It had been two weeks since Irvine and Selphie had reported they'd finished their mission. They'd been sent to kill a monster that a village in Galbadia suspected was behind a number of disappearances. They'd found no trace of the missing people, but did find and kill the monster. Since then though, nothing. They hadn't returned to Garden. They hadn't contacted Garden. They had vanished.

Quistis was determined to find out why. She was at the village herself now as the sun set. It had taken the whole day since Deling city to get to here, a typical countryside Galbadian place. Nowhere else for miles, hard to reach, and picturesque. It was centred around a single central square, a handful of houses, and a farm. It had been smaller even than Winhill before, and now it seemed tiny, for the village was a ghost town. Weeds were growing in flowerbeds. The inn was closed. The houses were empty, and in some cases unlocked. There was nothing in them, just dust and the occasional item abandoned by the owners when they had left. It seemed the villagers had decided to flee.

Just as she thought there was no one left in the village, she saw that there was a light on in one house, a fairly large building at the other end of the village from where she had been. The village still had gas lamps instead of electric streetlights, but of course with none here to light them, the village was soon to be plunged to blackness. Since it was the only sign of life, she had no choice but to knock on the door.

The heavy brass knocker on the door made plenty of noise, but for a long time, nothing happened.

'Great. Someone forgot to switch the lights off before they ran.' She thought.

As she turned to go back to her rented car, the door opened. A man in his early forties with dark hair stood there. He was shorter than Quistis by a few inches.

"Who are you?" He asked, but not rudely.

"I'm Quistis Trepe. I'm a SeeD. Two of ours were on a contract here two weeks ago and they haven't reported back in yet. I thought the whole village was deserted..." She said.

"It is, except for me and my wife. Everyone else has fled."

Quistis had expected it, but still felt a chill run down her spine. Had something happened to her friends, so suddenly they couldn't warn Garden?

"The two SeeDs left when they had killed the troublesome monster, but even their success wasn't enough to dissuade people from leaving. One small pebble can cause an avalanche, and in this case, when one family left, soon everyone else did. " The man said.

"Oh. So you saw them leaving?" Quistis asked. She was glad to hear that they might be okay, but still didn't know where they were.

"Yes. you're lucky to have caught us, though. Tomorrow, we're hoping to leave ourselves."

"I see. Well, it seems I've got a long road ahead of me so if you'll excuse me..." Quistis said, wanting to get back looking for Selphie and Irvine.

"A moment, miss. It seems you've had to drive some distance already today. Perhaps it is better to rest up before setting off. The inn is closed, but we are still open. If you would like you could stay here until morning."

"Thank you for the offer. You're right, I've been driving all day to get here. But, I didn't get your name..."

"Oh, how rude of me, I apologise. my name is Tran Kosis." He said. As he did so, a woman with long brown hair approached. She looked a little younger than her husband, perhaps her late thirties, but still at least a decade Quistis's senior. However, while her husband was maybe 5 foot 4, this woman was easily 6 feet tall, towering over her spouse and the SeeD.

"And this is my wife, Mae." Tran continued.

"How do you do?" The woman greeted Quistis.

After that, the two invited her in, showing her the house. Much of it was bare, with only larger items of furniture still visible.

"We've put nearly everything into the truck to move it, but we've yet to move the larger items. perhaps you could give us a hand with the art tomorrow before you leave?" Mae asked.

"Art?"

"My apologies once again. I neglected to mention, my wife and I are sculptors. Though our furniture is nearly all in the truck, we have yet to prepare our work for transport. It should not take long."

Quistis considered this. She needed to find her missing friends, true, but it wouldn't be too long a delay.

"Okay. It'd be no trouble for me to help you."

"Perhaps you'd like a tour before supper?" Tran offered. Quistis nodded, agreeing to it out of courtesy.

"Wonderful. they're this way." Mae said, leading Quistis through to another room.

***

The room was full of their artwork. Over a dozen sculptures stood in the room, all shapes and sizes. Mae and Tran gave her the tour, first pointing at a statue of a young woman sitting. The statue was nude, modesty only preserved by her arms draped over her chest and the posture of her legs. The marble hair of the statue flowed halfway down its back.

