Well, from where we last picked off, Marianne was about to reveal the truth… All I can say for this chapter is "UH OH!" because some are gonna get pissed off!! Hehe, enjoy this intense chapter.
The best lyrics I picked and used for this chapter: "Fray" by Staind. (yup, 14 Shades of Grey album again)
Chapter 5: It Hits Down Hard and Deep
I know…that it never goes away
What I feel, everything I'm not today…
"I never would have thought any of this was real…" Marianne added before Seifer intruded, in pure disbelief. "What?! Is this some kind of sick joke?!" Marianne shook her head slowly, from side to side. Squall and everyone else, on the other hand, knew she was being honest. By watching her tremble and struggle within her speech, and the evidence they have just received, the stranger wasn't making anything up. "We were created…by your world?" Zell wondered in curiosity, and also interrupting, realizing there was some confusion going on. "Whoa, wait a minute… If this Japan company created us, and you live far from there, how do you know about it?" "Zell…let me continue… Please?" Marianne requested of him, who fell silent, to the sound of her voice. There was a bit of a squeak in there. The young man couldn't push that aside. In respect, Dincht let her continue, because inside he wanted to know why she was so afraid around them. Knowing of this and witnessing the nervousness and fear in Marianne's voice was breaking his heart and scaring him.
"I…don't think Squaresoft know about this at all… See… They are known for creating a…game series…known as Final Fantasy…" Marianne took in another deep inhale, pushing herself onward before anyone could say anything. Or tried to, but there was another moment of hesitation. Leonhart's eyes narrowed as he thought in observation, What's this Squaresoft company have to do with us? …Are they the ones who "created" us? "Are you trying to say that we were created…by them?" he asked Marianne, who nodded slowly in reply. "But," she quickly began before Seifer or Zell would cut her off. "I don't think they know you guys are real, for this is…Final Fantasy…number eight."
So I try and I try to make everything right
I don't feel like I'm doing it! It affects me!!
"WHAT?!" Almasy screamed, as Marianne jumped by the loudness of his voice. Her headache certainly didn't die down any. "We're some kind of fuckin' game on your world?! Is that it?!" He said it, loud and clear and stood on his feet quickly. Zell had noticed her jump and quiver. She was quick in her reflexes and her choice to turn to in protection was him. Dincht was practically stunned, but his gut told him to not let Seifer hurt her, or anything. "I…knew this was going to happen," Marianne cried, and trembled in reaction to Seifer's anger. Actually, she didn't think any of them would get it so quickly. So, that's why she's struggled with her words, Squall realized. Slowly absorbing this in, his eyes widened, showing signs to everyone else that he was freaking out. Holy shit… Is this the reason why Sorceress Edea switched places with her?
"Listen," Marianne said, in desperation to get everyone's attention. "If they didn't know, then Final Fantasies nine through twelve wouldn't have been created. They don't know that I'm actually here. …They don't know they had created something so real…" She almost stopped talking completely for a few seconds, but knew she had to plead her case that she was innocent in all of this. "I… I didn't even know this has been real all along…" "There's twelve of us?!" Selphie yelped, taken back in shock. "No… no…" Marianne answered, in attempt to calming her down. "Different worlds, different people." She then stopped herself, as if her voice had left her throat to curse her as a mute. "I… I don't get it." Irvine said. He was so surprised and confused to hear of this, but knew better to not accuse her of anything. Kinneas hung onto every word and believed her. And seeing her cower and tremble right next to Zell was enough evidence to prove she was innocent. Marianne really seems to know what she's talking about , he confirmed to himself.
An uncontrollable stream of panic ran through Marianne's mind. Her shaking body was unable to pull back the adrenaline or numb the head pain any longer. I knew this was going to happen… Knew it. They're angry. Seifer is definitely pissed off. …My head… I don't think I can take this anymore!
