Yay! Reviews roxor! I was holding this chapter hostage until I got a review from Magenta Fox and also my friend Sarah (she reviewed as Ember5000). I wanted to see their reactions, as they are close friends. Oh, and a sticker for you, Hidama!
This chapter is somewhat short. Less dialogue which makes me happy and it goes more into Bevelle's background and consequently, Baralai's. Especially the last sentence in this chapter. It really gives you some info on Baralai. ::smiles:: It also gives a sense of when the characters are, I guess. No hot pants for me!
Disclaimer of DOOM: I don't own it. Square Enix simply roxors my boxors
Chapter Two: Zanarkand
"Lady Yuna, please…"
"Lulu, I appreciate your concern, but I promised him I'd see him today."
"But there are ferocious fiends in the air! Praetor Baralai already is missing! If the same were to happen to you…"
Yuna, a beautiful woman of seventeen years, smiled warmly to her friend and advisor.
"I want to see him, Lulu."
Lulu sighed.
"I never want to see Wakka this bad."
"You see Wakka everyday."
"True…"
She shook her head, her long black braids swaying softly. Yuna fluttered her wings slightly as she turned away.
"If Lord Seymour asks where I am, please do not tell him I have gone to Zanarkand. Tell him I am sleeping up in my chambers and wish to not be disturbed. And if Praetor Baralai should return, send off a flare into the sky. If anything… dangerous is happening, send off two flares up into the sky. I shall return at once."
She raised her arms as she spoke about the praetor and moved her right leg back, bending slightly. She let her arms fall in a circular motion and she brought her hands together, along with her feet. Her hands were separate, one over the other, palms five inches or so apart. She bowed forward, keeping her hands still. Lulu did the same.
It was a bow of respect to those high in Bevelle. Bevelle was centered around a religion and those who belonged to Bevelle, and ultimately, this religion, were called Yevonites. Yevon was the god who supported and ruled all those who believed in him. However, he looked down upon those not from Bevelle, therefore as did his people.
It may not have been right, but it was just the way things were.
"I shall do as you have asked," Lulu said. Yuna flapped her wings, her long purple pleated skirt shaking slightly in the soft breeze caused by her wings. She kicked off, soaring through the air, her shoulder length brunette hair whipping in the harsh winds above Bevelle.
Those from Bevelle had a respiratory system that could withstand the thin oxygen that high in the sky. No groundling could survive so high up for very long. Inside the buildings in Bevelle the air was treated so that anyone, even groundlings, could survive. Not that any groundlings were permitted to go up into Bevelle in the first place, let alone its buildings.
Yuna was a mix. Her mother was a groundling--an Al Bhed groundling, which was even worse according to Bevelle's social standards--and her father was Braska, a highly respected maester of Yevon. Maesters were different from praetors. There was one maester for each of Spira's races--except the Al Bhed--that formed a council of his or her own people and they made decisions that changed how the world was run. Praetors run the entirety of Bevelle and stay out of religion completely, but are usually very religious anyway. Braska was remembered for forming a union between willing people from Bevelle and the Al Bhed.
However, the union ended bitterly after Braska's untimely death. Riots erupted all over Spira and many groundlings and Al Bhed lost their lives. However, once a new maester was defined and the Al Bhed banished to the Bikanel Desert in lower Spira, the riots and violence died out. A handful of fights have erupted over the past eleven years the banishment has been in effect, but much less than that fateful time. The Al Bhed have mixed feelings about Maester Braska ((my goodness that looks odd, but who cares, this is an AU)) yet the Yevonites could either hate him or love him for his deeds, but they could not forget him.
Yuna, like her father, wanted to break the barrier between lower Spira and Bevelle. However, simply having a famous father did not put changes as drastic as that into effect. She was very good friends with the current praetor who had mixed views upon the conflict. He left it for the people of Bevelle to decide how they were going to act. He and Yuna both smiled upon groundlings--or as they put it, "Lower Spirans." Both felt that there was no purpose to hate and discriminate.
