*********** Love You)Chapter XIX: Restart-A FFXI Love StoryFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Okay, for some odd reason Alla didn’t pick up on the last line of my previous aki "Aki XVIII: Tsuma". That aki was meant to be the last part of "Kasho II- Kodoku (Solitude)". This chapter is the beginning of part three of my love story ************ (I Love You)[/I].

Previous chapters and aki:

Part I- Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II- Kodoku (Solitude)

No dedications...for now.
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Chapter XIX: Restart
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My head snapped when she hit my face with her fist. I blinked a couple of times as my eyes started to water up.

“What was that for Momiji?!” I exclaimed out at her as I resisted the tempation to slug her back in return.

Her eyes narrowed down to twin slits of narrow brown. "My last name is Depotana. Does that name sound familiar?," she frostily replied.

I began to rub my jaw where it was starting to swell from the blow. "Depotana...Depotana...when did I supposedly place him on death row?..." I muttered out loud to myself in thought as Momiji impatiently tapped her right foot rapidly against the remains of her office floor.

"Depotana...Amas Depotana?!" The name suddenly clicked in my brain, and I felt foolish for not seeing the connection earlier. "You are married to that TRAITOR?," I said in surprise.

Momiji only chuckled for a moment, and then watched as I winced while she pushed Elayne’s dead body carelessly to the side with her foot.

"Yes, Amas Depotana...only he was no traitor to Vana’diel, as you so did claim, and put him on death row for. My beloved was taken in the night by the beastmen, and was most likely tortured by them for information in the Necropolis. He loved Vana’diel and the Republic of Bastok too much to ever consider betraying it for any price." she said, the anger just barely bubbling underneath the surface, "He had something that the beastmen wanted, probably to do with where he was working at the time as an attache to this guild at Cid’s shop."

I started to ask what it was, but she flicked up a hand that bade me to be quiet.

"And I know you are going to ask what, but the truth is I have no idea at all. What Amas did before we met, he never talked about. All I can say is that he changed the subject whenever I mentioned his past to something else."

By this time, I noticed her voice had quieted down a bit.

"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked softly.

She glared at me for a moment, and I felt the hatred rising in her eyes again. "Because, Commander Dimitri, I love him. I love him enough that I am willing to tell the man who would be his executioner all I know in the faint hope that this so-called ‘servant of justice’ will free my lover in exchange for what he kept hidden away from the beastmen."

I winced slightly at the mention of my former title, and I felt the throb of my jaw at the same time.

"What makes you think he will tell me anything? Or even that he is sane? He seemed pretty insane when I met him briefly in my office," I replied with a slight suspicion in my voice.

She just smiled at me, and simply replied "Tell him that the girl he used to go to the fountain oh-so-often in Lower Jeuno is asking him to do this for her."

"...okay..."

Just then, there was a knock at the office door that startled Momiji and me both.

"Who is it?" she called out.

"Bastok First Response, ma’am. We just issued an alert that there was a beastmen attack here, and that there were possible fatalities," he replied in a quite official voice that reminded me of my days in the Ducal Guard.

"Understood, we have one fatality in here. Do you have a member of the Order of the White Robes on hand?" I asked back with my training just starting to kick back in after so long of not being used.

"Yes sir."

With that, I picked my way over to the door and carefully opened it. Beyond it were two male humes, dressed impeccably in shiny new yellow uniforms that stood out perfectly among all the destruction. I noticed that the one who I had been conversing with was shorter than the other, but carried with him both a gun and a medium-sized sword equipped on either side of his belt. The other man standing a bit behind him seemed kinda shrimpy and as delicate as an orange kuchen that had yet to rise from the yeast while it was being synthed. He was slightly nervous, and was perfectly fitting as a member of the order.

My heart started to flood over with hope as I stepped back to allow them into the room.

"She’s our fatality." I said quickly to not waste time as I pointed over at Elayne’s dead body.

The wearer of the white robes strolled over to Elayne’s dead body while his partner took up position at the door. When the mage got to her corpse, he then kneeled down to get a close look at her body. "What is her name?" he asked in a slightly high-pitched voice as he started to examine the woman.

"Sister Elayne." Momiji said before I could reply.

The mage stopped his inspection, and the looked up at us. "A sister of the Church?...Then there is nothing I can do. She has a DNR signed." He stood up, and quickly brushed dust off of his pants before walking back to where his partner was standing.

"A 'DNR'? What’s that?" I asked, very much so confused.

The mage gave a tight-lipped smile and spoke again in that voice that was starting to grate at my nerves. "DNR means ‘Do Not Raise’. If a person has a DNR signed, they are acknowledging that if they die and that there is a chance that a cast of the Raise spell might bring them back to life, they would refuse the Raise." He took in a sharp, slightly shuddering breath before he continued. "All the members of the Church in Bastok have signed a DNR that is on file down at the main office at the top level of Metalworks. Its part of their religion to the Goddess Altana, I believe."

His partner spoke up at that point. "We have to go now, but if you wish to file an insurance claims report with the President of Bastok, you have ninety days to do so. Otherwise, I bid you good day." With that, they both left the room without another word, and could be heard crashing their way back outside.

"I can’t believe it..." I stumbled out, my mind still reeling in shock from the white mage’s cold words.

"Believe it.," Momiji replied in a wistful voice, "she shouldn’t have come here...she came to apologize to me for you being late to work today and was begging her case when the beastmen attacked. And now she’s dead."

I picked up a curtain that had been torn down during the attack, and laid it over Elayne to cover her body.

"Don’t worry about arranging her burial. I’ll contact the Bastokian Cardinal and see if we can arrange for her to have a proper Church burial when you get back." Momiji said, her old self finally starting to come back into being.

I looked up at her from where I was next to Elayne’s body. "Back from where?..." I asked rather warily, knowing damn well what she was going to say.

"Why, back from Jeuno of course. You are going to save Amas, and then try to get to the bottom of WHAT in Altana’s name is HAPPENING here."

-fin Chapter XIX: Restart