Author's Note: I own none of Ragnarok… yes we all know. And I'm so sorry yra about Deliyyja, but don't spoil for the rest of the readers who don't have insider info. But now we're back to the normal timeline of the story. Sorry for the confusion. Deliyyja is going to become a larger part of this story for the moment, so this chapter focuses on her. Enjoy and please review!
Chapter 5: Flashback to the Past
Century left the room and Deliyyja sat back in her chair, thinking. She thought back to her brief conversation with Sara before coming to this room, and then to the ridiculously short conversation that had ended with Sara throwing a rune spell at her. Genius child. Very good, Vættfang, finding the source of my speaking spell and following it back with your own spell. Deliyyja mused over Century as well. The man was behaving differently this time. What was going on here? She didn't think truly that he had a crush on Vættfang, but one could never be sure at times with him. And his teasing…
"What to do, what to do? I could always just tie her up and explain things to her. But Vættfang would never listen, and more than likely she would blast her way out of the bindings. So that doesn't work." Deliyyja grimaced. "Crap. Or… I could drug her and use 'Suggestibility', but that's dangerous on somebody as powerful as she is. It probably wouldn't even work. And if it did, it probably wouldn't work right. Crap again."
Deliyyja got up and began pacing around the room. The little flying lizards that she had shooed away earlier looked up at her from where they had landed. They almost seemed to be saying, 'Should we give you another massage? You look stressed.' She smiled tightly at them and continued pacing. She tugged on one of her braids and felt the lightning bolts course around her fingers as she did. Pretty as they may be, the lightning bolts in her hair weren't just for decoration; they were also potent weapons. Her eyes misted over as she remembered one such instance when her hair had helped her.
Begin flashback:
Deliyyja Talistra walked down the street to the local bar, linked arm and arm with her friend, Mintu.
"Is this gonna be the greatest surprise or what? Sella's gonna fall over from shock!" She chortled as Mintu nodded, and then slipped. Deliyyja giggled as Mintu struggled to get back on her feet.
"You know, we've only been to two barrsh, Del. Sella's gotta buuyy meee a dwink at this one. …riiight after I dance for him!" Mintu slurred her words drunkenly. Deliyyja gripped her more tightly and pulled her up next to her, steadying her before starting towards the door of the bar. The man at the door gave them a strange look, but waved them in.
"Hehe. Hey, Del… I thiiiink he liikesh you. Whattya say? Hmmm?"
"I say you're drunker than I am, Mintu. And I say that you can't see straight. He gave you a weird look cause when you went to wave at him, you almost fell over."
"Whatever. You shee Sella yet? I wanna tell him congrats." Mintu waved her hand over her head in an exaggerated manner. Deliyyja sighed and shook her head, her long hair swishing down her back almost to her knees. Mintu drunk was always a force to be reckoned with. She ran her fingers through her hair swiftly before taking a stance behind Mintu and gripping her shoulders. Pushing her ahead of herself, Deliyyja steered Mintu towards a booth and sat her down in it.
"Stay here while I find Sella. Then you can give him that dance. Okay?"
"Shure thing, Del. Anything you shay."
"Good then. I'll be right back. Don't move, 'cause you'll just fall over." She received a sloppy grin from Mintu and a hard slap on the back before heading out into the crowd. She thought that Sella would probably be by the bar, but she couldn't be sure, so she headed there first. True to character, there he was, in line for drinks, and shouting at the harassed bartender for more ale.
"Hey man! Come on over here!" Deliyyja walked up behind Sella and covered his eyes with her hands.
"Guess who?" she whispered next to his ear.
"A goddess?"
"No. The voice isn't resonant enough. Try again"
"A dancing girl?"
"Wrong again." She took her hands off of his eyes, and as she did, Sella reached up and grabbed her wrist. Yanking her wrist, Sella pulled her against him in a giant hug.
"Deliyyja! I missed you! You and Mintu were supposed were supposed to be here an hour ago! Where have you been?" Deliyyja had the good graces to look embarrassed.
"Mintu dragged me to two other bars before this one. She's determined to dance for you, and for you to buy her a drink. Seriously Sella... I think if you buy her another drink, we'll be able to squeeze her and ale will come out of her." She made a squeezing motion. "Like a sponge, you know."
