*Author's note*
I've had this story in my head for quite some time now. It'll begin from the perspective of a noble named Melody who arrives at Alexandria at Queen Garnet's 19th birthday. I know that some people dislike OCs, but only because not all OCs are developed. I'm trying to make mine a bit deeper….So…have fun trying to decipher the enigma that is my mind. Oh, and FFIX does not belong to me. I'm a fan, just like you. *cheesy smile*
Italics mean thought.
Underline means announcements
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Chapter 1: The Wandering
Do you want to wander farther on?
You shall be mine eternally
Come back
To the spring, faithful and tender
Come back
There's always happiness [1]
Anger. That's all you can express, can't you?
Melody.
You get angry so fast that I can't even recognize you,
Melody.
And then I become ashamed to call you my daughter!
Melody!
Melody, the sixteen year old, suddenly uplifted herself from the frame of the airship window. Her mother was looking at her almost worryingly, which she returned an annoyed look.
"Are you nervous?" She asked.
"No," which Melody answered rather fast. Everyone asked the same questions. It was if people couldn't think for themselves. In the higher preparatory school, teachers asked her if she was worried. How could she be worried? She was going to Alexandria only to be tutored by the legendary scholar Dr. Tot. Most students might have envied her, but only showed it through their more restrained "hellos."
Even when she was reprimanded as a child, people repeated themselves, one after the other. An example is when she had an allergic reaction from eating berries at a picnic. She even asked the girl who was urging her to try one of the pies if there were blueberries in the pie. She hesitantly said "I don't think so." The girl obviously didn't make the pie as she claimed. Later on, her mother, her grandmother, her teachers, cousins, and other students lectured the same words "watch what you eat." Well yes. Melody had just been doing that. However, she was also following the whole "communicate and socialize" with the other nobles. Well, she was being friendly, and ultimately implying friendship by accepting the invitation for the stupid picnic as eating the accursed pie.
Melody later suspected one of the classmates, Ms. Alverdine, for instigating the whole mess. The girl who offered the pie looked as if she was not in compliance with the plot, but her desire to ascend the social latter outweighed Melody's health. So there. It was not her fault.
But who cared about faults? Adults didn't? They merely talked about how one should remain careful of people's intentions, while contradicting in their explanation why one should always comply with society. Only a couple of months ago, her mother complied with her on certain topics, such as being independent of people's intent and making your own character in order to lay down a strong and deep foundation that would be immune to total demolishing by someone's remarks. Melody mentally slapped herself from her cynical thoughts.
Nevertheless, Melody decided to add more to her answer in case she disrespected her mother. "But I am looking forward to having Dr. Tot as my tutor."
Her mother looked at her dubiously. But noting that Melody had nothing more to say, she nodded at the remark.
"Melody," she addressed again. "Will you be a dear and do something for me?"
Perhaps it was Melody's annoyed look that her mother started to say "Its all right. I'll do it myself."
Melody sighed. Why did they have to play this game? They both knew what was going to happen. Melody would feel bad, and then have to apologize and convince her that she can do it, which she ended up doing.
"Will you be a dear and go to a shop at the last airship stop? Can you get one of the pen that comes with the ink inside it?"
"Sure." Melody said, trying to hide her disdain.
She stood up as soon the airship approached the deck of the second to last stop.
"I'll be right back," she said.
"Be careful," her mother explained. Melody nodded.
The airship captain made his announcement regarding the small stop: We are now approaching Addison Stop. After this will be the Alexandrian docks. There is a twenty-minute break. Please come back in time.
Melody walked off through the middle of the aligned seats before her mother could repeat what the airship captain said. She already knew. She lowered her hat before the sun's rays, and walked down the stairs provided by the airship stop.
She was almost surprised to see so many people outside. Not just nobles, but people from different classes. Caretakers, to airship workers, from weapon smiths and even little toothless children running and admiring the well dressed people that stood watching them with apathetic eyes. Surely there would be pickpockets in the amalgam of people as well. She already knew that she would stick out. It wasn't the fact that she was noble. No, it was more apparent from the clothes. For men, long luxurious coats with embroidery, hats of various plumes to make them look vain as peacocks, as well as fancy britches and shoes shined glistening with the tears of the children who shined them. Noblewomen were clad in large dresses, tight from the bust and flowing from the bottom, the latest fashion, of course. They also would wear large hats with rare feathers, which Melody would snicker at, would be stolen from birds. It's funny, she thought. How the merchants would steal the birds, and then sell them to some cocky noble at a high price.
