Final Fantasy: The Mists of Krystaria (IC)

Cid Garlond sat along the edge of an enormous ship as it sailed across the Paramina Ocean. The vessel belonged to House Solidor of the Garlean Empire, and was named after Lord Gramis' grandmother, Sandamay. It had been a long voyage so far, and they were still over a week from their destination – the eastern coast of Krystaria. Several of the other kingdoms of the world had banded together and built a makeshift port further down the coast, Costa del Sol. But Garlea had their sights on unclaimed territory, so they aimed for a landing site farther north.

“This sea breeze sure is nice,” Cid said to Mikael as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. The sun was high and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Other than a short storm a few days after leaving Port Garadun, the trip had been relatively calm. Other than his team of Red Wings – about twenty soldiers – the passengers included the dozen or so members of House Solidor, a number of servants, handmaidens, and associates, the sailors running the ship, and about a hundred sworn guardsmen. There was also a Great Sage with the crew to help locate Mako hotspots, and several of his apprentices had come along as well. The associates included jewelers and craftsmen to help prepare Materia and create enchanted weapons, armor, amulets, etc.

As he sat there with his eyes closed, Cid, felt something nudging him, and he opened one eye to see his red-black chocobo looking at him. “Let me guess, Aela – you're hungry?”

“Kweh! Kweh!”

“Okay, girl, let's go get you something.” It was fortunate their chocobos were well-trained enough to be allowed free roam of the ship. They had a specific area in the lower decks to relieve themselves and even servants to clean it up promptly.

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“Finally! We're here!” Cid exclaimed as the beach came into view. He gathered his team and they mounted their chocobos, taking off into the air. They soared over the shore looking for a good spot for the ship to land, and spotted grasslands beyond the coast and a long mountain range in the distance. Deciding the water near land was too shallow, they had the ship drop anchor a ways out and everyone came ashore using the smaller boats and rafts on board. After several trips back and forth, they had all the supplies moved onto the edge of the grassland and set up camp.

“Tomorrow, I want you and the Wings to go explore those mountains,” Lord Gramis said to Cid as they sat around one of the several campfires. “See if you can locate a wooded area or forest. We need lumber to build permanent structures – these tents will hold us for only so long.”

“Of course, my Lord,” replied Cid. “We will depart at first light.”

“We might as well break down the Sandamay for lumber, Father,” said Vayne Solidor in an irritated tone. “The Empire has shipped us off to be rid of us. They do not intend for us to return.”

“My son, you are still yet a boy – and a foolish one at that,” replied Gramis. “You lack faith in our people. So quick to anger and speculate. You could learn a few things from your younger brother.”

“Larsa may yet see the truth, but not you!” spat Vayne. “You call me foolish yet you are blind to the Senate's true motives! They mean for us to die here! And why did they send the Red Wings, one of the Empire's greatest strengths? Because Captain Garlond is your lapdog! They mean to bury the Wings with the rest of us! We will all meet our end here because of you, Father!”

“Silence, boy!” screamed Gramis as he jumped to his feet and walked over to face Vayne, who had also stood to his feet. “You spit your filth and test my patience! You dishonor our family by taking such a tone with your father in front of our subjects!”

“It is you who dishonor me, Father!” replied Vayne, overcome with rage. “You dishonor us all!”

Cid's eyes grew wide as Lord Gramis slapped his son across the face with the back of his hand. “Leave my presence at once, boy! Do not speak to me again until the morning!” Vayne wiped a small amount of blood away from his mouth and then stormed off.

“I'm sorry you all had to witness such a thing,” the Lord said before retreating to his tent for the night.

The following morning, Cid was awoken by the sounds of screaming coming from the Lord's tent. He rushed over and stared in horror at the image of Gramis laying dead in his bed, a dagger piercing his chest. The boy would never admit to it, but Cid knew – this was Vayne.

“Vayne did this,” he said to Mikael, then stormed out of the tent.

As usual, Jack woke with the sun, it was his first morning in the new land, but he had no intention of letting himself slip from his regular routine of exercise and training, and that started with his morning sets. Jack reflected on his travel as he worked, he had purchased passage on a Garlean expedition, it had unfortunately not gone straight to Costa De Sol for some reason, which was where Jack felt his best starting point would be, but he would make do. He had kept mostly to himself during the trip, using the time to read and refresh his memory on wilderness survival techniques, he had however overheard enough to get a feel for his current company. Things seemed tense, factional, Jack had dined with the expedition leader on occasion and it was quite clear that there was some trouble between him and his son, which was a shame, but definitely helped to explain the disposition of the expedition as a whole, some saw this assignment as exile.

In the end, it was not Jacks business, he was on neither side of the debate as an outsider, and that was how he wanted it to stay, if he was lucky, things wouldn’t boil over until he was well away from them.

As fate would have it though, Jack was unlucky. He was half way through his situps when he heard the commotion and quickly felt a familiar prickling down his neck, his well honed 'something has gone horribly wrong' sense was tingling. He threw some proper pants and a sleeveless tunic on, then fastened a short sword to his hip, far from what he would like to have should things go badly, but any more and it could be sending a bad message. More than a few people had flocked to the source of the commotion, but most stopped at the edges, waiting for someone else to inquire about what had happened rather than do it themselves, which was a good thing really, the last thing most people needed was generally to be swamped by random onlookers in a time of crisis.

Jack however, was not most people, he wished to know what had happened, curiosity was ever his bane, so he walked toward the expedition leaders tent. Before he had closed the gap though someone emerged from the tent “Mr Garlond” Jack spoke before he saw how angered the man was, oh well, mistake made, might as well proceed “what happened?”

