Author's Note: I 'm so terribly sorry for the hugely long wait. A lot of
things got in myy way of writing, and then for some reason I became
depressed and suffered from writer's block. Well, never fear, I'm back!
^.^ As Sephira1, but still. Don't expect long delays like that.
---***---
Moving from their hiding spots, the party looked at each other. The aeons were all a little unsettled, especially Shiva. She was muttering very rapidly to herself; saying, "Why could they touch her? She is a priestess of Avalon, her flesh should melt theirs.."
Calix looked out the door and growled. "I'm going after her," he said. "I don't want them-"
"Don't, you fool," Leviathan said, sounding unusually brusque. "Do you want to get caught and killed?"
"If it is for Ailani-"
"You elves," Leviathan said, getting angry, "You damn noble elves, you always want to get the glory, I've seen it, you and your ancestors-"
"Leviathan," Shiva began in a warning tone. The Water Deva quieted, but his eyes still blazed with controlled anger. "Now is not the time for arguing. Bahamut will soon be coming in with the rest of the Deva. But for now we must do what we can to interrupt the ceremony. We wait," and she put heavy emphasis on the word, "Until Valefor tells us when the party holding Ailani is at the bottom of the tower. We cannot risk them hearing our clattering as we descend." She looked disparagingly at Alastair's armor and Calix's chain mail.
"Elvish chain mail-"
"Makes hideous noise to Deva-and drow-ears, Prince Calix."
Valefor began to shimmer. "I'll be back." She disappeared completely, and a moment later they heard the rush of air over wings but saw no bird-like figure go past the window; nonetheless they were confident that Valefor would perform her task admirably. Shiva and Leviathan disappeared into the corner to talk strategy; Shiva was drawing in ice on the floor, one fingertip tracing out the possible paths through the Tower. The others sat where they were and said nothing until the air in the middle of the floor shimmered and Valefor reappeared, breathing hard and shivering a little.
"Damn the drow and their infrared vision," she panted. "I was sighted once; they don't think I'm up here though, I cast a Blizzard spell on myself. Ailani's being led into an antechamber on the east side of the main ceremony hall."
"Can you continue on?" Leviathan asked. Valefor shook her head.
"I will return to the Celestial Plane and come back when I am rested," she replied, and disappeared again. The party made their way down the stairs as quietly as possible; stopping again on the open corridor a level above the floor of the hall. Shiva pointed to an ornate golden door, then a silver one on the opposite end of the room. "Ailani is through the silver door, Devali through the gold. Seymour, Yuna, Rikku?"
"Yes?" the three chorused.
"Can I trust you with getting Ailani out of that room?"
All three nodded, and Leviathan pulled a wand out of a hidden pocket in his loose-fitting tunic. "Shall I, Lady Shiva?"
"Please do." Leviathan rapped each of them over the head with his wand; small snowflake-looking things drifted past their faces, chilling them. "A charm," Shiva said, "Similar to the ability Valefor used to become invisible."
Leviathan drew back, looking at his handiwork. "What?" Rikku whispered to Alastair, who was looking at a spot six feet behind her. She jumped up and down and waved her arms. "I'm-right-here!"
"Get down, foolish girl!" Leviathan snapped and pulled Rikku sharply to the floor. She rubbed her wrist and glared at him. The beautiful woman with white hair was looking up around the room, her red-glowing eyes narrowed. Sephiroth said something to her and she desisted. However, he too glanced around before returning his gaze to Gilgamesh across from him. The three were chanting softly. Shiva listened a minute, then swore again. Leviathan turned into an odd-looking cloud of vapor and Shiva instructed the three to get on. A little hesitant, Seymour, Yuna, and Rikku stepped onto the cloud and Leviathan propelled them down to the door, moving quickly about twenty feet above the floor. Yuna looked at the fast- approaching door hesitantly.
"We can't go through solid walls," she whispered to Rikku. Then, surprisingly, they did.
