Hey! I Could Be A Messenger From Hyne, Ya Know!-
A Misadventurous Romance Story
Chapter Eight-Booyaka...What?
AN~Hello, all!*waves cheerily* I'm sitting here listening to 'Roses and Wine', Julia's theme from FF8! Of course, I wanna thank all my reviewers! Oh, another thing! 100th reviewer gets a fanart from me, of anything they want it to be drawn of, LoL! I'll send you an E-mail, and you can tell me what you want! Then(this might take a while, as in weeks) I'll get it scanned and send it to you! Hee! Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Faerlyte and Firestarter(who somehow is continuing reading this, even though they weren't sure if they like it yet, LoL)! W00T! Come on, we can do it! A hundred reviews, w00t!*cheers crazily* ~tiger~*is cheering*
I had a nice dream. Strange, but nice. I dreamed that I was married to somebody who's face I couldn't see. And Allanna was alive in this dream, standing off to the side with her arm in Seifer's, and he was grinning for once, instead of grimacing.
All the people from Balamb were there, too. Squall, Rinny, Quisty, Irvy, Zell, all of them. And Matron and Headmaster Cid, Doctor Kadowaki, and a whole bunch of other people I didn't know. It was my wedding day, at the old seaside house where Matron had her orphanage. Good ol' Elle was there, too, and she was smiling at me with all of her white SeeDs flanking her on every side.
But I couldn't see who I was marrying! Grr!!!! If I was going to spend the rest of my life with this guy, I should at least be able to see his face! So I headed up the aisle, holding my bouquet of white roses and smiling all around. Watts and Zone were sitting in some chairs near the front, and Mrs. Dincht wasn't too far from the back, with Rinoa's dad, General Caraway.
Unfortunately, 'Eyes on Me' was playing in the background, which I would have changed if I hadn't known that my future husband had liked it so much. Wait............no way! Sir Laguna liked 'Eyes on Me', because of Miss Julia! You mean that I was gonna marry Sir Laguna!!!!!! Oh, Hyne!!!!!!! My wish had finally came true!!!!!
But before I could get to him, Allanna started from the back towards me, a great smile on her face.
'Bella! Wake up!'
'Hunh?'
'You must hurry!'But she was SMILING at me! Hyne, what was going on?!'Bella, wake up!'
**************************************************************************** ************
Kicking around my bedsheets, my eyes popped open just as I was about to see the man of my dreams. I tried to jump to my feet against my will, tangled myself even further, and tripped onto the floor. Even then, I was still struggling.
"Ouch!"Realizing the cause of my predicament, I changed my tune.'Owie, Allanna! Hey, I'm getting up, I'm getting up! Jeez, where's the fire?!'
Allanna allowed me to climb to my feet and survey myself in the mirror. No bumps or anything that I could see. Sheesh, how long was she going to inhabit my head, anyway?! This certainly was tricky business.
My hair was a mess, and my eyes were glazed over in this odd sort of fashion. One side of my face was red from where I'd been sleeping on it, and my clothes from last night were rumpled and disarrayed. Among them was Seifer's trenchcoat, which I'd forgotten to give back to him.
Supressing giggles, I wondered how mad he was when he woke up to find himself locked inside a car. Well, not LOCKED, seeing as how he could easily unlock it from the inside, but you know what I mean.
It was then that Allanna spoke in my head.
'Bella....................Hyperion is gone.'
'What?!'I shrieked at her, straightening up and for once not crossing my eyes. Ordinarily I would have been proud, but there were bigger matters at hand.'Whaddaya mean, 'gone'?!'
'Just what I mean,'she replied calmly, if not a little sadly.'The students cannot find him.'
'But how---?! I mean---! How do you know all this?!'
'I have no need for sleep, Bella. While you dozed, I listened in the corridors. I believe one of them has sent someone to---'
BANG. The door burst open, whereas several instructors and Vienna flowed in, looking rather harried.
"Instructor Tilmitt, the commander is---"
Vienna stopped; took in the coat I was wearing. Raised eyebrows formed amongst the other instructors. I felt myself turning rather red, but I managed to keep cool."I haven't seen him,"I said with as much dignity as I could muster."Not since last night, at least. We went for a drive to the train station to check on some of the students who were commuting from the city, then came back here. I went to bed, and I don't know where he is now."
I knew it looked suspicious from the very start. I was in his room(no one but us knew the real reason for that, I didn't think); I was wearing his coat. I was last seen with him. It was looking pretty bad. So, I tried to take charge before they knew what hit them."Why? I mean, if he's missing, we need to send out a search party right away, and---"
Hee, it worked! They wiped the dumbstruck looks of their faces and started rallying WITH me! Some offered to notify the headmaster that he was in charge, others set about informing other instructors and students, and the rest of them went about getting together some SeeDs for a search party. I just felt very, very, tired.
