Now to continue where we left off at the end of the seventh chapter... (Is
this getting confusing?)
Well, this is the last chapter I´m going to upload here. Not that the story is finished, more that this is getting rather pointless! Publishing this here without getting any reviews is kind of pointless, doncha think? So, I´ve decided to stop publishing here until I get some reviews. So if no one reads I won´t bother uploading. OK?
But I´m still writing, so if you care to read the rest you´ll let me know! *still hoping...*
Here we go...
Chapter #9
//A sight //
Blank stared at the letter in Beatrix´s outstretched hand. His thoughts went astray in his mind, and he could not, as hard as he tried, keep them in order. He begun to sweat, flipping between being hot or cold.
Not here! he thought, helplessly, knowing what was happening.
He forgot to breath and it was not until Beatrix addressed him again that he realized that Veranda had disappeared inside the bathroom, firlmy shutting the door behind her, and he had forgotten to swallow. He swallowed, really hard as if he was trying to keep something from coming up.
'What´s this?' he asked Beatrix, his mouth seeming far to dry.
Beatrix shrugged. 'I think we both know what this is!' she said with a short, sarcastic laugh.
Blank reached out his hand and took a hold of the letter. His name was written with small letters on it. He hesitantly unfolded it and read it to himself;
****Letter****
I see you´ve done quite well keeping yourself alive. I do also see that we do have a little misunderstanding between us here, so I want to personally leave you this message to explain everything.
Even though you might find it unfair this is the truth and there is no running away from it!
Blank, you are made, my friend. *FRIEND?! Blank thought.* You and me, we are made. Together we were forged for one purpose, and one purpose only. But I can´t tell you what that means right now. Not until you return to us, to where you belong. Nobody else is to know of this, and I think your brown haired friend with the eyepatch is likely to oppose to our ways of handling things, as well as our purpose.
We were four, if you do not remember. Four children, brainwashed and manipulated so that we could carry out one man´s quest. We were chosen because we are the only one´s left of our kin.
In the beginning there were four tribes. The Martars, the Poters, the Kendas and the Wulnors. They were all named after their gods, that is Martar, Poter, Kenda and Wulnor, and each tribe carried out their god´s bidding. But it is foretold that if four personas, one from each tribe with pure blood and possess of their powers, join in one, they can do greater things that we could ever imagine.
I have gathered the other two, and now all we need is you. You are our Kenda!
Come to the outside of the city after one week and meet us. I you don´t, this will continue.
PS: A group of bandits approached you before, did they not? Take no notice of them, for we do not know who they are. They are most likely acting on a bounty that has been put at your friend´s head.
****Letter Ends****
Blank stared at the letter with disbelief.
This is nonsense! he thought to himself. But still, he felt the doubt gnawing at him from inside out. It all matched. But he did not believe it. He did not want to believe it.
'Well?' Beatrix asked him.
Blank looked at her, obviously shocked. He had forgotten about her presence. It kind of reminded him of the time he got the third letter in Alexandria.
He handed her the letter silently, showing no expression. Beatrix read it, and took her time doing it, obviously wanting to capture every detail of it, her expression getting more shocked by the minute. Blank just stared into the gloom, sitting on his bed, his body leaning forward in a lazy gesture and his head cocked to the right. His hands lay motionless in his lap.
Beatrix finished reading the letter and whistled. She opened her mouth, as to say something, but then she seemed to suddenly hesitate. Then she sighed, shutting her mouth. She shook her head, looked out the window, sighed again and looked directly at Blank.
'So...' she started, not sure what to say. 'What does this mean?' Blank looked at her, obviously unhappy although Beatrix could not see his eyes. 'I mean, do you believe all of this?'
Blank shook his head slowly. 'I don´t know.. I honestly don´t know!' He looked back out the window, his mouth, the only part of his face that could tell anything about his feelings that Beatrix could see, was completely relaxed.
'What do you want to do?' she asked him carefully, but still firmly.
'I´m gonna meet them.'
'What?!'
'It´s not really like I have a choice, now is it!?' he snapped at her. 'Either I go an' see them or they´ll murder every single woman in these parts!' He let himself fall backwards onto the bed. 'We´ll just stay here for a week and then I´ll go and meet them. Let´s not plan this any further!'
'They might be out there only to kill you, you know. This might be a trap!'
'But I´ll have you two with me!' he added.
