Altered Tundra

The Mundane [Small-Town Superheroes]

Jackson’s Outfit
LOCATION — Main Street
INTERACTIONS — Aaliya (_@Aewin)

Since the day that he had that weird experience, Jackson Drake hadn’t experienced it again. Weird that he didn’t, but maybe it was like a lightswitch: one moment it’s on, then the next it’s off. Since it was currently off, a thought passed through Jackson’s always-empty mind about when it would turn on again. It could be in the next minute, the next hour, or he might not even have another experience for another day or week. It’s really all up in the air at this point, and Jackson wasn’t going to focus on it.

And that’s why instead of worrying about the ‘what might happen’, Jackson chose to focus on the here and now, and what’s happening is that he’s hungry as a mother fucker. He needs nourishment. Good thing he’s going through Main Street and has a pocket full of loose change.

Sounds of rolling skateboard wheels on concrete sidewalk ceased as he felt something crunch. Glass was all over the sidewalk. Son of a bitch, I just cleaned the wheels too. Jackson wasn’t liking the start of the day that much.

He held his board in his hand, knowing that riding it meant certain death for his wheels dexterity. Instead, he simply would stroll around Main Street. Maybe there would be something for him to do. Sure he could contribute to cleaning up, but if he was going to do that, the preference would was to do it in the company of someone he didn’t particularly hate. Based on who he saw around, there were a few he didn’t like, a few that he was neutral to, and no one that he —

Oh wait, there is someone I like.

Of course there was. Jackson saw her right in front of him. Skin like caramel, eyes like chocolate, and hair he could get lost in. She was just as much his crush as she was his friend. Her parents befriended his parents. As a result, Jackson had befriended her at a young age. Maybe that’s why she didn’t mind him. There were few people who didn’t like Jackson, but she was one of them that never judged him. If anything, she encouraged him to embrace his uniqueness.

Approaching her, Jackson said, “Princess Aali, fabulous is sheeee~” Jackson’s voice carried into a sing-along tune, quoting the famous Alladan ‘Prince Ali’ song. Jackson, in the matter of gapping a pace and a half, wrapped his lean arm around Aali’s neck and shoulder, bringing their heads close to a warm half-embrace, a wide, cheek-to-cheek grin on his face.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Holding the arrowhead in her hand, Savayna examined it the best that she could. It was smooth to the touch, yet it was jagged at the same time. The surface and back was what felt smooth, but the edges were like jagged rock. The top was sharper than any steel sword that Savayna had encountered. There was a faint magickal presence that she couldn’t place, yet felt eerie familiar.

Savayna kept it in her hands, but looked to Grant. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him. It was mostly a blur. She recalled telling him something, but anything after that was clouded. “I’ve seen this arrow before.” She said. “I can’t remember where, but I know I’ve seen it,” Savayna said. Something in her told her that she knew exactly what it was and where she had seen it, but something blocked her memory.

---

When Jaakuna got to his room, Iris had already prepared his communication systems. Monitors appeared before him. They were managing all sorts of situations, most of them were graphs monitoring the activity throughout Ivalice.

Taking a seat, Jaakuna was at the monitor that was mostly for communicating. As he would set up a call to Roman, Jaakuna would wait. It rang for a few moments until there was an answer. To his surprise, instead of Roman appearing on the screen, Jaakuna was met by his grandfather, Hamut. “Oh, grandfather, hello.”

“Jackson. It’s been a while.”

Jaakuna tried not to cringe when he heard his Archadian name being spoken. “That it has.” Jaakuna said. “Is Roman — I mean Emperor Roman — around?” Jaakuna asked Hamut.

Hamut was silent for a moment, then said, “he’s in a meeting right now. What’s this about?”

“I would prefer not tos ay over this line. Just know that it’s revolutionary. I think mother would have been proud of me.”

Hamut smiled an uncharacteristic smile, “I’m sure, wherever she is, she’s proud of you,” Hamut said.

“In any case, please tell Roman to contact me as soon as he can.” Jaakuna said. Before signing off, Hamut gestured him for a moment. “Yes?”

“Before you go, I need to ask you a question.” Jaakuna simply looked at Hamut. “How do you get the Espers to cease their constant ramblings?”

Jaakuna blankly looked at him for a moment, then laughed. “Having trouble with Exodus are you?”

“No,it's not The Judge-Sal. Like me, he also has been finding these ramblings trite; it's the others.”

“Such as?”

“Mateus, Addrammlech mainly. They won’t stop coming to me.”

“Well, considering the fact that Savayna has barely bonded with her own and Isaiah is probably too proud to submit to Addra, they need to find entertainment elsewhere.” Jaakuna laughed again, “if you want my advice, just let them do it to you until they get annoyed that you’re ignoring them.” When he said that, Jaakuna heard Belias scoff towards him. He snickered.

