Chapter 13 – The Estharian Mission
(A.k.a. I hate those Estharian Robes!)
WL: Finally… the end of the road is evident. I would have thought thirteen chapters would be long enough… but still a few more to come. Not to worry… it'll be over before you can say "Peach Battle Gear and a Greyish-White Coat."
Celestine: In case you didn't notice… that was a pretty long title… how do you come up with such stupid ones, I wonder?
WL: Is it any of your business?
Celestine: I'm just bored. You have to understand… I haven't seen any action since you started with this story…
WL: You've got a point there… hmm… maybe I should review the tenancy agreement I signed with those two and see if there's anything I can do about it.
Quisty: Psst Psst… did you hear that? She's going to rip us off again.
Seifer: Did you read the fine print when you signed it?
Quisty: No, did you?
Seifer: I didn't as well!
Quisty: Didn't I tell you not to sign any agreements with suspicious-looking people? What kind of good stuff did she give you?
Seifer (Stares at her speechlessly) and thinks to himself: You were the one who insisted on signing it…
Quisty: What?
Seifer: I was dumb, okay?
WL: Quit hogging the space you didn't pay for.
------S------
I have a feeling I had been duped by Quisty; twirled around her little finger. In fact… if I were to marry her, there might be a dangerously high chance of me being a hen-pecked husband.
No… hen-pecked isn't the word… it was merely a show of respect on my part towards the one I love dearly. What kind of man would I be, if I were to begrudge her on little things? People always advise that if you want a lasting relationship, you should always let the woman win the argument. I agree on this fully. No questions asked. When you compare the benefit of having a peace of mind with the short-termed satisfaction of winning at an argument, the former heavily outweighs the latter.
That isn't to say that I let her will dominate over mine. If the matter were due for discussion, I would present my view as well.
The idea of settling down with Quisty came when I was hit with the realisation that she was "The One." How did I know? It was a gradual thing, as I slowly realised how lost and abnormal I would be without her.
This was most acutely felt when we went on that mission to investigate the Great Mother in Esthar.
Zell would have briefed you on the Great Mother in his story, so I wouldn't go into the nitty-gritty details.
When we posed undercover as worshippers of the GM, I would try to search for her amidst the sea of pastels at the other side of the hall. I wasn't always successful, but when I did spot her, there would be a pang in my chest. I realised that even as we were in the same place, I couldn't reach out to touch her, see her smile, or hear her voice. I could not kiss her, or hold her soft body in my arms, something I've gotten used to doing everyday.
She had felt the same way I did. I knew it the moment we met at the fountain at night. Her wonderful eyes were covered with a clear film of tears, rolling down to her cheeks as she clutched at my shoulders. I looked at her longingly, and wiped her cheek with my hand, heart aching with an unbearable burden at my inability to comfort her.
I could not find the words that relay how much I had missed her.
Then, as if picking for a right moment, a stone could be heard rolling across the dusty ground. It obviously hadn't gone there on its own. Zell was probably nearby, signalling his presence.
Sure enough, a cough sounded and he emerged from his place in the shadows among the shrubs.
How I wished that I could have held her a little longer then. How long was the damned mission going to last? At the rate this is going, I'm gonna turn insane pretty soon. And it shows in my eyes, and my tone, I know.
"Chicken-wuss, you're too optimistic for your own good. Or should I say, simple-minded? The appearance of that lousy 'Great Mother' does not guarantee that we can escape from this dung hole! For all you know, it might spell an even longer period here for us! If she's as suspicious as she appears to be… there's a lot of snooping around to do!" I said, an edge creeping up in my voice. I'm going to blow up any minute now…
If not for Quisty's warning glances at me, I might very well have done so, and all that endurance of the incessantly mindless chanting and bowing, and the repulsive smell of jasmine would have come to nothing. She didn't say anything, but just an exchange of looks was enough to calm my boiling exasperation down.
******S******
This same exasperation, however, threatened to engulf me the next day as I stand with my hands clenched at my uselessness. There she was, fraught with distraught after the GM supposedly had discovered who we really were.