As the last one whisked away, Vienna was left staring at me. I could tell that she hadn't bought my façade for an instant."Instructor, where IS the commander, really? I mean, if you guys are---that is to say---oh, where IS he, for Hyne's sake?!"
It was the first time I'd ever heard Vienna snap at anyone in her life. Allanna began to rise in furious indignation, but I quelled her with a lot of effort."I told you, Vienna, I haven't seen him."I paused, then went on to tell her the whole truth. Why I was at Esthar, and why I had to be under all that supervision. What had transpired last night(minus the whole 'Seifer-being-king' thing). I forebore to mention Allanna's presence in my mind, too.
Vienna gaped; made a noise."You're---you're a SPY?"
I nodded slowly."I WAS one, at least. I think I've quit, basically. And if anyone back home doesn't know it, I mean to tell them."Well, that was decided. I'd have to send Squall a transmission tonight, or something."But honestly Vienna, I have no idea where Seifer is. And, I think, I'm just as worried as the rest of you. Come on, let's go and find him."
Dropping the coat of the kings of Palan'de'leiya on my bunk, I strode out the door.
Outside was chaos. Students and instructors were running left and right, bumping into each other without a single word of apology. I think I saw the Phoenix GF flash down a hallway before disappearing around a corner.
"HEY!!!!!!!"I shouted to everyone in the hallway; they all stopped and looked at me. Taking a breath, I went on."Come on! We're not getting ANYTHING accomplished here! You know that Headmaster Chanton has already sent out search parties and stuff! You people are all crazy, getting paranoid just because Seifer might've taken a vacation or something! Look, students---get back to class! Instructors, too! Let's try and keep this day as normal as possible, okay?!"
"Instructor T. kicks ass!" and "Class of '18 rocks!" were the only shouts that followed, as students and teachers began to trickle back to their classes. Deep down, I was worried about Seifer. He hadn't seemed to..........well, mentally SOUND the last time I had seen him. Come on! He rattled on about his past like a psychopath, then KISSED me! How crazy is that?!
Myself, Headmaster Chanton had canceled all my classes for the day to give me some time to look, so I headed for Garden's parking lot. Might as well make sure he wasn't just inside of the car and hadn't woken up yet.
The car we'd used last night was empty. I frowned; if he'd gone somewhere, I would have thought that he would have just taken that car, seeing as how he'd already be in it and everything.
I checked the red little Dolletian Mist for clues. I wondered if someone had already gone through and cleaned the cars out. Nope! Success! Crammed into the ignition of the Mist was a folded-up piece of paper that I knew hadn't been there last night. My name('Selphie Tilmitt', not 'messenger girl', hee) was scrawled on the front in hasty but actually quite neat cursive.
Frowning, I turned the envelope over. On the back, holding it shut, was a wax seal, like in the old days. The seal was something I recognized, a flaming sword on a field of white. Allanna mused in the back of my mind.
'I wonder what he used to make the insignia............?'she contemplated.'I know for a certain that not many things bear the flaming sword of Pyralin anymore. Unless..................'She trailed off, leaving me with nothing but a rogue train of thought in my mind. I wondered what she was up to as I broke the wax seal with my fingernails.
Selphie,
I know what you did to me, leaving me here in the car. Whatever, I don't care. Listen, you can't breathe a word of this to anyone. I'm going off for a few days. Where, I can't tell you. But I just figured I'd tell you that I'm alright, like.........I'm not dead or anything. Seeing as how I can't trust those idiots that I call staff to get anything done, I'm leaving you in charge. Not one of my best judgements, seeing as how you'll probably start flipping through all of Garden's confidential shit and rat us out to Balamb, but I don't have much of a choice. Also, I wanted to say sorry. For what I did last night. Look, shut up! I know you're probably laughing your ass off right now, but just shut up! Listen, it was late, and I was just messed up in general, okay?! You punched me; I deserved it. We're even now, got it? I'll be back in a few days, so don't worry(like you would, anyway).
-Seifer Almasy
I stared at his signature for a minute; large and ornate and loopy. A signature of kings, if there ever was one. Okay, so it was taking some time for me to get used to that thought. I wondered what other sort of stuff he had hidden in his head.
Still wearing that Quisty look on my face, I stuffed the letter in the back pockets of my sundress and walked back to my dorm(well, not really MY dorm, but the dorm I was inhabiting, anyway). I wondered what Allanna was doing; I could really use someone to talk to. But when I tried to send a thought out towards her, I didn't get anything. In a lot of ways, Allanna was just as mysterious as her son.
Two other pieces of paper inside of the envelope made me blink and yank them out. The first was some sort of official-looking document, I put it aside for the other paper that had Seifer's now-signature scrawl on it.
