Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1:

It was cold, bitterly cold. Marin’s pajamas were no protection from the cold night air or the snow. She walked in the snow towards a light. The sky aflame with northern lights. It was a light show that was more glorious and rooted to the earth than anything she had ever seen on earth. It seemed to burst out from the mountain behind her.

Marin had no time to take in the sights, everything was too cold. Her legs hurt up to her calves. Piercing pain came with every step onto the freezing snow.

She was cold and couldn’t feel her toes. She could see , but not feel, the cold snow slide over her bare feet. Her legs were stamping on knives. Like she was cutting her ankles.

“Warm, I have to get warm.” she tottered towards the glow of a window.

Rubbing her arms for warmth, her fingers and half her face was also numb already. She had never been this cold. Never.

It felt like her feet were bleeding, stepping on knives like this. “Warm, thoughts.” She chattered through her teeth. The door swam to the front of her vision. It did not seem to get any closer.

She moved her legs forward, they seemed to stop inches above the ground. She could no longer feel how wet her pajama pants had gotten, dragging through the snow drift.

“Lights…on. Someone. Someone must be home.” She was so cold. The feeling of knives stabbed at her skin, covered or not. Traveling up her arms and legs. She couldn’t feel her feet or her hands. They no longer hurt.

She yawned and felt crystals form in her mouth and nose. Windblown tears froze to her face. She couldn’t feel the wind burn her cheeks anymore.

Every part of her hurt from the cold.

A part of her brain worried about where it no longer hurt.

The door was a big brown blob, it was like looking through jelly. Her eyes were streaming with tears onto a numb face.

Marin slammed bodily against, something. She hoped it was the door. She tried to close her eyes to clear her vision. They glued shut, she could not open them.

Flailing arms she could barely feel. She banged a the door as hard as she could. She was so sleepy. ‘Don’t sleep.’ Marin thought. ‘Sleep is death. don’t fall asleep.’

She flailed at the door halfheartedly one more time. “Just a…quick nap.” she pressed her forehead against something hard.

Marin’s thoughts were sluggish, they were no longer concerned about how much she hurt. How numb she was. And even the thought of not caring slipped away from her. As she collapsed against something hard and fell into something soft and dark.

---

Earlier, and much further away, a sniffling Marin waited in line at the pharmacy. She was surprised by how many people were waiting in line this late.

If this took much longer, she was going to get caught in the rain tonight, during an already chilly mid-September sunset.

Marin only had her cotton pullover to protect her from the chill, if it rained she would get soaked before she got home.

She pulled out her phone to pass the time, rather than seem impatient. She put it away when Marin was reminded how many unread messages she had. Pulling a tissue out of her pocket, she blew her nose again.

The person right in front of her looked behind them. Whoever they were, they looked very tired.

Marin put the used tissue in the bag in her pocket with the others. Juggling her phone with a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. If she was going to go out sick, the least she could do was not infect anyone else. Then she pretended to use her phone to keep to herself.

Minutes later Marin was back outside, under the eaves. Her cotton pullover was over the clothes she had worn to bed. She had been sick at home all day. Isolating at home for months, she had gotten the flu somehow.

The dark sky had opened up, it was pouring and she would get soaked if she left the shelter of the set-back window.

Her flu medicine in a plastic bag, they would be the only things that couldn’t get wet, just crossing the street.

The trees that sheltered her street were just over there and would only give a partial cover from this much rain. But it would be something.

‘If mom had done this for me, I wouldn’t be about to get soaked,’ she thought. But if her mother had gotten her medicine, that woman would have gotten wet instead. And she would have stomped up and down the house, grumping about being caught in the rain.

Chances are, Marin’s mother would still be napping in front of the TV. And Marin could slip back into the house. She knew how to hold the screen door so it wouldn’t make a racket going back inside.

Sneezing into her sleeve, she was out of tissues until she got back home. Sheltering in front of the pharmacy, it continued to rain heavily.

Marin had wanted to sneak out her bedroom window, climb up the aerial and watch the stars and the moon on her roof. But her flu and the rain made that impossible.

“Care for some assistance m’lady?”

Marin gave a funny look to the person that now held out the wide umbrella.

“What?” Was all she got got before she took in the guy, he had a costume that looked like it had walked out of a video game or another. “I mean,” Marin continued. “That's a really good costume.”

He held out the umbrella still, looking at her quizzically. “Come again?”

“Uh, a costume? that’s a really good version of Ardyn.”

“Ah, is that all? Well.” He moved the umbrella a little closer and offered his elbow to Marin.

Marin flinched, the costume was cool and all. But the guy’s swagger was so real to the character, it had the same creepy vibe of the villain she had just seen in the game. That one was numbered ‘Fifteen.’ Or Fourteen or something.

“Don’t touch me! Sorry, I’m just getting over the flu.”

“Suit yourself.” He held the umbrella half over the layers and layers of scarves and coats, even the same fedora with the same gray-ish black-ish color to it. Holding the umbrella over Marin, she now had shelter from the rain. The guy’s perfect Ardyn wig was starting to get wet on the far side, water dribbling down the fedora in the not-quite red hair with a purple-ish tinge to it.

“Thanks.” Marin said, able to catch the green light right then. As well as stretch over the puddle growing by the curb.

Marin only halted once, The Ardyn-looking guy stopping with her, halfway across the cross walk. A car had jumped the lines, stopping a few feet into the cross walk in front of her and the guy holding the umbrella.

They both watched silently as the car in front of them slowly pulled back behind the crosswalk lines. Marin wanted to thump the car on the hood, but decided to only glare at the driver. While she and the umbrella-wielder, crossed to the other side.

After stepping over the last puddle, onto the curb, the man started up a conversation.

“What on Earth would you being doing out like this anyway?”

“Mmm.” she stood by the road, the guy was so into character it was weird and she wasn’t sure if she wanted him to know where she lived. “I’ll be better soon.”

“Ideally.” The drawl was the same.

‘This guy.’ She thought.

“So, is this where you live?” He looked up at the tree Marin had stopped under.

“Uh, no.” she looked up at the tree in the cement box on the corner. Looking to her street. “It’s that way.”. ‘I don’t know this guy. I don’t want him to follow me home.’

The rain showed no sign of letting up.

Marin sighed and let the man and his umbrella come with her closer to her street. It had nothing to do with his costume, and everything to do with him being a stranger.

Marin made costumes for fun herself, sometimes her costumes had a certain lack of coverage for accuracy. But they were like a mask. She could change into her street clothes and go home, leaving the creeps behind at conventions.

This Ardyn was just so skillfully made, he had that undertone of creepiness by playing the fool that actually knew more than you.

“Thanks.” Marin told him. “Aren’t you worried about getting all that fabric soaked?”

“Hmm?” He played the part so well. He seemed not to have noticed that the rain was soaking the other side. “Oh, yes. I’ve had worse things in my clothes.”

Marin chuckled at the joke. His act was so good. “There a con tonight I didn’t know about?”

“Hmm?”

“A con-ven-tion?” she said slowly, “That’s a prize winning costume there.”

“Ohhh, you play as well? With costumes? Who are you today?”

Marin looked at him funny, he was sticking to his character the whole time. She stopped at the head of her street. The man stopped alongside her, keeping his umbrella in place to shield Marin.

“Er, not right now.” she was struggling for an exit, some reason to leave the dry protection of the umbrella. “Anyway, I got it from here. Thanks.” Marin took a single step.

He followed her a step, holding out the umbrella. “But it’s still raining.”

Marin waved him off, “no. It’s fine. No reason to go out of your way any further.” she had a route in her mind, to zip out of view. She could go out of sight down the driveway of the neighbor’s place three doors down.

“Well, then. I shan't hold you. ‘Become better soon’ As it were.” He gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” she waved halfheartedly. She wasn’t fast enough to evade the touch “You too.” Marin had her hood up and was off under the trees down the street.

Looking back, she could see the guy, he had moved the umbrella to fully shield himself now. He watched her from the corner as she went down the driveway.

Heart pounding, she didn’t stop until she was under the eaves in the backyard. The rain had dampened her pull over and puddles had soaked the legs of her pants.

Taking a few deep breaths, she calmed herself even as her heart pounded. Counting to thirty, she peeked around the corner.

The Ardyn-looking guy was gone. The street lights lit up so much of her street. There were no shadows big enough to hide the man or his umbrella.

Sighing with relief, she walked up the three lots to her own house. Holding the screen door carefully, she fished her key out, nearly fumbling it. There was something else in that pocket.

“Fuck!” she swore quietly to herself as she managed to not make a noise getting inside.

Leaving her wet flip flops by the door. She held up her wet pant legs and went back to bed.

Leaving the medicine on her desk and hung up her wet clothes. When she fished out the addition in her pocket.

She cursed when she realized that she hadn’t notice the man slip something into that pocket.

“What the fuck?” It was the size of a silver dollar, but looked made of gold or plated or something. And on it was the head of a giant chicken-like bird. Both sides had that. It was a trick coin that looked like a Chocobo from the Final Fantasy series. But the design of the prop was unfamiliar to her.

Since Marin had gotten back from the hospital, she was still on leave from school since the spring, while going in and out of hospital the whole time. She had turned eighteen while waiting for group therapy. Which complicated her treatment, her doctor and current therapist. Leaving her on her own at home until she got off one wait list or another.

Her life was at a standstill, meanwhile everyone she knew was back to school by now. While Marin had no idea which way anything was going for her, because she had been born so ‘early’ in September. Things would have been so much easier if she had been born a month or two later. Instead of being shunted from one list to another, so suddenly.

But when one had blackouts of a mental breakdown, after which they woke up in the hospital. They didn’t get to choose how old or young they were when it happened.

Marin knew Ardyn was real, at least his costume was. She had managed to go this long without seeing or hearing anything, despite the labels her doctor had wanted to give her. She had never seen things. He had touched her shoulder, as weirdly as the guy had stuck to character. She picked up the coin again, it must have been plated to look like fake gold. Whatever it was made of, this object was real.

Marin had the thought to bite the coin with her teeth, test for gold. But the thought of doing that to something someone else had touched was gross. So she left her curiosity unsatisfied.

Marin couldn’t touch, or really even measure what had happened to her in the spring. She couldn’t remember what happened in any of her ‘fugues’ or black outs. But she could breath slowly and relax, like she had been taught in the mindfulness classes. And she could touch and know what was real and not real.

Dropping the coin on her night stand, she chastised herself for all her practice of sleight of hand, thanks to Jamie. And the guy had gotten one over her anyway.

“There’s always someone better than you.” Marin reminded herself as she sat in her desk chair, now in dry clothes.

Flicking her television on with her toe, she switched over to one of the older games.

Weird was not bad, she was an artist herself. She just didn’t like strangers knowing where she lived. ‘That Ardyn was just an act.’ She thought to herself. That guy wasn’t really a creep.

He was also gone, so it was a moot point. And she got two for one for the whole thing. His umbrella kept her dry and she got a prop out of it.

The Play Station four finally whirred to life. The familiar tune of the machine booting up, then the retro game. She settled in to finishing Final Fantasy Seven better this time. To get her mind off of any lingering worries before bed.

It was no starlit night of sneaking onto the roof. But video games would have to do.

---

Marin stretched the sleep out of her, the curtains didn’t hide that it was daylight now. Her phone buzzed on her desk. She had had it on vibrate only ever since she put a charge back into it. There were no phones allowed with her at the hospital. Based on the length her phone shook, it was just a message or some app going off.

Flipping the coin over in her hand. The thing was heavier than it looked. It was also a two-headed coin. Or two-tailed, the Chocobo tail was behind the head. Whatever the deal with the coin was, it was a trick coin.

‘I should call Jamie.’ she thought. Marin hadn’t seen her girlfriend since before her first blackout. Leaving Jamie and everyone else behind at the restaurant.

Rolling over onto her belly, she examined the coin instead. Mind full of regret, she thought ‘Who would love a crazy person like me?’

Marin was mortified, embarrassed and ashamed for what had happened. And being a minor in the underage ward. There were no if’s and's or but’s to visitors. Parent or guardian only.

To Marin’s bad luck, only her mother had visited in that time. Her mom walked around in her own cocoon of shame. Her daughter had gone crazy and that made her look bad as a parent. For letting things go so far.

The only salve to the whole thing was that her mother had never had a problem with Marin’s need for her binders. Like really involved sport’s bras for holding down Marin’s breasts. Making her look less feminine, on the days she needed it.

Her mother would swear up and down about every slight anyone inflicted on her daughter. Her gender-fluid daughter was a treasure. But mental illness was bad optics for the family. Self-expression was one thing, but ‘crazy’ was weakness and a whole other thing in this house.

And no amount of advocating for her treasure, would convince the nurses that the binder was something Marin was allowed in the ward. No matter how Marin felt, on the days when she needed it. Marin didn’t want to be seen a certain way or referred to with certain pronouns on those days. But too many of the nurses didn’t care, no matter how angry Marin’s mother got.

After the last argument like that. Marin would of rather had no visitors. And an emotionally distant father not visit, compared to her toxic mother being nearby. If Jamie could love a crazy person, Marin would have wanted her girlfriend to visit. That place had been horrible, and Marin had felt at her most vulnerable. Jamie deserved better than that.

Marin moved her phone to somewhere soft so she wouldn’t hear it vibrate.

It had been the worst night of her life, and she didn’t remember most of it either. She didn’t want to remember whatever happened in the black outs anyway. Her doctor had called it fugue. Marin called them blackouts, even if there was no memory of them, not even a blacked out one, there were just missing pieces in her memory. First she was somewhere, then she was somewhere else, with nothing in between. Gaps in her memory she didn’t even know were there unless someone told her she had been out of sorts for the last 3 hours. Hours that, to her, never existed. Like the space between paragraphs in a book “3 hours later.” there was nothing in her brain from those times.

Some girls were mortified because they left the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to their shoe. Or they had said the wrong word at a party and everyone laughed at them. Marin had lost touch with reality in front of her best friend, who was also her girlfriend. And neither of them had come out to anyone but their mutual best-friend.

That meet-up at the restaurant had included many of their friends and their acquaintances. Worst of all, it was a meeting of other costumers, talking about this show or that comic book or another table top role-playing game someone wanted to get people into.

The only way it could have been worse was if it had happened at school. No, the restaurant was the worst place it could happen. Marin had had more closer friends in that restaurant than in any of her classes.

Whether or not she could graduate with her peers next June, she would never see most of them again after graduation. But her local convention friends were friends for life. They were supposed to be friends for their lives beyond school. Some of them were already working or in college or something. Half of them were teenagers at this or that school. The rest were graduated and supposed to be the friends of hers that had left high school behind them.

She flipped the coin in her hand again, Marin had never owned a trick coin before. After video games and materials to make her own costumes, she had no money for a prop as nice as this one.

Trick coins and show props were Jamie’s thing. She had complained to Marin about a classmate, an amateur magician, teaching Jamie these tricks. He was waiting for Jamie to turn eighteen. Just so Jamie would ‘be cool’ with the sorts of assistant costumes people wore in Vegas.

Marin remembered that she had missed Jamie’s birthday as well, last August. Had Marin’s life not gone for this loop, she would have told Jamie to leave the guy’s show. To double-down on Jamie not helping him prepare for the Christmas talent show. At least Jamie and the guy were the same age, but Jamie talking about trick hand cuffs and breaking out of them, it all sounded kinda creepy. Even more so with the costume Jamie might be asked to wear.

Marin thoughts jumped to her very first hospital stay, a couple of years ago. That time had been for a physical injury. There had been no shame or mortification among her friends. And it wasn’t like this. It was not the confusing mess that mental illness made of everything.

Marin couldn’t remember the incident a the restaurant. But what she could remember made her never want to face any of those people again. ‘How could I let this happen?’ This time she had lost everything.

She had also changed on the meds her doctors had her trying, her binders did not fit her torso anymore, from the weight gain. The pullover she had worn to the pharmacy had covered the profile she didn't want to see reflected in the pharmacy’s front window. She didn’t want to look at herself today, hiding in the baggy clothes. Clothes that were less baggy today, compared to months ago. Marin hated every aspect of this. From her cowardice, to being stuck at home, the lack of routine, everything.

Being around too many people riled up Marin’s anxiety less and less over time, shopping for better fitting clothes could happen soon. Just as soon as she could pry her mother away from that couch and television.

The city had lots of other conventions, other occasions to wear her costumes. But everyone at that spring meet-up went to at least a few of them. It was a tight knit community, there would be no hiding trying to make new friends that hadn't heard of her breakdown, not forever. Not that she wanted new friends. ‘I’m not safe around anybody. I should just stay here,’ Marin thought. To hell with her counselor’s advice on no self-shame. She had punched one person one too many times above zero. She didn’t even remember doing it. Only seeing her hands the next day, and feeling how much they hurt.

That was why there was no one celebrating Marin’s September birthday. She had not talked to any of her friends in months. Especially not Jamie. There had been no party, no gather, nothing. Marin had just suffered her time at home, in stretchy pants, playing video games. She had self-isolated herself in her shame.

She had also run out of characters she could wear costumes that would cover her scars. Though now her mental illness came with it’s own problems. She did not wear those mental scars were people could see, but all her friends would have known.

If Marin would even leave the house again. If she could even bring herself to work on a new costume. But lately, even finishing a game had been a struggle at first. And now that she had been at it for a while. Doing anything else was hard.

She swore to herself, ‘I’m not safe around people. I’m not even safe to myself. Besides, they never needed me anyway.’

Marin put a pillow on top of her phone, she didn’t even want to see the screen light up with another notification.

Her friends were not going to wait forever for her to heal. Marin wasn’t sure if she ever would ‘get better’ completely. She had a lot of baggage for an eighteen year-old. Marin wasn’t sure if she would ever be free of it.

Video games would get her mind off it though, when she wasn’t poking at the bundle of homework her mother had gotten from the school.

Marin’s stomach grumbled. She dropped her face into her pillow. If she slept in a little longer, breakfast could wait. Then she could do enough homework so that her mother wouldn’t yell at her. Then back to video games.

At least math and video games didn’t have baggage. They did not trigger more blackouts.

‘I’m sorry Jamie,’ she apologized silently. ‘ I don’t want to hurt you like I did whoever I punched. I’m not safe.’

Her knuckles had been bruised when she had woken up in the hospital, on her hands and arms. Someone had gotten hurt when she had fugued in the restaurant. Since that day, no one had brought up that little detail to her. There were no charges, no consequences to follow Marin out of that restaurant.

Just her ruined life.

Turning her head to the side to breathe, she pulled the blanket over her eyes to block the daylight and nap some more. ‘I am not safe.’

She tossed the coin on her nightstand and decided to nap the morning away.

---

Chapter Text

Marin was falling, falling far.

Hey body jolted, she wasn’t falling anymore.

She wasn’t cold anymore. She was warm, very, very, warm. She couldn’t move.

Opening her eyes, she was in front of a fire place. Her house didn’t have a fire place, her parent’s had had the chimney and fireplace removed to save on the utility bill. The rug Marin was looking at was a style she had never seen before. The couch or bed she was in was in a rustic design but it also looked newly made.

“Shelly! She’s awake!” A man yelled to deeper in the house.

Marin shivered and tried to reach out of the bundle of blankets she had been swathed in.

“Don’t move.” He told her. “You nearly died of cold.”

A clay cup was proffered to her for drinking. She was able to get one hand around it. It was some kind of herbal tea, it was also blessedly warm.

“Are you OK?” the older man asked.

Marin wanted to cough, with a sore throat, “yeah.”

“What were you doing out there dressed like that?” He asked Marin, as a woman came in with a tray of food.

“Where am I?” Marin asked him. ‘I’m alive. What is this even?’

“Icicle Inn, dear.” the woman said. Laying the tray of soup and a bread roll on an ottoman next to Marin.

“What?” the name bothered her and Marin did not know why. “Where?” she looked around, grounding herself. ‘I must have completely lost it.’ She was convinced that she was finally as crazy as she was afraid of. She had been in North America in September. Where had she gone? How? “When?” ‘How?’

“The north pole dear. In September. how could you forget?” Shelly told Marin.

That made even less sense. “Uhh.”

“She needs rest, Shelly. Leave her be.” He said, shuttling off Shelly somewhere else in the house.

Marin freed her other arm, she needed to hold the cup with both hands. Her stomach grumbled. The night had been very dark and that morning before breakfast felt a very long time ago.

“Here.” He came back and gestured to the tray. “Eat something. The food will help keep you warm.”

The roll didn’t taste like any bun she had had before. It was fresh, whatever the ingredients. Marin would not have been able to tell yeast from flour, just that as she mindfully ate the bread, it was unfamiliar to her. The Green tea had a floral scent as well, and not one she recognized either. ‘Is there a flowery green tea I just don’t know of?’

“Um, thank you?” Marin offered the man.

He felt Marin’s forehead and nodded to himself. “You’re gonna be all right.”

He sat down on another chair in front of the fire. Clinking and noises came from the kitchen, Shelly was doing something in the small house.

“But uh,” He peered behind Marin, towards Shelly’s noises. “I have a favor to ask.”

“Umm,” Marin buried her words in her bread roll.

“I thought I’d seen it all, until you knocked on the door, tonight of all nights as well.”

“Mm, hmm.” was all Marin said.

“Shelly, my wife, she still doesn’t believe our girl is gone.”

Marin was suddenly very uncomfortable. These people were not ruddy in the face, they had been crying.

“I don’t know how you got here. At this time of year, you would be dead dressed like that. It only takes a few minutes to freeze to death from cold here.”

“I still don’t know where here even is.” She turned the cup in her hand, she was out of tea.

“You know where north is, don’t you?”

Marin rolled her eyes, “I know what north is. But I don’t know how I got here. OR where here is. And now you’re asking me-”

“Shh, keep it quieter, please. I don’t want to disturb Shelly.”

Marin hissed the rest out, “I would like some answers before doing any favors.” she picked at the blanket wrapped around her, “I am grateful to have not frozen, I just. I don’t know what you're asking.”

The man sighed and sidled as close as his chair would allow. “My wife, I- do you have family?”

Marin sighed, “I do, but I don’t know where, other than south of here.” She thought that her home might be further away than just ‘South.’

“Everyone else lives south of this place.” He told her.

“I gathered.” She told him. “About this favor?” Thinking that, ‘I must be dreaming. When I wake up I’m going to call Jamie just to hear her voice again.’

“It’s my wife, I’m afraid she’s denying her grief. But there’s” He sighed, “It’s more than that. I just want her to be comfortable.”

Marin didn’t say anything.

He continued, “She’s always been fragile, now, with Janine-” he choked up, “with her gone. I’m afraid she won’t hold herself together. You know what I mean?”

Marin remembered the funeral of her other best friend, Danny. It had been barely a month later before Marin had gone mad. Marin had been having minor problems for months before, but Danny going had pushed her the rest of the way over the edge. “I think I know what you mean too well.” Her grief had made everything harder, include hold herself together.

“So you understand, about my wife being…delicate? She doesn’t see things the way the rest of us do”

“Mmm.” ‘That makes two of us,’ Marin thought.

“I just, where are you from?”

Marin guffawed, “Nowhere around here.”

“Nowhere, eh?.”

“Well, you speak English, so we can’t be that far from North America.”

“North who-now? English? What language is that?”

“What.” Marin put her cup down and rubbed her eyes. “What country is nearest here going south?”

“Country? There haven’t been countries in a long time. But Corel is the next nearest larger town across the north seas.”

“What. What do you mean no countries?”

“Did you come out of time, girl? Wutai is the only independent country left.”

‘No.’ She realized ‘Nononononono.’ The names clicked in her brain.

“Every other city or state is under control of the benevolent ShinRa corporation.”

“What?!?” After crying aloud, she swore in her mind, ‘I’m fucking dreaming.’

“Is everything all right in their Henry?”

He waved her down reassuringly and shouted back to his wife. “We’re fine Shelly. Everything is fine.”

“Is Janine eating yet?” Shelly yelled from the kitchen.

“Yep, the bun is gone. Delicious! Right?” He asked Marin.

She only nodded. Thinking, ‘Corel, Wutai. ShinRa. Fucking ShinRa. I’m in a fucking video game. This isn’t real.’ “None of this is real,” she mumbled under her breath.

“All gone Shelly!” the man shouted back.

Shelly went back to doing whatever she was doing in the kitchen.

“Keep your voice down, please.” He hissed at her.

“Who’s Janine?” she asked, whispering.

“My daughter.” He whispered back. “My late daughter.”

Marin buried her face in her hands. “I’m dreaming, I’m dreaming. I’m going to wake up and call Jamie about this crazy-dream I had where I was stuck in Icicle Inn-whatever.” she mumbled to herself in a stream of words.

Looking back up at Harold, she rubbed one of the blankets between her fingers, she even sniffed it.

Marin couldn’t remember feeling that cold in a dream. She had not had nightmares since she was little. The fire smelled like a fire. She hadn’t been this warm in a dream either. She didn’t remember if she had ever tasted tea or bread. She vaguely remembered eating and drinking. But this was real, more real than anything she had ever dreamed.

Even her hallucinations had only ever been sound, someone mumbling at a distance, before it had become someone calling her name from far away to giving her advice she refused to follow. Distant whisperings before she started blacking out. Whatever happened after that was gone from her memory. But she always came back to herself later, to live with the consequences of what she had done, that she couldn’t remember doing.

And now Marin was in the house of someone she had surprising things in common with. Marin wasn’t afraid of Shelly becoming violent. Even Marin knew that her own punch was so rare in any situation resembling hers. People who became ill this way were far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.

Marin gathered her thoughts. She was trapped in a video game, Final Fantasy Seven in fact. She recognized the names before that fucking corporation had been mentioned. This was surreal for her. But it also felt, smelt, and seemed real. As real as her own bedroom.

The man watched Marin, concerned “Would you like something more to drink?” He asked her.

Marin only nodded.

Harold had her tea refilled too quickly for her to form another question.

“I think my real family is very, very far away from here.” she said.

“Everywhere is far from here.”

“I need-” she cut herself off. She didn’t know what she needed. Marin didn’t know where to go or what to do.

Her sniffles were gone, she was still hungry, the aches from the flu were gone. Marin wanted to stretch. She also wanted to run and hide.

“Are you OK?” He asked her, concern in his face as he felt her forehead again.

Marin nodded, “I will be.”

She glanced in the direction of the door outside. At this point she was expecting all the characters from the game to come bursting in.

Marin needed more time, she needed more information. She thought, ‘Maybe everything is over and done with and I have nothing to worry about.’

The ‘northern lights’ had been peeking out from behind the curtain of mountains far from the town. They weren’t northern lights, they were too low.

Marin remembered, she had been playing this game hours ago. Those lights were a wound in the world as bits of Lifestream were trying to heal the hole in the ground. They tried to heal the wound the same way that a cut bled until platelets could scab over the wound.

‘Of course I’m in a video game I’ve played a bunch of times.’ She thought to herself.

“I need some time.” was all she could say.

“Are you hungry?” He gestured at the broth on the tray.

She nodded. “uh. Umm.”

“Yes? Do you need help lifting it?”

Marin shook her head. “What was her name again?” She lowered her voice to ask, “Your daughter?”

“Janine.”

“I guess. Maybe. I don’t know.” she shook her head, “It doesn’t seem right, to lie to Shelly.” Marin looked in her broth. “But I’ve been there. It was my friend. And the grief, it hurt.” She thought to herself, ‘I was never the same after Danny died. And now I have black outs.’ Marin squeezed her eyes shut, the tears still escaped.

He rubbed her back reassuringly, “It’s all right, you don’t have too. What matters is that you’re safe in here.”

She silently asked herself, ‘Am I?’ “Um, yeah. Thanks.” she said aloud.

Marin didn’t know what to do or say, so she went with it, anxiety and all. She regretted letting the couple call her by a dead girl’s name for about a week.

Then after a week of food, shelter and a warm bed in the freezing north, she hardly gave it any further thought.

---

‘Janine’ kept to her room and bed. The girl had been sickly for a long time. It was a wonder that her clothes fit Marin well enough to stay inside. She could keep to herself on the days she missed her binders, holed up in her room where no one could see Marin be uncomfortable in her own skin.

Watching the town be itself from her window.

There seemed a community to the place, from watching the locals out Janine’s bedroom window. The couple barely had visitors to the ‘sick house’ in town. Harold clearly had friends out of the house and a job. Shelly kept house and brought food to Marin/Janine.

‘Small town, big bigots.’ Marin thought, when she noticed that people avoided this house. Leaving Shelly and Harold to their business.

From the little bedroom under the peak of the roof of the tiny house. She had a smaller window with glass that wasn’t exactly smooth. As well as thick curtains to keep out the freezing draft.

Shelly would bring Marin hot coals in a bed warmer to keep the bed warm. ‘Icicle Inn’ as Marin knew it, was very cold all year round. And the nights were absolutely freezing. Even in the ‘autumn’ of September in this world.

Marin could watch the town from her south-facing window. She could see people bustling about through nearly-smooth glass. It must have been hand blown as smooth as could be managed.

She could not make out much from the faces, people were bundled up, so thickly, from the cold. Only the way they moved around or to each other.

Marin could also observe the two black helicopters land just outside the town, and the people that spilled out of it in warm uniforms.

Through the glass, she couldn’t make out any sign on the vehicles. Though She knew of only one organization that deployed black helicopters on this planet. ‘ShinRa,’ she thought of that word like it was a curse.

Marin, as Janine, sat in the second-closet house to the biggest one in the tiny village. That one was some abandoned manor house that was kept locked. She suspected that she knew exactly what was inside, secrets.

And from her tiny window she had the best view to the scene that unfolded below the town.

ShinRa made it’s presence known, but otherwise did not hassle the locals. Not even the tourists that had come here this time of year.

Harold had filled her in on the happenings over the week. There had been a boom the night she had appeared in the snow, a bright light.

It sounded to Marin like a shooting star had come to earth and exploded just above the surface of the ground, north of town. Not that far away from Harold’s house in fact.

Marin had stumbled through the dark, to the door of this very house. Before anyone had been outside, it took a while to dress warmly enough to go out in the cold here.

The whole town had been looking over a particular spot come morning.

A circle in the earth, like a bomb had gone off, exposing the dirt below the permanent snow-cover over the ground. No fallen star or meteorite had been found.

Marin understood that meteorites acted like that, but the locals had not. Someone had thought that a bomb or a weapon had gone off. There had been arguing about an asteroid vs a weapon vs something stranger.

Marin was kept in her room, using the name of a sickly girl that no one barely new. Janine had been too sick to have played with other kids.

The room had been very lonely with only her two ‘adopted’ parents as visitors. There was nothing to do but sleep or watch the town. It had been driving Marin up the wall.

Janine had had a few books to herself, but she was no bookworm. There were only vintage-looking fiction novels that didn’t interest Marin. They had the appeal of being the popular media of a video game world. But it was more exciting for her to replay a memory of a video game or book, from earth, in her head. Thinking, ‘I’m sorry, Janine, I was just never interested in popular fiction.’ Even if that ‘normal’ was a world with monsters and magic, the regular fiction here was just people being people.

Someone in a long, black, fur-lined coat knocked on the door downstairs. The visitors had finally made their way to this house.

Marin wrapped another blanket around her, the room was warm enough, but she felt like shivering.

Thinking to herself, ‘A fallen star might be how I got here. But how did I get from my home on Earth to this snow?’

She sipped the last of her cold tea. The visitor downstairs hadn’t stayed for long. Whoever they were they did not have questions for a ‘sickly’ girl. And the black coat proceeded out of Marin’s sight, to investigate whatever had happened.

Marin thought, ‘I miss you Jamie.’ She wanted to be held by someone that didn’t feel a stranger. Even her damn mother would be a welcome sight now. She’d rather be in that house than here. This was not her home, her home was her home.

Marin regretted the thought. This house was tense and uncomfortable, but in a different way than the one she had grown up in. This was not her house, these were not her real parents, in Icicle Inn.

And as strange as this place was, it didn’t hurt to exist. It was stressful to be bored, but in a different way that merely existing with her real family. Jamie was not a phone call away anymore. Her mom’s cat wouldn’t warm her bed here.

Her mom was not here though, no screaming, breaking things, dark moods or anything. There was no way she would see Jamie here though. For a day, she had forgotten why she hadn’t seen her friends in so long. No TV, no video games, no nerdy conventions, no crafting things to keep her busy. None of the comforts of home that she used to distract herself from her mother. No way to apologize for ghosting Jamie, no friend’s house to retreat to to get away from her parents.

The ShinRa people were back in view, dragging a sled to the north end of town. Things had quieted down some. There was a knock at her bedroom door.

“Yes?”

Harold poked his head in, “How are you?”

“OK, I guess.” she brought her voice down, “I was dying of boredom. What’s going on out there?”

Harold shrugged, “The headman couldn’t get anyone to agree on if a bomb went off or something fell out of the sky, or if one of the monsters north of here was getting too close to town.” He shrugged. “The hunters had already been over the area, there’s nothing to find out there.” He looked her in the eye and looked away, abashed. “Yep, nothing unusual happened. So there was nothing to tell the nice man from ShinRa that was knocking at our door. I think he said he was an Auditor from General Affairs?”

Marin squeezed her lips together then licked them. “Thanks?” The name of the department reminded Marin of something, she put it aside for now.

“You’re welcome. Janine.” He turned to leave.

“Oh wait.”

“Yeah?” Harold put his head back in the room.

“Is there really nothing to do?” She asked.

“People work or help with tourists in the day, chop wood, and so on. But...”

“And hobbies?”

“Janine she-I mean you-read a lot.”

Marin looked down at the floor, “I read other kinds of books. I’m sorry.” she looked around the room. “Before I-” she cut herself off “I make and sew things, and play music.” she shrugged, “I understand if crafting supplies are hard to come by in a town this remote.” she smiled a little. “I just, even if she- if I didn’t before. I just need something to pass the time.”

“What sort of musical instruments do you mean?”

Marin shrugged, “A few” she named off the six instruments she knew how to play at a beginner skill level. Icicle Inn didn’t have guitars or pianos. It turned out that an ocarina flute was a Wutai instrument that they also didn’t have. But Harold would try to find what he could for her.

After a few more hours, the sled was dragged back to the helicopters, it had some things piled on top. They might have been rocks, those people had found something after all.

Harold had found her a few things with which to play with. As well as some note paper she could write music onto.

Marin didn’t know what to do or say here. At the top of the world, where nothing was happening, Marin tried to keep up her music hobby. For now, it was all she had. It calmed her nerves enough that it gave her time to think and figure out what to do.

---

Bundled up against the cold, Marin had finagled Harold into walking around town with him. With snow goggles and even a scarf to cover her face. ‘Janine’ was able to go about town, chaperoned.

Marin had been getting stir crazy before whatever had happened, had put her here. Even with the wind and cold biting what little of her skin was still exposed. It was good to walk around for once.

Marin nodded to the next person Harold introduced her too. It was another one of his friends. She was looking around, paying half attention to the people that asked Harold how he was, how Shelly was. And how it was so good for Janine to be strong enough to leave the house and walk around a bit.

The real Janine had died days before. She was buried in the back yard, with the rest of the family remains. For Shelly’s sake, Harold hadn’t told anyone. It was very sticky and awkward.

Marin had no idea how much she looked like Janine. But Shelly had bought it, and with Marin so bundled up, she was close enough to looking like Janine to pass. People saw Harold and heard him introduce his never-seen sickly daughter Janine. So that’s what people saw when they looked at Marin.

She was momentarily distracted from another friend of Harold’s, in this town, everyone knew everybody, even if Janine had not left her own house in a long time. People in town knew of her.

Marin caught sight of a familiar umbrella walking away from them.

“Hold that thought,” She told Harold, zipping after the umbrella.

“Janine?” He looked about to follow.

“Be right back!” she called back to him.

The person Harold had been talking to said something about his daughter getting better. Marin was quickly moving out of earshot.

There wasn’t very far to go. Even though Icicle Inn was bigger than the video game had led her to believe, it was still a very small community. Small enough to cross on foot even in the miserably cold weather.

Icicle Inn was cold to very cold all year round. With half the people there were tourists there for the resort half of the village. And when the weather was merely cold, Marin was told that the number of visitors would triple. Some might even be foolish enough to try to climb the mountain range north of town.

This meant that Marin quickly caught up to that dumb umbrella. As it went around the corner of someone’s fenced in yard. It was merely a picket fence, to remind the neighbors of the property line, the short fence offered no real privacy. Nor did the fence hide Ardyn from view.

He just stood there with his back to her, watching some people freeze in the winds of downhill skiing and snowboarding just outside of the village.

It was all Icicle Inn, but Marin defined the ‘town’ by the areas that people lived in it all year round.

Marin approached ‘Ardyn’ full of questions.

“Found your own ‘costume’ to ‘play’ in I see.” He said.

“What are you doing here?” she said.

“Hmph.” Was all he said.

“How did you get here?” she asked, then the flood gate opened. “How did I get here? Why am I here? Are you even really Ardyn? What-”

He interrupted her, “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

She looked confused at the back of his head, “What? no. I-”

“And where is your token?”

“What token?”

“That thing I gave you the other day.”

“What? The coin?” Marin patted her pockets out of habit, “I left it at home.”

“Is that what it looks like?” Ardyn mused.

“You gave it to me!” Marin demanded.

“Then you lost it.” he stated.

She flexed her hands in her mitts, imagining squeezing nothing in particular. “I didn’t lose that coin. I was at home, and now I’m here.”

“Mmm.” He only gave a non-committal sound.

“You’re being an idiot. What is going on?”

“I’m not the one asking the wrong questions.” Ardyn told her.

“Oh for. Is this the part where you’re going to be all cryptic and give me no real answers? Can you please, tell me what’s going on?”

“I will admit, at least you’re being polite.”

“That’s not an answer.” She told him, sighing, “Then what should I be asking?”

“I’d only be doing you a disservice for giving you all the answers now.” He smiled in an Ardyn way with a lopsided grin.

Marin held her forehead with one of the giant mitts. “Then why even show up, looking like him?” She gestured at his outfit. The only difference from when she last saw the man, was that he was no longer soaked with rain. He only had a rime of snow on his shoes and the hem of his layered clothes.

“Hmm? I still look like who?”

“Don’t you even know what you look like?” she asked.

“Why yes, I believe I do. You, however, need some work.”

“Work? With what I look like? Excuse me for not wanting to freeze to death.”

He laughed, “You mistake me. I meant how you see me. But yes, those clothes are abysmal. They aren’t even yours.”

Marin covered her mouth, she want to shout at him. “What is this even about?”

“I came to check on you, move things along as it were, replace your token.” His not blackened fingers were wearing Ardyn’s finger-less gloves. He appeared to be in many layers, yet they weren’t warm enough for this weather. He held something in his hand and curled her mitt around it. “Mayhaps you don’t lose this one.”

Marin cupped the tiny object with her giant mitts.

It was a simple moon pendant, missing it’s necklace chain. She had played that video game too. Someone’s necklace pendant from Final Fantasy Fifteen.

“This isn’t the coin.” She told him. She had to play cold potato, taking one of her mitts off, so she could get it into a pocket without dropping either in the snow.

“What does it look like?” He asked her.

Marin set her jaw, “You gave it to me. Don’t you know?”

‘Ardyn’ shrugged. “I was hoping that this talk would be more productive. What do I look like to you?”

Marin scrunched her eyebrows. She thought he wanted more than the most obvious answer, but that was all she knew to say. “You only look like Ardyn?”

The man made a very Ardyn-like melodramatic bow.

“What are you, really?” Marin asked him.

“As much as I would like to entertain that question. I don’t think you have the time for a useful explanation.”

Marin frowned at him, “Yeah, fine. I’m just a silly dumb woman. Who nobody tells anything until everything blows up in my face. Are you going to give me some real information, or just be cryptic with answers or more questions?”

He chuckled, “If you’re going to be flustered that easily, there’s not much I can do to help you.”

Marin rolled her eyes, even though the snow goggles made that gesture invisible to the man, whoever he really was. “Can you at least tell me something?”

“It’s very cold today.”

Marin rolled her eyes again. “Something useful. Please and thank you.”

“Well, now that you’ve said please...” he trailed off, pausing dramatically. “I was hoping that you would know better than to ask me what you yourself can figure out on your own. But in return for being polite, I warn you against whiling away your time here. Mayhaps leave, travel the world, and what it has to offer while you’re still here.”

“It’s dangerous out there alone,” Marin intoned. Some line from some other game.

“What if I told you it was less wise to stay here Marin, I mean Janine or whatever your name is now.”

Marin glared at Ardyn, she had never told him her name, either of them. “You have any other questions with which to answer my questions?”

“What do you want?” He asked.

Marin’s lips thinned, “What sort of question is that?”

“Now who is answering a question with a question?”

Marin sighed, trying to keep her cool. This whole thing was frustrating her to no end, for nothing. “What do I want? What do I want.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I want to go home.”

“Do you really?”

Her eyes narrowed from behind her goggles, she wanted to believe it herself. She wanted to be back on earth, but not her mom’s house. “I want to go back to earth.”

“Hmm? And what else?”

“I want to see Jamie again.” She swallowed, she hadn’t wanted to say it out loud. But this guy was leaving her flustered.

“Anything else?”

“Why? Why ask me? I didn’t ask to be here. So what does it matter what I want?”

“Hmm? Oh nothing. Nothing at all.”

Marin gave the guy the side eye. It even sounded like Ardyn’s sarcastic ‘I know nothing, yet i secretly know everything’ tone from the game Ardyn was from. “So why even ask me? Is it gonna cost me?”

He smirked in a very Ardyn-like fashion. “Finally, the right questions. they’re just being said a little out of order.”

Marin opened her mouth to ask further.

He continued before she spoke, “Anyway, who is that heading over here?”

Marin turned to see that Harold was catching up to her. Turning back to Ardyn to ask her next question. He wasn’t there anymore.

She looked down at the ground where he had stood. The wind kicked up, driving the eternal snows and the lack of footprints Ardyn had left behind.

Marin was alone when Harold approached.

“There you are,” He said. “What are you doing back here?”

“I thought I saw someone I recognized.” she stared off to the ski hills ahead of her.

“Oh, really? Did you, did you know them?”

“Nope. No idea who they were.” Marin lied. Though she didn’t think any explanation of ‘Ardyn’ would be useful.

“Well, it’s cold. So how’s about we go home?”

“Sure.”

---

Marin held the moon pendant in her hand. She touched it with her other finger just to be sure it was real. Whoever they really were, they weren’t Ardyn. He was a fictional character that she really heard and talked to, but ‘Ardyn’ was jut a mask for whoever he really was.

This token he had given her, it was a physical object. She figured that the coin was still in her bedroom, on another planet.

Some jerk, wearing Ardyn’s visage like a mask, had given her some instructions and fucked off on her with no concrete answers. ‘Keep this token.’ He had told her, ‘don’t stay here.’ as well. Everything else had been confusion and riddles.

She threw the pendant as hard as she could against the wall. The thing plinked twice after she threw it. The object made a little noise hitting the wall and again as it bounced on the wooden floor.

Harold had given her a calendar, with a date. He even supplied her with Janine’s birthday. But it was meaningless. Even the nonsense of living in a world where the calendar made sense. How the yesterday she knew on Earth, was the same day in September here, yesterday. But had no emperor Augustus in this world’s history, it made no sense. It could have been the year 2082 CE here. It really didn’t matter.

Her brain was still full of so many bits of the game, not that it was very useful to her right now. Icicle Inn from the game was not the one she sat in. It was like the game she had jut played was a sketchy shadow of the place she sat in.

And out there, somewhere, the events of the game were possibly happening right now. That made her shiver again. Classic story, about love, revenge and trying to save the world. While Marin huddled for warmth in a blanket, and time passed her by on two planets.

The Wound was still chilling the air north of here, so as far as she knew, the events in the game were not behind them.

She fought the urge to punch that arrogant dick, Ardyn, in his face. A sentiment shared by the characters that Marin had played in the game Ardyn was from.

‘Last time I checked, Ardyn was cursed with immortality, not a world-hopper,’ she thought to herself.

Whoever, or whatever, she had spoken to, they wore Ardyn’s face, clothes, and body language like a hat. He had hinted that it was just a guise.

Her first conversation with him had been a week ago. The whole thing had been weird, but she couldn’t remember if he had introduced himself or if she had said the character’s name first.

“Augh!” she cried to herself, going to the floor. She poked around until she found where the pendant had landed.

The whole thing felt like an annoying trap. Her instincts told her what the mystery person was asking of her. But right at that moment, she had nothing else to go on.

Things were weird and would likely only get weirder from here. She really didn’t want to stay in this house. But she also didn’t want to go it alone in the wider world. Not without Jamie or another friend by her side. Honestly, she would rather be back on earth than gallivanting around this world. Who knows what kind of trouble or death she could find here?

Video games were so much more fun when the dangers in them were imaginary.

Licking her lips, she added the moon pendant to the chain already around her neck.

She had not been allowed to wear the ring Jamie had given her while in the hospital. The meds they had given her had the nasty side effect of making her favorite clothes not fit anymore. Even her baggy clothes were getting tight, if she had vegetated at home any longer. That left Jamie’s ring unable to fit Marin’s finger. A few weeks ago, Marin had put the ring on a necklace and wore all the time at home. The little fake emerald set in cheap silver might have been a humble gift. But it was from Jamie, and that made it valuable to Marin.

‘Jamie,’ She pleaded to herself, ‘I miss you.’

Whatever the ‘man’ had wanted or asked of her. She didn’t want it if it came from him. Not even Jamie, who was safer on Earth anyway.

Putting the necklace back under her shirt, where her ‘parents’, Harold and Shelly Dwyer, wouldn’t see it. She picked up the weak tea. Re-wrapping herself in blankets to reclaim some warmth.

---

Chapter Text

“Skiing? You want to go skiing?” Harold asked with surprise.

“Please?” Marin, as Janine, asked gently.

Her situation in the house made everything awkward. So while Shelly was at the grocer, Marin had asked Harold straight out.

“Janine, you’ve never skied before.”

“There’s a first for everything.”

“I dunno if you’re strong enough?” He pleaded.

Marin’s lips became very thin. “I feel stronger every day, lately.” she fed him the lie. Marin had never been sickly, that had been the state of the woman whose name she now used. But her health was not as delicate as Janine’s. At least Marin’s physical health was, mental health was a different issue.

At least she was too far away from the people she knew to wear her shame for what she did not remember.

Even when Shelly wasn’t around, the man felt better when Marin kept up appearances. Right now, he held all the cards, owned the house, worked for the food they ate and the clothes she wore. She had no independence, she risked her shelter in using her real name. She needed to get outside, out of that house.

So she tried to convince Harold to let her go skiing. Harold knew how to ski, Shelly knew how to ski. Janine had been too weak for that much exercise, until now.

Harold continued, “It takes a while to learn,” he was wringing his hands.

“One day. Will you let me try for one day.”

Later Marin was in her room, staring at the wall while Harold talked to Shelly.

Marin had been skiing cross country since she was six. It never took long for her to get acclimated to skis each winter. Her father had coached her and her sister how to walk on the backs of his skis.

It had been a couple of years since she had put on skis. But Marin was confident that it wouldn’t take long, and then she could have some time to herself on a trail, out of that house.

For sure, she needed only a few minutes to acclimate to skis. Whether it had been since the last winter, or years before. Marin could really get going on skis. And Icicle Inn had the facilities for various winter sports, especially for the tourists.

Janine, how ever, had never skied before that day.

‘Janine’ had also found her appetite the last week. Shelly was being the over protective mother. Providing a sliver of meat, and bowl after bowl of broth. Which were paired with fresh bread rolls. Sometimes there were vegetables from out of town, or tubers from the cellar.

Marin ate every bit and had started asking for more.

There was a knock at her bedroom door. “Janine?”

“Yes?” She opened it to Harold’s face.

“Tomorrow, we can go skiing tomorrow.”

Marin found herself grinning ear to ear.

“But-”

Her face fell.

“But only if it doesn’t endanger your health. Shelly doesn’t want you getting sicker.”

“Mmm, okay. Thanks.”

When the door close, she pumped the air with victory, silently. What brought her down to reality was the absurdity of the situation. She was on another world, trapped in a video game, asking for permission to go skiing.

Sighing, she missed the problems she had left behind on earth. Calling Jamie wasn’t scary anymore.

Skiing around the area, while this planet slowly died, seemed peak selfishness. The Northern-lights were the life blood of the planet leaking into the air from a two-thousand year-old crater. Give or take where in time Marin had arrived.

Real solutions to problems like this were outside of Icicle Inn. Marin was putting off leaving, doing something about the end of the world, or finding out how to return home.

Even fake-Ardyn had warned her of that.

But for now, for right now, she could get some exercise, get back into shape. So the couch potato she had turned into these last few months could make up for all the gym classes she had missed.

---

Harold had taken a while to get ‘Janine’ some skis. Everyone knew everyone that lived here. So he had chatted up the guy renting out skis.

Marin waited, trying not to show impatience, while she was fitted up and got her kit for skiing around.

Harold was bright talking about his ‘daughter’ and her improving health.

Marin just tried to stay out of his way as he caught up with the people he knew and she had never met.

There were no pictures of Janine at any age. But eighteen-year-old Marin could pass for a Janine that no one had seen for many years. “I remember when you were this tall.” Had come up a lot that day.

“Test them out.” the guy finally said as he showed her how to pull the harness around her boots.

They were an antiquated version of cross-country skis. They went over her normal boots. They didn’t click like the modern ones she was used to. But they pulled and pushed the same way. If anything, being easier to slip off would reduce injuries in a way.
Not that she planned to get hurt. Or Shelly might never let her go skiing again.

The guy led her to circle the little park while someone showed Harold the ropes.

Marin literally skied circles around them, once she was used to the sinew harness grabbing her snow boots.

There was more spring to these skis, but otherwise her muscle memory quickly took over.

“She’s never skied before?” the man asked, while Marin made another pass.

“No.” Harold looked lost.

“She’s a natural.”

“Thanks.” Harold told the other man.

They were on the trail after wards. Marin tried to let Harold set the pace, but he wanted to be behind her like a chaperon. So she went no more than a turn ahead before waiting for him, usually she stayed within sight while they skied down the trail that edged the woods under the alpine slopes. Or she circled a tree a few times waiting for him.

“Hold on! I’m coming!” He huffed and puffed.

Marin reined in her impatience. It wasn’t the first time she had managed a parent.

Her father had never needed it, but he had moved out a year before. At least Harold wasn’t like her mom. He merely had control over her life here, in return for a bed and safety. Marin was happy that Harold was nothing like her mom.

Marin skied down the trail, moving her feet, pumping her arms, feeling the wind burn her cheeks. Freedom.

“Are you sure?” Harold asked at the bottom of a slope.

You could either take the long way around on level ground, or climb up the hill and slide down the other side.

“This way,” She told Harold.

Marin crossed her skis behind her heels, it had felt like no time at all since the last time she had skied. “I’ll be fine. See you on the other side.”

“Watch out for wild animals!” He warned. He looked dubiously at the slope, his own skills were not there for the short climb.

“Yeah.”

“And when you get to the top, wait for me to get to the other side.”

“OK.”

“I want to see you go down the other side.”

“OK!” she was already halfway up.

The down slope would require care, she hadn’t done much like this, even five years ago. But she was pumped from getting back to it.

There was someone waiting for her at the top, the trees there blocked Marin from seeing Harold circle the slope.

“You.” She told fake-Ardyn.

“Me?” He said in that very Ardyn-like affectation. He stood on the top of the tiny hill, umbrella protecting him from the sunlight, no skis or even a walking stick. “I see you’ve been let out of your prison.”

“For a few hours anyway.”

He had a melodramatic golf clap for her, one hand over the one holding the umbrella. From anyone else it would have been demeaning and sarcastic. From him, that meanness was doubled.

Marin only glared.

“It’s so good of them to let you out for some exercise. Then back in you’ll go.”

“What do you want Ardyn?” She didn’t believe he was Ardyn, but had no other name to go by. Her current situation was just beyond anythings she could have imagined a week ago.

“I wanted to see if you were still determined to rot in place or do something.” He waved at her skis, “it’s not much, but it is indeed, something.”

“So? Is there some grand adventure planned for me then? Some story you want to push me into? Or are you going to continue to leave me with no answers, twisting in the wind?”

“That’s an awfully small assumption of you, to think that I’m the one with a plan.”

“Well, are you?”

“How human of you, to think that this is all about you, and not about us.”

Marin stuck her ski poles in the snow and crossed her arms across her chest. “What do you mean by us?”

“Why, me, you and everyone else here.” He wiggled his free hand at her, “Surely you’ve figured out the predicament that you’re in by now.”

Her eyebrow twitched, “I’m trapped in a video game, and my only guide is supplying me with no answers. Only more questions.”

His own eyebrow arched, “Oh, is that what this is.” He looked around, nonplussed to whatever he perceived with his eyes. “Well, if you know where you are. Then why aren’t you doing anything about it?”

“About what?”

“Well, if you know where you are, then surely you know something about this place.”

She looked confused, “Do you even know where we are?”

“I know exactly where I am, girl.” the tone was suddenly demeaning and more intimidating that anything she remembered seeing from video game-Ardyn. “The question is,” His Ardyn mask and tone was back, “What are you going to do with what you know?”

Marin licked her lips, this conversation was suddenly weirder and more adversarial than the last time. “I don’t have long to decide, do I?”

“Why? Are you immortal?” the Ardyn persona back in place.

“Of course I’m not immortal, I’m a human being.”

“Well, then. You know you do not have forever to do everything.”

Marin rubbed her face with her hand. “Usually there’s an event or something from a guide-type that spurns the hero on by now.” she said, sighing at all the cliches in stories wrapped up in that sentence.

“OH, is that what you want? To be the hero?”

“Oh fuck no! Heroes get other people killed. The happy endings are just when less people suffer in the end.”

“Hmm.”

Marin had lived with those stories in books, movies and video games for so long. She had been here a week. Nothing compared to two months in a hospital, with only one visitor. Even longer at home ignored by her mom and sister. The reality of this situation made her cynicism come out in a hard way.

Marin sniffed the air, smelling the snow and trees on the trail. Her dreams and nightmares had never felt this real. She had spent the last few months re learning how to live in ‘the real world.’ and now she was stuck in this one.

“I don’t want to be a hero.”

“But-” Ardyn started her next sentence.

“But.” She continued, “This world is dying.” she looked to the north, in the daylight, the lights from the Wound were invisible. The trees were also tall enough to block the curtain of mountains north of town, the mountains were a crater that had risen around an old meteor strike. This she knew.

“I don’t want to be skiing while the world falls around me. I want to help.”

“Well, then, get up and do something about it.” He urged her.

She shook her head. “How? I’ve never traveled before. I don’t know when I am. I’m just vicariously living out each day until something happens. But the world is just moving on without me.” ‘Again,’ she thought.

“Is that you’re biggest concern? Living on your own out there?” He gestured to the south. The rest of the world was south of this hamlet.

“No. Adventure sounds like a plan. But a safe bed costs money, called Gil here. Food costs money. And I’m not exactly rolling in Gil. Nor do I have the sorts of skills that make a lot of Gil around here.” she looked down at her skis, “Not unless I started offering skiing lessons.” Her music was a hobby, and she wasn’t good enough to teach it or perform with it for Gil.

“Is that how you’d like to save the world? With skis?”

“No, do you have a better idea?”

Fake-Ardyn held his chin with his hand, considering. “Aha!” He snapped his fingers.

Marin didn’t believe that anything about the man was real. Even with the sun making the day slightly warmer. His finger-less gloves would have lost him his fingers. The man, if he was even a human, just had the appearance of a fictional character. The
cold didn’t touch him.

‘Maybe he isn’t even human at all.’ Marin considered.

“While I’m here,” Ardyn continued, “Was there anything else you wanted?”

“Excuse me if I don’t want to take whatever you’re offering.”

“Hmm, sometimes that is wise.”

Marin spat out an answer to try to get him to stop. “I want to go home, I want to see my friends again. I want my bed, my stuff. But not from you. I don’t want anything from you.”

Instead of respond to Marin’s anger, he looked down the slope ahead. Asking again, “Anything else?”

“I know better than to ask for what I want from mysterious beings.” she told Ardyn.

He guffawed loudly, “Yes, well. It might be too late for that. Anyway, I believe I have held up your guardian for long enough.”

“What do you mea-”

“Janine!” Called from the distance.

She looked to the sound of the distant shout, the trees muffled it. Even bare of leaves, she could not see Harold.

Marin turned back to Ardyn. He was gone. Looking down at the ground, there was no sudden wind to hide his footprints. There were no traces that Ardyn had even stood there.

“Fuck!” Marin cursed to herself. She chewed on her tongue as she slowly made her way to the edge of the slope. She recalled telling that guy what she had wanted out of frustration. What she really wanted was be back on earth, move in with her dad until s
she could get an apartment with Jamie. She needed Jamie, Marin didn’t want to be on this planet anymore.

She couldn’t recall exactly what she had discussed with Ardyn the last time. She was discomforted with him saying ‘it’s too late for that.’

The only solid thing she had so far was that he had never been the ‘real’ Ardyn, and maybe not knowing what he really was might be better. And it would be even better to not get flustered, or say something out of anger around him again.

At the end of the day, it depending on what her angry words were going to cost her. On top of the thought that getting what she wanted might cost her more than what she wanted to pay.

She cursed stories and their twisted wishes as she readied herself to go down the easy slope on cross-country skis. Sometimes what people wanted most was the worst thing for them, there was no need to twist a wish then.

‘Assume the worst, and you will always be pleasantly surprised,’ filtered into her brain from one of her books.

Worst case she could think of, was that she was trapped here. Only to leave suddenly for home at an inconvenient moment. But while she was here, skiing. The next worse case was that she was not the only person out of place.

If anyone, stranger from earth, stranger from another planet, or someone she knew could be out there. She wouldn’t know where to start looking. And instead of looking, she was skiing in circles.

Marin shook her head, yelling “I’m coming!” She started down the slope focusing on her balance and moving forward. For a moment, trying to avoid a tumble pushed all her worries out of her head. Pointing her body and mind forward, she felt her skis go out of control from under her just as the tracks curved her towards Harold, who waited at the bottom.

He had misjudged the space Marin had needed to slow down, she couldn’t slow down on until she got out of the tracks and back onto the wide trail.

The world moved in slow-motion as she started losing control of her skis. She could slow down by crashing into Harold, or crash early and tumble into the bank by the side of the curve. Before she could consider every aspect of the option, she was tucking into a roll, trying to fall well into the bank that had built up on the outside of the curve. Instead of crashing into the other person.

She registered someone shouting at her as she lay half in the bank, half between some trees. “I’m fine. Gimme a sec.” she shouted at him as she checked herself.

