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Chapter Text

Alice awoke with a start. She was gasping for air, her breath having been knocked out of her for some reason, and her back hurt like she had fallen much further than just out of bed. Her long, black hair was trying its best to obscure her vision and get into her mouth.

"Ah, fucking owww…"

She quickly realised that she was lying on top of a person, and that the lights were on around her. Then she noticed the white stone walls that didn't match her bedroom, a realisation which caused her to begin panicking. With a clatter of footsteps, several people in red and yellow uniforms surrounded her, pointing a variety of weapons at her.

"Owww?" She blinked, looking blearily around at them. "Wait what…?"

The surrounding group wasn't just made up of humans. Why could she see blue-skinned people? And some of the others had visible cat ears and feline eyes! Even in a sleep-addled state, her brain had a very recent frame of reference it immediately brought up for her, even if that frame of reference being real didn't make any logical sense. Wait, she thought. Those can't be… Roegadyn? Miqo'te…?

And they couldn't have been, surely? After all, Final Fantasy XIV was just a video game. The "fantasy" in the title may have been from the series it was a part of, but it was still quite accurate for describing the fictional planet referred to as Hydaelyn. After all, it was a world of magic and monsters, not to mention the numerous different humanoid species, only some of which were currently represented by the soldiers staring her down. Which made the whole "fictional" thing suddenly feel a lot less solid a concept than it had been yesterday.

"Who the… where the…" Alice trailed off as she further recognised two of the people present. Two characters she was very familiar with, albeit from the other side of a computer screen: Limsa Lominsa's Admiral Merlwyb Bloewysfhn, leader of a city-state founded by former pirates; and the Miqo'te Archon, Y'shtola, a woman whose impressive sorcerous might was only matched by her insatiable thirst for knowledge. "H…how… how?!"

"That is what we would like to know…" the Admiral drew her gun, something that looked like a sawn-off shotgun, and aimed it at Alice's head.

Alice stared at it for a moment, half in fear and half convinced this couldn't be real. These people were characters in a fictional narrative, on a planet that she couldn't possibly be on except in a dream. But the pain she was feeling was definitely real, so she was awake, and the more she realised about her situation, the more awake and aware she became. Her skin, caucasian of Mediterranean descent, became pale as the colour drained from it, and clammy from the sweat she could now feel all over her body.

"I… I don't know." Alice started shaking. "I shouldn't even be able to be here…"

"If you'd be so kind as to get off our friend here, maybe we can have a less hostile negotiation." The Admiral gestured below Alice with her gun.

"I- r-right I-" Alice scrambled off of the person she had landed on, the weapons remaining pointed in her direction, with the exception of the Admiral's, now pointed at the ceiling. Alice realised with shock that she had landed on a short woman, who lay unconscious on the stone floor.

The woman had dark purple skin, like an eggplant, and a short bob of white hair held in place by a neat headband. She wore a simple outfit consisting of a green tunic, a pair of shorts, and wore some out-of-place formal shoes. Portions of her body were covered in black scales, and she had a reptilian tail, as well as a pair of forward-swept horns, sprouting from either side of her head in place of ears. It might have been off-putting, had they not been normal features for an Au Ra, her scale colouration marking her more specifically as a Xaela, descended from the planet's equivalent of Mongolia. The person should have been completely alien to Alice, but instead, she was extremely familiar: it was her Warrior of Light character, the protagonist she had crafted in the MMO's character creator herself.

"Alicia…?" Alice said quietly.

"Do you know her?" asked Y'shtola.

"I mean, yeah, I guess? I don't understand what's happening right now though. I shouldn't be here. Can't physically be here. It's not possible and I would think it was a dream if not for how much my back hurts…"

Y'shtola, Merlwyb and Commodore Reyner of the Yellowjackets, a man Alice kept forgetting existed, looked at each other and conferred quietly.

Alice poked at Alicia, who seemed to be unconscious. It took Alice's tired brain a while to figure out if she knew what was happening around her and she realised, in some distant corner of her mind, she did. She couldn't remember the occasion, but there was some story quest that required her to get a pair of dress shoes to attend an event in the Admiral's office. A party only memorable for the background story it presented in a cutscene, where the protagonist falls unconscious while experiencing a vision of the past from the Admiral's memories.

"Oh… The Echo with the Mad Snake bit…" said Alice, not realising she had spoken aloud.

"What did you say?" The Admiral asked sharply, turning back to stare at Alice.

Alice blinked, realising what she had said. "Uh, Alicia has the Echo and is seeing the Calamity from your memories, right?" Then she realised what was happening to Alicia wouldn't exactly be common knowledge, for several reasons.

The Echo was a concept that was known to many around Eorzea, but only a fraction of the people understood even parts of how it worked, let alone the real reason one had it. Many believed it to be part of a blessing bestowed upon champions of the benevolent goddess Hydaelyn, while in truth, it was a separate phenomenon that allowed Hydaelyn's blessing to occur and function at all. To bear the Echo meant that one was a reborn fraction of an ancient being, someone who had awoken to a long-forgotten piece of their soul's power that allowed a person to look into another's memories and experience them as if they had been there. But Alice wasn't in a state to explain that to anyone present.

The main reason she knew what was happening was that it had happened in the game. While playing as Alicia, she had come here to celebrate… something, Alice had long forgotten what, but in the game, Alicia had received a vision while looking upon the Admiral. It was of a time five years ago, when a great capital-C Calamity had ravaged Eorzea and its people. Alice had seen that vision herself… But would anyone believe her if she told them?

"And how, exactly, do you know that?" asked Y'shtola.

Alice sat there, not quite sure how to explain anything, especially how or why she was here now, and definitely not asleep.

"Am I dead?" Alice finally asked. "Is this, like, the afterlife for me because I play this game too much? I'm all for it if so, but I want to know for sure."

"Admiral, I can have her put in a cell and inspected by a chirurgeon, if you wish," suggested the Commodore.

"Wait, no, please, I haven't ever intentionally done anything criminal in my life, please!" Alice started begging, not wanting to just be thrown in prison and forgotten about. That was the worst kind of start for an 'isekai' adventure.

"No, Reyner, not yet," the Admiral told the Commodore. "Get the rest of our guests out and towards home. It seems celebrations are to be cut short tonight."

"A moment, please, Admiral," said Y'shtola. She turned her attention to Alice, staring curiously and with a great deal of suspicion at the human. "You said that you "play this game." What precisely did you mean by that?" She drew her short, branch-like Conjurer's staff, not to use as a weapon but to channel something through.

"Uhhh… I mean something you'll either really hate or not believe," said Alice, praying she sounded as truthful as she was trying to be. "I would not like to be thrown into prison but I am suddenly realising I probably sound insane here.

"Also, um…" Alice pointed down at Alicia. "She's not waking up tonight, and her Echo is going to keep her sleeping until the morning. She should probably be sleeping in a bed."

Y'shtola cast something in Alicia's direction, then nodded agreement. "Whoever she truly is, this woman is correct. There is nothing wrong with our guest of honour, she only requires rest."

"That, yes, exactly." Alice nodded many times, still very anxious and starting to not take the situation well. Her shaking had lessened everywhere except her hands. "I, um, can I have some water?"

Alice then felt a warm light enter her, as Y'shtola cast something on her as well. "That tickles."

"Well, she seems to be a normal Hyur with some very interesting differences," Y'shtola announced. "None of which are of Garlean descent, notably."

"Oh, I'm not? That's funny but makes sense." Alice nodded in agreement, crossing her arms. She was still sitting on the floor of the room, and the chill of the stone was starting to pass through her sleep clothes.

"Does it, now?" The Admiral looked directly at Alice, her gaze piercing. "Who are you, then? Out with it."

"Alice Demasi," she blurted in reply. "I'm from Melbourne, Australia, Earth."

"Is that supposed to mean something to us?" asked the Admiral, an eyebrow raised. "It is not every day that I see someone teleported into my office. It is much less believable that you have no explanation for this occurrence."

"I swear on my life that I don't know how or why I'm here!" Alice nearly shouted, trying not to yell at the Roegadyn woman and antagonise her. "I'm from somewhere that says here isn't real and I shouldn't be able to be here."

"Now that's a rather odd statement, your nearly incoherent structure aside," Y'shtola spoke again. "Now, I would like a proper answer this time. How do you know what is happening to Alicia and what did you mean by 'this game'?"

Alice wrung her shaking hands. "Nnnng, alright but I did say you won't like the answer."

She took a deep but shaky breath. "Okay, so where I'm from is, um… Another world altogether. Not Hydaelyn. And not-" Alice caught herself.

"Not what?" asked Y'shtola, her gaze now piercing. Combined with the Admiral's near-constant glare it caused Alice to break out into a sweat and she turned her eyes away.

"Not the place I've remembered you probably don't know yet," Alice relented after a few seconds. "But I've seen further ahead than this, in the future. Assuming it matches the story I experienced back home."

Y'shtola searched Alice's face for any signs of lying, and finding none, returned her crook to her belt. "While I do believe you're not telling me everything, I see that you, at least, believe what you have said."

The Miqo'te turned to the Admiral. "I'd like a chance to talk to her further, but I'd rather not occupy your office forever. Might you have a good place?"

Alice crossed the index and middle fingers of both hands, closed her eyes and began quietly chanting, "please not jail, please not jail…"

Merlwyb ignored her and spoke to Y'shtola. "Yes, there's a room in the Aftcastle we can have her escorted to. Under Maelstrom guard of course. I trust you to be able to take care of yourself, but we don't know what she can do yet."

Alice shrugged. "Okay, phew. I can't do much of anything, but fair, I guess…"

--------------------

Alice was led outside the office via a lift, one that simultaneously felt a lot more rickety than she was used to, and safer than she expected. It wasn't exactly at weapon-point, but the armed escort still bore their weapons at the ready in case she tried to bolt or something. Their route took her through a place she knew as Bulwark Hall, a large, circular stone-brick room with a trio of exits and a second lift, and a rough-hewn stone column in the middle. She could see outside through the exits, and saw that it was, indeed, night time. But even so, the city of Limsa Lominsa still had life to it at night: there was a significant number of people in Bulwark Hall and outside in the Aetheryte Plaza, walking around and talking, making deals, and doing who knew what.

There were also a very strong pair of smells assaulting her nose, now that she was out of the office. The salty smell of the sea, much stronger than it had been down by the beaches in Melbourne, or even along the Great Ocean Road, along Australia's southern coast. The second was fish. It was something that surprised Alice at first, but when she gave even a moment's thought to it, she realised it made sense, given the city's main food source was the ocean's bounty.

Once the escort party left the hall through the second lift, they passed briefly through the large tavern known as the Drowning Wench, a place Alice had seen many times, and was unable to spend much time in, thanks to her armed Maelstrom escort. Once they exited the Wench, though, she did get to see the wide, open night sky.

And what a sight it was. Yes, the city had lights, but nothing to the extent of a twenty-first century first-world Earth city like Melbourne. And as a result, she could see the stars so clearly that she had to stop for a moment and gasp. They were beautiful. She had been out in nature enough times to see the stars back home, and loved it every time, but this was a whole new starscape, and that felt truly amazing to witness for the first time.

"Oh, wow…"

"Keep moving, please," said Y'shtola. "If all goes well, you'll have time to view the stars again in the near future."

"Oh, come on, let me have something," Alice grumbled, briefly breaking out of her anxiety at being surrounded by weapons pointed at her. "You're a scholar, surely you care about the stars? Or, cared at some point."

"I did, and still do," said Y'shtola. "But I may have something stranger to investigate now, far closer to home, and I'd like to find out about that one way or another first."

Alice grumbled wordlessly, and kept moving. The Aftcastle, the Maelstrom Grand Company's Command Headquarters, wasn't much further away. She was led through the main area, an open reception-desk space, through the door to the right of the counter - one that was always locked in game. She gulped, unsure of what to expect. They moved past the door, through the curved hallway, up a flight of stairs, and into a room she hadn't seen before. It was pretty bare, a table and chairs being the main furnishings. It felt like a police interrogation room, although without the giant mirror occupying one of the walls. Instead, they were bare, painted white, with wooden floors and a single window opposite the door.

A quartet of Maelstrom personnel remained, one in each corner, each dressed in the standard red overcoat and bucket hat that Alice had come to associate with the soldiers of Limsa Lominsa. Y'shtola stood by the seat closest to the door, and bade Alice to sit across from her. Alice shrugged and sat. After barely a second had passed, she stood again, rotated the chair, and straddled it, resting her forearms on the chair's back. Y'shtola raised an eyebrow and sat normally, but said nothing about Alice's behaviour.

Alice had realised during her walk here that despite wearing her sleep clothes, she also had a small bag with her, and she had been holding it in her right hand ever since she left the Admiral's office without realising it. She slowly made it visible, moving it to the table, then tipped it upside down to empty it. What poured out were several surprises: her phone, albeit looking slightly different; two bottles and a small box of medication; her glasses case; and finally, a letter she didn't recognise.

The guards had shifted towards the table on the action, and after everything settled had themselves returned to their places. Y'shtola had remained calm the entire time, not flinching even a little bit.

"Huh. Neat," said Alice. She looked directly at Y'shtola, making eye contact, then realised something. "Oh… your eyes are such a lovely shade of blue… I'd forgotten that…"

"Now that is a rather strange remark to make of one you've just met," Y'shtola responded. "I cannot think of a reason you'd have to know my appearance, or to forget only a part of it if so."

Alice blinked, and thought about the future for Y'shtola, and her eventual blindness that rendered her eyes a cloudy white. "It's a long, probably unbelievable story…"

Alice didn't continue that line of thought, instead asking, "Can I have that water now? To drink?"

"I don't see why not," Y'shtola responded, then looked at a guard. She didn't have to repeat the request, as they quickly saluted and left the room.

"...I love that we just… reduced the number of guards, just like that," said Alice.

"You don't exactly seem to be a high risk individual." Y'shtola leaned closer. "Now, I'd like those items please. They need to be checked."

Alice grabbed the phone and handed it over. "This is my phone. It's like a linkpearl and library rolled into one. If it even works here." She thought for a second. "Kind of like magitek, I guess?"

Y'shtola seemed interested and accepted the proffered device. She looked it over, then put it back down on the table next to her.

Alice grabbed the glasses case, opened it, and put her glasses on. They were mostly light filters, and although they had prescription lenses, they didn't do much to alter her vision, and she didn't need them on all the time. She made a gesture as if to say 'this should be obvious', and Y'shtola just nodded.

The pill bottles were next. Alice picked up one and read it to be absolutely sure. "ADHD medication," she declared, placing it in the middle of the table. Y'shtola didn't seem to know the acronym - which Alice realised made sense, so she continued. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Basically my brain doesn't quite work like you'd expect without it."

Y'shtola opened the bottle and looked inside. She used some magic, maybe to confirm something about the contents.

Alice shrugged. "As long as you don't mess up that medicine for me you can look into it all you want. I've got nothing to hide and still no clue why I'm here."

"Which I am trying to confirm for sure," said Y'shtola. "The current situation is delicate enough that I need to."

"Garlemald or the Ascians?" Alice asked quietly. "Or both I guess, given Lahabrea would be helping Gaius with Ultima around now, right?"

Y'shtola looked up and peered into Alice's eyes suspiciously. "You seem to know a good deal more about the fourteenth legion's activities than an ordinary person should. And seem oddly forthcoming about the information."

"Yeah, well…" whatever Alice had wanted to say left her mind under Y'shtola's gaze. "...For some reason I'd rather talk about this than my transition medication."

She handed the remaining bottle and box over to Y'shtola. "Hormones and hormone blockers. I need them for the rest of my life because I was born wrong."

Y'shtola was still staring at Alice as she checked the containers like before. "What exactly do you mean? None of these medicines react to my magicks."

Alice briefly explained what it meant to be Transgender and therefore what the medication did. "And before you ask, no, there's no magic body changing potions or spells back home. Just science and technology."

Y'shtola frowned. "The only non-magical people in our world are pure-blooded Garleans, but even they have access to Eorzean and Far Eastern potions and magic. And you aren't the slightest bit Garlean."

"Correct," Alice responded. "I'm human. Or, Hyur I guess. Same thing. I think."

Then she remembered the letter. "Oh! This is the one thing on me I don't recognise. Can I open it?"

Y'shtola stared at it, then cast something again. The letter glowed faintly blue-white in response. Her eyebrows raised. "...You may," she eventually responded.

Alice looked at the seal on the letter first. It was a wax seal with an engraved crystal symbol in it.

This is… from Hydaelyn? Maybe? Alice thought, confused. She cracked the seal, and read the letter.

Dear adventurer,
Thou hath been chosen to assist my Warriors of Light, that they may avert the disasters to come and save the worlds from the threat of the Ascians.

However, thou will not be able to do so as thy are. Therefore a gift hath been prepared for thee, to allow thee to go where they go, and be by their side during the crises to come.

Answers will come in time, my child.

Hydaelyn

As she read the last few words, Alice felt a pain build behind her eyes, until she felt ready to pass out, and then it just stopped. The sudden lessening of pressure caused a ringing in her ears, which slowly gave way to a female voice, which spoke three words.

Hear… feel… think…

But as a human... It shouldn't have been possible for Alice to hear those words, in that way.

"...How?!"

She thought she felt a trickle of something from her nose. She wiped her hand under it, used to blood noses, and as expected it came away wet. What she didn't expect was it to be an intermingling of white and black liquid, rather than red. She jerked back on her chair, almost falling over. The liquid continued to pour from her nose, making a puddle on the table.

"What the actual fuck?!" She shouted. Her mind reminded her of that scene near the beginning of Shadowbringers, of poor Tesleen, and she started screaming.

Sleep, child… She heard Hydaelyn's voice spoken within her mind again, and Alice passed out.

Chapter Text

When Alice woke again, she was in a proper bed in a room she both did and didn't recognise. Not an inn room in the Mizzenmast, it seemed, but definitely still in Limsa Lominsa…

She looked around her, and saw that there were guards, but it appeared to be… something like a hospital? I guess it makes sense that there's one in Limsa, she thought. She tried to get up, but fell onto her back again with a groan.

"Woken up, have we?"

Alice didn't recognise the voice and turned her head until she saw an approaching Hyur woman. She wore a white robe, and carried a brown bag, which she put on a table next to the bed.

"Mmmm… I guess so…" Alice grumbled. "Which means my being in Eorzea isn't over yet for whatever reason."

The woman smiled. "I'm happy to say you're still with us." Her face turned a little more serious and she continued. "Our local Scion was more than a little concerned about your condition after what happened last night. Apparently you were terrified when something strange exited your body?"

Alice shivered as she remembered. "I, uh, I've seen some horrible things happen to people, transforming into creatures, in intense pain the whole time, it's…"

She stopped herself and took a deep breath. "But I'm not in pain and my body isn't leaking Light so I think I'm okay."

"Hrmmm… Well, that sounds somewhat like long-term and large-scale corruption by a primal," the woman responded. "It's rare, but definitely has occurred in recent memory. Where did you witness its occurrence?"

"Uhhh… not-Thanalan," Alice replied, not sure if she should explain properly but not wanting to lie outright.

"Well if not in Thanalan, then where?" The woman asked, misunderstanding.

"No I… I don't really want to talk about it, I'm sorry."

The woman nodded. "All right, but you let us know if you have any more information for us, alright? Primals are nothing to just dismiss."

"I know, I know, they're horrible and suck the land dry. I promise it's not currently a problem." Alice raised her hand to make the promise.

"Well, in that case it's time to check you over and be sure you're in good health," the woman told her.

They spent a few minutes going over various health things that seemed rather strange to Alice - Eorzean medicine, she supposed. It wasn't quite like doctor visits from Earth, though she hadn't been in a hospital in years and couldn't speak for more intensive care. Nor did anything seem contrary to modern medicine's knowledge of the harm in ancient practices? At least to Alice's untrained mind, that is.

"Excellent. You do in fact seem to be in good health physically, though your aether is in a bit of a flux at the moment." Alice's quizzical look prompted the woman to continue. "Nothing especially serious, and it's settling down rather than ramping up. I expect it will have sorted itself out in a few days, as long as you don't expend too much of your energy."

Alice waved a hand dismissively. "I'm not exactly a go-out-and-race-to-die type. I'm not even trained with weapons, honestly…"

Alice's brow furrowed as a thought started to occur, then shot up again. "Right! My meds, uh, medication, do you have those? Are they nearby?"

The woman smiled and retrieved a small box from her bag. She handed it to Alice, who found to her relief that it contained all of the belongings she had brought with her, as well as a small pouch she didn't recognise. The woman also retrieved a flask.

"Clean drinking water. I was told you asked for some but couldn't stay awake long enough for it to be brought to you."

"Thanks, Doc. I appreciate this so much."

Alice started downing her daily dose of medicines, while it was the woman's turn to look quizzically at Alice. "Dock?"

A swallow of water later, Alice shook her head. "No like, D-O-C, short for Doctor."

"Ah. And what does that mean?"

Alice stared at her for a few seconds before her thoughts realigned. "Right, yes, that. That's a word for Chirurgeon where I'm from."

"Ahh…" the woman understood this time.

"Speaking of, what's your name?" asked Alice.

"Ah, yes, my apologies. I'm Francine. And your name was Alice, correct?"

Alice nodded. "Can I talk to Y'shtola again? Is she still around? I uh, I need to finish last night's conversation with her."

"Ah, well, I'd have to find out, but I'm happy to. I had intended to report your health as fine, in any case, so I'll see what I can do." Francine closed her bag and stood. "Now, rest. Chirurgeon's orders."

Alice snorted. "Fine. Will do."

Francine left, leaving just the Maelstrom guard she had almost forgotten about watching over Alice. He was a characteristically tall Roegadyn man with a large axe across his back. Ah, a marauder. Classic Maelstrom.

"Hey friend," Alice called to him.

He looked at her. "We aren't friends," he replied.

"Details," Alice dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Did I do anything strange while I was out?"

The man stared at her. He seemed unsure of how to answer the question. "By my definition, everythin' you do is strange."

Alice nodded, surprised at the honesty. "Alright, I can work with that, gotta be more specific I suppose. Did I say anything?"

The man thought about the question. "You said 'hay key, het chara dess', I believe." He shook his head. "It sounds nonsense enough that I'm almost inclined to think it's code-"

He was interrupted by Alice bursting into laughter. When she finally calmed down, she wiped the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Of course that's what I said… God, I'm such a weeb…"

Seeing the man's confusion break through his stoicism, she tried to clarify. "It's Japanese- uh, a language nearly identical to Hingan, I think. Heiki, hecchara desu. It means 'everything is fine' and it's something of a comfort phrase for me, or at least, the translation of it is. The main character in a story I like used it to get through difficulties in life."

The guard stared at her. "Traveller, then?"

"Uhhh, yeah actually. Not often, since all sorts of stories and products were traded back home so I didn't need to travel to…" she caught herself. "Yes. I am a traveller. Not intentionally right now, but yes."

The guard nodded, satisfied with the answer. He stared off into the middle distance, and Alice felt a sudden headache. She heard a familiar sound, then saw a vision in sepia.

The guard, dressed differently, fighting against Sahagin. Around him were other Eorzeans, also fighting, some dying. The scene lasted a few seconds before she faded back into reality, the headache taking a little bit longer to subside.

"Are you alright, miss?" The guard asked, apparently having noticed.

"I… I think I just experienced the Echo," she said.

"Does that mean you saw the past?"

"Well I saw you fighting Sahagin so, I assume so." She shrugged. "People where I'm from don't have the Echo, and I didn't before today. So I guess that was Hydaelyn's gift…"

They were both quiet for a few more moments, until Alice reached over to inspect her phone, a slightly older Android model. It seemed a little different, although the overall shape and layout seemed to be the same.

She pushed the power button and it flashed to life, although without the customary branding she was used to. The software seemed to otherwise be functionally the same, everything was still there.

That said, the battery icon was missing, and there was no connection. Opening her browser didn't help, as expected, and every app was off-line.

"Good thing I saved stuff locally…" she mumbled. And thankfully, her music and video libraries were intact. So in the spirit of her sleep talking, she started her umpteenth rewatch of Senki Zesshou Symphogear while she waited for Y'shtola.

As the sound played over the device's speakers - which sounded a lot clearer than she remembered - the guard took notice.

"What are you doin'?" he asked. He seemed unsure if he should be stopping Alice, or even what it was that she was doing.

"Huh? Oh right, no video streaming around here," she paused it and looked up at him. "Some of the stories back where I'm from are in a… Like an audio-visual format? No, that wouldn't make sense to you. Uh, it's like having a play you can stop, start and bring with you as much as you want."

"A… How?" He was still visibly confused.

"Well, like how you have Orchestrions, we learned how to do that but with what you can see, as well."

He nodded, apparently blown away by the concept. Alice was about to press play again when there was a knock at the door, and Y'shtola entered.

"Hey, queen," said Alice on instinct. She'd built up the habit while playing the Main Scenario Quests and had said it many times when Y'shtola appeared. She realised after looking up at the Miqo'te's confused stare.

"Uh, it's a term of endearment where I'm from?" Alice tried.

Y'shtola seemed to want to argue but clearly preferred not to, and just shook her head.

"I wanted to check up on you after your rather disastrous letter reading last night," the Archon told her. "And I can safely say that whatever was in the letter that caused your reaction was a one-time event, since it did nothing to myself, or any other person that checked it over."

Alice slowly nodded. "Well at least there's that," she agreed.

"As for the letter's sender, and their claim to be Hydaelyn. Did anything during your… Reaction give you any indication that this was true?"

Alice nodded emphatically this time. "I heard her voice in my head, then just a bit ago I had an Echo moment with that guy over there," she pointed her chin at the guard.

"And you're sure it was the Echo?" asked Y'shtola.

"I've seen the Echo through Alicia's eyes more than once during my, uh, experiencing of the story I mentioned," Alice replied. "Point is, what I saw matched those moments so, yes, I strongly believe that I have that now. Which shouldn't be possible."

"Some individuals only manifest the Echo later in life-" Y'shtola began, but Alice shook her head and cut her off.

"Yes but my world plays by different rules. I'm not a Sundered soul like everyone here," Alice explained, then hesitated. "Which I've remembered you can't check yet because you don't have aether eyes, dammit dammit dammit."

"'Aether eyes?'"

"Long story, also probably terrible for me to explain in the event I fundamentally screw over the timeline and cause massive issues." Alice put her hand on her chin in thought and started to mumble her thoughts aloud. "Although there's no guarantee that my experience will match reality here, especially on account of me being here at all, which is a new factor…"

"Another factor you need to remember is trust," Y'shtola reminded Alice. "Just because you appear to believe what you say does not mean I will take your words at face value."

Alice looked at her, the hamster wheel that was her brain slowly building up speed.

"Right, yes, that's… That's fair. But I'll do whatever you feel necessary to prove myself. Including fighting Primals," Alice declared. "I know you can't get close without getting tempered so, now that I have the Echo, I can and should help."

Y'shtola raised an eyebrow. "I believe you stated a lack of combat training earlier?"

"Oh, absolutely," Alice grinned. "So no time like the present to start learning, right?"

"Honestly…" Y'shtola shook her head. "Spoken like someone who doesn't know what they're getting into."

"To be fair, I've got time. Assuming things go as expected, Ifrit won't be summoned for a good while at least."

Y'shtola and the guard both looked at Alice with 'excuse me?' expressions.

"Right, so," Alice began, and promptly explained the structure she remembered of early A Realm Reborn, starting with the protagonist - in this case, Alicia - being sent to the three city states as an Envoy. This was followed by a trio of dungeons - the Sastasha Seagrot, the Tam-Tara Deepcroft, and Copperbell Mines - then an investigation into missing people in Thanalan with another Archon, Thancred, leading up to Ifrit's summoning and subsequent murder at Alicia's hands.

Y'shtola, for her part, at least was content to let Alice finish the tale rather than dismissing it out of hand. "...I see. I shall keep this series of events in mind. Depending on its accuracy, I may yet start to believe you."

Alice's face lit up. "Really?"

"Oh, there is of course no guarantee, and you still would need to do more to prove yourself completely."

"I'll still take it!" Alice grinned again. "Now I've just got to learn something… Magic, maybe? Is that easy, at all?"

"No, I can certainly say it isn't 'easy,'" Y'shtola tutted. "You need aptitude and practice. But if you're willing to learn it, the Arcanists' Guild here in Limsa is a good start."

"Wait as in, I can just go explore? You're letting me go?"

"Well, yes. There's no need to keep you under constant supervision now that you've recovered, although the Yellowjackets will be keeping their eyes out for anything suspicious. As will I."

The guard backed up Y'shtola's statement with the two-fingered 'I'm watching you' gesture.

Alice saluted lazily in response. "Alright, Arcanist it is. It's no Astrologian, but I can't go to Ishgard yet anyway."

"I do believe Ishgardian astrology is rather limited in scope," said Y'shtola, with a wry smile.

"Ah, that may be, but we both know Sharlayan astrology isn't, and there's a noble in Ishgard desperately trying to get his colleagues to learn that." Alice shook her head. "Either way, no guarantee I'm any good at it."

Alice started to get out of bed, then realised something. "Uh actually, can someone get me a different set of clothes? These are for sleeping, so they're not great for…anything else."

The Roegadyn guard nodded, and headed to the door. He opened it and talked to someone outside that Alice couldn't see. She called out to the unseen person with an enthusiastic "Thanks bud!"

"In the meantime, I have matters to attend to, so I shall be off," Y'shtola announced. "You had best keep out of trouble, and mayhap talk to Baderon Tenfingers of the Adventurer's Guild in the Drowning Wench once you've discovered your aptitude."

Alice gave a little salute. "Thanks for that, boss!" she joked. Y'shtola simply didn't respond, and made to leave the room. A thought struck Alice. "Wait! One more thing, it's important, I promise."

Y'shtola sighed and turned back around. "Yes?"

"I understand you have to tell the other Scions about what's going on and everything, and I'm not gonna ask you not to," Alice took in a deep breath. "But please, please, please, make sure only Minfilia and Urianger know any future details I've mentioned.

"I know, I know," Alice raised her hands to cut off any potential arguments until after she was done. "You have no reason to trust me or do any favours for me. Just… Please. All the other Archons - Thancred, Yda, Papalymo - I sure as hell trust them all with my life, and you as well, but… Ascians watch them and I don't want anyone to get killed from any of my mistakes."

Y'shtola stared at Alice, and saw the very real desperation, and most importantly belief, in her eyes. She crossed her arms, and raised one fist to lightly tap her chin with her knuckles a few times, a sign Alice remembered meant the Archon was seriously thinking this over.

After a few seconds, her hands returned to her sides. "I'll consider it. This is all still dependent on the validity of your information of course."

Alice breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank you, so much."

With another nod, Y'shtola turned and left.

Chapter Text

Alice didn't have to wait long for new clothes. To her surprise, it was identical to the default female Hyur outfit from the game, which she quite liked, as well as a new set of smallclothes. It was all essentially the right size, which was a further nice surprise, given she hadn't told them any of her measurements. The corset wasn't too difficult to put on, having had some experience with them back home, and the thigh-high boots were lovely, and felt surprisingly easy to put on for how snugly they stayed on.

Once ready and with a little more water in her, she walked out the door, then her stomach made her almost keel over as it grumbled aggressively from emptiness.

"...Right. Food. Urgh."

"I'd recommend the Wench first, then."

The Roegadyn guard was still around, apparently. He'd had the decency to wait outside while she got changed, at least. She looked up at him.

"I don't think I have money though…" she groaned.

He frowned. "What about that sack of gil you got from the letter?"

Alice stared blankly at him.

"The little pouch?" He asked. "I heard it appeared after you read the letter, like a teleport spell or somethin'."

"That's what that is?" She scrambled up to retrieve it. "Why did nobody tell me?"

"I did, just now." He nodded. "Well, there you go. Gil."

Hrm, I'll give him that one, thought Alice. I guess Hydaelyn decided to be my sugar momma at least once to make up for terrifying me.

"Alright, well, how do I leave here?" she asked the guard. He directed her out to the Maelstrom HQ, a part of Limsa she recognised from the game, and his directions from this point matched her memory.

She bade farewell, half expecting him to follow her. To her surprise, after she left, he stayed and went to attend to something else.

It was a short walk to the Drowning Wench, and she headed straight for Baderon. He was, as he always was in the game, at the main counter of his tavern/adventurer's guild combo, cleaning a mug with a cloth that looked almost too used to be helpful. As Alice approached, he looked up at her and smiled jovially.

His face was surprisingly close to his in-game appearance, just significantly more realistic, showing little details the game couldn't convey. He was actually a little handsome, and looked well-travelled without it taking a toll on his health or demeanour.

"Greetings, lass," he said cheerfully, putting down the mug. "What'll it be? Ye look starved."

Alice's stomach grumbled loudly to confirm this fact. "Yeahhhh, I don't know what food you sell around here though."

His eyebrow raised. "Don't recognise yer accent. Ye must be a new adventurer, that right?"

"Yeah, that's… That's me," she confirmed, hopping up on the sturdiest-looking stool she saw. "I register here, right? Drowning Wench, Baderon Tenfingers?" She pointed at the ground, then pointed at him.

"Aye, that's correct. Well informed, ey?" He gave a wink. "An' ye can sign up while we get ye some food."

She ended up ordering some cooked dodo eggs and bacon-like meat that apparently came from a jackal. When she opened her gil pouch to retrieve the cost, she found it had quite a lot more inside than she expected, more even than she thought physically possible for it to contain.

Baderon laughed. "Ye seem pretty flush! Are ye sure ye want to be an adventurer?"

She blushed, a little embarrassed, though not quite sure why. "I mean, it helps to have a good foundation right? To buy good equipment and stuff."

He nodded, apparently impressed. He walked over to the back wall where he kept his guild-related documents and produced his registration book. "Aye, true. Usually ye see new adventurers tryin' to make a fistful o' gil on a light start, not botherin' to get the things that'll keep 'em alive first."

Alice struggled a little with parsing his speech through his accent, but was reasonably sure she understood. It was much harder to hear his words than read his dialogue, it seemed.

"...Yes," she eventually responded. "That's the trouble with things these days, right? Lots of ways to die out there if you're unprepared?"

He nodded again, passing her the book and a quill. "That's it. Although, ye seem oddly unsure for all ye knowledge."

"I'm decidedly new to adventuring. And fighting. And magic. And Limsa. And Eorzea." She struggled to get the right amount of ink, using her model-painting practice as a guide, and scribbled her name and signature. Being left handed and not used to a quill, the work was slow going, looking smudged and childish.

"Aye, izzat so? Well, things've been hard fer everyone since the Calamity. The kobolds outside the walls're agitated, and the pirates inside the city are rarin' to take yer coin. All 'cause that dragon went an' ruined everyone's homes and the land between.

"But the Calamity didn't just do that, aye… It took more than just lives and land…"

"It took everyone's memories, yeah?" Alice finished. "No one knows what happened or who saved y'all from Bahamut."

"That's it, aye. How can we celebrate the ones that saved us all if we can't even remember their bloody faces?"

One of the barmaids brought Alice's breakfast, so she handed the registration book to Baderon. "'Alice,' aye? There's talk about a woman who dropped in on the Admiral uninvited, name somethin' like yours."

"Uhhh, I can neither confirm nor deny those rumours," she said around a mouthful of egg. She swallowed it and continued. "But I can tell you that I have no idea how I got to Eorzea, and that being an Adventurer is a much more recent and sudden life choice than it should probably be."

He stared her in the eyes for a few seconds, then decided he liked what he saw and shrugged. He put away the book. "Well, ye better make sure ye attune to the Aetheryte downstairs afore ye go anywhere, then head to Hawker's Alley to get yer gear. Come back after that an' I'll see what requests we got for a beginner adventurer."

"Yes sir, Baderon, sir," she said, then resumed her breakfast.

A familiar Au Ra walked in from the Crow's Lift entrance. Alicia Kharlu, who looked every bit as Alice had imagined her, strode towards Baderon. Seeing her upright and awake was a different thing entirely to having seen her unconscious last night. She caught his eye as she approached, while Alice tried not to be noticed. She still wore the same outfit as last night, the green tunic and shorts that were part of any female Au Ra's starting inventory in the game.

"Back from yer meetin' with the Admiral, are ye?" he asked her.

"Yeah, and she went and made me her personal envoy to the other city-states," said Alicia, which almost made Alice jump at the familiar yet unfamiliar voice.

The protagonist character never has any voiced dialogue, only a series of nonverbal sounds from a chosen set of voice options. Hearing that voice, now with an accent Alice couldn't place, saying actual words, was almost like an out-of-body experience, and she nearly choked on a piece of bacon. Alicia's eyes looked towards Alice, but anything she might have wanted to say or do was interrupted by Baderon's reaction to the news.

"Personal bleedin' envoy!?" he exclaimed, then clapped a few times, excitedly. "So ye'll be carryin' the word o' the Admiral herself to the leaders o' the Alliance!?"

"Apparently so," she shrugged. "It seems fairly important, since she gave me an air pass and everything."

"Bugger me… I knew ye was goin' up in the world, but I didn't realise ye'd got that bloody 'igh!" He clenched his fist in front of him to celebrate, grinning ear to ear. "I'm proud o' ye, lass! Thinkin' of 'ow far ye've come, why 'tis enough to bring a tear to me eye!"

Alice tried to focus on the last of her breakfast as Baderon went on about it, making a strange reference to Eorzea as some sort of enticing maiden, and Alice instinctively said "uwu" under her breath at that remark. She was immediately thankful that she apparently went unheard, and decided to stick around for the rest of a conversation she half-remembered. He talked more about the dangers present in the world at large, and the beastman tribes and their Primals.

"'Tis the perfect time fer a 'venturer like yerself to get out there an' make a difference!" he finished.

"I suppose it is…" said Alicia. She finally looked over at Alice. "And what do you want?"

"Oh, um, I'm just a big fan of your work, don't mind me…" Alice quickly lied.

Alicia stared at her, trying to gauge her intentions. Alice started to feel uncomfortable, and started to sweat. She also noted Baderon wasn't intervening, so she looked to him for help. He sighed and complied.

"Now, now, don't mind her. She's a new arrival 'ere, and word's already spread of yer exploits."

Alicia didn't seem to buy it. "That sounds like it could be true, but isn't."

Alice broke immediately under Alicia's stare. "Aaaah I don't want to lie to you, but it's really hard to explain without sounding like an insane person."

"Try me," the Au Ra responded.

"You say that, but you have no reason to trust me," said Alice. "I just have to prove myself as an adventurer so I can help you."

Baderon chuckled. "Ye want to 'elp her? Yer a quite a ways off from her in experience, lass."

"What I lack in skill I make up for in tactics and foresight," Alice countered. "Not that anyone here knows it, yet. Anyway, when you hit Sastasha, call me." She made the phone sign with an extended pinkie and thumb, then quickly left the two while they were confused enough to not argue or pick up on what she only just realised she had said.

Idiot, don't mention things like that, you saw where it got you with Y'shtola…

Alice had run towards the stairs down so she didn't have to wait for the lift, but ended up stopping halfway down to lean her back against the wall.

"I want to tell people things, but it would get complicated fast…" she said quietly out loud to herself. "And then there's how much I've seen…"

A sudden irrelevant but annoying thought struck her. "Motherfuck, I didn't even get to start Endwalker!"

"And what exactly is an 'Endwalker?'" asked Alicia, suddenly walking down from the top of the stairs.

"Oh fuck." Alice was caught in fight or flight instincts and wanted to run, but knew it would make her seem guilty of something.

"I've recently had to deal with some rather mysterious and unsavoury people," said Alicia, stopping in front of Alice. She leaned on close, their faces almost touching. "I'm hoping you have nothing to do with that."

Alice's reaction was not what the Au Ra expected. Rather than break and confess everything, the rather sapphic Alice was struck by just how strikingly beautiful her Warrior of Light was when rendered in reality. After spending a few seconds making wordless sounds, she finally said "...God you're pretty."

Alicia blinked. "Excuse me?"

Alice blinked too, coming out of her hot-girl-induced trance. "Uh, fuck. Pocket sand!" she yelled, not having anything to actually throw and hoping the words themselves would be enough.

She tried to carefully run down the stairs, but found herself with a death grip on her arm that nearly caused her to fall over. Alicia's strength was far greater, and kept either of them from falling while keeping Alice stuck in place.

"Ah, Jesus fuck, that's tight!" Alice tried to pry the Au Ra's hand off but found herself lacking, even as her arm started to lose feeling. "Pleasepleaseplease!"

"Only if you promise to not run away from me this time!" Alicia had a fire in her eyes that was almost enough to make Alice's trance return over the fear, but she nodded frantically instead.

"I promise! Please!"

The Au Ra exhaled with a huff and let go. Alice stumbled a bit, but caught herself before she fell. She stood there rubbing her arm, looking expectantly at Alicia. "So?"

Alicia still stared at Alice. "Don't make me ask again."

"Woah, fuck, okay." Alice put her hands in front of her in a conciliatory gesture. "I'm not with the Ascians, I swear on my life, but I'm also not with the Scions yet if only because I just got here."

Alicia kept staring, her gaze's intensity not decreasing.

"I'm serious. I teleported here somehow, when you were out cold watching the Admiral's memories of the Battle of Carteneau."

"'Somehow,' hmm? And I'm supposed to just believe that? No, this can't be a coincidence after everything that happened yesterday…"

Alice was confused now. "Wait, what the fuck? You aren't normally this high strung, are you alright?"

"We have never met before today!" Alicia shouted at her. "How would you know what I'm "normally" like?!"

Alice stared back into Alicia's eyes. "Because I've been with you until beyond this point, once before. I'm not exactly a time traveller, but I've definitely seen most of where your story is supposed to go. And you sure as hell weren't like this."

That made Alicia even more furious. She took her gigantic greataxe off her back, and swung it. The blade was embedded in the wall, right next to Alice.

"Then the stories are bullshit! How am I supposed to take everything that's happened recently!? Everything has changed overnight and now everyone suddenly thinks I'm the second coming of some godsforsaken saviour of the people!" She was breathing heavily, her eyes were wide, and she seemed ready to strike at a moment's notice.

They both heard noises above them, and turned to look up the stairs. People had started to come and see what the fuss was about, and while most just let things be after a few seconds' look, some stood longer, concern visible.

"Oy! Buncha fucken gawpers, got nothing better to do than watch, ah!?" Alice went full stereotypical Australian to shout that up the stairway. That, combined with Alicia's death-stare, sent more people packing, which left a pair of Yellowjackets, standing with their arms crossed.

"...ah fuck," Alice said quietly, returning to her normal accent. "Nothing to see here, officers! Just a li'l friendly scuffle, no crime!"

They didn't leave, but didn't come closer. Yet.

"Alicia Kharlu, please, put away your axe before we both get jailed," Alice hissed at the still enraged and raggedly-breathing Au Ra. That got the marauder's attention, and she began to breathe deeply.

A few seconds passed as she calmed herself. Finally, she put her axe away, prompting Alice to let out a sigh of relief. She looked back towards the Yellowjackets. "See? All fine!"

They conferred quietly with each other then left. So Alice returned her attention to Alicia.

"Hi, so, I can explain what just happened too."

"No need. That's an old family tale, the darkness or will of Karash, something like that," Alicia hand-waved.

"Oh yeah, you're only descended from the Azim Steppe Xaela, not directly from there, right?" Alicia seemed about to argue something but Alice continued. "Sorry, not important. What is important is that what you have there is going to take more than just the Marauder's Guild to get your, quote, 'Inner Beast' under control."

Alicia tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, but she was clearly thinking about it, and didn't say anything.

"Do the hunt for the big rampaging creature with them first, actually, that's still important. Gotta avenge that kid's parents, and stop other people from getting attacked too." Alice nodded to emphasise the point. "But after that, a big Roegadyn guy named Curious Gorge is who you need, though I think your guild master can help send you to him at some point…"

"You certainly do seem to know a lot about current events," Alicia agreed. "But we will see if anything else you say ends up being truthful."

"Alright, then here's something for you: after you go to Gridania and then Ul'dah to meet Kan-E-Senna and Raubahn Aldynn respectively, you're going to be asked by the three adventurer's guilds to clear the Sastasha Seagrot, the Tam-Tara Deepcroft and Copperbell Mines, in that order," Alice declared. "If somehow you trust me enough by Sastasha to bring me along, I can help you with it since I know that shit like the back of my hand. Assuming the version of things I know is accurate, that is. And if not, we'll just succeed anyway, because you're good enough to have made it this far, so I trust that you'll be fine.

"Now, I need to go become an Arcanist with zero prior magic training so I can be anything other than useless around here." Alice exhaled a deep breath. "Can I go?"

Alicia almost let her go, then remembered an earlier question. "Wait! What's 'Endwalker'?"

Alice stopped. "Tales of loss and fire and faith…" she muttered under her breath. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled, and turned back around.

"Honestly? I don't know, not for sure at least, other than it will be an extremely bad time for Eorzea as a whole." She shook her head. "Sorry to dump this on you after what you've told me about how you feel, but here's the thing: these people need you. You may not feel ready yet, but if what I've seen is any indication you will be more than fine."

Alicia nodded. Although she seemed a bit more nervous on hearing Alice's words, a part of her seemed resolute once more, and somehow the nod now felt to Alice a lot more like the Warrior of Light she had seen on the screen in front of her for the past few months. She couldn't help it, but the sight made Alice smile.

"Chin up, hero. You'll do great," said Alice, then she left the marauder to think about her words.

---------------------------------------------------

"Ahhhhh, I can't believe I actually managed to be cool and probably helpful…"

Alice was leaning on a wall halfway down Hawker's Alley, ignoring the questioning looks she got from passers by. She was a little giddy in retrospect. The conversation may have started with her being fairly incoherent, but she spoke from the heart and only realised how she sounded a few seconds ago.

She took a deep breath. And then a few more. Finally, she stood up straight, and clapped her face with the palms of her hands, leaving her cheeks glowing red. "Right. Arcanist. Let's do it."

The Arcanists' Guild was at the end of Hawker's Alley, between it and the main passenger and cargo docks. She vaguely remembered something about the Arcanists being a form of customs here in Limsa, and that was confirmed as she approached and saw a number of Arcanists discussing things with various merchants and new arrivals. There were quite a few beastmen, too, including the rat-like Qiqirn and the lizard-like Mamool Ja.

She entered the main guild room where the reception desk was located, and felt relief when she saw a distinction between the lines for customs and the actual guild itself. Which meant she was first in line.

"Um, hi there," she said to the receptionist, a Hyur woman who remained surprisingly attentive despite apparently having had nothing to do before Alice's arrival.

"Hello and welcome to the Arcanists' Guild," the receptionist said, looking rather genuinely happy to greet her.

"Oh, excellent. This is the queue for the actual guild, right? Rather than customs?"

"That is correct," said the woman, with a smile and a nod. "It is here that we research and develop the field of arcanima. Arcanima is the science of employing 'arcane geometries' - intricate patterns that unlock the mysteries of existence - to draw forth and manipulate the body's arcane energies.

"If you prefer an arcane art built on structured thought and precise reasoning, then your discerning intellect may find a home here at our guild. Might you consider enrolling yourself as an initiate?" She emphasised the question with a head tilt and a raised hand, palm up.

Alice blinked. She hadn't picked up Arcanist during her time in the game, but had acquired enough crafting classes to recognise the style of the speech as common to all receptionists, but hadn't expected anyone to actually parrot one of them at her word for word like that.

"Is… Is it guild policy to give that speech?" asked Alice.

The receptionist gave a little laugh. "Honestly, some of it is, though not as much as you'd think."

"Uh-huh… Um, yes, I would like to enroll."

"Aha, just as I predicted," said the receptionist, her smile broadening, and Alice had a sudden sinking feeling. "Before we proceed any further however, let us first feed your appetite for knowledge with a morsel of guild history."

Oh no, I forgot about this part…

"The roots of arcanima can be traced back to the esoteric calculations practiced by the people of the south sea isles…"

Chapter Text

One history lesson about the south sea isles later, Alice was instructed to speak with the acting guild master, in place of the currently absent master. Thubyrgeim was a Roegadyn woman standing next to a nearby bookshelf, reading a book intently while pacing a short distance.

"Hello, there," Alice announced herself, barely managing to not make the phrase into a reference with a put-on accent or voice. "You're Thubyrgeim, right?"

The Roegadyn looked up. "Yes, I am. Who might you be?" She caught the eye of the receptionist and nodded, understanding immediately what she was needed for.

"Alice. Alice Demasi."

"Welcome to the Arcanists' Guild, Alice. As Murie has doubtlessly explained, I am serving as our acting guildmaster until our wayward leader deigns to return. I assume our capable receptionist also spoke of our art's origins?"

"At length," Alice responded. "My main takeaways are that the guild is excellent for making sure arcanima continues to exist, I'm going to need to think on my feet a lot, and also geometry, the one part of maths I like." She listed them off on her fingers as she mentioned each point.

Thubyrgeim nodded, not precisely happy with the summary. "I see. And you still wish to pursue the discipline knowing this, yes?"

"That's why I'm here, yeah. I'm smarter than I look, and I intend to put in the work." Too much at stake to lazy my way out of this one, she thought.

Apparently content with the answer, Thubyrgeim explained the core concepts of arcanima, including the reliance on the summoned familiar called a Carbuncle, and the need to calmly analyse situations even in the middle of battle. "Are you prepared to reason your way through predicament after predicament?" She asked.

Alice could easily imagine the dialogue box that would have appeared in game, and struggled to hold in a laugh, hiding it under a forced cough. "Yes. Yes I am."

"An unambiguous response - the kind I most prefer. Let us now see if the clarity of your words is matched by the sharpness of your mind."

She moved a few feet to a locked cabinet, unlocked it, and retrieved one of several similar-looking large leather-bound books. "Here, take this grimoire in hand, and we shall next judge your aptitude for our discipline."

Alice reached her hands out, but was almost unprepared for just how heavy the book was, even compared to similarly sized books back home. She nearly dropped it, but it didn't take a lot to get used to holding it, nor did it require a lot of strength.

"It is a hefty tome, is it not?" asked Thubyrgeim.

"Yeah, jeez, much more than I thought." Alice shook her head. "Fine now though, I know what to expect."

"I promise you, a grimoire's weight becomes a comforting anchor amidst the shifting seas of battle - a fact you will soon discover."

Alice was then assigned the task of learning to use the grimoire via pest eradication, something that, while normal in a game, suddenly seemed like hilarious overkill.

"Once you return from completing this preliminary trial, I will welcome you as an official member of the Arcanists' Guild. May your judgement remain swift and clear."

Alice's mind clearly and unconsciously recreated the 'Quest Accepted' music from the game, and she again struggled to keep a straight face while nodding.

--------------------

The Tempest Gate to Lower La Noscea wasn't exactly hard to find, the city layout having long since been etched into Alice's mind already. Unfortunately, she forgot that not only was she not attuned to any aetheryte - she didn't know how to, yet - but that even if she had access to the fast travel system, there was a lot of walking she had to do to get where she was going anyway. It wasn't tiring so much as just annoying.

She made it without difficulty, if nothing else, and when she got there she suddenly realised she had been given zero instruction in the actual spellcasting or manipulation of aether. She wanted to shout in frustration, realising that perhaps it had been expected that she at least knew something about spellcasting already. Instead, she took a deep breath and actually thought about it for longer than a second.

This was the initiation process for new guild members, which meant there had to be a way for her to learn it by herself. She picked up her grimoire from its new place on her belt, opened it up, and discovered that the first few pages actually explained aether manipulation and casting. It wasn't too hard to understand, oddly, and she kept reading.

It had a practice example of a spell for simply making a small light appear in her palm, by mentally visualising a set of shapes - the 'arcane geometries' - coming together in a particular way. She thanked the gods that she had been able to take her ADHD medication that morning, and got to work channelling and visualising. She managed on the second try, the first having sputtered out quite quickly. With a small orb of dim light now glowing in her hand, she nodded to herself.

"Alright, this makes sense. Let's see, actual combat spells…"

She flipped to the next page after the example and read the spell called 'Ruin'. It was somewhat more complicated, but it didn't seem too hard to pull together the aether into the arcane geometry. Attempting to aim it at a nearby creature that she guessed from its shape and size was a Wharf Rat, she let the spell fly. It missed, aiming for a point a little off to the creature's left, startling it. The creature turned and began to run at her, aggravated by the disturbance.

"Uh oh." She quickly set about trying to cast the spell again, this time failing it in a panic. The rodent got close enough to leap at her and tried to bite her leg. It didn't bite through the leather of her boot, thankfully, and she was able to kick it off her quite easily. She breathed in as it righted itself, ready for another attack, and she cast Ruin once more. The attack landed this time, and the rat took the magic into its body, but didn't stop moving, though it did look quite injured now.

A third successful cast hit it square in the face, and the rat was dead. She sighed.

"Not terrible." She heard a voice from behind her. "Significant room for improvement, but not terrible."

She turned around, seeing a grey-furred Hrothgar man leaning against a piece of the short stone wall nearby. He wore a brown leather jacket and slacks that Alice would have considered simple back in her world, but here seemed oddly decent quality. A little to his right, she also saw the pair of Yellowjacket guards standing by the fence were trying not to look at her, but at least they weren't pointing and laughing, so she returned her attention to the Hrothgar.

"Thanks, buddy, didn't realise I was puttin' on a show," she told him sarcastically, briefly going full Aussie again. "Would've charged ya."

He snorted. "I would have demanded a refund if you had. But I can tell that was your first attempt at actual spellcasting. So, again, not terrible, room for improvement."

"Do you make it a habit to just…give random feedback to people you've never met before?"

"Not ordinarily, no," he admitted. "But you're an oddity, or so I hear, and I was interested to see what you could do."

"So you hear, huh?" She turned back around to prepare to blast another rat. "Good for me, I guess."

She went to work, killing more of the pests she had been tasked with removing, feeling the Hrothgar's eye on her the whole time. But when she turned around again, he simply wasn't there.

"Wh…huh?" She could have sworn he was still there, but the large guy had just… Vanished. So she decided to ask the Yellowjackets. "Hey, did you see where that guy went?"

The closest one looked at her, then to where the Hrothgar had been, and blinked. "No, actually. Though I think he was a member of the rogue's guild, so I'm not surprised."

"...I guess that explains it." She decided it didn't matter for now, and tried to remember the last creature on her list.

Aureliae, right? She frowned as she remembered them. The jellyfish things, so they're…

She looked around to get her bearings, and spotted the river she remembered from her time as a low level player. "There, right, okay."

The walk to the river was oddly peaceful given the amount of creatures sitting in the areas around the path. Some eyed her, most ignored her, but none actively tried to attack her for whatever reason. She remembered that being a feature of the game, too - some creatures simply weren't aggressive, although that tended to not apply to creatures above a certain level anyway, she realised. As for why that would apply still, maybe their proximity to Limsa made them a little more docile than they would otherwise be?

She shrugged, and having been lost in thought, nearly bumped into a flying jellyfish. She barely realised it was there a hand's breadth from touching it, and stopped. It didn't react in any way to her presence, but she still decided to back up a couple of feet, and she realised there were quite a lot of them nearby.

"...hm. I see." She shrugged again. "What's one or two more?"

She was still holding the grimoire, and cracking it open, she decided to flip to the next spell. "Oh hey, "summon Carbuncle," huh?"

She read the instructions, then read them again to make sure she actually understood. "Right. Let's do it, then."

The summoning spell was interesting, in that it seemed surprisingly easy at its core, but was in essence an evolution of the two very basic things she had done so far. Something about that nagged at her, but she shrugged and gave it a go. The geometries were quite a bit more complicated to keep in mind, but she succeeded. A glowing circle appeared on the ground next to her, and a small blue creature, sort of like a fox, hopped out of the circle. It looked up at her, happy and as cute as any puppy she had seen before.

Alice gasped. "Nyawww!! I love you so much you're so cuuuuuute!!" She bent down to pet it, and gave it a scratch on the top of its head between its ears. It reacted like a puppy, closing its eyes and leaning into the scratches. She giggled.

"I almost don't want to send you into combat… But I have to…" She sighed, feeling a little bittersweet. She decided to look back into the book for instructions on what the carbuncle could do, and the answer was… Disappointing to say the least.

"Wait what? I can make a barrier, but it has no attacks?" She frowned. "Well, whatever, as long as Ruin still works…"

--------------------

About ten minutes later, she had returned to the Arcanists' Guild, carbuncle in tow. She had done her noble duty of pest control successfully, and strode in feeling far more confident than when she had left. She made straight for Thubyrgeim.

"Heyyyyy there, boss. I did it," she announced proudly. "I even have a little friend now!"

Thubyrgeim nodded. "I see the creatures beyond the city walls posed you little threat. It is with great pleasure, then, that I formally recognise your initiation into the guild. From this day forth, you may proudly bear the title of 'Arcanist'."

"Heck yeah!" Alice fist pumped in excitement, drawing the gazes of a few people waiting in line at the customs desk. She cleared her throat. "I mean, heck yeah, ma'am."

The Roegadyn woman raised an eyebrow. "I would suggest you continue your forays into the wilderness, to acquire more experience, but you have done well to achieve this first goal in so short a time."

Oh, neat, I did well I guess, Alice thought. "So, what are you thinking, then?"

"I would have you defeat two more foes in Lower La Noscea, near Cedarwood, this time three dodos and three mandragoras. When you have completed this task, return to me."

Alice nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Alice left the guild, somewhat elated, and began walking back towards the Tempest gate. She had done it, she was an actual arcanist now. She had picked up a real class and was somehow able to cast spells to boot. And she didn't entirely mind that the next job was 'kill more pest creatures,' only the amount of walking involved.

"Oh, right. Aetheryte," she remembered. She headed back to the area outside the guild to start with the aethernet shard there, trying not to bump into the few people coming and going from the docks and the guild hall. She expectantly held her hand out towards it, and nothing happened.

"Ah. Hrm." She brought her hand back for a wind up, then again thrust it towards the shard. Once again, no response from the crystal was forthcoming.

She nodded a couple of times. "...Fuck," she eventually said.

A throat cleared next to her, and she jumped, instinctively expecting to have to apologise to someone for her language. Instead, she saw the Hrothgar from earlier.

"How the fuck…?" She asked.

"Practice," he said. "Don't need to be small to go unseen or unheard."

She stared at him, giving the facial expression she knew only as the 'white people smile'. "Cool, I guess? What do you want?"

"You are trying to attune, yes?" he asked. "Think about what you were doing before, with your aether, and apply the same ideas here."

She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of any relevant words, and closed it again. She turned back to the aethernet shard, and did as he explained. By mentally pushing her own energy towards the shard, she managed to feel a connection form. It was a short buzz at the back of her mind for a few seconds, which gradually vanished, but with an almost subconscious awareness of the connection still existing.

"Neat. Thanks, bud-" She turned back towards him and found he was simply gone, again. "...Okay then."

She walked down Hawker's Alley, and tried the process again with the aethernet shard there. It worked, and joined the other shard in her mind, not adding any extra unwanted noise to her overly busy brain. Next stop, the Aetheryte plaza.

The much larger Aetheryte crystal gave off a palpable aura while in the vicinity, but nothing disruptive or annoying, it simply… Was. Walking up to the crystal, she once again tried to connect to it through the method the Hrothgar had explained, and found it to be significantly easier than the shards had been. The feeling at the back of her mind grew a little, and she realised she had just learned how to teleport and return to the Aetheryte here.

"Ayyy, nice. Can't wait to try that on my way back-"

She stopped, then turned around, thinking maybe she had seen the Hrothgar again, but he wasn't visible. She exaggeratedly stroked her chin with her thumb and forefinger. "I'll spot you yet, lion man," she quietly declared.

She could have sworn she heard him chuckle, but he was still nowhere to be seen.

--------------------

A short journey to Cedarwood later, Alice took in a deep breath to prepare herself. Before combat, she decided to read a few more spells, to prepare herself for… Well, hopefully anything some fat birds and tiny root-men could throw at her. She vaguely remembered the area, a farm with a quartet of large windmills, having definitely come here during her game time. Though she couldn't quite remember why, and decided to shelve it for now.

She sighted a dodo, wanting to take on the plump birds first, and aimed herself at it. She had figured out earlier how to guarantee her spell's aim was true, now it was a matter of hitting the creature hard enough to beat it. She fired a Ruin, and in the back of her mind began building up an Aethercharge, to summon a Ruby Carbuncle. The Ruin made contact, and the bird stumbled, squawking as it became alert. It looked at Alice, quickly aware of the source of its pain, and squawked some more. A group of five other dodos nearby the first turned almost as one, and charged her.

"Wait, what the fuck?" She almost forgot to fire a second Ruin at the first dodo, but managed it at the last second, causing its now limp body, propelled by momentum, to hit her with force. It knocked the wind out of her lungs, and broke her concentration on her Aethercharge. The remaining dodos made it to her unimpeded, and squawked loudly as they began to peck and scratch at her from all directions. She raised her arms to protect her face and stomach.

She swore repeatedly as she received deep, painful scratches on her arms and legs. Despite this, she managed to remember the geometries for a shield spell, 'Radiant Aegis', to be directed through the carbuncle, which otherwise couldn't do more than growl at the angry fowls. The pain from each scratch lessened significantly enough that she could start thinking her way out of the situation. She started with an elbow and shoulder charge at the dodo in front of her, and managed to push it out of the way and disrupt the flock at the same time. Coming out the other side of the small storm of feathers, she began to Aethercharge once more, and while the birds were distracted, cast her first healing spell on herself as she did. Relief was immediate, and the scratches healed cleanly.

"Definitely seeing that Hitchcock had the right idea… Birds suck!" She flung another Ruin, managing to hit a dodo right in the head, killing it instantly. The others recovered, and charged her again. She flung another Ruin, then dived out of the way, just in time to not get scratched. The shield she had put up eased the impact with the ground, and she got up faster than she ever had before. Her Aethercharge completed, and she used the power of it to swap her blue carbuncle for a Ruby Carbuncle, directing it at the closest dodo for a burning headbutt.

The fiery little guy complied, slamming into the dodo and burning its feathers, promptly disappearing afterwards. She followed that up with another new spell, Gemshine, putting the Ruby Carbuncle's fire to work in the form of a burning Ruby Ruin. Two dodos were close enough that they both caught fire, and they began running around helplessly. Her second Ruby Ruin caught the final dodo directly, engulfing it in flames. It burned and died, releasing a surprisingly delicious and familiar smell.

"Mmm, fried chicken," said Alice, then went to work finishing the remaining dodos with a Ruin each. She sighed. "I feel simultaneously surprisingly good and pretty shit. I nearly lost a fight to some fucking birds."

She had a sudden feeling of being watched, but it was decidedly not by that Hrothgar, she was immediately certain. She then heard someone's stomach grumble behind a nearby tree.

"...Uh-huh," she said loudly. "Well that sure wasn't anyone following or watching me, definitely not. Guess I'd better just keep going about my business!"

To her surprise, whoever was bad enough at stealth to be noticed at least had the sense to not notably react to her provocation. She nodded, and decided she may as well follow through with her task until she was jumped or something.

The mandragoras were a short walk away from the fields where she had found the dodos, and she threw another quick heal on herself and her carbuncle on the way. Now that she had become aware of her tail, she vaguely noticed them following from a safer distance. There's also a good chance she heard them quickly scarf down a snack or two on the way, but she might have imagined it.

She readied her Aethercharge in advance this time, beginning with the first mandragora. She managed to take it down without difficulty, burning it up with a Ruby Carbuncle headbutt. It left her charged with fire to quickly dispatch the last two mandragoras for the assignment, thankful to be free of another scuffle like with the dodos.

She had a sudden urge to see if her strangely modified phone had the capacity to play the classic Final Fantasy 'success' theme, and found it via a strange system app she didn't remember installing that was full of the game's little system sounds. She played it at max volume, the sound giving her a little comfort, and causing her unseen follower to jump in surprise.

There, she noted. May as well see what's going on.

She walked to the direction she had noticed the person, and cleared her throat loudly, and prepared her customer service voice. "Hello there, friend, can I help you with something?"

Her response was a quiet "eek!"

A bespectacled Miqo'te woman, somewhere around mid-twenties, stepped out from behind the tree confidently as if she had intended for this to happen. "Excellent work, initiate Alice. You cleared that task with skill and precision. I now ask that you ignore me for the remainder of your task, here as I am to observe."

Alice stared at the woman. "I see. Even though the remainder of that task is just… to report my success to Thubyrgeim?"

"Ah, there is actually a second stage to this task, dependent on your success here." She pushed her glasses up her nose with a finger. "I must say, after your display with the dodos began, I calculated your probability of success dropping rapidly, but it ended at a clean 85%."

"Cool. I hate probability, but whatever floats your boat," Alice responded honestly. "So did I do well enough for stage two?"

"Yes, actually," the Miqo'te nodded. "Report to Thubyrgeim as instructed and she will explain it for you."

Alice stood waiting for the Miqo'te to do anything else, be that to leave or introduce herself. Since nothing happened, she just gave her best Warrior of Light impression with a silent nod, and began the walk back to Limsa. Then she remembered she now had Return, and tried that instead.

The cast time was about as slow as the game, meaning she spent a few seconds glowing and floating in the air before she disappeared.

The experience was strange, to say the least. She felt herself…stop being solid, for lack of a better term, but in a way that was more comfortable and painless than it had any right to be. She saw in her mind the beacon that was Limsa's Aetheryte, and directed her aetherial form towards it. In a few seconds, thankfully not extended by her method of transport, she found herself at the plaza, where the spell and crystal worked together to form her into her original shape, before the teleport.

She checked herself over, and found that nothing had changed. No missing items, no strange holes in her clothing, and no new visible bruises or injuries.

"Cool!" She said aloud.

The one and only change was that the spell wouldn't reform in her mind, and needed some time to come back. Just like the game's cooldown timer, huh?

She realised she had probably temporarily outrun both the Miqo'te and the Hrothgar, though didn't expect the blessing to last.

She looked at the Aetheryte again, focusing on the local teleport within the city's aethernet. She felt the same experience as before, and reformed once more outside the guild.

"Excellent. Two for two." With that, she walked into the Arcanists' Guild once more.

Chapter Text

The last part of Alice’s assignment was to check several crates for any spoiled goods or pests. This was in part because most of the detail-minded arcanists of the guild also worked as Limsa Lominsa's customs officers, and so teaching that duty early was considered important. That didn't really matter to Alice, since she wasn't about to get a job at Limsa's border control any time soon, but she figured the experience might still be useful: it was an exercise in finding details and learning from them, and that felt like a relevant skill to work on regardless.

She took a long walk from the Arcanist's guild to the opposite side of Limsa entirely, where the bridge known as the Zephyr gate lead to the region called Middle La Noscea. Once across the bridge and on the isle of Vylbrand proper, she began to look around for the crates.

"Are you the trainee Arcanist?" A Yellowjacket guarding the gate asked her.

"Uh, yeah actually," said Alice. "Do you know where I'm going?"

The guard pointed to the right of the gate, where three crates sat in a little depression in the land. There was no one else visible, just the crates and some docile wildlife. She suddenly had a vivid memory of Tataru, the secretary of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, training to be an arcanist and failing this task, in part due to her summoned Carbuncle abandoning her the second they faced an element of danger.

Alice smiled down at her carbuncle, still summoned and walking around from her earlier trial, having teleported back to the city along with her. "You'd better not run away, alright?"

It looked back at her and made a cute little noise, melting her heart.

"Oh, I could never stay mad at you," she told it, then walked down to the crates, the happy little creature following suit.

The crates sat ominously, despite it now being late afternoon, the sun still shining brightly on the area. She walked up to one, and inspected the outside for a few minutes. She then looked at the other two, a couple more minutes each. Finally, she nodded.

"I have no idea what to look for," she declared to no one in particular.

None of the crates looked any different on the outside, at least not to her very untrained eye. So she sighed and tried again, hoping to find something on one last pass before she opened them up.

Surprisingly, she did, almost having given up before she saw… She wasn't quite sure what, but it was a strange bit of off-colour wood on one crate. She decided to try something perhaps a little cheaty, putting down her grimoire and pulling her phone out of her bag. She lined it up to take a photo of the colouration, then zoomed all the way in and snapped the picture. She then looked at the picture, zooming in further and straining her eyes against the blown-out pixels. She thought she could see… Something? It looked like there were little holes in the wood, and her 'Something' was on the other side of them.

"I guess I could…" She picked up a stick and tried to poke it through the hole, and felt that something gave a little on the other side before breaking the stick.

"Ah-hah…" She retrieved her grimoire and immediately began casting Ruin, doing her level best to keep the holes in mind as her target, and fired the spell. Based on the spell's reaction, she definitely caught something alive with the attack. Well, now formerly alive, she believed, but she put down her grimoire and opened the crate to be sure. Inside was a surprisingly large dead worm. She also spotted two more very alive and agitated worms in there with it, and jerked away in surprise, falling backwards on all fours and moving quickly away.

Somehow, the little insects leapt out of the box despite a lack of limbs, and landed where she had just been. They hissed - "How!?" she shouted - and she dived to the side, moving past the worms to where she had left her grimoire. She barely grasped it, and cast another Ruin, killing a second worm. The third leapt again, and she batted it away with her grimoire, splatting a bit of worm gore over the book's cover.

"Oh that's going to stink forever!" She ignored her disgust just long enough to cast a third and final Ruin to destroy the injured worm. She immediately dropped the book and flicked her hands in disgust, then ran them over the grass to try and get anything off. She didn't think any got on her hands, but she really didn't want to find out by touching her face.

She sat for a little while in silence after that, then stood up to check the insides of the other two crates as well. There were no creatures, but one of them did seem a little small on the inside under its collection of odds and ends, and she found a mechanism for an empty secret compartment inside. The third genuinely had nothing strange, and was just full of carrots for whatever reason.

She heard a thump behind her, and turned around, ready to ruin something with her hands in lieu of the spells in her discarded grimoire. She saw a person lying on their stomach, their face hidden behind a book that also looked like a grimoire.

She stared for almost a minute, waiting for anything weird to happen. Or anything at all to happen. The person, who she guessed was the Miqo'te from earlier, had yet to react-

"Pray ignore my presence for the present and allow me to cogitate!"

The voice definitely belonged to the arcanist from before, so Alice lowered her hands, and knelt to collect her discarded grimoire with a thumb and forefinger. The woman stood, one hand keeping the grimoire in front of her face, her eyes still glued to its pages. Her other arm extended towards Alice, index finger pointing skyward.

"Your reaction to my returning presence is not outside of expected parameters, but I must admit I did not wholly expect quite so proficient a performance against the enemies I set against you!"

"Giant worms, huh? Is that a commonly smuggled item?" asked Alice, her tone deadpan.

The book was lowered, and the Miqo'te had a puzzled expression. "The common Tree Slug? Of course not, as it grows everywhere, but it's assuredly enough of a menace to appear in cargo quite often."

"Love that," Alice said sarcastically. "Don't get how the fuck they can jump like that though, it's mildly upsetting to say the least."

The puzzlement changed into a frown. "Your strange lack of certain common knowledge aside, I'm somewhat perplexed by your activity before casting Ruin into the box."

"Oh, that." Alice brought her phone out for the Miqo'te to look at. "It's… How to explain. Like a linkpearl with a lot of extra features, including calculation and instant photography. Not Garlean tech, but apparently the Allagan Empire had them somehow? Or at least the Crystal Tower did…"

Wait… Were those Tomestones all this time? Alice thought.

"That sounds like an incredibly useful invention!" The Miqo'te's eyes were sparkling at the prospect. "Did you create this one, or is it of Allagan make?"

"Neither. It's a lot newer than Allag, but I have no idea how it was made."

Especially now that it's been altered somehow… Alice thought.

"Anyway, are you ever going to tell me your name, o glorious instructor?" asked Alice.

"Ah, yes. I am K'lyhia, a Mealvaan's Gate assessor," she introduced herself with a bow. "I must confess I spied much room for improvement during your performance, and the wheels of my mind whirled into motion as they are wont to do, inventing new strategies on the fly."

She leafed through her grimoire, and began to read something Alice couldn't see. "Let's see, taking into account your current level of ability, factoring in the aetheric constant, multiplying by the number of opponents, then applying your tactics to other potential combat scenarios… Oh dear."

"Oh no, what is it? Am I trash at this?" Alice suggested, only half joking.

"My calculations indicate failure upon encountering threat level 8502…"

Alice stared at her for several seconds. "What-"

K'lyhia interrupted her by loudly slamming her grimoire shut. With a big smile, she declared, "Well! We will have to see what we can do about that."

"What kind of arbitrary number was that?" asked Alice.

"Nothing arbitrary, I assure you, just the result of my calculations." K'lyhia nodded sagely. "I would like to confirm something with you. What factor most influences your choice of arcane geometries during battle?"

"Uhhh, I guess I kind of go with my gut?" Alice responded seriously, thinking over the answer. "Whatever makes the most sense at the time, also so I can follow my ABCs."

"Your ABCs?" K'lyhia's expression became puzzled again.

"I can't do the funny thing to accompany it, but I was once given the advice 'Always Be Casting', and it's pretty solid."

"Odd… This sounds like disciple of magic advice we don't give at the guild." She gave it some thought, trying to figure out where it could have come from. "Maybe the Thaumaturge's Guild in Ul'dah, although that's not a maxim I recall hearing from there-"

"No, no, it's advice from outside of Eorzea altogether," Alice shook her head. "You genuinely cannot guess or calculate where, so I do not recommend wasting time on it. Let's just… Move on from it, maybe?"

K'lyhia nodded. "Alright, aside from that interesting and quite sound piece of advice, your answer was what I predicted." She hooked her grimoire on her belt. "Which is excellent, as it means that, according to my calculations, the chance of you becoming an arcanist of note is… 89%! Give or take a percent."

"I guess that's a good thing?" said Alice, unsure.

"Why yes, and the certainty is quite high. After all, I know of only one other practitioner who responded to my question in the same manner."

Alice waited a few seconds for the answer, then impatiently waved for K'lyhia to continue.

"It was the man who bestowed upon me this grimoire-- the guildmaster himself!" She declared this proudly, patting the book. "While our inscrutable leader is, as I'm sure you're aware, on an indefinite leave of absence, he did leave us with his most notorious saying to date: strategy is a tool used to manipulate one's situation into the desired reality!"

Alice thought about that advice, nodding slowly. "I think I get it. Don't just plan to account for what's going to happen, plan to make sure things go your way, right?"

"That's a reasonable rephrasing, yes. But no matter how gifted you or I might be, the instantaneous manipulation of reality that might suddenly cause us to become mighty arcanists is beyond our reach. Discipline and experience is the finest strategy in this case."

I guess I picked the perfect class by complete accident, Alice thought, and nodded again. "Alright. I hate to be ungrateful but are we, uh, done here now? I feel like I've been standing here a little long and want to clean my grimoire."

"Yes, we are. But I suggest you continue to focus on refining your aptitude with Carbuncle. Mastery with an arcane entity will greatly improve your success as a wielder of arcanima! Now, go report to the acting guildmaster."

"Alright." Alice waved her grimoire a few more times trying to shake loose any gore that might still be on it, but found it to be clear and mostly dry, just stained. "See you later, then."

Alice ended up walking back to the guild instead of teleporting, realising she should probably keep in the habit of doing so, lest the cost on her money and energy become a problem. Her report to Thubyrgeim earned her a new grimoire, since she had been owed a better one for completing the task successfully anyway.

"Huh, nice. Good timing I suppose," said Alice, inspecting the pages for any key differences. Nothing written inside that she had read in her first tome was much different, as far as she could tell, but the book itself felt a bit stronger, magically speaking.

"If you would like to, given your rather excellent success so far, there's another task you can take on tonight," Thubyrgeim informed her. "You have several hours to decide, with which I recommend you rest, although reading more of your grimoire during that period may end up beneficial."

"How long is 'several hours'? Like how will I know when the deadline is?"

"Soon after the sun sets, K'lyhia has an inspection to make in Middle La Noscea," the acting guildmaster explained. "Come back to us with an answer before then if you wish to assist her and learn further from her example."

"Alright. I'll let you know. For now, I guess I'm off to the Wench," said Alice, and turned to leave.

"As long as you don't intend to turn up drunk to the inspection, you may do as you like," the Roegadyn woman replied.

"Good thing I don't intend to drink at all!" Alice said in a sing-song tone as she walked out the door. Once outside, she made the trek to the Crow's lift elevator, and rode it up to the Wench.

She beelined to Baderon at the main desk. "Guess who went from no magic to fully qualified arcanist in a single day~!" She announced cheerfully.

He looked up from something he was reading, saw Alice and cracked a grin
"Aye, lass? Fully qualified, ey?"

"At the very least enough of one that I'm being asked to assist inspections later tonight already," she said. "Which feels pretty fucking fast, but I'll sure as hell take it!"

"Oh-hoh! Ye did well, then. Mayhap yer prior experience before travellin' helped ye?"

"'Travelling' is a strong word but yes, I think so? I had a job back home that wasn't quite the same though, just retail work, but I did enjoy the occasional problem solving required.

"Anyway…" She jumped onto a stool and put her elbows on the bar. "I'd like some food, something meaty but not too much, and also to check on something."

"Aye? What's that, then?" He asked.

"Sastasha."

"Aye? An' what about it?" He asked, somewhat suspicious. "Ye dropped that name earlier, didn't ye?"

"Yes, because with my, uh, foresight and farsight, I know that you'll either soon get or already have a request from the Commodore for an adventurer or four to clear out those caves of pirates," she told him seriously. "Bunch of prisoners held in there, too."

He took another look up and down at her, really trying to take in as much information as he could see.

"Ye don't seem like a Serpent Reaver, and yer no Fishback. What's yer angle?" He asked, eyes narrowing.

"It's simple but, like I said earlier, makes me sound insane. But given I trust you… I'm from another place, basically in the future, and I know to an extent where Alicia's story is supposed to go. But Hydaelyn brought me here and gave me the fucking Echo for some reason, so I intend to try and help the Warrior of Light succeed. Ideally with less bad shit happening to us than is supposed to."

He took that in, and took a few seconds to think. "If nothin' else, I see a lass who believes what she says. Yer sure Alicia's a Warrior o' Light, then?"

"One hundred percent. I'm starting to think I might have been made one too, which is a lot of pressure given what's coming, but I'm just gonna have to deal with it, right?"

One of his eyebrows raised. "An' what makes ye think that?"

"Well, my first night here involved getting the Echo from a letter apparently from Hydaelyn Herself, so…" she shrugged. "I'm reasonably sure I'm at least here to help her."

Baderon nodded slowly. "Well then…. If yer sure, and ye seem to be, then yes. There's a request ta go in and clean that 'ole o' the filth inside. It'll be a dangerous thing, not fer the faint o' heart nor any inexperienced 'venturers."

"Ah but you see, I have experienced that place. Several times. Genuinely too fucking many actually." She realised she was going on a tangent. "The point is, I know the lay of the land in there. Same with the requests that'll follow, from Gridania and Ul'dah, for a couple other places that need cleaning."

"I'll take yer word fer it, but I haven' heard anythin' yet. Either way, Alicia won't be back until the morrow, so ye better be ready."

"Yes sir," she said, very informally saluting as well. "We'll kick their arses for being disgraceful menaces to Limsa and beyond."

He smiled. "Aye, I'll hold ye to that then."

--------------------

A late-afternoon lunch later, Alice decided to check out Hawker's Alley for some better gear. She had checked her actual gil for a rough estimate, and found she seemed to have a solid million or so, like the purchase bonus for the game. Which was certainly an interesting side gift from Hydaelyn, she thought.

She was suddenly thinking how surprised she was that no one tried to pick her pockets or anything, and kind of regretted thinking about it in case it then happened…

She shook her head to clear her brain of the inescapable circular logic. And then felt a quick flash of instinct to sidestep to the left, and narrowly avoided bumping into someone as a result. She nodded at them, and they seemed a little grumpy for whatever reason. She ignored them, and kept moving forward, electing not to think about the unusually sharp awareness that made her dodge a likely pickpocket before any sign she was in danger - a sense she had not possessed back home on Earth.

The shopkeepers in Limsa Lominsa were quite nice, and seemed to be helpful given her lack of experience with Eorzean mercantile behaviour. Her haul included a robe that looked pretty nice over her Hyur clothes, a beret, some inexpensive jewellery, a few potions and antidotes and such just in case, and some information.

The robe and jewellery were for mages, designed to help take less damage from magic, as well as to improve channelling. While probably not as granular as the game variants, Alice was glad that she could still boost her offence and defence with good gear. The beret was just a style thing, in black, something she had often had Alicia wear in the game.

The information was for a specialist in linkpearls, since having at least one of them seemed like a good idea given the lack of signal on her mobile phone. After all, what good was a phone that had no connection?

The seller was in the Aftcastle plaza, where to the north she saw the familiar-yet-strange sights of the Missing Member, a hangout for an all-female pirate crew called the Sirens, as well as Naldiq & Vymelli's to the east, the combination Smith's and Armourer's guilds.

The linkpearl seller wasn't too hard to find, and the cost of a fresh linkshell, from which one obtained connected linkpearls, wasn't totally egregious, at least compared to items she had bought for Alicia during the game.

Sitting down at a bench, she tried to figure out how to use her new link. It was genuinely just a small shell that she was supposed to pull orbs from - linkpearls were literally pearls, it seemed. Apparently they were supposed to connect only to each other, not just any linkpearl you wanted, which surprised her. The game must have decided to ignore that part of lore for the sake of communication expediency.

Her phone vibrated in her bag, causing her to jump a bit. She brought it out, and found a message on the screen: Linkshell Connection Established.

"Wait, really?"

She unlocked it, and watched as the usual Phone app icon was replaced with an icon that looked a lot like a stylised linkshell. She tapped it, and found the shell listed as a contact in a new extra tab. Just in case, she checked her normal phone contacts and those were still there too. She experimentally tried calling one, and as expected got a connection error.

"Hm, hm. Neat," she said out loud.

"Now that is interesting," she heard a familiar voice say from behind her.

She managed to not look outwardly surprised at the Hrothgar's reappearance, and turned to look up at him as if she had already known he was there.

"Yeah, I'm glad my one piece of communication technology still works as intended, in a way."

"Your device there, it's like a linkshell? It looks more like a piece of magitek."

"More like a linkpearl that can connect to any link code as long as I know what I'm trying to connect to. Back home, they all have a number you enter, and if it's correct you call them, but then yes it's like a linkpearl from there."

He tilted his head. "But it is so big, surely that is impractical?"

"I'm assuming you were nearby earlier when I told K'lyhia that it's also used for calculations and images and other things too?" She asked directly, smiling wryly.

He shrugged, palms up in a 'you caught me' gesture. "Yes, I didn't quite understand it at the time though. That's the same device?"

"Yep! It's pretty handy." She waggled her eyebrows. "And Garlemald ain't got shit on it. Not that it can fight them in combat or anything, it's not an AI."

"AI…?" He looked puzzled.

"Ah, like uh… How do I explain it here? I guess it's like a purely technological version of making Automata or mammets. No magic, just numbers." Alice frowned and looked to the side in thought. "Man, it's really hard to explain what feel like basic concepts to people here, just because y'all have no frame of reference for so much of it."

"Yes, you have spoken about a lot of strange things today," he agreed.

"Now that we're friends, two questions," she told him.

"I wouldn't say-" he began

"One, how free are you tomorrow to gank some Serpent Reavers?" She asked, cutting him off. "And two, what's your name?"

He sighed. "I am Yaromir. And I believe you speak of clearing out the Sastasha Seagrot? Since you have, in fact, mentioned this several times to others today."

"That is correct," she said. "And so you know why I ask. We must assemble the gank squad, and also you probably have to watch me because the Admiral said so, am I right?"

"That is a rather large guess you are making there, friend," he replied, the emphasis on the last word making it clear he didn't intend to confirm her guess.

"Excellent. I'll take that as a yes, then, my new friend." She took a linkpearl from her new shell and handed it to him. "It's yours, my friend," she said, in a bad imitation of a half-remembered meme.

He didn't take it at first, so she kept holding it until she had annoyed him into doing so.

"Wonderful. Remember, this means you can do your job and help Limsa with an actual problem, too!" She grinned at him, only overdoing it a little bit.

He pocketed the linkpearl. "I will consider your request. Now, I believe you have someone else to bother, hm? It is nearly sunset."

"Damn, your ears are good." She nodded in impressed surprise. "Yeah, I think I feel prepared and rested enough, and I could do with the experience."

"You could do with any experience. Your fight with the tree slugs left much to be desired."

"Gods above, everyone's a critic." She shook her head disappointedly, then stood up.

She clicked her tongue and pointed a pair of finger guns at Yaromir. "See you tomorrow." And with that, she made her way back to the Arcanists' Guild.

Chapter Text

For some reason, as proof of her readiness to join K'lyhia on an inspection, Thubyrgeim had once more asked Alice to go and fight even more creatures to the death in another part of La Noscea altogether. She had lightly protested it but complied anyway, and trudged up to western La Noscea to hunt some Jackals and Roselings. The former were what an Earth-native would expect of the name, the latter an annoying, man-eating plant creature. According to Thubyrgeim, this third hunt was all in the name of reinforcing strategies other than just 'spam Ruin,' or so Alice interpreted her words, at least.

She had used some of the time to read further into her grimoire, and discovered that there were three 'standard' levels of Aethercharged Carbuncle to summon: Ruby, Topaz and Emerald. Topaz was the next step up from Ruby, so she decided to try and teach herself the skill. The Ruby Carbuncle was fire-aspected, and thus its special gem-shine Ruin was also fire-aspected. The Topaz's element, meanwhile, was earth.

Learning that particular aspect was a bit difficult, as if parts of the spell were unexplained or missing, but she got enough of it for a basic use of the Topaz Carbuncle to appear, attack, and leave, just like the Ruby, without any negative side effects. Overall, it helped her clear the hunting task a lot faster than she otherwise expected.

When she returned to the guild, she stared at Thubyrgeim with a flat expression. "I did the thing. Three dead jackals, three dead roselings."

Thubyrgeim inclined her head in greeting. "Welcome back. How did it feel to conquer such ferocious foes?"

"I guess it felt pretty good," Alice conceded. "And it was a decent experience, since I learned how to summon Topaz, that'll be pretty useful."

Thubyrgeim's eyebrows shot up. "You learned how to summon a Topaz Carbuncle ? With the incomplete variant of the spell in the grimoire?"

"...Was I not supposed to? Like a challenge, right?"

The acting guildmaster shook her head. "When it was deemed right, I intended to instruct you in the core of the spell, as with every member of the guild. Learning the spell from the reminders in your grimoire is impressive, though not prodigious."

"So like, a weird, middle-of-the-road level impressive? I'll still take it." Alice crossed her arms. "Alright, what's next? Time to help K'lyhia, yeah?"

Thubyrgeim nodded. "Correct. She awaits you on the floor below with further details."

Alice frowned. "There's a floor below?"

"Surely you haven't missed the doorway next to the guild's entrance?"

Alice walked over and saw it. "Wow, jeez, how did I miss this wholeass corridor? Aight, catch ya later, boss."

She threw a quick informal salute, then proceeded down the ramp. The lower floor was mainly taken up by a large two-level circular room, much larger than the main hall above. The middle section was a small arena, where a group of arcanists were practicing tactics with their carbuncles.

K'lyhia was waiting at the edge of the arena, intently watching the others practice. She looked up as she heard Alice approach. "A timely appearance, as I expected," she said. "Shall we proceed directly to the job at hand?"

"No arguments here. What're we doing?"

"I have been tasked with examining the wares of a goblin peddler caravan run by the Boilstox family," K'lyhia explained. "Our agents suspect these beastmen merchants of dealing in forbidden goods. As such, I have calculated that announcing an inspection has a 60% chance of inviting physical violence."

Goblins were, as in many fantasy settings, a race of short, greenish-skinned beastmen, with large ears and noses. Goblins in Eorzea tended to also wear nearly-sealed bodysuits similar to environment suits, which caused Alice to mentally compare them to the similar, if stockier, Volus from Mass Effect. Goblins also tended to use a lot of funny compound words, in a very unique and recognisable way that often made Alice smile. But when push came to shove, they could still be quite resourceful, and deadly if you underestimated them.

"Less than ideal, huh. So what do we do about it?" asked Alice.

K'lyhia pushed her glasses up with a finger. "I have prepared a strategy to respond to this possible shift into hostilities, but there is an important precondition you should be made aware of before we discuss the finer points of my plan."

"Arright, shoot." Seeing the Miqo'te's blank expression and lack of response, she rephrased. "I mean tell me the 'precondition.'"

"Ah, I understand now." She cleared her throat. "Though I am considered gifted in the formation of tactics, I lack the reflexes and coordination necessary to employ many of those selfsame strategies on the field of battle. Pray keep this factor in mind, and adjust your perceptions accordingly."

Alice's focus started to wane, likely her ADHD meds finally running their course. As a result, the Miqo'te's next overly verbose sentences blended together somewhat.

"...1345, Stratagem Focus Fire… 95% chance of victory… in the vicinity of the Cookpot…"

Alice gave a forced smile and nodded, pretty sure she got the most important details. K'lyhia left, and Alice remained standing for a few seconds, trying to pull details together.

She walked out of the guildhall at an unhurried pace, and tried to remember where 'the Cookpot' even was. It wasn't a location she remembered, and it's not like she could just press a keyboard key and open a map…

"Wait a fucking second."

She quickly checked her phone, opening the Maps app. Thankfully, it did actually work: Eorzea was hers to look at, like a blend of the in-game map and a real one she'd have access to from a normal navigation app, meaning she had access to game-restricted sections of the surrounding area. That would probably come in handy later.

--------------------

The Cookpot was an easy part of Middle La Noscea to find, being both close to Limsa, and right by a great gaping hole in the ground that bisected the area, made by Bahamut during the Seventh Umbral Calamity. And sure enough, next to the strange little rock formation, there was K'lyhia.

"There you are," she said. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Yeah, though I gotta wonder how you people move so damn fast," Alice replied. "Guess what you lack in reflexes you make up for in cardio, yeah?"

"By the phrase 'you people', are you referring to Miqo'te?"

"No, I mean like… Everyone here in Eorzea except me. I'm not a local, not Eorzean at all, so seeing how fast you all go is crazy to me."

"I see… That would explain your accent. In any case, I believe our target approaches, are you ready to begin?"

Alice looked around, accidentally mirroring the game's Lookout emote. She spotted a pack of goblins moving in a group around a cart, in the direction of the Zephyr Gate. She looked back to K'lyhia and nodded. "Ready."

They stepped out in front of the goblins, causing the lead one to jump in surprise. "I am Foreseer K'lyhia of Mealvaan's Gate," said the Miqo'te. "You are to cease all transactions and surrender your goods for inspection."

"Nasty sneakypeekers!" The leader cursed at the pair. "Gobbies spit uplander nosyeyes on stabbyiron!"

A rough translation: We hate you for snooping, so we're going to stab your eyes out.

"Try us, you little shit," said Alice.

K'lyhia turned to look at the human. "Very well, Alice, remember what we discussed!" And then she ran towards the Cookpot, away from the goblins, and opened her grimoire.

Alice's eyes widened. "Wait, what?" She was set upon by the goblins immediately, a group of three that had rushed her at the leader's orders.

She cracked open her grimoire and began casting Ruin, utilising Aethercharge, and getting ready to dive out of the way of some nasty-looking knives. "Oh shit oh shit…" she muttered repeatedly, trying to figure out how to land accurate hits while avoiding getting gutted. She mostly ended up hitting shoulders and legs, with a few good torso shots in between. She was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to kill them, but Ruin wasn't the best at only incapacitating, so the bad aim was working out for her somewhat.

One goblin's shoulder strap was vaporised, and his backpack's weight caused him to fall over on top of it, helplessly flailing like a turtle. Her Aethercharge completed, so she immediately summoned the Ruby Carbuncle and had it throw itself headlong at a goblin that had been trying to stab her in the shins. The little bastard was caught by surprise, and flung to the side, unconscious and singed.

A second group of three more goblins, each armed with lit bombs, ran at her screaming nonsense, and reminding her very strongly of the Halo game series' Suicide Grunts. Unlike the hapless aliens, however, the goblins had the sense to throw the bombs at her rather than take themselves out.

"Alice! Switch to Combat Pattern 2538: 'Evasive Manoeuvres!'"

"Just say "dodge!"" Alice said, as she threw herself to the side to avoid the explosives. She brought herself up to cast another Ruin, or rather to attempt to do so, but the goblins somehow had already prepared even more bombs, and were throwing them at her new location. "Fuck!"

She threw a Ruby Ruin at one of the bombs, detonating it prematurely and throwing the other two off course, though the blast wave still caught her at its weakest point, forcing her to look away and cover her face with her arms.

When she looked up again, the new goblins were closing with their knives out. One was struck from behind by a Ruin sent in by K'lyhia. It knocked that one down, and Alice used a Topaz Carbuncle to slam an earthquake headbutt into a second. As the third rushed her, she closed her grimoire to dodge an overly telegraphed stab, then slammed the thick tome into the side of the goblin's head. Stunned, it staggered back, and she brought the book down on top of its skull this time, knocking it thoroughly unconscious.

"Your combat style gives me an idea…" Alice heard K'lyhia say. "I must formulate a new tactic. The battlefield is yours!"

Alice was almost stunned by the decision. "Excuse me, but what the fuck are you doing!?"

The last four goblins, including their leader, finally decided to rush her.

"Hey! Help me with this mess!" Alice yelled at K'lyhia, who was instead doing… Something, off in the distance, towards the outcrop. Furious, she stood her ground and aimed a Ruin at the head of the goblins' leader. She still had the charged Topaz aether left, and threw that in for good measure, which ended up smashing the poor gobbie's head backwards like she had been hit by a high speed brick fired from a cannon. Alice was pretty sure she was dead, but didn't care. Who the hell just leaves in the middle of their own operation to plan some more for the future?

She picked up a wicked and rusty blade from one of the fallen goblins by her feet, and made ready to defend herself to the death. One of the goblins instead fell over, tripping on its feet and screaming. A knife, much nicer than any the beastmen had, was pinning his foot to the dirt. The remaining two stopped, confused and scared, and Alice threw a Ruin at the ground between them, send them running away in fear. She sighed, and decided to go inspect the leader.

Somehow, through some strange twist of fortune, her overly large backpack had cushioned her head enough to somehow prevent her neck breaking. Alice found some rope attached to the mass, and tried to tie up the goblin's hands. Finally, she threw her one healing spell on the goblin for good measure, just to be absolutely certain she hadn't murdered them. Even though she was probably allowed to do so in self defence, it still didn't feel like the right call. She looked towards the knife embedded in the other goblin's foot, and felt she recognised it. Putting two and two together, she removed the knife in exchange for a quick heal spell on the goblin's foot, and turned around, expecting to find Yaromir behind her, maybe looking smug.

Instead, she saw him standing near the Cookpot… Talking angrily to K'lyhia. Alice walked over to them, and managed to catch a little bit of the conversation.

"...for all your talk of tactics, the decision to contribute exactly once and walk away seems tactically unsound to me. I assume she could have handled herself without me, if needed, but she should not have needed to in the first place if you had helped."

K'lyhia was frightened and confused, not quite sure where this large lad had come from nor why his wroth was directed at her at present. She saw Alice approach, and ran to hide behind the human. "Alice, I don't understand what this Hrothgar wants from me! I didn't have a plan to account for a complication like this after our success!"

Alice slowly blinked as she turned her eyes to meet K'lyhia's. "I think he's sharing my bruh moment. Which means, 'why in the fuck did you do almost fuck-all during your own inspection?'"

"I… Had explained already, at the guild." K'lyhia frowned, absolutely certain of this fact, and not understanding the logic.

"Yes, you said you had shitty reflexes, not that you would do one single thing from afar then just… Leave! What the hell!? Just throw some more Ruins at them or something, it's not that hard!" Alice was mad, but seeing K'lyhia's expression, she softened up and sighed. "Just… Go inspect the cargo and report success, or whatever."

She walked over to Yaromir, leaving the dejected Miqo'te to finish her own job.

"Christ, what a fucking mess…" she muttered. Looking up at the leonine lad, she said "I'm glad you showed up, and appreciate that you think I can handle myself."

He nodded, not quite happy with having let his emotions get to him. "I am frustrated when I see superiors act…inferior, I suppose. I am surprised, as I know that woman to usually act far more intelligently." He gave a wry smile she could see he only half felt. "Maybe she was simply enamoured by your actions, hm?"

"I barely did anything myself! Nothing to write home about, I mean."

Alice looked toward where K'lyhia was inspecting the crates of cargo in the little carriage. "I should go apologise and help her."

"Help, maybe. Apologise, I would not. But it is up to you." He nodded, apparently deciding something. "You will see me tomorrow. Finish this job and go rest."

With that, he turned to walk away instead of disappearing, the concept almost too normal even for what little she knew of him. Alice shrugged, and walked towards the Foreseer. "Right. What do you need me to do?"

The Miqo'te had apparently been stuck in her own head and hadn't noticed Alice's approach, and to her credit, her surprise showed only as a very small but noticeable shift backwards. "I, ah, need you to check this one remaining crate," she pointed out the one in question. Alice complied, saying nothing else for a while.

Most of the way through the crate's contents, she finally spoke up. "Hey. I'm sorry I got mad at you."

