Treefall and Face Forgotten by Kigaeno Moondancer 12 Sept 2004

Place: Cleyra
Date: 23 January 1800 (Day of the attack)
Rating: PG
Characters:
Burmecia, King
Cleyra, High Priest
Fratley Irontail, dragoon
Freya Crescent, dragoon
Learie, burmecian refugee
Adam and Jack, Learie's children
Puck Burmecia, Prince
Shannon and Sharon, Maidens
Wylan and Satrea, Oracles
Quina, .. something
Vivi, black mage
Zidane, hero type
Beatrix, Alexandrian general
Brahne, evil bitch

This is based on part of the game, thus it is full of spoilers as are many of my stories. And it has a bad ending, because I can't change what happened in the game, or don't want to right now.

"I failed Burmecia... but I won't fail Cleyra, no matter what..." Freya's promise rang into her own ears as another Alexandria fell to her spear. Fodder. What on Gaia were they thinking sending such weak forces up the tree? Could they have underestimated even Cleyra?

Waiiit.

"A moment Zidane." she turned to Zidane who was by her side, their friends Quina and Vivi stopping behind them and both looking confused in their own special ways, "Those Alexandrian villains back there... Weren't they too few in number to constitute a determined attack?"

"Well.." Zidane was never one to put strategic thinking into things, his first intuition were to just scream 'wipe em out', but he thought better of it, "Yeah, I thought so, too."

"Bingo!" Pucks voice suddenly rang out behind them, the little prince running down the tree, and right into Vivi, nearly falling over trying to stop himself. No time to fuss at him now though, "Freya! The town's in trouble! Ya gotta come back, please!"

"No! My fears were true! At once my lord!" her movement back up the tree was nearly too fast for the others to catch where she'd gone. Puck was right behind her.

"C'mon you deadweights! Hustle!" Puck's words snapped the others out of their astonishment at having fell for this, and they ran back up the tree shortly behind Freya.

Freya's teeth clenched, hand gripping her spear to the point that it felt like her fingers might bleed. She had to save these people. They were all so innocent, the Cleyrans didn't even know how to fight real battles. The town hadn't even had a weapon or armor store.

Upon arriving up the stares to the top of the huge tree that Cleyra was located atop, the first thing they met was the mognet moogle fleeing down the tree, followed by two of the maidens, Sharon and Shannon, who saw the group and immediately came to a stop.

"Please save us!" Sharon nearly clung to Zidane making him unconsciously take a step back.

"The town is full of demons!" Shannon motioned franticly towards the upper portions of town in the direction of the temple, looking at Freya in particular pleadingly. The look cut deeply into Freya and she was speechless. These people looked at them to save the city; would they be enough?

"Are there really that many?!" Zidane asked the question with the obvious answer. Freya gave him an 'of course their are' look.

"They just keep coming." Sharon looked like she might curl up and sob. She had never even witnessed violence before, and suddenly she was being exposed to watching her friends be butchered or burned to a crisp.

Suddenly a light floated in behind the two maidens. A teleportation spell? The mages were teleported in? That didn't seem possible, no wonder there were already so many of them, they were being portaled directly into the city. The maidens wasted no words before getting behind the team of fighters, and they found their drawn weapons aiming at two of the dark black mage golems used by the enemies.

No words were wasted a second time on the opponents, and in a flash Zidane's dagger and Freya's lance sliced through one almost simultaneously, its nearly bloodless body ripped into shreds even as a spell from the second one sent a bolt of electrical energy arching through all four companions.

A shout from their own black mage Vivi pierced the battle field as he struck back with his own bolt spell causing the remaining mage to quiver from the jolt, shortly before finding itself on the pointy end of Quina's rather unique fork.

Vivi couldn't stand this. He couldn't stand the fact that these mage dolls were doing all this. He couldn't stand it even more so that he looked just like them. He wondered if that made him a monster too.

There wasn't long for wondering, as three Alexandrian soldiers came up the tree, chasing the poor maidens back to the other side of the group. This might get repetitive fast.

"Foolish Cleyrans, your time has come!" were the first and last words heard from the soldier in front.

"Over here! I'm the one you want!" their words had filled Zidane with a rage on par with even Freya's. Zidane may have been a criminal, but even he would not tolerate the harming of innocents, even more so when they were the people of one of his best friends.

