Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Winding Roads ❯ Rude people come in twos, while scary people come in fours ( Chapter 7 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Peach Goddess 
Today's lesson: Don't trust people who can finish each other's sentences
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.11.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 162 | Status: Completed
Today's lesson: Don't trust people who can finish each other's sentences
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 11.11.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.0K | Visits: 162 | Status: Completed
All right, you all know the drill. I don't own FF9, yadda, yadda, yadda, blah, blah, blah . . . Anyhow, welcome back my fateful readers! I'm so glad you put up with my inane ramblings to get this far in my fic! As usual I would like to say the thank you portion of my Author's Notes. Thanks too ~*Punk Zell Dincht*~, Puddin', suzanami, and Waffles your all so nice I feel as though I had to mention you. (Go read ~*PZD*~'s fics, she's a great FF8 author!) and Puddin', ah yes, Puddin'. If it weren't for you and your constant badgering I would never get off my butt to write more of this gosh-darn fic, oh, and keep an eye out for inside jokes.
Written by: Peach Goddess
This fic started on: 10/8/01
This fic finished on: 10/10/01 (that was fun to type!)
E-mail: confused@crosslink.net
Oh no! Hide your children, lock up your dogs and run for your life! It's . . .
"Winding Roads: chapter 7"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~
The streets of Burmecia glowed with a thin sheen of rain and sunlight, the water gently forming puddles in the cracks of the stones before the rain rushed down into the canals at the side of the road, a new feature put in during the rebuilding. Queen Garnet lifted her foot gently, grimacing at the thin layer of wet dirt that had accumulated at the sole of her heeled boots. She looked around the stone buildings with a well-hidden look of distaste.
"How . . . quaint," Garnet muttered, lifting up her skirts as she walked up the wet, stone, stairs. Her servant following dutifully behind her, always a step behind, for fear of stepping on her Mistress' skirts. The maid's arm was beginning to tire, but she held it up anyway, knowing the consequences to be great if she failed to cover the Queen's head with the thick parasol.
Garnet turned her head to the side, her eyes roaming over the fancy, jeweled, Palanquin that had transported her and her husband off of the Invincible and through the gates of Burmecia.
"Darling," she called "do hurry up, I wish to see Freya and leave immediately, the rain is mussing up my boots and the entire kingdom smells of wet dog," Garnet sniffed as she turned her nose up at one of the bystanders. The Burmecian guard glared at her and bared his sharp teeth.
"Your highness, might I be the first to welcome you to Burmecia," He bowed, kicking dirty water onto Garnet's soiled white boots as his foot dipped. He looked up with a smile in his eyes.
"Forgive me, I don't mean to be so clumsy."
The Queen glared at the guard before turning around and forcefully pushing her maid out of her way. The maid fell onto to stone steps, crying out as red marks surfaced on her arms and hands. The guard rushed to her, offering her his gloved hand to pull her up. She accepted his hand and winced as the dirty leather made contact with the cuts on her hands.
"Here," The guard said as he pulled of his black cloak and wrapped it gently around her shoulders, tying the strings of his cloak into a lop-sided bow.
"Thank you, that's very chivalrous of you."
They smiled at one and other, a slight blush staining the maids cheeks as she bent to pick up the parasol from the stairway. Her head snapped to the side as she saw Queen Garnet stamp down the stairs to the palanquin. She quickly opened the umbrella and rushed to her spot behind the queen.
"Zidane! What ever is keeping you?"
"Just give me one moment to get everything together."
"I will do no such thing! I will wait for you inside the court! Come along Servant," With that Garnet spun around again, hitting the maid in the side with a jeweled and ringed hand, causing her to stumble back a bit before regaining her ground and sprinting after the Queen as she scaled the stairs to the Court. The guard looked wistfully at her, giving her a small smile, which the maid eagerly returned. The guard winced as the large doors slammed shut behind the Queen and her maid; it seemed he never had a chance to talk to the pretty ones.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Freya moaned in ecstasy as she splashed warm water onto her face, dipping and resurfacing her hands to repeat the procedure over and over, moving from a bowl of warm water to a bowl of cold water. Warm to make you happy and cool to wake you up. Personally Freya thought that to be an Old Wives Tale, but she was rethinking her platform on the matter as she felt a smile spread across her thin lips and her grogginess begin to lift.
"Feeling better?," Bullon questioned, handing Freya a green and towel for her to dry her face on. She gladly accepted the offering and began to ruffle the fur on her face, determined to get it as dry as possible.
"Yes, much. I think that I'll feel even better once I get a cup of coffee and breakfast though."
"It will be so immediately, Tashii."
Freya stared at Bullon for a moment before she sighed and shook her head.
"What is wrong, Tashii?"
"It's just so . . . odd. One moment I'm sleeping on the ground in some random thicket of woods, and now I'm the Queen of my people."
