Alright, time for Rinoa, Quezacotl, and Bahamut to communicate with Marianne within her dream.
Lyrics used in this chapter are from a song called "Separate" by Sevendust, once again off the "Seasons" album.
Chapters 7 and 8 should be up next week by the way!
Chapter 6: Nightly Visit
Could I be the only one here?
The one and only mistake?
Brightness came to Marianne's eyelids. Was the sun up already? As she opened her eyes, she found herself sitting on a hard, light gray surface. She noticed that her head pain was gone. "That's a relief," she found herself saying out loud, and got to her feet.
A human figure had stood a few feet away from where she was standing. Dressed in a sky blue sweater looking coat, sleeves cut off. A black band of a tattoo adorned around her left arm. Her face looked so familiar. Oh my God, it's Rinoa, Marianne had told herself, feeling like trembling all over again. She looked so beautiful. Her face just looked so adorable, like the face of a doll. The few red highlights were noticeable on her raven black hair.
As Heartilly looked upon Marianne, she spoke up. "Hi, as you may know…I'm Rinoa." It was a slow, calm approach as she stepped in closer. "You've come to haunt me, is that it?" Marianne asked, feeling her voice go unstable once again. Her eyes were instantly watering, and with that, she was stepping backwards. "No! No, I'm not mad," Rinoa calmly said, at first alarmed, but quickly became calm. She understood. "It's not your fault…on my death I mean."
Marianne couldn't believe this was happening, and noticed that they were standing in no place special. It was nothing but grayness. This was designed by Hyne, because she wanted Marianne to pay attention to what was going on. She made the scenery to be very dull.
"…Yes it is," Marianne replied in a tearful whisper, knowing and feeling that it was her fault for stopping Squall and Irvine, but had to. Rinoa slowly, gently wrapped both arms around her. Heartilly had wanted to do this for a while, and mentally thanked Hyne for allowing her to do so. "No sweetie… It's not… You were scared and had to go to them. Edea had brought you here against your will. I understand…" To Marianne, this felt totally unreal. But she could actually feel Rinoa hugging her. She heard her voice very clearly.
"…How are you even here?" she squeaked, and trembled in Heartilly's arms as she looked into her eyes. "This is a dream, Marianne," Heartilly gently told her in response, and moved the back of her hand, brushing a tear off Marianne's face. There was no reply, but only a shaky inhale of air. "Shh, I know it must be so difficult for you," Rinoa soothed as she felt like she had to comfort this person as much as she could. "There's no need to tell me… I know everything. I was told by the one who sent me."
The next form to appear in front of Marianne's vision had taken the girl back in shock. "Hello Marianne," said a very, very large bird. Rinoa released, and never took her eyes off of Marianne, tears in her own eyes. She was crying for her. It was like she completely understood how she felt. And Hyne had told her just recently that the Earth girl has lived a very calm, peaceful life before Edea made the switch. There was nothing to worry about before then.
Quezacotl could see that Marianne was afraid, and couldn't blame her. It was very natural on instinct to be afraid. To be tossed by force into a world that Marianne never knew existed. Far from home, and the friendly faces she cared about. Rinoa had followed her gaze, and assured her, "That's Quezacotl, if you didn't figure it out by now." "…Quezacotl?" Marianne repeated. The bird nodded. "There's no need to be afraid, young one," the gentle bird said.
Seeing a Guardian Force for the first time, close and personal, had brought shock and awe. All at once. He was five times bigger than the size of a golden eagle on her home world. Those dark orange, amber eyes expressed a calmness. The colors of his feathers, oh wow. Marianne had never seen anything so beautiful. Heartilly noticed her astonished reaction to Quezacotl. "Go on and touch him…if you like," she said in comforting words. A grin was worn on her face. She wiped a tear off her face with one hand, and used the other to lead Marianne closer to the creature of thunder and lightning storms. "It's okay, he won't bite you or anything," Rinoa assured as Marianne heard gentle laughter. Was this bird laughing? The laughter came again. "Yes, I'm laughing," Quezacotl answered, reading Marianne's thoughts.