Freya was gone from beside him in a flash as she jumped into the air, and Zidane charged forward quickly matched by Quina. A wave of freezing energy went over their head, lashing into the enemies from Vivi's hands, as the soldiers on both ends found their now freezing body lashed into by bladed weapons. The third managed to graze hairs off Zidane's head in a near miss, only to be wailing in pain seconds later as she was ran through with the flying spear from Freya.

Freya landed, and they all reformed keeping their bloody weapons drawn, only two find another two mages facing them as Sharon and Shannon ran back up into the town. Would they be ok? There was no time to think, until moments later two more black mages lay dead... or whatever it was when the monsters ceased to be animate, on the ground.

"Ha! They got nothin' on me!" Zidane's eyes went to the town as he spoke, "But the town's in trouble!"

Zidane took the lead into the city and the others followed behind him keeping a sharp eye out. They had no idea what they were suppose to do, but none of them had an intention of doing nothing. Arriving up one set of wide stairs, the oracles Wylan and Satrea were frantically looking for a place to hide.

"Enemies are on their way up! How about your side?" Zidane knew the answer, but somehow he hoped he'd be wrong.

He wasn't,"The Burmecians are fighting back, but the demons keep coming..." Wylan shook her head in disbelief at everything happening.

"We fled, unable to resist any longer..." Satrea seemed equally hopeless.

"Damn those Alexandrians!" Zidane had never had an extreme liking for them, being from Lindblum himself, but even he hadn't thought they were capable of all this.

"What are we to do..? " the oracles pleaded and he had to make a decision, now.

"We're out of time!" another statement of the obvious by Zidane, "Let's go right!" the oracles followed his suggestion without question, running upwards through the village.

The oracles ran past Learie as she held close to her two children. She saw them running and expected the next thing to come over the stairs to be enemies, but it wasn't, it was Zidane and his group.

Throughout all this though, Learie could only think of one thing, Dan, "Excuse me... have you seen my husband?"

"No, I sure haven't." Zidane answered and shook his head, stopping briefly and looking around for more enemies.

"Daddy's gone!" the children sob, making Freya especially grit her teeth further. How many children had been made fatherless and motherless by these people. What were they thinking?

"It's too dangerous here! Let's go left." He pointed them up and left through the city, and Learie yanked her children after her holding one little hand in each of hers. No sooner than they were out of sight did two Alexandrian soldiers and a black mage run up from another direction, ready to fight. Ready to die with the group they had just challenged.

"You won't get by me!" Zidane and Freya instinctively placed themselves between the opponents and where the family of burmecians had ran, and charged into them.

The mage was already dead on the ground before contact was even made, victim to their own angry black mage's fire, but not before he spread his own flames over their group. Freya fended off one of the soldiers as the fire caught her off guard, and spun around to slice across their throat to fell them. She turned to see that Zidane was having similar luck. They were all exhausted.

Quina stood staring off at something shi had found. Had shi even noticed the battle. Snapping to cognizance, Quina offered the others a drink of potion to get them on their feet, and hopped forward up the stairs with a grim smile. Was that thing ever 'not' happy?

They arrived at the next level of the city together to find Learie and her children again. Freya remembered the names now, Jack and Adam. She had known Dan and his wife in Burmecia, the children were only infants then. Now they were old enough to talk, as well as flee in terror, apparently.

"Hurry tell us!" Jack spoke followed by his brother Adam, "Which way now?"

"Let's see." Zidane wasn't entirely comfortable with being looked at for these decisions. He was only choosing at random after all, "Cross the bridge!"

The refugees crossed the rickety bridge that led from one large branch of the tree to another safely, but from the other side three more Alexandrian soldiers approached.

"Persistent bastards!" Zidane wondered exactly how many they had to kill before the soldiers would learn who not to attack. These soldiers certainly wouldn't be learning anything, and less than a minute later they lay charred and hacked beside the bodies of some of the cleyran civilians that had already fallen. He knew this couldn't go on much longer "We can't hold them off forever!

"Are we safe now?" the children spoke as the group once again caught up with them, "No more monsters?"

"Hmmm..." Zidane wanted to comfort the children, but wanted to put them in danger even less, "We're not safe yet... So stay alert for more!"

"No!" the children were dragged further up towards the temple by their frantic mother.

The next ones they met were Shannon and Sharon, at the ledge of one of the branches where a gazebo had been placed to view the sandstorm, when it was still there at least. Apparently they had escaped the fate of so many other so far, but Zidane didn't understand what they were doing here, "Huh? What are you guys doing here?"

