Hey! I Could Be A Messenger From Hyne, Ya Know!-
A Misadventurous Romance Story
Chapter Thirteen-Siddown, Fool!(Loire)
AN~Phew! I know, I know! I'm well aware of the fact that I said I'd update by 200 reviewers, and that indeed I've got 230 by now, but I can't help it! New ideas called me, and were horribly refuted. It seems as though HICB is my only popular and enjoyed story, so I might as well say to hell with creativity and finish up this. Yeah, I know there's a cliffhanger at the end of chapter twelve that won't be refuted or concluded until a while from now, just to make everyone wonder. Deal with it. Instead, we've got a fun- fun happy little interlude by everyone's favorite First Daughter, Vienna Loire!(By the way, she's the one narrating this chapter). I realized a few things weren't quite right about her. Namely, her background isn't really explained. Also, her character isn't quite developed yet. And, I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with Selphie and Seifer yet. Henceforth, this chapter is created. Sit back and enjoy(for this is one of the few stories I've written that people actually DO enjoy)! ~tiger~
It had all started with my rabbit, whom I'd named Mr. Pinkers and dressed in a pink floppy hat and painted his claws a pretty pretty shade of red. Mr. Pinkers was my one true friend, and we would sit outside and have tea, and I'd wear a matching bonnet and dress and we would talk about the weather and Daddy's affairs of state while Mother watched from the veranda. The sun would be shining, and a few butterflies would join us in our discussions.
Mr. Pinkers had two enemies, the Castaleon brothers(pronounced cah-STUH- LEE-UN, they would often chastize people who wouldn't say it correctly). There were two, as I've noted, the elder was called Biers and the younger was called Pax. Biers was three years older than me, Pax my senior by a mere year, but they acted as though they were old enough to be adults.
Or, perhaps conversely, they acted as though they were overgrown children. I found Mr. Pinkers next to the road, squashed flat, with a basket next to him with Easter eggs rolling out onto the street. Propped up on a tree was a sign that said:"Sorry kids, no Easter this year!".
I remember running away and crying, while Biers laughed up a storm, stamping his feet and spinning around in a circle. But Pax.............
Pax had run after me, caught me by the arms and gave me a hug, said that he was sorry. Then he said that he loved me, and would continue to do so forever.
Well, not quite in those exact words. "Vienna, I think I like you as much as grownups like each other............an' I don't know how long it'll go on, but I think it will until I get impaled on a fence spike or get run over like your poor wabbit.............. I'm sowwy about yer wabbit."
I think I was all of seven years old.
But that's when it had all started, my friendship with Pax. We'd grown up next door, gone to the same snooty academies, been kicked out of the same snooty academies(although for varying reasons, I will admit---Pax for his pranks and me for my sheer stupidity); always together.
And then, we came to Esthar Garden. And I learned that I hadn't passed my entrance exam.
I tell you, it was the saddest moment of my life. I was going to be forced to go to a PUBLIC school, filled with mean kids I didn't know who would make fun of me just because I was the President's daughter and there wouldn't even be any Pax there to be there for me!
So I made it my goal to find a way into Esthar Garden.
Okay, so the tactics I used were a little unorthodox. By way in, I meant by ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. So it came to be that Commander Almasy had caught me sneaking in through the back gate wall, and I was in HUGE trouble.
Or so I thought. Now that I think on it, it didn't really make any sense, what the Commander did. I was GRATEFUL for it, but.......well, it was strange. He'd simply sat me down, pinned me to the chair magically with that piercing stare of his, and asked me how I'd done it. How I'd managed to scale the 20 foot wall, and slip past the faculty.
I told him, through and through---a grappling hook would suffice enough for the wall, and the incompetence of the faculty was his concern, not mine. Even more surprising than the fact that I'd been downright rude to an adult was Commander Almasy's reaction.
He LAUGHED. Now, knowing him much better coming into my sixth month of training at Garden, I realized how completely ABSURD it was, but it was startling enough back then. While I sat there gaping like a Wendigo, he shook his head a little and shoved an entrance application across the desk towards me. After I'd filled it out, he declared my previous results on the exam null and void, and told me to go take another test; they were having them just down the hall.
Thus was my entry into Esthar Garden. However, it wasn't as glorious as I'd envisioned it to be. All of the students there, believing that my father had somehow made a few calls and found a loophole for me to slip through, wouldn't speak to me except in insults.
The saddest thing was, Pax believed it, too. I haven't spoken to him for a long time now, seeing as how he'd probably just drop me in the trash like the rest of the SeeDs. The only thing that kept me afloat was my desperation to become a SeeD. If I could pass my exams, become a full- fledged SeeD like my father wanted me to be, not only would I make him proud, but prove to the other students at Garden that I was perfectly capable of entering this school on my own. And maybe, just maybe...........get Branton to notice me.
Okay, so I knew he had a girlfriend, whom I didn't like that much. Kendris. Everyone's favorite golden girl, with that stupid honey-blonde hair of hers and those dumb purple eyes. And the fact of the matter was, Branton wasn't even that CUTE! He had a gap between his two front teeth, and his nose and his ears were twice as big as the norm!
