Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII belongs to Squaresoft
Save the Queen
When you love someone, put his name in a circle, not a heart,
cause hearts break but circles go on forever.
The old man looked at the young woman in front of him and sighed. Malcolm of Lenacourt was one of the queen's most trusted advisers. Actually, he was the only adviser.
And he really didn't know what the queen in front of him was pulling.
She looked the same, except her hair was now straight and shoulder length, a contrast to her normal blond curls which reached her back. Apart from that, she was still the same Queen Ayla, with her cool demeanor and calm expression.
But it was strange, really. She looked like she had never seen her own castle before.
Malcolm frowned, forehead wrinkling. Queen Ayla loved her village and her castle.
She only had to leave nineteen years ago, when she went out of Lenacourt during the Sorceress War. He remembered it as if it was yesterday…
*
Queen Ayla of Lenacourt looked back at her people sadly. Most of them looked as sorrowful as she, and the soldiers leaving with her were bidding their families farewell. Staring at the beautiful sunset, probably for the last time. She knew that once she left, she would never come back.
But this was what she had to do. Hunt down the sorceress and kill her. She was a danger to the world and her village. She regretted not having killed the sorceress earlier.
After all, the sorceress was from her own village. That was why she was going to find her before she could cost anymore pain to the world.
" Your Majesty," said a voice behind the eighteen-year-old queen.
Ayla turned around. It was her adviser.
" Are you certain you want to do this?" He asked, his forty-year-old features deepening into a frown.
Her beautiful face looked pale but determined. " Yes, Malcolm. I have to. But…There is one thing I have to tell you…I…I am pregnant…"
*
And so she was. After all this time, they still didn't know what happened to her baby.
Malcolm rubbed his forehead, still looking at the young lady sitting in front of him at the dining table. She was silent, probably contemplating what she was doing here, not touching any of the delicious meals the cooks had prepared for her.
And he still didn't understand what was wrong with her.
" Majesty--," Malcolm began.
" Please don't call me that," She said wearily.
" But--," The old adviser persisted, only to be silenced by a glare from the queen in front of him.
" Alright then…Queen Ayla." He thought he saw a look of confusion flash in her flawless face. Malcolm ignored it. " The people want to celebrate your return. So they have prepared a festival—"
" But—"
" Her Majesty has her own ball in the palace, attended by our lords and ladies of the court." Malcolm finished. " Fret not, my queen. It has all been taken cared of. As for your memory—"
" I told you many times before that I am not the queen of Lenacourt," Ayla said calmly.
" Please, Queen Ayla. The village healers will think of a way to restore your memory back,"
Quistis sighed. The man in front of her still didn't get it. She was NOT the queen of this village. She had never even heard of Lenacourt until she and Seifer found it. Maybe she just looked like the girl in the portrait in the main hall, although she had gasped because of the perfect resemblance, maybe every person in the village just made a mistake, as did her 'adviser'.
" Please cooperate with us, Your Majesty."
She looked at Malcolm, who looked so desperate and pleading.
Fine. Alright. Let's see how it is to be queen. But just for a while. Just for a while.
" Alright, Malcolm," Quistis said, trying to cheer the poor old man who was convincing her for the last hour that she was a queen.
And she was sure the old man almost jumped for joy at what she said.
" Yes, Your Majesty. Now please eat what our dear servants have cooked for you," He said, a grandfather-like expression on his face.
Oh well. Might as well eat than starve.
Quistis closed her slender fingers on the gold goblet in front of her and sipped a sweet-tasting drink. " A question. How old am I?"
" Why, Her Majesty is in her thirty- sixth year," Malcolm replied in surprise to her question.
Quistis almost choked. Thirty-six?! She knew Selphie said she sounded like a thirty-year-old but that didn't necessarily mean that she was. She was just nineteen, for Hyne's sake!
" Oh. Oh yes," She said dumbly, trying to regain her composure. " About the ball…"
" Oh yes!" Malcolm clapped his hands. At once, three ladies in black gowns and white lace caps on their heads appeared, bowing down to her.
I could get use to this.
" Please help Her Majesty get dressed for the ball."
" What?! Did you say that Qui—I mean Ayla, is thirty-six years old?" Seifer asked. Quistis was gonna flip.
Kay nodded, violet eyes twinkling. Then she frowned. " But…She sure didn't look like a forty-year-old woman. Almost like she was a decade younger."
Seifer snorted. Oh yeah. " Seventeen years younger, to be exact."
Kay and Seifer were in an inn, the place where Kay lived. She had once saved the innkeeper's daughter, so as a reward, they let Kay live there for free until she got her own house, which Kay told Seifer she wasn't going to do soon. They had also welcomed Seifer with open arms, happy with the fact that he 'protected' their beloved queen and led her back safely.
" What?" Kay asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Seifer twirled her staff. " Nothing."
Geez. Those stupid creeps were so blind! It was impossible to think that Quistis was at least three decades old! Well, unless she had gray streaks in her hair, but that was beside the point.
They were so stupid to believe that she was their queen.
I mean, isn't there even a tiny difference, a tiny one?
Kay had told him all he knew about the queen and he just sat there, commenting to himself about their stupidness.
But at one point he wondered. Kay was different. She sounded more like a teenager like him and Squall and the others, unlike the other geezers who spoke like a Webster dictionary.
" Just asking…Why are more advanced than all the other freaks in here?" Seifer asked frankly. What was the use of saying kind old words?
Kay looked at him thoughtfully then answered, " Because I was a student in Galbadia Garden two years ago."
Seifer froze, gripping the wooden staff hard.
Galbadia Garden…Two years ago…
The words echoed in his mind.
" Then I disappeared before the second Sorceress War," Kay continued.
