A/N: This is my first attempt at writing any kind of fiction in years, so I apologize in advance if this story is hard to read, doesn't make sense, or is hopelessly bad. Please review if you have any comments, good or bad, about this story.
Sealed
by adastra
Laguna was nearly in a panic. He had just found out that Ellone
was in the laboratory of Dr. Odine in Esthar, but the trip from the
Lunatic Pandora laboratory to Esthar City was at least a four-hour drive,
and he wasn't satisfied with the rate that he was getting there. "Can't
you drive any faster?", he asked the man driving the car.
"You think you can do better?", the driver snapped. "I'm sorry, I
know you want to rescue that girl, but these roads are kind of hazardous.
You won't be able to help her if I wreck the car by driving too fast."
Kiros put a hand on Laguna's shoulder. "Calm down, Laguna. We'll get
there soon, and I don't think that Odine will be able to arrive in Esthar
before we do. Elle will be all right. I promise."
Laguna sighed. "I suppose you're right, but I can't help thinking
that I might not be able to save her in time..."
"I know, but there's nothing you can do until we get there." Little
was said for the rest of the journey.
"Okay, now how can we get into this place?", Laguna muttered.
Ward looked at him and shrugged. Laguna took a deep breath, and said,
"Well, I suppose it won't hurt to try the front door, even if it is a slim
chance." To the surprise of everyone, the main entryway to the laboratory
was unlocked, and nobody could be seen in the lobby within. Laguna
couldn't see any cameras either, which didn't mean there were no cameras,
but Laguna didn't care. All he wanted was to get Ellone out of this
place, and who was going to stop him?
At the opposite end of the lobby from the entrance was a massive
set of doors. Laguna ran over to the other side of the room and attempted
to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "I guess that this isn't the way
to go...", sighed Laguna. Looking around the room, his eyes fell on a
peculiar pedestal in the room's center. "Oh yeah, let's try the
elevator!"
Laguna, Kiros, and Ward strode across the lobby to the center of
the room, where the odd Estharian elevators waited. "Do you know where
this goes?", asked Kiros.
"Not a clue, but we gotta try it", replied Laguna. Kiros and Ward
looked at each other, and sat down on the elevator with Laguna.
The elevator lurched upward to a conduit above the ceiling, and
whisked along for a short time before coming to rest in a room lined with
computer monitors and instruments. At the far end of the room, the wall
consisted of a blue field of force, beyond which a cell containing a
little girl could be seen. "Elle!", Laguna shouted, but the girl made no
sign that she could either see or hear Laguna. Laguna went up to the
force wall and prodded it, but the wall remained unchanged, and Ellone
still didn't seem to be aware of Laguna's presence on the other side of
the barrier. Laguna slumped over, disappointed, and then looked to where
Ward and Kiros were inspecting a control panel. "Hey, maybe there's some
button or switch here that controls that wall!", Laguna exclaimed.
"Already thought of that, Laguna", said Kiros. "But where?
There must be hundreds of different controls on this panel alone..."
Laguna cut in, "Just let me at it", as he pushed Ward to the side.
Kiros and Ward backed up a few steps from Laguna, ready to run if Laguna
did anything that seemed remotely harmful. "Here goes nothing", said
Laguna, as he pushed buttons at random. After a few minutes of trying, a
message appeared on the terminal: "Cell Unlocked".
"What did that do?", asked Laguna. "We still can't get into that
room and get Elle out!"
Kiros replied, "Calm down, Laguna. I'm sure that we can get into
there somehow. This is a control room...the door to the cell must be
somewhere else."
With that, the three walked back over to the elevator and took it
back to the lobby. As soon as the elevator settled to a rest, Laguna saw
a flashing green light on the massive doors at the back of the room.
Walking over, he pressed a button next to the green light, and the doors
slid open, revealing the cell which held Ellone.
