AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm really, really, sorry
for not posting this up soon! Ya see, I have STAR testing this week, and I kinda
just got too busy! Well, anyway, there is a scene which kinda resembles the
movie Charlie's Angels, so you have been warned!
A Mission Mishap
Lily saw the expression on Squall's face
and shook her head in vain.
"Man, I KNEW that this wasn't a good
idea..." she muttered.
Seifer smiled his typical, arrogant smile
at the gang. "Well, if it ain't Puberty Boy and his gang. Long time no
see."
Zell struggled to control his temper, fists
clenched. "Freakin' hell..."
Luna put a firm grip on his shoulder to
keep him from lashing out at Seifer. He was a bit surprised by the strength
of her grip despite having such a delicate frame.
"Well, everyone's here," Phoenix
said to the silent crowd and began walking back to the home. "Let's go."
"Wait." --she stopped--- "Why
are THEY here?" Squall growled. Rinoa wrapped his hand around hers for
some comfort. He gripped it tightly.
"Coincidence, ya know?" Raijin
shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't think that we'd meet you guys here,
ya know?"
"The reason why they're here is because
Alexander specifically asked us to gather all those who were involved in the
Time Compression," Phoenix answered Squall's question with a casual tone.
"That's including Seifer and his posse."
"Then what about Sis?" Irvine
asked. "She was involved, too."
She didn't answer that question.
Instead, Luna changed the subject. "Look,
whatever happened in the past, drop it. Having grudges are NOT going to help
on what we have to do." She addressed to everyone, but was aiming at Squall
and Zell specifically.
"But why do WE have to help?"
Quistis asked, trying to make a point. "Aren't you guys supposed to be
fighting Ultimecia?"
"And isn't it a SeeD's goal to get
rid of a sorceress who threatens the entire planet?" Luna countered. "Look,
I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you're safer with us than letting you
be while chaos is roaming around the place. It's better to attack rather than
be attacked by Ultimecia's goons, believe me."
Phoenix placed the stack of papers on the
table. Because the home was set in Japanese style, the interior was set in the
same style as well. The table they were gathered at was low and rather small,
so either you sat on top of your feet or lay around the room on your respective
side. Weapons were in another room; the twins did NOT want any blood to be spilled.
Lily sat nonchalantly on the floor, resting
her head on her knees with her back against the wall. She looked rather bored.
"So, what did Atamos send us now?"
"Basically, for now anyway, we're
going to crash a party where the top leaders of the world are meeting at,"
Phoenix explained. There was a device in front of her where she pressed a button
to project an image of a tall, thin man. "That's Princeton Deling, the
grandson of the murdered President Deling II five years ago. He's a young, arrogant,
and clever enterpreneur who's currently running for the President of Deling
City right now. He's boomed a big industry of computer-controlled cars that
are ecologically safe. Nice guy on the outside, donating large amounts of money
to charities, and so forth, but he's also running the black market of selling
Anigomos. It's an illegal drug that can take over a person's mind. Kind of like
hallucinogens, to put it at that." The projection faded into yet another
image. This time, it was a crystalline mansion or castle. The style was so familiar
that Squall and the others could've sworn it was Ultimecia's castle.
"That's..." Rinoa trailed off,
shocked.
"You got it, Ultimecia's castle,"
Luna replied, smiling grimly. "Well, one of them, anyway."
"One?!?" Zell exclaimed. "Whaddya
mean ONE of them? There's more?!?!?!?"
"Calm down, Chicken wuss," Seifer
commented. "Let the twins speak."
"I ain't takin' orders from you!"
Zell snarled.
"Would you two just shut up and let
us continue?" Lily interrupted, a tad bit annoyed.
The look in her eyes told them to do as
she said or else. Zell sat back down, muttering an apology while Seifer just
leaned back to his original position. Phoenix continued.
"Ultimecia has a lot of castles all
scattered about in each of the major countries and one up in the sky which is
her main fortress. Our goal is to take out each and every castle down to reveal
the location of the main one."
Selphie politely raised her hand. "But
isn't Ultimecia's castle in the sky located right above Matron's home?"
"Chain's been cut off and it's not
floating freely in the sky," Gene answered, the first words he said since
he came back. "So that's why we have to take away the castles on the ground."
Selphie looked a bit disappointed. "Oh."
"Anyways," Phoenix continued
again. "The crystalline mansion is the closest one that we can reach right
now. It's located a couple of miles north of Esthar."
