Chapter 14 – All comes to light
"Oh yes. Come in, my young visitors. I've been expecting you for quite a while." The G.M. smiled benevolently at us. How good she is at deception. I was pretty sure that all she wanted to do was eat us all up for trying to thwart her plans of World Domination.
"Cut the crap, Ariyah. We all know you're stewing with fury inside. You don't need to act so nicely! We don't buy it for a single second." Celestine pounds a fist heavily on the desk the G.M. was seated at, causing the pens that had been lying on it to jump up and roll about with little clattering noises.
"Ah… my darling Damien… don't you have something to explain to me about?" She gazed at him in a kindly, but stern manner, like that of a mother disciplining a child without resorting to physical means.
"Listen, you with a blackened heart! I am no longer under your spell! Hyne knows how you managed to do it in the first place! Don't expect me to do your bidding this time! I will not allow you to manipulate me again, however hard you try!" Damien spat at her, literally.
She wiped her face slowly with her fingers. Following that, her entire expression… no, I should say her whole face changed.
Whom did she remind me of? Sorceress Ultimecia, perhaps, but more snake-like in the impression it gave me.
Even her voice had turned gravelly, so unlike the melodious one she had always used when talking to her worshippers, or others she had wished to deceive.
Oh well, if she's so manipulative, I should have expected her to be capable of changing her face to suit her needs.
"Didn't I say to cut the crap? Why would you want to wear this snake-like face? What's so wrong with the one before?" Celestine gritted her teeth in fury.
I looked at her, totally missing what she had just said. There must have been a huge question mark written on my face… and I suspect Damien would have looked the same way as well.
Silence from the G.M… or Ariyah, as Celestine had called her.
"You refuse to acknowledge my words? Fine. But the Great Lord has expressed in my mind his wish to speak with you." Celestine's angry expression was slowly replaced with that of a resigned one.
"I have no business with the Great Lord. Why should I see him at all?" Ariyah turns haughtily to escape the burning, straightforward gaze of Celestine's eyes.
"Because he needs to tell you something that he had neglected to all of twenty years ago. Which dates back to… around the time I was two." Celestine turns her head to one side, as if trying to recall something buried deep within the confines of her memory.
"Twenty years… ago?" Ariyah asked slowly… it appears that something rather important had happened at that time… since she had taken an immediate interest to it.
"Yes… Mother." Celestine had definitely put a lot of emphasis on the M word.
By now, I was feeling too jaded to feel jolted by further revelations of the shocking kind.
And besides… I had guessed that they were related in some way. The question had been lingering in my mind ever since the first time I had met the G.M. and found her to have something in common with Celestine.
"Y…you knew?" Ariyah asked, her face changing with her voice to that of the previous angelic one.
"From the moment I could understand the words 'adopted' and 'abandoned.' Even though the elders tried to cover it up by fooling me with false information… I could still infer what had really happened. The people whispering behind my back, the old photographs that they mistakenly thought had all been thrown away. And this…" Undoing the clasp of a chain around her neck, she held out a wing-shaped locket made of white gold, and opened it with her delicately slim fingers. On either side was a tiny photograph… one of it was a younger, smiling Ariyah. The other showed an unknown man with Celestine's blue hair.
"B…but how did you get this? Hadn't I discarded this along with all those photographs?" She gasped in disbelief when she saw it, and looked with confusion at Celestine.
"Someone had saved it from its destruction in the incinerator… maybe for me to trace back my roots… or maybe for something else. I wouldn't know…" Celestine looked away in the distance, finding it hard to continue as her voice choked up with her hidden sorrow. Well, she tried to hide it, but I could sense it strongly from the almost imperceptible trembling of her lower lip….
I wanted so much to go up and pull her into my arms… but I realised this wasn't the time and place for big displays of affections.
"Alright. I will see the Great Lord, as you wished. I don't know what you're up to, but don't expect any motherly love from me, if that's what you're hoping for." Ariyah stood and led us to a mirror, which presumably would enable them to speak with the Great Lord.
"I wouldn't dare, believe me." Celestine replied in a low voice… so low that we had to strain to hear it.
