Separation Anxiety
By FlowerPower1o1
A/N: Ah, yes, finals. That wonderful time of the year when I would rather listen to Yanni 24/7 while having a wild donkey kick me in the midsection than actually study. Sadly, study I must, which is why the updates for this piece are few and far between. Herein lies another little nugget of wisdom and, finally, the revelation of our shadowy figure friends.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter 10 - A Whole Library Of Torture
"Paper Storm," a dry, dusty voice whispered to the group as they crossed the plateau. A whirl of energy appeared and blasted everyone backwards. Vivi hit a rock and was knocked unconscious.
"Damn it!" Eiko yelled, climbing to her feet and looking up. "Look!"
Slowly, a dark shape appeared in the sky above. It was a giant book that slowly drifted from the sky and settled on the ground in front of them.
"Tantarian," Amarant growled. When Beatrix looked at him, Amarant said "This thing is a demon that used to hide out in Alexandria Castle's library. We destroyed it six years ago, just before Bahamut destroyed the original castle."
"It doesn't look too destroyed," Beatrix said as she drew her sword.
"It's an eidolon," Eiko frowned, staring at it. "Someone must have summoned it."
"So summon something against it, before it attacks again!" Blank shouted, but Eiko shook her head. "Too dangerous," she said. "If eidolons attack other eidolons, it creates destructive energy. That's one of the reasons Alexandria was wiped out when Bahamut attacked Alexander."
Eiko jumped back and knelt by Vivi. "I'm pretty much useless against that thing. All I have is my White Magic, and Beatrix has that too. Someone needs to take care of Vivi. Go get it." She raised her hand and began casting Cura on Vivi.
"You heard the lady," Blank said as he raised his Thief Sword. He leapt forward and brought the blade down on the book cover.
A tiny scratch showed on the cover, testament of the book's strength.
"Damn it!" Blank cursed.
Quina jumped forward, shaking her head. "Book bad! Is no cookbook! 1000 Needles!" A torrent of needles flew through the air and blasted the cover of the book open.
Amarant snorted. "This is easier than six years ago," he muttered as the blue demon popped out of the pages of the book. "I've been discovered!" it screamed.
"Quiet," Amarant snarled as he cast Demi Shock on Tantarian. The demon screamed in pain as the ability ripped through its body. "Don't hit it with physical attacks," Amarant warned. "That will force the book to close, and we won't be able to hit it."
"Thank you for the warning," Beatrix said, reversing the Save The Queen and raising her hand. The White Magic of Holy burst from her fingers and burned the skin of the demon.
The demon blinked and opened its mouth. "Edge!" it shrieked as it attacked Blank. The thief hit the ground and climbed back up, pulling one of Baku's defective pyrotechnics from his pocket and flinging it onto the book. Tantarian yelled in surprise as the pages of the book were singed by the pyrotechnic.
"That's it," Beatrix called to Quina. "Use fire, burn the pages!"
"I cook you good!" Quina yelled to Tantarian. "Mustard Bomb!" The air around the demon glowed with intense heat, setting the book on fire. Tantarian screamed again as he tried to put out the flames.
Amarant snorted. "This thing is pathetic," he said as he wound up and cast Curse on the demon. He felt some protection from the book drain away. "Beatrix!" he called. "Hit it with a Thunder Slash!"
Beatrix twirled the Save The Queen, jumped forward, and slashed the sword at the demon. As she swung, lightning came down from the sky, struck the blade, and blasted from the tip over the demon. Tantarian gave one final scream as he dissolved into ashes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The short figure watched the event through the glowing mirror. "That was pathetic," it snarled. The figure then looked down at the ring on its hand. One of the stones it in was smoky and cracked. "Death of an eidolon," the short figure snorted as it twirled and stomped down the corridor to the next room, where Zidane was still chained to the wall.
The Prince Consort of Alexandria looked up wearily. "Why are you doing this?" he asked again.
