L'amoureux Demon

Disclaimer: As usual, “Final Fantasy Tactics” is owned by Square-Enix (formerly SquareSoft) & none of this good stuff is mine…>(.

L’amoureux Demon

Chapter 5 – Hello

“What?”

“I don’t know. You just seem a bit different somehow.” Delita grabbed his queen’s shoulders in mid-walk and turned her to face him. He studied her whole body intently, including her hair. Indeed, there was something different about the way she dressed. Gone were the two braids that used to hang down the sides of her head. Instead, hiding beneath a veil of translucent Ordalian silk, two French braids starting from the sides of her crown were tied together at the back and melted into one another at the neck to form a larger braid that rested on a bed of loose, golden strands that fell slightly above her elbows, just long enough for the precious silk to cover it. Securing the veil was the object of her status, something she had not worn since the day of her coronation as Queen of Ivalice – a crown wrought of gold and platinum, rimmed with perfectly cut rubies, diamonds, and sapphires at each point.

Delita reached behind her head and brought her long braid out in his right palm, rubbing the loose strands of its end delicately. “I must say, this new look really suits you, Ovelia. My compliments to whoever helped you look so beautiful tonight,” he said, desire creeping through his voice, as he cupped her right cheek with his left hand and kissed her eyelid.

“Agrias actually helped me.” Ovelia said meekly, looking up at Delita and swallowing hard.

“Agrias?” Delita raised an eyebrow and scoffed at the thought. “Ha…Agrias Oaks? I had no idea she even knew how to use a brush.”

“Delita, stop it! She is my closest friend and I will not see her being ridiculed by the immature being before me whom I call my husband.” Ovelia scolded harshly and began marching down the hall towards the stairs.

“Ovelia, wait…” he breathed, trailing behind her trying to get her attention. He should’ve known better than to insult Agrias so casually before her. Now, she was walking briskly away from him, annoyed at his behavior – perfect way to begin his first evening back at the castle.

“Ovelia, please.” Delita grabbed her by the elbow when he caught up with her. “Look, I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful with my words, and…and you know how I feel about Agrias. We’re not exactly the best of friends,” he said with slight impatience.

“Delita, I know. And truthfully, the feeling is mutual on Agrias’ part. She respects you as a king – a decent one in fact. But as a true friend, she will not show you the same courtesy as she usually shows me. However, she does not outwardly verbally berate you in my presence because she knows that I truly love you and wouldn’t want to upset me by saying cruel things about you behind your back. And you, King Delita Hyral of Ivalice, should know enough to not act like a child and respect her as a human being. And, deep down inside I know that you don’t hate her as much as you would like to because you wouldn’t have promoted her from Captain of the Guard to general if you did.” Ovelia stated sternly.

She was right, though. He didn’t hate Agrias, just never agreed with her on anything…except battle tactics perhaps. O.K. fine, I’ll give her that much. We think alike when it comes to war strategies. So what? It’s only one little thing we have in common, big deal, Delita thought to himself and grumbled at his wife.

“Come now. Let us enjoy this feast before everyone leaves.” Ovelia locked her right arm in his left and steered him towards the spiraling staircase at the end of the hallway, his vexed utterances ensuing as they descended the stone steps of the royal tower.

When they reached the one-story high, thick maple double doors that led to the banquet hall, Ovelia responsibly flattened out a crease on Delita’s marigold doublet and straightened his crimson mantle’s collar.

“Thank you, Ovelia,” Delita said, looking into her eyes and grinning slightly in appreciation. He proceeded to brush a strand of hair from his face, but his wife’s soft hand stopped him.

“Don’t.” Ovelia commanded gently. “I like it the way it is.” She voiced with a smile and released her hand from his wrist. Delita responded with a chuckle and nodded once to one of the guards standing before the great doors to open them and announce their arrival.

“Their majesties, King Delita and Queen Ovelia Hyral of Ivalice!” With that, everyone standing around the elongated banquet table bowed to the royal pair as they entered the hall and made their way to their seats at one end of the dining table, Delita sitting at the head chair, of course.

“I would like all of you to welcome my very good friend, Prince Ramza Beoulve, heir to the Romandan throne.” Ramza, who stood to Delita’s left, bowed his head once to the rest of those at the table as they clapped in his honor. “Now, you may all sit and enjoy tonight’s wonderful feast,” Delita commanded.