I took her hand and squeezed it tightly. She turns to me with a grateful smile… and eyes that tried valiantly to force back the flow threatening to gush forth.
"Should I be here listening to your family business? I can make myself scarce if you don't want an outsider to be here." I know how uncomfortable it would feel to have someone totally unrelated know about your family's past, especially since it appears to be a troubled one.
"Same with me." Damien spoke. Finally, after shutting his mouth for more than an hour. But I supposed he didn't have a chance to speak at all.
"No, you're both closer to me than anyone else. I want you to hear this." Celestine shook her head.
Ariyah, standing in front of the mirror, gave us a questioning look.
"We're ready when you are." Celestine told her.
She turned back to the mirror, closed her eyes and touched it with one hand.
The mirror shimmered as if it was a pool of water, and Ariyah's reflection faded… only to be replaced by an image of a stern-faced man looking approximately to be forty years of age.
Like the others, he had an aura distinctive to Angels, as well as a sense of authority in his actions and speech.
This must be the Great Lord, then.
"It's been so long ago since I've seen you, Ariyah." The Great Lord's voice was fatherly, as one would have expected from his title.
"Yes, it has. You wished to tell me something?"
Even Ariyah, who proclaimed herself to be the Great Mother had to show some respect in her voice as she spoke to him. I had initially thought that she might have been connected to the Great Lord in some way (maybe his wife… hence the adopted name?)… But from the way they spoke to each other, this was not the case at all. Besides… his face was different from the other picture in the locket.
"I shall reveal the truth hidden from you for so many years. It is with reluctance that I hid such an important thing from you, but as it was Nicholas's last request, I could only go along with his wishes."
"Nicholas…? Last request?" Ariyah's voice quivered at the mention of that name.
"I suppose this has to come out sooner or later…"
"I'm all ears…" Pale-faced Ariyah stepped closer to towards the Great Lord's image.
"It would be better if you were in a sitting position, instead of standing."
"No… please continue. I'll be fine." She said, even though the vulnerability she displayed clearly indicated otherwise.
"Don't worry, My Lord. I will catch her if she falls." Celestine offered. "Besides… I need to hear it too. I need to find out what had happened to my parents, and what had caused them to leave me to survive on my own in such a huge world." Her voice was controlled, as she tried very hard to prevent something from showing in it.
"Very well… As you wish." The Great Lord cleared his throat, and began his startling revelation.
"Do you remember the last time you saw Nicholas, Ariyah?"
She nodded.
"Yes. He told me that he was in love with another, and had to leave me." Her words were ensconced in bitterness. "After hearing that wonderful confession from him, I abandoned Celestine and left Angel Land because I simply couldn't stand to bring up his daughter for him. And I have never returned once till this day. I was afraid that I would kill the three of us if I stayed on any longer."
Celestine's head dipped a little lower. I reached my arm around her shoulder and hugged it towards me, to show her that I was there to lend her the support she might need.
All that talk about catching Ariyah would probably become my responsibility now… not that I mind. I was willing to do anything for my Angel.
"What if I told you that what he said was a lie?" The Great Lord didn't look like he was joking at all.
"A lie…? But how can that be? Why would he do something so meaningless like lie to me?" Ariyah said weakly, putting a shaking hand to her mouth.
" 'When I leave, she wouldn't be so sad if I were to make her hate me now. She will forget about me, and fall in love with another Angel, living in happiness for the rest of her life. I can't give her anything but pain if I were to selfishly keep her by my side… and Celestine will have a father to look after her as well. I want both of them to be happy… even if it tears me apart to do this…' That was what he had confided as he pleaded with me to keep it secret."
"Keep WHAT secret?" Celestine demanded. I was making an educated guess that both of us were beginning to grasp the whole story, and what had truly happened twenty years ago.
"His terminal illness. Ariyah… He had no longer than a month to live when he came to you." The Great Lord's voice became soft, like that of a caressing breeze… or so he intended. But it must have sounded so cutting to the ones at the receiving end of his truth.
