Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Life of Erin Tribal ❯ Chapter 36

The Life of Erin Tribal Chapter 36

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A/N: A quick note: As of this chapter, my main, un-cut for chapter, file of this has hit 100 pages in size 12 text. Oh yeah, this chapter kind of switches from humor to sadness and then back to a little humor, I think anyway.

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The group headed out of Thamasa and headed down the strip of land. As they did so, they got rid of any monsters getting in their way. After an hour, they were heading around a mountain range and started north again. They made it to the caves after another hour, and Erin could've sworn she'd seen Relm more than once during the trip.

They headed through the caves, Strago showing them which way to go. He pointed right and they headed that way. Erin caught a glimpse of Relm and she shook her head. She vaguely saw Relm nod, and then walk off before there was a wall in her way.

They made there way through the caves, Erin eying Relm now and then, and every time she did, she shook her head. By the time they made it to the statues, Erin had avoided Relm almost running into them the room before. When they were at the statues, Erin saw her walk in, notice them, and then go and hide in the entrance to the room.

When Erin looked back again, Locke was leaning down by one of the statues.

"There's a faded inscription here. Strago, are these the right ones?" the treasure hunter asked.

"Yes, they are."

Erin watched as Terra walked towards Strago, who was standing near Erin, and then walked over by the statues. Erin didn't pay attention to what they were saying, and saw Relm walk out of the room far enough, pointing to the group as she did.

"What's up, Erin?" Terra asked the girl.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"If you say so. Come on!"

Erin walked after the group, only to be interrupted by the octopus she had seen at the opera house.

"What do you want, squidball?" Locke shouted at the octopus. "Don't you ever learn!"

"Who're you calling squidball!" the octopus shouted back.

`The octopus talks?' Erin thought, starting to get confused.

"Everyone, use fire on this thing," Locke instructed, preparing up a fire spell he had learned from Ifrit.

Erin, Terra, and Strago also started to hit the octopus with fire.

"Ultros very mad now!" it shouted, hitting Locke with a tentacle.

Erin saw Relm out of the corner of her eye. She was about to shout, `Relm!' but stopped herself short when Strago said it first.

"Relm! What are you doing here?" the old man shouted at the girl.

"You get to have all the fun. Hey, what do we have here?" Relm asked herself, turning towards Ultros.

"Get back little girl before Ultros hits you!" Ultros ordered Relm.

"It talks?" she asked aloud. "Listen, Ulty, Why don't you pose for me so I can draw your picture?"

"No way!" Ultros protested.

Relm fell to her knees, and Erin felt like she could feel her pain. "Forget it!"

"Hey Ultros, look what you did to her!" Erin exclaimed, walking over to Relm.

"Yeah, you are making her cry! Why don't you let her draw your portrait?" Terra proclaimed, joining Erin and Terra.

Relm got up with a little help from Erin.

"Look Ultros, let little Relm here draw your portrait," Locke said, walking over beside Ultros.

"Fine, fine," Ultros said, and then put on the best kiddy voice an octopus could. "Oh, all right, Uncle Ulty really wants you to do his portrait!"

"YAY!" Relm shouted.

The three people ran back over to where Strago was still standing. Relm quickly sketched Ultros, and the sketch used a tentacle on Ultros.

"Woah! I'm running See you later!" the octopus shouted, and disappeared.

Now that the battle was over, Strago turned to face Relm. Erin saw him, and gave a high-five to Relm.

"Let's get going, shall we?" suggested Erin.

"And you aren't leaving me behind!" Relm protested.

"But..." Strago started.

"Strago let her come. She may prove herself useful," Terra interrupted.

"Yes!" Relm exclaimed, and her and Erin did another high-five.

The started off again, still following Strago's directions. They finally came to a room, which had three holes, which looked like one could fall through.

"It's the bottom one," Strago stated, pointing to the bottom hole.

Locke fell through, which opened the hole for everyone else. After he moved, Strago carefully fell through. He was followed Erin, Relm, and Terra in that order.

