spread out around her and in front of her were Bahamut, Fenrir, and Eve.

“What am I doing back here?” Mist asked them, slightly confused.

“We needed to speak with you again, Mist,” Bahamut began.

“And you conveniently fell asleep,” Fenrir quickly interjected, “So here we are.”

“Oh,” Mist replied, a little embarrassed though she wasn’t sure why she should be. It had taken a while for her to fall asleep the night before. In fact, Mist had been having trouble sleeping for over a week now, which didn’t really surprise her.

“Mist,” Eve said in her gentle yet commanding voice, “Your achievements have been great so far in your journey, but be warned; they have not gone unnoticed.”

Eve held out her hand and began to draw in mid air. As she did, a line of sparkling gold light trailed behind the tip of her finger. She began with a flat line, then curved up and around in almost a full circle until she was level with the first line again and finished flat. The image looked like an O that had been broken at the bottom and bent outwards.

“Beware this symbol and all who bear it, Mist,” Eve added sternly, “It is Omega’s symbol. They follow him, and will do all in their power to see that you and your friends fail. They will not hesitate to kill if necessary, and will most likely be trying to hunt you down. For their master’s sake, they will most likely remain hidden but you should remain alert at all times.”

“But,” Mist muttered hesitantly, “Do they know who we are? Do they know where we’re going? Do they know what we look like?”

“We’re not mind readers,” Fenrir replied rather gruffly, “All we know is that they know someone is doing things to try and stop their master. It’s possible that they know at least your descriptions, but otherwise we know as little as you. After all, we no longer have a presence in the world more than you have seen of us. We will do what we can for you and your friends, Mist, but for now this is all we can provide. Be careful, and wake up…”

--

The light of the only torch in the small, stone room was dimmed as a cloaked figure stood before it. His imposing shadow spread across a group of similarly clad figures on the floor in front of the step he commanded the room from. The figures below were silent as the man spoke.

“My brothers,” his harsh yet soft voice bore a degree of comfort for the others in the room, “Our lord has returned and is studying his findings. He reminds us that his pursuers are still at large, and that they consist of mere children.” The figure lowered his head further to hide his thin black beard, the only feature of his face that had been visible beneath the black shadows of his hood. As he did, his voice took on a more serious and cold tone, “They must be dealt with before they can acquire more of what our lord needs.”

The figure’s audience gave a unison murmur of agreement before turning to the door. The figures all dressed alike formed a sea of blood-red hooded robes, each bearing the black symbol of Omega.

-- --

Well, this looks like a reasonably good place to break for another chapter. I’ll get back to writing again around Easter because as much as I’d like to continue now I have 3 major assessment tasks coming up and almost no time to do them. I blame my constant procrastination, as always. I know there wasn’t much in that chapter, and the part at the end there kind of came to me as I went, but I was going to put something to that effect in there sooner or later. Kind of makes sense to have it there now, I suppose. Even leaves room for another idea I had for a chapter coming up soon. Guess my plan to let the story write itself around a skeleton plot continues to pay off. Well, I hope you didn’t mind too much about the major delay, but be prepared for a few more weeks minimum before I get a chance for any more. Actually, it’ll either be a couple of days or several weeks before I get something new depending on my inspiration/mood/workload. So yeah, just wait and see I suppose.

I still don’t own Final Fantasy.