"And they were all created by the same company?" Quistis asked, feeling what she was saying was the truth. The seriousness, and struggling in her voice. The fear. Trepe saw one of Marianne's hands touch her forehead, followed by intense breathing. Then, there was a knock on the door. "Seifer needs to calm down," Quezacotl called to Leonhart as Irvine stood up to answer the door. Marianne didn't look, but the others did. There was a man at the door, partially bald. Possibly in his early thirties. His pajamas were white with tiny black dots all over them. "I heard someone shouting from this room. If you don't mind, some of us are trying to sleep." he said, in a weary, irritated voice. The older man gently rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "Oh, someone had a nightmare, and we're trying to calm him down," Irvine said with a gentle, but nervous grin on his face. He didn't want anymore trouble for the group than what was already received. Nightmare… I'm the one who's having the nightmare, Marianne thought as she trembled and cried in Zell's inviting arms. The man at the door heard this and said, "Oh, I see. Well, goodnight. Just give the poor boy some sleeping medicine if ya have to."
When the man left, Selphie was trying to help Marianne calm down. "Seifer, please remain calm," Quistis told the angry one sternly. From the sound of her voice, the former SeeD instructor seemed weary. "We're all not…pleased…to hear of this, but it is really early in the morning." "And look, you've scared her." Selphie said scornfully and gestured towards Marianne with one hand. Like Kinneas, Timlitt had felt no anger, and cared for her just the same as the cowboy and Dincht. "I thought you cared about poor Marianne!"
Seifer lowered his head and stared upon Marianne. "You're a real asshole, you know that?" Zell remarked in a harsh tone. If Marianne wasn't turning to him in safety, he would have gladly punched his lights out. Almasy scowled to "Chicken Wuss", trying to mentally burn a hole right through his face. Dincht had both arms around Marianne, and was sticking up for her. "I'm shocked too, but that doesn't mean I have to raise my voice-" "Zell, don't." warned Squall, holding up one hand as a signal for him to halt in whatever insult his comrade was going to spit at his rival. With enough tension going around, Leonhart wasn't going to tolerate anyone to provoke Seifer. He knew Almasy a lot better than anyone else. When angry, words could make him act violent and cause everyone else some big problems.
Everyone, even Marianne, looked at Leonhart, who was never really the boss over anyone, but himself. Somewhere deep down inside of him, there was a caring guy. It was just that he didn't often show it. Marianne had looked upon Seifer, thinking he's pissed off at her. But not for long and quickly shifted her eyes to look downward on the carpeted floor. She wasn't sure if she was able to continue. Probably not. Almasy in looking back in return, felt like he couldn't stay mad. Those fearful eyes had made him go soft all of a sudden. By a little notch.
You wouldn't listen even if I told you
Who the fuck am I to say?
You're too busy with the lies they sold you
Another cure to fix your day…
With a sigh of annoyance, Squall recalled back everything that had been explained. "Okay, Marianne, so you're saying this Squaresoft in a far off country from yours back in your world, created us and our world as a virtual reality game? And you never knew we actually existed until…tonight?" Squall clarified, putting it all together for everyone. It seemed to be up to him to take control and be the most level headed of everyone, even though he hated it. Squall's eyebrows narrowed, but his eyes showed Marianne some surprise before she avoided his gaze. He noted that she didn't like telling them this. She was never happy to begin with. All he could see so far was the fear. He felt the same way Seifer did, but from the hints Quezacotl had told him, he understood her very well. And she even knew they would get such reactions. Lashing out at her like Seifer did won't solve anything.
Marianne shifted her eyes, vision blurry in tears as she faced Leonhart. As she felt the muscles within her neck tighten, it became hard for her to speak. So she just nodded to him in silence. "This is so fucked," Seifer muttered angrily under his breath, while waiting for her to speak again. He shook his head from side to side rapidly, unable to accept this. He finally sat back down on the bed, and looked down at the floor. He focused his eyes there and nowhere else. This was one of the only ways he knew how to calm himself down. He had to, for the girl's sake. He had that same feeling like everyone else. She was telling the truth.
I want to go home now… Right. Now, said the panicking voice inside Marianne's head. She inwardly begged of this horrible, horrible night to end, and fall asleep in the bed she sat on with Timlitt, Almasy, and Dincht. Then to wake up safely back in her bedroom. In addition, she wanted nothing more than to get a hug from her own mother or father. With reassurance that this is only a bad dream… Zell continued to move a hand up and down her back to calm her down. "It's alright. He's calming down now," he told Marianne, referring to Seifer. She had slightly calmed down, but was still unable to stop herself from shaking and crying. Unable to gain self control.