So why give him the time of day? Because he's so FUNNY. I mean it, Branton can crack anyone up, him and Pan. Not to mention the fact that despite his klutziness(once, he fell down three consecutive flights of stairs without even meaning to) he really could charm anyone something terrible. It wasn't really his looks that drew me in, it was just his personality. And of course, that would be the only reason Kendris would give him the time of day.
It was all just a conspiracy, anyway. The popular kids dated the popular kids, whether they truly liked them or not. Well, it wasn't as though I believed that Kendris DIDN'T like Branton, it just seemed kind of stupid for the reasons that she did.
I'd overheard her once in the bathroom, while she was adjusting the pudding-filled balloons in her bra and hurriedly redrawing her eyebrows:"I don't know what it is about Branton, Mira. He just........I don't know, he makes me feel........more REAL, you know what I mean? Like, he's the only one who can see that part of me, that real me."
PLEASE, people! There wasn't a part of Kendris ON HER that was real, for Hyne's sake! Everything from her dyed hair to her waxed legs was fake! And if by SOME MIRACLE, something could make her any less artificial, it sure as hell wouldn't be Branton Peradas!
I jerked out of my stupor then, shaking my head and feeling utterly ridiculous as I remembered those things on a balmy day in November, fleeing for my very life from a rather unorthodox psuedo-missile base and leaving my doomed instructor and commander behind.
I dashed back tears, wiping them quickly with the back of my hand before replacing them on the steering wheel of the red Dolletian Mist that Instructor T. and the commander had rented for our mission that wasn't really a mission. It seemed bizarre, how fast things had happened this day. As soon as I'd seen them jumping into the car with those serious looks on their faces, I'd dove in behind them, using tricks of light and shadows to conceal me, a trick Pax had taught me. And then, as we were driving along the road, I'd heard bits of pieces of their mission, and what they were trying to accomplish, until I finally got caught by Commander Almasy and offered to accompany them.
It was strange, what made me do that. It hadn't been a desire to prove myself, as all my other advancements had. It hadn't been pure fear of what the commander would do to me if I refused. It hadn't been, surprisingly enough, the fact that the death stare of the commander had frightened me into doing whatever he wished.
It had been, and this is the truth beyond all the truths that I've told you so far, the simple wish to help Commander Almasy and Instructor Tilmitt, and save our Garden.
I slammed on the accelerator even harder, nearly running over a stray Torama in my haste, and sped onward down the dusty road that I'd so recently traveled back towards Garden.
I heard a loud BOOM! behind me, and saw random bits of flaming debris fall from the sky like a heresy of rain, like the shattered lives of the two I'd left behind.
But not anymore. I wouldn't let it go to waste. I had my own job to do, and that was enough. I sped onward down the dusty road that I'd so recently traveled back towards Garden.
The road that Commander Almasy and Instructor Tilmitt would never travel again.
**********************************************************************
BINK! CLASH!
(Heh heh, oops.)
When I'd said earlier that I'd sped down the dusty road towards Garden, I really meant SPED. I mean, sped so damn fast I couldn't even stop when the gates to Esthar Garden loomed ahead of me, couldn't even stop when I nearly ran over some stray instructors and students coming back from a prerequisite exam, couldn't even stop until I crashed directly into the gates at a speed so fast I blasted them off their hinges and set them flying nearly as far as the Quad.
Well, no matter now. The gates could be replaced; Garden itself and all the people that dwelt within could not. I leapt out of the car and skidded to a halt on the sidewalk before dashing down the long walkway that led to the inner facilities of Garden. Inside of my jacket pocket I could feel the small gold key the Commander had given me bouncing up and down as I ran.
I made a sharp right and dashed for the elevator, where several people were already climbing into it, clearly oblivious to the pandemonium occuring outside because of my previous actions. I shouted for them to hold the elevator, and thankfully, they did.
I skidded, skidded, skidded, and barely managed to slide through the doors just before they pinged shut, although I slammed into several of the occupants and nearly knocked us all to the floor.
"Hyne, Loire, watch where you're goin'!"
"Jeez, Your Highness, so sorry if we got in the way of your royal big ass."
"Owie! My foot!"
"Man, Vienna, you can't even let us use the elevator without throwin' your weight around?"
My heart dropped to my feet."Pax........?"I turned around slowly and faced my fellow travelers. First was a senior classmen named Mira whom I didn't know very well, next had been the buck-toothed Branton, third had been his irritating girlfriend Kendris, and the last had been Pax. I took several deep breaths, pushed the emergency stop button on the 'vator, and rammed the button for the MD level one, where access was restricted for students.
My guess was, whatever Commander Almasy had in mind, it was down there.
"Hey! We've gotta get to class!"Kendris interjected."I've got exams this period!"
(HOW could I have forgotten about field exams?! Oh, great. My prerequisite was scheduled for next period, but then again, I didn't have an instructor left to take me.........)I sniffled, but my voice didn't shake."Shove it, Kendris. You won't even HAVE a class left if I don't do something about it?"
"What would YOU do about it?"she sneered, but Pax interjected.