Cautiously in a slow pace, Marianne approached closer and closer as Quezacotl slowly lowered his head to her eye level. Wow, this was indeed extraordinary to her. A beautiful, telepathic bird! Slowly, the girl placed a hand on the side of Quezacotl's head, as if hypnotized into doing it by Quezacotl's captivating eyes. The bird closed his eyes and emitted a soft high pitched cooing sound. To her, he felt soft. Those feathers on his head felt pretty soft to touch. "Your touch is so kind and gentle, like your spirit," he told Marianne, meaning he liked her sensitive stroking on his feathers. She inhaled deeply, as her hand remained where it was. Quezacotl focused his orange eyes on her and continued to speak, but in a soft voice. To Marianne, it wasn't like he was actually talking, and his voice seemed to echo a little. The placid sounding voice was somehow projected from him. Certainly not from his small, palely yellow beak. It wasn't moving. She could feel Rinoa massage the tension from her shoulders. "I'm Squall's Guardian Force," Quezacotl told Marianne as she finally let her arm rest at her side. "I wanted to meet you. You may not have noticed, but Squall hasn't been himself ever since you've arrived." "Oh?" Rinoa reacted, unsure of what he meant.
A moment later, Bahamut arrived. Quezacotl turned his head to face the dragon. "Your arrival was too quick. You could have at least waited another three minutes." Marianne followed his gaze, and felt herself gasp of Bahamut's fearsome appearance. "I couldn't stand to wait any longer," he growled, but knew better than to come any closer. He remained feet away from the other three. "…Who is he?" Marianne asked Quezacotl in a small voice. The first thing she noticed about the newest arrival in her dream was the massive size. Much, much larger than Quezacotl himself. "That's Bahamut. He's been assigned to be your Guardian Force. He's arrived, and is now junctioned to you." Her eyeballs widened upon the king of dragons.
With a gentle nod in agreement, Bahamut somehow spoke to her. "Despite my fearsome appearance, I'm here to help you. I'm to be your life partner until Mother Hyne says otherwise." Mother Hyne? The name didn't ring any bells to Marianne. "She's the goddess of Gala's 'heaven', as you would call it," Rinoa explained to her gently. "I understand that this seems so strange to you, but you have to trust us on this." She placed an arm around her. "It's alright," she said as she was gently leading Marianne to this really, big, dangerous looking beast.
And from what Marianne had heard, she sensed a bit of irritation coming from Bahamut. Bahamut sensed that she noticed. He slowly lowered his head, as Marianne coiled back inwardly to defend herself. His head was HUGE. His bluish eyeballs were about the size of her head! She saw those thin horns arch up and curl back on his head in a parallel direction. Marianne had stopped five feet from Bahamut. "I admit, I didn't just want to be your life partner from the start, but I was assigned. There's no turning away from it." Marianne didn't say a word, but just gaped at him. Life partner?! her mind screamed, in shock of the concept. It didn't seem to fit so easily. Why would she get a Guardian Force this way? Why now?
"It's alright. It's okay. Bahamut's on our side." Rinoa said, while looking at the beast. "Rinoa is correct," Bahamut said. His own voice, or what Marianne had heard, sounded so much different from Quezacotl's. It sounded bold, strong, and had a bit of masculinity. Like Ah-nold? Marianne thought to herself, mimicking the voice of the movie star from popular action films on Earth. Bahamut smiled inwardly as he laid down before her. He remembered what Hyne had told him, that she liked dragons. And from observing this mortal, Bahamut sensed they would get along just fine. "You're very observant, aren't you?" he said, offering a compliment. "Uh…yeah…" Marianne replied, in a very nervous manner. But that didn't stop Bahamut from continuing to be friendly and make her feel welcome in his presence. "You like dragons, or am I mistaken?" he continued, trying to make her feel comfortable around him. It was the least he could do.
Rinoa watched the astonishment appear on Marianne's face. How could Bahamut know such of a thing? Heartilly almost wanted to laugh, but knew better. And to do so would have been immature. Instead, she explained, "A GF shares your mind with you, and is directly connected to your thoughts, feelings. The two of you are one." Quezacotl added, "I've currently junctioned myself to you, but this is only temporary until we're done in what's needed to be said." Marianne turned to Rinoa. "Same as them? …Are you a GF now?" she asked curiously but Rinoa shook her head, smiling. She seems so…naive. "No, just think of me as your guardian angel sweetie." she soothed as Marianne felt like she had to sit down on this. Rinoa seated herself beside her as Quezacotl sat beside her as well, opposite of Heartily. Bahamut was lying on his stomach, across from them.
