Escape from the Desert Life

'Three degrees East...two south...breathe deep...release...'

BANG!

Sira's body barely moved, long ago accustomed to the kickback of her Desert Rifle, as the lone bullet traveled through the air. The sound attracted the attention of the fledgling Zuu, but not fast enough for it to avoid the bullet that pierced it's skull. It didn't even have a chance to cry out before its limp body hit the sands, staining the golden ground black.

Unmoving from her position, she scaned the area around her, not seeing another life form anywhere.

“I think we're safe to move Scanbot,” she said softly, standing up and brushing the sand from her leather outfit. She used her scarf to wipe her brow, before lifting up her goggles, revealing her purple Al Bhed eyes.

“All seems clear Subject,” the small, mechanical orb stated, floating around her and looking everywhere.

Sira simply sighed and went to smack the small orb, only for it to avoid it with a side roll.

“It's Sira, not subject...” she grumbled, before shouldering her rifle and heading down the massive dune they were on, jumping and sliding where needed.

Bikanel Desert, ex home of the Al Bhed. The middle of no where and hotter then the gut of a Sand Wurm. She knew that one by experience, and that was not something she wanted to repeat. In a land where getting a shower was as hard as landing on the moon, she had reeked of more then just motor oil for a good two weeks. Again, not something she felt like repeating.

“So Subject, just where are we heading?”

“We're going to the edge of the island, and hopefully, we can find some way off this forsaken rock. I'm tired of living alone Scanbot, and I'm tired of the desert, the fiends, the memories...So, let's get moving! We're burning daylight...or rather being burned by daylight,” she grumbled in the end, before setting off in a light jog towards one of the edges of the island.

'Two weeks and still not an end to this forsaken land in sight...I'm starting to wonder if I'm dead and this is somehow my Farplane...'

Sira sighed and paused under the shade of one of the few oasis that spotted the desert, taking a seat by the water's edge as the burning day turned towards one of those freezing nights. She stared over the water's reflection, her skin much darker then her natural tan from lack of shelter from the violent rays of the sun, feeling the sting of despair slowly penetrating her thick skull.

"Scanbot, are you sure we haven't been roaming in circles?" she asked, her voice slightly raspy from lack of use, other then the natural cuss words whenever something managed to sneak up on them.

"Scanbot is quite certain. We are exiting the inner ring of the Island, and should be only another three days before we reach the edge of this land. However, Scanbot is still not sure how Subject plans on leaving the island without some mode of transportation," the little mechanical orb stated, causing Sira to nod her head.

"Something that can't be planned for. We just have to hope that someone still ships here for one reason or another...if not, at least the beach is better then middle of nothing," she said before standing back up and making her way towards the water, kneeling down and drinking her fill.

"Scanbot is worried however. What of Sin?"

She looked back up and wiped the back of her mouth with her hand.

"Sin only attacks major cities and villages from last recorded knowledge. Besides...maybe we're in luck and we in one of the calms."

"Subject relies too much on this so called luck for her plans...but Scanbot has no other ideas, so must relay on this luck as well."

"Glad to see your so willing to follow me," she said dryly, before filling up several of her water bottles and packing them in with the dried out fiend meat she had been surviving on. This great idea of hers might not have been so great after all...but at least, slowly, she was making progress. Once her bottles were filled, she decided to take advantage of having a water source and stripped down, dipping into the cold water and washing off some of the guts and filth off of her body. She didn't have any soap but she would make due with what she had.

After all, that was how I've survived thus far...

Fyn looked out on the rolling sands of the Bikanel desert. The placed had been his home for his entire life up until three years ago. Three years ago it was all taken away from him when the Guado attacked home and eradicated everyone there. This was the first time he had gone back to the desert since that day and it was good to be back. He had missed the hot sun on his head as the gentle breeze from riding through the skies brushed against his face. His spiraled green eyes scanned the golden sands as the ship trudged slowly along towards the place that was once called Home.

The ships banked and slowly turned down towards the ground. Fyn turned and raised an eyebrow at the empty steering wheel. The ship was on auto-pilot and they were nowhere near their destination. Chuckling to himself, Fyn stood up and said, ”Eliza, care to tell me why you changed the course to land right now?”

”Rumo made me! I said no but he told me that all the others needed a break.” The voice seemed to come from thin air for a moment before a blue transparent woman materialized next to the wheel. The girl couldn’t have been any more than seventeen and appeared to be pouting. ”Can’t we just stop for a little bit?”

Fyn stared at her for a moment before breaking into a huge grin and saying, ”Oh, alright. We can take a break for a few hours, but only a few hours. I’d still like to reach Home by nightfall.” He made a mental note to wring his brother’s neck later before walking towards the prow of the ship to look down at the small oasis that they were going to land near.