'Yes, and that is probably the thing they´re depending on!' she said sharply, and handed him another piece of paper. He sat up and took it.
It was a dirty sheet, ragged around the edges and crumbled but Blank could easily read what it said;
*parchment starts:*
WANTED! General Beatrix of Alexandria. Wanted for threachery, dead or alive! One of her companions, a redheaded man around 20 years old, is to be captured and brought back alive! The third companion is of no importance.
Payment: 1.000.000 Gil if both are turned in.
*parchment ends!*
Beside the text there was a rough scetch of Beatrix and at the bottom there was an address located in Alexandria where they were to be delivered. Blank gaped at this bounty.
'ONE MILLION GIL?!' he yelled.
'You know, that´s not the point.' Beatrix answered, profoundly offended.
'I know...' he said, out of breath. 'But ONE MILLION!?'
'Yes, it is alot, and only one person in Alexandria is capable of throwing such money into a bounty!' she said, disgusted.
Blank looked at her. 'No!' he exclaimed. 'Garnet would never do anything like this, not to you!!' he said sternly.
'No, not Garnet, I´m well aware of that. It is Zidane´s work, you know!'
If not for the belt Beatrix would have seen Blank´s eyes widen in shock.
'Zidane!?' he shouted. 'No! Nonononono! That´s not possible!' he said, his doubt clinging through his voice. 'I´ve known Zidane for a long time now, and I´m sure he is not a person capable of something like this!' he told her, slamming the parchment in his hand on the bed and slamming his hand on it, shaking his head.
'Blank..' Beatrix said in a voice that sounded both irritated and on the break of loosing the grip on herself. 'Listen to me!' she said harshly. 'That is the only explanation! I know you´ve known him since childhood, but you can´t overlook the fact that he´s changed and plus he hates my guts! Who else would know of us travelling together, that wanted me dead, you captured alive and does not care what happens to Veranda.' She said, her eyes flickering to the bathroom door. 'You know he dislikes Veranda, after she spoke up during dinner. I know it sounds crazy, ´cause no normal human would hold grudges against anyone for something like that. But you´ll also have to remember that Zidane isn´t an ordinary human! He´s a genome, and they are a whole lot different from...'
'Shut it!' he interrupted her. 'How do you know they are so different from us!?'
'I don´t, that´s the reason we´re meeting with Mikoto!'
Blank paused. He put one hand to his mouth, looked to his right and bit his index finger. 'Do you also think that Mikoto´s gone loco?' he asked her slowly. Regretfully.
'I don´t know. But I´m gonna go see her.' She answered. 'I met with a man today and he is locating her for me as we speak. I´m to meet him in about half an hour. He said it would be easy to find one person in Lindblum with a tale.'
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
Blank was lost in thought. He could not believe that Zidane, whom he had known nearly all of his life, or all the part that he remembered, had placed a bounty on his general, and commanded that Blank himself was to be captured and brought to him. What could he possibly want with Blank that was so urgent. And why did he think that he would have to bring Blank to him with force? If he would just ask, Blank would meet with them.
Strange...
After a half an hour Beatrix left, meeting with this 'Huginn' person. Blank just sat in silence, continuing his thoughts.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Two hours later...
'Veranda?' Blank knocked on the door. 'Veranda?!'
'Whaddya want?' she almost whispered from inside of the bathroom.
'Aren´t you going to come out soon?'
'...'
'You´ve been in there for over three hours!'
'So?'
'So?' Blank sounded puzzled. 'So, this can´t be healthy. What are you doing?'
'Nothing!'
'Then come out!'
'...'
'Please?'
'..no...'
Blank walked to the bed and sat down. The sound of Veranda continuing to throw up sounding as loud as the alert horns. Then, few minutes afterwards, Veranda stopped, and Blank could clearly hear as she turned the shower (A/N: yeees, shower... mmm....) on for the fifth time. This had been going on again and again over the past 3 hours...
*~*~*~*~*~*
'Are you sure?' Beatrix asked Muninn. Huginn had not come to meet her, he had seemed a bit afraid of her earlier that day and it did not really surprise Beatrix that he shifted the responsibility onto his assistant. Muninn seemed to wince when she spoke, then he answered:
'My master is always sure, or else he would not give you this information!' he said. 'Now.. for the 2,000 gil...?'
Beatrix had succeeded in bargaining with Huginn and got him to slacken his price down by 8,000 gil, from 10,000 to 2,000. She grinned inside and handed the money to Muninn, who grabbed it hastily and turned away, running to his hide-out. Beatrix watched him go, then looked down at the parchment in her hand that Muninn had given her.
This is what´s going to answer all my questions! She thought to herself.
She unrolled the parchment and read it to herself. It said that Mikoto lived in the theatre district, really not far away from the Tantalus hide- out. There was also a full description of her neighbours, her work schedual and her normal routine through the week.
He really knows his work, eh? Beatrix thought, impressed by the thouroughness of Huginn´s work.
She started back to the inn.
On the way she came across a few pieces of the bounty placed on her and Blank and tore them all down from the brickwalls they were hanging on.
Arrogant fool! She thought to herself as she crumbled the papers up and threw them away, cursing aloud. In her mind she fantasied about different ways to torture Zidane, that little monkey-tailed geek that she detested so much. But the thing that troubled her the most was why he had wanted Blank captured? Perhaps he was just still fond of his friend and wanted to make sure that he was not killed, but that hardly seemed like the answer to Beatrix. It was something else, something she could not quite see but was sure it was there. Somewhere. Hidden.
After walking for several minutes, or actually more strolling lazily, she looked up from the street, looking at something she had only detected in the corner of her eye. It had come so suddenly, like a mouse or something very fast, but it was actually quite big, bigger than she, green and red. But when she looked there was nothing there. She looked to her other side but saw nothing.
'Beatrix?'
The voice from behind her startled her and she gasped, turning around. Before her stood Amarant Corel, huge, green and red. He was standing with his arms folded, his back leaned backwards and his hips pointing forvard, his weight on only one leg.
'Amarant!' Beatrix exclaimed. 'What are you doing here? I thought no one was to leave the kingdom at the same time as we did, concerning the operation we are having!' she splurted.
'Yeah, well, I snug out.' He said, scratching his chin.
'Well, yes, I can see that...' Beatrix answered dryly. 'What are you willing here?'
'I´m here to find you!'
Beatrix suddenly tightened up, grabbing for her sword, drawing it and pointing it at Amarant.
'You´re here because of the bounty, aren´t ya?!' she shouted at him, remembering that Amarant was one of the best bounty-hunters on all Gaia.
'Bounty?' Amarant asked, fumbled. 'What bounty?'
Beatrix glared at him, then handed him the bounty note she kept in her pocket, all the time keeping the top of her sword pointed at him.
'One million, huh?' Amarant mumbled. 'That's quite a sum!' he told her. 'Who's paying?' he asked.
She puffed once through her nose, lowering her sword. 'I think you know as well as I do who's buying!' she snapped at him.
'Zidane?'
She nodded.
'I know!' he answered. 'He's not in his right mind.' he said thoughtfully, looking over the street as if making sure that no one was listening.
'You noticed too?' she asked him.
'Yeah!' he nodded. 'I watched him the whole time we were working together three years ago. He's changed. He's probably gone mad!'
Beatrix looked at him for quite some while before snapping at him; 'I think you better come with me!'
*~*~*~*~*~*
'A Kenda?' Blank thought to himself aloud.
Blank read the letter again. He had read it so many times since Beatrix left, but the content had not begun sinking into his mind.
Kenda?
Blank thoughts wandered, from the letter to his own fucked up thoughts. This was what he had feared all along. He wanted to unravel his own origin and all that, but he wanted the outcome to be pleasant. Nice. He did not want himself to come out of it as a some kind of saint, but neither did he want to turn out to be a demon, made to destroy this world like Zidane's outcome had been. And that was also most probably the reason Zidane seemed to be going mad.
I'm a freak! Was the only thing he could make out of this letter.
His memory seemed to be coming back, much to his dislike. He begun to remember glimpses of his childhood, from before the day he woke up in the streets of Lindblum. He remembered figures, mostly faceless figures that were only identifiable by the hair falling down around their heads. There was a white clad head, brown, black, blonde. well, there were two blond heads. He remembered a big building and many hallways, and there it ended. He did not remember any details, nor any events that happened to him. But try as he might, because although he did not want to he always tried to remember more, he could not make himself remember anything more. He tried and tried, only creating himself a bunch of headache and a tired mind.
He laid down on the bed, resting one hand on his stomach. His big gloves felt so hot and his belt was burning at his skin like hot iron. Blank reached for the buckle and loosened it, then letting the ends of the belt fall down to the bed at each side of his head. He sighed and tried to relax. He had actually gotten quite good at ignoring the headache and maybe, just maybe, he could make it go away.
