Hello, reviewers! I received your comments, your criticism, and your thrown
knives (stop spells work marvels, as do calling spells.) In this chapter
I'll start off from Eikos' pov, then switch to either Clara's or
Catalina's. I'm willing to bet you can tell from their thoughts who's who,
along with the area around them. Not to mention the people/moogles/animals
they're with. I'm planning on making a sequel to this when I'm done, one
that's even stranger. Or, if you think that nothing can get stranger than
this story, just as strange. Tell me if u want it. Both twins will be
featured in this chapter, just not in the most expected way. I'm going to
force you to think about what happens, curse in squirrel, and cry by the
time I'm done with this story! Well. maybe not curse in squirrel. I'm still
working on the squeak talk. (that was a joke, in case u hadn't noticed!)
I'm also going to do more work on that gobbledygook language. The way it
actually sounds if it was really spoken is a lot more complicated than I
put down in my previous chapters, and I'll try to get that point across. I
am going to enjoy this!
She awakens to the sound of pounding on her door. "Lady Eiko of Lindblum, it is the time you requested to be awakened," A guard calls through the door. "I'm awake. Thank you for your time," She calls back. Hearing clanking footsteps going away, she groans. Three hours of sleep! It's six in the morning, and she has to be cheerful and polite, as protocol demands! This is ridiculous! She rushes to the wardrobe, hurrying to get dressed. Having refused dresses for years, she pulls on an elegant sweater Garnet had loaned her, with a pair of dress pants over them. These, at least, are well worn and excellent for the messes she gets herself into. Grabbing an apple from the bowl placed on a table beside her bed, she munches as she makes her way to the meeting hall. The designer who had it thought up was a genius. It consists of a large room with one door leading to it. The room can move on two tracks throughout the castle. One leads to the place they talk to prisoners, the other to a room with no entrances or exits whatsoever, five feet of wood between the wall and the nearest room. Only the King and Queen know how to operate it, as is custom. She opens the door and walks in. She immediately begins to wonder why she suddenly feels like a morning person next to Zidane and Garnet. Garnet looks as if she got into a fight with a paper shredder and lost, complete with bits of paper clinging all over her. Candy wrappers, to be exact. Zidane. cross a monkey, a scorpion, a Grand Dragon, a sock with a bad case of static cling, and an unshaved Necron to get a general (and less ugly) version of what he looks like. All the hairs on his head and tail are stood on end, not to mention a bluish tinge. Freya looks decent, but then again she slept most of the way to Alexandria. "Why is your hair blue?" She asks him. He grimaces. "I decided to take a shower before bed, and someone had put food coloring next to the shampoo," He replies. She stifles a laugh. One thing she had learned long ago was if you laugh at Zidane he thinks up a very nasty prank. She still remembers the time he got Quina to tell her that raw frog was cooked shrimp in red sauce. Steiner and Beatrix join them, both looking cheerful. They receive glares from all three royal ambassadors nearby. Vivi stumbles into the room last of all, and immediately sits down, leans against the wall, and closes his eyes. Garnet closes the door, and the room begins to move. It stops after a number of twists and turns, and Beatrix hands out mugs of coffee. After everyone drinks it down they feel a lot better, but as for looks. that's another story entirely. "Ok, lets fill Freya in on our meeting with the prisoner. Garnet, you go first. Start from the Castle." Zidane says. Garnet nods. "We were awakened that night by a fire alarm. We immediately dressed and ran to investigate the area, arriving at about the same time. We found the iron gates at both ends closed, and immediately hit the switch to open them. A few guards tumbled out, a majority were badly injured in the fire. A few almost died." Vivi joins in next, "We gave orders for the guards to evacuate the citizens, and were about to get out, when I noticed there was a large area of shadow near the fire. I stared at it, as it was unnatural. I pointed it out to the others, and Zidane walked up to it. H said if anyone was in there to come out, or else he'd stab them. When his dagger was nearly touching the area of shadow it. leaped out of the way, and Zidane started after it. Before we could react it leaped towards a window, smashed it, and jumped out. We ran over to the window to watch it, and a knight came up to tell us the damage report." Beatrix begins to tell her part of the story now, "I was outside the castle walls at this point, protecting the citizens from possible terrorist. One of my knights, Lokania, said she saw something in the eastern direction. I