"How much longer do you need? We’re not safe here." she asked, scanning the area for any signs of movement. She didn't like being this exposed.

“Not long now. I just want to make sure I’m fully stocked. The less we rely on our GFs the better, but this is only the third fire magic Draw Point I’ve found since getting here.”


Emi as he drew in the precious little magic this place could provide. “What is it exactly that you’re doing? Why do you need one of these for magic?”, she asked.


“What do you mean? This is a Draw Point. Certain kinds of spells are available to obtain from them if you have the right GF junctioned.” he explained.


"This one has fire magic like Fira to draw. Both my Zodiark and his Ifrit allow us to use the spell." she added, "But it’s advisable to keep your stock high in case you ever need to use it. That way these Draw Points only need to be used when absolutely necessary so you don’t end up standing out with no cover and many points of ambush.", she continued with more than a little snark.


“I understand your point loud and clear. I’m fully equipped now so we can go. Sorry for that.”


"Fine, let’s be off then."


Tross continued trying to explain the finer points of magic and sorceresses as the group went on. She figured this was more than likely a wasted effort, as Emi seemed to be lacking practical memories more than either of them. Zodiark had been very careful in how he allowed himself to affect her, ensuring that he left at least her memories of combat and survival skills unclouded, instead occupying the region of her mind that contained personal memories. She could still recall every spell, every limit break, every action command, every combat maneuver, strategy, and fighting style she had ever learned, but at the cost of everything else, up to and including her own name. She probably knew more about magic than any of them, and one thing she was absolutely sure of was that she knew at least one other person who could cast magic without a GF, yet it didn't occur to her to correct Tross, because she was also certain that as a general rule, he was correct. Whoever she was remembering right now was definitely a special case.

She could see herself in a dark, featureless room, or maybe not so much that the room was featureless, but that her mind hadn't retained any of its features. The only thing that stood out was the silhouette of a man, speaking to her. She couldn't remember his voice, so this memory was silent, but somehow she still knew that he was saying something to her.

She tried to focus more on this memory, because it felt very important. And this wasn't the first time she'd been on the verge of remembering him. The name 'Williams' was the first spark of this thought she'd managed to rekindle, and as a result, she became quite attached to it. The name was definitely one she was used to being called, but the memories it conjured were of someone else. Her best theory at this point was that she was remembering a family member who shared the surname, but somehow that still didn't feel right... The name Williams, and a special talent for innate magic, she was so close to a breakthrough it was maddening. Unfortunately, before she could make that breakthrough, she was snapped back into reality by the distinctive sound of a large beast.


"Do you hear that?"


“What is it?”


“Oh no.”


Before she knew what had happened she found herself standing in between two very large weapon-class monsters, and worse still, separated from the team.

“Hey ugly, this way!” Tross' voice called out, trying to get the attention of the beasts. This was a relief, at least they hadn't died in those moments of confusion. She took the opportunity to run, and try to rejoin the group, but it didn't seem likely the way the weapons were positioned. The second weapon had already begun pursuit, and as quickly as it was covering ground, there was no way it was gong to give her a chance to use a limit break. Her only hope was to turn Zodiark loose. She began drawing in energy for him, and trying to stay out of the creatures reach, but it was proving difficult to even keep enough distance for a chance to summon.


She heard an explosion in the distance, the other weapon's attack, presumably. More immediately concerning, she heard the sound of the weapon on her heels charging up its own attack. Fortunately, she'd been trying to reach a ravine she could use for cover long enough to finish summoning Zodiark, and now it seemed she was going to need it to escape the blast. She made a beeline for these precious inches of cover, sliding into the ravine just in time to stop from being obliterated, but the beast held on to its attack, trying to close in and fire on her from above. This also gave her just the time she needed, and the beast came back into view, directly on top of her just as she was getting ready to unleash Zodiark, hoping it would be enough to save her, even with the weapon at this range. But just before she could, the beast vanished, bursting into a shower of those strange, colorful streaks of light.

"Holy hell... I don't think I've ever been that close to dying before...", she said to herself. She remained still, just long enough to catch her breath, and steel her resolve enough to peek out from her cover, to see what had become of the others. To her astonishment, the other weapon was gone, too. She got to her feet, and dusted herself off, making her way to the rubble to search for her comrades, on the off chance they'd actually managed to survive.


"Now that’s lucky.", she said, once she laid eyes on Tross. "I thought for sure we’d be separated after the attack, but here you are."


“Are you alright?”, he asked.


"Wasn’t expecting a marathon, but I’ll survive. How did you manage to escape, though? That stunt you pulled, I thought for sure you’d doomed both of you."


“Couldn’t be helped. I saw you were pinned down by them. How did you manage to outrun the other one anyway?”


She sat down before explaining. "I didn’t. After you lured away the other one, I took off running and then it was about to fire its beam attack so I rolled down into a ravine I came up on. The thing didn’t even slow down, but as it bore down on me, it suddenly vanished into a puff of streaking particles of light."


“That’s not something you see everyday. But it is fortunate. I hadn’t ever thought those lights would end up being a good thing.”


"You’ve seen them before?"


“I’m sure you have, too, if you ended up here. If anything, you were probably on one of the earlier rescue ops. As far as I can remember, the Junction System was on the fritz and those lights you saw are somehow connected to it.” I explained.

Again, she was drawn into that memory... She still couldn't hear his voice, but now she knew what they had been talking about. "I know it's a rescue op, but we still don't fully understand what we're even rescuing them FROM. You'd better watch your ass out there, because I don't want to be assigned to the op to rescue YOU", the voiceless silhouette mouthed. "Hey, I've been training just as hard as you used to, these past few years. Just because you weren't around for any of it doesn't mean I'm still that weak little kid you remember!", she shouted. "They should be sending me on this, and you know it. I'm the one who can use magic in spite of these lights, not you, _____", he said. She couldn't make out the last word... Was he saying her name? She focused intently on that last word, trying desperately to recall a voice to put to this conversation. For a moment, she could almost hear it... But it sounding like he was talking underwater, it was garbled and unclear.

"Are you alright?", Zodiark's voice within her mind snapped her back to the present once again. Her attention returned to the situation.

"I suppose the same happened to the one attacking the two of you?", she asked.


“Not exactly. I guess it was too much to ask that maybe Emi would be with you, too. Actually, I’m not really sure how I’m still alive. Just like the weapon chasing you, the one I hit fired its beam. It missed, but after the beam struck the ground over there, everything turned white and... Never mind. Long story short, I think Nicola might be in danger. We need to find her and Emi, too.”

"Nicola?", she asked. "What has she got to do with this? She's nowhere near us.", she pointed out. "Emi on the other hand, should still be somewhere close. I don't see any sign of a body, and if she was still near you when the blast went off, she definitely couldn't have been close enough to be obliterated by it.", she reasoned out loud.

She got back on her feet, and began scanning the area again. "Normally I'd say we should split up to search, but after that mess, it's not impossible that more beasts might show up to investigate the noise, and we definitely don't want to be caught alone in this place. Honestly, I don't even want to be caught together right here. Next time I tell you a draw point looks like a death trap, think maybe you could just take my word for it?", she asked sarcastically.