Ciara Chapter 5 - Strange Things Are Happening... ------------------------------------------------- After the mysterious voice faded out, there was darkness and silence. Silence and darkness. And then another voice... "Hey! Would somebody mind turning the lights back on?" Palom yelled. Cecil murmured a few words and his Orb began to glow. The others were able to relight their torches, and then they all looked around. "Oh, no..." everyone chorused. Behind where the demon had been, the tunnel had caved in. "Cecil, you couldn't have been a little less...enthusiastic about killing that demon?" Herringway asked. "Well, I, um, sorry..." Cecil stuttered. He was concentrating more on his new sword than on paying attention to the others. "Probably the new spirit talking to him," said Kain. "Okay, scratch this plan," Sabin stated. He looked at Ciara. "Unless you've got some gadget that could dig through this." "I don't." Ciara sighed. "And I don't think going through any of the other tunnels would be a good idea right now; there are probably more demons guarding them." "Well, then, what should we do?" Kuralov asked. "I can feel that magic, kupo, and it's driving me crazy! We should probably leave." Kain spoke up. "After we depart from these tunnels, I am going to go my own way." Everyone looked at him. "Why?" asked Sabin. "It's just something I feel I have to do..." Kain replied. "It is not any of you...I just need to go, find my own way, find some answers to things that have been troubling me..." Cecil spoke up. "And I will go with you." "No, Cecil. I must go on my own. Even you can't help me with this, old friend." The group stood around awkwardly in the tunnels for a few minutes. Finally, Palom spoke up. "This place is giving me the creeps! Let's get out of here!" They turned around and headed back the way they came in. As they passed the entrance to the tunnel of the tomb, Ciara took a quick glance at Kain. He was walking with his head down, not looking at anything or anyone. She was worried about him; she had been ever since that evening long ago in the tavern of Narshe. A man without a past, and at the rate he was going, without a future either. She walked over to him. "You're sure you're going to be all right, by yourself?" He looked up and smiled sadly at her. "Yes. I've traveled by myself before. I can take care of things." "I wasn't doubting your abilities; I just wondered if you'd miss us...or something." He sighed. "Yes, I will miss you. Especially you, Lady Ciara." She blushed. "I guess I know a little of how you feel. I grew up on an island, almost alone. I had no friends, no one to talk to, to do things with, only an older sister..." Her voice trailed off as she realized something. "My sister! She probably thinks I'm dead or something!" "Ciara, if you'd like, I could take a message to her," Kain offered. "It wouldn't be very hard for me to stop by your home in my travels." "Could you? It wouldn't be too much trouble?" "No, it wouldn't." "Then when we get outside I'll write a letter...Of course she probably won't believe you so...here." She took a ring off of her finger. It was rather plain, just a silver ring with a pale pink stone. "She'll know that's mine." "Is it special to you?" Kain asked. Ciara shrugged. "I guess not, just the only thing she'd know I wore all of the time." "You can give it back to me when we see each other again." She smiled at him. Kain sighed again. If only he could share Ciara's confidence... ***** The group had made it out of the tunnels without anything unusual happening. They gathered next to the Falcon as they planned their next move. "You know, it just doesn't feel right to keep this airship," said Cecil. "Setzer might need it, and it really is his, not ours..." "But we need an airship to get around," Sabin argued. "Listen, Setzer and I are old friends. He'll understand." "But what if we damage it, or something, kupo?" Kuralov asked. "Yeah, I'd feel really bad about wrecking someone else's airship," Ciara stated. "I still think we should give it back," Cecil insisted. "And we still have an airship!" Ciara exclaimed. "Mine!" "Umm...Ciara...not to burst your bubble or anything, but the last time I saw your airship, it was in a bunch of little pieces," Kuralov said. "Well, there are a lot more of us now then there were before. And I've got design notes from the Falcon. It really shouldn't take us that long to build it." "But it was completely wrecked, wasn't it?" asked Kain. "Well, not really. The damage would have been a lot more severe had it been a balloon-powered airship like the Falcon rather than a completely propeller powered one." "But where would you get the parts?" Sabin asked. "Narshe is a mining town. I'll bet they've got some old equipment lying around. We can use that! Come on, let's go!" Ciara started to dash off to the Falcon, then turned around when she realized that no one was following her. "Guys?" "Right behind you, O Fearless One." ***** As Ciara sped the Falcon towards Narshe, the group continued to make plans. "After we fix Ciara's ship, Kain can take the Falcon. If he runs across Setzer in his travels, he can give it to him," Cecil said. "Once we've got the new airship, we can go back to Figaro. Maybe we can get to it from the air this time," Sabin suggested. "I'm hungry," said Palom. "Can we please have lunch now?" Kain nodded and went to the food packs. The others helped him get it ready. When it was time to eat, Ciara put the airship in hover and joined the others. "Hey Ciara," said Kuralov with a grin, "You want _ketchup_ on yours?" He had to duck very quickly to avoid the piece of bread that Ciara threw at him. ***** That evening, they reached Narshe. After checking in to their rooms at the Elder's house, everyone went back to the storage shed behind the town where the West Wind was being kept. Cecil and Kain pulled open the doors and they all stepped inside. "Well, it, um, needs work..." Ciara said. All around them were the pieces of the West Wind. The hull was partially intact, but the rest was burnt and bent and otherwise messed up. "I'm too tired to think about this now. Mind if we start tomorrow?" Sabin asked. "Sure," Ciara replied. ***** That night, Ciara had another dream. It seemed to be a continuation of the first one. The twelve figures floated away on the wind. The earth was shaking. People ran around screaming, "It's the end of the world! It's the end!" In their panic, they didn't notice that one of the people who had been on the airship was falling right into their midst. She did, however. Dropping her packages, she ran towards where the person would land. She held out her arms, and... The scene faded out. She was now standing in an inn, hovering over the bed of someone, presumably the person who had fallen. She couldn't see who that person was, however. She noticed a large mirror in the room, and what she saw when she looked into it made her gasp in horror. The face reflected there was not her own. ***** With a startled gasp, she woke up. "What is _wrong_ with me?!" she asked angrily. "Why am I dreaming about something I've never done or seen? And someone I've never met? What can it possibly mean, seeing something like that through someone else's eyes?" The next morning, she told no one of the dream. After breakfast, she immediately went out to work on the West Wind. But the dream was still troubling her. "Am I losing my mind?" she asked herself, as she began work. "Well," said General Herringway, behind her, "Talking to yourself is usually one of the signs that something is wrong." "Gee, thanks." "Hey, I'm here to help in any way I can!" he replied, with a big smile. Ciara considered throwing her wrench at Herringway's head but decided it would probably damage the wrench. The rest of the morning was spent in organizing the remaining parts and running to the mines for more supplies. Both Kain and Kuralov seemed like their minds were elsewhere; Kain probably thinking about his departure and Kuralov about the magic source and also about the Moogles who, if they found out he was here, would probably attack. After lunch, they went back to work, and Ciara found herself wondering exactly how long this would take...