Then the bathroom door was unlocked and opened. Veranda was standing in it, looking very pale and sick. Blank sat up, wanting to ask her how she was feeling, not remembering that he had taken off his belt.
Veranda looked at him once, then screamed, clutched her hand over her mouth and stumbled back into the bathroom as fast as she could, locking the door behind her.
Oh, great! He thought, reaching for his belt.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Oh my god!
Veranda was hugging the door.
What was THAT!?
Veranda shook her head. Her hair was wet after taking 7 showers in a 3 ½ hours period and it stuck to her face like a magnet.
Then Blank knocked on the door. Veranda jumped away from it like she had burned herself on it. Then she could hear Blank's voice from the other side.
'Um.. Veranda?' it said, carefully.
She did not respond. She did not even try. And even if she had she had not been able to say anything understandable. Her lungs were pumping air every mille-second and her heart was racing a mile a minute. She could hear Blank clear his throat outside. Then, without knowing why, she spoke;
'What was that?'
'.'
'Blank, what was that?!' she half-shouted.
'I've put it on again! You can come out again!' he half-mumbled.
Veranda shook her head. What kind of a freak was he?
'No! What was that Blank!? Tell me NOW!'
'My eye..?'
'Yes, your EYE! Was that really what you would call an 'eye'!?' she demanded of him.
'.'
Veranda saw it again before her eyes. The gleaming light of the metal, the tiny, red light in the middle, and the bright blue light twitching through it. The way it had stared back at her, empty and cold, beside that beautiful, green, dreamy eye he had.
'What happened to you?' she asked him, full of both disgust and pity.
'I honestly don´t know!' he whispered throught the door. 'I´ve been like this as long as I can remember!'
Veranda stiffled a cry. Shy wanted to scream. It had just been utterly disgusting! It had been horrifying, nausiating, shocking, overpoweringly gruesom. She had been totally unprepared for that sight, in all ways. Sure, she had often thought about what could lurk under the belt, what color his eyes were or if even there was something there that he did not want seen, a scar or something. But nothing as horrible as this! This was just... deeply troubling.
She did not know why this was so shocking to her. She could only guess that she did not fancy machinery.
She slowly approached the door.
'Get away from it!' she commanded him. Then, after a few seconds, she opened it. And there he was. The same old Blank that she had seen so often. His belt covering his face from anyone to see. But Veranda could not help but remember the sight she had seen. The horrifying right eye of his. She shuddered.
He tried to approach her, reaching out a hand towards her, but she flinched away from his hand, with a sickening expression.
'Just don´t touch me from now on!' she told him raising her hands above her head. He looked down at his feet and drawed away from her. He had always known that he looked hideous but he had never expected anyone to react so badly. Sure, he had been called a freak, a robot, non-human, an alien, but that had all come from people he did not know, and did not want to know.
This was the reason that he had never shown his eye to anyone besides Baku. Not even Zidane, his best friend.
Now it was Blank´s turn to inhabit the bathroom. He went in there, slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Veranda still standing in the middle of the room. He was obviously hurt, but did not want to show it. Inside he ripped off his belt, stared at himself in the mirror, loathing that hunk of junk in his face. Hating the thing that separated him from normal human beings. His eye and his skin. He found himself guilty of wondering that if what 'they' said was true then maybe, just maybe, they would be able to tell him what he was. Why he had a machine for an eye, why he was not made out of one piece, with one skincolor as all normal people.
A week? That was just much too long. He had to know sooner. He just had too.
Then he heard the door outside shutting.
Beatrix was back.
*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Well... great! Then that´s final! This is the last chapter to be published. Aww.. I feel sad.. .. ..... hopefully I´ll get reviews, encouraging me to upload the rest, but I´m not optimistic...
But anyhoo.. Amarant is beginning to be a part of the story now! this is getting more complicated by the minute. Today is the fourth of march, 2003 and I started this on the twentythird of january! This has been evolving rather rapidly. Hopefully it´s making some sense to whoever will read this. And even though there are like 2 years since I wrote this and I haven´t pusblished the rest, but there´s someone reading this that wants to know the rest, try to contact me! There´s no telling wether or not I´ve finished it by then, and I´ll probably publish it if I´m asked!
But only if I´m asked...
Oo I´m gettin arty here! ;) anywho, write on..
