Place: Fire Shrine; the airship Hilda Garde III
Date: 23 February 1800 then 11 February 1800 (the day the party splits up to defeat the guardians and the day before they enter Terra)
Rating: NC-17
Characters:
Freya Crescent, dragoon
Amarant Coral, mercenary
Zidane Tribal, thief and random hero type

Yes, I copied some lines directly from the game script, because they happened in the game and I wanted to keep it 'accurate'.

The airship settled over the Fire Shrine. So this was it. Zidane, who it seemed had somehow ended up their unofficial leader, had decided they'd split into twos and take out all four shrines at once, and they had already left Garnet and Eiko at the Water Shrine. Freya of course had tactical disagreements with this, putting both their healer/summoners in a group together, but what was she to do? If that wasn't bad enough, Zidane had decided in his not-so-infinite wisdom that she should be paired up with Amarant to take out the Fire Shrine. Great, this guy that she was almost in a fight with inside of the first five minutes after she met him back in Alexandria, and she was stuck with him. Then again, he didn't seem so happy himself.

Her thoughts were broken by a shout from one of the crew members, "We're going to overheat!" Indeed, the ship was taking a beating this close to the shrine. And she got to jump down inside it. Oh good.

"Just a little closer!" Zidane shouted out in his typical lack of foresight. A good friend, but not such a good tactician.

"Zidane!" she spoke up as she often did, "The heat is going to kill the engine if we get any closer!"

"Okay..." Zidane agreed as he often did, at least partially, "When we get closer to the volcano, you two head for the shrine's entrance."

"...Why do I have to go with her?" Amarant finally spoke up, leaning casually against a bulkhead. Freya turned her head and eyed him competitively.

"Oh, sorry. Did you wanna go with Eiko?" Freya smiled at Zidane's smart remark, she just couldn't help it. Amarant's only psychological weakness seemed to be dealing with kids like Eiko. Amarant was silent.

"Good luck!" Zidane waved them on, they'd need it.

Freya sighed as she watched the airship move away, "He'll probably crash it before it gets back here, I suppose we should prepare to meet our maker whether we beat this thing or not..."

Amarant smirked, "Speak for yourself mousie..." he strolled casually into the shrine entrance, and with a sigh Freya traveled more cautiously behind him. Was everyone but her completely reckless?

Nothing in the cave. No monsters, no encounters, and no treasure. What kind of a place was this? Freya had expected a trap, Amarant had nearly hoped for one. What a bore. What an annoyance to get hyped up and not be rewarded with any bloodshed. Amarant looked down at his claws as if wishing they were covered in gore. Freya just shook her head and sighed again.

"That was too easy..." Freya spoke as they came face to face with their goal, the place where they were to put the tile for the Fire Shrine and help break the seal with the others. She hoped they were faring as well so far. She turned to Amarant and smirked," It must have been disappointing for you."

He folded his arms and leaned back against a column, staring blankly at her; had she already gotten to know him that well. He watched her turn away from him and towards the pedestal, leaning down to put it in its place, and he smiled at the semi pleasant view of her rear, but still said nothing.

"Now, I'll place the mirror here..." Freya nearly had it placed.

"Shit!? Freya, stand back!" Amarant grabbed her by one shoulder as his keen eyesight caught view of the enemy approaching.

"What the fuck?" Freya snapped back and to a battle stance along side her reluctant comrade as the Fire Guard was before them, nearly licking its fangs in anticipation. She was almost more surprised that Amarant had made a move to help her rather than letting her take it and trying to take on the Guardian by himself. Maybe he had changed since they first met.

"It's just as Kuja said..." the ancient voice was ominous, it send shivers down Freya's spine. Amarant... was under impressed, and folded his arms boredly as the creature continued, "He said I should expect intruders."

"Yeah whatever, get the stupid villain speech over so we can kick your ass." Amarant calmly took a stance and extended his claws.

