Ch 14 – Women Only
Dreams…
Dreams are what we make of them. What one person thinks of a dream could mean something completely different to another person. It's all about perspective. The perspective of one person of the world may not be the perspective of the world through the eyes of a different person.
So, when Zell turned, watching, as Angel was decapitated before being disintegrated by the ultra-powerful blast of a Flare, and realised that the person who had fired the blast was him…
Well, he freaked.
* * *
He awoke screaming, sitting straight up in his booth, sweat glistening on his face as his eyes shot open to look about him, assessing his situation.
This isn't the Balamb Infirmary…and this isn't my bedroom. Foreign environment. Crisps. I'm still with the Crisps.
He looked down at his body, contained in some kind of capsule-like bed. Numerous wires and tubes ran out of various needles and measuring tabs placed hap-hazardly around his chest and arms. The metallic walls of his bed looked menacingly clean, and as he looked into them, blinking to adjust his blurry vision, he saw his reflection.
And blanched, his face going completely white.
This was the problem, however, seeing as the left side of his face was usually covered in a dark black tattoo.
Usually.
The bastards have taken my tattoo!! Zell's mind screamed.
He looked up, wide-eyed, as a woman in a flowing white gown walked into the room. "Ah, you're awake. And how are you feeling?" She said politely as she walked over to the bed.
Zell reacted instantly. Flipping up and over the side of the bed, his had his arm encircled around the woman's neck and her arms bent behind her body painfully in a sleeper hold. His mind was in a whirl as he tried to push through the fog that encircled it. The sudden rush out of the bed hadn't helped either – whatever they had been giving him wasn't doing his rudimentary motor skills any good, and he staggered back with the woman held in his arms to slam into the bed, leaning against it, his breaths coming out in ragged gasps.
The woman cried out in pain, and Zell instantly withdrew his arm around her throat and clamped her mouth shut.
Blinking hard and shaking his head in a vain attempt to reshuffle his mind, he listened hard, his eyes wide open even though the light stabbed into them like needles.
Besides his own shaky breaths and the girl's muffled cries, he heard nothing.
He looked down at the girl. She was dressed in what Zell would interpret as an Estharian dress, the flowing white robes much like a regular Estharian house garment. She looked up at him with brown eyes filled with fear and tears, the look begging him to let go. He was exerting a little too much pressure, and relaxed a little, seeing that she was pretty much defenceless.
He shot a look at the doorway, realising that it was the standard slide-door – and the opening-stud was winking an inviting green. Quickly pushing the girl to the ground, he quickly ran to the door and moved through it, escaping the room in a flash.
The girl rubbed her throat and coughed, watching him go timidly.
* * *
Once outside the room Zell's surroundings weren't any clearer.
Everything was so damned white – it was like one of those teeth-cleaning ads where the people had those damned white teeth and danced around in those white backgrounds. Zell hated those ads, and avoided them with a vengence.
The glaring starkness of everything wasn't helping his eyesight, and he leaned his back against the door, having to double over and lean on his knees, his energy seeming to be slowly draining away.
Looking down at his body, he realised that he still had most of the tubes and needles in him, and he quickly ripped them out, throwing them viciously to the ground. He still didn't know what they had given him – he hoped it hadn't been any kind of truth serum. Those ones sucked. But whatever it was, it was slowing him down, and he somehow figured that he needed to be alert in this strange place.
He was only dressed in a white pair of shorts, and as he walked down the corridor – hugging the wall to support his weight – he turned a corner to see more people coming his way.
He quickly ducked behind the corner again, crouching low. He had come to a T-junction – and though he didn't see anybody else coming in either of the other directions, he expected people to be coming any time soon.
The two women walked straight past him, wrapped in some kind of excited conversation between them, something about a boy who had been recently admitted to a room near them. Zell didn't pay them any heed as he quickly sneaked behind them, hoping to Hyne that they didn't look behind them as he spied another door.
Moving over to it, he palmed it open and ducked inside, shutting the door behind him. The room was almost completely pitch black, and finally he felt a little safe…
The lights came on suddenly with a loud hum, causing him to swing – to see something that would take his breath away.
It was the Gotland Peninsula, the area where the Tomb Of The Unknown King was. Straight flat fields of grass and flowers surrounded him for miles, the blue sky peppered with the occasional fluffy cloud. The sun shoe brightly, blinding him momentarily as he blinked his watery eyes, trying to adjust them to the sudden light. A light breeze helped as it picked up, the waves of the wind lapping over the wild grass, making it look like a rolling sea of green.