"Many of our neighbours posed for our sculptures. This here is the woman who once lived next door to us. Her name was Marisha, but sadly, she was one of the first to go missing, claimed by the monster we fear." Tran said.

"A tragedy. As you can see from her statue she was a beautiful young woman. She had recently married too."

Quistis was no art expert, but the life-sized sculpture did look pretty enough, though she didn't know why so many statues were nudes. She personally didn't know how people could pose for such things and live down the idea of a marble replica of themselves giving the world an everlasting impression of one's self.  Then again, she'd been educated in Garden and the art class had been optional

"Tragic indeed. Such a wonderful couple. She was always a playful woman. after she posed she convinced her husband to stand with her for a second. That was just before she went missing when we finished it. Poor Luke was so heartbroken when she vanished he left the village himself soon after."

She looked at the pair of statues, feeling unease. Like the sitting statue, the pair were both naked, only stone fig leaves concealing the lower parts of the statues and leaving the pair topless. The male seemed a little embarrassed somehow while the female was smiling like only she knew the punchline to some great joke, but her unease was not from the nudity of the statues, but their detail. The hair seemed somehow too lifelike at first glance, but now she looked, it was obviously carved. For a brief moment she had been thinking... no, that was foolish. This was a statue, carved from stone. Her thoughts of detail had been mistaken now she looked closely. The hair was a solid mass rather than tangled stone threads, and they lacked eyelashes.

"You seem to like the marble Luke." Tran noted, causing Quistis to feel a blush begin.

"Uh, no, I just..." Quistis said, wondering how to explain it.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about. Marisha was the envy of the young women in the village when she and Luke began courting." Mae smiled.

"And Luke the envy of the men. Not just the young ones either." Tran grinned. Despite herself Quistis smirked along with the sculptor couple.

The next statue was a young girl, about 11, wearing a dress and angel wings. The statue held a marble harp, lacking strings. clearly a cherub or an angel.

"Kee, the Tulip's daughter. She lived beside the inn until her family left. Mother, father, her older brother, all of them left the village, the first to go after your friends got rid of the monster. Kee was upset by her friends going missing."

"It was their vanishing that made the villagers want to leave. The four children always made the town so lively, but when the twins went missing..." Tran said. Quistis could guess the rest.

The next statue was a knight in armour, sword raised. An empty suit of steel armour identical stood beside it. The helmet had a demonic face carved into it in the marble version, as well as more embellishment and swirls in the plate.

"I posed for this one, wearing that armour. My wife sculpted. As you can see, she let her imagination go." Tran chuckled. The armour was about the right size, but the statue was nearly seven feet tall. Certainly a lot more imposing than the battered suit it had been based on.

The next after that was a tall, muscular man, holding a hammer. He had a bushy beard, and wore overalls.

"Jonas, the blacksmith. He fixed up the armour for us. It had been lying in this house when we bought it, rusty and even more battered that it is now. He mended it, not all the way, just so it looked a little more presentable. A good man. We convinced him to indulge us and pose for us before he left six months ago. Then two months after that, everything went wrong. A pity he left then. He'd been in the army. Most of the men in the village didn't know how to fight off a monster. That's why we hired your friends." Mae explained.

On and on it went, each statue's story being relayed to her. This maiden carrying water, the chambermaid at the inn. The statue of a cheeky looking imp, a boy of about ten, one of the twins and one of Kee's vanished playmates. The mother and four children had been the mother of one of the village children, a girl of about 9 she held the hand of. Quistis recognised the other three as Kee, the imp's model, and the fourth of the village children without prompting, assuming the fourth was the twin brother of the imp. A handsome young archer, posed for by the eldest son of the farmer. She felt even sillier with each statue for thinking maybe there was something wrong earlier. These were nothing more than exceptional statues.

Eventually, there were only three left. Two smiling statues, a woman with short hair and a man with a ponytail, two visitors to the village who had been interested in the work of the sculptors. A pair like Luke and Marisha, but unlike the tragic young couple, these two wore a wedding dress and tuxedo.

"They were easy to work with, for strangers. They took instructions well." Mae smiled. Quistis examined them, thinking they somehow looked familiar.

"They were delighted at our suggestion. They were very much in love, the two of them. They made a wonderful pair."

