Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VI
Thank you to the reviewer for your review! I really appreciate you taking the time out to do that :) And, here's more! Just for you :p
So, I've got a few more one-shots here, they're 50 because... they were the prompt numbers and I didn't want to change them. So, here we go! Enjoy!
050. Flower
Roses
Oh, my hero. Where are you now? You said you'd help me if I was in a pinch, you said you come and rescue me if it really came down to it. Now would be an excellent time for you to remember that.
One week. That's all the time I have left as an unmarried woman. Shall we still be made to part? You promised a perennial love. I guess you were lying. Aren't you all, you men?
I scoff at my thoughts, like you could promise that. "He'd rather a zombie than me." I mutter to myself, drawing the attention of several maids who bustle around me, like little ducklings around their mother. Yet the promises sing here in my heart.
I was the darkness and you shed light onto my life - quite literally - from the moment we met. You should've been the starlight. But you clearly don't feel the same about me and never have.
There's no reason to whine nor complain now, I'm stuck, alone, and that's that. Terra will be here with Relm, the Figaro twins, Shadow, Cyan and Gau for my 'brilliant wedding' within three days. They know the truth. They know that I was shuffled between the nobles for merely being an ex-imperial general and actually daring to exist after the war was over. It's a good job that Terra has Edgar to protect her because I think she might break if she was tossed from person to person. I can't help but smile to myself at the thought of them, they have what I thought Locke and I had. Would have had. Might have had. I clasp my hands together in a tight prayer motion and one last time, in the hours of despair, I offer this prayer, to you my evening star. Or so you were.
Must my final vows be exchanged with him? Really? Is this not some sick nightmare? Were you only here, to quite my fear! Please speak, guide me anew... But you won't, will you? And as the bitterness seeps into my mind, I come up with one solution to my problems.
As I walk back inside from the balcony - my only space of respite - I make my decision resolute. I will not and cannot think nor feel anymore. I must begin a new life, for both our sakes. You can dwell in the past, but I'll move on, and accept whatever fate awaits me...
And with a sigh you are gone like the passing breeze from the forefront of my mind. Oh how I wished it were that easy.
"Are you sure this is the only option, Celes?" Terra asks in her ever soft voice after the maids have finally been shooed from the room by an ever zealous and vibrantly dressed Relm.
I raise a blonde eyebrow with a flat, verging on condescending look, I'd perfected in days long past in my eyes. "Whatever do you mean Terra? That I have a choice?" She is my opposite, the earth to my sky. She is kind and naïve but I have become callous from the world and have seen its many dangers and horrors. IF they want a scapegoat for all the pain that the world expereinced, I'll gladly accept the position, for all the wrongs I did in the past.
"I just mean that... You won't be alone Celes." Terra replies with a pouting frown and words of injustice on her lips. Maybe the area between sky and earth is becoming murky; mixing, irreversibly.
I cringe as I think about the fast impending future. "I wish they'd just give me weapons. I'd like to kill him on the marriage bed." I say distractedly, only half meaning what I say. Terra's eyebrows shoot up in unison with the barely listening Relm. Well, she was barely listening before. Her slowly thinning fourteen year old face lights up and I clamp a strong hand over her mouth before she can shout the wrong thing.
"Not a word." I hiss dangerously, and unsurprisingly she seems to get the message; she learnt to not mess with me after placing three large insects into my sleeping bag one time... What I would give to get back those days. Terra tightens the laces in my corset, pulling them perhaps with more force than she meant. And every string she pulled was one inch closer to my fate, the long life that stretched out in front of me...
"Ah!" I cry inadvertently. Terra drops the laces and she and Relm look at me with surprised, round eyes.
"Are you alright Celes?" Relm inquired carefully.
"Fine. Fine. I'm okay." I insist, smoothing out my white dress, taking in a deep breath. It felt like a lie to wear a white dress, but I couldn't exactly explain how and why it wouldn't be suitable, could I now? Their prize would be damaged, and further humiliated than it already is.
"Are you sure? No pain or anything?" Terra asks worriedly, and I can't help but roll my eyes as a small smile creeps onto my crimson painted on lips.
"Yes Terra, I'm fine! I'm not in pain or worrying or anything." I almost laugh. Almost.
Terra looks at me as though she's checking a doll for cracks before her face finally settles into a smile again.
"Mrs Figaro, your son." A voice declares from a crack in the door whilst holding out the green haired baby who's face looks on the verge of squalling; I barely envy her. I do all I can to stop myself from rolling my eyes but Relm holds back nothing and practically glowers in contempt at their lack of respect - Terra is a Queen for god's sake!
"You can go, I'll be fine."I say to Terra who is struggling to hold the baby on her own and Relm who is trying to assist her through whatever means she came. Terra looks at me apologetically before scuttling off, Relm following afterwards, after giving me one of her enthused pep talks, of course.
All of a sudden, the familiar bouquet of red roses feel sharp, and unnatural in my clammy palms.
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today."
Please, shut up.
"To witness the joining of Celes Chére and"
Do not pronounce the second e. I still couldn't care less though. Why am I still here? Shouldn't he have saved me yet? I regret... n...nothing. And everything.
"Does anyone here know why these two here cannot be joined in holy matrimony?"
Well yes, I do! I look out over my friend's faces amidst the sea of faceless power grabbers and almost beg with my eyes. Almost. But not one of them meets my piercing blue stare, they can't bare the thought. So that's how it is? Fine. Now would be a brilliant time to swoop in, hero.
The priest makes a terrible joke that I don't hear and breathed an irritating shaky laugh at his bad reception before clearing his voice and carrying on.
"Do you,"
No he doesn't. Please
"Take this woman to be your wife?"
"I do."
Damn it! Just let me knee you in the -
"Do you Celes Chére,"
No! Do you honestly think I'd be marrying this fat old man if I had the choice otherwise?!
"Take this man to be your husband."
No. No. No. Of course not. But I guess there's no choice now! I have to say yes. Here goes...
"I-"
"Celes!"
"Locke!" I practically scream, dropping the vulgar man's hands immediately, grabbing the flowers back off the floor, not caring as the sharp thorns puncture my skin and blood pools ever so slowly in my hands. 'What took you so long?' I want to scream at him, but I just can't. Not as he's running not and flinging his arms - stronger than I remember - around my shoulders.
"I knew you would return to me, my love."
"Celes... Celes, return to me." Locke breathes shallowly, all the while his charming smirk pulled on his face.
Looking once more to the man who was now standing with a very bitter expression on his chubby face, I can't see how there could be a choice between the two as I run out of the overly decorated church and into fresh air, Locke's hand firmly holding my left, as I throw the red roses over my shoulder. I suppose someone might've caught them. I suppose they might've just lain there, as they gathered themselves together. I suppose they might've been trampled into a messy pile of petals and stems, just like that sham marriage.
Roses (I'm going with red in this case, hence Celes' Red Bouquet in the Opera scene) = True Love
As you may have noticed, I borrowed lyrics from 'Opera Maria and Draco' and embedded them in the one shot. I hope you liked that! It was fun to do. Well, please follow for updates and review if you liked it. Thanks!