A/N: OMG i took waaay too long to update! DX I had a writer's block, then was busy with IRL stuff, PLUS forgot my password so yea Sorry to my readers. To sweetydeath and ArchadianRose, though its long overdue, thank you for your reviews. Replies: There's gonna be a bit of Drama between my OC and Gabranth(Archadian Rose) and
I actually know that song so I could translate but if you hear it you'd think the same whether you speak Japanese or not :) (sweetydeath)
Also I've been forgetting the disclaimers, and since I can't edit my old chapters any longer, I'll just compound them here right now.
DISCLAIMER: Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Characters, Names, and Trademarks belong to Squaresoft/Square Enix co. All music belong to their respective artists. Only the fandoms belong to fangirls(or boys) XD
Rock 'n me by Steve Miller, My Song by Girls Dead Monster(in other words, Angel Beats!) I do claim my revisions to songs however.
Saia walked up Travica Way. Her Mindflayer was causing her to gain a bit of attention, something she hadn't gotten used to after so many years of invisibility. Unnerved by the expectant eyes, waiting for her to play, she finally stopped at the corner between Rithil's Protectives and the Marquis' Residence. The people expected a show, fine. She'd make one hell of a knock on Ondore's door. She hooked up her Seer mic to the guitar, and tuned her strings absently, before programming a beat. Whispering into the mic, she began:
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
let the bodies hit the...
She started the drums before screaming into the mic, guitar chords thrumming hard in her ears.
..Floor!
It had more than scared the nearby viewers. She went through the riff and continued without much notice.
Beaten, what for?
Can't take much more..
Here we go, here we go, here we go!
One!
Nothing wrong with me
Two!
Nothing wrong with me
Three!
Nothing wrong with me
Four!
Nothing wrong with me!
She'd forgotten why she'd picked this song, but it felt good to vent her frustration once more through her music. Some nearby teens seemed to enjoy it more than the adults, but meh. When she began the count again, the audience even joined in. What a welcome, she though amusedly.
One!
Something's got to give
Two!
Something's got to give
Three!
Something's got to give..!
She let out a howl before continuing to the chorus, which was interrupted by the Sainikah, and a Rev. Saia'd heard of Revs, but seeing one up close was not what she'd expected it to be. As the Sainikah shooed the angst-filled audience away (luckily for them, the audience was small), the Rev confronted Saia. It didn't speak to her, just stared at her, waiting for a reasonable explanation.
"I am Saia Tanner, former bodyguard of Lord Larsa Ferrinas Solidor. I am here as a gift to the Marquis, courtesy of Lord Vayne." She spat the last part. She didn't mean to, but hopefully the anthro wouldn't mind. As an added apology, she bowed, only slightly. Not so much that she didn't see the Rev's motion for her to stand. "Follow me," he said.
She did so.
He led her to the Marquis, Halim Ondore VI. The Rev bowed to the aged hume. It was one of the most ridiculous sights Saia had seen. Not that she'd seen many ridiculous sights. "Lord Marquis." Ondore repeated the motion the Rev had used previously, and the anthromorphic man complied. They spoke in hushed tones for a long moment, too quiet to reach Saia's ears. Finally, the pair turned to Saia. "Tell me, child," Ondore began. His tone was soft, but commanding. "What do you think of the Empire?"
She had to think on it before answering. What did she think? "...I think neither ill nor highly of Archadia herself. If the question was of her leaders however..." She let the words hang in the air a moment, before finishing, "I should never see Vayne Solidor again, lest I kill him out of disgust. That is my answer."
Ondore appraised this a long moment. "I see," He said finally. "Might I ask what your duties were in Archadia?"
"To send any and all intruders or assassins to an early grave," She answered immediately, this being a direct quote from Vayne Solidor himself, from the very day he hired her. The Ondore nodded, and then asked, "What are your current orders, dare I ask?"
"To go to Bhujerba as a gift to the Marquis, and Report anything unusual or odd at all." She quoted once again. The Ondore looked at her slightly odd, in a way she didn't quite understand. "To tell the man you're spying on that you are, in fact, a spy; You aren't a very good one, by that."
Saia scoffed, then looked down at the floor absently. "That man took my home and family. I'll never see one, and likely not the other. This wasn't a reassignment; 'Twas exile."
The Ondore stared at her a while longer, then said something that would change Saia's life as she knew it:
"Starting today, your duties are to act as a messenger between myself and a man named Havharo. You are not to use your weapon on anyone outside of life-or-death situations. You do not kill in self-defense. And you may not read the messages. Is that clear?"
Saia could only stare for a moment. She was a messenger? Nothing deadly, nothing difficult, but a duty that signifies a great deal of trust. Didn't she just say she was a spy? For all he knew, telling him so was no more than a ploy to gain his trust. Hell, it was the smarter assumption(Perhaps not the truth, but hey, it's the wiser) yet he was giving her a duty meant for someone...Hell, someone trustworthy!
Despite the obsrevation that this guy was obviously off his rocker, she couldn't help but feel... proud, somehow. He trusted her. "Understood, Lord Marquis," she said with a bow. After a bit of discussion, the Rev attendant, named Elon, brought me to a guest room. Saia gaped. She hadn't thought she'd be staying in the best damn place in town! "Close your mouth if you aren't to speak," Elon reprimanded. "You look like a fish otherwise." She did so, but kept in mind that a fish was a wonderful description at the moment. She felt most certainly like a fish out of water surrounded by all this luxury...and friendliness. While she'd never say it aloud, she felt more "at home" than at home. She felt almost guilty for even thinking it.