This'll make sure that everyone knows who's in charge, with no questions asked. Don't get used to it.
There was no signature this time, and I flipped open the other paper. Basically, it said that I had full control over Garden and was now the running commander until Seifer got back. I wondered, IF he got back?
Staring uneasily at his empty hammock, I decided to go see Headmaster Chanton and give him the letter, so I could at least do something productive with my time, instead of sitting and worrying.
Riding the elevator to the third floor, my thoughts were troubled. Where did Seifer go, so that he couldn't even tell me? Why was he going to be gone for so long, that I had to take control of the Garden?
"Headmaster Chanton?"I asked tentatively, stepping into his office. It was nothing at all like Headmaster Cid's office. He looked up from his desk, his expression brightening. He was a graying man in his early fifties, but still quite nice. I liked him.
"Ah, Miss Tilmitt! Have you any word from the commander?"I shook my head.
"I wouldn't exactly call it 'word',"I said carefully, showing him the letter. Instead of the suspicious questioning that I had predicted, his expression was that of instantaneous relief.
"Oh, thank Hyne,"he breathed deeply, sitting down in his chair with a thump."So many people have been up here already, asking me what to do."
"Headmaster, there isn't a whole lot we CAN do,"I pointed out, pausing in the act of turning towards the door."Let the search parties scour the whole of the Esthar continent, but we've got to worry about the students here. My advice is, tell the instructors and the students to keep on with things like they're normal, until we really have cause to worry."
He instantly seemed bolder at my advice."Bless you, Miss Tilmitt,"he sighed, sitting up straight and resolutely tackling the papers on his desk."We were all running at cross-purposes like chickens with our heads cut off. It's good to know that there's someone stable in charge."He paused for a moment."Don't worry about right now. Things are calming down a bit, and I'll send word out to you if we need you. Until then, dis---"He stopped in the act of saying 'dismissed', as though I was still an underling. I smiled.
"It's okay, you can still dismiss me,"I allowed, laughing."Just don't get too used to it."
I headed back to my dorm, sighing. I guess it was my dorm, after all. Pushing open the door, I stared around as though it was my first time seeing it before in my life. And I guess it was, in a sense. I'd never paid too much attention to it before.
Up in the center, suspended between the column that led to the MD level and the bridge, and between another column on the far side of the room was the hammock, large enough for probably two men. Strewn about atop it were two pillows and a blanket.
The whole room was pretty much a mess, but not that bad of one(Zell's room, by far, had to have been the worst I'd ever seen). Clothes were kicked around here and there, along with some notebooks and paper, but at least there wasn't any month-old food or porn magazines lying around. That I could see, anyway.
Smashed into the left corner was my bed, neatly made. Compared to the rest of the room, it looked very out-of-place. My duffel bag filled with the few changes of clothes I'd been able to carry, and my nunchaku, was sitting next to it.
Off in the upper-right corner was a dresser, and atop it were a dozen or so framed pictures, something I'd never noticed before. Seifer had just never struck me to be the type of person who had sentiments about anything, and if he did, he certainly had never shown them.
The pics were mainly recent stuff, I think. Hardly any of them had him in them, at least. There was the first hundred students who had enrolled in Garden standing in a large group like a class picture and smiling(I'd found captions underneath all the pictures, so I knew what they were of), along with a picture of the first fourteen instructor's he'd hired.
My fingers began tracing the outlines of the frames idly, pausing every now and then to pick one up and study it. I laughed at one clearly taken at Fisherman's Horizon, with Fujin kicking Raijin, Raijin holding up a big fish and trying to rub his injured leg, and Seifer standing off to the side and laughing at the both of them. Up ahead, Balamb Garden was soaring by in the sky.
However, as I reached the last two photos, my breath stopped. The first one was of the most beautiful lady I had ever seen in my entire life, with flowing wavy red hair and pale green eyes like peridots. She had an arm around a tall man with short-clipped blonde hair and pale blue eyes like ice. The man was handsome too, in his own respect, but he seemed to have an air of haughtiness that made me frown slightly. He was keeping a pretty wide berth of the pretty lady and her bulk, for she was clearly pregnant.
I turned the frame over for the caption and gasped.
'Cecilanius Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless, Allanna Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless, 751 FGA. Long live the Dollet Empire.'
I found myself staring for the first time at Seifer's parents.
I was shouting for Allanna and demanding an explanation before I could even think. And she was there, prickly as a cactus but willing to answer.
'Easy, Bella, there is no need to shout.'There was silence for a long time, before she spoke again.'Yes............that is what I was; I mean, this is a picture of me when I still was clothed in flesh. And next to me was my husband, Cecilanius.'
'Erm..........I don't really have a right to ask this, Allanna, but did you...............did you LOVE Cecilanius? I mean, you had a son, but that doesn't mean---'
'I loved him, Bella, and I loved him well,'Allanna replied simply.'But I did not love what he did.'
