Must Go On

By Jerik F. Jacinto

Some things you need to know before you start to read my fics:
I started doing thing these fics months before I finished the game, I made mistakes, so here it is.

"SPOILERS"

1. Freya and Fratley really got together in the ending. Here in the fic, they didn't, so she's going to search for him.
2. Puck and I guess the king of Burmecia survived the Destruction of Cleyra. Here they didn't. You'll find out when you reach chapter 7.
3. And I think Burmecia was already renovated in the ending, here… well just read it.

Freya Crescent

Zidane Tribal

Tarsh Burrow (new guy)

Garnet til Alexandros/ Dagger

Fratley

Vivi

All troubles are gone. All the evils polluting the Gaia had long vanished. All is well, but sorrow remains. "I suppose this is the perfect time for finding my him, again… Frately… this time I’ll kill just to find you," Freya said to her self quietly. She was lying in bed inside the inn in Lindblum alone. Thinking that how she would begin her search. The sound of rain outside reminded her of her hometown Burmecia, each drop one quick flash of memory… of how she lived… of her family… of friends… and of Frately. That very moment, a tear she shed, feeling it crawling down to her cheek. "Why do I cry? Is this what it feels to shed a tear?" Her voice was trembling, her lungs tightened up. "Nothing will happen if I just keep doing this, I CAN’T TAKE IT!" Freya shouted.

The innkeeper heard a shatter of glass. He peeked inside the room and saw that the window was severely broken.

She was running as fast as she could under the dark sky. "Vivi, I admit that you’re lucky because you’ve found the very answer to your question, Zidane, Dagger, all of you, found what you’ve been searching for… but why me, why only me, is it suppose to be this way?" She finally reached the plains outside Lindblum. "I have no idea where to begin, but I know that I’ll find you if I do!"

She reached Gizamaluke’s grotto but instead of going inside, she quickly passed it in one single high jump because of her rage and determination. She reached a forest near the ruins of Cleyra. She had to stop for a short nap because even though she mustn’t stop, she must rest or she’ll die of exhaustion.

"I’ll continue tomorrow." Freya started closing her eyes, lying beside a tree. She came in to a deep sleep. A swarm of images of Fratley started appearing in front of her. It was hours of flashbacks and memories, and then she saw Fratley standing in front of her. He stretched out his arm to help Freya stand up. She Held his arm tight and stood up and embraced him as hard as she could. She was wondering why it feels so real, and then she woke up from her dream. Yes she was embracing not Fratley but someone else. "Whoa! Hey take it easy there!" the unknown man exclaimed. "HUH!" Freya shouted.

"Who are you? I thought you were…" She said with surprise.

"My name is Tarsh Burrow," he said. "I saw you lying there and I thought you were uh… dead, so I tried to poke your hand."

"What is your business here," asked Freya.

"I am just a wanderer, in search of nothing but happiness," he said.

Freya paused for a moment, "In search of happiness you say? Same mission I see," she said to her mind. "OK! If you’re going to help me out, I’ll help you out as well," Freya said to Tarsh.

"What do you mean?" asked Tarsh.

"Look I’m in search of happiness as well you know, and I just want a helping hand to get it, I’ll help out also, don’t worry," she explained.

"Is this a deal?" Tarsh asked. "Well for being a nice guy, sure let’s help each other out," he said to her.

They started walking out the forest. "Where are you from anyway? You know you’re not the type of person that looks familiar," asked Tarsh, with a curious smile. "I’m from the kingdom of Burmecia, though its still under renovation and there’s only a few of our kind left, me, Fratley and some soldiers and small families," she told.

"Who’s Fratley," asked Tarsh.

"He’s the happiness that I’m looking for, my lover," Freya said. Flashbacks started to appear. She saw the when Fratley has forgotten all. She started to walk faster and sharp. Tarsh did as well.

"I see, he kind of dumped you right?" He asked as if he knew.

"…Good guess…." She said to him coldly.

"…Oh…" he told himself.

"What about you? What answer do you search for?" She asked. "It’s… I just have no idea why I was alive," said Tarsh with no sign of depression. "I didn’t have any memory of my childhood, the very first thing I knew that I consciously knew what’s going on was when mist started to cover the sky. I asked myself, but it felt like I knew everything regarding the situation when I felt myself…. No, actually, it felt like I was just born. Until now, that question keeps bothering me… Why am I living as a person? …." He then silenced for a few seconds.

"Much like Vivi’s conflict I see" she told herself. Freya started running, Tarsh followed as well.

