Eheh. Um, yeah, I'm a lazy butt and I never get around to writing. Sue me.
Oh wait no...please don't sue me .__.;;
*stares at review* Whoah...I live in Lafayette too...holy crap, email / IM me, whoever you are. o___o;;
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A day passed before they were brought before Madi again. The room the couple was hustled into was apparently the operations room; monitors flashing various images lined the walls, casting a flickering ghastly glow over the pallor of the room's occupants. Directly in the center of this digital paradise, occupying a painfully upright chair, sat the prince.
He looked as though he'd forgotten the previous night's events, or was at least pretending they hadn't happened. As his guard ushered Liam and Ayame in, he rose, giving them a mocking half-bow and grin. "Welcome back, my honored guests. I do hope you slept well?" Liam gritted his teeth, Ayame's hand on his shoulder the only thing preventing him from leaping forward and strangling their captor.
Madi returned his attention to the faintly humming screens before him. Ayame felt herself unable to tear her eyes away from him, her eyes roaming over his profile; the broad, strongly arched nose, the long eyelashes framing icy gray-blue eyes, the full lips that moved slightly as he calculated the next move his army would make. To think that he, a prince of such power and fascination, loved her...it was making her head hurt. Finally she turned her gaze aside, to look at the monitors that so fascinated him.
Far beyond this underground hideaway, the battle raged. Already the battlefield was littered with human corpses and batter machinery alike; the army of flesh and blood fought stolidly on against the unrelenting attacks from the mechanical troops of the palace. The great palace gates had been torn down, and half the palace was in flames; mechanized archers rained barbed arrows down from the upper stories, while battalions armed with flamethrowers and backed by mages stormed the ground level and raided the catacombs. Behind the army, a sizeable group of Bangaa prepared what appeared to be an enormous catapult, loading it with what appeared to be a huge mass of...jelly. [Author's Note: I cannot write battle scenes. At all. e__e;]
"That is the most ingenious invention of this century." At the words she turned to face Madi, who had been watching her. "To the sight it looks like jelly. But upon rapid contact with a surface, it explodes and burns at a very high temperature. It's never been tested, but if it works properly, all the metal of those damned contraptions will be melted instantly—and if the king and queen are anywhere nearby, they'll be burned alive." His grim, cruel smile sent shivers running down her spine. He was truly a cruel, heartless creature.
Sudden words from a monitor on the side of the room made both of them turn. A woman and a man, neither of them dressed in soldier's garb, filled the screen. Ayame realized, with a shock of surprise, that these were Madi's parents—King Oshiru and Queen Zabitha. They were holed up in what appeared to be their bedchamber, though loud thumps and angry cries sounded from outside. Dressed in blue and gold silken finery, their fine appearance threw a sharp contrast to their terrified expressions.
"Madi," thundered Oshiru's voice, deep and furious. "Call off your pathetic army this instant. What reason have you to attack us like this?"
The prince leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers with a calm smile. "If you must know, dearest father, I plan to overthrow the monarchy and install a democracy in its place. And until I am rid of all the monarchs of this country, my goal cannot be achieved. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
Zabitha looked positively green. The king, however, turned red with anger. "What have your mother and I ever done to you to make you wish this upon us? And if you must be 'rid of all the monarchs,' then how do you explain the fact that you, too, are in the royal heritage line?"
At that point Madi lost his carefully sculpted self-control. Rising out of his chair so quickly that it fell over, a dark cloud of fury crossed his face. "If you hadn't spent your whole lives holed up in that damned palace, ignoring the rest of the world, you'd know what I mean. The people of Ivalice live in poverty—thousands of them are starving, and their clans end up having to attack others to steal food and gil from them. Every day in the streets there's talk of treason; they speak longingly of being able to murder the rulers they so despise. If you had put one foot outside your palace, you would know. But you don't. And I will see these people through, and they will rule their own country!"
For several long moments there was a shocked silence, as everybody stared at Madi, who stood quite still with chest heaving and eyes burning. Ayame wasn't sure who this man was anymore—he seemed to be different every time she looked at him. He wanted her love, kept them imprisoned without comfort or care, seemed to care nothing for other people—and then he turned around and astonished them by proclaiming that the whole point of his war was to help the people of Ivalice.
There was a sudden crash as the door to the monarchs' bedchamber was broken through. A great mob of wildly screaming fighters filled the room, seizing the king and queen and hauling them upright. "Madi," Zabitha screamed hoarsely. "Please, sto—" Her pleas were abruptly ended as her head fell to one side, scarlet blood pooling in her collarbone from the deep slit across her throat.
Ayame felt dizzily sick, but Madi seemed to feel no remorse as his fingers hit the keypad and wiped the screen blank. "And so it begins," he murmured, staring unseeingly into the floor. "A new era for Ivalice..."
