Bravely Interlude (BD spoilers), part 1
Jun. 20th, 2014 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raajRingabel's triumphant return to Caldisla is delayed by one small matter and one big matter. Or should he say grand matter, as the question is how to moor Grandship while he is in the capital. Airy can hardly pilot it, so it needs a place to land: it takes a bit of careful navigating, both through air and by water, to bring its colossal size close enough to port to be moored, then, lacking a plank long enough, some improvisation and gymnastics to get from ship to dock without soaking his clothes. That accomplished, he waves to Airy, whose light already looks somewhat dimmed and forlorn against the sunset sky as she rests on the ship’s railing. “I won’t be long, dear.”
She flickers with impatience, but there’s nothing for it. He really does need some time to get through the small matter of her—explaining to Tiz, Edea and Agnès that yes, he is companions with Airy, no, he has not been tricked or enchanted, no, they do not need to get any weapons out. After all, she would like to be friends with them as well. He imagines a full explanation will be demanded, and that in itself seems delightful. It’s a spectacular tale, after all, and he mulls over the details and how to best tell them as he begins the walk to Karl’s inn.
Six months ago he’d left his three friends in their world, planning to return to his original world to take care of affairs. …However, he hadn’t made it. It’s a source of some regret, considering the deaths which had occurred in that world, the survivors left behind. But the world he had arrived in had needed him so much more.
How confusing it had been to see the sea stagnant again, encounter his friends being led around by that fairy once more! He hadn’t trusted her in the slightest when they’d first met. The Airy he’d known had tricked Agnès and Tiz with an illusion of hope when they were consumed by despair, luring them along with Edea into pointless deaths so many times. It had been that way in his own world… His hostility had been held in check by the knowledge that Airy had died. How could she possibly be alive again? She was not a natural part of Luxendarc, but a creature spawned of Ouroboros, from the infernal realm.
He’d played along with the journey to learn the fairy’s game so he could keep everyone alive, friends and former comrades alike. And he’d realized… it hadn’t been a game to her. She could be a brat and a terror with her temper at times, but she also held a genuine fondness for the four of them that Airy had never shown before. She still would have led Agnès astray into overcharging the crystals if he hadn’t been there to object, but she’d honestly believed it was the right thing to do. He’d realized that this Airy was an innocent, a new soul merely following the impulses Ouroboros had impressed upon her when it had created her as it was in its death throes; though her body and mind are like a woman’s in miniature scale, she came into being a scant six months ago. The leminiscate upon her wings, the curved symbol of infinity, shows how futile her existence could have been, chaining together an endless number of Luxendarcs and causing an unfathomable amount of misery and pain until—until she herself was killed, he supposes. Killed serving an evil master, and one already dead. The thought makes his heart ache.
That Luxendarc had needed him more. Knowing the truth behind the journey to awaken the crystals, he had been able to save everyone in the world. Even Airy, who turned aside from the destructive path she’d been set on with a little guidance; now her infinity lay in all the possibilities her life held. (No matter how sappy she says the sentiment is.) He hopes he can get the others to accept her—no, they will. The late Airy left behind hard feelings with her cruelty and callousness, but Tiz, Edea, and Agnès are all reasonable and kind, and he has their trust. They’ll hear him out, give this young Airy a chance… their worries might take some time to fade, but he knows this Airy will do nothing to rekindle them.
When he arrives at the inn’s front door, he grins, anticipating the welcome he’ll get. He’s missed his Tiz and Agnès and Edea; their counterparts were good people as well (how could they not be?), but they weren’t the friends he’d traveled alongside for two years. He’d known so many little things about them, but they hadn’t known the first about him. That was the thing about foreknowledge… you could do much with it, but having it was a little lonely. But now, he’s back among friends. He pushes open the door to happy exclamations. Though they’re not the ones he expects.
“Tiz!”
“TIZ! …Oh!”
“…Not by a long shot,” Ringabel mutters, glancing from Egil to Agnès—who was surprisingly the louder of the two, and now blushes all the harder for it—to Edea, who sits at the table and is eating, her mouth too full for her to greet him with any more than a wave. As though she just saw him the other day. “Really? Was I missed even a tiny bit?” This isn’t how he thought his return would go at all!
“O—of course we missed you, Ringabel!” Agnès rushes. “We merely…I thought, surely…”
He’s not really in the mood to listen at the moment, feeling petulant. Sure, Tiz is a good man, a great friend, but he said he was going to settle here in Caldisla, for goodness’ sake, they must have seen him already, so why are they all excited about him? What about Ringabel? “Left for an entirely different world, possibly never to be seen again, and to not even be missed—!”
“Oh, shut up, Ringabel,” Edea says. Having swallowed her mouthful, she rises out of her chair and tackles him in a hug—which does a rather good job of shutting him up indeed, because now his brain is whirling away on the problem of what does he do with this own arms? Does he hug back? Can he hug back? “We knew you were coming back. Welcome home!”
Her casual confidence reminds him of the message she’d left in his journal when he wasn’t looking. ”We will meet again!” She’d been so determined back then, she’d underscored the ‘will’ thickly on the paper.
…He doesn’t have a lump in his throat. And it certainly doesn’t thicken when Agnès smiles warmly at him from over Edea’s shoulder, echoing the greeting: “Welcome home.”
”Thank you so very much; I pray for your success.” Agnès’ note had been awkwardly lettered, but is all the more charming for it. He can so easily imagine her having dawdled too long over the notebook, trying to think of the best thing to say, until Edea rushed her because they were running out of time and she hastened to scrawl out a sentiment that was at least heartfelt, if simple. He doesn’t doubt she has prayed for his sake, even as she has been busy making prayers for the sake of Luxendarc itself.
“That was more like it!” he says approvingly, once Edea’s released him and he can get his very, very stiff arms to relax. “Now I feel as though I’ve truly returned.” This was his home, after all; the world that held his three dearest friends. “And I return with a story guaranteed to amaze you.”
“You say that about all your stories.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Egil chimes in, laughing, and Ringabel has to pout at that. Egil barely traveled with them at all; he couldn’t have told that many stories back then! What have the others been telling the boy?
“Edea, a little faith, please. This is a story about another world and its dashing hero, of course it’s amazing.” Though really, she had already shown plenty of faith in his ability to return from that world. But that being the case, it couldn’t be so hard to suspend her disbelief just a bit further…!
She cocks her head, looking at him seriously. “It did you a lot of good, going to that world. Didn’t it?” She sounds surprised, and he’s almost confused—but of course. If he had gone back to his original world, as intended, the past six months would have been such a grim time, ringed by reminders of his failure to protect the Edea he had grown up with. That not just she, but Agnès and Tiz had been brutally killed in so many worlds, so many times. Instead, he’d been allowed to go to a world where he could save them.
He had needed that Luxendarc as well. He’s come into his own now, has learned how to negotiate with people and get them to cooperate in a way that Alternis Dim could never have figured out. Of course, he hadn’t done it without a few mishaps along the way: he’s already considering if he should tactfully edit the tactic used to persuade Jackal and Khint to stop fighting, as his friends might not be so impressed that he’d not just disarmed himself but stripped to show how earnest he was about striking a peace…or that he later tried the same idea against half of the Council of Six, and had gotten his naked rear blasted by the witch Victoria before Victor pointed out with his maddening coolness just why such a gesture was meaningless from a dark knight. But the plain and simple fact that he’d done just as he’d intended against all odds, saved them, Luxendarc, Airy—it’s exhilarating. Empowering. He feels capable of anything, and the grin rises so easily to his lips. “Were you expecting me to be grim and brooding?”
She smiles. “Of course not. You’d never miss the chance to be annoying.” Agnès giggles, but he doesn’t mind. It’s all good teasing, familiar banter between them.
“As a matter of fact… my itinerary was revised on me. I accidentally ended up in another Luxendarc, where I was able to meet your lovely counterparts and traveled with them for a little while. Well, them and another Tiz, and where IS he?” Tiz needs to hear his story as well! Wait, no, he needs to hear about Airy, Ringabel reminds himself. He is going to tell the tale at some point, he already knows that, but if he lets himself forget about the fairy’s current loneliness in his eagerness, she’ll not easily forgive him. (She’ll also not admit to having felt lonely in the first place, but she’s poor at hiding it.)
Their countenances were full of curiosity when he began speaking, but at his question it’s impossible to miss how Agnès’ face grows slightly worried, and Edea’s annoyed. “He hasn’t come back yet!” Egil bursts out. “He said he was going to catch up to me, but they,” waving at Agnès and Edea, “got done meeting with the king at least an hour ago. He still hasn’t shown up.”
