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sure, the title can use a little work... if you can think of a better title for me, i'd love to hear it...
anyway, some of you have probably already read this, but it's time to submit.
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Chapter 1----

Rydia looked at her class of child monsters as they played. She looked at her watch. “Ok, class. Recess is over.” She watched as her class of mutants and demi-humans came back into the classroom. As soon as they were all in, she closed the door and went to her desk. “Ok. Take out your homework.”

It had been a couple months since Rydia had taken on Zemus, the dark lord of the lunarians. After she had defeated him, she returned to the Land of Summoned Monsters and become a teacher to the younger monsters.

“Ok. It’s time for an oral pop quiz.” Rydia said. The students groaned. “Don’t groan. It’s apart of your grade.” She paused to think of a question. “What is your job as a summon?” A couple of students raised their hands, but Rydia looked passed them at a fire demon and a snake monster talking to each other. “Ifrit Jr., perhaps you know the answer.”

The fire demon looked up at her. Even though he didn’t hear the question, he tried to think of an answer. “ur… Fire 3?”

“That’s your job as a summon?” Rydia asked.

“Oh! You mean our job as a summon. Well,
that’s easier. See, you had me confused. I thought you said…” Ifrit said, trying to evade the question.

“Ifrit, you don’t give me an answer, I’m going to fail you for this pop quiz.” Rydia said.

“Don’t you fail me enough times?” Ifrit said. “Come on, Ms. Rydia. Pleeease…”

Rydia rolled her eyes. “Does anyone know the answer?” A young girl raised her hand. “Aria.”
Aria stood up. She looked more like a human girl than a summoned monster. “A summoned monster’s job is too to protect the master whom that summoned monster had bestowed upon their service.”

“Very good. That is correct.” Rydia replied.

“Stop showing off, Aria. We all know how smart you are because you are Queen Asura’s daughter.” Ifrit complained.

“I’d be smarter than you even if I wasn’t.” Aria said, sticking her tongue out at Ifrit. Ifrit scoffed at the remark.

Rydia looked at her watch. “I suppose I can let you out a little early today.” The students stood up and left the classroom. “Don’t forget to practice your elemental abilities. We’ll be having a guest tomorrow, so be sure to brush up on it. And please don’t set the building on fire again.”

Before Ifrit left, he turned around. “It was one time! I was a novice! How could you blame me?” He left the classroom.

Rydia packed up her things and left for her home. She only lived a short distance from the school. She arrived at her house a couple minutes later. She opened her door to find her cat waiting for her. “Hello, Tiddles.” The black and white cat gave her a gentle meow. Rydia picked her cat up and began to pet it. Tiddles began to purr. “Are you hungry?” Tiddles’ eyes lit up. The cat leapt from Rydia’s arms and walked into the kitchen. Rydia went into the kitchen and fed her cat. She sat back down on the couch when a knock came from her door. She opened it to find Asura. “Queen Asura! W-what an unexpected surprise.”

“I just came by to see how you were doing, dear.” Asura said.

“I’m doing fine… Why do you ask?”

“Well, I heard about you and Edge calling it quits.” Asura said. “Breakups are never too easy on a heart.”

Rydia sighed. “So, everyone knows now?”

Asura nodded. “I’m afraid so.” She came into Rydia’s house. “Do you feel like talking about it? The ending of a relationship is going to eat you alive if you do not talk about it.”

Rydia snickered a little. “Too tell the truth, we never really got started, let alone finish a relationship.”

“Oh dear.” Asura patted Rydia’s back. “Well, I’m going to say that you do not need that man. He is an arrogant, self-absorbed man. You deserve better than that, dear.”

Rydia sighed. “I suppose.”

Asura shook her head. “I don’t suppose this, I know this.”

Rydia nodded. “Well, thank you for your concern, but I’m over him completely.”

Asura smiled. “Well, good. But if you need to talk about it, I am willing to listen.” Asura let herself out.

Rydia laid down on the couch. She began to think about Edge and the times they had. Without noticing, she drifted off to dreamless sleep. She awoke the next morning and prepared to go teach her class. While she was preparing her breakfast, she heard someone knock at the door. “Who could that be this morning?”

As she approached the door, she heard a familiar voice talking to her. “Come on, Rydia. Open up. It’s me.”

Rydia stopped where she was, thinking whether or not she should answer the door. After another round of knocks, she sighed and opened the door. They both stood there silent. Rydia shrugged. “Well?”

Edge sighed. “Can we talk?”

Rydia laughed at the remark. “For the last couple weeks, you never listened to me. And now, all of a sudden, you want me to listen?” She was about to close the door, but Edge put his arm on it and forced it to stay open.

“Come on, you’re being unfair to me.” Edge complained.

“Oh, so now I’m the one being unfair. What about the time you said that we would go out and have a picnic by the waterfall. But you said you couldn’t make it because you were helping the army fight off a troop of Torants.” Rydia said.

“Hey, I could’ve been doing that.”

“Unlikely. Torants were wiped off the face of the earth a couple centuries ago.” Rydia replied. “So instead, you sent your brother to join me. Tell me, was that fair?”

“Look, I know I acted like a jerk, but maybe we can work things out. Just hear me out.” Edge pleaded.

“No, you hear me out! When we first met, I thought you were an arrogant, self-absorbed twit. But when you said you loved me, I thought you meant it and I thought that I had misjudged you. But my original perception was right and I can’t believe that I thought you could change. You are nothing more than a self-centered glory hound and you’ll never change.” Rydia snapped. Edge stayed silent. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have to teach a class.” She grabbed her supplies and walked past him.

All of a sudden, Asura came running through the door. From the look on her face, she was in a panicked state. “Rydia, have you seen Aria anywhere?!”

“No, your grace. Did she say she was going anywhere?” Rydia asked.

“I remember she said she was going to meet with some friends, but she never came home last night!” Asura responded.

“Don’t worry, your majesty. We’ll find her for you.” Edge said.

Asura looked at Edge with a slightly angered face. “That’s very nice of you to say that, but I feel that this doesn’t concern you.” She looked back at Rydia. “Will you help me?”

“Of course.” Rydia said. She and Asura went out of the house. Edge shook his head and left.

They went over to the schoolhouse to find Aria’s friends and ask them about her. But they all said she had gone home.

“What are we going to do?” Asura said, hopelessly.

“Rydia! Asura!” Edge came running up to them. “Aria was kidnapped.” He handed them a piece of paper. “I found it stuck to your door.”

Asura grabbed it and read it aloud. “Dear Asura and Leviathan, if you ever want to see your precious daughter again, surrender the summoner Rydia to me. Signed the great warlock.” Tears came to Asura’s eyes. “Leviathan will not be pleased when he gets back from patrolling the seas.”

“The great warlock? Who could that be?” Edge pondered.

Rydia remained silent, drawn back by the note. “I must save her.”

Asura wiped her eyes. “I couldn’t ask you to jeopardize your safety. But please do something to save my little girl.”

Rydia nodded. She began to walk towards the entrance of the cave.

“I’ll go with you.” Edge said, catching to her.

“No. I must confront this warlock alone.” Rydia said.

“Rydia, you can’t face him alone.” Edge argued.