Nothing had pulled in a terrible direction, one of her ankles had pulled only a little. She had left one of the skis behind on the trail. Wiggling her toes, it didn’t seem to have sprained or even twisted. “Hold on Har-, dad. Father. Please.” she rolled over onto her butt and looked at herself.

The parka that she had tied around her waist, sweaty from skiing, was tangled with a ski. Otherwise she was caked in snow and felt fine. She had to slip out of the remaining ski to get up. Harold was already there, out of his own skis. He ironically walked across the ski tracks wrecking the trail everyone else had made that day.

“Hold on, I got it.” She took his offered hand anyway. Hoping that taking his help would make him feel useful for being concerned. “I’m all right, really.”

Harold’s face looked like he would be wringing his hands, if he wasn't grasping hers.

Marin let him go and began dusting herself off. “Pass me the parka, please?” she asked him, giving him something else to do. She gathered up her poles and put her skis in the ruined track. She could walk down the slope and nudge them forward. Until she could put them back on.

“Are you sure? That looked bad.” He held out the parka.

Just being on the ground for that short while was already giving her a chill. She closed the coat around her with no protest. “I’ve done worse skiing before.”

“Before? But-”

Marin shook her head, “I know, Jani- I’ve never skied before. But, I know someone who had been cross-country skiing their whole life. And they’ve fallen before. They might fall again.”

His face filled with horror, at the thought of her doing that again.

Marin killed her anger, she had already gotten the spun-glass treatment from her parents on earth. Harold must have been treating his, real, sickly daughter like spun glass her whole life. He was projecting onto Marin, with his real daughter. He was also meeting Marin’s needs, to a point, by letting her live with him and his wife. In this moment, he didn’t deserve her anger.

Marin reassured him “So I did what anyone would do after falling, I got up. Thanks for helping me.”

Ardyn aside, it might be better for the three of them if she found a reason to live independently anywhere else. They had saved her from dying in the cold in a strange world. But Ardyn, Fake-Ardyn, was right. She could let that house and this town become a prison. And once she got used to it, it could be impossible to leave.

That had been her life on earth. As much as she had hated the doctors for wrongly advising she recover at her mother’s house. She had gotten used to staying there. She had been letting her friends, and her girlfriend, slip away. Cutting herself off from her community had only made it harder to get out of that damned house.

And now she had been taken from one self-imposed prison and placed in another.

‘The world isn’t going to save itself.’ She thought as the two of them kept a slow pace for the rest of the trail.

Harold kept asking her if she was OK. Either he wasn’t sure or he wanted reassurance. Marin gave one word answers, to try to keep him happy. While she chewed on her situation.

She wasn’t sure when or how to strike out on her own. Though she could tell that there were no easy answers. That was life though, it usually wasn’t easy.

Some of the questions she had asked Ardyn before. They were the sorts of questions people spent their whole lives asking and never got a solid answer. She still would have liked to have known why or how she was here.

The strange man wasn’t talking though. He seemed to be nudging her into taking her own initiative and just putting herself out there.

As frustrating as that was, Marin knew that that was better for her. She could have left her bed and gone for a walk around her mom’s neighborhood. Here, she could ask Harold to go skiing. He would not put the skis on for her. And Marin had been the one to push for this trail run.

This Icicle Inn was also nothing like the game. It was a hamlet, sure. But there was more to the town than the few images in the old game. Two dimensional graphics, giving the illusion of a 3D world, were a pale comparison to the Icicle Inn she skied in.

There was a whole world out there that she thought she knew. But just being in this town a week had told her how little she actually knew of this place.

It was all much larger and more involved.

“Err, ah, if you’re all right.” Harold started.

”Yeah, I’m fine now. Nothings sore.”

“Good. Good. uh-”

“Maybe I won’t tell Shelly about a little spill?” Marin offered.

“Yeah, good idea. But uh, let’s take it easy on the way back.”

Marin had hoped to ski all day. They had barely been out for two hours and Harold wanted to go home. ‘I had agreed to this. I don’t think I’ve chosen anything that foolish in a while.’ She thought. She was only making it harder for herself. For all of them really. They could ignore their grief and pretend that Janine wasn’t really dead. Marin was just prolonging their suffering.

Even with Shelly and her fragility. Marin had fallen into her own abyss with her blackouts, and the despair that followed coming out of them. There wasn’t exactly hospitals with psychiatric wards here. There was a single doctor in the town, she had beds. But their primary use was for tourists with broken bones to be splinted, until they could be transported to a real hospital.

If Shelly had a bad breakdown, or became senile. It would be very bad for her and Harold to get through that. Not that there were ‘good’ breakdowns. Just bad to worse ones. And Marin had not had a good one months ago, she could relate.

---

“Breathe in.”

Marin sucked in a deep breathe for the town doctor. The doctor might not have gone to a medical school, but she carried herself and ran this office well enough to reassure Marin of her skills.

This was a different world, with different rules. She was also nervous around the woman. If anyone had known Janine outside of her parents, it was this lady.

“Now breathe out.”

Marin complied.

“What’s your birthday?” The female doctor asked as she took back the stethoscope.

Despite the kind tone, Marin was nervous. She rattled off Janine’s birthday.

“Hmm. Name?”

“Janine Dywer.”

Still in a perfectly pleasant tone of a doctor with an excellent bedside manner, “Your real name, please?”

Marin didn’t answer, she only swallowed. It was a small town, where everyone knew everyone. Of course a doctor could tell Janine from a stranger. Marin wasn’t that good.

"Jan-" Marin cut herself off, at the sharp look from the doctor.

"I'm not a fool. don't treat me like one." the doctor warned.

Marin swallowed again, preparing something to say. Denial now would only dig Marin in deeper.

“I don't want a story. Just a name, please.”

“Marin. Marin Ito.” Marin was s rattled she gave her real name.

“Do you know what happened?” Was all the doctor asked.

Marin shook her head. She really didn’t know.

The doctor sighed, “I wasn’t sure, at first. Then Harold stopped all appointments and house calls some days ago.” She shook her head.

Marin didn’t respond.

“I feared the worst. But when I heard that their daughter was up and about. Walking around the town, like the last ten years never happened...”

Marin kept her head bowed. “I know I’m not helping.”

The doctor shook her head. “I don’t know your story. I think I don’t want to know. But-”

“But I’m not helping by staying here.”

“At least you’re not that stupid.” the doctor shook her head again, “I mean. Did you see her? Before?”

Marin shook her head. “Whatever happened, happened before I came here a week ago.”

The doctor looked up at the calendar, “Yes, that sounds right.” she sighed, “There was little I could do. Janine wasn’t getting better.” the doctor put the stethoscope away. “All any of us could do was make her feel safe and comfortable until...”

“You knew she was dying.” Marin said.

The doctor looked down at the floor. “I don’t like talking about other patients.”

“Sorry.”

The doctor shook her head. “These are extenuating circumstances. But yes, Harold and Shelly wouldn’t see it. They wouldn’t listen.”

“And now I can harden their denial.”

“How on earth did you end up here?” the doctor looked at Marin. “The timing could not be better, or worse.”

Marin’s cheek twitched, “Would you believe me if I told you I fell out of the sky, and nearly froze to death wearing Pj's?”

The doctor guffawed, “I’ve heard stranger, but believed less.” the doctor looked at the calendar again. “No, I don’t believe that.”

Marin flexed her fingers and buttoned her shirt back up. “I-” she sighed, “I did almost freeze to death. The Dwyers had a warm bed and took me in. It’s just-.”

“Yeah.”

Marin shook her head. “Taking her name, wearing her clothes. It feels...wrong”

“That’s because it is wrong.”

Marin shook her head. “This world isn’t safe. And I don’t have anywhere else to go. But.” Marin looked back down on the floor. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Or Harold and Shelly any more than I already have.”

“Then leave. Go. This isn’t your home, it’s Janine’s home.”

Marin held up her hands, “And how can I do that? I have no money to my name. Just the clothes I’ve been given ...” she trailed off.

“Hmph.” The doctor said. “With what you’ve done so far. It’s almost more than you deserve.

Marin gave the doctor a pleading look. “I didn’t come here to hurt anyone. I just want to do what’s right.”

“Then act like it Ja-.” The doctor shook her head, “Whoever you are.”

Marin shrugged, “I don't have the resources or a plan. I have no Materia to my name. I couldn’t make it five steps out of town on my own.” Marin threw out her hands. “What do you expect me to do? Just walk out into a blizzard to get eaten by wolves? I don’t want to die!” Marin sucked in a breath, the words were fine but her tone was out of line.

The doctor was unruffled by Marin’s outburst at least. Coming out of nowhere with, “And if you have materia of your own, what would you do with it?”

Marin shrugged, much calmer already. “Whatever I could to help people. Healing Materia first I guess.” Marin wasn’t guessing, it was merely a turn of phrase. ‘If I could only have one power, it would have been to heal others. Flying, invisibility, laser beams are cool. But If I could have only chosen one, it would be healing above anything else.’ Marin thought.

The doctor had no reaction Marin could read. Before the woman pulled up her sleeve, revealing the bracelet and the three green spheres that sat in the slots of the jewelery. Ready to be used at a moment’s notice.

“Can you” the Doctor asked, “At least tell what these are?”

Marin could see the spark inside each sphere, the way each moved. But it was all nonsense to her. Clearly magic materia, and seeing it this close was something. Marin shook her head, she had no idea how to tell one form the other.

“Healing, eh?” The doctor pulled one of the spheres out and held it out for Marin to grasp.

“You’re not giving this to me are you?” Marin looked askance at the sphere, she had nothing to give in return.

“Oh goodness no. But If I can help you find that independence, the sooner you can get out on your own.”

Marin held the green sphere in her palm, it was warm from the doctor’s body heat.

“You really can’t tell what that is?”

Marin shook her head.

“Useless,” the doctor mumbled. “Anyway, that’s healing Materia. It has-”

“Cure, Cura, Curaga and Regen spells if you mastered it. Yeah.”

The doctor ha-rumphed loudly for the interruption. “And yet you can’t tell what it is?”

“I read. A lot” Marin tried to justify her gaps in knowledge. In a way that was a true statement.

The doctor sighed, “anyway. If you hadn’t interrupted. I can show you how to use it.”

Marin brightened. As terrible as today had been going, this was something. “Yeah?”

The Doctor told Marin how to move her hand, how to hold her self and release. As well as hold back enough for a trickle of magic through the materia.

Marin had done more meditating at home. Grasping the Materia, she repeated the twist of the wrist and the movement of the arm. Before pulling something, or nothing, through the sphere. Marin could not explain it well, even to herself.

“This usually doesn’t work at first.” The doctor explained, “But, pull your will through the cure. Just a cure mind you. you’ve probably...”

The doctor trailed off as Marin went through the gesture. Thinking of pulling something through herself and through the magic materia. Streams of green light surrounded Marin. Over seconds the power settled over her. Surrounded by a nimbus of the green strands, they settled on her and vanished. She didn’t notice her ankle until the minor ache disappeared from the Cure magic.

Marin was suddenly very tired, she tottered on the examination table.

The doctor grabbed her shoulder, “Careful. That was too much.”

Marin held her head and slipped off the armlet. “Ohh, was that a Curaga?” She felt exhausted, like it was the end of finals week.

“Yes! You over exerted yourself!” the Doctor took back the Materia and placed it back in her bangle.

Marin rubbed her temple, she wanted to nap. “It was easier than I thought it would be...” Far too easy to pull the most powerful spell the doctor had trained into the materia, after using it for however long the doctor had had it.

“Am I going to need to lecture you on mana reserves too?”

Marin shook her head. “No, I get it. I wasted the spell for nothing. I just have to...” Her head cleared, she was still tired, but fluttered with excitement. ‘I just used magic!’ “I need to take a break.”

The doctor pulled her sleeve back over her arm. Giving Marin a considering look and pulled something out of a drawer under the table.

“Can you make me a promise?”

“What?” Marin really needed a nap first.

“Let me talk to your fa-… To Harold. About this situation. You’re more than old enough to ‘strike it out on your own’.”

“That’s not a promise?” Marin asked, so tired.

“No, but after that little performance. Maybe you’ll do just fine with this.” The Doctor pulled out another green sphere. The light in this was was much weaker and moved inside more slowly.

“You’re just going to give me that?” Marin was in disbelief.

“If you leave, leave the Dwyer’s, leave Shelly. So I can do what is best for my patients.”

“OK?” Marin felt her voice rise in agreement. She nodded her head. “I shouldn’t stay here anymore. I get it. But that-”

“It’s not free.” The doctor still held the extra sphere in her hand.

“I-” Marin had trouble forming the words. She did want it, and this price was reasonable. “I do. I just. You’re giving it to me?”

“Promise me.” The doctor did not say or what.

Marin thought she heard it. But the woman had that Materia right there. “What is it?”

“What else?” the doctor rolled her eyes, “I”m not going to hand you Fire magic. It’s more healing. When I mastered mine, this was produced.”

Marin understood the concept of attuning, or mastering, magic Materia. But she didn’t really understand how a mastered one could make more of it’s own kind. She only understood that on a conceptual level.

“I promise. I’ll leave as soon as I can. And I’ll use that one to help people. Whether it’s me or someone else.”

“No need to exaggerate.” The woman thrust the green sphere at Marin. “Go lie down. And I’ll talk to Harold.” She pulled the Materia back as Marin groggily reached for it.

“What?”

“The soonest it’s arranged?” the Doctor asked.

“Yes.”

The doctor pressed the Materia into Marin’s hand. “Go lie down and rest. Doctor’s orders.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The doctor waved at the empty cot in the room. The sheets were a clean white and smelled fresh.

“I need to talk to Harold about a few other things.” she watched Marin totter to the cot. Only continuing when Marin was seated. “Wait here, please.”

Marin nodded. Taking her boots off before laying down.

The Doctor left the examination room behind, shutting the door and leaving Marin on her own.

Marin yawned in the privacy the room afforded her. She wasn’t exhausted, but she could probably nap all day after what she had done. She felt like she had just come out of two math exams in a row. There was a little fatigue behind the eyes. Turning over onto her side, she hoped that the hard rules of the video game trickled into this world as well. That once she was out, she could not over reach her ‘mana.’

What she needed now was a teacher. Whatever was going on in this world, Marin could not do it alone.

That was what scared her most about leaving Icicle Inn. Even as she had felt stuck on Earth, she had made plans. Marin hoped those plans would still hold up if she got back home.

Even as Marin had ignored her friends while recovering. Her and Jamie had put together a plan. To live their lives they way they wanted, whatever their parents said. Marin wasn’t going to go it alone. But here, in this place. Outside of the Dwyer’s home. Marin didn’t have anyone else in a world with magic, monsters, and more monsters.

What she was most afraid of was facing any of that alone.

---

Chapter Text

A week later, Marin adjusted her pack.

Shelly was sad, but otherwise emotionally stable. Marin knew that she could appear stable, until suddenly Shelly wasn’t. Marin had been there. But the town doctor would be a better help for Shelly than Marin.

Shelly had to say god bye to her ‘daughter’ for the second time, as ‘Janine’ prepared to travel.

Marin hadn’t heard whatever had passed between the doctor and Harold. Or Harold and Shelly. Or even all three of them.

But here Marin stood, waiting for the Chocobo-pulled sled to be ready for her to clamber on. She was headed for the coast and a boat across the island chain to a warmer climate.

Marin was about to be escorted to the great unknown. She patted her bag that held the pocket change. She ignored the inner pocket that had the rest of the three thousand Gil that the Dwyer’s friends and neighbors had raised for her travels.

Apparently Janine had been shunned by the town for being sickly, despite being frail and not contagious. And now they were glad to see her strike out on her own. With a miraculous recovery, that wasn’t contagious, yet the locals were glad to see ‘Janine’ leave.

‘Small town, big bigots,’ she reminded herself. It was of something a friend had said after they had moved to Marin’s school, from a small town. But she kept her reservations to herself and waved good-bye.

The Chocobo she stood near reminded her of an ostrich and terror bird all in one canary yellow package. They looked far cuter in the games they had come from. While they stood there like giant chickens in harnesses. Chicken-ostriches, but with a canary-yellow hooked beak like a parrot. Or a raptor bird-of-prey.

She felt no desire to pet them, though their giant yellow feathers looked to be able to put Big Bird’s puppet to shame. She also had no idea who to tell the difference between an approachable Chocobo vs an ornery ‘I'm about to kill you with my giant claws’ Chocobo. The birds had well over a foot of height on Marin, with chicken-feet in proportion to their body, claws and all.

Marin watched the giant bird creatures at what seemed a respectful distance, while the sled was unloaded with the last of it’s deliveries for Icicle Inn.

The driver headed over to Marin. Locks of red hair poked out from the hood of his parka. The man’s snow goggles hung around his neck, and he looked about as much from Japan as Marin did. Which was somewhat. Despite the lack of that country on this planet. Asking Marina  question, “don’t see many of them around here, eh?”

“Not really. They don’t exactly grow on trees around here.” Marin fit right in as a resident of Gaia, with the influence her Japanese family had on her looks, and arrow-dtraight black hair.  Currently that hair was stuffed under her hood.

He laughed, “Nope. Looks like the only thing that grows on trees around here is more snow.”

Marin shrugged, she watched the guy feed the Chocobo with something leafy and green.

“Here, wanna try?” He held out another stalk to Marin.

“I guess...” Marin held the green leaf stalk with her arm as straight as she could, keeping distant from the birds.

Both birds watched her while she held out the plant. The first Chocobo tried to swallow the stalk whole. But it wasn’t in time for the second to snatch the leaf out of Marin’s hand. Their beaks missing her fingers by inches.

It was like a giant petting zoo, made of predators.

Marin went to take her hand back, when a giant yellow head rubbed against it. She froze, wanting to run but killing that instinct before it made things worse.

“Whoa, now.” the driver did something she didn’t see. As the first Chocobo rubbed it’s giant head against Marin’s arm.

“OK, you get a scratch too.” The driver told the other Chocobo.

Marin could read nothing from their hawk-like eyes.

“Kweh!” they both chirped at her.

She held both her hands up and tried to move away from the birds, slowly. But they were both determined to rub against her hands or arms. Keeping her fear in check, she let them be affectionate.

“Whoa!” The driver did something else, from behind the giant birds.

Marin started backing out from between the two birds, to the sled.

The Chocobos moved like they weren’t done with Marin, but their owner reined them in from following her forward. “Whoa.”

---

Marin waited with the wagon driver near the edge of the snow line. The road was half frozen here, where the snowy tracks turned to mud. The sled would be useless any further. It had been a day and a bit to leave Icicle Inn to get to the southern edge of the snow line.

Due to the artificially cold Climate around the North Crater, there was a firm demarcation between the colder environment and the larger peninsulas to the far south of this island-continent. Marin had not seen a map at the Dwyer’s, but she knew from her own memories of the game, where she was.

They had passed some wild Chocobos on the way south, the animals here were fluffy enough to be doing fine in the cold.

Marin had expected to travel for a few days more, though apparently, this man, Jarvin, was one of many people that supplied the north with the necessary goods that couldn’t be made or grown locally. Which was a lot in a town that lived in a permanent winter that was more or less cold all year.

So they waited for the next wagon-load to come in, to switch drivers and goods from wheels to sleds, then Marin could continue the journey south, to ‘claim her independence,’ as the doctor had convinced her ‘parents’ that ‘Janine’ was going to do. As well as gainful employment.

She had just turned eighteen back on earth. Though on this planet, Gaia, some people set out on their own as young as thirteen. The wilds were not as dangerous as she had first assumed. And with the war with Wutai in full-swing, ShinRa was enlisting all ages to their ranks.

Not that Marin was going to join the army.

Marin felt like she was too young to be out in the world on her own. On Earth she had buried Danny and ignored Jamie, just before coming here. Her only guide was her familiarity with a video game. Which was a broken-telephone version of the real place she was in now. As well as Ardyn, whoever/whatever he really was. He as clear as mud with his ‘guidance.’

“Ever been away from home before?” Jarvin asked her, making conversation while they waited for the coming wheeled wagon to arrive.

“No.” That was true on so many levels. Never out on her own before like this, not on either planet.

“Well, the whole world is your oyster now, though with the war on...”

“Yeah, Wutai can wait for a visit. I’m not in the mood to be a tourist in a war zone.”

Jarvin shrugged, “If you really wanted to take a look, I’m sure ShinRa is enlisting all they can for the war effort.”

ShinRa was everywhere, even when they weren’t visible. Such as the abandoned manse in Icicle Inn. That was ShinRa property, maintained by the locals. It was also where someone had been born that Marin knew could be important one day, Aerith.

Harold had told Marin that no one had lived there for years and years. If Aerith had already been born there, Marin wasn’t sure how old she would be now. It made Marin feel rushed. That there was a time line events she knew from the game, and they were happening sooner that she realized. She needed to know how much time she had.

No one really knew when the Wound in the North Crater would kill the planet, but it wasn’t the only way the world could end. And Marin needed a frame of reference for the other threats she knew of.

“Chocobo got your tongue?” Jarvin asked Marin.

“Mmm. I’d go for adventure before I join any war.”

“Ah, one of those are you?”

“I don’t really have an interest in adventure. I just want to get out, stand on my own.” She kept the last thought to herself. ‘And not let the world pass me by. But it just might anyway.’

“Adventure might find you anyway.” He leaned back, pulling out a cigarette and offering one to Marin.

She shook her head, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” After he had taken a few puffs, he continued, “I’ve seen your type before. You feel stuck at home, yeah?”

Marin nodded.

“I give it six months, and you’ll realize you need your family more than you thought.”

Marin frowned.

“Okay, twelve months, tops.” He took another drag of his cigarette. “Unless trouble does you in first.”

“What sort of trouble do you mean?” she asked him.

“You’re traveling alone, yeah? If you’re not careful, you’ll get robbed, cheated, or scummed out of all you have.”

Marin was no hero in a story. She really didn’t have a way of defending herself, outside of the Ice materia she had been given by one of the Dwyer’s friends. And the extra Cure materia from the doctor. Both slotted in a low-budget bangle on her write.

She had only her gear, two materia to her name, some money and no weapons.

“Then I’ll just have to keep to the roads and have eyes in the back of my head.”

Jarvin shook his head, “That’s just it. Yeah you could be met alone on the road between towns. But take it from me,” He took a quick drag, “Some of the worst monsters on this Planet wear human skins, and operate in the daylight.” He flicked off some ash, “Just because you’re in the middle of town in the middle of the day, doesn’t mean you’re free and clear of trouble.”

Marin palmed a coin from where she had it hidden in a sleeve, and played it over the back of her fingers, like how Jamie had taught her “Hmm. Sounds like you don’t have a very high opinion of other people.”

“Oh, I have a very high opinion of the people I work with and for. Especially when they pay on time. But there are some, they’re all smiles and kindness. Then you let them in close, and there’s a knife in your gut for the five Gil in your pocket. That’s why you don’t see me on my own ‘adventures’.”

“How do you tell the difference then?” She asked.

“Don’t let anyone in close, unless you have a knife of your own. Body armor helps too.” He hit his coat with his fist, banging the hard plate underneath.

“Yikes.” It didn’t sound like a way to live. Though between Jarvin being her escort to the coast, and handing out free advice, she tried not to insult him.

“Hey, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Jarvin grinned.

She looked at the man, really looked. He might have been in his thirties or forties. Though traveling outside for so long had left it’s mark on his face. He was easily old enough to be her father. “Yeah, I’d like to still be around when I’m your age. Optimally for even longer.”

“Then go grow those eyes in the back of your head. And don’t let anyone in close unless you have a plan for the knife they might have.”

Marin shrugged, “Reminds me of something I heard once. ‘Know how to kill everyone you ever meet, and always have an escape plan.. “She forgot which movie that one was from.

Jarvin cackled, “And you think I’m cynical.”

Marin shrugged, “I might have to live by your advice now, Jarvin. I’m also not a fan of being scummed by the type of monster you mentioned.” ‘Some things never change.’ She mused silently, ‘the worst of life are some of the people among us.’

Jarvin considered Marin’s words. “Still doesn’t sound like it’s too bad advice. Having an exit strategy, and that other thing sounds like that person would be ready for any hidden knives. Where’d you hear that?”

“Some book or another I read.” It sounded like something someone from an action movie. Marin couldn’t place it. She decided not to elaborate on the planet it was from.

“Must have been some book. Do you remember the title?”

Marin shook her head, “I’ve read so many, I just remember the bits of advice from most of them.” Another half-truth. Again, she didn’t want to name-names of stories, books, movies, or television shows that didn’t exist on this planet. She wasn’t sure if there were even video games in this world.

“Ah well. But if you ever remember, you know who to tell.”

“Yeah.” Marin wasn’t sure if she would ever see Jarvin again. She wasn’t sure if she would ever come back to Icicle Inn. Marin didn’t feel unwelcome to return, though she had left for Shelly’s sake in the first place. It seemed cruel now, if Marin were to die or leave this planet for good, the Dwyer’s would have to grieve their daughter twice.

They had separation anxiety for Marin right now. So if news of her death ever came back to them, they would lose their daughter for the third time. That sort of grief seemed a cruel fate for them. One that Marin had helped cause.

‘So OK, how about less suffering to other people from here on out? And don’t die.’ She thought to herself, while Jarvin smoked in silence.

Jarvin asked a question when he finished his cigarette. “Do you miss them already?”

“Yeah.” Warts and all, she would rather be somewhere she could get Jamie on the phone. Except for her mother.

“Getting cold feet?” He looked at the mud mixed with the snow around them. “Muddy feet?”

Marin shook her head. “No, this is the time for me to go. Or I’ll never leave.”

Jarvin laughed. “To be young again.”

“I dunno, I feel like I haven’t done enough for myself so far.”

Jarvin chuckled, “youth is wasted on the young.”

“I can agree with that.” She told him. “I haven’t felt young in a while.”

“Oh? Normally it’s hard to find people your age so agreeable.”

“Mmm.”

“I guess some of what you’re leaving behind isn’t going to be missed?”

“Some things I hope I never have to do again.”

She didn’t miss the meds that caused her to gain weight, for one. They left her tired and always hungry. They had put her back in the hospital weeks after trying them. Not that they had been refilled since her last day. Marin had been kicked out of the hospital once she seemed well enough to be at home. Nothing she had taken had actually worked yet, her doctor had still been trying to find the right solution for her.

All those medications were a long way away. All she had now was what she had been taught in therapy. And a promise to herself to not to black out like that again. ‘I don’t want to know what they do with psych patients here, especially not when all the hospitals are owned by ShinRa.’

The bottles in Icicle Inn’s doctor’s office had been produced by the ShinRa Electric Power Company factory. They owned everything.

Except the country Wutai, for now.

Marin touched the armlet that held her only two materia. There was no magic for curing madness, not like Marin’s. She sighed, trying to keep herself calm even as she stood on ground she had never walked on before.

“Everybody’s running from something.” Jarvin didn’t elaborate.

“Yeah. I guess that’s true.” she looked around, the Chocobos were still munching on some greens. The birds hadn’t hear the approach of the next vehicle yet. “Running from or to something, but that sounds like a cop-out that describes everyone.”

“Maybe.” He took another pull of his cigarette. “which one are you? Running from or to something?”

“Kinda both.”

“How so?” He asked Marin.

“I’m running from getting stuck in town.”

“But both?”

Marin shrugged, “I don’t want trouble. But it feels like I’m running headlong into it.”

He flicked more ash onto the snow, “then get those eyes in the back of your head. Sounds like you’ll need them.”

One of the Chocobos cocked their head at something, then the other caught on, they both pulled against their harnesses, making noises that meant nothing to Marin.

“The next-” Marin stopped her guess that the wagon was coming, when Jarvin pulled a rifle out of the bed of the sled.

“Fuck! You know how to use that?” He waved at her materia armlet. While also making his own noises and gestures to his Chocobos, calming them down.

“Yeah.”

He cocked back the bolt-action rifle. “The critters around here ain’t so bad. As long as they don’t catch you off guard.” He spun around, trying to find what the Chocobos had noticed.

Jarvin climbed to the top of the sled‘s front seat.

Marin climbed onto the bed in the back, also looking around. But she stayed low so Jarvin could shoot over her head.

“Here.” Jarvin managed to pull a materia out of one of his pockets, while juggling the rifle. “slot it, now.”

Marin swapped it with the Ice magic.

“It’s fire, that ice magic is useless around here.”

A pack of wolves came around from the tree cover. One stayed back and howled.

The Chocobos started flapping about, but the brakes on the sled prevented them from pulling the sled on their own.

Jarvin shot the one howling and reloaded.

Marin tried to spare her spell-energy, casting as weak a fire ball as she could at the lead ‘wolf’.

They were white wolves, but with large, fluffy, yellow manes like lions. The four of them moved as a pack of wolves.

The one in front squealed and barked in pain as the fire rolled over it.

Jarvin shot again. “I hope you can do better than that!” He yelled at her.

The ‘wolves’ were almost done on their run-up to the wagon. Jarvin shot another wolf. His gun only slowed them down.

Marin had time for one more fire spell before she was really going to feel out of place without even something to block those teeth.

She gritted her teeth and silently promised herself, ‘This time, I’m going to fight you, not cower.’

She had curled into a ball on the ground, on Earth, as those dogs had ripped he apart. She had blacked out the actual take down. Between them jumping at her and rolling around on the ground, she remembered nothing. Marin remembered the bites from
after that. That was three years ago now.

This time she was going to fight.

Marin pulled out as much energy as the Materia would let her, the best this Materia could do was one step up, a Fira spell. But the fire engulfed the same wolf. This time finishing it off.

One of the Chocobos was lashing at a wolf with it’s vicious claws. Jarvin picked his shots, making every bullet count.

The fire guided itself to where she willed the magic to go. She only had to focus to not miss.

Though when one of the things had launched themselves at Jarvin and grabbed his arm. She willed the next fire spell, another weak one, to hit the wolf in the rear, so it wouldn’t hit Jarvin.

The wolf whined at the burning and immediately let go.

One of the Chocobos pecked at one of the wolves circling the wagon before the wolves disengaged and regrouped away from the wagon.

Marin couldn’t tell one from another, as the three came back together and yipped at each other while they peeled away, back to the tree cover by this road.

Jarvin reloaded another bullet, prepared for the ‘wolves’ to come back.

“I ain’t no easy meat.” He said while he sighted down the barrel. Sweeping the gun back and forth across the direction the wolves had vanished back to.

“Here.” Marin said, holding out her hands.

“What?” He didn’t look at her, he was still looking for the wolves to come back.

“I have healing magic.”

“It’s just a scratch.” He wiggled his right elbow.

Marin frowned at his stubbornness. “Let’s be refreshed in case they come back.”

“Fine. But be quick.”

The single bite only needed the weakest cure spell, which was all she she had left. Of course a town doctor had attuned her own healing materia for all the magic potential trapped within. Marin was going to have to start from scratch with her own.

Materia as a concept was understood by her, how they worked and ‘unlocked’ their potential with repeated use. Actually facing down the monsters that would unlock that potential over time and use, was different.

“There are some rips in the coat.” Marin told him. As she applied the healing magic during the lull. “Could your birds have gotten hurt?”

“They know how to defend themselves.” He watched the green threads of light from the healing magic, travel between her hands and into his arm. “When I get the chance to put the rifle away, I’ll take a look.”

Marin didn’t want the wolves to come back at this point. Hopefully they wouldn’t meet any more. “I can’t hold up this kinda magic forever.”

Jarvin nudged the bag he kept under the driver’s seat, with his foot. “I have some supplies in there. They’re not cheap, but I’ll be glad for you to use them to keep up that magic.”

“Oh, you have ethers?”

“And a few other things. But if Magic’s your only weapon right now, I don’t want you running out anytime soon.” He cussed out his co-worker. “Where the hell is Ben with that other wagon?”

He pointed the weapon at the ground, “Bandersnatches usually don’t fight to the death. Usually. I didn’t expect a whole pack at this time of day.” He eyed Marin’s armlet that held the materia. “I’m not asking for it back, yet. But that fire magic is on loan. So I didn’t have to go solo on those things.”

Marin shrugged. “If I can borrow it for as long as I need to watch your back...”

Jarvin massaged the arm that had been bitten. “Damn things ruined a perfectly good coat. But thanks.” He put the rifle, still loaded, over the seat. And hopped down to check on his birds. “Keep an eye out, and blast any more that come.”

"OK.” Marin climbed onto the front of the sled, leaving the rifle on the seat. She kept and eye on the leafless tree line the Bandersnatches had retreated behind. While also looking across the whole vista around them.

The road they had come down was more a track, worn down from years of sleds and wagons. There was so little civilization here, they seemed to be working fine without the need for cars or trucks that would need power. Jarvin had told her that the Chocobos could eat the plants that grew outside the small village they were heading towards. They just had to switch to a wheeled wagon that would go the rest of the way over the mud and shallower snows.

Marin saw something flying in the distance, it was too large to be a bird. Whatever it was, with bat-like wings, it wasn’t heading towards them. She still kept an eye out in that direction. In case it reappeared any closer.

Though the wilds weren’t as dangerous as she had assumed. They were still wild. And she was glad to not trek to the fishing village on her own.

“Janine, right?”

“Yeah.”

“This one has a nick on his leg.” He looked the way the Bandersnatches had gone. “Bring the rifle, just in case.”

Marin had only ever held a BB rifle, years ago at a camp on Earth. But she knew the protocol. She put the safety back on, pointed the rifle up in the air. And carefully hopped down from the sled. She didn’t check whether or not it was loaded, she knew it was. Even if she had known that it wasn’t, she still would have treated it with that sort of respect.

“Here.” she held out the butt of the gun, so it would point over her shoulder and away from Jarvin’s birds.

“Huh.” He took it, checking the safety before he sighted with the barrel to point after the Bandersnatches’ retreat. “Ever fired a gun before?”

Marin put her hand out to the Chocobo, holding the green stalk Jarvin had given her. “Just toy guns. I’ve never fired a real gun.”

When the Chocobo started munching, Marin cast the healing spell and touched the Chocobo’s wing while the magic worked. The green threads traveled down to the scratch.

The Chocobo stepped back from Marin anyway, at the feeling of the magic. But by then, the streams of the magic were already settling on it.

“Feed the other one for good measure.” Jarvin pointed to the bag at his waist, remaining on watch.

Marin complied, Feeding more greens to the other Chocobo.

“Wark!” they both chirped at Marin.

Marin rubbed her temples. “I could go for a refreshment myself.”

“Get one from the bag.”

Marin climbed back onto the driver’s seat, pulling out the bag, she ran into her first serious problem. “Uhhh.” the bag opened to reveal a number of bottles and other miscellany.

“What’s the problem?” He asked her.

“Erm sorry. I don’t know which one’s an ether.”

“Oh for, this is really your first time on your own.”

Marin only shrugged. As Jarvin grabbed the bag and pulled out a bottle.

“I’m not gonna be snide, after fixing my arm. But” He listed them off. “these are potions, hi-potions, my one elixir. don’t.” Ethers could restore her magic power, but an elixir could refresh someone’s physical endurance as well as magic. Elixirs tended to be irreplaceable. He shoved that one deeper in the bag. “I have a couple of hi-ethers, but this.” He brought out the bottle of ether. “How much do you think this is?” He asked her.

That she knew. “1500 Gil.” Which was half of all the Gil she had.

“Good, you’re not that green.” He shoved it at her, holding the rifle in the crook of his arm, so that it pointed away from the wagon. “Don’t use it unless we actually need more magic outta you.”

“Got it.” she nodded while she put it in her pocket. Based on her estimations, that ether would be like emptying a twenty-gallon jerry can into a five-gallon tank. Wasting what it could do for someone else. She was just a beginner, she would be better off saving the ether unless their lives depended on it. She had maybe a couple of weak spells left on her. But with Jarvin armed, she could wait on the ether.

“Good, cuz those ain’t cheap.”

Marin nodded. In this world or the video game, they always felt a luxury. They were only for the battles that had run far too long. Drinking them like water was never a good idea, and were not affordable on Marin’s current budget.

“You can keep that one.” He told her.

“Thanks.” She patted the pocket it was in.

Putting her hand up, the formerly-injured Chocobo shoved it’s head against her hand. “Whoa!” she said in surprise.

Jarvin came around. “What?!”

“Nothing, sorry. I didn’t realize they were that strong.” she stroked it’s head.

“Kweh.” It said in almost a purr.

“I think she likes you.”

“Maybe.” she was able to run her hand down it’s neck, feeling how the feathers changed in size and texture from the head to the neck. “I like animals.” ‘But I don’t know or trust Chocobos.’

“How about Bandersnatches?” He asked, back on top of the wagon.

“Not if they’re gonna eat me.”

The other Chocobo reached over, not wanting to be left out.

Marin stepped around to be in front of the double harness. So she could pet them both at once, swallowing her nerves despite being so close to the creatures. “These guys are pretty friendly.”

“If you say so.”

Both Chocobos warked and turned their heads to look down the road they had been heading down.

A wagon finally came into view from around the curve. Struggling against the mud.

Jarvin fiddled with his rifle, getting the bullet out of the chamber. Leaving the gun on the seat. He hopped down and chewed out the other driver.

Marin kept petting the Chocobos. It was what it was, but they were both all right.

She only half listened, while she felt like having a nap. Instead, she helped the two men unload the wagon. So that more goods would be going back to Icicle Inn. In the sled.

Jarvin argued with the guy for being late. And that he had been paid to take Janine down to the coast. They argued. Marin continued to move goods. Until some of it was too heavy for her to pick up herself.

The men argued over that. Jarvin was still steamed to have been caught by the Bandersnatches.

Marin found herself in the driver’s seat of the wheeled wagon. Jarvin beside her. As they left the other man to finish his u-turn to get the loaded sled the rest of the way to Icicle Inn.

Jarvin had his gun in his lap, pointing out of the wagon. While he drove the Chocobos forward.

Marin nodded off and tried to get some rest, sitting up in the rocking wagon. Her teeth rattled on the pace he kept up. She didn’t get any real rest for the rest of the day. Other than bumps in the road, there were no interruptions the rest of the way to their destination.

---

“Fools.” Jarvin told Marin in the light of the setting sun.

She opened her eyes. “What?”

They came up to the fishing village, Weylinn, that had a few more people residing in it than Icicle Inn, with far less tourists.

There was a ship that was carefully unloading some huge box beside the town. Whatever the crane was lowering, it was too large to use the boat launch. There was a platform on the beach that looked like it was just finished. The wood hadn’t been weathered by seawater or rain at all. Just for that steel container.

“What?”

“Someone else is trying to get a car or a truck into my boss’ territory. Where are they gonna get fuel cells for the thing? Nobody makes Mako cells around here. It all has to be shipped in. Including parts to repair that truck.”

Marin shrugged. She knew that Mako was the primary energy source on this planet. Earth’s nuclear power wasn’t the same, but it was the closest equivalent as she understood it. But she didn’t want to prove her ignorance by asking how the power cells worked. “Then let them try. When they run out energy, you can pass them by while the Bandersnatches chew on their tires.”

Jarvin laughed. Slapping Marin on the back. “You gotta job lined up on the western continent yet?”

‘No.’ She thought. “Why do you ask?”

“You’re not useless with those Materia. Though you’re gonna need to rely on more than your mana.”

Marin shrugged, “A ‘real’ job is the plan. But I need to travel to find such a teacher out there, if I want to find a job with my Materia.”

“Well, if you’re even back in town, in Weylinn. You know who to look up.” Jarvin smiled warmly.

“Yeah.” Marin nodded to herself. She was going to write his name down, in case she was ever back around here. After fighting practically back to back. She didn’t want to forget the man’s name. “Are you from here?”

“Born and raised.” He said with a big smile. “Us small-towners have to stick together!”

“Yeah.” She smiled. Though her home city was bigger than the biggest city on this planet. And her hometown wasn’t even the biggest Earth-based city. She had been in Icicle Inn for less than a month. But it didn’t reduce her feelings of camaraderie with the man.

She blinked and they were already between the few houses that lined the road to where he could unload the few things that were laded out of Icicle Inn. The supply of food stuffs were endless, to keep the tourists happy all year. Though Icicle Inn still needed regular supplies, pretty much daily. Far beyond their mail, daily they needed necessities for the small village.

“I want to see the world before going back.” Which was true for either home of hers. She considered, ‘Maybe a little sightseeing before going back to Earth wouldn’t be so bad. Up until the world ends anyway. Not that I want this one to end.’

“Well, if that’s your plan. Then you better get to it.” He pointed at the few bags in the wagon. “Little help?”

Marin held out the fire Materia. “I said I’d give it back now that we’re here.”

Jarvin took the Materia solemnly. Nodding to himself, he put it back where it belonged. “And keep the ether.”

“Thanks.” she yawned. “It’d be cheaper for me to buy my own materia, and save that ether for later.”

“Yeah. So...” He looked at the back of the wagon.

“Oh yeah.” she hopped down and grabbed the first few bags. Outgoing mail and a few other things. Helping Jarvin take them where they were needed.

“First ship for the western coast doesn’t leave until the first tide in the morning.”

“I remember.” She said, hefting one of the bags. She tried to think of when that was. But she only knew that it would be very early. Harold had also arranged for her to stay in the village until that ship left. It was more a large fishing boat than a real ship. Weylinn was too small for the bigger ships. Even if it was the only port on this side of the continent. The snows really kept everyone away but the tourists. Everyone else was born here.

“C’mon, I’d like the wife to meet you. When she comes back from fishing that is.”

---

Chapter Text

After a hearty dinner, Marin was on Jarvin’s couch for the night.

She had tried to be polite while his wife had made friendly conversation. Marin really had no direction to go on. She had never wanted to stay in Icicle Inn, beyond surviving the cold nights. The Dwyer’s had made that complicated. Both to leave and to tell her story.

Gaia was a bigger world than Marin had assumed, not that Jarvin and his wife, Kari, thought that she already had a twenty-point plan worked out for her travels.

So she could only talk of her hobbies, or how she might market herself for a job.

Kari had still been dressed in what she had been wearing on her fishing boat earlier that day. Overalls and warm clothes, her black hair in a loose bun with a few wisps of gray creeping in. Nothing as heavy as what Marin had been wearing. Kari’s soft expression carried much of the look of Marin’s Japanese grandmother making it easy to talk to the other woman.

“My music is for me, I’m not good enough to make any money off of it.” She told them, when that came up.

She was even less enthused to pursue a career in music, when they happily informed her how ShinRa supported creative industries by funding the few labels that were even signing anyone. And every label was owned by that company.

Marin plastered a big smile on her face while Kari listed off all the benefits of not having a cut-throat industry, what with there being only one company that owned all the labels.

“Yeah, sounds good.” She told Kari before going back into the rest of her dinner.

Kari was not grateful to find Jarvin’s right sleeve torn and bloody, though she brightened when she found out what Marin had done to help. Kari found out about the Bandersnatches while Jarvin cooked dinner. Originally confronting him with the bloody clothes when he arrived.

Then Kari was smiles and hugs for everyone.

When Marin had no useful answers for what she might do, when she crossed the Sea. Kari was full of advice, like do this, don't do that.

Marin was a little older than some that had struck out on their own. What she did have going for her was the bit of magic and knowledge of the game she still remembered. Kari had coaxed Marin into pitching healing as a service.

Marin knew some first aid, which would only be improved upon with the magic she had now. The only downside was that if she came across anyone sick with more than a cold. She didn’t have the worldly experience to tell one disease from another, especially not the ones that were specific to Gaia. Or curing a big one that could happen in the years to come.

“What was that?” Kari asked.

Marin had started doing some coin tricks out of boredom. Another art she didn’t want to be paid for, she knew nothing compared to Jamie. Marin did not have the presence for the stage like her girlfriend. “What, this? I do it when I’m bored.”

There were other things she could do, making costumes was the same as being a tailor. Though Kari quickly informed her of only a few jobs outside of Midgar for making tailored clothes. ShinRa made everything, tailored clothes were more something for the wealthy. People made do with what they could get and fixed it up themselves. To which, Kari had already fixed Jarvin’s parka.

There wasn't much Marin could do with those skills on the road. Not when people were so self-sufficient.

Marin gave Kari a weak smile. She didn’t want to brag about the little tricks Jamie had taught her, most of them were of a duplicitous bend, outside of the stage. Picking locks or hand cuffs, or sleight of hand with Gil. They were not things someone bragged about.

When it was late and Kari was satisfied with the advice she could part to Marin. Marin, as ‘Janine,’ lay on the couch and stared at the ceiling. The weather outside was cool and felt very spring-like. Despite Weylinn’s proximity to the snow line.

‘I’m really doing it,’ She realized. ‘I’m really on my own.’ She hadn’t even finished high school. She had missed final exams the year before. If she didn’t get back to earth soon, she would have no time to prepare for mid-terms. She wouldn’t graduate at this rate. Or in her case, some tutoring and probably summer school, mixed with whatever homework she could finish. It wasn’t going to be fun whenever Marin returned home. She hated high school, and the homework. But the sooner she put it behind her, the sooner she would never have to deal with it again.

The whole thing was a waste of time. Jamie and Marin had a plan. Marin would get a job, Jamie would go to college, then they would leap-frog work and school and build a life together. They could get an apartment with friends. Danny, unfortunately, was disqualified from being one of those roommates since he had died.

Marin had been thinking of going into the trades, she hadn’t decided which one yet. Which meant that her current classes were already more than she needed for that sort of program. Carpentry didn’t sound so bad, if she could get into making sets for the local film studios, the theaters. Maybe even build homes. Marin wanted a degree in being a linguist, she already knew three languages. But that wasn’t a marketable skill for a job. Not when no one here spoke French or Mandarin. She knew that the longer she was here, the more those languages would fade from disuse.

Marin rolled on her side and tried to sleep. She would be saying good-bye to Jarvin and Kari before dawn. Another place where she felt welcome. She didn’t think Ardyn would settle for Weylinn. Not when there was so much more world for her to find trouble in, or whatever Ardyn was keeping from her.

The planet, Gaia, could move on with or without Marina. And she was sick of her own troubles keeping her behind.

Fighting her nerves with another breathing exercise, the fatigue from her earlier magic caught up with her. She was asleep before she counted to four.

---

In no time at all Kari was shaking Marin awake.

“Buh-yeah?”

“The ship leaves in a couple hours. Come. I made you something to eat.”

Kari asked Marin to come into the kitchen, once Marin was out of her sleeping clothes. The parka took up a lot of space in her bag, but it was already too warm to wear.

Yawning, Marin managed to get through breakfast without any conversation. The sun would rise in a couple more hours.

“Not a morning person?” Kari asked brightly.

Marin shrugged, “I think I just forgot that in my other pants.”

Kari chuckled.

Marin shook her head. “I haven’t had to get up this early in months. Something I’ll have to get used to again.”

“Was life easy, up north?”

“I just recovered from...an illness. I’ve been laid up for months, going stir crazy. Now I’m traveling to places I’ve never been before. To get a job I’ve never had before. To see a world I’ve never seen before.” Marin shrugged.

“Nervous?” Kari asked concerned.

Marin held out her hand, it wasn’t shaking. “Yeah.”

Kari took Marin’s hand. “Well, Janine, if it’s ever too much. Just know that you’re welcome to Weylinn.” She pulled something out of her pocket. “Here.”

Marin stared at the translucent green sphere. “What?”

“Just a little something for watching Jarvin’s back. I keep telling him not to travel those passes alone.” She put the green Materia in Marin’s hand. “But I’m glad you were there this time.”

Marin swallowed, gazing into it, she could imagine the heat that wanted her to pull it out of the green depths. “Fire? But, is this Jarvin’s-”

Kari closed her hand over the sphere, “No, no. I’d never take that from him. He’s had that one for years and years. This is just something to get you started, build up your skill set.”

“Thanks.” Was all Marin could say.

---

Kari dragged a sleepy Jarvin out of bed to say good-bye. Who made one last warning of people trying to scam her, before Kari took Marin to the docks.

The first thing Marin noticed, before reaching the edge of town. Was the salty-sea air. This close to the docks, the salt was mixed with dead fish. The whole mix of smells made Marin think of freedom, and moving onward. The dead fish smell didn’t bother her. Marin’s instincts told her not to wrinkle her nose at the smells Kari, and the other fishermen, worked with every day.

“Bye, Janine!” Kari told Marin, squeezing her shoulder. Jarvin was back at their house, too tired to follow them without risking missing the boat across the Sea.

“See ya later.” Marin told Kari as she walked the gang plank to the ship, large boat. Marin yawned again, greeting the captain and stowing her pack below the tiny deck.

Kari had already bartered for Marin’s benefit to the captain. Stuffed in her spring jacket pocket was also a map Kari had given her.

She would be hopeless navigating the ocean on an unfamiliar planet. But this captain knew Kari, and Kari had haggled a fare for Marin as a last gift.

Marin would be on her own going forward. At least the 3000 Gil she had would go further now. With Kari bringing the fare down for Marin, she had a larger remainder of what she had started with.

Marin just had to find a job and a place to stay, before she knew where she really stood. Which meant not casting spells willy-nilly, or buying two more ethers with all she had.

Marin couldn’t afford to go on any sort of real adventure. She had to work for a living, unless adventure found her.

With no sign of Ardyn, Marin settled on the top deck. She kept out of the way of the few people working on the small ship. Settling on the bow to write some things down, before they were forgotten. She watched the sun rise while the Captain waited for the tide to come in.

---

“Never been on a ship before?” the captain asked.

Marin shook her head. “Boat yes, ship, no.” She had been on boats on a lake on earth. But not since arriving to the land-locked Icicle Inn.

The captain’s had another question, “ah, a land lubber then?”

Marin nodded. Pulling a snack out. Kari had packed Marin a cold lunch and dinner. Lucky her she had no food allergies on Earth, and hadn’t run across any on this planet. The food was pretty much the same, except for the origin of the meat. ‘Did anyone farm Chocobos? Or only ride them.’ Whatever it was it tasted like chicken.

“Well, then looks like tha’ next stop is Kuar-town.”

It was a small-ish town on the north coast of the western continent. North of Rocket town. Which meant they were several times larger than Icicle Inn, or Weylinn.

“What’s their main import?” she asked him. Struggling to make conversation about another town or city she knew nothing about.

“Same as their exports.” He said. Surveying the southern horizon.

“What?”

“They’re the main shipping-receiving for rocket parts.”

“Ah.”

“If yer gonna see tha’ world. See a launch or two before moving on.” He suggested.

The man wanted Marin to pay triple for his food, Kari’s meals were a blessing. Some of the sailors and workers out of Weylinn knew each other but weren’t the best of friends to strangers like Marin.

This ship was going where Marin had intended to go, so she wasn’t choosy with the captain she got.

Kari had felt well enough to send Marin on this boat. Jarvin’s words reminded her that Kari wasn’t there to watch out for her. But the captain was being kind enough. So she made polite conversation until he went back to his cabin to steer them closer to the coast.

Marin sniffed the air. She had never been to an ocean before, so she had no reference. She wouldn’t know if they smelled different from each other. With the way the salt mixed with the smell of dead fish, it just smelled like the open ocean to her.

The southern horizon grew texture and shape as she was reminded that she had no idea what tomorrow would bring.

The shoreline could not come closer quickly enough.

---

Marin thanked the captain, and the crew, for the trip. Hefting her bag, most of it was winter clothes that would only be suited for the coldest winter days, or daily wear in the north.

Hungry, stressed and tired. She hefted her pack and kept an eye out for anyone watching her.

There were curious eyes. But whether it was looking for a mark, or noticing a stranger, she couldn’t tell.

Marin asked around about a place to stay and was pointed out to an inn that would have a bed and something to eat.

“500 Gil?”

“Got a problem? Then don’t stay here.” the woman at the front desk told her.

Marin sighed, this was the only place in town she could let a room, without knowing anyone to borrow a couch from. “Does that come with a bath?” as she pulled out her Gil.

The lady waved a hand under her nose. “In your case, the first one’s free.”

“Thanks.” She kept ‘for nothing,’ to herself... Marin bit down the retort and paid up for the night. The sun was just about set this time of year. So Marin would have to make tomorrow a very productive day. Before that, would be the first bath she had had in days.

---

For ‘only’ 50 Gil. The staff would launder her clothes. It was a rip off. As long as the clothes came back to her, she could live with doing it once.

Marin scrubbed her face and her black shoulder-length hair. While she sat in the bath in the women’s bathroom. She washed off the last three days of travel stink off of her. She had something left she could at least sleep in while the rest went laundered. Marin just wanted to be clean in clean clothes.

Her bangs were getting long as well, she had never trimmed her hair since she had come here. Blowing out her bangs, Marin figured it would be simpler to grow them out and just have a ponytail all the time.

There were worse things to worry about. Like a cheaper place to sleep and a job to pay for it. Marin had no intentions of staying here another night, if she could help it. Even the change that Kari had given Marin was not enough for one more night in this place.

“Rocket town.” she said to herself. She had yet to ask the number of the rocket they were up to. She knew, as far as the old game held up, that #25 would be the last. She also didn’t have a perfect picture on how close that put her to the other events. ‘Had rocket 25 been canceled 2 years before the game? Ten?’ She wasn’t sure. And that bothered her.

She felt like she had time to figure out a place on this planet. But she didn’t know how much time that was.

Then there was Ardyn. Who knew more than her, clearly, some sort of person or being that could take a shape he liked. Or just a shape that she found familiar. He acted like she only saw him as Ardyn. But not knowing for sure who or what he really was bothered her the most. When his cryptic answers didn’t frustrate her.

Whatever he really was, he didn’t belong on either planet. Which made this more complicated. This problem was not just being inside a video game.

He seemed happy to pop up when he wasn’t expected, be mysterious, get a reaction out of her then leave. And all of that for his own reasons.

Marin was honest with herself, she only referred to him as a him or even a person because of how she had first perceived him. The version of Ardyn she knew from his game was eccentric. So she had fallen into that sort of reference to whatever this Ardyn was.

He wasn’t a two thousand year old immortal, cursed to live forever, like the one in the game ‘Ardyn’ was from. Or at least until that game’s heroes had defeated their Ardyn. This thing was something else.

She scrubbed her back, getting all the sweat off, reminding herself that he wasn’t Ardyn. Hoping that he only looked a villain. He was potentially more dangerous than that character. And despite that feeling, she had kept the moon pendant token. It made her feel like she was grasping at straws, keeping it just in case it was useful.

And here she sat, no job, no way to know if she had a chance to stay in Kuar-glen. And her money wouldn’t get her through a week. That didn’t count the clothes she missed from earth, the clothes she had broken in. And especially her binders, on the days she wanted to be more flat or just less masculine in shape.

Living in this place was going to be a problem, where-ever Marin ended up. Especially if she didn’t find a replacement for those binders.

Sighing, she had no idea if the next town would be better or worse. She needed more Gil, and she needed it now. Before she felt more secure.

“I might never feel safe.” she mumbled to herself. Most people went their whole lives without that kind of financial security. Most of the people she knew like that, they also lived on a planet where there was a zero-chance of a giant monster appearing, or the world ending.

The Materia wasn’t enough, she could do something. But the magic she had now was not enough for her to ‘get by’ using it for a full-time job.

Channeling the magic made her feel powerful, in the moment, felt like it’s own trap. Magic would not solve every problem, and she didn’t have enough to solve every problem if it took too long.

Finishing with the shampoo, she rinsed out her hair and washed her face until she was sure enough soap was gone to open her eyes.

“Took you long enough.” Ardyn told her.

“Bah!” she backed up in the tub, until the cloudy water was up to her neck.

He stood there, looking her in the eyes, while she covered herself in her panic with one arm. While reaching for her materia bracelet with her other hand.

He only ‘tsked’ at her. “Do you really think that would help?”

He made no moves, other than to swagger in place.

Marin clipped the bracelet on.

“No, I don’t. But it makes me feel better.”

“For once, honesty.” He handed her the towel that was just out of her reach.

She would still have to rise out of the cloudy water to take the towel.

Glaring at Ardyn, whatever he really was. She held herself in place and reached out for him to come closer with the towel. “Towel, please.”

He sighed and took another step, close enough for her to snatch it and keep most of her dignity.

She blocked herself from his view and ungracefully got out of the tub, covering herself. “Are you also above leering at people while they take a bath?”

“Oh come now, surely you figured out why I’m even here.”

“Nope, can’t say that I have.” She found another towel and started hastily drying herself off, hating how vulnerable she felt from the surprise and lack of privacy.

“A pity.” He turned his back on her.

She took that moment to start getting dressed. She didn’t care that she was dressing with damp skin. Pulling her white t-shirt and gray pullover on over the towel, before slipping the towel more securely around her waist, preserving what dignity she could cling to while someone else stood in the bathroom.

He called over his shoulder, “Have you thought about what you want?”

“I’m loathe to ask for anything from you.”

“Hmm.” was all he said.

“What would it take for you to not be so frustrating to deal with?”

“Not the right question, but…”

“But what?”

“Perhaps Janine-”

“Just Marin, I’m not pretending to be her anymore.”

“Ah, that remains to be seen. Anyway, Marin. You know exactly who I am. Have you considered that you do not know who you are? That you are the one getting so easily frustrated?”

Marin glared at him.

“That is exactly what I’m talking about.” Ardyn beamed down at Marin. Hat or no hat he towered over her.

“My temper is just fine.”

“Hmm,” Ardyn tapped a finger to his chin. “I’m really not sure if you mean that as a lie to me, or to yourself.”

Marin swallowed instead of pout, holding back her words as she reined in her temper. ‘I won’t give him the satisfaction of getting flustered again.’

“Hmm,” Ardyn had a considering look for Marin. “Needs work, but a little better.” He started pacing around the bathroom. Keeping his back to Marin while he talked to himself “Not a great start, but all things considered. Yes.”

“What are you on about?”

“Still the wrong questions,” Ardyn shook his head.

Marin took a breath and continued to wrestle her dry clothes over not-dry-enough skin. “What should I be asking then?”

Ardyn tsked again, “I thought I told you-”

“ ‘If I gave you all the answers, you won’t learn anything’.” Marin finished for him.

“You do remember what I say.”

One of her feet was sticking to the inside of her blue-jeans. “Not everything, but I’m trying.”

Ardyn kept his back to Marin. “Trying isn’t good enough, but it will have to do. Are you done yet?”

Marin finally finished with her jeans, “Yeah I-”

Ardyn spun around “Have you thought of what you want?”

Despite the distance between them, Ardyn’s immediacy had Marin leaning back. “I don’t want anything else from you. Not anything.”

“Oh? Don’t you want to go home?”

“And what’s your price?”

Half of Ardyn’s mouth smiled, more smirked. “Do me a favor, and I will give you what you want.”

Marin stared at Ardyn. “A favor, what if I don’t want to do that favor?”

“Oh, I think you will.” He smiled widely.

Marin sighed in disgust, “What do you want from me?”