“What?”

“Nothing, just got a reminder why I’m an expert in Esperology.” Jaakuna said. Belias scoffed once more.

Hamut shrugged, and clicked off, the sight of his one-eyed grandfather disappearing into white noise.

Jaakuna sighed. He wasn’t too sure why Roman hadn’t been at his desk. He didn’t have a good feeling about this, not one bit. Roman didn’t answer; their grandfather did, however. And that’s what was really bothering him. It wasn’t that Roman didn’t answer, but that Hamut had answered instead of his brother. The more Jaakuna thought on it, the more it made him consider way more than he needed to. What did need to do was just rest up. Even if Roman had no idea they were coming, the Ifrit would arrive in Archadia in a few hours. Jaakuna needed the rest for the long couple of days ahead.

---

Hours ago, airships went down all around Ivalice. There was no warning. No alert that signalled technical difficulties. No flash of horror before they went down. It was if it happened in the blink of an eye. The ships were flying normally as they always would have in the past, and then boom! Engine burst aflame, and almost every airship flying over the Mosphoran Highwaste went down.

And one of those was the airship that Wesley and Nadeine, and over two dozen other innocent civilians were aboard.

The engine had exploded and descending from a third of a league in the air, the commercial airship that was flying perfectly before was going down. Panic ensued among the entire ship. Some screamed that they were going to die, some screamed that the monsters below would kill them, and some were screaming that they hadn’t gotten laid yet and they didn’t want to die before they lost their virginity. It was chaotic to say the least. The ship was going down and no one had any faintest idea if they were going to make it.

But for Wesley, he was keeping a relatively cool head. He glanced at Nadeline, and she also was in that same neighborhood, if not just slightly more on alert. It wasn’t surprising considering the fact that the both of them had fallen asleep in front of the window. The last thing that Wesley remembered was her in his arms and he in hers, watching the rare sight of unpolluted mist passing by them in colors that were all over the spectrum, but all seemed to be viridescent in the center.

And then, as the ship rocked, that woke the both of them, rocking them in opposite directions. Whatever had been the cause, Wesley knew he couldn’t waste any time wondering about it. Several people, whether they knew it or not, were depending on his focused mind.

One more glance at Nadeline, Wesley would simply nod. It was a universal nod that would tell Nadeline to summon Ultima, because Wesley would do the same with Hashmaal. On the moment she would, Hashmaal would come forth through a glyph. With their combined power, the ship — and the innocents abroad it — may be saved yet.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

It was ten years ago. So long ago that I didn’t think I would remember, but I remember it all like a vivid dream. It was just hours before I was set to marry Vincent Darcone. He was the younger brother of Jackson, someone who I had admired for years. I thought Jackson was going to be my husband as our families were close, but apparently there was a different plan. My father had made a deal with Emperor Simon Darcone. In exchange for amnesty for Glacier Village, my father agreed to sell me off to the Darcone family. I was barely a teen, but he sold me off like some slave. His own daughter had been sold off.

I thought it was going to be okay. I knew it would because I had my guardian angel. Well, okay not exactly my guardian angel. He was more like an uncle to me. He was my father’s old war buddy. Both of them had served in a hunter’s guild back in the day. His name was Glacier Frost. He was now a rising general for the Archadian Army. He was poised to be Simon’s top general, surpassing the current general, Suijin Glacie, Savayna’s older brother. He was a man that she looked up to.

Somewhere down the line, maybe a couple more years, Suijin succumbed to a mysterious assassination. He was poisoned by an arrow. I remember it well. He was a great warrior and had the respect of many. I looked up to him for most of my life. He was seven years older than I was. When he died, my Uncle Glacier, or rather General Frost now, took his slot. I was proud for him, of course. How could I not be? He had earned it. SEveral years under service, and he finally became the General he had vied for since he enlisted after his hunter days. It was a glorious day, even Leviathan was happy for him. She was just one year older than I was, but already she had made Captain, and was well on her way to becoming the fifth judge, replacing Vincent because Vincent himself was going to take a place by his father’s side as his top advisor. To gain experience for the day he would take his father’s place as Emperor since Jackson was too busy with Operation Ifrit, a secret, classified project commissioned by a secret, third-party organization with interests in warships.

It was all perfect. And yet, I remember it being nothing but a facade. It was..

“IT’S A TRAP! FATHER NOOO!” Savayna shouted, her voice like screeching nails on a rusty chalkboard. She looked around, seeing that she was inside a tent, a fire lit aflame nearby. She winced as she felt a surge of pain go through her shoulders. She saw Grant near her, looking at her with those eyes of his. “Where am I? Last I remember..”

Savayna recalled. Was that a dream? No, I most certainly was telling him about someone, but who?