"So, what are we going to do?"
Squall asked.
"Try and find out some info on how
Deling is associated with Ultimecia," Luna answered. "Think about
it: the Deling family were already wealthy, but why in the world would they
want to get even wealthier and control the world? Once we find out the cause,
take Deling into questioning and destroy the castle."
"That doesn't seem too hard,"
Seifer murmured.
Luna eyed him for a moment, then continued
on. "You might say that when you're done with the mission. Looks can be
deceiving. This isn't a typical mission that you might be used to. Deling knows
that our organization is onto him, so we have to do our best to remain hidden
or else suffer under Ultimecia's control."
"Ultimecia's a lot stronger than what
you've experienced," Lily explained. "Not only can she take your magic
away from you, she can also manipulate people through mind control. Kinda like
how Ellone can go back into the past, but she can control the present."
"I see..." Rinoa observed.
"So, how are we going to take this
on?" Selphie asked eagerly.
"Angel is a very famous singer in
our time," Luna answered. "She's renown throughout Esthar and is our
top decoy among our organization. Either me or Phoenix will be her..."--she
paused for a moment, thinking---"Nah, Phoenix, you do it."
An indignant protest came from her twin.
"Hey!"
"You sing better than me, so don't
complain."
Phoenix rolled her eyes and relaxed back
into her original position.
"And we need two guys to be bodyguards;
any volunteers?" Luna asked.
Gene tiredly waved his hand. The briefing
was making him sleepy, but he snapped back to reality when he felt eyes burning
at him.
"What?" he asked, confused.
Luna just shook her head. "Nothing,
should've guessed."
Gene was about to respond to the comment,
but then thought the better of it and remained silent.
Zell waved his hand eagerly. "Hell,
sign me up, too. Better than doing nothing."
Luna nodded. "Okay... now that's settled,
I'll give out the other orders tomorrow."
"H-hold up, that's it?" Zell
asked incredulously.
Luna smiled. "Well...no. Phoe's part
is probably the most important because she ahs to be accepted. The party isn't
held 'till tomorrow night, but she's gotta go in the morning to confirm her
invitation and explore around the castle to find anything suspicious."
"So me and Sakura're out of the picture
for now, huh?" Alex asked despondently.
"Don't worry, Alex," Phoenix
assured. "You two just gather some info while we're gone, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
Rinoa looked a bit amused. Alex was just
like Squall, looking for some action besides just gathering information.
"Well, we've got a long day tomorrow,
so let's get some rest, huh?" Luna concluded.
Early the next morning, a dark limo pulled
up in front of Deling's mansion. All the windows were tinted so nobody could
be seen except for the driver, a man in dark uniform with a cap put on so low
that his eyes were hidden. The only thing that Princeton Deling could tell was
that the driver was young with dark brown hair with what seemed to be a small
scratch on his face.
The limo pulled up to a stop and the door
swung upen in front of Deling and his servants. A rather tall man got out, his
auburn hair ruffled to look like it was made out of puzzle pieces. He wore strictly
a black suit and dark sunglasses that reflected in the sunlight. On the other
side of the limo came out yet another man wearing the same apparal. However,
he was a bit smaller than the other with blonde hair and what seemed to be a
tattoo etched on the side of his face, yet just as strong by the ripples that
formed around his sleeves. Deling felt a bit intimidated by them, he being tall
and thin in stature with ice blue eyes that stood out with his midnight hair.
He assumed, though, that they were Angel's bodyguards by the way they rigidly
stood. The man with auburn hair leaned back slightly, stretching out his hand
to the opening of the door. A slender one grabbed it and lifted itself up.
Phoenix stepped out of the limo as gracefully
as she could. She had changed her appearance completely in style. Instead of
the dark clothing and trenchcoat that she usually wore, she put on a white spaghetti
strap tank and a long, flowy skir that fell into different shades of blue with
a revealing slit on her right side. Her hair was tied up into a delicate bun,
held up by a deadly dagger-like pin, and not in its usual style of being tied
back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. She let the crimson strands of
hair curl loosely around her face. Her sapphire eyes were decorated by a light
shade of glasses, to keep the sun out of her eye.
Deling absolutey fell in love with the
beauty of his entertainer for the party this evening. He came towards her, lifting
her delicate hand to kiss it with his dry lips.
"Angel, my dear, it's a pleasure that
you could come," Deling eagerly said, his eyes gazing deep into her own.