K'lyhia's ears twitched, and she looked up at Alice, surprise very clear on her face. "But you and the Hrothgar were right, I didn't contribute to the fight at all. And what good is a superior who doesn't try to help their subordinates with situations they put those subordinates into?"

"I guess an imperfect one?" Alice shrugged. "I dunno, technically you did help, and I'm still not entirely happy with how it went, but you weren't being malicious or whatever. Just kind of… Dumb about it. Something to not do next time."

They finished the inspection in silence, after which point K'lyhia tried to put on a fake cheerfulness as if nothing had occurred. "I have a question for you in my capacity as a senior arcanist. When it comes to improving the probable success of a strategy, do you consider it more effective to concentrate on playing to your strengths, or shoring up your weaknesses?"

"Shoring up weaknesses, easy. I can't have strength if my weakness gets me killed before I can use it," Alice responded with no hesitation.

K'lyhia nodded. "Yes, well… It's important to be critically aware of your own limits, the limits of your allies, and the characteristics of your enemies. I believe that covers everything for today. Please return to the guild and make your report to Mistress Thubyrgeim. Until next we meet."

"You're not coming with? Or racing on ahead with that cardio of yours?" Alice tried to joke, but felt it fall flat as soon as she said it.

"I shall abide here until the Yellowjackets arrive to take the peddlers into custody. My strategies will keep me company." She winced. "I apologise, once more."

"It's fine, as long as you don't do that to anyone else again. Even if you think they'll be fine, just make absolutely sure they are next time."

She waved, and left for Limsa.

--------------------

Her report to Thubyrgeim hadn't gone badly, per se. The acting guildmaster was definitely upset to hear what had happened with K'lyhia, though directed at Yaromir and Alice's actions rather than the Foreseer's, until Alice had argued her case. She hadn't been able to make the Roegadyn woman concede the point completely, but had at least convinced her to mark the lesson as a success and to not go any further. Thubyrgeim had been surprised Alice thought something as extreme as being blacklisted over this was a possibility.

"Look, I'm just, I'm going to bed for the night," said Alice, cutting herself off from suggesting anything weird. "I've had a long day, and tomorrow will likely be a helluva lot longer."

Thubyrgeim nodded. "Alright. Practice your tactics and your co-ordination and return to me at some point in the near future for additional instruction."

Alice nodded, just an acknowledgement with little energy. "Arright. Bye for now then."

She trudged out of the hall, and on her way down Hawker's Alley nearly bumped into someone again. Her instinctive sidestep, however, caused her to bump into the second person, walking next to the first. They both apologised to each other, but Alice's voice caught when she realised she bumped into Alphinaud Leveilleur of all people. Turning her head slightly, she saw that she had indeed nearly bumped into Alisaie, Alphinaud's twin sister.

"Holy shit. What're you two doing in Limsa so early? The memorial isn't until after Ifrit…" She facepalmed, realising that she had just lost her filter for keeping future information secret while tired and annoyed from the day's events. She tried to lie to play it off. "Sorry, never mind, I think I just mistook you for someone else…"

Alphinaud, however, had definitely noticed something, and he and his sister both turned serious, staring at her.

"Now hold on there, madam, I do believe I heard a rather particular name in that slip of the tongue. You wouldn't have happened to have business with the Amalj'aa, would you?"

"Scion business." This was only half a lie, given her lack of affiliation with the Scions at present, but they would certainly take on the fire primal when the time came.

"I see," he said, sharing a look with his sister. "And you wouldn't happen to have a local contact with the Scions we could perhaps talk to, then?"

Alice racked her brains, trying to figure out the perfect response. An old running joke from the game about the Scions' code phrase manifested in her mind in her time of need.

"Well, yeah. Archon Y'shtola is probably out looking for where some wild roses bloom," she said. "Anyway, I need to go the fuck to sleep, ASAP, or Imma pass out. Peace, kiddos." She held a hand up, making V sign with the index and middle fingers, then left before they could protest.

Apparently they had decided her knowledge was good enough to let her be, and didn't follow. She used the stairs instead of the Crow's lift, Yaromir waiting for her halfway up, leaning next to the damaged section of wall Alicia had made.

"Now that was rather stupid, I would say," he said.

"She was angry about it, but I talked her down-"

"With the Elezen kids, I mean," he interrupted. "I don't know what I heard, exactly, other than it was probably something I and they shouldn't know. Something about Ifrit? The Amalj'aa primal?"

"Shhh, it's fiiiiine. The Scions will take care of it, and that's not a lie." She shrugged. "Though whether they let me help them by that point is up in the air. My guess is a solid "maybe." Also? You've maybe gotta try harder not to meet me after declaring I'll see you tomorrow. Kinda ruins the cool factor."

""Cool..?"" He shook his head. "Information like that is too important to prioritise anything other than public safety, and let us not forget it is my job to figure you out."

"Didn't I already tell Y'shtola about this? Just let me go to bed." His stare told her he wouldn't, so she made a noise of exasperation and briefly explained to him the plot that the Warrior of Light and Thancred uncover that involves the kidnapping of Ul'dahn people by a shady merchant, in order to give the captured people to the Amalj'aa to be Tempered. "I guess the kidnapping part is probably already happening but, like I said, I told Y'shtola about it, and I can't exactly ask the Maelstrom to inform the Immortal Flames, can I?"

"No, but you have told me, and I will make sure people look into it," he said.

She stared at him. "You believe me? Alright, yeah, please do that. Less kidnappings is much better. That said, Scions, or rather Alicia, still have to go fight Ifrit somehow. If she doesn't, they'll just use a primal to temper a metric fucktonne of people and cause huge problems that way."

"Can't she just-"

"No, no, the timing is wrong, and she isn't even in the Scions until after Copperbell. Unless I've fucked that up for her, that is." Alice shook her head and began walking up the stairs again. "Man, I honestly want to help people here because of what I know, but I get the feeling I'm up shit creek for trying to do that."

"Strange expressions aside, there are many in need of help, all around Eorzea," he countered, following her. "Ilsabard, too."

"Yeah but like…. Fuck, man, if you knew what was coming too, you'd probably want to do whatever I'm doing too, but smarter."

They arrived at the Wench, and walked to Baderon, who for whatever reason was genuinely still at the main desk, even well after sunset.

"Aye, lass, welcome back," he said. "And you've brought a friend, ey?"

"More like a state-appointed guardian," said Alice. "I'd like a room, please. Not one to share, just for me."

She glared at Yaromir. "He is going wherever home is, and better not fucking watch me while I sleep. Job or not, that's not cool."

Baderon was a little confused by the exchange but recognised that Yaromir was an Admiralty-sanctioned rogue, if nothing else, and so let them be. He walked over to the Mizzenmast Inn manager, and set up something for Alice. She was tired enough that she paid whatever cost he asked, immediately forgetting the value.

She said goodnight to Yaromir, then walked through the gateway to the Inn's rooms and shared bathroom, heading first to her new room. Once inside the familiar-yet-unfamiliar space, she took off her boots, jewellery, grimoire, and anything else that wasn't just soft cloth, then headed back out towards the bathrooms, almost forgetting to lock the door behind her.

She was more than a little afraid of the state she would find them in, but it was far better kept than she'd expected. It even had a primitive but working shower, with a little privacy screen. And to top it all off, there was no one else there! Despite her earlier mood, she felt pretty happy about that, and allowed herself to take her time, given how bloody exhausted she was.

After a bit of time learning the intricacies of what she would politely describe collectively as 'Eorzean Bathroom Techniques,' she felt a lot fresher and cleaner, and headed back to her room. She closed and locked the door behind her, jumped in bed, and passed out as soon as she had pulled the sheets over herself.

Chapter Text

Alice had not had nightmares for a very long time. She definitely used to have them as a small child, and they were so bad that, among other things, her parents bought her a dreamcatcher, hoping it might help. Somehow, only the dreamcatcher actually worked, and even into her adult life she never had a single nightmare ever again. She had even on occasion been able to loan it to other members of her family, to temporarily help them while also not suffering from the catcher's absence. It was strange, certainly, but Alice wasn't one to question that good fortune, even if she still questioned the reality in other, similar things in life.

That night, she had her first nightmare in twenty years. It was… Horrible. It reminded her strongly of the Amaurot that Emet-Selch had recreated, to show the chaos of the Final Days, but it felt more real, more visceral, than that had, going far beyond just a memory of the dungeon she had seen through a computer screen. She felt fear, terror, despair…

She woke up in a sweat, breathing hard. Nothing she had seen would stay in her memory, not in any specific way… and even then only because of the dungeon as a coherent frame of reference. She looked down at her hands, and saw they were still hers.

She got up and walked over to the mirror attached to what, in the game, was the glamour dresser. She saw herself, still the same, strange Hyur clothes still on her, though looking a bit stained from her restless sleep.

"What the fuck… Of all things, Amaurot?" She asked herself, quietly but aloud. "I'm not even a sundered soul… I mean, I didn't think I was…"

She spent almost a minute staring, getting her breathing under control, and waiting for anything to happen. It didn't.

The only upside was that she had definitely slept through the whole night, based on the light coming in through the window she had forgotten to close. Sometime mid morning, maybe? She could never tell time without a clock, and her phone confirmed it was a little past 9:00 AM. So, early for her, but normal for most people. Theoretically, she had time today for everything she hoped to get done…

She had woken up pretty grimy, despite the previous night’s shower, and was relieved to find that she could still use the shower this morning, albeit with a wait for some other patrons to have their turn first, leading to the experience being a little more scary than it probably should have been. But she ended the ordeal looking and smelling fresh, and even her clothes looked nicer again.

She made her way out of the room, down the halls to the Drowning Wench, and once more beelined towards Baderon's desk. He wasn't there, which made her take a little time to mentally reconcile with the fact he was now a regular person rather than a static NPC - he probably didn't just live here. But there was someone, a barmaid she didn't recognise, who was perfectly capable of taking a breakfast order, which she ended up eating while seated at the bar counter.

The food she ended up picking this time was a little more like a seaside Mediterranean breakfast, with some fish and other coastal foods. Her Italian half felt empowered, while her Australian half, and her stomach, just felt pleasantly satisfied.

To her surprise, a familiar figure walked out of the Crow's lift and sat down next to her, followed by a second, larger figure from the stairwell up. They ordered food and coffee for themselves, and looked at her.

"Alicia and Yaromir at breakfast time, huh?" She said, only a small amount of sarcasm in her tone. "I must be blessed."

The Au Ra and Hrothgar looked at each other and silently nodded.

"Of course that's how you two greet for the first time…" Alice sighed. "It's already Sastasha time, right?"

"I was brought word by a member of the Sultansworn upon waking," said Alicia, crossing her arms. She wore a full set of plate armour, although without a helmet. "Baderon has a job for an experienced adventurer. Remains to be seen if it's the Sastasha Seagrot or not."

Yaromir just nodded wordlessly. He had received his coffee and was mostly focused on finishing it.

"Well, we're still missing a healer. We do kinda need one of those to get through this." Alice scarfed down the last of her food. "Just because it was easy as shit in the game doesn't mean it can't kill us now that it's real."

Alicia looked at her. "Adventuring is not a game. We must be careful or else risk ourselves for nothing."

"Yes, it's not a game, I am aware. That is why we need someone who can magically heal our wounds more consistently than my one basic spell." She thought it over, reaching to that dark, forgotten corner reserved for previously unimportant Realm Reborn knowledge. "I think there's a Smith place near the entrance, if that's real."

"A smithy near the entrance to a cave full of pirates?" asked Yaromir.

"No, no, like, a building for new adventurers to learn shit, like team tactics and whatnot."

"Well, lass, I can safely say I've ne'er heard of' such a place me'self."

Baderon had approached from the inn room entrance, looking refreshed and rested.

"Wait, you really do live here?" asked Alice.

He frowned, confused. "Aye, why wouldn't I?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it, realising he had a point. "...You know, that is an excellent question. Anyway, you have a job for experienced adventurers, correct?"

"Well, I'd say somethin' 'bout havin' ta check me desk an' requests first, but aye, I already know the one yer talkin' about."

He entered the area behind the counter, explaining the job as he went. Suspicious people going in and out of the Sastasha Seagrot, up near Aleport, and someone was needed to go check out what was going on.

"Don't sound like much, I know…" Baderon trailed off, hand on his chin.

"If you would permit me, Master Baderon, I would be happy to elaborate."

Reyner, the Commodore of the Yellowjackets, walked up from behind the trio, and moved to stand at the counter next to them. His look of surprise upon seeing Alice and Yaromir was brief, before his face became neutral once more. Alice waved at him with a fake smile but said nothing.

"Well, well, if it ain't the chief Yellowjacket 'imself," said Baderon, surprised and please. "To what do I owe this rare honour, Commodore Reyner? Come to make sure me patrons are behavin' - or just thirsty?"

Reyner chuckled at the joke. "Neither, in fact. I was informed you had requested an adventurer to assist in my investigation, and came to offer what information I could sift from recent reports."

He looked directly at Alice. "Though I'll admit to some surprise in one of your choices."

"Oh I invited myself-" Alice began.

"The lass has some familiarity with the area, and a degree of adventurin' expertise that may help," Baderon cut in quickly.

Reyner's expression turned suspicious. "That's odd. I do believe I recall her having only just arrived in Eorzea."

Alice looked at Baderon. "I appreciate you trying to cover for me, but he saw me get teleported in. There's no chance, buddy, but thanks."

Returning her focus back to Reyner, she explained. "The reason for my surprise and knowing where and when I was is the same reason I know the inside of Sastasha. Technically, I have been there before, vicariously through her," she pointed at Alicia, "to do this exact job. But, since y'all were understandably inclined towards getting me the hell out of the Admiral's office, and I was scared shitless, I didn't really have the presence of mind to inform you of what's there."

Yaromir sighed and Alicia just shook her head.

Commodore Reyner snorted. "Please, you expect me to believe such a story? You're lucky I don't suspect you of being in league with the Reavers."

"Hey, I told you the truth, not my fault you don't believe me." Alice looked away and crossed her arms behind her head leaning back on the barstool a little. "Go ahead and explain the job, these two still need the info."

Reyner looked to Baderon, who just tilted his head and shrugged. "Go ahead, Commodore."

Reyner cleared his throat. "Over the course of the last moon, there have been several sightings of an unfamiliar vessel off the coast of Aleport, in the vicinity of the Isles of Umbra.

"The information came to my attention no more than a few weeks after a squad of my own soldiers completed a routine patrol of the region, the Sastasha Seagrot included. The search revealed little, save that a family of coeurls had taken up residence in the caves. Nothing to concern us, in short.

"In light of recent developments, however, it would seem wise to search Sastasha again. But with the Sahagin testing our defences daily-"

"You can't send Yellowjackets or Maelstrom so you have to send adventurers," Alice finally interrupted. She began a show of inspecting her hands as she continued "I know that part was obvious, but here's what I know that you don't: the secret door and tunnel network. I don't know how or why it's there, just that it is, and it's behind where the coeurls are."

She looked up and gave everyone a large, fake smile. "And now you all understand why I've been talking about Sastasha. I believe I can open the secret door, and failing that, I know where it is so someone else can break it down or something."

Alicia glared at Alice. "You need to stop running your mouth. It's getting harder to tolerate and I may just consider leaving you somewhere if you keep irritating me."

"You are, in fact, rather insufferable," Yaromir added in a cheery tone.

"Yes, and?" asked Alice, used to having people shout at her. "I'm still fully intending on helping you with clearing that cave of those fucking slavers. I remember a lot of women being kept there for pleasure and it makes me want to kill Captain Madison myself."

Reyner frowned. "Captain Madison? That's a familiar name, albeit not one many would know."

"Well he's in the damn cave, leading the pirates living there. And he might even end up getting shanked by a Sahagin while we're there if he isn't careful."

Alicia was about to shout at Alice again when Reyner held up a hand. "No, I actually believe her this time. No one has been sure where he and his crew hide in between their raids, and this story is starting to make a degree of sense, in a way, even if its source seems untrustworthy."

Yaromir raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Alicia stared at Alice, then addressed Reyner. "I will look into this cave for you, and we shall see how true this information is."

"We need a healer!" Alice added. "A Conjurer or something. The caves are full of pirates and dangerous wildlife. Knowing the layout doesn't mean they can't still kill us."

Reyner put a hand on his chin in thought. "I can ask the Marshall to spare a conjurer, would that work?" he asked.

"Why yes, actually, that would be ideal, thank you," Alice replied, genuinely happy at the suggestion. "It's important to have a healer unlikely to lose their head when fighting is constantly starting and stopping around them."

"Alright, I can have them meet you at the cave mouth." Reyner gave them a little more information as to the directions to the cave's entrance, then bowed. "Good luck, and godsspeed."

Alice looked to her two compatriots with a grin. "Y'all ready for this?"

"Apparently, I have thrown my lot in with you. Though I can understand her reservations," said Yaromir, nodding towards Alicia.

Alicia closed her eyes, breathing and thinking. When she opened them, she nodded. "I do not trust you yet, but this cave will be the start of any proof of your words. Let us go, once we finish our own food."

Alice gave a little informal salute. "Alright, then. Just don't keep me waiting too long."

--------------------

After breakfast, they made their way down to the general area of the Fisherman's Guild, where a ferry could bring them to Aleport much faster than trying to find a carriage, or worse, walking the whole way.

The port town was pretty similar to Alice's memories of the game version, but with a good few more people going about their business.

"Reyner's information said the cave was north from here, correct?" asked Alicia.

"That's right," said Alice. "North and very slightly east. Oh right, Aetheryte."

Alice's brain had her immediately focus on the large crystal, and she went and attuned to it, the other two having already done so at some point in the past.

They left the port from the northeast gate, and proceeded a short distance to the cave. When they arrived, they found a party of adventurers that suddenly brought a small flood of memories back to Alice.

Edda's Party. A side-story about a group of adventurers who berated their healer, and treated her like dirt. When she, for whatever reason, caused the party's gladiator, her betrothed, to get killed, she kept his head and eventually engaged in some rather unsavoury necromancy and possession rituals to bring him back for a gruesome 'wedding', only to die by falling off a cliff into a dark pit. Alice had also heard something about her coming back from the dead in additional content that she had never seen herself, only that the strange and dark fate didn't exactly get any better for the poor former Conjurer.

And now, there they were. Real as life, in front of her eyes. Edda was on her knees, out of breath, as the rest of the party insulted and berated her, just like Alice remembered. And Alice could faintly hear apologies springing from Edda in between gasps, berating herself along with them. In-game, players can do nothing to stop the scene, only read the dialogue and watch.

Alice found herself storming over to them, seeing red, as Alicia and Yaromir tried to figure out what was going on.

"HEY!" Alice shouted at the party, catching their attention. "Hey, you stupid motherfuckers! Why in the god-damn are you shitting on your healer like that!? Do you utter cunts want to get killed!?"

Their confusion turned to anger as her insults poured out. "Listen here, you disgusting harpy," said Avere, the party's gladiator. "What we do is none of your business. Now go away so we can solve this cave for money and glory-"

He was wearing a light helmet with cheek guards, so it was a terrible idea, but Alice still went and slapped him as hard as she could anyway. At the cost of her hand hurting miserably afterwards, she stunned the man, and had managed to get his helmet to dig into him in the process. She glared at him.

"You're the stupidest motherfucker of all! She fucking loves you and would die for you, would genuinely be overcome with the loss if you died, and you treat her like this!?"

"Hey," the archer of the group said in a hard tone. "Don't just barge in and insult us like that. Or hit our leader. That's uncalled for."

Alice rounded on her. "OH YEAH? THEN TRY TREATING EDDA LIKE SHE'S A PERSON AND WORTH A DAMN, THEN! PROVE ME WRONG!"

Alice felt a pricking sensation behind her and turned to see the party's Lalafell thaumaturge casting something in her direction.

"You wanna fucking go, pipsqueak!?" She shouted at him. The fact she had caught on stopped him mid-cast.

What she didn't notice was an enraged Avere coming at her with a dirty, low slice. Thankfully, she hadn't needed to, as Yaromir came in for a deflection with his knives.

"I would strongly advise against open conflict," he said in a quiet, dangerous tone. "There are several members of the Maelstrom around, who have been watching your behaviour this entire time. And they will not take her behaviour as just cause for murder, even here."

"Eat shit, catman," Avere growled.

Yaromir's eyes narrowed further. "Most assuredly the wrong choice."

"Enough!" Alicia roared, slamming the blade of her giant axe into the ground nearby. "Your childish fighting is irritating and time consuming. Put your sword away before I am forced to waste more time to put you in the ground."

Edda finally spoke, though almost too quietly to be heard. "No, please, don't hurt him…"

"You wanna go!?" Avere didn't back down, and Alice readied her grimoire for a fight, as the other two members of Edda's party started to back away from a situation slipping out of hand.

A sharp whistle sounded from nearby. A crisp, clear voice spoke out. "That will be enough, thank you."

The voice had come from a Maelstrom officer nearby with a staff along her back. She was a Midlander Hyur with light skin, brown hair that ended just above the shoulder, and eyes of an almost amber brown. Her stare was measured and rather intense.

"You will stand down, or all be taken into the brig in Limsa Lominsa. Do I make myself clear?"

Her threat was backed up by several other Maelstrom soldiers standing nearby, looking ready to intervene further if need be.

"Crystal, ma'am," said Alice, struggling with her sudden attraction to the officer, and managed to comply like a normal person, putting her grimoire away. Yaromir and Alicia did the same, the latter a little disappointed.

Avere realised he had no chance anymore, put his sword away, angrily.

"Come on, you guys, let's ditch these losers and go somewhere else." He spat at the ground. "There's fame and glory enough for us to beat them to it somewhere else."

He walked off, not even helping Edda to get up. The thaumaturge and archer looked at each other, unsure, so Alice took the opportunity to talk to them again, working to keep the anger out of her voice.

"Hey. For real, you two could get killed following Avere. Both his example and literal lead. Get him to stop treating Edda like shit and he won't die. Otherwise, he will, without anyone of us having had to lay a finger on him."

They didn't seem to want to listen to her, but looked down at Edda and appeared to have a moment of clarity. In lieu of anyone else going to help her up, Alice reached out a hand. To her surprise, Edda slapped it aside.

"You… You don't get to make judgements on other people like that… You don't know us… I love him…" she said, breathing hard. She looked up and met Alice's eyes with resentment. "I love him!"

"And he's going to keep treating you like dirt because of it," said Alice, and sighed. "But abusive relationships are hard to get out of when you're convinced everything is fine… just please don't get yourselves killed out there. Even that guy."

With that, the archer and thaumaturge helped Edda up, and they walked away.

Alice sighed again. "Fuck, man. You try to help prevent a girl from suffering abuse and loss and going mad with grief, look what happens…"

Someone cleared their throat, and Alice turned to look at the Maelstrom woman. "While I don't completely agree with your methods, or turns of phrase, I do appreciate your intervention with that group. It was… hard to watch, but not something I could easily interfere with on-duty."

She turned to Yaromir and smiled. "It's good to see you again, Yaromir. Have you been well?"

He nodded, a pleased smile on his face. "Bea, it's good to see you. How are the fishbacks treating you?"

"Ah, it's been fine, I'm usually away from the actual front line anyway."

The woman turned to Alicia and bowed. "Nice to meet you, I'm Storm Corporal Beatrice. You must be Alicia, the famous adventurer everyone has been talking about recently."

Alicia smiled and nodded, "yes, unfortunately, that's me. Being talked about for the right reasons has been a strange experience, I'll admit."

Alice had just been staring at the woman, thankfully without uttering anything weird nor the stare turning into a leer. Beatrice was just so… pretty.

She turned to face Alice, and her expression hardened a little. "And that makes you Alice, the troublemaker I was warned about."

"Ooh, that's a new one," said Alice. "That's correct, ma'am. I'm hoping you're the conjurer we've asked for?"

Bea nodded. "I am. I'm to assist you with the investigation of the Sastasha Seagrot and then report back on our findings."

"As long as you can keep us going in a battle, that works for me," said Alice. "Alright team, some explanation and a ready check. I assume Bea has worked with people in combat before, but what about you two?"

"On occasion," replied Yaromir.

"A little, but not often or for very long," Alicia admitted.

"Right. As the party's Tank, you take the attention off the rest of us, especially the Healer. In turn, Yaromir and I, as DPS, kill them for you fast enough to not do any lasting harm. Healer heals, mainly the Tank, and when that's not needed, you become a Glare Mage. And if you need to - but you shouldn't here - you bring back any of us back up if we go down."

"I… understand about half of what you just said," Alicia told her. "Tank? DPS? Glare Mage?"

"Mmmmm… They're terms from my own experience." Alice thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain the terms without an easy frame of reference. "Tank is the person receiving the big damage and 'tanking' it, as in you stay standing and fighting."

Alicia nodded. "So, that apparently means me?"

"Correct. It used to scare me at first but it gets easier."

Alice looked at Yaromir. "DPS means 'damage per second', and just means those of us who are focused more on doing that."

"Understood," he replied.

"Finally, Glare Mage effectively means 'do a bunch of damage as well', then heal based on your judgement."

"So, attack spells?" asked Bea.

"Yeah, exactly. Sorry, I've gotten so used to these terms because of how universal they were before now. A party of us four with our respective skills should be more than enough to deal with the hostile creatures and pirates in Sastasha."

"I see…" Alicia was processing the information, and it seemed to make sense to her now. She nodded, looking sure of herself. "Alright. Let's investigate this cave."

Alice grinned. "Duty Commenced!"

Chapter Text

The caves of Sastasha Seagrot glowed a surprisingly pleasant blue, rippling in places where the light was passing through moving water. The coral-like plants also glowed, adding reds and greens to the area without making it hard to see.

Once again, nothing quite compared to seeing it real, in front of you. For the first time since, well, her first time clearing it, this dungeon she had played over and over and over again held some excitement and wonder for Alice.

The party was laid out in a diamond formation: Alicia up front, Bea at the back, and Yaromir and Alice to either side.

As expected, the first enemies were basic creatures of the cave's wildlife, consisting of some hostile groups of bats and aureliae. They were easy to put down for three experienced fighters, and Alice did her best to contribute in time, but having to cast spells made her a little slow.

Just have to adjust, she thought. "Up ahead, there's a little pocket, I have to check it."

As she expected, there was a sheaf of worn paper of indeterminate age, and written on it was something about the captain liking green cabbage. She noted that for later, and directed the party to keep going.

"Was that important?" asked Yaromir, and read the page. "It's just about food."

"It's the stupidest and most obvious secret code for the tunnels," Alice explained. "So obvious that no one would think twice about dismissing it as irrelevant."

"That's… No, surely not," said Bea.

"First we get there, then we find out if that holds true still. Forward."

Alicia had just been waiting at the entrance to the pocket, and turned to progress the only way the caves allowed. The route took them to an area half flooded, where progression would require moving across slippery coral and mossy rocks.

Alice pointed at the far end of the room, where three coloured pieces of Coral stood tall. "We need to get over there," she said. "I think the shells create or summon little fireballs, too, so try and beat the ones in our path."

"Shells?" asked Alicia.

"You'll see."

They fought some more aureliae on their way to the little island of rock in the middle of the area. There was a cloud of the little fire particles waiting, and they were easy enough to get rid of, but doing so caused the clam at the far edge of the island to start spewing out more at a rate far faster than its ingame counterpart, while making a horrible noise as it did.

Alice had been building up Aethercharge since they arrived, and finally used it to summon Topaz Carbuncle, sending it to rush the clam. The little creature got its attack in just before the clam closed itself for protection, killing the muscle creature inside. The stream of fire ended soon after, and they progressed, Alicia dealing with another clam before it could cause any issues by slamming down hard with her axe and cutting through its shell.

They arrived at the end of the cave, where the three strands of coral glowed.

"So this is where the previous investigation ended, but there's no sign of the reported coeurls," said Bea. "You say you know how to get through here..?"

Alicia was already inspecting the green coral, and answered Bea's question by pushing a secret button, causing a 'click' sound from the cave's wall as a piece of rock slid out.

"Alright, Alicia, I'm going to need you to go and press a button somewhere on that new rock," said Alice, pointing at it. "Because if I'm right, as soon as you do it, or at least try, a very large coeurl is going to appear and try to kill us."

"I see… Alright." Alicia decided not to argue, and walked to the button. As soon as she reached to press it, they heard a growling, and a massive coeurl - a large feline creature similar to a leopard - ran in from somewhere off to the side of the cave, bounding over the water to attack the party.

Alicia immediately did as she had been asked, shouting at the creature to get its attention, then swinging her axe to keep it. The axe bit deep into the feline creature's shoulder, and it roared in pain.

The other members of the party followed up with their own attacks: Alice with some earth-aspected Ruins and a fiery Ruby Headbutt; Yaromir with his knifework, quick and precise; and Bea with some Stone and Aero.

Before long, the coeurl went down, unmoving. Alice suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"That's… Hrm. I don't know why, given I've gone hunting other creatures before to learn arcanistry, but that kind of made me feel like an arsehole."

"For killing a large coeurl?" asked Yaromir. "None of the other things in this cave, just the biggest?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't control my brain. That's why I take ADHD meds," she said, and winked at him.

Alicia once more attempted to interact with the button. There was a click, followed by a low rumble as a section of the wall slid away to reveal a passage.

Bea looked impressed. "Well, I'll be. That was pretty well hidden for some independent pirates."

Alice bowed low, really making it showy. "Thank you, thank you. Now comes the fun part, since they aren't expecting us. Lead the way again, friend." She finger-gunned at Alicia, and the marauder took point once more.

The tunnel had a different feel to it, the shaping having been on purpose rather than by the hand of nature. And not long after they entered, they came across a Serpent Reaver accompanied by a pair of sickly-looking jackals, which became ravenous and rabid on seeing the intruders. The pirate was just surprised enough that Alice could cast a quick Sleep and put him out, and refocused on the jackals with an Energy Drain. She had a sudden memory that the game had called them Scurvy Dogs, but put that thought aside.

Once the dogs were down, Bea moved to the sleeping Reaver, intending to perhaps interrogate him, but Alice put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Captain Madison may be waiting for us in the next room with two more Reavers, though he'll probably try to escape before long. Let's go before they notice anything strange, if they haven't already."

"And if he wakes up?" asked Bea.

"Uhhh…" Alice crossed her arms. "Has anyone got any rope?"

A few minutes later, and they still hadn't been noticed somehow. That is, until they ran in, Alicia carrying the now tied-up sleeper ahead of her, charging towards the central pirate - definitely Madison - with the unconscious Roegadyn barely weighing her down. The pair of Roegadyn marauders flanking Madison hesitated to draw their axes out of confusion, but did so regardless and swung at Alicia. She threw the sleeper at Madison, and the Roe barely cleared the waiting axes and slammed into the Hyur captain, knocking him down. Yaromir and Alice used the opportunity to take down a marauder each.

The captain was ruthless, however. The confused, tied-up Roegadyn had been flailing as much as his binding allowed, and to escape faster, Madison plunged a dagger into the man's neck, then threw a smoke bomb at the ground by his side. This wouldn't have been a problem for Yaromir, being as close as he was, had it not been for the captain's pet bird flying at his face, forcing the Hrothgar back to avoid losing his eyes.

Madison used that distraction to escape, somehow unbothered by the thick smoke having originated right next to him. He did, however, call out something the party couldn't fully make out as he ran, something about maidens, and his bird's echoing of the words was also lost in the cave's soundscape.

"Huh. Not going to lie, didn't see a smoke bomb coming, but it makes more sense than him suddenly becoming temporarily immortal."

The other three stared at Alice in confusion. "I'm sorry, could you perhaps repeat that?" asked Bea.

"Oh it's… Basically in, uh, previous retellings of this story, he simply ran away, any adventuring party mysteriously unable to attack him as he legged it."

"What do you mean "story?"" asked Bea. She was struggling with the concepts Alice was only barely implying, and needed more to understand.

"Her life story," said Alice, nodding towards Alicia. "Explaining will take too long, I promise I will later, let's go!" Alice ran ahead, forcing the others to catch up.

They didn't have very long to run, as the cave tunnel's sharp left turn brought them to a large cavern room, most of the space taken up by what looked like a tavern's floor, furnished with tables and barstools. The space in question was full of waiting pirates, many of whom aggressively rushed at the group. Alicia counter-charged them with a shout, axe at the ready as she bowled over a portion of the pirates. She swung wildly in the midst of them, cutting down several and keeping the rest off balance. Alice Ruined several of the grounded pirates, Yaromir's knives flying out to disable yet more, and Beatrice calmly balanced between attacking the pirates and ensuring that any slashes Alicia was taking past her armour closed up as quickly as they appeared.

When the melee ended, the quartet looked around, amazed at how well they had made it through the chaos. A sound from the middle of the room caught their attention, as a pair of pirates stood with hostages at knifepoint. "Don't move, or we'll gut 'em like fish!"

Alice had been holding on to a Fester she hadn't managed to use before the melee ended, and managed to surreptitiously hit one pirate's hand with it, forcing the ruined appendage to drop the knife. The other pirate attempted to make good on the threat, but a different knife was suddenly embedded in his forehead. The hostages, exhausted and terrified women in the rags of service clothes, screamed as their captors were assaulted, and when freed ran towards the party.

The quartet raced to meet them partway, as well as to ensure the few pirates that remained alive didn't try anything. As they ran up the steps to the tavern-space, they saw several other women in rags hiding under tables.

"It's alright, we're with the Maelstrom. You're all free now," Bea announced, directing some healing at the most frail of the now-free prisoners. "Wait for us, and we will assist you in going past the wildlife once we clear the rest of this filth."

"...there's more of us…" one woman, a Lalafell, managed to squeak out.

Alice racked her brains, and remembered a selection of little known parts of the dungeon people didn't tend to go to in the game - in part due to the lack of loot, and being unable to free anyone anyway. "Ah, yeah, over there," she said, pointing to the back-left of the area. "There's a cell with more people in it, as well as a few more in the little caves all around us.

"Meanwhile, that's the Captain's quarters, and that's the way to the end of the cave." Alice pointed to the middle then back-right doors in turn. "And if my info is correct, the key to the latter is in the captain's room. But the cell key should be outside the door? I think?"

"Nothing to do but to find it," said Alicia, and made her way towards the nearest cavern branch. Yaromir finished reacquiring his knives from the fallen pirates, and followed her. Alice, meanwhile, followed Bea's example and used what little healing magic she knew on the freed prisoners, directing them out back the way the party had come from.

"Don't go past that room," Bea warned them. "There's still wildlife in the caves, okay? Just wait for us to come back, we will get you out safely. Bring anything you want or need with you that you can carry."

A few minutes and several checked cave paths later, sounds of a short scuffle came from around the corner where the main cell was located, followed by a screech of rusted metal, and finally a small group of more freed prisoners, again all women, led back by Alicia and Yaromir.

"This is everyone we could find," said the Hrothgar. "But they say there may be more in the captain's quarters. No one in the other side chambers, from what we could see."

Alice nodded, thinking it over. "Sounds correct… Either way we need the key on the guy inside to go deeper and get Madison."

"I think I found the key?" Bea held it up for the others to see.

"If memory serves, that's to the captain's quarters, yeah," Alice confirmed. "Let's get they ass."

Alicia shook her head at the strange choice of words, but chose to not dwell on it, and they moved quickly to the back middle door. The key fit perfectly, and on entering they saw an unusually large man, even for a Roegadyn. His axe was almost the size of Yaromir, and he charged the party.

"Filthy landlubbers!" He shouted.

Alicia once again counter-charged, ducking under a swing aimed at her head, then hitting the big guy in the legs with her axe. It bit deep, sending him over like a cut tree, and she followed up with another deep slash at his chest as he fell. He landed and remained motionless.

"...Huh. I've never seen him go down that fast before, that's a world record," said Alice, impressed and slowly nodding.

"You can't… How do you kill a person more than once?" Bea asked.

"Ah, aside from the Echo, by way of him not being real all the other times."

Bea frowned. "The Echo? Doesn't that just let one see another's memories?"

"I'll explain that later, too," said Alice, and then turned herself to the few bewildered women in the room. "Ladies, it's freedom time. We've rescued your other friends from the cell and the bar. Meet them in a room back towards the entrance and wait there, we're getting you outta here."

Bea gave them more specific directions, and between her and Alice, fixed what bodily damage they could before sending the three former prisoners away.

Alicia spent that time standing near the large Roegadyn, and looking at his axe. Yaromir was similarly useless at healing and so went to speak to her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Your troubles are visible even to me, and I met you today."

Alicia looked him in the eyes, then turned away and sighed. "I don't know. This has been very strange. Even before that crazy Hyur arrived, things had been spiralling a little, escalating to go much beyond what they had been even an hour before."

"Mmm, so I hear. You went from farmhand to hero very fast. Rather impressive. You have saved quite a few people in a short time."

"But I still just… I don't know…"

"Friend, your doubt just proves to me that you are the hero people think," he told her seriously. "I hear you run in to save lives without a second thought, and have put down voidsent without fear. And your attitude, to not brag or tell tales, to question things, this shows me this comes from the heart."

Alicia didn't respond, and simply stood for a few seconds. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, then shook herself. She readied her axe, and brought it down in a swing that shortened the haft of the fallen pirate's axe. Everyone except Yaromir jumped at the sudden noise.

She bent down to pick it up, and gave it a few experimental swings. "Head's not terrible. Needs a new haft, unbalanced now." She opened a pouch and somehow dropped the entire axe inside.

Alice blinked a few times. "Wait, that's… that's a damn bag of holding. All that inventory space was real?"

"I believe magical pouches like those are standard with the Adventurer's Guild," said Bea. "Maelstrom soldiers have them too."

"Does that mean mine does that too?" Alice wondered aloud, then waved a hand. "Later. Sastasha first."

They obtained the key from the fallen pirate and walked up to the one remaining door in the cave. It unlocked with the new key, and they followed the path, past a barred door, to another small room, where Captain Madison waited with another pair of pirates.

He spotted them, and turned angry. "Back fer more, eh? I sharpened me blade, just for this very occasion."

The two normal pirates didn't put up much of a fight at this point, but Madison shouted, "Release the scurvy dogs!" A door of metal bars attached to the room swung open - his damn bird flying away from it - and a pack of those jackals rushed the group. Five or so, just enough to distract them from landing any blows on the captain as he ran away again.

"Are you shitting me!?" Alice shouted, barely keeping a jackal from her throat by jamming its jaws with her arm. The pain was lessened by her Carbuncle's Aegis, and she used her other arm to cast a point-blank Ruin into the Jackal's brain.

The others cleared the remaining jackals about as fast, and they all spent a few seconds healing some infected gashes and bites.

"What a slippery motherfucker…" grumbled Alice.

Alicia nodded. "Does your 'information' tell us when we can kill him? We've missed two chances now."

"Actually he's going to die to a Sahagin we have to fight," Alice admitted. "I think he gets resurrected as a very weak squid-man in the future, though?"

"Hold on," Yaromir held up a hand. "A Sahagin kills him? Not us?"

"Yeah, a fella named Denn the Orcatoothed, who-"

"Denn?" asked Bea, her voice rising close to a shout. "We might be in for a tough fight if that's the case. But I don't understand the source of your knowledge."

Alice sighed, then gave a very brief run-down on how she had experienced current events as a story, and how she had arrived here. Bea wasn't sure what to make of it and said as much, but Yaromir put a hand on her shoulder.

"Her actions, if nothing else, have so far not given me cause for alarm. She is… Well, she is very strange, but seems to have the best in mind."

Alicia said nothing. Alice noted the Au Ra still remained not wholly convinced either way, but at least wasn't inclined to sabotage anything.

Bea looked into Yaromir's eyes, and saw how sure he was about his opinion. So she nodded at him, and looked back at Alice.

"Alright. We continue. But be ready for Denn. He's on our wanted list for good reason."

And he's the weakest dungeon final boss in the game… Alice thought. So maybe he won't be as bad for our party.

They proceeded ahead, following the cavern's singular direction to a larger space, the far end of which actually opened to the sea, sunlight streaming in. There was a storage space here, and a few pirates were attempting to keep watch over it, but were wandering aimlessly around as if they expected nothing of consequence to occur.

"Can't see anymore prisoners," said Bea. "We go after Madison and Denn."

Everyone else nodded. They moved in, and surprisingly the guards around the area didn't expect them to be there. Hadn't captain Madison been shouting his head off as he ran through?

They engaged the closest guards, attracting the attention of basically everyone else in the room, and the fight once more devolved into a giant brawl, though the pirates went down pretty quickly this time. All in all, it took a few minutes of axe swinging, knifework, and spells, but they made their way to the edge of what Alice distinctly remembered as the boss zone.

Captain Madison stood pleading with a very large Sahagin, a bipedal fish-man, who shouted something at the Hyur, then decapitated him with a nasty-looking trident.

"...that'll do it," said Alice, grimacing.

"Gods above, to be working with them willingly and having that happen as a reward for your efforts…" said Bea, quietly.

Alicia glared at the large Sahagin, who noticed, and turned to see the party.

"Interlopers on our spawning grounds! Die!"

And as he pointed his trident at the party, a quartet of wooden trap doors around him burst open, and four normal sized Sahagin jumped out and charged. Alicia did what she did best, and charged, running into the beastmen and holding them at bay.

The rest of the party capitalised, doing as much damage as they could to the occupied foes, Yaromir especially leaping overhead to start stabbing them from behind. They were a lot hardier than the pirates, and what would have killed three other men killed only one.

They were eventually put down, but Denn unleashed a large water spell, attempting to blast the party away, but it ended up being a lot more mediocre than it looked, barely battering the quartet. Even Alice was mostly undisturbed by the water.

"This shit's not even close to what I grew up with! Pathetic!" she yelled out, cackling.

When the water abated, Alicia threw her newest axe, pulled from the pouch, directly at Denn, catching him in the torso. The giant Sahagin stumbled, bleeding profusely, but refusing to go down.

"Tomahawk, let's go!" Alice shouted, following up with a ruin to the Sahagin's torso, capitalising on the existing damage to get him further injured. "How were your flunkies tougher than you, ya little bitch?"

Appearing from nowhere, Yaromir leapt onto Denn's back, and plunged his pair of knives into the Sahagin's neck from either side. The beastman gurgled, dying, and fell on his front. Yaromir retrieved his knives and jumped off in one smooth motion before the body hit the ground. Alicia meanwhile was forced to retrieve the axe from under the body, though the literal dead weight proved no issue to move for her. She shook the blood and gore off it in one quick swing, then bagged it once more.

"Well, that's it," said Alice. "That's the end of the Sastasha I know. I believe we can just… go now. Taking the freed prisoners with us, obviously, but otherwise that's it."

Bea looked around, and nodded. "That does look like the end of the place. I'll have to outline a report to my superiors, but let's get those people to safety first."

"I have no complaints," said Yaromir.

"Hrmph. Alright, let's go." Alicia didn't wait for any further confirmation, and turned to leave, walking away from the fishman corpses.

Chapter Text

Escorting the freed women out of the Seagrot wasn't difficult, exactly. Not much wildlife returned to take the place of what had been killed during the party's entrance, and what little remained was weak. But the going was slow - several of the former prisoners were injured or otherwise frail, and not everything could be solved with healing magic, which forced the group to travel slowly, especially given how slippery and treacherous some of the ground was. All in all, it took about an hour of time, but Alice found that it passed quickly, focused as she was on the task at hand.

But at the mouth of the cave, the women all variously cried and showed signs of relief, all happy to be out of such terrible forced servitude. Bea oversaw their transfer to the care of the Maelstrom's Limsa headquarters.

"I uh, hope to see you again sometime," Alice told her.

"Maybe," said Bea, tilting her head slightly. "I need some time to deal with everything else first, then maybe."

"All good!" Alice replied, a little too quickly. "I'll see you around!"

And with that, she began to walk back to Aleport, not checking on Alicia or Yaromir. She was too deep into her thoughts, thinking ahead to the future. Sure, Sastasha wasn't 100% accurate, but it was close enough that depending on how things went, maybe she did have a lot of scary future knowledge.

Gaius, the Ultima Weapon and Lahabrea… Thordan and Nidhogg… Zenos, Fordola and Yotsuyu… Emet-Selch and Elidibus…

And most importantly, the inklings of Endwalker spoilers she had gleaned while trying to avoid learning the plot in advance of getting there. She had been finally tempted to play the game due to watching the Endwalker trailer, and knew that it was the big, scary end to everything to come.

But she didn't know how or why it was important, and she was afraid of that fact most of all. More even than the most impending doom that Lahabrea spelled.

"Hey, are you awake?" Alicia waved her hand frustratedly in front of Alice's face, causing the human to start and panic slightly.

"Huh, what?" She looked around and realised she was at the pier for the ferry but had been standing in front of it, unmoving. The only people waiting were Alicia and Yaromir, at least.

"You were standing still, but shaking. What's wrong?"

Alice was about to respond, then felt her stomach turn as a switch in her brain finally flicked on. She had, understandably, never killed a person before. But within the caves, she had just done it so easily, several times, all rather gruesomely, and hadn't truly realised until now.

She leant over the pier and threw up into the water. "Oh fuck that's…" and was interrupted again by more retching.

"Gods, what are you doing?" Alicia asked her, irritated. "Get up, we have to get back to Limsa."

Yaromir put a hand on her shoulder and asked, "What's wrong? Are you poisoned?"

"No, I… I've never killed a person before… And I… How did I do it so ruthlessly, so easily?"

"Ah," he said quietly.

Alicia's expression softened as she also realised what Alice was saying. "Hey, um… You'll be alright." She bent down to pat Alice on the back a few times.

Alice grumbled, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. But now she felt far away for a different reason. Yaromir and Alicia helped her on the boat, and they rode it back to Limsa Lominsa. When they arrived, Alice vaguely remembered moving towards the Drowning Wench, and eventually arriving in front of Baderon.

"'Ey, lass, ye still with us?" He waved a hand in front of her face. She wasn't sure how long she had been there but it brought her mind back into focus somewhat.

"Huh, what? Oh, right. Um, yeah, still alive and stuff."

"Well ye'd better eat yer food while it's still hot!" He chuckled. "First time doing that's never easy, but for now a warm meal should help."

Alice's stomach rumbled and she realised that despite her continued, though lessend, queasiness, she did feel pretty hungry. And she realised that she was sitting at the bar, with a warm steak and vegetables in front of her.

Alicia was still around, eating food of her own, but Yaromir was nowhere to be seen. Noticing Alice's searching, the Au Ra explained, "ah, he left for guild business. But he told me to pass on a 'goodbye and good luck.'"

"Meanwhile, if ye can handle it, I got another job fer ye," said Baderon. "This one's from Miounne of the Gridania branch of the guild."

Alice had to think for a few seconds. "Right, Tam-Tara Deepcroft, yeah? Some cultists or something?"

Baderon nodded. "That's the job. Can't rightly say what're the full details, though. Gotta take a trip to see Mother Miounne fer that."

"I've decided already that I'm doing it," said Alicia. "What about you?"

Alice thought about it. Then she realised something.

"Wait, are you actually alright with me being there?"

Alicia shrugged. "You did a better job than I expected, all considered. Even at the parts that didn't need your 'prior knowledge,' like actually being in a fight and standing your ground, you did fine."

"Aww, a compliment from my very own Warrior of Light! I feel honoured," said Alice, then regretted the snarky remark immediately. "Sorry, I um… Jokes help me cope."

Alica gave her an even stare, then shrugged again. "It's fine. Just, please don't go around calling me a Warrior of Light, that just feels wrong."

Alice couldn't help but give a wry smile. "Well I got bad news for ya, sweety, everyone and their dog's gonna be calling you that soon enough."

"That had better be one of your terrible jokes," Alicia groaned.

"It isn't, unfortunately." Alice turned back to Baderon. "You heard it here first, Mister Tenfingers. That shit's gonna happen soon, mark my words."

Baderon's forehead wrinkled at being called 'Mister Tenfingers,' but he shook his head with a smile. "Aye, well then… if that happens, I'll be proud ta tell people ye came from Limsa's adventurin' guild."

Alicia sighed deeply and loudly. Alice patted her on the back. "Lemme eat, then let's go to Gridania. I'm hoping they let me be a plus one on your travel pass or something."

Alice finished her food quickly, almost upsetting her stomach again, but barely prevented herself from regretting it. She stood up, thanked Baderon, and headed to the elevator. Alicia followed behind not long after, also giving a goodbye to the former pirate, and they rode the lift to the airship landing.

The ticketer almost gave them trouble, but eventually conceded that as long as Alice could pay the fare, she may as well board the airship given its otherwise light passenger complement.

Alice had flown before, in aeroplanes of course, and so was simultaneously used to and enraptured by the strangeness of an airship flight. It was breathtaking - not literally, however, due to both the height it stopped at, as well as little aether crystals ensuring that the passenger deck was actually quite comfortable the entire time - even the temperature was nicely maintained.

They did have some time to kill, so Alice tried striking up a conversation with Alicia.

"Sooooo… How's you?" She asked, feeling rather awkward and unsure of what to say otherwise.

Alicia looked at her again, unamused, but still tried to answer the strangely-phrased question.

"Honestly better than I expected I would be. The den of pirates wasn't exactly a daunting prospect, but it was definitely easier through teamwork, and your knowledge."

"Oh! I was wondering, what happened to that axe you picked up?"

"Ah, that." Alicia reached into her bag and pulled it part way out to show it was still there. "I'm going to commission the Carpenter's Guild to redo the haft."

"Not the Blacksmith's in Limsa?" Alice put her hand to her chin in thought. "I guess it's a little less straightforward for that than in the game, since they work with metal, not wood…"

Alicia was silent for a moment. "About that game. That's where you learned everything, correct?"

"Uhhh, yeah that's right," Alice replied slowly, suspicious of the conversation's direction. "I know… Some stuff."

"So I was wondering… If you could tell me what happens in my future? What am I supposed to do?"

"That's… Big and dangerous knowledge, friend. Especially when certain eyes are on you already."

Alicia paused. "The Ascians?"

"Yeah… You'll eventually build up that Blessing of Light with more crystals, and that will help immensely. But right now, full truth, they are an astonishing distance out of your league."

"But I've already beaten one, haven't I?"

Alice had to suppress a laugh, and Alicia glared sharply. "I'm sorry, I forget how powerful the early stuff seems at the time. Short answer, yes and no. Long answer… Ascian souls fuck off to some dark plane in between here and the lifestream when they die, and then they just come back when they rest up a bit. You killed a much, much lesser one"

Alicia's eyes widened as she took in the implications of that information. "Can they be beaten, then?"

"Yes," Alice responded, determined. "Abso-fucking-lutely. We've ganked a good four or five of the red fuckers together."

"Hold on, what is that word you keep using? 'Ganked'?"

"Right, sorry. It's slang in my world for beating soundly, usually by surprise and or with overwhelming force."

Alicia nodded. "And by 'red fuckers'...?"

"Oh! Right. Ascians 101. Black mask Ascians are weak shit sundered soul people. Minions. Goons. Trash."

"The one I fought felt quite powerful…" said Alicia.

"It's a relative scale thing. Black masks are weak compared to Red mask Ascians, or the Paragons. Lahabrea, Elidibus, Emet-Selch… some others I don't remember… oh right, that little bitch Nabriales was one of them, huh?"

"...didn't you just say that kind of knowledge was big and dangerous?"

Alice nodded. "Yes, and I am also a fool who likes to share crazy lore with people I like. So that means I'm probably gonna tell you some stuff even though I said I shouldn't say anything. Wow, who'da thunk I'd be so brainless."

She gave a dumb smile and lightly rapped a fist on the top of her head. Alica shook her head, very slightly amused.

"So… the Ascians can be killed?"

Alice looked around the airship. No one else seemed to be paying attention, and yet she felt extremely unsafe in speaking about the method of killing Ascians aloud here.

"Mmmm. Well. That much I'll have to tell you somewhere safer. You can guess based on what I said that it's possible. Let's for now focus on what I can say."

"Which is?" Alicia prompted.

"Ah, now that's a very good question, actually." Alice racked her brain, paring down bits and pieces of deeplore and irrelevant future events. "I guess the 14th Legion is the most pressing threat? Or the Primals…"

Alicia frowned. "How so? The way I hear it, the 14th hasn't made any moves in years, and there aren't currently any Primals around right now."

"Yeah but they will both be doing things soon enough to be a pain in our arse," said Alice, and grimaced. "Starting with flameboy Ifrit. Which should be after Y'shtola offering you a place in the Scions, which is after frickin' Copperbell. That being a third dungeon after this next one Miounne wants help with."

Alicia nodded. "Well, I fully intend to see this request through either way. And if a place in the Scions gives me a way to help more people, I'll take it."

"Oh it does. Not gonna lie, you get a lot of chances to help a lot of people. And if I don't fuck things up for you, you'll do great, like I said yesterday."

They kept talking for the rest of the trip, moving to less important topics, and eventually arrived in Gridania. As they walked into the Carline Canopy, Gridania's adventurer's guild attached to the airship landing, Alice got hit with a variety of very lovely earthy smells. Looking around, the interior of the wooden building was lovely, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

The staircase up to the Canopy proper took them almost directly to Miounne, also known as Mother Miounne due to her maternal demeanour in regards to adventurers.

Alicia caught her attention, and she responded with an almost rote but still pleasant tone. "Take a seat wherever you like friend, our waitress will come to take your-"

She stopped as she looked up and saw who she was addressing. "Oh, it's you, Alicia! 'Tis so good to see you again."

"Good to see you as well, Mother Miounne," Alicia responded. "We're here because Baderon told us you had a job for us?"

"Oh? Baderon sent you, did he? I suppose that foul mouthed pirate is good for some things, then."

"Uhhh, lmao I guess?" said Alice, then cleared her throat, "I mean, yeah, we are here to do the thing, ma'am."

"You appear to be a new adventurer, young lady," said Miounne with a raised eyebrow. "I most definitely haven't met you, which means you need to register yourself with the guild here."

"That sounds good to me."

Miounne reached down behind her desk and pulled out a leather-bound book and a quill pen, putting them in front of Alice.

"And please use your real name," Miounne added sternly. "I've had no shortage of adventurers trying to be funny for one reason or another."

"Yes ma'am, thank you ma'am," said Alice quickly, doing her best to once more write her name clearly with the still-unfamiliar shape and weight of a quill. She technically succeeded, but it looked only slightly better than in Baderon's book.

"Now that scrawl is… Well, barely legible," said Miounne. "Alice, is that your name?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Really, dear, you don't have to call me ma'am. Just Miounne, or Mother Miounne if so inclined, will do."

"Yes ma- uh, yes miss Miounne."

Alicia sighed. "Are you quite done? We have a job to do, you know."

"Yes, that! That's the thing." Alice nodded quickly. "I believe we are going into the Tam-Tara Deepcroft to beat up some cultists of… Dalamud right?"

Miounne just stared at the girl, half amused. "Well now. Someone has done her homework."

"For the first time in my life," Alice breathed quietly.

"Yes, you are correct. Lambs of Dalamud are performing strange and unholy rituals within Tam-Tara Deepcroft and need to be stopped."

Alicia nodded. "We can take care of that for you. That said, we may need assistance from other interested adventurers."

"Deeps and heals!" Alice said instinctively, then became aware of herself again. "Uh, a healer and at least one other person."

Alicia closed her eyes for a few seconds, then opened them again and gave a pained smile to Miounne. "Yes. That."

"Well, there's actually two very different options for that," Miounne began. "There's a local archer looking for work, she doesn't seem to care what precisely, and then another party who I believe also intend to take on the Deepcroft. Nothing says you can't go with them, with or without the archer."

"Party?" Alicia asked, as she again remembered who it most likely was.

"Why, yes, a party lead by one Avere, with three others-"

"Yeah, we know them already," Alice cut in. "I don't know if…"

And then an idea struck her. If Edda wouldn't leave the abusive party with words alone, why not deeds? Going to Tam-Tara with them may result in not just clearing the location, but preventing Avere's death and Edda's descent into madness. Of course, it would undercut her warnings to the party outside Sastasha, but…

"Yes, actually, we should all go together," said Alice, and Alicia's head shot around to stare at her, confused. "Though can we meet that archer somewhere first? Chances are good we'll want her help too."

"Wait, are you sure-" Alicia began asking, before Alice interrupted her.

"Yes! Yes, I am. I think having more people is safer in a place like this."

Alice shrugged. "Alright, I guess so."

"Yes, I am certain I can get you a meeting with the archer. Her name is…"

--------------------

"Salli Rinsau, at yer service, as long as someone's payin'."

The archer, a Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te, was fairly laid-back and confident. Not in an overblown, boasting way either: she seemed quietly sure of what she could do and how well - those being 'archery' and 'very well'.

She also spoke with an oddly American-sounding accent that Alice couldn't place exactly, but definitely reminded her of Western films. Texan? Southern? As an Australian, she didn't know for sure, but it sounded nice.

She also had light skin, and beautiful red hair, with a few freckles dotting her face.

"Oh, it's a dungeon, so theoretically it will be a decent payout," said Alice. "Failing that, I can help with some gil."

Alicia sat with them, staring at the Miqo'te, trying to gauge her in ways Alice - not the best at reading subtle things in people - could only dream of. On the way to the meeting, she had dropped off the commission with the Carpenter's Guild, so now all that was needed was ensuring they had a full enough party to tackle the Deepcroft.

"I definitely prefer gil, but won't say no to some valuables from the job," Salli admitted. She leaned forward in her chair and held out a hand to shake. "Deal?"

"As long as you stick with us," Alice took the hand and shook it, "we have a deal."

Alice thought for a moment, then added, "and depending on your skill and integrity it could become a regular arrangement, a few other places will need cleaning out in the future too."

Salli raised an eyebrow. "Well now. I'll just have ta show ya just how good a shot I am."

Alice inclined her head. "Done deal."

Alicia nodded. "Alright. I like you so far. I will do my best to protect you."

Salli grinned. "Now that's mighty kind of ya, miss. I'll try make sure ya don't have to weather too much."

"Now actually comes the first step of the job," Alice explained. "Even before we go in, we have to deal with a problem. Namely, an adventuring party who also want to go down there, and have a healer they frankly don't deserve and are horribly abusive of."

"Alright, ya say it's part of the job and I expect to get paid for this too. Though I have to ask, what exactly are we going to do about them?"

"Ah, it's quite simple. We go with them and help them not die."

Alicia looked at her again. "And you're sure of this… why?"

Alice explained what she had seen in the future: Avere's death driving Edda to keep his head and eventually turning it into a dark wedding ritual in Tam-Tara with the body of the archer and the mind-controlled thaumaturge as guardians of the affront of a ceremony, and then what she had heard but not seen about Edda's resurrection within the Palace of the Dead.

Alicia's eyes were wide the whole time, and Salli looked confused. She held up her hands once the tale was complete, before anyone else could say anything more.

"Now hold on, there's somethin’ you ain't explainin’ here. Namely, what are ya talkin’ about? The future?"

Alice snapped her finger and thumb into a finger-gun pointed at Salli. "That's right. I am blessed-slash-cursed with knowledge about some upcoming events, though not in an astrology way. More like in a way that I am seeing more and more to be pretty accurate outright."

Salli looked at her with suspicion. "And you're just.. Offerin' that up? For free, to help people?"

"Yes and no. I want to help people because I have a stupid naive streak like that, and I am trusting you because, one, I'm paying you and don't expect you to do shit for free or be kept in the dark completely, and two, Alicia said she likes you and I think she is a good judge of character."

Alicia stared at Alice like she was an idiot. "You still should have waited until you were sure."

"Yes, maybe probably, but Salli, Yaromir and Beatrice all weren't factors in the original retelling, so if you get the feeling you can trust them it's probably fine."

Alice then remembered the times her Warrior of Light had been poisoned or otherwise tricked and realised maybe she shouldn't rely so heavily on Alicia as a judge of character.

…Nah, it's fine, she told herself.

"Anyway! Point is, I can trust you to help me fuck around with the future events, starting with trying to prevent a stupid tragedy."

Salli looked unsure. "Have ya tried, y'know, tellin’ them anything?"

"Outside the Sastasha Seagrot, yes," said Alice. "It escalated a little too much and Edda proved she just… She's too in love with Avere to see him any other way than positively. So I figure, if we show her what party members are supposed to look like, maybe that'll help."

Alicia spoke up. "Have you considered them just not letting us go together?"

"I have, and I'm hoping to get a favour from Miounne now that Salli is on board."

Alicia closed her eyes and shook her head. "Alright."

--------------------

The conversation with Miounne basically entailed giving an account of the other party's behaviour outside Sastasha, including that several members of the Maelstrom could verify it, but asking that rather than barring entry completely, their party be forced to go in with chaperones. Miounne was sceptical, but saw Alice's genuine desire to help fix a problem that was in enough of a grey area that the guild couldn't just intervene directly.

"Alright," Miounne finally agreed. "I will make sure of it, and pass word on to the guards outside the Deepcroft."

"Yes!" Alice fist-pumped in excitement. "Thank you."

They trio made their way towards the entrance of the dungeon, where they would meet the other party, and Alice explained the plan: be nice to Edda and protect the idiots in the other party. Alicia and Alice would basically be relying on Salli's keen eye to ensure no backstabbing, and Alice would watch over Salli in turn, freeing Alicia to confront the actual enemies in the Deepcroft.

The others agreed to the plan, and Alice and Alicia were aware they were now relying on someone completely new to watch out for them.

They arrived at the entrance before Edda's party, but didn't have too long to wait. One of the guards around them received a linkpearl message, then passed on word from Miounne about the plan to the other guards. They noted the trio, and seemed to understand their presence was related.

Once Edda's party arrived, they noted the trio and simply glared, trying to otherwise ignore their presence. Once the guards blocked their entry, however…

"What do you mean we can't enter!?" Avere demanded.

"Orders from the guild. You are to enter, but only with those three present," the guard pointed at the trio, and Alice tried very hard not to give a shit-eating grin.

Avere noticed anyway and stormed towards them, looking ready to draw his sword. "What have you done?" He hissed at them.

"Hm? Oh we just decided not to leave things as they were at Sastasha and make some degree of amends." Alice told him.

"Yes, we are… Sorry? I think?" said Alicia, very unconvincingly and yet with no sarcasm.

"I'm just here to do a job and get paid," said Salli, with very little warmth. She visibly didn't like Avere, but was unaffected by his anger.

"How in the hells is insulting us like this supposed to make amends? You idiots cost us Sastasha and a good payday."

"And that," Alice explained, "is why we are going together. You get a payday and this time nobody dies. Including you."

"Yeah I remember your little threats, the others told me after you stole the cave from us. You want to go out here, or would you rather try to kill me in there, where they can't see you?"

Alice looked up at him in genuine confusion. "Do you… Do you seriously not get what I just said? Mishearing the others I understand, but buddy, I'm telling you I am actively trying to prevent your death."

"Yeah, well I…" he paused, the words sinking in. "Wait, what?"

"Yes! Gods, finally, you're hearing me. Okay, so, here's the thing: if your party goes into Tam-Tara by yourselves, something will happen and you, and only you, will die. I - we are going to stop that."

"Then Edda is a worse healer than I thought-"

"Come on, you dumbass!" Alice interrupted. "There, right there, that is part of your problem. You don't trust your healer, your freaking fiancée. You berate her, so she berates and mistrusts herself right along with you. Is it any wonder she has trouble making decisions fast enough?"

"If she was better she-"

Alicia stood up suddenly. She walked right up to his face, silently staring daggers at him. He almost didn't back down, but to his credit, he finally knew to stop, though he didn't look happy about it. Alicia nodded and backed down, but remained standing, arms crossed.

"Additionally, I am adding a price to this," said Alice. "In addition to a hopefully standard even cut of any treasures taken from the cultists, there is something your whole party must do."

"And that is?" He asked.

"Be nicer to Edda. No berating her. This clause includes herself, but I know from personal experience you can't just tell someone to not hate themselves and have that work, so it needs to start from you three."

"I… see," he said.

"And as I'm serious, I want that to be something you do going forward too." He didn't respond, so she continued. "Like I said outside Sastasha, she loves you and would kill and die for you. If you want anything to continue after this dungeon - both your life with her and your adventuring career - you need to do that."

He nodded. "Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with."

Alice nodded back. Salli stood up, stretching, and Alice turned to address her two companions.

"Alright team, let's do this!"

Chapter Text

The party of seven adventurers entered the Deepcroft. It smelled awful, but that made sense - a dank underground cave network is going to smell like a dank underground cave network. Even from the entrance to the initial corridor, a purple light filtered through from the main chamber ahead.

"What's that?" asked the Elezen archer.

Alice had been about to step forward when she realised something. She stopped and turned to face the others.

"I don't know your names," she said to the Lalafell and Elezen. "But, I realise I need to, and to give mine first. Hi, I'm Alice, it certainly is a moment to meet you."

"Alicia." The Au Ra introduced herself with just her name, saying nothing further.

"I'm Salli," said the Miqo'te archer.

"Edda and Avere we already know," said Alice. "And you two are…?"

"Really? Inside this place?" asked Avere, staring at Alice in confusion. "You're asking now?"

"Well, yeah, where else will I ask?" Alice responded, an eyebrow raised. "I've gotta know so we can, you know, get through this?"

"Oh for… I'm Paiyo Reiyo," said the thaumaturge.

"Liavinne," said the archer. "So, Alice, what's that glow?"

"Excellent question, Lia," said Alice, and the archer scowled at the nickname. "That out there is a big bubble of dark aether containing our main hunting target for the expedition: a big, squid-headed voidsent abomination."

Six pairs of eyes went wide at that revelation.

"What? You all know there are voidsent in here, that shouldn't be a surprise."

"We came to kill the Lambs of Dalamud," said Paiyo Reiyo. He shivered. "Not… Voidsent."

"Oh for Pete's sake, you'll be fine if you all square up and keep your wits about you," said Alice. "Tanks in front - that's Avere and Alicia. DPS- that is to say, our damage dealers, stay behind the tanks. Healers keep an eye out-"

"We know all of this already," Avere growled. "It's basic adventuring"

"Alright, if you insist…" Alice summoned her Carbuncle, and patted the little guy on the head. "Duty Commenced! Lead the way."

Avere pushed past Alice, who just nodded. "...Yup."

Alicia followed behind him closely, raising an eyebrow at Alice but staying silent. Alice grinned.

"What's so funny?" asked Liavinne.

"Hmm? Oh I'm just excited to see how this goes," said Alice, still grinning. "Hey, Edda?"

The Hyuran girl just glared at her.

"I'll try and help out with healing this run, okay?"

"I can do it…"

"That's good to hear!" said Alice, the grin turning into a warm smile. "Go on and prove it to me. Now, come on, let's not let the tanks get too far ahead."

They followed the tanks out to the main chamber. It was a cavernous space, surprisingly huge for being underground and as close to the surface as it was. The majority of the chamber was, somehow, a pit. Around the walls of the cavern were stone walkways, which was the way the team would need to move to progress to the other tunnels snaking out from the main cavern. In the middle of the pit was a single round platform, ominously large. The giant purple orb floated above it. From the tunnel mouth, the orb was easily visible, and cast a purple glow over the entire chamber.

More immediately, there were a pair of zombie soldiers in mouldering armour standing ahead of them, by the ledge of the walkway. They groaned, and raced towards the tanks, rusted spears held at the ready.

"Alright, time to pull!" said Alice. "Keep their attention and keep going!"

"What!?" shouted Avere. "What are you talking about!?"

"It's basic dungeon-crawling!" said Alice. "I thought you knew this already!"

Alice grunted, and slammed her axe on the ground between the two zombies. The force of the strike staggered the zombies, and focused their attention on Alicia. She snarled at them, then took off to the left, along the walkway. To the surprise of Edda's Party, the zombies followed the marauder instead of running at the other adventurers.

"What…? How did she…?" Avere seemed confused.

"Have you heard of a tank stance, my dude?" said Alice, running past him. "It makes enemies actually focus on you, almost ignoring your allies!"

Alice had begun charging her aether as soon as she saw the zombies, and it still needed a little while to go before she could bring out an elemental carbuncle. So she blasted one of the zombies with a Ruin, glad that she could do so while moving in this world.

Alicia reached the end of this particular walkway quite quickly, where the path turned left once more, back into the tunnels of the Deepcroft. Waiting around the entrance, however, were a pair of dark, buzzing clouds that flowed towards her.

Oh, shit, bug swarms, Alice realised. How do we deal with bug swarms?

Alice felt her aethercharge complete.

Oh. With fire, of course!

She summoned the Ruby Carbuncle, and commanded it to jump into one of the swarms. The little creature made a cute noise, and did as she had instructed. Once it jumped, it emitted a small burst of flame - small enough to not injure Alicia, and hot enough to torch the entire cloud of insects. The carbuncle disappeared once the deed was done, and the standard blue carbuncle reappeared by Alice's feet.

Alicia had decided to not run too far ahead, staying at the tunnel entrance for now. She used her axe to help her parry the zombies' lances, although it wasn't a very elegant fight. Her large weapon was not designed for that kind of technique.

With a shout, Avere barrelled past a surprised Alice, who lost hold of her aether charge as a result. She had been about to throw a Ruby Ruin at the second fly swarm, but the fiery aether just flew out of her hand and struck one of the zombies in the back. Avere, however, kept going, past the arcanist, and ramming the other zombie with his shield. It nearly caused the zombie's lance to fly past Alicia's guard, and into the marauder's body, but the sudden conflagration that was the first zombie had already caused her to begin moving away from them, towards the tunnel. The lance of the second zombie, and the zombie itself, flew through the space she had occupied just a few seconds ago.

"Dude, what the hell!?" Alice shouted after him. "That was fucking stupid and dangerous!"

"Out of the way!" he shouted, and ran past Alicia, into the tunnel.

"Son of a…" Alice grumbled. She managed to direct an Energy Drain at the swarm of angry insects that were still trying to harass Alicia, and the cloud thinned out drastically, leaving just a few flies buzzing ineffectually, before they scattered and flew off.

The flaming zombie still tried to attack Alicia, and she couldn't do as much to protect herself as she liked, on account of the fire covering its mouldering body and now its weapon.

"How is this thing still moving?" she shouted, keeping away from its flaming lance.

An arrow sped past Alice, not super close to her head, but she could still hear the whistle. It embedded itself in the back of the zombie's head, causing the undead to stagger and fall over.

Alice turned back to see that Salli had been the one to fire the shot, and nodded appreciatively. She also noted that the three other adventurers had simply been running past Salli, likely intending to catch up with their tank. Edda ignored Alicia entirely, just running with the others.

Alice sighed, and used her basic healing spell, Physick, on the marauder. It wasn't much, but Alicia didn't need much. Hell, she probably didn't need it at all, but she nodded at Alice and Salli, then ran after the others.

Salli caught up to Alice and looked at her. "Ya sure we can make it through this? Those guys seemed pretty keen on just lettin' ya handle it by yerselves."

"Well, I'm certainly hoping…" Alice admitted. "But this place is doable. We can make it through."

Salli nodded, and they ran to follow the others.

They were caught in a t-junction, Avere struggling to deal with another zombie, some more of those fly swarms, and a pair of extremely large, angry beetles. The Lalafell was casting some fire spells in his direction, but he was being too cautious with them, aiming too far away from Avere, and as a result they were also too far away to do any substantial damage to the creatures. Although, his aim was so bad that Alicia was being forced to dodge fireballs. At least that didn't seem entirely intentional, but it was still crap.

The Elezen wasn't much better. Alice wasn't an especially good aim, she would be the first to admit it, but gods damn that archer was kind-of okay at best. Her arrows usually hit, but even on slow targets like the zombie, they were just aimed at areas that didn't seem to have much effect, or barely missed. Which was wild to Alice - when Liavinne was a zombie boss in Tam-Tara's Hard mode, her aim was dead-on, no pun intended. Although, based on the fact that Alicia was the one keeping the zombie's attention…

Alice scowled. Their shit management of the situation was going to get both tanks killed: regardless of why they were doing it, their choices were causing Avere to get overwhelmed too.

"What the fuck…?" Alice blasted a Ruin into one of the beetles while it leapt to try to take a bite out of Avere's arm. The giant insect was pasted all over the wall of the tunnel. Salli fired a flurry of arrows, rapidly nocking and firing to an almost-machinelike degree. It helped reduce the pressure that even these meagre enemies were causing with such bad teammates.

Is Edda even doing anything? Alice wondered. She noticed that the conjurer was, in fact, struggling to figure out what to do. She stood, nervously looking around at the fighting, but not shaking in place or anything.

But she's not doing anything… Gods damn it. Alice grunted. "Edda! Heal Avere!"

She jumped in surprise, and apparently reflexively used Cure on Avere. The gladiator had taken some slashes and bites from the insects, large and small, and his stance relaxed once he realised the pain was disappearing. He looked up in surprise.

Then he immediately ran off down the tunnel, away from the party.

"What the fuck!?" Alice shouted. The zombie and one of the beetles were still alive, and they both focused on Alicia now. She was fine, thankfully, between Alice and Salli keeping her safe.

There was a shout from the way Avere had gone, and a few seconds later he ran back with a trio of zombie lancers in tow.

"What the fuck!?" Alice repeated. She didn't know any area-of-effect spells yet, so the situation was more than a little annoying. But it somehow got worse: from the third direction of the t-junction, a pair of strange blue orbs floated out and into the hall.

Alice blinked, confused. They were out of the normal way, so were they just an enemy she had accidentally avoided all this time…? Maybe they're just weird light creatures?

The strange orbs fired bolts of thunder at Alicia. They surged through the Au Ra, charring her armour slightly, and she grunted in pain.

Oh, shit.

Alice ordered her carbuncle to intercept, and activated Radiant Aegis, shielding Alicia from further lighting attacks.

Avere had run away again, apparently, and it looked like Paiyo Reiyo and Liavinne were looking for a way around the mess.

Alice was furious. She knew Avere was a bastard, obviously, but to try and kill them off like this was still just… Infuriating.

She mentally commanded her Carbuncle to keep its defence up, and put her grimoire on her belt. She walked up behind the caster and archer, as they were about to make a run for it, and placed a hand on each of them: one on the Elezen's shoulder, the other on the Lalafell's head. She spoke in the coldest tone she had ever used.

"You had best stay here and help sort out your friend's mess or so help me, you'll wish I'd left you to die in these caves."

She hadn't intended it, but there was an aetheric current running through her arms, causing her firm grips to be a little more than she had intended. She wasn't suddenly compelling them magically, but they got a sense that she was somehow powerful, and that pissing her and her friends off further was a terrible idea.

They nodded furiously, so she removed her hands from their shoulders and began casting spells once more. She didn't realise, thanks to the tunnel-vision induced by her anger, but she had not remembered to draw her Grimoire again. It still helped focus her power, but she visualised the geometries even as she pointed her hands at the zombies, claw-like, and set them aflame with a Ruby Ruin she hadn't consciously aethercharged.

They continued to burn and her hands slowly clenched, intensifying the flames. When they fully clenched into fists, a blinding light struck her from behind her eyes, and she was hit by a horrible, intense migraine.

"Aaargh!" She clutched at her eyes and dropped to her knees. Her head felt like it was going to burst. She tried to focus on her brain, on the pain within, and get rid of it. It wasn't a logical action, but the pain was driving her thoughts into strange directions. She wanted to take the pain out, get rid of it, take it away…

She felt a strange bliss. A whiteness, clean and soothing, washed over her mind, taking the pain away. She sighed in relief, and looked up. Now that the enemies had been defeated, Edda had helped her.

Alice blinked. "Huh…"

That was odd. She had hoped Edda would eventually listen to her, but Alice hadn't done anything to show her why yet.

She realised Alicia was standing next to the conjurer, injured and burned, but was focused on Alice. She nodded when she saw that Alice was alright.

"What…? You needed this more than me!" Alice said.

"Unlike you, I can handle what I've got for a bit longer," said Alicia. "I don't know what that was about, but I need you focused, like you were in Sastasha."

Alice nodded. Damn. It was just because of Alicia. But, that means Alicia really does consider me useful, when I'm in a state to help, so that's a positive.

Edda began to heal Alicia, but she seemed upset about it.

"Does Avere normally pull weird stunts like that?" asked Alice, standing up again.

"No," said Liavinne. "I'm… Not entirely sure why he did that."

Alice stared at her, gaze hardening. "I think you know. My migraine didn't make me forget."

The thaumaturge and archer didn't want to reply to that.

"Seems like this is gonna be one heck of a job," said Salli. "That was an impressive spell ya had there, although I reckon ya ought ta practice it some more."

"I didn't even intend it that way," Alice admitted. "I-"

Avere stalked back to the party from the way he had run. "Are you idiots coming or not?"

Alice's glare returned, and she stormed over to the gladiator. She stopped in front of him, almost touching, and glared directly into his eyes.

"When I say "pull," I don't mean "pull a bunch of bastards to us then run away." Do I make myself clear?"

Avere squared up, refusing to be cowed. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"I'm gonna tell you to stay the fuck right here," said Alice.

"What if I don't want to?"

Alice raised her left index finger in between them, her hand clenched into a shaking fist. "You do not step on the toes of an Australian, we are laid back until you piss us off. You do not step on the toes of a Southern Italian woman, we will turn your bitch ass into mince meat. I have so much vendetta in my heart that you are extremely lucky that my decision is just this."

He laughed in her face. "Big talk!"

Alice put her right hand on her grimoire, then decided to add some flair to her spell. She snapped the fingers of her left hand, and used the Topaz earth-aspected power she had learned. It turned out this entire place was buzzing with ambient aether, and that meant she could, for example, make the rock beneath his boots very quickly become soft like sand, use the sand to pull his feet in past the ankles, and then solidify that sand into solid, nigh-unbreakable rock once more.

He was surprised to lose a few inches of height, but when he realised why, he became angry. He drew his sword "Hey! Undo that!"

She had already walked past him and now stood out of reach of his sword arm. "No. Stay. Good boy."

"Uh, Alice?" said Alicia. "We can't walk past him now."

Alice sighed, and hand on her grimoire, she snapped her fingers again. Avere's sword glowed with heat, and he dropped it with a yelp.

"Come on," said Alice, turning to walk down the tunnel. "We have cultists to commit government-sanctioned murder on."

Alicia looked at Salli, who shrugged. "I never met her before today, don't ask me."

"A… Avere!" Edda had been stunned by the whole exchange, and finally ran to her fiancée. She looked him over, and healed his slightly-burnt hand.

"Go get her!" Avere shouted, right into her face. "Don't waste your time! Kill that stupid bitch!"

Alice stopped. She inhaled slowly, then exhaled, and kept walking.

Alicia shrugged, and walked up to the trapped gladiator. She knelt and inspected the rock around his feet and nodded, impressed. She stood back up and kept walking, Salli following behind.

"Come on, then, if ya want any of the treasure that might be down here!" said the Miqo'te.

Liavinne and Paiyo looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Go and get her!" Avere repeated, shouting at the other two now as well as Edda. They nodded, and rushed past him to follow behind the Miqo'te. When they rounded the corner, into the burial room Avere had brought the three zombies from, they found the others waiting with weapons drawn. The two raised their hands in surrender immediately.

"We aren't going to try and kill you!" said Paiyo, his voice almost breaking.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh… You both need more spine than that, but it'll do."

"I'm just ready to fight our actual enemies," said Alicia. "I've had enough of bugs and undead."

"Good news, they're the next encounter, through here," Alice said, walking through the room's only other exit. A short tunnel later, and the five adventurers found themselves back in the main chamber. Ahead of them, at the edge of this protruding platform, a red-robed man stood at an altar, chanting something unrecognisable. Floating above the altar was a small purple ball, linked to the large purple sphere in the middle of the chamber.

"There we are," said Alice. "But I remember two imps being here as well…"

Paiyo shot her a confused look. "What do you mean, you remember it?"

"You'll see," said Alicia. "Be on the lookout for a pair of imps."

Alice readied her grimoire, but instead of immediately blasting the cultist, she had a sudden urge to walk up to him.

"Good day, sir," she said in an east-coast American accent, "Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour, Jesus Christ?"

The cultist stopped chanting and turned to stare at her, uncomprehending. His eyes narrowed when he realised they were adventurers, but as he began to cast a spell, he suddenly found his eyeballs no longer worked. He screamed, unsure of what had happened but definitely in pain, and an arrow from Salli embedded itself in his throat, silencing him.

"Didja have to go and make it so ghastly?" she asked Alice.

Before Alice could respond, something happened to the man's corpse. A burst of dark-aspected aether rushed from both his corpse and the altar he had been chanting at. It tore out a line in the air above him, starting from just above his chest and going directly upwards almost five fulms in height. The line quickly became a purple, asymmetrical oval, from which several creatures appeared. Two imps, and a taller voidsent with a pair of wings known as a gargoyle. This kind was holding a scythe, and was known as a "soul-counter".

"This, friends, is why you don't summon daemons," said Alice, although she felt fear at actually seeing voidsent in person. They were hideously, horribly wrong to look at, not so much their physical forms as just something about their corrupted aether. Knowing that at some point these used to be normal people didn't help, either.

The imps cackled, and the soul-counter growled.

"Oh… Oh no!" Paiyo Reiyo screeched, and tried to run back the way they had come. Unfortunately, the dark aether, enhanced by the appearance of the voidsent, had formed a barrier behind them, and a barrier to the left, making the game's boss-room barriers a reality. "Oh no!"

"Oh yes…" said Alice, although she didn't feel nearly as confident as she was pretending to be. After all, she was currently the closest to the voidsent. Until Alicia could grab their attention-

Alicia's axe flew towards the scythe-bearing voidsent. It was surprisingly fast, and even though the creature saw the attack coming and moved out of the way, the axe burying itself in the altar, the voidsent still seemed affected by how close the weapon had come to hitting it. It charged at Alicia, intending to attack while she was unarmed. Salli, Liavinne and Paiyo Reiyo began ranged duels with the imps, the little Lalafell shouting in fear even as he unleashed spells to try and actually defeat the cackling creatures.

Alice brought out her Topaz Carbuncle, and commanded it to headbutt the voidsent on its way past her. The little creature's headbutt connected with the voidsent, doing a lot of earth-aspected damage and staggering it. As it stumbled, Alicia revealed a secret weapon - she had been concealing Avere's sword behind her back. Her hand was red, meaning that although the weapon had cooled now, she had picked it up while it was still hot and managed not to show it. She plunged the sword into the voidsent's chest while its guard was down, killing it. The creature dissolved into motes of dark aether.

The others were doing well with their own duels at this point, and now that one of the imps had been slain, the other followed shortly. All that was left was a strange dusky smell… Alice was sure she was imagining that, though. The cave remained dank and musty.

Alice sighed in relief. "Okay, good work, team. Now…"

She turned her attention to the now-unprotected cultist orb, and walked up to the altar it floated above.

"...how the fuck do we turn this off?"

"I would be careful," said Paiyo Reiyo nervously. "If that object is linked to that ominous sphere, interaction may cause feedback. Lethal feedback."

"You're a more experienced mage than me," said Alice. "What do you suggest I do to be careful?"

"Wh- You're asking me?" He seemed genuinely surprised.

"Well, yeah," said Alice. "I dunno, I guess you could tell me how to kill myself, so it's not the smartest option, but that would also mean you'd have to deactivate this thing yourself, so also not great for you, in the end. As it stands, you can give ideas from a safe distance."

"I…" the Lalafell looked up at Liavinne, who seemed just as surprised. "Are you sure?"

"By the Twelve…" Alicia grunted, pulling her axe out of the altar. "Just do it."

Alice shrugged, and reached out a hand to magically interact with the orb.

"Be careful of elemental balance!" said Paiyo Reiyo. "Ensure you keep Light aether around yourself, mayhap even Ice aether for good measure. Try to… Well, for lack of a better term, push your internal Dark aether away from the orb."

Alice shrugged, and gave it a try. Based on what she knew, the theory didn't sound like bullshit. She didn't know much about Light or Ice, but she did her best, and managed to equalise the strongly dark-aspected orb into uselessness. It stopped glowing, and fell to the altar as gravity affected it once more. The was a collective moment of breath held in case it or the giant sphere reacted somehow, but nothing happened, and the five of them released sighs of relief.

"There we go!" Alice said, smiling at the Lalafell. "Thanks, PaiRei!"

He nodded, and hesitated. Eventually, he said, "if you truly mean to help us all get out of here alive, I think I had best start listening to you."

"Including about Edda, right?" asked Alice.

"Why do you insist upon this?" asked Liavinne. "Why do you care?"

"Apart from the fact that the woman is willingly putting herself into a position of being abused, it's because the alternative path - letting you guys keep on as you were - is bad for all of you." Alice took a breath. "Here's an open secret for you all, although Alicia already knows: I've seen the future, a lot of it, with pretty substantial clarity."

Liavine snorted.

"It's true! It's how I know that, at some point while you idiots were here in this place, Avere is supposed to get beheaded."

"That's… That's not a funny joke," said Paiyo Reiyo.

"Because it's not a joke," Alice insisted. "I'm serious: He is intended by fate to die here today. And while I don't like the guy very much, that causes problems for all three of you, and then for Gridania."

"...Hold on, how does that work?" asked Salli. "Suppose I believe ya 'bout seein' the future. How's one party gonna cause problems for a whole city-state?"

"Edda is extremely driven when it comes to Avere," said Alice. "So much so that she is willing to become a powerful necromancer to bring him back."

"That's… Oh…" said Paiyo, then shook his head. "No! I don't believe you. That girl barely has aptitude as a healer, how would she become a necromancer?"

"I don't fucking know how," Alice responded. "But she did! After you two went your separate ways from her and each other. And it was fucking rough getting through this place to stop her weird wedding ritual to bring Avere back in some form."

"Gods but this sounds crazy," said Alicia. "But you've been right about some things already, and you believe this yourself, so I want to trust you…"

"Why? It's absurd!" said Liavinne. "There's no way the Edda we know could do all of that. She's hopeless, incompetent-"

"Shut the fuck up about that, gods above," Alice interrupted her, angrily. "You dumb fucks, I've been trying to be nice about this, but you really refuse to stop insulting the woman keeping you alive. Christ, what is wrong with you all!?"

"We can say whatever we damn please-" Liavinne tried to continue, but Alice stomped over to her, standing as close as she had been to Avere.

"Are you slow? Incapable of change? Maybe braindead? Sit fucking down and wait here if you have to in order to learn this goddamn lesson, because you're all stuck in here until that problem-" Alice pointed at the purple orb "-is solved. Capiche?"

Liavinne snorted, still confident. "We aren't trapped here, we can just leave if we want."

Alice raised her hand again, ready to snap her fingers a second time.

"Liavinne," said Paiyo Reiyo quickly. "Maybe we should simply… Go along with her for now?"

Liavinne grunted. Alice nodded, and turned to go towards the now-unblocked route further around the cave. She walked up to where the barrier had been, and nodded again, steeling herself.

She heard the drawing of a bowstring and the sound of an arrow whistling, and froze. But then she heard the sound of a second bow drawing and firing, much faster than the first, then the sound of an impact with the stone wall. That broke her out of her trance and she turned around.

Salli and Liavinne were aiming their bows at each other, and embedded in the wall was an arrow, one of Liavinne's, pinned sideways in place by another arrow, one of Salli's. Alice's eyes widened as she tried to imagine the skill required for such a shot.

"Holy fuck…" Alice looked at Salli with respect. "You're actually fucking amazing!"

"Well, I did say I'm pretty good," she said, not taking her eyes off the Elezen.

"So… Lia, what the fuck?" asked Alice.

"Are you stupid? Do you genuinely not understand?" asked Liavinne. "How are you this dense!?"

"Liavinne, please…" Paiyo Reiyo was wringing his hands, his expression pleading. "Just let them be…"

"No! This stupid bitch thinks she can tell us what to do! And she threatened us!" Liavinne shouted at him, not caring that Salli was still aiming at her. "Her damned holier-than-thou attitude is bothering you, as well, admit it!"

"It is, but I'm not willing to get into a fight over it… Not over this, and not here…"

"Oh for… Can we just sort this out already?" Alicia interrupted. "Put away your stupid grudge or just leave. Some of us are here to actually defeat cultists."

"Listen, you-" said Liavinne, but Alice interrupted her.

"That's Warrior of Light to you."

Alicia looked more irritated at Alice for that correction than she had been at Liavinne. "I'm fairly certain I asked you not to call me that."

"Well, tough, you are, you know it," said Alice with a shrug.

"You're a Warrior of Light?" Avere's voice was a surprise to hear, and he walked out from the tunnel they had left him and Edda in. Edda followed close behind, nervous. The other surprise was at his gentler tone than usual.

"I am not-" Alicia began.

"She wasn't one of the ones present five years ago," said Alice, and Avere seemed disappointed. "But I am one hundred thousand percent certain she is one now."

"Weren't you stuck?" Salli asked Avere.

"I got free… With help from Edda," said Avere, as if he was loath to admit it. "What do you mean you're sure she's a Warrior of Light?"

"We've both got the Echo," said Alice. "The Blessing of Light, of Hydaelyn Herself."

Avere looked at Alice and Alicia in a different way now. Less hostile, more amazement. It seemed like… Hero worship, even.

"What the fuck is this 180?" asked Alice. "Why do you-"

"They're the reason I started adventuring," Avere said quickly. "And I realised I've been acting like an ass to two of them."

"What… Why do you just believe her?" Liavinne demanded. "Where's the proof?"

Alicia rolled her eyes, then reached into her armour, where she kept her Crystal of Light, and showed it. Alice hadn't seen it herself yet, and it was a very deep shade of blue that was quite lovely to look at. "Happy?"

Liavinne shrugged, as if it didn't mean much to her but she would take it as something.

"What about you?" Avere asked Alice.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I'm not a full Warrior of Light, I just have the Echo. It's more common than you'd expect."

"Oh…" Avere seemed a little disappointed by that. "Still…"

"Still, you should listen to me regardless of that," said Alice. "Being a dickhead to your healer is a sure-fire way to die. Stop doing it."

"And she's brought it back to this again," said Liavinne with a sigh. "Will you shut up?"

"Will you fuck off and die?' said Alice, giving the archer an obviously fake smile.

"Will you both come on already?" asked Alicia. Her Crystal was already away, and she held her axe ready. "Please."

Alice nodded and turned back around to proceed ahead, once again showing her back to Liavinne. Except this time, she whistled while doing it, entirely aware of what she was doing.

"Avere, jump ahead, and don't run off this time," said Alice. "Gotta stick by Alicia, okay?"

Avere ran to catch up to Alicia, who didn't seem very happy that he was nearby. She returned his sword, and he nodded gratefully, and somewhat reverently.

"Edda?" Alice looked at the conjurer. "Stick with me, we'll try and heal through this together, okay?"

Edda was still hesitant to listen to Alice, but she looked at Avere, and his change of heart, and nodded. "Alright."

"You three, I'm counting on you to keep your damage output up," said Alice. "Including you, Lia, if you aren't just leaving."

Liavinne grumbled, but she had become less hostile since Avere's change, even if she clearly didn't understand it.

Alice saw Paiyo Reiyo silently mouth "thank you" to her from behind Lia. Alice smiled. It was definitely putting on a happier front than she felt, but was still less fake than before.

They progressed further into the dungeon, and got through a few more groups of giant insects and zombies, sometimes a Lamb of Dalamud cultist stationed with them. When they arrived at the second of the three altars with a strange orb, Alice looked them over. It was really strange, but just because Avere had been convinced that Alicia was a Warrior of Light, the entire party was more willing to cooperate with Alice. Salli's keen eye was still looking for any sign of trouble, she noted, which was reassuring. She made a mental note to try and pay her double whatever she asked. Unless it was already a high fee, in which case she'd figure something out.

Oh, we didn't work out numbers in advance, huh? That was probably a mistake.

Alice mentally shrugged, and nodded. "Alright, so there'll be more voidsent ahead, although whether they're alongside the cultists or immediately after, I'm unsure. We'll see."

Six nods were the group's response. Good. She turned and directed them through what would obviously become a barrier. The little purple glowing spaces hadn't been in Sastasha, but here it at least made sense. The cultists were magically inclined, so they would prepare defences. Although, why they wouldn't just have them already enabled was beyond her.

They proceeded back into the main space, towards the altar, and sure enough, there was another praying cultist. And no imps yet. Alice silently gestured to Salli, then tried to indicate that she should fire an arrow at the cultist. Salli raised an eyebrow and mouthed "what?"

Alice sighed and mouthed "shoot him."

Salli nodded, and quietly nocked an arrow, carefully aimed it, and fired.

While she was occupied, Liavinne suddenly grinned wickedly, and tried to plunge a dagger into the archer.

Alice's reflexes weren't fast enough to do anything about it, but she still tried to do something, trying to project a Radiant Aegis as close to Salli as she could.

But to her surprise, Salli was saved by a shield bash from Avere.

Huh?

Avere's shield lashed out, battering away Liavinne's hand, the dagger clattering away. It was followed by a second strike with the shield to Liavinne's head, knocking the Elezen out.

"Huh!?" Alice said aloud.

Paiyo Reiyo shouted in surprise, but thankfully, arrows were fast, and the cultist was already dead from a shot in the back of the neck.

Salli had waited to see if the arrow would simply bounce off some armour hidden by the crimson robes, but seeing it bite into flesh and causing the figure to fall unmoving, she turned to look at the events she had heard but tried to ignore. She looked down at the fallen Liavinne, bleeding from a cut to the cheek, and to where the dagger had ended up.

"Huh. Alright then."

"That was not what I was expecting," said Alice. "I know she was pissed but, what?"

"No time to think about it," said Alicia. "Voidsent are coming again."

She was right, another portal was opening from the corpse of the cultist, just like at the first altar. And just like that time, several imps preceded a scythe-bearing soul-counter.

"Let them have it!" Alice called out, and utilised her stored aether to summon the Topaz Carbuncle. It ran at the scythe-bearing voidsent and headbutted it. She had learned from the last instance that the blow wouldn't kill it, but while staggered, it was far more susceptible to getting blasted with other attacks. She unleashed a Topaz Ruin, an Energy Drain, another Topaz Ruin, then a Fester in as quick succession as she could manage, doing her best to mimic the cast-weaving mechanic from the game. The spells overwhelmed it, and together with a few strikes from Alicia, who had charged at it as soon as it appeared, they dropped the bastard thing.

Avere and Edda were more than sufficient replacements for the unconscious Liavinne. Avere's whole change included him not running away and being a bastard about leading all the enemies to Alicia anymore, and Edda seemed motivated by the change in her beloved to try harder.

This is fucking weird, but I'll take it, Alice thought. She fired another spell at one of the Imps. I don't want to question the change of heart any further, but even with his stated reason… I don't get it. Someone changing this easily was too strange in her mind. Sure, it happened a bunch in the game's Job Quests, but...

The Imps went down, leaving them with no enemies, and the uncomfortable humming of the dark orb, now mostly unprotected. Alice walked over to try and interact with it, trying to remember Paiyo Reiyo's advice from her first successful attempt. There were two moments where she thought she almost messed it up, and held her breath. But both times, she waited, and they didn't explode, so she kept working.

Eventually, the orb was disconnected from the central sphere, and clattered to the altar, safe and inert.

Alice sighed in relief and turned to the others. "Thank God that didn't go off like a bomb."

"Which one, that one or the big one?" asked Salli, clearly as a joke.

"I dunno, all of 'em I suppose," said Alice with a shrug, then she grinned. "But that's two! There are two more at the final altar, not far away, but that altar actually has some magical protection before we arrive."

"So how do we get past it?" asked Alicia.

"There's a little space not far from the barrier, and a rosary or something similar inside that can let us through."

"Um, not to be a bother, but…" Paiyo Reiyo caught their attention. "What do we do about Liavinne?"

Alice stared at the unconscious Elezen. "Anyone got a rope?"

Paiyo Reiyo looked aghast at the idea. "You aren't suggesting we just leave her tied up here, are you?"

"Well, yeah," said Alice. "Safer here where we've already killed everything, right?"

"Maybe I can convince her not to try anything further?" Avere asked.

"Given you're the one that conked her out - thanks for that, by the way - I'm not sure if she'll listen to you anymore."

"Yeah, thanks," said Salli, and it sounded genuine.

"Why did she try to stab you?" asked Edda. "She sounded more annoyed at you."

She indicated Alice, who shrugged. "By the way… How much of our conversation before did you hear?"

Edda's face turned red, and she looked away, apparently ashamed. "Uhhmmm… Enough."

Avere bit his lip, then asked, "Are you sure? She can be that motivated, about me?"

"Well, yeah," said Alice. "But I figured you already knew that and just… Used it to your advantage."

He seemed to take offence at the implications, but couldn't form coherent words to respond, his face more red than Edda's had been. Paiyo Reiyo was white as a sheet at the concept. And Edda seemed just as horrified.

Oh, well, huh, I hadn't meant that kind of advantage, but still, I guess not.

"Well!" Alice said quickly, hands up in surrender. "I'm glad to be proven wrong, is all. Just, please, don't treat her like shit. For both your sakes."

Salli cleared her throat, and Alice looked over to where, somehow, the Miqo'te had already tied up the unconscious archer.

"H-how!?"

"Practice from huntin'," she replied. "We headin' further forward?"

"Are we?" Alice asked the others. Avere had to shake himself to clear the thoughts Alice had unintentionally put to his mind. She felt bad, but at least the immediate visceral reaction felt like proof of something.

"I think so…" said the gladiator. "I'll do my best. Edda, you'd-"

He cut himself off, looked at Alice and took a breath. "You'll be able to do it if you focus."