I had feared that this was the most likely case, but I couldn't bring it upon myself to break the news to her. I so wanted gather her in my arms, hold her tightly, stroke her hair and tell her that it's okay…
"Calm down, baby. Maybe she just wants to enquire after the newcomers. There might not be any implication at all!" I cooked up some lousy lie, and prayed hard that she would believe it.
She doesn't… I can see that. But not wanting to worry me, she just nods her head.
My darling… how strong she is, even in the face of such uncertainty.
It only serves to remind me how deep my love for her was.
------Q------
I totally lost myself after the GM expressed her wishes to see me after the ceremony was over.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back; the cable that had held me together finally snapped loudly, with a deafening sound of fatality.
I would have expected myself to be able to deal with such unexpected situations. But I suppose that the suffering for the past two weeks had taken their toll on me.
I suffered, and this was hardly an exaggeration. The praying and the bowing, the clothes, the smell, all these were perfectly acceptable to me. It has a proven fact that women have a greater threshold of physical and mental pain than men.
But this… this goes beyond any known plane for measuring pain… it is in a different dimension altogether.
I feel an urge to scream every single minute.
I try to venture close to him, only to be scolded, gently though, by his creased brow, anxious expression and silently mouthed words.
But I crave for him more than I ever had before. I can't sleep at night, tossing and turning while longing to bury myself in his strong arms.
I'm like a child without her old smelly but trusty comfort pillow… what was I to do?
I have to keep up a front at the very least. Even as I'm shaking inside from the withdrawal symptoms of him… I mustn't show it… for I know that he feels the same way. It wouldn't be fair to him if I were to break down in front of all these fanatics so easily, when he's been trying fiercely to stay tough.
When he's gritting his teeth and clenching his fists to stop himself from going insane as well.
I nod my head and pretended to believe his reassurance. No… maybe I wanted to believe him.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*Q*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
A wave of dizziness hits me the moment I saw D… or Damien as Celestine later told us. This weird dizziness always returns whenever he steps more than a metre close to me, which fortunately wasn't too often.
Even when he tried to restrain Seifer and me, there wasn't much force used, only a polite request for us to put out our hands as the guards bound them together. However, Zell had an entirely different set of treatment, having first been shocked unconscious with a buzz stick, then punched squarely in the face, jaw and elbowed viciously in the stomach. We could hardly stand watching it as he was pummelled as if he was nothing more than a punching bag. Both of us wanted to rush up and pull his attackers off, but we were already held firmly by the bodyguards. On second thought… they looked more like bouncers to me. I kept screaming for them to stop… and eventually they did. A great relief and at the same time, a seething fury rose up my throat from my chest… how could they treat us in such a way? Keeping us bound and beating Zell up like that?
What added more to the agitation was that we, holding the prestigious position as SeeDs… had to watch and bear with such a gross injustice… without the ability to hit back.
Lack of training had rendered us powerless in their brutal hands, and I suspect our meagre diet had a hand in this as well. They were pretty smart, now that you think about it. First of all, there was the quasi-hypnotising chants to the Great Mother repeated for hours at end; deprivation of basic needs such as food, sleep and socialisation; promise of great rewards like great health, eternal youth and I couldn't care what else. On top of that, stripping any potential rebels of their physical strength and freedom.
It was enough to make any grown man (or woman) cry, even strenuously trained and qualified SeeDs like us. Granted, we didn't exactly cry, but it was pretty close, believe me.
I'm sure that it wouldn't be very hard to imagine how drained I was when I found out from Xu that backup from the Garden wouldn't be available until three days later.
THREE DAYS? One would have thought that she'd just asked me to go jump off a thirty-storey building, from my devastated expression. Okay, that was taking it a little too far, but I felt like a marathon runner after a three-day jog without replenishing the liquids. Entirely devoid of strength even to stand up.
