¸.·´¯`·»Missing Verse«·´¯`·.¸
Seifer awoke to the sound of birds chirping the next morning. He rolled over to reach for his golden-haired wife. To take her into his arms and hold her forever.
There was an absence in their bed of blankets. His eyes slowly fluttered open to see a purple rose lying where she had slept that night. He was on his feet at once, and gave only a minute's thought to throwing his leather pants on.
A scream ripped through the blue morning sky.
Seifer rushing from the clearing, his chest was burning. Across the great green stretch of the Alucald plains a black craft sat with Medarra standing at the doorway. His wife lay on the ground beside her and Ellone was in her arms. Zell was running from the other way.
His legs couldn't move fast enough. He couldn't get there in time, to stop his mother from throwing the two women into the craft. The black machine lifted into the air, its gears spinning loudly. Medarra stood in the doorframe looking down at them with a wicked grin on her face.
"Bring the Black Sorceress and meet us in Centra," she called to the two blond men who had stopped running. Medarra waved good-bye to them from her perch, sending rage rocketing through him. Seifer leaned forward, hands resting on his knees. He breathed heavily, trying to rein in his anger. A string of expletives was coming from Zell's mouth.
"I couldn't get to them in time" Zell said slamming his fist into his palm.
"Let's go get Rinoa. I won't let her kill my wife," Seifer said with a soft vengeance in his voice. Two sets of blue eyes met, making a silent promise to each other on the plains. They would do anything to save the sorceresses they loved.
The group had gathered in the main room of the Balamb Hotel. All of them were there, and the mood was beyond tense.
Selphie sat on the couch fighting back the tears the threatened to ruin her sunny façade. Irvine sat next to her, lounging back on the couch and staring at everyone from under the brim of his hat.
Squall sat at the head of the table, his face stony. Rinoa was next to him, staring at the groves on the table, her eyes shadowed with tears. Zell paced in front of the door. Seifer stood at the other end of the table, every muscle in his body tense.
They were wasting time.
"We'll go in first," Seifer said, his voice as tense as his muscles.
"She wants me, I'll go alone," Rinoa said softly. Seifer felt his jaw tighten.
"No! if she gets you, you all die anyway!" Seifer said, trying not to shout at the tiny girl.
"Why risk your lives when I can go alone? I'm not a little kid you know!" Rinoa exclaimed, getting to her feet. Fiery anger rolled through Seifer.
"Squall, control your girlfriend, we don't need another Deling City incident," Seifer hissed, turning his green eyes to the stormy form of Squall. None of them could forget the time she tried to give Edea the Odin Bangle, and had almost cost them the mission.
Rinoa took a deep breath sucking her bottom lip in between her breath. She opened her mouth to say something and Squall placed a silent gloved hand on her arm.
She snapped her mouth shut and looked down at Squall.
"He's right, we don't need you going off half cocked and leaving the rest of us in danger" Squall said quietly. Rinoa huffed and flopped down into a chair. She crossed her arms over her chest and attempted to pout.
"What's the plan then," Irvine drawled from the corner. Squall sighed and shook his head, sending his bangs flopping down over his eyes.
"Seifer, you pick a team to go in first. If you are unsuccessful, I'll follow with Rinoa and whoever is left," Squall said. Seifer blinked a bit, almost amazed; Squall had just put him in change of something.
"I want Zell and Selphie," Seifer said without thinking. There was no way Zell would be staying behind, and Selphie's full-cure magic was too valuable to be without.
"Good, we'll take Irvine then. You take the Ragnarok, we'll follow in a hovercraft," Squall said softly, reaching over to take Rinoa's hand.
"Zell, Selph? Let's go," Seifer said, turning to stride out of the room. Zell and Selphie were quickly on his heels, checking to make sure they had all their gear on them.
"I'm flying," Selphie said as they reached the red hulking ship. Zell only nodded curtly, too angry to argue with her.
"Thanks for coming with us Selphie," Seifer said, not really sure why he should be thanking her in the first place. For some reason he had thought it would be him and Zell going alone.
"I couldn't let my demolition duo run off alone could I?" she said with a cheery smile before starting up the ship. It rose into the air, quickly dwarfing the size of the ruined garden and the town of Balamb.
"To Centra," Seifer said softly from the navigator's seat. He prayed that they could reach the two women in time.
Quistis' eyes fluttered open slowly, burning from the harshness of the sun. There was a faint memory of being pulled roughly from her wedding bed, but it was all a blur.
She was lying on the ground, gagged and bound. Ellone lay next to her much in the same position. The jewel in Quistis' hand was burning, shimmering with power. Medarra had done something to stop her from tapping into it. Every time she tried to reach for her power whiteness exploded across her vision.
The purple-gowned sorceress stood in front of them now. She was writing sigils on the ground with a long walking staff. She spoke in low tones, arcane words of dark magic. Before her loomed the great ruins of Centra, the place where they had first found Odin.
The ground was rumbling suddenly, pieces of the ruins falling away as the earth crumbled beneath it. Then from the dust of the ground tiny stone points began to rise, which erupted into massive castle towers. The rest of the castle followed bursting from the ground in one giant blast.
The palace was bigger then two of the gardens put together. The words "My Blue Heaven" were sprawled over the door in elegant stone carving. Quistis felt some invisible force lifting her from the ground and pulling her towards the caste drawbridge, which Medarra was now striding across. The courtyard of the castle was open air with a huge fountain that sprayed water into the basin below it.
It was of three women all in long flowing gowns. With a fleeting glance Quistis noticed one of them had a gem imbedded in her hand. The phantom hands shoved her along, giving her no time to explore the fountain further. To think this magnificent place had been buried under the sand all those years.
Ellone and she were pushed down a rough flight of stairs into a set of winding tunnels. The darkness enveloped them as they were pupated towards their destination. Ellone was screaming against her gag. Quistis tried to steady her heartbeat. She must be strong for Ellone.
They reached a huge familiar room. Quistis looked around, her heart hitting the floor. This was the same room where Medarra had turned her parents into GF's; the same shackles decorated the walls. Medarra stood at the head of the room poring over a great tome on a pedestal.
"Take her to the same one I shackled her mother in," Medarra said with a grin, obviously enjoying the irony of the situation.
Quistis was dragged to the shackles and untied. She tried to lurch forward against the invisible wall holding her. She struggled against the force as it snapped her into the shackles. Ellone didn't fight; she looked as if she had all ready resigned herself to her fate.
"What is this place?" Quistis asked, spitting on the floor to get the taste of the foul gag out of her mouth.
"The castle of Centra. Once, an illustrious line of blue sorceresses ruled this land. Your mother was the last Queen of Centra. I plan to take your power and rule it myself," Medarra answered, not even turning to look at them.
"People will come for us," Ellone said, her voice a little shaky. Medarra turned at last, her cruel grinning showing her pointing canines.
"That, my dears, is exactly what I was counting on."
Authors Notes:
Thanks everyone for reading, and sticking by me on this fic. I just realized yesterday how long I have been writing it. At one time I was so close to dropping it. But it was all of you that convinced my to stick with it. And now look where it is, thank you ALL so much for that.
Just wanted to say a special thanks to Wravyn, again, for being the most awesome person and grammarizing me.
Also wanted to give a big shout out to the other parts of the brain, Jacks, Neha, Faltering Hues, and Iflana!