"You see, my conflict is not like yours, its not physical, it’s just a simple question waiting to be answered" Tarsh explained.

"By the way, I think I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Freya Crescent, dragon knight of Burmecia… Let’s not waste time, I know you want to find it as soon as possible as much as I do" She told him confidently. "Wait, I just want to make a small visit to Burmecia and see the progress." She said.

They were walking towards the gate, surprised that there were already 2 soldiers at the entrance. "So this is Burmecia, your home, hm the rain hasn’t stop yet," he told her.

"The rain here’s constant." She told him.

"OH! Welcome back my lady," the soldier formally said to her.

"Good morning there, I’m just visiting for a short while," Freya said cheerfully.

"Don’t worry too much now, Burmecia is at peace," the other soldier said.

"I know… I didn’t believe that it’s already finished," she said with surprised.

"Well, it could’ve not been done fast without that guy." The other soldier said.

"What guy?" Freya asked with curiosity.

"Well, we didn’t know who he was because we haven’t seen him before, he haven’t told us his name, he’s also one of our kind though, but he doesn’t live here." The soldier explained.

"!" Freya was surprised. "Please describe this person, at least tell my what he looks like." Freya begged.

"Sure, he has straight blonde hair long hair, down to the shoulders, skinny, charming look, wears a black sleeveless tight shirt and had bandages all over his both arms, actually, he kinda looked like sir Fratley, and I think he was, but he didn’t sounded like him because he had a countryish like accent, so I knew it wasn’t him. He just went away yesterday and told us if we wanted to contact him, go to his cottage near a village of black mages, he said," the soldier told her. Freya was shocked, thinking that it must be Fratley.

"Hey, what if the guy he was talking about was really that Fratley guy himself?" Tarsh asked her.

"Forget the visit, we gotta go!" Freya told Tarsh. They both ran away from Burmecia with haste, they got away far.

"HEY, I THOUGHT YOU WERE VISITING!?" the soldier shouted.

"I WILL, SOON!" She promised them.

The 2 went back to Lindblum fast to ask the regent to borrow an airship. They reached the entrance to the Business District. The soldiers didn’t mind them because they knew who she was and they knew the guy with her was her friend. They got into the air cab and sat to wait patiently.

While the transport was going to the Castle, Freya was asking herself, "I didn’t understand why I suddenly lost my anger when I woke up in the forest, is it because I embraced Fratley or is it because Tarsh was here to help me, I don’t know but I feel relaxed now." Warm tears of relief started to crawl down from her eyes.

"What’s wrong?" he asked her.

"It’s nothing, really" she told him.

"You know if you feel like crying, just let it all out because you’ll just strain yourself from the truth." he told her.

"You know you’re just like Zidane, an old close friend of mine, now with her highness, Queen Garnet til Alexandros the 17th" she said to him. She agreed to what he said and tears started to fall faster and felt more relaxed, she rushed to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you, that advice was… very helpful and I feel more relaxed now." She said with a trembling voice.

"Uh..hey don’t get so emotional on me!" said Tarsh.

"Oh! I’m sorry" she said regretfully, with embarrassment her face turning red.

"It’s okay, I understand what you feel…"

Freya rushed back to her seat with her last tear. "I guess it was tragic isn’t it, you would haven’t acting like this if it wasn’t." He told her. "By the way, you said your old friend lives with the Queen of Alexandria? He must be having a good time." Tarsh said.

"I know, but I’m not, I envy them because they found their answers. If only Sir Fratley was sitting beside me right now, then I wont be under this condition." She said to herself. They both silenced.

The air cab reached its destination. With surprise, she saw the regent outside his castle talking to somebody.

They both were trying to here what they were talking about, "I expect this unit to be done by next week, and I’ll handle the major core parts, all of you continue build the external structure." They both heard Cid say.

"Your highness!" Freya called the regent. The 2 walked closer towards him.

"My, well if it is Freya Crescent, How are you doing my lady, how’s Burmecia now?" The regent greeted her formally.

"Everything’s back to normal I guess, Burmecia’s already renovated" Freya told Cid.

"Already? Hm… I know with that kind of condition, it should be finished next 3 months or more, but what the hell, what are you here for?" Cid asked.

"Your highness, I came here to borrow an airship from you," Freya told Cid.

"These airships, I value all of them, but I guess I’ll lend you one, I know your situation is serious right? You wouldn’t be here asking me otherwise." Cid said to Freya.

"Thank you very much! Thank you, I will return the favor sometime" Freya told Cid gladly.

"Who’s this guy with you?" Cid asked.