Alice Undine, 18, inexperienced red mage

The young mage squeezed her eyes tight and breathed in the sea breeze. It felt wet and salty and tasted delicious and refreshing. She liked the open air and absolutely loved being near water; traveling across ocean was a dream comes true for this girl. When the Sandamay opened recruitment, Alice Undine was one of the firsts signed up. She counted the days, then hours and down to the minutes until embarkation. Once boarded the House of Solidor’ vessel, she explored every floor, every cabin, every nooks like a child’s first time at the Gold Saucer. She was in heaven ever since. Every morning, she woke up to the Paramina Ocean. At night, the ocean was the last thing she sees before bed.

It was sight to behold, something that she would never get bored staring. Her eyes opened; two big and round saphirres squinted and admired the blue beauty before her. She leaned onto the railing, rested her arms on top and propped her chin on her hand. A dreamy sigh escaped her lips. She muttered quietly to herself, "Life at sea sure is peac---."

“Kweh! Kweh!”

Her sight immediately drawn to the red and black chocobo squawking and nudging at---

“Captain! Sir,” She bowed her head as Cid passed her with his personal chocobo next to him. He might not know her, but she made an effort to remember that face since day one. She discovered lot about him through the grapevine. See, people talked, lots, especially on a confined and secluded space like a ship. They said Cid Garlond is in his late twenties, born noble but lives as a warrior. He was a Captain of the Red Wings, a flying chocobo team. The more she learned about him, she harbored more interests. The Captain’s life became number second on her love-list, just right after her adoration for a life at sea.

Alice watched the man and his bird disappeared before returned her attention to the horizon.

----------

After they disembarked, Alice stayed in one of the smaller tents with the other female travelers. There was a mixture of different classes, but all shared a hopeful outlook toward this expedition. She didn’t witness the heated discussion between Lord Gramis and his son, Vayne. However, it was the talk of the tent-valley. Chit-chats said the Lord had pulled a sword at his own son, while other claimed the young master had drawn his first. Some said it was just a simple slap on the face. Despite the variations, there was a common thread: the father and son were at odd with one another.

----------

On early morning, Alice sprung from her sleeping spot on the ground as soon as the loud screaming registered. It was such an agonizing womanly scream. Someone was in pain, lot of it. She stumbled to her feet and ran out of the tent while tried to put on her white robe.

Once outside, she spotted a handful of people gathering outside the Lord’s tent. It didn’t take a genius to know the scream had came behind those flaps. She joined them. “What’s going on? What happened?” she asked but none could provide any answers. They didn’t dare to go in since it was Lord Gramis personal chamber.

But then a blue haired commoner whisked pass them and disappeared inside. If he could slip in, why shouldn’t her? So Alice took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before she entered. She saw the backs of Sir Garlond, instantly flustered her. She noted his comrade next to him while she offered, “Can I be of any help, sirs?”

A few more step, she saw the injured body behind him. She immediately ran toward the lord’s bedside. Her hands glowed white while she muttered the Raise’s spell. She stopped midway, when realized it was too late. The lifestream had completely seeped from Lord Gramis. Neither her spell nor Phoenix Down could save him now. As if someone casted Hold on her, she stared down at the body with horror, too shock to find say anything or even think straight while everyone stormed out of the tent.

Mikael yawned and stretched as he woke from what hadn't actually been a great night's sleep. Being on dry land was certainly better than the boat mind you where the only reason he'd gotten any sleep was the generous amounts of rum that he'd smuggled aboard. It wasn't that he didn't drink the crew's proper amounts of course, it was that once he returned to his quarters it would take another few long pulls if he wanted to go to sleep and stay asleep and that was a definite goal.

The problem with dry land was that after so long at sea it still felt like the entire goddamn world was rocking back and forth. More than once he'd tripped over his own feet because the earth forgot to keep up with the swaying his mind was sure it was doing and his rum was on the boat. Eventually though he'd managed to fall asleep.

He as a meticulous man for the most part, unlike the stereotypical alchemist he wasn't crazy. At least not most of the time. He gave a slight shudder hoping he wouldn't have to let that side of him out at all though he knew he would sooner or later. That was one of the reasons he'd been chosen. He wasn't weak.

Mikael got dressed in his suit, the only alteration being he'd adopted calf high riding boots, his regular loafers wouldn't work at all on sand or dirt or anything but he refused to compromise on the rest, going so far as to not only bring several along with him, but to have preordered several more to arrive with the next ship. Outside his tent he looked longingly at the boat, the majority of his kits were there. He'd prepared enough for a few days but eventually they'd have to bring his equi-

His thought were interupted by a scream. Already? He reached inside his coat for the vial that would change him into Sheol and ran towards the sound but aside from weeping there didn't seem to be anymore screams. Nothing that suggested an ongoing fight anyway.

Mikael stepped slowly into the tent and looked down at the grisly sight and twisted his face. It wasn't the first time he'd seen a dead body. It wouldn't even be the first time accidentally or on purpose that he'd caused a dead body but this. This was the Lord.

More importantly this was the pay check.

His eyes darted briefly to the young woman foolishly trying to raise the corpse. There were limits to what magic could do in this world and this was well beyond anything he'd personally seen undone. Beyond anything he'd heard be undone by a White Mage. Black Mages had. . .methods. But only the most powerful and even then they were forbidden.

She was cu-

Again with the interuption as Cid exclaimed he knew who'd done it and ran out of the tent.

Mikael followed for a moment looking around. He wasn't a tracker, but this was untouched land, if not enough people had come through. . .

Not being a tracker sucked. It all looked the same to him. Trampled flat by dozens of people moving in every direction. Mikael paused for a moment. he had a potion that might help. It was supposed to help white mages and surgeons do their work more accurately by seeing a person's life force or stream. Whatever those people called it. He'd noticed that not only was each person unique but often you could tell a fair bit about a person just by observing it. More importantly in this case it lingered sometimes for hours, days with particularly strong forces.

He quaffed the potion and started looking around. Damn. He could see hazy outlines but it still wasn't clear. He pulled out a pair of orange tinted goggles similar to Cid's and brought them down over his eyes allowing him to see the energies clearly.