"A-alright," she said, nervous and a little confused.

Gods above, she really doesn't get much praise, huh?

"Then let's go," said Alicia.

--------------------

The fighting wasn't exactly fierce, but there were quite a few more actual cultists mixed into the various knots of enemies, and more zombies overall. It was definitely more difficult… But Alicia, now that she was actually being backed up by the still-awed Avere, was knocking them over like a bowling ball, sometimes literally. Spells and arrows flew in support, finishing off these enemies of Gridania who had the balls to try and take over this sacred burial site.

Big mistake, dipshits, Alice thought, Ruining another Cultist as he was flung into the air. He made a garbled noise of pain as the spell wreaked havoc on his internals, and he died once he hit the ground. Eugh. Well, this really is just murder, I guess.

The thought was definitely unwelcome and obtrusive, but Alice tried to ignore it. These people wanted Dalamud to have blown up Eorzea, and now wanted to cause death on a massive scale by themselves because that hadn't happened. So, it was justified to stop them.

But killing them… Fuck, I hate how easy it's already becoming to do.

The adventurers had made it to the point just outside the final altar, which was protected by a huge barrier in addition to the increase in enemy forces. Alice had directed them further, into another tunnel leading them away, where she knew the Cultists had left a key into the barrier.

She ignited a Cultist, and the man screamed as he burned.

Oh good God, Alice thought, trying and failing to block out the sound, while keeping down whatever food was still in her stomach. A well-placed arrow from Salli cut off the screaming with a gurgle, which in some respects was just as bad, but still a welcome end to the other ghastly sound.

She continued to burn the other enemies, all creatures and undead, with far less issue. It turned out she was far better with fire than the one other element she knew, at least in an offensive capacity. But she still tried to make use of the Topaz Carbuncle and its earth-aspected spells, to practice and properly learn them.

Oddly, the team now really felt like it worked. Not just because of Liavinne being unconscious, of course, but because Alice and Alicia were working to coordinate their requests and callouts better. Practice makes perfect, and that was especially important during a life-threatening experience like a dungeon crawl.

It even took Alice's mind off the fact that she had just tried to burn a man to death, something that came crashing back into her mind when she smelled the corpse's burning flesh.

She felt nauseous, and threw up, almost getting some of the contents on Paiyo Reiyo and Salli.

"Eugh!" Salli grimaced.

"Oh, gods, what's wrong!?" Paiyo yelled the question with a mix of anxiety and disgust.

Alicia beheaded the last zombie in the remaining area, then turned back, expecting to see new enemies coming from behind. When she saw what had actually happened, she sighed, partly in relief.

Edda panicked, and tried to heal Alice as if she had been poisoned. The wave of healing did help Alice's ailing stomach a little, but not completely.

"Urgh," was all Alice managed to say.

"What's wrong with her?" Avere asked Alicia.

"I'm not entirely sure, but based on earlier today, I can guess…" the auri woman shook her head. "Today's the first day she's ever taken another person's life."

"Oh…" Salli nodded solemnly.

Avere's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

Alice nodded. "Y…yeah… And burning someone alive is uh…"

"Oh…" It was Paiyo Reiyo's turn to be sympathetic. "I remember my first time, as well. I'm past the stage of nightmares, thankfully, but I won't forget it."

Oh, that's not fun…

"Sorry for…" Alice took a breath and wiped her mouth. "Sorry for almost barfing on you both."

""Barfing," huh?" Salli gave a little half-smile. "That's a new one."

"It's a normal word back home…" Alice's composure had recovered somewhat, partly thanks to Edda's quick heal.

"Where's that?" asked Salli. "Sounds like ya don't gotta fight very often."

"Yeah, we don't." Alice paused. "Think of like, Meracydia crossed with Garlemald, but tone down all the wildlife pretty significantly."

I cannot believe I'm saying that anything about Australian wildlife is "toned down" in any way…

"I don't know what either of those places are like," Paiyo Reiyo admitted.

"I… Am basically making an assumption based on what I've heard about both, since I'm not entirely sure either," said Alice, shrugging a little sheepishly.

Alicia looked around the now empty chamber. "This one's a dead end." She looked at the coffin occupying the centre of the room. "...Pun not intended."

Alice snorted a little at that. "Yes, but see that funny little set of rosary beads sitting on top of the coffin?"

Paiyo Reiyo turned to look at them and recoiled immediately. "Those aren't supposed to be here, are they?"

Edda seemed upset by them as well. Her face was pale. "No… Even my limited conjury tells me those are… Wrong."

Alice frowned. "Woah, they're that bad? Hrm."

"Why? What's with 'em?" Salli asked.

"All I knew before now was that they can open that barrier we walked past."

"I wouldn't touch them if I were you…" said Paiyo Reiyo.

"Nah, I'll be fine, see?" Alice strode across the room confidently, ignoring the very strong bad feeling the item gave off, and picked them up-

Visions of a world in torment, a world in darkness, shaped by it, forever altered. Creatures who killed and ate each other to survive. Who were subservient or were consumed. Who were powerful or were consumed. Where death itself has no meaning. Dying is of no consequence. Live, die, live again, over and over.

Only ending when one was CONSUMED, body and soul. Or, when one was called away and perished…

Alice's awareness snapped back into the present. She was holding the rosary, and still remained upright. The others were watching her cautiously.

"...Huh. Void Lore. Neat."

"Wh… What does that mean?" asked Paiyo Reiyo.

"Ah, I just stared into the abyss for a few seconds, no big deal," said Alice, although she realised she was a bit shaky after her experience. "Come on, let's go awaken Cthulhu's shittier rip-off."

"Cthulhu…?" asked Edda.

Alice was already walking out of the chamber. She didn't want the others to see just how much the ordeal had actually shaken her. She had known a bit of Voidsent lore, and a bit about the Thirteenth shard being fucked up by the overconfident Ascian Igeyorhm, but what she saw was… Something else. Next-level uncomfortable.

"Heiki, hecchara." She said the line aloud unintentionally, but it started to ground her emotions, so she said it a second time, in English. It helped.

"Are you okay?" asked Alicia.

"Oh!" Alice jumped, not realising the marauder had been right behind her. "Yeah I'm good."

"Alright," said Alicia, and her voice became quieter. "I've really covered your arse with these people, so please don't make me regret it."

Alice nodded. She walked ahead, moving back to the barrier. Through it, she could see another pair of cultists. One of them had some slightly more ornate robes than any of the others had.

Maybe their leader? Alice wondered. She shrugged, and shoved the rosary into the barrier as if she was punching it. The strike connected, and instead of pain, she felt a surge of energy through her body. The energy felt off, and yet, it didn't bother her nearly as much as she felt it should have.

The barrier cracked and shattered like glass, making a sound like a banshee's cry. It made the two cultists turn in surprise, their concentration broken.

"What is she doing here!?" The more ornate cultist shouted, and noticed some of the bodies strewn behind Alice. His eyes widened, and he looked at the woman with fear in his eyes.

That made Alice grin. "We have come for you~!"

He saw the others, now closing the gap between the tunnel and the cultists, and he seemed both relieved and more afraid.

"They're just adventurers! Kill them!"

The two cultists began casting something, but they weren't able to get far. Between an arrow in the lesser one's neck, a thrown shield from Avere, and a barrage of spells from the three casters… They died quickly, but it very obviously hadn't been painless for the more ornately decorated cultist. The shield clattered to a halt on the stone near one of the altars, thankfully not ricocheting off the edge.

"Alright, here come more Voidsent…" Alice warned them. As before, portals opened from the corpses. But unlike the last two, these did something different. Whether it was intentional, or a side effect of the proximity to two of those cultist orbs, Alice didn't know, but the two portals shook, and jumped together as if magnetically attracted, meeting in the middle and becoming a single, larger portal.

"Huh?"

Alice was unaware, but her verbalisation of confusion caused the others to look at her, eyes wide, then scramble to get ready for whatever else might come out.

"Wish I hadn't thrown my shield…" Avere muttered.

"Yeah, why did you do that?" Alicia asked him, but she didn't take her eyes off the portal.

From out of the portal, several creatures flew through in quick succession. Five imps, and two of the irritating scythe-bearing soul-counters. And following them was a larger version of the soul-counter, which looked to be more armoured than the smaller two. Its own weapon was still just a plain, unadorned scythe, but for some reason it seemed far more wicked and deadly.

It said something unintelligible- Alice paused, realising it wasn't unintelligible, at least not in her mind.

"Foolish creatures. You awaken our lord at your peril."

"Nah, bitch, we got this shit in the bag," Alice said back, grinning at him.

It laughed at her. "You will die here, today."

"What is it sayin'?" asked Salli.

"Oh right, I've got the Echo," said Alice. "It's basically saying it'll kill us."

"It can try," Alicia growled.

"I don't know if we can do it!" Paiyo Reiyo nearly screeched, and sounded ready to bolt.

"Stick around, boy, ya might learn somethin'!" said Alice, cackling.

The fight began. Upon reflection, Alice wasn't quite sure what exactly started it. All she remembered was that, before she knew it, arrows and spells were flying, and Alicia tried to back up the now-shieldless Avere as they ran into the fray. Alice did her best to support Edda's healing of the two tanks, while also trying to contribute to the damage output being thrown out by Salli and, to her surprise, Paiyo Reiyo.

The Lalafell had sounded ready to run, and she knew he wasn't brave at all, but for some reason he was standing his ground, albeit barely. Any spells that landed near him caused him to flinch and jump.

Salli was cool-headed despite the dangers. She managed to one-sidedly coordinate with Paiyo Reiyo, working to eliminate the imps one at a time.

And Edda? Alice was the most surprised about her. The woman was also in a state of barely-controlled shock and fear, but somehow she was keeping up a decent rate of healing on both tanks, not just Avere. It did mean her offensive output was nearly zero, however, but Alice wasn't going to fault her for that, not here.

Speaking of the tanks, they worked surprisingly well together, too. Alicia had covered Avere as they ran in, and with her help he was able to recover his shield, and started using it to help cover the marauder's back. His hero worship showed through somewhat, and he almost did so to his own detriment a few times.

When did this guy gain a selfless streak? Alice wondered. Maybe it was part of the Gladiator lifestyle…

She hadn't said anything, but Alice was deeply afraid. Last she recalled, there was supposed to be a single shitty scythe-bearing voidsent, and four imps. Not whatever this encounter was. The big guy seemed familiar though…

She summoned her Ruby Carbuncle, and it leapt out into the fight. It ran past the tanks and tried to smash into the larger voidsent with a Glittering Ruby Headbutt.

It barely affected the creature, who casually picked up the carbuncle with its free hand. It didn't even bother to look at the creature, and crushed its neck with a squeeze of its taloned fingers.

"No!" Alice cried out in distress. For one, the attack, one of her best, had failed her and done barely anything. Additionally, the carbuncle getting "killed" had literally hurt her, too, which wasn't a great feeling. And finally, watching the cute little familiar die was horrible. All of that, plus the rest of the mental toll for the day, collapsed on her and overloaded her brain.

I need… More…

Alice blacked out.

Chapter Text

Liavinne had been awake for a few minutes, and she was unsure how long she had been out. She remembered trying to capitalise on a moment of distraction - a fucking stupid idea in retrospect. And while she could have maybe gotten away with it if her team had been on her side…

Well, in the end, Avere had been the one to stop her, of all people. That stupid hero worship. He had mentioned it to them before, of course, but not often. And he had mentioned an adventurer who had made a name for herself in the span of just a few days, and who he had also been comparing himself to.

She could still hear fighting, some way in the distance, and had realised after waking up that the group had just tied her up and continued ahead.

At least they didn't kill me…

She had managed to turn herself, still tied up, so that she could look across the way, to where she could barely make out the others fighting at another altar. She saw the portal become one single, larger portal, and watched as the larger voidsent walked out, but she wasn't sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, she was mad at them for the idiotic farce that was this entire dungeon exploration. On the other hand, she didn't hate her allies that much. Well, aside from Edda. But that woman was dumb as one could be while still having any control over magic.

The others fought for a few minutes. Then she saw a little flash of red light near the biggest voidsent, and one of the others, who she was sure was Alice, dropped.

That's strange. The woman hadn't been hit by anything.

Then there was a burst of pure, blinding white light from Alice's body.

What!?

--------------------

Alicia's eyes widened in surprise, even as she had to look away from the sudden radiance. Alice had fallen unconscious after her familiar had been attacked - which for some reason felt like an unusual occurrence - but now her body glowed with Light. The lesser voidsent all screeched in pain and began to burn, a dark and acrid smoke rising from them.

Hold on a moment…

The dark smoke wasn't simply rising and drifting away, it was moving towards Alice. The lesser voidsent were torn apart, faster and faster, until only the large scythe-bearer stood unaffected but confused.

The light was snuffed out, and it suddenly became difficult to see in the darkness. Alice, still unconscious, began to scream as she was covered in a blanket of Darkness.

"What's happening!?" shouted Paiyo Reiyo. "Where did the light go!?"

The two dark orbs the cultists had been protecting, only visible thanks to their link to the central orb, were also pulled away towards Alice. She suddenly stopped screaming, which was incredibly unsettling, especially combined with the strange deep rumbling that seemed to come from the floor itself.

As if this whole event wasn't bad already… I hope I don't have to put her down.

Alice rose, now more like a black humanoid shape glowing purple than a person. Her eyes glowed a bright, dangerous red, and Alicia thought she could hear a low, guttural growl from the woman, who first got onto all fours, like an animal. She roared, and it sounded bestial, like she wasn't totally coherent. The others flinched, but Alicia was used to things like this, in some respects. It was far more advanced than one's inner beast being unleashed, but she stood her ground and watched.

"Strange creature of light and darkness," the voidsent said, its voice fearful but somehow enraptured. "What are you?"

Alice leapt at it, roaring, and tore the voidsent apart. It was a grizzly sight, for although the severed pieces didn't last long, they were still bloody chunks when torn away from the voidsent's body. She grabbed its weapon and used it to hack away further at what remained.

"How the…" Salli trailed off, apparently at a loss for words. She was horrified, as were the others.

Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of stone banging against stone. There was now a bridge leading from this platform to the central, round one in the middle of the chamber. The large orb of dark aether descended from its place above the platform. From within it, a shape emerged.

The being was humanoid, certainly: two arms, two legs, a humanoid torso covered in an appropriately large wizard's robe. But not only was it enormous, it also had a head like an entire large squid, with tentacles where a mouth should be, and a pair of forward-facing eyes that seemed like dark orbs of obsidian.

And Alice, still berserk, ran towards it, attempting to move on all fours clumsily but still quickly.

"Shit," Alicia cursed. "We should… We should follow her and try to support her."

"Should we!?" Paiyo Reiyo's eyes were as wide as they could be, and he looked at Alicia as if she, too, had gone mad. "What if she turns on us!?"

"Then I'll deal with it!" Alicia snapped. "Let's go!"

She followed Alice, who had begun to try and fight the large voidsent.

"You inferior mortals cannot harm me!" It shouted, the words only intelligible to Alicia. "I am Galvanth the Dominator! I am beyond your ken!"

It flung spells at the dark shape attacking it, and Alice just leapt around, occasionally taking hits and growling, but seeming mostly unharmed by the hits.

She managed to hit it with clawed strikes - now sporting talons made of the dark mass that surrounded her - and swings of her stolen weapon, some of which landed and did damage back to Galvanth.

It gurgled in annoyance, and cast a spell that seemed to not do anything, but once he had done so, the strikes no longer affected him.

Alicia had arrived at the platform now, and wasn't sure what to do or where to stand. But she knew Alice, blinded by rage, wasn't going to get through the creature's defences.

"Over there!" Salli called out. Alicia turned around to see that the archer was now close behind her, and then turned again to follow what she was pointing at.

On the far side of the arena was a lone imp. It seemed like it was trying to remain inconspicuous, and to Alicia's surprise it had almost succeeded, despite its attempt being almost comically bad. It was just floating there, in plain view, but she still hadn't noticed it until pointed out.

…Huh.

Salli fired an arrow at the creature, and it screeched in pain but didn't go down yet. Alicia rushed it and cleaved it in two with her axe.

There was an invisible but tangible feeling of power relaxing and dissipating from Galvanth, and suddenly it was taking damage from the enraged Alice once more.

"How can this be happening!?" The voidsent was crying out in surprise, pain and fear. It cast another spell that again seemed to have no immediate effect, and Alicia and Salli immediately began to look for more voidsent. They found some quickly this time: the spell had summoned a veritable horde of imps, scythe-bearers and even some spirits that flew down into the stone, causing armed, glowing skeletons to burst free.

"Oh, shit," said Alicia, dismayed at the sudden numbers arrayed against them. "Can we deal with this many?"

"We'll do our best!" Avere shouted, running towards the two adventurers from the bridge. He was flanked by Edda and Paiyo Reiyo, both of whom looked very hesitant to charge into the fray. Despite this, Alicia felt somewhat better about their chances. Enough to help her stop thinking it was hopeless, at least.

"I'm worried we'll die trying!" Paiyo Reiyo replied, then shrieked as an imp rushed at him, attempting to attack him with the ice spikes it had conjured around its body. He dived out of the way, and Edda blasted it with a bolt of wind. The creature was destroyed immediately, and even she seemed surprised by the potency of the attack.

Alicia had lunged at a grouping of the possessed skeletons, and slammed her greataxe down on the ground between them. The force rattled them, causing a few to fall apart, and the others to direct their attention at her. She had wanted that, and spun herself around, axe held outstretched, briefly turning her into a whirlwind of death. The axe head smashed through the skeletons, as well as a scythe-bearing soul-counter that had attempted to try its luck, and quickly reduced them to piles of bones and rising clouds of aether.

She couldn't help but notice the aether didn't just disappear, but were making their way towards Alice. The others were fighting well, even the diminutive thaumaturge now that he had stood up again, and the horde was thinned out considerably. But it seemed like Alice was absorbing the energy released, which was bad no matter how you looked at it.

The last of the imps was defeated, leaving a few other voidsent and skeletons, but it had once more been the smaller creatures defending their master, and it was just as obvious the second time that he was now unprotected again. Alice attacked, relentlessly slashing with her stolen scythe. Galvanth was now visibly quite injured, inky-black blood leaking onto his robes from a variety of cuts and gouges.

"You wretched… Witch!" Galvanth yelled at Alice. "You dare steal my underlings from me!? Let's see how you fare when I steal them back!"

The giant creature cast a new spell this time, and upon its completion, it began to drain the collected Dark aether that Alice had absorbed. Alice cried out and stopped in place, her back arched in pain. The aether had been pretty dense, almost jet black, and it lightened as Galvanth absorbed more and more of it. Its wounds began to close over, healing itself with its new power.

Alicia cleaved the last soul-counter in two, and looked at the scene with a growing sense of dread. Yes, it was bad that Alice had been absorbing that aether, but she was certain that the big voidsent having it all instead was worse. But what should she do? Attack the big one?

Alice's cries turned into growls of anger. She began to do something that nobody expected: she reached her free hand forward, and began feeding even more aether down the link to Galvanth of her own accord.

"Hahahaha! You truly are a stupid, idiotic mortal!" Galvanth mocked her.

Alice smiled, a dangerous and predatory expression still visible through the dark mist around her, and began to laugh. It was not a normal laugh, it was more like a mad cackle, but it was loud and filled the enormous cavern.

"What are you…" said Galvanth, then cried out in pain. "What have you done!?"

Alice didn't reply, still laughing madly, and the link between the two quickly turned from purplish Dark aether to off-white Light aether.

"I don't know magic so well, but is she doin' what I think?" asked Salli.

"That is a direct feed of Light aether…" said Edda, her eyes wide in wonder. "Directly into a creature aspected so completely towards Darkness… That must be playing havoc with it on a fundamental level."

Galvanth began to scream in pain. It was a horrible noise, especially filtered through its tentacled mouth, and it was almost enough to make them all want to look away. But something about it kept them enraptured, their attention held captive by the terrifying yet beautiful spectacle of aetherial manipulation.

Alice's back straightened, and she appeared oddly coherent, no longer coated in black aether, but instead shining as radiantly as an angel.

"You," said Alice, her voice terrifyingly flat. "Are already dead."

She snapped her fingers, and Galvanth exploded into aether particles, a brilliant and awful spectacle that mercifully cut his screaming short quite quickly.

Alice, still shining, inhaled deeply, and the aether flowed into her once more. Alicia took a step forward, ready to intervene, but instead of coating her in darkness once more, it just equalised the corona of radiance back into nothing. She breathed out, and from her mouth, a few portions of both Light and Dark aether emerged like smoke, but even Alicia was aware that it was a third of what the woman had absorbed at most.

"Heiki, hecchara," said Alice, seemingly more to herself than anyone else. "I'm alright, everything is…fine…"

She collapsed again. Alicia had already moved even closer to her, and rushed in to stop the woman from falling to the ground again. She lowered Alice slowly, and sat next to her.

This time, she seemed more peaceful, as if simply asleep. Edda attempted some conjury, and seemed to find nothing explicitly wrong with her. Exhaustion, maybe? After whatever that was, I'm not surprised.

"What…" Edda began quietly, then tried again. "What is she?"

The others all looked at Alicia. As if she knew.

I barely met her a day ago…

"She… Told me she's not from this star," said Alicia. "But it sounded like such an unbelievable tale, if not for how much she knew."

"Power like that, I believe it," said Paiyo Reiyo. "And all she wanted us to do is be nicer to Edda? That's really it?"

Alicia nodded. "That's it."

She nearly admitted to the others that Alice also claimed to come from a world with no magic, no aether, but…

She realised something important.

"Oh, right… She's trying to keep some things a secret. I… I didn't ask, but I assume her origin is one of those things."

"Keep quiet 'bout a story like that?" asked Salli. She shook her head, not disagreeing, but out of amusement. "If I were her, I'd wanna go around showin' off. She's a strange one, t'be sure."

Alicia nodded again. "Oh, that's right. We've cleared this place out, now. You all can go looking for treasure and such."

The group had found several coffers and chests around the deepcroft, ones that had obviously been brought here independently of the location's original use as a burial ground. As far as Miounne had been concerned, anything like that was fair game for them to crack open and take whatever they wanted.

"Are you sure?" asked Avere. "Shouldn't we wait for her to wake up?"

"If you want to, I won't stop you," said Alicia with a shrug.

"I think we would be waiting for some time if we did," said Edda. "I don't think she's waking up soon…"

"Ah…" Avere nodded. "Then with your permission, ma'am?"

Alicia blinked. "What?"

"We'll take you up on that offer now," said Avere, seeming equally perplexed at Alicia's confusion.

"Why did you… Never mind," Alicia shook her head, not wanting to get into it. "Go for it."

Avere nodded, and looked at the other two members of his party. They all smiled at each other… Then their faces fell, and they looked back towards where they had all left Liavinne.

"Go free her if ya want," said Salli. "I'll be keepin' an eye on her if ya do, but I don't feel nearly as worried without any o' them distractions around."

"Hopefully she'll have calmed down by now," muttered Paiyo Reiyo. "If you're certain… Well, she may not have contributed as much, but it feels unfair to cut her out of the spoils entirely."

Salli nodded, and looked at Alicia. "You good? Want me ta stick around?"

"We should be fine, I think." Alicia shrugged. "You deserve a share of whatever's around."

"So do you," said the Miqo'te. "I'll make sure somethin' gets left behind for the two of ya."

Alicia nodded in thanks, returning her gaze to Alice, and Salli smiled at her.

"Ya really don't like talkin' too much, huh? S'fine by me, 'course, I think it's cute."

Alicia blinked and looked back up. "What?"

Salli chuckled, and clasped her hands behind her head. "You have a good rest there, miss Warrior of Light."

Alicia twitched a little at the title, then stared down at Alice, annoyed.

"You really had to go and… Urgh."

She had an odd urge to flick the woman's forehead, but reasoned that doing so while she rested may not be a good call.

Alicia wondered why she didn't seem to get any Echo visions from the woman, either. Alice would have to remain a strange mystery for now. Yes, she had come clean about her home and purpose, or so she claimed, but there was a difference in the strange certainty that Alicia was now finding in the visions.

When she was younger, she didn't have many, and they were always confusing and overwhelming. In the months before she had set out to Limsa Lominsa, she had a few more, and they had been more coherent, enough that she began to understand them to some extent. And since becoming an adventurer, they had been clear as day, as long as she put in the effort to actually pay attention to what was said.

She lost track of time thinking about it, and realised that someone was standing nearby. She turned her head, expecting to see Salli, but instead she found Liavinne. The Elezen was nearby, visibly hesitant to approach.

"Can I help you?" asked Alicia, keeping her tone neutral.

"I, um…" the Elezen clicked her tongue. "I wanted to apologise to you both, but…"

"Did you try apologising to Salli first?" asked Alicia, an eyebrow raised. "She's the one you tried to stab."

"Yes. I've already… I spoke to her."

"Alright. Well, as you can see, Alice isn't able to see any visitors right now, so you'll have to wait."

Liavinne hesitated, then nodded. "I… Yes, alright. I'll… I'll go with the others, then."

Alicia watched her go. At least she doesn't seem too keen on another attempted murder.

A little later - maybe only another few minutes, Alicia wasn't sure - Alice began to stir. She groaned, then began to clutch at her head.

"Urgh… Anyone catch the licence plate on that truck-kun…?"

More nonsense, Alicia thought. But is that a good thing, or…?

"Hey, you're finally awake, huh?"

Alice visibly cringed in response to the words. "Oh God no, I really must have died and gone to hell. Fuck me…"

"No, thank you," Alicia responded. "If you're conscious, get up. We should get out of these caves."

Alice groaned again. "Caves? That's not how Skyrim started…"

"What are you even talking about this time?" asked Alicia, then sighed, realising she probably didn't care. She stood, and looked down at the other woman.

Alice slowly opened her eyes. She was silent for a few seconds, just staring up into Alicia's face. "Like a fucking angel…"

"Oh, for… Really? You're going to try that kind of thing here, now?"

"What…? Oh, shit, I'm sorry," said Alice, slightly panicking. She quickly sat up, an action that visibly pained her, and raised her hands in surrender. "I didn't… I'm not trying anything, I swear!"

Hrm… She seems pretty upset about it. What's that about…? Am I just that scary?

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

Alice exhaled in relief. "I… Sorry about that. I'm not very good at… Talking to people I think are beautiful, or that I admire, or even just people actually…"

Alicia frowned. "Where did that spark go?"

Alice blinked in confusion. "...What?"

"You're suddenly acting strange in a different way," said the auri woman with a shrug. "Less confident."

"Well, I… I don't know. I don't want to cause a problem with you, I didn't mean to come on too strong."

"That's… Fine?" Alicia didn't entirely understand. She'd had interested suitors before, yes, so she understood that part, but the way Alice was acting was what bothered her. "You're fine. Relax."

"I… Sure, okay, right," Alice took several breaths to try and steady herself. "So, um… What actually happened? I passed out, then I half-remember something? Screaming, growling, and blood…"

Alicia stared at Alice for a few seconds. "You really don't remember it?"

"Not really." Alice suddenly appeared frustrated with herself at her choice of words. "As in, yes, I really don't remember it."

Alicia nodded. She proceeded to explain to Alice what had happened. By the end of the recounting, the others had started to return to them, including Liavinne, who remained a bit further away. Alice seemed horrified at the description of what she had been capable of. She was staring at her hands, mouth agape. She realised the others were there, and turned. When she saw them, she made a startled cry, and began to run away from them.

Wait, what? "Alice, wait!" Alicia called out after her.

Alice ran to the edge of the platform and looked over. She made another cry of fear, then fell backwards onto her arse, and began to scrabble away from the ledge. Once she was a good five yalms or so, she curled up into a foetal ball.

"What… What's wrong with her?" asked Salli.

"I don't know… She seems terrified of what she did."

"I'm not surprised. I was too," said Paiyo Reiyo.

"Can we… Help her somehow?" asked Avere.

"I don't know!" Alicia hissed. "Ever since she woke up she's been acting strangely, and I've only known her for a single day! I have no idea what's wrong with her!"

Avere raised his hands a little. "Apologies. You both seemed to be good friends, when I finally cared enough to pay attention to you."

"Thanks," Alicia said sarcastically. She exhaled hard, frustrated that she couldn't understand what was happening or what to do. "I want to try and talk to her again, but I don't know what to say."

"Mind if I give it a try?" asked Salli.

"May as well," said Alicia, shrugging.

Salli walked over, moving carefully. She wasn't making a lot of sound, but she seemed to still be conscious to make audible footsteps so she didn't surprise Alice entirely.

"Go away…" said Alice, barely audible to Alicia from across the platform. She tried to move a little closer, nowhere near as much as Salli, but enough to hopefully hear what they said.

"Hey there," said Salli, her voice quiet and calming. "It's alright, it's just me."

"I… I'm sorry, I owe you money, right?" Alice remained curled up, but her right hand began to move shakily towards her pouch. "Here…"

"Nah, I ain't here right now for that. I'm just here to talk to you, okay?" Salli slowly put a hand on Alice's shoulder, resting it very lightly. "I just want to ask if you're doing alright."

"No!" Alice shouted the words, then coughed. Her voice had sounded strained, most likely from all the loud vocalisations she had made while berserk. "No… I can't believe what I did! I… What am I?"

"Well, yer you, ain't ya?"

"I couldn't do anything like that back home!" said Alice, a high-pitched mania in her words. "I couldn't even cast spells! I've never… Killed a man before. I don't… Am I already a monster? I've only been here for two days!"

"Alright, it's okay…" said Salli. "Sometimes we just find ourselves upended. Things changin', sometimes in real big ways. That don't mean it's all bad."

"I'm a monster and a murderer…"

"We all killed people here today," said Salli, her voice still quiet and calm, but taking on a firmer tone. "And we've all done it before now, and may have to do it again. 'Round here, sometimes ya come up against people ya can't talk to. They just wanna end yer life right then and there, and that's enough. That's the only reason ya need ta fight yer own way through 'em, even if they end up dead fer tryin'."

"But… What about the… The…" Alice didn't seem able to find the words for it.

"At the end there, ya mean?"

Alice nodded.

"Well, there's all sorts o' people in Eorzea, and lotsa crazy abilities and spells and whatnot. You just… Did somethin' unique. Won't lie, it weren't somethin' I ever seen before, and I doubt I'll find many people able to do that 'sides you."

"I… Don't think that's good. I…"

"It's fine." Salli emphasised the word without raising her voice. It was almost magical, actually, how beautifully she could speak… Alicia shook her head, confused. She knew Salli wasn't literally using magic to enhance her voice, but it was still somewhat enrapturing.

"I'm gonna ask Alicia to come over here now, okay?" said Salli. "You trust her, right?"

Alice took a moment, then nodded. Salli waved Alicia over, gesturing to the others to stay put. The marauder walked over and knelt next to Alice, but wasn't quite sure what to say to follow things up.

"Hey…" said Alice quietly. She was still curled up, and trying not to look at the other two. "I'm sorry for being… Broken? Weird."

"You're strange, yes, but you're fine," said Alicia. "I don't think you're a monster, for what it's worth."

She hesitated, not exactly wanting to speak about the topic she was thinking about, but it was too relevant, too important to be held back by any sort of pride or shame.

"My family… Has a history of sometimes being like that too," said Alicia. "Sometimes one of my ancestors would be gripped by… How do I explain it?"

"Inner Beast," said Alice. "I know."

"Yes, I remember you mentioning it," said Alicia. "I mean, it's something more than that, more than just Kharash. My family comes from the Kharlu tribe of the Azim Steppe."

Alice nodded. "I don't know much about them, but it was one of the names with at least a little known."

"They have a tendency to want to conquer. Frequently, and usually quite violently. It's not something that can be entirely blamed on Kharash, either, since that's more of an uncontrollable beast-like state."

Alice tilted her head. "Oh, that's true…"

"Right. And the way my tribe operates…" Alicia bit her lip. "It didn't sit entirely well with my grandparents, despite definitely having at least some Kharlu blood in them. But they were exiled for their views, and eventually made their way across the world while it was still safer to do so. They raised my father here in Eorzea, just south of Coerthas actually, where he grew up, met my mother, and then…"

Alice finally turned to look at Alicia, her expression interested. "Really? That's… I won't lie, I had no idea of any of that. It just didn't come up."

"You don't say…?" Alicia frowned, but shook her head to dismiss that for now. "Well, that's my family background. The point being… We all have bad moments, urges, strange desires. But what you do around and after it is important. Yes, my bloodline has the curse of Kharash, but so many decide to be… Far less noble even when possessed of their faculties. You may have done something crazy, but… I don't think that makes you a monster by itself."

Alice was silent. Then her eyes widened. "Oh my God, I Harry Dresden'd it…" she slapped her forehead with a palm. "Idiot!"

Alicia tilted her head. "Harry Dresden?"

"A character in a book series I like. He did something like I just did, way more extreme actually, and didn't think about the message he was basically sending his own damn family…" Alice sighed. "Good books, shame I'll not get to read them anymore. Interesting and powerful people still have flaws."

"I'll say," said Salli, her tone back to normal. "We all do. It's part o' bein' alive."

"And honestly, the others seem more impressed and willing to listen to you now," said Alicia. "Maybe having people like that be a little afraid of what you can do is good for getting your point across?"

"That's a terrible message, but I think you might be right this time," Alice agreed. "If I want them to stop being shit to her… I don't know, this whole idea has been kind of terrible."

"It's worked out alright, seems like," said Salli. "Anyway, we've pretty much all gone through the things the cultists left here, so we can call this place empty and head out if ya want."

"Oh, I missed loot…" Alice then thought for a few seconds. "Wait, no, this is just crap-tier chest loot. Then again…"

"I saved ya both some o' it." Salli patted her own pouch. "And some gil."

"Okay, yeah sure, that much I'll take," said Alice. "I suppose I should say something to the others."

"If you want," Alicia replied, standing, as did Salli.

Alice wiped her face with the back of her hand and took a few breaths before standing up as well. She turned and walked purposefully towards Edda's party.

"Whatcha think's gonna happen?" Salli asked Alicia quietly.

"I'm not sure… I'm morbidly curious though."

"Alright, chuckleheads," Alice said loudly. "We've only gone and done it. We've averted some pretty significant bad shit, and you're all alive to tell the tale of whatever the fuck we call this adventure."

"About that…" said Avere. "How certain are you about all of that?"

"I know big chunks of what the future is supposed to look like, and I trust it," said Alice. "So, fairly certain. Now, Paiyo Reiyo isn't the only surviving member of your party! Isn't that wonderful?"

Salli quietly snorted. "That'll lift their spirits," she joked.

"Wait, we all died except him?" Liavinne asked, eyes wide. "There's… No, that can't be right."

"Only Avere died here, the other two of you passed from the resulting events going poorly," Alice said with a shrug. "I know it's kind of a lot to process, but at least now you haven't. And ideally, you'll all improve your skills and stay alive together longer."

The four adventurers looked at each other silently. It wasn't the look of those who can easily communicate without words, more just to see if they were all as bewildered by the information as each other.

"And… You're sure I'm a capable mage?" asked Edda.

"I have seen some shit, right here in this place in fact," said Alice. "Things that now don't need to happen, as long as you all protect each other. Do you understand?"

"Oh, yes ma'am," said Paiyo Reiyo, but it was genuine. "I do, at any rate…"

Avere looked at Edda. "Edda, I'm… I apologise for how I've been treating you this whole time. I wasn't being reasonable at all, and it almost cost us our lives, and your happiness… I… Can you forgive me?"

"Oh, Avere, of course I can!" said Edda, a little too easily for Alicia's tastes. "I love you!"

"Woah there, hold on a second," said Alice. "I know what I said, but… Edda. You really need to not just cave to things, okay?"

Edda seemed confused. "But-"

"I'm not saying don't forgive and try again," Alice interrupted. "Just don't… Well, how you were outside Sastasha. You were bending over backwards for them and taking it all as if you genuinely deserved abuse. You don't. Nobody does."

"I… But I love him…"

"I'm also not saying not to love him," said Alice. She wrung her hands, trying to figure out how to word what she wanted to say. "Back home, it's… It's difficult for people to get out of bad relationships. People get scared, maybe they think it's normal, I don't know. I want to just tell you to hold him accountable, but he's a big, tall, strong man, and you're not."

"Hold on a moment-" Avere seemed a little incensed now.

"I need you especially to understand this," said Alice. "It's so easy to just have the power and not think about it, guy. You may not even think about it and it just happens, more and more. Think about your size, your strength. How hard it can be for someone like her to say 'No' to someone like you."

Liavinne and Paiyo Reiyo seemed pretty uncomfortable with the discussion.

"You may not have taken advantage of her that way," Alice continued. "And you may not have in the future had you lived, for all I know, but that's not the only indicator of things being really just bad. Please, tell me you understand."

"I… I think I do," said Avere. His tone seemed somewhat unsure, but not completely confused or ignorant. It was getting through to him, Alicia could tell. She nodded, and she and Salli finally walked over to the others.

"I think I do as well," said Edda. "I suppose we shall have to see, some time in the future."

"That we shall," said Alice, and sighed. "Alright. I'm happy, I think. I'm ready for us to get out of here and go our separate ways. Just keep it all in mind, and know that I was only able to intervene like this because the Adventurers' Guilds are aware of how things were, and will likely keep an eye of their own on you all."

"I suppose we shall have to improve, then," said Avere. "Alright. Let's get out of this place."

Chapter Text

The combined party left Tam-Tara and reported to the Gods' Quiver guards outside that the job was done. The now-humbled Avere didn't have much more to say, but held hands with Edda as they left. The other two still didn't seem quite sure how to feel after all the revelations and uncomfortable discussions, but were somewhat elated to have made it through alive. Salli, Alicia and Alice felt pretty good about themselves, at least for making it out so successfully in terms of the dungeon.

"Do ya think it'll take?" asked Salli. "They seemed pretty hot 'n' bothered 'bout our 'help' the whole time. At least until… Y'know."

"I dunno honestly," Alice admitted, wincing a little at the implied reminder of what she had done. "Relationships like theirs don't get fixed overnight, and we were just lucky our attempt didn't immediately result in making things worse like it often does where I'm from."

"Almost did fer me, fer some reason," said Salli, then held up a hand to halt Alice's apology. "It's alright, I'm not holdin' it against ya, don't worry none."

Alice nodded, trying to just take the words at face value instead of overthinking it.

Alicia grunted. "Didn't enjoy that, but at least we cleared the Deepcroft. Relationship problems are not my thing."

"Imagine having a relationship to have problems with, couldn't be me," said Alice, half a joke, half a little sad about it.

"You really do just say the strangest things, don't you?" asked Salli, half amused.

"It's the internet's fault, I've been so saturated with weird phrases that they've become part of my heart, my soul." Alice put on a fake-stoic expression and said, "the memes, Jack, the DNA of the soul."

"Yer provin' my point there," said Salli. "I'm much more a fan of someone a little more prone to thinking through their words, like Alicia here."

"Ideally this means you'll stick with us?" asked Alice.

"With her to balance yer nonsense, I don't mind stayin' around. That, and she's damn good looking."

Alice's expression became excited, and Alicia stopped, registering what was just said. "Wait, what?"

"Yesss!" exclaimed Alice. "That's not just about the lesbians thing, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel warm and fuzzy inside."

"I…" Alicia was lost for words, and so just kept walking back towards Gridania.

Salli chuckled. "Wonderful. Well, we'd better follow on and collect our reward from the guild, hm?"

Alice giggled excitedly. "Yes we should. Then it's off to Copperbell Mines!"

Salli tilted her head. "And what's that?"

"Ah, it's our next dungeon," Alice responded. "And no there's no extra nonsense around it this time that I am aware of, I promise."

Salli shrugged. "Alright then. Sure, I'm in." They followed the rest of the party out and back to Gridania.

--------------------

Once they had collected their rewards, Edda's party went off to retire and rest. The experience had been especially draining for them, but despite herself and her usual lack of fitness, Alice was mostly ready to hit their third dungeon for the day. Or, the late afternoon, she supposed.

It was crazy to think that Sastasha had been just this morning, and that she still had the energy to keep going. Then again, both dungeons had taken less than an hour each, even when trying to contend with the others and her bout of unconsciousness.

"It's something of a relief to think I now have three especially reliable adventurers I can call upon," Miounne told the trio. Alicia and Salli were with Alice at Miounne's counter. "Sadly, death has become an ever more common occurrence within our fraternity of late. Times being what they are, the guild is constantly inundated with petitions, and we are hard-pressed to find enough hands to deal with them all."

"World-altering Calamities will do that, I can imagine," said Alice.

Miounne nodded solemnly. "Indeed. While this means there is no shortage of work for able souls such as yourselves, it also provides ample opportunity for the inexperienced to overreach themselves with predictable consequences."

"Funny thing about that, Mother Miounne," said Alice. "We helped prevent that today. The gladiator in that party almost died in Tam-Tara today, thanks to some fairly rookie decisions on his part."

"You say this like you aren't a rookie yourself," said Alicia quietly.

"Ah, my friend," said Alice, putting her arm around the Au Ra's shoulders. "I am most certainly not a rook anymore, no ma'am. My skill can finally catch up to my experience."

"Unfortunately, saving one party still means the dead far outweigh the living in our line of work," said Miounne, looking faintly sad. "I have seen parties break almost a dozen times in half as many days recently."

She smiled. "Though ideally, that party had learned a lesson or two for your intervention today. I should hope that lets them carry on and make a difference."

"Hear, hear," said Salli. "Mother Miounne, I'd like to attach m'self to my two new friends here fer a while, if that's alright with you."

Miounne looked pleasantly surprised. "Well now, there's a change. I'm glad to hear it, Salli. Your talents deserve a team that can work well with you and take you to new heights, and it sounds like you've found one."

Alice and Alicia looked at each other, not quite understanding but happy that whatever happened was good.

"So!" said Alice suddenly, looking at Miounne again. The sudden increase in volume made Alicia pull away, and Alice didn't stop her. "I believe you have another mission for us to do?"

Miounne looked surprised. "Why yes, actually. About a bell ago, I received a message from my counterpart in Ul'dah. She seeks the services of reliable adventurers, and from what I know of you, Alicia, you are nothing if not reliable."

She looked at Alice. "Though I have heard much less about you, your work so far is not insignificant, and so you are included in this invitation. If you think you are interested in this task, say the word and I will be glad to share the details with you."

"The word," Alice said cheerfully. "But seriously, yes, I am interested."

"I'm in," said Alicia.

"Alright, me too, then," said Salli, and turned to Alice. "But what about that Copperbell you mentioned? We doin' that job before this one?"

"That's the neat part," said Alice. "I'll explain on the way to Ul'dah."

Miounne's smile widened. "So you're not averse to taking a little trip? Wonderful! As I mentioned earlier, the request comes to us from the Adventurer's Guild in Ul'dah. Once you've arrived, seek out Momodi, the proprietress of the Quicksand. Think of her as the sultanate's version of myself."

Her smile became wry, as she clearly remembered something. "Chances she will send you into the midst of danger, but I have every confidence you will pull through unscathed. Now, off you go, and good luck!"

--------------------

They took the time to eat a hearty, well-deserved meal before setting off, Alice deflecting questions while they were still in the guild's main hall, but once they boarded the empty airship to Ul'dah, Alice noticed Salli watching her with interest.

"I said I'll explain and I will. Once we're settled."

So they did, and despite no other passengers aboard, the airship took off for Thanalan. As Alice promised, she explained: that the future sight about Edda's party was far from the only future and forbidden knowledge she had; that after Copperbell Mines - the request Momodi would make of them - Alicia is supposed to be asked to join the Scions and from there slowly work to help fix many of Eorzea's problems; and that Alicia would have need of reliable friends to tackle quite a few of these problems.

"Wait a moment, you're only making friends for me? Not for yourself?" asked Alicia, not sure how to feel about that part.

"Yes and no," said Alice. "We will need friends to help us, and I'm just lucky enough that the friends we have made so far are actually friends and not just allies of convenience."

"As long as I'm also gettin' paid enough to live on from somewhere, I don't mind too much," said Salli, scratching lightly at the hair by the base of her skull. "But I definitely would prefer friends."

"I actually intend to ask the Scions if you can join, if you want me to," said Alice. "From their perspective, more reliable people on hand is definitely better. And from our perspective, we get to actually work and live closer together while getting a good paycheck."

Salli nodded slowly, considering this idea. "And the point of the Scions is helpin' all of Eorzea, while remaining neutral?"

"Especially when it comes to things like Primals and Calamities, you betcha."

"But the Echo…" Salli began.

"Won't be a problem. A good ninety percent of the Scions don't have it either. Plus, I have seen that it is possible for us to shield others from getting tempered."

Alicia and Salli looked at her in shock.

"Are you serious? We can do that?" asked Alicia, voice quiet.

"Dead serious. I don't know the mechanics of the technique, so we will have to practice and learn it together, but I have seen, multiple times, that those of us with the Echo can protect others somehow."

Salli gave a low, impressed whistle. "Well, then. That sure makes it easier in the event I gotta help out with one of those."

Alicia pondered the implications of that. It kept her occupied for the rest of the airship trip, which was overall only half the distance from La Noscea to Gridania. Salli and Alice took the time to rest while they could.

When they arrived, Alice was jolted awake, apparently having fallen into some amount of sleep. The others had remained awake, and they all made their way off the airship together.

Waiting at the landing were, surprisingly, Beatrice and Yaromir. The Hrothgar was much the same as the morning, although the Hyur was dressed not in her Maelstrom uniform, but in adventuring clothes. It was quite similar to the archetypal Conjurer outfit, the one that normally came with a large, point-tipped wide brim hat, which Bea's outfit was missing.

The two waved when they saw the trio disembark.

Alice was happy to see them, though confused. "Hey, friends, what brings you here?"

Bea cleared her throat and assumed the at-attention stance of a soldier. "The Admiral has requested we render what aid we can to the Warrior of Light's party, and accompany them on any jobs where they require our assistance."

Yaromir looked pained at the formality of the declaration but did his best to not let it bother him too much. "Yes, that is correct. Given that we are now technically familiar with your tactics, the Admiral decided that the two of us would be the best aid Limsa could send."

Bea relaxed, and realised she had gone formal where it wasn't required. "Ah! My apologies, it's something of a… well, military habits are quite strongly drilled in."

"Wh… But why though…" asked Alicia, seemingly as pained if not more so than Yaromir.

"Hey, this means we have a solid party though!" Alice pointed out. "All five roles, too. We have enough people to tackle any dungeon pretty handily."

"Well, if y'all are joining us, then it's nice to meetcha," said Salli to the two new arrivals. "Salli Rinsau, adventurer."

Yaromir nodded at her. "Yaromir. Rogue's guild."

Beatrice smiled. "Storm Corporal Beatrice Rich. But you can call me Bea."

"Great, now that we all know each other again, why did the Admiral do this to me?" asked Alicia, her tone pained.

Alice clapped her on the back, followed by some lighter pats. "Help is help, friend. And isn't it also better that it's also the friends we were talking about not long ago, hm?"

Alicia sighed. "First I have to deal with you, now there's a whole group of us." She took a deep breath, and recovered herself. "Thank you, the help will be appreciated. Now our resident fool doesn't have to go looking for entire parties to bother."

Alice snorted. "Please, it was one party for one good reason." She looked at the Lominsan pair, and clarified, "Edda's party, from outside Sastasha."

Yaromir frowned. "How did they get to the same place as you in that amount of time?"

"I don't know, I don't care, and I want nothing to do with them or their terrible attitudes ever again," said Alicia. "Let's just go to the Quicksand for the job and a drink or three."

--------------------

The way to the Quicksand was blessedly quick: an elevator to the ground level of the city, and then a short walk from there into the establishment, where they made their way directly to the main counter. Behind it was the Lalafell proprietress, Momodi. She was taking care of something they couldn't see, and so said, in a practiced tone, "Welcome to the Quicksand, friends. I'm a tad busy right now, if you wouldn't mind showin' yourselves to-"

"Actually, we're here for Guild business," said Alice.

Momodi looked up, a little annoyed at the interruption, but then took in the party. "Ah, not here for ale, then. Are any of you called Alicia, Alice or Salli by any chance?"

The three in question raised their hands. Alicia added softly, "I could do with an ale though…"

She nodded, looking more excited than annoyed now, and began preparing an ale for the marauder. "Well well, Miounne sent word that you'd be reportin' for duty. She also made a point of callin' you three the adventurers of the moment. That ain't no small praise, comin' from her."

"Well, gosh, that's fun," said Alice, a tad smug. "But yeah, that's the three of us, plus our two companions here will be joining us," Alice gestured to Yaromir and Beatrice.

"Right, well you didn't come all the way here to listen to my prattle," Momodi continued, and handed the mug of ale to Alicia once she saw the woman's gil on the counter. "Doubtless you're eager to get started, so let's talk business, shall we? The petitioner ought to be arrivin' any moment now…"

The party heard the sound of the doors being pushed open loudly, followed by a loud male Lalafellin voice shout, "Gods almighty! Another second under that sun, and I would have been set afire! A tankard of ale, if you would be so kind!"

The party and Momodi looked towards the source of the voice, to see Papashan, one of Sultana Nanamo's advisors and bodyguards. Alice had seen the old Lalafell man in quite a few quests, and then realised that this was probably the first time anyone here was meeting him.

"Excellent timin', Papashan." Momodi grinned as she prepared a second ale for the older man. "It just so happens the adventurers who'll be handlin' your petition are here."

He looked over the party with an experienced eye, taking in everything - their demeanour, their gear, even what he could see in their eyes - taking only a few moments to appraise them. He nodded, satisfied, and began to speak again.

"So, I assume the winsome Au Ra lass is the much-lauded adventurer, is she? And she brought her friends, too! Marvellous, marvellous!"

"'Winsome'?" Alicia asked quietly, unsure what to make of the descriptor. She began sipping at her drink as she listened, and Papashan reached over to his own mug to do the same.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintances," the old man continued. "I am Papashan, formerly of the Sultansworn. I thank you all for agreeing to lend us your aid."

He went on to explain that the request came through Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern, relating to a clan of giants known as the hecatoncheires who had taken over Copperbell Mines. Yaromir and Alicia perked up at the information, glancing over at Alice, as Papashan continued to explain that the giants were sealed away some three hundred years past. There was back and forth between Papashan and Momodi about the history, and having heard it all some months ago Alice didn't pay much attention, until she heard Momodi say "like as not, our boys dug a bit too deep and freed the giants."

Her eyes widened and she said, in a bad Scottish accent, "like Moria, we dug too deep and woke the Balrog!" She immediately cleared her throat, and said, "Sorry, I just… genuinely cannot stop myself from referencing things when certain phrases come up. The whole English language has been poisoned by memes."

Papashan didn't seem insulted by the strange impression and outburst, at least.

"'English'? What's that?" asked Momodi.

"Uh… It's what we call this language in my homeland," said Alice, though as she said it she realised she may not have been speaking or hearing English this entire time, which was an odd thought. She began to speak faster, feeling awkward. "Basically, don't worry about it, a lot of normal phrases can just… Cause me to say something dumb or react in a stupid way. It shouldn't be a problem and I'll be happy to change the subject back to the mine now, please and thank you."

Alicia nodded, learning how to tell when Alice was finished. "Right, yes. We can take on this job, don't worry."

"Thank you and Gods bless you!" said Papashan. "There can be no mining in Copperbell so long as the giants remain. For the sake of both peace and prosperity, they must be subdued. I'll not deny the mission will be rife with danger, but our need is great."

"We had decided before you arrived, I think," said Alice. "Or at least, I had. I'm in."

"Hmmm... In case you don't know, Copperbell Mines are-" Momodi began.

"Just east of Horizon, right?" asked Alice. She blinked, then palmed her head in annoyance. "Sorry, I have a tendency to do that."

"Well, now, looks like you don't need little old me to tell you anythin'," said Momodi, an eyebrow raised.

"Let her be, she's…" Alicia tried to find the right words. "She means well, and seems to know a lot."

"Alright, alright, I understand," said Momodi. "Just don't go makin' me redundant, you hear?"

"Ah, and one last thing before you depart…" said Papashan. "An employee of Amajina & Sons is presently here, at the Quicksand. The fellow's name is Painted Mesa, and he knows Copperbell Mines well. It may behoove you to seek his counsel."

"What does he look like?" asked Alice.

"From the name, I'd guess a Roegadyn," said Bea.

"You'd be right," said Papashan. "That's him there, at that table."

Papashan pointed towards a Roegadyn man with greenish skin and spiky grey hair. He wore a bandanna around his mouth and nose, and had it not been for the pickaxe on his back and the utilitarian look of his clothing, he may have seemed like a bandit. Especially given the dark mood he seemed to be in.

"Thank you, sir Papashan," said Alice. "It's been lovely to finally meet you."

Alicia grunted.

"Well, thank you, lass. I wish you luck with the expedition, and godsspeed."

He bowed and made his leave. Alice turned to face the others. "So… I guess we should go talk to him."

"He seems like someone best left alone for the moment," said Yaromir.

"Information is information," said Salli. "He might just be pissed 'cause o' the whole mess we're helpin' ta solve. Which means he might just light up like a sunny day if we tell him that."

Alice started walking over before the others decided what they wanted to do. They seemed spurred on her by choice and followed her.

"Hello there, my guy," said Alice. "We're-"

"Lookin' for Painted Mesa?" The Roegadyn man finished her sentence for her without looking her way. He was poking a fork at a plate of some barely-touched food. "You found him."

"Excellent," said Alice, trying not to be put off by his response. "We're here to-"

"So you're the adventurer who's volunteered to deal with the mess down in Copperbell, are you?"

Alice took in a deep breath. She hated being interrupted. Call it a hang-up left over from when she was younger, always being told what to do and say, but especially after the day she'd had so far, even something like having her sentences finished for her by this guy was irritating.

"You've got guts, mate. I just hope you've got skills to go with 'em, 'cause things ain't pretty down there." The man continued picking at his food, clearly not intending to eat a single bite, as his bandanna remained wrapped around his mouth. "The hecatoncheires've left the place in a right state, and nary a week after minin' resumed."

"Yes, giants will do that," said Alice. "So we are here to deal with it."

"I don't know if you know this, but Copperbell was old when the second Ul Dynasty was still young, and it was abandoned centuries ago," said Painted Mesa, seeming to ignore what she had said so he could exposit angrily in her direction. He was frustrated, certainly, and the strong bitter undertone told Alice it wasn't aimed at her intentionally. "If it hadn't been for the shortage of materials needed for the rebuildin' effort, the Concern would never have thought to reopen it. We knew full well about the giants beforehand, but the project went ahead anyway. I mean, nothin' could possibly survive bein' buried under a mountain's worth of rock for three centuries, right? Wrong!"

As he spoke, he had been stabbing the fork at the main part of his meal, a baked popoto, and by the time of his loud exclamation at the end, the vegetable was nigh-on mashed. Alice took another deep breath.

It's not about you, Alice, just let this man be mad. He might even have lost some friends to the initial attack.

None of the others, all of whom had caught up to her earlier, said a word either.

"Our miners dug up more than they bargained for. One swing of the pickaxe too many, and they found 'emselves in the company of giants. Unless we can subdue 'em, the nation's glorious recovery'll grind to a halt for want of aught to build with."

Alice put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. We'll take care of it, okay?"

The man barely reacted - which to her was better than more misdirected anger - but eventually nodded.

"...Thanks. The Stone Torches're keepin' watch over the entrance in case the giants fancy some sunlight and fresh air. One of 'em will be able to show you the way in."

Alice patted his shoulder, then turned to the others. "Come on, I know the way."

A quartet of nods. None of the others felt it wise to bother the man further, so they departed, and left him to his food.

Here's hoping that nothing strange happens again, thought Alice. They exited the Quicksand.

Alice's face fell as her memories of what had happened in Tam-Tara, at least that she could remember and had been told, returned unbidden, accompanied by imaginings of what she might do in the mines. "Uh, I guess I owe you two for the Deepcroft thing. I'll try to be more careful this time around."

Alicia sighed, exasperated. "What? No, you don't. It's fine."

Bea and Yaromir looked at each other, neither being privy to what had occurred.

"We can explain it to you on the way," Alicia said to them. "It's fine, but she's clearly worried about it."

Alice bit her lip and nodded. "Let's get going, then."

--------------------

The walk to Copperbell was a little annoying, Alice felt. Not because of the topic of conversation - which was still anxiety-inducing - but a combination of the omnipresent sand, and some of the more aggressive creatures taking a swing at them. The latter could be dealt with, and usually without much issue. The former, not so much.

But by the time they arrived at the mine's entrance, Bea and Yaromir had been filled in on what Alice had done in Tam-Tara. Both the drama with the other adventurers, and the incredibly strange berserk rage that had overcome her. Alicia and Salli had clearly been unsettled by it but were trying to be supportive even so. After all, it had helped them leave the place alive, and she hadn't tried to attack them even once.

"That's definitely odd, yes," Bea agreed. "But I've worked with enough marauders to not be entirely fazed by that kind of occurrence."

"Excepting, of course, that she is not a marauder," said Yaromir. "And she did so magically, by absorbing the energy of several creatures."

"Yeah, that was… Pretty strange," Alice agreed. "Not that I remember it. Speaking of which…"

"What is it?" asked Alicia, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"I have… News. About Copperbell," said Alice.

"What kind of news? The bad kind or the good kind?" asked Yaromir.

"That's the funny part. My knowledge of Copperbell is a coin flip. I either know exactly what we are doing, like Tam-Tara and Sastasha, or it's the version I never got to see, that was so awful that some people who experienced it before me called it the worst dungeon ever."

The party stared at her. She felt herself shrinking from the combined stare.

"So you mean to tell us that there is a good chance we walk into hell, and that hell is unknown to us?" asked Alicia, quietly angry.

"Not completely!" Alice tried to reassure her. "There will definitely be similarities, if that even ends up being the case, but what I've seen so far has told me it shouldn't happen, just that it might."

"So why'd ya bring it up?" asked Salli.

"Because, well," Alice rubbed the back of her head. "I wanted to be full disclosure about this, rather than having you blindly rely on my knowledge and get you killed."

Bea nodded. "That's preferable. If we know there's a chance it won't match our intelligence, then we are ready to improvise."

"That makes sense," Yaromir agreed. "I can keep watch up ahead and report the state of things as I see them, and we can see if you know what is coming."

"Perfect!" Alice was relieved that the others were thinking of contingencies rather than berating her. It was also helping to keep her mind off the whole strange berserk rage thing, she later realised. "Salli's eye is also really quite good, so with you two watching ahead, and Bea focusing her healing on Alicia to be absolutely sure, we should be fine either way. And if we find it's the version I know things about, it means I know what's coming after it, too."

"Like a confirmation of more o' that special knowledge you mentioned?" asked Salli. "That would be ideal to know going forward."

"Right, exactly," Alice agreed. "And since as far as I know the differences started at Copperbell, and that Sastasha and Tam-Tara are the same, this is the earliest I can find out how things stand going forward."

Alicia was silent, clearly thinking about the situation, and the party looked at her.

"Alright," she eventually said. "I understand now. But anything else like this I want to know further in advance than 'a minute or two beforehand,' do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" said Alice. "You're the party tank, so you get to set the pace, too. Even if we get unlucky and have to deal with Copper Hell, you can take us slowly through it if you prefer."

"Small mercies…" said Alicia.

"We will keep you alive and well, miss Kharlu," said Beatrice with a radiant smile.

Alicia flinched. "...Please never call me that again."

Alice chuckled. "Is that the point where Warrior of Light becomes preferable?"

Alicia scowled. "You're really pushing that one still?"

"I've heard you called a lot of things, and that is one of the nicest," Alice said with a shrug. ""My friend" is up there, too."

"Easily one of the best things someone can call you," Yaromir agreed. "Definitely somewhere above "you bastard.""

"I just… I would rather be remembered as me, if I have to be," said Alicia. "Not living up to someone else's legacy. Or being barely-remembered, like the reason the Warriors of Light five years ago are so named."

Alice hadn't thought about it in a while, but she vaguely remembered someone in the Main Scenario Quests mentioning the Warriors of Light are so-named because they are remembered only as silhouettes against a backdrop, rather than in any specific way.

She crossed her arms. "I suppose that's fair… Well, look at it this way: your eventual route from marauder will have you learn how to be a Warrior, and you are empowered by Hydaelyn's Light. So it can have a different and more literal meaning for you than for the other guys, right?"

Alicia stared at Alice, seeming both confused and exasperated. "Really? That's your attempt at being comforting?"

"It was pretty bad," Salli agreed.

"Wha- Excuse me for trying!" Alice harrumphed and crossed her arms, but she was clearly joking. "Maybe I won't guide you all through Copperbell after all!"

Alicia scowled again. "Alright, princess, if you're going to be that precious…"

"Of course I'm going to bloody well lead you through," said Alice. "I'm not actually that petty."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Good. Let's get this over with, then."

Chapter Text

The oppressive gloom of the mine pressed down on the five adventurers as soon as they entered. The Stone Torches had waved them through without any issues, and they didn't want to spend any more time in the place than necessary. So they each did their best to ignore the feelings and press onwards. That being said, Alice still felt the quiet to be a little much, so she decided to begin as any good dungeon should. "Duty Commenced!" she said suddenly, causing them to jump.

"Do you have to say that every time?" asked Alicia.

"Every time," Alice said with a grin. "So, there will be a few times where we need to blow walls open with some firesand. But first, we have the funny Copperbell Mines pull to take care of."

"And what, exactly, is that?" asked Alicia. She was beginning to recognise the term "pull" in this context, and remembered that as the party "tank," whatever this was would be her responsibility.

"So, there's a long stretch of terrain that's part rock, part wooden platform, and it's pretty much covered in sprites and spriggans, as well as a pair of those hecatoncheir giants we're here to deal with," said Alice. "In the version I experienced, there's a strange interaction where, if you go far enough away from where those enemies are encountered, they lose interest and bugger off back where they came from."

"Ain't that the opposite o' what we want, though?" asked Salli. "And then they'll be there when we wanna head back out again."

Alice stopped. They were walking on a platform made of metal grating, towards a lift platform that would take them down to the section in question.

"Shit, I didn't think of that."

"What do you mean-" Alicia began.

"There's never a return journey in these things," said Alice quickly. "There's just 'kill the last boss then leave via an aetherial portal.' Which didn't happen in either of the last two dungeons, but old habits die hard."

"We did have to help the captured prisoners out via the entrance," said Bea, remembering Sastasha. "But even if there was a secondary exit, we're here to defeat the Hecatonchires."

Alice nodded and chewed on her lip. "Alright. In which case… We've got a long dungeon ahead of us."

Alicia groaned.

--------------------

"I can see the exit!" Alice called out. She blasted yet another spriggan with a Ruby Ruin. The little dark-furred creature had been about to attempt to bash Alicia's head in from behind with its rock, and was instead made into a paste on the ground at the marauder's feet.

Alicia roared, duelling an obnoxiously tough giant that had weathered several axe-blows already. But it was bloodied, and her final swing finally bit deep enough to stop this bastard from moving, as the first one they had encountered had a few minutes prior.

"One less to worry about!" Alice called out, realising a second later she had accidentally parroted Mass Effect’s Garrus Vakarian. She chuckled a little as she helped Bea vaporise a lightning sprite.

"What's through there?" asked Salli, putting an arrow into the last spriggan. The cavern became quiet, besides the sound of heavy breathing and the distant groan of wood supporting rock.

Alice exhaled. "Explosives. My favourite. Though sadly, I am deeply unqualified for using them."

"Reassuring," said Yaromir. "I am certain it cannot be that hard."

"Well… Probably not."

Alice stepped over the corpses of the spriggans and around the bulk of the giant's body. The chamber ahead was much as she remembered: a rock wall with a small gap in the rocks, connected by wires to a plunger a short distance away.

She looked around for the firesand, and found a pair of small bags not far from the detonator. She walked over to it and picked up one of the little bags, then carefully opened it by its drawstrings to confirm its contents. She was careful to keep it upright, figuring that something called 'firesand' was likely going to spill easily if she didn't. And she was right: whatever was inside was a dark powder, and smelled pretty sulphuric.

"Eugh," Alice closed the drawstring again, and picked up the two bags. "Well, this is the stuff."

They all tried to figure out how to put the sand in the hole cut into the rocks, and link it up to the plunger.

"This is obnoxious," Alice said after five clumsy minutes had passed. She was reasonably certain they had the way of it, but she wasn't entirely sure. "If we fuck this up, we're just stuck, right?"

"Not necessarily," said Yaromir. "Even doing this half-correctly can cause useful results."

"Best way to find out is to try," said Alicia. "Let's get out of the way and do it."

They finished up with the bags and moved away, Alicia standing at the plunger. She counted down from five, the others bracing themselves, and pressed the handle down as fast as she could.

There was a strange pop, and they stared at the rocks. Unchanged, unexploded.

"Gods dammit-" Alice began, but was cut off by the actual blast. It wasn't large, and most of the force was directed into the rock wall rather than at them, but it still made Alice jump back in surprise. The wall collapsed, and was not followed by the collapse of the entire chamber. Alice waited a few moments, not caring that she was posed somewhat comically, and breathed a sigh of relief when the room continued to stay intact.

She balled her hands into fists and pumped both in the air in celebration. "Yes! I've always wanted to do a little bit of pyrotechnics!"

"Calm down," said Bea. "We've still got a long way to go."

"Yeahhh…" Alice admitted. "Well, we've got a giant to slay first. One of the bigger, meaner ones is just through here. Be careful of his earth magic nonsense."

"I don't like that you're calling it "nonsense,"" Alicia grumbled. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, just an attack he makes where ninety-five percent of our arena will become very dangerous, if it matches what I know," said Alice. "But we have two things on our side: one, we have an experienced battlefield healer who should have a solid resurrection spell ready to go, and if we can read the aether - which is to say, if our experienced mage or our Echo-wielding marauder can read the attacks - we'll be safe!"

The two in question stared at her, dumbfounded. She looked side to side between them both.

"What?"

"What do you think we can do!?" Alicia shouted the question at the human. "What are you even talking about!? First you make some bold claim that healers can just raise the dead, no big deal, even after what you said about Edda in the Deepcroft, then you think we can read aether!? I’m not a mage!"

Alice was nearly-literally stunned by the volume of the questions. Her mind definitely stopped once or twice, as her noise sensitivity shut her down a couple times, and as she ‘rebooted’, as she called it, she tried to parse the information.

"Wait, so you can't rez?" Alice asked Bea. The immediate blank look made her clarify. "Resurrect."

"No!" said Bea, aghast. "At the very least, I'm fairly certain I can't, or at least, shouldn't attempt it."

"Ohhhh… Oh no…" said Alice, grimacing and staring off past the conjurer. "Well, fuck. Duty Support Rules For All, I guess."

"...Now what the heck does that mean?" asked Salli.

"Don't die," said Alice. "Classic, basic rule of combat."

"I thought you said you had good advice?" asked Yaromir.

"I did when I knew how the rules worked! And when we had advantages of our own to mitigate enemy abilities and bullshit."

"That's just how combat works," said Bea. "You have to make your own advantages, and work hard to counter anything your opponents throw at you."

Alice threw up her arms in annoyance. "Well, fuck! Even I know that much. Let's just fucking try to kick this giant's enormous hairy arse and pray we don't get thrown into the air by earth bullshit."

Alicia sighed. "I've come this far, I guess."

"Can ya do anythin' like what ya did in Tam-Tara?" asked Salli.

"Not intentionally, not any time soon," said Alice, and began walking through the new opening towards the where she knew the giant waited for them. "So it's left to us using some good, old-fashioned normal attacks to beat this guy."

The others followed her through the gap, and she led the way to the chamber ahead, where a giant waited for them, staring off into the middle distance. It was larger than the other two Hecatoncheirs had been, and as a result, its weapon was also larger than theirs, making it as large as any single member of their party.

"Wake up, space cadet!" Alice shouted. She strode towards it, deciding the best way forward was to start by killing this thing as soon as possible. She had an aethercharge ready and sent her trusty Ruby Carbuncle forth to ram the big guy's shins.

He reacted slowly enough that the creature had already closed the distance by the time he noticed it. His shin was struck, and he let out a loud cry of pain.

"Get his ass!" Alice shouted.

The other adventurers ran ahead, Alicia grumbling something the human couldn't hear. The party's attacks hit home, of course: their target was the largest they had encountered, and hitting it didn't require full use of their ability to aim.

The giant prepared to take a swing. Alice noticed something around Alicia, and blinked. She realised she could see something she shouldn't have been able to see, something that didn't exist. She saw the game's Tank Buster marker, albeit a little blurry, and more transparent than she remembered it.

"Tankbuster…" she said, her voice catching as she realised she could see it. "Tankbuster! Mitigate!"

Alicia turned around to stare at Alice in confusion, and took a gigantic swing to the side for her trouble. She was sent flying into the wall of the cavern where she impacted with a loud thud.

"Oh fuck!" Alice began dumping what limited healing magic she had into the marauder - who remained surprisingly intact given the force of the swing should have, by rights, pancaked her. Bea followed suit, her vastly more potent healing visibly doing a lot more for Alicia. The marauder began to stagger back towards them, her composure returning more and more each second.

"What just happened!?" Sally shouted, nocking yet another arrow, which sunk into the giant's right shoulder.

"I saw the thing!" Alice called back. She blasted her second and last Ruby Ruin at the giant's body, scorching its flesh and causing it to shout in pain yet again. "I saw one of the things!"

The giant crossed its arms, and began to charge aether within itself. Alice saw the ground began to glow, or at least, a circular portion of it. Then another, overlapping the first. And then a third. Her eyes were wide, and as she summoned the Topaz Carbuncle, she looked around for a safe spot.

There! Right where Salli was, in fact.

"Move! To Salli!" She began to run, directing her Carbuncle to charge at the giant. After a few seconds, she realised the rogue and conjurer hadn't followed her. "Quickly! Do you want to go airborne?"

Alicia was most of the way across - having had to run from the opposite side of the arena when the first attack hit. It wasn't where she was standing, thankfully, but it was below Yaromir: a short, but very wide column of rock slammed upwards and sent him up into the air with bone-jarring force. His eyes were wide, and he tried to right himself in mid-air.

Once they saw that, Bea and Alicia began moving faster to where Alice and Salli stood, and as soon as the first patch of rock was back at ground level, the second area slammed upwards, close behind the two.

Alice's Carbuncle managed to connect with the giant, landing a hit that may not have helped, from what she could see. As it disappeared, resummoning the standard Carbuncle at Alice's side, the marauder and conjurer managed to make it to the safe patch before the third and final attack, but it was a near thing, the rock erupting behind them only a fulm away.

Alice watched as Yaromir landed on the giant's back knives-first, a more gravity-assisted version of his attack on the Sahagin, Denn. The blades bit deep, and the giant wriggled and writhed to get the annoyance off itself. Alicia, now as hale as she had been at the start of the fight, used the distraction to charge in again. She shouted in wordless frustration and anger, swinging her axe at the giant's calves. The blow was clean, and she left a pair of large gouges in the flesh, causing the giant to lose its balance.

It cried out and began to topple backwards, threatening to crush both the marauder and the rogue pinned to its back.

Alice had an idea, and pelted as many Topaz Ruins at the giant's head as she could in quick succession. Her intent was to try, somehow, to hit it with enough force to keep it upright or send it the other way, but she had no way of achieving it. The giant fell backwards despite her efforts, but it didn't crush either of her party members.

Yaromir jumped off the big creature's back, landing safely several feet away. Alicia, instead of running away, held her axe up and braced herself. When the giant landed on her, she caught it, lowered it slowly, then tilted her axe and let the angry, writhing body roll off her. She raised her axe above her head, then brought it down on the giant's neck, beheading it. The corpse twitched a few times, but Alicia was already turning away from it to face Alice.

"What the hells happened?"

"Remember the thing I thought you could do?" asked Alice. "I can do that. It even looks like it did in the game."

"Game?"

Alice waved a hand. "I experienced your story as a game, so it had rules and tells for certain effects and attacks."

"You ‘played’ a story?" Salli scratched her head. "That common where ye’re from?"

"Extremely." Alice crossed her arms. "I'm also one of millions to have played this particular story, and I only started relatively recently, so the choice to bring me of all people… But we can discuss that another time."

Alicia nodded. "So… "Tankbuster"?"

"Right. It's time for me to explain more specific combat mechanics that I didn't think would come up," said Alice.

--------------------

By the time they reached the next part of the mines blocked by another unfinished explosive device, Alice had managed to quickly explain enemy Area of Effect attacks, Tankbusters, Spread, and Stack markers. She knew there were more she couldn't remember right now, and probably some she had never seen before, but figured those specific core mechanics would suffice for now.

"It's a good thing I've a head for combat, because I feel like this would have been nonsense to me otherwise," said Bea. "And you're sure you saw an indication that explaining these abilities is relevant?"

"I saw the orange AoE puddle, and I saw the red Tankbuster circle. So yes, I'm sure," said Alice. "Good news is, this is making me more certain that my information is useful as a whole."

"I never want to get hit by one of those Tankbuster attacks again, but from the sounds of it, that will become a regular occurrence," Alicia grumbled.

"Nah, not that often," said Alice. "Like, yes, especially later it'll come up more, but at least for now you're… Mostly safe. And given it's either you getting hit and living, or one of us getting hit and immediately not living? I think we know the best outcome."

Alicia grunted. "That's if you're right, of course. It all sounds a bit far-fetched."

"Well, I-" Alice caught herself. "This is the part that sounds far-fetched? Not being from another world? Getting the Echo and using magic when I should be physically incapable of both? Having seen the future?"

"It's all still a lot to take in," said Alicia. "But I've been given reason to trust a majority of it, and that still stands. What I meant was, if these ‘game mechanics' you explained are somehow real ways of accounting for the way spells and attacks work."

"It would be… Very strange to learn, that there was some way of understanding how everything functions," said Yaromir.

"Photons, neutrons and electrons, my guy," said Alice. "There's always something making up the things we know, you know? Always ingredients in the soup, that sort of thing."

"I suppose that is somewhat true," said Bea. "But what was the first thing you said?"

"Ah, just subatomic particles, don't worry about it for now. I'm wasting too much time talking about this stuff as it is."

"Finally, something I immediately agree with," said Alicia. She even smirked, which made Alice grin right back at her.

"Aight, here's how this place operates from here on…"

--------------------

They made their way through the mines pretty easily, thanks to Alice's memory of the dungeon, as well as how straightforward most of it was. Even the second boss fight against a large, gelatinous creature that split off pieces of itself and detonated them went well, as they all managed to avoid its clumsy attacks even without relying on Alice's new-found ability.

The final gauntlet of smaller enemies, all clustered in a cavern with a river flowing through the middle and into an abyss below, was a bit rough, due to the sheer number of hostile creatures. The creatures beyond the cavern's new entrance - created with more firesand - were all drawn to them by the sounds of fighting. It was all capped off with the appearance of another hecatoncheir at the very end of the cavern, who burst through the rock wall like the Kool-aid Man while they tried to catch their breath.

They had also found some wooden chests scattered throughout the caves, some of which contained useful items: a half-dozen healing potions, divided among them; some knives, given to Yaromir; some plate armour, somehow in relatively good condition, stuffed into Alicia’s bag of holding; and almost two-dozen arrows, given to Salli.

"I would complain that I got nothing special out of this," said Alice. "Except that I did, because I know my info is good, which means it's just poor Bea that didn't."

"I'm just happy to keep you all alive," said Bea. "Besides, I've got a military salary. I don't need to find special items."

Alice shrugged. "Fair enough. If that's all good, then I've got good news: just one last bastard left."

"By ‘bastard,’ I assume you mean another giant?" asked Yaromir.

"Gyges the Great, a name I assume means as little to you guys as it does to me."

"Yes."

"Correct."

"Pretty much."

Alicia simply nodded.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, Alice thought, as seeing the simple action from the Au Ra gave her more joy than she would have expected.

"Well, he's a big fella, even for a giant, but he's not the biggest and strongest. Whatever that dickhead's name is, they're deeper in the caves and shouldn't rock up for some time."

"Shouldn't, or won't?" asked Bea.

"Yes," replied Alice, unhelpfully. "The more detailed answer is "they won't unless the miners decide to hyperextend their digging based on something that didn't happen in the original timeline." So, saying shouldn't is easier."

"The point bein' they won't be a problem now? Easy." Salli nodded slowly, apparently considering something, although Alice couldn't tell what. "Alright. I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"I suppose I am as well," said Alicia, rolling her shoulders.

"My aether is ready for healing," said Bea.

"Then let us get on with it, eh?" Yaromir gestured ahead. "The faster we are out of these caves, the happier I will be."

What followed was a beautiful display of teamwork. It felt, at the time, like a chaotic mess, but when Alice looked back at it later, she realised just how well they had done.

They walked, in formation, to the final cavern, in the middle of which stood… Nobody. Nothing was here.

"Huh." Alice frowned in confusion. "I could have sworn he was here."

Alicia walked ahead, moving into the large, round space that Alice knew was the boss arena. When she took a step, there was a thump. She stopped, and there was another thump. Then another, and another.

It was coming from the wall at the back of the room. Eventually, it broke and burst, and from the hole stepped Gyges the Great. The larger giant stood far taller than any of the others they had run into, even compared to the other giant earlier in the mines. It was a description that felt like something worth noting, Alice realised, rather than just an obvious statement. This guy really was a leader among the hecatoncheires, no doubt about it.

"SLAVES NO MORE!" He bellowed at a painful volume, Salli and Yaromir both recoiling as their more sensitive ears reflexively flattened. "FREE! FREEEEE!!"

"You're right!" Alice shouted back at him. She caught up to Alicia. "Free!"

"YOU COME TO MAKE US SLAVES AGAIN!"

Alice frantically shook her head. "No! No more slaves! It's been… A long time! No more Thorne! Thorne gone! Thorne dead!"

"LIES! WE ESCAPE! WE KILL THORNE!"

"But Thorne is already dead!" Alice really wanted to try and get through to the giants. She may have made a joke comparing them to the Balrog earlier, but she knew that they weren't the same at all. The giants had been enslaved, and they didn't just deserve to be killed off. The hyper-aggression of the earlier giants hadn't really helped, of course, given at those points it was solidly a kill-or-be-killed situation. But Gyges could talk. Or rather, Gyges could shout.

Gyges brought his equally giant club upwards, and Alice could detect the giant's arm and weapon filling with aether. She could also see those telltale red rings around Alicia again.

"Tankbuster!" She called it out, and prayed that it wouldn't cause Alicia as much grief as it had the first time.

As the attack charged up, she also detected Alicia using her own aether to fortify her defences. Alice had no way of knowing for sure without asking, but she guessed it was an equivalent of the basic tank mitigation known as Rampart in the game, a technique taught by both the marauders' and gladiators' guilds.

Or do they just learn it by gaining experience? Alice thought, immediately and unhelpfully questioning her own information. How do they learn it, again?

Regardless of Alice's indecision, the ability helped. Alicia raised her axe to parry the blow, one with much more force behind it than the earlier version of the same attack. Alice's fingers were crossed, and she worried she might have to assist again in some way, but she didn't need to worry. Alicia held her ground and wasn't sent flying this time, and as a result, the blow inflicted far less damage than before.

"Yes!" Alice cheered. Mind cleared of worries, she began to focus her attention on charging her aether for attacks of her own.

The party laid into Gyges, who had decided talking wasn't his favourite activity, and was now yelling wordless exclamations of exertion as he swung his club at Alicia.

A minute of fighting like this passed, and Gyges crossed his arms and began charging an attack, just like the other giant had done.

"Same as before?" Bea asked Alice.

Alice's eyes were wide, and she tried to figure out how to convey what she was seeing.

One thing she had forgotten to explain to the others was the concept of a "hitbox", the area of space any being had that could be attacked and cause them to receive damage. In Final Fantasy XIV, hitboxes were always a cylinder of varying size, usually large enough to barely contain a being when they stood in a combat stance, legs apart, that sort of thing. As Alice had discovered for herself, that concept obviously didn't exist: you hit someone in their actual body to hit them, plain and simple. But the hitbox served a second purpose, one that she noted she would need to explain later. Because, right now, the entire arena, excluding a small circular section around Gyges, was glowing orange in her vision.

"Get close to him!" Alice shouted. "Get as close to his legs as you can, or you'll get hit!"

"What!?"

"I promise!"

"Damn," Salli swore, and began sprinting towards the giant. She had been the furthest away, staying relatively close to the arena's entrance. The two casters moved as well, although they had been much closer than the archer.

"How close?" asked Alicia, swinging her axe at the giant's legs.

Alice moved a little closer than the marauder, barely passing over the threshold. "This close or more!"

Alicia grumbled, but she, Bea, and Yaromir moved within the safe zone.

Salli was almost there when the giant began to unleash his attack. But Alice's expectations were broken. In the game, if an area of effect attack began and you were within the orange danger zone, then you absolutely were taking the damage, even if the damage itself was delayed by an animation or something, and you had left the space by the time it occurred.

Salli, however, had time to leap and dive into the safe zone, landing with a slide on her chest that looked painful to Alice, even with the archer's protective leather armour. Once she had cleared the danger, the empowered club swung around, emitting a probably devastating force as it went.

But Alice's ability had been correct, and none of the party were hit by the attack.

They were, however, extremely close to the angry giant's legs. And they suddenly realised not only was it a dangerous area once more, but it had the added downside of giving them all a full whiff of the giant's extremely unwashed, hairy body. He roared in annoyed anger, and tried to stomp on them

They scrambled, moving away again. Salli was still lying on the ground, and she tried to get up, but the giant, having missed a stomp on Alicia, now tried to attack the easy target. Alicia cursed, and moved to intercept the stomp, blocking it and holding the giant's foot upright with her axe's haft, holding the weapon at a somewhat awkward angle to avoid stepping on Salli herself. The weapon's haft bent from the force of the hit at the strange angle, but Alicia just grunted and held it.

Salli used the time well, and moved out of the way while Alicia protected her. She was still on the ground, however, and used the opportunity to fire her bow at a particular angle one might call a "cheap shot."

Alice and Yaromir both grimaced in sympathy when the arrow launched and disappeared beneath Gyges' leather loincloth, causing the giant to immediately stop what he was doing. He began to make a strange sound, his voice higher-pitched than normal, then he screamed in pain and fell backwards.

"Salli…" said Alice. "Why did you hit him there!?"

Salli's brow creased in confusion and annoyance. "Ya don't get ta complain! He was tryin' ta step on me!"

"Yeah, but… Nevermind. Should we… Do something for him?"

Salli stood and brushed herself off. "Do as ya like."

"I do not know if such a thing can really be… Mended," Yaromir said, uncertainty tempering his tone.

"Doesn't mean we shouldn't try… Right?" Alice looked around at the others.

"We're here to fight and kill them, aren't we?" asked Alicia.

"Yeah but, they can't help that they were slaves…"

Bea, who had been healing Alicia, sighed and directed her magic at the giant. "I think I will regret this, but you aren't wrong."

Alice contributed a little of her own healing, but she knew as well as she did earlier that day that she wasn't contributing very much. Still, she felt that something was better than nothing, and soon the giant's screaming petered out into whimpering, and the arrow fell to the ground, its tip bloodied.

"Burn that, please," said Salli. She had been recovering her other arrows that were being pushed out of the giant's wounds, but was keeping away from that one.

The other two stood awkwardly, unsure if they should be doing anything. Yaromir ended up moving to have a look at the hole Gyges had busted in the wall, and Alicia stood near the giant, watching him for any sign of a fight.

"Do you have to heal all of him?" she asked Bea.

"I'm a battlefield healer, so unfortunately, yes," said Bea. "My skill might be decent, but I've learned and practiced in such a way where my best chance of actually fixing the intended problem in this case is to brute-force fix all of them."

"That sounds pretty mana-intensive, you sure that's fine?" asked Alice.

"Yes, I'm sure."

Alice nodded, glad she hadn't been told to go away or something. It had been a few minutes, and as they finished healing Gyges, Yaromir returned.

"It is just another way going further down," he reported. "Not useful for us to leave."

"...home."

The five adventurers looked sharply at Gyges. "Pardon?" asked Alice, surprised to hear words that hadn't been shouted.

"Home. We live below. Long time."

Gyges made no effort to sit up, just lying on his back, the only visible motion in his form being his breathing, his large chest rising and falling steadily. He seemed to have calmed down, but his tone indicated sadness. Perhaps he thought he was going to die, or be enslaved once more, and had given up.

"Three hundred years, right?" asked Alice. "Although I have no idea if you giants had any way of keeping time."

Gyges merely grunted in response.

"What are we doing?" asked Alicia. "Aren't we risking the job by not just…"

"Fuck it," said Alice. "I trust Nanamo and Papashan. They aren't the Thorne Dynasty, may they suffer in death."

"Thorne…" hissed Gyges, venom returning to his voice, and his fist clenched.

Alice and Alicia were suddenly hit by headaches, and clutched at their heads.

"What's wrong?" Bea asked them, eyes wide.

"Echo… Give us… A sec!" Alice managed to say through gritted teeth, and she blacked out.

--------------------

A vision. An Echo Vision, Alice knew. Of the past, as remembered by Gyges. The giants, the proud hecatoncheires, being reduced to mind-controlled slaves to construct buildings, grand monuments, all of which Alice didn't recognise.

She thought she heard something from one of the slave masters about how their deeds would stand the test of time, how they would endure forever, as they stood above those they deemed lesser races.

It made Alice's blood boil. Even if some of that emotion came from Gyges' memories, she knew in her heart that a portion of it was hers, too.

When Gyges and his brothers and sisters were locked in the mines, she felt their rage and sorrow, even through their mind control enchantments, and knew it would only fester for the next three centuries.

--------------------

She awoke, returning to the present. Her headache was still present, although receding. She had managed to stay upright, thankfully, and found that Alicia had managed the same.

"I assume you saw it too?" Alice asked her, and the marauder nodded.

"What happened?" asked Bea.

"The Echo lets us view people's memories," said Alice. "It's not something we get any control over, and just kind of happens."

"The Blessing of Light…" said Alicia. "It's what gives us the Echo."

"Eh, yes and no?" Alice thought about what she knew of the abilities. "It's hard to explain, so I'll save it for another time, but they go hand in hand, and their names are used interchangeably, when they aren't quite the same thing."

Alicia nodded, and returned her gaze to Gyges. The giant had calmed down, and hadn't gotten up to begin attacking the party or anything.

"Hey," said Alice, walking over to his helmeted head. "You still awake?"

Gyges grunted. Alice shrugged.

"Well, point is… Remember what I said at the start of the fight? Thorne Dynasty is dead. Now, instead, Ul'dah exists, much kinder. No slavery." She was struggling in her brain to condense the information into simpler sentences, in the hopes it would be easier for the hecatoncheire's brain to process. Even if he was smarter than he sounded, it didn't hurt to be sure. That said, the next part was going to be hard to convey.

"We are here because… Fuck it. We're here because Ul'dah wanted more of the mine's resources," said Alice, already giving up on simplifying it. "They found you, you attacked, they were scared."

"We are angry…" said Gyges.

"Oh, I know," said Alice. "And I understand why. What happened all those years ago was bad. But Ul'dah can help! Your tormentors are long-dead, but the new dynasty, they can try and help you live peacefully! Slaves no more!"

"You probably shouldn't make promises on behalf of a city-state," said Yaromir. "But in this situation, I am hoping you are right."

Alice nodded. "So is that alright? Can you try and trust us?"

"Hmmmm…" Gyges' vocalisation was like the rumble of a low-intensity earthquake. It was unsettling, this deep into the caves, but Alice realised what it was quickly enough to not panic about a cave-in. "We do not trust others anymore… Too long slaves…"

Alice sighed. "Alright, that's fine. Tell you what: if I at least tell them not to send any more of us down here to attack you, will you just let us be? Just not attack us or the miners? That's it, that's all we need."

"We want to be free… Go outside…"

"It's like talkin' in circles," said Salli.

"Yes, Gyges, that is what I'm trying to arrange with you," said Alice, doing her best to keep herself calm. "We don't attack you, you don't attack us or anyone else that comes here or lives nearby, and you go outside without anyone fighting."

"Hmmmm… Must talk to king…"

"King?" asked Bea.

"Is that the one you said is the strongest?" Yaromir asked Alice.

Alice did her best impression of the old man in the 'guess I'll die' meme to shrug more than she had ever shrugged before. "I haven't a clue. I'd guess yes, since he's stronger than Gyges, but I don't know for sure."

"King Ouranos strong," said Gyges. He rolled over and began to ponderously stand up once more, leaving his club on the ground until last. "But King Ouranos not like people. May not like you. I go talk."

"Alright," said Alice. "I hope you at least trust that we just don't want more people to die. And…"

Alice bit her lip, figuring she should mention it now, lest the surprise cause issues later.

"I want to apologise for something we did do," she said. Gyges looked down at her, curious. "On our way to you, some of your kin attacked us, and we fought them to survive and make it here."

"You fought other hecatoncheires?" asked Gyges.

"Yes."

"You kill them?" he asked.

"Oh, for…" said Alicia, before buying the head of her damaged axe in the rock beside her. "Yes! They tried to kill us, so we had to kill them."

Gyges stared at Alicia, but she didn't back down, meeting his gaze as best she could through his helmet. This staring contest lasted for a few seconds, which felt to Alice like an eternity.

"...They die well?" asked Gyges.

Alicia blinked. "What?"

"They fight hard? Die well?" Gyges asked again.

Alicia seemed a bit confused, but understood the question. "Yes. They were all tough fighters, and it wasn't easy."

Gyges nodded. "Good. I go talk to king now."

He turned and walked back the way he had arrived.

"...Did that work?" asked Alicia, dumbfounded. "Did we just… Make peace with them?"

"I have no idea!" said Alice, resisting the urge to say the phrase with a bad German accent. She cackled. "This didn't happen in the original timeline. We weren't given the option to make peace with them, and they came back again later and caused problems a second time."

"They did?" asked Bea. "So, this wouldn't even have been the end of it…"

"Nope! So I'm really hoping this is a good sign."

Alicia chuckled. "You're determined to do as much damage as possible to this story you love, it seems."

"Nah, this is what we call fishing for a better outcome," said Alice. "Like, hear me out: you all want to do good by as many people as possible, right?"

She received mixed responses trending towards yes from the other three, but Alicia's was a slow nod.

"Right, so, what if we can just make things better for even more people? Those on the sidelines, left forgotten?"

"I suppose it ain't a bad idea," said Salli. "But that's if ya even have a chance."

"We seem to have one right now," Yaromir pointed out. "It may be a good idea to see this through, no?"

"I don't see the harm," Bea agreed. "Although, there is the chance this all just enrages the giants even further."

"Ah, the Stampede Response," said Alice with a nod, emphasising the words as if that were a known concept. "Well, fuck it, you know? We see if we die, and if we don't, that's great."

"No kidding," said Alicia, deadpan. "I know what I'd prefer, and I'm not going down without a fight if it comes to that."

Chapter Text

They ended up waiting some time, and were all sitting down, backs against the rocks ringing the arena space, Alice studying ahead in her Grimoire, when Gyges returned. Behind him was a larger, tougher-looking giant Alice assumed was King Ouranos.

They stood up, Alice putting away her Grimoire, and she bowed politely to him. "Hello, sir! Are you the King?"

"This King Ouranos," Gyges confirmed for her. "Strong. Powerful. Will see you for himself."

Alice looked between the two. "You don't mean he wants to fight us, do you?"

Ouranos grunted, and slammed the tip of his club on the rock at his feet. "I want to fight. I want to fight Thorne. But you say Thorne is long dead."

"The Thorne Dynasty has been dead for more than two-hundred years," said Yaromir. "I am not sure exactly how much longer, but it has been some time."

"There's even been another Calamity by now," Alicia mumbled.

"Student of history, then?" Alice asked Yaromir.

"I dabbled, back home. But that is for a later time, eh?"

"I'm starting to wish I had a higher rank within the Maelstrom," said Bea. "It never mattered much before, but it might have been useful now. Maybe."

Alice cleared her throat and returned her attention to the giants. "Okay, so… Do you understand what we're trying to figure out?"

"You want us to not fight?" asked Ouranos. "Leave your people alone?"

"Right."

"But what do we get?"

"Freedom," said Alice. "Like I told Gyges, the current Ul Dynasty doesn't want slaves. That whole practice is illegal, even. If you and your people don't fight us for the thing you're understandably mad about but we aren't responsible for, we'll be sorted."

She knew the sentence wasn't the most comprehensible, but the way Ouranos slowly nodded indicated to her that she had managed to get her point across.

"But… Why should we trust?"

Hrm. Shit, I got nothing for this.

"All I can think of is the fact we're here, trying to discuss it in the first place," said Alice. "Just a small team of us instead of a whole block of Immortal Flames soldiers."

Ouranos nodded. "We demand to speak to leader. One who can give trust and word."

Alice rubbed at her temples. "Well, shit. I mean, we can probably arrange it? Just word of y'all asking for peace talks might be enough to convince them this is legit…"

"I think you're right about that," said Bea. "It's not unheard of, which is a good start."

"And our friend the Admiral's envoy here has spoken to the Flame General already, eh?" Yaromir said with a grin, and he slapped Alicia on the back. There was visible force behind his friendly gesture, and Alice felt it said something that Alicia wasn't even slightly affected by that force.

"Oh, gods, not again…" The Au Ra gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. I'll do it, but only because this seems like the least stupid and dangerous route forward we have."

"First, you fight me," said Ouranos.

Alicia looked up at him. "Excuse me?"

"I want to trust you. So I want to fight you first." Ouranos readied his club. "You and me. No others. No interfere."

"Uhhh," Alice looked around at the others. "What do we do?"

"From the sounds of it, nothing," said Yaromir. "Alicia, do you think you can do this?"

Alicia looked at him, then at her axe, then back at the party, gesturing at the damaged weapon. "Do you?"

"I have no reason to believe you cannot!" The Hrothgar's grin was so wide it almost had to be fake, but his good humour was infectious.

"I have one condition!" said Alice quickly. "No death. Do not kill each other. That's all."

"Of course not," said Ouranos. "But I must fight that one. Important."

Alice sighed. "Alright." She turned to give a thumbs-up to Alicia. "You got this, queen. I believe in you."

"She is a queen?" asked Ouranos.

"Ah, no, sorry," said Alice. "In my homeland, sometimes saying that someone is a king or queen just means you respect them a lot, even though they aren't royalty."

Ouranos harrumphed. "Only King is King."

The two fighters squared off in the arena, standing on opposite sides, Gyges moving to stand with the adventurers at the edge.

Alicia's chances of a victory seemed fairly low with her axe bent like it was, but she remained determined, and stared her opponent squarely in the eyes. Given the height difference alone, this felt like a very one-sided fight.

But Alice knew something the others didn't. She knew how far Alicia could go. How many limits she could surpass, and break. And even that knowledge was out of date - Alicia had the capacity to go even further beyond.

"Fight!" Gyges called out the signal, and the two combatants raced towards each other. Alicia made it halfway across the arena before they entered melee range, which Alice found very impressive. She watched in awe as they duelled, the giant making huge, hammer-blow swings of his club, keeping Alicia on the defensive for most of the fight. But she managed to get a few hits in, despite how much she clearly struggled with the weapon's shape being damaged. At one point, she was knocked back hard, and managed to use her axe to keep herself from going all the way into the wall. When she skidded to a halt at the edge of the arena, she spat out some blood and grunted.

"This damn thing is annoying me now," she said, and held her weapon horizontally in front of her. She drove it down and brought her knee up to hit it at the back of the bend, and she managed to mostly right the weapon into a much more normal shape, albeit with a significantly damaged portion in the middle of the haft. "Right, let's keep going."

Ouranos let out a booming laugh, then ran at her once more, his axe coming around in a swing that connected as soon as he was close enough. She held her ground, parrying with the axe, and when he brought it back up to swing down in an overhead attack, she moved through his legs, smacking his calves with the flat of her weapon's giant head. It may not have done any damage, but it destabilised him enough for her to shoulder-tackle his right leg and knock him over.

But as he landed on his back, he slammed his left hand down on the ground in a motion that could only be deliberate. It was soon apparent why, as Alice saw an orange mark on the ground below Alicia, barely larger than she was.

Oh, well, shit.

There wasn't time to warn her, even if Alice had wanted to - a column of rock shot out so fast that all she could do was watch as Alicia was sent up, high into the air. But she didn't need to worry, as Alicia had seemed prepared. The marauder managed to right herself in mid-air, and landed feet-first on the giant's chest, knocking his breath out. She held her axe out, above his head, keeping it barely far enough to prevent a killing blow.

"Checkmate!" shouted Alice. "That's gotta be it, right?"

The Hecatoncheir King laid down his weapon and raised his hands. "You win. What now?"

Alicia was breathing hard, and there were trickles of blood from her nose and some gaps in her armour, which was now scarred and dented in so many places that Alice wondered if it would need outright replacing at this point. Alicia nodded, and put her axe on her back again, then jumped off the giant's chest. She stumbled as she landed, and fell to one knee.

Alice and Bea immediately ran to go and heal her up. She had taken a pretty significant beating in the fight, unlike Ouranos, to whom Alicia had mostly refrained from doing any actual harm.

"You okay?" asked Alice. "That was a hell of a fight."

"I'll live," said Alicia. "I think that was good practice for hunting Kujata…"

"Please stop talking for a little longer," said Bea. "I'm just trying to make sure you don't unsettle anything and make yourself worse."

