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 12: No Leaf Clover

When she looked over, she saw Daleth hunched over the other bed in the far corner, his back to her. He was shaking, and she wasn't sure if it was he was cold or crying.

She frowned. Daleth doesn't cry.

She watched as he crossed his arms over his chest, gripping his forearms. She could imagine him with his eyes closed tightly and his teeth clenched hard. Cerulean gave a low, screech-like sound but the Dragoon did not move. She slowly sat up and went over to him, sighing softly and trying to look around him.

"Daleth…" she called gently.

Daleth snapped to a straight posture, dropping his arms. A second later, she found herself embraced tightly, her eyes firmly pressed against the crook of his neck.

"Don't you look," he said, raggedly. "Don't you look over there!"

She tried to pull away but he wouldn't let her. "Daleth!" she wailed.

"Stop it!" Daleth pushed her back hard enough so she toppled over back onto her bed. He stood in her view; she still couldn't see what was there. "Don't fight me, please…" he said, softly, the anger she thought she saw and heard gone. "Don't look…"

His next embrace was gentle, but still he hid her eyes. She felt him shaking again.

"Daleth." She said plainly.

"If you look…you'll get worse." Daleth whispered. "She's gone… Kidria, Sagome is gone."

Kidria blinked, then closed her eyes and hugged him back. "I know." She said in her emotionless tone. "I know."

It took another two days for the airships to come back, and the instant they knew, Celos and the crew boarded. Robius sulked below deck as the others paced above, Celos constantly telling the driver below to hurry the hell up. In those two days they heard nothing from Daleth or Kidria, but Windurstian adventurers told them that a young Hume girl, who fit Sagome's description, was killed.

Robius had not taken kindly to the news and was much more withdrawn then before. Celos glanced over her shoulder at him, but he did not look at her. His blank stare was still on the wall. She frowned, sighed, and continued to hassle the airship pilot.

As soon as the docks were close enough, Celos ran to the top decks and jumped off, landing on the docks and running past the doors. She ignored the screaming airship clerks and ran right to the moghouses. She picked up the quavering Taru by his hair and lifted to her eye level.

"What number mog house are Daleth Vai, Kidria Scyen, and Sagome Korla renting?" Celos hissed.

The Taru kicked and yelled, but finally mumbled, "Thirteen!" before Celos dropped him. It didn't occur to her that it was early morning, and that the surviving two could be asleep. All that was on her mind was that her little sister was safe and what the hell Daleth was doing letting Sagome go by herself somewhere.

Finding the correct moghouse, and as the others caught up to her, Celos kicked down the door, ran to the nearest bedroom and proceeded to kick that door down, too.

Daleth bolted up from the bed, the blanket falling off him to reveal he was shirtless. His eyes were slightly wide in shock, and then even wider when he saw Celos. His voice came out in short, pathetic attempts at coherent sentences, his face a dark red, as Celos stared back with her own eyes wide. From beside him in the bed, Kidria sat up, analyzed Celos, then fell back down and returned to what she claimed was sleep.

However, just as Ithuthus and the others reached the room, Celos screamed angrily.

"DALETH!"

"I could have explained…" Daleth mumbled as he held the ice against his black eye. "And we could have avoided the three hour chase around the house…"

Celos slammed her fist into the table, breaking it in half. "What do you expect me to think! That it's perfectly fine that you're half-naked in bed with my little sister? You old pervert!"

The Dragoon frowned. "It's fairly simple…" he pulled the icepack off, then winced when Kidria poked at his eye. He batted her hand away. "She crept in there with me."

"Bullsh—"

"And told me how Sagome was killed before falling into a coma-like sleep." Daleth concluded.

Ithuthus cut in before Celos howled again. "What do you mean?"

Daleth glanced at Kidria, who obliviously was flicking at Fxeni's black mage hat. "She…dreamed to be in Sagome's place, and heard all of Sagome's thoughts, felt Sagome's emotions, heard all Sagome heard, and saw how Sagome was killed. The only thing she didn't feel was the pain…and did not see the killer."

Robius frowned. "So Kid knows first hand how Sagome died." Daleth nodded. "And she told you?" another nod. The Dark Knight looked at Kidria. "What else do you know?" he growled.

Kidria looked up at him. "Everything," she said simply, and went back to flicking at Fxeni's hat. The Taru frowned, very much annoyed. Robius jumped to his feet, knocked the chair out from under him. Kidria turned her attention back to him.

"Don't fucking play games, Kid," Robius rasped. "You say you know everything, then tell us! You really want to see all of us dead?"

Kidria stood up. "It's not my fault you couldn't protect your friends," she quietly shot back. "It's not my fault you let them get ripped limb from limb…organ from organ…letting out scream by scream. It's not my fault you had to bury them with your own grimy hands." She bent down and picked up the axe Ithuthus had set down and everyone jumped. She waved it around.

"It's not my fault!" she screamed. "It's not my fault it's not my fault it's not my fault! It's your fault! Damn you all! It's because of you all!" she turned and threw the axe, watching it bury into the wall right next to Marzinquan's head.

"Your turn," Kidria snarled. Takmir jumped up and covered Kidria's eyes, causing her to shriek in fear and clutch at the Summoner's hands.

"Let me go!" she screamed. "It's not dark yet, I know it's not! Let me go! He's going to get me! Help me!" she slammed her elbow into Takmir's stomach and he doubled over, released her eyes. Kidria's pupils dilated and then shrunk as the light hit her eyes.

She stared at the air in a daze, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly opened. A minute of tense silence followed, and she closed her mouth tightly and her eyes wavered. Covering her face with her hands, Kidria fell to her knees and started to cry.

"Don't take her away…" she mumbled through her sobs and hands. "Please don't hurt her…"

Marzinquan shuddered as he remembered how close the axe came to his head, running his hands up his forearms as he walked down the path quickly. He did not like being alone anymore—he felt safe in the group.

With a sigh of relief he made it to the meeting point alive, as did everyone else. He felt slightly guilty of letting Kidria drink the large dose of sleeping potion he was assigned to give her, but they all needed to get away from her, just for a little while. She passed out almost instantly, and for a moment she scared Marzinquan into thinking he gave her an overdose. After he had made sure she was fine, he left Windurst Woods for Waters, and was scared every step of the way.

He nodded to Celos, who in turn sat down.

"Just utterly lost," she muttered. "I have no clue what to do."

Robius shifted his weight to his left foot, then back to his right, then balanced himself. "We have to force Kid to tell us all she knows."

Daleth jumped up, just as Fxeni expected him to. "No!"

Robius shot him an icy glare. "Then wait do you want Daleth? Everyone to die?"

Daleth gritted his teeth, then clenched his jaw. "In the mood you're in, I won't let you near her."

"Oh, so now you're some valiant knight protecting some poor damsel in distress? Where were you when she first needed you? When Taea or the others needed you?" Robius snapped. "Where were you when Sagome needed you?"

Daleth, although the remarks evidently pained him, shot back the same insult. "And why weren't you here? Why did your friends die?"

Ithuthus stood up. "Enough! You're bickering like idiots! Screaming insults and guilt trips won't help anyone survive!" he turned to Robius. "Sit down and shut up." He looked at Daleth. "We know you're protective of Kid, Dal. We all are, but we have to get her to talk."

Celos stood up slowly. "We'll all try…" she said. "I'm sure some of us will get something out of her."

Fxeni nodded. "Sounds fine…" he looked at Robius. The Dark Knight just frowned.

Everyone agreed. "Tomorrow then," Takmir said. "We'll find out what the hell Altana's drinking to let this go on."