Sella laughed at the mental image of squeezing Mintu out like a sponge.
"Come on. Let's go find Mintu. I'll buy her something small and watery." He stood up and slung an arm around her, and they waltzed over to the booth where Mintu was busy staring at her fingernails with a stupid grin on her face. She looked up as they walked over and her grin widened.
"Hey Sella!" Mintu made an awkward jump at him and he let go of Deliyyja's shoulder to catch her.
"Careful or we'll have to explain to your mother why your face is all messed up tomorrow."
"Don' worry about it. Don' worry abou-" Mintu went limp as she passed out.
"I guess you don't have to buy her that drink after all, Sella." She grinned at her friend, and then glanced down at their fallen comrade.
"I guess not. Let's take her home. Do you want to come back, or just go home? I'm assuming that you guys have been out for a while."
"Why don't we just all go home, because you're right, and I have to help Mama tomorrow at the shop. She's not gonna want me grumpy with a headache."
Deliyyja paused on her trip down memory lane before things got ugly. She missed Sella and his good-natured fun. She missed Mintu also. Those were the days when she had been so carefree; before she had become what she was now... a Valkyrie. Valkyries had no place for friends, and their old friends knew it.
A little lizard came up to her and held out a droplet.
"What's this?" It squeaked at her. "What? A tear? Oh, my. I must really be stressed out." It squeaked again. "Very well. You can give me another massage if you would like." Deliyyja sat back down in her chair as the little lizards went back to work, soothing the stress out of her head. Odd, but they were one of the few things unaffected by her lightning.
Continue flashback:
The next day, Deliyyja woke up feeling sick, but ignored it. She had to help her mother, and she was sure that Mintu was feeling much worse. She worked with her mother all day, but felt no better at the end of it. In a move to try to feel better, she went over to Sella's.
"Hey, mind if I come in?" Sella looked surprised to see her. "What's the matter, Sella?"
"Oh, ah... nothing. Sure, come on in." He stood back and held the door open for her. "What's up?"
"Nothing much. You feeling okay?"
"Yeah. Why? You not feeling too good? Drink too much last night?" He smiled at her.
"No, actually. But for some reason I'm not feeling right. It's like my heads going to explode. I don't know what it is, and my hair has been acting weird." Sella raised his eyebrows.
"Touch it." she told him. He reached out with one hand and touched her hair, yelped, and then snatched his hand back to his chest. Cradling his hand, he stared at her.
"What was that?"
"I don't know, but it's making my head hurt. What should I do? I didn't want to talk to Mintu 'cause she's probably got a hangover, and she doesn't give very good advice anyways." Sella laughed at that.
"You are right about that. Her advice reeks. I think you should go to the village mages. They'd know what's going on with you." Deliyyja considered this, and then nodded.
"You're right about that. Maybe they can take away this infernal headache. Poor Mama is watching the store by herself right now. She could see that my head was killing me and told me to go figure out how to cure it. So here I am. I guess I'll see you later then." She got up and hugged Sella, not noticing that he pulled back quickly and that he was red in the face when he did.
"Yeah. I'll see you later. Bye Del."
"Bye Sella." Deliyyja walked out the door and made her way slowly to the mages' guild in the village. She spent the rest of the afternoon there, and when she left, her headache was gone, and she was happy. She bounced into her house and hugged her mother, father, and baby brother. They stared at her in amazement before asking her what was going on.
"Mama... I'm going to be a mage."
"WHAT?" Her mother reached out to her and touched her hair, which had been redone into many little braids.
"I went to the mages' guild today to get them to take away my headache, and they told me I have power, Mama. Power with the weather. They said that's why my hair was sparking, Mama, and why I had the headache. They braided my hair to keep away the headaches." She smiled at her family and twirled before them, showing off her new braids. They swung out behind her in a giant black mass. She also showed them a silver medallion that showed she was an apprentice of the guild.
"Deliyyja, sweetie... there's lightning in your hair. Is this part of it, too?"
"Yes, Mama. They told me to come tomorrow, and I'll begin my training. Just think, Mama. I can make sure that our village always has rain when it needs it, or sun for a wedding!" Her mother looked less than pleased, though. In fact, she looked a cross between frightened and angry.