---

Amid the tour and the moment that he and Lorenzo were having, the thought of Archadia had completely slipped Jaakuna’s mind. It had to have been a couple of hours at the very least. Surely word would have gotten to Roman by now. Even if he was busy with the responsibilities of being Emperor of Archadia, he should have heard back from him by now. It was extremely diserning.

Jaakuna mulled on that thought, appearing broody, which would have been obvious. He then looked to Lorenzo, and said, “Should still be a couple of more hours, but let me check with Iris.” Jaakuna looked up, “Iris, has Roman got back to you yet?”

Silence for a moment, then Iris said, “According to my logs, he hasn’t responded yet. Shall I sent another message?” She asked.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll call him myself from my personal quarters,” Jaakuna said, concerned.

As he would ponder once more, Jaakuna felt something deep in his gut that felt familar. Every time something bad happened, it’s like he had a premonition of sorts. Or like a consistent gut feeling that told him only bad things awaited him on his journey. It happened when he fought Aloa and Vlyn in Bhujerba. It also happened last night on the beach with Lola. So it definitely wasn’t a good sign.

“Lorenzo, I’m sorry, but I need tend to some things. Iris will show you to the barracks. Maybe go check on REia. She did seem to be tired, so I’m sure some company could help.” Jaakuna was lying obviously, but he wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to be interrupted.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Hearing the life story about how Lorenzo and Karolina met, about how they fell in love, about how they lost their first child and broke up because of it, and how they got back together and had Nadeline, did a lot for Jaakuna. First off, it was incredible to hear such an imperfect perfect relationship. Of course every marriage, as Lorenzo said, goes through their ups and downs.

So that’s the moral of the story, huh? I need to get my head out of my ass, and stop trying to protect Emiri from every little thing.

Jaakuna couldn’t help but let out a laugh. It was more of a laugh at himself than it was at what Lorenzo had just said. To think that someone else other than Jaakuna had those feelings of self-doubt and fear. What was Jaakuna thinking? Of course there were more people. Everyone goes through those moments of dread and fear and just about everything related to it.

How I was a fool.

“Lorenzo, thank you,” Jaakuna said, cocking his head to the side ever so slightly, giving Lorenzo a grin. He held out his hand, and said, “You’re a good man, Lorenzo Jeremiah Roselia. I am honored to call you a friend.”

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

She heard his sigh. And quite frankly, Savayna didn’t seem to care. She wasn’t about to turn around. She knew he was feeling a certain way about her right now. And that was fine. Let him feel that. Savayna needed to focus. There were much more pressing matters than what Grant was feeling. The Brotherhood was here. And that meant only one thing: he was here.

Savayna, what is that I sense?

“It’s probably your stomach. You should really do something about that.” Savayna hissed.

I’m an esper. I don’t have those bodily functions like you Humes.

“Then I don’t know what to tell you."

It’s dread mixed with anxiety.

“You’re lying.”

I’m connected to you, idiot. I can sense it. Just tell me what it is. If you don’t, I’ll tell Zeromus, and he’ll probably tell Grant. Mateus threatened Savayna.

“You wouldn’t?”

Try me.

That bastard. Why couldn’t he just leave it be? Savayna sighed, letting it be known to Mateus that she was clearly annoyed with him. But she had no choice. And better she tell him than--and then she looked at Grant. It just hit her that he heard every word that she said. And the fact she was talking to herself and not him probably made it worse. “On second thought, Mateus, Grant will hear it from me. Feel free to listen in, you eavesdropping ass.”

Savayna heard a scowl, but there was no other vocal response.

She looked to Grant, stopping where she stood. They were about a hundred paces west of the entrance, but the tall towers of Omisace still within sight. “Grant, I apologize,” she said, “I know I’ve been less-than helpful this trip. My attitude about my family. And now this.” Savayna let out a sigh again. “The truth is that Omisace is now in the hands of a rogue Hunter’s Guild known as The Brotherhood. You probably heard of them. They were founded by a former Archadian General by the name of Glacier Frost. About ten years ago, he was planning to overthrow Emperor Simon Darcone, but was foiled by Vincent and Jackson--I mean Jaakuna,” she quipped, “after that, he was set to be hung for his crimes against the empire, but as he did, the whole ordeal of Simon’s death being blamed on Jaakuna allowed him to flee Archadia. I’ve kept tabs on him over the eyars, but lost track of him about a month ago, which was around the time I first met you when you were still a bit screwy,” she quipped again. She’s gotta stop doing that.

Savayna let her voice trail off, gripping her fist into a ball so tight that it drew blood, which she would then curse under her breath about. “Listen, this matters and relates to us because Glacier isn’t just some random guy that just so happens to be an Archadian.” Savayna paused on that note. “Glacier Frost isn’t just an exiled, former general of the Archaidan Army. Glacier Frost is the person —”As Savayna went to speak, out of nowhere an arrow of poisonous magic shot through her shoulder, sending her into Grant’s arms, sending both of them jerking backwards. Though her lips moved, no sound came. Savayna would soon lose consciousness not long afterwards.

