Chapter Three: Adrift

The next thing they knew, they were standing in the middle of a large desert. Jarred by the trip, it took them a moment to recover.

"What was that all about, Rydia?" Bleu demanded. "You were supposed to lock the door! Another second and we would have had three more passengers on this trip!"

"I'm sorry!" Rydia exclaimed. "I tried! But before I could even lay a finger on the lock, they'd pushed it open!"

"It doesn't matter now anyway, because we're here and they're not," Magus interrupted tiredly.

"Where are we, anyway?" Skye spoke up. She looked around, realizing that it was not the Kakkara Desert as she'd hoped, unless someone had built a castle there while she was gone. "This doesn't look familiar to me at all....." she added, disappointed that she hadn't made it back to her world quite yet.

"It doesn't?" Lucca asked, a slightly sick look on her face. "You're sure it's not your world? Because it's certainly not ours, and I'd hate to think I sent us all to another world."

"Then don't think," Skye muttered. "Just use the device again and get us out of here."

"Uh-uh." Lucca shook her head regretfully. "I can't do that -- at least not yet. We have to wait for it to charge back to full power first. The one use -- its first use -- overheated it and it has to cool down and recharge. I was really hoping we could get to our world or your world on the first try, but that's obviously out. So we'll have to find somewhere safe to wait for it to do that. No way around it."

Skye just stared at her for a moment. "That.... that's gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever heard...."

"Stupid, but true. We have no other choice. Unless you want to break it and be forced to spend the rest of your life here."

Skye grumbled something that was probably obscene under her breath. "Fine. We'll try that castle over there."

"No way." Bleu shook her head adamantly. "We're not going to just waltz into this castle like we did with the other one and get ourselves thrown in jail again."

"We'll just say we're travelers from a distant land who got lost and are in need of temporary shelter," Skye suggested. "I'm sure it'll work."

"Possibly," Bleu sighed. "Just don't start robbing the place and getting everyone in trouble, okay?"

Skye shrugged. "Fine with me -- I'm not too eager to be jailed again either."

"Well, that was easy," Skye remarked as they entered the castle, having gotten past the guards. "Almost too easy. What do we do now?"

"Let's find out what's going on here," Bleu replied. "Looks like some kind of party..."

It was indeed a party. The one-year anniversary party Edgar had decided to throw for his friends. Unfortunately, most of them had already made plans for celebrating by the time his invitations had arrived, and only a few had made it there. In fact, only four out of thirteen had actually made it: Terra, Setzer, and Relm and Strago. Everyone else there was either from the castle or people from South Figaro that Sabin knew.

Nobody seemed to be having fun. Terra and Setzer looked bored and felt out of place. Strago had fallen asleep in a chair, and Relm was skulking around, trying to find something interesting to do. Sabin was demonstrating martial arts outside to some bored-looking partygoers, and Edgar was attempting to not fall asleep as well.

Terra and Setzer stood together against the wall, watching everyone else engage in mindless chitchat. For a while, they continued to glance at each other every few seconds, as if they wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Finally, Terra summoned up enough courage to say something.

"Some party, huh?" The half-Esper immediately winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Jeez, that sounded stupid, she mentally berated herself. That's a surefire way to impress him -- make an idiot out of yourself by saying dumb things. Terra sighed inwardly.

Setzer, though, didn't seem to notice her expression of mild distress over her choice of icebreaker, as he glanced around the room. "Mmm, indeed," he replied, sounding bored. Looking over at her, he smiled. "You look lovely tonight, Terra."

"Oh... um... thanks, I, I guess...." Terra flushed and looked away from him.

You guess? Looking a little stung by her half-hearted acceptance of his compliment, he glanced away as well, allowing himself a barely audible sigh.

It's just not going to work, he told himself for what felt like the millionth time. Give it up. Shaking his head resignedly, he sighed again. Terra glanced over, but didn't say anything, and he failed to notice. Scanning the room, he watched people socialize. He watched as a group of strange-looking people the likes of whom he had never seen before walk in, looking slightly confused and very out of place. And his eyes widened a bit as a very lovely blonde woman, slightly taller than average and dressed in silver and white, followed them.

Maybe this is my lucky night, he thought to himself as he watched her walk around, an expression of intrigue and interest on his face. Maybe.... just maybe.... this is what I need....

Glancing over at Setzer again, Terra noticed that he was watching someone with a look of definite interest on his face. Following his gaze across the room, her face fell as she spotted the pretty young woman who had just walked in. Biting her lower lip, she let her own gaze drop to the richly carpeted floor of Figaro Castle.

Sensing eyes on her, Skye turned her head to see Setzer walking towards her. She raised an eyebrow at his expression. Did he look.... interested? Must be heading towards someone else. She glanced away, almost disappointed. He was pretty good-looking. But then again, she wouldn't know what to say anyway, so it wasn't a big loss. Carrying on an actual conversation that didn't consist of insults and brush-offs with someone was not her strong suit. In fact, she had almost no idea how to do it.

"Hello."

Skye turned at the greeting, and was surprised to see the man she had seen walking towards her standing there, smiling at her. "Uh.... hi?" she replied hesitantly, not returning his smile.

