To See Another Day Chapter 10
What Gods Do In Their Spare Time
By Kain Servant
She was running, always running forever and never going anywhere… Surrounding her were the mistakes she had made, her failures, her enemies, never moving, never disappearing… Her mother, Alexandria, Zidane…Kain…Kain stared with eyes so hateful she nearly screamed… Then Zidane took out his dagger and advanced, his eyes full of sorrow, his soul crying out to hers…she tried to back away, tried to turn and run but she was trapped…trapped…
The dagger flew up and…the eyes…the eyes…
Her eyes snapped open to whirl about the room frantically. She was in a massive, cathedral sized room, the roof pushing far out of her sight into inky blackness above. This, of course, was not what scared her.
The whole room was carved with eyes. Large and small, some painted different colors, mostly red, while some were simply the color of the dull, bare rock they were formed from.
Shaking away the eerieness of the gigantic room, she glanced at her own situation. Her arms were chained tightly into the small of her back, the cold steel driving into her wrists made her quite aware of that. And her feet were chained as well, slightly apart, fastened tightly to manacles on a stone slab that stood upright in what appeared to be the center of the room. She leaned her head as far back and to the sides as possible, but she could see no entrance or exit anywhere…her situation was virtually hopeless.
Almost screaming in anger she opened herself up to her white magic, surely there was some way for her to escape using it. But as she reached for it, a wall jolted her down…a barrier thrown in her path so she could not use magic. No! NO! Throwing her head back she tried to summon Bahamut to come save her in a ball of fiery chaos, but the same wall met her…she was completely helpless.
You can’t give up! She told herself. You’re the queen, you can’t just give up. But viewing what had happened, her situation didn’t look good. The last thing she really remembered was that Kain brought her into a little hut that was really big, and led her to a god that she had formerly killed, who apparently held a grudge, and was—
A loud click cut off her thoughts, The sound seemed to come from everywhere, then it was followed by the sound of loud, clicking footsteps that reverberated through the room. “Hello, my pretty little bird.” The voice did not belong to the Necron she remember. That voice hissed and cracked like an angry whip…this one was almost soothing, trying to calm her. Her heart beat harder and every muscle in her body tensed. She knew it was Necron, no matter how his form had changed, she knew who he was…
“I suppose you have a few questions you’d like to ask me. Well, a day in the life of a God is a busy one, but I suppose I have a few moments to spare.” His footsteps came from everywhere, but slowly they focused above her. Slowly, Garnet tilted her head upwards to see a stone stairway that had descended along with him. Magic…of course, she had forgotten.
“Well…aren’t you going to ask any questions?”
“That face that you devised for your self isn’t very becoming.” She swallowed hard, and her breath was coming in ragged gasps, but she tried to remain as calm as she could. This man had her chained to a stone slab and she was trying to keep her dignity? Fool! “You should have just stayed a demon, a horrible apparition to disgust the eyes. You still disgust my eyes.” His cold eyes did not flinch, no they merely stared back at her, the anger seething within them not quite matching the smirking smile that played across his lips. “Why are you here?’
“Quite cleverly planned don’t you think?” His tone was cajoling, as the stairway finished its formation and he stepped to the floor below, sweeping his foot across one of the carved eyes, “Do you like my room of eyes? Wonderful, isn’t it? Accusing, hateful, pleading, all against you, all surrounding you…you may run from your deeds but you’ll never escape your mind.”
“But I haven’t-“ Garnet tried to object but he raised a hand and the air was pulled from her throat violently, leaving her coughing desperately for breath,
“The magic I put in this room simply brings you back to the good old times in your life when you betrayed someone or broke their heart, lied to them…killed them…these eyes, their eyes, accusing you.” A chill swept through the room, which, Garnet thought, was probably another one of the demi-god’s magical effects.
“It’s actually a very nice setup, I carved every one myself.” He continued to walk away from her, hands folded into a flowing black cloak that made him look a preacher of the night lord. No need for that, he is the night lord. “I haven’t had the chance to use this room yet, so I hope you do enjoy it for a few days until I kill you.”
