Chapter Text
--
M.E 779
Summer finally came and Serah could breathe a little bit better. The term had been very stressful, for she was promoted to teach the sixth grade. And Etro, the pressure to get the students succeeded their SATs came from every direction, whether it was the school itself or the students’ parents. She received at least five calls a day from parents who wanted to know how their kids were doing and what things they should do to improve their children’s academic performance.
It was so stressful for everyone who got involved.
Not to mention there had been critical points made by both teacher and children education experts.
“Lucis education system sucks!” Serah said firmly.
Fang and Vanille looked at her and listened attentively.
“It’s too stressful for the children, and the government made the system so there is a huge competition among the students” she continued,
“Of course I understand if it’s like- twelve years ago. The war was just ended and Lucis needed to build the kingdom back as quickly as possible. Children were educated for the sake of the country’s interest and not for the children themselves”.
“I get it! I truly get it!”,
“But now we already have enough engineers to build power plants, highways, military weapons, and even rockets! What do they exactly want?!” Serah yelled.
“More engineers, perhaps?” Vanille tried to answer.
Serah huffed and continued to rant, “There are too many subjects they had to learn. The government expect the children to master everything from science-tech subjects to accounting. No one can do that!”,
“Average Lucian students spend fifteen hours studying each day! FIFTEEN HOURS! Whenever they aren’t sleeping or eating, they are expected to study, burry their face on the books!”,
“A children psychologist predicted that by ten years, the depression case of students would sky rocketed by forty percent. And you know what depression often lead to, right?” Serah asked Fang and Vanille.
“Being emo” Fang replied,
Vanille huffed and punched Fang lightly, “Suicide” she answered.
“EXACTLY!” Serah exclaimed and then threw herself on the couch, “They slowly kill the children” she muttered,
“I hate the government for that” she said.
Fang turned her head to the right and grabbed the orange juice on the table, “You know Serah, I truly have a sympathy for you and your students, and maybe even every kid in Lucis” she sipped her juice,
“But, rather than ranting to us whose job has nothing to do with education, shouldn’t you say all those things to your sister?” she asked.
“Or perhaps, your brother in law” Vanille said.
Serah sighed heavily, “You have no idea how many times I tempted to do that. But I can’t just-”.
“You can’t what?” Fang pressed the question, “Don’t say you are chicken out” she said.
“That’s not true” Serah replied, “I am not afraid to criticize the government”.
“Oh, I am sure you are not” Fang said, “But you ARE afraid of telling that the government sucks to your brother in law”.
“What makes you afraid of telling him?” Vanille asked.
“Oh, I don’t know Vanille” Serah replied, “Maybe, just maybe. The fact that he is a king and I am a powerless peasant!” she exclaimed.
“You are not a peasant” Vanille replied, “And you are definitely not powerless. You are The Lady Serah, sister to the queen of Lucis. You could do anything you want”.
“Except changing the education system of this kingdom” Serah said, “Apparently, I can’t do that”.
“Well, the minister of education could do that” Fang said, “What you can do is asking a time to sit with him and then rant whatever bugging your mind”,
“And make sure you are accompanied by Lightning. I bet the man will approve everything you say within seconds”.
“I can’t use Light like that!” Serah said.
“Even for the sake of your students?” Fang asked.
“And the future of every child in Lucis” Vanille added.
KRIIIINGG! KRIIIIING!
Their conversation was cut by the ring of telephone.
“I’ll get that” Vanille said and got up from her seat, disappeared to the kitchen.
“But honestly Serah, is it that hard for the children?” Fang asked.
“It is, Fang” Serah replied, “It truly is. I think that the curriculum was made for the sake the country’s industrial development, not for educating the children. Do you understand what I mean?” she asked.
“If I am the one in charge of this country, I honestly would do the same” Fang said, “De Jure, we are no longer in war. De facto, we are racing against Nifleheim in- everything”.
“But we literally HAVE REACHED THE FREAKING MOON, Fang!”,
“What do they expect to achieve after the whole thing?!” Serah exclaimed.
“You do know that Nifleheim was just discovered a bazillion ton of oil, right?” Fang got further into the discussion,
“And some of their engineering is still superior compare to us”.
