Setra Kakan: Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
lexalicious: I'll try to be online Tuesday at 10 PM. Somewhere around that time. I'm glad you liked chapter seventeen! Things'll get a lot better in the future chapters.
Regrem Erutaerc: You'll really like the next few chapters. I think they're better than the ones you've already read, but that's just me.
Disclaimer: Same as last time. I only own the stuff I created.
Chapter XVIII
Nice Lady. Not.
By the twanging,
And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows;
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling,
And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells… -Edgar Allan Poe
XxXxX
Ding…dong…ding…dong…ding-
A bell? What the hell?
The sound continued, making her head ring loudly along with that bell.
Bells… I hate bells… Where am I? Opening your eyes could probably help, she snapped at herself. Opening her eyes slowly, she knew she wasn't going to like what she saw. I'm probably in some sort of dungeon. Eyes fully opened, she saw a………white ceiling. Okay, so my captors like to live in style and decided to upgrade their dungeon. She turned her head to the left, seeing a burgundy wall, so she looked to the right --only to see the same thing. Next she raised the blankets-- Whoa. Blankets? Raising the heavy blanket quickly, she found a burgundy sheet and under that one was herself, fully dressed.
She lowered the heavier blanket, noticing a weird design on the front. The blanket in all was burgundy, matching the other sheet and walls. Now her red eyes looked forward, and she actually gasped.
She found that the bed she was on was tucked in a nook of a large room. The bed itself looked large, but the room… Straight across from the bed was a L shaped desk that fit perfectly in the right corner of the room --well, from her view it was the right corner. She scooted down the bed, half of it being hidden between the walls. When her feet touched the white carpeted floor, her eyes scanned the room.
Up against the wall on the left side of the bed, there was a small dresser; okay, almost the height of her, she guessed, so it wasn't small.
Next to the dresser, there was a door --closed, of course, and she guessed it was probably locked. And diagonally from that door, directly to her left, was another dresser…and a door, possibly locked as well. Yet another door was on the wall in front of her, close to the left corner. To sum up the large room, was an ugly, square rug in the middle of all this.
She stood, finding herself a bit light-headed even after the surprisingly good sleep, but walked around the room, slowly. First she checked the second door (the one on the left wall), and found it was locked. Checking the door now to her left, it was unlocked! But it was only a small storage room with only boxes in it. Deciding to search the boxes later, she checked the last door.
When she peered inside, her eyes went wide. Such a…large bathroom…she found herself thinking. Normally, she wouldn't let herself get surprised like this, but her head hurt and the bell sound wasn't helping.
The tub was large and in the left corner of the room. There was a commode next to that, and a double sink on the right wall, near the commode. A small dresser was to her left, and a single, oval rug was on the tile floor. This one looked better than the other rug, she thought. To her right, she noticed there was a door.
Be unlocked and the exit. She prayed, though she wasn't really a religious person, unlike Baralai, but anything looked good in her situation. What is my situation, exactly? A guy kidnaps me after beating the hell outta me, then gives me this room like I was a queen. She smirked. Someone feels sorry. Opening the door, she glanced inside, hopeful. Ah cred. Another closet --or bedroom by its size. It was indeed a closet, but a large, square, walk-in one. One dresser to her left, one in front of her on the back wall, and a line of clothes hanging to the left and right. Damn, someone likes dressers, too.
She closed the door, surprised by the size of the room, yet disappointed that it had been a closet rather than an exit.
XxXxX
"So rayt…" He sat up, rubbing the back of his head where a bump was. "Rayt bmic cduha vmuun axiymc pisb uh rayt," he mumbled, ringing in his ears.
"Gippal, oui'na yfyga!"
He opening his eye to find that he wasn't alone. Two other Al Bheds were in the room with him. "Uh, oayr, E's yfyga. Yhouha ghuf frana fa yna?" he asked, hoping either knew the answer, but both shook their heads 'no'. "Okay…so we're in a nice, gloomy lookin' room that has a strange smell. Things couldn't get better." Looking around the metal room and stone floor, he found only one door and absolutely-positively no windows or other sign of life; except for that ugly looking bug crawling on the floor…
"Tu oui nasaspan fryd rybahat?" asked on of the Al Bhed, the tallest and more muscular of the bunch. He was also the oldest of them, being in his mid-thirties.
"Oayr, E nasaspan; dryd storm red ic yht dra Yevonites." Gippal slowly stood, the soft ringing still there. "Tuac aedran uv oui rayn nehkehk uh ec ed Zicd sa?"
The oldest looked at him for a second, then tilted his head, listening. "Oac, E rayn dra nehkehk."
The other Al Bhed, also being older than Gippal, nodded, agreeing with both of them. "E tu, duu."
