((A/N: Next chapter! Okay I personally like this one. But that's just my opinion. No, the story isn't over yet. I still got a bit to go. Fweeee! Alrighty, well. Read, Revie... forget it. You guys don't review anyway. I'm just wasting my brea... uh... typing? Constructive criticism helps ya know. Or just saying what you like about it or whatever. I don't ask for much, a little appreciation is nice. XD Just kidding... or am I? Don't ask, I haven't been getting much sleep lately. Talk again in the next chapter. And THANK YOU for those of you who do read and comment. Also: Skylander... no more cookies... seriously. You're hyper enough as it is... Kidding, and you know it. Well... enjoy!))
Chapter Nineteen
Closure
The executioner approached. Standing at the edge of the bed, the sword rose. None moved. The blade came down. "Stop!"
Everyone froze. They looked up, across the room to where a mass of swirling pyreflies flowed through the window like floating stream. The colorful stream buzzed about them, passing through them. The four in cloaks stared at the window. Baralai watched them, confused, not seeing what they did, not seeing the pyreflies forming.
The pyreflies became a face, then a body of lights and colors. "Don't." The pyrefly illusion swarmed over the void woman. "Not yet..." A ghostly hand slid against her cheek. Her void eyes slid toward the ceiling. They closed in a peaceful sleep. And then a smile, light, too peaceful for the living, slid over her lips.
The air in the room roared. The pyreflies were sucked from the room. They air ripped past people who stood watching, knocking them off balance, to the floor. Everything loose within the room, clothes, sheets, an extra pillow, everything atop the dresser went flying. More than half of the objects were sucked out the window, caught in the ear-rupturing roar.
And then, silence. Absolute silence. Coughing; the cloaked four and Baralai began coughing. The rushing exit of the pyreflies had stolen the air from their lungs. Pushing himself up from the floor, the praetor leaned heavily upon the doorframe. His eyes slowly slid over the ceiling to land on the cloaked four. The leader's hood was pushed back. "Nooj?" Baralai questioned, voice breathy due to lack of air.
The leader of the Youth League stood, as did his companions. He ignored the praetor of New Yevon. All of his attention was focused intently on the ex-summoner, who now stared back at him with a light of confusion in her eyes. "Hey you," he said casually.
She blinked, very slowly and pushed herself to a sitting position. They watched in horrible ringing silence as she stood, staggered slightly, and went to leave the room. Reaching a hand out to stop her, burning electricity lashed out from her shoulder and jolted up the praetor's arm. He slammed back against the doorframe, holding his hand.
Ren staggered through the hallway, leaning against the wall, bouncing back and forth in strange awkward steps. Pulling the hood over his head, Nooj followed. The three followed with him. Baralai, after a minuscule debate, began after them.
Leaving the temple, the four rushed forward and separated the large crowd from Ren's path. Baralai quickly took stride beside her. A group of six, or rather, five following one, left Bevelle with the crowd lingering a bit behind them. The people were curious as to where their praetor, his ex-fiancée, and four strangers were headed.
From the city that housed New Yevon, to the Thunder Plains, and slowly to Guadosalam, they trekked in absolute silence. Stepping foot on the once Guado-populated ground, they drew the attention of Leblanc. The woman sent her goons to block the path of the procession. "And what's all this?" she asked, a hot laughter in her voice.
"Out of the way," Nooj said, hood still drawn over his face, hiding his identity from the scantily dressed woman.
"This is my city, love," Leblanc began. "My rules." She looked to the praetor curiously, then to Ren who still seemed preoccupied, mind elsewhere while the body stood unmoving. "Well if it isn't the ex-summoner," the blonde said with a grin. She stepped past her green and pink goons to stand before the brunette Ren. "I've got a bone to pick with you, girlie," she said and reached out as if to touch the brunette woman.
"I wouldn't do that," Baralai told Leblanc, rubbing his hand as he remembered the shock he had received upon touching the dazed ex-summoner.
"Oh shut up. Like I said. I make the rules here," she grumbled and set her hand on Ren's shoulder. Instantaneously, the blonde's hand froze in a large block of ice. Ren walked past her, her companions followed, pressing past the goon squad.