The night’s fare included roast pheasant and chicken, assorted vegetables, and hot sourdough bread. The knights and courtiers dined and flirted happily on the evening’s expensive menu.

As Delita and Ramza engaged in seamless conversation, Ovelia noticed that every now and then, Ramza and Agrias would exchange glances, and Agrias would always smile to herself slightly.

“You seem quite content tonight, Agrias, more so than usual.” Ovelia smiled, very well aware of Agrias’ relationship with Ramza.

“Yes, well, certain recent transgressions have made my life a bit brighter, my queen.” Agrias grinned at Ovelia, knowing what she meant, and continued cutting her roast pheasant breast.

“Well, I think you should at least be courteous enough to LOCK YOUR DOOR during these ‘transgressions,’ as you call them,” Meliadoul said bitterly and took a bite of bread and cheese as Agrias glared at her. Her attention, as well as Ovelia’s, was diverted to a tall, white and silver figure walking past them and approaching Meliadoul from behind.

“Commander, a word if you please.” The knight requested gently into her left ear.

“What is it, General?” She looked up at him inquisitively.

“I’d…like to speak to you in private.” He worded his sentence carefully.

“Why—?”

“Just meet me in the garden when you’re finished eating,” he said monotonously and left the room.

“What’s his deal?” Meliadoul taking his attitude towards her as being a negative one, felt that no man should command her except in battle, should he be her superior, in which case he was.

Ovelia and Agrias exchanged glances and grinned to themselves. “What?” Meliadoul asked nonchalantly.

“You, Commander, may be the best out of all of us at observing the minutest details on a battlefield, yet you are SO blind.” Agrias said matter-of-factly, making Ovelia burst out in laughter, which in turn drew Delita and Ramza’s attention.

“Something the matter, Ovelia?” Delita asked with one eyebrow raised. Ramza’s eyes shifted back and forth from Ovelia to Agrias, culminating in his giving Agrias the same confounded look Delita gave Ovelia. “Later,” Agrias mouthed her reply to him; he nodded in response.

“Oh…ahaha…Agrias, she…aha…Meliadoul, she…General Sols—.”

“That is quite enough, Ovelia. You’re making a bit of a spectacle. People are beginning to stare.” Delita sternly reprimanded his queen – some thing hadn’t done in quite a while.

“Delita…” the young queen’s eyebrows knitted together, a bit taken aback by her husband’s remark. “Since when has laughter become a crime? Just because you haven’t released one ounce of it from your mouth for over a year does not mean that I cannot,” she whispered her rebuttal.

Delita opened his mouth to reply but could not find the proper words to oppose his wife’s argument. Just as he was beginning to feel embarrassed, Meliadoul stood up from her seat. “I’ve heard quite enough for one night. Excuse me, your majesties, Ramza.” She bowed once and started making her way towards the hall’s exit.

“What,” Agrias shouted from the table. “I don’t even get a single ‘good night?’” Meliadoul turned around and looked at her friend briefly with a peeved look and simply grumbled in response before reverting back to the direction of the doors. “Oh, and don’t forget to meet the general in the garden!” Agrias shouted, seemingly announcing it to the while banquet hall. Meliadoul merely stopped in her tracks and pivoted her head a little towards Agrias’ direction and grumbled again before resuming her trail out of the room.

And so, she listened to Agrias and exited the castle’s front doors and headed towards the garden maze. What does he want with me anyway? If it’s about battle tactics, then why doesn’t he just talk to Agrias about it instead? She’s the other general around here. Meliadoul let her thoughts wander as her eyes scanned the area near the garden entrance for the silver knight who bid her go there in the first place. Ugh, it’s so dark. How does he expect me to find him here? Couldn’t he just ask to talk to in the entrance hall or even my room…? Well, I would never let him in there anyway. But any place in the castle could be better than being outside at night. What’s the point? We wouldn’t be able to see each other out here. She glanced around the castle lawn. Where could he be hiding?? She searched around the front leafy edges of the labyrinth, parting a few branches to see if the general was perhaps taking a stroll inside somewhere.

“General? Are you here? If you are, please come out from the—.” She backed into something that seemed like a large hunk of metal as she stood upright.

“Commander,” a calm, male tenor voice said from behind her.

“General Solsvardien,” Meliadoul said, whipping her body around, making her hood fall delicately on her back, “I didn’t hear you coming.”