The pink-haired woman rolled her eyes, “Ugh, you start to sound like those politicians”,
“Can we quit being so competitive with the empire and actually give our energy to the thing that’s matter?” she said,
“Look at Tenebrae! I swear to Etro, their education system is perfect. The students do not get homework, they get to choose what subject they are interested in learning, do not have any test until they reach fifth grade, and yet they are fine! They are on the way to be the leading country in arts!”,
“And their people are happy, Fang! Have you read the article that said Tenebrae have the highest happiness index in Eos?” Serah asked, “Lucis could never!”.
Fang looked at Serah and sighed, “If everyone focuses on arts, and fashion, and all those pretty things, who is going to build airplane or car or train or the freaking rockets?”.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to teach our children in order to meet the corporates needs” Serah argued.
Fang was about to replied her but then Vanille’s voice stopped both of them.
“You guys have to stop the discussion right there” she said in tunes while walking back to where she sat before.
“Who was on the telephone?” Serah asked.
“Your sister” Vanille replied.
“Is something wrong? Did something happen to her?”.
“No, nothing is wrong, Serah” she replied, “On the contrary, I got an amazing news from her”.
“What is it?” Fang asked.
“As a celebration of Eos day, all of us have been invited to a two-days one-night camping trip!” Vanille announced cheerfully, “Oh, I mean royal camping trip”.
“Wicked!” Fang exclaimed in an instant, “I will finally be able to eat Ignis’s food again!”.
“Aaaaand, Serah will be able to tell Noctis about her concern” Vanille said, “Isn’t it , Serah?”.
Serah felt unsure to even answer the question.
“That as well” Fang replied while leaning back on the couch,
“This is going to be great” she said.
--
“THIS SUCKS!” Aeris yelled.
Azrael chuckled and shook his head. Aeris had been so grumpy about the whole thing since the trip started. The older boy thought that everything about this camping trip, in fact wasn’t a REAL camping trip. According to him, at least.
And honestly, Azrael wouldn’t blame him. When his father announced that they would go on a camping trip, he imagined an adventurous journey in the wild forest and up the mountain. But no, he got it all wrong. Instead, they went to Duscae and set the camp beside a huge lake, with big tents for everyone.
And he truly meant, everyone.
That was a lot of people. Too much crowd for a slight sense of adventure or tranquility.
From the moment they arrived to the location, Aeris dragged him and Hydra from the party. But before they could go far, his mother stopped them and said that they should stay where the adults could see them.
So, here they were, sitting on a small lawn at the other side of the lake, watching everyone doing their things. Most of the adults were busy preparing the cooking stuffs. Josh, Aura, Aunt Iris and Aunt Vanille were playing board game on a picnic table. His sister and Aqua had changed into their swimming suit, having a blast playing in the water with Aunt Serah while Uncle Snow was taking their picture.
Those pictures would turn out horribly.
And of course, his father was fishing, accompanied by Granpa Sazh and Granpa Cor.
“Oh my God, look at that!” Aeris exclaimed, pointing at the adults, “Uncle Ignis is getting ready to cook!”,
“This is definitely not REAL camping!”.
Azrael sighed, “Aunt Fang said that something like this is called a glambing”.
Aeris turned his head to him, “You mean gambling”.
“No, glambing” he said, “Glamorous camping”,
“Gambling is when adults bet their money” Azrael said.
“What kind of camping has fancy foods as lunch? We should hunt rabbits or squirrels first and eat them with bread as dinner, roast in an open fire” Aeris complained again.
Aeris had camped so many times with his parents and great-grandpa, not to mention that he was in boy scout. This wasn’t the camp he had in mind. No tracking, no hiking, no team work games, no survival games, NOTHING slightly adventurous to do.
Well, maybe this was what he got when El’s family was involved. His Mom said that she hoped he could make El felt happy and experienced fun when he was around him. She also said that El was living inside a bubble where he didn’t actually know what it felt like to live like a normal kid.
And boy, she said the truth.
There were so many times when Aeris asked inside his head, ‘he didn’t know about it?’.
