Chapter 5 : Preparation
Early in the next morning, the sound of the cock crowing alarmed Rinoa and she woke up sleepily. She was sleeping with her blanket over her shoulders. She stretched and yawned but Raine was no where to be seen. Quietly, she put on her slippers and walked downstairs to look for her. She saw her in the kitchen, got too excited and tripped over the slippery floor.
"Morning," Rinoa greeted.
"Good morning, Rinoa," Raine replied with a smile and continue brewing her coffee.
It's obvious her eyes were swollen due to too much of crying but she manage to cover those imperfect up with her sunshine smile.
"About last night….." Rinoa began but was swiftly cut in.
"Don't tell the others about last night. I don't want them to worry about me," she politely warned her not to mention the subject and sipped her cup of coffee.
"But at least you can tell me what's bothering you. Maybe I can help! I'm an angel, remember?" she urged.
Raine was silent for a while as she pours a cup of freshly brew coffee for Rinoa.
"There is ……." She paused to sigh.
"Nothing in your powers can solve the problem I'm having, dear. Anyway, I appreciate you asked," the elder one spoke with a tone to her, assuring her to drop the subject but Rinoa insisted on the truth.
"You'll feel much better after you've tell me the whole thing. It's me who made you crying at the first place so please gimme a chance to help,"
Raine started to protest again but Rinoa stood up and walked towards her, holding both her hands with hers.
"We are friends, remember? Friends tell each other secrets. And you are killing me by this suspicious thing you are hiding and the sadness in your face last night really gave me a fright! Raine, trust me. You are like a best friend, no, a sister to me. We are a family and family can trust each other," Rinoa focused directly in her eyes, convincing her that what she said is true.
The elder one was hesitated to tell cause she knew and she is sure she can't help but the trust she has for Rinoa hadn't occurred to anyone else except for the one she once loved. Just when she started to tell her story, Selphie and Ellone dashed into the kitchen with fresh flowers and a big bag of wool.
Rinoa smacked her forehead and mumbled under her breath.
"Morning Rinoa! Morning Raine!" Selphie exploded.
"Raine, here are the wool you told me to buy. The nice old lady gave me an extra discount and another 2 balls of coloured wool for free!" the other one told her as she handed her the bag and thanked God she brought Tonberry with her.
"Come upstairs after your breakfast, girls," Raine told them.
"Um….. Raine's coffee is the best!" Selphie exclaimed as she munched another bite of her croissant bun.
"The tastiest ever!" Ellone agreed.
Rinoa boringly stared at them and tap her fingernails on the table to get their attention.
"What's wrong with you, Rinoa?" Ellone asked.
"Jealous of us tasting the best coffee for breakfast?" Selphie teased.
Actually Rinoa was going to give them a good scolding but instead, she laughed sarcastically and shrugged while blowing her fringe from her face.
"Whoa! Raine, you're a genius! They are so beautiful!" the 3 of them exclaimed in unison.
A set of clothing for each of them was displayed on their beds. Raine had used only a week and half to make them. They quickly took off their plain white uniforms and put on their brand new clothing Raine had made for them. The three of them flew to her and kissed her and embraced her. That shows how much they really loved their outfit.
"I enjoy tailoring and often do it as a business when times this place gets a bit deserted. Men go to the battlefield and seldom returns. So you can see, my bar is starting to grow moss!"
Though she was joking and made the others laughed, deep inside they knew she was having a hard time and was hoping they could pay her back.
"I'll….. I'll pay you back when we learn to earn money," Ellone clenched her dress and promised, quite forgetting her main purpose there.
The other two nodded but Raine shook her head.
"Staying and accompanying me is all I ask plus I'm not in need of money. And don't forget you do not know how to do business. Don't even try it, people in this world are cunning, unlike Heaven, you can't trust anyone here," Raine warned them.
They knew she's lying about the money. How can she afford four people's living when she's only earning money for one person? However they knew a fact, that is they didn't know how to do business, they will be easily cheated. They obeyed her orders though and quietly make plans to support the new 'family'.
"I'm starving…… I want hot dogs…..," Zell cried.