Melody, today, was dressed mostly in white. Her dress was white with hints of cerulean. Her hat was white as well with blue flowers. She knew that did not complement the crowd.
Although today was the occasion in which she would go to live in the castle for some time, it was also the day when the Queen was going to be engaged to the "hero," her beloved. Melody could not understand for the life of her why people who had nothing to do with the engagement would still bother showing up.
In her thoughts, Melody continued making her way towards the end of the staircase, and then she assimilated into the crowd. There were plenty of shops for the tourists to fix their attentions on, and for Melody, that posed a problem. She needed to get the pen quickly in order not to miss her airship taking off to Alexandria Castle. And then Melody would feel bad because she knew that that her mother knew that she wasn't really listening. That's why she wanted to avoid the scene altogether. Therefore, she kept on walking until she saw a small shop nestled in a high reaching corner on the street.
When she entered the shop, she should have not been surprised to find it full of other avid shoppers; nobles who bought antiques and useless items that were just costly because of their "genuineness" and because only they could afford it. But they should know, as Melody thought, that no one can purchase genuineness.
There were so many people crowded in one shop, yelling at the attendant to fetch this and that, that Melody wondered how enough oxygen actually circulated in there. She looked towards the items, the hodgepodges. However, no matter how the condition of the shop looked like, her need for the pen outweighed her wish to leave right away. She stood behind a nobleman until she was called. By this time, she was tapping her feet, and looking out of the window as she told the shop attendant that she would like a pen. He, on the other hand, was not in a hurry. To him, this was just one of those extraordinary days in which customers would relentlessly line up his store and add to his business. In a year, he would finally have enough money to retire.
However, not much of that plan had anything to do with the red haired girl in the large white hat in the white dress who was beaming impatiently at him.
"Yes, how may I help you?" He asked without noticing Melody's annoyed look.
"Do you have any pens in stock?" She asked quickly, as if each wasting each second to respond. Sometimes, people had this belief that if they wait long enough for service, the service should already know what the people want.
"Hmm…," he replied pensively. "Perhaps we do. I'll check in the back."
Melody made a hand gesture that meant "stop, I'm going to go instead" but he continued,
"Its all right, miss. There's a lot of time in the world."
Melody waited near the counter for five whole minutes, trying to peer from the window if the airship she was supposed to be on was departing.
Finally, after a minute, she heard the sound that she was regretting to hear.
"The airship Masota is leaving now."
At first, she tried to repeat the words into her head, as if something would logically click and make her aware. When she repeated the words again, they seemed to not have the same meaning. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be in this situation. Why couldn't the old man be a little faster!?
Almost on cue, the old man exited the back room and approached the front desk victoriously.
"See? I did have it in stock!" An toothless grin- the one that little kids would laugh at and make fun of even days after seeing an old man. However, Melody was too consumed by her anxiety to insult the old man for taking so long. She quickly took out several gils, and slapped them on the counter before the old man could process.
"Keep the change!" She yelled as she exited the store. The man stared for seconds after her. "But she gave me too much," he said after examining the coins.
Melody ran as if her life depended on it. She was never angrier at the tourists visiting Alexandria. Most of all, she was cursing her own incompetence as the image of the airship taking off without her. It seemed like it could not happen. She knew that no one would notice that she was missing, save her mother, and it was possible for something to leave without her.
She kicked the pebble on the platform of the station. The conductor on the platform stared at her. Yep, one of the people who missed it.
"Miss," he said, almost snickering at the lame pun that she "missed" her flight. "There will be another airship in about fifteen minutes. It'll take you to Alexandria in no time."
Melody, however, didn't give the impression of being cheered up from the facts. She knew that her mother would scold her for missing the airship later. With a small "Thank you" to the conductor, she moved slowly to the benches where some other people where waiting.
She sat herself next to an old woman. She heard the woman mumbling to herself. Melody quickly stole a glance at her. Must be one of those pigeon ladies, thought Melody. After ten minutes of waiting, Melody remembered that she had to purchase a ticked for this upcoming airship. She would have not needed one if she only didn't miss her previous ride. Before she left, she looked at her bag. It was heavy because it contained some of her possessions, and she didn't want to burden her mother with the hand carry, so she decided to trust in the goodwill of people around her, like old people.