“You were too busy looking through those bushes over there.” He said with an amused smirk.

“I really don’t know what you have against me. First during dinner, you rudely command me to come out here to talk to you in the dark, which I still don’t understand why we couldn’t have just had a nice conversation inside. And now you’re ridiculing me! Not to mention you kept me waiting. I expected you to be here, being as you left the banquet early.” The young commander said heatedly.

“Meliadoul, calm down. Don’t you have any sense of humor at all?” The general questioned.

“Excuse me?” Here tone sounding surprised at the thought.

“I didn’t mean to insult you in any way – now or earlier. Loosen up, Commander. You always seem like you’re under some kind of stress whether we’re at war or if it’s just another peaceful day at the castle.” Solsvardien said matter-of-factly.

Meliadoul stood before him with her most irritated face and stared into his eyes in absolute anger while thinking of an appropriate rebuttal. After about a minute of intense eye contact, she let out a vexed sigh. “What did you want to talk to me about anyway?” She said as her anger died down a little. Solsvardien kept silent for a few moments before the commander opened her mouth to speak again. “Is it battle tactics?”

“No,” he stated curtly.

“Is it about the King?”

“No.”

“The Queen?”

“No…”

“Ramza?”

“I don’t even know him.”

“Oh, then it has to be about Agrias,” Meliadoul stated amusedly.

“No!”

“Well please, enlighten me then, General! Tell me what this is all about.” She said, her anger imbuing her face as fast as well-aged blush.

“Why must you always argue with every person you come in contact with?” said the general, his exasperation getting the best of him.

“Because that’s just the way I am. Do you have a problem with that?” her flushed face moving closer to his.

“Actually, yes, yes I do.” Solsvardien admitted and closed the distance between their faces even more.

“And why, pray tell, would that be?” said Meliadoul, holding her irritated disposition.

“Because it prevents people from getting closer to you!!!” The general answered her question with such rage that he startled her a bit.

“Well, maybe I don’t want people getting too close to me!” Their noses were just about an inch from touching.

“Keep telling yourself that, Commander,” he growled.

“What’s stopping me?” She said dangerously.

They stared at each other intently – face to face, eye to eye, nose to nose – with flames erupting from their pupils and their breathing labored from their dispute. She stared at him with heat rising from the pit of her stomach; he returned her gaze, his eyebrows furrowed in indescribable vexation. But, irritation was not the sole emotion emitted here…

Before they knew it, their lips were pressed against each other in blinding fury. Meliadoul felt herself strangely melting into his chest as he held her against his body. Her mind felt as if it were an empty shell – no thoughts crossing her mind for moments on end.

When his lips released themselves from hers, everything in sight was blurry as if in a dream, and her lips tingled from the smoldering kiss, almost numbing her. Meliadoul stood there for a few seconds gazing at Solsvardien’s handsome, creamy complexion before she realized what she had done.

“General! Is this what you called me out here for – this, this NONSENSE!?” Meliadoul stammered, as she did not know how to properly react after a kiss – a spontaneous one at that.

General Solsvardien was taken aback by the commander’s sudden outburst. He had wanted her since the first say they sparred with each other, and now that she so willingly gave in to his kiss, she decides to change her mind and push him away again? He was determined to seek out what exactly makes her resistant to being intimate with another person. Even after closely observing Meliadoul’s nature, the reason for her coldness towards many men remained unsalvaged.

Meliadoul let her eyes capture one last glance at the handsome general before she ran off to her room, her moist eyes hidden beneath the shelter of her velvet hood where nobody else could see. Passing by the banquet hall’s doors, she bumped into Agrias, who was looking for her.

“Mel!” Agrias shouted as Meliadoul stumbled a bit and was trying to regain her footing. “Meliadoul Tingel!” Agrias bellowed and grabbed her friend’s shoulders and spun her around.

“Agrias, let go of me,” she said with a trembling voice, but Agrias did not release her.

“Mel, what’s wrong?” she demanded. Meliadoul gave no reply and pushed Agrias away from her and ran up the spiral staircase to her left. Before she was out of earshot however, she heard Agrias shout out to her, “FINE! Be that way! But, be sure to go to the royal chambers before midnight! The Queen desires a word with the both of us!”