"Yes, and since you are our new Queen you should dress like it," Bullon smiled, beckoning for Freya to follow him out of the washroom, which she did, curiously. They stepped into her grand bedroom, silk curtains hung from the windows, a large leather couch was placed on a hand made rug in front of her large fireplace, but the most noticeable feature was the bed itself, which took up a good portion of the western wall of her room. The Minister opened the door to her grand rooms before stepping out into the hallway, loudly clapping his hands in the air. Bullon turned and bowed to Freya from the hallway.
"If you will excuse us Tashii, I don't believe you would like us to be here for this," Bullon spoke before turning around again and rushing down the hallway, most likely to see about fixing her breakfast. He was replaced moments later by four handmaidens, each had their arms full of odds and ends which Freya couldn't make out from her distance away. They each gave a curtsey and a polite greeting before placing their items on the slid oak table in the middle of the room. One of the women pulled out a footstool she had tucked under her arm and placed it gently on the floor before stepping over to Freya and taking her gently by the hand and instructing her to step onto the stool. They stood back for a moment, evaluating her and making inane comments about her appearance.
"Nice eyes, we need to do something to bring them out-"
"I have a feeling that White is her color."
"White? Never! Maybe a Crème or Emerald . . ."
"She has strong cheekbones, we shouldn't use to much makeup, it would make her look like a Scarlet Woman."
The three other ladies nodded at the last point muttering 'indeed' or 'quite right'. One of the women walked to Freya's side and stretched out her arm, plucking the pointed hat off of her head, noticing her sloppy bun the lady tugged the died reed out of her hair, allowing the soft silver strands fall about her shoulders.
"What's this? Long hair? How odd for a Dragoon to have such a thing."
"She is the only female Dragoon though, so how can you be sure it's an odd occurrence?"
"Ah, that is a good point."
"Truly."
The same woman pulled one of the matching chairs from the table next to the stool Freya was standing upon, the handmaid climbed onto the chair and un-knotted her blue kerchief, joining her hat in being unceremoniously tossed to the floor. Soon after Freya's coat joined the growing pile of her clothing, Freya herself was beginning to feel uncomfortable about being undressed by complete strangers and decided to remedy that situation.
"Who exactly are you?"
"We were rude weren't we? Well, allow me to introduce all of us. The Brunette by your bed is Ardelia," The girl in question bowed her head when her name was called. "The Toe-headed one next to her is Akron," The blond followed the gestures of the Brunette, bowing her head slightly. "The other one with Blond hair is Alna," The girl followed the same procedure as the previous two. "and I am Alkekiyon," The last girl said, motioning to herself with her hand. Alkekiyon's hair was a deep black "and we are the Gibbous sisters, it is a pleasure to meet you, Tashii."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you as well."
"If you do not mind," Akron interrupted from her spot near the grand bed "may we get back to work, Tashii?"
"Oh! Yes, please do, I'm dreadfully sorry."
The sisters didn't seem to pay her last statement any mind, Ardelia and Akron just continued to comment on her, Alkekiyon took measurements, and Alna was sorting through a velvet lined box full of Jewelry. Time seemed to crawl by at an alarmingly slow rate as Freya stood still on the stool, her arms outstretched and about ten different sheer and gauzy fabrics draped across her body and tied around her waist.
"Well," Alna announced, clapping her hands in excitement "now its time for the fun to begin."
The women circled Freya with an undistinguishable, but frightening, look in their eyes, each of the girls head up a different object, scissors, needles, seam rippers, and one particular nasty looking item which Freya couldn't place. Freya gulped and cowered slightly, suddenly this dressing like royalty thing wasn't as good an idea as it had previously been . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~
"Stop that."
"Stop what, Mr. Amarant?"
"That."
"What?"
"Stop the thing your doing that's pissing me off."
"What-"
"Forget it."
"I don't even know what you want me to forget!"
"Kid, if you don't shut up right now, I'm going to stick you back under the fucking rock you crawled out from under, got it?"
"Yes," Larkar whispered meekly.
The next few minutes were spent in silence as Amarant trudged through the thick mud, once again, on the way to Burmecia, although this time it was a bit harder to do, as do most things when you have a child slung over your shoulder and are exhausted from crawling back up a steep and muddy incline.
"Is it true?"
"Is what true, kid?"
"Did you really help Freya Tashii save the world?"
"Yeah, or some shit like that."
"Did you ever meet Sir Fratley?," Larkar inquired. Amarant stopped in his tracks momentarily, his look of indifference melting into a scowl.
"Once."
"I want to be like him when I grow up, strong, and married to Freya Tashii," Larkar said wistfully. Amarant looked at Larkar strangely.
"Their already fucking married?"
