Daggers and Flowers

Chapter 19- Hiking to Nibelheim

The closer they got to Nibelheim, the more uneasy Lyra felt. Her dreams were getting worse and worse and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make herself meet Kadaj in their dreamworld. The night before, Lyra had dreamt of the tall man with the silver hair again. He was tearing through books in a library, muttering about his mother and Cetra. The room was cold, and she could feel someone standing behind her, but she couldn't move, even when the man scolded her for not helping him search through the documents and books. A woman's voice slithered in and out of her ears, harsh and cold but Lyra couldn't understand what she was saying.

Drew had to dump water on her to wake her up. The boys were tense and restless and ready to break camp and hike through the North Corel Area. They had planned their route carefully to avoid North Corel and any roads that would lead to the Golden Saucer. As fun as Drew made it sound, the amusement park would only bring trouble.

"A day and a half until we get to Nibelheim," Kadaj reminded them when they had stopped to rest and eat lunch. "But only if we find a ride. A week or two if we walk around the mountain range...." He was mostly talking to himself now. "But there are too many monsters roaming the Planet and too many people looking for us..."

"How about some chocobos?" Drew suggested with a mouthful of sandwich. "There's gotta be some farms nearby. Or maybe some wild ones roaming about."

Kadaj glared at her and for a moment Lyra thought he was about to disagree with Drew just because she was Drew. But he surprised her by nodding and telling Drew to keep an eye out for any. Lyra poked down the bond and told him to be nice and he smiled at her.

"I'm always nice, Lyra."

Before Lyra could respond with her own sarcastic comment, Drew snorted. She took a long drink from her water and sat back on her hands.

"Dude, you are never nice," Drew began. "The only people I've seen you be nice to are your brothers and Lyra. Everyone else you roll your eyes at and threaten to throw them over the rail of a ship."

"I wouldn't have to threaten it if you weren't so annoying," Kadaj said. He stood and picked up his trash. He shoved it in his bag and held a hand out for Lyra when she put her stuff away in her own bag. She took it and stood. After letting go she reached for his jacket collar as quick as a snake and tugged him down to her eye level, so close their noses bumped briefly. She felt a burst of panic at his end of the bond and his face turned as red as a tomato.

"Be nice," Lyra said. She tried to sound some level of commanding. He didn't seem to hear her the other times she asked him not to be mean to Drew and it was starting to annoy her. Kadaj's cat-like eyes dilated a bit and flicked to her mouth before he nodded. She smiled sweetly and let go of his collar. Loz and Yazoo looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Drew wiggled her eyebrows at Lyra.

Lyra decided that maybe red wasn't such a scary color after all. She wondered what else she could do to make him blush like that. She thought of how red and panicked he became when she leaned on his arm at Drew's apartment and how his ears became so red that they matched his devil mask when she offered to kiss his cheek if he won the bean bag game. Maybe she would ask Drew for ideas later. It would be too awkward, she decided, to ask his brothers, and Drew wasn't easy to embarrass.

They continued their hike through the dry desert. It was nothing like the desert surrounding Midgar and Edge. That desert was empty and cold and almost barren. The desert on the Western Continent was dotted with cacti and spiky bushes and shrubs. Occasionally they would pass a dry riverbed or creek and would disturb the small lizards that lived under the rocks. There was wildlife everywhere it seemed, hiding underneath rocks and hollows of plants. Anywhere the hot sun couldn't reach. Lyra was glad for the bucket hat Drew had picked up in Junon. It was bright pink and decorated with sequins to say I love Junon in all uppercase letters, but it kept the hot sun off most of her face.