The short figure laughed. "Have I answered that question yet? Why would you think I would now?" The figure stepped into the light, revealing the person that Zidane knew so well. The tight orange silk pantsuit with the flowing white blouse underneath. The shiny brown hair, now grown long. The glittering eyes, alive with hate and cruelty.
Queen Garnet til Alexandros Tribal.
"What's the matter, Zidane?" she said, mocking him. "Not enjoying your stay in Gargan Roo? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"
Zidane's head drooped. "Dagger . . . please . . ."
Garnet slapped him across the face. "Don't you call me that!" she screamed. "You lost the right to call me that." She smiled and crossed her arms. "Your friends survived my latest attack, and they'll be at Treno any second now. I could just sic the Blank Mages on them and watch them burn to death with Fira, but I choose not to. There's practically no Mist left in these tunnels to make more Mages with, and I need all the Mages I can get. So I'll make it easy for them, and have the Mages conveniently not be anywhere near where your friends are. Then, when they get to my tower, I'll ambush them. And I'll tell you what. I'll even put my scrying mirror in here so you can watch. Would you like that, monkey?"
Zidane kept his head down.
"Why don't you answer me?" Garnet almost purred.
Zidane looked up. "Why don't you go f- . . ."
Garnet whipped her arm out and backhanded him. "Bite your tongue," she snarled. "You're just making it worse for when I kill you. Right now, you're bait. Once your friends get here, I'll have no use for you." She whirled and stormed out.
The woman strode down the corridors of Gargan Roo until she reached the main chamber. "Quale!" she screamed. The large Qu rushed out of a side chamber. "What you want?" he said.
"Set up the scrying mirror for our friend," Garnet said, "and then stay out of sight. Eiko and the others will be here soon."
Quale nodded. "I go now," he said, but paused. "Are you gonna change before they get here?" he asked.
Garnet looked down at her body, smoothing her outfit. "What, does this make me look fat?" she said, twirling. Quale shook his head.
"You crazier than I am."
"No. I'm evil. You're insane."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steiner was a nervous wreck now. He had not heard from his wife since the day before when they had departed (Had it only been yesterday? he wondered. So much could have happened between then and now), and Queen Garnet was still missing. That caused him so much discomfort and anxiety that he wished for something to happen to distract his attention.
Something did.
Haagan, one of the Knights of Pluto, ran into the room and saluted. "Captain Steiner!" he said. "Intelligence reports have detected a group of Black Mages that have overrun Treno! We wait for your command!"
Steiner jumped to his feet, saluting the younger knight. "Order out the Knights of Pluto! We depart on the Red Rose within the hour!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The group snuck into Treno through a side gate and made their way through the abandoned alleyways, cloaked by the never-ending night. "No Black Mages," Amarant whispered as the rounded a corner.
"Is it just me," Eiko said from the middle of the group, where she supported the still-weak Vivi, "or is this a little too easy?"
"We'll just worry about getting to Doctor Tot's tower right now," Vivi muttered. "We can worry about everything else when we're sure that he's safe."
The group rounded the last corner and climbed a flight of cement stairs to the walkway leading to the tower. Unfortunately, that was when two Black Mages spotted them.
"Incoming!" Blank said, swiping his Thief Sword at a Black Mage about to cast Fira. The blade sliced the Black Mage's staff in two, and the fire magic reflected back on the Mage, incinerating him.
"Reflect," Eiko muttered, pointing her Angel Flute at Beatrix as she advanced on the other Mage. The Black Mage cast Thundara on the general, but the Reflect spell bounced it back on the caster, exploding it.
"Get to the tower before any others get here!" Beatrix said, turning around and running. They made it to the foot of the tower and slammed the door.
"Doctor Tot!" Eiko yelled up the stairway. "It's Eiko! Are you here?"
"We go upstairs now," Quina said. "I smell person!"
The group climbed the stairs into Doctor Tot's study. A slim figure was sitting in his globe observatory, hunched over a book.
