"Transcending Reality" by Emerald Eyes
"You and I in a little toy shop buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got. Set them free at the break of dawn 'til one by one, they were gone. Back at base, bugs in the software flash the message 'Something's out there!' Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by…" –Goldfinger
^_^_^
Chapter Fourteen: In Treno
In the coldness of the night Treno was left unhindered. Treno was a city that never slept. Constantly, people were about: all ages, shapes, sizes, and species.
Treno was the city of nobles, fascinating in all its glory; magnificent in its beauty; breathtaking in its splendor. The city was great, the city was grand… but there was nothing noble about it.
Like all big cities that housed the rich, it also housed the poor. The poor lived in the slums, the ruthless part of this grand, wonderful city. In here: the cutthroats, the harlots, the pimps and the whores.
This city of Treno was not all that different from Midgar. In all its mako-illuminated awe, there lay a dark underside. The odd comparison placed a bizarre comfort around Elena; the city was in such a bad condition, yet it reminded her so much of home. Granted, there were still those uncanny differences, but a Midgar nonetheless.
Ahead of her, the man who called himself Blank led the way into the heart of the city. He was apparently a member of 'Tantalus,' whatever that was. He looked like a street rat, but according to Eiko and a few other reliable sources, he was trustworthy. Since it was assumed that the strangers would be spending a fair amount of time in this world, Hilda and Cid had suggested they get acquainted with it.
The group had taken a trip to Treno, their guides a bunch of ragtag Tantalus members. Seifer and his posse found something interesting in the card game held in the building at the center of town, and Rude had found the local bar. Now it was only her and Blank. Blank was a young, wiry fellow with flame-red hair that stuck up in every direction.
After what seemed like only a few minutes they arrived at a stone plaza high above most of the city. Behind the paving stones stood a large building made of the same type of grayish brick as the plaza was.
Blank gestured to the looming structure and announced their arrival. "Here we are, Lady Elena: the Auction House."
Elena groaned inwardly. "Lady" Elena was something she'd have to get used to. She didn't like the title at all. It was one of those unlikely byproducts of wearing the expensive dresses the castle had provided for her—everyone thought she was a Noble! She had given up on correcting people. Blank still called her "Lady" no matter how many times she said otherwise.
Instead of complaining, Elena put on an ingratiating smile. She wanted to see the Auction House and no nonsense name was going to spoil it for her!
With a confirming nod of her head, Blank pulled back on the metal handle of the great wooden door before them. The Turk's auburn eyes filled with unfeigned delight when the scene beyond greeted her.
"Oh, wow!"
^_^_^
Seifer frowned at the girl before him. The dark-skinned, orange-haired girl's expression revealed nothing on the type of cards she held. He was losing, and he didn't see why.
He had been playing a card games for just as long as she, and his face revealed what type of cards he had just as less as she, but the girl always seemed to guess.
He put down the only card he had left—a rendering of Shiva with a fair amount of arrows on it. He was surprised find out that this world had any type of Guardian Forces at all, let alone Shiva.
The girl revealed a winning smile, a foreshadowing of her victory, and laid down a card with a picture of some kind of beetle on it… and arrows on every side possible. She let out a giggle. "I win!" She immediately went for his Behemoth card with the most arrows.
"Hey! No fair!" He hadn't won a card game yet and it was beginning to nerve him to no end. The girl only found his temper amusing, and skipped out of the room joyfully.
Sighing regretfully, Seifer began gathering up his remaining cards (which diminished quite quickly over the past hour). He decided to quit while he still had his Shiva card. The trinket had become a sort of good luck charm over the past few days, even though it failed to work the majority of the time. He had picked it out when he won his first card game against Eiko.
It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness as he stepped outside into the cool night air. Raijin and Fujin were over by the pond on the edge of the paving stones. There was a ring of curious bystanders around the couple and Raijin was wet, he resolved with a pang of curiosity. Raijin was sitting on the gray stones with a hand rubbing the side of his head painfully, and he was shivering furiously in the cold. Fujin was standing over him with a concerned look on her face, demanding to know if he was all right.
Seifer's gaping stare turned into a dead run towards the crowd. //If something happened to them…// he frantically pushed people aside as he fought to reach his friends in the center.