“What do I want?” Ardyn looked puzzled, “What do I want?”

He paced back and forth, repeating himself until he turned back to Marin. “What do I want? You’ll know.”

“Know what?”

“When you’ve done me that favor.”

Marin shook your head. “You’re still speaking in riddles.”

“Hmm, well. Feeling less exposed now?”

Marin’s jaw hung open. She did not know how to respond to the change in subject, “I was asking you a question.”

Ardyn looked to the ceiling and back at Marin, “And you did not answer mine.”

Marin picked up her sweater. “I guess? Next time don’t bother me in the bath.”

Ardyn looked around the room, “Oh, is that what you were doing?” Ardyn started fiddling with his fingertips. Moving his hands like he was playing cat’s cradle with no string.

Marin found it distracting enough she did not ask another question, while she pulled her socks on.

Ardyn did not break the silence, continuing to fiddle with his hands.

Marin blinked and blinked again. Looking back up at his face, she thought she had seen a string there. But there was nothing. “What is with you today?”

The look of concentration did not break as he spoke, “what is a day even?”

Marin rolled her eyes, holding her hand from putting her forehead in her palm, “More riddles?”

Ardyn broke off whatever he was doing , his hands going still, “You still have not given me an answer.”

“To what?”

He put on his most winning smile, “Don’t you feel better now?”

His charm grated on Marin, “Now that you ask. No, I don’t.”

He shrugged, “Ah well. It was worth trying.” He started walking around again, with a swagger. Ending where Marin had left the her things for the bath.

Her wallet, her necklace. He showed no interest in that, or the paper Gil inside it. Poking at the pendant she had kept. Ardyn ignored the ring. “You kept the token.”

Even as the tub stood between them, him just poking at her things felt like an invasion of her personal space.

Marin tried another question. “What’s it for, the token?”

“Ah, well, that’s for me to know and you to find out.” He did a melodramatic shrug with his hands. “Or don’t.”

She folded her hands across her chest. The materia bracelet pressed against her. “Is that the only form you can take?”

“Hmm, what? Oh this old thing?” He brushed off non-existent dust from his giant coat and scarf. “Why? Do you think I could do better?”

“I dunno about better. I’m just curious to what you can and can’t do.”

“Ah well, that’s an entirely different question. What did you have in mind for appearances?” He stood in a very not-Arden like pose and her father regarded her from across the tub.

The face and eyes of her real father. With his voice “Would you rather I take the form of someone you trust?”

She backed up, the urge to cast a spell was strong, not that she thought it would work, “Oh fuck! No! that’s much worse!”

Shelly wrung her hands at Marin from across the tub. “Would you like some tea?” Shelly asked Marin.

“Ahh!” Marin covered her face. “Nope. Nope. Ardyn’s better.” She shivered in fear. Not just that he had stood and spoke like her dad, but that ‘Ardyn’ knew what he looked like. It made the being before her all the more creepy. He had felt like her father, except that he had been Ardyn right before. “Keep it to Ardyn, please.” she lowered her hands to see him as Ardyn again.

“Well, all right, you did ask nicely.” He half grinned, like an open-lipped smirk, another Ardyn-like gesture.

“Ugh.”

“Something else bothering you?” He asked.

“Hmm.” she said searching for words. “I’d rather you look incongruous to this world. I’d rather trust to know who or what it is I’m looking at.”

“Oh? Is that what you want?”

“Oh for, stop asking me that.” She rubbed her fingers through her hair. “I keep feeling like any requests to you are going to hurt later.”

“Would that make you feel better if they did?”

She rolled her eyes again. “Look, this is going nowhere. You’re here, you’ve made me uncomfortable. There is always an edge to you continually asking me what I want. Can we just talk?”

“And what do you propose?”

She threw out her hands in resignation, “I know it’s not true, but like equals, or something? I find out what you want with me, and me with you. If the latter is even possible. And we go our separate ways. You can keep being cryptic. And I can flail around the planet until I figure myself out.”

“Hmm, like equals but not you say? Is that-”

“Don’t finish that question. Please.” she ran her fingers through her damp hair. “I’m sorry for interrupting you, uh... sir? But could you please drop the asking me what I want and we’ll just talk?”

“Hmm.” He held his chin like he was deep in thought. From Ardyn, it looked sarcastic. “Hmmm. Like equals you say?” He looked at her. “What do I want with you?” He gave it a few moments though, “Well, that’s easy.” He took off his trilby and swept it off his head. Using the hat, he made a grand and sweeping gesture out the door. “I’d like you to get your show on the road!”

“By which you mean?-”

“By which I mean get out there! Look for trouble!” He plopped the hat back on his head at an angle. “Honestly, if you move about enough, trouble will find you! Save us some time.”

“And what purpose is that?”

He chuckled, “Surely you didn’t think I would tell you all the answers. Now did you?”

Marin shook her had, “No, but that would have been nice.”

“Now.” He put one hand on his hip. “What do you want from me?”

“Some answers would be nice.”

“And what did I just give you?”

Marin sighed. “You still haven’t told me why I’m here, or how.”

He shook his head. “I’m not here for you to figure out everything for you, then what would be the point?”

Marin rubbed her forehead. “Yeah, fine. What about the token? What is it for? What if I lose it again?”

He moved like he was going into a grand speech, then he said a single word. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t lose it.” His face was less cocky. Ardyn looked angry for a moment, his eyes were more shadowed.

Marin only shook her head. “What about: are you the one that brought me here? Can you take me back to Earth?”

“Is that what you want?”

She waved out a hand, “Oh for, it depends.”

“Depends on what?”

“On the cost of going home.”

“Cost? Oh there is no cost, to you.”

“Seriously? No big adventure? No hero’s journey to find out that I had it in me all along? I can just go home now?”

He smirked, “you’re asking me the wrong questions.”

She frowned at him, “Little help?”

“What you could ask me, is not what it will cost you, but cost others.”

She frowned at him. “OK, so what would it cost everyone else if I left right now?”

He fiddled with his fingernails, plucking at dirt that was not there. “If you leave now, you won’t find your answers until the answers won’t matter.”

She cried at the ceiling, “Augh. OK, fine.” Lowering her head to face him again. She took a deep breath. “Then we’re going to need to establish some ground rules.”

“Oh? Are you the referee now?”

She shook her head. “If you’re not going to establish what you can or can’t do. What about me? What can or can’t I do while I’m here?”

Ardyn shrugged, “I don’t know, why don’t you try it?”

Her shoulders sagged in exasperation. “I mean weird stuff. Things people normally can or can’t do. Like” she wiggled her fingers at his coat. “You take on whatever form, so far only ones I know of. What about me? Are there any rules I can break? Use Materia no one else can use?” she looked around the room, searching for ideas. “Or if I die here? Am I really dead or am I going to bamf somewhere else? Like wake up at home. Things like that. What are my rules?”

“Hmm,” He considered her. “I’m not going to tell you anything you can figure out for yourself.” Letting go of his chin, he rested it back on his hip. “But I will say this.” He waggled a finger to lecture her, moving it in warning. “I warn against you trying to wake yourself up or take control, like this is some sort-of dream.” He put his finger down. “That didn’t work out so well for the last fellow that tried to will themselves out of trouble. You seem the type that would rather go home than share that fate.”

“So I’m not dreaming. I can believe that.”

He shrugged, “As for the other questions. You’re just going to have to figure that out for yourself. Part of growing up is learning the rules and adapting to them.”

“What if I don’t adapt?”

He shrugged again, “Adapt or die.” He didn’t elaborate.

Marin rubbed her mouth. “Well, I figured out where I am, but can I ask you ‘when’ I am?”

“You may ask.”

She rolled her eyes. “OK, well.” she sucked in a breath. “I thought I knew this place until I came here. Now I have no idea if the world is going to blow up tomorrow or ten years from now. Or never?”

He shrugged again. “All things end eventually.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Then why even ask?” He said.

“I want to know where I am in relation to the time line of the game all this is from.”

“And you think that would help because....”

“While I’m here. I would like to be useful. I figured I’d be more useful if I knew when things were going to happen.”

He shook his head, tsking, “Again, you’re asking the wrong questions.”

“All right then.” she sucked in her anger, to avoid yelling something at him. “Where should I be right now?”

He threw up his hands. “that depends on what you mean by useful.”

Marin sighed. “This is getting me nowhere.”

“At least you acknowledge that. Not that it’s helping.”

“You. Are. Being. Impossible.” she told him.

He shrugged, offering, “Well, if I had to choose one thing. I’d say that you might not have enough wealth, whatever it’s called here, to be very useful. So maybe get more of that?” He swept his hand over the floor. “Run along now, find a way to be of use.” He gestured for her to leave the room.

She squeezed her lips shut. Slowly putting her boots on and gathering her things.

“Well? Run along.” He told her again.

“What? you’re not going to disappear when I’m not looking?”

“Shoo.” He told her.

She glared at him from the door, passive-aggressively still moving slowly to enter the hallway. Turning her back on him, her foot was over the threshold when she heard voices coming up the stairs.

The words were not clear, but her ears caught the sound of a voice she knew. She froze half in and out of the doorway. Her rented room was on the other side of the voices, down the stairs and under them.

Some people must have checked in after dark. And one of them was a familiar voice. She could finally make out the words.

“I heard you the first time, get up at the crack of dawn. OK?” Danny’s voice.

Marin’s hand was still holding the doorknob. Thoughts of Ardyn flew out of her mind. ‘Danny….’ She listened.

An authoritative voice respond “that goes for everyone, no sleeping in tomorrow.”

A few other voices chimed in agreement.

A few men and women were nearly up to Marin now, one of them glanced at her while they passed her by. One of the women gave an odd look to the stranger, Marin, standing still in the doorway as the group passed. They all had a collection of casual coats on over their shirts and t-shirts. Every single one of them had the same light brown khakis on over their combat boots. |IT ad the look of appearing casual while still wearing part of a uniform.

Danny chatted up someone near him, he hadn’t noticed her yet.

“Danny.” He looked at one of the others in his group, Marin spoke again. “Danny!”

He stopped and looked at her. His group went a few more steps before the leader came to a stop, and took in Marin and Danny.

“Marin?” He looked surprised to see her there. He looked like he wasn’t convinced that she was there.

She was surprised herself, in a different way. The last time she had seen this face so clearly, and true to life, was the portrait over his closed coffin. She put out a hand to hold his shoulder. Marin wanted to be sure that he felt real. “Danny.” Her eyes were watering.

“Marin?” Danny sounded concerned now.

The leader waved the rest of his group off and waited nearby.

Marin fell into Danny, he awkwardly grabbed her and held her in his arms. Marin buried her face in his shoulder, crying. She mumbled, “Danny...”

Danny patted her back, also awkwardly. “I missed you too?”

“Old girlfriend?” the leader asked.

Marin sobbed, choking back tears as she started gathering herself back together.

Marin didn’t see what passed between Danny and his group leader.

“Whatever, dawn tomorrow. Don’t be late.” the man’s boots clomped off after the others.

Danny helped Marin stand up straight again. “Marin. What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Other than everything?” she covered her mouth, afraid she would start blubbering again.

Marin reassured herself with a thought. ‘He’s here! He’s real. I’m holding him.’

“Is there somewhere we can talk? Just the two of us?” Danny asked her.

Marin nodded. She broke off her hold on Danny and led him to her tiny room under the stairs Danny had just come up from. It had a single chair, no desk, just a chair. And a single uncomfortable bed. Her overloaded backpack was under the bed.

Plopping on the uncomfortable bed, Marin watched Danny walk over. He carried himself differently than she remembered. She couldn’t put her finger on what. He was still Danny, but now he was a new Danny. And also a living Danny.

“How long?” He asked her as he closed the door behind him.

“How long was what?”

“Since you last saw me?”

“Oh,” she blew her nose. She would need some water if she wanted to prevent a headache. “I lost track of the days, about five months.”

“What? Lost track? How?”

“I’ve been out of school.”

“What? How?”

“I was in the hospital Danny.” she smiled. “This little vacation to Gaia goes on much longer. And I’ll miss skip mid-terms.”

Danny leaned against the door, folding his arms across his chest. “Five months? Yeah, that sounds right. Are you OK?”

Marin shrugged, “I'm doing better now. At least time is the same on both planets. Not that it matters If I never go back.”

“If we never go back.” He corrected her.

Marin found herself looking at Danny and made her face go blank.

“What is it Marin?”

She didn’t know why she tried to hide anything from Danny or Jamie. They knew each other too well.

“Marin?”

“Danny, sit down.”

“Marin. What is wrong?”

“Danny?”

He shrugged and complied, sitting in the single chair. The room was at least wide enough that their knees were inches apart.

Marin fiddled with a loose thread in her pants.

“Marin?” He asked softer this time.

“Back home, on Earth…There was a-” she choked. Sitting across from the best friend she was still grieving, kept her from falling apart completely. She was still in recovery mode from her breakdown, her resistances to emotions this strong was still weak. “I went to your funeral.”

---

Chapter Text

Danny stared at her.

Marin’s words came out in a torrent of run-on sentences. “Your parents said you ran away. Jamie and I never believed them.” she sucked in a breath, trying to calm herself down.

Danny held out a hand, “slow down, you’re going too fast.”

Marin took the hand in both of hers. “Your parents said you’d run away.”

Danny snorted, “Of course they did.”

“Jamie and I didn’t believe them. But then..”

“Did you see my body?”

She shook her head. “they said it was a closed coffin because of the state-” she choked again. “...Because of how you were found.”

A week before the funeral, Danny had come out to his family as gay, he had told Jamie and Marin he would. His family had thrown him out on the street. Hence Marin’s disbelief that he had merely run off.

Marin and Jamie had warned him against it. Their plan was to become so independent from their families that it wouldn’t matter if anyone found out. Marin still wasn’t sure what she was, but she knew how she felt about Jamie and how Jamie felt about her. That was enough for both of them.

Whatever had happened to Danny, his body was too far gone to tell if he had died that night or the next day or the night after that. His family had had the funeral as soon as they could manage.

“The last thing you told me, over the phone” Marin kept herself together, “Was that you were gonna try to figure out the night. Before you would ask us for help.” she had never had a chance to ask her parents if her best friend could crash on their couch. She had never had a chance to try.

“I remember.” Danny shrugged, “I don’t remember dying though.” He shrugged, “That might make going back home complicated.”

Marin shook her head, “Who knows. Maybe we’re all dead. Maybe this is all a dream before we actually die. Or maybe we go back right before we die and we maybe don’t die?”

“I like the last one.”

Marin shrugged, “On the bright side to going back before we left. If that happens, I’ll already have a therapist to work through whatever else happens here.”

“Already? Are you OK Marin?”

“No.” she hugged herself. “But what choice do I have now? It’s sink or swim. And by sink I mean die on an alien world. Who knows what happens then?” She thought of Ardyn, but to much of what had been said was no longer fresh after seeing Danny.

“Marin...”

She shook her head. “It’s a long story. And It sounds like we both have a long day tomorrow.”

“Marin. Please, you said you were in the hospital?”

She shook her head. “I was already not doing so well before-” she cut herself off.

“I remember. You were so upset when you told me the wait list for a psychiatrist or therapist or something. That you were gonna have to wait a year to see somebody.”

“I managed to go three days, after the funeral, before everything fell apart.” she looked down at the floor. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Danny hadn’t been there, he hadn’t seen what had happened. What Marin’s fugue had taken from her memory. He didn’t always go to those meet ups at the restaurant. But if he had lived, he would have blown up her phone with missed calls and messages. Ignored, same as Marin had been doing to Jamie.. And she would have been as much a risk to his safety as she was to anybody else. “I’m not safe.”

“What? How could you say that? What about Jamie?”

“I haven’t see her since before the hospital.” She rubbed her arm, still looking at the floor. “I should call her.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Danny sat on the bed next to her.

“Please, don’t touch me.”

He sat just far enough that they wouldn’t accidentally brush up against each other. He put his arm down, from where he had been about to wrap it around her. “OK.”

“I need a hug. But. The first few days I could remember, touching me hurt. How could it hurt?”

“Brains are weird.”

“Mines really weird. It always has been.”

“I remember you saying, something. I’m sorry. I don’t.”

Marin shook her head. “I’m not surprised. I didn’t have the words to describe it then.”

“How about now?”

“I dunno. I was trying to figure that out, and now I’m here.” she made a ‘come over here’ gesture with her fingers.

Danny slid a little closer. “Can I give you a hug?”

“Yeah.”

“OK.” He gave her a brief squeeze.

“You’ve known me longer than that.” she told him.

He gave her another hug, a longer one this time, before breaking off. “So, how does your brain make you unsafe?”

She shook her head. “I don’t remember.” she sighed. “I blacked out. Woke up days later, in the hospital, with bruised hands and arms. I had been in a fight.” She shrugged again. “Please don’t ask me any more about it. I’m still trying to get away from it.”

“What did Jamie say?”

Marin shrugged, “Where I went, the only visitor was my mom.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah. I haven’t seen anyone else since.”

“Not anyone?”

She shook her head.

Danny asked “And after the hospital?”

Marin shook her head. “For reasons, the doctors thought I’d be better off staying with my mom after discharge.”

“Double yikes.”

“I told you she makes a good first impression.”

“Yeah, I remember the first time I met your dad. He was scary when he thought I was your boyfriend.”

“Haaaa....” Marin’s chuckle trailed off.

Danny patted her on the back. “He was half right, just wrong about who you’re dating.” He grinned widely.

Marin chuckled a little.

Danny elbowed Marin, “Good, you haven’t forgotten how to smile.”

Marin’s smile fell off her face. “I don’t know when or if I’m ever going to see Jamie again.”

Danny looked at the floor with Marin, they were quiet a for a few moments before he asked her. “You and Jamie made a plan.”

“That was then Danny. Who knows now.” She shrugged, “Two more friends in a three-bedroom apartment. Jobs, college. We were going to do that. We had this whole thing worked out...”

“Yeah, I remember, you were going to take the first turn working and taking care of the place. House girlfriend?”

“Hah. A house wife? In this economy?” They both laughed.

When the laughter died down, Danny added. “At least here, we don’t have to worry about climate change or the apocalypse anymore.”

“Ha. Ha.....” Marin looked at Danny and she saw his face fill with concern as he watched her face. “About that.”

“What?”

“Danny, do you know where we are? What this planet is?”

“Um, yeah. It’s from one of your video games. Final Fighting?”

Marin corrected Danny, “Final Fantasy. The seventh one to be specific.”

“How many times are they gonna call it final?” Danny mused.

“Fifteen times so far. But the story behind the name doesn’t matter right now.”

“Yeah, so we’re in one of those. And...”

“I’ve been here a few weeks. I still don’t know when.”

“You don’t know what year it is?”

Marin punched him in the shoulder. “I know when it is, dammit. It’s 1998 around here. I don’t know when in relation to the game’s story.”

“How well do you know it?”

“Too well. I’ve had a lot of time to play this one and a few others lately.”

“And yet...”

“And yet I never dug deep enough into the lore to know enough.”

“Like what?”

“It’s like. I know a bunch of stuff about things. About the order stuff happens in, but not when in relation to today.” she hugged herself. “I don’t know how long we have until either the world ends on it’s own, or a bunch of heroes show up to save it. Er, multiple times.”

Danny looked concerned. “What do you mean ‘multiple times’?”

Marin licked her lips. “This is the one that has a lot to it...”

“Yeah, the one with the cool motorcycle, and ShinRa. Fuck ShinRa.” Danny said that last part with feeling.

“Yeah, that’s Seven.”

“You said ‘save the world multiple times’ though?”

Marin nodded. “I guess since you save the world once, the had to tell that sort a story over and over again.”

So, where do we stand right now?”

Marin shrugged. “There is more game to this game than I could possibly know. And...” she faded out dramatically.

“And?”

“What I thought I knew was wrong. Icicle Inn was more like a remote Alps-looking chalet-resort-town. It was more than six buildings in a little two-dimensional background. We’re in Kuar-glen right now! And I’ve never heard of it!” she adjusted her bracelet, the thing was a little loose, the gesture was useless. She pulled out one of her two notebooks. “Look at this!”

He flipped a few pages. “This is chicken scratches. Besides, it’s another of your invented alphabets isn’t it? I can’t read this.”

Marin swore. “Oh, yeah. So I learned to write with a keyboard, so sue my penmanship.” she flipped through some pages for something written in English characters.

Her hand writing was readable to her, as well as a mix of English, Chinese and French. Whatever words made it shorter. She flipped through pages until she found what she wanted to show Danny.

“With grand-parents like yours. I’m surprised there’s no Japanese in here.”

Marin shrugged. “They liked to talk without the ‘grand-kids’ knowing what they were saying. Anyway, this notebook is me scrambling to write down what I can. Since I don’t have the game or the Internet to reference anymore.”

Danny flipped through a few more pages. “I can read the English, if I stare long enough. But I don’t understand your notes.” He handed her back her notebook.

Marin shrugged. “It’s just how I jog my memory.”

“Whatever works. I mean, it’s not like the world depends on it or anything.”

Marin slapped Danny’s arm.

“Owie. I’m gonna tell my mom!” He mocked.

The laughter cut off at the implications to that statement.

After another silence, Marin asked. “And those guys, that you were with?”

Danny brightened. “I remember them, from something you said.”

Marin’s eyebrows scrunched. “Who?”

“The...” He leaned closer. They were already being quiet, but Danny whispered this part. “The so-called Eco-terrorists that you told me were some of the people that save the world. What were their names again?”

“Barret, Tifa and a few others. But-.”

“Yeah, yeah, you know the ones.” he leaned close and got even quieter. “I found AVALANCHE.” His volume went up to normal again. “What’s wrong?”

Marin shook her head, keeping at a whisper. “Did you actually meet Barret or Tifa? Anyone called Biggs, Wedge or Jessie?”

“Nope to all. Does Shears or Elfe ring any bells?”

Marin shook her head. “No, Maybe.” Marin couldn’t place them. “But AVALANCHE outside of Midgar does...” She trailed off. She knew just enough to feel like she could put Danny in more danger.

“And why is that?”

“Can you keep a secret?” She squeezed her lips shut.

“Yeah.”

“Like, if we were beaten half to death. You would keep this to yourself kind of secret.” She whispered a little quieter. “Terrorists, Eco or otherwise, tend not to be nice. Neither are their enemies.”

“What are you saying Marin? I’m doing this for the planet!”

“I know I don’t have the words to debate the ethics of Eco-terrorism. Or the greater good. The needs of the many over the needs of the few-”

“Live long and prosper.” He put his hand up in the Star Trek sign of peace and prosperity.

She covered his hand with both of her own. “I’m serious Danny.”

“So what’s your secret?”

She shrugged, leafing through her notebook. “Like I said, there is a lot to this world.” she kept flipping for the page she wanted.

“So far, what I know is right, but this world is so much more than that. Like that old game was a shadow of this. Aha.” she found the page she wanted. “But this ‘higher-definition’ world is still true to what I remember, there’s just more of it.”

“What are you pointing at?” He leaned forward, clearly finding her writing illegible.

Marin pulled out a pencil. Re-writing the name carefully. Speaking as loudly as she dared. “I know who pays your boss’ boss’ boss.” She wrote out the name ‘Rufus ShinRa.’ the vice president of ShinRa. ‘Or he will be one day.’ Marin thought.

The ShinRa Electric Power Company were the unequivocal ‘bad guys’ of this world. And Rufus was the son of the President. He would be president one day, if he wasn’t already. And he was the primary source of income for the biggest anti-corporate Eco-terrorists the world had ever seen. How that AVALANCHE tied into the seventh game’s protagonists, Marin did not remember.

“What?” compared to their whispers Danny almost shouted.

Marin clapped a hand to his mouth. “Be quiet!” she hissed.

Danny pulled her hand down and went back to a whisper. “How? How do you know that when You don’t even know my boss’ names? What if you’re wrong?”

Marin shook her head, “I didn’t play that game. But I read about it.” She kept shaking her head, “I told you there is so much to this world. And I know enough to get into trouble or danger.”

“Yeah, I would say! R-” He cut himself off. Even at a whisper, he cut off the name. He continued at a whisper. “So, what about ShinRa?”

“Here.” She waved her hand around. “It’s so much worse.” she pointed to the newspaper on the chair. “Like the war that’s been a thing for years? The Wutai I know, that I thought I knew. Had only one town. Some tourist trap. But based on the ShinRa-owned-operated-written and edited newspaper. there’s fighting all over the island. The War is going on all over that Island.” she shivered. “It is so much worse.”

“Does it ever end?”

"What?”

“The War.”

Marin shrugged, “I think so? At least there was no fighting that I knew of.”

“And only one town...” Danny said.

Marin nodded. “I haven’t even begun to pick apart the potential butterfly effect of touching a war. Never mind anything I’ve already done so far.”

Danny leaned back against the wall. Deep in thought.

Marin left him, she skimmed her notes, looking for more gaps to fill. The guy had talked himself into joining what he thought were the good guys. In many ways they were, fighting against a super-monopoly-corporation. which owned almost all the world. All of it once the Wutai war ended. It was worst-case capitalism. They didn’t have climate change the same way Earth did. But the energy options ShinRa had made could end the world one day. If the wound in the North pole didn’t end everything first.

And now Danny had just found out that the company he had been trying to stop, were the same people that paid him. AVALANCHE were pawns of Rufus, so he could use them against his father to takeover ShinRa. He wasn’t president yet. Marin had learned that much. But he was the son of the most powerful man in the world.

And Danny was just a tool for part of ShinRa to use against other parts of ShinRa.

Danny looked at her. “Who knows this?”

Marin shook her head. “I have no idea, other than him.” She tapped the name, before erasing Rufus’ name. She might need that space for something else later. It was so deep a secret, she didn’t want to whisper it aloud.

“It’s why I was quite happy to look for a job. Find a place to settle and watch the news. But trouble has a way of just showing up.”

“But if you don’t know the exact time line, then how would watching the news help?”

She tapped the space that had just held a name, “There are some things that will appear in the news. Or at least won’t be a secret.”

Danny shook his head, “Wow.” He was still processing.

Marin leaned close, so close that it would have been mistaken for flirting if they did not know each other so well. “People would kill to know that. Or kill either of us to keep it unknown.”

“So why tell me?” He whispered back.

“Because we’re both in over our heads. And I want you to know who you’re really working for.”

Danny was still in denial, “We’re the good guys…”

“I’m not going to debate AVALANCHE’s intentions. But you should know-”

“There’s rumors of a plan to off the president.” He threw his arms out. “I still don’t believe it!” He settled back down after nearly clipping Marin’s ear. “I don’t want to believe it.” Danny stared at the wall. “His own son, what a family.” He threw his arms out, “I still don’t believe it.”

Marin looked at him.

He gestured again, “I will, because it’s coming from you. I just need time.” He shrugged, “I knew there was an informant!” He whispered furiously, “I fucking knew it.”

Marin shrugged, “I don’t know the nitty-gritty details. But yeah, the guy I named is the ‘leak’ and the wallet. And your ‘friends’ are really costing them money and time. Also his pawns.”

Danny shrugged again, “I need some time.”

Marin nodded and went back to her notebook. She was going to need to re-write it in pen to stop it from smudging. She had heard of exercises for holding onto long-term memories. But she had no idea how to make one, to commit all her notes to memory. She didn’t like having an object that could be lost, stolen or damaged. Harold could definitely not read the non-English alphabets in this book. Marin was frustrated, that being a polyglot was otherwise wasted here. The notebook could be just as secure with one of her made-up ciphers. Knowing three languages now felt like a waste of her time.

"Fucking secret wars.” She mumbled to herself.

“What?”

“ShinRa and their secrets wars with someone-or-other. Maybe throw a potential apocalypse in each one.” she threw up her hand. “Who knows? Maybe the war with Wutai will prevent another apocalypse.” She grumbled at a whisper Danny could hear. “I know when the war started. But not exactly when it will end.” She flipped the notebook shut and shoved it in her pocket. “With my bad luck, the day it ends, everything will happen at once. And We’ll get overwhelmed.”

She continued. “There is a war going on right now, people are dying. The planet is slowly dying. ShinRa is choking Her. Who knows how many actual apocalypses could happen, or be prevented, in the next I dunno how many years? And I’m sitting here, wondering about getting a damned shitty job. So I can pay my bills beyond the next three days. Different DJ, but it’s all the same shitty music.” She threw herself back, to lean against the wall herself.

Danny sighed himself, “OK, so things are the way they are. But...”

“But?” She asked him.

“But I’m still helping. Making ShinRa bleed.”

Marin shrugged. “It’s more proactive than just having some random day-job, yeah.”

“I could talk to my boss. Uh” He looked around the room. “Do you have any weapons?”

“Not unless you count this belt knife I use to eat with.” She jangled her bracelet. “I have some materia.” She threw her arm over her eyes. “It’s been five months since my last Tai-Chi class. Not that that was real fighting. Face it Danny. Whatever happened to you the last few months to make you useful to them. I don’t have the sorts of skills they’re looking for.” She adjusted her bracelet in vain again. “Unless you know where I can find a fabric store. I was planning on going to town to find whatever useful tools of the trade I could find. Now That I’m not stuck with what few things are in Icicle Inn.”

“Icicle Inn? Where’s that?”

“It’s a small resort just below the north pole.”

Danny fingered the winter coat pocking out of her rucksack. “Looks cold.”

“It is. It very cold this time of year. Come February, it will only get colder.”

“How cold is it in the summer?”

She sat up, “Lemme think. It’s so cold right now, that walking through the snow in your pj's at night, you started suffering from hypothermia in less than a minute.” she shrugged, “At least they use metric for the temperature, like rational people.”

“And how about summer?”

“Those pj's at night? Maybe three minutes. The snow pretty much never melts.” She pulled out the map Kari had given her and pointed to Kuar-Glen “We’re here.”

“I know.”

Marin pointed where Icicle inn is. “And I ended up here.”

Danny looked at the window. Marin had pulled down the curtain, but compared to icicle inn, October was balmy this time of year. “Shouldn’t it be warmer there or colder here?”

Marin shook her head. “It’s the Wound in the North crater.” She pointed out the circular arete of mountains on the northern-most part of the northern continent. “That’s a two-thousand year-old crater. Where the life stream has been leaking out ever since.” she shook her head. “I don’t remember if the planet is sucking in the heat to try to heal itself, or if that much Lifestream is making the North Pole so cold. But it’s artificially cold up there.”

“Lifestream coming out of the surface?” Danny wondered. “Have you seen it?”

Marin shook her head, carefully folding the map back up and putting it in her pocket. “Not directly, but the Lifestream leaking out goes so high over those mountains that it’s like the northern lights are on every night of the year.”

“Wow, I’d like to see that.”

---

Chapter Text

Marin and Danny kept talking late into the night.

Marin shook her head, in response to Danny’s question. “It’s romantic up until the moment you realize it’s an injury of the planet.” she looked up at Danny with sadness. “She’s dying Danny. That wound is slowly bleeding Her to death.” Marin touched the back of her head. “It’s like when they stitched my scalp back together. I lost too much blood blood before the nurse knew I was in danger.”

“I remember you telling me, you needed a pint of blood for that surgery, after you got bit.” He scratched his head. “So what about stitching this wound back together?”

Marin put out her hands. “I’m not the one that knows how to do it.”

Danny gave Marin a look. “I thought you knew this world.”

“OK, I’ll rephrase that. I remember who and what and how that wound might be closed. But I’m not the right who, I don’t have the kind of power that would enable me to do it. I’m not an Ancient. They’re an extinct race of magic people. Plus-” she held out her hands. “I can’t possibly do all that alone. And then, there’s the crater that has to be climbed. It only gets colder closer to the crater. Combine the cold with that climb, it’s the closest thing this planet has to climbing mount Everest!”

“Holy shit, how tall is that crater?”

“It’s not that tall, it’s just so damned cold up there. And the meteor that landed so long ago didn’t leave behind any convenient stairs.” She shrugged again. “I could help, but even when I know the right place to be, I don’t know the right time to be there.” She patted her notebook. “It’s a burden, knowing that the world could die 4-5 different ways in the next I-don’t-know how many years. And if everyone does nothing and just sits in place. This world will end for sure. And nobody knows exactly how long is too long to leave that Wound open.” she shrugged again. “It only took me three hours for a ‘little’ too much blood to leak out the tears in my scalp. I’m not a planet. And planet’s tend to do things in geological time.”

Danny put a hand on her shoulder, searching for the words before speaking. Marin had dropped a lot on him already that night. “Stop, Take a breath Marin.”

She did. Sucking in some air.

Danny waited a few breaths more before asking “What kind of scale are we talking? Millions of years?”

Marin shook her head. “Well, maybe? It’s like the Big One.”

“The big what?”

Marin sighed. “Have you ever heard of California getting earthquakes?”

“Yeah, but what’s the Big One?”

“The next big, potentially life threatening, building and highway-collapsing earthquake on the west coast.”

“Well, what about it?”

“In geological time, the next ‘Big’ earthquake could be next month, next year, ten years from now, a hundred or a thousand years from now. But it’ll happen eventually.”

“I don’t follow, what does earthquakes on Earth have to do with the Lifestream leaking up North?”

Marin sighed, “The Wound in the North Crater might tap out next year, unlikely given how much hasn’t happened yet.” she sighed, “It might happen ten years from now, or one hundred. Maybe two hundred years.” She knew she wasn’t quoting Bugenhagen’s exact words, from one of the expository conversations from the game. The exact words didn’t matter in the end. “But the planet will die one day, unless the Wound is closed. And it is very likely to die in our lifetimes.”

Danny moved his hands, asking for more of an explanation. “What happens when the planet dies?”

“The planet becomes incapable of sustaining life on Gaia. All life. Humans, birds, plants, all of it. Something-something the Lifestream leaves the planet and drifts off into space. It disperses in the vacuum, or something. I don’t know. But” she pointed a thumb at her chest. “That planet death would kill me.” She pointed at Danny, “Kill you. ShinRa, AVALANCHE. And everyone in between.” she looked up at the ceiling. “Depending on things I still don’t know. I guess we’d join the Lifestream if we die? Maybe?” she held out her hands. “Who knows? Ardyn has been exactly zero-help in that regard.”

“Who?”

Marin sighed, she rubbed her face with her hands. “I just call him that, because he looks like that character from another Final Fantasy game. I don't know who or what he really is.” she looked at Danny. “He keeps showing up to fluster me, answer my questions with questions and then disappear off to God-knows-what.”

“Sounds like another mystery.”

“Ugh. Sometimes I want to strangle him.” she ran her fingers through her hair. “At the same time, being polite might actually be helpful? He was slightly less cryptic when I used ‘please’ and ‘thank-you’. He even answered some questions with answers. So yay?”

Danny shrugged, “I don’t know anyone weird or mysterious like that.”

“I am still testing out if anyone else sees him the same way I do.”

“Anyway, what’d he tell you?”

Marin counted off her fingers with each point, “Let’s see. don’t treat this like a dream or bad things happen, try not to die, maybe he doesn’t see Ardyn when he looks at himself? Um, get off my ass and don’t get stuck in place, don’t lose another token-”

"What token? What’s that?”

She pulled the necklace out, it had the moon pendant from Ardyn. And the ring Jamie had given her.

“Oh, I’d forgotten about the ring, is that-?” He reached. The moon pendant was next to the ring. He stopped when he saw the look on Marin’s face. “Can I touch it?”

“Ardyn was either being mysterious, or he doesn’t see what I see. What do you see?”

Danny brought his eyebrows drown and looked at the ring and moon pendant. “You have something strung next to your ring. May I?” He reached again.

Marin gestured to let him.

He took the pendant in between his fingers. “Oh, yeah, it is a crescent moon.” He jabbed a thumb at the single bulb in the room, dim and under a lamp shade. “It’s not very bright in here.”

“But you do see that it’s a crescent moon?”

“Yeah. Should I see something else?”

Marin shook her head, “I don’t know.” she put the chain back under her shirt.

“You said another token?”

“Yeah, just to add to the mystery. I met him on Earth, looking as Ardyn then too.” she rubbed her forehead. “I thought it was just a costume at first. Ugh.”

“And the token?”

“I dunno, it looked like a two-headed coin with a Chocobo head on it. Or it’s two tails because it’s an animal? Whatever.”

“Where’s the coin?”

“Back on my nightstand at home. I didn’t have it on me when I was stumbling in the snow in my pajamas. And it never turned up when the Dwyer’s nursed me back to health.”

“The Dwyer’s?”

Marin shook her head “Another long story.”

“And now you’re here? Did something else happen?”

Marin shook her head, “Nope. Just Ardyn. Well, fake-Ardyn. Whichever.”

“Right.”

Marin threw her arm over her eyes again. “Sure, believe me or don’t. Whatever. If I see him again I’ll point him out to you.” she put her arm back down. “But for sure, you’re here. And I’m here. We’re together again.”

“Until the morning at least.”

Marin sighed, “Yeah. Unless I change my mind about your friends, or your boss does field applications.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda weird. How much do you know?”

“Not enough.” Marin told him. “But like I said, the stakes are high.”

“They’re coming down to saving the world from something. Yeah. I get it.”

“Why are you even here?” she asked.

“We’re just passing through, to somewhere else.”

Marin waved her hand. “Yeah, fine. Don’t tell me. They’re your friends.” Marin had been friends with Danny since Jr high, grade seven. They had known of each other since first or second grade. They had both lived a couple blocks apart for years. Which means they had gone to all the same schools. And had chosen the same high school.

Danny had an unreadable look on his face. “It’s been an eventful five months.”

Marin’s head sank. “Yeah, I get it.” she jangled her materia bracelet. “I’ve only used these a little. But those Bandersnatches came out of nowhere. And Jarvin and I became, something. I dunno. It was one fight, and we scared them off.”

“I’d hardly call Bandersnatches mere animals.” Danny told her.

“They were big wolves, they ran off after a few bullets and fire spells. But a fights a fight. And going back to back with someone, then not dying. It’s a thing. I get it.” Marin rubbed her face. “His wife was even happier to know why Jarvin came back in one piece.”

Danny’s face became more friendly again, “Then you understand.”

“I guess? I think that’s that camaraderie soldiers have.” Marin sighed. “War reveals character, and crisis brings survivors together. But war and crisis also kill a lot of people.”

Danny didn’t respond.

Marin let the silence fill the room. She did not know how eventful the last few months had been for Danny exactly. But given who he was running with at the moment. She guess that he had seen violence and death already. Marin was a coward, she knew it. She didn’t want to see violence or death, especially never be the one inflicting it.

But if someone was going to do that sort of thing, with the intention of helping people. And maybe get lucky and save the world from the ShinRa corporation. She was going to get out of their way.

The only other wrinkle was that Danny was also working for the very people he was trying to fight. The truth was hurting him. So Marin left him to respond when he was ready.

Marin thought she had Danny’s differences figured out now. He knew how to fight, maybe how to kill. He might have seen some things since he had gotten to this planet. And he had survived to today.

He carried those burdens now, and Marin had added onto them with her knowledge. She had felt a little selfish, telling him. But it was a secret they could carry together, that was what made her feel a little selfish for telling him. On top of whatever he had seen or done in the last few months.

Marin leaned back against the wall, felling like a terrible friend in the moment. She had wanted to see him again, but not like this.

“Why are you crying Marin?” He asked her.

She wiped the tear. “I didn’t…I wanted... No.” she scrubbed the tears off her face. “Not like this. I never wanted or dreamed to see you again, like this.” She waved her hand vaguely around the room.

“Yeah, me neither.”

Danny considered something for a few moments. “Did you ever see a rocket launch when you went to Florida with your folks?”

“Yeah, at a distance. Some satellite or another. I missed the shuttle era by a lot.”

“Do you want to see a rocket launch up close?”

Marin perked up, “Like how close?”

“Close enough,” Danny leaned back and closed his eyes. “Rocket town, south of here, has a booming economy right now. Maybe we could catch a launch together.”

“But you’re not a space nerd-oh.” she frowned. “Do you know what number of rocket they’re up to?”

“I dunno. Number twenty or so. None of them are manned yet. Why do you ask?” He opened one eye. “Is it about something in your notebook?”

“Maybe.” she said. “But I don’t want to burden you with it.”

He opened both eyes, “Spill it.”

“Twenty five might be the last one ever built.” she bowed her head. Some things never change. Lack of interest and the space program funding goes down the tubes. On earth the sign would say ‘asteroid’s are nature’s way of asking how the space program is going.’

Marin got distracted by a thought.

On Gaia, it might say ‘the north crater is nature’s way of asking how the space program is going.’ One was reborn after joining the life stream. But the Ancients had traveled from planet to planet, somehow. So clearly life could spread extant from it’s planet of origin. But not if they cut the funding to their space program.

Danny stepped in with a question. “And by ever built, you mean?”

“It’s going to miss it’s launch window. Don’t ask me when.” She touched the pocket where her notebook sat. “A rocket launch though. And a booming economy.”

“Yeah. It’d be nice to see you again after...”

“You’re leaving in the morning.” Marin stated it. It wasn't a question.

“Yeah.”

“Fuck, I miss phones.”

He looked at her. “you’re kidding? That was one of the first things I did when I had my bearings.”

Marin rolled her eyes. “Icicle inn didn’t exactly have a cell phone store.”

“But we’re not in Icicle inn!” He told her.

“But I’ve only been in this town a few hours.” She told him. “I’ve been traveling for days, on sled, on a cart, on a ship. To get out of the damn north. And risk getting into trouble.” She blew out her long bangs, “I think it’s what Ardyn wants.”

“Ya know fuck that guy.”

“Yeah,” Marin said. “But him being here alludes to a bigger mystery.”

“Bigger than the world ending several times?”

Marin cast her hands out, “No, maybe? I don’t know. It’s a problem for another day.”

“Yeah, it sounds like you keep saying. Ardyn sounds like a tomorrow problem.”

“Probably. Anyway. I only got here hours ago. I got a room, I washed off the travel stink.” she pointed at her winter coat. “I had my clothes washed. I planned on going job hunting and shopping around tomorrow. But.”

“But I showed up.”

“Yeah, and I don’t have a number for you to keep in touch with me.” She kicked her boots off and brought her knees up under her chin. “And you’re out before I’ll get the chance.”

“Rocket town, that’s where it’s at.”

Marin shrugged. “If you say so.” she glanced at the door. “Would your friends freak out if they thought I was following them?”

“That depends, can you keep a secret?”

Marin rolled her eyes. “Depends on what it is.”

“What? that’s not what I said earlier!”

“Yeah, but that’s what I’m saying now.”

He pulled out his phone, “now, brace yourself. They have this top of the line sweetness. That can play games like Snake, and Pong.”

“Ooo-oooooh.” She gasped with sarcasm.

What Danny pulled out, was a flip phone. It looked like it belonged in the 90’s or 00’s. Except that it had a nicer screen inside it. In other words it was an antiquated piece of crap compared to what Danny and Marin had left on Earth.

“Does it text? Or does that make the ram explode?”

“Texts only explodes the battery a little.” He joked back. Showing her the phone like it was a fancy car on the price is right.

“Can it do solitaire?” she asked.

“Not with that many pixels.” He joked. He took the phone back and thumbed through menus. “Lemme see, ah here. Do you have a pen?”

“Pencil.”

He rattled off the number. “When you get a phone tomorrow. Text me, that it’s me or something.”

“I’ll say ‘It’s cheese.’”

“Oh no, not more cheese jokes.”

“Nope, just memories of cheese jokes.” Making a call back to some of the in-jokes they had developed over the years. As well as started sharing with Jamie, after she made friends with Marin and Danny in High school.

“I’m not gonna be able to tell you where I am most of the time.” Danny told her. “And maybe keep it to texts.”

“Yeah sure, ‘don’t call me I’ll call you’.”

“No, I’ll call you.”

“That’s what I said.”

Danny shrugged, “Sure Marin.”

“You gotta pay attention to my tone, so you can catch the quotation marks.”

He just shook his head. It was like they had never been apart.

“Just go save the world, hero.” She told him, “I’ll find a place to stay out of trouble.”

He shook his head, “You had always wanted to be the hero, I thought-”

“I was wrong. I stopped wanted to become a hero when I was in the hospital for days, sitting on all those stitches and staples after the dogs. I was never gonna save Earth from the ‘villains.’ and now I’m in a place where the stakes are even higher, and the villains are more villainous. Monsters, magic, several world-ending events. I hate it, I wanna go home.”

Danny leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

She didn’t shake him off this time.

“Yeah, well we’re here now. What is it you would say about problems like going home?”

“It’s a tomorrow problem.” she sighed.

“And Gaia dying five ways to next Sunday? Is that a tomorrow problem too?”

“Technically, I guess, maybe... Yeah, it is.”

“And how about we both get some sleep and get breakfast tomorrow? My treat? What sort of problem is that?”

“A today problem.” she leaned into Danny.

He leaned back and he hugged her like he used to. They had known each other for so long, their friendship hardly needed words.

Marin held him back from wrapping both arms around her, leaving the few tears to go free. This was what she had missed. Just a simple touch from someone she knew, trusted, and loved as a friend. Danny was like a brother to her. A member of her chosen family, just in a different way that Jamie was.

“Does this mean you’re going to be the bad ass older brother that protects his younger sister?” She asked him. There was only a few months between them. Danny’s nineteenth birthday would be in a few months.

“I’m hardly a bad ass.”

“You’ve probably gotten into more fights than I have.” she sighed. Sitting back up after the moment between them passed, she took her arms back and wove her fingers together in her lap. “I hate fighting. I froze when those dogs appeared.” she had blacked out part of it. She remembered blinking on the approach, and opening her eyes. She was suddenly flailing upon the ground, surrounded by teeth.

“What about the Bandersnatches?” He asked her.

Marin shrugged. “Jarvin and I had warning that something was coming. Those dogs before, I never expected them to attack, then they did. And that is the sort of situations you could be going into.”

She put her face in her hands. “We just found each other again. And now we’re going apart again? Already?”

“Had second thoughts about AVALANCHE?”

Marin shrugged. “At this point, I dunno.” she shrugged, “I don’t know how organized things are, there are clearly cells. But I don’t know how much, how far...”

“We’re all over. But it’s not like ShinRa. there’s no one person over everyone. My group is just one of many.”

“Well….” She started, but changed her tack at a look from Danny. “Okay, yeah. But I don’t want to have breakfast and never see you again.” she wiped her last tear. “This isn’t high school. You can’t visit me at home. I cant recover enough to go back to classes with you and Jamie anymore.” she wiped the last tear, she was definitely going to need to drink some water soon. “Whatever it takes.” she grabbed his hand. “I don’t want us to be apart again.” She squeezed his hand.

He squeezed back.

“One is an outlier, two might be a coincidence.” She started the quote.

“But three,” He finished the quote. “Is a pattern and the sign of the work of my enemies.” They had read the same books, including the one that quote was from.

“Yeah, Danny. If both of us are here. There could be others. We have to keep and eye out.” she held up their clasped hands, put them down then let go. “We really shouldn’t be apart. Not again.”

“Never again.” He promised her.

---

Chapter Text

Marin opened her eyes in the dark room. She had no idea how late it was.

Danny snored softly behind her.

He had fallen asleep on top of the blankets, they had talked late into the night. About Home, what they missed, what they didn’t. Marin had tried catching Danny up on Gaia and what was coming, but there was too much to cover, and they had both fallen asleep.

It was a good thing the nights were becoming longer, this time of year.

Danny was asleep facing the wall, his snoring skipped a beat when Marin got up. But he didn’t wake up.

It had felt like a forever ago, not five months. When her and Danny had shared a hug, or watched TV together on the couch. She had missed his hugs, or just sitting nearby in each other’s company. It was a forever ago when she felt safe next to another body.

Her and Danny, and later Jamie, had reached that level of comfort with each other. Pulling a sweatshirt on over her night shirt, she missed Jamie.

Taking her key, she locked Danny in her room to use the shared restroom on that floor, coming back to her room she heard movement on the stairs heading up from the lobby, to creak on the ceiling over her room.

Whoever they were, they were not thumping up the stairs. She did not linger and quietly closed her room’s door behind her. Locking the door again, as if that would really stop anyone who wanted in.

The stairs that wrapped over her room, creaked and bowed under several pairs of feet. Whoever they were, they were being quiet. But the stairs were her ceiling, so there was no avoiding the noise. Or the dust to shake onto the bed.

“Huh? What?” Danny spoke, as the dust landed on him.

Marin went over and clapped a hand over his mouth. “Cover your eyes” she whispered, as the dust landed on her head and shoulders.

“MM-hmm” He grabbed her wrist in a hard grip.

She hissed at him, “It’s me, be quiet.” she tugged gently on her arm, asking for it back in the darkness.

He mumbled back, “Marin.” Letting her go.

The stairs stopped squeaking.

Marin cocked her ears, listening. She could tell that there was movement upstairs.

Danny moved to sitting up, he bumped her, moving in the dark.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“Looking for my boots.” He whispered back.

“Be still, I’m listening.”

“My friends are upstairs.”

“Can they take eight people while they sleep?”

She couldn’t make out anything before they talked anyway.

“Someone will be on watch. Ow, my knee.”

“Shhh! I’m trying to listen.” Marin hissed.

They heard a thump, then a thump-thump-thump. Like someone was punching the walls above them, somewhere on the floor above.

“Are they fighting?” she whispered.

A hand was over Marin’s shoulder, Danny. “No, those sound like silencers.”

Marin placed a hand over his, squeezing.

“I have to… where’s the light switch?” Danny cursed in the darkness.

‘I am a coward,’ She thought to herself, ‘a selfish coward.’ She thought to herself. As she did the math in her head. There were five upstairs versus eight or more, the five had been caught asleep. Except for the one on watch, unless they had dozed off.

There would be six upstairs, but that sixth was in this room. Danny was here and he was alive.

There were more thumps from upstairs. Followed by a loud silence.

“Ow.” Danny hissed, more quietly, he was stumbling around in the dark.

“Danny.” she hissed, heading to the window with the curtains pulled shut.

“What?”

“Danny.”

“What?”

“Do the math Danny.”

“They need me.”

“Danny, there’s two trucks outside.” She pulled the crack in the curtains shut, there was no light to show between her curtains.

“Where? Let me see.” Danny came up behind her.

Marin peeled back one of the curtains to make a crack for him to see. “they look like unmarked military vehicles. Friends of yours?”

“We’re just doing recon to Rocket Town...” He whispered.

Marin shook her head and closed the curtains again, she spoke when she realized that they stood in the dark. “We need to get out of here.”

“This place is swarming with ShinRa.”

“Yeah.” Marin looked at the curtains. They could both make it out the window. But it went into the street into sight of anyone out front. “Wait. None of you were carrying bags.”

“We have a couple cars parked just outside of town.” Danny swore. “And the keys for them would be upstairs.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know how to hot wire one of them, would you?”

“Yeah.” Danny told her. “But we have to get to them first.”

Marin ran her fingers through her hair. She didn’t want to stay another second. But if they happened across any soldiers between here and those cars. They could be overwhelmed in a second. “Fuck. I don’t know what to do.”

“Here, sit with me.”

Marin sat on the bed next to Danny. They could hear movement and shuffling upstairs. The ones upstairs weren’t walking softly anymore. Marin hugged Danny closer. While they could both hear more feet carry something heavy down the stairs, over and over again.

---

Danny peeled of Marin’s white parka and snow pants. His hair was too dark, curly and short, to be plastered to his face. But the thin sheen of sweat showed that even in the more southern October weather. He had been sweating in clothes for the north pole.

At a glance, they had been able to pass for a pair of travelers walking through the industrial shipping town.

Marin was curious where all the industry was producing the rocket parts. Where ever it was done. Kuar-glen was where the parts were assembled further, some goods were even manufactured on site. Then shipped to Rocket town for final assembly on the launch pad.

The bustling economy meant that there were a great many traveling workers. Only the remoteness of the North Pole had left Marin, and supposedly Danny, as the only ones coming from the north.

“Shit, the keys.” Danny reminded himself, to the locked car doors.

Apparently ShinRa’s intel had been so good, that they had known exactly which rooms to strike. They left the other people in the inn undisturbed. Then upon check-out, Marin had been refunded her room fee, after the attendant had ‘apologized’ for the noises a ‘nuisance’ patron had made in the night.

Danny and Marin had spent a tense few hours sitting on the bed. Waiting for someone to knock on their door, or batter it down. When neither happened, and the trucks outside left by dawn. Marin had suggested that Danny, with a similar height and build as Marin, put up the smoke screen of her Icicle Inn clothes. And not the ones he had been seen wearing with his AVALANCHE friends.

Marin was not slight, at first glance she was the height and breadth for some of the guys at school, though her curves would never be mistaken for that. Danny was not gangly himself, he just did had a flatter profile. But that meant he could wear her clothes, he just needed a belt for the snow pants.

Thankfully, Kuar-glen was not swarming with officers or check points. ShinRa had come in and out in the night, with most people none the wiser.

Danny kept to himself as they walked across town, sweating, weaponless. Marin had no apparent weapons herself. Something she had to work on, on top of learning to use Materia better.

Now the next obstacle was getting into the cars Danny spoke of, where his people had left no one to watch.

“These things, do they have car alarms?” Marin asked Danny.

He snorted, “What, you gonna ask if they have security or gps tracking next?”

“In other words, they don’t?”

“Nope.”

“That makes this easier.” Marin put down her pack and pulled out the steel rib that ran along the back of the traveler’s pack, resting along her spine.

“What are you up to Marin?”

“It’s a little long, but.” she found a place on the bumper to put the little bend in the bottom she needed. “Just keep an eye out for trouble.”

“All right.” Danny placed the winter clothes on top of the pack that was now resting on the ground.

“Don’t you know how to open a locked car door?” she asked him while she fished down the driver-side window and door.

“Usually there’s a key.”

“Huh.”

“Besides, when did you learn how to hack into a car door?”

“Since, aha!” the door creaked open. “Since I ended up in a world with antiquated car designs, that don’t block this sort of thing yet.” She pulled out the piece of steel. “Do you need both cars open?”

“My bag is in the other one.”

“’Kay.” Marin got to work on the other car, leaving Danny to deal with the bags. “You know how to unlock a car door, but you don’t know how to hot wire a car?”

“I’m good with locks, electrical is a different matter.”

“That doesn’t answer the question. And simple ‘hacks’ only seem easy after they’re learned.”

“Nope. I didn’t answer the question.” Marin finished with the other window, unlocking the second car.

Danny whistled. “That’s a nice skill to have.”

Marin shrugged, “it depends.”

“On what?” Danny started jiggling the dash of one car, to start hot wiring it. They were parked just off road behind an outcropping of rocks. No one on the road would see them. But they would also not see anyone until they were on top of each other.

Marin was on watch now. “On how much lock designs have changed, and whether everyone uses the same cuffs or not. It’s like, how much tech has ShinRa held back from people? Do they have laser lock cuffs in Midgar or some shit? I dunno how to pick electronic ones that haven’t been invented on Earth yet.”

“ShinRa doesn’t have laser-shielded locks on their cuffs.”

“Well, that’s a relief. They wouldn’t happen to leave any lying around, would they?”

“Nope.”

The small talk died away while Danny took the minutes he needed to get the ignition started. Once he did, they piled all six bags and weapons into the one car.

“So, don’t get pulled over in a traffic stop, I guess?” Marin said, as they shoved the weapons under all the bags in the back seat.

“Yeah, that’s something I don’t miss about earth.” Danny said.

“Oh, whys that?” Marin asked.

Danny gave Marin a look like she was being an idiot.

Marin looked back, nonplussed. She took a second look at Danny, his black, curly, hair. His dark skin. And the history of Gaia, that as far as she knew, didn’t have a history of slavery and all the racism problems followed after. “Oh, right.”

“Thank you.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s been a few months. I’ve lost-” He cut himself off. “But other than that, it’s better here. Haven’t you noticed no one make fun of your eyes.”

Marin shrugged, “hardly anyone on earth can tell I’m part Japanese.”

“I guess. But you understand now.”

Marin wanted to apologize, but she didn’t. She had done nothing wrong intentionally, she still struggled against her own assumptions. That was all Danny had asked for from her. They had both known each other so long, Marin had caught hints of the life Danny had lived compared to her own. Marin’s goal had to not make the day longer for other people, including Danny. Especially Danny. But apologizing for something she might fuck up on him again, even unintentionally, felt like a waste of breath.

“So, Gaia is like a vacation, for both of us I guess. Thought my baggage is not as much as yours.”

Danny shrugged, “You know me better than think I’m going into the oppression Olympics with you.” Danny had known Marin long before she had started spending some days as less than feminine. And had always accepted her for who she was on any day.

“Fair.” She went to close the door on the now empty second car. “What do we do with the other one?”

“Leave it, my people will figure it out, or they won’t.”

“So, where to next boss?”

“I’m not your boss.”

“Well, yeah. But you’re the one that has a decision to make.”

“What?” Danny was halfway into the driver’s seat of the 1950’s looking car.

“Do you go back, a sole survivor...”

“What are you on about Marin?”

“ShinRa scorched earth back there. Maybe this is your chance out from, you know.”

Danny shuffled the rest of the way into the driver’s seat, staring at the wheel and didn’t answer.

Marin got into the passenger seat. It was a big ask, she knew. She told herself that she was going to follow Danny where-ever he led. Even back to AVALANCHE. She wasn’t going to let herself get separated from him again.

The name Shears, that he had mentioned last night, didn’t mean anything to her, but Elfe finally trickled back into her memory. Some muckety-muck in AVALANCHE, that was unknowingly in service to Rufus. As well as some sort of involvement in one of the ways the planet could get destroyed. Marin was fuzzy on the finer details.

She trusted Danny, but not AVALANCHE, not these AVALANCHE anyway. Except for the singular one in the city of Midgar. As that cell appeared in the game. And even then, if she ever crossed paths with them, Marin would be nervous about earning their trust. Just in case her actions endangered them saving the world.

Danny tapped out an unknown tune on the steering wheel. “I need to think about it. In the meantime, do you wanna see a rocket launch?”

Something rang in Danny’s pocket.

Marin jumped out of her skin, hearing the victory tune from the game in the ring tone. “What?”

Danny shook his head, “what’s wrong? it’s just my phone.”

“Don’t answer that.”

“What?” He had the phone in his hand, he hadn’t answered it yet.

“You might have to decide right now.”

Danny and Marin stared at the old-time cell phone.

Danny chucked it out the window.

“Danny!”

“What?”

“Don't leave it here!”

“Oh, yeah.” He shifted the car back into park and picked it up. It had stopped ringing.

“Is there any data on it you need?” She asked him.

“It’s like a burner phone. What I need is up here.” He tapped his temple.

“OK, we can get new phones. Now that it looks like we won’t get pulled over by a cop.”

“Sure, but if we keep going south, the back roads under the mountains get practically no signal. Once we get far enough.”

