The SOLDIER of Ivalice

Chapter VIII

"What I wouldn't give for my DMV to work right about now…" Zack muttered under his breath, dodging yet another attack the flying monster sent at him. The Garuda-Egi was really fixated on him now, but Zack couldn't figure why. He guessed it got tired of trying to attack someone else only to hit him at the last second that it probably decided to just save itself the frustration and go after him only.

It wasn't so bad; Zack never felt too terrible after the Garuda's attacks, but he started to feel an ache of pain after what felt like the millionth time the monster's talons and beak lashed at him. Even the Cure spells Vaan and Penelo sent him didn't seem to do much good, and Zack knew why. The magic was far too weak to heal him up properly, a higher level spell would have worked but…Zack guessed that they didn't have any magical stones or scrolls that allowed them to cast Cura or Curaga. Besides, it seemed they needed most of their magical power focused on a different outlet other than healing.

"Dark!" Vaan's voice rang out as an inky black magic flew from the ground underneath the Garuda, causing it to screech in pain. It swiveled in the air, flapping erratically as the dark magic faded, before turning its fierce head at Vaan.

Finding out the Garuda was weak to Dark had been entirely accidental. Zack's bangle with the nifty Sense spell hadn't told them what the bird was weak or immune to, but Penelo had alone discovered the interesting fact after casting everything she could at the bird. This also helped her successfully blind the beast as well, making it miss when it attacked. Zack was thankful for this after a full hour of taking talons and sharp beak jabs, because at least it was easier to dodge the evil bird.

It took a while, but Zack could tell that the Garuda was slowing down. Its wings flapped more frantically as the time dragged on and being bombarded by bullets, Dark spells, Telekinesis, and occasional bits of rust. It seemed ragged as it tried lashing out at anyone to attack, but Zack somehow found himself intercepting most of the attacks. He blamed the nearly mastered purple materia in the Buster Sword; the spell the materia possessed made him get the undeniable urge to selflessly leap in front of someone else, taking the brunt of wicked attacks from the Garuda-Egi.

He had heard of that kind of materia before but had never actually owned one until now. 'Cover' materia were somewhat rare to find in Midgar, and for good reason. Most people thought the ability was completely worthless, barring the use of helping a person take enough damage to perform their ultimate attack and eventually improve enough to gain the ability to master a different attack in time. The problem with him owning it, unfortunately, was that his ultimate attacks were directly linked to his malfunctioning Digital Mind Wave. No amount of hits he took was ever going to reactivate it, although it was being successful in giving him a very large headache. So far, the only good thing the materia did was help him protect the vastly weaker members of his party by using himself as a human shield, which wasn't as much fun as Zack would've preferred.

It was good for them, not so good for himself. Zack already made up his mind that he was going to settle carrying the Cover materia around in his bag after the battle, and probably never equip it ever again. Especially when the battles were as drawn-out as now; he couldn't afford taking hit after hit after hit…Speaking of which, the Garuda looked like it was readying itself for another divebomb attack-

"SKRRAAA!" The Garuda let out a pained screech and flailed about in the air as two more Dark spells burned its glowing belly. Zack blinked and took a cautious step away from the massive bird. It continued to thrash in the air, fell with a strange grace, then landed face-first onto the ground right in front of him. Zack blinked again and the Garuda-Egi stared vapidly back at him with wide glassy eyes. Was it…dead?

BANG!

A bullet pierced the Garuda's skull and the glow that surrounded the monster immediately faded from sight, leaving a very plain looking bird prone on the dirt.

"Finally." Balthier muttered, holstering his gun with a slight frown on his face. "For a moment I thought we were going to be fighting it all day."

Fran's gun smoked noticeably as she gently blew the heat away from the tip. "All beasts fall eventually." She said simply, holstering her gun a moment later. "It is unusual for Garuda-Egi to make nest so far from their homes…this one must have been the terror-beast Sandsea travelers spoke of."

"It explains why so many people haven't found the tomb…I guess." Vaan said as he slipped his weapon into a strap on his back. "I mean, I don't think me and Penelo could have taken that thing alone. Maybe not even three us of could do it. And since most people travel through the desert in small groups…"

"Good thing we're not a small group." Zack replied, frowning slightly at the carcass of the Garuda-Egi. He wondered how he would have fared against the bird by himself, had he the ability to actually hit it. It was pretty tough for a monster of Ivalice and probably would have put up a halfway-decent fight against him.

