Twisted Temptations
Story by: Kidria
Title Ownage: Celos
Disclaimer: Vana'diel and such belong to SquareEnix, the characters' personalities belong to them and myself, the story belongs to me, title to Celos. Do not steal. I have no rights to Vana'diel, San d'Oria, or any areas/elements belonging to SquareEnix.
Rating: PG-13 for violence, language mostly.

Chapter 8: Fallen Flowers

Daleth was unable to utter a word as his friend shoved him into the nearest room. Well, more like tackled, which scared the shit out of him and he nearly killed his friend. When inside the room Robius shut the door and looked at Daleth square in the eyes. With complete seriousness he shoved his taller friend into the chair nearest him, hand still on his shoulder as he started to speak.

"Daleth," Robius said. "Take Sagome and Kidria and leave Jeuno."

Daleth's dark eyes widened a slight fraction. "What?"

The Dark Knight let him go and crossed his arms, the constant frown on his face now a frown of determination. "I'm not going to keep Sagome and Kidria here. In all honesty, they are the most defenseless of us all. Get them out of here."

The Elvaan stood. "Taking Sagome is fine, but Kidria too? It's way too early to move her."

"Think of it this way," Robius said as he opened the door to leave. "What do you want? Kidria dead, or alive with the hope to be normal again? Think on it. And then get them out of here." He left the room, leaving Daleth standing there, staring at the door.

Outside, Fxeni tried to amuse Kidria the best he could, but the mere fact that it was revealed who died in the Gardens' incident just made him completely depressed and scared. The paladin was Deadnedz, an Elvaan that was slowly making friends with a few of the group. The black mage was a Mithra… Fxeni couldn't remember her name now. He vaguely remembered that Daleth knew her a bit, but he didn't want to tell Daleth that she was a victim. Goddess knows it'd make things worse.

Fxeni heard Kidria land on the floor with a thump and jumped at the loud sound, staring at her with wide eyes. Kidria stared back, lying on her back and looking at him upside down. Slowly, she rolled over onto her stomach, her eyes not moving from his, not blinking. She sat up until her knees were tucked and she sat on her feet,still staring. Fxeni wasn't sure who would back off first, but he was starting to think it would be him soon.

"Why aren't you crying?" she asked suddenly. Fxeni blinked several times, surprised. She sighed. "Why aren't you crying? Two more people some of us knew were killed."

Fxeni felt his jaw drop. "Wha…how do you know?"

Kidria shrugged and turned her back to him, muttering to the wall closest to her. The Taru tried to get the information from her, but sighed. She probably just overheard, but even then, they were all very careful not to say it out loud, especially when describing one of the common townsfolk. The one poor bastard was mutilated worse then Deadnedz—much, much worse. Fxeni shuddered.

Celos growled, rubbing the back of her head. With a sigh she bent down to pick off debris from her boot sole, hearing workers all over the death site, trying to repair the street at the least.

The huge, gaping hole in which Taea was killed was almost covered now. The workers did not want to do complete repairs until all supplies from Bastok came in. For now, just make the street open would be good enough. Celos had dropped into the opening of the hole as Chase checked around the higher levels. He did not know she came down here. If he did, he would panic and demand she come back up. He was on the other side still, hopefully, as she did a quick check.

Celos and Chase were assigned to check out Taea's death site, Ithuthus around Halystaru's, and Taija and Vunebent, whom had returned from their long mission, to Fupac's with Marzinquan to help them. Ithuthus was by himself simply because Halystaru's site was much safer—it was out in the open near the temple. The Elvaan monk sneezed as dust rolled around her and she muttered to herself.

Celos suddenly kicked a rock. Damn it all. By this time, if everything was normal, she and Taea and everyone would be having parties and drinking and generally having fun. But now she's going through one of her best friends' murder sites.

Whatever happened to normal?

Celos pushed the large rock she had kicked over onto its more flat side, and was about to sit down when she spotted an aged piece of yellow paper. Celos pulled it out and saw that the ink was fresh.

It was planted here.

Celos unopened the paper and read the contents.

"'You can see me, but I can't see you. You can hear me and I can hear you. You can speak to me but I can't speak to you. Why? Red.'" Celos read.

Chase raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?"

Marzinquan took the paper from her gently, staring at the words. Ithuthus and Daleth stood rigid; waiting for some sort of clue the Hume monk might come out of it. A moment passed, and Fxeni piped up.

"Let Kid see it," he said.

Ithuthus shook his head. "Why?"

"Think about it," Fxeni said. "She gave us a riddle telling that Takmir was going to be accused of the murders a good time ahead before it actually happened. What if she can do it again? If we really think about it, we can probably figure it out."

"So what? Kid's an insane prophet now?" Robius waved his hand in the air. "I wouldn't suggest it, but it probably will work if she does the same thing again."

Celos took the note back, then nodded. "I'll give it to her."

Daleth stood. "I'll go get her." He left the room, moving to the room a few steps away from the one he just left. Kidria was usually in this room, for some odd reason. It was a bare room, nothing but a bed and three large, iron-barred windows. He didn't like her in there, but she always went in that room to sleep. Maybe she felt safer in there. He'd have to try and maybe get her into her sister's room.

Opening the door, he saw Kidria staring out the window blankly, humming a little song. He knocked and she glanced over at him. Daleth smiled and she mimicked him. He walked over to her and offered his hand to her, which she took and stood.

"Daleth?" Kidria asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"That's your name, right?"

Daleth stared at her. "What?"

Kidria grabbed the hand that was holding hers into both of her hands. "Daleth Vai."