"What do you mean, Vienna?"he asked, and Mira and Branton's faces showed similar concern. I took a few deep breaths and tried to forget about Instructor T. and the commander.
"I mean to say that there's missiles headed this way, just like the Galbadian government fired at Balamb last year,"I told them, ramming the MD button some more as though that would miraculously make the thing move faster, instead of just jamm---
CUH-CLANK. (Oh, shit.)
Kendris looked upward."Did we.........stop moving?"
"Man, this blows,"said Branton, reinstating the obvious."We're about as screwed as a dozen prostitutes here, people."
Mira hit the buttons again, as though it would do any good. Pax was searching the elevator."Man........no phone. What the hell was the Commander thinkin', not putting a phone in here? What a dork."
"Missiles, and 'vators, and deaths, OH FUCKING MY!"I roared, scaling the walls as expertly as I could without a grappling hook and kicking open the escape hatch more violently than was probably necessary. I was pissed; we were running out of time! My comrades looked rather shocked at my angry outburst, but I was already dropped down into what appeared to be an oil shaft, drawing Nemeris and junctioning Fire to my elemental attack.
"I'm going on ahead,"I told the rest of them."If you want to try and make your exams, or wait for maintenance to fix the elevator, then you can wait here. If you'd rather save Garden and prevent an all-out war between Galbadia and Esthar again, then come with me."
"War's gonna happen, anyway,"said Branton."They've already shot off those missiles, like you claim. Why don't we just evacuate everyone from this place and save our necks, instead of going off on some dumbass mission? I'd tell you to use your brains, Loire, but it doesn't seem like you have any!"
(That's right; I hadn't had any, for being such a fool as to think that you and Kendris didn't deserve each other.)I snapped."Siddown, fool!"I shouted, my eyes popping open wide."I don't care WHAT the hell you do; take the coward's way out!"I struggled for calm, and took a few deep breaths before I went on."Well, I want to save this place. I don't belong anywhere but here, at least, that's what I'd like to think. I don't care if any of you come with me or not. But if you're going to go back up, do me a favor--- get the teachers together, evacuate everyone if you want to, do whatever you have to do to make sure everyone stays safe, just in case I fail. And tell my parents I love them very much."
I dropped down the ladder to the next level of oil shafts. I didn't expect to make it out of this one alive, not even with my own inherited abilities. But it was what the commander and Instructor T. wanted me to do, and they trusted me to make it back to Garden and do what they couldn't...........
I slammed my fist into the wall, giving in to tears for a few minutes. Why had they stayed behind?! Why send me---only me---to do something it had taken three SeeDs to do back at Balamb?! Why take that risk?! How could they go and leave me all alone.......?!
I took a few steadying breaths and headed down another ladder to a room with a valve. For the door to the next room to open, I had to turn this valve. And, I got attacked by a Tri-Face.
They were diffucult monsters, especially because their elemental defense allowed them to halve Fire damage and completely absorb Poison attacks. And- --
Their Poison Gas. I choked; couldn't breathe. I could feel the poison taking effect. I couldn't see, I felt groggy and disoriented, and my body was taking a longer time to react than usual. Blind, Poison, Confuse, and Slow, as well as I could register. Things just weren't working right. And I'd lose to a monster before I even got the chance to to save Garden..........
"Stop!"A girl's voice resonated behind me, and it was quickly followed up by a guy's voice, a voice I knew so well.......
"Esuna!"As my vision cleared, I turned around to see Mira and Pax standing behind me, Mira with her quarterstaff and Pax with his javelin; a hard weapon to master, as there were no specialists here at Garden. Turning around again, I saw the Tri-Face suspended in mid-air, jaws open and snarling ferociously. Mira's Stop had done the trick, at least for the time being.
"Th-Thanks for your help,"I panted, glad to be rid of that foul poison. Mira smiled, but Pax only nodded curtly."Change your junctioning,"he said."They've got an elemental affinity towards Fire."
"I know that!"I snapped, but obliged. Mira, rolling her eyes in our direction, just cast Death on the stupid creature and obliterated it. The three of us worked together to turn the valve, and we headed down YET ANOTHER ladder to the bottom floor. A circular platform revealed a button to reveal ANOTHER ladder, which we headed down. Activating the defense system on the floor below, we headed back up to the platform and had gone to cross the suspension bridge when---
"Oilboyles!"I shouted, remembering to change my junctioning back to Fire, from where it had previously been Ice."They're weak against Fire, they guarded the MD system back at Balamb, too!"
The fight with the Tri-Face had left me weakened, so I was able to use my Limit Break."Fires of Heaven!"I shouted, running my hands along Nemeris' blade and causing red-orange flames to lick and dance up to the edge. Then, twirling it around almost as well as Commander Almasy could have done, I danced the dance of swords across the Oilboyles' sides, causing them to burst into flame and shriek in some form of unHynely agony.
"Firaga!"cried Mira, and as Pax used a Curaga on me, I finished the last ugly-looking thing with my own casting of Firaga, which did a heckuva lot more damage than Mira's, and caused her to regard me rather shrewdly.
