O.B. Story 4: "Hearts & Stars" (1 of 2)Follow

Just how the last O.B. was fun to write...this one was really endearing to me. It was going to be another romantic comedy but the story took natural turns which made it better to be a "romantic dramedy".

For all of you that seek love, or remember what it was like when you first met that person of your dreams, this story is for you.

HEARTS & STARS (1 of 2)

CRITERIA:
Requested by: Eleusynia
Subject(s): The Opaline Brigade (Yekan, Eleusynia, and Awias)
Genre: Romantic Dramedy
Setting: Sanctuary of Zi'tah

* * * * *

Two sharply green eyes looked into hers. Two strong but gentle hands took hers. Two lips which normally barked control over a squad of elite Royal Knight troops now took pause and under the warm glow of a street lamp on a cool summer evening they confessed, "I love you, will you marry me?"

Her eyes misted over. It was what she had hoped for her entire life. The gold on her finger now reflected the golden light showering upon the twilight lovers. She looked up, overwhelmed and saw a shooting star streak eastward through the night. Looking down at the elvaan kneeling in front of her she breathed in heavily, sighed with pleasure and said "WAKE UP!"

He looked up at her with a bewildered look in his eyes. "Eleusynia? Hey Ele," he shouted back.

She too now was shocked. "Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!"

The black mage's eyes fluttered open. Instead of a tall, dark, and handsome elvaan kneeling before her out of love...there instead hovered a blonde hume white mage with the intent to (seemingly) destroy the only place she could find peace.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Yekan cheerfully greeted the conscious black mage. The groggy woman's response as she got up to use the washroom carried enough weight to knock Yekan out - as a fair tradeoff. Wiping the sleep sand from her eyes, Eleusynia scratched her belly and pushed open the bathroom door with the other hand. Inside was her other blonde teammate, the summoner Awias, who was wrapped in a body towel next to a freshly simmering bath.

Eleusynia's presence didn't seem to detract Awias from the task at hand, which was ironicly, her hand. For once in her life, Awias was concentrating and pensive. Seeing this change of demeanor had the black mage watch her toweled companion as she slowly went to put a ring on her finger. The gold and silver band slid down the thin finger. When it was in place, Awias staggered a bit then giggled. Then she went to take the ring back off. As it cleared her manicured nail, her face went blank and dull for a moment. That was a familiar sight.

"Just what are you doing, Awi?"

"Well, like, I took my Astral Ring off when I went in the bath because I don't want it to get all soapy or lose it or something. When I took it off, I spaced out but my body burned with energy. When I put it back on it felt like I dropped suddenly and got a total head rush." She but the ring back on and closed her eyes as she bowled over, squeaking as if tickled by invisible fingers.

"How long have you been doing this?"

The ring came back off. "Doing what?"

"That."

The ring went back on. "Haha, what now?"

Aggrivated, Eleusynia shoved the summoner out of the bathroom. Yekan saw her fellow blonde and started to comment, "Hey Awi, were you really sitting in the bath for two hou-" The washroom door slammed shut and not long after, Eleusynia lay up to her chin in warm, fragrant water.

"I just don't believe those two," she fumed to herself, "If it wasn't Yekan's pestering and Awias's...her...what do you even call what it is she has? Or doesn't have? Rrrrrrr!" Frustrated, a hand slapped the bathwater. "Nobody understands me. Just once, JUST ONCE, I'd like to meet someone who appreciated me for me. Someone who likes my brains and my beauty. I'm desireable, right? I weild arcane otherworldly power, I take care of myself, and unlike those two, I can pay attention to something for more than a Dia's cast." Eleusynia sunk into the deep tub until the last of her coal-dark hair floated in the waters, an occasional bubble rising up.

The smell was so delicious. A veritable banquet was layed out before the courtiers. At the head of the table sat none other than King Destin and San d'Oria's two princes! Everyone looked as the doors opened and smiled and clapped. In stepped a noble elvaan knight and a fair hume woman. They sat themselves on the other end of the table across from the royal rulers of the land.

Everyone hushed as the king stood up and held his hands outward. All eyes shifted from him to the happy couple. A booming and noble voice decreed, "It is my pleasure to host two such respected adventurers the likes of which have not been seen since the days of King Ranperre," everyone nodded their heads, saluted, or raised a drink at the Dragon King's evocation, "Now it is my pleasure with the help of my two sons to proclaim to the kingdom's rulers and courtesans, 'I have to peeeeee!'"

