"So you know each other." Kahl said rather disinterestedly. The information over there being a town nearby was great though. It meant hr wouldn't need to follow his original plan. Which was to rest, get something to eat,and do something to get off.

He began to walk away from the the group and towards the direction oh his camp. It shouldn't take too long to get to the town. If the the directions were right. He just needed to get his bag before heading to the town.

Sifen lay, passed out on the ground, arm detached while the two continued their talk above him.

Maximus looked to Saina as she asked him why he felt so familiar. He paused and sighed, after a moment he looked behind him, his hand reaching into his satchel and after a second he pulled a small sphere from it. It was a recording sphere. He rolled it around in his hand and said softly, "For thirty years, I been searching my sister, who disappeared around then when she was thirteen..."

Saina was silent as he clicked the activation button on the sphere and a small hologram appeared just outside it showing the contents of the recording. It showed a young girl around 12 running up to his younger self as he was preparing to go become a warrior monk like their uncle Auron. The girl was slightly shorter than Saina was now with light blue eyes and short, black hair that went up in all different directions. She wore a casual shirt with a light colored jacket and pants that had clearly been patched up a few times. The girl herself gave of the air that she was ready for an adventure whenever it came.

"Maximus!" She called out to him in the sphere, panting. It seemed like she had been running, her hair a bit messy as she stopped and tried to catch her breath. "You're leaving? When were you going to tell me, huh?!" She stamped her foot, her tiny hands clenched into fists.

The younger verson of Maximus looked to his little sister as she ran to him, "I was going to tell you later today, But I have to go. Ever since Uncle Auron was thrown from the grace of Yevon, our entire family is going to be in shame. It's going to be hard for both of us growing up, If I go now you will not have to deal with it. "

"...So you're just... going to leave me here...?" The girl's face fell from her hostile manner, a sort of dejected and oddly fearful demeanor replacing it. "Don't go... Don't leave me with them..."

"Saina...."he said softly. It was then he realized he accidently had started recording on the sphere and turned it off. It was the last image of his sister he had before she disappeared.

"I've met every single Saina Cross in this world, asked every one who would take time to listen and look at your face, Nothing." He said softly. "I know this sounds weird, but I know that you are my little sister....somehow vanished for thirty years and still look like you are twenty."

There was silence all around them, save for the sound of the wind blowing through the palm tree's around them. Saina's face was... complex. She seemed to glare at the sphere in his hands, drumming her fingers against the sand as the other one rested in her lap. Her fingers brushed against her own sphere in the pocket of her cloak which was still hanging from the belt loop of her shorts. As they did, Saina turned her face away. Her eyes narrowed and the hairs on the back of her neck raised. A bead of sweat dripped the side of her face and her fists clenched... but it was only for a moment. Then she looked back at him, expressionless once again.

"You are mistaken, Maximus."

Maximus felt like he was kicked in the stomach at those words. He couldn't even say anything as Saina rose up, stretching her arms above her head as she sighed. She chuckled throatily and peered down at him.

"I've only been alive for twenty-three years, last I checked. I apologize for disappointing you, but it seems impossible that I could be your sister."

Her pose relaxed and she took her cloak out from where it was on her hip to put it around her shoulders and tie it into place, allowing the fabric to swish behind her dramatically as she walked. She glanced at Sifen, then looked back to Maximus.

"Now, let's not waste anymore time. We should find the others, take care of Sifen's arm and continue on our journey."

Maximus head dropped as he gripped the sphere hand so tightly it was possible it could shatter. He suddenly relaxed, to the point where he almost dropped it.... No she had to be her. She had to be. There's got to be a reason why she was like this, if he finds out he could better understand.

Slipping the sphere back into his satchel he stood up and moved to Sifen, picking up his left leg he bent his knees and rolled into him, his head under Sifen's good arm and Maximus's other hand grabbed Sifen's good arm and as he rolled over him the momentum pulled the heavy mans weight onto his shoulders, carrying him fireman style.

He grunted as he pushed himself up from his knees. The man and his metal armor was quite heavy. But he already relieved the man of his arm, he wasn't going to force him to lose more of his personal items.

He started walking slowly on the sand, but as soon as he got to hard ground he was able to catch up to Saina. As they walked down a path, Saina spoke up, asking a question.

"Have you been looking for her all these years?"

At her question he nodded, keeping his eyes forward as he was carrying Sifen, one wrong step in his weakened state could send them toppling over. "Yes. Ever since I found out I would search, when I could while still a monk of Yevon. When I left the order I became a body guard, and continued my search wherever I went."

Saina nodded but remained silent. They walked down the path that would hopefully lead them to a town, allowing the silence to settle between them. At last able to think with a semi clear head, she breathed in the fresh air deeply. The last thing she wanted right now was to hear more noise; wanting to be at peace if not for a moment. She was thankful Maximus as similar to her in that regard, not minding the quiet. Mercury traipsed behind them diligently as they went. The Chocobo padded forward, nuzzling his beak to Sifen's face and letting out a tittering sound as he did.

Sifen's head bobbed up and down as the man carried him, occasionally smacking into his back. His eyes groggily opened and his vision was black. "When did it get so dark?" The mechanic asked, attempting to grab his face with his left hand. "A-am I blind?" he said, still out of it. He yawned and as he did so, a foreign object hit his face, something... feathery. His hood was ripped from his face and he was blinded by the light and deafened by a high pitched squawk two inches from his face.

The loud caw echoed through the jungle, silencing all other sounds of wildlife around them. No other birds made noises, no far off exotic animals let out calls. Just an eerie silence. "GAH!" Sifen screamed flailing around and failing to get a grip of what was carrying him. As Sifen flailed Maximus growled as the back of his head was getting hit. "Hey! Stop it!" He said in a sharp tone. Sifen had forgotten all about his hand being gone and when he saw it he let out a grunt. The wound was deeper than an amputation, it was a wound to his livelihood. A mechanic with only one hand generally wasn't a succesful ones, and he didn't have the materials on him to craft a traditional Al Bhed functional prosthetic, just a simple replacement. He'd need his tools and those were currently either at the bottom of the ocean or useless without the others. He went limp again. "Why is it so quiet now?" he asked, pretending to not be troubled by anything and failing horribly as his tone was fairly dark. Saina stopped and looked back at Sifen. She listened in carefully, not hearing a thing. Maximus as well stopped and looked around, something was definitely off.

"...Something's not right here..."

Maximus nodded, there was something afoot. Simply pushing Sifen from his back onto the ground he gripped his swords cloth grip. Suddenly, a roar was heard that echoed all throughout the entire island of Kilika and a lumbering monster came straight for them. Saina whirled around, looking at the enemy and started to stand her ground... but as it got closer, she nervously spoke up.

"I don't have enough mana... I lost all my elixirs in the shipwreck...!"

Sifen hit the ground harder than he should have, losing the ability to put both hands below him as he fell. He smashed his left shoulder into the ground and let out a grunt. "Gah what is..." Sifen looked up to see a monstrous plant standing before him. These jungle fiends were big it seemed. He flipped to his back and kicked at the ground trying to find his footing before scampering back. "My guns are too wet to shoot right now too..."