“So now you’re acting all noble because of what I said.”

“No. I’m doing this because I don’t want to see a mother lose her child.” Edge said. Rydia just looked at him with a stubborn look. “You’ll need a bodyguard.”

“I can take care of myself.” Rydia continued to argue.

“Rydia! I am coming with you whether you like it or not!” Edge said with finality.

Rydia closed her eyes and held her hands out in front of her. “Sleep.” A bluish aura emitted from her hands. Edge gazed into the aura and fell to the ground, immediately asleep. “Sorry, Edge. But I just can’t trust you anymore.” She left him asleep on the ground while she made her way out of the cave


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.
********************************************

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.”
************************************

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?!”

Chapter 3----

Edge arrived over Baron and landed in the airship field. He looked up at the sky to find it raining. “Funny. It wasn’t raining when I first arrived at this continent.” Edge thought. He disembarked from his airship to find Cid standing there. “Hello Cid.”

“Good evening, Edge. It’s a good thing you’re here. Cecil hoped you would be coming.” Cid said.

Edge was a little puzzled. “What happened?”

“We had an intruder here this afternoon.”

“I see. Is Cecil still here?”

Cid seemed a confused. “Yeah, why wouldn’t he be here?”

“Well, I thought Rydia might’ve come here to ask for his assistance.”

“Hmm… well I don’t know about Rydia coming here. But go talk to him. I’ll take care of your whirly bird for ya.” Cid offered.

“Thanks. I don’t want to find any scratches.” Edge said. “Oh, and please don’t tinker with anything this time. The last time you experimented with it, I nearly crashed it.”

“Are you sure that was my doing or was it because of your driving?” Cid joked. He laughed as he boarded Edge’s red airship.

Edge entered the kingdom. The rain came down a little harder inside the front gate. Edge looked around saw that a deep fog had infested Baron. Edge walked toward the castle. He arrived at the front door of the castle.

The front guard looked at him and nodded. “Cecil is expecting you.” He turned and opened the door. Edge nodded to the guard and walked in.

“Edge, I hoped you would come.” Cecil said walking up to him.

Edge knelt down on the red plush carpet. “Thank you, your majesty.”

“No, no. Stop that. Just call me Cecil like you do,” he said.

Edge stood up. “I keep hearing that you want to see me. What about?”

Cecil sighed. “Let’s take a walk around the kingdom, shall we?” They began to walk around the large kingdom of Baron. “First let me ask you, how are things going with Rydia?”

Edge sighed. “Not so good. We’re temporarily not seeing each other.”

“That bad, huh?” Cecil concluded. Edge nodded.

“Speaking of her, has she come to Baron yet? I assumed she was coming here.” Edge said.

Cecil was silent for a couple of seconds. “I don’t know.”

Edge was a little puzzled. “You don’t know?”

Cecil sighed. “An hour or two ago, we had an intruder in Baron. This intruder broke into the prison block and released one of the most feared villains in the world.”

“Oh crap! That’s bad. Did you get the intruder?” Edge asked.

Cecil sighed again. “Unfortunately, no. Both the intruder and the escapee got away.”

“So, I suppose you want me to help you go after them?” Edge assumed.

“Yes. If it isn’t too much trouble.”

“I’d love to help, Cecil. I really would. But I have to find Rydia right now. She could be in trouble.” Edge said.

Cecil stopped walking and looked at Edge. “What kind of trouble?”

“Queen Asura’s daughter, Aria, was kidnapped. And someone left a note saying to get her back, Rydia would have to surrender herself. It was signed ‘the great warlock’.” Edge said.

Cecil began to think. “Hmmm… interesting. The pieces are beginning to fit.”

“Pieces? Are you not telling me something?” Edge questioned.

“Edge, follow me.” Cecil turned around and began to run to the throne room. Edge followed him, still wondering what Cecil meant. Cecil opened the doors to the throne room and ran in to find Rosa. “I know why she did it!”

Rosa stood up. “You found out?”

“Found out whaaat?!” Edge was getting a little frustrated.

“Go ahead, tell her, Edge.” Cecil said. “About Rydia.”

Edge sighed. “Queen Asura’s daughter was kidnapped by a ‘great warlock’,” Edge said using the quotation motion with his fingers. “This ‘great warlock’ wanted Rydia to surrender herself in trade for Asura’s daughter.”

Rosa nodded. “Yes. That is indeed why she did it.”

Edge was getting angry. “What am I missing here?!”

“Our intruder this afternoon was Rydia. The prisoner she freed claimed himself to be ‘the great warlock’.” Cecil finally admitted.

“So then, she knew who ‘the great warlock’ was? How could she have known that?” Edge wondered.

“You mean, you don’t know?” Cecil asked.

Edge rolled his eyes. “No! I’m completely left out of this.”

“Aaron, ‘the great warlock’, and Rydia are half-siblings.” Cecil said.

“Whaaat?! I never knew she had any siblings.” Edge said.

“Neither did I until a couple weeks ago when we captured him.”

“Well, where’d they go from here?” Edge asked. Cecil remained silent. “Well, I’m not going to sit around here. There’s no telling what that Aaron fellow could do to her. Will you two accompany me?”

Cecil nodded. “I will join you, Edge. However, I think it’s best if Rosa, you remained here for Baron.”

Rosa nodded in agreement. “I will. But please be careful. Aaron is powerful in the ways of black magic. I don’t you to die.” Rosa wrapped her arms around Cecil.

Cecil sighed. “Don’t fear for me, Rosa. We will return.”

Edge nodded. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t die, Rosa.”

Rosa chuckled at his remark. “Thank you.”

Cecil and Edge left the throne room and headed to the garage where the airships rested. “We’ll our fastest and strongest ship.” Edge nodded. They stepped into the darkness and found Cid inside the engine cabinet of Edge’s ship.

“Damn, Edge. You work this thing like hell! I’m surprised you can run this thing with blowing up,” the engineer said.

“Cid, I thought I told you!” Edge yelled.

Cid came out from the airship. “You’re lucky you got it to me while you still had an airship.” He looked at Cecil standing next to Edge. “I hope you aren’t planning on taking this airship. I took some things apart and haven’t really put them back together yet.”

“No. We need the Golden Eagle.” Cecil said.

“Aaah… My pride and joy.” Cid said. “Follow me.” Cecil and Edge followed Cid through the dark and cold garage. The rain was leaking in from the poorly patched roof. They walked through small puddles the leaks were making.

“Why didn’t you tell me how badly in shape this garage was? I would’ve gladly given you some money to fix it.” Cecil said looking at all the leaks coming from the ceiling.

“Well, I never really thought of it as a problem.” Cid said. They came up to a door. On the door were signs reading “Keep Out!”, “Authorization needed to enter”, and “Attack Engineer on Duty”. Cid took a key from his pocket and opened up the door. “This ship is my prized possession. She is the fastest, strongest, sturdiest, quickest, and the most well-built piece of machinery I’ve ever created.” He handed Cecil the key to the airship. “I’m begging you. PLEASE don’t wreck her. PLEASE bring her back in one piece.”

“You’ll have her back, Cid. You have my promise.” Cecil said. “Come on, Edge. We have a warlock to find.”

