Hey everybody. I'm sorry I had to remove my story for a while. I was having -technical- difficulties. But no worries now, everything is all taken care of. Hopefully. Anyway, I have more for you all who are hanging on, trying to be patient with me (for that I thank you). And you know what? I'm not going to keep you waiting anymore. Now, scroll down and read! Now!
Disclaimer: Je ne possede pas Fantaisie Finale. Allez-vous?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
If the Truth Be Told
Something was happening. There was a dark aura that swam around in a veil of uncertainty. The truth was there, hiding behind false pretenses. One of a primitive mind would say that truth is just a figment of the imagination, that it has no foundation. Then if it has no foundation, what is there to rely on? And if truth has no strong ground, what does that make of the lie? Does this existence depend on the truth that is said to be a "figment of the imagination" or the lies that shape it to be something closer to purity?
Where do the lines meet? When will reality show its face? Are questions all that can be asked? Where are the answers that explain everything to the bottom line?
The darkness began to clear as a fuzzy haze still hung around, but it wasn't as bad as the constant shadows. The scene was revealed and pictured like an old black and white film. While the murky curtains parted, one could see the setting of a gloomy, damp room lit only by one torch in the far corner. Three figures occupied the room, two women and a man. They were scattered throughout the small area. It was cold, unbearably cold as the golden flame of the torch gave off no heat. Two of them shivered in their apparent unconsciousness while the other one, the dark-haired one, sat staring upward. Her pretty face was blurred but the confusion and question was easily distinguished. She seemed unaffected by the freezing temperatures but continued to remain still and very pale like a marble stone. Every now and then she would look over at the young man, watching and waiting for some sort of movement other than the occasional shudder that erupted from him. When none was seen, she would turn her attention back to the spot above as if there was some great interest in it. She sat and waited with practiced patience in this silent quality.
She closed her eyes and sank into what looked like a deep state of meditation, but the light glow that showered from her fingers was the only means of telling that she was not separating mind and body. She was attempting something else, something that maybe she had tried before and her curiosity was urging her to try again.
She sat there, like that, for only a few minutes but only watching made the time seem much, much longer. As time ticked by, the glow from her fingers began to shine brighter and lighten the almost blackened room, becoming stronger and stronger. Her eyes suddenly shot open and glowing retracted back into her fingertips as her head snapped in the direction of the man. He had begun to move around, rolling his head from side to side, pain written on his features. The black-haired woman stood slowly and moved over to him. When she kneeled and touched his face with gentle fingers, he stopped. He reached out with his own hands to feel around for her, arms searching frantically. She eased his yearning and cradled him in her arms, gently rocking as his eyes gradually opened, revealing no sign that they could see what was surrounding him. Mist began to rise and he buried his face in her neck to hide the tears that spilled against her. In retuning comfort, she stroked his long, silky hair soothingly. A small eternity passed as she held him in that manner, calming him without the attempt of useless words, only movement.
He pulled away suddenly and explored his surroundings with now clear, dry eyes, narrowing to see in the now once again dimness. She said something that received an abrupt nod from him. It was no doubt a question of concern that he disregarded. Their heads snapped in another direction simultaneously as if a sound had reached their ears.
The other woman had evidently awoken from her out of consciousness state. She tried to sit up but slipped and fell backward, thrashing around a bit until the other girl walked over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder in almost the same comforting manner as she did with the man. Soft words were spoken to the woman on the stone floor and in response she rubbed her eyes. The man joined his two companions, a look of dissatisfaction written all over him.
This was weird, too weird. Things had never appeared this way to her before. Her mind couldn't fathom if this was a dream or something more. It was scary, actually. It was scary enough to think that this was not your average nightmare. The people were too familiar, too close, too real. It was all too real but she refused to believe or accept it as anything other than just a crazy dream.
Ellone woke up with a start when the face she both loved and despised entered her mind. It was the last thing she saw and fear was finally released to swallow her whole. She shivered in her big canopy bed, gripping the sheet with sweaty hands.
Outside, the moon was positioned high in the sky and gave off an eerie glow that would certainly mesmerize. The light frost on the outer edges of the glass told her that the temperature had dropped, which was odd. It never got too cold in Esthar. The climate was relatively mild. Even in the cooler months of the year, it was still warm.
A long, cold chill ran up and down her spine in a brutal fashion. It was so throbbing that she had to lean forward to numb the hurt. The little goosebumps covered her arms and legs, resulting in the little hairs to stand up on edge.
