Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The New Zodiac Brave Story ❯ Book One - Of Lions and Snakes ( Chapter 1 )

Ramses sighed as he left Igros, having informed the Hokuten and the remaining Belouves that he'd be wandering again. He'd been doing it for a long time, and it just didn't feel right to stay there. He hauled himself up on one of the massive limestone outcroppings of the Mandalia Plains, sighing a little. His Serpentarius Blade jutted from its scabbard, at his hip, and the cape emblazoned with the same symbol as that of the Serpentarius Stone flapped a little. The plains were empty as far as he could tell.

Leona, having been created for one purpose and one purpose alone, found herself traveling in her lion form, on all fours however, towards a Zodiac Stone she sensed. 'My first Stone!' she thought with excitement as she ran. Her golden eyes weren't too long in picking up sight of a man sitting on the plains... and what was emblazoned on his cape. Taking a leaping jump, she transformed back into her humanlike form until she was right beside him. She smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling, as she extended a hand. "Hi there, I'm Leona!" she said cheerily. This was her first human encounter, and she had no idea what to expect, but how bad could it be right? She could handle it!

Ramses blinked, quirking a black and green brow. Then he fell off the limestone, scrambling back and standing up, pointing at her. "Y-you came from...where did you come from?! You were just a lion, weren't you? Are you a monster?" The man backed up against another stone, still a little spooked.

Leona couldn't help but giggle. "No, I'm not a monster silly! Can monsters turn into people? Nope! I'm a Zodiac Brave!" she exclaimed, as she pulled from her pocket the Leo Stone. "Don't worry, I won't bite! Even in lion form I won't bite... leaves the grossest aftertaste!"

Ramses drew his dark coloured robes around himself, and then fished out the silver necklace with the Serpentarius Stone on it. "Okay, so you're a Brave... tell me... what's this Stone for...? I heard the Legend of the Braves...though I wasn't supposed to..."

"What do you mean what its for?" Leona asked, tilting her head. "With it, its chosen master can summon a Zodiac Form... like the lion you just saw me as! It's easy really! And when enough of the Braves get together, when they all assemble, we can do really nifty things with the world and fix it! Wait... how can you have a Stone and not know how to use it?" she asked.

Ramses pulled himself back up onto the limestone and shifted a bit. "I don't know... An orphanage took me in, and they said this was found around my neck. I've always been able to talk to monsters, I was wondering if you were one... not many humans turn into lions after all... And, well, I figured that my Stone was kind of, well, not really a Zodiac Stone... see, it's symbol isn't any of the ones in the Legend."

Leona leaned closer to have a look at it. "Not all the Stones were mentioned!" she said. "History forgot some, made things easy on itself by only mentioning the most mentioned ones! But THAT," she said, running a slight finger over it, "Is DEFINITELY a Zodiac Stone. And I feel no resistance while you're wearing it, so you must be its owner! Congrats!" She said with a slight giggle, before looking back to her. "Would you like to know how to use it?" she asked.

Ramses blinked, the legend running through his mind. There were only 12 Braves, who helped Ajora save Ivalice. What did that make him...? "Sure!" he smiled his most winning smile, his warm, rich eyes gleaming. "Why, can you teach me?"

"Yep!" Leona replied, giving him a thumb's up. "You bet! It's real easy! I want you to just hold the Stone to your chest... like this," she said, holding her Stone with both hands right in the middle of her chest. "Now just think about the Stone, think about its namesake, and ask it for your fondest desire. Power, bravery, smarts, ask it for what you hold dear. Give it a try and see what happens!"

Ramses nodded and held the bright green Stone in front of him, pulling it against his chest. He closed his eyes, concentrating, focusing on it. He prayed to it, seeing that as the best thing, the words pouring from his mind into the Stone. 'Oh Serpentarius... please... give me the power to save Ivalice!' After awhile, he cracked open an eye, wondering if something was supposed to happen.

Leona did he same, thinking instead, 'Leo Stone... please give me the bravery to do what I must!' When she opened her eyes, she stood as a great lion like warrior, though female and dressed very different. It was hard to tell she was the same at all! She extended her claws a moment and nodded, before looking over to Ramses. She smiled at what she saw, giving a nod. "You can open your eyes now," she said, giggling slightly as she pointed to a nearby pool or old rain. "You did it! Congrats!"

Ramses opened his eyes, blinking for a few seconds before he realized that he could see much better. He moved over to the pool of water, and his eyes widened. Staring back at him was a massive humanoid, sheathed in brightly gleaming scales. Muscles corded his figure, and a long tail whipped behind him. Concentrating again on the power of the Stone, a sickening -snap- issued from him, and wicked barbs slid from his knees, elbows, shoulders, knuckles, and along his back, dripping with hissing venom. He looked at his hand, and his Serpentarius Blade materialized in it, then shifted into a wider, longer blade, bearing the symbol of Serpentarius. He turned to Leona, grinning, not realizing that he was displaying row upon row of gleaming teeth. "This is me?" his voice boomed, slightly sibilant.

"That's you!" she said with smile. "Each form the Brave takes is different depending on the user and what they ask for! "Like me, I'm a lioness, but I have a mane," she explained, gesturing to the long locks that fell down her shoulders. "And not many lions have claws like this!" She added, gesturing to her fighting claws, which looked like small daggers. "When you saw me earlier, I asked for speed, thus gaining a four footed form. Make sense? And I have to say, that is downright coooool!" She added excitedly, indicating his venomous spines. "You must have wished for something really nifty!" Her tail whisked back and forth with excitement, as she practically bounced.

Ramses shrugged, his muscles rippling beneath his scales as he swung the sword easily over his shoulder. "I asked for the power to save Ivalice..." He nodded, letting go of the sword; it's blade evaporating as it disappeared. "Uhm... this is gonna sound dumb, but how do I get outta this form?"

Leona giggled slightly. "Well you've never done it before, so it a'int dumb. What would be, great as it is, is staying in this form for too long! THAT would draw a lot of people don't you think?" she asked with a feline grin, before giving a nod. "Going back is the easiest part of all. All you have to do is tell the Stone that you simply want to go back until next time. A simple thought... watch." She closed her eyes and thought 'Thanks Leo Stone. Till' next time, okay?' And when she opened her eyes again she was back to her normal human form. "Now you try!"

Ramses nodded and clutched his Stone, focusing on it, not closing his eyes as he thought to it. 'Please, take this power back until I need it, Serpentarius' A bright green glow surrounded him, and a bunch of flying spirits flew away from him. He smiled as his form shifted back to human, and he grinned at Leona, "That was great!"

Leona grinned just as brightly. "Wasn't it uhm…?" She giggled. "I can't believe I forgot to ask after I said mine. Lets try this intro thingy again huh?" She extended a hand. "I'm Leona!" she said, smiling brightly. "And you would be...?" This meeting with people thing she'd have to get used to! But she didn't think she was doing so badly so far at least!

Ramses took her hand and knelt, kissing her knuckles formally, as would befit someone who was welcome in the noble courts of Ivalice. He straightened up, still holding her hand in his. "I am Ramses deBezna. I am told that I am the Serpentarius Knight, though I don't know quite where I should fit in. It's nice to meet you Leona."

Leona blushed bright. "Its nice to meet you too Ramses... I hope all the Zodiac Braves are like you! Not sure where you fit in… you mean you don't have a home? Why not follow me then? I'm off to find the other Braves, try to get us all together again and fix things! I know with everyone together we can do it! So what do you say?"

Ramses let go of her hand gently and smiled again, his straight white teeth flashing in the light as he did. "Of course, wandering is something I like to do. And if we're gonna re-unite the Braves, I'm sure that the both of us will have a better chance together!"

Leona nodded, giving a wink. "Yep! That's the way I figure it too! With two of us it'll take half as long, and I have a nose for findin the Stones! Its how I found you all the way out here," she explained. "I was ma- born for that purpose I think sometimes!" she added with a slight giggle, giving a mental sigh of relief that she had caught herself.

Ramses quirked a brow again, his eyes appraisingly searching hers. She'd stopped herself from saying something, though he wasn't sure quite what. "Well, where d'you think we should go then Leona? I don't think anyone in Igros has a Stone besides me, and I'd know." He flapped his cape softly, resting his left hand on the hilt of his Serpentarius Blade, smiling still.

Leona took a deep smell of the wind around her, before bouncing a bit. "That way!" She replied, pointing towards the north. "I cant tell you the place... only the direction! But I'll sense the Stone when we get close, and know how far away it is!" She pulled out her weapon from her pocket, a set of finely crafted Cat's Claws. She grinned, before bounding off towards the north. "Come on Ramses!" she said excitedly. `This would be fun!' she thought to herself.

Ramses grinned and ran off after Leona, keeping up with some effort. It'd been awhile since he'd run like this. `North…' he thought, `what was north of Mandalia?' He couldn't remember, but such was the way of someone who wandered. He kept one hand on the hilt of the Serpentarius Blade, in case monsters ambushed them.

Leona was running along happily, unbelieving she already met one of the Braves and he turned out to be such a great guy! This might be easier than she thought! That was when she noted monsters coming in from all angles. "Ramses! Look out!" She said, flexing her claws, as they started to close in. There were even a few aerial Ahrimans, despite the wilds they were in. She grinned at the monsters... it was time to get stronger! "Lets get these guys!" She squealed, before jumping leaping up into the air, claws outreached, towards the low flying eyeball monster.

Ramses nodded, snapping the Serpentarius Blade from its sheath, leaping up onto a ledge and pointing at one monster, chanting for a second. "Bitter sharp blades, rain on my enemies...ICE!!" A huge chunk of ice materialized and slammed into an Ahriman, disabling its wings. "Leona! Look out!" he shouted as he dove off the ledge, slashing viciously down at a Goblin who'd been making a charge for his friend.

"Thanks Ramses!" Leona said with a smile, as she came down from her jump with a defeated Ahriman landing at her feet. Ahrimans and goblins, that's all that was there so far. Typical monsters but then an excellent way to start off things. "And cool move!" she exclaimed, leaping towards the next Ahriman and bringing it down the same way. Then she blinked, seeing one trying to throw a stone at Ramses. "Oh no you don't!" She called to it, diverting its attention. She closed her eyes, and yet dived towards it, using her nose to drive her blades home.

Ramses whirled around, locking eyes with a rather large Minotaurus. He blinked, then coughed, a trio of smallish grey balls leaping from his mouth, growing large, and hitting it square in the face with a small explosion. As the monster rocked backwards, Ramses sprung forwards, calling on the power of the Serpentarius Stone, and drove his sword into it, cleaving the monster from groin to the top of it's head. As he landed, he cried out and threw himself aside, a blade slicing over his ribs. "Ugh...!"

Leona's eyes widened. "RAMSES!" she yelled, jumping over to his side in one acrobatic leap from the downed Ahriman. "Ramses are you all right you're... you're hurt!" She cried out, surprised, before her eyes flashed an angry crimson. "Take this, I'll be right back," she said, handing him a potion, before finishing the one goblin and two Ahrimans left in the fray. Panting heavily she came back, bending down beside him. "What happened?" she asked.

Ramses shook his head after drinking the potion and standing up, her chuckled, flushing. "Just caught me by surprise... but I don't know what it was... nothing here had a sword." he looked around with a frown, his eyes flittering back and forth.

Leona sniffed, smelling the cold remnants of steel before her eyes narrowed. "Someone WAS here," she said, fists clenched as she scanned the area "But like they're so fearsome looking! That's reeeeeally cool though Ramses, let me meet some of them sometime, okay?" she asked. "Who knows, maybe one day I can show you my brothers and sisters! My creator doesn't get out though..." she said, a bit saddened for a moment before perking up again.

Ramses nodded and leaned forwards as the Crystal appeared from his Ahriman. "Look at this Leona, see, all they know about these is that they're the crystallized Essence of a dead thing. But look really deeply into it." He nodded, picking the spinning Crystal up and holding it close to her. "You can see the person's life in there... knowing things like this helps you to get to know monsters..." he leaned closer and nodded, "And if you like I can teach you to talk to monsters sometime"

"You can teach that?" she asked, looking deep into the crystal, and blinking. Indeed, she could see things in there she hadn't expected quite at all. "That's kinda sad... but its really cool too Ramses. "I'd love to learn how to talk with them, it sounds nifty. But, if you have that knowledge, doesn't it hurt to kill them?" she asked, blinking as another Ahriman crystallized not to far away.

Ramses' eyes darkened for a second, then brightened again. "No. I wouldn't kill a monster I knew... but if it attacks me I'm going to defend myself... besides... they know as well as I do the risks of adventuring. I wouldn't be angry with a monster that killed humans when they drew too near to their homes" he nodded. Ramses' ideas were kind of skewed, but in essence they were correct. The whole Fair is Fair scenario.

Leona nodded, quirking a brow. "That makes sense! So monsters are just like people, but with different skins! I'll have to remember that," she added, nodding as she picked up the Ahriman crystal she had just seen. "So then what do you do with these afterwards Ramses?" she asked, curious. She had never stuck around in a battle long enough to keep crystals and such.

Ramses grinned. "Well, with Monster Crystals, all you can do is absorb the energy and restore your health and spirit. But with human Crystals, you can actually learn abilities and stuff." he held his crystal in both hands, the object splintering and slowly flowing into him, his wounds healing, scuff marks disappearing. All in all, he felt much better.

"Really?" Leona asked, holding up her crystal in her hands before it did the same, restoring her as well. "Wow...wait. Human Crystals? Well, I guess the same rules I apply to everyone huh? So then I guess we're ready to go?" she asked, when her stomach erupted, roaring like a lion. "Uh oh..." she giggled "You hungry too Ramses?"

Ramses stifled a laugh, then nodded, standing up and dusting his pants off, so his butt and legs didn't look scruffy. His stomach rumbled as well, rivaling the noise of his friend's, "Guess I should eat the next time I leave someplace eh? How d'you propose we get some food?" he asked, not being much of a hunter.

Leona thought a moment, scanning around. "I know!" She replied. "Be right back!" Se turned to her Stone, shifting into a quadruped lioness form, before coming back a few minutes later, a deer in her mouth. She shifted back, wiping fur from her mouth. "Ack gross! Fur!" She said, before looking to Ramses. You said you knew a fire spell right?" she asked, smiling.

Ramses grinned and nodded, producing a skinning knife and deftly flicking his wrist, slicing the fur from the deer and peeling it away into clean rolls. He set these aside and stepped back from the deer, "Stand back Leona, don't wanna get burned." Ramses grinned and pointed both palms at the deer, his robes and cape flapping back as he chanted, then said in a strong voice, "Power of nature, gather in flames, FIRE!" the spell originating inside the deer, flash-cooking it as it expanded outwards, a flashy jet shooting from it's mouth. "Eheh...uhm...soup's on?"

Leona couldn't help but giggle a moment, as she bent down and inspected he deer's thoroughly cooked remains. "Wow, that's pretty well done!" she said, smiling. "Now THAT'S the way to cook a deer!" She leaned closer; using her claws to slice a few good sized eating chunks off. "Any preference to piece?" she asked, as she chewed down upon a leg and smiled. Venison was always one of her favorite meals, especially fresh!

Ramses sat down and shrugged, wiggling his fingers for a second before grabbing a hunk and ripping it off with his hands, chomping into it. He could eat politely, or he could -eat-.... he always preferred the latter, chewing the venison heartily. "Good find Leona!" he grinned, before taking another bite of the meat, not worried about the state of his gloves.

"Thanks!" Leona said... or rather it came out as a "pfhnks" as she had her mouth half full. She swallowed the bit in her mouth, before repeating it again and then returning back and slicing herself off another massive chunk eating just as messily. "We're animals aren't we?" she asked, giggling a bit before biting down into her food again.

He nodded with a wide grin, not really thinkin' that it was a bad thing. Ramses tore off another strip of venison and chewed it down, eventually eating what he'd taken, finding himself rather full. He took his gloves off and dropped them down, leaning back and patting his belly a little. "Phooo!"

Leona meanwhile had eaten her fill as well, and was grinning wide as she rested back. "I don't think we'll ever have to worry about food!" she said, smiling. "Next time, I could even bring us a cow or something! Hamburgers! But for now, I think we better digest! No use walking out of our systems." She grinned, her stomach now full, and everything seemed right with the world. For a moment she wondered what was so bad with this world? Why couldn't her family move in here?

Ramses smiled and unpinned his cloak, rolling it up and offering it over to Leona. "You don't look like you have anything, and this'll make a better pillow than a rock." he smiled hospitably, "I'll go take a look around, our meal's bound to attract monsters, so what I'll do is this.." he stripped enough of the meat away from the deer, setting it aside on a flat rock, then picked up the bones and insides, hauling it over to a nearby river. There were fish there, he noticed, so he dumped the remains into the water, watching them eagerly work on it. He then washed his hands, and drank from the river, wiping his mouth, before stepping lightly, circling the area where Leona was, making sure there were no encroaching monsters.

Leona blushed a bit, before smiling towards Ramses. "Thanks!" she said, with a bright smile, watching him go and nodding, before curling up like a cat and falling asleep on the cloak. She couldn't help but smile as she did so, and if she were still in feline form she would have been purring loudly. She knew of course that her brother would not approve, but then he never really approved much of anything! And soon, Ramses and her would find all of the Braves and forge a path for a new home...

Ramses nodded, assured that there were no more monsters nearby, he pointed at the meat and quietly cast an Ice spell over it, freezing it solid. Nothing would want to eat frozen meat. He smiled, watching Leona sleep for a while; she was really cute, he'd noticed. And while sleeping, that fact didn't change. Ramses leaned up against a tree, shifting a bit as he got comfortable, and his eyelids drooped... he'd have a home of his own, once he and Leona found the other Braves.

A few hours later Leona stretched and yawned, before looking over to Ramses, who was still sleeping soundly. She raised a brow, thinking to herself a moment how heroic he looked, when she realized she still had his cape. She gently slid it over him, as she started lightly humming a tune to herself, and looking up to the skies. It was sunrise now, and the vibrant hues were filling the skies with color. She wasn't sure really what was a better thing to wake up to, but to her it meant a good sign for the times ahead.

Ramses stirred a few minutes after Leona'd placed the cloak on him. He smiled softly, stretching out with a wide yawn before looking around and rising to his feet. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he grinned, and pinned the cloak back around his shoulders, ruffling it a bit. It was somewhat wrinkled, and smudged with grass, but he was glad it got better use than the ornament that it usually was. "Hmm. G'mornin' Leona!" he said, absently pointing to the pile of frozen meat, and heating it up with his Fire magic. Slowly, but surely, the smell of hot meat wafted over the both of them, "Care for some breakfast?"

"Morning Ramses!" she replied, smiling wide, before blinking as he heated up the frozen meal "Sure!" she replied, pulling out her claws again. "By the way, have I mentioned that your magic is really cool?" she asked. "Oh wait, no pun intended!" she said, blushing, as she started in on a bit of the venison.

He nodded, squatting down beside her and picking up a strip of the meat in his bare hands, having discarded his gloves with the deer's bones and entrails. "Yup, you did!" he said around a mouthful of the meat, chewing heartily. "Remind me in the next town to buy a backpack though... hehe." He nodded and took another strip, munching down on it.

"Why's that?" Leona asked, tilting her head. "Too much stuff? I can help carry too!" She then smiled slightly. "I've never been in a town before," she admitted. "Are they fun? What are they like?"

Ramses chucked and stood up again, wiping his hands on his pants. "Well, a town is like… a place where all sorts of people live. They have houses, and shops, and other things. You can buy weapons, armor, food, and transportation. But you have to be careful, there're also thieves and people who'd try to hurt you. Don't worry though… just remember to stay close to me when we go to one all right?" he nodded. "And naw, all I have right now is my clothes, my sword, and three potions"

"All right," she replied with a grateful nod. "Sounds exciting though too! And they have armor? That's the one thing I could never convince my family to let me get!" She felt all bubbly inside, at the thought of getting armor. Her creator always said it would weigh her down, but maybe here they had lightweight armor? And thieves? "Should we hide the Stones then? I don't want to think what would happen if someone took them!"

Ramses chuckled and offered her his hand, to help her up. "C'mon, if we go back to the south, then along the road to the east, we can get to Wargilis! It's the opposite direction of the Stone, but it'll be there when we decide to go there, right? And no, they won't take our Stones, you just keep a good grip on yours, mine's on a chain around my neck... maybe we can have yours set into a bracer or something!"

"Sounds good... wait! They can do that?" Leona asked giving a nod. "And yep! I'll be able to sniff it out again when we were ready!" She held on to her Stone tightly, as she took his offered hand and stood up. "Thanks!" she said, gold eyes sparkling with happiness. Making sure everything was ready she brushed herself off, before looking around their campsite. "We ready then?" she asked.

Ramses nodded, then looked at the sky, judging from the direction of the sun, it -was- rising after all, he turned to the south and started walking, his eyes flitting back and forth as he watched for monsters, bandits, and anything else. "Two people alone might be mugged on the roads, those are thieves, they'll want to take our valuables... like your Stone or mine."

"Then we just wont let them take it! I'm not about to let anything stand in the way of gathering all the braves together and creating a home! Especially not some thieves. Why do people do such stupid things anyways? It makes no… hey. Is that one of them?" she asked, gesturing slightly towards a nearby rock cropping, where a few eyes seemed to be peering out towards them.

Ramses blinked, then peered at the bushes, nudging Leona and whispering, "Act like you didn't see them... if they jump out at us and demand our valuables, then they're thieves... The best part is that if they -are- thieves and we win, we can take them in for a reward!" he kept walking, seemingly oblivious to the eyes.

"A reward? Really? Cool!" She exclaimed to him, before following his lead and keeping on walking. It wasn't long before the thieves, four in number, leaped out at them, trying to surprise them. With one hand, Leona clutched her Stone tightly as with the other she pulled out one of her claws. "You take two I take two?" she asked, glaring at the thieves with her strange feline intensity.

Ramses grinned and nudged her again, giving her a 'wait a second, I have a plan' look. He stepped a step ahead of the Thieves and narrowed his eyes. "Alright you four, you don't know who we are, do you?" his tone was serious, "Well, c'mon, answer me!" he recognized a face from a WANTED poster in Igros, and mentally grinned. "Ah, Bulls-Eye Jack eh? You must be the ringleader of this little bunch"

Leona blinked, looking to Ramses before giving an `Oh!' look and a nod. "I cant believe they don't know who we are," she said, shaking her head. The ringleader, Bulls-Eye Jack, blinked. "Yeah? And what of it?" he asked, dagger in hand as he looked to Ramses with a brow raised.