'Well, I guess that makes sense.'I frowned; wondered if Allanna could see.'You guys look............HAPPY, in this picture. At least you had that before you died.'I paused, then hurried on.'I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about you dying so casually---'
Allanna laughed.'Pay it no heed, Bella, for I accepted my fate long before I was sent to the Place Between the Worlds. So, you wish to know why I am here? What I hope to gain by inhabiting another's mind? And, how I got here?'
'You told me. I'm...........a canidate for sorceress embodiment who dreamed about Palan'de'leiya and gave you entry to my mind.'
'Yes, but that is not the whole story. I want to be near my son, to watch him. That much you do know. But inhabiting another's mind as such is forbidden action from the Place Between the Worlds. The Place Between the Worlds is merely where I wait for judgement.'A pause.'Bella, my judgement will be soon. Whether I face Hyne in her Palace of Stars or the Gatekeeper from the blackness of Nemeris, I do not want to have gone without knowing that my death will have been in vain. And now, because I have broken ancient code, the blackness of Nemeris is what awaits me, I am sure.'
'But what if you---'
'Bella, it is all but done.'Allanna's voice took on a bitter tone, and she shouted:'It is DONE, Bella, now leave me be!!!'
When I called out to her again, she didn't answer. I frowned down at the smiling couple on the glossy sheet of printed paper and considered hurling it against a wall, but I didn't think Seifer would like me smashing up his only picture of his parents.
So, I looked at the other one. It was a smiling Matron and Cid, with their hands on the shoulder of a much younger girl than they, holding a tiny baby in her arms. Matron's arms were hampered with the weight of another child, someone I took to be a boy. I flipped it over to read the caption.'Cid and Edea Kramer, 01 SGA. Faeye Lanker and baby, 01 SGA. Balamb.'
Faeye Lanker..........? Heeeeeeeyyyy! The girl who saved Allanna and Seifer! So that must mean that the boy Matron was holding was Seifer! WoW! The day was a constant barrage of surprises!
Vaguely, I replaced the photo and wondered where the Beast could have gone off to. I couldn't say that it wasn't like him to just pack up and leave; he'd been notorious around Balamb Garden for disappearing for days on end; but I did wish that I knew what he was up to. Maybe some more executive stuff in Esthar? But if that was the case, then why couldn't he tell me about it? I dunno, maybe it was just top-secret info or something like that.
Flopping down on my bed(I was too dispirited to even considering lounging in the hammock), I pondered something else. The things that Matron and Cid must have done to keep Seifer's identity a secret from the people who didn't want another Dollet emperor. He got a new name, I knew. I wondered; where did Cid and Matron think that up from?
Wishing that I wasn't mooning around like an overgrown schoolgirl, I whispered his name aloud. Well, ALL of his names, at any rate.
Seifer Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless..................
Heeeey, wait! I sat bolt upright and nearly cracked my head on the wall when I just thought of something. Having said Allanna's name to myself more than enough in order to remember it, I had just thought of something.
Allanna. A. Lionors. L. Merielleia. M. Averyostar. A. Shelanda. S. Yearless. Y.
If you were to make an acronym of Allanna's name, it would spell out one word. Almasy.
And that had been how Matron and Cid had picked out Seifer's name.
"Booyaka!"I said aloud, grinning and feeling as though I'd solved the world's biggest mystery, like.........why cheese was square or why Zell ate so much."Booyaka...what?"I frowned. It seemed like a stupid reason to celebrate, now, remembering my current situation. Of course, Seifer had made a huge mistake with that paper, giving me the power to do with Garden as I would. It might actually be the perfect way to get revenge, hee.
Tonight, I'd send out a transmission to Squall, just to let him know I wasn't dead. Tell him the job was going slower than usual. Give him some stupid stuff to go on, like the headmaster's name and the classes that I taught. No need to spy, no need. Actually, I could probably just slide down to the MD level and FLY Esthar Garden over to Balamb, so Squall could get a first-hand look at it.
Of course. The perfect revenge.
Seifer Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless Almasy.
And suddenly, the idea didn't appeal to me so much anymore.
AN~Mffft.*grunts* I don't like this chappy for some reason. It irks me. It's too much drama and not enough humor. Basically, this is supposed to create an air of mystery and suspense. Where the @#$% is Seifer?, basically. LoL. Don't get the wrong idea, though. Selphie doesn't love him, yet.(Key word being 'yet', people). She's just a little upset because he ran off with no indication of where the @#$% he was going. This chappy's short, and the only thing you gather from it is some stuff about Allanna. Although I will admit, this chapter's just setting you up for the next couple of chapters, so I guess I can pardon it's crappiness for that. *sigh* I'll try harder next time, I promise. ~tiger~
Chapter Eight-Booyaka...What?
