Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ sore kara... ❯ yasumu ( Chapter 14 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: awwaw 
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.18.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 192 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.18.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 192 | Status: Completed
Standard disclaimers apply.
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sore kara...
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yasumu
Galbad ia City was a bustle of activity when Squall and Kuja arrived from their long and dreary hike around the continent. The former then quickly disappeared into a garment shop, mumbling something about wanting to stay undetected as far as he was concerned; thereby leaving Kuja to his own devices, wandering around the city and taking in the sights until sunset. They were to regroup at the Galbadia Hotel at nightfall.
The silver haired ex-villian, however, chose to sit at the fountain in the middle of the square, spending quite a bit of time there.
Oblivious to the weird stares he was gathering from the residents going about in their daily affairs.
While it appeared he was thinking, he was in fact, simply relaxing. He was in no mood, nor had any energy left to even think properly. He just wanted to sit down, stop his brain from moving - it could decompose and rot for all he cared now - and just get his muscles ready for the walk to the hotel. And when he finally decided that he was ready, he remembered that he did not know the way to the hotel. Damn Squall for forgetting to tell him.
A walk through the city revealed the spaciousness that belied it's almost humble outlook. Directly north from the main square, Kuja spotted what he assumed were architects poring over the latest version of an explicit blueprint. There was a skeleton of sorts of a halfway-done arc which Kuja supposed was going to be eventually built a good distance away from the architects. There were very grand things going on indeed, and being a fan of Grand, the silver-haired man was unable to stop himself from edging closer and closer to the raving architects, until he could hear their voices.
"Why do we have to put bars on both sides of the arc? Why can't we just put one set of bars in the middle? It's not like we're going to use the arc for a public prison, or anything..." One of the architects jabbed at the blueprints and loudly commented.
Sighing, his partner said, "Look, I do agree with you on an architectural standpoint, but in case you haven't noticed, these papers have been signed and sanctioned by the King himself! There's nothing we can do but follow it to very last detail. If it's the cost of the materials you're worried about, well, they're already bought, so that's really unnecessary..."
*Hmmm, the King!* Kuja mentally took notes. *Sounds like a person we should be visiting.* Noticing that the duo were still hot on the topic, he strolled casually over and quietly looked at the blueprint. It was indeed weird and strangely new to have 2 sets of movable bars on each side of the wide arc, constituting what was within to be a small version of a prison when the bars were in contact with the ground.
"Well, there's always a use for everything," Kuja began, without even realizing that he had spoken that out loud, "you know, some day, these bars might really come in handy."
Although the two architects turned their heads, they were really more perplexed than angry at the sudden interruption. "Come in handy for what?" Came the older-looking architect, wrinkling his already wrinkled face.
The silver-haired man merely shrugged. "I don't know." He smirked and began walking, until the architects could only see his back.
"An attempted assasination, maybe?"
When the cryptic ex-villian rounded the corner and went out of sight, the duo who were staring at his receding form turned back and stared at each other for a long, long time.
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Galbadia Hotel was surprisingly easy to find once one left the main street. Situated right smack in the middle of the bustling city nightlife, it didn't take Kuja long to stroll casually into the hotel for a quick look around. Suffice to say the design of the hotel was a motley mix of ancient tradition and future fabrication - some Galbadia thing, he figured. Noticing the staircase which twirled into a lower level on his right, he swept gracefully into it.
There were a few soldiers, still in their uniforms, enjoying their midnight vacation, laughing loudly at some coarse joke or another, and a few solitary figures seated here and there. The mini-basement itself looked neat and nice - probably just a hangout for the lonely souls of the city who had nowhere to go to at night. There was a platform of sorts occupying a good length of the floor, obscured mostly by semi-translucent, filmsy white silk. It was not hard to spot the grand piano standing proudly on the platform, however, and Kuja was over in a hurry.