Meanwhile, Eliza jumped up and down in excitement for a moment before dissipating. Fyn could hear her voice resounding from below deck that they were stopping to the others. He shook his head, she was ditzy at time, but she was a sweetheart.

The ship slowly lurched forward as the ship made contact with the soft sand and came to a stop. A moment later, Fyn was pinching the bridge of his nose as his brother barreled across the deck and tossed the anchor overboard, letting it’s momentum to carry him over the side and down to the ground, screaming “GERRRRRRRONIMOOOOOOO!!!!!!” the whole way down. Fyn looked up just in time to see Creb launching himself over the railing after him and saying, ”Get back here, you punk! I still owe you from when you threw that wrench in the engine!”

Shortly after, a very large man walked out from below deck carrying a rifle. The man walked straight up to Fyn and said, ”Captain, I vill go zee about fvinding uz zome fvood,” before walking to the railing and silently launching himself over. Fyn was just about to follow suit with everyone else when he heard a voice come from the stairs. Looking back, he saw Vlad standing there with a book in his hand. Vlad pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose before saying, ”Errr… Commandant? Requesting permiszion to ztay on ze zhip? I have zome reading I muzt catch up on.”

Fyn nodded to him before throwing a leg over the railing and hopping down to catch up with the others. He made it a whole twenty yards into the brush after them when he caught up with Creb and Rumo. Creb was holding Rumo up in the air by his shirt collar but neither of them were paying any attention to each other. They were both staring out into the water. Following their line of sight, Fyn quickly realized what they were both staring at. Slapping both of them in the back of their heads to snap them out of their stupor and said, ”That’s no way to make a first impression with a lady.”

Creb quickly dropped Rumo and looked away, a deep blush on his face. Rumo on the other hand, glared up at Fyn from the ground as he rubbed the back of his head. Fyn covered his eyes and walked out into the open and said, ”Miss? It’s really up to you, but I would suggest putting your clothes back on. We didn’t mean to intrude, but it sorta happened. I don’t think you want to be a spectacle for a crew full of men, but then again, I could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Sira sighed slightly as she bathed in the water, lost in her own thoughts and despair as she gazed up at the moonlight. It was at that point where she dove under the water, missing the arrival of the airship and the upcoming disaster as it was about to occur.

As she surfaced, she blinked in surprise, seeing the two men running towards the water, only to stop short as they stared back at her.

"Subject, there seems to be someone approaching...Ah, I see that they have arrived. At least you don't smell like motor oil," came the voice of Scanbot as he hovered by the group, snapping Sira out of her shock like trance.

Her face turned a bright red under her overly tanned cheeks as she quickly covered herself up with her arms and started screaming to the high heavens.

"Uv luinca! Fedr dra milg uv y tufhat lrulupu saadehk yh Aydan eh y lunhan! Muugehk vun baubma vun dfu pmuuto faagc yht hud y cuim eh cekrd cyja vun dra veahtc! E dyga dah sehidac du lmayh ib yht y tysh byndo rybbahc! E ryja dra milg uv y Cyhtfuns cinnuihtat po fydan! Syopa dryd ec fro drao yna cu beccat uvv ymm dra desa!" she cried out, before quickly moving to the shore of the oasis and grabbing her clothing, putting them on as quickly as she could.

Her face was still burning a bright red before turning the last man who had arrived and shaking her head.

"Trust me, if I had my choice, my first meeting with people in years wouldn't be naked in an oasis washing off fiend blood and motor oil," she said, her voice worn as her purple swirled eyes met his own classic green.

"Subject is correct...would rather the meeting be fully covered in fiend blood and motor oil," Scanbot said as it randomly passed by again, just as Sira kicked her rifle up and into her arms. These were the first people she had met in a long time...she wasn't about to take a chance and let her guard down, and while she didn't point the gun at anyone, the fact that she had it up in her arms so quickly showed she knew exactly how to use it.


((Translation : Of course! With the luck of a downed chocobo meeting an Eater in a corner! Looking for people for two bloody weeks and not a soul in sight save for the fiends! I take ten minutes to clean up and a damn party happens! I have the luck of a Sandworm surrounded by water! Maybe that is why they are so pissed off all the time!))

Fyn hid a smirk when the girl screamed out in shock at them. He kept his eyes averted as she tore out of the water to retrieve her clothes. He almost looked up to her when she started to speak in Al Bhed, but quickly caught himself and instead looked at the floating orb that seemed to be calling her "Subject". The orb was a curious little thing that really amazed Fyn. In all his years of working with machina he had never seen anything like it. He would have to inquire about it after he fixed this mess.