Ramses frowned, reaching into his pocket and flicking a crumpled poster to him. "Do you have any idea how many of these are up around Ivalice? What are you -thinking-? Are you -trying- to bring the Hokuten down on us? Well?!" he was steadily becoming angrier, or, the part he was acting was. With a smirk, he flicked out his skinning knife and flipped it around his fingers, "You're looking at the Master of the Wargilis Trade Guild, and his best apprentice," he flicked a hand casually back to Leona as he spoke.

"Yep!" Leona replied with a grin. "Sheeeesh, I can't believe you've never heard of us! You need to get out more!" she told the hapless Jack with a smile. Jack meanwhile was looking at the poster, then back to Ramses and the knife, then the poster again before sputtering out. "You win this time... but we'll be back!" the thief said, as he and the others ran away not so gracefully and even dropping some gil in the process from their pockets. Meanwhile, Leona couldn't help but fall over giggling afterwards. "Ramses! That was great!"

Ramses laughed as well, shaking his head and scooping the gil into the bag with the other 2000, it looked like enough to buy Leona some armor, and a bracer for her Stone. He helped her up and grinned, "Remember Leona, if you can avoid a fight, then you can prolong your life. But watch it from now on, those four might actually inquire as to our identities... then they might come back, and we'll really have to fight them." he looked grave, but his eyes still danced merrily. "In any case, c'mon! We're getting close, this is a trade road!"

"A trade road?" she asked, following him along the road and looking at it as they walked. "Avoiding fights huh? I'll have to remember that!" Somewhere in her mind she asked whether this was what her master meant by causing discord, chaos, and fears, but ah well. Shed worry about that later. Meanwhile, she remembered to get Ramses a backpack when they reached the town. That's what he had asked for right?

"Yeah, carts, wagons and merchants take these roads because it's easy travel. The Knights are supposed to guard them, but recently they've been so thin in ranks that bandits can hit the roads and mug people." he nodded, knowing this due to his ties with Knights. They were approaching Wargilis, and the bustling marketplace could be heard from there. He grinned and looked back at her, "You'll love this, remember, stick close!"

"All right!" she replied, staying close by his side. She couldn't believe how much she was learning, and enjoying even the tensest moments. She was beginning to understand this world better, further than just the casual knowledge she had been trained in and the wilds she had ran in searching for Stones. She could indeed hear the market place, and grinned. "Wow, it sounds like there must be dozens of people in there!" she exclaimed.

He nodded, leading Leona into the town, grinning. Ramses reached back and took hold of Leona's hand, squeezing it gently to let her know to follow him, then, holding her hand, he veered into an armory, rather empty, and run down. The best kind. The one's that didn't get many customers often did the best work, as they went for quality over quantity. He smiled and let Leona's hand go, looking around for the shopkeeper.

Leona blinked. "In… there?" she asked, as she followed him inside. That was when she noted the few armor that hung over the walls, armors expertly crafted as Ramses had thought. "Wow..." she said, jaw dropping in amazement. "Uhm... hello?" she asked, after a moment. "Anyone here?" She blinked, as a big, and surprised shopkeeper came into view from the back. "Why hello there!" he said, with a hearty grin. "What can I get for you folks today?"

Ramses smiled and decided upon getting himself some armor, a nice breastplate would do wonders.... not too heavy, but heavy enough to repel a blade. He chose a piece of armor off the wall and smiled, looking at the shopkeeper. "I'd like something like this made, but I need it with greaves, and gauntlets as well. Uhm... Leona, what kind of armor did you want to wear? Something light I'd guess..."

Leona nodded. "Yep! Agility and speed are my traits; it's why I never got to wear armor before and ooooooh! This one!" she exclaimed, seeing a lightweight armor on the wall. It was silver, with gold trim and functional. It wouldn't restrict her at all. "But what are gauntlets Ramses?" she asked, curious as always.

Ramses smiled and started to explain. "Gauntlets are leather gloves, reinforced with metal plating to protect your hands. At least the ones I'm getting. Some are made entirely out of metal though. They let you punch harder, and keep you from hurting your hands when you punch things!"

Leona nodded. "Thanks!" she said, before an idea came to mind. "In that case can I get a light set then? I use my hands a lot," she said with a slight giggle, producing her claws a moment. "And.… geeez! Wouldn't those hurt a person's feet?" she asked, brow raised as she pointed to a pair of metal armor boots.

Ramses laughed a bit, "Yes, if you don't know how to wear them... and, since I don't, I'm sticking with the kind that strap to your shins!" the shopkeeper had taken the armor down, and was measuring Ramses with a tape, then moved on to Leona.

Leona stayed as still as she could, while she was being fitted and measured. "That tickles!" she said, laughing, as the tape was wrapped around her. "What's he doing that for?" she asked, before she realized it. "Oh! Measuring us so everything fits properly right? Wow, nifty! And I think I'm staying well away from those," she said indicating the boots, "Because we have a lot of walking to do!"

Ramses nodded with a laugh, taking his suit of armor from the man, the straps now adjusted. He slipped his black robes off, as well as his cape, clothed only in a simple set of deep blue and black clothing. He carefully put the armor on, pulling the straps into comfortable positions, and then slipped the robes back on, tying them at the waist with his sword belt. After this, he pinned on his cape. With the robes and cape, the only thing's that gave away his armor were his gauntlets, and his shin guards. The shopkeeper looked to Leona and smiled, handing her a suit of soft quilted armor, to pad areas that the armor would chafe, as well as the armor, "There's a changing room in the back, miss, if you'd follow me."

"Sure!" Leona replied, bouncing after him. "Thanks!" She popped into the dressing room and slipped on her new additions, humming again to herself as she adjusted everything and made sure it would fit properly. The shopkeeper had done an amazing job with them! Making sure padding, outfit, and armor were all on she slipped back out. She was amazed but how well she was still able to move, and flexing her hands how even the gauntlets didn't hinder any movement really. "What do you think?" she asked, wheeling around in front of Ramses.

Ramses nodded with a grin, "Looks good on you! Should keep you from getting hurt too bad, if you ever manage to take a hit." nodding, he spun as well, "Whatcha think of mine?" knowing full well that his was mostly hidden.

Leona blinked a moment, circling around him as she tried to peer at it from the occasional spot where you could see it! "From what I can see it looks good but I can't see much!" she admitted. "You did a great job hiding it Ramses! That'll throw any thieves or monsters off for sure!"

He grinned and looked at the shopkeeper, nodding a bit. "What do I owe you, good sir?" he asked, flashing a charming smile. The shopkeeper tallied i his head, then smiled casually, "Oh, that'll be 6,000 gil for both." Ramses nodded and fished out his own bag of gil, sitting it down on the counter. "There's 10,000 in there, keep it all. You do too good a job to charge so little. C'mon Leona!" he grinned and bustled out of the store before the owner could complain.

"All right!" Leona said, following him. "Where to now?" she asked. "To get your backpack? Don't forget that Ramses!" She followed close to him, Zodiac Stone close in hand just in case as she took in the sights and the sounds of the city around her. So many people in one place, it was amazing! Forget dozens; there had to be hundreds there!

Ramses smirked and looked around, seeing a jeweler's shop. There wasn't much going on there, and he took Leona's hand and led her there. Once there, the motherly woman looked up, warm eyes gleaming, "Oh... is the young man looking for something for his sweetheart...?" she asked in a soft voice. Ramses blushed and stammered, "N-no, nothing like that madam..."

Leona blinked, utterly confused as she tilted her head at the woman. "Hi ma'am," she said, waving her free hand, before looking back to Ramses, curious. "Is this about the Stone?" she asked him quietly, so as the shopkeeper couldn't hear. She noted the keep's warm smile, and couldn't help but blush herself, though not nearly as red as poor Ramses was!

He shook his head, and then nodded. "Uhm…yes…show it to her Leona..." he nodded, "We need it fitted into a bracer or something, so it can't be lost..." he was still blushing.

Leona held out the Stone, which the woman admired a minute before nodding. "That would not be a problem at all," the woman replied. "Let me see your arm miss." Leona nodded, holding out her arm as the shopkeeper measured it appropriately. "I know just the one!" she exclaimed, before disappearing behind the counter a moment. Leona then looked back to Ramses as the shopkeeper searched. "I really appreciate this Ramses," she told him, smiling.

Ramses nodded softly, slowly losing the reddened cheeks. He scratched the back of his head, laughing a little, "Hey, it's the least I can do!" he said, almost too-enthusiastically, "You're welcome though." he smiled back, gesturing to the woman as she returned.

"Oh!" Leona exclaimed, as the shopkeeper returned. "Hold out your arm miss," the keep said, and Leona did so as the bracer was fitted upon her arm, the Stone shining bright from it. It was a silver bracer... and one inscribed with each of the Zodiac Signs... but one. Leona's eyes widened a moment, before she whispered into the shopkeeper's ears. The woman's brow rose, but she nodded and brought out her engraver and set to work. She looked back to Ramses. "Just had to fix something," she said to him, looking back to the counter.

Ramses nodded, wondering what she was doing, he watched with interest. "Is there anything else you wanna do once we're done here Leona?" he asked, smiling softly, "We've got plenty of gil, so don't worry about the expense!" he grinned wide after this.

Leona blinked a moment, thinking. "Anything else? Well, I don't know. I've never been to a town, so everything's so new!" She linked, as her bracer came back. "Thanks!" she said, slipping it on, before bringing it over to Ramses to look. "See, it was missing something very important!" she said, pointing to the freshly engraved sign of Serpentarius.

Ramses smiled brightly, nodding, "Thanks Leona..." he took out the bag of gil from the battle and the thieves, putting it down, "Will 3000 gil cover it?" he asked, grinning at the nod from the woman. "Okay Leona, what-say we…hmm..." he thought for a moment. "We could always start lookin' for the Stones again! Or we could spend some money doin' things, like watching the plays and listening to the bards...whatcha think?"

"Plays and bards?" Leona asked, fascinated. "Lets go do that, I've never seen a play or heard a bard. Is it interesting?" she asked, curiosity at her again as she admired her new bracer a moment before looking back to Ramses, smiling.

"Of course! I know a good playhouse near here!" he took her hand and led her through the crowd, the last thing he wanted to do was get separated from Leona; he'd never find her here! He nodded to people, and asked directions along the way, but finally stopped in front of a large building, with a sign hanging from it. "The Golden Gil!" he grinned, "Their re-enacting Ramza's quest these days, so we might get some clues about the Braves!"

Leona grinned. "So wed get to be watching AND learning a few things! That sounds great!" she said, grinning widely. "Lets go!" She kept close to his side, as she looked over the huge building.

Ramses opened the doors and stepped in, they were quickly stopped by a man in a uniform. "Sir, ma'am... it's 500gil a head admission" the man said. Ramses fished i his pocket and produced two rolls of paper, grinning. "Thank you sir, this way sir," the man drawled, leading Leona and Ramses into the theatre, down a few rows, seating them about midway up from the stage.

Leona looked over, excitedly, towards the stage. "Its amazing how this story gets around now, isn't it? Good thing for us though people aren't too observant right? If they knew that sitting beside them were two braves they'd freak!" She settled in a moment, blinking as the lights around them went dim, but the lights around the stage itself went brighter. "What's going on?" she asked, blinking with confusion. "Is it starting?"

Ramses nodded, "Shh... or people'll complain." he looked towards the stage as the first of the actors filed in, beginning by replaying the very first scene, complete with the special effects for Agrias and Gafgarion's sword abilities. He smiled and watched intently, listening as the voices boomed out over the crowd.

Leona nodded. "Oh, right," she whispered back, looking to the stage as well, eyes lit with wonder as the swords somehow lit up, and the actors called out above the crowd. It was amazing, she could swear it was real had she not seen the sign that this was a theatre!

Ramses watched, enjoying the tale of Ramza immensely, except the parts that portrayed the Braves as demons and the destroyers of Ivalice. He sighed once or twice during these parts, noticeably disheartened.

Leona watched as well, when the braves became great demons and Ramza and his crew had to defeat them. She frowned a bit... hadn't her parent said to gather the braves so they could become great demons and create chaos? But the, she smiled. She knew that the power of the braves could be used to get a new home other ways to. She didn't want to see herself as a demon, and she didn't want to see Ramses as one. A plan formulated as she thought upon this, when she noted the look on Ramses' face. "Don't worry... that wont happen to us," she whispered to him with a bright smile. "They just asked for the wrong things from their Stones..."

Ramses perked up a bit and nodded, smiling to her, "Thanks.." he whispered. The play continued, eventually getting to the final confrontation in the airship graveyard. Saint Ajora turned out to be a great demon, and Ramza and the rest destroyed it! When it all blew up, the play ended, with a single young woman coming out to the stage, saying, "And the Zodiac Braves were destroyed, the Stones cast to the winds. Ramza and his crew were not seen again, though some say," she paused dramatically, "They still live!"

Leona smiled back, watching the dramatic end when she caught the last few lines. "And rumors could be fact... I bet Ramza would still have a lot of the Stones Ramses! If we can ever find him, then perhaps we can gather the braves together faster than even we thought!" She giggled a bit, turning back to him. "That was a great play, I sure learned a lot! Thanks for taking me here. And those special effects... wow!"

Ramses grinned as he stood up and nodded, smoothing his robes over his armor. The stuff would take some getting used too, but it wasn't too heavy as to be anything but a little uncomfortable. Taking Leona's hand, so she didn't get swept up in the crowd, he helped her out to the lobby, spotting a souvenir stand with the play's merchandise. "Whoo! Come take a lookit' this stuff Leona!"

Leona's eyes widened as she saw the various merchandise and goodies. "Look!" she said, holding up a Leo Stone. "It looks so real don't it?" She looked to a plushie Leo and couldn't help but giggle a bit. "And…THAT must be what Ramza looks like!" she exclaimed, pointing to another plushie. "They're so cuuuuute!"

He nodded and grinned again, looking at the Leo plushie she'd picked up, as well as the Leo Stone. The Stone would be a good decoy for any would-be thieves, and the plushie just suited her too well. "We'll take those, and this map of Ramza's route across Ivalice, please." he smiled to the clerk running the stall. "That's, let's see... the Leo doll and Stone, and the map, that all comes to 800 gil please." Ramses reached into his pouch, putting out 800 gil and smiling. They were down to about 3000 now, so they'd have to fight more soon if they needed money. "Thank you! Please, come see our play again!" the clerk smiled toothily, very cheesy and forced.

After they walked past Leona couldn't help but giggle. "The look on his face! I almost asked him if he was a mouse or something!" Leona said. "But they need to have a Serpentarius one! Oh well, we're creating our own Zodiac Brave Story right? And this time, it'll be a better one!" she exclaimed, cheering a bit. "And thanks for the cool, things Ramses!" she added, bouncing, when she thought of something. "Saaaay, should we go and listen to that bard thingy next?"

He smiled, nodding, always happy to see his friend happy. Though he hadn't seen her anything but happy, go figure eh? Still holding her hand, he listened over the crowd, picking up on the strumming of lutes and harps, and the jingling and whistling of other instruments. Grinning, he led her out to the town's square, where a large makeshift stage stood, and various people played while others danced.

Leona couldn't help but giggle a bit at the peoples happy dancing and music playing. It was infectious, and made Leona almost forget about her own worries, those she had tried and so far done very well in keeping from Ramses. "Can we dance too?" she asked him, smiling widely. "That music sounds pretty fun!"

Ramses nodded and let her hand go, dancing like he did back in the orphanage days. He preferred that to the plain dances of nobles, spinning gracefully around Leona and offering her a hand as he tapped his feet to the music.

'His face just lights up when he dances,' Leona thought happily blushing a bit at having thought that as she took his offered hand. The two began to dance together, round in circles, or just well, having fun in the relaxed style where one let their feet do all of the thinking. The lighthearted music filled their heads and hearts, and Leona was reminded of just how cool this world was.

They kept dancing; he smiled, really enjoying himself. People didn't bother him to be proper, and no one was criticizing his steps, though he was extra careful not to step on Leona's feet. Ramses really enjoyed dancing, and many of the other things that nobles would consider 'peasantry'. He wasn't suited to be a nobleman; perhaps that's why he felt he was to leave Igros.

Leona found that she really loved this, it reminded her of a hunt only a lot more relaxed and fun! The song played out, and Leona found herself smiling, golden eyes sparking a bit as she looked to Ramses again. "That was some workout!" she said, giggling, as she turned to the bards. "Thanks for playing such cool music!" she said, giving them a thumbs up, before looking back to Ramses, noting his happiness as well. "We should do that again soon!"

He laughed with a nod and smiled. It was still early in the day, just past noon actually, by the sun. "What do you wanna do now Leona? We could get back to looking for the Stones if you want to--whoa!" he spun around, eyeing a child that streaked away from him, clutching a bag of gil, -his- bag of gil. Ramses turned back around; shaking his head, "Don't worry about that..." he tried to dismiss it.

Leona blinked a moment, as she eyed the kid as well. "We can always earn more, or we'll just have to catch him! Follow me!" she said, before taking his hand and dashing into the crowd, using her feline like agility and grace to eave through people, vendors, and crowds until she was right at the kids heels. She stopped him by the collar, looking down at as stern as she could before letting go of Ramses a moment. "If you needed some money here," she said, handing the kid about 1000 gil. "Use it while you still can," she whispered to him with a slight sadness in her eyes a moment, before perking back up as she turned back to Ramses and held up their remaining money smiling again.

Ramses laughed a little as the kid tore off again, not lookin' back. He tilted his head to Leona, having caught the sadness in her voice. He squeezed her hand and looked in her eyes, frowning concernedly, "What's wrong Leona...?" he asked quietly, sure that it had to be bad to foul her mood.

Leona blinked a moment, before laughing a bit nervously then looking back at him. "You caught that huh?" she asked, almost a built guiltily, before she looked back over at him. "I... should be honest with you. You deserve that at least! You see Ramses, while we gather the braves, my creator will be causing big shifts within this world and many others. She wants to merge the worlds into one kinda big place... though it won't be easy. Well it will be for me, I can slide between worlds, but for kids like him it wont be at all!" She sighed a bit, before looking back at Ramses. "I'm sorry! I know I should have told you sooner about this but I kinda like hanging around you, you know?"

Ramses raised both brows, his eyes gleaming as he considered all of this. Changes in the world? Merging with others? All he knew about was Ivalice! Ramses looked at her and chose his words carefully, "Leona, you're the first -real- friend I've ever had… And I promised to help you find the Braves, and help build your...our...home! Besides, I don't really care what happens, nothing's gonna make me abandon a friend!" he smiled winningly, meaning every word of it. "Besides," he continued, "Once we find the Braves, we can all work to keep Ivalice safe!"

Leona looked up at him, surprised. But then, she didn't know people all too well yet. Still, she couldn't help but be surprised. "Really?" she asked, eyes brightening again as she reached up and gave him a large hug. "Thanks Ramses, I'll never forget this!" she said. "Yeah, we'll create a new, better story for the braves that no one will ever forget! And THIS time, it will include the best brave of all!" She added with a wink.

Ramses blushed and hugged back, shaking his head a little. "I'm not so sure if you're right, but I'm gonna try to be the best Brave I can be! So how 'bout we get to lookin' for that Stone! So we can protect Ivalice from anything bad that'll happen because of the changes!" he grinned, letting Leona go.

Leona nodded, "Yeah!" She took a deep whiff of the air before smiling. "North we go again!" she said, happy again, maybe even more so than usual if that was possible, as she started bounding off towards the north, out of town. "Lets go Ramses!" she said, giving him a wide grin.

Ramses grinned and took off after Leona, his cape flapping out behind him. Muttering apologies to anyone he bumped, he helped Leona out of the town, and into the wilderness, on a deer path.

"That town was cool, we'll have to stop by one again soon!" Leona said, as she looked around them. "Something tells me we wont have any trouble eating around here either! This place is CRAWLING with the scent of deer! BY the way, sorry to have worried you back there Ramses, I'm new at this dealing with people thing! But you do make it a lot easier!" She smiled brightly, as they continued on their way, noting the interesting smells. Monsters came this way but then, she wasn't surprised about that.

"Yup, the only place I didn't show you was the Fur Shop. But they take the bodies of monsters and make items out of them. Sometimes it's cruel, but you can get some good items and money for doing it." he smiled, nodding. Something rustled out to the west, and the cry of a chocobo sounded. "Did you hear that?!" he said, alarmed.

Ramses nodded, slipping the Serpentarius Blade from its sheath, and looked around, "It called for help! Let's go!" he threw himself to the west crashing through the bushes in order to draw attention to himself. Lying on the ground, wounded, was a bright yellow chocobo, crying weakly. Standing above it was a large Red Dragon, and a few Ghouls hovered around the area. "Leona, be careful!" he shouted as he pointed, drawing power from the Serpentarius Stone, praying for something that would distract the Dragon. His hand bulged, and then launched a few needle-sharp barbs. They thudded into the Dragon, and Ramses' venom ripped through its veins. The Dragon screamed in pain and whipped around, lightning leaking from its mouth as it focused on Ramses and roared a challenge.

Leona nodded, finding the poor chocobo in quite a mess. "Have this," she told it, handing it a few greens. "We'll take care of the rest!" She looked to the ghouls, knowing they would have to be taken care of before they sapped away at Ramses' strength. She leapt into action then. "I've got your back Ramses! You distract the dragon while I take care of these ghouls!" She faced down the ghouls, before looking to her Stone and hoping for speed. With that, She became like a cat girl, not quite an anthro-cat but not quite all human either. She leapt up at the closest ghoul, extending real claws and bringing it down swiftly, before moving on down the line.

Ramses grinned and asked the Stone to take the power back. He snapped the Serpentarius Blade around and then his eyes widened. He dove to the side, avoiding the blast of lightning, and rolled to his feet, lunging at the dragon and bringing his sword down on its snout, glancing off the scales. Cursing under his breath, he asked the Serpentarius Stone for the power he needed to protect his friends, instantly turning into that snake-man he'd turned into before. The blade de-materialized, and Ramses brought his scaly arm up, just in time to be bitten by the Dragon. It held on as he howled in pain, and brought his right hand around, slamming his fist into it's head again and again, the spikes on his knuckles injecting it with venom every time.

There were quite a few ghouls Leona realized, as she moved down them. A few times, they sapped a bit of her strength, but she kept on, knowing the little bird needed their help. Flipping from one ghoul to another she finally managed to plow through them all, tail twitching as somehow she ended up landing by the bird again. "Not too much longer," she told it with a wink, as she flipped over to where Ramses was facing the dragon just in time to see him yell out. "Here Ramses!" she said, tossing him a potion she had picked up from one of her hunts. She stood by him, ready to help if needed.

