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A Maid's Tale	By : tealover Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Het - Male/Female Views: 886 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Lauren dusted off her apron and adjusted it with a violent
tug. She had spent the past thirty minutes cleaning up thousands of withering
roses and their falling petals, all of which were in Rinoa�s room. One of the
butlers had ordered Lauren to gather the roses so they may be dried and made
into potpourri for Rinoa.

What kind of bleedin� maid doesn�t have to clean her own
room because she�s too busy housekeeping? And why is SHE so bloody spoiled with
such lavish presents? I deserve these roses! I work twice as hard as any other
maid in this bloody chateau!

Lauren angrily swept the dead petals off the dresser and
into a dustpan. She then poured the dead petals onto a tray. Lauren lifted the
vase on Rinoa�s bedside table as she emptied it and found a small white card placed
underneath. She turned the card around and saw no words except for one initial.
�S�. Heh. Lauren tossed it into
the trash without another thought. Ever since I had to dress up as this
woman, I knew all my years of hard work were going to be ignored! Lauren
noticed the books lining Rinoa�s other bedside table and scoffed. Who does
she think she is with all those books? Some sort of bloody princess?

Selphie and Rinoa rushed into Ballari�s room and immediately
began rifling through her bookcases.

��and a good evening to you, too.� Ballari sarcastically
said.

Rinoa absentmindedly answered, �Sorry �ba, we�re looking for
something.�

�Ya, we�re looking for your books on M-A-G-I-C.� Selphie�s
eyes shined mischievously.

��and why do you two be needing those books?� Ballari said
as she crossed her arms.

Selphie rolled her eyes as though it was the most obvious
answer in the world, �Because Rinoa can�t use her magic yet.� Ballari�s eyes
nearly jumped out of their sockets.

�AHA! Here Sefie! All of these books are about Sorcery!�
Rinoa began tossing large reference books to Selphie, who was tossing them onto
the bed, all of which were just barely landing on Ballari.

�Come on �ba! Help out! We need to find how she can use some
Sorcery!� Selphie said as she opened a random book and looked at the table of
contents. Rinoa took a seat on the bed and began looking at the table of
contents of another large book. Ballari sighed and joined in.

�Basic Techniques of the Novice Sorceress.� Ballari read out
loud. �This sounds good� Rinoa can you read this?� Rinoa scooted beside Ballari
and read the first chapter.

The Magic is divided into different Magic Types:
Regenerative, Fire, Ice, Thunder, Support, Time, Weakening, Telekinetic and
Telepathy. Every Sorceress has a natural affinity to use one or two Magic Types
more easily than the others. Sorceresses who can use Time Magic are born once
in every thousand years. Find your affinity by�

Rinoa yawned and continued to read. The words mostly went over
her head, as she didn�t quite understand most of what it meant. They kept
referring to different colored threads representing each of the magic types.
Supposedly they were easy to see when using magic. However, Rinoa never used
magic before and didn�t see any of the strands the book was talking about.

To make a Fire based explosion, concentrate on a small
firestrand and slowly tie it into a gentle knot. Pull the knot tighter until it
snaps and the targeted knot should explode in fire where you visualized it. The
stronger you pull, the stronger the explosion.

Rinoa closed her eyes and tried to imagine a string of fire
being tied into a knot. She then opened her eyes and pulled at the ends, while
still imagining the knot.

Nothing happened.

�Um... I don�t think I can
do this.� Rinoa started rereading the pages, to see what the other affinity
tests entailed.

Selphie flipped a few
pages at random and ignored the warnings on each, �Try something like this,
Rin. Make me hungry for Ma�s scones!� she pointed to the last section about
Telepathy and Rinoa read it while crossing her eyes.

Link yourself with the target�s spirit and observe the
world from behind their eyes. The orbital frontal cortex is the key to their
decision-making processes�

Rinoa looked at Selphie
and concentrated, trying to follow the instructions even though she didn�t
fully understand them. Selphie then closed her eyes and cringed as though it
was going to hurt.

�See that?� Ballari
pointed to Rinoa�s necklace.

Selphie opened her eyes,
�See what?� she asked. Rinoa looked at them both, wondering if something
worked.

