Red Mage in the Wastelands (Adv, Open)

The wastelands around Midgar were still lifeless and blasted, though matters had improved dramatically since the rains of the Great Gospel had fallen down on the thirsty land. Green had started appearing in odd places, giving hope for the future of a world which had been rocked by catastrophe after catastrophe. There was an airship setting on the ground in one of those patches of green on the edge of the blasted land around the city itself. On the ground a distance from the airship there were two figures walking.

One was a girl in red and gold, with white hair flowing down her back and jewel-bright green eyes. At her side was a smaller man, broad of shoulder and barrel-chested, with white hair, as well, and piercing blue eyes. He had a neatly trimmed beard on his chin.

The similarity of hair color might make a person think that they were related by blood, but that person would be wrong. The girl was undeniably human, even if her styling was odd for the environment of Midgar and the outlying settlements. Her companion, though, was not human, not by any stretch of the imagination. He was a dwarf.

Dwarves weren't native to Midgar, so the presence of the two was notable because they both came from off-world. Now, off-worlders weren't uncommon in some places, but they were notable for the oddity since travel between worlds wasn't exactly common yet.

Most oddly? They seemed to be arguing.

"Telira, this isn't a good idea." The dwarf was walking fast to keep up with the girl, but his expression was one of extreme concern and worry. He scanned the horizon around them for threats, but the girl was focused on other things.

"Soren, I swear, you're acting like you're my mother. I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for longer than I've known you. I started fighting pirates on the piers of Pravoka when I was twelve." She had to fight to keep from rolling her eyes at him. Of course, there were complications involved in her statement that she didn't think would be helpful to bring up. History rewriting makes everything complicated as hell.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked over at her. "Yeah, but you aren't the same girl you were at twelve, either." Something unspoken passed between them and he sighed. "Look, Tel, can you really blame me for being concerned? You don't need to be running around like this. It worries me."

She shook her head. "That's why I have to keep moving, keep going. I can't… I can't let what I don't know turn me into something I'm not. I can't let it keep me locked inside my airship tethered to some castle back on our world, no matter that the stuffed shirts would love to be able to have me at their beck and call."

He sighed deeply. As much as he wondered about what they didn't know, he was afraid to look too closely for fear of what he'd see. "Alright, but for the record, I don't like this."

She chuckled. "I didn't think you would."

Angeal sat there for a moment he heard a small commotion in the background about there had been a airship that had landed in the desert. Blinking a little bit he walked over to where he heard the people and listened in to their conversation at the moment. “Yeah did you hear there was a airship that landed a little bit ago over there. Yeah you can see the people coming out of it even when they look a little small. But I think they are from a different world I don’t know of anyone that short but a child. And their airship seems a bit different from the ones here I mean we don’t have airships but we got planes and helicopters.” They continued to bicker back and forth between each other. Angeal thought for a moment to himself. I wonder who would come here of all places. It’s pretty much dead here.

Angeal started walking in the direction of the ship to find out who it was. Noting that the people standing beside him turned to look at angeal as he started walking off towards it. They knew him as a former soldier and he had left shinra a long time ago. But it seemed that this didn’t matter they still saw him as one of the first class soldiers and that was something not to be messed with. Walking up to the ship he noticed the details on it. He saw ahead of him what seemed to be two people. The male short and well defined with muscles as if he had been a worker most of his life or a warrior like angeal. And then a female with long white hair. And a red scarlet looking dress. He looked back at the male and noted the details on him.

Angeal sat there for a minute not knowing what he was going to do but when they got closer the man’s details began to form. He wasn’t tall at all in fact maybe the shortest person he had seen with a beard that was nicely kept he would say. He was well built around the shoulders and was decently proportional for his size. It wasn’t a laughing matter but angeal couldn’t help but smile when he saw him. As he got closer he noticed that they almost seemed alike and that was something he couldn’t pass by. They seemed to be the same but at the same time with how they where bickering it felt as if they weren’t. Just seemed as if they cared for each other like he did for Zack sort of a friendship or a bond. He got closer to them without interrupting their argument between them.