Glancing back up, Zack noticed the others were already making their way for the huge staircase to the tomb. It made sense that they wanted to get their business done as soon as possible, but if the guardian of the tomb was an annoyingly strong bird what were the chances something stronger was lurking around inside? It seemed very likely…but Zack shook his head. If he went along, he knew something unexpected was going to happen. It always seemed to do that when he hung around Basch, Vaan, Balthier, and Fran. Plus, he seriously doubted all the answers he was looking for was in a dead-guy's tomb.

Then again; Zack frowned. He didn't like the idea of any of them getting hurt by anything inside the tomb. They were the closest thing to friends he had in Ivalice, and probably were the only ones who would even remotely believe him about Midgar and Gaia. He already helped them through so much; it didn't feel right to just leave them now. With a sigh, Zack looked down and saw the purple materia sparkle in the slot of the Buster Sword, twinkling tauntingly.

"Hm…" He popped the materia from its slot and looked it over. Basch didn't have to get this for him, but he still did. It was like how he kept choosing to help the others, despite his own personal problems…was it right to just leave?

"Oi!" A voice called across the empty courtyard, quite loudly by the sound of it too. Zack glanced away from the materia, towards the exit back to the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Two chocobos were just emerging from the cave, with the bald rider on the lead chocobo waving to him. Zack's fingers closed around the purple materia as they drew closer, obscuring the materia from being properly seen.

"Ah, so the Tomb of Raithwall was not a myth!" Dyce declared, stopping his chocobo right in front of Zack. "And I see that the flying monster was not a tale either! What a marvelous battle it was!"

"…You watched us fight that thing?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow. Dyce smirked back in response, snapping the reigns to his chocobo. With an indignant 'wark' the chocobo continued onward to the Tomb, with the other chocobo and the woman following him briefly afterwards. However, the two stopped their chocobos right at the steps, instead of continuing onward.

Zack looked to them curiously, walking over to where they had stopped. "Aren't you two going to go in?"

"Obviously you didn't hear us when we spoke of the traps the Tomb is rumored to have." The woman on the chocobo said. "If the monster that guards the tomb is actually real, then the possibility of fatal traps in the tomb will be highly likely as well. We'll just wait for your lot to leave first."

"Unless your friends never emerge; then I suppose we'll just leave and come back later. Preparation is key to successful tomb raiding." Dyce added with a small shrug. "Personally I like living, and dying right now isn't the top of my priorities."

Curiosity and partial worry seeped into Zack's mind, causing him to glance back at the Tomb of Raithwall. Subconsciously, he rolled the materia clenched in his palm and frowned noticeably. "What kind of traps are supposed to be in there?"

"Oh, we don't have the foggiest actually." Dyce shrugged. "But everyone knows that dungeons or various abandoned indoor locales typically harbor some sort of nasty beast inside. Take the Sochen Cave Palace for example; there's a rumor floating around that a wyrm is taking up residence there!"

Zack had no idea what or where the 'Sochen Cave Palace' was, but decided not to ask in case he got the typical 'Where are you from?' question again. Right now, he had the feeling he didn't have much time for a small chats that turned into very long explanations. "So the chance of something deadly lurking around in there is pretty high?"

"I would think so." Dyce nodded in confirmation. 'If you're planning on going in, we have something in stock that you might need-"

"No thanks, I'm pretty much set right now." Zack replied, hoping not to offend the chocobo rider too much. It seemed he didn't, but Dyce's face fell anyway. With a helpless shrug, Zack trekked past the two chocobos and headed up the long stairway to the entrance of the Tomb, pocketing the Cover materia on the way up. When he got to the top, however…

"What the-?! Where's the door?!"

"Hurry, close the door!"

Basch threw himself against the stone door along with Vossler and Vaan, struggling to shut it before the Demon Wall behind them could get any closer. With a loud creak, the door closed, hiding the terrible visage of the wall from sight. Why living walls would be Raithwall's trap of choice was quickly made clear earlier; the wall itself was powerful and strong, with dark magicks driving it along until it either smote its enemy with a massive sword or had them meet their fate against the stone doors. Had they not opened the door in time…Basch did not prefer to think of it.

