Chapter 1: Homecoming

There are all sorts of boredom, each one lazily creeping in unoticed, like an unexpected visit from a relative that isn't particularly well-liked, and goes about its own way of making people either take long naps, go insane, or just stare into space. The boredom that clung about the Ragnarok, as it drifted across miles of ocean with all the amazing topographical variety of Kansas. It was the sort that you feel when you've boarded the plane, and by Hyne, as if they hadn't delayed your flight enough with safety proceedures and seating arrangements, it turns out that they can't seem to get a large flock of geese off the runway. It's the sort of boredom that is accompanied by very stuffy, cramped conditions and anxiousness, which usually manifests as a stomach cramp. Not really the calm before the storm, but more like the chaos before the take-off.
Compared to the movies and reality television shows that are based in forcefully squeezing rather obnoxious and annoying people into these sorts of enviroments, it wasn't really that bad aboard the ship. It might have to do with the fact that the producers of those shows know basic sociology and psychology, and they definately know that explosions are the sorts of things people like to see, whether they're made of fire or words. But if any explosions had ever been on the way, they'd already passed by now. Riku was back, after all, and even though Akirame seemed very distant and kept to herself now in a rather... ashamed-of-herself way, she wasn't radiating a cloud of doom. As for Erik... like Akirame, he kept to himself. In fact, everyone was keeping to themselves. They'd had rather quite enough of each other, and had all unanimously felt the overwhelming desire to simply go home. In the cases of a few, that desire was very distressing. Erik didn't really have much of a home to go to, other than Balamb Garden. But he was different now. So violently different, in fact, that he felt that he didn't really belong at the military school any longer. But then there were the islands, where most of the group were dead set on heading. It was both a terrifying, yet hopeful proposition. He'd see his mother, a woman who until now had always been but a faint memory in his mind, a fuzzy shape made of emotions. The light at the end of the tunnel always casts shadows, though. Would his mother be happy to see him? Would anyone remember him, like Kira had in Winhill? If the island community was as tight-knit and suffocatingly small as it sounded, his arrival would definately cause some comment. But then again, did he even have a choice? If worse came to worse... he could hide within himself. Within the shadows that he'd become part of. That, and recently Serena had sewn up a very impressive and stylish black cloak for him, that went down to his calves and swished when he walked, sleeves that gave him plenty of mobility, and a thick, yet comfy hood that hid nearly all his face in the most ominous way. He really felt that he ought to be an assassin of sorts, hiding loads of knives and intricate spygear under the cloak. Akirame hadn't liked it much at all though. Upon the first sight of his paled face and unnerving lack of blinking, she'd taken refuge by simply ignoring his exsistence.
In fact, right now she was doing exactly that, as he sat beside a window in the shadows cast by the gray light of the moon, turning a knife on its point this way and that, so that it caught the light and directed it away from him. The air was thick, despite the cool air. They were just waiting to get home. After a great detail of strained discussion, Riku had made the official decision that they would part company only until everyone was certain as to what was going on. Serena's ability to See had faded considerably since she'd left the Farplane, and now she had little more idea of what the future held for them, other than the same dark presence that now filled a certain space in the world itself that hadn't been there before. It wasn't even very big yet, but they all knew it was growing in some way.Even in the most violent of wars, there will be stretches of raw, tense peace, which are best used getting your last few errands done, and training like hell for the next enemy attack. So Irvine, Red, Ansem and after a brief arguement, Jerdania, had all settled on heading to Balamb Garden, where they would inform Headmaster Cid of the current situation, seek any information on Sin they could find, and get it out to all the other Gardens, who would in turn ready armies, surgical strikes, and a system to get innocent civilians to hide in their cellars.
Riku, Akirame, Sora, Kairi, Erik and Serena would all go to the Islands to settle things at home. Mostly to do with the aftermath of having run away from home for a month without even writing a letter to let your parents know you're not dead. After they'd reassured their families and served their individual sentences, the whole group would rendezvous at Balamb, and work their way from there. An incredibly straight-forward and well-thought plan devised between Jerdania and Riku over lunch. The tactical chemistry between those two was astounding.
So all that was left now was to stare out the windows as the ocean drifted beneath them. They would have been there at least five hours ago if it hadn't been for the pockets of freakishly unseasonal weather they'd been encountering on the way. According to Rikku, who had popped in to reassure them with any reports from the Cids, there were hurricanes trying to form in some of the most unlikely random places, but didn't seem to actually be getting anywhere. In fact, with a certain amount of gut-knotting anxiety they'd passed right underneath one that evening. In the expanse of perfect calm, a knot of clouds had clustered together in a half-hearted attempt at a spiral, which looked more like mashed potatoes trying their very hardest to be ominous. It would have been laughable and subject to ridicule if it wasn't for the very eye of this amateur storm, which seemed to make the deep blue above it seem thin and stretched, like as if a hole was forming in the sky itself. The edges of the clouds there were much more acquainted with the idea of forboding, and had formed a tighter saw-blade spiral tipped with reds and golds. It was sad to think of a storm putting out so much effort to arrange a sight this amazing, and being dealt short with supplies, it had only managed to spread itself out an embarassing half-mile, and had nothing better to wreck havoc on than a few migratory sea-birds, and the occasional pod of whales. But it had potential.