It was pitch black in the antechamber;. on the far wall was another door. Leviathan brought them to the floor silently, then with a very soft 'whump' turned back into a man. "Ailani is through that door," he said, pointing. Then he took out his wand and touched their foreheads this time; they saw in the infrared spectrum a greyish shape standing in front of them and brilliant hot figures moving around in the next room. "Good luck," Leviathan whispered. The grey shape disappeared.
They found that by concentrating a little, they could shift their eyes between the spectra of natural and infrared light. Moving forward, testing out this new ability, they gathered around the door. All stared at it.
"Oh, this is stupid," Rikku said, and kicked the door in.
"Rikku!" Seymour said, exasperated, then shrugged. "So much for the element of surprise."
"What surprise?" Yuna replied, before one of the drow females attending on Ailani tackled her.
In the ensuing chaos, several things happened. Seymour shot off a Firaga spell that hit the drow on Ailani's right, which also bounced and hit a vase. Rikku took out the drow on Ailani's left, and the one that had tackled Yuna dragged her by her hair to her feet and slapped her across the face.
"Human fodder!" she yelled in accented Commonspeak. Yuna, displaying completely unusual fury, slapped her back.
"Evil wench!" Yuna screeched. The drow, her red-glowing eyes widened in surprise, dropped Yuna's hair and touched her darkened cheek. Yuna's ring had bit into the skin, and a welt was beginning to rise. Then the drow's eyes narrowed again, and she snarled.
"Wishya!" the priestess said, and the three rescuers were knocked off their feet by the force behind the spell. Yuna was the first up, her eyes blazing, but it was Ailani who kicked the evil priestess in the kidneys, giving Yuna time to properly hit her over the head with the Nirvana. Ailani smiled at them - though none could see it in the dark.
"Goddess, I hate the drow," she said, looking down at the prone form on the floor. "They've concocted some kind of spell that allows them to touch me, it's like a glove. To feel their chilly black hands - " Ailani shuddered, and then noticed all three were staring at her. "What?"
"Ailani, you look.. almost angelic," Rikku said bluntly. Ailani looked around her.
"I would counter that but I cannot see my hand in front of my face."
In the light of the errant Firaga spell, Rikku had caught a glimpse of what Ailani was wearing - a silky silver dress that hugged her muscled body and then ended with a short train. The sleeves were like those of her priestess' robes; somewhat bell-shaped. Her hair hung loose, long and rippling with blue and silver. Seymour put off another Firaga spell; it caught on a tapestry, and in the light Ailani looked at herself. But instead of acting upset at all the opulence, as she might have, she smirked a little slyly.
"Why don't we just act like nothing happened?"
Rikku, Seymour, and Yuna broke into different protests as to why they should get her out of the Tower, one of which being that they seemed to think she had lost her mind. Ailani cast one of the spells of her own invention; all three were circled with dancing blue flames. Eventually they quieted, and Ailani smiled, again slyly. "There are three of the most powerful fighters ever known to History out in that room, and Aubrey - though I'm told his name is Devali - is in the other antechamber. It would be in our best interest to regain the advantage, hmm?"
Her cool logic won out, and she cajoled Yuna into casting Life on the Priestesses. Ailani threatened them into going about as though everything was routine. They left the room with Ailani reminding the three terrified priestesses that she had the words of a horrendously powerful Holy spell on her tongue and would say them if she thought one of them was acting strange. Winking back at her mother before the door closed, the three regarded each other a bit strangely.
"What has she got planned?" Seymour asked. Rikku shrugged.
"I dunno. She is a really powerful mage, ya know? She might just blast them all off their feet!" Rikku made some exuberant gestures.
Yuna shook her head. "I know my daughter. She'll try to do something subtle."
Seymour shook his head. "Sephiroth is the one I can think of who will see her actions for what they are. He might already know what happened in here, if Lolth doesn't - she's the white-haired woman," he said to Rikku, who was staring at him blankly.