The stony ruins of the Tomb lay just a few yards to Zell's north, and Zell made his way there slowly, taking his time as he looked around. To his left a few Bite Bugs hovered playfully in the air, darting around each other like small children. He also spied a group of Gaylas as they flew across the sky in a V formation. Must be mating season…He found himself thinking…before shaking his head and raising his hands to cover his face. Okay. Backtrack. What the hell happened?
Arch. Crisps. Captured. Fight. Got ass whooped. Repercussions from…what was it? Knocking…Knocking On Heaven's Door? Damn…took me a while but I finally figured it out. But, where am I now? Obviously not Crisp…I don't think grass grows on Crisp…and defiantly not Te'Get, coz I can only see one sun…
He had finally reached the ruins, and sat down on one of the separate stones that had been blasted out of the ancient walls in some age-old battle from way before he was born. Now seated, he placed his head in his hands and sighed, his mind trying to figure out what the hell was going on. But…if this is the Tomb then when did we get back to Gaia? I don't remember anything about going through an Arch…just something about…Immortals?
"Ah, there you are."
He was up on his feet in an instant – before staggering back and sitting down again heavily, squinting up as another woman in a pure-white gown approached him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Where…where the hell am I?" He groaned, the effort to talk being more strenuous then he thought.
The woman lifted him up gently, draping his arm over her shoulder and leading him over to the small waterfall just outside the entrance to the tomb. "You're in the holodeck right now. It must've taken a mental reading of your most peaceful places and placed you in one."
Zell crouched next to the waterfall and cupped his hands under it before drinking greedily, gulping the water down and letting it spill over his lips to trail down his chin. The cool, fresh mountain spring helped, and he felt his vision clearing slightly as he looked up at his companion.
She looked down at him curiously with slightly worried blue eyes, her golden blond hair flowing around her beautiful face naturally. She held herself up well, her figure beneath the robe obviously showing that she kept in shape. She didn't look a day over eighteen either, the girlish charm that most teenagers held evident in that way she stood – with both hands clasped behind her back and her weight shifted slightly onto her right leg. Zell couldn't help but ask this beautiful woman – "I'm not dead, am I?"
"Oh my no." The woman replied in an accent that Zell couldn't place. "You were very close…but no. You're not dead."
"Oh good. You're not an angel then…" Zell said promptly, before looking up at her again. "Then…who are you?"
The woman giggled slightly, raising a hand to her full lips to stop herself. "My, you mustn't have woken very well…"
"Well, the last place I was in wasn't exactly the nicest place to be. You'll forgive me if I'm a little edgy."
She nodded curtly. "Of course." Moving over to a small bench beside the little waterfall she sat down gracefully, looking about herself in amazement. "Your world must be an amazing place…so full of life." She brushed her hand over the green moss covering the bench on which she sat and sighed. "It's a shame this is just a copy…"
Zell stood slowly, wavering slightly as he rose to his feet – but steadying himself. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you? Where am I? And more importantly, where are my friends?"
The woman smiled up at him. "Loyal…just like Rinoa said." She stood up then, moving so they faced each other, and bowed slightly. "My name is Aries Jordan. You are in the Immortal Universe. Your friends are fine and are recuperating from their escape from the Crisp Universe. Believe me, you needed the rest."
Zell blinked, frowning and shaking his head before placing a hand on it, losing his balance once more. "Its…it's all so blurry…I cant think straight…"
"Your body was a mess when you came in." Aries said softly, taking Zell by the hand and leading him over to the bench where she sat him down gently, before sitting next to him. "You had lost almost ninety percent of your skin to massive burns, and your left arm had been cut to shreds in a way I have never seen before. It's not surprising you are feeling a little…uneasy due to the procedures you've been through."
Procedures? "What have you done to me?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.
Aries smiled at him. "Our universe is eons ahead of yours in the field of technology, Mr. Dincht. Our medical procedures have advanced so much that we can repair any wound, cure any illness. We were even able to rid you of that ugly black birthmark on the side of your face!"
Zell raised a hand to the left side of his face and looked at her wide-eyed, suddenly remembering the alien face staring back at him in the reflection of the metallic bed-wall. "My tattoo! You took my tattoo!! Why would you want to do that?!"
His words must've been a little harsher then he had meant, for Aries looked down at her hands suddenly, her words coming out meekly. "I thought you would've been pleased…we would have had to replace the skin there anyways…"
Zell sighed, before looking down at his hands too, his eyes still burning. "I'm…I'm sorry for shouting. You've…obviously saved my life. Hell, you saved all our lives! I'm…we're in your debt."