Alicia grunted, and let the conjurer do her work.

"So, are we… Good?" Alice asked Ouranos. The Hechatoncheir king was rising to his feet, and he nodded.

"Yes. I trust you. Do not make me think it was a mistake."

Alice tilted her head. That was the most coherent sentence he had put together, although she felt like he had been slowly becoming less simple while he was here. Maybe something about leaving his deep cave? Or the fight? Like a giant Ork from Warhammer?

The last thought gave her pause, and she barely suppressed a shudder. But she looked back up to him and said, "I'll try. I can't promise to know exactly how Ul'dah will react, but I can still safely promise that they aren't just going to enslave you."

"Hmph," he crossed his arms. "Good enough to start. Go and tell them. We will wait, and will not attack any more people in the mines."

"Excellent," said Alice, bowing to him one more time. "Are we all good to go, then?"

"She should be alright now," said Bea, and the visible aura her magic made around Alicia faded. The marauder stood and nodded assent of her own.

"I'm mighty curious to see how this all plays out from here," said Salli. "So yeah, I'm ready to head out."

"Then let us be going, hm?" Yaromir gave a half-smile. "I am certain they will wish to hear of this as soon as possible."

--------------------

The party left the mine exhausted. They made their way to the Stone Torches guarding the entrance, working out how best to inform them of the results of their expedition.

"You have returned," said one of the Torches, a Roegadyn man. He noticed the expressions on their faces and frowned. "Were you not successful? You are all alive, and were down there for quite some time."

Alice realised that she hadn't thought about it, but the sun was now down, making outside about as dark as the caves had been. Oh. It's night time, huh?

"Well, yes, we were pretty successful," said Alice, and began wringing her hands. "But here's the thing… We… Need to talk to General Aldynn."

The man blinked. "But why?"

"We made peace with the giants," said Alicia. Both the Stone Torches started to stare at her.

"It's a little more complicated than that!" Alice piped up. "We made it to their king, and I remembered that they were properly enslaved back in the day, before the mine was sealed. So I figured, why not try to strike a deal with them?"

"But they attacked our miners!" The second Stone Torch, a Hyur, seemed appalled at the idea.

"Yes, because the last time they saw anyone else down there, it was their slave masters who had literally mind-controlled them," said Alice, her tone hard. "I'm not saying they get off scot-free, I just think it's best we understand why it happened and try to prevent any further bloodshed."

"But that's not what you were sent down to do!" The Roegadyn man seemed especially upset at this.

"We were not told to just kill them," said Yaromir. "Our request from Papashan was to 'subdue' them, true, but if we stop the killing, then we still fall within the agreed request. Especially given we now have the word of their king that miners will no longer be harmed by the giants."

The two guards looked at each other, unsure of what to do. The Hyur moved to contact someone via linkpearl, and walked out of earshot to do so.

"You five stay here," said the Roegadyn. He walked towards his comrade, waiting until the call was over to discuss something with him.

Yaromir's head suddenly turned, and he looked towards the entrance to the small gully that contained the mine's entrance.

"What is it?" asked Bea, suddenly on alert.

"I don't know," said Yaromir, frowning. "I could have sworn there was someone there…"

"I've got a bet as to who it was," said Alice, then raised her voice slightly. "Archon of stealth, Thancred Waters."

"We don't become Archons of particular things, you know," a familiar male voice said from behind the party. They turned to look at the mine entrance, and saw none other than the man Alice had named leaning against the wooden posts casually. "Although that was a particularly good guess. Might I inquire how you know of me?"

Yaromir barked a short laugh. "I need to improve my skills, I see…"

Alice was uncertain of what to do here. On the one hand, Thancred was a valuable ally and a good Scion. On the other hand, Alice remembered distinctly that he was going to be taken over by Lahabrea at some point in the near future - since she didn't see him wearing the black crystal necklace she knew caused the possession, she knew it hadn't happened yet. She also didn't know how many of Thancred's memories the Ascian would get access to in the future. Which was the real reason why she had pleaded with Y'shtola to not spill the full story to him.

"I'm a fan of the Circle of Knowing," said Alice, invoking the name of one of the two progenitor groups that merged to become the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. "Because of the great Archon Louisoix, I mean. I happen to know a few of the rest of you to some degree, too. You, Thancred, as well as Y'shtola Rhul, Urianger…" Alice tilted her head. "Damn, I can never remember that man's last name to save my life. I think it was Augurelt? Something Elezen, that's all I've got."

"Well, I'm touched to meet a fan of our work," he said. "But I already know there's more going on with you lot than you've let on."

"Oy! Who are you?" The Roegadyn Stone Torch returned to them, and shouted this at Thancred, apparently not recognising him.

Thancred raised an eyebrow. "I live around here. Who are you?"

Alice snorted.

"I work here! This is my post!"

"It is? Well, it's a good thing I've been keeping it warm for you," said Thancred, standing up. He did so with complete confidence, almost relaxed. "In any case, I believe I can pass on their message to General Raubahn. Making peace with the Hecatoncheires? I'm sure he's going to have a blast with this one."

"Wha- Who are you?" the Roegadyn guard repeated.

"Oh, for… I assume telling you I work for the State wouldn't do anything to make you stop asking that, would it?" Thancred crossed his arms. "Now, I'm going to call the Flame General on my linkpearl, and inform them of what's happened here, alright?"

"Uhhh…" The guard seemed genuinely confused now. He didn't seem suspicious, in that he seemed like an actual Stone Torch who was supposed to be here, but he definitely didn't trust the five adventurers and their absurd story. But now this smooth-talking man with Archon tattoos - something many people still thankfully recognised - had said he had a through-line to the Flame General himself, and was willing to speak on behalf of those adventurers. His indecision was clear on his face.

"Excellent. I'll return shortly with word of their response."

Thancred walked away and made a linkpearl call of his own. The Stone Torch stood at his post, trying awkwardly not to look at the adventurers.

"So, ya know that guy, too?" Salli asked Alice.

"By reputation, like I said," Alice clarified. "Unlike Y'shtola, who was there when I first arrived, I've not actually talked to him before now."

"So… He's with Y'shtola?" asked Alicia, looking towards Thancred.

"Yeah. He's her Ul'dahn equivalent."

Yaromir, Bea and Alicia nodded in understanding. Salli was the only one to not have met Y'shtola yet, and looked between them all, still a little confused. "Anyone mind explainin' to the only non-Lominsan here?"

"Actually, good point," said Alice. "Have you seen a Hyur woman and a Lalafell man, both with Archon tattoos, around Gridania?"

"Yeah, now that ya mention it," said Salli. "They with these guys too?"

"Yda and Papalymo," said Thancred, returning to the group. "Yes, I know them. And yes, I did make contact with the Flames. Someone shall be over shortly to try and sort this situation out."

"Someone?" Alice repeated, deadpan. "That's it?"

"I don't want to spoil the surprise," he replied with a smile. "Although they'll be around sooner than you expect. I was told they were nearby, actually."

"Just like you were, huh?" said Alice.

"Hm? Oh, no, I was here intentionally," he said. "After all, I had heard scuttlebutt that a particular up-and-coming adventurer was taking this request on, after a pair of particularly special assignments in Limsa Lominsa and Gridania, and I wanted to see her for myself."

He directed his smile at Alicia, who grunted.

"And this is after you've served as an envoy to the Admiral herself, correct?" he asked.

Alicia just nodded and crossed her arms.

"So, when you said these guys were close…" Alice began to ask, then heard the sounds of plate-armoured and other booted feet marching in their direction. She turned to look back at the entrance to the gully, and in walked a squad of around twelve Immortal Flames soldiers, led by none other than flipping Vice Marshal Pipin Tarupin, adopted son of General Raubahn, and third in command of the Flames by merit alone. Alice's eyes and jaw were wide in surprise, realising that this was still being taken seriously even if Raubahn himself wasn't present to see to it.

"There's your answer," Thancred said to the party, and walked over to the newcomers. "Vice Marshal! It's good to see you again."

"Good evening, Thancred," said Pipin. "I received the report from headquarters and knew immediately that I should be present. Are these the adventurers?"

"They've managed to broker peace with the giants in the mines, I hear," said Thancred, looking at the group.

Pipin frowned. "I heard something to a different effect, more along the lines of causing problems and spreading lies about the mines' safety?"

"Ah, then my report has not filtered down to you yet, it seems," said Thancred, looking pointedly at the Stone Torches, both of whom now stood at their posts. "Well, in any case, these are the five in question. I'll let them explain, I've not been here long enough to get the entire story myself."

Pipin nodded. "Alright. Thank you again, and I'll be sure to pass on the details to you later."

"Excellent. I'll be off, then."

Thancred gave the adventurers a wave, then left the gully. Vice Marshal Tarupin approached the adventurers, and all felt he had a very strong presence despite his Lalafellin size.

"So… I hear you've gone and made peace with the Hecatoncheires?"

--------------------

"I think I understand the situation," said Pipin, once the party had explained in detail what had occurred. "My first response is that making such a deal on behalf of a nation you have no part in is foolish, and that I recommend you not do so again."

Alice could feel the smug radiating from the Stone Torches behind them.

"However," he continued. "You did also fulfil your contract - given to you by sir Papashan, no less - to the letter, and have come up with a mostly bloodless solution in an effort to heal an aggrieved people, something I find I personally respect. And I will do whatever I can to see this deal upheld."

Alice could feel her own smug radiating out and back towards the Stone Torches behind them.

"So, you don't mind?" asked Bea, somewhat surprised.

"Well, in some respects I do, as there is now likely a significant amount of work to be done to account for this bargain," he admitted. "But you are right - the ancient and otherwise beloved Thorne dynasty did do something we now denounce, and if the giants are willing to put down their weapons instead of taking their anger out on us, I see no reason not to work to allow them their freedom. And not just because it lessens the danger within the mines."

"Yes!" Alice shouted, throwing both her arms up in celebration. "I knew you were a good person, and I'm real glad you're here."

"Thank you," he said. "If you'll excuse me, I had best make preparations to enter the mines. You are free to go and report your success back to Miss Momodi. I'll be sure to make a call to let her know your assignment is complete."

"Thank you, vice marshal," said Alice. She bowed, and he nodded back to her, then began directing his Flames soldiers. The adventurers, unsure of what else to do, walked away from them, leaving the gully but stopping outside to discuss things.

"I suppose we did it," said Salli. "Mighty complicated way o' wrappin' it up, but I think I'm happy with the outcome."

"That is if the negotiations go as intended," said Yaromir. "But, for once, I would like to have some hope about this."

"Agreed," said Bea. "The precedent isn't good, certainly, but I'm hoping we've paved the way for something better. And that was valuable information, yes?"

"Ah, yes! Now you can be more sure of your future knowledge, hm?" Yaromir added, the question quite obviously directed at Alice. "That should make things easier going forward."

Alicia grunted. Her old axe, now so damaged it was almost unusable, was the main focus of her attention. Salli put a comforting hand on the Au Ra's shoulder.

"Ah, don't you worry none. You did your best to take care of that thing, and sometimes our tools break. Just gotta get a replacement."

"Mmm… well, the Carpenter's Guild is already working on one," said Alicia. "I'm more worried about the time in between."

"Wow, it's a shame there isn't a whole group of four people who can help out in the meantime, damn," Alice joked.

Alicia glared at her for a few seconds, but softened her gaze. "Thank you."

Alice was surprised, and thought she misheard. "Sorry, what?"

"Thank you for using your knowledge and quick thinking to help keep us alive, you foolish Hyur," said Alicia, louder.

"Ah, there it is," Alice giggled. "Yeah it's no problem. I just…"

Alice's face went expressionless, her gaze distant as she thought about what was coming, especially for Alicia. "I just want to make things easier for you."

The others exchanged glances at that. Seeing Alice sombre was… Different, to say the least.

"So, things in Eorzea get worse before they get better, eh?" Yaromir asked her.

"Eorzea, the far east too. There's a lot of storms coming our way, mostly perpetrated by the Ascians, who, honestly, just want their ancient and long-dead people back. Alicia was capable of dealing with that in the original version of the story, but it was so often a near thing, with too many good people lost along the way. I am extremely naive and foolish and want to save more of those people."

"It's not foolish to want to save lives…" said Alicia. "But you need to be capable enough to save people. And you can't save everyone. You'll just go mad trying."

"But with my knowledge, I need to at least try to save more," Alice argued. "I've seen a quote float around many times in your story, originally from the great Archon Louisoix Leveilleur, and it stuck with me in my boring, unspecial life before I came here."

She cleared her throat. ""To ignore the plight of those one might conceivably save is not wisdom ─ it is indolence." And I couldn't do jack shit about anyone in my world, where it felt like society was decaying around me, as every facet of life was ruled by people far richer than the top of Ul'dahn society, who could get away with fucking anything because they had enough money."

"So you want to use your knowledge to affect the outcome of things here," said Bea.

"That's right. Cards on the table, I just want to help people now that I have a larger degree of power and freedom than I've ever had before. I fell in love with this world through the story I experienced, and I just-"

"Alright! Alright, I understand." Alicia cut her off. "You want to do the right thing, and your reasons for it aren't wholly selfish. That works for me. But again, that means you can't be naive and try to save everyone. You've told us there are places where your knowledge ends, and at that point is either where skill picks up the slack, or nothing can be done, and sometimes you have to live with that. You have to do your best, and understand where that stops."

"Although yer best can improve if ya work hard enough," added Salli. "We all started a lot weaker than we are now."

"Times past, I was a much clumsier person," Yaromir admitted.

"I could barely get the most basic spell together, once upon a time," said Bea.

"...and I couldn't hope to lift an axe my size and weight," Alicia finished. "Yes, yes, you've made your point. We can improve. But we can't start by overdoing it."

Alice nodded, and smiled. She began to tear up, and rushed over to hug Alicia tightly. "Thanks, hero."

Alicia blushed, but returned the hug. "It's… Fine. But like I said earlier, share your knowledge so we can act on it."

"I will, when I can. There are… Some people who can't know some things yet."

"Like that little aside ya dropped in," said Salli. "The Ascians want ta save their long-dead people?"

"Uh, yeah, it's…" Alice broke the hug, and wrung her hands. "It's such a long story I'll have to get around to it in full another time, because we got stuff to take care of… now…"

Alice's eyes went wide as she remembered something. "Oh, right! I almost forgot about that mercantile fuck bucket."

"I… What?" Alicia was immediately confused.

Salli laughed. "Way to change the mood, Alice. What'd ya remember?"

Alice explained. "So, a little after we turn in that we've completed the quest and cleared Copperbell, there's most likely going to be an altercation just outside the Quicksand. Some merchant fuckhead accosting a civilian. We need to intervene to help her. It's explicitly part of the story."

"We left the mines some time ago… Should we not head back to ensure we are there in time to help them?" asked Yaromir.

Alice nodded, eyes closed, arms crossed, and a smile on her face, until she registered what the Hrothgar had said and began running back to Ul'dah. The others followed soon after.

--------------------

"Aye, I hear you dealt with Copperbell! Heroes of the hour, you lot," said Painted Mesa. His spirits had lifted significantly since they had last seen the man. "Though why'd you run all the way back to Ul'dah? There was no rush."

"Yeah… We just… Wanted to… Get back… Sooner…." Alice said between deep, panting breaths. The others were also breathing hard, though not as hard as she was.

"We just wanted to make good time," said Bea. "That's all."

"Well, thanks to you lot, once we've sorted things out, our minin' operations can resume, and Ul'dah will have the materials she needs to rebuild," explained the Roegadyn, the relief apparent on his face even past the bandanna that covered half of it. "The entire nation's in your debt, friends. I'll share the good tidin's with Papashan. As for you lot-"

He was cut off by a scream from outside, a woman shouting, "Noooooo!"

"There it is," Alice mumbled. She turned to Painted Mesa and said, "Be right back!"

She ran out the door, the others following behind.

They were greeted by a scene of tension. A panicked woman was on the cobbled ground, backing away as much as she could from a familiar obnoxious merchant and his trio of shifty-looking bodyguards. They were surrounded by onlookers, all too anxious or frightened to lift a finger to help the poor woman.

"That's the one," Alice told the party. "Head down to the circle of people and wait for the right moment to intervene, it's coming soon."

As they did so, the merchant opened his mouth, and spoke with a much more obnoxious and slimy voice than Alice had even imagined for the guy. "Shut your mouth, you thieving little swine! You stole from me - don't even think to deny it!"

"P-please, sir, I didn't steal nothin'!" said the woman, sounding desperate but honest. "I b-bought this - paid for it with me own coin!"

"What rot! You refugees are all the same - couldn't afford maggoty mole meat, much less a choice cut of dodo!"

Alice felt everyone in the party tense in anger at his words and demeanour, and she was no exception. She'd known he was a bastard - after all, he had a side business selling his people to the Amalj'aa, something that would be used to track him down before the fight with Ifrit - but hearing the words from a flesh and blood person in front of her made it real, quite literally.

"I'm going to say it one more time: give back what you stole or I'll make you wish you never set foot in this town!" His face made a disgusting grin. "By rights, I should turn you over to the Brass Blades, you know - help keep the streets safe for law-abiding citizens. But I'm a reasonable man. If you agree to serve me in whatever capacity I require, the authorities needn't hear of your crime."

"But I ain't done nothing wrong!" The woman cried out, looking around desperately for a way out. "Twelve as me witness!"

"That's all we need to hear," Alice declared loudly, and gestured with her head for the party to walk out with her. They came to a stop between the woman and the merchant.

"Who are you lot?" He asked, realising there were quite a few more of them than he expected would come help. "This dog's masters?"

"You speak of refugees and theft from a position of wealth and power, it seems," said Alicia. "By the poor woman's account, she didn't steal, and by yours she did. So it's your word against hers."

"The difference, o'course," said Salli, "is that her words have a ring o' truth to 'em, whereas yours sound like the air from yer backside."

The party all chuckled at that, in part to aid in antagonising the merchant. It was working. His face was red as a beet, and his teeth were clenched.

"The nerve! I'm an honourable businessman, and I know when I've been stolen from! You're just adventurers, what would you know!?"

"Bruh, you're the type to sell your own family if you could get away with it," said Alice, not wanting to say that she knew it was true without proof. "I've seen your type before."

"Rrrgghhh!" He almost couldn't get words out, then glared at his bodyguards. "Get them, teach them a lesson!"

The guards looked at each other and shrugged, convinced they could win the fight despite being outnumbered. It was a mistake. As soon as one of the guards took a swing at Alice, Alicia came in with a block.

"Do not," was all she said, glaring at him.

His friend came in while she was looking away, a blade in hand. She didn't turn, and just punched him in the face without looking. The blow knocked the man out and caused his body to slam into his friend, taking him out too. The third guard looked down at the two lying on the cobblestones, and looked back up at Alicia.

"I ain't gettin' paid enough for this!" he shouted, then bolted, leaving out the gate to Thanalan.

"H-hey! Where the hells do you think you're going!?" The merchant yelled after him. An arrow embedded itself in a gap in the cobblestones next to him, making him jump in surprise. It had impaled an insect near his feet to the ground. He looked up to see Salli, bow in hand, giving him a cold smile. The man's fear was vastly outweighing his anger now, as he realised he was most definitely on the losing side.

The woman stood up, running in front of Alicia, gratitude clear on her face. "Thank ye, kind adventurers! Thank ye thrice over!"

It was then the Echo hit both Alice and Alicia. They saw a vision, the same vision, of two Ul'dahn citizens talking about the rising refugee count and the associated troubles, but most importantly they saw the woman pay for the dodo side, which oddly felt like a side experience in the shared memory.

When they returned to the present, they were both greeted with the faces of their party and the poor woman.

"Er, madams? Are ye alright?" asked the woman.

"Ah, just the Echo, no big deal," said Alice, though it was somewhat unbelievable given she was holding the side of her head in pain.

"Wh-what now!?" The merchant yelled at them. "You mean to threaten a defenceless citizen!?"

"I'm certainly of a mind to do so…" Yaromir growled quietly.

"Actually, no, because we saw her buy the meat," Alicia said to the man.

"...What? Saw her buy that meat, you say? Th-that's absurd!" He seemed suspicious but confused.

"Aye, as did I!" A woman's voice cried out from somewhere else in the plaza. "Leave that poor woman alone, you damnable vulture!"

"Wh- Who said that!?" The merchant looked around, but couldn't find the source of the jeer. He became angry once more.

"Grrr… I will overlook this… but just this once!" And with that, he fled too.

The woman turned back to the party. "Gods bless ye, adventurers! If ye hadn't come along when ye did, who knows what that monster might have done? I shudder to think about it…"

"The important thing is that you're safe now, ma'am," said Bea. "But, if you need help with that weasel again, try and get in contact with either the Immortal Flames or the Maelstrom directly, and inform them you were sent by Storm Corporal Beatrice Rich."

Bea gave the woman a bit more information, then sent her on her way. Once she had left, a familiar Miqo'te arrived, having been hidden behind the pole of a streetlight.

"Ever the selfless hero, I see," said Y'shtola, walking slowly but confidently towards the party. "And you've attracted a host of reliable friends, which in my experience is a good sign."

"Y'shtola," Alice and Alicia both said in unison, then looked at each other.

"That compliment was definitely addressed to you, Alicia. Y'shtola kinda hates me, hahaha…" Alice's chuckle was nervous.

"I have never 'hated' you," retorted the Archon. "Though while it is true my initial opinion of you was sour, it has improved by virtue of your behaviour since then, as well as the amount of your information that has so far proven true."

"Ayy, that's a relief honestly," said Alice.

"But it has been a while, Alicia. I am glad you have been doing well."

The Au Ra gave her customary nod, and smiled. "Thank you. And for your help a few minutes ago."

"Oh, think nothing of it. I certainly wanted to put the little swine in his place, and you achieved that well enough."

A clearing of a throat made the three turn to the source of the sound, which was Salli.

"I apologise for the interruption," she said, and meant it, "but do ya mind introducin' yer friend to the rest of us?"

"Ah, how rude of me," said Y'shtola. "I am Y'shtola Rhul, a friend of the Admiral and travelling conjurer."

"We trust the three of them with our lives at this point," said Alice.

"That's correct," agreed Alicia.

Y'shtola furrowed her brow. "I understand that, but some information should not be given out as freely as you would choose," she said, indicating Alice.

"The Scions are going to become public knowledge very soon regardless," Alice said back. "You need to take a more active stance in the fight against Gaius and the 14th, and I intend for it to happen without the deaths of quite a few of your order, as well as the capture of people like Minfilia, this time."

Y'shtola's eyes widened then narrowed. "I'm afraid I don't like your tone nor your meaning. Exactly what do you intend? To attempt to expose the Scions to the public?"

"No! No, that's not what I mean at all." Alice took a deep breath. "You know what? I'll introduce our friends to you first, because you will see more of them, too."

Y'shtola crossed her arms but nodded.

"The Miqo'te archer is Salli Rinsau, an adventurer from Gridania that Miounne has high praise for."

"Pleased ta make yer acquaintance," said Salli.

"You may have seen the other two around Limsa Lominsa, but the Hyur Conjurer is Storm Corporal Beatrice Rich," Alice gestured to the woman, who gave a Maelstrom salute.

"And the Hrothgar Rogue is actually the guy who was assigned to watch over me when I first arrived, Yaromir Astana."

He nodded.

"And as we said," Alice continued, "we now trust each other with our lives. And a number of Alicia's future adventures - yes I am aware of your intent in being here right now - are going to require such a team, and keeping something so honestly simple a secret from them is just a terrible idea."

Y'shtola nodded at them. "A pleasure to formally meet you all." She sighed. "Alright, you've made your point. I belong to a secret organisation named the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and our purpose is both to prevent any further Umbral Calamities from occurring, as well as to combat the summoning of Primals whenever they appear."

"Ah," said Yaromir. "That explains the high level of access you have around Limsa. Although I had heard the term Scion before, it was meaningless until now."

"Were your people present at Carteneau?" asked Bea.

"Technically, yes," Y'shtola explained. "Although our founding was only formalised after the battle, as you'd expect from our order's name, one of our leaders was present - Archon Louisoix."

"Even I've heard o' him," said Salli. "Some kind o' legendary strategist and mage who helped the Twin Adder leadin' up to the battle, right?"

"A little more than that, but yes. He and several others, including myself, are actually from Old Sharlayan, but disagreed with their policy of non-intervention, and so made our way here to contribute however we could. Although, in the end, we were too late to stop the Seventh Umbral Calamity."

"Hence the Scions of the Seventh Dawn," Bea realised. "I imagine you must feel partly responsible for the Seventh, especially with no one quite sure what happened."

"Hmm… in part, maybe," Y'shtola agreed. "The one thing we do remember clearly, at least within the Scions, is that Louisoix gave his life to defeat Bahamut by himself, and somehow succeeded."

"We also met Thancred outside of the mines," said Alice. "And I mentioned, without telling them about the Scions, that he's your Ul'dahn counterpart."

Y'shtola looked at Alice. "Indeed… And it is strange how simply being in your presence makes me desire to explain myself more than I usually would."

"It's because you know that if you don't, I probably will, but worse." Alice winked and pointed double finger guns at the Archon, clicking her tongue. "Speaking of which, I actually wanted to talk to you alone about a thing or two."

Y'shtola raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yes, yes, I am aware, but this genuinely is different to keeping the entire order a secret. And you can do what you're here to do first."

"How generous," said the Archon with a wry smile. She turned to look at Alicia, and began her spiel.

"I have been watching you closely ever since you flew out of Limsa Lominsa. You discharged your duty as the Admiral's personal envoy with admirable humility, and you have displayed unfaltering courage in the face of danger ever since.

"Whensoever you came upon those in need, you gave them succour with no thought of personal gain. In summary, you have demonstrated all the qualities we seek in an adventurer."

"Well, thank you," said Alicia, a little flattered. "Seek for the Scions, I assume?"

"I suppose that much has become obvious," Y'shtola's smile was warm now. "Yes, that's correct. And for all the good that your deeds do, the most intriguing part of you to me personally is your gift. I speak of the visions you experience."

"You mean where I see people's memories?" asked Alicia.

"That's correct," Y'shtola nodded. "I can provide you with the means to understand them. An acquaintance of mine is blessed with the selfsame talent, you see... If you so desire, I can introduce you to her. She and I fight for a common cause ─ a cause which would greatly benefit from your support. If you accepted the offer to join the Scions, you would meet her as a result.

"If you would agree to lend us your strength, we should be glad to do all within our power to aid you in your personal endeavours. Think on my offer awhile, and should you choose to accept it, speak to Momodi at the Quicksand. Inform her you have been chosen by the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, and she will tell you where to find us."

Y'shtola swept her gaze over all five members of the party. "While the offer is primarily for Alicia, as Alice pointed out, we do have a need of more capable helpers with a similar mindset, those who would prioritise doing good for the people of the realm. If Alicia accepts, you may be brought into the fold with her, though I will admit it would be in a more limited capacity."

"Well, thank you for the offer, ma’am," said Salli, tipping her head in gratitude. "I admit, when Alice told me she'd try and get that ta happen, I didn't think it would be quite so soon."

"She told you a plan in advance? I had no idea, hahaha!" said Yaromir, pleased with the situation. He did seem quite intrigued by the offer.

Bea meanwhile was thinking it over. "Would my being in the Maelstrom be a conflict of interest, ma'am?"

"Not at all. I believe it helps indicate, to myself at the very least, a pre-existing desire to help those in need."

"Can confirm with my future knowledge that it shouldn't be a problem," added Alice.

"This knowledge of yours is truly limitless," Yaromir snarked with a grin.

"More like extremely specific yet eternally helpful." Alice winked back at him.

"I cannot believe the offer to be hired by such an important organisation extends to you of all people," said Alicia, rolling her eyes.

"Like I said, eternally helpful. Besides, aren't you glad I would rather use it for good?"

"And I believe you said you had something important to tell me?" asked Y'shtola. "Come on then, let's talk."

Chapter Text

While the others re-entered the Quicksand, Alice and Y'shtola walked a short distance away from Ul'dah, outside its walls, to somewhere more secluded. The request to do so had been Alice's, citing that she already knew the way and that the others could go on ahead.

"Plus, I know Y'shtola will be there too, so I can just go with my bestie," she had added, wanting to wrap her arm around the Archon for comedic effect but deciding it was safer not to. When they arrived at a suitably quiet spot, Y'shtola turned to Alice and looked her dead in the eyes.

"I will admit, in your case the invitation was a much more difficult decision to make, but your knowledge has the potential to be worth the cost of your behaviour."

"I… You know what, that's fair," said Alice, seriously. "I do genuinely apologise by the way. It's partly that snark and humour helps me cope with the situation, but also admittedly the knowledge being correct does get to my head a little."

Y'shtola nodded. "Apology accepted. But I assume that wasn't the only reason you wanted to talk?"

"Yeahhh, I uh, have some bad news, related to what I said the other day about Ascians watching the others."

"Alright. I am more willing to hear what you have to say, but still do not wholly trust you."

"Okay well that's unfortunate because it'll sound a little insane," said Alice. "But… The Ascians are actually only watching one operative, that being Thancred."

"And you didn't tell me this to avoid any strange behaviour towards him, am I correct?"

"Yes, you are."

"Well, there's hardly anything insane about such a claim, but I assume now that means there's more to tell?"

Alice sighed. "Most important preface I've ever made: I trust Thancred, and you can too."

Y'shtola nodded. "Go on."

"So the Ascian in question is a full power, red-mask Paragon called Lahabrea. What's worse is, with his power, he catches Thancred unaware one day very soon and takes over - riding inside Thancred's body, watching through his senses."

"I… I agree, that is quite a claim. I don't want to believe it possible, and yet, if they were to try and spy on us…" she did her iconic thinking gesture - her right arm crossed over her chest, her left with its elbow close to her body, her left hand curled like a paw tapping at her chin - and looked into the middle distance, past Alice.

"He has no idea, but the Ascian can just take control of his body if he wants, although there seem to be some limitations to how he keeps that control. Something to do with a crystal necklace," said Alice. "Additionally, in the near future, when Alicia is sent after Titan, Lahabrea is going to somehow get a strike team of Garleans inside the Waking Sands and kill quite a few of your people, but will capture Minfilia and Tataru among a few others."

Y'shtola froze. Her eyes moved to look at Alice again. "And you elected not to inform me of this when we first met."

"Because there was no way in hell you would have believed me then, Y'shtola, and for all I know it would've caused you to kick me to the curb and be done with me. I'm a moron, but I'm not entirely stupid. If you have any reservations about how accurate my knowledge is, I will do literally anything to convince you," explained Alice, a little bit desperate. "I swear to you on my life and any power I have that I am trying to tell you the truth."

Y'shtola watched Alice, saying and doing nothing yet, so Alice continued. "The Garleans and even Lahabrea can be beaten, I've seen that happen too, and I'd like to think it's possible without a significant loss of Scion lives. Without waiting for Alphinaud Leveilleur to join up and lend his support, and before he shows us where to find… Wait a second."

Alice snapped her fingers. "I know exactly where Cid Garlond is, right now, and can take you to him."

Y'shtola's eyes narrowed briefly in thought. "Hmm… Alright, you have my attention. Where is he?"

"That church that's directly north of Camp Drybone. I have no idea how Alphinaud finds him, but that's where he is, suffering from amnesia."

"The Church of Saint Adama Landama?" asked Y'shtola.

"Yes!" Alice snapped her fingers again, and wagged her hand in a 'you got it' gesture. "That one. I can't say I remember the exact route from here to there but I'm happy to go and show you at some point."

"Well, it is not far from here, even if it is a little out of our way. Let us go there now."

--------------------

Y'shtola was able to guide the pair quite accurately to the church, and she made Alice pay for the guidance by way of more information.

"So, the mega shortlist version: Alicia will investigate Amalj'aa kidnappings, fight and beat Ifrit, attend three whole memorial services where she meets Alphinaud and Alisaie Leveilleur, then uhhh…" she paused, trying to remember the order of A Realm Reborn's story. "I think after that comes some interaction with the Sylphs?"

"You seemed quite sure about a lot of other things," said Y'shtola.

"Yes, and given the state of my memory I'm surprised I've done as well as I have so far," said Alice. "For me, this was all several months ago, like, six or more, and it went by rather fast at the time."

"More of that strange method of experiencing the story? A game, I believe you said?"

"Yeah, exactly. Because the whole thing, for me, was a story attached to a rather long and complicated game - where the rules are 'survive combat and also achieve goals laid out as quests' - I often found I couldn't always keep exact track of things this early into the story. The later stuff I remember better."

"So exactly where did this story start? And where did it end?"

"The latter is maybe the most loaded question I've ever been asked," Alice replied. "As for where it started for me, easy: Alicia arriving in Limsa Lominsa. Anything prior was all history stuff, shown through cinematics and a metric fucktonne of exposition."

"What are 'cinematics'?" asked Y'shtola.

"Ah, that's the fun part of modern games. Or, modern where I'm from. So, basically, we have computers, like magitek terminals that are both more and less advanced: no magic or ceruleum or whatever, but the tech part is pretty good. Not like, Allag-level good though."

"How strange. Although, Allag was certainly a one-of-a-kind civilisation."

"Yeah, that's pretty true," said Alice, recalling the technological marvels of Azys Lla and Seiryu's Wall, things she would see in the future - assuming all went to plan, of course. "Anyway, games made to utilise our technology go above and beyond, and like my little pocket computer, can store audio and visual data and then play it when needed. Hence me knowing what you looked and sounded like before coming here, for example."

"If I recall, you seemed surprised about my eyes being blue," Y'shtola countered.

Alice paused. "Right, I did… That's because… Of a thing that may happen to you? Hopefully not?"

"If you would truly like to earn my trust, you need to be more transparent than that."

"Yeah but… I guess so…" Alice wrestled with telling her but realised that knowledge was essential to planning a way out of Teledji Adeledji's future trap for the Scions.

"Okay so, ideally you know about Teledji Adeledji, a member of Ul'dah's Syndicate. If not, you will. He's very outwardly kind and supportive, inwardly very power hungry and a bit of a nutcase."

Y'shtola nodded and motioned for Alice to continue.

"Some time after the defeat of Gaius and Lahabrea - by which I mean we kick him out of Thancred permanently - the Scions get invited to a banquet in Ul'dah by the Sultana. At this point, Teledji has been relevant before now because he wanted to grant financial aid both to a bunch of Doman refugees that arrive, as well as a project of Alphinaud's- a neutral Grand Company called the Crystal Braves."

"When you start with that, it sounds like the situation ends poorly for the Scions," said Y'shtola.

"Boy howdy was it a shitshow. Alicia was called to a private meeting by the Sultana, who told us she wanted to renounce the royal lineage entirely and turn Ul'dah into a democracy- yes, really."

"I… I cannot imagine the Syndicate simply allowing a change of that magnitude to happen unabated," said Y'shtola.

"Exactly! So Teledji actually put poison in Nanamo's goblet and blamed it on Alicia and the Scions."

"..I see. And this is after we have helped save the realm from the 14th Legion?"

"I know, right? Absolutely ungrateful of the little prick. That said, the poisoning causes Raubahn to bisect him there and then in front of God and everyone. Additionally, Lolorito of the Monetarists actually had the poison swapped from something lethal into something that just makes her sleep like death, and keeps an antidote to give to us later, after we rescue Raubahn from motherfucking Ilberd."

Y'shtola stopped, looking Alice up and down, taking in her whole demeanour and body language.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you? Both your memories and the act of explaining them to me."

"You have no idea," said Alice. "I have wished for months that I could talk to you, or Urianger, or Thancred, or the twins… Really just so many people here in Eorzea and beyond. For the last half year or so, this story has been a constant light in my life. Which, don't get me wrong, hasn't been totally awful, but when you're trans and barely making a living… Even in my country things were a bit difficult, y'know? And then I had you lot, the Scions, just constantly showing me how it's possible to just… Work hard and get through shit, and come out on top."

Y'shtola nodded slowly, taking in the absolute barrage of fast sentences with her usual grace. "And this story… Despite your attachment to it, you still wish to change it?"

"Well, now that I'm here, and it's not just a story, it's real… I have a chance to save lives, right? Why shouldn't I try?"

The Archon gave a real, warm smile. "Well said. Alright, your invitation to the Scions is no longer conditional, nor attached to Alicia's."

Alice's jaw dropped for a few seconds, then she gave a very vigorous fist pump and danced in place for a few seconds. "Yes! Yes yes yes! Thank you so much!"

"You may still have to convince Minfilia, but I will attempt to aid you with that. Additionally…" her smile turned wry. "You failed to mention exactly what happens to my eyes at the banquet."

Alice stopped dancing, and she went over the conversation in her mind. "Oh! Oh shit you're right. You know the teleport spell, Flow?"

"I do, in fact."

"Right, stupid question, because the answer is that you used it on yourself and Thancred to escape."

"Oh? I did, did I?"

"And it was very fucking dangerous of you, since you got caught in the lifestream. We needed the bloody Gridanian Elementals to bring you back alive! And when you came out, you were blind!"

"Ah… That explains it." Y'shtola nodded. "And what of Thancred? Was he caught too?"

"Not stuck, but he got thrown out to fucking Dravania and permanently lost the ability to manipulate Aether."

Y'shtola's brow furrowed. "That's still quite unfortunate. Was it worth it?"

"I… I guess so? We got you both back alive. But you had to start using your Aether to see, which Master Matoya said was burning up your life force, so try not to do that again!"

"Did you say Master Matoya?" asked Y'shtola, visibly shocked for the first time.

"Yeah, we needed her help with some things, they were important enough to bother her." Alice shook her head. "The point is she told you not to do it."

"Let's not forget that it hasn't happened yet, and may still prove necessary," she stated.

Alice floundered. "Yeah, fine. Anyway, we still need to get to the church."

"Then it is a good thing we've already arrived, isn't it?" said Y'shtola.

Alice realised they had been stopped just at the gates of the cemetery surrounding the church. "Ohhh…" she said quietly.

"Well, now it is your turn. Where exactly is Cid?"

---------------------

One conversation with the head priest later, they were meeting with Cid - or rather Marques, as the amnesiac genius was currently known. They stood just outside the church.

"Hello… I heard you wanted to speak with me?" He asked, sounding very unsure of himself.

"Yes, there is a chance we may know you from your past," said Y'shtola. "May we see your face, sir?"

Cid nodded. "Alright."

He pulled down his hood, and lo and behold, it was definitely Cid. His goggles were wrapped around his head, and he had grown a beard since the Calamity - exactly as Alice remembered him.

"My word… you were right after all," said Y'shtola. "It truly is him. Do you remember what triggered the return of his memories?"

Alice shook her head. "Honestly, no, and I can't search the information on my phone either."

Cid looked between the two of them. "So it's true, then? You know me?"

Y'shtola smiled. "Yes, friend. Your name is Cid Garlond, a genius engineer and the founder of Garlond Ironworks. You were also instrumental in assisting us all five years ago during the Calamity, the event that would have wiped your memories."

His eyes widened. "Oh… is that so? I've felt I have an affinity for machines… although this admittedly isn't returning my memories."

"Hrmmm…" Alice thought for a moment. "Do the words Meteor, Midas, Gaius or Bozja help at all?"

Cid seemed a little pained at the mentions, but no clarity came to him.

"I… they do and yet don't… a blur of images… I'm sorry." He looked sad.

"Hey, cheer up, buddy! We at least know for sure who you are, and there's no rush at the moment to remember everything yet, alright?" Alice smiled, also a little sad she couldn't help. It must have been something Alphinaud did, but what?

"We should perhaps talk to the priest, Father Iliud?" Y'shtola suggested. "He might have some insight on the situation."

"Right, yes! He might, actually," Alice agreed. She motioned for everyone to go inside the building once more.

"Hey, father!" Alice called out as they entered. "We were right!"

Father Iliud looked up from something he was doing, a mix of surprise, joy and apprehension on his face. They had told him they thought they knew who Marques was, but hadn't said who yet.

"You're sure?" asked the priest, a little of his apprehension leaking into his voice. "Truly?"

"Without a doubt, the man you know as Marques is Cid Garlond. I am sure." Y'shtola's tone was firm but warm.

"One thousand percent," said Alice. "He hasn't, like, remembered everything though."

"Father…" Cid's voice caught in his throat. "Father, I can tell, they are right. Even if I don't fully recall my past, the things they say ring true enough."

"My boy… I am happy for you, truly. It has been like having my son returned to me, these past few years." He bowed his head. "I ask, if you do not need his assistance immediately, may he stay awhile longer?"

"Oh!" Alice snapped her fingers. "Only if you're careful of Garlean attacks. I have, like, the faintest sliver of a memory about that being a thing later maybe."

Iliud now looked confused. "A memory of something that may happen later?"

"Uhhhh, slip of the tongue, I mean I've seen potential Alliance intelligence of such an occurrence. What is important is that Garleans - probably out of uniform? - may come to attack Cid. So inform the Garlond Ironworks too, they'll be genuinely overjoyed to hear he's back"

"I… see," said the Priest, visibly worried now. "Thank you for your help today. Alice, was it? Not a name you hear around Eorzea often."

"Oh I'm from an island continent in the south, you won't have heard of it, called Australia." Alice decided that a half truth was the safest.

"You're quite right, I haven't before." He nodded, apparently satisfied that she at least truthfully wasn't from Garlemald nor had ill intent. "We will send a missive to the Ironworks. May the Twelve watch over you both."

"Thank you, Father," Y'shtola said to him, then turned to Alice. "Shall we?"

Chapter Text

The walk back to Drybone for a pair of Chocobos to Vesper Bay was not a long one, and Alice questioned why they hadn't done so to get to the church.

"It did not seem appropriate at the time," said Y'shtola, a wry smile on her face once more.

Alice shrugged, then attempted to mount the chocobo. It took some effort, especially on the part of the Chocobokeep, but she managed eventually, and they began the trek as the sun finally began to set on the longest day of Alice's life so far.

It really didn't take much longer than Alice remembered from the game, and was definitely faster than the walk from Ul'dah to Drybone. Eventually, they made it, and arrived in that little port town Alice had seen many times, the town's lights beautiful in the night.

"Pray return to the Waking Sands," said Alice, out of habit. "Classic. Oh! You know, that reminds me of something else actually."

"Oh? And what might that be?" asked Y'shtola.

"I never even gave the Scions passphrase to you, something that the game took pains to reiterate many times, often as a joke." Alice gave a stupid grin. "So I suppose we should go whither the wild rose blooms or something, huh?"

Y'shtola chuckled, and shook her head. "Well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?"

They proceeded across the town and entered the building that housed the Waking Sands. The Scions' hard-working and extremely loyal Lalafell secretary Tataru was, as usual, busy with some paperwork while singing to herself, and didn't notice them arrive.

"Good evening, Tataru," Y'shtola said loudly, walking towards the stairs.

The Lalafell woman jumped in her chair, and turned around very fast, her hand on her chest. "Goodness, Y'shtola, you really never get tired of announcing your presence that way, do you?"

"Better that than tapping you on the shoulder, hm? I recall the black eye Thancred got for his trouble."

"Oh dear…" Tataru blushed in embarrassment as she recalled the memory. "I still feel terrible about that."

"Wait, that sounds like it would've been hilarious!" said Alice. "I need to know about this."

Tataru jumped again, turning to see Alice still standing in the doorway.

"Gods! Who are you?"

Your new biggest fan, Alice thought. But instead she said, "Oh, just a new hire, don't mind me."

"Another one? Y'shtola, you really are having a lucky streak with new members." The short woman shook her head. "Although, there's going to be a lot of paperwork in this, I can see it coming… May I please have your name, then?"

"Alice Demasi," the human said with a bow. "I am so glad to be here, this is… this is excellent, I tell you what."

Tataru looked down at a book in front of her. "Ah, yes you are here."

"Ah, nice. You called ahead somehow then?" She asked Y'shtola.

"Yes, I had ample opportunity before you aided that poor woman in Ul'dah," Y'shtola responded, with a light wave of her hand. "Now, I imagine everyone is awaiting us in the Solar?"

"Yes! The Antecedent is already waiting, I shall let her know to expect your arrival."

"Easy peasy, friendo, seeya!" She waved a hand at a confused Tataru, then turned to Y'shtola. "Arright, let's skedaddle to the Solar," said Alice, fast-walking past Y'shtola to the door at the base of the stairs leading into the Waking Sands proper.

"I shall see you later, Tataru." Y'shtola nodded with a warm smile, which the secretary returned.

The Archon quickly caught up to Alice, and they walked into the Sands. Alice noted a slight change in the air as they passed the doorway, which made her shiver.

"Ah, the wards will sometimes have an effect on newcomers," said Y'shtola. They made their way to a woman standing outside a door that Alice didn't remember- no, Alice half remembered her, meaning she must have been one of the poor souls killed in the Garlean raid.

"Welcome, friends. Tataru sent word that you had arrived. Lady Minfilia has eagerly awaited your coming. This way, if you please."

Alice nodded, not quite sure why she was being wholesale directed through one single door into the next room even if it was Minfilia’s office, the ‘Solar’, but going with it anyway. She caught Y'shtola's eye, and the Miqo'te's response was a slight nod.

Alice braced herself, aware that Thancred was either already in the next room or soon to join them, and that she had to be extremely careful about what she said. Even a lie about being from the south may result in Lahabrea's suspicion in future…

She shook her head, clapped her cheeks with her palms, then shook her entire body like a wet dog, a ritual which both of the others found strange. Although Y'shtola was getting used to 'strange' from Alice.

"Yes. Yes, I'm ready, let's go in."

Through the doors was a strange yet very familiar sight. The entire core group of Scions: Minfilia, Urianger, Thancred, Yda, Papalymo and even Alicia, all at the desk waiting for the arrival of Y'shtola and herself. The new faces - her friends Salli, Yaromir and Beatrice - made the scene odd, even before the uncanny valley-like feeling of seeing this room again, but real. A feeling she was convinced she was never going to get used to.

"Wow, it's you guys, fancy seeing you here!" Alice said playfully as she entered the room. The Au Ra rolled her eyes, and the other three chuckled.

"So you are the strange adventurer of whom I've heard so much…" said Minfilia. "You and your queer foresight."

Alice winced, and not at the to-her archaic use of "queer". She hadn't had a good chance to tell the others about keeping some information a secret. Which means more knowledge than intended may have gone through to Thancred, and therefore to Lahabrea.

"Yep, that's me." Alice inwardly cringed at the statement: uttering it made her hear the sound of a record scratch in her head.

"Well met, friend. My name is Minfilia, and I lead the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Although, I have gathered you knew this already."

"Mmm yep, that's… That's true, I did," Alice nodded, figuring it was best to be polite. "It's very nice to actually meet you, all of you, regardless."

"I've told them you were able to help with a few things, thanks to your tactical foresight and occasional glimpses of things soon to come," said Alicia.

Alice had to hold herself from running to the marauder to hug and kiss her. Oh, bless you! Bless you, you incredible woman you!

"She turned a very disordered adventuring party into an actual team," Salli added. "And here I would'a given up on 'em."

"And she just recently brokered peace with the giants residing in the bowels of Copperbell Mines," said Thancred, causing impressed looks to be directed Alice's way from the Scions.

"Did she, now?" Y'shtola asked, directing another raised eyebrow at Alice.

"They helped!" Alice said quickly. "All of my friends here helped."

"I did not," said Yaromir, smiling wryly.

"I almost made things worse before they got better," said Salli.

"And I had to fight their King in a duel with a broken axe," Alicia grumbled.

"And you lived?" Yda asked, slightly awestruck. "That's amazing!"

"Okay, but Alicia and I wouldn't have gotten that far into the mines without you three," Alice pointed out. "Or through Sastasha without Bea and Yaromir, or Tam-Tara without Salli. There's a saying back home: teamwork makes the dream work. Additionally, there's no “I” in “Team.”"

She noticed a couple of the others doing the mental calculus on that last part, some taking longer than others.

"I have found that despite Alice's strange and sometimes abrasive personality, she does have a reasonably good head on her shoulders when the situation calls for it," Y'shtola added. "Hence my additional recommendation."

"Yes, had I not been given reason to understand it first hand, I was going to say that it was strange. You taking a shine to not just one, but five people?" Thancred gave a good-natured laugh at the idea.

"But given it is coming from you, we at least know they can be relied upon," said Papalymo.

Yda waved happily at Alice. "Y'shtola's quite good at this sort of thing, so if you join us, that'd be really helpful." Oh, dear, sweet Lyse Hext… Alice thought, as she smiled and waved back.

Urianger, meanwhile, stood silently, watching Alice, which felt odd given his usual… Shakespearian verbosity.

"Now, be at ease," said Minfilia. "You are among friends here. No doubt you're ripe to burst with questions, but have patience - all will be revealed in time. First, let me begin by telling you who we are and what we do…"

Alice zoned out, pretending to focus - a skill she had honed through her 26 years of living with ADHD. The others apparently hadn't heard the spiel before her arrival, and so listened intently, but Alice had been there, done that already. She zoned back in when she heard a question asked of the newcomers directly.

"Tell me, have you ever experienced a sudden, inexplicable loss of consciousness?" asked Minfilia. "Have you ever had the sensation of being pulled away from reality? Felt as though you were hovering in space, a mind without a body?"

"Yes, I have," said Alicia. "I believe that's the Echo, isn't it?"

Alice nodded. "Right, yeah that, where you can see memories and such. Even the future, sometimes."

"Why yes, that's correct," said Minfilia, surprised. "Forgive the lecture, most people do not understand the gift until we have been able to explain it."

"Ahh, it's no problem," Alice said, waving her hand. "We're just lucky we each had some understanding before meeting, then managed to pool together our knowledge."

"That is quite fortunate. The Echo is strong within you both. It is only a shame that we cannot use it whensoever we choose."

""We"?" asked Alice, already knowing the answer.

"That's right," Minfilia said proudly. "I too possess the Echo."

Alicia looked impressed. "Oh, really now? I haven't met many others outside of…" she trailed off, and looked at Alice. "Well, it's nice to meet more of us."

"Indeed so. With that established, let us return to the subject of the primals…"

--------------------

The rest of the conversation proceeded smoothly, though not quickly: A Realm Reborn Era Writing was alive and well within this real version of Eorzea, causing the euphoria of the situation to take a bit of a dive. Although everyone's voices sounded like their later Heavensward-onwards voice actors, which inexplicably set Alice's teeth on edge.

They were all given the right to utilise Retainers to manage and sell items in the city-state markets, and the order's password of "Wild Rose." When prompted by Minfilia's question about whether they would formally join the order, Alicia did Alice's heart proud by using a bit of wit and giving the answer Alice recalled as the only correct choice.

"I will go whither the wild rose blooms," said the Au Ra, half side-eying Alice.

Alice clapped her on the back, and answered. "I will as well."

"You may count on us," Yaromir added. Bea and Salli nodded.

"Wonderful! I knew you wouldn't let us down." Minfilia smiled, and began the process of formally introducing everyone. They also explained the order's formation - how in the aftermath of Carteneau, with the death of Louisoix, the Archons from Sharlayan sought out Minfilia and those like her - gifted with the Echo and a desire to help the realm, two things that frequently went hand in hand - to form the Scions.

"In time, I hope you will come to think of us as family," said Minfilia. "But without further ado, I would assign you your first tasks. Urianger, have the documents arrived from the Students of Baldesion?"

The tall Elezen nodded. "Aye, my lady. They arrived but recently."

Alice's brow wrinkled as something about the order's name bothered her, then she remembered - the Isle of Val, the Students' home base, was due to disappear in the near future. That warranted a warning.

Minfilia nodded back with a smile, then turned back to the party. "We received a request for aid from the Immortal Flames. Thancred, would you do the honours?"

The rogue smiled and bowed to the Antecedent. "It would be my pleasure."

He turned to face the party and cleared his throat. "Some days ago, a crystal caravan registered to Amajina & Sons Mineral Concern was waylaid and divested of its cargo. But there is more. Within a bell of the robbery, several people were reported missing from the shantytown outside the city."

Minfilia continued the explanation. "At a glance, one would assume the involvement of bandits, kidnappers, and coincidence. Such crimes are hardly uncommon, and the Immortal Flames deal with their like almost every day. However, this time we have reason to believe that a primal is involved."

"Ah, now I understand," said Bea. "This is where this organisation steps in, then?"

Thancred nodded. "Aye, the evidence left behind implicates the Amalj'aa, who are known worshipers of Ifrit. If we then consider the objects that were taken, there is no room left for doubt ─ the crimes were committed in the name of a primal."

Alice stood, barely holding herself from reacting with answers to the issue the way she otherwise would. She noticed Yaromir was also overly still, as much as he had ever been. Perhaps he was trying not to say anything either? She had mentioned this particular investigation to him before now…

"So… It's safest to have people who can be surreptitious, but the two of us with the Echo aren't that, exactly…" Alicia thought aloud.

"Four of us should be fine…" someone said quietly. "One tank and three dps is fine for Ifrit, and two ninjas are perfect for the investigation before the fight…"

Alice sighed when she realised her efforts to remain silent had failed. Fuck, that was me, out loud, wasn't it?

"Oh? Sounds like you already have ideas for tackling the investigation," Thancred said with a smile. "That tactical foresight already coming into play?"

Alice blinked. "I mean, it feels pretty obvious that the two of you," she gestured to Thancred and Yaromir, "would be best for the investigation stage, surely? As the stealthiest guys around."

"You have a point." Thancred nodded. "And you think the two of you had best join us on account of the Echo, then?"

"I… Yes," said Alice with a nod of her own. "Alicia and I had best be there due to the Echo. Both in case it triggers and helps us gather info, and in case of a primal being summoned."

"That was an impressive reading of her mumbling." Yaromir inclined his head, impressed. "You might need to be her translator from now on, ahahaha!" He laughed quite loudly, extremely amused.

"Well, I don't mind doin’ things a little closer to home base, whatever you need," Salli said.

"I'm similarly inclined, I don't mind going where I'm needed," said Bea.

"Actually, the two of us may have need of your assistance with another matter," said Papalymo.

"Yes! That's right, I almost forgot," said Yda. "The arrival of so many new members has me a little too excited."

"Yda…" Papalymo shook his head lightly. "Anyway, yes, we would need you to join us back in the Twelveswood," said Papalymo.

Salli and Bea looked at each other and nodded. "Works fer me," said Salli.

"Then it's settled," said Minfilia. "We shall await word of your successes here at the Sands."

Alice blinked. "Like, now? Isn't it night time?"

"Some investigation is best done at night," Thancred pointed out.

"Yes, but what if the five people you're asking for help have been awake since the crack of dawn that morning, hm?" asked Alice.

"I'm fine," said Alicia.

Yaromir nodded. "It's no issue."

"I'm used to long days," said Bea.

"I've not been awake fer that long," said Salli.

They had said their lines in such quick succession it was as if they had practiced it. Alice sighed, head lowered and a thumbs up raised well above her head. "Fine, sure. Investigation time it is, then."

"Then let us be off!" said Thancred, far too much cheer in his voice.

"Actually, do you two mind going ahead?" Alice said to the two rogues. "Alicia and I need to discuss something with Minfilia."

"Alright. Well, we shall be in or around Camp Drybone when you're able to join us," said Thancred.

"Ah, the desert. The sand is wonderful for my fur," said Yaromir sarcastically.

"I hate sand," Alice said on instinct, unable to stop herself from making the quote. "It's coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere."

"That feels… too practiced to be your opinion," Alicia noted.

"You would be correct," said Alice. "Anyway, Drybone, good luck, have fun, we will be there soon enough, don't worry."

"I'll see you shortly," said Thancred, and he and Yaromir left.

"Well, Yda, Salli, Bea. Let us be off, then," said Papalymo.

"Alright, let's go!" said Yda with a cheer.

The four of them left as well, leaving Y'shtola, Urianger, Minfilia, Alice and Alicia.

"My apologies, but matters require mine attention elsewhere," said Urianger, with a bow.

"Nope, hold on, buddy, I need you to stick around as well," said Alice. "It's knowledge time."

Chapter Text

"Sssso, now I can tell you a lot more about the truth of my gift of foresight," Alice began.

Minfilia's brow creased. "Oh? Speak, then."

And Alice explained her situation, her arrival in Eorzea, backed up by Alicia and Y'shtola - or at least the parts they could verify. She also explained the reason for the initial omission of details - Thancred's near-future possession, a revelation which put Minfilia in a state of shock, her hands clasped on her chest.

"You're certain? And you've come to know this through knowledge of the future?" asked Minfilia. "Brought to us by Hydaelyn Herself, no less…"

"But the Crystal Mother's choice seems strange, shrouded in a veil of mystery beyond Her usual wont," said Urianger.

"Exactly! I don't honestly know why me and not someone who has completely finished the story," Alice admitted. "There's a big chunk left at the very end that I don't know, only that it's important. It's the finale to the saga that began with- began before the Seventh Umbral Calamity."

"That's what you said to me as well," Alicia noted. "And you called it Endwalker."

"An ominous title for a final chapter indeed…" Y'shtola began to think it over, not having heard this part before. "In any case, it seems there are more pressing matters that need attending to, such as Thancred. Most importantly-"

"We cannot know for certain that it's true-" Minfilia interrupted.

"Which is what I had intended to say," Y'shtola clarified. "For all that has so far been true, a claim of this scale will need verification."

"Ah- I mean… Okay yeah that's pretty valid," Alice conceded. "But, like I said, it hasn't happened yet. The problem is, if we stop it from happening, we don't know where Lahabrea will go. But if and when Lahabrea appears, we have to pretend to not suspect a thing, and assume he will just… Gain access to Thancred's memories. You'll know it's happened when he's wearing a black crystal necklace."

"And that's why you didn't want the whole story out, I see," said Alicia. "I had guessed, given what you said about powerful knowledge, that it was best you tell it, if you told them at all."

"Honestly, thank you so much for the cover-up," Alice said to her. "I almost had a stroke when I realised I hadn't said anything to you about that yet."

"Finally, something you couldn't predict," Alicia said with a half-smile.

"Focus, please. We need to ensure we know the location of the Ascian," said Y'shtola. "For all we know, your mere presence - a second Warrior of Light apparent - has caused him to reconsider his plan."

"Mmm, yeah that's true." Alice accidentally mirrored Y'shtola's thinking pose. "I can't think of anything else he might do, though. And we can't actually beat him until Alicia's blessing of light is at full strength, which isn't until… Quite a few events away."

"I… I must ask how you know this information," Minfilia said to Alice, her expression determined, and unwilling to be brushed off.

"I, too, must know," Urianger added. "I hath known Thancred for quite some time now, and would appreciate some confirmation of the events thou speak of."

"Honestly, you will struggle to believe me," said Alice.

"I still don't fully understand it myself," said Alicia. "But she's given me enough cause to trust her with my life."

So Alice explained: how in her world, some of this world's events are told as a story, focusing on the fates of Alicia and the Scions, and that as a result she knew a lot of what was supposed to happen.

"And to clarify," said Alice. "I mean that I literally can only tell you what was supposed to happen, so anything we change is outside of my knowledge."

"Ah, thus thou cannot be sure of the consequences of thine actions, only the intended outcome due to the original series of events." Urianger nodded. "And so thou wished to inform us in advance, yes?"

"Uhhh… Yes." Alice nodded. "I want to tell you a lot of things in the hope that a lot of death can be avoided."

"A noble goal," said Minfilia. "But in war, deaths on both sides cannot be completely prevented. And the Garleans give us no choice."

"I get that, I do," said Alice. "But I'll try my fucking hardest."

She took a deep intake of breath, and almost - almost - decided to tell them about Moenbryda and Papalymo, but just… couldn't.

"You've got that look," said Alicia. "There's something that you should probably say. That look."

Alice decided to start with the easy way out - something she had intended to tell the two Scions anyway. "At some point, Lahabrea will let in a strike team of Garleans, led by Livia sas Junius, a tribunus of the 14th. While here, she will capture the two of you, along with Papalymo, Tataru, and several others. Everyone else is killed, aside from Y'shtola, Yda, and a few others, all of whom weren't in at the time."

Alicia, Minfilia and Urianger looked at her in visible shock. Y'shtola had already been told this, but the idea still unsettled her - how could it not?

"What…? How do they get in?" asked Minfilia. "What happens to Vesper Bay?"

"Honestly I think he just teleports them in, or makes a portal or something, because nobody outside knows anything except for the noise made in the raid. The screams and gunshots. It was… Pretty haunting when I came across it."

Urianger was deeply troubled. "And just like swatting a fly, the Paragon can break our wards… He will undoubtedly have much time to inspect them. This is indeed dire."

"Well? You have a plan, don't you?" Alicia asked Alice.

"Yes, and that plan is for all of us to not be here at that point in time," said Alice. "It doesn't happen until the time Alicia is sent to fight Titan, which… If I recall correctly, is after some negotiations with the Sylphs?"

"I see…" Minfilia thought about the information, not even remarking upon the fact that Titan would be summoned, and was silent for a few seconds.

Alice nodded. "I'll spend some time figuring out the details of the plan, but I'd love to get one back on them for what they did. I mean, what they will do. Intend to do. Time travel is hard."

"I'll be happy to think of something," said Y'shtola. "The Imperials and Ascians have cost us enough friends already. Their dual menace needs to be stopped."

Alice snapped her fingers. "Right! Three more things, then we should probably finally go to Drybone."

Alicia nodded. "Good call."

"Number one, and this might sound a little bit insane." Alice breathed in deeply. "Gaius van Baelsar can be reasoned with-"

"Hold on, what?" Alicia interrupted. "The Legatus of the 14th, the thing you told me was the current big problem?"

"Yes," said Alice, determination in her eyes. "The issue currently is that Lahabrea is in his ear, telling him to use the Ultima Weapon to conquer Eorzea."

"The 'Ultima Weapon'?" asked Minfilia.

"Argh, right, we don't know it yet," said Alice, and very quickly explained some of what she knew about its Allagan origins and its ability to consume primals. For fear of Ascian attention, she left out mentioning the piece of Black Auracite - a crystalline substance from beyond this planet - known as the Heart of Sabik, which served as the weapon’s core.

"And, with various parties of people, I've fought it enough times that I know how to beat it," Alice boasted, then hesitated. "Well, I know a lot of what it can do, would be more accurate."

"What a dangerous artefact," Y'shtola mused, her worry mingled with her insatiable curiosity.

"A weapon that can absorb the aether of a primal, and use it offensively," said Urianger. "I only thank the Twelve that Louisoix could destroy Bahamut before it, too, could be absorbed in such a manner."

"And yet, it was still able to be defeated," Minfilia pointed out. "And that was at the hands of a Warrior of Light who did not know its capabilities."

"That might be true, but I still need to train a lot to be able to stand a good chance," said Alicia.

"Anyway, back on track," said Alice. "Gaius can be reasoned with, but it was only after his defeat at Castrum Meridianum, and a little trick Lahabrea is going to pull with Ultima, that we were able to do so. Fuelled by the betrayal and the deaths of his legion as a result of it, he went on a secret crusade under the name Shadowhunter to go and kill any Ascians he could find. He succeeded with at least four of the low ranking grey masks, and two red masks."

"My word," Urianger breathed. "Two of the highest ranking Paragons? By himself?"

"He picked up a couple of friends along the way that I know basically nothing about, but yes. But even before Meridanum… Well, his legion's scientists came up with a way to win the war without firing a shot - poison gas known as Black Rose that basically kills your soul."

"I… They what?" Minfilia was aghast at the concept, as were the others.

"But," said Alice quickly. "He explicitly cancelled the research and destroyed as much of it as he could. He intends to conquer, not just murder. It's part of why he also implemented a way for Ala Mhigans to become full Garlean citizens, rather than just genocide them all."

"You seem to have a lot of admiration for the man," Y'shtola noted. "I would not personally consider making collaborators elevated above their peers a positive, however."

Alice paused. "Shit, I didn't think about it like that… Okay, well, I only thought of it in any positive light because like I said, he's actively trying to not be a genocidal murderer and stamp out the people they refer to as "lesser races", unlike most of his peers.

"I've seen the attitudes of a lot of other Imperials, and while many of Gaius' actions are definitely unjustifiable, he's still somehow far better than the rest," said Alice. "He is just convinced that Eorzea should be unified under specifically his rule to stop the threat of primals, which we need to knock out of him."

"I'm on board with that much, at least," said Alica, nodding and putting her fist into her other palm to punctuate it.

"There may be some… Pushback to your attempts," said Minfilia. "I think too many have been burned by his actions to readily accept a treaty."

"Oh, no, I mean to fully crush his legion, like in the original timeline," said Alice. "Because that's what they deserve, frankly. But that doesn't mean kill them all, just… beat them and then point them at everyone's real enemy, the Ascians."

"Even so…" Minfilia continued. "Some of our own order, myself included, are Ala Mhigans. Many of us would not welcome attempts to barter with our tormentors."

Alice nodded, understanding her point. "Right, and I'm a third party, so I've gotta be careful. But, if it means anything, even Raubahn and Lyse- uh, Yda were willing to work with him in the future, that's a promise."

The slip with Yda's name didn't go unnoticed, of course, so she continued again.

"I know the thing, please don't worry about it. It's not relevant for quite a while, that's a promise. …Again."

Alicia shook her head. "We're burning time, are you ready to go?"

"Second thing!" said Alice. "Still two more, like I said. Students of Baldesion, great people, love 'em."

She paused. "Their whole island is going to just disappear soon - and I wish I had a more specific timeframe than that - and most of them along with it. With the exception of Krile and a few others, but I want to warn them all."

Minfilia was once more wide-eyed, and she looked at Urianger, then back at Alice.

"Will this phenomenon affect more of Sharlayan?" asked Y'shtola, sharply. "The Isle isn’t far from the city."

"I… Didn't realise that island was part of proper Sharlayan, actually, but no, nothing of the sort was reported," said Alice, shaking her head. "Just the one island, which I think reappeared - without any of its missing people - somewhere in the far east."

"Art thou certain ‘twas the Isle of Val?" asked Urianger.

"I am," said Alice. "And even if you don't completely trust me yet, please send them a warning to evacuate. Please."

"It is within my power, and so I shall," Urianger said with a bow.

"Finally, the last thing I mentioned earlier," said Alice. She turned to Urianger. "When we return, I'd like you to teach me Sharlayan astrology."

--------------------

Camp Drybone was much the same as it ever was when Alicia and Alice arrived. Well, aside from the tangible aura of fear that surrounded many of the inhabitants. Alice hadn't visited the camp itself when she was here with Y'shtola - the settlement was in a large pit, while the Chocobokeep was up the ramp and outside.

Back at the Sands, Alicia had obtained an axe similar to her original, in order for her to be able to fight Ifrit when the time came. She had appreciated the familiarity, but knew it wasn't the same. Nevertheless, she hadn't complained, and had left her battered and broken weapon at the Sands, asking their supply people to care for it without getting rid of it.

They were met by Thancred and Yaromir quite quickly. Likely, the two rogues had seen them enter the camp from some invisible perch.

"Ho, friends," Thancred greeted them. "You need not worry about the time you spent away. It allowed the investigation to proceed quite well, in fact. Yaromir is almost as good at this as I am."

The Hrothgar snorted. "Almost, he says. Yet he may be right."

Alice smiled. "We are ready to assist, and may have made headway of our own. I'd like to hear your results first, if that's alright."

Thancred nodded. "We have managed to narrow down the cause of disappearances here to someone posing as a member of the clergy of the church up north. None of the true priests and nuns are responsible."

"There's a location out further where people go to meet this false priest," Yaromir continued. "And we are to go there dressed in the clothes of refugees to meet him ourselves."

"Ah, right." Alice nodded.

"And yourselves?" asked Thancred. "What have you learned?"

"Good question," said Alicia. "What have we learned?"

Thancred subtly raised an eyebrow at the question, and looked to Alice.

"I think I know who the priest is, but we need to catch him in the act," said Alice. "He's a familiar face to the three of us, so it may not come as a surprise."

Yaromir thought about it, then had a visible eureka moment. "I saw that bastard merchant we saw in Ul'dah, named Ungust, is here. Do you mean him?"

"At the time I insulted him by saying he'd sell his own family if he could get away with it," said Alice. "To think that I was spot on!"

Yaromir wrinkled his nose but said nothing.

"Well, now. That is interesting," Thancred agreed. "But you are right, attempting to press him without catching him in the act will result in him either hunkering down or fleeing."

"Then let's change and visit this gathering spot," said Alice.

--------------------

Thancred and Alice waited at the location. The group had decided that even in rags, Alicia and Yaromir would stand out and best be ready with their gear.

Alice had managed, by way of the special linkshell, to get word to Yaromir of their reasons for excluding Thancred from critical information. Salli and Bea had also ended up hearing, which saved another explanation later.

"Wish I had a gun or something, to just keep ready somewhere," Alice grumbled quietly.

"Loud, slow to use, and often bulky?" said Thancred, just as quietly. "I'd much rather a dagger, thank you."

Alice was torn. On the one hand, she had enjoyed Thancred's wit and disposition, and found him to be an excellent person, and desperately wanted to let him in on her secrets. On the other hand…

Her mind replayed the often-rewatched cutscene from Porta Decumana. Lahabrea's maniacal laughter, his activation of Ultima, the first mention of Zodiark.

She felt a light tap on her arm. She looked up at Thancred.

"He's coming, get ready."

She nodded, and hunched herself, something she was all too practiced at doing.

The false priest arrived, and began his speech to them. When she could hear his voice, it was so obviously Ungust it wasn't even funny. Or maybe it was.

"Oh, you poor, unfortunate souls," he said. "This is no way for men to live. No way at all."

"Who are you?" asked Thancred, sounding frail and confused. "What do you want?"

"Be at ease, child, for I mean you no harm. I am a priest of the order of Nald'thal, and I come to offer you succor."

"Oh, a man of the cloth!" said Alice, also disguising her voice. That was one thing she had become decent at, due in part to occasionally doing impressions or dialogue readings with friends.

She walked up to him, and he handed her a leaflet. "This leaflet bears the teachings of Nald. Trust to them, and they will surely set you free from the shackles of penury!"

She jumped him at that moment, doing something she had wanted to do to this man since she had first encountered him in game, months ago: she kneed him in the groin.

His eyes opened wide in pain and shock, and he made a high pitched sound as he fell slowly to his knees on the ground.

Thancred rushed over, looking confused and sympathetic to the type of pain.

"Goodness, Alice, I know you're new around here but you can't just do that to a man-"

"I know what I'm doing, and how much it hurts," she waved at him dismissively. "Besides, I assure you he has had that coming for years."

"You…?" Thancred looked confused as he tried to process what she said, but seemed to let it go without much prompting. Alice noted that for another time.

"Why'd you…" said Ungust, interrupted by pain. He looked up into the face of his aggressor and recognised her. His pain turned into fear. "How…?"

"Bitch, you're property of the law now," said Alice. "You get to come quietly with us, as a treat."

"I…" Ungust breathed hard. "Can't get up…"

Alice sighed and threw down a quick heal on him, and made a hand motion out to nowhere in particular.

Yaromir appeared, an eyebrow raised in disapproval and disappointment.

"Oh come on, you saw what he was like, you can't say you weren't tempted," she complained.

"I was tempted," he said honestly, and picked up the pained bundle of merchant. "I simply didn't do it."

They made their way back to Drybone, Alice grumbling about various things, such as the biting cold of night in the desert, and the various itches she had.

"That's just how the sand works," said Thancred. "You'll have to get used to it. I did."

Alice's head raised sharply, an insincerely serious expression on her face.

"I hate sand," she recited for the second time that evening. "It's coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere!"

She then laughed, uproariously, continuing onwards to the camp-town, unaware that the other three had stopped where they were to stare after her, confused.

Despite not having stopped long, they found her waiting at the Aetheryte, tapping her foot impatiently. She made a show of looking at her wrist - her bare wrist - and shaking her head. "Come on, we've got to keep on schedule! No dallying or faffing!"

"Patience is a virtue," Thancred admonished. "Besides, we have succeeded. We have him and need to await questioning-"

"No time!" She insisted. "Go-Go Gadget investigation!"

"What does that even mean?" asked Alicia.

"It means we gotta-" she stopped, collecting herself. "Give him to the Immortal Flames, yes, but then I'll discuss things from there."

Alicia and Thancred shrugged, and accompanied Yaromir on his delivery.

Alice sat down, cross-legged, and closed her eyes. She had never been good at meditation, but even attempting it helped ground her at least a little bit. Deep breaths, steady-

A tap on her shoulder startled her. Eyes now wide, she looked up and saw the trio had already returned. She hadn't fallen asleep, but it still felt like she had only just sat down.

"Well, looks like someone's managing to cope without the sleep after all," said Thancred wryly.

"Your damn sense of humour," Alice shook her head. She held out her arms towards him. "I love it, you funny sneaky man. I would give you a hug if I could stand up."

Yaromir grabbed one of her arms lightly, and pulled her to her feet. "Better?" He asked.

"Much," Alice nodded, then walked up to Thancred and hugged him.

He tensed up, apparently not having expected her to actually do it, but didn't try to break free or anything, and patted her on the back a couple of times. "Thank you, I think."

"Okay," said Alice, letting him go. "Now we go find somewhere to rest."

Chapter Text

A room had been procured in a part of Drybone that functioned as an Inn. They managed a few hours rest on relatively comfy beds - not as good as the Mizzenmast Inn, and not the floor.

Eventually, they were all woken up by an Immortal Flames soldier, who had to duck Alice's grimoire being thrown at him. She groaned and complained but got up, thankful she had gotten some sleep. Comparing her phone's clock before and after, it had been a little over four hours.

She tried a healing spell on her aching head and eyes, and found it helped, if only a little bit. So did a drink of water she procured from the inn.

Eventually, she was able to fully answer the summons. Yaromir, Thancred and Alicia waited with the Flame Sergeant they had left in charge of Ungust. Alice had a sudden recollection: one of the soldiers in this man's unit was a traitor, too. Looking at the sergeant, she could tell it wasn't him, but had trouble remembering exactly who it was… not that she had been given his name, in retrospect.

"Excellent, you're all here," said the sergeant. "Let us brief the three of you on what we have discovered from that rotten false priest."

"The man is due to meet with the Amalj'aa to have a chat about their ongoing deals to sell the people of Drybone and the Golden Bazaar," Thancred explained. "It's going to be rough to take them out even with a squad of the well-trained Immortal Flames, and so your assistance is required."

"'Your,'" Alice noted. "As in not you? Alright, I don't get why but it'll work fine."

"We've done fine without him before now," said Alicia. "We shouldn't need him for this, surely?"

Alice waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine. Go ahead, stealth man."

"I'll be back to provide aid, but something needs doing first," said Thancred with a nod. "I'm not one to leave a job unfinished forever, so leave something for me when I return, eh?" He smiled, then took his leave.

Alice was smiling and waving until he was well out of earshot.

"So, our squad will bring Ungust to the Invisible City, where he will be used as bait-"

As soon as the Archon was out of audible range, Alice's face fell and she turned to the sergeant to interrupt him.

"The meeting is a trap and one of your soldiers is a traitor," she told him bluntly. "I've done some investigative work and am one hundred percent sure of this."

The sergeant was taken aback. "Surely you jest? In poor taste, but…"

"Is this the same kind of 'investigative work' that helped you learn about this kidnapping conspiracy in the first place?" asked Yaromir, catching on immediately, Alicia only a second behind him.

"Yeah, the same. One guy is a traitor, and between him and Ungust leaking information, there'll be way more Amalj'aa than the actual Flames soldiers can handle." Her face turned grim. "Many will die, and the rest will be tempered."

"You speak as though you know this outcome for certain." The sergeant seemed suspicious. "And why are you only telling me now that your friend is gone?"

"That is genuinely unrelated and not something I can explain here and now, nor really… Ever, honestly." Alice shrugged. "Sorry, but at least I can identify the traitor if I see him."

"Her investigative work has saved lives, including ours," said Alicia, embellishing a little.

The sergeant didn't seem wholly convinced. "Well, what would you have me do, in that case? We can hardly ignore this lead…"

Alice gave it some thought, contemplating the advice of Foreseer K'lyhia. "I propose the following…"

"Alright, men, we've had a change of plans," the Flame Sergeant told his unit. "These two, as the primary investigators on the kidnappings, have determined that a big attack is incoming to the Golden Bazaar, and most of us will be stationed there to do whatever we can. But, given the opportunity cannot be ignored, they will select one of you to assist with the prisoner's meeting."

Alice and Alicia stood next to him, their most serious expressions on.

One man stepped forward, and asked "Sir! Why only one guard, sir?"

"Because we need everyone we can spare up north," the sergeant lied. "We have to be ready for any potential surprises while we wait for reinforcements."

The soldiers didn't seem entirely convinced, but were receiving an order and so didn't question it any further. The forward man stepped back into line.

"Investigators? Your choice, please."

Alicia looked at Alice. "Go for it."

Alice stepped forward, and looked at each of the men carefully. Thankfully, while she hadn't clearly remembered the features of the traitor, seeing the men in the squad had reminded her who it was.

She pointed at the man, and said "You. You will help us with the meeting."

The man hesitated briefly before stepping forward. He gave a confident grin, and because she was looking for it, Alice could see a hint of opportunism in it. "Me, huh? Alright, then."

"Originally, the plan was to ambush them and capture them, but we will have to stick to intelligence gathering for now, and only attack if it's a small force, maybe two or three warriors at most." Alice announced this clearly, making absolutely sure the man heard her. "We cannot afford to get caught by a larger force, or else we risk, I don't know, getting captured and tempered, maybe."

"Yes, that would be… Very bad," the man agreed. "Let me know when it is time, and I will be ready to move."

"Excellent! What a guy," said Alice.

"Uhm, no ma'am, I'm not a 'water guy,'" he replied, confused.

"No, I… People are made of 70% water anyway, don't worry about it." She waved a hand to dismiss any further replies. "Be ready in 5 minutes, north exit of Drybone!"

She left, pulling Alicia with her.

"You heard her," said the sergeant as they left. "Everyone to your assigned duties!"

The pair moved well out of earshot, and waited to make sure they were alone. Alice opened a linkpearl channel on her phone directly to Yaromir. "Did you catch that?"

"Very much so, yes."

"Good. You know the score. Sightless, mindless."

"I am quite certain no one says these things, but I understand anyway." The linkpearl connection ended.

"You really do speak in the most obscure, obfuscating ways," said Alicia. "It might need to be something you attempt to stop doing."

"Or, counterpoint, you learn what I'm saying and it's great code."

"I think it might rot my brain if I could speak and think as you do," Alicia replied.

Alice shrugged. "Ready?"

"As much as I can be. The next five minutes will be irritating."

The wait ended up not being unbearable. The entire squad, as well as Ungust, walked up to the gate to meet the pair, and then all but the traitor and Ungust left for the Golden Bazaar.

"Onwards!" said Alice, and they hesitantly followed her to the Invisible City.

Once there, the pair and the traitor waited out of sight, while Ungust met with a trio of Amalj'aa.

"There's three…" said Alicia. "I think we can take them."

"Yes, with me as backup, it'll be an easy fight," said the traitor. His wording was not lost on Alice.

She looked at Alicia, and, knowing the traitor couldn't see it, mouthed 'trust me' to the Au Ra. Alicia nodded, and they charged out.

"Hah! We have you now!" Alice called out, doing her level best to not ham it up.

"No… we have you," the traitor said from behind the pair. More Amalj'aa showed up from around corners, hidden by pieces of the surrounding ruins.

"No! You were a traitor this whole time?" said Alice, once again trying hard to not to overdo it and tip their hand.

"Grrr… Untrustworthy little bastard," said Alicia. There was no need for her to feign anything there, just bare contempt.

"Try and fight your way out of this one!" declared the traitor, over a horrible, smug grin.

"If you come quietly," the leader Amalj'aa growled, "we will not harm you, and you shall witness the glory of our Lord."

"Oh no, Alicia, what do we do?" Alice emphasised the sentence to indicate that it was time to stand down and go with them.

Alicia growled again, but followed the plan. She threw her axe down and raised her hands in surrender. Alice followed, her grimoire placed on the ground carefully.

"Good choice," said the Amalj'aa leader. "Take them away."

The pair had been led to a cave to await judgement by Ifrit Himself. They didn't end up waiting long, and had barely been restrained; only their wrists had been tied together. They said nothing as they waited. An easy task for Alicia, and a nightmare for Alice. After an eternity of waiting - about fifteen minutes real time - they were brought into the arena Alice knew to be the Bowl of Embers.

"Gods, that took hours- I mean, bells of waiting, what took so long?" Alice couldn't help but snark as her first words since arrival.

"Be quiet," the Amalj'aa leader growled. Be thankful that we have brought you, alive, to bear witness to our Lord."

Behind the pair, they heard sounds of struggling, and turned to see Ungust and the traitor led into the bowl, also restrained.

"This isn't what we agreed!" cried Ungust, fear causing his voice to crack and waver.

"Impure souls must be brought before our Lord to be cleansed with His fire." A different Amalj'aa, one that had been leading the rites of summoning, spoke. "As were your offerings' souls cleansed, so too must yours be."

"Damn, sucks to be you," said Alice with a shit-eating grin directed at the traitorous pair.

They looked at her in fear and bewilderment. "Wait, what does that mean?" asked Ungust.

"Oh, don't you worry your shit-addled little brains about it," she responded, feeling unbelievably smug.

Fuckers are about to get what's coming, she thought. But then, she felt a twinge of guilt. She maybe could save them from tempering… Maybe… But should she…? If nothing else, it meant they wouldn't simply be executed for tempering, and would instead face actual justice for their crimes. So maybe it was the best way…?

She looked at Alicia, who was remaining stony-faced, but there was an undercurrent of uncertainty. Alicia hadn't seen the Echo protect her from a primal yet. Alice elbowed her lightly.

"Chin up, hero. You'll do great," said Alice echoing her words from the other day.

Alicia looked at her, half-exasperated but half appreciative of the attempt.

"So, uhm, hear me out," whispered Alice. "I'm going to do something a little stupid when things happen."

Alicia's expression mixed with worry. "What…?"

She was interrupted by the commencement of the summoning ritual. The Amalj'aa spoke the words to begin, and a great, fiery orb appeared to blot out the sun, before Ifrit formed out of the flames with a roar. It floated down to the land, immediately superheating and burning the earth directly below it, while the space around became hot enough to generate steam.

Despite the situation, Alice couldn't help but grin. This fight would not be easy, but it would still be an interesting time.

"O mighty Ifrit! We bring before You ignorant savages who know not Your godhead!" said the Amalj'aa leader. "If it please You, Lord, scorch their heathen souls with Your cleansing flame, and mark them as Your own!"

"Nooo! Spare me, I beg you!" Ungust was frantically wriggling, feebly attempting escape, and the traitor soldier sat, dejected, resigned to his fate.

"Pitiful children of man! By my breath I claim you!" Ifrit reared back, ready to breathe a gout of tempering flame.

"It's time, back me up!" shouted Alice, elbowing the Amalj'aa guard in between her and the two traitors in the stomach. The lizardman gasped in surprise, and wasn't able to stop the human from running past him to the others. Another guard tried to stop her, but Alica tripped him up, and used the falling lizardman's blade to cut her bonds.

Ifrit's head came down, and an intense, blue flame flared out of the primal's mouth to cover all in front of it.

Alice had no idea how to do what she was attempting to do, but figured the first step was trying. Similar to her now-practiced manipulation of her aether for Arcanima, she looked within herself, trying to locate her gift of the Echo. Finding it, she attempted to, for lack of a better term, expand it. It was a struggle, and with a strained yell she erected a barrier in front of her and the two traitors. The fire washed over them all, parting around her barrier and missing the two traitors as a result. They yelped and moved together, feeling the heat of the flames, but were surprised that it hadn't affected them beyond that. They looked down at their hands, then back up at Alice.

"Arise once more as my loyal minions!" Ifrit's voice boomed. "Feed my flames with your faith, and all who stand against us shall burn!"

And yet, nobody was compelled to do so outside of the already-tempered Amalj'aa.

"Wh… What did you do?" asked Ungust.

"Oh, make no mistake, this is only so real justice can be served to you later," she said. Her bindings had been seared enough by the fire that she was able to break what remained apart by herself, and crossed her arms. "But if you were tempered, the information you provide may not be correct, or you would have to be put down prematurely."

The two prostrated themselves before her. "We… We don't deserve such mercy…" said the traitor soldier.

"Damn right, but-"

"You!" roared Ifrit. "You both remain untempered by my will… Thy frail mortal frame can serve as vessel to the blessing of but One. Yet I smell not the taint of another upon thee…"

"Oh yeah, you big chicken!?" Alice shouted back, causing the Amalj'aa to recoil in horror at her blasphemy. "What of it?"

"The truth of thine allegiance waxeth clear ─ thou art of the godless blessed's number. The Paragons warned of thine abhorrent kind. Thine existence is not to be suffered."

Ifrit roared wordlessly, and the Amalj'aa all bowed and walked away, allowing their god to fight the interlopers alone. Alice snatched her Grimoire from a departing lizardman, who glared at her but made no move to prevent her from reclaiming the tome. The same happened to Alicia as she retrieved her axe.

They met up in front of Ifrit, at the edge of the primal's aura of heat. It glared malevolently at them, but made no moves to strike first.

"So, what's the plan? Do we call in backup?" asked Alicia.

"Nope~!" said Alice, feeling oddly cheery. "We commit deicide together, and begin a long legacy of killing gods and such."

"But why did you have Yaromir…"

"Just in case. A back-pocket rogue is always good to have around for when needed. Besides, if he was here, we would constantly need to protect him from tempering."

Alicia nodded, understanding. "But… Can we do this?"

"Well, you've done it before, so…."

"My patience is not infinite," Ifrit warned. It summoned a ring of fire around them, keeping the pair encircled.

"Yes, and we appreciate you waiting, give me another moment," Alice said to the primal. She turned back to Alicia. "We can do this, I promise. Let's go! DUTY COMMENCED!"

They raced at the primal, Alicia only a half step behind Alice, until she launched herself directly at Ifrit's face with a leap. The primal batted her away, but she managed to force herself to land on her feet, close enough to it to have another go.

While Alicia kept Ifrit distracted, Alice summoned her carbuncle and charged a variety of spells, including her Aethercharge. She blasted a quick Energy Drain, which unbalanced the primal enough for its second swing at Alicia to miss. The marauder landed a heavy blow in Ifrit's left shoulder, and a hot liquid, like a mix of blood and lava, spurted out. It didn't seem to affect Alicia, who freed her axe, and jumped onto the quadrupedal entity's back, and began hacking and slashing down at the hot scales.

Alice used the opening and threw a Fester at Ifrit's shoulder injury, and it let out a pained bellow. She aimed her second at a slice Alicia had made near the primal's tail, and it nearly forced the primal off balance. It waved a hand in Alice's direction, but seemingly nothing occurred. Alice frowned, too intent on her final normal Ruin before her Aethercharge maxed out.

Upon casting the spell, she realised her feet and legs were getting warm. Looking down, she noted a circular section of the ground lighting up, steam releasing from orange cracks in the earth. Her eyes widened, and she threw herself out of the way. It had been just in time: Ifrit's Eruption singed her legs but didn't do much else, thankfully. However, she had to quickly roll again to avoid a second blast.

"Okay, fuck you, buddy!!" She shouted. She stood up, seeing that Alicia was keeping the big lizard occupied for now. Aethercharge was done, and Alice sent her Ruby Carbuncle in for a headbutt. Yes, fire damage on a fire primal wasn't always the best, but there was a reason the saying 'fight fire with fire' existed, right?

The Carbuncle's attack landed, and it actually knocked the distracted primal off balance completely, and it landed on its face, before scrabbling back up again. It was met with a Ruby Ruin in the Festering shoulder, which collectively caused actual harm to the creature. It roared, and a wave of heated air pushed Alicia away. Then, Ifrit jumped.

"Oh fuck. DPS Check incoming!" Alice shouted.

"What?" asked Alicia.

A giant spike of super-heated metal crashed down from the sky, slamming into the centre of the flaming circle.

Alice pointed at the Infernal Nail. "Kill that, now!"

Alicia looked confused but acted anyway, launching herself at the Nail and crashing into it, axeblade-first. Alicia's Topaz Carbuncle raced at it, and caused a detonation of earth-aspected aether where the Nail met the ground. Alice flung a quartet of Topaz Ruins at the thing for good measure, and between those and Alicia's swings, the Nail was destroyed. And then Alice realised, unlike the game, Ifrit hadn't come down with the Nail. She looked up, and her eyes widened.

"MOVE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, running as far to the edge of the flame circle as she could safely be. Alicia saw the reaction and followed suit, running the opposite direction.

Ifrit came down on the Nail's position like a meteor, right claw curled into a striking fist. While the Nail hadn't been there, the shock and heatwave of the impact were immense, and Alice had to quickly use Radiant Aegis to survive a collision with the surprisingly-solid wall of flame.

The primal, still balanced on its fist, let out a roar, and waves of heat radiated from it. It curled itself down to a more normal position, although its left arm was curled lamely beneath it. It bit into the upper arm of the injured limb, dripping more of its hot blood into the earth.

The outside perimeter of the arena became volcanic. The ground, in a 2-metre radius from the fire ring, became black rock veined with lava.

"Fuck's sake!!" Alice shouted, forcing herself to her feet and running in towards the safe zone.

Alicia had taken the waves of heat and force better than she had, and launched herself at the primal's tail, working to hack off the limb.

"When the air blows through with a brisk attack…" Alice recited some lyrics, unleashing her third aspected Carbuncle and Ruins, recently learned, at Ifrit, going after the same target as Alicia. The Emerald Carbuncle joined with the blades of wind and tore Ifrit's tail away from its body. The primal, incensed, roared louder than it had before, and the volcanic ground at the arena's edge exploded.

"The reptile tail ripped from its back!" Alice shouted, laughing madly. She reached a hand to the sky and recharged her Aether, her adrenaline and the high ambient aether speeding the process up exponentially.

"When the sun sets!"

Alicia kept attacking, deflecting blows from the primal even as she counter-attacked.

"We will not forget!!" Alice shouted again, building a charge beyond her limits. Ifrit detected the buildup, and turned around. In its face, Alice could see the pain and anger turn to fear and confusion.

"THE RED SUN OVER PARADISE!!"

Alice broke her limits, and threw down her hand. A rain of fiery rocks, purer than any of Ifrit's attacks, rained down towards the primal.

LIMIT BREAK: STARFALL

The miniature meteorites collided with the primal, each strike pushing it towards the burning earth. With only three working limbs, Ifrit couldn't stay upright for long, but the strikes kept coming, driving its form against the earth, destroying its torso, leaving it breathing hard. A final shard landed hard on its head, pulverising it with a flash of orange aether, causing the primal's entire form to dissipate.

Alicia looked around, her blood still pumping, looking for more foes to fight. Upon seeing their god die quite so brutally, the Amalj'aa had been stunned. They looked at each other, confused. Their leader was hunched, breathing hard. He suddenly went bolt upright, pointing at the two godslayers.

"Kill them!"

The unsure but enraged crowd of Amalj'aa charged the injured pair. Alice moved behind Alicia, attempting to charge up another set of attacks. Unfortunately, a Limit Break was apparently something that left the user a little more defenceless, as now her aether was charging more slowly than before.

"Fuck! I think that tapped me out…"

"I'll still get them…" Alicia reassured her. "No godsdamned way I'm letting us die after that."

The Amalj'aa group reached them, and Alicia swung her axe, toppling three. The remainder… fell on their faces, each somehow with a dagger in a vital spot on their backs.

Alice's face turned to shock. "That was… like twelve guys, what the fuck?"

"And somehow, all it took was two!"

Alice turned, seeing Thancred running towards them. Yaromir and a group of Immortal Flames soldiers were with him. As the Archon said, both of the rogues had apparently just killed nine Amalj'aa between the two of them, just by throwing knives. The soldiers spread out, capturing any remaining Amalj'aa, including the leader and priest, as well as the stunned Ungust and the Flames traitor. The two rogues stopped in front of the women.

"...What the fuck, my guy, that was amazing," said Alice. "So many knives…"

"And you just killed a primal with a rain of fire from the sky!" said Yaromir, cracking the biggest grin he could. "By Gunnhildr, that was incredible! No way they won't call you two the Warriors of Light after a show like that, eh?"

Alicia's face fell. "Oh, gods damn it. They really will, won't they?"

Alice grinned too, and clapped the marauder on the back. "You bet your incredible good looks they will!"

Despite herself, Alicia blushed a little at the compliment. "And you got the final hit, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but you can get the next one!" Alice caught herself, remembering who she was standing in front of: Alicia wasn't one for babying. "There's no way we won't have to fight a bunch more primals in the future, so next one's yours. If you can get the last hit."

"Well, I'm just happy we made it in time to prevent our new heroes from an untimely end to a faceless horde," joked Thancred. His face turned more serious, his hand on his chin in thought. "I'd rather this report ended in a success. Although, the tempered will have to be put down…"

"No, I… I stopped the tempering."

Thancred looked up sharply. "I’m sorry, you did what?"

"Yeah, you can… expand the Echo, for lack of a better term, and it can protect others while you do it." She pointed towards the two traitors. "They're just scared as fuck, but untempered. You can question them then judge them fairly and appropriately."

"I… must say that's a new development, although a rather pleasant one." Thancred seemed rather pleased. "Well, we should be off to report this to Min- to the Antecedent, yes?"

"Go ahead, just give me a moment," said Alice. She turned, scanning the rocks, until she saw him. The outlandish man in red armour, who suddenly noticed he was seen. Before he could disappear, she held up a hand and waved. "Hi Nero!"

The others turned, barely spotting the panicked, retreating tribunus.

"Garleans, here!?" said Yaromir. He spat on the ground beside him.

"What do they want?" asked Alicia, ready to go for round two.

"More importantly, how did you know he was there?" asked Thancred, suddenly suspicious.

Ah. My Hubris, how I missed thee, Alice thought. She had been so determined to greet the Garlean engineer once she realised she could, that she hadn't bothered to think whether or not she should. Alicia and Yaromir looked at her in exasperation.

"It's simple really," said Alice. "I just knew." Alicia facepalmed.

"Not that your response answers my question, but you even called out his name. You have been rather suspicious since your arrival, and even the other Scions seem to know something I don't."

"Yes, but if I was a spy for those jerkasses," she pointed up at the cliff where Nero had been, "Why would I just… call myself out like that?"

"She has a point," Yaromir agreed. "I can vouch for the whole not being a spy thing, if that helps."

"Well, you joined on the same recommendation as her." Thancred seemed content to have this out as a discussion rather than make any moves to fight anyone. "But I also trust Y'shtola. She's not the type to bow to Garleans, or anyone else threatening her for that matter."

"She would, in fact, fight back against such a thing," Alice agreed. She remembered something, and pointed Alicia in the direction of where Ifrit had died. "So, if it's not Garleans, what could it be?"

Alicia shrugged and walked over to the pile of fallen rocks.

"Well, it could always be Ascians," said Thancred. "But what are the chances they could infiltrate us watchful scions, eh?"

Alice slightly winced, but then had a stupid thought she wanted to act on. "I mean, yeah, she woulda seen their stink on me pretty quickly. Shadowfuckers do have a big old aura of darkness, yeah? I've seen the weaker ones around, and they aren't subtle."

"But of course, there are the Paragons," said Thancred. "The strongest of their number. The kind you don't survive."

"Psh, those guys are bitches," said Alice. "No way they're actually any stronger or smarter than the little ones. All the shadowless are dickless losers, of that I'm sure. How else would you become the leader of an organisation of losers, other than by being the shittiest and most cowardly of them all?"

"I… see," Thancred took in the words, but didn't fully seem to understand them. "Well, in any case, I'm currently content to let you be, but I'll keep a close watch on you."

"Gods, yes," she blurted. "I mean, yes, friend, sure."

"I do not understand what kind of person you are," he admitted, shaking his head. "And that unsettles me."

"I'm the kinda bitch that'll help save some lives," said Alice, smug.

"I agree, she is strange and unsettling, but it makes her… interesting, yes?" said Yaromir. Alice grinned at him, and they clasped wrists, then gave Thancred a little salute.

Without turning around, she called out, "Alicia, you found it yet?"

"I think so," came the reply. "It's… another crystal?"

"What kind of crystal?" Thancred called, suddenly worried. "Is it purple?"

"Relax, my guy, she can't get Ascian possessed with the Echo," said Alice. "She and I are one hundred percent Seifu." Alice closed her eyes for a second, an attempt to turn off the weeb part of her brain. "Safe. One hundred percent safe."

He nodded, apparently content with the answer, and she left him and walked towards Alicia's discovery. It was, in fact, a crystal of fire.

"Let's touch it at the same time," said Alice. "I want to talk to Hydaelyn too."

Chapter Text

Alice and Alicia touched the fire crystal, and were transported to… Well, it was definitely that strange blue place Alice had seen many times in cutscenes. While it had never been confirmed that she could remember, it was most likely the Lifestream - Hydaelyn was said to reside there, after all. Once there, the fire crystal left their hands, shooting upwards to join Alicia's water crystal, which Alice remembered had been obtained before her arrival.

"Okay, that's… The same as I remember," Alice said, her voice somehow echoing in the infinite space.

"And we seem to share the same protection…" Alicia noted. "The crystal didn't flare for you separately, only for my own… Circle."