"That was close…" Vaan muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "Kinda wish Zack was here to take it on. He could've wiped it out with no problem."

"We can't rely on him every moment we find something unpleasant." Balthier noted, brushing dust off his clothes. "Even if he is helpful, we should expect to destroy our own foes without relying on anyone else."

A grim tone came from Ashe, her eyes fixed at Balthier. "Are you so certain of that?"

Basch gazed at her for the unusual remark, but soon understood why she said what she did. She wasn't looking at Balthier as he originally thought, but past him and towards the end of the long bridge they were situated on. While they were all grouped toward the end, near the door, something moved on the other end, something massive and large with glowing eyes and a terrible visage...

"Another one?!" Penelo gasped, "How can we-"

"We have more time than with the other one; we must defeat it before it draws too near!" Basch replied swiftly, unsheathing his weapon and charging down the bridge. Behind him, Basch heard more footfalls follow him as he dashed closer and closer to the new Demon Wall, bringing up his sword to stab into a stone crab-like leg. The wall continued onward, undaunted, even swiping a sword down to knock him away. The pain from the swipe was brief, but painful nonetheless.

Another sword drove into the stone body of the Demon Wall, slicing out and taking a chunk of rock along with it. Ashe glared at the wall aggressively, easily outstepping the retaliating swipe it sent at her. "Don't stop!" She snapped, turning her head briefly to glance at Basch with firm eyes.

Realizing he was taking far too long to react, Basch shook his head to clear his mind and set upon the wall with Ashe, slashing and stabbing any part of the evil wall they could attack. Vossler eventually came forward as well, slicing the wall with rapid attacks and keeping up with the rain of sword swipes. Still, the wall pressed onward, and Basch found himself taking more and more steps backwards, more across the bridge.

Then, without warning, the Wall shot forward with incredible speed. Basch found himself shoved back by the wall itself, and struggled to swipe at the wall yet again. His heart sank as the doors behind became increasingly closer, and as the wall continued forward-

"Hurry! Stop it! Pick the right fire!" Vaan's voice came from somewhere behind, sounding extremely panicked. Turning his head slightly, Basch saw Fran and Penelo crowded around one of the fires that lined the side of the bridge, with Vaan and Balthier on the other side. Although he couldn't see what they were doing, one of the fires promptly went out.

The Demon Wall came to a complete halt, apparently confused that it was not moving at the speed it was a moment prior. Using the pause to an advantage, both Ashe and Vossler drove their blades across the stone surface of the Wall, leaving jagged slashes in their blades' wake. Realizing the potential of the situation, Basch too slashed as powerfully as he could at the wall, leaving thin jagged grooves sliced across the wall's large and gruesome face. Gunshots soon rang out, as well as a few Fire spells flying overhead and slamming into the wall's face.

With a well-timed swipe, the Wall sent Vossler back, colliding into Vaan who seemed to have been standing a few paces behind him. Basch gained a more determined expression, slashing and jabbing at the Demon Wall furiously before it had the chance to send either he or Ashe flying away as well. The demonic wall did not seem to occupy itself with the action of slicing at them, though…

Around the wall, an accumulation of orange and purple aura danced into the air as the Demon Wall finally started to move forward again. A spell? Basch wasn't certain the spell would be a pleasant one, but at least it would stop it from knocking them away for a brief while. Gripping his sword, Basch leapt forward for another attack.

All at once, a magick aura surrounded him as he swung forward with another swipe, only this time he caught nothing but air. In astonishment, Basch stared. The wall was simply gone; and it wasn't just that either. It seemed as if he was actually nowhere at all, standing in a place that certainly was not the interior of the Tomb of Raithwall. Instead, he was standing in a space that appeared to be infinitely white nothing in all four directions.

"What is this? Am I-…?" Basch sheathed his sword as a sinking sensation gripped him. Had he perished from whatever spell the Wall had cast? He could think of only one other explanation, being that he was somehow transported to an entirely different place by the casting of the spell the Demon Wall possessed. The other he hoped was true; as dying wasn't something he was quite ready for yet, not when he still had to see to it that Ashe received the Dynast-King's Dawn Shard.

