The Veldt

Balance and Ruin

 

 

Seulgi was very quiet the next day, and the other girls left her to her thoughts as they continued their trek across the sprawling plains of the Veldt. This didn’t stop Joy and Yeri from talking amongst themselves, however.

“You don’t think they’d chase us all the way out here, do you?” Yeri asked.

“I don’t know, after that little stunt we pulled back at Castle Figaro, and Do- and uh, all of the other ways we’ve annoyed the Empire lately, I think we’ve become public enemy number one,” Joy answered.

“Yeah, I bet they weren’t expecting your whole castle to bury itself in the sand,” Yeri snickered.

“Hey, Gestahl isn’t the only kingdom with top-notch engineers. They don’t have me after all~” Joy lilted. “It’s a simple matter of displacement, really.” And then she laughed. “Ha! Matter displacement!”

And much to the relief of the grief-stricken Seulgi and the introverted Irene, Joy’s description of the machinations and physics involved in burying an entire castle in the Southern Desert took about an hour to fully explore.

“And besides,” Joy finished a little more soberly. “It was the only way we were going to be able to extinguish the flames.”

Yeri fell silent, and Seulgi looked back up at the queen on her chocobo. “So Figaro was attacked too?” Seulgi asked quietly.

Joy nodded down at her sympathetically. “Gestahl’s own Court Wizard paid us a visit.” Joy sighed. She wasn’t sure exactly how much Seulgi knew about world events, being from a town tucked away in such a remote corner of the countryside, but she had said her brother went to join Doma’s army. She must know a little.

“He came with an offer we couldn’t refuse. Or at least, one that we weren’t supposed to refuse,” she explained. “It was the usual ultimatum: join us or die. We had been doing our best to stay neutral for years before now, but…”

“But they found out you weren’t really being neutral at all,” Yeri clarified. “Joy’s been helping us rebels try and thwart the Empire at every turn. She’s been funneling us supplies, money, safe passage…” Joy gave her a thin-lipped smile.

“And what a price I almost paid for it,” the redhead sighed again. “The Wizard set my whole castle on fire when I finally told them no.” She still very vividly remembered exiting her hall to the sounds of screams outside. She remembered being surrounded by the burning bodies of her own Queen’s Guard. She remembered seeing soldiers tumbling from the battlements engulfed in flames.

Everyone who had been outside of the halls of the castle was already lost anyway, so all she had needed to do was order the lever pulled to plunge the whole castle into the depths of the sand and save the rest of her people.

“... You’re the Returners,” Seulgi stated. Her brother had written to her about an elite rebel group whose headquarters were near Castle Doma. He had been so proud to be part of the last bastion between the Empire and the free peoples of the world. Seulgi couldn’t wait to get back home and reread every single one of his letters.

What was she going to tell her parents?

“I guess we’re pretty famous, now,” Yeri said with a grin.

Infamous,” Joy clarified.

Irene let the three of them lag behind a bit as she continued to lead. She still didn’t quite have the stomach to hear the extent of all the atrocities the Empire has been committing during its campaign against these holdout kingdoms.

“Yeah, well I guess I’m used to a little infamy~” Yeri teased with a swish of her hair with its purple bandanna.

“What this world needs is more heroes, and fewer criminals though,” Joy countered, unsympathetically.

Yeri visibly drooped. “Hey, it’s not my fault local laws get in the way of my work. And besides, where would we be if it wasn’t for my talents? Why, Irene would still be-” the rest of Yeri’s sentence died on her lips as Irene suddenly stopped and glared back at her.

It was a tense moment as Irene stared her down, and the dark-haired girl ever so subtly flicked her gaze over to indicate Seulgi. After a long moment, Yeri seemed to get the hint and cleared .

“Wh-what I was saying is, I think I’ve done my part to clear my name! I-I’m on the level now…!” she went on, trying to regain her composure.