Bahamut and Quezacotl could feel Marianne's eagerness to know what's going on. Rinoa could see the question through her eyes as she faced her to say, "There are a few things you must know. Which do you want to hear? The good or the bad?" "Um, good," Marianne replied, feeling not too good about all of this. She had a very strong feeling of dread, as the remaining tears were falling from her eyes. The Guardian Forces could just feel the strong tension coming from her.
Hyne made it to be Bahamut's obligation to tell Marianne of these things, to which he had no problem with that mostly. It slightly bothered him on how sad or angry Marianne would feel. He was told from God that she was a bit unpredictable at times. This had brought a bit of worry from the Guardian of Wisdom. Marianne could hear the deep breathing of this amazing looking creature. He looks so tough and strong…oh my God, she thought, to which the Guardian Forces with her had easily heard the thoughts. Bahamut smiled inwardly again. He could still feel some fear from her to him. By experience of being junctioned to someone before, he was patient and knew it would take time for her to get used to having him around, inside her mind. Probably more, because she's been having problems in accepting that all of this had been real all along.
And I don't mind the sound of your voice
But hate the words that you say
That you say…
Can you separate? Separate me from the sin?
Is it not too late, to try and start again…?
After a short minute of silence, Bahamut reported what Marianne should know about. "The good news I bring are that your god is with you. God…from Earth… Hyne found him and brought him to her domain for your emotional support." "…Really?" Marianne squeaked, finding all of what was happening very hard to believe. Dragons, sorceresses, and monsters only exist in books, video games, or movies on her world. "Yes Marianne. God also sends a message, knowing you would worry about your mother and father about now. He said to me that they are alive and safe. The sorceress has not harmed them." Believing this, Marianne silently nodded, following by her unstable reply. Her voice was wavering up and down. "That's good," she replied. "Yeah," Rinoa agreed, smiling. She was trying to cheer her up somehow, but knew it wouldn't work. The bad news was going to break Marianne's heart. "
The bad news," Bahamut began, followed by a very breathy sigh. His eyes closed for a brief moment and then reopened as he spoke. "The bad news is that Sorceress Ultimecia, in using Edea, has possessed the both of your parents. That's what God had found out in the last few minutes before Hyne had found him…" The way he said all of this was bluntly, but the dragon king knew she was supposed to be told of this. Don't forget about the fact that Earth is doomed, Marianne thought to herself, which to that response, she could feel the Guardians' sympathy for her.
Can you separate all the darkness from my eyes…?
Slowly absorbing this knowledge, Marianne didn't say a word, and froze in position. A fearful look was stricken upon her face. It was as if Bahamut had cast a Petrify spell, but knowing better, Guardian Forces could only stock up magic. It would be up to the mortals to use it. "Marianne, don't feel sad," Quezacotl told her, moving his wing to touch her shoulder. "Your parents will be safe. They may not have much free will anymore, but fear not. We want to help you get you home, to save Earth from that evil woman." Instantly, the Guardians had felt the heartache. "If you have faith, maybe you'll be back on Earth shortly," Bahamut called to her, in attempt to be of comfort. Marianne closed her eyes and shook her head from side to side, rapidly. This was dreadfully upsetting for her.
Marianne was feeling utterly helpless by then. "Pull yourself together! It's not all over yet!" her Guardian Force confronted, slowly getting up to stand on all fours. "No," Marianne replied automatically, fear turning into anger. "It's not going to be over." Bahamut and Quezacotl could feel the anger bubble up, but there was a slight disapproval from Quezacotl. "Anger is better than despair," Bahamut encouraged. "She is going SO going to pay… " Marianne hissed, getting to her feet as well. Rinoa was getting up too, in trying to calm her down when there was a glimpse of feminine laughter. It sounded older. The dragon growled in irritation, "She's here…"
TRY AND COVER ME 'CAUSE I'D RATHER BE ALONE NOW!