Taking a few steps forward, Basch tried to look around yet again for any sign of anything besides a vast white expanse. Only the echoes of his footsteps came to him, but even that was of little comfort. He glanced upwards to see a vast white sky that appeared as familiar as the four directions he could travel. The ground itself even did not look firm at all, infinitely white as all other of his surroundings. Releasing a sigh, Basch frowned. Now what could he do to get out of this predicament?

"Who're you?"

Basch nearly jumped at the voice, his heart skipping at least one beat. The voice was startlingly loud, as if the speaker were standing next to him. The strange thing about that, however, was that there was nobody there except himself. A quick glance around told him this much; there was nothing except vast expanse of nothing in all directions.

"Who is it, brother?" A second voice joined the first, as loud as if someone were actually within the White Space.

"I don't know; certainly not Mother…" A third voice spoke dubiously, this voice much softer than the first two. Basch again scanned his surroundings for any sign of the owners of these particular voices, but found none yet again. What was this phenomenon?

"Well, if it isn't Mother, who is it then? It isn't the other man Mother has visit either." The first voice wondered, the masculine yet youthful voice suspicious.

Basch finally decided to speak; unnerved particularly because the three voices were speaking of him despite the fact he was standing right there. "Where am I?"

There was a noticeable silence, followed by several murmuring sounds as if the three disembodied voices were having a private conversation. Basch waited patiently for one of the supposed three to speak. Luckily, it didn't take very long.

"You are here." The softer spoken voice murmured, with a sort of listlessness in the voice. Again, it sounded faintly male. "This place…it is the place where the living and the nonliving congregate."

"Mother loves coming here." Came the despondent sigh from the extremely masculine voice.

"Yeah." The voice of youthful masculinity sighed sadly. "But…she hasn't visited us in so long. We only get two visitors, you see. You're the newest face we've seen in a very long while."

Basch felt a twinge of hope. If this was a place were both living and dead could meet, then perhaps he wasn't dead after all. "I am but a visitor here?"

A sarcastic tone entered the youthful voice. "Well, you are alive. No living person can stay here long."

Pure relief surged through Basch and he sighed to express it. "Good. I feared the worst had befallen me at last." Looking about, Basch had only one more question to ask. "How can I return to where I was?"

"You'll just pop out and reappear there. It's really random when it will actually happen." The youthful voice explained. "It could be at any time."

"Hm." Basch nodded. He was certain he could handle that, but until then he was stuck in this place betwixt life and death. Until he could return, Basch figured he would just wait and speak with these spirits that occupied the White Space. "Why are you three staying in such a place? Haven't you better things to do in the afterlife?"

One of the voices tittered unhappily. The second one snorted, but it was the youthful voice that actually answered the question. "We aren't exactly allowed to join."

"Why is that?" Basch questioned, his curiosity piqued now. "Do the Gods deny you safe passage?"

"Gods?' The more masculine voice muttered in confusion. "There haven't been any 'Gods' to stop us…"

"No, there hasn't." The listless voice replied. "We just are not allowed to join. We stay here, isolated from the rest in our own personal space. I suppose in retrospect that it was fortunate…"

"Fortunate? How can it be fortunate?" Basch asked, looking around cautiously. A few nasty chuckles erupted from the three voices, a sound that Basch knew he did not like or trust very much.

"It's fortunate because…most of the 'afterlife' is in big trouble." The younger voice sneered. "With what, we really don't know. Mother doesn't think we need to know."

The voices started to sound snide and hostile, causing Basch to grow very wary. He was unsure if spirits, or whatever these voices actually were, could hurt him or not but he did not want to agitate them enough to find out. As curious as he was on what caused the spirits to linger in a plane between life and death, or what sort of trouble the afterlife was in, he decided against pressing the subject. The trouble probably had something to do with warring gods or something of the like…

"Basch?!"

Jolting from his stupor, Basch was completely baffled. He had only broke off into a small thought, and in the space of merely blinking once, he found himself standing on the bridge he had previously been fighting the Demon Wall on, only now it seemed the wall was nothing more than a pile of debris and dust. Vaan and Fran stood not too far away, but Basch could not see the others anywhere in the huge room.