Fyn looked down at the woman when she reached for her rifle. He noticed both Rumo and Creb both reached for their weapons in return. He quickly shook his head and held a hand up to them to signal that they were to keep their weapons away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe in as he thought of a way to calm the situation. Opening his eyes, he looked into the Al Bhed girl's... purple eyes? He had never seen purple eyes in an Al Bhed before. The thought completely derailed his train of thought so that his next comment came out more like: E irrr.... E ys taabmo cunno, Cecdan uv Rusa. Bmayca vunkeja ic."

Fyn chuckled at the orb's comment and said to it, "I don't mind the smell of motor oil. It's a better smell than these two." At which Creb chuckled and Rumo dove at his brother, trying to tackle him. Fyn side stepped and watched as he went sprawling across the sand in front of the woman. Fyn walked over to Rumo and placed a foot on his back as he said, "I am Fyn Nyjah and these two are apart of my crew. This one here is my hotheaded brother, Rumo and the walking wall over there is Creb, the ship's engineer."

As he spoke, Eliza materialized right in front of the orb and began staring straight into it, following it as it tried to look around her. Finally she burst out, IT'S SOOOOO CUTE!" Eliza turned and curtsied to the woman and said, "It's so nice to see another woman for once. You can't believe how grueling it is with this crew after a while."


Fyn shook his head and looked at the Al Bhed woman again and said, "That would be Eliza... She's... well, we're just glad she's with us." Scratching the back of his head, Fyn said, "That's all the crew that's present... If you would like, you can come back to the ship and get a proper shower and meal. No offense but you seem like you could use it.

(Translation: I uhhh.... I am deeply sorry, Sister of Home. Please forgive us.)

Sira kept a tight grip on her rifle, noticing the two men reaching for their own weapons. She also noticed the signal Fyn had given to them, causing them to relax their arms. She bit the inside of her lip in a deep thought as she took in the sceen in front of her, focusing her eyes on Fyn once more. The man who called her a 'Sister of Home', something that made her blood run cold for a few moments as memories flooded her normally analytical mind, forgetting all about her previous embarrassment. She blinked a few times before shaking her head, dealing with what was.

"Do me a favor...and don't call me that. I haven't had a brother or sister for several years. Actually haven't had anyone for several years," she said, before shouldering her rifle and securing it with a strap on her back. Her guard was still up, but the fact was that they were far too close for her to use her rifle properly. It was more for show at this range, and her fists were just as good, even without her gloves on.

She took a deep breath as Fyn introduced himself and his crew, committing each name to memory, her mind already running on high as she analyzed each person and...entity that was in front of her, filing it away for future use.

"Nothing to forgive...You certainly didn't know what you were running towards, and I sure didn't know someone would be coming along tonight. Two weeks of nothing, then I have a whole crew show up for a free show...Luck of the Al Bhed it seems," she said simply, standing quite still, as if she was cornered by a pack of fiends. She had been alone for a long time and just didn't know how to deal with people on a more relaxed nature.

Scanbot was currently doing much of the same as Sira was, taking in everyone's height, weight, and trying to determine their weaknesses when the female suddenly appeared in front of it. The lens blinked several times, trying to understand what it was seeing, but couldn't make heads or tails of Eliza's energy.

It slowly started to float over to Sira, before presenting a small screen on it's back, presenting a long list of code to her. Sira took a quick look at all the numbers and nodded her head, before looking up at Eliza for a moment. To appear like that, so suddenly...Sira had never seen anything like that in her life, nor had heard anything like that.

"This is Scanbot, my companion. I'm Sira J'ltsuir," she said simply, reaching up and patting Scanbot on the head, before suddenly pushing it into the dirt with a glare.

"And thats for making an awkward situation even more so you rust bucket," she said, as Scanbot rolled around on the ground for a bit, slowly floating back up and shaking itself free of sand.

"Subject was doing a fine job of that itself. Scanbot is simply stating a fact, as Subject was covered in fiend blood and motor oil before finding this Oasis," it said, floating higher out of range.

Sira sighed slightly. It seemed like she had gotten distracted, or had forgotten that there was a group right in front of her, but the entire time her mind had been considering Fyn's offer. And on an airship! But how could that be?

"I thought only Cid had an airship..." she muttered, before staring back at Fyn, as if searching for any sign of deceit. She stared at him hard for about ten seconds, before clearing her throat.

"No offense taken. I've been in this damn desert for several years and on the move for the past two weeks. I'd have to be completely crazy not to take you up on that offer," she said, a thin smile appearing on her lips as she would have taken a flying fiend to get off this Island at this point. Hell, three days ago she was thinking of trying to lure a Zuu down and jumping on it's back. Thankfully, Scanbot talked her out of that idea.