Edonil: Me again! I really am trying to write… Sorta… Almost done, I swear! I have a basic outline, which says I'll end on chapter fifty. Let's see how this goes.

Advertisement: Go check out the To Change page on my website! geocities . com / edonilalanthaanulo / tochange There's a new pic of Avylonn!

To Change

Chapter Forty-Five

Kuja was furious. His daughter hadn't returned home! He'd searched the manor high and low, but to no avail. He'd eventually given up, and gone to yell at Crims. How dare she plot with that low-life? He let her live here, under his roof, and how did she repay him? But he couldn't yell at her. She had left, leaving a note on the table, saying she had to run out to the market to get something. Hmph!

Kuja was very annoyed. And there was no place for him to channel his annoyance into. Drat! Looking around the room for something to destroy in his pique, he noticed a thick envelope.

Right. I told that stupid Auctioneer to leave his 'information' here. I suppose it's important, too. Drat. I can't destroy it.

Glaring at the envelope, Kuja opened it, and began to read its contents.

Its contents were not good. People were furious with Kuja for living. They wanted to chase him out of town. They wanted to hurt Crims and Avylonn. Kuja was now very annoyed. He had changed, goshdanggit! Changed! But no one believed him. Typical! And what else? They were plotting stuff… Kuja glared at the lengthy letter. It could take him days to read it!

He could hear something outside. It sounded like a lot of annoyed people. What had he done now? Sighing, Kuja got up and went out to see what they were yelling about.

Avylonn sighed. Saniiro had gone off to his inn, and she was almost home. Home, where her father would yell and complain and fuss. She really didn't want to be home. Her mother would understand- her mother had come up with the idea of Saniiro's visit- but her father was very trying. Life wasn't fair.

Frowning, Avylonn watched a large group of people jump about in front of her father's house. What were they doing there? Yelling and cursing… Avylonn carefully crept forward to have a look.

Garland smirked. Lovely. He might not be able to control his Third Angel, but so long as the First had not changed, it would soon be under his control. Simply lovely. All was going according to plan.

People were so easy to manipulate.

Ow! What? Oof! Aah! Pain… Searing pain… Red haze… Crimson blood, everywhere… What on Gaia…?

Avylonn couldn't quite tell what they were doing. She was at the back of the mob- and it was a mob, not a crowd like she'd originally thought- and she wasn't exactly tall. What on earth?

"Avylonn!" She turned to see a young man that she thought she recognized… Who was it? "I'm Salmoneus Xylander, remember? From Math?"

"Ah, right." She did remember him. Sort of. She'd switched out of that class. "D'you know what's going on?"

"Yeah. Gar- Some crazy guy was talking to a bunch of nobles about something, and they became a mob. Why?"

"See this house? It's mine."

"I kn- I mean, really?"

"Yeah…" Avylonn looked at him curiously. What was he trying not to say? She dismissed it from her mind. "D'you know what they're doing here?"

"No." Salmoneus Xylander looked around nervously. "I gotta go. See you around."

"Yes…" Avylonn saw a gap in the mob and squeezed through, anxious to see what the mob was doing.

Oh my gosh… Great Eidolons…

Kuja yanked open the door and stomped outside. Stupid people! Looking at them, he saw that they were all nobles he knew very well. What on Gaia…? One spotted him, and yelled out,

"Oi! It's him! Get him!" Kuja absent-mindedly sent off a shoot of flashy magic through the mob. It didn't hurt them, but certainly startled them, and they backed off.

And Kuja saw what they'd been doing.

Oh… Crims…

Edonil: Duh duh duh! What has happened? Did you catch everything? The little (or not-so-little) hint as to somebody's identity? The story is about to end! I'm so sad… R&R, people!