“I think it’s been longer, now,” Agnès murmurs. “He must not know we’ve arrived.”
Ringabel frowns. This kind of tardiness is seriously amiss and unexpected of the shepherd, normally the most responsible of all of them. “But he knows to be expecting us today. He wouldn’t—” That’s the thing, he just wouldn’t; Ringabel genuinely can’t wrap his mind around Tiz being this absent-minded or neglectful, and Caldisla is so peaceful without any Sky Knights terrorizing it that what sort of accident could have befallen him without word getting back to the inn about it? “Where did you leave him, Egil? I’ll fetch him.”
Odd as it is, perhaps it’s an opportunity: when he finds Tiz, they’ll have a chance to speak alone. It might be easier to convince at least one of his friends about Airy first, rather than shock all three at the same time with this thundaga of an epiphany. All four of them are protective of one another, which is normally a good thing. It just might not be the most helpful when he’s trying to convince his friends that a fairy near-exactly identical to the one who has mocked, betrayed and attempted to kill them really doesn’t mean to do anything of the sort.
“Mm… it was on the road by the graveyard,” Egil says. “I thought maybe he was going to visit his brother’s grave for a moment. He does that every now and then.”
Hearing that makes Ringabel think of the Reunion Festival; he and Edea and Agnès had all been excited for the event, but Tiz had become strangely reticent and withdrawn, lamely trying to excuse himself from partaking in the festivities at all before Ringabel had managed to strong-arm him by hinting that without a partner, Agnès would be the center of attention from men on the prowl. Even after agreeing to come along, it was clear that Tiz was forcing himself to go along with his friends’ partying rather than enjoying it. Thankfully, he’d gained a genuine smile by the end of the night and opened his heart again, admitting that he had felt guilty about participating in a celebration meant for friends and family without his brother. This was a celebratory reunion…could those kind of feelings have been stirred up again? That he shouldn’t be enjoying himself, because his brother could not?
Ringabel would think no; that had happened a few months into their journey, and in the year and a half that had followed, Tiz’s grief had subsided, lingering but no longer consuming. The boy who had been unable to enjoy a festival in his sadness would never have been able to leave a counterpart of his brother behind on another world, knowing their quest was too important to abandon and too dangerous to take a child on. That he would think of his brother on this day wasn’t strange, but Ringabel seriously doubts he would let memories keep him from meeting with his friends.
Still, it won’t be much of a delay to check in the graveyard before asking around elsewhere, so Ringabel decides he can give it a quick look. “I’ll be back soon,” he announces. “Edea…please leave some food for me.” He’s been piloting for so long today, he’s famished, and the spread Karl’s prepared looks delicious.
“Ha! I’m eating Tiz’s share. His penalty for being so late.”
“Edea!” Agnès exclaims.
“No, no, it seems fair enough,” Ringabel says with a laugh as he steps back out. The air has cooled with the sun set, but Caldisla’s fall is more like Eternia’s high summer; the chill is barely perceptible to him, and he only gives a slight shift to raise his stole in response. The dark form of Grandship is easily distinguishable from the other shadows of the evening by its sheer size, and he casts an eye toward it. Not that he thinks it’s in any danger of being stolen, but he does wonder what Airy is doing to keep herself occupied. This might take a bit longer than he’d originally thought, now that he needs to shepherd a missing shepherd. Good grief…
Except that Tiz is in the first place he checks. The graveyard. It makes no sense, but there’s still enough light in the sky as Ringabel reaches the top of the steps leading in for him to spy a body by the graves—a body that is lying facedown in the ground, in the last place any sane person would choose for a nap. It’s alarming enough to make Ringabel quicken his pace before the mussed-up head of brown hair registers and he knows for dead certain that it’s Tiz. Then he’s running to his friend’s side.
“Tiz!” doesn’t so much as react, and Ringabel raises his voice louder and draws the name out. “TIIIZ!” Still nothing; Ringabel can’t see any injuries to the back, so he works on turning the man over slowly. The clamminess of Tiz’s skin is disquieting; Ringabel wants to rationalize it away as due to the cold night when he realizes—the problem isn’t that Tiz is cold. The problem is that his body’s not reacting to the chill. A person shivers in their sleep if cold. An unconscious person shivers if cold. A comatose person shivers if cold, he used to hear the nurses talk in Eternia! It’s an automatic survival function and yet, Tiz is only moving to draw breath. Ringabel hastily yanks his jacket off to wrap Tiz more warmly even as he tries to make sense of it. Tiz’s cotton shirt may be on the thin side for late fall, especially at night, but this is hardly a night one would expect to cause hypothermia, and the inn is so close by for shelter. It can’t be the cold that’s caused his collapse, and he has no apparent injuries on front or back. With such a relaxed face, he looks like he’s merely sleeping.
