AN: Expect random gore from here on in :)
Disclaimers: Only original characters are mine – evry1 else is Squaresofts :(
Warnings: Violence, gore, language, um – expect them all to crop up sporadically, tho not necessarily in the same (or even this) chapter, as with most authors, I am now bored of writing warnings and disclaimers, so unless a muse comes up with something I find especially amusing, these are the last you'll see. After all, fics are given ratings for a reason, and what one of us authors has the cash to be owning any of the ffviii crew?
Only one other thing, the writing style for this is quite different to the other chapters (so far). Bear with it, the style fits the mood and so on ;)
Book Two of the Sorcerer Arc Death's Angel Chapter Three Shades of Memory
]I had a child, I remember... A beautiful child, a daughter... Where's my daughter mommy?
I remember her so clearly... Her hair, so long and fine... Why did she cut her hair mommy?
Her eyes were the sweetest brown... The colour of chocolate... Why are her eyes golden mommy?[
Make the voices stop...
]I always wanted a child... Flesh and blood of my own... Where do babies come from daddy?
A daughter to make a woman... A son to make a man... Why can't I have both daddy?[
...stop...
]Did I have a not-child? A ghost? A phantom? I remember her...I remember her not... He loves me...she loves me not... Can I come home now grandmother? I don't want to play any more...[
STOP!!
Silence. Blissful, blessed, beautiful silence. The absence of sound, and insanity. But if two madmen call each other crazy, whom is to be believed? Besides, silence is such a long word for that which rarely lingers more than a few moments...
/Little lambs and birds and bees/
Why?
/Sunlight shine beneath the trees/
Why did you do this to me?
/Flowers and grass and dust and dirt/
What threat did I pose to you?
/Shelter me so I can't hurt/
Well your plan backfired. I escaped and you don't even suspect. And I will have my revenge on all of you. Especially you...
/See a fishy in the sea/
But first I need to make you real. Can't be killing your phantom can I... No fun in that at all...
]Phantoms? My child's a phantom. Here but not here... There but not there...[
/Any grave is home to me/
Too many voices... Voices of the dead... Those beyond the veil... I can hear them laughing, laughing...
/See a birdie in the sky/
]Birds flying... Did my daughter have wings? Is that why she's a phantom? No wings, and no knight to catch her as she fell...[
I'll stop their laughter. Stop it forever... The sorcerer... He holds the power, guards the dead against my revenge... So close when we attacked Trabia... He wanted to unleash it then... Wanted to attack whilst we looked in another direction...
/All my life I live to die/
]Die... Dead... Is my daughter dead?[
Why didn't he? Are we stronger? Does he fear us?
#We'll make him fear us. We'll kill his friends, his 'family'. We'll take our revenge and we'll show him just how powerless, how useless he really is. And in the end we'll take everything. Take his knight, his life, and his power... And then we'll show them all the true meaning of Hell on Earth...#
We should have left Trabia alone... Let him wait and wait for an attack that never came...
/It's raining, it's pouring.../
Should have gone with that plan... Quietly, quietly, building our strength...
]Not quiet... Never quiet... Can you hear them screaming for mercy? Can you hear them? Mommy? Daddy? Is that my daughter screaming?[
/The old man is snoring.../
Shouldn't have let them see our intentions... Not until they were powerless to stop us...
Kylari sits, curled around herself, perched high off the ground upon a tall ivory column. She is so still that she appears to be a statue, her wings and figure so artfully carved that they appear real. Her eyes though... Her eyes blaze golden-yellow like twin suns, casting a faint yellow light onto her pale cheeks.
Her gaze is fixed on a point that no mortal could see, a point in time as well as space. But her eyes do not glow red - she is not angry. She is terrified...
/He went to bed, and bumped his head.../
She sees them, the righteous mob, gathering around her like moths circling a candle. Just let them come close enough – she will show them how the flame burns... Or she would. Because this mob is prepared. This mob is an Estharian militia, and they are led by one of Adel's pet sorceresses...and she has a knight. Kylari knows she is no match for the other, at least, not if it falls to sheer strength...
They tormented me, relentlessly. I did nothing to them, and yet they taunted and teased, beat and abused me. They used me to bait a trap for the one person who cared, and then they killed her. Beat her to death as I watched, powerless... And they have the nerve to question why I killed them... They have the nerve to call me evil, insane...
/And couldn't get up in the morning.../
Of course I was insane! I was insane with the need for revenge. Hyne gifted me with her powers, not their stupid wench – why else, unless for me to take my revenge? And I will. Our kind have laboured to be accepted for too long. We will never be accepted unless we make ourselves slaves, and I will not be a slave again!
#Traitors will pay... I will kill their knights... I will see the blood mixed with tears, and I will have my revenge...#
She sees them again, years later, and her blood howls with rage, the voices in her head screaming words of hate over and over... And she does nothing... Not yet. For they have nothing to lose except their lives, and she is powerless to take those with anything approaching the lingering deaths she intends. Yet...
I waited... I was patient... Too patient...
/I didn't go and play with the fairies mommy. Have I been a good girl?/
]Yes, a good girl...[
For now they have turned to dust, as all mortal things that live and die are wont to do with the passing of ages. They are all dust, except for two... The one who is not mortal, and who, like her, feels time pass, but passes time at her own pace...and her knight.
Of those who are dust, however, only their ever-grinning skulls remain. Mocking her with their silent smirks. Taunting the fact that, though her reach be long, she cannot cross the great divide between life and death. She cannot reach their 'dear departed' souls. They are beyond her vengeance, for now, and so they terrify her with their words. For the dead see the truth, the truth of the past, the truth of the present, and the truth of the future. And without any way to exert her control, she cannot know if their words are truth or lies. She cannot know if her plans are truly doomed to fail, or if she will extract even a small measure of the vengeance she desires. She cannot know...
AN: Hmm... considering I've actually got a plot for this fic - shock! horror! a plot! :O – this wasn't quite how I planned for this chapter to go frowns I've gotta do something about training my muses to do what I want sighs oh well, no one's complained yet – hint, hint – RxR :)
And the above AN remains true – truer if that's even possible o.O This just kinda went...weird – no, wyrd
Anyway, if you haven't already guessed, Kylari's got some serious mental issues going on :) Fruit loop central... I'm not going to say too much about each personality, as it will give bits of the plot away, but suffice to say that the personality in the angle brackets is the dominant (read sanest and most commonly seen) of the bunch.
And now, with added background! Hallelujah! I actually know Kylari's full background! dances
REVIEWS FROM VERSION 1
Reviewer: Magical Mage
Date: 07/11/2002
For Chapter: 3
Review: This is catsMarch5, I just decided to change my name.
Anyways, interesting chapter with Kylari along with the foreshadowing asnd so forth. I'm a bit confused on why Kylari couldn't stand the grinning skulls but I guess I'll find out in later chapters.
Author's Response: having looked up the meaning of foreshadowing (I just do stuff, then I learn it has a technical name!) I then actually realised where I'd gone wrong with what I'd intended for the chapter. Hence the fact that almost nothing survived the rewrite Now (hopefully) the chapter is interesting and extremely confusing, but Kylari's motives are a bit clearer - along with the grinning skulls phobia for anyone who read/remembers the previous version.