Angeal sat there for a minute they could now see him clearly as he could see them. Angeal was standing at a six foot five in height. His muscles where that of an average man that he thought. Others said he was well built in a word. His chest and body length seemed to match each other well. His arms where a decent size from wielding his sword all the time. He was built like a brick house as some would say. “Sorry to intrude on your conversation but can I ask what you are doing in this word. I just ask all visitors this just in case they plan on bringing harm to this world that I call home.” He said starring at them with a s mall smile he didn’t know what he was going to do exactly but that was what he figured would be a nice start.

When the mountainous SOLDIER appeared, the two turned immediately to face him. The male drew what looked to be a pistol of some sort and held it trained on him. The female reached around to the small of her back and pulled out… a bladeless rapier? For a moment it must have looked as though she'd lost her mind to wield a weapon without a blade, until a blade of pure white fire emerged from the handle, crackling with energy as she held it in a ready position.

Obviously things could be very different than they appeared.

After a moment, when it became apparent that the SOLDIER wasn't going to immediately attack, the girl moved her thumb slightly and the blade disappeared with a snap and pop of energy and she put the empty handle back into place hidden in the small of her back. The male, though, didn't put his weapon away, though he did lower it slightly so that it was no longer an immediate concern. Apparently he didn't trust the man.

The girl nodded to him, accepting the question in the spirit in which it was intended. "I understand completely. I'd want to know what strangers were doing on my world too, of course, I have larger issues there because my people aren't… exactly the best prepared for offworlders." She took a deep breath. "The simple answer is that I'm not really doing much of anything. I'm exploring, seeing what is out there and what could possibly make its way back home. I'm trying to know what I'm likely to face before I face it." She paused. "Call it reconnaissance if you must, but I mean nothing sinister with my behavior."

She looked over and realized that her companion still had his weapon drawn and rolled her eyes. "Soren, put up the gun. If he was going to attack, he'd have done it by now."

The dwarf shook his head. "I'm not about to let you get carried off to who knows where again. Wanting to know about visitors is all well and good, but I want to know if you intend to be a threat to my clanswoman here."

The girl blinked in surprise for a moment, wavering on her feet before regaining her composure. "Oookay… does Ilserun know you claim me as clan?" She shook her head. "You know what, never mind, we'll discuss that later, when you aren't holding a gun on someone who might simply be a duly authorized representative of a world government, okay?"

The dwarf merely shook his head. "No, if he's a proper representative, then I want to know who he represents and what his intentions are. I'm not kidding here, Tel, I'm not taking any more chances with you or your safety. I don't care what you say."

She rolled her eyes and facepalmed in frustration before straightening and facing the SOLDIER. "You'll have to forgive him. I'm Lady Telira LeNaen, holder of the World Seat of the World of One." She chuckled depreciatingly. "My friend is Soren of Mount Duergar, and he's a bit paranoid because of recent events at the Multiplex. Would you care to introduce yourself?"

Angeal stood there for a minute as the dwarven man pulled out the gun angeal pulled out his shinra sword it match even with both of them. He didn’t know how skilled these two where but he knew that he had to be careful or it might just turn out a little bit bad for him considering it was two against one. But then the female put her blade away thus Angeal followed suit. He had his hand on his buster sword though in case the dwarven male decided it was time to get physical or in a fight as he called it.

Angeal stood there as their bickering continued between one another and how she had said she served for the first world he took his hand away from his blade and spoke softly. “I serve no one as to right now this world has no leader. In fact I am also known as Angeal Hewley when you asked for my name. I know it’s nothing special since I am in fact dressed as a soldier I can see why you take defensive action thinking I am part of Shinra. But to be truthful I am not one of them anymore.”

Angeal sat there thinking for a minute on what else he could tell them or what they would want to hear but that was up to them there wasn’t anything he could do about it and he knew that. Once they made up their mind that was their doing and not his. He waited for a minute and noticed the man had not placed his weapon away so he held his buster sword with a firm grip ready to fight back if he had too. And if the man chooses to put it away so would Angeal that was how he was.

