The Darkest Day

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias was exhausted to say the least. Having been awake for quite some time... she should be used to this. She sighed a little, resting on her bed, still in her dress and starring at the ceiling. She rested a hand over her chest, sighing nervously... she wrote her heart down... now would Beatrix accept it?

She tossed and turned on her bed, grumbling and pressing her face against the pillow to mumble 'bullocks' out loud into it. She would close her eyes, and try to sleep, only to find herself rolling around the bed. She was too... nervous to fall asleep. The knight rested on her side now, and curled at the bed sheets beneath her, in ponder... in thought on how lovely Beatrix looked today.

"I wonder..." she thought, "if Lady Beatrix would one day like to settle down..." she finally yawned, sleep catching up with her, "Heheh... She settling down... it sounds uncanny, like mine self doing so... See to believe, me thinks..."

Her eyes slowly managed to closed, and she found herself closer to sleep.

[serpentoflore]

Sarah was brought back to reality when Beatrix began to speak. The woman looked like a blur of colors without her glasses on. Still, she had no more time to rest her body. She picked up her glasses, placing them on her face once again. Making sure her hair was in a good condition, she placed her hat back on. She made her way to the ballroom balcony.

When there, she pulled out the piccolo. She began to play a music box like song that would target only one person. Agrias was the target, music beginning to play only to her. A voice that sounded similar to Ovelia's began to sing in her head, in a language she had never heard.

Как узор на окне
Like a pattern on a window

Снова прошлое рядом,
The past is near again.

Кто-то пел песню мне
Someone sang a song to me

В зимний вечер когда-то.
One winter night sometime.

Словно в прошлом ожило
As if coming alive in the past

Чьих-то бережных рук тепло,
The warmth of someone's gentle arms

Вальс изысканных гостей
The waltz of exquisite guests

И бег лихих коней.
And brave horses running.

Вальс кружил и нёс меня,
The waltz spun and carried me,

Словно в сказку свою маня,
As if beckoning in its tale,

Первый бал и первый вальс
The first ball and the first waltz

Звучат во мне сейчас.
Resound in me right now.

Зеркала в янтаре
Mirrors in amber

Мой восторг отражают,
Reflect my delight

Кто-то пел на заре
Someone sang at dawnbreak,

Дом родной покидая.
Leaving her cherished home:

Будешь ты в декабре
You will be, in December,

Вновь со мной дорогая�.
Again with me, darling.

All Agrias could now see was the previous world, Beatrix looking like Ovelia. Everything was like her previous world, nothing remaining but the past.

[Agrias Oaks]

In her thoughts, she began to hear music, and as soon as she closed her eyes, she opened them again. She gasped a little, sitting up to find herself in her old room... her VERY old room, at Lionel Castle! She looked down at herself in disbelief, rubbing harshly at her cruel eyes before looking at her surroundings.

"A... Am I dreaming...?" she whispered, shivering a little. She got up, and looked out the windows to see those familiar fields of her past. She... began to laugh, never thinking of seeing them again. She reached up at her hair, tugging at it lightly, laughing still, "I-I am back!! Oh, God.... oh, God..." she shook her head, "Nay.. a dream, all...? No, impossible, I remember everything too clear...!"

She backed away from the window to look at her old study, walking to it and holding the feathered quill. It was not a pen, but OH how she missed her favorite quill! She walked around the room several moments, remembering how it all was.

" Have we... somehow stumbled upon a warp at Beast's Castle...?" she asked herself. Crying at the sweet feeling of... home. It felt incomplete, but it was still home, "Oh, Lady Beatrix... 'tis as beautiful as I remember..." she breathed in the familiar airs activated by her mind. So emotional, that she fell to her knees, crying and laughing.

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Watching Agrias troll about her room under the illusion that she had returned to the paradise of her dreams made Beatrix chuckle, which she understood would be caught by Agrias' tact hearing. Though unfortunately for the poor Lady Agrias, when she turned she would see not her general, but a figure from the past.

Glowing with a phantom image Beatrix had assumed the form of Queen Ovelia Atkascha. She smirked, standing quietly by the door staring the Holy Knight down.

"Agrias," she said softly, waving her hand lightly to the door; it opened without her touching the handle. When her attention fell on "Ovelia", the illusion slowly exited the room humming a tune lost to the ages.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias continued to cry, until she heard a familiar chuckle, she stood quickly and turned to the door, her eyes widened, almost pinpricks at the sight of Ovelia. She stayed frozen, unable to believe her eyes...

She was able to breathe after several moments, her hands extended momentarily, wanting to touch to see she was real, but... she was royalty. She pulled her hands back, her eyes filled with so much joy.

Then, the princess, no, the QUEEN sped away, and Agrias called out, "W-wait, Pr-.. P..." she shook her head, running off to chase after her, "Q-Queen Ovelia, please wait!" she snapped out of her shock, now just wanting to catch up to her. "Mi'Lady! Please!" she ran, and ran... chasing her down the stairs, past some hallways, through the foyer... when was Ovelia so active??

"Mi'Lady! Halt, please!" she tried calling out, disbelieving she was chasing the Queen around like this. Familiar faces around her... Ramza was smiling at one of the corners, and Meliadoul was waving at her near the stairs . She ... laughed, was she truly home? She needed to ask them of how they survived... how they all got back here... how she got back here, but now she had to catch Ovelia.

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]As Beatrix traversed the corridors, open hall stops, wide sitting rooms and stair flights, she thought of how silly Agrias was being, chasing down someone so insignificant to her now.

She scrunched her face into a scowl and sped up, bounding down the final staircase until she reached the grand double doors leading into the "throne room", which in reality was the ballroom of Adam's castle. She halted before entering and turned, seeing that Agrias was fast on her trail.

