“I’ll take him.” Kyra offered. Mostly because she was worried about Koemi, or was it the fact that no one else would take him, since Quezacotl wasn’t compatible with someone who held Leviathan.
“Are you sure?” Koemi asked. Kyra was curious why she would ask that. Kyra felt there wasn’t another option.
“I’m sure.” was her response. Kyra put her hand on Koemi’s shoulder to draw Quezacotl. She felt an odd presence enter her, different than Diablos presence. Was Quezacotl….excited?
“So, what now?” Koemi said, seemingly to fill the silence in the room.
“What did you and Swain find out?” She asked. She didn’t really pay attention to their response though.
"Quezacotl, is Koemi okay?"
"She's not, but she's trying to be. She's growing up."
"I see. And you're okay parting from her?"
“Ha, what a weird human you are,” Kyra could hear him chuckle as if her concern was amusing to him.
"So you still house gramps then, to be honest I didn't expect him to still accept you as his master."
"Gramps? You mean Diablos. What do you mean by that?" The excitement Kyra initially felt faded. "I passed his challenge. That's all he asked of me."
“Ha you think the trial ended there, foolish human.” He chuckled again, seemingly amused.. ”We Guardian Forces constantly test you, we constantly assess you to see if the humans we serve are worthy. Diablos does not take failure well, so it is a surprise to see him still serve you. Diablos you have gotten soft.”
Failure? Kyra thought.
A low rumble could be heard. "Master, who let this ruthian into my domain?"
"Bwahaha, domain we are not in your domain Diablos did you not forget you are in the mind of a human?"
"Hu- oh. Must have been a dream. Quezacotl, why are you here?"
"My master has important memories she must recover for the fate of the world, the prophecy has started Diablos we must be ready."
”Hmmm so it has begun.”
"Prophecy?" Kyra attempted to get an answer. She didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.
”Despite your failure Diablos has still chosen to serve you. Perhaps the old coot can see something I can't. he sighed "However human, In respect to my former master I have some news for you, this comes at a cost though."
"Former master?"
”It does not matter who my former master was! You must agree to not interrupt my current master's healing. You must not ask her anything, you must not indicate you know this." His tone was very serious. There was sadness whenever his former master was mentioned.
"You mean, I can't tell her about a vague prophecy that's begun?" Even Kyra didn’t know what they were talking about. How could she talk about something she knew so little about?
“My master MUST recover her memories on her own, do I make myself clear?!" he growled as he said this.
Kyra was shaken when he raised his voice. "Yes, sir."
“Koemi met someone she has forgotten about within her time she was away. That human was not of this world, how she got here I do not know. It was the human you call Nikki.
"Nikki.... I know a Nikki. But are you sure it's the same person?" Kyra’s heart skipped a beat hearing her name again. She only knew one Nikki. Did Koemi really meet her? How could that be possible?
“Do not underestimate me human, your memories are a book to me. She currently houses Shiva.”
”She has a GF now, too? Just what is going on here? Were there others with her?"
“I cannot say anymore. I only gave you that out of respect to my former master.”
Kyra could feel his sadness as he said that.
"Your former master. Do I know them?" The guardian force remained silent. His presence moved to the back of her mind.
“Child if you really want to know ask his master.” Diablos gave reasonable advice.
When Kyra tuned back into her surroundings, she realized the group was looking at her waiting for a response, it seemed.
"Uh sorry. I didn't hear a word you just said" she said. “It's been a while since I had a guardian force. Let alone two.”
“We were talking about talking to an owner of a chocobo ranch near the light in Trabia” Swain repeated.
“Oh, do you have ideas how we would get to there? I’ve never been up that way.”
"By train of course!” Koemi said excitedly.
“There's a train to Trabia?” Kyra said, confused, “Geeze, I've been away for awhile then. I don't remember a train.”
"Ummm..." says Koemi puzzled. Did Koemi forget, too?
"There isn't a direct train" said Swain sighing
"Uh. Hmmm. Where do we need to go?" Said Kyra trying not to get embarrassed. She didn't have a clue how the train system worked.
"There is no direct route." Swain said with another sigh.
“Can't we take a boat there from here?” Koemi asked.
“That service has stopped due to the light near Trabia. We will need to head for Fisherman's Horizon by getting a train through Timber and hope there is a boat.”
“You don't know if there is one?”
Swain looked at Koemi, “You thought there was a train it's the best I have got.”