Fortunately most of the people were still here so he just had to look for the one that both wasn't here and was leading away. . .there. Without speaking he started stalking off in the direction until he found himself at the edge of the treeline. "I refuse to believe that a tragedy of this magnitude can be nobody's fault." He muttered taking a step beyond the only reason he followed because he didn't want the young lord harmed and they weren't an angry mob.

Yet.

Cid's face was hot as he practically ran towards Vayne's tent. He was feeling despair over losing his mentor and dear friend, but at that moment, he was overcome with rage. And he fully intended to unleash that fury on the little brat who buried the knife in Lord Gramis.

"Step aside," he commanded the guards standing by the entrance to the young lord's tent. He stormed inside and balled his fists as he looked upon Vayne, who was sitting on the edge of his bed with his face in his hands. He raised his head and Cid could see a deeply troubled look in his eyes.

"I can't believe my father is dead..." he uttered, on the verge of tears. His voice was shaking.

"Well, that's what happens when you plunge a knife into someone's heart," Cid replied bitterly. "You're a murderer, Vayne."

"You think this was me?" the young lord said in shock. "You think I am capable of killing my own father? How dare you make such accusations?!"

"I think part of you may regret what you did last night," he replied. "But yes, I believe it was you."

"Then you are a fool!" snapped Vayne. "My father's murderer is out there somewhere, and you are in here, harassing his grieving son?!"

"You weren't out there -- how did you even know he had died, then?"

"One of my guards informed me," he said. "I imagine my mother will be along any moment to grieve with me."

"I am no fool, boy," Cid growled, his tone suddenly threatening. "I know this was you. And I will see justice served."

"Will you, now?" suddenly Vayne's face became smooth and emotionless. He stood to his feet and stared at Cid. "My father deserved his fate. He was a weak old man and it was his time to go. I now command this encampment. How will you seek justice against the one who serves it? Hmm? Will you defy a king? What say you, Cidolphus?"

"You are no king," scoffed Cid. "You are but a foolish little boy."

"You know, I do believe you are right," he said with a bit of insight. "I am not a king -- I think I prefer the title Emperor."

"I will see to it that you are punished, Vayne," he threatened. "This does not end here."

"You are right yet again, Captain. Guards!"

The two guards from outside rushed into the tent as Cid looked around confused.

"What are you doing?" asked Cid.

"Arrest the Captain," commanded Vayne. "I have just learned a terrible truth -- this man murdered Lord Gramis and intends to blame it on me."

"You little bastard!" Cid growled as the guards reached for him. "Do not touch me!"

"You will not go peacefully, Cidolphus?" asked Vayne.

"I will not."

"Very well, then." Suddenly, Vayne lifted up his hand, and electricity cackled from a ring he was wearing. He extended his hand forward and shot out a bolt of lightning at Cid's chest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"What's going on?" someone asked their friend as a lot of commotion built back up.

"I don't know. Apparently Lord Vayne has called a meeting at the center of camp."

Everyone gathered around the clearing in the center of the tent city where the fires had been lit the night before. There stood Vayne and at least a dozen guards, two of which were holding up a sagging, beaten Cid. He was barely conscious, his clothes were nearly torn off, and his exposed flesh was covered in scorch marks and bruises.

"Captain Cidolphus Garlond," Vayne said in a loud, booming voice. "Dear friend and practically an adopted son to my father. And also his killer."

Sighs and gasps erupted from those in attendance. "He will try to blame it on myself, if you believe his lies. I was angry at my father, this is true. But I loved him deeply and would never allow any harm to befall him."

Vayne began pacing as he made eye contact with various people. "I learned of a nefarious plot to overthrow House Solidor. The Imperial Senate has indeed turned their swords on us, as I predicted. Captain Garlond was loyal to the Empire, but not my father. He was assigned the task of uprooting our House by the Emperor himself -- our own glorious leader. I took no pleasure in extracting this information from the Captain, but he was... uncooperative."

He was silent for a moment as the crowd looked at him. "The Empire is now our enemy, as is Captain Garlond. I know some of you may have been close with him, so we will need to interrogate each of you. I advise against any further treachery, lest you share the Captain's fate. We are now an independent state, and I am your lord. Oppose me at your own risk."

Vayne unsheathed a sword and walked over to look at Cid. "Captain Cidolphus Garlond; I hereby charge you with treason against House Solidor and sentence you to death. The execution will commence immediately." The guards pushed Cid to his knees and placed a wooden stool in front of him, leaning him forward so his head rested on it. The young lord raised his blade to strike.

Ignored, or simply not noticed, given the evident distress Mr Garlond appeared to be in Jack was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and assume it was the latter. The simple method of determining the problem in the good Lords tent denied to him, Jack took the next sensible course of action, investigating the source of the problem personally, slowly slipping thought the embroidered tent flaps that served as a door to the makeshift royal chambers. What Jack expected to find within the flimsy cloth confines, he didn’t know, but as his eyes adjusted to the light within the tent he felt a sinking feeling, his instincts figuring out what had occurred before his mind caught up.

“Regicide” he whispered, his eyes falling upon the lifeless form of Lord Gramis, a knife sticking out of him like a battlefield gravemarker in his chest, all it was missing was a memento of the dead. Jack walked up to the Lords side, taking a place nest to a young healer and waited for a respectful second to see if anyone would stop him, then gently reached down to close Lord Gramises eyes “May your gods carry your soul with all the swiftness and care you have earned.” He turned to the girl beside him and placed a hand on her shoulder to break the hold the situation had over her “your work is done my dear, and this is not a place for spectators, I'm sure his family will want to grieve in peace.” He gave her a warm smile, doing his best to look reassuring, then departed himself.