Feeling thoroughly harried, for we didn't have much time left, the three of us(I didn't even ask where Branton and Kendris had went, for I really didn't care) crossed over to the second platform where the MD system dwelled. I turned to my two companions.
"Watch the ladder, okay? I've just gotta stick this key in somewhere up there, and we should be good to go."They nodded tersely, and I began the hair-raising event. Ladders have always scared me, and this one was especially terrifying. It shook and wobbled in a most unreassuring manner, and I was just near the top(oh, thank Hyne) when it shook and wobbled just a little too much.
"AIIIEEEEEE!"I shrieked, as I felt myself flying backwards into open air. Pax and Mira cursed almost in unison and tried to steady the ladder, but they only aided in it's inevitable descent. I was going to die, and from the most stupid means possible! I was gonna die, gonna die, gonna d---
BRINNNNK! My passage to death was arrested by the solid sheet of glass I broke through, ending up inside of a strange room with some ancient-looking equipment off to the right, and a door to who-knew-where off to the left.
Ancient-looking equipment............THAT WAS IT!!!!! Yelling with joy and leaping to my feet, I dashed over to the old MD system and with shaking fingers went to insert the key that would save us all from impending destruction............
...........to find that it wasn't there. I searched and searched and searched, emptying every pocket and crawling around on the floor, sticking myself countless numbers of times on broken glass, but there was no trace of it. It must've fallen out of my pocket when I was falling through the air.
I fought against the choking noise that built up in my throat and headed back down the ladder towards Mira and Pax, hoping they would have some sort of clue as to what to do now.
I never noticed the gleam of gold that shone in the corner, with the symbol of Garden emblazoned across it's front.
**************************************************************************** *********
Pax scowled, kicked angrily at some debris."You mean to tell me you DROPPED THE DAMN KEY?!?!?!"
Mira bit back a sob."So now we're all gonna die...............? And Instructor T. and the commander are already...........?"
I mourned for our now-lost Garden. Everything was my fault. I'd had to go along with the commander, I'd had to get the stupid key, I had to prove myself by saving Garden on my own instead of evacuating everyone like I should have done, and I had to go alone on that damnable ladder. And now, there was no hope.
(Is that how all those SeeDs felt when the sorceress covered the world in darkness? When they saw how bleak our future would be, because of a..............)
(..............because of a SORCERESS.)I breathed deeply opened my eyes real wide. That was it! I knew how to save us all, and our Garden! Slowly, I turned towards Mira and Pax.
"There is another way,"I managed solemnly, invoking urgent stares from the both of them.
"How?!"
"What?!"
Taking a deep breath, I gave myself the courage to plunge on. Already, our surroundings were warping and shifting and changing."There's a lot you don't know about me, even you, Pax."Now we were standing on top of Garden, a feat no one had ever accomplished in their entire life, despite the efforts to try. Mira screamed and clutched Pax's arm. I went on."What I'm about to do'll kill me, I think, and if it doesn't, then by the time the truth gets out, I'll be as good as dead."
"But I want to save Garden, and all of you."Far off in the distance, I could see the missiles approaching. Down in the Great Plains, I could swarms of students and instructors scrambling towards the city. I smiled; Branton and Kendris had done their deed."I'd tell you, but we don't have the time. You're both smart, figure it out for yourselves. And don't hate me, for living a lie."
I could tell they were puzzled, but they didn't say a word, only waited with surprising patience for what I was about to do. If the MD system couldn't help Garden fly, then I would give it my best shot.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I shut out the missiles, the cry of the wind, the yells of astonishment from down below as people saw what was going on up above. I smiled; one way or another, I'd meet Instructor T. and the commander real soon, now.
My concentration and power had reached their breaking points, I had to release it now, or they would simply fizzle out and I would die nonetheless."...................Float."
And as the missiles zoomed towards Garden, as hundreds of students and instructors watched from down below, and as Mira and Pax grabbed ahold of my arms as I collapsed from the strain, two giant pairs of angel wings attached themselves to Esthar Garden and hoisted it away and out of danger.
Not only did they move Garden out of danger, they also repelled the missiles with a simple flapping of wind, both beautiful and frightening at the same time. Float had always been one of my favorite spells. The missiles turned and launched themselves out into open air, I heard a giant splash as they landed somewhere in the ocean. No boom; that meant they'd steered clear of both the Horizon Bridge and Fisherman's Horizon.
That smile was still on my face; I'd done what I'd set out to do, and if I had to die from overexertion of my powers, I was glad that I'd done it in this.
I dropped down to my knees on the top of Garden, and Pax dropped down in front of me, face etched with worry, and yet also, with fear."Vienna..........you're a.............sorceress?"
I was still smiling, maybe I was delirious."Of course,"I said, and fell forward into his arms.