As he broke through the throng, Raijin and Fujin stared at him with incredulous looks. It took a moment for Seifer to realize that he had the most stupefying look on his face. He quickly rid himself of it. //Stupid fool!// He scolded himself, //Raijin probably just fell into the water by accident, being the moron that he is.// Had he overreacted? He decided to ask what happened anyways. "What's going on?"
"Someone shot some kind of powerful magic spell at me, you know?" Raijin answered.
"What!?" Okay. So maybe he hadn't overreacted.
"They were just standing there one minute," one of the bystanders commented, "and the next, that young fellow had to dodge a bolt of fire."
Fujin nodded. "AFFIRMATIVE."
Seifer tried to find his voice again. The only person who'd want to kill any of them would be Ultimecia. Dreading the answer, the asked, "Did you see who did it?"
Raijin averted his eyes from Seifer's penetrating gaze and Fujin just hung her head. "…no…" she whispered.
He sighed and looked around the courtyard desolately as if that itself could reveal the answer. Above, on a terrace atop the building, a man garbed all in black stared down at the scene. At least, he THOUGHT it was a man. There really was no way to tell; the cowl of his midnight cloak was pulled up, hiding his face in shadows. The only thing that penetrated the featureless void was a pair of glowing green eyes.
Seifer shivered as the man walked away. There were some strange species in this world… very strange indeed!
"I think we should go find the others," he whispered, his eyes still glued on the spot where the shadowy figure had been.
^_^_^
Rude downed another glass of the potent liquid the barmaid had called "Magefire" and focused his wavering stare on the creature before him. The tavern was dark, lit only by the dull flickering lamplight, yet the bald Turk refused to take off his sunglasses.
Even though his vision was impaired by the near darkness of the room and the lens in his glasses, he was more than certain the creature wasn't human.
It stared at him from underneath the brim of its helmet. He stared back in a perfect imitation of her silence.
Finally growing tired of the strange creature's stares, he downed the last of his Magefire and prepared to leave the murky darkness of the tavern. As he was leaving the creature finally spoke. "Who are you?"
Rude stopped dead in his tracks. It talked. He had been in this strange world enough to know that anything was possible, but this was just too strange. He turned around to face the creature.
"I've never seen you in here before. Who are you?" it asked again in a feminine voice. Yes, he was almost certain now: it was female.
"I'm new here," Rude replied simply and intended to leave thereafter. But the strange rat-creature wouldn't give up so easily.
She followed him out the door. "You're new here? What city did you come from?"
"Lindblum," he lied, trying to get rid ob the menace. He didn't understand how such a creature could keep quiet for so long and then suddenly start jabbing worse than Elena.
"Lindblum?" the creature inquired a bit morbidly, "I know some people from that city. There was a boy named Zidane Tribal. He… he died saving Gaia not too long ago." In a heartbeat her brooding mood dissipated, and she asked cheerily, "Perhaps you knew him?"
"No," Rude replied, clenching his teeth. His patience was wearing thin.
"Oh," the creature replied a bit sadly. Perhaps the girl—if in fact that's what it was—had finally picked up on his mood. Leaving the creature standing in the middle of the boardwalk behind him, Rude headed off towards the auction house to find Elena.
He didn't like Treno.
^_^_^
Elena was currently eyeing up a beautiful topaz necklace that the noble dressed in silk up by the podium was holding up for auction. "Whoa," she commented, "It's beautiful!"
Blank smiled at her and asked, "Would you like to own it?"
"Why of course I would, but—"
"500 Gil!" Blank yelled out before she could protest. The auctioneer confirmed the bid right before an onslaught of higher bids were voiced.
"What are you doing!?" Elena screeched.
"I'm getting you that necklace," he replied matter-of-factly before adding, "1000 Gil!" The bids kept on coming.
"But it's too expensive!" Elena argued back.
"Lady Elena, I'm a member of Tantalus. NOTHING's expensive… 1500 Gil!" The bids stopped, and to Elena's dread, Blank happened to get the highest bid on the topaz crystal.
Blank smiled seductively at her before he fastened the chain around her neck. It was then that Elena realized what he was trying to do all along. //Oh, brother,// she thought, //The guy's coming on to me!//
Elena forced a polite smile and then inconspicuously tried to inch away from the boy. Much to her dismay, Blank noticed. "Lady Elena?"
"I think I should go find my friends," she lied. Any excuse was worth getting away from Blank. The boy reminded her of a teenaged version of Reno!