"No, but you can tell they will be, because even though Sir Fratley lost his memory true love conquers all!"
Amarant didn't dignify that comment with an answer, instead he squinted ahead, puzzled by what he saw.
"Why the fuck is the Invincible here?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay, I didn't include as much stuff as I wanted (and promised) to include, but I finished this chapter in two, count them *two* days, I have to get some brownie points for that, right? I'll get to work on the next chapter as soon as possible, but I don't know when that maybe (knowing me probably tomorrow)
-Peach Goddess
confused@crosslink.net
Written by: Peach Goddess
This fic started on: 10/8/01
This fic finished on: 10/10/01 (that was fun to type!)
E-mail: confused@crosslink.net
Oh no! Hide your children, lock up your dogs and run for your life! It's . . .
"Winding Roads: chapter 7"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~
The streets of Burmecia glowed with a thin sheen of rain and sunlight, the water gently forming puddles in the cracks of the stones before the rain rushed down into the canals at the side of the road, a new feature put in during the rebuilding. Queen Garnet lifted her foot gently, grimacing at the thin layer of wet dirt that had accumulated at the sole of her heeled boots. She looked around the stone buildings with a well-hidden look of distaste.
"How . . . quaint," Garnet muttered, lifting up her skirts as she walked up the wet, stone, stairs. Her servant following dutifully behind her, always a step behind, for fear of stepping on her Mistress' skirts. The maid's arm was beginning to tire, but she held it up anyway, knowing the consequences to be great if she failed to cover the Queen's head with the thick parasol.
Garnet turned her head to the side, her eyes roaming over the fancy, jeweled, Palanquin that had transported her and her husband off of the Invincible and through the gates of Burmecia.
"Darling," she called "do hurry up, I wish to see Freya and leave immediately, the rain is mussing up my boots and the entire kingdom smells of wet dog," Garnet sniffed as she turned her nose up at one of the bystanders. The Burmecian guard glared at her and bared his sharp teeth.
"Your highness, might I be the first to welcome you to Burmecia," He bowed, kicking dirty water onto Garnet's soiled white boots as his foot dipped. He looked up with a smile in his eyes.
"Forgive me, I don't mean to be so clumsy."
The Queen glared at the guard before turning around and forcefully pushing her maid out of her way. The maid fell onto to stone steps, crying out as red marks surfaced on her arms and hands. The guard rushed to her, offering her his gloved hand to pull her up. She accepted his hand and winced as the dirty leather made contact with the cuts on her hands.
"Here," The guard said as he pulled of his black cloak and wrapped it gently around her shoulders, tying the strings of his cloak into a lop-sided bow.
"Thank you, that's very chivalrous of you."
They smiled at one and other, a slight blush staining the maids cheeks as she bent to pick up the parasol from the stairway. Her head snapped to the side as she saw Queen Garnet stamp down the stairs to the palanquin. She quickly opened the umbrella and rushed to her spot behind the queen.
"Zidane! What ever is keeping you?"
"Just give me one moment to get everything together."
"I will do no such thing! I will wait for you inside the court! Come along Servant," With that Garnet spun around again, hitting the maid in the side with a jeweled and ringed hand, causing her to stumble back a bit before regaining her ground and sprinting after the Queen as she scaled the stairs to the Court. The guard looked wistfully at her, giving her a small smile, which the maid eagerly returned. The guard winced as the large doors slammed shut behind the Queen and her maid; it seemed he never had a chance to talk to the pretty ones.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Freya moaned in ecstasy as she splashed warm water onto her face, dipping and resurfacing her hands to repeat the procedure over and over, moving from a bowl of warm water to a bowl of cold water. Warm to make you happy and cool to wake you up. Personally Freya thought that to be an Old Wives Tale, but she was rethinking her platform on the matter as she felt a smile spread across her thin lips and her grogginess begin to lift.
"Feeling better?," Bullon questioned, handing Freya a green and towel for her to dry her face on. She gladly accepted the offering and began to ruffle the fur on her face, determined to get it as dry as possible.
"Yes, much. I think that I'll feel even better once I get a cup of coffee and breakfast though."
"It will be so immediately, Tashii."
Freya stared at Bullon for a moment before she sighed and shook her head.
"What is wrong, Tashii?"
"It's just so . . . odd. One moment I'm sleeping on the ground in some random thicket of woods, and now I'm the Queen of my people."
"Yes, and since you are our new Queen you should dress like it," Bullon smiled, beckoning for Freya to follow him out of the washroom, which she did, curiously. They stepped into her grand bedroom, silk curtains hung from the windows, a large leather couch was placed on a hand made rug in front of her large fireplace, but the most noticeable feature was the bed itself, which took up a good portion of the western wall of her room. The Minister opened the door to her grand rooms before stepping out into the hallway, loudly clapping his hands in the air. Bullon turned and bowed to Freya from the hallway.