�The ring on her necklace,
it sparked again. It sparked the first time Rinoa closed her eyes and sparked
again just now!� Ballari held and examined Rinoa�s ring. �Got an idea.� She
took the necklace off Rinoa�s neck and put it aside. �Try something now, Rin.�

Rinoa tried the simple
Fire technique again and began to see what the strands were. The more she
concentrated, the more she could see a rainbow of strands that formed everything
around her. The firestrand was orange and hard to see, it took all of Rinoa�s
willpower to simply move it and tie it into a loose knot�

A small explosion of fire
popped in between the three girls and they all squeaked.

�That ring must have been
keeping me from using magic�� Rinoa scratched her head while looking at it. She
had worn it all her life, thinking it was her mother�s and that it protected
her.

�Good!� Selphie cheered
and clapped.

�What�s good?� Ballari
asked.

�We can use Rin�s magic to
get into the masquerade ball that Master was invited to!� Selphie jumped up and
down on the bed, holding Rinoa�s hands and Rinoa smiled sheepishly.

�NO! Sefie stop it! We�ll
get fired if we�re caught sneaking out!� Ballari warned.

Selphie continued to
ignore Ballari and screamed, �WHOOHOOO!�

�Selphie no!� Ballari
yelled.

Selphie posed on the bed
like a rich woman and sang like Maria, �We are going to PAR-TAY!�

�� Ballari crossed her
arms.

Selphie put her hands on
her hips and bent over, �Oh come on Ba, you�re starting to sound like Ma! Ba?
Ma? Get it?� Rinoa stifled her laugh and Ballari threw a pillow at Selphie�s
face. The two began to fight and pull each other�s ears screaming, �ow ow ow ow
oow OOOW� in unison.

Rinoa tried to stop them
from fighting and tried casting a small Ice spell between them. It failed and
became blocks of ice that fell down the inside of the girl�s uniforms causing
them to scream. �Shh! Try to lower your voices!!� Rinoa shrieked.

Ballari turned her nose up
at Selphie and pretended to busy herself while adjusting her uniform. Selphie then
opened a random book and found a picture of a Sorceress wearing a large gaudy
ballroom dress with far too many frills.

�Hey hey, Rin, Rin, make
me this dress! It says Sorceresses can change appearances, can ya do it?�

�I guess I can try...it
says illusions can be caused by water in the air....� Rinoa squinted at the
picture of the dress and it slowly began to materialize on Selphie, piece by
piece then detail by detail.

�Now that�s something ye
don�t see everyday.� Ballari gaped at Selphie who was twirling and trying to
move about. The petticoats restricted the hyper redhead�s movements far too
much.

Rinoa was almost done
putting the final details onto the dress when she heard heavy footsteps
storming down the hall towards the room. On instinct Rinoa turned towards the
door. Selphie�s dress disappeared and she fell on top of Ballari. They resumed
fighting by pulling each other�s hair and yelling.

�Sorry Sefie, I can�t keep
something like that up if I�m not fully concentrating on it. I thought I heard
someone coming.� Rinoa apologized.

The door suddenly burst
open and in came Ma who became furious as soon as her eyes focused on Rinoa.
The two girls on the bed immediately stopped fighting.

Rinoa wordlessly stared
back at Ma. Forgive and Forget. Rinoa
raised her right arm and pointed at the large woman. She made a circular motion
with her hand and Ma suddenly turned around. Rinoa could see herself through
Ma�s eyes and began to �walk� the woman back to her own room. The large woman
moved like a puppet being pulled by invisible strings, her legs and arms moving
exaggeratedly. Rinoa made Ma open the door to her own room and go back to
sleep.

Selphie and Ballari roared
with laughter at the sight of the large woman moving like a doll. �That was
amazing, Rin!� Ballari said between breaths.

Rinoa shuddered and held
her stomach, �I feel like I ate something bad.�

�Hmm? I feel fine. We all
ate the same thing for dinner� � Selphie said.

�I think it�s going away.
I�m starting to feel a little better.� Rinoa rubbed at her stomach as she
resumed flipping through pages. I feel like I did something very wrong.

�Tomorrow when we visit
Winhill, let�s also go dress shopping!� Selphie said excitedly.

�Sefie� If you do that��

�Ba!� Selphie whined.

��don�t forget that we
have to buy masks, too!� Ballari laughed at how Selphie looked like a kicked
puppy just then.

�Ba!!!� Selphie screamed
and hugged the pigtailed girl.