"I swear to god, if she made us share a soul or some shit…"

The space turned a much lighter shade of blue, and the ambient feeling around them changed. A glow came from one side, and they turned to face it. Alicia had seen it before, but was still struck by its wonder. Alice however…

Technically, she had seen it before, too: rendered in an engine that was at least ten years old when she had started the story mode, she had previously seen a representation of the Mothercrystal.

But the real thing? Beautiful. Transcendent. Indescribable.

"Woah…"

"My children…" Hydaelyn's voice resounded, simultaneously coming from all around them and from inside their minds, yet somehow only pleasing to hear, rather than loud or unsettling.

"Hydaelyn…" said Alice, her recent Shadowbringers knowledge about the goddess' manifestation coming to the forefront of her mind. "As I believe you are no longer called Venat."

Alicia shot a look at Alice, confused and slightly bewildered.

There was a chuckle from the being. A delighted, fanciful chuckle, all mirth and no malice.

"It hath been a very long time since I was referred to by that name," said Hydaelyn. "But that is why thou wert chosen… For, thou knowest what needs be known, to save our worlds, and to protect my children."

"Yeah, but so did hundreds of thousands of others! And most of them even know how it's supposed to end! Why did you choose me!?" Alice was finally able to unpack her frustration at the cause of her drastic life change, and didn't hold back. "Why the fuck did you take me from my home, my life, and bring me fucking here!? Why me!?"

"Thou asks the wrong question: why not thee?" asked Hydaelyn. "Those who know the end know too much. They have a great many expectations, and mayhap even the wrong idea of the correct solution. Some others have the wrong moral compass, or others still the expectation of riches, or fame, or power. Thou, however…"

"She just wants to help…" said Alicia, finally able to speak again. "And because of that, and her expectations, you chose her?"

"Yes, and also no…" Hydaelyn responded. "Several were chosen, and only one could come through to us. The final, deciding factors… were both of thee."

"What?" the pair asked simultaneously.

"I cannot tell all, not yet, but I can say… Alice… Thou wanted this. Deep inside, thou wanted to be here, so much so that now, thine art."

"I… I did…?" Alice breathed, not sure what to make of that.

"Now, go, my children, and know that I watch over you."

Without another word, they returned to the material world. The crystal was gone, but their chests shined, just as they did in the game after the same event.

"I… Wanted to be here…?" Alice was still processing. Thancred and Yaromir had walked up.

"Well? What did you find?" asked Thancred.

"Fire crystal," said Alicia. "Just like the water crystal I found after I met Y'shtola the first time. Hydaelyn's blessing feels… Stronger."

"Oh, that can only be good!" said Yaromir. "Even stronger primals will have trouble against you now, yes?"

"Ideally so, yes," Alicia replied.

No one spoke for a few seconds. They looked at Alice, fully having expected her to say something by now.

"Nothing?" asked Alicia. "You're usually… more relentless in your speech."

"Huh?" Alice looked up, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. "What did I miss?"

"...What happened?" asked Yaromir.

"I… I wanted to be here… She told me…" said Alice. "But why did I want to leave my life behind…? To leave my family and friends… ?"

"Now what does that mean?" asked Thancred, looking to Alicia for help.

"She… spoke to Hydaelyn and had…" Alicia struggled with the words. "She was given a revelation that I don't understand, but seems to have shaken her badly."

"And the revelation is… That her being in Eorzea is voluntary?" asked Thancred.

"Yes?" Alicia responded.

"Well, either way, we should help her back to the Waking Sands-"

"Pray return!" A piece of Alice's addled mind had her blurt that out, even as the tears began to run down her face. "I… I'm sorry… I need…"

The stress and tiredness finally overwhelmed her, and she blacked out.

When Alice awoke, she was in… Hm. Where was she?

She felt rested, and was lying in a comfortable bed, wherever 'here' was… Once she could move her head, a cursory examination of the room told her it was probably the Inn attached to the Quicksand. Turning her head more, she saw Alicia sitting in a chair, asleep.

"Oh, you silly girl, why didn't you get a bed…?" Alice said quietly.

Alicia woke up, and blinked several times. She wiped at her eyes, cleared her throat, then stood up to stretch.

"Good… Morning?" said Alice, starting to get up.

"Good afternoon. You slept through the morning."

"Oh, that's normal for me." Alice sat up fully now, on the edge of the bed. "And…?"

"Thancred and Yaromir helped me bring you here, then left for the Waking Sands," said Alicia. "The memorial service here is in an hour, then there should be one in Gridania, then finally the one in Limsa. There's enough time between each for an airship ride. Or a teleport, if you really want."

"Speed equals money over time," said Alice. "Gotta spend money to make money and you gotta spend money to go at a reasonable speed."

"Ah, there you are," said Alicia. Her expression turned solemn. "So…"

"I remember what she said." Alice was quiet again. "I just… need to not think about it for now."

Alicia nodded, then moved her head side to side to crack her neck.

"So, food first, then the memorial?" asked Alice.

"I believe we should clean up, first, but otherwise that's the plan, yes."

They each took turns using the washroom, Alice not exactly thrilled at having to be alone with her thoughts, then gathered their things and left for the Quicksand proper.

Momodi looked pleased when she saw them both standing. "Oh, excellent! I thought you might have been in trouble when your friends brought you here earlier."

"Ah, yeah, that's… Well, I'm doing better now," said Alice.

"Splendid! I imagine you both need some food, then?" asked Momodi.

Alicia nodded. "Yes, please, ma'am." They ordered a pair of hearty meals, Alicia insisting it was a good idea to actually restore their energy that way and paying for both of them. Alice shrugged and let her do it, not willing to argue about that sort of thing right now.

"Oh!” Momodi had clearly remembered something, and they turned back to face her. “While you wait, there's someone here to speak with you."

Alice tilted her head. "Who…?"

"Well met!" A familiar voice came from behind them.

The pair turned around and saw the Flame Sergeant from Camp Drybone.

"Oh! Hey there," said Alice, nodding politely.

"Good to see you well," said Alicia.

"Yes, I and the rest of my squad are all fine, thanks to you two," he told them. "And I hear that Martinus is being thoroughly investigated, now that he's been detained and brought in."

Alice's face scrunched up in confusion. "Marti- Oh! That's his name, huh? I, uhm, didn't need it for my investigation, so I never learned it before now."

"Ah, I see." The sergeant nodded. "Yes, you seemed to know him by sight, though, and you were correct. I appreciate your assistance in this matter. Including…"

He trailed off, trying to form the words.

"Go on," said Alicia.

"I know he was a rotten bastard, selling out his people, the ones we were sworn to protect, but… I hear you protected him from being tempered somehow, so…"

He suddenly bent forwards in a low bow, almost ninety degrees at the waist. "Thank you very much! He may be a bastard, but he was still one of mine, and I appreciate you doing what you could for all of us."

"Hey, uhm, you're welcome, but…" Alice looked around the room, aware of the stares from other patrons. "You're drawing a lot of attention."

"Apologies!" He shot upright, standing at attention, then relaxed. "I really do appreciate your help. Thank you."

"It was our pleasure," said Alicia, nodding with a smile. Alice nodded too.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to Camp Drybone," he said. "But given I had to pass on my report to my commander, I thought I'd try to speak to you before I left."

"We appreciate that," Alicia told him.

"If you're ever in Drybone again, don't be a stranger!" He waved, and left.

The pair waved after him, stopping once he had exited the Quicksand. Alicia turned to look at Alice.

"Well?"

"Well what?" asked Alice.

"How do you feel?"

"I don't know. Hungry? Unmedicated? Alive?"

Alicia shrugged. "I'm just glad you didn't ask him for money or anything."

Alice furrowed her brow and frowned. "Why would I do that?"

"Exactly. You're doing stupid and brave things to save people because you can. I'm just… Reinforcing Her point, or at least that part of it."

"I… Guess so? Why, though?"

"Food's ready!" Momodi called out to them. At the shout, Alicia picked up Alice with little difficulty and carried her to a table.

"Wait, no, I can walk by myself-"

The much stronger auri woman dropped her into a seat at the table, then walked over to the bar to get the food and some mugs of water.

When she returned, she set Alice's food and drink down in front of her, then sat down at her own chair with her meal.

"...Ow," Alice finally said. She opened her pouch to take out her pill containers and prepare her daily doses.

"What's that?" Alicia asked in between mouthfuls.

"Medication. My body and brain aren't correct, and these help me fix that."

"What do you mean 'aren't correct'? They're yours, aren't they?"

"Yeah, well, us poor fuckers in my world don't get to just drink a Fantasia and change our bodies if we don't like our assigned gender at birth, like me."

Alicia cocked her head. After a few seconds her eyes widened in recognition. "Oh! Right, I get you. Wow, that's… I couldn't tell, if that helps at all?"

"A few years of this," Alice pointed at her HRT tablets, "will help with that, but I need to take it for the rest of my life, and…" She stopped mid sentence, as a realisation hit her. Her head hit the table.

"Fuck… How am I going to get more if I'm here for longer than a month…"

"Alchemist's guild?" Alicia suggested.

"I…" Alice's head shot up to look at her. "What the fuck, why didn't I think of that?"

"And at worst you can probably save up for a Fantasia, right?" Alicia suggested. "They're legal enough, if rare from what I hear. I don't really get it, but if what you're taking is temporary…"

"Not exactly, more like my body won't make correct hormones without the meds, but… Yes, theoretically a Fantasia should do it?"

"There you go. A new goal for you," said Alicia. "And your brain too…?"

"Oh, no, that one I'll need the Alchemist's guild 100%. My brain goes funky without these," she grabbed a pill from the other set. "But not like… Not like the other meds."

She swallowed the pill with some water, then took her other meds, and began to eat quickly.

"Woah, slow down! You can't enjoy the food if you eat it that fast."

"Only so much time before the service!" Alice spoke with her mouth full of food.

"Eugh… We still have most of an hour, calm down."

"Yeah, but-"

Alice stopped mid sentence again. On the other side of the room, she saw a pair of Elezen whom she recognised very well. She met eyes with one of them, who had a flash of recognition, and stood up to walk over.

"Oh fuck," said Alice, finishing her current bite of food. "Alisaie is coming over."

Alicia frowned. "Who?"

"You again!" said Alisaie, as she reached the table. She slammed a hand down in between the two, staring angrily at Alice. "You lied to us the other day, didn't you?"

"What's a white lie between friends?" Alice responded without thinking, then tried to play it cool. "Of course, we hadn't met yet, and keeping track of things can be so confusing."

"We are not friends, and you shouldn't lie about being a part of the Scions!" She slammed the table again.

"Stop doing that," said Alicia, her voice terrifyingly even. "I'm trying to eat."

"Well, you're with her, so I'm reasonably certain I want to bring up my problems with you as well!"

Alicia stood up suddenly, causing Alisaie to jump slightly. She moved a step, to stand right in Alisaie's face.

"Go easy on her,” said Alice. “She's like, 16, and doesn't know how to calm down yet.”

Alisaie looked at her furiously. Alicia gave Alice a side-eyed look. "You’re not helping," she said.

"Listen, you-"

"Alisaie Leveilleur," said Alice. "And your brother, Alphinaud. Both here from Old Sharlayan to follow in your grandfather's footsteps and save people."

"You don't know a thing about me-"

Alice snapped her fingers to interrupt the girl, her mood making her not care that it was rude enough that she wouldn’t ordinarily dare to even dream of doing that. She looked at her fingernails as she continued, trying to brush off and hide those feelings and play it cool. "You both graduated from the Studium at a record young age, being called prodigies. But unlike the rest of your country, it's not enough to simply learn and know things, no, you need to do what your grandfather did and put it to practical use for the benefit of all. Your brother is definitely more of a politician and healer than you, although your own intelligence is nothing to laugh at, and your skill in combat is actually quite high-level."

Alisaie stopped trying to argue, and listened. Alicia sat back down, and Alice continued again.

"You're both extremely capable magic users, and possess a paired set of grimoires left by Archon Louisoix, who obviously saw the great potential in you. And you, personally, admired him greatly and wish to know exactly what happened to him during the Calamity."

Alice looked up at Alisaie. "And yes, I am now actually a member of the Scions, thank you, and so is my friend, Alicia, who is in fact the current Warrior of Light. The two of us, a few hours ago, successfully slew Ifrit, primal of the Amalj'aa. You can ask Louisoix's friends and students, including Thancred Waters, and especially Urianger… I still don't remember what his last name is, but that's not important right now."

"Well, I daresay you do know quite a bit about us, miss…?" Alphinaud had made his way over partway into Alice's long speech.

"Alice Demasi," she nodded in greeting. "And my friend, Alicia Kharlu."

"Charmed." Alphinaud bowed respectfully. "And if I recall correctly, your excuse was that Ifrit was 'Scion business', which has technically become true."

"Hah! Look at that, Alicia!” She gave the marauder a wide smile. “I didn't dig a hole for myself for the first time."

"Wonderful." Alicia was listening, but focused on eating her meal.

"I still don't like that your first instinct was to lie," said Alisaie. "But if it's true that you two are the ones who defeated Ifrit…"

Alice gave a thumbs up. "You two are welcome to sit with us, actually. Since we're all going to the ceremony."

"And how did you know that?" Alphinaud asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Since, after you two join the Scions, we are going to become friends and colleagues in the future," said Alice, eating more of her cooling food. "It's only right that I tell you some things that sound insane, but are core truths to life from now on."

"This ought to be good," said Alisaie dryly.

"And enlightening, I hope," Alphinaud added. They sat down, apparently not having left anything on their previous table.

"So, funny story: I'm not from Eorzea, or even this star," Alice began.

Alicia choked on her food, and coughed. "That's how you break the news!?"

"It's how you met me- Wait, no, you weren't conscious when I arrived. It's how Y'shtola and the Admiral met me."

"Apologies, could you repeat what you said? That you're not from this star?" asked Alphinaud, incredulous.

"Alright, let's do a little truth test. I want you both to look me in the eyes as I say it this time," said Alice.

They did, and she said it again, unwavering.

"I… Surely you jest?" said Alphinaud

"Badly, if so," Alisaie grumbled.

"As a result of my very literal otherworldliness, I know some things about the future here, which consequently means I have learned things about the past. Like the Seventh Umbral Calamity."

"You know what happened during the calamity?" asked Alicia.

"That I do, friend! You see, once Bahamut broke free, things went to shit, obviously. Louisoix and the Archons began a ritual to summon the Twelve, sort of like a primal invocation but not tainted, in order to use their power to bind Bahamut again. They didn't succeed, and Bahamut basically devastated Carteneau. But,” Alice turned to address the twins directly again. “Your Grandfather used the remaining power from the summon to fucking obliterate Bahamut, successfully ending the threat."

The three stared at her for a few seconds.

"That sounds absolutely ridiculous!" Alisaie shouted at her. Alice shrunk back, but the girl continued. "As if you know anything about an event that wiped everyone's memory! You probably only think you're from another world because of that."

"Wow, fucking rude," said Alice. "I literally spoke to Hydaelyn Herself about this after we killed Ifrit, you know. Well, about me, not the Calamity."

"I also think there's something off about your tale," said Alphinaud, but am not as inclined to doubt it as my sister is."

"What do you mean by that?" Alisaie asked him. "Surely you aren't willing to trust the most suspicious person we've ever met?"

"Excuuuuse me for trying to be open," said Alice. "Once we defeat Gaius van Baelsar I can show you."

"Why does it have to be after? Why not now?"

"Because we will fucking die to the… The tempered ghost of Nael van Darnus… Okay, that one sounds like bullshit even to me, and I’ve seen it myself. Seriously, I promise that under Castrum…" Alice drew a blank. "Oh for… Which is the one near Costa del Sol?"

"Castrum Occidens," Alphinaud supplied.

"Yes! That one was built expressly to dig around and into a shard of Dalamud. A shard that is locked off and a little too lethal even for us, until we have matched strength with Gaius and won."

Alisaie didn't like that answer, but restrained herself from yelling more. "On your word, as a Scion, promise that you will take us there when it's possible to survive it."

"On my status as a Scion, on my power, on the Echo, and on my life, I swear this to you," said Alice.

Alphinaud seemed convinced, and Alisaie was at least placated for now.

"Now, I need to apologise about at least one or two things," Alice admitted. "First: Alphinaud, I found Cid Garlond. That said, I only did it because you did the legwork in another timeline."

"Hold on a moment," said Alphinaud. "First you speak of other worlds, and now other timelines?"

"Yes, I fundamentally altered the flow of time and events by being here. I would say I'm not supposed to be here at all but Hydaelyn Herself told me I am, so we are now in Timeline B. Understand?"

"I was there when she told you and I still don't understand," Alicia unhelpfully supplied with a cheery smile.

Alice made a frustrated gesture with her hands. "The POINT is, I know things from how they happened in Timeline A, the one without me. That includes finding Cid - Alphinaud's work - and finding out about the shard of Dalamud under Occidens - Alisaie's work."

"Hold on again," Alisaie interjected. "What do you mean my work?"

"In Timeline A, you got frustrated by the Alliance's pissing contest in the form of the upcoming memorial ceremonies," Alice said with a smile. "And then you didn't join the Scions of the Seventh Dawn until after they beat Gaius and the 14th legion, and then more specifically after these two," she gestured to Alphinaud and Alicia, "end the thousand year Dragonsong War."

"Excuse me?" asked Alicia.

"We do what?" asked Alphinaud at the same time.

"That's in Heavensward, basically the next chapter of your story, which I'll explain more later, when it is relevant. Basically, Alisaie, while off on your own, you are the one who discovers the dig site under Occidens, and while yes, I just told you that before you did it, you're still my source, meaning it was your work."

"Credit where it's due, then? Your mad words are at least consistent, and not as narcissistic as one would normally expect," said Alphinaud.

"Exactly, credit where it's due," said Alice. "I've always, always hated when people take credit for my work, and so I've also become particular about giving credit to others when and where I can remember it. Especially when those people are either way smarter or stronger than I am."

"You were the one who killed the primal, not me," said Alicia with a shrug. "I'll settle for just surviving it."

"Ah, but by the time we get to the point where my knowledge ends, we should have a collective count of…" She trailed off, counting on her fingers. "I want to say at least 19 god-beings, some of which are full blown red-mask Ascians."

"By the Twelve," Alphinaud breathed, then considered his exclamation. "I don't suppose that number includes…"

"No, none of the Twelve are in that. It's mostly primals, but also a few Ascians, like I said."

"Alphinaud, why do you believe this tripe?" asked Alisaie.

"Remember how she described me as the better politician?" he asked. The question was entirely genuine, without a hint of smugness. "A part of being a politician is being able to read people. And while I wouldn't say my skill is perfect, I believe I can at least tell when someone is telling the truth."

Not opening that can of worms right now, Alice thought, her mind briefly conjuring unasked for images of a blue Grand Company and the problems they brought.

"You know, I am insanely lucky so many of you can do that," said Alice. "Y'shtola saved me from prison when I was teleported - not of my own free will - into the Admiral's office in Limsa Lominsa when I first arrived in Eorzea."

"Goodness me, that would have been hard to explain," Alphinaud agreed. "Well, I apologise for putting a damper on this conversation, but I believe the ceremony is starting soon. Shall we?"

Chapter Text

The ceremony was close to the same as what Alice remembered: an announcement of the might of whichever nation that happened to be speaking at the time, and a rallying call to their grand company. In Ul'dah's case, it also happened to feature General Raubahn Aldynn and the Sultana, Nanamo Ul Namo, the latter of whom was actually surprisingly gorgeous and more regal in person. Alice hadn't really thought of any Lalafell as anything other than cute, or 'tiny but fierce' in the case of those like Pippin Tarupin, but the Sultana, despite always wearing a dress that Alice thought was shaped a little ridiculously, managed to have a lot more presence than Alice had given her credit for. Raubahn, too, was much more imposing in person, and gave off an aura that garnered respect and admiration. His booming voice, his northern- rather, Ala Mhigan accent, both gave his words weight. And was one point in this ceremony's favour.

Alphinaud still gave his explanations to Alicia about the banners. Alisaie looked annoyed. At one point, she met Alice's gaze, and the human silently mouthed, See? Pissing contest.

Alisaie agreed but pretended not to. Not that she was ever good at hiding her emotions, and now that she was a real, breathing person, that trait was amplified somewhat. Or Alice was just a hell of a lot better at reading people now, which also seemed likely.

The ceremony ended, and the crowd around them clapped and cheered. Raubahn and the Sultana went inside the large meeting hall Alice could never remember the name of, and the doors closed shut behind them. The crowd began to file away.

"Man, I have… So much to talk to them about," said Alice.

"What, more of your strange knowledge?" asked Alphinaud with a smile. "Best not to bother the leaders of the city-state, if it can wait."

"I mean, it can? It's just… I don't know, building up a rapport with them before I drop something approaching what I told you would be nice."

"And yet you dropped your knowledge upon us with very little prompting," Alisaie remarked.

"She tried the 'tell nothing' approach with me," said Alicia. "But I was having a bad day, and may have slammed her into a wall for it."

"That you did, my friend." Alice nodded, as if it was the most normal thing to do.

"Oh," said Alisaie, finally a little less hostile now. "I think I'm starting to understand."

"I normally don't like lying or hiding the truth," said Alice. "Although, um… Some knowledge is kept hidden for a reason, so I may have to ask you to trust my judgement if anything like that happens."

"To be clear, we have not been given explicit reason to trust you fully as of yet," said Alphinaud. "But if what you say ends up true, I may."

Alisaie just shrugged.

"I think we have saved each other's lives enough that I should be willing to trust you by now," Alicia said dryly, but with a wry smile. "So, alright."

"Yess!" Alice fist-pumped, drawing confused looks from the Sultansworn nearby. "I have been waiting so long for you to say that."

"We have only known each other for a little over two days," said Alicia.

Alice frowned, confused. "Wait, no, surely it's been a couple of weeks by now?"

"No. You arrived in Limsa while I was watching the Admiral's memories? That was only three days ago, and we truly met the morning after that."

Alice stopped and counted the days in her head. "What the fuck, how are you right? How has it only been three days!?"

"Because they were long and full of adventure?" Alicia supplied.

"Must be it!" Alice agreed. "Speaking of which… They didn't say anything about the giants."

"No, they didn't…" Alicia noted. "Well, that did only happen yesterday. I assume peace talks with a lost tribe take time."

"What are you talking about now?" asked Alisaie.

"Oh, just the Hecatoncheirs," said Alice. "We went into Copperbell Mines yesterday and convinced the giants to not rampage and to make a peace deal with Ul’dah."

Alisaie stared at them. "...No. I refuse to believe this one."

Alice began to laugh. "I suppose that does sound pretty crazy…"

Alphinaud cleared his throat. "I believe that in order to make the next ceremony on time, we should board an airship soon. Let us not waste any time."

The Gridanian ceremony was, once again, what Alice expected, although the Elder Seedseer's voice was easier to listen to than Alice remembered. There was a soothing undertone that neither of her voice actors could replicate, even if it did otherwise sound like her Heavensward voice.

Alphinaud once more gave some context about the grand company to Alicia, who took in the information quietly. Alice and Alisaie mostly just stood there, half paying attention, and it was enough to make Alice idly wonder if Alisaie had the same condition.

The ceremony ended, and most left the Amphitheatre, including the Seedseers. However…

"Fancy meeting you here," Papalymo said to the group. Yda, Salli and Bea were with him, the latter two looking quite happy to see Alicia and Alice again.

"We heard what happened!" said Yda. "You took down Ifrit! That's amazing!"

"You two aren't in any lasting pain, are you?" asked Bea. "Any burns I should be aware of?"

"Uh… Kind of hard not to get burned while fighting a giant fire lizard," said Alice. "Yaromir was fine, though. We kept him away and out of tempering range."

"Well that's somethin'," said Salli. "Glad the two of you look alright aside from that."

"Thanks, friend," said Alicia, with a warm smile.

"It appears you have made some new friends, too," noted Papalymo. "It's good to see you both again, Alphinaud, Alisaie."

"Hello, Papalymo. It really has been quite a long time." Alphinaud bowed to the thaumaturge. "And Yda, too, how wonderful to see you again."

"Yes, um, it's nice to see you again," said Yda, slightly awkwardly.

Right, I guess actual Yda knew them and Lyse doesn't. I'm… Going to have to deal with that sooner or later. Probably sooner is better, since I don't intend to let Papalymo die in this timeline… But that’s for another time.

"Well, how's that investigation of yours going?" asked Alice. "I'm going to guess it has something to do with the Sylphs, but I could be wrong."

"Actually, no. We are investigating an issue with the Guardian Tree," Papalymo explained. "Something unusual has been occurring of late, and so we are ensuring its safety."

"Ah, yep, that'll do it," said Alice. "It's good to see you all, though. But I think we should make our way to Limsa for the third and final memorial."

She felt a healing spell cast on her and tilted her head back in acceptance, as the light burns on her leg were cleared up. Bea was quick but thorough, and made sure Alicia received the same treatment, overall only taking a few seconds.

"Now you can go," the conjurer said with a smile.

"Thank you," said Alice.

The Gridanian Scions left to go do their own investigation, Salli giving a wink to Alicia.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting meeting," said Alphinaud. “And proof you are now a part of the organisation, after all.”

"Can we just go to Limsa Lominsa and get this over with?" said Alisaie, sounding tired.

"Have patience, dear sister," said Alphinaud. "We cannot rush these things, even if we may already know the outcome."

Alicia coughed, pointedly looking at Alice.

"Hah," said Alice, deadpan.

"Ah, apologies, that was not intended to be a jab at you," said Alphinaud.

They had spent the airship ride to Gridania talking about where Alice's foreknowledge had helped so far, including her penchant for rushing ahead to be 'done with this shit', as she had put it.

"Ah, it's fine." Alice waved a hand, unbothered. "But Alisaie, don't worry, the Maelstrom ceremony shouldn't be quite the same as the other two."

Not if I have anything to say about it…

One more airship ride later, during which Alice was bombarded with questions about the Dragonsong War she told them it wasn't time to answer, and the quartet found themselves in Limsa Lominsa.

"Ah, smell that air," said Alice. "As salty as I can be. And, most importantly, the city where I met every one of you for the first time."

"Yes, I do seem to recall us running into each other near the Arcanist's Guild, hm?" Alphinaud joked.

"A long day that I almost made longer!" Alice said with a grin as they boarded the lift.

Alicia was struck by a sudden thought. "I knew I felt like I had seen you two before," she said to the twins. "You were on the ship that brought me here!"

"Oh, I think you might be right," said Alisaie. "Attacked by pirates on the way in, yes?"

"Yes, and then the Yellowjackets wanted to question me in case I was related to the incident!" Alicia huffed. "Baderon was kind. He covered for me, and then I could just prove I wasn't here to cause problems."

"Oh, shit, that's canon then?" asked Alice. "That's the very start of the story for me, that ship ride, and your talk with uhhh… I want to say Brennan?"

"That's correct," Alicia said with a nod. "So you already knew about them, then?"

The platform shook slightly as it halted at Bulwark Hall.

"Yes and no," Alice said as they exited the lift. "Fun fact; given that the way people experience the story can be different - depending on their protagonists' combat specialisation, you can potentially start in any of the three city states - it means there's not just three Brennans, thanks to the man's two brothers, but also three potential ways the Leveilleurs can enter the story."

"Now that's… that's just absurd!" Alisaie said loudly, but thankfully not upset this time. They all stopped midway between the Crow's lift and the Admiral's lift, which would take them to the memorial. "So there's more than one of your 'original timelines' to work with? How do you know which one is correct?"

"Actually, only the very beginning is any different," said Alice. "And they all converge just before the Sastasha Seagrot. After that point, all versions of the story are effectively the same, because even the most cold dialogue options for the protagonist still result in someone willing to do the right thing."

Alicia contemplated that, a little disturbed. "So, what, I'm just… Filling a hole that anyone could fill?"

"Oh, no no, that's not what I mean at all," said Alice. "There can be different variants of the person that walk your path, yes, but more like…"

Alice gave it some thought. "Consider the story to be told with a very vague idea of who the protagonist is, aside from very solid confirmation of their good character and nature. It allows the person reading or listening to the story to fill in detail gaps by themselves with their minds: one person may put themselves directly in, and their protagonist might then be a very noble version of that person, an ideal they aspire to. Someone else - me, for example - may decide to have a completely different person fill that role, one that's nothing like the reader."

"That might be the most eloquent thing I've heard you say," said Alicia. "And yet that still doesn't precisely answer my question, nor help."

"Like… Okay let's look at it like this: only someone as strong of character as you can be chosen to be the Warrior of Light, and from there it's luck of the draw. I also got lucky because I happened to be right."

"'Right' how, exactly?"

"The person chosen to be the Warrior of Light is you, and my version of the protagonist was you, therefore, regardless of how many other timelines exist, I don't care about them because I'm here and so are you."

"Something of a 'results that cannot be seen or measured therefore cannot be counted' approach, then?" Alphinaud suggested. "As far as outlooks go, it certainly has merit in a complicated situation such as this."

"That!" Alice snapped her fingers. "That's it, exactly.”

She looked at Alicia, firmly in the eyes. "Think of it like this: you were chosen by Hydaelyn to be the Warrior of Light. Not another person. You. Whatever else is the case, it means you are fit for the job. For starters, you care too much about doing the right thing to let things slide."

Alicia took a deep breath. "I suppose so. That makes this the second problem Hydaelyn has caused in her choices of Warriors, then?"

Alice remembered her own crisis from earlier in the day, having forgotten it in the excitement of meeting the twins. "See? Life sucks, and sometimes we get thrust into positions we didn't ask for, but may have wanted deep down, where we didn't know about it."

"Wonderful, I'm glad you’ve sorted that out,” said Alisaie, not really wanting to linger on the topic any longer. “Now can we please get the ceremony over with?" asked Alisaie.

"Yes, yes, fine, let's go do that," said Alice. She gave Alicia a big hug, squeezing the much smaller but far stronger woman. "You're a good person and friend, I promise."

“...Thanks.”

The chatter in the room died as the Admiral stepped forward to begin the ceremony proper.

"Brothers and sisters of the sea, hearken unto me! Look upon this, our mighty crimson standard, and tell me your hearts do not swell with pride!"

A cheer arose from the audience, and Merlwyb continued, giving an abridged history of Limsa Lominsa.

"It is a rather stirring standard, I must say," Alphinaud told Alicia. "The crimson field is meant to signify the blood of fallen crewmates-" Alice suppressed a reaction to the word with a cough "-while the black longship represents a pirate vessel."

The Admiral kept going, making mention of the reformation of the grand company before the Battle of Carteneau, and of how many of those forces fought ferociously but were still slain on the field of battle.

"Join me now in remembering those who fought in the name of freedom, and fell," she said. "May their souls be returned to the sea."

She saluted, and there was a moment of silence. Alphinaud began to say something, but Alice put a firm hand on his shoulder and a finger to her lips. Not now, she mouthed. Wait.

The Admiral continued speaking, first of the indomitable spirit that she was convinced would see Limsa Lominsa rebuilt, then of the many enemies they had: the Sahagin, the Kobolds, the Garleans.

"We are well-nigh surrounded. Yet there are those among us-" Alice struggled again not to laugh or react, having forgotten what was about to be said and remembering very suddenly. "-who would rather turn their swords against their crewmates than our cannons against our foes."

Oh gods, make it stop! Alice was now visibly struggling to suppress her laughter. Focus, find the right time to interject with something real.

The Admiral thankfully hadn't noticed. "How can we hope to repel our many enemies when mutiny breeds below deck? There is but one course left to us! One bearing that will bring us victory over the beast hordes and the Empire both, and see this ship safe to port. We must mend the rift the Calamity has reopened 'twixt pirate and Maelstrom, and stand fast with our adventurer brothers against the coming tempest!

"Mark ye well: a crew without unity is no crew at all - 'tis but a mass of drowned men."

"And yet!" Alice said loudly. "I hear nothing of the unity with the other city-states. Limsa's unity is one thing, and an important thing, true, but without solidarity with Ul'dah and Gridania, the Garleans would have conquered Eorzea five years ago!"

The Admiral glared daggers down at Alice, recognising her from the night she first arrived. "You. I had been convinced by others I trust that you weren't a Garlean or dissident, and yet still you choose to cause trouble during our memorial service?"

"Incorrect! I am only here to speak the truth, and help both Limsa Lominsa and Eorzea as a whole, not to rock the boat."

Everyone had turned to stare at Alice now, some with looks of anger. Alicia and Alphinaud were simultaneously impressed and aghast, but Alisaie seemed to enjoy that someone wasn't letting this be the same as the other memorials.

"You said nothing at the Ul'dahn and Gridanian memorials," said Alphinaud, also loud enough for the room to hear him, apparently deciding to help as technically a third party. "What compels you to speak out here?"

"Yes, what madness and hypocrisy makes you disrupt this if not the others?" asked the Admiral, unwittingly playing into the improvised plan.

"Neither! It's my love for Limsa Lominsa!" Alice shouted. "I swear to you all, upon my life and any power I have, that I dearly love this place. For all its rough edges and unglamorous past, Limsa Lominsa has such a life and beauty to it, and I don't want to see it pulled under because people are trying to do too much by themselves, without help they could get if they just asked. You are correct that we must band together and address the problems within the city first, to stop those who want to do us harm from within, but we need to do more. More specifically, we need to do more.

"We can't wait for Ul'dah to decide to help us again. As good as the Sultana and Flame General are, they aren't the only ones with decision-making power over the city’s resources. Who knows how long it could take to reach a consensus that would still benefit us?

"Likewise, we can't wait for Gridania, either. The elementals are fickle at the best of times, but right now are still wounded from the Calamity. I don't blame their people for focusing on the Black Shroud when it presents a threat to those who live there, so they may not have the presence of mind to reach out right now.

"But as you said, there are enemies all around us! Around all of us!" Alice made sweeping gestures to the crowd. "Which means for us to survive, the city-state that can most afford to think about reaching out needs to do so in order to survive!"

"But what if we cannot afford to reach out?" asked Merlwyb. "What if our needs are as dire, or more so, than the others?"

"Then we ask for help, plain and simple," said Alice. "We simply cannot survive alone. We cannot rebuild alone. But we need to be the pillar here. We need to show the other city-states that even in such uncertain times, it is possible, and in fact a very good idea, to still lean on each other, and use our strengths to cover for each other's weaknesses. Because it's not just Limsa Lominsa that's a crew in need of unity. The whole Alliance needs it."

Alice smiled wryly. "And who better to pave the way for a crew, than the Admiral? Maybe not as the Alliance's overall leader, but a leading example. And if we reach out - if you reach out - I am certain that despite all their own problems, they’ll both actually try to do something helpful, and rise to meet the occasion."

The crowd murmured. Apparently what Alice was saying was getting through.

The Admiral, too, was visibly considering the idea. "I have half a mind to throw you in the deepest, darkest brig we have, especially for that terrible flattery at the end. But you may also be correct."

She took in a deep breath, then stared out at the crowd with a renewed determination. She continued, as if the disruption had been within her own plan for the event. "To me, then, brothers and sisters of the sea! Gather beneath the undying crimson standard and pledge me your strength, your skill, your wisdom! And with the guidance of the Navigator, this great vessel of ours shall ride the waves, leading the way for our allies, till sea swallows all!"

"Till sea swallows all!" Alice shouted in response, giving a solid and respectful, if imperfect, Storm Salute.

The crowd cheered, some shouting excitedly.

"Long live the Admiral!"

"Admiral Merlwyb!"

"Gather the lads!"

The Admiral turned around, where Commodore Reyner and Marshal Slafysryn stood waiting. They bowed to her, and she walked towards them, and the room's rear exit.

The crowd filed out the main door, some giving side-glances to Alice and Alphinaud. Yet more recognised Alicia from her time helping people around town, and stopped to thank her again.

Alisaie walked up to Alice. "You were correct in part. I appreciate that you tried to make them take more responsibility and greater action. Even if it was just used to further the 'pissing contest', as you put it."

"Yeah, even after my interruption… I'm pretty sure that what she said to close it off was very close to how the service originally ended," said Alice, shrugging. Then she remembered something and snapped her fingers. "And I didn't say anything about the old Warriors of Light, dammit. But oh well. Are you two heading off?"

"Why yes, actually," said Alphinaud. Alicia was still held up by a few more grateful people. "We intend to spend some time thinking about our plans from this point onwards."

Alice racked her brains for more of those hidden Realm Reborn memories. A vague memory of a cutscene in which the twins argued and Alisaie struck out on her own came to mind. She smiled at them. "Right, well, that's alright then. But I hope to see both of you in the near future."

Alphinaud bowed politely. "Likewise. I daresay we shall both be keeping a close eye on your adventures. Say farewell to Alicia for us, as well."

Alice grinned at him, then snapped her fingers. "Oh! One more thing."

"Oh?" he asked.

"Alisaie." Alice turned to the girl to address her directly. "One bit of things I'm more than happy to tell you in advance: it turns out you are a very capable Red Mage in the future, so I'd look into that. But! Most importantly, keep your grimoire. We will find a great need for it during at least that trip to Occidens in the future, alright?"

"I… Alright," she said. "Can you not say why?"

"I can't. But it was part of your Grandfather's plan, I swear."

Alisaie didn't seem happy with the answer, but accepted it. She and her brother nodded, and left.

Alicia was freed, finally, from the queue of waiting people. "Ah, did I just miss them?"

"Yeah, they just left." Alice clapped. "Now, we have things to do, let's skedaddle out of here too."

Chapter Text

Alice and Alicia returned to Bulwark Hall and were greeted by a linkpearl call. Or in Alice's case, a phone call - she had connected her phone to the Scions' linkshell so she could be contacted, too.

"Alice, Alicia, this is Minfilia," they both heard the Antecedent say. "You are both well, I hope?"

"Yeah, we're doing fine," said Alice. "We lived through Ifrit, got healed up, and just attended the third memorial."

"Interrupted is more accurate," said Alicia. "But yes, we are well."

"Ah, excellent. What a coincidence! Jesting aside, I have three guests here for Alicia, one from each of the Grand Companies, asking after you."

"Oh right!" Alice turned to Alicia. "They want to recruit you. I forgot about that."

"...Why me, though?"

"Because word's already out that you slew Ifrit." Alice made a sign of the horns with her free hand. "You're already getting popular."

"You slew-"

"We both did, but they want you - a noble and helpful hero - and not me - a known trouble maker."

"Regardless, Alicia, pray return and make your decision known," said Minfilia. "Alice, we shall call upon you if more work is to be done."

"Understood ma'am." Alice remembered something. "And uhm, I think the thing we discussed may happen soon. I… Good luck, alright?"

"The…? Ah, I see." She was quiet for a few moments. "I shall see you both later."

The call ended.

Alice sighed. "Man, I really didn't want to do her like that, but there's no easy way to deal with… This shit."

"You could, perhaps, have not told her in the first place," said Alicia. "It's obvious she cares for Thancred."

"Yes, but not telling her is worse," said Alice. "And not just for me if she found out later that I knew, although now that I think about it, that is part of it."

"I understand, but… Shouldn't we stop him? Try to save him?"

"Problem is, he leaves the Sands after reporting the Ifrit incident, then comes back later with the possession necklace," Alice explained. "And we were asleep and then busy for several hours- I mean, bells, so it might already be too late."

Alicia frowned. "I suppose so."

"Anyway, skedaddle, you've got business to take care of, and so do I."

"Alright, alright." Alicia nodded. "I'll see you later."

Alice waved at her as she left.

Alright, I said I have business, but… I only really have the Arcanist's guild? I probably should report back to them.

Decision made, she walked to the Aetheryte, and used the aethernet to hop to the guild.

She entered the hall, and found Thubyrgeim… in almost the same place as before. At least the book she was reading was different, if nothing else.

"Hey, acting guildmaster," said Alice as she approached the Roegadyn. "What's new?"

"Alice," said Thubyrgeim. She closed her book and looked at the human. "Welcome back. I hear you have achieved much in the last day."

"Yes ma'am." Alice nodded. "But I'm back to continue my training and doing of jobs for the guild."

"I see." The guildmaster gave a nod of her own. "Well, there is such a task, and your knowledge, and hopefully now mastery of, the Topaz Carbuncle will be required for this task."

"I assume in that case that having command of Emerald Carbuncle will also be helpful?"

Thubyrgeim nodded, impressed. "It will indeed. Should you deem yourself fit for duty, pray make your way down to the practice floor. Foreseer K'lyhia has requested you accompany her on another official inspection."

"She did? Really?"

"Yes. She even gauged that your arrival time would be after the end of the memorial ceremony."

"...huh. Alright, then, I'm up for it."

Thubyrgeim nodded and resumed her reading. Alice took that as a sign to head downstairs.

K'lyhia was waiting, gazing expectantly at the doorway. She became pleased when she saw Alice enter and walk towards her.

"Excellent timing, Alice! I had begun to think my calculations were off." She was all smiles and business, no sign of the hurt she had felt the other day.

"Uh, hey there," said Alice. "Given you requested my help specifically, I suppose we're good?"

"If by that you mean 'are we on better terms', then yes!" The miqo'te's smile strained for a half second. "I thought hard about what you and your hrothgar friend told me, and you were correct. So, in today's operation, I shall be with you every step of the way where required, such as any other dangerous combat situations."

"I…" Alice rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I appreciate that. And again, I'm sorry I lost my temper the other day. It was rude of me, and I think you were trying to show you trusted me to take care of myself."

"Apology accepted," said K'lyhia. "Now, as for our inspection today… It has come to my attention that you already know how to summon the Topaz Carbuncle, which is excellent news."

Alice nodded. "And I picked up Emerald recently, too."

"My original calculations as to the probability of your becoming an arcanist of note are no longer correct," said K'lyhia, as she began to visibly begin more calculations. "I now believe your chances lie at 94.5%!"

"No rounding up in this establishment, then?" Alice joked. "I'll take what I can get."

She cleared her throat and said, "I'd also like help learning something in detail. Namely, the whole 'create your future through preparation' idea you mentioned."

"I would be happy to teach you. It is a core principle of high-level arcanistry, after all. However," said K'lyhia, "while it is unlikely that a routine inspection will require intensive forward planning, today's inspection will be of a trading vessel suspected of smuggling."

"Right, so probably dangerous."

"Exactly my point. It will be a comfort to have you by my side."

Alice nodded. "So… what's the plan, then?"

Some time later, K'lyhia, Alice, and a pair of trusted mercenaries in the employ of the Assessors made their way by boat towards the smuggler's ship, named the Morningstar. They had set out from the Aleport docks, which had taken a little more time to reach for Alice than she had liked.

They had already been attacked at the pier by a group of pirates intent on stopping them. But those had been dealt with quickly - in part due to K'lyhia's prediction of a 98% chance that would occur - giving the group hope that the inspection would be relatively swift, even if there was a fight to be had aboard.

"Since their welcoming party at the pier failed to deter us, I expect - with a probability of 85% - that our arrival will incite further belligerence." K'lyhia nodded as she declared this to the others. "Our objective, however, is not to trade blows, but to gain access to the hold. It may behoove us to employ 'Stratagem Hardhead'."

"I prefer 'Veterans of the Long War' paired with 'Hatred Eternal' but that's just me," said Alice, meant entirely as a dumb joke.

The two mercenaries looked confused - standard response, Alice expected it. But K'lyhia genuinely was curious what she meant by that answer.

"Oh? And what stratagems are those?"

Alice looked at her, unsure how to respond. She decided to try and adapt the Warhammer game abilities she had named into real strategies based on what they did. "Well, Hatred Eternal just means double down on either attacking the opponent at range or in melee, context dependent." She had to think about the other one though. "Frig, I guess Veterans is 'focus on our enemy's weak spots'? Either at range or in melee."

K'lyhia considered the options. "I must confess I dislike their names, but I agree they can be useful strategies."

"Seconded," said the marauder mercenary, a Roegadyn woman named Aersthota. "I might have to keep those in mind."

The other, a male Roegadyn conjurer named Geissfryn, simply nodded.

"Anyway, uhm, Hardhead, what's it mean?" Alice awkwardly tried to shift the topic back.

"The aim of our opponents is to buy time so that suspect goods may be tossed into the ocean," K'lyhia explained. "I do not intend to give them that time. We will bull our way towards the cargo hold as quickly as we can."

"Ah, 'Storm Them' or 'Crush Them', gotcha. Oh, that's why it's called Hardhead, I get it now."

"Correct." K'lyhia smiled. "It is a tactic fraught with risk, but one that your presence makes possible. Shall we begin?"

Alice nodded, and they sailed all the way up to the ship.

They came up alongside the larger vessel, and used a rope ladder to clamber aboard.

Aersthota went first, followed by K'lyhia and Alice, and finally Geissfryn.

There was only one pirate above decks that they could see, a large marauder - even for a Roegadyn - who was apparently the ship's navigator.

"I am Foreseer K'lyhia," announced the miqo'te. "By the authority of Mealvaan's Gate, I request that you surrender your goods for assessment!"

The navigator smiled, a strong hint of cruelty in it. "Well, now, yer timin' couldn't be worse, lass," he said, waving a hand in front of his face dismissively. "The 'old door's all rusted up, ye see. Bloody thing won't open. Ye'll 'ave to come back another day after we's fixed the 'inges."

K'lyhia thrust a hand in front of her, index finger raised and pointing just above the man. "I will see that cargo now. Any vessel entering a port of Limsa Lominsa is bound by law to submit to a routine inspection."

How did it take me this long to realise I joined the fucking Customs department? Alice wondered. I guess it's probably more warranted in this world, since there would still be slavers and other horrible shitheels that need stopping. …Just like in my world, actually.

Her musing was interrupted by the sound of sandals on wood. Several sets… She looked up again and saw a good seven more pirates had just appeared from various places. The navigator had unsheathed his heavy axe.

"The law, is it?" He grinned, the cruelty no longer a hint. "Lads, I reckon it's time our 'guests' 'ad 'emselves a little accident. Pitch 'em over the side!"

Aersthota, Geissfryn and Alice stepped forward, ready for combat. The pirates charged the group, and were met head-on by Aersthota's attack: a slam into the decking that, while not breaking through, still unsteadied a few of the foremost pirates, allowing the K'lyhia and Alice to pick off a quartet of enemies fairly quickly.

Alice had begun an aethercharge as soon as the Navigator declared his intent, and used the time to Drain and Fester an oncoming Pugilist, whose spiked gauntlets made them an extremely tempting target. The Miqo'te pirate collapsed from exhaustion immediately, and Alice followed it up with a Ruin at a rushing enemy marauder's leg, followed by a Fester to just keep them down. The screaming was… unpleasant, and once more Alice was reminded she was harming actual people.

Actual people who are probably awful and deserve it, I assume. I hope.

K'lyhia meanwhile chose her opening strikes with precision, having pre-charged her aether and started with an Emerald Carbuncle and two of her four charges of Emerald Ruin to remove an Archer from play almost immediately. A second Archer ate the remaining two Emerald Ruins, but their intent to rush with a dagger was cut off by an earth-aspected headbutt from the Foreseer's Topaz Carbuncle.

Four down, four to go. Aersthota was determined to keep the pair of Arcanists out of harms' way, and counter-charged. She shoved a pair of pirates back into a third. A Stone spell knocked one out, and while the other two attempted to steady themselves again, they each took a pair of slashes from the axe as their consolation prize.

"Let me show ye bastards 'ow it's done!" cried the Navigator, leaping from the Bridge Deck, axe coming down in a deadly swing aimed at Aersthota. She attempted to parry it, but the force of the blow was immense, the man's monstrous strength amplified by skill and gravity. She took a hit, down her torso, and cried out in pain. Geissfryn immediately healed her, but found himself the target of a leaping charge from the navigator. The conjurer was knocked aside, unable to counter with any spells, so the pirate pressed his advantage.

Alice's own aethercharge finished, and she and K'lyhia sent a pair of Ruby Carbuncles at the navigator. Both of the man's legs caught fire, distracting him from the conjurer, who used the opportunity to run and tend to Aersthota.

The pair of arcanists each threw two Ruby Ruins each at the man, taking him in the knees and shoulders with one shot per joint. The burning man collapsed, probably dead. It was horrible, but it got the job done.

"A masterful display, Alice! Now we can finally gain access to their cargo."

"Well, that was… something," said Alice. "Easier and harder than fighting Ifrit."

"You… You've fought a primal?" asked Geissfryn. "Doesn't that mean you're-"

"No, no, I have the Echo, I'm protected," said Alice. "I'm not the Warrior of Light, that's my friend Alicia, but I can still help her do stuff like fight a primal."

"Impressive," agreed K'lyhia. She pushed up her glasses with a finger. "But not outside the bounds of my calculations."

"I… Sure, whatever, the point is that fighting and sometimes killing people is, uh, new to me. So it's… Not easy."

Aersthota clapped Alice on the back, strong but not as hard as Alice would've expected. "It's always difficult, but it does, unfortunately, get easier. Just don't lose yourself to it."

K'lyhia clapped. "Gather in front of the hold door, people! We have an inspection to do."

They did, and K'lyhia went to the door to open it personally. However, when she got close enough to open it, the door was opened from the other side, hard enough to send her tumbling back into the mast a few yalms away, her precious grimoire landing halfway between her and the door. Everyone else immediately readied for another fight.

"What 'ave we 'ere, then?" A voice boomed from inside the hold "It's one o' the bitch Admiral's lapdogs, scamperin' about me ship."

"Whomst the fuck?" asked Alice.

Another Roegadyn man, somehow even larger than the navigator had been, with an axe twice as big as the other's, sauntered out. He was flanked by several more pirates.

"Yer just like yer mistress: always stickin' yer nose in where it ain't invited."

He stepped on K'lyhia's grimoire, grinding his boot - he was much more armoured than the others - into the tome.

"N-no… it can't be…" K'lyhia's face was the picture of abject, traumatised fear.

"Hah. Recognised me pretty face, did ye?"

The man had red hair - crimson, like blood - a rough beard, an eyepatch, and wore a tricorn hat. Alice guessed he was the captain, but… who was he to shake the Foreseer so badly?

"B-but… you were caught… Exiled…" K'lyhia couldn't process the person she saw before her, and began to shake her head rapidly in terror, trying to deny the man's existence.

Aersthota ran to kneel in front of K'lyhia, axe outstretched to protect her. "Foreseer! Foreseer, are you hurt? Can you stand?"

"St-stay back!" K'lyhia shouted at the captain. "You stay away from me!"

"Foreseer, please, calm down! What are your orders?"

"Aersthota, can't you see she's…" Alice cut herself off to glare side-eyed at the enemy Roegadyn. She gritted her teeth, wanting to go for him but not wanting to risk getting cut in half.

"I've 'ad enough o' yer whimperin'." The captain leaned down to pick up K'lyhia's grimoire and looked at it, disgusted. "An' I've certainly 'ad enough o' these bloody books. It's clear ye ain't learnin' anythin' from 'em."

Before anyone from the inspection team could stop him, he casually threw the tome behind him, and it bounced off the edge of the ship and into the sea. K'lyhia tried to scrabble away from the pirate, her back to the mast, but unable to form a coherent enough thought to notice. Pure animal instinct to get away.

"Reckon it's time ye got a different kind o' lesson!" declared the captain, the slimiest, cruellest grin Alice had ever seen plastered on his face, leering at K'lyhia especially.

The Foreseer's mind couldn't take it. She screamed, and collapsed, unconscious.

"K'lyhia! Nophica preserve us, she's fainted!" Geissfryn called out. "We must withdraw."

Aersthota picked up the unconscious K'lyhia, throwing the arcanist over her shoulder, and looked at Alice. "Quickly! Back to the boat! I'll carry the foreseer!"

Alice was furious, and had been watching the entire thing, unable to move. Until now. She directed the Topaz Carbuncle at the giant pirate, who blocked it easily with his axe. So she followed up with a quartet of Topaz Ruins all aimed at his hands. The man was shockingly fast, catching each and every spell on his axe instead of his flesh.

"What, ye think ye can go after me?" He shook his head as if disappointed.

"You're a fucking disgusting pig and I will see you burn," declared Alice, spitting on the Morningstar's deck. "Get fucked and die!"

As she ran, she was so taken by spite that she burnt her remaining aethercharge to send wind-aspected Emerald Ruins at the necks of some of the pirates she had left injured and bleeding on the deck. With their windpipes cut, they choked and died. It was not glorious, it was not self-defence, it was just murder, and a small part of Alice's mind knew she would regret it later. The rest of her mind was so full of rage directed at the pirate that she stowed her grimoire, raised both of her middle fingers at the man, and ran to the small boat, jumping in just as they cast off from the large ship.

"Aye, that's right!" The captain shouted after them. "Ye slink on back to yer mistress, ye worthless curs! Gahahahaha!"

Chapter Text

Alice was seething in the boat on the return journey. Furious that she could kill a primal, but not a man like… Whoever that exiled captain was.

Then her actions at the end of the failed inspection finally hit her, and she became extremely nauseous. She barely managed to aim the projectile vomit into the ocean instead of bathing one of the others in it.

Geissfryn was rowing, and Aersthota was caring for the unconscious foreseer. "I told you… You can't get lost in it."

"Shut up…" said Alice, half-heartedly. "Fuckers might've come back to get us later for revenge."

She knew it was a weak justification, and that there was no explaining it away. But they didn't argue, and that was enough for her.

No one spoke for the rest of the journey back to Aleport. When they finally arrived, Aersthota spoke once more. "We'll take care of K'lyhia. You'd best return to the Arcanists' Guild and report to Mistress Thubyrgeim."

They made no moves to help Alice do anything else, focusing only on the foreseer. Alice understood, and used a teleport spell to head back to Limsa.

The teleport was unsettling, but Alice found herself at Limsa's Aetheryte Plaza in only a few seconds. She had to take a minute to sit at a bench around the outside, however, as her stomach had not appreciated the double beating it had taken. A few minutes of sitting later, she managed to stand up, and walked herself to the Arcanists' Guild on foot, without the aid of the Aethernet.

While seated, she had been alone with her thoughts and decided… She didn't like them. She hated herself for what she had done, and how useless she had been. Another creeping thought - she had hated that her only words to Minfilia about one of the Antecedent's closest friends getting possessed was essentially just 'do nothing and wait it out', but that would mean she just had to… sit there, aware of the pain her friend was going through.

It was a bit fucking horrible of Alice, in retrospect.

Which just meant she had to make her changes count. If she could save Moenbryda and Papalymo… if she could save Haurchefant…

"For those we have lost… For those we can yet save…"

"Alice? Did you hear me?"

Alice blinked, and only just realised she had already made her way to Thubyrgeim, and had said those words while standing in front of the acting guildmaster.

Oh and, the Admiral was there too, along with an armed escort of several Maelstrom soldiers, including Marshal Slafysryn.

"Uhhhhhh…" Alice blinked. "I clearly missed something, sorry, I didn't realise you were busy."

"It's no issue," said Merlwyb. "Especially as it's about the business that I understand you're here to report on?"

"Oh the… The exiled pirate?"

"Yes…" said Thubyrgeim. She seemed unsettled, and the Admiral's stance had an undercurrent of anger that Alice could see was directed at the topic rather than the messenger. Phew. "Aersthota reported ahead of your arrival. An unfortunate turn of events, but considering the infamous blackheart you faced, you might have fared much worse. It seems Doesmaga has returned."

"Okay, forgive me, this passed me by during my run of the story," said Alice, just not bothering to obscure her language. "Who is Doesmaga and why does K'lyhia have a full-on PTSD response? What did he do to her?"

The Admiral balled her fists. "Doesmaga is a callous, cowardly blackheart of a man who refused - refuses, still - to play by Limsa's rules, something only shared by the Serpent Reavers. But rather than doing so for some promise of power from a primal and its followers, he does it to satisfy his own whims and urges. He was exiled some years ago, but has apparently decided to stay."

Alice's eyes widened. "And… How is he fast enough to parry spells with an axe?"

"That's a new one," said Marshal Slafysryn, stroking his square chin. "He was always dangerous, but that's a new level of speed even for him. The four of you would never have been able to take him on alone, even if not for the foreseer's… Past experience with the bastard."

Thubyrgeim nodded. "The grimoire she carried, it was a gift from our absent guildmaster when he rescued her from Doesmaga's slave holds."

Alice realised what Thubyrgeim meant, and her anger returned. "I see."

"And now you understand something of K'lyhia's experience, I hope," said Thubyrgeim. "I hope we can still salvage her grimoire from the ocean, but…"

"I cannot imagine it's likely that any tome, even a magical one, could live through a good saltwater drenching," said Merlwyb. "But I'll leave the arcanistry to those trained in the art. In the meantime, the Marshal and I need to prepare to increase security until we can be sure Doesmaga is gone once more."

"Wait, for one pirate?" asked Alice. "I know he's a rotten cunt who deserves to burn in every layer of hell in tiny pieces, but… He's still one guy."

"And if what you said is true," replied Merlwyb, "he's dangerous enough that we need to be certain he doesn't make land and try to cut a way here. We may stop him with the weight of numbers, but I'd rather keep innocents out of his reach."

"Or worse, if he were to go to ground, he might be impossible to remove," said Slafysryn.

"If that happened I'd fucking send the Scions at him, since as a member I'm pretty sure I can do that if needed," said Alice. "But yes, prevention is the best cure."

"Your open talk of the organisation is bold," said Merlwyb, an eyebrow raised, but a ghost of a smile on her lips.

Alice shrugged. "The impending and inevitable defeat of Gaius van Baelsar will make it public knowledge."

"Someone's sure of themselves," said Slafysryn, and he chuckled. "Although, I hope yer right. We could do with a few less problems around here."

"I'll do my best to live up to my bold claims," said Alice. "But I'd best let you get on with your work, Admiral, Marshal."

She gave as best a Storm Salute as she could, intending to be at least respectful. They nodded, the Marshal chuckling again.

The Maelstrom complement departed, and Alice was left alone with Thubyrgeim.

"If I had known Doesmaga was aboard that ship, I never would have assigned her that duty," said the acting guildmaster, for once looking distressed. "The assessor may require some time to recover ─ for K'lyhia, that man is a nightmare made flesh. Though her physical wounds will soon mend, there is little we can do to salve the hurt to her mind."

Alice balled her hands into fists. "I wish I could have done more."

"You are concerned? Angry, mayhap?" Thubyergeim nodded, back in business mode once again. "Harness that energy, and channel it into your training. I predict we shall be needing your skills again before long."

"Sure, yeah," said Alice. "Let me know when it's time to do… anything to help this situation. Please."

Thubyrgeim nodded, a weak smile on her face. "I will."

After leaving the guild, Alice had walked up to the Aftcastle - a location in Limsa between the Drowning Wench and the Tempest gate, where the Maelstrom headquarters and the Blacksmithing and Armourer's guilds were all located. It featured a large round plaza that made a good sitting and thinking space.

She lay on a bench, staring up at the pink evening sky. She had decided not to go to the Wench, as she didn't want to be near alcohol right now, but hadn't wanted to just slip through to her inn room either. But nowhere was quite as safe to just sit and be as right by the Maelstrom.

A shadow was cast over her face.

"Well, you look like shit," said the familiar voice of Alicia.

"Hey, sinner," said Alice with a grin, "What's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?"

She was rewarded with a swat to the forehead for her joke.

"Ow, don't be an ass," said Alice, sitting up. She was going to continue when she saw that Alicia was wearing the Maelstrom uniform. "Ayo! You got the uniform! You got in?"

"Yeah, they got me," said Alicia. "Well, of the three, I was hardly going to pick anyone other than the Maelstrom."

"Nice, nice, good choice." Alice nodded approvingly. "And, as I recalled, it looks good on you."

"It's… not my preference," said Alicia. "But I'm on official business… Or I was, at any rate."

"Tell me about it, what'd you do?"

Alicia regaled her with a familiar tale of a crashed Garlond Ironworks airship, a unit of Garlean soldiers attempting to take it, and a pair of engineers.

"They introduced themselves as-"

"Biggs and Wedge! No shit?" said Alice, excited. "I forgot this is when we get to meet those guys. Love 'em to bits, and they're trustworthy and reliable too."

"Should have known you'd know," said Alicia, shaking her head. "Here I thought I was doing something special."

"Ah, it's special enough. Those two will help our future friend Cid Garlond once he shows up," said Alice. "As for things I didn't know, I just fought an exiled pirate who… Well, he's a rat bastard I need to attend to at some point."

"Oh? There are things you don't know, then?"

"Plenty! I didn't have you pick up Archer, Pugilist, Arcanist or Lancer, for example. Or Dancer."

"Thank the gods for that last one," said Alicia.

"It's a 'throw discs at people from range' thing. Archer with a different kind of extra spice."

They were interrupted by a linkpearl call.

"Can you hear me, you two? This is Minfilia," came the Antecedent's voice.

"We can hear you," said Alicia. "What news do you have?"

"An officer of the Maelstrom contacted me with news of your enlistment. My congratulations, private Kharlu."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Alicia.

"I have no doubt that you are eager to make the acquaintance of your new comrades, but I would ask that you pay a visit to your old ones first. Remember: though you are now a woman of the Storm, you are no less a Scion! Pray-"

"Pray Return to the Waking Sands," Alice intoned in sync with Minfilia's words. "I am getting the feeling you want us both back, but… Yeah, actually, I'll be around, just I may take a bit longer than Alicia will."

"Alright, there is no need to rush, but I would appreciate some degree of haste," said Minfilia. "We have new friends waiting to speak with you both."

"Alright, sure."

"I'll be right there, ma'am," said Alicia.

The call ended, and Alicia looked at Alice. "You weren't doing anything when I arrived. What could you possibly need to do now?"

"Gun."

"What do you mean, 'gun?'"

Alice stood up and pointed at Naldiq & Vymelli's, the combination Blacksmithing and Armourer's guild. "Gun."

She started to tug on Alicia's sleeve, like a child wanting a parent to come with them to see something they thought was interesting.

"Oh, what now…"

They walked to the guild, and Alice found the Blacksmith guildmaster, Brithael, very quickly - she knew him well, as she had made Alice level 70+ in all three of the metalworking crafting jobs.

"Hello sir!" She called to him, an overly large smile on her face. "Yes, you, the guildmaster of the Blacksmiths! I have a commission specifically for you!"

The man had half-turned as soon as she had entered, but on the mention of a commission he faced her. "Hello, miss. Ordinarily our commissions are handled by Randwulf at the main counter, down there."

He pointed towards the counter, but Alice lowered his arm. "How much do you know about firearms, friend?" she asked.

"I know that I'm not allowed to give one to just anyone in this city," he replied. "No matter how much coin they offer."

"What about if the person asking was a Scion?"

"Then that would change nothing, as I don't know what a Scion is in this context. Admiral's decree, only some within the city may bear firearms."

Alice groaned in annoyance. "Alright, fine, I'll come back via the legal channels first, get approval…" She frowned, realising what she was talking about. "Wait, that means Limsa has Gun Control Laws? Now that's hilarious, and I love it."

"It's in the interest of public safety," said the forgemaster. "If you can somehow get me legal documents indicating your right to own firearms, I'll accept the commission."

"I'll hold you to that," said Alice with a wink, a tongue click, and a pair of finger guns.

She dragged Alicia back outside the guild hall.

"Why did you even want me in there?" Alicia asked her. The marauder noticed her friend immediately became… less, somehow. Less positive, less her usual self. She supposed that the mood she had put on to talk to the guildmaster had just been a front.

"Because… I don't know…" Alice looked off to the side. "I need a friend right now."

Alicia sighed. "Come on, let's return to the Sands."

The noise ended up being several scions celebrating… something. Several of the scions Alice didn't know, so she had no idea what could be happening. She sighed, and slouched, head bowed.

She felt a hand on her back, and looked around to see Alicia trying to help her feel better.

"I know we keep trading these moments, but… You'll be fine."

Alice started to reply, then thought about it. "We have, actually. That's… proof we need each other's help. Or that I need yours, since I seem to be the one causing your problems."

"Not all of them," said Alicia. "Some are very much out of your control."

A scion, one who had not been participating in the revelry, walked up to them. It was that same Elezen woman who Alice barely remembered, who stood outside the Solar to permit entry.

"Alicia, Alice! Minfilia awaits you within the Solar," she told them.

"Wait, where's Tataru?" asked Alice, worried she may have caused some subtle shift in events that affected the lalafell woman in some way.

"Oh, she's working on something in the other room right now," replied the woman. "She keeps working and working, but even she can't go forever without sleep."

Alice breathed a second sigh of relief. "Alright. The Solar, yeah?" She looked at Alicia and smiled. "Let's go."

They entered Minfilia's office space, and found Minfilia, Yda, Papalymo, Urianger and Y'shtola awaiting them within. Alice looked around, including behind where the doors opened, but saw no sign of Thancred.

"Where's…?"

Minfilia had been smiling, and the expression fell slightly, coming back not quite as genuinely as it had been before. "He's… off doing some task or other. He didn't say what, and acted rather curiously."

"And… Did he have the necklace…?" asked Alice.

"Yes, as well as a different aura about him, when I inspected his soul," said Y'shtola. "It was subtle, but I have known my friend long enough to tell."

"Wait, you don't have aether eyes yet, how did you…?"

"Something you had said stuck with me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realised I already knew the technique in question," explained Y'shtola. "But a permanent blindness would require me to be using the technique at all times to see."

"Ah." Alice nodded. She turned and waved to the Gridanian pair of Archons. "And I'm hoping you two have been filled in…?"

Papalymo nodded gravely. "We have. And if nothing else, Y'shtola seems convinced enough that your story is true, in a way that makes me inclined to believe you as well."

"As crazy as it sounds, it also sounds interesting!" said Yda, surprisingly cheerfully.

"Yeah, especially since we finally get to liberate Ala Mhigo, right, Lyse…?" In her tiredness, Alice realised what she said only after the words left her mouth. She brought her hands together in front of her face, then slapped herself.

When she looked up again, the Ala Mhigan woman's smile was obviously fake, even with most of her face obscured behind her mask. Everyone else was deathly quiet.

"What? What's happening right now?" asked Alicia. "She said the wrong name, what's the problem…?"

Alice side-eyed Alicia with a terrified smile. "I beansed it, dude," she said through clenched teeth. "I fucken beansed it real hard just now."

Papalymo inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "Nothing happened. Nothing at all. Carry on."

Yda's- Lyse's smile was still fake, but she pretended to stand there as if nothing had happened, seemingly trying to pretend nothing had been said. It was… honestly saddening to Alice, and memories of what it took for Lyse to drop the pretence - of who it cost them - came unbidden. So, she decided to press on.

"In the future, after the Dragonsong War ends and Ishgard is brought back into the Alliance, the chance arrives to assault Baelsar's Wall and retake Ala Mhigo," Alice began to explain to the room.

"Do not," said Papalymo, a quiet, terse threat. Given the context, he had swiftly realised what she was building towards.

"One of the many comrades alongside us, pushing us along, is Lyse Hext, finally content to be herself."

"I said do not," Papalymo spoke again.

"And you know what?" Alice continued, staring down the thaumaturge directly now. "When she ends up needing to take up the mantle of the leader of the Resistance, she's absolutely fucking shining, a beacon of hope and resistance against Garlemald."

Papalymo sighed. And then he blasted Alice against the far wall with a wave of pure, invisible force, the same spell she remembered him using when she had attempted to save him on Baelsar's wall. It hurt, but also it hurt. She coughed, the wind having been knocked out of her.

"Papalymo, what are you doing!?" Minfilia cried, taken aback by the sudden violence.

"I don't need alcohol to make terrible decisions!" shouted Alice, barely regaining her breath. "And while I know the reason and circumstances of her original choice, I'm not going to wait for a life or death situation to help her see things clearly! Even if it's a fucking terrible decision!"

"And no one should make that decision but her!" he shouted back. "No one should take it away from her! Something you would know if you are a friend to her!"

"Enough!" Y'shtola shouted. “You are both being overly dramatic!”

"You're goddamn right!" shouted Alice. "I just took away from Alicia's moment for something incredibly fucking childish!"

"Alice…" said Alicia quietly.

"Now, you go have fun with the Sylphs or Little Ala Mhigo, I don't fucking remember the order anymore, and I'll go cause problems for someone else!" shouted Alice, shakily standing up and walking away. "Tell me when Titan rocks up and the Ascian fuckboy ruins everything here."

"Alice…" Alicia said again.

"Motherfuck, I didn't even get a gun licence," said Alice. She yanked open one of the doors leading out. Looking in front of her, she saw that she had barely done so ahead of Tataru attempting her own entrance with Biggs and Wedge, all three of whom looked anxious about something.

Alice nodded, and walked past them all, not saying anything.

"Alice!" Alicia shouted this time. "Stop, you absolute fool!"

"Bite me!" Alice shouted back. No one else made a move to stop her from leaving, and as soon as she cleared the Sands' wards, she cast a return spell to Limsa Lominsa. Upon arriving in the city, she immediately made her way to the Wench to grab some food. She took it into her inn room, ate it alone, and went immediately to sleep, all the while not bothering to address the tears dripping from her eyes.

Chapter Text

Alice had more nightmares that night. This time not of distant Amaurot, but of more local calamities.

I close my eyes, tell us why must we suffer

The deaths of Alicia, Bea, Yaromir, Salli… The deaths of the Archons, as a Lahabrea-possessed Thancred laughs maniacally…

Release your hands, for your will drags us under

The burning of an Ishgard with no Warrior of Light to turn to, of Eorzea as a whole bowed to the might of Gaius and the Ultima weapon.

My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander

And it was all her fault. That was the one connecting thread. It was all Alice's fault, for disrupting everything, for throwing her 'future knowledge' around where it wasn't wanted or needed.

How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us?

All because she had wanted to finally feel powerful and useful. All because she had thought 'maybe this is why I exist' and committed to it in her usual, stupid, idiotic way.

"To all of my children, in whom Life flows abundant…"

Alice's dreams stopped, and she realised, still asleep, that she had been spoken to by Hydaelyn, quoting the song Answers, as had the rest of her dream so far. Her mind filled with calming light, as the image in her mind's eye became the Mothercrystal.

"To all of my children, to whom Death hath passed his judgement…"

The dream turned dark again, and Alice's memories of the Ascian Emet-Selch, a person she had grown to like and respect despite his alignment. His position on the Convocation of Amaurot had been the keeper of the underworld, the lifestream, and so it was fitting that the man's true name before his ascension to the Fourteen was actually 'Hades', like the ancient Greek god of the Underworld and death.

"The soul yearns for honour, and the flesh the hereafter…" Hydaelyn continued.

Alice's memories then flashed to the actions of Lahabrea and Elidibus, the only two other Ascians to have escaped the Sundering as intact beings, the third and final being Emet-Selch. The last three Ancients, who over the course of thousands of years had killed millions, perhaps billions, all for the sake of bringing back their own people. A trio so exhausted that in some ways, it was apparent in hindsight that they welcomed the respite of death, an end to their endless existence.

"Look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after…"

The song continued, sung normally, playing over a montage of Alice's memories of Alicia, from the original game, performing incredible feats of heroism. A woman with unfaltering bravery in the face of many insane and life threatening situations. The memories changed to an abstract of her walking ahead of the Scions… who changed as they walked: Thancred to his Gunbreaker clothes; Y'shtola to her Night's Blessed Black Mage garb; Urianger from his hooded robes to his Astrologian outfit; Yda into Lyse into Commander Hext; Papalymo disappeared; Minfilia became a blinding light; and at some point Ardbert, a Warrior of Light of an alternate plane known as the First, appeared, a step behind Alicia. It was each of their journeys, passing in seconds.

All followed after Alicia. A woman who strode ahead. Forged ahead. And ahead of her…

"In the same fleeting moment…"

What was that?

"Thou must live,"

Who were they?

"Die,"

Were they fighting something?

"And know."

What was-

Alice awoke with a start. Answers still echoed in her mind, a song she had heard often enough that at times it was simply there, in her mind, unasked for. But annoyingly, that whole set of dreams had just left her with damn questions.

She retrieved her phone from the bedside table, and turned it on, then nearly dropped it. She had expected no messages at all, not thirty-seven missed calls. She looked at her call log, and saw only most of them were from Alicia and her new friends. The most recent, however, was unknown, but had a caller ID of jumbled letters. The fact that caller ID had worked for Linkshell calls had been a welcome surprise, but this new one was… decidedly unwelcome.

Her phone rang again. Another jumbled caller ID. No… The same jumbled caller ID.

She knew it was a terrible idea to answer it. For all she knew it'd get her killed.

She answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ah, so this connection does exist. Good morning, child. How do you feel?"

The voice was… definitely not Hydaelyn. It was familiar, though. Male. And left a sense of dread in her.

"Apologies, sir, I think you have the wrong number," Alice replied.

"I think not, child," the voice continued. "I hear tell of you glimpsing the future?"

"Buddy, whoever this is, I didn't even know this call was coming, much less anything beyond that," said Alice. "You definitely have the wrong number."

"We shall see-"

Alice hung up on the guy mid sentence. It was extremely cathartic. She racked her brains as to who the caller might be. Definitely not Emet, probably not Nabriales or Elidibus. So… Lahabrea? But how? And why expose his knowledge if her if so?

Alice lay back in bed. It was light out, and according to her phone's somehow-still-accurate clock it was nearing noon. So, not an unusual time for her to wake up.

She decided to wait things out, and see if any notifications would come through from Thubyrgeim. Who, she realised, didn't have a linkshell connection to Alice. So, she stayed in bed, and watched more of the locally-stored anime on her phone.

Eventually, she realised she had gone through two episodes and nothing had come through, not even more calls. She got up, and started to get herself ready for the rest of the day - including taking her medication dry, which was always a terrible idea. During that time, she deliberated on whether or not she should call one of her friends, and if so, who?

By the time she was ready to leave, she had finally decided: Bea. So, before she left, she anxiously called Bea.

The call went through. "Alice, is that you? Are you alright?"

"Uhm, hi Bea. Yeah, I-"

"Thank the Twelve! Where were you!? You were gone for so long, we didn't know what to make of things!"

"I… I'm sorry." Alice rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand. "After I fucked everything up at the Sands, I couldn't stick around. Sorry I didn't come and see you while I was there."

"That's not…" Bea gave a frustrated sigh. "We were just worried about you. You can't just up and leave when things are like that, you know."

"I mean, you probably didn't hear what happened, so I'll tell you myself: I fucked up and screwed up my position in the Scions, so now I'm no longer welcome at the Sands and-"

"Be quiet and listen, you oaf!" Bea shouted at her, more intense than Alice had heard her be since the confrontation with Edda's party. "You have not been exiled from the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. You have not been banished from the Waking Sands. And Lyse would like to talk to you. Alicia would, too."

"I'm sure you're mistaken," said Alice, immediately dismissive of the notion she hadn't fucked up cataclysmically. "No way in hell I'm welcome back there."

Bea made a frustrated noise. "And of course, because you weren't present at the meeting, you didn't join a Grand Company so I can't just order you to return… Fine. We will come to you."

"If you can even find me," said Alice, immediately biting on her lip in regret, but unwilling to back down from her self-destructive responses.

Bea hung up on her, and Alice felt terrible. Why couldn't she just… not be that person? Her medication usually helped her not be quite so idiotic about her mistakes, and yet here she was, still being a fucking idiot.

She sighed, and left her room, walking down the corridor to the Drowning Wench. When she arrived at the gate separating the Mizzenmast from the Wench, the attendant stopped her.

"I've got mail for ye, lass," said the kindly Roegadyn man. "It looks important, too."

"Uh, thanks," said Alice, and was handed a quartet of letters, three of which bore the seal of the Grand Companies: the Maelstrom, the Immortal Flames and the Twin Adder.

"What the fuck?" Alice was confused. "Does this mean I'm in trouble?"

"What? No, o' course not! The Companies don't send letters unless they mean to poach ye."

Alice's expression indicated she didn't quite understand or believe it. The fourth letter was from…

"The Ironworks? What do they want?"

"Lass, I don't read yer mail, I just hand it off so ye can do that yerself," said the man, half amused.

She grunted in acknowledgement, and walked out to a table. As soon as she sat down, she was followed by a Miqo'te server with a plate of breakfast: toasted bread, slices of bacon, and some light vegetables.

"I didn't order yet," said Alice.

"Baderon's call," said the woman. "And it's on the house. Same deal as with Alicia, aye?"

"Wh- no, hang on, I didn't do anything-"

"Take the food, lass. Ye can't argue with Tenfingers," said the server over her shoulder, already walking away.

Alice grumbled, but ate the food gratefully. The letters sat unopened until she had finished the meal, which she devoured a little faster than was healthy.

She started with the Maelstrom letter. Lo and behold, it really was an invitation to join the Grand Company. Although less personal than a living messenger, it was still real and addressed to her directly. It also contained both an Airship pass - "Oh, that's cool," she mumbled - and a little note, signed by the Admiral.

You're absolved, regardless of your choice. Just try not to keep causing squabbles in my office.
Merlwyb

That was unexpected, to say the least. She opened the Twin Adder and Immortal Flames letters, and they, too, were invites to the Grand Companies, although without any personalised letters from Kan-E-Senna. Raubahn, however…

Alice,
Your unorthodox solution to the Hecatoncheir problem has been a bit of a strange thorn in my side of late, but it's a welcome change of pace. I appreciate it.
Raubahn Aldynn

She left them for now, and looked at the fourth letter, from the Garlond Ironworks. It was from Jessie, the Vice-President of the company, and the woman who had needed to take over operations of the Ironworks while Cid was amnesiac and missing.

Dear Alice,
On behalf of the entire Ironworks, and especially myself, I would like to formally thank you for your work in finding and safely returning our President, Cid Garlond. It came as great relief to see him alive and well, and while his memories have not totally returned, he claims to remember enough to know he is back with his family.

Garlond Ironworks owes you a great debt for this act, one which we will endeavour to repay. Simply ask, and we will see what can be done for you.

On a more personal note, I cannot overstate how much I appreciate you doing this, and doing your best to bring his genius mind back. He took time to remember me, but once he had done so, I saw him, truly back with us in some capacity. It was a beautiful moment, one I can cherish for a long time.

Mine and the Ironworks' deepest thanks,
Jessie

Alice was unsure how to process her feelings about this. She was more than happy to rescue Cid's mind, just because he was a good person, let alone how staunch an ally he was. She hadn't even considered this kind of thing occurring. And then the matter of her actually being recruited into the Grand Companies after all.

She hummed, and put the letters in her pouch, grabbing her phone. Not that she had a method of contacting anyone in the Ironworks, but she knew who did. Without thinking, she made a call.

"This is Minfilia," said the Antecedent. Alice was suddenly not sure what to say to her.

"Uhm," she began, but apparently Minfilia recognised her voice from that alone.

"Alice! We were worried about you," she said. "Especially when we discovered Thancred had been nearer than we anticipated, although we were able to at least hide the specifics of what had been discussed."

"Ohhh… Well, he contacted me over my phone- linkpearl- you know what I mean. But he didn't do more than reveal he knew I could glimpse the future, so thanks."

"Oh, that is a relief." The reply came with a sigh. "Regardless, we still need to talk. Your revelations last night may have proven unwelcome at the time, but Yda- Lyse has spent the night thinking, and come to a decision. And she wanted to talk to you about it."

"Well, you are now the second person to tell me this, so… I'll accept that I suppose, but let me take care of one or two things in Limsa while I'm still here."

"As far as I am aware, Beatrice and Lyse are on their way to you. They should arrive within the hour. Beatrice seemed… Rather irritated."

"I suppose that's something. And, yeah, I expect a hard slap or five for that. Maybe a kick in the nuts from Lyse."

"I will not ask for clarification, only that you don't leave Limsa Lominsa until they arrive and have spoken with you. You may consider that an order."

"Huh, didn't know we did those. Alright, I'll see to business and stay in Limsa. Alice out."

"Goodbye for now. Pray return when you are able."

The call ended, and Alice sighed, before letting her head thud onto the table, barely missing the empty plate and cutlery. She groaned, half in pain and half at her own idiocy.

"Miss Alice?"

She rotated her head towards the voice. It was the server from earlier. "Mmm?"

"I 'ave word from Baderon, he wants to talk to you."

"Oh, gods, not another one," said Alice. She sat up, and called across the room to the man instead of walking over. "What's up?"

He laughed. "I was supposed ta tell ye after ye read that Ironworks letter. There's a feller waitin' in Naldiq & Vymelli's, from the Ironworks, for any answer to whatever they said ta ye."

She grumbled. "Thanks, sir. And for the food."

"Aye, it's not often we get to host a primal-slayin' Warrior of Light! Least I can do is lessen yer burdens."

That caused a lot of whispers in the room. Alice hadn't realised quite how many people were here: the Wench was not full by any means, but most of the tables had quite a few people around them for lunch. She blushed, embarrassed.

"No, I'm not the Warrior of Light, I'm just-"

"The only thin' everyone remembers from Carteneau izzat there was more'n one!" He grinned. "There can be again, aye?"

Alice regretted not making that a more private discussion after all. Convenience had bitten her in the arse once more. She got up to walk to the elevator, only to find it was in use, coming up from the Bulwark Hall level. When the gate opened, she saw Bea and Lyse standing on the platform. Bea was in her Conjurer's attire, and Lyse was wearing her Yda outfit but without the mask and hat. It was an odd look, but didn't not work.

"Oh, that makes things easier," said Alice, walking onto the platform before they could say anything. She told the operator, "Going down!"

The lift moved down to Bulwark Hall, and Alice tried desperately not to make eye contact with the other two women with her.

"Alice," Bea began, but Alice held up a finger to stop her.

"Let me just… Attend to something first. You can come with me, but-"

Lyse flicked her on the side of the head. It hurt, by the gods, and dazed Alice immediately.

"You really are a fool, sometimes," said Lyse. "I know that's a laugh coming from me, but…"

Alice rounded on her. "You are not a fool, you are not dumb, you are a fucking incredible person and seeing your personal growth was magnificent. Easily one of my favourite parts of Stormblood. And I'm sorry I said anything so soon, before you were ready."

The lift stopped. Bea hugged Alice from behind, causing the human to squeak in surprise.

"Uhm… We should clear the way," said Lyse.

The gate door had opened, and there were several people wanting to get on, looking away awkwardly.

"Right!" said Bea, pulling away. "Let's… Go."

Alice, to her credit, managed to walk all the way out to the middle of the Hall before feeling like she needed to curl up into a ball again.

She coughed, and turned around to look at the other two. Before she could form any real, meaningful thoughts, one thing that had been bothering her needed to be said.

"Lyse, just to let you know, red is your colour."

Lyse gave her a confused smile. "I'm sorry, what?"

"How do I explain it… In the original timeline, after telling the Scions about the real you, Tataru makes you a new outfit, a red one, and it's such a good colour on you. Same with that one red dress, the cool Ala Mhigan Monk one."

"The…" Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember, then widened. "Oh! Oh, no, I could never pull that off. No way. But did you say Tataru makes me an outfit? I didn't know she could do that!"

"Neither does she, yet," Alice admitted. "It originally took until after Gaius' defeat for her to decide to branch out from 'just' the world's greatest secretary, and she became really good at weaving, like holy moly. And a scary influential entrepreneur."

"Wow, you learn something new every day, I suppose…" said Lyse. "I've known her for years and never considered that."

"Meanwhile… Hate to say it but the other Scions did know about-"

"They told me as much themselves," said Lyse with a sad smile. "Once I asked Papalymo to not try to hunt you down, I mean."

Alice's expression turned worried. "Oh, good."

"I had been in another room attempting to rest when the commotion occurred." Bea nodded. "It was… Rather impressive to see how annoyed that man can get."

"He can be rather irritable," Lyse admitted. "But either way… You said you knew why I took up my sister's name?"

"Yeah, I heard about it first from you, then got a chance to read a little more about it later, I forget exactly where." Alice sucked in air through her teeth. "But… I'm sorry for your loss. And it wasn't in vain, since we do get to reclaim Ala Mhigo, if I haven't screwed up yet."

"You didn't 'screw up'," said Bea. "Mistakes happen."

"No, I mean Laha-fucking-brea knows I can see the future now. I have to be careful what I do." Alice crossed her arms. "Still want to booby trap the Sands though."

"I heard about that, too," said Lyse, and nodded. "Lahabrea walks the Garleans in, and they kill most of our comrades, right?"

For whatever reason, Alice was uncomfortably reminded more of Zenos' assault on Rhalgr's Reach from Stormblood than of the event they were actually discussing. "That's correct."

"And you wished to set a trap for them, and prevent any Scion deaths, is that also correct?" asked Bea.

"Well, yeah, I've been considering it. Not sure how, though-"

Alice stopped as an idea began to develop. "We have group business here in Limsa it seems."

"Oh? What do you have in mind?" asked Lyse.

"Well, first I need to take care of an outstanding duty, then…" Alice explained her letter from the Ironworks, and the representative awaiting her at the guildhall.

"So I intend to call the favour in with them. With their help, we can make some claymores, and stop the Garleans in their tracks."

The other two frowned. "What good will an extra set of swords do?" asked Lyse.

"Oh, no my dear, let me tell you about something from my home."

They walked to the Arcanist's guild, Alice briefly explaining the concept of the Claymore Antipersonnel Mine, among other related modern weapons of war. The two were appalled at the savagery involved, but understood the concept.

"So, you want to rig up the Sands with these directed explosives, and have the Garleans just fall right into it?" asked Lyse. "What about the rest of us? The blasts may be directed away from the main rooms, but how do we survive the shrapnel?"

"We simply stay behind it, or just be elsewhere entirely. Like you originally were. If we trick them into thinking there are people inside the Sands at the appointed time, they get got, and we don't."

"I still think it's an atrocious method of warfare," said Bea, looking a little green. "Weapons like those cause such devastation…"

Alice immediately straightened, and did a bad Gaius impression. "This was not my intention!"

Lyse was confused. "But if it's not your intent, why use these weapons?"

"Huh? Oh, no, sorry, in this case it is my intention, I was just reminded of a moment of hubris from Gaius van Baelsar that I have seen… Far too many times."

"You… Have?" Lyse was still confused.

Alice continued, nearly at the Arcanist's guild, and briefly explained how her method of experiencing the story allowed for the repeating of certain sections, which was recommended for various reasons.

"And that moment, in that fight, is one I have seen and heard many, many times. Not as often as his four minute speech before his fight."

"He talks for four entire minutes before you fight? Every time?" asked Lyse.

"In order for people experiencing the story anew to not be left behind, every participant - and there are always four adventurers per group - is forced to sit through a combined 40 or so minutes of dialogue, during which time they usually do other things, as it simply plays itself like a song in an Orchestrion. Gaius' speech is so memorable that the entire community mocks him, unbeknownst to him, while he says it."

Lyse giggled. "That does sound rather fun. Not as much as beating him up afterwards, though. I'd love to be present for that."

They arrived at the guild's doors, and Alice considered that. "You know what? That sounds like a great time. I'll see how things go, since you may be needed elsewhere, but I'll kick his arse extra hard for you if so."

Lyse smiled. "I'd appreciate that. And, thank you for believing in me."

"I just… The original reason you told everyone was because of some bad things happening, and you were pretty sad at the time. It may have been an accident from me at first, but like I said, I saw how amazing you were as yourself, so…"

"Lovely sentiment aside - sorry, Lyse - perhaps we should attend to your business here?" asked Bea. "I assume it has something to do with the increase in alertness triggered by the reappearance of Doesmaga?"

Alice blinked in surprise. "Oh. Yeah, actually. K'lyhia and I were the ones who encountered him on his ship, actually."

Bea frowned. "Foreseer K'lyhia? But that means…" She went pale, and her expression turned worried. "Is she alright?"

"Not really, no," Alice admitted, surprised that Bea knew of her. "That's why I'm here. Thubyrgeim said she'd let me know if any leads came up."

"Well, go on, then," said Bea, more urgently this time.

Alice entered, and bee-lined for the Guildmaster, who was once again near her usual place, if not in her usual manner. Her aura seemed… unsettled, perhaps?

"Mistress Thubyrgeim, is there any news?" asked Alice.

The Roegadyn woman turned to face her, and yes, worry was clear on her face. It eased slightly when she saw Alice, at least.

"Greetings, Alice. In case such doubts fill your mind, you should know that I am ever willing to lend an ear if you find your thoughts troubled."

"Well, thank you, Thubyrgeim," said Alice, sensing this was not the end of what the woman had to say.

"At the very least, I would have you know this, because it seems that K'lyhia does not. The foreseer has been missing since this morning," Thubyrgeim explained. "There have been other times when she has disappeared without a word, but we have always been able to find her. Alas, that is not the case this day."

"Shittt," said Alice. "No idea at all?"

Thubyrgeim shook her head. "Were the guildmaster here, he could deduce her whereabouts with nary a moment's concentration. I find myself beginning to wonder if those who devote themselves overmuch to arcanima are more prone to bouts of wanderlust... But while I might wish to ponder further such oddities of character, we must needs organize a search party."

"I'm in," said Alice with no hesitation. She hesitated afterwards as she recalled her companions, and looked at them. "If you both don't mind, that is…?"

"I'll help too," said Bea. "I haven't had much to do with K'lyhia, but what little I have seen of her was good, and when you told me what happened…"

"I'm more than happy to help, too," said Lyse. "I've actually traded duties with Y'shtola for the day in order to be here, and she said there wasn't anything pressing for me to attend to."

Thubyrgeim breathed a sigh of relief and smiled weakly. "Would you be so kind as to make inquiries in Hawkers' Alley? It is not uncommon for K'lyhia's wanderings to take a path through the markets."

Alice gave her little salute. "Alright, easy peasy. We'll let you know what turns up."

The trio made their way outside, and they spread out to begin combing Hawker's Alley for information. It took a few tries, but eventually Alice found someone with information

“You seek a Miqo'te agent of Mealvaan's Gate? Why, yes, I have seen her," a lalafell merchant, named Dodozan, told her. "Spoke with her, in fact. She was, however, apprehended by the Yellowjackets."

"What? Did they say why?"

"The assessor was drilling me for details about a Qiqirn smuggling ring based in Aleport, but then the soldiers arrived and took her away."

"And they said nothing about why? Dammit, what could have happened?"

"If you wish to know her fate, then I suggest you speak with Ginnade of the Coral Tower," said Dodozan. "She will have more information than I."

"Thanks for the help, sir." She reached for a handful of her gil, and passed it to him. "For your time."

He looked surprised at the amount, but quickly tried to hide it. "It was a pleasure," he said.

Alice nodded, and rounded up the others, explaining her information.

"Coral tower?" Bea frowned. "I can't imagine why."

"You said she knows something about this 'Doesmaga'?" asked Lyse. "Maybe that's why?"

"Well, that's a good idea, but we won't know until we go," said Alice.

They had to make their way there on foot, as Lyse didn't have the ability to use the Aethernet in Limsa. But, the three of them still made good time, with Alice being the slowest of the trio. On arrival, Bea directed them to the person Dodozan had named, a Yellowjacket called Ginnade.

"Hi," Alice asked her. "We're looking for K'lyhia? Of Mealvaan's Gate?"

"Foreseer K'lyhia? Yes, we brought her in for questioning regarding the reappearance of the pirate Doesmaga," replied the woman. "Can you state your reason for inquiry?"

"I'm with the Arcanists' guild, and we haven't been able to find her today. This is the first lead we've had."

"A member of the Arcanists' Guild, are you? Then I see no reason to conceal the nature of our discourse." The woman nodded. "Perhaps you are already aware of this, but the foreseer was once held captive by that rabid sea dog."

"Yeah, we both met him, and I saw how she… Reacted to his presence." Alice shuddered.

Ginnade looked disgusted. "Few pirates sink to such depths of depravity as Doesmaga. It has been six years now since he was exiled from Limsa Lominsa for engaging in the worst kind of black market trading. And now the villain has returned. He is, however, both cunning and cautious, and continues to evade our troops. Thus, we hoped to borrow the knowledge of Foreseer K'lyhia, whose experiences have given her an intimate familiarity with the way the scoundrel operates."

"Ahhhh…" Alice nodded. "Okay, that makes sense-"

Ginnade cleared her throat and interrupted her. "At least, that was our intent. After weathering a barrage of questions from the assessor, we found ourselves, instead, providing the details of our search. Should you wish to speak with Foreseer K'lyhia, I imagine she has already returned safely to your guild."

"Well… I suppose there's a chance we just missed her?" Bea suggested. "She may have returned after we left."

"Could be, could be." Alice nodded at Ginnade. "Thanks, miss!"

The trio returned to the guild to meet with Thubyrgeim.

"Back already?" she asked them.

Alice explained what she had been told by Ginnade. "So we thought maybe she was here…?"

"You were led to believe she had returned here? I am afraid not. And the Yellowjackets told you something of her history with Doesmaga, did they? Perhaps it would be best if I told you the entire tale."

Thubyrgeim told them of how a surprise inspection originally discovered Doesmaga's slaving proclivities, and how one of the many slaves found that day was K'lyhia. The girl had been too terrified to speak a word until the now-absent Guildmaster, a Miqo'te man named K'rhid Tia, had gifted her a Grimoire, after which she had proved to have a knack for arcanima and strategy. Additionally, she had never replaced her initial grimoire since that day. Upon telling that last detail, Thubyrgeim had an epiphany

"...Of course. Did you not mention that K'lyhia's grimoire was thrown into the sea?"

"Yeah, why?"

Thubyrgeim nodded, considering something. "There are rumours that a Qiqirn merchant of ill repute has retrieved the black market goods the crew of the Morningstar heaved into the ocean. Even now, he gloats over his salt-encrusted catch in Aleport. It is entirely possible that the foreseer's most prized possession was caught up in the Qiqirn's salvage net."

"Oh! I think I see where you're going with this," said Alice. "She intends to go find it herself."

"Precisely. I've no doubt now that K'lyhia has reached the same conclusion. To Aleport with you, Alice. That is where you will find our wayward assessor."

"You two up for that?" Alice asked Bea and Lyse. "We can go by the Ironworks rep on the way, if you'd prefer to leave me to it."

"We've made it this far." Lyse smiled, determined. "I'm happy to help see this through."

"We still need to talk, and coming with you ensures I have that chance," said Bea.

"Alright, next stop, Aleport," said Alice. "Let's help the poor girl get her book back."

Chapter Text

Alice, Bea and Lyse made their way to Aleport via the ferry. The sun was still shining beautifully at this time of day, and Lyse especially took the time to enjoy the trip.

"It really is just nice to do something important that isn't Scion business," she said. "I buried myself in that work so much while pretending to be Yda, that I just…"

She trailed off, apparently unable to find the right words. Alice patted her on the back. "It'll be good to have you around, although I, uhm, can't help but wonder how Papalymo feels about this."

"He… Well, he's glad I'm finally able to walk my own path," said Lyse. "But may not forgive you for "rushing my choice," as he puts it. You'd have to talk to him yourself, though. Honestly, it's the first time in a while I haven't been able to get a good read of him."

"Well… I just hope this gives you time to let some of that happy-go-lucky good nature come back. You, uhm… Well, with the rush of everything that happened, you spent a while not really doing so well, then you were put in a position of such responsibility that you weren't really able to relax again afterwards."

"I'll admit a good portion of my personality has been what I remember of Yda, but… I would definitely prefer to be less serious if I have the chance."

"And who knows, our first run at Ala Mhigo might actually go better this time!" Alice joked, then winced as she realised what exactly she was joking about. "Uh, basically, after Gaius is deposed, Zenos yae Galvus becomes the viceroy of Ala Mhigo, and his reactions to our first attempts at freeing your home are… They're pretty brutal, and force us to do something of a pincer manoeuvre by deposing him in far eastern Doma to weaken his grip on Ala Mhigo enough to defeat him."

Lyse frowned. "How brutal are we talking, exactly?"

"Well… Rhalgr's Reach gets attacked, and Zenos himself shows up and is horrifically strong."

Lyse's eyes widened. "Rhalgr's Reach? Attacked? How?"

Alice frowned. "Actually we… Huh. We never figured out how they found us, maybe spies as new recruits, or they just always knew but didn't care. But it was only in reaction to moves the Alliance made in the area first, so they're safe for now."

Lyse swallowed, but nodded. "I'll have to take your word for it, although I'll admit to a creeping sense of worry."

"Ack, sorry," said Alice. "At least I can tell you M'naago remains alive and well up to and throughout the liberation."

Lyse's expression lightened. "Well, yes, that does help. Thanks."

Bea had spent the whole conversation simply watching the sea. She had decided to not intrude, until she spotted their approach to Aleport. "Ah, we're almost there."

The ferry arrived, and they made their way around the small port town, asking after K'lyhia. It didn't take long for locals to point them her way, and they found her near the town's gaol. She was muttering to herself as she sat in front of the bars, staring in at no one in particular. She seemed off, and her appearance was a little less in order than normal, to say the least.

"Yes, yes... Combat Pattern 256 should serve to cover all expected contingencies ─ you never know when you'll have to nullify a thaumaturge or two! My retrieval strategy is complete."

"Hey, K'lyhia. You uhhhh, you doing okay?" Alice asked as the trio approached.

The foreseer didn't look up at her. "Alice, it is good of you to come. I was unable to calculate for certain if you would piece together my movements in time. Very little is certain when so many variables are involved. But there is good news: this prisoner here was kind enough to confirm that the trader who salvaged the Morningstar's jettisoned cargo did indeed retrieve a tome matching the description of my lost grimoire."

"Hey, that's good," said Alice. "Need any help getting it back?"

