In the castle made of glass and crystals, Rubicante sits in a throne made of shining glass and crystal thorns. "It's been days already. When is Garland going to return?" he asked Scarmiglione who was standing in front of him, looking at Rubicante's feet.
"Rubicante, Garland sssaid he'd be away for ssssome time. If all goessss assss ssssaid, then you'll be the next to command." said Scarmiglione in a sarcastic, yet loyalful tone.
Near the exist of the diamond castle, Cagnazzo and Barbariccia were just leaving the palace, Cagnazzo walking on his four blue legs and Barbariccia gliding in the air next to him. "Damn Scarmiglione, gets to stay here and 'protect' Golbez-sama's throne while we go out and check to see if the enemy has arrived." he scorned and gritted his teeth. None of the Lords like Scarmiglione, but Cagnazzo hated him the most.
"Don't put your hatred into words, Cagnazzo. Save it for the battles. Golbez was defeated because of us, because of Kain..." she said and lowered her head and sighed remembering the day she confronted Cecil and company. Kain was on their side but then betrayed Golbez and the four lords. She would never forgive him for such recklessness.
"Is it Kain you speak of? Hah, that worthless wreck will get what is coming to him. If you like I'll give you the honors in return that you help me rid of that worthless carrion-eating corpse." Cagnazzo said grinning as they both walked out of the castle and faced a sea of flames and lava, swaying back and forth.
"Let me kill Kain? A traitor of his level doesn't deserve any mercy." she explained as they walked to the left of the castle and met up with a slope that went up for miles to the end of a bright light. They began to travel up the slope and what awaited them above was the Land of Clashing Stories.

Balthier dropped the last few feet to the ground without a sound, smiling with that self-satisfied air he usually affected. Striding over to where his partner was waiting, he gave a jocular wink, to which the tall viera just rolled her red eyes. He was always like this, and had she not known that a very complicated person lay under the foppish exterior, she would not be here right now.

"The deed is done," he said by way of explanation, tone sobering for the moment. "The Queen of Dalmasca need not associate with the likes of us any longer."

Fran's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, the tiniest sign of disapproval. "You think she would not be grateful for what you have done?" she asked by way of reply in the lilting, strangely accented tone attributable only to viera attempting to speak a hume language.

"Oh, I'm sure she's grateful enough," Balthier replied with a dismissive wave of one hand. "But she'll be even more grateful if she need not have her name associated with wanted criminals any longer."

Fran said nothing. He was being stubborn, and both of them knew that nothing she might say would change his mind. The ring had been returned, a debt made even, and it was doubtful that either of them would ever lay eyes on the sovereign Queen again, at least if Balthier's prediction held true. Fran knew that this bothered him, and not for the first time wondered exactly what Balthier felt about this. He had a tendency to flirt fairly indiscriminately, but... she shook her head, white locks swishing about her shoulders. It mattered not. Once he was set on a course like this, there was little stopping him.

"I know that look," he observed dryly. "Now don't try to analyze me, Fran, I do quite despise it when you're right." He was back to joking again, and she offered a small indulgent smile.

"And I am always right," she replied.

"So you are. Well, then, I say we head back to the Strahl and find ourselves a nice ancient tomb to rob, how about you?" Without waiting for a reply, the sky pirate who was also an Archadian nobleman strode off in the direction of the Rabanatrean Aerodome, apparently quite done with the whole proceeding. His partner followed wordlessly, studiously ignoring the varied stares that passed in her direction. She was used t being looked at; it came with the territory when one's race rarely left their sacred Wood.

Not ten minutes later, Balthier had gotten clearance for the Strahl to take off, and the two were in the skies soon afterward. Fran set a course for Giruvegan; Balthier had expressed an interest in several things that might be found there, and she saw no reason not to go now.

Little did either of them know that their navigation equipment was to display a mysterious malfunction, one that would lead them somewhere else entirely: the Land of Clashing Stories.

Up in the sky, a floating castle soared, chained to the ground with moss covered shackles, the temple overlooked the Land of Clashing Stories and at the edge of the castle, Golbez levitated, his feet inches off the ground, and arms folded across his chest. "I see unto the land and must make the best of the situation." he says to himself. "Barbariccia and Cagnazzo is to come and greet our heroes' arrivals, but maybe I was to rash in not sending Scarmiglione instead." he pondered and unfloded his arms and held his right hand out to the land. He then closed his grip and put the closed hand up to his face as he lowered it. "Brother Cecil, has another war drug us together? Or is war not without resolve?" he asked himself and folded his arms across his chest again and watched over the land, forests occupied almost everything below, but out aways was an open praire, something like the Calm Lands of Final Fantasy X. Seeing out onto the land, the castle must've been at least miles high, something of a feet for ground untis to climb as the only course of travel is either the moss covered chains or the harsh, westerly winds that blow out bleow it and onto the forests Golbez sought on.

Zidane was sitting in a tree eating a tasty apple thinking about his latest escapades trying to woo the new princess, Garnet. As he jumped out of the tree a sudden flash of white filled his field of view. Not again... Zidane thought, this had happened to him once before already. "I guess you need my help again.."

Barbariccia and Cagnazzo fainally arrived above the depths of Hell and looked upon the mystic landscape. "What a wonderous place to destroy." Cagnazzo answered as he walked up to a tree and sniffed it. The smell of nature was everywhere and the trees were like an ocean on the grass covered sand. "Where are they supposed to be arriving?" asked Cagnazzo walking towards from decaying trees.
"In the Land of Clashing Stories was all. They could arrive here or even miles from here." she replied and flew above the trees and noticed a giant land formation in the distance that supported a castle. "That must be where the Warrior of Light resides." he said to herself and grinned at the fact that she could fly there and leave the foul Cagnazzo behind, but Golbez would disapprove of that.
"Hey! Is there anything in the distance?" Cagnazzo asked and Barbariccia looked down and shook her head, lying. "Well, might as well wander off in this direction to find the naive heroes." he said and began walking through the forest. Barbariccia looked back up at the castle and then ignored it as she followed Cagnazzo under the trees.