Ramses caught the potion and quickly downed it, casting the bottle aside. The dragon was weakening, as his poison ate it from the inside out, suddenly, he felt sick to his stomach, the urge to be sick suddenly overwhelming him. He stopped punching the dragon, and ripped the bloody tatters of his arm out of it's mouth, before collapsing to his knees and reverting back, clutching his stomach. The dragon wavered, and got ready to finish it's opponent off. It's mouth opened, ready to blast the human with it's breath, when suddenly Ramses' head snapped up and he screamed at it, a pure stream of thunder shooting from his mouth and taking the Dragon's head clean off, burning it to a crisp. Ramses grinned, giving Leona a thumbs up, and fell to the ground.

Leona gave a thumb's up as well, smiling. "You did good Ramses," she said, before thinking to the Stone for guardian powers. She became a massive four-footed cat, and curling up around him kept an eye out for any more trouble that might come. "Are you all right?" she asked the chocobo slightly. The bird warked, getting up unsteadily, before coming to a rest at the two's side. "Good," she said with a nod before turning back to her vigilance, making sure nothing came around as Ramses got his rest in.

Ramses had passed out, from the exertion of fighting the dragon, to using the Thunder Bracelet (Breath, it was mistranslated in the game). It had gotten to him, and he lie there, unaware of the chocobo, or Leona, beside him. His subconscious welled up, and he dreamed of his old home, that he'd destroyed. The faces of the humans and monsters that he'd slaughtered haunted him even now. Eventually, after a few hours, Ramses woke up, sitting bolt upright, and wincing, his arm throbbing from the dragon's bite. The chocobo lied asleep near them; he looked around, trying to find Leona.

Leona blinked, as she felt Ramses stir beside her. "Welcome Ramses," she told him, tilting a massive feline head as she looked up at him. It was then she realized she was still in feline form and giggled a bit, reverting back to human and sitting cross-legged in front of him. "So... are you doing all right? Do you need another potion? That was a rather cool thing you did back there!"

Ramses chuckled and shook his head. He looked to the sleeping chocobo and frowned at the wound. Why had the dragon and ghouls attacked the poor thing? Maybe this had something to do with the merging of the worlds. He grinned at Leona, "If you thought that was cool, check this out!" he winked, and closed his eyes, focusing. A bright yellowish light surrounded them, and chocobo feathers made of pure healing energy blew out from him, striking his arm, the injured chocobo, and Leona, healing the three of them and invigorating them as well. He opened his eyes and smiled, "Hehe!"

Leona blinked as the feathers surrounded them. "Ooooooh, that's so nifty!" she said, about to catch one when it became a shimmering light of healing energy. The chocobo happily warked as well, causing Leona to giggle. "How did you do that? Was that like the monster magic you told me about earlier?"

Ramses nodded and grinned, petting the chocobo idly, "It takes some doing to learn it, so I haven't been able to focus so much on fighting. Gotta say though, you were awesome with those Ghouls Leona! That was a ChocoCure," he said, the chocobo warking, "Oh? Hmmm! That's sweet of him. He offered to teach you how to do it Leona!"

"Really? Cool! Id love to! But that reminds me, didn't you say you'd teach me how to talk with him. I'm curious about this!" she said, looking to the chocobo then to Ramses. "And thanks! Its nothing really, I've trained my whole life," she replied, smiling a bit.

Ramses grinned and nodded. "See, we'll start with chocobo's, and really, the basics. See, all monsters speak angrily, or happily, or any way, depending on their moods, and body language plays a huge part as well. All chocobo's can say is 'Wark' so you have to learn to read the body language and the tone, and eventually it gets to a point where you're so good at it that you can hear what they're saying as if a human said it!"

Leona tilted a head at the chocobo. "Wark?" she asked it. "WARK!" it replied happily, nuzzling her. "I think he likes being warked at!" she said, giggling before looking back to the chocobo. "Thanks for offering to teach me ChocoCure, I'd love to! But how?" she asked, tilting her head again, trying to understand the bird a bit better.

Ramses laughed and watched them, they both seemed irrevocably happy. "Well, I can teach you I guess, until you learn to talk to monsters they won't be able to teach you..." he nodded, "So first, you have to close your eyes and visualize yourself as a Chocobo."

Leona blinked. "A chocobo? Okay, I'll try!" she said, nodding as she closed her eyes and tried to picture things. Luckily she had a vivid imagination, and moments later she had an image of herself as a chocobo with gold eyes and bright red, orange, and white coloring like her Leo forms usually carried. "Wark!" she replied, letting him know she was ready. The chocobo gave a happy wark back, as it watched a moment.

Ramses stifled a laugh, nodding, "Now, you've seen what ChocoCure looks like, what you do is imagine yourself using it. Think of the bright yellow feathers shooting out of you, and healing the people around you." he coached her, enjoying teaching this particular ability.

Leona gave a nod and did as asked, thinking about all of the feathers she had seen coming out of her own self, only she was a chocobo in her mind so it was fairly easy. She imagined the feathers falling as Ramses' feathers had done before, landing and healing those it touched upon. The chocobo beside her was warking again, with encouragement, before Leona had the funniest mental image. She couldn't help but open her eyes and laugh; as she had seen her chocobo self loose ALL of its feathers! That's when she noted there were feathers around, healing them! "Whoa..." she said, in shock a moment.

Ramses laughed and clapped, obviously impressed. "Wow! It took me forever to learn that!" he grinned, "Congratulations Leona!" the feathers slowly vanished, making them all feel better. The chocobo warked again, and nipped her hand affectionately, "You said it, heh. Oh! He said you must have a great imagination!"

Leona blushed brightly, smiling. "Well yeah, I try," she said. "What fun is a world without imagination? I used to try and picture Ivalice when my family talked about it. Or during times of quiet I would entertain myself with stories and such. Thanks guys!" she said, before scratching softly underneath the chocobo's beak. Thanks; it's amazing how much you know about them! How much time did you spend around chocobo's?" she asked.

"Well, the orphanage.. it had this old chocobo named Boco. He was saved by Ramza once, and was really friendly towards humans!" Ramses darkened a bit, looking down, "I've…I've got something to confess too..." he nodded softly.

Leona blinked a bit, eyes concerned a moment as she looked to Ramses. "What is it?" she asked, setting a hand on his shoulder for reassurance.

Ramses looked up, sighing a little, "The...reason I don't have a home..." he frowned, forcing himself to continue, "I used to live at an orphanage... but one night, something happened to everybody, the monsters and humans, and I woke up in the middle of it.... The Serpentarius Stone flashed and outfitted me that night... I went outside, and got scared... something happened, I know it was me that did it, but..." he paused, "Leona… I destroyed my home, and everyone nearby somehow."

Leona blinked a moment, taking in what she had heard before replying. "Ramses... it wasn't your fault. The Stones pick their masters... even if sometimes they come at unexpected times. The first time... its never easy. The spirit, the power that drives the Stones, sometimes can overpower a person unprepared. The price of the power? A test? I'm not sure... but I do know it wasn't your fault. You can't bring them back... but I have a feeling they wouldn't want you to be sad about it either. I'm sure they'd want you to be happy, and move on with your life. To use that same power for good things, so others wont fall under it. Does that make any sense? I'm no good at these things," she replied, patting his shoulder.

Ramses brightened with a nod, smiling at her, "Thanks Leona... I just figured...since you came clean with me, you deserved the same thing..." he patted the chocobo and rose to his feet, ruffling his cape a bit. "Well, we should see this one off, and get back to our quest don'tcha think?"

Leona nodded. "Yep! Gotta gather the Stones and see this through!" she said, smiling. "Thanks again," she told the great bird, scratching by its beak again, before looking back to Ramses. "You'll do 'em proud," she said to him, smiling, before she got up as well, patting off he light dust on her outfit. "So where is this bird's home?" she asked, wondering how you saw a chocobo off.

Ramses grinned and stooped, plucking a bundle of Gysahl Greens from the chest that had appeared from the dragon's body. "Chocobo's are suckers for these, that's probably how they caught him. Watch this!" he winked, turning to the west and pulling his arm back, wafting the greens under the chocobo's beak, then hurling them up, and up, onto a rather high hill. "3...2...1..." he muttered, and then the chocobo took off after the greens, warking excitedly.

Leona blinked a moment, and couldn't help but giggle at it. "Its like catnip, and me" she said to herself as she watched the bird run off for the hills. "Bye!" she said waving to it. "Good luck out there and don't hesitate to call!"

Ramses chuckled and filed away that catnip comment, not letting on that he'd heard it. He turned to the north and started walking, smiling softly, "C'mon Leona!" he called, then tore off into a run, "Can't catch me!"

"Wanna bet!" She called out, laughing as she started running after him. After all, she was known for her speed. And ha he heard about the catnip? Nah! She started running faster. "Almost there!" she warned him with a giggle, closing in behind him.

Ramses winked back at her, then lifted his arms up, catching a low branch and swinging up into the trees. Lions may be known for their speed, but snakes were known for their cunning, and climbing ability. Deftly, he pulled himself up higher, and started running along the branches hat would support his weight.

"Hey!" Leona yelled, looking up. "No fair!" She called back, using her claw weapons to help her up the trees before chasing after him again. "You wont loose me that easily Ramses!" she teased, but had lost some ground against him. He was definitely a smart one, knowing not to run on land! "

Not looking back, Ramses leapt from branch to branch, catching with his hands if one was too far to land on. He did this all the time as a boy, and was thus very adept at it. "Follow me if you can Leona!" he said with a laugh, moving ever northward, with a happy smile on his face.

Leona blinked as she watched; he was very good at this and very fast! "Of course I can!" she said, quickening her pace, as she ducked underneath a tree branch. She definitely wasn't as agile or knowing about this sort of chase, but she was determined as they moved north woods through the trees. "I'll catch you too... eventually!" she promised, grinning the whole way. This was way more fun then walking!

Hand over hand, he flipped and tossed himself through the trees, seemingly falling a few times, only to catch a branch and swing back up. God but this was fun! He looked back for a second and saw Leona right behind him, "Wow, you're good!" he grinned, then kept running, jumping up and landing on a springy branch. He coiled his legs under him and leapt into the air, clearing the treetops. Screaming in delight, it was like flying! "Whooo-hooo-hoo-hoo!!!"

"Thanks!" Leona giggled as she kept up, dodging and watching, when her eyes widened at his newest turn. Well... here went nothing! She gulped as she landed on the branch and launched herself, eyes wide, as air rushed past her. "YIPPPPEEEEEE!" She yelled, squealing to herself with delight. "This is AMAZING Ramses!" she yelled in the air, grinning widely a bit behind him.

"Now comes the hard part!" he shouted at her, "Landing!!" the two reached the arc of their leap, and began to fall, Ramses picked a branch and hurriedly stuck his arms out, catching it and swinging around with a grunt, his arms feeling like they'd tear out of his shoulders. He landed with a -thud- on the forest floor, laughing hard and breathing heavily.

"LANDING?!?" Leona yelled, eyes wide as she realized indeed it was time to land. She caught onto a branch somehow at the last moment and ended up flipping over it, the branch suspending her upside down in the air for a moment before she took a deep breath and flipped herself over again somehow landing n her feet... though not very gracefully! She giggled a bit. "Cats always land on their feet! Right Ramses? Uh... Ramses?" she asked, before seeing how and where he landed. "Ramses, are you all right?" she asked, kneeling beside him a moment.

Ramses laughed a bit and grabbed Leona's shoulders, pulling her down as he sat up. "Show off!" he grinned and tousled her hair, before standing up a little unsteadily, and continuing to run to the north. "C'mon Leona, don't just lie around, we have a Stone to find!" he didn't bother trying to swing back up into a tree, his arms hurt waaaaaaay too much for that.

"Yep!" she replied with a grin. "It'll take us no time!" she added, smiling. "Though I don't know about you but I'm goin' to use a potion! You sure know how to go through trees Ramses! Uhm, want one too?" she asked, as she downed a potion. The romp left her a bit tired, but she had loved every minute of it.

Ramses turned around and stopped, rolling his right arm and wincing. "Nah, potions may be a wonder-product, but you shouldn't use 'em for every old thing. If you rely entirely on potions and healing magic, your natural immunities are gonna get weaker. Besides, what doesn't kill ya only makes you stronger!" he nodded, "But...that may e enough running for now..."

"Whatever you say Ramses!" Leona replied. "Though you're right, walking's good! I think we're almost there anyways; the smell of it is getting stronger! I just wish I knew which one it was!" She looked around their surroundings as they exited the forested area around them, for any sign of the Stone. Would a person have it? Would it be alone? She wasn't sure but whichever way it was they were close and would get it!

Ramses nodded and tilted his head, thinking of a question. He wondered if Leona could answer it for him. "Leona, what if the old Zodiac Braves that Ramza fought weren't the Braves at all? What if the Stones warp you, turn you into an evil monster if you aren't meant to have them, but ask for powers anyway? D'you think that could be the case? I mean... if so, then what if we find a Stone being used by a Monster, or someone evil?" Ramses asked. If his hypothesis was correct, it could mean a slew of major battles on their hands.

Leona raised a brow, as she thought upon all she knew, all she had been told and heard about the Stones. "Ramses you know, it just might be possible. I've always thought the braves Ramza fought weren't the actual braves... or at least people who asked for the wrong thing. If some monster, or someone evil uses them then well... might be a problem. But I know you and I can take them, and we wont have to worry until or if that comes right? So don't worry so much Ramses," she said, giving him a bright smile. "We'll get 'em, together!"

Ramses couldn't help but smile. Leona was right; they could handle anything Ivalice's enemies had to throw at them. They were each a Zodiac Brave after all! "You're right Leona! I was just thinking too much it seems...heh. So you say we can't be too far now eh? Is the Stone still to the north of here? Or do we have to change direction?"

"Yep, too much worries Ramses! Keep doin' that and you'll turn into a wart!" Leona then took a whiff of the air and nodded. "Its still north... but it smells like its only a few minutes away! Come on!" She said, jumping a bit with excitement as she strode ahead, grinning. Not too much further and they would be a quarter of the way to their goal! She was so happy just thinking about it that a monster could sneak up right by them and shed never notice!

Ramses stopped walking and looked around. It had gotten definitely too quiet. Despite the rustling of the leaves and branches, no insects or animals were making any noise. "Leona..." he said carefully and lowly, "Don't...move. Something's wrong.." And as if on cue, a blur of bright red and brown fur and horns, which slammed a heavily muscled arm into Leona's chest and knocked her flying back to Ramses, where he caught her. "Leona!? Are you alright?!" As he spoke, the Lucavi Demon that had appeared reared up to it's full height, a large brownish stone gleaming in place of one of it's eyes. "SO THESE ARE THE PUNY BRAVES I'VE BEEN SENSING? HOW PATHETIC.... I OFFER YOU THIS DEAL, BRAVES, LEAVE YOUR ZODIAC STONES, AND YOU MAY LEAVE WITH YOUR LIVES." it stated plainly, in a deep voice that sounded like the Lucavi was gargling broken glass.

Leona blinked with surprise, having been caught off guard, and managed to get out a nod. "Y-yeah, I think so!" she said, though a bit breathlessly. She looked back at what had hit her, and her golden eyes widened. "Thaaaaats a mighty big monster and… look Ramses! His eye!" She pointed to the Stone, as the monster gave its commands. "In your dreams you big meanie!" Leona retorted, returning to her feet, fire in her eyes. "I think it should be the other way around!" Though it was nearly twice as big as either her or Ramses she smiled, nodding to him. "Lets get him!" She was still a bit sore to say the least, but she put it out of her mind as she clenched her fists and called upon her Stone for help. 'Give me the speed and strength to retrieve the Stone for Ramses and myself...' she thought, as she felt the Stone oblige her.

Ramses stared up at the Lucavi, and gritted his teeth, this was gonna hurt tomorrow, but they needed that Stone, and NOT an evil monster with that Stone. "Right!" he replied to Leona, calling upon the Stone around his neck, feeling his bones and form shift. 'Please, Serpentarius, give me the power to protect Leona, and get that Stone from this monster!' he thought. Scales grew from his skin, and a series of cracks and pops marks the appearance of his spines leaping from their sheathes. "YOU THINK YOU CAN OPPOSE ME? I AM MINOTA, THE TAURUS LUCAVI!!!" it bellowed, swinging around a massive pickaxe. It looked like the Stone had mutated a Minotaurus into this...this thing. It charged forward, swinging the massive axe down at Leona, it's tightly corded muscles bunching with the force thrown into it. Ramses sprang to the left, hoping that Leona would move out of the way, and he vaulted off a tree, sending his spiked shoulder deep into Minota's side.

Leona had become her anthro cat shape, her reflexes sharp as she flipped out of the way of the hard but slow blow. On all fours a short distance away, she smiled at it. "You missed me!" She said with a wink. She had a plan; she just hoped Ramses would catch on! She would distract it with her speed, while Ramses brought in the heavy blows while Minota would be facing her. "Or you really that slow or are you just toying with me? Come on big guy," She said, winking at him with arms folded as she stood in front of him, "Show me what you've got!"

Minota roared again, being exceptionally strong, but not all that bright. Ramses had asked for the power to protect Leona, as well as get the Stone, and this time he had been given a good tool; his venom was a powerful mind and body numbing one. Immediately, he drew back, his shoulder-spine exiting Minota's side, and the beast crashed forward, trying to hit Leona with it's pickaxe again. Ramses saw around it and grinned, she was distracting it! Quickly, he slithered up high into a tree, standing on a sturdy branch and bringing out the massive Serpentarius Blade, dripping with venom. He pointed, and winced, the strain great as he drew forth a new ability, concentrating on the ground beneath Minota, he murmured an incantation. "Sharp sheets of ice, throw your edges to the ground, ICE 2!!" immediately the ground froze beneath Minota, and it slipped, crashing to the ground with a confused roar.

Leona grinned as the pickaxe came over towards her and jumped over it, coming to rest upon the top of it. "Hi!" she said, waving happily at it, before jumping off as it slipped over the ice and landed by its head. "Silly Minota," she said, grinning down at it, as she looked to the Stone lodged in the eye. "Not too bright are ya!" She unsheathed her claws a moment as he lied there, knowing the Stone would have to be dislodged. Then, he'd revert back to normal. So she clawed at his eye, loosening it a bit hopefully, as she quickly tried to get out of the way of its fury.

Minota roared again as pain lanced through its head. It brought a huge fist around and grabbed Leona by her legs, flinging her away as it stood up unsteadily. Stooping to retrieve its pickaxe, the thing never saw Ramses coming. Ramses leapt from his branch, holding the Serpentarius Blade high above his head, thoroughly annoyed that Minota might have injured Leona. As he came down on it's back, slamming his knee spines into it for support, her brought the Serpentarius Blade around in a wide arc, cleaving through it's massive neck. He let go of the blade as it cleared the neck, sending the head forward, and the blade off to the side, where it fragmented and disappeared. Ramses rode the beast's corpse down, then revoked the power of the Stone, falling to his hands and knees beside Minota's body, which lied in a deepening pool of it's own blood, slowly turning back into a Minotaurus, though the head still swore furiously.

Leona hissed a bit with surprise, even her speed not being able to surpass the monster's wrath, as she was picked up by the legs and thrown aside. The force of the toss caused her to grimace slightly, as she landed upon her chest, bringing stars to her eyes a moment. She blinked, gritting her teeth as she sat herself back up, when she noted with a smile as Ramses finished the job. "Ya got him!" she exclaimed proudly, before wincing a bit. "Chocobo cure," she said, as the feathers washed over the pair. Using a tree she got back up, feeling thoroughly bruised in her legs however as she reverted back to her human form. "Are you all right Ramses?" she asked him, blinking towards the still swearing monster's head. "We did it!" she added, with a smile.

Ramses just smiled and nodded, feeling drained still. Something about using his Stone's power made him tired, like he was constantly fighting another battle, on top of the one he was using his powers for. His head ached, despite Leona's ChocoCure, and he moved to an un-bloodied patch of grass and sat down. "Can you...ugh... can you get the Stone, Leona?" he asked, closing his eyes against his blurring vision, "I need to sit down for a bit…" Meanwhile, the head of Minota was still acting big, tough, and mean, Ramses' pain-reducing venom would have numbed it's movements, if it had any, and it hadn't yet realized it was dead. "YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST TAKE MY STONE AND LIVE HAPPILY? FOOLS! THERE'LL BE MORE LIKE ME! MORE LUCAVI OUT FOR THE POWERS OF THE ZODIAC STONES! AND WITH MORE IN YOUR POSSESSION, HOW TEMPTING A TARGET WILL -YOU- FUCKERS BE? HAHAha...haha..." it trailed off, spittle leaking down the side of it's mouth, as the Taurus Stone hit the grass with a muffled -thus- and the head started turning back into one of a Minotaurus.

"Sure thing Ramses!" she said, looking down at the head, shaking hers. "Then we'll just take care of them like we took care of you!" she said with a wink. "Whatever comes, will take you it head on!" She shook her head at it, wagging a finger back and forth like a disapproving mother, as she knelt down and pulled out the Stone, keeping it in hand. She then walked over to Ramses, and sat down beside him. "Here," she said, holding the Stone out to him. "You definitely earned holding on to this one! You kicked its butt Ramses!" She blinked a moment, noting his tired expression. "Are you all right Ramses?" she asked, tilting her head as she looked at him with concern.

Ramses opened his eyes and blinked a few times, waiting for them to focus, then turned to Leona. "I'll... I'll be fine..." he smiled and accepted the Stone, holding it up in the light, the sunlight hitting it and sending sparkling rays of brown light around the area. Ramses smiled appreciatively, then tucked the Stone away into a secure pocket, in his clothing, under his armor and robes. "It'll be safe there," he said, patting it. Since the Stone was under so much material and metal, neither Ramses nor Leona noticed that both glowed a little brighter, as if being closer together strengthened them in some way. "What d'you think we should do now?"

Leona smiled. "I didn't doubt it would be safe for a moment," she replied, giving him a wink, as she thought a moment. "Well for now, we both need our rest so lets try to get some shuteye. Lets sit here a moment, then find a place to spend the night. And were one Stone closer now to a home Ramses!" she said, smiling brightly. "It wont be long now at all!"

He nodded with a smile, leaning back on his palms and looking up at the leaves. Just then, the Minotaurus' body flashed and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a bright blue treasure box. It was odd, some strange magic turned monsters and people into treasure boxes as well as crystals. Did that mean that there were never any graveyards? "Hey, Leona?" he asked, always one to philosophize, "Why d'you think that corpses turn into Crystals and Treasures and Undead?"