And even as she was trying to digest all the information that had just entered her system, she realized suddenly that Liam was gone.
*stares at review* Whoah...I live in Lafayette too...holy crap, email / IM me, whoever you are. o___o;;
-
A day passed before they were brought before Madi again. The room the couple was hustled into was apparently the operations room; monitors flashing various images lined the walls, casting a flickering ghastly glow over the pallor of the room's occupants. Directly in the center of this digital paradise, occupying a painfully upright chair, sat the prince.
He looked as though he'd forgotten the previous night's events, or was at least pretending they hadn't happened. As his guard ushered Liam and Ayame in, he rose, giving them a mocking half-bow and grin. "Welcome back, my honored guests. I do hope you slept well?" Liam gritted his teeth, Ayame's hand on his shoulder the only thing preventing him from leaping forward and strangling their captor.
Madi returned his attention to the faintly humming screens before him. Ayame felt herself unable to tear her eyes away from him, her eyes roaming over his profile; the broad, strongly arched nose, the long eyelashes framing icy gray-blue eyes, the full lips that moved slightly as he calculated the next move his army would make. To think that he, a prince of such power and fascination, loved her...it was making her head hurt. Finally she turned her gaze aside, to look at the monitors that so fascinated him.
Far beyond this underground hideaway, the battle raged. Already the battlefield was littered with human corpses and batter machinery alike; the army of flesh and blood fought stolidly on against the unrelenting attacks from the mechanical troops of the palace. The great palace gates had been torn down, and half the palace was in flames; mechanized archers rained barbed arrows down from the upper stories, while battalions armed with flamethrowers and backed by mages stormed the ground level and raided the catacombs. Behind the army, a sizeable group of Bangaa prepared what appeared to be an enormous catapult, loading it with what appeared to be a huge mass of...jelly. [Author's Note: I cannot write battle scenes. At all. e__e;]
"That is the most ingenious invention of this century." At the words she turned to face Madi, who had been watching her. "To the sight it looks like jelly. But upon rapid contact with a surface, it explodes and burns at a very high temperature. It's never been tested, but if it works properly, all the metal of those damned contraptions will be melted instantly—and if the king and queen are anywhere nearby, they'll be burned alive." His grim, cruel smile sent shivers running down her spine. He was truly a cruel, heartless creature.
Sudden words from a monitor on the side of the room made both of them turn. A woman and a man, neither of them dressed in soldier's garb, filled the screen. Ayame realized, with a shock of surprise, that these were Madi's parents—King Oshiru and Queen Zabitha. They were holed up in what appeared to be their bedchamber, though loud thumps and angry cries sounded from outside. Dressed in blue and gold silken finery, their fine appearance threw a sharp contrast to their terrified expressions.
"Madi," thundered Oshiru's voice, deep and furious. "Call off your pathetic army this instant. What reason have you to attack us like this?"
The prince leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers with a calm smile. "If you must know, dearest father, I plan to overthrow the monarchy and install a democracy in its place. And until I am rid of all the monarchs of this country, my goal cannot be achieved. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
Zabitha looked positively green. The king, however, turned red with anger. "What have your mother and I ever done to you to make you wish this upon us? And if you must be 'rid of all the monarchs,' then how do you explain the fact that you, too, are in the royal heritage line?"
At that point Madi lost his carefully sculpted self-control. Rising out of his chair so quickly that it fell over, a dark cloud of fury crossed his face. "If you hadn't spent your whole lives holed up in that damned palace, ignoring the rest of the world, you'd know what I mean. The people of Ivalice live in poverty—thousands of them are starving, and their clans end up having to attack others to steal food and gil from them. Every day in the streets there's talk of treason; they speak longingly of being able to murder the rulers they so despise. If you had put one foot outside your palace, you would know. But you don't. And I will see these people through, and they will rule their own country!"
For several long moments there was a shocked silence, as everybody stared at Madi, who stood quite still with chest heaving and eyes burning. Ayame wasn't sure who this man was anymore—he seemed to be different every time she looked at him. He wanted her love, kept them imprisoned without comfort or care, seemed to care nothing for other people—and then he turned around and astonished them by proclaiming that the whole point of his war was to help the people of Ivalice.
There was a sudden crash as the door to the monarchs' bedchamber was broken through. A great mob of wildly screaming fighters filled the room, seizing the king and queen and hauling them upright. "Madi," Zabitha screamed hoarsely. "Please, sto—" Her pleas were abruptly ended as her head fell to one side, scarlet blood pooling in her collarbone from the deep slit across her throat.
Ayame felt dizzily sick, but Madi seemed to feel no remorse as his fingers hit the keypad and wiped the screen blank. "And so it begins," he murmured, staring unseeingly into the floor. "A new era for Ivalice..."
And even as she was trying to digest all the information that had just entered her system, she realized suddenly that Liam was gone.