Helga
Well, this is the last chapter I´m going to upload here. Not that the story is finished, more that this is getting rather pointless! Publishing this here without getting any reviews is kind of pointless, doncha think? So, I´ve decided to stop publishing here until I get some reviews. So if no one reads I won´t bother uploading. OK?
But I´m still writing, so if you care to read the rest you´ll let me know! *still hoping...*
Here we go...
Chapter #9
//A sight //
Blank stared at the letter in Beatrix´s outstretched hand. His thoughts went astray in his mind, and he could not, as hard as he tried, keep them in order. He begun to sweat, flipping between being hot or cold.
Not here! he thought, helplessly, knowing what was happening.
He forgot to breath and it was not until Beatrix addressed him again that he realized that Veranda had disappeared inside the bathroom, firlmy shutting the door behind her, and he had forgotten to swallow. He swallowed, really hard as if he was trying to keep something from coming up.
'What´s this?' he asked Beatrix, his mouth seeming far to dry.
Beatrix shrugged. 'I think we both know what this is!' she said with a short, sarcastic laugh.
Blank reached out his hand and took a hold of the letter. His name was written with small letters on it. He hesitantly unfolded it and read it to himself;
****Letter****
I see you´ve done quite well keeping yourself alive. I do also see that we do have a little misunderstanding between us here, so I want to personally leave you this message to explain everything.
Even though you might find it unfair this is the truth and there is no running away from it!
Blank, you are made, my friend. *FRIEND?! Blank thought.* You and me, we are made. Together we were forged for one purpose, and one purpose only. But I can´t tell you what that means right now. Not until you return to us, to where you belong. Nobody else is to know of this, and I think your brown haired friend with the eyepatch is likely to oppose to our ways of handling things, as well as our purpose.
We were four, if you do not remember. Four children, brainwashed and manipulated so that we could carry out one man´s quest. We were chosen because we are the only one´s left of our kin.
In the beginning there were four tribes. The Martars, the Poters, the Kendas and the Wulnors. They were all named after their gods, that is Martar, Poter, Kenda and Wulnor, and each tribe carried out their god´s bidding. But it is foretold that if four personas, one from each tribe with pure blood and possess of their powers, join in one, they can do greater things that we could ever imagine.
I have gathered the other two, and now all we need is you. You are our Kenda!
Come to the outside of the city after one week and meet us. I you don´t, this will continue.
PS: A group of bandits approached you before, did they not? Take no notice of them, for we do not know who they are. They are most likely acting on a bounty that has been put at your friend´s head.
****Letter Ends****
Blank stared at the letter with disbelief.
This is nonsense! he thought to himself. But still, he felt the doubt gnawing at him from inside out. It all matched. But he did not believe it. He did not want to believe it.
'Well?' Beatrix asked him.
Blank looked at her, obviously shocked. He had forgotten about her presence. It kind of reminded him of the time he got the third letter in Alexandria.
He handed her the letter silently, showing no expression. Beatrix read it, and took her time doing it, obviously wanting to capture every detail of it, her expression getting more shocked by the minute. Blank just stared into the gloom, sitting on his bed, his body leaning forward in a lazy gesture and his head cocked to the right. His hands lay motionless in his lap.
Beatrix finished reading the letter and whistled. She opened her mouth, as to say something, but then she seemed to suddenly hesitate. Then she sighed, shutting her mouth. She shook her head, looked out the window, sighed again and looked directly at Blank.
'So...' she started, not sure what to say. 'What does this mean?' Blank looked at her, obviously unhappy although Beatrix could not see his eyes. 'I mean, do you believe all of this?'
Blank shook his head slowly. 'I don´t know.. I honestly don´t know!' He looked back out the window, his mouth, the only part of his face that could tell anything about his feelings that Beatrix could see, was completely relaxed.
'What do you want to do?' she asked him carefully, but still firmly.
'I´m gonna meet them.'
'What?!'
'It´s not really like I have a choice, now is it!?' he snapped at her. 'Either I go an' see them or they´ll murder every single woman in these parts!' He let himself fall backwards onto the bed. 'We´ll just stay here for a week and then I´ll go and meet them. Let´s not plan this any further!'
'They might be out there only to kill you, you know. This might be a trap!'
'But I´ll have you two with me!' he added.
'Yes, and that is probably the thing they´re depending on!' she said sharply, and handed him another piece of paper. He sat up and took it.