Almost.
After giving her a time for dinner and a very brief rundown of table manners at the Marquis' Estate, Elon left dumbstruck Saia to her own devices. She sat on the fluffy bed and pondered.
The bed reminded her of Larsa's room. It was the only other time she'd sat on something so soft.
Remembering Larsa's room obviously led to remembering Larsa. How would he fare without her protection? ...Just fine, she decided. Gabranth could handle him perfectly fine, and there was always Drace, as well.
Gabranth... She didn't know why, but she didn't want to think of him. When she did it felt like a snake was constricting her heart without relent. She didn't understand it, but his month-and-a-half avoidance of her hurt worse than she knew it should have.
Beside her, Gabranth seemed to exhale a held breath; The tension behind the action was extremely palpable.
Why had he avoided her for all that time? Weren't they friends? Was there nothing he could have done? Then again, it was by Vayne's order Saia left. There was nothing he could have done to prevent it.
Vayne Carudas Solidor... All this confusion was his fault. If he hadn't sent her away, she wouldn't be sitting here thinking about such nonsensical girlish things. If it wasn't for him, her mother would still be alive.
Out of all the unwelcome thoughts, this was tied for worst. It hurt to see her mother dead. It hurt worse to see her so happy in death.
It wasn't her fault Father was so cruel. But it was her fault he left. Left poor, afraid Lauren with their fiendish, deviant child.
Saia sat up, not wanting to think anymore. She wanted release. She found her Mindflayer beside her bed. Elon must have persuaded the Sainikah to return it. If so, Occuria-bless that Rev. She strummed its strings absently, wondering where she would be if she hadn't found this.
Saia left the house for a walk, shouting the fact as she did so. She wondered which God she pissed so to have such a life. She was four and a half, and neither parent had addressed her once. They'd only talked about her; Well, shouted, actually. Still, she'd even take the constant arguements if only for some form of communication. The child wandered until she realized she was no longer in the Imperial City, but instead at the far end of the Alley of Muted Sighs. She wouldn't be home before dark at this rate, she noted. As she made to return, however, something caught her eye. It was an instrument, a guitar, but it was so old and damaged she couldn't tell the model. A man was sitting on the ground with its neck in his lap. She asked if she could buy it off him, and he happily agreed. He had a kid to feed, he told her. She paid a large amount over what he had offered it, and when he called her on it, she simply smiled and shook her head. "You've a child to feed, after all," she'd replied, in a low voice in case a Soldier decided to pry. Those men used a thing called "Taxes" to steal right out of Archadian's pockets, so she'd heard. She headed home with her new project, feeling, strangely, much better than when she'd left.
Saia didn't have to think long. She'd probably be dead.
Idle strums became chords of determination.
A wise man once gave me the best advice,
He said "Each day is a gift and not a given right;
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind,
And try to take the path less traveled by.
That first step you take is the longest ride."
If today was your last day,
Tomorrow was to late,
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past,
Donate every gil you had?
Would you visit friends you never see,
Reminisce old momories,
Would you forgive your enemies...
Saia stopped playing, realizing it was about time for dinner. She cleaned off her previous tears, covering it up with light make-up (and hoping that would do) before heading down.
Halim looked on at his guest from his place at the table. When she first sat, she seemed completely dumbfounded. A mumbled "Two knives..?" was the only explanation he recieved. At the table were far more than just they; Elon had brought Havharo, who had brought several spies with him. There was barely a space left for the messenger, he noticed, and she was now stuffing her face in an attempt to ignore the conversation between the man on her left and the woman on her right.
"..So then the guys rush out, I'm outnumbered by 3, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Imma die here in a minute", when outta nowhere this Bellwyvern comes and -Bam!- smashes their skulls in." The man smashed his fist into his palm for affect.
"No way! There's no way a Wyvern would've gone for them and missed you," the woman said. Saia was getting tired of the exaggerated gore. Just for fun, she stopped eating a moment and said just over them, "I told a guy to kill himself and he did."
The whole table went silent, until the man beside her said skeptically, "Yeah, and how didja manage that?"
She turned to him, looked him straight in the eye, and commanded, "Say 'My grammar sucks worse than a marbolo reeks.'"
"My grammar sucks worse than a marbolo reeks," he replied instantly.
"Louder," She ordered. He became loud enough to have been heard over the previous clatter.
"My grammar sucks worse than a marbolo reeks!"
"Louder," she repeated gleefully.
"MY GRAMMAR SUCKS WORSE THAN A MARBOLO REEKS!"
She snapped her fingers, ending the Trance, and suddenly became very sullen. "Aren't you glad you aren't him?" She turned forward once more. Picking up her fork, she began moving her Antares Tartar around her plate. "Stop bragging about killing like it's something to be proud of. It's disgusting."
Aside from an inaudible conversation between Havaro and the Marquis, the remainder of the meal was quite silent.
A/N: Ok, I know I said in the last chapter I'd catch it up with the main plot. I just could...Not...do it. I'm sorry. There'll be a bit more before-canon to go. Comments are welcome~ Any suggestions are as well. I (once again) apologize for the lateness of my update and hope to be less erratic in the future. XD
Let the Bodies Hit the Floor by Disturbed
If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback
