Long Live the King
A/N: It's summer time! Finally!! I've been longing for this time of the year for such a long time. I took a break from this fic to write a quick one-shot for Yuffentine, called 'The Hands of Fear'. After this fic is over, I'll be starting on another Yuffentine that will be much longer. I have part of a middle chapter already written out. X.x; Anyhow. I'll try to finish this one up soon now!
Chapter 8: Into Your Unknown Land II
After Doomtrain had left, Quistis hadn't stopped wandering. Her steps faltered and she stumbled forward, palms pressing into the blue rocks beneath her to save the rest of her figure. "This is silly. I'm in the middle of nowhere in a land of ice..." she muttered quietly to herself. "I hope the others are fairing better than I am."
Slowly she stood back up, blue eyes gazing across the structures of ice that jutted upwards from the ground in an angry manner. "Hello?" This must have been the hundredth time she had called out in hopes that someone, hopefully someone she knew, would answer. She was met with nothing more than a cold breath of air from only God knows where.
Quistis shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, fingers curling in on opposing shoulders. This would have to be one of the worst days in her life. But then again, for all she knew, time could have either stopped or sped up in the world she came from. It wouldn't be a day anymore. Either a minute or a year.
"What are you doing here?" came an icy voice. It echoed all around her and the instructor quickly turned, expecting a dangerous form to be behind her. Nothing was there.
"Relax, instructor. My world and I will bring no harm to you..." It sounded almost sad. Quistis turned again then looked up to see the blue Queen of Ice descending. "I will ask again. What are you doing here in my land of Ice? You do not belong here," she continued, lips frozen in blue never moving, yet the gentle voice still reaching Quistis' ears.
"My friends and I... We have come to remedy a problem we are having with your kind."
The goddess gave an understanding nod as her bare feet touched the ice. She stood silently for a few seconds, as if in thought, then looked up at the instructor. "You are talking about our King, are you not?" Quistis nodded and held a hand out towards her, invitingly.
"Please, explain to me what is happening. This strange behavior is bringing pain and suffering to our world, as well."
Shiva nodded and, with a wave of the hand, the two were taken to a much darker realm. The sky was blanketed with oil and the ice that covered the ground began to crack. "If you have the patience, you will understand."
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Irvine came running, that was until he was facing the scales of a red dragon. He stared silently, chest rising and falling in deep breaths. "Selphie?" He whispered quietly, hoping she'd hear him over the breaths and rumbling from deeper within. Obviously, his whisper faded into the shadows of the cave.
Selphie began to whimper as she crouched down, Strange Vision held so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white. Bahamut did what was a supposed grin and flapped its leather wings, the gust kicking up dust that had Selphie coughing loudly.
Tiamat and its friends began their rumbling laughter again and began to shuffle around, giving enough space for Irvine to come squeezing out of, and straight up and over Selphie. He landed on the ground with a loud "Oof!" and scrambled to get back to his feet.
"Selphie? Are you alright?" He asked her frantically, pulling her to stand beside him. She merely whimpered and threw her arms around him, burying her head in his chest.
"We can't win this one!" she half-screamed, half-cried, her voice muffled by his coat. Irvine didn't hear her. His gaze was locked on the malicious Bahamut whom was busy gathering the other dragons into the back of the cave.
"They won't be in our way," he snarled at the two before lashing out. Irvine had no time to think. Immediately, Selphie was thrown off to the side and Irvine went flying into the cave wall.
"Irvine!" Selphie cried out in her fear and scrambled to her feet, Strange Vision left unloved on the ground. She ran to his side, but barely got within a yard of him before the leather wings slammed into her, sending her back to her lonely weapon.
Bahamut hovered over her menacingly and beat its wings harder, the winds forcing a tunnel that was aimed to the ceiling of the dark cave. "I am kind to you, child. I could draw your death out wonderfully, but I will make it quick for—"
A shot rang out and Bahamut plummeted to the ground, falling dangerously close to Selphie's smaller figure. She stared in horror as the Guardian Force struggled to back into the air. A large smoking hole was in its right wing, and this angered Bahamut greatly. The long neck twisted and the dark eyes glared at the cowboy behind him, cocking the shotgun once again and replacing the empty shells with Pulse Ammo.
"I swear, if you hurt her... I won't hesitate to shoot you between the eyes," came the uncharacteristic threat from the man. Selphie took this as a cue and quickly lifted herself up along with the Strange Vision.
"Bahamut... You shouldn't underestimate those that are only smaller than you." She smiled sweetly up at the beast as it glared at her out of the corner of its eye. A roar sounded throughout the cave and all that could be heard were continuous gun shots and a chain being swung relentlessly.
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Quistis looked out over the dark land and tilted her head to the side slightly. "Shiva, what is this place?"
The blue goddess glanced to the instructor, then back to the dying land. "This is Odin's final resting place... Or what it was supposed to be. His untimely demise gave this place no use any longer, so it died with him."
The Guardian Force slowly turned and left, the inky blackness falling over the two once again. "Quistis, as I said before, you do not belong here. Only one of you should be here," she explained slowly. Quistis gave her a look of confusion and Shiva found this to be a pleading of her to explain her own explanation.
"As you know, our King is gone. Destroyed by the one you call Seifer Almasy. This became both a joy and sadness to the Guardians. Odin had become our rules. The very ones we had to follow. Despite the fact that he was a rogue Guardian, he wished for us to follow what our junctioned masters wanted, and we did. Not because we wanted to, but because we were given that emotion. When Odin faded, so did that emotion. The ruling Guardian is the one that will give us the emotions that they feel we need.
The joy of his death was within the Guardians darker in mind. Bahamut, the king of Dragons, wished to be king of all. As to why he will be of a problem to you. Quezecotl, once a companion for me, became angry and, as your kind says, full of himself." Quistis listened in silence as the icy words flowed through her.
"Diablos wants a world of darkness. His joy in the death of our King is possibly the worst. Then there is the sadness. Siren and I were accepting of the rules and Carbuncle gave no cares to it. Eden and Doomtrain have no thoughts, so they do not comprehend the battle that is raging in this realm. As to why our trustworthy Doomtrain could transport you to our home.
I shall not trail. The spot to the new Unknown King is open and it must be filled before our world is diminished and havoc spreads. If we do not survive, your world will have no chance. The Guardians are fighting for that spot in power," Shiva continued, stopping to sit herself elegantly on a stone of ice. Quistis hadn't even noticed that they returned to her realm.
The instructor let it all sink in as the goddess spoke, only interrupting once with a question. "How is the new King chosen?"
Shiva seemed to pause in thought. The silence droned on and Quistis thought that maybe the Ice Goddess had forgotten the question.
"There is only one who can choose the King. I do not know who this is, though. I am sorry." She said slowly without actually saying anything.
Soon, the ground began to rumble and the ice across it started to crack. Shiva quickly hovered above the cracks and glanced around. "Your friends are in danger. You wish for them to live, yes?" she questioned to the instructor.
Quistis nodded quickly in the quakes. "Where are they?"
Shiva began to move forward, the ice melting into darkness once again. Quistis was hesitant to follow. She could have sworn that she heard the deep throated snarls of the dragons she fought with back in her world, and if she remembered the battles correctly, she didn't want to be faced with them again.
"If you wish to see them alive, you must follow! Quickly!"
Without a second thought, Quistis followed the goddess into the ugly darkness and to what she would recall as a living nightmare when she became old enough to tell her grandchildren.
A/N: Oooohh... Short chapter, yes. But I didn't want to add too much. I have the two sentenced summary of each chapter written out in a notebook, and this was as far as it got. :O Don't worry, things will get much better. And... Isn't it obvious that I'm avoiding the battle scenes? :3 I don't wanna make the fic horrible just because I need to write about... ::reads notebook:: four more battles... Damn. ::cries::
Review, Review! :D You know you want to.