"We like this place very much." Shannon was not herself at all, tears streaked down her face and the psychological damage could literally be seen eating into her.

"Even though we have lost the soul-soothing view of the sandstorm..." Sharon wasn't faring much better.

"Yeah, I think its pretty, to." Zidane sighed, "This whole town is pretty. And everyone here is so nice." he looked at them in earnest, "That's why I wanna protect you! C'mon, let's head to the cathedral, We can make our stand there!"

Yet when they arrived at the cathedral, the only ones say saw gathered in front was the two maidens and two oracles, as well as Learie and her children.

"So, these are the only survivors..." Zidane probably shouldn't have said this out loud, because it drove most of those present further into panic.

"Where's the high priest?" "Where is the king?" "Where's dad?" "Waaa!"

"I hope they're all safe inside the cathedral..." Zidane tried to calm them down, "Alright, everyone inside!"

Before they could move into the cathedral, they suddenly found more mages transporting in. Great. Blocking off all three exits for the civilians.

"They're back!" Zidane couldn't believe they thought they needed to send another wave, "Over there!" too many to face. They were all so exhausted, "Dammit, we're surrounded! Dammit! I can't save them all!"

Nothing could be more frustrating for Zidane than to choose one innocent over another, but the mages were approaching, murmuring their insane babble about existing to kill.

"Minions of evil, you have gone too far!" the voice rang out from above. Freya was the first to look up, just in time to see the dragoon warrior on top of the cathedral draw his weapon, "My spear will purge this land of you!"

With blazing speed, the spear lunged into one of the pair of mages, impaling one effortlessly as the other fell back confused. Landing next to a second group and blocking their advance, he sent a searing bend of energy from a Dragon's Breath spell at the third, who feel smoldering to the ground.

"You will fall like the wind under the force of my blade!" Barely flinching as he was battered with the elemental attacks of the mages behind him, the dragoon leapt over to retrieve his spear, taking only seconds to cleave the mage nearest it before leaping back towards the other pair. All in all, 6 mages lay dead before the party even had time to react to help him, "Now run!"

The others were inside almost immediately, and Zidane followed him waving to the stranger, "Dunno who you are, but I owe you one!"

Fratley filed the statement away for later, and with a quick motion he was inside after them closing the doors behind.

"Sir Fratley, I..." who the strange was hit Freya like a brick. Could this be the one she had been searching for three years? Who she hadn't seen in five? Now? "I have missed you so much..." the other stood equally dumbfounded as she spoke.

"I began my search for you immediately after you left Burmecia." a gross exaggeration on her part, but she wasn't thinking clearly,"Where have you been all these years...? To what corners of the world have you traveled? My dear Fratley..." she looked into his eyes and stepped closer, "I climbed the highest mountains only to hear rumors of your victories... I searched the deepest valleys only to find your footsteps, but I never found you. And in the end, I heard something... Something unbearable!"

"Freya, you say?" Fratley tilted his head as if looking at her for the first time ever,"I believe this is the first time we have met..."

"What... did you just say?" the second realization sank into her deeper than any Alexandrian blade could have sank. He.. had forgotten her?

"I'm sorry," she shook his head, "but I cannot remember you for the life of me..." he looked at the strange person who moments ago had been reciting poetry to him. It was a practiced speech, he could tell. Not something you do on a whim to someone you don't know, but... he really didn't remember her.

"Y-you jest!" Freya became frantic, "You cannot have forgotten me! It's me, Freya! Freya of Burmecia!"

"I am sorry..." Fratley shook his head again and felt something not unlike shame, as he turned away and stepped towards the balcony of the temple. He didn't even remember Burmecia or Cleyra. He felt like this was the first time he'd been here.

"No..."

Zidane watched the tears well in his friend Freya's eyes as her despair ran deeper, and he couldn't hold it, "Hey, wait a minute! You can't be serious! It's Freya, your lost love! How could you forget her!? Well, say something!!!" Fratley was silent, confused.

"That is enough, Zidane..." Freya knew he was trying to help, but this wouldn't

"What!!!?" Zidane turned to his hurting friend, "You've been searching for this guy for years, and now he's right here!"

"Fratley," the Burmecian King stepped up behind them. He had been consulting with the High Priest when people had begun entering, "Do you remember me, the King of Burmecia?"

"Not at all, I'm afraid."

