Chapter 3: Encased in Ice
A ray of light was shining through the window, and it woke Meiou since it was shining directly to her closed lids. She yawned and was about to shift to her other side, when she realized that an arm was encircled around her waist. She turned to look behind her, only to see Zell dozing peacefully beside her. She smiled as she studied him carefully.
His eyes were closed and he was beautiful. Even with his tattoo, his face became almost angelic and no trace of the strong SeeD can be seen in his face. He looked almost like a little boy. She carefully rose up a hand and gently traced it on his tattoo and his lips.
His blue eyes opened, and for a moment, confusion set in. But when his eyes looked upon her, the confusion disappeared, and it was replaced with a look of exhaustion, contentment, happiness and love.
"Hey…" He whispered slowly, reaching up his face to clutch the hand that had woke him.
"Hey, why did you wake up? Did I disturb you?" She said, her fingers tightening on his hand.
"Nah." He looked up at her and smiled, "You didn't disturb me. It was a good thing you woke me. We have a train to catch." He kissed her hand soundly, and moved to get out of the bed. He was still naked underneath the sheet, and Meiou was treated to a full frontal view of his well-toned body.
Zell turned around and saw the look on her face and a mischievous look came to his eyes. "What cha looking at!" He asked with a look of mock anger on his face.
"Nothing…" She answered, and his look got more mischievous.
"So, you like to stare at a man body eh?" He asked menacingly as he went to her side of the bed and threw the bedcovers off, "Very well! You shall do the cleaning of this man's body… since you can't seem to get enough of it!" He bent down and carried her off.
"Zell! No!" Meiou hollered as her body was thrown like a sack on his shoulder, "Put me down, Zell!"
"Save your strength, you little mischievous angel!" Zell hollered, "You have a lot of cleaning to do!"
Meiou's screams became drowned out by the sound of the shower… not that she minded. They made glorious love in the shower and took a bath together. It was the most beautiful morning in Meiou's life, and she never wanted to trade with anyone for it.
Zell yawned loudly as he put down the magazine he was reading inside the SeeD cabin of the train. He shifted his legs restlessly as looked at his watch.
They were in the train, and as the time indicated, they have been traveling for three hours now. He knew they were coming close to Balamb, and his mission is about to end.
He looked at his hand and immediately remembered that he had lost his other glove in Timber. He looked at it now and saw that it was the hand that he had wounded and where Meiou's blood mixed with his. He looked at her now and smiled to himself.
"Next station: Balamb Station. Next station: Balamb Station."
Zell looked up at the P.A., and he sighed. His mission is about to finish and we were going to go home with Meiou. He stood up and went to the bed, where Meiou had been sleeping for the past few minutes.
"Wake up…" He said tenderly, kissing her forehead, "We're here."
She opened her beautiful eyes then, and Zell's heart gave a stopped for a few seconds. God… she's so beautiful…, he thought as she stretched and looked up at him, rubbing her eyes.
"Where are we?" she asked.
He kissed her forehead again and he was blessed with a dazzling smile. He turned and gathered her things as he spoke, "We're nearing Balamb Town. When we get off, I'm going to introduce you to my mom. She lives there…"
He looked at her and he realized she had a look of uncertainty. He instantly came to her, "Why? Is there something wrong…?"
"Are… are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked, fingering her hair nervously, "I… I feel kind of scared. What if she doesn't like me?"
Zell took her hands and kissed it, "But she will like you." He said fervently, "And if she doesn't… well, as much I love her, I won't care." He looked up at her again and put a hand on her cheek, "Because now, at least I love you more…"
A glorious smile entered her features as she bent over and kissed him, his own mouth opening up to receive it. " I love you too, Zell."
His heart made a triple somersault and he felt like he could do his Final Heaven ten times because of her words. A great big smile split his face and soon he began doing somersaults on the SeeD cabin.
"OHHHHH YEEEEAAAAHHHH! SHE LOVES ME!" Zell hollered as he flipped from the floor and did running flips from the wall.
"Zell…" Meiou said as she stood up…. And fell to the floor
The same thing happened to Zell as the train lurched to sudden stop. A loud explosion shook the floor, and Meiou screamed as her head hit the floor.
Zell looked around as the train stopped rocking. He stood up quickly and went to the cabin door to look. He cursed.
"Esthar soldiers!" he yelled at her as he pulled Meiou up, "We gotta get out of here!"
She nodded faintly as she stood up and let herself get dragged by Zell. The soldiers saw them and immediately began as pursuit. They transferred from train to train as they ran and they came to a dead end. Zell looked around, "Dammit, we're trapped…"
Meiou got a determined look in her eyes as she stepped near a wall. She closed her eyes and raised her hands, her wings opening up and spreading around her. A great ball of light emerged from her hands and soon blew a hole on the train.
If Zell had a time that he was thankful for a sorceress, it was that time. He kissed her soundly when she put down her hands. "I love you so much I could make love to you right now…" Instead, he took her hand and they both jumped off the train.
As they ran, Zell realized what had happened. The Galbadians and Esthar had traced them, and unfortunately met on this area. A great battle issued between the two, and during the battle, they blew the train off its track.
Zell was still wondering where to go, since the battle was getting worse, when something heavy hit him right in the head. As soon as he hit the ground, a great Thundaga spell hit him, and he was quickly immerged in a sea of electric shocks. When it stopped, he was so drained that he felt himself fainting. His vision blurred, yet the urge to protect Meiou was stronger then ever. He reached out a hand, trying to fight the darkness trying to close in on him. "Me…iou…" he whispered as he felt himself falling.
A light shown bright in the area, and soon he heard the soldiers yell in pain. He blinked, trying to get a clear vision. Finally, he saw the truth of what was happening.