It was a dirty sheet, ragged around the edges and crumbled but Blank could easily read what it said;
*parchment starts:*
WANTED! General Beatrix of Alexandria. Wanted for threachery, dead or alive! One of her companions, a redheaded man around 20 years old, is to be captured and brought back alive! The third companion is of no importance.
Payment: 1.000.000 Gil if both are turned in.
*parchment ends!*
Beside the text there was a rough scetch of Beatrix and at the bottom there was an address located in Alexandria where they were to be delivered. Blank gaped at this bounty.
'ONE MILLION GIL?!' he yelled.
'You know, that´s not the point.' Beatrix answered, profoundly offended.
'I know...' he said, out of breath. 'But ONE MILLION!?'
'Yes, it is alot, and only one person in Alexandria is capable of throwing such money into a bounty!' she said, disgusted.
Blank looked at her. 'No!' he exclaimed. 'Garnet would never do anything like this, not to you!!' he said sternly.
'No, not Garnet, I´m well aware of that. It is Zidane´s work, you know!'
If not for the belt Beatrix would have seen Blank´s eyes widen in shock.
'Zidane!?' he shouted. 'No! Nonononono! That´s not possible!' he said, his doubt clinging through his voice. 'I´ve known Zidane for a long time now, and I´m sure he is not a person capable of something like this!' he told her, slamming the parchment in his hand on the bed and slamming his hand on it, shaking his head.
'Blank..' Beatrix said in a voice that sounded both irritated and on the break of loosing the grip on herself. 'Listen to me!' she said harshly. 'That is the only explanation! I know you´ve known him since childhood, but you can´t overlook the fact that he´s changed and plus he hates my guts! Who else would know of us travelling together, that wanted me dead, you captured alive and does not care what happens to Veranda.' She said, her eyes flickering to the bathroom door. 'You know he dislikes Veranda, after she spoke up during dinner. I know it sounds crazy, ´cause no normal human would hold grudges against anyone for something like that. But you´ll also have to remember that Zidane isn´t an ordinary human! He´s a genome, and they are a whole lot different from...'
'Shut it!' he interrupted her. 'How do you know they are so different from us!?'
'I don´t, that´s the reason we´re meeting with Mikoto!'
Blank paused. He put one hand to his mouth, looked to his right and bit his index finger. 'Do you also think that Mikoto´s gone loco?' he asked her slowly. Regretfully.
'I don´t know. But I´m gonna go see her.' She answered. 'I met with a man today and he is locating her for me as we speak. I´m to meet him in about half an hour. He said it would be easy to find one person in Lindblum with a tale.'
They sat in silence for a few minutes.
Blank was lost in thought. He could not believe that Zidane, whom he had known nearly all of his life, or all the part that he remembered, had placed a bounty on his general, and commanded that Blank himself was to be captured and brought to him. What could he possibly want with Blank that was so urgent. And why did he think that he would have to bring Blank to him with force? If he would just ask, Blank would meet with them.
Strange...
After a half an hour Beatrix left, meeting with this 'Huginn' person. Blank just sat in silence, continuing his thoughts.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Two hours later...
'Veranda?' Blank knocked on the door. 'Veranda?!'
'Whaddya want?' she almost whispered from inside of the bathroom.
'Aren´t you going to come out soon?'
'...'
'You´ve been in there for over three hours!'
'So?'
'So?' Blank sounded puzzled. 'So, this can´t be healthy. What are you doing?'
'Nothing!'
'Then come out!'
'...'
'Please?'
'..no...'
Blank walked to the bed and sat down. The sound of Veranda continuing to throw up sounding as loud as the alert horns. Then, few minutes afterwards, Veranda stopped, and Blank could clearly hear as she turned the shower (A/N: yeees, shower... mmm....) on for the fifth time. This had been going on again and again over the past 3 hours...
*~*~*~*~*~*
'Are you sure?' Beatrix asked Muninn. Huginn had not come to meet her, he had seemed a bit afraid of her earlier that day and it did not really surprise Beatrix that he shifted the responsibility onto his assistant. Muninn seemed to wince when she spoke, then he answered:
'My master is always sure, or else he would not give you this information!' he said. 'Now.. for the 2,000 gil...?'
Beatrix had succeeded in bargaining with Huginn and got him to slacken his price down by 8,000 gil, from 10,000 to 2,000. She grinned inside and handed the money to Muninn, who grabbed it hastily and turned away, running to his hide-out. Beatrix watched him go, then looked down at the parchment in her hand that Muninn had given her.