AN~Well, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the lack of updates, between school and my social life(I have a social life now! Isn't it great?!) I haven't had much time for anything! Not only that, but I've got my novel to work on, and boy, is it hard! Don't expect another chapter for a really long time now, people! But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about dear old HICB! I know I've left off with cliffhangers at both of these chapters, but I will tell you that one of them will be tied up next chapter(just which one will, I don't know). You know the drill, reviews make me a happy sexual- education-panda! ~tiger~
Chapter Thirteen-Siddown, Fool!(Loire)
AN~Phew! I know, I know! I'm well aware of the fact that I said I'd update by 200 reviewers, and that indeed I've got 230 by now, but I can't help it! New ideas called me, and were horribly refuted. It seems as though HICB is my only popular and enjoyed story, so I might as well say to hell with creativity and finish up this. Yeah, I know there's a cliffhanger at the end of chapter twelve that won't be refuted or concluded until a while from now, just to make everyone wonder. Deal with it. Instead, we've got a fun- fun happy little interlude by everyone's favorite First Daughter, Vienna Loire!(By the way, she's the one narrating this chapter). I realized a few things weren't quite right about her. Namely, her background isn't really explained. Also, her character isn't quite developed yet. And, I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with Selphie and Seifer yet. Henceforth, this chapter is created. Sit back and enjoy(for this is one of the few stories I've written that people actually DO enjoy)! ~tiger~
It had all started with my rabbit, whom I'd named Mr. Pinkers and dressed in a pink floppy hat and painted his claws a pretty pretty shade of red. Mr. Pinkers was my one true friend, and we would sit outside and have tea, and I'd wear a matching bonnet and dress and we would talk about the weather and Daddy's affairs of state while Mother watched from the veranda. The sun would be shining, and a few butterflies would join us in our discussions.
Mr. Pinkers had two enemies, the Castaleon brothers(pronounced cah-STUH- LEE-UN, they would often chastize people who wouldn't say it correctly). There were two, as I've noted, the elder was called Biers and the younger was called Pax. Biers was three years older than me, Pax my senior by a mere year, but they acted as though they were old enough to be adults.
Or, perhaps conversely, they acted as though they were overgrown children. I found Mr. Pinkers next to the road, squashed flat, with a basket next to him with Easter eggs rolling out onto the street. Propped up on a tree was a sign that said:"Sorry kids, no Easter this year!".
I remember running away and crying, while Biers laughed up a storm, stamping his feet and spinning around in a circle. But Pax.............
Pax had run after me, caught me by the arms and gave me a hug, said that he was sorry. Then he said that he loved me, and would continue to do so forever.
Well, not quite in those exact words. "Vienna, I think I like you as much as grownups like each other............an' I don't know how long it'll go on, but I think it will until I get impaled on a fence spike or get run over like your poor wabbit.............. I'm sowwy about yer wabbit."
I think I was all of seven years old.
But that's when it had all started, my friendship with Pax. We'd grown up next door, gone to the same snooty academies, been kicked out of the same snooty academies(although for varying reasons, I will admit---Pax for his pranks and me for my sheer stupidity); always together.
And then, we came to Esthar Garden. And I learned that I hadn't passed my entrance exam.
I tell you, it was the saddest moment of my life. I was going to be forced to go to a PUBLIC school, filled with mean kids I didn't know who would make fun of me just because I was the President's daughter and there wouldn't even be any Pax there to be there for me!
So I made it my goal to find a way into Esthar Garden.
Okay, so the tactics I used were a little unorthodox. By way in, I meant by ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. So it came to be that Commander Almasy had caught me sneaking in through the back gate wall, and I was in HUGE trouble.
Or so I thought. Now that I think on it, it didn't really make any sense, what the Commander did. I was GRATEFUL for it, but.......well, it was strange. He'd simply sat me down, pinned me to the chair magically with that piercing stare of his, and asked me how I'd done it. How I'd managed to scale the 20 foot wall, and slip past the faculty.
I told him, through and through---a grappling hook would suffice enough for the wall, and the incompetence of the faculty was his concern, not mine. Even more surprising than the fact that I'd been downright rude to an adult was Commander Almasy's reaction.
He LAUGHED. Now, knowing him much better coming into my sixth month of training at Garden, I realized how completely ABSURD it was, but it was startling enough back then. While I sat there gaping like a Wendigo, he shook his head a little and shoved an entrance application across the desk towards me. After I'd filled it out, he declared my previous results on the exam null and void, and told me to go take another test; they were having them just down the hall.
Thus was my entry into Esthar Garden. However, it wasn't as glorious as I'd envisioned it to be. All of the students there, believing that my father had somehow made a few calls and found a loophole for me to slip through, wouldn't speak to me except in insults.
The saddest thing was, Pax believed it, too. I haven't spoken to him for a long time now, seeing as how he'd probably just drop me in the trash like the rest of the SeeDs. The only thing that kept me afloat was my desperation to become a SeeD. If I could pass my exams, become a full- fledged SeeD like my father wanted me to be, not only would I make him proud, but prove to the other students at Garden that I was perfectly capable of entering this school on my own. And maybe, just maybe...........get Branton to notice me.
Okay, so I knew he had a girlfriend, whom I didn't like that much. Kendris. Everyone's favorite golden girl, with that stupid honey-blonde hair of hers and those dumb purple eyes. And the fact of the matter was, Branton wasn't even that CUTE! He had a gap between his two front teeth, and his nose and his ears were twice as big as the norm!
