********* (I Love You)Aki XVIII:Tsuma- A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is Aki XVIII of my love story ************ (I Love You)[/i]. The story takes a new direction here, and the plot gets back on track again, so be prepared^_^

(Part I [Complete text])
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/journal2.html?user=385748&mid=1118071855825271130

(Chapter IX)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1117983046871021340

(Aki X)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118072613119019026

(Chapter XI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111815056226475773

(Aki XII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111824214766442360

(Chapter XIII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111832408433071084

(Interlude I)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1118411373479543110

(Aki XIV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=111870946755572527&num=2

(Chapter XV)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118753328163036732&num=0

(Aki XVI)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1118842859542566535&num=1

(Chapter XVII)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=111892945019286201

I don’t own anything related to FFXI, and be sure to R&R!

No dedications this time either...
***
After that first day, crafting slowly got easier for me in the few weeks that passed. I was eventually able to make all sorts of things from pricey shields to oriculcum necklaces, with the greatest of ease. My fingernails had started to glow because of all the gold dust that got into them, but I didn’t care.

Elayne and I started to slowly rebuild our friendship also.

She stopped persuing me, well for now at least. She always seemed confidant that I would come back to her heart one day, and that we would live happily ever after.

Some things aren’t just meant to be.
***
Aki XVIII: Tusma
***
"Dimitri, you are gonna be late for work if you don’t hurry up and eat!" Elayne’s voice came screeching into my ears from across our little pad.

Two months had passed.

Hurrying over to the table, I shoved a fistful of cockatrice strips into my mouth and washed it down with a couple hasty swigs of orange juice. The mixture slid down my throat in a thick mixture, before settling uneasily in my stomach.

And in those two months, Elayne had not gotten any better at cooking.

Inwardly, I sighed and grabbed my coat as I then ran out the door and down the street to the guild. Along the way, I faintly noticed that the destruction and devastation that had began when I first came to Bastok was pretty much cleaned up and gone. It was like that the war that the whole world was involved in had managed to miss this piece of the world, and everything was rather...normal.

I opened the smooth, curved door handle to the guild and was immediately assaulted by Momiji the second I entered.

"Dimitri! You are exactly three minutes late. Tardiness will not be tolerated here, as well you should know by now. One more such incident like this, and you will be fired. Do I make myself clear?" She barked out at me, her hands flapping at her waists like an angry hen.

"Yes Momiji..." I replied with a slight mumble in my voice.

Why does she treat me this way? Why does she hate me?...

Two weeks ago, I had found out that the swords she wanted me to craft on my first day were in actuality a VERY advanced form of goldsmithing, something most goldsmiths don’t even think about attempting until they have a decade or two of practice under their belts first.

She was trying to force me out of the guild that day, but failed.

I watched as she stormed off back to her office in the back corner of the building, and I shook my head a couple of times.

Whatever...

Entering my workstation, I grabbed the clipboard that detailed exactly what I was to be synthing that day off of the wooden peg in the wall, and scanned its contents quickly.

"Let’s see...one dozen silver hairpins...and two Poet’s Circlets....mmmk..." I muttered out to myself as I put on my golden shades. I set the clipboard back on its post, and then started to gather all the materials that I would need that day.

Taking into account my failure rates...I’ll need fourteen wind crystals, two fire crystal, fifteen silver ingots, two mythril ingots, and three copper ingots.

I walked over then to my personal supply bins, and started to load the materials onto a handy nearby cart. Once that was done, I rolled the whole mess over to my synthing table and unstacked it into very neat piles so that I could grab what I needed without ever opening my eyes.

I relaxed myself, closed my eyes, and then started to synth.

Whoosh.

I was half way through my synth when I heard an all too familiar sound.

BAM! BAM BAM BAM!!!

Click

It was then that the exterior wall exploded into my workspace. I threw up my hand trying to starve off the flying dust as I dropped my now-forgotten synth down to the ground as I immediately began to try to draw my sword out of pure reflex.

Keyword there...tried.

As the small squad of beastmen started to storm in through their impromptu door, I realized all too late that I had no weapon to stand up against Musketeer-class guns. So I turned around and did the only thing that I could.

I ran for my life.

As I started to run, I could see that the entire building was under assault because of the smoke being emitted from the guns of the beastmen that were beginning to pour in through newly made holes in the walls like crawlers through a ash-wood house.

Fighting my way through the haze, I finally bursted free of the guild, and out into the sweet fresh air, and into a whole crowd of people that I recognized as having worked at the guild. Instantly, my military training took over and I started to assess the people present. I knew that without working weapons it would be foolish to attack the beastmen, but I had to at the very least make sure everyone was present and accounted for.

My lips counted off the heads present, and very quickly I established everyone was here.

Save one.

Momiji!

I bunched my eyes up for a moment, and then dived back into the building. Being very careful to avoid the wondering beastmen, I worked my way to Momiji’s office. As I stood outside the door trying to best figure out how to get in without bringing down the wrath of the whole beastmen group here upon me, I started to hear voices from inside.

"I said...where is he? You are not the one we want. Where is your husband? Tell us now, or I will be forced to destroy your pitiful guild hume." I recognized the voice instantly as that of a beastmen.

"I...I...I don’t know!!!" Momiji’s voice came through the door loud and clear in a very frightened tone of voice.

"Oh really...perhaps this should change your mind?" The beastman replied, his harsh voice clear even through the wooden door.

Snap.

Momiji screamed at that, and I realized to my horror that the beastman had just snapped someone’s neck, killing him or her instantly.

"I DON’T KNOW! PLEASE BELIEVE ME!!!...please..." Momiji cried out.

It was then that the room went quiet for a moment.

"All right...I believe you. But we will find your husband, and we will get what we want out of him. I promise you that hume," the beastmen sneered at her. I then heard a couple of shuffling sounds, and then I realized that warp spells were being cast in the room to take the beastmen away.

Five minutes later, I dared to enter the room.

"Momiji?..." I called out softly.

I saw her behind her desk sobbing her eyes out...

...and then I saw Elayne’s body sprawled out next to it.

Dead.

Her limbs were spread out at unnatural angles, a look of pure horror frozen for all eternity on her face, backed up by her wavy hair.

This had got to be a dream.

"Momiji...what happened??! And who in Mordion Goal is your husband and what does he know that would make the beastmen dare to make such a raid upon this place?!" I shouted out at her, my mind numbing over Elayne’s death.

Momiji looked up at me, and smiled in such a way that chilled me to my bones.

"My husband?...You should know him. After all...it was you who placed him on death row in the Grand Duchy." She paused for a moment, then got up and walked unsteadily over to me.

She then cocked her hand back and hit me as hard as she could.

-fin Aki XVIII: Tsuma

; ; omg what a cliff hanger. Elayne (Raise)3 (Please)