"Dagger!" Eiko said.
Garnet looked up and gasped. "Oh, thank Ramuh you're here!" she said. "I've been trying to hold the Black Mages off since last night, but they break away to regroup every once in a while and then come back stronger than ever!"
Beatrix frowned. "My Queen, I do not understand. How did you get here?"
Garnet frowned. "When I got the note from Zidane's kidnapper, I decided to get some help from Doctor Tot. I thought that he would be able to help, since he is the most intelligent scholar in all of Treno - and Alexandria, Burmecia and Lindblum too, for that matter. But when I got here, Treno was being attacked, so Doctor Tot and I sealed the tower."
"Where is Doctor Tot now?" Eiko asked.
"He went through Gargan Roo to Alexandria to get help," Garnet said. "That was about six hours ago."
"That was when we found the Blue Waltzes at South Gate," Amarant muttered.
Quina frowned, staring intently at Garnet.
"What about the giant dragon that destroyed the auction house?" Blank asked. "We thought that might have been Bahamut."
Garnet shook her head. "I summoned Bahamut, but I didn't command him to destroy any buildings - just Black Mages," she said. "The Black Mages hit him with Blizzara a few times, and . . ."
That was when Quina jumped forward. "Twister!" she shouted, as a gust of wind magic blew Garnet back against the wall.
"Quina, are you mad?!" Eiko yelled, even as Beatrix's hand flashed to her sword hilt. "You just attacked Dagger!"
Quina shook her head fervently. "Is no Garnet!" she said. "She no smell like Garnet. She smell like Red Magic! Is a trick!"
Just then, there was a laugh from the observatory area - a cackling, evil laugh, deeper than anything Garnet's voice could have produced. The crumpled figure of Garnet disappeared in glowing red light. The light shrunk, creating the silhouette of a shorter, rounder figure. And when the light faded, there stood Doctor Tot, a malevolent gleam in his eye.
"Oh no, I've been discovered," he laughed as the group shrunk back from him.
And then the roof exploded.
A/N: Ah, yes, finals. That wonderful time of the year when I would rather listen to Yanni 24/7 while having a wild donkey kick me in the midsection than actually study. Sadly, study I must, which is why the updates for this piece are few and far between. Herein lies another little nugget of wisdom and, finally, the revelation of our shadowy figure friends.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter 10 - A Whole Library Of Torture
"Paper Storm," a dry, dusty voice whispered to the group as they crossed the plateau. A whirl of energy appeared and blasted everyone backwards. Vivi hit a rock and was knocked unconscious.
"Damn it!" Eiko yelled, climbing to her feet and looking up. "Look!"
Slowly, a dark shape appeared in the sky above. It was a giant book that slowly drifted from the sky and settled on the ground in front of them.
"Tantarian," Amarant growled. When Beatrix looked at him, Amarant said "This thing is a demon that used to hide out in Alexandria Castle's library. We destroyed it six years ago, just before Bahamut destroyed the original castle."
"It doesn't look too destroyed," Beatrix said as she drew her sword.
"It's an eidolon," Eiko frowned, staring at it. "Someone must have summoned it."
"So summon something against it, before it attacks again!" Blank shouted, but Eiko shook her head. "Too dangerous," she said. "If eidolons attack other eidolons, it creates destructive energy. That's one of the reasons Alexandria was wiped out when Bahamut attacked Alexander."
Eiko jumped back and knelt by Vivi. "I'm pretty much useless against that thing. All I have is my White Magic, and Beatrix has that too. Someone needs to take care of Vivi. Go get it." She raised her hand and began casting Cura on Vivi.
"You heard the lady," Blank said as he raised his Thief Sword. He leapt forward and brought the blade down on the book cover.
A tiny scratch showed on the cover, testament of the book's strength.
"Damn it!" Blank cursed.
Quina jumped forward, shaking her head. "Book bad! Is no cookbook! 1000 Needles!" A torrent of needles flew through the air and blasted the cover of the book open.