She looked up at him then, smiling at him warmly. He didn't know why, but he felt a kind of friendly glow coming off the girl, and Zell smiled back at her, before blinking hard, tears coming to his eyes once more. "Dammit…" He muttered. "Did you do something to my eyes as well?"
"Yes. We had to replace them with new ones. It'll take a few hours until the stinging dies down."
Zell frowned at that. "You…replaced them? What, you had some fresh ones sitting in the fridge marked 'ready for use'?"
Aries giggled again. "No…we just copied the basic tissue structure of your original ones and made duplicates."
Zell frowned at that too…before shrugging. "Bugger it, I give up. I'm too tired to think about this kinda stuff right now."
"Then we'd best get you back to your room, Mr. Dincht. We can monitor your progress from there…although from the way you decided to leave, you seem to be moving along faster then usual."
Zell allowed himself to be pulled up and lead over to the area which he first came in, scratching the back of his neck, embarrassed. "Oh, gods, I'm so sorry! Where'd that nurse go, I gotta apologise!!"
Aries giggled again as she opened up an invisible door, the white light blinding Zell once more. "I'm afraid you've frightened her off now. I doubt she'll be talking to any of your male team-mates in a while."
"What? What did they do?"
Her voice became slightly wistful. "Oh, nothing. It's just that…our race hasn't seen a male in so long…"
Zell looked down at her with his watering eyes as she smiled up at him, frowning. "Haven't seen a male…ah, fuck it. I need more sleep."
* * *
Rinoa looked up as Aries walked into the hospital room, smiling at the woman as she sat down in the chair next to the young Sorceress. "How's Zell?"
Aries' smile grew a little bigger as she nodded slowly. "Energetic…for a man who shouldn't be able to move. Your kind has an amazingly high threshold for pain. I was surprised that he could stand, let alone knock down Tessa and make it all the way to the holodeck."
Rinoa smiled sadly. "Well, that's Zell for you…he was never one to sit around in bed for very long…" She looked down at the sleeping form of Squall, her hand tightly wrapped in his. "How…how long until…"
"He wakes? He should wake any time now. As long as you remind him not to move. He lost a lot more blood and muscle tissue then Mr. Dincht and Mr. Garner, so the procedure will take a few more hours to full set in."
"I cant thank you enough for helping us...it's a miracle." Rinoa said, looking over at the golden-haired beauty sitting next to her.
Rinoa had stumbled through the Arch with Zell, covered in dirt, her face streaked with glowing white tears, to find herself surrounded by woman dressed completely in white. The moon had shone down on the ragged bunch lying on the grass surrounding the Arch, and Rinoa had dumped Zell next to the others before turning to the women, her wings folding behind her as she turned her smoking gaze towards them. She hadn't known what to expect as the women approached her, wide-eyed – and asked if she was okay.
She had sat down on the ground then, her wings unfolding erratically behind her as she cried out loud, the glowing tears streaming down her face as the woman had surrounded her, taking her up by the hand and leading her off, the winged Sorceress crying like a baby as she was led from the Arch as the blue portal simple disappeared behind her, leaving the weathered stone Arch.
When she had woken up next she had been given clean clothes and nourishing food, doted on almost hand and foot, before Aries had talked to her.
After explaining a little about their history and how advanced their medical technology had been, Aries then took her to see Squall – where she stayed, Aries bringing her food as she sat by her Knight's side, her eyes almost constantly fixed on his sleeping features.
That had been two days ago, and she was waiting for Squall to wake. Trish came to visit every now and then, bursting with excitement as she described the tall shining buildings and the flourishing wildlife, as well as the amazing people. She looked so happy, all smiles, a look that Rinoa had forgotten that the thief had had within the duration of the mission. She always looked so distant, seeming to thinking almost all the time…
She heard no word from Emily, but from what Aries had told her, Emily had been taking in the sights too, unusually flanked by Trish, who seemed to be trying to pull her from her shell. Rinoa had asked Trish about this the last time she visited – but Trish just smiled at the Sorceress. "I was thinking about Squall, and how he's always so quiet…except when you're around. He actually smiles when you're around. So I figured, if Em had a friend she could talk to, then she'd relax a little more, open up a bit. She seems to respect me a little for some reason…maybe cause we both have unique Blues, I dunno…"
"So, have you made any progress?"
"A little. Yesterday she actually tried to lose me in a crowd – but all these women wear are white, so it wasn't hard to find her again. But after I put my foot down, we started to talk a little…"
Rinoa had smiled sadly, before looking down at Squall. "Well…make sure you don't push her too hard. From what Zell told me she's got some…problems."