Azrael didn’t know how to make a kite from scratch, he never played football in a parking lot, or hopscotch in an alley between the buildings, putting cheat code on a mobile MMO, saving pocket money to buy a skin on League of Knight, or begged his parents to buy him a new game console.
Six, the struggles of his generation were real, and El never experienced it.
God blessed his soul.
TAK!
TAK!
TAK!
Aeris and Azrael turned their head, and saw Hydra was practicing on a tree again.
“Hydra, why don’t you sit with us?” Azrael asked, “You’ve been swinging your sword for half an hour now” he said.
The little Amictia stopped and looked at the older boys, “Father said that to be great swordsman, I have to practice diligently”,
“One day, I will be the greatest King Shield for you, El. Don’t worry!” he exclaimed while rising his wooden sword,
“And just like father, I will protect everyone in Lucis!”
Azrael smiled awkwardly, “Thank you, Hydra” he said.
Hydra smiled and turned his head from him, facing the other direction and started to swing his sword again. Azrael and Aeris’s eyes met each other for a split second and turned their head toward another direction.
It was around a month ago when Azrael had a sleepover in Aeris’s house. They played treasure haunt around the house against Uncle Prompto. He was the villain and hide things around the house. Their mission was to find them without alarming him who was watching football in the living room. When they got into the second floor, they accidentally heard Aunt Cindy talked to Aunt Aranea on a video call.
They said that Hydra’s parents were fighting again, and might get a divorce.
He and Aeris didn’t know what it would do for the adults, but it sure would make Hydra sad. They knew because whenever Hydra told them about the time he spent with both of his parents, he looked so happy. His parents were rarely home for a long time, and he spent the majority of his days with his nanny or Granpa Cor.
Aeris cleared his voice, “Well, back to how suck this camping is” he said to change the topic, “It’s such a waste that we don’t even do some tracking. We are in Duscae for Six’s sake!”.
“The forest is thick, I bet there are many wild animals there” Azrael replied.
“I heard there are behemoths living there” Aeris said, “Their body size is three times of my house!”.
“No, they are not. That’s impossible” Azrael said, “The largest living animal on land is catoblepas which in fact, its body about twice the size of your house. Behemoth would be much smaller than that”.
“Oh really?” Aeris argued, “Have you ever see a real behemoth then?”.
“No, but I watched Animal Planet” the younger boy replied.
“Catoblepas is only winning in terms of size. Other than that, pffft behemoth is waaaay stronger”.
“Catoblepas’s breath could freeze anything. If a behemoth walks remotely close, it would be frozen in a second, and then die on spot”.
“That means the behemoth is just a weak one. A strong behemoth would definitely win!”.
“How do you even know that?” he asked.
Aeris looked at him, “Just like in video games, duh” he said, “Initial strength isn’t enough. You have to get some skills and tactics”,
“Just like in Final Fantasy Six, at first Sabin looks stronger than Edgar. But Edgar has skills and tools- especially chainsaw! Those make him stronger than Sabin”.
Azrael scoffed, “Sabin is waaaaaay stronger than Edgar. He has blizzard skills, and it’s not like he was born with it. He has potential then sharpen it through the monk training”.
“Edgar is more all-rounder. He is good in anything and without a doubt, is the best party member” Aeris replied.
“That’s because you always included him in every story arc” Azrael argued back, “Even Moogle would be stronger than Locke if you keep using him”.
“Okay, you stop right there!” Aeris didn’t agree with him, “That’s very reach!”.
The two boys kept the argument about the video game while the young Amicitia kept practicing his sword skill. He had accustomed with his best friends’ behavior. They tended to talk about one thing and the next second, they will argue about something completely unrelated of the original topic. That’s just how they were.
It wouldn’t be long until they shouted,
“HYDRA!” both of them exclaimed.
The youngest boy among the three stopped and turned his head to them. He knew what they want to ask, without they said it.
“Neither” he said, “I think Shadow is the best one”,
“And he is the coolest and he has a puppy”.
The older boys looked at him with silence before replied,
“What are you even talking about?!”.
“He can’t even use magic!”.
“He has no character development!”.
“Did we even play the same game?!”.