So, this day was going well, what was next, a riot? Jack made good time back to his tent and dressed properly, cladding himself in armor and arming himself with his greatsword, then as an afterthought before leaving, packed his belongings away in a bag as best he could, feeling that the choice of when he was to leave may be made for him soon with no time to prepare.

By the time this work was done, yet another commotion had begun, sometimes Jack disliked being right. This time it was a large gathering in the center clearing, Jack couldn’t see what was happening though the crowd, but the air just oozed with the feeling of yet another thing about to go wrong. He made his way through the crowd as Lord Vayne began to speak, telling a tale of treason and plot, but the more he spoke the less obvious who had been doing the aforementioned treason and plot became. When Jack reached the middle he saw Mr Garlond again, in a notably more tortured state than the last time, but more importantly he saw Lord Vayne drawing a sword with the look of a man about to kill.

And now the part of being a Knight that Jack could do without.

He mentally steeled himself and stepped forward, breaking the rather uniform line of the crowd and drawing every eye to him like a naked damsel in a crowded street “Lord Vayne” he lowered his head as a sign of respect as was fitting when addressing one of Lord Vaynes station “I am Sir Jack Blue, Knight, and I am a warrior of justice” He raised his head and locked his unflinching gaze on the Lord “this does not look like justice to me and as such my honor demands that I intervene, I request that you provide proof of these allegations before taking such actions, should you refuse, then I regret to inform you that you will be making an enemy of me.”

Vayne turned and narrowed his eyes as someone stepped forward to oppose him. He was silent until the fool had finished speaking, and then pointed his blade at him. "You think yourself a better judge of the evidence than I? Am I unaware of a law that demands royalty must succumb to the whims of commonfolk? What is your reasoning for coming forth to oppose me? What right have you to disregard your lord's observations of the evidence and subsequent judgment? You see me unfit to make this judgment? What say you, Sir Jack Blue?"

Mikael listened patiently to the charged that were laid against Cid and shook his head. Until that exact moment he hadn't truly believe Vayne was capable of patricide but hearing the utterly ridiculous charged he was laying down made a believer out of him almost immediately and it was a heavy burden to know he'd been so completely duped by Vayne.

At the moment however there was nothing to be done, a quick look around the camp and the faces in the crowd told enough of the story. Most of them either believed the story or seemed willing to give Vayne the benefit of the doubt. The guards were going to remain loyal. Cid was in no condition to fight or flee so attacking the gaurds would be suicide. And treason and murder if Cid didn't make it. So he put all those thoughts aside while he considered more realistic options.

For the moment he thought it best to play along. Submit to the interrogation. It wasn't like he'd have to lie much. He honestly didn't know anything about this, didn't belive Cid was capable of it. Knew he wasn't capable of it, and yet he was well known for believing in evidence. It wouldn't be a lie to claim that if the evidence pointed toward Cid he wouldn't ignore it.

Then things started moving. "M'lord, I am not claiming to find you unfit to rule or lead or even judge. But your father hasn't even grown cold. Perhaps it would be best if you let a small group of us investigate. I know I cannot be permitted to do it alone. My friendship with him is well known, but perhaps there is someone here you do trust and then a third party. One who is as impartial as possible."

Vayne turned from Jack to Mikael as the young inventor stepped forward. "An investigation will be lead by myself to root out any other traitors, but the Captain's guilt is not in question and his fate has been sealed. Any who attempt to interfere with the execution of this traitor will be charged with treason as well."

"You are... the traitor..." Cid mumbled as consciousness partially returned to him. That damn ring of Vayne's shocked his system enough to make it impossible to focus on using his abilities. The first attack was swift and unexpected, and then it was followed with repeated blasts of electricity and the fists of the guards. If he could just focus enough to give his legs a boost of energy, he could try to flee. Or if he could just get Vayne' ring, which he was pretty sure was materia...

Mikael frowned and once again surveyed the scene but the looks on their faces hadn't changed. He wasn't going to get much if any support if he attempted to strike down the young tyrant. He couldn't even be certain the knight would aid him. This kid like it or not was the legitimate heir to the throne and the knight's honor might ultimately force him to side with the young lord. Especially if Mikael struck the first blow. He suddenly wished he'd spent more of the boat trip not passed out so he'd know these people better. There was also Cid to deal with, he didn't look like he could move on his own and Mikael couldn't carry him.

"Again m'lord, I plea that you let those with clearer heads handle this for you while you mourn, and you should also be speaking with the generals to start a plan. We are far from home." His voice starting to rise in the hopes that the crowd would hear the logic. "If we are independent now and the Emperor our enemy he could be laying siege to our homes as I speak! Our wives, sisters, daughters and mothers could this very moment be held captive prepared to be sold to our enemies. If you are to lead us against the might of the Empire you need to be getting a plan together immediately not worrying about petty vengeance." By the end he wasn't even looking directly at Vayne anymore he was looking over the crowd, particularly the guards and other warriors who would be expected to fight in the "coming" war.

Alice was among the sea of people watching, gasping, and debating silently at the event unfolding in the center of camp. She was speechless, uncertain who was telling the truth. Though she only knew about captain through rumors and gossip-mill, she was certain a man like him couldn’t execute such treacherous act again Lord Gramis. She didn’t have any proof to his innocent nor really know what he is or is not capable of. However, she still believed the captain. Call it sixth sense, woman’s intuition, a witch’s touch, a seer’s insight, or whatever; she was certain he didn’t kill the lord.

She had seen them together on the Sandamay. They were cordial, shared words, laughter and jokes. They seemed more like father-and-son than master-and-warrior. The young lord, Vayne, on the other hand, was the odd man out, stood in the back, lurked in shadow, and watched with hint of anger, jealousy and vengeful.

While she contemplated, the knight with blue hair stepped forward and chimed in. She thought his action was both admirable and foolish. He was brave enough to stand up to perceived-injustice. His cheeky tongue challenging and making House of Solidor his an enemy. The next speaker was more tactical with his words, using the late-Lord to save his friend’s life.