Amarant snorted. "This is easier than six years ago," he muttered as the blue demon popped out of the pages of the book. "I've been discovered!" it screamed.
"Quiet," Amarant snarled as he cast Demi Shock on Tantarian. The demon screamed in pain as the ability ripped through its body. "Don't hit it with physical attacks," Amarant warned. "That will force the book to close, and we won't be able to hit it."
"Thank you for the warning," Beatrix said, reversing the Save The Queen and raising her hand. The White Magic of Holy burst from her fingers and burned the skin of the demon.
The demon blinked and opened its mouth. "Edge!" it shrieked as it attacked Blank. The thief hit the ground and climbed back up, pulling one of Baku's defective pyrotechnics from his pocket and flinging it onto the book. Tantarian yelled in surprise as the pages of the book were singed by the pyrotechnic.
"That's it," Beatrix called to Quina. "Use fire, burn the pages!"
"I cook you good!" Quina yelled to Tantarian. "Mustard Bomb!" The air around the demon glowed with intense heat, setting the book on fire. Tantarian screamed again as he tried to put out the flames.
Amarant snorted. "This thing is pathetic," he said as he wound up and cast Curse on the demon. He felt some protection from the book drain away. "Beatrix!" he called. "Hit it with a Thunder Slash!"
Beatrix twirled the Save The Queen, jumped forward, and slashed the sword at the demon. As she swung, lightning came down from the sky, struck the blade, and blasted from the tip over the demon. Tantarian gave one final scream as he dissolved into ashes.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The short figure watched the event through the glowing mirror. "That was pathetic," it snarled. The figure then looked down at the ring on its hand. One of the stones it in was smoky and cracked. "Death of an eidolon," the short figure snorted as it twirled and stomped down the corridor to the next room, where Zidane was still chained to the wall.
The Prince Consort of Alexandria looked up wearily. "Why are you doing this?" he asked again.
The short figure laughed. "Have I answered that question yet? Why would you think I would now?" The figure stepped into the light, revealing the person that Zidane knew so well. The tight orange silk pantsuit with the flowing white blouse underneath. The shiny brown hair, now grown long. The glittering eyes, alive with hate and cruelty.
Queen Garnet til Alexandros Tribal.
"What's the matter, Zidane?" she said, mocking him. "Not enjoying your stay in Gargan Roo? Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable?"
Zidane's head drooped. "Dagger . . . please . . ."
Garnet slapped him across the face. "Don't you call me that!" she screamed. "You lost the right to call me that." She smiled and crossed her arms. "Your friends survived my latest attack, and they'll be at Treno any second now. I could just sic the Blank Mages on them and watch them burn to death with Fira, but I choose not to. There's practically no Mist left in these tunnels to make more Mages with, and I need all the Mages I can get. So I'll make it easy for them, and have the Mages conveniently not be anywhere near where your friends are. Then, when they get to my tower, I'll ambush them. And I'll tell you what. I'll even put my scrying mirror in here so you can watch. Would you like that, monkey?"
Zidane kept his head down.
"Why don't you answer me?" Garnet almost purred.
Zidane looked up. "Why don't you go f- . . ."
Garnet whipped her arm out and backhanded him. "Bite your tongue," she snarled. "You're just making it worse for when I kill you. Right now, you're bait. Once your friends get here, I'll have no use for you." She whirled and stormed out.
The woman strode down the corridors of Gargan Roo until she reached the main chamber. "Quale!" she screamed. The large Qu rushed out of a side chamber. "What you want?" he said.
"Set up the scrying mirror for our friend," Garnet said, "and then stay out of sight. Eiko and the others will be here soon."
Quale nodded. "I go now," he said, but paused. "Are you gonna change before they get here?" he asked.
Garnet looked down at her body, smoothing her outfit. "What, does this make me look fat?" she said, twirling. Quale shook his head.
"You crazier than I am."