“Let’s worry about that after we make it that far.”

---

Going back through town took longer, despite the car. Marin had wanted to pawn whatever they could. Danny didn’t want to paw through his friend’s stuff. Especially now that he had made his decision to not go back. Nor did he want Marin to go through the bags yet. After the night the two of them had had, she couldn’t even remember their faces.

When the two of them had pooled all their Gil together though, and Danny told her how much replacing their Mako ‘batteries’ might be between Rocket town and the distance between recharging stations. He listened to reason. He still needed time, so Marin balanced their necessity to put as much space between this town as possible. While trying to give Danny something to do until they had enough of a stretch for him to mourn.

Their Gil included what they could get for pawning all of Marin’s north pole gear, to the town outfitter. There were a row of shops, as well as a reseller for people whose last stop was Kuar-Glen, K-town to the locals, before going up north for tourism.

Danny was even able to find a place to trade in the six-seater car for something a little older and more efficient on power, with keys. Danny’s time on Gaia had seemed to teach him a few things on spotting gray and black market types, at least they would be named that if this was Earth. Around here it was just business.

“Yet you still don’t know how to jimmy-open a locked car door.” Marin teased as they drove away. Looking every bit like traveling tourists now. With weapons in the back seat under a blanket. Or smaller ones hidden on their person. There was no such thing as a gun license, what with so many people needing guns for self defense from bandits or roaming monsters.

The extra bureaucracy from ShinRa, while at the same time many places felt like the Wild West for regulation. It was strange to Marin. She could lean on Danny to teach her how things worked when ShinRa was or wasn’t around. As well as take all the weapons they had now and show her how to shoot them.

“I’d rather learn how to swing on something up close.” Marion spoke of the close-range weapons they had, mostly knives.

“Ha, not once you come across things that will get close enough to bite you. Besides, noodle-arms, you wouldn’t be able to swing hard enough to do any real damage.”

“Yet.”

“Maybe. But we have guns, and I know how to teach that. So that’s what you’re gonna learn.”

“Fine.” Marin patted the pocket that had her new phone. And the tools she had managed to get from the pawn shop. People really didn’t care if people went around with guns or make-shift lock pick sets. As long as they didn’t make trouble for the locals or for ShinRa. People were pretty much left alone.

On the drive down the paved road to Rocket Town, Danny started up, “Suddenly have no honor, now?”

“Mm.” Marin grunted. Danny had been digging at that sore spot for her ever since they both learned Dungeons and Dragons together. They still debated the alignment system, even as rules changes left it behind. “Yeah, well. I guess I’m not ‘lawful’ anymore. I’d be an oath breaker if I lived way back then, fortunately for me I don’t.”

“It doesn’t bother you? To break your word so easily?”

Marin shrugged “I’d rather not make promises, than break them later. And I don’t want to break the promises I made to myself, but it happens anyway.” Usually she wasn’t a living example of law versus neutral versus chaos. Even as that game left it behind. They hadn’t had this debate in over six months. Marin hadn’t seen Danny alive for five of those months. “those in glass houses-”

“Don’t.” Danny warned her. “I made a snap decision to not drag you into that world. Just don’t.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not-” Danny started to say it wasn’t her fault.

Marin interrupted him, “But it is my fault.”

“Yeah, and I’d be dead if it wasn’t your fault. How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“You usually swing things around to make it about you. But this time you made it about me.”

Marin shrugged, “I don’t ‘make it about me.’ I try to relate by pulling out an example on how I can empathize with the person I’m talking to.”

It happened all the time. It frustrated Danny and Jamie to no end. But Marin seriously tried to explain to people how she had been in their shoes by pulling up examples. They were the ones that would dig into Marin because she was talking about herself, or get offended.

Marin was a terrible explainer, sometimes, and people would take her attempts at empathy the wrong way. She just shrugged at Danny again while he drove down the road. He moved over to let another truck convoy pass them, slowing down enough that they would blow past. He didn’t want big trucks right behind or right in front of him as they drove down the wide road between the two towns.

“Anyway, I choose life over rules or dogma.”

“Still an atheist?”

Marin rolled her eyes, “Please.”

“So is that a yes or a no?”

Marin jangled her materia bracelet over the dashboard.

Danny quoted her, “ ‘The existence of magical powers does not automatically prove that there is a god-like being on a planet’.”

Marin sighed, “I tend to forget how much less other people know than me about this planet.”

“So?”

“Gaia is probably real, the Lifestream is a real force. But even if Gaia is a real god. Prayer and all isn’t necessary for Her survival.”

“That is a bunch of words that doesn’t answer my question.”

“People talk about the soul of the Planet, virtually nobody names her, but She has a name around here. And it’s ‘Gaia’. It’s the planet’s name too, even if people take it for granted around here.”

“And?”

“I think the Planet is what they acknowledge as all the collected life, and power, of the planet. But she’s not a ‘capital G’ god. She doesn’t require worship to exist.”

“So she’s a powerful being?”

Marin shrugged, “I’m not really sure. But respect of the planet, and all life on it, is required to ensure that humans will continue to exist on it.”

“Which ShinRa is definitely not doing.”

“Nope. Different DJ, same shitty music.”

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Danny mused. “On Earth or here.”

“Yep.”

“So, is Gaia a god or not?”

“Lower case g, god. If She’s a god at all, and not just the collective of all the life here. But...”

“But what?”

“There are, or will be some complications.”

“What kind of complications?”

“It’s why I want my bearings. I need to know, so I have a better idea what’s coming up.”

“What sorts of things?”

“Maybe a virus in the Lifestream, humanity destroying plague. Ya know, the usual.”

“God-dammit.” Danny cursed. “We’re stuck in one of your Dungeons and Dragons campaigns! All this weird shit trying to destroy everything.”

“Video game franchise of a Japanese Role-Playing Game. So pretty much the same thing.” Marin told him.

“That’s not reassuring.”

“Nope.”

“So, this plague...”

“I don’t want to talk about it, yet.” Marin slumped into the car seat. “I don’t think it’s due for a while anyway.”

“And yet Rufus is a safe topic?”

“That’s already happened, just hardly anyone knows.”

“He’s not that much older than us either.”

“Why? How old is Rufus?” she asked.

“Late teens to early twenties? Does that help?”

Marin tried to do the math in her head, but she didn’t know his age in relation to her notes. “Nope. I don’t know everything. I don’t even know if his age was known on Earth.”

“Dammit. What about rockets?”

“Why? What number are we up to?”

“The next launch is in a few days. It’s rocket #21.”

“I know about #25, but not when or anything before that.”

“Dammit.” He cursed again.

“There are some news articles I’m keeping an eye out for.”

“Oh, like what?”

“Wutai ending the war. Some ‘heroes’ of ShinRa being killed in action, officially.”

“And by officially?”

“As in probably actually dead.”

“Probably? What does that even mean?”

Marin looked out the window, “It depends on your definition of alive, conscious, or an immortal soul.”

“Is that the virus in the life stream you were talking about?”

“No, and it’s complicated.”

“We have a while until we get to Rocket town.”

“I am terrible at explaining things. I have no idea how many hours it might take you to understand the ins and outs. And a lot of it involves events that haven’t happened, yet.” she patted the pocket her notebook was in. “Besides, I don’t want to endanger that future from happening.”

Danny rolled his eyes “You don’t want to prevent a virus and a plague?!”

“If that’s the price of saving the world years before that. Then YES!” she told him, anger in her tone. “One of those ‘they saved the world, but at what cost?’ Pyhrric victories.”

“Pyhrric victories suck. What about your D&D dreams of a third option? The one where everyone gets the best happy ending, and not a Pyhrric one?”

Marin had spent the last 2 years of role-playing games, and reading books. Searching for a ‘better’ option than the bad or worse ones the heroes were presented. Technically three terrible options, if one counted ‘do nothing’. Marin had called that happiest ending the ‘Magical Third Option.’ And Danny had picked up on the term.

Usually the heroes were presented with one of two bad choices, and had to live with the consequences. Marin was an idealist, searching for a happier ending. An ending where the book characters, or her Dungeons & Dragons group, could find the third option, where the consequences weren’t so dire.

Marin sighed, “I have to be in the thick of it, with the other people trying to save the world. Then I’d have the least amount of info I need to search for ‘third option.’ And right now, I’m worried about where I’m going to sleep tonight and what I’m going to eat tomorrow.”

“But the plan worked, we got away from ShinRa, we’re together. We didn’t really have a plan, but it worked. We’re free.”

Marin shook her head. “there is a single flaw in this plan of us getting away.”

“What now?” Danny exclaimed.

“Everyone thinks you’re dead. But you’re not.”

Danny was disbelieving “How is that a flaw?”

“The flaw is that someone could figure out that you’re not dead. And depending on who figures that out, we’re both in trouble.”

Danny tapped the steering wheel. “I guess that’s a flaw. I still don’t see how...”

Marin shrugged, “As long as we don’t meet anyone who knows you. We’ll be fine. And we’re going to Rocket Town anyway.”

Danny shook his head, “My boss knew who we were going to get in touch with. Hardly anyone knows anyone in AVALANCHE. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I just hope you’re right.”

Danny tapped out a rhythm Marin didn’t recognize on the wheel again. He asked, “So, the war ending and some heroes killed in action? Like who?”

Marin shook her head, “Just keep an eye on headlines for me, OK?” ‘He probably doesn’t even know who Sephiroth is.’ She thought, ‘well, maybe he does. As an AVALANCHE member.’ She thought that loads of people knew who that one was. Either way, she wanted to butterfly effect the time line as little as possible. That meant that she had to share the minimum amount of info for the maximum effect. Something she was terrible at, but the consequences were dire.

“Can I take a nap until we get somewhere you can show me how to shoot?”

“Yeah.” Danny glanced at her before going back to check the mirrors. “Do you have your driver’s license yet?”

“I was months away from my final road test. But I haven’t driven my dad’s car since I visited him six months ago”

“Well, just as soon as we find a road that’s not full of trucks. We can get you practicing.”

---

Chapter Text

Marin was glad she didn’t have to drive on the second day. Her arms still vibrated from gun practice. Her shoulder killed her where the butt of the rifles had rested. Her right shoulder was stiff and covered with bruises, she still had to learn how to hold a gun. Not that she really wanted to learn. She only let Danny teach he this much because he depended on her. As well they had far more ammunition than she had mana in a day, especially a week.

She just hoped she would never have to fire that gun to survive. Marin was an idealist, but she knew when she was dreaming.

“Look!” she could see the peak of the rocket first, over the trees.

“I see it.” Danny didn’t look up, keeping his eyes on the road and the traffic.

Marin tapped out a song on the handle of the door. “Uh, you said there was a contact in Rocket town?”

“Yeah.”

“When would you guys have gotten there?”

“Last night, after dark.”

Marin licked her lips, “Maybe stopping in Rocket Town isn’t a good idea.”

“Well, we don’t have a choice.” He proclaimed.

“What?” she noticed that they were slowing down.

“Traffic.”

“Can we go around?” Marin asked.

“Not yet.”

“Don’t forget to plaster your tourist face on. Going to watch the launch.”

“I think I can manage.” Danny spoke into the steering wheel.

They proceeded slowly, getting stuck behind a queue of trucks and other tourists.

Marin thanked Gaia, when they didn’t see ShinRa checkpoints on the road.

“So much for your Atheism.” Danny quipped.

“We’re not on Earth Danny.” She told him.

“You said Gaia isn’t a god.”

“Gratitude for the little things is divine.” she told him. “God or not.”

“Sure, whatever.” they slowly rolled through town on the main roads.

The launch was now in less than two days. The town was bustling with industry and people. There was a hotel under construction, as well as more buildings. The only places that looked like they could stay had no vacancies.

“I dunno, I have this feeling in my gut that we shouldn’t stay anyway.” Marin said. “Just recharge the car’s Mako cells and get out.”

“I wouldn’t mind staying in a bed tonight.”

Marin shrugged, “And your contact here is either in trouble or...”

“Dead. Or they were the leak.” Danny looked at the back seat, “I hate sleeping on those seats.”

“I’d rather sleep on them than get caught.”

“Hmm, let’s look for the next energy station.”

Danny left Marin in the car, while we went to pay for their car’s recharge. On top of filling some back up cells in the trunk. Going south there would be distant between Rocket Town and the next place they could ‘gas’ up.

Marin stared at someone changing Mako power batteries one car over. Mako was the soul of the planet, yet Danny still used it without hesitation. The stuff was worse than gasoline, on a spiritual level. She and Danny still used it, to move the car. Not that there was anything else they could use. Between the ShinRa Company producing Mako from the planet’s soul, and fossil fuels on earth, she mused to herself. ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same.’

“I thought you didn’t want this.” Ardyn’s voice was behind her.

Marin twisted in her seat. Despite the luggage, Ardyn’s form was seated comfortably in the back seat.

“What do you want Ardyn?”

He checked his nails, “I was just asking a question.”

Marin huffed, “Yeah, well. I don’t regret asking for Danny anymore.”

“You didn’t.”

“What?”

“You never asked for him.”

“Then why is he here?”

“Again with the whys.”

“Well, then how is Danny here?”

Ardyn only chuckled. “What did you want?”

“I wanted my friends. But I didn’t-” she swallowed, “I didn’t ask you to bring them here. For them to get stuck here with me.”

Ardyn shrugged. “You want to see your friends. You don’t want to go back to your home. What did you think was going to happen?”

“I don’t know.” she looked to the power station, Danny was half in and half out the doorway of the fuel station booth. Danny stood there, frozen in time. “what- he’s not moving.”

Ardyn chuckled again, “You never noticed that.”

“What, you froze time every time we talk?!”

“You have to pay better attention.”

Marin swallowed again, “So.”

“So?”

“What’s the price, for Danny to be here?”

Ardyn shrugged, “I’m not going to make you pay anything for what you want.”

“Then why do you wrap it up in so many implied threats?”

“Sometimes what we want is the worst thing we could have.” Ardyn creeped Marin out, she heard her own voice speak her words from Ardyn’s mouth.

“Oh, OH! Never do that again!”

In his normal, Ardyn, voice, “Did I get the point across?”

“Fuck! Yeah.”

“Anyway, before I leave. Just to warn you, whatever you pay to get something. Sometimes keeping it comes at a higher price.” He cackled and was gone. This time disappearing in front of her eyes.

“Something wrong?” Danny asked her.

“Let’s get out of here!”

“What is it?” He asked as he turned on the ignition.

“I saw him again.” Marin told him.

“Who?”

“The guy that looks like another Final Fantasy character. I’m scared OK? Let’s go.”

“OK, OK.” He pulled away, turning for the south road. “But I think you’re letting him get under your skin.”

“I know I’m letting him get under my skin.” She could feel her heart racing. She felt like he had threatened her with taking Danny away, or trying to. She did not like that feeling one bit. Now that she had what she wanted, she had to hold on or it would get taken away.

“You gotta let people stop doing that to you.”

“I know, I know!” she wanted to pull on her hair, she put her hands in her lap. “But it’s easy to say, harder to do.”

Marin could look down to the west road, for a second she could see straight down to the rocket launch pad. At least it was a relatively safe distance from town. She considered, ‘but it could be even further.’ She was used to the Earth-based space program, and the very-very far distance it was from civilization, the nearest beaches, and even launch mission control. Though their rocket program was a little more robust, with a longer history than the one that existed on this planet. And NASA had gone through a few more scrubbed launches and catastrophes as well.

It was rocket science, after all.

They were most of the way out of town when Danny spoke up. “Better already?”

“I was thinking about the space program on earth.”

“Still scared?”

“A bit.”

“I was talking to the attendant, the launch will be tomorrow morning. Unless it’s scrubbed for weather again.”

“Why bother asking?”

“If we don’t stop for target practice again, launch will be long before the mountains block our way. We could watch the launch on the way south.”

“I guess.” Was all she said.

“How about we get you something to calm your nerves?” Danny asked.

“Eh,” Marin made a noise with her mouth.

Danny pulled in to the side of the road near the edge of town. “Looks like there’s a tea shop in that Inn.” Danny suggested.

“I guess.”

“Come on.” He urged her, getting out of the car.

Marin Shrugged and followed Danny out of the car.

The front door to the inn burst open. Out of which issued a younger man, with straw-colored hair and green cargo pants. “FUCK!” He yelled. “You know where ta fuckin’ find me!” He yelled over his shoulder, to whoever was inside.

Marin was nearly bowled out of the way, her mouth was locked in surprise. She thought, ‘he looked younger that I thought he would be.’ She thought, she could not get any words out of her mouth.

“Hey!” Danny called out the man’s rudeness.

The man waved it off, “Git outta my god-damned way.”

Marin grabbed Danny’s shoulder.

Danny called again. “Hey!”

The man was ignoring Danny now.

Marin holding Danny back allowed the other man to be out of earshot of each other.

“Marin!” Danny told her. “That guy nearly knocked you over.” He shook off Marin’s hand.

Marin shook her head. “Don’t, please.”

Danny’s face fell, “What is it? Did you recognize him?”

Marin nodded, “let’s just go inside and have some tea.”

Minutes later, they had tea in paper cups. The inn was full, the tea room was full. Marin and Danny were sitting in Danny’s car, sipping tea for lack of a better seat.

“So, who was that?” Danny asked, from the privacy that the inside of the car afforded the two of them.

“His name’s Cid.”

“He’s rude.”

Marin shrugged. “I don’t disagree with that statement.”

“Anything else I need to know?”

Marin shrugged, “I was trying to enjoy my tea.”

“Marin. This is important. Who is he?”

“Nobody we need to worry about.”

“Yet?”

Marin nodded.

“Anything else?” Danny asked.

Marin shrugged again. “I know I’m not being very clear right now.”

“Hah!” Danny laughed at the obvious.

“It’s a long story.” She told him.

Danny shook his head, “It’s always a long story.”

“What about you?” Marin asked. “How have your last five months been?”

“That’s different.” Danny snapped at her, “And you know it.”

“That is true. I also know that it’s a long story.”

Danny grumbled under his breath.

Marin did her best not to listen.

“But do we? Will we ever have to worry about Cid?” Danny asked her.

“I don’t think so? Let’s just go. I just want to be far and away from any AVALANCHE or ShinRa, as soon as possible.”

“Wow, you really don’t want to fight.”

“You know I don’t like taking risks.”

“Sometimes you take your risk aversion too far.”

Marin scratched her right arm, where one of her old scars sat above her elbow. “At school all the fights I’ve been in haven’t been for live or die stakes. I don’t want to die.”

“Neither do I.” Danny agreed. He started the car and pulled away from the road to continue the journey south.

“There’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

“Yep, Marin. I don’t want to die either. But, there is such thing as a healthy amount of risk.”

Marin looked down at her hands. “I know. But-”

“It’s easier to say than do. I know, I know.” He punched her in the shoulder, playfully, he was in a better mood the longer they got from talking about his last five months here. “At least you didn’t balk at trying out different guns.”

“You do remember me saying that I didn’t wan to die, right-Hey... Look!”

They passed someone just outside the edge of town, holding up a sign. Marin was caught by his face, not the sign he was holding.

“You’re risk adverse, but you want to pick up a hitch hiker?”

“Stop the car!” He head jerked forward as Danny pumped the brakes.

“What, really?”

“That looked like Jamie’s brother!”

“When did Jamie have a brother?” Danny asked.

“Reverse!”

The road was empty of through traffic, as most of it was going between Rocket Town and K-town. Which gave Danny all the room to start reversing to the hitch hiker.

The guy waved to someone off the road, who came out of the tall grasses, lugging two small packs.

“Stop!” Marin yelled at Danny.

“Now what?”

The guy, who had been holding a Nibelheim sign, looked at Marin’s car with trepidation. Now that they had stopped a distance from him.

Marin hopped out of the car and ran to the woman who had come out of hiding by the side of the road.

The woman from the grass yelled “Marin!”

Danny started slowly reversing the car to them.

Marin ignored him, running up to the two hitch hikers. It was definitely Jamie’s brother, now that Marin could see Jamie.

Jamie was just a nickname, for her birth name Jameela. Only her parents called her her birth name. That another woman with that name was famous made it worse to use Jamie’s birth name. People still insisted teasing that Jamie and that celebrity were twins.

Jamie and Shawn were halfway between Marina and Danny for skin tone. Jamie’s hair was loose, framing her beautiful face in wavy dark-brown hair. There was a blade of grass stuck in it above Jamie’s left ear. But she was just as radiant as the last time Marin remembered seeing her. Her dark brown eyes just as bright as ever, and happy to see Marin.

Marin crushed Jamie in a hug. Jamie hugged her back, dropping the bags.

“You didn’t answer my texts.” Jamie whispered.

“Jamie.” Marin told her back, squeezing her girlfriend.

Shawn, the mirror of his sister, both in the scruffy jeans and coats and shirts they were wearing from somewhere, staring over Jamie’s shoulder at Marin. His hair was cut lose, but jut as dark and wavy. Over a stern face. Marin could tell that he was being the protective older brother, and Marin was the girlfriend that he didn’t know yet.

Marin squeezed her eyes shut, while she embraced Jamie, just holding and existing next to each other for a moment.

Danny had the car backed all the way up by now.

“Marin.” Jamie intoned.

Marin pulled herself half out of the hug, “I’m sorry, I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”

Jamie squeezed Marin’s arm a coupe times. Marin squeezed Jamie’s arm back the same number of times. Like they’d been apart for no time at all. Marin wanted to preserve that feeling as long as she could. “Please, just-”

“Danny! You’re alive!” Shawn shouted as Danny joined them. Shawn was Jamie’s older brother, much older brother. Jamie’s sibling had moved out a couple years ago for college, then contacted Jamie. Jamie had told Marin and showed her a picture of Shawn. Marin had been waiting for the right moment to tell Danny about Shawn’s new name. Danny apparently dying on Earth had taken the moment away from her.

“Who-” Danny looked surprised.

Jamie piped up, “Danny, this my brother” Jamie emphasized the word. “Shawn. And Shawn, this is Danny.”

Danny finally put it together, “Oh, you’re her brother!” Danny came around the car and stuck his hand out. “Hey, Shawn!”

Shawn and Danny had never met, Shawn held out his hand tentatively. Shawn had moved out of his family home years before Jamie had turned Marin and Danny into a trio of friends.

“So,” Jamie asked. “You guys headed to Nibelheim?” she wiggled the sign Shawn had been holding.

“It’s on the way.” Danny said.

“To where?” Shawn asked.

"Away from trouble." Marin opened the back seat and rearranged the bags to fit two people in the backseat. “Let’s just get out of here.” Marin felt a low rumble in her chest.

“I guess they’re launching the rocket early?” Jamie said.

Marin looked towards the rumbling that was getting louder. There was a growing tower of smoked in the sky, it looked wrong for the smoke of a rocket con trail. And far too distant.

“No, it’s too far east. The rocket pad is that way.” Danny pointed at the tree line, where the rocket would appear.

“It’s green,” Shawn said.

“Greenish-white, like the Mako reactor in K-Town.” Marin said. “Rocket con trails are white.”

“Where?” Jamie asked her.

The four of them watched the column of white-and-green smoke disperse the higher it got. They watched the off-white smoke fan out an hang above the tree line as it slowly dispersed.

“The locals call it K-town.” Marin told Jamie. Marin wrestled the last bag in the trunk, giving the Mako cells extra room. She didn’t want to touch the batteries.

Technically, her Materia was made from the same stuff. But activating magic Materia didn’t ‘throw away’ Mako like cars did. Once spent, Mako did not return to the Lifestream.

“Kuar-Glen's nickname is K-Town.” Danny said. While three of them watched the smoke rise from the suspected damaged reactor in Kuar-glen.

Marin went back to the car to prepare to leave.

Flipping the back seat back up, she said “Let’s get away, before the concussion gets here.” Marin went in the back seat, it was closer. Shawn piled in beside her. Jamie grabbed the front seat.

The car jerked as Danny piled on the gas pedal.

Marin pulled her hood up, they would be two days travel from K-Town soon. Even the high probability of being outside the window-breaking circumference of any blast, she still wanted to get as far away as they could.

A couple cars had the same idea, speeding up and passing their car as Danny drove away from Rocket Town.

“So, Danny, Shawn is...” Jamie started.

“I get it.” Danny told her.

“OK.” Jamie dropped it.

Danny clearly didn’t want to make an issue of Jamie’s trans-male brother. While also trying to making Shawn feel welcome to be in the car.

Shawn stared at the back of Danny’s car seat, as if staring at it would tell him something.

“What else went on while I was, uh, gone?” Danny asked Jamie.

Marin caught Jamie giving her a glance in the rear-view  mirror. Marin gave the tiniest shake of her head, pulling her hood tighter around her head.

Jamie went on about things that had happened at school, among their friends. Circling around her brother coming into town to visit her, without giving too many specifics. Like Shawn’s transition or Marin’s breakdown.

Marin listened to Jamie for what she had missed herself.

The leaves and grasses flattened along the road they were on. The wind of the concussive blast had caught up to them. None of the glass blew out, they were more than far enough away from the Mako reactor blast.

Marin made a little noise when someone poked her in the shoulder.

“Sorry,” Shawn told her.

“S’okay.” She had been on edge at suspecting that it was the reactor blowing-up. They could go big and bright, they could create an exclusion zone of Mako poisoning. They also tended to be so integrated into the rural towns they were built near, that they could take out some or all of the buildings near them if they blew. That included any people in them when an explosion happened. Marin dropped her face into her hands. “FUCK ShinRa!” she yelled into her hands.

Shawn rubbed her back in reassurance. “I know.”

“Fuuuuuuuuck!” she shouted into her hands.

Danny pulled the car over. “What’s wrong Marin?”

While Marin held her face in her hands, Shawn explained.

“Mako reactors have a tendency to take out everything in the area, buildings, people...”

“What the Fuck?” Jamie cursed like she never would have around her parents. The people that called out Marin and Jamie for swearing were a world away. On this planet, they could be themselves.

“That is fucked up.” Danny said. He asked Marin again if she’d be okay.

“I will be, let’s just go.”

Jamie leaned over, “But if there are survivors...”

Shawn shook his head, “Mako doesn’t linger like radiation does on earth, but there’ll still be an exclusion zone for a bit. And we have no way to protect ourselves from that.”

“Look at that, another encyclopedia of Gaia.” Danny told Shawn.

“How?” Shawn asked. He looked at Marin and Danny, “Which one of you played FF7 before?”

Danny stuck a thumb to Marin, who was sitting behind Jamie. “This one has apparently been playing it quite a bit before she got here.”

“Oh?” Jamie said, “Playing games older than you instead of texting me back?”

“Whoa, somebody’s in trouble!” Danny joked.

Marin shook her head, and wiped her face. ‘Fuck ShinRa,’ she thought. “I kinda deserve it?” ShinRa were the only people that built Mako reactors. They were the only people responsible for them to stay in working order. Wutai was the only dissenting opinion and they were slowly being crushed by the war. The invasion had only even happened because Wutai had, rightly so, refused to have a reactor built on their island nation.

“Oh, I’m plenty mad for letting me think I was being ghosted.” Jamie gave a small smile to counter her frustration. “But I still worry about you.”

Marin put a hand out to touch Jamie’s briefly, before putting it back in her lap.

Jamie told her “We’ll talk later.” Smiling as a signal to Marin not not worry about the phrasing.

“Yep.” Marin worried anyway, trying to pull deeper in her hood while Jamie re-engaged with Danny.

Marin waved a hand at Shawn.

“Yeah?” He asked.

“I played some FF7.”

“Oh yeah, how old are you?”

Marin shot him a glare.

Shawn held up his hands apologetically. “Sorry, sorry. I was only asking because of how old the game is.”

“Apology accepted.” she sighed, “I dug into FF15 and the so-called love story in it.”

“That game is terrible.”

“I still liked it, though. So I decided to poke into the other 14 games in the series. I only found a few I could play on my Play Station 4, so I’ve been keeping busy at home.” Marin fiddled with her hood’s drawstring, “I like the music and the lore the developer Square likes to build.”

“Then you’re in good company. I like their music too. And did you finish Seven?”

“A few times.” she pulled out her notebook, “I have notes before I forget.”

“Ooh, ooh, can I read it? I need a refresher.”

“Sure. But I don’t think you can read it.”

“Let me try.”

She handed over the notebook.

“You weren’t kidding.” He turned the book in his hands. “Is that Japanese?”

Marin shook her head. “Those characters are Chinese.”

Jamie leaned over the bench seat in the front of the car, “Marin doesn’t forget a thing. It’s all your keywords, isn’t it?”

Marin nodded.

“Keywords sounds apt.” Shawn said, leafing through the book. “there are no dates here.

“I don’t know them." Marin admitted. "My memory isn't perfect. The only one I remember is X month/X day/X year, they redacted the discovery of something. Even in the game’s text they don’t pin it down.”

Shawn let the notebook close, “I recall that text, but I don’t remember where.”

“Hmm.” Marin said. “me neither.” She leafed through her notebook to cram the X's in a random blank quarter page, adding a question mark. Marin had only noted it down in case she remembered where it was from one day. There were had been noted like that, whatever she could recall in the moment, then added to as she thought of it.

Marin continued, “You guys were headed to Nibelheim?”

“Are headed.” Shawn corrected.

“Why?” Marin asked.

“Why not?” Shawn told her.

Marin had to bring her jaw up from where it was hanging. “Seriously? Why not go meet some people as kids, screw the butterfly effect!” Marin said.

“Whoa, whoa, we’re just going to look around.” Shawn defended himself.

“Yeah,” Marin threw out her hands in exasperation, “because a backwater like Mount Nibel gets SO MANY tourists during a war, we’ll fit right in!”

“Whoa, take it easy,” Jamie told Marin. “Shawn has it all figured out.”

Marin gave Shawn a look, “And why did you think this was a good idea?”

Shawn looked surprised, “you said the two of you were already heading there.”

“Yeah,” Marin said, “The only highway goes by that town!” she shook her head. “dude, the butterfly effect.”

Shawn shook his head, “We’re just in a video game, Marin. Ease up.”

Marin looked at Jamie, then Shawn. “Have you guys seen anyone that doesn’t belong?”

“What are you talking about?” Jamie asked her.

“A character from another game, or just someone not from this one.”

“Uh, no?” Jamie said.

“Who?” Shawn asked her

What was his name again?” Danny asked Marin.

Marin shook her head, “I dunno, I think they look different, depending on who's looking at them.”

“But who is it?” Shawn asked.

Marin sighed, “Ardyn from FF15.”

“Who?” Shawn had no idea.

“The main villain? The guy that could switch appearances with other people?”

“Oh yeah, that guy,” Shawn said. “I did say we were stuck in a video game.”

Marin shook her head, “I just had final fantasy on the brain before I got here.”

“And not your friends, or even your girlfriend, were on your brain?” Jamie asked.

“I think of you everyday. I couldn’t-I don’t wanna to talk about it.” Marin looked down at her hands, “Besides, he’s not Ardyn. He’s taken other faces before.”

“Like who?” Jamie asked. She had a look in her eye for Marin. They were going to have words once they had a chance to be alone.

Marin had been expecting it as soon as their hug had broken apart, she had been putting it off ever since she had seen the messages she was ignoring on her phone.

“My dad, Shell- someone I met here.” Marin shivered, she rubbed her neck. It had been only a few days ago. But that sort of illusion still left her disturbed. “And mimicked my own voice.”

“Gross!” Jamie said.

“What’s gross?” Danny asked.

“Weirdo pretending to be her dad.”

“Yikes.” Danny said back.

Marin shook her head, “He seemed to be more teasing that trying to trick me about it. The guy is weird, sure.” She left out the part where he had ambushed her while taking a bath. “But he was so blatant about it, there was no mistaking him for my dad.”

Shawn grinned, “And what about us? How do you know we’re really us? Ow!”

Jamie had twisted around to flick her brother on the nose “Not helping Shawn!”

“Sorry!” He said, abashed.

Marin only sighed. “Great. You sure Danny? No one?”

He shook his head, “Nope. Not that I’d notice anyone out of place. When I don’t know this one. Only Marin recognized Cid. Not that I know who he is.”

Shawn leaned forward excitedly. “You saw Cid? When?”

Marin stared out the front windshield. Shawn sounded like an excited fan. "It was brief. Whatever." Downplaying her brush with Cid.

Jamie talked over Shawn's next question. “What does Ardyn look like?” Jamie asked Marin.

Marin shrugged, “Striped pants, fancy shirt, big black coat, bigger gray scarf. gray trilby. Sometimes has a deep umbrella. And red hair that’s practically purple. Oh, and a stupid smirk.”

“Sounds like a real asshole, Marin.”

Marin shrugged, “It seems to just be an act to set me off or unsettle me. He legit answered my questions when I was polite.” She thought, ‘And knows far more than he’s telling me.’ Marin debated with herself to say more, about being asked what she had wanted. How she had gotten it so far. She didn’t think her friends would react well if they thought she was the reason they were all here. Marin was not sure if that was even true, she catastrophized that it was anyway.

“Anything else we should watch out for about this Ardyn?” Jamie asked.

Marin shook her head, “Not sure. But whatever he is, he’s not just Ardyn.”

“What is he then?” Shawn asked her.

“I dunno yet,” Marin said. “But whatever he is, he’s more than that. He just looks like him.” Marin put her nose in her music notebook, trying to exit being the center of attention.

Jamie started throwing questions at Shawn about this villain from another Final Fantasy game.

Shawn was mostly correct, he hadn’t played the extra content for Ardyn, by his admission. But neither had Marin. Marin only interrupted to warn them that whatever his deal was. He wasn’t Ardyn, he just looked like him.

“So he’s not the villain?”

“I didn’t say that, I said I dunno what his deal is yet.” Marin was trying to get people away from making assumptions about whatever this version of Ardyn was. But she was afraid that it was too late.

Good or bad, this guy just looked like a character from another game. Whatever their deal was, Marin wanted to know. Ardyn was frustratingly indirect and cryptic, but that didn’t make him a bad guy, just hard to talk too.

‘He said I could go home whenever I wanted. But what if I don’t? And everyone I care about is here. Along with Shawn.’ She didn't know Shawn as well as Danny or Jamie yet. She just didn’t trust him anywhere close to Danny and Jamie.

Marin pulled out her pencil and jotted down another rhythm. She needed an instrument so she could get her trained ears back into listening for the right notes. But she did what she could to get the relative scales with the songs she could recognize. Running tunes through her head was better than over thinking what Shawn was talking about.

While Shawn regaled the others with his own video game trivia. Marin’s music got her mind off of what Ardyn had said.

---

“Come on.” Jamie asked Marin.

“What?” Marin looked up from her music notes.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m grabbing a snack from the vending machine. Come pick something.”

“Oh, coming.”

Marin was ambushed while selecting a snack and re feeding the coin into the vending machine. She fed the Gil coin in a fifth time, while Danny recharged at the station. When Jamie spoke up.

“So, five months of silence. And you think nothings changed, just like that?”

Marin paused putting the coin in the slot for the sixth time. She looked at the slot and not at Jamie. “Well, no. But-”

“But? BUT? But what Marin?”

A hand squeezed Marin’s shoulder.

“Did you think I wasn’t worried about you?”

Marin fed the coin in again, while worrying about Jamie, the coin spat back out again. “I know you were.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Not even a ‘message seen’?”

Marin reached into her pocket to try another coin. “I didn’t have a choice the first two months. They took my phone away. And once I had it back, it was hard to look at all those notifications. Then it was too easy to just not reply at all.” Marin fed a new coin in the machine, getting rejected again. “Fucking machine.”

The hand left Marin’s shoulder, “Yeah, other people fine. But me? Why did you ignore me?”

Marin fed the new coin in a second time and turned to face Jamie, even as she kept her eyes too downcast to look each other in the eyes. “You deserve someone better than me.”

“You don’t get to make that decision.”

“I’m not safe, not to you, not anyone.”

“What are you even talking about?”

Marin rubbed her knuckles. Recalling the bruises and scrapes she had found after her first blackout. “I don’t remember what happened at the bar. I have blackouts, they're called fugues. But I hurt someone. I’m not-”

“You don’t remember?” Jamie asked, mystified.

Marin shook her head. “I remember being in the hospital. But someone had to tell me that I had been admitted three days before. I don’t remember that. Only the bruises and cuts on my hands.” Marin shrugged. “I black out and get violent. I’m not safe Jamie.”

Marin looked up to see Jamie get an angry look on her face, it scared Marin.

“He deserved every punch Marin.”

“WHAT?”

“You don’t remember? When when your Ex showed up?”

“What? Don’t tell me that creep Cal was there?”

Jamie searched Marin’s face. “You really don’t remember.” Jamie looked around, searching for words. “Your Ex started flirting with you and was talking you into leaving with him.”

“What the fuck? I would never DO that with Cal!”

“I thought that too. Until you did.”

“I don’t remember any of that.”

“You were all over the place that night Marin. It scared me when I didn’t know what was happening.”

“I don’t remember any of that. And that terrifies me.”

Jamie held Marin’s shoulders. “You’re upset. We don’t have to talk about this now if you don’t want to.”

Marin shook her head, holding Jamie at her hips. “I want to know.”

Jamie’s mouth twitched, “Long story short, Cal was happy that you were receptive to leaving with him. Nobody else there knows you like I do. I was the only person who thought anything was wrong.”

Marin had only talked with Jamie, about how Calvin, or ‘Cal’, had been creeping on Marin for months. They had only started dating in high school because Marin had thought that he had broken up with his last girlfriend. “The fucker.” Not only was he cheating and making Marin the other woman, but also wanted an ‘exotic-looking’ girlfriend like Marin. Who looked similar enough to her Japanese relatives for ‘yellow fever’.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice why you broke up.”

Cal had never broken up with his other girlfriend. The guy was a creep. And Marin had never wanted anything to do with him since.

Jamie and Danny intervened with Cal, if he ever bothered Marin at school. Up until he transferred to another high school. The rumor was that he had been expelled at the other school. Marin didn’t care. She was just glad to never pass him in the halls again.

She could feel the anxiety in her stomach. The idea that during a fugue, she had acted so out of character. Put herself in that position, and didn’t remember a thing. She didn’t remember seeing Cal at the meet-up. But not immediately running away? Now that Cal was a world away, she would never know what might have happened.

“Cal.” Marin said.

“Yeah.”

“Cal?”

“Yeah.”

“So, who did I punch?”

“You had a change of heart before leaving the reserved area of the restaurant. Apparently he started dragging you away by the arm.”

“What. The. Fuck.” Marin rubbed her belly. Something had crawled into her stomach and died. She no longer wanted that snack.

“Yeah.” Jamie twitched a hand on Marin’s shoulder. Signaling that Jamie was offering a hug.

Marin pulled Jamie in, and they held each other for a little while. Jamie rubbed Marin’s back. “It doesn’t matter now. Cal is a world away. You’re safe.”

Marin buried her face in Jamie’s neck and mumbled something.

“What?” Jamie asked.

Marin raised her head, speaking softly into Jamie’s ear. “Except we’re not safe. Not here.”

“But Cal isn’t here. At least. Plus, he got expelled again. So he won’t even be at events.”

Marin guffawed and moved Jamie to arms-length away. “Oh yeah, and despite that, in a fucked up way. I wish I was back on Earth. Not here. I’d rather worry about mid-terms and Cal creeping around.”

Jamie scrunched up her tiny nose in a cute way, “Exams. Fuck ‘em.”

“I don’t like exams either.” Marin smiled a little, “You would not believe the homework I had to do, even out of school.”

Jamie patted Marin’s shoulder in a mock slap. “Homework? Even for you?”

Marin sighed, “Yeah, unfortunately. Anyway, there are things here far more dangerous than that creep. OK.” Marin squeezed Jamie’s shoulder. “Very dangerous things.”

“Like what?”

“Sixty foot snakes that could swallow us whole. Fire-breathing dragons.” Marin remembered that she still had a Gil coin in the rejection slot. “Ask Shawn how many ways we can die here. He knows this world as well as I do.” Marin turned back to feed the coin, again, into the vending machine. “Maybe better.”

“You’re joking right?” Jamie was grinning from ear to ear.

Marin fed the coin again, glaring at Jamie from over her shoulder.

Jamie’s face fell. “Shit, you’re serious.”

“That’s not counting the umpteen villains that want to summon some giant world destroying monsters. Killing all life on Gaia, multiple ways.”

The vending machine made a noise, engaging the coin. Marin had forgotten her original snack choice and pushed any button that worked.

“What? How many times can you save the world in one game?”

The machine spat out the not-quite-a-Twinkie snack. Covered with corporate branding in a plastic bag.

“Not one, several games. And saving the world from some villain is a staple of RPGs. Not that I’ve played most of them, but I doubt the ones I haven’t are any different.”

“Sounds nerve-wracking and repetitive.”

Marin put her snack in her coat pocket, she still wasn’t hungry. Shrugging, she replied to Jamie, “Maybe, but it’s not how the game ends. It’s the story that gets me there. I’ve played through saving the world over and over. But the story, and emotions, is why I keep playing them.”

Jamie pointed at the machine, “you forgot to push the ‘gimme my change’ button.”

Marin shrugged, “if there’s enough credit. Get something for yourself.”

“Ooh, big spender.” Jamie made a selection. Then another, then another.

“Wha? how much credit is there?” Marin was surprised.

“You fed a 50 Gil coin into the damn thing!”

“Shit, I meant to use another fiver.” Marin shrugged. “At least the guys will have something to snack on.”

“Guys, how long does it take to get a snac-whoa!” Shawn had come around the corner, looking for the two of them.

“Help us!” Jamie asked him. There were too many things for the two of them to carry without dropping something. The wrapped snacks kept sliding against each other.

“What, did you break it?” Shawn asked, as he helped gather up their purchases.

“I didn’t break anything,” Marin told him. “I used a 50 Gil coin. Oops.”

Shawn chuckled as he helped them shove buns, and Twinkies, and strudels in to their pockets. Gathering the rest in their arms.

Marin hadn’t emptied the machine, but several of the items were sold out now.

“Couldn’t you have done this with the sodas and potions?” Shawn chuckled as they carried their haul back to the car.

“Even I’m not that rich.” Marin told him, as they tossed most of the food on the middle of the bench seat in the back of the car.

“What happened?” Danny asked, sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Somebody needs to learn the concept of money.” Shawn told him.

Marin rolled her eyes. “I used a 50 Gil coin when I wanted a 5. So what? It’s not like I lost money.”

“To the bringer of the feast!” Danny called. He held a Twinkie against the steering wheel.

“The feast!” Jamie and Shawn chimed in.

Marin held up her own snack, but didn’t answer. She was still embarrassed to have made that mistake.

They joked about it some more, before Danny started the car. They left the truck stop and power station behind. Soon they would hook around the mountain range and be halfway between Rocket Town and Nibelheim.

The recharging station was so obscure, that it hadn’t been on Marin’s road map. A map which Jamie now held, to navigate for Danny.

---

Chapter Text

The next morning, they were pulled up by the side of the road. Waiting for the ten-thirty am launch of Rocket #21. Danny had the radio on to listen to the pre-launch chatter from some ShinRa mouth piece.

Marin tolerated ShinRa for that. She wanted to see the launch with her best-friends, and Jamie’s brother.

Ten minutes before the launch, the news was interrupted.

“We’re just getting in a report.” they cleared their throat. “Breaking news, due to unforeseen consequences, the Reactor in Kuar-Glen has been put in shut-down mode. The town has no power. If you are in and around Kuar-Glen, ShinRa emergency workers have been dispatched to bring the reactor back online. Please be prepared to receive aid inside the city proper-”

“Reactors don’t explode when they go into shut-down mode.” Danny intoned.

“Shush.” Jamie told him, “We’re trying to listen.”

The radio continued. “Non-essential travel to and from Kuar-Glen have been suspended. Please wait for the all-clear before entering or leaving the area.”

“So they can gather up all the surviving witnesses.” Danny said again.

“Quiet!” Jamie said.

Though after Danny’s commentary. There was nothing new or useful in the report. Before the channel switched back to the Rocket Town Launch Count Down. Which was just in time for the group to hear that it would be scrubbed for the next window in two weeks.

“Dammit!” Marin cursed. “Does anyone even know that a reactor blew?”

“Maybe they do in Rocket Town.” Danny said. “Where everyone works for ShinRa, in a ShinRa funded Rocket program.”

Jamie shook her head, “What is wrong with those people?” She meant ShinRa.

Shawn pulled his sister into a hug.

They stood in resolute silence. A concussive blast that reached that far, would have put the people of K-Town in a bad way.

Marin felt helpless. All they could do, was stand in silence for a while, after whatever had happened near the reactor. Then they could move on, further away from trouble.

Not seeing a rocket launch on this planet was small, compared to what K-Town had just lost.

---

A little levity found them later that day.

“Look, balloons!” Shawn said from behind Jamie and the road map.

Down a road from the next pit stop were a couple of temporary stalls between several farms. The locals appeared to be having a fair in early October.

“I don’t know the name, it’s not on the map.” Jamie said.

Marin felt guilty for wanting to check out the county fair. The world would be hanging in the balance one day.

“How much smaller than Nibelheim would they have to be to not be on the map?” Shawn asked.

“I dunno,” Danny said. “But as the only person here I trust to drive is me. And your driver wants to stretch his legs.” Danny turned down the paved road and looked for parking.

“I can drive.” Shawn told him.

“Oh yeah? And did you get your license back on Earth?”

“Well, no, but it’s not that hard.”

“Hmm.” Danny made a non committal noise, he also did not tell Shawn yes.

“C’mon,” Shawn pleaded.

Danny cut him off. “It’s more than driving. How is your defensive driving?”

“What?”

“Have you ever been in a car chase?”

“Uh, no?”

“Did you know how to sneak around in a car while driving?” Danny continued to hammer Shawn as he swung into a parking spot.

On some level, Marin figured it was possible to sneak while driving. But she had no idea how to do it.

“Is that even possible?” Shawn asked.

Danny turned off the engine and twisted around to face Shawn, slowing down his words from the hammered questions. “Look, Shawn. I have a history with some people.”

“What kind of people?”

“The kind of people that would not give any of you a chance if you were just learning to drive.”

“Danny?” Jamie asked, looking worried. “What kind of people?”

Marin sighed.

“Don’t tell me Corneo reached this far from Midgar?” Shawn asked.

Danny said, “Who?”

As Marin said, “What? No.”

“Then it has to be AVALANCHE.” Shawn said. “Surprised Danny? I didn’t figure you for a corporate type.”

“What’s AVALANCHE?” Jamie asked.

“Later.” Marin said.

Everyone turned to look at Marin.

“What? While Danny stretches his legs, lets have fun.” Marin looked out the window. “Maybe walk around a bit.” The Fair didn’t look very involved.

It was also a chance to get away from practicing with guns. Or listening to five bodies being dragged out of a hotel, a few feet over her head. Or think about how K-Town had blown up and was in the process of a cover-up.

“Ask me later.” Shawn told Jamie.

“Danny drives until the rest of us get our license.” Marin told Jamie and Danny.

Shawn rolled his eyes.

Marin tried to remember how many years older he was than Jamie. But the youthful look to his face made it hard to pin it down. He had graduated college and moved out on his own for a couple of years before dropping off his parent’s radar. Jamie had been a go between so that they wouldn’t worry.

“Let’s have some fun.” Danny pocketed the keys and got out of the car.

The four of them surveyed four different directions.

Marin noticed people watching them back, most of the fair were tables and stalls of one of the last harvests of the year. There was mostly things for sale, fresh food to eat and things for the younger kids to do in the middle of the field everything was set up in.

“Looks to be just a market.” Shawn said.

Shawn and Jamie had arrived with the clothes on their backs. They had not yet told Marin or Danny where their packs had come from. Even so they barely had anything to their name. Marin was tight with her own Gil, but Danny was tighter with his.

Danny was the youngest, by weeks. But his time here had shaped him into even more of a leader of their little trio than before. As well as trainer and quartermaster, on top of driver.

Marin tried to make a guess that a jar of jam would not be as expensive as a room in K-Town. She passed out 50 Gil to the others.

“Stay in pairs, don’t get separated.”

“What are you worried about?” Jamie asked Danny smiling. “More of your AV-”

“Shush.” Danny cut her off. He came around the car to talk quietly to Jamie.

The people that had been watching the four of them leave the car now looked bored.

Danny spoke quickly and quietly to Jamie. “If you go off somewhere you don’t have a phone. Shawn doesn’t have a phone. It’s that there are no pay phones. None of our parents. None of our friends, teachers, relatives. The only people accountable for the four of us. Are us.”

Danny Looked between Main and Shawn. “Shawn, you seem to know what’s what. Let’s go for a walk.”

“I can watch my sister.” He told Danny.

Marin stepped up. “And I can’t?”

Danny shook his head.

Jamie stepped in, “Shawn, please.”

Shawn sighed and eventually agreed to walk off with Danny.

“Wow, Danny sure is taking charge.” Jamie told Marin.

“He’s seen a lot since he got here.”

“Like what?”

Marin shook her head. “When he wants to talk about it, he’ll tell you.”

“Wow, you’d think somebody you knew died...” Her words trailed off at the look on Marin’s face. “Oh.”

“Please don’t, Jamie. It’s literally been days. And I think those’re just the most recent ones.”

“Oh no,” Jamie took Marin's hand. On a planet with none of their parents, there was no need to hide their public displays of affection from anyone. There was no one to tell Jamie’s parents something they weren’t ready to hear yet. “Why didn’t he say something sooner?”

Marin shrugged, “We just need time.”

Jamie stopped and gave Marin’s hand a squeeze. “We?”

Marin shook her head. “I didn’t know them, I just...”

“But Marin,” Jamie pulled Marin a little closer. “But you were there.”

Marin felt a tear well up. “I almost wasn’t. Danny-” she choked and shook her head. “Look, let’s just walk around a bit. See the sights. Maybe buy some jam or something.”

“OK, Marin moneybags.”

“This can’t happen every time, or we won’t have any Gil.” Marin looked around as they got closer to the line of stalls. “We’re going to need jobs.”

“Yeah,” Jamie massaged her back. “The ground is more comfortable than the car seat at this point.”

“The car is warmer though.”

“Yeah, I guess. If you like curling up into a tiny ball.”

“But I do, Jamie.”

Jamie shrugged and started browsing the food stuffs and preserves.

Marin wanted to edge towards the sweeter and calorie heavy foods. With no nutrition labels, they couldn’t count calories. But operating out of a car limited their options to what they could buy.

Marin cocked her head at the sound of a commotion further down the line of stalls. And smashing pottery.

“No! No, please! I made those myself!”

“Get your Wutai trash out of here old man!” More sounds of smashing pottery.

“Jamie…”

“Yeah, I hear it too.”

Several stalls down the line, An old man bent his back over the fragments in front of his booth.

“Hey!” Jamie said.

Some man, with an angry look on his face, was about to dump a box of objects onto the ground in from of the booth. “What do you want?”

Jamie kept going. “Why are you picking on an old man for?”

He looked them both up and down, his light skin and dark hair over a farmer’s physique. Stood taller than the to two teenagers that exercised in gym class every other day. When neither of them had been to gym class in days. In Marin’s case, months.

“Please,” the old man begged Marin, “I don’t need the help.” He looked old, old enough to be her great-grandmother’s father. His face could have been Ayame’s uncle.

Marin held back from helping the man up, to save his pride. “I’m here if you want anything.” Want not need, when he needed her help. Marin waited for the man to ask for help. While Jamie continued with the aggressor.

“Only patriots, loyal to ShinRa can sell here.” The man dumped the box in front of Jamie’s feet.

The first few potato and bottle-shaped objects bounced on the grass, more ceramics tumbled out. The next ones landed on top, smashing what had landed on the grass without breaking. Nothing out of that box went without cracking or shattering. Nobody's selling anything made like Wutai does.”

“What are you talking about?” Jamie told him, “He said he made those himself!”

“Yeah, like they do in Wutai. We’re at war! We don’t want that shit here!”

“Jamie.” Marin tried to take her hand.

Jamie shrugged Marin off, building her anger. “So what is he supposed to do? Sell plates?”

“Yeah!” the man leaned in.

The older man was standing straight now, he had found an unbroken object. He held a round ocarina in his hand, glazed gray and full of holes. More to it even Marin knew how to play yet.

Marin caught Jamie’s anger. “Hey.”

“Now what?” The angry man looked at Marin.

Marin’s hand was perfectly still, her heart leaped to her throat, but building off of Jamie’s confidence. Marin’s braver words were out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. “Thanks for redecorating his stall.”

The angry man looked puzzled.

“I’d like to help redecorate yours.” Marin flicked her hand, going halfway through casting her weakest fire spell. “Is it made of wood?” Her right hand was now wrapped with licking flames that didn't burn her.

“Yo, you crazy or something?” He did back up a step as well.

Marin leaned in, not seeing Jamie’s reaction to the magic equivalent of leveling a loaded gun at someone, safety off. “Crazy, and something.” she tried to make a trickle of magic make the fire glow a little brighter. She was still learning to control it, her hand blazed, the fire felt like it wanted her to release the magic.

“Go.” Marin said quietly.

“Fuck this, I’m out.” the main scrambled out the back entrance, knocking one of the displays, causing a fancy plate to topple and crash on the floor inside the stall.

Marin dismissed the magic without completing the spell. The fire dissipated without burning anything. She could feel the spent mana drain out of her. The magical version of un-chambering a bullet that was never fired. Her hand started shaking as she came down from her anger. Her heart was pounding and her stomach filed with butterflies and regret.

The words could not go unsaid. The magic could no go uncast, even with nothing set aflame. She needed to sit down, calm herself. That she was aware of herself in this moment, told her she was not in a blackout.

“Marin, what the hell was that?” Jamie asked her.

“You didn’t need to go that far,” the old man said gently.

Marin leaned against the front of the stall, shaking her head at Jamie. “Sorry, I don’t know what got in me.” That was half a lie. She could feel it as that weird energy had filled her, it reminded her of the last thing she tended to remember before a black-out. But her control had slipped. She took off her Materia bracer and slipped it in her pocket. ‘I am not safe,’ She reminded herself.

“Marin?” Jamie was full of concern. “Are you OK?”

Marin shook her head. “No, but I will be.” ‘I hope I will be,’ she thought.

The older man tottered into his booth, where two chairs sat around the broken plates. “Take a seat, young one. Looks like you need it.” He was old, his remaining hair was white wisps around teh edge of his head, which was covered with liver spots.

There were onlookers to the incident, but no one had gathered neraby. No one had lifted a finger to help the ‘unpatriotic’ old man. ShinRa owned most of the world and was at War with what little they didn't. A corporation versus a country. But all the usual us vs them was at play here.

The sort of thing that Marin had casually read about in history books. Now her regret dialed up another notch. In an hour or less, Marin and Jamie would be gone. But this man would have to live with the consequences of what Marin had done today.

“Come, child, take a seat. I don’t think my apprentice will be coming back with water anytime soon. Or I’d offer some.”

Marin tottered into the booth, stepping over broken pieces of decorative plate.

“Where’s your apprentice?” Jamie asked.

“Your friend just scared him off.” the man said with a smile, despite the circumstances.

“Oh no,” Jamie started, “but-”

Marin shook her head. “He did what he did because he had too.” Marin said softly.

“What? What do you mean Marin?” Jamie came around to stand in the booth with them, instead of talk over the counter.

Marin only shook her head, she was trying to breath slowly and calm herself down, than try to explain it. Things her great-grandmother Ayame had told her, when people acted out during a war, to protect themselves and the people they cared about. From within Marin’s symptoms, it was too much to explain to Jamie right then. the lessons that Ayame had ground into the family for year, about living during a war.

“He had his reasons,” the old man said. “It’s all right.”

“We don’t know your name?” Jamie started picking up pieces of broken pottery on the floor of the stall.

“Roceler.” He made it sound like Ross-eh-ler.

“Nice to meet you Roceler.” Jamie stuck out her hand. “I’m Jamie, and this is Marin.”

The man shook their hands one a t a time, tentatively, showing his age.

Marin gave a half heart-ed wave. Her heartbeat was still fast, but her hands were no longer shaking. She looked over the edge of the front of the stall, she didn’t see trouble coming for them. “Hi. Sorry, for making trouble.” she looked down at the ground. She was afraid of a black out at any moment. Her mental illness had found her on this planet.

Roceler asked “So, the two of you are just passing through?”

“Yeah,” Jamie told him. “We wanted to stretch our legs after a long drive.”

“Huh. Sounds like a plan.” As tired and sore the man looked, he had a look on his face that Marin couldn't read. The man looked full of questions as well, but he didn’t ask them yet.

“How much?” Marin asked Roceler.

“For which, Marin?” Jamie asked.

“For the ocarina?” Marin asked again. “Is that a double-chamber?”

“Oh, the instrument. Do you play?” Roceler held up the gray, shiny, round instrument. Shaped like a gray sweet potato, with a stem for blowing into it.

Marin admitted, “a little, I’ve never played on a double before.”

“Oh, you do know it. Are you from...?”

Marin shook her head. Her features took after her grandmother, an immigrant from Japan. “No. I’m not from there.” She was afraid to say the word Wutai out loud. Though Marin looked more like any resident of the planet Gaia, and not particularly from Wutai. Thought it would be better to not associate with a country that was at war, much safer.

“Huh, my apprentice might not believe you, if he comes back.”

Marin shrugged. She slipped her bracelet back on. “Hopefully, my friends and I will be long gone by then. I never wanted to make trouble.”

“But trouble found you, it seems.” the man held the ocarina up. “It’s not my last one, but it’s my last double.”

“And you made all this yourself?” Jamie asked, gesturing at the remaining intact ceramic objects in the stall.

The man shook his head, “Not anymore. I’m getting to old to throw the clay. My apprentice usually helps me.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Jamie told him.

The man help the ocarina carefully in his hand. It was just large enough that Marin was going to have trouble fitting it in her pocket. “How long have you played the ocarina?”

“About four years.”

“Uh huh.”

“I was taught...” Marin cut herself off. ‘By a youtube video series. But you wouldn’t understand that.’ She kept that thought to herself. “I was taught by a man, I don’t know where he was from.” Another half lie. She didn’t know what particular American state he lived in, but she knew his name. “By someone who had traveled a long way.”

“Well, I don’t think anyone else will buy one. So I can give this to you at a discount.”

Marin shook her head, “Don’t worry about a discount, I have the Gil.”

He shook his head and tugged a bag from under the front of the stall. “Not Gil, just entertain an old man with some trivia. Answer some questions, tell me a story. Maybe play me a song?”

Marin tensed a muscle in her elbow, her arm resisted the bracelet of Materia. The man was harmless. But between his charity and his apprentice coming back, maybe with friends? She was still riled up. “Okay, but we really should go soon.”