Maximus lowered his stance and glared at the fiend. Pulling his half drunk potion and popping the cork with his right thumb and drained the last of it. "You two run." He said calmly as he tossed the empty vial to the ground.

"You can't handle that thing alone, don't be a fool!"

Saina suddenly grabbed both their hands, taking care Sifen went on the proper side with his now missing hand, and tugged them away as she bolted down the path as fast as possible, her hair trailing behind her as the beast began to tower over the two behind them. Maximus had pulled his hand away as she did. They both were too weak to outrun it, It was the only way to make sure they would get away. Slowly pulling his blade from his sheath he stood back up and pointed the swords tip down and after thinking for a moment he rushed the fiend.

The fiend lashed out with its arms and Maximus slashed at the one coming at his right and used the momentum of his blade to bring it around to his left to block as the left one slammed into him. causing him to be pushed to the side, but he didn't lose his footing. The fiend screeched at loosing one of it's vine/arms and Maximus took this opportunity to get closer his feet light on the ground as he ran. But he didn't get close enough as it swung wide with a third vine and knocked him to the opposite side, slamming into the ground and rolling like a rag doll till he landed on his left knee and right foot, his arms reaching out to the ground to help stabilize him. His sword had fallen from his hands about twenty feet away.

He rushed forward like a bullet, ignoring the pain in his knee and side, a sure rib broken from the blow. The fiend rushed as well flailing it's three and a half arm vines. Dodging and side stepping, Maximus made his way to the blade, Dancing around the vines as they tried to strike. Some were so close they ripped through part of his robe, and a few cuts on his skin.

He finally was close enough, diving over a vine meant to trip him he gripped the blade and rolled back up slicing upwards and cutting a second arm in two, spinning once again he slashed the third just near him.

"Now you DIE!" He growled as he jumped on a rock and launched himself into the air above the main body of the fiend and whispered a fire spell, which he ran his hand along the blade, crossguard to tip, as his hand applied the spell to the blade. As he fell onto the fiend he pointed his flaming blade down and stabbed the fiend right in the center of it's body, the blade slicing through like butter and stopped at the crossguard. The flames seemed extinguished for a moment, but after that moment the fiend exploded in flames as if it was covered in flammable liquid.

He had jumped off and rolled, as he landed poorly, to his feet. He flicked his sword to rid it of anything he slowly slid the blade back into it's sheath as he walked away.

---

Saina glanced behind her when Maximus didn't come after her prying for him to, but if he truly felt he could take it on, she wouldn't argue. Sifen didn't put up a fight when Saina tugged his arm and ran with her. They didn't know where they were going but there was a natural path through the jungle. Sifen had never been in a jungle so the fact there was a path wasn't setting off any alarms, he just ran and ran, but still seemed to be just slowing Saina down. He lost a lot of blood over the past couple of hours and it was showing. He was sweating and panting after only about thirty seconds of running. Saina glanced at him, and whistled. Mercury bolted for them and Saina grabbed onto his feathers, swinging herself onto the majestic bird. She outstretched her hand to Sifen, keeping Mercury's reigns pulled to keep him at a pace he could grab her.

Sifen reached for her hand but at that moment, a loud SNAP! was heard. The entire area that Saina, Sifen and Mercury were spread about had been laid with a net that pulled up immediately as they stepped foot in the center of it. It came off the ground and hung them far above in the tree tops. The sudden enertia cause Mercury to buck and cry out, his large talons scratching Saina's cheek. Her eyes were wide and looked around as she petted Mercury, trying to soothe the bird. Sifen on the other hand, was not as scared as mercury. He wasn't really anything at the moment. The sudden rush of blood from his head gave him tunnel vision and he proceeded to pass out almost instantaneously, his body laying heavy ontop of Saina and Mercury. Saina gasped as the heavy, muscular physique of Sifen sandwiched her between himself and the fluffy, slowly calming Mercury. She wiggled, grunting in the effort of trying to get him off, but it was to no avail.

Maximus had his mind click that the others were still running. Damn... he started to run as well to try and catch up with them. He only had to run a few minutes before seeing the large net with the two of them and the bird in it. He came to a stop and looked at them. He sighed, "I risk my life to save you two and you get caught in a trap."

"There is no need for sass right now." Saina glared down at him, barely able to breath between the two large bodies. "This is as embarrassing as it looks so would you kindly hurry up?"

He walked forward and heard a snap. "Shi..." pulling his blade halfway out of the sheath as suddenly a dart flew out and hit him in the neck.

Wincing he pulled it out and looked at it. It only drew a little blood but instantly he felt his eyes grow extremely heavy. Growling he forced himself to pull his sword all the way out and look for ever shot the dart. But it was no use as he fell to his knees and face planted in the dirt.

A group of poachers emerged from the bushes. "Damn, no fiends this time. Bag 'em." A burly man said. A more frail woman stood by his side and she locked eyes with Saina, who glared right back. The poacher woman smiled at the girl and put a finger to her lips as a sudden drowsiness overcame the poor cold girl and her chocobo. Saina could not fight the overwhelming desire for sleep and succumbed to the spell.

---

Sifen awoke immobilized by a rope that now tied the three together on a post. A painted face was just inches from his own. She was kneeling in front of him and smiled as his eyes popped open. "And who might you three be?" She asked. During this moment Saina was having water poured down her throat forceully but in an oddly polite way. Saina's eyes flashed open, having been asleep while they were trying to do this and coughed, choking on the water even though her body desperately craved for more in its dehydrated state. She coughed up the water as the poacher forcing it to her moved on to Maximus. Clearly, these people weren't very bright.

Maximus was still out when they came to him as well. But instead of just forcing water down his throat they picked them with another dart. Two seconds passed and suddenly he jolted awake, taking a large breath as if he had been underwater for a long time. They didn't wait, they shoved water down his throat as well. Gagging, most of the water escaped his mouth though. As he coughed up what ever went into his lungs he looked around quickly at his surroundings. He sat up more straight, though it didn't matter as the ropes that tied them were pretty tight.

The camp they were in was small, centered, and lots of colorful bushes sat around in neat, organized rows on stacks behind them. Clearly, these people had lived here for a while. Torches were staked into the ground around the perimeter, perhaps a means to ward off certain types of fiends or insects.

"We... are guardians... lets us free from these bonds at once!"

Saina still sputtered up water but now had her breath back, if not slightly labored. The burly man, the fail woman and the girl with the painted face all reeled back and looked at each other with wide, curious eyes. The frail woman's eyes narrowed as she stepped forward, appraoching Maximus and flicking his hair this way and that.

As she flicked his hair he simply narrowed his eyes at the woman. but other than that no reaction to her. He looked around for his sword, seeing it leaned up against a tree. Nearby it, Mercury was sleeping and tied to the same tree their weapons all rested against.

"There are no more summoners, and thus, there are no more guardians." She finally responded, traipsing away with her arms folded. She turned back once she was among her posse. As she walked back, the burly man stepped forward, eyeing Saina as he approached her. Saina turned her head away as he got close, her nose wrinkling up in disgust. The man smelt like hard boiled eggs that had sat in the sun for a good few days. He grabbed Saina's face roughly, turning it back and forth, apparently pleased with what he was looking at.
"Maybe not but a story like that could fetch a high price for ransom. Especially for an exotic lady like this... " Every bit of Saina's being wanted to get away from this guy, her skin crawling as he laid his hands on her. Much to her relief, he pulled away. If looks could kill, Saina would have laid dozens of daggers into the man at this moment.