Yuna was in love with a man from the most advanced cities in lower Spira, Zanarkand. The city was as bright as Bevelle at night and seemed to always be cheerful. Yuna's lover was a star player of the most popular sport in lower Spira, Blitzball. The players swam under the water and scored goals, made passes, and protected their own precious goals in two halves. People all over the world, save for those in Bevelle, would gather at one of the only two stadiums in Spira, one in the city of Luca, one in Zanarkand. Yevonites looked down upon the sport. Whether or not it had to do with the fact that those with wings could not swim, no one would ever know.
A tan young man was leaning against a dome-shaped house lazily, his hands shoved into his pockets and one leg bent at the knee, foot resting on the house. He was waiting for someone. He found himself looking up into the sky often as he waited calmly. It wasn't that she was late. He was simply impatient.
A feather drifting toward his face told him that she had arrived. He looked up and saw what looked to him like an angel descending upon him. Her wings ceased flapping as she landed softly, her black boots meeting with the pavement. She had white fabric crossed over her front, covering anything that needed to be covered, and ran up the back of her neck as a halter. Under it was a thick black undergarment. A golden obi surrounded her waist and was tied with a large bow. There were beautiful vine patterns embroidered into the obi, centering with a light blue circle that offset the green vines. Off to the left side of this blue circle was a fake hibiscus flower tied delicately around the obi with light pink rope. Beads and jewels hung from the hibiscus flower's opening in its center on two long strands, each ending with a blue tassel.
As for her skirt, it was tucked under her obi and hung down to her ankles. It was purple and pleated with white vies stretching along the left side and close to the bottom, ending in a pattern of light pink flowers. Her legs were only visible thanks to a slit running up the left side of the skirt, ending before it crawled too high up her thighs. She bobbed her head to her lover, the beaded earring she wore on her right ear moving in her actions.
"Sorry I'm late. Lulu didn't want me to leave," she explained. Her lover, Tidus, forgave her with a kiss to the forehead.
"Why? Anything wrong?"
"Praetor Baralai went missing early this afternoon. I'm worried."
"I would be too. You think a fiend got him?"
"I don't think so," answered Yuna, folding her wings. The average wingspan of those from Bevelle was four to five feet. Yuna's were closer to four feet long and she had always looked up to those with longer wings, Praetor Baralai having the longest and most elegant wings she had seen.
"What, he flew away?" asked Tidus, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. Yuna shook her head.
"I'm not sure. It's not like him to just take off and it's very unlikely he was defeated by a fiend. Have you seen the weapon he uses?"
"No, what is it?"
"It's a long rod with two sharp bladed rings on either side. He's incredible with it, and it even lengthens at his will. I've never seen anyone who's better with it."
"Swords are better."
"Yes, yes, you and Shuyin seem to think so."
Everyone in Spira knew about Yuna and her lineage. Everyone in Zanarkand knew about Tidus and his knack for Blitzball. He was the star player of one of the two Zanarkand teams, the Zanarkand Abes. Both were quite famous in each of their different worlds, yet neither of them took it to their heads. Yuna wouldn't care to and Tidus knew better. His father, who had gone missing a year after the Al Bhed Banishment, loved being famous for his Blitzball talents and used it against others, especially his son. Based on this, Tidus could care less about fame and simply played to play.
However, being in a "famous" society had its advantages. For example, famous friends, like Lenne, who was a beautiful singer in Zanarkand, and Shuyin, Lenne's eccentric, wild lover. Shuyin had links to the Zanarkand militia and didn't like any place other than Zanarkand. He especially hated Bevelle. He wasn't mean to Yuna, however, because to him, she looked like Lenne. That and that fact that Lenne and Yuna were very good friends. Lenne was a calm woman who cherished Shuyin dearly. She befriended all those of who she met. Although she was very different from her lover, nothing could keep them apart for long.
"Well, aside from all that," Tidus began, "what do you want to do today?"
"You mentioned a walk," Yuna answered. Tidus smiled and grasped her hand.
"That's right. I was training for a Blitzball game and I found this area. You gotta see it!"
Yuna giggled.
"Okay!"
They walked hand and hand down a small hill that led them onto a main street of Zanarkand. There were lots of people walking down the street gaily; kids running and playing games, couples whispering sweet nothings into each others ears, others seemed as though they had a determined place to go but when they were spoken to, they spoke back. Zanarkand wasn't perfect, but sometimes it felt that way to Yuna, who was used to the happenings up in Bevelle. Bevelle had its secrets and its bloody history, but there was nothing that could have been done to erase the past.