"Believe me… Ariyah. We had thought that it would be the best if you didn't know about it."
"Yeah, right! How would you know? You aren't Ariyah herself! I know that as a lowly human, it is not in my place to interfere in such matters and criticise your judgement. But what you, the authority in question think is best for them might not be the case at all! In the end, you caused hurt not only to the unwilling recipient of your so-called kindness, but also to Celestine, her child, as well!" I blurted my opinions out before I knew it.
That was rash old Zell Dintch again… the side of me that couldn't stop to think about the consequences of shooting the mouth off.
They stared at me. How I wish I could dig a hole and stay in there until the rest of my life. Never have I wished so badly that my mouth came with a zipper I had to use whenever I wanted to open it.
"You are right, young man. But it was Nicholas' decision. I couldn't very well refuse him, as a good friend of both he and Ariyah's." The Great Lord was surprisingly gracious about it. That was probably one of the reasons he holds this esteemed position as the ruler of Angels.
"You… mean… all that hate and bitterness I have harboured through the years had been for nothing?" Ariyah swayed a little to the side. Celestine immediately jumped from my snug embrace in readiness to catch her.
I so admire her strength, still standing tall after receiving such impossible news about the ones who gave her life.
"We didn't realise that you would take it so badly." Was that an apologetic tone in the Great Lord's voice?
"You were wrong. So utterly, hopelessly wrong! Even after I left Angel Land, I thought of him everyday. The other side of the coin to love is hate. The stronger my love for him, the more bitter the hate was. As I accepted it into my heart, unable to bear the pain of not having him by my side, I changed. My eyes, my face, my soul, everything that once symbolised me… had turned into this vile reptilian thing that bars the real me from taking charge. I went around hurting people as well… My once protecting hands became bloody with my sinful deeds! Vengeful that they should be so blissful while I suffer in this crushing loneliness! And this hate… it just reminds me how much I love him, and miss him! A paradox really… In the end, you tell me it's for nothing? Cruel… such a cruel thing to do to a woman…"
With that, she collapsed with a faint, caught just in time by… Damien?
We were surprised at the speed he had gotten there, even though he was standing at the far end of the room.
"At last… I am of some use here. Couldn't let you guys do all the work." He grinned at us.
Then, he turned the other way to face the Great Lord.
"I will make sure that she's fine, my Great Lord. That is… if you will still accept me as an Angel under your supervision."
"Naturally I would. Damien, I recognise that you needed a little time to adjust your feelings after Celetine's 'death'. Not just you, all of us had to negotiate with the loss of a good Angel… but that's resolved now, thankfully. This…" The Great Lord held up a letter with "RESIGNATION" written on it. "I will treat this as non-existent." He smiled, and tore it up into numerous pieces. The wind picked those pieces up to places where no eye could ever see again.
"I cannot begin to express my utmost gratitude, my Great Lord." Damien bowed, still carrying Ariyah.
How impudent I am… addressing Celestine's mother by her first name. But then again… Celestine herself does it, and I can't very well call her the Great Mother again, can I?
"I must go now. Urgent matters are awaiting me as we speak. I will entrust her in your hands. And tell her that I, no, all of us in Angel Land welcome her anytime she feels like returning."
His image disappeared, to be replaced by that of the mirror's reflection of Damien carrying Ariyah.
"Well, let's take her somewhere more comfortable…" Damien suggested, and we followed him to her bedroom.
*¨*¨*¨*¨*¨*¨*¨*¨*
A long-awaited intermission.
(Holding a Triple Triad card between the index and third fingers of her right hand.)
WL: So we duel again…
Opposite of her stands Celestine in the same position.
C: Let's get on with it. And I won't let you off as easily this time!
WL: We shall see!
Yuri: The rules are Random and All!
WL: Yucky rules, but…
C: Cut the crap; let's start!
Zell shuffles up all the cards and started distributing…
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
5 4 2
3 Diablos A A Rinoa A 9 Sacred 1
(Earth)
8 2 9
-------------------- -------------------- --------------------
9 8
2 Quistis 6 ??? 1 Damien A
(Wind)
A 7
--------------------- --------------------- --------------------
8 9
Bitebug 8 Celestine A 9 Minotaur 5
5 2
-------------------- -------------------- ---------------------
1.Water Lily places Sacred card on upper right corner.