"Lominsan law and the policies of Mealvaan's Gate would support the confiscation of goods connected to an official inspection, but alas, my personal belongings do not fall under that definition," said the Miqo'te, still not looking at Alice. "Thus, I intend to launch an unofficial offensive against this black marketeer and his cronies. The peddler has already departed for Candlekeep Quay. It is time I gathered to me such allies as I possess ─ and I count you as one of them, Alice!"

"Well, hopefully it's a good thing I brought a pair of friends, then?"

K'lyhia turned around and was surprised to see the others, who had remained silent as they took in the dishevelled and rambling state of the foreseer.

"I… Did not anticipate this occurrence," said K'lyhia.

“There's truly a first time for everything,” said Alice.

"Who are your companions?"

"Storm Corporal Beatrice," said the conjurer. "We've met once or twice, though never directly, or for very long."

"Lyse Hext, Scion," said the Ala Mhigan. "We've never met, but I'm in a helping mood today."

K'lyhia didn't quite take this in, and so she looked at Alice questioningly.

"You brought reliable allies last time, this time it's my turn."

"I will have to revise certain calculations, although this does weigh things more in our favour than previously," K'lyhia noted. "Despite the nature of this endeavour, Mistress Thubyrgeim has offered me her cooperation, as have Geissfryn and Aersthota. If you would, pray join the Mistress at Oschon's Embrace─that is where we shall ambush this disreputable Qiqirn. I will be along once I have finished my preparations."

"Alright," Alice nodded to her. "We'll get that bastard, don't worry."

She opened her phone's map, trying to remember where Oschon's Embrace was. When she found it, a thought occurred to her. "Why are you in Aleport if the target is near Moraby Bay? And, wait, when did Thubyrgeim have time to speak to you and go down south to-"

"It's for the best if you just don't think about it," said Bea, her tone soothing.

"But… I… Urgh, fine. But I'm teleporting us to Limsa."

They finally reached Oschon's Embrace, after a trek that was made longer by Alice's complaints.

"But why send us north if the target is actually south?"

"I'm long since used to people giving us the runaround for directions," said Lyse. "Happens a lot when you're seen as flighty."

"The entire guild seems to be made up of people who just… are nuttier than even me, and I'm a fucking bag of trail mix," said Alice. "First the absentee guildmaster, then the overly serious, overly verbose acting guildmaster who is always - always - in the same damn place, reading, every day, and now K'lyhia who… When she's more put together is the least nutty of the trio, but still verbose."

"I don't think anyone can outdo Urianger for being verbose and flowery," said Lyse.

"You are correct, the issue is that they are verbose without the flowery, so it's just a whole lot of words."

"There's a certain point where you stop questioning the eccentricities of the people around you," said Bea. "Although you've certainly made me question your sanity on numerous occasions in the short time we've known each other."

"Gee, thanks," said Alice, as they arrived. Thubyrgeim was waiting at the northern end of the bridge that led to Moraby and Candlekeep Quay.

Before the acting guildmaster could say a word, Alice spoke first. "I don't know why you sent us up there when our target was down here, but we're here now, and we'll kick that Qiqirn's arse so hard he'll wish he hadn't ever touched a piece of paper."

"We need not await K'lyhia's arrival ─ once the Qiqirn appears on the bridge, we spring our ambush," said Thubyrgeim. "The strategy for trapping our target relies on the two allies we have concealed on the other side of the ravine. This pincer manoeuvre was, naturally, the foreseer's idea."

"Uh-huh. Well, let's hope we find the grimoire, then. How long is estimated until their arrival?"

"We have five minutes."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Cutting it close, aren't we?"

"Let's just get it over with, Alice," said Bea. "Stop complaining."

"But that's my charm point," Alice complained.

The five minutes were somehow excruciating. Alice spoke strategy a little more with Bea and Lyse, but she was eager to actually do the task. They heard the sounds of an approaching group, and made ready.

The caravan arrived. Alice and Thubyrgeim stood at the north end of the bridge, Lyse and Bea hiding out of sight, waiting for the mercenaries the Qiqirn had hired to see them. It appeared to be a group of Mamool Ja, a bipedal reptilian beastman species from the New World, this planet's equivalent of the Americas. They were thinner than Amalj'aa, but no less strong or deadly. Upon noticing the arcanists, before even a single word could be uttered, the mercenaries drew their weapons and charged the pair.

"Alright, guess this'll be fast then," said Alice.

"Filthy ambushers!" screeched the Qiqirn, one of a rat and anteater-like beastman species found all over Eorzea. "They want Kikiroon's sparklies! Ambush them back!"

"Your foul trade is a blight on Limsa Lominsa," Thubyrgeim called out as she and Alice charged their aether. "Surrender your goods at once!"

The mercenaries took the bait and rushed the pair of arcanists. As soon as they were close, Alice began the fight by blasting the closest mercenary with a Ruin, as the hidden four combatants showed themselves, totally encircling the poor, surprised caravan guards. Lyse laid into them with punches and kicks, Bea with Stone and Aero, and the Arcanists with variously aspected Ruins. Aersthota charged in the rear with Geissfryn in support, and they speedily dealt with their foes with little difficulty.

Despite that, they heard Kikiroon chuckle. "Kikiroon no scared! Kikiroon have scary spellslingers!"

A second group of Mamool Ja mercenaries, many of whom had the staves of casters, ran up from the far side of the bridge behind the Qiqirn.

The party moved to react and laid into them.

"Conjurers. Just as K'lyhia predicted," said Thubyrgeim. "We shift to Combat Pattern 158!"

"Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that," Alice said as she blasted one with a Ruby Ruin to the chest, knocking them down. "Just as soon as I learn what that means!"

Thubyrgeim didn't elaborate, simply continuing combat in some subtly different way Alice didn't have time or patience to analyse. She simply threw spell after spell on rotation, slowly helping to whittle down the influx of guards.

"No! Be late for business!" cried a frustrated Kikiroon. "This business be bad for you!"

Even more mercenaries rushed in from the same direction as the others. Alice groaned, but kept at it, throwing a little healing into the mix for when enemy magic got too close to Bea or Geissfryn. At least Lyse seemed to be enjoying this chance to beat the snot out of people, although she perhaps had a little more emotion to put into it than Alice expected.

The remainder of the battle lasted only a few minutes, and ended with the combined team standing around a cowering Kikiroon next to the merchant's cart. The cart was absolutely loaded with all sorts of items, most of which were decidedly bedraggled and sea-soaked. K'lyhia finally arrived, and didn't seem to have made any effort to get to them quickly. She probably couldn't have helped in the fight without a grimoire, anyway, so Alice wasn't bothered this time.

"Well executed, everyone. ...Were you able to retrieve my grimoire?"

"It's somewhere in here," said Alice, gesturing at the cart. "Haven't had a chance to look yet."

They rummaged around the collection of items, until K'lyhia recognised something and pulled it out of the pile to have a closer look. Her face sank.

"It's ruined... My wonderful grimoire is ruined. The probability of repairing this degree of damage is… 0%. Even the most brilliant strategy cannot undo such ravages of seawater."

Everyone was saddened to hear the news.

"I'm sorry, K'lyhia," said Alice.

"It is alright, you all did what you could, and for that I thank you," said the foreseer, grimly staring at the cart of goods. "And yet, I have never felt so… defeated. I believe it is time I returned home."

She turned in the direction of Limsa and began to run back. There was a faint sound of sobbing as she did so.

Aersthota moved to follow, but Geissfryn threw up a hand. "Leave her be!" he yelled at her.

"But, how can I!?" she replied, angrily.

"He is right, Aersthota. You must allow K'lyhia time to process the loss," Thubyrgeim told her, and turned to Alice. "And you have other matters to which you must attend. Come, Alice, it is time we returned to the guild, as well."

Alice looked at Bea and Lyse.

"We do need to return to Limsa, but we need to address a lot of other business. Can I give you a way of contacting me if anything comes up?"

Thubyrgeim nodded. "A linkshell, mayhap? I have one, but-"

"I have a pretty universal device, I can connect it to linkshells so I can still be contacted without needing you to give me a new pearl or anything."

"Oh? That is fortunate, and quite convenient." Thubyrgeim brought out a single linkpearl. "Will this work?"

Alice took out her phone and held it near the linkpearl. It connected, her phone chirping at the newly-added contact. "Done," she told the woman. "If any new leads come up, let me know, but there's a lot that needs to be taken care of around Eorzea and I can't guarantee being otherwise-contactable."

"Around Eorzea? Surely adventuring work can-"

"Scions of the Seventh Dawn," said Alice. "I'm sure you've heard rumours at least. We got shit to do, and it's not going to be around La Noscea for a while."

Thubyrgeim nodded, suddenly understanding. "I had observed your Archon tattoos," she told Lyse, "But I had not quite expected this."

"So much to do, so much to see," said Alice. "Like I told you, I'll come back to chase leads if you get any, but in the meantime, I simply may not be in the area."

"In any case, we had best attend to that business?" Lyse suggested. "With the Ironworks?"

"Oh, shit!" said Alice, eyes widening in alarm as she realised the sun was about to meet the horizon. "I hope they're still around, I've kept them waiting for hours- bells, I mean - at this point. We should teleport back at this rate."

"Then yes, you had best attend to that business," said Thubyrgeim.

Alice saluted, then teleported the trio back to Limsa.

Upon arriving, Lyse needed to sit down for a few moments.

"Phew… My anima isn't particularly high, so even just a couple of teleports get to me."

An unfamiliar term to Alice, but she assumed it had something to do with teleportation-related endurance. Even if the word did mainly bring to mind a ghastly creature from a horror game series she enjoyed…

"Well, I can take care of her here," said Bea. "Alice, just go make sure the representative is still at the guild."

Alice saluted, and used the aethernet to quickly travel up to the Aftcastle. Upon landing, she ran towards the guildhall. She slammed the doors open, breathing hard, and looked around.

She saw Brithael and Armourer's Guild Master H'naanza talking with someone around an anvil and laughing. She did a double take as she realised the representative was none other than Ironworks President and recovering amnesiac Cid bloody Garlond himself.

"Oh, fuck me…" she muttered.

She approached them, sheepishly. "Uh, hey there, fellas," she said.

They turned, and Cid's face lit up as he saw her. Brithael's expression turned curious. H'naanza simply looked at her with an expression of mild interest.

"Alice! Ah, it's good to see you," said Cid, seeming much more like his normal self she remembered. He approached her and gave her a hug. Although, given the force of the squeeze and how much air left Alice’s lungs, it was more of a bear hug.

"Aye, so this is the one who helped ye come back, then?" asked Brithael.

"Yes, she and another Scion approached me and helped me start to get my memories back," Cid explained, putting Alice down. "And thanks to them, I can feel my mind working again. My time at the church was… Odd, to say the least, and while I don't regret it, it is nice to be in full command of my thoughts once more."

"...ow." Alice croaked, breathlessly.

"Ah, sorry, friend," said Cid sheepishly. "Despite a conscious effort to keep strong for my work, I often forget how that affects other parts of life and daily interaction."

"You might say the strength is too bloody useful, eh?" Alice said, stretching to ease her back. She was quoting Cid himself from a future event, so it was essentially a pointless reference, but given it was from the same oft-repeated point as the speech of Gaius' that she had mentioned to Bea and Lyse, she couldn't help herself.

"I… Suppose so, yes," Cid agreed, somewhat confused. "Anyway, yes, I was the one to deliver the letter, although Jessie wasn't fond of the idea."

"I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting so long, man," said Alice. "I can at least promise I was doing something important, if that helps?"

"Oh, the time has been passing in a flash thanks to Brithael and H'naanza here," Cid said with a grin. "Catching up with old friends is a wonderful thing."

"I'm personally quite pleased he's back." H'naanza nodded in appreciation. "And not just because it lightens our load here, hm?"

"Hah, well I'm sure the Ironworks were working mostly fine without me," said Cid. "But I'll be glad to have us help out, all around Eorzea, as we are needed."

Alice just stood there, not quite sure what to do or say. She hadn't known the three were all friends, even if it did make sense in hindsight - the game had simply never said or indicated anything of the sort.

"But anyway, Alice," said Cid. "We of the Garlond Ironworks owe you a favour or three. Jessie said she'll be able to get the Ironworks to help within reason, but I'm more than happy to do what I can personally."

"Can I… Can I make several requests, then?" Alice asked, then hurriedly added. "Not all personal ones, mind you, one is for the Scions as a whole."

"Aye, it's alright." Cid nodded. "What have you got in mind?"

"Alright, I…" Alice thought about where she was, and who she was talking to. Having the entirety of Naldiq & Vymelli's able to manufacture modern equipment for the Alliance wouldn't be a bad thing.

"Actually, you know what? I've got some fun knowledge to impart to you three," she said. "Let me just take care of something first."

She brought out her phone, and called Bea's linkpearl. "It's me," she said.

"Yes? Did you find them?"

"Yeah, thank the gods, he hadn't left yet. You and Lyse can head back to the Sands or something, I might be a while."

"We'll go to the Wench and get some food, meet us there when you're done."

"Easy peasy, see you later."

The call ended, and she looked up at the trio. "Apologies, I just had a couple friends who were waiting for me, and now they aren't, so I can take as much time as we need."

"Did you use that device to communicate?" asked Cid. "Like a linkpearl?"

"Precisely. And that will be part of my explanation."

She cleared her throat. "So, to start, I'm actually not Eorzean, nor a Garlean, and not from Othard or Sharlayan either."

This was met with a trio of raised eyebrows. "So, where are you from, then?" asked Cid.

"Another place, an island continent in the southern hemisphere, named Australia," she half-lied. Telling all three of them the full truth now was a bad idea, but she had to try to make it clear she wasn't just a crackpot, and came with legitimate knowledge.

She explained, using the phone as an example, that her home had some amount of more advanced technology, although nothing quite like the Allagans had, but had kept to itself as it refined its culture and technology. She also explained that, due to the unique circumstances of her home, the local technology made no use of ceruleum, and had no magical properties whatsoever, but still was quite useful and, in the case of weaponry, quite powerful. She also decided to omit the existence of Nuclear weaponry. Nobody should have access to that.

"But anyway, we do have guns, and landmines, and those are the things I wanted your help with," she finished. "I'm sorry it's not the more interesting and less violent technology, but… I know much less about how that works."

"How come we haven't seen or heard from your homeland before now?" asked H'naanza.

"Well, we kept to ourselves," said Alice. "I hear Sharlayan has a big non-intervention policy? It's not exactly the same, but… Well, no one was called here by Hydaelyn before me, in our recorded history at least."

H'naanza nodded, apparently accepting the story as true enough.

"An' that's why ye wanted a gun but knew nothin' of our laws about 'em, aye?" asked Brithael. "Well, I'd heard the rumours of someone from afar who arrived by accident and kicked up a fuss, an' I suppose that's you, then?"

"I accidentally crashed a dinner the Admiral was hosting, yes," said Alice, nodding. "And that is entirely Hydaelyn's fault, I swear. I was asleep when She teleported me right in there."

Brithael snorted, and H'naanza shook her head. Cid just took in the story, looking inspired and amazed. "Absolutely fascinating," he finally said. "Your nation's technology is strange indeed. And you say your 'phone' was normally unable to connect to linkshells? And had a finite, though rechargeable, power source?"

"Yeah, that's correct. It also had connection to something called the 'internet', a network of information that also allowed people to communicate at extreme distances. We even had wireless connectivity to it."

Cid tilted his head. "Past tense, "had"? It's no longer possible?"

"Well, not for me, at least. Apparently whatever She did to my phone took that away, and I'm stuck with local files and data. Mind you, that does still mean quite a lot saved, such as several hours - uh, bells - worth of music and other entertainment."

"Absolutely fascinating!" he said again. "Alright! I’ll work on your requests, and ask that you teach me more about your home's technology."

"I'm interested in some of what you said about shipbuilding," said H'naanza. "Although I can't say I care much for weavers being able to put my people out of work."

"Oh, you mean Kevlar? That's only good against bullets," Alice clarified. "Plate and chainmail and whatnot are still the best against blades and arrows and the like."

"Well now, that means we could work with the weavers to provide better protection, then?" She had a gloved hand on her chin in thought. "That could just prove beneficial for both of our guilds."

"So… guns?" asked Alice, giving a hopeful grin to Brithael.

He sighed. "Yeah, fine. I do actually know about the Scions, an' I am aware o' yer responsibilities, privileges, an' needs."

"Yesss!" said Alice. "You won't regret this. So, one of our fun modern firearm manufacturing techniques that I think even Garlemald doesn't have yet is called 'rifling'...

Chapter Text

Alice left the two guild masters and the genius engineer almost half an hour later with a rough amount of knowledge, just enough for them to fill in technical gaps themselves. Their new information was about clips and magazines, and their benefits when compared to revolving chambers and especially breech-loading weapons, as well as some of the few bullet types she knew about, those mainly being hollow-point and armour piercing. She also left them the theory behind claymore antipersonnel mines and a request for about a dozen of them.

"What could you need that for?" Cid had asked.

H'naanza had left to think about the practicals of some of the few relevant techniques Alice could impart, and Brithael remained close by, as his work desk was near the guild's entrance, as he figured out some of the shared technology information's practicals. Her commission request had been for something large-calibre, but still handheld, and so Brithael was scratching his head looking at weapons like the two pistols the Admiral bore into combat.

"Livia sas Junius," Alice responded quietly. "I know for a fact she's going to lead a small, quiet assault on the Waking Sands, and this is my answer when she does."

"Livia?” Cid was immediately concerned. “How do you know?”

This was the tough part. As much as she trusted the guildmasters, she didn’t feel like it was safe or wise to give Cid the real explanation now, in this somewhat public place.

"Astrology." Alice nodded, then grinned. "And some interception of their communications."

"Hah! That'll be why," Brithael called out with a grin of his own.

"I'm admittedly not wholly comfortable with the idea of utilising these mines on Livia, even if she is our enemy," said Cid. "But I'll work something out."

"Her stupid armour will protect her, probably." Alice waved her hand. "Either way, thank you so much for this, I cannot tell you how much of a joy it'll be to Big Iron my way through the Praetorium."

"The Praetorium? Gaius' headquarters, at the heart of Castrum Meridianum? That will be a difficult task to say the least…"

"There's still a lot of preparation that needs doing before I can take that jump, honestly," Alice admitted. "But when I do, you'll be welcome to come. I know you've got a few choice words for Gaius."

Cid nodded. "Well, I should get to work-"

"Shouldn't you, y'know, tell Jessie if you're going to camp out here?" asked Alice.

"Well, yes, I will," Cid said sheepishly. "I just wish I had my old airship. That would make it simple enough to fly back and forth as needed."

Alice stared at him, as she slowly realised she had forgotten something important.

"My old airship"

"Airship"

Fuck

"I think I know where that is," Alice groaned. "The fucking Stone Vigil, godsdammit."

"You… How do you know?" He asked.

Alice pulled up the notes app on her phone and typed out a message to him. She held out the phone with one hand, and put a finger to her lips with the other.

I know more of the future than I can safely let on to the other two. It's how I knew where you were. I can explain in more detail later, but it's a big secret. The Scions know, too.

He frowned as he read the message. He looked at her, and nodded. "Astrology, then," he said aloud. "Alright. I'll contact Jessie, and then get to work on some of those mines. I can't promise the lethal efficiency of what you described, but they will stop the assault, I promise."

"Thanks, friend. That's exactly what I need." Alice smiled. She put her phone away. "Alright, I'd better get going, my friends are waiting."

She decided to give him a hug. He returned it, much less force in his squeeze this time.

"I'll see you around, that's a promise," she said. She turned and waved, realising afterwards that she was accidentally parroting Emet-Selch, at least a little bit.

It was well into the evening now, and the stars shone overhead as she walked to the Drowning Wench. She found Bea and Lyse sitting at a table with the remains of a pair of meals, so she took an empty chair, sat down, and joined them.

"Hey friends," she said. "How's the food?"

"Well, it's Wench food, for sure," Bea said with a wry smile.

"True, it's no Bish-marck."

Bea frowned. "Surely you mean Biz-marck?"

"Oh, huh, that does sound better. Someone once told me it was pronounced Bish… Nevermind, the point is, it's decent and not expensive."

"The fish around here is really good," Lyse chimed in. "I know it's a coastal fishing city and all that, but still, it's just even better than I expected."

"You get used to it," said Bea. "But it is a pretty good staple around here."

Alice went up to order some food, and the trio spent the next hour just chatting about things, mostly unimportant in the grand scheme, but things that Alice was interested in and got to learn about Limsa Lominsa and Ala Ghanna, as well as little details of Gridania and Thanalan. It took their minds off the situation with poor K'lyhia, too, and any thoughts of a dangerous and terrible future.

It was nice. And to think, Alice had truly believed she had ruined her chances of being with the Scions altogether, let alone being friends with the two presently with her. Maybe she needed to be less hard on herself? If that was possible, she thought.

Eventually, they decided they should finally head back to the Waking Sands. The ferry still ran at night, thankfully, so they got a direct ride to Vesper Bay. It did take a few hours, but they didn't have any particularly good way to invoke any useful teleportation magic, thanks to the lack of aetheryte in the settlement.

Tataru was at her usual desk this time, and they greeted her on the way in.

"Tataru, have you ever tried weaving?" asked Lyse.

"Only a little bit of dabbling, why do you ask?"

Lyse looked at Alice, who shrugged and looked at Tataru. "Yeah, so you have the potential to be very good at making outfits, if you wanted to."

"I…do?" Tataru asked. "Oh, but I couldn't give up on my duties with the Scions for that, it wouldn't be right after everything Minfilia's done for me."

Alice sighed. "Right, you're still not self-confident yet. Future knowledge time: you can do both, somehow without making either a half-hearted effort. I've seen it, it's real."

"Oh… Really?" Tataru asked, thinking about it.

"If you ever want to give it a try, just ask Minfilia! I'm sure she'll be happy for you to do other things as well, given how much work you do," Lyse said with a smile.

"I'd also be happy to help if you need it," Bea volunteered. "With either task. I'm not exactly skilled at weaving, but I know enough to be of help. And I can do secretarial work."

"Oh, that would be lovely," said Tataru, smiling too. "Thank you, I appreciate this, you three. It's been a bit of a rough time for paperwork recently, and not just because of five new members, don't worry!"

"It's fiiine," said Alice. "Anyway, give us a shout if you do want any help from me, too, yeah?"

Tataru nodded appreciatively. "Well, I'd better get back to work. Oh! Papalymo wants to speak to you, Alice. He's inside the Sands. And he promised me he won't attack you again."

"Oh… Good…" Alice gulped.

They headed downstairs and into the Sands proper. They went straight to the main commons area, and found Papalymo there, among other people.

"Alice! Welcome back!" Yaromir called from across the room. He was apparently arm wrestling Salli, who was putting up a good fight. So good that even though the Hrothgar had been careful to keep his strength up, the small change in focus to greeting Alice caused the Miqo'te to win.

"Dammit!" said the Hrothgar, laughing. "Well done!"

"Good match," Salli said to him, then turned to Alice. "Welcome back, girl!"

Alice nodded and smiled, extremely aware that Papalymo was staring at her, and was standing much closer than the others were. He walked up to her and cleared his throat.

"I would like a word with you, please."

Alice made a slightly scared sound, but followed the Lalafell man out of the room, closing the doors behind them.

"So… You wanted to talk to me…?" asked Alice, awkwardly.

"Yes. I would like to apologise for my reaction to your information yesterday," he said. "But I would still like to understand your reason for making something that large out of a mistake we could have simply passed over."

"Well…" Alice thought about her response. How much should she tell him? How do you tell someone that their best friend can only gather the courage to live their own life, and be themselves, after you die? She took a deep breath, and gave it her best shot.

"Firstly, in my opinion, the knowledge I had made the slip would have nagged at her for a long time and caused issues further down the line," said Alice. It was true, but it was putting off the biggest reason. "If she didn't know, she'd wonder, "how does she know? Who else knows? Why?""

Papalymo nodded. "A valid point. Better to pop the joint in quickly than let it cause further problems or heal incorrectly."

"Yes, that's… a good analogy," Alice agreed. "Second, in the original timeline, it takes a pretty bad situation for her to actually come out and tell us. And then she spends the next few months struggling both with the aftermath of that bad situation and also coming to terms with her own self, and honestly? It's rough at first. I'd rather just… Give her the time needed to deal with her self-discovery without all of that baggage."

"And what, pray tell, is this bad situation? What of my support?"

Alice was quiet. She genuinely didn't know how to answer that question, but Papalymo read the silence for what it meant. His eyes widened as he understood.

"My word… I am starting to think I understand why you would rather she can process things separately," he said, shocked, his face pale. "Can… Can this 'bad situation' be avoided?"

"I'm damn well going to try," Alice promised him, resolutely. "But I should probably… Give some lead up, just in case-"

"No, I… I would rather not know," he told her. "And more importantly, I would rather you say nothing of this to Lyse."

"I'll do my best," Alice said. "I… I'll do my best. And I'll keep you alive, I promise."

Actually saying the words hit them both harder than dancing around it. Alice winced.

"Sorry," she said to him. "I really like and respect you as a person, so I just… There's a few people I know I can help. I intend to avoid whatever I can."

"With the benefit of hindsight, I suppose such a thing could be possible," he agreed, still solemn. "I forgive you. I understand your reasons, and I now appreciate that you're only trying to help Lyse and I."

"Thanks, man," she said with a sad smile. "You're a good dude, and gods know that Lyse wouldn't have made it this far without your help. I'll do my best for everyone, yeah?"

He looked up to make eye contact with her and gave his own sad smile. "I am willing to believe that, too."

"Let's, uh, return to see what's up with everyone, then, yeah?" she suggested.

"Indeed."

When they re-entered the room, they saw that quite a few people had been watching and listening intently for any sign of what was being said or done. Alice and Papalymo both gave disapproving looks at the attempted watchers.

They also noticed Lyse standing quite close to the door, trying desperately to look inconspicuous.

"I'm hoping you heard nothing of our discussion, Lyse," said Papalymo.

"I wasn't listening! I couldn't hear anything!"

"It's true," said Bea. "She almost gave up, since she couldn't hear anything until the sound of your returning footsteps."

"Bea!" Lyse looked at her betrayer with shock. "How could you?"

"Oh, you were doing plenty by yourself," said Bea. "Doesn't hurt to tell them you couldn't hear."

Papalymo walked up to the Ala Mhigan, looking ready to scold her. He huffed, looked down, and looked back up again with a smile. "I am simply glad you have this chance." His frown returned. "Now don't waste it being a nuisance! Live well and live free, but not obnoxiously!"

"Heh, rhyme," said Alice. "So, what's the story, then? How's Gridania doing?"

"We had successfully resolved our last mission by the time of the… Argument," said Papalymo. "And it seems word has filtered down from the Order of the Twin Adder that we may need to attend to Gridania's relationship with the Sylphs."

"Oh! That old questline, huh?" Alice nodded. "I couldn't remember if that was before or after an investigation into Little Ala Mhigo."

"Ah, so you know something about this investigation, then?" asked Papalymo.

"Yeah, so the main sylphs that live near, uh…" She snapped her fingers a few times as she tried to recall the name. "The Hawthorne Hut, right? They're still cool and peaceful, but something caused - or will cause, not sure of the order exactly - their elder to flee, and he can be found inside a dungeon called the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak."

"I've heard of that place," said Lyse. She shivered. "Full of mites and diremites, needed to be cleaned out a few times before the Calamity."

"Oh, the fucken spiders?” At the mention of a somewhat beloved subject related to home, Alice accidentally let her Australian accent become stronger, and didn’t notice. “Yeah there are loads of the little bastard things, plus things called like, 'prison pudding' and other weird as fuck names."

"Not an appetising place to be, it seems," said Bea.

"And we get to clear it, heheheh," said Alice, waggling her eyebrows at the conjurer. "Plus, it's our first formal meeting with Lahabrea, and the life of the elder whose name I forget depends on us going in."

Alice realised something and looked around. "Where's Alicia?"

"She and Y'shtola stayed in the Gridania area," said Papalymo. "They wished to investigate things, and I… Needed to return."

"Wait, so they've been doing the investigation? We might need to get to Gridania ASAP to help with the rescue."

"Ay-sapp?" asked Bea.

"A-S-A-P, it means As Soon As Possible, as in let's go now," said Alice, already making her way towards the Sands' exit. "Y'all are free to come with if you want…?"

The three looked at each other in turn, and nodded. "Yes, let us be about this, then," said Papalymo. "Mayhap I can see for myself just how your knowledge helps or hinders things."

"She may sound like someone who has a few missing pieces," said Bea, "But she truly can be quite helpful."

"And she can definitely fight," said Lyse. "I've never been into an adventuring dungeon before, and I think I'd like the chance, now that it's relevant to our business?"

She phrased this as a question to Papalymo, who raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to ask me if you can go, and I did already say I intended to do so myself."

"Yes!" Lyse cheered. "Let's go!"

"Goodbye, friends!" Yaromir called out as they left, waving goodbye. "Return soon!"

"And say hello to Alicia for me, ya hear?" Salli added.

Chapter Text

The group arrived in the Southern Shroud, having made their way as directly as they could go from the Sands. They had called Alicia on a linkpearl on the way out of their headquarters to check on how things were going, but hadn't received a reply for some reason, so they hurried, hiring Chocobos out of Vesper Bay to expedite the journey. Y'shtola had replied when called, but was only able to confirm that she had stayed within the area of Little Solace, while Alicia attended the requests of the Sylphs elsewhere.

They passed all the way through large parts of Thanalan, needing to travel all the way from the westernmost point to the easternmost, where it met with and gave way to the Black Shroud.

Their passage took them to Camp Tranquil, a raised base camp for the Wood Wailers above the swamps of Rootslake. They stopped, mainly to give their tired chocobos a rest, but used the opportunity to attempt to call Alicia again.

"Ah… yes?" she responded, sounding frustrated.

"Alicia! You're alright!" said Alice, relieved. "We're on our way to help with the investigation-"

"Ah, godsdammit- I'll call you back," Alicia interrupted, and the line cut off.

"God… Argh, she hung up on me."

"We heard," said Bea. "But you said she's most likely around this area?"

"Well, north of us is Buscarron's Druthers, and north of that is Toto-Rak," said Alice. "And she is either there or dealing with another, earlier problem, some corrupt guy named Laurentius, working with Garleans."

"Well, now, that can't be good," said a voice from behind the group.

A new person had joined them, having overheard Alice's words, which she realised in retrospect she maybe shouldn't have said quite so openly. The new person looked like a red-headed teenaged Hyur girl, with the exception of a pair of white horns sprouting from her head. Raya-O-Senna was the middle child of the three Padjali siblings that were responsible for Gridania's main rituals and work for the Elementals. Her ginger hair was tied into a quartet of pigtails, kept short, neat and out of her face. She wore white robes, trimmed and accented by red, and bore a white, wooden staff slung across her back.

Alice stared at her in shock at just how radiant and young she actually looked in person - she knew Raya-O was in her early twenties, but she looked to be about her mid-teens, thanks to altered Padjali biology and slow-ageing. So that's what it meant to be a Padjal, huh? Seeing Kan-E from a distance hadn't been quite the same.

"Raya-O!" Papalymo and Lyse said at the same time, and bowed respectfully. Bea at least had knowledge of who the woman was, and bowed as well.

"Uhm, hi, miss Raya-O-Senna," said Alice. She realised after speaking that she was now the only one not bowing, and quickly joined the others.

"Oh, for… Stand up, please, I cannot abide by these useless formalities," said the Padjal. They all stood, and Raya-O focused her gaze on Alice. "What was that I heard about a traitor?"

Alice didn't see much point in hiding the details, although maybe the reason she knew was better off obscured this time around. She walked up closer to lean in and speak more quietly.

"There's a corrupt Wood Wailer, Laurentius, who's getting money and other stuff from Garleans in a deal, I think he trades in information? Items? I'm not wholly sure of the what, honestly, only the fact that the deals do occur."

Raya-O listened intently, then nodded. "I see. Well, no matter how you came across this information, I can see two trusted friends at your side, so I have faith in your information."

"Thanks, Raya-O!" Lyse smiled. "And yes, you can trust her."

"Addendum," said Alice. "I think Alicia - you know, the Warrior of Light - is dealing with the problem as we speak, but I need to go north to find out for sure."

"Oh, yes, I know of her," said Raya-O. "The Au Ra woman who acted as the Admiral's Envoy, yes?"

"That's the one," said Alice. "I imagine she won't have any issues with that guy, but I want to be sure of things, y'know? She's a friend and comrade, after all."

"I understand," Raya-O replied. She was about to send them off when something about Bea caught her eye. The Padjal looked over the conjurer, seeing something no one else could. Or maybe it was her imagination, as she shook her head. "Never mind, I thought I saw something. Go ahead, we will keep watch in case anything occurs in this area."

The party left on foot, leaving their hired chocobos to be cared for and refreshed. They headed directly north for Buscarron's Druthers, which was thankfully easy to find, being not just the only building in this area of the forest, but also occupying quite a large section of the land.

They headed inside, Alice suggesting they talk to Buscarron himself to figure out the current state of affairs, and saw him talking with a group of bandits. She was on her guard immediately, until she noticed that they seemed to not be causing any trouble, and were in fact simply listening to the proprietor.

They nodded at whatever he had told them, and were about to head out, when the man caught sight of the approaching party. He recognised at least Papalymo and Lyse, and nodded, calling out to them. "Don't worry, my friends, they aren't here to cause trouble, rather to help solve it."

"Oh? The Coeurlclaws will listen to you, then?" Papalymo asked lightly. "Now that is something."

The bandit leader turned and gave a nasty grin. "We will when there's Garleans threatenin' us. When Buscarron wants a fight won, and he asks us, we're goin' to do it."

"Garleans?" asked Alice. "Is this about that Wood Wailer that Alicia's investigating?"

"Aye, she's been trackin' him down and I wanted my friends to help." Buscarron grinned. "They were just settin' out."

The Coeurlclaw leader gave a lazy salute and the bandits ran out, heading east.

"We should join them," said Alice. "Not that we need to, they'll turn the tide themselves, but… Let's go."

"Aye, fair enough," said Buscarron. "You two better introduce me to your new friends afterwards, though! Come get some drinks!"

"Of course, friend!" Lyse smiled and waved at him, and they left to follow the bandits.

They heard the sounds of fighting as they approached, and found Alicia, supported by the three Coeurlclaws and a pair of other fighters that Alice couldn't quite remember. Their opponents were a Garlean squad-leader, called a Decurion - one that Alice could have sworn was supposed to be a Roegadyn - and a Wood Wailer Alice recognised quickly.

"Laurentius," she hissed. "Get his ass!"

She threw an Energy Drain at the traitor Wailer, throwing his concentration as he tried to heal himself. He noticed the new quartet approaching and became panicked.

"Who in the hells are they!?" he screeched. "More adventurers!?"

The Decurion apparently recognised Alice. His eyes were visible through his helmet, and they narrowed. "It's the Witch," he hissed. He slapped something on his armour, and a keening noise rang out.

"Wait, what?" Alice was confused. Aside from us being here, this wasn't how this fight went normally, is it? Am I forgetting something?

The sound of clanking and stomping echoed through the forest, steadily getting louder.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Bea, in the process of healing a grumbling fighter, still trying to fend off the Garlean.

Laurentius was terrified, and looked ready to bolt. "You called in one of those? Does it know not to attack me!?"

"One of those…?" Alice wondered aloud, and then realised that whatever it was, it was Magitek, and that usually meant big guns. Her eyes widened. "Get down!!"

A Magitek Vanguard fired its rapid-fire ranged armaments, destroying the foliage that had been obscuring it and tearing through the shrub around Alicia's group. One of the Coeurlclaws went down instantly, hit in the face by a giant metal spike. One of the other fighters was hit in the shoulder, shearing his arm clean off in a spray of blood. He screamed in pain, and the Decurion, who had not flinched as the rain of metal flew around him, finished the job, his spear running through the fighter's neck.

"Fuck!" Alicia swore. She had been hit in the leg, but given the amount of spikes that had missed both her and her opponent, Laurentius, she was lucky. Especially given the attack had left the lancer without the presence of mind to capitalise on her moment of weakness.

She roared at him, and swung her axe in a downward strike that destroyed the man's spear and slammed into the ground hard, sending him reeling back in fright. She limped towards him, her eyes glowing as her inner beast took hold, and he promptly fainted. She scoffed in disappointment, and turned her attention to the rest of the fight.

Bea quickly went in to heal those who had survived the rain of death, and Lyse ran forward to knock out the Decurion with a solid punch to the man's unprotected jaw, which cracked loudly, and he went down, unconscious or dead. Papalymo began throwing fire spells at the Vanguard, distracting it from the rest of the combatants.

Alice threw a healing spell Alicia's way, unsure of what to do with a giant spike stuck in her leg, and focused on the Vanguard. That was… a confronting problem for them, at their current level of skill, and she both regretted coming and was glad she had brought the other three with her.

The bandits and fighters took cover behind some trees, seemingly unsure of what to make of the development. And Alicia was forced to join them thanks to her leg, visibly working to suppress her inner beast.

Alice shouted, "Cover me! Bea, come with!"

Lyse moved fast towards the vanguard, like a lightning bolt, and in doing so captured its attention and kept it from shooting Papalymo. She jumped and dived to avoid its strikes, but couldn't do much damage to it with single strikes, forced to try to aim for the same place and slowly chip away.

Alice and Bea used the opportunity to rush to where Alicia and the bandits were taking cover.

"Alright, let's take care of your wounds," said Bea. The most injured was definitely Alicia, with the other survivors having been only lightly hit by the projectiles, glancing blows and scratches at worst.

"I'm gonna yank this, alright?" said Alice. "And then Bea's gonna fix the hole."

"Just do it-" said Alicia, and she was interrupted by the spike being pulled mid-sentence.

To her credit, the most she did was grunt loudly from the pain, and Bea immediately used a healing spell she had started casting as soon as she arrived. The hole in Alicia's leg healed slowly, and Alice added a little of her own limited healing, which only made the process a little faster, so she refocused her magic on the others.

"We need to get that thing out of here or make it dead, and fast," said Alice. "I can't see a good method short of a tank and spank though."

"Her leg is still healing," said Bea as her magic finished doing as much as it could. "She may technically be able to use it now, but-"

Alicia stood up, and grunted again when she put weight on her injured leg. She hefted her axe, and Alice noticed it was a new one. Not just a recrafted haft on the one the Au Ra had pulled from Sastasha, but the axe head had been reforged, or at least refined, too. It looked like it might be able to affect the plating of the magitek device.

"I'm ready," she said, and ran in to distract the big mech.

"Hey, wait-" Bea tried to call out after her, but went unheard. Alice put her hand on the conjurer's shoulder.

"Unfortunately, the most you can do is to keep her going until the battle ends."

Bea pursed her lips, not exactly comfortable with the idea, but clearly used to injured soldiers running into a fight.

"Fine," said Bea, and cast a spell to radiate healing to all three of the surviving bandits. Alice was impressed: she had done that like it was nothing, and followed it by running into battle after the marauder.

"Well, I suppose so," said Alice, mostly to herself. She looked over their cover to see the state of the fight. Alicia had just gotten within engagement range and proceeded to cut a gouge into the machine's plate with her axe. Bea mostly focused on ensuring Alicia could stay upright as she kept the attention on her, allowing Lyse to actually do damage to some of the weaker areas on the machine's back. Papalymo switched from Fire to Ice magic, and it seemed to still work, but didn't do as much as Alice hoped.

Right, it's Garlean, so it's probably made to survive fucking Siberian cold, she thought, trying to calculate a better strategy.

Alice couldn't see the rent that Alicia's axe had made, but the damage Lyse had caused should be enough. She cast a normal Ruin as she Aethercharged, and aimed as best she could at some damaged plating near the mecha's centre mass. It struck, and she used the two charges of Fester she had saved to blast the same area, trying to artificially age the plating's damage to make a big enough hole for some combined fire to get in.

The machine was hardy, and while there was a notable effect, it was less than she would have wanted for a finishing strike. She silently cursed, and ran to Papalymo, her Aethercharge ready in a couple more seconds.

"You almost back to Fire magic?" She asked the thaumaturge. She knew they operated on cycles of fire and ice magic to keep their mana working correctly, and to prevent themselves from self-combusting.

"Almost…" he said, as he threw another ice spell at the weak point Alice had forced open. "Yes, there we go. Do you have a plan?"

"Strongest single target fire you have, right there, and I'll do the same," she said, as her Aethercharge finished and she began to cast a Ruby Ruin.

He gave a wry smile. "I suppose that will have to do."

They blasted, almost simultaneously, with a fire spell combo hot enough to scorch away the grass it passed over, despite being over a metre above the ground. The blast impacted the machine… just off the side of the hole, godsdammit. The mech had moved, purely to take a swing at Alicia, and as a result had caught the blast on its right arm just in time. The attached lance and ranged weapon became a twisted wreck of metal, but the machine was still functional. It took a hit in the left leg from Alicia for its efforts, though.

Lyse attempted to capitalise on that and went for the same leg, but a hard swing from the machine knocked her clear off path and into a tree, knocking the air from her lungs. The mech seemed to sense a moment of weakness from the two casters, and aimed its remaining cermet spike cannon once more to launch another devastating salvo. Alicia's injury prevented her from rushing around to stop it, and it seemed as if there might be another fatality.

With a shout, the trio of remaining bandits ran in front of the casters to block the shots. However, rather than relying on their bodies or small shields, they had managed to heft a rather large hollowed log with them, and interposed that between themselves and the Vanguard. The spikes fired, and the log somehow held. Alice noted it looked a little more stony than wood ought to, and saw Bea was casting a reinforcing magic - the old classic, Stoneskin - upon the makeshift shield. As soon as the barrage was over, the bandits dropped the heavy pincushion with a loud thud.

Absolutely incredible, Alice thought, for once without a trace of sarcasm. She laughed, loving the insane plan.

"Thank you, you brave bastards!" She yelled at the bandits. "Alicia! Get his ass! Tank Spank Time!"

In order to aim its weapon at the casters, the machine had made a fatal error: its rear was now exposed to the marauder. She grinned, her eyes glowing with the light of her berserk Inner Beast, and had begun swinging before Alice had finished shouting her name.

First, a Heavy Swing at the machine's crippled left leg, knocking it down to its knee. A two-hit Maim strike cleaved the hole in its rear armour large enough to allow a fatal blow, and finally, with a roar from the Au Ra, a Storm's Path triple-hit combo attack annihilated the machine's core, killing it with certainty. Its eye-lights died and it drooped, slumping over, and finally falling on its front, as its various animated parts came to a standstill.

She stood atop the machine's corpse, her axe held above her head, as she gave a shout of victory. The bandits echoed it, as did Lyse, albeit with less enthusiasm. She was standing bent over, taking time to recover her breath now that there was no rush.

Alice sighed in relief, and used the downtime to throw some healing Lyse's way. The pugilist gave a thumbs up, otherwise staying where she was.

Bea, Papalymo, Alice and Alicia converged around the fallen Decurion. His armour had long since stopped emitting its signal, and they discovered that he was still alive.

"Cool, a prisoner of war," said Alice. "Never taken one of those before."

"And that traitor is still unconscious over there," said Alicia. "But I don't want to go back over to him, he smells of piss."

"Eh, it's fine, we can get some Twin Adder lads to do it," said Alice, giving her an evil grin.

"I'll contact them now," said Papalymo. "This is certainly worth reporting."

Alicia suddenly cursed. "I almost forgot, I need to report this to Buscarron. Additionally, he was investigating the location of the missing sylph elder-"

"Toto-Rak," said Alice. "A dungeon north of and very close to Buscarron's Druthers, in fact. Full of Mites."

Alicia breathed in, a little annoyed that once again Alice's knowledge included her current tasks. "That's… Fine, we can go tell him together."

The three bandits walked up to the quartet.

"Ay, we jus' wanted to say thanks fer keepin' us alive," said the Coeurlclaw leader. "Us an' the Redbellies don't often see eye-ta-eye, let alone with the bloomin' Twin Adder, but when it comes to Garleans…"

He spat on the ground.

"Noted," Bea told them. 'I'm glad to have helped. I apologise that we couldn't do more for your fallen friends."

"It's alright, lass," the third bandit, a Redbelly, said. "Can't live forever, ay?"

"And they died in service to Gridania, in the end," Papalymo said. "Which will be looked upon well, if you folks care for that sort of thing."

"Not usually," the Redbelly replied. "But it might make the elementals let 'em pass on nice and peaceful."

"We had best be off, then, before the Twin Adder folks get here," said the Coeurlclaw leader. "Pass on word to Buscarron that we helped, aye?"

"Will do, lads," Alice said with a smile. "Thanks again for the save, too."

The trio smiled, dirty and misshapen but honest grins. They variously nodded and waved, and went their separate ways.

Papalymo called the Twin Adder forces in to recover the two unconscious prisoners and the magitek wreck, and Lyse jogged over. She had spent the time checking around the area for any more nearby Garlean troops, just in case.

"I couldn't see anyone, although they might have left as soon as the fight was over, or before it," she reported, and shook her head. "Too hard to tell."

Alice nodded, and threw a little more healing magic Alicia's way silently. "After the Adder forces arrive, let's go talk to Buscarron."

Chapter Text

The handover of the battle site to the Twin Adder was a quick process, especially when the Scions mentioned they were in the middle of business relating to the ongoing diplomatic situation with the Sylphs. Alice had asked if she would be able to talk to the Decurion at some point, and thanks to vouching from Papalymo, Lyse and Beatrice, she had been given permission.

For now, the quintet of Alice, Alicia, Bea, Papalymo and Lyse made their way to Buscarron's Druthers. It was the dead of night, now, but there were still people drinking and spending time in the place.

He looked happy to see them. "Ah, I heard 'bout what happened. Good work takin' down one o' those warmachina!"

"It was infuriating," said Alicia. "But it's dead."

"Moreover, it was only called in when the Garlean noticed our arrival," said Papalymo, his hand to his chin. "As a very specific piece of reinforcements. The man's squad lay dead, and he was still not calling for assistance before that."

"I think he called me a witch, and then did it?" said Alice, unsure. "Like, his stare felt directed at me. So uh, if that is why, sorry about that, 'Licia."

The Au Ra stared at her, with an eyebrow raised. "...Licia? Really?"

"I can't help it. Where I'm from it's extremely common, almost cultural, to shorten people's names into nicknames even if they're already short."

Alicia closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, as if fighting irritation. Even so, Alice saw the barest hint of a smile, which was a good sign.

"Well, either way," said Buscarron, sensing he should interject. "I've got information 'bout the missing Sylph."

"Toto-Rak," Bea, Papalymo, Alicia and Lyse said at the same time, deadpan. Alice laughed, and Buscarron was stumped.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"My fault, I'm too good at investigations," said Alice. "That said, I only know because of the same way you found out, so, all good."

"It's complicated and would be too hard to explain," said Alicia, answering the man's unspoken question. "But we need to go after that Sylph, we just first needed to make sure you knew where things stood."

"Ah, alright," he said, not totally happy with that answer but willing to accept it. "Well, I won't keep you, an' good luck!"

"Thank you, sir," Alice said with a light bow.

"Walking ones, please help this one! This one needs help! Needs help to help the elder one! Poor Frixio! Poor, poor Frixiooo!!!!"

Alice sighed. "Hold up, let them-"

A Sylph raced inside towards the group. Alice recognised them and felt a pang of guilt at having forgotten Noraxia, the Sylph who wore a mask made of a leaf.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold your chocobos," Buscarron told the panicked vegetable fairy. "Take a deep breath and tell us what's wrong, nice and slow."

"Elder one went into Toto-Rak, but has not returned! This one is worried, so very worried!" Noraxia cried, shaking and shivering.

"Don't worry, friendly one," Alice said with a smile. "The five of us were just about to go save the Elder one, okay? Wait here for us, and we'll get Frixio back."

Despite the mask covering their face, Noraxia seemed to light up. "You will? Thank you, walking ones! But be careful, elder one was chased into Toto-Rak by Imperial ones!"

"We'll take care of it, Noraxia," said Lyse.

Noraxia nodded, too exhausted to do more now that their duty of getting help was complete. They left Noraxia in the care of Buscarron and headed north to the entrance to Toto-Rak. The cave was… foul-smelling, to say the least, but they had no choice but to enter.

"Alright, you two," said Alice, indicating Papalymo and Lyse. "Quick dungeon tactics primer time."

She gave a brief run-down of party roles and some basic terms she expected them to keep in mind, a small portion the same things Bea and Alicia already knew.

"So… Our role is to do as much damage as possible to our enemies without attracting their attention upon ourselves?" asked Papalymo.

Alice nodded. "Right. One thing that has thankfully remained consistent with my experience is something referred to as the 'tank stance', which is an aura that Alicia, and even other 'tanks' can emit. It simply draws enemy aggression more readily with quite a lot less work, allowing the rest of us to do what we need to be doing to progress through a place like this."

"I see… It is quite helpful to know that, should we be careful, we may not be under fire."

"But what about when we fought that vanguard earlier?" asked Lyse. "It definitely went after the rest of us."

"Because sometimes, common sense or target priority programming will overrule," Alice said with a shrug. "That and, sometimes attacks will just go wherever, or even cover the entire arena of combat."

Lyse's eyes widened. "But then… how do we avoid those kinds of attacks?"

"That's the neat part," said Alice. "You don't. But Bea and I will be ready to heal up any injuries, and such an attack is usually, and I cannot stress this enough, most commonly non-lethal."

"And, when it isn't?" asked Papalymo.

"It's a party wipe and we have to find a way to interrupt it or die trying," said Alice, grimacing. "The classic."

"Apparently we died many times in the original timeline," said Alicia. "Or rather, I have, but the Echo keeps me from staying down."

"As did healer spells like Raise," said Alice, "But, given what Bea told me, I really don't want to rely on that in this version of events."

"Such spells are not… Common, nor guaranteed," said Bea. "I believe its efficacy that Alice saw in the original timeline is tied to the strength of the Echo."

"Something we don't have… I get it now," said Lyse. "Well, how difficult do you remember this place being?"

"Not that bad, thankfully," said Alice, "But I've been surprised before, and I can't account for every change. My original experience was a lot more… Constrained to certain rules, such as the healer Raising being an easy option, albeit one on a cooldown and dependent on the healer themselves not being the one that died."

"Enough with the tip-toeing language, please," said Papalymo. "I would like a straight answer."

Alice gave a shit-eating grin. "But I cannot give one, for I am decidedly not straight."

Alicia glared at her. "Wrong answer. Try again."

"Fine, sorry!" Alice scratched at the back of her head. "I honestly don't think it will be difficult. My experience with the original timeline is… there was a numerical level and difficulty system, right? Like Alicia could be a level between 1 and 90."

Papalymo nodded. "Go on."

"On the scale of things, Toto-Rak was level like, I want to say 25? 24? Whereas somewhere like Castrum Meridianum is at 50, for example. So it can potentially be tricky if one was underprepared, but from what I know of you all, we should reasonably be fine."

Papalymo accepted that. "Alright, then. In which case we had best move swiftly to recover Frixio from this place."

"Agreed," said Alice. "Duty Commenced!"

Papalymo and Lyse both tilted their heads in confusion.

"It means 'let's begin,'" said Alicia.

"Why not just say that?" asked Lyse.

"It's a time-honoured adventuring tradition!" said Alice with a grin, and turned to walk inside. "Now come along, my lovely Sprouts! Time to go!"

They had needed to ask a Wood Wailer to unseal the dungeon in order to enter, but all it took was mentioning that the sylph elder was inside, and therefore in danger, in order to gain access.

The caves of the dungeon were dank and smelled foul. Alice had forgotten that Toto-Rak was also a more literal dungeon, despite remembering the names of some of the enemies as 'Prisoner's Delight' and 'Warden's Whip'.

The path through the place ended up being straightforward. So many cave-ins and solid spider- or rather, mite webs, prevented access to many passageways, and as a result there seemed to only be one way through the space. It was, however, full of creatures, especially Mites. Wading through the creatures was unpleasant, but the party's combined attack power was more than enough to prevent any situation from turning bad.

From Papalymo's fire blasts, to Alicia's slam attacks and swings, they had crowd control well in hand. Lyse and Alice were able to focus on whatever the most pressing individual threats were at any given time, and Bea as usual did an excellent job of keeping the team going.

They did so well, in fact, that Alice was taken by surprise when they reached the first “Coeurl O' Nine Tails” boss creature.

Alicia was apparently in a foul mood, as she charged the giant plant creature before Alice could get the team together for a huddle.

"Oh for…" Alice threw a Ruin at a Mite trailing behind the marauder, and looked to the others. "Normally I'd explain the bigger ones in advance but no time, apparently! Quick!"

They all rushed after her, and made it in before the creature emitted a gout of poison and blocked the entryway.

"Ah," said Alice, noting the blockage, but she decided it was unimportant for now. "Lyse, go hit it from behind! Or just, wherever Alicia isn't!"

Lyse nodded and rushed at the creature, doing her best to hit it without getting covered in toxic runoff from its innards. Papalymo prepared more fire magic, as it had proved more than useful against the creature's smaller cousins so far.

Alicia was doing her tank role job of keeping the creature focused on her instead of everyone else, and seemed to be venting some frustration on it. Alice kept an eye on both the creature and her phone's screen, trying to test a hypothesis.

Something she had noticed from idle browsing of the unknown apps and menus that had been added to her device seemed to indicate something a little bit cheaty: a HUD system pulled from FFXIV. Or at least, some part of it. There was a name - 'COEURL O' NINE TAILS' - but no health bar, and the single cast bar had a lock symbol over it and was greyed out. But the main information area did tell Alice some very simple information: the words "ATTACK TYPE: AUTO".

She studied the creature as they fought, and then noticed it prepared to do something other than attack Alicia. When it did so, the text changed from AUTO to AREA/ARENA. But there was no glowing that she could see.

Well, if that's correct…

"Heads up! I think it's doing something to the whole arena!" She called out. "Brace for… something!"

Everyone was on edge, not quite sure what was coming. Alice couldn't remember what this mid-boss could actually do, so while she wasn't worried about the non-Echo members of the party being killed, she still didn't quite know what to expect.

The creature hissed out a ring of gas, which hurt them all by way of its acrid and acidic smell. Alice noted that she suddenly felt a bit unwell, and threw some healing on herself. The feeling didn't abate, and she realised what had happened.

"Bea!" She called out. "How good are you at antidotes?"

The conjurer immediately caught on to the question's intention. "One at a time!"

"You first, then Licia! Rest of us as you see fit!"

Bea started casting Esuna on herself, a spell available to all Healing jobs in the game. It allowed them to remove certain debilitating status effects, such as poisons, but it only affected one person per cast. Alice threw some of her own paltry Healing spells Alicia's way to help the marauder weather the creature's incoming attacks.

Damn, I really do need to learn some more Healing techniques, Alice thought. Just for Esuna, even.

Of course, it wasn't because she didn't think the conjurer was capable, far from it - she just didn't want to put all the pressure of healing a party on one person if she didn’t need to. And what if Bea wasn't around? Or worse, if she was the one injured?

As things stood, Alice's meagre attempts at healing felt quite useless, and this was only at Toto-Rak, let alone Meridianum or the Praetorium. Urianger had agreed to teach her Sharlayan Astrology, so that was going to have to be her next step.

Once Bea had cured them all of the poison, the rest of the fight was surprisingly uneventful. The creature attempted, while extremely bloodied, to spit its poison once more, but some very specific directed fire - literal fire magic from Papalymo and Alice - prevented it, and it died a few seconds later.

The group took a few more seconds to catch their breath, and then Alice pulled them together for a huddle.

"Come on, people, get over here. You, too, Alicia."

They gathered around.

"We should proceed, Frixio is-" Papalymo began, but was cut off.

"Frixio is fine for the moment, I just want to make sure we live to the end of this first," said Alice. She directed her attention at Alicia. "You good?"

Alicia shrugged, but said nothing.

"Alright, well, don't race too far ahead, justified bloodlust or not. If we can't support you, you might die. Just because you have the Echo doesn't mean that isn't a bad thing. There's no guarantee it will bring you back."

Alicia nodded, still silent. Alice stared at her for a few seconds, before giving her own shrug.

"Anyway, I just wanted to mention something I've found, a gift from Hydaelyn," said Alice, holding out her phone. "My phone, here - it's got something that seems helpful, BUT it has a downside. Basically, I can't easily monitor it and the situation as a whole, but it has the ability to give some indication of what an enemy is doing."

"Is it as helpful as your own observations?" asked Bea. "You mentioned in Copperbell the capacity to see something of where enemy attacks would land."

Alice considered the question, realising Bea was right. "On the one hand, a specific piece of information from the phone is good. On the other… If I can just see it myself, do I even need the phone's info?"

"It doesn't sound like it," said Papalymo. "Especially if it requires taking your attention off the fight."

"It's strange, though," said Lyse. "It almost sounds like a trap? But it's from Hydaelyn, right?"

"Maybe it's like an idiot test?" Alice suggested. "Like yeah, in the game all that info was useful, but it wasn't a whole separate thing. Maybe she's making sure I'm better at actually focusing on the fight enough to be useful and not need the info?"

"Your guess is probably better than ours," said Alicia. "So if you think it's not worth it…"

"Alright, yeah, I'm going to trust myself on this one," said Alice. "Well, that's all I wanted to talk about, so let's keep going. Lead the way, then."

The middle third of the dungeon was just a more infested version of the first third, and as such just required them to take things a bit slower, lest they get overwhelmed. Alicia nearly went under a pile of Mites at one point, and Alice was glad the marauder didn't have arachnophobia. She was glad she didn't have it herself, either. The marauder had swung her axe in a wide enough arc to clear the arachnids from her body.

They also had to burn away a significant amount of webbing that had blocked the only accessible ways forward. It always made an unpleasant smell, but at least it was safe.

"How did Frixio even get this far?" Lyse wondered aloud, stepping on a bunch of smaller mites with force enough to crush several in an area wider than she was tall.

"A diremite got them somewhere, and they're bundled in a web deeper in," Alice replied, igniting a full sized Mite. "So there's a chance they didn't get this far on their own, but only as a bundle."

Lyse's face turned grim, and she looked sick. "And… you're sure we don't have to rush?"

"From memory, they're surprisingly safe until we get there," said Alice. A blast of Topaz energy blitzed some gelatinous creatures to a thin paste on the ground.

"At which point we had best- hah!" Papalymo interrupted himself to freeze a trio of Mites in place, which Alicia smashed into gory ice cubes. "We had best recover them swiftly!"

Bea was too focused on ensuring everyone's safety to talk. Alicia just didn't seem to be in a talking mood, but that was fine. She was still doing her best to actively keep enemies focused on herself.

The second Coeurl O' Nine Tails was not much different from the first, at least at the outset. It did utilise its poison gas attack much faster than the first had, and also called upon a pair of the smaller variants of the same creature, the ones called the 'Warden's Whip'. Alice had decided not to pull her phone out for this one, and simply observed it, watching how even for a natural reaction within the creature's body, there was still a flow of aether to watch and track that, in a sense, still functioned abstractly as a cast bar, like the giant's energy build-ups in Copperbell had. She may not have been able to stop the attack, but she was able to correctly gauge when the creature would actually emit the poison. Perhaps the phone’s info was more to push her in the right direction?

The Whips attempted to keep Bea busy and prevent her from curing the poisoning - although how they knew to do so was beyond Alice's guess - but Lyse quickly moved in to occupy their attention instead.

Alice helped her clear them away, before they all refocused on the bigger creature, and swiftly defeated it. Alice scarcely had time to take a breath before Alicia began to progress further by herself.

"Hey, wait, Alicia!" she called after the marauder, before making a wordless frustrated exclamation.

"We'll go on ahead and follow her, see to Bea!" Lyse called out, before she and Papalymo ran after Alicia.

"Wait, what?" Alice looked at Bea and saw the woman was pale and unwell. "Oh you daft…"

Bea nearly collapsed, but Alice made it to her in time to catch her. The conjurer wearily looked up at her with a pained, tired smile. "Thanks," she said.

"You… Have you not cured yourself yet?" Alice asked, and Bea shook her head in response.

"Oh for…" Alice was glad suddenly that she had thought to get some potions for an occasion like these. It was a habit from her time with the game, and she had left game-Alicia with a half a page of various health potions, antidotes, and other status-ailment curatives. Keeping one arm around Bea, she fished around in her pouch for a poison antidote.

"Please tell me this will help you," said Alice, holding the bottle up for the conjurer to see. Bea looked at it, and nodded, then opened her mouth and closed her eyes.

Alice rolled her own eyes, then struggled to pop the potion open with her thumb. She managed it, then poured a few drops of the antidote into Bea's mouth. The other woman washed it around her mouth, then swallowed the curative liquid.

"For a soldier, you're acting a lot like a child right now," Alice remarked. "Need more?"

"Mmm, no, should be fine."

Although Alice was hesitant to accept her words, she could see colour returning to the other woman's cheeks. Bea was able to stand by herself again, and as her sense returned to her, she quickly looked embarrassed.

Alice used the opportunity to pick the stopper for the half-full antidote up from the ground. She closed the bottle and put it away, all the while staring at Bea. When no explanation was forthcoming, Alice shrugged.

"Alright, well we have to catch up with the others," said Alice. "Tell me later."

Bea nodded, still blushing, but gathered herself together. They moved ahead, finding a lot of the traversable space empty. They kept on, and eventually caught up with the trio as they were waist deep in a combination of Mites, Gelatin creatures, Mushroom creatures, and other giant insects that looked like lice. It looked like Alicia had pulled this entire third of the dungeon, but had been able to pass through the web barriers that, in the game at least, prevented one from doing so.

"What are you people doing!?" Alice called out. She blasted spells at the creatures alongside Papalymo's fire magic, and Bea began healing the team once more. Alice threw some healing her way, to be safe. She had no idea what had happened, but was scared she might lose Bea to exhaustion, or to the woman not taking care of herself while she prioritised everyone else.

They slowly but surely cleared away the morass of creatures. Bea didn't seem to fall ill again, which was good, but there was still no communication from either her or Alicia. It was infuriating, but at least when she directed them to do something, they did it. So they still trusted her, at least. But then why didn't they talk to her?

They finally destroyed the last creature, one of those bloody mushroom things, and then gathered around Alice without her having prompted them.

"...Yeah?" She asked.

"I'm pretty sure the way through there is where we need to go," said Alicia. "As in, the 'last boss' room, as you put it. And since it's the last part of a dungeon, you usually have something to say before that."

"I just followed the others to you," Lyse admitted. "But this has been exciting! More in a fun way than I expected."

"I can't say I enjoyed that as much as she did," said Papalymo, "But certainly more than I expected I would."

Bea said nothing, looking away and a little embarrassed again.

Alice looked around at them, and shrugged. "Well, the last boss is a big, big spider, so…"

"Do you mean a Diremite?" asked Papalymo. "I do not believe spiders are native to the Black Shroud."

Alice breathed in through her nose, irritated. "Yes, Papalymo, a Diremite. They're all spiders to me, regardless of whether they have tails or whatever else extra. What's actually important is that we have to deal with a Diremite boosted by Lahabrea, so, be careful."

"An Ascian…" Papalymo mused.

"It's fine, he probably won't fight us himself… He doesn't normally…"

Alicia shrugged. "Whatever, let's save this Sylph already."

Alice nodded, and the quintet moved to the spider's feeding room. It was covered in webs in every direction, as well as some amount of toxic-looking liquid pouring down the far wall.

And in the middle of the room was, as expected, an Ascian. Alice and Alicia both felt a pounding sensation in their heads, as if the Echo was about to trigger. Instead, the feeling passed quickly, but they heard Hydaelyn's voice.

Darkness…

The Ascian turned around to face them, and smiled. They all heard a dark, echoing laugh around them that definitely came from the man in front of them, yet felt like it came from the room itself.

He spoke, using the Ascian tongue, and as a result only Alice and Alicia could understand him.

"The mighty slayer of Ifrit comes now to me."

Alicia took a step back in surprise.

"...With a countenance that bespeaks understanding," he said. "An intriguing power, the Echo. I must needs choose my words with care."

As had I, thought Alice. Can't go giving the game away yet.

"Mayhap I might if I deign to speak in my guest's crude tongue." Lahabrea spoke now in a normal language, the one that to Alice sounded for all the world like English. Oddly, unlike everyone else she had met, his voice was closer to the one she remembered from A Realm Reborn, before the game's voice actor changeover. Noticing that made his voice almost weirdly dissonant, if not for the fact it still suited him.

"We meet at last, Warrior of Light." He said the last word as if it were a curse, looking at Alicia. He turned slightly to look directly and unmistakably at Alice. "Witch of Eorzea."

"Lahabrea," Alice growled. And where the fuck had this 'Witch' nickname come from? I like it, but- Oh… They know I can see the future, right.

"That is, indeed, my name. Lahabrea of the Ascians, servant to the one true god." He bowed as he introduced himself, but there was no respect in the gesture.

"The "one true god"…?" asked Lyse.

"Yours is a most fantastical tale," said Lahabrea, addressing the pair of Echo wielders, and seemingly ignoring the others. "Truly absorbing."

"If you were as small as a lalafell, would they call you Lalabrea?" asked Alice. "I've always wanted to know, and I see no better time to ask."

"Why… would you ask him such a thing?" asked Papalymo, confused. Even Lyse, who had been ready to charge at the Ascian at a moment's notice, was stopped still as she processed the non sequitur question.

Lahabrea only smiled. "Ah, and so it seems your gifts come with a cost. Your sanity appears fleeting, and so your companions should fear you as much as they fear me. And you," he turned his attention back to Alicia. "Your tale is one to tell Eorzea's children before bedtime. And it will soon be dark, Bringer of Light."

"Piss off," Alicia said to him.

"All that stands between this world and Darkness is an irksome anomaly in the aether - the Echo," said Lahabrea. "Yes… Yours is a most fascinating tale. Alas, like all good tales, it must needs come to an end. But fear not…"

"Tell me, Lahabrea, if you can," said Alice, parroting a punchable character from a different game. "You and yours have destroyed so much, but what is it exactly that you have created?"

"Why, what an excellent question. I can show you, Witch." Lahabrea pointed his arm behind at a Diremite climbing the webbing on the far wall, and his hand emitted a dark energy that flowed towards the creature.

Hydaelyn spoke once more. Hear… Feel… The presence of Evil…

"The end of your tale is but the beginning of another... The tale of the Crystal's demise!" Lahabrea called out, as the Ascian rune appeared in front of his face and mask, as dark energy swirled around him, expanding to fill the entire room. The Diremite, now mutated to be hideously large and swollen with power, jumped from the ceiling, landing between the party and the Ascian.

"Ahh, mate, I'm not here to fuck spiders!" Alice shouted at the Ascian, going as full Aussie as she could. "Stick around and have a chat instead, ey?"

Lahabrea opened a portal and left without another word.

"Nothing to it but to do it," said Alice, speaking normally again. "Let's commit Arachnicide!"

The quintet charged the Diremite. It was enormous, and had a scorpion's stinger tail that was the size of a whole person. Hell, it was the size of Yaromir. They attacked it, Alice keeping its attention, and Lyse pummelling it in the legs. Alice and Papalymo attacked it with their spells, but then the party heard the sounds of objects falling to the ground around them with wet slaps, followed by scrabbling noises. A cluster of eggs had rained down from the ceiling and were hatching.

"Oh shit… Papalymo!" Alice called out. "Let's take those out!"

The thaumaturge redirected his spellcraft at the eggs, quickly searing some and freezing several others. Alice crushed a few with Topaz energy and burned others with Ruby. But when she tried to use Emerald Ruin, the blades of wind only served to open a pair of the eggs and allow the mutated Mites to crawl out and attack.

"Oh bollocks," she said, putting her remaining charged Aether into the two creatures, forcing her to recharge and use some basic Ruin spells on the other eggs in the meantime.

She heard a cry of pain, and looked to Bea. The conjurer had been the target of a thrown pod, and was now covered in an acidic goo.

"No no no!" Alice cried out.

Alice very quickly shifted focus completely, no longer paying attention to anything else, no longer able to if she tried. She ran over and used whatever magic she could to try and clear the goo from the other woman as quickly as she could. She interspersed it with attempts to do so by hand, and to heal the woman with what little magic of that kind she could muster.

"Alice!" shouted Lyse. "We need to kill this thing, quickly!"

"Give me a second!" Alice yelled back, still trying to heal Bea. She grabbed the half-full antidote as well as a healing potion and got the conjurer to drink both. On doing so, the woman faded from consciousness, but her breathing and heartbeat were normal, and stayed that way. Alice sighed in relief, and closed her eyes for a couple of seconds.

She laid the conjurer down on the ground, and stomped on a mutant mite that got close to the prone woman, hard enough to cave in the thing's head.

She glared up at the creature- Graffias was its name, right? Either way, she felt intense hate for it. She reached inside her aether reserves, and out to all the ambient aether of the arena. She gathered it up, winding it around herself like cotton candy. And then, she directed it.

Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo. Where will all this power go?

It was the energy that leaked off of five people, three of which were spellcasters and put more aether back into the air in the process of casting. The energy that leaked off of a giant, mutant Diremite bursting with gifted power, and its children who had been blessed in the same way. The energy left behind by a full-power Ascian after removing his power limits and flooding a room with darkness to show off.

Papalymo noticed the movement of all this power, and stared back at the human in amazement and horror. "Oh, dear, child, no…"

She directed it all into Alicia. The marauder began to glow with power. Normally, the Limit Break of a Tank was explicitly defensive in nature, but that was in a video game, where such a thing was constrained. Not so, here, where it was real.

"Stomp that bug flat!" Alice shouted.

Alicia's inner beast went into overdrive, but Alicia herself seemed surprised. She could control it, at least in this powered-up state. She jumped up, high into the air, and using the gifted Aether, she propelled herself forward, doing a somersault around her axe. The weapon glowed white hot, as Alicia used what the game considered to normally be a level 90 Warrior ability.

LIMIT BREAKING PRIMAL REND

The Diremite was cut in half completely by the attack, with the two halves incinerating and burning away into ash in mere seconds from the strength and heat of the attack.

Alice, Papalymo and Lyse all had to look away from the blinding light the marauder gave off. Alice was laughing maniacally, uproariously, as the creature that had dared harm Bea in such a way was now gone like it had been nothing.

Alicia stood up, the remaining accumulated energy washing off of her as heat and light.

"Fuck you, Lahabrea!!" Alice shouted at the ceiling. "Do you hear me, you fuck!? Your creatures are worthless in the face of the Warrior of Light!!"

She swayed, nearly collapsing, but caught herself. She knelt down to channel whatever aether she could find from herself or the room into healing Bea, just to be certain. She was interrupted by a thwack from Papalymo's thaumaturge cane hitting her in the side of the head.

"That was exceedingly dangerous!" He said loudly, almost shouting at her. "Such an act could kill you, let alone the one you funnel all of that aether into!"

"Papalymo!" Lyse cried, not understanding what had happened. "I thought you had resolved all of your issues with Alice?"

"I had, but then she made a new one." Papalymo harrumphed. "Did you not notice, Lyse? She took all of the room's ambient aether into herself, and then poured it into Alicia!"

"She what?" Lyse looked amazed. "How did you do that?"

"I dunno," said Alice. "I just got mad."

"And somehow, I did not," said Alicia, as she joined them. "You put that power into me, into my shadow of Karash, and somehow I could control it."

"I told you," said Alice, sounding like she had suddenly become quite drunk. "I said you can control it, and you just did a whooole thing you can't normally do until level 90.” Alice poked at Alicia’s armoured chestplate. “So, congrats! That's your goal."

Alicia silently considered that, apparently having no issue with taking Alice's words in while she sounded so intoxicated. Alice giggled, then turned pale, and became nauseous.

Papalymo sighed. "And there you go… One of the many lesser dangers of such manipulations. Aether sickness."

Another wet slap echoed from where the giant Diremite had been slain. The party became alert again, aside from the still unconscious Bea. A wad of webbing had landed in the middle of the arena. Something wriggled free, and flew out into the room. The 'something' was a white-grey Sylph wearing a tiny pair of glasses. They gasped in relief.

"Finally, fresh air!" Frixio called out, facing the far wall, apparently unaware of their audience. They sniffed at the air, and corrected themselves. "Mayhap not so fresh… But better than before. Ah, the sinister one is gone! This one can leave this awful place!"

They turned around, and didn't seem surprised to see the party. "Hm? Did walking ones vanquish the many-legged one? This one is grateful to walking ones!"

"See! There they are," said Alice, smiling like an idiot. "Alive and well. Saved."

"Ah, walking ones were looking for this one? This one recognises small one and tall one." The Sylph nodded respectfully to Papalymo and Lyse respectively. "To new walking ones; this one is called Frixio, eldest of these ones in Little Solace."

"Oh my gosh, your lil glasses are so cuuuute," said Alice, giggling, before the now-familiar headache of an Echo vision overtook her.

Chapter Text

Alice and Alicia's echo vision - a Garlean force sent to harass the Sylphs over Ramuh - was nothing special, or so Alice expected. The vision was much as it had been in the game, with a unit of Garleans harassing Sylphs within Little Solace, until Nero appeared, walking up to the squad and chastising them for going overboard in their behaviour against the beastmen, though out of a hatred of inefficiency rather than kindness. He seemed… more outwardly cautious than Alice remembered, looking around as he walked, even as he spoke to his men.

"No sign of our wizened friend?" he asked. The Garleans saluted him

The Garlean Centurion of the unit spoke up. "I'm afraid not, my lord. Shall I order that the search perimeter be expanded?"

"Absolutely not," Nero told him. "We risk alerting the Gridanians to our presence. His Excellency bid us avoid unnecessary confrontation. And now that the Eorzeans have that Witch with them, we need to take even greater care than usual."

Hehe, Witch, Alice thought as she watched, still feeling Aetherdrunk. Which Witch? Me? Another?

The rest of the memory played out much as Alice remembered, until Nero stood alone. At which point, he looked around himself several times before monologuing. His words were as expected, with the addition of more cautious- no, they were paranoid, searching around the area after his dramatic speech ended in evil laughter, which Alice felt really undercut the tone Nero was going for. She loved that.

The rest of the vision was of Frixio speaking with Noraxia, before the elder rushed towards Toto-Rak. This part was identical to Timeline A's Echo vision, of which she was certain, even through her intoxicated haze. The two left their Echo visions, and returned to the real world.

"Hm? Do walking ones feel unwell?" asked Frixio.

"Ah, there is nothing to worry about, friend Frixio," said Papalymo. "These two are blessed with a power that allows them to see into the past through memory."

"It kinda hurts, and we don't control when it happens at all," said Alice, giggling again. "But it's suuuper helpful."

Alicia sighed. "We came to rescue you, Elder Frixio. Noraxia asked us for our assistance."

"Came to this one's rescue at Noraxia's bidding? Then this one owes walking ones debt of gratitude!"

"If I may…" said Papalymo. "We have questions pertaining to Ramuh and the Sylphs' current inclination towards summoning Him."

"Hm? Walking one has questions about Lord Ramuh? Then this one will provide answers," said Frixio, happy to have some way to repay them. "But first, let these ones quit this lightless place."

Alicia picked up Bea, who was still unconscious. "Come on, let's take her somewhere safe."

The walk back through the dungeon was, somehow, uneventful. Alice supposed they must have genuinely, finally exterminated the full extent of the creatures in the accessible tunnels, or else have scared the others off. She would stumble and giggle every so often, but was slowly recovering.

The light was well and truly gone outside, clouds covering the moon. Even the short walk to Buscarron's Druthers was a bit spooky. Although nothing attacked them, Alice felt rather paranoid that they would, even right up to standing before Buscarron.

"Ah, ye found 'em!" said the proprietor, cheerful and relieved. "Now I suppose we can be sure we'll keep things good with the Sylphs, aye? Best take Frixio to Little Solace, fast as ye can."

"Well, we should take care of this one first I think," said Alicia, gesturing to the unconscious form of Bea on her shoulder.

"Aye, that's reasonable," said Buscarron. "Should be some conjurers down south at the camp."

"Can you help me bring her there, then go with Frixio back to Little Solace?" Alice asked Alicia. The Au Ra nodded.

"Where's Noraxia?" asked Lyse.

"Ah, some friends in the Twin Adder took 'er back 'ome already, don't worry."

"Thank you again, Buscarron," Papalymo said with a slight bow.

"Camp first," said Alice.

"We can escort Frixio back ourselves, if you'd like," Papalymo offered.

"If you want, but Alicia needs something from them if I remember right," said Alice.

"I do?"

"Yeah, Frixio has a Lightning Crystal stashed somewhere, right?"

"Why, yes, this one does have such an item," the Sylph elder confirmed. "If walking one would like it, this one can give it now."

Alicia looked at Alice. "Do I need it?"

"Yes!" said Alice. "You need Hydaelyn's full blessing in order to fight Gaius and Lahabrea, and that's one of the pieces."

"'Full Blessing'?" asked Papalymo.

"It's a literal difference between life and death, to give both the Echo and Hydaelyn enough power to keep us from dying to very specific things. If I had to give a specific example, it’d be the kind of things an Ascian can do in a straight fight."

"That does sound important," Lyse agreed.

"Alright, sure," Alicia said with a nod, then reconsidered. "Wait, no, that'll knock me out won't it?"

Alice slapped her forehead. "Right, sorry. We'll meet you after we've ensured Bea is good, then."

Frixio did a little midair bow. "This one will be waiting. Good luck with sick one!"

Lyse and Papalymo gave a wave, and escorted the Sylph elder north to Little Solace. Alice and Alica headed south to Camp Tranquil. There weren't any creatures along the way willing to bother them, and Alice didn't speak.

After a solid few minutes of Alice being quiet, Alicia looked at the other woman and raised her eyebrow.

Alice looked quite downcast, and tired. She was trudging along more than walking.

"Are you alright?" asked Alicia.

"Huh? Oh, I mean, no, not really, but that's probably obvious, huh?" Alice replied. "Let's just… Not talk about it for now."

Alicia nodded, and they proceeded the rest of the short journey in silence. Up at Camp Tranquil, they found once more that it was not very active, but Raya-O seemed to still be up and about, attending to things around the settlement. She noted their arrival, and the unconscious form they brought with them. She frowned and walked over.

"What happened?" she asked them. "The last information I heard indicated Laurentius had been taken in some time ago."

"We ran Toto-Rak," said Alice, as if that explained everything.

Raya-O waited for elaboration. Alicia sighed, understanding she would have to be the one to do that.

"We successfully subdued a corrupt Wood Wailer giving information to Garlean soldiers, but it was an aside from my current objective to rescue the elder of the Sylphs. We entered the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak to accomplish that, and during that time, Beatrice here was assaulted by a toxic attack of some sort."

"I gave her some antidotes and healing magic but she's out cold," said Alice. "I'm not good at this healing stuff yet, so…"

"I will see to her," said Raya-O. "I was, in fact, looking for something to do, and the poisons of mites within that place are notorious and difficult to cleanse. Please, bring her this way."

The pair were directed to a tent with a spare bed roll. Alicia lay Bea down, and Raya-O knelt and began tending to her.

"Mmm, yes, you've done well with limited training, but bringing her to me was a good idea." Raya-O moved her hand, glowing with healing light, near Bea's head and upper body, doing… Something that Alice couldn't understand, even as she tried her best to look into the magic involved.

"Hmmm… Yes, this is working… Hmm…" Raya-O trailed off, lost in focus and thought.

Alice was still not sure how to feel, although she lay more on the side of relief right now. "She'll be fine? Really?"

"Yes, yes, this is rather easy for me, even had you not already attended to her at all," replied the Padjal, gesturing dismissively with her free hand. The glow stopped, and Raya-O stood back up. "Now, shoo, go somewhere else and let her rest."

"But I-"

"Shoo, I said. You must give her time, during which I'll give her my attention." Raya-O stared Alice down as she said this, but her gaze softened. "You did well to get her here safely. These toxins were quite powerful, much more than normally expected of a Diremite, and now she needs time to recover that which I cannot simply heal with magic."

Alice nodded. "Can I stay nearby, or…?"

"If you'll be doing that, I should go," said Alicia. "I'll let you know what happens."

"Thanks, friend," said Alice, smiling sadly. "I really appreciate your help, and the fact that you're willing to put up with my bullshit."

Alicia grunted. "It's fine. At least you admit such, and work to keep us all alive."

She nodded a farewell, and departed, heading north. Alice waved after her.

Raya-O cleared her throat to regain Alice's attention. "I actually can't let you stay here for a variety of very mundane reasons, but additionally, something has unsettled the Elementals, and I need less people around to worry about at this point."

Alice was disappointed, to say the least. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Raya-O seemed irritated to have been asked that. "I would not have said so otherwise."

"Uhm, sorry, force of habit. Can you… Ask her to contact me, when she's well enough to do so? Please?"

"Fine, yes. Now go, shoo."

With no better ideas, Alice had returned to Limsa and the Mizzenmast - though not before remembering to attune to the Aetheryte that for whatever reason existed at the camp.

She lay on the bed in her now apparently permanent room, something she had completely forgotten about with everything else that had happened today. She was so tired, realising the last few days had just been event after event after event. She couldn't afford to treat herself like a tireless video game character with endless stamina, she realised. Not for herself, and not for her friends… Especially Bea…

She sighed, as she realised her thoughts had kept returning to the conjurer, over and over.

"Fuck. I think I might be in love with her," mumbled Alice, only afterwards realising what she had said. It had slipped from her subconscious to her mouth, bypassing her conscious mind until she heard herself say it. She then blushed, her whole face going red.

"Shit, I think I might be right," she thought aloud. "I mean, I'd like to think I'd have a bad reaction to any of my new friends getting hurt, but I've known them all for two or three days, what am I doing?"

She sighed. Maybe there would be something easy to take care of in the morning. Or maybe something that would just make her irritable again. She would only find out once she woke up, she supposed.

That night, her sleep was fitful, though blessedly free of nightmares, just anxiety and aches. She woke up with a splitting headache, one that she was able to prevent from graduating into a migraine by taking her medication. Breakfast helped, too, the attitudes of the Drowning Wench staff being a further cherry on top.

After eating she went to check on the Blacksmithing guild. Cid and Brithael were both hard at work on something, and totally engrossed in the process, so she let them be. She wandered around Limsa Lominsa, not quite sure what to do, until she received a Linkpearl call.

It wasn't from one of the Scions, or Bea, and she hadn't had any missed calls this morning, so she was still anxious. But the call was from Thubyrgeim, so she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Alice, good of you to answer," said the acting Guildmaster. "I have a potential lead on something that should help with K'lyhia…"

Alice grumbled as she trekked through the forests of Northern La Noscea. She had been sent on the trail of absentee Guildmaster K'rhid Tia, and for her trouble had been sent to some scholar living in a shack out here in bumfuck nowhere.

This was from the whisper of a mention of a rumour, the kind of information that Thubyrgeim admitted was not her favourite, but knowing the Guildmaster, she had said it was the best lead they would get.

It frustrated Alice, because it kept her from checking on Bea for what was most likely a wild goose chase, but she had promised to help K'lyhia however she could. So, she acted on the information, as flimsy as it felt.

She knocked on the rickety door. She heard scrabbling noises from inside. Clearly whoever was here didn't expect company. No big surprise, she thought.

"Just a moment!" A voice came from inside the shack. Not long after, a man came to the door.

"Hello there. How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for the guild master of the Arcanist's guild?" asked Alice. "Someone pointed me in your direction."

"Why, yes, I did receive a visit from a gentleman identifying himself as the arcanists' guildmaster," said the man, nodding nervously. "An odd fellow, but obviously possessed of a well-rounded education. As it so happens, he bid me pass on a message to anyone who came searching for him."

Alice's heart sank a little. "Oh, he did, did he?"

Please don't be "leave me alone"...

The man cleared his throat. ""Reunited, the three slips of parchment hold the problem to the solution." The guildmaster mentioned that the slips of parchment are concealed among the bones of Thalaos. I suppose you are expected to search for them." He pointed above him, where a large set of gigantic bones lay sprawled along a ridge that swept over his shack.

"Wh… The first confirmed sighting of the man in months and it's to send someone on a bloody scavenger hunt?" Alice sighed, irritated. "Alright, and don't worry, I won't shoot the messenger."

"Oh, I should certainly hope not," said the man, suddenly very nervous. "Well, good luck with your search."

He closed the door a little more quickly than he had opened it, nearly slamming it in her face.

She sighed again. She was just frustrated that the guildmaster's apparent response to his star pupil's PTSD breakdown was to be mysterious, acting like a cryptid rather than a good guild master and mentor.

She walked away from the door and looked up at the bones the man had mentioned. They were mostly up high on the ridge, though some spilled off and allowed a dangerous way up to the rest via parkour.

There was a much easier method up: a staircase had been constructed, and she trudged over to it to begin her search among the giant skeleton.

There were creatures living in and around the bones, so it wasn't easy just on that factor alone, not to mention how difficult the actual slips were to locate. One of them necessitated lowering herself onto a smaller outcrop of rock that was dangerous to be on, and outright perilous to get off of.

She hadn't looked at any of the slips until she found all three. So when she opened them and found text that even the Echo couldn't help her with…

"What the legitimate fuck is this now!?'

Her shout caused birds to fly off, and small land creatures to scurry away. It almost attracted a group of jackals, who ran away too, as soon as her death glare was accompanied by a charge in her aether.

She walked back to the shack and knocked again. There was no response, so she knocked again, louder.

The man opened the door. "Be careful," he hissed. "I thought I heard a banshee's howl, not long ago, we could be in danger."

Alice took a deep breath. Her subsequent grin - more gritted teeth than any normal smile - caused the man to recoil.

"Well, I'll just have to be careful," she said. "If I see anything dangerous, I'll just kill it."

"Uhm, yes, I see," he said nervously. "Was there something you needed?"

She handed him the trio of scrolls. "I can't read these. I am assuming you can."

He looked confused, until he saw the text, and made a silent 'ah' of recognition. "Well, well, penned in ancient Allagan, no less. To be perfectly honest, I thought you had been sent on a wild-dodo chase. Fortunately for you, I have a passing familiarity with the script…"

"I am praying to several sets of gods that this helps us," said Alice. "Because for his sake, if it doesn't, I think I might turn Vylbrand upside-fucking-down to find him."

Luckily, the man hadn't heard her say this, focused as he was on the script.

"Seek the box at Fool Falls… Dance a jig for your wooden audience… Claim the secret from the opened heart."

"What the fuck does that mean?" she asked.

"A most cryptic set of instructions, I must say," said the man, half humorously, half wary. "Do you intend to follow them? This guildmaster of yours certainly enjoys his games…"

Alice closed her eyes and took another deep breath, thinking of K'lyhia's pain. "I would if I understood them."

"Well, at least some of it is literal. Northwest of us, very close, is the location named Fool's Falls," the man explained. "I assume there will be a box there for you to find."

"Alright." Alice exhaled and nodded, much more composed now. "Well, off I go, and I'll let you know what I find."

"Alright. And please be careful."

The walk to the falls was miraculously short. The location was rather beautiful, Alice had to admit, although the name Fool's Falls didn't inspire much hope of the job being done quickly. And the growling of the wildlife didn't help.

A fight with coeurl or two later, she managed to find the box, blessedly close to the middle of the clearing the falls ran into. She stared at it, hoping that she wouldn't actually have to dance for the box. Next, she attempted to actually open it - by hand, by rock, by magic - and the damn thing was so sturdy it didn't even break a little bit.

"What kind of wood isn't flammable?" she complained, then sighed once more. She looked around, and saw no one. She looked around again, and still saw no one.

"I swear to the gods, if this thing actually opens when I dance for it…"

She racked her brains for the required steps, and attempted a jig. It was horrendous. Almost a crime against dancing. She hated every second of it. The box clicked, unlocking.

"Fuck!"

She sighed, and walked towards it. She reached for the box-

She heard a strange sound, like an insectoid screech, and was literally jumped at by a trio of tree slugs. Instinct helped her bat one away with her grimoire, at an angle that killed the speeding creature and prevented the gore from hitting her. The other two landed on her body, and she immediately felt disgusted.

She loved watching slugs and snails, and had hated accidentally crushing them back in Australia. But she had never wanted to touch them, because the couple of times she had tried, it made her skin crawl.

So two of them landing on her was the worst.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!"

She activated her Radiant Aegis spell, which thankfully pushed the slugs away from her. She blasted one with a Ruin, and crushed the last one under her boot, stomping on it a good five times.

She shivered, still feeling disgusted, and ran to stand under the waterfall. She immediately regretted it due to the cold, but it did help the disgust, as well as the remaining slime, go away.

She sighed, and trudged back to the box. She shook her hands to dry them off, and opened the box. Inside was… another note. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, then looked at it, praying it was readable. Unfortunately, it was.

If there are answers you would seek,
Then to the trading post now go,
Before the owner, be not meek,
With your two feet, provide a show.

"Oh good, a riddle that doesn't make me want to die," said Alice. "But instead asks me to do something I'd normally rather die than do."

There was no response, and no indication that there was an alternative way of progressing. She sighed again.

She stood in front of Memeroon, the Qiqirn who ran a trading post nearby to the falls.

"Hello?"

She had been standing silently for several seconds before he spoke.

"I have to ask," she finally ventured hesitantly. "Do you know anything about someone dancing for you?"

"Ooh, yes!" Memeroon clapped excitedly. "Funny Miqo'te dance funny dance! You dance funny dance too?"

Bingo.

"Why, yes, in fact, I will."

And she did. She danced a few different things from her world - a bit of the Charleston, a bit of the Chris Turk, and finishing off with a bit of the Commander Shepard.

"Ah, now that was most entertaining," a voice said from nearby. "I must have something to amuse me during these little jaunts back to civilization, you understand."

Alice turned to look up, at a Miqo'te male perched above the trading post like a normal house cat, a sight which caused Alice to do a double take.

"I finally found you, you-"

"Based on my evaluation of your abilities, however," he interrupted her, "I calculated that you would arrive at this point somewhat earlier. You baulked at the dancing, didn't you?"

He jumped down to stand in front of her. "I never expected you to be so shy."

"Shut the god-damn hell up, sir," said Alice, forcefully. "I'm being forced to deal with riddles when not only is one friend suffering from past trauma, but another is recovering from a horrible poisoning."

The man presumably known as K'rhid Tia nodded, and his inquisitive expression gave way to a sad smile. "I apologise, but I cannot return, not completely, and not yet. This is the easiest way of weeding out those without the aptitude needed to go further."

Alice took a deep breath, and nodded, glad he had decided to clearly play it straight with her. "Alright. So, you showed up and invited me on purpose. Why?"

He grinned. "Heh heh, good question. I keep extensive mental notes of all the guild's members, you see."

"And all this from the comfort of your own swamp. Good job, Shrek."

"As an arcanist, it was a simple matter to engineer events so that I might meet you face-to-face. After all, strategy is a tool used to manipulate one's situation into the desired reality."

"There's that line again," Alice noted. "So that idea is your fault, then?"

"Oh, dear me, no, that has been a principle of Arcanistry since long before I was made Guildmaster." His grin seemed wider, now. "But it is definitely a principle I make heavy use of. And I do so enjoy seeing others dance in the palm of my hand, as it were."

"And I'm supposed to trust one who says things like this to me?" asked Alice.

"You trust many despite your disagreements with them, and work with an organisation that keeps to the shadows, do you not?" He asked directly.

"Yes, to fight the actual shadows… Who are much less nobly inclined."

"But you yourself have explained they wish for the return of their people, yes?"

Alice paused. "I'm pretty sure I can count on one hand the amount of people I've told this to, and you sure as hell aren't one of them."

"Well, yes." He nodded. "Although that piece of information was most definitely a mystery for some time, and took effort to understand."

"Then how the fuck did you hear it? Why have you been spying on me?"

His smile turned wry. "In my situation, if one appeared as loudly and mysteriously as you did, and then took an interest in your organisation, would you not do the same?"

Alice opened and closed her mouth several times. "That was… That is… You've been watching a long damn time… You better cut that shit out, sir. Plus, you're in a lot of danger learning stuff like that."

K'rhid Tia raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, I understand. But, importantly, I have something for you."

He reached into his pack. "Here, you may have this. Think of it as payment for your... performance."

He handed Alice a Grimoire that looked much the same, yet somehow nicer than the starter one she had held on to. And so similar to the one K'lyhia had lost…

"Though you might consider passing the tome on to K'lyhia. That is the reason you sought me out, was it not?"

"Well, not explicitly, but if this will help her…"

"Before you give K'lyhia the grimoire, however, I must insist that you dance for her. I will know if you don't."

"...Oh, so then she knows it's from you, I think I get it," said Alice, nodding. "I hate it, too, but at least I understand it."

K'rhid Tiatia yawned. "All this banal interaction has simply exhausted me. It is time I returned to my studies."

"B…banal?" Alice sputtered.

"You, on the other hand, should travel forthwith to the Anchor Yard in Limsa Lominsa. Be well, Alice. We shall meet again. I'm 100% certain of it."

He waved and walked off, and Alice got the feeling he was right, but shouldn't have been. She scowled after him.

I hope he's wrong, she thought.

True to K'rhid Tia's prediction, K'lyhia was standing in the Anchor Yard, leaning against a stone railing, staring out towards the ocean.

Alice walked up beside the Miqo'te, not saying a word, ready to spend some time staring off in silence.

After about a minute, K'lyhia spoke.

"My mind is ordinarily a whirlwind of probabilities and feints and counterattacks, but now there is naught but silence. This is how it once used to be...and perhaps how it always will be from now on."

Alice nodded. "Or, you could watch me for a few seconds."

K'lyhia frowned, and watched Alice as the human stood, moved a little bit from the railing, and started to dance. This time, it was a more refined dance than she had performed for the guildmaster. It was a ballroom dance, or half of one, at least.

Some of the nearby people stared, of course, but she had resolved not to care. As a trans person, she was used to drawing some unwanted attention, even in a more accepting place like Australia.

At the end of a good twenty seconds of dancing, she curtsied for K'lyhia. The Miqo'te stared at her, puzzled.

"Were you always one for dancing? I don't recall any such pref─" her eyes widened as the pieces fell into place in her mind, and she understood what she had just witnessed.

"...Ah. You have met with our guildmaster, haven't you?"

"He was a bastard to track down, but yes," said Alice, walking back to stand next to the foreseer.

K'lyhia nodded. "That would explain your odd behaviour. It is typical of him to offer no introduction, but there is no mistaking the identity of the man you met. No one else takes such delight in seeing people perform unexpected acts of frivolity."

"He made me dance to unlock a box, somehow," Alice agreed. "Absolutely insane behaviour, but he at least explained himself when I got mad."

K'lyhia frowned. "But what could have spurred our reticent guildmaster to speak with you in person?"

"You, you dork," said Alice. She fished around in her pouch for one of the new Grimoires, and held it out for the Miqo'te.

"He gave you this grimoire to give to me? Uncanny... It is identical to the tome I received the first time I ever met our leader…"

K'lyhia accepted the tome. "You have my thanks, Alice. The guildmaster is fond of games and mischief, and I understand the troublesome trials he likely put you through before deeming you worthy of his attention.

"With this gift, however, his message to me is abundantly clear: I am to shape reality into the one I desire. And that means defeating Doesmaga!"

Alice smiled. "There we go. Thubyrgeim thought this might help, and I'm glad she was right. It makes it worth the effort."

K'lyhia laughed, excitedly. "Gods, my mind is alive again with strategies! I must have time to think. Pray inform Mistress Thubyrgeim of my return to duty."

"You betcha, Foreseer."

Chapter Text

Alice's message to Thubyrgeim about the recovered K'lyhia left the acting Guildmaster in high spirits, too. She had been quite amused about the antics Alice had been put up to by K'rhid Tia, and had gifted Alice a more advanced Grimoire of her own for her trouble. Alice had appreciated it, as it contained more geometries for her to make use of, as well as a bit more of the theory behind the structure of those geometries. All the better for her to study and break down as she saw fit.

But she had left soon after, content to wait until she had word from Thubyrgeim that K'lyhia was ready to strike back. So she decided to teleport back to Camp Tranquil to seek word of Bea's condition for herself.

It was still very much the middle of the day, and the sun shined down through the forest quite beautifully. Even in the swamp that used to be a lake, it was quite nice.

She was approached by a Wood Wailer she half recognised.

"Hail, traveller," he said. "I seem to recall your presence yesterday: are you by chance seeking the recovering Conjurer?"

"Yes! You're a mind reader, friend," she said gratefully.

He smiled, thankfully not taking the phrase literally. "Near enough of one after my years of service, to be sure. But, the news is good, though perhaps annoying."

Alice raised an eyebrow.

"Lady Raya-O-Senna brought your friend to Gridania directly. I believe she looked hale and whole, but they had business at the Conjurer's guild."

Alice chewed her lip and nodded. "Alright, well, thanks buddy."

He bowed lightly, "'Tis no issue. This was some few hours ago, mind, so I've no idea if they remain there."

"Ah, beans. All good, man, I'll figure it out if they aren't."

She waved, then teleported to Gridania. She noted a slight level of aether sickness building - now that she knew what it felt like - from two consecutive teleports, but it was manageable. Time to risk a third: she accessed the aethernet of Gridania… and realised she didn't have any of the shards attuned.

"Dangit."

So she walked, attuning to a few of the Aethernet shards as she went, including the one at her destination. She headed inside the guild, a long winding tunnel into a giant tree. Approaching the conjurer standing at the entrance doors, Alice waved.