Seulgi wasn’t exactly sure what just happened, but she did notice something that depressingly resembled the large skeleton of a dragon suddenly rear up in front of Irene.

“I… Irene…” Seulgi breathed, pointing up with a shaking hand. Seulgi had never been this deep in the Veldt before, but she knew it only got more dangerous the farther one traveled. Still, watching a bone dragon pulling itself up out of the dirt and leering at them with its glowing red eyes was not a sight she had been prepared to see.

Irene already had her blade drawn, as much use as it may be against such a large foe, and Joy wasted no time leveling her heavy crossbow at it.

“What’s the plan, general?” the Queen asked as she peered along the crossbow’s sights.

General? But Seulgi didn’t have time to ponder that title as the creature finally pulled itself free of the ground with a spine-tingling roar.

“Just attack it!” Irene cried a bit shrilly as she kept an eye on its claws. “Yeri, keep Seulgi back!”

Seulgi was beginning to notice a theme as the small blonde tugged her back behind Boko before dodging out from behind the bird to take a place beside Irene. She wasn’t exactly excited to face such a difficult enemy right out of the gate, but she was supposed to be the one escorting these girls across the Veldt. She carefully drew her sword out of her belt - a soldier’s sword, from the Gestahlian Imperial Army.

And even as she watched Irene and Yeri split off to charge the bone dragon’s flanks, blades flashing in the midday sun, all she could think about was how glad she was that her brother had died by poisoning, and not on the end of a sword.

Joy tried to keep the dragon’s attention by loosing a volley of bolts at its face, but despite several points finding their mark and splintering through the dragon’s brittle skull, the hulking creature still managed to kick out and send Yeri sprawling away.

“Yeri!” Joy cried out. The beast’s clawed foot was as large as the blonde herself, so it had been an impressive hit.

Seulgi sprinted over to where she saw Yeri disappear in the grass. “Yeri? Yeri!” she called until she found the girl struggling for breath. “Hey, it’s okay, just relax!” Seulgi instructed as she slid to her knees by Yeri’s side. She carefully helped Yeri sit up and the blonde coughed as she finally recovered.  

“You’re supposed to stay back,” Yeri choked. “This is way more dangerous than the Armors.”

Well, that wasn’t a comforting thought.

“Should we try to escape?” Seulgi asked. She wasn’t sure, but Yeri might be small enough to squeeze onto Boko’s back with Joy, while she and Irene could make a run for it.

“We might have to. I’m going to try and get it off its feet first, though,” the blonde said as she rose to a crouch and took off again. Seulgi wasn’t sure how useful Yeri’s daggers were going to be against something that didn’t have hamstrings, but to her surprise, Yeri was digging through her pack as she ran.

“Wait Yeri…!” Joy called.

“If not now, then when?” Yeri shouted back, and she shoved something in the back of one of the dragon’s knees. “Irene, fire!”

Irene who had been literally and figuratively chipping away at the dragon, trying to avoid its swiping claws and large teeth, quickly caught on to Yeri’s plan.

Ice, Yeri, only ice!” Irene cried out as she pivoted out of the way of another attack.

“Sheesh, what use is that?” Yeri said to herself as she rummaged in her bag for a match. “Praise Ifrit, now we’re talking!” she cried as she found one.

Seulgi watched as the blonde quickly ducked in again and lit whatever it was she had wedged in the dragon’s knee, and there was a loud BOOM as shards of bone whizzed out in an arc away from the explosion.

YERI!!!” three voices cried out as the dragon collapsed on its injured leg.

Seulgi and Irene rushed to the scene as Joy kept the fallen dragon busy with her repeating crossbow.

There was a lot of coughing as Yeri scooted out from underneath the pile of bones and reached out to let the girls help her up. “Okay, now we can run,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“I swear on the three goddesses,” Irene grumbled as she hoisted Yeri up roughly. “Joy, we’re leaving!” she shouted back at the queen.