Sleeping. An enchantment? Ringabel applies the white magic he’s learned with a hasty esuna, then a life spell. The man’s skin warms, mercifully, but Tiz doesn’t wake as hoped. Esuna again? There’s absolutely no reaction and Ringabel growls, just barely restraining himself from shaking or slapping his friend. If he hasn’t woken for anything else, those won’t help; jarring his head might make it worse, and who even knows what worse is when a life spell can’t revive him. “TIZ!”
Nothing. What did he expect? He needs to get Tiz to the inn—Agnès has always been the more talented healer, perhaps she’ll see what he’s obviously missing. At the very least the autumn chill won’t weaken Tiz’s body any further, whatever his condition may be. Ringabel works an arm underneath his back again, the other under the slightly smaller man’s thighs; Tiz is more solidly built, but Ringabel has enough experience in carrying unconscious comrades to easily lift him.
But there are already boots pounding up the paved steps. On an otherwise peaceful night, Ringabel’s yelling must have carried, because it’s Edea and Agnès who appear, followed closely by Egil. Edea halts as soon as she sees Tiz in his arms, her hand flying up to her mouth in alarm before she steps forward. Agnès does not stop for surprise; though her eyes widen, and he hears a cry catch in her throat, she runs straight to him and sweeps her eyes over Tiz, assessing him. “What’s happened to him?” she asks.
“I—I don’t know,” Ringabel admits, and his stomach sinks all the way down to his feet because it’s absolutely true. He doesn’t have a clue. There’s the stunned thought as Agnès begins her own repertoire of white magic, escalating all the way to the powerful raise spell with no reaction, that now he really knows he’s back home.
He’s come back in a world where he has no foreknowledge. Where terrible things can and will happen suddenly, and he has no idea why.
She flickers with impatience, but there’s nothing for it. He really does need some time to get through the small matter of her—explaining to Tiz, Edea and Agnès that yes, he is companions with Airy, no, he has not been tricked or enchanted, no, they do not need to get any weapons out. After all, she would like to be friends with them as well. He imagines a full explanation will be demanded, and that in itself seems delightful. It’s a spectacular tale, after all, and he mulls over the details and how to best tell them as he begins the walk to Karl’s inn.
Six months ago he’d left his three friends in their world, planning to return to his original world to take care of affairs. …However, he hadn’t made it. It’s a source of some regret, considering the deaths which had occurred in that world, the survivors left behind. But the world he had arrived in had needed him so much more.
How confusing it had been to see the sea stagnant again, encounter his friends being led around by that fairy once more! He hadn’t trusted her in the slightest when they’d first met. The Airy he’d known had tricked Agnès and Tiz with an illusion of hope when they were consumed by despair, luring them along with Edea into pointless deaths so many times. It had been that way in his own world… His hostility had been held in check by the knowledge that Airy had died. How could she possibly be alive again? She was not a natural part of Luxendarc, but a creature spawned of Ouroboros, from the infernal realm.
He’d played along with the journey to learn the fairy’s game so he could keep everyone alive, friends and former comrades alike. And he’d realized… it hadn’t been a game to her. She could be a brat and a terror with her temper at times, but she also held a genuine fondness for the four of them that Airy had never shown before. She still would have led Agnès astray into overcharging the crystals if he hadn’t been there to object, but she’d honestly believed it was the right thing to do. He’d realized that this Airy was an innocent, a new soul merely following the impulses Ouroboros had impressed upon her when it had created her as it was in its death throes; though her body and mind are like a woman’s in miniature scale, she came into being a scant six months ago. The leminiscate upon her wings, the curved symbol of infinity, shows how futile her existence could have been, chaining together an endless number of Luxendarcs and causing an unfathomable amount of misery and pain until—until she herself was killed, he supposes. Killed serving an evil master, and one already dead. The thought makes his heart ache.
