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.
High Moon
Apollosarcher
7 Szpadel