She felt the boy shrug behind her. "Whatever the Lady wishes."
Whenever she turned towards the entrance, the doors opened to reveal a figure garbed in black from head to toe, no features distinguishable beneath the cowl of its hood. A gust of cold winter breeze brought in from outside blew back its hood enough for her to notice one feature: the eyes. Those haunting green eyes stared back at the room, passed over her, and then settled on the podium where another item was currently up for bid.
Elena held her breath. The glowing eyes reminded her undoubtedly of Sephiroth. All common sense told her he wasn't. The figure was too short and lanky to even resemble the man, but the eyes still freaked her out. "//Don't act so weak!//" Reno's words echoed in her mind. Immediately her downcast eyes forced themselves to look the creature in its haunting eyes. She lifted her chin in a defiant way and sniffed haughtily. //I am NOT weak! I am a Turk!//
Her gaze followed the creature as it passed by her and joined the confusing mass of anxious bidders. Elena ran her hand across her hip. Outwardly she appeared to be smoothing her dress, but she had her gun hidden beneath a light blue silk shawl she had tied around her waist.
The item, a lovely, ornate mirror, had just been sold for 10,000 gil. The noble in the silk jacket reached behind him to grab the next item. When he turned around he was holding a small, smooth, cylindrical black object. The shiny object glistened and glittered in the flickering firelight of the room. The black item produced several awed comments from the crowd, and bidding started up again with more vigor than ever.
"Now would you look at that," Blank said admiringly after he noticed Elena staring at the object.
Elena's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened to the size of Huge Materia. The black, tiny, marble-like stone couldn't be what she thought it was—she'd remember that materia anywhere—the Black Materia.
The person in the black cloak she was having such bad vibes about was the most vigorous bidder of all. Suddenly it all clicked.
She grabbed hold of Blank's arm tightly, her eyes glued on the Black Materia. "I want it," she whispered threateningly.
Blank's eyes lit up considerably at the mere chance of making a score until he saw the deadliness in her eyes. "10,000 gil!" He yelled out to the crowd. He smiled at her in that lascivious way of his. Elena rolled her eyes. The boy still thought he had a chance with her if he won her heart with expensive objects. "15,000 gil!"
The black cloaked man was persistent.
Before long blank was checking the gil in his pocket and throwing disconcerting stares at Elena when he thought she wasn't looking. The price was steadily increasing.
The cloaked man placed a bid for 48,000 gil. The once bustling room was silent. The noble in silk asked for any more bids.
"Blank," Elena whispered harshly, warning him of his mistake.
"But…" The look she gave him made him change his mind about what he was going to say. "49,000 gil!"
The cloaked man immediately bid for fifty.
Blank gave Elena an exasperated stare.
"Blank, I NEED that item."
"Damn it, Lady, are you crazy!?" Blank snapped, "I'm out of gil and that guy's determined! You're not going to get it. Your stubbornness doesn't change a thing, so you might as well give up."
Elena was about to retort to the words but Blank was right. She wasn't going to get the Black Materia with gil. Wincing, she watched as the noble handed the priceless talisman of destruction over to the man in the cloak.
As the figure reached the door Elena reached for her gun. In a flash the weapon was in her hand and aimed right between the glowing eyes of the Materia's owner.
Sephiroth—or whoever the cloaked figure happened to be—had good reflexes. He must have anticipated her plan of attack because he dogged the bullet that came speeding from the barrel of her gun.
In the countless milliseconds after the bullet shattered into the wall, the shady figure was out the door and on the streets in mere moments. Elena was hot on his tail, chasing him through the crowd of stunned people.
"Lady Elena!" Blank pleaded, pushing through the crowd behind her, "what are you doing!? What IS that thing!?"
She didn't know whether the boy was referring to her gun or the Black Materia, but it didn't matter. She had no time to be burdened down by a clueless kid. "Stay down," she ordered once they got out into the open. The man was nowhere in sight. Wherever he was, he couldn't have gone far. She began searching the surrounding area.
"Lady Elena, what in the name of Gaia is going on!?"
Elena was about to order the ignorant boy to shut up when three people walked around the corner. It was Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin.
Raijin turned irate once he spotted the two. "Hey guys! Did you know that some guy tried to kill—"
"QUIET," Fujin ordered. She had been more observant and had noticed Elena's awkward position against the wall with her weapon drawn.