As he moved closer to the stage, he noticed that there was a distorted sort of sound coming from it - much like someone pounding with all his might at the keys on the piano. Brushing the white cloth aside, he soon found himself looking at the back of a tiny little girl, whose feet didn't even touch the floor when she was seated on the piano seat, entirely absorbed in the funny little tune she was tinkling out on the piano.
After a few more moments of the noise, Kuja sat himself down beside the little girl.
"That's not how you play a piano, my dear... THIS, is..." He gave the little girl a pat on the head, ignoring her surprised expression, and concentrated on playing - I dunno, Kuja's theme, maybe? XD Anyway, Kuja played a song of something - he played something that made the whole floor hush, something that made the little girl blush, and something that made a certain hatted figure on one of the couches flush.
When he finished the last note, he turned around and gave the little girl, now apparently awe-struck, another pat on her head. He was about to say something, when,
"Ahem,"
someone politely coughed for attention. It was the hatted figure, who had now quietly strolled onto stage.
".................................................."
With a silence as long as that, it didn't take two minutes to figure out who it was.
Kuja laughed.
"You're doing wonders for your disguise." He made sure the voice dripped with acid satire from every word. "I almost couldn't recognize you. Serious."
Squall sighed and sat down on the other side of the piano seat where the little girl was. Neither of them noticed the little girl had gone back to tinkling non-stop on the keyboard. "At least I'm trying my best to stay out of public eye." The morose teenager shook his head.
"You don't have to try, Squall; in case you haven't noticed, you completely blend in with the scenary at any given time!" Kuja snorted. From the floor, the rowdy crowd were heard getting back to their rowdy discussions. "I suppose I don't have to ask, but still..."
"... what're we gonna do now?" Squall finished the sentence, then let out another sigh - irritating his companion to no end. "I seriously have no idea, sire. I took a quick survey of the city before I came here... and I think I've come to a conclusion that won't make any of us very happy..."
"Well, go on, make me unhappier than I already am, I'm just DYING for you to try." Kuja threw his hands up into the air and semi-snapped. Nothing, he decided, could make him any happier already anyway.
"... we're not in the right time." Was the soft reply.
When Squall saw Kuja's eyes turn into feline slits, he sweatdropped and quickly explained, "... I mean, I was going around the city to do some information gathering just now, but... they, don't know anything about the things of my time." He shrugged. "Heck, even the card game rules are different. Nothing about Balamb Garden, nothing about Vinzer Deling, not even the Sorceress War. We are NOWHERE near my time. If anything, I daresay we're just as clueless as Cloud and Zidane are, now."
Kuja watched with disinterest, as Squall suddenly sneezed twice. He took a moment to calm his raging questions down, before saying, "I heard the people talk about a King, whom I presume rules over this city." He leaned slightly closer and continued, "You think we should go pay him a visit?"
The dark-haired teenager stroked his chin gently at the suggestion. A King - was something he had never quite heard of in his time, only read of; in history books. Were they really so far off from the time where there were Gardens all over the world? A good way to find out, he finally decided, was to seek an audience with this King, and hope that he could provide the information they so desperately needed. He looked up from the thoughtful silence and gave Kuja a curt nod.
"Tomorrow would be fine; I think we both need some sleep badly." He started searching his pockets. "It's a good thing gil is still the common currency even in these times. Otherwise I think we'd have to start worrying about part-time jobs instead of finding the King, now."
"Just go get the room already!" Kuja almost kicked Squall off the piano seat, had the latter not stood up fast enough and bolted out of the basement before the former had a chance for another word. Kuja then folded his arms and stood up to leave as well.
Before he made it off the platform, however, the little girl ran forward and stopped him by tugging timidly at the edges of his half-skirt (XD: ....). He slowly turned around with a questioning look on his face, noticing that the girl seemed to have something to want to show him. She shyly shifted her weight from side to side, until finally she pointed in the direction of the piano. Kuja laughed inwardly. Perhaps she wanted to hear another tune? Or maybe she wanted him to teach her a key or two? In any case, when she started totting back to the piano, Kuja could only find himself following along in curiousity.
