Sorceress and Knight Chapter 6
A Sorceress Revealed
By Tsarmina
"It happened… Oh, probably three hundred years ago. There was one rather ambitious sorceress who was attempting to create a mist that would control the minds of the people," Headmaster Cid began, pacing about his office. Squall, Quistis, Rinoa, Irvine, Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin all crowded into his office.
"She came quite close to her plans, actually. It's been said that she was ready to release the mist over the land when something happened…"
~~~
A young woman stood alone in the high tower of a castle. She was tall and wiry, a simple dark grey dress covering her form. Her long red hair was pulled back into a ponytail, trailing down her back. Her eyes were a bright green. From the looks of her face, she was no more than twenty years old.
Footsteps came from behind. She spun to see a young man run in. "What do you want, twit?" she snapped.
The young man blinked a few times, blue eyes as bright as a summer sky. He held a large sword in front of him, keeping a steady gaze on her. His hair was short and black.
"I asked you what you're doing here," the woman reminded.
He swallowed heavily. "Are you the Sorceress Astatine?" he asked cautiously.
"Yes. And who might you be?" Sorceress Astatine hissed.
"I am…" he trailed off. "You can just call me The Knight."
"What sort of idiot name is that?" Astatine cackled. She began turning away from him, no longer worried about him. He was obviously mad.
"Well, I'm not about to tell you what my name is!" The Knight snapped.
"Well, why should I tell you my name and you not tell me yours? That's just stupid. And, anyway, what's it going to hurt if I know your name?" Astatine replied, hoping that he would leave.
"You're a sorceress! I can't tell you my name!" he gasped.
"So? What does me being a sorceress have to do with anything?"
The Knight gaped at her, cocked his head to the side, then began scratching it. "I dunno… Not much, does it? I mean, I have told the sorceress I serve my name…" he trailed off. "Oh, who cares? I am here to put a stop to your evil-doings!" He crouched into a fighting stance, brandishing his sword.
"You actually think you can kill me with that?" Astatine cackled.
"What's wrong with it?" The Knight asked, looking at his blade in confusion.
"Oh, nothing," the sorceress said sweetly. She waved her hand, causing his sword to fly out of his hands. "Only that you dropped it."
The Knight took a few steps back and pulled out a small box. "What makes you think I was going to kill you?"
"What are you doing with that box?" she demanded, not trusting the crafty grin on his face. "You can't harm me with something like that!"
The Knight opened the box. "You'll see."
Astatine felt something, much like a strong tornado, pull at her. She grabbed the windowsill she stood near, her hair whipping around her head. "What are you doing?!" she screeched.
"Oh, not much… I'm just going to seal you up in here to prevent the completion of your plan!" he replied triumphantly.
Astatine felt her fingers slipping on the windowsill as she lost her grip. She flew towards the box, shrinking before The Knight's eyes. When she was gone from sight, he snapped the box closed, locking it with a key.
"I'll get you, twit!!!" her shriek came, sounding as if it came from miles away.
~~~
"During the next three hundred years, she remained silent. She waited. Somehow she knew of the curse she was put under. Otherwise, she wouldn't have attempted to possess Miss Tilmit. I'm not sure what exactly happened, though. She failed in a full possession. I wouldn't have thought Miss Tilmit would have the power of mind to resist her," Cid concluded.
"Since when have knights been against sorceresses?" Rinoa asked, twirling her hair carelessly around one finger.
"Well, you see… As I said before, this certain knight was actually the knight of a different sorceress. No one knows for certain who he was, or who he served," Cid replied.
"You mean to say no one knew who he was? Even though he saved them from the sorceress!" Quistis exclaimed.
"The records never say anything about who he was," Cid said with a shrug. "Well, except to say he was 'The Knight'."
"If you have all the answers… Then why wasn't Lunatic Pandora destroyed, ya know?" Raijin asked.
"It was destroyed," Cid said. His eyes were glazed.
"What?!" everyone demanded.
Cid ignored them, running over to the door. He hugged Sorceress Edea tightly. "It's so good to see you!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, great… Now he's worthless!" Irvine complained as the two hugged each other and cooed phrases like "I missed you so much" and "I never want you to leave my sight again!". "We're never going to get the answer from him when Matron's around!"
"Well… We could always stop her with my powers!" Rinoa suggested.
"No, no, no! You don't know anything about sorcery! You'd just manage to make millions of flowers bloom, or something else just as pointless," Quistis replied. "I say we just kill her!"
