Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
Note : This chapter is going to be shorter. A lot of what I have here is unnecessary to the storyline, but I wanted to write some of this down. Basically, this stuff was optional, but gave a little information to what happened with some minor characters and such.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Garden Bridge)
Standing on the bridge, it was time to decide our next destination. FH and Balamb had both been pretty much liberated, so we had no idea where the Galbadians would go next. It would've been nice to relax for a while, but with our newest mission, we didn't have that luxury.
So, here I was, standing on the bridge with Xander, Cam and Tori, all three of whom were waiting on my next decision. I wasn't sure if I liked this new power or if it royally irritated me.
"Where are we going next?" Tori asked with a sigh.
The elevator behind me when down to the lower level and I turned to find Marah coming up to the bridge, an anxious look on her face. "Ummm... Hello, s'cuse me."
"What is it?" I asked softly, noticing how nervous she was. I felt really bad for her. Her Garden and home had been destroyed by Galbadian missiles, while we were able to save our Garden.
"Have you desided on a destination?"
Shaking my head, I sighed. "Still thinking." But something tells me you have an idea...
"Um... Can we, maybe, go to Trabia Garden?" she asked softly. "It's like...in the mountains, so maybe the sorceress will leave it alone... But maybe... You know?"
Barely holding back a frown, I recalled the volley of missiles we'd seen shot, just before I sent them out on the missile base mission. But I thought it was destroyed by missiles... I saw the hopeful look in her eyes and suddenly knew what she was thinking. Oh, I see... That's why. Of course she'd want to go and see it. "I'll keep that in mind." I said absently.
To be honest, I was pretty curious myself.
She nodded and gave a small smile. "Thanks."
That being said, she took the elevator back down and I could hear the muffled sobs as she disappeared from our sight.
First, before we went anyplace else, I decided we should go back to Deling. Despite what happened before, Sorceress Miko wasn't there anymore, and I wanted to see if I could find some answers.
Calling Marah and Kapri to the bridge, I informed them of my plan and we made our way back to Dling City. I decided it was best to only take three people, that way, if we got captured again, there would still be some people free.
(Deling City)
When we parked the Garden outside the city, I was shocked at the peaceful dispaly. No one raised a hand to us, and everyone walked around calmly, like sorceress-assasination-attempts and presidential-murders happened all the time.
But what really worried me was the vague purple glow in everyone's eyes and their suddenl love of the sorceress.
"Miko has promised a future. A future, even for a nobody like me." a man on the street said happily. "Miko has given divine protection. Protection, even for someone as plain as me!"
I blinked and noticed the freaked looks on the girls' faces. To be honest, I wasn't liking the feeling I was getting from this place, either.
"SeeDs don't stand a chance against the sorceress." A single Galbadian soldier said as he walked the streets of the dark town, completely ignoring the fact he was talking to two SeeDs. "She'll squash them like bugs. Boy, am I glad she's not my enemy!"
A man walked by and jumped onto a railing, holding onto a lamp post to keep from falling in front of an on coming bus. "Long live Sorceress Miko!" he shouted.
Everyone who heard him turned and cheered, raising their hands.
"YEAAAHHHH!"
Ducking my head, I took Kapri's hand, knowing she was holding Marah's, and I led them beyond the nutcase who was dacing around happily.
What the hell happened here?!
"I felt a charge of energy at the parade. I know now that I must abide by her words." an older man whispered in awe as he walked along. His eyes flash purple as he walked but he didn't show any sign of noticing it.
I turned to the others with a frown. "Hypnosis." I muttered just loud enough for them to hear me. What other reason could there be? It seemed to be similar to what Blake was under. Some kind of magical hypnosis or mind control.
The man turned and laughed. "President Deling?" he asked, talking to us. "He was a good man on the outside, but basically...a loser!" he shouted before walking off.
"Sorceress Miko... Now that's what I call a real queen!" a young woman sighed as she walked by.
Frowning, I sighed in relief when we made our way to General Baliton's mansion. Heading inside, I noticed him leaning against his desk, looking out the window wearily. When he saw us, he nodded and shook his head.
"Please, take care of Kapri." he said with a small smile.
Frowning again, I nodded and folded my arms over my chest. "What can you tell me about the sorceress?" I asked calmly. Any information could help.
He seemed to think about it a moment. "Galbadia is completely at the mercy of the sorceress. This country is now just a tool to her. Fearing the sorceress, the rest of the world will unite against Galbadia. I fear it's the Sorceress War all over again. Our enemy, Esthar, was also ruled by a sorceress... The same thing is now happening to Galbadia... How foolish of you, Deling..."
"And Esthar?" I prompted.
Closing his eyes for a moment, he looked at the floor and frowned. "The powerful nation to the east, Esthar is our worst threat. It's the country that took over the world with Sorceress Adel. Ever since the end of the war, Esthar has kept silent. No one knows what became of Sorceress Adel. Esthar has kept itself hidden and isolated. We were afraid of Esthar. We occupied other countries to build a force. Things have been going awry ever since then."