Trish frowned at the remark. "Oh, come on. I knew they fought and all, but why do they hate each other so much? I mean, it's not like they're enemies or anything."
Rinoa had chuckled at that. "Lets just say Zell doesn't think very highly of her…which is understandable, seeing as what she did."
"So what did she do?! Why wont anybody tell me!!"
Rinoa had shrugged and dropped the subject.
Aries now smiled at her, sitting exactly where the thief had been sitting not a few hours ago, and waved her hand dismissively. "Oh no. You don't need to thank us. We're a peaceful race. We help people who are needy."
Rinoa nodded, looking down at the sleeping Squall…before looking back up at Aries. She had wanted to ask the question, but didn't know how to word it properly. What would Squall ask? She thought to herself. He'd probably think and think about it until he's completely stressed out, then ask just to get it over with. No, I suppose I'll pull a Zell and be blunt. "So…a race composed entirely of women?" Rinoa asked almost nonchalantly. "How…er…how do you…"
"How do we survive without anybody to spread out genes?" Aries finished, her grin large on her pretty face. "Its…a little complicated…but I'll try to tell you our story."
Aries launched into a history lesson once more, starting from the very beginning. "A few eons ago our race consisted of males and females respectively, and I'm very sure that it was much like your world, from what you told me – man, more or less, ruled over woman."
"I suppose it would have been much like your world in the respect that equality was becoming rampant too. But…man, as always, needed to flew their muscles, so they fought their wars."
"As the years passed and the technology grew, more and more ways to kill each other were becoming apparent to the males. They began with experiments regarding the energy fields surrounding us all – you call it paramagic. When they were finished with those experiments, they began to study the DNA sequences of our people, trying to find out how to eradicate their enemies on the genetic level."
"As these experiments grew and flourished, many medical and living standards were becoming extinct for better and improved ones – diseases were being eradicated by the dozens per day, people were having to visit hospitals less and less – until, finally, the scientists figured out the cure for dying."
"Now, our race, back then, were obviously warring with each other – and not only did the sides with medical advancements flourish, but their weaponry divisions were becoming more and more ruthless. Soon we were able to destroy each other with a simple press of a switch and then poof – the person targeted would vanish in a puff of atoms. But the introduction of immortality changed that."
"People were dying and coming right back, and of course, our race was breeding the whole time. Soon, the entire planet was becoming full, the cities not being able to withstand the sheer numbers of the people living in them. Our recycle system was introduced just around the time that the boom was taking off, so we weren't short of food – but soon the numbers outweighed the demand."
"So, finally, a radical neutral country figured out a way to shorten the load a little – namely eradicating the population of the world completely. These suicidal people were completely insane, and worse, were well organised, and in no time they had found a way to kill off every single being on the planet in less then a day, using a virus which attacked the body from the skin and evaporated it completely. They called the virus 'Freedom'."
"But at the last second somebody switched the formula of Freedom in a way that nobody could tell who would survive or not. Nobody really knew what the side-effects would be, so in an insane act of desperation, these terrorists decided to go along with the initial plan and take their chances. A majority of the planets population being wiped out was a little less then what they were aiming for, but Freedom would still do it's job."
"To tell the truth, I can't remember how they spread it so quickly. Some claim that they were able to place canisters of Freedom all over the major food points in all the cities of the world, others think that it was a mass carpet spraying using military jets…either way, the terrorists got their wish, and genocide occurred…to the male population."
"We recently found out that Freedom had been altered in such a way that it only attacked the humans with the Y chromosome in their DNA, thus eradicating all the males of our species. Obviously, this was a major blow to the terrorists – they had only managed to halve the population, thus, in their eyes, failing miserably. I believe they all committed suicide afterwards."
"So, with all the males gone, all the females were alone. Nobody to spread their genes, nobody to allow diversity to roam in our civilisation. What you see before you is how everything was thousands of years ago – we haven't progressed a single step since that day in relations to culture. We were, however, able to form peace treaties with all the other countries on the planet. There is no more war, and since there are no babies to feed and the recyclers can sustain us indefinitely, there is no poverty. We did away with the money system years ago, and now concentrate on things like music, drama, science – something to add a little diversity to our lives."
"But I've been babbling…to answer your question…I'd have to show you."
Rinoa frowned, watching as Aries stood and beckoned for her to follow. "Come."
Enraptured by the amazing story told to her by the beautiful woman, Rinoa stood almost immediately – pausing only to kiss Squall on the cheek and to whisper a, "Wait for me," before following Aries out of the small room.