"Should've listened," Baralai told Leblanc.
She glared at him as the procession passed by.
Up the incline, through the passageway. As Ren passed the top step that led to the platform within the Farplane, the entrance sealed with thick ice. Baralai and the four others attacked the ice wall with fists and magic, but the ice would reform. Ice crystals would stretch over the gap like a frosty spider web, knit together, and form solid once again.
The ice won the battle. The five stood waiting, the crowd at the end of the passage shouting to be let through, but not being permitted to do so since the four had temporarily hired a few green goons to keep the crowd away. Leblanc was not pleased.
Baralai glanced to the four that stood side by side across from him on the path. "It's been a while, Nooj," he said.
"I'm not here to talk about that," replied the leader of the Youth League. "My concern and priority is the ex-summoner, not you."
Tilting his head the praetor asked, "Who are you other three?"
"Like I said," began one of them, "we owe you no obedience. Get used to being disappointed, Praetor."
Baralai sighed and rubbed his forehead. He would get nowhere with these people, and he knew it. Taking a breath, he sat on the bottom step and crossed his arms upon his legs before setting his forehead upon his forearms.
All was quiet. None spoke to each other, they were all waiting for the ice to melt. Hours passed, and then suddenly, "I can see the open road ahead of the apple trees. I can see the flowers as they bloom in the fields. I can see the chocobos, running down the Highroad roads. I can see the path I take is leading me to you."
The four stilled as if corpses. Their hidden eyes were focused intently on the singing praetor. "How do you know that song?" one of the unknown three asked, a threatening growl in tone.
Baralai looked up to the speaker, confused. "A long time ago," he began and then paused. "I used to know a girl. I'd only met her sister maybe twice... but her sister and her friends were singing it once." He shook his head and turned his gaze away from them.
"Brings back memories," another of the unknown three whispered softly.
Baralai looked to the cloaked figures. His eyes narrowed and as he opened his mouth to speak, a rush of ice cold water cascaded down upon them all. The waterfall had pushed back the hood on one of the unknown three. The praetor went to speak, but as they heard footsteps heading their direction from the Farplane, they all ceased in thought and turned to watch as the ex-summoner paused and stared down at them from the top of the steps.
The other three lowered their hoods at the sight of the brunette woman. Baralai glanced to the the four, he recognized only Nooj, but felt he knew at least one or two of the others. Nooj, Kalvaras, Naji, and Yaibal stood still, watching the ex-summoner descend the stairs, an abnormal quietness to her. As she stopped before them, her eyes slid up to the brunette Nooj and she collapsed against him, crying. Kalvaras turned his back to the two, flipping up his soaked wet hood to hide his face. As the leader of the Youth League slid his arms around the woman to hold her in a tight embrace, Naji stepped closer and spread his arms wide, catching both of them in a great hug. Nooj looked to him awkwardly, but said nothing. Yaibal felt he didn't belong, and he sat down upon the steps opposite the praetor and simply watched, not knowing how to act or to feel at such a situation.
"Hajan naknad drec, ic," Ren began to mutter, face pressed tightly to Nooj's chest, tears spilling from her eyes. "Hajan vunkad, pid hajan rumt pylg. Muja ykyeh. Meja. Vekrd ihdem ouin mycd pnaydr."
"So he said that," Nooj said softly and a light smile broke across his lips.
She nodded and then pulled away, wiping fiercely at her puffy eyes. "And he said, yht Nooj lyh'd ryja oui!" A smile crossed her face and she cried as well as laughed as Nooj's face contorted into one of humored annoyance at his old friend.
"Sounds like him," the leader of the Youth League grumbled.
Watching them, the praetor finally voiced his thoughts. "People seen on the Farplane can't talk. They're made up of pyreflies," he said matter-of-factly.
"You'd be surprised," Kalvaras grumbled, turning his head to glance at the praetor from the darkness of the hood. "Even in death, that man is as strong-willed as they come. He'd make Spira spin backwards if he could manage it."
"Let's not give him any ideas," Naji said nervously and physically attempted to wave the idea from the air.
