True to his word, Bartz didn’t say a thing. Faris blinked at him, waiting, but it was as though he hadn’t even noticed. The bastard. Toying with his feelings like that. Acting all decent and carefree. Despite his empty head, Bartz was still Bartz at the end, and Faris couldn’t imagine a malicious bone in his body. Why did he have to go accepting him like that?

"And you're telling me we're not a stage show.” Bartz shot him a sly, teasing smile as he twirled around lifted his arms in a dramatic pose. Faris felt his cheeks burn even hotter.

”You dolt,” he said, but he didn’t mean it. This was exactly what he’d wanted from his friend deep down. Seeing it again and aimed at him twisted something in his chest that he didn’t want to name. Relief? Affection? He didn’t know.

"Alright if you don't think I can dance…” Bartz shot him a playful smile. ”Then show me what you got.” Faris couldn’t say a word before Bartz was shimmying and swaying in a way that was almost intoxicating. It felt like watching a band of fey dancing in a wooden grove, but it was all the crystal’s power of course. Bartz could have danced him into a stupor if he’d wanted to, and Faris had to remind himself it wasn't genuine. It was the crystal, nothing more and nothing less.

Bartz gave a final spin and stopped with his hand extended. Faris looked from it to Bartz’ gleaming eyes and then froze, staring at him in horror. ”You want me to-? Here?” The weight of it felt like a tidal wave about to come crashing down. Bartz wanted to dance. Of course he did. This wasn’t a lesson to him and it wasn’t about the crystal. To Bartz, there wasn’t a thing worth doing if his heart wasn’t in it, and with the two of them here…

Bartz’ eyes bore into him with eager expectation. Faris hesitated before he gave an uneasy laugh and an even more uneasy smile. ”Aye, you’ll have your wish then. If you’ve got your heart set then there’s nothing else for it.” Faris grasped Bartz’ hand and willed the crystal’s power forward.

As soon as he took his first steps, his tension slipped away.

It didn’t matter that he was in heels. It didn’t matter that he was exposed and feminine and oozing with sexuality because the crystal drowned his fears in something almost primal. He spun once into Bartz’ arms before he spun away, seizing him in a forceful step. He caught a fire in his eye as he thrust Bartz against him, touching once before stepping back and twirling him in a loose spin. Bartz stayed loose and playful and always flitting at Faris’ fingertips. Faris was hard and decisive and brimming with passion. He felt them merge in that moment -- fire and wind and moving as one. They flared together.

His heart fluttered and for once he grasped at Bartz’ hand and released himself to his lead. His friend led with his hips, wiggling his eyebrows before twirling him away. Faris laughed -- a light, loose, exhilarating laugh that seemed in its own time and place. How long had it been since he’d loosened so much, had such fun, lived for the moment? That was Bartz at his core, and he’d always had a way of spreading his own humor to any who would hear it.

And at the edges of his thoughts flitted the words Faris would never say. ’I missed you.’

ulla

Bartz relented with a groan, and still Faris kept his suspicious eye. Bartz had already bolted on him before, and a few words didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it again. Still, he felt something warm in him that Bartz would so much as give him a chance. It told him maybe there was some hope after all.

Faris blinked. ”The crystal?” He looked between Bartz and his shard before groaning. ”You really don’t remember a thing, do you? Aye, the crystal might be small, but it packs a mighty punch of power if you can use it right. There’s hardly a thing stronger! I can show you how if you-”

”Can you sing me something?”

”Eh?”

And then, true to his word, Bartz sang.

Faris could only watch in horror and awe as Bartz started in on a mixture of sounds and motions that no man should have been capable of. He twisted his hips. He jerked his fists in unnatural rhythms. He warbled in a pitch that didn’t know itself or where it was going. Faris stood rooted in place, eyes almost fearful. ”I can play the bard!” he shouted almost desperately. ”There’s no need to-! You’ve not a scrap of pride left!”

Dignity or not, it worked. He started to glow after one of the most stilted dips Faris had ever seen, and that glow took him over in a flash. Once it had finished, Bartz was posed in a triumphant twirl half-clothed in a red crop top, flared black pants, and a scarf. Faris blinked in surprise before his lips broke into a wide grin.

”Aye, that’s it! You’re a proper dancer!”

Even so, Bartz didn’t seem to grasp the gravity of it all. He was so oblivious, in fact, that Faris let out a loud, barking laugh. ”’Parties? Stage show?’ Are you daft?” He put his hands on his hips. ”You’ve always had a knack for the dancer class! I shouldn’t be surprised it’d come to you first. That form’s got sly sense of power to it. Do you know any dances?”

