Untitled
Chapter 3
By Maureen
A dark, cloaked figure wrapped its arms around her waist. It intertwined its fingers with her's. The girl spun around to face the cloaked…thing.
It was faceless. Empty. But, wait. It had a mouth. A mouth, but no lips, which slowly opened and hissed…
"Lady…lady…"
Quistis' eyes flickered open. Nothing had clarity at the moment. She quickly sat up, which was regretted as a huge shot of pain hit her head.
"Hey! Lady! You're up!" the voice of a young girl said perkily.
Quistis let out a groan. Her eyes started to adjust. A young smiling girl stood in front of her. Her bright green eyes were waiting for Quistis' reaction.
"Where…am I?" Quistis managed.
"Oboe Lake! Me and my friend found's ya's while we were playin'. She went to get her mommy! I'm gunna go get her!" The little girl ran off.
Quistis suddenly became aware of the fact that Zell, Amie, Adan, Seifer…Fujin and Raijin were all lying on the ground, still unconscious. She stood up and walked to where Zell laid.
"Zell, get up! Can you hear me? Zell!"
"Ugh." She heard someone groan. "Instructor, screaming at unconscious people really doesn't help much…"
"Seifer!" She rushed over. "What were you doing out here anyways? And don't call me Instructor, I'm not an Instructor anymore."
Seifer's beautiful green eyes flashed with intrigue, but he decided to leave it. "We were fishing, not illegal, is it? …Where the hell are we?"
"We're at Obel…" Quistis drifted off. She hadn't noticed before, but there was no way this could be Obel Lake. There was too much plant life, too many trees, and Timber was nowhere to be seen.
"No fucking way." Seifer glared at Quistis. "What the hell is this? Some sort of trap?"
Quistis returned the glare. "Why the hell would we want to set you in a trap? And you saw that were in trouble too. I'm just as lost as you."
"Oh, yes, we're both the victims, don't say anything about l'il ol' me! Cut the crap, Instructor. Oh, oops, sorry, forgot, you're not an instructor anymore," Seifer spat angrily.
Quistis' eyes narrowed. It stung; he hit here where it hurt. "Don't take your nasty mood out on me and I won't take mine out on you."
Seifer ignored her and went to check on Fujin.
Quistis went to Adan's side. "Adan." She shook him gently.
"Uh," he grunted. "Yes. Yes, mom, I love you too." Great, he was reliving a sentimental moment with his mother.
"Adan!" she said with more imperative. She noticed that Fujin and Raijin seemed to already have been revived.
"Wha?"
"Omph."
Zell and Adan got up at the same time.
"Oh…shit," Zell muttered. "Amie!" He put himself to work, taking care of his girlfriend.
Quistis focused on Adan. "You ok?"
"Yeah…wha…where are we?"
"No idea," Quistis replied. "Is everyone ok?" Her question was returned by unenthusiastic mumbles and grunts. "Ok, everyone, it's ok. We'll just get to civilization and make our way back to Garden."
"Garden? Nope, look, it's been a pleasure." Seifer started to say, but then noticed approaching figures, two children, one woman, and one man, who seemed to be dressed very…differently.
"Ok, Tula, don't worry," the man said. "Umm…welcome strangers. I represent the citizens of Timber. Could you please state your business here?"
"Timber? What? Where?" Zell asked.
"What do you mean, where? It's right there! Well, of course the invisa-shield us in…" the woman said.
"I-in-whatuh-shield?" Zell asked.
The woman gave Zell a strange look, like he was joking.
"Are you…travelers?" the man inquired.
"We're SeeDs." Quistis immediately assumed the leader role.
"You're not SeeDs. Our city is already patrolled and you can't possibly be from another city…SeeDs don't get lost." He gave a laugh, which sounded more like an arrogant huff.
"We're not SeeDs," Seifer jumped in. "We're just looking for jobs, this one here…she's a little…" Seifer arched his eyebrows and received a look of sympathetic understanding from the man.
"Oh! Well, no more needs to be said! We welcome traveling workers! In fact, I am very willing to assist; I know just the right people to go to. I'm Zanger Ciame. This here is little Tula." The girl who had woken Quistis beamed.
The young woman spoke up, "I'm Keela Sarani and this one here's mine." The little girl nuzzled her face into her mother's skirt. "Her name's Paloma. By the way, I'm the owner of a local restaurant; I could use some help."
Before Quistis could say anything, Seifer quickly said, "That would be great, we'll find you once we're settled in. Any recommendations on where to stay?" Seifer flashed a genuine-looking smile. Quistis could not believe him! Since when did he become a…charming diplomat? Or was he trying to show Quistis that he could do better then her?
Everyone stayed nervously quiet. They listened as Keela gave directions to the nicest inn, which was also conveniently located next to her restaurant.
"Come on, you'll be wanting some lunch soon, I insist on having everyone eat at The Soup Bowl," Keela invited.
The Soup Bowl?
* * *
"That was delicious, Keela," Seifer flashed another gorgeous smile at her.
She blushed and said, "I'll go get some dessert now."
"Thanks so much," Quistis quickly said before Seifer could continue his ass kissing.
Keela's silly grin disappeared; she gave Quistis a withering look, and stalked off with Paloma in tow.
"Ok," Quistis started. "What we've found out so far…it's year 4532. SeeDs are now more like very well trained policemen. We need to focus…how are we going to get back?"
Silence.
Seifer smirked. "Actually, it's not bad here. I could stay." Fujin shot him an unreadable look.
"I dunno. This is just too weird, ya know?"
"HOME," Fujin urged.
Zell spoke up. "Maybe this has something to do with-" Zanger and Tula walked in. "-Ellone."
Zanger gave Zell a strange look. "Did you say Ellone?"
"Uhh…well, no! I mean, heh, well…I dunno…" Zell sputtered. "…Would it have been bad of I did?" he let out in a rush.
Zanger looked startled. "Do you wish to use the Ellone machine? I have one at my home if you would like to."
A light lit up in Quistis' head while everyone else stood dumbfounded. "Oh, no, thank you. We were just having a discussion about the history of Ellone machines." Quistis was now receiving confused looks from everyone in the room. She continued, "About how the Ellone machines were created based off of the person Ellone…"
"There was an actual person? Really! Well, I'm impressed, you know your history. Well, I must be off now, come Tula." Zanger smiled and walked away. As soon as he was out of ear shot…
"Explain," Seifer demanded.
"Don't you remember in Esthar, Dr. Odine told us! In the future, he creates Ellone machines, which duplicate Ellone's talents, sending people into the past or future! It's strange, though, that Zanger didn't know Ellone was an actual person…"
"I remember now!" Zell piped up. "And, later, Ultamecia decides the Ellone machines aren't powerful enough to create Time Compression and that she needs the real Ellone…"
"Who's Ellone?' Adan asked.
"Commander Leonhart's sister," Quistis replied.
Seifer sneered. Quistis gave him a look.
"Wait a minute," Amie said. "Ultamecia hasn't taken over yet…right?" Amie sounded extremely nervous. "So somehow, she knows Ellone is a real person…"
Realization hit Quistis like a pulse ammo shot.
"She could have easily found out that information from a history record," Adan jumped to Quistis' defense.
"Tula Ciame," Seifer said quietly.
"Ultamecia…"