Without hesitation, Laguna ran into the cell, crying "Elle! Are
you OK?" He kneeled down before Ellone, and embraced her. Kiros could see
the beginnings of tears forming in Laguna's eyes as he apologized to the
girl. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't get here sooner..." Ellone was also
on the verge of tears, but for a different reason. She was so happy to
see Laguna come and rescue her, and she threw her arms around Laguna to
hug him. "Don't cry, Uncle Laguna", she said. Kiros and Ward moved to
the other side of the room to give Laguna and Elle a little space and
privacy to talk, but Laguna and Ellone followed them.
"Let's get out of here before anybody can stop us", Laguna said.
Elle was still holding tightly to his hand as they left the cell. Laguna
scooped Ellone up in his arms and exited into the lobby, his companions
following close behind. In the lobby, they were greeted by the sight of
Dr. Odine and a research assistant entering the lobby from the doors to
the outside.
It was hard to tell which group was more shocked. After a moment
of stunned silence, Odine gained his composure and shrieked, "Vat are you
doing with zat girl? You cannot steal Odine's research! Desist!" Odine
started towards Ellone and Laguna, but stopped his tracks as Ward stepped
in front of Laguna and cracked his knuckles. "Zat iz to say, ze Sorceress
will be very angry with Odine. You cannot imagine vat Adel will do when
she finds ze girl missing."
Kiros looked at Odine in disgust. "You can't be serious! Ellone
isn't just an experiment, and I don't care what Adel will do to you, you
heartless bastard!"
Ward put a restraining hand on Kiros' shoulder, and turned to
Laguna. "..."
"Oh, right." Laguna turned to Odine's lab assistant. "Why don't
you explain the resistance's plan to depose Adel?"
"Vat? I never knew zat you were a traitor to Adel!"
Laguna stepped forward. "No need to act patriotic toward Adel's
rule. We know that you would like to be able to do your research away
from Adel's supervision."
"Zat iz true...how did you know that?"
Odine's assistant spoke up. "Dr. Odine, the resistance has formed
a plan to rid Esthar of Adel's rule. We will need your help for this
plan, though."
Laguna cut in to the research assistant's explanation. "Sorry to
interrupt you, James, but is this lab under surveillance?"
Odine cut in before James could answer Laguna's question. "Of
course it iz! Do you take Odine for a fool?", was Dr. Odine's reply.
"Good. I have a brilliant plan. Show Adel the surveillance
footage of us taking Elle here out of this place. If she recognizes me as
the one who took Elle, it should be pretty easy for me to lure her into
our trap."
"Now that it seems that everybody has had a chance to cut me off,
I'll continue to explain my plan," said James rather peevishly.
Gesturing towards Ellone, he continued, "We all know that the Sorceress is
interested in this girl's abilities. She's not going to be happy to find
her gone, and will likely do all that she can to find her and those that
took her." Taking a deep breath, he turned to Odine. "Just to make sure
that she will pursue us into our trap, we would like to move the Lunatic
Pandora out of Esthar."
"You cannot be serious about that! You know zat I am still
researching ze Lunatic Pandora!" sputtered Odine.
"Calm down...we know that you have learned almost all that you can
about the Lunatic Pandora," soothed James. "I believe that it's in your
best interests to help depose Adel. If we take away the Pandora from
Adel, right after taking Ellone out of her reach, the Sorceress will have
no choice but to try to apprehend us."
Odine replied to his assistant, "Zat may be so, but I still vant to
study ze Lunatic Pandora... Besides, why do you people assume zat Adel
will do exactly vat you expect her to do?"
Laguna countered, "So you'll lose the Pandora...well, all of us are
going to have to make sacrifices to see this plan through. About Adel,
no, we don't know for sure that she will do as according to my plan, but I
know that my plan is going to work. It's just too brilliant not to!"
James cut Laguna off, asking him, "Why don't you tell Odine about the
plan? We need him for parts of it, so we'll have to tell him some time or
another."
Laguna was silent for a moment, obviously thinking about how to
describe the plan in the most convincing way. Turning to Dr. Odine, he
explained, "Well, first of all, you, or somebody else working in this
laboratory will have to show Adel the surveillance footage of us taking
Ellone out of here. That will get her to connect me with the
resistance...let her have a, umm..., specific face to associate with her
enemies."