"I think we're all losing it…" Gippal said, examining the room again. "Goin' crazy in a place like this look easy to do."
Neither Al Bhed understanding him, they didn't bother to ask for a translation. They kew that if it was important, he would have spoken in his native language.
He spoke again, this time in Al Bhed. "Aedran uv oui pnehk food?"
"Hu; ed'c Zicd mega oui du drehg uv food yd y desa mega drec." the oldest said.
"E ryja y vane fa'na kuhhy pa rana vun y frema." He responded. For the life of him, he couldn't think of either Al Bheds' names; they had both joined the Machine Faction a little less than a month ago, being brothers, but Gippal never had a chance to get ot know them like he did the others. He'd just call them Big Guy and Little Guy for now; introductions could come later after they got out of here, and not in a body bag or coffin. He'd prefer to get out alive and in one piece, but that may have just been him.
Big guy looked around the room, obviously examining like he had been just moments ago. Gippal walked around, stepping on the bug, saying, "Well it's just us three now." Both Big Guy and Little Guy looked at him. "Fryd? Ed luimt ryja paah y camera, un cusadrehk." Hey, he could've been right.
"I see you and your friends like your new home."
All three turned toward the source of the voice --a woman that they could see through the small barred window of the metal door.
"Who're you?" Gippal asked, knowing she probably wouldn't answer.
"Your worst nightmare."
"Nah, you ain't even close. My worst nightmare was about-"
"Shut up! I didn't give you permission to speak! You are my prisoner and you will listen to me!" the woman yelled.
"Yes, your Ugliness." Gippal put both hands on the back of his hips. "So why are we here, anyway? We're obviously not your dinner guests."
"You are here because you are. Now shut up and behave or I'll feed you to the dogs." She started to walk away, making Gippal run to the door and shout through the bars.
"At least something around here gets fed! Aren't you gonna feed us? Even prisoners eat!" When she didn't answer, nor turn around, he continued, "Fine then, you ugly-tattooed-face-woman!" He pushed off of the door, now leaning against it. "Well, she was nice."
"Gippal?"
"Baralai? Okay, now I seriously think I'm losing it."
"No, you're not; I'm in the next room."
He walked over to the wall on his left. "Baralai?"
"Yes?"
Yup, he's definitely on the other side. "How are you? Me and Nooj were worried sick about you."
"I'm in…okay condition. And you'll be glad to hear that she does feed us."
"Oh…heh… That's good to know. So, anyone else in there with you?"
"No, just me. What about you? I heard other voices in there."
"Ah, just a couple other Al Bhed. Guess she wanted me to have some friends over." Gippal leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Any windows in there?"
"No, just a door."
He heard movement on the other side. Probably just Baralai trying to get comfortable in a place like this… he thought. "How long have you been there?"
"I don't know. Possibly ever since I disappeared from Bevelle. You?"
"Ever since Djose disappeared, I guess.
"Why were you at Djose? I thought you were with Nooj?"
He slid down the wall, sitting with one knee up and his other leg stretched out. "I went back to get some rest, when New Yevon came-a-knockin'."
"What?"
"New Yevon came to Djose thinking' I ordered the machina to attack you and Bevelle. Bunch of crap, if you ask me. I've never thought about doing something like that and I never will."
"I promise you I'll get everything straightened out when we get back to Spira."
"Don't worry 'bout it; I know you will. First we just gotta get out alive."
"Agreed. Once we get out of these rooms, it may be wise to search for our weapons."
"Right." Gippal looked at the other two. "Tet oui dfu rybbah du ryja yho faybuhc uh oui frah fa tecybbaynat?"
"Hu, E teth'd," Big Guy said.
"Haedran tet E," said Little Guy.
"We're just looking for our weapons, then. Maybe some extra and a couple for them two." Gippal reported to Baralai.
"Okay." More movement on the other side.
"Does she feed us herself, or what?" He asked.
"A guard does, that's only her second time coming here, at least that I know of."
"What was the first time?"
"To come speak to me. At least I got more information out of her." There was a touch of humor in his voice.
Gippal chuckled. "Hey, you never wanna mess with me when I'm hungry, tired, and have a huge bump on my head the size of a freakin' blitzball."
"A blitzball, eh? Well I've got a wound that has fresh blood oozing out of it."
"Ah man. You've got me beat by a mile." Both started laughing, the other Al Bheds confused.
"Once we find our weapons, I'll look for a potion for ya or somethin'. Don't want you to pass out from blood loss while we're trying to escape this rammruma."
"You're going to need it more than I am 'cause we'll have to figure out if you're thinking straight or not, and that's going to be a tough job considering you already don't think straight."
