Title: The Next First Meeting
Fandoms: Bravely Default
Characters: Airy
Rating: SFW
Length: 704 words
Content notes: Spoilers for the End
Summary: Airy's thoughts shortly before the beginning of the game.


Airy watched with a certain amount of glee as Alternis Dim once again slipped over the edge of the Grand Ship. She imagined him hurtling to his death in the seas below with no small amount of pleasure. Well, the fall might not kill him but he would not be able to get far under all that armor. How many times had she killed the Wind Vestal and those seduced into following the apparent path to good now? How many times had she convinced Agnes to pour her energies into each crystal? How many times had the Vestal sapped energy from another world without realizing? Thousands upon thousands by Airy's count.

She glanced at her wings noting the displayed six had changed to a five. She contemplated how best to deal with the next world. In the first few worlds she slaughtered the Wind Vestal and companions as soon as their part was over. But she had grown curious over time, culminating in allowing a group to traverse the pillar of light with her and reawaken in the new land. She had feigned ignorance over the outcome and why her proposed cure failed to rectify the Grand Chasm. And the weak-minded fools believed her almost without question. At the time her count-down digits were edge on and seemed nothing more than part of a curious pattern along the black border of her wing.

She let her first experimental group go through the motions twice before her nerves got the better of her. She slew them in their moment of triumph as they ran to see the Grand Chasm healed. She risked a later group passing through three worlds, but her lies seemed to be landing less well by then. She could not deny the process was faster and less tiresome when she convinced them to try awakening the crystals once again. No need to navigate the world at slow speeds, no need to wait for them to gain the Grand Ship. But that weighed against the effectiveness of her story. As such she decided to risk a group across three worlds at most. Sometimes they came too close to an answer; especially if they managed to visit Lester DeRosso. Those she dispensed with as soon as possible. Nervousness got the better of her once her wings displayed nine hundred and ninety-nine. For nine hundred and ninety-three worlds afterwards she did not dare let anyone cross from one world to the next. Too obvious, far too easy for someone to spot the change in the pattern and query just what the countdown meant.

She tugged at her wing and stared at the five. Was it too obvious? Could she hope that no one would notice this changing detail now there were so few worlds left? She had been getting impatient for the last five hundred worlds; the end was so close and yet so far. She did not relish waiting for the Vestal and her companions to grow strong enough to fight the Templar's armies five more times. Maybe she could tempt the next group and push them forward through the remaining worlds. It was far too late for them to form any real challenge at this point. Even at their most skilled no prior group had lasted more than a few minutes when the time came to dispatch them. Allowing them to live through the last five worlds would speed the process and allow her mission to complete so much sooner.

Cheered by the thought there were only a few worlds to go, Airy darted upwards into the light. She felt the old Luxendarc fall behind her and sensed the trailing threads of connective energy all around her. They reached out across the dimensional barrier to the new world. Ahead of her beside the Great Chasm, a new Agnes awaited. Airy got back into character and suppressed her gloating excitement. She hid every vestige of hostile intent and contempt for her next companions beneath a hopeful smile. She was the helpful, optimistic cryst fairy whose sole desire was saving the world. She was ready to meet Agnes, Tiz, Edea and dependent on some factor she never resolved, perhaps Ringabel too.