I'm trying to write the story I had originally intended.
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the newbies are mine.
To warn you, this is starting to get gory. There are also slight hints of couples developing, but they're so slight as to almost not exist. This might change later. I say again, this is gory, or at least getting really violent.
The Rinoa bashing is revving into overdrive. I promise it's unintentional. Or at least, it started that way...
~
Chapter 17
The fiery, aching pain in his arm alerted Max that he was actually awake. It was centered in the front of his right shoulder, just between the bone clusters that formed the working part of it. Trying not to jar it, Max opened his eyes to look around. It was a small room, but still more decorated than a prisoner could hope for. The walls were deep purple, with garnet curtains hanging from the high-placed rafters. Though it was something of a stretch while nearly immobile, Max could see that there was a thick gray rug covering the floor. The walls were decorated by lines that were strewn across the surface, but Max couldn't make any sense of them, except for on the wall right next to his side. In the tiny area right next to him, Max could make out that the walls were actually carved into, and the lines formed pictures, as though they were meant to be used in printmaking.
The most common figure as far as he could see was what appeared to be a young woman wearing two outfits. At one point she stood in the middle of a room with a tall young man holding his arms raised, and at another, she was apparently screaming at a group of people whose details were quite a bit more vague. In a third, she was crouched low to the ground, with another figure super-imposed upon hers. He almost recognized the long hair hanging over the shoulder of the taller woman, but was jerked out of his ponderings by the slamming of a door.
"Good, you're awake," Aura stalked to the pallet, crouched, and jabbed a finger at Max's shoulder, "Is it still hurting? You ruined the plan, you know, by turning. I would have been able to spare you a lot of pain and sorrow if you'd just let me shoot you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Max blinked up at her after biting back a yelp of pain, "How would my dying be of use to you?"
"Not of use to me, but of use to you," Aura's eyes seemed actually to fill with tears, "If you'd died, then you'd be spared pain in the past."
"Um, Aura," Max closed his eyes, "I never wanted to be serious when I told you that I thought you were crazy, but you're getting dangerously close to it now."
"Hmph," Aura grumbled, "Have you looked at the walls yet?" she waved a hand generally at the room, "The pictures carved into these walls depict the past. This room shows the most hidden secrets of all SeeDs. They've been here since before SeeD was a concept in ancient Cid's mind!"
Max blinked some more and focused again on the pictures directly in front of him, "And the people?"
"They're my ancestors!" Aura grinned, "I happened upon this building by accident during my last Exam. I wandered in by myself as everyone else slept. After finding all of this, I realized that it was telling a story. It all starts at the mouth of the hidden passage behind the dungeons of this castle, and ends here."
"Aura," Max blinked, "This is you!"
"No kidding," she grinned, "I am going to find a way to send my consciousness back in time, to possess Rinoa Heartilly. She's the one who last bore the Sorceress' gift. If I can control her, maybe I can fix time. Did you know that some of the greatest SeeDs of all time never had children?"
Max shuddered, "No, but I'm not surprised, not everyone does."
Aura grabbed his chin, "You know the SeeDs Eric and Ariadne, surely? How they met trying to start the Cetra Garden, and then fell in love? No one knows the whole story, except me! It's here, in this building!"
"But not in this room?" Max winced, as her hand was causing him to shift his weight and his shoulder, "I didn't even know they'd cared for one another."
"No one does!" Aura giggled suddenly, "But they did, his daughter Merinda is documented as being raised by Ariadne, and no one could figure out why he didn't raise her himself. But it's noted here, that they were attacked by the military official, Caraway, who killed Eric, since he'd jumped in front of Ariadne to take a gunshot that was meant to blow off her head. It took out a good portion of his stomach, and by the time anyone had reached them, Eric was long gone. The other four in that effort were saved though, because Caraway had assumed that the bullets would kill anyone, living, or undead in one hit, so only ordered them to shoot, not shoot to kill. The first shot was almost expected to be blocked, so they shot at the shortest person's head."
"How are you figuring this out?" Max tried to sit up fully, but Aura shoved him back to the pallet, "These pictures are, at best, vague representations of the past."
"You have to understand them," Aura smiled again, "They speak to me."
"So how was it that Caraway left them like that without making sure that they would stay dead?" Max blinked, "It's a logical thought that he'd have dealt with them to prevent anyone from reviving them."
"Aside from not expecting them to survive the shots in the first place, he'd sent out his daughter and the Doctor Odine to the other two operating Gardens, and hadn't expected any SeeDs to sneak out of one, taking Odine with them so that he couldn't tell anyone."
"So they brought the four back?" Max blinked, "How?"
"The second group of SeeDs had someone with them who had an affinity with all Guardians," Aura watched Max's reaction with glee, "And now you know why it would have been better for you to have died."
"Wait," Max squawked, "How in the hell would they have someone like me there? There weren't any recorded people like me in all of history, that was part of the reason they let me become a SeeD at all!"
"Just because it isn't recorded, doesn't mean it didn't happen," Aura cackled as she stood and left the room, "Sleep well, Max, you have a busy life ahead of you!"
~
Ooookay... um... that's certainly tying things up... And behaving evilly. :P
To K.N.W., I have to thank you for pointing out that Caraway wouldn't have left them behind, but in this case, I guess he did. My explanation isn't much better than the letting it happen was, but I guess we can call it an overall over confidence issue. He didn't think anyone could beat him, so he didn't cover all his bases. Even Generals are guilty of that once in a while. ^-^
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the newbies are mine.