James spoke up, thinking that he could be a little more concise with
his explanation than Laguna was doing so far. "Right. Once she knows the
face of her enemy, so to speak, she should stop at nothing to apprehend
Laguna, so as to make an example of him to the populace...you know, show
Esthar what happens to those who defy her. She knows that the people are
discontented with the war, and needs to assert her authority, hoping that
such an act will put down any dissident factions for a while." Taking a
breath, he continued, "Now, Dr. Odine, if you would help us take the
Lunatic Pandora away from Esthar, again casting Laguna as the perpetrator,
that will convince Adel to give top priority to capturing Laguna."
Laguna took advantage of the pause in James's explanation, and
continued, "After a few days of hiding after we take the Lunatic Pandora
away, that's when we trap her. Adel will probably have made it quite
clear what she will do to the resistance, so I'll come out of hiding and
make it look like I'm begging for mercy from her. We'll offer her Ellone
and the Pandora's location in exchange for sparing my life." Laguna
hesitated, and turned to Kiros and James. "Now, I didn't really
understand what we'll do for the last part, so..."
Kiros motioned for James to proceed. "Ah. The last part is where we
trap Adel. Now, you know that if Adel dies, she must pass her powers on.
Instead of killing her, we're planning to imprison her with the device
that you're working on to seal a Sorceress' powers, to make sure that
nobody else will get her powers, and continue what Adel has started."
Dr. Odine looked up at this information. "So you vant to use ze
sealing facility to trap her...but what if somebody breaks the seal?"
"Well, once we have her sealed away, we were planning on sending her
into space where nobody could get to her."
Laguna spoke up, "Yeah, that's how we'll take care of her. I'll lure
her into the trap, and you'll be rid of her."
Dr. Odine appeared to be considering the plan. "Well, I suppose zat I
cannot think of any objections to zis plan of yours. I will help you, as
long as I am not put into any position where ze Sorceress will suspect
me."
Adel paced across the floor of her office in the presidential palace.
Odine had notified her that the girl, Ellone, was taken away from his
laboratory. `Stupid idiot, he told me that nothing would happen to her,
he just wanted to study her powers for a little while, he said.' She
had summoned him to explain how he managed to make such a mistake, and was
awaiting his arrival.
Odine approached the doors leading to Adel's office, hoping for the
best. He was flanked by two guards, one of which stepped forward and
spoke to the soldiers guarding the door. The soldiers nodded, and one of
them spoke into an intercom, "Your Majesty, Dr. Odine has arrived."
Odine flinched slightly as the doors in front of him swung open. He
felt the guards at his sides push him forward slightly, and hesitantly
walked through the doors. Looking up, he saw an incredibly tall woman with
shockingly red hair and skin of an unusual shade of purple standing before
the windows at the opposite end of the room. It appeared that the Sorceress
had been waiting for him.
"Your Majesty, we have brought Dr. Odine to you, as you requested",
offered the guard to his right side. Adel made a small motion of
dismissal with her hand, and the guards left the room, closing the door
behind him.
"So, my friend, it seems that you have some explaining to do", said
Adel. Odine was, as always, slightly taken aback at the Sorceress' voice.
It was soft and pleasant, contrasting sharply with the threats and malice
present in her words.
Odine quickly rehearsed what he was going to say, and gathered up his
courage to speak. "Yes, your Majesty, Odine will explain. Ze girl was
taken when I was at ze Lunatic Pandora Laboratory, so I don't have a
first-hand account of vat happened." He held up a video and continued,
"However, I believe zat I will be able to give sufficient account of vat
happened from ze surveillance footage."
`How disgusting...trying to placate me enough to escape from my
office alive', thought Adel. "Very well, Odine, show me the footage,"
she replied to his obsequious words, waving her hand at a video player on
her desk.
Odine steeped toward Adel's desk slowly, and started the surveilance
video. "Az you can see, your Majesty, it was not Odine's fault zat..."