The two of them said their arguments at the same time against Hydra’s opinion.
--
Gladio knew shit was about to go down when he saw the three pests rose from their place across the lake and started to disappear behind the bushes.
He just knew it. He always did.
Looking to his right and left, everyone was preoccupied with their own things. Noctis and Lightning were standing far away from the rest, talking to an officer who just came five minutes ago. It seemed very important that both of them had to discuss it together. The other women were too preoccupied with their activities as well, didn’t aware of the little situation about the boys.
“Huuuk! Huuuk!” Odin barked at him.
Well, at least the furry friend noticed.
“You notice it as well, aren’t you?” he asked the dog beside him.
Gladio looked at the thick forest across the lake and sighed, knowing exactly where and probably why the boys wanted to enter it. Those little shits would die before they could even saw a behemoth’s foot trace. He could go alone with Odin, but that wouldn’t be fun.
“Oi, Dajh! Hope!” he called them, who were focusing themselves into playing chess, “Do you mind coming with me?” he asked.
“Whatever for?” Hope asked him back.
“Preventing apocalypse” Gladio replied shortly.
Meanwhile, the three little boys continued their walk, deeper into the forest. After the video game debate ended, the three of them back to their initial argument and decided to seek for a behemoth in the forest, to prove their point for the video game argument. Aeris said that behemoth was definitely smaller in size, but it was the strongest among the others. Azrael challenged him to prove his point. Hydra then suggested that they should just watch a behemoth and cetoblepass together to prover their arguments.
And of course, the two other boys said yes.
They’ve walked for fifteen minutes, with the youngest on the front as he was insisted himself. He said that as a future shield, he had to protect Azrael from harm. The prince sighed heavily upon hearing it and almost rolled his eyes in front of Hydra. But in the end, he just went along with it. From the back, Aeris was confidently navigating their small group. He said he knew exactly where the behemoth was. His disappointment toward the lack of real camping experience from this trip was shown on how excited he was. It was all the adults’ fault for ruining his expectation.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” Azrael asked Aeris.
“I am completely sure. I’ve come here with Uncle Talcot” he replied.
“And when was that?” Hydra asked.
Aeris hummed, “About two years ago”,
“We’ll get through a grass field and then there would be a small path leading to the behemoth’s nest”.
“And they will not attack us, will they?”.
“Uuuugh, we’ll just watch them from on top of a cliff. The nest is below the cliff” Aeris said.
Azrael was unsure, but after five minutes of walking, they could see a vast green lawn in front of them. The three of them stood silently, looking at the tranquil scenery. At that time, the wind was strong and the three of them were slowly enchanted by how peaceful and beautiful the meadow was. There was a small stream in the middle of it and the boys somehow slowly forgot the reason of why they came here in the first place. Even Aeris, who actually forgot about the green field in his last trip here.
The three boys looked at each other and smiled widely.
“Last person to get to the river is a loser!” Hydra yelled, and they began to run cheerfully toward the stream.
They quickly took off their shoes and got into the water. Unlike the boring lake on the campsite, the stream was exciting.
“Hah! Take this!” Hydra yelled and punched the water surface to Aeris and Azrael’s direction.
“Pay off!” Aeris said and got the water at his friends.
Their laughter was echoing through the air, body was completely drenched from head to toe. The stream had a perfect height for the boys and played and swam back and forth, against the stream’s direction. Forgetting about everything around them, they enjoyed their time.
Dug Dug Dug Dug
They heard the sound was coming to their way.
“What is that?” Azrael hummed.
Aeris took the action and got out of the water. He picked a look behind the big stones beside the river that blocked their view.
Oh no…
--
“HAHAHAHAHAHA” Dajh laughed at loud, crunched and held his stomach tightly.
Gladio rolled his eyes, looking at the pitiful sight of the little boys. He overestimated them, thinking that at least, they would make it into the behemoth’s nest. Yet, here they were.
“Uncleeeeeeeeeeeee!” Hydra called him from afar, “Heeeeeeelp uuuuuuuus!” he yelled.
“How the hell did they end up like that?” Hope asked for himself.