The man pulled out a black, padded leather, bag from the bag at his feet. It looked was for carrying the ocarina. “Just entertain an old man for a bit. And consider it a trade.”

“All right.” Marin agreed.

He handed over the gray-glazed ocarina, “Do you know any songs?”

Marin took the instrument and twisted her lips. “I lost my old music notes.” They were on another planet. “Give me a moment.” Marin pulled out her other notebook, thumbing to the right page.

“The take a moment.” Roceler looked up at Jamie, “How about you? I don't want to pry about where you’re from, or coming or going to. But call me curious.”

“What else did you want to ask?” Jamie asked Roceler, she was catching onto the strangeness of the man. Jamie kept to herself about where they had just come from, and the planet before that.

“How about your family? Nothing personal. Is there anyone you miss?”

“No, no one I miss.” Jamei told him.

“So eager to see the world? Maybe you’ll miss them when you get older.”

Jamie doubled down. “I highly doubt that.”

Marin doubted that Jamie’s parents would approve of her secret girlfriend. For that matter, Marin wasn’t going to hold her breath on how her own parents might react. Their true relationship had to be a secret from everyone, to stop Jamie’s parents from finding out too soon.

The man shrugged, “Well, how about you? Anyone you miss?”

“My great-grandmother. My father’s grand-mother.” Ayame didn't have the stink that Marin's mother’s mother had cast over Marin’s family before any grandparents had died. Marin missed the woman that had led to making her father into the man he was. Marin didn't miss the woman that had made her mother into the woman she was.

“What was her name?”

“Ayame.”

“Hmm.” Roceler finally had a readable look on his face, a look of introspection.

“Mmm.” Marin held up the ocarina, it had been months since she had played any of the ones that were currently on another planet.

Marin bent back over her book, she was looking for a particular song. She frowned, there was nothing here that was playable in this state. Everything was crib notes for sheet music she would have to re-write to make it something she could practice from. The songs she had memorized had gone unplayed for months. At this point, she was lucky if she could play ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ without sheet music.

“I have to say, I have never heard a name like that before.” Roceler finally concluded.

“But it was her name. Please don’t forget it.” ‘I know I won’t.’ Marin promised herself.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” He gave a small smile. “I’m sorry child. Don’t take me for being dismissive. I’m sure you miss her very much.”

Marin nodded, closing her notebook. “I’m never going to see her again.” She thought, sadly, ‘We are never going to hold each other in our arms again. Even if I go home.’ Instead, Marin ran what she could remember of 'Aerith's Theme' through her head. She had an ear and a mind for music, but her reading was still lacking and her writing by ear was worse.

Marin imagined the song as well as she could, but writing it would never be the same.

Marin felt a hand on her shoulder. Jamie had been there for Ayame’s funeral, as Marin's friend. Her great-Grandma Ayame’s house had been a sanctuary away from Marin’s mother’s temper. Ayame shared the house with her daughter, Marin’s grandmother. But Ayame’s death had taken that sanctuary away from Marin. Her grand-parents were still there, but their relationship was different. With them, it was just visiting relatives.

Marin had latched onto Aerith’s song in her mind, running that through her head. After finishing most of Final Fantasy Seven the first time, the song always reminded Marin of how Aerith’s story arc made her feel. Fictional though she had been. Between Ayame, and standing on the same planet Aerith lived on. It was too much.

Marin sat with her loss. Cradling the ocarina in her hands, she felt numb. Marin’s toe twitched in her boot, to the beat of the song. She sat in silence for a little longer. Jamie knew Marin well enough to know where Marin’s head was. Jamie sat silently while Marin grieved.  Roceler also left Marin to have a few moments, just trying to remember what she could of that song.

After Marin thought of what she could, she raised her head.

Roceler spoke up. “Are you looking for anything, while you’re here? Maybe I could help the two of you.”

Marin shook her head. “I don’t want to ask any more of you.” Marin move around her notebooks so she could fit the ocarina in her largest pocket.

Jamie answered. “No, I”m going to find the others. Will you be okay Marin?”

“I’ll be right here.” Marin told her girlfriend.

Jamie stepped out the booth to look for the other two. “Oh, there they are. Be right back, Marin.”

Marin was alone with Roceler, mumbling, “I wouldn’t mind knowing how we all got here.”

Roceler made a considering look with his face, “I don’t believe I have a satisfying answer for that.”

Marin blushed, not realizing she had said that aloud. “I didn’t, I’m sorry-” she cut herself off.

Roceler shrugged off the apology, saying kindly “I may be old, but my hearing is just fine, young lady.”

Marin scratched her arm, her stomach and heart had finally calmed down. “There’s a lot I could ask. But I don’t think I have the time to ask them all.”

“Well, what would you want to know. If you could just pick one thing?” He leaned a little back. “Not that I know much. Maybe you’d fell better if you said it aloud.”

Marin looked down on the floor, “I dunno. I’ve had bad experiences with voicing what I want.” Ardyn had hinted that she could have whatever she wanted. So much so that whatever his game was, people asking Marin what she wanted got her back up. Just in case Ardyn was listening. “I’d rather have just what I need. As long as the cost wassn’t too high.”

“Hmm, I know people older than you that don’t grasp the difference between need and want.”

Marin quickly ran through the number of things that had tried to kill her so far, or drive her mad, on either planet. “I don’t think age has anything to do with it.”

“I guess not, Marin. But would you entertain an old man with an answer?”

Marin quirked her lips to the side, considering. ‘I know what I want, but what do I need? What do other people need from me?’ She said, “I guess if I had to choose one thing. I’d want a better memory, remember what I need to know. I’ll figure out the rest.” She looked away then back at Roceler, “I won’t ever forget the Wound at the North Crater but-”

“What way do you mean?” Roceler interrupted.

Marin sighed, “The Wound? It’s just...” Marin rubbed her face and sighed, ‘too many things trying to kill the planet, and I can’t afford to forget about a single one.’

Roceler replied. “The Wound is not something I hear many people talk about. Are you a Planetologist?”

“No, um. Yes? Maybe? I’ve never read books about it. Or been to Cosmo Canyon. I just...” Marin started searching for the words.

Cosmo Canyon was where the doctrine of Planetology had been founded on this planet. Marin could not recall the exact doctrine. Other than it included the origin of AVALANCHE, a group that wanted to save the soul of the Planet from corporate interests. Which meant ShinRa. though it came full circle with who funded ShinRa, a member of that same company.

Marin found her words “I’ve been to the North Pole. The lights are beautiful, until you know where they come from.” Marin shrugged. “but it’s slowly killing Her. I’m worried about missing something that might come up in the meantime.” Marin became exasperated, “Besides. There’s nothing about the Wound I could do now anyway. So I’d rather find something I can help with.”

Roceler considered her, studying her face. “May I ask a question?”

“You kinda did.” Marin chuckled, “Sorry, bad joke. Ask.”

“Where did you learn about the ‘Wound’ of the North Crater?”

“It’s complicated. I don’t-” she shrugged. “I read a second-hand account about it from someone else.” She kept to herself who and how, ‘Technically, I read Bugenhagen’s words, when I got to the Cosmo Canyon part in the game. But Roceler wouldn't understand that.’

Roceler considered her, “and how complicated would the whole truth be?”

Marin figured that whatever he assumed filled that gap with, he was wrong, she would not elaborate. “It’s complicated. But.” Something Roceler had said tickled something in her brain. “Where did you hear about the Wound. Roceler?”

He gave a small smile, “It’s complicated. I don’t believe you would believe me.”

Marin reappraised Roceler. Aerith and her mother would be the last living Ancients on the planet. One of the Cetra that could hear the planet and the recent dead. The Ancients, as a people, had stopped an asteroid from killing all life on the planet Gaia, sacrificing themselves so that there would only be a crater and the Wound up north. So that the rest of the people continued to live on this planet.

Or Marin was way off and Roceler was only a Planetologist. Some of the text from the game floated up to her mind. ‘As far as we know, the last living ancient.’ As far as anyone knew.

“Um,” Marin started, “I don’t think we have the same complication. But-”

“But?”

Marin leaned close, speaking quietly. “Does the word Cetra mean anything to you?”

Roceler’s grandfatherly smile slid away, looking even older than before. “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.”

Before he could continue, Marin spoke up, “I’m very well read.” Not a lie, “and my story is different. But if you-” she trailed off.

Roceler still looked more his age, very old, “It’s not so common a name anymore.”

“Unfortunately.” Marin sighed.

After whatever had happened at the North Crater. Marin didn't know what had been happened to the Cetra since, or how many other Cetra remained. Other than the man in front of her, Aerith and her mother. And ShinRa would want any alive they could find.

He nodded sagely, “Nor is it a name that’s been safe for people to claim for themselves, not for a long time.”

Marin nodded back, sighing. “No, it isn’t.” She noticed that he had not confirmed that he was one. She may had found one of the few other Ancients, alive on the planet, right here.

He asked another question, looking very old.  “When you leave here, Marin, what are your plans?”

Marin shook her head, “I don’t know enough to have any plans. I’ve just been trying to keep out of trouble and live vicariously. Terrible plan by the way.”

“You seem troubled, for someone so young.”

Marin shrugged, “I over think everything. From what to buy at the next stall, to more serious things. I know it’s not helping.” she buried her face in her hands. “I want to help, but I’m just making it worse.”

Roceler leaned forward enough to pat her on the shoulder. “It’s all right. I’m sure you’re doing your best.”

Marin bit back something insulting to Roceler or self-effacing to herself. “My best isn’t good enough.”

“It’s okay.” Roceler’s chair creaked.

Marin looked up from her hands.

He had taken a step closer to Marin. It was all he needed in the small booth.

“You don’t need to get up for my sake.” Marin told him.

Roceler offered to take Marin’s hands in his own. “It’s also okay to take help when it’s offered.”

Roceler had not confirmed that he was a Cetra. ShinRa called them Ancients. But as he offered comfort to Marin, she didn’t want to ask too much of him. ShinRa didn't have an open bounty on ‘Ancients.’ but he was in danger from them, if the company found out he existed.

“I guess. Thank you?”

Roceler took Marin’s hands in his own, by cupping his hands around hers.

Marin closed her eyes, taking in a slow breath the moment. Aerith’s song, from the game, came to mind again. The music in her mind would come and go without notice sometimes. She never actually heard music, just like she never actually saw a scene from a book play out in her mind’s eye. She felt those things more than saw or heard them. But she could remember them, in pieces.

Right now, in this moment, she could imagine the song, with more clarity than she had in months.

Along with the music came the memories of the sights and scenes that came with the most impactful moments that went with the music. The music reminded Marin of seeing those things, of playing them herself. Music quieted her nerves and made it easier to remember. Practicing her music made it easy to not over think and remember things she had associated with that melody.

Another moment rose in her memory. Associated with the FF7 movie that had come out years ago. Marin had tracked down an illegal copy a little while ago. She remembered the moment in ‘Advent Children’ when the Remnants, a certain three people, walked through that pool of water. Staining it black. She was so angry to see that, just recalling it. That black and poisoned water.

“Shh, shh, let it go.”

“Let what go?” Marin asked.

“Your anger.”

Marin lowered her head further. “Sometimes anger is useful.” Most of the time it wasn’t. Marin’s mother was the perfect example of that.

“Anger is like fire,” Roceler said. “Too much can get out of control. Same as fear, or worry.”

Marin sighed, she pulled her hands out of Roceler's. “Thanks. I have someone I usually talk about these things with. But I haven't seen them in months.” She was between therapists when she had left Earth.

Roceler slowly lowered himself back into his chair. “You have someone to talk about Ancients and Wounds with?”

Marin smiled a little, “No, my worries. They don’t know about the Cetra.”

Roceler cocked his head, hearing something. “Perhaps you could learn a thing or two about your worries if you listened to your friends more.”

“I don’t see how that works.” Marin admitted. “But I know I could always be a better listener.”

“Something I would hope everyone would strive for.”

“We can hope.” Marin agreed.

Marin held the gray ocarina in her hands. “I think…” she gave a test blow of the first chamber. The large round instrument could be played like one of the ocarinas she had left on Earth. And in ignoring the other chamber, she could whistle a song she was familiar with.

After a shrill note, “Sorry.” Marin apologized and licked her lips. Trying again she heard the first few bars of Aerith’s song, her hands finding the right holes on the clay-whistle easily.

Roceler nodded his head along to the song. “Thank you.”

Marin stopped mid-note, “That’s not the whole thing…”

Roceler shrugged, “I’ve done all I can for you. All I we have time for. I believe now is a good time to join your friends.”

Marin reached for her wallet. “For the ocarina-”

Roceler put out a placating hand, “No need, please. Your words and song was payment enough. Though I do have one last request, if you are willing to pay for it.”

Marin had stood up while he had spoken, looking concerned at the word ‘payment.’ “Uh, what is it?”

“Just some free advice. It will only cost you to use it.”

Marin looked at Roceler with trepidation.

Roceler gave a small smile, “Follow your heart. Young one, you are a gift, fallen from the sky.”

Marin looked at Roceler in confusion. Only half of that made any sense. “What?” She remembered the crater in the snows that Harold had told her about. The day after her appearance in the snows up north.

“Be at ease, young one.” Roceler smiled warmly and a little wider. “Go join your friends. Quickly now.”

“Marin!” Jamie came in front of the stall, stepping around the broken pieces of ceramics.

Marin stowed the ocarina in the black padded bag. “What is it?” Marin hadn’t noticed Jamie leave.

“Trouble, come with me.” Jamie started hustling back to the car.

“See you later, Roceler.” Marin told the older man.

He shook his head sadly. “I don’t think so. But be safe on your travels, you and your friends.”

Marin shrugged while she stepped around Roceler to leave. “ 'See you later' is just something I say in case it comes true.”

“Then see you later, Marin. Tell that to your friend for me too.”

Marin nodded and went after Jamie.

---

Chapter Text

Danny had a hard look on his face, as soon as the two women arrived, he started pulling Jamie to the car.

“What’s wrong?” Marin asked as she noticed the crowd of locals gathering around someone shouting.

“We need to go.” Danny kept moving to the car.

Jamie pulled out of his grip. “I can move myself.”

Shawn was already standing by the rear door, waiting for Danny to unlock it.

Danny got angry at Jamie, “Now Jamie!”

“You’re scaring me.” Jamie told Danny.

Danny opened the door “Get. In. The. Car.”

Shawn looked stricken as the four of them milled around the car.

The small crowd started shouting back at the speaker. Something about Wutai and ShinRa. Either a war or anti-war sentiment. Either way, it looked like trouble brewing.

“Marin. Get in.” Danny asked with force in his words.

“But-”

“Marin!”

Marin had her hand on the car door. “If they’re trouble, shouldn’t we stop them?”

Danny face palmed, “And what do we do if they all turn on us?”

Now Marin felt stricken. She had fought dogs, monsters, a violent ex-boyfriend, her own inner demons. But she had never fought other people.

Danny pleaded, “Get in the car, please.”

Marin opened the door as Jamie begged to stay to help.

“Help how?” As Danny started the car, ignoring his seat belt.

“I dunno, we should do something. Shout back?” Jamie asked as they all piled into the car.

“We’re outsiders,” Shawn said. Looking through the window at the crowd with fear. “And we’re outnumbered.”

The car leapt into movement. Danny was backing out of the parking spot so hard that Marin nearly slammed her face into the back of Danny’s car seat.

“Watch it!” She shouted.

“Put your seat belt on, then.” Danny was out of patience.

“You first,” Marin reminded him.

Danny had more anger in his voice now, “Buckle up, and let’s get out of here!”

Everyone buckled up as the group moved to action, they went for the stalls first. Not that there were that many. In the car were a couple of paper bags now. At least Shawn and Danny had bought something before trouble had appeared.

“Get anything?” Shawn asked Marin.

She patted her new black bag. “I’ll show you later.”

“Marin got it for a song.” Jamie told her brother.

“Shush, all of you. I’m driving.” Danny eased the steering wheel to the side, using the whole street to u-turn back towards the highway. “Shawn, let me know if anyone comes up behind us.”

“All right.” Shawn twisted around to stare out the back window.

“Jamie, find me the route to Nibelheim.”

“We still doing that?” Marin asked.

“Not that this is the time for input. But We have two choices and I’m not going back to Rocket Town. Now shut it, all of you. Unless you see trouble. Let me drive.”

They drove in mute silence as Danny went down the gravel road back to the pavement.

Jamie relaxed when she had worked out the route they needed from the map. “What do you think was up with Roceler Marin? He was a strange one.”

“Who?” Shawn asked.

Danny kept silent and his eyes on the road ahead.

“I think he’s a Cetra.” Marin told them.

“WHAT?” Shawn called. “You found an Ancient?!”

“A little louder,” Danny told Shawn. “I don’t think you blew out my ear enough.”

Shawn pulled back his enthusiasm and volume. “Sorry.”

“What’s a Cetra?” Jamie asked.

Marin shrugged. “Shawn, you want to take this?”

He nodded, launching immediately into what Marin already knew.

An Ancient race of travelers, had settled on this planet, according to myth. And took care of the planet, somehow. While humans, people like Marin and her friends, settled all over the planet. The Cetra had some sort of power, listening to the dead, controlling the planet or the Lifestream. As well as other things, that might included the ability to produce Materia spheres.

Marin gazed out the window. A little glad that Shawn knew barely more than she did about the Cetra, the Ancients. He had only guesses to their mystical powers. As well as not knowing if there were anymore alive than Marin had guessed. Aerith, her mother, and now Roceler. If the mob they had left behind did not turn on him.

“What’s his name?” Shawn asked.

Jamie answered, “He didn’t give a last name. He only called himself ‘Roceler’.”

“And there are others?” Danny asked.

While Danny and Jamie quizzed Shawn some more on Ancients, like Aerith and her mother, Marin let the words slide by. She gazed out one window then another. When movement out the back window caught her eye.

“Danny, there’s a pickup truck following us.”

“Shit!”

“Maybe they’re just leaving the market?” Jamie offered.

Marin looked behind them as Danny accelerated a little more.

Gravel scattered and pounded under the car.

The pickup had someone standing in the back and two people driving it. There were only two directions to go. But under the circumstances Marin could see that the pickup was heading straight for them. The person in the truck bed had a gun pointing in the air.

‘Yep, they’re trouble.’ Marin was sure now.

Marin pulled down the middle seat back, there was a small section that allowed her into the trunk.

“Danny, I have an idea for that trouble.”

“Shoot.”

“They can’t follow us if I crack their radiator.”

“What?” Jamie asked, “How?”

Marin pulled out the biggest rifle from the pile, and the bullets for it.

“Marin!”

Shawn glanced at Marin and kept watch out the back window. “Are we at the highway yet?”

“Almost,” Danny told them.

Marin wheeled down the window. The car was a mechanical beast, no buttons, the only knobs on it were the radio dial. She had to turn a lever round and round to lower the window, the thing was ancient.

“Don’t drop the gun.” Danny warned her.

“I can help.” Shawn offered.

“Not today.” Danny said.

Shawn demanded “Then why does Marin get a gun?”

“Because I said she can,” Danny Barked at Shawn. “Let me know if any more cars appear.”

“Hmph.” Shawn dropped the argument.

With the strap of the gun over Marin’s shoulder, she put a bullet into the chamber, with her head-and-shoulders out the window. Sighting for the radiator of their stalker before she would even take the safety off. She just had to crack something and the front grill made an easy target.

The pickup immediately began to swerve back and forth, almost losing control on the gravel. They probably drove on that gravel everyday.

Flicking the safety off, She tracked the pickup back and forth. Taking Danny’s advice, she waited until she had a good shot. She had never shot a moving target while moving herself. Remembering her archery training, she arrowed on that grill like it was the bull’s eye, exhaling.

The rifle made a loud noise in her ear, cracking in the air and kicking her in the shoulder.

The bullet had ricocheted off the grill. “Ow, fuck.”

“You OK?” Shawn shouted from inside the car.

“I will be.” She chambered another bullet and imagined that she wasn’t moving, it was everything else that moved around her.

Crack!

Bang!

White smoke poured out of the grill, she had hit something.

The pickup swerved off the road this time. She shouted into the car, “There’s two more. Fuck!” she pulled herself back into the car. “Step on it Danny!”

Through the open window, they all heard the cracks and pings of more shots. Marin had pulled herself inside for the cover the car offered. The other two pickups had their own guns trained at the escaping car and it’s four passengers.

“Don’t stop now!” Danny roared, “Keep shooting!”

“Got it!”

“Then pick that gun back up!”

Marin flicked the safety back on and flexed her right hand. She faced out the back window, kneeling on the back seat. Gathering her mana, she snapped off a few of small blizzard spells to warm up her aim. Flinging them out the open window.

One of the farmers aiming at Marin’s car had hit the rear window, which crazed and barely held itself together.

Marin blinked.

---

Marin opened her eyes, her left shoulder and arm were on fire. She was also facing the wrong way. Forward towards the back of Jamie’s seat.

Her mind scrambled for answers. She worker her fingers, shooting pain through her left arm. “Ah! What the fuck?” Marin’s left arm was bound to her side.

Jamie grunted from the front, passenger, seat.

Danny turned his head back and forth, from behind the wheel, “What now?”

Marin looked around for the gun she had been holding a blink ago. “We’re not accelerating anymore.” she went to twist around to look behind them, but it pulled against the sling that was duck taped to her shirt. The rear window was gone, a blanket taped in it’s place.

“Umm, yeah?” Danny said.

“Did we get away?” Of course they did, Marin’s brain caught up with her words. But she could not take them back.

“Don’t you remember?” Jamie mumbled from her nap.

Marin shifted in her seat, her right side stuck to the seat. “Uh...”

Danny found her eyes in the rear view mirror. “Are you OK?”

Shawn stirred beside Marin, his eyes remained closed while he napped.

Marin asked more quietly “What-” She looked down on her arm, and how her shirt had had the sleeve ripped away. “What happened?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Danny asked her.

To Marin it was just a blink. The time in-between was sliced away like there was nothing in-between. She had heard, what must have been a bullet, whiz past her ear. She had just cast a couple of blizzards seconds ago. If her memory was a video, the intervening frames were gone like they never existed. “I cast two blizzard spells right before they shot through the rear view mirror.”

“Which time?” Danny asked, his tone was flat.

Jamie stirred again, concern heavy in her voice now. “How could you forget that Marin?”

Marin shook her head and looked out the window. They were still on the highway, the mountains were on her left. They were heading north, towards Nibelheim. “How much time did I lose?”

“What?” Jamie asked. “How could you forget that??”

“Forget WHAT Jamie?” Marin shot back.

Shawn snorted and flailed an arm at Marin’s shout. Jamie looked hurt.

Marin continued, reigning in most of her anger. “What did I forget. Danny?”

“You got shot.”

“I see that.” She told him. “Where are we?”

“But-” Jamie started, Danny waved her to be silent.

“On the way to Nibelheim to clean out and repair the car.”

“Why wouldn’t I just heal myself?” Marin said aloud.

“You don’t remember?” Shawn asked, surprised.

“No Shawn,” Marin held back most of her anger. “What did I say, Shawn?”

“Don’t be like that.” Jamie said.

“Like what? Upset that I’m still getting black outs?” Marin’s voice was getting louder with every exclamation, angrier.

“Mare-”

“That I got shot?”

“Mare-

“Or that I dumped all my mana on those guys so we could get away?” she turned to Shawn, until it hurt. “I’m out of mana aren’t I?” Marin could feel the heat in her voice, she was being like her mother and she didn’t care.

Shawn nodded.

Marin slid forward as much as the seat belt would allow. “Whens our next stop? I could use a nap.” She felt same as she had in the doctor’s office in Icicle Inn. She had nothing left to cast spells with.

“Not for a while. I want to put as many miles between us and them.” Danny told them.

Jamie still looked hurt, but stopped trying to talk to Marin

Marin took a deep breath, she could feel the anger, the heat in her words. She was being like her mother. That thought made her angrier. Leaning her head back, she wanted to nap. The car shifted on the highway, jolting her arm.

“AH! Is there a bullet still in me?”

“No,” Jamie told her.

“It went through and through. No extra bits in you looks like.” Danny told her, “Wouldn’t be the first time I field dressed a bullet wound.”

“I need time to chill. We can talk later Jamie.” Marin leaned her head back. “Sorry.”

“I’ll accept your apology when you tell me what’s going on.” Jamie told Marin.

“Jamie!” Danny told her.

“No, Danny” Marin told him, “I was being a bitch. Turns out I’m still crazy.”

“Don’t” Shawn told her.

Marin cracked one eye open to look at the man beside here. “Don’t what?”

“Say it that way.”

“All right then. Shawn.” Marin took a deep breath, trying to exhale out the anger. “I’m still mad.”

“Of course you are,” He stated matter-of-factly. “Five seconds isn’t long enough to calm down.” Shawn told her.

“No, I mean yes. But madness mad. People like me are ‘mad.’ Not ‘crazy’, ‘nuts’, or ‘insane’.”

Jamie had a very concerned look for Marin, but remained silent.

“And I need to cool down before I snap someone else’s head off.” Marin leaned her head back against the car seat. Every bump hurt. She wouldn’t get any rest until they stopped. She still wanted to break something with her hands. But one of them was bound to her side.

Closing her eyes and resting her chin on her chest. She did as her therapist had taught her. Gritting her teeth from the pain, she attempted to meditate.

She could breathe in to a slow count to four, she could hold for another four seconds. And breathe out at another slow could ‘One, two, three, four’. She couldn’t find peace and certainly no relief from the pain. Most of her slow counts were interrupted by a jolt of the wheels rolling over every pebble and dip in the road.

Marin knew she had a few potions in her bag. But there could always be something else, between her and a bed. Something somewhere could surprise them. Until she was sure she needed a refresh, she would not use it, the ether or anything else.

They were moving, they were no longer being chased. Unless there was a bigger threat, Marin would hold on. At least until she knew she could replace them.

In video games, the next place to rest didn't feel this far away.

The car crossed another rumble strip on the highway, jolting her arm several times. Her brain was fried, she really was out of mana.

Keeping her eyes shut, she started counting to four again.

---

Marin stared up at the stained ceiling. There was a leak in the ceiling, the stain discolored a quarter of the white ceiling. The fan was missing one blade. The ceiling fan vibrated arrhythmical while it circulated air in the stuffy room.

Danny was in the shower.

The sheets smelled and felt clean, and the two queen-sized beds were more than wide enough to accommodate the four of them.

Shawn had huffed with Jamie about their accommodations. But when it came down to it, they didn’t have the Gil and the motel only had more expensive rooms. They needed jobs. And they needed them now.

At the moment, Shawn and Jamie were cleaning what they could of the back seat of the car.

Danny had already dealt with Marin’s bandages, and sponge bath for the night. He was cleaning himself up. Tonight as their first time they could bathe in days. Even more so For Danny, he had been in the middle of a job for AVALANCHE when they had crossed paths. Until ShinRa had cut it off.

“Are you done?” Marin called, once she heard the water cut-off.

A soft voice spoke over her head. “Not quite dear, I was just getting started.”

Marin rolled away and regretted the pain that came of the sudden movement. Slipping to her feet, she squared off against the speaker.

Marin was on one side of the bed. Ardyn was on the other.

“What do you want? Ardyn?”

He shrugged.

The bathroom was silent Ardyn had stopped time again, or something, such that Marin could not hear the water in the bathroom.

“I thought we were past asking such questions.” He smirked, again just like the character he had taken the form of. It was surreal.

Marin twitched the fingers on her left hand, as much as she would allow. She could feel her materia bracelet under the makeshift sling that tied her arm down.

“It’s a manner of speaking.”

“It’s a little literal, do you not think?”

Marin shrugged, she regretted the movement with a wince.

“Run into a spot of bother, eh?” Ardyn asked.

Marin narrowed her eyes, “what would you know about that?”

“Less than you know, and more than you think.” He replied cryptically.

Marin rolled her eyes. “And here I was thinking we have leveled up the friendship enough to be above the cryptic bullshit.”

“Is that what you see me as?” He asked in that hopeful-yet sarcastic-tone that Ardyn’s voice actor had perfected. “A friend?”

Marin held her right hand palm up in a one-sided shrug. “I’m hoping you as a friend and not a foe.”

“One would hope.”

Marin rolled her eyes again, “Straight up, Ardyn. Please.”

“Old habits, my dear.” He crossed his arms across the chest of his huge coat, tapping his elbow with a finger.

“What are you here for Ardyn?”

“A friend can’t come by just because?”

“You’ve come to hang out by freezing time because...” Marin let the question trail away.

“Oh, you noticed.” He clapped his hands.

Marin roller her eyes, yet again. “Do I get a gold sticker for that one?” She asked sarcastically.

“Would you like one?” He asked.

She shook her head. “Why are you here?”

“I thought I already answered that one.”

Marin thought she was going to lose here eyes at this rate, she was rolling them so much. “Just do what you came here for and go.”

He stood there and did not respond.

Marin gave him 30 seconds before she cast out her loose hand, exasperated. “What?”

“Sorry?” He asked her in a friendly tone.

“Well?” she asked him.

“Well what?”

“I’m waiting for what I came for.” He just stood there.

Marin shook her head. “What? Is it me? What about me do you want?”

Ardyn only smirked.

They regarded each other from across the bed in silence for a little longer.

Marin didn’t know what he wanted, she didn’t want to ask, in case she didn’t want to hear the answer.

Whatever it was, it didn’t feel lecherous. The person that appeared like Ardyn, he didn’t seem to want things from Marin that she didn’t want to give anyone. Marin loved Jamie, but not that way, she didn’t care for anyone that way. There was a word for people like her, asexual.

Whatever Ardyn actually wanted he wasn’t saying. They were at an impasse.

Ardyn doffed his hat, bowing to Marin. “I find I have need to take my leave, gentle-person.”

Marin ducked her head, she was in no mood to bow deeply. The movement felt insufficient, but she would attempt an amount of politeness. “Bye.”

Yawning, when she stood straight again, Ardyn was gone. The shower was back on again.

Marin touched her arm, probing it gently. It didn’t seem to be bleeding. The tampons that were staunching the bullet hole’s bleeding were good at their job. They were the right size, shape and made to absorb blood. Something Danny had learned from one of the women in his old AVALANCHE cell. Marin would never have considered it, and here she was, using her tampons the way they were intended, just in a different part of her body.

Jamie had told her she would wake Marin before the make-shift bandages needed changing again.

Once Marin had her mana back, the packed wounds wouldn’t matter. She had shrugged off stitches for that reason.

Marin lowered herself back onto the bed, to lay on her good side.

Curling into the fetal position before she fell asleep. Marin counted to four. She was asleep before she knew it.

---

Marin had her best-worst day the next day.

It started half-way through the night.

She had woken up completely refreshed, thinking of another song. So she removed her bandages in the bathroom to heal her gun shot wound with a spell.

While searching for a place to bin the bandages, duct tape sling, and the tampons that had been in her wounds. She found it.

A man screamed in agony.

Her barefoot found a hand in the floor in the night. She shouted in surprise, Sam stopped screaming. Two more voices asked what was wrong. It was a terrible way for everyone in the room to wake up.

Banging on one of the walls meant that at least one of their neighbors had woken up in the night.

Shawn had been sleeping in a pile of blankets in the closet.

Marin had known that Shawn had volunteered for separate accommodations. But hey could only afford the one room. She had not seen his hand stick out in his sleep.

“Fuck! Sorry Shawn.”

“Ah, goddammit.” Shawn let out a string of curses, switching to

Someone turned on a wall light.

Marin planted herself on the side of her bed.

Shawn was continuing to curse. Massaging his hand.

“Marin, your bandages.” Danny rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

Jamie went over to Shawn to check on him.

“It might be broken.” Shawn sounded in pain.

Marin waved off Danny and leaned down to be closer to Shawn. The room wasn’t very big.

Shawn pulled his might-be-broken hand closer to him and away from Marin.

Marin sighed and put out her left hand, where she had just slipped on her materia bracelet.

“Have you cast a cure spell before?” Shawn asked, his voice pained.

Marin frowned. She pointed at her scar-free left arm. The left bicep that had had a through-and-through bullet wound in it.

“Didn’t you want to show me how?” Jamie asked.

“You don’t know how much it hurt. Besides.” Marin waved at Shawn, “sorry. But there’ll be other opportunities I can show you how to use Materia.” She moved to squatting on the floor next to Jamie. Holding out her left hand, she cupped it, waiting for Shawn to place his hand in hers.

Shawn only looked at her. His pinched face reminded Marin of her own, when she was biting back something angry.

“I can teach you guys the basics, but for a moment, let’s end that pain OK?”

Shawn placed her hand in his.

“Jamie, I need some room.” Otherwise her right hand was going to hit Jamie in the head.

There was a shape swelling up in Shawn’s hand already, if it wasn’t broken, it would be stiff soon. It was a small hurt, so she used the least cure spell she had. It hadn’t taken long to attune the Materia to be able to cast the next spell up from Cure, ‘Cura’.

Jamie watched Shawn’s hand as the green streams of magic flowed around the two of them and healed Shawn’s hand.

Shawn watched her arm movements, like a man, dying of thirst, gazing at water.

“It’s not just the movements.” She told him.

He hissed as the magic readjusted his hand, even as it healed.

“It’s a feeling in the gut, with my willpower. And I found it too easy to throw everything I had into someone’s mastered cure materia.”

Shawn flexed his hand, investigating the former injury. “Is that the mastered healing materia?” a mastered Materia had ‘unlocked’ every spell you could get out of that Materia. Each one of the three or four spells more powerful than the last.

Marin shook her head. “Don’t I wish, but no. Go figure a doctor had a powerful Cure Materia.”

“Thanks.” Shawn took his hand back, flexing it and massaging it. Either checking Marin’s work or checking if it still hurt somewhere.

Marin sat back on the bed. She scratched her stomach, instead of readjust her chest. There was nothing to readjust, her binders were a world away. Not being able to flatten her feminine profile bothered her today. It was going to be one of those days. "I’ve had my own problems with sharing a bed with someone on a school trip.”

Shawn gave Marin a fearful look.

She shook her head, “It was only six years ago. I hadn’t even shared a bed with my sister. I volunteered for the closet then too.” There was nothing wrong with her body per se, but she had always been reticent to change around other people, to sleep near other people. To be vulnerable around other people. Except with Jamie, in her arms Marin felt safe.

“But that hotel was nice in that the room was large. And I couldn’t be stepped on.” she looked at her bracelet, trying to do the math on how much of her reserves she had left.

She continued, “I wouldn’t bring it up, except. Times are rough.”

Shawn grumbled, but he had a right to.

None of them had had any privacy for days. Except for the occasional bathroom stop or occasional shower. The county fair had been the first real break. And that had ended in them running, from a pro-ShinRa mob.

Marin sighed. “We’ve seen some things. Before you and Jamie got here.”

“What sorts of things?” Jamie asked.

“Death.”

“Death.”

Marin and Danny exchanged a look, they had said it at the same time.

Danny continued for her. “I think what Marin’s saying. That a bit of clumsiness on her part could tap our limited resources.”

She nodded.

“It could mean life or death.” Marin reiterated Danny’s point.

Shawn gave a look to the floor. “I guess.”

Marin shook her head. “Do what you need to sleep comfortably. Just...” she looked for the right words, “I’ll try harder to not step on more hands. Okay?”

Shawn nodded, looking a little more relaxed.

Marin hoped that it had saved his pride. She didn’t want to make Shawn uncomfortable.

It was a wonder that the other girls had not teased her about sleeping in the closet. They had gotten to the hotel room and Marin had taken two seconds to see the width of the tow twin beds that had to be shared by four tween girls. The slight frames of the other three twelve-year-olds. And Marin was setting up the extra blankets in the closet in no time.

They had never teased her over it, not there and not when they got back to school. There were other things that had happened, including different girls bullying Marin the locker room. But no one had called her floor-girl. Or anything relating to not wanting to share a bed with another person.

A wonder.

Though other students had found other things to tease her about in that school. It was not about sleeping in the floor of the closet. She not want to be that vulnerable that close to anyone.

Until she had met Danny and Jamie.

It was an hour before anyone was back asleep again. Tossing and turning as they were after that.

Marin was wired after casting a spell, so she went back to her music notebook. The song she had woken up to, as it played in her memory, it was still trying to loop. She figured it might help her sleep if she pulled out her music notebook and played through it beginning to end, while Shawn and Jamie quietly chattered before turning the lights out.

Marin had wanted to give Shawn a chance, not just for being Jamie’s brother, or his gender expression. Anyone from Earth was a potential ally. At this point she wondered if they would find anymore like them.

She went back to her song, it was a final fantasy tune. Of course it was. Most of the songs she liked were video game music or songs in game made by popular artist.

She knew other songs from Earth. But it was the songs from video games that she wanted to play. Those were the ones she knew back to front. They were the ones that she knew every lyric too, if they had lyrics. When she didn’t spend a few months in a hospital. Or lose touch with her devices on this planet. And it was all slowly draining away and being forgotten.

She found herself humming and laying down a badly written distaff. Inspired, she was more confident that she had the notes in order, even if she would have to brute-force recall which key sounded correct.

Aerith’s song was coming back to her. She would have to play it aloud to finish the notation, and correct it. But now she had a project for the daylight, as long as she could find some privacy.

The wee hours of the morning, with a motel that had walls as thick as cardboard, was the worst time. Followed by everyone being trapped in a car for hours. Neither was a good time to practice on Roceler’s ocarina.

But for once, Marin could look at her notes and see the spirit of the original song.

Later that same day, Marin was interrupted by Danny turning up the car’s radio again. He had heard another bulletin while driving.

“From ShinRa News, the best news source on the Planet.”

“The only news source.” Shawn mumbled from the back seat.

“Quiet,” Danny shushed Shawn.

The broadcaster continued, “...in. We have an up to date report on the Reactor Shut Down in Kuar-Glen.”

“Now what?” Jamie asked.

Danny gestured at Jamie for silence.”

“...arrested the assailants, captured nearby. They were apprehended after a firefight with members of Public Safety, who were stationed in the area at the time of the Sabotage.”

Danny pulled over to the side of the road. As the four of them listened in silence.

“Public Safety trapped the five assailants in one building in town, before making their arrests. But a Level 2 Mako leak warning has been issued to the surrounding area. As the effects of the sabotage are investigated and repaired. This has been your ShinRa News Emergency Bulletin.”

Danny turned the radio back down low and rested his head on the steering wheel.

“Danny?” Jamie asked.

“Not now.” He told her.

“Danny?” Marin asked.

“I said not now!”

“What’s the problem?” Shawn asked.

“Shhh!” Marin and Jamie told Shawn, at the same time.

“OK, OK.” Shawn kept to himself after that.

“Danny...” Marin said again.

“Marin!” Danny warned her.

“They said five were arrested.” Marin told him.

Danny exclaimed from the steering wheel, “I can fucking count, Marin!”

“But there were six.” Marin told him. She kept her voice calm. Danny was not angry with her.

“What do you mean Marin?” Jamie asked.

“We just came from K-Town.” Danny told Jamie. It was hard to see the impression the steering wheel had made on his forehead.

Marin shook her head as Jamie asked another question.

Jamie’s face fell, “Were you the sixth? But the reactor-”

“That wasn’t the job!” Danny told her. He stopped and took a breath, “We were just passing through, when I found Marin. There was no ‘sabotage.’ ShinRa found everyone else. They’re just setting us up for scapegoats.”

Marin looked out the window. Danny still saw AVALANCHE as ‘us.’ He was in pain. So she kept to herself.

“Scapegoating is ShinRa’s thing.” Shawn agreed.

“But, who is ‘us’?” Jamie asked.

Danny started the car back up again. “It was AVALANCHE.”

Jamie twisted around to face Shawn and Marin. “You guys said later last time they came up. One of you tell me.”

Marin left Shawn and Danny to explain.

How AVALANCHE was a group founded in Cosmo Canyon, as an environmental protection group. How they had changed into Eco-terrorists, against ShinRa. How some of them was funded by the son of the President’s son himself. In some kind of long-game to become president of ShinRa one day. As well as how secret some of that was.

Marin tried not to think of the pebble that had appeared in her stomach. Whether or not ShinRa knew of the sixth operative. AVALANCHE surely would. But did they know which one got away by chance? Would they care to take Danny back if they knew? Or just kill him for defecting? Or worse, kill him because they thought he had flipped to ShinRa informant?

What was important, was that Danny had gotten away. And they had all escaped the latest troubles.

Partway into Jamie’s questions. Marin fell asleep not long after, dreaming of a funeral, and the music that had played in that moment.

---

That same day, Marin and Danny leaned against the damaged door to the car’s trunk. Shawn and Jamie were in the car, napping. Danny and Marin were watching out for a passing car for help. The front hood was propped up in what, they hoped, was the universal sign for a driver in distress.

Danny and Marin also kept an eye out for any monsters that thought a silent car worth investigating. Which was the main reason Shawn and Jamie were inside the car.

Marin barely felt like a combatant herself, but Shawn and Jamie had only had hours with guns. Jamie wanted to use her Tae-Kwon-Do training to kick a monster. Marin didn’t want to see her girlfriend’s foot bitten off. So Marin had talked the other two into the car to save their pride. Practice routines were different that fighting for one’s life.

“I see someone.” Marin started waving. “Keep an eye out for beasts.”

Danny waved once and watched the hills to the west. There was any number of invisible curves that could hide something. Every now and again, something flew from peak to peak, but not towards their car.

Marin could see three people in the oncoming car. One had a kerchief over their hair, one had bright pink hair framing their face. The one in the back seat had a dark gray trilby hat on over reddish-purple-hair.

“Ardyn.” Marin hissed. She waved as the car started to slow on the approach. Marin could now see the faces of the driver and passenger in the front seat. The heavy-looking, long-sedan looked like it was going to roll to a stop ahead of Marin’s group.

She looked in the back window, where Ardyn sat, looking at her with that smirk. He sat behind some sort of caging over all the windows. Whatever the car was it was armored against monsters.

The car was rolling to a stop when the wheels squealed and the car pulled ahead. It leapt down the highway and sped away from the broken car.

Marin chased after the car several steps before giving up and staring down the road.

At some point close to the driver hitting the gas pedal, there were now only two heads in the car. Ardyn was gone.

“Fuckers!” Danny told Marin as she walked back. “Who abandons stranded drivers?”

“They did.” Marin stuck out her thumb to point the way the car had left them behind, pointing north. She shook her head. “It’s been over an hour. No tow trucks, no signal on our phones. Not that there’s a number we could even call for emergencies.” she sighed. “Is there a tow company we can call?”

Danny shook his head. “I have an idea.”

“Please no.” She told him.

“We’re going to have to move the car ourselves.” He told her.

Marin made a noise with her mouth, “Augh!”

---

Chapter Text

“PUSH!” Shawn called from the driver’s seat.

Jamie grunted loudly, “How far is it to the next stop?” the car rolled forward slowly.

“I couldn’t tell exactly how many miles.” Marin called from the other side.

Danny, the strongest of all of them, pushed from the rear.

“Two? Three?” Danny guessed.

“What?” Jamie shouted. “It’s taken us this long to go fifty feet!”

“I need a break!” Marin called to Danny.

“Five minutes.” He huffed and puffed himself.

Jamie sagged against the car, Marin opened the front passenger door to sit down on the bench seat.

Marin spoke after she caught her breath. “We might have to depend on the kindness of strangers.”

Shawn lowered his head and shook it. “I don’t remember the last time I saw a tow truck.”

Marin shrugged, “Maybe it’s spotty because they don't have towing cartels here, like at home?”

“Who knows.” Shawn Told her.

“What’s up?” Jamie asked through the open driver side window. She had gotten her breath back already.

“We need a tow.” Shawn told her.

Jamie sighed, “How much is that going to cost us?”

Danny huffed and puffed, he hung off Marin’s door. “Too much.” He wheezed and shook his head.

Marin put her head in her hands, groaning. “Five minutes isn’t long enough.”

“What else would you have us do?” Danny asked her.

“Get jobs. This isn’t some magical wilderness. There are jobs.”

Danny shook his head, “I didn’t get dragged all this way to sling burgers.”

Marin shrugged, she twisted back and forth to see what Jamie and Shawn thought.

Jamie looked horrified, “I’d rather go back to finals.”

Shawn still had his forehead leaning on the steering wheel. “We gotta eat.” He turned his head enough to look at Marin. “How many more motels can we stay in until we’re tapped out?”

Marin looked at Danny, he had most of the money. But she knew how much they had collectively. “Not enough.”

Shawn sighed.

“What about hiring out for magic, Marin?”

Marin brought her legs into the car, so she would not have to twist all the way to look at her. “Not many calls to set things on fire. or freeze them, in a world with electricity and walk-in freezers.”

“But you have healing magic. And you can teach us!”

Marin shook her head, “Materia, materials to equip it to use the things, a dry bed to night, food, repair the car. Pick two for the next week and we all get jobs anyway.” she sighed, “Besides. It’s healing, that sort of thing is best pay-what-you-can. Even if that helps people more than it helps us.”

“Found your honor Marin?” Danny asked her quietly.

Marin looked at him, she kinda had.

“What was that Danny?” Jamie asked from the other side of the car.

“It’s easing pain and suffering. Sometimes the people who need it most don’t have a means to pay. Charge the rich a lot and the poor next-to-nothing. But charge something because we still need to eat.” Marin explained her plan to Jamie.

Marin didn’t have the discipline for med school, or blood that wasn’t hers. She knew she didn’t have what that took to be a doctor. She still liked being the healer in video games. Acting like a Hospitaler knight, that sort of generosity could starve them, if they all didn’t get regular jobs.

Even with the coward that she was, it was the one thing she could ask herself to do, charge on a sliding scale. IF she could find the work, and in a way she hoped she wouldn’t

“Car!” Jamie yelled.

Danny went to flag them down, Jamie joined him.

The pick up truck, which they didn’t recognize from the town they had run from, slowed down.

“You guys okay?” the driver asked from the middle of the road.

“Thank goodness.” Marin whispered.

“Nope.” Danny said.

A voice floated out from behind the driver. “Carl, those look like bullet holes.”

They said something else, but the other voice had already been on the edge of what Marin could hear.

Jamie started to explain. “We got attacked by a-”

Marin jumped on top of her girlfriend “It was a pack of Nibel wolves. We scared em off, but.” She shrugged. “We missed a few of the wolves and hit the car.” She had seen one at the edge of the hills, watching the road. It was a wonder she had remembered the type that lived in the area.

“What, that’s some trouble!” Carl said. “Any of you hurt?”

Marin waved it away, “Not with me around.”

“Don’t be rude, Marin.” Danny told her. Now that Main had filled in Danny’s knowledge gap, he played to his strength “We haven’t even introduced ourselves. I’m Danny.”

The man nodded, “Carl.”

“I’m Marin.”

The other man leaned forward so he could be heard. “Steve.”

Jamie had come around the front of the car. “Hi?”

“Jamie, this is Carl and Steve. Carl, and Steve, Jamie.”

Carl asked, “And him?”

Shawn was rubbing the spot in his forehead that had been pressing against the wheel.

“That’s Shawn.” Danny told him, “Say hi Shawn.”

Shawn only waved from the car.

“Well, now that that’s over. Where are you folks headed?”

“Nibelheim,” Danny said.

Shawn mumbled the same.

“The next town.” Marin said, right on top of him.

Marin kept her gaze on Carl, she could see Danny glance at her in the corner of her eye.

“I see.” Carl said it in a tone that could have been suspicious, or not.

Marin shook her head. “Some road-trip, am I right?”

Carl looked to each of them in turn. Steve was too much in shadow and behind Carl for Marin to be able to tell how he was looking at them. “Well, you all certainly look young and foolish enough to try that around here.”

“Hey!” Jamie complained. She hated being called young, she could pass for a few years younger than she was, she hated it.

Shawn took after his sister, he barely looked older than Marin, but he was twenty-seven.

Marin waved it off, “No, we’re stupid enough to break the car down around here.”

Carl leaned out of his window, amused. “When was the last time you changed the oil?” He laughed.

Danny gave him a confused look. “Change it? We just got this car a few days ago...”

Carl laughed. Even Steve could be heard to chuckle. The two of them might be old enough to be parents to all of them but Shawn. And Shawn’s fresh face could let him pass as their kid, if the skin tones only matched.

“Called it,” Steve shouted from deeper in the truck.

“Well, we’re not going into Nibelheim. But we can give you a lift a ways.

Marin looked at Danny and Danny looked back. He wouldn’t want to leave the car. “We can’t split up Danny,” she whispered. “It’s too dangerous for any of us around here.”

“What if we can’t get back here?” He asked her.

Marin shrugged.

“Can you get that over to the side of the road?” Carl called from behind Danny.

“We need a minute.” Danny told him.

“We’re going to need more than a minute.” Marin said.

With some nudging from the truck, and Steve hopping out to have two people on either side, they were able to push the car over to the shoulder of the highway in no time.

Marin pulled out a page in her notebook, writing down something for anyone who found the car. That it was Danny’s car and that they would be back soon as soon as they got a tow.

She hoped it wouldn’t look abandoned.

The two Mako battery cells were dry, so Danny left them. He passed the guns between everyone. Pistols between Jamie and Shawn, the two rifles for Marin and Danny. Their bullets were getting low from Danny teaching them all. But Shawn and Jamie knew enough now to not be a danger to anyone around them. Their accuracy was a different issue.

“Don’t unload.” Carl warned him. “Just yet.”

They were all in the back of the pick up truck and off to the next rest station in no time.

Once Carl was driving them away, Marin watched a Nibel wolf turn away from the road and disappear into the rocks. If there was one, the rest of their pack would be nearby, wolves were the same everywhere it seemed. Though these ones had a nastier bite.

Carl stopping his truck for them could not have been better timed.

---

Marin rubbed her eyes as her, Shawn and Jamie sat around their dinner. Danny was negotiating the tow with Carl and the lone mechanic. Her repair shop was built out of the side of the Diner they sat in.

“This is not the area for us to try monster hunting.” Marin tried to explain to the others, between bites of greasy-spoon diner food.

“But we have weapons.” Jamie said.

“Teach me magic.” Shawn pleaded.

Marin took a couple more fries, to give her time to consider. “Have you ever held a gun before.”

“Before today?” Shawn asked her, “No.”

“Wolves are not empty cans.” she tapped her right foot. “Did Jamie tel you about my hospital trip a couple years ago?”

Shawn shook his head.

“OK, well, I still have the scars. They were only two dogs. And they ripped me apart.”

“That’s not fair,” Jamie told her. “Everything is different now. You have magic.”

“Yes, Jamie, I have magic. But the wolf watching our car was no dog.”

“What wolf?” Shawn asked.

Marin shook her head, putting her next fry back down. “And Nibel wolves aren’t just wolves. Shawn, you should know that, and how there are more than just those wolves around here.” She grabbed too many fries this time. Cramming them in her mouth. She was hungry after trying to move the car, they all were.

“But, Marin.” Jamie pleaded. She wanted to be useful. There were no jobs at this rest stop. At least there were no regular jobs in a place this small, for three high schoolers. Or a man, in his twenties, working on a Masters degree of Earth-based-Geology.

Monster hunting, even mercenary work would have really good pay. If they had had the skills for it. Which they didn’t.

Not that Marin wanted them to try. People got hurt in training for that sort of thing. Danny wasn’t really a trainer. He knew so little, but he knew so much more than any of them from months of experience.

Jamie had yet to ask about the haunted look in Danny’s eyes. The look that had not been there months ago. He had seen loss in the field, it had only gotten worse in K-Town. He knew the cost of even a small mistake.

Marin didn’t want to watch them get hurt. It had hurt her so much just to step so hard on Shawn’s foot by accident. She didn’t want something or other take a bite out of Jamie. Marin wouldn’t be able to take it.

The three ate in awkward silence for a while.

Marin savored her greasy fries with ketchup. Even just the taste of the burger meat. Her fear of mental illness inducing another fugue state wasn’t making it taste like ash in her mouth for once. She could really enjoy the mediocre food. After the snack foods and preserves the last couple of days. Marin treasured this feast.

Jamie picked up the conversation she had dropped after the engine had died. “Are you sure we hit something back there?”

“I’m telling you, we hit something.” Shawn insisted.

“Danny said the battery had run dry. Carl thinks it wasn’t enough oil.” Jamie suggested.

Shawn shook his head. “I swear it was something.”

“But there was nothing there.” Jamie told Shawn, for the second time.

Marin tuned them out.

A couple of people were already eating a late meal at the Diner. Dressed literally like low-key J-rpg protagonists, they looked like trouble. To Marin they just might be her kind of trouble.

That was mostly because they had the look of well traveled mercenaries or some sort of fighting-type. But without any markings of ShinRa, Turk or SOLDIER.

Marin remembered the nickname of the General Affairs Auditing-something division that had been in Icicle Inn now. Turks, a type of black ops. She shivered at how close she had come to one of those people, while she watched the two strangers who looked like they belonged to no organization like that.

AVALANCHE would be trouble. But there were more than two flavors of people in the world. Between ShinRa and anti-ShinRa AVALANCHE, there was a whole spectrum of people that merely wanted to live their lives in this world.

A woman with pink hair and a long, brown leather, duster, laughed quietly to the person next to her, wearing a kerchief over their head. A deeper voice mumbled back to the woman.

Jamie and Shawn continued to argue over what had or had not happened to the car.

Marin thought she saw the corner of the woman’s eye, before she turned back to her neighbor, laughing again.

Marin’s memory clicked into place, the pink hair, the cloth over the man’s head. Marin felt like they were being laughed at. And the two strangers were just far enough and facing away enough that Marin couldn’t hear them talk.

She scanned the bar, there was no sign of Ardyn among the few others there.

They were the people who had driven past their broken car, when Marin had spotted Ardyn in the back seat of their armored car.

Marin rested her elbow on the edge of the table, her chin in her palm. She watched the people at the bar of the diner. Waiting for them to notice her.

She had a hard time reigning in her anger and frustration. Frustration for Ardyn appearing. Anger for being abandoned on a highway in an area infested with monsters. Though the monsters were as natural here, as animals were on Earth. Just that even a wandering pack of wolves could have killed all of them, even well prepared for that attack.

Marin watched the two strangers.

The woman said something to the other person, she made a show of ignoring Marin. “Fahd?”

The man, with the light kerchief covering his head. He turned to face Marin’s group, finding Marin’s eyes last.

He looked through her in a way that made her felt appraised and judged.

Marin felt the hairs on the back of her neck, she watched his expressionless face. She looked him in his eyes. She had been found wanting. Between that and seeing Ardyn in the back of ‘Fahd’s’ car, it made her frustrated and angry.

“Is there a problem... Miss?” Even his voice was flat, the man revealed nothing.

“Ma’am.” She responded. Her stomach was doing flip flops. She wanted to put the old Marin behind her, and channel the one that had picked up a gun to defend her friends. ‘Fuck it,’ she thought to herself, standing to face the two strangers.

These two, even if they were goons, could get Jamie or Shawn hurt. Marin didn’t want to get hurt either, she kept her anger reigned in.

“Do you have a name, ma’am?” He asked again, tone devoid of emotion.

She wanted his flat voice to put emphasis on the title, if only to read something of his tone.

“It looks like you left me at a disadvantage first.” Marin told him. ‘What am I doing?!?’ She shouted at her self in her own head. She was already full of regret. But she wasn’t going to back down in the middle. She wanted to leave the remains of her dinner and run after Danny.

“Hmm?” the man looked somewhat puzzled, he didn’t know what she meant.

The woman with him touched his shoulder.

“Oh, you.” He surveyed the table.

“Me, us.” Marin was looking at the bar, Jamie and Shawn were behind her at the table still. Shawn and Jamie’s argument had faded away.

“Marin, who’re they?” Jamie asked.

Marin dismissed the question with a hand wave. “Oh them? They’re nobody.”

The pink haired woman’s lips became dangerously thin at the insult.

Marin continued, “because nobody abandons disabled drivers by the side of the road, near wolf-infested hills.”

Surprising Marin, the woman laughed, once. “Ha! Looks like you didn’t need any help to get here.”

“There’s more than wolves in those hills,” the man deadpanned.

“Oh yes,” Marin had found a thread to pull, “There’s also the Valrons,” Marin had seen on in the distance. “Or any number of other things that might trouble anyone that stops there long enough.” she had a cheery tone that would be clearly sarcastic to any but the worst listeners.

“But we’re okay, we all got out. We found help.” She clapped her hands once, in mock celebration. “No thanks to either of you.”

The look in the man’s eyes shifted to something.

Marin didn’t know him well enough to know to what. She assumed it was bad. She was too angry to wither, her stomach withered for her.

“Marin.” Shawn touched her on the shoulder. He sounded concerned.

Marin was very concerned, for several reasons. She got up off of her chair so she could look either of the two strangers in the eye. She put her left hand loosely to her side. Not wanting to think of her materia bracelet, or draw attention to it.

“Heh.” was all the older woman said. She wasn’t threatened by Marin. The pink-haired woman went back to her drink.

Marin was in over her head. Her stomach wanted to betray her. But she was going to say what she wanted to say.

Leaving Marin and the other person to regard each other. The kerchiefed man took his ease on the stool, also disregarding Marin as a threat.

The feeling rankled her, even as she knew it to be true.

“What is this?” the man gestured.

Marin saw one of his eyebrows move just the littlest bit. ‘What was his name?’ She hadn’t cared to remember in that moment.

“We’re not stuck on the side of the road anymore.” Marin cold see the woman roll her eyes, from behind the gaze of her friend.

A lot went through Marin’s mind at once.

Roceler’s words echoed in her memory, ‘follow your heart.’ Right now, Marin’s group needed skills to survive. Skills that could get them paid.

She had been so worried about saving the world, she had not thought about things like food, accommodations, equipment for three other people. She had also thought that three thousand Gil would have been enough to last her longer than it did. Then she had met Danny, then Shawn and Jamie.

At least Danny had the car and guns to start with. Marin had just wished that people hadn’t been people during a war. She didn’t blame the people in that rural town for getting stirred up by a rabble-rouser. Her grandmother had told her about Marin’s great-grandmother witnessing it in the big city in Japan during the War. People were people, whatever the city, country or planet.

“We still need help.” Marin told him, bolder than she thought was possible.

The man spun around on his stool, to turn his back to Marin “We don’t do baby-sitting jobs.”

Marin leaned just a little bit forward, keeping her hands by her sides and looking as little like she wanted to cast a spell. She felt angry and desperate.

The man stopped turning, and finally showed an expression. He had a dangerous gleam in his eye as Marin leaned just a little closer to the edge of his personal space.

“I wasn’t asking for a baby-sitter.”

The woman snorted. It crinkled her deep crow’s feet and wrinkles around her eyes, exaggerating the snort further.

“Then what are you asking for?” He asked her with that flat tone and stony face.

Marin suspected he was putting things together.

