Greetings to those two or three who are following this story. I have become aware of a possible problem. The rating here is PG-13 but this chapter (and possibly any following ) contains a certain amount of suggestive material which might in some way offend the more delicate -minded among your number. I do assure you that there is not a single word here sufficiently prurient to bring a blush to the cheek of your most modest maiden aunt, but still ... I don't want to level this up to an 'R' but I will if I am requested to do so. Have you a preference?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After
Chapter Three
With a feeling of resignation, Nooj offered his wrist to the Gatekeeper and permitted himself to be led through the glowing curtain into the place of assignations. Just as he was about to pass the spinning column's bounds, he remembered something. "Can you tell me why I didn't get the rest of my original body back when I died?"
The unseen guide seemed to shrug before answering, "No. That's not my field. You'll have to ask somebody in the department of transitions."
"Where can I find that somebody?"
"How should I know? That's not my field, either. Now just go through there and have your nice visit with your little friend."
It was LeBlanc again, this time looking considerably less pregnant. She sprang from her chair at his entrance and tried to embrace him, sobbing when her arms passed right through his body. "Oh love, it's been more than a week since you didn't come home and I've been coming here trying to reach you. Are you really dead? Why did you have to take that last mission?"
He stared at her incredulously, "A week? Last time it was six months. How much time has really passed? Have my sons been born?"
LeBlanc drew back abruptly and tried to slap him. It was a full arm swing with all her weight behind it and, naturally, passed right through his spectral face without his even feeling the wind of its passage. He instinctively flinched from the blow and reached to grasp her wrist. His move was as ineffectual as hers had been.
"What was all that about? Why are you angry/" He was genuinely puzzled.
"Your sons! All you can talk about or think about are your precious sons. You know they're not due for about ten months; I've told you over and over. Don't you listen or care about me? And what last time?" She fanned herself petulantly.
"Of course I care. How are you feeling?" He put aside the consideration of time's obvious disjoint until later – if later continued to mean anything. "Are things going well for you?"
She burst into a cascade of tears. "How do you think I am? How could things be going well for me when you run off on one of your selfish crusades and deliberately get killed and leave me alone with two children to raise? Oh, I wish I were dead."
The kaleidoscopic fluctuation in her emotional reactions was beginning to trouble him. Although admittedly unversed in the finer points of child-bearing, he could no but think that such storms might be detrimental to the health of both the woman and the embryos she carried. "Please, LeBlanc. Don't cry. I would hold you and comfort you if I could. Please don't do this to yourself. Of course I'm concerned about you. We had a good life together, short but good. How can you think I don't care? Please, stop crying. Remember what I told you – you won't have the rearing of my sons all to do yourself. As soon as they're born, the Elders will take them to the crèche and you will be relieved of the responsibility. It's only a little longer. Please, be strong for them and for me."
"So now you think I'll be comforted to be robbed of my babies, my only reminders of you? Why must you be so cruel? Does it give you some pleasure to torment me? Does that machina heart of yours have no warmth at all? And why are you still carrying around those machina limbs and the cane and the spectacles? I thought they fixed everything up on the FarPlane – made you young again and all that."
"You asked that the last time we met here and I told you I didn't know why things are as they are. Please, stop and try to remember – exactly how long have I been dead?"
"You died a week ago yesterday! That's when they came to tell me. And this is the first time you've answered my Call and I've been here every day since I heard. And why do you keep talking about last time? There isn't any last time – this is the first time we've met here!" Her voice had gradually risen to a scream.
"Shhh ... shhh ..." he soothed. "We don't get long for these meetings so let's not waste our time. I cherish you, my dear, and cherish the memories of our time together. Let's not spoil all we shared. I know you're angry with me and I can't really blame you. If I could hold you it would be easier for us both but I can't do that now that I'm in this place. Please be the great wonderful woman I always knew you to be and I'll be here waiting for you."
"Oh Nooj. I miss you so much and wish you were still with me. My only desire now is that you see your sons once they are born. Will you stay here until I can bring the boys to meet you and let them know their father?" There was a cunning glint in her eye.
Although he saw the trap this time, he felt he had no alternative other than to submit to her demand. He was more concerned with the health and survival of his progeny than with his own comfort – besides he had Paine so going from this plane into Nothingness was no longer the urgent priority it had once been. "Of course, I'll stay here until you no longer need me."