"Heeeey… I think as straight as you'll ever think." Gippal said, both he and Baralai bursting into laughter a second later.
XxXxX
She now sat on the large bed, legs crossed, her leaned back on her hands. All that I've managed to figure out is that my captors live in style, or at least their prisoners do. Sighing, she fell backwards on the bed. There must be a way out… My sword and backpack are gone, so I'm weaponless. And I can't change dresspheres, so pretty much, I'm screwed. She wasn't completely weaponless, though; she could still do hand-to-hand combat. But how would that help her escape this room?
"Maybe there's something in those boxes…" She rose to her feet and walked toward the storage room --when something caught her eye. Now why didn't I see that before? A smirk appeared on her face. Time to ditch this room.
On the roof, a few feet away from the wall, there was a large vent with a metal cover. From here it looked like she could fit; though, it'd be a tight fit, she didn't care. If she could just reach it…
Looking at the nearby dresser, that smirk grew into a smile. "Bingo." She only got to take one step toward the dresser, when she heard the vent above start to blow out air. When she looked up at it, she saw light green air coming through the holes of the metal cover. "Ah shit-" was all she managed to say before the gas hit her and she fell to the ground.
XxXxX
"I'm really getting tired of this," she said, sitting up. She was back on that large bed, head pounding, bell ringing.
"Good evening, Paine."
"What?" The voice was a man's, but the ringing sound blocked out most of what he said. Aside from that, her vision was blurry for some reason.
"The side effects of the sleeping gas should wear off soon."
"You mean there's other side effects other than falling asleep?" She asked, slight sarcasm in her voice, but the effects were slowly wearing off like he had said.
He chuckled. "Yes, for this kind there are. Can you see me?"
Paine narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to focus on the dark figure standing in front of the bed. "Turning on a light would help."
"If you say so." He clapped his head, and in a second, there was a bright light, surprising her and sending her face first down in a pillow.
"Okay! Okay! Turn it off!"
Another clapping sound. She kept her eyes closed as she took her face out of the pillow, knowing the light had temporarily blinded her. Waiting a few seconds, she opened her eyes, then let them adjust to the darkness. When they had, she aw the ma, but he almost blended in with the darkness. "So who are you and why did you kidnap me?"
"How do you know if I'm the one who kidnapped you?"
"Your voice --I recognize it." Sitting up fully, she leaned back on the pillows behind her. "So why?"
"Because it is what my boss ordered."
"Was beating the hell outta me part of these orders?"
He moved, sitting on the bed, making her sit up more and stare at him. "My boss would like you to join her for dinner."
She took his reply as a 'no' to her question. "And I'd like to leave."
"Get ready and a guard will escort you to and from the dining room. Don't even think about trying to escape, cameras are all around this place." He stood, still making Paine feel uncomfortable. "And please, be on your best behavior. Dinner's at six." With that said, he left the room, the soft click sound of the door locking behind him a second later.
A/N: XD Two lines in the chapter and I rhyme! I'm good! Okay, so I suck at rhyming, but still… I hadn't meant for it to rhyme like that… Oh well. Like usual, Al Bhed translations are below, since there was a lot of Al Bhed in this chapter. I do hope you enjoyed it.
Al Bhed Translations:
"So rayt…" -- My head…
"Rayt bmic cduha vmuun axiymc pisb uh rayt," -- Head plus stone floor equals bump on head.
"Gippal, oui'na yfyga!" -- Gippal, you're awake!
"Uh, oayr, E's yfyga. Yhouha ghuf frana fa yna?" -- Uh, yeah, I'm awake. Anyone know where we are?"
"Tu oui nasaspan fryd rybbahat?" -- Do you remember what happened?
"Oayr, E nasasban; dryd storm red ic yht dra Yevonites." -- Yeah, I remember; that storm hit us and the Yevonites.
"Tuac aedran uv oui rayn nehkehk un ec ed zicd so?" -- Does either of you hear ringing or is it just me?
"Oac, E rayn dra nehkehk." --Yes, I hear the ringing.
"E tu, duu." -- I do, too.
"Aedran uv oui pnehk food?" -- Either of you bring food?
"Hu; ed'c zicd mega oui du drehg uv food yd y desa mega drec." -- No; it's just like you to think of food at a time like this.
"E ryja y vaamehk fa'na kuhhy ba rana vun y frema." -- I have a feeling we're going to be here for a while.
"Fryd? Ed luimt ryja paah y camera, un cusadrehk." -- What? It could have been a camera, or something.
"Tet oui dfu rybbah du ryja yho faybuhc un oui frah fa tecybbaynat?" -- Did you two happen to have any weapons on you when we disappeared?
"Hu, E teth'd," -- No, I didn't.
"Haedran tet E," -- Neither did I.