Golbez looks out on the land again and turns around to see the Warrior of Light. "Golbez, what bussiness have you here?" he asks and Golbez looks away from him and out towards the direction Barbariccia and Cagnazzo are.
"I've come to see this beautiful land. My life, torn into shambles because of Zemus. Forgive me, for I am not a prisoner of darkness. During the war of the Gods, I was truely helping the warrior of cosmos, believe me, but what tretcheries I've done to end up under Chaos." Golbez responded and WoL walked up to him and smiled.
"Don't tear over the past, Golbez. Amends can be made. Free yourself from that armor of darkness and show the people of light that light can overcome darkness." WoL responded and Golbez turn his back towards WoL.
"If I'm to do that, then allow me to use the way my brother taught me. Allow me to use darkness and light to defeat evil?" Golbez asked and WoL grinned in acceptance.
"Please, make it up to Cecil. He's not the only one that needs you, Theodore." WoL responded and Golbez turned around in shock, but the warrior was gone.
"Theodore... *hmph*" he grunted turning back to the land, "maybe it's time to return?" he asked himself and watched the wind take commond of the trees.

Yuna walks around and finds herself in a castle. She looks around with her dress spheres ready and her hands near her guns. Yuna walks up the stairs and opens the door she sees first. She takes her guns out and says, "Who are you and where am I?" Yuna aims at their heads and puts on a serious face.

(I had no idea where to start. I could edit this....)

Light drank from the pint in front of her and wished that they had better bars on Grand Pulse, or even just a better way to get work. From her estimate she had about two minutes before Hope tracked her down and dragged her away from the bar. She never got drunk but Hope didn’t like her hanging around the bars anyway...too many people took her on for assignments and then she had to kick their asses and a mess ensued. Hope was a great peacekeeper but people didn’t like the fact that he was only fifteen and tended to try and kick him out of the bars. He normally went willingly enough, she would have simply decked them. Well, her work here was done tonight anyway. She had been paid for the jobs she and Hope had done and gotten another one. There were no official mercenary guilds or headquarters yet so bars served the purpose. Many other purposeless fighters displaced from Cocoon were here as well, most of them men and threatened by her and her young partner. She stood and tossed a couple of coins to pay for the pint onto the counter and felt her way through the dirty atmosphere to the door. Once outside she stretched and looked out on the beauty that was Grand Pulse. It was wild but natural. Everything on Cocoon had been so fake that this was a nice change. As she looked out at the night a voice came from beside her.

“I thought I was going to have to go in and get you again. I take it that this crowd was calmer?” Light looked over as Hope stood from his lean and came out of the shadows by the door. That was one thing the kid had gotten freakishly good at, he had learned how to hide in shadows so well he almost was one. She smiled slightly and nodded before looking back out at the open feilds.

“Yeah, they weren’t nearly drunk enough yet to start fights. Give it another half an hour and they will be.” Carelessly she tossed Hope the file on their next job, watching out of the corner of her eye as he caught it easily. Well, he did fight with a boomerang so reflexes were part of the package. Hope flipped through it reading what he needed to read and whistled when he saw the bounty offered.

“Seriously? That much for such a small hunt? These wolves must be causing some serious issues.” He flipped it closed and stuck it into his bag. He looked over at Light and blinked. Why was everything getting white? “Umm...Light?” She held up a hand and tilted her head. She was sure that he was seeing the same thing that she was. The light was growing larger. She felt him slip his hand into hers and, as it normally did, she all of a sudden remembered how young he really was. Light gave him a little squeeze as the light overtook them.


Once the light faded away they found themselves in a wide open prairie. Hope released Light’s hand and it hovered over his high tech boomerang as he dropped the bag he had been carrying on his shoulder. Light put a hand on the hilt of her compacted gun blade and stepped forward a few steps before looking back at Hope. The place was empty and seemed to contain no trees of any kind. It certainly wasn’t Grand Pulse that was for sure. The biggest clue was that it wasn’t night time anymore. She did a small circle and spotted a castle in the distance. She took her hand off of the hilt, but remained ready for battle, and pointed it out to Hope. He relaxed slightly but stayed alert as Light did. They were both treating it as if they were out in the more wild parts of Grand Pulse and could be attacked at any time by whatever was hungry.

“Since that is the only structure I say we use that as our point of reference and search the area as we get closer to it.” Light wasn’t one for just standing around. She watched Hope nod out of the corner of her eye and started to walk. She and Hope were used to walking over every kind of terrain for long amounts of time so they should be fine for a while.

“Great. Freaky light, plain open area we can get lost in and a freaky castle in the distance. This is a wonderful day.” Hope muttered as he started after Light. She smiled slightly but kept walking.

Balthier didn't flinch as the light spilled over the two of them. Whatever it was, it was plain that even his expert piloting wouldn't free them of it; best to remain rational and see where it took him, no?

"Well, Fran, it would seem we are quite a bit off course at the moment," he said without too much inflection when the world once again became visible. They were presently flying over a vast plain, headed in the general direction of a castle-like structure. "Any idea where our little misdirection has put us?"

Fran shook her head, deeply concentrated over the navigation equipment, which had ceased to function entirely. Long, delicate fingers flicked over several switches and keys, but it was to no avail. Worse, though she could still feel Mist in this... place, it was not at all like the sort she was used to. It would still work magic, of this much she was certain, but... "It would seem we are in Ivalice no longer."

