Brahne's Story

Disclaimer: I own nothing of FFIX but this story!


4. Aftermath

Dr.Tot was working late into the early hours of the morning in the underground chambers. He had mountains of papers to be worked on, each bundle towering so high on his desk that anyone might have thought he was making a paper model of a city. Mentally exhausted but nevertheless determined to finish his tasks, he dipped his quill in a tub of nearby ink and forced himself to concentrate. It was, after all, an important formula he had been working on. It was a cure he needed, a cure that would heal a mysterious fever in which victims became nauseas and, in seconds, collapsed without much warning. It was then likely they would develop the fever subsequently killing them within a few days. Not one to give up, Dr. Tot had insisted on working on the project day and night after the death of the real Princess Garnet and now he was getting near a result….

'…But there'd have to be some form of anti-poison… ' he thought to himself and he scored out another tested ingredient on his list, his eyes jumping to the next. 'what about this?… No, NO, definitely not- would cause intestine explosions…'
He paused for a moment and suddenly looked around him as if someone who really had been victim to intestine explosion had spewed their insides up the walls. Fortunately there seemed a much simpler reason for his distraction. He felt sure he could hear footsteps running down the stone spiral staircase that led to the basement level he worked on.

'Who'd be up at this hour?'
Dr. Tot slid his glasses over his large sausage nose and listened again. The footsteps were no figment of his imagination, they were coming closer to the door.
"THUD… THUD… THUD…"
The door flew open. In the doorway was Queen Brahne, looking as if she had been involved in a battle; her head was bruised from the fall, her cheeks splattered with blood and her expression was frantic. She seemed also to have lost her ability to stand, more a cave woman than a Queen. Cushioned in- between her left bloody palm was a sword, shining in fresh blood that dripped off the blade.

"My dear woman! What has happened?" Dr. Tot cried and he abandoned his paperwork.
Brahne was struggling to speak. Each word came out in short stammers that couldn't seem to string together.
"Killed….in… Royal chambers… I… didn't… I.. just… "
"Who? Who has been killed?"
Brahne shook her head and tears erupted from her eyes like active volcanoes. Dr.Tot could see there was no use interrogating her, the shock had seen to it that she more a walking zombie than a woman who would fill him in on events. He left her standing beside his library and rushed up to the royal chambers. His heart beating, he slowly pushed the door open. There, upon the floor, was the King where Brahne had left him. Dr. Tot gasped a little but he was determined not to lose his head, Brahne needed him to stay calm. He shut the door on the horror before him and made his way back to the basement, his mouth so dry he could feel his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth. His mind was racing with all sorts. A murderer was in the castle. Would the person still be here? Perhaps they were hiding? A sickly feeling entered his stomach imagining the culprit grabbing him from behind.

"THUD!"

A loud noise erupted from the bottom of the staircase. Dr. Tot's heart froze with the realisation he had no weapon in which to defend himself with. The sickly feeling moved up to his throat.
"Hello?"
For a smart man, he thought, saying hello to a murderer was hardly the best plan. He would have hit himself if his body wasn't so paralysed. Turning the next corner, it felt like time had slowed down and he was being possessed by curiosity. One step… one step more…
"BRAHNE!"

Queen Brahne was cowering at the bottom of the stairway, shielding her ears from a unheard voice. She was pounding on the floor and screaming. A cave woman suddenly seemed quite civilised compared to the sight before Dr.Tot's eyes. He rushed to help her back into the chambers with much difficulty, it was as if the young Queen had taken some form of drug that had numbed her before throwing her into some uncontrollable fit. It took a while to get her to calm down but Dr.Tot was a patient man. Brewing up a relaxant in liquid form, he eased it down Brahne's throat.
"Tell me," he said softly but with a hint of sharpness, " Who killed the King?"