Still looking out the window, she felt something deep in the bare night sky. She had never held such a feeling, a sensation before, and one could easily determine by the nature in which she experienced it, that it wasn't a good thing. There was a strong scent of evil. No, it wasn't surface evil but pure. It contained such a level of fear that pulled her closer. In response, she slipped out of bed and walked to the luring window, her uncovered feet touching the cold tile floor. She wore a long, silky nightgown that moved swiftly with her own movements. Her mind was in a trance and her body was strained to comply with the order to go toward the force that was pulling it.
Ellone reached out with trembling hands to grab a hold of the windowsill. Her breathing turned into panting as her heart raced and her eyes searched, looking for the thing that was attracting her. Never ever had she been in a situation such as this one. It made no sense to her as to why she would be experiencing such a strange phenomenon now. Why had she never been subject to this before? Why now? Why here? What was going on?
"What are you?" Ellone asked aloud, searching the sky. She knew that she would not receive an answer in return, but it was just the simple feeling of knowing and accepting that something else was present. "Why have you decided to come now? Why have you waited so long? These questions were unfamiliar to her. What was happening to her? Why was she addressing something that wasn't visible?
The young woman now took a step backwards. She could hear music playing, ringing in her ears, deafening. Only it wasn't what one would consider being "music" but the ting tones of something malevolent. She could picture a grand piano or organ and invisible fingers pressing down upon the keys with wretched force, blowing out cords that held their own sense of wickedness. She cringed as the ringing sound waves became louder. Her left hand held onto the windowsill for dear life while she dropped weightlessly to the floor. Sweat rolled down her face like an over-flowing river, drenching her skin and nightgown. Her head began to move from side to side uncontrollably like someone was smacking her. She tensed and the hand that held the windowsill slipped down to her side, elbows digging into her sides. It hurt, oh Hyne, it hurt. She couldn't manage a single sound and was on her own to fight out this horrifying torture.
The ringing sound suddenly stopped suddenly and an uncomfortable stillness filled in the cracked gaps. Ellone's eyes blinked away the droplets of sweat that had landed on her eyelashes in order to see well. She was immobilized and wouldn't have move anyway. She could see nothing beyond the blinding light of the moon and the shadows of her large room. A nice, cool breeze lifted her sweaty bangs and engulfed the rest of her body. It felt wonderful to her but she knew not where it came from.
A loud click sounded in her ears as if someone had just turned on a microphone.
A soft, daunting, feminine voice enveloped in her thoughts. It was unlike anything she had ever heard and the words that were spoken caused Ellone to shiver in fear. She let in a sharp intake of breath as she fell over against the hard floor, the words still ringing in her mind.
"Because now, I am ready."
The area was murky and chilling with water dripping down everywhere, dampening. The ground was soggy and sticky and very uncomfortable. This had to have been trap of some sort. Why else would things have happened this way? And did that mean that there really was something down here?
Rinoa shook her head. She was in pain, lots of pain, and it hurt to move her limps.
"Quistis?" She whispered in a near whine.
"I'm here, Rinoa." Quistis' voice reached her ears and brought a great wave of relief to her sudden worries.
"What happened?" Rinoa felt dizzy and could see nothing. It was all blank, all dark.
"I'm not sure." Quistis tried to crawl her way in the direction in which she heard Rinoa's voice. She found that the ground she tried to move on was wet and mushy and she slipped with every attempt to get somewhere. "I think we fell. It must have been a trap. It must have been expected that someone would try to reach something that someone, or something, was trying to protect. I think you were right, Rinoa. I think there may be something hidden in this cave somewhere." The blonde woman was finally able to move a bit and found that Rinoa wasn't too far away from her. She reached the younger woman and helped her sit up, finding immediately that she was having difficulties.
"How far did we fall? What did we land on?" Rinoa continued to ask questions. She didn't really want to know the answers; she didn't need to know. All she wanted was to do was make sure that Quistis was fine.
"I'm not sure," Quistis repeated again to her truthfully and helped to support her. She moved her arm around her shoulders and held her upright. "I think we might have fallen pretty far, and as for what we landed on, I don't know but it feels like an underground swamp." She added with distaste.
"Our screams were pretty loud. Do you think anyone heard us?" Rinoa rested her head on Quistis' shoulder to try to fight off a dizzy spell. She was beginning to remember now what had happened, but not all of it, only some. The other woman smoothed her hair down. She knew that Rinoa was injured. Even in the darkness, she could see the blood on her arms and felt a warm, thick liquid against her face. Rinoa was like a little sister to her, and she wanted to take care of her
"I doubt it. We are down pretty far. Unless, of course, for some reason the guys have come looking for us and heard us. Other than that, I don't think anyone heard anything." Quistis frowned at herself. Why was she being so negative? Why couldn't she have told Rinoa that it's possible that someone heard them and they would be okay? Why did she have to act in such an unoptimistic way?