* * *
They had walked only a little way before coming to a door marked with the strange symbols of the Immortal's language. It still surprised Rinoa that, no matter where they went, all the races spoke Giain…of course, they had counter-measures for those kinds of situations – Rinoa remembered Squall muttering something about Julius having some kind of program in his little computer – but thankfully they hadn't needed to use it.
Aries pulled her hands from where she had tucked them in her robes and pressed her hand against a little plate to the side of the door. The plate lit up a bright green, and the door slid open, allowing them acess to a small room.
"This is the de-con room…" Aries said as the door slid shut behind them noiselessly. "See the tiny holes on the walls and ceiling? They blow refined air onto the people within the room, de-contaminating their clothing and skin. The procedure ought to only last a few seconds…"
Rinoa cocked an eyebrow and pushed her hair back from where it was getting in her eyes. "What air? I don't feel anything?"
Aries simply stood, silent, before looking up at Rinoa. "All done. This way."
Rinoa, feeling slightly confused, followed Aries as another door on the other side of the room slid open, this one allowing them into another small room, this one about the size of a living room. Large, person-sized capsules lined the walls, some with their doors open, others closed, occupied by the shrouded figures behind the smoked glass.
The Sorceress walked up to an occupied one, looking in amazement as she traced her hand down the glass. "What…what are they?"
Aries frowned. "It's hard to put into words…I suppose you could call them incubation chambers?"
"What do they do?"
Aries walked up to Rinoa, standing beside her and looking at the chamber with her. "Repair lost or damaged tissue. Replaces exhausted cells. Almost anything that concerns the human body. As long as we have access to these, we cannot die. As soon as a person becomes old, they simply step into a chamber and in a few days they are good as new. It's called Rebirth."
Rinoa blinked at Aries, wide-eyed. "You're kidding!!"
"Why would I? We aren't called Immortals for a reason."
Rinoa shook her head. "It's…unbelievable. To tell the truth, I didn't really think this kind of thing was possible.."
Aries shrugged and smile simply. "It is for us."
Rinoa looked down at her feet. "It…it must be sad…knowing that you can do all this…and not being able to have your loved one beside you…"
"What do you mean? I don't understand?" The Immortal said, cocking her head to the side and frowning in confusion.
Rinoa looked up, smiling shyly. "You know…not having your boyfriend by your side…"
"Oh, I was only a child when Freedom hit our people. I grew up in a woman's society."
"So…you have a girlfriend?"
Aries smiled again. "Yes. We've been together for almost three thousand year now. Even the people who had husbands or boyfriends eventually turned to other woman for comfort. It is very rare that a woman doesn't have a mate now. My kind of relationship isn't so rare, in fact we have people who have been together from the beginning!"
Rinoa stared at the woman standing beside her. Even with all my powers I could never accomplish what she's been doing her entire life… "But…what about children?"
Aries looked down sadly. "The downside of our race…I said before, our culture hasn't really progressed much since the Freedom was released. There have been no new minds to help advance our race – all we have are the same people, the same minds. There is only so much the one person can advance, even with the Rebirth technology." She looked at Rinoa once more. "That is why we are so excited. We finally have something to look forward to, now that you are here."
Rinoa blinked, suddenly wary. "Um…I don't think you understand. Our own world will be under attack soon by someone…very bad. As soon as the boys are able to get going we'll have to leave."
Aries looked down at the ground once more. "Oh…that's sad. I was hoping…" Her voice trailed off as a distant look came over her beautiful features.
Rinoa looked at the girl, frowning slightly. "What? What were you hoping?"
Aries looked up once more, before looking down again. She wrung her hands together, obviously anxious to be out with something that had been plaguing her. "Well…to be blunt…we were hoping that the boys would…"
Her words were suddenly cut short as something beeped in her robes. Aries looked almost relieved as she reached into her folds and withdrew a small device, activating it. The device looked like an ordinary black mobile phone, except almost completely flat. Aries held it in her hand and pressed a button, and a small screen seemed to unfold from the top of the device, revealing another woman's face. "Grand Mistress." The woman said with reverence.
"Hello Trinity." Aries greeted with a smile. "How are they doing?"
"They're almost awake now. I'm calling to see if madam Heartilly would like to be present when Mr. Leonhart awoke. She was very adamant about being present."
Aries looked up at Rinoa, not needing to ask as the Sorceress nodded idiotically and almost ran to the door. "We're in the Rebirth chambers right now. We will be there promptly." She said, before switching the phone off.