"I was in bed," Brahne started slowly but clearly, "And then I just remember falling off and it all going black. Then I woke up and I don't… I…don't…"
She became agitated but Dr. Tot soothed her once more with the relaxant and she began to talk again.
"… I don't really remember thinking much. I just knew I had to seize some power and get rid of anything in my way. I went to the Knight's Hall and took a sword and then I crept back upstairs. Then I killed him."
"But… why?"
Dr.Tot's eyes had widened so much that you could fit saucers in them but still he was calm.
"I don't know why. I was uncontrollable, possessed- like. I just did it and then realised after it," Brahne spoke once more under the influence of the relaxant. "Please… help me. You must bind me from doing harm. I can't control anything anymore. What if I kill Garnet? How would I live with myself a second time?"

Dr.Tot stood up from where he had been crouched at Brahne's side, his mind working overdrive.
"You won't have to. I will help you, I promise. You must stay calm however. The King is the newest victim of the fever, you hear me?"
Brahne nodded but her eyes were filling up with tears at the mention of her love.
"Now I don't know what this is about, Your Majesty, but I know that you are no murderer. Don't think though that I don't take your claims seriously. If you are experiencing some form of uncontrollable urges to kill then indeed we must act quickly. First we have to clean up the murder scene and the sword. Then I promise I will find something to help you."

Dr. Tot flipped open a book of charms and read out an incantation. Steiner's bloody sword rose and, as if it was being dipped in some invisible solution, the blood dissolved into particles that faded completely. Then it fell back on the table spotlessly clean. Brahne watched it and her stomach flipped over.
"I think you will find the room too is immaculate…" Dr. Tot mused.
"…What of my husband?" Brahne said suddenly, each word fringed with worry as if the King was still alive and could feel his surroundings.

Dr. Tot pointed behind him at a moving purple cloth that looked as if it was covering something (a figure was definitely imprinted on it) yet there was nothing beneath it.
"Invisible in case of prying eyes but hovering he should not be."
Dr. Tot clicked his fingers and the cloth fell to the floor, this time seemingly hiding nothing.
"When the time comes you should bury him."

Brahne nodded, another stream of tears falling down her cheek. Dr.Tot bowed his head as if at a funeral, slipped the book back but said nothing. For a moment Brahne thought he might speak again but he didn't. He was stroking a finger down a row of books, occasionally one would fly onto the table beside the sword and then Dr. Tot would shake his head and it would fly back. It continued like this for the next hour; Brahne was practically sleeping only kept awake by the reoccurring thumps of books that hit the table and zoomed back again. As she lay motionless on the bed that sat tucked away in the corner, she heard the clock tick by. Her eyes flickered open and shut time and time again but never would her soul rest. Eventually she heard Dr.Tot throw himself back at his desk in desperation.
"Nothing… not one," he was muttering to himself.

Brahne levered herself off the bed and approached the old tutor.
"I take it you are referring to my sitaution?" she questioned him.
Dr. Tot raised his nerdy head and folded his glasses back off his nose and onto the desk.
"There doesn't appear to be anything that would bind you from doing harm. Most frustrating… "
"So that's it? 'Most frustrating' that's all you can say?" Brahne cried, shaking in fear from herself, "You can't help me? I thought you were supposed to be the cleverest man in this kingdom yet you can't even save me from myself?"

Dr. Tot's eyes darkened, taking on the appearance of an evil mole that was not comical in the least, and said in a mere whisper: " Oh I can help you but what we will need to do is venture into the unknown. Take a risk. There is a book, Brahne, sealed for a thousand years. Sealed for containing charms that will cause harm. I fear its contents as much as I fear your new state of mind but something tells me that maybe it will hold the key but don't expect it to be a quick fix. That book contains hideous curses, curses that could wipe out your entire kingdom and I don't expect that this spell won't come at a serious price. Therefore I suggest you think deeply about your next choice. Who knows?"- He looked at her beautiful face- "It could be your last…"

Over so quickly yet again lol :( well R&R and I'll get the next chapter out asap!