Adel sneered at him. "I may hear your account after I have seen all
relevant parts of the video. Until then, do be quiet." The surveillance
video showed a young man with longish brown hair who seemed to be in his
twenties. As the video continued, Adel watched curiously, wondering at
the man's good nature and at how much he seemed to care for the girl he
was rescuing. Would anyone have done the same for her, had she been in
the young girl's position? Adel mentally berated herself, `What, did you
think that somebody would care one way or another about the freakish child
everyone saw you as?' She was drawn out of her thoughts by Odine's
hesitant voice.
"Your Majesty, now zat you have seen the video, surely you cannot
blame Odine for ze girl's disappearance...?" Odine inwardly cringed,
fearing that perhaps speaking before Adel let him would turn out to have
somewhat unhealthy consequences for him.
Adel gave him a look of pure loathing. She greatly wanted to blame
Odine, innocent or not, but she realized that that would gain her little.
"Yes, I see that you were not in at the time that the girl was taken. I
suppose that I can't blame your idiocy this time. Now, you may go."
Odine did not need to be told twice. He bowed to the Sorceress, and
left as quickly as politeness would allow. `Zat is all Adel has to say to
Odine?' However, he wouldn't question his good fortune of leaving with
only unkind words from the Sorceress.
Meanwhile, behind the doors that Odine had just left, Adel played the
surveillance video back again. Again, she focused her interest on the
long-haired man. `Who is he', she wondered. `He must have gotten help
from some resistance faction to get into Odine's lab, but is he with them?
Does he pose any further threat?' Shaking her head, she called for the
head of Esthar's intelligence agency. Hopefully, she would have some
answers to these questions soon.
Laguna stood outside the Lunatic Pandora laboratory. He impatiently
fidgeted as he wondered if Odine would show up and help him and the
resistance with this part of the plan to depose Adel. `If only Elle was
here', he thought, `I'm never bored around her. Still, I had to send her
home to her mother.' Perhaps the doctor had been detained by Adel. He
wished that they didn't have to rely on the seemingly untrustworthy man,
but Odine was the only one that knew how to control the Lunatic Pandora,
with the possible exception of Adel herself.
"Laguna, I just heard from Odine that he would be here shortly", said
James, Odine's assistant. "He said that his meeting with the Sorceress
went well, and that she has seen the surveillance video, but he had some
things to take care of in the city, and that's why he's running late."
"Thanks. Is there anything that I can do while we wait for him to
show up?", Laguna asked.
"No, we've done all that we can without the Doctor. I guess that
we'll just have to wait for him to show up. Besides, it shouldn't be that
long until he arrives." James turned around to go inside as Laguna turned
his attention to look at the city in the distance.
"Who would ever have thought that I'd end up trying to depose the
ruler of the most advanced country in this world?", Laguna said to
himself. `It just goes to show that the only thing one can expect from
life is the unexpected.' Laguna shook his head and went inside; he wasn't
normally given
to such thoughts.
To everyone's relief at the Lunatic Pandora laboratory, Dr. Odine did
show up that day. They all knew that there was a high likelihood that
the plan to depose Adel could go horribly wrong, and nobody wanted to
think what actions Adel might take against them should they be caught.
Now, it appeared that they could get this part of the plan behind them,
leaving only the final confrontation with Adel.
Odine faced everyone from the resistance just inside the entrance to
the laboratory. "Now, we are at one of ze most crucial parts of our plan.
Nothing must go wrong today. Odine would like to do this part by himself,
but", Odine said, turning towards Laguna, "you, Mr. Loire, along with your
companions, must be the one to go into the command room and do what iz
needed. It would not do for Adel to see Odine sending the Lunatic Pandora
off to the sea with you when shown ze surveillance videos of today's
action."
Odine took Laguna, Kiros, and Ward to the side, and told them
what must be done to send the Pandora on its way. Laguna kept asking
Odine to repeat himself, and finally Kiros and Ward looked at each other.
"Dr. Odine, I believe that Ward and I know how to carry out this process.
All we need Laguna for is so he shows up on the surveillance camera. We
can take care of the rest with James's help."