Walking next to Rinoa, she palmed the door open, and they both walked in. The door slid shut behind them as Rinoa turned to Aries. "What did she mean by 'Grand Mistress.'"
Aries smiled. "Even societies of woman need leaders. Doctors profiled me as a child before Freedom hit, and my profile revealed that I would be good as a leader, political or otherwise. I raised to the Grand Mistress status just a few millennia ago. I will remain so until a new Grand Mistress is chosen to success me. It provides a little diversity in our way of life then."
* * *
Rinoa ran to Squall's bed as the door opened, Aries walking silently in and closing the door behind them as the Sorceress ran to her Knight, taking up his hand. She immediately looked up at the nurse beside her, her tone full of worry. "Is he still okay? He didn't wake did he? I'm not late, am I?"
The nurse smiled down at the worried woman. "He hasn't woken. In fact, he should wake just about…"
Her voice trailed off as the warrior opened his eyes, looking about the room, his cold grey eyes tracing across the foreign environment with no reactions whatsoever. As soon as his eyes locked onto Rinoa's, however, a small smile spread across his lips. "Hey." He murmured.
Rinoa burst into tears, jumping up and flinging her arms around the gunblader's neck, squeezing the life out of him. "Oh Squall I was so worried you almost died but we came through the Arch and we were saved by these nice ladies although they speak a bit weird and they dress funny but that's cool because they have so much cool stuff and they cant die! Isn't that amazing they just keep popping back up gods it's good to hear your voice again how do you feel are you alright can I get you anything…"
Squall pried her arms off from around his neck and pushed her away slightly, looking into her eyes. "Rin…calm down. I just woke up. I need to gather my bearings."
Rinoa nodded meekly and sat back down in her chair, the tears still flowing as she gripped his hand defiantly, as if to never let go.
Squall looked around the room and spied Aries, who was standing near the door, seeming not to want to come any closer. Squall narrowed his eyes in thought, and grunted in surprise, as she seemed to cringe away from his gaze. She's…afraid? "You can come closer. I wont hurt you." He said slowly, gently, in his usual stoic voice.
She walked a little closer, seeming hesitant. "I…I apologise. You are the second male I have ever talked to in a long, long time. You will forgive me if the comparisons between the two of you are…vast."
"You mean Zell?" Squall asked.
Aries nodded in reply.
"You needn't fear either Zell or me. We mean you no harm. And I must apologise in advance for anything Zell's done since he's awoken." Squall narrowed his eyes. "He seems to have a tendency for putting more then his foot into things."
"I have met Mr. Dincht. He was still under the influence of the anaesthetics we gave him…but I gathered that he is a gentle soul."
Squall snorted the comment with a smile. "Zell is far from gentle in my opinion…but he has a good heart." He frowned slightly. "Where am I?"
* * *
Zell sat on the edge of the bed, feeling sorry for himself. I didn't mean to hurt the poor girl! Now these people are probably gonna hate me…dammit, why do I always put my foot into things!!
His body had only just shrugged off the effect of the anaesthetics, and his eyes had almost comepltly recovered. He didn't know what to do now, however. The woman who had lead him back had disabled the opening stud, effectively imprisoning him. Now that his strength was back, however, he knew that he could bust down the door as easily as ever – but he hesitated. Taking such drastic actions would not go down, and he didn't want these people to hate him anymore then they already did.
Standing and walking into an adjoining bathroom, Zell washed his face from the sink in the wall, before looking at this face, unblemished by his tattoo.
He was amazed at the alienation it seemed to create. It was like looking at a completely new face, the one looking back at him through the mirror not him – but obviously him at the same time. Not only that, his blue eyes, bright as they had been, were now almost unnaturally bright, the blue seemingly as fresh as the day he was born.
Not only that, but looking down at his body revealed something else.
All his scars were gone. Not one remained. All he could see was the chiselled muscle structure of his body, and nothing else. No sword scars. No bullet wounds. No burn marks. It was like he had swapped his skin for someone else, and that frightened him too. He had grown accustomed to the scars over the years, finding them almost satisfying – these were the marks that showed what he had sacrificed for his Garden, his time, and his universe. The scars were rewards that SeeD medals or martial arts titles couldn't precede – they showed that he had faced his adversaries and that he hadn't chickened out, hadn't run. He had stood firm.
But, all that said, he had to admit one thing – he looked damn good without them.
He was flexing his unscarred muscles once more in the mirror when there had been a knock on the door. "Mr. Dincht? Are you alright in there?" A female voice called.