As courteous as the men tried to be with their speech, the tension was clearly emitting from their body language. She too looked around when she saw Mikael surveying the crowd. They were quiet, yet their eyes spoke loudly. Those gazed with smirk and blood lust believed the young lord’s claim. While the other, much fewer, stared with balled fists and readied their weapons in silence.

Her eyes snapped back at captive when he mumbled, barely audible but she was certain that he did.

She sensed there’s no peaceful way for today’s end. So the mage gripped the staff tightly in her hand while she combed through the spell book in her mind for a most fitting one.

Vayne looked back and forth between Jack and Mikael, furious that neither of them were backing down. He turned around to face Cid again. "The execution will proceed as planned. Attempt to interfere at your own risk." He lifted his sword directly above the neck of the barely-conscious Cid, who was being held in place by the guards. He was about to bring the blade down when there was a commotion behind him and what sounding like the rustling of feathers and someone running. Suddenly, a blur of red and black leaped over the heads of the crowd. Cid managed to look up, and almost as if it slow motion, he saw the blur leap through the air and come up behind Vayne.

"Kweh! Kweh!" Aela cried angrily, crouching in an offensive position. She let out what sounded like a growl as she stared at Vayne. She could sense Cid was in trouble, an almost magical bond that had formed between them over the years.

"Put that beast down," the young lord ordered one of the guards.

"Leave her... alone..." Cid said in a low growl. The guard stepped towards Aela and she suddenly flapped her wings and leaped into the air, grabbing her attacker with her feet and flinging him into a few of the other guards. She then dove straight at Vayne who dropped to the ground and rolled away to avoid her snapping beak. Aela then grabbed Cid with her feet and dove straight up into the sky.

"Someone kill them! Have all my archers become incompetent on the same day?!" screamed Vayne. Immediately, the sound of bowstrings snapping filled the air and a volley of arrows shot upwards. Aela twisted and turned to avoid them, but in doing so, she came back down close enough for Vayne to ready his ring. A bolt of bright blue lightning shot into the chocobo's side, causing her to cry out and lose focus for a moment.

"Nooo!" Cid screamed as arrows pierced Aela's flesh. She lost altitude and tried to get them as far away as she could before she finally dropped to the ground just outside the camp. "No no no no....." he said as tears poured down his cheeks, looking over the dying bird. "NO!"

He knew Vayne and the guards would be upon them any moment, so he quickly searched the pockets of Aela's saddle and pulled out his emergency health potions. To make them easier to carry and impossible to spill, he had adopted a technique Mikael had invented for evaporating the water from the potion and using the residue to form small capsules. He frantically shoved a capsule in Aela's mouth, but it was too late -- she was already gone.

Cid wanted to scream and cry and curl up into a ball, but even stronger than his grief was his hatred of Vayne. His face contorted in rage as he heard people coming up behind him. He shoved the last of his capsules in his mouth and turned to face them as he felt a surge of energy return to him. Vayne and his guards were approaching, and the crowd was right behind them.

"You murdered Lord Gramis, Vayne!" he yelled out loud enough for everyone to hear. "And now you have murdered my precious Aela, as well!" He then turned to look at the crowd. "Do not believe his lies! The Empire has not betrayed us! The only traitor here is Vayne and his guards! I had my suspicions of his guilt in the death of our lord, and when I confronted him, he attacked me! Tortured me and then concocted a false plot to win your allegiance!"

"This traitor continues to spit his filth!" cried Vayne, holding up his ring hand as it crackled with electricity. "Be silent."

His health having returned to him, Cid was able to dodge the bolt of lightning that came at him this time. He channeled Aether into his limbs and dashed straight at Vayne -- almost too fast to see -- and at the last second, spun around behind him and jabbed his fist into the young lord's lower back. Cid then grabbed him, spun in a circle, and flung him into the air as the guards surrounded him. His hands and feet were flying in all different directions as his attackers cried out and the sound of rapid thumps and thuds was present. By the time Vayne landed back down in the ground, all the guards were unconscious.

"I could kill him right now," Cid growled as he grabbed Vayne's hair and forced him to sit up, facing the crowd. "But then I would be no better. I did not kill Lord Gramis, and the Empire has not set their swords against us. These are fabricated lies meant to sway you. I beg you to search your hearts for the truth of this."

"Murderer!" someone cried out from the crowd. "Lord Vayne would never lie to us! Shut your mouth, Oathbreaker!"

"Captain Garlond is no murderer!" another yelled out. "That man is the one responsible for my children being alive today! If he says Vayne is lying, then I stand with him!"

Many voices erupted as the crowd began arguing, which very quickly turned into an all-out battle as those supporting Vayne attempted to finish Cid's execution while those supporting Cid came to his defense. The rest of the guards also swarmed into the battle, obviously taking their lord's side. It was clear the side that opposed Vayne was incredibly outnumbered.

The red mage pushed her way between the bodies when the chocobo jumped into the scene and stirred a big commotion. By the time she made to the frontline, the bird was down and her rider was on his feet. It was good yet sad that Cid’s full recovery caused him Aela. She prepared herself to step in if anyone interfere with the captain while he dealt with the young lord. Surprisingly he didn’t need any help at all. He overpowered Vayne and knocked out all the guards. Needless to say, Alice ended up just standing like wallflower.

While the crowd debated among themselves, she turned to Cid and had to scream her suggestion, “It’s no use to beg them now! You need to get out of here! Before the---.” She didn’t even need to finish her sentence since the second wave of guards were already rushing in to engage. She backed away, giving more space between them while conjuring a spell under her breath. Her arm rose and swung down toward the cluster of fully armed guards while she shouted, “Fira!”

A wall of fire ignited and encircled a handful of the enemies. The young mage didn’t put their location into count. They were close to the sore, which was pretty damn windy. A gust blew through and spread the flames wide. The fire danced and hopped on top of tents, slowly but surely engulfed the fabric and wooden structure.

