Way Back Then

Narrator: It is exactly 14 years before all that important stuff in the game happened. All the younger people are little ignorant brats. Their parents are about to rip their hair out. At the Belouve residence:

Ramza: AHHH!! Dycedarg won't give me my wooden sword! He thinks he's so cool andthat he can tell me what to do and that since he's older he can take whatever ismine that he likes!! DAAAAAAD!!!!

Balbanes: *covers his head, trying to pretend everything is okay*

Dycedarg: That's not true you little turd!! You think you should get the most attention since you're the smallest! And look at Zalbag! He acts like he's got middle child syndrome!!

Zalbag: Hey, I do not! You probably don't even know what that is! *givesDycedarg a raspberry*

Dycedarg: Do to!Zalbag and Ramza: PROVE IT!!

Dycedarg: ..... I don't need to prove a thing to preps like you!!

Zalbag: DAAD!! Dycedarg called me a prep!

Ramza: Yeah, and he called me a turd!

Balbanes: *ponders hiring a nanny*

Delita: *walks outside, a mess after rolling around in the dirt*

Delita: Hi Ramza. I found a great mudhole. Let's go splat it all over Alma andTeta.

Ramza: *evil grin* Heheh,...yeah. Sounds good. And I'll get Dycedarg next. HeyZalbag, wanna come?

Zalbag: Yeah! This is gonna be cool!

Zalbag, Delita, and Ramza run off.

At the Tingle residence:

Izlude: *trying to get something from Meliadoul*

Izlude: I wanna have some!!

Meliadoul: No, I got this myself with my own gil!

Izlude: Dad sais you need to share though!

Meliadoul: Dad ain't here, though. Whatta ya think of that?

Izlude: Well....I'll tell on you when I see him again!

Meliadoul: You do and I'll kill you!

Izlude: No you won't. You're not a Divine Knight yet y'know!!

Meliadoul: No, but I'm way ahead of you and you know it!!

Izlude: I'm fixin to go 'n get him if you don't share those!!

Meliadoul: You think I'm kiddin when I say I'll kill you!?

Izlude: You can't do nothin as soon as Dad finds out y'know! He'll send you toyour room until you decide to learn how to share!

Meliadoul: That won't stop me from strangling you!!

Izlude: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meliadoul: !? Yipes! No no no Izlude. Wait wait wait!! If you don't tell Ipromise next time I go to Dorter Trade Center I'll get you some cookies too! Orwhatever kind of candy you may want! Really I swear it! Just don't tell Dad!!

Izlude: *ponders over the concequences*

Izlude: When is the next time you go to Dorter with Dad?

Meliadoul: *smiles sinisterly* As soon as his armor gets another crack in it.You catch my drift?

Izlude: Yeaaaah,....where are those hammers!?

Izlude and Meliadoul make the agreement and find two big hammers. They run intoVormav's room and take out his armor. Meliadoul stands ready to lightly bang onit until a decent crack is made. Izlude stands guard at the door. They finishand run outside again.

Izlude: Hee hee hee....

Meliadoul: Hee hee hee...won't he be surprised when he gets home!!

Izlude: Yeah, and there's candy in it for us!!

Meliadoul: Hey Izlude. Where did Dad say he was going anyway?

Izlude: Um,...I think he said he was going to ........Dorter....Trade....City.........Uh oh.....

Meliadoul: *face goes pale* R....really?

Back at the Belouve residence

:Alma and Teta run screaming into the back yard with mud splattered over theirclothes. Both of them are in tears.

Alma: DAAAAADDYY!!

Teta: Delita, Ramza, and Zalbag threw mud at us!

Balbanes: ....what...?

Alma: Punish them real good!!

Balbanes: *stands up and tries to remain calm, until across Ivalice, his ragingvoice can be heard calling:* RAAAAAAAMZAAAAAAA!! ZAALBAAAG!DELITAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!The boys hide behind a corner watching him yell. Ramza turns to his brother.

Ramza: I think it would be a bad idea to hit Dycedarg now....

Zalbag: Yeah, otherwise Dad'll eat us alive.

Delita: But it was a sweet victory. Let's celebrate it by running very far for the night....

Ramza nods in agreement. Zalbag agrees equally. The trio sneeks off without asound.

Back at the Tingle residence:

Vormav comes home and goes out back to see Meliadoul and Izlude sitting in apool of isolation. Wondering what struck them, he walks over to them and waveshis hand in front of Meliadoul's face.

Meliadoul: *looks up in surprise* ......hi Daddy.....

Izlude: You went to Dorter right?

Vormav: ...yeah. I told you that didn't I?

Izlude: ....just checking....*gives Meliadoul a hopeless look*

Vormav: But since you brought it up, here. I got you two something. *smiles andgives each a small brown bag*

Meliadoul: ....candy...?

Izlude and Meliadoul: *bursts out into tears and cling to Vormav's legsscreaming:* WE'RE SORRY!! WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRRRRYYYYY!

Vormav: WHAT TH' !? I THOUGHT I WAS DOING SOMETHING GOOD FOR ONCE!!!!!

Delita, Ramza, and Zalbag:Delita: Where should we go?

