The Tower of Mist

by Sabin

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Chapter 1	Chapter 2	Chapter 3	Chapter 4
Chapter 5	Chapter 6	Chapter 7

Chapter 2

After a patrolling the seas, Leviathan arrived at home. He transformed into his human form and walked into his home. "Ha ha. The seas are safe once again thanks to me." he said with a smile on his face. Hearing no response, he became a little uncomfortable. "Hello? Are you home?" He listened closely and heard faint weeping from the bedroom. He came into the bedroom and found Asura crying. "Asura? What's wrong, love?" Asura said nothing and continued to cry. "I want to help." He took her hand. "What is the matter?"

Asura wiped her eyes. "Aria is..." She couldn't finish. She broke back into tears.

Leviathan was already in shock even though not knowing full detail. "What's wrong with Aria? Is she alright?"

Asura fought to tell her husband. "Oh Levy, Aria was... abducted last night."

Leviathan was completely horrified. "Who would do such a thing? Why?" Asura handed him the note left on their door. After reading it, Leviathan let out a long and furious roar.

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Edge woke up a couple hours later. He looked around, but found she had left. He sighed and shook his head. "Rydia... why won't you let me help you?" he asked to himself. He was about to give up and go home when he saw Ifrit walk by. Edge was struck with inspiration. "Hey Ifrit!" He ran up to the fire demon.

Ifrit turned around. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah. Hey, I need your help."

"You have a lot of guts asking me for help. I have the nerve to give you a fireball to the face for the way you treated Rydia." Ifrit warned.

"Look, I know I did her wrong. But I care about her and I don't want her to get hurt. I need to help her." Edge said.

"You don't need to help. That's why she has us." Ifrit boasted. He began to walk away.

"Wait!" Edge grabbed his shoulder. Ifrit flared his body up in fire, warning Edge. "You're Rydia's summon, right?"

Ifrit looked at him with a disgusted look. "Yeah."

"That would mean you know where she is so when she summons you, you know where to be, right?" Edge asked.

"Of course. Don't you know anything about summoning?" Ifrit questioned.

"Look, all I'm asking is if you can tell me where she is right now." Edge requested.

"Why should I tell you?" Ifrit asked.

Edge looked frustrated. "Because I want to help her."

"Look, I already told you... she doesn't want your help." Ifrit said. He began to walk away again.

Edge sighed. "I do care about her, you know. I care about her enough to give my own life just to make sure she didn't have to suffer at all in this world. I just wish I could've realized that when I had her. If I can't get your help, I'll go mad knowing that she was facing someone or something dangerous without my help."

Ifrit stopped. He looked over his shoulder at Edge. "Do you mean that, or is this another one of your crafty, manipulative lies?"

"I've never been so sincere in my life." Edge admitted.

Ifrit sighed. He closed his eyes. "She is in Agart. It looks like she is heading on a ship. But I can't seem to tell where it's bound."

"Which harbor?" Edge asked.

He clinched his eyes shut to try and make it out. "It looks like the north harbor."

"She must be heading to Baron." Edge said. He ran off toward the cave's exit. But before he left, he managed to give thanks to Ifrit. After spending 20 minutes exiting the cave, he boarded his airship and exited the Lower World as quickly as he could. By the time he reached Agart, an hour had passed since he left the cave. He looked at his watch. "Shit! The boat must've already docked. She must be in Baron by now. She must be trying to get Cecil and Rosa's help. That's probably why she's in Baron."

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Rydia reached the harbor a couple miles south of Baron. After riding a chocobo for most of the way, Rydia stopped a couple hundred yards away from the kingdom. She looked at the kingdom. She wiped away a tear that came from her eye. "I'm sorry to do this to you Cecil and Rosa," she said. She looked at a picture of Aria that she took out of her pocket. "But family comes before friends." She closed her eyes. "Mist Dragon, please hear my call." When Rydia opened her eyes, the Mist Dragon had appeared. "Some cover please." The Mist Dragon opened it's mouth and spewed out dense fog upon Baron. After that, the dragon disappeared. Rydia slipped on a black shirt and placed a black mask over her face to disguise her appearance.