But, how do you know about all this? We still do not understand," Quistis told her, cautiously yet calm. She had a little fear lingering in her voice, a little worried about the answer. And what exactly was she afraid of exposing? Marianne just looked at the young woman with long, golden blond hair. This was indeed real, but she so wanted this to be just a bad dream and nothing more. …That wasn't going to happen… However, she felt like she could not answer to the heroes and heroines of Final Fantasy 8 anymore. Her headache, the unending tension within her body, and fear was preventing her to continue…
Open wide for all the shit they feed you…
From way up high, God hung his head in empathy for his child. As he looked and felt through the inside of Marianne, he came up with a sad conclusion. "She's not going to say anything. She feels as if she's 'done enough damage.' " Bahamut's eyes burned in anger toward Seifer, disappointed in his actions. "He wouldn't calm down in time…" "That is because Seifer has no Guardian Force. He couldn't be warned ahead of time in what Marianne had to reveal," explained Hyne, who was trying to think of something, and quick. "I might have to break a rule, but it is up to the other Guardian Children to show all but Seifer what I have shown them. I'll have to show him myself." Bahamut thought this was necessary, because it was a really big deal of an emergency. Otherwise Almasy would never be able to know why Marianne even speaks the truth in slow phrases. "Do it then. I'm sure both Marianne and Seifer do not wish to be in conflict of each other." Hyne closed her eyes and relaxed herself, trying to mentally reach Seifer's mind…
"Poor Marianne," said Rinoa, frowning as she looked down to see her cower. It was horrible to witness the outsider to break down in front of the group that she had gotten to know. Tear stained cheeks were easily seen by the other immortals around Heartilly. She had cried along with Marianne when the truth had to be forced out. "Be silent, Rinoa," Bahamut instructed, but didn't make eye contact. "Mother Hyne needs to concentrate…"
The life partners of Squall, Irvine, Quistis, Zell, and Selphie, had been given a private thought speech from Hyne, to show them what they've recently seen. Knowing from instinct, the immortals knew Marianne was not able to get herself to answer the group, they showed the people the utter truth through Marianne's eyes. Images of Squall and the others on a television screen, looking to be digitalized. Followed by another image, a white controller with all these strange buttons. Especially the ones on the right. Going clockwise, a green triangle button, a red circle button, a light blue X button, and a pink square button. All of what Marianne had knew was now to their knowledge. Hyne finally managed to reach Seifer's mind and show him what he needed to see.
I know…that everything can change
What I need, is to open up again…
From seeing the looks of shock and horror from those around her, Marianne was just as much. She found it hard to keep things sane, and it had all come down to this. Begging for her life. Begging for them to help her and show some mercy.
In a couple deep breaths, the words came out in soft, squeaky phrases within her gasping, sobbing sounds. She used both of her hands to push herself to sit up straight and to stop leaning on Zell. "Please don't be mad at me… I…have family and friends… People who care about me," she cried. As soon as she spoke again, the Guardians and Hyne stopped feeding the others images of Marianne's own memories of their cruel fate as fictional video game characters. "Edea…" As she said the name, she took another deep breath, and began to explain what happened to her in first arriving to the Final Fantasy 8 world. "I was…asleep in my bed… And…it was starting to get hot… Then I was blinded by this light, and…" She took a pause in between to keep up in breathing, then focused on finishing this statement. "I woke up, in some kind of throne room…and Seifer…" She looked to him as Almasy waited for her to finish, eyes wide open. As she continued, it felt as if her voice box was expanding and weighing down her throat. "He was under her spell, or something. He pointed his…gunblade to my throat…and… And…"
She felt herself cowering as Selphie drew her into a hug. This was all indeed very scary to Timlitt, but knew Marianne wasn't the one to blame. Edea was, and Marianne had been transported here against her will. Even Zell could see this, and moved his hand up and down her left shoulder. He's not the brightest light bulb on a line, but he knew very well who was against SeeD and who was not. He also never witnessed someone so scared as this girl was. Marianne couldn't be classified as an enemy. "You must have been…terrified." The words had slid off his tongue before he realized he was speaking them.