Out of the dismal and flat air, Edea Kramer's form had begun to slowly materialize. "No," Rinoa said, feeling afraid of what was happening. "Bitch," Marianne cursed at the evil one through her teeth, really in the mood to want to kick her ass. Her eyeballs were irritably burning through the large amount of crying, but that was easily ignored and pushed to the side. This person has caused her a great deal of pain. Now that she was here, was Marianne going to stand around and watch Edea poke fun at her? HELL NO!!! Marianne's brain screamed with inner rage. "Marianne, don't try to attack!" Quezacotl strongly advised of her, and unfolded a wing to prevent her from doing so. Rinoa had a hand on Marianne's shoulder. As she tried to pass through them, the materializing of Edea was complete. "No, Marianne…" Rinoa said, holding her back. "Let go," Marianne said in disagreeing terms. The sorceress laughed again…
Wash away the blood you spilt and lay down in the bed that you made
Don't mean nothin', Don't mean nothin' to me…
Edea was sitting down in a chair in what looked like a meeting room. There were papers scattered on the wooden table here and there. Nothing important to this new dictator of Earth. She didn't need documents or files. She knew a lot about Earth, from looking into Marianne's mind like a file cabinet. All she needed was her own dark magic.
Already, it seemed too easy for her. In arriving Marianne's house, Edea had gained instant ability to put suggestive thoughts into the minds of Marianne's parents as they slept. Thoughts indicating they had no daughter, and to not question about the bedroom in which Marianne was in before Edea switched places with her. They were told to arise and to specifically pack some things into the large and black book bag that leaned beside the shelf in Marianne's room, filled with stuffed animals, video games, CDs, and other items. After that, Edea mentally instructed them to follow her to the backyard outside, asking for the keys to one of their cars. With ease, President George W. Bush had been literally kicked out of the White House, by his own security people. If the citizens of Earth were more alert and aware of what was going on, a number of people would cheer, without a doubt. While others would stand around, confused, bewildered with the burning question: What is she doing?
But indeed Earth was easy for her to take control of, any new face she would come across would result in being a pawn for this world domination. One to help her along in the process.
As the woman in black feather trim dress sat in the chair, she was speaking. But with her dark brown eyes were focusing on something else, not toward her parents who sat dully at the other end of the table, eyes gazing into her and not saying a word. The china doll face smirked. She was amused of what she was witnessing before her.
There was nothing I could do
Nothing I could say to pull you away…to pull you away…
She could see them quite clearly, watching the Earth girl struggle from Rinoa and Quezacotl's grasp. She thought of this to be sheer enjoyment, until Bahamut broke out into a loud, infuriating roar. Hearing that over and over would give Edea, and Ultimecia altogether a serious headache. She had observed and learned that Hyne has assigned him to Marianne as her Guardian Force.
But she saw Marianne break free from those that were holding her back, she couldn't help but go back into laughter when the weak fool tried to take a dive at her. She magically altered her vision in seeing through Marianne's dream. "You better not hurt them!" Edea heard Marianne holler. "I have no intention to. Your mother and father are loyal servants to me," the sorceress laughed, and waited for Marianne's heated response. But Bahamut piped in, "YOU. SELFISH, FOOLISH DEMON," he roared, making Marianne coil back and cover her ears in terror. "Bahamut, calm down," Quezacotl calmly suggested. The thunderbird stepped up to Marianne, gesturing to the dragon's new life partner. "You're scaring her." Edea felt herself shake her head, making a mockery of this. "What an impressive choice Hyne made in choosing a Guardian Force for Marianne. I'm sure the two of you will make the new 'game plot' interesting…"
Marianne's father stood up from the other end of the table, holding Marianne's backpack in both of his arms. His eyes were sky blue, glowing, like when Seifer was under the similar spell. His facial features were emotionless. There was not a smile through his gray mustache and beard. Edea nodded with a smirk and made a simple gesture for him to slide the bag down to her at the other end of the long conference table. With a slightly hard push, the man obeyed, easily influenced under Edea's power…
Can you separate? Separate me from the sin?
Is it not too late, to try and start again?
Can you separate, all the darkness from my eyes?