Squall yawned, watching Cid and Edea slowly move their conversation from "I love you" to an argument on…fish? "…Whatever."
"Who cares how we do it!" Irvine said. "It sounded to me like if we get close enough to her and open that box up, she'll be sucked inside!"
"Wouldn't that…trap Selphie?" Seifer asked. He smiled at the prospect.
"We'll have to risk it," Quistis said.
"And, anyway, with Selphie out of the picture…" Irvine smiled in Quistis's direction. "Are we going to tell Cid that we're going? We know where she is and all…"
Everyone turned to look at Cid and Edea.
"I don't care if you think it's trout! It's carp!" Cid growled.
"Are you stupid? That's a rainbow trout! I should know! I am a sorceress!" Edea replied, crossing her arms.
Fujin scrutinized the fish Cid was waving about. "NEGATIVE. COD."
~~~
Squall and Quistis waited impatiently by the second floor classroom, which was the designated meeting place.
"Why can't anyone ever be on time?" Quistis groaned impatiently.
Squall shrugged and leaned up against the wall. It's not like I know what everyone is doing! Why would I, anyway? Just because I'm the leader of this group doesn't mean I keep tabs on everyone! Why would I, anyway? Rinoa's always off primping, Quistis is usually doing something completely boring, Irvine's usually chasing after a set of legs, Zell's usually hiding somewhere and stuffing hotdogs into his face, and I'm not even going to think about Seifer and his posse! The only person I can predict where she'll be is Selphie, and that's because she's either at the Quad or at a computer! She has absolutely no lif—
"Earth to Squall," Quistis said dryly, snapping her fingers in front of his face.
Surprisingly enough, they heard footsteps from their left. "Is that one of them? But why would they be coming from over there?" Quistis wondered.
Zell came running I, panting. He saw the two of them and threw himself at their feet. "Take pity on me! Don't kill me! I don’t' deserve to die!!!" he wailed.
Squall stared at him, surprise apparent on his face. "What?"
"Why are you here, traitor?" Quistis demanded.
Zell broke into tears, half-heartedly punching at the air. "I don't knoooooow!!!" he whined.
"Chicken-wuss?" Seifer asked. He could recognize that whine anywhere. He walked into the hall, followed closely, of course, by Fujin and Raijin.
Zell's eyes widened as he looked up at Seifer. "Uh… Hi?"
"SORCERESS WHERE? SHOW!" Fujin commanded. She advanced towards Zell, eyes narrowed.
"Ahhh!" Zell latched onto Squall's leg, attempting to hide behind the irritated commander. "Don't hurt me! Please, don't let her kill me and mutilate me and toss my remains into a river so that the fish can pick at my bones for the rest of eternity and I'll be dead and she'll be laughing forever and I don't want to die because I don't deserve to die and I love life and please don't let heeeer! Please, oh please, Squall!"
Squall shook his leg, attempting to remove the pest.
"Don't let them kill me!!!!" Zell wailed again.
Squall shook harder, grunting a little. But, despite his best efforts, Zell remained latched onto his leg like a parasite.
"It wasn't my fault! She controlled me and made me do all that bad stuff!!!" Zell continued.
Squall shoved at Zell, but the other man would not let go. "Get off of me!!!" Squall roared in frustration.
Zell let go, whimpering weakly. He crouched against the wall.
"UNEXPECTED," Fujin said thoughtfully, looking at Squall.
"I think he needs to be questioned, Squall," Seifer suggested.
By this time, Squall had lost all interest in Zell. "…Whatever."
~~~
Zell sat in the middle of a dark room, strapped tightly to a metal chair. He was surrounded by none other than Seifer, Fujin, and Raijin. Irvine, Quistis, Rinoa, and Squall stood off to one side, leaning against the wall.
"First question, Chicken-wuss: State your name!" Seifer barked.
"You know my name!" Zell protested. "And, anyway, that's not a question! That was, like, a demand!"
"Yes it is a question! State your name anyway," Seifer snapped.
"No, it wasn't. You said: 'State your name'. That's not a question. In order for it to be a question, you have to have a question mark. And you do know my name! Zell! Zell Dincht!"
"Wrong!!!" Seifer replied. "What's your real name, demon-spawn?"
~~~
"Do you think we should tell them to lighten up?" Irvine asked. His expression was that of pure boredom and he played with his hat.