Chapter 4----

It was 30 minutes after Rydia’s invasion of Baron. She walked toward the Cave of the Mist, the cave leading to where she once lived. After a couple of minutes of walking, Aaron came up behind her.

“Wow. I didn’t know it’d go that smoothly,” he said. Rydia remained quiet. “I don’t know why you just didn’t let me kill that paladin. I’ve killed knights more powerful than him with one stroke of magic.” Rydia still remained quiet while she continued to walk. “Well, he would’ve deserved it after what he did to our town.” Rydia closed her eyes and began to think. “But we’ll show him. I think we should head back to Mist and build our empire. Baron as well as the other kingdoms will fall immediately.”

Rydia stopped and looked at him. “We?”

Aaron looked at her. “Yes. I thought you would like to join me in the destruction of Baron. I thought you would’ve wanted to see our mother avenged.”

“What ever gave you the impression that I was going to join you in anything?” Rydia scolded. “I only freed you to rescue Aria. I’ve completed my part of the agreement, so where is she?!”

Aaron shook his head. “Rydia, don’t you want to see Baron up in flames?”

“No! Where did you get that idea?!” Rydia said, disgusted at his idea.

“I guess I misjudged you. I thought you would give anything for the demise of our mother’s killer.” Aaron said.

“Well, you thought wrong. Can I see Aria now?” Rydia requested.

Aaron sighed. “Relax. She’s safe. Come with me to Mist and I’ll release her.”

Rydia and Aaron made it through the Cave of Mist and arrived at the ruins of their hometown, untouched since the fire. Rydia looked around. “Where is she?”

“Relax, Rydia. You’ll get her.” Aaron said.

“Don’t pull that on me. Now!” Rydia demanded.

“Fine.” Aaron closed his eyes. “Guys, bring the girl.” Two henchmen of Aaron brought Aria from around a corner. The two henchmen were tall robotic giants covered in blue trench coats to become less conspicuous. “Happy now?”

“Rydia!!” Aria ran up and hugged Rydia.

“It’s alright, Aria. I’m going to take you home now.” Rydia said. She grabbed the demi-girl’s hand and was about to start walking.

But Aria did not walk. “No.” Rydia looked at her. “I like it with Aaron. He lets me do stuff mom and dad don’t let me do. I don’t want to go home.”

Rydia glared at Aaron. “What the hell did you do to her?”

Aaron smirked. “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”

“Bastard.” Rydia knelt down and looked at Aria. “You belong with your mother and father. They’re really worried about you.”

Aria looked at Rydia. “They really miss me?”

“Of course.”

“Boys.” Aaron directed his giant, robotic henchmen to grab Aria and bring her back. Aria looked at Rydia as she was taken. “I believe she has made up her mind.”

“Look, Aaron. Would you just stop this? I freed you from prison. What more do you want?”

Aaron smirked evilly. “I want you to help me destroy Baron.”

“How could you ever request that of me?” Rydia denied.

“You’re going to do it voluntarily or I can force you to do it!” Aaron warned.

“Then you’ll have to kill me because I will never do it either way!” Rydia retorted.

Aaron placed his hand on Rydia’s head and sent energy waves through her body. Rydia collapsed unconscious. “We could’ve done this easy, but you chose to do it the hard way. Boys, bring the girl.”

When Rydia regained consciousness, she found herself on the ground in front of Baron. She woke up and felt the heat of a fire creeping over her. She sat up and saw that many houses in the village of Baron were roaring in fire. Rydia looked around and realized she was alone. Aaron and his two henchmen had taken Aria and left her there. “Aaron, how could you?!” she asked out loud, looking at the fires. She got up and ran into the village. She lifted her hands to the blaze. “Ice 2!” A spout of ice appeared and attacked the fire. The citizens around her began looking at her in fear and running away. “I’m only here to help!” She closed her eyes again and held her hands in front of her. “Aqua Beam!” She fired a large beam of water onto the blaze, dousing most of it.

From behind her, one of the Baron guards tackled her and pinned her to the ground. From behind her, she heard another one of the guards say, “You see boys, they always return to the scene of the crime.”

Rydia was shocked. “What?!”

“Ma’am, you’re under arrest for setting fire to three houses,” a guard said lifting her off the ground.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t do this!” Rydia admitted.

“All of our eyewitnesses identified you setting fire to these houses in a brutal, malicious manner. You may have gotten away with it if you didn’t return to the scene of the crime.”

“I swear, I didn’t do this!”

The guards took her into the kingdom and into the prison block. Aaron watched from behind one of the burning houses as she was dragged away. He smirked. “Good work, Rydia.”

Chapter 5----

Cecil and Edge landed the Golden Eagle after searching for hours looking for Aaron and Rydia. During their expedition, they found no trace of them. Cid waited for them in the landing field.

Cecil and Edge exited the airship. Cecil confronted Cid. “Returned in good shape, as promised.”

Cid smiled. “Damn good! Any luck finding them?”

Edge shook his head. “Wherever they are, they didn’t want to be found tonight.”

“We’ll continue to look for them in the morning.” Cecil said.

Cid nodded. “I’ll take care of my precious one,” he said patting the airship.

“Goodnight, Cid.” Cecil said walking into Baron.

The front guard looked at Cecil with a look of relief. “Thank God you’re back, Cecil. We had trouble while you were away.”

Cecil looked surprised. “What kind of trouble?”

“A terrorist set fire to three houses in the village.”

Cecil was shocked. “Oh my… Did you manage to get the person who did it?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. We brought her to the prison block.”

Cecil nodded. “Good work. I must consult with Rosa about this.”

“She is interrogating the prisoner in the prison block,” the guard said.

“Thank you.” Cecil said. The guard opened the doors and allowed Cecil and Edge to enter the kingdom. They made their way past the crowded evening streets and into the prison block. The prison guard escorted them to where Rosa was interrogating the prisoner. They found her in front of the cell.

“Cecil!” Rosa stood up. Rydia also stood up, looking at them from inside the cell.

Edge noticed Rydia in the jail cell. “What’s going on here?”

Rosa looked at them. “According to the guards, she was arrested for setting fire to three of the village’s houses.”

“You don’t believe them, do you?!” Edge asked forcefully.

Rosa shook her head. “Of course not. But all of the witnesses saw her do it.”

Rydia came right up to the bars of the cell. “I swear I didn’t do it. I was set up!”

“I believe that you could not have it within yourself to do something heinous to Baron.” Cecil said. “I’ll have you released immediately.” Cecil ordered the guard to open the door. He did so and Rydia was released.

“What of Aaron and Aria?” Edge asked.

“He’s done something to Aria to trick her. She says she doesn’t want to return home.” Rydia said. “Aaron was always good at playing mind tricks.”

Cecil’s general, General Warrick, came running into the prison block. “Commander Cecil, we are receiving attacks from an unidentified force.”

Cecil looked at him. “From which direction.”

“The forces seem to be coming from… the village of Mist, sir.” General Warrick said, hesitating to tell him the location.

“Mist? How can that be?”

“It’s Aaron. He says he wants to build his empire over the ruins of Mist.

“Come on! We have to stop them from advancing to Baron.” Edge said. They bolted out of the prison block and exited the kingdom. Looking to the north hills, they saw 15 warriors draped in black charge at them. They were all wielding swords.