"Ailani's not used to failure."
"She'll find a way," they agreed.
"So what should we do now?"
Yuna shrugged, sitting with face to the door and putting her staff across her knees. "We wait, I suppose."
---***---
"The Dreamer, the Redeemed, and the Connection accomplished the first of their tasks," Sephiroth said in the language of the Deva. "The Beholder is ready."
"Will the Beholder truly be able to See?" Lolth asked. Sephiroth looked at the drow Goddess, one hand on her hip and every sensuous curve of her perfect body painfully evident through the thin cloth of her robe. He was unmoved by her beauty, however; he had never had any interest in women, preferring to spend his time perfecting his sword technique and adding to his vast knowledge. Even in the Underworld, he did so. It was not a curse that the cursed Planet had laid on him; it was what he loved to do, lived to do. To become perfection embodied. The Beholder would bring that to him, he hoped.
Or she would not live any longer than it took Gilgamesh's son to get a son from her. Sephiroth carefully masked his thoughts. Another Demon Princeling - half of the Royal Sons of Gilgamesh were already dead from their constant inter-family wars.
"Sephiroth." The hotly glowing eyes of the Rogue Deva were narrowed, and for a single, brief flash of terror Sephiroth wondered if his sacrilegious thoughts had been heard. Gilgamesh was all too skilled at reading minds. The ex-General of SOLDIER obediently returned to saying the sacred words that would bless the unholy, never-emptied cup in front of him.
From one side, he saw the Princeling enter, dressed in black to compliment the silver that he knew the Beholder would be in. Eyes flashing the same color as Gilgamesh's cloak looked oddly out of place in the almost too- handsome human face. Behind him, Sephiroth heard a rustle and saw the lustful look that Devali cast in the direction of the noise. She must have entered.
The Ceremony began.
---***---
Sorry to leave you guys hanging, but this was getting too long already. There was so much more I wanted to put in, but..again, this was born of a writer's block-affected mind, so I apologize if it's not up to scratch. The next one'll be better, I promise!
---***---
Moving from their hiding spots, the party looked at each other. The aeons were all a little unsettled, especially Shiva. She was muttering very rapidly to herself; saying, "Why could they touch her? She is a priestess of Avalon, her flesh should melt theirs.."
Calix looked out the door and growled. "I'm going after her," he said. "I don't want them-"
"Don't, you fool," Leviathan said, sounding unusually brusque. "Do you want to get caught and killed?"
"If it is for Ailani-"
"You elves," Leviathan said, getting angry, "You damn noble elves, you always want to get the glory, I've seen it, you and your ancestors-"
"Leviathan," Shiva began in a warning tone. The Water Deva quieted, but his eyes still blazed with controlled anger. "Now is not the time for arguing. Bahamut will soon be coming in with the rest of the Deva. But for now we must do what we can to interrupt the ceremony. We wait," and she put heavy emphasis on the word, "Until Valefor tells us when the party holding Ailani is at the bottom of the tower. We cannot risk them hearing our clattering as we descend." She looked disparagingly at Alastair's armor and Calix's chain mail.
"Elvish chain mail-"
"Makes hideous noise to Deva-and drow-ears, Prince Calix."
Valefor began to shimmer. "I'll be back." She disappeared completely, and a moment later they heard the rush of air over wings but saw no bird-like figure go past the window; nonetheless they were confident that Valefor would perform her task admirably. Shiva and Leviathan disappeared into the corner to talk strategy; Shiva was drawing in ice on the floor, one fingertip tracing out the possible paths through the Tower. The others sat where they were and said nothing until the air in the middle of the floor shimmered and Valefor reappeared, breathing hard and shivering a little.
"Damn the drow and their infrared vision," she panted. "I was sighted once; they don't think I'm up here though, I cast a Blizzard spell on myself. Ailani's being led into an antechamber on the east side of the main ceremony hall."