Leona blinked a moment at the question, tilting her head. "I dunno to be honest," she said. "Maybe it depends upon the life the led? Like good guys, or monsters that lived as they should without killing people without purpose, turn to the crystals. While say people who left unfinished work behind, they become undead... only they forget what it was they were going to finish! Now the real bad guys become treasure boxes, a kinda way to make up for their mistakes?" She smiled at Ramses, ruffling his hair a bit. "What kinda question is that anyways Ramses? You're thinking too much again! One of these days you're going to give yourself a biiiiig headache!" She smiled then, giving a wink. "I dunno, I think I gave MYSELF a headache with that one!" she added, rubbing her head a bit. "Anyways, that's just my thoughts on it," she added. "Course it could always be something as simple as because someone said so!"

Ramses shook his head and laughed, pulling himself to his feet and grinning. "Yeah, I like the last option better. It's easier to think about, but then you get to wondering, who would say so?" he stopped there, stooping as he opened the treasure chest, "Whoo! Let's see, we got one...two... three Ethers outta him!" he held the tiny vials up and grinned. "These sell for a bundle, and relieve headaches, and restore the balance of your spiritual and magical energy! Or so I was taught.." he nodded. Ramses offered them to Leona, "You want 'em, or one of 'em, or two, or well...I ran outta options didn't I?"

Leona giggled. "Yep, you sure did Ramses! Why don't we each take one, then sell the third?" she asked, giggling. "He was just full of goodies wasn't he? Almost like a piñata!" she giggled at the thought, before tilting her head. Ramses didn't know? "Arianna would," she said simply, as though every child alive would know that. She smiled, before holding waving towards Ramses. "Come on," she said, taking in a deep whiff of air. "We still need to find a good resting spot! It'll be a bit till we reach the next Stone, but by then we'll be ready again!"

Ramses nodded and followed off after Leona, noting that even the Minotaurus' blood had vanished. He patted for the Stone, making sure it was still there. "Who's Arianna?" he asked quizzically as they walked, his sharp eyes picking out areas, looking for a defendable, and weather-able, and comfortable, location for the two of them to sleep.

"You mean you don't know?" Leona asked, tilting her head as she turned around and walked backwards for a bit in front of Ramses, before resting her hands behind her head. "Arianna's the goddess of all the worlds! She created them, kinda rules over them, so I guess she would be the one to have the final say-so. But, not for long if things go right..." she said, giving a nod, her eyes kinda drooping bit as she gave a cat sized yawn.

"Arianna huh?" Ramses muttered, then pointed to a rather large, hollow tree stump. The top was scorched, but covered with a solid layer of leaves. "There! That looks big enough for two, we can sleep there tonight!" he grinned and headed off towards it, it was up a small hill, which would help if it rained, or if they were attacked. Thank goodness they found a place, he was about ready to drop down!

"Looks great Ramses!" Leona replied, as she followed up the hill, before settling herself down and stretching out a bit. "We've both had a long day, so lets get lots of sleep! Then, tomorrow, we can grab another Stone or two. Were so close, you know?" she asked, smiling happily at him one last time before curling up. "Good night Ramses! Sleep well!" She said to him, before dozing off in a series of snores. She had been pretty tuckered too to say the least from all for that running, and leaping.

He chuckled and smiled a bit, squatting down and taking of his cloak, carefully laying it over Leona so she didn't get cold. He leaned back against the trunk and looked outside, up at the sky. The stars were twinkling, and each had it's own story, Ramses was sure of it. He said a silent prayer to this new being, Arianna, to watch over Leona and her family, and to help them find the Stones, before curling up beside her, quickly dozing off into a fitful sleep.

Ramses tossed and turned in his sleep, images forming in his mind, faces and people drifting in and out of a thick fog. Suddenly, he found himself in a pitch-black darkness. "So, you and your friend think you can collect the Holy Stones, and bring the Braves together, don't you?" a deep, sibilant voice hissed. Suddenly, light splashed into the room, revealing the 12 Zodiac Stones on pedestals, with a Lucavi Demon standing next to each of them. The Serpentarius Stone was absent, but Ramses assumed it belonged to the sinister version of himself that he saw looking at him. The only other person he recognized was Leona, standing next to the pedestal with the Leo Stone on it.

"Yeah, Leona and I can do it!" Ramses said defiantly, looking his alter-self in the eye. It was strange; his eyes were empty, except for the malevolence and evil that exuded from him. "What's it to you, Lucavi?" he asked. "Don't you realize that you, yourself, are a Lucavi, Ramses?" it said imperiously, the hiss of it's voice rather slick and sleazy, "Every time you use your Holy Stone, you become more and more... like me"

After that, the light dimmed, everything black again except for the faint colored lights emanating from the Zodiac Stones. The Lucavi also emanated the light. Ramses turned to look around, and suddenly, his Zodiac Form leapt from the darkness, huge mouth wide, and closed its venomous jaws on Ramses' head. "AHHHHHH!!!!" he screamed, bolting up, clutching his chest, hand closing on the brilliantly flaring Serpentarius Stone.

Leona bolted upright as his cry, eyes widened with concern as she looked around her. "Ramses!" she yelled, holding the cape close when she turned beside her. She hugged him a moment, concerned. "Ramses? Are you all right?" she finally asked. "Ramses? It was just a dream! Come on Ramses!" she said, blinking as she looked to him, hoping he was all right. Whatever dream he was given, it must have been a nightmare!

Ramses shook his head, green and black strands of hair falling into his face. He breathed deeply, trying to calm down, still clutching at the Serpentarius Stone that hung around his neck. "A...it was just…a dream... r-right..." he muttered to himself, "Just a dream... had to be..."

Leona looked to him, nodding. "Right! Just a dream Ramses!" she added, more firmly this time. "You're awake now though, see? I'm here, so no worries right? It can't be a dream because I'm here." She let go of him, ruffling his hair slightly. "And you felt that right? That's how you now its a dream. So no worries Ramses okay? A dream can't hurt you!"

Ramses turned his head and looked at her, shaking his head again, "It's not getting hurt that scared me Leona... I saw all of the Lucavi, and all of the Stones. I was there, you were there... something that said it was me was there as well…it said I'm... that I'm…a Lucavi..." he slumped against the trunk, noting that it was still dark out. He took the Taurus and Serpentarius Stones out and laid them on his lap, looking down that the glow. "What if it's more than a dream Leona? That would mean I'm not... I'm not meant to hold the Serpentarius Stone..." he trailed off, closing his eyes again

Leona blinked a moment, before shaking her head. "Do you look like a demon Ramses? Do you feel like one? I don't believe you are, not at all! Don't listen to what some spirit tells you! And besides," she added, a serious look to her face for once. "You are Ramses, and you're whatever you decide to be! No-one can tell you otherwise, not me, not some creepy doppelganger, nobody!" She looked to the Stones, then back to him. "It recognized you, didn't you once tell me that Ramses? And also, you can use it like I use mine. Were you not meant for it you would have just been like that Minota guy?" She frowned a bit when he closed his eyes, the pained look on his face, before holding him close a moment. Someone needed a hug. "And no matter what happens Ramses, I'll be there for you," she added, just wanting to comfort him, to make his sorrow and pain vanish. If she could, she would have kicked the demon's ethereal butt that had told Ramses all of these horrible things...

Ramses nodded a bit and hugged her before composing himself. His eyes opened, and he smiled warmly to her, kissing her cheek, "Thanks Leona, thanks for everything…for being my friend, for showing me how to use my Stone, and for just now..." he nodded, then quickly changed the subject, flushing a little in the darkness, "Uhm, you'd better get back to sleep, so should I, long day tomorrow, what with finding Stones and alla that!"

Leona nodded. "Yep, long day ahead of us!" she said, settling back into sleep, before looking towards him, and giving him a wink. "And you're welcome," she added. "Anytime Ramses." She smiled warmly, before drifting away again, falling into snores yet again. She was certain he would be all right, he just needed time. And if that spirit bothered him again, well, she'd take care of it somehow.

Ramses smiled softly and settled back down, lying against Leona and staring at the roof. With a friend like Leona, Ramses felt sure he could handle anything. Slowly, he drifted back to sleep, not bothered by any more doppelgangers, or ethereal mist, or Lucavi. Sometime in the middle of the night, he moved and stretched, positioning his feet and most of his legs outside the trunk.

Leona had a quiet night as well, though not dreamless. She dreamed of a new home, where Ramses and her family could stay in peace. How peaceful, how wonderful it would be. She knew what they had to do to get there, and Leona knew if anyone could do it, it was them! Slowly, morning came to call. Leona stretched, yawning a bit, before gently getting up. Setting the robes gently over Ramses she changed to her quadruped form. She didn't go out of eyesight though, coming back shortly afterwards with a four rabbits in her mouth. Setting them down she shifted back to normal, looking over to Ramses to see if he was awake as she took out her claws. She had watched how Ramses had skinned the deer, and so set to work with her cats claws on the rabbits, ensuring breakfast for them both as she hummed a lively tune to herself, the chocobo song.

Ramses sat up, stretching and yawning. Slowly, he pulled his cloak back over his shoulders, pinning it on and walking down the hill to Leona. He sat himself down and scratched his chest, looking at the rabbits. "Whoo! Breakfast!" he grinned, "One of these days when we're in town, I have to buy a pot and utensils, can't just eat meat. And I know a good dish that uses Gysahl Greens and Uribo meat!" he nodded, pulling his hair back with his fingers. "We don't wanna get scurvy or anything like that! Our teeth would rot out!"

"Scurvy?" Leona asked. "Wait... my teeth would rot! I don't want THAT to happen!" She said. "Then my smile would be all... eeeeeeew." She giggled, looking around the area a moment. "But where would we get stuff like THAT?!? And what's bread?" she asked. In Eris's realm, they hadn't had to eat after all and so bread was something well, that they didn't have!

"Bread's like a mix of flour and water and spices and stuff, it's really fluffy, and has many uses for eating. And we can find different types of Greens everywhere, from Gysahl to Mimett, we just have to be careful not to over harvest. And in towns, people sell fruits, vegetables, and bread and stuff!" he nodded, picking up a rabbit and offering it to Leona.

"Thanks!" Leona said, taking the offered rabbit and starting into it with her claws, taking small bits off to eat. "Bread sounds good then Ramses, I just had no idea there were so many kinds of food! Back home, we didn't have to eat anything at all, but here if I don't my stomach gets all rumbly and starts making weird noises. If I didn't know any better Id say it tries to communicate!" She giggled, taking in another bite of the rabbit. While venison was a bit better, rabbit was good for breakfast and a good change in pace as well.

"Heh" he nodded, picking up another rabbit and tearing the meat off in strips, wincing now and again when the meat was to hot to handle, hurriedly scarfing it, being quite hungry, since he hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday. Eventually he finished it, wiping his hands on the grass, leaning back, kinda full. "Phew... They're gonna be mad in Igros when they learn my table manners have gone to crap."

Leona giggled. "Table manners? There's no tables around here, so no worries!" She said this as she had a piece of rabbit in her mouth, which she gulped down again smiling. "Besides, anyone has any trouble with you and Id deal with them!" She dived into her rabbit again, taking another bit off. Sure it was hot, but that was the only way to eat it! She shuddered to think what cold meat would taste like!

Ramses laughed again and watched Leona eat, satisfied with his one rabbit. Hopefully nothing attacked them today, he was still a little tired after that nightmare. "Maybe we'll get lucky with the next Stone and have to explore some ancient ruins or something!" he grinned.

"Yeah!" she replied. "That would be cool! We could explorers or something Ramses!" She giggled, finishing a rabbit before taking a deep whiff of the air. "Well the next one is a little bit east from here, though not as far as we had to travel the FIRST time! Are you ready then Ramses? Or did we want to stop and get some of that... vegetables and breads you talked about somewhere first?"

Ramses thought for a moment, rubbing his chin. "Well, how about we go and find that Stone, we might find some neat Treasures too! That way we'll have lots of money to buy food with, because as it is we only have 3000 gil, and a spare Ether to sell!" Ramses grinned and took off his Black Robe, wrapping the rabbits in it and tying the bundle shut with the sash. This left him in only his armor, which gleamed in the light, making him look more real and noble than he would have liked. "I'm a Knight... but I don't like lookin' the part... hehe"

Leona blinked a moment. He did look really spiffy and noble in his armor like that. She shook her head though, smiling. "Its all right, if it helps, I think you look really cool!" she said, giving him a wink as she stood up. "You're right, who knows what we'll find? But we cant sell ALL of the neat treasures," she protested. "The best ones we should keep! Now come on Ramses, lets go!" she said, giggling a bit before getting up and starting off for the east.

Ramses walked to the east with Leona, still getting used to his armor. He kept the rabbit bundle slung over one shoulder, keeping in mind that his robes would need washing later. He hummed softly, a tune that the Chocobo's sang when they were happy, "Hmm hm hm hm hm hmm-hmm hmmmm hmm hmmmmmmmm"

The two walked forward, and Lena couldn't help but giggle a bit at the happy tune. It wasn't too far to this Stone she knew, but it was well off the beaten path so she kept an eye out just in case for monsters or anything else that might happen to chance by. In the far distance she COULD see a ruined temple and she just giggled. "Look Ramses!" she exclaimed. "You might get your wish after all

Ramses looked to where Leona was looking, and gaped. "Wow! I've always wanted to explore ruins!" he grinned, a bit of his childhood adventures shining through, "When I was little, I'd pretend that the crawlspace under the orphanage was an ancient cave, and I'd hide candy there to find later for treasure!" He picked up his pace, eager to get there and plumb the ruins for their hidden treasures.

Leona smiled at that. "Really? That sounds so coooool! I'm sure we'll find lots of nifty things here too though, come on!" she exclaimed, running forwards a bit, towards the grey Stone temple, until at least she was at its entrance. "Woaaaaaah," she said, blinking as she looked up. The temple was massive, rising over their heads at least three stories before tapering out. Its doors were crumbling, one half no longer there, so Leona couldn't make out the half of the Zodiac Sign that was engraved there...

Ramses blinked and looked at it. "Whoa is right... it looks like...like this's a temple to a Zodiac Brave! Maybe the Holy Stone is still here, waiting to be found! I wonder which one this's for though... hmm..." Ramses leaned against a statue, then slipped forward, knocking it over. The statue crashed to the ground, shattering a three-inch thick stone slab, revealing a hidden staircase. "Sheesh!!!"

"Coooool! I bet there's all kinds of neat treasures up there!" Leona said., giggling a bit to herself. "Lets go check it out!" She bounced up the stairs, before sopping at the apex. There stood another statue, this one of a woman holding a set of old fashioned scales. On each side of the scales Leona blinked, she could see Libra inscribed. "The Stone! It must be in this room!" she said, bouncing a bit as she zoomed off into the room, looking.

Ramses walked up the stairs cautiously, looking around. "Wait Leona!" he called, "This seems a little too easy, don't you think there'd be something guarding the Stone in case something like this happened?" Ramses looked around, blinking against the dust. He heard something grating, like stone against stone, "What's...that...?"

Leona blinked. "Too easy?" Leona asked, as she climbed on top of the statue, peering into each of the scale trays. "Don't worry so much Ramses! It's.... MEEEEP!" She squeaked with surprise as the scales, and the woman holding them MOVED. Then she saw it, right in the base of the scales, the Libra Stone. "Great! Now to just..." She moved to pry it, only to find herself thrown back as the statue shattered apart, revealing not stone, but a beautiful human-like woman, with flowing blond hair. But her eyes were blank as the stone she had come from. And now, the Libra scales were starting to crackle with magical energy...

"Aw hell!" Ramses swore as he prayed to his own Stone, looking for speed this time. Coiling his now-powerful legs underneath him, he launched himself into the air, catching Leona in his arms and landing across the room, nimbly setting her down and shifting to his usual form, bringing the Serpentarius Blade out. "Heh, I said be careful! Ruins are always trapped!" he watched the woman warily.

Leona nodded. "Well in my defense this IS my first time in a temple!" she replied, just as the woman smiled towards them. "My name is Libransa," she said, her voice hard, and cold. "And it is time for your souls to be weighed... I can guarantee you too it'll end in death for trespassing," she added, as she started making her way towards them. "Starting with YOU!" she said towards Ramses, a scale tipping towards him and sending a sheering wall of fire towards him, with the intent of engulfing. "RAMSES!" Leona yelled, as she shifted into a heavier version of her quadruped form, rushing towards the woman side and making her stumble, stopping the continuous pour of magic from the scale. She just hoped Ramses could dodge what HAD come out!

Ramses jumped up high, and over the wall of fire, pushing himself off the roof into a flying tackle, slamming into Libransa and knocking her to the ground. He balled a fist and brought his poison-spines out of his knuckles, starting to punch them into the arm that held the scales. "Leona! Get the scales from her!!"

"Right!" Leona nodded, taking a giant leap from where she was, grateful for her large forms sheer power. She moved to grab the scales in her teeth, as the woman swore with frustration. "You will NOT get the Stone from me easily!" she said, as ice started shooting out from the opposite side of the scales, the side Leona was trying to grab. Fire came from the other, shooting again towards Ramses with how it was pointing. Leona gritted her teeth as the ice struck her in the face, the muzzle, and her eyes but knew she couldn't let go. Not now! She pulled harder, until at last the scale fell free, and with it came the Stone clinking to the ground at Leona's feet. The woman returned to stone, as Leona blinked and slowly padded towards Ramses. "Ramses, are you all right?" she asked, eyes half closed as she stopped, shivering slightly as she pawed away at the ice on her muzzle.

Ramses winced and shut his eyes against the fire; it blasted across his scaled head, searing the flesh beneath the scaly hide. It hurt, oh how it hurt, but he had to make sure Leona got those scales. Suddenly, the fire stopped, and he raised a heavy fist, slamming it into the stone woman, shattering her into a few pieces. He got up and reverted, frowning softly as he noticed that Leona's face was iced over. Ramses stepped close, "Stop that Leona, you're gonna scratch yourself up…now hold still..." he murmured, lifting a hand, "To dispel wind's chilly sharp blades, FIRE!" His hand pulsed, giving off heat and light as if it were a small fire, Ramses held it close to the ice and let it melt away, eventually waving his hand and removing the flames. "We did it!!"

Leona nodded, as the ice melted smiling, reverting back to her usual form as well. "Yeah!" she replied, picking up the fallen Stone that had dislodged from the scales as it gave off a slight light. "Was there any doubt?" she asked, grinning. "But are you okay Ramses? All I saw was the scale shooting fire towards you before I could dislodge it..."

Ramses shrugged, having only blisters and pinkened skin. "I'll be okay, it's nothing time won't cure. Just stings a little!" he winked and picked up the scales, noting how intricately carved they were, "Wow, these might fetch a bundle!"

Leona nodded. "Yay! Our first temple treasure! I don't think Libransa will need it any more after all right? And…" she paused, as the ground beneath them, the walls, and the ceilings all began to shake violently. Her eyes went wide as she looked up. "Uh oh..." she said. "That can NOT be good..."

Ramses looked around, startled. "Uh-oh... looks like that was a load-bearing Boss..." he muttered. "We're gonna have to leave..." he said, bowing chivalrously to her, "After you?"

"Don't have to tell me twice," she replied with a smile, giving a slight bow before zooming out, checking behind her to make sure Ramses was there as she pocketed the Stone for the moment, running. The ground now was trembling, and the staircase starting to crumble and fall. She jumped as a massive chunk fell, before landing herself almost halfway to the exit. "Come on Ramses!" she said, looking back to make sure he was still there as she stood by the door.

Ramses blinked as a mound of stones fell in his path, stopping him from following Leona. "Keep goin'! I'll find a way out!!" he yelled over the shaking, before speeding off the other way, looking around desperately. He noticed a faint golden glimmer, and bent low to scoop up a fine golden bracelet. "Wow...oops!!" He ran like mad, dodging rocks and slabs of stone as they fell. He hoped Leona had listened, as he burst free from a window in the temple, running along a crumbling wall. He must have made quite the sight, sliding down slopes and running up stairways as they crumbled beneath him, eventually making a great flying leap off the wall, and into the trees. "Oof! Ack! WHOA!!" he yelped as he thwacked into branches, and fell in a heap on the forest floor.

Leona, who had made it outside, blinked as Ramses fell out of a window and onto the ground. "Are you all right?" she asked, blinking, tilting her head before looking back. "WHOOOOOO! That was so much fun! Can we ride it again?" she asked a bit gleefully.

Ramses stirred, blinking a bit. "Ow...ow...OW!!!..." he muttered, sitting up, a series of cracks emanating from him. He held out his hand and showed the bracelet to Leona. "I saw this in there, thoughtcha might like it." Ramses grinned sheepishly, trying to give some other reason for that, that the fact that he was actually stuck for a second.

Leona blushed a bit. "Thank you Ramses, I love it!" she replied, accepting the bracelet and slipping it on. She smiled at him, before remembering something! "ChocoCure!" she said, healing them both just in case, as the feathers rained down upon them. She couldn't help but give him a warm hug... forgetting the fact that he had just cracked a moment before!

Ramses' eyes widened as he cracked a few more times, then he hugged her back, laughing a bit. "Well, we're up to four now! That means there're 9 more!" he grinned, letting go and leaning against the tree he fell out of, taking a short rest before their next adventure.

"That's right!" Leona said, sitting down as well as she looked over at the ruins of the temple they had barely escaped from. "That was soooo cool though how you escaped Ramses! Though, I sure hope the next one doesn't involve rock... I think I've seen enough rocks to last a lifetime!" She leaned back against a tree, smiling as she couldn't help but look at her new bracelet a moment before back to Ramses. He really was so nice to her; she couldn't wait until he got to meet the family!

"Shyeah... nine more Stones... hopefully the next one is somewhere more...stable... Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be sitting, right in the middle of a field, waiting for us to trip over it." Ramses laughed and shook his head, stretching his legs out, the aches running along them, well, ached! He had to admit, though, that even in a life-threatening situation, this had remained fun. "So... which way to the next one Leona?"

"I sure wouldn't mind that at all!" she said, giggling, before standing up and taking in a deep whiff of air. "Its northeast from here," replied with a nod. "A liiiiitle bit further than this one was, but not by much!" She looked back to him, and smiled. "I take it this means you're ready to go after the next one?" She asked. "I'm ready whenever you are!"

Ramses nodded and sat down the Black Robe that he'd tied their two rabbits in. Grinning, he unwrapped them and tossed Leona's to her, "As soon as we've finished lunch, anyway..." he said, before murmuring, "Nature's fury, burning from within, FIRE!!" he focused on the rabbits, heating them up with the Fire spell, then he tore into his, suddenly quite hungry.