Rinoa shifted away from Quistis. She was still in a lot of pain and her head felt like it was swirling around.
"Are you all right?" Quistis held her by the shoulders gently to halt her movements. She didn't want Rinoa to harm herself even more.
"I think. I feel really dizzy and my arms and legs hurt. I may be bleeding." Rinoa pushed Quistis' hands off her shoulders and attempted to stand on her own. Quistis jumped up to help her.
"Can you use your magic to heal yourself, Rinoa?" She reluctantly let go of her as she forced herself away.
Rinoa shook her head. "No. There's something here that is keeping my powers at bay. I don't think I could cast anything."
"How can you tell?" Quistis brushed the dirt and mush from the ground off herself.
"It's hard to explain. It feels like some sort of magnetic field pulling at me from inside and out. It's weird." Rinoa wiped her face with the back of her hand. She felt somewhat better and could see more clearly as things were beginning to stop spinning in every which direction.
"Are you sure that you're going to be all right?" Quistis questioned again with concern. Since Squall wasn't here, someone had to look out for Rinoa. It was almost becoming second nature.
Rinoa frowned and was glad that it was as dark as it was. She knew now that her words that she had said earlier had not effect on Quistis. She, like everyone else, was still treating her like a child. When will they all understand that she could take care of herself! She knew what to do and just how to do it, but no one would let her. It was getting old.
"I'll be fine," she assured her. "Now, just where are we?" She took a step forward only to find that the ground wasn't very solid and nearly lost her balance.
"Careful!" Quistis snapped and grabbed her by the arm. It may be dark, but she could see Rinoa's form quite well. She couldn't see facial features, only the outline of her body.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Rinoa answered in the same manner, pulling away again with more force than before. Gently, she prodded her foot into the ground. "Quistis! This ground is really soggy and wet!" She was excited now. This was a good sign.
"Yes, I know." The Instructor agreed dryly, finding nothing good about being stuck in the dark in frigging swamp. "What's so good about that?"
"That's good because it means that there must be a place as to where all this water came from. It could have come from the surface. All we have to do is find where and we're out," Rinoa explained.
"In the dark? You have got to be kidding!" Quistis exclaimed, becoming slightly irritated.
"Anything's possible," Rinoa answered. "Plus, I'd wager that this water source will also lead us to whatever is down here. I think, anyway."
Quistis just shook her head. Rinoa was way ahead of her. She knew what to do and how to do even though her way of doing it was questionable. Things certainly had changed. Rinoa didn't used to make decisions like this. She just used to sit back and let everyone else, mainly Squall, decide what to do.
Rinoa prodded her foot into the ground once again. It was okay to stand on, but she would have a hard time maintaining her balance. Putting all of her weight down she began to move forward. She held her arms out wide line like an acrobat walking a tight line. The ground was so wet that it gave the impression that she might sink right through into the under earth below. Despite the dipping of the earth, she was actually able to walk without too many problems.
"Rinoa!" Quistis cried out, realizing that the girl was no longer beside her. Well, really, she couldn't feel her anymore and that was what tipped her off.
"I'm over here!" She called back, stopping to turn back to the now alarmed Quistis. She waved her arms around to grab the attention of the blonde but then remembered that they were pretty much in the dark and, as she could see what was there, Quistis most certainly could not. At times, there were benefits to being a sorceress.
"Okay," Quistis started with the thickest sarcasm Rinoa had heard her use yet, "I cannot see anything past my nose, Rinoa. How on earth am I going to see where you are?" She almost sounded angry with those words, and Rinoa was a bit surprised.
"I'm sorry, Quistis. Sometimes, I just forget." She blushed sheepishly and was grateful for the lack of light. "I'm over on the- wait. Just walk forward." She nearly laughed at herself as she practically made the same mistake.
Quistis sighed and hesitantly stepped onto the mushy ground. There were a few mutters of not-so- nice language as she lost her balance and attempted to regain it again. She reached Rinoa at a much slower pace than it had taken Rinoa herself.
"Now what?" the Instructor asked when she arrived at Rinoa's position. But Rinoa was a bit preoccupied with something else. Everything, all of a sudden, had become as bright as day to her. It was almost like someone had just thrown some light switch or something. It was odd and it nearly scared her.
"Quistis? Does everything seem brighter to you?" She asked with a wavering voice that she couldn't control. She saw Quistis perfectly when she turned to her to direct her question. The look that Rinoa received was priceless and she would have laughed had the situation not been serious. Quistis was giving her a "What the Hell are you talking about and have you lost all the bolts that hold your head on?" kind of look.