"Don't worry, Mama." she continued, oblivious to her mother's unvoiced concerns, "I'll make you proud. I'll take care of you." She twirled around again, and then skipped around them to her room.
She was going to be a mage!
Later that night, she went to tell Mintu the news. When she did, Mintu squealed, and jumped around her.
"I can't believe this! You're gonna be a mage! By the gods, you're gonna be famous, and you'll get invited to palaces! You'll be rich!"
"Mintu–" but her friend was still talking.
"And your parents will have one of those really nice chairs… with servants!"
"Mintu…"
"What?"
"Let's go out tonight and celebrate!" Deliyyja grinned at her friend, and Mintu whooped.
"All right! Partee!" Mintu danced around the room, eventually grabbing Deliyyja and pulling her into the craziness, too. They were both breathless and laughing when they finally collapsed on the floor. After a few seconds of sitting there, exhausted, Mintu pulled Deliyyja up off the floor.
"We've gotta get ready. Let's go!" So for the next half an hour, Deliyyja was poked and pulled by her friend to get her ready. Finally, when Mintu was satisfied with her, they left her house and made their way to Sella's. Opening his door, Sella stared at them.
"What happened to you two? And Deliyyja… what happened to your hair? Not that it looks bad – it looks good, but what happened?" The girls smirked at him, and Mintu motioned for Deliyyja to explain.
"Okay Sella… you know how I wasn't feeling very good this morning? Well… I went to the mages' guild like you suggested, and they told me that I have power. I'm going to be a mage!" Sella looked at her in surprise.
"Wow. That's awesome! Yeah, let's definitely go out tonight to celebrate. Just give me a few minutes to get ready and we'll go out." He had them sit down and went to his room. He returned a few minutes later, ready to go.
Deliyyja stopped again to rub her eyes. Oh yeah had they partied. In fact, they had partied for a straight five nights in a row. She would go to the mages during the day, and then celebrate with her friends at night. And she could still see her mother's disapproving look every night that week when she had told her that she was going out.
One of the birds brought Deliyyja a note from a servant. She took it from its claws.
"Thank you, Aope." Opening the note, she read, and then slowly smiled. So, Vættfang has finally calmed down enough to think.
"Okay guys. Count down. I think we have just about three days until our Valkyrie gets out of her rooms." The animals around her looked up in alarm, and she reassured them. "Yes, yes… but I warned you about this one. She's moody. Anyways, I have three days thereabouts to figure out how to get her to listen to reason." The lizards bobbed their heads and went back to massaging her head, bringing her thoughts back to Sella and Mintu… and the past.
Continue flashback:
On the fifth night out, Mintu disappeared on Sella and Deliyyja. When they couldn't find her after an hour, Sella and Deliyyja looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They both knew that she'd found some guy, and would be occupied for the rest of the night.
"So, any idea of what we should do for the rest of the night? I mean, it's not that late." Deliyyja sighed. "Mintu's really on a roll tonight. At least last night she didn't disappear until at least dawn."
"Yeah, yeah. But hey, Del… about all this mage stuff."
"Yes? Is it too weird? 'Cause I know that mom and dad aren't too thrilled with it. But you don't need to worry, 'cause I'll always be a good person." She touched his hand. "Really, Sella. I mean it."
"I know you do, Del. But it's already changed you. Your hair is different, and you're so much more– I don't know how to describe it. But maybe it's showy. You have to be out in a crowd now, showing yourself off in some way." Deliyyja started to protest, but Sella stopped her. "No, I don't think you know you're doing it. It's just unconscious after spending a week with the mages. Because with what they do, they're constantly in the limelight, and most learn to love it." Deliyyja felt her eyes tear.
"Sella…"
"Sorry, sweetie, but it's the truth. I don't think that you'd ever do anything wrong with what you have though. You're too nice." He gave her a hug. "Don't sweat it. Mintu needs some competition anyways." She laughed at that, feeling a little bit better.
