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Strange
music woke her.
It took her a long while to process both where she was and what was
going on– she was warm and very comfortable, and moving of any kind
felt like the last thing she wanted to do. It wasn't until the arm
slung around her waist moved aside with a muffled groan accompanying
it that she remembered her late decision to slip into the bed. She
would have moved then, mostly out of shock and fear, but his other
arm was under her a bit, covered slightly by one of the pillows. She
could hear clattering as he felt around on the table next to the
window, and there a soft pop when the music stopped.
"'Lo?" he mumbled. Confused, she half-turned in order to crane her
chin backwards, hoping to catch a glimpse of what he was doing. He
was holding something up to the side of his face, the small
mechanical device he carried with him– ah, what Rufus had referred
to as his phone. Her confusion must have been obvious on her face,
because he smiled slightly down at her, looking groggy still.
"Yeah."
He wasn't speaking to her, and she didn't know who he was carrying
on a conversation with– the inner workings of the phone contraption
were something that she simply couldn't wrap her mind around so
early– and she turned her attention instead to the window. From the
absence of light streaming through the shades, she could only assume
that it was not even sunrise.
"I gotcha, we'll be there," Reno said, and then there was a click.
She waited for a moment as he put the phone back down on the table.
He shifted next to her, and then his hand was on her shoulder,
fingers warm and smooth. "Rude's got a lead up in the Northern
Crater. Gotta get to headquarters in a half hour."
"Northern Crater?" she repeated. He moved again, sitting up fully,
and threw off half the blankets. In the sudden loss of cover– and
body heat– she was chilled, and she wrapped her left arm around her
form to compensate.
"Fuckin' cold," he muttered, and she wasn't sure if it was in
response to her question or not. "Come on, we gotta get a move on."
He got up and began moving around the room, gathering what appeared
to be scattered articles of clothing. Rydia's brain was still
processing three speeds slower, and she rubbed at her eyes while
forcing her body to sit up. It was too early to be waking, and her
body was still screaming for rest, and Reno was moving too quickly
for someone who had just woken. He clearly was used to the strange
wake up calls, but she was not, and she yawned.
"Wait," she called, voice croaking, as he left the bedroom entirely.
She could hear scuffles in the bathroom, and he emerged back into
the darkened bed chamber with his toothbrush in his mouth. "Both of
us?"
He said something, but she couldn't tell what with the object
between his teeth, though it sounded like an affirmative.
"I– oh, fine," she huffed, ridding herself of the rest of the covers
entirely. Leaving the warmth of the bed was almost criminal. The
socks she'd been wearing were back at the couch, where she'd
initially fallen asleep, and she grabbed them and tried blearily to
put them on through sleep-laden eyelids. Reno had said something
about it being cold, and she was only wearing one of his shirts with
the leggings from Elena. "What will I wear?"
"We'll get coats at headquarters," he called from the bathroom. "You
ready?"
She shrugged, though he couldn't see it, and after slipping on her
shoes and waiting for him to join her near the door, followed him
out the portal into the stillness of the morning.
------
"I can barely move my arms!" she exclaimed.
"It's a coat," he said, and she didn't miss when he rolled his eyes.
"God, think of it like armor or something."
"I've never worn armor!" she huffed. "I can hardly move, and
I look like an Imp!"
The outer wear Rufus had given her was so thick she'd had to push
her hands forcibly through the sleeves just to get it on, and it was
so hot still standing within the building that she was already
sweating. She felt as if her torso was wrapped up in a cocoon of a
Stop spell, or at least a Slow spell that made the air feel like
marmalade as she moved through it. She was not sure how she was
expected to fight while wearing such a thing– she hoped, at least,
that her spells would not be impeded, but fighting with her whip
would be downright impossible.
"Could you stop complaining so much?" he asked, shrugging on his own
jacket.
"Yours is so much thinner!" she pointed out.
"Well, I have to be able to move more than you do," he said,
patiently, as if explaining to a child. "Will you just chill out?"
She was half-tempted to throw a Blizzard spell at him just to prove
her point, but they were awakened before dawn and summoned to follow
a lead, and she had a hunch that she'd need all the magical reserves
she could muster in herself. The fight with the Behemoth was still
fresh in her mind, and she shivered. She suspected there were going
to be more of those monsters where they were going, and she didn't
particularly want to think about it.
"How are we going to get there?" she asked, when he was zipping up
the front of his jacket.
"Airship," he replied, and then, before she could respond, "Not like
yours."
"Oh," she said, though it seemed unnecessary. Being in his world was
making her feel more and more like a young girl again, without any
idea where she was going or what she was doing, and she didn't like
it. He turned to her and she glared balefully at him as well as she
could from within the horribly hot confines of the coat. He smirked,
and she thought for a moment that he was going to kiss her again,
and then Rufus walked in the room with a clatter of footsteps.
"The ship is ready," he announced. When he looked at Rydia, his
expression bordered on incredulous, and then he turned to Reno.
"What did you do, find the thickest coat for her that you could?"
"Shut up," Reno mumbled, and stormed out of the room, leaving Rydia
feeling far less annoyed and far more touched.
------
He was right, at least, about the airship– it was just like the
motorcycle, and just like the cars, and didn't run on like the ones
she knew did. However, different they might be, it was still a link
between the worlds, and being on the deck felt just the same. Having
the wind in her face was a welcome experience, something she could
relate to, and she stood by the side with her fingers curled around
the rail, watching as the land below blurred past her vision.
She thought of Cid, briefly, for the second time– she had been
informed upon entering the airship that a famous airship pilot in
the new world was also named Cid– and she knew he would love to get
his hands on the mechanics working underneath her feet. Thinking of
him made her nostalgic, and she felt a sharp pang of loneliness and
grief as her memories replayed in her mind. She wondered if the
others would worry about her sudden disappearance and know where she
had gone.
She didn't hear him approach, but it wasn't surprising with the wind
screaming against her ears.
"That monster from earlier," she began, without turning around, "it
was from the Crater we are going to?"
"Clever," Reno remarked, leaning on the rail next to her.
"So it's dangerous there," Rydia said, and it was not a question.
"It's dangerous everywhere," he replied. "Besides, strength in
numbers."
There was a moment of quiet, and she thought that the Crater sounded
an awful lot like the Lunar Palace. The comparison was not exactly
helping her relax. Reno turned to face her.
"You cold?" he asked, and she couldn't help but smile.
"No," she said. "I'm very warm."
She caught his eye, and smirked. He laughed, the wind nearly
stealing the sound away, and slung his arm over her shoulders. It
felt good to lean into him, like something solid and stable, and she
didn't mind clinging to the sensation. If she had learned anything
from her comrades and her journey in the past, it was that bonds
between people were not something to fear, and sometimes, they can
make one stronger. It was something, at least.
Rosa would be proud.
Burying her face into the crook of his shoulder, she sighed.
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