Maximus glared at the man who grabbed Saina's face. He wriggled so he could turn at the man more. "Touch her again and I'll kill all three of you with my bare hands..." He said in a cold tone. His eyes sharply trained on the man.

Braska smiled at Eva after she cast a cure spell upon him and issued her own apology. There were no hard feelings left over from the accident as she couldn't have expected her to act fine after dealing with the squid ordeal. Her friends and the few he knew had been scattered around the place. Te cure spell coalesced around his body. A warm feeling resonated throughout him, mending wounds and broken bones. It wouldn't fully heal him but it would be enough to get him moving at a decent pace. The flesh from the cut on his face began to pull itself together stopping the blood from flowing. Braska wiped the blood his face with his hand and used the water from the sea to clean it off.

"Welp. I've been playing blitzball, winning tournaments, and training in the harsh cold with Kimahri. That's pretty much how things have been. Things didn't really change when you left. Well we had some issue with a Dark Wizard, a fiend and a chicken but that's a long story. What about you?" Braska replied to Gippal, and he looked back at Eva, waiting for her to walk past him. He didn't think she should be walking behind the two warriors.

Eva kept her eyes adverted while Gippal said the town might be that way. As they started walking she noticed Braska hesitating to let her go ahead. She gave a tiny smile and a slight red appeared in her cheeks before slipping by him and next to Gippal on the other side. As they all walked side by side, with Gippal in the middle. Braska then went on to explain what he had been doing. She gave a weird look as he mentioned a dark wizard and a fiend and a chicken... but it wasn't directed at him, but while she looked ahead. That definitely was strange.

Gippal gave a funny smile at Eva as she zipped up next to him, acting more like she did when he met her two years ago. Shaking his head with the smile he looked at Braska as he mentioned that things were basically normal for him. the odd combination of an issue. He chuckled, "I bet." Agreeing it might be a long story. But he raised a finger. "But From what I heard, was the Besaid Aurochs won the last few tourneys." Trying to rub it with a big smile.

When he was asked what he had been up to he sighed, looking forward. "Most definitely a longer story." He was about to give a short version, but that's when he heard the roar of a huge fiend. Perking up he said, "No time for that now, Someone might be in trouble!" They would have to move fast, and Eva wasn't a fast runner, especially with her dress. He looked to her and said, "I'm gunna have to carry you is that alright?"

Eva blushed at the thought but quickly nodded, allowing him to scoop her up in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he turned to Braska and jerked his head. "Come on!" And despite carrying her, he was still pretty quick on his feet. All the while in his arms she had a hard time keeping a blush off her face. She didn't care he was running, being in his arms just felt good.

Teh three of them blindly raced in the direction they thought they heard the roar, and only a few minutes later saw a large flash of a fire. Which pinpointed the location, but when they got there, there was only a massive fiend slowly disappearing into Pyreflies. Gippal let her down gently onto her feet while he went over and crouched down, his eyes studying the dirt. After a minute he straightened up while still crouched, his arms resting on his thighs. "looks like only one person fought this Fiend, He must be pretty tough, that Fiend is a nasty bugger."

---

Urick listened to them as they offered their thoughts on what he said, Fiends have been becoming worse, but he didn't think it was because of the lack of summoners. This must have been the doing of Thane, and bringing the aeons back, and his threat of returning sin. Perhaps the Fiends could feel it as well...

Nai decided to meditate, which was something Urick wish he could of done at the moment. He rolled his shoulders, and as he did he noticed Alex favoring her shoulder. He slowed down till he was right next to her and motioned with his hands to let him take over. Despite everything he was actually in pretty good shape. "Let..Me." he said softly as he touched her shoulder gently, indicating he noticed her favor it.

It was then he heard a Roar in the distance. They were close actually...

Alex hummed as Naisha spoke about meditating, watching her friend fall into the weird trance her and Lady Lulu seem to do. The red head never sat still long enough to do much good. That, and she was afraid of closing her eyes to possibly delve into nightmares again. She was so bloody tired. Especially since these two came back. It be nice to get one good nights rest.

As she felt a hand on her aching shoulder, her body instinctevly tense before looking out of the corner of her eye towards Urick. Saying a simple two words in a soft voice, but she understood enough. For a moment she pondered saying she was fine and could push Naisha just fine but decided to relent this once. She did trust Urick to care for their friendly black Mage after all.

Slowly she released her grip on the wheelchair handles, allowing the large man to take over before rubbing her shoulder irritably. "Who knew getting stabbed by a mast could be a pain in the---" she started before a roar erupted, sounding pretty close and her body tensed up.

"Well. Nai, something happened. Guess to do the reckless thing and charge right toward the freakishly loud roar. What could go wrong?" Alex smirked sarcastically before drawing her sword and bolting toward the noise. When she got there however, a fiend was already evaporating into pyre flies, in which case she slightly shifted away, seeing the vast amount of them slightly making her edgier rather than a living fiend being there. Her eyes caught Gippal, Eva, and Braska enter the area as well and she sighed in relief. Moving over to them and promptly bar shutting the three of them in a firm squeeze before releasing.

"Glad to see you three alright. Now we need to find the ice witch, the thief, and the monk dude. Don't suppose one of them got this thing?" the red head hummed as she looked at the fallen creature, taking a few steps away as a few of the flying orbs slightly floated closer to her.

In the brief time that Naisha was in meditation, she managed to do a lot of self reflection and begin to recover her body’s natural magic system. Her brief death and that insane wound caused by that bloody ice spear seemed to have messed up a lot of her body natural inner workings. Despite being healed by magic it seems the aftereffects were just too overpowering to be completely healed. Even the blood flow in her chest around where the wound was, was completely messed up. Her meditation was brief, but it did have a use, she at least managed to stabilize her inner magic system a little. It wasn’t by a lot, but at least now she wasn’t going to completely waste herself if she tries to activate a spell of the –ira grade.

“Hey, Nai, we need to talk to you!” The voices in her mind returned in her meditation.” Fine, but from now on, only one of you per day! Unless it’s an emergency! Otherwise I’m going to ignore all four of you to no end!” Was the black mage’s reply to the voices in her mind and suddenly it go very quiet.” Fine… today I will be the one looking over you.” A monotone cold voice appeared.” Now wake up, something is going on around you…” The voice continued and Naisha quickly left her meditation state. Opening her eyes widely only to see Alex already dashing in some direction.” There was a fiend roar coming from there.” The voice in her head explained.

“Urick, let’s quickly go after her!” Naisha said to her friend as she turned towards him to face him.” Let me help you a little…” She said and focused her mind as a spell quickly surged from her mind and was formed by the magic energy.” Haste!” She let the magic flow into Urick. Then immediately changed the spell and unleashed 2 others in a row.” Shell! Protect!” Black magic may have been her forte, but Nai also learned some white magic. Never got the healing ones, but a few buffs never hurt anyone.