Gene was glad that he had really, really
black sunglasses or else Deling would notice the deathglare that he gave him.
Phoenix just giggled lightly, returning
Deling's gaze. "Oh, I thank you for inviting me, Mister Deling," she
replied with a beautiful British accent. "I've always been wondering how
enterpreneur's extravagant masquerades would be like."
Zell had to muster all the will he could
to stay calm. Shit, I didn't know that she could talk like that! That's so
cool!!
Deling began leading Phoenix in as courteous
as he could, becoming a gentleman. "Just call me Princeton, Angel. Princeton."
Gene and Zell followed behind them along
with the servants. Squall watched them go in the limo, tipping up the cap and
driving away. Man, I hope this works.
Irvine strung softly against the wires
of his guitar, concentrating at the notes in front of him. Luna had given him
the role of the guitarist in the "band" that Esthar's mercenaries
had used for their operations using Angel, a famous singer known throughout
the world who had the ability to entrance them with her voice. The notes he
looked at were pretty easy to know, and he was getting familiar with them and
the song itself. Rinoa and Selphie were singing softly by themselves, familiarizing
with the lyrics. They were to be the backup singers. Raijin was in charge of
the percussion instruments. Why, Irvine didn't know, but he hoped he played
well. All of them were practicing alone until Phoenix got to the rehearsal.
Being in one of Ultimecia's castles was kind of creepy, even if it is one of
Deling's mansions and very beautiful in its own mysterious way.
He thought back to the mission. Besides
him, Sephie, Rinny, and Raijin, everybody else was a part of the crowd in the
party. He didn't know what they had, but he what he did know was that Seifer
had a very special part with Quistis. Otherwise, why else would those two be
dragged off by Lily?
The party was starting, everyone in their
spots and micropieces turned on. Or, at least, that's what everybody thought.
This was one of the most intricate and most difficult mission that Zell had
every been him, he had to admit. Hell, he would take on a fight against Galbadia
than this anyday. When will that day come, he wasn't sure.
Everybody invited to the party arrived
as scheduled. Phoenix now changed her wardrobe to an elegant dress that looked
simliar to Julia's so many years ago as she stood in front of the microphone.
Irvine began to play the introduction, then after everything just sort of fell
into place as Phoenix began to sing. The orphanage gang could now tell why Luna
told her sister to take the role of Angel instead of her: her voice was beautiful.
It was both deep and seductive:
A smoky room, a small café
They come to hear you play
And drink and dance the night away...
The elevator doors opened as Seifer entered,
fashionably late, with Quistis and Fujin on either arm. They were also dressed
formally.
"Damn, why the hell do I have to be
with you?" Quisits muttered to herself.
Seifer heard and let the comment slide
as grinned, answering the question. "Why, Instructor, don't you like my
company?"
Once again she muttered, "No..."
But Seifer grinned even more making Quistis
resisting the urge to punch him.
I sit out in the crowd and close my
eyes
Dream you're mine....
Fujin, who had taken off her patch to reveal
a crystalline ruby eye, began listening to the song. "SINGER?"
"Hyne," Seifer murmured as he
began to listen as well. "Is that Phoenix? She's good..."
"Yeah, incredible," Quistis agreed.
"Hey, would you guys get going?
Princeton's approaching you! " Luna's voice yelled into their hidden
mircropieces.
"Hey, I'm just taking my time,"
Seifer casually replied.
Luna, who was halfway across the room sitting
on the balcony having an appetizer, rolled her eyes as a waiter approached her.
"Would you like another refill, Miss?"
he asked, gesturing to the empty champagne glass.
Luna smiled sweetly at him and nodded.
"Sure, thank you very much."
He handed her another glass, replacing
the old one and left. Luna herself had also changed her appearance to escape
any detection of being a twin. The colors of her eyes were grey and her facial
features were slightly altered with a little makeup powdered on. She couldn't
stand it, but it had to be done.
Hey, Sis, how much did you find out?
she asked, staring into the glass.
Not much, but Deling had a room he left
out while he was giving me a tour of the castle,
her twin answered, still singing:
But you don't know
You don't even know that I am there
I wish that I was in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
And you would play me through the night
'Till the dawn
I wish you'd hold me in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
All night long, [All
night long...]
I'd be your song...I'd be your song
Luna was a bit shocked. Really?
How can you be sure?
I felt a strange aura passing by it.
Luna frowned, That's gotta be it...Ultimecia's
underground complex.
