Hidden Pasts Chapter 3
By Katie Herdman
Rinoa
didn’t like her. The first and only thing Andria said to her was,
“So
you’re a sorceress…sorry.”
Then
she had walked away. There was nothing wrong with being a sorceress. Apart
from some were evil and tried to take over the world, but not all were like
that. Rinoa thought she was prejudiced and demanding. She made all the men,
even Squall carry bags of what her friends called supplies to the ship, and
when asked why, all she replied with was,
“Because
I asked them to.”
*****
When
first arriving on the ship, Andria and Vincent briefed them about what they
had seen and more. Andria had also been briefed about the strange goings
on in the Garden.
Squall
found it hard to swallow, but a lot of weird things were happening lately,
most of all was the dream. He had been told by a little girl in his dream
to find her and he had without knowing. The girl in his dream was Andria
Perne.
*****
Squall
was shocked so he had carried the bag she asked him to carry. There were
also the men that weren’t human; apparently they were demons. However
the demons weren’t even closely as weird as Andria. How had he dreamt
something like that? Did the strange light have something to do with it?
It must have knocked him out somehow, but why or rather what killed that
student.
“Hi Squall, can I talk to you for a moment,” asked
Rinoa.
“Yeah,”
he replied.
“It’s
about Andria. I just don’t feel comfortable with her here. Actually
I don’t like her. I think she’s prejudiced and
selfish.”
“So
why are you telling me this Rinoa?” Squall said, more harshly than he
meant.
“Because
I thought you were my boyfriend,” she replied raising her voice. Why
was he being like this?
“Squall,
please tell me what’s wrong. Ever since the party you’ve been like
this. You’re like you used to be.”
“Nothing’s
wrong,” he replied softly then pulled her into an
embrace.
*****
Irvine offered Andria a tour around the Ragnarok before they reached Timber
to pick up Andria’s other comrades. Vincent went up to the bridge where
Quistis and Zell were.
“That
girl in blue, what’s her name?”
“Rinoa,”
answered Quistis.
“Yeah.
She doesn’t like Andria much, and I’m only saying this as a friend.
She better be careful, Andria is nothing like anyone you ever
met.”
“Thanks
for telling us, we’ll keep it in mind,” said Quistis,
“Rinoa
can take care of herself, she thought, she knows what she’s
doing.
*****
“What are you humming,” asked Irvine.
“A
tune my mother used to sing to me,” replied Andria.
“What
was it called,” asked Irvine, pretending to be interested, he’d
read somewhere that it was the best way to get a woman, pretend you wanted
to know about them.
“You’ve got no chance with me,” Andria replied smiling cheekily.
Irvine
just looked at her dumbfounded, she had read his mind.
What
a woman he thought, and then blushed when she smiled sweetly at him. She
definitely was a girl to have fun.
*****
When
they’d finally landed outside Timber, everyone walked to the entrance.
The sun was just coming up on the horizon and it looked
wonderful.
“Hey,
over here,” a voice shouted.
“Sia,”
cried Andria, running over to hug her good friend.
“So
how’s everything been,” asked Drew behind Sia, trying to catch
his breath.
“Fine,
but you’re out of shape,” replied Andria, smiling at her friends,
“This
is Mr Squall Leonhart and his friends. They were sent here to, well, hire
us. It seems they’ve had a murder and they apparently need our
help.”
“Hey
you’re the boy form the picture, what were you doing in Garden,”
said Quistis. She then showed Drew his picture in the
Quad.
“Right,
ummm… I used to be enrolled in Garden,” Drew replied looking slightly
uncomfortable.
“What
happened,” asked Zell.
“Look
it’s not important right now,” Andria said,
“Squall,
you and your team wait here, we’ll be back
soon.”
“No,”
Squall said,
“Rinoa,
Irvine, Selphie and I are coming with you. Your people stay on
board”
“Fine,
but Vincent comes,” answered Andria, dryly.
*****
“Hey
I know this pub, why are we here?” asked Rinoa.
“We’ve
got some business to do,” answered Vincent, “now be quiet,”
he urged.
“Purson, how are you,” grinned Andria, there was a wicked look
on her face like she was enjoying herself,
“So
is there anything you’d like to tell me, perhaps about Leraikhe and
what he’s been up to lately.”