“Why?” Her voice sounded much more pleading than she would have wanted, “Why do you want to kill me?”
“Dear child,” He turned his head to her, and his cold blue eyes flashed a bright red straight from the pits of hell, “I am hate, I am the King of hate. And I hate you because you killed me. I have been defeated but three times this eternity, the former two by great heroes of legend long forgotten, veritable gods themselves. And this time I get beaten by a scruffy bunch of misfits that have no clue of the universe around them, or of who I am, but someone you managed to defeat me.” He sighed and took a deep breath as he turned and began walking away from her again, “You wouldn’ t know, but all those legends, all those…gods…that defeated me, experienced very…satisfying deaths, long, slow…painful deaths at my hand. Killed until they screamed to me as their salvation in their dying breath. And…they died.” His tone became horrifyingly gleeful, and Garnet shivered again, instinctively trying to tug away from the chains that held her. They did not give at all.
“Physical death is one thing…it is the lowest form of pain. Nowhere compared to mental or physical death. I will break your mind, and your heart…I will kill your faith, I will wring you out and when you have nothing left…you will be truly dead. You, of course, come first, this makes it more painful for Zidane. He will be there when you die, shortly, so, consider yourself lucky. I will only torture you for a short while.”
I’m so happy I could scream… “I don’t think Zidane will be too sad over it. We were a bit at odds when I last saw him.” Necron merely laughed, “Who is Kain? Why did you use Kain?” The words sprung to her lips before she could pull them back. She didn’t love that man anymore. She was just…concerned about his health, Garnet told herself with a blush.
“Kain…? Oh that peasant. This would bring me back to your first opinion…why am I in this form? To deceive the witless and unknowing. Kain was an easy pawn, I simply took the same form as his old elder and everyone in Macema accepted me speedily. Then I simply combined him with my “magic book”…just part of the torture. I, in a sense, am the one who took your love…I am the one who confused your mind in this battle between Kain and Zidane. Of course Zidane will win out in the end…he is a very powerful fellow, but I don’t see what you see in him sexually…quite a small chap.”
Garnet blushed, “I don’t…I love Zidane, yes, and, the book?” How could she be so foolish? Of course, she followed that damn book right to Necron. So foolish, so blind…it wasn’t showing her the future, Necron was telling her what to do…Fool! Fool! Fool!
“Now, I will simply go back to the surface and tell Kain that you tried to kill me, and his injury was an accident that occurred during a magical battle. He’ll believe me, stupidly, and live his own stupid life in this stupid village, while I kill all of you, and exact my revenge!” Suddenly he turned and walked swiftly toward her, his eyes a chilling shade of blue once again. She flinched just at his gaze, and with a subdued whimper, began to struggle again.
“My dear girl, my dear dear girl…” His voice seemed commiserating as he drew up next to her, a short man barely coming up to her shoulder, yet he commanded her to look up into his eyes, “I could rape you in the most horrific way you could ever imagine. I could rape you, and I could make you beg for more, because you’re a stupid, stupid bitch who lets love rule your life.” His hand moved slowly forward to caress her side, “I could right now, and you would not be able to move. And…” His eyes gleamed red again, “I will.”
--
Blank watched the sun peek over the horizon through sleep-deprived eyes. The beautiful sun…always smiling and happy to see its miserable minions. Why was life…why was everyone going on so happily with life, while he was stuck on some point he missed years ago. Love. Where the hell was the love in his life?
Most normal people found a person that they could never get over by the time they were twenty, and that person generally felt somewhat similar feelings for them, so they “fell in love” , got married and then had a lot of sex, because that was why they got married in the first place. That was the generic perfect life that he wished he had.