Odine looked at Kiros and Ward appraisingly. Turning to Ward, he
asked, "And you? Are you sure zat you know what you are doing?"
Ward nodded his assent. "..."
Laguna touched Dr. Odine on the shoulder to gain his attention.
"We'll do all right. I know you really don't want to see your chance to
study the Lunatic Pandora go off into the ocean, but you have to know that
this is for the best."
Odine seemed at a loss for words, and just nodded, waving Laguna,
Kiros, Ward, and James toward the laboratory's control room.
Inside the control room, James said softly, "He may have his
priorities wrong, but it's kind of sad to see the Doctor so upset over
losing this," making a gesture towards the windows facing the Lunatic
Pandora. Motioning the other three over to a control panel, he said,
"I'm sorry to see it gone, too, in a way. I was writing a paper on its
workings, but now, I'll never be able to finish it."
Ward looked at him, but of course said nothing. James nodded back,
"Thank you. Now, here's what we have to do..."
Odine had gone outside the laboratory to watch. The Lunatic Pandora
shuddered, and with a low, grinding sound, lifted away from the ground it
was partly buried in. `Laguna's companions must have done it right.' As
he continued to watch, the monolith slowly accelerated to the west,
gaining speed as it headed toward Esthar. After a few minutes, the
Lunatic Pandora was just a small shape on the horizon, and he turned to
see Laguna and the others exit the laboratory.
"We set things up so that it should sink off the coast of Centra,"
said James, breaking the silence.
And you made sure zat ze surveillance footage shows only vat we want
it to?", asked Odine.
Kiros stepped forward. "Yes, Dr. Odine. The footage shows our faces
clearly, and we made it look like we broke in, so you shouldn't be in too
much danger from Adel when she finds out."
James added, "Still, it would be best if we left immediately. We
still have preparations to make before we face Adel, and it would be best
if we left the scene of the crime in any case, so to speak."
Odine nodded. "Odine will return to Esthar and show ze Sorceress ze
surveillance video. You," he said, pointing at James, "go to ze sealing
facility and make sure zat everything iz working there. You three," he
continued, turning to Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, "you know what to do..."
Laguna interrupted the scientist, "Yeah, we get Adel to follow us to
where you've hidden the sealing device that she doesn't know about."
Kiros asked Odine, "Doctor, are you sure that Adel doesn't know about
this sealing device that you've been working on? What if she's able to
tell what it is?"
Odine replied promptly, "Yes, yes, ze Sorceress has no idea zat Odine
has been working on a sealing device. It iz unlikely zat she will be able
to tell what Odine's device iz for."
Laguna nodded, and said, "Right. We all know what to do from here.
Good luck, everybody."
Adel was furious. Not only had the girl with her special powers been taken out of her grasp, but now, the Lunatic Pandora had just floated over the city, heading toward Centra. `That fool Odine had better have a good explanation this time...', the Sorceress thought. She wasn't looking forward to having to listen to the obnoxious scientist, but resigned herself to summoning Odine to the Presidential Palace.
A day had passed, and Adel had not heard from Dr. Odine yet. She was
beginning to suspect that he had something to do with the Lunatic
Pandora's disappearance.
A servant knocked on the doors, and meekly entered the room. "Your
Majesty? I've been sent to inform you that Odine has answered your
summons." Receiving no reply from the Sorceress, she slipped out of the
room.
Adel sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head in her hands.
She was beginning to get a headache, and the last person she wanted to
hear from right now was Odine. `I'll have to deal with him, but maybe I
can get this meeting over with quickly', thought Adel, as she rubbed her
temples.
The Sorceress did not have to wait long before Odine arrived in her
office, and immediately began talking. "Your Majesty, you must know zat
Odine had nothing to do with ze Lunatic Pandora incident. I..."
Adel cut him off; it seemed to Dr. Odine that her usually pleasant
voice held a sharp, brittle edge to it this time. "Don't waste my time.
Either show me some proof that you were not involved, or leave."