She approached the kingdom. With the thick fog blocking the view of the guards, Rydia slipped by the front gate. Inside the front gate, the fog hadn't completely settled yet. Rydia would stick out like a soar thumb. She looked down the street and saw many guards and citizens of Baron wandering around. Rydia closed her eyes. "Rain." She lifted a small blue aura into the sky. Once it had reached the clouds, a gentle, steady rain began to fall. The rain caused the citizens and most of the guards to seek shelter. Rydia turned the corner toward the prison hall. But as she turned the corner, she bumped into Cid, the engineer. Both were a little startled. Cid looked at Rydia, not recognizing her. But by the black attire she wore, he assumed her to be an intruder.

"Oh my... Oh my... OH MY!! Cecil! Cecil! Intruder!" Cid ran off to Cecil's quarters.

"Oh shit!" Rydia said. She began to run toward the prison block of Baron. She opened the door and was met by a slew of guards.

"Halt right there! Do you have access to the prison?" one of the guards asked.

One of the guards came around the corner screaming. "We have a Code 7! Code 7! Intruder alert!"

The captain of the guards looked at Rydia. "Remain where you are." Rydia didn't know what to do. She stood there while the guards kept their eyes on the "intruder". Rydia heard the captain talking to one of the guards. "Go tell Cecil that we have the intruder in the prison block." The guard nodded and ran off. The captain came back to Rydia. "Just a formality. You should be clear to enter here in just a moment." The captain put on a fake smile.

Rydia closed her eyes and held her hands out to the captain. Two purple wisps began to form from Rydia's hands. They began to grow until they were full of power. "Wind!" The wisps began to spiral in a vortex, creating high winds. The wind began to blow harder and harder until they began to knock the guards to the wall, knocking them unconscious.

"Stop your attack!" a voice said behind her. Rydia turned around and saw Cecil holding a broad sword toward her. Rydia began to back up. Every step she back up, Cecil took a step closer. "Do not move."

Rydia began to breathe heavily. "I don't want to hurt you."

"Nor do I." Cecil said. He kept his blade pointed at her. "What is your business here?"

Rydia continued to breathe heavily, nervous and scared. "I- I cannot tell you." She tried her best to disguise her voice to prevent Cecil from recognizing her.

"If I lower my sword, are you going to try anything?" Cecil asked. Rydia didn't respond. Cecil lowered the sword and placed it in his holster.

Rydia quickly reached over placed her hands on his shoulders. "Stop!" She sent energy waves through his body and completely stopped him from movement. "I am so sorry, Cecil." Rydia ran through the prison block while the prisoners yelled and hooted, begging to be let out. She came to a magic negated cell with a man grinning as Rydia came up to his cell.

"I knew you'd come, sis," the "Great Warlock" said, grinning ear to ear. He was a couple inches taller than Rydia. He was slender with short brown hair and brown eyes. He had mastered the art of magic and was one of the most renowned and feared warlocks in the world.

Rydia put her finger over the lock and sent volts of electricity through it. The door to the cell opened and the warlock escaped. "I never knew you were this crafty, l'il sis."

"Listen Aaron, don't pull over any of that
brother/sister bullshit on me!" Rydia demanded.

"Alright... fine. I'm just saying... damn, you did you better than I expected," Aaron said.

Cecil came running toward them. "Halt! Stay where you are!"

"What a fool! I can destroy him with one shot." Aaron bragged. He lifted his arm and was about to fire a dark volt at him.

Rydia forced him to drop his arm. "Don't! We must get out of here now."

"The only exit is passed him." Aaron said. "Come on. I've been stuck inside a holding cell without using magic for so long. I need time to stretch my black magic muscles."

Rydia sighed. "Leave him to me."

"Sure. I won't wait up for you though."

Rydia was backed against the wall. Cecil approached her taking small steps. "I'm afraid you'll have to spend the rest of your life in this prison." Rydia took a deep breath and charged Cecil, tackling him to the ground. Aaron ran past them. Once he was passed, Rydia got up and was about to take off when Cecil reached out his hand and grabbed her ankle. She fell harshly to the ground. Rydia was about to get up and run off. Cecil reached for something to stop her. His hand came upon her mask. As Rydia stood up, she felt her mask get pulled off her face. Cecil looked at the mask in his hand and looked up at Rydia. She looked at him with a wide-eyed, fearful face. Cecil looked at her with a completely shocked expression. Rydia turned and ran off, escaping the kingdom.

Cecil stood up and looked at the mask in his hand. "Rydia?"

Rydia didn't stop running until she was a couple hundred yards away from the front gate of the kingdom. She collapsed on the grassy hill. She sat up and looked at the castle. She buried her face in her hands and began to cry. "Oh my God! What have I done?!"