"From here, just follow the path," Strago instructed.

They did so, and several minutes later, found themselves facing the Espers. Once again, Erin didn't really pay attention to what was said.

"You know Relm, you almost got caught," Erin whispered to her.

"Yeah, I know," she admitted.

"Come on, we're heading back to Thamasa," Terra announced to the group.

"Let us help you out then," said one of the espers.

In less than a few minutes, they were back at Thamasa somehow. The group headed to the back of the town, and stopped suddenly when they saw Celes and Leo there.

"Welcome back," Leo said.

"Good work, Leo, you got them," said a voice.

The source of the voice stepped out of a portal and walked to right next to Leo.

"Kefka!" Erin shouted.

Relm looked at Kefka and gasped. Erin knew she could sense evil radiating from Kefka, just as she could.

"Time to get some magicite!" Kefka laughed evilly.

"No you won't, not if I can stop you!" Leo shouted at Kefka.

Erin looked over at Terra and saw her whisper something that looked liked `Oh no, Leo'.

Leo drew his sword, but didn't attack for some reason. Erin looked to see the cause, and instead of Kefka, there was standing Emperor Gestahl.

`That can't be him though!' Erin thought.

"Haha, Leo, didn't think you would attack the emperor. You'll pay!" yelled Gestahl.

Erin didn't hear what the fake Gestahl said next, but there was suddenly a bright light surrounding Leo. She watched as he collapsed in a dead heap. He didn't move a single muscle, or even breath.

"KEFKA!" Terra shouted.

"Now, all the espers will be turned into magicite!" Kefka shouted, changing back to his actual form and raising his hand, and aiming some magic at five of the espers.

It seemed as if they tried to move, but couldn't. The light surrounded them, and they disappeared, and in their place showed. Kefka laughed like a maniac while he called the new magicite to him. He did the same thing until all the espers were gone.

"Kefka, you have gone way to far!" Erin shouted at the man.

"Oh, have I? Well, just try and stop me!" Kefka shouted, a smirk forming across his face.

He disappeared in a flash of black light. The ground suddenly started to shake, and they saw a floating island hover above them.

"Oh no, what has he done?" Relm asked them.

There was a sudden sound of an airship landing, stopping, and a ramp being let down. Erin turned around to the entrance and saw Edgar, Setzer, Harry, Cyan, Sabin, Mog, and Gau all running towards them.

"You got it fixed!" Erin remarked.

"Of course!" Setzer proudly said. "But it was almost hit by that floating island that Kefka's on."

`Oh great, don't tell me we have to go UP there!' Erin complained in her head.

Erin looked at Harry, who was staring at Relm.

"I guess it's time to do some introductions. Relm, Strago, these are our other friends, Sabin, Cyan, Edgar, Gau, Setzer, Harry, and Mog," Erin introduced. "Everyone, this is Relm Arrowny and Strago Magus, two residents of this town."

There were some `hello's' exchanged, before everyone realized how late it was getting.

"Hey Terra? Terra?" Erin asked, turning around to see her next to the dead body of Leo. She walked over to where Terra was standing and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let's put him to rest in this town, if Strago doesn't mind," Erin suggested.

"Alright then, let's do it," Terra sighed.

Sabin walked over and picked up the dead body of Leo. Terra picked up his sword. The group walked to the east end of town. They quickly had a grave dug for Leo, and Sabin set Leo down in it. They put the dirt back over him, and Terra stuck his sword in the ground.

"To General Leo, who was betrayed by the empire and killed by them. He will always be remembered," Celes stated.

They all quickly wiped away their tears and headed out of the town. Edgar stopped Relm on the outskirts of town, which also stopped Erin.

"What's wrong, love boy?" Relm asked him, which earned a small giggle out of Erin.

Harry turned around to see what the two girls were doing

"Hey, how old are you?" Edgar asked the young girl.

"Six, why?" Relm asked him in reply.