Irvine, a kind and caring person this young man was, got up off the bed onto his feet. Marianne's not a bad person. She's just as freaked about this as we are, I believe. I'm not going to shoot her. She's only human after all, Kinneas thought as he wanted to comfort this poor little lady. Marianne knew this guy was very fond of young females, but didn't care as she watched Irvine kneel before her, Selphie letting go of her to see this as well. "Don't worry Marianne. We'll help you get back home, and stop Edea," he said sweetly, wrapping both arms around her. He felt Marianne shake in his arms as they embraced. This girl's kinda pretty too. …She looks like the kind of girl who would make friends with almost everyone. I'm getting a vibe of sweetness forming from her. The cowboy released, and gazed into her eyes. He shook his head, having second thoughts about his nature. What am I doing? I shouldn't be trying to score on her, even if she is a pretty one from another world. And that she had been used to seeing us as…entertainment. But his first intentions were correct however, about helping this girl.
Seifer rubbed one of his hands over his face, feeling tired as hell. He watched Irvine give her a hug. Well, she ain't lying. That's for sure. In his observations of this girl, in what she said and how she felt in explaining, told him that she was definitely innocent, and really didn't know from before that he was actually for real. Living, breathing, talking to Marianne along with everybody else. The truth and how she was feeling were not matching. And he even saved this human being's life earlier in the night. And it was way early in the morning to be ragging on anybody.
So never again will I look back in vain
'Cause today's not the past! I don't need to relive it!
With a tired sigh, Almasy felt like he had to agree with Irvine. Deep within his gut, he wanted to use Marianne as some kind of scapegoat. If she wasn't so afraid of all the shit that's happened, if she wasn't making him feel guilty in seeing her cower and tremble so much for mercy, he would have yelled at her. Something in his own damn conscience told him not to. She's telling the truth, and I can fuckin' feel it. It pisses me off to find out who I really am, and she saw that coming. "But why would Edea even switch places with you?" he had to ask Marianne, for everyone else's sake. He felt frustrated. "Were we…destined to know?" "…I don't know," she whispered, voice unable to balance itself. "I d-don't know how she knows what I know."
Then Seifer recalled in memory, "What about that soldier? Something tells me you knew not to trust him." Marianne felt like she was suffocating, and had to draw in another deep breath. "I know…he's not on our side. I…I can't let them know what I know. You know why?" She looked among their faces. Zell looked clueless. Seifer shrugged and mumbled, "Fuck, I don't know." Quistis, Selphie, and Irvine were just waiting for her to answer. "…They would kill you," Squall answered, feeling it was that obvious. "Maybe," Marianne managed to say through her crying. "Possibly torture, and lock me up in order to use me to find Edea." Her arms were hugging her sides as she shivered. "And I don't know how to get back…"
Squall had absorbed all this in, word for word. Image by image, and it was ticking him off. He felt claustrophobic, as if everyone was stealing all of his oxygen and making him suffocate from all what he's seen, and had been told of. He stood up, walked past everyone, and stormed out of the room. He felt like he needed to be alone for now. This was seriously beyond his logic of reason, and it pissed him off. For he was intelligent for a human being. In Marianne's eyes, intelligent for a goddamn game character her world made up. Quezacotl felt it was wise to leave Squall's thoughts to his own, unless he was needed to answer something. In this case, he couldn't allow himself to interfere with Squall's alone time. The bird felt that if he did, Squall would only snap at his Guardian Force and hurt Quezacotl's feelings.
Back in the room, everyone else had stayed. Quistis felt the tears sting in her eyes as she also absorbed everything that Diablos showed her, and what Marianne had said. The frightened young woman was indeed innocent, Diablos being correct. But the concept of all of this was causing her to stop thinking, or else she'd get a serious headache. One just like Marianne's.
The throbbing pain in the side of Marianne's skull was just too much now, along with the overflow of adrenaline. "Ice…" she whimpered, as tears continued to run down her face like a light rainfall. Selphie got up, deciding to be of service. "There's some down in the lobby," she told her in a soft, caring voice. With an assuring rub on Marianne's trembling right shoulder, Timlitt let her know that she was in safe hands. "I'll go get some for your poor head. Be right back hun." Marianne slowly nodded as she got up and left the room. She saw Squall's back, for he was standing alone in the hallway, possibly thinking to himself in frustration on how all of this could be possible. Selphie walked on, and focused on going to get a bag of ice from the hotel's lounge room.