The only semblance of comfort I had, I derived it from my old clothes, and Seifer, of course. At least we didn't need to force ourselves to stay apart, now that the cover was blown.
I had to confront the situation instead of moping around, sooner or later. So I might as well do it now.
Time to get a grip on yourself, girl! I managed a weak attempt at reviving my morale, but it'll have to do for now.
After some acting and edible make-up, we finally found our way out of the cell… but intuition tells me that things could not have been so easy, given the mischievous nature Hyne possess.
Why is it that bad intuition always rings true, especially in the worst situations?
We came face to face with Damien at the gate, as if he had known all along that we would have tried to escape from our cell. The fact that our actions had been so easily guessed by him makes me want to rip his throat off. He seems to be toying with us… and I'm darn sure of that. Nobody toys with us and gets away lightly!
This one sure needs some help. He has too much pent up rage, frustration and who knows what else!
Some smart girl probably dumped him or something. Serves him right!
That may sounds pretty malicious to you. Well… I can be a bitch when I'm pissed off… and I know it makes me look like a hypocrite. Someone had dumped me just a few months ago, and by right I should have sympathised with him. But… my point was… no matter what the reason, one should not turn to the dark side. It has nothing to do with hypocrisy!
There I go, defending myself again. To whom? Sometimes I'd like to know that myself.
They exchange some talk, about an A, while Damien keeps taunting him. I could see that they weren't exactly strangers with each other. From what little I could grasp from it, Zell knew a girl related to Damien. This was all getting too baffling for me…
"Who's A? Zell, did you know D somewhere before? Are you hiding something from us?" I demanded.
"Yeah, Chicken-wuss. This is all new to us!" Seifer couldn't stand it as well, not knowing of what they were talking about.
"Sorry, guys. I'll explain later. I've some scores to settle with this D. Alone." Zell could only throw this at us.
I wasn't the least bit satisfied with it… but I could see that he wanted to resolve the feud once and for all. I couldn't very well interrupt him by asking him to explain himself, could I?
The battle between Damien and Zell began soon after that.
I egged Zell on at the side, wordlessly of course, as I sure as hell didn't want to distract him
Go on, Zell! Beat him up good. He really deserves it for roughing you up!
Seifer kept giving me strange looks when he saw me clenching my fists, my mouth moving and yet without a sound coming out.
To my surprise and horror, Zell seemed to be no match for Damien… he could hardly harm a single hair of the dark-winged one with his magic attacks. It doesn't take a lot of brainpower to guess the reason. Zell's magic stats were at most 202 even with +60% Magic and 100 Ultimas junctioned… which isn't that strong, since his opponent obviously had very high Spirit, Magic and Vitality Stats… maybe stats that broke the human limit of 255… gathering from the shock so visible on Zell's face after he used the scan spell.
Zell finally managed to draw blood with the "Apocalypse" magic. But clearly it troubles him to use it, for his face glazes over with sorrow after he shouted the name of the spell.
If I'm not wrong… this girl, must have had something to do with the change that had come over him. I definitely have to wheedle or force him to tell us what happened… no matter he wants it or not.
Damien appeared rather furious at the attack, yelling at Zell and calling him low for using the attack that killed "Celestine." So that's the girl's real name. I think I could guess what had happened.
His retaliation was devastating… an attack named "Dark Angel Beam" that sapped a large portion of Zell's Hp away.
The dread I had felt during Ultimecia's last battle returned in full force… when the impending end of our party loomed up ominously as I fell unconscious.
Zell's going to die! I gazed wild-eyed at Seifer.
We wanted to rush to his aid. His yell simply stopped us in our tracks. Zell had never yelled at me before… and it sure as Hyne indicated the gravity of the situation.
Touching the precious stone hanging around his neck, he appeared to regain some of his strength, and unleashed his special moves.
Yes! I wanted to shout with triumph as I saw Damien down on one knee, his mouth dripping blood. We can go home now!
I turned to Seifer to share my joy.
He stared straight ahead, his mouth open but soundless. He wanted to shout… I didn't know what it was.