Zell suddenly felt self-conscious, and chided himself mentally for being so egotistic as he turned to the door. "Uh, yeah – just gonna wash up." He called.
"Very well."
"Okay…thanks." He looked around for a towel, already spying the shower recess in the corner of the room. Finding a nice white fluffy one, he jumped into the recess, flinging his shorts across the bathroom to land on the sink.
He looked down at the handle for the shower. There was only one, causing him to frown. Zell liked his showers hot – scalding hot, so hot the entire room filled with steam in seconds. When he turned the one handle, however, a gentle stream of warmer-then-lukewarm water came from the nozzle. Ah well…at least I can get myself wet. He thought to himself, quickly washing himself and opening the door – to find a woman standing in the room.
He froze on the spot, dripping wet, his hand still gripping the handle of the shower-door, his eyes wide as the woman looked him up and down. He had never seen her before, yet here she was – regarding him almost quizzically. She looked over him with an almost clinical eye, before frowning. "I don't see what the big deal is." She muttered. "You're only bigger then us in body structure and muscle tone."
Zell's face hadn't moved from his shocked look, but he heard his voice echo around the room. "That's because I'm a guy."
The woman nodded slowly, looking down, her eyes widening and her eyebrows rising. "So that's what that looks like!" She exclaimed – before frowning again. "Really, I don't see the big deal."
Zell suddenly regained control of his body, blinking twice – before frowning. "Uh, are you alright? I'd like to have a bit of privacy!"
The woman bowed curtly. "I apologise. I was just curious, that's all."
"Well, be curious outside, dammit!"
The woman snorted at him, before turning and walking out of the room, closing the door behind her with a pout. Zell released the poor shower-door handle, which had been crushed in a reflex action when he saw the woman, and sighed. "And I thought the Crisps were weird…"
* * *
Squall was having troubles of his own.
Finally assuring the three woman that he was alright, he had pulled the tubes and needles out of his arms and chest and walked into the bathroom, closely followed by Rinoa, who had wanted to go in with him but was denied access – he needed to be alone for a second.
Now in the bathroom, he looked down at his goal – the toilet.
This toilet was different from the ones on Gaia, Crisp and Te'Get. It was designed in the usual Galbadian sitting position, unlike the Estharian squat ones – but had no flush handle. Not only that, the seat didn't rise – instead the bowl was enlarged to allow only sitting to be performed when discharging waste.
I suppose that would be logical…being a planet compose of women doesn't really mean the seat would be left up much…He thought to himself, before setting himself to the task.
After some careful aiming and an embarrassing positioning, he had finally done his business – but now how did he flush the thing? He couldn't see any handle…
Crouching near the seat, he looked underneath the toilet – to realise that the seat depressed when you sat on it. Standing and pressing his hand down on the seat, he lifted them – to watch as the toilet flushed.
Interesting… he thought to himself as he looked over at the mirror – to frown.
His scar was gone.
Interesting…* * *
"Mr. Garner? Mr. Garner, please answer me. Your friends are awake now, you can go see them."
The woman looked down at the man sadly, his body turned in his bed to look away from her. His blond hair, unhindered by a band to hold it back, sat in an unruly fashion around his head, covering his face. There was almost no movement at all except for the rhythmic breathing that his body did automatically.
"Don't you want to go see your friend, Mr. Garner?" The woman asked again, looking down at the small computer hooked to the devices stuck into his flesh and the monitors trained on the bed. According to the readings he was awake and fully recovered, and his brain-waves reacted when she spoke – the reactions were harsh, but she knew he could hear her. "Please Mr. Garner, get out of bed. It is unhealthy to stay in there for too long. You might get bedsores."
Julius continued to ignore her, his eyes staring forward, not saying a word. All he could see was light flowing around her face as he slammed his fist deep into her chest, blasting out her back with her spine gripped tightly in his fist, so tightly he could feel the bone cutting deep into his hand.
He opened the hand now, looking at the palm as he flexed his fingers. The skin was clean, no sign of any scars or wounds whatsoever.
He sighed audibly and tried to remember her voice once more.
Behind him the nurse worried on, uncertain of what to do. She checked his status once more, before pulling a small black tab out of the folds of her robe and activating it. "Grand Mistriss, we seem to have a problem with Mr. Garner…"
* * *
They all met in Julius' room, the SeeDs coming together for the first time since their escape. It had been almost two days since they had all been together, but the changes were remarkable.
Squall, now dressed in his usual black leather outfit with the white-collared coat, looked at Zell with a mixture of confusion and wonder beneath his stony face.