"Yes, Kid, that's my name." He said, unsure of how he was supposed to react. Was she forgetting him?

Kidria tugged him over and stood on her toes, her breath tickling his ear. "Can I tell you a secret, Daleth?"

Daleth stood still as stone, completely confused and lost. "Y-yeah…"

"My name isn't Kidria."

Daleth paced in the corner as Kidria stared at the piece of paper. He couldn't help but stay as far away from her as possible. He hated this feeling that the simple sentence she told him could shake him so badly. Why did it? Maybe because of the many possible things it could mean… More then just she was still insane. So many things, and the majority of them sent a crawling sort of feeling all over his body, just beneath his skin. He rubbed his arms, and realized that this sick feeling was the fear people felt when stalked. Daleth, and all of his friends, were stalked game to this disgusting bastard that killed Taea, Haly, Fupac, and the others. But why them?

Kidria glanced up; her eyes still dark, ever since that day… "What?"

"Can you…tell us what it means?" Fxeni asked.

She looked at the paper, her eyes skipping all over it. "It's not what you think," she flicked it into the air and Chase grabbed it mid-flight. "It's not written in the right point of view." Kidria paused, looking at the empty space next to her as if someone was there and talking to her. "…they won't tell me anymore." She reported sadly.

"Who?" Daleth asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"They said not to tell." Kidria said.

"But Kid," Robius cut in. "Telling us could keep us alive."

"It doesn't matter to me. I was told to keep it a secret, so I will." Kidria replied, callously.

Daleth heard his teeth snap together and turned back to the wall. Celos looked just as disturbed at the statement her once so protective sister had just said. When she glanced around, the Elvaan monk noticed that everyone was in shock. Even Robius showed a very visual emotion in his face. Kidria crossed her arms, glaring darkly at them all. She stood.

"I'm going to my room." Kidria said, still coldly. She stalked off as everyone began to recover.

Robius stood and faced Daleth. Now that he was over his shock, he once more donned his emotionless face. "She has no use here, Daleth. Take her and Sagome out of Jeuno."

"No use? How can you—"

"Just shut up and do it," Robius growled. Daleth was taken back and pressed his back against the wall firmly.

Daleth stared at Robius, then to Celos. She nodded slowly, and he sighed. "I'll do it."

Amelin stalked down the hall of the prisons, speeding toward Takmir's cell. She stopped in front of it and knocked on the bars. Takmir waved from the stone bed, his back to the Mithra, and he mumbled incoherently. Amelin sighed and hit the bars again.

"Tak," she said.

The Summoner sat up with a groan and looked at her, then smoothed his hair back. "Why are you still here?"

Amelin took a deep breath. "Deadnedz is dead and so are some citizens of Jeuno."

Takmir jumped off the bed and raced to the bars, snatching Amelin's hand. "Get the hell out of here!" he growled in a low voice as the guards took a step forward. "Amelin, get everyone out! They can't stay here…they can't stay here!"

"The Duke thinks you summoned an avatar and—"

"Let him! Just get out of here." Takmir pleaded.

Amelin's eyes filled with tears. "Do you have hope, Tak? Any at all?"

"…not for Kidria, no." he muttered.

The ground started to rumble ever so slightly at those words.

Daleth shoved his bags full of his things, his moogle quarreling with Sagome's about sharing luggage. He ignored them, focusing on putting as many things as possible into his bag.

This can't be happening, Daleth's mind kept telling him. This can't be happening. This is a dream, a horrible nightmare.

He wanted to wake up. He wanted to open his eyes to see sunlight and Kidria pounding on his door, demanding he'd get up. He wanted to walk out and have her hug him tightly as usual, to go out and see everyone laughing and smiling. He would put up with his earlier pains of his shaky ground with Taea just to have her alive again.

But she was dead. So were others.

"Daleth, Sagome says she needs another day here." Kidria said as she walked in. He looked up, eyes wide.

"K-Kidria…" he swallowed. "Okay…we can wait another day, I'm sure…"

Robius walked in behind her, blonde hair messy from what appeared to be lack of rest. Daleth smiled wryly at him, and Kidria ducked and slinked away with a small hiss. Robius offered her a smile, and her expression in return was a little friendlier. The Hume nodded to Daleth, who nodded back and reached for the younger Elvaan female. When he grasped her hand, Kidria cried and broke away.

"Kid—"

"It burns!" Kidria screamed. "It's melting…all over! It's burning and shaking and it's the work of the unnatural!"

Robius walked over to knock her out when the ground rumbled strongly, knocking him off balance and into a chair, left side first. It shattered under his armor and weight, the splinters flying everywhere. Kidria shrieked and the moogles dashed here and there, trying to keep things from breaking and catching sharp shards. Daleth grabbed Kidria around her waist and dove under a table, covering her entire body with his. The shaking increased and more screaming outside ensued, and Daleth heard Robius grunting at the violent rumbling.

When it stopped, Kidria was sobbing in Daleth's arms.

"He's free." Kidria whimpered.

The hole was gaping, dripping with molten rock. It glowed a faint, burning orange and it beckoned with temptation that was impossible to pass up. The guards were gone, vanished to protect the citizens. The little body shivered, and then looked up.

"I didn't do that," Fxeni said. "I swear I didn't."

"Looked like Firaga three to me!" Takmir growled. "Damn you, puntball! You scared the shit out of me!"

The Tarutaru stared at the hole that just materialized in front of him during the earthquake. He was casting Firaga three, but the hole appeared. And he was far from finishing the spell. What the hell happened…?

Takmir stepped out through the hole, and Fxeni began to cast an escape spell. Whatever happened, he was sure that he couldn't explain to everyone else.