It was when Tidus and Yuna got to the main square of Zanarkand when Yuna saw how imperfect things were.
"Lady Yuna!" yelled a reporter, seeing her and coming forward. Others followed and stuck sphere cameras in her face.
"Is it true that Praetor Baralai of Bevelle has gone missing?" asked one.
"Lady Yuna! Have you seen the coat?" asked another. Yuna blinked, staring at that reporter.
"What coat?"
The reporters stepped to the side, revealing a familiar green coat lying on the ground in a crumpled mess. Yuna gasped. There were slash marks and blood every where on the coat. There was dry blood sticking a feather or two to the coat near where the praetor's wings once spread. It looked has though he had been not in a fight, but an ambush.
"Oh Yevon…" Yuna whispered, staring horridly at the coat. She dropped to her knees, clutching her face with her hands. Tidus bent down and rubbed her arms.
"Yuna?"
"Lady Yuna! Upon seeing the coat, what do you think happened to the praetor?" the reporters continued. Yuna's eyes were wide, empty, and staring.
"Lady Yuna, what if the praetor was killed here in Zanarkand?"
"Lady Yuna! If the praetor was killed in Zanarkand, would a war erupt? Lady Yuna?"
"Lady Yuna!"
"Is it true that you were having an affair with the praetor, Lady Yuna?"
At the last question, Yuna regained herself, her eyes softening. She looked to Tidus.
"I have to go."
She stood and flapped her wings, climbing up into the sky and flying off back toward Bevelle. Tidus stood as well, glaring toward the press.
"You… bastards."
They ignored him, for once, and kept their busy cameras on other things, the bloody coat included. Tidus walked off, angry with everything. Their day together was ruined before it even began. How dare they ask her such questions? Especially that last one. Tidus wasn't worried about anything like that, however.
After all, Praetor Baralai wasn't interested in girls, only guys.
Praetor Baralai was gay.
Bwahahahahaha…. Baralai is just soooo Toxic. ::looks around:: Please review folks!! No next chapter until I'm satisfied! Wark! ::bows and runs away::
This chapter is somewhat short. Less dialogue which makes me happy and it goes more into Bevelle's background and consequently, Baralai's. Especially the last sentence in this chapter. It really gives you some info on Baralai. ::smiles:: It also gives a sense of when the characters are, I guess. No hot pants for me!
Disclaimer of DOOM: I don't own it. Square Enix simply roxors my boxors
"Lady Yuna, please…"
"Lulu, I appreciate your concern, but I promised him I'd see him today."
"But there are ferocious fiends in the air! Praetor Baralai already is missing! If the same were to happen to you…"
Yuna, a beautiful woman of seventeen years, smiled warmly to her friend and advisor.
"I want to see him, Lulu."
Lulu sighed.
"I never want to see Wakka this bad."
"You see Wakka everyday."
"True…"
She shook her head, her long black braids swaying softly. Yuna fluttered her wings slightly as she turned away.
"If Lord Seymour asks where I am, please do not tell him I have gone to Zanarkand. Tell him I am sleeping up in my chambers and wish to not be disturbed. And if Praetor Baralai should return, send off a flare into the sky. If anything… dangerous is happening, send off two flares up into the sky. I shall return at once."
She raised her arms as she spoke about the praetor and moved her right leg back, bending slightly. She let her arms fall in a circular motion and she brought her hands together, along with her feet. Her hands were separate, one over the other, palms five inches or so apart. She bowed forward, keeping her hands still. Lulu did the same.
It was a bow of respect to those high in Bevelle. Bevelle was centered around a religion and those who belonged to Bevelle, and ultimately, this religion, were called Yevonites. Yevon was the god who supported and ruled all those who believed in him. However, he looked down upon those not from Bevelle, therefore as did his people.
It may not have been right, but it was just the way things were.
"I shall do as you have asked," Lulu said. Yuna flapped her wings, her long purple pleated skirt shaking slightly in the soft breeze caused by her wings. She kicked off, soaring through the air, her shoulder length brunette hair whipping in the harsh winds above Bevelle.