Looking up at the sky he took a deep breath and began explaining why he wasn’t working with shinra anymore. “I fight for what I feel is right and that is all. I fight by what my heart tells me and it tells me to protect this world with all I can. If I can’t do a simple mission like that then what type of teacher am I? I mean I was able to teach Zack some things to protect his dream and honor and he died saving a person that he choose to be his successor or pupil.”

Looking at them he drew his buster sword out and held it in on hand. “And if you are truly here to point guns at people then I am sorry I won’t allow it at all. This will be the fight that you won’t be having fun in.” He said as his voice got serious at the last sentence. It seemed that Angel was telling the truth. They won’t have fun with this fight if they held that gun pointing at all. And that was something Angeal knew would get them in trouble was that gun. And he wasn’t going to let them continue with it drawn.

The two considered his words for a time and then Soren slowly put his weapon back in the holster at his side. "I don't trust you, but Tel's right. If you were gonna do something, you probably would have already done it." He glared at the SOLDIER, after a moment. "You better not pull anything, though."

Now that the immediate threat of conflict was over, Telira was rapidly becoming aware of a slightly different problem. While she'd been trying to talk Soren into not trying to perforate someone who was just looking after the safety of his world, as she would have done back on their own soil, she'd been distracted from just how immense Angeal was in comparison to her own slight figure. Now that the matter seemed to be resolved it was all she could do not to stare at him.

He was huge and his hands… she couldn't stop from looking at his hands and being strangely aware of just how big they were. She was doing her best not to let it show, but she couldn't help but be aware of him. There was a gentleness, though, in his movements that reminded her of the friends whose names she had lost and not yet recovered.

He reminded her of Monk, and he had been the largest man she'd ever seen up to that point. His hands had been strong, but gentle around her. Even though she'd been terrified of his hands, he'd never actually hurt her. Black Mage had trusted him completely, and she was even more easily broken than Telira was. The term, if she remembered correctly, was that mages like her were… "squishy".

Still, being so near someone who could, literally, break her in half made her stomach flip several directions at once, for all that she was trying not to let it show quite as obviously as she felt it.

She nodded to him politely and did her best to keep from showing how she trembled. Dear Crystals, he was big. "I apologize for Soren's belligerence. As I said, he's a bit overprotective of late and some of the worlds are known to have hazards from more than just the monsters." She hesitated just slightly and decided to take a risk and trust him in spite of what caution would advise. "We had an incident occur in the Universal Multiplex… I'm afraid that I was incautious and went missing for a span of two hours." She paused again. "We don't know what happened during that time, so the lack of knowledge has both of us on edge."

Soren looked at her out of the corner of his eye. What was she doing? Was she trying to make things worse? He was already dealing with incredible guilt over what happened and what they didn't know. He knew her well enough by now to know that she'd never be intentionally cruel, not to him, but he just didn't understand why she was telling a stranger about that event.

Telira took a deep breath to try to settle her nerves, but probably wasn't as successful as she meant to be. "What kind of a world is this?" She was genuinely curious about the world. Maybe she could calm herself if she concentrated on something other than just how huge Angeal was.

Angeal stood there for a minute and sighed slightly putting his sword away he knew that this couple meant no harm to this place and that he didn’t want to know anything about why the male had put his gun away but as he did Angeal put his sword away. He noticed that the girl was shaking a little bit but her voice was strong and Secure she explained to them they had been a little worried about what had happened. The two of them remember nothing that had happen to them and that they had nothing to do but check out the other worlds to get some information about their places that may seem like interest. Nodding a little bit angeal looked back at the world. “This place use to be full of beauty then shinra came. And you can hardly see the trees or lands around here anymore.”

He turned back around and spoke to the girl in a tone that seemed kind and gentle and at the same time stern. “If it wasn’t for the fact that I trust you two right now I would not tell you this but…. This place is about t be changed in a way that isn’t what you would think. I plan on stopping shinra from advancing any further. I want to restore this place to the way it used to be before they came. I want to restore the natural beauty to here. Get the plants growing again. Getting the green grass back and getting the flowers of the seasons to bloom once more. And get their building to stop digging into the life stream. That way it can grow strong again and be repaired to restore back life to this world.” He said looking at them. They probably didn’t understand.