"I love you so...." she began to coo.
"Time, gentleman." He felt himself escorted back to the summit of the dark kingdom where Vegnagun had once reigned, the sound of LeBlanc's dramatic keening echoing in his ears.
"That bad, huh?" Paine said when she saw his face.
"You have no idea." He lowered himself clumsily to the edge of the lily-pad like tread of the staircase. "I'm grateful we don't feel physical pain on this plane or I'd have the mother of all migraines. Do you realize that time is in flux here? Nothing is pinned down and I have no idea what's going on. She says it's now six months earlier than the first time I answered her summons. Six months – she thinks this is the first time we've met here and keeps asking the same questions. How long has it been?" He looked up at her with troubled eyes. "My father seemed to have an idea of time; what's gone wrong with mine?"
Paine stood before him with her arms folded, "Maybe your father was a better person than you and believed what he was taught."
"You never knew my father if you think that and don't start all your religious talk again. I think this is just a completely haphazard place and maybe nobody or nothing is in charge of it at all."
She sat down beside him and pulled his head over to rest on her shoulder. "All upset and bewildered, big boy? Need some distraction?"
He grinned wolfishly, grateful for the change of subject, "You just want to get out of that too-small shirt. You don't fool me."
"I'm only trying to get your mind off Blondie and the sands of time." Paine's fingers were busy with the lacings across his chest. "While you were gone, I noticed that these stairs seem to be made of some sort of organic material and aren't all that uncomfortable to lie on. So just relax and let Doctor P make it all better."
When he was able to think coherently again, he murmured, "It's so strange to taste myself on your tongue."
"Do you like it?"
Nooj thought for a moment, "Let me check." He possessed her mouth again in a prolonged and deep kiss. "I ... find it exciting and stimulating."
"So I note; see, there are definite advantages to being where we are."
He made an undefinable noise, almost a growl, far back in his throat as he pulled her closer.
After a pleasant interlude, he traced the line of her jaw with an affectionate finger. "I don't know why I wasn't smart enough to keep you when I had you. We always did fit well together."
"Second thoughts? I'll tell you what happened. You were so hot to preserve that sacred blood-line of yours that you didn't pay attention to the important things like compatibility and respect."
"What about your adventures with 'people we both know'? How about compatibility there?" He propped himself up on his elbow and glared at her.
"That was after you moved in with Blondie and started your pater familias role. I was totally faithful to you as long as you didn't start tom-catting around. You've got a nerve expecting me to wait while you got all the complexes worked out of your system. I would have had your damned babies if you'd ever mentioned it." She leapt to her feet and snarled down at him furiously. "Now where are my clothes? Damn, damn, damn ..."
"What's wrong? Are they gone again? I'm innocent this time; I did not throw your clothes away again."
She leaped down two steps and gathered up some soft materials. "Looks like the laundry's been delivered. Here – you get a fresh cassock and I've got another one of those Lulu horrors. At least it's black." She tossed him a robe and began to writhe into the snugly fitting dress. "I'm getting pretty tired of this. I wonder if whoever's running this place gave the shorts and shirt back to your little slavey."
"At least he or she's consistent. My cane and spectacles are never touched and as long as we wear what we're given, there's no interference. And don't mourn that outfit you were wearing; it made you look like Rikku. You make a better Mage. Ready to go see what's up ahead?"
"Why not?" She linked her left arm with his right and caught his hand in hers, "Let's go."
"Would you have had my children?" He asked softly through the veil of hair that screened his right profile.
"Yes." She tightened her hold on his hand.
When they had negotiated the last few wide shallow steps, they were confronted with a sight that was as unexpected as it was daunting. Looming vaguely out of the darkening gloom were the towering remnants of the mighty weapon they had known as Vegnagun.
"I thought it was completely destroyed."
"Yes, I could have sworn I heard it explode as we rushed down these stairs." He nodded his agreement. "Look at it – it's all rusted and eaten away, like it 's been here for centuries instead of just a few years." He reached out with his left hand and easily broke off a sizable piece of what had been the bane of Spira.
"You could dismantle the city of Zanarkand with that hand. Let me try." She grasped a chunk of the weapon only to have it crumple in her fingers. "You're right! It is all corroded, at least the parts down here."