"Who are you?" Freya demanded, seeming to take this a bit more seriously, "Guardians of Terra?"

Amarant rolled his eyes. Did she have to encourage it to make an even longer speech? They already knew enough about the evil plan from Kuja's incessant prose fits.

Yes, we are the guardians of Terra." the creature seemed pleased, "Filled with the power of Terra itself..."

Freya demanded back at it as Amarant leaned back and folded his arms again, thinking this might take a bit, "What is Terra!?"

"We did not become guardians to chat with mortals... We derive pleasure from ending your worthless lives..." Phew, it wasn't going to ramble on, yet Amarant suddenly felt the uncanny need to interject.

"Just to prove how powerful you are..." Amarant shook his head.

"So you understand. But will the knowledge help you?" the Fire Guardian grinned toothily.

"Foolish." Amarant's word drew both an annoyed gaze from the creature, and a somewhat impressed gaze from Freya.

"What?" the creature demanded. How dare this bastard steal his spotlight in his big moment.

"Picking fights with strangers in a place like this..." Amarant shook his head and took his stance once again, "I used to know someone like that. He was a loser... He refused to find beneficial ways to use his power. Instead, he'd seek out people to fight..."

"Amarant..." Freya was somewhat impressed, and suddenly found herself noticing how very impressive he looked in his battle stance.

"What... are you talking about?" oh yeah, they'd thourally confused the enemy. Score one for them.

"We'll show you what he means!" Freya returned to her stance as well, shoulder to shoulder with Amarant, ready to fight to the death alongside her comrade.

"Interesting... but you'll regret this!" the Fire Guard made his last words and wasted no others, bringing hands up and sending a wall of flames at his two opposing forces.

Freya's reflexes were lightening fast, and she could have easily leapt before the attack, but instead she choose to resist so she could cast her first spell, biting through the searing flames and managing to get out a Reis' Wind spell on herself and Amarant. It was normally the first thing she did in any battle, regeneration was good. Amarant choose a bit more head first approach, immediately sending a shot of non elemental magic into the enemy with his No Mercy skill, barely flinching at the damage caused by the creature's Fire Attack.

The second wave shot out from the creature, and Freya and Amarant leapt in opposite directions with a silent tactical agreement to attempt to surround it. Simultaneously they ignored the searing fire energy for a moment longer as they both hit their enemy with their own attacks, Amarant with another No Mercy and Freya with a Cherry blossom spell. The creature was furious. At this rate it was actually going to have to try.

Turning towards Freya, the creature lunged forward and she found herself on the receiving end of a flurry of burning claws and searing energy. With a shriek, or maybe just a string of profanity, she fell backwards slamming her back against a wall with a sharp crack and nearly dropping her weapon. Raising her eyes up, she watched as the creature lunged forward a second time.

"Oh HELL no!" Amarant wasn't about to be ignored at the expense of another, and as he leapt in front of Freya to cover he from the creature's second attack, he almost admitted to himself that he cared whether she survived or not.

Standing again, shocked as Amarant not only took the second flurry of blows on her account, but also casts a Chakra spell on her in the process, and she felt life and energy flow back through her system. Not willing to allow the onslaught to continue against her friend, she immediately jumped, and just as Amarant fell backwards away from it, the creature found itself at the end of Freya's spear, arriving seconds before she did and plunging itself deep into the creature's chest.

She landed, grabbed hold of the spear, and twisted. Amarant grinned as he watched the blood spray, and took only a moment to regenerate before extending both claws and grappling the creature into a deadly hug along side her. Thrashing and shrieking, the creature finally fell to the ground, dead.

Amarant stood and cracked his neck, "Well that was... under impressive."

Passing him a few healing potions for his injuries that he would no doubt ignore otherwise, Freya went to get the tile and put it in its place, "thank you Amarant. I am duely impressed."

