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 20
Aura sat in a chair with no cushions. Around her and her chair, the walls were a nondescript gray that would be an art teacher's nightmare if a student turned it in as an assignment. The only breaks in the dull gray were the two wooden doors. One of which led to the room Aura slept in, and the other led to the room where her former friend turned prisoner tried to recover. Luckily, there were no creatures trying to sneak up on her, as she was preoccupied, and was not paying attention.
She fiddled with the small stone that hung around her throat on a thin leather cord. Though she was sure something was wrong with her fascination with it she found she couldn't help it. The more she touched it, the more she had to keep it. Sometimes she thought of how Max had turned at the exact wrong second and had survived. She'd known before shooting him that his life would be a living torture if he lived, and at the time she'd thought to spare him, but now, she was just mad that she couldn't figure out how to send herself back.
Then she hit on it.
The crystal was a fairly prominent graphic in the wall etchings, but mostly worn around people's necks. The way the drawings spoke, the stone drove mad all but a very small number. That number held among them the last Sorceress, the Sorceress who would destroy the world, and Max. Though she couldn't figure out why he could remain sane, Aura knew she didn't want to give it to him now. She thought about trying to pull the powers from the stone, but set that aside for later. For now, she would wander around to find new etchings.
The walls were really rather drab except for them. Aura had never been fond of the color gray, especially not after her repeated failures to graduate from a Garden. Just thinking about Gardens made her so mad she wanted to scream.
"Curse SeeD," she muttered to herself, "I wish a curse upon them all."
"You're sounding more and more like Ultimecia is said to have spoken," the weakened voice spoke from the door where she'd been leaving Max.
"What's it to you?" Aura glared.
"Wouldn't it be ironic if the Sorceress that all SeeDs have trained to deal with only cursed the SeeDs because they'd flunked her out of Garden," Max leaned against the wall, still favoring his shoulder.
Aura walked up to him, staring him evenly in the eyes, and poking the injured arm, "Wouldn't it just? And even more ironic that the tool to allow her to come into power would be a SeeD who'd once been her best friend but betrayed her like all the other SeeDs!"
Wincing, Max gritted out, "I never betrayed you. I was willing to wait until I had all of the information. You're the one who shot me."
Aura's palm cracked against his face, leaving a reddening mark, "How dare you!"
"Do you really have to ask that?" Max muttered, "I could have handled it if you'd just disappeared. Eventually. I could have handled it if you'd given up and gotten married to some nameless guy and moved to a nameless place. But you shot me in the back. And you're pissed at me?"
"You're a SeeD," she hissed, "You're just like the others. So proud to have passed, you don't bother to do anything to help others."
"It was against the rules," Max met her eyes; cold, dark blue meeting deep brown, "And not even for you would I break that rule. Even though they were breaking it by randomly refusing to allow you to pass. Becoming a SeeD is something you earn, not something given. There was nothing I could do."
"Yes there was," Aura hissed again, "You could have spotted it sooner!"
"What makes you think I haven't already chased that argument around in my head like a puppy chasing its tail?" Max yelped, "I've told myself that, and the only response I've ever been able to come up with is to say, I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be looking! Our Garden has had a reputation for being the fairest of the four!"
"SeeD are trained to look for corruption where it might not be," Aura grabbed the collar of his shirt and began dragging him behind her, "And since you failed in that, perhaps you can be made useful in another fashion."
"What do you mean," Max bit out around the thuds and thumps of smacking into walls, as she didn't care if he hit them, "'Useful in another fashion?'"
Aura paused for a bit and held the crystal up to his face, "I'm going to use you and your gifts with time, space and magic to activate this crystal. If I'm going to be given the name 'Ultimecia' by even those who I'd held closest to my heart, I may as well take on the role completely. I shall become the cursed witch of the future. I will destroy SeeD even before it began, but first! First, I will make sure you aren't any happier in your other life than I have been in my first!"
~
I hate it when stories do that. I really, really do.