Fran slowly approached him, "You had vanished. It was due to a Teleport spell, sent from the Demon Wall." She explained shortly. "We were not sure you would return."

Confused and somewhat dazed, Basch only could nod. Vaan started to babble something very fast, over his shock of seeing him appear from virtually nowhere. Without his wits, Basch only could comprehend that the young thief was clearly excited from whatever the spell had done, and was bombarding him with multitudes of meaningless questions.

"Where did you go? Did you go to another dimension; because when I used Libra it said Teleport sent people to other dimensions! What was it like; was it weird? Did you have to fight vicious monsters or float upside down or-"

These questions continued even as they all continued down the bridge and to the other end of the room. The door was pushed slightly ajar, suggesting that the others had gone on ahead while Vaan and Fran remained behind. With a slight push, Basch widened the opening of the door to allow the others inside. Vaan continued to speculate on where possibly the magick had sent him, but Fran had remained thankfully silent on the subject. He followed them inside, and finally decided to speak.

"It was a strange experience."

This prompted a much quieter Vaan and a small nod from Fran. Taking this reaction, Basch decided to continue. "That spell, it sent me to a place between life and death. It was pure white all around, and somehow very peaceful."

"Whoa…" Vaan stared in awe. "Between life and death? What was there?"

"Three…spirits, I suppose. They were very vocal." Basch replied quietly, unsure on how to describe the three. "They were also strange; very genial one moment and the next completely unpredictable."

As they continued on, Fran glanced briefly at him. "Three spirits? Was it they who told you it was the place between?"

Basch nodded, "Yes…I did not find much more information afterwards; not anything relevant that could assist our endeavor." One thought continued to needle at him like a Cactoid, causing him to frown. "…They did mention something troubling." Pausing, Basch saw that both Fran and Vaan were giving him their entire attention. With a sigh, he continued up a flight of stairs. "They had mentioned that the afterlife was in danger. Of what I do not know, they did not know either, but it did not bode well."

Alarm flashed across Vaan's face, and a flicker of surprise graced the Viera's normally calm face as well.

"The afterlife…it's in danger? Are the Gods warring again?" Vaan asked, his eyes growing wide. "What'll happen to everyone in the afterlife if all that chaos is going on?"

With a troubled frown, Basch shook his head. "I haven't a clue…"

"There is nothing we can do to quell the fighting of Gods." Fran said contemplatively. "Even if we had known what the conflict is about…what is there to do?"

Fran did have an excellent point there. If the problem was in the afterlife, there really wasn't anything anybody could do to remedy the situation if they lived on the mortal plane. The thought still continued to trouble Basch regardless, and giving a small glance to Vaan he too saw the young man appear quite perturbed by the news. No doubt he was worrying about those of his loved ones who already traversed the realm of the dead, and what their wellbeing was at the moment…

When they reached the middle of the room, two Waystones sat on the platform to greet them. One appeared to not work at the moment, with the magicks within it dead and unmoving. The other, after a quick check, seemed to lead back to the entrance of the tomb. Around the cavernous room, the soft sound of flapping wings hummed through the air as what appeared to be a form of white Steeling wheedling around the various staircases to try and find some grim meal.

One end of the room was strangely absent of the winged beasts, suggesting that the others had entered the room to the right. The left area was still infested with the white Steeling creatures, although none of the beasts appeared to have the urge to dart to where they were at the moment.

"Now what? Should we wait for the others?"

Basch glanced to Vaan, "We could, but we would waste more time waiting here. They could find the way to the Dawn Shard long before they decide to return."

"Or they may run into a dead end." Fran added on, slipping her gun from her holster. "We could continue on, but the monsters dwelling here may be too strong for our small group."

"I don't think so." Vaan replied shortly, "These Steeling look pretty weak, and we're well rounded right?"

Basch mulled it over silently. If they continued on, they risked running into a trap or a horde of vicious creatures without any aid. To add to that, the others were well off with themselves, being a group of four and not three. However, Vaan did have a point. All three of them were well off in case they had to fight. Vaan covered them as far as magick was concerned, and Fran had a pretty good shot as well. As far as Basch knew, they also were well stocked with Phoenix Down, as Fran was the one who was carrying the bulk of their limited and precious item.