Fujin left Seifer and Quistis alone as
Deling apprached them.
"Atamos Kisinean, I presume,"
he said as they shook hands. "Pleasure to meet your after hearing so many
rumors about your famous reputation in Esthar."
"Nice to meet you too," Seifer
answered, plastering a realistic smile on his face. He wrapped an arm around
Quistis' waist who tensed slightly. "I've heard rumors about you as well.
Princeton Deling, the young enterpreneur who started an automobile business
at the age of eighteen and now is one of the world's most richest men."
Wow, how did he find that out?
Quistis eyed him silently.
Deling chuckled. "Well, I see you've
done some research about me."
"Hah, everybody knows about you. Even
the babies."
They both shared a laugh as Deling called
a waitress nearby. Megan turned around, carrying a tray with some empty wine
glasses, surprising Seifer and Quistis. They never knew what position she was
taking until now.
"Yes, Mister Deling?" she asked.
"Ah, two glasses of wine and a light
drink for the beautiful woman here as well," Deling asnwered.
She smiled and nodded. "Coming right
away, sir."
Megan left the "couple" with
Deling as she was listening to their conversation with the micropiece hidden
in her blouse collar.
"So, I heard that you're opening
a new field of business, Deling, " Seifer's voice said.
She heard Deling's laugh. "Ah,
yes, well, it's focusing on the medical industry..."
"Hah! Yeah, right," Lily's
voice scoffed who was also listening to the conversation somewhere in the mansion.
Megan rolled her eyes as she approached
to the bar and smiled at the bartender attending there. She had very little
relationship experience due to her overprotective brother and was a bit shy
making eye contact with him.
"Here you go," she kindly said,
putting the empty glasses on the counter and smiled yet again.
"Hey, thanks," the bartender
replied, refilling the glasses and smiling back. "You're new here, right?"
Megan nodded, the auburn curls bouncing
along. "Yup, the name's Megan. Yours?"
"Joe," he simply answered, passing
along the drinks to others who were coming for some. "You know, Megan,
you've got a really beautiful smile."
She blushed slightly, walking backwards
with her tray. "Um...thanks."
There was an awkward silence between them
as the distance got even farther. Megan smiled timidly and made one last eye
contact with Joe before walking away.
"Megan, what the hell are you doing?!?
" Luna's voice exclaimed in the mike. "That guy's cute! Go back
and talk to him! "
"O-okay..." She began walking
back.
Apparently, Luna wasn't the only one observing
Megan's little conversation with Joe.
"Leave. Make him ask for you,"
Fujin's voice said softly in the same tone she gave that speech to Seifer in
Lunatic Pandora.
Megan turned around back to the crowd.
"No! Don't listen to her, Megan,"
Luna argued. "Go back! "
Once again, she turned back to the bar,
but they had confused her so much that she went back and forth in one spot.
"Dammit, you two are confusing me!"
she whined.
A pause from both ends.
Then finally, "Flip your hair."
Megan blinked in confusion at Fujin's command.
"What?"
"Flip your hair and smile back
at him."
She hesitated for a moment.
"Just do it! "
She did as she wsa told. She flipped her
auburn hair back with a swift hand and smiled as charmingly as she could to
Joe. It seemed to have worked because he stared at her in awe for a couple of
seconds then immediately jumped over the counter and walked briskly to her.
"Hey, um, Megan," Joe was a bit
nervous, she could tell. "Um...how about Friday at seven?"
"Huh?" Megan asked, her mind
totally blank.
"Megan, just say yes. He's asking
you out," Luna explained.
After a pause of silence, she smiled and
nodded. "Sure, I'd love to."
"Dammit, you two, what the hell are
you doing to my sister?!?!?" Gene hissed as quietly as he could into his
micropiece.
Small chuckles could be heard by the two
females.
"Oh, hush, Gene," Luna
said. "We're trying to help her out and get away from you, Mr. Protector."
"Luna..." he warned.
"Hold on, I've got something coming
from Lily."
"What? Already?"
"Um...we might take some time here,"
Lily replied to Luna's question as she dodged the Chimera's axe-like tail.
Squall flipped over its tail as well. "What
do you mean SOME time? Luna, this is gonna take a while."
Lily and Squall were to sneak into Ultimecia's
crystalline castle and find out anything "interesting". Well, they
got in all right, but the area that Phoenix said that was a mystery to her was
a staircase that led down to an undergrownd lair. It was filled with tough creatures
as well. Most of them were taken down with some struggle, but now they ran into
a high level Chimera. And with an anti-magic barrier up, it was hopeless to
defeat it.