"Hello there," she said, barely keeping herself from making the words into the Prequel meme. "I'm looking for Miss Raya-O-Senna, or more specifically a Hyur she apparently brought here with her. Name of Bea, or Beatrice?"

The conjurer nodded. "They were here, but have however left, with master A-Ruhn-Senna."

Alice snapped her fingers in annoyance. "Dangit, okay. Any idea where they are?"

The conjurer shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, but it seemed important, they were in a hurry."

The door into the guild opened. A male Padjal stood with a hand on the door. "If you're looking for the Seedseers, they departed to Everschade some time ago."

The conjurer at the door bowed. "Master E-Sumi-Yan!"

"Hello. You're that adventurer who helped save the elder Sylph, am I correct?" E-Sumi asked Alice.

Alice shrugged. "I mean I wasn't alone, but yeah, I helped with that."

He inclined his head and walked through the doorway to stand with the other two. "The Seedseers had an important task to perform in Everschade, as I said, although based on A-Ruhn's composure at the time…"

They heard footsteps stomping around the corner, preceding a grumbling A-Ruhn-Senna.

"As I suspected," said E-Sumi. "What's wrong, boy?"

Alice almost did a double take, as E-Sumi looked about her age, and nowhere near old enough to refer to a young adult as 'boy'. But she remembered that as another Padjal, he was probably, uh, very old.

"I cannot believe, for her, that the soul crystal of A-Towa-Cant manifested!" He said, angrily. "For a non Padjal to become a White Mage, that's just… Argh!"

Alice's eyes widened. "No fucking way… She got one first? That's some queen shit."

"I'd ask you to watch your language around here, girl," E-Sumi scolded her.

"Sorry, my guy, but I'm just… Wow. So she's okay?" She turned her attention to A-Ruhn. "Bea is doing fine, right?"

"Of course it is not fine!" He yelled at her. "This is such an incredible break in tradition-"

Alice held a finger to his lips, and gave him a glare, which shut him up from sheer confusion at the occurrence. E-Sumi stared in shock, and the conjurer at the door started to shake in fear.

"I'd watch your words, pal," said Alice, her tone deathly cold. "You might want to rethink being an ass about the woman I discovered that I love when she almost died in my arms last night. Capiche?"

He sputtered, taken aback by the insane breach of usual decorum around a Seedseer that even outsiders tended to follow and respect for the most part. She took her finger away and clasped her arms behind her back, smiling and acting a bit cutesy. "And as much as I appreciate how much more handsome you look when you show emotion, I'd vastly rather it wasn't like this, 'kay? Now, gotta go, have fun, y'all~!"

She skipped away, back out the entrance towards Gridania, cackling loudly as she went. The three were so shocked that nobody tried to stop her.

Alice eventually managed to find Everschade with her phone's map, although getting the odd spelling nailed down had been a pain. Though given it was south of the White Wolf gate to the upper part of Central Shroud, finding a way down to the lower area that didn't involve going backwards, or breaking her kneecaps by jumping off a cliff, seemed a bit difficult which cost her more time.

But she made it… Just in time to find no one there.

"Fffffffaaaaaaark…"

"Alice? Is that you?"

Alice turned around, finding that she had somehow walked past the pair of Bea and Raya-O, who had been just off to the side of Everschade, rather than within the area itself - a clearing, with the all-important Guardian tree, a nexus for the Elementals, at its heart. Seeing Bea looking well immediately had Alice's heart soar, then flutter, then felt like a drummer doing a solo in her chest.

Oh fuck, I haven't said anything to her since I realised I'm in love, dammit.

"Uhm… Hi," Alice said weakly, waving.

Bea tilted her head. "Are you alright?"

"Are you? I mean, you look healthy, but…"

"Yes, I'm perfectly alright." Bea smiled. "Miss Raya-O has been wonderful, both in healing anything you weren't able to fix, and in training me."

"Which is something you need to not go around telling people, remember?" The Padjali woman said sternly. "Although if she knew to find us here, she may have had an inkling already."

"Yes!" said Alice, more excited than she intended. She cleared her throat. "I'm so proud of you, Bea, for getting chosen to be a White Mage."

"Thank you, Alice," said Bea, happy that Alice was so excited for her. It made Alice feel warm and fuzzy inside.

"Oh, and, Miss Raya-O?" Alice ventured.

"Yes?" The Padjali woman tilted her head, suspicious.

"Thank you for teaching Bea the White Mage stuff. I know very little about the art, let alone that you were the Job Mentor for it, but I know it's very special and quite a powerful discipline."

""Job mentor"...?"

"Oh, there's just a collection of people around Eorzea who can help someone go beyond the disciplines taught at Disciple of War and Magic guilds," said Alice. "For example, a Lancer lucky enough to learn from Estinien - he's the Azure Dragoon - could also become a Dragoon, the 'Job' extension of a 'Class.'"

Bea looked at her quizzically. "I had no idea your experience was so in depth."

"Well, I hear they kinda wish classes weren't a thing, and any new disciplines added are already Jobs with Soul Crystals. But I could have sworn Alicia would be the first to upgrade, no offence intended."

"Please stop for a moment," said Raya-O, holding out one hand and rubbing the bridge of her nose with the other. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Alice's eyes widened as she realised what she was saying in front of a city-state's leader - or near enough to one not to matter.

"Right, uh, it's a long story, best left for when we aren't out here. And when you two are done with… Whatever you're doing."

"Communing with Elementals," Bea supplied.

"Communing with Elementals, right-" Alice did a double take as she realised what Bea had actually said. "Hold on a second, you learn THAT as White Mage? No wonder A-Ruhn was pissed off…"

Raya-O sighed. "My brother is surprisingly hidebound to tradition given his youth. Not that I'm much older than he is, mind. But still… It will take some effort to convince him he is in the wrong here."

"Oh, right, I may have made that a little more difficult," Alice admitted, causing Raya-O to glare at her. Before the Padjali woman could say anything, Alice held up her hands, "I'm sorry, but she was insulting Bea! I couldn't let that stand, so I told him. Rudely, yes, but no direct insults were made by me, at least."

Raya-O grumbled. "Alright, fine. I do not believe he will respond with force, but you may want to stay out of his sight for some time."

"Easy, I don't live around here," said Alice. "And besides, if it's safer for Bea for me to not interfere, I can do that."

"Well… I wouldn't mind if you were around," said Bea. "But you may be right."

Raya-O nodded. "It's settled. Given you are not required to stay here in Gridania between our lessons, you can leave freely, and see one another somewhere else. And you, Miss Alice, had best give it a week or so, or at least until you hear word of the situation having changed here."

"Done. Oh, right, you two were doing a lesson, right? I can leave for now-"

"No, no, we were just finished for today," said Raya-O. "When the soul crystal appeared, I wanted to capitalise on that with our first true lesson immediately, but I will need time until your next instructions, Beatrice."

Bea nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'll do my best to not bring any shame to the art, and to assist you and the other Seedseers with your duties."

"I have faith that you will keep your word," Raya-O said with a smile. "Now, as much as I wish to hear your explanation today, I must return home. I will be in touch.

"Including," Raya-O added, looking at Alice, "To learn what you intended to explain, something I will trust you not to worm your way out of."

"Worm? Me? Never!" said Alice, feeling drops of sweat building at the base of her skull.

Raya-O nodded again, and waved. "Until next time," she said, and walked towards Gridania, leaving the two alone.

Alice sighed. "Damn, that's… I'm still so proud of you, Bea."

Bea's pleased expression turned a little quizzical. "Are you alright?"

"Ehhhh, well definitely better, seeing you all healthy and well and whatnot, yeah."

Bea tilted her head. "Go on."

Alice looked around, just in case anyone was nearby, feeling suddenly self-conscious. "Uhm… Last night, when you were injured, I felt… Really scared and anxious about your wellbeing, and I think I like you?"

"Well I like you too, as much as you can be something of a chaotic mess at times," Bea smiled.

Alice winced, and Bea started to suspect something, but she wasn't totally sure what, so she waited for Alice to say more.

"I'm… I know we've known each other for only a few days, and I really apologise if I'm coming on a bit strong, but I… I think I'm interested in you. Romantically."

Bea made a silent 'oh' of recognition. "I see… Well, I do appreciate that. It's not often I'm given such a declaration, and I'm usually of a mind to turn people down."

"Oh, gods, I'm sorry-"

Bea held up a hand to interrupt Alice. "I may not be ready right at this moment, or today, but I think I'm willing to give this a try in the near future," said Bea, with a smile that was so radiant to Alice that the human was ready to pass out from happiness.

"Th-thank you, Bea," Alice said in a small voice. "I… Either way, I don't want you to get hurt, but I know it's not my choice to make, about you going around and doing stuff. So, I was already resolved to do this regardless, but now I'm going to double down on it, but, I'm going to learn the healing art of Sharlayan Astrology."

"Oh! That would be interesting, to be sure," Bea agreed, giving the idea some thought. "And it would be nice to have more capable healing outside of my own abilities. I've appreciated the effort you've been making up until now, but your arcanist's healing spell is… A little too modest, I think."

"Yes!" said Alice. "Yes, that's how I felt, especially yesterday. And, unlike in the very strict way in which I experienced the story before, I don't have to wait to somehow be allowed access to Ishgard."

She frowned. "Didn't you say Sharlayan Astrology? If I recall, Ishgardian Astrology is quite a bit more limited…"

"Oh, yes, but there's one man, a noble actually, who is trying to get Sharlayan's version learned through the nation, on account of the healing benefit. He would normally be the Job Mentor, but I can actually ask Urianger."

"Oh? The quiet but verbose Elezen man from the Scions? I've had limited interaction with him, so I know very little."

"He's a bit of a weird guy, in a good way, and he knows a good amount of the discipline," said Alice, still impressed at the man's future ability. "And he once- uh, future once, I mean - taught himself the art from that knowledge, in a world where the sky is permanently light."

"Oh my, what kind of world is that?"

"Oh, my friend, let's head back to the Sands, and I'll tell you a bit about Shadowbringers and The First."

"My goodness," said Bea, as the two approached the entrance to the Sands. "The idea of other worlds than this one is already hard enough to wrap my head around, but one so close, fraught with so much peril?"

"Like I said, it's not actually in that danger yet," said Alice. "But it will be soon enough, and the only way to stop it would be by approaching things the same way as in the original story. There's no easy way into any of the other worlds, other than the Void - which is another explanation for another time."

Bea nodded, and smiled. "I must say, it was rather fun to listen to you recount this tale. Your passion shows, and I find that to be a good thing."

Alice blushed. "Uhm, th-thank you. Uh, shall we, uhm, go in, maybe?"

Bea giggled. "You've become a mess, it seems. No matter, it's quite adorable."

Alice mumbled a correction that she was a "gay mess, thank you very much," and they walked inside. For once Tataru noticed them before they could say anything.

"Hello, friends! Welcome back," she said with a smile.

Alice noted she had a needle and thread nearby, with a little work done on a bit of basic sewing. "Oh, hey Tataru, I see you've taken our advice."

"Oh, that, yes," said Tataru, mildly embarrassed. "I'm not quite as good as I'd like yet, especially given the expectation you had set yesterday, but the Weaver's guild was so close, I thought I might as well give it a go."

"Oh, nonsense, friend, we all must start somewhere," said Bea. "I simply look forward to whatever you can do."

"For what it's worth, I had actually thought you might have had a few more years of experience, sorry," said Alice, sheepishly. "Although, I hope you take that as a compliment - I really believe you're good at this, but like Bea said, just take your time."

"Well… I appreciate that," said Tataru. "And it has only been a day at most."

"Exactly!" said Alice. "I'll be honest, my future knowledge? It might be good, but it didn't give me a very good idea of timeframes. For all I know your work was after several months of practice…"

"Ah…. Oh…" Tataru sounded a bit disappointed.

"Oh, shoot, I'm sorry," said Alice, "But to be fair, it does usually take people months to become good at crafting things. I couldn't paint for shit when I started."

"You paint?" Bea and Tataru both asked at the same time.

Alice blinked. "Is that so hard to believe? I paint miniatures, you know, small models of soldiers and whatnot. I'm not that good, mind you, not at a competitive level, but I can do it. Alphinaud would probably be a lot better, actually…"

Bea giggled. "Many talents, it seems."

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a 'jack of many trades, master of none', unfortunately. I hope to change that, now that I'm here."

"Well, in any case, I have no news for you two, if you were wondering," said Tataru, back into Secretary mode. "Although, Bea, I might take you up on that offer?"

Bea smiled. "Say no more, friend." She turned to Alice. "You can go speak to Urianger, don't worry about us."

"You sure…?"

"Very. I need some time to think about many things, including what Miss Raya-O taught me. I will see you later, my friend." She said that with such a warm smile, Alice was again ready to collapse from happiness.

"Alright… I'll see you both later."

Alice walked down into the Waking Sands proper. Yaromir, Alicia and Salli were nowhere to be seen, but it didn't take too long to find Urianger, tall as he was. He stood fairly close to his NPC's location in the game, near a bookshelf within the common room, reading something. Alice approached, and cleared her throat.

Urianger was thankfully not taken off guard, and turned to face her, lowering his book. "Ah, Alice. I had been wondering when thou might seek mine knowledge… Thou wishes to learn Sharlayan Astrology, am I correct?"

Alice nodded. "Yes sir, you are. My previous experience with both Sharlayan Astrology in a simplified manner, as well as some knowledge from my own world's version of the subject, should help, but also may get in the way, so please don't hesitate to let me know if I'm making an incorrect assumption."

"Very well, I wouldst endeavour to train thee as correctly as I am able."

"And I'll try to return the favour with some more dedicated future knowledge," said Alice.

"Hmmm… I must admit to no small curiosity about this knowledge of the future, but as with a core teaching of Astrology, one must not become so focused upon the future that they lose sight of the present."

Alice nodded. "Alright, teacher man, let's begin."

Chapter Text

Alice's tutelage began slowly, with learning some very basic concepts about Astrology in this world. Some things that had been explained by the game's Job Quests for the discipline still held true - the constellations and their link to the gates of Heaven, as well their connections to the much more condensed Astromantic Tarot. Urianger had been quite interested to hear about the Earth Tarot, seeing as it was rather more subdivided and detailed.

"Fascinating…" He said. "Although there are some connections and similarities, our own system is quite different to that of your world. I appreciate the diversity of options and meanings, but in this instance, the more condensed and concise nature of our own meanings and readings is… More useful in a front-line capacity."

Alice nodded. "I get you, better to just know a few than to need to memorise around one-hundred and fifty meanings."

"Precisely. Although there may yet be merit in eventually obtaining an expanded deck from thy home, too, as there would be some… connection to it."

“I’ll consider it,” said Alice. “I’ve got more than one connection to the Major Arcana, especially…”

The aetheric manipulation part wasn't too tricky, although Alice was surprised by just how much more finesse was involved. The use of arcane geometries in magic, although capable of some very detailed spells, was most assuredly not the same. The mental load was a bit higher for some of the most basic Astrology spells, and Alice was given a good look at the difference between not just a Job and a Class, but also the actual granular Level difference - Astrologian in the game began at 30, to Arcanist's 1. While it wasn't exactly as simple as comparing numbers, there was a bit of a difficulty curve in going from one to the other, even knowing some of the 'higher level' Arcanist spells.

She did, however, make some progress over the course of a few hours, during which they moved to stand outside of Vesper Bay, between the port town and Horizon. By the early evening, Alice had been given enough of a basic toolkit to work with to be able to practice in an actual dungeon or the like. Except for a few key items…

"For one, thou lack a Soul Stone for the discipline," said Urianger. "An item that is the difference between learning everything entirely on one's own, and having some additional tutelage and refinement from the spirits of those who once mastered the art, long ago."

"Mmm… But you're saying I can still learn more, just that it would be more difficult."

"An accurate assessment, yes. The Soul Stone is not essential, but would be of great assistance."

Alice nodded. "Well, good news is, if the one I'm thinking of likes me, I know roughly where, if not exactly when, I can acquire one of those. And I'm guessing the other missing item is an Astro globe, yeah?"

"A Star Globe, yes. I do not possess one, but I am certain thou couldst purchase one from a merchant within Ul'dah."

"I do need to see if I can learn Goldsmithing and Alchemy, actually…" Alice accidentally mimicked Y'shtola's thinking pose again, something she realised she should stop worrying about.

"Thou dost not need to learn the art of making thy globes and cards thyself, merely purchasing them from a vendor would be a more expedient solution."

"Oh, yes, right, true, but for the future, you know?"

Urianger nodded. He tilted his head to look over her shoulder at something behind her. Alice turned around and followed his gaze until she saw Alicia, Yaromir and Salli riding chocobos towards them from the direction of Horizon. She waved.

"Hey, friends!" Alice called out to them. "Good evening!"

They slowed down and stopped alongside the pair.

"Hey there, friend," said Salli.

"Good evening indeed!" Yaromir said with a grin.

Alicia just nodded, one each for Alice and Urianger.

"So… What have you all been up to?" asked Alice.

"An investigation," said Alicia.

Alice waited a few seconds, but Alicia wasn't saying any more. "Really? I thought I'd earned your trust by now."

"Besides, ain't she a fellow Scion?" Salli asked Alicia, who grumbled in response, then sighed.

"We were looking into a potential appearance of Lahabrea," said Alicia. "It involved a trek back and forth between Little Ala Mhigo and Quarrymill, and while it was a confirmed sighting in the end, it didn't yield new information about the Ascian."

Alice closed her eyes to try and remember this part. She had to dig deep in her memory to remember the questline, but she did eventually. "Ah, well, darn, but you at least helped people along the way, yes…?"

Alicia sighed. "Once more, it’s something you already knew, isn't it?"

"Nnno… Maybe…" Alicia's stare made Alice realise she should stop being shifty and vague about this. "Okay, yes, but only because you gave me very specific prompts."

Yaromir laughed. "Of course, of course. Well, Alicia, at least you got to do this one on your own, ah?"

Salli moved her chocobo closer to Alicia's to pat the Auri woman on the back. "It's fine, don't worry."

"I hope Wilred lived through the experience, and that Gundobald is doing well," said Alice, as names and faces tumbled from her memory into her conscious thoughts. "Oh! That's the first time we met Meffrid too, right? I'd honestly forgotten all about him by the time I got to Stormblood, though."

Alicia grumbled some more. Urianger was deep in thought.

"Oh, come on," said Alice. "If you did it without my help, you did fine. I only succeeded because I was given specific directions by the game, and because I had your strength instead of my own."

"...I suppose so," Alicia admitted. "Well, yes, we did it, but I think we should give the full report to Minfilia."

"Wait for the two of us before you get started," said Alice, indicating Urianger.

Alicia shrugged, and got her chocobo moving towards Vesper Bay once more. Salli looked at Alice.

"It's not that she dislikes or distrusts ya, hun," said the Miqo'te. "But she doesn't like feelin' useless, like she doesn't need to do what she's doin', ya get me?"

"Right, yeah… I get you," Alice said sheepishly. "I don't always remember everything, though, and this time period? Before and just after the defeat of Gaius? There's a lot I forget consistently."

"Ah, it is surely no big issue," said Yaromir. "She will learn the value of not needing to gather all of the intelligence before a situation."

The two of them rode their chocobos the rest of the way, following Alicia. Alice turned to Urianger.

"You good?" she asked.

"Ah, yes, do not worry about my ruminations," he said, although he was not completely convincing.

"Alright, if you insist," she said, shrugging. "Let's head back, I'm gonna use this as a trust exercise and a gap filler."

"...I apologise, but I may need thee to explain thy terminology further."

"Further proof that I'm not bullshitting my future knowledge, and a way to fill in the gaps in my memory."

"Ah."

"Welcome, you two. Alicia told me you wished to be present for her report?" asked Minfilia. Alice and Urianger had just entered the Solar, and found the Antecedent with the three Scions that had just returned. Bea and Tataru had still been busy with Tataru's work, although Alice had waved to her on the way down, and received a warm smile as payment.

"More like I wanted to and dragged Urianger along with me," said Alice. "I'll admit, I'm being a bit selfish again - I want to quickly add further proof of my knowledge being legitimate and accurate, for the sake of yourself and him."

"Argh, really? That's why?" Alicia complained. "We already know this."

"Yeah but, do they?" Alice argued, gesturing to Minfilia and Urianger. "Especially given the whole Lahabrea thing in the first place."

Alicia sighed. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Alice turned back to Minfilia. “May I?”

"I… Alright," said Minfilia, nodding. "Tell us, then, what should have happened?"

"Okay, I only remember broad strokes, mind you, but…"

Alice explained what she remembered - Alicia needed the help of an Ala Mhigan in Quarrymill, that being a man named Meffrid, and helping save the life of a comrade of his to prove her worth. This was to secure the trust of Gundobald, the de-facto leader of Little Ala Mhigo, to then search around the area to investigate a Lahabrea sighting, which culminates in a fight with Amalj'aa over some crystals, and saving the life of Wilred.

"Although for the life of me I can't remember how we knew to go talk to Meffrid…" She finished.

"That would be through our Ala Mhigan comrade, Haribehrt," Minfilia filled in. "Or at least, I assume that's where you received that information?"

"Yes ma'am," said Alicia. She turned to face Alice directly. "You forgot the first stage - getting stonewalled by the refugees the first time I went to Little Ala Mhigo, and coming back here to ask Minfilia how to talk to them, which led to Hahribert, and from him to Meffrid."

"Right, cool, good." Alice nodded. "Not the getting stonewalled part but…. Anyway, I don't remember everything super well, and there's a period of time between the defeat of Gaius and our entry into Ishgard that I also struggle with for the most part."

"So, you aren't reliable, unless you are?" asked Alicia, deadpan.

"I remember later stuff far better - since for me that was more recent," said Alice. "Besides, I remember a lot of the important, broad strokes when I don't need to remember in greater detail for my stated goal."

"To save lives, if I recall?" asked Minfilia.

"At least a few more than the many, many lives she can save without me, yes," said Alice, pointing her chin at Alicia. "So? What happened, in detail?"

Alicia gave her full report on what occurred. It remained accurate, and with the help of Salli and Yaromir, they managed to save a few more lives than just Wilred's in the final conflict with the Amalj'aa, having managed to prevent his friends from getting killed in the skirmish.

"Oh, well, congratulations," said Alice, explaining that for her, it had unfortunately been unavoidable otherwise. "And that's a damn good sign, in my eyes."

"Huh… well, well," Salli said with an approving nod. "Guess ya won't be the only one savin' more lives, then?"

Yaromir gave a nod, and smiled. "Excellent news."

"So, yes, you were right," said Alicia. "Can you stop just "proving yourself" and start doing more, now?"

"Why do you think I just spent the day practicing my Arcanistry and learning Astrology?" asked Alice. "After Bea took that hit yesterday, I was beside myself, so I'm making an effort to be less useless when I'm called upon."

“You’re not useless,” Alicia grumbled quietly.

"Speaking of Bea," said Minfilia. "She seems quite well, helping Tataru with work. Is she alright?"

"Thanks to the healing work of Raya-O-Senna herself, yes," said Alice. "Which has inspired Bea to work more at her own healing magic."

Everyone but Urianger let out a sigh of relief, the tall Elezen instead nodding with a smile. "Ah, I see," he said. "This event is what bade thee to seek out my tutelage, yes?"

"Bingo," said Alice, but even through his goggles she realised he didn't understand the word. "I mean, yes, it is. Now I just need to figure out how to inscribe arcane geometries on a star globe, so I can multiclass…"

""Multi…" Actually, you know what, that's not important," said Alicia. "What is important is that we didn't end up learning anything about Lahabrea."

"You saved people, sometimes that's all it takes, or all you can get," said Alice. "But, unfortunately, the only thing we can do is chase sightings until the Kobolds look like they're going to summon Titan, which is an inevitability at this point."

"Don't ya already know which leads are good and which are duds?" asked Salli.

"Yes, but even the duds - well, most of them - end with either some bits of knowledge, or persons saved from death, or both."

"Sounds mighty annoyin' if we have to keep chasin' shadows," said the archer. "I'd rather have a target I can see, and shoot at."

Alicia nodded with a grumble. Then she furrowed her brow. "Didn't you say that when we go after Titan…?

"The Garleans attack, yes," Alice agreed. "I'm working with our friends at the Ironworks on a counter to that."

"Is there nothing else we can do to prepare?" asked Minfilia. "I have been given reason to trust your word, but I would still like to be more certain."

"Well, let's go over my idea, then…"

After the explanation, and a quick goodbye to Bea, Alice made her way back to Limsa Lominsa. She had gone over a rough idea of exactly what she was cooking up with Cid's help, and the ways the other Scions could either help or stay safe from the invasion, given she and Alica needed to be the ones to confront Titan.

They had decided to work on their end of things, but given the Scions didn't have another lead yet, Alicia had gone to bed, and Alice decided to head back to the port city-state, in part to check on Naldiq & Vymelli's. As she entered the Blacksmith & Armourer's guild building, she got a Linkpearl call. From… Cid. Who was standing right in front of her, facing the other way.

So instead of answering, she walked up and tapped him on the left shoulder.

"What's up? You rang?" She said, grinning.

He turned, and smiled as soon as he saw her, cancelling his Linkpearl call. "Ah, that was you entering just now, was it? You have very good timing."

"You say that after I kept you waiting for most of the day, only yesterday," Alice pointed out.

"Well… Yes, but it was worthwhile, and the time wasn't wasted," he said, nodding. "And honestly, the conversation I had with Brithael and H'naanza helped me with my memories a bit more."

"Ah, well I'm glad to hear that."

"Anyway, yes, I called you for a reason," he said. "Brithael and I needed you to judge something for us, since apparently we can't do so ourselves."

Alice was confused, but interested. "Alright, what have you got for me?"

"They're right here, actually, but let me go get Brithael, too."

Cid went downstairs, past the main forge floor, to the reception desks for the guilds. Brithael was there, doing… something, Alice couldn't tell what, and Cid brought him up to the anvil and work desks.

Alice noted there were two boxes on Brithael's desk. And they were both… Well, whatever was inside wasn't large for a blacksmith's creation, but they weren’t small, either.

Cid and Brithael - the latter giving a nod of greeting as he walked past Alice - each picked up a box. She finally noted that they both seemed to have dark circles under their eyes, but also looked quite proud and sure of themselves.

"Ohkay… What's the deal here?" asked Alice, crossing her arms.

"We cannot decide between our works which is the better one," said Cid.

"So, since H'naanza won't help, and you're the client, we wanted you to be the judge for us," said Brithael.

Alice blinked. "Ohkay… And what am I judging? Didn't I ask you two for totally different things?"

"Yes, but I was inspired by some of what you had told us about firearms from your homeland," Cid admitted. "And from there it turned into a competition between us."

"Ah. …Oh."

They placed their boxes on the anvil in the middle of the area.

"So… Who wants to go first?" asked Alice.

"I'll get it over with," said Brithael. He opened his box, and inside was a beautiful, silvered revolver. Alice didn't have a good eye for real guns, at least not their technical specifications, but she could say for sure that this weapon looked spectacular. It had small amounts of filigree and engravings that, thanks to their minimal usage, didn't feel ostentatious. The handle was polished wood, but looked comfortable to hold. The barrel was a good few ilms - the Eorzean word for inches - in length. Her tabletop experience coming in handy, Alice guessed around eight ilms.

"Woah… that looks amazing," said Alice.

"I was inspired to try reworking already existing but still relatively new technology - a revolver's chamber - with the ideas you mentioned about changes to ammunition, and that rifling concept," Brithael explained. "Partly 'cause getting my head 'round that ought to make the development o' arms for the Maelstrom better by improvin' their overall quality."

"So… What's the calibre?" asked Alice. “The bullet size, in hundredths of an inch. I mean, an ilm.”

"It's a little under half an ilm - 'bout 44 hundredths."

"Yes!" Alice cheered with a fist pump. "That's a classic calibre back home, pretty famous, actually."

"It ended up bein' partly an accident, but some experimentation showed me it was a good size."

"Hell yeah," said Alice. She picked up the gun, and liked the weight. Not as heavy as she expected, but not so light as to feel like a toy. She opened the cylinder and looked inside it out of curiosity. It was empty, of course, but looked very well made.

"I'm gonna be honest, I know little about the exacting specs of guns. What I was able to explain yesterday was almost the extent of my knowledge, barring some occasional chances I had to learn how to shoot correctly." She slapped the empty cylinder back in place and aimed down the iron sights. "But I'll still be able to use this, for sure."

"Well, you should also look at Cid's work, of course," said Brithael.

"Oh, yes, of course," said Alice. "I'm still just… I’m surprised at this happening at all."

"Ah, and in case you're wondering, yes, I've also been working on your actual request," said Cid. "But this opportunity arose, and I could work on this without compromising the speed needed to help prepare your defences."

Alice shrugged. "To be fair, you're a grown man, and I can't tell you what to do. I'm just… Anxious about the defence plan since lives are at stake. Although I won't turn down whatever is happening right now."

Cid nodded. "I understand. Well, this may help in a different way," he said, and opened his box. Inside was something that looked like the classic Desert Eagle handgun, finished in a beautiful dark metal that seemed to have blue highlights within it.

"Holy shit…" Alice breathed.

"The Ironworks Special," said Cid. "I made use of the concept of a clip, and used that to allow for some… Perhaps overly large ammunition for this weapon, but I can see how a similarly sized weapon using a different calibre could hold quite a lot in reserve before needing to reload it."

Alice stared Cid dead in the eyes and asked what was, to her, the most important question. "Is the calibre half an ilm? I need to know."

Cid blinked. "Yes, it is. As exactly as I could make it."

"Yes!" Alice cheered. "I can't believe it, I'm so lucky today. That's a second really famous calibre in my homeland, holy shit."

"Does your homeland prefer large weapons, then?" asked Brithael.

"Not always, but these are two of the spiciest you can conceivably put in a handgun, at least in popular culture."

""Spiciest," you say?" said Cid. "Well, if by that you meant 'heat', the Special comes equipped with an aetherial infuser. I didn't make any of the necessary special ammunition, but if you loaded it, you could infuse aspected aether into your shots."

"Oh, shit, that would actually work with the Machinist techniques too, right?" asked Alice. "The Machinists in Ishgard? Skysteel Manufactory?"

"I was inspired by Stephanivien de Haillenarte's work, actually, yes." Cid nodded, impressed. "How do you know about them?"

"Oh, any fan of firearms hears about them eventually," said Alice, waving a hand. "Besides, I also know they're very inaccessible right now, thanks to Ishgard's current closed-door policy."

"Indeed," Cid agreed. "Well, what do you think of the two weapons? Which is your choice to win the competition?"

"Uhhh…" Alice picked up Cid's creation, and slotted the empty clip into it with a satisfying click. It felt light, to an extent that only the bullets would make it feel like it had weight, which given the size of the weapon was confusing. "How did you make them both so light?"

"Just the right materials, I suppose," said Brithael. "Are they supposed to be heavier?"

"Well, I worry about the recoil, since I'm not sure, but I think that the gun being heavier helps with that… But if these somehow won't hit me in the face if I fire them, I love them."

"Ah, yes, that would be a concern, if not for aetherology and magitek," said Cid. "Both weapons use a combination of earth and wind aspected aether in their construction to reduce their kick, which means that enchantment occurs regardless of their ammunition."

"Oh my god, you guys!" she said, grinning at them both. "How am I supposed to choose just one!? They're both perfect in different ways, and I'll gladly pay extra to have them both."

Cid sighed and shook his head, but he was smiling. "So, neither of them is strictly better, you'd say?"

"I mean, I love them both and will pay for both," said Alice. "Why?"

“I was hoping you could help settle our dispute,” said Cid.

She paused, then had another question pop into her mind. “Who did you two vote for?”

"We had voted each other's works as the superior option," Brithael admitted.

Alice looked between them several times, then laughed. "Ferrus and Fulgrim, huh?"

They understandably looked confused, so she explained. "Ah, a story from my homeland about two brothers who were both exceptional warriors and peerless craftsmen. They held a contest to make the best weapon, and ended it by doing what you two did, voting the other's weapon as superior, and giving each other the weapons they had made."

She purposefully didn't mention that it ended with them later fighting each other to the death with those weapons, since it was technically irrelevant, but the detail still showed up in her mind to plague her regardless.

"I see!" Cid smiled. "Well, either way, I'm happy for you to have both, and I can finish work on the defences soon."

"I'm also fine with this decision," Brithael said with a shrug. "Although if you mean to pay us for Cid's, don't. Pay him."

"I mean, yeah, obviously," said Alice.

"No, no! I insist, this is one of my favours repaid," said Cid. "Especially if you'll be helping me find the Enterprise, I still owe you quite a lot."

"Nnn, I mean, only if you’re certain… Thanks," said Alice.

"I am. Now, I'd best get back to work!"

Brithael smiled at Cid as the engineer walked back to the work desk. "That man… I still think he's too nice for his own good, but I trust him."

"And thanks for this," said Alice, patting the revolver. She frowned. "Do they have names?"

"Not mine, and Cid seemed hesitant about "Ironworks Special,"" said Brithael. "You can name 'em if you want."

"Hrm…" she looked at them both, but nothing came to mind yet. "I will, but not yet. I gotta get them to earn it."

"Your choice. Head down to the desk for payment, by the way."

"Right," said Alice, and hurried down. She asked for the invoice, and saw a number both a little larger than she had hoped and a lot less than she expected. She counted out the gil, finding it dug into her funds a bit more than expected, and remembered she still needed a Star Globe.

Ah, beans. It should still be fine, I hope. "Thanks!" she said aloud, and walked back to collect the weapons. She found two pouches with them - a healthy supply of ammunition for each weapon. "Sweet. Thanks again, you two!"

She waved at Cid and Brithael - the latter now having joined Cid at the workbench to help with the other project, it seemed - and they waved back. She left, humming happily, and went down to the markets.

It took a bit of searching - and a little haggling to slightly reduce the price that sounded absurd even to her - but she managed to acquire a good condition star globe, as well as the accompanying board that held the Tarot cards at the waist. It was fairly plain, although that was to be expected, she felt. She managed to get the globe spinning without much effort, finding it a very easy thing to start, maintain and stop. Good.

She bowed to the vendor, and made her way to her room at the Mizzenmast. May as well try to get a good night's sleep, she thought.

Naturally, she ended up messing with her new purchases for a few hours before actually committing to the idea of going to bed. At least it ended up being good practice of Astromancy, right?

Chapter Text

Sleep was odd that night. No nightmares, thankfully, but the only 'dream' was mostly something of a formless shadow - and yet, she was certain it was nothing like the presence of an Ascian, now that she knew what that felt like.

She could almost see images through the shadow. Almost. But nothing really stuck out as obvious, or was properly discernable. As the dream progressed, she started hearing unintelligible whispers. Ominous, she felt, but not sure why.

And then she woke, disappointed, but quickly forgetting anything other than remnants of that ominous feeling.

"Hmm."

She checked her phone - nothing again today, good.

She got ready for the day, and ordered a more vegetable-loaded breakfast than she was normally comfortable with, and ate it. Unfortunately, it didn't help with remembering her dream, let alone making sense of it or her feelings.

"Hmmmm."

She had been trying to figure out what to do next when she received a call.

"Ah, there we go."

"Alice, it's Thybyrgeim. K'lyhia is ready for your assistance."

"Ay, excellent news. I can try out some new techniques I've been practicing."

"I will need you to come to the guild first. I need to give you something."

"Sure," said Alice, ending the call, and she set off.

When she met Thubyrgeim at the guild in person, she explained the situation: Doesmaga's ship was seen off the coast of Bloodshore, and approaching it without a good plan would be difficult. K'lyhia had already begun a strategy, and Alice's first step was to deliver a list to a fisherman in Bloodshore.

It turned out that Alice was about to experience what felt like a never-ending delivery quest. The fisherman, upon delivery of the list, asked her to deliver a fresh herring to the cook. The cook then gave her further instructions: deliver an Eel pie to Gegeruju, the very rich Lalafellin lord who owned Costa del Sol. She then had to deliver a purse of gil to a dancer to pay for an outfit, then give a skirt to a warehouse foreman, as well as a full leather satchel bag she wasn't given instructions for.

Alice was long since ready to beat her head against a wall, and that wasn't helped when the man in question not only seemed to be a bit of a creep about his gift, but had a further set of instructions for her.

"Uh-huh," said Alice, trying not to look as murderous as she felt. "I can't tell if this is becoming an insanity-induced nightmare or not, so please tell me that the end is in sight, sir."

The foreman suddenly seemed quite nervous. "Erm, I don' understand ye meanin', but the instructions I was asked to pass on are that yer s'posed to 'ave this bottle o' wine."

"Let me guess - I don't get to drink it myself?"

The man shook his head. "Take it to the Flyin' Shark an' pour a cup fer the sailors what're drinkin' there. That's what she told me to tell ye, anyroad. I'd watch me back if I was you, though, lass - them sailors're the meanest bunch o' cutthroats I ever did see."

"Oh, hrm," said Alice, suddenly feeling a lot more calm. Notably bad-mannered sailors might mean the remaining crew of the Morningstar. The end may be in sight after all, it seemed. "Alright, well, thank you sir, you have a good day now."

He seemed a little too preoccupied with his new gift, so Alice decided to leave before it became really weird.

She mumbled to herself along the way. "Okay, wine, pour some for the pirates, got it."

She walked up to the Flying Shark - easily visible not just because of the sign of its namesake, but because it was the only bar for miles around - and could indeed see three of the shitty pirates who looked like the ones she had fought on the Morningstar.

That I murdered on the Morningstar, really. She had to take a moment, trying to suppress her reaction to that intrusive thought. After she caught her breath, she resumed her walk.

One of the pirates was drunkenly dancing around, being lively with a bunch of dancers, while a second stood 'guard', but the third man - the only non-Roegadyn of the trio - sat at the bar. He was obviously still a little drunk, but much less so than his compatriots, and gave off the impression he was in charge here.

She strolled up to the leader, forcing a pleasant grin. "Hello, sir," she said in a salesman voice, giving herself a more English accent. "Would you, perchance, like to try some of this wine?"

He stared at her for a few seconds, then grinned. "Ye want me to taste yer wine, eh? Well, now, I ain't one to pass up free grog."

Alice motioned to the bar attendant for a glass, who didn't seem happy with someone serving outside drinks. A look from the lead pirate made him comply. Alice poured some for the pirate, and he downed it quickly.

"Llymlaen's teats! Now that's a bloody fine drop! If we ship this stuff to the East, we'll be sellin' bottles by the crate!"

"Well, that's excellent news-"

"Yer comin' with us back to the Morningstar. The captain'll want to 'ave a word with ye."

Alice wanted to reject the offer outright, but barely remembered what Thubyrgeim had told her. This was her only good way on board, and K'lyhia would have planned for this.

"Why, yes, that sounds wonderful," she said, glad that her new array of weaponry was concealed reasonably well under her robe today.

He smiled, a gap-toothed, ugly grin. "There's a good lass. An' as fer ye, Miss Dancer, ye stick close to ol' Hirskskrat─it gets damn cold on them long sea voyages, heh heh heh."

Alice barely managed not to roll her eyes, and turned to look at the dancer in question.

Oh, that's-! Alice finally learned what K'lyhia's way aboard was - and the reason part of her objectives had been to pay for a dancer's outfit.

She barely managed to not say anything as the disguised foreseer - looking extremely pretty, near distractingly so - walked towards them. Alice had several questions, but knew better than to ask them now.

"Shh," whispered K'lyhia. "We'll talk later."

Alice nodded very, very slightly.

The pirates led them to a small sailboat moored at the end of a nearby pier.

"Ye ready then? We'll be off as soon as the boat's loaded."

"Of course, sir!" Alice said with a smile that felt a little more strained than it had been before.

What was the plan when we arrived? I have my own weapons, but…

Alice gave a sideways glance at K'lyhia, who wore… Very little.

Nothing to it but to do it, I suppose.

The winds were good, and the water between the pier and the Morningstar was quiet.

Alice couldn't help but stare at K'lyhia, but raised an eyebrow to silently indicate her question.

"Pray do not stare so," the Miqo'te said quietly, the wind preventing the drunk Hirskskrat from hearing her. "This was the most expedient method of gaining access to the ship."

Alice shrugged, and K'lyhia motioned to her to come closer. "I will take that satchel from you now. You may have it back after I take the items I need."

"Sure," said Alice, and handed it over.

K'lyhia began putting on some clothes from within, very quickly, covering them all with a robe. Hirskskrat noticed the commotion

"'Ey, what mischief are you two about!?"

K'lyhia pouted. "I was merely borrowing some clothes. You wouldn't wish me to catch a chill from this brisk ocean air, would you?"

Hirskskrat seemed upset at the loss of the 'view.' "Ye'll be dancin' yerself warm once we get ye on the ship, lass."

The boat made it to the Morningstar and the three climbed aboard. Alice saw Doesmaga himself, sitting with a large group of his pirates, all drinking and merrymaking.

"Ye better slip off that ratty robe afore ye meet the captain," Hirskskrat told K'lyhia.

"Of course, of course!" she replied, as they walked towards the pirate group. As they got close, K'lyhia kicked Hirskskrat in the buttocks, sending him stumbling forward, landing on his face. Somehow, she had also simultaneously removed the robe she was wearing, and now stood proudly in her normal Arcanist's gear.

The pirates turned to look at the commotion, and K'lyhia slipped on her glasses.

"I'll be happy to show him the performance that awaits!" she declared.

Alice grinned, taking up her grimoire. "Now I get it."

Doesmaga scrambled to his feet and pointed viciously down at K'lyhia. "The bitch Admiral's lapdog!" he shouted, slurring his words very slightly. "Come back fer that lesson, 'ave ye?"

K'lyhia pointed up into the sky defiantly. "It is I who shall be teaching this day! My lecture will focus on the manipulation of reality through applied strategy!"

Alice wasn't sure exactly how, but K'lyhia summoned her grimoire from nowhere, having it appear above her head and float down into her hands. Alice blinked, but decided not to question it, focusing on the threat.

"Time to fuck up some pirates!" she cheered, summoning her carbuncle.

Doesmaga glared at them. "Enough o' this damn yappin'! By the time I'm done with ye, ye'll remember who yer real master is!"

Six pirates charged the pair of arcanists. Three ahead, three behind. Alice went as she usually did, and focused on the three ahead of her, trusting K'lyhia to have her back. She had been charging her aether already, and took one marauder out with a quick burst of spells: Ruin to break the man's skin, Energy Drain to worsen the wounds and his stamina, and Fester to kill him in a way Alice briefly thought might violate the Geneva convention. She banished the thought, noting that she had knocked the poor bastard off his feet for good. She stepped forward, hitting the second man in the side of the head with her grimoire, and attempted to sweep his legs, but the third attacked and forced her backwards a step.

She Festered his hand and ordered her Carbuncle to infuse itself with fire and charge the man with a Ruby Headbutt. She hadn't strictly asked it to connect between the legs and incapacitate the man that way, but she wasn't complaining. The one she had hit with the book attempted to skewer her with a sword, and she had to sidestep and dodge, while trying to cast a Ruby Ruin. She eventually succeeded, and superheated his sword. He screamed and dropped the blazing weapon, and she brought the grimoire around for a second hit against the other side of his head, then uppercutted him in the chin with her free hand. She didn't want to use her currently secret firearms just yet. However…

The one remaining man was still stunned but barely conscious from his, uh, lap injury, so she kicked him in the face, knocking him out. She attempted to pull her star globe out, swapping it for her grimoire, so she could draw and empower a card from her Tarot.

"Ah, excellent." She had drawn the Bole. While she didn't strictly completely understand exactly how it worked, she remembered which card boosted which role, something she had confirmed still functioned as she expected, with added details that didn't matter that much.

She utilised its power to boost K'lyhia which allowed her to take out the remaining two pirates she had been contending with at once, and then healed the foreseer of some of the minor cuts and slashes she had sustained in her own fight. K'lyhia looked at her in confusion, lingering on the floating star globe, and nodded appreciatively.

"Ye rabid little cur!" they heard Doesmaga shout. He had been standing a few metres away, surrounded by more pirates, none of whom had deigned to act yet.

"Our numbers matter not; it is strategy that will win this battle!" K'lyhia shouted back. "Prepare yourself, Doesmaga! With your defeat will I cast off the shackles you closed on my soul!"

Doesmaga grunted and spat at the ground. "Ye think so, eh? Think yer fancy magicks're a match fer my blade!? Ye've got another thing comin'!"

He finally hefted his axe, and ordered his men to charge the pair. Alice drew another card, applied its power to K'lyhia, then swapped back to her grimoire. She had barely managed to hold the remainder of the familiar Aethercharge while struggling with the unfamiliar techniques of astromancy, something she decided she would need to practice more in the future. In the meantime, however…

She and K'lyhia sent their Topaz carbuncles at the charging trio of pirates, and knocked them all off their feet with a pair of earth-aspected blasts. Doesmaga apparently didn't care, charging right through the energy as if it didn't affect him. He swung wide, going for both of the arcanists at once and they ducked, only for Alice to receive a knee to the face, stunning her briefly. Thanks to a shout from K'lyhia, she barely managed to get her carbuncle's life-saving Radiant Aegis up in time to barely deflect a lethal swing, the axe rebounding off the bubble of energy.

"Shit!" she yelled, rolling back, but he kept at her, giving her no time to utilise her spells. She ducked, rolled, backstepped, all to keep from receiving the deadly axe's strikes at her body. Eventually, he forced her to drop her grimoire in order to keep her hand attached.

Fuck, okay, I guess it's time. She drew the revolver and fired, the shot going wide. Doesmaga laughed at the feeble attempt, but kept pressing, trying to prevent her from hitting him.

Eventually, as K'lyhia was surrounded by the three pirates who had since risen back to their feet, Alice realised she needed to do something dangerous or else she was going to be shit out of luck. So when he next swung, instead of rolling away from the giant pirate, she rolled towards him, and pointed her gun up. She grazed his arm almost the length of his left bicep, and he staggered back from the pain, causing the third round to miss again. He wasn't stunned for long, but Alice was already kneeling and took a shot at Doesmaga's leg. The bullet definitely made an impact, and slowed him, but didn't seem to do more than that. She went for gut shots with her remaining two bullets, but the man's insane reflexes caught back up, and he managed to deflect them both with his axe’s head.

"Fucking how!?" she yelled, and rolled towards her grimoire. As she did, she dropped the revolver and drew the other pistol. She was lying on the ground, and squeezed off a shot that hit one of the other pirates in the torso, killing him outright, and lightening the load on K'lyhia. Doesmaga got close enough to swing, but Alice had her grimoire now, and her carbuncle's Aegis was finally ready for use once more. It once again saved her life, and given her earth aspected aether had expired, she threw her last remaining option at the big man: the wind-aspect Emerald carbuncle. It appeared behind him, and attacked his back with a barrage of slicing winds. This was enough. She fired again, hitting the man in the right bicep, and causing him to drop his axe with that hand. Although given the damage from the large calibre round, it was a miracle the arm was still attached.

She went for the Alice Special: a kick in the man's now unprotected groin. It had the desired effect, and allowed her to focus on assisting K'lyhia, who had actually just taken out the third and final man herself. She pointed her pistol skyward and grinned.

"Doesmaga now faces defeat," said K'lyhia, putting her grimoire on her belt. "He will flee to the starboard rail."

Surprisingly, the man did exactly that, hobbling his way there, pained and furious.

Alice looked to K'lyhia, about to ask if they should do anything, when K'lyhia continued her narration.

"Obvious." She pushed up her spectacles with a finger. "Next comes his attempt to escape into the sea."

Doswmaga stood at the starboard rail at the front of the ship, and angrily motioned as he shouted at the pair. "Ye think yer pullin' me strings, do ye!? Think I'll dance to yer tune?"

He hopped up onto the rail. "Well, I ain't fallin' fer yer bloody tricks!"

He jumped off, and landed in the water with a splash. Alice made a move to pursue him, but K'lyhia held up a hand to stop her, and said, "It is at this moment he notices the Yellowjackets I had you summon in my explicit instructions to Rhylzirn."

Alice blinked several times, then ran to the rail and looked down into the water. K'lyhia was right, and Alice couldn't help but erupt into loud laughter at the sight. The large pirate, lying in the small landing boat they had used to arrive aboard the ship, was surrounded by a veritable fleet of Yellowjacket sailboats, each loaded with several Yellowjacket officers.

Hilariously, one of those officers was actually the fisherman, Rhylzirn. "You were a fool to return, Doesmaga! I hear you're fond of shackles, so we brought a set especially for you!"

K'lyhia walked up next to Alice, smiling. She waved at the Yellowjackets as they took Doesmaga aboard one of their own vessels.

"Thus concludes today's lecture. Thank you, Alice. This strategy would not have succeeded without your… Rather interesting execution."

K'lyhia sighed. "...Which suggests that my tactics yet require more work. One must allow for some small deviation in performance."

"Hey, I just wanted to build up a bigger toolset. The better to help people, you know?" said Alice.

K'lyhia smiled. "I do. And I believe, however, that I now understand where my calculations went awry: it is not enough to wish to shape reality; one must also have a complete understanding of the reality one wishes to obtain. It is time I sought out our guildmaster!"

She suddenly smiled and started to backstep, before turning to run towards the rails, and jumped overboard. Alice ran forward to lean over the rails, but as expected, K'lyhia had been following her own plan.

Instead of being in the water, the foreseer had landed safely in another sailboat, this one guided by the dancer from earlier, Ealdgyth. Alice couldn't help but laugh a bit, and smiled broadly down at them.

"I would wish you good luck with that, but I also imagine he would make it easier for you than it was for me," said Alice, waving at the two.

K'lyhia giggled, the sound audible thanks to the calm waters. It was a cute sound, one Alice realised she hadn't heard the Miqo'te make, and it made her smile. "Pray convey to Mistress Thubyrgeim my fondest wishes, and my appreciation for all that she has done for me!"

"I will," Alice promised. "I think she'll be sad to lose you, but happy to see you go live your best life."

K'lyhia nodded at Ealdgyth, then turned to look back up at Alice. "The true test of my strategies now begins!"

She smiled and waved, and Alice waved back. "Damn, that was a pretty happy ending to that story, huh?" she said to herself. She went to collect her fallen revolver, pocketing the weapon. She was quite pleased with its performance, and with the handcannon, so she would definitely need to practice with them.

There were Yellowjackets still around, trawling the boat for illegal goods and other items of importance. She flagged one down and told them that, since they didn't need her help anymore, she was going ahead to Limsa Lominsa.

And with that, she teleported back home.

Thubyrgeim was, as Alice expected, saddened to hear K'lyhia wouldn't be returning, but was definitely happy for her.

"I am glad to know that she has finally freed herself to pursue her heart's desire. And you are to thank for awakening the foreseer to her self-imposed fetters," said Thubyrgeim, smiling proudly. "The brilliance of K'lyhia's strategies served to blind her to her own feelings, and it pained me to see her suffer so."

"Yeah… I'm glad I was able to help with this," said Alice. "I couldn't just abandon her at her lowest, and I'm glad I got over myself about her style before that point."

"Your example may even encourage K'lyhia to improve her combat abilities, although such will surely come in time - after all, she intends to study under the guildmaster's direct instruction. Imagine those two obsessive arcanists, and the complexity of the tactics they will develop..."

Thubyrgeim also asked for the satchel back, in order to pass Ealdgyth's costume back to her. But, finally, Thubyrgeim ended things with the gift of a new spell - or rather, an improvement to the basic Ruin that vastly improved its power and efficiency.

"Damn, I can see why you don't just give this version of the spell out to fresh trainees," said Alice. "Way too dangerous."

"Precisely, but you have more than earned the knowledge," said Thubyrgeim, proud of Alice's growth as well. "When you first arrived here, a mere handful of days ago, you were new to both the manipulation of aether and the application of strategy to the battlefield in real-time. But from what I have heard, you have improved a great deal in this time. Congratulations, Alice."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Alice, genuinely feeling warm and happy from the praise. "I really appreciate that. And, uhm, I hope you don't mind my application of non-arcanistry to my strategies as well…?"

"I believe I would be a poor mentor if I were to demand you keep shackled to a singular art, and forced you to narrow your approach to your own life and choices," said Thubyrgeim. "I would like to hear more of what you mean, however. I find myself curious."

Alice explained her recent dip into Astromancy, including the reasoning behind it, as well as her acquisition of her pair of powerful pistols.

"Intriguing," said Thubyrgeim. "Yes, Astromancy is quite a different discipline, but one that should pair well with Arcanistry, if you make the right preparations and practice their use together."

"I was also wondering about etching some arcane geometries onto a star globe for ease of use. Do you think that would work?"

Thubyrgeim considered the idea. "It would most likely need to be a specialised globe designed to handle both kinds of aether manipulation, but yes, I don't see why not."

Alice fist pumped. "Yes! That's excellent news. Well, thank you again for your assistance and tutelage. Let me know if anything comes up that you think might be in my wheelhouse."

Thubyrgeim considered the idea, Alice suddenly thankful she had accidentally ended up using a ship-related phrase in the port town. "I do, actually, have an intriguing request made of the guild recently… A task from the Sons of Saint Coinach, that specifically requires an arcanist that has faced and defeated the primal Ifrit. And yes, they did somehow ask for you by name."

Alice laughed. "So, an extremely specific requirement, huh? Even if they hadn't named me I would probably be the only candidate. Alright, what do I need to do?"

"Goodness, you seem quite eager to begin at once," Thubyrgeim said with a wry and unsurprised smile. "You will find your contact, a researcher by the name of Y'mhitra, at Apkallu falls within the city of Gridania."

"Alright. I don't have anything else to do today, yet, so I'll head over soon. Thanks for passing this one on."

Alice waved, and left the guild, Thubyrgeim waving her goodbye.

As she walked outside the guild, the doors closing behind her, Alice's stomach grumbled loudly. "Yep, alright, food first, then Gridania. With any luck, I won't run into A-Ruhn while I'm there."

Chapter Text

Upon arriving in Gridania proper, Alice felt her luck had clearly left her. She had caught an airship, now that she had a pass of her own, and on exiting the Carline Canopy, she bumped into the very man she had been trying to avoid - A-Ruhn-Senna, flanked by a pair of Wood Wailers.

"Oh, shit," she said, and tried to run back inside. The Wood Wailers knew a guilty person running when they saw it, and moved to intercept her. They may not have known why, exactly, but they did so regardless.

Alice turned back around to face A-Ruhn. "Can we… talk about this?"

He stared at her, although it was hard to tell through his top-of-the-nose-length fringe that completely hid his eyes. But she could tell. She had been stared at enough to know.

"What is there to discuss?" he said finally, and waved the Wood Wailers to stand down. "You have committed no crimes here."

Alice sighed in relief, and the Wood Wailers returned to stand by A-Ruhn's side once more.

"Alright," she said with a nod. "And for the record - I would appreciate you being kinder to Bea, BUT," she emphasised to make sure he didn't interject. "I admit I may have been rude about how I expressed this to you the other day."

He continued to stare at her. Eventually, he spoke. "You meant no harm, merely to defend the one you professed to love and had nearly seen pass on to the lifestream. I later had time to consider both your words and mine. I was being stubborn, and my words sounded like more of a direct insult to the person than I had intended. I apologise."

"…Well, thank you, Seedseer," she said respectfully.

"That being said, I will need to see if she lives up to being worthy of the White. As the spirit of A-Towa-Cant has already decided she is, it may indeed happen." He sighed. "Hopefully soon enough to matter. Now, I must be off."

He nodded to her, and he and his escort walked past her and into the Carline Canopy.

"Uh, goodbye!" she called after him. She then sighed in relief and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.

She didn't question her luck and simply hurried towards Apkallu falls, calling Bea as she did.

Hello, Alice," came the cheery reply. "Apologies, but I'm busy with my White Mage training at the moment. Can I call you again later?"

"Oh, actually, perfect timing, sorry, this is related to that and I wanted you to pass it on to Miss Raya-O as well," said Alice, then recounted what had just happened.

"Well, I think that's good news, indeed," said Bea. "Raya-O heard you, and seems to be quite happy with the outcome- oh, should I not have said that? My apologies."

Alice barked a short laugh. "Ah, tell her not to worry. And ideally she's not bothered by the ominous 'soon enough to matter' bit."

"Well, she does seem to be in a small rush to ensure my training finishes before it becomes too late to help calm the elementals. But she also seems confident we shall have enough time."

"Wonderful news," said Alice, her smile audible. "And all good timing for me, as it turns out my own Job Mentor is in Gridania, too."

"Goodness, that would have been quite awkward," Bea agreed. "Well, I must return to my lessons. Good luck with your own, Alice!"

"Thanks Bea," said Alice, blushing a little. She ended the call, and continued on through Gridania.

She arrived at Apkallu Falls, almost in the northernmost part of the city. She had been through this clearing with Alicia in the game several times before - there was a specialised cosmetic item vendor here, and additionally, a part of the Gunbreaker's introductory questline had taken her through here, where she had been forced into combat against assassins, with several of the nearby NPCs actually contributing to the defence of the Gunbreaker's client.

And Alice was fairly certain Y'mhitra had been one of those people. Judging by her name, she was the lone Miqo'te, the person that stood closest to the falls themselves.

So, she approached the woman with a wave, and a "hello, there!"

Y'mhitra had been leaning against a bollard, one of several marking the edge of the body of water the falls fed into, and was reading a book rather intently. At the greeting, her ears twitched, and she looked up at the approaching Alice. Her expression was briefly one of curiosity as she examined Alice's appearance in its entirety in just a few seconds. Once she had, her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"You are Alice, I assume? Well met, and thank you for coming. My name, as you have obviously surmised, is Y'mhitra."

"I thought so," Alice said with a nod. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

Y'mhitra flinched a little at the honorific. "Please, just call me Y'mhitra. I am a member of the Sons of Saint Coinach. Ours is a Sharlayan order that seeks the lost knowledge of the Allagan Empire."

"Yeah, I know you guys," said Alice. "Led by the Archon Rammbroes, and currently digging for stuff in More Donut- I mean, Mor Dhona, right?"

Y'mhitra tilted her head at the knowledge. "Ah, you know about us already? I am surprised, but mayhap that shall make things easier. In that case, do you know why we have requested your assistance?"

Alice thought about it. "The request mentioned something about fighting Ifrit, so it's… Oh! Right, Arcanist evolves into Scholar and Summoner, and I don’t think this has anything to do with the first one…" she mumbled, thinking aloud, then looked up at the woman. "So it's something to do with summoning Ifrit, I'm guessing?"

"Yes," Y'mhitra confirmed. "As an arcanist who has fought the primal, you meet a very unique condition. Let me explain from the beginning.

"We salvaged from the ruins a set of ancient texts describing the existence of a sect of Allagan mages known as 'summoners.' These were arcane practitioners said to have the ability to syphon the essences of the primals and manifest this stolen energy as a biddable ally known as an 'egi.' Should we succeed in resurrecting such arts, then we might well hold in our hands the power to bring this age of conflict to an end."

"Ah, I was always wondering how Summoner worked," Alice said with a nod. "I'd heard a little about the discipline before - I'm also interested in Allagan history, for reference - but I didn't really end up getting a chance to look into the details before now."

“That is excellent news," said Y'mhitra. "There is, however, as there always must be, one monumental obstacle to realising this reality. In order to manifest these obedient incarnations of the beastmen's savage deities, one must first defeat a primal and capture its aetheric essence."

"Capture its essence…? Please tell me I don't have to go and provoke them into a second summoning just to do that."

Y'mhitra looked surprised at the suggestion. "No, no, all you need to do is to have fought it at least once. Doing so mingles its aether with your own, though in a method unlike tempering. Thus, only one who can boast such a daunting achievement under her belt may even begin on the path to becoming a summoner. Do you understand now why I called upon you?"

"Ohhh, thank the gods for that one," Alice said with a relieved sigh. "Making that fucker eat sky rocks was hard enough the first time."

Y'mhitra wrinkled her nose at the choice of language but pressed on. "If you wish to contribute to my research, then come with me to the west of Byregot's Strike, in southern Thanalan. There shall we conduct a ritual of summoning: the Austerities of Flame."

"Sounds spicy," Alice replied with a grin. "I'll be there."

Alice did, in fact, dislike deserts. The Star Wars quote she had wielded against Thancred - twice - had partly been used out of a genuine dislike for the extreme heat and apparent infinity of sand grains that always seemed to get into your underclothes.

So when she had followed Y'mhitra to Byrgegot's Strike, not having recognised the name, her face had fallen when she eventually realised that it was within the giant Sagolii Desert, south of Ul'dah, that had proven an annoyance even in game, despite the lack of painful desert environment mechanics.

"Oh for… I hate sand…" she said, but it was without the heart that made the line funny to her, and she didn't feel like continuing the quote any further.

Y'mhitra turned to her and began a lecture. "According to the records we recovered, the summoners of old would perform these rites in a land in which the naturally dominant element matched the aspect of the avatar they wished to call forth. Only in such a place might one sufficiently shift one's aetheric balance in the desired direction."

She gestured as she spoke, emphasising her words with actions Alice mostly didn't understand. But she ended it by gesturing around them, very obviously indicating the desert as a whole. "And the element of fire is especially strong here in the Sagolii Desert ─ I can think of no land more fitting in which to summon an incarnation of the Lord of the Inferno."

"Yeah…" Alice sighed. "You're right, but… Well, let's get this over with so we can go somewhere less shite a bit faster."

They walked a little longer, and eventually came to a stop… Somewhere. Nothing but sand, monsters, and distant rocky hills were visible around them, wherever 'here' was.

"Before we begin, I must insist that you accept this gem," said Y'mhitra, reaching into a pouch to obtain something. She held it out for Alice. "It may appear of little worth-"

"Ah! That's a Soul Crystal!" Alice shouted excitedly, interrupting the Miqo'te woman. "Yesyesyes! I actually get to use one!"

Y'mhitra's expression was torn between being glad that Alice was on the same page, and being disappointed that Alice was acting like a child.

"Look," said Alice, taking the Soul Crystal. "I've spent the last few months of my life wanting to use one but having zero chance to do so. This is a big moment for me, let me have this."

Y'mhitra took a deep breath, and nodded. "Alright, as you wish. But now, you must focus. What we are attempting may not be as dangerous as a full primal summoning, but it still requires preparation and proper methodology."

"Urgh, yes, I figured as much," said Alice. "Have you got the geometries for this…?"

"Oh, no. We do not need any Arcane Geometries to do this part," said Y'mhitra. "That is what the location and focus are for."

"Alright."

Alice focused her mind on the aether of the Soul Crystal, feeling it flow through her with knowledge and techniques. She could feel it… Centuries of knowledge accumulated in a tiny, warm rock.

"Visualise the aether flowing through you, a vibrant current of energy transforming into living fire," Y'mhitra instructed. "Hold this image in your mind, and the raging heat of your life force shall spawn an egi wreathed in flames!"

Alice did so, and was invoking the appearance of the egi when Y'mhitra continued.

"Be aware, however, that this nascent entity will appear before you unbound and hostile. It is your charge to overpower the avatar, and establish yourself as its master. The path of the summoner is naught if not fraught with peril!"

Alice's eyes shot open and she turned to stare at the other woman. "What!?"

The egi, a tiny, crystalline-looking version of Ifrit, appeared. It had no legs, just a long tail, and floated in midair, but it bore the distinctive silhouette of the primal otherwise. Oh, and it gave off as much heat as the primal had.

"Fuck! Warnings first next time!" Alice shouted, as she summoned her carbuncle and drew her revolver.

The Ifrit-Egi threw a fireball at Alice, apparently focused entirely on the nascent Summoner. She deflected it with a Radiant Aegis, and put a .44 round into the little thing. Surprisingly, the bullet didn't melt before it impacted, as Alice feared it might, but it didn't do a huge amount to affect the creature regardless. But it did hurt and distract it, which she used to prepare her Aethercharge and throw a Ruin its way. But Alice was starting to notice an issue with this ritual: like with the Carbuncle back in Tam-Tara, attacks on this summoned familiar, hostile though it was, caused her an amount of pain, which was the only reason she was sure she was hurting it in turn.

Y'mhitra was quick to assist, casting Stone at the thing, followed by trying to use Aero to dull the egi's flames. They connected and did damage, although the egi didn't notice or care. It blasted a wave of heat at Alice, one that singed her and knocked her on her rear.

"Ow! Fuck, that stings!" She batted at the small flames that had stayed on her clothes, and felt the telltale warmth of a healing spell, courtesy of Y'mhitra. Alice aimed up with her revolver and fired at the egi once, twice, three times, as it got closer. It took a swipe at her with its tiny flaming claws, and she dived aside. She rolled, and felt her Aethercharge finish as she came up again, ready to fire. She paired her Emerald carbuncle's wind attacks with another bullet, followed by a pair of Emerald Ruins.

The damn thing was irritatingly hardy, and despite everything she threw at it, it was upon her again, blasting her with more superheated air and fire from close range, and then trying to swipe at her with its claws once more. She went down again, but came back up arms akimbo - the revolver and her grimoire outstretched. She fired the gun, it wasn't quite enough. She felt the air burning around her despite the already intense heat of the desert, and she slung her third and fourth Emerald Ruins at the creature. Still not enough, she aimed up again with the revolver-

*click*

"Out of ammo!?" She said, accidentally parroting The Evil Within protagonist Sebastian on pure, subconscious reflex. Unfortunately, she realised the fact herself, and began to laugh in the middle of her life and death struggle, as the mild absurdity of such a minor life-imitates-art moment was magnified by the emotions and stress running through her.

Ifrit-Egi swung again, striking her centre-mass. It ruptured her chest and organs, massively heating up her body from the inside. She screamed, hitting the bastard thing with her grimoire and her gun. The former had very little effect, and though it caught fire - forcing Alice to drop it - it didn't actually burn up, the sand quickly putting it out.

The gun, however, was sturdy enough to not only not warp in the searing heat, but it cracked the egi solidly on the head. Unbeknownst to the flailing, burning Alice, the creature was near its breaking point, and that defeated it. The small detonation knocked her fully on her back this time, and put out the flames that had once more caught on her clothing and hair.

She lay in the sand, drained completely, not wanting to move, and staring up at the blue sky. Everything hurt, and her torso was in so much pain she wouldn't have been surprised if she had been pulled apart. Her hand moved to her chest and - well, yep, it came away slick with blood. She wanted to say something about it, but her lungs weren’t working.

Oh. That's not ideal.

Y'mhitra was standing over her now, pouring as much of her healing energy into Alice as she could. She looked panicked but determined, and kept casting magic on Alice to keep her alive.

"Stay with me, alright? We can fix this."

"Potion…" Alice eventually said, her lungs mended enough to allow a raping whisper. "Satchel…"

Y'mhitra understood, and kept up the healing as she reached into the human's satchel to obtain one of Alice's healing potions. She looked unsure, as if it couldn't possibly also help, but she uncorked it and poured it over Alice's torso.

Alice, meanwhile, tried to get her mind together to focus on the little bit of Astromancy she knew. The potion had a bit of a painkiller effect, which was helping significantly, and so Alice was able to move her left hand - still on her torso - to form some Astromantic signs and began some healing work of her own.

Y'mhitra's eyes widened when she saw what Alice was doing, bit didn't relent with her own healing.

The two disciplines - conjuration and astromancy - went about healing in different ways, but they worked together to have the desired effect. Flesh was healed and unburned, and Alice's organs were healed and restored. She was, for sure, going to have a scar regardless of the healing magic, but she didn't mind, because she was going to live. Relief flowed through her, and once she saw Y'mhitra cease her healing magic and nod, she stopped her own magic, and began to laugh.

"I lived! I fucking lived!" She cried out to the sky, and laughed more. It hurt, but that was, in a way, good, because she was indeed alive. Although, she may never live down the fact that a tiny manifestation of Ifrit had gotten closer to killing her than the real one did.

Then again, that had been a manifestation made with her own will and aether, so maybe that was actually impressive? She was so caught in her own thinking that she hadn't realised that Y'mhitra was talking on her Linkpearl.

"Yes, the danger has passed, but just in case. Thank you."

She closed the connection and smiled down at Alice, then sat beside her.

"You did it! It was far more harrowing than I anticipated it would be from the ancient texts, but… You have bound the egi to your will. Any future manifestations of it will follow your orders without question."

"'Will', or 'should'?" asked Alice. "I'm going to take the win either way, but…"

"This is one thing the texts were crystal clear about," said Y'mhitra. "It will obey you, now. And any future primals you defeat should, in turn, be able to be utilised in a similar fashion."

Alice's eyes widened at the prospect. "Ravana-Egi? Susano-Egi?" She frowned as she realised something. "Wait, but I haven't heard anything of that before… Only the three…"

"What do you mean?" asked Y'mhitra.

"It's a long story," said Alice.

"We have time until Immortal Flames forces arrive to help us return to Ul'dah," she said. "Just in case. We both expended a lot of aether keeping you alive, I'd rather not push our luck."

"Why don't we just go to the… I forget what letter, the nearby tribe just a bit north-east of us?"

Y'mhitra grimaced at the idea. "Mayhap, but I… Well, now that help is on the way, let us wait before we move. But either way, we have time. What do you mean about the 'three', and just what do you truly know about the discipline of summoning?"

Alice sighed. She weighed up her options in terms of just how much to tell the Miqo'te, especially given she was now apparently Alice's job mentor. So she shrugged, and began a lengthy explanation of her experience with Summoner via what she had seen and heard from other players. All she knew for sure was the usage of Ifrit, Titan and Garuda, and that there was something to do with Bahamut and the Phoenix. Y'mhitra sat in silence, only reacting with facial expressions and quiet noises of acknowledgement.

"The most fundamental thing about all this, by the way," said Alice, "Was that it all was represented by a very specific system that had no room for real creativity or originality on the Summoner's part, but also was easy enough for anyone who used the system to get to where I am now."

"This system being the interactive storytelling system that told the tale of the Warrior of Light, and was operated with a device similar to Magitek, but a variant with no Ceruleum?" asked Y'mhitra. "Shtola was right, it sounds absolutely fantastical."

Alice was surprised, and maybe a little disappointed she didn’t get to tell Y’mhitra that part herself. "Oh... she told you already?"

"More that she knew that my work had a chance of bringing me in proximity to you, and thus forewarned me with some detail during one of our usual catch-ups. Nothing as extensive as your explanation, though."

"I do wonder, actually," said Alice. "There's a high chance the lack of any other primals - Ramuh, Leviathan, Ravana, what have you - is explained in some way, and it may genuinely not be possible. But it does make me wonder about Bahamut."

"Why is that?"

"Ifrit-Egi replaces the Ruby carbuncle. Titan and Garuda replace the Topaz and Emerald carbuncles respectively. But there's no fourth type aside from the little blue fella for Bahamut to replace…"

"Well, we may come across some information that sheds light upon such a subject."

"I'd also like to find out how to summon things that aren't primals," said Alice. "Just if it's possible."

Y'mhitra frowned as she considered the concept. "Again, mayhap we will come across information pertaining to such an idea, but I feel it unlikely."

"'You never know if you don't go,'" Alice quoted, although she had the decency to regret having done so.

"True enough, I suppose," Y'mhitra agreed. "Your home world, it truly has no aetheric manipulation?"

"Like Garlean purebloods, the lot of us pretty universally can't do anything with life energy. Maybe some people still can, maybe some people used to be able to, but the standard in my time period is a 'no.'"

"Well, your limited training has certainly been quite effective, then. Oh, I do believe I see some Immortal Flames soldiers on their way here."

She reached over, out of Alice's view, to get something, then Alice felt the familiar weight of her Grimoire in her hand. It was crispy and covered in sand, but it still felt like a book. Alice raised it above her head to check the pages, and somehow the contents were miraculously untouched. And then she dropped it on her face.

"Ow."

"Are you the two in need of assistance?" She heard a voice ask. She removed the grimoire from her face and looked at the new arrivals.

A Roegadyn man, a Flame Captain, according to his uniform, led a squad of three - a Lalafell Lieutenant, and a pair of Hyur, one a Sergeant, and one a Private.

"Hiiiiii," Alice said in sing-song greeting. She was more than a little bit tired, and she sounded like it. "I almost died, that was fun."

"Yes, the Sagolii desert is no place for the unprepared," said the captain. "Although your injuries seem… Unusual."

"Oh it wasn't the desert's fault," said Alice. "I'm learning an Allagan anti-primal magic, and that involved a tiny version of Ifrit stabbing me in the chest!"

Several sets of eyes widened in response.

"It's a dangerous art to learn, but one that ultimately proved effective during the reign of the Allagan Empire," said Y'mhitra. "Allowing those who have survived primals to put their experiences to use combating primals, and any other threats."

"I see…" replied the captain. That seemed to resonate with the soldiers in some way - part interest, part sorrow, but very much not something they wanted to think about.

"I don't want to stop lying down," said Alice. "Sand surprisingly comfy."

"You need to get up so we can return to Ul'dah," said Y'mhitra, then paused. "Can you get up?"

Alice sat up with a bit of effort. She looked down at her chest - her clothes were damaged and covered in dried, burnt blood.

"Huh. Fuck, now I need new clothes."

"Ye look like ye need new blood inside ye," the Lalafell Lieutenant said, inspecting the damage with a trained eye.

"New blood, researched," Alice muttered.

The Lieutenant ignored her. "But yer healed up nicely. Ye did this?"

"We both did," said Y'mhitra. "And we are now quite low on aether as a result."

"Yeah, captain, they'll live just fine, but we'd better get them safe," said the Lieutenant.

"Alright," said the captain, helping Alice to her feet. One of the two Hyur, the Private, supported her over his shoulders, and they all began to walk north-east. Towards the location Alice knew as Forgotten Springs, the home of the U tribe.

Chapter Text

Y'mhitra didn't look wholly comfortable as the squad of Immortal Flames soldiers escorted her and Alice to Forgotten Springs in the early evening. The Captain, who introduced himself along the way as Dancing Wolf, explained. "It's just because it's the closest settlement, and we can ensure we'll make the rest of the journey just fine. Water, especially, is important to refill."

"I'm a big fan of water," said Alice. "Much better than fire. Especially right now."

"Pardon me for asking," said the Private, a man named Crispin. "But you said you were stabbed by 'a tiny version of Ifrit'?"

"Okay, here's a very important preface - I'm a Scion with the Echo, and partly responsible for killing the last Ifrit summon that happened the other day," Alice explained. "I know I probably look extremely unimpressive right now, and you can, like, verify this with other people, but…"

"Oh, no I heard o' ye," the Lalafell, named Jajasumu, said with a nod. "I thought ye looked familiar."

"Oh, neat," said Alice, smiling drunkenly. "Anyway, basically the art involves using the aether of primals you've fought as little familiars without doing a whole primal summoning."

"That still sounds quite dangerous," Dancing Wolf noted. "Especially if one of these familiars was what attacked you."

"The Austerities of Flame ritual involves summoning the familiar, called an egi," Y'mhitra explained, "and binding it to your will by defeating it in combat."

"I had an easier time against the actual Ifrit," Alice complained. "I was in danger the entire time but still didn't come anywhere near as close to death!"

"Aye, ye got lucky, then," said Jajasumu. "Most times, people usually get killed. Or tempered."

They arrived at the settlement, no more than a few buildings next to an oasis, surrounded by rock cliffs on one side and a fence on the other. There was no shortage of Miqo'te there, given the settlement was the U tribe's home. There were guards posted at the main gateway, and they noticed the arrivals.

Because four of them wore the uniform of the Immortal Flames, they didn't challenge the group's approach, merely watching them warily. Upon getting close, Dancing Wolf talked with the guards and explained an abridged version of the situation, which allowed the group entry.

Alice giggled and waved at one of the guards, a very attractive Miqo’te woman who completely ignored her.

"Aw," said Alice, and giggled some more. "Oh well."

The Sergeant, a Hyur woman named Denise, got the group some water - a little to have right now, and a little for the journey itself. Jajasumu was sent to talk to the tribe's leader, so Wolf and Crispin kept a watch over the two mages. Alice reloaded her weapon, and checked over her now crispy but still usable grimoire.

"You know," Alice said suddenly, as Denise returned with water. "If I remember right, the tribe leader was a member of the Company of Heroes, right?"

Wolf tilted his head, and subconsciously looked towards the Nunh's home. "Well, that may be the case. Many did go on to other ventures once the company disbanded."

"Isn't Jajasumu also-" Crispin began, but Denise elbowed him to shut him up.

"Oh, neat," said Alice, having caught the implication. "Didn't know that. I get why you rely on his thoughts then, Captain Wolf."

"...Well, he does have very good instincts regardless," said Dancing Wolf. "Once he returns, we should head out to Ul'dah."

"Yes, even if I wanted to teleport anywhere right now, I don't think I could," said Y'mhitra.

Alice furrowed her brow. "Wait, how did I forget about teleport?"

"I wouldn't, in your state," Dancing Wolf quickly advised. "Very likely to go wrong somehow."

"Teleport Mishap Table real?" asked Alice, then giggled. "Alright, fair enough. Don’t want to roll the scatter dice badly right now."

"Things are good, Captain," said Jajasumu as he approached. "Since it's gettin' dark, the Nunh is generously loanin’ us a pair of hunters to help us on our way."

He was flanked by a pair of Miqo'te, both female, both lithe and muscled, and both looking ready to kill something at a moment's notice, which was a little unnerving.

"Aye, the help is appreciated," said Dancing Wolf. "Let's head out."

They got to their feet, Alice a little unsteady at first but doing fine after a few seconds, and they headed out.

Once they neared Little Ala Mhigo, it started to rain lightly. Not enough to indicate any impending storm, so nothing to worry about. It did give Alice's addled mind cause to start singing, though.

"For whom weeps the storm… Her tears on their skin…"

They all looked at her, but didn't ask her to stop. She had practiced this song over the last two months and so it sounded pleasant, despite not being close to perfect.

"The days of our years gone… Our souls soaked in sin… These memories ache with the weight of tomorrow…"

Alice took in a breath, and time seemed to become… odd for the party.

"Who fights…? Who flies…? Who falls…?"

The group as a whole noted they were now being watched. Amalj'aa, a lot of Amalj'aa, all looking ready for a fight, coming out of the darkness. Alice didn't notice, but the whole party could now hear the music she heard in her head, the Shadowbringers theme. As the guitar kicked in, the Amalj'aa charged them, and Alice drew her pistols.

"One brings shadow, one brings light!" She continued in a shout, loudly blasting an Amalj'aa pugilist in the face with the .50. "Two-toned echoes tumbling through time!"

She continued singing and fired again with both pistols this time, a pair of shots into the chest of a lancer going after Y'mhitra. The large, lizard-like beastman was thrown back from the impact, and lay unmoving.

Alice fired again, subconsciously charging her rounds with aether. Despite not having the supposedly required ammunition, nor the revolver having the means to do so, she was still charging the rounds regardless. The Ironworks .50 with dark aether, and the revolver's with light. "One brings shadow, one brings light! One dark future no one survives! On their shadows, away we fly!"

She killed another Amalj'aa with the Ironworks Special, and then one more with the revolver.

"How is she doing that?" Wolf asked Y'mhitra, as they fought the apparent horde of Amalj'aa coming at them. The rest of the team wouldn't necessarily have been in trouble, if not for the sheer numbers of beastmen still approaching.

Alice kept singing as she took out the brunt of the beastmen. "At this, the world's end, do we cast off tomorrow!"

"I've no idea!" The Miqo'te admitted. "I met her only today!"

Alice hadn't realised that she had run out of physical ammunition, but in her heightened state of focus on what was happening, she was now firing pure aspected aether out of the two weapons, singing the song all the while. As things intensified, the others found themselves on the verge singing along, despite not having a clue how they knew the words.

A pair of much larger Amalj'aa made for Alice - one a pugilist, one a lancer, and both much more resistant to her shots. So she kept firing, over and over and over, and the lancer dropped dead once it had gotten in reach. The pugilist, however, made it to her alive, but when it attempted to strike her, it was intercepted by Ifrit-Egi.

"What…!?" The pugilist managed to say, before the egi consumed him in fire.

The appearance of a shard of their primal enraged the Amalj'aa, who zealously ignored the remainder of the party to try and kill Alice. She was still singing, still firing, and now supported by the egi.

"What's goin' on!?" Jajasumu cried out. "What in the hells is goin' on!?"

The Amalj'aa horde was finally petering out - but some of the largest and strongest remained alive.

"Authors of our fates!" Alice sang, putting about two rounds into the chest of a mage. "Orchestrate our fall from grace!"

"Die, unbelieving scum!" An Amalj'aa tried to spear Alice through the back, but Dancing Wolf stepped in to deflect it on his shield. He used the opening to cut through the beastman's hand and spear, then stabbed through its chest into its heart.

"A reflection in the glass! Recollections of our past!" Alice ducked under a pair of lances trying to skewer her from either side, and fired at both wielders, guns pointed at one each. "Swift as darkness, cold as ash! Far beyond this dream of paradise lost!"

Everyone present, including the now frightened, angered Amalj'aa, could hear the next part of the song in their head.

Home…
Riding home…

"Captain, somethin's seriously wrong here!" said Jajasumu, using the distracted opening to take out another Amalj'aa. There were only seven left.

Dying hope...
Hold onto hope... Ohhh...

Only seven!? Jajasumu realised with a start. How many did we start with!?

Home...
Riding home...

"I'm aware!" Dancing Wolf responded. "But it's not tempering… What is happening?"

Home, riding home...
Hope, finding hope... Ohhh…

Y'mhitra's trained eyes could see a massive aetheric fluctuation around Alice. The woman was subconsciously wielding all the spare aether around her, including stealing it from the Amalj'aa, as well as a reserve that the Miqo'te hadn't realised the woman had. It all seemed very… Accidental, for want of a better word.

"One brings shadow, one brings light! You are the light!"

"Well, let's not waste this chance," said Y'mhitra. She had been left without a need to heal anyone, and so had been doing her best to help whittle down the number of Amalj'aa around them, a number now down to five.

The music hit an instrumental section, and Alice lit up, literally glowing with aether, as she danced. There was no better word for it - surrounded by five Amalj'aa, all of whom were quite deadly foes, with a resilience and speed that prevented them from going down as quickly as their comrades, she danced past their lethal blows and put aetheric bullets into them. Alice ducked and weaved around attacks as if she could predict them all with ease, and knew exactly where they would be landing at any given moment…

It took some time, and some assistance from the rest of the party, but they slowly whittled down the powerful Amalj'aa leaders, some of whom Wolf realised he recognised from wanted hunt marks. Somehow, like a strange beacon, they had called almost all of the most dangerous local Amalj'aa to them and were defeating them all.

How is she doing this? He was concerned, but didn't want to question it too hard now that it was proving of strange benefit to Ul'dah.

Four left. But the music had more to go.

We fall…
We fall…

Another Amalj'aa felled.

We fall…
We fall unto the end…

Another down.

One world's end… (The end!)
Our world's end… (The end!)

The second-last down. One hulking beastman to go.

Our end…
"We won't end!" Alice shouted, putting two bullets infused with not just light and shadow, but the fire aether that composed the Ifrit-Egi, dematerialising the creature and putting a giant hole in the chest of the final beastman.

LIMIT BREAK: LIGHT AND SHADOW

"I am shadow, I am the light…" Alice sang, then collapsed, darkness overtaking her vision.

Nero tol Scaeva watched from afar, baffled by the sheer impossibility of what he had just witnessed, while the party of Immortal Flames soldiers and the conjurer brought the unconscious woman inside the settlement known as Little Ala Mhigo.

He was an intelligent man, genuinely a prodigious talent at invention and the sciences, and even to some degree in aetherology despite his Garlen pureblood birth causing him to be incapable of aetheric manipulation. His narcissistic exterior of supreme confidence did something to make his opponents underestimate him - but he really was as good as he claimed, as they always found out in the end.

And yet, even taking the savages’ apparent gods and other nonsense into account, he had no reasonable explanation for a woman who didn't exist in Eorzea until a few days ago, somehow knew things she absolutely shouldn't, and had the power to kill primals. By the Emperor, if what Nero saw - and heard, for he had also been able to hear the music even at this distance - was any indication, she had the power to use primals, and even be a primal. It was dumbfounding, and though he was loath to admit it, it even caused him to fear her a little. Perhaps more…

But what was courage if not acting despite one's fears? So he resolved to learn everything he could about their foe. Although he was being careful to ensure he looked in on the adventurer, too, the one referred to as the Warrior of Light. But the Witch was… Well, he and the others of Gaius' inner circle had started calling her the Witch of Eorzea for a reason, much to Livia's chagrin. The Witch of Dalmasca was never one for sharing anything.

And then there was that little matter of Cid bloody Garlond… The Witch had found him, amnesiac in some backwater church, and restored his memories and inventive spirit. Although his care to remain in a major city had prevented the tribunus from doing a more detailed analysis than that.

His Magitek Linkpearl crackled. "Nero, report." It was the voice of Livia, of course.

"Yes, Livia, hello. Investigation is ongoing, but…" Nero filled Livia in on what had just occurred.

Silence filled the link for some time afterwards, and he frowned. He had built the communication system himself, and it shouldn't have been cut off, at least not without good reason or an audible indicator.

"Livia? Are you-"

"What do you mean she overpowered so many beastmen by herself!?" came the loud reply. Nero sighed, and was thankful he had ensured the magitek device had a built in volume limiter, else his fellow tribunus might have caused him permanent hearing damage long ago.

"I mean that she simply ran rampant, remotely consuming their aether to destroy them," he said. "It is, frankly, an absurd prospect that one could do such a thing, but it did seem to render her unconscious immediately afterwards as a result."

"And you heard music?"

"Yes, I heard music. She was singing, and whatever song it was, she somehow projected it into the minds of her comrades, her opponents, and me."

"Nero, you had best not be embellishing this…"

"And why would I even need to do such a thing?" He sighed again. "Honestly, Livia, sometimes you forget yourself. Need I remind you that I am Gaius' second? You can have him in private all you wish, I only ask you not question the veracity of my reports."

He heard her grumble an acknowledgement. "Yes, Tribunus."

"Good. Now, how goes the watch over the other one? The 'Warrior of Light'?"

Alice's dream was strange, but for a different reason than last time. She dreamed she was Yukine Chris of Symphogear, fighting hordes of Noise, the extradimensional eldritch horror creatures from the series that killed with a single touch.

But as the dream progressed, the setting changed from Japan to Eorzea, and the Noise to beastmen, then voidsent, and then she was in… the purple-leaved trees, it had to be Lakeland, Norvrandt? And she fought Sin Eaters, the horrid creatures formed of an over-abundance of Light corrupting living beings. All the while she, as Chris, kept singing and fighting, firing bullets, rockets, giant missiles, arrows… Ichaival was a frankly ridiculous Symphogear, a bottomless ammunition container of all forms of physical ranged attack known to man. But it also felt familiar.

And at the end of the dream, it looped back and became a memory - of what Alice had been doing before she collapsed. And then, she woke up. Her body ached, her head throbbed, and her heart was already beating a little too fast.

"Ow… My head…" she moaned as she awoke. It was night time, and she was in… A cave? A cave full of tents? Wait, yeah, this was Little Ala Mhigo. But gods, it smelled worse than she remembered…

Oh, right. She had never truly been here, and so she had never actually smelled it before. The smell caused her to wrinkle her nose and close her eyes. She opened her eyes again, and found Y'mhitra hovering over her once more.

"Deja Vú…" said Alice. "So… what happened?"

Y'mhitra looked unsure about her response, and looked over at someone, before nodding and explaining.

"We were ambushed by just about every Amalj'aa in the region, and you almost single-handedly took them down. I've never seen anything like it, but your egi assisted you in the fight."

"Oh, okay, that's… Hrm." Alice hadn't been sure if the memory at the back end of her dream had been real, but she supposed it must have been. She sat up, and found that the aches had already left her. Only for them to quickly come back at double strength. But she did her best to simply endure them.

"What I wouldn't give for about a dozen panadol right now…" Alice said with a sigh. "Uhm, how long ago was that?"

"About a bell," Y'mhitra replied. "You can't already feel recuperated."

"Well, I don't, but we both have places to be, people to see, and all that," she turned and caught sight of the Immortal Flames squad from before. "And I've for sure imposed upon these fine people for long enough already."

She was aware of the strange looks she was receiving from the soldiers and a few of the locals. But she recognised two among the Ala Mhigans.

"Oh, I should go talk to Gundobald, huh?"

She got up, despite her body's protests, and limped over to the older man. He noticed, but seemed determined to not make eye contact until she was within arm's reach.

"Hello there. Can I help you?" His voice was pleasant, actually. In the game he had no voice actor, leaving it entirely in the mind of the player, but his actual voice was deep and rich, doing wonders with his Ala Mhigan accent, like that of northern England.

"Hello, you're Gundobald, correct? It's lovely to meet you."

He nodded. "Aye, that's me. And you're the woman who caused a stir by fighting a whole lot of Amalj'aa just outside."

"Apparently I did," she said with a smile. "I was a little under the weather, so I only half remember it, you see. Apologies for the fright, and any strange occurrences as a result."

He shook his head. "I can't say I'm wholly thankful you got rid of so many beastmen, if only because it might attract more. But the way you unsettled the entire camp with that music…"

Alice winced. "Ah, that part was also real, then. I apologise, because that was not something I did on purpose, if it helps."

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you could never do it again," he said. "Now, was that all?"

"No, actually," said Alice. "Alicia Kharlu, the woman who came here yesterday. She's a comrade of mine, and I just want you to know that we Scions of the Seventh Dawn intend to support Ala Mhigo in a more substantial way in the near future."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well… Once we defeat the 14th Legion here, and gain the support of Ishgard, it'll be possible for the Alliance to actually retake Ala Mhigo."

He scoffed. "So it's dependent on the Alliance and Ishgard? When you try to give someone false hope, at least make it sound realistic."

"Well, it's not false hope," she said. "And I know it sounds far-fetched and far away, but I'm sure as shit going to make sure it happens. Because Garlemald needs taking down, and your people deserve your country back."

"It's not like we need any convincing of that," he said.

"Yes, I know, preaching to the converted and all that." She nodded and sighed. "Look… I just have one request until then, and it's going to sound mysterious as hell, and I apologise, but it's not possible for me to be any more specific."

He grunted a go-head.

"If a masked man calling himself the Griffin shows up to recruit people, don't let him. Please. It'll end up resulting in a lot of death."

"Uh-huh," he said, not wholly convinced.

"Please," she said, lowering her voice. "So many Ala Mhigans who just want to go home will get sacrificed by a madman who doesn't care who he kills, as long as he gets to spit in Garlemald's eye."

He saw her worried honesty, and he couldn't help but be moved a little. His recent experience with Alicia, which taught him he no longer needed to immediately distrust outsiders, was helping.

He nodded. "Alright. I'll keep an ear out."

"Thank you," she replied with a sigh of relief and a smile. "Now, I need to just… Go and do a whole lot of things, so you have a good night. And I hope Wilred and his friends are doing well."

He nodded. "You have a good night."

Alice returned to the waiting Y'mhitra and Flames soldiers. "Hi, I'm good to go. Shall we?"

The soldiers looked at each other for a few seconds, and Alice rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'll gladly just make the journey alone if I have to. I got shit to do."

"You don't need to tell us that," Dancing Wolf replied, his nose wrinkling.

"No, not literally shit- Urgh, forget it. let's skedaddle."

Alice turned towards the westernmost gate of the refugee camp and walked towards it, not waiting to see if the others were following. It opened ahead of her, and she walked out. The others did eventually follow her, but for once she didn't try to strike up any further conversation. What was the point, if she had just made them fear her by saving their lives?

Chapter Text

Once the group hit Ul'dah, Alice immediately made her way towards the elevator in the Ruby Road Exchange, the one that took her to the airship landing, and didn't bother saying goodbye to the probably-still-fearful soldiers. She hadn't noticed, stuck in her own head as she was, that they had gotten a hold of themselves, and were now staring at her with visible regret for their earlier behaviour. Yes, she had done something crazy and scared the daylights out of them, but she did save them all from a horde…

When Alice left the group, Y'mhitra waited with the others to talk. "It's alright, I can pass on a message when she's calmed down. At worst, my sister is a fairly frequent comrade of hers, so…"

Dancing Wolf sighed. "Thank you, Y'mhitra. We've… Recently had an incident relating to a previous summoning of Ifrit that…" he shook his head.

"Captain means that Ifrit's currently a bit of bad news for us personally, and so we're on the lookout for any queer behaviour relatin' to its summoning," Jajasumu explained. "So your activities today just happened at the wrong time, is all."

"We appreciate what you've done to help us this evening," said Dancing Wolf. "Please do pass that on."

Y'mhitra nodded. "I will."

Despite Alice having gone well ahead of everyone, she still ended up waiting for both the airship to Gridania or the one to Limsa Lominsa, giving Y'mhitra time to catch up. They stood in front of the airship gate, waiting to be allowed in.

"Alice…" the Miqo'te ventured. "The Immortal Flames soldiers wanted me to pass on an apology."

Alice looked sidelong at her, but said nothing. Y'mhitra took that as a cue to continue and passed on the message and apology, and Alice grunted as a reply.

"Well, in any case, you proved that the Summoner's art has merit," said Y'mhitra. "Your Ifrit-egi assisted you in combat quite effectively."

"So if I fight Titan and get that egi I'll be in a good spot," Alice said quietly. "Let alone Garuda…"

"Precisely, although I'd hate to imagine a need to fight either foe. What I hear of both primals tells me they're not to be trifled with."

"Easy enough," said Alice. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

"Well, I'd ask you to not be overconfident," said Y'mhitra. "But I did watch you defeat a substantial number of Amalj'aa warriors. In any case, come and see me if you do get a chance to fight another primal, or rather, when you survive doing so."

"Vote of confidence noted," said Alice. "We going to Griddy?"

"To…?"

"Gridania."

"Ah. Yes, I make my home there, and need to return for the night."

"I've got a Garlean to interrogate," said Alice. "Some motherfucker on their side has started calling me the Witch of Eorzea and I'm gonna find out who."

Her language caught the ear of other waiting airship patrons, and caused some to move a bit further away from her.

"Uh-huh," said Alice, noting those movements. "Plus other, more useful stuff like their plans and whatnot, but I'm pretty sure I already know those."

"Well, the life of a Scion is busy indeed," said Y'mhitra. "I can't say I envy you that. Less time for Allagan study."

"I'm still a fan of Allagan civilization, but a while ago another, older civilization caught my eye and…" Alice let herself trail off, realising she didn't want to get Y'mhitra caught up in things, and earn an early, Ascian-inflicted demise. "Well, anyway, maybe I can tell you someday."

Alice pulled her phone out of her pouch, and it caught Y'mhitra's eye.

"Is that a tomestone?"

"A…" Alice frowned. "No, why?"

"That looks an awful lot like one… Where did you obtain this item?"

"Uh, from my home country…" Alice went over in her head the images of tomestones she had seen in the game. And then she remembered a cutscene from early Shadowbringers, and a set of devices she had seen on sale in the Musica Universalis.

Oh… The devices in the Crystarium weren't smartphones, they were tomestones… How am I this slow?

"Your home country… How does it have tomestones?"

"It doesn't, tomestones are just very similar to smartphones and tablets it turns out…" said Alice, sighing heavily. "Data storage and display, but also with a decently powerful computational capacity, and the ability to call like a Linkpearl."

"Well, I'm certainly interested to hear more," said Y'mhitra, as the airship to Gridania pulled into the dock. "Tell me during the flight."

Alice shrugged, and figured she needed to spend the time somehow. "Sure, why not."

The conversation was very good for eating up the time it took to fly to Gridania. Y'mhitra's Allagan knowledge had been rather fun to listen to, and provided Alice with a few insights she hadn't known, even from the Crystal Tower raids. Including some more information about the prodigious scientist Amon, the man responsible for cloning Emperor Xande. He had been quite disenfranchised with the state of the Empire, it seemed, and had tried and mastered quite a lot of different Allagan sciences before finally cloning the first Emperor, and locking himself and the clone in the Crystal Tower before it sank into the ground during the Calamity.

"What a guy," said Alice. "Still a bastard for all that."

In exchange, Alice had given Y'mhitra a bit of a technical rundown of some of her phone's features, giving examples of the surprising power contained in the device that made it both better and worse than Allagan technology.

All up, Alice was a lot less frustrated than she had been by the end of the ride, which she was silently thankful for.

At the end of the line, they bade farewell, Y'mhitra going towards her home while Alice headed to the Adder's Nest, the headquarters of Gridania's Grand Company, the Twin Adders. Despite it being well into night time, she was allowed in to talk to the Decurion. She made a request that there be someone to take notes or record things that were said, a request that was granted.

She waited a few minutes for the Garlean to be brought to an interrogation room, and sat down opposite him, rotating the chair and straddling it just as she had done when talking to Y'shtola. The man was a lot less imposing without his armour, but he did end up being a pureblood Garlean, surprisingly. When she put thought into it, she could have sworn the one in game had been a Roegadyn…

He remained manacled, and a pair of Adder soldiers were in the room with them as guards. She didn't see anyone taking notes, and just hoped they were doing so magically, or something.

"Good evening," she said.

He merely stared at her. This gave Alice her first good look at a Garlean's third eye. It was a pale shell, looking more like a growth made of fingernail keratin than an eyeball. But something about it, maybe in the man's manner, Alice wasn't sure, made it obvious that it was still a sensory organ, and that it was taking in spatial information in the same way functional ears simply took in sound without normally needing any active guidance.