Squall, Zell and Irvine had spend the week looking for a perfect place to meet up with the spy angels right after they have found the way out of the jungle. After several days of searching, they found an island called Balamb and came up with a conclusion.
"It's useless to keep on searching. Let's build up a place with our magic." Irvine suggested.
"That's what I'm doing now," Squall said with a little sarcasm in his voice.
He was building a place with his magic according to a plan he made for several nights. Though he's concentrating on it, part of his mind was thinking of the girl he met on the stream that day. He quickly did a mental shake and forgets about the girl, for a while.
"I want…… hot dogs…." Zell moaned again.
"Shut up,"
"It'll take months to complete the place! When do we organize the meeting? We haven't done anything like that before. We can't put the meeting theme as 'Heaven and Hell's Congress' or something like that, can we?" Irvine asked.
*Shut up…..
"Hmm….. I think we should have it right after the place's set, ne Squall?" Irvine continued.
"Hot dogs….."
"Shut up, Zell!" both his friends shouted.
The sky suddenly turned cloudy and within seconds, heavy black clouds were hanging above their heads. A bat-look-alike creature appeared from above and it's later recognized as Bahamut. The GF brought with him a piece of scroll. Upon his arrival, the three people there ran to the GF and inquired his purpose there.
"I've come to give you orders from your father, Squall. He said that you should make this meeting into a party and randomly choose people to talk about this case. He also said that you'll recognize the angels once you've seen them. The party is scheduled to be held in a week's time and I'm summoned to help you to build up this place together with the other GFs. I've the invitation cards ready and your duty now is just to send them to every single house in the world," Bahamut explained his purpose of landing and handed Squall a large stack of invitation cards.
"Oh, yes. Before I forget, Zell, take these," the GF continued.
He threw Zell a dozen of hot dogs! It's a treat from Seifer.
Therefore, Bahamut continued the work Squall had left. The three of them spread out their black coloured wings and flew separately to the world and used their magical powers to 'post' their cards.
It was like as if they were being shocked and they frowned once the card landed on the postbox. The sense of magic different from them was recognized.
"They are here," Selphie informed seriously.
They took out their weapons and walked out warily. To their amazement, there's nothing unfamiliar outside the house, the villagers were doing their business as usual. Ellone then pointed the postbox to them and spotted the black envelope. They exchange glances and confirmed that the underworld's spies have already make their move.
They went back to the house with grim faces, staring at the envelope. Raine went to them and asked what happened. They didn't spoke, they didn't know how to respond or to tell her what's going on. So, Raine open the envelope without their permission, she guessed that it must be the envelope which made them look like that.
"A party? The purpose of this party is to get to know the people around the globe…. To understand each other's culture. Um…. Will be held on 23 of July and at Garden from 8.00pm onwards. Wonder what's Garden is… Oh, here, it says that it's a new building build in the center of Balamb. Dress code, formal. Hey, it'll be fun!" Raine translated the invitation card to them.
Their expression didn't change, the worry sign are still in their faces.
"It's not just any ordinary party," Rinoa stated.
"I knew it! The dark angels always wanted to do things first. They hold the party before we could do anything, that means we have to follow their rules of the game," Selphie said, irritatingly.
"Maybe it's their sincerity to make us notice that they really mean to end the war," Ellone spoke, looking at the bright side.
"There's only one way to find out," Raine told them.
They nodded in unison.
"Yeow!" Selphie screamed.
"I'm sorry," Rinoa apologized.
Rinoa was helping Selphie to put on her earrings and Ellone was helping Raine to fix her hair. At first, they were restless about the party, but now, they are nervous. It's their first party on Earth and they have to meet the Dark angels they haven't met before to discuss the matter.
"You can't always have your hair down, make it more complicated and you'll look more elegant, there," Ellone said, putting the last touch on Raine's piled up hair.
She looked beautiful than ever, wearing a white spaghetti strap evening gown, which is long down to the floor and a bare back, and a low V shape collar. She also had her hair fixed in a piled up fashion and it shimmers when Ellone spray some gold dust on it. She blushes on the mirror, she never knew she'll look like that before.