Since we'd gotten our answers in Deling, I decided we should look around Gaia a little more. The next place I instructed Xander to take us, was one I'd been wondering about since I saw it in the Dream World.
(WinHill)
This time, I let Marah stay back at the Garden and brought Dustin instead. She seemed ok with going, but I knew she needed a chance to relax and grieve for her Garden.
Entering the town, I noticed there were still monsters around, but the Galbadian soldiers were gone, as well as that the number of monsters was a lot less.
The first thing I noticed in particular, was a man sitting on a bench and looking sadly at the playing children. As I walked over to him, he began to talk, not looking at us.
"Originally, we were opposed to letting outsiders in our village. But I'm glad we hired those two men to hunt the monsters. Before, the children couldn't even play outside." he said idlly. "A while back, we let a wanderer named Tommy stay with us. Things were fine in the beginning, but he ended up stirring up a major disaster. Like I said, it was a while back, but the oldfolks are still really catious with outsiders."
So, Tommy really was here. I thought, then I frowned. Of course he was. They weren't dreams, but visions of the past, meaning it all really happened. He really fell for Kim and then got trapped somewhere in Centra. They really got badly wounded and separated. Kim married Merrick, and had Kapri...or, uh... Remembering what she said about being from another world, I shook my head, not wanting a massive headache by thinking about it.
I led the others into the large mansion and made our way upstairs. Finding a young woman there, I asked her if she knew anything about Tommy, and she just shrugged. Shaking her head, she went on, instead, about some missing vase.
"My husband is very upset with the fact that the vase is missing."
"Probably a ghost." I muttered sarcastically under my breath.
Unfortunately, she heard me and thought I was serious. "A ghost? Oh my, puh-lease!" she rolled her eyes, and then paused as an uncertain look crossed her face. "There's no such thing...is there?" Looking around, her eyes landed on a rusty-looking suit of armor and she frowned. "Come to think of it, I've noticed some strange things lately, like stuff in the house rearranging itself. Maybe an earthquake happened while we were asleep?"
Earthquake? No, I think it'd wake you up, lady. I thought with a roll of my eyes.
Turning back to the suit of armor, I noticed it had moved a little more forward than it was before and cautiously walked down the stairs, approaching it. Tapping it lightly on the shoulder, I jumped a foot back when it began to stagger forward, and winced when Kapri, who was right beside me, screamed in my ear.
Suddenly, a boot fell off and laid on the ground. That was followed by an arm. Then the other arm and the helmet fell off. As bits and bits of armor were left behind, we were eventually left with a body armor with tiny, taloned feet sticking out of it.
Walking over, I peered carefully into the top of it, only to jump back as a tiny baby chocobo jumped out, squeaked and ran off.
Some ghost. I thought with a raised eyebrow, once my heart was beating steadily again. Shaking my head and laughing softly, I turned to find Marah looking relieved and Kapri not looking too happy about being scared witless by a baby chocobo.
We headed out of the mansion quickly, not wanting to be blamed for the mess of armor bits on the floor, and made our way through town, talking to many people and learning more and more about Tommy and Katherine.
Heading to a flower shop, I looked around the flowers as the old lady that worked there sighed and greeted us warily.
"Do you like flowers?"
They do tend to brighten up a place. I thought to myself as I ran my hand through some white ones and nodded.
"Those white ones are really beautiful, aren't they? A woman named Katherine gave them to me. A pity she's no longer with us."
Frowning, I turned and looked at her in confusion. No longer with us?
"If only she'd stayed away from that outsider... Nobody understood flowers as well as Katherine." she said sadly.
We left and walked up the street, heading to a large house with an elderly couple sitting out front and a massive garden filled with flowers. Kapri rushed over immediately, looking so happy to see such a peacful sight.
"There used to be a flower shop in the town square." the old man said sadly as he gazed upon a few white flowers. "It was owned by a woman named Katherine. She lived there with a little girl named Kelly. Katherine was so good with flowers. She made white wreaths for our harvest festivals. We'll never see wreaths like that again. Kelly was so adorable, dancing around with a white wreath in her hair." He sighed and closed his eyes. "How long has it been since Katherine passed away? I wonder if Kelly's doing alright..."
There was the shock again. Last I'd seen, Katherine and Tommy were fairly happy together. What happened to her in such a short amount of time?
Heading to the town entrance, I notice two people dressed as SeeDs. One acted pomous and full of confidence and the other shook his head, telling us that they were really dropouts that came here and were hired as mercenaries.
"I heard there's some undercover figure helping the town out. I wonder if he's got some sentimental attachment to the place?"
Hearing that, I had no doubt it was Tommy.
Leaving WinHill, I felt it was time to head to Trabia. I could feel the curiosity getting the better of me and sighed as we headed back to Garden and I instructed Xander to take us to Trabia Garden in the snowy mountains to the north.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There was more, but it didn't have anything really important and I got lazy. Hope you liked it anyways.
Awwww, (huggles a baby chocobo) They're so cuuuute!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"A direct...hit?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi.