Legend of the Cerulean Lapis
by Mariye
---
Disclaimer: I don't own the fable. I don't own the characters. I don't own Valkyrie Profile.
Some lines from here did appear in the game.
Now that we've cleared all that up, lets start the story! o^-^o
---
When a Cerulean Lapis is in a young man's hand
When two people have bared their souls
And when two hearts become as one
The Legend of the Cerulean Lapis begins again...
Tale 2: Shiho
It has often been a tradition in the Hai-Lan samurai army to have a song-maiden in their ranks. This is a young woman trained only to sing, and drive men to battle and to fury with her songs. The greatest, most honorable death a young samurai can die is one in battle.
Song-maidens are trained in only one way, and are chosen when they are born. They are made to be sorceresses, but only given spells that can help others, and not be used offensively for themselves. Their one sole purpose in life is to drive others to fight.
The truely powerful song-maidens survive many wars and battles... and drive many men to their deaths. Thus their lifes are plagued with ridicule and torment.
Our story is about one particular song-maiden... who is a very prominent one...
~~~
"Its all your fault! You drove them to this! You don't deserve to live!"
Shiho clasped the hands of the men on either side of her tighter. Usually she never left the military compound. In all of her 18 years she had never even been allowed to be alone outside. Of course, times like this made her glad of her constant escorts.
"My son died because of you! Witch!"
She hung her head lower as the two soldiers next to her led her to the temple altar in front of her. One of them, the man on her left, took her hands and placed them on the rope in front of her. She pulled down on it gently and heard the faint ringing of bells.
"Please... please help me find some light..." She whispered under her breath.
"Alright. You've said your prayer for the battle ahead of us. Now lets go." The same man who had helped her hand find the rope now pulled her back.
She was sent to the temple before each battle to pray for the land's success. To pray for them to win. Little did they know the last time she honestly prayed for them was more than six years ago.
She started to answer, to say 'alright, I'm ready to leave' when the other man grabbed her arm harshly and started pulling her off the temple grounds.
"We've no time for dawdling Shiho." He said gruffly into her face, the smell of cheap beer over-whelming her. She was blind, not deaf.
She allowed herself to be pulled out of the yard, and back into the street, where the crowd waited for her.
"You never should have been born!" She heard the shout just as she felt something smash at her feet.
"If these men cared for me, they would draw their swords... defend me..." She thought. Of course she knew it would never happen. She only felt them nudge her down the right path back to the compound.
She tried to shut out the calls behind her. Let them think her deaf and dumb. Its only a pity she couldn't also pretend to be mute.
~
She found herself in her one sanctuary. The one place the general allowed her. A small rose garden. They had objected when she had requested it as a gift for her 16th birthday. Her one nurse-maid, Nazima, had fought for her one luxury.
She still remembered standing by, watching as Nazima speak so rashly to the general.
"Her 16th year is supposed to be celebrated. It is supposed to be a joyful event for a girl."
"Her joy should come from the fact that she sings to bring us victory, and that alone." He stood firm in front of her.
"You deny her any semblance of a normal life. You shut her away in a dark room. You make her fight for you. You keep her silent except when singing. She is treated as though she is a toy, but she is not a toy... she is a human being with feelings and emotions! You cannot change that! No matter what you may..."
The general raised his hand and slapped her face, the force sending her to the ground. Shiho remembered standing in shock and falling to the ground at the sound.
"Insolent wench!"
"But you know I'm right! And you know that there is no way the gods will have mercy on your soul for what you have done to this girl!"
There was a log silence after that.
"You are dismissed Nazima. Take her with you..."
"Shiho. Her name is Shiho."
He paused, and Shiho remembered wondering if he would strike Nazima again.
"Take Shiho and leave."
Two days later Nazima was gone and the garden was there.
"It was a trade of one joy for another" She thought as she pulled a rose to her face to smell it.
She still missed Nazima. The one person who had ever cared for her. But at least she had one sanctuary now.
She heard the footsteps behind her before the announcement of their arrival. She heard the metallic noises hitting the stone pathway.
"Why now? Why couldn't it have simply been another voice instructor? Another noble come to hear me sing?" She thought, as she already began to rise.
"Its time. Come."
She took the hand offered to her and was lead to the stand...
"Listen!! The melodious throbbing of life's sacred rhythms!" She threw back her shoulders and proclaimed, as she started to sing.
The battle waged for thirty minutes before Shiho began to even tire. She could tell from the screams of torment on the field around her that this was a terrible fight, and would have been a horror to behold.
"What a gift in disguise." She thought bitterly as she sang on.
She sang of the victories of the Hai-Lan army. Of the strong men. Of the women who loved them. Of the emperor and gods for which they fought.
She stopped for a moment.
The guard that stood next to her gave her that moment, thinking she was going to cast a support spell to aid them all in their cause.
"What about myself?" She thought. "I sing of every aspect of the wars. But what of myself? What of the songmaidens? The sorceresses who compel the men to fight?"
She could hear the voices of the people who mocked her in the back of her head.
"Delivering men to their deaths!"
"Cursed Siren!"
"It is evil you spawn!"
"What about myself?" She whispered... almost saying it loudly enough so that others around her could hear it.
"SING!"
She felt the guard's glove collide with her face as the words were spoken. She could sense the tension now growing around her. The alarmed enemy samurai near her, stopping in alarm that a song-maiden would stop singing.
"I said to SING! SING WOMAN!"
Shiho tried to speak, to cry out, but she felt the sharp tip of a sword at her throat. The screams of all the men falling around her deafened her.
"I... I... can't..."
"How DARE you!"
She saw him raise his arm and sword and clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the blade to fall.
"It is just a release... I welcome this... but why can I not feel the sword at my skin?" She thought as she pressed herself against the platform. She heard a man's scream, and felt the platform shake as dead weight dropped next to her.
"Stand up. Its alright. Are you okay?" A strange man was saying. She opened her eyes and rose up on one arm. "I... don't understand. Why did you stop singing?"
"... Red... What does red look like?"
"Wha?"
She heard the man step back, and assumed he hadn't realised she was blind.
"Then you can't see?"
"From birth, I have been desitined for life as a song-maiden. The gods gave me no light, though. Perhaps they grew tired of giving it. Yet, is my desiring it such a terrible thing?" She whispered. She doubted he heard over the noise of battle.
"If you gave up singing... what would you desire?" Suo asked as he knelt next to her.
"Death."
He rose and pulled his sword. He began to raise it, but his arm began to shake... He put his sword down and away.
"My name is Suo..."
He offered her his hand and helped her up.
~
The two walked through the forest to the enemy samurai camp. Along the way Suo talked, and Shiho mainly listened, as she always had before. Occasionally she told a little of her self, but mainly she kept her silence, and preferred to here his life story and thoughts.
"We're approaching my captain. Just stay at my side..." Suo moved in front of her, and she heard the clattering of metal armor as he bowed to his commanding officer. "Sir, we have captured the enemy songmaiden."
"Excellent... let's see..." She heard a man walk towards her, and felt a hand grab her face, under her chin. He forced her to look up. "Quite beautiful... Yes, but..."
She didn't even feel the blade as it ripped across her throat. She fell softly to the ground.
"S... uo..." She faintly cried as her eyes closed.
"Why?!?! Even her companions abandoned her fighting spirit and all that?!?!." Suo grabbed the hilt of his sword and directed his rage at the officer.
"Suo. Have her charms enchanted you, then? That woman has led many of your compatriots to their deaths!"
"But!"
"Have you gone soft Suo?" The commander shot him a dirty look.
"No... no... Forgive my outburst..." He bowed and walked in the opposite direction, back to the small lagoon near their camp. He took his helmet off and threw it onto the ground and walked up to the beach. Slowly he knelt by the shore and dipped his hands in the water.
"This is wrong... I am supposed to protect... to help save... she has been through so much... I couldn't help her..." He whispered as he placed his hands in the water. "How can I ever atone... for all I have done..."
A small glimmering object caught his eye in the water. He reached his hand in, and pulled out a small, blue sphere.
" A gem... of some sort?" He asked as he held it up to the light. It sparkled brilliantly, as though it gave off its own glow. "Could this be... no... that is just a story..." He clenched it in his fist. "Even so though... maybe this could be... maybe I could start to atone with this..."
He rose and stood up, holding the lapis tightly in his hand.
"Lapis... grant my heart's desire... I wish.... I wish for Shiho to be able to fight for herself, to be her own person, to be able to have friends and be strong..."
He opened his hand, and saw the small gem glow. Startled, he dropped it back into the water.
"No... it was... just my imagination. That could never have... No..."
~
Meanwhile, from above, the goddess Valkyrie was floating over the scene, with a young woman next to her.
"A wish is a wish. So let it be done. Let us go."
Shiho and the Valkyrie then disappeared into nothingness.
The End
The next tale.... Jayle
by Mariye
---
Disclaimer: I don't own the fable. I don't own the characters. I don't own Valkyrie Profile.
Some lines from here did appear in the game.
Now that we've cleared all that up, lets start the story! o^-^o
---
When a Cerulean Lapis is in a young man's hand
When two people have bared their souls
And when two hearts become as one
The Legend of the Cerulean Lapis begins again...
Tale 2: Shiho
It has often been a tradition in the Hai-Lan samurai army to have a song-maiden in their ranks. This is a young woman trained only to sing, and drive men to battle and to fury with her songs. The greatest, most honorable death a young samurai can die is one in battle.
Song-maidens are trained in only one way, and are chosen when they are born. They are made to be sorceresses, but only given spells that can help others, and not be used offensively for themselves. Their one sole purpose in life is to drive others to fight.
The truely powerful song-maidens survive many wars and battles... and drive many men to their deaths. Thus their lifes are plagued with ridicule and torment.
Our story is about one particular song-maiden... who is a very prominent one...
~~~
"Its all your fault! You drove them to this! You don't deserve to live!"
Shiho clasped the hands of the men on either side of her tighter. Usually she never left the military compound. In all of her 18 years she had never even been allowed to be alone outside. Of course, times like this made her glad of her constant escorts.
"My son died because of you! Witch!"
She hung her head lower as the two soldiers next to her led her to the temple altar in front of her. One of them, the man on her left, took her hands and placed them on the rope in front of her. She pulled down on it gently and heard the faint ringing of bells.
"Please... please help me find some light..." She whispered under her breath.
"Alright. You've said your prayer for the battle ahead of us. Now lets go." The same man who had helped her hand find the rope now pulled her back.
She was sent to the temple before each battle to pray for the land's success. To pray for them to win. Little did they know the last time she honestly prayed for them was more than six years ago.
She started to answer, to say 'alright, I'm ready to leave' when the other man grabbed her arm harshly and started pulling her off the temple grounds.
"We've no time for dawdling Shiho." He said gruffly into her face, the smell of cheap beer over-whelming her. She was blind, not deaf.
She allowed herself to be pulled out of the yard, and back into the street, where the crowd waited for her.
"You never should have been born!" She heard the shout just as she felt something smash at her feet.
"If these men cared for me, they would draw their swords... defend me..." She thought. Of course she knew it would never happen. She only felt them nudge her down the right path back to the compound.
She tried to shut out the calls behind her. Let them think her deaf and dumb. Its only a pity she couldn't also pretend to be mute.
~
She found herself in her one sanctuary. The one place the general allowed her. A small rose garden. They had objected when she had requested it as a gift for her 16th birthday. Her one nurse-maid, Nazima, had fought for her one luxury.
She still remembered standing by, watching as Nazima speak so rashly to the general.
"Her 16th year is supposed to be celebrated. It is supposed to be a joyful event for a girl."
"Her joy should come from the fact that she sings to bring us victory, and that alone." He stood firm in front of her.
"You deny her any semblance of a normal life. You shut her away in a dark room. You make her fight for you. You keep her silent except when singing. She is treated as though she is a toy, but she is not a toy... she is a human being with feelings and emotions! You cannot change that! No matter what you may..."
The general raised his hand and slapped her face, the force sending her to the ground. Shiho remembered standing in shock and falling to the ground at the sound.
"Insolent wench!"
"But you know I'm right! And you know that there is no way the gods will have mercy on your soul for what you have done to this girl!"
There was a log silence after that.
"You are dismissed Nazima. Take her with you..."
"Shiho. Her name is Shiho."
He paused, and Shiho remembered wondering if he would strike Nazima again.
"Take Shiho and leave."
Two days later Nazima was gone and the garden was there.
"It was a trade of one joy for another" She thought as she pulled a rose to her face to smell it.
She still missed Nazima. The one person who had ever cared for her. But at least she had one sanctuary now.
She heard the footsteps behind her before the announcement of their arrival. She heard the metallic noises hitting the stone pathway.
"Why now? Why couldn't it have simply been another voice instructor? Another noble come to hear me sing?" She thought, as she already began to rise.
"Its time. Come."
She took the hand offered to her and was lead to the stand...
"Listen!! The melodious throbbing of life's sacred rhythms!" She threw back her shoulders and proclaimed, as she started to sing.
The battle waged for thirty minutes before Shiho began to even tire. She could tell from the screams of torment on the field around her that this was a terrible fight, and would have been a horror to behold.
"What a gift in disguise." She thought bitterly as she sang on.
She sang of the victories of the Hai-Lan army. Of the strong men. Of the women who loved them. Of the emperor and gods for which they fought.
She stopped for a moment.
The guard that stood next to her gave her that moment, thinking she was going to cast a support spell to aid them all in their cause.
"What about myself?" She thought. "I sing of every aspect of the wars. But what of myself? What of the songmaidens? The sorceresses who compel the men to fight?"
She could hear the voices of the people who mocked her in the back of her head.
"Delivering men to their deaths!"
"Cursed Siren!"
"It is evil you spawn!"
"What about myself?" She whispered... almost saying it loudly enough so that others around her could hear it.
"SING!"
She felt the guard's glove collide with her face as the words were spoken. She could sense the tension now growing around her. The alarmed enemy samurai near her, stopping in alarm that a song-maiden would stop singing.
"I said to SING! SING WOMAN!"
Shiho tried to speak, to cry out, but she felt the sharp tip of a sword at her throat. The screams of all the men falling around her deafened her.
"I... I... can't..."
"How DARE you!"
She saw him raise his arm and sword and clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the blade to fall.
"It is just a release... I welcome this... but why can I not feel the sword at my skin?" She thought as she pressed herself against the platform. She heard a man's scream, and felt the platform shake as dead weight dropped next to her.
"Stand up. Its alright. Are you okay?" A strange man was saying. She opened her eyes and rose up on one arm. "I... don't understand. Why did you stop singing?"
"... Red... What does red look like?"
"Wha?"
She heard the man step back, and assumed he hadn't realised she was blind.
"Then you can't see?"
"From birth, I have been desitined for life as a song-maiden. The gods gave me no light, though. Perhaps they grew tired of giving it. Yet, is my desiring it such a terrible thing?" She whispered. She doubted he heard over the noise of battle.
"If you gave up singing... what would you desire?" Suo asked as he knelt next to her.
"Death."
He rose and pulled his sword. He began to raise it, but his arm began to shake... He put his sword down and away.
"My name is Suo..."
He offered her his hand and helped her up.
~
The two walked through the forest to the enemy samurai camp. Along the way Suo talked, and Shiho mainly listened, as she always had before. Occasionally she told a little of her self, but mainly she kept her silence, and preferred to here his life story and thoughts.
"We're approaching my captain. Just stay at my side..." Suo moved in front of her, and she heard the clattering of metal armor as he bowed to his commanding officer. "Sir, we have captured the enemy songmaiden."
"Excellent... let's see..." She heard a man walk towards her, and felt a hand grab her face, under her chin. He forced her to look up. "Quite beautiful... Yes, but..."
She didn't even feel the blade as it ripped across her throat. She fell softly to the ground.
"S... uo..." She faintly cried as her eyes closed.
"Why?!?! Even her companions abandoned her fighting spirit and all that?!?!." Suo grabbed the hilt of his sword and directed his rage at the officer.
"Suo. Have her charms enchanted you, then? That woman has led many of your compatriots to their deaths!"
"But!"
"Have you gone soft Suo?" The commander shot him a dirty look.
"No... no... Forgive my outburst..." He bowed and walked in the opposite direction, back to the small lagoon near their camp. He took his helmet off and threw it onto the ground and walked up to the beach. Slowly he knelt by the shore and dipped his hands in the water.
"This is wrong... I am supposed to protect... to help save... she has been through so much... I couldn't help her..." He whispered as he placed his hands in the water. "How can I ever atone... for all I have done..."
A small glimmering object caught his eye in the water. He reached his hand in, and pulled out a small, blue sphere.
" A gem... of some sort?" He asked as he held it up to the light. It sparkled brilliantly, as though it gave off its own glow. "Could this be... no... that is just a story..." He clenched it in his fist. "Even so though... maybe this could be... maybe I could start to atone with this..."
He rose and stood up, holding the lapis tightly in his hand.
"Lapis... grant my heart's desire... I wish.... I wish for Shiho to be able to fight for herself, to be her own person, to be able to have friends and be strong..."
He opened his hand, and saw the small gem glow. Startled, he dropped it back into the water.
"No... it was... just my imagination. That could never have... No..."
~
Meanwhile, from above, the goddess Valkyrie was floating over the scene, with a young woman next to her.
"A wish is a wish. So let it be done. Let us go."
Shiho and the Valkyrie then disappeared into nothingness.
The End
The next tale.... Jayle