That Luxendarc had needed him more. Knowing the truth behind the journey to awaken the crystals, he had been able to save everyone in the world. Even Airy, who turned aside from the destructive path she’d been set on with a little guidance; now her infinity lay in all the possibilities her life held. (No matter how sappy she says the sentiment is.) He hopes he can get the others to accept her—no, they will. The late Airy left behind hard feelings with her cruelty and callousness, but Tiz, Edea, and Agnès are all reasonable and kind, and he has their trust. They’ll hear him out, give this young Airy a chance… their worries might take some time to fade, but he knows this Airy will do nothing to rekindle them.
When he arrives at the inn’s front door, he grins, anticipating the welcome he’ll get. He’s missed his Tiz and Agnès and Edea; their counterparts were good people as well (how could they not be?), but they weren’t the friends he’d traveled alongside for two years. He’d known so many little things about them, but they hadn’t known the first about him. That was the thing about foreknowledge… you could do much with it, but having it was a little lonely. But now, he’s back among friends. He pushes open the door to happy exclamations. Though they’re not the ones he expects.
“Tiz!”
“TIZ! …Oh!”
“…Not by a long shot,” Ringabel mutters, glancing from Egil to Agnès—who was surprisingly the louder of the two, and now blushes all the harder for it—to Edea, who sits at the table and is eating, her mouth too full for her to greet him with any more than a wave. As though she just saw him the other day. “Really? Was I missed even a tiny bit?” This isn’t how he thought his return would go at all!
“O—of course we missed you, Ringabel!” Agnès rushes. “We merely…I thought, surely…”
He’s not really in the mood to listen at the moment, feeling petulant. Sure, Tiz is a good man, a great friend, but he said he was going to settle here in Caldisla, for goodness’ sake, they must have seen him already, so why are they all excited about him? What about Ringabel? “Left for an entirely different world, possibly never to be seen again, and to not even be missed—!”
“Oh, shut up, Ringabel,” Edea says. Having swallowed her mouthful, she rises out of her chair and tackles him in a hug—which does a rather good job of shutting him up indeed, because now his brain is whirling away on the problem of what does he do with this own arms? Does he hug back? Can he hug back? “We knew you were coming back. Welcome home!”
Her casual confidence reminds him of the message she’d left in his journal when he wasn’t looking. ”We will meet again!” She’d been so determined back then, she’d underscored the ‘will’ thickly on the paper.
…He doesn’t have a lump in his throat. And it certainly doesn’t thicken when Agnès smiles warmly at him from over Edea’s shoulder, echoing the greeting: “Welcome home.”
”Thank you so very much; I pray for your success.” Agnès’ note had been awkwardly lettered, but is all the more charming for it. He can so easily imagine her having dawdled too long over the notebook, trying to think of the best thing to say, until Edea rushed her because they were running out of time and she hastened to scrawl out a sentiment that was at least heartfelt, if simple. He doesn’t doubt she has prayed for his sake, even as she has been busy making prayers for the sake of Luxendarc itself.
“That was more like it!” he says approvingly, once Edea’s released him and he can get his very, very stiff arms to relax. “Now I feel as though I’ve truly returned.” This was his home, after all; the world that held his three dearest friends. “And I return with a story guaranteed to amaze you.”
“You say that about all your stories.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Egil chimes in, laughing, and Ringabel has to pout at that. Egil barely traveled with them at all; he couldn’t have told that many stories back then! What have the others been telling the boy?
“Edea, a little faith, please. This is a story about another world and its dashing hero, of course it’s amazing.” Though really, she had already shown plenty of faith in his ability to return from that world. But that being the case, it couldn’t be so hard to suspend her disbelief just a bit further…!
She cocks her head, looking at him seriously. “It did you a lot of good, going to that world. Didn’t it?” She sounds surprised, and he’s almost confused—but of course. If he had gone back to his original world, as intended, the past six months would have been such a grim time, ringed by reminders of his failure to protect the Edea he had grown up with. That not just she, but Agnès and Tiz had been brutally killed in so many worlds, so many times. Instead, he’d been allowed to go to a world where he could save them.
He had needed that Luxendarc as well. He’s come into his own now, has learned how to negotiate with people and get them to cooperate in a way that Alternis Dim could never have figured out. Of course, he hadn’t done it without a few mishaps along the way: he’s already considering if he should tactfully edit the tactic used to persuade Jackal and Khint to stop fighting, as his friends might not be so impressed that he’d not just disarmed himself but stripped to show how earnest he was about striking a peace…or that he later tried the same idea against half of the Council of Six, and had gotten his naked rear blasted by the witch Victoria before Victor pointed out with his maddening coolness just why such a gesture was meaningless from a dark knight. But the plain and simple fact that he’d done just as he’d intended against all odds, saved them, Luxendarc, Airy—it’s exhilarating. Empowering. He feels capable of anything, and the grin rises so easily to his lips. “Were you expecting me to be grim and brooding?”