But he was already winding his way through the wreckage to a higher level. Far above them was a faint glow from an area they couldn't yet make out in the obscuring dimness. When Paine caught up with him, he was standing disgustedly before a solid bank of metal, apparently contemplating kicking it with his machina foot.
"Don't do it," she advised. "You'll just end up on your rear and I'll have to pull you back up."
"Then what do you suggest? This stuff isn't rusting; it looks like it's freshly forged." While he talked, he was turning his head looking for another approach. "Ah! This way." He indicated a course to the right, around a mal-formed bulkhead which led to another series of stairs – this time narrow and steep.
Paine planted her hands on her hips and regarded the path. "I don't think we'll be taking any refreshing breaks on this stair-case."
"You're losing your ability to concentrate on the task at hand," he grunted as he hauled himself up the first step.
"Do you object? I don't hear you objecting to my thoughts." she leapt agilely ahead of him. "You're so slow; I fear you've started to rust."
"And your solution is, of course, more activity?" He was now almost a dozen steps behind. "Slow down or I'll throttle you when I catch you."
"Oh, all right. Age must have its privileges."
"I'll show you who's aged. You're asking for it, wench." They looked at one another and laughed. She danced down the intervening treads and dropped a light kiss on his chest. Then, hand in hand, they climbed the remaining steps onto a wider path which tended ever upward.
"At least, no more stairs." Nooj exhaled in relief. "There's got to be an end to this sometime."
"Want to take a break?" She waggled her eyebrows lasciviously. "Or are you too old?"
"Shut up, Paine, and keep climbing. Death has certainly changed you – and for the better, I might add." Nooj suddenly stopped as he rounded a curve. She could see a stronger light reflecting off the lens of his spectacles and casting a greenish glow on his features. "Stay where you are; don't move."
"Why not? What do you see?"
"I'm not sure but it may be dangerous."
"So we're dead – what else can they do to us?" She tried to push pass him but he was immovable.
He did not answer but crept as surreptitiously as he could toward the source of the illumination while continuing to bar her way with his cane. The light upon him grew steadily stronger and began to reveal details of their surroundings as well. They were in the middle of a circular structure of what appeared to be hollow metallic pipes, stretching up until lost in the gloom of the lowering atmosphere. Towards the center of this field of monstrous reeds and high above the surface on which they stood was what looked to be the keyboard of a massive organ. And ensconced on the bench was the figure of a yellow-haired man, outlined in the flickering radiance of a thick swarm of pyre-flies, his hands pounding at the space in front of him. He seemed to be playing the giant instrument which they had immediately recognized as the controls of Vegnagun, but there was no sound. Not a whisper disturbed the heavy silence of the space.
Paine pushed her way under Nooj's arm and hissed, "What's this all about? I thought Yuna sent him."
Her companion nodded, "I think it's Shuyin, too. And where do souls go when they're sent?"
"The FarPlane."
"Right. So we vanquished him on the FarPlane, set him free and sent him – to the FarPlane. Arghhhh! I knew no intelligent force was managing this place. This is the realm of a race of insane fanatics who have found a way to shape eternity to their own ends and none of it makes the slightest sense to a reasonable mind. I'm leaving." He turned as though to start back down.
"Wait! You may be right but I don't think all this is happening by chance. After all, what are the odds that out of all the souls sent here, we should meet only those that have intersected with our own lives? There must be some order however manic. Let's at least talk to him. What else have we got to do?"
He looked at her with a wry smile and raised one brow. "Why not? He may have something interesting to say. Shall we yell at him to get his attention or do you want to clamber up there since I'm obviously unable to do so?"
"Neither." She put two fingers in her mouth and gave a piercing whistle. At his surprised jump, she muttered, "Something Yuna taught me to do. Is it working?"
"Don't know. ... Yes, I think it is."
The figure high above them had paused, hands poised over the ranks of keys, and sat as if frozen in the glare of the pyre-flies. Paine whistled again. Slowly the yellow-haired man turned and, shielding his eyes with a dark-gloved hand, peered into the surrounding dimness. Again, Paine whistled her shrill note.
"Who's there and what do you want from the wretched Shuyin?" The voice was surprisingly high pitched and querulous as though it emerged from a child rather than the man they had encountered during the battle at this site. Nooj and Paine exchanged curious glances.