When she reached her room, which was conveniently located across the hall from Agrias’, she quickly slammed the door shut and locked it so no one, not even the King could enter if he desired to do so. There by the doorway and against the chilly stone wall she stood, tears trembling down her reddened cheeks and her body sliding down against the smooth sandstone until she sat on the floor.

She removed her hood and let herself submit to her emotions and sobbed quietly in her chamber. “Why…why did this happen? How could I even have let this happen? God, how could I have been so stupid, knowing that my powers rely on my celibacy, I let him in so close…” Slowly, she felt her body grow weak and became light-headed. “My powers…they’re fading…no…” she said to herself. She helped herself up, using the wall and the floor as her aides and picked up her sword. Raising her Save the Queen knight sword high in the air, she chanted, “Demolish all weapons with fury! Hellcry Punch!” trying to break an old, rusty sword breaker that was hanging on the right wall, but all it did was make a small crack. The weapon normally would have shattered to pieces, but it was still hanging there, fractured down the center.

“No…this can’t be happening…” Meliadoul panicked. She then looked down to her own trusty blade and saw that it had lost a bit of its luster even after she had polished it well that morning. The blessed blade was losing its power as well. In her mind, she was damning Solsvardien to hell, as it was his fault he called her out to the garden; it was his fault he started their heated argument; and it was his fault that she liked that kiss possibly as much as he did – so much so that her precious Mighty Sword skills were diminishing. Is he worth giving up my powers for? Is he even worth my tears? No, I can’t…Ovelia needs me to protect her…but Solsvardien, he—.

Someone was rapping on her door. “Mel! Open up!!” A very much irritated Agrias Oaks pounded her fists at her chamber door. “Meliadoul! Open this damned door!!”

“WHAT?” Meliadoul opened her door with the same amount of annoyance as Agrias.

“It’s almost midnight and we must go see the queen.” Agrias informed her, her voice a bit calmer now.

“Fine, let’s go.” Meliadoul slipped past Agrias and into the hallway, hood already on.

“Have you been crying?” Agrias arched an eyebrow in interest.

“No, leave me alone.”

As they walked slowly down the dark corridor, Meliadoul couldn’t keep her thought from wandering to the other general. It surely wasn’t her first kiss, but it was the longest and most passionate one she ever shared with a man in the past ten years. Meliadoul’s thoughts consumed her as she walked blankly towards Ovelia’s chamber, when Agrias suddenly broke the silence between them.

“He kissed you didn’t he?” Agrias said bluntly. Meliadoul immediately stopped to turn around and stare surprisingly into Agrias’ smirking face.

“How did you…?” Meliadoul started slowly.

“He called you out to the garden, you look extremely gaunt, and I’m the only one other than Ramza who knows what will happen to you if you fall in love,” Agrias stated simply.

“But everybody knows what happens to a divine knight who falls in love. That’s why we have to keep a vow of celibacy to retain our powers,” Meliadoul argued.

“Actually, not many people other than divine knights themselves know the price of breaking the vow. If Solsvardien knew, do you think he would have even bothered to stand remotely close to you? I wouldn’t think so.”

“Why is it that you know more about this than I do?” Meliadoul asked curiously.

“Honestly, it’s because you’re too busy moping around feeling sorry for yourself while other people pay attention to their surroundings,” said Agrias, coolly.

“Excuse me?” Meliadoul lowered her volume to a dangerous whisper.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Mel.” Agrias rolled her eyes. Just as Meliadoul opened her mouth to shout something back at Agrias, a shrill scream came from the Queen’s chamber.


Author’s Note: Sorry it took me over a year to write a new chapter! Gomen nasai, minna! =/ I’ve been very busy w/ school & being in a play this past April as well as some lack of motivation, so it’s been hard to keep up w/ this story. But, I haven’t forgotten about it! ^_^. Hope you’ve enjoyed this story thus far & chapter 6 should be on its way in a few months…hopefully by winter break =). I’d like to give a few thank you notes to Chu#1 for beta-reading this & finding a missing word & for being psyched for chapter 6! We Chus rock, baby!! ^_^ To my wonderful boyfriend who beta-read this very quickly while panicking the night before his MCAT – I wuv you, my kitten, muah! <3…>). And, thank you to the Nikster for trying to open this file to beta-read it, even though all your efforts didn’t succeed =(…I’ll kill your MS Word for you later. Well, ‘til next time…Ciao! ^_^