The three boys were standing up on top of a big, tall stone. They were drenched from head to toe, clinging to each other like lost puppies that were abandoned by the mother. Below the stones, were garulas. A dozen of garulas, big and small, some of them are cubs. The small ones were busy munching the grass, but the big ones were surrounding the stones, looking up to the boys as if they were enemy who had to be eliminated.
Did they not tell the kids that Duscae’s savanna was the biggest garula’s habitat?
“I can’t let this moment passed” Dajh said while getting his phone out of his pocket.
“Huuuk! Huuuuk!” Odin barked and without further a do ran toward where the boys were.
“Wait!” Gladio yelled, but Odin didn’t listen to him,
“Damn that dog!” he muttered while starting to run as well.
Dajh and Hope then followed him as well, “Dajh, you take care the cubs. Get them away as far as possible” Hope said while running.
“What?!” The teen exclaimed, “But the moms will follow as well!” he said.
“Exactly” Hope replied, “It will buy us time to get the boys out of the field”.
“I’ll take care the daddies” Gladio said.
“Just make sure you aren’t killing them” Hope said, “They are needed by the ecosystem”.
Gladio and Dajh rolled their eyes, but didn’t reject the idea. Then, Dajh took different direction and run to the left side. He stopped and whistled, catching the cubs’ attention. About half dozen of the cubs were looking at him and began to run at his direction.
“Ah… Shit!” He muttered after some of the moms began to run at his direction as well.
While Dajh sprinted across the field, Gladio provoked the male ones and they began to come to him at the same time. Odin was already on top of the stone with the boys and snarled down to the garulas that were still try to reach the boys below. It was apparent that the dog was frustrated by the lack of things it could do for the three of them. He would protect them as best as his current form allow him to.
Hope tried to get near the stones as well. He wanted to guide the boys to a safe area, but first he had to get a garula near the stone path got away from it. Truly, he didn’t want to endangered any of these animals. This place is their home and the boys were probably seen as threats to their family.
The young man jumped and punched the beast’s side belly. The garula screamed and turned its head to him, nose fuming, and eyes burnt with annoyance. It marched toward him and he ran toward’s Gladio’s spot. When the garula was close enough, he turned around and jumped. As he predicted, it kept marching forward, toward Gladio who was busy enough with a half dozen of them.
“I leave them to you” Hope said.
“No problem! Get the boys out of here!” Gladio yelled.
Hope approached the stones again, “Come on, we don’t have much time!” He said to the boys.
The three of them nodded and one by one, they went down by taking a slippery narrow small stone path on the back of the big stone on which they stood.
“Alright, run as fast you can to the woods, okay. Don’t look back” Hope said.
“Huuuk! Huuuk!” Odin barked.
“See? Odin will be there for you. But whatever happened, don’t look back. Promise?” he asked.
“Promised!” The three little boys replied in unison.
“Three, two, one, go!” he yelled.
The boys started to run to the wood’s direction, with Odin led on the front. One of the male garula sensed the boys’ movement and got away from Gladio to their direction. The dog then jumped and latched its claws on the garula’s face. The big mammal then roared in pain and moved its head to left and right to get Odin off its face. It was succeeded, and the dog was thrown twenty feet away. After that, the garula started to march toward it.
“Odin!” Azrael yelled.
“No, El! Keep going!” Hope yelled back at him.
The little boy bit his lips and kept running toward the woods.
Hope turned to the right and halted his movement, “DAAAAAAJH! IT’S CLEAR! RUN TOWARD THE WOODS, NOW!” he yelled to the teen who was busy getting chased by a dozen and half of garulas.
“GLADLY!” he yelled back.
Hope and the boys finally entered the wood and they kept running toward the higher ground. Garula was the kind of animal that had the instinct to stay away from a thick forest, as it would be a disadvantage of them. After they reached the top of the hill, they stopped and the boys collapsed on the ground.
Their breath ragged, their sweat mixed with the water that drenched their body.
Hope regulated his own breath as well, looking at the three troublemakers. He truly wanted to yell at them, but the heat within his lungs prevent him to do so.
“Odin?” Azrael asked.