But no…he beamed a particularly spiteful glare at the happy sun as it grinned at him through the morning fog. Disgruntled, he turned his back on the sun and strode to the western side of the deck, they wouldn’t arrive in Lindbrum for quite a while anyway. He thought he had found who he loved in life. Ruby. But that was a misunderstanding, because Ruby was simply a southern hag who could never make up her mind about him, and basically wasted eight years of his life as he waited for an answer. Sure she was nice. Pretty as hell, but what could is a flower if you can’t sniff it? Or…eat it, or whatever you do to flowers. Pollenate? Damn, what did he know about flowers?
He mentally kicked himself. This wasn’t about Ruby anymore, it was about Eiko! He didn’t know why, but the damn girl wouldn’t get out of his damn mind, that was why he was pacing up and down the deck at five-o clock in the morning like an idiot. Why couldn’t he understand her? Was she just too young for his old age (36 probably seems pretty old to a kid) to deal with, would it be too much like being his daughter? Could he even hope she felt the same way about him? Damn you for a fool!
He paced back to the sunny side of the deck, still glowering at the sun. So…what could he do to win her? He could…write a poem about his … love? Nah, that was stupid. Acrobatics on the deck would have been much more impressive before Zidane taught his punkass how to fly. Maybe flowers…when they got to Lindblum…most women liked flowers…
Blank suddenly caught an intoxicating scent behind him, like…flowers…mixed with rainwater and… a little bit of oglop. No…no rainwater, just flowers and oglop. He turned around and wondered why Eiko was there, and why she smelled like flowers and oglop, and why the smell of flowers and oglop was so intoxicating anyway.
“Eiko.” Damn she was beautiful. She wore a light blue sun dress, with a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. Her huge eyes sparkled like diamonds, and her blue hair drifted about her shoulders amidst the fog. And she smiled.
“Smells like…oglops up here.” He coughed and pawed at his hair, drawn to yet afraid to meet her passionate eyes. Was it really like that in his youth? Was he always that excited about life?
“Yeah, I was going to have a word with the Captain about that…kind of stinks. What…uh…” He swept around her eyes again and grimaced at the sun, damn smiler, mocking him, “What you doing up so early for?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I was thinking about…remember…” She looked west toward the mountains and grasslands that were coasting slowly beneath them, “Remember what I was talking to you about? In Treno?”
“Yeah.” He scrubbed the back of his neck and wondered how hard it would be to destroy the sun. It would be kind of neat if it was dark all the time.
“Well I was thinking about that.”
Well, actually, the earth would probably freeze over then, because there wouldn’t be any heat. But there had to be some sort of way to not have the sun smile at you, and still not freeze to death. Maybe Cid knew something about that…
“Blank?”
“I guess we do need the sun.” He concluded, flashing a grin at her just a moment before mentally cursing and doing painful things to himself.
“What?”
“I was thinking…” He looked back toward the sun and set his clock into motion…something romantic…something intellectual…something…dashing, “That…uh, well, I was saying to myself that…we don’t really need the sun anymore…because, well…your smile kind of lights up the sky. My sky of course…makes me kind of…warm inside…but, then, well, I guess not everyone has you…living near them, and…I don’t see you all the time and stuff…so I thought the earth might freeze because you can’t warm everyone up…and…” He realized both of them were blushing, so he simply put his head down and resumed scratching the back of his neck.
“Blank…” She murmured, taking a step nearer so he could still see her while looking down. She kind of looked…really…hell, really beautiful, looking up at him like that. Yeah, definitely about the best he’d ever seen her. So he couldn’t really help himself, uh…reaching out and, well, placing his arms gently in the small of her back. Just a little push to get her closer.
The flower scent got a lot louder as her body was pressed up against him, and the oglop kind of faded. She smiled, a young smile, an innocent smile, and reached her arms daintily up to take his shoulders in her small grasp. Yeah, she could look like a queen doing about anything, if Garnet was absent, this girl should take a try at being queen. She could match Garnet royal emotion for royal emotion – must be something about the summoning thing.
“I’m sorry,” He muttered, turning his head away slightly so she wouldn’t have to intact a load of his breath. She might not like the scent of beer that much…especially since flowers seemed to be her thing, “For cursing around you…da-er, I’ll try not to do it anymore.”
