Eiko was not one for fear. Even though she was a young girl she had more courage than full-grown knights of Alexandria at times, occasionally manifesting in all the self preservation instincts of a Lemming that actually believed what humans thought about its species.
But now, she was scared.
She'd been sold a while ago, the four statues left for far longer than hoped and leading to her being separated. At least a month since then, if she had to guess, and no one had come for her. Not Freya, not Steiner, not Garnet, not Vivi, not Zidane.
Quina and Armarant were not exactly the type to be the cavalry, so she automatically never included them on a list of potential saviours.
Nonetheless, she'd have been happy to be wrong, very happy. She hated this new place. Not only because she was separated from the others, and stuck for goodness knows how long but because she found this place so creepy. So many cherubs and winged shapes, male and female.
It was disconcerting to think that's all she was. Rock, like them. Just a shape.
And tour groups didn't help. To hear people talk of her as just an object. Just something to look at. Not what she really was. Just a scared little girl who had been part of a plan that had gone very, very, wrong
And since she was not one for fear, when it took hold, it did not go away easily. Not without something to comfort her. Garnet and Zidane had become like elder siblings to her (in spite of her girly crush on the blond male even she knew the truth that it was nothing more than that) and somehow she felt that if they were there, even still stone like her, she'd feel a lot safer...
She was horrified to hear one day that the statue she knew as Steiner had apparently been stolen. After a break in attempt, she recalled, Zidane and Garnet had been moved to a place with extra security to themselves.
And now for some reason Steiner had been stolen. She held hope that maybe it was the others trying to rescue them and Steiner had just been the first and easiest to reach now, but she couldn't help but feel scared she was wrong.
She wasn't sure how long she had been there, but the world hadn't ended so presumably Kuja hadn't won. She'd tried her best to sleep as much as she could, but it often took at least a week or so to sleep. And then her dreams were not always pleasant. The ones that lasted a long time were the ones she wanted to end fastest.
She had no clue what year it was. All she knew was that sometimes people spoke of a "Prime Minister Steiner" now and... well, she knew it wasn't her Steiner. He was a captain and that didn't sound like any of the army ranks he had told her about one night when she was curious about what an army was. What was a Prime Minister anyway?
If only all the teachers with their classes of little brats and tour guides followed by troops of dumb pink people spoke about that instead of her! She wasn't "The Angel"! Why would she be THE Angel in a gallery FULL of the darn things?! Why did they have to point out she was a "modest newt" or whatever it was they said? Can't they tell her what year it was? How long she's been here? If the others had ever tried to come for her? What the heck a Prime Minister was?
But today there were going to be no tour guides or teachers. Just as happened that uncertain time ago it seemed she was going to be sold again.
And she was scared. She'd already been taken across the city from The Wild Boy and Wild Girl and now she wasn't going to be taken somewhere else. To Burmecia. All that way. Another country.
It was maybe a month or two since she had got to Burmecia that she realised that the grey-furred Burmecian cleaning her was a lot more gentle with her wings than anywhere else. The cleaner also noted that she was glad they were much smaller than the stuffed Zuu's wings, or the wings of the Pegasus statue somewhere else in the gallery.
It made her feel somewhat self-concious. Surely her wings were nice even if they were small, right?
It was a week after that it hit her she wasn't meant to feel anything on her wings and that made her very, very, scared. What did it mean? The wings were fake! How could she feel anything from them!
It was some time later she was startled when a small Burmecian wondered what she was, and she found herself wondering the same thing.
"Mummy, why is that grey human just standing there?"
"It's not a human, my love. That's a statue. She's called The Angel. Look, all the other things in this room are statues. There's Lady Freya's statue."
"...How can grandma be a statue?"
"She isn't, dear. That's just a statue of what she looked like when she was your father's age..."
Somehow it felt wrong to be named The Angel but as the day wore on, two things occurred to her.
She was indeed the only Angel she could see now. And she couldn't recall any other name she had.
And that made her feel strange. Like something bad had happened.
"Lady Freya, is something wrong?"
It found itself surprised to only notice the old Burmecian when someone spoke to her. She was almost as still as another statue. How long had this Lady Freya been looking at it?
And why did the name seem familiar?
"No... Just that Angel seems familiar somehow."
"Maybe you saw it when it was in Treno thirty years ago?"
The older Burmecian snapped.
"I'm only seventy four! I'm not senile yet, young whelp!"
Another Burmecian entered the field of view.
"I won't argue the point..."
"As well you shouldn't, little Prince. You're not King yet. And even if I sometimes forget the little things I remember all the important things. For instance a young Prince who tried to climb a chimney one day..."
Another Burmecian giggled.
"And as for you, grand-daughter, I'll remind you I have plenty of stories about you as well, so don't think your husband is the only one!"
"Ah... Er, Grandma, now I think about it you mentioned you went to Treno a lot when you were younger... "
"Ah. That'll be where I saw The Angel then. Whole gallery of the blasted things used to be in Treno. Might still be there for all I care really. Saw one statue, saw them all."
"Apparently it was part of a set. There was The Wild Girl and the Wild Boy as well. The Boy is in Lindblum now and the Girl seems to be somewhere in Alexandria. Apparently it looked like Garnet the 17th ."
"Rubbish. I know that statue and I met Garnet the 17th. Garnet had longer hair and she was a lot pinker!"
The three walked off, leaving The Angel with just familiar names echoing in its head...