"Why? It's kinda funny," Rinoa giggled. She flipped her hair back carelessly.
She probably has blond roots, Quistis thought to herself. Talk about a complete ditz. It's as if she hasn't noticed this is boring, not "fun". "We have to question him somehow, Irvine," she said calmly.
"Well… Why Seifer? He's completely insane!" Irvine exclaimed. "Tell her, Squall!"
Squall, who had been nodding off, jerked into attention. "Uhh… Sure. Whatever…" he mumbled.
"Squall doesn't count! He agrees with anyone!" Quistis retorted. She glared at Irvine.
"I do not!" Squall protested.
"Be nice, Quistis," Rinoa complained. Not only was Quistis insulting Seifer…but Squall, too? "I won't stand for you being a meanie!"
"What do you think you can do about it? You're just a ditz! You don't even know a single thing about being a sorceress! All you know is how to giggle at inappropriate times, whine when you don't get your way, and flip your hair around like a complete moron!" Quistis laughed smugly.
Squall backed off, glancing over at Irvine. "What's with them?"
"Ditz!!! You called me a ditz??? You're the blond!!" Rinoa screeched.
"Whoa! Chick fight again!" Irvine exclaimed, delighted.
~~~
Zell burst into tears. "Fine! My name is Chicken-wuss! I'm just a chicken! I run form everything! I shouldn't be in SeeD! I'm a pitiful wanna-be wimp!!" he wailed.
"TWO MINUTES, SIX SECONDS," Fujin said, looking at a stop-watch.
"Wow! You beat your record of ten minutes, twenty three seconds, ya know!" Raijin exclaimed gleefully. He slapped Seifer heartily on the back.
"I didn't think he'd break that fast!" Seifer laughed. Over the years, as head of the Disciplinary Comity, he had made it a hobby to find out how fast he could reduce a person to a blubbering idiot. It usually took near twenty minutes. "That was too easy. Almost took all the fun out of it… Almost, that is. Seeing Chicken-wuss crying his eyes out is fun enough for me."
Zell wailed even louder. "I'm dirt on your shoes! Nothing! I'm nothing!!! My existence is only to serve you! You are the master, I am the slave! I cower at your greatness, for I am a pitiful excuse for a human—for a chicken! I'm lower than even a worm because at least worms don't run away from the shovel, they let themselves be chopped in half and do nothing about it! But I'd run away after wetting myself!!!"
"Uhh… Seifer? I think me might have caused some psychological problems, ya know," Raijin said, crinkling his nose up in disgust.
"DISTURBING. MIND RUINED," Fujin agreed.
Seifer shrugged. "Oh well. It was fun."
~~~
"You want a piece of me?" Quistis demanded.
"I'd like you in pieces!" Rinoa snarled.
"Ten gil on Quisty," Irvine whispered to Squall.
"You're on," Squall replied.
"Uh, guys? I think Zell's… Whoa! Chick fight!" Seifer exclaimed. He stood next to Squall, followed closely by his two shadows, Fujin and Raijin. Zell remained tied to his chair, babbling on about his worthless existence.
Rinoa made the first move, grabbing Quistis's hair. She pulled hard and clawed at the other woman's face. Quistis pulled back, clawing at Rinoa.
"Ouch!" Rinoa whined. Her cheek had a small cut on it from Quistis's fingernail.
"Had enough yet?" Quistis mocked.
"In your dreams," Rinoa snarled. She wiped blood off of her cheek and glared at Quistis.
Quistis lunged at Rinoa, grabbing her around the waist. She pushed Rinoa into the wall with a thump. Rinoa managed to squirm out of her grasp, kicking Quistis in the stomach. Quistis crouched over, hugging her stomach in pain.
"Better give up now!" Rinoa laughed. When Quistis attempted to gain her footing, Rinoa hit her hard on the back of the head. Quistis fell to the ground in a heap.
"Wow. I wouldn't have expected that to happen, ya know. Quistis is, like, tough, ya know?" Raijin commented.
"RINOA, DITZ. OBVIOUSLY STRONGER. BLONDE ROOTS," Fujin replied.
Squall put his hand in front of Irvine's face, smiling. Irvine gave him the ten gil, grumbling about "unfair fights" and "ditzes".
"I'm nothing!!!" Zell wailed loudly.
"What's up with him? He didn't lose ten gil!" Irvine complained.
.