"Brighter? BRIGHTER! Rinoa! I cannot see anything at all! I am not a freaking cat!" She snapped harshly, but Rinoa took no offense to it. She knew that Quistis was not accustomed to the dark and was easily frustrated when put under pressure.
"Then I don't know what's happening," she whispered in response almost so quietly that Quistis had to strain to hear her. Rinoa shivered as if she had finally come to realize the temperature down there.
The tone of Quistis turned to a drastic change from aggravated anger to sudden concern and hints of fear. "Rinoa? What are you talking about? What do you mean you don't know what's happening?" Then panic broke through and surpassed the fear and concern. She reached out and grabbed hold of Rinoa in a tight, painful grip.
"There was a strange sensation." Rinoa answered, staring forward in a daze and speaking in one, too. "Then everything just got brighter like the power coming back on after a bad storm. I don't understand anymore! Things have become so strange lately, you know?" She clutched Quistis arm in response. "Ever since on the Ragnarok. I've never felt this amount of power before. It feels like everything is being turned upside down and then twisted and flipped and rotated and in every which direction! It's almost exciting, but it's certainly freaky! I wish I knew all the answers! I have so many questions, but no answers to them." She moved away and released Quistis' arm at the same time.
The area that they were in was the bottom of a cave, a long way underground. It was muddy and damp because of the water that dripped from the ceiling and the stream of water on the other end from where they stood. Now the strange thing about this cave was the stone passageway beside the stream. It was in ruins but they would be able to get through it just fine. Rinoa grasped Quistis' arm again and led her in that direction. They were walking mainly on a flooded moss bed and that was basically all the noise that they made, feet splashing. Quistis allowed her to lead as she had already admitted twice that she could see absolutely nothing on this side of the sun.
Rinoa sped up her pace, as this irregularly placed passage grew closer. She was excited and a little scared of what she would find. Whatever the outcome, it would either hurt them or help them. She hoped and hoped that it wasn't the former.
Squall and Seifer looked at each other in panic. They both knew who that was and were both very suddenly worried. Forgetting about their lack of light due to the cave-in, they took off down inside farther.
They bumped into plenty of things along the way as they made their way down. Seifer's wound only got worse but he made no comment about it and struggled to keep his hand over it to stop the blood that was continuously gushing out of it.
They both stopped suddenly, just as Quistis and Rinoa had. Up ahead there was light.
"This can't be good," Seifer stated through clenched teeth.
"No, it can't," Squall agreed and began to move toward it. Seifer followed, determined not to look back.
Stepping into the light, they were pretty shocked. The light was coming from two torches that were on opposite sites a stone wall. Squall took a step forward and, like the domino effect, an entire passageway became lit with torches. The passageway was long and narrow, made of ancient stone blocks that are now no longer used. This was odd to the both of them, and Squall was about to take another step forward when Seifer grabbed his arm.
"Whoa! Stop and look down," he said, directing Squall's attention to the floor. About an inch away from the Commander's foot was a wooden trap door. Squall tapped a foot against it and the thing fell open with ease and immediately sprung back into place. It wasn't very wide but long. It was long enough to fit two bodies on it to be released into the depths that waited below. "I'd give anything to say that the girls fell through that. That's probably what the screams were." Seifer kneeled down and forced the trap open again to try to peer into the pit beneath. He could see nothing beyond darkness. With that, he stood again.
While Seifer was investigating the trap, Squall had stepped over it to the other side. When Seifer stood again, he spoke, "I don't really fancy going down there." He pointed to the way in which the girls had probably, unintentionally gone. "It would be wiser to follow this passage."
Seifer had half expected Squall to jump into the oblivion below and rescue Rinoa from some sort of evil fate that Squall would have probably expressed, but he was certainly not expecting Squall to suggest what he did. This was very unlike Leonhart. And Leonhart usually wasn't anything other than Leonhart. He nodded and followed, still in shock.
There was another reason to why Squall had no desire to jump down there. He was feeling a strange pull that most likely wouldn't have let him go any other way. A part of him thought that maybe, just maybe, it had to do with Rinoa. He was worried about her, yes, but there was also something else present. Sometimes he wondered if maybe she could tell that he was near without him even saying anything. Maybe that was the case now.
The two of them made their way down this passageway in silence for the most part. It was very odd that something like this would be underneath a mountain. What if it led somewhere that they didn't want to go to?