Balthier's expression briefly flashed to something inscrutable even for her, but settled quickly back into the sort of practiced neutrality that made him near impossible for most people to read. "My, my. It seems we are in for yet another adventure, so soon after our last, no less. I suppose it can't be helped; the leading man is ever in demand, after all." With a mischievous smile that had charmed many a woman but held no sway over his wary partner, he aimed the Strahl for the castle. This at least, she understood. Their best chance of finding out what was going on likely lay there. If whomever was within turned out to be hostile, well... they were not so easily defeated.

The airship made its landing in a clearing not too far away from the structure, and her captain and navigator disembarked, both regarding with hidden thoughts the landscape around them. Balthier rather thought it resembled the Giza Plains, minus the rock formations. he peered up at the castle, shading copper-colored eyes with one hand. Fran, for her part, was content to simply examine the surrounding area, at least until her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of motion.

Pivoting on one heeled foot, she held her bow at the ready, expecting a fiend of some sort, only to find herself in the company of two people. One was a young woman, perhaps the age of Balthier or the Queen Ashelia, the other a boy younger still, younger even than Vaan and Penelo had been. The viera relaxed; though these people seemed to be warriors, this by itself was not cause for concern. She guessed they were likely not local here either, from the smell of confusion that hung about them, but then this could just as easily be due to the Strahl, should this place not have airships. They were dressed a little oddly, but no so much so that it could tell her anything. The woman actually bore something of a resemblance to Ashe.

"Balthier," she said quietly, and her partner turned to face her, stopping mid-stride as he caught sight of the approaching travelers.

"Interesting," he mused, Archadian tones not betraying his surprise, if there was any. Could one ever truly be surprised when one knew not what to expect? He, unlike Fran, did not move for his weapons, though these strangers were clearly armed. It made sense, after a fashion: he did not wish to appear any more intimidating than necessary, and was quick enough on the draw that he could react easily enough should they choose to attack. "Greetings, my lady, young sir," he called, not without a certain self-effacing irony. "Mayhap you could tell us where we are? My companion and I seem to be lost."

Rubicante sat at the throne knowing full well that one day Golbez might turn to the side of light and abandon the fiends. Scarmiglione, on the other hand, knew he'd be at the fiend's side for the length of the battle. He grew stronger during death, but in this was his greatest weakness. "Rubicante, how long do you think it'sss going to take for Golbezzzz to find the sssource of light?" he asked and Rubicante closed his eyes and grinned.
"If Golbez is the honorable man I know, then he'll be able to come to an agreement with the Warrior of Light. We can end this without any violence." he responded and Scarmiglione laughed a serpent-like hiss.
"Sssa sssa sssa! Death issss what drivessss me. I become ssstronger in death. allow my powersss to come into play." he responeded with and turned around and began to walk out of the castle.
"Leaving your dudty, Scarmiglione?" asked Rubicante and Scarmiglione laughed.
"No, I'm only bringing upon death to thossse who call for it." he hissed and walked out of the crystal castle and towards the sea of flames. He raised his arms from under the cloak and showed his two tentacles out and wave about. He hissed like a serpent and out of the sea came crystal warriors that imitated the DNA of the organisms that have set foot in this world. Crsytals of Yuna, Golbez, Zidane, Lightning, Hope, the four fiends, Balthier, and Fran. "Go fight!" Scarmiglione beckoned as the imitation heroes left towards the grand slope to go above ground and fight their real self. The imitation Garlanders stayed behind and walked towards the castle. More of the crystal warriors began to replicate as sand fell from the roof of the underground world and turned to glass as it came into contact with the lava. The imitation WoL's were weak, but the ones that are to stay behind were more powerful and skilled as they took longer to create.

Light and Hope had been walking for quite some time when they spotted the ship in the sky. It didn’t resemble anything they knew but after joint contemplation they decided that it was indeed some form of airship. It was really to be expected that the technology here would vary from their own so neither of them were overly surprised. Hope was now beside her, seemingly more relaxed – as was she – since they hadn’t encountered anything that wanted a snack. They hadn’t seen anything as a matter of fact. The only thing that changed was that the castle got larger. Hope was tracking the ship while Light watched the land around them, his tracking more out of curiosity than anything.

“D....ou.....ppose...same?” Light came out of her inspection of the land and tuned into what Hope was saying. Sadly she had learned how to tune him out when she needed to and she had been trying to listen to for other things. She didn’t even glance over when she replied.

“Sorry Hope, wasn’t listening.” Hope sighed lightly but knew what she meant – he knew that she had tuned his noise out to listen for threats. So he repeated it.

“Do you suppose that it works the same? As our airships.”

“I assure you that I have no idea. I only ride in airships, I don’t build them.” Hope smiled at the thought of Lightning building an airship. It would never happen, unless of course it needed to happen. But he took her answer as it was and continued watching the one in the sky until it landed.

“It’s landed near the castle Light. Right where we are going.” She gave a brisk nod in return but continued the pace.
“Maybe they can help us find out where we are?” Light didn’t answer since she had none. Hope understood her enough to accept the silence. Soon they were within hearing distance of the people on the ship, who they had watched disembark.

"Greetings, my lady, young sir," he called, not without a certain self-effacing irony. "Mayhap you could tell us where we are? My companion and I seem to be lost."

Light resisted the automatic urge to want to slap this man. There was something vaguely irritating about him on first meeting. Hope caught her reaction and gave her a look. It was a look he had perfected and it looked strangely adult-to-child on a child’s face. Well, she mused, bodies didn’t always match the soul. She took stock of the strangers and found herself perplexed. They were obviously both warriors and yet...they wore the strangest clothing. In fact, the extremely tall female wore the skimpiest armour she had ever seen. Not to mention she had never seen a...whatever the woman was. The bunny ears certainly threw her for a moment but she recovered, after all Grand Pulse has some strange things too.