Cut off in the middle of his explanation, Odine looked to be
considering to continue, but instead, he wordlessly handed over the
surveillance video from the Lunatic Pandora laboratory. Adel looked up at
him. "Leave me, and wait outside. I'll call for you if I need to
question you any further."
Odine looked surprised, but just said in reply, "As you wish, your
Majesty", before he turned and left the room.
Adel sighed again before starting the video. `I'll have to take the
rest of day off...I can't work anymore today', she thought. Watching as
the footage began, she saw the long-haired man that had taken that girl
away from her. `Him again...' After a few minutes, the relevant part of
the video ended, and she jabbed at the video player with a little more
force than necessary to stop the video.
It was the same man, Adel was sure of it. `What is he hoping to
accomplish', she wondered. She considered playing the surveillance
footage over again, but decided against it. `I've had enough for today.'
Standing up from behind her desk, she exited through the back of the
office and went to her private chambers, unable to stop thinking about the
man on the video. `Why does my mind keep returning to him?' Lying down
and placing a wet washcloth over her eyes, she tried to rid her mind of
her thoughts. She never did remember that she had left Dr. Odine waiting
outside her office.
Adel woke up; the windows were dark. `I must have fallen asleep', she thought. Carefully sitting up, she found that her head was feeling better, and decided to go into her office and deal with the matters of the Lunatic Pandora's disappearance. She was still thinking of the man in the video, and he had featured prominently in the dream she had just before waking. The dream didn't make sense to her, but then again, her dreams hardly ever did. She had seen herself wandering in a strange dreamscape, and every time she looked behind her, she saw him watching her, his face showing nothing but what appeared to be resignation to an unpleasant task. "I'll finish this matter, and maybe I can stop thinking about this", she muttered as she picked up the phone to finish her task.
Laguna watched the television intently. The cable transmission showed
a news report detailing the Sorceress' response to the disappearance of
the Lunatic Pandora. At the moment, a segment showing Adel herself
iterating what would befall the perpetrators was playing. :...and return
the girl to my posession, they will be spared. If not, I will find them
eventually. In that case, they face nothing but death.:
Laguna tuned out the rest of the transmission, as he had already heard
about this on a different channel. He wondered, `Will we make it back
from this? Adel, she is a monster...if this plan fails, I don't think
we'll be able to escape.' Another thought entered his mind, `A monster?
Do you think she ever had a choice in becoming one? Becoming one was
probably the only way she could live her life.' Laguna sighed, his
thoughts staying on Adel, and what they had to do to defeat her. He was
tired of thinking, and he wished that it was already over.
Kiros walked into the room; apparently, he had been watching the
screen from the doorway. "Laguna? Do you think that you'll ever get to
see Raine and Elle again?"
Laguna remained silent for a few moments, and then replied, "I hope
so. I don't want to go up against Adel and get killed, but I know that I
have to do this for them."
Kiros sat down in the chair next to Laguna. "I think I know how you
feel. I really don't have any family to worry about, but I know that we
have to do this...no matter who is victorious, I won't have any regrets."
Laguna chuckled. "If we win, we won't regret being the hero. If we
lose, well, dead men can't regret anything, can they?"
Kiros just shook his head and stood to leave. On the way out, he
mumbled, "In twenty-four hours this will all be over..."
Adel frowned as she was driven to the laboratory that Dr. Odine had by the inland sea. It seemed that the resistance was willing to give up Ellone to save themselves. They had been hiding at the laboratory, and she was going there to end it. `This may end up well today, but what will happen when somebody else decides to challenge my rule?', she said to herself. All that she wanted was to get this over with; the amount of stress that this whole affair was causing her felt like it was eating away at her mind. Sighing, she saw the bulk of the laboratory in the distance. Good. It was almost over.
The people gathered at Odine's laboratory watched apprehensively as
Adel got out of the vehicle that had just arrived. Kneeling down to the
Sorceress seemed like a good idea at this time, so Laguna fell to his
knees and prostrated himself in front of the Sorceress as the rest
followed suit. Laguna had seen images of Adel before, but they hadn't
prepared him for the effect that she had on him. He had not realized how
impressive the tall woman before him was, she literally emanated power.