look, too, and see a trail through the grass. When they came down, I told them, and we set off with half of our soldiers accompanying us. The trail she made was hard to track, and we split up to surround the forest before going in. We found a clearing near the very center, but she jumped up when e were still a few feet away. She turned around slowly, and then cast a fire spell on a prepared campfire circle. I shouted to her to give up, that we had her surrounded, and we would attack if she did not give up. She shouted back the idea that we must have thought she was an idiot, and that she wasn't going anywhere. Lokania then shouted out a warning to us, that this was the one she fought. She said something about her speed. The girl then smirks and gives a slight toss of her head, to get her hair out of her eyes. She then smiled wider, a broad grin, and I asked her why she was smiling. I said if she thought she could win or escape, she'd be wrong. I then tell her about everyone, besides you Freya, that was helping us. They stepped forward to do battle alone. It was a relatively quick fight, starting with Zidane rushing forward while her back was turned. I have never seen someone jump so quickly, and then she started to spin in mid-air. One of her daggers made a few bloody scratches on his face, while another broke his arm. As soon as she touched the ground she dodged to the right to avoid Bahamut and left to avoid Flare, running smack into Eikos holy attack. While she was distracted with her own holy attack I had my knights use a slingshot to hit her in the top of her head, knocking her down. Somehow she manages to stay conscience, and tries to get up. After failing once she curses many times. They all walk over, myself included, and roll her over. We tell her the fire did nothing that could not be fixed, and I tied her up in chains. I then took her to the invincible and searched her for weapons. I found seventeen knives, a large amount of sleeping weed, and something in small brown clumps. We later found out it was food." Zidane joins in next, "While Beatrix and the knights took care of the girl, and we searched the clearing. We found nothing inside the tent but dirt, and only one material item of any use within the clearing. It was a toy flute with a name engraved in it. We later found the name was hers, and her name is Clara. When we got into the ship we inspected the weapons Beatrix had found, and fed her some sleeping weed. When we were sure she was asleep we removed the stone from her head, and healed her just slightly. Dagger was there when she woke up, and called us. I told her she had to cooperate to get anywhere, and her only response was to start struggling against the chains. I warn her not to struggle because Beatrix had tied excellent knots, and she answered me in another language. I don't know how to speak it. When we picked her up and carried her to the exit she broke through the chains, and we barely managed to keep her from escaping entirely. Steiner had to help us restrain her. We walked her to the cage and put her in." Eiko goes here, "During the night I had inspected her and found a sewn up cut. I now have a theory that she is wearing a disguise to cover her real features. We didn't learn anything except her name from the interview. We learned the most about her after it. After resting for a time she patted herself all over, most likely checking for knives we missed. The slight smile on her face was not at all reassuring. She ate some of that brown stuff. She then started to exercise, starting with sit-ups. She started out slowly and got much faster, until all that we could see was a blur. She then did pushups, starting with regular and then one handed. She then did pushups with each finger individually, with an exception to her pinkies. The both went at the same time. She flipped the bed over and did pushups with it on her back, then ran a ton of laps around the cage. She was barely out of breath by the time she had finished, and went to sleep leaning on the bars." Freya nods, having absorbed all this with some difficulty. "It's amazing. A little girl manages all of this without effort." Steiner says, sounding amazed. "The most nerve-wracking part is that she can speak a language completely unknown to every other known person. We never would have guessed it was a language had she not nearly told us," Comments Beatrix absently. "For now, let us focus on other business. I think the item of business most likely on everyone's mind," Comments Freya. "Have you checked the outer continent once more?" Zidane nods, and looks angry. "We've checked every continent over and over, but still nothing. Not even a body. Wherever that kidnapper's hidden them, he's good." "It's been years since our daughters were kidnapped. We haven't seen them or their kidnapper since," Says Garnet, sounding like she's about to cry. "Don't worry, Garnet. They've got to be somewhere, and we'll keep searching. I'll find Tanisha and Teresa, don't worry."