With much difficulty, the little girl lifted herself back onto the piano seat and adjusted her position.
And when she started playing, Kuja was shocked enough to raise his eyebrows.
Although she was only using her right hand, she replicated the tune Kuja had played previously to a T.
It wasn't everyday geniuses like these sat at boring middle basement rooms of dangerous hotel lobbies tinkling away with no regard whatsoever for possible dangers lurking around in the darkness.
Therefore, when she had finished her piece and turned around to beam at the man who had 'taught' her the tune, Kuja was already by her side, wondering what next to say and ask. He put a hand on her head and left it there, smiling puzzledly.
"What's your name?" He eventually gave up and used the oldest trick in the book. "You can call me Kuja."
Elation flashed over the girl's initially bashful face, as she opened her mouth to reply.
"Julia!"
A voice that was neither the girl's nor Kuja's sounded out. Both heads turned to investigate the newcomer, whose shadow could be seen ducking the pieces of white cloth on the stage. Eventually, a gloved hand swept away the last of the cloth blocking their view from him, and from the corner of his eye, Kuja thought he could see the little girl squirm a little. The newcomer - a man dressed to the nines in fur, linen and purple, swept towards the piano and gathered the little girl in his arms, while Kuja respectfully retreated two steps.
"Julia, haven't I told you not to wander around without escorts before? What if you run into muggers, or kidnappers? The city isn't as safe as the palace is, you understand... what will I do with you?" He eventually sighed. It is at this point of time that the author notices that the fic has become as dry and boring as Galbadia was spunky. Therefore, it is not to the surprise of the reader that Squall chooses this precise moment to tap Kuja on the shoulder, having sneaked in from nowhere and was currently mysteriously situated behind Kuja. He was supposed to be there to brighten things up.
When Kuja turned around, everybody directed their attention to the moody teenager.
Pointedly ignoring the thick atmosphere, Squall merely said softly, "Um, the staff says there aren't anymore rooms available."
There was a pause.
Followed by an exasperated groan.
"I am so not amused." Kuja thunked heavily back down on the piano seat, crossed his legs and pouted majorly.
"I'm not lying." Squall folded his arms across his chest and pouted too.
"I'm not saying you're lying, I'm just trying to amuse myself by pretending I'm not amused while wondering what to do that would eventually prevent us from having to take on the wonderful streets of Galbadia - not all entirely clean and nice, by the way..." Kuja dryly replied. "... oh what the heck." He ended up throwing his arms into the air and running through a cussing exercise in his head.
"We could always rent a car... and sleep in it, I suppose."
"Well, that's an idea." Kuja nodded. "Wait, are they still open at this hour in the night?"
Squall took a dive into his imaginary timer up in his skull. He then shook his head slowly.
Trying to keep his temper in check; for super villians with 800,000 HP should not be sleeping on the streets of the planet he eventually will destroy further down the stream of time, Kuja breathed in rather forcefully. He was just sorry he didn't destroy Terra earlier. Well, now would be a good time to destroy it again, but if he did that, they'd never be able to solve the Zidane problem. Right, no, destroying the planet can wait. First, a decent place to sleep. He noticed a tug at his sleeve, and returned his attention to the world.
"Papa says..." it was the little girl Julia, "... that you can come with us, if you don't mind..."
Squall and Kuja turned to look at one another, then at 'Papa'.
"We have a lot of spare rooms in the palace." The man merely grinned. For some reason, his moustache reminded Kuja alot of Regent Cid.
Squall lapsed into dark silence, and Kuja frowned.
"There's a catch to this." The pale-haired ex-villian turned to look at the royal people from the corner of his eye, all too eager to be suspicious. "We were just mentioning how we were going to pay the king a visit tomorrow, and the king comes visit us today. There has GOT to be catch to this."