"Thanks!" Leona said, smiling as she took out her claws and started into the rabbit she was just given. "All the running does give one an appetite!" She took in another piece, always in awe of the wonders of fire magic like that. Rather nifty, she'd never tire of seeing it! At least, when it was pointed at her like that earlier monster had done.

He nodded, eagerly eating his rabbit, tearing the meat off it strips, and tossing bones into a small pile beside him, quickly and rather noisily stripping it clean. He wiped his hands on the already dirty Black Robe, and wadded it up, tying it into a neat bundle and hanging it on his belt. "Wonder if there's a river nearby... I'm thirsty, and I'll be damned if I don't need a bath."

"Good question!" Leona said, looking around a moment before finally eyeing a spot. She walked onto to a fallen tree and perched atop of it, taking in a deep scent of air before nodding and coming back. "There's one the way were going actually!" she said, sitting back down and finishing her rabbit. She giggled a moment. "And you don't stink Ramses, I've smelled worse!"

Ramses laughed and shrugged, "Who knows. All I know is -I- can smell me, and I don't like the smell. Besides, I've gotta wash this robe before I can wear it again, and my cloak is rather dirty." He laughed, displaying the rabbit-grease stained Black Robes, and the dirty, scuffed patches of his cloak. "Besides, you prolly don't smell me because I'm wearing my underclothes, the armor, and my cloak!"

Leona nodded. "Weeeelll, it couldn't hurt to get a bath then I guess," she said with a shrug, though like her Zodiac she hated water. "Yeah, layers are a wonderful thing! Well then, come on! I caught smell of it just over here, almost where the Stone is!" She started the way, looking back to Ramses and waving. "Come on!" she added.

Ramses nodded and looked at the sky, judging by the time of day, and the sun, to see where northeast was. He started off in that direction, knowing how good it felt to be clean. The only problem with bathing in a river was that it was COLD.

Leona as always smiled, when they finally reached the waters. Well, why not? She needed a bath anyways? "YAHOOOO!" she yelled, taking a running jump before landing into the stream with a resounding SPLASH that sent water flying everywhere. It didn't matter to Leona that she was still fully clothed, she had just always wanted to do that.

Ramses laughed, and started to unbuckle his armor, dropping it to the ground around him, along with his sword, until he stood in his bare feet, in his underclothes. He waved to Leona, before slipping into a secluded part of the river, behind some leafy bushes, removing the last of his clothes, shivering as he pulled water up onto himself and scrubbed. Ramses didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary, except the lack of animal noises. The river gushed and ran it's course, and he slowly pulled himself out of the water, shaking his hair out and hurriedly pulling his clothes back on. As he turned around, the Serpentarius Stone flared, as did a bright blue Stone in the river. "Hey, Leona! I found it!!" he called, before a large column of water erupted from the river and slammed into him.

"RAMSES!" she yelled, blinking, as she instantly transformed into her anthro feline form and lunged towards the water column, through it, and over to her friend. "Ramses are you okay?" she asked, blinking, before looking around and eyeing the water warily. "Uh Ramses... I don't think this is any ordinary water…" she said, tense, as she looked around her for the Stone again. Wherever it was they'd find the source of the trouble...

Ramses sputtered and sat up, soaking wet. The Serpentarius Stone hung brightly around his neck, and the blue Stone rose again, the form of the water it was in shifting to that of a shapely woman, though still made of water. Aquarius was inscribed on its surface. "Ugh... ow..." he muttered, not changing into his Zodiac Form, still somewhat shaken. "So, two more fools come to pollute my waters?!" the water woman shrieked in a bubbly voice, "You'll not escape the wrath of Aqueen!!"

"Aqueen?" Leona asked, raising a brow as she turned to face their new adversary. "Geeez, the names just keep getting worse and worse! What's next, Cancera?" She giggled, looking to Ramses. "Come on Ramses, lets try a pincer type attack," she whispered to him. "Its all right, we have no time to waste!" she added, setting a hand on his shoulder before doing a catlike aerial flip over the water woman and hoping to grab at the Stone before she turned around. If not, then Ramses would have a chance to grab it... this way either way one or the other would always have the chance. She was suddenly very, very lad for the seemingly centuries Eris had trained her!

Ramses stifled a laugh, and dove forward, shouting as he plunged his hands into the woman's stomach, seeking the Stone. "Scatter you're razor blades to the wind, ICE 2!!!" The woman's form started freezing from the inside, and he hastily pulled his hands back. "Quick, Leona!! Take the Stone!!" he shouted, before pointing at her and casting another spell, "Wrath of the heavens, strike down my foes, BOLT!!" the electricity arcing down Aqueen's freezing form, disorienting the water-woman.

"Right!" Leona yelled back, diving towards the woman from the other side, glad she had taken to anthro form for the slightly quicker reflexes. She plunged her hand inside, just as the lightning started to course through. She had to pull back before being shocked herself but she smiled. "Got it!" she said proudly, stepping a bit further away from the woman and back to Ramses. Her fur was sopping wet... and she had the wet fur smell to go with it! "That was smart thinking," she said, looking back at the downed woman, nodding.

Ramses grinned and punched the air happily, "Yes! That's another one for us! And you were right…I swear Leona, if we meet something called Cancera, we're gonna look at it and walk away. It'd be embarrassing to take the Stone from something so stupid!" he winked and went back to his clothes, laying down beside them, content to let the sun dry him off.

"Yep! Only eight more to go!" she agreed happily, before blinking down at herself and reverting back to normal. Remind me next time we get attacked by something water NOT to wear any fur in," she said, wringing out her shirt a bit before wringing out her hair and walking back to the shore, where she sat dipping her feet in holding out her toes for the fishes to get. She squealed when she got one. "Look what I got!" she said, holding up her foot... with piranha attached.

Ramses blinked at the fish holding onto his friend's toe, then looked at her, "Leona... that's a piranha... doesn't that...oh Iono... HURT?!" he watched it gnash at her toe, flopping about. Shaking his head, he reached down and flicked it hard between the eyes, taking hold of it and holding it by the tail.

Leona blinked. "But it looked so good to eat... and how else was I going to catch it!" she asked, sitting down on the ground to wipe her toe clean. "Do you think next time I should use a tail?" she asked. "I could probably get more of those things that way! Though hopefully with smaller teeth," she admitted, grinning a bit sheepishly.

Ramses laughed and reached to the side, snapping off a small branch from a tree and stripping it of its leaves. Then he took the tie from his Black Robes and tied it to the end of the stick. After that he pulled a few bits of rabbit meat off the robes, where it had stuck, and handed the stick and the meat to Leona. "Put the meat on the end of the string, and hold the stick with the string dipped into the water. Once we run outta rabbit, we can use some fish meat as bait!" Ramses grinned. You picked up a lot of things when you played Adventurer.

"Neat!" Leona replied and immediately went off to play with her new toy. Sure enough, a few moments later, she was catching fish! "I love fishes cause they're so delicious! Gotta have fishes!" she sang happily, smiling toward Ramses. "You should try this too Ramses! Its fun!"

Ramses laughed at her song, shaking his head at the offer, "No thanks, I was never patient when it came to fishing... Wanna see how I usually do it?" he smirked, running a finger over the Aquarius Stone and smiling at its glow. They were getting closer every day!

"Sure!" she replied, giggling as she looked over to him, baiting the line now with a fish seeing as how she had run out of rabbit meat to use.

Ramses stood up and watched the water, looking for a likely school of fish. He grinned and pointed to them, chanting, "God's fury, rain from the heavens, BOLT 2!!!" Suddenly, a bolt of lightning lanced from the sky and struck the water, blasting the school of fish from the water. They rained down on Ramses and Leona, steaming, already cooked from the magic. "It's kinda like cheating, but it gets the job done!"

Leona opened her mouth wide with wonder, giggling as she caught whatever fish she could., "Its raining fish!" she said, gathering up a few before setting aside her reel to swallow down one whole. "You know all of the neatest tricks Ramses," she said, swallowing the fish before starting in on another. She LOVED fish! "Well what are you waiting for?" she asked him. "Dig in!" And she started humming another song to herself as she ate, the goldfish song.

Ramses picked up a fish and pinched his fingers on the base of its tail, yanking up sharply and pulling the skeleton from the obviously cooked fish. He tossed the skeleton into the river and stuffed the meat into his mouth, chewing heartily. He still intended to get them some fruits and vegetables, but for now meat would do. He picked up a few more fish and started into them, eating his fill, before kneeling down and washing the black robes, before wringing them out and tossing them back onto the pile of his armor and cloak.

Leona tilted her head. "Now why do that Ramses? Fish is good swallowed whole!" she said, swallowing a few more whole before nodding and wringing out the rest of the clothes she wore. She gathered the fish they had leftover in her arms, and walked over to Ramses. "Where can we put aaaaaall of these though?" she asked, tilting her head as she resisted the urge to take a deep whiff of the fish she held.

Ramses blinked, and picked up his newly cleaned robes. He laid them on the ground and chuckled, "That's it, we're going to a town to buy some sacks and backpacks!" he grinned. "But for now we can put the fish in there, Leona! And I can't eat fish whole... I'm human, the bones'll hurt me!" he laughed.

Leona giggled. "Yep, we could definitely use them! Your poor robe is taking a beating Ramses!" She smiled, before tilting her head. "Wait, bones can hurt people?" she asked, raising her brow. "And here I thought I'd heard everything!" She set the fish down on the robes, and couldn't hold it any longer, taking in a deep whiff before giving Ramses a nod it was good to go.

Ramses wrapped the fish up, and handed the bundle to Leona, "You can keep these safe right?" he laughed and started pulling his armor back on, tightening the straps, then pinned his cloak on. "Yeah... we're near Igros again, we can go back there!" he nodded.

"Yep! Can do!" she replied, taking the bundle carefully and slinging it over her shoulder to hold. "They're safe with me, I'm all full now!" She smiled as he mentioned Igros. "Igros again? Awesome! It was such a neat place the first time around, maybe this time around we'll get to dance again!"

Ramses chuckled and shook his head, "No, we were in Wargilis last time, Leona. Igros is a castle, where the Hokuten Knights, and the Belouve Family are. Actually, Larg and Goltana each lived there once! The dancing is boring though, nobles are all prudes!" he laughed and started off to the south, towards Igros, which was a speck in the distance. "C'mon!"

Leona nodded. "Ooooooh, I see! Wait, a CASTLE?" she asked, smiling widely at the thought. "Wow, I've seen one in the distance and all, but were actually going to BE in one?" she asked, following. "Right behind ya!" she said, before tilting her head. "Waaaaait a moment Ramses! How can dancing be boring?"

Ramses chuckled as he kept walking, "Well, the way they dance, it's all slow, and with rules. Like, when we danced in Dorter, it was the way we wanted to... you'll see when you see a room full of people moving the exact same way." he laughed, continuing to walk. It would be at least a day's travel to get to Igros, so they'd have to stop and rest sometime.

"Wait... the exact same way?!?" Leona asked. "That would be too creepy! I can understand training like that, but dancing? How come everyone doesn't get so bored they fall asleep in the middle of it?" she asked, as they continued walking.

"Because they don't know anything else Leona!" he nodded, "Besides, they like it that way, something about it setting them apart from the common folks." Ramses chuckled and looked around, grinning when he spotted a growth of Mimett Greens. "Whoo!!" he hurried over, and yanked two out of the ground, rubbing the dirk off with his cloak. "These are awesome!" he handed one to Leona, "Try it, it tastes kinda like a combination of carrot and potato, with onion!"

"Really?" Leona asked, walking over. She took the green and popped it into her mouth, chewing it thoughtfully. "Wow, that's unlike anything I've ever had before! In a good way," she added. "Didn't you say you can make soup out of these Ramses?" she asked, blinking.

Ramses nodded, "Yup, I learned to cook a long time ago, it's a useful skill to have. I can make a good fish stew as well, you'd love it!" he nodded as he spoke. "One day I'm gonna have to cook it for you, ya think you like swallowing' fish whole? Just wait 'till we have fish stew, with bread and cheese!"

"Fish stew? So wait, fish AND this? Cool!" she said, as they kept walking but she knew it they couldn't reach it on one day. "It sounds good!" she giggled. "I am very curious about the bread thing after all, and if its anything like the greens Ill have to think up a new song!"

"Oh? Heh, that fish song was really creative!" he grinned, singing it in a clear voice, "I love fishes 'cause they're so delicious!" laughing, Ramses ate his Mimett Green and Warked, winking at Leona.

Leona giggled. "WARK!" she replied, grinning. "Yeah, made it all up by myself! I used to sing a lot when I wasn't training; it was a lot of fun! Ever tried singing Ramses?" she asked.

"Sometimes, but only when people aren't around to hear me, I get shy" he laughed, scratching his head softly, "Why? Do I sing well?"

"Course!" Leona replied. "Nothing to be shy about Ramses! Singing is fun! Besides, even if you do badly what's the worse that could happen huh?"

Ramses laughed and remembered once seeing a bard run out of the castle and chased through the countryside for singing the wrong song, and badly at that. "Oh, I can think of a few times... heh..." he shook his head and shrugged. "No worries though!"

Leona stretched a moment, yawning, when she spied a good spot in the forest, a slight clearing where they could make up camp, where a few moss lied for padding. "Why don't we sleep there?" Leona asked, pointing to it. "I don't know about you, but some rest would do me good about now!"

"Shyeah..." he nodded, turning towards it, picking out a spot with a bunch of moss near to each other. "This seems like a great spot! Great eyes Leona!" he nodded, unclasping his cloak and offering it to her, "So you don't get cold" he added with a smile.

"Thanks Ramses," she said, snuggling into it and curling up. "Good night Ramses," she said with a smile, before drifting off seconds later into sleep.

Ramses nodded and chuckled, settling down beside her, deciding to stay up and watch for a while. Nothing was gonna bother them tonight, and he took a look at the Taurus, Aquarius, and Serpentarius Stones for a while. They all gleamed stronger when they were together; maybe they had a special link? He put them away and lied next to Leona, quickly dozing off.

Leona stretched out as the morning came, and set the cape back over Ramses before going out to gather their breakfast, this time grabbing up a few pair of greens as well. She couldn't make a fire of course, so she just sat opening the bag with the fish unaware it had a... fishy smell to it.

Ramses stretched and yawned, rolling over as he woke up. The moss was rather soft, and he didn't really feel like getting up just yet, just then the wind blew and shifted a branch. Sunlight lanced down in an incredibly mischievous ray, which landed square on Ramses' eyes. He winced and sat up, shifting the cape and looking around. Rubbing his eyes, he swung his cape around his shoulders and pinned it on, combing his hair back with his fingers, dislodging a few pieces of moss. "Morning' Leona..." he said with a smile.

"Morning Ramses!" she said, smiling as she indicated the greens she found and fish. "Look, not just meat this morning!" she said, smiling. "No scurvy for us!" She couldn't help but take a fish and swallow it whole, before blushing. "Aheh.... ooopsies," she said. "Those darn things are so tempting!"

Ramses shook his head and laughed. "Nope, no scurvy for us," before picking up the greens and a few fish, wrapping them in a bit of moss. He took them down to the river they'd been following, and soaked it in the water, before setting it on a rock and focusing on it. "Earth's fury, exploding with rage, FIRE!!!" the water inside the mossy bundle began to boil, then the package burst, the water rushing outward into the brush. The fish and greens inside were steaming, and everything smelled like a combination of fish and spices. "Whoo! It worked!" he grinned, picking up a hot green and juggling it between his hands, "Ow ow ow...hot hot!! Here!!" he held it out to Leona, the fish-smell wafting towards her.

"FISH!" she said happily, before taking the bundle. "YIKES! That IS hot!" she added, taking out her claws to rest the food upon safely. "Fiiiiiiish," she said, as though memorized, before finally starting into it. "Ooooooh, its so good! Wait, wait, wait!" she added though, brow raised as she turned to face him. "You didn't know if this would work?!?"

Ramses shrugged and took a pieces of his own, blowing on it before answering, "In a word... no. But in a few words, experimentation is the key to learning to cook!" he grinned and bit into the green, chewing heartily. The breeze blew pleasantly around them, though Ramses didn't think that the scent of the food would attract wandering monsters or bandits.

"Experimentation?" Leona asked. "So you just kinda combine a few things and hope for the best huh? Can I try next time, it sounds like fun!" She giggled a moment, biting into the greens and fish again. "I don't have a song for this one," she admitted, "But its still pretty good! What are you going to call this dish?

Ramses thought for a moment, looking at the food and taking another bite. "Iono... Zodiac Surprise?" he laughed and finished his green, picking up a fish and starting to strip the meat off the bones, setting it on a rock nearby.

"Could always call it uhm.... baked fish in greens?" she said, finishing hers up. "So, think we'll be in Igros today?" she asked, head tilted as she swallowed another fish whole. "I want to see what a castle looks like inside! Maybe liven up those "Dances" you told me about!"

Ramses ate his fish and took another green, "Well, we'll probably make it there by dusk, dances and ban 2quets and things often happen near then. We should skip lunch, 'cause a banquet is basically free, all-you-can-eat good, high quality food!" he laughed and chomped into the vegetable, "Wow, this is good!"

Leona nodded. "Yep! Sure is! You're a great cook! Hmmmm.... maybe after all of this you can make it your official occupation!" She smiled, taking down another fish halfway before nearly dropping it. "Did you say BANQUET?!? Wow, I heard about those legendary feasts but I didn't think they EXISTED!"

"Oh yeah, free food, free drinks, good entertainment." Ramses chuckled, "Only thing is, EVERY noble has this attitude that says, 'I'm the best fucker here! All you sniveling FUCKS would DIE without me!'. And they're all formal, so you're prolly gonna have to wear a dress." he shook his head, actually unable to imagine the bouncy, hyper, rambunctious Leona in a confining ballroom dress.

Leona had seen one of those before, and she blinked. "A dress?" she asked. "But how are you supposed to fight or run, or even eat in one of those Ramses?" she asked. "That would be so weird! Are you sure I just couldn't wear my armor? And… what is a fuck?" she asked, never having heard the term before.

Ramses blinked, remembering that she'd never been on a world before now, "Uhm. It's a word that's used to...err... well, let's just say, it's a word you're not supposed to say. Your mother would wash out your mouth with soap!" he nodded, "People use it to describe something that's offensive, or, well, that they just don't like! But seriously, don't use the word." he nodded, flushing.

"But YOU used it Ramses!" she said, pointing before giggling. "All right, all right, I wont use it. I don't thing a soaping from mom would be any fun. Plus, I'm not sure how soap would taste with fish!" Soapy fish? Now THERE was a scary thought!

Ramses laughed and shook his head, "I only used it, because I was describing what nobles think. The only problem I think we'll have is the attitude, but don't worry, if anyone gives you trouble," he unsheathed his sword and stabbed a fish valiantly, "I'll challenge 'em to a duel and give 'em what-for! See, dresses aren't made for fighting, because many people think that women aren't meant to fight. They're weird. I know for a fact you fight better than I do!"

"Me?" Leona asked, blushing brightly. "Well, I wouldn't say THAT Ramses, you fight great! I... as trained since the day I was created," she said, smiling a bit. "So yeah, it'd be pretty sad if I sucked at fighting!" She tilted her head. "But waaaaait, they think gender matters? Crazy, just crazy! Can I show them better?" she asked. "Pleeeeeease?"

Jeffismex2: Ramses shook his head and chuckled, "Nuh-uh. If you do that you'll have alla the Hokuten at your throat Leona, and the last thing we need are the armies of Ivalice after us. If anyone insults you, just say, 'I call a duel, for my honor!', then name me as your champion and I'll kick their butt for you. That way we don't have any odd looks for you fighting as good as you do, and we don't get anyone trying to find the Zodiac Stones before we do. I mean, we already have -some- bandits after us, I'd like to keep the law on our side, y'know?"

Leona nodded. "Still, wait a duel? Wow... those nobles sure have some weird customs... but Id rather not have some knights at my throat so Ill play along Ramses... just this once! Does... does that mean I have to wear a dress though? And please don't say that... makeup stuff I saw someone wear once..."

He laughed again and stood up, brushing of his legs. "I doubt it Leona, you'll only have to wear makeup if you plan to upstage some noblewoman. But between you and me, you're prettier than any old woman with ten pounds of makeup on her face!" he chuckled and bundled up the food in his Black Robes, offering her a hand up.

Leona, blushing again took his offered hand and got up. "Ooooooh come on! You're making me all red and stuff!" she said, before giggling a bit. "I wouldn't want to be like one of em anyways, they don't sound like they know how to have fun like we do!" She brushed herself off a bit, smiling as usual.

He nodded emphatically, and started off towards Igros again, slinging the bundle of fish and greens over his shoulder and humming a tune, though he didn't notice the flash of steel in the bushes, nor the glaring eyes all around them, poised to strike.

Leona meanwhile followed behind when she saw something glint. She pressed closer to Ramses a moment. "Uhm.... Ramses. I think we have company," she commented, her gaze flittering over towards the nearby bushes.

Ramses stopped and looked over, catching sight of the person. 'Shit,' he thought, 'Well, they already know we're here...' he nudged Leona and whispered, "Okay, well, I don't think these guys'll buy it this time... and there're way too many for us to fight off... we'll be swarmed. When I give the signal, run for Igros, don't stop, no matter what, alright?"

Leona blinked. "Ramses... no way can I do that! Were a team, I wont leave you behind to face them!" She saw his look, and frowned. "Well... all right. Just this once but CALL me if things go wrong! No matter what, Ill be back in seconds!" she said, before giving him one last nod and hurrying off towards Igros.

"Tell them to send the Chocobo Knights!! They'll get here faster!" he called, chasing after her a ways, then skidding to a halt at the path. "Alright then..." he grinned, "All -I- have to do is make sure ya don't catch my friend there, and survive 'till she gets back." Ramses called on the powers of his Stone, the brilliant green get flaring to life as it transformed him, 'Please, Serpentarius, grant me the power to hold out against these bandits!' Instantly it transformed him into the snake-like humanoid, with one noticeable difference. He towered more than nine feet tall, and was proportionately muscular to boot. The Serpentarius Blade materialized in his hand, the blade being about eight feet long, two feet wide, black, and dripping with venom. He swung it around and pointed at an unlucky bandit in the forest, muttering in a sibilant voice, then shouting, "ICE 2!!!" blasting the poor human with his enhanced magic.