He visibly relaxed. So she disappeared before he turned into the Sorceress' lapdog that he was…
Lucky her.
" Ya see, Lenacourt was right beside G Garden at that time," She said.
" Wait. What do you mean 'at that time'?" Seifer asked, eyebrows knit into a frown.
Kay looked deep into his confused green eyes and smiled. " Lenacourt is a moving island. It moves from place to place so people really can't track it down, and so no one knows about it here. That keeps it safe."
A silence echoed in the room.
Then Seifer suddenly smirked. " One more question. Why the hell are you in those things that guys wear when you're supposed to be in frilly gowns and hats and waving and umbrella?"
" Gee. Fear me, Oh Monster for I will shade you from the sun and banish the rain!" Kay said sarcastically as she pretended to fence an invisible monster with an unseen umbrella.
Seifer laughed. " Funny, Kay."
She smiled at him and sat down on the bed beside him. " So…What are you gonna wear for the Queen's ball tonight?"
The SeeD frowned. What the hell was he supposed to wear? Who cares anyway?
" This," He said, pointing at his trenchcoat. " Does it look like I'm hiding a black Armani suit in my sleeve?"
Kay rolled her eyes. " Funny, Seifer. Actually, I know someone who might lend you something."
Seifer raised his eyebrows. " What? Are you kidding me? No way in hell am I gonna wear something fancy and old fashioned."
" I can't believe I'm wearing something fancy and old fashioned."
Kay was trying to keep from bursting into peal after peal of laughter.
Seifer looked so adorable.
And insane, really.
He was pulling down his shirt, which was probably as itchy as hell with the gold trimmings and tight collar and cuffs. With it was a pair of scarlet red breeches, brand new and…itchy.
" Quit laughing," He grumbled at the girl who was covering her mouth.
Kay couldn't really help it. After persisting and trying to convince him into the innkeeper's husband's fancy clothes, promising him that she would also wear a skirt (and threatening him that she would never stop bothering him until he did.)
She heard him mutter, " God, not another Selphie," and agree.
He was so strange seen in nice clothes, considering he was so cocky and…ungentlemanlike.
Kay was sure Queen Ayla would laugh too. She had a feeling they were more than the queen-knight relationship Seifer explained.
Then she told him that if he was her knight, he should be more dressed to the occasion.
" Can we just get on with this?" He groaned.
Kay tried to compose herself, but failed. " Yes, of course…" Then sneaking a glance at him, she laughed, unable to control herself until tears started to form in her eyes.
He growled then began to chase her across the large room.
" When I see you in the skirt, I swear I will laugh at you 'til hell takes over."
" Too bad you won't probably do!"
" What?" Seifer stopped abruptly.
Kay had a twinkle in her eye. " You'll be a special guest in the palace while I stay in the village festival."
" WHAT?!"
Quistis smiled. She never knew all the lords and ladies in Lenacourt were so…not corrupted. Normally, when SeeD was requested to attend a party with all the high-class people, you had to try hard not to punch them square in the jaw.
But they were very different. All of them were glad at the queen's return and they tried to hide their joy--as was the respect in Lenacourt--and calmly try to wish her a warm welcome.
But all night, dressed in an ice blue halter gown, blond hair amazingly slightly curled by the servants, with champagne glass in her slender hand, she was just waiting for someone.
Someone who was apparently at the large open doors looking for someone as well. She had given the guards permission to let him in.
And he was now standing there, dressed like a lord.
" Excuse me, my lord," Quistis said, bowing her head slightly to the old gentleman talking with her.
He flushed, then bowed deeply. " Of course, my queen. May I escort you to wherever you intend on going?"
She laid a hand on his arm which was already prepared to link her arm. " Oh no, Lord Richard. Don't bother yourself on my account."
Then she walked to the young man in the near corner of the room, feeling all eyes on her.
Seifer sighed. What the hell was he doing here? Just like every party in Garden, he was leaning on the wall, a resigned look on his face. Except this wasn't a party in Garden and everyone around him was laughing gently and dancing their own step. There was no girl in a mini dress, only long, balloon-like gowns and the men just like what he was wearing. So boring.
Where was Quistis on a time like this?
He was searching for her impatiently, absorbing the beautiful ballroom about ten times bigger than Garden's. It had glass for windows and a ceiling, which overlooked the glorious night sky, with the stars and the moon and the sounds of people dancing happily, noisily, beneath them in the village.
The people were celebrating for a queen who didn't join in with their festival.
Hyne, this was so boring--
" Good evening, Seifer."
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't see the pretty young woman in front of him, wearing an ele\gant gown which matched her elegant features. A small smile tugged at the corner of her full, red lips.
" Quistis! Hyne, you are actually thirty--"
" Sshh!" Quistis hissed, grabbing his hand with her gloved one and digging her fingernails in it. Even with cloth covering her fingers, it still hurt like hell.
" Oww! Dammit, Quistis!"
She flashed him a look that said 'shut the hell up!'
Almost everyone was staring at their beloved queen and her hand on a lord's arm intently.
" Lead me to the dance floor or something," She muttered.
Seifer wanted to mock a salute, but fortunately didn't. " Yes, O Boar."
Quistis linked her arm formally with Seifer's and he led her to the center of the room.
He could feel each one of the people's burning gaze.
They were kind…But they sure were very curious people.
Both SeeDs looked at each other.
Seifer stared at Quistis' blue eyes, which seemed like they were looking into his very soul. He was drowning into those deep pools and so was she.
And he broke the moment, taking her hand gently and asked her something ( everyone around them heard) every lord didn't have the courage of asking.
" Your Majesty, will you do me the honor of dancing with me?"
Finally! I finished this chapter. Sorry to keep you guys waiting.