Urick didn't have time to listen to Alex as the roar sounded. And in an instant she ran head first alone into the fight. Nai had woken as well and was ready to get into a fight. Though he was already pushing her faster she told him to move more quickly. While he did she casted haste shell and protect on him. He didn't protest as he sped up. But it was unlikely he would need it.

He came onto the scene with the pyreflies just about done vanishing when he heard Alex say "Glad to see you three alright. Now we need to find the ice witch, the thief, and the monk dude. Don't suppose one of them got this thing?"

Gippal saw that his friends were ok and his heart jumped, he got up and moved over to them, He stopped at Nai and knelt down. "Are you alright?" he asked. Surely her body going through so much would be extremely hard on her.As for the other two they were always tough and would never even say they were hurting even if they were. He could tell if Urick was hurting, but Alex he could tell she was favoring an arm. He looked up and answered Alex, "If it was them...it was only one of them, and it was not the woman..." He got a look from Urick that confused him. "...Saina, right." He pointed to a footprint infront of him. "Too big for Saina's footprint for it to be her, killed very quickly, and from what I've seen of Sifen he seems too clumsy fir this footwork and how quickly the fiend was felled. Also it was clear it was close quarter battle...which I didn't remember Sifen having anything but guns. So It must be Maximus."

Eva watched him as he red the ground. It was something he picked up on in the last five years if she remembered correctly, life as a sword for hire/ running from thane he picked up this ability to cover tracks or find people. Eva looked over at Nai, Alex and Urick and smiled. "I'm glad to see you all safe and sound." She said as Gippal did his thing. "Any of you hurt? Maybe I could relieve some pain?" She asked.

Gippal stood up and moved farther to the beach seeing the dead lying there on the beach. He closed his eyes and after a moment he then said. "Eva... could you perform a sending for them?" She nodded and while she moved over to him he followed the footsteps of the one who killed the Fiend to find an amputated arm, black and nasty, with a clean cut. He then said out loud. After seeing a thinner boot. "It looks like we have three... He then saw the chocobo's tracks. "Three survivors and a chocobo. It's possible that this could be them, but it could be anyone. One of them had their arm amputated." He turned and passed Eva as she started to perform a sending for the dead. He stopped where two of the footprints moved away, as there was a sudden appearance of most likely the fiend that scared them into running but one stayed behind, perhaps to give the others more time. But he was more impressed that the man had his arm cut off and was moving around.

Eva sighed and started to perform the Sending, humming the tune of the hymn of the fayth to help keep beat. Soon Pyreflies came up from the bodies and soon left. Sighing she turned to the party. "Well lets go after the other survivors, I have to make sure the one who has lost an arm is properly healed. Once we get to town we will make sure to tell everyone about the bodies over here."

She moved back to the group and found her spot next to Gippal. Who then said, "Come on lets go." He then slapped braska on the back. "Come on man."

Alex watched as Gippal explained what could of happened, based on the evidence lying about the area. It could be them, but there was no certainty to it. After all there was several people on the ship. But Alex's gut feeling said it was. Screw logic when you had instincts! Grinning at as a as she spoke and patted on the back lightly with her good arm.

"Eh no worries. Urick and Nai seem relatively okay, Nai needs a good rest though, and I took a potion. Best to find the others asap." she said casually, waving her hand in good arm in dismissal. Her shoulder hurt but hey they always say no pain no gain right? Better to tough it through when she didn't 100% need it.

As she watched Gippal walk further down the beach and saw the dead, the tall woman frowned a bit at the sight before watching as Eva started to perform the sending. All of a sudden, agony ripped through her body. "!!!!" Alex couldn't even let her voice out. It was too painful and she suddenly collapsed to her knees, having to quickly catch herself with her hands landing on the sandy ground. It took quite a bit to cause the red head to collapse, and this felt worse than being stabbed by that mast. Struggling to force her body back into a standing position, she had to lean against a tree, as utter pain coursed through what felt like every fiber in her body. Something trying to dig itself from inside and out. She swore she could hear a noise. A voice maybe, but she couldn't make it out. Once the pain disappeared, she sighed in relief before standing again and giving a irritated curse.

Taking a deep breath, she promptly smacked herself across the face in order to get back into focus before continuing to walk with her friends. Acting like nothing happened.

"Hopefully they haven't gotten into too much trouble." she said, walking with her hands behind her head.

g

The troupe only laughed at Maximus's threat, moving away to go lean over a table and quietly discuss something out of earshot to the three tied up to the post. Maximus only glared at the three as they walked away. He glanced at Saina as she shuddered, apparently shaking off the gross feeling of having that guy's hands on her face.

"I almost have enough mana from sleeping to get us out of these ropes but I need a few more moments..." She muttered as she wriggled against the binds. She closed her eyes, trying to focus. Maximus nodded and cracked his neck by touching his left ear to his left shoulder, same with his right side and prepared his body to break the ropes when Saina was ready. He looked to his sword, as soon as they were free he would go for it.

Sifen looked down to see his pockets deflated. Any cutting tool to survive the ship sinking were stripped from his body. At least he had some sort of wrap on his arm now, however crude it may have been. He remained silent and wiggled an arm out, to his amazement. He had never been the most flexible and to have wiggled an arm out was amazing to him. Too bad the arm that wiggled out was never tied up to begin with and missing about half of it. Sifen let out a sigh and stuck his stub back into the ropes. Just then, Saina exhaled, her blue eyes seeming to become vibrant in color. The ropes they were bound in slowly frosted over until they became completely frozen in ice. As the ropes were completely frozen, Maximus took in a large breath and flexed his entire body while pushing outwards from the post. The ice shattered releasing their upper bodies, but their legs were still wrapped up in it. Maximus reached down and gripped at the ropes, trying to break them by hand. Saina exhaled, feeling more drained than ever as she leaned back against the post. No way she could do more until she downed an elixir. Sifen knew exactly what to do, at least in his mind it seemed smart.

He hobbled over to a wall, propping his back up to it to lift himself high enough to reach the torch that lit up the daylight uselessly. He grabbed it and held it to the ropes on his feet setting them alight. He kicked them loose and still burning up against a wall and motioned for Maximus to catch the torch.

Maximus eyes went wide as the fire of the torch came at him. Quickly standing straight up again he caught it barely before it him. "Are you kidding me Sifen?!"

"Light the damn thing up!" Saina puffed up her cheeks weakly as she tugged at the ropes. She didn't usually cuss as she found it unladly like, but after being snared in a net, watching a gross arm get cut off, and having to flee from a battle rather than face it head on, her patience was at an end. Maximus sighed and pointed the torch to the ropes between his legs and as they caught flame he pushed his feet apart, after a moment the ropes snapped. A much quieter roar distracted the other camp occupants. Several more kept them well distracted from all sides. Saina fell from the ropes once they were snapped and rushed to grab her blade, untying Mercury from the tree. The fire meanwhile began to spread from the post and crawl towards the colorful plants that were nearly arranged in rows ahead of them. Sifen made his way to his things as well. None of his weapons were exactly made to be used with one hand and all he could find was a sword which he didn't know how to use. Maximus as well bolted from his position and retrieved his sword, pulling it from it's sheath he pointed the blade at the three poachers now. "I told you I would kill you three." He said as he ran towards them.