So why give him the time of day? Because he's so FUNNY. I mean it, Branton can crack anyone up, him and Pan. Not to mention the fact that despite his klutziness(once, he fell down three consecutive flights of stairs without even meaning to) he really could charm anyone something terrible. It wasn't really his looks that drew me in, it was just his personality. And of course, that would be the only reason Kendris would give him the time of day.
It was all just a conspiracy, anyway. The popular kids dated the popular kids, whether they truly liked them or not. Well, it wasn't as though I believed that Kendris DIDN'T like Branton, it just seemed kind of stupid for the reasons that she did.
I'd overheard her once in the bathroom, while she was adjusting the pudding-filled balloons in her bra and hurriedly redrawing her eyebrows:"I don't know what it is about Branton, Mira. He just........I don't know, he makes me feel........more REAL, you know what I mean? Like, he's the only one who can see that part of me, that real me."
PLEASE, people! There wasn't a part of Kendris ON HER that was real, for Hyne's sake! Everything from her dyed hair to her waxed legs was fake! And if by SOME MIRACLE, something could make her any less artificial, it sure as hell wouldn't be Branton Peradas!
I jerked out of my stupor then, shaking my head and feeling utterly ridiculous as I remembered those things on a balmy day in November, fleeing for my very life from a rather unorthodox psuedo-missile base and leaving my doomed instructor and commander behind.
I dashed back tears, wiping them quickly with the back of my hand before replacing them on the steering wheel of the red Dolletian Mist that Instructor T. and the commander had rented for our mission that wasn't really a mission. It seemed bizarre, how fast things had happened this day. As soon as I'd seen them jumping into the car with those serious looks on their faces, I'd dove in behind them, using tricks of light and shadows to conceal me, a trick Pax had taught me. And then, as we were driving along the road, I'd heard bits of pieces of their mission, and what they were trying to accomplish, until I finally got caught by Commander Almasy and offered to accompany them.
It was strange, what made me do that. It hadn't been a desire to prove myself, as all my other advancements had. It hadn't been pure fear of what the commander would do to me if I refused. It hadn't been, surprisingly enough, the fact that the death stare of the commander had frightened me into doing whatever he wished.
It had been, and this is the truth beyond all the truths that I've told you so far, the simple wish to help Commander Almasy and Instructor Tilmitt, and save our Garden.
I slammed on the accelerator even harder, nearly running over a stray Torama in my haste, and sped onward down the dusty road that I'd so recently traveled back towards Garden.
I heard a loud BOOM! behind me, and saw random bits of flaming debris fall from the sky like a heresy of rain, like the shattered lives of the two I'd left behind.
But not anymore. I wouldn't let it go to waste. I had my own job to do, and that was enough. I sped onward down the dusty road that I'd so recently traveled back towards Garden.
The road that Commander Almasy and Instructor Tilmitt would never travel again.
**********************************************************************
BINK! CLASH!
(Heh heh, oops.)
When I'd said earlier that I'd sped down the dusty road towards Garden, I really meant SPED. I mean, sped so damn fast I couldn't even stop when the gates to Esthar Garden loomed ahead of me, couldn't even stop when I nearly ran over some stray instructors and students coming back from a prerequisite exam, couldn't even stop until I crashed directly into the gates at a speed so fast I blasted them off their hinges and set them flying nearly as far as the Quad.
Well, no matter now. The gates could be replaced; Garden itself and all the people that dwelt within could not. I leapt out of the car and skidded to a halt on the sidewalk before dashing down the long walkway that led to the inner facilities of Garden. Inside of my jacket pocket I could feel the small gold key the Commander had given me bouncing up and down as I ran.
I made a sharp right and dashed for the elevator, where several people were already climbing into it, clearly oblivious to the pandemonium occuring outside because of my previous actions. I shouted for them to hold the elevator, and thankfully, they did.
I skidded, skidded, skidded, and barely managed to slide through the doors just before they pinged shut, although I slammed into several of the occupants and nearly knocked us all to the floor.
"Hyne, Loire, watch where you're goin'!"
"Jeez, Your Highness, so sorry if we got in the way of your royal big ass."
"Owie! My foot!"
"Man, Vienna, you can't even let us use the elevator without throwin' your weight around?"
My heart dropped to my feet."Pax........?"I turned around slowly and faced my fellow travelers. First was a senior classmen named Mira whom I didn't know very well, next had been the buck-toothed Branton, third had been his irritating girlfriend Kendris, and the last had been Pax. I took several deep breaths, pushed the emergency stop button on the 'vator, and rammed the button for the MD level one, where access was restricted for students.
My guess was, whatever Commander Almasy had in mind, it was down there.
"Hey! We've gotta get to class!"Kendris interjected."I've got exams this period!"
(HOW could I have forgotten about field exams?! Oh, great. My prerequisite was scheduled for next period, but then again, I didn't have an instructor left to take me.........)I sniffled, but my voice didn't shake."Shove it, Kendris. You won't even HAVE a class left if I don't do something about it?"
"What would YOU do about it?"she sneered, but Pax interjected.
"What do you mean, Vienna?"he asked, and Mira and Branton's faces showed similar concern. I took a few deep breaths and tried to forget about Instructor T. and the commander.