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 20
Aura sat in a chair with no cushions. Around her and her chair, the walls were a nondescript gray that would be an art teacher's nightmare if a student turned it in as an assignment. The only breaks in the dull gray were the two wooden doors. One of which led to the room Aura slept in, and the other led to the room where her former friend turned prisoner tried to recover. Luckily, there were no creatures trying to sneak up on her, as she was preoccupied, and was not paying attention.
She fiddled with the small stone that hung around her throat on a thin leather cord. Though she was sure something was wrong with her fascination with it she found she couldn't help it. The more she touched it, the more she had to keep it. Sometimes she thought of how Max had turned at the exact wrong second and had survived. She'd known before shooting him that his life would be a living torture if he lived, and at the time she'd thought to spare him, but now, she was just mad that she couldn't figure out how to send herself back.
Then she hit on it.
The crystal was a fairly prominent graphic in the wall etchings, but mostly worn around people's necks. The way the drawings spoke, the stone drove mad all but a very small number. That number held among them the last Sorceress, the Sorceress who would destroy the world, and Max. Though she couldn't figure out why he could remain sane, Aura knew she didn't want to give it to him now. She thought about trying to pull the powers from the stone, but set that aside for later. For now, she would wander around to find new etchings.
The walls were really rather drab except for them. Aura had never been fond of the color gray, especially not after her repeated failures to graduate from a Garden. Just thinking about Gardens made her so mad she wanted to scream.
"Curse SeeD," she muttered to herself, "I wish a curse upon them all."
"You're sounding more and more like Ultimecia is said to have spoken," the weakened voice spoke from the door where she'd been leaving Max.
"What's it to you?" Aura glared.
"Wouldn't it be ironic if the Sorceress that all SeeDs have trained to deal with only cursed the SeeDs because they'd flunked her out of Garden," Max leaned against the wall, still favoring his shoulder.
Aura walked up to him, staring him evenly in the eyes, and poking the injured arm, "Wouldn't it just? And even more ironic that the tool to allow her to come into power would be a SeeD who'd once been her best friend but betrayed her like all the other SeeDs!"
Wincing, Max gritted out, "I never betrayed you. I was willing to wait until I had all of the information. You're the one who shot me."
Aura's palm cracked against his face, leaving a reddening mark, "How dare you!"
"Do you really have to ask that?" Max muttered, "I could have handled it if you'd just disappeared. Eventually. I could have handled it if you'd given up and gotten married to some nameless guy and moved to a nameless place. But you shot me in the back. And you're pissed at me?"
"You're a SeeD," she hissed, "You're just like the others. So proud to have passed, you don't bother to do anything to help others."
"It was against the rules," Max met her eyes; cold, dark blue meeting deep brown, "And not even for you would I break that rule. Even though they were breaking it by randomly refusing to allow you to pass. Becoming a SeeD is something you earn, not something given. There was nothing I could do."
"Yes there was," Aura hissed again, "You could have spotted it sooner!"
"What makes you think I haven't already chased that argument around in my head like a puppy chasing its tail?" Max yelped, "I've told myself that, and the only response I've ever been able to come up with is to say, I wasn't aware that I was supposed to be looking! Our Garden has had a reputation for being the fairest of the four!"
"SeeD are trained to look for corruption where it might not be," Aura grabbed the collar of his shirt and began dragging him behind her, "And since you failed in that, perhaps you can be made useful in another fashion."
"What do you mean," Max bit out around the thuds and thumps of smacking into walls, as she didn't care if he hit them, "'Useful in another fashion?'"
Aura paused for a bit and held the crystal up to his face, "I'm going to use you and your gifts with time, space and magic to activate this crystal. If I'm going to be given the name 'Ultimecia' by even those who I'd held closest to my heart, I may as well take on the role completely. I shall become the cursed witch of the future. I will destroy SeeD even before it began, but first! First, I will make sure you aren't any happier in your other life than I have been in my first!"
~
I hate it when stories do that. I really, really do.