Meiou apparently got angry, and released all her power against the Galbadians, and a great big cloud of Death spells emerged from her body. They flew up the air, pausing for a while before going down the Galbadian soldiers, slashing their life away and continuing to do so until all the Galbadians died. The Death spells flew up to the air and killed the pilots of their air ships and their machineries, and they fell to the ground in a pile of burning metal and human flesh. Her power was flaring, and Zell noticed that her wings and hair had gone black, and her eyes became black and soulless. She smiled, and Zell could clearly see a pair of fangs on her. Then she spoke and it was the scariest voice Zell ever heard…
Mainly because her voice… was now that of Sorceress Adel.
"Free at last…" she said, "Its been a long time… how much I have awaited for this day. The day of Earth's destruction." She turned to Zell, "Be thankful, SeeD, to have seen me rise before you die…"
Then she laughed, a laugh that was so evil it shook Zell with fear and promptly fell unconscious.
"Zell… Zell. Wake up. Are you alright?"
He wanted to open his eyes but they just felt so heavy. He groaned in his confusion, and soon he heard another voice.
"Don't pressure him, Quistis. He had a hard time…" It was Doctor Kadowaki.
"But we need to know what happened!" His brows furrowed at the shrill voice. He immediately recognized it as Selphie's.
"I know. But we must give him rest…"
"But what was he supposed to do? How did it happen?" It was Squall this time.
"Edea should be the one you should ask that.."
"Well, what ever it was, I just hope Laguna will give them a consideration…" He heard Irvine say.
"I do not think so…" It was Quistis' voice again, "There was a massacre involved… it cannot be easily over-looked."
"No… no…"
It was his own voice this time, and he heard all of them turn to look at him. He tried to open his eyes once again, and this time it did. He saw the look of concern in their eyes as he spoke roughly, "I… was supposed to… protect her."
Irvine's eyebrows furrowed, "Who's 'her'?"
Quistis' s eyes softened under her glasses, "I don't know if you saw what happened, Zell, but…"
"I saw… everything…" Zell answered again, his throat hurting; "She lost… control when she… saw me fall. She became… angry…and her hatred… brought it… out of her…"
"What are you talking about, Zell?" Squall said as he came closer, "Please, we want to know. We want to know if we can help…"
"No… you cannot help anymore…"
They all turned to see Edea, Cid and Rinoa enter the Infirmary, and all three of them wore a look of despair.
"What happened, Matron? What going on?" Selphie asked, clinging on to Irvine at the look of sadness in their faces.
Edea raised her sad eyes to everyone of them, "I am sorry, my children. But these news only needs to be heard by one person alone." She looked at Zell.
Everyone looked confused, and Squall pressed the matter, "We want to know, Matron. Zell is our friend, and we want to do something to help."
Rinoa shook her head and turned to Edea, "We cannot hide it anymore, Matron Edea. We need to tell them."
Edea pondered this and was silent for a while. Then she sighed, "Very well. If you all want to know the truth, please go with Cid to our office. I need to speak with Zell alone."
With that Cid gathered everyone and they trooped out, and Zell and Edea were left in the infirmary. The silence was rather awkward and Zell swallowed before he spoke.
"Matron, what happened to…"
"Forgive me, Zell."
Edea's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him, and she took a deep breath as she explained, "Forgive me. I shouldn't have let you go alone. I almost let you die."
Zell's heart softened, "No, Matron." He said in a tender voice, " I learned so much from this mission and I wouldn't be able to learn that if I hadn't gone."
"You may have learned something from the journey, but it almost cost you your life. If Meiou had turned on you then…" Edea started to cry silently.
"Nothing happened to me, Matron." Zell pressed again, "I am safe now and that's all that matters. But I also want to know what happened to Meiou."
Edea looked at him, "Why must you ask about her Zell? Has… something happen between the two of you?"
Zell nodded solemnly.
At this Edea cried even more, "Forgive me Zell. I did not know…"
"What happened to her, Matron?" Zell's voice sounded impatient.
Edea looked at him, took a deep breath, and said…
"She has been… disposed off. She was brought to the Sorceress Memorial and was frozen for eternity."
With a bandaged head and hand, Zell and the others rushed to the Ragnarok. Even against Edea and Cid's will, the whole gang went to Sorceress memorial to see Meiou.
Now as Zell stood below the frozen statue of Meiou, he could still not believe what he was seeing.
There, in the biggest block of unknown, ice-like material was Meiou. Her hands and arms were folded about her chest and her wings spread majestically behind her. Her face was peaceful and her hair was frozen flowing around her. Her eyes were closed and her lips, which Zell remember as the reddest, sweetest lips he ever tasted, were white.
Zell fell to his knees, pain running up his legs. He paid no heed to pain; all he was aware of was Meiou, who now stood frozen above him.
"They… said that she didn't give up a fight. She had returned to her normal self when Esthar caught her. She… she said she didn't have any clue what happened, but she knew did something horrible and immediately turned herself in." Laguna said behind him as he watched Zell on the floor. "She was holding this when they brought her in."
Laguna came to Zell then, and gave him what looked like a red fabric. Zell realized upon closer inspection that it was actually the other pair of his Ehrgeiz, the one he had lost in Timber. He fingered it for a while and soon something fell out from inside it.
It was a piece of her feather, which was white and soft, as he had remembered it. Entwined with it was a strand of her silver hair. He raised it to his nose and he smelled the scent of gardenias on it.
Something inside Zell quickly knocked the wind out of his lungs and soon he found it hard to breathe that tears fell from his eyes. He realized he was crying from his loss, and for once, he wasn't afraid or humiliated from crying. He merely kneeled there, sobbing his heart out, clutching his glove, the white feather and Meiou's strand of hair… the only remains of his love that had been frozen forever.