"Can you continue on?" Leviathan asked. Valefor shook her head.
"I will return to the Celestial Plane and come back when I am rested," she replied, and disappeared again. The party made their way down the stairs as quietly as possible; stopping again on the open corridor a level above the floor of the hall. Shiva pointed to an ornate golden door, then a silver one on the opposite end of the room. "Ailani is through the silver door, Devali through the gold. Seymour, Yuna, Rikku?"
"Yes?" the three chorused.
"Can I trust you with getting Ailani out of that room?"
All three nodded, and Leviathan pulled a wand out of a hidden pocket in his loose-fitting tunic. "Shall I, Lady Shiva?"
"Please do." Leviathan rapped each of them over the head with his wand; small snowflake-looking things drifted past their faces, chilling them. "A charm," Shiva said, "Similar to the ability Valefor used to become invisible."
Leviathan drew back, looking at his handiwork. "What?" Rikku whispered to Alastair, who was looking at a spot six feet behind her. She jumped up and down and waved her arms. "I'm-right-here!"
"Get down, foolish girl!" Leviathan snapped and pulled Rikku sharply to the floor. She rubbed her wrist and glared at him. The beautiful woman with white hair was looking up around the room, her red-glowing eyes narrowed. Sephiroth said something to her and she desisted. However, he too glanced around before returning his gaze to Gilgamesh across from him. The three were chanting softly. Shiva listened a minute, then swore again. Leviathan turned into an odd-looking cloud of vapor and Shiva instructed the three to get on. A little hesitant, Seymour, Yuna, and Rikku stepped onto the cloud and Leviathan propelled them down to the door, moving quickly about twenty feet above the floor. Yuna looked at the fast- approaching door hesitantly.
"We can't go through solid walls," she whispered to Rikku. Then, surprisingly, they did.
It was pitch black in the antechamber;. on the far wall was another door. Leviathan brought them to the floor silently, then with a very soft 'whump' turned back into a man. "Ailani is through that door," he said, pointing. Then he took out his wand and touched their foreheads this time; they saw in the infrared spectrum a greyish shape standing in front of them and brilliant hot figures moving around in the next room. "Good luck," Leviathan whispered. The grey shape disappeared.
They found that by concentrating a little, they could shift their eyes between the spectra of natural and infrared light. Moving forward, testing out this new ability, they gathered around the door. All stared at it.
"Oh, this is stupid," Rikku said, and kicked the door in.
"Rikku!" Seymour said, exasperated, then shrugged. "So much for the element of surprise."
"What surprise?" Yuna replied, before one of the drow females attending on Ailani tackled her.
In the ensuing chaos, several things happened. Seymour shot off a Firaga spell that hit the drow on Ailani's right, which also bounced and hit a vase. Rikku took out the drow on Ailani's left, and the one that had tackled Yuna dragged her by her hair to her feet and slapped her across the face.
"Human fodder!" she yelled in accented Commonspeak. Yuna, displaying completely unusual fury, slapped her back.
"Evil wench!" Yuna screeched. The drow, her red-glowing eyes widened in surprise, dropped Yuna's hair and touched her darkened cheek. Yuna's ring had bit into the skin, and a welt was beginning to rise. Then the drow's eyes narrowed again, and she snarled.
"Wishya!" the priestess said, and the three rescuers were knocked off their feet by the force behind the spell. Yuna was the first up, her eyes blazing, but it was Ailani who kicked the evil priestess in the kidneys, giving Yuna time to properly hit her over the head with the Nirvana. Ailani smiled at them - though none could see it in the dark.
"Goddess, I hate the drow," she said, looking down at the prone form on the floor. "They've concocted some kind of spell that allows them to touch me, it's like a glove. To feel their chilly black hands - " Ailani shuddered, and then noticed all three were staring at her. "What?"