"I think we will be able to go on our own, provided we stay cautious." Basch finally said, nodding once. "If you both are up to the task, I will have no problem continuing."

He gazed at the two, to see that Vaan was predictably already set on leaving. Fran, on the other hand, seemed to be slightly more dubious on leaving as a small group. The Viera stared thoughtfully at him, then Vaan, and finally the dead Waystone in the center of the room. With a soft sigh, she nodded once.

Without so much of a word, they continued onward to the left stairs, heading towards the left exit.

Watching the strange black-haired man in curiosity, Winne couldn't help but giggle. He had been trying for almost an hour to figure out how to enter the Tomb of Raithwall, but for some reason did not come to the conclusion that the Waystone at the top of the stairs was the actual way in. Both Winne and Dyce chuckled as the man paced, scratched his head, and even tried tapping the orange teleport crystal nearby the entrance of the Tomb.

It was all very amusing to watch, honestly. Winne never had seen someone more clueless about something since her childhood, not since the time when her younger brother was trying to figure out what the switches in the Garamsythe Waterway. Both he and the older man now had nearly identical facial expressions of utter confusion and minor frustration as they tried tackling their task. It was rather cute and funny.

What Winne supposed was even funnier was that working a Waystone was monumentally easier than figuring out the puzzle of the Waterway gates.

"Should we help him out of his misery?" Winne asked after stopping herself from giggling again. Dyce shook his head, a broad grin on his face.

"No. We'll wait for him to come ask."

As they waited for the man to come back down from the top of the Tomb's stairs, Winne decided to look through their inventory, in case Dyce convinced the man to actually buy from them again. He had added some new items, a magick here and there, and a few extra weapons, but other than that there wasn't anything else new in the bag…except…

"Dyce, why'd you put this in here?" Winne wondered, fishing a large blue orb from the very bottom of the inventory bag. She held it up to him, "I thought you liked this one."

"I do, but I have a hunch." Dyce replied, his eyes twinkling with a sly expression. "I'm sure you didn't notice, but earlier he had that purple orb within one of the slots in his sword."

"I did notice." Winne said, frowning slightly. "When they were fighting that strange monster, I saw the purple in one of the open slots. What of it?"

Dyce smirked, glancing back up at the stairway. "He tried hiding it from us when we approached him earlier. His sword was absent of the purple orb, but he was holding something in his fist. I figure those orbs must be of some value to him, and I want to see how much."

Curiously, Winne gazed at the larger blue orb in her hand. It was bigger than the purple one they had owned, but it was just as beautiful with a swirl of mysterious light within the colored sphere. She remembered when Dyce had picked both of the orbs up back at Balfonheim, from some seedy vendor that came from Archades. The vendor claimed that the orbs were worth millions of Gil but contrary to the claim nobody wanted them.

Except for the strange man…

"I always knew that these were worth more than they appeared." Winne murmured, gazing at the orb pensively.

"Here he comes." Dyce said, looking up at the steps of the Tomb. Winne glanced up from the orb, to see the spiky haired man hurrying down the stairs, a perturbed expression printed on his face. Gently rolling the blue orb between her fingers, Winne called out to the black-haired man. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"Yeah, there is! There's no door up there!" The man looked frazzled and dreadfully confused. "But the others, they weren't up there…"

"Was there a Waystone up there?" Dyce asked, smirking a little. "They probably used that to get inside. Most buildings use those to enter and exit sealed areas. It keeps unsavory people out." He gave a chuckle. "You wouldn't happen to be unsavory, would you?"

The man was flabbergasted. "No, I'm not! I'm just trying to get in there, in case something in there can kill them!"

He seemed to be very concerned, as though the thought had been gnawing on his conscience. Winne tilted her head curiously; he certainly was braver than most men she met. "You are not worried for your own safety? They are a much larger group, while you are only one man. What if you are ambushed inside, with nobody to help you overcome the attack?"

The man shook his head obstinately. "I can deal with it. It's them I'm worried about." He said this with complete certainty, confusing Winne at the same time. How could he be so sure? "Do either of you know how to work that 'Waystone' thing?"