"Excuse me, m'am," Melody said softly at first at the old mumbling lady with the newspaper. The old lady looked at her with a scowl. Melody was a little taken back, and everything in her told her to get away from the cranky elder, but Melody was also stubborn and stared right back.
"Would you mind looking after my bag? I'll be right back."
The old lady observed Melody for two seconds before answering in a capricious manner. "Sure, sweetie!" The old lady was grinning.
A little creeped out, and also with the intense desire to quickly buy the ticket, Melody motivated herself with the thought of sitting in a nice airhsip towards Alexandria castle.
Melody walked to the ticket booth and bought her ticket from the "emergency" money that she was carrying in the smallest pocket of her dress. The next airship would come in 5 minutes. Melody's triumphant smile dropped when she approached the bench and saw no traces of the elderly woman, and unfortunately, nor her own bag. As she came closer to the bench, she played the scene over in her head. She left her bag with the lady. The lady said "sure." I came back. No lady or bag. This couldn't be happening.
She slumped on the bench with her head in her hands. Seriously. How could have this happened? And how was she dumb enough to even consider trusting a stranger. With a defeated sigh, she looked up. There was a sign.
"Beware of pickpockets," she read.
Why the hell would a sign be posted up there!? Why is Alexandria filling up with dirty crooks as well? She bitterly read the sign again.
"Yes…you should." confirmed a man in an accusing tone (directed at Melody) after Melody read the sign. He was one of those sketchy people she had seen in Treno, the ones who where half shaven and wearing clothes that were definitely too high class for them. Somehow, Melody knew by looking at him that he was in on his plot. Could she be kidnapped in places such as these?
Suddenly, her attention switched to the airship approaching the docks of the station. Melody stood up in her chair without a regard for her surrounding, ran towards the airship as if it would fly again without her. She had to push past people who wouldn't even budge when she excused herself, and finally as she made her way towards the halted ship, just pushed past people without a regard for them, until she pushed two young men who were in an argument. Unfortunately, one of them dropped a lot of papers, and the other looked in horror. The first one swore, and the second one tried to pick the papers as well. Melody almost ran, but then something tugged in her chest, so she went back and picked up one of the stray papers. She held it out of the young men, but they were locked in an argument about proper roles in a family, or something.
The airship was giving its first warning signal for departure. Melody shook her head. Without thinking, she folded the paper and put it in the "secret" pocket of her dress and made a run for the airship. It was almost an euphoric feeling as she approached the ship. She should've known the law that anything that could go wrong would go wrong. One of the flight attendants burdened with the boxes of food intended for the passengers of the ship clashed with her. In the frenzy, Melody saw all the food dropping on her, and in the process, the ticket that she was stupidly carrying in her hand fell somewhere in the mess of people.
She stood up angrily, and advanced dangerously towards the apologetic, red-headed flight attendant. She flight attendant smiled nervously, knowing that this could only end in two ways, and said "I'm afraid that you'll have to change, miss…"
Melody almost jumped and encircled her hands close to the sailor's neck, and then suddenly put her hands down defeated. "I know," she almost wailed, holding out a part of her white dress. "But what am I supposed to wear!? I missed my flight, my bag was stolen, and now my ticket is gone!"
"I think that I've got an idea," the red-headed sailor smiled nervously, not convincing Melody to think of her situation in a better light.
"Cold drinks, cold drinks, cold drinks!" Melody overly enthusiastically chirped in the airship, holding a bucket of ice with bottles of different drinks, clad in the sailor shirt and the long navy blue skirt with the little sailor cap included.
No one really seemed to care- rather the people were conversing among themselves of their future plans, which probably included watching a play before celebrating the Queen's birthday. Besides, these people weren't probably going to feign as much interest as the nobles. The aircab was filled with mostly middle class people, including families from neighboring towns.
I'll have one," a miscellaneous man waved. As Melody approached the source of the voice, she noticed that there were four more people seated in chairs opposite him. As she approached farther, she noticed that the man who was waving at her; short, pudgy, wearing clothes that didn't fit him, accompanied with whiskers as well as beady eyes. Before Melody reached in the bucket, he motioned her to stop. "Wait," he said either to himself or the company around him. "I'll have the coldest drink. What's the coldest drink ya got?" His tone of voice wasn't advancing nor threatening, so Melody decided to stay casual. She swiped a bag of ice from the bucket and threw it up a little before catching it. "The coldest drink in here would be ice, mister."