"Ahem… my name is Tarsh Burrow, age 19, yes I’m with her, to accompany her with her journey." Tarsh formally told Cid.

"Hm, I thought so…" Cid said. "By the way, the airship I’ll lend you will arrive tomorrow because someone’s still using it, in the mean time, why don’t you spend your time here for a while, like visit those Tantalus guys. Come back here tomorrow." Cid inquired.

"Well, I haven’t been visiting those guys for a long time though, so I guess It’ll be okay, but why tomorrow, what a waste of time, but what choice do I have but to wait." Freya thought. "Hey, follow me, we’re going to visit some old friends." Freya told Tarsh.

"Where?" Tarsh asked.

"It’s just near here, in the theater district, we don’t need to use the air cab, so follow me." Freya started jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Easy for her to say, I’ll use the air cab instead of breaking a limb." He entered the air cab to the theater district.

Freya quickly arrived to the Tantalus hideout. She saw Blank and Marcus standing at the entrance talking to each other. "Hey guys!" Freya greeted them both.

"Hey it’s that rat chick, Freya" Blank said to Marcus and to the others inside. Cinna as always holding his favorite hammer, and Ruby went outside to look.

"Hey Freya!" Tantalus greeted her with a smile. Freya approached them; "I’m just here to visit," she told them.

"By the way where’s Tarsh, he should be here by now, hm, I guess he used the air cab instead." She thought.

"So Ruby, how’s your theater in Alexandria going?" Freya asked.

"It was a blast! The whole theater gets filled with peeps everyday because I keep showing "I wanna be your Canary", that one really doesn’t die. I’m just here to relax." Ruby told Freya.

Tarsh finally arrived at the theater district, confused, he didn’t know where to go because it was big.

"Now where is she, maybe down stairs?" Tarsh asked himself. He went down and saw some weird looking guys; he approached them to ask if they saw where she went. "Um… excuse me have you guys seen a person wearing a large red coat and a dragon knight hat with a long brown tail pass by?" Tarsh asked them.

"Oh you know Freya? You her friend? Well she’s just inside this building." Marcus said. "Uh thank you, by the way, you’re the Tantalus guys the regent was talking about right?" Tarsh asked Cinna and Marcus. Cinna told Tarsh," Yep that’s us, why? Have some business to talk about?"

"No! Uh, I was just askin’" Tarsh told them. He got inside and saw Freya drinking with Ruby and Zenero and the other 2. "Oh there she is." Tarsh said. He sat at the table where they were sitting.

"I think they’re already drunk, Freya won’t even mind me," Tarsh thought. Ruby and Freya were talking loud. "Hey Frey, you won’t believe me but I just saw Zidane at the bar in the business district just lately when I was walking to the station, well I think he should be staying with the queen rather than drinking in the bar," Ruby said.

"Speaking of monkey-tail, he’s here!" Freya said surprisingly. "Hey your right! HEY ZIDANE! What brings you here?" Shouted Blank and Marcus at the same time.

"Hey Freya, is that Mr. Lucky guy?" Tarsh asked.

"Yes, hm… he looks red, he’s severely drunk," Freya said.

Zidane walked clumsily towards them, with the same thief clothes and holding a bottle of beer.

"Hey Freya, what brings..hic.. You here? And who’s the new guy, is he a new member?" Zidane asked with a rough and wavy voice.

"Uh… no I’m just here to help Freya," Tarsh said.

"Whatever you say..hic.." Zidane told him.

"Zidane, you do know I am again looking for him, that’s why he’s with me." Freya explained.

"Okay, well, for being an old friend and all, I’ll help you," Zidane told her.

"I appreciate the help, but shouldn’t you be staying with Dagger?" Freya asked.

"Don’t worry about her, I did tell her I’ll be doing some exploring and world travel, this and that, so she knows, don’t worry." Zidane explained.

"Are you okay? You’ve always told us that you can’t start a day without Dagger’s face, or maybe you are just saying these things cuz you’re drunk." Cinna asked Zidane furiously.

"No, I’m absolutely serious, I just want to get away from castle life and be a Tantalus member again for a while, I told her if she wants to see me, use the airship the Cid gave us as a gift to find me. She wasn’t worried, she even agreed with me." Zidane told Cinna.

"Thanks Zidane, you really haven’t changed." Said Freya.

"Hey, you don’t need a reason to help people," Zidane told her.

"Tarsh, why don’t you drink with us?" Freya asked him.

"Sure, just a little, it would be stupid for me to waste my life just for this you know." Tarsh said. They used all their time chatting, drinking and talking about useless stuff. It was night and they all took a long rest from it.