As if on cue, the king began laughing raspily, stroking his moustache. "You're right about that, I'm afraid. Even though a monarch, I certainly cannot allow a person to stay in the palace by pure good will. You see," the laughy king lowered his voice to a hush, "we have a reception at the palace tomorrow night for the Lords and Ladies of Galbadia, and we promised them a really good show. The problem is..."
"The performers ran away." Squall offered his unique insight into the matter. This made the king laugh nervously.
"Well, no... no... they didn't 'run away', per se..." The man objected, if only out of embarassment. "... they disappeared - into thin air." He shook his head sombrely, putting up a hand to stop the obvious 'how can you be so sure' question. "I'm quite sure because they left their props, costumes and scripts where they were staying within the palace grounds. We offered them a large sum of money, mind you, enough to probably allow them to retire after the whole performance was over; they spent months practicing, too. There was no reason at all for their disappearance. There wasn't even any signs of a struggle to suggest a kidnap. The palace guards are baffled because they haven't spotted anything weird, as are we. Therefore, we ARE in quite a fix here..."
"There are other people in the city who can act," Kuja shrugged like Squall would, "and besides, you can always postpone the play, right? You ARE the king, you know."
"Ahaha..." The king began to laugh nervously again, putting a hand to the back of his head. "Tomorrow is quite the crucial thing, as the people have been roused up recently...
"... already rumours of the Sorceress appearing in Esthar are making the heart of the people sway; they have always considered the Sorceress to be a more capable leader than any man, having seen scores of history books praise the Sorceress' ability to lead the land into heights unscaled before by previous monarchs. When news of the disappearance of the performers leaked out, the palace got feedback that the people, from the lords to the peasants, were murmuring against the poor adminstrative abilities of this kingdom, which cannot even organize an event of entertainment properly..."
The king sighed, patting the head of his daughter, who stood nearly, listening intently to what he was saying.
"I do not intend to lead this kingdom for very long, and believe that someone capable will eventually take over this system of rulership; but there is one thing that I will not allow, and that is to let the hearts of the people cave in to the sweet-talk of the Sorceress. They are blinded by the good things they see and hear and cannot see the bad things that are behind the 'beauty'. I cannot let the people sway towards the Sorceress -- that's why this performance is so important, even in it's small, tiny way, to prove that this kingdom can still last - it can still stand against the Sorceress. I cannot postpone it; neither can I look for someone who is of this land to play it. I hope you understand."
There was a long silence, as the king's followers wept inwardly and strengthened their loyalty towards their liege. Squall and Kuja simply stood and thought about it. It looked like the king needed an answer quickly.
"What do you think, weather-syndrome?" Kuja turned to look at his companion.
Squall shrugged. "Whatever. We've got nothing to lose, right?"
"No kidding..." Kuja was already rotating several images of Squall dressing up in Victorian, strutting the stage and sprouting Shakespeare - except that Shakespeare never existed in Final Fantasy. But that is besides the point. The silver-haired ex-villian pulled his right hand out and offered it to the king. "... well, you got yourself a deal. We'll do our best."
Julia began jumping up and down excitedly, when her father shook the outstretched hand.
"And you got yourself a place to stay tonight."
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The wind was calm, the waters still.
"You know, Laguna, I think it'd be a good idea to actually start marking the way we came from -- it's dark, misty and late at night; at this rate, we might not be able to find out way back-"
"Relax, my fellow mate!" A dark, and rather short shadow slapped himself twice on his chest, while striding forward in large, confident steps. "This is merely a small quest to retrieve oil and petrol from the nearby city of Galbadia. There is no need to do grand things like marking the road so as to find our way back."
The taller figure beside him sighed. "Tell me, which turn did we take at the previous junction?"
"......................right?" was the answer. Then, "No wait, left! Yeah, right!!"
Another figure stopped in his march and put his hands akimbo. "Left or right?"
"Right, left, right- I mean..."
Laguna's two blond companions shook their heads and sighed - not for the first, or the last time that night.