Separate…
Through the other side, inside Gala, Marianne had watched and trembled in fear and anger as Edea received her backpack. Her eyes widened a little through the tears as she had witnessed what her father had done. The evil one had wanted her to see it. And another taunt that would echo throughout Marianne's ears was what she craved. "Here are some of your belongings. Your old bedroom is a concern of your parents, who want you no longer. They even claim to not have a daughter anymore-" "BULLSHIT!!" Marianne interrupted, as mad as a human can get over a situation as this. "YOU just have them under your control!! I know in their souls that they are worried about me, so don't give me crap like that, you WITCH!!" Rinoa Heartilly wasn't just going to stand by, and gently placed her hand on one of Marianne's shoulders to help her settle down. "You know what Marianne?" Edea chimed, flashing one of her gentle, and deeply disturbing cold smiles that sent a chill up the girl's spine. Oh how the girl hated her cold smiles. The trademark smirk upon evil Edea's face was so perfect, emotionless, and flawless that it scared her. Not a wrinkle formed on the sorceress's face. "Stop worrying about them. They'll be fine and safe around me. I'll take good care of your people for you." She emitted a laugh, which caused Marianne to yell and curse at her furthermore…
In the hotel room, Squall had been awake and was now trying to wake Marianne up, who trembled and talked in her sleep. Whatever she had said in her dream was said in a lower, calmer voice. At first he just observed in annoyance of her trembling and whimpering through whatever nightmare she was experiencing. Then after listening to her cursings at whoever was making her mad in this dream, Squall realized he couldn't go back to sleep unless she was out of the nightmare, and then to sleep silently and peacefully like the other people of the room were doing.
For a few years as a young cadet, Leonhart thought it was best to train himself to be a light sleeper and keep his ears alert for any sound that would mean danger. He regretted his sensitive hearing on this night. What do you expect? his own arrogance answered him. She doesn't even want to be here. Not with Edea on her world doing Hyne knows what.
He was being a little rough in shaking her by the shoulders, because doing it gently wasn't working. "Get up," he told her in a low, annoyed voice. "You're having a nightmare…" Seifer, had awoken from sleeping on the floor, right beside the bed Marianne was trying to rest on. He had heard Squall mumbling, followed by Marianne's whimpering. As he got to his feet, he watched her shiver. "Squall, what are you doing?!" Almasy hissed, shoving his childhood rival away from the sleeping girl. "Fine, you wake her then…" Squall muttered under his breath and crossed his arms over his chest. "No, I won't let you get away with this…" Marianne said in her sleep as she continued to tremble. "Marianne?" Seifer began to call her, lightly shaking her awake.
Squall was calling her name. "Marianne… Get up Marianne." he continued, with Seifer helping him out…
Their voices were being heard in the dream and as Edea smiled, amused. "Go to your lion, Marianne. He calls for you," she said, relishing this moment. Quezacotl turned to Marianne and watched her break down. "I have to go now," he said. Marianne looked to him, her eyes begging of him not to leave and fight Edea off, like Bahamut was attempting to do. A beam of blue fire was going right through the illusion of what appeared to be Sorceress Edea. He was trying to Mega Flare her.
Squall's and Seifer's voices was becoming clearer and clearer by the moment as Quezacotl said, "Squall is awake, and I have to return to him. Don't worry. I'll help you through him. Marianne, it was a pleasure meeting you…" With that, the bright and colorful Guardian of Thunder vanished.
Marianne then turned to Rinoa, who nodded in agreement that she needed to go too. They hugged. "I'll be watching over you. I'll see you again tomorrow night, okay?" Heartilly said to her, voice cracking in wishing she could be with her more often, but knew it wasn't going to happen. She was to accept this fate in being in the afterlife, forever. "Do me a favor?" Rinoa added and whispered softly into her ear. "Take care of Squall and Seifer for me…" She released from Marianne and smiled softly, in friendly terms. Edea was too distracted by Bahamut to say something to crush their spirits.
"No, don't go!" Marianne wailed as she saw Rinoa vanish in front of her. She crouched down and fell to her knees, weeping. Bahamut to her right was roaring, and decided to attack another way. Edea was in connection to Marianne's mind still, meaning the dragon was also connected to the evil woman. He was too blind with anger to realize this before. In the next instant, he watched as Edea clasp her head with both hands, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was like her own brain cells were burning away. Whatever the Guardian of Wisdom seemed to be doing, this was a clear sign from Bahamut to tell Edea/Ultimecia to back off. This was causing Marianne to be even more afraid. "LEAVE HER ALONE, WOMAN!" Bahamut bellowed, in standing up to Edea for Marianne. Edea's screaming echoed throughout all of the dream dimension Hyne had constructed. The frightened one was trying to block out the screaming but she could not, as she heard Squall's voice more clearly by the next few seconds…