Drawing a hand up to her lips she giggled softly once more and disappeared straight through the wooden doors, or so Agrias would see, and entered the ballroom, to await Agrias Oaks.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias chased, hot on the woman's trail, in disbelief the Queen could outRUN her, of all people. She was still laughing, the sun bright outside as she made her way into the ballroom, catching her breath, "L-Lady Ovelia..!" she gasped, standing straight before kneeling, " A-All Hail Queen of Ivalice, Lady Ovelia." she reminded herself, and she would stay knelled until told otherwise.

She noticed others there, such as Construct 8, Lavian, and Alicia... they all smiled, but strangely said nothing.

"M-Mi'Lady, I see thee well, a-and the others.. Ser Ramza, and... Meliadoul..." she gasped, seeing one of the pillars, where a knight stood unknowingly in the shadows of the Dragonkin. She held at her mouth a moment, "oh Reis.. you made it as well...! Most joyous of days, Mi'Lady..!" she cried a little, "... I thought... all ye had perished, and... and I was left, but greatness to see ye all well and smiling!"

She bowed her head a little, "... I have been traveling with the most wonderful of people, Mi'Lady, thoust should meet! The General Beatrix, and her brave army on the Red Rose-- a- a flying ship Mi'Lady! Could you ever imagine??"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]Beatrix giggled again, facing the large glass doors and windows leading outside of the ballroom. Pale moonlight seeped through and lit the dim chamber, and when she turned slightly she could see the knights preparing themselves at their respective collumns.

"Oh, Agrias," she chanted, turning her upper body, then her head and finally, with a quick glance upward and nodding for Sarah to cease playing, she fully faced the Holy Knight.

When Sarah did finish, the illusion would literally wash away slowly, revealing the utter hell Beatrix had transformed Adam's castle into.[/glow]

[serpentoflore]

Sarah stopped playing, her body collapsing down against the floor beneath her. She placed the Piccolo back into her pocket, not sure what she should do now. She stood up, rather unsteady from constant use of the Piccolo's power so soon. Her mind needed to know that she could go to Acteur soon. Still, she could do nothing but follow Beatrix for now.

[Agrias Oaks]

As the curtain of a dream slowly turned into a nightmare, Agrias got up and rubbed at her eyes, "What...what sorcery is this!?" she demanded, resting her hands to her sides, having balled them into firsts. "What a cruel joke, why!?" she shivered, looking over to Sarah, before turning to Beatrix, a rather hurt expression now, "Why would you...do something most foul to me, Lady Beatrix?!"

The knight lowered her head, confused and injured by these cruel actions of the General and the piper.

"I... honestly thought... The Queen lived....mine old friends..." it was not the sudden realization that hit her. It was all an illusion... her friends which she saw moments ago were truly dead, somewhere in the past. Tears began to form, and stream down her cheeks, "...how cruel..."

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]"Oh, Agrias...still living in the past, I see. I saw the way you hopped out of bed the moment you heard that sorry, cracked voice of a broken queen. Tch, tch, tch,"

The general was smiling, her grin stretching wickedly from ear to ear, her eye an amber mass of evil. She raised her arms out to the side and acknowledged the presence of her armed soldiers before turning back to face the knight.

"Grand, loyal soldiers of Alexandria! Miss Appleton, our guest! Set your witnessing eyes on our traitor." she drew out her sword and stabbed clean into the marble floor; the loud "crack-sliiing!" boomed throughout the ballroom. Outside thunder rumbled and the black sky flashed with lightning.

"Come forth, Lady Agrias."[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias looked up at the sound of traitor, "OUTRAGE!" she called out, throwing a hand to the side before relaxing, "Thine NERVE, Beatrix, to call I, a traitor, of ALL things!" she cried, " What has changed you!?" the knight was obviously in denial... she knew, but she wanted it to be a nightmare, and only that... not real.

"Why are you suddenly so hurtful, when only moments ago you were..." she shook her head, "WHY are you DOING this?!"

She payed small attention to the soldiers, knowing full well they were following Beatrix's command. They always did all that was asked of her. Clearly, it was the General who was controlling all at this point.

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]She folded her arms together and brought one hand up to the side of her mouth and cackled. "Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

When her laughter subsided her eye narrowed and she took a couple steps forward. "Draw out Save the Queen, Lady Agrias, and hand it over to me at once."

Shaking her head she frowned. "You deserve it no longer; in fact, I doubt even your title fits any longer. Aren't Holy Knights supposed to sense even the most minute darkness? And yet you couldn't catch on to the overwhelming expanse growing around you, in someone so "close"? Hah! That proves the false care you showed for her, then. Am I wrong? Now, Agrias. Your sword, if you please."[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

"I suppose..." she started, giving her a hurt expression, "t'was more denial, than anything else, Lady Beatrix...!" she shook her head, taking a step back, "Ye' knows well, this sword is rightfully mine... as Holy Knight, I am never to part with it!"

To the rest of the conversation, Agrias continued to look defiant, "Why must you speak so cruelly to me..?!" her voice cracked a little, blinking quietly when she spoke of a 'Her' ... could she mean the Queen or...? She stayed quiet a moment, before speaking again.

" Lady Beatrix... please..." she whispered, "...end this cruel and senseless banter!"

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]"Agrias," she intoned very darkly, her eye still locked on the knight's. "Do not make me take her from you by force. Hand over your Save the Queen to me now."

Smirking, she pressed her farther. "Your trials, Lady Agrias, only lead to either death or descents into darkness. You have nothing positive but your filthy words to dish out. You are a parasite, and for that you are stripped of your holy title here and now. Hah...Oh, I hoped this day wouldn't come, my dear. But it is the only way to press on and prepare for what comes next."[/glow]