This is what´s going to answer all my questions! She thought to herself.
She unrolled the parchment and read it to herself. It said that Mikoto lived in the theatre district, really not far away from the Tantalus hide- out. There was also a full description of her neighbours, her work schedual and her normal routine through the week.
He really knows his work, eh? Beatrix thought, impressed by the thouroughness of Huginn´s work.
She started back to the inn.
On the way she came across a few pieces of the bounty placed on her and Blank and tore them all down from the brickwalls they were hanging on.
Arrogant fool! She thought to herself as she crumbled the papers up and threw them away, cursing aloud. In her mind she fantasied about different ways to torture Zidane, that little monkey-tailed geek that she detested so much. But the thing that troubled her the most was why he had wanted Blank captured? Perhaps he was just still fond of his friend and wanted to make sure that he was not killed, but that hardly seemed like the answer to Beatrix. It was something else, something she could not quite see but was sure it was there. Somewhere. Hidden.
After walking for several minutes, or actually more strolling lazily, she looked up from the street, looking at something she had only detected in the corner of her eye. It had come so suddenly, like a mouse or something very fast, but it was actually quite big, bigger than she, green and red. But when she looked there was nothing there. She looked to her other side but saw nothing.
'Beatrix?'
The voice from behind her startled her and she gasped, turning around. Before her stood Amarant Corel, huge, green and red. He was standing with his arms folded, his back leaned backwards and his hips pointing forvard, his weight on only one leg.
'Amarant!' Beatrix exclaimed. 'What are you doing here? I thought no one was to leave the kingdom at the same time as we did, concerning the operation we are having!' she splurted.
'Yeah, well, I snug out.' He said, scratching his chin.
'Well, yes, I can see that...' Beatrix answered dryly. 'What are you willing here?'
'I´m here to find you!'
Beatrix suddenly tightened up, grabbing for her sword, drawing it and pointing it at Amarant.
'You´re here because of the bounty, aren´t ya?!' she shouted at him, remembering that Amarant was one of the best bounty-hunters on all Gaia.
'Bounty?' Amarant asked, fumbled. 'What bounty?'
Beatrix glared at him, then handed him the bounty note she kept in her pocket, all the time keeping the top of her sword pointed at him.
'One million, huh?' Amarant mumbled. 'That's quite a sum!' he told her. 'Who's paying?' he asked.
She puffed once through her nose, lowering her sword. 'I think you know as well as I do who's buying!' she snapped at him.
'Zidane?'
She nodded.
'I know!' he answered. 'He's not in his right mind.' he said thoughtfully, looking over the street as if making sure that no one was listening.
'You noticed too?' she asked him.
'Yeah!' he nodded. 'I watched him the whole time we were working together three years ago. He's changed. He's probably gone mad!'
Beatrix looked at him for quite some while before snapping at him; 'I think you better come with me!'
*~*~*~*~*~*
'A Kenda?' Blank thought to himself aloud.
Blank read the letter again. He had read it so many times since Beatrix left, but the content had not begun sinking into his mind.
Kenda?
Blank thoughts wandered, from the letter to his own fucked up thoughts. This was what he had feared all along. He wanted to unravel his own origin and all that, but he wanted the outcome to be pleasant. Nice. He did not want himself to come out of it as a some kind of saint, but neither did he want to turn out to be a demon, made to destroy this world like Zidane's outcome had been. And that was also most probably the reason Zidane seemed to be going mad.
I'm a freak! Was the only thing he could make out of this letter.
His memory seemed to be coming back, much to his dislike. He begun to remember glimpses of his childhood, from before the day he woke up in the streets of Lindblum. He remembered figures, mostly faceless figures that were only identifiable by the hair falling down around their heads. There was a white clad head, brown, black, blonde. well, there were two blond heads. He remembered a big building and many hallways, and there it ended. He did not remember any details, nor any events that happened to him. But try as he might, because although he did not want to he always tried to remember more, he could not make himself remember anything more. He tried and tried, only creating himself a bunch of headache and a tired mind.
He laid down on the bed, resting one hand on his stomach. His big gloves felt so hot and his belt was burning at his skin like hot iron. Blank reached for the buckle and loosened it, then letting the ends of the belt fall down to the bed at each side of his head. He sighed and tried to relax. He had actually gotten quite good at ignoring the headache and maybe, just maybe, he could make it go away.