�What�s all this Guardian
Force stuff about?� Rinoa asked while looking at diagrams of a man�s brain and
a large monster. Selphie positioned herself beside Rinoa and looked at the
pictures.

�Oh that�s para-magic. I
love that stuff.� Selphie said while turning the page. Rinoa raised an eyebrow
at Selphie. �I mean� I�d love to use it. It looks fun!�

Ballari snatched the book
away from Selphie and read from it. �Para-magic may only be used by nobles who
inherited GFs or by soldiers in the army who command lesser GFs. Noble�s GFs
are stronger in nature because they work in harmony with their human hosts.�

My father joined the army.
Rinoa thought to herself.

�Humans who use lesser GFs
eventually lose their will to live. It makes them easy to manipulate and they
follow orders obediently.�

My father also lost the will to live. My mother couldn't
even look at him. We told everyone he died at Esthar but we saw him in Deling
Hospital before he died.

�Because these GFs don't
have a blood pact with the human hosts they were forced into, the GFs make
different pacts where they take up the host�s long term memory��

"Cloud... speak to me Cloud." Tifa cried and
pleaded as she held her husband�s shaking hands. Rinoa sat in a chair across
from her parents; her emotions were mostly bottled up as she was in a state of
shock. Her father was reduced to a humiliating vegetative state.

"Ahh...Tiff.. aahh.. zzenno..gia.." Cloud wasn't
making any sense for days and the doctors said his time would soon come, as his
internal injuries were fatal. Tifa left the room to wash her face and Rinoa
began to cry quietly. She didn't want her mother to see her cry but the tears
fell freely now that she was alone.

"Daddy� what are we going to do daddy?" she
whispered.

"Rin..oh..ah.."
Cloud seemed to be stammering out her name.

"Daddy?" Rinoa said. She got up and wiped her
tears, then went towards his bedside and looked at him. His face was looking
straight in her direction although the doctors said his injuries made him
blind. "Daddy?"

"Rin.... y-you need a knight."

"Night daddy? It's daytime daddy..." Rinoa felt
the tears welling up again. She couldn't understand his nonsense.

"Else you... end up like her. White hair... demon
woman!" Cloud yelled at Rinoa and she took a few steps back. Perhaps he
was describing his nightmares. Tifa rushed back into the room as soon as she
heard Cloud shouting and began to speak to him, eventually calming him down.

Rinoa held her stomach. Demon
woman. �Um... I think I�m going to rest. I
still don�t feel good.� Rinoa faked a yawn and grabbed her necklace, putting it
back on.

�See Ba? Reading all that
stuff just bored us to tears! I�m going to bed. See ya tomorrow!�

�G�night� they all said in
unison. Ballari began replacing most of the books, while Rinoa took a few to
her own room.

Rinoa couldn�t sleep that
night. She spent hours staring at her ceiling, thinking about magic and sorceresses
and what she could maybe do with her power if it grew strong enough. She was
also disturbed by the disgusting feeling that came over her after using the
Telepathy spell on Ma. Eventually the thoughts and worries faded and melted
onto one another as she fell asleep.

She was running across the plains of a small island. In
the distance she could see two men sparring with antiquated weapons. Steel
clashed and reflected the sunlight like a beacon pulling her in their
direction. She was very close to the men now and she saw that they had stopped
fighting. She observed that they both wore darkly colored foreign school
uniforms. One of the men was a fair-haired blond kneeling on the ground. The
blond was clutching his face while screaming profanities, his chest showed
severe injuries and he paid no mind to Rinoa�s approach. The other had light
brown hair and faced away from Rinoa. Rinoa recognized him as her Master and
she fearfully moved towards him.

�Prepare the way�, a woman�s voice echoed from behind
Rinoa.

The Master turned to face in Rinoa�s direction and his
face was completely covered in blood. He wasn�t looking at Rinoa but at who was
behind her. His body showed injuries as severe as those of the other man�s.
Rinoa was frozen in horror at the scene but managed to turn around to find the
source of the voice.

A bright light streamed through and around her, blinding
her. She saw the outline of a dark haired woman and white wings materializing
but it pained her to continue looking even when she tried shielding her eyes.
She turned back towards her Master�s direction and saw black wings unfurl from
his back. The image of him became unfocused as he disappeared into nothing. She
then turned to where the blond man was and saw nothing. She finally turned back
to where the woman was. There was nothing.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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A Maid's Tale