Following his line of vision, the only thing I recall seeing was a mass of black coming at devastating speed, aimed at Zell.
I was immobilized. All of us were.
A stunning flash of light exploded from the piece of sapphire on Zell's neck. It was warm, comforting, and saturated with love. I closed my eyes upon receipt of it, revelling in its sensation.
I felt thoroughly cleansed, spiritually uplifted.
Bliss settled over me. A smile spread widely over my face while my heart felt so full with gratitude that I could hardly contain it.
Someone had formed a shield over Zell, repelling the dark attack far away like the way a baseball batter hits a homerun.
That would be the Angel we all love and know, Celestine.
My first impression of her at that time was… she seems familiar too.
I wonder at that.
It is a question that lingers in my head and refuses to be chased away.
--------*Q*--------
"Hey Quisty… you've still got some ketchup left on your forehead!" Seifer remarked.
I know he must be laughing hysterically at me inside… and he barely hides it. This was no surprise, considering that he hadn't been able to conceal it when I had first donned this "edible make-up".
"What? Damn… it'll be hard to get rid of the smell too!" I wiped at the portion of the skin that had smeared with the red sauce a few hours ago to make my "injury" appear more convincing.
"C'mere… let me show you where it is." He grabbed my napkin and threw it away.
"HEY! That was my only napkin! How am I supposed to… just what in Hyne's name are you trying to do?"
He had started licking my forehead… ewwwww!
"All the better to taste you with, my dear. Now don't give me such a look. You know you enjoy it!"
"I do not!"
"How about this?" He started covering the whole face with light, feathery kisses.
"Seifer, stop it! We're in public eye!" I protested, pushing him away. But actually… I did enjoy it.
"Oh, does that mean that you'd allow it if we were alone in our dorms?" His eyebrows were raised suggestively.
"Stop twisting my words! Everything must wait until we report back to the Garden!" I couldn't face him at all… cos I just know that my face must be on fire.
"Alright, but I'll bet Squall and the others will be back tomorrow, since the root of their missions would probably be taken care of by Zell."
"I suppose so." I thought for a moment, and found his words to be quite plausible.
"Now… I've been wanting to do this for ages." He started sealing my mouth with his.
"Seif…" I was cut off by his sudden movement, inhaling sharply as his pliant tongue introduced itself into my mouth and started teasing mine.
Finally submitting to the wanting sensation that raged in my body, I fell yieldingly into his arms as he crushed me in a snug embrace against his muscular chest……
Quisty: I thought that the title was supposed to be "Ketchup on my forehead?"
WL: Your partner couldn't accept it and pressed me to change it to the current one. Now under our terms of contract, I will be able to lend the space I had leashed you to another party.
Quisty: What? Where in the contract does it state this? Why didn't I know of this?
WL: Because you never read the fine print. It says: "The afore mentioned parties will agree that if either of the undersigned parties changes the previously agreed title of any chapter of said story, the said landlord will have the right to lend the space of subsequent chapters to other parties without consent from the tenants."
Quisty: Damn you to hell!
WL: Don't worry… I already have a place there. You needn't reserve one especially for me.
Quisty turns to Seifer: The Estharian Mission, indeed! What kind of stupid title is that? Why didn't you consult me beforehand?
Seifer rolls his eyes at no one in particular and storms off in exasperation.
Quisty: What's the meaning of this? How can you walk out on me while I'm still talking? Blah blah blah blah blah….
WL: Hahahhaha!!
Celestine: You'd be held responsible if they break up.
WL: This is all because of you. You were the one who itches for some action.
Celestine: Oh puh-leeeease! Don't make me a scapegoat for your own perverted desires.
Author's notes: That was long enough…. This story actually comprised of two chapters, but I missed the point of separation and so I've decided to combine both chapters. Yep… you've guessed it. Originally, the second chapter (or rather the fourteenth one) was titled "Ketchup on my forehead".
Oh well… till the next time… reviews… keep them coming!