The three poachers, not being the type to really take anything head on, turned tail and started running with the painted face woman screaming nonsensical things the loudest in particular. Maximus's path was cut off soon however by a Dinonix which proceeded to hiss and lunge at him. Maximus twisted out of the way as the Dinonix lunged and lifted his blade cutting it in half as if jumped by.

A few others pulled up beside it as well. At this moment, the fire was starting to consume the colorful bushes behind them. Saina ran up to join Maximus with her sword drawn, willing to help out where she could now that Mercury was free and running to where he heard other people back where Maximus had taken down the fiend. More Dinonix's came out from behind the trees and started attacking, Maximus slashed at each that came too close to him, started to cough at the smoke from the fire.

Sifen had seen similar situations. Less stuff to burn where he came from, but being disarmed (ha) and surrounded with nothing but a weapon he couldn't use and all his tools was never a bad thing. A light bulb went on in his mind as he started piecing together bits of metal and ending with a crude sling shot. His original weapon on choice, modified of course to be pulled by ones teeth as opposed to another hand. Nothing needed to be cut or welded, simply wrapped around and tied. It was perfect for the situation, and loading up some sharp objects and pulling his head back he loosed several tetanus filled projectiles toward the Dinonix closest to him. The area they were in began to fill with a thick purple smoke, the smell being a mix of skunk weed and pine trees. After fighting for a moment he coughed more. "We should get..." He said as his thoughts seemed to overflow out of his brain. Saina ran forward, slashing at the fiends until they burst into pyreflies. She looked back at the others quizzically. They seemed to be slowing down for some reason...

Sifen heard the call to get out but he just couldn't muster the energy to do so. Smoke filled his lungs and he felt a feeling he wasn't entirely foreign to. This smoke was strange but what was it... he couldn't figure it out before a Dinonix pounced in front of him and into one of the traps the poachers must have left, as a bear trap like device seemed to swallow it's entire body. Sifen turned to face Saina with a goofy look and squinted, red eyes. His mouth opened to laugh but no sound came out. Saina looked between Sifen and Maximus as the purple smoke surrounded them, for the moment the area clear of fiends.

"Are... you guys okay?"

Maximus stood there in between the fire that was slowly coming up around him. He looked down at his hand and rubbed his fingers together, as if feeling them for the very first time. His eyes now red and narrow, He heard Saina say something..but it didn't register for a moment. He looked up at Saina, blinking a few times. As he squinted at her. "Wait...what?" Instantly losing interest on what she would say he looked around the burning camp. Still rubbing his fingers together.

"Guys we should... go?" She peered at Maximus quietly, a little concerned now. Sifen looked to Saina, still wearing the goofy smile.

"Dude yeah like where though?" He looked up and just stared straight up at the nothingness above him. Maximus walked over to Sifen and got really close to his face,, he then turned his head and looked straight up as well.

"Are we..even?" He asked and trailed off as he froze in his position looking up as well.

"Maybe" Sifen replied. "Am I like, less even than you though because of my arm?" He said not averting his gaze from the blue above him. Maximus waited a moment as if figuring an answer.

"Noooo.... just as even..." He said as he scratched his head. Saina had seen enough, her face going to its expressionless nature as she grabbed both of their hands like a mother escorting two sleepy children, getting the gist of what was up with them.

"Uh... This way... guys..." She'd never exactly been on babysitting duty before. She dragged them slowly in fear they'd hurt themselves towards the direction Mercury had headed before, leaving the burning camp behind them. "Bruh why you gotta grab me so tight." Sifen said letting his body flail behind him before shaking out of her grip and focusing on remembering how to use his legs. When he didn't look at them it was hard to even tell he had any. It was like flying only like, on the ground. What was he walking on? What "Even are legs" Sifen voiced the latter portion of his thought.

"What? Legs?" Saina looked at Sifen, blinking. She shook her head. "Stop talking."

Sifen saw the group approaching and wildly waved his handless arm around, jumped and clicked his heels and winked at Nai while clicking his tongue. "Huh-heyy Nai, and uh, you guys." Sifen made a single finger gun and wiggled it at the other guardians. His eyes were near shut and no white could be seen in them. All of his teeth were shining bright as his smile stretched farther than normal. He was delighted to see them again.

Maximus was walking silently, his arms loose as he was pulled behind Saina. They came to the group He smiled as well, "Oh hey I know these guys!" He said...mostly to himself.

Saina too saw the group and waved to them as they went over to greet them, taking note of everyone present. She gave a small bow to Eva. When she bowed, Maximus took the opportunity to move onto Alex, the tall red head. He took her hand and began to shake it for a good while, smiling as his barely open eyes looked up at her. His smile was more than genuine and stretched a bit too far. His smile was more than genuine and stretched a bit too far and his grip was looser than a man that carried himself the way he normally did.

"Are you alright Eva? I hope searching for us hasn't provided much trouble."

After she got Eva's response she bowed her head and went straight to Urick, smiling up at him. Even in this brief absence she'd found she was missing his protective aura. While she was looking up, the scratch on her cheek that Mercury had left while thrashing in the net was supremely evident. The bird had arrived a few moments before them and had padded to Alex to rub its chest against the redhead's ample chest. The bird seemed to rather enjoy the amazon for some reason. Maximus looked at the chocobo as it did this and pushed it away, giving Alex a hug, his head right at level with her chest, well in between them. Not moving. He took a deep breath before stumbling back and taking a nice seat on the ground It was the most comfortable ground he had ever sat on, it must have been like, magic ground. He made a noise as he lowered himself similar to air leaving a tube. "Fwshhhhhhhhh..." Disgruntled for being pushed away, Mercury turned and tried to nibble at Naisha's chair, his beak making a distinct 'TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!' each time he went for it. Sifen walked up to the bird and brushed it aside and put an arm on the chair that was now lacking a subtle hum that engines gave off. It was a moment of clarity for Sifen as he spoke a full sentence. "Is something wrong with this uh, vrooooom" He said. He wanted to call it a chair but chairs didn't have engines but it was a chair but again, not a normal chair. Vroom seemed to fit. He had almost no concern for his missing arm in this moment for some reason as well. Whenever he'd think of it the thought would be buried by far more.

Saina opened her mouth to say something to Urick, but paused, reconsidering her words, and then went with; "I am glad that you aren't hurt, Urick." Only after getting out of the way did she acknowledge everyone else. When her eyes landed on Braska, she reacted in surprise with her eyes widening at the new guardian.

Alex took a few calming breaths, feeling somewhat fine now. That was weird. That pain was quite worse than the temples but yet similar. She had to ponder if she should be concerned but simply brushed it aside. Just then, that blue Chocobo came rushing out of the jungle before promptly going over to the Amazon and nuzzle its head against her armored chest. One good reason to wear a chest plate was for occasions like this, or perverts. The other was to firmly pin the womanly assets so they didn't annoyingly bounce or jiggle. It was quite irritating in a fight. Still, the red head smiled and gently stroked the blue chocobo's head. She was sure he had a name but she couldn't quite recall it.