Zell, also, now dressed in his usual black tee-shirt/shorts combo, looked at Squall, openly fascinated. Reaching forward tentatively once more, he pressed his finger deep into the space between the gunblader's eyebrows, almost as if searching for the scar that had been present.
Squall frowned, annoyed, and swatted Zell's hand away with his gloved hand again. "Stop that…" He muttered.
Trish sat on the edge of Julius' bed, looking up at Squall and Zell's antics before looking down at Julius once more. She had been dressed in the Immortals' white robes, her long blond hair braided down in the Immortal's fashion. She looked down with worry at the hacker, who continued to lie in the bed, not moving, his face as impassive as Squall's.
Emily sat at the edge of the room, seemingly lost in thought as she looked at the hacker's stony face. The last two days had been amazingly productive for her – as soon as she had been healed by the Immortal's technology, she had immediately left the hospital to explore, much like she had done in Te'Get, not bothering to stay in one place for very long.
She had seen many weird things during her time out – seeing the world without men seemed to put a lot of things into perspective. She watched as the woman laughed with each other, interacting with one another in ways that she only wished she could do. But she had been burned before…
The Thief had followed her almost the entire time like a lost puppy, trailing her with almost intolerable doggedness. When she had first gone out, Emily had tried to lose her – to only find her appearing just a few meters behind her, the smoke of her teleport evaporating around her slowly. She had meekly waved at her, and Emily had simply walked away. After a few hours of persecution, however, she had turned to confront the thief. "Why do you follow me!? Don't you see I wish to be alone?!"
Trish had simply looked down at her feet and smiled meekly. "I only thought that you would want somebody to talk to…"
"If I wanted to talk to something, I'd talk to a wall – not you." Emily had said emotionlessly – before watching as Trish looked up.
"You don't mean that. And to prove it, I'm going to follow you for the rest of the day. So there."
Emily had smiled at that, respecting her stubbornness and her perseverance, before stepping up close, her hands glowing purple with Status magic. "I can Stop you…" She had muttered…before something within her stopped her.
What's the harm? You can just ignore her. You've done it to countless people before.
So with that they had walked through the majestic city together, watching the people mingle, taking the stares that the Immortals threw at them with a grain of salt. Trish even managed to pull Emily into a clothes shop, to Emily's dislike. For one reason or another, however, she had patronised the girl and watched as she tried on all sorts of different garbs, grunting in approval for some, giving a steely stare with the ones that looked, for lack of a better word, stupid.
She was surprise to find herself enjoying the time with the blond thief – and that scared her. Never again… she had thought as Trish had said her goodbyes that night – but in the morning the girl had been waiting for her, dragging her back out into the streets to look around the glorious city once more.
Now she looked at the girl in contempt, watching as she placed a hand on Julius' shoulder in anxious worry. How dare you make me feel like this…how dare you do this to me…how dare you… She wanted to scream. She wanted to grab the girl by her beautiful long hair and strangle her with it, she wanted to poke those glittery blue eyes out of their sockets, she wanted to eradicate her gorgeous face from existence…and before she might have.
But now…after spending the time they had spent together…something stayed her hand.
So now she watched, impassive, as Rinoa finally withdrew her hand from Julius' temple and brush a lick of hair from her face, looking up sadly at the team. "Its…Veronica." She said quietly. "He's…he's…" Her voice trailed off, unable to say any more.
Zell felt something twist as he looked down at the man in the bed, shaking his head slowly. "I…I should have done something, dammit…I should have razed that whole damned building to the ground…"
"Don't be stupid." Squall said, looking down at Julius. "If you'd have done that, you would have gotten us all killed. No, what he did was as noble as anything us Sorceress Hero's have done…he dug deep and found what he knew to be true, and used that. Even if it was on a subconscious level." He shook his head and sighed. "Now he has to come to grips with it."
Trish shook her head, squeezing Julius' shoulder gently, addressing the tall hacker. "Hey…Julius…you saved us all. Doesn't that…doesn't that mean anything to you?"
There was no answer.
Emily snorted. "He's gone. We should leave him here and continue. Somebody else can use that machine of his…it shouldn't be that hard."
Zell shook his head. "No. We're not leaving one of our own in a foreign Universe. We need to get him up and about."
Aries, who had been standing next to the bed and monitoring his vitals, hadn't spoken up till now. "No. His brainwaves suggest a deep trauma. Moving him physically might disrupt the natural order of his mind…we might have done irreparable damage to it already thanks to the healing procedures."
Squall leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and sighing. "That's it, then. We're stuck until he either decides to join us again or we decide to leave him here."