"As am I." a grin spread across his face as he eyed her up then turned to walk towards the entrance. She was a bit taken aback, trying to figure out if he meant her fighting skills or something else. What a jerk. She smiled to herself and followed him out

Back in the airship, they were all cleaned and at least partially healed. Enough at least.

"Well, now that we've got everyone, we can head to Shimmering Island..." Zidane walked through the lower deck of the airship as he spoke of the place where the seal was to be broken. Now that all four tiles had been placed, they should be able to get inside and to their enemy Kuja.

Stopping briefly, Zidane caught sight of Amarant, "Hey Amarant. I didn't know you were here."

"So we'll go to Shimmering Island, then to Terra?" Amarant stayed still, leaning against his apparently favorite bulkhead. Favorite because almost no one else ever came down here, and it gave him some peace and freedom from annoyance between bouts of senseless bloodshed.

"Yeah." Zidane nodded, "It's near Esto Gaza. It won't take long."

Amarant could care less how long it took, that wasn't his real question, "...... Tell me something... What motivates you to do that?"

"What motivates me...?" Zidane looked thoughtful at the typical Amarant question, "I want to find out what Kuja is after. I also want to know more about the planet Terra..."

"Can't resist the urge to step into an unknown world, huh...?" Amarant couldn't say he didn't share the urge.

"What, you think I'm going there just to satisfy my curiosity?" Zidane gave an appearance of mock disagreement.

"Am I wrong?"

"No, I guess you're right."

As Zidane turned to leave, Amarant shook his head and spoke only to himself, "I'm beginning to understand why he won and I lost... I lost against his way of thinking..."

"Perhaps so..." Freya came out of the same door Zidane had just passed through, "But I think if you fought him again, it might be different, your way of thinking has changed a lot since we first met."

Amarant stood straight up from where he was and faced the dragon knight, "And what about us? What if we had it out?"

Freya took a few steps forward, tipping her helmet down over her eyes and leaning against the bulkhead exactly where he had been and folding her arms, almost as if mocking him, "I think I'd win, but maybe we can test that sometime."

"Heh, you'd be skewered right now if it wasn't for me." he shook his head, but found his eyes unintentionally moving down to her tail which was swishing around behind her. Odd behavior, was she excited about something?

Freya's own gaze through the eye slots on her helmet didn't let her gaze go unnoticed, "Maybe you'd fight better yourself if you didn't keep getting distracted by staring down my hindquarters." An odd smile stretched out from beneath her helmet.

It was at that point that Amarant realized he'd never actually seen Freya's full face, because she was always wearing that weird-ass red helmet. Taking a step forward, he made no disagreement to her slight accusation. He placed his left hand on the wall beside her head with a thud and reached for her helmet with the other, working it off of her head as she didn't seem to make a move to stop him.

In silence for a moment Amarant's eyes looked into hers from beneath his shaggy red hair, the hair that had earning him his name, 'the Red Amarant'. Her eyes looked back at him, blankly, green tinted in the dim light of the room, partially hidden behind her bleach white head hair. Reaching a hand forward, he moved the hair out of its way, and moved his body closer to hers, their front resting against one another. Silence. Staring.

Freya gave out a sigh as she felt his right hand rest against her belly and move upwards across her body, the smirk on his face showing exactly what he was seeking. He was probably one of those types that got aroused by causing bloodshed alongside someone. Not unlike Sir Fratley. Fratley...

"My heart belongs to another, Amarant." Freya let the words out softly, even as she placed her own claws around his waist.

"That guy that doesn't even remember you?" Amarant knew the story well enough, "It doesn't matter... I'm not wanting your heart or your love. Such things are pointless."

"Perhaps so..." Freya sighed as she allowed him to pull himself closer, and felt a twinge of desire and curiosity get the best of her as her left hand moved around to his groin, feeling at the bulge there, "Fine then.. 'comrade',. just remember I still despise your attitude."