*** ***
I sit on the ground, eating the remains of Dragon jerky. Michimi, the little moogle I adopted a short time ago, at my side. He gnaws on a small amount of his own, and is saying kupo! He says that a lot. I'll have to break him of the habit. "Kupo, you never told me where we're going." He says. I smile, not a menacing smile, but the kind one I've practiced. "We're going to Alexandria." "Why, kupo?" I nearly laugh. He's cute. "The king and queen of Alexandria have imprisoned my partner. I've got to get her out." "Why, kupo? Is she nice?" My eyes twinkle at that description of her. "My partner is very nice, and always knows just the right thing to say when you're sad. I'd have to get her out safely even if she wasn't nice, though." Why, kupo? You could just kill her. You don't seem to mind doing that." I'm beginning to wonder just how idiotic these things are. This must be a young one, and not very smart yet. "She's my little sister." The moogle looks surprised, and uses his small wings to fly in a circle. "Kupo! So you have relatives. Is she as good with weapons as you are?" Yesterday I had started teaching my companion to use a bow, the weapon he preferred after I showed him the use of several others. "She's even better, but she's a bit too caring for our mission. I think that's why uncle sent us both." "You've mentioned this mission of yours a lot, kupo. Why were you sent to kill all those people, kupo? They're nice." I begin to state the reason, and then stop myself. "Can't tell ya that." "Why not, Kupo?" "Told not to." "By who?" "My Uncle." "What was your uncles name, kupo?" "Kuja." The moogle falls back with a squeal. "He died 14 years ago, kupo!! He was killed by-" "King Zidane, Queen Garnet, Princess Eiko, Qu Quina, Dragon Knight Freya, Knight Steiner, Black Mage Vivi, and Bodyguard Amarant." "How did you know, Kupo???!!" "I had to sit through a tutorial on them before coming. Trust me, I could recite a list of uninteresting things about them easily." "Cool, Kupo!" "I'm glad you think so. Now, let's get on the road." "But it's late. We should rest, Kupo." "Not until it's too dark to see, Michimi. Let's get going."
***(u c the dream again with everything clearer u can almost tell who voices blong 2)***
I wake up quickly as usual, every sense alert. I never sleep past sunup, and my internal alarm clock is telling me something's amiss. Then I feel the cage bars and remember. They must've taken the blanket off a minute ago, and my body didn't recognize the sudden large amount of light entering the cage, instead of a gradual progression into light. Instinct. I'm going to have to work on breaking that habit. I get up and stretch. I see the knights below me. They look nervous. I also notice there is half as many guarding me now. Half are asleep at any given time, so where's the rest of them? I hear a sound very similar to the rusty knights yelling, and smile to myself. He must be training the missing soldiers on an improved schedule now, not that it'll make any difference. He'll never train them as hard as I've been trained, so he might as well give up.
Wow!!!! That's a lot of words!!! There would be more, but I won't b able to work on it tomorrow. I hope you like(d) it, and review!!!
She awakens to the sound of pounding on her door. "Lady Eiko of Lindblum, it is the time you requested to be awakened," A guard calls through the door. "I'm awake. Thank you for your time," She calls back. Hearing clanking footsteps going away, she groans. Three hours of sleep! It's six in the morning, and she has to be cheerful and polite, as protocol demands! This is ridiculous! She rushes to the wardrobe, hurrying to get dressed. Having refused dresses for years, she pulls on an elegant sweater Garnet had loaned her, with a pair of dress pants over them. These, at least, are well worn and excellent for the messes she gets herself into. Grabbing an apple from the bowl placed on a table beside her bed, she munches as she makes her way to the meeting hall. The designer who had it thought up was a genius. It consists of a large room with one door leading to it. The room can move on two tracks throughout the castle. One leads to the place they talk to prisoners, the other to a room with no entrances or exits whatsoever, five feet of wood between the wall and the nearest room. Only the King and Queen know how to operate it, as is custom. She opens the door and walks in. She immediately begins to wonder why she suddenly feels like a morning person next to Zidane and Garnet. Garnet looks as if she got into a fight with a paper shredder and lost, complete with bits of paper clinging all over her. Candy wrappers, to be exact. Zidane. cross a monkey, a scorpion, a Grand Dragon, a sock with a bad case of static cling, and an unshaved Necron to get a general (and less ugly) version of what he looks like. All the hairs on his head and tail are stood on end, not to mention a bluish tinge. Freya looks decent, but then again she slept most of the way to Alexandria. "Why is your hair blue?" She asks him. He grimaces. "I decided to take a shower before bed, and someone had put