"Hey there Big Blue! Glad you made it out. Sorry I didn't get to let you and your feather friends out before the ship got wrecked. You're a tough one aren't you?" Alex cooed as she stroked the top of the Chocobo's head and gingerly scratched under the chin with the other hand. Sure, she may not like this Chocobo's owner, but that wasn't his fault. Plus she adored Chocobo's so it was harder for her stay mad at one.

"You don't happen to know where the rest of the party is do ya?" Alex mused but just then she spotted the three MIA's coming up, two looking a bit... What's the word... High? Yes let's go with that. When Sifen greeted Naisha, Alex twitched and glared at him as he winked at her, moving to stand in front of the black wage and block the line of sight between them.

The Monk, Maximus, came over to her and took her hand rather sloppily and started to shake it in a lose manner. Grinning like a idiot with half lidded eyes. Alex cocked a confused eyebrow, firming her grip in the handshake instinctively and slowly followed the movement. One can display power and respect in a handshake. Course that didn't seem much in this case as the usual calm man seemed high off his butt.

"Hello to you too Maxy.... What the ever living **** happened to you three?" Alex questioned as both The monk and thief seemed high, Sifen had one less arm and the ice witch... Well she seemed relatively the same. It would have been nice to see her acting this silly.

Just then, Maximus hugged her, face planting into her armored just and nuzzled it like the Chocobo. The red head stiffened, and although her chest was indeed covered and didn't feel it, it was still embarrassing and awkward. Twitching angrily, the red head smacked the high man over the head with open palm. So not to hit him with a armored knuckled fist and to withhold her strength a little. Watching as the monk stumbled to the ground, her blue eyes stared at him and rolled her eyes.

"Whenever you snap out of this, I'm making fun of you. Unless you're really a closet perverted monk, then I'm smacking you again." Alex said with a slight amused huff before looking to Saina as she spoke to Urick. Feeling a red flag light up, Alex went closer Urick, placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled him a few steps away. Giving a casual grin.

"Meh, no need to worry, Urick's always been a tough guy right buddy?" Alex grinned as she ruffled his white hair with her right hand. Perhaps not the best way to avoid a crisis but it was something. But before she could stop it, another crisis arose as the thief neared Naisha's chair. Waving the Chocobo away before examining it.

Quickly, Alex moved and picked up the chair, Naisha and all and raised it over her head and away from the thief. "Oh no! No touchy the fancy chair! Especially when you're acting funny. And you seem prone to accidents around Nai... And your missing a arm and should probably be resting! It can wait after you have a nap and milk or something!" Alex shouted, twitching as her shoulder stung from the position she was in. Although this normally wouldn't be too much trouble, after getting stabbed it was a little more difficult. So she slowly set Naisha and the chair down by Urick again.

Cracking her knuckles she moved to the thief and Maximus, grabbing their hands and pulled them along. "Come on, let's get to town before we get mauled by another fiend or something and we can get these guys and Nai some rest." the red head said before storming off towards the direction Kilka was. They had to get to town and it seemed just easier to drag them along. Considering it seemed the ice witch had to drag them.

“Hey stop this you blue chocobo! My chair isn't food or a toy!” Naisha exclaimed when the bird began nibble on her chair. It was bad enough with it being broken, but this chocobo now was going to make things even worse with making scratches and dents all over the thin external metal plating.

Then the missing people showed up and they seemed like a mess… especially the strange machine guy, Sifen, yeah that was his name. He missed an arm! Now he came here talking all strange about her chair.” What do you mean vrooOOOOOOOOOOOOMWHOA…!?” Nai began saying when suddenly Alex picked her chair and rose it above her head. It wasn’t that the chair was going to be heavy for the red head. Due it’s floating magic it was basically light as feather and generally floating on a certain distance above the ground. When Alex picked it up it meant she was only lifting and keeping in the air only about Nai’s weight, which frankly wasn’t much.

The mage felt insecure in the air like this though oddly the fact it was Alex who held her fixed the situation somewhat. Still she felt very thankful when her friend put her next to Urick again.” Yeah we better get moving… we need to get some serious treatment for you people.” Nai agreed with her friend.” What happened to you guys anyway? And why are you missing an arm?!” She asked Sifen.” Also this chair isn’t a vroom! It’s a hover chair!”

Braska just watched as the members of the guardian team got together. Apparently they were missing another member but it didn't stop Braska from feeling a sense of not belonging. He was usually a very ecstatic person but right now it felt weird. His eyes locked on Nai, who appeared alongside another female. That face was unforgettable and it made him feel a bit better especially with Gippal being one of the main people talking. Gippal patted Braska on his back and told him to come on. Braska sighed and started walking beside Gippal until he got an idea. A thought to bring some attention to himself and maybe make a few laughs. Braska broke into a mad sprint and once he hit full speed, Braska dove forward into three front flips. His feet landed on a boulder not too far from the group.

"To all that don't know me, the names Braska Jr. I'm sure you all know me as the Star Player of the Zanarkand Abes!" Braska exclaimed.

Gippal and Urick Looked over to Alex as she fell to her knees, But before they could react she got up and acted like nothing happened. Squinting at her they both looked at each other in unison. What the hell was that?! But before they could talk to her Suddenly the blue chocobo came running out and nestled Alex. Looking to their left they could see Saina, Maximus and Sifen walking towards them. Well...Maximus and Sifen being dragged by Saina that is.

Urick smiled as he saw Saina walking towards them. Good She was safe. He thought as she spoke to Eva. He looked over to Alex to see Maximus face plant in between her breasts. Though it was a breast plate still the concept. He even blushed at the thought. He looked away as Maximus was slapped in the head, Surprised he didn't get a fist.

He looked to Saina as she immediately walked to him and blushed even more as she looked up at him. She paused, with her mouth open, as if deciding a better sentence to say. When she said she was glad he wasn't hurt he Shyly looked down and away, but then looked at her and noticed her cut on her cheek. He slowly lifted his hand but suddenly he was grabbed by the shoulders and moved a few feet away, Looking to his right to see Alex with her head over his shoulder with a casual grin. Saying that she shouldn't worry, that he was a tough guy. At which he gave two quick slight nods. His face turning a brighter red.

He then rubbed his left arm with his right hand for a movement thinking if he should heal Saina's cut. Or if it would be over stepping his bounds. As Alex was dealing with the Chocobo and Sifen he reached out with his left hand and placed just a finger on her cheek, whispering a cure spell, he pulled back just as suddenly when it sealed up. "I...I'm glad your safe..." He Swallowed hard. "As well." It was at this point Alex had put Nai's chair back infront of him and walked over to Sifen and Urick, dragging them to Kilika.

He pushed Nai's chair and kept his head down as the group began to move. His cheeks and ears beat red. Gippal glanced back and Saw this, giving him a queer look, his eyes glancing between Urick and Saina, He gave a single chuckle. "Heh" Before shaking his head and looking forward as Braska sprinted infront of them and performed an acrobatic feat to gain attention to himself, He then introduced himself as the star player of the Zanarkand Abe's.

Groaning slightly at this sight, he felt embarrassed as he saw it. He then added quickly, "That is after I left the Abe's. " He walked passed Braska with a smirk. It always riled him up when he brought that up. He looked to their group. All bruised or at worse, loss of limb...not even a day on their journey. He sighed. It was going to be a rough one.