Sitting there for a minute he turned back around and smiled slightly. “Call me a fool but to me to become stronger you need dreams. And those dreams are your honor. If you let someone trample your dreams then there is no way that you can hold your honor anymore. If you can’t protect that is dear to you then how do you expect to help the world? Dreams cannot be taken from you but others can manipulate you with them in a way to control you and tell you that they can make it come true. That’s why you fight your own way for your dreams. If it feels right to join them then do it. If it isn’t then you don’t join them it’s simple as that. My dream isn’t simple but I can start on the small stuff to get there for it.” He turned back to them smiling. He knows he sounds like a idiot but that was his way of thinking. They may be understood him or maybe they didn’t . That was for them to think in their own heads and see if they understand. Or if they thought he was a big giant Psycho of a man.

"As for my name. I am Angeal Hewley."

Soren nodded at Angeal's words. "That's quite a goal you've set for yourself, putting a whole world to rights after it's been broken this badly." He looked around at the wasteland that was just barely starting to show the first signs of life again. "You might be in for the fight of several lifetimes, but it's a worthy goal all the same." He turned back to Angeal. "I've heard the name 'ShinRa' mentioned, but no one would ever explain what it meant or why it was whispered and never spoken loudly."

Telira, though, was caught by surprise and stood stunned for a time, lost in her own thoughts. Dreams… it struck her as very strange that he would use that term when she was haunted by dreams of a time that had been erased from the progress of history. Friendship, and more than friendship, had been shattered when the endless loop of time was broken by the actions of four teenagers caught in an adventure not of their own making. They'd walked to their own destruction, hearts breaking under the strain even as determination pushed the four of them forward.

Promises had been made; impossible promises of reunion on the other side. Finding each other once the world had been set right and time restored to proper progression. But how could those promises be kept when they wouldn't even remember that they had ever been made? Still, Telira knew she'd made them, sworn that she would find a way to make it possible, even if she hadn't really believed her own words. It was the only way to keep Black Mage from giving in to despair.

And here was a man who spoke of dreams and fighting for them, and all she could think of was if the impossible was somehow not so impossible as it seemed. After all, by all rights she shouldn't remember anything of the time that was lost, and yet the memories were becoming more and more clear with every day that passed. She could almost remember the names of her friends, but the knowledge hovered just out of her reach, tantalizing and frustrating at the same time. She didn't know what to do, what she needed to do to find them again… if they even really existed.

Gilgamesh had said that Warrior was fighting an endless war in another dimension. But where were Monk and Black Mage?

She pulled the crystal shard from hiding and held it in her hand, watched the way it pulsed with a clear green light and then looked up at Angeal. "You speak of dreams like someone who knows what it is to have them stolen. Please, have you ever seen a warrior carrying a crystal like this? He would fight with his hands, just his hands, and the crystal would be colored red like fire. Or a woman with magic who could command the elements carrying a crystal that burned yellow-gold as her eyes?" She trembled, couldn't stop herself. This was more important than the fear she felt whenever near a man larger and stronger than herself, more important than the confusing thrill the fear gave her. "Please, they might not even have the crystals with them, but they… they would have at some point." She paused, an even more impossible hope rising in her heart. His eyes were the wrong color, his weapons different… but maybe he'd been changed by the rewriting of time. "You… you remind me of the one, his size and strength."

Angeal sat there for a minute and listened to the girl speak for a minute he nodded his head gently then he heard her ask about someone with a crystal just like the one that she had thinking for a minute he didn’t know if there was someone like that he had meet before. But thinking really carefully he remembered hearing a rumor that there was one strong in mind soul and body that seemed to be fighting not too far from here. “I heard about someone like that in a different world. I believe he is world eight or nine.” He said sitting there starring at her softly he didn’t know but he remembered that he was somewhere around on this world or those two. But that was his guess on what he had heard about someone that used his fist instead of his weapons. But that’s what he thought.