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire!” someone from the crowd screamed. “Put it out. Put it out! Quickly!”

“Eh, I, I meant to do that. Right,” she expressed just in case someone, if any, wondered. Well at least the crowd, for or against Cid, had something else to do…

Lord Vayne decided to refuse Jacks rather simple request, signing him down in his mind as a rather poor ruler, any sovereign not willing to listen to council is a fool, but at least someone else in the crowd had enough brain and backbone to stand up and question what was going on. Jack didnt know the new player in this little game, but had to admit that he had some good points, grief over his father death would definitely explain the lords behavior.

Reason however continued to fall upon dead ears, and Jack knew that blood would be the only way to resolve this situation, he had no intention of killing Vayne of course, but a ruler was more than capable of doing his duties less one arm until he could get it regrown.

Jacks intervention however turned out not to be necessary, just as he was beginning to draw his blade to engage, he, along with everyone else, was abruptly interrupted by a rampant Chocobo finding its way in to the midst of the execution and managing to make off with Cid in tow. "Well, that was unexpected" Jack mused to himself as the archers fired up at them, not much point to it though, the bird was well trained and was deftly dodging each shot without trouble, but then they dipped too low and their luck turned.

Jack kept his hand on the hilt of his weapon as he closed with their crash site, this wasn't over. By the time Jack made it to the front of the crowd to see what had happened, Vayne and his personal guards were down, and the crowd was already erupting in to a riot. "Perfect, just what the day was lacking" Jack said with a sigh, why can things never be easy?

As if on Que, four guards emerged fro the swirling melee to bare their weapons against Jack "You were one of the traitors who spoke against our Lord!" yelled one wielding a halberd, his compatriots all agreeing with him by way of insults hurled at Jack.

"Well technically, no, I would be a seditionist, as a Traitor requires me to have been a member of Lord Gramises vassalage, which I have never been. I personally still believe that I am neither of course, my actions were that of a concerned third party with no personal agendas, but that is clearly not the popular view of me at this point in time." The guards seemed confused by what he had said, not because Jacks word has swayed them, no, that would have been something going in Jacks favor today and as we've all learned that's not how this works, they just didn't comprehend some of the key words in his statement, which is to say they didn't understand any of it.

"Oh and now there's fire, brilliant" Jack continued, pointing out the now burning tent with no more than idle disinterest showing on his face "surely you all have more important matters to attend to then flailing at me."

The guards response was far less wordy than Jacks "Traitor!" And with that he charged, thrusting forwards with his halberd and sending it right in to Jacks abdomen. Rather than sinking in to flesh and killing Jack as the guard had no doubt intended, steel met steel as the halberd impacted on the breastplate Jack wore beneath his cloak.

With a sigh Jack batted the halberd away with the back of his hand, this was a waste of his time. He closed the gap between himself and the Halberdeer before any of them had time to react and grabbed the man by the throat, casually tossing him in to one of the others, knocking them both on to the floor, before turning to deal with the remaining two. Their wits finally catching up they both charged, shields at the ready and swords swinging at Jack with all the finesse of a lumberjack with a hangover. Jack caught one in his hand, the fine mail beneath his gloves easily handling the strike without being so chunky that you could tell it was there, and knocked the other away with his forearm that was similarly mailed beneath his clothes, then simply punched the poor bastard in the face, sending him tumbling to the floor with blood gushing from his nose.

"Now for you" Jack turned his gaze to the man who he still held the sword of, who seemed paralyzed with fear. This entire fight really wasn't worth the effort, none of the guards had the skill or training to stand up to him, one swing of his sword would have felled two of them and the other two would have just ran if he wasn't being kind enough to leave them alive. He let go of the sword and just walked away, the last soldier didn't even move as he left, and the lack of thrusts at his back told him that the others had either not been able to get back up yet, or had wised up enough to leave well enough alone.

Those fools out of the way, Jack pushed back through the melee to make it to the site of Cids landing, where the Lord and his guards now all laid unconscious, a few more had tried to stop him, but they were all bested with contemptuous ease. "Well this is going poorly" He remarked as he made it past the combat line to where the Lord was being held "Don't suppose anyone knows enough white magic to wake him? We can hardly make him order his men to stand down while he cant speak."

Mikael had honestly hoped he be able to talk Lord Vayne down if for no other reason than he couldn't do much to guarantee the young lord's safety if things. . .well if things went the way they were starting to go.

It's amazing sometimes how quickly things can go from bad to worse. One moment Cid was on the ground, near death with Lord Vayne clearly planning to execute him. Whatever happened next Mikael lost track of. He saw the thrashing of wings, heard the scream of a chocobo. Of Cid's personal chocobo, Aela and then the bird was on the ground struck with arrows and bleeding to death but Cid was okay. At the same time the camp had caught fire and the guards were fighting the knight who'd challenged Lord Vayne. No, not fighting. More like flailing at angrily. They looked as helpless and harmless as children. The only reason Mikael was concerned was this was real life and not a strategy game of die. Sooner or later one of them would get lucky and that would be all it took.

"I think it's time we relocated someplace!" Mikael shouted to the two men. He was passingly aware that they had at least one ally. It's easy to spot magical fire once you've seen it and besides there weren't any torches or any other sources of flame near where that particular fire had started. Once again he regretted that he'd spent his time below decks and mostly passed out. If he had he might have known the woman from earlier was a Red Mage not a White Mage, not a cleric or paladin of some ilk but as it stood seeing her in the crowd was meaningless.

Reaching into his satchel Mikael grabbed one of his vials and quickly quaffed it. Around him the entire world suddenly slowed. Or it seemed that way from his perspective, in reality the haste potion sped him and her perceptions up allowing him to quickly make his way to Cid's side with minimal interference from the people still more interested in his blood than in saving their tents. A decision many of them would come to regret he thought with bit of guilt.