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yasunda
30/8/0 1
http://cloud-is.ourfamily.com/
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sore kara...
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yasumu
Galbad ia City was a bustle of activity when Squall and Kuja arrived from their long and dreary hike around the continent. The former then quickly disappeared into a garment shop, mumbling something about wanting to stay undetected as far as he was concerned; thereby leaving Kuja to his own devices, wandering around the city and taking in the sights until sunset. They were to regroup at the Galbadia Hotel at nightfall.
The silver haired ex-villian, however, chose to sit at the fountain in the middle of the square, spending quite a bit of time there.
Oblivious to the weird stares he was gathering from the residents going about in their daily affairs.
While it appeared he was thinking, he was in fact, simply relaxing. He was in no mood, nor had any energy left to even think properly. He just wanted to sit down, stop his brain from moving - it could decompose and rot for all he cared now - and just get his muscles ready for the walk to the hotel. And when he finally decided that he was ready, he remembered that he did not know the way to the hotel. Damn Squall for forgetting to tell him.
A walk through the city revealed the spaciousness that belied it's almost humble outlook. Directly north from the main square, Kuja spotted what he assumed were architects poring over the latest version of an explicit blueprint. There was a skeleton of sorts of a halfway-done arc which Kuja supposed was going to be eventually built a good distance away from the architects. There were very grand things going on indeed, and being a fan of Grand, the silver-haired man was unable to stop himself from edging closer and closer to the raving architects, until he could hear their voices.
"Why do we have to put bars on both sides of the arc? Why can't we just put one set of bars in the middle? It's not like we're going to use the arc for a public prison, or anything..." One of the architects jabbed at the blueprints and loudly commented.
Sighing, his partner said, "Look, I do agree with you on an architectural standpoint, but in case you haven't noticed, these papers have been signed and sanctioned by the King himself! There's nothing we can do but follow it to very last detail. If it's the cost of the materials you're worried about, well, they're already bought, so that's really unnecessary..."
*Hmmm, the King!* Kuja mentally took notes. *Sounds like a person we should be visiting.* Noticing that the duo were still hot on the topic, he strolled casually over and quietly looked at the blueprint. It was indeed weird and strangely new to have 2 sets of movable bars on each side of the wide arc, constituting what was within to be a small version of a prison when the bars were in contact with the ground.
"Well, there's always a use for everything," Kuja began, without even realizing that he had spoken that out loud, "you know, some day, these bars might really come in handy."
Although the two architects turned their heads, they were really more perplexed than angry at the sudden interruption. "Come in handy for what?" Came the older-looking architect, wrinkling his already wrinkled face.
The silver-haired man merely shrugged. "I don't know." He smirked and began walking, until the architects could only see his back.
"An attempted assasination, maybe?"
When the cryptic ex-villian rounded the corner and went out of sight, the duo who were staring at his receding form turned back and stared at each other for a long, long time.
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Galbadia Hotel was surprisingly easy to find once one left the main street. Situated right smack in the middle of the bustling city nightlife, it didn't take Kuja long to stroll casually into the hotel for a quick look around. Suffice to say the design of the hotel was a motley mix of ancient tradition and future fabrication - some Galbadia thing, he figured. Noticing the staircase which twirled into a lower level on his right, he swept gracefully into it.
There were a few soldiers, still in their uniforms, enjoying their midnight vacation, laughing loudly at some coarse joke or another, and a few solitary figures seated here and there. The mini-basement itself looked neat and nice - probably just a hangout for the lonely souls of the city who had nowhere to go to at night. There was a platform of sorts occupying a good length of the floor, obscured mostly by semi-translucent, filmsy white silk. It was not hard to spot the grand piano standing proudly on the platform, however, and Kuja was over in a hurry.
As he moved closer to the stage, he noticed that there was a distorted sort of sound coming from it - much like someone pounding with all his might at the keys on the piano. Brushing the white cloth aside, he soon found himself looking at the back of a tiny little girl, whose feet didn't even touch the floor when she was seated on the piano seat, entirely absorbed in the funny little tune she was tinkling out on the piano.