He narrowed his eyes “We’re not bodyguards either.”

“We’re not babies, we’re just young.”

“Babies whine.” The man told Marin.

Marin clenched her jaw. “Babies grow up.”

The man snorted lightly, “That’s not guaranteed.”

“Then guarantee it.” She looked the man in the eyes.

Teachers, mentors, instructors didn’t grow on trees. They didn’t exist just anywhere. Marin swallowed her fear, shoving it into her withered stomach. She took one slow breath in an attempt to calm her nerves. It gave her something to do, while they gazed at each other.

Marin felt like she was in a stare down of a duel. Maybe she was, in a fashion.

A hand came up in front of her face.

She flinched back, leaning just out of reach of the hand that now snapped it’s fingers. The snap made a noise between them, had she not moved it could have touched her nose.

The pink-haired woman picked up her drink and slurped up the last of it, making an obnoxious sound as she drank the dregs of her drink with a straw.

“Well, you’re not that slow.” Was all he said, before looking at the woman he sat beside. “What do you think, Val?

She put her cup down, “Is someone missing?” she spun around to face Marin and the table the others sat it. “Did someone not make it after all?”

Marin felt her lips thin.

Shawn answered from behind her, “He’s fine, no thanks to-”

“Sit.” the man said quietly.

Marin heard someone sit loudly and quickly, Shawn.

The man turned back to Marin, his eyebrow working again. “At least he can follow orders. Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t blindly follow orders when I’m not in a fight.”

“Oh, you’re not, are you?” He asked her.

It sounded like a leading question, whatever her answer was, it was probably wrong. She she elected to not answer instead. Only fold her arms across her chest and remain standing.

“Give her some credit,” Val told her friend. But with a smile like that, she could be reassuring Marin or laughing at her. “She stood up to you, remember.”

“Hmm,” was all he said to Val.

“So?” Marin asked him.

“And?” Was all he asked her.

“And what?” she asked him.

“And what are your accomplishments?”

“What kind?” she asked him, even she could hear the vocal fry in her own voice, she was worried about what sort of answer he wanted.

The man shrugged, “Figure it out.”

Marin adjusted the Materia bracelet on her left wrist. “I’ve only just getting started with these.” She looked behind her to Jamie and Shawn. They both looked like they were caught in the headlights.

Marin nudged towards Jamie, “She can do a standing back flip.” which was true. With Jamie’s feet and hands, she could do a little more than that.

“He can,” she looked at Shawn. She did not even know what he was going to university for. “What can you do, Shawn?”

“I’m learning black magic.” Shawn burst out. In the context of this planet, that type of magic was just things like Fira or Blizzard. Elemental spells, that didn't have a darker connotation like on Earth.
 The man and Val gave him an odd look.

The man and Val gave him an odd look.

Marin looked back at the man on the stool, shrugging. “Magic’s magic, but he already has a focus in mind.”

“And the one that’s not here?”

“He’s handling things for us.” Marin told him. “But he knows his way around guns. Good thing for the three of us, we learn fast.”

“And can learn bad habits fast.” Val said.

“How old is he?” the man asked her, “The fourth one.”

Marin shrugged, “Old enough.”

“Anything else?” He asked her. “That’s not impressive when all the kids around here grow up with a gun and Materia.” He twisted on his stool to face the bar. “Leave.”

“But-” Marin said.

He twisted only back to Marin only far enough to look at her. “Leave us.”

Marin felt both sides of her jaw clench. She promised herself she wasn’t going to puke, she was going to do something worse. She twisted on her heel to face Shawn and Jamie. “I’ll be out front in a minute. See you outside.”

Shawn and Jamie were already halfway to putting their jackets on to leave.

Marin met them outside after using the bathroom, just to settle her nerves after talking to the man Fahd. Barely managing to keep the food down. Not to spite Fahd, but to save the Gil on buying more food.

---

Danny was already out front, smoking. There was no sign of the car.

Shawn and Jamie looked morose, under the awning of the front of the diner, lit by some yellow-ish green lights and a bug zapper at either side of the entrance.

“What’s wrong?” Marin asked them.

“Engine seized. It’s dead. The car’s worth more in scrap that it is to fix.” Danny told her.

Shawn and Jamie had already been told, by their faces not dropping any further.

Marin swore “well, fuck.”

“Our stuff is next door in the trunk still.” Danny told Marin. “But he wants it gone by morning.”

Marin scuffed her boot on the ground, “So, that’s it?” she asked.

“Yeah. And I made arrangements to stay here for the night.” He shrugged, “Carl and Steve are long gone. They had a deadline, or they would’ve stayed.”

That was no surprise, they had said good-bye to the three of them before giving a good word to the mechanic with Danny. Marin wondered if she would ever see them again.

Marin asked the most important question, “How do we know the mechanic isn’t scumming us?”

“None of us knew how to change the oil. Carl did what he could to help us, but he’s gone now. We’d never know if the mechanic was scumming any of us.”

Marin shot Danny a look. “I know how to change the oil.”

“Then why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“I thought you had changed the oil when you traded in for that car.” Marin kept herself from shouting it out.

Danny was upset anyway. “And we drove all this way, without changing the oil?! And now we have no car!” Danny’s voice filled with more heat with every word.

“That’s done so rarely!” Marin shot back. “We’ve had that lunker for days!”

Jamie looked pained, she kept looking between Danny and Marin.

“We’re supposed to be a team Marin.” Danny told her, his voice getting a half-step louder.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Marin shot back, matching his volume. “I’m not part of the team because I didn’t use the ONE THING I know more than you about cars?” Marin shook her head. She felt like she was vibrating all over, her heart was heavy. She was about to say something she would regret.

She spun on her heel and walked towards the back of the lot the Diner/car-shop/motel sat on.

Danny looked to be fuming and on the edge of saying something himself.

“Marin!” Jamie called.

Marin waved, “Leave me.” she needed time to calm down.

Jamie started following Marin to the tables and chairs behind the few parking spots.

“Stop, Jamie.”

Jamie looked hurt and rejected.

“Please. Help them.” When Marin saw Jamie stop. Marin turned her back on them and looked for a seat a ways away from the group.

It was dark out, but the trees and undergrowth had been cut back from the tall fence that lined the back of the lot. There was a blinking yellow-ish bulb that lit up this back area. If anything came, she would see it. There was a lone bench and some outdoor seating she could use.

Danny, Shawn and Jamie were hardly a mumble behind her.

Marin took a few breaths to calm herself enough the she could think of anything along side her anger.

Pulling out her music notebook, she flipped to the latest song she was re-writing. With her ocarina in hand, she blew softly. Just enough she could practice playing the notes with her hands. But not so loudly that anyone faraway could hear. The thing was basically a multi-note clay whistle. Her friends might hear the notes burble. But if she played at full volume, monsters in the mountains might hear it. People that could see her by the upstairs windows would hear it then too.

She still felt the heat in her stomach and chest, her heart pumped in her ears. But her anger felt more distant now, especially as she moved onto Aerith’s theme.

Grief countered the anger, at least while she tried to play, to practice playing. She would have to refine the notes, that was when she was alone next. For now she could just play the song, extra quietly.

Marin remembered the note length and rhythm. Even as she could feel the errors in the chords written so far, she kept to what she could remember.

Marin had spent too long wasting away at her mother’s house, or in that tiny room in Icicle Inn. It was only her sub-par memory of melodies that helped her now. She would be put to shame by any professional, but it was enough for her. And without her books, or Internet, or videos. This recreation from memory would have to do.

Marin felt a twitch of anger in her right hand, someone approached her. Even after she had told them to leave her alone, it had been mere minutes. Her anger flared back up.

With the ocarina strung around her neck, and held carefully in hand, she twisted in her seat to face Jamie. Or Danny or Shawn, whoever it was was crossing the one line she had drawn this whole trip.

“What-” she cut herself off.

The man from inside the Diner stood there. Marin could see the others by the door, the woman with pink hair stood with them, under the greenish light.

In the light of the more-on-than-off flickering bulb. Marin could finally read something of the man’s face. He had been about to say something when he closed his mouth, changing his mind.

“That is an odd thing to be playing around here, and at night.”

Marin set her jaw, “Everyone has their own way of dealing with their temper.”

“And you? Music?”

Marin took the neckband of the ocarina from around her neck. She started to pack it away. “So what if I get my mind off things with music?”

The man’s face was nigh unreadable again. One corner of his mouth did give the slightest movement. “You mistake my question.”

Marin put her notebook and instrument away. “Then what did you mean? Have a problem with my song?” Her anger was right there.

“I was merely curious as to how or who taught you to use that.”

On second thought, there was no accusation or derision in the man. Marin inhaled slowly, calming down slowly. “Why does it matter?”

“Call it curiosity.”

Marin chewed on the question. This didn’t feel like a test, or a trial to earn respect like before. His tone was just as flat but with less judgment. Yet the whole truth would not do, not how she learned these songs or where they came from. Neither would a bold lie. Marin came up with an answer that would have to do. “I taught myself, how to play on my own. Listening to the radio, to the Television.”

“And your choice of instrument?” He put a hand up, pointing to it.

Marin had scrunched up her face in anger and grief. She hoped that Roceler was OK. She doubted it. The ocarina would be a salve going forward. But the cost of getting one, Marin had felt that the price was too high. All because the thing was invented in a country that was currently at war with everyone else.

‘What are the chances of that? That Wutai invented ocarinas on this planet?’

The man continued, “I only ask, because it reminds me of home. Yet your voice does not have the sound of anyone from there.”

Now Marin felt confused. “But of course it doesn’t sound like a song from Wutai. I was playing quietly.”

“That’s not...” He shook his head a couple of times. “At least you know where that came from.”

His gaze flickered to the pocket that bulged with the wrapped ocarina and back to her eyes. “It’s perhaps not the best time to be playing one of those nowadays.”

Marin made a short noise of angry displeasure, “I don’t care. Besides, I don’t exactly advertise it.” she couldn’t afford a guitar, a piano, or fit either in her pocket. She cared, a little, if anyone heard. But as long as it didn’t bring a mob on their heads, Marin was going to keep playing music for her own peace of mind. It was keeping her sane and calming her temper.

Her mind remembered something he had just said, “Wait, you said it reminds you of home? So you’re-” she considered her next words, “You’re not from around here, are you?”

His face didn’t change, he only said, “No, I’m not.”

Marin had already told him where she was from, as far as this planet was concerned. Though Marin didn’t plan on sharing anything about the Dwyer’s or Icicle Inn going forward. “But, the war, your people-”

He shook his head. The grief in that movement affected his voice, Marin could hear it if she couldn’t hear it in the dim light. “It’s over, they just don’t know it yet.”

Marin felt her hands tighten to fists in her lap. “You’ve can’t just give up like that!” she hissed, keeping her voice low. “Especially someone with skills like yours.” she didn’t know what sort of weapon he or his friend used. But he moved like he knew how to use them. At least more than Marin did, not that that was a high bar.

His face was tense now, instead of expressionless. “Have you ever fought in a war? A battle? Been in a fight?”

Marin felt her lips thin, “I’ve been in some fights. But no, not war.”

He grabbed at his right wrist and something made a noise she had not heard before or how to describe, followed by a puff of air. Pulling away his arm, his right hand and bicep came away all in one piece. Under a long coat sleeve and gloves, Marin hadn’t noticed the stiffness of a prosthetic arm.

She let her gaze drift to the ground between them, ashamed that she had asked an amputee to continue fighting a losing war. She had been told Ayame’s stories her whole life. A fraction of it had been covered in history class, the videos, the movies. It was nothing like being there. But there was a horror of war she never wanted to face herself. And so many people on Earth had been conscripted to fight, whether they wanted to or not.

Her great-grandmother had never fought. But the family had passed down what Ayame had seen, the refugees coming from Nagasaki, Japan. How everything had changed in the country going forward. The horrors of war that even the innocent civilians didn’t get to choose. When innocents couldn’t choose whether or not they’d have to participate horrors, suffering, or death.

This man had found a way to choose, and had left. It still felt like a betrayal of his own, even if his wound took him off the most stringent lists of conscripts. Marin didn’t feel better with the thought that ShinRa didn’t have nuclear power, the way the Americans did anyway. But not living in a battle for herself, made Marin feel she had no place to condemn the man taking the opportunity to leave the battlefield.

Maybe he would see it if he ever went back. But it wasn’t her place to say that to him.

She only looked back up at him with tight lips.

He changed the subject, “You and your friends still need some assistance?”

“Some.” was all she said. In the time line she knew, she assumed that things wouldn’t change. As far as she knew, Wutai would lose their war, would surrender. Be reduced down to a single town. To appease the tourists that wanted to see a foreign, and exotic, land.

ShinRa hadn’t won yet and it burned her. Wutai wasn’t her home, her land, or her people. Her emotionally closed father had been reluctant to push anything on her, except the apparent shame of his Grandmother Ayame. For being part of a culture that had failed.

Marin hadn’t inherited that shame, though her father had with some to spare. It hadn’t been Ayame’s fault. For something no one in their family had any control over. It wasn;t her fault for where she had happened to be born.

What Marin did feel, was the loss. So many people had been hurt in the Wutai War, or would be. Just because they lived on an island continent that ShinRa wanted to annex for themselves.

In beating down the grief of the loss of an entire country, Marin felt her anger creep back up. Wutai was in the midst of so much loss. Even Japan had kept their cities, had rebuilt, had kept their culture even as they had accepted surrender to another country.

Marin was full of wrath. “Fuck ShinRa” she whispered.

“Mm-hmm.” Fahd agreed with her.

---

Chapter Text

Fahd and Val had all four of the ‘kids’ going through their paces in the morning.

Marin and Danny were on their second cup of coffee. They had spent half the night, debating whether or not they would do this very thing. If the four of them were safer to go their own way. Or go through with Marin’s plan to learn under Fahd and Val.

Marin and Danny agreed, that anyone not willing to help a stranded driver were no friend of theirs. Ultimately, Between the six of them, there was one working car.

Shawn and Jamie had been part of the conversation for the first hour, in the room the four of them shared. It quickly became a debate between Danny and Marin, with Jamie and Shawn mostly listening.

Danny and Marin hammered out what the final plan was, what they agreed on, what they didn’t agree on. And what the four of them were desperate for.

Fahd and Val were not-nice-people, they couldn’t be trusted to the very end. But Danny, Jamie, Shawn and Marin desperately needed help. They needed Gil, skills, Materia, jobs, more equipment. And more Gil would get them there.

They would stay by Fahd and Val, up until they could afford to break off on their own.

Danny agreed in the end, to break it off in a way that wouldn’t upset Fahd and Val. No one would abandon the mercenaries. Nor did the four of them trust the mercenaries deeply.

Their poverty was making them desperate. Even Marin could admit that this was foolish. But they didn’t have enough Gil to go more than a days, maybe a week, on their own. They didn’t have a car any more. And this rest stop ‘Mel’s Diner’ wasn’t hiring.

So now they all stood in a field close to the Rest Stop. Fahd and Val were figuring out what Danny and Jamie were capable of. While Marin showed Shawn how to use Materia. They were taking turns. Everyone needed to know how to activate the magic Materia, as well as how competent they were at anything.

Which wasn’t much. AVALANCHE and field experience had put Danny’s feet to the fire. He was alive because he had picked things up quickly. His life had depended on it.

Shawn had skills, he had a great many skills. But many were book-ish or slinging coffee. And some of his book smarts were tied to the geological history of another planet. What kept him going, was the fore knowledge he had of the video games this world was from. Or the game was from this world?

Jamie actually impressed Fahd the most. She was fast, faster than the others. She could kick, flip and jump the highest. And her fast hands translated to slipping things out of Fahd’s pockets, which impressed Fahd more than Val.

Marin was not jealous of what Jamie could do that Marin couldn’t. Marin knew the hours of practice that Jamie put into those skills. A couple of which she had been teaching Marin, so they could practice with each other. Marin wasn’t as good as Jamie, but that was just a different in time invested in practice.

They ended up being paired off. Val had Jamie going through some paces, Fahd was over there with Danny. And Marin attempted to teach Shawn what Marin had a natural talent for, magic.

“But I did do that, Marin.” Shawn complained, as she failed to teach him to pull his will through the healing Materia, again.

“I didn’t say I was a good teacher, I said I would try.” She snapped back, she couldn’t tell if it was her teaching or Shawn’s inability to learn. And it was bothering Marin. Shaking her head, she noticed Val watching the two of them while the pink-haired woman was running Jamie through some drills.

The older woman, whose gray-ish roots under the pink dye, showed expression and mirth on her face. But Val was just as closed to being read as Fahd. She just showed sardonic mirth most of the time.

Marin couldn’t tell what went through Val’s head most of the time.

Whatever Shawn had said next, another failure to make it work. Marin growled in frustration with herself. “It’s so easy. I’m sorry Shawn. I just don’t know what you’re doing wrong.”

That’s when Val stepped in and made the necessary corrections. The laugh lines that crinkled at her eyes made her the oldest of all of them. Even as she deferred to Fahd.

Marin was more disappointed in herself, than angry, when Shawn threw a small ball of fire at a nearby empty hill. She griped with herself for being a bad teacher instead. ‘I couldn’t get Shawn to cast even one spell?’

She did the math, when Shawn tapped himself out. Noting what his starting capability was with between breaks, with magic.

“You should know your own limits.” Val told them both.

Which was nearly twice what Marin could cast in one sitting. Yet Shawn wasn’t blooded, as Marin had been between here and Icicle Inn. And she had nothing on Danny for fighting experience.

It was still good to know that Shawn could be depended on to step up even more than Marin could, when it came to magic. Though she had a few days more experience with a gun, or even her own fist, over Shawn. She chalked it up to the years Shawn had on Marin. All that book learning really had made him a Mage.

Whatever the reason it mattered more that they could step up to back each other up.

‘Maybe he really will be a mage.’ She thought. ‘But what does that make me?’

It didn’t matter to her much. She was alive, they were alive. As long as that continued. Whatever edge they used to remain that way was all right by her.

“Break!” Fahd called.

---

“He told me he was bored.” Jamie said.

Danny volunteered his answer, “He told me that something Marin had said had earned his respect.”

“Huh, Fahd never told me a reason.” Shawn said. “Val only ‘tsked’ and huffed off. Like I was a moron for not figuring out why they would teach us.”

“What about you Marin” Jamie asked. “What reason’s Fahd given you for taking us under their wing?”

Marin shrugged, “Ultimately, does it matter?”

“Don’t you want his respect?” Danny asked her

“I don’t know him.” Marin told the other three. “I don’t know if I want his respect. But I know we need the two of them. And our desperation is no secret.”

“They’re also being inconsistent with why,” Shawn said.

“So they made a mystery for us to solve.” Jamie said. “Isn’t that what we’re doing right now? Trying to figure them out?”

“The thing is,” Marin continued, “Does it really matter who they are?”

“I’d like to know why they are doing what they’re doing.” Shawn said, scratching his chest. “Who it is we’re putting a certain amount of trust in.” He put out his hand at Marin’s look of disbelief. “they’re teaching us, that requires some trust.”

Marin nodded at Shawn’s words.

“So what does that make us?” Danny said. “There are four of us, with four different reasons why Fahd and Val are doing what they’re doing.”

“And I’m saying it doesn’t matter.” Marin told him. “Just as long as the why doesn’t lead to us getting hurt, because we’re under their wing.”

Jamie looked shocked, “Are you saying they might be planning to hurt us?”

Marin shook her head. “No, not that. It’s more, uh.” she searched for the right word. “causality. Maybe we put ourselves at risk because we’re with them. Or something bad happens because of something they don't do. Not anything nefarious.”

Shawn studied the dirt under his nails. “Or on purpose.”

Jamie looked more worried.

Danny reassured her, “I get what Marin’s trying to say. they’re helping us, but that doesn’t mean we’re safe.”

“They’re not safe?” Jamie asked.

Marin’s face hardened, she tried to keep it blank. “I don’t see a point to be having this discussion. We don’t know anything. Just because we’re with capable people. Doesn’t mean we’re safe from all the dangers out there.” Marin waved at the window, with closed curtains.

Shawn picked up the thought “There are many things out there, some are only sleeping right now, that’re dangerous to everyone. Even with Fahd and Val helping us. That doesn’t mean we’re immune to getting hurt by something. that’s what Marin means.”

Marin lay down on her side of the hard bed. “Yeah. It’s a dangerous world out there. And there is still a war going on.” She yawned. She’d been dealing with the garbage in her own head for months. She didn’t like having so many problems in front of her, but it was a break from the garbage in her mind. It was a relief in it’s own way.

Jamie still looked crushed. Marin had no idea what else she could say to reassure her girlfriend.

Jamie’s brother tried.

“We need sleep,” Shawn started. “Val said that it’d be another early morning tomorrow. And we haven’t gotten back on the road yet.” Marin rolled over to face the wall.

“Marin...” Jamie asked.

Marin shifted to face Jamie again and held and arm up, in that way that invited touch.

Jamie lay on top of the blankets and curled up in Marin’s arms, for comfort.

“I can’t cure your worries.” Marin whispered into Jamie’s ear, “But we can be here, now.”

“I wish you could.” Jamie said back. “Cure them I mean.”

“Mmm.” Marin said, disagreeing with that sentiment. “Maybe, but. It’s better if we go over this so we can learn how to live with it.” Marin felt like a hypocrite for saying that. She worried too much about everything.

Danny and Shawn looked awkwardly around, and busied themselves, getting ready for bed.

Marin had spent months and months worrying and stewing in her worries. She done nothing for months. She had shut Jamie out on Earth.

“I don’t have to like it though. “Jamie said.

“I don’t either. But I had to learn how to live with it.”

“Did you though? Did you learn to live with it?” Jamie asked, sounding like an innocent question.

“Not really,” Marin said honestly, “But I’m trying to learn how right now.” Marin’s whole metaphor about ‘yesterday, today, and tomorrow problems’ was all about choosing to think on things that were right in front of her face. And put aside things that could wait for later. It didn’t work most of the time Marin tried it. But it was something she could attempt. To compartmentalize things that were done, or had yet to come. So that she would only over think what was right in front of her.

Such as how the whole problem with Fahd and Val had melted away. The four of them didn’t have to get up until the dawn tomorrow. But Jamie needed Marin right now, in this moment. So they spooned, front to back. With just the blankets between them.

Shawn, as Jamie’s older brother, was the outlier that had been forced to reach a level of livable comfort with Danny and Marin. Whereas Jamie, Danny, and Marin had already been there a while. It was only awkward where there were ‘other people’ around. Though everything was awkward right now. With long hours on the road, with no one having a chance to be alone in the bathroom.

At least the friendships lay in such a way that, when Shawn needed to change in the bathroom. He wasn’t holding anyone else up. Danny, Jamie, and Marin had already reached a point in the false summer, a year ago. Where they had been down to bathing suits in the heat. Shawn just needed time.

Between Marin, Danny, and Jamie knowing each other for years. The three of them had felt as prepared as they could for living together, on Earth. Until Danny’s funeral. Shawn needed more than the week he had had so far.

No one said anything. While Jamie was held by Marin. Danny was on the other side of his bed, getting ready to sleep. Shawn was in the bathroom, doing the same.

Marin wanted to make everyone as comfortable as she could manage, given the confines of their road trip, and being cut off from home. There was only so much she could do. At least there was little that needed to be said. And Shawn being Jamie’s older sibling, made her want to try harder. She really did want his respect. Though Marin wanted to go the distance for anyone remotely resembling Shawn’s circumstances. Marin also didn’t like anyone seeing her changing, ever. She wasn’t ashamed of how she looked, she just didn’t like being that vulnerable around anyone she didn’t also trust implicitly. That had made gum class in school complicated.

Even a minor, offhand comment about such a habit, could be one of the tiny cuts that could rip them apart. Given the stresses they were all under now.

So the debate over Fahd’s deal had dribbled away, to be picked up again who-knows-when. It was better than picking on each little habit or tick that bothered someone. Once that started happening, things could go badly.

Marin hugged Jamie tightly for a moment and let go. Jamie squeezed Marin’s hands in return. Shawn was a member of their little group by default. But that wouldn’t be enough to prevent problems. Not in the long run. But Marin had no idea what to do, other than not push him away. It was something to think about, after Marin had gotten more sleep.

Marin didn’t want the group to drift apart. They had no one else. No home to go back to, no other friends to talk to, email, or text. They only had each other.

Whatever was really going on with Fahd and Val, in the end didn’t matter. As long as the four of them stuck together. Eventually trust each other more. Really, they needed to integrate Shawn. Then it wouldn’t matter what Fahd and Val’s real deal was.

Marin continued to hold Jamie, “Are you going to sleep that way?”

“No,” to Marin’s disappointment, Jamie pulled away. “I’m tired.”

Marin brought her arms to herself, for sleep, and opened and closed her left hand. Her materia bracelet was elsewhere. The final let down of her day was that Jamie’s hand wasn’t in her own, not now or for the rest of the night.

---

Marin grumbled to herself, internally, as Val bandaged Shawn.

They were two days into their routine. Of the six of them driving down the road a ways, then stopping for most of the day to practice. Except Fahd and Val didn’t have practice spears, dull knives or a practice sword. They only had real weapons. Which meant when Marin had slipped with one of Val’s spears, she had really nearly gutted Shawn and skipped the tip along his rib cage.

Danny was sewing up the shirt, now that the blood was washed out. And Marin was under orders to not heal Shawn, while Val stitched him up.

Shawn had a dark look for the horizon, while he winced at the stitches.

Fahd and Val didn’t have pain killers either.

Shawn didn’t complain, not here. At least he didn’t glare at Marin. He was only the most recent ‘training injury.’

Marin was lucky that she had managed to scrape a rib, instead of penetrating his torso.

“Here.” Fahd held out a hand for the weapon in Marin’s hand. It had a surprisingly little amount of blood on it. The cut had happened so fast.

Marin handed over the spear.

She watched as Fahd wrapped some rags and duct tape over the sharpened edges.

Marin stared a moment while he worked deftly to soften the most lethal parts of the long spear. “Why didn’t we start that way?!”

He gave her a blank look.

“Sorry sir.” She managed to spit out.

He held her gaze a few more moments, until she looked away abashed, then he continued. “It was a test.”

Marin bit the inside of her lip, holding back her next retort. It would have negated her honest apology for being rude.

Jamie yelled at Fahd instead of Marin. Defending her brother, “Marin could have killed him!”

“But she didn’t.” Fahd said. “And now you’ve all been bloodied.”

Marin silently agreed with Jamie, she had almost impaled one of his kidneys. Except for her cure Materia, he could have bled to death from a worse stab. In the wilds below the highway.

Four people, with one or two or three bandages of their own, looked sullenly at anything but who they had hurt. They also didn’t glare at the abusiveness of their two teachers.

Marin looked at her hands, and remembered the scrapes from Danny dueling her. They had both been using Fahd’s knives.

‘It’s either abuse or it isn’t. These are not nice people, this was a mistake.’ Marin thought, as she questioned going this far. Except for their lack of more Gil, this wasn’t worth it.

All four of them had also been barred from using cure Materia, they had to work with their cuts and scrapes. Marin no longer cared for the rules that had been imposed by their instructors. Shawn was one extension or lunge away from ripping his stitches open. He was the worst off so far, just from how he moved.

So far they had all been expected to follow instruction, weapon drills, all of it while bandaged. Unless they were so disabled it was impossible. No one wanted to test how far Fahd or Val would push that.

After lunch, they went a little further down the highway before setting up a camp just before dark. The ground was cold and Shawn was in for a rough night of sleep, and potentially popping stitches if he wasn’t careful. Marin volunteered for the first watch, while everyone tried to rest around the low campfire.

They were at the bottom of another set of access stairs, the car up on the highway. Nibelheim was further down the road. But since he had been stitched up, Shawn had been silent about going there. He hadn’t talked at all since his injury.

An hour in, everyone was asleep and snoring, or sleeping silently.

Fahd and Val left the other four to go in two-hour shifts. The ‘kids’ did the grunt work in return for lessons that nearly killed them. At least the Nibel wolves didn’t pester a group so large.

Marin sidled to Shawn and Jamie, sleeping in one of the tents. Jamie was breathing slower and deeper than Shawn was, each in their own sleeping bag. Shawn always inserted himself between Marin and his sister given a chance to.

Marin put a hand over Shawn’s mouth and tried to slowly wake him. Arms grabbed her hand immediately to struggle. “Shhh!” She hissed right into his ear. “It’s Marin.” In the dark of the tent, her hand could have been anyone’s.

Shawn kept a hold of Marin, but loosened his grip.

“I need that hand back.” she whispered.

Inside the confines of the tent. Marin couldn’t have fit between the other two. As it was, Jamie rolled over in her sleep, nearly elbowing Marin.

The cure spell was only gestures, and it lit up the tent with the streams of magic.

“Wh-” Jamie’s voice was cut off by Marin’s hand.

Marin’s right hand continued to cast a cure spell. On her knees next to Shawn. She could barely keep control of the spell. Divided as her hands were, propping herself up in the tiny tent. She had to recast, once Jamie was fully awake and quiet.

When the lights of the second spell went out, Marin bent back low to Shawn’s ear. “You’ll have to cut out the stitches when it’s light out.”

“Thanks.” He whispered back.

“Shh!” Marin told him, “Go back to sleep.”

Marin whispered to Jamie to leave the bandages on, to hide what Marin had done. Before backing out of the tent on her hands and knees.

Marin went back to the fire, banking it before it got any lower from ignoring it for those few minutes. She was still learning how to keep a fire going. But once someone else started it, it was simple enough to maintain.

Inching towards the lightest sleeper of them all, Marin had saved Danny for last.

“Is it my turn yet?” Danny murmured, half-asleep.

“Shhh,” Marin lulled him as she crawled closer. “I need something from my bag.”

Danny mumbled something nonsensical and tried to go back to sleep, until Marin touched his face.

Danny’s reaction was harsher than Shawn’s had been. Danny’s grip on Marin’s wrist was iron. Firelight flickered through a crack in the tent door. One dark eye in a dark face flickered to life in the firelight, staring at Marin. The other eye was in Marin’s shadow.

“It’s me.” Marin whispered.

Danny threw his hand away. He had always been stronger than her. Marin had been catching up in the last few weeks. But that grip, compared to Shawn’s was frightening. Marin wasn’t strong enough, yet, to twist out of that grip.

She then did for Danny what she had already done for the others. A simple spell for a tiny wound.

Danny’s face nodded in thanks in the light. He did rip the bandages off his arm and head though, leaving it in a pile beside his sleeping bag.

Marin left him and went back to tend the fire. Someone was waiting for her.

“That took longer than I expected.” Fahd said. He sat in the folding chair that Marin had been using for the last hour.

“Longer to what?” Out of context, Marin’s question was innocent enough. While her own cut hands and arm itched. She had saved herself for last, but was caught before she could cast one last spell.

Fahd gave Marin an unreadable look. Full of meaning that she couldn’t parse yet. He took that lecturing tone he had used back in the diner, when he had complained about not teaching babies. “Until one of you broke the rules.”

Marin was full of fear for getting caught, about what the consequences would be. She also convinced herself not to apologize for doing right by her own people.

Marin swallowed. The only available chair was occupied.

Fahd sat in that chair. That made Marin feel judged by the man.

She asked him. “What happens now?”

He waved his hand for her to move along, “Usually when the rules are broken, that person is allowed to defend themselves. Give an excuse.”

Marin set her shoulders, thinking of a defense. She notice Fahd’s eyebrow twitch in the momentary silence. “I’m not apologizing,” she concluded.

“Are you saying you won’t defend yourself?”

“I’m saying I’m not going to excuse myself for doing the right thing.”

His stony gaze somehow got harder. “Explain.”

Marin imagined Shawn ripping his stitches, she imagined gutting Shawn. It made her angry enough to stare down that stonier-than-ever stare. She took on a slowly-explaining-to-a-child tone. “People were hurt, so I healed them.”

She swallowed despite herself, hoping that it was not noticed in the flickering light. ‘Fuck you, not just any people were hurt,’ she thought to herself. Letting her anger grow a little, so that she could keep her eyes on Fahd’s.

After several long moments, Fahd dismissed her with a hand gesture.

Marin flickered her eyes to his hand, expecting an attack. It was only a dismissal.

Fahd changed the subject. “How much longer is your watch?”

“Just under and hour, sir.”

“Go to bed, and no more magic.” He waved her back to her tent. “Don’t glare at me. You’ve broken enough rules tonight.”

She asked, “What about the next-”

“I’ll wake the next person. No more magic.” his tone was so flat it had to be angry, but in a Fahd way.

Marin turned her back on the seated man. Out of his sight she could squeeze and un-squeeze her hands into fists. The cuts and scrapes stung from the movement.

She slipped in beside Danny. The arrangements were at Shawn’s request. Jamie apparently gave him the space he needed. Marin would give a lot to switch with Shawn. But not at the price of an argument. She had to pick her battles.

Shawn had been reticent to share with anyone else. Danny and Marin had napped in hang outs before, just not while camping.

One eye, lit by the fire, watched Marin enter the tent.

“Shh.” Was all she said as she pulled off her boots and crawled into her own sleeping bag. The fabric was cold and freezing, compared to the heat from the fire. Only one end of the tent was warm at all, nearest the fire pit.

A finger poked Marin’s shoulder.

“Are you cold?” Marin asked Danny, as quietly as she could manage.

“I’ve been here for over an hour, what do you think?” Danny whispered back. His bag rustled in the dark.

“Not how I wanted to go camping for the first time.”

“Me either.”

A shadow crossed between the fire and the opening of the tent. “Go to sleep.” Fahd hissed from outside the tent.

Marin twisted her mouth shut, realizing that Danny wouldn’t see her face. She put out a hand towards Danny.

With the silent communication, in the dark, Marin told Danny what she wanted. They had known each other long enough to know she only wanted to be warm.

Danny shuffled over those few inches that were needed. Until their sleeping bags were squeezed between them. The two of them huddled together for warmth on the cold ground. Only the floor of the tent and a mat was between them and the cold ground. They clung together for warmth until Danny was pulled for his shift.

---

Shawn and Marin were cleaning up the remnants of their campsite when Shawn started up a conversation.

“Which character’s your favorite?”

Marin looked up at the stairs to the highway. Danny stood there with a rifle, watching for any wandering monsters. Everyone else was packing the car. Shawn was the only person close enough to hear.

“Favorite character from what?” She asked, preoccupied with obliterating any traces of their campsite.

“Of this game, silly.” Shawn said. “you know, the one we’re trapped in.” He glanced up at the highway. “Neither of the others have played it. My roommate has, but Mikhail’s not here.”

Marin shrugged, “I don’t see why it matters. We’re here now.” She thought that, ‘they’re real now, the people from the game. It’s all too real and too dangerous to be here.’ Here eyes flickered to the north, under those mountains was a forest road to the town of Nibelheim. She didn’t know the origin of the word ‘Nibel’. Used to name the mountains, the wolves, and the town north of her. Two characters from the FF7 game lived in that village, or were there now.

“I don’t see why Val cares that we clean this spot like we’ve never been. So call me bored, and curious.”

Marin finally answered the question. “Aerith.”

Shawn laughed.

Marin started getting cross with him, “what? So I know she’s popular. I don’t care. I like her.”

Shawn wiped a tear and shook his head, “No, that’s not it. Aerith’s fine.”

Marin glared at Shawn, she saw Danny look down on them and go back to watching the hills for wolves. “Then why would you laugh?”

“Because mine's Cloud.”

“Oh” She said awkwardly. Marin gave Shawn the side eye, “Don’t think that means we might ever date here too.”

Shawn only smiled and shook his head, “Don’t worry, I have no interest in getting between you and my sister.”

Marin stuck her tongue out. He had done exactly that the night before, but she still joked with him about it. She kept poking at last nights coals, to make sure they really were out. “Why Cloud?”

Shawn gave Marin a momentary side eye, “How far did you get through the game.”

“All of it,” she was getting annoyed by all this lecturing, “a couple times. Don’t look at me that way Shawn, I was bored.”

Shawn wiped the grin off of his face and said “Oh, so you remember Wall Market.”

Marin had also been to Jamie’s family house, where they had pictures of Jamie’s older sibling as a child. Marin reminded herself that Shawn was the person that stood in front of her now. She tried not to think about that, to avoid saying something Shawn didn’t deserve. “Yeah, I remember Wall Market. With all the dress shopping.” She put her tongue out in disgust. “If we ever get to Midgar. I’ll only wear a dress if I want to. And I never want to.” Marin had to be in the right mood for dresses or skirts. Which was almost never.

“I must have been seven, or eight? When I first played that game. It took a few tries before I could finish Wall Market.” Shawn mused, “I prefer Cloud in his SOLDIER uniform, but.” He shrugged.

Marin guessed, “Is that why you want to get to Nibelheim so bad?” That was were Cloud is or used to live, depending on when they had appeared.

Shawn shrugged, “You caught me. But we need to know where we are in the time line too.”

Marin shook her head, “And what do you think will happen when you meet someone that significant to the time line?”

“What do you mean?”

“I might be stuck here, but that doesn’t mean I want to risk wrecking the future.” Marin intoned. “Without us they can win.”

Shawn shrugged again, “It’s just a look around. You said yourself you wanted to know when we are.”

Marin looked down at the cleared ground, “That doesn’t mean I want to risk changing anything.”

Shawn tipped his head to her point. “So, you finished the game.”

“Yeah,” Marin started heading over to the stream to dump the coals.

“That means you’ve seen that scene three times.”

“Which one?” Marin dumped the bucket and rinsed it out. “Except for that hidden one in the mansion. After a couple times, I wanted to see what I missed.” Marin had had a lot of time, between bouts of homework, to play video game sin self-imposed isolation at home, with her PS4. “I saw the hidden Zack scene once.”

“Ah, so you did find that one.”

Marin shook her head, “No, a guide told me where to find it.”

Shawn shook his head, “That’s not the one I meant anyway.” He stopped to study Marin a moment. “You said you played FF Fifteen right?”

“Yeah. I liked it.”

“I’ve never met someone that actually liked that one.” Shawn shook his head.

“Hey!” Marin flung some dried leaves at Shawn, they missed by several feet on purpose. “Fifteen was still okay.”

Marin side eyed Shawn. She didn’t like the way he smiled at her. She thought of Ardyn. Marin was gathering the last of the refuse in the bucket when she froze. It tickled in her head. He had asked her what he wanted.

Marin felt a flare of fear as she thought, ‘but what if I’m over thinking it? It’s an innocent enough question.’ She looked up at the highway, looking for the faces of who was up there.

“So,” Shawn continued, “what else of the Compilation have you played?”

“The what?” Marin did not understand the question.

“The other games for FF Seven.”

“I didn’t know it was called the Compilation.”

“So....” He trailed off on his next question.

“So, none of the ‘other games’. I’ve seen the movie?”

“So,” Shawn said. “No Crisis Core?”

“Which one’s Crisis Core?”

“One of the one’s not on the PS Four.”

“Then there’s the answer to your question right there. What’s it-”

“Done yet?” Danny called.

Marin shouted back, “almost!” She gave the land around them a quick scan. Her and Shawn were the only movement she could spot below the road.

Shawn and Marin were the only life she could see moving in or under the hills.

She wished she had a watch, she had to pull out the cell phone with no signal. Her and Shawn had not wasted time cleaning up.

“Get any signal?” Shawn asked her.

She shook her head, “I was just checking the time.”

“Get a watch. You know what watches are right?”

Marin wanted to stick her tongue out at the man that was nearly ten years her senior. “Do you even know what a watch is?” She asked him.

Shawn looked at his wrist, “I dunno, something dinosaurs used when they didn’t want to use their shadows anymore.” He looked up at the highway. “Val certainly looks old enough to be a dinosaur.”

Marin picked up the bucket, their job was done. “Don’t let Her or Fahd hear you say that.”

A car horn blared from up above.

“I like my face the way it is, thanks.” He touched his cheek, “Mostly the way it is.”

Marin headed over to the stairs, she had an inkling that he wanted more face than he had. But she didn’t bring any additional attention to it. Any more than than Shawn already had. So she silently carried the bucket, with their human litter, towards Danny. She had her own features she wished she could wear like a hat, but that was out of her reach now.

Shawn was wiping his hands in the stream, coming up behind Marin, trying to dry his hands off as he could.

The car horn blared again, sounding even more impatient the second time.

Marin looked up the stairs, Danny was already at the top.

Fahd had never confronted her that morning. She had woken up when Danny had to take a turn for watch. From the inside of her sleeping bag, she had used the last of her mana on a sloppy heal to heal her own wounds, she figured if she was already in trouble, she wasn’t going to suffer her cuts any longer.

That morning, Fahd had never confronted her with her rules breaking. Val had had no significant looks for Marin all morning.

Marin had been tasked with every little job or task. Fetching water, folding tents. Cleaning up the campsite.

No one volunteered anything about any wounds that had disappeared in the night. By the end of the day, Marin was the only one still bandaged. And that was only to hide her healing herself.

Marin carried the gear up the stairs to the car. As she wondered what chore Fahd might have planned for her to do next.

---

Chapter Text

“I just want to take a look around,” Shawn told Marin, while he helped her gather fire wood for a hot dinner.

“I’m telling you, it’s a bad idea.” Marin told Shawn over Materia practice.

Fahd hadn’t called her out, after catching her breaking the rules. She was ‘volun-told’ to do every chore, sure. But there was no lecture or review about the rules that Fahd and Val had put down. They seemed more a guide to be followed when it was convenient for the teachers.

With passive-aggressive punishments for those that got caught defying the rules or guidelines.

Whether it was setting up camp, clearing signs after a practice session or even gathering fire for the night, Marin was assigned help as needed, but she was taking part in every single chore. As they slowly crawled down the road up to Nibelheim, stopping to practice, to eat meals. What would have taken less than two days of steady driving was taking well over a week.

But all the time out of the car, and not being chased with guns, was better for morale for everyone. They didn’t feel as trapped in a tiny box. With six people in a single car. Shawn had more chances to get Main apart from Fahd and Val. So he could continue their discussion.

“We need to know when we are, and this is the most convenient way to do it.” Shawn would not give up on going to Nibelheim.

Marin shook her head and found some more fresh dead fall by the thin tree line. “And why would a bunch of tourists go to ‘the middle of nowhere?’ what’s your cover story Shawn?”

He shrugged, “We’re on a road trip, we’re just letting the road take us anywhere.”

Marin looked at Shawn a moment, “Except we’re not the ones driving.”

“You convinced Fahd to take us under his and Valkyrie’s wing.” He used the older woman’s full name. “and it should be easy to get Danny and Jamie on board.” He shifted the rifle, where it rested on his shoulder barrel up. Marin had to do the heavy lifting and Shawn had been assigned to have her back, in case something tried to catch her alone.

“Maybe you could convince them.” She went back to her counter-argument, “But it’s still risky, we’re not changing anything.”

Shawn laughed, “We’re changing the world just by being here. A butterfly flaps it’s wings and all that.”

‘And it could trigger a tornado somewhere else.’ Marin thought. She knew some of what happened after the War with Wutai. Whenever that was going to end. Yet she didn’t want Shawn’s fixation on Nibelheim to change anything. Not when it could hurt other people’s shot at saving the world.

Speaking of this world needed saving a few different ways. And it only had to be destroyed once to threaten all the life on it. And today, all that life included Marin, Jamie, Danny, and Shawn.

Shawn still treated this place like a game, or a dream. Like he could poke the hornet’s nest and just wake-up at home, with all their problems here at a safe distance.

Yet whatever Ardyn was concerned Marin. No one else had seen him yet. And his appearance, in both worlds, hinted at a deeper mystery. Deeper than the four of them simply being stranded in a fictional world.

“No Shawn. Whether Cloud has already gone off to Midgar, or something.” He was one of the people from Nibelheim. “I don’t want to mess with what little we know has or could happen.” She rearranged the wood sticking out of the water bucket to fit more sticks. “It’s hard enough to just get something eat, and good sleep. We still need to kit all four of us our with equipment and Materia.”

“Fahd and Val have provided all of those so far.”

Marin shook her head, “Those are loans. At least they’ve given us as much room and board-”

“In tents.” He interrupted.

Marin shrugged, “It’s dry enough. We don’t have to pay for motels or food. So next materia store we hit, we might just be able to get by and be able to stand on our own soon. Survive whatever comes.”

“Is that all you want? To Survive? That’s not living.”

“It’s what I have the energy for right now!” she snapped at him.

Shawn’s only response was a hurt look.

Marin shook her head, “Sorry Shawn. A month away from my mom isn’t long enough to not be like her.”

Shawn swallowed, “I guess.” He tentatively accepted her apology. “though I’ve never met her, I wouldn’t know when you’re like her.”

Marin shrugged, “She’s nice enough on first impressions, but you’re better off never meeting her.”

“I know Jamie doesn’t like your mom...”

“She doesn’t like anyone that hurts me.”

Shawn nodded, “Of course.”

Jamie had informed Marin of Shawn’s status as Jamie’s brother. Before she had met him, now, on this planet. With Shawn’s tentative acceptance of Marin and Jamie together, told Marin that he knew before he had met Marin. That Jamie had told him about their relationship. Not that they had kept it a secret here.

“How about when you use that tone with her?” He asked Marin. He had switched to ‘protective older brother.’

Marin swallowed. “I haven’t- no.” she gave it a moment’s thought. “I haven’t.”

“Yet. As you said, a month is not long enough away from your mom.”

Marin swallowed. She didn’t want to hurt Jamie. But even she could see that the moods and toxicity she got from her mom were unintentional. The woman was in denial that she did anything wrong, her mom wouldn’t admit the effect she had on the people around her. Marin had no idea how much of that ignorance or denial of wrong behavior she had as well. “At least I’m not denying it.”

Shawn had a hard look for Marin. “That’s just the first step. Besides, you’re just a kid. You have your whole life to grow and improve on yourself.”

“I’m eighteen.”

“That’s only the legal age. Besides, around here that’s not even a thing.”

“What-” Her voice filled with concern. “What do you mean?”

Shawn shook his head, “Don’t mistake what I mean. Not in a gross way. I just mean that on Gaia, people can get an independence streak as young as thirteen or fifteen, and go their own way. But our brains aren’t really even matured until about 25. People here are expected to be responsible for themselves before they’re eighteen.”

Marin frowned at Shawn, she didn’t want to wait another seven years of pretending to be an adult, before being recognized as one.

Shawn shrugged with the shoulder that was not balancing the rifle. “Be that as it may, people have been known to mature sooner, or later. At least in some ways.” Shawn scanned the horizon, before they both turned back with Marin’s load of wood.

“Age doesn’t equal experience.” She told Shawn.

“You got me there.” He let Marin lead the way. They walked such that the hills the wolves and monsters hid in. Scratching his other arm with his free hand, Shawn continued, “I’d like to think I have some experience.”

“I’d say the same, but you have nearly ten years on me.”

“Hmmm.”

Marin came to a stop, they were definitely still out of ear shot of the others. But wouldn’t be for much longer. “I still don’t think we should go to Nibelheim.” She remembered the story from the game, the fires, the whole town burning. One day, she didn’t know when, if ever.

“Later, we’ll talk about it later.” Shawn said. “Let’s get that wood back to camp. I’m getting hungry.”

---

They had to set the four tents up in the rain.

After a cold dinner in the car, the rain showed no sign of stopping.

Fahd and Val didn’t stand back for the four ‘students’ to do all the work. Everyone worked as quickly as they could. All six of them were still soaked through by the time the tents were set up.

Fahd and Val, with careful use of fire spells, dried out the wet spots in side the tent. Leaving Marin and the others to soak while they tried to salvage a fire. None of the “kids” were trusted with fire inside the tents. Marin sat in her wet clothes, trying to dry the pit with fire magic. She attempted to get the wet wood dry enough to catch on fire. She couldn’t dry herself off enough to get ahead of the rain. So she shivered in the autumn cold while the others tried to block the driving rain from putting out the fire.

Eventually, the extra tarp was used as a shield for their rucksacks, which held their sleeping bags. All six of them worked as a team. But it didn’t stop them from getting soaked through.

“It gets any drier and it might catch.” Fahd said, coming out of the last tent.

Marin had never camped outside of a trailer park on Earth. And she had never put away a tent after a night or day of raining. “Packing up does not look like it will be fun.”

Fahd shrugged, “It’s one of the hazards of staying outdoors. And there are worse things out there than rain.” He came next to Marin’s failure of a fire and took over. In less than a minute, he was feeding logs into a fire big enough the driving rain wouldn’t extinguish it.

Fahd looked at the kindling they had left from yesterday’s dinner. Shaking his head, he said “This won’t last. I don’t even know why I lit it.”

“At least my hands are dry.”

The last dry-ish bag was taken into the last tent. Jamie stood there, with the tarpaulin over her to protect her from the rain, though her clothes were just as soaked as Marin’s.

“Go to bed.” Fahd told her. “But dry off first.”

Marin looked at Jamie, “there’s only room for one of us to set up at a time. You go first.” she shivered, keeping her hands warm by the fire, while it lasted.

---

Despite Shawn. Marin and Jamie had the same tent tonight. Their wet clothes piled at one end of the tent. They went to bed in yesterday’s clothes, as they were still dry.

The ground was cold, even though the floor of the tent and an extra tarp. Marin and Jamie had zippered their sleeping bags together, and huddled under a pile of every scrap of dry fabric they had. All their wet clothes were piled on the extra tarp. Maybe they would dry some in the dark of the cloudy sky.

“Some camping trip.” Marin said, while they both huddled for warmth.

“The inside of the car doesn't seem so bad now.” Jamie told Marin, she shivered in her dry clothes, Jamie huddled in Marin’s arms.

“There are three bench seats, and six of us.” Marin said. Something was wrong, but Jamie never found Marin’s hands with her own.

“How are you s-s-s-o warm?” Jamie asked Marin. “I’m fa-fa-freezing.”

Marin only shrugged with her head. “Maybe Fahd starting a fire for that little bit was enough.” Back on earth, Marin also had a habit of under dressing by a layer in the cool weather, to her mother’s dismay. Marin over dressed in the winter though, suffering sweat before her mother tried to dress Marin herself. This behavior persisted past Marin’s seventeenth winter on Earth.

“M-maybe.” Jamie said. She was already shivering less. Between Marin’s body heat, and the layers above both of them.

Marin whispered the rest “I just hope Shawn-”

“Stop,” Jamie interrupted with her own whisper. “Shawn can take care of himself.”

Marin closed her jaw, before she stuck her foot in it. “All right. Danny can handle himself too.” She remembered that look in his eyes, after K-town. “He’s grown a lot in the last few months.” ‘He also suffered a lot too.’

Jamie’s shivers had finally subsided and she pulled herself away from Marin, onto the other half of the bed they’d made. Their combined sleeping bags were wider than some of the beds they had used in rest stops so far.

“We all have.” Jamie said mournfully. “these last few weeks, then the months before that...”

Marin wished that things had been light enough to see Jamie’s face. She put out a hand for Jamie to take it, but it was just brushed away in the dark. “I wasn’t doing well during the funeral.” Marin kept her voice just loud enough for Jamie to hear.

“None of us were. But you-.” Jamie shuffled around in the dark. “Where’s my bag, i don’t want this to fall against the side of the tent.”

Marin pulled out one of the rucksacks. They could figure out whose as what later. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

The emotional distance between them made Marin want to close it even more. Marin lay no the other side of that invisible distance for now. If Jamie wanted to close the gap, she would. They’d been working on this grand plan, to get away from their families, build a future together. This planet left the plan in shreds. And now there was a few inches of metaphorical space between them, even as they huddled together for warmth.

Marin started, “do you not want to...”

“No, not tonight.” Between the mountains and the heavy clouds, it was as dark as night in the tent. Despite the sun on the horizon somewhere.

Marin held her hand in front of her face, she couldn’t see it. “Okay.” Things were not okay, but Marin didn’t want to pester Jamie with questions in the cold and the dark.

Whatever their parents thought of their friendship, Jamie and Marin were seen as close friends. Neither of them were interested in more than a kiss or holding each other. Marin could feel the romance, before. They were definitely a thing, just not something that might be seen as normal.

“Can I ask you one question though, Jamie?”

“You just did. And you may.”

Marin could hear the grin enter the latter of Jamie’s words. “Was there something I did, or didn’t do?”

The bag shuffled, like Jamie was shaking her head. “No, I mean, yes. No wait-”

“Um, Jamie?” Marin asked.

“I- it just. It’s not a good time.”

“I don’t understand what you mean?”

Jamie shuffled in the sleeping bag, he voice muffled as the other woman faced away. “Let’s just get some sleep. We can talk about it later.”

Marin felt butterflies fill her stomach. Jamie’s words had all the weight of ‘we need to talk later.’ Marin’s heart fell, she rolled over herself, to face away from Jamie.

Full of worry, Marin felt a tear escape the eye that was pressed into her pillow. Whether it was her ignoring Jamie for months, the stress of this place, or something else. If Jamie was done with them staying together, they were done. They had to both be on board to stay together or they had nothing.

Marin didn’t want to become bitter and foul, like her parents. They had delayed their divorce for their own reasons, and it had torn the family to pieces.

Marin closed her eyes and tried breathing and counting each breath. Her heart was full of worry, but it would only keep her awake. The rain pounded a rhythm on the tent roof and west-facing wall. She only needed to start calming her nerves down a little before the rain drops could lull both of them to sleep.

---

Marin kicked what was touching her foot.

Her ankle caught in a vise, her heart leapt to her throat and blood pumped in her ears.

Opening her eyes, not to a dog, but a man gripping her ankle. Marin rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to calm herself at the sight of Fahd on his hands and knees at the front of the tent. His face was under lit by a flashlight. His remaining hand held her leg.

Her heart still pounded with adrenalin. From the memory of two dogs grabbing at her ankles with their teeth, making away with her boots. She still didn’t remember how she ended up barefoot that night, years ago.

“Hey,” Fahd let go of her ankle.

Marin took her foot back, her nerves still firing, wide awake. She had ended up on top of the sleeping bag. Jamie was beside her. The other woman snorted in the dark, still asleep. Jamie really did sleep like the dead.

“What is it?” She hissed in a loud whisper.

“You’re turn for watch.” Water dribbled down the front of his head, off of his chin and onto the wet clothes by the entrance.

The rain had lightened, but it was still constantly dripping onto Marin’s tent. She knew better than to argue with Fahd. So she grabbed her still-drying coat, and found a dry pair of socks before pulling her wet boots on. Her Materia bracelet was just inside the pillow case, where she could grab it with her hand quickly if needed. She hoped she wouldn’t need it tonight. Even as she slipped it over her wrist.

“Double watches tonight,” He told he, “four hours.” They wouldn’t be done sleeping until very late the next day. “I’ll get Danny.” Fahd told her, before he stepped in the mud over to Danny’s tent.

Marin could feel the moisture begin to leak into her socks and down her neck. She quickly found shelter under the tarp, that had been set up between the tents. There was a dry place to sit, facing dry coals. And away from the tents, to watch out for danger while the others slept.

There were more camp chairs, but clearly whoever had been on first watch had only set up what was needed. Before those things were soaked with rain or caked in mud.

The ground squelched a little as she sat in a mostly-dry chair. At least the driving rain was gone, even as the sky was black. A weird flashlight glowed from Fahd and Val’s tents, behind where Marin sat. If she didn’t look behind her, she could get a sort of night vision under the midnight clouds.

She was no longer stuck with the last watch of the night. Or every single damn chore. Whatever Fahd had been up to, it was over.

“Personne ne me dit rien.” she mumbled in French. At least the French words were as close as she could get in the sentiment in English, ‘no one tells me anything.’

“What was that?” Danny asked quietly, checking the safety on a gun before passing it to Marin.

“Just complaining,” she said, after checking if the gun was loaded. It certainly was, with the safety on. She could only fake sitting easy now, with the loaded side arm.

In the darkness, anything that attacked them could come close unseen, if the rain didn’t stop the monsters. The rifles didn’t have the range when it was this dark.

“About what?”

“The damp, sleeping in the cold, the rain, wet clothes...”

“Or the rain?” Danny offered.

“The rain.” Marin agreed.

---

Marin opened her eyes at a noise. The inside of her tent roof was dark gray.

“We’re Under ATTACK!” Jamie’s voice yelled again.

Marin, dry in her last change of clothes, slipped on her materia bracelet.

More yelling, this time wordless. A gun shot rang out.

Marin was out of the tent in wet boots, no socks. She didn’t have a knife, a sword, or a gun. Her Materia was her weapon. Leaving the tent to flap open. There was movement in the dim gray, of things low to the ground. Shawn and Jamie were trying to shoot back whatever it was.

It was a clouded dawn. And still drizzling rain.

Marin left the tent behind.

Val appeared from her tent.

“Wake the fuck up already!” Jamie yelled.

Growls snarled in the night

Jamie and Shawn closed the semi-circle the tents made around the fire pit. There was no fire.

Marin twisted around, looking over the tents. She remembered ‘Nibel wolves sometimes flank their opponents.’

She was immediately bowled over by something heavy and made of wet fur, claws, and teeth.

“AHHH!” she screamed as she went down, in front of her and Jamie’s tent.

The Nibel wolf squealed as something jolted it to the side.

Marin smelled wet, stinky, breath as jaws snapped in front of her face. The wolf gave up on Marin and faced it’s new attacker.

Val kept it back with a spear, towards another empty tent.

Marin blasted the wolf with an ice spell, she couldn’t miss at this range. She wasted her mana to cast from laying on the ground, not able to go through the gestures as effectively.

The Nibel wolf got a face-full of ice, blasted in it’s face.

Val continued to push it back with her spear.

“Watch your flank and rear.” Marin warned. As only the empty tents would block Val from further attack. They had already failed to protect Marin.

“I know. Get up!” Val growled.

Marin had lost an unlaced boot, pulled in haste. She used the mud to suck the other off as she stood, risking the exposure to step evenly.

Giving Val’s flank a glance, she threw another ice spell at that Nibel wolf.

Gun shots rang out ‘rat-at-tat-tat’ over and over each other. Danny was about. Somewhere.

Marin and Val concentrated on theirs, while they tried to look for more in the dim gray light.

Marin found herself behind Val, watching the woman’s sides and back, casting spells over the spear-woman’s shoulder. Marin missed one out of every three spells.

The two of them made quick work on the wolves. Val wasted no time, leaping to the larger fray.

Nibel Wolves had a nasty habit of replacing dropped ranks, if the pack wasn’t taken down quickly enough.

Marin grabbed her boots and jogged as close as she could manage behind Val. Val could move fast when she wanted to.

With no weapons on hand to juggle, Marin was able to knot the boots quickly enough that she wouldn’t lose them again. She kept checking behind her, in case another wolf came.