---

Moments of complete silence passed since Lorenzo had asked him about Emiri. Since then, he had taken a seat at a nearby chair, inviting Lorenzo to do the same. Then he thought about what he was going to say. How was he going to tell Lorenzo when he himself hadn’t figured out why he didn’t tell Emiri the truth? Jaakuna knew he would have to think of something.

Looking at the prince, Jaakuna said, “It might be hard for someone who has a perfect relationship to understand, but I’m afraid.” That wasn’t something that a man like Jaakuna said lightly. “Ever since I met Emiri, I’ve caused her nothing but pain. Whether it was threatening to take her back to Grant when he was still a psycho-killer, or when I put her in harm’s way, or when I made a deal with the devil - there was always a time where I would hurt her.” Jaakuna spoke with sorrow and grief. “So, I guess I didn’t want to hurt her again. After what happened with Lola and how, once again thanks to my brilliant decision to opt for the dark side, she got hurt again.” JAakuna leaned against the arm chair. “It might’ve been cowardly, but she’s in Stigma. And she’s safe. I can live with that. I won’t feel guilty by putting her in harm’s way. I won’t have to worry about her getting hurt like before."

---

Without a warning, The Creature grasped Keiran’s throat so hard that it resulted in two things: a gagging noise and Keiran being lifted off his feet. “The Time Scion is to not be harmed in any physical manner.” The Creature’s eyes oozing out gooey, black liquid. It crawled onto Keiran’s arms, grasping them so tight that it threatened to tear them off. “Remember your place, Seed. Or you will return to the nothingness for which you came.”

And after that sound threat, Keiran had been lowered, left to gather himself. But only for a moment.

“Do as The Dark One has instructed. Nothing more. He will know if you have deterred, for you are a small part of him. Your role is nothing more than just a pebble that contributes to the ripple that He will send throughout Ivalice.” The Creature said, his form starting to fade away, leaving Keiran to choke upon the thought that, contrary to his arrogance, is expendable to The Dark One.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Amid the cheering and congratulatory roars, Savayna would hear Grant. He brought up a good point. And she was just about to do that before she caught something rather peculiar: one of the remains of the machines that she had demolished had a familiar symbol. It was a shield with a golden lining and a royal blue center. Over it, a sword of black and chrome overlapped with eagle wings, and a crown down the blade at the middle. Near the bottom of the blade, a ribbon covered a portion of it, with the words “The Brotherhood” right in the center.

Savayna would sigh rather deeply, leaning close to Grant, and said, “We don’t need to. I know what’s happening.” Savayna said, tightening up her hand into a fist.

In the next moment, Savayna paced away from Grant, away from the crowd, and walked several of those paces opposite of the entrance. No words -she simply walked, bearing no mind to what Grant was probably thinking. She knew what she was doing. She couldn’t be here for more than one reason.

---

Jaakuna’s head was throbbing. Worse than that, he knew it wasn’t going to get any better. This was true for two reasons. First of all, Lorenzo wanted the rest of the tour. And two, Reia wouldn’t be along for the ride on account that she wanted to rest, which in turn would leave Jaakuna alone with Lorenzo. Was this what Nadeline feared about her father? If so, then color me a sympathiser. I had no idea it was this bad for you.

With an exaggerated groan, Jaakuna approached the duo. “Very well.” Jaakuna said. He gave Reia a smile, then said, “Iris, if you would, please lead Empress Reia to the female dorms. Make sure she is given the best one available. I think the one with the bathroom should suffice. And please alert her when we arrive in Archadia.” Jaakuna said.

“Understood, Master Jaakuna.” Iris said.

A moment would pass. In that time, something akin to a hologram would appear. It was blue all around but with different shades. Hair was dark blue like navy, skin was cornflower blue, eyes had a bright, almost crystal blue shine to them. To the naked eye, her attire was nothing more than a one-piece suit that covered major parts of the breasts, shoulders, and just six inches below the waist. However, if one looked closely, there was more to it than that. There was an ever-flowing stream of computer data that made up its entirety. This data also formed faded navy pantyhose that went from mid-thigh to her feet, as well as on the arms from mid-bicep to her fingernails. There are odd, almost lifelike patterns along her thighs and calves.

“Empress Reia,” Iris’s voice came from the lifelike hologram, “if you would, please follow me.” Iris would gesture REia out the door, leaving Jaakuna and Lorenzo to their lonesome.