Hope suffered no such issues. He was naturally friendly and so waved to the pair so that they knew that he and Light had heard. Sure he was friendly but he wasn’t stupid about it, he knew that they could be potential trouble. Still, he liked to try and think the best of people, and they had said that they were lost. Just like him and Light. He wasn’t thrown very much by their looks either. The past year or so had taught him to not be so judgemental about others. When he had been thrown onto the side that everyone assumed was evil it had shaken his world. As it would to anyone. Even though the brand was no longer there he didn’t like to look at his arm and he still felt the brand on his skin.

When they reached the pair Hope was the one to speak up since Light was less than friendly on good days. “Hi there. I hate to tell you this but we happen to be lost as well. I was kind of hoping you could inform us about this place, but I guess you don’t live here either?”

Balthier raised an eyebrow at the young man's words. "Alas, I know nothing of this place either." His expression lost its typical flippancy for a second as he fell into a contemplative spell, pinching the bridge of his nose absently. "It would appear that we are all refugees, would it not? Are the two of you headed for the castle, perchance? Ah, but perhaps I should not ask. I am a stranger, after all."

The grin appeared once more, and his eyes lit with an idea. "Balthier Bunansa, sky pirate, at your service. This is my partner, Fran." He knew of course, that while they were technically not "strangers" anymore, this would not necessarily mean that they answered his inquiry. Ah, well, such was to be expected. He might have guarded his own name, were it not obvious that there was little meaning to it for them. Nobody here would know of who he was; even Balthier was not so crass as to believe his legend extended quite so far.

Fran, for her part, nodded to the two of them politely, noting with some wry amusement that there were likely not viera wherever they came from. It wasn't as though they made it too obvious, but when one worked with Balthier, one learned how to read even the best of poker faces, so to speak. "Do you think," she spoke to her friend, "that we should arm the cloaking device?"

"Of course, my dear Fran. Wouldn't want our beloved airship disappearing from out here in the middle of nowhere, would we?" That said, he activated the device, causing the Strahl to waver, then disappear entirely.

"Well, as much as I'd care to stay and chat-" his would-be parting words were cut off when he felt Fran stiffen beside him, ears swiveling slightly as she listened for something that the Humes could not, as yet, hear.

"South," she said in a low voice, and his eyes snapped in that direction, hand drifting slowly to his gun.

"I would arm yourselves," he offered to the other two. "A viera's senses are sharper than ours, and if she hears something coming..." Sure enough, it was not another minute before four shapes appeared in the distance. As they drew closer, Balthier was surprised to observe what appeared to be a mirror image of himself. There was one of Fran, too, and the other pair looked to be replicas of their fellow wayward souls.

"Interesting..." he murmured, aiming his gun in that direction, leaving his Kagenui alone for the moment.

Golbez turned around and saw the woman pointing a gun at his helmet and sighed. "Young woman. I'd not do such a thing in the state that this world is in. You've been summoned here for a reason." he said and looked up at the sky. It looked like the skies back at the Blue Planet. "What is your name young miss? You may call me Golbez." he said politely and bowed to her.

Lightning listened to them intently and decided that while they certainly weren’t friends yet, they weren’t enemies. Since she had recently ended up forming a tight group with random strangers she knew how important circumstantial meeting could end up being. When the...viera – Fran - went on alert she automatically laid her hand on the hilt of her gun blade. Then the man – Balthier – drew his gun and pointed it at the enemy. They looked like four reflections but she took it in easily since she had fought some pretty weird stuff in the past months. She signalled to Hope and he moved up beside and snapped out his high tech, bladed, weaponized boomerang and held it at the ready.

Quickly she took out the knife that Sarah had given her for her last birthday and made shallow cuts on both her own cheek and Hope’s. Then she put the knife away and drew her gun blade, hitting the switch that unfolded it and locked it into its form. She wasn’t sure just how much of a clone these people would be so she had done the small cuts as a way to tell the real Hope and Light from the fake ones once they were in the midst of battle. She had no desire to hit the wrong Hope and had an equal dislike for the idea that he could end up blasting a spell at her instead of the fake. The cuts might be completely unnecessary and she had the feeling that they knew each other well enough that even if the clones were nearly perfect they wouldn’t need them, but better to be safe than sorry. Besides they might end up needing them, and it certainly made identification easier.

“Looks like we’ll have to hold our end of the formalities. Hope, you take the other me and I’ll handle the other you. Chances are they only know the fighting style of the ones that they are copies of so we might end up throwing them off balance. If I’m wrong then we also know enough about each other to counter whatever happens.” She kept her voice low as the whole idea of a battle strategy was that the enemy didn’t know it. Hope nodded in response and glanced over at Balthier.

“When this is over I so want you to explain your ship to me.” Light resisted the urge to roll her eyes and did it mentally so that she didn’t lose sight of the enemy. Sometimes Hope was such a nerd, but his statement indicated that he clearly thought they would get out of this just fine. Hope would have her back and she would have his as always, even if they were focusing on different enemies. She assumed the other two were the same – it was what happened when you were partners with someone.

The corners of Balthier's mouth quirked when the boy asked him to explain his ship- not too long ago, another young man had made a similar request, though he had an idea that this one- Hope, he thought the woman had called him- was a good deal more intelligent than Vaan. Not that this was terribly difficult. The latter had a valiant heart, but in all honesty, that was about it, and Balthier didn't like his chances of survival without Penelo.