"Ailani, you look.. almost angelic," Rikku said bluntly. Ailani looked around her.
"I would counter that but I cannot see my hand in front of my face."
In the light of the errant Firaga spell, Rikku had caught a glimpse of what Ailani was wearing - a silky silver dress that hugged her muscled body and then ended with a short train. The sleeves were like those of her priestess' robes; somewhat bell-shaped. Her hair hung loose, long and rippling with blue and silver. Seymour put off another Firaga spell; it caught on a tapestry, and in the light Ailani looked at herself. But instead of acting upset at all the opulence, as she might have, she smirked a little slyly.
"Why don't we just act like nothing happened?"
Rikku, Seymour, and Yuna broke into different protests as to why they should get her out of the Tower, one of which being that they seemed to think she had lost her mind. Ailani cast one of the spells of her own invention; all three were circled with dancing blue flames. Eventually they quieted, and Ailani smiled, again slyly. "There are three of the most powerful fighters ever known to History out in that room, and Aubrey - though I'm told his name is Devali - is in the other antechamber. It would be in our best interest to regain the advantage, hmm?"
Her cool logic won out, and she cajoled Yuna into casting Life on the Priestesses. Ailani threatened them into going about as though everything was routine. They left the room with Ailani reminding the three terrified priestesses that she had the words of a horrendously powerful Holy spell on her tongue and would say them if she thought one of them was acting strange. Winking back at her mother before the door closed, the three regarded each other a bit strangely.
"What has she got planned?" Seymour asked. Rikku shrugged.
"I dunno. She is a really powerful mage, ya know? She might just blast them all off their feet!" Rikku made some exuberant gestures.
Yuna shook her head. "I know my daughter. She'll try to do something subtle."
Seymour shook his head. "Sephiroth is the one I can think of who will see her actions for what they are. He might already know what happened in here, if Lolth doesn't - she's the white-haired woman," he said to Rikku, who was staring at him blankly.
"Ailani's not used to failure."
"She'll find a way," they agreed.
"So what should we do now?"
Yuna shrugged, sitting with face to the door and putting her staff across her knees. "We wait, I suppose."
---***---
"The Dreamer, the Redeemed, and the Connection accomplished the first of their tasks," Sephiroth said in the language of the Deva. "The Beholder is ready."
"Will the Beholder truly be able to See?" Lolth asked. Sephiroth looked at the drow Goddess, one hand on her hip and every sensuous curve of her perfect body painfully evident through the thin cloth of her robe. He was unmoved by her beauty, however; he had never had any interest in women, preferring to spend his time perfecting his sword technique and adding to his vast knowledge. Even in the Underworld, he did so. It was not a curse that the cursed Planet had laid on him; it was what he loved to do, lived to do. To become perfection embodied. The Beholder would bring that to him, he hoped.
Or she would not live any longer than it took Gilgamesh's son to get a son from her. Sephiroth carefully masked his thoughts. Another Demon Princeling - half of the Royal Sons of Gilgamesh were already dead from their constant inter-family wars.
"Sephiroth." The hotly glowing eyes of the Rogue Deva were narrowed, and for a single, brief flash of terror Sephiroth wondered if his sacrilegious thoughts had been heard. Gilgamesh was all too skilled at reading minds. The ex-General of SOLDIER obediently returned to saying the sacred words that would bless the unholy, never-emptied cup in front of him.
From one side, he saw the Princeling enter, dressed in black to compliment the silver that he knew the Beholder would be in. Eyes flashing the same color as Gilgamesh's cloak looked oddly out of place in the almost too- handsome human face. Behind him, Sephiroth heard a rustle and saw the lustful look that Devali cast in the direction of the noise. She must have entered.
The Ceremony began.
---***---
Sorry to leave you guys hanging, but this was getting too long already. There was so much more I wanted to put in, but..again, this was born of a writer's block-affected mind, so I apologize if it's not up to scratch. The next one'll be better, I promise!