She met the resulting smirk of agreement on his face with the tip of her muzzle, running her tongue out into his mouth as they kissed, their faces looking a bit misfit but making due. His hands moved down to her front and began undoing the front of her armor, even as hers grabbed for the latches on the front of his pants. There was no desire for foreplay by either of them; both just wanted to relieve their pent up tensions between their last battle and the next.

Amarant found his job a great deal more frustrating, "Damn, woman, exactly how many layers you got on?" he pulled her frontal armor off and let it fall aside, followed by moving her coat open and unlatching the chain mail she had hidden underneath that. Before he was half done, she already had her soft furry hands stroking teasingly against his full erection.

A grin spread over her maw as she finished another kiss, "You sure you've done this before? You seem a bit clumsy."

Was any woman worth that comment? Oh hell why not, he figured. He had went through all that to get her overly elaborate clothing off, he may as well make use of her. "Silence."

He was, despite her annoyance, quite taken by what was hidden underneath all her layers, she was quite a shapely female, and he was surprised someone with looks like hers wouldn't wear a bit less. It was probably that Fratley guy she was so obsessed with. That wasn't his problem. For now she was all his.

She let out a gasp as he rammed a finger into her slit to feel her out and he felt her hand removed from his maleness and encourage it towards her opening. He had wondered if a burmecian would be any different than a human, but she felt similar enough. Only one way to find out he supposed.

Grabbing a hold of her hips, he lifted her shorter body up off the deck, and she immediately wrapped her long legs around his waist as he held her back against the bulkhead. They exchanged low growls as his nails dug into her bare rump, and he pressed himself forward into her letting out an appreciative moan as he felt himself surrounded by her moist folds.

Digging her claws into his sides and gripping her legs tightly around his body, she groaned at the wonderful feel of being penetrated, and felt her hole stretched over his size firmly, rewarding him with a series of muscular contractions as she pushed back against him. She needed it bad right now, and wouldn't mind having it rough, "Just hammer it wimp, I'm not made of glass."

Amarant nearly snarled. So this was how she was going to be, egging him on. He slammed his hips against hers, bellies smacking together and ramming her rump back against the wall, and grinned wide at the scream it got out of her, then continued to hammer into her as hard as he can, not caring at the likely damage he'd end up causing to the bulkhead behind her, seeming to enjoy seeing how loud he could get her to scream.

She wasn't particularly opposed to such treatment herself, and the more relentless he became the more into a lust filled frenzy she went, digging her claws in to the point that they broke the skin and tightening her legs to a point that would probably suffocate or crush a lesser man. Amarant seemed to enjoy the aggression all the more. Hate sex at its best!

The thumping against the wall continued, the screeching increased, and just about everyone in adjacent rooms were likely aware of what was occurring, trying to ignore it as best they could, though Zidane found himself giggling profusely at one point. The couple, of course, had forgotten for the moment there was anyone else present on the ship it seemed.

Before long Freya was screeching out in full orgasmic bliss, clenching her already absurdly tight cunt around Amarant's invading member, causing his to only increase his motions as he felt his own body tighten then explode, spraying gobs of his juice deep into the females' body. Relaxing against one another, their body slowed to a stop, holding penetration, and Freya blushed brightly.

"By the gods, I bet everyone in the ship just heard me..." Freya lay her head on his shoulder and slowly moved her feet down to the deck again as she was allowed down.

Amarant grinned, quite full of himself, "You better fuckin believe they did, that was great!" an unusually enthusiastic moment for him, followed by an unusually worried moment " ... just... we're not compatible for.. you know..."

Freya found herself laughing despite her embarrassment. Of course they weren't, but it was hella funny to picture little red haired burmecian kids running around. She thought long and hard, and was severely tempted to tell him they were just to frighten him, but settled for not answering as she redressed.

Amarant had already pulled up his pants and smirked at her lack of an answer, "Bitch."

"Asshole." she finished dressing, popped her back a bit, and walked back out towards the main deck ignoring him. She may as well face any lewd comments Zidane would have about the noise now and get it over with.