Those from Bevelle had a respiratory system that could withstand the thin oxygen that high in the sky. No groundling could survive so high up for very long. Inside the buildings in Bevelle the air was treated so that anyone, even groundlings, could survive. Not that any groundlings were permitted to go up into Bevelle in the first place, let alone its buildings.
Yuna was a mix. Her mother was a groundling--an Al Bhed groundling, which was even worse according to Bevelle's social standards--and her father was Braska, a highly respected maester of Yevon. Maesters were different from praetors. There was one maester for each of Spira's races--except the Al Bhed--that formed a council of his or her own people and they made decisions that changed how the world was run. Praetors run the entirety of Bevelle and stay out of religion completely, but are usually very religious anyway. Braska was remembered for forming a union between willing people from Bevelle and the Al Bhed.
However, the union ended bitterly after Braska's untimely death. Riots erupted all over Spira and many groundlings and Al Bhed lost their lives. However, once a new maester was defined and the Al Bhed banished to the Bikanel Desert in lower Spira, the riots and violence died out. A handful of fights have erupted over the past eleven years the banishment has been in effect, but much less than that fateful time. The Al Bhed have mixed feelings about Maester Braska ((my goodness that looks odd, but who cares, this is an AU)) yet the Yevonites could either hate him or love him for his deeds, but they could not forget him.
Yuna, like her father, wanted to break the barrier between lower Spira and Bevelle. However, simply having a famous father did not put changes as drastic as that into effect. She was very good friends with the current praetor who had mixed views upon the conflict. He left it for the people of Bevelle to decide how they were going to act. He and Yuna both smiled upon groundlings--or as they put it, "Lower Spirans." Both felt that there was no purpose to hate and discriminate.
Yuna was in love with a man from the most advanced cities in lower Spira, Zanarkand. The city was as bright as Bevelle at night and seemed to always be cheerful. Yuna's lover was a star player of the most popular sport in lower Spira, Blitzball. The players swam under the water and scored goals, made passes, and protected their own precious goals in two halves. People all over the world, save for those in Bevelle, would gather at one of the only two stadiums in Spira, one in the city of Luca, one in Zanarkand. Yevonites looked down upon the sport. Whether or not it had to do with the fact that those with wings could not swim, no one would ever know.
A tan young man was leaning against a dome-shaped house lazily, his hands shoved into his pockets and one leg bent at the knee, foot resting on the house. He was waiting for someone. He found himself looking up into the sky often as he waited calmly. It wasn't that she was late. He was simply impatient.
A feather drifting toward his face told him that she had arrived. He looked up and saw what looked to him like an angel descending upon him. Her wings ceased flapping as she landed softly, her black boots meeting with the pavement. She had white fabric crossed over her front, covering anything that needed to be covered, and ran up the back of her neck as a halter. Under it was a thick black undergarment. A golden obi surrounded her waist and was tied with a large bow. There were beautiful vine patterns embroidered into the obi, centering with a light blue circle that offset the green vines. Off to the left side of this blue circle was a fake hibiscus flower tied delicately around the obi with light pink rope. Beads and jewels hung from the hibiscus flower's opening in its center on two long strands, each ending with a blue tassel.
As for her skirt, it was tucked under her obi and hung down to her ankles. It was purple and pleated with white vies stretching along the left side and close to the bottom, ending in a pattern of light pink flowers. Her legs were only visible thanks to a slit running up the left side of the skirt, ending before it crawled too high up her thighs. She bobbed her head to her lover, the beaded earring she wore on her right ear moving in her actions.
"Sorry I'm late. Lulu didn't want me to leave," she explained. Her lover, Tidus, forgave her with a kiss to the forehead.
"Why? Anything wrong?"
"Praetor Baralai went missing early this afternoon. I'm worried."
"I would be too. You think a fiend got him?"
"I don't think so," answered Yuna, folding her wings. The average wingspan of those from Bevelle was four to five feet. Yuna's were closer to four feet long and she had always looked up to those with longer wings, Praetor Baralai having the longest and most elegant wings she had seen.
"What, he flew away?" asked Tidus, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. Yuna shook her head.