Huh, so that's what they look like, she thought. Aloud, she said, "I assume you can't say more than name and rank or something? Or you just hate me enough for being a savage to not want to talk."

"No, I hate you for being a savage and a Witch," he replied. He said it with malice, of course, but also as if both descriptors were objective fact.

"Right, about that… The Witch?" asked Alice. "Where has that come from? Gaius or Lahabrea?"

His face twitched in irritation at her extreme informality, but he said nothing.

"No? Not even going to tell me if it was Mr Elevator Speech or the Ascian?" Alice sighed. "It's crazy, actually. How ready your people are to just fuck over everyone else. All based on the idea that you once controlled a bit of land you now have, but that wasn't enough, no, your imperialism hard-on wasn't sated until you shoved it down the throats of as much of the rest of the world as possible. 'Oooh, look at me, I'm so superior because I learned how to make a robot walk and have decided that makes everyone else less than me.' That's what you sound like. You, Gaius, Nero, Regula, Zenos, Varis, Nerva, and of course, lord high cockbite Solus-"

"Be quiet!" The Decurion roared. The man had been slowly getting more and more irritated as she dishonoured his entire Empire. That had been her plan, because irritated men tended to say more without meaning to. He had spat in her face with his shout, and she slowly wiped it off and smiled. His face was red, partly from rage, partly the shame of his outburst.

"You know," said Alice. "Fun facts for ya, buddy. Number one: Gaius can't win here in Eorzea, it's literally not possible for him. Especially because, as Ascians love to do, Lahabrea is going to screw your people over. Two: Zenos yae Galvus is bored out of his fucking mind, and it'll take a near death experience at the hands of the Warrior of Light, the champion of Eorzea of all people, for him to feel anything. Three, and here's the big one, my guy, are you ready?"

She leaned in, and stage-whispered to him. "I don't actually hate Garlemald, you know. I don't want you to take over the world, of course, that's a big no, but your people are capable of so much without needing to 'veni, vidi, vici,' as they say."

Her use of Latin, or Garlean she supposed, surprised him.

"So how's about a little quid pro quo, hm? You help me and I'll do my best to do what I can to prevent things from getting real worse for the 14th as a whole."

"Your offer in exchange isn't particularly helpful, nor concrete," he replied. "'Doing your best' isn't something definitive. You can simply go back on helping us in any way and state you 'did your best' when in fact you have done nothing."

Alice nodded. "Alright, true, that's a possibility. Let's go about this a little differently then. What's your name?"

He was silent. At least he appeared contemplative rather than simply hateful, which Alice took as a win.

"Oh come on, I don't have power over names or anything like that," she said. "I'm Alice Demasi."

He was still silent. She shrugged, so she tried a different tack.

"You know, I actually have a degree of respect for Gaius van Baelsar," she said, carefully doing her best to not mispronounce or insult his name this time. "After all, he abhors dishonourable methods of warfare like Project Meteor, and, well… You know the other, I assume."

He seemed like he might actually know what she was talking about, but wasn't going to give up the name himself.

"I mean, when I heard that van Baelsar shut down Black Rose, I tell you, that did wonders for my respect for the man."

The Decurion's eyes widened at the name, surprised that she genuinely did know what she was talking about.

"Yeah, you did know it, I thought so." She looked at the two guards stationed in the room. "Do you two know what Black Rose is? Serious question."

They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No," replied one of them, a male Miqo'te lancer. "I can't say I have."

"Not surprised. Gaius shut it down, like I said," she nodded. "Make a note of this: Black Rose was a chemical weapon that one of the 14th's scientists came up with, but it was so abhorrent that, well… It basically erases your soul, if I recall correctly."

The two Adder soldiers looked aghast at the idea.

"It forces one's aether to a standstill," the Decurion corrected, and his expression was… Alice couldn't entirely tell, but he knew that fact for a reason, that much was obvious to her. Outwardly, she raised an eyebrow at the man volunteering information.

"You know enough already that I see no issue in correcting this fact," he continued. "It does, still, instantaneously cause death on an unimaginable scale, and that is where Lord van Baelsar took issue with it. But how do you know of this?"

"Ah, well… I suppose there's a good reason your guys have been calling me a Witch, then," Alice said. She grinned. "I know a little too much about the future sometimes. Did you know that Solus zos Galvus is going to die at 88 with no heir, and after a war of succession, Varis will be named the new Emperor? Sic semper tyrannis, I suppose."

The Decurion looked unamused, clearly thinking Alice was joking. Given the jab at the end - which he probably didn’t know the rest of the quote it was part of - she reasoned it definitely felt that way.

"Okay, jokes aside, now I'm curious as to how a Decurion has that level of info," said Alice. "Yes, I expected you to have heard of it either way, but you seem… Familiar with the stuff."

He hesitated. "I was… Involved with the testing process."

Alice's expression became more neutral. "You were near Bittermill when it went off, then."

"I was part of the unit that led prisoners to the test site," he said. He stared down at the table. "And I was horrified that such a fate could befall any person, even a savage. That was not… Not what a war should be."

Alice nodded slowly, taking it in, and trying to quash her imagination. She took a deep breath, and began a diatribe. "I've got a couple of points to all this. One: Gaius, like the lot of you, is incredibly misguided right now. Yes, your people were forced out of Locus Amoenus a long time ago and that's bad, but Solus directing you all to… What was the line? 'Go forth, conquer, rule', and that's bad. Once you completed your originally understandable goal of going back to your homeland, and then decided to conquer everyone else? That's when your people took things too far."

"You have no idea how it felt-"

"Correct, and neither do you," she said. "You're too young to have felt that pain. You were just raised in a society that's taught you a secondhand version of it in order to weaponise your people's trauma against those not responsible."

The man was dumbfounded.

"And so, you all need to be taught that doing Imperialism is bad for everyone, yourselves included. That doesn't mean wiping your people off the map or any such genocidal nonsense, but it does mean kicking y'all out of your occupied territories, like Doma and Ala Mhigo."

"We conquered those, and have earned our rulership over them-"

"Incorrect," Alice cut him off. "They deserve to be free, just like how Garlemald itself doesn’t deserve to be conquered and taken over. My second point: Ascians. You know how Lahabrea currently hangs out with Gaius? Well, that's gonna go poorly for everyone. Or at least the 14th legion, since I'm perfectly confident in my own ability to kick Ascians in the rear."

The Decurion decided not to interject this time.

"Ascians are the ones teaching people how to summon primals. You know, that thing you are apparently conquering in order to prevent? An Imperial Peace will just result in not only resistance from the conquered people, but also from the Beastmen Tribes, who will counter, as the Ascians intend, by summoning more."

"It seems you don't know our plan after all, then," he said. "And I'll gladly keep it that way."

"Wow, gee, I wonder if you want the primals to be summoned so Gaius can eat them with the Ultima Weapon, hrm, guess I'll never know for certain." She shrugged, a comically exaggerated gesture to go along with her sarcastic tone of voice.

The man's surprise was once again plain. And then his face turned concerned and confused. "Why tell me that you know these things? You clearly don't know the first thing about warfare if you're going to divulge secrets to the enemy."

She sniffed. "Well, I could make some off-colour joke about murdering you to prevent the secrets being passed on, or I could be honest and say it's mostly hubris. When all is said and done, when Gaius van Baelsar lies defeated - but not dead - I want you all to know that I saw it coming, because I know how these things go, and because I know what a better way looks like."

"As you said, I'm just a Decurion. Not a Centurion, not a Tribunus. And you killed my men. Why bother?"

"They were dead by the time I arrived, if you'll recall. And when you don't have to kill to survive, don't kill," said Alice. "Ideally I could find a way to end this stupid war without any more deaths - aside from a few Ascians - but since that's unreasonable, all I can do is just… Try to change the minds of those that are left alive at the end. Not magic, just pure beliefs and words."

"And if that's not the most naive thing I've ever heard," he said. "Then I don't know what is."

"Anyway," said Alice. "This was never an interrogation, aside from wanting to figure out who started the trend of calling me the Witch. But seeing your reactions to my provocations and knowledge has been fun. I can't wait to tell Gaius himself how wrong he is."

"Lord Gaius van Baelsar is a powerful man," the Decurion said confidently. "And our armies are far stronger than yours. You cannot beat us with your words and beliefs alone."

"Think, Decky, think," she said, tapping the side of her head with her index finger. "We can still beat you, without resorting to trickery or Project-Meteor-level bullshit. And when we do, you and your buddies had better start heeding my advice, Capiche? As the child of two dead empires, I know what I'm talking about."

She made to leave, but he spoke up. He didn't look wholly comfortable doing so, but also seemed like he simply had to say something. "Decurion Citro pyr Cinna. And for the record, it was Lord Gaius who first used the title."

"Well thank you, Citro, nice to meet you," Alice said with a smile, trying not to laugh at the fact the Echo told her his name meant 'Lemon'. "Maybe once the war is over, we can meet outside of a cell, and without you trying to kill me with a Vanguard. You have a good night, now, arright?"

She went to leave again, and the two guards took the Decurion - took Citro to his cell.

Gods, I sounded both really cool and really pretentious, Alice thought. I'm such an absolute dumbarse that I'm surprised that worked at all.

She stepped outside the Adder's Nest and found a party of Gridanian officials waiting for her. Including, for whatever reason, the Elder Seedseer, Kan-E-Senna.

"Uh, hello there," said Alice, nervously. "How can I help you?"

Kan-E raised an eyebrow. It was a very slight gesture, but Alice could still see a good deal of hidden amusement. "Hello. You are the adventurer known as Alice, correct?"

"Unless you know any other Italian-Australian women around here- uhhh I mean, yes, ma'am, that's me," said Alice, struggling to curb her nervousness-inspired backtalk.

"Excellent. I had heard you were around here, and have been meaning to talk to you face-to-face."

Alice looked left and right around the Elder Seedseer's accompanying party of white-armoured guardians and Adder soldiers. There were only six people overall, but the military aspect made Alice's mind imagine whatever meeting this was to likely be worse than it actually would be.

"Uhhhyep, sure, I've got time."

Alice was definitely feeling the exhaustion of the day catching up with how late it had gotten - a last check of her phone a minute ago had put the time around 11PM. While a fairly normal time for her back on Earth, that was when she woke at noon and didn't spend a whole day doing quite a lot of physical activity and almost dying. And also, it didn't explain what someone like Kan-E was doing awake. Unless Padjals never slept at all…?

"Excellent. Please, come with us to the Lotus Stand."

Alice made a quiet, choked sound, but nodded. The procession made its way to the Lotus Stand, Alice bearing the attention of walking alongside Kan-E-Senna of all people, as the public of Gridania watched in curiosity.

Alice was a little more unsure of herself than usual, because Kan-E was one of those characters that Alice would describe as "wow pretty". And that was before seeing her in person, where she had gained an aura of being even more beautiful, as Alice had noted during the memorial a few days prior.

"What is troubling you?" Kan-E asked as they walked.

Alice really didn't know how to reply to that question, and made a distressed noise akin to a confused puppy. Kan-E tilted her head slightly, and stopped walking, turning to face Alice. The group stopped around her, and Alice had no choice but to stop as well, wringing her hands.

"Tell me, is aught amiss?"

"...I'm just really gay," said Alice. "And that's both excellent and, on occasion, slightly debilitating."

"I had no idea being overly happy could be such an issue," said Kan-E, a hand to her chin.

Oh gods, right, they don't use the future terms I take for granted. Queer is off the table, and heck, so is sapphic probably…

"No, uhm…" Alice scratched the back of her head as she tried to think of a better explanation. "It's… Where I'm from it… In my case it means I find women extremely attractive. Which as I said, is great and also, on occasion, debilitating."

Kan-E made a silent 'oh' of understanding.

"Anyway, uhm, moving on," said Alice, walking ahead quickly by herself. She knew the way by now, so she almost kept walking, then remembered that she was doing this to a city-state's leader, and stopped.

"Sorry," she said, when Kan-E caught up. The Padjali woman was smiling.

"It is alright. And fret not - many have confessed attraction to my siblings and I. There is no harm done in such words, but any action further may not be a wise course."

"Ah, good," said Alice. "I've met your siblings, but I assume you know that already. Miss Raya-O is pretty cool, and Mister A-Ruhn is uhm… well, I don't dislike him, since he can own up to his mistakes."

Kan-E's smile took on a very subdued wry tilt. "I see. Such honesty is uncommon, but not unwelcome."

They arrived at the Conjurer's guild, where the entrance to the Lotus Stand lay, and made their way into the lovely clearing. It consisted of logs, cut flat into a series of adjacent surfaces to stand upon, and a singular table near the middle. The logs sprouted from an ankle-deep pond, and the entire place had such a feeling of peace and nature that it was innately calming.

The less calming thing was the rumbling that occurred when Alice entered the area.

"Uh… that's not good, surely?" asked Alice.

"That is actually what I wished to discuss with you," said the Elder Seedseer, as the soldiers and guardians surrounded the area, although it was visibly out of formality rather than any attempt to encircle Alice, thankfully. "Your aether has… Unsettled the Elementals, and I wished to discuss this with you, as they were not worried before your most recent entry into Gridania."

"Oh," said Alice, hit with realisation almost immediately. "Is it the smell of Ifrit?"

"It apparently is akin to the aura of that primal, yes. Pray tell, what has occurred?"

Alice explained what she had spent the afternoon and evening doing, making sure to skim over the Earth conversations, and to ensure her that the Ifrit-Egi was most definitely under her control.

"As in, it won't come out to randomly torch the Shroud," she said at the end for emphasis. "So you, and the Elementals, don't need to worry about that. I promise"

"If we have your word, then by your previous actions and your reputation, I see no reason to disbelieve you," Kan-E said with a nod. "I have heard strange things about you, to be certain, but many good things besides."

"Uh, if I may ask, what kind of things have you heard?"

Kan-E proceeded to list off quite a lot of Alice's exploits, and the details she had apparently heard from Merlwyb, Raya-O and the Scions about Alice's strange origins.

"...so pretty much everything, then," said Alice. "Cool cool cool cool cool…"

"Nothing has had quite as much impact as your defeat of the primal Ifrit, perhaps aside from your brokering peace with the giants within Copperbell Mines," said Kan-E. "Followed by your… Rousing speech at the Lominsan memorial ceremony."

Alice's eyes widened in fear. She may not have insulted the other nations, but she had stated that Gridania pretty much couldn't do anything without the Elementals' approval. "Uhhh, right, that…"

Kan-E raised a pacifying hand. "No offence was taken. You were quite right - without Limsa Lominsa proposing an agreement with us first, there is not a great deal that can be done given the damage the Calamity did to the forests. Truth be told, I welcomed the offer from Admiral Bloefyswyn, as it allows our people to work together to solve our problems. The largest of which is much harder to confront, however…"

"The… Oh, the 14th? That's on lockdown, don't you worry. Or it will be, once the Scions and I get our collective arses in gear." Alice blanched at her own language usage, and began to apologise.

"It is no issue," said Kan-E, holding out a hand to stem the apology, apparently genuinely not caring. "But what do you mean?"

"Well, we just need to all get properly ready. On a scale of one to fifty, our preparedness is about thirty."

"Is there anything we can do to assist you?"

Alice thought about it. "Aside from giving us a heads-up when something's awry, not sure… Actually, I've got something."

Alice explained Gaius' plan to threaten the beastman tribes into summoning primals, use the Ultima Weapon to consume them, and his impending ultimatum once he does so.

"That is indeed a worrying prospect," said Kan-E. "I've heard enough to know that your claims of the future, even if somewhat far-fetched at times, are often correct. We shall therefore be on the lookout for any unusual Ixali and Garlean activity."

"Thank you, ma'am," Alice said with a bow. "Do, uh, do you mind if I go get some sleep? I've done a lot today, and this place is so calming I'm worried I'll keel over in a second."

Kan-E smiled. "You may."

Alice was about to thank the woman and leave when she received a Linkpearl call.

"I should probably take this," she said, pulling her phone out of her pouch. There were a few confused stares, given all present heard her ringtone, which sounded like a Linkpearl's chime. She saw Caller ID was Alicia, and answered. "Ayo?"

"Are you around Gridania right now?" asked Alicia.

"I might be, yes, why?"

"Haukke Manor, something I'm going to assume you know about already. We're going in now."

Alice grimaced. "Oh. Good. I didn't want to sleep anyway, what was I thinking? I'll see you there."

Alice ended the call, and looked at the amused and relieved Kan-E-Senna, who had clearly heard everything.

"Well… Dammit, I guess."

"Haukke Manor is indeed nearby," said Kan-E. "And it has been a source of fear and mystery for some time now."

"Yeah… I know about it already. I didn't think it was time to go in yet, but it is the level thirty dungeon…" Alice sighed. "Anyway, time for me to go. Thanks again, and ideally I'll talk to you again later."

Kan-E nodded. "Be well, and stay safe."

Alice waved goodbye, and trekked from the Lotus Stand to Haukke Manor, a building just south-south-west of Gridania, in the Central Shroud. She found, in retrospect unsurprisingly, Bea, Salli and Yaromir waiting there with Alicia.

Bea was decked out in some nicer-looking conjurer's gear, though - unsurprisingly - not the white mage relic gear yet. But she wasn't the only one with some new additions.

Yaromir and Alicia had a different aura around them, something that Alice couldn't see, per se, but her aetheric manipulation training now allowed her to detect. She guessed that they now possessed Soul Crystals of their own. Salli's change was similar, but accompanied by the more obvious difference of a lyre.

"'Sup, sinners," Alice said to them. "We get invited to a house party by Lady Amandine?"

"More like crashing the party," said Yaromir. "I hear the normal entry fee is deathly expensive."

"An arm, a leg, and yer soul," said Salli.

Bea grimaced at the jokes. "Need I remind you that innocents have actually been murdered?"

"You don't need to remind me, no," said Alice. "But without gallows humour, it can be a little too easy, for me, at least, to baulk at something like this. You know, because of the murders."

Bea sighed. "I understand."

"Besides, I'm dead tired after a long day, so I'd kill to get some sleep," Alice joked, unable to help herself.

Alicia groaned. "Please cease. Let's just go in and take care of Amandine."

"Fine," Alice said with a feigned sigh. She grinned. "Follow me, friends. It's time for us to all show each other what we've learned."

Chapter Text

The quintet entered the Manor's courtyard, where a group of distracted voidsent of the Ahriman variety patrolled, seemingly not caring much when the group passed by.

"We should…" Bea began, but then stopped herself.

Alice stopped, and turned to look at the White Mage. "No, it's alright, what's up?"

Bea hesitated. "Well… The Shroud- the Elementals, rather, don't like the voidsent being here. I'd think it best we remove them."

Alice snapped her fingers. "Of course! Right, I'm so used to ignoring these ones because, in story, they're essentially irrelevant to clearing the manor and just infinitely reappear a few minutes later, but they'd be out permanently, huh?"

"I'd sure hope so," said Salli. "They look like nasty little bastards."

"Alright, let's get them then. Alicia, if you would?"

Alicia projected her taunt aura, the classic 'tank stance', and began to provoke the voidsent into coming after the quintet. Focused as they were on the marauder - no, likely she had become a proper Warrior at this point - the voidsent were easy to pick-off and defeat, leaving the garden quiet, and Alice feeling a little more energised than she had been a few minutes ago. Likely the adrenaline, she thought.

"First pull, easy." Alice nodded at the team's efficiency, but no one had done anything strictly new or interesting yet. Even Alice hadn't shown off her Summoning or pistols yet. "Let's go inside, that's the start of the dungeon proper. It's a bit of a maze, but I know the way."

They nodded. Alice led them up to the manor doors, which opened ahead of their arrival with a creak.

"Now that's ominous," Salli remarked.

"I wonder if… Hrm, let's go inside," said Alice, walking ahead of the others. Once she crossed the threshold, she could hear the dungeon's theme from the game in her mind. It was surprisingly jarring - it wasn't in the usual way one would expect, of remembering the song and it "playing" from memory, but instead it actively began playing as if being beamed into her head.

"Okay, fuck the doors, that shit is weird."

"What is?" asked Alicia. She had crossed the threshold too, and didn't seem bothered by anything other than the aura of hate and despair that seemed to envelop the mansion.

"Can you hear that?" Alice asked her.

"Hear what?"

The others crossed the threshold, and once Bea, the last to enter, had done so, the doors very quickly swung shut with a slam. Bea jumped, and looked afraid.

"Oh, no…" she said, looking around the room quickly.

"Ohhh… Old creepy mansions are your spook button then?" asked Alice.

Bea turned around and tried the door's handle. Unfortunately for her, the door stayed locked.

"Ohhhh…" Bea was definitely afraid of the mansion. "Ohhh, I don't like it here…"

Alice came up closer to her and hugged her. "It's alright, we'll be fine. We're all more than strong enough to take this place down, okay? But also, seriously, can anyone else hear that music?"

Bea stiffened. Salli crossed her arms. "Way to go, knucklehead. Don't go comforting someone just to spook 'em some more."

"No, I'm serious," Alice insisted, letting go of Bea. "I can hear music, it's the musical theme for this place from the story."

"So you can hear it, but not the rest of us?" asked Yaromir, thinking. "Your mind is maybe playing tricks on you?"

"Based on the volume and intensity, and the fact that it's a damn short loop? Not a chance."

Alice's phone vibrated in her pouch, she rolled her eyes. "I bet it's some stupid new feature…"

She pulled her phone out of her pouch, and lo and behold, a notification informing her of a new feature was on screen. She tapped it, and read over the brief explanation, muttering as she did so.

"Can we maybe get moving?" asked Alicia, a little annoyed at the delay, and Alice held up her hand toward the Au Ra, index finger raised to say “hold on, don’t rush me”. She didn't take her eyes off the phone, at one point frowning, before she realised something, and began to grin.

"Hey friends, how much do you trust me?"

"That is often a terrifying question to be asked," said Yaromir. "Why do you ask?"

Alice tapped on a couple of things on her phone, at first looking relieved, then grinning evilly. She tapped one more thing, and then all party members could now hear the music, albeit at a reduced volume to what Alice was originally hearing.

"Wha… How did you do that?" asked Salli.

"Apparently it's all a manipulation of my own aether, like a spell," Alice explained. "I did something crazy earlier today and broadcast music from my mind, and it seems like Hydaelyn wrote a whole function into her insane management app that lets me control that without burning through my aether."

"...But why?" asked Alicia. "This is going to get annoying, fast."

"Actually…" Bea spoke up. "This is… somehow helping, and I think it's not so loud as to cause me difficulties with spellcasting."

Alice gave an extremely conceited smile at Alicia. "Suffer with me, so that our friend can be here without quaking in her boots."

"I…" Alicia sighed. "Can we get going?"

"This music is pretty interesting," Salli said with a nod. "It fits real' well with the atmosphere."

"Masayoshi Soken is a god among men, and the true successor to the legendary Nobuo Uematsu, and this song is not even close to representative of his compositional skill," said Alice. "They're the main composers for the Final Fantasy series. Of which our story is the fourteenth."

"Those sound like Far Eastern names," Yaromir noted.

"The nation of Japan, the one that made several of my favourite stories, is pretty similar to Hingashi. I can go into more detail another time. Now, onwards! Duty Commenced! Down that corridor to the left, and into the first room on the left from there."

They moved ahead as Alice had directed, Alicia at the front of the team as usual. The first enemies they found were two groups of rather weak creatures - just bats and slugs, but leading them were a pair of Manor Maidservants, each a type of voidsent creature from the genus known as ‘succubus’.

Alicia had attracted the attention of the group outside the room, and brought them in, very loudly occupying the group of creatures waiting inside as well.

"Urgh, why did it have to be slugs," said Alice, trying to keep away from the slug creatures she remembered being called 'Carpet Stains’. She built up an Aethercharge and fired Ruins at the slugs to put them down first, letting the others deal with the more prevalent threats that were the Maidservants.

Salli was the group's best chance at dealing with the tiny, speedy bats - which moved significantly faster than they had in the game, Alice noted - and so was doing her best to take them down so the others didn't have to. Yaromir, Alicia and Bea could handle the trio of Maidservants.

Alicia was juggling her area-wide attacks with some single-target strikes specifically targeted at just the Maidservants, ensuring the floating creatures were focused on her. Yaromir was finding it easy to attack them as a result. He barely needed to dodge the occasional attempt at a counterattack, which Alicia would always punish the voidsent for.

Bea was focused on keeping everyone going. Not because there was a lot of damage being thrown around, but because despite the music's help, she was struggling with the location's ambience and looks. But - and especially when Salli sniped a bat going for the healer - she clearly trusted the rest of the party to help her through, so despite a relative inefficiency, her newly-boosted healing magic was doing good work.

Now that she had dealt with the slugs - one of which she had been forced to step on, to her dismay - Alice focused on the Maidservants. The floaty creatures went down under the combined weight of their attacks, all without anyone showing off any new abilities aside from Bea. Her increased healing potential was obvious, and she seemed to be the only one of the party apparently not bound by the pride of Alice's challenge earlier.

Alicia looked around the room. "Okay, why are we here?" she asked. "This is a dead end."

Alice snickered, but knelt down to look for something. "We can't progress without some keys. Most of them are on the way, but this first one is… Ah, here we go."

Alice stood up, holding the key for all to see.

"We needed that key?" asked Alicia.

"Yeah, we're going to need a couple, but like I said, this is the only one that's out of the direct path." She started to spin the key on her index finger, something she had a lot of boredom-induced practice doing. "Come on, back into the hall, follow it around until we can't anymore."

Once they went back into the hall and around the corner, they noted that although the hallway was very, very long, it was blocked about a third of the way in.

"Last door on the right," said Alice. "Well, the last we can get to."

They progressed into a room, passing through another group of slugs, bats and a Maidservant, the key leading to another key-bearing Maidservant, which let them proceed back into the hallway. Alice was surprised she was keeping up with the others, but she felt a lot less exhausted than she figured she would be by now.

Forget second wind, she thought. This is like my third or fourth wind today, damn. I’m doing way better at this than I expected. Is it because of the soul crystal?

Around the corner, they found an ornate green door, locked, opposite an open doorway. Between the doors, a Maidservant patrolled alongside another of the Ahriman creatures, this type known as a Manor Sentry. Alicia immediately grabbed their attention, and swung her giant axe at both of them. The creatures, occupied by defending against the Warrior's wild swings, were easy prey for the rest of the party, despite the Sentry's failed attempt to petrify Alicia.

"So," asked Alicia, eyeing the open doorway, and the sole, slightly larger Maidservant creature hovering alone in the large room, waiting for them. "Where next?"

Alice pointed at the creature, the Manor Claviger boss. "That bitch has the basement key."

Salli frowned. "Why're we goin' to the basement?"

"Because that large ward on the only stairs to the upper floor is broken by something the basement's boss has."

"Well, what are we waiting-" Yaromir began, but Alicia ran inside by herself mid-sentence. It sounded like she was growling. "...for."

"Apparently nothing!" said Alice, following the Warrior. The other three followed in turn soon after, and began laying into the creature, who was already distracted fighting Alicia.

Alice had thought she heard something as they entered the room, and she had been right - Alicia had gone berserk, and her Inner Beast was making her go all out on the Claviger. Her swings were brutal, and she was audibly growling at the voidsent. The creature had learned quickly that it needed to make an effort to block the strikes, as just relying on its innate toughness wasn't enough to protect it.

Alice applied some of her more advanced attack Arcanistry, relying on Bea to do any healing needed. Ruin, interspersed with Energy Drain, weaving in a Topaz Carbuncle summon, Festering the few wounds Alicia and the others had done, followed by pelting the creature with earthen Topaz Ruins. Salli's arrows, some of which were aetherically charged, as well as clean, critical strikes from Yaromir, were doing an excellent job of wearing down the creature. But Alice noticed it building for a strong attack directed at Alicia, who was too berserk to notice anything of the sort.

Ah shit, this probably isn't going to be too bad if I leave it, but…

Alice still half remembered what happened earlier, while fighting the Amalj'aa. Her pistols seemed balanced in favour of either light or dark aether, depending on the weapon, and given a voidsent was a creature of darkness…

She pulled out her revolver, and tried to quickly aim and fire at the back of the creature's head. One thing she couldn't fully recall, unfortunately, was how to make a bullet of pure light, but she was able to infuse the physical bullets with a little bit of light aether. The shot rang out, hitting the creature through one of the horns jutting out of its head, and stunning it out of its attack.

"Hot damn!" Salli called out, putting an arrow of aether into the creature's upper arm to prevent more of its attacks. "That's new!"

"Made by Brithael himself, just for me!" said Alice, simultaneously putting a couple more shots into the body of the creature and throwing another big Ruin at it.

In the end, the stunning strikes by the others were what allowed Alicia to get the kill. She leapt, clearly having built up a big charge of her aether - Alice vividly imagining a full Beast Gauge - and with a shout, brutally beheaded the Claviger. The voidsent did actually have blood, which spattered over the party, but that disappeared along with its body into puffs of dark aether.

"By the Twelve, what a strike!" said Yaromir, laughing a little at the sheer brutality of the attack.

Alice coughed, realising she was inhaling some of the dark mist. But looking up, the thought was banished from her mind, seeing that Alicia's bloodlust was still not sated.

"Ah," said Alice, in the precise second before Alicia charged in the direction of the rest of the party.

They all dived out of the way, and Alicia kept going past them towards the hallway, turning to run where a group of bats and slugs had been allowed to exist further down the hall than they had needed to travel. The sounds of furious combat against undeserving creatures could be heard echoing back into the room, and Alice sighed. The Green Key to the Ivy door had dropped from within the Claviger's corpse, and Alice picked it up, the revolver that she really needed to name now holstered.

"Well, now it's basement time," she told the others. "With luck, we can steer our enraged tank down the stairs safely, instead of her falling down and breaking her legs or some such."

"I'll go make sure she's alright," said Bea, running after the Warrior.

The remaining three walked towards the green door, watching as the White Mage frantically cleaned up the angry Warrior with some healing magic. Alicia was smashing some discarded furniture in lieu of actual enemies, and was doing a surprisingly good job of not attacking Bea. Alice nodded, impressed - last she recalled, the untrained Inner Beast didn't usually allow one to distinguish friend from foe. She walked up to the large Ivy door to the basement and unlocked it.

"Alicia!" She called out. "This way! More enemies downstairs! Don't fall!"

Alica turned, and her eyes might have actually been glowing. She strode towards the doorway, still quietly but audibly growling.

"Deep breaths, woman," said Alice. "Don't burn yourself out like a candle. Or dynamite."

The words did seem to get through to the Warrior's brain, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes, she was surprisingly calm. Still irritated and agitated, yes, but no longer berserk.

"Huh. You're better at that than I'd expected."

Alicia scowled. "Why would I be worse at calming the condition I've been living with for years?"

"Because if I recall, the Warrior soul crystal is a bit harder to control at times than even that. Our man Gorge and his brother are definitely not as good at this as you."

"His brother…?"

"Yeah, both of them struggled with the whole inner beast thing…" Alice shook her head to refocus. "Anyway, we can talk more about that later. For now, basement time."

Alicia nodded, and led the way carefully down the stairs. They were old, and it was a surprise they didn't do more than creak under the party's weight.

"Skeletons?" Salli groaned on seeing the first enemies they encountered. "I hate dealin' with those things."

"Good thing you've got us," said Alice. "Alicia? Go forth and conquer."

Alicia grunted, and charged at the necromantic minions. She would have bowled over a normal person, but the skeletons remained standing despite the force she hit them with. She kept going, running past them, and ran out into the basement's corridor, although it felt like an actual crypt down there, even without the walking skeletons.

Just as Alice remembered, there was a large blockage on one side of the corridor, leaving them with only one path forward. There were, to no one's surprise, two more Maidservants patrolling the long corridor, leading more packs of skeletons.

Salli focused her arrows on one of them, but the creature didn't seem to notice, even when it had become a pincushion for her arrows.

She called out, "These ones seem a mite tougher than their upstairs friends!"

"Bring them with us, don't stop!" Alice cackled as she threw spells at the skeletons, keeping a hold of her Aethercharge. She was still sticking to basic Arcanistry for now, at least until she found a good reason to summon Ifrit-Egi. There were about three times as many skeletons as she remembered from this part of the low-level dungeon, but there were five practiced adventurers in their party, so she figured they'd be fine for now.

Alicia grunted in annoyance, but directed the pack of enemies around the corner in the hall, which had yet more skeletons and another Ahriman. The enemy groups were proving rather tough, being a varying combination of undead and voidsent, which were already groups of annoying beings with inhuman fortitude to begin with.

Yaromir still seemed content to do as he had done before, albeit with somehow more grace and swiftness now. He would disappear and reappear behind enemies to deliver strikes with his hands and sometimes his weapons’ hilts, clearly feeling that his blades were ineffective against opponents with no flesh to speak of. It worked, and he managed to bring a few skeletons low with strikes that separated skulls from vertebrae, breaking whatever magicks animated the corpses.

Bea was holding on well, although she was clearly bothered by the skeleton warriors. Now that her healing magic's potency had notably increased, Alicia seemed much better able to focus on keeping the attention of all enemies in the room.

Alice kept popping Ruins, Outbursts and Festers at the group of undead, slowly chipping away both at the aether animating them, and the matter being animated. This was interspersed three times with gunshots aimed at stunning the Maidservants out of casting AoE magicks. If she couldn’t break their skin with her bullets, she was going to do whatever she could to stop them from screwing things up for her party.

Salli's arrows seemed to be doing very little to the succubi, so she forced herself to try something new - her Mage's Ballad required her to briefly swap her bow for her lyre, but as she strummed a series of chords, the rest of the party could feel an elevation of their abilities, and the music projected the Miqo'te's aether at one of the two Maidservants, a blast that finally took it down.

Alice nodded, and as she cast another Outburst at the thinning group of skeletons, the Ahriman decided to ignore Alicia and look at her, doing some eye-based magic attack. Alice noticed, and saw the charge of its aether, which brought her into eye contact… she felt dizzy, and tired, and…

The Ahriman screeched as Ifrit-Egi tore into it, ripping the voidsent apart. Alice shook herself back awake, a little annoyed she had fallen for the attack.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Alicia called out.

"That's mine!" Alice yelled quickly, worried the sudden appearance of her familiar would cause it, and by extension her, to take a greataxe hit. "Don't worry, it won't hurt us!"

"Isn't that Ifrit!?" The Warrior replied, demolishing a skeleton.

"Yes and no!" Alice blasted another skeleton. There were only two more left. Yaromir broke another apart, and Bea threw a Stone at the last one, weakening it enough for Salli to kick it down into a pile of bones.

The corridor was quiet, now, aside from the music, and the burning of Ifrit-Egi, who was content to stay floating in place, near where the Ahriman's corpse dissipated into dark aether. Alice wandered into an empty cell - because of course there were caged cells in a basement like this - looking for another tiny key to enter the main cellar, the Boss room for the basement.

"Don't touch it," Alice said without looking at the others. Alicia quickly retracted her outstretched hand. "It's made of my aether via an Allagan spellcasting art, but it's still a fire… Hrm. Not a primal, exactly."

"Like a sprite?" asked Bea.

"It's called an Egi, and it's more like a carbuncle."

"So it's still a Familiar, then," Yaromir said with a nod. "Very interesting…"

Alice stood, tiny key in hand. "And I can only create it because I fought Ifrit and lived. Turns out a primal always stains your aether with a little of itself by proximity, even when you don't get tempered."

"If it's safe," said Alicia. "Then let's keep going."

And so, after Alice reloaded her revolver, they moved forward, slowly moving through the last groups of skeletons and voidsent before they arrived at the entrance to the main cellar. There was only one group left, occupying a space between the cellar door and the last cell.

Alice was surprised that the Ifrit-Egi didn't just disappear automatically, which is what she had always seen from the outside when playing alongside Summoners. Like her variously-aspected carbuncles had done, the egi would normally make a single attack and then leave, but this one just stuck around.

"H… Hello?"

They heard a voice call out from one of the cells. Unfortunately, so did the voidsent in the last group of enemies, a Sentry who went to investigate.

"Oh, that's…" said Alice, letting herself trail off as she ran ahead. She had never heard this voice, and for all she knew it was a trap, but it was worth checking out.

The others followed behind, and the skeletons left behind by the Sentry attempted to go after Alice.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Alicia charged at them to steal their attention. Alice noticed, but was trying to beat the Sentry's headstart on the source of the voice.

There were a trio of women in the cell, tied up. One, an Elezen, had awoken and was looking at the Sentry in fright. "No! No, no, no!"

Alice didn't have time to do anything fancy, and Ifrit-Egi was still lagging behind her. She dropped her Grimoire in order to quickly draw the Ironworks Special alongside the revolver, and began blasting every round she had into the round, flying voidsent. The noise woke up the other two women, a Miqo'te and a Viera, and all three were treated to a display of Alice shredding the unarmoured voidsent with high-calibre rounds. She found she couldn't infuse the .50 rounds with light aether, so she settled for just its normal rounds, while the revolver's shots remained infused. By the time both guns clicked dry, the voidsent was like a giant ball of Swiss cheese, and simply fell apart into a mist of dark aether. As the creature fell apart, Alice was struck by a sudden flash of inspiration

"One brings shadow," she said, spinning the Ironworks Special, "and one brings the light," she continued, emphasising the last point by spinning the revolver. "Shadowbringer and Lightbringer. Perfect.

"Now, how are you ladies doing?" she asked, holstering her weapons to go untie the women. "Not hurt, I hope?"

The others were wrapping up the last of skeletons, although all of them had noticed Alice's performance, given how loud it had been.

"I'm… Fine, I think," said the Elezen woman. "Where are we?"

"Hundred gil says we're in Haukke Manor," said the Miqo'te woman, looking a little ashamed. "Gods, but I hate voidsent."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about this one," the Viera said to her. Her accent, like the Viis in the First, sounded like Earth's Scandinavian accent, something that Alice found very cute, and very nice to listen to. "There were just too many with that petrification attack. They would have beaten us-"

"That's not-!" The Miqo'te snapped, then folded her ears, upset at herself for shouting. "Sorry."

Alice just kept untying the Elezen with pursed lips, content to let the two do their thing.

"Uhm, anyway…" The Miqo'te turned to Alice. "Could you also help us get out of here? The two of us had weapons, but I'm not sure where they are now."

Alice finally realised the gear on the Miqo'te and the Viera marked them out as adventurers, while the Elezen most definitely was not one. A botanist, maybe? All three were definitely beautiful in different ways, but Alice understood why they had been captured. Same as the other murders in this place - a combination of jealousy, and as sacrifices to fuel the magicks now empowering Lady Amandine.

"Ah, well, yeah, sure," said Alice. "But, uhm… Well, we have to deal with this place progressively, so…"

The Miqo'te's eyes widened. "You mean you aren't just going to get out of here?"

Alice frowned. "What? No! We're almost two thirds of the way done with this place, and the last third involves killing Amandine. And maybe Halicarnassus, for expediency's sake, but we might not be ready for that yet…"

"Hali-what?" The Viera asked. "We just want to leave safely."

"I mean, the front door is locked until Amandine is dead," Alice said with a shrug. She started untying the Miqo'te next. "And she needs to die to prevent more people from being murdered. So, if you wanna leave, you need us to commit some murder of our own."

Ifrit-Egi, which Alice had directed to help the others with the skeletons, floated in now, ahead of the others. The three captives looked terrified of the flaming familiar.

"Relax, it's just a mini-primal," said Alice.

"A what!?" The Elezen yelled, very close to Alice's ears. Ow.

"That ain't how I would'a described it to 'em," said Salli, walking in. "I'd'a led with familiar."

"Yes, that," said Alice, finishing the knot on the Miqo'te's bonds. She went to start untying the Viera, only to find Yaromir had already silently done so. She raised an eyebrow and he grinned.

"You have a primal as a familiar?" The Miqo'te asked, staring at it in a combination of fear and confusion. "Just who are you people?"

"A group of adventurers and friends, at your service," said Bea. "I'm Storm Corporal Beatrice, and you have nothing to fear from us, I promise. What are your names?"

"I'm Ostrelle," the Elezen said with a short, shaky bow. "A Botanist. I was collecting for the guild when… Well, I'm sure you can imagine."

"Ahma. Gladiator, Adventurer." The Miqo'te said her words as short and sharp as she could, and she was clearly still not sure how to feel about any of what was going on.

"Fjalle Bosco," the Viera said with a bow. She was incredibly graceful, although she looked uncomfortable; her hands clenched like she was missing something, most likely her weapon. "Lancer, Adventurer, and long-time friend of Ahma. Neither of us knew Miss Ostrelle before today."

"They were kind enough to help try and keep me safe," said Ostrelle. "But there were quite a lot of voidsent…"

Ahma hit the wall with her fist, and immediately regretted doing so. "Ow… We couldn't beat them, and I'm obviously mad about that. But it's crazy to think we can take on Amandine! Isn't she incredibly powerful?"

"Well, there are some rumours…" said Bea.

"What? Really?" Alice asked. "28 out of 50 isn't that high…"

Alicia flicked Alice on the back of the head. "Stop using your rating system or whatever it is. Things out here can still be dangerous, especially to people who aren't us, and you’ll just confuse them unnecessarily."

Alice rubbed the back of her head. "First off, ow, rude. Secondly, yes, sure, but reminder it's held pretty close to accurate so far, and all sorts of people are all over that scale. Hell, the regular people in Doma are like, around 64 to 67?"

The three rescued women were most definitely confused by this topic. Maybe Alicia was right…

"Anyway, point is, especially with seven of us to fight her instead of the standard four, Amandine is fucking dead. She has no chance."

"Don't be overconfident," Alicia argued. "Anything could go wrong. It almost did, before, remember?"

"And I had Ifrit-Egi ready to go for exactly that reason," Alice countered. "Plus, you and Yaromir haven't done anything new, and I'm absolutely sure you both have new skills to show off."

Alicia and Yaromir were both quiet in response to that.

"See? We can handle it," Alice declared, crossing her arms. "And if these three can't help, that's fine too. We can kick that bitch right into hell by ourselves."

"Well, hold on, I didn't say we couldn't help," said Ahma, suddenly showing a prideful streak. "We need our weapons, but we can fight."

"I'm just a botanist," said Ostrelle. "I can't fight…"

Alice patted her on the back. "And that's okay. That's why we're here. Not everyone needs to be able to fight to be useful."

"But botany ain't quite helpful inside a mansion," Salli said with a half-smile. "So, Ostrelle, you hang on here until we finish dealin' with whatever our crazy Hyur says we gotta fight, then we can take you someplace upstairs that's safer. Alright?"

Ostrelle nodded.

"You two need weapons?" asked Yaromir, somehow having made his way across the room without anyone noticing. "Will these work?"

He held a shield in one hand and a lance in the other. They weren't the best quality, but they were intact and in good repair.

The adventurers looked at each other, then Ahma shrugged.

"Sure, why not," she said, sounding a little on edge. "Our job is already to put our lives on the line, and I feel like a coward for suggesting we simply flee."

"You aren't a coward," Fjalle said calmly. "We were overwhelmed and underprepared, and unlucky. If you had prepared like you normally do…"

"Well, I didn't, so now we're relying on the luck of these… lovely people rescuing us."

"Can we get going already?" asked Alicia, looking a bit twitchy. "I need to kill something, and soon."

"Oh, right, that's the Warrior of Light," Alice said with a jokey grin, then turned serious. "She's a lot more stable than she looks right now, I promise you. As I've recently learned myself, Soul Crystals are pretty powerful, and can be hard to master."

The two adventurers nodded in understanding. Soul Crystals were uncommon, to be sure, but not so rare that you didn't hear tales of people working hard to fight against the drawbacks to the power they provided.

They picked up weapons - Ahma also finding a decent sword - and Alice reloaded her pistols. Shadowbringer and Lightbringer… I'm pretty proud of those names. Time to get some more use out of them.

She noticed Salli eyeing the weapons, very interested. Alice winked, and said, "I can tell you about them once we get out of here."

"Well I'd like that very much," the Bard said with a grin.

Alice walked up to the Cellar door and unlocked it. Inside, as she expected, were the Voidsent imp creature known as the Manor Jester, and the enlarged skeleton known as the Manor Servant.

"Alright," said Alice. "Licia, occupy the skeleton, so we can take the shitty imp down first. Seven of us should make this shit a breeze."

Alicia nodded, readying her axe once more, and striding purposefully into the room. "Hey, you! Come here and face me!"

She drew the attention of both creatures, the Jester immediately casting an attack spell, and the Servant running at her to attack her with its sword.

The others of the expanded party, minus Ostrelle, followed her in, Ahma and Fjalle lagging a little behind the rest. The Scions very quickly went to battle following Alice's advice, quickly making attacks against the Jester. Unfortunately, the small voidsent was fast, like the bats, and avoided Alice's Ruin, Bea's Stone, and even a pair of arrows fired by Salli. The only thing that came close was one of Yaromir's knives, which grazed a wing. Alice looked at him, and was impressed: his eyes were closed, and he threw another knife, this one actually slicing the creature's wing membrane, but he still quietly cursed his failure to hit it more directly.

Show off, Alice thought. She called out to him as she began casting another spell at the fast little creature. "Hey! Just use your damn Ninjutsu already!"

He grimaced slightly, his concentration broken, and he opened his eyes.

"Heaven…" he said quietly, making the hand sign. A large shuriken appeared in his hands and he closed his eyes again, then threw it. The attack landed a solid strike at the thing's body… but didn't take it down.

It began flitting about once more, still annoyingly hard to hit. Ifrit-Egi had been chasing it around the whole time, slashing and trying to burn it.

"Ready!" They heard Ahma say, and quickly turned to look, moments before the Miqo'te used her shield to help boost a jumping attack made by Fjalle. The Viera came very close to the erratic voidsent, but she rolled midair, landing on the far wall as if it were the ground, and almost immediately jumping back at the creature, somehow keeping her momentum, and striking it in the back directly, her spear piercing it through the upper chest. Her momentum pushed it, and her, to the opposite wall, where she pinned the creature. It writhed, impaled, and Salli very quickly put three arrows into it in as many seconds, silencing the imp. It dissolved into dark aetheric mist. Fjalle pulled her spear from the wall and leapt gracefully to the ground, and charged at the Servant, Ahma having already done so.

Alice realised she was the only one who had stopped completely to watch the spectacle, and shook herself into an alertness tinged with a sudden burst of energy. She sent Ifrit-Egi to go and fight the Servant, and by the time her spells were cast at it, the other six members of the party had thoroughly killed the necromantic creature.

"Good work, team," Alice said awkwardly, feeling a little like a supervisor who didn't do very much to contribute to the team's success. "Anyway, that skelebob dropped a scroll, yes?"

"That it did," said Yaromir, holding up the object in question. "Now what? Back up the stairs?"

Ostrelle peered around the doorway to check that the room was safe, and entered. As soon as she did, the doors slammed shut behind her, and then faded away to become more wall. Ostrelle jumped at the slam, and was now shaking from the door's disappearance. She ran over to Alicia to stand close to the warrior.

"...huh. That's never happened before." Alice looked around, and saw that there was at least a portal out of the room, a glowing circle on the floor casting a radiance upwards. It looked a lot like the addition that had made it unnecessary to use teleport spells to quickly return to the beginning of the manor. "Oh, that's still here, good."

As she inspected it, Ahma and Fjalle looked at each other in confusion. Bea caught their attention.

"You get used to it," she told them. "She knows a lot of things, although her knowledge sometimes ends up becoming… A little incorrect from her own stubbornness."

"So… she knew what was inside the manor?" Fjalle asked.

"Well, apparently not accurately, given she didn't know you three were here," Bea admitted. "But well enough to help us make it through."

"Alright, everyone!" Alice called out to the party, clapping to get their attention. "I know it's reasonable to not trust a strange portal, but this one will take us elsewhere in the manor, okay? This one is safe."

"Are you sure?" asked Alicia. "You didn't know about the door, or the captives…"

"Licia, please, didn't we do a whole song and dance about this the other day?" Alice asked back, her expression unamused. "But since you asked…"

Alice sent Ifrit-Egi to float over the portal's area, and it was teleported somewhere. She nodded. "Yep, definitely still inside the manor, above us, and also, most importantly, not taking damage."

"Safe enough, then," said Alicia. "Alright, go on through and we'll follow you."

Alice grimaced slightly at being sent ahead, but nodded. She walked onto the teleporter, and was transported.

The hall, definitely the upstairs hallway, was glowing with a familiar red ambience. The doorways ahead of her glowed purple, and there were strange, large creatures roaming the halls that she realised she recognised.

Then the music in her head changed too, and she was certain. This was all from Haukke Manor's Hard Mode, a level 50 dungeon. As in, not the level 28 dungeon they had started in.

"What."

Chapter Text

(Current Music)
Alice stared ahead at the red hall, the glowing purple doors, and the altered creatures, not comprehending what she was seeing.

"What," she said once more, putting her hands up to the sides of her head, index fingers massaging her temples.

Alicia appeared behind her, ready to fight, but lowered her guard when no threat immediately made itself known. She kept a wary eye on the wandering creatures ahead of them in the hall, but looked at the confused Alice. "What's wrong?"

"This can't be right… This isn't… What!?"

Alice wasn't really able to process Alicia's question. One by one, the others also came through the portal, and looked around, dazed. Once they had all gained their bearings, Alice had finally started to get her own back too, no longer stuck in a mental hell-spiral.

"So, I've got news and bad news," said Alice.

"What's the problem?" asked Alicia. "When I got here, you were just staring and muttering."

"Because we both are and aren't in Haukke Manor anymore," said Alice. This mostly drew concerned looks from the new trio, but confused looks from her friends.

"What do you mean?" asked Bea. "We're still in the same building, as far as I can tell."

"Okay, so, some dungeons below level 50 got a level 50 Hard Mode," Alice explained. Seeing Alicia about to speak, she held up her hands. "I know, I know, my rating system again, but it's relevant. Sastasha, Tam-Tara and Copperbell were included in this, by the way. We are currently in… Well, this should be happening on the floor below us, but this is Haukke Manor's Hard Mode, somehow, and I don't know what that means for us now. The first bosses of that were the two guys we just fought, then some jacked-up voidsent thing, ending with the super-powerful voidsent that Amandine made a deal with, named Halicarnassus."

"What about Amandine herself?" Salli asked. "We still need to stop her, right?"

"Well, normally she's the third and final boss of Normal mode, then is too dead to be in Hard Mode… And she's upstairs, where we are… We'll just have to see." Alice shook her head. "Just… Be careful, things are a lot more lethal now."

"Oh dear…" said Ostrelle. "I didn't understand most of what you were talking about, but I understand that last part."

"We didn't have a lot of trouble with those guys before," said Ahma. "I was surprised, but surely that means we're fine, right?"

"Well, on a scale of 1 to 50, we're all roughly at 30, and while Amandine is also at that point, Halicarnassus is up at 50," said Alice. "Meaning there's a good chance we could get clapped out of existence, and it's not something I should have even needed to account for."

"Then let us be safe, and go all out," said Fjalle. "If we take everything seriously, I believe we stand a chance."

"Based on what, exactly?" asked Alicia.

"Based on the one time I've seen you fight, and the tales of a group of strong adventurers I've heard making the rounds," the Viera said with a smile. "The strange and mysterious group who just tackle great challenges quickly and with little difficulty, and one of whom might be a new hero of the realm."

"'Champion of Eorzea' is what they're gonna start calling her," said Alice. "Because she's strong as fuck, takes no shit, and doesn't afraid of anything."

"I think you mean 'isn't afraid,'" said Bea.

"It's a joke from home," Alice said with a handwave. "But the point is, Osie's right."

"'Osie'...?" The Elezen asked.

"Alicia, buddy, I'm gonna go ham- I mean, go all out, and I expect you to do the same." Alice turned to the rest of her friends, looking especially at Yaromir. "So we all will, okay? This is a lot less 'fun' than Copperbell."

Yaromir shrugged, then nodded. Salli and Bea both nodded, too.

"Seriously, though, if we get out of here alive, I want an explanation for whatever the hell is going on," said Ahma. "But until then, I'll do my best, though I'm usually only good at working with Fjalle…"

Fjalle put her hand on Ahma's shoulder. "You'll do fine."

"Oh yeah," said Alice, suddenly. "Can the rest of you hear the new music?"

"There's been nothing since we took down the skeleton," said Alicia.

Alice pulled out her phone, and played with the settings again, and then the others, including the now-startled new trio, could now also hear the dungeon's hard mode theme.

"What's happening!?" Ostrelle asked, loud and confused and scared. "Where's that coming from!?"

Alice calmed her down and quickly explained her phone's new functionality, although she almost forgot she had to quickly explain what the device even was first.

"Okay, but why do we have to hear it?" Ahma asked, ears low.

"Ah, well, you see… Team unity?" Alice said at last, shrugging. "Honestly I actually didn't know it was going to play to you three as well, my options aren't very detailed."

Alicia sighed. "Can we go now?"

"Yes," said Alice, putting away her phone, and drawing Shadowbringer and Lightbringer once again. "We can go now."

Salli smiled at the reappearance of the weapon. Alice winked, and followed the departing Alicia. Luckily, just as she half-remembered from her fight with the horde of Amalj'aa, Ifrit-Egi remained active and followed the Summoner, despite having put her Grimoire away.

I need a way to have a Star Globe out while I have both of these… Alice looked at her pistols, thinking about the utility of two weapons when she needed her other items for more utility. But that would take a lot of effort and craftsmanship…

Alicia walked up to the first doorway, which glowed brighter. Alice remembered she hadn't warned anyone about anything here yet, and shouted, "Move away! Past that!"

Alicia quickly did as she was told, and once she had done so, the doorway's purple energy coalesced into a beam of energy that lasted for several seconds, and struck the far wall. Once it had dissipated, Alicia was looking at Alice with a raised eyebrow.

"Cut that close, I know," said Alice, apologetic. "I'll get my head screwed on right, just give me time to think. Be careful of all of these doors until we get to the end."

Alicia nodded, and progressed ahead, the others following along. The Warrior made contact with the first group of enemies after the third doorway, and was supported by Alice, Bea, and Yaromir. Salli was busy making sure the other three made it past the doorways safely, taking extra care with the non-combatant Ostrelle. Once she was sure they were safe, one doorway away from the trio of altered creatures, she loosed arrows into their enemies.

Alicia was doing her best to deal with the large creatures, but she had to stay focused to prevent them from overwhelming her. She had paid attention to what Alice had explained, even the fact that, on the human's level-based system, these creatures might overpower them quite significantly. Alicia knew better than to assume that was incorrect, and had been prepared to fight enemies stronger than what they had taken on already.

But she hadn't been quite prepared for just how much stronger these creatures were. And the fact that she had gained the attention of three of them? It took her whole focus to keep from getting struck, and likely killed, by any of them. She parried strikes with her axe's haft, which was barely holding on. Her next model might need to be entirely metal again, she thought. That stray thought almost cost her, and the last-second attempt at a parry jarred her arms. She cursed her inattention, and did her best to focus once more on her enemies.

"What are these things?" Ahma asked, finding her sword barely cutting the creatures.

"Well, if the original run is correct," Alice said between a series of shots, "they used to be people, probably Wood Wailers."

That made Fjalle hesitate, and Ahma barely got herself in between a swiping claw and the Viera. The force of the blow sent her flying towards a doorway, but she spun in midair, and dug her boot heels into the carpet, stopping her momentum just at the edge of the safe area, arms windmilling almost-comically. She sighed in relief, and the door emitted a beam, startling her, but missing her entirely, tail included. She was, however, now several trapped-doorways away from the others, and began the process of returning without getting blasted.

Yaromir finally brought the first creature down, a strike that finally broke through the creature's endurance, forcing its altered body to finally shut down and die.

"That's one!" Alice called out. "Focus on this one next!"

She fired at the one Fjalle was fighting, the lancer jumping and ducking and weaving her way around its swiping claws, though notably not attacking it herself. Alicia was focused on keeping herself alive against the one bearing down on her, and couldn't find an opportunity to grab the second one's attention too.

The combined weight of fire from the party took it down, especially when combined with Salli's new Mage's Ballad, and a lightning strike attack that Yaromir delivered with his Ninjutsu.

"That's two!" Alice shouted, reloading and mentally redirecting Ifrit-Egi at the third creature. The third was occupied trying to fight Alicia, and the sudden attacks knocked it off balance, allowing the Warrior to finally retaliate. Once, twice, three times, her axe swung across the creature's now-unprotected belly, visibly doing significant damage by opening gashes as big as she was.

The altered creature roared in pain, and tried to strike back. Salli hit it in the palm with an arrow enshrouded with wind, and it reared back, clutching with its other claw. Yaromir hit this one with a lightning attack too, and it left the creature wide open.

Alice swung her axe in an overhead, downwards strike, her aetheric build-up causing the strike to damn near cut the creature in two, finally killing it.

"Nice!" said Alice, spinning her guns on her fingers, then holstering them. She quickly readied her star globe, and began to assist Bea in healing the party back up. While a lot of the strikes hadn't fully connected, thanks to everyone being careful, even parried attacks had enough force and momentum to cause injury, and given the auto-heal that Alice was used to didn't exist in the real world… It fell to the two of them to make sure everyone had the strength to keep going.

"So," said Alice, healing Fjalle, having finished with Ahma. "You couldn't bring yourself to fight them?"

"I… It's one thing fighting monsters, it's another if those monsters used to be people," said Fjalle, shaking her head. "Amandine is different, because she chose to gain this power, but if what you said about these creatures we just fought is true…"

Alice couldn't help but mentally compare Fjalle with Captain Lyna of the Crystarium, as well as the fierce Viis of the Rak'tika Greatwood - neither the captain, nor most of the guardians of Ronka would have hesitated to destroy a Sin Eater, a creature of light that, like Voidsent, were once people.

"You know…" Alice began. "It's tough sometimes to figure out how to feel about a lot of things I encounter these days. Just a week ago, I was just a civilian far away from any fighting of any sort. And now, I'm somehow managing to keep my shit together despite that. And despite the mile-wide headache I have."

Fjalle looked at her in confusion. "Mile…? Regardless, it's… Hard to believe that you didn't fight before recently."

"I've been thrown in the deep end a little bit," Alice said with a shrug, moving her healing to… She realised that Bea had already taken care of the others, and herself, and shrugged, putting her star globe away. "Like, I went from a god-damn civilian to fighting pirates, cultists, Garleans… A fucking primal a few days ago. Learn by doing, or die."

"And most usually die," said Ahma. "So, I guess some congratulations are in order?"

"I guess so," Alice said with another shrug. "I get where you're coming from, Fjalle, but I have so much crap ahead of me that I can't afford to hesitate over poor victims that have been turned into monsters."

"That sounds harsh. And oddly certain of the future," said Fjalle.

"Both near and far, I am," Alice said with a nod. "Besides, the void? That used to be a star just like this one. And voidsent used to be people too, a long time ago."

Everyone looked at her in surprise. She blinked. "Had I not told any of you that yet?"

"No!" Alicia yelled. "What!?"

"Oh, well, quick story time, I guess?" Alice took in a deep breath. "Once upon a time, there was one star. That star nearly ended for no reason its people could understand, and the resulting efforts to fix everything left that one star to become fourteen."

"Sorry, how many?" Ostrelle asked.

"Fourteen," Alice repeated. "There's now only seven left - seven umbral calamities will do that."

Almost everyone else looked confused, not quite seeing the calculation yet.

"Oh… this is about that," said Bea. Alice had already told her a little about Shadowbringers, and as a result she'd received a crash course in shards like the First. "But what does this have to do with that?"

"The Ascians tried cracking the worlds back together, starting with number Thirteen," said Alice, her tiredness removing her filter, and making her ignore her previous decision to not share that level of information yet. "But through methods I don't yet completely understand, they messed up, and accidentally overdosed Thirteen with darkness aether. Over time, that turned a star pretty much identical to this one, full of life and people, into a hellscape so toxic, that all of its denizens are now overdosed with darkness, which has fundamentally altered all of them, be they person or animal or even plants."

The party's mood was a mix of contemplative and fearful.

"So, you mean to say, any voidsent we have ever fought or seen… They used to be people?" Bea asked. Her tone indicated she wanted to be sure, and that she wanted the answer to be 'no.'

"Yup!" said Alice. "Or maybe animals. Not all voidsent have humanlike intelligence. Some because they just lost it over time, and some because they never had it."

"'Humanlike'?" Fjalle asked, noticing the strange word.

"Yaknow, like humans," Alice said, then thought about what she said. "Right. Apparently I'm still getting used to saying things that make sense."

She pointed at herself. "I'm a human, not a Hyur. These two things are similar enough that I keep forgetting to make any distinction at times, but I don't think exactly the same. Where I'm from, there's just us - no Viera, no Miqo'te, no Elezen, you name it. Just Humans."

"Just…?" Ostrelle's eyes were wide in wonder and confusion.

Alice also realised she hadn't told her friends that information yet, either.

"The more you know," she said, moving her hand in an arc above her head to mimic the star from the old videos. "We got a dun-ge-on-es to com-ple-tes, so let's get back to it." She overemphasised each syllable, intentionally incorrectly, in a poor attempt to draw attention away from the other topics.

"But you'd better tell us more after that," said Alicia. "Or at least after sleep, too. That's… You've just given us some pretty important information to think about."

Alice sniffed. "Beans. Alright, I guess, but I can already feel the sinking regret from saying even this much at this point. Knowledge is dangerous…"

"And your knowledge has helped keep us alive up to this point," Alicia argued. "Surely us knowing what you know is beneficial?"

"Yes but…" Alice began to squirm, and looked behind her, toward the rest of the manor. "The Ascians listen. They know I know something already, and that's dangerous while you and I don't have a full blessing, let alone these guys without anything. You know what Ascians do when you try to stop them? They just fucking kill you. I don't think I could survive getting nuked by Lahabrea or Emet-Selch right now."

Alicia made a frustrated noise, which indicated to Alice that she understood.

"But… It's different if we want to know despite the risks," said Bea. "You're not just 'putting us in danger.'"

Alice squirmed a little, partly in impatience. "Right but… Can we have this conversation later? When we're somewhere much safer."

"She is right," said Yaromir. "I want to understand these things she is telling us, but we are not safe. Let us leave this manor alive, once we have taken care of its mistress."

"Count me in on the learnin' session later, though," said Salli. "I'm mighty interested, even if this whole 'thirteen other stars' thing don't currently make complete sense."

Alice gave them a thumbs up. "No getting out of it now, then. Let's go shoot a demon woman, then."

They went around the corner, and found themselves in the Manor's main room, at the top of the stairs, behind the barrier that had prevented their access. Alice wanted to go and break the barrier, but there were a few voidsent waiting for them first. One of which was the special glowing-green Manor Sentry, the one Alice recalled was the key to accessing Amandine's room.

"Don't kill the green one!" She pointed it out to the others. "It's our way to Amandine!"

Her shouting attracted the attention of the group of creatures, who swarmed them immediately. A trio of Maidservants, and a pair of other Sentries in addition to the green one. Alice pulled Lightbringer back out of its holster, as well as her star globe, and commenced firing, both with magic and bullets.

Alicia charged in, quickly grabbing the attention of all the voidsent, and focused on channelling her aether defensively this time. Her attacks weren't as powerful as they had been against the Altered probably-Wailer, but she was definitely not taking anywhere near as much damage from the combined assault of six voidsent as she normally would have.

Alice approved, and kept blasting away. Her friends didn't hesitate, attacking the voidsent creatures with as much as they could muster. Yaromir periodically used Ninjutsu for lighting and fire attacks, Salli's lyre came out a few times for some bursts of inspirational music, and some aetherically charged arrow strikes. Bea magically flung gusts of biting wind and clusters of stone, as well as bursts of raw aether, the latter also used to keep Alicia's strength up. Alice's revolver, star globe, and Ifrit-Egi were all contributing to the damage as well, and together the team did more than enough that, while Fjalle and Ahma certainly helped, they definitely were outshined by the Scions.

Thankfully, Alice's warning about the green Sentry had been heeded, and the creature was targeted last. Not that anyone needed to do very much to it - as soon as it realised it was the last creature standing, it turned and fled to the bedchamber doors, busting them down in a flurry of claws.

Alice didn't need to tell the others to follow the creature, and the party of eight - Ostrelle at the very rear of the group - entered Amandine's room.

Just as in Haukke Manor's normal mode, she was lying on her bed, and the Sentry flew towards her to wake her up. The room was suddenly a lot more tense, the aetheric aura now emitting from the former Elezen surprisingly powerful. It almost made Ostrelle fall over, but Alice caught her. Ahma and Fjalle stayed upright through force of will, but it was a visible effort. The Scions, however…

There was a point of light emitting from each of them, around their hearts. It was their Soul Crystals, Alice realised. The sheer strength each crystal harboured was quite powerful in its own right, and just by being attuned to one each, the Scions were unaffected by Amandine's aura.

She rose from bed, in a way Alice could only describe as chest first, followed by her head, legs, wings and arms being pulled up by her torso, until she was then hunched over, like a puppet whose strings were held loosely. And also like a puppet, she quite suddenly became upright, arms and wings outstretched, with a screeching laugh that may once have been pleasant to listen to, before the woman had become a monster. She grinned, and spoke.

"How wonderful that you would bring six whole beauties directly before me." Her voice was wrong, like her laugh had been. Maybe once smooth like silk, it now had a horrible, layered ethereal quality, and made Alice shiver in revulsion.

"You two menfolk will not be allowed to go free, of course, but your tribute is acknowledged," the voidsent continued.

The party was mostly distracted, but the sentence confused them enough to more-or-less bring them back into focus.

"'Two menfolk?' I count only one," said Fjalle.

Amandine pointed at Alice. "Is this one not also menfolk? My senses are honed to feminine beauty, and I can tell a man when I see one."

The party looked toward Alice, still confused, and none looking like they felt they had been tricked or lied to. With the exception of Y'shtola and Alicia, Alice realised she hadn't told any Scions yet, because she didn't need to. And regardless of how open Alice was about the fact, Amandine outing her was just rude on principle, let alone calling her a man outright.

Alice shook, furious. Her eyes blazed, so viciously angry at the creature before her in a way that only the rapist slaving bastard Doesmaga had reached. Alice had hated Amandine already for her crimes of murder and kidnapping, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back, totally unleashing her anger.

"You absolute scum," said Alice. "You total dogshit, fucking stain on this world, piece of rat turd. Die."

Amandine's pleased expression turned angry. "If you had wanted my favour, you have certainly lost it-"

"EAT SHIT AND DIE!" Alice shouted at her, firing both pistols directly at Amandine's face, unconsciously firing shots of pure aether once more due to her rage.

Ifrit-Egi blazed like it never had before, and moved across the entire room so swiftly it almost couldn't be seen. The Manor Sentry had been ready for such an event, and interposed itself between the egi and its master, but was utterly destroyed for its efforts, becoming little more than blackened goo in a few seconds. Alice was still shouting, wordless angry sounds that were another outlet for her rage. Amandine, too, was shouting in anger- her face had been hit once, before she could react, with a round of light, and was now scarred by the opposing aether. Her arms were in front of her face now, taking the brunt of the shots on her forearms.

The others took this as a sign to attack, and they moved to overwhelm Amandine while she was occupied shielding her precious face from the onslaught of aether rounds. Their friend's extreme anger reaction spurred the Scions to go all out once again, figuring that even if they didn't understand exactly what had triggered such a response, their friend's anger and hurt was real, and Amandine needed to be put down regardless. Fjalle and Ahma also weren't hesitating this time, having their own reasons to want Amandine dead, let alone whatever was going on with their saviours.

Their momentum was slowed somewhat, when Amandine teleported into the middle of the room and began casting… Something. Alice quickly retrained her aim on the voidsent woman, though was too enraged to think about trying to stop the cast. When a new Manor Sentry appeared, however, and its eye began to glow, Alice snapped out of it as her brain showed her a faint but visible floating eye symbol above the creature, and the room began to take on an orange glow.

"Look away from that thing! Now!"

The party eventually did as she said, and just in time - Salli had needed to run to Ostrelle and cover her eyes with one hand, and just barely did so before the Sentry's petrification spell activated, to no effect. It disappeared with a screech, and Amandine summoned another Maidservant. The audible apparation of the creature caused them all to turn back, and they focused their attacks on the new arrival. It crumpled and died almost instantly, as it was shot, burned, stabbed, and struck by lightning.

Amandine was panicking now, visibly feeling backed into a corner. She became enraged. "In my own home! In my domain! This will not stand!"

"Then lie down and die!" Alice shouted, pouring more aetheric rounds in. As the attacks continued, Amandine tried to do something, cast a spell… But then, at the peak of the cast, she was defeated. Unbeknownst to the team, however, her spell had succeeded, although its effects weren't immediately obvious. Alice took in a deep, invigorating breath, suddenly feeling a lot better than she had a few minutes ago.

"Didn't even need to Limit Break that bitch," said Alice. "Weak. Yowai! Yowa sawa tsumi!"

Alicia was the only other person who understood the Japanese, thanks to the Echo. "'Weakness is a sin?'"

"Correct," said Alice.

"Then you people are, indeed, quite sinful," came an unmistakably Ascian voice from the doorway, speaking a dialect of the old Amaurotine language.

The group turned to face the newcomers, as two Ascians had appeared in the doorway. Alice walked towards them, moving to stand in between them and the others with her arms crossed.

"Cut the garbage and speak common if you want to insult all of us, you fucking dweebs," said Alice, scowling at the new arrivals. "Who were you guys again? Words of Lahabrea or something?"

"You are incorrect, but that is to be expected," the first one said in Common. Alice had the distinct impression that he was an asshat. "I am the Twelfth Staff."

"I am the Twelfth Sword," said the other. "And we came not to play with you, but to observe. Master Lahabrea was not exaggerating when he said you were an intriguing group."

"It is a pleasure to meet you at last, adventurers," said Staff.

"Can't say I feel the same," Alice replied, voice dripping with disdain. "What do you want?"

"Merely to meet you, and witness you in action," Sword said with a bow. "Ordinarily, we would simply leave after such a meeting, but there seems to be something you have left unfulfilled here."

Alice narrowed her eyes and looked around. Amandine's remains had become a dark mist and drifted towards the ceiling, and there was no one left but the Ascians and the party. Alice finally noted the expressions on each of her comrades' faces.

Alicia was irritated, impatient, wanting this meeting to soon end, either by being left alone or more violently. Yaromir and Salli were wary, slightly put off by the appearance of the Ascians. Bea looked resolute, though tired, her aetheric expenditure starting to take its toll. Fjalle, Ahma and Ostrelle all looked to be feeling varying mixtures of confusion and fear, the botanist being the most obviously out of her depth.

Alice turned back to the Ascians. "Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"You have one more challenge here yet, adventurers," Staff said. While the Ascian's grey mask covered his mouth, Alice could hear his shit-eating grin in his tone of voice. "Try not to disappoint us."

A rush of darkness flew in through the doorway into the bedroom, behind the Ascians, and flew past them, past most of the party, and finally coalescing into a solid form right next to Ostrelle.

The powerful voidsent lord, Halicarnassus, laughed as she grabbed Ostrelle, made herself and her captive both intangible, and pulled the screaming Elezen woman through the floor. All before anyone could do anything to stop her.

The room was silent for a few shocked seconds, broken by Alice shouting.

"Fuck!"

"What was that?" asked Ahma.

"Hali-fucking-carnassus, who is somehow already here," said Alice, angry. "Now we need to go back to the goddamn basement."

"Oh, you'll find the manor is no longer sealed," Staff announced. "You are free to leave if you wish. I know you are aware of how dangerous and powerful Halicarnassus is."

"We can go…?" asked Alice, frowning.

"That big voidsent grabbed Ostrelle!" Fjalle exclaimed, looking at Ahma, clearly torn on whether to leave or not. "What do we do?"

"I… I don't know, I feel outclassed here…"

"This is stupid," said Alicia, shaking her head. "Are you seriously contemplating leaving?"

She directed this at Alice, who was lost in thought.

"Hm? Well, I'd be lying if I said no," the human admitted. "I am seriously spent, and we had trouble with just a few of the higher tier monsters in this place, let alone the End Boss."

"So, leave, then," said Alicia, then scoffed in distaste. "I'm gonna go kill that thing and save that botanist."

"Well, yeah," said Alice. "I can't leave now. I mean, I'm actually fucked by myself, but since you'll be there, I think we'll be fine."

"You mean we will be there," Yaromir said with a grin, then looked at Bea and Salli. "And I assume you lovely ladies will accompany us?"

"Even if there wasn't someone in danger, the Elementals wouldn't let this creature's existence stand, and I would never hear the end of it," said Bea.

"I reckon I'm game fer another big target," said Salli. "Plus, savin' the poor girl, o' course, but I figure that's a given."

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "You all could have just said 'I'm going', but alright. Let's go."

Alice turned to the other two. "If you two genuinely don't think you can manage, don't feel bad for leaving."

Fjalle and Ahma looked at her, still conflicted.

"I'm serious, don't kill yourselves over this, we can manage," she said. She then turned to the Ascians, who had yet to depart. "You two can go back to watching from the shadows if you want, shoo. Bugger off. Or better yet, go trip and fall on a sharp rock or five."

"We shall leave you to your task. Farewell," said Sword, and teleported away without any more fanfare. Staff bowed and followed him. Alice was surprised he hadn't taken the time to leave a parting insult.

"Man, fuck those guys," said Alice. "Now let's go eat a daemon."

"I… Wait. We will come with you," said Fjalle.

"We will?" Ahma looked at Fjalle in surprise, then sighed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, we will. We have to."

"No, really, I wasn't trying to bait you both into joining us," said Alice. "You don't-"

"Shut up and let 'em do it," said Alicia. "Now let's go."

The walk back down to the basement was a tricky one. The dungeon hadn't simply repopulated, but it had a lot tougher enemies and void doors, like on the upper floor. The only saving grace was the lack of Hard Mode's second boss, Ash, who was conspicuously absent, but Alice wasn't going to question that now. Despite the bursts of energy she kept feeling, she was long past overtired, and that was affecting her. Paranoia, aching eyes, slower reaction times, with a sprinkle of some slightly worse decision making to garnish the ordeal.

"Uhhh, that guy! Wait, no, that one!"

"Make up your mind!" Alicia called out in irritation. She was getting attacked by another trio of the Altered creatures, as well as some skeletons and a pair of Maidservants. They had been waiting close together, and there had been no way to get the attention of some and not the rest. "They're really- urgh! - hard to defend against if you keep- godsdammit! - switching targets!"

"Sorry!" Alice responded, too tired to be sheepish. She had stopped being able to use aetheric rounds again, and was once more using normal bullets, while trying to direct Ifrit-Egi and use a little bit of Astromancy. She really was overwhelming herself, she realised. Three disciplines at once was a mistake, even if it had so far been working out alright.

Maybe it's fine, she thought. At least until the end of the Manor.

Between the seven of them, however, the mistakes in Alice's direction could be accounted for. Bea's military experience was a significant part of that, correcting decisions she saw as not right.

"Target the succubi first," she said, her voice calm but loud enough to be heard. Salli and Yaromir were only a little thrown off by the almost conflicting information, but had noticed just how exhausted their usual strategist was, and so they adapted.

Ahma and Fjalle were keeping up, albeit barely. They could follow just fine, but had to be especially careful once any fighting broke out. The difference in strength between them and the others was still notable, even to Alice's tired mind. But, they contributed as best they could, now lacking any of the hesitation that had plagued them before the fight with Amandine.

Once the last altered creature had been taken care of - Ifrit-Egi tearing through its weakened form - they progressed further, and made it to the basement's doorway, which was still unlocked and wide open. The darkness within seemed far more ominous now, like the open maw of an especially dangerous predatory creature, waiting for its prey to blindly walk in to be eaten. Even Alicia, still wielding her axe, hesitated when looking inside.

"That place feels so much worse now," said Salli. "I don't like it."

"Aw, come on, we can deal with it together, eh?" said Yaromir, although even he sounded a little less sure than usual.

"We gotta do it, guys," said Alice. "I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna fucken go down there, and just fucken… Man, I lost track of that sentence."

"You did," Alicia agreed. She looked at Alice expectantly, waiting to see what she would do next.

Alice stomped her right foot, then her left. She made a wordless exclamation of frustration, something approaching a berserker's warcry, but still somehow restrained. Immediately, she felt better, her shoulders more relaxed, her stance more natural, and she looked at the party expectantly. The sudden noise had startled everyone except Yaromir. After several silent seconds, Alice laughed, and the tension drained from the party.

"Good shit," said Alice. "Wow… Alright, lead the way, then, fearless leader."

Alicia's eyes narrowed in confusion, an eyebrow raised, and she looked like she wanted to say something. But she shook her head, and took the lead.

Alice was only using one pistol at this point, just her revolver, while her other hand kept her Star Globe elevated and active. Ifrit-Egi was still around, although it looked somewhat… dim. Alice's ability to read aether had been slowly improving, and while nowhere near the level of Y'shtola, even she could tell that the egi likely wasn't going to be around much longer.

The basement was once more rife with creatures, all empowered by Halicarnassus' dark aether. Not only had the skeletons been resurrected, but more voidsent had been summoned. Now accompanying the Maidservants and Sentries were winged creatures that Alice remembered were known as 'Vodoriga', although aside from their wicked talons, she couldn't remember what they could actually do in a fight.

The first group of these creatures was a not insignificant one. One Maidservant and one Vodoriga, but eight aetherically reinforced skeletons accompanied them. Alice found this out by popping her head around the doorway between the basement's first room and the main corridor. The Maidservant made a noise, and pointed in Alice's direction. She grimaced, and bolted back into the room.

"Shit's bad, get ready," she told the others, moving to stand behind Alicia. The Warrior grunted, and moved to stand just behind the doorway, readying her axe for a swing. She listened out, and when she decided the group of enemies was close enough, before she could even see them, she grunted and swung the axe at roughly head height. A pair of skeletons at the front of the enemy group appeared and were subsequently beheaded, the Warrior having empowered her swing with no small amount of aether. Though reinforced, the skeletons hadn't been ready to defend themselves quite so quickly, and died once more, a burst of dark aether dissipating into the air above two collapsing piles of bones.

The next part of the enemy group was quickly set upon by those with ranged attacks, spells and bullets and arrows and conjured shurikens flying into them. Ifrit-Egi, too, was sent into the mix, swiping and slashing with its remaining strength.

Once the Vodoriga appeared, however, Ifrit-Egi was destroyed. The winged creature moved fast, even accounting for the blind spot around the doorway, it had moved with lightning speed, its talons suddenly embedded in the small, flaming familiar's main body. The egi shrieked, and detonated, casting a wave of heat and flame over the skeletons, damaging them further.

Unfortunately, Alice had felt its death with her own body. While not as devastating as the death of her Topaz Carbuncle in Tam-Tara, or the attack the egi had made upon her during its first summoning, she still felt like she could really feel the Vodoriga's claws in her own torso. She began to cough, a fit that stunned her, causing her to lose track of the spell she was casting.

Bea immediately shifted priority, wordlessly trying to figure out what, specifically, had happened to Alice when the familiar died. She looked concerned, unable to do anything more than transfer some of her aether to her friend, since there were no wounds that she could heal.

Alice gave her a thumbs up, and recovered as best she could. Salli, Yaromir and Alicia had continued their attacks on the approaching enemies, and the adventurer duo had used the time to take up a stance at the opposite side of the doorway to Alicia. Ahma stood at the front, shield raised to defend Fjalle, who could easily attack over her shorter friend's shoulder in the style that reminded Alice of history lessons on ancient Greek or Roman battle lines.

Alice was beyond exhausted. She absolutely needed to sleep, and should have done so hours ago, the nap after her collapse notwithstanding.

I fought Doesmaga just this morning! What the hell is today!?

She couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of just how much had happened today alone. By the time she looked up again, Alicia was beheading the Vodoriga, the last of the enemies that had been arrayed against them.

"Great work, team…!" said Alice, panting. Why was she having trouble breathing? She had only just realised, and it scared her. "Let's… let's get going!"

"Are you alright?" asked Bea.

"Not in the slightest!" said Alice, smiling and still giggling a little. "Feels like when I stayed awake for forty-eight hours with just a lot of cola to keep me going!"

"What is 'cola?'" asked Fjalle.

"Sweet drink full of caffeine and bubbles," said Alice. "And a multi-year addiction I'm surprised I haven't had cravings for, now that I think about it… Anyway, let's go!"

"That's… Are you sure-" Bea began.

"Hugh Betcher!" said Alice, putting a heavier Australian accent on to make the pronunciation joke actually audible. A wince told them she was not, in fact, remotely okay, as she had said, but she refused to stop moving, so there wasn't much anyone could do short of knocking her out.

At last, the entrance to the basement's central room remained, for the second time today. Although unlike their first visit, the aura of power and dread that Halicarnassus emitted was palpable. Alice shivered.

"I don't like this at all…" said Fjalle. "I'm not backing down now, but…"

Ahma nodded. "Yeah, that voidsent is powerful. Even with almost no experience with these things, I can tell."

Alice waved a hand. "Psh. We'll- Well." She paused, not wanting to tempt fate or the likely-still-nearby Ascians. "We'll see how we go."

They entered the room. It was darker than before, the sconces now burning with dark pink flames. In the centre, Halicarnassus loomed, silently floating and gazing at her hands, inspecting her nails. Far behind her, in a bubble of purple energy, Ostrelle sat in the foetal position. She seemed to be asleep or unconscious, and didn't react to the party's arrival.

Halicarnassus, on the other hand, definitely noticed, but didn't look away from her nails. "Finally, you're here."

She sounded almost disappointed, even bored, and it made her slightly altered voice far stranger than Amandine's had been, despite sounding relatively less distorted. She giggled, and her left hand clenched into a fist, surrounded by more purple energy.

"I had thought maybe I found more interesting playthings than that bore Amandine, once I felt her die," Halicarnassus recited in mock sadness. "But alas, you are all just pitiful, stupid creatures. Useless to me except as a brief meal."

"Ma'am, this isn't a Wendy's," said Alice. "No food for you here."

"You, especially, seem quite annoying," Halicarnassus responded. The glow around her hand hadn't dissipated, nor had it changed. But she opened her hand, and the wall once more sealed behind them, exactly as it had done the first time they all entered the room. "I do not appreciate you stealing my meals."

Ah. She did that, then? Alice thought. And what is she talking about?

"You're strong, true," said Alice. "But I'll bet we're stronger than you~."

Halicarnassus grinned, inhumanly wide and full of sharp teeth. "Prove it."

Alicia charged at the voidsent, roaring as she unleashed her Rage. Her strike was stopped, a pair of long fingers with sharp nails held out to catch the weapon as if it weighed nothing. Halicarnassus chuckled, and dark aether blasted out of her hand and into the Warrior's chest, sending her flying back into the wall. Alicia gasped as the impact stole the air from her lungs, and her axe clattered to the ground, followed soon after by the stunned Warrior.

Alice cast Combust as she began to fire shots from her revolver, emptying all six chambers as quickly as she could. The rest of the party used her first shot as a signal to begin an all-out attack. It was long past time for pride to keep any abilities hidden, they all knew, or else they would not make it out of this manor alive.

Yaromir stabbed and slashed, weaving in mudra hand-signs between strikes to hit the Voidsent with magical attacks. Salli strummed her lyre, providing bardic boosts to heighten everyone's senses and reflexes. Bea cast bursts of wind to wrap around the creature, cutting and burning and dealing damage over time. Ahma and Fjalle rushed in to join Yaromir up close to the Voidsent with their weapons.

A laugh bubbled from Halicarnassus. She didn't seem pained by the attacks, and it was impossible to tell if anything they were doing to her was doing any damage at all.

"So much for being stronger," said Halicarnassus, her grin seeming to somehow widen.

Her hand glowed, and in quick succession she cast several spells. The first summoned a pair of Maidservants behind the party, followed by a trio of dark aetheric bolts that flew at Ahma, Salli and Alice. The bolts hit the centre of each adventurer's chests, detonating on impact with waves of force and pain. They went down hard, each barely conscious from the attack. Alice felt her body more affected than her already-suffering mind, and was able to keep watching the fight from the ground.

The Maidservants floated towards their new prey, eagerly giggling at the rich feast of aether that awaited them. With a roar like that of a dragon, Alicia struck them with the force of a speeding train, literally glowing as her rage took her over. She bisected one of the voidsent creatures diagonally, before it had a chance to notice her. The second turned and managed a quick, desperate swipe, but found itself missing a hand for its trouble, before its head went sailing off into a far corner of the room. Both bodies shivered for a few seconds before dissolving into dark mist, leaving Halicarnassus somewhat impressed.

"Well, well… Maybe this will be interesting." The voidsent lord ignored the other trio of adventurers still attacking her and sent another trio of dark bolts, all aimed at the Warrior. Alicia took them all, visibly pained, but remained standing. She leapt at Halicarnassus, axe raised, and the Voidsent put up a proper aetheric shield to defend herself. The shield glowed where it met the axe, the opposing energies crackling and sizzling.

Alicia grunted, and her axe glowed a brilliant red as she fed more of her energies directly into it. The head bit into the shield, and Halicarnassus grimaced. The voidsent lord put up her hand, and it glowed again, firing bolt after bolt through her shield at the Warrior. Alicia roared again from the pain, but it only seemed to empower her more. The axe's head passed through the barrier, moving past Halicarnassus' outstretched hand, and bit into her shoulder. Where it made contact, there was a brilliant flash of white light, and Halicarnassus cried out in surprise, clearly not used to the sensation of pain anymore.

Yaromir, Bea and Fjalle had rushed to protect their injured comrades, but now all six could only watch in amazement as Alicia managed to actually succeed in hurting the creature. Bea began work on healing the injured as quickly as she could, her battlefield instincts telling her it wasn't over just because they scored one hit, as powerful as it had been.

And she was right - once Halicarnassus' cry had died out, she blasted Alicia in the chest with more dark aether, point-blank. The Warrior took the hit, but the Voidsent, enraged, fired more and more blasts, over and over until finally the Warrior was overwhelmed. She was sent flying again, her axe remaining embedded in the voidsent's shoulder, and this time didn't move once she hit the ground.

"No!" Alice shouted, weakly. She raised a hand in Alicia's direction, but couldn't do anything… she felt a whole lot of aether swirl within her, but she couldn't get it to do anything. She was so tired…

No. She had to do something. Push through. Life or death.

The thoughts raced around in her head, that she had to do something… But it was too much, what could she do?

"Remain calm," said Bea, quietly, shaking a little, but she repeated it again, louder and with more surety. "Remain calm!"

Alice's wavering, wandering mind latched onto this phrase, neurons firing almost randomly and linking it to someone etched into her memories and recent hyperfixations.

Maria Cadenzavna Eve.

"Granzizel bilfen Gungnir zizzl…" Alice intoned, the surprisingly intense ambient aether rushing around her, mixing with her own reserves. Her hands raised and glowed as she worked her magic.

She never quite understood how she did what she did that night. Somehow, similar to her aetheric manipulations in Tam-Tara, the Bowl of Embers and Toto-Rak, she managed to pull all of the ambient aether and shape it, her addled brain using her focused thoughts as a mould for the aether's shape.

This time, the aether surrounded Bea, causing her to glow. She looked down in surprise, watching as the aether formed a sort of armour around her body, eventually coalescing into…

"Wh… What am I wearing!?" She cried, confused. She was even more confused to find that she now held a spear, and while she could tell it was definitely the one that had been next to Fjalle moments ago, it looked quite different now. "What is happening?"

The music going through their minds, something they had tuned out after a while, stopped. In its place, a new song started playing from somewhere on the back of Bea's armour. Alice giggled, hands still outstretched and glowing, sounding as if she was intoxicated. "Beeeea! Have fun with Gungniiiiir~!"

"What do I- ah!" Bea jumped out of the way of one of Halicarnassus' attacks, and yelped as she found herself going a lot further and faster in the single leap than she had anticipated, similar to a Dragoon's capital-J Jump. She managed to land on her feet, and leapt back towards the voidsent lord, spear raised in a trained if basic grip. Halicarnassus raised another shield, but the spear punctured it with the sound of breaking glass, embedding itself in her outstretched hand. She cried out in pain again, and raised her other hand, glowing with more dark aether, to do what she had done to Alicia. As the bolts fired, Bea found her cape moved to intercept them, saving her from the attack in its entirety.

Bea somersaulted herself onto her spear's haft, standing on the thin metal with an ease that surprised her as well. She lunged at Halicarnassus, and simply punched the stunned voidsent in the face. The blow hit far harder than it had any right to - Bea was by no means weak, but she wasn't ordinarily strong enough to cause small shockwaves from the impact of her punches. If she noticed, she didn't let it stop her, and she punched again, another solid blow. Halicarnassus reeled from the force of the two hits, and Bea used the chance to retrieve both her spear and Alicia's axe, leaping back to land with the others. The voidsent lord cried out again as the weapons were wrenched free, hurting her even more.

"What did you do?" Yaromir asked Alice.

Alice looked up at Bea in amazement and undisguised infatuation. "Pretty…"

Bea blushed, Yaromir sighed, and Fjalle just stared at them. "What is happening right now?"

"She… Did something similar when we went to rescue the Sylph elder," Salli said slowly. She had recovered from her hits somewhat, enough to sit up at the very least, but still looked pained. Halicarnassus was too busy writhing in pain or fury or both to attack them for a few more moments. "Not like this, though."

Halicarnassus growled, and righted herself, glaring at Bea. "You… How do you have such power?"

"She believes in Justice!" cried Alice, slamming a glowing fist on the ground. She was far more sober than she was when she went down. "Without that, my Concept would've shattered immediately."

Bea frowned. "Justice, huh…?"

"I don't care what she believes in," Halicarnassus snarled. "But I will have your aether!"

The voidsent moved faster than they could track, suddenly upon them, swinging down with a taloned right hand, empowered by her not-insignificant aetheric reserves. Bea brought her spear up to parry it, her reflexes saving her life but sending her sliding back several yalms. She lunged forward, attempting to strike while her foe was off her guard, but the voidsent's left hand raised up and deflected the strike, although she took a slice along her arm for the trick.

Bea brought Alicia's axe up with her other hand. Her newfound boosted strength wasn't enough to make it move like a sword, but the strike still connected with Halicarnassus' right arm, slicing it off at the elbow. The voidsent reached out to catch it, perhaps looking to reattach the limb, but Yaromir activated a Mudra combination and struck the severed limb with a bolt of lightning. The attack had barely scorched the voidsent before, but the limb was apparently no longer protected, the lightning frying it into a blackened, unrecognisable mass.

"No!" Halicarnassus screeched.

Fjalle, armed with Ahma's borrowed sword, flanked the voidsent to its left, and Yaromir mirrored her action. They attacked once more, their weapons getting little purchase but finally doing something to the creature at least. Halicarnassus snarled, duelling with Bea and trying to ignore the other two. After several seconds of intense back and forth, neither able to land another hit, Halicarnassus unleashed a wave of uncontrolled aether from her body. It wasn't powerful, but it did the job of pushing everyone away from her. She began to summon something, and Alice's eyes widened.

"Stop her!" She cried, unable to contribute while she controlled the aetheric Symphogear around Bea. "Party wipe!"

Fjalle didn't understand, but the others did - Yaromir and Bea lunged back to the Voidsent, attempting to stop her-

Lady Amandine, dazed but resurrected, appeared before Halicarnassus. Before she could utter a sound, however, Halicarnassus reached down and broke her neck in one quick strike. She grabbed the limp voidsent by the neck, and brought the corpse's head up to her mouth, ready to take a bite.

Time seemed to slow, everyone's senses heightening, willing themselves to either get there faster or to be capable of assisting in some way.

A gunshot rang out, and the corpse's head exploded, spraying Halicarnassus' face with gore that quickly evaporated into dark mist. The bullet passed through the side of Halicarnassus' head, leaving a clean hole half an ilm in diameter. Shadowbringer, held aloft by a weary Salli, fired a second shot, this one hitting Halicarnassus in the forehead and passing through. She fired again and again, turning the voidsent lord's head into a gruesome swiss cheese. When the weapon clicked empty, Salli sighed.

Halicarnassus was still alive. Despite the look of the damage, the bullets had not been enough. The voidsent healed the holes, her face now a mask of fury. She screeched and struck down at Salli, the Miqo'te still unable to move fast enough to escape under own power.

Bea lanced through Halicarnassus' brain mid strike, the Created Gungnir once again ignoring the rules of its target's defences. Alice grinned and snapped her fingers, and the spear exploded. All the energy wrapped around the mundane weapon, as well as everything wrapped around Bea as armour, was fired forward, away from Bea and straight at Halicarnassus' head.

LIMIT BREAK: HORIZON†SPEAR

This did it: Halicarnassus entire head was destroyed faster than she could think to regenerate it. All she could think as she died was that she was out of the void. Her death was going to be permanent. She wanted to scream, but her head, along with any remaining thoughts, was obliterated. Her body twitched, the uncontrolled talons coming remarkably close to Salli, but it collapsed, and came apart in a mist. The red light in the room disappeared, and the missing doorway reappeared.

No one moved for several seconds, all wary that something might still happen. They all jumped when the aetheric bubble surrounding Ostrelle popped, depositing the sleeping elezen to the ground.

"We did it…!" Ahma said weakly, still lying on the ground. She had been the most injured by the magical attack, and was still unable, or perhaps unwilling, to move from the pain. "Yay…!"

Alice's hands dropped to the ground, the glow gone. She began to laugh, a deep and full laugh from the adrenaline and survival-

She was violently ill, the aether sickness from the limit break overtaking her.

"Eugh." Ahma made a disgusted face, Alice's sickness a little too close for her liking.

"Now we have to either move you or clean that up," said Bea, sighing.

"I vote we move them," said Fjalle, carrying Ostrelle to the group.

"There are five of them and three of us," said Yaromir, carrying Alicia. The Warrior stirred, but didn't regain consciousness.

Bea checked her over, used a little bit of magic, and nodded. "Well, she's asleep now at least. Better for her."

"Can I get some help?" Ahma asked. "A bit of a zap and I'll be fine, I think."

"I need a bed…" said Alice, groaning. She rolled her body so she was slightly further away from the puddle she had left. "I'm jelly of Licia right now."

"You're… What?" Salli asked. She had used her arms to also move further away from her previous location, leaving Ahma to grumble that she couldn't do the same.

"Jelly, short for "jealous". …Though it really just means envious, I guess," said Alice.

"You can sleep when we get back to Gridania," said Bea. "Now be still and let me help you all get up."

As had been the case for the entire time of their stay within the manor, none of them noticed the cloud of aether flowing towards Alice, absorbed along with the air she breathed. Once more it gave her a burst of energy, allowing her to stand, wholly unaware of the quantity of raw aether she had just taken in.

Chapter Text

The walk back outside ended up being a safe affair. The constant deaths of the voidsent occupying the mansion, and the resulting lessening of their dark presence, apparently hadn’t gone unnoticed by the Seedseers. By the time everyone bar Alicia and Ostrelle could walk again, a force of Twin Adder soldiers and Wood Wailers, led by Kan-E-Senna herself, were outside the mansion, preparing to enter. Alice had been relieved that the main doors did actually open, half-expecting them to remain sealed despite the deaths of most, if not all, of the voidsent inside.

"...Wait! Lower your weapons!" she heard Kan-E say. The first thing she could see past the door frame was an array of spears and swords levelled at her, which relaxed at the Elder Seedseer's command. Kan-E pushed to the front of the line and began to look over the adventurers. "You have done it… The Elementals detect little trace of the horrible presence afflicting the land any longer."

"We… almost died several times, but yeah," said Alice, giving a thumbs-up. "Two giant voidsent down, as well as a whole lot of smaller ones."

"Elder Seedseer, we have also rescued some captives we met within the manor's basement," said Bea, bowing to Kan-E. "Two of our number need the attendance of chirurgeons, to be certain of their health."

Kan-E nodded, and smiled sadly. "I understand, although I believe you all could do with medical attention."

"I…" Bea began, but trailed off, and instead nodded, deferring to the senior White Mage's judgement. "Of course, ma'am."

Alice shook her head. "What I need - desperately - is sleep, but sure. We've all taken a few hits today."

"Speak for yourself," said Yaromir, suppressing a grin. "I think they preferred you as targets for some reason."

"Even so, please allow yourself to be examined, if only to ensure you are correct," said Kan-E.

He nodded, unwilling to argue with the leader of a city-state. "As you wish."

Most of the next hour was a blur to Alice, as she and the others were led to a hospital-like place she didn't catch the name of within the city, although somehow she wasn't even sure where in the city she was. The Serpent's Nest, maybe…? She remembered being checked over by a conjurer in the grand company's yellow uniform, and pronounced fit enough to not require anything special, just a lot of rest. She also remembered her stomach growling loud enough to catch the attention of the other ten or so people in the room immediately after that pronouncement.

"Ah… I haven't eaten in almost a day, huh?" She said this mostly to herself, but the conjurer's eyes widened, and they raced off somewhere. Alice shrugged, and stood. She and the others had been taken into a long room with a row of beds on either side, all divided by partitions. It reminded her of a hospital mixed with a wood cabin.

She walked over to Alicia's bed, where Bea stood, watching intently for… Something. Alice wasn't sure what. She noticed Alice and turned her head to face her, expression grim.