Once Mikael reached Cid's side he handed him a haste potion with one hand and flung a bomb towards the mob supporting Vayne intentionally keeping them out of the true blast radius. Vayne might still be innocent and regardless he was still heavily supported and the closest thing to an authority figure on the island. In short killing him would likely make matters worse than they already were and it would be impossible to claim they hadn't killed Vayne.

The concussion wave WAS close enough to hit them and send a most of the front row tumbling backwards into their allies. Their heads would be ringing for hours but they'd live to see another day.

"Some one we need a plan and we needed it this morning."

"Waking Vayne now won't help," Cid replied to Jack, then turned and nodded as Mikael handed him a haste potion. "That girl. The red mage. She was trying to heal Lord Gramis earlier, and now she fights to defend me from this mob. As do others. We need to flee to the mountains, but we can't go without them."

Suddenly the other Red Wings swooped in, and to Cid's dismay, they all seemed loyal to Vayne. "We will not allow you traitors to escape!" cried Sergeant Gabranth, who was third-in-command under Cid and Mikael. "I looked up to you two -- admired you even! And now you both betray our lord?"

"Don't be a fool, Gabranth," Cid snapped, but he saw in their eyes they were steadfast in their stance. Sighing, Cid chugged the haste potion and handed the empty vial back to Mikael, channeled Aether to boost the effect, bent down, and took off running towards the Red Wings so fast it created a burst of wind against Mikael and Jack. For the next thirty seconds, Cid moved so swiftly he appeared to teleport around the battlefield, knocking out as many Wings and chocobos as he could before the potion wore off. His speed decreased considerably, but he was still moving fast enough to flip around in a barrage of fists and feet. He then came to a stop amidst a field of unconscious bodies, looking up to see many of the ones left were now running to deal with the out of control fires.

"Now's our chance!" he called to Jack and Mikael. "We have to go! Will you come with us?" he asked Alice and the few others gathered that had stood up for him. He ran over to several of the downed Wings, grabbed an armful of clothes off people since his own were ripped, then threw down an extra pair of pants. He quickly tied off the ends of the legs, stuffed the gathered clothing inside, and then threw in as many potions, capsules, and supplies from the saddles of the unconscious chocobos as he could, as well as the crystal goggles Mikael had designed for them. He then stuffed two daggers in his belt, threw the pant-bag over his shoulder, and ran towards the mountains. "Let's go! I nabbed all the goggles so they can't use them to see our auras once we are in the forest!"

The campsite turned chaotic within a flash with people shouting, dousing the fire, throwing fists, clashing swords and acting like headless chocobos. Since Alice didn’t know who was on what side, she didn’t attack until she provoked. Jack, on the other hand, actively engaged with the guards. He was hard to miss the bright blue head among the sea of people.

Before she could voice her agreement to Mikael’s suggestion for relocation, he turned into a blur, sneaking in between bodies and making his way to the captain.

She then was about to volunteer when Jack screamed for a white mage, Cid made a more convincing point, “Waking Vayne now won’t help.”

“Who? Me?” she glanced back at Cid to see if she’s the red mage he inferred. “Alice. The name is---.”

Her head snapped front just as two guards came at her with their swords about to strike. “Ack!” She backed up as quickly as her feet could while conjured, “Bl. Bliz. Zard.” A breath of chilly air surrounded her hand, which she bought to her face as for protection. The air drifted toward the guards, circling and turning into ice on contact. Their whole bodies were frozen and buried in an ice-dome less than a second. She was saved from the blades, but her ass suffered the hard ground. Tripping over her own foot, she stumbled and fell ass first.

The red mage evaded a few more guards and dodged a few sharp blades as the scene dragged on.

She muttered under her breath, “Doubt I’m welcome here.” She smashed the end of her staff at the guard’s face, rendered him unconscious. She shouted after the others said their piece, “I’m coming with too.” As soon as she defeated another attacked, she took running after Cid into the forest.

Mikael surveyed the chaos one final time with an extremely frustrated sigh. Any potential chance to handle this peacefully was most likely a think of the past and nothing shy of him bringing them Cid's head on a stick would get him back in their good graces.

Worse to his knowledge Cid had little if any hunting experience, he himself had none, this Alice person didn't appear to be a tracker and that left Jack whom he knew absolutely nothing about. So they were also potentially leaving the only source of food (that any of them could access) behind. "Forget my life." He muttered.

Cid made short work of the remaining Red Wings, at least enough that an escape was possible. Once they had escaped better more permanent plans could be made so he took his own advice and Cid's own plan. The fighting was done, it was time to run.

He noticed the woman was following behind them, and oh. . .offensive magic. Good to know. He didn't have time tor process it anymore thoroughly than that though. Another bomb was thrown to cover their escape, not really aimed at anyone in particular though again he was aiming away from Vayne as much as possible.

Once they seemed to be a safe distance he slowed to a jog then a quick walk. "Okay, we need to work on our communication skills. Cid, when you're about to do something stupid please shout 'Mikeal, rip off my arms.' Knight guy, uh. . .be nicer to people who have armies. Mage Girl. You're an absolute treat. If I had advice for you it would involve not falling in with people accused of treason and regicide. And me. First I apologize for not managing to deesculate that situation and you in particular Cid I was so worried about getting an outcome that didn't result in. . .my tromping around a desert that maybe I could have acted sooner."

Cid turned to respond to Mikael, but it seemed there was another wave of people coming after them. By the time they made it into the forest and lost their pursuers, only Cid, Mikael, and Alice remained in their group. Everyone else at either died or fled in another direction.

"Our best chance is to travel south to Costa Del Sol," Cid suggested. "We can travel along the base of these mountains and use the forest as cover. When the fires from the settlement come into view, we can head east along the grassland. When I surveyed the area yesterday on Aela, it seemed that the mountains curve southwest, so the distance from the forest to Costa Del Sol will be greater than between Vayne's camp and where we are now. We'll have to keep that in mind once we venture beyond the veil of the trees, for we will be in plain sight for a trip that quite possibly could last days."