"So, you have the girl to give to me?", asked Adel. Laguna had heard
her speaking last night when he was watching the news, but he still found
Adel's pleasant voice to be somewhat surprising, considering that this
woman could probably kill him without much effort at all.
"Yes, your Majesty, we have her", said Laguna. He was all too aware
of the fear in his voice, and his leg was cramping up.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Take me to her!"
Laguna rose slowly, and started toward the steps leading up to the
laboratory's entrance. He could feel Adel's eyes from behind him; but he
felt better standing up...he was gaining his confidence with every step.
All was going according to plan.
Reaching the doorway, he opened it, and motioned for Adel to step
inside. Following her through the door, he stopped behind her as she
looked upon the hologram of Ellone.
Adel was looking at the scene before her. There was a great deal of
machinery a few steps ahead of her, and the girl was held in the middle of
it. Looking closer, she saw that the image of the girl was only a
hologram. `So he brought me here to trap me, did he?', was Adel's
thought. Turning around, she looked at Laguna. `This man threatens all
that I'm working toward. Still, I don't really want to kill him.' The
thought surprised her. Thinking about it, she remembered how grateful he
had been on the surveillance video when he rescued the girl from Dr.
Odine's laboratory. Something about that touched the heart that she
thought she had stilled. `Maybe if I had known somebody like him as a
child, I might not have had to take the path that I'm on now. Maybe...'
However, her words were at conflict with her thoughts. Turning, she
asked, "You thought to fool me with a hologram?" Not giving Laguna time
to reply, she continued, "This only makes your situation worse, you know."
Surprisingly, the man she faced wore an expression of hope. Adel was
a bit surprised by this, and said, "You have lost."
The man replied, "I don't think so...my plans are always PERFECT!"
With the last word, he threw himself at her, pushing her back into the
machinery. "Kiros! Ward! NOW!", he shouted.
The machinery around her came to life, and Adel found that she
couldn't escape. Her sorcerous powers would not respond to her needs, and
it was if she was rooted to the spot. `I lost", she thought. She was
surprised at her feelings. Expecting to feel anger and hate toward this
man, she instead felt a curious connection to him. She now knew why he
had been able to defeat her - his personality inspired all of those he
worked with. Maybe part of her hadn't even wanted to win against him. A
sensation unknown to her tightened in her chest. It wasn't fear, but
something else. Something that wasn't at all unpleasant. `What is this
that I'm feeling? Could...Could I have fallen in love with this one?'
She opened her mouth to speak, wanting to let this man know how she felt.
Before she could speak, though, the machinery around her hissed, and she
felt her awareness fading. Her last thought before stasis completely
overtook her was, `I wish he knew...'
Laguna slumped to the floor; it was finally over, and he didn't have
to be afraid anymore, for himself, for his friends, or for Raine and
Ellone. He wanted to cry in relief, but the tears just wouldn't come.
A voice behind him spoke, "It's hard, isn't it? You don't know if
you've done enough..."
Laguna didn't turn to face Kiros, in fact, he didn't even seem to have
heard him. Kiros was about to step forward when Laguna spoke. "I've done
all I can...let's hope that it's enough."
"Let's go. You need some time to yourself, and we all need to rest",
said Kiros, and he dragged Laguna to his feet. "I promise, you couldn't
have done any better than you did." Kiros started walking slowly toward
the door.
Laguna sighed, he supposed that Kiros was right. Looking back at
Adel's still form, his eyes were drawn to the Sorceress' face. Her last
moments had not been pleasant, it seemed. Still, he couldn't help but
wonder at her eyes, which had been fixed on him when she was put into
stasis. Laguna couldn't recognize the emotion he thought he saw in
them...it didn't really look like she was looking at him with malice.
Shaking his head, he followed Kiros out of the room, not looking back.
A/N: I came up with the idea for this story when I was wondering how Adel could have fallen for Laguna's trick. I know that Adel seems out of character in the last part, but then again, we never saw much of what she thought in the game. Thank you for reading, and if you have any opinion, please leave a review.
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