“It’s Aaron’s doing. He created these soldiers.” Rydia said. “I just know it.”

“Everyone get ready. Here they come.” Cecil said.

The black warriors made it to the kingdom and stopped in a single line facing the protectors of Baron. They stood a couple yards away from them before charging at them. Rosa took her bow and fired an arrow at one of the warriors. The arrow missed and landed in front of the charging warrior.

Rydia closed her eyes. “Ifrit, I summon thee.” In front of Rydia, the fire demon appeared. He held his hand toward the warriors. “Flame Beam!” Ifrit fired a beam of immense fire at a group of warriors. The flames infested the area around them and burned them to death. After the attack, three of Aaron’s warriors were dead. Ifrit disappeared.

Edge took out a pair of shurikens and threw them. The spinning stars flew into the chest of a warrior and out the other side. The warrior was immediately dead. A warrior came up to Edge. Edge took out his blade and clashed it with the warrior’s. With his other hand, Edge took out his other blade and sliced the warrior across the waist. The warrior split into two at the torso.

“Black Volt!” A warrior created a volt of black magic and hurled it at Cecil. Rosa noticed this and closed her eyes. “Wall!” She placed her energy over Cecil. The black aura deflected off the magic barrier and back at the warrior. The power of the aura knocked him to the ground. Rosa took out an arrow and shot it at the fallen warrior, piercing his chest. The arrow finished him off.

Cecil sliced through the warriors. With the enlightening power of Excalibur, he was able to destroy the evil warriors with one swift stroke of the blade. He finished the rest of the warriors off with little trouble.

Cecil put his sword back in his holster. “If Aaron thinks he take over Baron that easily, he’s sadly mistaken.”

Rydia looked at him. “Please don’t underestimate him. He’s extremely dangerous.”

Cecil sighed. “Of course I’m won’t underestimate him. I know how dangerous he can be. And I know that he won’t give up.” He looked back at the kingdom. “But I’ll go to my grave protecting Baron, if it comes to that.” They all nodded. “Come, we’ll discuss what to do.”

“I think we need to rest first, Cecil. It’s late and we’re all tired.” Rosa said.

Cecil nodded. “Alright. We’ll meet tomorrow in the throne room after breakfast.”

They led Rydia and Edge into the guest room and went to sleep. Late into the night, Rydia got up from her bed. She quietly exited the guest room, careful not to wake Edge from his bed. She walked through the halls of the castle and opened the front door. She entered the kingdom and followed the dirt path to the airship garage. She opened the door and found at least 15 airships in the garage. She looked at the airships in a bewildered expression.

Cid had stayed up late to continue his work on the airships. He came out from one of the airship’s engine cabinets and noticed Rydia. “Rydia. What a surprise to see you here… and at this time of night too.” Rydia remained quiet and looked at the airships. “Can I help you with anything?” Rydia continued to ignore him. She closed her eyes and lifted her hands. Cid looked at her, slightly puzzled. “You sleep walkin’ or something?”

Rydia opened her eyes. “Fire 3!” She shot four fireballs from her hands. While airborne, they exploded into a massive fire.

Cid ducked out of the way of the explosion. He turned around and looked as many of the airships caught on fire. “No!” He looked back at Rydia. She had her eyes closed and her hands up. “Rydia, what are you doing?!”

“Fire 2!” She fired a stream of fire onto a nearby airship. The fire infested the airship, igniting it into a large bon fire. Cid charged her and pinned her to the wall. After the impact, she awoke.

“W-What?” Rydia looked at the airships on fire. “What happened?!”

“You happened!!” Cid yelled. “Do something! Do something!”

She closed her eyes. “Rain 3!” She summoned a large storm cloud inside of the garage to dump torrential rain upon the fire. Slowly, the fires began to decrease.

Cid looked at her. “How could you do this to me,
lass?” Cid was in obvious emotional pain.

Rydia looked at the fires being controlled by the rain. She looked down at her hands. “I… I don’t know.”

Chapter 6----

“She destroyed them all?!” Cecil repeated, astonished at what Cid reported to him. Cid had awakened Cecil and Rosa from their sleep after Rydia had set fire to the airships.

“Well, she didn’t destroy all of them. But she completely wrecked some. Others are going to take a long time to repair. Plus, a lot of replacement wood to help patch up the burns.” Cid said. "If she set fire to my precious one... I don't know what'd I do."

“Well, I’ll see what I can do. I am completely sorry, Cid.” Cecil apologized.

Cid closed his eyes and looked like he was about to cry. “Those airships are my life, Cecil. And if those airships were destroyed, what good would my life be then, huh?”

Cecil patted the chunky engineer’s back. “Don’t worry, Cid. Just go get some rest.” Cid exited the castle. Cecil looked at Rydia down the hall, talking with Rosa. Cecil walked up to them. He looked at Rydia with a stern look.

Rydia looked down at the ground, trying to avoid him. “I… I don’t know what happened. All I remember is going to sleep… and then waking up inside the garage… with the airships on fire.”

Cecil sighed. “I don’t know what to think, Rydia. I mean, first, you freed one of the most feared warlocks in the world. And now you set fire to the airships.”

Rydia wiped a tear away from her eye. “If I did that, then it must’ve been me that burned down the houses as well.” Cecil looked at Rosa and then Edge. Both of them just looked back at him. Rydia began to cry. “What’s happening to me?”

Edge bowed his head. “I don’t know.” He looked at Rydia. “But I’m willing to bet anything that Aaron is the cause of this.”

Rosa nodded. “It has to be him. He must’ve cast a curse or spell upon you. When you were with him, did he do anything or cast anything?”

Rydia began to think. “Oh no… When I refused to join him, he placed his hand on my hand filled me with waves of magic. It knocked me unconscious.”

Rosa nodded. “That must be it. He must have tapped into your brain.”

Rydia placed her hands on her head. “No! Stop it,
Aaron!” She stumbled around. She looked up at them. “I can feel him trying to use me.” She clinched her eyes in pain.

“That must be why he does it when she is sleeping or unconscious. So he can control her easily.” Rosa concluded.

Rydia fell to the ground and held her head. After a quick shot of pain, Rydia let go of her head and stood up. “I could feel him inside of me. He… He was trying to make me do something horrible.” Cecil, Rosa, and Edge just looked at her, scared in their own right. “You have to lock me up and stop Aaron before he creates his fortress.

“Lock you up?” Cecil repeated, trying to see if he heard her right.

“Yes. Put me in a magic negated cell. I can’t stay awake forever. The minute I fall asleep again, I could do something worse than set fire to the airships.” They all looked at Rydia. “Please!”

Cecil sighed. “Alright, alright. We’ll put you in the cell. Edge, I’m leaving you in charge of watching her while we create a battle plan for Aaron and his man-made warriors.” Edge nodded. “Rosa, why don’t you go ahead and get some sleep.” Cecil led Rydia and Edge into the prison block. Cecil placed Rydia in the same magic control cell she was in earlier that day. As he was about to walk away, he turned around and looked at Rydia. “You sure you want this?”

Rydia put her hands on the bars. “Cecil, I don’t want to have my powers work against you. And the only way to keep that from happening is through this.”