Setzer laughed warmly. "Hi," he echoed. "We don't know each other, but I would like to." He extended his hand. "I'm Setzer. And you?"

Skye regarded him strangely. "Uh..... Skye," she replied, not taking his hand. She was utterly confused. Why did he want to talk to her? And what was she supposed to say? She felt incredibly awkward. She kinda wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know how to, what to say.

Better just to leave rather than make an idiot out of yourself. Skye nodded almost imperceptibly to herself. Right. Better to just leave. "If... if you'll excuse me...." She turned and walked away hurriedly.

Setzer just stared wordlessly after her as she left. Shot down again.... "Is it my breath....?" he wondered aloud.

"No, it's your technique," Edgar answered as he walked up beside him.

Setzer raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And I suppose you could do better?"

"Of course I could," Edgar replied without hesitation. "You know me."

"Unfortunately...." Setzer muttered.

"I'll ignore that little remark," Edgar replied. "Instead, I will allow you the benefit of my expertise. A free lesson in picking up women, Edgar Figaro-style. Aren't you lucky!"

"Oh indeed, how blessed I am," Setzer muttered sarcastically.

Edgar's eyes narrowed. "I'll ignore that, too. Just watch me, and I'll show you how it's done!" With that, he headed over to where Skye had fled to after Setzer attempted to engage in conversation with her.

Setzer watched as Edgar made his way over to Skye. The young king of Figaro tapped the Scorpion Army heiress on the shoulder. She turned, and he flashed his cheesy attempt at a charming grin at her and began to test out his vast library of pick-up lines on her. The gambler's eyes widened as Skye smiled sweetly and placed her arms around his neck. Then she brought her knee up, and Edgar doubled over in pain. Smirking, she walked away.

"Damn smooth, Edgar," Setzer remarked, chuckling, as he reached where Edgar had crumpled to the floor in agony. "I really like your technique. However, since I'm not interested in becoming a soprano, I probably won't be using it."

"Shut.... up.... Set...zer...." Edgar moaned, his voice squeaking slightly. Laughing, Setzer walked away, leaving Edgar to his pain.

Watching from a distance, Skye smirked to herself at the results of her handiwork. "What a pathetic lecher," she muttered inaudibly to herself. Then her gray eyes fell on Setzer, and her smirk faded, replaced by a puzzled frown. "What a strange man," she murmured softly. "Wanting to talk to me...."

All of a sudden, he turned, sensing her gaze. Their eyes met across the room. Skye quickly glanced away, turning her head slightly in a wordless brush-off. Shaking his head slightly, he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Skye sighed softly, a mixture of regret and relief etched on her face. Swallowing down the regret, she brushed some of her blonde hair behind her ear and started towards the guest rooms Marle and Rydia had arranged for all of them to have.

Twisting the ornately carved knob of the door of the bedroom she'd chosen, Skye slipped soundlessly into the room. With a quiet click, she locked the door and sank down onto the bed.

Rubbing her slightly aching temples with her fingers, she sighed wearily as she contemplated the day's events. All the excitement and shock of being thrown from world to world had finally begun to take effect, and her energy was almost completely drained. As soon as she could muster up enough of what was left, she'd pull her weary body up and ready herself for bed.

Pulling the covers over herself, Skye reached over and switched off the lamp beside the bed, and closed her eyes, a small sigh of relief at finally being able to rest escaping her. Shifting her position to make herself more comfortable, she prepared to to drift away to the blissful sleep she longed for.

But her restless mind kept her awake, the odd man she had met the center of her whirling thoughts. Opening her eyes, she stared sightlessly into the opaque darkness of her room, an ebony void punctured only here and there by slivers of starlight that peered through the fine lace curtains that hung over the single window. It was a moonless night, almost sinister in its darkness. Its ominous qualities escaped Skye's notice, however, so absorbed was she in thoughts of the events of earlier in the evening.

"I wonder what drew you to me," Skye murmured to the darkness. "Why did you approach me? What possible interest do you have in me?" Though obscured by the enveloping murkiness of her room, her expression was one of sadness and uncertainty.

"Believe me, I would have liked to have talked to you," she continued quietly. "Sort of. You seemed nice. But me.... I...." Her voice became small and forlorn. "I know how to push people away, but I haven't a clue how to keep anybody around. I have a gift for insults and brush-offs, but when I try to carry on a genuine conversation with someone.... words fail me." A soft noise that was a cross between a whimper and a sigh escaped her. Squeezing her eyes shut again, she pulled the covers up closer and again attempted to slip away into sleep.

It was her parents' fault, really. They'd deprived her of friends, of almost all social interaction. Completely stunting any social skills she'd ever had. They'd believed that it was the right thing for her, that focusing strictly on her studies and training would make her a more focused, disciplined adult, a more competent and better Boss of the army she was inheriting.

They'd been wrong, however. Bereft of the ability to interact positively with others, she was out of place and awkward in all social situations. And she'd ended up an incompetent Boss anyway as well, all her plans failing miserably. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and insecure, she regarded herself as a failure too. She was an adult, a grown woman, and she felt like a helpless little girl around others, a pathetic child who couldn't accomplish anything, get anything right. Always making mistakes, making the wrong choices.