She just sighed and rested against his chest, her heart beating along with his. That seemed to be a good sign, since her next movement was to tug at his shoulders to bring him down, to let their lips touch just a little…
“Excuse me.” An articulate voice sounded behind him.
He kissed her as gently as he could find possible, then called, “Eh, we’re busy!” to whatever bastard had intruded on their private deck, before placing another kiss on her lips. Eiko giggled, then pushed him away,
“Later.” She whispered.
Later, well that could mean a whole lot of stuff that didn’t sound too wholesome, but hell, his luck seemed to be getting better. Kind of funny, both of them came onto the deck with separate love issues, and then, well something happened, maybe it had to do with the oglop smell, but whatever it was, it was pretty damn good. He released her and turned to see…a tall man swathed in black. Swathed as in decked until his fairly tan skin looked sickly white. His hair was tied in a ponytail, which reminded him of someone that someone had told him about.
“Zidane. I want to see Zidane.”
Yeah it was Zidane, “Ah…sure, it might be a bit too early though. Most people are asleep at five in the morning!” When had Zidane described a man all in black?
“Actually, Zidane is awake right now, let me go get him.” Eiko responded helpfully, then dashed away toward the stairs to the cabins, full of a lively vigor that made Blank choke. Sure…leave him alone with the spooky man that appeared out of no where.
“Do not worry.” The spooky man smiled soothingly, which made him look even spookier. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Thanks.” He, of course, was truly grateful, but he couldn’t help the word coming out sarcastically. He had to work on his delivery…cursing in front of Eiko and picking fights with big men in black. Quite a thinker wasn’t he? Spooky just smiled.
“And where is this little cruise ship heading?”
“Nowhere in particular.”
“Lindblum it appears.” Why the hell do you ask a question when you know the answer? “Then I suppose you know the man named Cid?”
“Maybe.”
The man casually reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of golden claws, then began to play with them casually, chuckling all along. “So what are you planning to do about this Fa’al et Delamfar? Everyone on this ship is a hero, I know you’re planning to do something.”
That’s it, that’s what Zidane was talking about! Damn! “You’re that guy that Zidane fought in Alexandria! What are you doing here?” He reached for where his sword belt usually happened to be but for some odd reason it wasn’ t there this morning. Something about waking up at 5 left him a bit unprepared. Spooky just smiled and held a clawed finger to his lips.
“Shh… I don’t want any fighting. No one here needs to die. I just want to talk to Zidane.”
Magically, just like his damn self nowadays, Zidane burst up the stairs, fully alive and glowing with crackling power. Blank didn’t know if he should cheer because he wanted Zidane to kick Spooky’s ass, or if he should kill someone because Zidane was coming up the stairs to save Blank’s ass. He didn ’t do either, just stood and watched stupidly as suddenly Zidane grunted and stood still, his muscles flexed and seemingly stressed. He stood this way for a few moments, then the crackling power died down, and his body sagged.
Spooky looked happy, “Zidane, just who I wanted to see. Let’s walk, shall we? Privately?”
Zidane’s eyes flashed anger, “Look, whatever your name is-“
“Menoth. Ruc Tsai Menoth.” And a red headed, sheep-wool haired man strolled up the stair behind Zidane, his face an emotionless blank.”
“Amarant…” Spooky Menoth breathed in a hiss, “So this is what happened to you.”
Blank coughed in surprise. It was a mystery to him how anyone told the red headed giant ugly fools apart, they all looked identical to him. But Zidane seemed to have no trouble rattling off names as he passed them on the decks and in the halls, and now this Menoth spots one he hasn’t seen in at least ten years, and he immediately recalls his name?
“This is what happened to me, Menoth. Freedom. Individuality.” Amarant’s eyes sparkled as they met the identical eyes of Spooky, who just smirked and turned his back.
“Yes, well, you come along too. You and Zidane, I want to talk to you.”