Before Lorenzo would have any chance of questioning what just happened, Jaakuna would force his frozen body out the door, and in the opposite direction of where Iris led Reia. In that direction, Jaakuna would be heading straight towards what Jaakuna liked to refer to Main Operations. It was a section of the ship that was dead center of the entire Ifrit. Unlike the engine room, main operations housed an even larger magicite core. While the engine has an impressive one for sure, the center of the Ifrit houses one twice as dense but nowhere nearly as large - it doesn’t need to. It’s a rotating, pulsating mass of pure magickal stone that sends out these pulses of magick every hour to enforce the Ifrit with its nearly-indestructible shield.

Walking into it, Jaakuna gleamed with pride. Surely Lorenzo was in awe. Jaakuna wasn’t surprised. Due to the spacious room where the core was hoisted at the ceiling, the crystal-like core of the Ifrit glowing with green Mist. But it wasn’t harmful Mist. This specific mist, while heavy on the magickal presence, gave a feeling of warmth and calmness, the only kind that was possible in a controlled environment.

The room itself, core aside, surrounded it. Several wires ran along the floors, tangling and crossed with each other, coiling to the contraption that held the core in place. Little, floating machines that were half machine, half magicite floated around, doing maintenance on the core, the wires, the coils, the cannons, and everything that required mechanical assistance.

“Ain’t she a beaut!” Jaakuna looked at the core with swelled-up pride. “This was the hardest part. It took me months just to find the right kind of magicite to use. Took a lot of bribing to get what I needed.” Jaakuna said, bragging about the accomplishment, “yessir, she can produce over seven dozen rounds of pure, magickal, photonic energy in three seconds, appearing as one singular beam of magick. On top of that, the little cannons you see have enough juice in them to shoot three times as much in just 50% of the time. Not as accurate, but boy do they make aerial battles a whole lot easier. And don’t even get me started on our shields,” Jaakuna once again looked up, “powered by this baby, the Ifrit is not only capable of withstanding most frontal assaults, but with the added bonus of having an extremely-powered shield, it can double as a battering ram. Though,” Jaakuna paused, “more than ten direct hits from a distance less than half of a mile, and the shields temporarily disable for about twenty seconds. Safe to say we don’t want to be within firing range of an enemy ship when that happens.” Jaakuna laughed nervously.

---

Ivalice was getting worse the more time Zodiark remained loose. Turbulences of mist were happening all over. All three major countries of Ivalice have reported these disturbances. Airships that woudl otherwise have near-perfect flights either were rendered in stasis for several minutes or had completely lost control and went down, resulting in dozens of deaths world-wide. They were reported going down near The Phon Coast, and the Dalmasca Wester and Estersands. In these reports, the last moments of every airship crash had video files saved. In them, they showed the figure of a black mass passing through the ship as it malfunctioned.

These reports have been happening for days. And yet no one was able to do anything. The worst of it all was it could only get worse from here on out. Deaths upon deaths piling up and only a black mass of mist was the closest anyone has gotten. What was even worse, this black mass was last seen hovering over Stigma.

---

Somewhere in Stigma, deep in the shadows, a figure comes out, oozing black, gooey mist. It walks appearing to be in a heavy-duty armor black like night and with red emblems of a snake looking up at the sky at darkness, through the halls of Stigma's Palace. It does not need to keep to the shadows for it no longer needs to. Years of feeding off of the evil energies that have gathered in every crevice of Stigma allowed it to become strong. These walls have experienced argument after argument, and now, after so many weeks of being in slumber, The Creature is ready.

But first, something must be done.

The Creature turned a right into the room of one Andre Inabi. He lay unconscious, most likely sleeping. In the room were guards who guard — correction, guarded — the Lord Inabi. They no longer were as they have since then succombed to an instant death thanks to the floating mist that had entered their systems as soon as The Creature had entered Andre's room. Not far off, The Creature noticed someone running their fingers through Andre's mane. "The energies tell The Creature that he was in a coma, but had awoken just hours prior. Apparently the good will of one Jaakuna Hinoko, combined with Emiri Inabi's special ability," The Creature said to the person. "The energies also tell The Creature that the Scion Who Controls the Wheels of Time has been silenced. His magicks are no longer felt among the mist."

The Creature walked up closer to those sinister hands. The hands that belonged to a person that The Creature knew very well. It was a man that looked to be the age of Andre's daughter, maybe slightly younger. Hair like the abyss, but silky like spider web. Skin pure like the void and eyes empty like it too. Clothes were of no importance as they were as average as anything else in Stigma. But the way his eyes looked at Andre. It was not that of concern. It was a sinister, vile feeling.

"Keiran, you know what you must do now." The Creature said, gooey, sticky hand on Keiran's shoulder, "The Dark One is nearing the final stages of his plan. And to achieve that, he needs The Scion of Time. He has instructed me with the following order.."

And so The Creature would tell Keiran what he must do. Show yourself to Emiri once more. Tell her that you found the one responsible for her mother's death. you have found where Lola is hiding out at. Tell her she's hiding in one of the oil refineries in the Sandsea. Tell her that she's injured, and that if you strike now, surely Lola will fall.