Then the bathroom door was unlocked and opened. Veranda was standing in it, looking very pale and sick. Blank sat up, wanting to ask her how she was feeling, not remembering that he had taken off his belt.
Veranda looked at him once, then screamed, clutched her hand over her mouth and stumbled back into the bathroom as fast as she could, locking the door behind her.
Oh, great! He thought, reaching for his belt.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Oh my god!
Veranda was hugging the door.
What was THAT!?
Veranda shook her head. Her hair was wet after taking 7 showers in a 3 ½ hours period and it stuck to her face like a magnet.
Then Blank knocked on the door. Veranda jumped away from it like she had burned herself on it. Then she could hear Blank's voice from the other side.
'Um.. Veranda?' it said, carefully.
She did not respond. She did not even try. And even if she had she had not been able to say anything understandable. Her lungs were pumping air every mille-second and her heart was racing a mile a minute. She could hear Blank clear his throat outside. Then, without knowing why, she spoke;
'What was that?'
'.'
'Blank, what was that?!' she half-shouted.
'I've put it on again! You can come out again!' he half-mumbled.
Veranda shook her head. What kind of a freak was he?
'No! What was that Blank!? Tell me NOW!'
'My eye..?'
'Yes, your EYE! Was that really what you would call an 'eye'!?' she demanded of him.
'.'
Veranda saw it again before her eyes. The gleaming light of the metal, the tiny, red light in the middle, and the bright blue light twitching through it. The way it had stared back at her, empty and cold, beside that beautiful, green, dreamy eye he had.
'What happened to you?' she asked him, full of both disgust and pity.
'I honestly don´t know!' he whispered throught the door. 'I´ve been like this as long as I can remember!'
Veranda stiffled a cry. Shy wanted to scream. It had just been utterly disgusting! It had been horrifying, nausiating, shocking, overpoweringly gruesom. She had been totally unprepared for that sight, in all ways. Sure, she had often thought about what could lurk under the belt, what color his eyes were or if even there was something there that he did not want seen, a scar or something. But nothing as horrible as this! This was just... deeply troubling.
She did not know why this was so shocking to her. She could only guess that she did not fancy machinery.
She slowly approached the door.
'Get away from it!' she commanded him. Then, after a few seconds, she opened it. And there he was. The same old Blank that she had seen so often. His belt covering his face from anyone to see. But Veranda could not help but remember the sight she had seen. The horrifying right eye of his. She shuddered.
He tried to approach her, reaching out a hand towards her, but she flinched away from his hand, with a sickening expression.
'Just don´t touch me from now on!' she told him raising her hands above her head. He looked down at his feet and drawed away from her. He had always known that he looked hideous but he had never expected anyone to react so badly. Sure, he had been called a freak, a robot, non-human, an alien, but that had all come from people he did not know, and did not want to know.
This was the reason that he had never shown his eye to anyone besides Baku. Not even Zidane, his best friend.
Now it was Blank´s turn to inhabit the bathroom. He went in there, slammed the door shut behind him, leaving Veranda still standing in the middle of the room. He was obviously hurt, but did not want to show it. Inside he ripped off his belt, stared at himself in the mirror, loathing that hunk of junk in his face. Hating the thing that separated him from normal human beings. His eye and his skin. He found himself guilty of wondering that if what 'they' said was true then maybe, just maybe, they would be able to tell him what he was. Why he had a machine for an eye, why he was not made out of one piece, with one skincolor as all normal people.
A week? That was just much too long. He had to know sooner. He just had too.
Then he heard the door outside shutting.
Beatrix was back.
*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Well... great! Then that´s final! This is the last chapter to be published. Aww.. I feel sad.. .. ..... hopefully I´ll get reviews, encouraging me to upload the rest, but I´m not optimistic...
But anyhoo.. Amarant is beginning to be a part of the story now! this is getting more complicated by the minute. Today is the fourth of march, 2003 and I started this on the twentythird of january! This has been evolving rather rapidly. Hopefully it´s making some sense to whoever will read this. And even though there are like 2 years since I wrote this and I haven´t pusblished the rest, but there´s someone reading this that wants to know the rest, try to contact me! There´s no telling wether or not I´ve finished it by then, and I´ll probably publish it if I´m asked!
But only if I´m asked...
Oo I´m gettin arty here! ;) anywho, write on..
Helga