The group would walk for an hour or so through the trees, Gippal explaining to Braska what had happened to him and Urick during his five years disappearance, who Eva was and that they were going to fight Thane. Just after explaining this they came to a clearing, they had walked too far inland and now found themselves on the steps of Kilika Temple.

When Saina came with everyone she moved towards her, when she bowed she watched as Maximus moved away raising an eyebrow at at how both Sifen and Maximus was acting. She looked at Saina as she asked if she was alright, She smiled and hugged her quickly, "I'm fine, And no it wasn't." She smiled and looked to Sifen who was looking at the chair and noticed his arm was gone. Gasping she moved to him, looking at his stump. It was wrapped, rather poorly that is. She placed her hand on his arm and whispered a cura spell on his arm, sealing the wound properly.

"What the heck happened? Who chopped it off?" She noticed that the cut was realllly flat and clean. "Seriously chopping off an arm and leaving it for infection." She was saying mostly to herself.

She then watched as Maximus planted his face in Alex's chest, adding. "Seriously what happened to you guys?"

Moving to Gippal as Alex grabbed sifen and maximus she walked closely to him. Braska suddenly did some flips and landed on a rock, introducing himself. She looked at him with her head cocked to the side and smiled. What a strange fellow. Gippal made a small remark and she slapped his arm. "Oh be nice."

-------------------------------

When they reached the temple Eva grew silent, as she was the entire walk...this place seemed so familiar... But it was when she saw the temple. Her eyes went wide as her memories of her dreams flashed in her head. She looked to her left to see the tree where she was sitting with that blonde haired boy. Her eyes quickly looked around as her heart began to race and she looked towards the sea... No...This wasn't...

She started hyperventilating. She didn't know why, but she freaked the last time she was here...and it was starting again. She just didn't want to be here. She couldn't be here. Pain. So much pain. Flashes of a battle in her head. Being tossed around. "No...No no no no no no no!" She Gripped onto Gippal, tears coming to her eyes. "Not here...why are we here? I don't want to be here! GIPPAL!" She started to sob. Curling into a ball as much as she could while standing. She gripped Gippals shoulders and hung on him till he held her in his arms, as he started to comfort her.

When Saina was hugged by Eva, her eyes had widened before she slowly placed her own arms around the slightly taller woman and closed her eyes. She did love affection, and she soaked this up with an oddly content look on her face especially when Eva assured her all was fine. When she'd moved to Urick she gave the red haired woman a quizzical look at how she put distance between her and the pale haired man but mostly brushed it off. She watched Urick as he contemplated what to do next, cocking her head at his blushing and... oddly finding herself having a tiny blush as well.

At that moment, the significantly larger man delicately placed a finger on her cheek and her eyes widened in that instant. She found herself focusing on his lips as he whispered a cure spell to heal the cut on her cheek and blinked fervently when he pulled his hand back to look into his eyes.

"I...I'm glad your safe... As well."

As he moved away Saina could internally hear the sound of a tea kettle whistling as her toes curled back in her boots and a shiver ran up her spine. She forced herself to exhale and turn away before moving up to be directly beside Eva. She didn't miss the look that Gippal gave them and she merely raised a brow at him as she forced a smile from touching her lips. She noted Braska's introduction, spacing out after he'd introduced his name as she wondered where she'd heard it before. Sounded familiar and some of the others seemed to know him. Still, he fought valiantly with her against the kraken in the sea and regarded him with high respect. He would definitely be a worthy guardian. As for the wheelchair girl, she still needed to find time to speak with Eva about... Her thoughts churned in her head as she walked with everyone in comfortable silence, her gloved fingers rubbing the sphere in her pocket along the way.

---

Ah... The infamous Kilika Temple. As she stopped with the crew in its shadow a small part of her leapt at the sight of it. She'd only been here very briefly before really in her travels. She put her hands on her hips and her thoughts wandered into dark corners, reminiscing of how she'd been told--

It was at that moment she broke from her thoughts to notice Eva hyperventilating and clutching to Gippal. Her heart sank though her expression remained neutral as her eyes narrowed at the summoner. She... felt something here then? Interesting... Then again... She examined how the summoner clung tightly to Gippal, using him as her rock. How much did they mean to each other? She had to wonder. Were she one for using humor, she might have even given Gippal the same look he had given her and Urick a few hours ago but decided against it. After all, her summoner was distraught and she would do her best to calm her, and she would somehow need to do it without tearing her away from Gippal. She folded her arms, keeping her expression entirely neutral. Should this be a painful experience for Eva, she wanted, more than anything, to be strong for her.

"Lady Eva,"

She blatantly disregarded the summoners earlier request to drop the honorifics in order to catch her attention now. Her voice remained calm and collected as she looked to the strawberry-blonde headed woman. She paused, choosing her next words very carefully.

"This temple appears to hold pain for you... but it is an important part of your journey as a summoner. We can wait to go in until we strategize a plan to proceed, if you desire."

Even if the summoner wished to neglect this temple then so be it. She bowed her head, wishing she could be more help. Though it seemed that the young woman she had resigned to protect was desperate to do anything but enter. An afterthought made itself present and she held her fingers out in front of her and gently swayed her fingers inward as she pressed her heel in front of her on the stone ground with a soft 'clack!' From her heel a small blue line shot across the ground and beneath the feet of Eva and Gippal. Above their heads a alchemic circle formed slowly and rotated slowly as gentle snow fell onto them. It wasn't much, honestly. After being in a shipwreck and washing ashore, walking for hours in the muggy island heat and now breaking down into tears... at least she could bring the threat of heat exhaustion down. The cold always seemed to make people think more clearly as well anyways. She sighed, rubbing her own eyes. The heat here was extremely miserable to herself as well, come to think of it.

Alex gave a deadpanned expression as she watched Braska show off and if her hands were free, she would of face palmed. So instead she simply smirked a bit. "Yeah you were pretty good... When I didn't tackle you and knock your ass outta the sphere." the red head smirked teasingly. Braska was always a meathead, just like his father, but she couldn't help but feel a bit close and responsible over him. His parents did do a lot for her.

When they reached the temple steps, Alex smirked a bit excitedly. These steps were quite famous for races and momentarily, she forgot any aches and pains she had as she started racing up the stairs at a fast pace, using her long strong muscular toned legs to carry her. She released the two men she'd be assisting walking/dragging to effectively boot up the steps. If they needed help, she'd run back down and help them.

"Wooooo race ya to the top! Last one there pays dinner!" Alex shouted as she bounded up the steps. Reaching the top, she stretched and smirked, giving a laugh before looking down toward the party.

Despite the attacks, the lack of sleep, her friends slowly leaving, and having weird body attacks, the adventure was still exciting for the tall woman. It felt like she was so alive! It was awesome!

When the others caught up, as a seemed to recognize the place and started hyperventilating and basically having a panic attack. Blinking her blue eyes in minor confusion, they narrowed as the summoner huddled up against Gippal. For the love of the ancestors these suitors were impossible.