“No,
now get lost,” he answered.
Purson
was a little troll of a man. He was in about his late 30’s with fair
hair, which was slightly turning grey. His clothes were simple, trousers,
and a t-shirt. He was sitting at a table with another man playing triple
triad, but the man had vanished as soon as he had seen
Andria.
“Now
that’s no way to treat your friends,” she remarked, smiling in
a sly sort of way.
“I
never said I was your friend, now like I said before get lost.”
“Oh,
that’s a shame. Looks like I’ll have to hit
you.”
“Look
I might…”
“You
wouldn’t dare,” said Rinoa, butting in, “don’t tell her
anything Purson.”
“Stay
out of it, you have no idea what’s going on,” growled Andria,
“Continue
Purson.”
Vincent
started to pull Rinoa away from Andria.
“Rinoa’s
right,” cried Selphie,
“How
can you be so mean to that man Andria?”
“Listen,
Selphie I have a job to do,” she said,
“Come
on Purson, what’s he been doing. I know you
know”
“I’m
not gonna tell you anything.”
“Fine.”
With
that Andria turned round and punched Purson hard in the face. Everyone heard
a cracking, which sounded awful. Squall and Irvine caught Andria and held
her back.
“Bitch
that really hurt.”
Purson
got up off the floor, but his face was different. His face had become grossly
inhuman. There were ridges along his cheekbones and 2 horns on the top of
his head. His face had changed colour too. Instead of being fleshy it was
a dark red. His eyes blazed an evil yellow. His hands had become
talons.
“Well
that’s a sight that I’ve never seen before.”
Squall
turned to see the person behind him. There stood Seifer, smirk and all. Behind
him were his faithful companions, Fujin and Raijin.
Purson
suddenly ran from where he was and sprinted out the back door of the pub.
Andria
followed in hot pursuit. Out of the street and up the steps towards the T.V
station. Seeing that he would get nowhere, Purson climbed over the rails
and hung there precariously.
“You’re
gonna die Andria, he’ll find you and kill you. There’s nowhere
to run, no where to hide, he’s after you and he won’t rest till
he’s found you,” he warned. Terror showed on his
face.
“Listen
Purson you don’t want to do this. I promise I won’t hurt you if
you will just come off the rails,” Andria pleaded.
Even
though he never wanted to, Purson had always helped her.
Purson
then sighed and continued, “There is no way out, if I don’t do
this then he’ll kill me.”
“Who’ll
kill you?” asked Squall.
Purson
ignored Squall’s question.“ Listen Andria, be careful he knows
you have it and he’ll do anything to find it, more than you can
imagine.”
Purson then turned around and looked over the whole of Timber. “He’s
here,” he suddenly cried and from behind Raijin a figure emerged from
a cloud of black dust that had appeared. The sun had hid, afraid to watch
what would happen next.
A young man with raven black hair and handsome, defined features walked up
to Andria, for the moment ignoring the traitor that he had originally come
for. His black cloak floated behind him. His face, twisted with evil and
malice. He created an air of evil around him.
“Hello Andria, it is a… pleasure to see you again.”
His
words cut through the now icy air. The wind picked up as if obeying his every
whim.
“I
gather this isn’t a social visit,” said Andria sarcasm creeping
in,
“What
do you want?”
“I’ve
just come to collect my property,” he replied.
He
then turned and looked at Purson.
A
pain came over Purson, excruciating pain in his gut, like something was tearing
out his insides. He clutched at his stomach, forgetting where he was. As
he fell he looked up at Leraikhe and Andria. The same yet complete opposites.
The pain hit him hard now.
“Inanna,”
he whispered looking at Andria again.
She
did not know yet that her fate had been decided millennia ago. In those few
seconds he died before he hit the ground.
“At
least he died peacefully,” said Leraikhe, smiling evilly, “and
my message worked, they found you Andria.”
“You
contacted them! You killed that SeeD,” she spluttered.
“All
will become clear in time,” replied Leraikhe.
With
that he disappeared. The whole group was in shock. Vincent finally broke
the silence. “Come on every one, let’s get back,” he said.
“What even him,” protested Irvine, pointing to
Seifer.
.