food coloring next to the shampoo," He replies. She stifles a laugh. One thing she had learned long ago was if you laugh at Zidane he thinks up a very nasty prank. She still remembers the time he got Quina to tell her that raw frog was cooked shrimp in red sauce. Steiner and Beatrix join them, both looking cheerful. They receive glares from all three royal ambassadors nearby. Vivi stumbles into the room last of all, and immediately sits down, leans against the wall, and closes his eyes. Garnet closes the door, and the room begins to move. It stops after a number of twists and turns, and Beatrix hands out mugs of coffee. After everyone drinks it down they feel a lot better, but as for looks. that's another story entirely. "Ok, lets fill Freya in on our meeting with the prisoner. Garnet, you go first. Start from the Castle." Zidane says. Garnet nods. "We were awakened that night by a fire alarm. We immediately dressed and ran to investigate the area, arriving at about the same time. We found the iron gates at both ends closed, and immediately hit the switch to open them. A few guards tumbled out, a majority were badly injured in the fire. A few almost died." Vivi joins in next, "We gave orders for the guards to evacuate the citizens, and were about to get out, when I noticed there was a large area of shadow near the fire. I stared at it, as it was unnatural. I pointed it out to the others, and Zidane walked up to it. H said if anyone was in there to come out, or else he'd stab them. When his dagger was nearly touching the area of shadow it. leaped out of the way, and Zidane started after it. Before we could react it leaped towards a window, smashed it, and jumped out. We ran over to the window to watch it, and a knight came up to tell us the damage report." Beatrix begins to tell her part of the story now, "I was outside the castle walls at this point, protecting the citizens from possible terrorist. One of my knights, Lokania, said she saw something in the eastern direction. I look, too, and see a trail through the grass. When they came down, I told them, and we set off with half of our soldiers accompanying us. The trail she made was hard to track, and we split up to surround the forest before going in. We found a clearing near the very center, but she jumped up when e were still a few feet away. She turned around slowly, and then cast a fire spell on a prepared campfire circle. I shouted to her to give up, that we had her surrounded, and we would attack if she did not give up. She shouted back the idea that we must have thought she was an idiot, and that she wasn't going anywhere. Lokania then shouted out a warning to us, that this was the one she fought. She said something about her speed. The girl then smirks and gives a slight toss of her head, to get her hair out of her eyes. She then smiled wider, a broad grin, and I asked her why she was smiling. I said if she thought she could win or escape, she'd be wrong. I then tell her about everyone, besides you Freya, that was helping us. They stepped forward to do battle alone. It was a relatively quick fight, starting with Zidane rushing forward while her back was turned. I have never seen someone jump so quickly, and then she started to spin in mid-air. One of her daggers made a few bloody scratches on his face, while another broke his arm. As soon as she touched the ground she dodged to the right to avoid Bahamut and left to avoid Flare, running smack into Eikos holy attack. While she was distracted with her own holy attack I had my knights use a slingshot to hit her in the top of her head, knocking her down. Somehow she manages to stay conscience, and tries to get up. After failing once she curses many times. They all walk over, myself included, and roll her over. We tell her the fire did nothing that could not be fixed, and I tied her up in chains. I then took her to the invincible and searched her for weapons. I found seventeen knives, a large amount of sleeping weed, and something in small brown clumps. We later found out it was food." Zidane joins in next, "While Beatrix and the knights took care of the girl, and we searched the clearing. We found nothing inside the tent but dirt, and only one material item of any use within the clearing. It was a toy flute with a name engraved in it. We later found the name was hers, and her name is Clara. When we got into the ship we inspected the weapons Beatrix had found, and fed her some sleeping weed. When we were sure she was asleep we removed the stone from her head, and healed her just slightly. Dagger was there when she woke up, and called us. I told her she had to cooperate to get anywhere, and her only response was to start struggling against the chains. I warn her not to struggle because Beatrix had tied excellent knots, and she answered me in another language. I don't know how to speak it. When we picked her up and carried her to the exit she broke through the chains, and we barely managed to keep her from escaping entirely. Steiner had to help us restrain her. We walked her to the cage and put her in." Eiko goes here, "During the night I had