"No. I'm evil. You're insane."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Steiner was a nervous wreck now. He had not heard from his wife since the day before when they had departed (Had it only been yesterday? he wondered. So much could have happened between then and now), and Queen Garnet was still missing. That caused him so much discomfort and anxiety that he wished for something to happen to distract his attention.
Something did.
Haagan, one of the Knights of Pluto, ran into the room and saluted. "Captain Steiner!" he said. "Intelligence reports have detected a group of Black Mages that have overrun Treno! We wait for your command!"
Steiner jumped to his feet, saluting the younger knight. "Order out the Knights of Pluto! We depart on the Red Rose within the hour!"
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The group snuck into Treno through a side gate and made their way through the abandoned alleyways, cloaked by the never-ending night. "No Black Mages," Amarant whispered as the rounded a corner.
"Is it just me," Eiko said from the middle of the group, where she supported the still-weak Vivi, "or is this a little too easy?"
"We'll just worry about getting to Doctor Tot's tower right now," Vivi muttered. "We can worry about everything else when we're sure that he's safe."
The group rounded the last corner and climbed a flight of cement stairs to the walkway leading to the tower. Unfortunately, that was when two Black Mages spotted them.
"Incoming!" Blank said, swiping his Thief Sword at a Black Mage about to cast Fira. The blade sliced the Black Mage's staff in two, and the fire magic reflected back on the Mage, incinerating him.
"Reflect," Eiko muttered, pointing her Angel Flute at Beatrix as she advanced on the other Mage. The Black Mage cast Thundara on the general, but the Reflect spell bounced it back on the caster, exploding it.
"Get to the tower before any others get here!" Beatrix said, turning around and running. They made it to the foot of the tower and slammed the door.
"Doctor Tot!" Eiko yelled up the stairway. "It's Eiko! Are you here?"
"We go upstairs now," Quina said. "I smell person!"
The group climbed the stairs into Doctor Tot's study. A slim figure was sitting in his globe observatory, hunched over a book.
"Dagger!" Eiko said.
Garnet looked up and gasped. "Oh, thank Ramuh you're here!" she said. "I've been trying to hold the Black Mages off since last night, but they break away to regroup every once in a while and then come back stronger than ever!"
Beatrix frowned. "My Queen, I do not understand. How did you get here?"
Garnet frowned. "When I got the note from Zidane's kidnapper, I decided to get some help from Doctor Tot. I thought that he would be able to help, since he is the most intelligent scholar in all of Treno - and Alexandria, Burmecia and Lindblum too, for that matter. But when I got here, Treno was being attacked, so Doctor Tot and I sealed the tower."
"Where is Doctor Tot now?" Eiko asked.
"He went through Gargan Roo to Alexandria to get help," Garnet said. "That was about six hours ago."
"That was when we found the Blue Waltzes at South Gate," Amarant muttered.
Quina frowned, staring intently at Garnet.
"What about the giant dragon that destroyed the auction house?" Blank asked. "We thought that might have been Bahamut."
Garnet shook her head. "I summoned Bahamut, but I didn't command him to destroy any buildings - just Black Mages," she said. "The Black Mages hit him with Blizzara a few times, and . . ."
That was when Quina jumped forward. "Twister!" she shouted, as a gust of wind magic blew Garnet back against the wall.
"Quina, are you mad?!" Eiko yelled, even as Beatrix's hand flashed to her sword hilt. "You just attacked Dagger!"
Quina shook her head fervently. "Is no Garnet!" she said. "She no smell like Garnet. She smell like Red Magic! Is a trick!"
Just then, there was a laugh from the observatory area - a cackling, evil laugh, deeper than anything Garnet's voice could have produced. The crumpled figure of Garnet disappeared in glowing red light. The light shrunk, creating the silhouette of a shorter, rounder figure. And when the light faded, there stood Doctor Tot, a malevolent gleam in his eye.
"Oh no, I've been discovered," he laughed as the group shrunk back from him.
And then the roof exploded.