Ramza: Let's go to Olan's!!

Zalbag: Yeah, he'll know what to do!!

They all run down a manmade trail toward Olan's house. They meet him out backwhile reading a book.

Ramza: Hey Olan!! What's up!?

Olan: *drops his book in surprise of suddenly hearing Ramza's voice* Huh!? Oh.Hi Ramza, Delita, Zalbag. *looks around* Oh good, Dycedarg isn't here. He's sucha stuck up jerk.

Zalbag: That's for sure. Hey, our Dad is kinda steamed at us at the time. Couldwe take refuge here for a night or two?

Olan: Okay, but you can't let my stepdad know, or he'll tell Balbanes. You guyscan hang out in my treefort for the time being. He doesn't go back there ever.

Ramza: Great. Thanks Olan.

Olan: By the way, what did you do?

Delita: Well, I found a mudhole and so I got Zalbag and Ramza to help me throwmudpies at Alma and Teta. Then they cried to Balbanes and you can guess therest....

Olan: ...I don't wanna dawn this on you guys so soon, but...uh. Won't MisterBalbanes be even madder since you ran away here just to get out of trouble?

Zalbag, Ramza, and Delita go pale.

Delita: Uh oh....Zalbag: ....now what? Do we stay here anyway Ramza?

Ramza: I dunno! You're older! You're supposed to know this type of stuff!!

Zalbag: This is the first time I've ever run away from Dad when he gets mad!

Ramza: Some excuse that is.... What do you think we should do Olan? You readalot, so you should be pretty smart at things like this. Have you ever read"Huckleberry Finn"? What did he do?

Olan: Ramza. He made a raft and floated down the Mississippi....if I'm not mistaken.....

Ramza: Shoot...there aren't any rivers down here....and I've never heard of theMississippi.....

Delita: Yeah, and you couldn't build a raft to save your life.

Ramza: Ah, shut up Delita. You'd be surprised!!Delita: Who cares about insulting each other now? We gotta think of a way out ofthis....HEY!! I GOT IT!!

Ramza and Zalbag: WHAT!? TELL US!!

Delita: If one of you gets hurt, he'll forget about whole thing and be toofocused on you're safety!

Ramza: What do you mean "If one of us"!? Why can't you do it!?

Delita: Cuz, even though Balbanes thinks of me as part of the family, it'd beeven better if you or Zalbag came close to instant death.

Zalbag: Instant death!? No way Delita. We don't need to go to such drasticmeasures!!

Olan: What if you just fall and hurt your arm real bad. That isn't fatal andit'll really get Mister Balbane's attention.

Delita: Good idea, Olan. Okay. So who's gonna do it?

Ramza: Um,...I'm way to young to be pushed off a tree or something! Let Zalbagdo it! He's bigger and take alot more pain then I can!!

Zalbag: W-w-what!? B-b-b-b-.....but guys!! I-I-I......

Delita: Yeah. Ramza's right. Okay Zalbag. Make it look like an accident, okay?

Zalbag: NO! I don't wanna do this guys! There's gotta be a better way!!

Delita shakes his head and shoves Zalbag down the hill when he doesn't expectit. Zalbag screams all the way down and hits a rock with his elbow, which stopshim. The others run down there and see that Zalbag has been knocked cold.

Delita: It worked. Now we gotta call for help!

Delita, Olan, and Ramza: HELLLLLLPPP!! SOMEONE COME HERE QUICK!!!

At the Belouve's residence:

Alma: Where are they? It's after dark.

Teta: I dunno. I want my brother! *eyes begin to tear*

Dycedarg: Aw, they probably just ran off to Olan's house to get out of trouble. Those dirty little rats.

Then, Orlandu comes in with Olan, Delita, and Ramza following him, and carryingZalbag. Dycedarg looks and immediately goes to tell Balbanes. Orlandu takes himto Balbanes while the remaining boys run off to Ramza's room.

Ramza: They're gonna wanna know what happened. What do we tell them? Hey, Olan.Any stories you read that can help us out here?

Olan: Yeah. Just say some crazy drunk guy that doesn't like Mister Balbanes comes out and tries to attack his kids and stuff. Say that Zalbag saved us andgot hurt himself.

Delita: Awesome cover up. You sure do alot of reading. What's that from?

Olan: "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Delita: You read a story on how to kill a mockingbird?

Olan: *sighs and shakes his head*Ramza: Shut up Delita. Let's put this plan into action!

Ramza walks out his room confindently, until he is stopped by an angry Balbanes.

Ramza: ....sir?

Balbanes: Zalbag sais you put him up to this so you would get out of trouble,Ramza. Ramza:................IT WAS DELITA'S IDEA! HE'S THE ONE WHO PUSHED HIM!!

Balbanes: But you should still have the sense to tell him not to hurt your own brother like that!!Balbanes turns to go, and then he looks at Olan and Delita.

Balbanes: Oh, and I've read "To Kill a Mockingbird", so I would have found outwhether Zalbag told me or not. Don't blame him, or even threaten him.

Delita: ....maybe now we should run away for good....

Olan: Yep, ....that might be a better choice....

Ramza: ...I'll get the bags!!!