"If you will excuse us Tashii, I don't believe you would like us to be here for this," Bullon spoke before turning around again and rushing down the hallway, most likely to see about fixing her breakfast. He was replaced moments later by four handmaidens, each had their arms full of odds and ends which Freya couldn't make out from her distance away. They each gave a curtsey and a polite greeting before placing their items on the slid oak table in the middle of the room. One of the women pulled out a footstool she had tucked under her arm and placed it gently on the floor before stepping over to Freya and taking her gently by the hand and instructing her to step onto the stool. They stood back for a moment, evaluating her and making inane comments about her appearance.
"Nice eyes, we need to do something to bring them out-"
"I have a feeling that White is her color."
"White? Never! Maybe a Crème or Emerald . . ."
"She has strong cheekbones, we shouldn't use to much makeup, it would make her look like a Scarlet Woman."
The three other ladies nodded at the last point muttering 'indeed' or 'quite right'. One of the women walked to Freya's side and stretched out her arm, plucking the pointed hat off of her head, noticing her sloppy bun the lady tugged the died reed out of her hair, allowing the soft silver strands fall about her shoulders.
"What's this? Long hair? How odd for a Dragoon to have such a thing."
"She is the only female Dragoon though, so how can you be sure it's an odd occurrence?"
"Ah, that is a good point."
"Truly."
The same woman pulled one of the matching chairs from the table next to the stool Freya was standing upon, the handmaid climbed onto the chair and un-knotted her blue kerchief, joining her hat in being unceremoniously tossed to the floor. Soon after Freya's coat joined the growing pile of her clothing, Freya herself was beginning to feel uncomfortable about being undressed by complete strangers and decided to remedy that situation.
"Who exactly are you?"
"We were rude weren't we? Well, allow me to introduce all of us. The Brunette by your bed is Ardelia," The girl in question bowed her head when her name was called. "The Toe-headed one next to her is Akron," The blond followed the gestures of the Brunette, bowing her head slightly. "The other one with Blond hair is Alna," The girl followed the same procedure as the previous two. "and I am Alkekiyon," The last girl said, motioning to herself with her hand. Alkekiyon's hair was a deep black "and we are the Gibbous sisters, it is a pleasure to meet you, Tashii."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you as well."
"If you do not mind," Akron interrupted from her spot near the grand bed "may we get back to work, Tashii?"
"Oh! Yes, please do, I'm dreadfully sorry."
The sisters didn't seem to pay her last statement any mind, Ardelia and Akron just continued to comment on her, Alkekiyon took measurements, and Alna was sorting through a velvet lined box full of Jewelry. Time seemed to crawl by at an alarmingly slow rate as Freya stood still on the stool, her arms outstretched and about ten different sheer and gauzy fabrics draped across her body and tied around her waist.
"Well," Alna announced, clapping her hands in excitement "now its time for the fun to begin."
The women circled Freya with an undistinguishable, but frightening, look in their eyes, each of the girls head up a different object, scissors, needles, seam rippers, and one particular nasty looking item which Freya couldn't place. Freya gulped and cowered slightly, suddenly this dressing like royalty thing wasn't as good an idea as it had previously been . . .
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~
"Stop that."
"Stop what, Mr. Amarant?"
"That."
"What?"
"Stop the thing your doing that's pissing me off."
"What-"
"Forget it."
"I don't even know what you want me to forget!"
"Kid, if you don't shut up right now, I'm going to stick you back under the fucking rock you crawled out from under, got it?"
"Yes," Larkar whispered meekly.
The next few minutes were spent in silence as Amarant trudged through the thick mud, once again, on the way to Burmecia, although this time it was a bit harder to do, as do most things when you have a child slung over your shoulder and are exhausted from crawling back up a steep and muddy incline.
"Is it true?"
"Is what true, kid?"
"Did you really help Freya Tashii save the world?"
"Yeah, or some shit like that."
"Did you ever meet Sir Fratley?," Larkar inquired. Amarant stopped in his tracks momentarily, his look of indifference melting into a scowl.
"Once."
"I want to be like him when I grow up, strong, and married to Freya Tashii," Larkar said wistfully. Amarant looked at Larkar strangely.
"Their already fucking married?"
"No, but you can tell they will be, because even though Sir Fratley lost his memory true love conquers all!"
Amarant didn't dignify that comment with an answer, instead he squinted ahead, puzzled by what he saw.
"Why the fuck is the Invincible here?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Okay, I didn't include as much stuff as I wanted (and promised) to include, but I finished this chapter in two, count them *two* days, I have to get some brownie points for that, right? I'll get to work on the next chapter as soon as possible, but I don't know when that maybe (knowing me probably tomorrow)
-Peach Goddess
confused@crosslink.net