"Impossible! Have you forgotten everything that has passed!?" the King began to realize how pointless it had been to send Fratley on his mission those years ago, but this didn't add up at all "Then let me ask you this: What brought you back to Burmecia? Is it because you learned of the crisis here in Cleyra, whose people are our brothers?"

"As a matter of fact.."

"As a matter of fact, I'll tell ya!" Fratley's words were cut off as Puck flew in the front of the room, huffing and puffing from exhaustion trying to run around and get as many of the Cleyrans hidden or out as possible.

"Lord Puck!" "Prince Puck!" "Puck!" everyone spoke in unison. This kid knew how to pop in unannounced.

"I found Fratley during my travels around the world!" Puck's words were interesting, but certainly vague enough, "And you guessed it, he didn't know who I was! Or even who he was! But when Burmecia was attacked and he heard that Cleyra was in danger... his faint memories as a dragon knight called him back here!"

"Dragon knight..." the only words clear inside his mind, "Yes, I was once called that... But now, that is all I can remember."

"Fratley..." Freya's teary eyes melted into him as she spoke. What was it about this girl. He had no idea who the hell she was yet he couldn't keep his mind off of her all of the sudden. Those hurting eyes, she loved him. There was no doubt of that in his mind, and that speech. She must have taken days to memorize it and kept it in her mind for when she found him. He felt himself almost go dizzy. Emotions swelled. Where did they come from? This made no sense! He couldn't stand it, why did he have sudden feelings for someone he knew nothing about! "I must go." He was gone in an instant out the front.

"Freya, aren't you gonna follow him?" Zidane had enough experience with life to know why Fratley felt he suddenly had to leave. Maybe if she went with him...

"No.. I am happy simply knowing that Sir Fratley still lives." tears rolled down her face still; to be forgotten was worse than death.

Puck felt as if he had betrayed her. He had spent so much time trying to make this work as he'd promised his friend Freya so many years ago,"I'm sorry Freya. I knew you weren't ready to see him, but with Cleyra under attack and all..."

Freya cut her prince off," I need no such courteousy, Highness." Despite his continuing tendency to run off, Puck had matured, and she felt proud of her prince underneath her despair.

"Uh... well, I'm gonna go after Fratley!" and he was gone as well; he had no intention of not fulfilling his promise to his favorite dragoon, "Later!"

Vivi was ran into again by the retreating Puck and fell on his bum yet again, as him and Quina entered into the room from where they had been comforting the refugees. Okay, Vivi had been comforting them, Quina had been looking for food and just happened to be there.

"Wait, Puck! I have not seen you in ages!" the King wondered if he'd done something wrong to deserve to shifty a successor.

"Wh-what? that was Puck?" Vivi had been looking to talk to him ever since realizing he was in Cleyra, but so far the only interaction he'd had was getting ran into every time Puck appeared,"So, what happened?"

The black mages eyes fell on Freya, who's head was bowed trying to hold back tears, "What's the matter, Freya? Are you crying?" he hoped it was nothing he'd done. He was extremely self conscious about himself.

"Ahahaha!" was she laughing? "What irony. To find the man about whom I have dreamt endlessly... only to discover that he cannot even remember who I am!"

There was no time for this, she knew it, "Come, Zidane! The enemy's hand has not been stilled! We must regroup!" Suddenly it was duty first for Freya again. Such a sharp contrast from when Zidane had first met her.

"Freya..." Zidane silently stared, not knowing what to do or say.

"Eek!" the High Priest's voice rang out suddenly from the opposite side of the room, breaking them all away from one situation to find another. Beatrix. She was here, at the harp, having snuck in through a window, and had her sword pointed downward at the helpless priest, "Have mercy!"

"Hmph! Pathetic rodents!" Beatrix hated this duty. These creature were not even worth fighting, and certainly not worth killing. How did they end up with such a treasure? "You fail to grasp the true power of the jewel!"

Her sword went up, quickly clipping the encrusted jewel from its place on the magic cleyran harp, and it landed in her opposite hand flawlessly.

"Our magic stone!" it was the last thing the priest expected her to do.

"Now that I have this jewel, I am through with your city!" Beatrix ran out of the door ahead of everyone. There was no point in fighting those inside though she knew they were no match for her, and she wasn't entirely comfortable with being ordered to attack a seemingly helpless city.

"Wait!" Zidane was enraged, what the hell was this woman thinking?

"Halt, villain!" Freya's emotions joined together into something not even she could describe, as the group of four ran out the front after the general.