AN~Hello, all!*waves cheerily* I'm sitting here listening to 'Roses and Wine', Julia's theme from FF8! Of course, I wanna thank all my reviewers! Oh, another thing! 100th reviewer gets a fanart from me, of anything they want it to be drawn of, LoL! I'll send you an E-mail, and you can tell me what you want! Then(this might take a while, as in weeks) I'll get it scanned and send it to you! Hee! Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Faerlyte and Firestarter(who somehow is continuing reading this, even though they weren't sure if they like it yet, LoL)! W00T! Come on, we can do it! A hundred reviews, w00t!*cheers crazily* ~tiger~*is cheering*
I had a nice dream. Strange, but nice. I dreamed that I was married to somebody who's face I couldn't see. And Allanna was alive in this dream, standing off to the side with her arm in Seifer's, and he was grinning for once, instead of grimacing.
All the people from Balamb were there, too. Squall, Rinny, Quisty, Irvy, Zell, all of them. And Matron and Headmaster Cid, Doctor Kadowaki, and a whole bunch of other people I didn't know. It was my wedding day, at the old seaside house where Matron had her orphanage. Good ol' Elle was there, too, and she was smiling at me with all of her white SeeDs flanking her on every side.
But I couldn't see who I was marrying! Grr!!!! If I was going to spend the rest of my life with this guy, I should at least be able to see his face! So I headed up the aisle, holding my bouquet of white roses and smiling all around. Watts and Zone were sitting in some chairs near the front, and Mrs. Dincht wasn't too far from the back, with Rinoa's dad, General Caraway.
Unfortunately, 'Eyes on Me' was playing in the background, which I would have changed if I hadn't known that my future husband had liked it so much. Wait............no way! Sir Laguna liked 'Eyes on Me', because of Miss Julia! You mean that I was gonna marry Sir Laguna!!!!!! Oh, Hyne!!!!!!! My wish had finally came true!!!!!
But before I could get to him, Allanna started from the back towards me, a great smile on her face.
'Bella! Wake up!'
'Hunh?'
'You must hurry!'But she was SMILING at me! Hyne, what was going on?!'Bella, wake up!'
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Kicking around my bedsheets, my eyes popped open just as I was about to see the man of my dreams. I tried to jump to my feet against my will, tangled myself even further, and tripped onto the floor. Even then, I was still struggling.
"Ouch!"Realizing the cause of my predicament, I changed my tune.'Owie, Allanna! Hey, I'm getting up, I'm getting up! Jeez, where's the fire?!'
Allanna allowed me to climb to my feet and survey myself in the mirror. No bumps or anything that I could see. Sheesh, how long was she going to inhabit my head, anyway?! This certainly was tricky business.
My hair was a mess, and my eyes were glazed over in this odd sort of fashion. One side of my face was red from where I'd been sleeping on it, and my clothes from last night were rumpled and disarrayed. Among them was Seifer's trenchcoat, which I'd forgotten to give back to him.
Supressing giggles, I wondered how mad he was when he woke up to find himself locked inside a car. Well, not LOCKED, seeing as how he could easily unlock it from the inside, but you know what I mean.
It was then that Allanna spoke in my head.
'Bella....................Hyperion is gone.'
'What?!'I shrieked at her, straightening up and for once not crossing my eyes. Ordinarily I would have been proud, but there were bigger matters at hand.'Whaddaya mean, 'gone'?!'
'Just what I mean,'she replied calmly, if not a little sadly.'The students cannot find him.'
'But how---?! I mean---! How do you know all this?!'
'I have no need for sleep, Bella. While you dozed, I listened in the corridors. I believe one of them has sent someone to---'
BANG. The door burst open, whereas several instructors and Vienna flowed in, looking rather harried.
"Instructor Tilmitt, the commander is---"
Vienna stopped; took in the coat I was wearing. Raised eyebrows formed amongst the other instructors. I felt myself turning rather red, but I managed to keep cool."I haven't seen him,"I said with as much dignity as I could muster."Not since last night, at least. We went for a drive to the train station to check on some of the students who were commuting from the city, then came back here. I went to bed, and I don't know where he is now."
I knew it looked suspicious from the very start. I was in his room(no one but us knew the real reason for that, I didn't think); I was wearing his coat. I was last seen with him. It was looking pretty bad. So, I tried to take charge before they knew what hit them."Why? I mean, if he's missing, we need to send out a search party right away, and---"
Hee, it worked! They wiped the dumbstruck looks of their faces and started rallying WITH me! Some offered to notify the headmaster that he was in charge, others set about informing other instructors and students, and the rest of them went about getting together some SeeDs for a search party. I just felt very, very, tired.