But his thoughts were sidetracking him, and though his eyes had not wavered, he shoved them aside. Sentimentality was for those times when your life wasn't immediately at issue. For him, this was honestly not all that often; an unfortunate side effect of living a criminal lifestyle, not that he was complaining, mind you.

The strangers seemed convinced that they'd just take out each other's clones and be done; a sound enough strategy, he supposed, assuming the clones cooperated. He thought idly that this might be an interesting opportunity to see how they fought... wherever these two were from. He'd have to keep an eye on it. The woman carried a weapon that appeared to be a sword with a gun mounted on it, sort of, and his technically-inclined mind was already picking apart the intricacies of the mechanism insofar as he could discern them with his eyes alone. The boy carried what looked like a returning projectile.

But the clones were approaching, and there was not much more time to consider such interesting tidbits as alien weaponry. A shame, that. "Best to be done with this and moving on, do you not think so?" he inquired to the general audience, then, without bothering to wait for an answer, fired his Betelgeuse at his own clone. Fran cast hate on all four of them, then swiftly drew her bow, nocking an arrow to it, sidestepping with her increased speed when copy-Balthier chose to fire at her. The two of them broke away from their companions, to create a more difficult target, intending to draw off their own counterparts so that the others might put their planned strategy into use. It seemed to work, for the moment, and Balthier closed, Fran behind him.

The two worked seamlessly enough that Fran knew precisely what Balthier was planning before he dropped so much as a hint, and she lowered her bow, readying the white magic at her fingertips. As expected, he slung his gun over his back and drew his Kagenui instead, dashing into the fray with the sort of... not recklessness, exactly, but less blatant self-preservation that she'd come to associate with him only recently. The blade flashed at speeds nearly invisible to the naked eye, in part due to the Haste spell and in part simply because of his natural speed.

Copy-Fran backed off and began to fire from afar, and the real one shook her head. Clearly, the clones did not possess the knowledge of each other that the real things did. Balthier took an arrow to the side, not bothering to pause in his assault to pull it out, knowing full well as she did that Fran's white magic would ensure that it was well-taken care of. She released the Cura, and charged another. Sometimes, it was better just to let a smaller number of people do the fighting, and he was not so outnumbered that her offensive skills were immediately necessary. Still...

Balthier dodged another slash aimed at his side. And this... being dared wear his visage? He was affronted. The clone was clearly inferior to the original, and he wondered for a moment if this would turn out to be the case for the other two as well. Fran had assisted them with the Haste, but he trusted that they probably shared a similar dynamic to the sky pirates, and as such would not require much, if any, help.

Despite fighting well below par, the copy-Balthier was proving tenacious, now that copy-Fran had shifted to healing as well. Well... there was certainly a way to deal with that. Parrying a blow, he dealt a swift kick to his clone's stomach, causing it to double over for a few seconds, during which he shifted his sword to his right hand and drew again the gun, firing off a shot at copy-Fran, which caught the false viera off-guard.

"The rest is yours, my dear," he called to his partner, but she was well ahead of him, and the crackle of lightning could be heard as Fran cast Thundaga on copy-Balthier, who, being less resistant to magic than copy-Fran, fell to his knees, only to be run through by the real thing even as an arrow found its way into the pirate's arm. "Oh, for gods' sake..." he muttered a few choice oaths under his breath and pulled it loose, feeling the white magic do the rest. "Some people never do learn to wait their turn," he quipped, firing again at copy-Fran, who collapsed onto the ground.

"Hmph." Balthier dusted his hands off and turned. It appeared the other battle was still going, but he would not interfere unless it became life-threatening. Honor, he was familiar with, and he was willing to indulge it so far, but not to the point of sheer foolishness.

Light and Hope took off at the same time that Balthier fired his gun at his own clone. She and Hope switched to each other’s clones as planned, which seemed to throw the rudimentary doubles off balance just as they had wanted it too. Lightning threw a ruin at Hope’s clone causing him to stagger under the hit so that she had time to get there before it cast a spell – if it cast a spell. The fake Hope changed its plans and used the boomerang as a dagger, aiming for her neck. It was easily dodged and she threw in a swift kick to its chest after she folded backward to avoid the blade.

The fake Hope made a frustrated sound that was mixed with pain and jumped right back into the fight. He ended up slicing her arm but she wasn’t worried. As long as she kept him from casting she would be just fine. She was using the blade of her gun blade but was being blocked by the boomerang of the fake Hope. It was something she had indeed seen Hope do, but with better results. She easily forced her way past the fake Hope’s guard and sliced the hamstring on his right leg. The fake hope went down with a scream and dropped the boomerang in pain. Since he wasn’t going anywhere she stopped to pick it up and look at it.

Upon closer inspection it wasn’t that similar to Hope’s except in the general shape and the fact that it was bladed. This thing was no more than a sharp toy so she tossed it aside, looked at the fake Hope and then calmly shot him in the head with the gun part of her gunblade. He went down silently onto the grass.

At the same time Lightning and the others were fighting Hope was fight the Light clone. He noticed right off the bat that she wasn’t as good as the real thing when his boomerang toss was blocked a second too late and sliced the side of its neck. He imagined that he should feel weird seeing as she looked like Light...but he just didn’t. It was just an enemy, a doppelganger. No doubt part of the intentions of whoever sent them was to have them be taken aback by the fact that they were facing themselves.