"Think you can get away?" Zidane's words as the group met Beatrix in front of the temple were meaningless to her. She had already embarrassed them at Burmecia once, and considered herself merciful for running with the jewel.

"Get away?" she laughed out loud," You're a bigger fool than I imagined... Have you forgotten how badly I beat you back in Burmecia?"

"So you are more the fool for not finishing what you started!" brave yet somehow foolish words from Freya. Yet she would rather die defending this place than let Beatrix get away.

"You're gonna pay!" even Vivi was enraged, ready to avenge everyone that those of his own kind had killed at Alexandria's order.

"I find no tasties in this town, so we cook you for breakfast!" Quina's vocal was somewhat less serious sounding, but shi did the best shi could. Mmmmm, Alexandrian stew. Shi pondered what ingredients shi'd need.

Beatrix shook her head, "Then allow me to shatter your delusions of grandeur."

Four against one. Chances were good right? All the four knew that they weren't, and with weapons drawn the three charged forward as Vivi chanted slow to try to give them a fighting chance against her before the inevitable.

Dodging Zidane's knives without hardly thinking and glancing away Quina's fork weapon with her shield, she fended Freya's spear with her sword and cracked her in the head with the hilt of it, sending her to the ground for a few seconds. This was too easy; she considered not trying so hard to make it more of a challenge. Nah.

Freya flew into a rage, emotions surging as she went into trance, and took a leap into the air, hovering there and sending shards of energy down at Beatrix as the other warriors charged with weapons drawn once again. The feel of poison filled Beatrix as Vivi spread a Bio spell over her, and both her enemies weapons clinked against her armor barely scratching her. She brought her sword back ignoring the semblance of pain that she felt bringing it around to clip Quina and cause Zidane to back up to readjust his stance.

Despite the hits, she was nearly unapproachable. They just weren't doing enough damage even with Freya in trance, and as Freya landed and fell out of her attack, Beatrix was still standing, barely hurt as her opponents heaved from exhaustion.

"No more games." Beatrix knew she had to go now. Her queen was waiting. Yet it was more than that. The mages around her were still finding and killing civilians. Even a cruel warrior such as Beatrix knew this was unacceptable. She had to leave so she could order them to retreat.

Drawing her sword up and taking a short jump forward, energy sheered out as she used her Stock Break technique on them, and a second later they each fell to the ground on hands and knees nearly unconscious. The same technique that had defeated them in Burmecia had the same result.

"She-she's too powerful.."

"Black mages, our work here is done. Commence withdrawal immediately!" Beatrix shouted out loud. A nearby black mage activated it's teleportation, and she leapt into the aura round it, catching herself inside the spell and traveling back up to the airship with the mage.

"Why, they disappeared," Zidane tried to stand weakly, then drank a potion, "What now Freya?"

"Good question..." for once she didn't have advice, as she made sure all her friends took potions, "Zidane! Look out behind you!"

He turned to see another black mage. But it wasn't coming for them, it was forming a teleportation spell like the other had. He ran towards the mage.

"There! I'm gonna follow 'em!" he ran into the ball and was sucked into the spell as Beatrix had, "Everyone follow me!" he hoped they'd end up where Beatrix went.

"Zidane! He's gone!" Vivi stood up as well, looking as if he didn't know what to do.

Freya looked down at the one mage that she fought beside against all the other mages, "I highly doubt I will ever return to this place.. Besides, this may be your last chance to find the truth about who you are..." or what he was, "Come, Vivi! Show us your courage!" With this Freya leapt into another black mage's teleport spell, and was gone as well.

"Oh no... Freya's gone too!" desperately, Vivi followed suit hoping it wasn't the wrong decision.

"I no like heights." there was no way Quina was going to try that. Shi ran towards the entrance as fast as she could to get down the tree the old fashioned way.

High above Cleyra, safe on her airship, Queen Brahne held the dark matter that Kuja had given her, supposedly and eidolon, a summoning spell extracted from Princess Garnet.

"It's time..." her grotesque face gleamed, "With this Dark Matter, I now hold the power to summon an eidolon. Now, I'll find out if Kuja's claims are true. Odin, come to me!"

Darkness. The sky opened, and the horrible horseback Odin flew threw the sky right at Cleyra as the wicked queen marveled. Seconds later, Odin let out a burst of energy from his spear splintering into the tree and shattering buildings and branches, spreading a fireball over the city that seemed to consume it further even after the horrible summoning had disappeared. Brahne was shocked... yet so delighted.