Meanwhile, Ellone had finished herself earlier than the rest. She wore an off shoulder sleeves, low cut white coloured dress quite similar to her angel uniform but this one is longer to the ankle. She also had a long transparent scarf, which is light blue in colour with her and a nice butterfly hair clip to suit her dress.
Selphie wore a sexy bareback top and a short skirt with the edge shaped in a zigzag pattern. She put the gold dust wherever her skin bare and Rinoa teased her by saying she looked like going to a disco than a party. Her hair was sleek this time.
Our Rinoa was dressed in a white shimmering evening dress with the length above the knees. She had the dress collar cross and made it look more unique. She didn't do anything with her hair, she just let them down like usual.
After a few hours of preparing, they were ready to go.
"Uh-oh," Rinoa said as she stepped out from the house.
"What?" the other three said in unison.
"How are we going to get there?" she asked.
The group hasn't thought of the problem before! Balamb is an island and far from Winhill, even if they drive a car and take a ferry across to the island, that'll take hours and the party will end by then.
"Attention!" a voice commanded.
The three battle angels was alerted and stood in order. The voice then laughed and come out from the darkness.
"Quistis!" the three of them exclaimed.
"At ease, I was just joking," she said, smiling.
"What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked.
"To attend the party of course and….,"
"To be your transportation," she ended.
The three of them jumped from overjoyed but Raine stood there, trembling. She ran to Quistis's direction and hanged herself on her neck.
"Quistis!" she shouted with all her might and tears flowed down her eyes.
"R…Raine?! Is that you?!" Quistis exclaimed, her body shook terribly.
"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she mumbled continuously and looked closely at Raine to convince herself.
Rinoa, Selphie and Ellone stood there and scratched their heads. They have no idea what's going on and they've no idea that Quistis and Raine had known each other.
"I've no time to explain, let's go first," Quistis told them with watery eyes with Raine still hanging on her.
She lifted up her hand and mumbled a piece of magic in a language none of them understand. After that, with a bright light shone beneath them, they vanished from the spot.
Early in the next morning, the sound of the cock crowing alarmed Rinoa and she woke up sleepily. She was sleeping with her blanket over her shoulders. She stretched and yawned but Raine was no where to be seen. Quietly, she put on her slippers and walked downstairs to look for her. She saw her in the kitchen, got too excited and tripped over the slippery floor.
"Morning," Rinoa greeted.
"Good morning, Rinoa," Raine replied with a smile and continue brewing her coffee.
It's obvious her eyes were swollen due to too much of crying but she manage to cover those imperfect up with her sunshine smile.
"About last night….." Rinoa began but was swiftly cut in.
"Don't tell the others about last night. I don't want them to worry about me," she politely warned her not to mention the subject and sipped her cup of coffee.
"But at least you can tell me what's bothering you. Maybe I can help! I'm an angel, remember?" she urged.
Raine was silent for a while as she pours a cup of freshly brew coffee for Rinoa.
"There is ……." She paused to sigh.
"Nothing in your powers can solve the problem I'm having, dear. Anyway, I appreciate you asked," the elder one spoke with a tone to her, assuring her to drop the subject but Rinoa insisted on the truth.
"You'll feel much better after you've tell me the whole thing. It's me who made you crying at the first place so please gimme a chance to help,"
Raine started to protest again but Rinoa stood up and walked towards her, holding both her hands with hers.
"We are friends, remember? Friends tell each other secrets. And you are killing me by this suspicious thing you are hiding and the sadness in your face last night really gave me a fright! Raine, trust me. You are like a best friend, no, a sister to me. We are a family and family can trust each other," Rinoa focused directly in her eyes, convincing her that what she said is true.
The elder one was hesitated to tell cause she knew and she is sure she can't help but the trust she has for Rinoa hadn't occurred to anyone else except for the one she once loved. Just when she started to tell her story, Selphie and Ellone dashed into the kitchen with fresh flowers and a big bag of wool.
Rinoa smacked her forehead and mumbled under her breath.
"Morning Rinoa! Morning Raine!" Selphie exploded.
"Raine, here are the wool you told me to buy. The nice old lady gave me an extra discount and another 2 balls of coloured wool for free!" the other one told her as she handed her the bag and thanked God she brought Tonberry with her.
"Come upstairs after your breakfast, girls," Raine told them.
"Um….. Raine's coffee is the best!" Selphie exclaimed as she munched another bite of her croissant bun.
"The tastiest ever!" Ellone agreed.
Rinoa boringly stared at them and tap her fingernails on the table to get their attention.
"What's wrong with you, Rinoa?" Ellone asked.
"Jealous of us tasting the best coffee for breakfast?" Selphie teased.
Actually Rinoa was going to give them a good scolding but instead, she laughed sarcastically and shrugged while blowing her fringe from her face.
"Whoa! Raine, you're a genius! They are so beautiful!" the 3 of them exclaimed in unison.
A set of clothing for each of them was displayed on their beds. Raine had used only a week and half to make them. They quickly took off their plain white uniforms and put on their brand new clothing Raine had made for them. The three of them flew to her and kissed her and embraced her. That shows how much they really loved their outfit.
"I enjoy tailoring and often do it as a business when times this place gets a bit deserted. Men go to the battlefield and seldom returns. So you can see, my bar is starting to grow moss!"
Though she was joking and made the others laughed, deep inside they knew she was having a hard time and was hoping they could pay her back.
"I'll….. I'll pay you back when we learn to earn money," Ellone clenched her dress and promised, quite forgetting her main purpose there.
The other two nodded but Raine shook her head.
"Staying and accompanying me is all I ask plus I'm not in need of money. And don't forget you do not know how to do business. Don't even try it, people in this world are cunning, unlike Heaven, you can't trust anyone here," Raine warned them.
They knew she's lying about the money. How can she afford four people's living when she's only earning money for one person? However they knew a fact, that is they didn't know how to do business, they will be easily cheated. They obeyed her orders though and quietly make plans to support the new 'family'.
"I'm starving…… I want hot dogs…..," Zell cried.
Squall, Zell and Irvine had spend the week looking for a perfect place to meet up with the spy angels right after they have found the way out of the jungle. After several days of searching, they found an island called Balamb and came up with a conclusion.
"It's useless to keep on searching. Let's build up a place with our magic." Irvine suggested.
"That's what I'm doing now," Squall said with a little sarcasm in his voice.
He was building a place with his magic according to a plan he made for several nights. Though he's concentrating on it, part of his mind was thinking of the girl he met on the stream that day. He quickly did a mental shake and forgets about the girl, for a while.
"I want…… hot dogs…." Zell moaned again.
"Shut up,"
"It'll take months to complete the place! When do we organize the meeting? We haven't done anything like that before. We can't put the meeting theme as 'Heaven and Hell's Congress' or something like that, can we?" Irvine asked.
*Shut up…..
"Hmm….. I think we should have it right after the place's set, ne Squall?" Irvine continued.
"Hot dogs….."
"Shut up, Zell!" both his friends shouted.
The sky suddenly turned cloudy and within seconds, heavy black clouds were hanging above their heads. A bat-look-alike creature appeared from above and it's later recognized as Bahamut. The GF brought with him a piece of scroll. Upon his arrival, the three people there ran to the GF and inquired his purpose there.
"I've come to give you orders from your father, Squall. He said that you should make this meeting into a party and randomly choose people to talk about this case. He also said that you'll recognize the angels once you've seen them. The party is scheduled to be held in a week's time and I'm summoned to help you to build up this place together with the other GFs. I've the invitation cards ready and your duty now is just to send them to every single house in the world," Bahamut explained his purpose of landing and handed Squall a large stack of invitation cards.
"Oh, yes. Before I forget, Zell, take these," the GF continued.
He threw Zell a dozen of hot dogs! It's a treat from Seifer.
Therefore, Bahamut continued the work Squall had left. The three of them spread out their black coloured wings and flew separately to the world and used their magical powers to 'post' their cards.
It was like as if they were being shocked and they frowned once the card landed on the postbox. The sense of magic different from them was recognized.
