Life after Death
Chapter 9: Tantalus
LLL
A/N: Yes, BM is so sexy! Anywho, back to the story! (Thank you Beastie!)
Loki, Lilly, and Ryoko: We have nothing to say…
Malevalla: Good!
Disclaimer: She no knows how to buy FFIX, so she no own. She don't own H.P. Lovecraft either.
LLL
I walked down the cobbled street to the bell tower. If the old Tantalus crew were in town, they'd be here. Besides, the bell tower was my new home. I'd have to pick up a few supplies before we took off.
The door to my house was wide open, and Blank leaned against the doorframe, starring at the ground through the belt around his head.
"Hey, Blank!" I shouted, waving one arm around. I was trying to catch his attention. He stumbled and looked up at me, smiling when he finally recognized me.
"Yo, Loki what took you? We've been waiting for you! We've been here for four hours!" He ran a hand through his hair, regaining his position against the tower.
"Sorry!" I replied, grinning my apology. "So what's up? You don't normally wait so long for me!"
"Special case this time. Marcus got caught under a pile of falling books. Can't find him. Cinna's been digging through them for the entire time."
"Oh man, I hope you didn't mess up any of my H.P. Lovecraft books!" I mumbled, turning into the room to see books scattered everywhere. Cinna struggled to stack some up, and find the missing Marcus.
"Loki, your books ate Marcus!" Cinna whined, standing on tip toe to put a book on top of a tall stack. I starred at him in disbelief. I took a quick inventory of how the room looked, and walked over to a seemingly random spot. A hand stuck up from a pile of books, twitching every now and then.
I grabbed hold of it, and pulled for all I was worth. Marcus erupted from the pile, coughing up the dust that had to be covering the books on the very bottom of what had once been a neat stack.
"Dang it all! Cinna, why'd you push that pile onto me?" Marcus wheezed, picking himself off the floor.
"I didn't mean to!" Cinna replied defensively, holding one of my books up as a shield.
I rolled my eyes and waded through the mess to a bedside cabinet. I opened the drawer, taking the satchel out of it. It was filled with potions and ethers I had stolen and bought. It had other assorted things, like eye drops and echo screen, but I wanted the potions the most. I hung the leather bag over my shoulder, and began to walk away.
"Hey, Loki, you leaving already?" Blank asked, looking at me from outside. I nodded yes, and made my way to my desk. I opened it, one drawer at a time. I scooped out several thousand gil and dumped it into my money pouch. I took the keys out of the prop up drawer, and began walking out.
"Blank, lock this place up when you're done!" I instructed, handing him the spare key.
"Hey wait, where are you going?" Blank asked, taking the key reluctantly.
"I have to go save the world or something. I'll bring you guys back some souvenirs!" I replied, dumping my own key into my satchel.
"Okay, whatever," Blank sighed, sticking the key underneath his belt. He crossed his arms and looked me over. "You got some new weapons I see," He commented, starring at my sickles.
I smiled, remembering my idea to test Flare and Doomsday against Blank's broadsword. "Yep! Wanna see how they do in combat?" I asked, letting my hands hover over the handles.
"Sure!" Blank replied with a maniacal grin. He stepped over to the other end of the alleyway, drawing his weapon from the sheath on his back. Cinna and Marcus stood just inside my house, watching us intently. I stepped to the opposite end of the alley and drew my weapons, ready for Blank to make the first move.
I didn't have to wait long. He charges at me, trying to bring the weapon down across my shoulder. I ducked and tumbled around his feet, standing back up behind him. I ducked down, and swiped Doomsday across his legs. Blank fell forward, turning his head to glare at me. He swung his weapon at me, and I released him in order to get out of its range. He hopped back up onto his feet, and prepared for my next attack.
I ran at him, Flare at the ready. I swung the weapon at him, but he dodged to one side. I couldn't stop, and kept on going. He brought his sword down like he was going to slice my head open. I closed my eyes, preparing for the pain that was sure to follow. I felt the flat of his sword hit the top of my head, and I finally stopped. Marcus and Cinna burst into laughing fits while Blank chuckled to himself.
He had dropped his guard.
I jumped at him, acting as though I was attacking from the right. He moved his sword to defend himself, but I twisted over to the left, getting behind him before he could do much of anything. I held the tip of one of my sickles to his throat, grinning viscously. "I win!" I purred into his ear, listening to the silence from Marcus and Cinna.
Blank dropped his weapon and held his hands up into a surrender position. I smirked, and lowered my own weapon. Bad mistake. He brought his elbow back instantly, and I only just managed to get out of the way. "No fair!" I wailed, sheathing my weapons and crossing my arms over my chest. I pouted, just to make him feel bad.
Blank chuckled again, and picked his sword off the ground. He slid it back into its sheath, smiling at me. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to fight!" He pointed out, walking over to his cheering friends.
I smirked, knowing he didn't know about my fire abilities. "I could have beaten you if this was a real fight!" I answered, turning around and taking my leave.
LLL
A/N: Yay! Two chapters in two days! Go me! Anyway, I just joined Fiction Press. I'm planning on writing a fantasy story, but I want to work on this fanfic too. That's why I wrote a chapter today, so I can get to work on my story/novel/whatever it turns out to be.