Somehow, Quistis felt that was true. They looked like they belonged... Such a familiar feeling.

The final statue was out of place. It was a woman, wearing casual looking clothing. Whilst the other statues were posed with grins, smiles, or in the case of the knight, only the blank visage of armour, this one had wide eyes, and a mouth open in a scream. Even tears had been sculpted. The woman's hands were tied behind her back, and she was on her knees. The statue looked so out of place to the rest...

"Tina, the innkeeper and the mother of the twins. she was the one who nearly ruined us. taught us that unless we worked together to make sure a mind would accept our control, they'd struggle. she tried to convince your friends the truth, but they were easy. We entranced them and they simply stood as we got rid of her. we feared others could regain their memory of those we had picked out before. we had to convince them to leave before it was too late. and so they did, and they'll forget it all. but it did ruin our plan." Mae said.

"It was the twins that were to blame. We had been working on controlling the whole village. We'd have had them pose, either for a real carving or straight petrification, but they found the monster. the creature caused enough panic to break the confusion in some of the villagers. They were no problem. We simply added them to the collection early, but their mother was driven mad with grief. She became convinced we had petrified her sons. She was right, we were petrifying villagers, but her boys had been killed by the monster. We only managed to make statues of a handful of villagers. But what statues. We could convince them they had always been statues." Tran said.

Quistis felt conflicting feelings. At the back of her head, ignored, a desire to run. In full control, a desire to stay. Mae produced a soft, and poured it on the pony-tailed groom. Nothing happened.

"We had only wanted the best, the most statuesque. But in her grief she nearly exposed us. Fortunately, she took her fears to the SeeDs sent to kill the monster. They were so helpful for her, reluctant to show her the boys were truly gone, but doing so anyway because they knew she had to understand it herself. It takes courage to be able to realise that cruelty like that is kindness, I think. Your friends truly were such a great couple, both as people and their love for each other." She said.

"You are a courageous and strong woman, Quistis, as well as intelligent. But it's all a paradox. The more you question reality, the more educated you are... the easier it is to undo that. The stupid are impossible to control, but they are the ones who never even need convincing by their own minds let alone the enchantments of the statues. Those who do think it through, are able to see through it. Those minds get even easier to trick, as statues they have no thoughts anymore. as far as they know they've been statues forever. A stone head is easier to control than flesh, but we only need to keep one head deceived. We thought it only fair to tell you the truth first, before you take your new job." Tran added

Quistis felt the urge to flee vanish entirely in an instant, and her last real thought as herself was to feel her control on herself slipping away.

"While we showed you around, we were taking you over. Subtly. The first test is the detail. Minds easy to control entirely will see the detail first, thinking it clearly. We've enchanted those statues to deceive those minds into thinking they were wrong. Other minds, they ignore the detail themselves, self-censoring the truth. And when we realised you had been deceived so quickly by the enchantment, we knew you were perfect."

Quistis was happy to hear this.

"Your friends intelligence was like yours, dangerous unless we could take it apart. We will be busy in Deling, making real sculptures. We need a trusted guide for our gallery, to spot those we need to convince were wrong. Your presence gives us a new problem and a solution. As a former SeeD, you can spot others who might snoop around and realise the truth. The statues are able to hide themselves thanks to our enchantments, but you will need to change your appearance. You will dye your hair. You will wear coloured contact lenses. As our assistant and the guide for our gallery, you will be energetic and enthusiastic. You will only remember what you need to remember. You'll accept the new job, without fail." Mae continued.

"Of course." Quistis said, her voice perky and excited already.

"Excellent. Tomorrow, you help us pack and leave for Deling. The three of us will have such a bright future." Mae finished, and smiled.

As her past melted away, the couple's mind controlling powers erasing all but what she needed to help keep their secrets hidden, Quistis could only agree with enthusiasm. The future was bright...

***

Medea loved her job even after six months, and she loved the gallery. It gave her purpose. She was the guide, giving details on the artwork to those who wanted a tour rather than wandering at their own pace. She herself found every one of these sculptures perfect, and seeing the ones she posed for on display had done wonders for her self esteem. She was so glad she had thrown caution to the wind when Tran and Mae had asked her if she wanted to pose for some statues. She loved the way the eyes drifted between her and her stone doppelgangers, comparing the white marble goddesses to the enthusiastic brunette who showed them around.