Still, this time, Alex felt like she couldn't interfere as Eva was sobbing which made Alex twitch, not knowing what to do and felt hesitation. The Ice Witch spoke up to the summoner and the red head scratched the back of her head, trying to think of a way to make the girl stop crying. She despised crying. It didn't make her mad, it just made her panic and desperate. And panicking was a awful feeling.

Moving closer, she lightly patted the summoner on the head. "Hey come on. I know temples can be a biiiiiit... Off. Trust me I'm like, number one on the sin list. Of top twenty at least. I walk in there, I swear I will get hit in the shin with a steel staff. So no worries, priests will be too mad at me to give you any grief. But ha know, there's a big fire beast in there who I'm sure is bored out of his mind and would love to meet a pretty maiden after like twenty years or so. I mean, have you seen it down there? Super boring. Just a bunch of monster buddies to keep him company. He's probably itching to get into action again. Though, I'm sure he won't mind if you take a few to take a nap, have a nice tall glass of iced Coconut Pinapple Mari, and catch a few Z's. Maybe go shopping, ya know this place actually has a pretty good shopping center now. Or or, you can pretend I am the embodiment of whatever is bothering you and slap the shit outta me." Alex laughed in a sort of rapid joking tone as her mind tried her best to think on what to do. This was her way of attempting to cheer someone up, buuuu it wasn't always effective. Having wrapped a arm around both Gippal and Eva, bringing them both in one of her one armed bear hugs but not splitting them apart. While her other hand moved about, gesturing to places she mentioned and even smacking herself in the face, right across her right cheek after she pulled away from the two. Obviously not holding back as there was now a nice sweltering red handprint mark on her cheek.

Taking a few moments, she took a deep breath before clapping her hands together in front of her chest before holding her right hand up with her index finger pointed. "I'm going to get some rooms at the Kalu Malu inn." she stated before quickly storming away, mumbling about how big of a dunce she was.

“…” Nai’s eye twitched, watching Eva curl up against Gippal. The mage couldn’t help herself, but feel jealousy towards the summoner. It was inevitable, they both loved the same man and it showed. Nai was sure her expression was quite ugly at the moment, so she quickly turned away. Urick was probably the only person who could see her face.

At this very moment, Naisha had the desire to fire flares left and right to vent her frustration. It probably showed as her arm was also twitching. It was a bad idea to come on this mission like this, a very baaaaaaaaaad idea. She had to travel separately from the others otherwise she wasn’t sure how much she will be able to control herself before she does something stupid. Maybe after all she was going to contact Rikku from Luca. Along with Lady Yuna and her teacher, auntie Rikku as she liked to be called, Nai felt them as close relatives. Yeah… once they got to Luca, she was going to go to a separate path from the rest. It was for the best… She knew Gippal wanted to protect Eva and knew that if things continue like this, at some point things will end with confrontation with the summoner. It was scary thinking how such thoughts could even appear in her mind.

'Calm yourself. It's not healthy for you stay frustrated like that.' The cold voice ran through her mind. The mage knew that it was right, as her emotions raged, it made it hard to focus on recovering.

Shaking her head, she turned around and focused on the other childhood friend she hadn’t seen in a while.” Hey Braska, if you don’t mind me asking, why weren’t you at the game earlier? I didn’t see you among the players in the sphere.” Nai asked a complexly unrelated question changing her own focus to calm her nerves from the sight of Gippal and Eva.

Sifen was dragged away from the frail weirdly half demon girl. He somehow never noticed her horn and weird arm. "Hey man, we both got weird arms man, you need to cool it with the-" he was cut off by the girl swooping on her chair into the air. Guess it was fixed and now could fly. Neat. He didn't even notice that someone was carrying it. He also didn't notice that almost half an hour had passed since that moment and he was being dragged through the jungle. It seemed like seconds had passed since he said that to Nai but he was wrong.

He was starting to come down halfway through the trek and started noticing things going on. Mostly that everyone was in love in the group aside from him, Maximus and Braska. Even Alex seemed to look at Urick every now and then so it seemed she too was more capable of love than these three. Maybe Braska loved himself and maybe Maximus was one of those monks that can't have sex. They both had reasons but Sifen was just... he didn't know. He felt like he liked some girls but never knew what love was really supposed to be since he missed the whole teenager with raging hormones surrounded by other gender teenagers phase. He knew what it was like to love a family member but heard that it's gross when people love them the same way they do a girlfriend or wife. Which was weird since wives are your family, yet you can love them like a girlfriend but not a mother like one. It was complicated and Sifen never bothered with it much.

Another half hour passed and seemed like 10 minutes this time. He was sober after the light jog he did almost the whole way there. It wasn't necessary but he kept trying to match pace with Alex as she held his hand, hopping to get his strides as long as hers the majority of the way. All of his actions seemed so... strange. Even for him they weren't normal and he was a fairly abstract guy. He felt the grip on his arm loosen and he was free. He was so used to being dragged he just stopped walking as he was released. He turned to see the end of a strange angry look from Nai and a scene again full of a weird amount of romance behind him. "I'm too poor to lose this race. So uh, I'll just walk look at Nai's chair for a bit, feel free to carry her up though, I just need the chair. Simple machina checkup, weird how it's still floating while it's broken." He walked over and put his ear up against it listening for the whir of a hovering engine but heard nothing. It was weird, all AL Bhed tech had a similar whir to it. Even the best stuff still had some noise when you put your ear to it. "Hmmm..." He said with a deepened tone

Sifen pulled his head away and tried to grab a small little device to light things up like a torch but found that his left arm was in fact nonexistent. He blushed and pushed away from the chair and headed to the stairs with his missing arm in a position that would have tucked it behind his back, had he had anything past an elbow. His face was red and continued back until he hit the stairs with his heel and he quickly turned around and raced after Alex who had already arrived at the top. He kept his stub tucked tight against his body. He felt so useless and embarrassed at that moment. A mechanic with one arm was no better than a gunman with one arm. He didn't even have a pistol or a one handed weapon unless he modified his rifle, but he couldn't make it back into a rifle if he shortened it and weakened it that much. He got to the top and looked to the temple doors, Alex was in his peripheral vision but he couldn't look her in the face. He smiled though. He didn't need an arm to climb those stares. He didn't need an arm to get out of those ropes earlier either. Maybe this wasn't so bad. But maybe it was. Time would certainly tell. He was second up the stairs as well, so he definitely didn't need an arm to pay for dinner. He chuckled a little. He wasn't sad about this whole mess, just embarrassed.

Maximus rubbed his head as he walked to the steps of the temple. He was back to his sense now. The last bit he had been really quiet, remembering what happened an hour before. His hand gripped the sheath of his Sword tightly under the cross guard. He was ashamed of his actions towards Alex. Suddenly Eva started hyperventilating and crying, not wanting to be here. He cocked his head in confusion. What was wrong?

He watched as She curled up in Gippals arms. Holding him like a security blanket. He noticed Nai looking away, Alex contemplating doing or not doing something, Saina talking to Eva and suddenly clacking her heel as suddenly an alchemy circle appeared above Gippal and Eva. Snow started to fall. What power was this?? He never saw the like.

It was then Alex tried to cheer her up.. but it sounded like she was talking to a child. After she was done she ran off to get a room. While this happened he waited, staying silent and watching.