Cecil nodded. “Then I respect your decision.” He walked away from the cell. Before he left, he leaned over and spoke into Edge’s ear. “Don’t let her out under any circumstances until we know what we’re doing.”

“You got it.” Edge agreed. He grabbed a chair and sat down in front of the cell. He looked in at Rydia, obviously upset at what she had done and what had happened. He felt like he had to say something. “How are you feeling?” Rydia closed her eyes in response. “Yeah, I know, stupid question.” He tried to think of something. “S-So, how is teaching the young monsters?”

Rydia looked at him. She sighed. “Everyday, I look at them and I see such promise. And I think, with so much promise, they are only going to grow up to serve a human. Never go on to anything else.”

Edge nodded. “Sounds like…” He didn’t finish his sentence.

Rydia was looking at him. She sighed. “I’m listening now if you want to talk.”

Edge shook his head. “I think it’s time that I listened to you. You look like you have to talk.”

Rydia lay down on her cot in the cell. “I only did this to help Aria. But here I am, being controlled by a madman. I can’t do anything about it, either.”

Edge walked up to the bars. “Rydia, you have to stay strong. Aria was a ploy just to do this to you. We’ll get Aaron and stop him from doing this to you.”

Rydia sat up. “I hope so. I wouldn’t want to do anything horrible to Cecil or Rosa… or you.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll think of our attack tomorrow and we’ll tell you. We’ll face him together.” Edge said.

Rydia managed a smile. “I’m getting a little tired. I think I’m going to rest.”

Edge looked at his watch. “As well you should. It’s 2:00 in the morning.”

Rydia stretched out on the cot. She turned and looked at him. “Please do not let me out of here for any reason.” Edge nodded. Rydia slowly drifted off to sleep. Edge watched her until his eyes grew heavy. He leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. An hour later, Rydia arose from her cot. She grasped her stomach tightly. “Edge!” she whispered. “Edge!”

Edge slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Rydia holding her stomach. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Rydia fell to her knees, grasping her stomach in pain. She opened her mouth and vomited. After that, she passed out on the cold concrete. “Oh my… Hang on, Rydia!” He fumbled with the keys and opened up the cell. He rushed in and picked Rydia up from the concrete.

Rydia opened her eyes and began to laugh. “Oh, I cannot believe you fell for that.” It was at that point that Edge realized that Rydia was under Aaron’s spell. She fought free from his weak grip. She pushed Edge into the bars and kept jabbing her elbow into his back. Once she let up, Edge turned around only to be met by a solid punch from Rydia. Surprisingly, she had a strong punch. Edge fell to the ground. Rydia ran out of the cell and closed it and removed the keys from the lock. She ran off leaving Edge inside the cell.

“No, Rydia! No!” Edge yelled. Edge spent the next 20 minutes yelling for Cecil. He finally got the attention of a guard. “Thank God! Get Cecil. Tell him we have a problem.”

“Right away, Edge.” The guard took off to find Cecil.

He arrived at the prison block to find Edge in the cell instead of Rydia. “What happened?!”

“Rydia tricked me. She was becoming sick so I went in to check on her.” Edge explained.

“You did what?!” Cecil was surprised. “I thought I said to not open the door for anything.”

“Cecil, she looked like she was really sick.” Edge argued.

“It’s no use to argue now.” Cecil said. He grabbed his extra keys and freed Edge from the prison. He turned and looked at his small troop of guards. “Go out into Baron and find Rydia. I want her alive. Do not harm her!” The guards dispersed into the kingdom and the village.

“What are we going to do now?” Edge asked.

Cecil sighed. “I don’t know.”

General Warrick came into the hall as Cecil and Edge exited the prison block. “Sir, we did not find any trace of the summoner Rydia. However, I believe we have a bigger problem on our hands.”

Cecil looked at his general. “What is it, General Warrick?”

He sighed. “Sir, a large, unidentified tower has formed over the former location of the village Mist.”

Edge’s eyes widened. “That’s what she was saying. Rydia said that Aaron had planned to build his empire over Mist.”

“No doubt he summoned Rydia there to help activate it.” Cecil said.

Edge looked at Cecil. “We have to help her. We have to!”

Cecil sighed. “Edge, she burned down our main offensive. All the airships aren’t going to be fixed by now.”

“What about the Golden Eagle?”

Cecil began to think. “That’s what we need. However, I don’t know if it’ll be good enough for just you, me, and Rosa to take on Aaron… and possibly, Rydia.”

Edge began to think. “I have an idea. Go wake up Rosa, I’ll go wake up Cid, and we’ll meet in the airship garage.” Edge ran off to Cid’s house. Cecil just watched as he ran off, only wondering what his plan could be. But he did as Edge suggested and they met inside the airship garage. The rain from Rydia’s rain spell was still falling inside the garage. The smoke from the burning airships had formed at the top of the garage.

“Great. First my problem was the rain outside getting in. But now I have to worry about it raining in here too.” Cid complained.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Cecil asked.

“Cid, the Golden Eagle is still intact, right?” Edge asked.

“Oh, aye. I don’t know what I’d do if Rydia had burned my precious one.” Cid said.

“You keep proclaiming how strong and how fast it is. How fast can it get us to the Lower World?” Edge asked.

“This baby can travel around the world at full speed in about 2 days. That’s really quick. I could probably get you there safely in about 20 or 30 minutes.” Cid said.

“I challenge you to do better.” Edge said confidently.

“You challenge me? Ho ho! I never pass up a challenge.” Cid said. He unlocked the door and entered the private garage holding the Golden Eagle airship. “Alright. Everyone on and buckle up!” They boarded the airship.

“Why are we going to the Lower World, Edge?” Rosa asked.

“Rydia has some friends down there. I’m sure they’ll be willing to help.” Edge answered. “I hope they care about her enough to fight against her.”

Cid started the engine and opened the roof hatch to let the airship fly out. Once the ship was fully airborne and high above the kingdom, Cid put the engine into high gear. The gears and propellers began to spin twice as fast as they were before. Cid turned around. “Hang on to your butts.” He set the airship into motion. It began picking up high speed, well above the average speed of a normal airship. The passengers could feel the intensity of the airship as it flew south. After many minutes of the high-speed ride, Cid finally down shifted the airship. He spotted Agart and the entrance to the Lower World next to it. “I’m taking her down.” The airship completely stopped while it descended into the large hole. After three minutes, they arrived hovering over the Lower World. The Lower World was a couple degrees hotter due to the seas of molten lava. Cid looked at his watch. “Ha! I beat your challenge, Edge! 17 minutes!”

Edge nodded. “Good. Can you direct this airship over to the cave on that island?”

Cid looked at the island that Edge pointed at. He saw the sea of lava between the ship and the island. “I don’t know if this airship is ready for the effects of the lava’s heat.”

“Come on, Cid. I thought you said this ship was strong and well-built.” Edge argued.

Cid glared at him and put the airship into first gear. “So now you’re denying my carpentry skills. Well, mister, you chose the wrong engineer to mess with.” He directed the airship toward the cave and took off over the sea of magma. After five minutes over the magma, they arrived over the island. Cid landed it. “So, let’s do what we gotta do.”