"Oh, never mind then."

Edgar walked off towards the airship and left the three six-year-olds standing there.

"Why do I sense some good in you, just like I sensed it in Erin?" Harry asked Relm.

"I don't know. Same thing happened to me when I met Erin yesterday, and then it happened again just a bit ago," Relm explained.

"Well, the same happened to me too, but..." Erin started, thought for a bit, looked over at the airship, and then back at her two best friends. "If we leave now, we are going to be left behind!"

The two others looked at the airship, and all three of them started off in a run. They were able to make it back just as Edgar was starting to raise the ramp.

"Come on you three!" he said impatiently, lowering what little he up back down.

The three ran up, and Edgar finally raised the ramp. Erin and Harry took Relm down below deck and showed her around.

"Wow, this sure is a nice airship," Relm said in awe.

"Hey, let's go talk in my room for a bit," Harry suggested.

"Actually, we want to talk girl talk," Erin said, winking at Relm.

Harry nodded his head. "Very well then. See you later."

Erin and Relm headed down to where Erin had been spending the night on the airship.

"This sure is nice. Are we really going to talk `girl talk', Erin?" Relm asked Erin.

"Not really, I just wanted to talk to you in private," Erin admitted.

"Okay then, what is it?" Relm asked.

"Well, hmm... Oh never mind. Head up and go do something," Erin said, suddenly changing the subject.

Relm looked grimly at her, but nodded her head anyway. Erin watched as the girl headed up the stairs. She knew it would be getting late soon.

`February 15, 2003

We're back with Harry now. Last night, we had to go save Relm from a fire. Both Relm and myself got some burns. They healed most of them, but I found one on my stomach earlier when I tried to laugh at something.

Anyway, Kefka killed General Leo! We buried him in Thamasa. May he rest in peace. That reminds me of Father.

No, Erin, don't think of that life. That's in the past now.

I'm going to add Relm and Strago to my friends list now. For some reason, I have a feeling something bad is going to happen tomorrow.

Erin M. Tribal'

Erin flipped back through the couple of pages she'd covered so far and looked at her journal cover.

`Great, either I extend it somehow, or I get a new journal. I'll think of someway to extend it somehow. Wait! I know there's someone I forgot to add with the rest of them! It's Mog!' Erin thought as she saw the furry guy walk by, smiling at her. She smiled back, and then turned back to her journal.

`Relm: Best friend after Garnet. I have a feeling it'll be a long lasting friendship

Strago: An old man that Relm loves to call `fuddy duddy'.

Mog: A moogle that reminds me of the moogles at home.'

She flipped back to her most recent entry, and started writing again.

`PS: I just remember something! I forgot Mog on my list, so I added him as well.

Ack, here comes Relm again. Bye for now. We're heading for the Floating Continent tomorrow I'm guessing.'

"Hey Erin, whatcha writing?" Relm asked Erin.

"It's nothing, really!" Erin said, closing the journal and putting it back in her bag that was sitting on the floor.

"So, where should I sleep?" Relm asked her. "It's getting late. I just watched the sun go down."

"How about right on that couch that you are sitting on? Setzer doesn't really have enough room on here for all of us, and I've made this couch my bed while we are on the airship," Erin suggested, pointing to the couch Relm was sitting on.

"Sounds good!" she piped up, setting her bag down on the floor. "If you don't mind, I'm going to draw for a bit... and yes, on canvas."

Erin smiled. It finally hit her that Setzer hadn't started up the engine. `So I must be right, he is waiting for tomorrow for the floating continent,' Erin thought as she saw Setzer walking down, followed by everyone else.

Everyone else went their separate ways, Setzer showing Strago to the only remaining room on the ship that hadn't been occupied. Relm eyed Erin suspiciously, but Erin just shrugged it off, and lay down on the couch, hoping to get a dreamless sleep again.

However, she wasn't that lucky.

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A/N: Woah, just barely hit 8 pages! Anyways:

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