By the time she joined the others, it was five against four. Fahd was on the furthest side, Val flanked the wolves. Shawn, Jamie and Danny had clustered together for protection. The three of them were back to back to back. So they couldn’t be flanked.

Fahd was stabbing with his prosthetic arm, it had grown another foot from a blade attached to it. Or hidden inside it.

Marin shifted her focus from Fahd’s blade to what was right in front of her. As her belly and chest burned in the rain. Looking down, her gray shirt was dark with mud. As she moved it pulled and burned. The wolf that had snuck up on her had gashed her front with it’s claws.

Upon joining the others, she noticed that Fahd was favoring a leg and Jamie looked ready to faint.

Hoping that Fahd could manage while wounded. She cast a Cura spell at Jamie, then Fahd.

The last of the danger passed while she finished. So she tended to herself, thankfully she was the least hurt and needed only the weakest Cure.

Fahd looked around, in the dark, Marin could not see his expression. He and Val had flashlights on their shoulders, looking for more trouble.

While they confirmed that the wolves really were dead, no more appeared.

Marin could now feel the grains of the mud in her boots. She regretted not wearing socks now, or tying her boots the first time. She didn’t mention her discomfort, or voice a complaint. She stood there with her mud, and blood, soaked clothing. While the rain continued to fall. She had no dry clothes left. And the rain showed no signs of stopping.

Fahd had Marin, Jamie, Shawn, and Danny line up in front of the fire to review the fight.

She wriggled her toes, they scraped against the dirt in the mud in her boots. She wasn’t listening until Fahd got to her.

“And you.”

Marin jolted.

“Why did you heal yourself before Val?”

“What?” Marin looked at Val. “You’re hurt?”

Val wiggled a gloved hand at Marin. Marin noticed nothing.

“I could now, I-”

“You should not have to wait to be asked!” Fahd bit at her with his words.

Marin flinched and cast a cure spell at Val. The woman had ended up guarding Marin with her spear. But Marin had never seen an injury by the tents or later, it had been too dark.

Marin swallowed and faced down Fahd. “I would have healed her before me if I had known.” she told him.

He stared back, not giving a response.

Marin continued, “I healed by greatest need, anyway. Jamie looked wounded and you were barely injured. But you were all on the front lines. So you before me.” she threw an apologetic look at Valkyrie. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see.”

“Look harder next time,” Val glared. Though her nod for Marin’s spell made the words sound more sarcastic than mean.

Marin looked back to Fahd. “I did what I could, sir. We all did. Why do you have to lecture us?”

In the lighter gray, he had a hard look for Marin. “So you think you’ve learned so much the last week then?”

Shawn and Jamie nodded along. Danny was watching Fahd.

“We all have, Fahd. I mean Sir.”

Fahd shook his head, “That you think the last week has been so instructive, shows how much you have left to learn.” He waved his hand at the fire pit. “We’re all wet. But we need to get warm. You three, get fuel for the fire, now.” He swept his eyes over the group. “Valkyrie, Shawn and Danny.”

“What about-” Jamie started.

Fahd cut her off. “You two.” He tossed his key chain at Jamie, who snatched the keys out of the air. “Get the last fire starter out of the trunk.”

Marin started asking “But you said-”

Fahd cut her off. “Stay together. I am making sure that nothing else hits the camp.”

---

Marin was by the small fire, a pressed log would burn for a couple hours, before going out. But it was heat while she cleaned the insides of her boots with a sock. At this point, the only things that were dry were the insides of their tents, and their sleeping bags. At least they had that much.

By the time Marin was in clean socks, everyone was ready to go back to sleep. They all looked dejected and miserable. She had a few minutes of dry before the dampness sunk in again.

“This sucks.” Shawn said, as he tended the fire.

All but Fahd crowded around the fire for warmth.

Fahd was somewhere in the morning gloom, looking for trouble before it found them.

The fire starter was half gone by the time he came back.

“We’re in the clear.” He announced.

The rain continued it’s dripping drizzle. What parts of them were warm and dry would not be for long.

“Break camp. Now.” He told them.

Even Val moaned while everyone else made various displeased noises.

In the light of the fire-starter log, Fahd only glared. “The sooner we start, the sooner we’re gone.”

---

With the heat full-on in the car, they could dry their front, somewhat. Their backs were plastered to the seats in the car.

Marin watched the sky lighten more outside the window. Everyone was tired, they at least had had a warm breakfast. But the rain sapped what energy everyone had. Three people napped in the car. Marin nodded off sometimes herself, she had no idea for how long.

Val and Fahd murmured in the front row.

Something familiar floated over to Marin’s ear.

Shawn snorted in his sleep, similarly to his sister. “What about Nibelheim?” He asked, still waking up from his nap.

Fahd and Val were silent and exchanged a look with each other. Val turned in her seat to address Shawn, “Looks like we’re stopping by their inn after all.” shaking her head. “No idea why you kids want to go to the middle of nowhere.”

“I’m the only one who said they did.” Shawn told Val.

Marin spoke-up from the second-row seat. “They have dry sheets and warm beds.” No longer caring for anything else but getting dry in that moment.

Now Danny was awake, “Dry bed sounds nice.”

Jamie was curled under Shawn’s arm. Still asleep.

Marin felt a flare of jealousy, that her girlfriend would be comfortable with anyone else. Only now did Marin remember that Jamie wanted to talk ‘in the morning.’ That hadn’t happened.

Marin looked back out the window, ashamed that she was jealous of something Jamie shared with her brother. It was just platonic touch, nothing more. But it had been all she wanted from Jamie. Marin considered that it wasn’t that Shawn was close to his sister. But that Marin had been denied that closeness last night. Shawn had done nothing wrong.

It all made Marin miss Jamie more.

Marin rested her head against the frame of the car window. She’d rather look out the window and try to nap than anything else.

Shawn sounded pleased, that they were finally doing what he had wanted all along.

Marin no longer cared. She only wanted to be dry and warm. She tried to catch up on sleep before Nibelheim.

---

The car jolted up the road, the path was covered in gravel. Everyone in the car, if they tried to sleep, they were jolted awake by the ping or bang of gravel pieces being thrown at the under-carriage. Or a bump in the road.

As the shock-absorbers shook the car from side to side, the seats squelched under the damp clothes everyone wore.

No one spoke to break the silence. Not since the decision had been made for the nearest rest stop.

As soon as the threat of the wolves had passed, they had struck camp rather than sleep. Once they had turned off the highway to Nibelheim, the road was too rough for any more naps.

Marin meditated in place, as her teeth occasionally rattled at another bump.

Fahd mumbled something, while Val took a turn driving.

Val replied quietly, “If anyone has a car in the middle of nowhere, they’ll know how to fix the shocks.”

No one replied.

Marin silently prayed that the car would hold together the rest of the way to the village, then went back to thinking of her songs. She often switched between music and counting, based on how high her nerves rode her. She had long forgotten the source of counting to four with each breath and pause in between. It was from the Internet, somewhere.

The car jolted again. This time Hard.

“Incoming!”

Marin opened her eyes.

The roof of the car banged, something had landed on top.

Jamie screamed, “What was THAT?”

“Gorkii.” Marin said. Something dangerous that flew on wings, and rarely attacked alone. Different names in different areas, in these mountains they were Gorkii.

“Valron.” Fahd corrected her. He looked between Val driving and his car door. He was thinking of a plan. “The sooner we get to the village, the sooner we can get it off the car.”

Marin was glad for the protective screens on the windows. And the armoring under the body of the heavy car.

“I’m not stopping.” Val told him. As they hit a bump and were launched into the air for a few moments. Banging back down, a screeching sound filled the air.

The Valron, were local to this area and with wings of a different color than Gorkii. Marin checked out the window on her side. “I don’t see any others.”

“Maybe not yet.” Danny said from his side of the car.

“Oh no, not my car!” Val said, this time she started pumping the brakes, to stay in control of the car.

The screeching continued, as the flying creature continued to claw at the roof.

The ceiling above them crumbled just a little under it’s weight.

Marin stared at the roof while she handled her materia bracelet. One of those things on their own would be trouble enough, but it had the advantage.

Jamie was lucky to be alive after the wolf pack had attacked. Only the double watches had saved them all.

The car squealed to a sudden stop, everyone was thrown forward against their seat belts. The Valron slid forward, coming to a stop on the hood of the car. It stared at the occupants before screeching and launching itself at the armored windshield. It’s claws pulling at the metal screen over the windshield.

Val reached over her seat, grabbing her spear from where it hung off the back of her bench seat. She launched herself out of the car. “My CAR!”

Marin opened her side, using the door as a shield.

The Valron clawed back onto the roof of the car and knelt over Marin, screeching.

This wasn’t the first time she stared her death in the face, but this time she had the tools to fight back. While whipping her arms through casting her favored ice spells, unfortunately her Ice Materia was still weak in being attuned. Blizzard was the best she could do. She stepped back and danced out of the reach of the Valron’s claws.

Other car doors opened, she didn’t look while concentrating on the Valron and finishing her spell.

Val stuck the thing in the side with her spear, dancing forward and back, trying to draw it’s attention.

The thing made a weird coughing sound as the ice splashed against it, conjured ice disappearing already.

A strange growl reverberated from the Valron’s throat.

If Marin had to guess, she thought it sounded like laughter. Without other weapons, she could do that many more times. The thing was barely fazed by the Ice magic, she would need to cast them all.

“Fuck.”

The thing launched from it’s crouch, straight at Marin.

Before it collided with her, she flinched. Squeezing her eyes shut a moment.

---

Chapter Text

Marin screamed in pain, everything was wet. Her back was pressed against the ground, the mud soaked into her clothes. Flinching again, she put her right arm in front of her to shield herself from the Valron, her arm felt heavy.

“Don’t move!” Fahd’s voice yelled in her ear.

Someone grabbed her right elbow and she screamed again in pain, as it shot up and down her arm. Her right hand was in the wrong place compared to her elbow.

The Valron wasn’t there. She saw sky and trees from where she lay on the ground.

The rain spattered her face, her whole body was heavy.

She tried to get up with her good arm. Everything was so heavy.

“I said don’t move!” Strong arms pressed down no her shoulders, pinning her down.

Marin whimpered out. “What happened?”

“Her Materia.” Fahd again., ignoring her question.

“Is- is it dead?” Marin pressed her chin against her chest, bringing Fahd into view.

She could also see the mess that the Valron had made of her, from her collarbone to her stomach. She tried to convince herself that she was seeing someone else. That she was not seeing inside herself. Where the Valron had torn her open.

Marin screamed, she had no words for the sight of herself.

Fahd shook his head and barked more instructions, before he received Marin’s bracelet, he snapped off his own spell.

Marin’s eyelids were heavy now.

Something with wings flew over their heads and trees.

“Look, out.” She mumbled with a thick tongue, “There’s anoth-”

The pain slipped away as the sky became a black nothing.

---

Marin’s head bumped against something soft, her head was full of softness, cotton balls, and cobwebs. She was, was soft, warm and dry.

Her eyes bolted open, “Look out! Above you!” She tried to sit up. Her chest muscles screamed against whatever was wrapped around them. Her whole torso was sore and tight. There was a white, stuccoed, ceiling over head, and dark beams holding the ceiling up. She was inside, no longer laying on her back of the muddy gravel road. Her right arm was tied down against her body.

A hand, no a finger, pressed against her shoulder, holding her down. “Shhh, Marin. It’s okay.” Shawn looked down at her.

“Where’s Jamie? Danny? The others?”

Shawn shook his head, “They’ll catch up.”

Marin felt her eyes go huge. “What do you mean?”

“They went to get the car.” Shawn sounded bitter.

Marin looked down, a light blanket covered her. She lifted her left hand, it was fine. Checking under the blankets, her torso had been mummified with bandages. Wriggling her toes, her boots were gone. At least she was not longer soaked from the rain and mud. Marin was dry, no longer cold or wet. But she still felt miserable and tired.

The bandages kept her decent. Though feeling vulnerable without her Materia, the bracelet was absent from her left arm.

A stranger came into the room, through the single door. “I heard voices, is she awake?” An older woman, her while coat covered a flannel shirt and jeans. The white lab coat was in pristine condition. Heeled cowboy boots sounded across the wood flooring to Marin’s bed. The place looked more like an inn than a hospital room.

The woman checked Marin’s pulse without asking.

Marin sputtered at the doctor’s terrible bedside manner. She grasped for words of protest.

Shawn only looked morose.

Marin asked Shawn again, “Where are the others?”

“They’re coming.” Shawn insisted again. The words sounded rehearsed.

The doctor stood there with the stethoscope, her foot was tapping.

Marin only stared at Shawn.

He explained, “I helped Fahd get you in the car after the second Cura had been interrupted. He ran the three of us to town. As soon as he found the doctor, he went back.”

“How are they?”

Shawn shrugged, “We’ll know when they get here.”

“How long have I been out?”

“I finished bandaging you minutes ago. Though those wounds took a bit more than that to put you back together” the doctor quirked down the side of her mouth. “I need privacy with my patient.”

Shawn shook his head, “I’m not leaving my friend.”

The woman tsked. “And you?”

Marin was surprised, she had known Shawn for days. ‘He called me friend.’ They had been through a lot over the last week and a half. Knowing which building she was in now, Marin looked at Shawn. Nibelheim was a village in the middle of nowhere. But it was on her mind because of what was supposed to happen here, at some point. “Shawn,” Marin started. “can you, as my friend, give me some privacy with the doctor?” she looked at the window, the curtains had been drawn, sunlight poked under the hem of the curtains. “Wait in the lobby. Please?”

Shawn gave a sober nod, not saying either way if he would stay downstairs or look for trouble in town.

Marin didn’t push the point. She was too tired to tell Shawn to behave.

The doctor waited for the door to close behind Shawn. “You should be sleeping.” she pulled the blanket back a little to check on the bandages. “At least you didn’t get up. You might have torn the stitches.”

Marin sighed, “everything is so hard.”

“You should sleep for hours with the sleepel your other friend gave you. It would be better if you got some rest.”

“My Materia...I have cure.” Marin tried to jangle the bracelet missing from her arm, “I have cure…” Her mind was full of fog, she didn’t realize that she had repeated herself until the words were already said.

“Your other friend took it with him.”

Marin swallowed. After what had happened to her... “Jamie.” Tears formed in her eyes.

The doctor took Marin’s left hand, gently. “Oh poor dear. Stop. Don’t worry. The stress could kill you.”

Marin’s jaw hit her chest. “How can you say that?!”

The doctor shook her head. “You’re alive. Shawn is alive, you’re other friend’s are alive. Think on that.”

“But-”

“It is what it is. They’ll get here when they get here. But you have to think of yourself, you could undo the work I’ve already done if you don’t take it easy.” A firmness and command entered the doctor’s tone at the last words she said.

Marin shuffled to rise.

The doctor let go of Marin’s hand to put an iron grip on her shoulders. “I’m not going to watch you hurt yourself after all the work I did for you.”

Marin stopped struggling.

“Done?”

Marin nodded once, her head swam. She remained at ease on the bed.

The doctor released the pressure on Marin’s shoulders. “I only have two of these.” she waved at her white lab coat. “I don’t want to get blood on this one too.”

“You patched me up?” she asked. “What happened?”

The doctor shrugged, “Nothing that couldn’t be put back together. You’re lucky to still have everything you started with, if shifted a little.”

Marin yawned. The doctor yawned with her. “Don’t doctors have magic Materia?”

The doctor squeezed her jaw shut from the yawn, covering Marin back up with the blanket. “I only have so much I can do in a day, I have limits. Besides the rest of your friends aren’t back yet. They might need me to work on them too.”

Marin cracked her jaw, fighting another yawn.

“I need to check on you three times an hour.” the doctor looked at the door. “I can let your friend back in here, But.” the woman folded her arms. “Under no circumstances are you to get up.”

“Yes doctor.”

“All right.” the woman called for Shawn through the door. “Hey you!”

“His name is Shawn.”

“Hey Shawn?”

A voice floated up from downstairs, Marin couldn’t hear what he said.

“Get back up here!”

The doctor left Shawn with Marin.

Marin didn’t want him to watch her sleep while the others fought for their lives. Her eyelids wanted to close again.

Marin Drifted in and out of sleep anyway, the two of them hoped the others would come back. And that they would be alive.

---

Marin opened her bleary eyes at the light in her face. The light glowed green.

She tried reached with her right hand, still heavy and stiff and bound to her side. As the streams of magic settled on her.

Fahd and the doctor, stood over her. Fahd looking worse for wear. Marin didn’t know how long it had been. It was very dark in the room.

Marin sighed as the healing magic eroded the pain. “You’re alive.” she murmured.

“You doubted me?” Fahd asked.

“I didn’t...” she yawned. The pain that leaked from under the drugs was no longer there to keep her awake. “...see what you were going back to.” she tried to keep her eyes open. “Jamie?”

“She’s fine after borrowing this.” Fahd held up something that glinted in the fading streams of healing magic. Marin’s bracelet and Materia.

“Danny and Val?” Marin yawned again.

“Same.”

“You okay?” she asked.

Fahd was dripping onto the floor, blood shone in the lamp light. He plinked the bracelet on the nightstand. “Get some rest.”

Marin closed her eyes, after saying “you really should buy more healing Materia.” Marin was asleep before he replied.

---

Marin woke-up, her chest and stomach itched. She had dreamed of everyone being OK, of Fahd healing her.

Someone snored in the room.

“Jamie?”

Jamie, asleep in the other bed, snorted awake. “Mare-” Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before continuing, “You’re awake.”

“You’re okay.”

Jamie looked confused, “Fahd said he told you we made it.”

Marin shook her head, “I was so tired I thought that was a dream.”

“It wasn’t. We’re okay.” Jamie looked like she was going to cry. “I thought you were dying. Then more wolves showed up-”

Marin out a hand, to relieve Jamie’s babbling.

Jamie continued, “we all did what we could.”

Marin felt hurt when Jamie didn’t take her hand. So she said something else. “Shawn was here earlier. Danny?”

“He’s sleeping it off in the other room. The concierge downstairs seemed happy to get the business. But they’re out of beds after the doctor turned this floor into a hospital.”

Marin’s whole torso itched, she resisted the urge to scratch the bandages. ‘I’m okay now and there’s a bed right here,’ Marin didn’t say it. She didn’t know how to bridge the gap between them. And pushing Jamie too hard could make it wider. “What about Val?”

“Same.” Jamie looked at the window. “I don’t like how dark it is in here.” throwing open the curtains, Jamie opened the window to the autumn air.

Marin squinted her eyes from the sunlight of mid-morning or mid-afternoon. She couldn’t remember which way the inn in Nibelheim faced.

Marin asked “What time is it?”

Jamie shrugged, “Afternoon.” Jamie looked out the window. “How long did your head and leg heal three years ago?”

“Three weeks, three and a half weeks. And Fahd healed me last night. I’ll be okay way sooner than that with magic this time.”

“Maybe.” Jamie said.

Marin pulled the blanket up, so even the bandage-wraps around her shoulders couldn’t be seen. Her right arm was still in a splint, she had to use her left hand. “Jamie, was there something you wanted to talk about?”

Jamie shook her head. “Now's a bad time. Just get some rest and eat.”

“I’m not hungry.” She hadn’t eaten anything since the cold breakfast the day before they had taken that last stretch of road to this town.

“Listen to your friend.” the doctor came, followed by Danny.

Danny held a tray of food.

“Eat.” she said as she waved Danny over with the tray.

“I’m not hung-” Marin’s stomach growled at the smell.

The doctor looked at Marin, “you’re not tired either? Don’t make me bind you with sleepel again.” The doctor touched the bracer on her left arm. “Eat, then sleep. You need it.”

Marin opened her mouth to protest the doctor’s request.

Danny had the tray on the nightstand, looking between Marin and the Doctor.

“No, no.” the doctor rode over whatever Marin was going to say. “You were in a state when you got to town. I did what I could for you. I’m surprised you were even talking yesterday. But no mind.” she waved for Danny to put the food tray on the bed next to Marin. “I’m here to check on your bandages, then you can have dinner and rest some more.”

Marin wanted to scratch the bandages badly. She balled her left hand into a fist rather than mess with whatever was waiting for her underneath.

“You and you, out.” the doctor planted a doctor’s bag on the bed.

The doctor didn’t start until her and Marin were alone.

---

Marin surveyed her collar bone in the bathroom mirror. A little bit of an old-looking scar poked out from above the neck line of her remaining shirt. At least it was dry.

The doctor had been there for Fahd to heal her. But she didn’t remove the bandages until today. No one spoke about the state the others were in. Or how badly they had been hurt by the Valrons or the Nibel wolves.

Marin’s chest and stomach now looked like a botched autopsy of scar tissue. The doctor had said something about the timing of the healing and that scarring was inevitable. With Magic Materia, her injuries took a couple of days to treat. That under normal circumstances would have taken months and months.

The doctor had said, “Well, maybe in the big city, they would have big healing spells and things. But around here, we make due with what we have. Especially when there’s more patients coming to triage.” The doctor had apologized for Marin’s scars.

Marin looked at herself in the mirror ‘Maybe an autopsy with bear claws instead of a scalpel.’ She was alive at least.

Jamie had a haunted look, she looked tired when she was awake.

Marin touched the bit of scar above the collar. It felt old and looked pale, just like the ones on her legs. As badly as it appeared. It looked like she had fought the Valron years ago. As bad as it had been, well timed healing magic and stitches had put her back together the way she was before, just with more texture across her torso.

The doctor had removed all the stitches and told Marin she had been lucky to not have bled internally. The woman had made a black humor joke about it all being external bleeding. Marin had chuckled out of politeness, but the laughter didn’t last very long.

The woman had never asked any of them their names, and had not offered her own. Marin had given her the respect of her title, but that was all.

‘We’re strangers here, strangers bring trouble. And money.’ She thought. Even the big cities had mixed feelings about about tourists. Though in cities like Marin’s, most people did not have to deal with obnoxious tourists. Her home city was too big. In small towns, everyone knew everyone and strangers stood out.

‘Now I just have to keep Shawn out of trouble.’ She reminded herself.

It felt a small problem, after fighting for her life. As much as she had been vivisected by that monster, she still lived. And she remembered standing up to the thing in vain. ‘Stupid. Valrons are resistant to ice. I should have used fire.’ She had nearly been killed, mixing up one monster with another.

Flexing her right arm, it felt normal now. The broken bones healed as well as they could with magic, maybe even better.

As upsetting as the memory was of seeing her chest and stomach laid open. It hadn’t Marin’s first time she had seen her muscles. But this time her friends had witnessed it. They might be more traumatized than she was.

Marin had remembered how much more upset here own parents were to her incident with those dogs that winter years ago. Even her mother had had nightmares for months, when Marin slept like a baby. Now Jamie was on that side. Of seeing the trauma happen to someone else.

Marin shrugged it off. She would have felt better with someone to talk to, a counselor or something. For now, she could put a brave face on for the others, let them know she was okay. It might help them feel better about it all.

Jangling her Materia bracelet, she went downstairs.

---

The rain had stopped while Marin slept. The sun was out in force, everything outside was dry and dusty already.

Marin sat in a suede leather jacket bought here. Her other jacket had been torn to shreds. What had been salvaged was waiting in her room for Marin to go through.

For now, she sat on a box under the water tower in the town square. Shawn leaned on the box next to her.

The sun would be behind the mountains soon. Sunset came early in this mountain town.

Shawn was in the prefect position to see the path to the ShinRa Manor where he sat.

“Shawn.” Was all Marin said.

“What?”

“Don’t do anything stupid. We’re guests here.”

Shawn protested. “What? I wasn’t gonna to do anything.”

Marin turned to look up at him. “Promise me.”

“What? Why?”

“Just promise me.”

“Okay, okay, I promise not to talk to-”

“Shawn!” she demanded quietly. “Just stay out of trouble.”

“Okay, okay. I promise.” He mumbled something.

“What was that?”

“I can’t do anything about trouble that finds us.”

“Shawn, please.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll-” the breeze kicked up, blowing sand and dust on both of them.

Shawn got it right in the face. “Ah!” He spat and coughed, wiping his face.

Marin had closed her eyes in time, she waited for the breeze to pass, before dusting herself off. Of the two of them, Shawn was the only one spitting out dirt. “Shawn, anything else, I’d rather talk about inside.”

Hearing children’s laughter, Marin looked over. She didn’t recognize anyone playing in that circle with marbles. They looked too young to be teenagers, somewhere between nine or twelve years old.

“He’s not there.” Shawn told her.

“What? No, I-”

Shawn looked at the ground, while he carefully went at the grit in his eyes. “There’s a blond kid watching them from the window over there.” He said under his breath.

Marin saw the paler shade before the curtains were drawn on that window. Everything started lining up. ‘They’re just kids.’

“Mmm.” Shawn hummed happily to himself. “Satisfied?”

“I’m done with the sand, Shawn. Let’s head inside.”

---

The car had been towed into town while Marin had slept. The damage to the roof and body was relatively minor. But there was no magic fix for it, like there was for people.

They had to wait for the locals to do what they could for Fahd and Val’s car. Meanwhile, the six of them were stuck in town.

At least the rain had stopped and they weren’t under threat any time. They were dry and safe now.

Fahd didn’t let that slow down his training routine. Though he took the group just outside of town. While Val kept watch for anything that might try to sneak up on them, so they could practice.

Everything was fine until Marin was squared off against Shawn. Her using knives against him using one of Val’s extra spears.

Shawn lunged at her, at a clear advantage with his reach.

When Marin looked, her resolve from the last fight fell away. All she could see was tooth and claw and wing lunge at her. She had blacked out the claw strikes. As it was, she still flinched and curled into a standing ball. Grunting to hold back the scream from leaving her throat.

“Marin?” Shawn backed up, holding the padded spear tip well away from making contact. “Are you OK?”

She shook her head, “No, but I will be.” ‘Where the fuck did that come from?’ she wasn’t as trauma free as she’d thought.

A hand landed on Marin’s shoulder. She nearly leapt out of her skin, shouting in surprise.

“You’re on edge,” Fahd.

“No shit,” she mumbled.

“It’s been a bit of a day.” He told her.

Shawn was wide eyed with concern.

“I’ve had worse.” she told Fahd. Flipping the knives in her hands, she took a stance again. “I only got over that fear by confronting it.” She didn’t get over her cynophobia by staying at home those years ago. No one had been surprised that she had gained a fear of dogs. But Marin had only gotten rid of it by confronting it at every opportunity.

Her home city had a lot of dog walkers.

Fahd had an unreadable look for Marin. “Suit yourself.”

Marin slid her shoulder out from his grip. “I’m fi-.” she stopped when she realized she wasn’t being lectured. “Oh, okay.” She turned back to Shawn. Her knives had no edge, Fahd seemed to have an unending supply of practice knives at hand.

Her heart pounded in her chest, it would be a while before she calmed down. But practice was better than being alone. ‘I’m not avoiding it, I’m confronting.’ Is what she told herself. Instead of trying to heal the scars she carried inside her.

---

Marin found herself outside that night. The first night she was allowed out of bed.

The November mountain air was cold Nibelheim. But this high in the mountains, the sky was full of stars. Most of the sky was covered with that blur that Marin had seen once, on a farm as a child.

The middle of the galaxy, the blur to the center. With stars all over, as well as closer ones that made up the local constellations. Marin didn’t know astronomy. Or if the locals called the star-smear the Milky Way. Or something else. Here, it was too green. Every star was some shade of more or less green-white. Even the center of this galaxy was a hazy smear of green-ish stars and off-black-green in the black night sky.

‘How far have we come, in just a few weeks?’ Marin thought to herself.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Danny had joined her outside the Inn, to look at the sky.

“It’s so green.” Marin whispered.

“Yeah,” Danny whispered back. “It doesn’t look like home at all.”

“Hmm.” Marin made a noise. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not an astronomer.”

“I know the stars,” Danny said. “but in November? I don’t recognize these.”

“The Milky Way was a big place.”

“Was, Marin?”

They were both whispering to each other.

Marin answered, “it was our home, and now we’re here.”

“Don’t you want to go back?”

“I don’t know how.”

“Maybe that Ardyn guy will know?” Danny offered.

Marin kept looking up at the stars. “He said he would tell me how, for a favor.”

“What? Really? You don’t talk much about him.”

“He’s frustrating as fuck. I hate talking to him.”

“Wait, you said for a favor?”

Marin shook her head, “He said I’d know when and how. He’s frustrating as all hell. We have to talk to him again, all four of us. Ask him better questions.”

"Can you call him?” Danny asked, “This Ardyn guy?”

“He just shows up on his own.”

“Then give me a holler next time he shows his face.”

“Okay.” Marin kept to herself that the man, or whatever he was, could stop time. Such as when Danny was in the shower. Marin might be the only person that could talk to him. Even if she wanted Danny to ask questions as well. ‘I’ll deal with it when it happens.’

Marin asked Danny, “Can you see anything that looks like our constellations? Anything at all?”

“Hmmm.” Danny studied the sky, “There is a minor problem.”

“What?” Marin looked at Danny, feeling concerned.

“Let’s say we ARE in the same galaxy. Just elsewhere.”

“Yeah?”

“Without a frame of reference. I have no idea if we’re looking at Orion’s belt. From the side or behind. Same as the North Star. And we’d never know.”

Marin shrugged, “Everything is green anyway. Not white or yellow or blue.”

“That’s another thing Marin. Have you ever seen the pollution around here?”

“No.”

“Well, guess what color of condensation reactors put out?”

Marin had never considered the pollution. It wasn’t pollution or smog, it was water vapor. They didn’t use coal or other fossil fuels like earth. Their old car had had no crank oil that needed changing, they just didn’t know how to change the equivalent of oil in a Mako-powered car.

Danny poked Marin I the shoulder, “It’s green Marin.”

“Of course it is.” She sighed and looked back up at the sky.

The condensation from the Mako reactors all over the world had a little bit of Mako in them. Air pollution that colored all the stars in the sky.

If one of those green-ish-white stars was her home sun with Earth nearby. Marin couldn’t tell.

---

Marin poked at her food. She was hungry, but she wanted to talk without the presence of the innkeeper around her and her friends.

When the door shut the four of them in alone, Shawn started before Marin could.

“We saw Cloud, yesterday.”

“Who?” Jamie asked.

Marin shook her head, “Doesn’t matter.”

“Shawn, what was the point of coming here?” Danny asked.

Shawn smiled “Now we know when we are.”

Jamie still looked confused, “And that matters how?”

Marin chewed her first bite slowly. This town was larger than she had expected. Still a small mountain town. But there were differences and it didn’t sit well with her.

“So, he looked what? Ten? Twelve years old?” Shawn asked Marin.

Marin swallowed, “I only saw him for a moment.”

“I thought you played the same game I did.” Shawn told her before turning to the other two. “It’s the game we both played, one of those retro games.”

“Yeah,” Danny stabbed a piece of meat, “You already told us we’re trapped in a Video game. So why does it matter how old this kid is?”

“It means we have several years, until things get interesting. Maybe four at the least?” Shawn smiled.

Marin slowly chewed another piece of food. She hardly noticed the texture as her teeth mashed it apart. The door from the lounge was shut. No one else could hear them talk about this world being imaginary.

“Define interesting.” Jamie asked Shawn.

“The war ends, this whole town burns down, some people die. Then things get really interesting.” Shawn said, smiling.

Jamie dropped her fork on her plate, saying nothing and staring.

Danny shook his head.

Marin swallowed her food. “Shawn!”

“What?”

“Those are people out there. Real people.”

Shawn only shrugged, “we’re the only real people here. They’re just video game characters.”

“Says the guy whose had their life save by Val and Fahd HOW many times?” Danny demanded.

“Hey hey calm down.” Shawn tried placating Danny.

None of it worked.

Danny got up and leaned towards Shawn. “Say that again.”

“Danny.” Jamie pulled on Danny’s sleeve.

Danny yanked his arm away. Sounding quiet and dangerous, he repeated himself “Tell me again that Jane, Fel, and Garet aren’t real.” He held out his hands. “that their blood and none of this is real!” He thundered.

Shawn put his hands up, between the two of them. “Calm down, it’s not that bad.”

Danny jabbed a finger at Marin. “Explain how Marin’s scars are ‘no big deal!’ ” He faced Marin apologetically, “Sorry Marin.”

Marin shrugged it off. In this moment she was more upset that Shawn wasn’t taking any of this seriously, once again. Her fresh, old-looking, scars chose that moment to itch and tingle. She scratched her ribs to no relief.

Jamie shot a concerned look at Danny’s side, he didn’t catch it. “Are you seriously seeing the same things we are Shawn?” Jamie shook her head. “Real or not, this place hurts! I just want to go home before somebody...” She trailed off.

“Dies, before somebody dies.” Danny said. He dropped back in his chair. “What if some of us don’t have a life to go back to?”

Marin stabbed the next piece of food with her fork. ‘What if I don’t want to go back to that life, since you’re all here now?’ She thought. Marin knew it was selfish. But she knew that it was what she wanted. Not the Valron attack, but to be here. Where she could exist with neither of her parents, no Cal. Just her and her best friends. And Shawn. She missed her great-grandmother Ayame, but that woman was long dead. There was no going back to her if Marin ever went home.

“We don’t even know how we got here.” Shawn told them. “Even less on how to get back. Besides.” He looked at Danny. “If you could go back, before...” He changed what he was about to say. “If you could go back. Would you?”

“Of course I would. I’d rather go back to mid-terms than this.” He waved at the mystery meat. Whatever the steak was from, it was not a cow and it tasted like chicken.

Jamie and Shawn were filling up on everything but the mystery steak.

Marin wanted the protein more than she wanted to copy Jamie’s eating habits from Earth. She ate the chicken-steak.

“That’s a surprise.” Shawn said.

“How you like almost dying every day!?” Danny demanded of the other man.

“Well, no. But those monsters. I know they want to kill me. I can’t say the same about other people.”

Danny’s plate creaked under his knife. “What are you implying?”

“I just thought that us having a break from racists, homophobes, or transphobes was a relief.” Shawn waved his fork to punctuate his point. “But I guess I was wrong.”

Danny paused cutting his meat to reply, “for a moment there, I thought you were talking about someone at this table.”

“Well, I am. But not that way.”

Shawn put down his knife and pointed with his finger instead. Pointing at Danny, “I don’t think I need to tell you what you look like in the mirror. Or why your parents tossed you on the street.”

Danny’s knuckles went paler as he gripped his knife.

Nobody at that table needed to be reminded of that.

Shawn continued “My parents would not ‘approve’ of who Jamie was secretly dating.” He pointed at Jamie and Marin.

“And you?” Danny demanded.

Shawn scoffed, “Jamie told me you’ve known each other for years. Surely I don’t need to remind you how familiar my parents are not with my new look.”

Danny put down his knife and massaged his knuckles. “Pretend I’m dumb.”

“Don’t worry, that’s easy.”

Danny launched out of his seat and lunged at Shawn.

Marin and Jamie had him by each arm. “He’s not worth it.” Marin told him.

“Don’t hurt him, please. He’s my brother.” Jamie said at the same time.

“Shawn!” Marin warned him. “You’re not taking any of this seriously!”

“Oh please. You stupid, naive, girl!”

Danny shook off both women and put himself back in his own seat.

Marin was angry now, “I’m a woman. Shawn.” She wasn’t woman everyday, but it was better than being called a girl or a child.

“Just take your damn music and keep believing that you can play away all your problems.”

Jamie covered her mouth in shock.

Marin glared at the man, “Music is not running away from my problems.”

“Well, you could have fooled me.”

“Anyway, you two go take your secret romance back home. See how that goes. I don’t want to be humiliated or murdered for who I am.”

Jamie sounded angry now, “What are you saying Shawn?”

“Oh no.” Danny said, still sounding angry. “They can find any number of other reasons to kill us. Then what? What happened when you, or you, or you die here?” Danny sighed, “Or me?” Shaking his head he threw his cutlery down. “I’ll be outside.”

“Danny.” Jamie told him.

“Leave me.” He told her, before storming out of the lounge, leaving his half eaten dinner behind.

“Shawn!” Jamie yelled at her brother.

“What?” Shawn’s hand was halfway to Danny’s plate.

“What if he comes back?” Jamie pulled the half-empty plate where Shawn couldn’t reach.

Marin hadn’t touched any of her own food in a while. “Here Shawn.” she pushed her plate closer to him.

“Marin?” Jamie pleaded.

“Give me a minute.” Marin told Jamie, as Marin got up to leave.

Jamie got up to follow Marin. Shooting a look to Shawn.

“No Jamie.” Marin covered Jamie’s hand with her own. And tugged that hand off of Marin’s Sleeve. “I want some time alone. And I think Danny needs some time to cool off.”

“But-”

“Jamie.” Marin was a little harsher this time, regretting the hurt that it triggered on Jamie’s face. “Talk to your brother. And teach him some manners.”

“I can hear you.” Shawn called from the table.

Marin yelled at him, “Drop dead Shawn.” She exhaled for some calm and told Jamie, “I’ll just be upstairs. But give me and Danny some time. Okay?”

Jamie nodded. She looked over her shoulder at Shawn.

Marin didn’t see the look on her face, but she did see how Shawn reacted. He didn’t look happy about it. Marin wasn’t happy either. Shawn was ripping them all apart. She wanted to cling to hope, that this anger would pass. So Marin went upstairs to settle herself after everyone else had been yelling at each other. She had been reminded of her mother yelling. It left her numb and disturbed. There was no taking back being like her mother to Shawn. But she could leave the room before she said any more that she might also regret.

In the drawer, was her dried notebooks. One had been shredded, it would have to be re-written, though it was barely salvageable. But it was her lore and time line notes. They were worth more than the music.

The other notebook had only been rained on. She needed to keep her memories fresh, but at least one of the two notebooks were intact.

Marin no longer regretted writing them both in pencil now. Graphite didn’t run in the rain.

Moving the ocarina to her rucksack before the attack had saved it. The notebooks had been in her coat, that coat was shredded now. Something as delicate as that ocarina would have been chipped, cracked or worse in her pocket.

So laying her music notes flat, she hung the ocarina around her neck. Looking for peace in all the anger Shawn had stirred up, she played a song.

---

Chapter Text

The next morning Marin slept in. No one came to wake her up. In the hallways looking down on the dusty town square, Val was looking out the window.

It had a good view of the mountain peaks to the east and the sun still rising behind it.

Some children were playing under the water tower, that stood in the middle of the square. The children were tussling in some sort-of mock fight.

Val kept looking out the window, even at the sound of Marin closing the door. "It takes years." she spoke to the window.

"What do you mean?" Marin asked the older woman.

"You're all so old, all four of you." Val shook her head before continuing, "I still don't see what he sees in the lot of you. But you're all too old for this sort of thing."

Now Marin was shaking her head, "We're young adults, but we still have our lives ahead of us."

"Hmph." Val said, turning her face a little to face Marin, the older woman's sharp eyes flicked to Marin's neckline then back up to her eyes.

The sliver of a scar, half an inch long, poked out from Marin's shirt.

Val went on, "A bit old to learn how to fight. But young enough to think you're immortal. Young fools, and old enough to know better. I used to think better of you."

"I got better." Marin told Val, scratching a fresh itch. "May as well be a flesh wound."

The woman laughed, but not at Marin's joke. There was no way Val had seen the same old movie Marin had taken that line from. Val laughed mockingly at Marin. Then suddenly lunged at the younger woman.

Marin flinched, bringing up her hands to block herself.

Marin's arms did not come into contact with any attack.

Val had stopped her approach as suddenly as she had started. Close enough they could reach out and touch each other, but not so close that Marin's arms came into contact.

"Young fool, escaping death by the skin of your teeth. And still acting like you have the rest of your life ahead of you."

Marin scoffed, "And you think that was the only time I've looked at my own death."

Now it was Val's turn to scoff, "Oh? It's happened before? That explains it."

"Explains what?"

"You don't think you're immortal, you know it. I feel sorry for them."

"For who?" Marin looked down at the two children, they were laughing and dusting each other off. Whatever sound they made or words spoken, the two of them could not hear it.

"Your friends. You have all kept each other alive, but now you're convinced that you're invincible. I feel sorry for them."

"What's wrong with escaping death? You talk like you don't know how it feels."

Val squared her shoulders, looking every bit scary and dangerous despite her height. She was inches shorter than Marin. And Marin was an inch or so above average.

"So you've given death the slip before, the first time is always hard. But the second time is easier, clearly." Her eyes flicked down to the little bit of scar on Marin's collarbone. "Maybe you felt mortal the first time. Yet you're still here."

"And?" Marin was trying her best not to cower before Val. Her stomach was squirming at Val. Val looked ready to attack something, intimidating even without her spears.

"And at least you back up your bravado with action." Val made another noise in her throat, something uncomplimentary. "But bravery can get other people killed. You seemed to have opted in to take one for the team." Val started to step around Marin, towards the stairs down. "But what if next time you egg on the monster and it does that," Val gestured at the scars she wore under her coat. Marin had seen them. "But when it happens to Danny, or Jamie?" Val left Marin by the window.

Marin watched the other woman leave for the lounge downstairs. The sun was fully visible from behind the mountains now.

Val didn't look back.

Marin was confused, she felt the opposite. That once again, Marin had been reminded of her own mortality. At the same time, Valkyrie might be right, in a way. Marin not only had survived, but she had access to magic that could heal everything but death.

Potions could keep people fighting when their fighting spirit wavered. As well as treat injuries, while supplemented by magic and first aid.

Marin kept her mouth shut, as much as she felt mortal. Val was right, she did feel like she could survive anything. It made her braver than she had been before. But on this planet, as much as there was magic, there were dangers to match it.

Marin was no less safe than before. And she was still having black outs.

Val was right.

---

Marin opened her eyes in the dark, she had been sleeping less fitfully since the rain. Her scant dreams of people and music, had been morphing into uncomfortable dreams of monsters. Monsters which were accompanied by either discordant music, or vivid boss music. She could write it out, badly, when she woke up. But she never wanted to. Wishing to forget the harsher tunes and the few words that accompanied them.

While staring at the dark ceiling, trying to forget a rock-opera song. There was a noise in the hallway in front of her door.

Someone was passing the door to her and Jamie's room. It could have been any of the other four, clomping by. Fahd didn't step that heavily in his combat boots.

That and Fahd was in the big room, with two queen beds and a private bathroom. So that left Danny or Shawn.

Whoever they were, they creaked on the top stair, instead of heading to the bathroom in the hallway.

Marin was at the window by the time they made it outside. A dark shadow, with short black hair, was sneaking badly across the town square.

"Dammit Shawn." Marin mumbled. She tied her laces in a quick knot and closed the door to her room softly behind her. She took her Materia bracelet, just in case.

Toe first steps took her across the hall and down the stairs with barely a squeak. She felt like a bad version of Fahd, sneaking after Shawn.

Shawn had never stopped to look behind him, only ahead or side to side.

'What is it, 2am?' Marin thought. She could see stars above them. The mountains themselves were so dark.

Marin jammed the doorstop in the door, so it wouldn't lock behind her. Shawn had let it click shut. This was a small town with a small inn. There was a bell by the front desk, but there was no one awake in the building at this hour. Except her and Shawn.

'Dammit Shawn.' She thought to herself. Clinging to the shadows under the nearly-full moon. Marin made her way slowly after Shawn. She didn't crunch the dust under her feet. What sounds she did make offended her ears. She figured that only someone like Fahd would hear her coming.

'Whatever he's up to, it has to stop.' The thought made Marin angry. She was more frustrated than angry that he would sneak around in the night. The night after their big fight. She had cooled her temper, but her and Jamie had agreed to not leave Danny and Shawn alone together. Shawn thought that home was just a step away, that none of this was real. Danny had buried too many friends, brothers and sisters of arms. He was too invested in this world to toss those emotions out of hand.

'Maybe don't let them train together either. Else Danny's weapon might slip.' Marin thought better of Danny than to murder Shawn. But accidents could happen if the Shawn problem was not solved. And it had to be solved, Jamie's brother or not. At the end of the day, they only had each other. They needed each other. And someone was going to have to teach Shawn that before he got hurt.

Marin stopped in a shadow behind a house, as the gate to the ShinRa Manor rattled. Someone, obviously Shawn, was checking the lock.

Shaking his head, he started going to the left, looking for something.

The stone wall was not that tall. There were no conveniently placed trees to get over it. But it was not so tall to stop someone determined enough.

The gate's grillwork was spaced weirdly, it would be difficult to climb and possibly make a racket in doing so. Shawn didn't look that foolish. But he wasn't watching for someone following after him.

Marin stopped and listened for a few moments, she heard nothing. No one behind her. There was just her and Shawn.

Marin went a little slower and quieter on final approach. Apparently he went unarmed in the city limits. Marin wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Fahd had refused to teach any of them to really fight with their hands or feet, only have good posture and supplement the weapons they had. He said that they were too old for the conditioning they would need. They were eighteen and older. Marin wanted to cuss-out Fahd for calling her and her friends too-old.

She had kept the complaints to herself in return for everything Fahd and Val had done for them. Training the four of them in fighting, while providing food and shelter while they traveled.

Shawn was halfway up the wall when she hissed at him.

"Hisst. Shawn!"

He stumbled and looked around, he couldn't tell which shadow had spoken. "Who's there?" He asked, too loudly for Marin's comfort.

"Shawn!" She whispered again.

"Marin? Where are you?"

"Hopefully somewhere that will keep you out of trouble."

"Where- oh, there you are."

She had stepped out of the shadow, so Shawn could see her. "Be quiet!" She hissed at him. "What are you doing?"

Shawn lowered his voice enough to satisfy Marin, "You know what's in that mansion right?"

"Yeah, among other things, trouble for all of us."

"There's a whole library in there. And Vincent-"

"Did you even look for cameras?" She hissed. Looking back the way they had come. Anyone could hide in the deep shadows of the moon. She had and easily.

"Why? Do you see one?" His head whipped around, looking.

"No, but that's not the point."

Shawn made a gesture, knitting his fingers together then letting go to grab the stone wall again, "Then you can help me get over the fence."

"I will not."

"I thought you liked Vincent."

"I thought I told you about messing with the past." Whether or not the man named Vincent slept in the hidden basement at that moment. It mattered less than getting caught. "Did you tell anyone about this plan?"

Shawn scoffed, "oh yeah, Like Danny?"

"So if I leave now, this is all you." Marin asked.

"What, you didn't come to help?"

"No!" she lowered her voice again. "I came here to stop you. We're strangers here."

"Oh yeah, worried I'll stir up the 'ghosts' in the 'haunted' mansion?" He said, dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm worried you're going to piss off some locals and get us driven out of town."

"What? You didn't like your turn?"

"Oh for fuck's sake Shawn." Marin kept her voice to a loud whisper. She wanted to yell at him, she wanted to walk away. She also wanted to stop or delay Shawn as long as she could. "You're making it pretty hard to be your friend."

He stopped looking for hand holds to look at her, "What? You want to be friends?"

"I want us to do better than not hate each other. For Jamie's sake. But you're making it really hard."

Shawn shrugged, "Tolerate each other while you're boinking my sister doesn't sound that hard."

"We're not fucking!" Marin clapped her hands to her mouth. That had felt like it echoed down the road to town, even if it was between a whisper and speaking volume. "That's it." she hissed. "Break your neck, see if I care." Marin stalked off down the road, back the way she had come.

Shawn clearly didn't believe Marin. "Lie all you want..."

Marin was too far down the path, slipping along the shadowed edge, to hear his whispers continue. 'We aren't like that.' It made her angry. She had hoped that Shawn would have understood her being ace better than anyone else. She walked away, full of disappointment.

She only looked back to check on Shawn once. He was halfway up the wall as she came to the curve in the road. Leaving him behind, Marin kept going down the path back to the Inn.

She could touch the back of that building when the yell broke the silence, and the crunch that followed it.

'Shawn.'

If Marin could move her ears, they would be opening wider, listening for attack and from where. The night's quiet had been broken the way she had come from.

She touched her Materia bracelet as she moved along the edge of the road, no longer keeping to the shadows.

There was a yell for quiet in the square, shutters on a window clattering open.

And heavy footprints, behind hers. Something else was coming, and they were fast.

Marin hugged the wall, to limit the directions of approach. As her heart pounded in her ears, she felt like she was moving through jello as she readied for whatever was coming.

A man, in a cape, flowed up the path. He turned to look at Marin as he slowed down. She was in Jello as he moved quickly through the air. The man, and he was just a man, moved quickly enough that she hoped she wouldn't have to fight him. Things would end quickly and badly for her.

The stranger sized Marin up just as quickly, eyes flicking to her left side, and he dismissed her.

A name struggled to float to the surface of Marin's memories. His name fell away at the sight of the real person in a large red cape.

"Ah!" Shawn cried again.

Marin and the man turned to look at Shawn flailing on the ground, cursing a blue streak.

'At least he didn't hit his head.' Marin thought.

"Isn't he one of your friends?" the man asked.

"He's not my friend." Marin told him.

Neither of them wanted to fight, and Marin was going to struggle to talk anyone out of anything. The man was in lock step with Marin up the path to an injured Shawn.

"Ow, fuck, ow. Did you see that?" Shawn asked them.

The third person looked around. He looked up, down, the way they had come. He checked the sky as well.

Marin had a feeling that anyone that could move like that, and know to look up, would be very hard to sneak up on. He was also from here, so if anyone was going to be questioned for wandering around late at night. It would be Shawn. And by association, Marin and their friends.

"See what Shawn? Oooh." Marin could see Shawn's right leg at an odd angle. Nothing she couldn't fix, with no monster's about. The hard part would be avoiding trouble with this local.

"So, you're name is Shawn, eh?" the man knelt down next to the other man. His hair was dark. Marin had expected gray. In the night everything was darker. Including the red cape that flowed behind the man. In this light it looked black.

"Yeah, oh fuck. What's yours?"

"Zangan, Are you going to be OK?" He asked Shawn.

"He will be when I'm done with him." Marin told them both.

Zangan chuckled. "I think you'd be better off if you were her friend, young man."

"I'm not young, owwww. I'm twenty-seven. Marin, do you have your materia? Please?"

"I just have one other question for the man, Marin. If you please."

"Marin?" Shawn begged. There was no blood, but he looked to be in extreme pain.

"I'd feel better if he was healed first." Marin told Zangan. "But after that." she adjusted her bracelet. "you can ask him as many questions as you want."

"Oh, thank you, Marin." Zangan told her.

"Don't thank me." She knelt by Shawn to heal him, lecturing Jamie's brother. "I never thought you would take me up on such a stupid dare." She told him. Spinning a story about the night.

"What?" Shawn asked her.

Zangan looked up at Marin. Though she could tell nothing of it in the dark. She hoped that the feeling was mutual. "I'm not going to joke about daring anyone to ring doorbells in the night anymore. Here."

"But-" Shawn started."

"Shut up Shawn. I'm trying to concentrate."

"Did you see me fall?" He asked Marin, when his leg was put aright.

"No, but I heard it."

"The whole town heard that," Zangan told them. "Now, what's this about a dare?"

---

Marin's chest and belly itched as Shawn sat on something frozen from the Inn's kitchen. He could walk back with a limp thanks to Marin's healing spell, but he would need more magic soon.

Zangan was upstairs, talking with their 'leader' Fahd or Valkyrie. Shawn and Marin were in trouble, they were all in trouble now.

Marin couldn't tell if Shawn was just being dramatic. She leaned on yes when he didn't ask for more healing.

"Marin?" Shawn whispered. Shifting his chair closer to hers.

"We're not supposed to be talking." She whispered back. The ceiling above creaked under the weight of the room that now held three people in it.

"But did you see them?"

"See what?"

He looked scared this time, "the ghosts."

"What are you talking about? The ShinRa mansion isn't actually haunted."

"I'm being serious Marin. Like how this town is bigger and better than we thought. There are ghosts, in a house that we know isn't haunted. Why do you think I fell?"

"What?"

"I was pushed off that wall by ghosts."

Marin rolled her eyes. "And have you seen these 'ghosts' before?"

"No."

"Do you think Zangan saw them?"

"Well, I don't know. We could ask."

"I didn't see any ghosts Shawn, you stumbled. The only ghosts are the Gi under Cosmo Canyon."

Shawn shook his head and reached for Marin's arm. "They weren't those kinda ghosts." He told her.

She easily pulled away before Shawn touched her.

"I'm being serious Marin. What I saw were not those ghosts. Nothing I've ever seen before."

"That's a new one. Something you didn't see in the other games?"

When the stairs creaked under the weight of steps, Marin motioned Shawn to silence.

Shawn kept mouthing something with his lips. Marin only shrugged and shook her head. She couldn't interpret what he was saying anyway.

---

Unlucky for Shawn and Marin, Zangan had been on watch in Nibelheim that night. Lucky for Marin and Shawn, they were only in trouble for a school-age mischief. Unlucky for them, they were in Fahd's bad books now. And they would be at least until the car was fixed, or even later.

Marin found herself moving buckets of water for baths for Fahd and Val, twice a day, each. Shawn was pressed ganged into doing laundry. Somehow everything needed cleaning again. The city had piped water, it was clearly make-work for the lot of them.

Marin and Shawn were in trouble for the 'dare.' Where Danny and Jamie were in trouble for letting it happen.

Their fight practice continued, thankfully Fahd never did pair up Danny and Shawn. But the extra labor was pushing them hard.

And there would be no more sneaking out at night now, not for any of them.

The six of them were getting a reputation with the locals now. Fahd and Val had not taught them to know better, apparently. Marin bristled at the lost face to the town. At least they weren't being driven out.

Marin didn't want to think of the way things could change if they left this town same as the county fair.

"Doesn't the inn have pipes?" A bright young kid asked from atop a crate under the water tower.

Marin sighed and looked up. A boy with dark hair looked back at her. "I'm doing extra chores for my teacher." she told the child.

"Why would you want to do extra chores?"

Marin put the empty bucket under the spigot. "I don't want to. I have to."

"Why?"

"Because my teacher told me to." the whole town would know by now.

"Why?"

Marin picked up the buckets, now full of water. "Ask your mother."

The boy scrunched his face at her, "I hate it when grown ups say that."

Marin sighed and put the buckets down, "I hated when my parents told me that too, kid."

"Then why say it?"

Marin shook her head, "Because I'm tired, and I have many more buckets to fill. Now is a bad time, okay kid?"

"Why?"

Marin pinched her nose bridge and picked the buckets back up again. "Just ask me later. Okay?"

"Why?"

Marin ignored the last question and carried the buckets to the Inn. She noticed Zangan on the road to the mansion. He could see down into the whole town from there. And he had a very good view of Marin's chores.

Sighing, Marin felt disappointed in herself for losing the trust of the man. He could have been a good teacher while they were in town. Just as long as he stayed here, to teach the townsfolk he had to teach. Before one of his students, Tifa, would grow up to save this world.

---

Marin trudged up the rocky path. Fahd had made a deal with the town's Headman. Fahd would keep his four students out of trouble, by hiking a short ways into the mountains. Not far enough to need a guide. And they all had instructions on where not to go.

"Team building exercises." Fahd had said.

Deep into the peaks was a reactor. This was not news to Marin. Nor did she talked about it with Shawn. And Marin was too frustrated with Shawn to go over it.

'The reactor where it will happen.' She thought. Marin would have been more melancholic about the future if the hike wasn't so hard.

On foot, the six trudged far enough from the town so that their fight practice would be away from the town. But close enough that they could run back to town if they ran into trouble.

Of which, the trouble was not that bad.

"I told you." Shawn mumbled to Marin, "the leak that makes these monsters a problem hasn't happened yet."

"Shush, I'm trying to concentrate on not tripping." Marin looked ahead a little, to Fahd picking his way, quietly and carefully, with one real hand and a hiking stick clasped in his prosthetic hand. Val and Jamie leapt ahead like gazelles on the rocks. Jamie learned fast from Val, older favoring the younger.

Danny seemed already set on his path to be like a soldier, mundane that was with guns supplemented by materia. Materia that was on loan from Val and Fahd for their training.

Shawn focused on sharpening his casting, scant though it was at this point. He only used weapons out of necessity. He liked Val's spears, though he wielded them more like 'stay-away-from-me' clubs than proper weapons.

Fahd had them all training on all the weapons they had anyway, if only to force them to struggle with or against weapons they didn't like. Of which, Marin had become the best at being the worst. She couldn't shoot with as much accuracy as Danny. She could not swing a spear as quickly as Jamie. And even Shawn had figured out how to identify Materia faster than Marin, now that he could spend his mana faster than Marin. But Marin's other skills were better than Shawn's.

What Marin had going for her was that her weakest efforts were better than everyone else's weakest. Though her best was not as good as the best. Val criticized Marin selling herself short.

Marin would say "I'm mediocre at everything." And the older woman shot it down every time. Marin's skills were the best overall, even if everyone had one thing they could do better than her by now.

Then Jamie's other skills made an impression on Fahd.

Marin's hands were almost as fast as Jamie's. But if it was a wallet or a spear, Jamie was faster than everyone else.

Jamie had finally dared to try at one of Fahd's pockets on this particular hike, when he struggled with one particular lip of rock. Marin had wanted a chance to try, out of boredom. But Jamie beat her to it.

Jamie was right behind to help him from slipping, as he tried to climb with one good hand.

Fahd made his request upon getting over the lip, huffing and puffing. He put out his one hand, making a 'give it' motion to Jamie.

"What?" she had an innocent face on. The one she had practiced on stage with that magician. Jamie had mastered the innocent and vapid smile.

"Hand over whatever you helped 'fall' out of that pocket." his face was stone, unreadable as usual.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She folded her arms across her chest.

'Don't get caught.' Echoed the advice of that magician Jamie had been working with. 'And if you get caught, deny it. Never let the audience know that they guessed right, then get on with the show.'

Fahd's face hardened. "Deny all you want. But not to me."

Jamie handed over the wallet, stuffed with paper Gil. "You did ask."

As he put his wallet away, Marin thought she saw a crinkling at the corners of his eyes.

"I did ask you all to think about what you could do beyond fighting. True." Standing in the way of anyone proceeding, he stabbed his hiking stick into the rocky ground and put his hand on his hip. "Though next time, and this goes for all of you. Use your words, I don't have the patience for another 'demonstration' like that."

"Huh." Was all Marin said.

Fahd had that unreadable mask on again.

Marin could swear that there was respect or admiration in those eyes for a moment. Though she couldn't point to where on Fahd's face she could tell. She thought she was bad at reading people, but the mask was peeking. Either that or she had been staring at it for over a week, trying to get to know his tics.

"This area looks flat enough." Val told Fahd, as she was the last to the rise.

They could look down the slops and see the town below them. Running to town would be dangerous, more so in the dark. But they could all see the way from that spot, guide or no guide.

"No practicing guns up here." Fahd told them all. "I don't want the echoes to disturb the town any more than we already have." the last words were punctuated by a stare at Shawn.