She smiles. “Of course not. You’d never miss the chance to be annoying.” Agnès giggles, but he doesn’t mind. It’s all good teasing, familiar banter between them.
“As a matter of fact… my itinerary was revised on me. I accidentally ended up in another Luxendarc, where I was able to meet your lovely counterparts and traveled with them for a little while. Well, them and another Tiz, and where IS he?” Tiz needs to hear his story as well! Wait, no, he needs to hear about Airy, Ringabel reminds himself. He is going to tell the tale at some point, he already knows that, but if he lets himself forget about the fairy’s current loneliness in his eagerness, she’ll not easily forgive him. (She’ll also not admit to having felt lonely in the first place, but she’s poor at hiding it.)
Their countenances were full of curiosity when he began speaking, but at his question it’s impossible to miss how Agnès’ face grows slightly worried, and Edea’s annoyed. “He hasn’t come back yet!” Egil bursts out. “He said he was going to catch up to me, but they,” waving at Agnès and Edea, “got done meeting with the king at least an hour ago. He still hasn’t shown up.”
“I think it’s been longer, now,” Agnès murmurs. “He must not know we’ve arrived.”
Ringabel frowns. This kind of tardiness is seriously amiss and unexpected of the shepherd, normally the most responsible of all of them. “But he knows to be expecting us today. He wouldn’t—” That’s the thing, he just wouldn’t; Ringabel genuinely can’t wrap his mind around Tiz being this absent-minded or neglectful, and Caldisla is so peaceful without any Sky Knights terrorizing it that what sort of accident could have befallen him without word getting back to the inn about it? “Where did you leave him, Egil? I’ll fetch him.”
Odd as it is, perhaps it’s an opportunity: when he finds Tiz, they’ll have a chance to speak alone. It might be easier to convince at least one of his friends about Airy first, rather than shock all three at the same time with this thundaga of an epiphany. All four of them are protective of one another, which is normally a good thing. It just might not be the most helpful when he’s trying to convince his friends that a fairy near-exactly identical to the one who has mocked, betrayed and attempted to kill them really doesn’t mean to do anything of the sort.
“Mm… it was on the road by the graveyard,” Egil says. “I thought maybe he was going to visit his brother’s grave for a moment. He does that every now and then.”
Hearing that makes Ringabel think of the Reunion Festival; he and Edea and Agnès had all been excited for the event, but Tiz had become strangely reticent and withdrawn, lamely trying to excuse himself from partaking in the festivities at all before Ringabel had managed to strong-arm him by hinting that without a partner, Agnès would be the center of attention from men on the prowl. Even after agreeing to come along, it was clear that Tiz was forcing himself to go along with his friends’ partying rather than enjoying it. Thankfully, he’d gained a genuine smile by the end of the night and opened his heart again, admitting that he had felt guilty about participating in a celebration meant for friends and family without his brother. This was a celebratory reunion…could those kind of feelings have been stirred up again? That he shouldn’t be enjoying himself, because his brother could not?
Ringabel would think no; that had happened a few months into their journey, and in the year and a half that had followed, Tiz’s grief had subsided, lingering but no longer consuming. The boy who had been unable to enjoy a festival in his sadness would never have been able to leave a counterpart of his brother behind on another world, knowing their quest was too important to abandon and too dangerous to take a child on. That he would think of his brother on this day wasn’t strange, but Ringabel seriously doubts he would let memories keep him from meeting with his friends.
Still, it won’t be much of a delay to check in the graveyard before asking around elsewhere, so Ringabel decides he can give it a quick look. “I’ll be back soon,” he announces. “Edea…please leave some food for me.” He’s been piloting for so long today, he’s famished, and the spread Karl’s prepared looks delicious.
“Ha! I’m eating Tiz’s share. His penalty for being so late.”
“Edea!” Agnès exclaims.