"Do you understand?"

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Stigma had not been that far from the Dalmascan Deserts. It was probably give or take five miles. On the way there, Grant had completely rounded Rabanastre, avoiding the Dalmascian capital altogether. They would make easy work of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. They met some opposition from those that dwelled in the Sandsea, but it was nothing that a swing of Savayna’s sword couldn’t handle. She would tell him to keep driving, and she would handle any hostiles that came their way.

Once they moved out of the Sandsea, it was into the Dalmasca Westersand. A lot of ground to cover, but not as many hostiles. There were a few wolves that followed, but Savayna would lay waste to them with a simple blizzara spell that she found was as powerful as a weak Blizzaga spell due to the amount of visible, swirling mist in the area. It might’ve made the wolves twice as big, but with Savayna’s proficiency of Ice Magick, it wasn’t even a problem for her. She cleaned house as they would come.

Over the course of the next few hours, the Estersand proved similar ease. Some blizzaras here and there, and they were int he clear, Savayna would suggest pushing it into overdrive. Apparently he agreed with her, so much so by pressing a special button that warped them into ten times the speed, crossing so much land that Savayna wasn’t ready for it. Forward they went, trailing along the waves of mist that were visible as if it were homing on the essence of mist itself. Before Savayna knew, they were at Paramina’s Rift.

Savayna would gather herself before they continued at normal speed. If Jaakuna were here, he’d probably be puking, so that was one thing she had over him.

Finished gathering herself, Savayna gave Grant the signal, and he would continue along the journey. Not even ten minutes later, the duo arrived at Mt. Bur-Omisace, or to be percise, about twenty paces from the entrance to Mt. Bur-Omisace. They couldn’t go any further on account of two things: the people gathered outside of it - refugees - who were making an uproar to whoever was blocking the entrance.

Just ten seconds before Grant stopped the motorcycle, Savayna jumped, using the mist to guide her icy glide in the air. With her Ice Queen in hand, Savayna hovered over, the sight of the refugees of all make seeing her. As she came to the entrance, she saw five flying machines that noticed her. But just a moment too late. Savayna swung her sword forward, “Flow it out your ass!” Savayna shouted, “Blizzaga Wave!” She shouted once more, a wave of blizzaga extending from her sword, and freezing all five machines. In the next moment, Savayna would slice into each machine five times, and in the matter of moments, Savana would be on the snowy ground, and they owuld all explode into bits of frozen scrap metal, coming down behind her. There was a roar of cheers from the refugees.

As Savayna would spend a few moments giving the people a series of grins and smiles, she would look over to Grant’s direction, waving him over.

---

“Is he going to be alright?” Jaakuna asked. It surely wasn’t a good thing that Lorenzo was calling to the gods. “Oh, and don’t take him seriously, Belias. I’m sure he didn’t —”

“Don’t worry, we understand,” Belias said. A moment later, his head appeared out of nowhere, looking at the other two. JAakuna jolted to the left. Belias snickered. “Prince Lorenzo, please don’t make such claims. I may not take it seriously, but the other Scions aren’t as understanding of the Hume practice of overreacting. As a matter of fact —”

Another head popped in. “Belias, what do you are doing?” Ultima said. Not so much asking Belias, but stating as a matter of fact.

“I was simply explaining to your Hume’s father about his claim for us to take him."

“Oh,” Ultima looked at Lorenzo. She couldn’t help but share Reia’s scowling notion. “Carry on, then.” Ultima said, her white head disappearing in a portal of white.

“As I was saying, most of my brothers and sisters are not quite understanding of this overreacting. So, in the near future, won’t you try to calm down? Or as Jaakuna would say, ‘calm your tits, Princey.”

“I would not say that.”

“Yes you would.”

Jaakuna scowled. “Don’t you got some superior watching to do?” Jaakuna said to Belias, scowling once more.

Belias laughed. “I suppose,” he said, “oh, and Jaakuna.”

“Yeah?”

“Your fly is about to come undone.”

“What?”

Before Jaakuna could ask what Belias meant, he noticed his zipper was, in fact, undone, as if someone had done it to him.

“DAMN IT, BELIAS!”

“Wasn’t me! It was Adremmelech!”

Of course it was.

Jaakuna scowled, zipping up his zipper, and just looking at Reia and Lorenzo. Either they were freaked the fuck out or they were more annoyed. Well, there went Jaakuna’s hopes of a headache-free day.