As the last one whisked away, Vienna was left staring at me. I could tell that she hadn't bought my façade for an instant."Instructor, where IS the commander, really? I mean, if you guys are---that is to say---oh, where IS he, for Hyne's sake?!"
It was the first time I'd ever heard Vienna snap at anyone in her life. Allanna began to rise in furious indignation, but I quelled her with a lot of effort."I told you, Vienna, I haven't seen him."I paused, then went on to tell her the whole truth. Why I was at Esthar, and why I had to be under all that supervision. What had transpired last night(minus the whole 'Seifer-being-king' thing). I forebore to mention Allanna's presence in my mind, too.
Vienna gaped; made a noise."You're---you're a SPY?"
I nodded slowly."I WAS one, at least. I think I've quit, basically. And if anyone back home doesn't know it, I mean to tell them."Well, that was decided. I'd have to send Squall a transmission tonight, or something."But honestly Vienna, I have no idea where Seifer is. And, I think, I'm just as worried as the rest of you. Come on, let's go and find him."
Dropping the coat of the kings of Palan'de'leiya on my bunk, I strode out the door.
Outside was chaos. Students and instructors were running left and right, bumping into each other without a single word of apology. I think I saw the Phoenix GF flash down a hallway before disappearing around a corner.
"HEY!!!!!!!"I shouted to everyone in the hallway; they all stopped and looked at me. Taking a breath, I went on."Come on! We're not getting ANYTHING accomplished here! You know that Headmaster Chanton has already sent out search parties and stuff! You people are all crazy, getting paranoid just because Seifer might've taken a vacation or something! Look, students---get back to class! Instructors, too! Let's try and keep this day as normal as possible, okay?!"
"Instructor T. kicks ass!" and "Class of '18 rocks!" were the only shouts that followed, as students and teachers began to trickle back to their classes. Deep down, I was worried about Seifer. He hadn't seemed to..........well, mentally SOUND the last time I had seen him. Come on! He rattled on about his past like a psychopath, then KISSED me! How crazy is that?!
Myself, Headmaster Chanton had canceled all my classes for the day to give me some time to look, so I headed for Garden's parking lot. Might as well make sure he wasn't just inside of the car and hadn't woken up yet.
The car we'd used last night was empty. I frowned; if he'd gone somewhere, I would have thought that he would have just taken that car, seeing as how he'd already be in it and everything.
I checked the red little Dolletian Mist for clues. I wondered if someone had already gone through and cleaned the cars out. Nope! Success! Crammed into the ignition of the Mist was a folded-up piece of paper that I knew hadn't been there last night. My name('Selphie Tilmitt', not 'messenger girl', hee) was scrawled on the front in hasty but actually quite neat cursive.
Frowning, I turned the envelope over. On the back, holding it shut, was a wax seal, like in the old days. The seal was something I recognized, a flaming sword on a field of white. Allanna mused in the back of my mind.
'I wonder what he used to make the insignia............?'she contemplated.'I know for a certain that not many things bear the flaming sword of Pyralin anymore. Unless..................'She trailed off, leaving me with nothing but a rogue train of thought in my mind. I wondered what she was up to as I broke the wax seal with my fingernails.
Selphie,
I know what you did to me, leaving me here in the car. Whatever, I don't care. Listen, you can't breathe a word of this to anyone. I'm going off for a few days. Where, I can't tell you. But I just figured I'd tell you that I'm alright, like.........I'm not dead or anything. Seeing as how I can't trust those idiots that I call staff to get anything done, I'm leaving you in charge. Not one of my best judgements, seeing as how you'll probably start flipping through all of Garden's confidential shit and rat us out to Balamb, but I don't have much of a choice. Also, I wanted to say sorry. For what I did last night. Look, shut up! I know you're probably laughing your ass off right now, but just shut up! Listen, it was late, and I was just messed up in general, okay?! You punched me; I deserved it. We're even now, got it? I'll be back in a few days, so don't worry(like you would, anyway).
-Seifer Almasy
I stared at his signature for a minute; large and ornate and loopy. A signature of kings, if there ever was one. Okay, so it was taking some time for me to get used to that thought. I wondered what other sort of stuff he had hidden in his head.
Still wearing that Quisty look on my face, I stuffed the letter in the back pockets of my sundress and walked back to my dorm(well, not really MY dorm, but the dorm I was inhabiting, anyway). I wondered what Allanna was doing; I could really use someone to talk to. But when I tried to send a thought out towards her, I didn't get anything. In a lot of ways, Allanna was just as mysterious as her son.
Two other pieces of paper inside of the envelope made me blink and yank them out. The first was some sort of official-looking document, I put it aside for the other paper that had Seifer's now-signature scrawl on it.
This'll make sure that everyone knows who's in charge, with no questions asked. Don't get used to it.