Seulgi gave a whistle and Joy yelped as Boko began loping towards them.

“What was that? A bomb?” Seulgi asked as they ran.

“Just a small one,” Yeri replied.

“A small bomb. In your pack.”

“Oh, it’s perfectly safe.”

“Rolling around in there loose... with matches?”

Perfectly safe,” Yeri iterated, as if she hadn’t heard.

+++

 

“I still can’t believe you used our last bomb,” Joy hissed as she carefully stretched out and rolled her ankle.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Yeri replied sarcastically.

They were taking a well-deserved break under the shade of a large boulder after their sprint from the injured bone dragon. Seulgi walked Boko to a small pool and patted his neck. “Good boy. I know, I know. You’re doing just fine,” Seulgi murmured as he tossed his head after drinking. “That’s it, we’re taking a little break. We’ll be home soon, don’t worry.”

“Do you always talk to your birds, ranch hand?”  

“Yes,” Seulgi replied automatically. “I mean no! I mean, Boko’s different…! He’s special.”

She looked over to see Irene kneeling at the bank of the pool. The dark-haired girl dipped her hands in the water and splashed her face, washing away the grime of their battle and the sweat of their ensuing escape.

“Special how?” Irene asked, squinting up at a flustered Seulgi as she wiped the excess water off of her face. “Like a pet?”

Seulgi frowned. It almost felt like Irene was teasing her in some way, but her stone-cold face suggested her questions were genuine.

“Yeah, like a pet, I guess. Do you… do you want to pet him?”

Irene looked up at the bright yellow bird suspiciously. Her last encounter with a chocobo had been less than ideal, and she wasn’t exactly a huge fan of animals to begin with.

“Here, like this,” Seulgi directed, moving aside so Irene could come up and Boko’s neck. She gave him a few pats herself as an example, sensing Irene’s hesitation. “He’s much better behaved than the ones you stole- uh, I mean-!”

Irene scoffed. It was almost like a laugh. Almost. “I’d apologize, but…” she began as she slowly came up to Boko and carefully rested her hand on his soft feathers, “... but I’d do it again in a heartbeat, if I’m being honest.”

Seulgi wasn’t sure what to make of that, and she suddenly realized Irene hadn’t been part of the round of introductions last night. She didn’t have any context for whom Irene might be, the way Joy was the Queen of Figaro, or how Yeri was… some ‘world famous’ thief or whatever she had called herself. Treasure Hunter?

“Well you know, you could have just asked,” Seulgi muttered absently as she watched the gentle way Irene pet Boko, almost as if she was getting lost in thought.

“We were kind of in a hurry,” Irene replied, and then after a moment: “Boko, huh?”

“Yup.”

“He’s a good boy.”

“Yeah. Yeah, he is.”

After they finished resting and continued on, Seulgi noticed that Irene liked to stay back near Boko and Joy, letting Yeri take the lead.

If Seulgi didn’t know any better, she might say-

“I think you like the bird,” Joy said down to the dark-haired girl, reading Seulgi’s thoughts.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Irene said neutrally. “It’s just a chocobo.”

“Kweh.”

Irene rested a hand on Boko’s back as they walked.

+++

 

“I think we’re going to have to stop again. I don’t think it’s too much farther to the sea, but I’m almost positive we won’t reach it before nightfall,” Seulgi stated, glancing up at the sun’s position in the sky. She didn’t have much to go on in the way of directions, except what she could remember of the local maps from her school days.

“How long is that boat supposed to wait for you guys?” she asked.

The three Returners exchanged looks.

“We didn’t really-”

“We were kind of in a rush-”

“There wasn’t time-”

Even as the all spoke over each other, Seulgi thought she could understand what they were trying to say.

“So, you don’t know? Like, if they’re even going to be waiting for you still?”

Irene looked ahead in the direction they were traveling. “We don’t know if they even made it out alive,” she said solemnly. “We’ve been running since Dom-” she paused.