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

Wesley remembered when he had proposed to Nadeline as if was yesterday. Okay, well maybe it was just a few days before yesterday. But still, he recalled it vividly. He wasn’t in the best of conditions, as they were just coming from one of their adventures. What exactly it was slipped Wesley’s mind, but he remembered being in the med bay of the Ifrit, nearly on injury’s doorstep, and looking at Nadeine and how worried she looked. He remembered how seeing her worry about him was what made him make an impromptu proposal. It wasn’t the most romantic of things to do. He didn’t even have a proper ring until much later, but Wesley knew he had to do it. It was worth it, though. To see the look on her face when he said those words “Nadeline will you marry me,” was all the proof that he needed.

And yet, Wesley was here feeling inadequate about the kind of man he was. He was feeling inferior as the kind of king his people would see him as, and worst of all, the kind of man that Nadeine would had seen him as. The latter was probably the worst of all because he hadn’t even expressed that vocally. And after hearing her words, he wasn’t going to, especially after hearing her words. They were proof enough that he needed to stop having this pity party he was throwing for himself. Even if he did feel like he wasn’t going to be as good of a king as his father was, it didn’t matter. As an Alexander, he didn’t have the time to feel bad about himself, much less continue it when he had someone who could help share the burden.

“I know not how you do it, but you always seem to make me to be captivated by your beautiful spirit more and more each, passing day.” Wesley said, holding Nadeline’s hands as tight as he could without causing her pain. He simply looked at her, then the skies. “I know this will be one of my last times seeing the skies of Ivalice from this height, so I want to savor it for as long as I can. Can we just...watch it together?” Wesley asked, his voice almost somber.

---

“Oh, right,” Jaakuna shook his head. “Right then way, then.”

Jaakuna would lead Reia and Lorenzo out of the Engine Room, and into various areas of the ship. Over the course of an hour, they would be shown the barracks, the kitchen, the armory, and the lounge. All of those got certain reactions from both Reia and Lorenzo. Reia had her musings from what Jaakuna could tell, but Lorenzo had more vocal reactions. By the end of it, Jaakuna had gotten three headaches.

Was this what Emiri was referring to when she told me about getitng headahces? Is this why Nadeline and Reia constantly berate Lorenzo? God, now I see why. It was fortunate for Jaakuna’s, as well as Lorenzo’s, well-being that they had just turned into the impressive Med Bay of the Ifrit, because Jaakuna was in some major need of aspirin. Or something that would quell his headache.

“And here is the Med Bay. Probably the most used portion of the ship,” Jaakuna said. “Fun fact: I was once in a several-hour coma on that very bed,” Jaakuna pointed to the one directly in front of him, “good times —” Jaakuna was inturrupted by the off-balance shaking of the Ifrit, it sending all three hurling to the left for about five paces or so. Jaakuna landed against the bed he was just pointing to neck-first. It didn’t cause any significant damage, but now Jaakuna had more than just a headache to worry about. “Iris, what’s going on?!” JAakuna shouted.

“My apologies, Master Jaakuna. We seemed to hit a bit of Mist Turbulence —” Iris was cut off by yet another round of Mist-infused turbulence, sending the trio on another rolling binge, this time in the opposite direction in almost twice the amount of paces. Mist Turbulence wasn’t always a big thing in Ivalice. From time to time, Jaakuna would encounter it, but it was never this bad. Perhaps, with Zodiark running amok and all the Espers gone, it was way worse than it had been in the past.

“That’s a thing?”

“It’s more than just a thing, Jaakuna. It’s the direct result of Zodiark meddling with the Mist Fields of Ivalice. It’s only a matter of time before it starts to cause world-wide disasters.” Belias said.

“Just fucking terrific.” Jaakuna muttered under his breath. “Hey, you two alright? Sorry about that. I guess Zodiark is dicking around.” Jaakuna cursed something else under his breath. This wa snot how he planned his trip back home.

By the time came that Jaakuna was back upright, the ship had passed whatever shitfest was that Mist Turbulence. Whatever had happened, they were closer to Archadia than they were before. “Good thing is that we’re in the Med Bay, so if either of y’all are feeling like shit, best to get it checked out here, lest you get fucked even worse.”

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

And that was why Wesley loved this woman next to him. Whenever she felt down, he picked her up, and whenever he felt down, she would return the favor. It didn’t matter how down he got, she was always there to raise him up, even if he didn’t feel like it was worth it. He had done that for her several times over, so perhaps this was the scions evening things out for the two of them.

On the thought of that, WEsley let out a low laugh, almost inaudible. “What did I do to deserve a queen as wonderful as you?” Wesley would ask her. He was also asking himself as if uncertain.

---

“Yeah, what Reia said.”

Jaakuna couldn’t believe he was in agreement with Reia. Grant must never know of this. He would surely have my head if he heard I agreed with Reia. Jaakuna looked at the two of them, seeing how their sibling dynamic was nothing compared to that of Jaakuna and Vincent’s. Maybe ROman and Jaakuna’s, but certainly not the former. Of course he seen it at Stigma, but seeing it in front of him at this close proximity, it brought soemthing to Jaakuna’s attention: Reia was the mature one.