Leona decided she had to get there and get there FAST, she asked her Stone for speed, gaining a leaner four footed form. Running at full speed she stopped before reaching the castle, in her regular form. "Quick! Someone please help me!" she yelled, remembering how he or she usually thought. "Bandits are after me and my friend!" she called out, hoping they came to her aid, and SOON.

Ramses' casting of Ice 2 didn't really faze the bandits. They knew they had the advantage, and swarmed the huge snake-monster quickly. Knives flashed out, finding the crevices under his scales and slipping into the flesh under them. Ramses roared and coiled his legs under him, leaping into the air and swinging overhead on a few branches, reverting as he fell, blood streaming from more than a dozen stab wounds. He landed heavily, bringing his sword around and swayed, then bright yellow feathers shot out from him, his wounds closing as he executed the ChocoCure. The bandits charged him again, and his eyes widened, he took a few steps back and swung his sword at a group of them, crushing their will with his own. Four out of the five affected turned and, in a primal rage, stabbed the bandit next to him or her. Chaos ensued, though the majority slammed into Ramses, driving him to the ground in a barrage of kicks, punches and stabs.

Moments later the Knights ran out, as Leona gave her best-frightened look she could manage. They nodded, running to the aid, as Leona followed behind, wishing she could do more to help. But she knew if she fought.... then things could get serious. She edged ahead though, yelling out "RAMSES!" hoping he would hear and revert back to normal before the knights came, or that the battle would be over. Stupid nobles and their rules! She wanted to fight! Her instincts roared at her to do so, but just this once she pushed them back. Not now...

Ramses winced and coughed up a mouthful of blood. He needed to get out of there... right... "NOW!!" he screamed, flaring with a blue light and disappearing. He reappeared high up in a tree, lying on the branch. He shifted, sitting up, and stood shakily, running along the branch and throwing himself overhead, arms out, swinging off another branch and tumbling to the ground, rolling into a heap. He got quickly to his feet and backed up against the tree. Blood covered his right arm, and he could barely feel his left, he was out of options here. Ramses' hair was caked to his head with blood from the beating, and his face was puffed and bruised, one eye swollen shut. Feebly, he lifted his right arm and tried casting again, then slumped against the tree, clutching his chest, his hand closing on the Serpentarius Stone.

The knights hurried in, finding the bandits and making quick work of apprehending the few they could catch, those they couldn't ran off. Meanwhile, Leona searched high and low. "Ramses!" she called out, concerned. The knights pushed her back, saying easy ma'am, well take care of this. We have it covered, a lady shouldn't get involved... things like THAT. Leona clenched a fist, still scanning for him when she finally saw him, in a tree. "There!" she said with a deep breath, wanting to get him down herself but knowing she couldn't. The knights moved in towards Ramses, to get him down and to help in any way they could.

Ramses groaned and shifted, the branch cracking, and slamming into the ground with a hard -thud-, followed by more than a few deep cracks as Ramses' ribs broke, and most of his chest caved in. "Ugh...." he looked up, vision rimmed with clouds of red, he saw the Knights, then Leona, and gave a thumbs up, before he passed out.

Leona blinked, eyes widening at the sight. She knew she shouldn't have left him! "Ramses, Ramses I'm so sorry! I should have..." a knight stopped her thought, saying, "Typical, she's hysterical. Hold her back, we'll get him to the castle." And so before she could say another word a knight hefted her onto her back saying come on, us men will handle this as they started carrying Ramses back. Would this knight ever pay for this later... but Ramses HAD said... she could only look back at him as she was carried away, blinking. Oh way were they EVER going around a castle again.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the castle where a detachment of knights, a group of white mages, took to healing Ramses, Meanwhile, Leona was STILL over the one guys shoulder. "Heeeeey! Put me down right this instant! I want to go to Ramses! I want to make sure he's all right! I want..." "And I WANT to get you decently dressed the knight replied. "Those evil bandits must have stolen your clothes... don't you realize how indecent you look right now? You poor girl, well take care of you though, no worries." Leona was about to reach over to her Stone, when she caught a glimpse of Ramses having magic spells cast over him. She couldn't blow his cover! "Thank you good sir," she replied, as timidly as she could, as she was carried off to a persons chambers, a girl about her size and stature only dressed up like.... well.... a noble. 'I bet her makeup and butt weighs more than she does!' Leona thought, seeing the dress's padding. "Please see to it she is dressed appropriately." The knight told the woman, before leaving Leona. The new woman looked shocked and appalled. "You're practically in your undergarments! Right this way before anyone else sees you!" Leona blinked, adding another name to the list of people's butts she wanted to currently kick.

Ramses groaned as he felt his body being repaired. He lied on a makeshift bed that the White Mages had erected, stripped down to his under things. Everything was soaked in blood, and parts of him were sunken in. Slowly, they removed his shirt, and set to sponging him off. Then they cast the healing spells on him. A combination of Regen and Cure 1, 2, 3 and 4 saved his life there. He woke up groggily, sitting up, only to be pushed back by a Mage. "Please, lie still, we're trying to help you. That woman is fine, you're a real hero, you saved her life!" the Mage beamed down at him, and put the Holy Stones to the side. Ramses closed his eyes and sighed, gritting his teeth against the pain of his bones re-stitching, and his flesh re-growing.

Leona meanwhile was enduring trails of her own... of patience. The woman just blinked, as she looked Leona down. "The bandits left you with nothing of use... you had to take what you could dint you?" she asked, shaking her head. "Well, it's all going to have to come off!" Before Leona could protest, armor, shorts, shoes, shirt, everything was off. Except for two things: the bracelet and the bracer. "A woman should not have a bracer, why on earth did you pick that up?" The woman asked. "You poor thing must have been delusional..." She moved to get the bracelet as well, but Leona pulled away. "DONT touch it!" she said, and the woman before her blinked. "I uhm... sorry," Leona apologized. "It was a gift to me from a friend." She flushed. Did she actually protect the bracelet before the Stone?

Ramses faded in and out of consciousness for the next hour or so, each time the pain lessening. The White Mages did an expert job of healing him, after all, he -was- a Hokuten, and a respected friend of the Belouve family, not to mention a Hero. Word of his stand against the bandits spread over Igros, and he finally awoke in a spacious room, the sunlight streaming warmly into the windows. He was bundled into a bed, bandages wrapped around him. The Serpentarius Stone was around his neck, and the other two sat on a table near him, glowing softly. His armor and Robes were repaired and on racks in the room, as with his sword. He sighed, shifting irritably, "Where's my friend?!" he called out.

"Right uhm... here," Leona said, slipping into the room and flushing furiously. "Ramses, can I pleeeeeease kick their butts? I managed to slip my bracer back on when they weren't looking but, well, LOOK at me!" Leona was fitted with a royal purple dress to match her golden colored hair and eyes, as well as had her hair pinned up in a bun. Frills adorned the bottoms, sleeves, and well, and her face was caked with makeup, including base, eyeliner, eye shadow, blush, and lipstick. "I feel ridiculous," she said. Even her ears were adorned, and she was somehow in ballroom slippers.

Ramses blinked and suppressed a chuckle; "I told you that you didn't need the makeup Leona, why don't you wash it off in the basin over there. And, since we're not -really- nobility, let your hair down." he smiled, "And naw, we have to keep up a good image here, so we can't go kicking butts just yet." He sat up and winced, his every joint aching, and lied back down. "Didja hear? They think I'm a hero, for that just there.... go figure eh?" he winked at her. "But the dress looks good on you, you couldn't fight in it, but that's not what it's for!"

"Thanks!" Leona said, and as she was given permission ran to the sink and washed it off as quick as she could, and shook her hair free. "That woman, she went so overboard! She thought that I was well, scandalous! I thought Id never get to leave Ramses!" She walked back over to him, blushing a bit. "Well its not that good, just don't expect me to wear this after this is all over with!" She bent down beside his bed, forgetting she was in a dress. "What about you Ramses? Are you feeling all right? I was kinda worried back there..."

Ramses gave a thumbs up, though he blushed a bit at her concern. "Well, I'm fine now, I'm glad you're alright though Leona." he smiled, "I knew you'd get there in time. That's why it had to be me, I couldn't have made it there fast enough." he stopped, still smiling. 'Not to mention that I didn't want you to get hurt...' he thought, looking down at his bandage wrapped chest and arms. "I'll be up and running soon! We could even hit my Hero's Feast tonight, if you'd accompany me!"

"It would be my honor," she replied, giving the best bow she could, giggling. "I'm glad though, you really had me worried! Though Ramses... I can see why you dislike things around here so much," she added. "I swear, if one more knight treats me like a... like a… well like a girl I'm going to have to hurt someone!"

Ramses laughed again, "But you -are- a girl. And people like these don't think that girls, even girls that prove they're strong, can really do much. They have female knights, but they aren't respected, not like men. I mean, I dunno why they do it, but I don't. You'd have kicked my butt a lot if I did!" Ramses grinned and squeezed her hand, then swung his legs out the opposite side of the bed, only now realizing the only thing he wore was bandages. He blushed, pulling the sheets quickly around himself, and looked over his shoulder to Leona. "Uhm... I'm gonna get dressed... can you...ah...turn around or something?"

Leona giggled. "Oh! Right!" she flushed a bit. "You're right, I would have and... !!!" Her eyes went wide as she turned around before being asked, flushing red. "So sorry Ramses!" she said, fiddling with the lace on her dress and seeing if she could get it to fit better. "I wonder of they'd mind me making this a shirt at least..."

Ramses blushed deeper, and stood up, hastily unwrapping the bandages and dropping them to the floor. He crossed the room, picking up a new set of underclothes, these being deep royal blue, trimmed with gold stitching. "Wow," he said, slipping the shorts and tank top on, "Pretty ritzy... It's okay to turn around now Leona." he blushed again anyways, shaking his head as he started unwrapping bandages from his arms and hands.

"Phew," Leona said, turning around with a relieved look on her face. "So... did you say a banquet? In your honor? That's so coooool Ramses! But... uhm.... anything I should know about things there and uh, how can I get back my armor and cats claws? I kinda need the claws to fight and eat with..."

"Wait... you're telling me you don't know how to eat with a fork, knife, and spoon?" he asked, somewhat surprised, eyebrows raised. Ramses pulled on his pants and jerkin, made of a dark green, light cloth, as he spoke. "Not that it's a bad thing…just…surprising" he added.

Leona blinked. "I uhm.... don't even know what those are," she admitted, blushing. "Why, should I?" she asked, tilting her head. "Whys it surprising Ramses? Does everyone use them or something?" She tilted her head, curious.

Ramses nodded and quickly decided to give her a crash course. He walked to the door, with a slight limp, and opened it, looking at a startled White Mage who'd been walking in. "Can you do me a favor, please?" he asked politely. "S-Sure! I'll do what I can!" the White Mage replied. Well, I need you to go to the kitchen and get me two plates of food, make it... baked fish and beef, with two bowls of Caesar salad, two bowls of tomato soup, a loaf of bread, a bottle of mulled wine, and two goblets. I'd like to have a meal with my friend, we haven't eaten since this morning." then Ramses closed the door with a -thud-. He turned back to Leona and grinned. "Don't worry! I'll teach you how to use them, and you'll be all set by the time we get to the banquet!" he smiled helpfully, "And yeah, people use them to eat when they want to be polite. You'd get some really surprised nobles it you ate with your hands and claws the way we do when we're adventuring!"

"And that's a bad thing?" Leona asked, giggling. "Id love to see their looks if its so weird! That's sure sounds like a lot of stuff though, but I heard FISH! And bread, I'm curious about that stuff!" She blinked. "Well, luckily, I'm a fast learner Ramses! So now worries, you're a great teacher!" She winked, and leaned against a nearby wall, giving a grin back. "Though.... I can use my claws when we get back out to adventuring right?"

Ramses nodded with a laugh, and opened the door to a knock. A tired looking White Mage pushed a cart in, laden with trays, and Ramses smiled. "Thanks, you can go," he said in the haughty way nobles did, the Mage hurrying out. Ramses quickly closed the door and looked back at Leona, "Ugh.. I hate being that way... but they expect it! Oh well, c'mon, we can get started! And it might seem like a lot, but they won't start the banquet until after the dancing, and that's -hours- away!" he winked, pushed the cart to the bed, and sat down, gesturing to the end of the bed with a helpful smile.

"They expect to be treated that way?" Leona asked. "Are they masochists or something?" she asked, before looking over to the food. "Well don't worry, I can eat all of this!" She blinked, sitting down cross-legged by the bed as she eyes the silverware doubtfully. "Ooooooh!" she said, picking up a fork. "Bet I know what this is good for!" She clinked her fingernail against it, and started playing it like one would a piano almost. Clink clink clank

Ramses laughed and shook his head. "No, that's a fork Leona, here, lemme show you!" he set the fish and beef in front of them, and took his own fork, using the side of it to cut off some of the tender beef, and stabbed the prongs into the meat, bringing it to his mouth and pulling the meat off with his lips. "See?"

Leona blinked, trying to copy what she just saw, stabbing the fork into the fish... only the WHOLE fish was brought up as she took it and swallowed the piece whole. "Like that?" she asked him, smiling.

Ramses blinked, than busted out laughing. He held his ribs, tears streaming down his cheeks. "N-no…hehe... you have to take it in little bits!" he laughed again, "Try again Leona! Remind me never to be a fish though!"

"Will do!" Leona said, blinking as she got a concentrating look on her face as she cut off a bit, before forking it in. "Wait, like that? But it'd take forever to eat that way!"

Ramses nodded, "Yeah, it takes a long time compared to how we normally eat, but whatcha gonna do eh?" he started eating, with the fork, displaying the proper way to hold it, and how to use a knife to cut the meat.

Leona blinked, watching him use the knife. "Ooooooh, so that's what its for!" she said, blinking as she watched closely, squinting with concentration as she managed to pull it off somehow... but not very elegantly. Guess, those knights need to learn to loosen up. Is… this right?" she asked, brow raised.

Ramses nodded and chuckled, cutting off another piece, enjoying teaching Leona. It wasn't hard, and he didn't find her annoying in the least. The Hokuten had tried to pin him with cadets before, to teach them how to talk to monsters, so they could have even more Elite Chocobo Riders, but Ramses didn't like any of the snobby nobles, and sent them all home, their Chocobo's chasing them the whole way. "Yup, you're getting the hang of this really fast! A few more and you'll have the hang of this in no time! Or...well... we can just sneak out of the castle after we grab a free meal, and be on our way?"

Leona blinked. "You wouldn't mind missing the feat in your honor and the dance and everything?" she asked, tilting her head. "Its sounds like a plan, but before we go, I need to slip in and get my claws back! And my armor!" she added. "I am NOT fighting in this," she said, indicating her dress before bursting out laughing. "No ChocoCure for them I guess!" she commented.

"Guess not! How's this, I'll hit the kitchen, and grab us some food in a couple travel packs. Your armor and claws will be in the armory; you just go down the hall to the Grand Hall, and downstairs through the soldier's barracks. If you could, while you're down there, could you pick up a belt of daggers for me?" he grinned, moving to the rack and pulling on his armor, then shimmying his robes on over his head and strapping his sword belt on. "They'll be mad when they find out I'm gone, but as often as I'm here, I've sneaked out, so it'll be fine!"

"That sounds like a plan!" Leona agreed with a nod. "And no worries, I'll get at a belt! Meet you outside in a bit! And if they're mad well,,, serves him right for being such... what was that word you used again that you told me not to use?" she asked, before giving a nod, more than ready to slip out of the dress and such. And well, it seemed weird to be wearing something so... breezy. That and the idea of messing with the knights made her happy.

"Alrighty, let's go then..." Ramses poked his head out the door after picking up and pocketing the Aquarius and Taurus Stones, then waved Leona out. "The coast is clear!" He slipped out the door and moves down the hall, his boots making as much sound as a leaf hitting the ground, with a flutter of his robes he disappeared around the corner towards the Royal Kitchens. 'After all,' he thought, 'if I'm stealing food, I might as well be stealing -good- food'

Leona meanwhile made haste, following Ramses instructions using her natural speed. Once or twice shed see a person, and she would give a humbled womanly look before dashing into the armory. "Thank goodness!" she said, spying her former outfit, and quickly undressing, before putting it on. After all, no one was around to see right? Then she spied the belt of daggers and picked it up. Also she spied something else that caught her eye. She smiled and grabbed it, pocketing it before slipping outside, a happy camper as she finally felt fully normal again.

Ramses tucked through the door into the kitchen, crouching low behind a pantry as the Cook went out to call for the servants. He didn't have much time. Ramses grabbed two leather sacks and loaded fresh bread, cheese, and a few eggs into it. He set it by the door before hitting the meat pantry for spiced venison, and four huge raw tunas. He dumped a basket of greens into the sac and tied it off. As his last acquisitions, he grabbed a large sack of flour, and a pack of condensed cooking gear, as well as a large pot. Gathering it all up, he tore down the hall as quickly as he'd come.

Leona waited, as she flushed, pulling out her "extra" acquisition. She eyed it a moment, wondering if she had the nerve and deciding well, she had it, she might as well do what she planned with it. She smiled, as she cleaned off her claws and then adjusted her gear, scanning the area for any sign of nobles.

Ramses caught sight of Leona and grinned, running by her with a "C'mon!" before the enraged Cook's voice sounded from far off down the hall. Ramses continued running, out the gate and over the drawbridge, then hung a right and started running off into the forest. "Whoo!"

Leona giggled. "Yay!" She looked back and stuck out her tongue to the castle as she followed Ramses into the forest, grinning happily. Now THIS was living. "I can see why you don't like the castle!" she said to him, keeping up right beside him.

Ramses laughed and kept running, wincing as a stitch developed in his side. He wasn't right up to snuff, but it didn't matter, they needed to get away from Igros. He ran further, and slid down into a ditch, flopping down onto the ground. "Phew..." he huffed, "Wait'll you see the size of one've these tuna's... I'd bet one weight twenty pounds!"

Leona's eyes got to be the size of saucers at the thought of that. "REALLY?!? Can I see one?!? Bet I could swallow it whole!" She sat beside him, patting him on the shoulder. "Well rest here a moment, they'll never find us! Even if they did, they wouldn't follow or else they'd get diiiirty. Ramses, how did you LIVE with that attitude of theirs?!?"

Ramses laughed and opened one of the sacks, only now noting that they had straps, so they could be worn as packs, and pulled out one of the giant fish. It flopped onto the sack as he looked at the look on Leona's face, getting ready for a good laugh.

Leona blinked. "Woooooooooah," she said. Shed never seen a fish that big! Still, shed never met a fish she couldn't swallow! She picked it up and opened her mouth, holding the fish by the tail as she started to slip it in. She actually got to about its top fin, before it started to get stuck. She blinked, then started pushing it further down. *Come on you stubborn fishy!* she thought, before opening her mouth even WIDER, almost impossibly so, and with a big gulp downing it at last. "See? Told ya!" she said, before she relaxed back. "Oy…now I have a stomachache..."

Ramses blinked for a second, then blinked again, the broke out in a fit of laughter, pointing at her. He fell back against the slope and rolled, laughing until tears ran down his face. "Oh god! That was awesome! You, you ate the whole fish in one gulp!!" he settled down, still wiping his eyes and laughing.

Leona grinned proudly. "Yep! Its one of my specialties! I once at a whole deer but... its hooves were icky. And uh.... uh-oh..." She tried to cover her mouth when a rumble of indigestion poured out as a BUUUUUURP! "Aheh... excuse me?" she asked, blushing profusely.

Ramses grinned and worked up his own, belching to rival Leona's, before patting his stomach. "From the belly of the Zodiac Beast eh?" he winked, heaving the pack of meat and fish onto his back and offering the bread, eggs and veggie pack to Leona. "Nice one though!"

"Awesome!" she said, giving an enthusiastic thumbs up, giggling. She took the pack and did the same, sniffing it. "Ooooooh, that smells almost as good as the fish!" she said, her stomach rumbling at just the thought of what she had done earlier.

"Heh, you won't be needing to eat for awhile Leona!" he grinned, "So, where's that next Stone anyway?" Ramses was anxious to get on with their adventure. He never liked the attitude nobles had, but admittedly, the lifestyle -was- one that left you safe.

Leona pulled herself away from the smell, taking in the air around instead. "To the south!" she said, smiling and pointing. "Follow me!" she added, leading the way before waving back at Ramses.

Ramses nodded, tying the cooking gear to his own pack before taking off after Leona, keeping in stride with her. The stitch was still in his side, and he stopped for a second to ChocoCure himself, exploding out of a cloud of brilliant yellow feathers, rejuvenated and easily catching up to Leona.

Leona looked back, finding Ramses now at her side. "Glad you could make it," she told him with a wink. "Wherever were going... I smelled sand," she added. "I hope you picked sunscreen or something!" She gave a wink, lightening her pace a bit. "So... we sure showed those nobles huh?"

Ramses grinned and shrugged, bringing his hands up and tying his headband on, the Hokuten badges gleaming in the sunlight. "Yup! They're gonna be mad when they find out we ditched my feast and celebrations, not to mention I stole they're best food and cookware! Did you grab anything good?" he asked, his cape flapping behind him as he ran.

Leona grinned widely. "But of course!" she said, pulling things from her pocket. She handed him the dagger filled belt, as well as something else she picked up, which happened to be a healing accessory, a ring capable of casting cure spells. "Here... I uh... thought you might like it," she said, flushing.

Ramses took the dagger belt and snapped it on, before blinking at the Ring. It had a bright green Stone embedded in it, which gleamed against the rich gold band. "Wow..." was all he could manage as he took it and slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand. He suddenly stopped running and caught Leona in a tight hug, grinning from ear to ear, "Wow! I love this!! Thanks!"

Leona flushed, hugging him back. "You're welcome! Its the least I could do after all you've done for me Ramses!" she added with a wink. "Besides, without you how else would I know to avoid the castle?" she asked with a wink.

Ramses laughed and let her go with a smile. "No, you didn't have to do anything Leona, you're my friend, and everything I did I did because I wanted to, not because I expected anything for it." he smiled, "Not that I don't appreciated it!" he grinned and kisses her cheek, then took off to the south again.

Leona blushed at his kiss, ruffling his hair a bit before they continued on southwards as well, beaming with happiness. `What could go wrong on a trip like this?' she wondered, as she saw in the distance and sand filled land. A desert… and their destination.

Ramses stopped as they got near the desert, and blinked. "It's...in there?" he asked, hardly believing they could find it in there, "Uhm... how're we gonna find it in that sea of sand?" he scratches his chin, a green and black brow rising.