Marin was surprised that Fahd threw in a glare for her as well.

He continued, "The noise could attract trouble anyway, so only use them in self defense." Fahd pointed out where to set the tents. "And double watches."

Marin bit back a groan, even if the reactor was not leaking and it was not empowering the local monsters. Double watches reminded them how dangerous even Fahd thought this area was.

"I hope it doesn't rain." Jamie mumbled.

Everyone agreed to that, even Fahd and Val.

---

Chapter Text

Their dinner that night attracted trouble.

Fahd had set up a fire wall, to cut off the visibility of their fire at night. The stone under their tents was too cold, the night was dark too early to not have a fire. At least the ground and sky was dry.

Once they had a fire, Fahd cleared them for a warm dinner. That’s when Shawn and Val noticed trouble coming for them.

Marin had been concerned about the difficulty of the monsters on Mount Nibel. The first few twin brain’s to appear were not a problem. Val named them, which Marin had forgotten.

Again, she had only seen the things with purple polygonal textures in a video game. Yet here, the things had more human-like hands, clearer eyes. They looked as real as anything else.

And the first three were downed by the combined might of the group.

Dinner was now on hold.

“Shawn?” Jamie asked her brother.

Shawn was in the middle of casting another spell. He stood there, woodenly and didn’t respond.

More of the things appeared. Another four this time, from the other side of their fire.

Danny brought his rifle to bear, shooting enough to stop more of them from approaching the tents.

Marin threw blizzards around, creating more temporary obstacles of ice for the things to move around to get to the center.

Val was frozen-mid jump and crashed into a tent. Marin had seen Val get paralyzed by one of the monsters in mid-air.

More fire spells came from Shawn’s direction, as he came out of his paralysis.

“They’re attracted to the food!” Danny yelled between shots.

“How do you know?” Fahd yelled at him, from where he had slipped behind the thing and was slicing one to pieces with his knives.

“Got a better idea?” Danny picked up one of the dead twin brain’s from earlier and chucked it to the nearest slope. Where the body rolled away into the darkness.

“Stay near the tents!” Marin shouted. “the darkness is hiding-” Marin was cut off as she was paralyzed by the gaze of one of the monsters. She wanted to scream as it approached her to wail into her. All her muscles were locked up, she couldn’t move. Marin barely breathed as the monster punched her over and over.

Something launched out of the darkness behind her, interposing itself between Marin and the twin brain. Stabbing it with a spear, first in a down stroke. Then skewering it. Dark hair over a dark flaring coat.

‘Jamie.’ Marin wanted to say, her lips were locked in a grimace. Her arms were in the middle of picking up a dead twin brain.

“Ahh!” Jamie was being bashed for it.

Marin started counting, fighting the panic down. She watched Jamie get battered as Marin’s muscles cramped in the paralysis. Ever muscle was pulled tight, everything but her diaphragm. She couldn’t help her girlfriend. ‘Please still be my girlfriend after this.’ Marin pleaded to herself.

Marin got to ten before she was distracted by the hope that Jamie could be made up with, over whatever distance was growing between them.

A memory of being unsafe to others, felt a long way away from this. Marin was still dangerous, but only when she didn’t act in time to help her friends.

“FINALLY!” Marin exhaled at the release of the paralysis, it had felt forever with her adrenalin pumping.

Marin snapped off healing spells, first a couple to Jamie. The other woman nodded before moving around the tents to get behind another one of the things.

Marin found herself alone for a few more moments, so she picked up the monster she had been holding, and threw the twin brain off into the darkness.

Heading to the center of their encampment, she picked up the burning bacon and flung the slices from the pan, also into the darkness. As well as the rest of the uncooked pieces, from the waxed paper wrapper.

“Not the bacon!” Shawn called to Marin.

Marin wasn’t sure if that was a joke or not, it made her angry “I don’t love bacon as much as they do.” she retorted.

One of the monsters disengaged to go after the meat, the rest of the meat was flung into the shadows, gone forever.

They must have fought off ten or more of the things.

‘Those Valrons must have been the big meanie of the area.’ Marin thought. The monster that was more powerful than all the other monsters, in a given ecosystem.

The dust was settling, her heart was still pounding. It was going to be a while before she would be calm again.

More and more minutiae of the game was slipping away from her. Being replaced with the real thing, or pushed aside by all the new skills and novel things she had seen, met, or people she had talked to on this planet. Her notebook slowed that down, but only if she kept it from being destroyed again.

As for the Valrons, every area seemed to have some kind of apex monsters. The one monster that was a problem even if you encountered just one of them. And weaker monsters were managed easily, unless they came in waves or large packs. Such as the Nibel Wolves on the downslope of these mountains.

Marin waited for the all clear from Fahd before plopping herself back into a camp chair. The smell of burnt bacon was gone from the clear mountain air. They sat dejectedly around the rest of their destroyed dinner.

Danny circled the fire walls, looking for trouble with his rifle.

Jamie poked the fire more to life with a stick.

Val was inspecting the cast iron skillet, “At least you didn’t dent it.” she told Marin.

Shawn pointed a flashlight, in the direction of the bacon.

“Leave it, Shawn.” Fahd called from the other side of the encampment.

Marin was the only one to barely hear Shawn mumble to himself.

“Don’t talk to Cloud. Don’t climb that wall. Don’t mess with the time-line. Don’t do this, don’t do that...” He grumbled as he kicked a small rock.

“What was that?” Val sounded firm with accusation.

“Nothing!” Shawn told her.

Val withered Shawn with a glare. He didn’t mumble any further.

The sun was gone now, the only light was their flashlights and the fire. The fire walls prevented the spread of the firelight. They say in a small circle of tents and chairs. A small circle in the darkness. Outside their circle was starlight and a full moon.

The shadows were few and far between, but they were as black as oil and hid the danger of the mountains within them.

“Shawn, get back here.” Marin called. She looked around the dejected group. “Anyone else hurt? I have healing to spare.” ‘Wow, already?’ She thought, ‘I couldn’t cast half this much a week ago. And I still have so much left in me tonight.’

Fahd tossed a potion to Val, “Save it. The night’s only just started.”

Jamie moved to Shawn’s empty chair, next to Marin. They could almost touch, Marin hoped that Jamie would close the gap. She didn’t want to push Jamie away with over-eagerness.

“Shawn, come on.” Jamie called.

Danny took the proffered potion from Fahd.

“I’ll show- OH!” Shawn shouted. “Not YOU again!”

Shawn’s moonlit profile was washed out by the flashlight he pointed right at all of their faces. The terrain disappeared from the light, anyone with night vision was wiped out by the bright light.

“There! It’s right there!”

“Fuck, Shawn.” Marin shouted, covering her face. “Not in my eyes.”

Shawn pointed the flashlight a little to the left, over their heads. The lamp still shone in all their faces. “there’s another one!”

Marin was not the only one to cuss him out.

“Turn that off!” Fahd told the other man.

Shawn continued raving, “They’re right there. Surely…” He moved the flashlight. “and ANOTHER one!”

Marin got up, trying to pick out Shawn’s profile in the darkness. ‘Only I can see Ardyn.’ She thought. Still frustrated with Shawn, she didn’t want to believe him. “Shawn, come over here, let’s talk.”

“Not the fuckin’ ghosts again.” Danny poked at the fire.

“Shawn? Are you OK?” Jamie asked her brother with growing concern.

“Now there’s five ghosts! They’re all hooded. Tell me you can’t see this!” His flash light whipped around, blinding them again. He kept pointing it at one then another then another of whatever only he saw.

“Shawn?” Marin asked. “What do you see?”

“Five ghosts.”

“Get back over here.” Fahd told him. His head was whipping around, looking for trouble. “Ghosts are just a story.”

“It’s the Mako,” Val told Fahd, “the hills around here are saturated with it.”

“Shawn, what are the ghosts doing?” Marin asked him. Wondering if these ghosts were Shawn’s ‘Ardyn’.

“Marin, don’t encourage him.” Jamie called, moving closer to her brother.

“They’re looking at me. It’s pretty fucking creepy actually.” He kept moving around the flashlight, trying to keep track of whatever they were. “Got a problem? You won’t stop me this time!”

Marin took a step closer to Shawn as Shawn took a step closer to the campfire.

Her mouth opened, she wanted to ask “Won’t stop you do what?”

Shawn shouted, cut off Marin’s question. “They’re coming right for-” He pointed the flashlight up to the sky.

Under the light of the moon, Marin could pick out Shawn throwing his arms across his face. He shouted “No! No!”

Shawn’s feet lifted off the ground as he flew backwards. “No!”

He swiped once with the flashlight before disappearing into the darkness. He kept shouting “Let me go!”

Shawn flew. He flew away and the flashlight was still in his hand as they watched it disappear, downward. “Noooooo!”

Jamie was the first to shake off the shock. “Shawn?” Jamie shouted. “Shawn!!!” Jamie crouched in a leap to help her brother.

They could hear his cry continue for another second before cutting off, suddenly.

“SHAAAWN!”

Val grabbed Jamie by the shoulders. Preventing the younger woman from leaping towards danger.

“Let me go!” Jamie cried “Shawn!” She struggled against Val’s grip. “Let me help him!”

“He’s gone, girl.” Val told Jamie.

Marin stared. Ghosts they couldn’t see, Shawn had been floating over the ground. A stone dropped into Marin’s stomach. There was one reason why his scream would cut off like that.

“We have to HELP him!” Jamie kept trying to break free.

Danny stared from across the fire, his fire stick lay forgotten at his feet. “There really was something there. I think there was…”

Fahd broke from his own shock and turned on his flashlight. Keeping it pointed away from anyone’s faces. He used it to retrace Shawn’s steps.

When Fahd was most of the way to the cliff. Val let Jamie go.

Fahd stuck out an arm to block Jamie’s path further forward. He took the last few steps to the cliff slowly.

By the edge, he was on his knees, careful that he didn’t follow Shawn the rest of the way. “Val, keep watch with Danny.”

Marin took that as permission to proceed forward herself. She failed to swallow the lump on her throat, she listened to the night. There were no cries of Shawn’s voice from below them. He was too far below for his body to make any audible noises.

Joining the two by the cliff, she stood by Jamie’s side.

“Shawn...” Jamie was crying.

Marin, in that moment, didn’t care about the gulf between her and Jamie. She just wanted to be there for Jamie. It’s what a friend would do.

Marin leaned forward a little, but nowhere near enough to look down. She leaned back and put out a hand for Jamie. Whatever happened, whatever Marin wanted, they were still friends.

Jamie grabbed Marin’s whole arm, sobbing into Marin’s shoulder.

Fahd shuffled away from the cliff and stood up, looking to the back of Jamie’s head.

Marin put an arm around Jamie and found Fahd’s eyes in the night.

Fahd gave a slight shake of his head, before heading back to the campfire.

Marin patted Jamie’s back. She had her won tears welling in her eyes. She did not like Shawn, but she never wanted this to happen to him. “Jamie, let’s go sit down.”

“Did-did- Fahd” she spoke between sobs. “F-f-find any-thing?”

“Let’s go sit down, Jamie.”

Jamie sobbed louder.

---

Interlude 1:

Shawn’s butt crashed onto the stone. The air stank of gasoline, car exhaust and dirt. His eyes were blinded by the brightness.

A car honked. Footsteps scraped against the ground past him.

“Sir?” A voice in the light called. “Are you all right?”

Shawn rubbed his eyes, his ass was going to bruise. He rubbed the sunlight out of his eyes as they adjusted to the change of scenery.

He had been falling seconds ago, into the dark void of Mount Nibel.

A woman in a track suit stood over him. “Do you need help standing?” She held out a hand.

The street wasn’t stone, it was concrete. The buildings were…He knew those buildings, he knew this street. He had been here weeks ago. Before he had been gone in a blink.

“Sir? Are you okay?” the woman asked again.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going to be fine.” ‘I’m home.’ He thought to himself. ‘I’m home goddammit. I knew that place wasn’t real.’

With the woman’s help, he got back off the ground and dusted himself off. “Thank y-”

The world was interrupted by screeching, metal on metal and screaming.

The cross walk, that he had been about to cross, before whipping off to another world, was full of the metal of cars. Someone screamed. “there’s someone UNDER THERE!”

“OH MY GOD!”

“Someone call NINE-ONE-ONE!”

Chaos.

More screaming.

The woman with the tracksuit watched the whole thing go by, in a state of shock. So did many others.

‘I had been waiting to cross this street.’ He thought. Before taking his first step, back on Earth.

Shawn stepped up to cut through the mess panicked, and frozen, people were making of the accident. He was home, somewhere real. And he started stepping into the chaos, to help someone who needed real help.

---

Jamie was sobbing into her sleeping bag when Fahd yelled.

“INCOMING!”

In the dark, Marin couldn’t see much. “Jamie!” she yelled. As a giant clawed leg stepped on that tent.

Marin took one step back, snapping in a fire spell. She didn’t recognize it in the dark. As only parts of it came out of the darkness to attack their group.

“Not FIRE!” Fahd yelled from the darkness.

Val stabbed at the green leg on Jamie’s tent until it moved that leg away.

The people were immediately routed, retreating to the nearby slopes.

Jamie had managed to escape her tent unscathed, though without her boots.

“Over there!” Danny pointed with his rifle, he had taped a flashlight to the barrel. “That’s either a cave or an overhang.” He shot a few times into the thing. It ignored the bullets.

“Worth it!” Fahd yelled. Calling everyone to retreat.

The opening wasn’t large enough for the thing to follow them in. It still tried to stab in the opening with horn and claw.

“Wait,” Marin said in-between ice spells. “there’s only four of us in here.”

Marin looked around the cave, it went in the mountain side a ways before opening up to a glow.

Val started, “Where’s Jam-”

“MARIN!” they heard Jamie scream.

The legs and head withdrew from the cave opening. Fahd and Val stepped up to follow.

Marin and Danny stayed near the cave opening, launching their ranged attacks at the thing. It was large enough to hit over the other’s heads. Even in the dark. Between the full moon, the flashlights and dying campfire, it was enough. It was a giant green dragon, come down from deeper in the mountains.

Marin was beside herself, Jamie was in trouble. She followed Fahd and Val sway from the cave’s safety anyway. She had to get within range to heal, to help.

Jamie screamed as they watched her get picked up by the dragon’s front paw, claws getting too close for Marin’s comfort. It launched Jamie into the air, throwing her.

There was a sickening crunch, and splat sound from the impact. The Dragon slashed at the humans with it’s front claws.

While Fahd and Val hammered various legs, Marin searched for Jamie in the darkness. While Danny shot over all of their heads.

The night was chaos of gunfire, roving flashlights, and the noise the thing made. As the dragon took on more.

“Retreat!” Fahd called.

Marin stepped backwards towards the cave once, she fell over and landed on her butt. The Dragon roared again. She wanted to live. ‘But Jamie...’

Someone grabbed Marin by the back of her coat collar and dragged her. She kept shooting Blizzara spells. She had finally attuned the ice materia enough for the more powerful spell.

The tension on her collar went away, as Val leapt over Marin and landed on the back of the Dragon.

“Danny! Val’s on top of the thing!” Marin shouted in the chaos.

One more shot rattled off, as Val did what she could, leaping away again before one of those claws could stab Val. Or worse, breath fire.

Fahd was somewhere in the darkness.

Marin shuffled around to get up while casting another spell. She had one of Val’s extra spears in hand. The knives would have required getting even closer to the thing.

“Retreat!” Fahd called, this time from behind Marin.

Now that Marin was up, she moved herself to safety.

Something grabbed her collar again, this time the pressure was too much to have been a person. She screamed when she realized that the monster had her coat pinned in a claw. It was so tall.

She felt moisture run down her back, as she played tug of war with her coat. She cast a quick blizzard spell over her shoulder, impacting on the leg or face behind and above her.

The monster made another screeching noise and finished tearing Marin’s short coat. She felt a tug on one of her legs as she could finally get away.

“Get over here!” Fahd shouted.

Feet pumping a beat to match her heart, Marin pounded on the stone. She stumbled on a few rocks on the way in. Her training with Fahd paid off here, she moved into it. Keeping upright two out of three times, she rolled on the third and did not bash anything coming down.

Marin was quickly up and running the last few steps into the cave.

Sighing with relief, she felt exhausted, her shirt and pant leg was soaked.

Danny stepped closer to the cave opening again, emptying his rifle into the thing.

Fahd was catching his breath ad Val kept the thing back, stabbing at any part that tried to fit through the opening.

‘This is it,’ Marin thought. ‘Either we win or we die.’

She reached into one of her intact pockets and pulled out the ether. Jarvin’s gift felt from years ago, not weeks.

Restoring her mental reserves, Marin was more selective with her spells this time.

While the others did what they could to keep the thing back, Marin tried to pick her targets. She wanted the thing to hurt, to feel pain. To hurt more than her heart.

One of her Blizzara’s missed the head and flew into the darkness. The next one didn’t. She landed that spell right into the thing’s open mouth.

Val stabbed at the conjured ice. Driving it deeper.

Fahd was cracking potions on each of them in turn, he and Marin knew to keep to borrowed spears. Not even Fahd was using his hidden blade-arm. Fahd’s blade and Marin’s knives would not be enough for a dragon of this size.

The monster didn’t scream until Danny picked his next target.

With Val stabbing at the ice holding it’s jaws open, Danny had several moments to pick a shot and get it in one eye.

The dragon made deafening roar, moving away from their cave.

Danny shot it some more.

Marin paused, she slumped against the wall of the cave. She had one big spell left in her, or several small ones. She needed to decide now, and make it count. That ether was her only one. ‘We do this now or we’re all dead.’

The thing skittered back a little more.

“Marin.” Fahd tossed a potion at her.

She grabbed at the air, missing the potion. She felt her eyes flutter.

Fahd picked the potion off the ground and poured it on her. “Heal yourself.” He told her.

Marin looked up at him, her wet shirt had soaked into the seat of her pants, her coat was in shreds. She could feel the texture of the cave wall on her skin. The cave stank of blood, and wet stone.

She bashed her elbow on the cave wall as she tried to cast a cure spell.

She could hear gun fire, but from faraway.

“Marin!”

Fahd grabbed her shoulder and shook her. “Marin! Focus!” Fahd’s face filled her vision.

In her fatigue and spotted vision, she could finally see the concern rim his eyes. “Don’t worry,” she mumbled. “I’ll be fine.”

Standing straight with his help, she snapped off a cure spell, then another.

The tunnel vision and spots in her eyes disappeared. She did the rounds with the other survivors. If they looked hurt, she tapped out with the last of her magic.

That had been close, and yet the night wasn’t even half gone.

“Further back!” Fahd called to Danny and Val. “I’m going to make sure it can’t breath fire!”

Fahd slipped deeper into the cave. He came back shortly after, whispering. “there are lights ahead. But I don’t want to risk attracting any more trouble. Val? What’s going on outside?”

“It’s gone into the darkness. I don’t know where.”

Danny shook his head, “It’s going to be a long night.”

They looked out onto the campfire. It was burning low, untended. One of the tents was in disarray, the rest had been flattened. There was no sign of the monster.

Marin went to lean against the cave wall, but her now healed skin was covered with sticky blood and torn all down the back. Leaning right now was very unpleasant.

“Marin?” Fahd asked. “you okay?”

“I will be, once I get some sleep.”

Fahd nodded. “Double watches. One there.” He whispered to the cave mouth, “One there.” He pointed a few feet down the cave deeper into the mountain. “Val and Danny, you have first watch.” Fahd sat cross legged on the cave floor, between the others. “We rest for thirty minutes, then switch.”

“What about Jamie?” She asked Fahd.

“What about her?” Marin meant Jamie.

“Retrieving corpse aren’t worth it.” Fahd told them.

Marin shook her head, “she’s okay, Fahd-”

“Your job is here.”

Marin shook her head. She needed rest, her mind wanted rest. It was that double-math-exams-in-a-row feeling again.

“You need rest before you can help anyone else.” Fahd intoned.

Marin shook her head, stepping up to the cave mouth. She could imagine which direction Jamie had been thrown.

The night outside was silent.

“You go out there, I’m not going to protect you.” Fahd warned.

“I’d rather die than leave her out there alone.” Marin threw at him, before flicking her flash light on and leaving the cave.

Danny didn’t even try to stop her.

“Danny!” Fahd hissed.

“I’m with her.” Was all he said, as he loaded another bullet into the rifle’s chamber.

“Then die with her.” Fahd hissed. Before Marin and Danny’s steps took them too faraway to hear Fahd anymore.

---

Marin searched as long and as far afield as she dared in the night. She and Danny hissed “Jamie?” into the darkness for minutes that felt like hours.

Eventually, they turned up empty, back at the fire pit.

Something small skittered in the darkness.

Marin had the spear ready, she had no mana left for another fight.

Marin wasn’t sure if she had searched for five minutes or an hour. Danny had helped her and urged her on, she had sworn that she would rather die than leave Jamie alone. But she had to find her first. And Jamie wasn’t answering their calls.

“I’m going to do another circuit.” Marin told Danny. “Stay by the fire.”

It was much easier to sneak around when it was only her, keeping to the deep shadows. Though the full moon banished most of them, the few left were deep and could hide monsters, or Jamie-sized objects.

Marin found herself coming back to the fire pit. After a third circuit alone, there were two more people by the fire.

“Oh,” Val said in mock surprise. “You’re alive.”

Marin didn’t answer Val’s snark.

“What? No quips from the immortal?”

“What does Val mean?” Danny asked Marin.

Marin shook her head, “It’s just a joke.” she looked into the darkness, she was trying to think if she had missed any of those shadows.

This was not how Marin wanted the rest of the night to go. She had wanted to offer
Jamie comfort, at the death of her brother.

Unlike her own mother, Marin had wanted to be there for Jamie, while she was in her grief. Marin wanted to let Jamie have her feelings. And not be like her own mother, who had buried Ayame’s death with ‘aw, don’t be sad Marin.’ And deny Marin’s grief with an offering of ice cream Marin had refused.

Marin’s grief for her great-grandmother came at the oddest times. Thinking of how Jamie might have felt, for Shawn. It reminded Marin of her own roller coaster of emotions for great-grandmother Ayame.

The four of them were all that was left now. Marin was full of tears. “I can’t find her. I don’t know where she is. I have to-”

Val grabbed Marin’s shoulder. “You’re place is here. With the living.”

The last word wanted to trigger more tears. A tumble of rocks interrupted Marin’s grief. They weren’t alone in the night.

She swallowed her tears as she felt her heart beat pound in her neck and chest. She hadn’t wanted Jamie to die, nor did she want to die herself.

That was the moment she had remembered what she had thrown at Shawn in her anger, ‘Drop dead Shawn.’ Marin wiped away her tears, she had never meant it, and not literally.

Looking around to the darkness and moonlit mountainside. Nothing but a few rocks moved.

Marin followed Fahd’s gaze to the sky. The stars looked like any sky in the wilderness. With the spray of stars across the sky, the moon caught their attention. She didn’t see anything flying above them. No blotted stars or shadows across the moon. There weren’t even clouds.

But until the were off the mountainside, there would be no end to the danger.

The fire was burning low, the food they had had since the first fight, it had grown cold. So that cooking meat wouldn’t attract any more trouble.

Val yawned and was on a silent watch with Marin.

Marin wiped more tears away. She tried to keep her head clear for the watch. She had a fresh shirt on, and one of Shawn’s coats, to stay warm in the mountain air.

‘I’m wearing the clothes of a dead man.’ She thought while grimacing. Even as she mourned the loss of the man, and the friendship that had never been.

Val stabbed the low fire with Jamie’s fire-stick, wielding it like a spear. Marin had mistaken it as a spear at first. She was so tired.

Val looked angry, in the glow of the fire.

Marin would never be able to ask Jamie what she needed to bring the two of them back together.

Now Marin could never ask how Shawn had decided for himself to be himself.

Shawn was now and forever, Jamie’s brother.

‘What if I wanted to be like you Shawn, but only some days?’ Marin would never be able to ask him that now.

Marin silently watched the low fire with Val.

Marin was confused. She knew the words, but she wanted to hear it from someone else. Someone she trusted and knew was similar. She had wanted to trust Shawn, for being Jamie’s brother. A part of her had always accepted him into their group.

She was a mix of feelings for three people now, that had left her life. Each one was more dear than the next. But they were gone, and none of their deaths felt fair.

Shawn had been tugged by some invisible force, off the cliff. Everyone had been frozen in shock of what they were seeing. This world had magic and monsters and there were still things in this world that could surprise her. And surprise Shawn for that matter.

Jamie was out there, alone. Marin wiped away another tear. ‘I am weak, to weak to look again.’ Marin thought, while full of shame for giving up.

Her great-grandmother Ayame had been ancient, the oldest person Marin had ever known.

All of Ayame’s history went with her. The joys she had had, the stories she could tell, or the horrors she had seen during the War.

Marin’s own horrors in her life felt so small. Her Mother that said one thing and did another. Ayame had survived a war. She had seen people escape the horrors of what people could do to other people in those circumstances.

And yet, some part of her was living a dream, to be here, on this mountain, in this place. Away from all the worries of Earth. Except now without Jamie.

Marin’s heart died a little, this far apart from Jamie.

This world had it’s own nightmares, it’s own ways of inflicting pain and death. There was no escaping suffering, no matter where Marin went. She just had to deal with it, as it crossed her path again and again.

She hated wanting to stay here, hated that she was here, and not at home. She hated that she had not picked up her phone, even once, to call Jamie. It had been selfish of her.

Jamie could have been tossed off the cliff, or she could be in the nearest shadow.

Thirty minutes of rest felt far longer than it was, while not being enough at the same time.

Marin made herself get up and take a step towards one of the remaining tents.

When Val had her back to Marin, Marin shut off her flashlight and took up the spear.

‘I will find you Jamie.’ Marin promised herself, ‘Even if it’s the last thing I do.’

While no one was looking her way, Marin slipped away into the darkness, to find Jamie. Or die trying.

---

Chapter Text

When daylight broke, Marin dragged her exhausted feet out of a damaged tent.

Fahd was already breaking camp down, he spotted Marin first. Saying nothing, he plunked some hard objects in a camp chair near her.

Val was standing on the slope above them, watching over the destroyed camp.

“I told you to stay in the cave.” He reminded her. Before leaving her alone with her grief.

She put the round objects, Materia, away. Before she moped around in the chair some more.

Val and Danny took turns trying to nudge her out of her grief, get her to do something with her hands. Marin pushed them all away. Sitting in the chair and staring at the cold fire pit.

They were taking down the last tent when someone called out Marin’s name.

“Marin,” Val called. “Get up.”

“She could still be out there.” Marin intoned.

Fahd only shook his head as he rolled up the last intact tent. Jamie and Marin’s tent was just a pile of torn tent fabric and scattered things now.

Were she not full of grief, Marin could have appreciated the beauty of the mountains. They were unlike any from earth. Mount Nibel and the range of mountains around it. Had a beautiful look that did not hide the dangers in it. The organic-looking dark spires. Reaching like hair or fingers into the sky. Instead of looking like wondrous peaks, they only looked like pointed shrouds, masking the deadly dangers in these mountains.

Those dangers were on Marin’s mind.

Even with what Shawn had done to make them unpopular, the town had tried to press a guide on the group, they were so worried about the dangers inherent to these mountains. Even with the camp being just outside of town.

Marin barely saw the mountains, from the smooth peaks surrounded with points, like stems. The mountains looked like they were growing, that they were alive. They also looked harder to climb than anything on Earth.

“It’s too dangerous,” Fahd said.

“So we’re just going to leave them here?” Danny demanded.

“It’s better than all of us falling trying to just get a body back.” Fahd told her. His voice was as flat as ever.

“They’re out friends.” Marin said quietly.

“That’s funny,” Val said. “Shawn didn’t act like one.”

“Valkyrie!” Fahd said.

Marin sat directly on the ground. The camp chair was being folded up and strung onto a pack. She shook her head sadly. ‘What have I come to?’ She asked herself.

“Jamie.” she whispered. “where are you?”

A cold chuckle filled her ears from her left.

She rolled her eyes and kept her gaze on the ground “What are you doing here? Ardyn.” the name twisted in her mouth.

“I was just checking in with a dear friend, see how they were doing.”

“I’m not your friend Ardyn.”

“Oh, to hear that breaks my heart.”

“If you ever had a friend.” Marin was in no mood to be polite to the creature.

“Ah, well. Be that as it may. How are you?”

“Mmm.” She didn’t commit to an answer, not with him.

“That bad huh? Well, it’s too bad.” He walked around in a small circle, stopping several feet from her.

“Why are you here?” Marin asked him again, looking up this time.

Everyone else was frozen mid-task.

“Such questions. Can’t I just be concerned for a friend?”

“Drop the act, Ardyn.”

He held up his hands, inspecting the palms, “Why, drop what, my dear?”

“This,” she waved at his costume, without looking. “Whatever it is, I’m sick of it. What do you really look like?”

He chuckled again. “My dear, you aren’t ready.”

She glared at the ground in front of her. “And what makes you say that?”

“Well, if you were ready. You would be able too.”

Marin squeezed her eyes shut instead of look at him. He had never tried to hurt her. Whatever he was was no simple Valron. Even the memory of the Valron frightened her more though. She stared at the ground. “I’m sick of your games.” She told him.

He laughed at that, “Oh, the irony of that statement. Where do you think you are?”

Marin shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not here.”

Jamie’s voice came from in front of Marin, “But I can be. If that’s what you want.”

Marin squeezed her eyes shut. “Never use her face or voice again!” A tear rolled down her cheek.

Ardyn’s voice returned. “Well, if you won’t tell me how you are. And you are for want of nothing. Then, I shant take my leave, until you repay my favor.”

Marin scrunched her brow and looked up. “What?...”

He was already gone.

The noises behind Marin picked up again, the rustling. The whispered conversations between the other three.

Fahd walked over to Marin, “Marin. Get up.”

Shaking her head and drying a tear, she complied.

“Pack your tent.” Fahd commanded.

Marin nodded. Head bowed, she returned to the destroyed tent. It was a flattened mess of broken tent poles, scattered things, and shredded tent-fabric. Marin had to re-pack everything of Jamie’s and make it fit. Which meant rolling what was not damaged, and shoving it into her own pack.

Fahd helped by cutting the tent the rest of the way open, laying it out like a flower.

When Marin got to the pillow case, something fell out, something hard and shiny.

Marin looked down at the small, round object.

It was a ring. The ring that Marin had given Jamie last year. They had exchanged cheap costume jewelry as a promise.

Jamie’s ring to Marin, was still on the chain around Marin’s neck. Next to the moon pendant Ardyn had given her. His token.

Angry with herself, grieving Jamie. Marin picked up the ring and slipped it onto the necklace, next to the one from Jamie. Marin let the pendant fall off. ‘Jamie took it off when she slept?’ Jamie had taken the ring off, they really were over.

Come to think of it, Marin couldn’t remember the last time Jamie had worn the ring, even before Fahd had warned the two of them of de-gloving during practice. Just in case the ring was caught on something in a fight. Marin had asked what that word even meant, and the definition Fahd had given made her glad to keep her ring on a chain.

Marin glared at the charm, the ‘token.’ She slipped it in her pocket before continuing to pack hers and Jamie’s things. At least what was undamaged enough to be worth keeping.

She found her notebooks, in her torn sleeping bag. After picking up her music notebook, the wind found the other one.

Marin grabbed in vain as the pages scattered in the breeze. Torn to shreds, nothing was binding the pages together anymore. Her notes scattered to the wind.

In Marin’s grief, she only watched as the paper swirled and tumbled. Before the pages fluttered into the canyon. Taking all their words with them.

Defeated, Marin dragged herself, her pack, and a pile of refuse off of the tent.

Once the tent was cleared, Danny started rolling it up. Marin had just one last thing to do before she helped Danny.

“Marin!” Danny called. “What are you doing?” He sounded worried.

‘He shouldn’t be.’ As Marin approached the cliff.

“I’ll help you in a sec.” she called back to Danny.

Not looking back at the group, she took the token out of her pocket. Staring at the mountains below. They really were a sight to see. She wished she had a camera for the moment. So she could look back on these mountains when she cared about it. But she didn’t, so she couldn’t.

Taking a breath, she pitched the moon charm as hard as she could into the canyon.

The tiny gold token glittered in the sun light, then disappeared. Gravity took it below the lip of the cliff. She did not approach the cliff closely enough to see it fall into dawn’s shadow.

“What was that?” Danny asked, when Marin joined him in taking the tent down.

“Nothing.” ‘I hope I never see you again,’ She promised to herself. ‘Whatever you really are, Ardyn.’

---

Interlude 2:

Shawn’s phone rang. It had been hours since he had come home from the car accident. He had done what triage he could before the ambulances had gotten there. And was finally in a clean change of clothing. What he had been wearing was in the trash, since it had a lot of not-his-own-blood in it.

He thought he had no energy to answer the phone, until he saw who was calling.

“Yes?”

“Shawn?” Jamie’s voice.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, thank- you’re alive Shawn!”

“Yeah.” Not one, but two brushes with death in one day.

“I-just,” Jamie was sobbing on the other end. “I think I just got back from whatever that was.”

“Can we talk about this right now? Where are you?” Shawn asked.

“I’d feel better if we talked in person. Can I come over?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s Saturday right?”

“Um,” she paused. “Yeah, Saturday.”

“Have you texted Marin?”

Jamie said “She won’t answer.”

“Oh. Well. Come over any time. And Jamie…”

“Yeah?”

He flipped over the heavy gold coin in his hand, a Chocobo, with their feathered tail, was on both sides. He had no idea where he had gotten it from. Marin had described something that looked like this to him. That she had left it behind on Earth.

“Jamie, bring over anything you find unusual, okay?”

“What? Um, I’m not sure what you- oh!”

“Jamie? What is it?” He asked.

“My necklace. It must have fallen off in my sleep.” She sobbed. “I need to look for it. Then I’ll head over. Okay? Oh, hi mom.”

Shawn heard mumbling on the other end, Jamie had put the phone down for whatever she was talking about with their mother.

“A friend?” Shawn heard his mother cry. “Is Marin feeling better then?”

“No mom. Another friend from school.” another pause. “Yes, I’m done all my
homework for the weekend. Thanks mom.”

There was another pause before Jamie continued to Shawn. “Don’t say anything, I’ll be right over.” Without another word, Jamie hung up the call.

---

Danny and Marin sat at the base of the stairs to the ShinRa Manor. The townsfolk left them alone, and what they were about to do felt better outside, than in the Inn’s dining room. Even bundled up against the chill of a day in the mountain town.

As soon as Fahd and Val had recovered, they had formed a group with Zangan, and a few others from Nibelheim. To go back into the mountain trail, to deal with the Dragon that had come down from the mountains. When one got that close to the town, it
could remain a danger to anyone in the area. Leaving Danny and Marin behind in the town, to finish recovering their hearts and bodies from the short hike.

Danny had gotten a candle from the staff at the inn. And tried to heal the wounds they carried on the inside.

“Paper?” Danny asked.

Marin nodded, she had some paper she had pulled from her notebook.

Danny lit the candle. “Did you want to say anything Marin?”

Marin was barely holding back tears. “I- I don’t-. Here’s a paper.” Marin handed Danny the paper that said ‘Shawn.’

“I’m not religious.” Danny said. “And Shawn and I didn’t get along.”

Marin shrugged. “We could have been friends. If he wasn’t such a dick.”

“Hah, well. We don’t have anything else of yours Shawn. So…” Danny held the piece of paper to the squat white candle. Holding out the paper in front of the both of them. They watched at the flame burned through the word ‘Shawn.’ And slowly crawled to where Danny had a corner pinched between two fingers.

Marin felt a tear slide down her cheek anyway. She looked down at the paper that had her girlfriend’s name. “I think Jamie wanted to break up with me.” Marin talked into her lap.

“No she wasn’t” Danny said. “She just wanted you to apologize for not talking to us for months.”

“That’s it? That’s all she wanted? For me to say sorry? For going crazy?”

Danny wrapped an arm around Marin’s shoulder. “You’re not crazy. Jamie just wanted to know you still cared.”

Marin felt the tears go, “And now she never will.” Marin crushed her face into Danny’s chest, sobbing. “This memorial is bad and it’s making me feel bad.”

Danny took Marin’s hand in his own, bringing the paper near the candle. “I won’t do it for you. But …” He trailed off. Marin knew what he was going to say, that the closure would be good for her.

Marin kept sobbing, pulling the paper to her chest, clutching it like a precious thing. Holding it to her two rings. Where they sat on a chain under her shirt.

Danny rubbed Marin’s back slowly. He didn’t say anything. They were both upset, and this mini funeral was exactly for that, for them to grieve. Tears ran down his face as well.

Marin didn’t keep track of time while she sobbed, wiped her face and cried again. It was not long before her head started aching from all the crying, even her jaw was sore. The things that happened to a person when they cried a lot. Another pounding headache would hit her before long.

“I’m sorry.” Marin told the piece of paper. “I’m sorry Jamie.” ‘I never wanted this.’ Marin felt so guilty for telling Ardyn that she hadn’t wanted to be alone. And she had gotten what she had wanted.

In losing Jamie, it hurt even more, knowing that the other woman was dead.

“It’s all my fault, Danny. All my fault.”

“Shush now, Marin. None of this is our fault.”

Marin shook her head and only cried, still clutching the paper. She didn’t have the strength to tell Danny that he was wrong. That it WAS Marin’s fault. She only cried.

‘I’m such a fucking coward.’ She thought to herself, as she raised her head. And set Jamie’s name on fire.

Marin let the flame lick to close to her hand, letting it burn a bit before even she had to let go of the paper. The remaining corner floated in the air, before going out, and the last little bit was blown away on a mountain breeze.

Marin and Danny sat on those steps, until the cold chased them back inside.

Marin sat at the dining room table, watching the candle burn down while Danny sobbed.

---

Two weeks later. Marin, and the other survivors, walked into a small town a ways down the roadways past Cosmo Canyon. They had run into trouble along the road from there to here. Nothing as noteworthy happened to them in the days between.

They hadn’t been able to enter the commune, Cosmo Canyon, in the hills south of Nibel. So they had driven past, toting extra fuel in Danny’s extra batteries. They had all been denied entry into the Canyon. That was not unusual. But Marin had hoped that one of them could have talked their way in. But that community was closed and exclusive, especially to strangers.

Somewhere in the twists and turns, the car’s engine had died, again. This time the map said that they were not anywhere near someone that could tow them. And there was very little traffic in this area, at this time of year. Their phones had signal, but Danny and Marin had no idea who they could call for a tow.

Fahd and Val were empty handed. Marin was un-surprised that a veteran, in ‘enemy territory’ didn’t carry a phone.

They were rarely passed by locals, who were already doing the bare minimum they could, with the war on. And even energy for cars had begun to be rationed that week.

When the car’s power cells finally died there were was no one to help.

“Wouldn’t there be people heading to the Gold Saucer even with the war on.” Marin asked.

“The what?” Val had asked.

“Never mind.” Marin said in response. She kept her mouth shut, upon realizing that this world’s version of Las Vegas wasn’t open yet. She couldn’t tell on her map where it would be built. Somewhere in the large desert north and east of their dead car.

After abandoning the car and the camping supplies Fahd insisted they didn’t need anymore. He had determined that whatever the Nibel’s had done to the engine, had been only a stop gap to get them out of town.

Marin kept her complaints to herself, about having to travel on foot. She was just glad to be away from that town. She had lost too much there already. Marin touched the two rings through her coat. Whatever had happened to them, she just wanted to see Jamie again, to hold her or be held by her again. They had searched that mountainside for hours in the daylight, turning up nothing.

She had Danny’s harmonica in her pocket. He had given it to her a few days out of Nibelheim. There hadn’t been a good time to give it to her as a surprise. It was supposed to be from him and Jamie. There would never be a good time for that.

She knew it well enough to not offend the ears of the other three, but she only played it when they stopped for the night. Which meant not while they traveled on foot. She still had her music, though it was written for a damaged ocarina now. Marin held onto the cracked clay for a week before tossing it away. It sounded bad and she had no means to fix it. So now she had a harmonica and all her music was written for an instrument she no longer had.

The harmonica would not replace Jamie, or her precious notes. It wasn’t the same as Roceler’s ocarina, but it was better than nothing.

‘Roceler.’ Marin thought. If Danny had not tried to surprise her with a harmonica, she would have had nothing, but humming.

She also had the few Materia that Fahd had found in the cave, with weeks of study she finally know what it was. A Leviathan summon and Final Attack. ‘And if that’s what Fahd gave me, what did he keep for himself?’ she didn’t give it anymore thought. After the price they paid for finding Materia in a cave. She didn’t care.

Lost in thought as she was, Marin didn’t miss the next thing that passed them on the highway.

A loud military convoy passed them on the highway, they didn’t stop for the walkers. And no one flagged the ShinRa troops down for help.

The dejected group only camped when they had too, otherwise they hugged the edge of the highway, for the relative safety of the road. Fahd had put their training on hold ever since the car had died for the second time. And it had been shortened on the road between Nibelheim and Cosmo Canyon.

Marin was mixed on not being allowed in without a recommendation. She didn’t want to interfere with the time line, yet that place seemed as good as any for rest. Somewhere that wasn’t influenced by the ShinRa corporation. The war with Wutai was half a world away, but there was no escaping the signs that there was a war going on.

She wondered if this was how Ayame had felt, living just far enough away from the coast that she had only ever seen the indirect effects of the war. Marin could barely remember the woman. She couldn’t remember her face, the only clear memory she had of her great-grandmother, was an old color photo, from the family album. Ayame’s first color photo, from the 50’s, and she was resolute in a yellow, flower-print, dress. Ayame was ten years and a world gone from asking for help, on how to survive a war.

Marin abandoned the thought as they proceeded north.

Fahd had not declared their final destination, both groups had set out in similar directions by the time they had crossed paths. Marin didn’t know where Val or Fahd were actually heading.

Marin herself just wanted to stop, to rest. She was done with fighting and trouble.

“There.” Val said, picking out the change in terrain as the grasslands started to giveaway to scrub brush desert. Eventually the desert proper revealed itself. As the highway curved to continue north to Corel, through the last strip of grasses between the mountains and the desert. The signs on the highway said to keep right to keep going to Coasta Del sol.

There was a small town below, built around the exit to the overpass, where it split off to the resort town, and Corel. There were just enough rest stops and villages to keep people going. The bright side of having no car, was not dealing with the new Mako rations. Though it took far longer to get anywhere.

It helped that the lands around here were far less dangers this far from Nibelheim. Even with the group down to four, they could more than handle the things that prowled after them. No dragons or Valrons were to be seen after Cosmo Canyon.

Marin had expected to see the Golden Saucer in the middle of the Desert. The desert went on for miles and miles, with the highway disappearing further north.

There was no golden building rising out of the desert. No lights and no spotlights.

The four of them sat in a booth at the restaurant at the edge of the town. Had Marin known it was to be her last meal with these four, she would have ordered less than a feast.

After the meal was mostly eaten, Fahd began. “Well, what’s your plan?” He asked.

“What?” Danny asked, his second-last morsel of food was in his mouth.

“What do you mean, your?” Marin asked. The last of her fries were half to her mouth.

“I know what we’re doing.” Val pointed out herself and Fahd. “But what’s your plan?”

“I need a break.” Danny said.

Marin yawned. “I just want to sleep for a week, after all of that walking.”

Fahd sighed and plunked his prosthetic arm on the table. They were all tired.

“I’m going to freshen up.” Val said. Her food was mostly gone. She left for the bathroom.

“Good idea.” Fahd said, yawning. “Cold water sounds good.” He yawned again.

After Fahd was also out of earshot, Danny whispered to Marin, “Did any of that seem weird to you?”

Marin yawned, “We’re all exhausted.” She touched her Materia bracelet, to reassure herself. Danny had returned to Fahd the Materia he had borrowed. And Marin had paid to replace it. Her and Danny only carried their own weight now.

“No, I mean.” Danny looked to the way Fahd had gone, “Isn’t the bathroom the other way?”

“What?” Marin looked after the door Fahd had taken. Her tired brain slowly coming to the same conclusion of Danny.
Fahd and Val had left in opposite directions. Fahd was going the wrong way to wash his face.

“Fuck.”

The waitress intervened with Marin before she could chase after Fahd. Somebody had to pay for the food.

“Dammit!” Danny cursed.

Fahd and Val had slipped away, leaving Marin and Danny with the bill.

Marin would have ordered far less food if she had known that she would have had to pay for all of it.

Worse, in order to afford a bed too-small for her and Danny. The two of them were stuck washing dishes in the back of the diner that night. If they wanted Gil leftover to afford to stay in town and have enough to feed themselves.

With Fahd’s wallet no longer covering them. They were stuck in the small town-and-rest-stop. To look for a job in the meantime. And a cheaper place to sleep at night.

The next morning, Marin and Danny had at least had a hot shower. And were sitting in the Diner for breakfast. They would be washing dishes for at least another day.

“Whatchu want?” the morning shift waitress asked Marin.

“Is water free?” She looked down at her sad eggs. They didn’t look sad, except for the work day she had ahead of her.

“Nah, but I won’t charge yah for the coffee. Don’t tell the boss.” She poured two cups of coffee for Marin.

Marin put milk in her coffee. Danny took his black and no sugar.

This was the first day of just her and Danny.

Poking at her sad eggs, she could tell that today was going to be a very long day.

---

Where Mel’s Diner had been a truck stop on the edge of town, with apartments on the second floor, some let to traveler’s. Sanford was a town built around a highway exit. Part truck stop and village proper.

There were no mountains or forests around the town. Where Nibelheim was dusty, Sanford was made of sand. It was on the outside of the desert. Which had a clear demarcation. Where three sides of the small town was surrounded by grasslands, the north side was scrubby desert. And the sand liked to blow in every day.

Marin and Danny were technically not stuck in town. Neither did they want to leave and try their luck on foot without Fahd or Val beside them.

With no direction, and no obvious signs of trouble. Marin and Danny agreed on the lack of a plan. For the two of them to take a break and think of a plan later. For them to hope trouble didn’t come for them, be prepared for it anyway. And get jobs in the meantime.

But first, they both wanted to rest. Neither of them knew how long it would last. But whatever happened, they could face it together. As friends.

---

Interlude 3:

Shawn sat across from Jamie, in his living room, in his apartment. Their gold coins sat on the table. As far as they could tell, the two-tailed Chocobo coin was the same in every way. They had no idea where they’d come from. Or how they had gotten back to Earth, but they both knew. Something was up.

“What do we do now?” Shawn asked.

“What else can we do?” Jamie said, “We keep looking.”

“She’s gone Jamie.”

Jamie glared at Shawn. “Don’t you DARE! Say that. Marin is still out there.”

“As far as anyone knows, she had another episode between home and the drug store.”

“Fuck you Shawn! Marin is NOT crazy!”

“I know that.” Shawn said, deflated.

The lull in the conversation hung for a few moments.

“Jamie.” Shawn started.

“What?”

“Let’s say we tell everyone we all disappeared into a video game. Tell them that Marin is still in there.”

“But she is….” Jamie moaned. “And Danny...” They hadn’t heard anything from Danny either.

“What are we supposed to tell everyone?” Shawn asked Jamie. “They’ll just think that we’re crazy too.”

Jamie’s head lowered to rest her chin on her chest. “Marin has to be OK, she’s still in that place.”

“Then we have to go back. Maybe?” Shawn offered.

Jamie shrugged. “I don’t even know how we got there in the first place.”

“It would be simpler if we could just get Marin and Danny back here.”

“How?” Jamie asked.

Shawn explained, “Marin disappeared two nights before we both ‘came back’ from that world. It was over 16 hours before her mother even noticed she was gone. We both came back right before something terrible happened to each of us. As far as we know, Danny and Marin will come back the same way soon.”

“Well, the pharmacy had Marin on camera. So whatever happened, was between there and her house.”

Shawn shrugged, “She has almost almost a whole day missing, before her parents even noticed,” Shawn repeated. “Us, and her parents, and the police have been picking it apart for days. She hasn’t turned up anywhere. How do we even still know if she’s here, there, or anywhere?”

“Jamie rubbed tears away, “I’m not giving up, Shawn. I’m NOT!”

Shawn put a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “What else can we do but worry right now?”

Jamie shook and shook her head back and forth, she couldn’t speak.

“What are you proposing Shawn?”

He shrugged. “We try to put our lives back together.”

“You expect me to forget all of that?” Jamie asked.

“No, of course not. But we have lives here. Responsibilities.”

“Fuck high school. There are more important things in life than exams or graduation.” There was not a dry eye between either of them now. As Shawn held Jamie.

“Maybe,” He told his sister. “But nowadays you’ll have a had time living a life with no high school degree.”

Jamie shook her head. “It would be easier if Marin’s mom actually gave a fuck about getting her daughter back.”

Shawn only shook his head. Jamie was in his arms now, her sobs had stopped.

They sat down in mute silence. For once, they had no plan, no leads, no ideas. And they had no way to know how to either go back to that planet, or bring Marin and Danny home.

Jamie pulled herself back into her own chair. “I’ve been trying not to think about this.”

Shawn straightened in his own chair, “I just don’t know what else to do.”

“Neither do I. I just want Marin to be okay. Even after she ghosted me for months. I still...I dunno. And Danny had a funeral here. Can we even get him back?”

“I dunno.” Shawn shrugged, “But it’ll be okay, it’s okay for our feelings to be complicated.”

She shook her head, “that’s the thing. It’s all so complicated. What if Marin was kidnapped here? Or she’s in that other place without us. Without me.”

---

In a bedroom with no occupant, the dust has already started to accumulate on the furniture. On the shelves, the desk, the unfinished homework. Only the bed sheets and carpet showed any sign of maintenance. The carpet was vacuumed regularly, same with the other carpets in the house. And the bed was made, neatly, every month.

The curtains were drawn, they were laundered once a year, and were due for their next washing soon.

On the night stand, was an alarm clock, a pile of music notes. And a single, large coin. Under a fine accumulation of dust. A match to the ones Jamie and Shawn held in their hands in another part of the city.

Under the dust in the dark room, a golden Chocobo coin lay there, unattended.

---

Chapter Text

This place was not a true vacuum. As much as it looked like one.

Black and airless. Full of specks of light.

The stars and galaxies in this black gave off a light like in space. But it was only a sign of the realized-possibilities swarming elsewhere

A formless thing, more a presence than even an identity. Floated in this place. Recently the presence had become a passive observer. Watching and waiting as possibility became hard reality. Somewhere and at some time.

Ideas incepted here. Whole worlds and universes lived and died here.

It watched, it waited. There were others like it, all older, and stronger. Even if time was spongy here. Space as well. But for all intents and purposes, this thing was alone here.

For now. It was alone, formless, and nearly light-less. This presence’s own light was dim with few possibilities. It knew what it was, beyond the lights around it. But there were very few choices of what it could do here. Few possibilities in it’s future with which to cast any light. For now it could only choose to watch and wait.

A nebulae had formed nearby a long time ago. A virulent green star had gone supernova an unmeasured amount of time ago. It felt an eon ago, twenty-three years, or yesterday.

Now it was gathering into the spherical shape of a new star. A new possibility, but calling it a ‘star’ was the simplest description.

This presence had not been witness to many new 'stars' forming from exploded older ones. In this place it was a rare occurrence. Not because the watcher was young, but because a new idea from an old one, the same one, made of the same stuff, was rare here.

Usually such a nebulae went wasted. Or cannibalized by clusters of new stars. Other galaxies passing through to suck up all the remains and move on, to vomit new ideas and possibilities elsewhere.

But here, this new idea, this thought, this dream. It took on a new shape as it incepted a new star. Shining it's light on the dimming sympathetic stars around it. Limning the watcher's formless shape in a purple glow of the new star. Not quite indigo, not quite purple. If color meant anything in this place. Everything was relative here.

Ideas did not quite have shape, and they did not quite give off light. But in this place ideas could be observed and grasped by the type of mind that currently watched them.

The purple star continued to be observed. As it pulled in the older, smaller ones, forming a new galaxy in this dark place.

If the presence had eyes, they would narrow. The watcher could make out some amount of possibility with this new mega-star. And some of it was not good. It was one of those could-be realities that could spread to other places, like a virus. It could break the bonds of what held it in place, taking it’s possibilities and it’s future to new heights, or lows.

Such things could be dangerous if spread unchecked. So the watcher made the decision to wait here. By moving the stars to them, or they moved to the stars. In this place, the difference did not matter. Space was as fluid as time could be here. Space and time had an order here, one thing followed another in a linear fashion. But that linear sense did not flow for this being in ways that one might be used too.

He searched until the thought gave him pause. Him, the lights of the surrounding galaxy gave him shape. That detail was new.

It was time.

He moved faster, or the stars blurred around him more. One of these orbiting possibilities gave him shape, perhaps they could also give him a name and he could, finally, move on. No longer be one of the least of the others. He could at least be a little more than he was now.

He searched more frantically. For the spark that had reached out unseen and watched Him in return.

These sparks, that danced around the stars. They were the least of what was here, but the ideas and possibilities would not exist without them. The ideas, the larger stars, were the manifestations of thoughts. They were realities born in the minds of others. With no awareness of this place, the individual sparks held a power here they did not know of. Even over things like Him. And one of them had started giving him definition.

But if he did not find the right one, it could be burned away, or pulled in too close. To the purple star at the center of this reality reborn.

A ‘death’ as these things counted, or worse a still-birth. Would only make his situation worse. And be even worse for the one that such a mishap could happen too.

He knew what he was looking for, without words. He reached, now with hands, pulling himself closer to the one that saw something in him. They were kin, or they would be. They could be if he did the next thing in the right way.

'You will hate me for this' he thought. As he searched for that potential, the one that saw something in him. While the other spark-stars dreamed and their thoughts-made-light. While they orbited the purple center of this area. One on the edge of becoming something more, like him.

Or they could be, if he only found the right star in time.

He had been told that this could happen at any time. And now that it was, he thought he would hesitate. But the danger was too great. He would not be the only thing attracted to that sort of unprotected power. Once it expressed itself. Once it became something more than it was.

A small, dimmed, gray spark appeared before Him. It was brighter than some others. But not most of them. It was not the smallest. And nowhere near the biggest. Nowhere close to the purple mega-star. And entirely too close in orbit to the purple light to be safe from all of it’s possibilities.

‘How did you get so far from home?’ He wanted to ask the star in his hands. This was not their local cluster. ‘It’s worse than I feared,’ he thought. ‘You were drawn here.’ Most likely by their own meanderings.

Before anything else found this floundering potential, he started wrapping it. There were no other words for the process. If this was a more terrestrial place, one description could be like a caterpillar could spin its own silk and protect it's own pupae.

But this was not exactly that sort of place.

He 'spun' a protective layer around the tiny star. Protecting it by keeping it hidden from all but himself. He would have to reach out and explain something to them. When she. No, They, it was confusing. Either impression worked. He could get that much of a feel for the one in his hands.

The now-cocoon blurred that line. But for sure she would be safe to finish changing for now. Thanks to Him.

He set her on a safe orbit around the purple star. Though the math was too complicated to pull the gray spark completely to safety. Not between the three of them. Him, gray cocoon, and purple-mega-star. But he could keep the star safe enough. Until she, or they, could move away on her own.

This close to the shell around that gray star, and the large Central star. He could see the connection. He had long understood how space was as different as time here. But it was more than proximity of the lights. It was the reality that wove between them. And that connecting trail shot off into the darkness.

The purple star and the gray one were orbiting each other. But he could also calculate the point of origin of the gray star. That itself was not good news to the presence.

When reality shifted to take more into account. This was more than just a Becoming. The larger mega-star was pulling other places to it. And they was finding them by the pull of the stars that orbited nearby. Even the greater distances between these light had some effect on each other. And this new star brought force and pull with it.

Like the star that was now wrapped in a cocoon, for it’s protection until they could Become.

This close to the central star, where ideas were the most real, would be dangerous. Communication would have to be made, even while in the cocoon. That was dangerous too. But it would be more dangerous to leave the cocoon to pull whatever it liked into the local space, where the purple mega-star could grab it. Just a flick of the ‘string’ and He knew. Home. Her home. And even from within the cocoon, she ever-so-slowly pulled the purple star on a new path. Drawing another cluster to this place. It was even worse than he had feared.

All these orbiting bodies were pulling on each other, changing their path in subtle ways. An oversimplification was that the cocoon was towing the mega-star back to her point of origin.

The danger of this place was the metaphor of physics and mechanics was too similar to physical space. These lighted bodies pulled on each other, in ways that brought them together. To collide and consume. And the purple mega-star was shifting on a path to swallow up everything in it’s path. To spread it’s bright possibilities elsewhere. Including back to the origin of the cocoon He cradled in his hands.

Holding the cocoon once more. His hands becoming more real the more time they were near. He said what had to be said. A physical mind on a physical plane, somewhere else, would stretch out this simultaneous burst. She would see it, hear it, as something far more drawn out. Something her current mind could understand.

Then the cocoon was plucked from His hands and shot into the heart of the purple light, yet unable to reach an escape velocity. He had thought that they both were far enough away. He grasped after it in vain. And only caught the thread that led off back to where the gray cocoon had come from.

Against his wishes, the Cocoon was trapped exactly where He did not want it to go. Out of his reach, where he could keep her safe.

Trapped in the star. The cocoon would not burn like an object cast into a real star in a physical vacuum. One of the differences of this place, compared to physical space. But now the cocoon was wrapped up in all the rules that governed the purple star’s reality. She was trapped until she could get herself out. There was also the movement towards it’s point of origin, where the purple star, a whole galaxy of ideas and people, could scoop up any stars between here and the gray one’s home.

A convergence.

He knew of such things but he had never seen it happen. And that journey was only stretched out relative to him observing it. To the cocoon, things would happen much more quickly.

He could still follow the trail from where the gray star had come from. Where it's origin existed near here, and over there at the same time.

Without letting go of the thread that was not-a-thread. He followed it with hands that were not-hands. To see what he could find from where the gray one had come from. He would need to gather what he could from wherever he could, get aid from her home. Before the purple galaxy.

Already? It used to be just a larger star.

He had to travel, somewhere he could understand after communicating with the one inside the cocoon. And find tools he could use to help get the cocoon out of danger.

He took no shame at the thought of using whatever he could grasp. Whatever or whoever he could understand to grasp. If it meant that she would be safe, he would do it. And people like where she had come form. They had a power here, one they did not understand. They could go where he could not, safely at least.

And while they did what they needed to do, for the cocoon. He could do what he could to slow the convergence. Until the Cocoon could do it’s work.

The purple galaxy would not be allowed to consume where she had come from. And she could Become. Into something like Him.

Once She completed the Chrysalis.

---

End of Book One “Skyfall.”

To be continued in “Crossroads.” Book Two of the Chrysalis Series.