Yup, definitely don’t let Grant find out about this.

Jaakuna shook his head as if shaking off whatever thoguht crept up on him. He then would respond to Lorenzo by saying, “when you’re running away from your homeland, a name change is paramount.” Jaakuna looked over to Reia with a half-grin, “sort of like Emiri did back in the good ole days.” Jaakuna was expecting a scowl, some remark, or both. "We even had our repsective, blonde hunter. I had Savayna, and Emiri had me, then Harris." Jaakuna stroked his imaginary beard, "ah those were the days."

Time Stops For Fire(Altered Tundra and Hero)

When he felt her arms around him, WEsley didn’t respond instantly. He was too focused on what was going to happen once they arrived in Dalmasca. That truly meant the end of his Ivalice-wide adventures. No more going around the world with his friends. No more going inn to inn. oNo more seeing the world for how it was. No more enjoying the hospitality of foreign lands. There was no more of that. This last commercial flight on an airship was all that was left of his adventure.

And therein lies the root of his distance from planet Ivalice.

As he looked at Nadeine, whose eyes were looking at him the whole time, he found himself lost in them, softly smiling. Once again, she was the one person who got him to smile. “It’s just, after these next hours, that’s it,” he said, “after these last hours on this commercial airship, my days as an adventurer is over. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever. I knew that it would eventually come to an end, but it never occurred to me that it would come this soon.” Wesley was distressed. His voice went from a shock of the realization to shaking ‘I refuse to believe it’. It was all over the spectrum. “But, what I am fearing the most is that my country wouldn’t want a king who flaked after his father’s death. They’ll see me as a coward; that they’ll see me as —” Wesley stopped himself. He knew what he was going to say. Instead, he shook his head, small drops of liquid possibly being shaken from his eyes.

He hated feeling like this. He hated it because Wesley Alexander of Dalmasca wasn’t this kind of guy. He wasn’t one to show his emotions in such a way.that were out of his control. Most of all, WEsley hated it because, deep down, he knew that he wasn’t fit to be king. He wasn’t a man like his father was. When the tough got going, Wesley of Dalmasca went along with it. He ran away. IT might not have seemed like that at the time. Sure, he told himself that there was a higher calling to go with Jaakuna and the others. But now that it was all said and done, Wesley had to face his choices. He was going to be a king. Or at least inform his mother, as well as his sister, Cassandra, and the rest of Dalmasca, that he wanted to assume his birthright as King of Dalmasca.

But they wouldn't accept me. Not after I ran. Not after I abandoned them after my father’s death. I left to go on an adventure. Pathetic. Pitiful.

“I fear they’ll see me as someone not worthy of their devotion. They need a strong king, Nadeline, not some weak prince who couldn’t even deliver on the oath he made to bring his father’s killer to justice.” Wesley, unbeknownst to him, was balling his fists up so tight that blood was drawn from his barely-cut fingernails. The pain probably hadn’t even registered with him.

---

“Did I ever say that? No, I didn’t,” Savayna retorted. “You want to meet my father and mother so bad, so instead of trying to give me reasons to change my mind, let's leave already." And that was the last thing Savayna would say about that. Even if Grant wanted to press further, the look in her eyes would show Grant that he would be fighting a losing battle. He could try if he wanted, but the more he would quesiton her, the worse it would get for him.

---

Jaakuna couldn’t help but snicker at Lorenzo. He asked who built the ship. Jaakuna didn’t know if he wanted to divulge that secret or not. Well, it wasn’t so much a secret, but Lorenzo didn’t know it, so maybe it could be considered a secret.

In actuality, a lot of people in Archadia knew of the mastermind who built The Ifrit. He wasn’t really one of those that built a lot of ships. Actually, the Ifrit was his one and only creation. He thought that, if he could create the most advanced warship that Archadia had ever knwon, then maybe he didn’t need to build a lot of insignificant ships. All he needed was that very one that would set his name in the record books.

And so it did. After he finished it, his name was placed in the history books. He gained recognition beyond anthing he had for things he’d done in the past.

“You know, the person that built this ship is an amazing man. He was not only a part-time engineer, but he was a soldier for the Archadian Army. Impressive man to say the least. He might not have been the kind of man to create loads of ships, but he made this beaut, so no doubt that he had a lot of potential for technology. After he completed the Ifrit, he received award after award from Archadia. Skip forward a few years , he was charged with the murder of his father, so he disappeared. But he wasn’t going to leave without his master invention,” Jaakuna shot both Reia and Lorenzo a grin, “that’s right! This ‘he’ I speak of is me, Jaakuna Darcone! I am the best engineer of all time!” JAakuna proudly boasted, looking directly at Lorenzo.