"I'm not sure. It's not like him to just take off and it's very unlikely he was defeated by a fiend. Have you seen the weapon he uses?"
"No, what is it?"
"It's a long rod with two sharp bladed rings on either side. He's incredible with it, and it even lengthens at his will. I've never seen anyone who's better with it."
"Swords are better."
"Yes, yes, you and Shuyin seem to think so."
Everyone in Spira knew about Yuna and her lineage. Everyone in Zanarkand knew about Tidus and his knack for Blitzball. He was the star player of one of the two Zanarkand teams, the Zanarkand Abes. Both were quite famous in each of their different worlds, yet neither of them took it to their heads. Yuna wouldn't care to and Tidus knew better. His father, who had gone missing a year after the Al Bhed Banishment, loved being famous for his Blitzball talents and used it against others, especially his son. Based on this, Tidus could care less about fame and simply played to play.
However, being in a "famous" society had its advantages. For example, famous friends, like Lenne, who was a beautiful singer in Zanarkand, and Shuyin, Lenne's eccentric, wild lover. Shuyin had links to the Zanarkand militia and didn't like any place other than Zanarkand. He especially hated Bevelle. He wasn't mean to Yuna, however, because to him, she looked like Lenne. That and that fact that Lenne and Yuna were very good friends. Lenne was a calm woman who cherished Shuyin dearly. She befriended all those of who she met. Although she was very different from her lover, nothing could keep them apart for long.
"Well, aside from all that," Tidus began, "what do you want to do today?"
"You mentioned a walk," Yuna answered. Tidus smiled and grasped her hand.
"That's right. I was training for a Blitzball game and I found this area. You gotta see it!"
Yuna giggled.
"Okay!"
They walked hand and hand down a small hill that led them onto a main street of Zanarkand. There were lots of people walking down the street gaily; kids running and playing games, couples whispering sweet nothings into each others ears, others seemed as though they had a determined place to go but when they were spoken to, they spoke back. Zanarkand wasn't perfect, but sometimes it felt that way to Yuna, who was used to the happenings up in Bevelle. Bevelle had its secrets and its bloody history, but there was nothing that could have been done to erase the past.
It was when Tidus and Yuna got to the main square of Zanarkand when Yuna saw how imperfect things were.
"Lady Yuna!" yelled a reporter, seeing her and coming forward. Others followed and stuck sphere cameras in her face.
"Is it true that Praetor Baralai of Bevelle has gone missing?" asked one.
"Lady Yuna! Have you seen the coat?" asked another. Yuna blinked, staring at that reporter.
"What coat?"
The reporters stepped to the side, revealing a familiar green coat lying on the ground in a crumpled mess. Yuna gasped. There were slash marks and blood every where on the coat. There was dry blood sticking a feather or two to the coat near where the praetor's wings once spread. It looked has though he had been not in a fight, but an ambush.
"Oh Yevon…" Yuna whispered, staring horridly at the coat. She dropped to her knees, clutching her face with her hands. Tidus bent down and rubbed her arms.
"Yuna?"
"Lady Yuna! Upon seeing the coat, what do you think happened to the praetor?" the reporters continued. Yuna's eyes were wide, empty, and staring.
"Lady Yuna, what if the praetor was killed here in Zanarkand?"
"Lady Yuna! If the praetor was killed in Zanarkand, would a war erupt? Lady Yuna?"
"Lady Yuna!"
"Is it true that you were having an affair with the praetor, Lady Yuna?"
At the last question, Yuna regained herself, her eyes softening. She looked to Tidus.
"I have to go."
She stood and flapped her wings, climbing up into the sky and flying off back toward Bevelle. Tidus stood as well, glaring toward the press.
"You… bastards."
They ignored him, for once, and kept their busy cameras on other things, the bloody coat included. Tidus walked off, angry with everything. Their day together was ruined before it even began. How dare they ask her such questions? Especially that last one. Tidus wasn't worried about anything like that, however.
After all, Praetor Baralai wasn't interested in girls, only guys.
Praetor Baralai was gay.
Bwahahahahaha…. Baralai is just soooo Toxic. ::looks around:: Please review folks!! No next chapter until I'm satisfied! Wark! ::bows and runs away::