Chapter 13 - AKUZOKSEI
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A/N: If you see chunks of bold sentences, it probably means that the accursed Redrumiel had let Celestine see another one of those movies i.e. they represent scenes that Celestine watches through that wall screen. If it is unclear, tell me through the reviews, and I will try to explain with my best efforts.
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"AKUZOKSEI......" He paused a little for dramatic effect, as well as to grab his intended recipient's attention.
However, she simply refused to look at him, choosing instead to huddle in a corner embroiled in her tumultuous feelings.
She could not identify what it was flitting through her mind... confusion, chaos.... a huge melting pot of gruesome images running wildly, so verily like a horror movie, only without the sound effects...
leaving her gasping for relief in any form, just as long as it chased them away...
And yet, the spine-tingling chills were not something any horror movie could elicit, no matter how talented the cast or director.
For this was REAL. It would not simply go away, or end when the credits rolled.
Cid and Edea Kramer... her surrogate parents when she was at Balamb Garden... short as the period was, they still held an irreplaceable position in her heart...
Gone now... forever...
She could not wash the image of them out of her mind. Their mouths agape, while rivulets of their life-giving blood, now cold and clotted flowed from the ends, lining their chins, their throats... wide-open eyes staring at nothingness.
NO. Maybe they were staring at her... as if she was an accomplice of some sort...
"AKUZOKSEI......" He repeated, this time letting a hint of his long history, his immeasurable (well, almost immeasurable) age creep into his voice.
She did not want to listen, but somehow it managed to slip through her mental wall of defenses against him.
It whispered tales of his past into her ear. Some glorious, some not so. In fact, some part of it was tinged with an inexplicable sense of hopelessness... the kind felt whenever one had lost all faith in life.
She felt strangely uneasy... with no inkling on the reason for her disquiet.
"..... the meaning of which you should know."
"I have not lost my grasp on Anglish yet, if that's what you're implying!"
"Good. However, you do not fully know it, at least not as well as I want you to...
AKUZOKSEI: Also known Catastrophe, chaos, overthrowing of Hyne's laws.
But split the word up, you'll get a whole new meaning.
AKU: Ancient Anglish. Represents the Underworld. The place where those who have sinned, with no hope of atonement, or those of warped ideals, have been banished for the rest of their afterlives... or immortal lives... as is the case for Angels..."
Celestine wondered to herself if Redrumiel had ever been confined to AKU before.
If he did, how in Hyne's world did he get out?
Redrumiel acted as if he never caught the question, when both of them knew that he was constantly listening in on her inner thoughts, disregarding her need for privacy completely.
"ZOK: That of Sky. The infinite expanse that hangs above the lands and protects them like an eternal guardian. And yet, it can just as easily destroy its charges, if only it was inclined to do so. The home of many different realms, and thence, home to Angel Land, and the Strider's Islands that we are presently on."
"I KNOW!" She interrupted with impatience, not knowing what he was driving at.
"And finally......
SEI: A curious hybrid between the human language of Japanese, and our own. Represents the world. 'World'... when it actually refers to the dimension your 'beloved human folk' dwell in." He allowed a flash to spread over his lips.
"How DARE you eavesdrop on me?!!" Her pupils were totally dilated in response to her enragement.
"You never said I wasn't supposed to..."
"Fine, act like the jerk you are! So what's your point anyway?"
"My purpose in explaining those three portions, is to let you have a better understanding of what I'm aiming to achieve. My grand plan at World Domination, if you will."
"I'm not the least bit interested!" She turned away, her arms crossing her chest to demonstrate her protest.
"Oh, but you must, for you're a vital part of it.
At present, all three are under the control of your Great Lord, following the rule of Hyne as he claims. Are you not concerned that he could have the right, the authority to monopolise the World, practise anarchy the way he wants? There is no one, no one to regulate his actions! Hyne? He could be lying for all we know. Have you seen Hyne with your own eyes? Heard her voice? Touched her physically? Are you even sure she exists?"
"One does not necessary need to see something to know it exists. Take air for example. You breathe it. But you can't see it. And you can't see Hyne, but you see what her grace, her love does for us."
"Don't give me that... you don't even believe it yourself. I can see it all in your eyes, your thoughts."
She shot a vengeful glare at him.
And who do you think had caused this to happen?
He continued speaking, apparently not caring that he was the root of her distress.
"ZOK: The sky shall be 'governed' by its new General, your fellow Angel, Tanya Gildfeather."
"Tanya? What has she got to do with this? Why did you pick her?"
Even though she was never on good terms with Tanya (a gross understatement, to say the least), she did not want such a fate to befall on even her worst enemy!
"She was an easy one to manipulate, for she developed many of the requirements for conversion ... hate... anger... angst... jealousy... all because of a spurned affection."
"Even so!"
"She isn't as unrelated as you would have hoped to believe either... why do you think she abhors you in such a way? Surely you must have guessed."
"She liked Damien..."
"More than you ever realised. In fact... I am certain that it isn't any less than what you feel for your 'darling Zell'... Excuse me while I stifle a laugh...
She loved Damien. She couldn't live without him... she cried herself to sleep every single night pining for him. All she wanted was for him to give her a second look, a chance... And yet... look at this......"
He snapped his fingers again.
Tanya appeared on the screen, holding onto Damien's hand.
"I love you, Damien! Why do you act like you can't see it? Surely you're not blind to that extent?"
".....But I'm sorry... I can never accept you... NOT WHILE MY HEART LIES WITH HER."
At that point in time, Damien's voice seemed to have stressed heavily on the last words... it sounded like thunder to her ears. She felt like covering them up again.