"You mean hope someone willing to take us to Trabia..." Kyra concluded.
"Hmm... Hopes aren't the ideal basis for a decision regarding our mission. Unfortunately, short of stealing a boat I don't see that we have any other options." Steele said, finally interjecting his thoughts.
The group filed out of the inn and made their way to the train. They bought tickets bound for Fisherman’s Horizon, with a connection in Timber.
“Koemi, who was Quezacotl's previous master before you?” Kyra asked.
Koemi turned to Kyra, "Oh ummm..." her eyes looked to the floor and she shuffled her feet as she fidgeted with her fingers.
Kyra noticed she got uncomfortable with the question "Hey. Are you okay?"
"It's just..." she paused, "Ah don't worry about it, it was no one special" she said with a nervous laugh.
”Was that...a lie?”
"His former master seemed to be very important to him. Are you sure you don't know?" Kyra tried to go at this topic another way.
“Shocking other things is important to him too I wouldn't worry about it.” said Koemi smiling and waving it off.
"Alright. I also want to apologise for my comments earlier. I didn't mean to hurt you."
“That's ok all was forgiven already.” she said. "Anyway, tell me more about Nikki" she said with a smile
Kyra's heart skipped a beat again. "Nikki... I miss her a lot. One of the funniest things she did was give me an anti-spider arrow. We were in a part of the Via Infinito where there were lots of spiders. I was absolutely freaked out. She gave me the arrow to help me feel better."
"Did it work?"
"It did. A little."
"I need one of those..." Kyra suddenly remembered Koemi didn’t like spiders either. Was it Aiko who told her that? “She’d kill every one she saw rather than run. Less spiders for you, right?””
"HA!" Exclaimed Koemi as she killed a tiny spider in between her hands as she smacked them together.
"She made me give it back to her....after....we thought she was dead." Kyra remembered the events. Clear as day. How could she forget the horrors of the Via Infinito.
Koemi turned to her after wiping her hands on herself her face softens "Did she..."
"There was a point I thought she sacrificed herself to save me. A little while later, it felt like years went by, but it was only hours...she was alive. There were so many fake Nikki's I didn't know what to believe anymore. The Via Infinito was a bad place. I am glad she didn't die." Kyra paused. "I still don't know why that happened." she thought for a few moments and noticed Koemi went silent. She looked over to see Koemi deep in thought.
“Might have been the Via Infinito bringing out my biggest fear." Kyra continued her thought. Koemi still didn’t respond and seemed to be spaced out.
"Hey, are you okay?" Kyra said getting concerned. She still didn’t seem to register.
"Quezacotl. Is she remembering something? I don't know what to do." Kyra didn't want to interrupt.
"Summon me and I'll sort her out." he said with a laugh.
"But what if it's important. You told me not to interrupt her.."
”I told you not to give her information that I gave you. She's just spacing out. She has what you humans call an overactive imagination.”
"Just hit her." Diablos grumbled, clearly annoyed by the situation.
”Not you, too!
"Hey Koemi, Earth to Koemi."
"Huh?”
"Welcome back. Did you have fun?"
"Wha, wait, what?!"
"You spaced out."
“AH! Sorry!”
"Quezacotl told me to shock you, I said no."
"Ah, I'm glad you didn't they hurt,"
Swain noticed Koemi had spaced out and joined the conversation, “Remember anything useful?”
“Oh well... I was just thinking about how I could squish a big spider with an arrow"
”I see what you mean… Kyra thought as she brought her hand to her face.
The train pulled into the station.
"Not surprised..." Swain said as he boarded Koemi chased after him
"What does that mean?!"
Kyra looked to Steele and shrugged. They boarded the train bound for Timber. As far as Kyra remembered, it was only a few hour train ride. She headed to the private SeeD suites and relaxed. She pulled out her notebook and wrote the events that had happened so far. It was a habit she’d gotten from having a Guardian Force. As she wrote, her thoughts drifted to Nikki. How could she be here? How could Koemi have met her? They were already on the train away from Balamb so it wasn’t like she could just ask Ellone. A slight headache was forming as the questions grew in her mind.
“What happened in that damn Via Infinito?” she asked aloud. She hated that she was sent back. She wanted to be there, not here! Her eyes filled up with tears as her emotions caught up with her. She stopped writing and took a seat by the window. She hated waiting, but it was all she could do.
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