"You touch the device." Dyce replied smoothly. "It should work on the first try. If not, there might be magicks preventing others from entering when there already is someone inside. One-way Waystones are somewhat common for older buildings, now that I think about it."

"So…there's no way in?" The man asked, frowning.

"If no light comes from the Waystone, then no, there isn't." Winne said calmly. "You will just have to wait until they exit."

Giving a loud groan, the man slumped forward dejectedly and sighed. Again, it was a very curious and hilarious sight for Winne to see from a grown man. He acted so very much like a child at times! Toying with the blue orb in her hand, she called gently out to him. "Don't fret. They are such a large group. I'm sure they'll be safe as long as they stay together."

The man glanced up at her, allowing Winne to get a good look at his unusual blue eyes. How they seemed to glow in the sunlight! "You're right. I guess I'm just worrying too much. I-" He stopped in mid-sentence, a quick flash of surprise appearing briefly on his face. "Blue?"

"Hmm? Oh, you mean this?" Winne hummed out, holding the orb into the light. Within it, a swirl of magick glittered and danced in a circular motion. "Dyce and I completely forgot we had two orbs in stock. This found its way into one of our possession bags by some mistake. Do you like it?"

"I-uh-yeah!" The man straightened up, a spark appearing his eyes as he gazed at the orb. "Are you selling that one too?"

Winne nodded once, smiling yet again. "We are…but we are curious too. What do these orbs mean to you? They certainly are beautiful to behold, but any glassmaker in Rabanastre can make an orb twice as beautiful, and for half the cost."

The man shrugged once. "They remind me of home. Plus, they do make this sword a little more interesting, right? Regular glass just shatters in the slots, but those orbs work fine."

It was a frustratingly simple answer. Unsatisfied, Winne glanced to Dyce for some sort of cue. He appeared as puzzled as her, though. Maybe the orbs really were just a decorative item and they were lucky enough to find a willing buyer. "Of…course." She managed, nodding. "The price is one thousand three hundred gil."

Checking his pockets, the man barely scraped by to purchase the orb, dropping a heavy sum of coins into Dyce's hands. With a satisfactory nod from Dyce, Winne handed the blue orb over to the man. As soon as it fell into his palm, his eyes widened considerably. "Whoa!"

"What is it?" Dyce asked, glancing up from the Gil sharply. The man didn't notice; he was too busy holding the orb gleefully.

"Hahaha! A mastered All?! This is awesome!" With a sharp movement, the man pulled the massive sword he carried over his shoulder and popped the blue orb into the top slot. "Much better than Cover! Now all I need is a Restore or something and I'll really be set…"

What in the world was he talking about? Cover? All? Winne glanced at Dyce in confusion, but the bald man just shrugged at her. His didn't appear to have a clue what the man was talking about either. Clearing her throat, she managed to snag the man's attention. "May I ask why you are so…joyous?"

"Nothing, no reason." The man replied, still with a grin on his face. "I guess I should head back up there and wait for them. Thanks a lot!" With that, the spiky-haired man raced back up the stairs, with an added bounce in his step.

"…Why do I get the feeling that we've been had?" Dyce finally muttered, looking down at his sack of gil. "Three hundred gil more than for what we spent on it, yet it still seems wrong."

With a sigh, Winne glanced up to see the sun was heading away from its center point in the sky, going westward by now. "Dyce, perhaps we should leave. By the time we reach Nabradia, it'll be dark…"

"Hmm? Oh. You're right. I must've been caught up in all of this." Dyce responded as he tugged on his chocobo's reigns to turn it around. "We should leave. I wouldn't want to trifle with Urutan and their likes at dusk, and our junction into Rabanastre won't be quite a fair time either." The man urged his chocobo on, with a small frown on his face. "Hopefully the way back won't take as long as the journey here. If only we had a map of the Sandseas…"

Urging her chocobo to follow his as well, Winne couldn't help but glance back at the Tomb of Raithwall. Surely the motley group would be safe there if they made camp out in the wide front area of the tomb, as it was pleasantly devoid of any monsters. Still, that was assuming they ever left that mysterious tomb in the first place. As her chocobo entered the wide and dark cavern that led back to the Nam Yensa, a part of Winne hoped that they would be alright.