“Come with me.” Edge requested. Cecil, Rosa, and Cid did so. Edge led them through the cave without trouble. At the exit of the cave, they entered the town of the summoned monsters. Edge looked down the road and noticed a red house. He ran up the street and knocked on the door.

Ifrit answered the door. “Edge? What are you doing here?”

“Ifrit, Rydia is in trouble.” Edge said.

Ifrit rolled his eyes. “You’ll say anything, won’t you.”

Cecil and Rosa came up to the door. “He isn’t lying. Rydia is in trouble.” Rosa said.

“Madame Rosa, Lord Cecil, what an unexpected surprise.” Ifrit said. “What kind of trouble is she in?”

“She is being controlled by her evil brother. We need your help to stop him and get the old Rydia back.” Cecil requested.

Ifrit began to think. He closed his eyes. “Oh my god, you’re right. She is not herself.” He looked at them. “B-b-but how can I help you?”

“We need your assistance to help us battle Aaron.” Edge said.

“You mean to fight alongside you?” Ifrit asked. They nodded. Ifrit began biting one of his nails. “I don’t know. Summoned monsters and humans fighting side by side has never happened before.”

“If you do not go, Ifrit, I shall join you,” a voice said from inside the house. Ifrit turned around and saw Leviathan, in his human form, had overheard the conversation.

“Oh, we didn’t know you had company.” Cid apologized.

“Your majesty.” Edge bowed. Cecil, Rosa, and Cid also bowed.

“I don’t want to see Rydia being used.” Leviathan said. “And I also want my revenge at the one who kidnapped my little Aria.”

“Your majesty, I cannot let you risk your life without risking mine as well.” Ifrit said. “It shall be done. We shall fight alongside you humans. But this is for Rydia and Aria. Do not ask me for further help in your own personal affairs.”

“Thank you very much.” Edge thanked. “We will await your presence at the mouth of the cave.”

After ten minutes, Ifrit was prepared. He had a flame saber swinging at his side. Edge walked over to Asura’s and Leviathan’s house. Edge found the door open and entered. He looked inside and found Asura and Leviathan talking.

“Rydia is in trouble. And so is our little girl. I cannot sit here without offering my help.” Leviathan said.

“I know.” Asura said. “And I know there is no way to talk you out of it. But please be careful, Levy. You aren’t the warrior you once were.”

“I will be careful. And I will bring home our child and our friend.” Leviathan said. He looked up and saw Edge standing in the door.

“It’s about time we should get ready to go.” Edge said meekly.

Leviathan closed his eyes. “Yes. I must go now.” He kissed his wife one more time. He stood up and grabbed his well-sharpened spear. “Let us go now, Edge.”

After taking a couple minutes to pass through the cave, they reached the mouth of the cave where the others waited for them. They boarded the Golden Eagle and took off. Shortly, they were above ground and out of the Lower World. Cid turned around and looked at Leviathan and Ifrit. “Have either of you two gone 130 miles per hour on an airship before?” Both of them remained quiet, but curious. “Well then, you might want to buckle up.” Cid placed the ship into high gear and fired the engine. The ship flew off to the north toward Baron. By the time they reached the continent, the night sky was no longer black, but developed into a dark blue. They arrived a couple miles away from the hills to the north of Baron. They could see the tip of the Tower of Mist over the hills.

Cid stopped the airship from moving. He turned around and looked at Cecil. “What’re we going to do from here?”

“See how close you can get us to the top of the tower.” Cecil ordered. Cid drove the airship towards the tower. “There! There’s a platform right there. You can drop us off there.” Cid brought the airship as close the platform as possible. Cecil, Rosa, Edge, Ifrit, and Leviathan leapt from the ship onto the platform.

“I’m going to load this baby’s weapon system up with some weapons. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Cid drove the airship around the tower and back to Baron.

“Do you think we’ve been spotted yet?” Ifrit asked.

“I sure hope not.” Edge said. He walked over to the door. “Now the fun part begins.”

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

"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

i had to put in another post because I couldn't fit the entire thing onto one post...
----------------------
Chapter 7----

Edge opened up the door and entered. Inside, they found the tower was completely gray on the inside. The tower was completely silent. Edge walked cautiously down the first hallway. The others followed him, looking around the tower.

“It’s almost too quiet here. Something’s not right.” Edge said. He wielded his sleek blade and continued to walk. As they reached the end of the hallway, they discovered a shaft containing a large cannon. “That must be how they’re going to take out Baron.”

“We have to find them before they plan on firing.” Cecil ordered.

Ifrit spotted a ladder. “Come on. We must find Rydia.” He climbed up the ladder to the next level. The rest followed him. The next floor was darker than the first. There weren’t as many lights as the previous floor, making it harder to see. Ifrit held his hand up and created a flame around his fist to brighten the hallway a little better.

In the top level of the tower, Aaron turned away from the window he was looking out of and looked around. “I feel that someone is here that shouldn’t be here.” He looked at his robotic henchmen. “Belnab, Elbor, take a look.” The robot left the room.

Aria was tied to a chair. She struggled to free herself. “Rydia,” she whispered. “Rydia.” Rydia turned her head. “Help me, please.”

“Quiet.” Rydia responded. She turned back around.

Ifrit stopped where he was.

“Ifrit, what’s the hold up?” Edge groaned.

He dimmed the fire around his hand. “Someone is coming.” He wielded his fire saber. They all paused to listen. From the floor above them, they heard loud footsteps.

“Those footsteps… they sound like they’re metal.” Rosa said. They continued to listen to the footsteps. As they reached the end of the floor, they heard something come down the ladder.

“What are we to do? Are we going to battle or wait?” Leviathan asked. Out of nowhere, a laser beam was shot toward them and smashed into the wall. It was too late to decide. Belnab was standing only a couple feet from them. Leviathan held his hand up. “Aquatic Impulse!” He fired a pressurized stream of water toward the robot. The pressure of the water sent it to the ground. Belnab got to its feet and fired lasers from its eyes. Edge stepped in and deflected the lasers off of his sword. He swung his sword at Belnab. The robot held up its arm in defense, blocking the sword. Edge swung it again at Belnab, but it was blocked again. After swinging the sword again, Belnab grabbed the end of the sword and ripped it away from Edge. Belnab grasped the blade with both hands and bent it until the blade snapped in half. Edge watched in shock as his blade broke in half. He looked up as Belnab delivered a solid punch, sending Edge flying across the hall. Edge remained on the ground, writhing in pain.

“Hellfire!!” Ifrit surrounded himself in blazing fire. He looked at Belnab and charged at him. As he tackled the robot, Ifrit released the fire energy within him. Belnab was surrounded by powerful fire. The fire ceased as Ifrit stood up. Belnab lay on the ground completely burned. The robot remained motionless. After fifteen seconds of remaining motionless, the robot finally stood up. It was moving slower, showing it had lost energy. “Son of a bitch! How did he survive that?”

“Belnab self-destruct in 5… 4… 3…” the robot uttered. Hearing what the robot said, Cecil, Edge, Rosa, Leviathan, and Ifrit bolted by the robot. As they heard it countdown to one, the robot exploded. The hallway shook because of the explosion, sending them sprawling to the ground.