The pudgy man laughed- "That's a good one. I guess I'll take the lemonade."
Melody handed him the lemonade and looked at the rest of the company. Next to him, there was a man with a bandana, who seemed to be trying to console a silver haired woman who looked in a foul mood.
"I'll have one too," the man with the bandana said. Melody considered asking the woman as well as she reached for a lemonade.
"How 'bout you ma'am," she asked the woman with the silver hair. The woman was actually looking at some papers that were spilled on to the table in front of her. "Ma'am?" Melody asked again.
"Ah, just leave her, miss. Ruby's having a hard time with her play," said the guy with the bandana.
"Play?" Melody asked while switching the ice bucket from one hand to the other.
"Yeah," The pudgy man continued, "She can't figure out how to make the ending. Its supposed to be when the hero declares his love for his childhood friend."
"And the deadline is comin' soon!" The lady said as she threw the papers from her hand to the table. "That Lowell ain't accepting none of my endings. I'm sick of tryin' to find one that is to his 'majesty's likin'!"
Lowell. Melody heard that name before, hadn't she? Oh yes, he was in the plays that she never watched.
"Well," Melody said as she placed her bucket on the ground. "How about this," she said as she approached Ruby to eye level, who seemed a little startled by Melody's sudden movement.
"The hero, uh…"
"Wayne." Ruby filled in.
"Wayne arrives on his chocobo in front of….Er…What's the heroine's name?"
"Rosaline."
"Rosaline's house, and he descends gracefully off of his chocobo, his cape moving in the wind, swish….His footsteps from his boots echo, tock, tock, tock on the pavement as he approaches Rosaline, and he says…"
Melody moved toward the man who was sitting next to Ruby, reading a map of some sort.
"Rosaline," She said to him as she put herself eyelevel toward him too. When he looked up at her, she suddenly she realized something. She decided to put it in the back of her mind for now. The man had dark red hair, some scars as well as a contraption that covered his eyes, resembling a belt. Nevertheless, she decided to go through her day despite the outcomes.
"Rosaline?" She asked, a little more confidently. He just raised his map further in hopes that she would leave him alone.
"Errr…Rosaline was hesitant to see Wayne at first," Melody explained, "but then Wayne tried again." This time, Melody pushed down the map, revealing an annoyed look from the man even if she couldn't see his eyes.
"Rosaline, you always said that everyone has their roles to one another. Everyone has a responsibility towards each other once they know one another."
The young man's frown disappeared slowly.
"I once told you that people do not need a reason to help others. I helped you because I love you."
Now even Marcus was intently watching the scene.
"I love you, Rosaline with all my heart. I want to share my heart with you for an eternity. Will you marry me?"
Ruby's fingers formed the screen as she leaned forward to watch. "Then what?"
"Nothing." Melody said, "Or else you're going to poke him with your screen," she said gesturing towards the red haired man.
"So what now?" Cinna asked Melody as she came out of seats and picked up the drinks bucket. "Now, I'll be heading off towards work! Cheerio mates!" She gave a "sailor salute" and walked towards the front of the aisle, trying to advertise the cold drinks.
"Should I dare ask who she was?" Cinna asked, watching Melody's back disappear to the flight attendants' room.
"Whoever she was," Ruby said as she picked up her papers, "just saved my play…no thanks to you!" She smacked Cinna with her roll of the play's script.
Marcus wondered as well, and then turned towards Blank, who, not for the first time, looked dazed. "Bro, what's wrong with you?"
"Huh"? Blank said. "Oh, nothing." He didn't tell Cinna that Melody repeated almost everything (except for the love and marriage part) that he said to Zidane when they were picking up the documents that scattered at the airship station.
Finally, the speakers announced: The airship is approaching Alexandria Castle's docks. Please remember to take all of your belongings.
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*Author's note*
Wow. The first chapter....
[1] The song Das Wandern from the anime .hack/sign.
Most of the characters from FFIX will be introduced in chapter 2. I know that this chapter is probably confusing. Let me know if there's anything too confusing or something that you want to clear up. Constructive criticism is highly valued to me as a writer. Remember, I don't know what you guys think until you leave a review ^^