Through My Eyes
Chapter 5
The Path I Take
Hello everyone its 2sidez-Samecoin here. This is the long awaited chapter five of my story. I'm sorry it two years to get this chapter up. I had originally planned on having them get to Igros Castle in this chapter but I decided to have it be in the next one, which will not take me two years I promise you. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I do not own Final Fantasy Tactics. Thanks for staying with me everyone!
'Words like this'--Dorone's thoughts
("Words")--whispering
"Words"—spells (in reading or spoken)
Algus and I walked towards Ramza and the others. I told my brother to examine Algus for any injuries. Then I watched Cindy walk over to me. "Are you all right Dorone?" she asked.
"I'm…fine," I replied in a soft voice.
"You sure? You're looking a little pale."
"I do?"
"Yeah," Cindy looked into my eyes for a moment, "and you look a little lost as well."
"I…" I wasn't sure what to say. I was still feeling uncertain about killing that person. I showed my dagger to Cindy. There were still blood stains on it. She put her arm around me and nodded. She seemed to understand. I then placed my dagger back where it belonged. Cindy kept her arm around me for a few minutes and then let go. I then began to check her for any injuries. She said she felt fine but I insisted. Once I was finished I walked over to Nikita, who was standing by Vlad. As I got closer to her she narrowed her eyes at me.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"To do my job if that's all right with you," I replied with a hint of annoyance. Vlad gave me a dirty look, but I pretended not to notice.
"I'm fine. Unlike you, I can take care of myself." Both Nikita and Vlad smirked. I wanted to hit them right then and there, but Ramza's words were still fresh in my mind.
"You may feel fine, but I have to check anyway. I promise I won't take long." She gave me a dirty look but I ignored it and checked her over. When I was done she asked me if I had found anything wrong. I said no and she boasted to Vlad about how right she was. I rolled my eyes and walked away from them. When Daniel was finished examining the boys, Algus talked with Ramza and Delita. The rest of us were sitting just out of ear shot of them.
I decided to stretch out and lay on the grass. I placed my head on my left arm and closed my eyes. I wanted to clear my head and get my mind off of the battle we just fought. There was a light breeze playing across the plains and I could hear insects. The others were talking softly but I couldn't register what they were saying. I knew that I was starting to fall asleep when the sound of gentle footsteps startled me.
("Sis, are you all right?") Daniel asked quietly. I sat up and looked at him.
"Kinda…" I replied. He sat down beside me and put his arm around my shoulders.
"What's wrong?"
("My first kill…") I lowered my head.
"Sis, if you didn't kill him--"
"He would have killed Algus," I interrupted, "I know brother, but still…"
"You could always--"
"I know…"
"So what are you going to do? It wouldn't make much sense to continue on if you are going to have this much trouble dealing with taking a life." I remained silent. My brother had brought up a good point. I looked into my brother's face; I could see that he was waiting for an answer, but he didn't want to rush me. I looked away from him. 'Would learning magic really make any difference? Will I still get this horrible feeling if I killed someone with my magic?' It took me a few minutes before I came to a decision. I looked at my brother again. "I'll keep going."
"Why?" Daniel asked.
"This is the path that we have chosen right? We both knew what would happen along the way. It's just that from now on I'll use my magic instead."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes brother, I am." I pulled Daniel into a hug. "You sometimes act like a big brother even though we are twins, and I was born first."
"I can't help it that I care about you, and you're only older by 10 minutes. That means nothing!" Daniel sighed and I laughed.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you were older than me by 10 minutes and you know it!" I let him go and then we started into the whole 'would not, would too' argument until Cindy and Dietrich came over.
"All right you two, that's enough," Cindy said.
"Aww, don't stop them Cindy. It's funny when they get like this." Dietrich said. My brother and I looked at Dietrich and blew raspberries at him before we stopped. After a few minutes passed Ramza, Delita, and Algus came over to where the rest of us were.
"The first thing we have to do is report to Igros. Let's keep moving for now. I'll explain things later." Ramza informed us. Daniel helped me get up off the ground. After everyone was up we checked our inventory. We then started walking at a medium pace. Ramza, Delita and Algus lead the way. Behind them were Nikita and Vlad, and after them were Cindy and Dietrich. We traveled in silence and it was unsettling. I decided to try and remember how to cast Fire to keep the silence from bothering me. It didn't take me long to remember; all it took was to take what I did to Vlad when we fought and make the energy combust. I wanted to practice, but I needed a target. My eyes wandered towards Vladimir, but seeing Ramza walking ahead of him made think of his words once more. Then I thought about using myself as the target. I was willing to do it, but not at the moment. With that train of thought complete I was aware of the silence once more. The only thing I could think to do at the moment was to look up at the sky. It was starting to get late and that meant we would probably make camp soon. Looking at the sky, and it's slowly growing orange tint, put my mind at ease. I know that I really should have been paying attention to walking but the sky was entrancing. My brother seemed to notice what I was doing.