After a few more moments of the noise, Kuja sat himself down beside the little girl.
"That's not how you play a piano, my dear... THIS, is..." He gave the little girl a pat on the head, ignoring her surprised expression, and concentrated on playing - I dunno, Kuja's theme, maybe? XD Anyway, Kuja played a song of something - he played something that made the whole floor hush, something that made the little girl blush, and something that made a certain hatted figure on one of the couches flush.
When he finished the last note, he turned around and gave the little girl, now apparently awe-struck, another pat on her head. He was about to say something, when,
"Ahem,"
someone politely coughed for attention. It was the hatted figure, who had now quietly strolled onto stage.
".................................................."
With a silence as long as that, it didn't take two minutes to figure out who it was.
Kuja laughed.
"You're doing wonders for your disguise." He made sure the voice dripped with acid satire from every word. "I almost couldn't recognize you. Serious."
Squall sighed and sat down on the other side of the piano seat where the little girl was. Neither of them noticed the little girl had gone back to tinkling non-stop on the keyboard. "At least I'm trying my best to stay out of public eye." The morose teenager shook his head.
"You don't have to try, Squall; in case you haven't noticed, you completely blend in with the scenary at any given time!" Kuja snorted. From the floor, the rowdy crowd were heard getting back to their rowdy discussions. "I suppose I don't have to ask, but still..."
"... what're we gonna do now?" Squall finished the sentence, then let out another sigh - irritating his companion to no end. "I seriously have no idea, sire. I took a quick survey of the city before I came here... and I think I've come to a conclusion that won't make any of us very happy..."
"Well, go on, make me unhappier than I already am, I'm just DYING for you to try." Kuja threw his hands up into the air and semi-snapped. Nothing, he decided, could make him any happier already anyway.
"... we're not in the right time." Was the soft reply.
When Squall saw Kuja's eyes turn into feline slits, he sweatdropped and quickly explained, "... I mean, I was going around the city to do some information gathering just now, but... they, don't know anything about the things of my time." He shrugged. "Heck, even the card game rules are different. Nothing about Balamb Garden, nothing about Vinzer Deling, not even the Sorceress War. We are NOWHERE near my time. If anything, I daresay we're just as clueless as Cloud and Zidane are, now."
Kuja watched with disinterest, as Squall suddenly sneezed twice. He took a moment to calm his raging questions down, before saying, "I heard the people talk about a King, whom I presume rules over this city." He leaned slightly closer and continued, "You think we should go pay him a visit?"
The dark-haired teenager stroked his chin gently at the suggestion. A King - was something he had never quite heard of in his time, only read of; in history books. Were they really so far off from the time where there were Gardens all over the world? A good way to find out, he finally decided, was to seek an audience with this King, and hope that he could provide the information they so desperately needed. He looked up from the thoughtful silence and gave Kuja a curt nod.
"Tomorrow would be fine; I think we both need some sleep badly." He started searching his pockets. "It's a good thing gil is still the common currency even in these times. Otherwise I think we'd have to start worrying about part-time jobs instead of finding the King, now."
"Just go get the room already!" Kuja almost kicked Squall off the piano seat, had the latter not stood up fast enough and bolted out of the basement before the former had a chance for another word. Kuja then folded his arms and stood up to leave as well.
Before he made it off the platform, however, the little girl ran forward and stopped him by tugging timidly at the edges of his half-skirt (XD: ....). He slowly turned around with a questioning look on his face, noticing that the girl seemed to have something to want to show him. She shyly shifted her weight from side to side, until finally she pointed in the direction of the piano. Kuja laughed inwardly. Perhaps she wanted to hear another tune? Or maybe she wanted him to teach her a key or two? In any case, when she started totting back to the piano, Kuja could only find himself following along in curiousity.