Angeal sat there for a minute he wasn’t certain what else he could do but then he thought for a second and spoke up to the girl. “But I don’t think it won’t happen that you will meet each other again. As long as you hold some dreams and promises. Don’t let that stop you. Fight for them and protect your dreams. And hell I will help you find this man that you want to. I will help you find the other that you seek. I will gladly lay down my arms to help you and find out what is going on and what exactly that you need in order to find this man. And if you need anything else you may come to this world here and talk to me I will always be here waiting.” He said laughing a little bit. Angeal was training to get stronger than ShinRa and that was his goal.

He had told them that he was planning on getting this world back to how it was. That was his dream and his promise to Zack or his own little whisper of a promise to the life stream. He sat there and started to walk towards them he spoke in a gently voice and laid his hand gently on her shoulder and he smiled at her and spoke “What I didn’t expect was you to feel as if you were afraid. Your voice and the way you hesitate on stepping forward and speaking what you had in your head.” He looked over at soren he didn’t know if he was going to react in a good way maybe he thought he was going to harm his kinsmen or something. But he knew that was what he called her before and that was things that he didn’t know about.

“If you need a little bit of time both of you to rest and get used to this world you can stay with me for a little while till I take care of both of you for a little bit.” He started walking towards the city now.

Soren was rather surprised at Telira's question towards this stranger. He'd seen the crystal she wore, but had never really thought much of it. He knew of the four great Crystals from their homeworld, knew in an intellectual, distant sort of way that there were for complementary crystal shards somewhere. He'd never really had a cause to think about the crystal shard that Telira carried being one of those four, but he'd never really not known that it was one either.

But the desperate tone in her voice… he'd have to have been a blind and deaf imbecile not to have caught the emotion in her wavering voice, the hope warring with rational hopelessness. And yet… she'd never mentioned these people to him. They obviously meant as much to her as… well, as she meant to him, he supposed. It made him curious and more than a little confused by the thought that she'd never have spoken of people who meant so much to her.

Angeal's answer did little to calm Soren's concerns, but it did give Telira sudden hope, and that was physically painful in some ways. Possibilities on other worlds, the worlds of… of Balamb and of Gaia. She'd been to Balamb, knew someone who was probably there. She couldn't imagine that he hadn't found his way back to Balamb somehow, though she didn't know if it was quite the Balamb he expected to find.

She nodded at his words. "I shall… shall have to search there, then." She'd hoped that somehow he would know either of them personally… or that he would have produced the Fire Crystal shard himself. Even the thought, though, made her sigh at her own idiocy. This man wielded blades, not his fists. There was no way that he could be the Monk of her dreams.

But he was similar enough in build and strength that Telira didn't want to say farewell, not yet at least. No matter that the very things she didn't know how to deal with left her with such an aching confusion. When Angeal mentioned her obvious fear, Telira blushed in embarrassment and looked away, afraid to look up into his face with her stomach twisting in knots and a strange sense of electric ice shooting through those knots. "I… I can't help it. I'm sorry…" She didn't know how to explain that she was terrified by the very things she wanted most.

Even the things she didn't understand.

She started to say something else, to try to explain herself further, when her stomach abruptly twisted on her in another way entirely. This was no fear twinge. Her complexion paled suddenly and she wrapped her arms around her midsection, clamping her jaw shut for a moment. Soren saw the way her face whitened and he was at her side in a moment.

"Tel, are you alright?"

Telira was silent for a moment before she could trust herself to simply nod. She drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out, hoping that the stomach cramp would ease naturally, it did. "Yeah… I'm alright. Just… just felt really sick all of a sudden." She started to say something else when she abruptly bent double and was messily, and noisily, sick over the dusty soil at their feet.

Angeal sat there for a moment not sure of what had just happened he had walked over and gently placed his hand on this girls shoulder and then the next thing he knew she was puking all over his feet. Thinking for a minute and then he knew what was going on with her he looked at her companion and smiled. “Sorry about this but I have to do this real fast.” Picking the girl up he took her back towards the ship. Kicking off his shoes before entering it he walked to different doors searching for a room. Seeing a small door the size of the girls height only a bit taller he opened it finding a small room with a bed. Walking over he sets the girl down gently on the bed and thinks for a minute thinking how he could tell her about it and how she would react.