There was no signature this time, and I flipped open the other paper. Basically, it said that I had full control over Garden and was now the running commander until Seifer got back. I wondered, IF he got back?
Staring uneasily at his empty hammock, I decided to go see Headmaster Chanton and give him the letter, so I could at least do something productive with my time, instead of sitting and worrying.
Riding the elevator to the third floor, my thoughts were troubled. Where did Seifer go, so that he couldn't even tell me? Why was he going to be gone for so long, that I had to take control of the Garden?
"Headmaster Chanton?"I asked tentatively, stepping into his office. It was nothing at all like Headmaster Cid's office. He looked up from his desk, his expression brightening. He was a graying man in his early fifties, but still quite nice. I liked him.
"Ah, Miss Tilmitt! Have you any word from the commander?"I shook my head.
"I wouldn't exactly call it 'word',"I said carefully, showing him the letter. Instead of the suspicious questioning that I had predicted, his expression was that of instantaneous relief.
"Oh, thank Hyne,"he breathed deeply, sitting down in his chair with a thump."So many people have been up here already, asking me what to do."
"Headmaster, there isn't a whole lot we CAN do,"I pointed out, pausing in the act of turning towards the door."Let the search parties scour the whole of the Esthar continent, but we've got to worry about the students here. My advice is, tell the instructors and the students to keep on with things like they're normal, until we really have cause to worry."
He instantly seemed bolder at my advice."Bless you, Miss Tilmitt,"he sighed, sitting up straight and resolutely tackling the papers on his desk."We were all running at cross-purposes like chickens with our heads cut off. It's good to know that there's someone stable in charge."He paused for a moment."Don't worry about right now. Things are calming down a bit, and I'll send word out to you if we need you. Until then, dis---"He stopped in the act of saying 'dismissed', as though I was still an underling. I smiled.
"It's okay, you can still dismiss me,"I allowed, laughing."Just don't get too used to it."
I headed back to my dorm, sighing. I guess it was my dorm, after all. Pushing open the door, I stared around as though it was my first time seeing it before in my life. And I guess it was, in a sense. I'd never paid too much attention to it before.
Up in the center, suspended between the column that led to the MD level and the bridge, and between another column on the far side of the room was the hammock, large enough for probably two men. Strewn about atop it were two pillows and a blanket.
The whole room was pretty much a mess, but not that bad of one(Zell's room, by far, had to have been the worst I'd ever seen). Clothes were kicked around here and there, along with some notebooks and paper, but at least there wasn't any month-old food or porn magazines lying around. That I could see, anyway.
Smashed into the left corner was my bed, neatly made. Compared to the rest of the room, it looked very out-of-place. My duffel bag filled with the few changes of clothes I'd been able to carry, and my nunchaku, was sitting next to it.
Off in the upper-right corner was a dresser, and atop it were a dozen or so framed pictures, something I'd never noticed before. Seifer had just never struck me to be the type of person who had sentiments about anything, and if he did, he certainly had never shown them.
The pics were mainly recent stuff, I think. Hardly any of them had him in them, at least. There was the first hundred students who had enrolled in Garden standing in a large group like a class picture and smiling(I'd found captions underneath all the pictures, so I knew what they were of), along with a picture of the first fourteen instructor's he'd hired.
My fingers began tracing the outlines of the frames idly, pausing every now and then to pick one up and study it. I laughed at one clearly taken at Fisherman's Horizon, with Fujin kicking Raijin, Raijin holding up a big fish and trying to rub his injured leg, and Seifer standing off to the side and laughing at the both of them. Up ahead, Balamb Garden was soaring by in the sky.
However, as I reached the last two photos, my breath stopped. The first one was of the most beautiful lady I had ever seen in my entire life, with flowing wavy red hair and pale green eyes like peridots. She had an arm around a tall man with short-clipped blonde hair and pale blue eyes like ice. The man was handsome too, in his own respect, but he seemed to have an air of haughtiness that made me frown slightly. He was keeping a pretty wide berth of the pretty lady and her bulk, for she was clearly pregnant.
I turned the frame over for the caption and gasped.
'Cecilanius Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless, Allanna Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless, 751 FGA. Long live the Dollet Empire.'
I found myself staring for the first time at Seifer's parents.
I was shouting for Allanna and demanding an explanation before I could even think. And she was there, prickly as a cactus but willing to answer.
'Easy, Bella, there is no need to shout.'There was silence for a long time, before she spoke again.'Yes............that is what I was; I mean, this is a picture of me when I still was clothed in flesh. And next to me was my husband, Cecilanius.'
'Erm..........I don't really have a right to ask this, Allanna, but did you...............did you LOVE Cecilanius? I mean, you had a son, but that doesn't mean---'
'I loved him, Bella, and I loved him well,'Allanna replied simply.'But I did not love what he did.'