“No, no, it seems fair enough,” Ringabel says with a laugh as he steps back out. The air has cooled with the sun set, but Caldisla’s fall is more like Eternia’s high summer; the chill is barely perceptible to him, and he only gives a slight shift to raise his stole in response. The dark form of Grandship is easily distinguishable from the other shadows of the evening by its sheer size, and he casts an eye toward it. Not that he thinks it’s in any danger of being stolen, but he does wonder what Airy is doing to keep herself occupied. This might take a bit longer than he’d originally thought, now that he needs to shepherd a missing shepherd. Good grief…
Except that Tiz is in the first place he checks. The graveyard. It makes no sense, but there’s still enough light in the sky as Ringabel reaches the top of the steps leading in for him to spy a body by the graves—a body that is lying facedown in the ground, in the last place any sane person would choose for a nap. It’s alarming enough to make Ringabel quicken his pace before the mussed-up head of brown hair registers and he knows for dead certain that it’s Tiz. Then he’s running to his friend’s side.
“Tiz!” doesn’t so much as react, and Ringabel raises his voice louder and draws the name out. “TIIIZ!” Still nothing; Ringabel can’t see any injuries to the back, so he works on turning the man over slowly. The clamminess of Tiz’s skin is disquieting; Ringabel wants to rationalize it away as due to the cold night when he realizes—the problem isn’t that Tiz is cold. The problem is that his body’s not reacting to the chill. A person shivers in their sleep if cold. An unconscious person shivers if cold. A comatose person shivers if cold, he used to hear the nurses talk in Eternia! It’s an automatic survival function and yet, Tiz is only moving to draw breath. Ringabel hastily yanks his jacket off to wrap Tiz more warmly even as he tries to make sense of it. Tiz’s cotton shirt may be on the thin side for late fall, especially at night, but this is hardly a night one would expect to cause hypothermia, and the inn is so close by for shelter. It can’t be the cold that’s caused his collapse, and he has no apparent injuries on front or back. With such a relaxed face, he looks like he’s merely sleeping.
Sleeping. An enchantment? Ringabel applies the white magic he’s learned with a hasty esuna, then a life spell. The man’s skin warms, mercifully, but Tiz doesn’t wake as hoped. Esuna again? There’s absolutely no reaction and Ringabel growls, just barely restraining himself from shaking or slapping his friend. If he hasn’t woken for anything else, those won’t help; jarring his head might make it worse, and who even knows what worse is when a life spell can’t revive him. “TIZ!”
Nothing. What did he expect? He needs to get Tiz to the inn—Agnès has always been the more talented healer, perhaps she’ll see what he’s obviously missing. At the very least the autumn chill won’t weaken Tiz’s body any further, whatever his condition may be. Ringabel works an arm underneath his back again, the other under the slightly smaller man’s thighs; Tiz is more solidly built, but Ringabel has enough experience in carrying unconscious comrades to easily lift him.
But there are already boots pounding up the paved steps. On an otherwise peaceful night, Ringabel’s yelling must have carried, because it’s Edea and Agnès who appear, followed closely by Egil. Edea halts as soon as she sees Tiz in his arms, her hand flying up to her mouth in alarm before she steps forward. Agnès does not stop for surprise; though her eyes widen, and he hears a cry catch in her throat, she runs straight to him and sweeps her eyes over Tiz, assessing him. “What’s happened to him?” she asks.
“I—I don’t know,” Ringabel admits, and his stomach sinks all the way down to his feet because it’s absolutely true. He doesn’t have a clue. There’s the stunned thought as Agnès begins her own repertoire of white magic, escalating all the way to the powerful raise spell with no reaction, that now he really knows he’s back home.
He’s come back in a world where he has no foreknowledge. Where terrible things can and will happen suddenly, and he has no idea why.
(no subject)
Date: 2014-06-21 10:34 am (UTC)*ahem* Putting thoughts into some kind of order...
Well, I want to read Pocketbook of R a bit more now, though you've done a good job alluding to the events in a way that piques the interest but covers in sufficient details for it to be left at that without requiring reading the book. And I like the way the audio-drama of the festival was worked in too. And the second Airy's origin; is that from PoR or is that your own head-canon? I like all the little details about the problems of docking the Grand Ship too.
Was it a conscious choice that whenever Ringabel thinks of his friends, Tiz is always first? I just find it interesting as I suspect a lot of the time Edea would wind up as his first thought, but there is a definite feel here that Ringabel is less certain about Edea now (I like the little detail of his not knowing what to do when she hugs him, or playing at being put out when she's slower to react to his appearance). And how much he has missed them all.