Edge stood up and looked at the smoking crater the robot had made. “I can’t believe that son of a bitch broke my sword!” He pulled another sword out of from the holster on his back. “It’s a damn good thing he didn’t break this baby,” he said, admiring the Murasame. He looked back to find that the others were going on without him. “Hey, wait up.”

At the end of the hallway, they found another shaft containing a large cannon. Around the corner, Cecil spotted a stairwell. “Over there.”

But before anyone could make a move, Aaron’s other robot henchman, Elbor, leapt down in front of Cecil. He backhanded Cecil with his strong, metal fist. The paladin fell to the ground. He was slow to get up. As he got up, he felt the sting of another metal slap from the robot. Cecil was dropped to the ground again. Ifrit tossed a fireball at Elbor. The fireball disintegrated as it hit the robot, but didn’t have any effect. The robot looked at Ifrit and began to walk up to the fire demon. Ifrit removed the fire saber and swung it at the robot. Elbor grabbed Ifrit’s wrist and began to crush it. Ifrit dropped the blade and tried to get the robot’s hand away from his wrist. Edge placed his sword in his holster and closed his eyes. “Blitz!!” Edge summoned a large lightning bolt to strike the robot. The bolt of lighting fried Elbor, releasing his grip on Ifrit. Voltage began to dance around the robot. The voltage seemed to pass through his metal body quickly. The robot held up its hands and released the energy it absorbed back at Edge in the form of an electric beam. The electric current smashed into Edge, electrifying him deeply. Edge fell to the ground, unconscious after the attack.

Leviathan shut his eyes and took in a deep breath. His body began to morph into his serpent form. He coiled himself and arched himself up to eye-level with Elbor. Leviathan hissed at the robot. Elbor turned and faced the king of the serpents. He lifted his hand and fired his fist. Leviathan easily evaded the attack. Leviathan closed his snake-like eyes and began to focus. “Tsunami!!” Leviathan summoned a large tidal wave inside the tower. The wave towered over the robot. As the wave crashed down, the water swallowed Elbor in its wrath. The water slowly disappeared. As all the water vanished, they found Elbor laid motionless. After a couple seconds, he slowly returned to his feet. He walked very slowly. Water was stuck in his gears. After a couple seconds, his walking became slower and slower with every step. Until, after the fifth step, Elbor completely stopped. Unsure of its status, Rosa slowly stepped up to it and pushed it over with a small poke. The robot fell to the ground, defeated.

Ifrit turned around. “Good job, your highness.” Leviathan had transformed back into his human form. Ifrit grabbed his wrist in pain. Cecil was still on the ground along with Edge, still in much pain.

Rosa noticed this. She closed her eyes. “Cure 3.” She filled the air with currents of healing magic. Cecil and Edge stood up, feeling the effects of the spell. Ifrit began moving his wrist all around, not feeling much pain.

“Thanks, Rosa.” Edge thanked.

An odd noise distracted them. They turned around and found that the roof above the shaft was opening. As soon as it opened, they noticed the cannon begin to rise.

“Come on! We don’t have that much time left.” Cecil directed. They all ran past the cannon and up the stairwell. The stairway was long. It took a good ten minutes to get to the top of the stairs. At the top of the stairs they found the control room. The room was round with a large bay window surrounding the entire circular room. Out the window, the sun was just about to peak the horizon. Directly ahead of the doorway was Aaron at the controls. Rydia and Aria were next to him.

“Aaron, stop what you’re doing and surrender yourself!” Edge yelled.

Aaron stopped what he was doing. “Please tell me that Belnab and Elbor took care of the problem.” He turned around. “Oh yeah, certainly. I will surrender to you.”

“You’re out of options. Give up now and we won’t destroy you.” Edge offered.

“Destroy me?” Aaron began to chuckle. “I needed a good laugh today.”

Aria looked up. “Daddy!!” She began to tug at her ropes again.

“Don’t worry, honey. Daddy’s here. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Leviathan promised.

“I’ll make sure the last time she sees you is at your funeral, you old fool.” Aaron said. He snapped his fingers. “Rydia, at them!”

Rydia stepped away from guarding Aria and stood in front of them. She closed her eyes.

“Rydia, snap out of it!” Edge begged.

“Fire 3!” Rydia fired three fireballs toward the group. The group dispersed avoiding the attack as the fireballs exploded into massive fire.

“Listen Rydia, we need you back. You are important to us and to our town. We all love you.” Ifrit said.

“Ice 2!” Rydia fired ice magic at Ifrit. The fire demon dodged the attack and the ice magic hit and froze part of the wall.

“Rydia, think about what you’re doing. This isn’t you. This isn’t what your mother would want.” Cecil said.

“Rydia, try to gain control. We know you can do this.” Rosa added.

Rydia closed her eyes. “Bolt 3!” She summoned a powerful volt of electricity to shoot down over them. The attack missed.

Aaron began to laugh. “It’s useless to try and talk. She is completely under my spell.” He continued to laugh.

Edge came up behind Rydia and grabbed her around the shoulders. Rydia began to struggle. “I’m sorry, Rydia. This is the only way.” Rydia elbowed Edge in the stomach and fought free of his grasp. Edge grabbed his stomach and looked up at Rydia.

“Virus!” She surrounded Edge in energy bubbles that drained Edge of energy. The attack left Edge weakened. Rydia sent him to the ground with a solid kick. She noticed Ifrit coming at her. She shut her eyes. “Ice 2!” She shot ice energy at him. The energy surrounded him and encased him in ice for a couple seconds. The ice shattered and released him. Ifrit fell to the ground. Leviathan grabbed Rydia and wrapped the spear around her neck. Rydia grabbed the body of the spear and sent electric currents through it. Leviathan dropped the spear. Rydia turned around. “Bolt 2!” She summoned a large lightning bolt to fry the serpentine king. The currents of electricity passed through his body and severely fried him. Leviathan lay unconscious on the ground. “Gravity Blow!” She fired a ball of black energy at Cecil. The black aura hit Cecil and sent him flying into the wall. The aura’s force felt like 1,000 punches. Cecil laid against the wall motionless. “Stop!” Rosa stood up and saw pink energy surround her and infest her body with stunning energy. She fell to the ground and couldn’t move.

Aaron continued to laugh. “Fools. You don’t have a chance of stopping me!”

All of a sudden, the tower shook violently, sending Aaron and Rydia to the ground. The impact made Rydia awaken. “Wh-What happened?” She looked around at her friends on the ground. “Oh no! What have I done?” She shut her eyes. “Asura, please heed my summon.” Asura, queen of the summons, appeared in front of Rydia. She looked around and closed her eyes and lifted her arms. “Serene Wind.” Asura filled the room with a deep, healing aura. One by one, they began to arise. Asura vanished.

The tower began to shake violently again. “What is that?” Rydia asked.

Outside the window, they noticed an airship. “Cid you old dog!” Edge yelled with joy.

“Cid’s outside attacking the tower with the Golden Eagle.” Cecil explained.