"I mean to say that there's missiles headed this way, just like the Galbadian government fired at Balamb last year,"I told them, ramming the MD button some more as though that would miraculously make the thing move faster, instead of just jamm---
CUH-CLANK. (Oh, shit.)
Kendris looked upward."Did we.........stop moving?"
"Man, this blows,"said Branton, reinstating the obvious."We're about as screwed as a dozen prostitutes here, people."
Mira hit the buttons again, as though it would do any good. Pax was searching the elevator."Man........no phone. What the hell was the Commander thinkin', not putting a phone in here? What a dork."
"Missiles, and 'vators, and deaths, OH FUCKING MY!"I roared, scaling the walls as expertly as I could without a grappling hook and kicking open the escape hatch more violently than was probably necessary. I was pissed; we were running out of time! My comrades looked rather shocked at my angry outburst, but I was already dropped down into what appeared to be an oil shaft, drawing Nemeris and junctioning Fire to my elemental attack.
"I'm going on ahead,"I told the rest of them."If you want to try and make your exams, or wait for maintenance to fix the elevator, then you can wait here. If you'd rather save Garden and prevent an all-out war between Galbadia and Esthar again, then come with me."
"War's gonna happen, anyway,"said Branton."They've already shot off those missiles, like you claim. Why don't we just evacuate everyone from this place and save our necks, instead of going off on some dumbass mission? I'd tell you to use your brains, Loire, but it doesn't seem like you have any!"
(That's right; I hadn't had any, for being such a fool as to think that you and Kendris didn't deserve each other.)I snapped."Siddown, fool!"I shouted, my eyes popping open wide."I don't care WHAT the hell you do; take the coward's way out!"I struggled for calm, and took a few deep breaths before I went on."Well, I want to save this place. I don't belong anywhere but here, at least, that's what I'd like to think. I don't care if any of you come with me or not. But if you're going to go back up, do me a favor--- get the teachers together, evacuate everyone if you want to, do whatever you have to do to make sure everyone stays safe, just in case I fail. And tell my parents I love them very much."
I dropped down the ladder to the next level of oil shafts. I didn't expect to make it out of this one alive, not even with my own inherited abilities. But it was what the commander and Instructor T. wanted me to do, and they trusted me to make it back to Garden and do what they couldn't...........
I slammed my fist into the wall, giving in to tears for a few minutes. Why had they stayed behind?! Why send me---only me---to do something it had taken three SeeDs to do back at Balamb?! Why take that risk?! How could they go and leave me all alone.......?!
I took a few steadying breaths and headed down another ladder to a room with a valve. For the door to the next room to open, I had to turn this valve. And, I got attacked by a Tri-Face.
They were diffucult monsters, especially because their elemental defense allowed them to halve Fire damage and completely absorb Poison attacks. And- --
Their Poison Gas. I choked; couldn't breathe. I could feel the poison taking effect. I couldn't see, I felt groggy and disoriented, and my body was taking a longer time to react than usual. Blind, Poison, Confuse, and Slow, as well as I could register. Things just weren't working right. And I'd lose to a monster before I even got the chance to to save Garden..........
"Stop!"A girl's voice resonated behind me, and it was quickly followed up by a guy's voice, a voice I knew so well.......
"Esuna!"As my vision cleared, I turned around to see Mira and Pax standing behind me, Mira with her quarterstaff and Pax with his javelin; a hard weapon to master, as there were no specialists here at Garden. Turning around again, I saw the Tri-Face suspended in mid-air, jaws open and snarling ferociously. Mira's Stop had done the trick, at least for the time being.
"Th-Thanks for your help,"I panted, glad to be rid of that foul poison. Mira smiled, but Pax only nodded curtly."Change your junctioning,"he said."They've got an elemental affinity towards Fire."
"I know that!"I snapped, but obliged. Mira, rolling her eyes in our direction, just cast Death on the stupid creature and obliterated it. The three of us worked together to turn the valve, and we headed down YET ANOTHER ladder to the bottom floor. A circular platform revealed a button to reveal ANOTHER ladder, which we headed down. Activating the defense system on the floor below, we headed back up to the platform and had gone to cross the suspension bridge when---
"Oilboyles!"I shouted, remembering to change my junctioning back to Fire, from where it had previously been Ice."They're weak against Fire, they guarded the MD system back at Balamb, too!"
The fight with the Tri-Face had left me weakened, so I was able to use my Limit Break."Fires of Heaven!"I shouted, running my hands along Nemeris' blade and causing red-orange flames to lick and dance up to the edge. Then, twirling it around almost as well as Commander Almasy could have done, I danced the dance of swords across the Oilboyles' sides, causing them to burst into flame and shriek in some form of unHynely agony.
"Firaga!"cried Mira, and as Pax used a Curaga on me, I finished the last ugly-looking thing with my own casting of Firaga, which did a heckuva lot more damage than Mira's, and caused her to regard me rather shrewdly.
Feeling thoroughly harried, for we didn't have much time left, the three of us(I didn't even ask where Branton and Kendris had went, for I really didn't care) crossed over to the second platform where the MD system dwelled. I turned to my two companions.
"Watch the ladder, okay? I've just gotta stick this key in somewhere up there, and we should be good to go."They nodded tersely, and I began the hair-raising event. Ladders have always scared me, and this one was especially terrifying. It shook and wobbled in a most unreassuring manner, and I was just near the top(oh, thank Hyne) when it shook and wobbled just a little too much.
"AIIIEEEEEE!"I shrieked, as I felt myself flying backwards into open air. Pax and Mira cursed almost in unison and tried to steady the ladder, but they only aided in it's inevitable descent. I was going to die, and from the most stupid means possible! I was gonna die, gonna die, gonna d---
BRINNNNK! My passage to death was arrested by the solid sheet of glass I broke through, ending up inside of a strange room with some ancient-looking equipment off to the right, and a door to who-knew-where off to the left.
Ancient-looking equipment............THAT WAS IT!!!!! Yelling with joy and leaping to my feet, I dashed over to the old MD system and with shaking fingers went to insert the key that would save us all from impending destruction............
...........to find that it wasn't there. I searched and searched and searched, emptying every pocket and crawling around on the floor, sticking myself countless numbers of times on broken glass, but there was no trace of it. It must've fallen out of my pocket when I was falling through the air.
I fought against the choking noise that built up in my throat and headed back down the ladder towards Mira and Pax, hoping they would have some sort of clue as to what to do now.
I never noticed the gleam of gold that shone in the corner, with the symbol of Garden emblazoned across it's front.
**************************************************************************** *********
Pax scowled, kicked angrily at some debris."You mean to tell me you DROPPED THE DAMN KEY?!?!?!"
Mira bit back a sob."So now we're all gonna die...............? And Instructor T. and the commander are already...........?"
I mourned for our now-lost Garden. Everything was my fault. I'd had to go along with the commander, I'd had to get the stupid key, I had to prove myself by saving Garden on my own instead of evacuating everyone like I should have done, and I had to go alone on that damnable ladder. And now, there was no hope.
(Is that how all those SeeDs felt when the sorceress covered the world in darkness? When they saw how bleak our future would be, because of a..............)
(..............because of a SORCERESS.)I breathed deeply opened my eyes real wide. That was it! I knew how to save us all, and our Garden! Slowly, I turned towards Mira and Pax.
"There is another way,"I managed solemnly, invoking urgent stares from the both of them.
"How?!"
"What?!"
Taking a deep breath, I gave myself the courage to plunge on. Already, our surroundings were warping and shifting and changing."There's a lot you don't know about me, even you, Pax."Now we were standing on top of Garden, a feat no one had ever accomplished in their entire life, despite the efforts to try. Mira screamed and clutched Pax's arm. I went on."What I'm about to do'll kill me, I think, and if it doesn't, then by the time the truth gets out, I'll be as good as dead."
"But I want to save Garden, and all of you."Far off in the distance, I could see the missiles approaching. Down in the Great Plains, I could swarms of students and instructors scrambling towards the city. I smiled; Branton and Kendris had done their deed."I'd tell you, but we don't have the time. You're both smart, figure it out for yourselves. And don't hate me, for living a lie."
I could tell they were puzzled, but they didn't say a word, only waited with surprising patience for what I was about to do. If the MD system couldn't help Garden fly, then I would give it my best shot.
I closed my eyes and concentrated. I shut out the missiles, the cry of the wind, the yells of astonishment from down below as people saw what was going on up above. I smiled; one way or another, I'd meet Instructor T. and the commander real soon, now.
My concentration and power had reached their breaking points, I had to release it now, or they would simply fizzle out and I would die nonetheless."...................Float."
And as the missiles zoomed towards Garden, as hundreds of students and instructors watched from down below, and as Mira and Pax grabbed ahold of my arms as I collapsed from the strain, two giant pairs of angel wings attached themselves to Esthar Garden and hoisted it away and out of danger.
Not only did they move Garden out of danger, they also repelled the missiles with a simple flapping of wind, both beautiful and frightening at the same time. Float had always been one of my favorite spells. The missiles turned and launched themselves out into open air, I heard a giant splash as they landed somewhere in the ocean. No boom; that meant they'd steered clear of both the Horizon Bridge and Fisherman's Horizon.
That smile was still on my face; I'd done what I'd set out to do, and if I had to die from overexertion of my powers, I was glad that I'd done it in this.
I dropped down to my knees on the top of Garden, and Pax dropped down in front of me, face etched with worry, and yet also, with fear."Vienna..........you're a.............sorceress?"
I was still smiling, maybe I was delirious."Of course,"I said, and fell forward into his arms.
AN~Well, I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the lack of updates, between school and my social life(I have a social life now! Isn't it great?!) I haven't had much time for anything! Not only that, but I've got my novel to work on, and boy, is it hard! Don't expect another chapter for a really long time now, people! But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about dear old HICB! I know I've left off with cliffhangers at both of these chapters, but I will tell you that one of them will be tied up next chapter(just which one will, I don't know). You know the drill, reviews make me a happy sexual- education-panda! ~tiger~