Ren shook her head. "He said no more. He just wanted things good," she said and smiled as she set her head against Nooj's chest. "Said closure was what we all needed. Said he'd wait for us; him and Chalta both."
The praetor tilted his head curiously to the side, listening to the sudden, light and horribly saddened conversations between the other five. Ren and Nooj had become strangers to him suddenly. It was as if he didn't know them. A chemistry lighted like a fire between them as they spoke, like an invisible line that tied them together with two of the other strangers, Kalvaras and Naji. His thoughts trailed suddenly and he began to remember the time he spent as a teenager with his girlfriend at the time. "Rensan..." he muttered.
"Hm?" Ren looked to the leader of New Yevon curiously. "You call me?"
He looked to her with curious eyes. "Rensan," he said again, softly. Standing he looked her square in the eyes. "Summoner Naoska Rensan..." He shook his head. "Why didn't I see it before!" he said loudly. "Niima was your sister."
"Niima was your girlfriend," Ren said, a solid gaze connected with the praetor's. Nooj's embrace tightened about her and she settled, it was a comforting gesture. Either that or he was holding her in place.
"And you knew? Why didn't you tell me who you were?" he asked, stepping forward.
"I believe I did. I said my name while your jerk of an advisor had a death grip on my shoulder," Ren stated. "I only realized who you were the day I was going to be executed for killing you."
"And you didn't tell me?" he exclaimed.
She broke from the meyvn's hold, stepping toward the praetor. "Well I'm SO SORRY. It didn't have a chance to come up. Oh you know, with me almost getting killed as per usual and going completely psychotic with the death of those I love. Oh yes, I'm so SORRY I didn't remind you that you were once my sister's boyfriend. I should hang my head in shame." Sarcasm. Complete and total. Arm gestures here and there, anger in her voice.
Nooj, Kalvaras, Naji, and Yaibal glanced to each other before grinning broadly. This was the girl they used to know. This was the Naoska Rensan before she was a summoner. A spirit, indeed. A fiery person who had suppressed her emotions while on a pilgrimage that ended in disaster. The fire was lit inside the ex-summoner once again. And they all knew she had felt the closure she needed to move on.
Baralai glared at Ren before looking away. She was right. And even if he felt she wasn't, he was not about to challenge her in her current state. She would win because she had the heart to do so at the moment. "What now?" he asked instead.
She bowed mockingly and said, "Lead the way, Praetor." She was standing taller, and they all noticed it. She was speaking as she should, as she once did and did again.
"What do you mean?" Nooj and Baralai questioned simultaneously.
"On Mt. Gagazet, I was told I was worthy to protect the praetor," she said to Nooj; to Kalvaras. "The mountain and its people are wise. I'll listen... for now."
"Why would I need protecting?" Baralai questioned.
"That is for us to discover. The mountain cannot tell all," she stated.
Nooj looked away from her and it caught her attention. She glanced to him curiously and he said, "Is this a cover up?"
"For what?" she asked, genuinely curious.
"Are you going to have sex with Niima's ex?" Kalvaras grumbled.
"You have such a nice way with words, Kal," both Nooj and Ren replied. She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and then told them, "I've loved only two people in my life, Kal. And only one in the way you're talking about. Whatever is left of my heart will never go to Yevon." She lifted a light glance to Nooj. A possibility in a distant future.
Kalvaras shook his head. "You're a good kid, Naoska," he said with a sigh. Flipping up the hood to cover his face once again, he turned his back to them and began to walk away. "My money's on you, Nooj. Do her right," he said.
"My money's on me!" Naji laughed, flashing a mischievous grin in the direction of the ex-summoner and then hiding his face before following Kalvaras.
Yaibal shook his head. "I don't have any money to wager," he told her with a smile. "The meyvn doesn't pay me."
"Nooj!" Ren scolded.
"What?" he replied.
Laughing, Yaibal followed the other two in suit, hiding his face just as they had done.
With one last glance back at the Farplane, Ren followed her hooded friends, the cloaked Nooj just behind her, the praetor at her side. And together they left Guadosalam.