Cid looked up through the treetops and then towards the mountains. "We still have quite a few hours of daylight left, so I suggest we put as much distance between us and Vayne as possible before we make camp for the night. We have little to work with, but perhaps we can find a cavern along the mountains. We will have to avoid starting any fires for a few days, however. We don't want to attract our pursuers."

A few hours later, as darkness started to fall, the trio used branches, leaves, and shrubbery to build a small camp for the night consisting of three small huts.



They rolled a log over in front of the huts and sat down to relax for a bit before turning in for the night. It was too risky to start a fire, so their only source of light was the stars shining through the gaps in the treetops. After gazing up at the patches of sky visible for a few minutes, Cid turned to Alice. "May I ask you a question? What caused you to assume my innocence? Mikael knows me, and knows I am an honorable man. But you know nothing of me beyond the words of others. Why place your trust in a stranger? I apologize if I sound discourteous, but I really am curious what swayed your opinion of me."

Yet again, everything turned into a blur once Alice got inside the tree lines. Her legs had a mind of their own, running and following the men before her. The adrenaline overshadowed her logic and reason. She just blindly followed them. Her heart was still pumping like a madman when they finally slowed down enough for a conversation. She heard, but not really, Mikael’s advice. She shrugged even though he made a very good point. She was too occupied at their situation. How did they end up with only three? What happened to the others, the ones who weren’t out to stab, slice, dice and burn them?

She helped set up camp quietly.

Once completed, she settled on the log and finally noticed her aching feet as she thought over everything that had happened in one short day. She looked over at Cid, and then shrugged. “A woman’s intuition,” she explained. It was a lame excuse but the best she could come up with right now. In reality, she didn’t have an explanation herself.

Although she knew offense magic, Alice was far away from the battlefield, politics and power struggles. She was young, inexperienced, and hadn’t seen much of the world. She still held onto the ideology that everyone is good until proven otherwise. Therefore Cid was innocent until he commits the crime or pleads guilty before her. Naive? Yes. Logical? Absolutely in her mind.

“You,” she leaned in very close to the ex-Captain’s face. Eyes locked. “Didn’t kill the Lord. Right?”

Cid never broke eye contact with Alice and kept a straight face, though in his gaze one could see the pain and suffering there. "I loved Lord Gramis like a father," he replied calmly. "I was honest when I said I suspected Vayne of the murder, and that he attacked me when I went to confront him. In hindsight, perhaps rushing to accuse him on my own was foolish, and I have no doubt Mikael would agree whole-heartedly with that assessment. But I was angry. I convinced myself that I wanted justice, but I think I also wanted revenge... Lord Gramis was always so kind to me..."

Cid lowered his head and looked at the ground. "Even now... I find myself fantasizing about removing Vayne's head from his neck... Especially after he turned most of my own men against me. That little brat has ripped away everything that I once held dear..." He struggled to contain the rage in his voice, balling his fists hard at his sides.

Mikael listened to the advice from his friend Cid both about how they should make their escape and to where they should make it. Though he chuckled slightly at how little the man had apparently paid attention to some of Mikael's studies over the years. Of course that might in part be that he didn't share things overly often and was often trapped up in his lab for days or weeks on end without so much as peaking his head out a single time for any reason so. . .yeah that pretty much made sense.

It was obvious from the path that Cid had done a good job scouting with Aela. Almost to the point that if he wasn't above reproach in Mikael's mind he'd wonder if he'd been planning this escape for sometime. The thought of his friend's former mount made him shake his head slightly. He'd never gotten along with the that vicious raptor but to Cid she'd been like familyi and that meant something.

"Don't worry too much about the fire, if it gets too cold I've got a few things we can try." He said as they set up camp. "The important part is not only making sure we get some distance between us but unless more of the camp decides to break away we need to find a spot that's very difficult to track us to and easy to defend and escape when the time comes. We only got out of that mess due to a combination of blind panic, sheer luck and surprise."

Politely Mikael didn't say a word when Cid mentioned how stupid it was to go and accuse Vayne of murder without back up or even witnesses of any sort. He'd obviously figured it out on his own and no amount of driving it home was going to change the facts of where they were or how they'd gotten there so he might as well not talk about it. At least that was the conclusion he'd come to.

Alice let out an invisible sigh, really believed that Cid is innocent. The pain in his eyes was genuine. He was in agony and mourning for the dead Lord, a mentor, a father. It was strange to see such a strong man being so vulnerable. She held his balled fist and smiled as gently as she could at the man.

“I’m sorry for your lost. Sooner or later, Vayne will pay for his crime. But before that.”

She broke their eye contact and glanced over to Mikael. “I agree we should put a lot of distance between us and Vayne. We lay low, stay alive and wait for the right moment to strik---. Eeeek!”

“Aaaaaye!” another voice joined in the scream. It was from a female rider, trotting out behind the tree line on a white chocobo and stampeding right up to the small bon fire.

The bird held its beak as closely to the fire as possible. He loved the fire. His fury face was warm but the rest of his body was cold and wet. The rider was wet too. Her damp blond hair dripped and framed her jaw line. The cargo sacks on his back were dry though. Thankfully she wrapped the goodies with water-proof pig skin. She dismounted, looking around the small lot and apologizing for the intrusion, “Oi, don’t mean to barge in like this travelers. Once Yapyap made up his mind, there’s nothing I can do to stop this stubborn beast. Haha!”

Mikeal jumped to his feet at the sight of the invading chocobo reaching into his sack for a weapon but paused when he realized she didn't mean any harm to them. "Bloody hell." He muttered sitting back down. "Well I feel obligated to warn you that while we are innocent we are wanted criminals."