Are you satisfied? I've given all I can
And are you pacified? Or do you want more from me…?
Marianne was emotionally drained and tired. She couldn't stand to sit up anymore or even answer any questions the rest of the group would have, so she moved to lie down on the pillow. Zell got up and moved over to the left, but never left her side. He could somewhat feel her heartaching pain, and this feeling never left him. Dincht spoke up. "Edea won't get away with this, okay?" he reassured her. He felt like he couldn't hold any grudges against this girl, for she was truly being honest over everything on this cruel night. She's been too kind to us to be a bad person. That, and he was pretty tired.
"…We're not mad at you or anything, Marianne. It's just that…we're all freaked as you are over this." She nodded as she laid down on her right side, facing everyone else. "I'm so tired," she said out loud, in a drained, whispering voice. "We're all pretty tired." Quistis told Marianne, just before checking her wrist watch. It was now close to one forty-five in the morning. She rubbed one of her temples with her fingers. "I'm wore out myself," she said, getting up to move. "I…don't mind sleeping on the floor…" A yawn escaped from Trepe's breath. "I don't care." She looked upon Marianne one last time, and moved her hand up and down Marianne's arm in comfort. She inwardly understood why Marianne had been so afraid to tell them what they needed to know in order to help her. Though it was just something for everyone that was going to be a while to take in and accept.
I've learned…that this life's not just a game
Just a line…between the pleasures and the pain…
It was only minutes by the time Selphie had come back with a bag of ice. It was balanced on the side of her head. "Let's just leave it there for a little bit," she said, and took a seat next to Zell on the bed. He watched poor Marianne curl into a ball, afraid. Marianne's eyes just focused forward, burning and irritated to look up at Zell. Seifer was straight within her blurred vision. She didn't care and didn't want to say anything to him. She just wanted to go home. She needed to go home. The only people that would seem to cheer her up, no matter how much Selphie and Zell would try, would be her own parents.
Dincht mumbled, "I'm goin' to bed." as he stood up. Before he could move to one of the beds of the room, he said, "Hey, get some rest Marianne. Don't worry. We'll figure something out." Quistis took Zell's spot on the bed, and moved softly rubbed Marianne's exposed arm, for the other was tucked under her left hip. She felt as if it were her duty to keep the newcomer calm.
"Selphie, go on get some sleep. I'll stay up a little longer, and take the ice back to the lounge when Marianne feels she doesn't need it anymore," Trepe said. Selphie nodded and brushed the back of her hand sweetly against Marianne's cheek, wiping away one of her falling tears. "Sleep well hun. You'll be alright." Marianne didn't reply, or look at her, but had calmed down a little. A sign that she appreciated Timlitt's kindness. Selphie then picked the bed across from hers, and began to nod off to sleep.
Seifer took this time to try and make it up to Marianne. She had let him know on what he was unaware of while he had first seen her try to stop the sorceress bitch from escaping into her world. From examining her, he could see that she didn't want to be here or tell them what they had to know. She never did. And probably homesickness was coming across her mind. He approached the bed calmly, and knelt down so she could see his face from where she laid. Marianne focused, and gave an acknowledging nod in knowing what he was trying to do. "I…forgive you," she said slowly through her crying. "I'd feel the same way if I were you." Almasy's features lightened up a bit, showing a soft smile. She seems like a pretty nice girl, he thought as he came up with a reply. With a hand resting upon Marianne's free shoulder, he said the next of his thoughts out loud. "I feel like I understand ya too." It felt awkward, because from what he's learned, she knew about him without even having to say anything. Knew quite a bit, and he knew this. He also learned of what he might have been if Edea didn't make the switch.
Almasy couldn't explain how or why those images were being showed, but had seen something that would haunt him in his sleep for a long time. A vision of himself, grabbing Rinoa and hurting her, squeezing her arm if she still would have lived. Shoving Heartilly to another woman, whose skin was purple and her hair was long crimson red. Could that have been some kind of evil guardian force? Surely, no real human such as this existed, right? This was something he would have to ask Marianne about in his own time, whenever she felt like talking about this Squaresoft business again.