"Shuyin! I am Nooj. We met before in this place. I am here with Paine, whom you also met. We would talk with you. Will you come down to us?"
"I guess so. You're two of those people who persecuted me, aren't you? You wouldn't leave me alone – always blaming me for everything bad that happened. So now you're dead, are you? Well, I'm glad. I want you to know that. I'm glad you're dead. I hope it hurt a lot when you died. You just wouldn't leave me alone." With that, the musician jumped down from his lofty perch and landed lightly at the base of the structure. "Always blaming me when all I wanted was to have a good death and what I was promised when I got here. Noooo - that couldn't be done, now could it? Where was Lenne? She was supposed to be waiting here for me. But she wasn't, was she? I was all alone so I went back for her and all you people just kept blaming me for everything bad that ever happened for the next thousand years. Do you have any idea how much that builds up? Do you have any idea how many make-rights and fixes I have to do? Noooo – you wouldn't care about that, would you? Of course not. Wait! I remember you!" Shuyin pointed a quivering forefinger at Nooj.
"I thought you might since we were intimately involved at one time."
"I beat you, didn't I? I took you over and lived in your body. And you didn't like it a bit. But that didn't matter. You couldn't throw me out. You were easy – nya-nya-na-nya-nya!"
Paine tugged Nooj's head down and murmured in his ear, "Can't you shut this thing up? He's worse than Brother."
"I'll try. ... Hey, Shuyin, where's Lenne now? She was sent along with you so you could be together."
The yellow haired man looked surprised that he should be asked a question. "Oh, yes, we came here together the second time and wandered around. She didn't have any mistakes to fix so she just followed me around and watched while I did what they made me do. After awhile, she got bored and went somewhere else. She didn't want to stay with me if we couldn't touch or anything. It wasn't my fault; everybody just keeps blaming me for anything that goes wrong. Even Lenne. I was just trying to save her life and because I couldn't she started blaming me and it all went wrong and I don't know how to fix it. I tried to use the Vegnagun after the people put it back together for me but it won't work. No matter how loud I play, nothing happens."
Paine stepped forward, her hand brushing his sleeve. "What do you mean that you and Lenne couldn't touch? You mean you couldn't do this?' She laid her hand against his cheek.
Shuyin struck her hand away with a hysterical scream. "Don't do that! We'll blow up and have to start over again and I can't stand it!" He dropped to the ground, rolling himself into a compact ball. "People can't touch until they finish their punishment. Now, I'll have to start over again. And I can't bear it." He covered his head with his arms, wrapping them close about his ears and closing his eyes as tightly as he could. "Go away! You're making it worse!"
Nooj shrugged and commented, "Looks like a thousand years as a collection of pyre-flies and another few years in this heaven has wiped out what intelligence he might ever have had. He's a burnt out case. A perfect example of what happens when you believe all this nonsense. Look at him – he was a man when we fought him and now he's just a child. A bratty child. Getting younger as we watch. I told you time was out of joint. Let's go."
"No!" Paine assumed her most stubborn posture, legs astride, arms folded across her chest. The effect was somewhat muted by the fact that the dress she wore was intended to project seduction, not decisiveness. "We have to turn it around – make him a man again. We're going to help him. Maybe if we tell him the truth, he can get Lenne back and they can be lovers together on this plane until he finishes his task. I bet he could do that if he had a little help from the woman he's worshipped for a millennium."
"And how do you propose we accomplish this compassionate miracle? She's gone on and Olefer told me you can't come back."
"How much has that father of yours been right about so far? I'm willing to try to salvage this poor fruit-cake if I can and then storm whatever gates we can find to get Lenne back together with him."
"So this is your project for the decade?"
"If necessary – yes."
Nooj sighed and propped himself against a convenient ledge. "Well, have at it."
"Aren't you going to help?"
"What do you want me to do?" He poked idly with his cane at Shuyin who kept drawing himself into an ever more fetal position.
"The first thing I want is for you to stop doing that." She slapped the cane away. "Now help me talk sense to him."
"Want to show him what he's been missing all this time? Come on, Paine, even if you could get him to listen, what makes you think Lenne would want him like this?"
"I'll worry about that when I have him convinced it's not the end of the world. ... You know what I mean," she said through clenched teeth ignoring his unconcealed amusement.
Sep 19, 2004 9