“Don’t worry, I am sure he’ll be okay” Hope replied, “I think the three of you need to worry about yourselves”,
“BECAUSE THERE’S ONE HELL OF EXPLANATION TO TELL!” Hope finally yelled at them.
The three of them were quiet, and looked at each other, “We didn’t know that garulas-” Aeris tried to replied,
“Of course, you didn’t know” Hope cut him, “What exactly the three of you know except making troubles for yourselves?”.
The little boys immediately bowed their head down, feeling bad about the consequences they’ll had to endure.
“We are sorry…” Azrael murmured.
“Well, you have to” Hope said, “But safe your sorry later for your mother”.
The three of suddenly looked up to him in horror. Of course, nothing scared them more than their mother’s anger.
“Come on Hope, don’t be too hard on them” said Gladio, who was just appeared from the bush behind where Hope stood up.
“Huuuuk!” Odin barked, appeared after Gladio.
“Odin!” Azrael cheered and opened his arms wide.
The dog ran to him and they hugged each other. He licked Azrael all over his face, making sure nothing happened to him.
“I am sorry” the boy said to him.
“Huuuk! Huuuk!” it barked loudly, as if he scolded the boy for getting himself on such situation.
“You always go easy on them, aren’t you Gladio?” Hope asked annoyingly.
Gladio chuckled, “Come on, it’s not like they are dying or something” he said while walking toward the boys.
He crunched to their level and ruffled Hydra’s wet hair, “They just wanted to have the boys adventure” he said, “The camp must be very boring, isn’t it?”.
The young Amicitia couldn’t help to smile. His uncle got their back, every single time. They could always count on him to understand their perspective. He was the one who would take them to have fun every time they were down. And he was the only one who could train martial arts to them with fun, unlike their actual master.
His uncle Gladio was indeed the equivalent of fun.
“I am a little bit disappointed though” Gladio said, “I thought you guys at least would reach the nest”.
“What nest?” Hope asked in confusion.
Azrael and Hydra ignored Hope’s words and turned their head to Aeris, “Last time I went with Uncle Talcott, we didn’t have to cross any river at all. But now the field has river” he replied.
“Well, Uncle Talcott must be circling this forest and took the northern path to pick some mushrooms, didn’t he?” Gladio asked Aeris.
“What nest?” Hope asked again.
The little Argentum nodded, just remembered that particular part of his last trip.
“I hope the three of you could learn from this experience to not get easily distracted from your objective. What to say?” he asked.
“YES SIR!” the three little boys yelled in unison.
“Ummm Uncle” Azrael called him, “You will not tell mommy, right?’ he whispered and his two best friends also nodded, having the same question within their head.
“Of course, all of your mother will know” Hope interfered, “Don’t even try to hide it from their parents, Gladio. They have a right to know”.
The boys looked hopefully to Gladio who was having a debate inside his own head.
“Well, that’s true” he replied, crushed the boys hope, “Let’s head back”.
“Huuuuuuk!” Odin barked and started to lead the group.
About a quarter-mile away, they saw Dajh sitting on the ground, leaning on a big tree.
“A- yo, kiddo!” Gladio greeted him.
“What took all of you so long?” he asked while getting up.
“I never knew you are such a good runner”.
Dajh sighed, “I think everyone who was in my position wouldn’t have any other choice, but to be one” he replied.
While they were walking toward the camp, Gladio got the time to walk behind the others and turned his body to the boys. He stopped them and crunched to their height level once again,
“Look. I’d like to say something to the three of you” he said.
They nodded and Gladio began to lecture them, “Camping isn’t always about the thrill of adventure”,
“Instead, it’s about togetherness. It’s about spending time with your loved ones in the grace of the nature. The three of you probably wouldn’t get it now, but try to understand the adults, okay?”,
“After all, I try to understand you three, am I not?” he asked them.
Gladio smiled when the three of them nodded, “And if you three behave yourself throughout the evening and being the good boys that you are for listening to your mother, I’ll take you to the catoblepas lake tomorrow. Deal?” he asked.
The boys’ faces lit up and looked at each other, then nodded enthusiastically.
“DEAL!” they replied in unison.
--
to be continued