Leona blinked. "Well... remember what happened in the water?" she asked. "The other Stones made Aquarius glow! Well... what if we pulled them all out? Maybe wed see this one glowing too?" she asked, blinking. She didn't want to dog through all of that, that was for sure!

"Well, that or attract any surrounding Lucavi!" he laughed as he dug the Taurus and Aquarius Stones out of his pockets, and pulled the Serpentarius Stone out onto his robes, all of them gleaming brightly in the sun and with their proximity to each other.

Leona brought her Leo Stone closer, the Stones somehow getting even brighter together before a shining red light could be seen rising from the sand... as well as a loud clicking noise. "What was THAT?" Leona said, as she moved towards the shining light, almost on top of it. "It must be here and.... ACK!" she yelled, as a giant claw came up from underneath her, holding her tight as a figure emerged, what looked to be an upright scorpion. Her face went white a moment as it closed down harder, its tail lashing out towards Ramses. "Watch out Ramses!" she yelled "Pitiful foools... you dare trespass here?" the monster said, a Scorpio image emblazoned on its chest, the Stone. "I shall have your Stones... I the massive Scorionas!" Leona blinked, looking down at it as she closed her eyes to transform. "Just for the corny name now you have to die!" she growled at it.

Ramses' eyes went wide, and he slammed a foot to the ground, immediately turning into a huge, snakelike humanoid, rivaling the Scorionas' size. He bared his fangs and grabbed the claw that held Leona, after dodging the tail, and hauled it open, before launching the massive monster away. "You think just 'cause your big that you can win?!" he called as it slammed into the sand and he slid his poison spines free.

Leona landed onto her feet, transforming as she did so into her more agile anthro form. "Thanks!" she said, before sticking her tongue out at the monster, which hissed. "You big meanie!" she yelled at it, tail twitching as she dashed forwards and up to strike at one of its eyes, blinding it just as Ramses slammed it into the ground. The monster screamed out. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THAAAAT!" as it reached up with a pincer, and at the same time its tail lashed forwards. "I don't think so!" Leona yelled at it, as she jumped to slash at the rising tail, before leaping out of the way again.

Ramses stepped forward, towering over Leona, and caught the tail in his hands, the tip buried in his scaly chest. The monster hissed in pleasure, "Now you shaaaaaal tasssste my venom!!" it roared gleefully, then stopped as Ramses squeezed it's tail, his eyes burning. "You call that poison?" he bit down into the tail, his sharpened fangs bursting through the chitinous armor, injecting Ramses' own noxious venom into it, burning through it's veins. "THAT, is poison!" he yelled and swung it around, the monster screaming in pain, and threw Scorionas into the trees, the stinger ripping off, stuck in Ramses' chest. Following it, he ripped it out and threw it to the ground, obviously enraged, and slammed a massive fist into the thing's bulbous face, crushing it in with blow after heavy blow.

Leona blinked a moment.... had he gone berserk. She was fairly certain that he had. She was for the first time uncertain as to how to help, whether or not she would just be in the way even! The monster fell, twitching, before finally letting out a final rasping hiss and dying. "Uhm... Ramses?" she asked, stepping closer to him, blinking, as she surveyed the dead monsters remains... or what was left of it.

Ramses finally stopped punching it as it died, and reverted, panting, sweat beading on his brow as he kicked it's corpse, then grasped the Scorpio Stone from it's claw and hauled on it, until it popped out and he landed on his butt in the sand. "Okay..." he puffed, closing his eyes and dropping the Stone beside him, unbelieving of what he'd just done. He lost his temper, and hadn't given the thing a chance, just…when he saw it grab Leona, something snapped in him. Shuddering, he shook his head and rested his forehead on his palms.

Leona set a hand on his shoulder. She could see the look in his eyes, a look shed seen once before... that night he had that nightmare. She wanted nothing more than to cure that look, to make it vanish. "Ramses, you'll be all right," she said, as even retrieving the Stone from the monsters corpse was forgotten. "Don't give that look, you'll be fine! It's all over with now and we can move on right? Tomorrows another day! Well just get some rest and things will be as good as new!"

"I...I guess..." he muttered, standing up and flexing his right hand. Why hadn't the poison hurt him? The ring on his finger gleamed brilliantly, magic churning in the depths of it's gem. "Leona... he stung me, it was in my chest, but... but it didn't hurt?" he phrased the last bit like a question, he was unsure. Maybe his dream was right... maybe he was immune to poison because he -was- a Lucavi? "I..I don't know.." he sounded unsure, looking at the veins in his arm, willing the poison to have -some- effect on him, to dispel his doubts.

Leona tilted her head. "That... that one I don't have an answer for. By Eris I wish I did though," she said, before perking her head. She had to get his mind off of this somehow! If he dwelt on it too long it would only make things so much worse! "I know! We worked up quite an appetite with all this walking, why don't we fix something to eat Ramses? I can try that... experimentation thing! And who knows, maybe another whole fish?" she asked trying to be lighthearted. "Come on, its too hot here anyways right?"

Ramses barely looked away from his veins for awhile, then nodded numbly, "You're...you're right. Let's head back north a ways, then cook up something to eat..." he trailed off, walking steadily, and purposefully, away from the body of the monster, stopping to hold the Scorpio Stone out to Leona. "Here, you take it..." he said softly. Ramses' eyes looked haunted, from what could be made out in their normally clear depths.

Leona nodded, knowing that the Stone would forever hold bad memories for Ramses. "All right," she said, pocketing it as quickly as she could before nodding. "To the north then! Ill try not to mess up the food too badly or anything, hope you like fish!" She couldn't help but look back once, blinking. Hadn't he told her... no way. He was Ramses, not some demon. Leona nodded to herself, walking beside him. He was Ramses, her friend and not some demon. Grimly she even remembered how her creator wanted her to gather the braves... as a way to revive the demons. Leona had since made other plans but still... she almost felt guilty on things. She shook it off again, ruffling his hair a bit. "Come on Ramses, it'll be all right. Well be out of here before you know it and having a good meal in our bellies! Least, I hope its good and I don't burn it or anything!" She gave a slight wink, but she knew this was something not so easy to remedy...

Ramses nodded again, giving Leona a reassuring smile, which anyone could have seen through. The need for reassurance, for actual knowledge was clear, it practically oozed from him. He tucked the Serpentarius Stone self-consciously into his robes, and pocketed the other two, readjusting his pack and giving a sigh of relief as his feet left sand, and touched solid grass. He didn't talk until then, then he said, quite randomly, "I got utensils and a pot for cooking with, so we don't have to use moss and stuff..."

"Sounds good!" Leona replied. "And I smelled lots of good things from my pack, so I bet I can create something really awesome for us!" She turned, blinking to herself as she saw right through his pained expression. What could she tell him? When she had come here, she had honestly thought only 12 Stones existed! She didn't know anything about Serpentarius... then she remembered something that might help. "Ramses, Eris was telling me something. She said its not the Stone that makes up a Brave at all... its their own bravery. And, if it helps, I think you're brave. I could never have made it this far without you," she said, looking for a good place to set up camp for a meal.

Ramses picked out a spot on a higher part of the ground, with heavy trees and bushes on three sides. "We should be able to rest there without any trouble, Leona." he nodded, climbing up to the hill and dropping his pack carefully to avoid breaking anything. As he sat down, he thought about what Leona'd said. That it wasn't the Stone that made a Brave. He guessed that was right... he'd fought beside the Hokuten Knights in countless battles, and had taken on packs of wild monsters on his own. He never had to rely on the Serpentarius Stone before, and he didn't have to use it now. It seemed natural for him to use it, and if poison didn't hurt him, what was the problem with that? Ramses looked up at Leona with a genuine smile and nodded, "Thanks Leona... I mean, I'm happy with who I am, and I'm happy to be your friend. Even if I turn out to have been a Lucavi all along, it won't matter, because I'll still be me, so I'm gonna stop worrying about it!"

Leona nodded, smiling widely again. "Yep! And I wouldn't want you any other way Ramses!" she said giving him a quick hug, before she ended up starting to run up towards the higher ground. "Come on, I want to try my hand at cooking!" She said. "I promise not to make us sick or anything!" '

Ramses grinned and nodded, settling back against a tree and closing his eyes. He dozed lightly and listened to the noises Leona was making. All and all, he was pretty tired. Ramses put the thought of the Lucavi and his own fears aside, thinking only of the meal Leona was gonna fix.

Leona meanwhile was starting to ravage through the pack, gathering supplies that looked and smelled good before nodding, and splashing things together in a pot. She out a lid on it, before winking at Ramses. "Could you uh... throw a fire spell this way?" she asked., fingers crossed. "I hope this works!"

Ramses perked up and looked at Leona, blinking as he woke up, he wiggled his fingers, beginning the incantation for his spell, "Gaia, mother of Earth, feed me your-- Wait a sec…" he mumbled, "Leona... did you want me to boil the water with the fire spell, or light the fire under the pot? It kinda matters." he grinned a bit, the Fire energy wafting through his hands as he held the spell.

Leona blinked a moment. "Uhm... the second one," she said with a nod. "I think, give it a try and lets see what happens!" She looked to Ramses then the pot, peeking inside before giving a nod. "Fire at will!"

Ramses laughed, then continued his spell, redoing the incantation, "Gaia, mother of Earth, feed me your fury, FIRE!!" Immediately, a rather large fire burst from the ground under the pot, burning steadily as the grasses caught up. Ramses blinked, then scurried over and dug out a shallow ditch around the fire, throwing clods of grass and dirt away as he made a ring that wouldn't burn. "Phew..." he breathed, sitting back.

Leona blinked, looking at the ring as Ramses dg it. "Why did you do that.... oh!" she replied, seeing the fire stop. What a nifty trick!" She took up a spoon and lifted the lid a bit, mixing a few things before taking a deep breath and smiling widely. A few moments later she took the lid off and blinked. "Question is, how I made it but how do we eat it?" she asked, revealing salmon steaks that had simmered alongside mixed vegetables, a few greens, and a dash of lemon juice. "I remembered you couldn't swallow them whole," she said looking back in the pot and amazed her idea had worked!

Ramses looked in the pot, then blinked, it was like a soup, with a salmon cutlet. Noting this, he produced two deep bowls, a ladle, and two soupspoons, ladling out a portion and a salmon steak for each of them. He handed Leona hers, along with a loaf of bread and grinned. "You haven't had bread yet, so when you're eating this, you tear up the bread and dip it in the broth!" he nodded, then showed her how to eat with the spoon, dipping it in and blowing on it a bit, then putting the spoon in his mouth, closing his lips on it, and pulling it out. "See? You don't clink your teeth on the spoon, you put your lips on it!"

"Aaaaah, I see! That makes sense!" Leona smiled and tried first taking the big spoon, and using it the same way Ramses had, before smiling. "FISH!" she said happily. "Though the veggies and all are good too. Lets try the bread out!" She took the bread, tilting her head and sniffing it, before dipping it into the broth and biting into it. "I have to say, I'm loving bread too!" she said, her mouth half full as she ate. Suddenly, her head whirled around as a messenger came towards them... a knight with an all too recognizable armor set: a Hokuten Knight. "Uhm... Ramses?" she asked, a piece of fish sticking from her mouth.

Ramses almost dropped his bowl, then blinked, setting it aside and looking up at the Hokuten Knight as he stood up, "Crud..." he muttered as the Knight unrolled a scroll. "Ramses deBezna of the Serpentarius Stone, Serpentarius Knight of the fourth class Hokuten, and Leona of the Leo Stone, companion to Ramses, you have been hereby summoned to Igros Castle under the most immediate of dire circumstances, more details shall be given to you upon reaching the castle. Finish your meal and come with me."

Leona blinked, swallowing her bit of fish with head tilted. Dire circumstances? Surely Zetsumei hadn't... acted had he? For a moment she had a grim look on her face, before she shook it off as though it never happened and quickly inhaled the last part of her meal. Leona of the Leo Stone? Oh now she had a title? She shook her head, no time to comment now she decided as she gathered the items back together in their respective bags. "We don't have a choice on this one, do we Ramses?" she whispered to him.

Ramses shook his head, quickly gulping down his meal and packing up everything, clamping the pot lid on tight for later. He packed it all up and pulled his pack on, "If they sent someone to get the both of us, it has to be important, and if it's dire news, then it's got something to do with the nobles... Heh, they'll probably send us to investigate." he nodded and started after the Knight, who turned and walked briskly off towards Igros.

Leona sighed to herself, shaking her head as she followed quickly behind the pair. Should she tell them? Well maybe it wasn't Zetsy... she would wait until she heard the details before making any assumptions. Still she had the gut feeling it was. Shaking her head again she quickened her pace. "Why would they want us to investigate? Too afraid to themselves?" she asked him, blinking. "And… man not the nobles again! Even when we get away they still bother us..." she said, shaking her head.

Ramses chuckled at the Knight scoffing ahead of him, "I'm a Hokuten Knight, and a pretty reliable one. Not to mention I'm a pretty good diplomat, so yeah. They'd ask me to do something like this, given that I'm now a hero to them... it's stupid when you're famous." he finished, grinning at her. "Besides, taking a look around can't be a problem can it? I mean, we might find a Stone while we're there!"

"You're right!" she replied with a nod. "I'm sure well find a Stone, and well, you've gotta do your job right?" she giggled. "Wouldn't want to get ya fired or anything! So lets do this then, hear em out and see what we can do!" 'I already know what happened,' Leona thought to herself, but didn't say anything. If it was Zetsumei well, then it was Zetsumei. What was there to be done? Besides, he would have just thought he was helping things anyway. She smiled as she followed, seeing the castle before them a bit. The knight was keeping them at a brisk pace, so Leona could only guess that Ramses assumptions were all right.

Upon returning to the castle, Ramses noted that a crowd had gathered, murmuring things about a "dark armored warrior" and "missing heroes". He listened intently as he was whisked into the castle, and up four flights of stairs, before being ushered into a waiting room. He'd be seeing the Hokuten Tactician, and the current head of house Belouve about this. Nodding to the Knight before he tried to block Leona, he went in. The Knight narrowed his eyes and stepped aside to let her pass as well.

Leona had noted the knights action and had half a mind to tell him off, but knew that might make things even MORE confused around here. She gave Ramses a thankful nod, before careful no one saw her sticking her tongue out at the guard as she followed Ramses into the room. Phew though, it was so out of the way! Who were they seeing? Must be important...

Ramses sat in a chair and took advantage of the free refreshments, pouring himself and Leona a glass of the chilled grape juice and handing hers to her. "This ought to be interesting," he said, sounding quite serious instead of lighthearted.

"Thanks," she said, taking the glass of juice and taking a drink of it before finding herself a chair and sitting back. Only, she dint really relax, couldn't. She had to know one way or the other. "You aren't kidding," she replied with a nod, blinking as she scanned the room and refreshments. "I take it this is going to take awhile huh?" she asked, nodding towards the refreshments.

"It could, or he could be on his way now. Judging by our messenger, I think it won't be too long, but not all nobles are -too- predictable." Ramses nodded and drummed his fingers on his leg, closing his eyes and waiting, sipping his juice.

Leona's attention suddenly turned around as a very regal looking man stepped through, a grim look on his face. "Thank you, both of you, for arriving on such short notice," he said. "My name is Aridol Belouve, tactician and head of the Belouve house. I'm afraid there have some grim recent events. Many nobles have turned up missing, the symbol of the Hokuten and a mass of blood left as their only reminder. However all of the Hokuten have no leads, no clues. So either we have an insurrection being planned, or someone is attempting to start a war. We need for the truth to be uncovered, as it is tensions and threats of duels are already being started amongst many..."

Ramses blinked, taking in the information, his keen mind separating the useful from the useless. There turned out to be quite a bit more of the former than the latter. "Well, I take it you've called upon Leona and myself to uncover the truth about this.... series of murders in the nobility?" he asked, frowning lightly. He chugged the rest of his juice, wiping his mouth on a napkin and setting his glass aside, leaning forward in his chair.

Leona's attention was also on him still, as she finished off her drink. "Yes," Aridol replied. "We feel you two are the most capable of this momentous task. You will be given any supplies and equipment you could need, but remember you must be on your watch. Chances are whomever did this will not take so… lightly to people investigating into things. He pulled out a detailed map of Igros, with several pinpoints in them. "These pinpoints indicate the position of the murders. Note their proximity close together?" They were spread evenly, in almost a straight line. "We feel the culprit will strike again soon, in this area," he indicated where the next point in the pattern. "We are aware this linear path may just be a ruse, a trick for us to follow but we see no other choice but to follow. So, will you two take the mission?"

Ramses shrugged and looked to Leona, noting the serious look on her face, "What's on your mind Leona? You look bothered; do you know anything about this? Or should we accept the mission, and you can tell me later perhaps?" Ramses was truly concerned for his friend, and purposely ignored the tactician as he focused on her.

"Er.... eeeep!" Leona said, jolted out of her attention as she shook her head and seeing Ramses concern she tried to give him her usual smile. "Oh uhm, don't worry about it Ramses!" she said. "Lets go ahead and accept, I'm sure things will be all right," She flushed, shaking her head again. "Ill uhm.... tell you later okay?" she said, before giving a nod. "Look uhm... don't give me that look! I'm fine!" she assured him, unsure how to phrase things. She wasn't going to mention Zetsumei here that was for certain. She couldn't do that to her own brother... could she even say anything about it? Wouldn't that be betraying him? But if she didn't tell Ramses... for once, she was truly bothered. "We uhm, accept the mission!" she said quickly, shaking her head again. "Right Ramses?"

"Right. Well, if this murderer is as terribly powerful as he seems, we'll need access to the Hokuten's enchantry, we could both stand to pick up a few magic items, weapons and armor mostly, but a few other things. Once we're ready, we'll head for Zeltennia, it seems that there've been a few murders right inside the castle. Maybe we can find something... C'mon Leona!" Ramses rolled up the map and walked out the door, leaving the Tactician there, who gave Leona an odd look before walking off back into his study.

Leona noted the odd look, but didn't say a word to him, just gave a nod. "Right behind you Ramses!" she said, jumping from her chair and following. Terribly powerful... she knew the exact extent of that. Shed seen him train, had many a sparring session with him and lost. "Er... sorry about back there by the way," she added, flushing again. "Its really nothing," she added quickly. "So, were going to get magical items? Nifty!"

Ramses looked at her sidelong, stopping and taking her hand, squeezing it gently, "You know something was bothering you in there, you can tell me what it was when you're ready to Leona.." he said quietly, letting her go and opening a door, stepping inside and motioning her to follow. He led her down flight after flight of stairs, before they got to a huge room filled with Black Mages, White Mages, Oracles, Calculators, Geomancers and even a Mime or two, all working on making new items, or duplicating older ones.

"Cant hide anything from you I guess," she replied with a blushed look, before following him into the room. "Whoa... what is this Ramses?" she asked, looking around, blinking at all of the different people. "Its amazing! What are they making?" She'd tell him later she was certain, or at least she wanted to but... well shed worry about that when she got there.

Ramses chuckled and nodded, "They're making anything they can dream of Leona. Ramses shrugged off his pack and removed the cooking stuff. "Traveling will be easier when we have some things from here... You!" he called out, "Get me a list of the things that are here. I'm under orders from Aridol Belouve himself, and have permission to claim anything in the lab as my own." Ramses was speaking in that haughty tone nobles used, and he obviously disliked it, he even winked to the startled Mage and grinned, "Pretty please?"

Leona blinked hearing that tone when she heard a pretty please and giggled. "So we're going to get some neat stuff huh?" she asked. "Should be useful if those bandits come back, maybe even for Zodiac battles!" She watched, fascinated by everyone running around, as things were being brought, made, or well found. Took her mind off of things almost as she watched them scurry. "Wow, they sure move fast!" she said. "Are they always like this?"

Ramses nodded, and took the list from the Mage as he returned, he perused it, thinking lightly, "We'll need two of these 'Inventory' things, they look useful. Also, we'll need a Materia Belt for Leona here, she doesn't know any spells, and Materia's a good way to supplement it. I've been reading your reports on it's properties, we'll take some of your blank greens, about three of them. I'll imbue them myself." He watched the Mage scurry off to procure their things, and grinned. "It says here that the 'Inventory' is a small pouch that can hold up to 99 of anything in Ivalice! Isn't that cool?"

"99 Items... of anything?!?" she asked, wide eyed. "That's amazing! You could hold like 99 armor suits in it then? Nifty! How's it do it? By magic?" she asked, tilting her head when she thought of the first thing. "Wait, Materia belt? Spells?" she asked. "I'd be able to do magic?" She brightened a bit at the thought. Magic would be a very cool thing to know after all!

Ramses nodded, "Yup, a lot of things in Ivalice are magic, Ramza had the first 'Inventory' ever made! That's how they lugged around alla that stuff! And yeah, once I imbue your Materia for you, you can cast the basic Fire Ice and Bolt spells!" he grinned, "It's hard to get used to, but it's really fun once you get the hang of it. Like when you cast fire, your hands get really hot, or Bolt, you feel all tingly."

"Tingly? Neat! Id love to be able to cast fire too, that way I don't have to wear you out by always asking! Ill get used to it, no worries there," she replied, still looking at the workers with fascination before looking back to Ramses. "Were getting something Ramza carries? Coooool! So what else was on this list anyways?" she asked, tilting her head, curious.

"They have Blast, Burst and Blaze Guns, uhm... they have Reflect Mail, err.... it'd be easier for you to name something, and I could tell you if it's here!" He laughed and nodded, grinning. "It's a long list."

"Well if we can carry that much I don't blame you for making it long!" she replied, as items were being herded, before she thought a moment. "Hey Ramses? Since its so long should we just come back a bit later?' she asked, when she blinked. "What are guns?" she asked, finding herself curious again.

Ramses nodded, handing the list back and accepting the two smallish pouched, putting his on his belt, where it blended perfectly into his robes. He handed a leather belt to Leona, which was set with three small green spheres, which were dull and devoid of a sparkle. "Yeah, we can always come back! C'mon, I'll tell you about guns on the way to Zeltennia. Have you ever ridden a Chocobo?" he grinned again and started up the stairs back to the Grand Hall, moving out to the courtyard.

"Uhm.... no I haven't!" she said, blinking as she looked to the Stones before setting the belt on. "They sure look like fun though! Are we going to get to ride on them?" she asked, following him out to the courtyard. "Wow, wed get there in no time! Chocobo's are always so FAST!"