As soon as his boomerang came back to him he cast a fira spell which the fake Light had no idea how to block. It hit her straight in the chest which shoved her back a few steps, her top and skin burned from the fire. Seemingly to finally realise that she had a gun she lifted it and fired at Hope as she ran towards him. Hope quickly started to dash to the side and ended up only grazed by the bullets. This time he threw his boomerang and he sent a thunder spell at the clone. The fake Light spent time dodging the boomerang instead of the spell and so got hit by it full on. Sadly the clone did not seem too deterred as she immediately raised the gun again and fired. This time the bullets hit Hope in the arm, but not bad enough that he wouldn’t be able to heal it. Since it was the arm he threw his boomerang from he changed strategies and charged in towards the clone.

It seemed shocked by his sudden change and reacted a second too late as Hope used the blade on the boomerang’s edge as a knife and sliced her throat. It wasn’t a clean kill but she fell to the ground. Hope skidded to a stop and put his boomerang away dirty for the moment, then used a cura spell on his arms. It took a couple as the first two had to force out the bullets that were in his arm. By the time he had it healed Light was beside him looking concerned. He gave her a smile.

“I’m fine now. Hurts a bit but no wound.” He used a cure spell on her own cut, but it wasn’t that serious. He turned back to the others and walked away from the still gurgling clone. Hope just couldn’t make himself take the final strike. In battle it was different but he found himself wanting to heal it. He made himself not hear as the gurgling stopped suddenly and Light started to walk after him. When they got to the others he took out his boomerang and cleaned it with the handkerchief he kept for that reason. Light was the one that spoke.

“My name is Lightning, but you can just use Light. This is Hope Estheim. Seems you aren’t welcome here either.”

"Alma! Alma where are you!?" Ramza cried out into the forest. How had he arrived here? He only remembered falling into a trap inside some a ruin Alma and he were exploring. Must of hit my head and rendered myself unconscious, but where do I stand now and where is my sister? the young hero wondered. "Alma!" he called again advancing farther into the forest. Doesn't seem as if she was transported with me. I hope she is ok, Ramza thought to himself. The forest was teeming with life. The sights and sounds of chirping birds, calling insects, and flying bees were all around. Ramza wasn't sure he'd ever been in such a massive forest. He wasn't even sure if he still resided in Ivalice.

As the hours wore on Ramza's stamina grew thin and the hero decided to stop and rest a while. It will not do if I should fall here. I must keep on guard and not allow myself to fall prey to exhaustion. Alma must be worried. I need to find a way back to her, but the question is what way do I go? Ramza reasoned as he built a small fire in his wooded clearing. Finally he felt himself drift off to sleep with his sword leaning on his shoulder and one eye open on the terrain around him.

Yuna saw that Golbez was not the enemy. She put her guns back and said, "My name is Yuna. Others call me Lady Yuna or High Summoner Yuna." Yuna started to wonder something. "Why was I summoned here?" She asked nicely with a smile.

"Yuna? Very well." Golbez said and looked up at the sky yet again. You were summoned here... because of, yet, another's inconvenience... he thought and looked down at her. "I don't know exactly; I'm also wondering how I came to be here." he lied and pointed his hand at her and from behind appeared a crystal immitation of Yuna. "Behind you!" he shouted and jumped towards her at pushed his hand at the crystal Yuna and pulsed some kinetic air at it sending it flying back a little. "This is your fight, Lady Yuna." he said and floated back to his original position.

Balthier couldn't resist an ironic smile. "Light and Hope, you say? Quite an optimistic pair of names, if I may say so." Despite his flippancy, he regarded the two with serious eyes. They were clearly experienced and skilled warriors, the both of them, and he wondered where exactly they had come from, if not here. Some of his father's notes had made reference to a strange theory of alternate time-space entities, other dimensions, if you'd like, but he had hardly expected such things would ever become quite so relevant to himself personally as they were now.

"I do believe," he continued, "that I promised you a lecture on the finer points of the Strahl's mechanics. As much as I would love to do a show-and-tell, I don't suppose you'd mind speaking as we walked? I do think that castle might very well be calling, and I should not like to spend the rest of my day fending off substandard copies of myself." His eyebrows furrowed in distaste at the very thought.

Without waiting for a response, he turned and began walking once more towards the enormous structure. Fran, for her part, looked at their companions and shook her head in a way that suggested long suffering, as if to indicate that yes, he was always like this, but you got used to it eventually. "What he means to say," she said in her strangely-lilting voice, "is that it may be to our benefit to remain together for now, should you indeed be going in the same direction." Speaking freely and to strangers was not something Fran would normally do, but the combination of their recent ventures to free Dalmasca and their completely foreign situation now moved her to say at least this much before she, too turned and followed her partner into whatever adventure next awaited them.

Fran had lived a very long time, but never had each day been quite so interesting as it was in the company of the sky pirate. For this and a few other, more rational reasons, she was quite happy to call herself his partner, odd as the alliance might be, and different as they themselves were. This particular circumstance, while strange in many ways, was not something she resented in the least; on the contrary, it seemed to be doing Balthier some good, and was most assuredly taking his mind off certain things which it was likely best for him not to dwell upon. Additionally, the two they had encountered thus far apparently intrigued him enough to risk their company, which was saying something. Fran considered herself a good judge of character, but she could not read people the way Balthier could. If he was fine with their presence, so was she.

Hope smiled at Fran when she explained Balthier’s actions and went after them. They were heading in the same direction, and Light would never have given their names if she hadn’t planned to stick around. When he caught up with Fran he stayed with her, despite the fact that he was very curious about their ship, since he wanted to find out about her just as much.

“I’m kind of used to people doing what he does, Light is the same way she just doesn’t talk as eloquently. Would it be horribly rude if I asked you some questions about...well about what you are?” Even though he really wanted to find out about her he wasn’t quite curious enough to be rude to her or to unintentionally insult her. He found himself walking so fast he was almost jogging to keep up with her since he was so short and she was so tall. This was okay by him too and he kept an eye on the ground in front of him occasionally so that he didn’t trip. He wanted to ask so many things such as what was she exactly, where was she from, how did she walk so normally and surefooted in those heels, why was her accent so different from Balthier's, why did she have rabbit ears - did they make it easier for her to hear things like the clones? Questions circled in his brain about her but he wasn't sure she would want to answer them.