Eyes in the bathtub batted open and the door was rapped again. "Come on Ele, I really have to go. You've been in there so long and I was holding out even when Awi was in there!" Yekan was pleading with the fantasizing black mage. Aggrivated, she pulled the stopper, wrapped herself in a towel, and stormed out. Without thanks, the white mage ran in the now unoccupied lavatory.

Eleusynia clomped to her quarters within the Opaline Brigade Headquarters & Temp Services and dressed herself. She went back to the common room where Awias sat. Yekan was singing in the bath again as a backdrop.

"I'm going out, Awi."

The summoner giggled dizzily as the ring went back on.

"I'll never come back," she tested.

Awias stared ahead blankly as the ring came off.

"I'll probably be abducted and thrown into the ocean wrapped in a burlap sack!"

"See you later Ele," Awias automatically responded.

"Grrrrrrrr!" The door slammed shut. Behind it one blonde hummed and the other other laughed.

"I need to go some place to clear my mind. Some place where I can just blow off some steam by blowing things up. But where?" Then it hit her. "The Sanctuary!" She began her walk through the crowded streets of Jeuno toward the Chocobo Stables. "I just need to get away for a bit is all."

"That'll be 3,201 gil please."

"What?!"

"Look ma'am, right now there is more demand than supply. If you don't want to pay, you don't get a bird. That's how it works."

"Hurry up!" came a protest from behind her, "I'll pay the cost!"

"I'll take it," said Eleusynia to the stable manager. She reached into her pouch and produced the necessary cash. Reluctantly she handed over the gil and was allowed over to the stalls. There before her kwehed a sickly-looking chocobo. She went to protest but the manager shot her a glance hotter than Ifrit's horns.

"Just gotta get away. Just gotta get away. Just gotta get away."

The journey began. Racing through the lands of Vana'diel on an infirm and overpriced chocobo with a slight limp, Eleusynia passed by Darogaroga's Spine. "Hmmm, looks good as new." She continued northeast until the savannah of the mountain range turned into the tall redwood forest of the Sanctuary of Zi'tah.

There was something soothing about this place. Something comforting yet haunting. It was a place of still but powerful magic, abundant with flora and fauna. In her head she could almost hear a constant pleausrable melody being played on the wind's whispers.

"I love the music here."

For the first time that day, the black mage smiled. She spurred her bird onward, enjoying the freedom and herself.

Several hours of meandering and an evening quickly approaching, Eleusynia approached something she had never seen before in the forest. It was a glowing pit of crystals with a fallen tree stradling it. I thick mist swirled over the pulsating fragments. Her chocobo fidgeted but she controlled it slowly forward. It was fairly deep and she could feel magic just ooze out of the deep pit. She leaned forward off of her mount. A glimpse of metal at the bottom of the pit caught her eye. "What's that?" She nudged the bird closer. It kwehed under its rider.

Mist swirled, obscuring the view. Eleusynia held her breath and leaned over more to get a better look. She could barely make out a metallic edge. At that moment a flapping rush resounded around her. She panicked and pulled back on the chocobo's reigns. From the hollow log over the pit, a swarm of bats emerged.

"Bats!" the black mage gasped in absolute fear. A fluttering curtain of flying fur surrounded her and her mount. Both reacted the same. The chocobo lost its footing on the edge of the pit. Only emptimess lay beneath Eleusynia as her bird plunged down into the pit with a sick thud. She didn't have time to mourn the loss as she too was falling. A gloved hand caught a root on the side and held on for dear life. The bats flew off and she heard the dying kwehs of the bird as it was blocked from sight by the mist.

"I'm losing my grip...I won't last long...," Eleusynia internalized, "I'm sorry for what I said to you earlier Yek...Awi..." Her arms burned as she gripped the root for just one second longer. Tears at her apparent fate and at how she treated her friends before she would fall to her death dropped off her cheeks.

"Take my hand!" Her crying eyes lifted.

"Take my hand, hurry! I'll save you!" A white gauntlet reached down. Without thinking she took it and was pulled up to safety. Tears of fear and remorse turned into tears of thanks and relief. As the black mage wiped them away, a tall elvaan in gleaming white armor stood before her.

Disbelief only made her emotions run higher and heart pound faster.

"W-w-who are you?"

"My name is Aleuthiquon," the handsome hero replied with a smile. It was one of those elegant elvaan names that Eleusynia loved to hear pronounced.

"And you are, milady?"

The stunned mage hadn't caught up with the world yet. She was breathing heavily and her heart was beating so quickly. "E-E-E-Eleus-s-synia, sir."