Visions Of The Darkness
Chapter 3, A Tale Of Woe
Days seemed to pass as Irvine waited on the small balcony for the mysterious girl from the future to come; only an hour had passed since he called her though which left him waiting impatiently. As he sat, now slumped against the delicate gold balcony railing, the waves of Balamb behind him transformed as the sun set, causing the shimmering crashing turquoise waves to become seas of orange, purple and gold hued shimmering silk and the sky to be taken over by pale shades of lilac, pink, gold and orange as the sun slowly slipped beneath the waters leaving it's final marks on the day.
'She had better come soon…..It feels like forever since I called her…I wonder what time it is…hmm it's starting to get dark…and cold.'
As Irvine pulled up the collar of the warm heavy duster, night started to set in as the sky darkened and the first stars started to appear as the full moon rose to its peak. Daylight then surrendered to the night as darkness surrounded Irvine and the cool night air picked up. Then she came. As silently as she left before, she gradually faded into existence as she leaped of the balcony railing to land on the ground near Irvine's feet. The slight noise when she landed cause Irvine to open his eyes, discovering that the girl had come.
'She's here …it worked….thank Great Hyne…she is here …now I can find the truth.'
Irvine rose from his tan tilled waiting place of the balcony floor to notice that she was differently dress from the last time he had seen her, thought this was the strange thing was, she was dress oddly like Squall, what this meant though Irvine didn't know and her Sorceress Edea like makeup remained also. "You came. I didn't think you would" he managed to mutter, still processing her normal look compared to her dress at the dance. "I would of come earlier but I passed out into the lands of dreams as soon as I got home from using too much of my power, also I can only come here at night for that is the element I control. I'm sorry I made you wait. Oh I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself from the other night have I? How rude of me…well my name is Sorceress Malacia Leonhart and I take it you are Irvine Kinneas?" she said quite thoughtfully. Irvine looked stunned.
'Does that make her Squall and Rinoa's daughter in the future?'
"Did I say something wrong?' she inquired. Irvine finally recovering enough voice to speak exclaimed "Does that mean you are Squall's daughter!" Malacia looked shyly away. "I think you deserve an explanation now" she said as she and Irvine sat down as she started to tell her story.
"I am a Sorceress. I obtained my powers from Sorceress Ultimacia, my mother whom you would know as Rinoa Heartily. My father is Squall Leonhart. This is where things get tricky. My father told me this when it was my tenth birthday. He said that he met my mother on a mission seventeen years before after he had just become a SeeD yet he would not tell me what the mission was for. He told me that during that mission he was with six of the finest people that a person could and that he had grown up with. He told me all about them. He also told me after the completion of his mission he was the Commander of SeeD. That year as a present Auntie Ellone gave me a chance to see something or someone she had known in her past and after my father's story I chose to see a vision of you in the past. Ellone then showed me little parts of the mission you were in and how if I needed help I could call on you. Eight years then past without anything bad happening. Then fate conspired against my sister, mother, father and I. My father and younger sister, who is younger by 2 years, then went on a mission of extreme importance. In that mission my father died killing the mad Sorceress Millennia where my sister then took on Millennia's powers and became a Sorceress too. When my sister returned with the news our mother and I were grief-stricken. Then our mother started to recluse away from the world and spend days locked up in her room crying and shouting that it was a lie and that her knight and our father wasn't dead and so she never go over it. She was always waiting for him to return to her. One day her grief transformed her into her true self at the time and she was renamed Ultimacia. She then started to despise SeeD for killing her husband and left my sister and I to live by the place where my father promised to be if my mother and he were separated. 2 years then passed and I had heard she had died suddenly and her castle was in ruins. My sister, who also has a knight, started to turn slightly corrupt. Now a year after this happened she is more power hungry and determined and that is why I am here to ask for you help. My sister is trying to resurrect the past with her powers so she can destroy SeeD, gain my powers and rule the world. Please help me; even as a Sorceress I can only do so much
, please Irvine."
'Oh Great Hyne…..poor Rinoa…..poor Squall….I dread to see the future then…..'
"Malacia I will help you all I can but why did you find me in the past and not in your time? And how did you travel here? Only Ellone had that power not Ultimacia."
"Irvine in the future you were living a charmed life as the leader of Galbadia. I didn't want to interrupt it and Ellone died a year after Squall died because she felt that Rinoa's decline in life was her fault so she left Balamb and was making her way over to Esther, when a lighting storm struck down her boat and she drowned. I got the power however by myself, I was born with it, I don't know how but I was sure my power is a bit more than Ellone's, I can go backwards and forwards in time." She said sadly. "How old are you Malacia? You never told me." Irvine pondered. "I know your age so you don't have to tell me. I am really23. You see Sorceress don't age very quickly. I am just lucky I have a knight otherwise I would have turned into my mother toward the end and I won't let that happen." Malacia said as she smiled. Irvine did his usual trademark smirk and Malacia laughed. "Looks like you are just as my auntie and father said you were a sincere compassionate lovable sensitive cowboy." She said as she looked up at the night sky was slowly fading. Irvine turned to look at the fading stars and then turned to look back at Malacia, saying, "Thank you. You better leave; the sun is going to rise soon." "No, thank you Irvine, I am going to need your help very soon. If you need to contact me just say my name. I will meet you here tomorrow night. Now I'd better be going. Goodbye Irvine." Malacia got up and sat down on the balcony railing then waved goodbye as she slid off the railing disappearing into thin air.
'Till next time Malacia…..best of luck for the meantime ….Later'
Irvine stood up realising that dawn had just broken and he had been talking with Malacia all night. Irvine yawned and stretched out his aching muscles before bending down and picking up the useless laptop from its resting place of the floor of the balcony near some potted Balamb Ferns. The cowboy yawning again looked at his watch and found the time to be a meagre 6 in the morning. Irvine then trudged back to his apartment where he put down the laptop, his hat and the duster on his desk and promptly fell asleep on his couch unable to make it to his bed.