Lightning was following behind a bit slower thinking on the strangers. They really were quite strange, and Balthier puzzled her even more than Fran did. He seemed almost happy to be in a place that he didn’t belong. Well, they were going in the same direction anyway so she supposed travelling with them was fine. When she noticed Hope had paused with Fran to ask her questions she jogged a bit to catch up with Balthier. She didn’t know his personality yet so she would explain Hope to him. She evened her pace with his when she came up beside him.

“Hope is curious about everything, so he’ll get to asking you about the ship. The strahl you said?” Her voice became slightly less hard as she spoke of Hope and more like a doting older sister explaining her strange sibling to someone. But it went back to normal quickly. “By the time he gets to you, you’ll wish that he had stayed with Fran.” She wasn't quite sure why she was willingly explaining Hope to him beyond the fact that she didn't want him to get mad at Hope. Lightning was insanely protective of Hope, plus the stranger seemed like he would understand. She herself wasn't as curious about the ship or who they were. Curiousity was a waste of time to her since the knowledge wouldn't assist them right now. Unless they needed to tend wounds on them that is and even then Hope was the healer in the group. She could do battle dressings and the like but she hadn't retained her magic when the fal'cie had died.

The ghost of a smile made its way onto Fran's face. She could almost see the questions spinning around in the young Hume's head. This, she was well-used to. Even a great deal of people in Ivalice didn't understand what exactly the viera were. At least this one had been polite about it. "You may ask me anything you wish, young Hume, and I will endeavor to satisfy your curiosity." There were a few questions she could anticipate right away however, and she began with these.

"My people are called the viera. Most of us live in a great forest that we call the Wood. The Wood is mother to us all, and we her humble children. The Green Word is our first language, and I have learned the tongue of your people to better make my way in the world that belongs to them." She watched with a slight twinge of amusement as he strove to keep up with her long strides. The boy was by far the shortest member of the group, but it would seem that he was not going to let that stop him, which was just as well. That sort of determination would likely be both balm and requisite for whatever strange trials awaited them.

Balthier cocked an eyebrow at the woman as she explained her compatriot's dearth of questions. He wasn't sure exactly why she had chosen to do so; it wasn't as though he minded. Then again, there was perhaps no way for her to know this. It might have bothered him, once, had he not dealt with much worse in the recent past. At least Hope asked relevant questions.

"His curiosity does him credit," the pirate responded with a grin. "I was much the same, once." He lapsed into a momentary silence, somewhat surprised at the degree of amicable personality he was currently displaying. Granted, he was not at all an unfriendly sort, but references to Fframran were something he avoided even in the company of, say, Ashe or Basch, and even a good deal with Fran, though she knew all there was to know anyway. Perhaps it was the simple knowledge that such references would mean nothing to Light, that he could freely speak of it without a care for how she might use it against him.

He had to admit, the relationship between the two had him intrigued. They did not appear so similar as to be blood-related, but then sometimes people were anyway. It was entirely possible also that the camaraderie in some way resembled that which existed between himself and Fran. "If I might make an inquiry: is Hope a relative, or a friend?" He had not missed the slight fluctuation in her tone at the boy's mention; indeed, he was quick to pick up on such things as a matter of habit.

In a similar vein to his earlier confusion, he now wondered why he'd even bothered to ask at all. It was not as though the answer would likely mean much, simply because he had no frame of reference for it. Then again, perhaps some of that old inquisitiveness remained. The woman walking next to him was clearly a formidable one; a person need only watch her fight to discern this. She did not possess the outward appearance of a rugged mercenary, but then neither did he make the impression of a pirate at first glance. Well, maybe that was debatable. Either way, it was certainly a basic human desire to know more about those with which one passed the time, was it not?

The castle loomed closer; perhaps only ten minutes more from their present location at the speed they traveled.

Yuna walked towards it and she felt a weird power come through her and she felt the urge to take a stick and perform a summoning ritual. She smiled as she realized in this world she could still summon. The Magus Sisters came and Yuna smiled again. "Attack." That was all she said before Cindy overkilled the crystal with one blow.

Hope had honestly expected to have been told to stop being so nosy but she agreed and even volunteered information before he had a chance to ask any questions. This was amazing! How many people on Grand Pulse had the opportunity to learn about – let alone meet – a new race? As she began talking he turned so that he was facing her and jogging backwards. Occasionally he would turn and look where he was going but he always turned back to watch her as she spoke.

"You may ask me anything you wish, young Hume, and I will endeavour to satisfy your curiosity." There were a few questions she could anticipate right away however, and she began with these.

"My people are called the viera. Most of us live in a great forest that we call the Wood. The Wood is mother to us all, and we her humble children. The Green Word is our first language, and I have learned the tongue of your people to better make my way in the world that belongs to them."

Hope thought slightly on her answers as he processed the information, which could be clearly seen on his expression. Guarding his facial movements was never something he had mastered and he had a feeling he never would manage it. She came from...the Wood? Which was also her mother. So was the Wood a place and a person, or was it just a place? Their language was the Green Word...a simple name and yet it sounded kind of pretty. Maybe in her world they were born out of roots? He figured that might be a bit more personal than she would be willing to answer though. Her race was the viera...what a pretty name. It wasn’t eloquent by any means and had an almost harsh sound to it but it was pretty all the same. When he finished thinking about it he started bombarding her with questions unthinkingly.