Don't fall into his trap, Angelwing. He's just trying to force you to feel guilty. Be strong...
Damien walked away from Tanya.
Her face was twisted by some internal force.
"WHY?!!" She screamed with anguish.
The same anguish that Celestine seemed to feel as well... deep into the innermost layer of her spirit.
"STOP!!! I don't want to see it!" She covered her eyes with her hands, but could not shut the image of the screaming, twisted face of Tanya off.
"Self-denial. It's eating at you, as is your guilt at having brought this unto her."
"WHY? Why are you doing this to me?"
"That is not the end of it."
She squeezed her eyelids downwards, as tightly as she could. She did not want to see, or hear anything more from him.
Yet he was able to penetrate any kind of wall she erected to protect herself.
"SEI: The human world shall be commanded by one of those SeeDs. You have seen her. You are very familiar with her, in fact.
Waterlily... I'm sure that you have seen what she did a few moments ago. It shouldn't have been too hard a guess."
"And why her? She's one of the newest in a whole pool of SeeDs. I don't see how she could be related to me at all, and you had to do this to her?" She lifted a trembling finger to peek out at him.
"Are you really that clueless? It doesn't matter... it will be clear in a moment why I had chosen her to be my third Nien-Gyo..."
Nien-Gyo...? He treats them all as his convenient pawns... dolls that do his bidding with a mere word... am I to become one of them as well?
Another snapping sound.
She had come to dread this sound... for it signaled the incoming flush of pain that would besiege her each time he showed her something new.
The screen had changed to that of Balamb Garden.
More accurately, the night of the inauguration ball for Waterlily's cohort... also the engagement ball of Rinoa and Squall Leonhart.
Music played in the background... sounded like "Love Grows."
With a blush colouring her cheeks, she approaches the spiky-haired boy with nervous steps, then tries to mask it by wearing a huge grin... one that was comparable to Zell's in his less stressful days.
"Zell... can I have this dance with you?"
He touched something in his uniform pocket.
"Uh... I'm sorry... but I'm not in the mood today."
With an obviously fake smile, she nodded, and ran towards the balcony... the disappointment in her eyes in direct contrast with what her smile was showing.
"I do not remember seeing this at all......" Celestine whispered.
Redrumiel studied her for a while.
"It was during this time that you fell into that cold slumber of yours... caged up in a crystallized version of yourself."
Yet another scene... this time in the cafeteria, where Zell sat stuffing his face with hotdogs.
"Zell... did you read the letter stuck into your mailbox this afternoon?" Waterlily asked anxiously, an eager expression on her face in anticipation of his response.
"Wasn't it junk mail? It was from you, right? Was it important?"
"N...no... it's okay..."
Biting on her lower lip, she could only drag her feet away from him... a single line trickling from her eye.
"Your Zell can be so dense at times... 'Wasn't it junk mail? It was from you, right?' Oooh, I almost pitied the girl. But then again, he wasn't the main assaulter of her feelings.... It was a certain blue-haired one......"
"......" Celestine was silent for a moment. For indeed... she could not deny that she didn't have a hand in hurting Waterlily.
She was the one who tore up the letter... out of jealousy.*
"I simply had to tell her the truth... for the poor girl had thought that her presence was so insignificant, Zell had treated her letter as junk mail. Human-mortals... they're so weak... so willing to listen and conform to even the slightest suggestions, just so they could have a way out. Even if it was a walk to the dark side... it was the simplest task to achieve...
But now... I am faced with my hardest. For you are strong. That I concede, for I have tried in many ways to turn you to my side."
"NEVER!"
"I will have to use my harshest measure, then. I approach with reluctance... for it saps much of my energy... and I am loathe to waste such intelligence... such willpower... but you leave me no choice!"
He raised an arm in the air, eyes closed.
"Strength of AKUZOKSEI... come into my being. Gather on this finger of mine... hail to my command!"
A ball of ruby-tinted energy gathered at his index finger, pointed towards the heavens.
His eyes opening with sudden movement, he flung the ball towards Celestine.
As it made contact with her, her body felt as if it was poked with a million super-fine needles.
Her left arm lifted into the air, as if having a life of its own.
She wanted to put it down... but as if hanging with a string tied at the elbow, it remained in the air at an awkward angle.
Next came her head. She could only move her eyes, not her head. It felt like the head of a plastic doll with an immovable neck.
She realised that she could not speak as well.
What's happening to me?
The last thing on her mind... before she was locked in a veil of utter darkness...
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TWLN NEWS-----
HEADLINES OF THE DAY:
- HEADMASTER AND WIFE BRUTALLY MURDERED IN BALAMB GARDEN. SUSPECTED TO BE AN INSIDER JOB.
- PRESIDENT CARAWAY THREATENED BY ANONYMOUS TERRORIST TO RESIGN, OR ELSE.....
- MILLIONS IN ESTHAR HIT BY MYSTERIOUS VIRUS......
- MISSING HEROINE OF SSWII FOUND, IN COMA. MEANWHILE, ALERT RAISED FOR ANOTHER MISSING SEED IN BALAMB......
...... and more. Stay tuned for the latest updates.
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A/N: It was a coincidence. Really. I had written all this beforehand, so I am not creating an metaphor between this story and the real events of the war. I did not know there would be a war when I wrote this. I most certainly did not know that something known as the SARS virus would break out all over Asia and some other countries when I did this.... call it spooky, but hey, life's full of coincidences.
*What is this about a letter? Well... remember me saying that I wrote something for Zell's birthday? That's the one I'm talking about, but it isn't necessary to read it to understand this story, so ferget it if you don't want to.