"Go with them," Elena demanded to Blank as she nodded to the group, "Stay out of sight. Tell Seifer to come here."
Blank surprisingly obeyed, and the group, minus Seifer, went back around the corner. Seifer quickly sprinted over to Elena's hiding spot. "What's going on?" he whispered. His hand was precariously gripping the hilt of his gunblade.
"I'm looking for a man in a black cloak with glowing eyes. It's no matter what he did—I'll explain later—just keep your eyes peeled."
Seifer's breath caught in his throat. Elena didn't expect the reaction, coming from her nondescript profile, but apparently Seifer had had a run-in with the man.
She scanned the surrounding area while Seifer occupied the shadowy corners. A few minutes passed, maybe more, but it seemed like hours—with no results.
Elena stood outside the doorway in the faint glow of the lamps. Snow had begun to fall, adding a distinct chill to the night. She sighed in exasperation and her breath curled around her face. The man must have escaped while no one was looking—that had to be it. They should have found him by now, otherwise.
The incessant sound of Seifer irritably tapping his gunblade against the stone wall made an odd beat that mingled with the distant sound of crowds from other parts of the city. A dog barked in the distance, and a flag was flapping in the wind… or should be. Elena wasn't sure, but she could nearly distinctly remember there NOT being a flag atop the auction house. She frowned. The noise almost sounded like… //A cloak! It's the guy with they eyes!//
Elena spun to look on top of the building, but it was already too late. A flying mass of black cloth and a pair of glowing eyes were heading right for her. She tried to raise her gun in time (she was not weak!) but it was already too late.
She wasn't quite sure, but she thought she heard her own terror-filled scream before she blacked out.
^_^_^
Seifer tapped his gunblade on the side of the cold wall of the auction house methodically as he pondered about the man with the eerie eyes. He didn't witness it, but he was willing to bet any fair amount of gil that he was the one that tried to kill Raijin.
A puff of warm air clouded in front of Seifer as he exhaled heavily. They hadn't found the man in any of the surrounding area. No doubt the guy was already halfway across the city by now.
Seifer looked up through a snow-filled haze and saw Elena staring up at the roof in wide-eyed terror. Only then did he notice a familiar black-cloaked figure descending upon her.
Seifer dashed towards her as her ear-piercing scream filled the frigid night air. In mere moments he had his gunblade poised to strike.
The figure wasted no time. As soon as Elena was knocked unconscious, he lashed out in a mad run for the ledge on the other side of the paving stones. Midway, he turned, and the strong winter winds blew the hood of his cape back. Seifer stopped dead in his tracks and stared. Unkempt flaxen hair framed a young face, the haunting green eyes looking out of place on such innocence. He looked to be about 15… 16 at the latest. He was hardly more than a boy!
"Zidane!" an ecstatic feminine voice exclaimed. Seifer was too preoccupied to care. With the threat of the caped man--_boy_--temporarily out of the way, he ran to Elena's shivering unconscious form.
He scooped her up in his arms and started off in the general direction of his posse… and he paused in mid-step.
Rude was watching the scene behind his implacable sunglasses. He appeared to be passive, but by the way his hand was casually resting on his gun, Seifer judged the man was ANYTHING but relaxed.
Behind the placid Turk, a bizarre-looking creature appeared to be observing the scene with shock. "That… that was Zidane!" the creature said in shock.
Rude looked at her—yes, the rat-thing WAS a her—and said stonily, "You know him." It was not a question, but it appeared that was about the only thing that wasn't. Who was this Zidane character and why was he trying to kill them? Where was Ultimecia? What in Hyne's name did he get himself into?
END CH. 14 AT 02.13.02.
EMERALD'S RANT~~~ Well… just finished writing this down in a notebook in my school last period, and I'm glad. I've been SO sick of this chapter, mainly because I've been working on it for so long. But I AM fairly proud of it. The idea came to me on a caprice late one night, and I'm thankful for it. I knew I wanted to take advantage of the idea that Zids was missing at the end of FF9, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.
EMERALD'S EXCUSE~~~ My sincerest apologies for this chapter arriving so late. My computer got sick. :o( Thankfully, the virus didn't infect word documents, but it DID burden me down some. Thanks for being patient. Stay tuned for the next chapter (which will be out in a shorter period of time).