After a few minutes Squall couldn't hold in the question that was burning in his mind. "Seifer? Does this seem odd to you at all?" he asked with a shaky voice that he tried to hide. "I mean, the placement of this thing?"
"Hell yeah," Seifer agreed. He kept glancing around at these walls as if they were going to close in on him. "I don't trust this at all. Just how safe is this?"
"I don't know. Do you think that this could lead back to Ultimecia's castle?" Squall inquired. He stopped and turned to face his companion.
"No, definitely not. I know just about all the secret passageways of that castle and this is certainly not one of them. Plus, we're going in the wrong direction. If I'm not mistaken, the castle is that way." He pointed in the direction of which they had come.
Squall nodded. "Okay, so where do you think this leads?" He crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn't trying to persecute Seifer or anything, he was just asking.
"I dunno." Seifer only shrugged. And that was the truth. He had never even known about anything being down here before. He knew that this cave was here, but he had never actually been inside it before. It almost made him wonder if she knew about it.
"Let's keep going." Was all Squall said after that. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to get out and neither did Seifer. In a sense, they were screwed.
As soon as Rinoa reached the passageway, Quistis let out a yelp. Rinoa was alarmed by this and turned to her suddenly.
"What? What is it?" She asked with concern.
"Look!" Quistis pointed to the passage. Its walls were now lined, as far as one could see, with torches. "I can see now!" She exclaimed with child-like excitement. "What is this?" Quistis asked once she saw the passage itself.
"It looks like a way out." Rinoa responded. She was fearful of it but knew that it may be their only way out.
"I guess we have to go that way, huh?" Quistis frowned and cursed quietly. "Well, at least I can see where we're going now."
Rinoa turned at smiled at her, finding that last remark just a tad funny. "Shall we go?"
"Yes, anything to get out of this hole." Quistis was actually the one to lead this time. She walked around Rinoa and headed up the passage. Now this made Rinoa smile even more as she shook her head and followed.
Quistis and Rinoa made their way upward through this long passage. It was weird that something like this was way down here. It must have been several hundreds of years old as there were areas where the stone was crumbling. It was made of gray stone, the type that is accustomed to damp places and guaranteed to last a long time, and evidently, this one had lasted a pretty long time.
"How old do you think this is?" Rinoa asked of Quistis.
"I don't know. I have never heard of anything like this before. Maybe when we get back to Balamb, we should have some SeeDs come and check it out. I'll bet that there are more things down here that must match the age of this. Why else would an ancient passage like this be down here? It must have to lead to somewhere. What do you think?" Quistis was honestly fascinated with this new factor. Maybe they had discovered something lost to time, something that could help uncover the murky details of lost history.
"I'm not sure. It could lead somewhere, but then again, it could lead to nowhere at all. I truthfully don't know what to think." Rinoa answered. She bowed her head in disappointment with herself and began to walk forward again.
Now Quistis was very confused. First Rinoa knew what to do and what was going on and had the situation under control, and then she was puzzled and didn't know anything at all.
"Rinoa, wait! Come back here!" She yelled, louder than she wanted to. The other girl turned and made her way back over to her. "What do you mean? Why is it that back there you had everything managed but now you don't know what's going on? I don't seem to understand any of this, but I would really like to."
Rinoa let out a heavy sigh. "There's no easy way to explain it. I feel like, at some times, that I know everything that's happening, but then things turn in another direction and I'm left confused again. It's almost as if there's someone inside me telling me the answers and then struggling when things change. Does that make any sense?" She looked stressed to Quistis, and the Instructor suddenly felt a little bad for being so demanding of her.
"No, not really, but never mind. It's okay. It must just be your powers. Come on. Let's keep going. The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Well, I hope you don't plan on going this way because you won't get very far," someone said.
Quistis and Rinoa looked alarmed as they turned to face their new companion. There was no need for worry as they saw that it was Seifer and Squall.
After a happy, short greeting Quistis inquired the meaning of Seifer's comment. "What do you mean? Isn't that they way you guys came? How come we won't get very far?"
"The entrance is caved in. We aren't getting out the way we came in. We better start praying that there's another way out," Squall answered. He sounded so depressed.
"What caused the cave in?" Quistis demanded, not all together too happy.
"The Ruby Widow," Seifer replied in a deadpan tone. "It attacked us, then attacked the cave."
"Is that why you're injured?" Rinoa wondered aloud. She walked over to him and touched his arm lightly. He winced in pain and moved away from her.
"It's nothing!" he insisted and moved even farther away from her when she tried to come closer. Honestly, he would rather bleed to death have her cast a spell on him, not after what he was told about her. No, sir, he'd take a rain check.