“What is a Hume? Is the Wood a person or a place? How come only most of you live there – do you? Do all veira wear those shoes and be so tall? Why are you wearing such high heels when you are clearly a warrior? Doesn’t it make it difficult for you to fight and run? Why is your accent so different from Balthier's even though you come from the same world? Does it have a whole bunch of different accents? Are the rabbit ears your real ears or are they something else?” When he realized how many questions he had thrown at her he quickly turned to face forward in an attempt to hide his small blush of chagrin. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask so many all at once. Oh – if you want to ask me questions too that’s fine! I mean, your being so open and all...” Briefly he wondered what he would say if she asked what he was. Well, he would have to think on it some more – he was still deciding himself.

Lightning walked quietly beside Balthier after he had responded and when he had lapsed into silence. She understood that there were places in everyone’s lives and hearts where others simply did not go. How his previous statement had made him enter one she had no clue but perhaps that was for the best. She wasn’t overly curious about anyone in general and saw no reason to pester him with nosy questions. Besides, he probably wasn’t that interesting and the castle was looming ahead. She thought that they would travel the rest of the way in silence and contemplated going back to the rear when he spoke up again.

"If I might make an inquiry: is Hope a relative, or a friend?"

Light took a moment to think about how to describe it to a stranger. Then she gave up thinking about it and simply decided to say it as it was and if he didn’t understand oh well. She had had to think about whether or not she would even answer and honestly thought that the man wasn’t dumb enough to not understand.

“Both I suppose. Hope isn’t family by blood but he is my little brother all the same. Yet he is also a friend – sometimes he plays both roles at the same time and sometimes he plays only one. I know that my relationship with him is far more relaxed and ‘friendly’ than the one I have with my blood sibling, yet the word friend doesn’t really describe what he means to me.” She glanced at him briefly and then looked again at the approaching castle. “I imagine it is similar to the bond you share with Fran. You are more than friends or partners, yet I don’t think you are romantically inclined. I could be wrong mind you – I don’t claim to care much about deciphering other people’s relationships.” Until she had become a le’Cie she had barely cared about anyone other than her sister. Now she had a group of friends and Hope. Now she cared for far too many people really...but it was slightly kinder world than the one she had spent the previous years in. She couldn’t see herself without Hope and the others now – Hope especially. Yes she was still very close to Sarah but she had stopped needed Light. She had Snow now and was all grown up, yes they still needed each other as sisters but they now had separate lives as all siblings eventually do.

Fran blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sheer volume of the barrage of questions. Nevertheless, there was nothing in it that she was uncomfortable answering; most of the questions covered things that were common enough knowledge in Ivalice, and it seemed only fair that the inquisitive youth be brought up to speed, so to speak.

She began with simplest. "A Hume is what you are; what Balthier is. I know not if your word for this is the same, but you are of a kind." The flow of Mist through Humes was different than through Bangaa or Seeq or Viera, after all, and the Mist, while obviously of a different type in their world, moved through them much the same. This one, she supposed, had an affinity for it where his companion did not, but it was evident all the same. "As to my people... not all are quite as tall as I, but most are near to it. Our feet are different from yours; footwear of this sort makes it easier to move about on the ground. My ears are the only ones I have ever possessed."

Explaining the Wood was a fair bit harder, in truth, and she wasn't sure she was the right person to give this story. She had long stopped worrying about retribution for laying bare the lore of her people; she could no longer hear but the faintest whisper of the Green Word, what more had she to lose on that account? Still, it was a complicated thing, and one that even most Viera did not understand. "The Wood.. is many things," she answered at last, shaking her head. "It is a place, but one with a mind. I know not what words can make it clearer than this. The language of my people has one, but it would not make sense to you. I speak as I do because this language is not mine, and Balthier speaks as he does because of the land of his birth. But what of your world?" she asked, turning the question about. "What lives do people live upon it? I take it there are no Viera, but do you perhaps know of Bangaa or No Mou?" It wasn't often Fran encountered something she knew nothing about (living for such a long time will do that to you), and she found that she was genuinely interested, if not quite curious.

"I imagine it is similar to the bond you share with Fran. You are more than friends or partners, yet I don’t think you are romantically inclined. I could be wrong mind you – I don’t claim to care much about deciphering other people’s relationships."

"No?" Balthier asked, amusement setting a small spark in his eye, a slightly-lopsided smirk coming to settle upon his countenance. "I should think you very astute, that you have managed to figure so much out already. I cannot begin to tell you how often that particular mistake has been made. Not that I mind overmuch of course, but Fran is ever so sensitive to these things." He winked so she would know he was joking. It was quite the opposite, in fact: Fran cared little for the opinions of anyone, but he, while not the sort to verbally correct anyone with this assumption, was painstakingly proper in his demeanor where his partner was concerned. Flirting and all manner of similarly silly behavior was all well and good with other people, but their partnership had contained within itself from the beginning a line that neither was willing to cross. The reservations had served them both well; it was the reason they were so successful as partners, friends, and pirates.

"I'm afraid the answers to those questions might have to wait, Fran my dear," Balthier called to the two behind him. "We appear to have arrived."What they saw before them was that the castle itself appeared to be suspended in the air, locked down only by massive chains, which now loomed large before them. He wondered for a moment it they used magicite, like Bhujerba, but decided that he'd look into it later. If Fran wasn't saying anything, there likely wasn't any nethicite nearby and thus less cause for concern. "So, who's climbing in front?" Taking a quick glance at the preferred garments of some of the party, he immediately amended his statement. "Perhaps I should." As candid as he was known for being, Balthier was still a gentleman, after all, and he swung up onto the chain with an easy grace, using the links as hand- and footholds.