“No! This tower may come down, but I will destroy Baron!!” Aaron yelled. He pressed a button and fired the cannon. They looked outside and saw the cannon begin to absorb energy. But just as it was about to fire its energy, Cid fired a missile at the cannon. The gun exploded into a massive explosion. The tower began to shake signifying it’s upcoming destruction. “No!” The top of the tower began to disintegrate. The roof disappeared and the glass broke.

Cid brought the airship to the top of the tower. “Everyone jump!” Everyone boarded the ship when they noticed that Aaron was keeping Leviathan from freeing Aria.

“If I go down, I’m taking her with me.” Aaron said.

“Daddy!” Aria yelled with tears in her eyes.

Rydia stepped up on the banister and was about to jump back into the tower.

Edge grabbed her shoulder. “What’re you doing?!”

“She’s my responsibility. I have to bring her home to her mother.” Before anyone could act, Rydia levitated herself to back onto the tower.

“I don’t know how much time we have left. This tower’s gonna fall!” Cid told Cecil.

Rydia grabbed Leviathan’s spear from the ground and hurled it at Aaron. The spear stabbed into the warlock’s leg. He screamed in pain. Leviathan grabbed ropes and freed his daughter. They leapt into the airship. Rydia stood up and walked over to the edge. But Aaron shot a forceful beam of energy at Rydia and knocked her out of the way. Rydia stood up and looked at the faces on the airship looking at her. She waved her arms, signaling them to take off.

“What is she doing?” Cid asked.

“I… I think she wants us to leave her.” Cecil said.

“Never! We stay here as long as we can.” Edge said.

Rydia looked up and saw Aaron coming toward her. She closed her eyes and raised her hands to the sky. At that second, the tower began to collapse. Cid directed the airship away from the falling tower. The tall tower took only a couple seconds to reach the ground. Dust settled over the entire area. They looked down at the rubble, sadness in their eyes. Cid took off his helmet and lowered his head. Edge wiped a tear that came to his eye.

“Rydia. You were brave.” Rosa said, trying to hold back the tears. Cecil put his hand on her shoulder. She turned into his body and felt his arms wrap around her.

The shadow of a flying creature loomed over the airship. They all looked up to look at what was making the shadow. The flying creature came level with the airship. They all looked at what it was and couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Hi, guys!” Rydia said with a big smile on her face. Rydia was grabbing onto the thick neck of the powerful dragon, Bahamut. Everyone was looking at Rydia and Bahamut in shock and disbelief. Cid put his helmet back on and lowered the airship to the ground, but still staring in disbelief at what happened. Bahamut also lowered himself to the ground. Rydia dismounted the dragon and met the others as they exited the airship. They each took turns hugging Rydia and talking to her, completely dumbfounded that she was still alive.

From the pile of rubble, a beam of light shot up from the bottom and split the sky. Many other light beams were emitted from the pile of rubble. The rubble completely disintegrated and revealed Aaron emitting the beams of light. He transformed into a large black dragon with silver claws and fangs. He was as big as the airship. Cecil and Edge wielded their blades. Ifrit, Leviathan, and Bahamut were prepared to strike. Rosa lifted her bow and arrow. Cid cracked his knuckles.

But Rydia shook her head at them. “No. This is my battle and my battle alone.” She stepped up to the large dragon. “Alright, Aaron. It’s time we finish this.”

The dragon pulled its head back and shot billows of flames out of his mouth. He shot the flames out of his mouth for ten straight seconds over Rydia. However, when the attack was over, Rydia was standing without a burn on her. Aaron was puzzled at this. He lunged his head back again and sprayed more fire out of his mouth. But again, Rydia was unaffected. “Aaron, I must tell you something. Sometimes it doesn’t take strength to win a battle. Sometimes all it takes is spirit.” Rydia closed her eyes and held her hands toward the large dragon. “Spirit Flame.” She shot a wave of white fire at Aaron. The wave of white fire swallowed him up. When the flame deminished, the dragon had disappeared. Instead, Aaron laid on the ground, defeated.

Rydia turned around. She looked at Leviathan. “I succeeded in rescuing your daughter,” she said, managing a smile.

Leviathan smiled as well while giving her a hug. “I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted my little girl back.”

Rydia hugged Bahamut. “I thank you Bahamut for rescuing me.” The dragon flew off into the sky. Rydia came up to Cid. “Cid, you old goat. I can’t apologize enough for what I did to your airships. But I thank you for helping me.”

“Don’t you worry none, Miss Rydia. On the bright side, I won’t be out of work to do for awhile.” Cid said with a smile.

Rydia hugged Cecil and Rosa at the same time. “I know I put Baron in jeopardy and I apologize. Thank you for coming for me though.”

“That’s quite alright, Rydia. You also took Baron out of jeopardy. We should be grateful for that.” Cecil said.

“You are always welcome back.” Rosa said.

Rydia came up to Edge. She looked like she was about to hug him but she stopped. Edge shrugged. “You don’t have to.”

Rydia sighed. “But you never gave up. You said you wanted to help me. And no matter how many times I said no, you still came for me. Edge… thank you.” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him gently on the cheek. “This doesn’t mean that we’re back together, though.” She held out her hand. “But we can still be friends. I can allow that.”

Edge closed his eyes and smiled. “Friends is good.” He shook her hand.

Leviathan cleared his throat. “Well, I think we should get home. I know your mother is dying to see you.”

“Yeah. I miss her.” Aria said. She began to think. “Does this mean I have to go to school tomorrow?”

Leviathan smiled. “Yes. An education is good for you.”

“Hop in the airship. The least I can do is give you a ride down below.” Cid offered. Leviathan, Aria, and Ifrit entered the airship.

Rydia sighed. “Well… I’ll try to come to visit more often. Hopefully under better circumstances.”

Rosa nodded. “And maybe we’ll have to visit you too.”

Rydia smiled. “Alright.” She boarded the airship. Cid started the airship and fired it toward Agart.

Edge sighed. “Well, I’m glad that’s over.”

“Are you alright with that?” Cecil asked, referring to what Rydia told him.

Edge sighed again. “Yeah. I feel that if we’re just friends, we can have a new start and forget about all the bad things that happened.”

“Come on. Let’s go have a cup of coffee in Baron.” Cecil offered. “I feel that the worst of the day is over.”
***************

“Good morning, class. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for the past two days. I hope you all didn’t mind the substitute.” Rydia said, greeting her class of summoned monsters.

“Oh no, Miss Rydia. She was an ok teacher, but nowhere near as beautiful as you are.” Ifrit Jr. said.

“Ifrit, what have I told you. Sucking up to the teacher does not help your grade.” Rydia said.

Aria turned around. “Maybe if you actually studied and not sucked up to the teacher, you’d get better grades.”

“Shut up, Aria. We know how special you are because you’re King Leviathan’s daughter.” Ifrit insulted.

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"When I turn the page
The corner bends into the perfect dog ear
As if the words knew I'd need them again
But at the time, I didn't see it."

~"This Ain't a Surfin' Movie" - Minus the Bear

Sounds interesting, but I haven't read it yet. I probably will sometime tonight and edit this post with my comment.

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Lou: There's a couple of guys fighting down at the aquarium, Chief.
Wiggum: Do they still sell those frozen bananas?
Lou: I think so.
Wiggum: Let's roll.

It's quite good :-) good job Sabin.

Elena

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.