"If it's nothing, then why are you holding it like that? I'm not stupid you know," she snapped. She was only trying to help!
But Seifer just continued to back away from her. He actually had a look of pure fear on his face. She backed him up against the wall, and he thought that he was trapped, but the most peculiar thing happened. Seifer was pressed against the wall but not for long. One second he was there, the next he was gone.
"What the-" Squall shook his head in disbelief. Quistis was giving Rinoa a look that could be able to kill.
"I didn't do anything!" Rinoa insisted, fearfully. "I didn't do anything!"
Squall walked over to the wall and inspected it carefully. He was surprised when he heard a voice.
"Let me outta here!" That had to be Seifer.
"It's a hollow wall!" Quistis exclaimed. "Unbelievable!"
"What do we do?" Rinoa joined Squall along with Quistis, too.
Squall didn't say anything but pressed his entire body weight against the wall. The three of them were suddenly thrown forward like in a Scooby-Doo episode in some freaky haunted mansion.
"Nice of you to join me. I feel so honored." Seifer said to them when they were flung on the other side of the wall with him. He spoke in such a dry tone that held quite a bit of sarcasm.
"Oh my gosh!" Quistis shrieked.
They were now at the top of a long, spiral, narrow stone staircase that seemed to go on forever. It looked so ancient and so dangerous. Torches lined the walls like before only these were dimmer.
"Don't tell me we're going down that. Please, don't tell me," Seifer begged. He'd had enough of this underground adventure.
Rinoa pressed against the same wall that they had come through. "Well we're certainly not going back that way. It won't budge."
"No! Nuh-huh!" Seifer exclaimed. He literally threw himself against the wall, but it still wouldn't move.
"I guess it's a one way thing." Rinoa shrugged.
"Well, Seifer, it looks like the only other option is down." Squall smacked him on the back and headed down the stairs slowly with the two girls behind him.
"Aw, nice," Seifer grumbled. He followed them reluctantly.
This new path that they had found was very narrow, as they now had to travel in a straight line. Squall was in front, followed by Rinoa and Quistis, and then Seifer bringing up the rear. They traveled in silence, concentrating on what they were now faced with. They were all full of questions. Who had built this? How old was it? Where did it lead? At least one of these questions would hopefully be answered.
As they went down, the temperature continuously dropped and it became more and more damp. Quistis was the first to start coughing and hacking due to the conditions. She wasn't a fan of cold and damp. Seifer didn't like it either as he began to sneeze. Rinoa and Squall remained unaffected, for now.
"What is this, some kind of underground castle?" Quistis asked through coughs.
"Whatever it is, we must be pretty close to the bottom. Look." Squall pointed down. There, the staircase came to a stop and a dull light shone across the foot of the stairs. It seemed to come from another opening of some sort.
"Now what is that?" Seifer demanded. He wasn't having fun. "Don't you people realize that we are not getting any closer to a way out of here?"
"You never know. We could be closer than you think," Rinoa pointed out.
"Yeah. Sure. Okay," Seifer grumbled. He gripped his wound and still would not let Rinoa touch him. He was still holding onto that 'bleeding to death' option.
They reached the bottom of the steps and straight ahead there was a long hallway. It was lit by a green light and odd sounds were coming from the end of it. This was strange. Everything about this place was strange.
"Should we go?" Rinoa asked Squall, holding onto his arm. She was glad that he was there too. She wouldn't have it any other way.
"What other option do we have?" Squall looked down at her before starting forward. She followed along with Quistis and Seifer.
This hall was different from the area that they had just come from. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of what looked like a marble material. It looked better preserved than the staircase and the stone passageway that they had been in earlier.
"Do I even want to know what is at the end of this hallway?" Quistis asked in a joking manner in an attempt to hide her fear when they were near the end.
"Probably not. I know I don't." Seifer added. "Why must I always be at the freaky places?" He whined.
But nobody answered him. They had reached the end of the hallway and at another room. It was a huge room, but that wasn't the reason why they had all stopped in shock.
In the middle of the room was some sort of glass containment chamber that was hooked to a cluster of wires and pipes. A green liquid filled the thing along with a body. It was a perfectly preserved body of a young woman. She was a beautiful being, floating in there with long, fiery red hair that hung to about her waist with black under coloring and light fair skin. She wore an old style dress of purple coloring, torn at the bottom in strips. A black cloak of the same style flared out behind her. She wore no shoes and had black-colored toenails. She was a fascinating creature. The front of her dress was tied at the chest and split up the middle from the bottom to about her knees, also tied. Around her neck was a string of gold and three tiny daggers that were stained with what looked like blood or paint. There were two long braids that hung down her front while the rest of her hair stayed behind her shoulders. She had a piece of cloth that extended from her elbow of her left arm down to her wrist and part of it hung down. Her nails were long and sharp with a color matching her toenails. Her face was pale and her lips were brightly colored against it in a red that matched her hair. She was absolutely beautiful.
