Aha! No pre-story junk this time, just a note from the author. Decided to take a little break from writing about the Trial, too bad this chapter will be ten times harder than that to write. Anyhow! Pay lots of attention to this chapter!
But the secret sits in the middle and knows.
Robert Frost - "The Secret Sits"
This created world was misty, dim and blurred around the edges. As the five figures stood in a circle, sometimes shifting, sometimes breathing deeply and shortly, the world around them shifted and moved in time to their heartbeats, living only through them.
The figures were not noteworthy themselves. They were quite uninteresting, being of varying sizes, all tall, and clad in long night-black cloaks. The cloaks reached to the floor, clinging to it like the mist that eddied lazily around them. Their hoods were up, obscuring any facial features with shadow, making it impossible to distinguish them except for by the tones of their voices. The sleeves of those cloaks reached to below their thin, fine hands, hands perhaps made more fine by the passage of time in the land of the dead.
Yes, they were dead, casualties of the Zaibach war, killed in that eventual collapse of the empire that had set its sights on domination. They had been its tools, even if they thought that they were not, and when it disappeared, they were no longer needed.
Perhaps that is what led them, after the pain of their death, to go back and concentrate on the one thing they felt they had succeeded with during their lives, the one creature they had concentrated the most of their wills on. It must have been a surprise to them to find that he had changed in ways they did not expect, ways they did not like.
That was what had spurred them, after years of waiting, to reach back into the world of the living and try to bring back to Dilandau that which they had once known in him. It was a measure of their changed-ness and secrecy that they themselves did not know exactly which traits of the old Dilandau they wished to bring back to the surface.
In watching him now, they saw hints of the cocky soldier they had known so well. Past the physical, inside, there were traits he could not lose, a way of moving, speaking, the way he held his hands when he talked. But there were traits that were strange to them, a softness to his eyes, a strange emotion. The boy they had known showed nothing but fear, anger, and most often, irritation. They had watched him often enough to observe this.
They stood around in a circle, but what could be called their consciousnesses were submerged in the center of the circle, where an orb competed with the blue flames to give light to the room. The orb was not a light itself, it was merely a reflection of light, because in its depths shone the scene that played out beyond the doors.
The orb showed Dilandau, sitting slumped nervously in the defendant's chair, looking much the same as when they saw him last. His left hand was supporting his chin, and his index finger was lightly, idly, stroking the scar that he shared with his former self. Although the circle of silent watchers had only known his face that way for a few months, the Dilandau before them had had this selfsame scar for three years, since the near-miss he had with Van Fanel after regaining his memories. The watchers knew that he had nearly killed or been killed himself, and the only thing that had shocked him from his rage had been the wound that was the source of that scar.
Aside from the new significance of the seemingly old scar, he was the same, which added to their excitement in seeing him.
"Oh, I wish we could…" Shy started, his voice a tune of woeful longing.
"But we mustn't." True said sharply, "We must prepare him first. We must make sure we can still affect him."
"Of course we can." Last said in a rumbling voice, "We've always been able to before."
"That's the key…" Gaze said, "Before, we could. Now, it's not so easy, is it?" the lilting sarcasm in the voice echoed in the darkened room.
"Shh.." Care said, "No one can say whether we can or can't but him."
"Yes." Gaze said, "It's never so hard as to affect him personally, like now. It was easy enough, before, but now you know how difficult things are on this side."
"Them." Shy said softly, and it was assumed by all that he was speaking of those who inhabited the world of the living, "They're so strange. Were we really like them then?"
There was a long pause, as they thought back to that long long ago when they still lived.
"No." True said, breaking the silence, "We were never like them." There was a soft note of sadness there. It echoed around the room, and for a moment laid on the figures, as heavy as if it were truly there.
"Are we doing right?" Care whispered.
Gaze's eyes flitted to the figures of his brethren, "Of course we are!" he said, though his voice shivered with doubt, "We can't allow him to stay this way, he is our responsibility. We helped create him, and he'll never return to greatness if we don't help him!"
There was a stony silence.
"We've waited so long!" Gaze shouted, desperate.
"Quiet." Last replied, "We can't turn back now. It's irrelevant to argue."
A sigh of acquiescence passed like a wind around the room, and they set their minds again to the task of preparing the next witness. The orb between them gaped and rolled, the picture within it tossed aside as the five prepared their minds for another war.
Author's note: Oh, gad… That was harder than I thought it'd be… Of course, the writing aside, it was hard for me to find time to do it. I've got a convention coming up July 4-5-6 and I needed to get my costumes ready, so I've been working really hard. So that's why this is not only a late chapter, but an almost pitifully short chapter. I hope to have Chapter 9 come out on time, don't ya know...
By the by, my birthday was rather lame, as some of you know. I got in a terrible car accident, and didn't get to do much of anything fun. No one was hurt but my car was trashed, and that was partly why this was late.. (the other part was my laziness… ^_~)
And now... Reboos! Revoos! Erm... Ah... Oh yes! Reviews!!
Eboni: You can join if you wanna, it's fun. Anyone join, though most of the people who read this fic are already on it, and they're the ones who forced me to join. It's over here . I didn't realize that Shesta's testimony would be much different from Gatty's. I'm glad that people liked it though.. ^-^. And the beauty of this fic is that anyone could be anyone, and it's ALL an illusion. I'm welcoming guesses!
Etowato: It wasn't as happy as I'd've liked, as you already know… It better work out in the end, or I'll have written all this for nothing!! Just joking. Evil influences are evil, to be sure. Yeah, I characterized Shesta all funny, but there are clues as to the influence everyplace, you just have to look.
Feye Morgan: (is covered in confetti, grinning) Yayy!! I'm glad you liked it! As for Zongi, like he said, he's only doing his job. I actually felt sort of bad for him, when you get to see his past and all. Poor guy. Poor Dopplegangers in general. I'm not starting a support group or anything, but they sure do get a bad rap. Can't they be? Hmmm… Well we'll see. Of course I'll write more! If ever I stop, you may deluge my inbox with emails until you get a valid reason. (Note: Laziness is not a valid reason)
BlueAloe: Yeah?? Really? I'm so happy! (Pauses) I mean, not happy that you almost cried, but happy that my fic is affecting people! I try my best to write the best words I can. #^-^# Hehe! The sorcerers? Maybe this chapter will clear that up, but probably it'll just make it more difficult to understand. Thanks! It wasn't too happy, as you can see by my author's note… And I want some qualifications about Mole Man. Why, exactly, do you like him??
Another Cat Girl: (blushes) You should watch Law and Order, it's awesome!! Oh, I do know where I'm going, I've known since the start. (chuckles evilly) Oh, good, I'd been afraid that I was mischaracterizing Dilandau… It's certainly hard to write any other Dilandau fic while I'm writing this one, I always make him all nice… I'm glad you like my lawyers! I was afraid at first. I just wish I'd had more chance to characterize them. Original is good, and hard. You should wait till the end to tell me that, you never know what's going to happen… The braces are better now, and I lost some weight! Graduating was easy, it's college will be hard.
Macky: Yay! Pace! I dunno… All the dragonslayers is a LOT of work. I think I'll just have some of the more interesting ones, for sure. If you noticed in Chapter 3, there was a list of witnesses, but I was overestimating myself, there were TONS of witnesses. There will definitely be less than that. Sorry about my update being late…