Faris didn’t let him answer before he shook his head. ”What am I going on about? Of course you don’t! You haven’t got a clue what it is! Well, there’s nothing to it but to teach you then. Er. Well, if I can…” Faris swallowed. ”Aye, I’ll just…” He held up his own crystal before freezing and giving Bartz a dangerous look. ”I’ll not hear a word about it! A single laugh and you’ll have hell to pay!”

With that said, Faris took a long, steadying breath. The dancer class. He’s always hated it. Spinning around like that, it wasn’t just a blow to his pride, but it meant revealing himself in a way that made his stomach turn. Still, he’d have done just about anything for his friends, and if this is what it took…

Faris bit his tongue and willed the crystal forward. In a flash, his tunic had all but disappeared. His hair had been drawn up into a curling ponytail, and he wore a pair of flared yellow pants and pink heels beneath it. He felt air at his collarbone and midriff, and he shivered more from the sensation than the cold. In seconds, he stood before Bartz barely clothed and dressed like a harlot.

He shot Bartz the fiercest look he could manage and hoped it would cover the blazing heat in his cheeks. ”Not a word.”

ulla

They didn’t find him.

Despite the speed of their chocobos and Krile’s directions, they lost the trail before they could make any real progress. While Faris loudly cursed the news, he couldn’t say that part of him wasn’t relieved. That meant that Bartz was out of danger. For now at least.

Still, that left Faris and Krile on the side of the road -- sore and several hours out from the city. Faris cracked his neck, stretching his arm out over his head. ”All that riding for nothing. There’s not a man alive better at not being found.”

Faris stalked to the grass and fell into it, letting their blades overtake him. The sun glared back at him with an unforgiving heat. Faris squinted into it before throwing an arm over his eyes. His mood had quieted with time, but that didn’t make it any less sour. ”He’s daft, I say. Daft and scattered and about as sharp as a block of wood. If he’s that set on trouble then we’ll be damned before he’s stopped.”

The earth was dry and dusty beneath him. The grass tickled at his arms damp with sweat. It had been nearly a full day since he’d slept, nearly half a day since he’d eaten, and hours since he’d last felt comfortable. A headache was brewing behind his eyes. Damn it all!

”He wants to leave us so bad? Aye, he’ll have his wish then!” Faris felt a snarl at his lips. ”That cur. He’s not got a thing on his mind but himself!”

A fly buzzed past his ear. Faris slammed it into the dirt with the palm of his hand, scowling. He pushed himself onto his elbows so he could better glare at the road and the chocobos who’s taken them there. ”If that’s his way then so be it. I doubt he ever cared in the first place.”

ulla

Krile’s voice was weak and uneven with stifled tears. Faris watched her, uncertain what to say until it was done. Then he rubbed at his neck, glancing to the side. ”Aye, with all you’ve seen, that’s not a fear striking from the blue.” Krile had lost the one she loved most, no matter how briefly. Faris knew that pain now. It was the same pain that had pierced him when Bartz gave him that look of concern like he wanted to edge away and keep running. Krile had seen that twice. She was a stronger girl than she knew.

Faris started towards her, pulled out a chair, flipped it around, and sat with his elbows on the back. It felt strange being the only to care for the girl. While he’d have gladly snatched her from a behemoth’s maw and taken its teeth for himself, he’d never had Galuf’s knack for parenting or Lenna’s kindness or even Bartz’ fun-loving spirit. No, Faris was rough and sharp and crass, and even as his heart swelled with affection for the girl, they’d never been as close as the others. Faris wondered if Krile’d noticed that she’d been short-changed in her choice of friends. Maybe she was relieved just to have anyone at all.

”You know Bartz, the scatter-brained dolt. Always wandering about. Never sticking to a thing. He’d forget his own name if you let him.” Faris laughed loudly. ”Me though? I’ve got a right head on my shoulders. How could I ever forget you?”

He nudged Krile in the shoulders with his knuckles. ”We’ll get him back sure as the sunrise You’ve just got to buck up and weather through. He’ll be sitting here before you know it, and then I’ll knock him upside the head for his trouble.” Faris shot her a grin. It was better to stand strong than to let his own fears slip through. A captain who wavered wasn’t worthy of his crew.

But then Krile proved him wrong. Bartz was in trouble. Faris pounded on the back of the chair, cursing. ”That dunder-headed-! Again?” Faris threw himself back and stormed to his feet. ”Well we’d better go get him! Bet he’s met the wrong side of a snarling chocobo or he’s wandered straight into the sea! You can find him, aye? We’ll not be heading anywhere fast, but you can get us started in the right direction!”

Faris shoved his hair over his shoulder, scowling. That boy had set a storm in his heart, and it wasn’t clearing any time soon. That luckless, simple-minded, troublemaking-!”

”Well he isn’t going to save himself! I’ll grab a pair of chocobos and we’ll set off before dawn!”

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