"Oh my Hyne!" Quistis gasped and put a hand over her mouth, horrified.
"Whoa." Seifer's mouth dropped wide open.
Squall just shook his head in disbelief.
Rinoa on the other hand, began to walk towards the glass chamber. Upon reaching it, she pressed her palms against the glass. She couldn't take her eyes off the woman and now had the need of answers more than ever before.
"Who is that?" Quistis asked, never removing her hand from her mouth. Now she was scared, very, very scared.
Seifer had to decide whether now was the time or not. He was curious as to why this was all the way down here. Should he tell them the truth now? He had proof of his story with this. But what are the odds that they would even believe him? It was now or never.
He took a deep breath. "Unless I'm mistaken that's-" But as he got close to saying what he wanted to so badly, Rinoa turned around and silenced him with one of her spells. He grabbed his throat in pain as it hurt and looked at her in confusion. Well, he wasn't the only one.
"Don't say her name." Rinoa whispered. She had a bad feeling about this. "Wait. We need to get out of here first, far away from this." She pointed up to the chamber containing the woman.
"Rinoa? What is going on? Do you know something that we don't?" Squall demanded of her. He didn't look too comfortable.
"Yes. Now you have to trust me. I'll take off the spell but do not say her name while we are around this. All right?" She looked at Seifer. He nodded quickly. He was so scared of her right now it was crazy.
Rinoa focused her energy into the direction of Seifer and thought of what she wanted to do. It didn't take her long to release her silence spell from Seifer. He didn't say anything at all and she was glad. She didn't need it.
"Look at this equipment." She now spoke to Squall and Quistis. "Where do you think this came from?"
Squall walked closer to it almost hesitantly and inspected it closer. "It's ancient. It's nothing like the containment chambers in Esthar. I've only seen pictures of this design." He spoke quietly. Even he was fearful of Rinoa.
"It has to be several centuries old!" Quistis exclaimed. "But look how it's been preserved!" She tapped lightly on one of the cords that connected to the glass. "What if it's from the ancient civilization that was from the Centra Ruins! Seifer! Does any of this marking look familiar to you?" She motioned for Seifer to come closer.
On the bottom of the containment chamber there was writing. It was full of symbols and strange wording that couldn't have been any other language in the world.
Seifer timidly walked up to Quistis and inspected the writing. It looked similar to the writing from the Centra Ruins that Odine had showed him. "Looks like it, but there are some differences, like this symbol," he pointed to a writing of what looked like a triangle with a circle inside and a dot inside the circle, "I've never seen that before, but it's possible that this could be from there."
"I think we should get out of here. Esthar needs to know about this. Maybe they can figure something out with it. It's out of our hands. We need to get back to Esthar." Squall stepped back and glanced up at the woman. He also wanted to get as far away from this as possible because he wanted to know what Seifer and Rinoa knew.
"Good idea. Let's get out of here," Quistis agreed.
"How?" Seifer asked. He shivered. His loss of blood was finally starting to get to him.
"That way, I guess," Squall pointed to another hall behind the chamber. "There isn't really any other option."
"Well, I'm all for it." Seifer said and walked to it with Quistis behind him.
Squall turned to Rinoa. She was glaring at the woman. He had never seen her express such an evil look before. It was a look of pure hatred that was coming from her. He leaned over and grabbed her arm, pulling away and to the exit. She came with no problems but in silence, deep in thought.
That hallway was also different. It wasn't actually a hallway, really. It was more like the path of a cave. Hopefully, it would lead them to the surface. It was just like the path they had found the stone passageway in, and apparently, this was all connected. But why?
When they were a good enough distance away from the large room, Squall stopped the others. He wanted answers and he wanted to know just what was happening.
"Okay, what's going on? Who was that down there?" He demanded. This place was lit with torches as well, but it was still a regular cave.
Seifer looked at Rinoa, who glanced back. It was Seifer who started talking. He felt he owed them all a big explanation.
"That was Rianna." He bowed his head and stared at the floor.
"Rianna? Who's that?" Quistis asked. She sat down on the ground.
"She's a natural born sorceress." Rinoa answered for him.
"A what?" Squall questioned with very little patience now.