'Well, I guess that makes sense.'I frowned; wondered if Allanna could see.'You guys look............HAPPY, in this picture. At least you had that before you died.'I paused, then hurried on.'I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk about you dying so casually---'
Allanna laughed.'Pay it no heed, Bella, for I accepted my fate long before I was sent to the Place Between the Worlds. So, you wish to know why I am here? What I hope to gain by inhabiting another's mind? And, how I got here?'
'You told me. I'm...........a canidate for sorceress embodiment who dreamed about Palan'de'leiya and gave you entry to my mind.'
'Yes, but that is not the whole story. I want to be near my son, to watch him. That much you do know. But inhabiting another's mind as such is forbidden action from the Place Between the Worlds. The Place Between the Worlds is merely where I wait for judgement.'A pause.'Bella, my judgement will be soon. Whether I face Hyne in her Palace of Stars or the Gatekeeper from the blackness of Nemeris, I do not want to have gone without knowing that my death will have been in vain. And now, because I have broken ancient code, the blackness of Nemeris is what awaits me, I am sure.'
'But what if you---'
'Bella, it is all but done.'Allanna's voice took on a bitter tone, and she shouted:'It is DONE, Bella, now leave me be!!!'
When I called out to her again, she didn't answer. I frowned down at the smiling couple on the glossy sheet of printed paper and considered hurling it against a wall, but I didn't think Seifer would like me smashing up his only picture of his parents.
So, I looked at the other one. It was a smiling Matron and Cid, with their hands on the shoulder of a much younger girl than they, holding a tiny baby in her arms. Matron's arms were hampered with the weight of another child, someone I took to be a boy. I flipped it over to read the caption.'Cid and Edea Kramer, 01 SGA. Faeye Lanker and baby, 01 SGA. Balamb.'
Faeye Lanker..........? Heeeeeeeyyyy! The girl who saved Allanna and Seifer! So that must mean that the boy Matron was holding was Seifer! WoW! The day was a constant barrage of surprises!
Vaguely, I replaced the photo and wondered where the Beast could have gone off to. I couldn't say that it wasn't like him to just pack up and leave; he'd been notorious around Balamb Garden for disappearing for days on end; but I did wish that I knew what he was up to. Maybe some more executive stuff in Esthar? But if that was the case, then why couldn't he tell me about it? I dunno, maybe it was just top-secret info or something like that.
Flopping down on my bed(I was too dispirited to even considering lounging in the hammock), I pondered something else. The things that Matron and Cid must have done to keep Seifer's identity a secret from the people who didn't want another Dollet emperor. He got a new name, I knew. I wondered; where did Cid and Matron think that up from?
Wishing that I wasn't mooning around like an overgrown schoolgirl, I whispered his name aloud. Well, ALL of his names, at any rate.
Seifer Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless..................
Heeeey, wait! I sat bolt upright and nearly cracked my head on the wall when I just thought of something. Having said Allanna's name to myself more than enough in order to remember it, I had just thought of something.
Allanna. A. Lionors. L. Merielleia. M. Averyostar. A. Shelanda. S. Yearless. Y.
If you were to make an acronym of Allanna's name, it would spell out one word. Almasy.
And that had been how Matron and Cid had picked out Seifer's name.
"Booyaka!"I said aloud, grinning and feeling as though I'd solved the world's biggest mystery, like.........why cheese was square or why Zell ate so much."Booyaka...what?"I frowned. It seemed like a stupid reason to celebrate, now, remembering my current situation. Of course, Seifer had made a huge mistake with that paper, giving me the power to do with Garden as I would. It might actually be the perfect way to get revenge, hee.
Tonight, I'd send out a transmission to Squall, just to let him know I wasn't dead. Tell him the job was going slower than usual. Give him some stupid stuff to go on, like the headmaster's name and the classes that I taught. No need to spy, no need. Actually, I could probably just slide down to the MD level and FLY Esthar Garden over to Balamb, so Squall could get a first-hand look at it.
Of course. The perfect revenge.
Seifer Lionors Merielleia Averyostar Shelanda Yearless Almasy.
And suddenly, the idea didn't appeal to me so much anymore.
AN~Mffft.*grunts* I don't like this chappy for some reason. It irks me. It's too much drama and not enough humor. Basically, this is supposed to create an air of mystery and suspense. Where the @#$% is Seifer?, basically. LoL. Don't get the wrong idea, though. Selphie doesn't love him, yet.(Key word being 'yet', people). She's just a little upset because he ran off with no indication of where the @#$% he was going. This chappy's short, and the only thing you gather from it is some stuff about Allanna. Although I will admit, this chapter's just setting you up for the next couple of chapters, so I guess I can pardon it's crappiness for that. *sigh* I'll try harder next time, I promise. ~tiger~