("You really should watch where you going, sis. You don't want to bump into Cindy or Dietrich do you?") I looked at him and shook my head. He smiled at me before looking ahead. I also looked ahead but my eyes settled on Algus. I wasn't quite sure what to think of him since we barely had the chance to get to know each other. Then I began to try and think of what might happen when we finally got to Igros, but because I was never really into politics my thoughts didn't get very far. I sighed softly and resigned to the silence. After a couple of hours Ramza made the order to stop and set up camp. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Once the fire was going and everybody was gathered around the fire Ramza told us what Algus had told him and Delita. There were mix reactions to the news. Nikita and Vladimir both looked appalled, Cindy looked shocked, and Dietrich and my brother looked the same as they did before the heard the news. I wasn't quite sure what to think. I mean I wasn't really surprised but I felt like I should have had some emotional response. Ramza looked around at all of us before stating again that we are going to report to Igros first before doing anything. After that most of us started to talk about other things while Delita gathered our food rations. Cindy left her seat by her brother to come and sit with me and Daniel.
"How are you feeling Dorone?" she asked.
"I'm feeling better…" Cindy smiled at me when I said that, "and I've decided to use magic from this point on."
"Really, well that's good right? So how are you going to practice?" I was quiet for a moment. I didn't really want to tell her that I was planning to use myself as a target, especially when my brother was right there listening.
"Well, I plan on practicing at night when we make camp or have stopped for rest."
"Oh, I see. Are you going to start tonight?"
"I plan to."
"Sis, do you want me to help?" Daniel asked. Once again I stalled my answer. I was hoping that he wouldn't ask that, but I should have known better.
"Sure, it would be nice to have you there ready to help in case something goes wrong." I turn to fully look at my brother and the look on his face tells me that he didn't quite agree with the way I said that.
"Dorone, what are you planning?" he asks sternly. I turn to look at the fire before answering as quietly as possible.
("I, I'm using myself as the target…")
"Could you repeat what you said Dorone? I didn't understand what you said." Cindy said.
"That's because you weren't supposed to." I said aloud, thinking that I just thought it. It took only a second to realize that I didn't just think it. "I mean…"
"Sis, just tell us." My brother softly commanded. I sighed in defeat.
"I was planning to use myself as the target."
"You can't do that Dorone!" Cindy said loud enough for everyone to hear. I tried to quiet her down but she continued. "What if you seriously hurt yourself or worse? Then what!? There must be another way, right?" I didn't answer her right away because it felt like Vlad and Ramza were staring at me.
"What do you want me to do Cindy? I can't use anyone else for a target for the very same reasons. The only option I see is to use myself as the target." Cindy stared at me while trying to come up with an answer. I sighed and looked at the fire. I knew she was trying, but I had my doubts whether or not she come up with an answer.
"Oh, I've got it!" she said cheerfully. I sighed but continued to look at the fire.
"What Cindy?"
"Why don't you use your hat as a target?" I looked at her in disbelief.
"My…hat?"
"Yeah. I know you really don't like wearing the thing, so why not set it on
fire."
"Do you really think that will work Cindy?"
"I don't know but it's worth a try isn't it?"
"Fine, follow me then." I sighed and began to walk away from the tents. Cindy and my brother followed closely behind me. I led them a good distance away from the tents. The camp fire was a small light in the distance, and there was a small breeze playing through the plains. "This should be far enough," I said softly. Then I reached up for my hat and took it off. I looked at it and then at Cindy, still questioning how plausible her idea was. She looked at me with a cheerful smile waiting for me to do whatever it was I was going to do. I sighed and placed the hat on the ground in front of me before taking a few steps back. "You two may want to get behind me." They nodded and did as I suggested. I turned my gaze towards my hat and began to focus. It was hard to concentrate at first because of how silly I felt, but once I was able to get over it I felt something with in me stir. I let the feeling flow through me and then the words came from my lips. "Destruction in nature, gather in flame! Fire!" I gasped slightly feeling the release of energy followed by a drained feeling. My brother came over to me and placed his arm around me. We looked at the hat but nothing happened. A slight wind tried to blow my hat away but it wasn't enough. I looked at Cindy but said nothing. Her smile was gone now and she looked away slightly. I sighed and gazed at my hat again. I was about to turn around and walk back to the campfire when I noticed something. I shrugged my brother's arm off, walked over to my hat, and kneeled beside it. "Ha..." There was a small flame starting to grow. I tried my best to shield my hat from the breeze so that the flame could grow. In a flash the hat burst aflame and burned to ash within a few seconds. I fell back startled but started laughing oddly. I looked at my brother and Cindy still laughing. "Did you guys...haha...did you see that?" I asked excitedly. "It...haha...it really worked. I did that...haha...I did it." I looked at the remains of my hat and smirked. "And you know what? It feels good." I sat up and began laughing harder as Cindy and my brother came over.
"Sis...?"
"Dorone? Are you okay?"
"I feel just peachy Cindy!" Then I felt woozy all of a sudden and swayed slightly. I stopped laughing and looked at my brother.
"She's going to pass out..." my brother said to Cindy as he moved closer to me.
"No I'm not..." I protested, even though my body was telling me other wise.
"Yes you are sis."
"You're wr...ong..." He was right.