“... You can say it,” Seulgi said quietly, letting the brim of her hat hide her face as she looked down.

“We just said to meet at the southern tip of the Veldt,” Joy broke in.

Seulgi was still blinking back tears as she nodded. “Okay. That’s a start I guess.”

Irene began walking ahead again and the others slowly followed. Yeri came up to Seulgi and elbowed her.

“Hey… I uh… I don’t know if you want to talk about it or anything, but I know what it’s like to lose someone you love.” She could feel Joy watching her as she spoke, but she knew if she met her gaze all of that pain might resurface, and right now she was trying to comfort Seulgi, not deal with her own loss.

Seulgi was doing her best to keep a brave face as well, as Yeri made her appeal.

“I guess I just wanted to say that I get it. We all get it, actually. It’s… not easy to do what’s right, you know?” Yeri exhaled. “I know we’ve only known each other for like, a day, but if you want to talk about it…?”

Seulgi finally managed a smile down at the shorter girl. “Thanks,” was all she could say. She looked up at the sky as she attempted to keep her emotions in check.

“It was jarring enough when he decided to enlist, you know?” Seulgi found herself saying. “I mean when you grow up in such a remote place, I guess everyone expects you to kind of… stay there.” She gave a light laugh. “Even the people who do leave… usually end up coming back…” And she grit her teeth and looked away, feeling a few stray tears race down her cheeks.

Yeri was surprised to hear her speak up again after that pause.

“But it’s like you said. He wanted to do what he thought was right. Figaro was too far away,” she said with a watery glance up to Joy who looked solemn. “But Doma was just over the mountains.”

He had been so proud of himself. Their parents had been so proud of him. Seulgi hadn’t quite realized it then, but after listening to Joy’s story about Castle Figaro, and seeing how quickly Irene had been able to kill those soldiers, every letter she had been able to receive from her brother was a gift. It hadn’t quite occurred to her that he could die. She thought the Empire was too far away. She had only thought about how inconvenient it would be to visit him, or have to wait for the army to give him leave to come home.

He had been proud of himself, but she hoped he had also been happy.

“If I ever see another Imperial soldier…”

And Joy and Yeri instinctively glanced ahead at Irene’s back, watching the ex-Imperial General bravely walk on ahead, even as she listened to Seulgi’s grief.

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ThisIsHaro
I messed up this chapter a bit structurally but more will come soon so I'm trying not to kick myself about it too much

Comments

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born10966 #1
Chapter 30: Oh gosh. Wendy entered the Esper world.
I think the elders had a hidden purpose. Thanks for the update Author Nim
railtracer08
357 streak #2
Chapter 30: Yay update! Happy new year! Everyone's (Eunji<3) together again too. Time to go rescue Wendy? 😶‍🌫️

(I finished FF12 lol. The battle system took a while to get used to but after setting up the right gambits it was fine.)
Oct_13_wen_03 35 streak #3
Chapter 30: Happy new year author nim 🤍, can't wait for more 🤍
KaiserKawaii #4
Chapter 30: Author! Happy New Year!
railtracer08
357 streak #5
Chapter 29: Finally caught up! And i gotta agree, it does feel like im watching the actual game lol (so much so that i finally got around around to starting ff12 cause i was in a ff mood 😂)
I wonder what's Moonbyul's story tho, and if it has something to do with our yet to be seen moo girls 👀 assuming they'll ever show up lol
P.s. Seulgi's too precious for this world
railtracer08
357 streak #6
Chapter 19: Joy + chainsaw is a combo i never knew i needed lmao 🤣
railtracer08
357 streak #7
Chapter 11: Girl, you got it baaaaad 😏
Oct_13_wen_03 35 streak #8
update please author nim
Eris78
#9
Chapter 29: Thank you for coming back!
eunxiaoxlove #10
Chapter 29: Aaaaahhh I missed this