"Okay then… let's finish partying tonight then, and tomorrow I'll start training and stop playing." She took a long drink of the ale in the mug that she had in her hand. Sella joined her, and together they drank for the next couple hours and talked about nonsense and Mintu's weird ways.
Two hours later, Deliyyja left alone due to the fact that Sella had had to leave early to pick up a stranded Mintu. After assuring him that she was coherent enough to make her own way home, Deliyyja had let Sella go after their friend. So now here she was, walking down the dark street by herself, fingering her new braids, and enjoying the feel of the lightning playing around her fingers.
"Give me your money, lady, or you won't have any more worries in your life." The voice came from behind her, and Deliyyja realized belatedly that she had been so absorbed with her thoughts that she had completely missed the soft sounds of the man sneaking up behind her.
"I… I don't have any money. Well… not much." She reached with trembling hands to her waist-pocket. She had just about five zeny left after the bar; about enough for a handful of peanuts at a market stand.
"Stop… don't even think about moving, lady. I'll take the money, and you just keep those pretty little hands of yours in the air." She did as he said and kept her hands in the air, but her fear was quickly turning to anger. How dare he rob her! Abruptly though, the robber stopped looking for her money, and noticed that Deliyyja was very attractive.
"Say, honey, how's about you and me go someplace quiet and alone, and have us a special time? I really like this hair of yours. It's unique, you know? Pretty." He reached out to touch her hair, and Deliyyja concentrated on the most basic spell that she had been taught: Lightning Flash.
"Lightning Flash!" she screamed to the heavens, and her hair erupted in a brilliant flash of white light, the lightning traveling down it, and through her attacker. He stiffened for a moment before going still and falling over. She looked at him, then bent over to feel his pulse. Dead. She stumbled backwards, in shock. Forgetting about the money, she turned and ran home, going straight to her room.
Locking herself in her room, Deliyyja didn't come out for almost a whole week. No matter who tried to get her out, no matter who called, or what they said, she didn't answer or open her door. They ended up knocking down the door to get her out, and found her sitting on her bed, crying. Her mother went to her.
"Dearest, what's wrong?"
"Mama… I killed someone." Her mother drew back in horror, and Deliyyja started to cry all over again. "I didn't mean to Mama! He just started to rob me, and other stuff, so I used a spell that the mages had taught me to get him to go away… but it killed him!" She hiccupped, and continued to sob. Her mother regained her composure and pulled her into her arms.
"There, there Del. It'll be alright. You'll see."
But it wasn't alright. Barely a day later, a mage from the guild came to her and took back her silver medallion. She stared at him while he did it, and then started shaking after he left. That night, she had a dream that a goddess was coming for her; to take her away from here and teach her to be more powerful than even these mages could even dream about being. The next morning, she walked around in a daze, wondering if it had been just a dream, or if it was a vision. The dream and this thought occupied her as she walked around, so she didn't notice when a portal opened in front of her and a gorgeous woman stepped through it.
"Deliyyja Talistra?" Deliyyja looked up.
"Hmm? Who is it? What do you want?"
"I know you had a dream about me, and I'm here to make that dream a reality. I'm here to offer you power beyond your wildest dreams. Would you like it, Deliyyja Talistra?" The woman held out her hand, and Deliyyja stared at it, uncomprehending. Then she remembered the woman from her dream who would do the same thing to her, just before giving her enormous power.
"Freya?"
"Yes. Now, if you come with me, I can give the training to make these other mages' powers seem like fireflies in front of a wildfire compared to yours." Deliyyja stared at that hand for a minute more, before shyly taking it. Freya pulled her close and hugged her. "Now, you truly will be great."
Deliyyja's thoughts stopped there and she waved the lizards away.
"That's enough again. My head feels much better. These braids grouped in threes help even more than just the braids." Deliyyja continued talking to herself, because somehow it just felt good to say it out loud. These were topics that she had never voiced to anyone, not even Century, who was her closest confidant. I wonder if I'll ever be able to trust Sara with this knowledge. Hmmm… maybe this is the stuff that will change her mind about Freya.
"I know I serve Freya, but after all these years, I've discovered that Freya doesn't really care for the Valkyries. She could find as many more of us to train as she wanted. The ones she has now are just convenient, but still expendable. But how do I make Sara realize that?"