With much difficulty, the little girl lifted herself back onto the piano seat and adjusted her position.
And when she started playing, Kuja was shocked enough to raise his eyebrows.
Although she was only using her right hand, she replicated the tune Kuja had played previously to a T.
It wasn't everyday geniuses like these sat at boring middle basement rooms of dangerous hotel lobbies tinkling away with no regard whatsoever for possible dangers lurking around in the darkness.
Therefore, when she had finished her piece and turned around to beam at the man who had 'taught' her the tune, Kuja was already by her side, wondering what next to say and ask. He put a hand on her head and left it there, smiling puzzledly.
"What's your name?" He eventually gave up and used the oldest trick in the book. "You can call me Kuja."
Elation flashed over the girl's initially bashful face, as she opened her mouth to reply.
"Julia!"
A voice that was neither the girl's nor Kuja's sounded out. Both heads turned to investigate the newcomer, whose shadow could be seen ducking the pieces of white cloth on the stage. Eventually, a gloved hand swept away the last of the cloth blocking their view from him, and from the corner of his eye, Kuja thought he could see the little girl squirm a little. The newcomer - a man dressed to the nines in fur, linen and purple, swept towards the piano and gathered the little girl in his arms, while Kuja respectfully retreated two steps.
"Julia, haven't I told you not to wander around without escorts before? What if you run into muggers, or kidnappers? The city isn't as safe as the palace is, you understand... what will I do with you?" He eventually sighed. It is at this point of time that the author notices that the fic has become as dry and boring as Galbadia was spunky. Therefore, it is not to the surprise of the reader that Squall chooses this precise moment to tap Kuja on the shoulder, having sneaked in from nowhere and was currently mysteriously situated behind Kuja. He was supposed to be there to brighten things up.
When Kuja turned around, everybody directed their attention to the moody teenager.
Pointedly ignoring the thick atmosphere, Squall merely said softly, "Um, the staff says there aren't anymore rooms available."
There was a pause.
Followed by an exasperated groan.
"I am so not amused." Kuja thunked heavily back down on the piano seat, crossed his legs and pouted majorly.
"I'm not lying." Squall folded his arms across his chest and pouted too.
"I'm not saying you're lying, I'm just trying to amuse myself by pretending I'm not amused while wondering what to do that would eventually prevent us from having to take on the wonderful streets of Galbadia - not all entirely clean and nice, by the way..." Kuja dryly replied. "... oh what the heck." He ended up throwing his arms into the air and running through a cussing exercise in his head.
"We could always rent a car... and sleep in it, I suppose."
"Well, that's an idea." Kuja nodded. "Wait, are they still open at this hour in the night?"
Squall took a dive into his imaginary timer up in his skull. He then shook his head slowly.
Trying to keep his temper in check; for super villians with 800,000 HP should not be sleeping on the streets of the planet he eventually will destroy further down the stream of time, Kuja breathed in rather forcefully. He was just sorry he didn't destroy Terra earlier. Well, now would be a good time to destroy it again, but if he did that, they'd never be able to solve the Zidane problem. Right, no, destroying the planet can wait. First, a decent place to sleep. He noticed a tug at his sleeve, and returned his attention to the world.
"Papa says..." it was the little girl Julia, "... that you can come with us, if you don't mind..."
Squall and Kuja turned to look at one another, then at 'Papa'.
"We have a lot of spare rooms in the palace." The man merely grinned. For some reason, his moustache reminded Kuja alot of Regent Cid.
Squall lapsed into dark silence, and Kuja frowned.
"There's a catch to this." The pale-haired ex-villian turned to look at the royal people from the corner of his eye, all too eager to be suspicious. "We were just mentioning how we were going to pay the king a visit tomorrow, and the king comes visit us today. There has GOT to be catch to this."