inspected her and found a sewn up cut. I now have a theory that she is wearing a disguise to cover her real features. We didn't learn anything except her name from the interview. We learned the most about her after it. After resting for a time she patted herself all over, most likely checking for knives we missed. The slight smile on her face was not at all reassuring. She ate some of that brown stuff. She then started to exercise, starting with sit-ups. She started out slowly and got much faster, until all that we could see was a blur. She then did pushups, starting with regular and then one handed. She then did pushups with each finger individually, with an exception to her pinkies. The both went at the same time. She flipped the bed over and did pushups with it on her back, then ran a ton of laps around the cage. She was barely out of breath by the time she had finished, and went to sleep leaning on the bars." Freya nods, having absorbed all this with some difficulty. "It's amazing. A little girl manages all of this without effort." Steiner says, sounding amazed. "The most nerve-wracking part is that she can speak a language completely unknown to every other known person. We never would have guessed it was a language had she not nearly told us," Comments Beatrix absently. "For now, let us focus on other business. I think the item of business most likely on everyone's mind," Comments Freya. "Have you checked the outer continent once more?" Zidane nods, and looks angry. "We've checked every continent over and over, but still nothing. Not even a body. Wherever that kidnapper's hidden them, he's good." "It's been years since our daughters were kidnapped. We haven't seen them or their kidnapper since," Says Garnet, sounding like she's about to cry. "Don't worry, Garnet. They've got to be somewhere, and we'll keep searching. I'll find Tanisha and Teresa, don't worry."
*** ***
I sit on the ground, eating the remains of Dragon jerky. Michimi, the little moogle I adopted a short time ago, at my side. He gnaws on a small amount of his own, and is saying kupo! He says that a lot. I'll have to break him of the habit. "Kupo, you never told me where we're going." He says. I smile, not a menacing smile, but the kind one I've practiced. "We're going to Alexandria." "Why, kupo?" I nearly laugh. He's cute. "The king and queen of Alexandria have imprisoned my partner. I've got to get her out." "Why, kupo? Is she nice?" My eyes twinkle at that description of her. "My partner is very nice, and always knows just the right thing to say when you're sad. I'd have to get her out safely even if she wasn't nice, though." Why, kupo? You could just kill her. You don't seem to mind doing that." I'm beginning to wonder just how idiotic these things are. This must be a young one, and not very smart yet. "She's my little sister." The moogle looks surprised, and uses his small wings to fly in a circle. "Kupo! So you have relatives. Is she as good with weapons as you are?" Yesterday I had started teaching my companion to use a bow, the weapon he preferred after I showed him the use of several others. "She's even better, but she's a bit too caring for our mission. I think that's why uncle sent us both." "You've mentioned this mission of yours a lot, kupo. Why were you sent to kill all those people, kupo? They're nice." I begin to state the reason, and then stop myself. "Can't tell ya that." "Why not, Kupo?" "Told not to." "By who?" "My Uncle." "What was your uncles name, kupo?" "Kuja." The moogle falls back with a squeal. "He died 14 years ago, kupo!! He was killed by-" "King Zidane, Queen Garnet, Princess Eiko, Qu Quina, Dragon Knight Freya, Knight Steiner, Black Mage Vivi, and Bodyguard Amarant." "How did you know, Kupo???!!" "I had to sit through a tutorial on them before coming. Trust me, I could recite a list of uninteresting things about them easily." "Cool, Kupo!" "I'm glad you think so. Now, let's get on the road." "But it's late. We should rest, Kupo." "Not until it's too dark to see, Michimi. Let's get going."
***(u c the dream again with everything clearer u can almost tell who voices blong 2)***
I wake up quickly as usual, every sense alert. I never sleep past sunup, and my internal alarm clock is telling me something's amiss. Then I feel the cage bars and remember. They must've taken the blanket off a minute ago, and my body didn't recognize the sudden large amount of light entering the cage, instead of a gradual progression into light. Instinct. I'm going to have to work on breaking that habit. I get up and stretch. I see the knights below me. They look nervous. I also notice there is half as many guarding me now. Half are asleep at any given time, so where's the rest of them? I hear a sound very similar to the rusty knights yelling, and smile to myself. He must be training the missing soldiers on an improved schedule now, not that it'll make any difference. He'll never train them as hard as I've been trained, so he might as well give up.
Wow!!!! That's a lot of words!!! There would be more, but I won't b able to work on it tomorrow. I hope you like(d) it, and review!!!