Seifer let out another sigh for the night. "I'm just an asshole trying to be a nice guy…" Marianne nodded. "I know. And…" She paused, and Seifer noticed her voice was shrinking again, so he leaned in close and listened carefully. "What is it?" he asked softly, caring about this poor kid. "Thanks, for saving me," the tearful "kid" replied, and let out another shaky breath. "No sweat," Seifer commented with a smirk and made sure that ice bag stayed on her sore spot well enough. He nudged her on the shoulder to be in friendly terms. "Hey, I admit it took major guts to tell us…you know. You are right about us demanding it out of you in the long run." An attempt of a smile appeared on Marianne's face. Cool, she's got a sense of humor too…
Squall, out in the hallway, looked down at the floor, furious. A very small part of him felt bad for Marianne and believed her every word, but most of him was still shaken up on everything Quezacotl had shown him. Inwardly cursing to himself, Squall was just angry at what he's been having to deal with on this night. Everything he dedicated himself for. The people he's worked with and tried to care for him. Everyone but Marianne he's met in the world he's known his entire life so far…it was all created for Earth's entertainment?! The GF felt a great deal of regret for some reason, and Squall felt this bubble up inside his head.
It wasn't like he was blaming her or anything. Leonhart was just frustrated into accepting all of this like everyone else within the group. If Marianne didn't arrive, Rinoa would have still lived. It was like everything that was supposed to happen…was all in a huge mess. He even learned that he would have eventually given himself into falling for Rinoa if the events of this night didn't happen. Unbelievable! He wasn't going to let anyone in, no matter what. Not even Marianne was going to damage his outer shell anymore. He brought up a gloved hand to his forehead in irritation. This is fucked, like Seifer had said.
The door opened from outside the hotel room. Squall turned to see Quistis come out of the room. "Squall, I know it's hard to accept. It's hard on all of us. Even Marianne." Squall had another hawk stare on his face as he crossed his arms and looked to the floor, can't helping but ask in a robotic tone, "How is she?" "She's calmed down a little, and Selphie gave her an ice bag to soothe the pain on her head injury." Leonhart nodded from the position he remained in, understanding. "You going to bed soon?" Trepe asked, not helping but caring for whom she had felt like a sister to. "…In a minute," he answered dully, and turned away from her completely. "There's a bed saved for you, whenever you decide to turn in," Quistis informed. She got the same tone of voice as Squall answered with an unenthusiastic "thanks."
"I'll be back. I'm going to return put the ice back in the lounge," Leonhart's former instructor informed, holding the blue ice bag in her hands. He watched her go, then mulled on some more in thought, thinking of how he would feel if he were in Marianne's place. I'd probably be as scared… Why would Edea do such a thing? Why would she want to go to Earth anyway? "For revenge," Quezacotl answered for him. "In finding out the truth, it drove her angry, and insane." Leonhart had remembered, for his Guardian Force had shown him that Edea connected to Marianne's world, through her eyes as the lightning bolt had struck upon her. A part of his mind told him that he would have probably done the same thing if he were as powerful. "And as evil," the gentle thunderbird added.
Quezacotl didn't see Squall as an evil being, and it just wasn't possible that he would turn bad. For all of Leonhart's life, he had grown up around good people. He doesn't even have the heart to do it, the GF thought, and Squall had heard that, but let it slide by. The thunderbird realized his error shortly after that, and silently apologized. Squall didn't care. The two could hear each other's thoughts, feel each other's pain and emotions. Guardian Forces and humans connect as one.
Quistis came back after a couple of minutes, and Leonhart followed her in, feeling very tired. "See you in the morning," Trepe whispered, and walked further down on the room to sleep on the floor. Squall had noticed this bed was on the right next to the one Marianne was sleeping on. He looked upon her while the lamp beside his bed remained on. She looked peaceful and relaxed as she slept. "Squall, get some rest," said his life partner. Squall felt some eagerness from him. …Why? Not important. None of my business, he scowled to himself. He promised himself a long time ago he wouldn't meddle in anyone's affairs, so why should Quezacotl be an exception?
Leonhart slowly took off his leather coat, along with his gunblade strapped to his waist, and dropped it on the floor to his left, beside the bed. He turned out the light, and closed his eyes… As for that shower, he would worry about it tomorrow morning. He sure as hell didn't want to spend all morning smelling like Iguion.