2. Celestine turns Sacred card with Rinoa card on its left…
Zell whispers to Celestine: A tad risky, don't you think?
C: Shuddup, don't interrupt the game!
3.Water Lily places Diablos card on upper left corner.
4.Celestine turns Diablos card with Quistis card underneath it.
Zell: Man, she lives dangerously…
C: ….. (glares at him)
5.Water Lily places Bite bug card beneath Quistis card.
6.With a gloating expression, Celestine places her Celestine card beside the Bitebug card and turns it.
7.Water Lily places a Minotaur card in the lower right corner.
8.Triumphantly, Celestine places the Damien Card above it.
Zell: Alright, I concede that you win… but you're just lucky the opponent is a pea-brain.
C: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Didn't I tell you? Stupid mortal girl, you're gonna lose all your rare cards! I win!
WL: Oh Oh… one shouldn't get too cocky before the last card is placed! HAHAHAHAHA!
C: What?
9.Water Lily places the Water Lily card right in the middle.
This… is what it looks like.
---------------------
A JE JE stands for Joker Element. Which means no matter what
Element was in place, the card would still +1 to all four
A Water A sides. Truly the ultimate card.
Lily
A
--------------------
Blue cards (Water Lily): Rinoa, Damien, Quistis, Celestine, Minotaur and of course, the invincible Water Lily cards. (So full of myself, eh.)
Red cards (Celestine): Diablos, Sacred, Bitebug and unused Zell card.
C: That's cheating!!!
WL: HAHAHAHAHA!! I get Zell's card! I get to spend the night with him!
Z: You're so despicable, man.
Yuri: Yeah… there isn't even a joker element at all… how low can you get?
W: Well, there also isn't a Celestine and Damien card, and how come she gets all the character cards, including the Zell card which she refuses selfishly to use again, while I get the lousy bitebug card? And then when I use my strong card to advantage, you all flame me like I'm the greatest sinner of all? Waaaaaaaah!! That's so unfair!
Z: Alright, you win! Quit acting like a four-year-old! Take your pick: Your house, my house, my dorm, Balamb Hotel, Deling Hotel, Shumi Village Hotel, blah…
WL: It's okay. I just want the card.
Z: Say again?
WL: I said, I just want the card. You can spend the night with whomever you want. HAHAHAHA!!!
Stalks off into the sunset holding the Zell Card high up in the air.
(I suppose she's trying to admire it while showing it off.)
Z: (Stares at her departing figure) Awesome… she's so cool, man.
C: Well, well. What a strange girl!
Looks at Yuri, who looks at her as well.
They stalk up to Zell, each clamping a hand on his shoulder.
C & Y: Zell… have you decided yet?
Z: O…on what?
C: Who to spend the night with, of course!
Z: (Turns his head and looks at them fearfully) Y…yes I have! Hey, Water-somethin'! Wait up! I'm comin' with ya!
Water Lily stops and throws her head back with unbridled laughter.
Zell takes off like there's no tomorrow.
WL: The name's Water Lily, Zell Zell! C'mon, let's go to my room for…" *whisper whisper*
Z: Oh yeah!
They dash off into the horizon, leaving those two stomping their feet in fury.
Author's notes: Phew… another long one…
By the way… if you want a faint idea of what Celestine and Damien look like, please visit the below links… though I cannot guarantee the quality.
http://www.angelfire.com/in3/mystories/celestine.JPG Celestine's picture
http://www.angelfire.com/in3/mystories/damien.JPG Damien's picture
http://www.angelfire.com/in3/mystories/zellrevisedwp.JPG Of course, not to forget cute Zell's sketch hahaha.
Why are the pics so small? Be patient and wait for a little while, and you will see a button with an orange thing floating around. Click it to view the full picture. They're not very good… wasn't too satisfied with it myself… but that's what happens when one lacks talent. Sigh…