"If you will all come this way please, the tour is about to begin!" She chirped. She looked at her guests. Four men, Two women. And one of the women looked somehow familiar...

She dismissed the thought in her conscious mind, but in her subconscious, the word SeeD floated up.

"...Instructor?" The familiar woman said, a red-haired woman in her very late teens or early twenties with a ponytail.

Medea looked at her, confused.

"I'm sorry?"

The girl paused, uncertain.

"I'm sorry... I thought you were someone I know..." The woman said.

"That's okay, I've just got one of those familiar faces!" Medea bubbled in response.

After that, the tour began. The red-haired ponytail woman didn't say anything else, but kept glancing over at Medea. She looked especially troubled at the statue of the bride and groom for some reason...

***

Medea had the strange dream again this morning. Every so often she'd dream she woke up early, dyed her hair, and when she was done went back to sleep. But she dyed her hair the same colour it was. True, sometimes she thought the roots of her hair looked almost blonde occasionally, but it was usually a trick of the light.

And the red-haired woman from yesterday was back. And Mae was in the group for the first tour. That was a bad sign. Every time the owners had hid in a group it was because they expected some kind of trouble from someone, and Medea had a feeling somehow it was the red head.

Already some in the group were forgetting the red head was there. People bumped into her without noticing they'd even hit anything, and the woman found herself ignored, at first when she apologised and later when she was getting annoyed at them ignoring her. Medea didn't see any of this. She had been told not to see it.

They were halfway through and Medea was disturbed to see the red-haired woman was looking annoyed at something. As they went on though, the woman's fiery temper seemed to fade away...

Mae had turned her attentions on the SeeD now. The woman's mind was forgetting the jostles and bumps, forgetting anyone else in the room but her, Mae, and Medea.

The tour ended, and Medea gave them her usual chirpy goodbye. Mae meanwhile began to talk with the red haired woman. She'd caused no trouble but maybe there was something needing cleared up?

"Medea, come with me. we have to ask this woman a few questions."

Medea and the woman followed Mae to the back of the gallery, the woman looking a lot happier than she had.

"Now, you seemed to think yesterday Medea looked like someone you know. Medea was worried your friend might have been in trouble the way you acted..."

"Who are you? Were you sent here by SeeD?" Mae asked.

"Oh, no. It's just I haven't seen her in a while and I made a mistake." The woman said

"Salia Dane, SeeD. I just graduated. I came here myself." the girl said in a monotone.

"Oh, okay. Well, thank you for your time, miss."

"No one knows you are here?"

"It's all right, but now I look at her closer I see she just has a vague resemblance."

"No one."

"I see. well, you can go now. please visit again."

"You have a fairly strong mind. If you were allowed to leave your subconscious would remember this place and you'd return eventually. we can't have that."

"I will. Thank you." The woman said and left.

The woman stood totally still, and Tran entered. The two of them began pondering her pose.

"You can go back to work, Medea." Mae said.

"Okay. I'm glad that woman's friend wasn't in trouble." She replied as she left.

"Remove your clothes." Mae instructed as Quistis went back to work.

Their hypnotised helper knew nothing of the fact that this woman, who upon further investigation would turn out to be a former pupil of Quistis when she had been an instructor,  was soon to join the gallery. Quistis, or Medea, would forget the woman had even existed before the day was out...

***

Medea was somewhat surprised to learn a new statue was to be put on display today. She always heard nothing about them until the day they would go out, except those ones which she had been a model for. Even though she saw her employers working at marble sometimes, every so often came one she'd never even seen them work on. Like today. She'd never seen them working on the statue of Athena that stood there now. it looked somehow familiar, but Medea couldn't guess why.

Perhaps it was because these secret statues, as she called them, always seemed to be the best work the sculptor couple ever did. Always so detailed and lifelike. And they all had faces that felt like you had seen them before too, but then again, they were just statues. And statues can look alike even when they were not from the same artist, right?

Salia Dane was now locked away in the back of her mind. In charge was a simple recurring thought. She was a statue of Athena. She was nothing but marble. She was a statue of Athena. She was nothing but marble...