They heard Luna swear to herself as they
tried to avoid injury from the Chimera's attacks. Then they heard her mutter
something incomprehendible.
"Luna, what did you say?" Lily
asked.
"Get out of there as fast as you
can because the party's almost over," she repeated.
"What?!?" Squall exclaimed as
he barely avoided one of the Chimera's heads. "But how do we get out when
we'er already at the bottom of the dungeon?"
"Find a transporter of some sort.
It's one of Ultimecia's castles, right? " Luna pointed out. "Lily,
I leave it to you."
"Gotcha," Lily replied before
grabbing Squall by the fur collar and high-tailing it out of the Chimera's way.
"Dammit, we can't break the barrier,
can we?" Zell muttered to the others as they walked through the streets
of Esthar the next day.
"We probably got the castle with the
strongest creatures," Phoenix changed the subject. "So, the majority
of us have to go and sneak in again."
"But what's the use of fighting if
we can't use our magic?" Quistis asked worriedly.
"Pretty much used to that," Gene
mumbled.
They arrived back at the Japanese dojo.
Nobody seemed to be around.
"Where's Alex?" Rinoa asked.
"Probably out walking around town,"
Luna replied, unconcerned. Then she smiled. "Don't worry, he does this
all the time."
Alex, Sakura, and K-chan were wandering
aroudnthe vast city of Esthar. At first, Alex was by himself which he preferred,
but Sakura and K-chan spotted him and became company. He wished that they would
just leave him alone sometimes, but that option was next to nothing.
"So, how do you think they did?"
Sakura asked.
"I dunno," Alex plainly answered.
"Okay, I guess. They're not usually late, but I guess it's because there're
more people than usual."
"Oh, that's true, huh?" Sakura
inquired.
A black car was following behind them.
It began to make Alex feel uneasy, and he began to walk faster.
"Hey, Alex, what's wrong?" K-chan
asked worriedly.
"It's...it's that car," he answered
quiety, still keeping an eye on it. "I think we're being followed."
"Huh? You really think so?" Sakura
asked, curious and turned around to a halt. "That never happened before."
Oh, shit.
He grabbed Sakura and K-chan as the car stopped and men, lots of them, began
piling out.
"Idiot, don't do that! Now we gotta
run for it!" he yelled at her harshly as they ran.
Tears began to form in her chocolate brown
eyes as she ran beside him, trying to keep up. "B-but..."
He didn't want to make her cry, not at
this time. "Oh, forget what I said! Just run!"
Alex ran even faster as Sakura struggled
to keep up with him. The men that had piled out were giving chase. They seemed
to be very far away until Sakura tripped over her own feet. She landed flat
on her face and looked up. "Alex!"
He stopped and turned around to pick her
up. But it was too late, the men had already surrounded them.
They held their weapons steady as Alex
glared at each of them with cold sapphire eyes. He held Sakura close to him
as she clung tightly onto his shirt, obviously scared. K-chan hovered defensively
around them.
"Alex Leonhart and Sakura Wolfe, come
with us," one of them commanded.
Alex snarled like a lion, still glaring
at them, and drew out his gunblade. "Like hell we will!"
He stood and turned to Sakura and K-chan,
whispering. "You two, go back and tell Sis and the others what's going
on! And get help!"
They stood, hesitating. He impatiently
yelled, "Just go! I'll distract 'em for you!"
"Oh, no you're not!" one of the
men shouted, raising his axe high above his head.
Alex blocked with the blunt end of his
gunblade and quickly took him down. "Now go!"
"R-right!" Sakura stammered as
she ran away with K-chan. Some of the men gave chase but were stopped by Alex
who slid in their way.
"Ah-ah-ah, you're fighting me now,"
he growled dangerously. Win or lose, I gotta give them time! There's no WAY
I'll let my sisters get caught!
The fighting ensued. One attacked on his
left, the other on his right. If only Alex wasn't so fast, they wouldn't have
killed each other. With speed on his side, he took down most of the men in front
of him with a flahs. He then paused, panting slightly, checking to see who was
left. Then a sudden pain came was felt behind him and he fell into darkness....
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Bwuahahahahahahhahahahahahaha.......what's
going to happen to Alex? Is Sakura going to find Phoenix and the others in time?
Who found out about their mission? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Angels.....