Taking a small breath he looked at the girl and smiled slightly. “I don’t know if you noticed or not. Judging about how you where walking and how you where feeling and talking to your friend like it was nothing and seeing how you acted. I hate to tell you this but I figure it is absolutely necessary to tell you. I have friends that this has happened to before and prepare yourself both of you.” Pausing for a minute and looked at the girl and laughed a little bit smiling brightly. “It seems you got yourself a little one coming on the way. I mean it is a bit strange but it seems that you have either got knocked up by a fellow friend or during your memory wipe you can’t remember how it happened.” He said thinking for a minute that she might need a little proof.

Looking at the girl he had just meet he took her hand gently and places it on her stomach while he uses his hand to gently tap the bottom of her stomach. Which most babies respond to with a kick. A small kick could be felt on her hand. Angeal could feel it through her hand as well. Smiling at her slightly he spoke in a soft tone and a kind one. “I don’t think you should be travelling so much what happens when the kid is due and you’re not anywhere near your home planet and then you also know that someone doesn’t like you too much and that is always a bad combination.” He said laughing softly he looked at Tel’s partner and smiles slightly. “You should of know that your kinsman was pregnant. Especially if she wasn’t acting like she normally did and with some sickness.”

Thinking for a minute he reached up and tore a bit of his shirt off and gently rubbed it between his hands. Making it warm for a minute he lifted up the girls shirt gently and places the small warm rag on the stomach making the baby calm down and gently drift to a small sleep also causing the cramps and feelings of throwing up to cease for now.

When Telira was so obviously and overwhelmingly sick, Soren was stunned for a moment. He was scared, utterly terrified, but he simply couldn't deny the truth he'd suspected for some time. Hell, he'd been afraid to even bring up the possibility for fear of making it true… but he was doing Tel a disservice if he didn't face the horrific possibilities.

Telira wasn't really aware of anything other than the churning in her stomach as Angeal lifted her up in his incredibly muscled arms. She knew that she should be terrified. If she'd been less sick, she would have been trembling from fear and other emotions she really didn't know if she could face. He was just so big and so very strong… his hands could crush her as easily as they could cradle her…

She was vaguely aware of Angeal carrying her back into her airship, aware of the way the crewmen moved out of his way as he passed with her, the way the Commodore scampered ahead of them to open the door to her cabin, crooning in concern. She knew that Soren followed behind them, heard his voice as he warned the crewmen to leave them be as she was set down on her bed.

Angeal's explanation, though, for her illness caused her eyes to widen in shock as her whole world shrunk down to the sound of his voice and the impossible suggestion that she was… that she had… She trembled with disbelief. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible.

Soren felt his heart sink into his stomach as Angeal confirmed his darkest fears. He looked up to face Telira's eyes and he felt the terror once again that had flooded him from the moment he'd found her brutalized body in the hidden alley in the Multiplex. He slowly nodded to Angeal. "I… I suspected that might be the case…" he sighed and motioned to the man to speak to him privately.

Once they were out of earshot of the disbelieving Red Mage, Soren spoke quietly. "You don't know the condition she was in when I found her. I… I prayed that this wasn't happening. The fact of the matter is that I know enough to be terrified for her but not enough to know what it was that got to her… She could be carrying the child of a demon for all either of us know, a cursed seed that will bring only sorrow and destruction… or she could have willingly endured what horrors she was subjected to… I do not know. She doesn't know. I…" he paused again and decided that honesty was called for… if he'd read Telira's reactions to this man correctly, "I never told her what I saw that night. She was bruised, and torn, and bleeding in ways that no woman ever should be." He shook his head. "I have not told her. I cannot tell her."

Telira lay on her bed, silently stunned by the news. She'd felt the movement within her body, knew it to be true. She put a hand on her belly, feeling the scrap of fabric that Angeal had placed there to comfort her child.

The thought itself made her tremble. Her child. She was carrying a child. The very treasure she thought she'd lost all hope for when time was unwound and rewritten… when she'd lost her friends and all that they meant to her. It was impossible… but… She trembled in a moment of fear. She knew that there were things that Soren wasn't telling her. She knew that she had no one close enough to have sired this child, knew that it would have had to have happened during that time she couldn't remember… Someone sired this child, but who?