Then... then... As soon as the others expected Tiz I knew this couldn't end well and the slow burning worry/tension as Ringabel says he'll go look for Tiz, no one panicking or worried, just confused as to where he has got to at this point. And then how all this ties together the messages scribbled in his note-book, the extra entry in Ringabel's journal about finding Tiz post game... And running through every usual method of awakening and nothing works. I like all the little details about cold and shivering too and how that signals something is so much worse here. And the last lines are really effective; he's so used to knowing something of the future, so used to knowing or being able to extrapolate how things will go, that this moment he has no idea of what is happening has cut him adrift. And maybe he's already fearing the worse when all he knows is that Esuna has failed twice...
Looking forward to part 2 (safe in the knowledge that Tiz will be okay)!
(no subject)
Date: 2014-06-21 04:25 pm (UTC)Hm. I might need to edit because I'm not sure about the feel of Ringabel being less certain about Edea. I mean, I do imagine he's less certain about saying things like "WILL YOU MARRY ME" lol, but he still loves her. I think part of the reason Tiz was coming first in the friendship list actually WAS that--Tiz is 100% friend (and a closer friend than Agnès, though of course Ringabel still likes her), while Edea is in a slightly different category--but it might also be just that the focus of this fic is revolving more around his collapse and Ringabel's reaction/actions around that than Ringabel/Edea. (Also he doesn't know what to do when she hugs him just because it's a very affectionate thing and maybe a bit more than he was expecting from her--like how he freezes up in the dungeon when she suddenly tells him he can take her out on a date. ...And he's not playing at being put out...XD I was amused by his little "Florem! It has to be Florem! Florem, Florem, Florem!" tantrum in the drama CD and imagined him getting into a genuine snit when they call out for Tiz instead of him. Just. Not quite as ranty as the FLOREM FLOREM FLOREM bit because I don't think people would expect that from English dub Ringabel XD)
The shivering bit was kind of interesting because I ended up doing a little bit of searching about it! I didn't know at all at first if comatose patients shiver or not; it turns out they usually do, but not if they have a certain kind of brain damage. So because there's actually something wrong with Tiz's brain mentioned in the trailer, and he thought the Celestial leaving was going to kill him, I decided to go with him not--but Ringabel knows that's very wrong for just about anyone, except perhaps a hypothermia victim, because he used to live in Eternia and spent so much time visiting the hospital for Mahzer. So it just became something that sticks out at him because it's very, very wrong, it doesn't make sense. And yeah, that he doesn't have any idea what's wrong is so strange after not just the past six months of PoR, but also having D's journal/returning memories/memories made as Ringabel in past worlds as he went through the cycle again and again and got to understand most things better--now he's in an entirely new scenario.
I'm glad you like it and are looking forward to the next part! Although. "okay" is a relative term when Tiz is stuck in a coma...
(no subject)
Date: 2014-06-21 04:53 pm (UTC)Ah! Apologies, that was kind of what I meant about Ringabel being less certain with regards to Edea; that the hug has blown some fuses in his head as he was prepared to come back and have to work at things between the two of them and she's sped right past where he thought he'd be with her. My awkward phrasing sorry! And re-reading Ringabel's entrance does make clearer he is disheartened they were calling for Tiz. Ah, I did suspect it might be because of the fic's focus that Tiz was listed first, though I kind of like that idea that its part of how he thinks of them all in terms of friendships and other aspects.
I have learned a new thing today about comas! But yeah, I can definitely see Alternis/Ringabel hearing that in Eternia and being one of those little bits of information that just stick. And that the detail is going to start really worrying him. No sign of any external damage, no indication of status ailments, then there might be nothing they can do for him with current medical technology/their abilities (and Victor is gone, DeRosso is probably gone (I think the idea of them all sacrificing themselves makes the most sense even though I'd rather keep him around), the Healing Tower is deactivated... so there's no one obvious to turn to. I think there is a fic which covers this section without the allusions to PoR (and if I remember right without Ringabel either) which did imply they were recycling Victor's mechanisms for Victoria which from memory kind of fits with the Bravely Second trailer...)
Haha - well, "okay" in the sense of assuming this isn't diverging, then he should wake up to meet Magnolia at some point (not the best way for Tiz to be, but he's not dead!)... I am curious as to how messy meeting the second Airy might get now; I can imagine her tired of waiting and bursting in at a stunningly inopportune moment and very grumpy.