"They are here," Selphie informed seriously.
They took out their weapons and walked out warily. To their amazement, there's nothing unfamiliar outside the house, the villagers were doing their business as usual. Ellone then pointed the postbox to them and spotted the black envelope. They exchange glances and confirmed that the underworld's spies have already make their move.
They went back to the house with grim faces, staring at the envelope. Raine went to them and asked what happened. They didn't spoke, they didn't know how to respond or to tell her what's going on. So, Raine open the envelope without their permission, she guessed that it must be the envelope which made them look like that.
"A party? The purpose of this party is to get to know the people around the globe…. To understand each other's culture. Um…. Will be held on 23 of July and at Garden from 8.00pm onwards. Wonder what's Garden is… Oh, here, it says that it's a new building build in the center of Balamb. Dress code, formal. Hey, it'll be fun!" Raine translated the invitation card to them.
Their expression didn't change, the worry sign are still in their faces.
"It's not just any ordinary party," Rinoa stated.
"I knew it! The dark angels always wanted to do things first. They hold the party before we could do anything, that means we have to follow their rules of the game," Selphie said, irritatingly.
"Maybe it's their sincerity to make us notice that they really mean to end the war," Ellone spoke, looking at the bright side.
"There's only one way to find out," Raine told them.
They nodded in unison.
"Yeow!" Selphie screamed.
"I'm sorry," Rinoa apologized.
Rinoa was helping Selphie to put on her earrings and Ellone was helping Raine to fix her hair. At first, they were restless about the party, but now, they are nervous. It's their first party on Earth and they have to meet the Dark angels they haven't met before to discuss the matter.
"You can't always have your hair down, make it more complicated and you'll look more elegant, there," Ellone said, putting the last touch on Raine's piled up hair.
She looked beautiful than ever, wearing a white spaghetti strap evening gown, which is long down to the floor and a bare back, and a low V shape collar. She also had her hair fixed in a piled up fashion and it shimmers when Ellone spray some gold dust on it. She blushes on the mirror, she never knew she'll look like that before.
Meanwhile, Ellone had finished herself earlier than the rest. She wore an off shoulder sleeves, low cut white coloured dress quite similar to her angel uniform but this one is longer to the ankle. She also had a long transparent scarf, which is light blue in colour with her and a nice butterfly hair clip to suit her dress.
Selphie wore a sexy bareback top and a short skirt with the edge shaped in a zigzag pattern. She put the gold dust wherever her skin bare and Rinoa teased her by saying she looked like going to a disco than a party. Her hair was sleek this time.
Our Rinoa was dressed in a white shimmering evening dress with the length above the knees. She had the dress collar cross and made it look more unique. She didn't do anything with her hair, she just let them down like usual.
After a few hours of preparing, they were ready to go.
"Uh-oh," Rinoa said as she stepped out from the house.
"What?" the other three said in unison.
"How are we going to get there?" she asked.
The group hasn't thought of the problem before! Balamb is an island and far from Winhill, even if they drive a car and take a ferry across to the island, that'll take hours and the party will end by then.
"Attention!" a voice commanded.
The three battle angels was alerted and stood in order. The voice then laughed and come out from the darkness.
"Quistis!" the three of them exclaimed.
"At ease, I was just joking," she said, smiling.
"What are you doing here?" Rinoa asked.
"To attend the party of course and….,"
"To be your transportation," she ended.
The three of them jumped from overjoyed but Raine stood there, trembling. She ran to Quistis's direction and hanged herself on her neck.
"Quistis!" she shouted with all her might and tears flowed down her eyes.
"R…Raine?! Is that you?!" Quistis exclaimed, her body shook terribly.
"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she mumbled continuously and looked closely at Raine to convince herself.
Rinoa, Selphie and Ellone stood there and scratched their heads. They have no idea what's going on and they've no idea that Quistis and Raine had known each other.
"I've no time to explain, let's go first," Quistis told them with watery eyes with Raine still hanging on her.
She lifted up her hand and mumbled a piece of magic in a language none of them understand. After that, with a bright light shone beneath them, they vanished from the spot.