It wasn't until much later, when both she and Dyce were halfway through the Nam Yensa, when they spied countless airships of Archades fly overhead, in the direction of the Tomb of Raithwall. Whatever reason the Empire was going there for, Winne had a feeling it did not bode well to the treasure hunters already occupying the tomb itself.

Sahxyel: I have no idea why, but this chapter was really hard for me to type out. I guess it's because I'm so antsy to get to the REAL plot soon, that the bridges to get there just block my attempts. Anyway, sorry for such a long hiatus, faithful readers! Here we have some minor plot setting, another materia, a cameo from some Compilation characters, and a setup for the second Leviathan chapter!

For the Compilation character cameo, I did this because one of my characters REALLY did get hit by a Teleport spell from the Wall. Vaan's reaction to Basch was similar to my reaction after Balthier vanished into nowhere then reappeared a while later. To make it more plot compliant, though, Basch was the one that had the fun trip to the 'different dimension'.

Also, for some good news, I have obtained and played Crisis Core. Now I have an awesome outlook on Zack's past! Really sad ending, though.

Random Moogle: Kupo! Sahxyel has to thank Yuleen75, Honor, Drake G. Reaper, hizmit12-waterlily3721, Extreme uGamer', SharperImage, Ryn, mf, and xc. Thank you all for your reviews!

Replies to Reviews:

MrsGrizzley: The 'All' thing has been noted so many times that I decided to give up and give him one anyway. Since Dyce's shop updates after the Garuda fight, it DID make some sense to add another materia. Even if it's relatively worthless right now. As for Eksir, I got this game for Christmas a few years back without a Strategy Guide, hence the multiple dying without the dumb berry because I had no idea it existed. None of my characters had licenses for long rang weapons either.

Guy: Everyone talks about Tactics and I have no idea what that is, to be honest. The level thing is just a gauge to show a person how strong something is, not to be taken very literally as a game standard. I LIKE having some game mechanics in my writings, and I'm sorry if that bugs you, but meh. Anyway, Zack isn't going to be gaining any levels at all; his DMW is broken. (Crisis Core standard: Level Up via DMW.)

Stalker of Stories: Muhaha, Nanaki? Not quite. The XVII wasn't a typo; I meant it to be XVII. So who is he? We'll find out somewhat soon. Like, Garif soon. And that was the logic of me giving Zack Cover first and All second. Sorry I haven't got the Beta thing going yet; I was saving it for next chapter actually.

Lord of the Blood Moon: The Eksir Berry is used to 'weaken' the Garuda by taking away its glowing ability. It makes regular attacks hurt it more, basically. When I played through the first time, I had no berry, no Quickenings, and only two long range fighters. I died pretty badly.

Bradley McCloud: This is the regular version of FFXII; I don't own the International Zodiac so I can't really draw from it. And yes, my ability to catch grammar mistakes and whatnot epically fails in that department. I was actually hoping you'd be my second Beta, actually, as two is better than one, no?

Lost MP: I know; that's how I beat it too after the countless 'dying' phases: Dark Spam. Hahaha! Anyway, I figured Zack would make an epic summon for all the reasons you've listed. The Esper Equal Character theme, unfortunately, only pairs with Vincent as both Aerith (Aeris) and Sephiroth already exist in my story as something else. Cloud too, now that I think about it. As for Zack's level, because of Crisis Core I found that his level up system is completely random in his DMW. Because it's broken in FFXII, there is no possible way he can actually level up anymore.

Midnight Phase: Aerith/Aeris will definitely show up soon, as she's important to Zack whether the Clerith fans like it or not. And Cloud will too, but MUCH later. I can't stress how far into the story it'll be when he shows up. As for 'Red' he is going to be central to unfolding the actual plot of this fic, but as I've said, he has a XVII and not a XIII tattoo. Weird, right?

EvilManiacX: Nah, Omnislash is Cloud's thing.

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Random Moogle: Kupopo! Sorry for such a late chapter! Sahxyel started college a few months back and it eats her time up like a bottomless pit! Don't forget to review, kupo!