"Well, first of all, I think I should start from the beginning. It may take a while." Seifer took a deep breath and felt a thick lump in his throat. "Rianna is actually Ultimecia's daughter. Before you all defeated or even heard of Ultimecia, she had a child, a girl. The girl grew up non-existent. Nobody knew that she was even born. That was Ultimecia's plan. She planned that if she should ever die, the girl could take over her plan in trying to force the world into Time-Compression. I know what you're thinking. 'How is she a sorceress? Don't sorceresses receive their powers from other sorceresses?'" The other three nodded. Rinoa only knew who Rianna was, everything else she knew nothing about. "Well, not necessarily. This sorceress was born with her powers. That's why she's so powerful. A natural born sorceress is considered to be Hyne's Child. The great god Hyne. The sorceress is called Hyne's Descendent, but a natural born sorceress is called Hyne's Child because they're born without a male companion, but by their mother's powers. The Hyne's Child is also referred to as the Evil One. A natural born sorceress has much more power than regular sorceress, much more. She has the power to destroy the world without Time-Compression. That's why Ultimecia tried to kill her."
"What!" Rinoa shrieked. "Why? She tried to kill her own daughter?" Seifer nodded.
"That's right. She got too powerful. Ultimecia realized that she had created a monster, a power hungry monster. When you guys got to Ultimecia's castle, the trap wasn't meant for you. It was meant for her daughter. You just got in the middle of it. When you destroyed Ultimecia, you opened a door for someone else, someone more powerful. She was pushed away as a child and took on her mother. Believe me, the world will end if she isn't stopped. But I think I can help you there. I know what she fears; I know what she wants. She doesn't want power. All you have to do is give me a chance. Trust me." Seifer looked genuinely honest and meant what he said.
"Rianna, huh?" Squall shook his head. "Oh, boy. This is lovely. Now, we really need to get back to Esthar," he moaned.
"Squall?" Rinoa tapped his shoulder. "I don't think we should tell anyone about that chamber."
"Why?" he demanded.
"Odine. He may or may not know about this, but we certainly don't want him to know that we know. That could be disastrous," she answered.
"Yeah, it may not be a good idea to tell anyone. We can tell them about the Ruby Widow, but we shouldn't say anything about the chamber," Seifer agreed. Quistis also agreed with a nod.
"Fine, but we really need to get back." Squall was becoming nervous.
The others nodded and they headed back on their way, hopefully up to the surface. They followed this new path for what felt like hours, but in silence, things always to seem longer than they really are. Anyway, they made their way in silence, and luckily for them, after a while real light was seen. They controlled their inner excitement to finally see the light of day.
When they did reach the surface, they were very surprised at what they found. When they made it to the top, they were only several miles from Esthar. They had gone through the mountains.
A/N: Okay, scratch the last comment from last chapter. THIS is my longest chapter ever typed and I am so tired it's not funny. I have been working on this one chapter for a couple of weeks now and I'm so glad that it's done. I now have good news. (No, I did not just save a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico. Yes, I have been up way too long.) I have found my way back to my original story line so updates will come a lot faster, and things won't be as long. (As of right now this chapter is 8138 words). The bad news is I won't post the last chapter of this story until probably August 23 for two reasons: 1) My mom and Squall's birthday (she would have killed me if I put his name first) and 2) that will mark the two years date that I have been working on this story. I love this story so much even if no one else does and I'm posting it on here because I just want people to enjoy it. If there are people out there who think it's horrible, that's fine. They're valid to their own personal opinion. But this is the first novel that I have ever written. I say novel now because it has surpassed the label of "story". I take a great amount of pride in this and could care less if people hate it. I'm not out to say that it's the greatest in the world. I know that is extremely far from the truth, but I do know that it is one of the things that defines me. There is much of me in here that only my close friends will ever be able to pick out.
Anyway, thank you all who have read this and reviewed. Special thanks to lady Rinoa and mystorygirl. You guys definitely make me want to update just to see what you'll say! But thank you. And thank you, Megan, my insane editor/best friend. You have, in many ways, kept me on track. (She actually threatened me to write more than several times. She's scary when she's deprived of something she really wants. Cough Ryan cough, cough M&Ms cough, cough story cough. Lol.
I am saying all this now, because I'm thinking about it now and I'm afraid I may forget to do it later. No this is nowhere near the end. I have estimated this to be about 50 chapters long. I just wanted to express my feelings early.
Thank you everyone and………….you guessed it………LATER DAYS! (Man I will never get tired of that!)
E/N: A lovely picture of Rianna can be located... here: (note: Take out all the spaces, this thing doesn't like URLs...)
http/ i33. /albums/ d63/ meggeh/ Katelyn/ d001b3fc.jpg