To warn you, this is starting to get gory. There are also slight hints of couples developing, but they're so slight as to almost not exist. This might change later. I say again, this is gory, or at least getting really violent.
The Rinoa bashing is revving into overdrive. I promise it's unintentional. Or at least, it started that way...
~
Chapter 17
The fiery, aching pain in his arm alerted Max that he was actually awake. It was centered in the front of his right shoulder, just between the bone clusters that formed the working part of it. Trying not to jar it, Max opened his eyes to look around. It was a small room, but still more decorated than a prisoner could hope for. The walls were deep purple, with garnet curtains hanging from the high-placed rafters. Though it was something of a stretch while nearly immobile, Max could see that there was a thick gray rug covering the floor. The walls were decorated by lines that were strewn across the surface, but Max couldn't make any sense of them, except for on the wall right next to his side. In the tiny area right next to him, Max could make out that the walls were actually carved into, and the lines formed pictures, as though they were meant to be used in printmaking.
The most common figure as far as he could see was what appeared to be a young woman wearing two outfits. At one point she stood in the middle of a room with a tall young man holding his arms raised, and at another, she was apparently screaming at a group of people whose details were quite a bit more vague. In a third, she was crouched low to the ground, with another figure super-imposed upon hers. He almost recognized the long hair hanging over the shoulder of the taller woman, but was jerked out of his ponderings by the slamming of a door.
"Good, you're awake," Aura stalked to the pallet, crouched, and jabbed a finger at Max's shoulder, "Is it still hurting? You ruined the plan, you know, by turning. I would have been able to spare you a lot of pain and sorrow if you'd just let me shoot you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Max blinked up at her after biting back a yelp of pain, "How would my dying be of use to you?"
"Not of use to me, but of use to you," Aura's eyes seemed actually to fill with tears, "If you'd died, then you'd be spared pain in the past."
"Um, Aura," Max closed his eyes, "I never wanted to be serious when I told you that I thought you were crazy, but you're getting dangerously close to it now."
"Hmph," Aura grumbled, "Have you looked at the walls yet?" she waved a hand generally at the room, "The pictures carved into these walls depict the past. This room shows the most hidden secrets of all SeeDs. They've been here since before SeeD was a concept in ancient Cid's mind!"
Max blinked some more and focused again on the pictures directly in front of him, "And the people?"
"They're my ancestors!" Aura grinned, "I happened upon this building by accident during my last Exam. I wandered in by myself as everyone else slept. After finding all of this, I realized that it was telling a story. It all starts at the mouth of the hidden passage behind the dungeons of this castle, and ends here."
"Aura," Max blinked, "This is you!"
"No kidding," she grinned, "I am going to find a way to send my consciousness back in time, to possess Rinoa Heartilly. She's the one who last bore the Sorceress' gift. If I can control her, maybe I can fix time. Did you know that some of the greatest SeeDs of all time never had children?"
Max shuddered, "No, but I'm not surprised, not everyone does."
Aura grabbed his chin, "You know the SeeDs Eric and Ariadne, surely? How they met trying to start the Cetra Garden, and then fell in love? No one knows the whole story, except me! It's here, in this building!"
"But not in this room?" Max winced, as her hand was causing him to shift his weight and his shoulder, "I didn't even know they'd cared for one another."
"No one does!" Aura giggled suddenly, "But they did, his daughter Merinda is documented as being raised by Ariadne, and no one could figure out why he didn't raise her himself. But it's noted here, that they were attacked by the military official, Caraway, who killed Eric, since he'd jumped in front of Ariadne to take a gunshot that was meant to blow off her head. It took out a good portion of his stomach, and by the time anyone had reached them, Eric was long gone. The other four in that effort were saved though, because Caraway had assumed that the bullets would kill anyone, living, or undead in one hit, so only ordered them to shoot, not shoot to kill. The first shot was almost expected to be blocked, so they shot at the shortest person's head."
"How are you figuring this out?" Max tried to sit up fully, but Aura shoved him back to the pallet, "These pictures are, at best, vague representations of the past."
"You have to understand them," Aura smiled again, "They speak to me."
"So how was it that Caraway left them like that without making sure that they would stay dead?" Max blinked, "It's a logical thought that he'd have dealt with them to prevent anyone from reviving them."
"Aside from not expecting them to survive the shots in the first place, he'd sent out his daughter and the Doctor Odine to the other two operating Gardens, and hadn't expected any SeeDs to sneak out of one, taking Odine with them so that he couldn't tell anyone."
"So they brought the four back?" Max blinked, "How?"
"The second group of SeeDs had someone with them who had an affinity with all Guardians," Aura watched Max's reaction with glee, "And now you know why it would have been better for you to have died."
"Wait," Max squawked, "How in the hell would they have someone like me there? There weren't any recorded people like me in all of history, that was part of the reason they let me become a SeeD at all!"
"Just because it isn't recorded, doesn't mean it didn't happen," Aura cackled as she stood and left the room, "Sleep well, Max, you have a busy life ahead of you!"
~
Ooookay... um... that's certainly tying things up... And behaving evilly. :P
To K.N.W., I have to thank you for pointing out that Caraway wouldn't have left them behind, but in this case, I guess he did. My explanation isn't much better than the letting it happen was, but I guess we can call it an overall over confidence issue. He didn't think anyone could beat him, so he didn't cover all his bases. Even Generals are guilty of that once in a while. ^-^