As if on cue, the king began laughing raspily, stroking his moustache. "You're right about that, I'm afraid. Even though a monarch, I certainly cannot allow a person to stay in the palace by pure good will. You see," the laughy king lowered his voice to a hush, "we have a reception at the palace tomorrow night for the Lords and Ladies of Galbadia, and we promised them a really good show. The problem is..."
"The performers ran away." Squall offered his unique insight into the matter. This made the king laugh nervously.
"Well, no... no... they didn't 'run away', per se..." The man objected, if only out of embarassment. "... they disappeared - into thin air." He shook his head sombrely, putting up a hand to stop the obvious 'how can you be so sure' question. "I'm quite sure because they left their props, costumes and scripts where they were staying within the palace grounds. We offered them a large sum of money, mind you, enough to probably allow them to retire after the whole performance was over; they spent months practicing, too. There was no reason at all for their disappearance. There wasn't even any signs of a struggle to suggest a kidnap. The palace guards are baffled because they haven't spotted anything weird, as are we. Therefore, we ARE in quite a fix here..."
"There are other people in the city who can act," Kuja shrugged like Squall would, "and besides, you can always postpone the play, right? You ARE the king, you know."
"Ahaha..." The king began to laugh nervously again, putting a hand to the back of his head. "Tomorrow is quite the crucial thing, as the people have been roused up recently...
"... already rumours of the Sorceress appearing in Esthar are making the heart of the people sway; they have always considered the Sorceress to be a more capable leader than any man, having seen scores of history books praise the Sorceress' ability to lead the land into heights unscaled before by previous monarchs. When news of the disappearance of the performers leaked out, the palace got feedback that the people, from the lords to the peasants, were murmuring against the poor adminstrative abilities of this kingdom, which cannot even organize an event of entertainment properly..."
The king sighed, patting the head of his daughter, who stood nearly, listening intently to what he was saying.
"I do not intend to lead this kingdom for very long, and believe that someone capable will eventually take over this system of rulership; but there is one thing that I will not allow, and that is to let the hearts of the people cave in to the sweet-talk of the Sorceress. They are blinded by the good things they see and hear and cannot see the bad things that are behind the 'beauty'. I cannot let the people sway towards the Sorceress -- that's why this performance is so important, even in it's small, tiny way, to prove that this kingdom can still last - it can still stand against the Sorceress. I cannot postpone it; neither can I look for someone who is of this land to play it. I hope you understand."
There was a long silence, as the king's followers wept inwardly and strengthened their loyalty towards their liege. Squall and Kuja simply stood and thought about it. It looked like the king needed an answer quickly.
"What do you think, weather-syndrome?" Kuja turned to look at his companion.
Squall shrugged. "Whatever. We've got nothing to lose, right?"
"No kidding..." Kuja was already rotating several images of Squall dressing up in Victorian, strutting the stage and sprouting Shakespeare - except that Shakespeare never existed in Final Fantasy. But that is besides the point. The silver-haired ex-villian pulled his right hand out and offered it to the king. "... well, you got yourself a deal. We'll do our best."
Julia began jumping up and down excitedly, when her father shook the outstretched hand.
"And you got yourself a place to stay tonight."
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The wind was calm, the waters still.
"You know, Laguna, I think it'd be a good idea to actually start marking the way we came from -- it's dark, misty and late at night; at this rate, we might not be able to find out way back-"
"Relax, my fellow mate!" A dark, and rather short shadow slapped himself twice on his chest, while striding forward in large, confident steps. "This is merely a small quest to retrieve oil and petrol from the nearby city of Galbadia. There is no need to do grand things like marking the road so as to find our way back."
The taller figure beside him sighed. "Tell me, which turn did we take at the previous junction?"
"......................right?" was the answer. Then, "No wait, left! Yeah, right!!"
Another figure stopped in his march and put his hands akimbo. "Left or right?"
"Right, left, right- I mean..."
Laguna's two blond companions shook their heads and sighed - not for the first, or the last time that night.
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yasunda
30/8/0 1
http://cloud-is.ourfamily.com/