Nodding, Ramses led Leona into the Chocobo Stables, picking out the Red Chocobo "Aleax" for himself, and the Black Chocobo, a more docile, older female one, named "Roxxy" and held out her reins to Leona. "This is Leona, Roxxy, she's gonna ride you today. Say hello." he smiled as the black chocobo Warked at her, and nuzzled Leona's face with her beak. "Mine's name is Aleax, he's served me well on previous missions, Roxxy won't let you fall, so all you have to do is hop on, right there, so your legs are propped just in front of her wings. Hold onto the reins! Chocobo's don't like their feathers pulled!" he stated as he swung himself up onto Aleax's broad back, putting his legs just in front of the powerful bird's brilliant red wings.

"Hi there Aleax, hey Roxxy!" Leona said, waving to the birds before happily warking back, rubbing underneath Roxxy's chin before sliding onto the black chocobo's back. She looked over to Ramses and copied his stance before giving a nod. "All right! Reins, no feathers. Got it!" She gave a nod, stroking her bids. "Ready Roxxy?" she asked, it. Wark! It said happily, making a small jump in the air. Leona held on by the reins and giggled, all set.

"Right! Aleax, let's go to Zeltennia!" he shouted enthusiastically, the Red Chocobo basting out of the stables at a high speed, loping easily over the dusty courtyard, and out onto the road. Ramses hauled back on the reins a bit, so they were going fast, but not too fast for Roxxy, letting Leona catch up. "Guns..." he said, "Are long range weapons, they shoot a pellet made of lead or magic, to hurt people from far away, like a bow!"

"Wow, I bet they can hit a great area then!" she said, blinking. "But how do you shoot magic? Either way, it sounds cool!" She kept hold of her reigns, as they were making at a fairly quick, but not overwhelming pace. "Wow Ramses, were going to be so prepared for the next Zodiac fight!" She was careful not to mention any kind of fight against the murderer and all, careful to avoid it altogether. After all, she wasn't sure what to do yet. She could always make a decision after seeing Zeltennia. "So how far away is this place anyways?" she asked, head tilted.

"At this pace, it'll only be a few hours ride," he smiled to her, his cape flapping back in the wind, the whipped through Dorter, and the Sweegy Woods in no time. Monsters whizzed by, unable to keep up with the Hokuten's trained chocobo's. "Once we get there, remind me to imbue those for you and show you how to use them!" he grinned, snapping Aleax's reins to make him go faster. "And be careful, don't panic if Roxxy starts to fly!"

"Awesome and wait... fly?!? I hope you don't mean that LITERALLY!" she said, blinking at the thought of such a massive bird flying as they sped off, leaving monsters into the dust. "A few hours and Ill have magic? Cool! I cant wait!" she said, smiling. She looked around her at everything whizzing on by, and couldn't help but giggle. "This is so amazing Ramses! How do they go so fast without conking out?"

"Uhm... I don't really know..." he warked a few times to Aleax, and got a response, "Really?! Wow, Aleax said that Chocobo's can run and swim and the black ones can fly, because they eat Gysahl Greens, which improve stamina. Go figure eh?" he chuckled as they sped further on.

Leona blinked, smiling. "Ooooooh, that's nifty!" Leona looked down to Roxxy, blinking. "Wark?" she asked it. "You aren't going to fly off on me are you?" Roxxy warked and Leona giggled. "If I didn't know any better Id swear she was plotting something!" she said, shaking her head as they continued down the path, making steady time towards their destination.

"Chocobo's can be mischievous! Aleax dumped me in a river once for forgetting to take out his broken feathers." Ramses laughed. He looked around them and blinked, "Aw hell..." he muttered, "Look!" he pointed in front of them to a group of mercenaries, all wearing the Zeltennia Crest.

Leona laughed. "Guess you never forgot to again did you?" she teased, before looking to where he pointed. "Zeltennia... do you think they're out for revenge?" she asked, blinking. 'Oh Zetsy... what did you get us into?' she thought to herself grimly, before shaking it off again. Now wasn't the time. "What should we do? I don't think they'd be the kind to listen to reason!"

"We could go right by them, but they'd be on our backs, and they're not gonna listen... So I think we're gonna have to fight, but don't use your Stone, we don't want them knowing what we can really do, alright?" he nodded grimly, unsheathing the Serpentarius Blade and slinging it low as he rode towards them.

Leona nodded. "No Stone, got it," she said, taking her claws out with one hand somehow managing to slip them on and keep at least one had on the reigns. "Hang in there Roxxy," she whispered to her bird, as she rode beside Ramses, keeping an eye on the mercenaries. She was certain together they'd be able to take them no problem; she just wished it weren't so pointless. But they had to get this done, and fast. Still, she had to wonder how did one fight on chocobo back?

"Remember, hit hard, and fast, but not to kill!" Ramses called, slamming Aleax into one man, knocking him backward as he brought the flat of his blade down on another merc's head, knocking her silly. Weapons leapt from their sheaths as the mercenaries prepared to fight back, yelling to each other.

"Right!" Leona replied, giving a nod, relieved that in chocobo battles they wouldn't have to really kill em or anything. "Come on Roxxy!" she said, giving her chocobo a gentle nod as she started to work from the other side, making a fist as she punched one guy in his side, knocking him off of his chocobo, before having Roxxy run around to another sides and extending a leg hitting the next surprised merc's head and knocking him off as well.

Ramses turned and threw a punch at the nearest merc, catching him in the chest and lifting him from his mount, knocking the wind from the mercenary. With only one merc left, he swung his sword upwards, stopping it a hair's breadth from opening her throat. "We're going to Zeltennia to investigate the deaths in the nobility. You'll let us through, or by order of Igros Castle, and the Hokuten Knights, we'll get there by more destructive means." he said this rather sternly, hoping the woman would back off.

Leona pulled up beside Ramses, as he held a merc at sword point. The woman, teeth gritted and fists clenched, finally gave a defeated nod. No job was worth her life she decided, seeing already what these two were capable of, their downright speed. "Wow, that was easier than I thought," Leona commented, as she scratched a soft spot on Roxxy's head, causing the bird to wark softly, before looking back to Ramses.

Ramses smiled and sheathed his sword, reaching into his Inventory and pulling out a few Hi-Potions. "Give these to your friends, and don't even think of attacking us again, the next group to attack Igros' diplomats, while wearing the Zeltennia Crest, won't be given the same treatment." Ramses frowned at length, then broke into a wide grin, "Have a nice day, Sunshine!" he winked, then squeezed his knees, sending Aleax blasting forward again, the woman flushing, frustrated.

Leona waved towards the woman as she followed Ramses, smiling. "Wow, we sure showed them huh?" she asked, smiling widely. "I just hope we don't see any more of them along the way!" She held close to the reigns as the speedy pace was set again by the chocobo's, taking one last look back before looking forwards. "Why do they even try?" she asked, shaking her head with mock exasperation. "Some people never learn!"

He shook his head with a laugh, "Because they were hired to. I just have an aversion to killing humans, not only is it sad, but their friends and family come after you for doing it. Even Bandits are like that. So I tend not to kill them if I can avoid it, but sometimes it can't be helped." Ramses pushed Aleax onward, then laughed as well, saying in a mock-exhausted tone, "I'm just -soooo- sick of dealing with them..."

"I knoooow! Well, hopefully no more will come. Then we can figure out what's goin on work from there. Geeez, cant imagine fighting though just cause I was hired too! Ones gotta have a reason, and money ISNT it." She still held out hope somehow that maybe it really wasn't Zetsumei, but shook the whole thing from her mind. "And Roxxy and Aleax were amazing during that fight! Don't you think Ramses?"

Ramses chuckled and nodded, "Yup! Perfectly trained Hokuten Battle Chocobo's! As dangerous without a rider as they are with one! Not to mention beautiful and cunning creatures!" he bent down and warked in Aleax's ear, petting his glossy beak. "But yeah, I don't do many things for money. I pretend to be a noble 'cause I like the connections, and some of the noble's are pretty nice. Not to mention high class stuff like Materia and Inventories!"

"Those ARE pretty cool! Still, glad I don't have to act like a noble, that would just drive me crazy!" Leona replied, with a giggle. She smiled to Roxxy, rubbing the spot again. "Still, I think we got the best in the bunch! But, ooooooh! I don't think Id want to see one without a rider!" she said, eyes widening at the thought.

"Yup! They're without riders only when you kill the rider. THEN they're really angry!" he laughed and slowed Aleax down. "Before I forget, let's get those Materia imbued eh?" he swung himself down onto the dusty stretch of road, his boots stirring up some dust.

All righty!" Leona said, patting Roxxy as she slowed her down, before sliding off as well. She pulled out the Materias, two in one hand one in the other. "So uh, how do you imbue them anyways?" she asked, head tilted. "They just look like pretty rocks or something...

"Hold still, see, a Materia is pure crystallized magic. The one's you have, are Blank Materia. Just the Essence of Magic. They'll take the element of the first spell cast on them!" Ramses set his feet and mentally prepared himself, "Once you have the elemental ones, you can cast basic spells, and with practice, all the way up to the fourth tier of power!"

"Fourth tier? You mean they get more powerful as they go? Whoa... how cool! Lets try it then! Fire uhm, fire at this one!" she said, holding up the lone Materia in one hand, excited at the thought. Magic! Yay! Her mind was running. Plus, she wanted to see what the stone would do once imbued with magic, what it would look like!

Ramses focused on the Materia, opening it to his magic, and called upon it deep in himself. Fire, she'd said. "Power of Nature, gather in flames, FIRE!!!" he shouted, the spell exploding around the stone, searing with heat for a second, then it was sucked into the Materia. It flared to life, the Fire spell seething and roiling within it's deep green depths. "Heh! It worked!"

Leona blinked, looking in the stone as it whirled with fire. "Woooooooooow," she said, blinking as she stared into it. "It sure did!" she happily out it back on the belt, blinking. "Now what should we put in this one?" she asked, holding up another of the free stones, curious. "Lightning? Ice? Its like I'm holding so much potential here!" It was amazing to think that with just one spell one without magic could start fire or ice!

"We'll go with Ice next!" he grinned and started wiggling his fingers. "Scatter your chilly sharp blades, ICE!" The Materia froze over, then thawed as it absorbed the spell. It pulsed in Leona's hand, sending waves of cold radiating down her arm. Like a winter's breeze, nothing that would hurt, but it was rather refreshing. It retained the look of a frosted green stone, gleaming in the sunlight.

Leona blinked, looking over it as the coolness passed over her and smiled. "That actually felt good," she said, blinking as she looked into its frosted depths. "At least it'll be easy to tell them apart wont it? Will it always stay like that?" she asked, blinking, before giving it one last look and setting it back on the belt as well, before holding out the last one. "This whole things reeeeeally nifty Ramses!" she said, smiling widely and for the moment forgetting about everything else. "Aaaaaw, last one," she said.

Nodding, Ramses prepared the last of the spells he knew. "Wrath of the heavens, gather and strike! BOLT!!" a bolt of yellowish lightning lanced down from the sky and struck the Materia, jolting statically through Leona, leaving a tingling throughout her body. Inside the stone, a small ball of lightning sat in the center of the depths of green, occasionally shooting a bolt towards the outside of the sphere, as if it were trying to break free. "Yup, they'll look like that forever!" he grinned. "And to cast, all you do is focus on the Materia in the belt, and say an incantation, then the name of the spell. But remember to focus on the target, or it'll go flying randomly!"

"Randomly?" she asked, eyes wide. "I'll definitely remember! I'm not going to get my butt fried!" she said, setting the third and final Materia on the belt, that one had been a rather odd feeling to say the least! So... it can be any incantation?" she asked, head tilting. "Or does it have to be like the ones you say? I know they're short and all but they're so formal sounding!"

Ramses chuckled and shrugged, "I like mine to sound neat, and different most times. That way they're a little intimidating! But you could say anything really, from 'Burn my enemy's butt, FIRE', to, 'Freeze my meal for later, ICE" You gotta say the name of the spell at the end, or nothing will happen! Why not give it a shot on...uhm... this stick?" he scooted a stick to the middle of the road, nodding encouragingly.

"All right!" Leona said, nodding, as she walked over to it, before giggling a bit. Burn the enemy's butt, now THAT would be fun to say in battle! She blinked, smiling before concentrating a moment on the stick as she said the words. "Spark of life, giver of good food go! FIRE!" and with that she could feel the fire Materia at her side come to life slightly, as a fire spell seemed to come out of nowhere and torch the stick in the road. "NIFTY! Ramses, thanks!" she said, giving him an enthusiastic hug before jumping back. "Thanks for the magic! I know it'll be so helpful!" She did a mini cartwheel with her excitement, before giggling a bit and walking back over.

Ramses hugged back and laughed again, swinging himself back up onto Aleax. "Right! Well, we're almost to Zeltennia, so why don't we get there and find out exactly what happened!" Ramses nodded, scratching Aleax's neck a bit while he waited for Leona to mount Roxxy.

"All right then, I think I'm ready!" she replied, giving a nod, as she hopped back onto Roxxy. Oy, there was still the mission ahead. Still, maybe she was just overacting? Only way to find out! "All right then! Lets go Ramses!" she said, stroking Roxxy a bit.

Ramses didn't give any more thought to the way Leona had been acting, he told her that she could tell him when she was ready, and he wasn't going to force her to tell him what bothered her. Kneeing Aleax again, he burst forward, tearing down the road, but keeping slow enough that the Black Chocobo could keep up with the Red one.

Leona followed behind closely, though her mind couldn't help, as they got closer, to drift back to Zetsumei. She really did already know,, though she hated to admit it to herself, and was desperate to find out otherwise at the castle. And either way, one day, Ramses would have to know about her brother. "Uhm... Ramses," she ventured, Roxxy following close beside. "After the castle I do have something to tell you," she said. How much shed say even she didn't know, but she shook it off. First castle, THEN whatever came next.

"Sure thing Leona," he nodded, "We're almost there!" he pointed forward to the castle looming darkly on the horizon. For some reason it just seemed ominous! Oh well, they had a job to do! Ramses pushed Aleax faster, skidding to a halt just at the drawbridge. There was a Knight of Zeltennia guarding the gate, and Ramses swung off his mount, patting him on the beak. "Go home," he told Aleax, "As soon as Leona gets off of Roxxy, take her back to Igros." Ramses leveled his gaze with the Knight's, waiting for Leona to get to the drawbridge and dismount as well.

Leona reached the drawbridge, where she jumped off, gave one last nuzzle to Roxxy, before giving the bird a nod as it headed off back home. She came to Ramses side and noted the castles dark feeling to it. "Wow, sure looks creepy don't it?" she whispered at Ramses, before looking to the knight. Now how would they explain this and get past she wondered...

Ramses took a step forward and nodded, "I am Ramses deBezna, Serpentarius Knight, and this is Leona of the Leo Stone. We've been sent by Igros to uncover the truth behind the deaths of your nobility, and prove to Zeltennia that the Hokuten weren't behind it. You'll let us pass." Ramses sounded quite official; he even flashed the Hokuten Crest at the Knight.

The knight studied them a solemn moment, before nodding at last. "Very well then, please make your business brief." He said, shouting an order to the castle. "Lower the drawbridge!" Moments later it came down with a resounding thud, clearing the path for the two of them to pass.

Ramses walked past the Knight, his hand on the pommel of his sword, sure that there would be at least one in Zeltennia that wouldn't take kindly to them being here. He walked right into the royal audience chambers, and barked at a courtier, "Who's in charge here?" Immediately the young man replied, "D-D-Duke Rassen, sir. He arrived two nights ago!" Ramses nodded, "Get him for me, well, what are you waiting for?!"

Leona always somehow found it odd when Ramses adopted that tone, because it was well, so unlike him! But she knew, that when dealing with the nobles, it was necessary. She kept a hand close to her claws as she followed as the young man muffled a "Y-Y-Yes Sir!" And scampered off to retrieve it. Boy... that man sure was on edge! She wondered if everyone around here was like that! "Think they'll help us out?" Leona asked, blinking. "They all seem to be so on edge here!"

"Hmm? Oh no, they're going to feed us a load of tripe about impending wars and such, and send us back to Igros with their demands, yadda yadda whackety smackety, the end. BUT, now that no-one knows where we're going, we're going upstairs to check out the murder sites!" Ramses scooted across the room, glancing at his map, the waved Leona over before taking off up a flight of stairs.

"Ooooooh! Smart!" Leona said, giggling, as she followed Ramses up the stairs. It didn't take them long before they reached the obvious murder site. She looked all around, her worst fears confirmed. There wasn't just a blood pool, or a concentrated area... blood was literally splattered across all of the walls, soaked into the carpet on the floor, a bit even on the staircase leading here. The mark of the Hokuten was wiped into the blood on the wall as well. There was an actual grim look on her face as she now had no doubts who had killed the nobles. She didn't really say anything as she just looked to the scene, before blinking over at Ramses to gauge his reaction.

Ramses raised his brows, stepping in the blood regardless. He quickly assessed it, it was sticky, and stank -really- bad. So it was at least a few days old. Blood hadn't been tracked out any doors, or windows, so the killed must have left by magical means. He rubbed his chin, not really grossed out by the sight of blood, even THIS sight of blood. "Wow... either someone was just plain angry, or he or she was very thorough. Notice that EVERYTHING has blood on it? Even the mattress has blood soaking into it. And the Hokuten mark, wiped in the blood on the wall…hmm... I don't know of anyone in the Hokuten that's capable of this..."

Leona nodded, not surprised. And she knew, it hadn't been quick either. "My... my guess is through," she commented. What could she say? She knew her brothers mark... worse yet despite the overpowering reek that came to her nose she knew her brothers SCENT. Why couldn't she have told him that her plans had changed? She had the ability to teleport between worlds, in the same lands and well anywhere but she hadn't. And now some nobles were paying the price. "Uhm, Ramses, I think we've seen enough. Can we go outside a moment? Some fresh air might do us some good, it really stinks in here!"

Ramses nodded and slipped back down the staircase, looking back and forth, then bolting out the side entrance. He could hear the guy in charge from there, he was screaming loud enough to wake the DEAD! Leaning against the outer wall, Ramses inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, running the details off in his mind. There was something he was missing, but what was it, how did the person escape?

Leona breathed in the fresh air, thinking to herself exactly how it must have gone. Of course there was no way seen out, Zetsy would have just used a portal to escape, leaving nothing but a mess behind. She had seen Zetsumei train before, knew his style... through and exact leaving no chances. She could see though Ramses was working it out in his mind though, and felt guilty. One way or the other, shed be betraying someone. "Man, that guy sure is loud," she said, shaking her head as she rested against the wall a moment, looking upwards towards the sky. "I think Eris would probably hear him the way HES screaming bloody murder!"

Ramses opened his eyes and nodded. "Let's head back in and get our Tripe then..." he smiled and held the door open for her. "After you!"

"Tripe?" Leona asked. "What's tripe? Is it good to eat?" she asked, curiosity lessening her thoughts for the moment. She smiled, giving a nod. "Thank you good sir!" she said with a giggle, stepping through the door.

Ramses followed her in and closed the door, leading her in a wide circle around the meeting chamber, then back into where they'd entered it before. "Well, tripe is like…something gross... I don't think it's good to eat. Some people say tripe to describe a load of lies or useless information. Oh! We're here! Why, hello there Sir!" Ramses said to the enraged man, with an overly wide grin. "We were told to go have a look, actually, uhm... why are you so angry?"

Leona blinked, tilting her head at the man. "Ooooooh, is he the one going to giving us the tripe?" Leona asked Ramses, before realizing maybe she should have waited till they were out of the man's hearing. "No I am not giving you any TRIPE!" the man said, glaring at Ramses, before continuing. "I don't believe you... if anyone told you to have a look it was the Hokuten! How do we know you weren't covering up their tracks! SPIES!"

"Hmm…you need to calm yourself, Sir. The only people at fault are Zeltennia's help." Ramses said in the silky-smooth voice he used when he was trying to woo someone to his viewpoint, "Come now. Speak rationally. We were merely sent by the Hokuten, to find out who would frame such a noble organization, for the deaths of some of Ivalice's greatest nobles." Ramses smiled, his teeth flashing, eyes showing a carefully acted sincerity.

Leona blinked, impressed as always by Ramses almost creepy skill with people like this. The man reacted immediately, though OBVIOUSLY still flustered. "Well, then there shall be some guards in need of a job VERY soon. So, you say you were sent to investigate? Please tell them then that we shall send out our own team to investigate into their atrocities, if you wouldn't mind Sir. Tell them that while the matter is under investigation anyone from Igros castle will be jailed and perhaps executed on sight. Do I make myself clear good Sir?"

Ramses clucked his tongue, rubbing his chin, "Well. It seems that all Zeltennia is doing is using this as a matter to incite a war with Igros. Is it your intention, Sir, to -REND- Ivalice, over the matter of a few murdered nobles? Igros has made every effort to be peaceable in this matter, but all we've encountered is suspicions and blades at our necks." Ramses continued, calmly and casually, as if he had every confidence that Igros would wipe Zeltennia off the map if a war ensued, "Because, sir, I tell you now. Igros will -not- take it's citizens unjustly harassed due to a matter of state."

"War? Such accusations... I assure you it is not our intention to rend Ivalice." He took a deep breath, a bit tense, as he finally shook his brow. "Very well, you may continue on your investigation with our cooperation of you need it. "When we see the Hokuten symbol on out slain, and representatives come from Igros…? That tends to put the castle on alert. We are sorry," he nearly spat at that word, "To have treated you thus. Continue on... we shall try to be a nit more lenient on those who come into our lands. But if our investigators discover that Hokuten ARE at fault then the gods themselves can not save you," he replied, a stern look on his face as he wheeled away, huffed. "Sheesh! What crawled up his pants and died?" Leona asked. But…another team? If they found out the truth then... she shook her head. She had to tell Ramses something at least...

"Heh! We'll be sending another team to investigate this matter further. We're only here to determine if it truly was the Hokuten. Personally, I don't think it was, there is no one in the order who would, or could, pull this off. A good piece of information is that the killer didn't track blood out of the room on his way out, and there are no footprints in the blood. We'll be on our way. Expect someone to arrive within a fortnight or two." Ramses was sure that a scribe or something grabbed the information, and he turned to Leona. "C'mon Leona, we've got to report back to Igros. We've done all we can here, we're no investigations team, but they'll send one." Ramses smiled to her, a merry twinkle in his eye, always happy that his skills prevailed, then turned and headed for the door.

Leona nodded, following him quickly out, just glad to leave this place. "All right, lets get out of this place!" she said, following him to the door. She couldn't leave here fast enough she decided. "I'm not sure what stinks more, this place, or the people!" She shook her head, but supposed they had every right to be so uptight. "So then were all clear to journey again?" she asked, head tilted.