The Cids had decided to play it safe anyways, and had slowed down while passing beneath it, adding another groan-inducing delay. But there was some comfort to be found in arriving at home at night, mostly the comfort that you'll at least be expected to get a good night's sleep before having to deal with unpacking.
"Guys, Guys! Get your stuff together, we're gonna be landing at the docks of the main island in just ten minutes!" The quotation marks and exclamation points burst out of Rikku's mouth as she noisily ran towards them, wrecking havoc and effectively destroying the trance-like atmosphere of the narrative.
Those who needed to rose from their seats and gathered up their stuff, made quick last-minute affirmations of plans already made, traded phone numbers, and promised above all else to stay in contact as much as possible. They made their way down to the cargo bay and watched the image on a large plasma screen that had been installed across from the chocobo pens. It had been a rather novel idea of one of the crew to suggest installing similar screens at intervals throughout key areas of the airship, which could be used to display the current view outside different points of the ship, the cockpit, in case the captains wanted to make an announcement, things like that. Very useful indeed, if you wanted to see the enemy ship that had shot you, the wing tearing off and landing in the ocean, the desert island that you were going to crash-land on, and the captian screaming and clinging to a chair. Right now it simply showed the midnight-blue of the sky, the silver-splotched ocean, and black masses patching the horizon, topped with giant trees. "It's home..." Kairi said to herself, feeling her heart double on itself. "I can hardly wait to get to my house and sleep in my room for once."
The others mumbled similar expressions of gratitude, heaving bags onto their shoulders and steadying themselves against the metallic hull as the ship lurched to a halt, then smoothly descended some ways and the oiled screeches of technology vibrated in the floor beneath them. So far water landings hadn't been too bad, with the practice the pilot had been getting, and the ship touched down in the water without much fuss. The pitch of the turbines dropped drastically from a high-pitched, yet distant roar to a deep rumbling, backed up by a choir of waves. The speaker crackled to life again. "We're going to have to stop here, seeing as to how the airship would be more likely to plow through the docks than actually park there. So instead we'll have you guys just take an inflatable raft and paddle it the last little stretch to the beach of your choice, eh?"
Despite the groaning, they rumaged around until they found a tightly folded rubber cube, spread it out on the floor like a blanket, and watched as Sora, after a few false starts, pulled the cord hard enough to make it self-inflate. Happily, the brunette sat down and lazily stretched out in the large raft. "Hey, if we get to keep this, think i could use it to replace my old mattress?"
After the appropriate amount of goodbyes were said, the island-bound travelers gathered into the raft and pushed off the cargo bay ramp into the water, and obligingly Sora and Riku took up the oars, more than likely as an attempt to show off their rowing muscles. The main island was brightly lit along the paths to the piers, mostly with garden lights, but they weren't bright enough to take away from the beautiful sky above them, frosted with the cold twinkles of celestial nightlights. Nothing had changed at all since they left. In fact, it was completely absent from the normal summertime nightlife, and to fill the void, the insects that lived in the thick tropical foilage seemed to be working twice as hard to make up for it. "Where do you think everyone is, Sora?" Kairi softly asked.
"I dunno... maybe there's a storm coming? We heard about all those hurricanes forming out there..."
"They were pretty far out in the ocean, I don't think they'd make it here."
There wasn't much else to be said as the raft was guided past the docks and towards the sand bars closer to the actual coast, beached, was emptied and deflated, then re-folded and tossed into the boatshed that Sora's father owned just out of the way. Their sheer excitement at finally being home was sapped by the trek through the main island's village to the bridge that crossed over to one of the smaller "subdivision islands" that clustered around the bigger one like crumbs around a cookie. Then it was simply a matter of walking as quietly along the beach as they could towards their individual homes. Sora went with Kairi to her house, leaving just Erik, Riku and Akirame. "So... Riku... where do I stay?" Erik asked, just to fill the silence.
"Depends, do you want to meet mom tonight?" Aki asked him.
"Not sure... I think I'd sleep better if we got it over with tonight. Besides, it's late. What makes you think she'll still be up?"
"Evela's just like that... she's always awake, and no matter what, she always seems to know exactly what's going on. I've never seen that woman at a loss before in my life, and I don't think she'd start now. In fact, I'll wager ten Gil that she's sitting at that table, drinking coffee and staring at the clock, waiting for us." Riku quite nonchalantly stated as he drifted in the direction of Akirame's house, knowing for sure that there was a slap waiting to be endowed upon his head.
"I say she's sitting on the porch in the dark, and she hits both of us."
Erik's stomach curled into the equivalent of an electric cord, wrapping around his kidneys and gallbladder. Anxiety caused his heart to race, and adrenaline made him shake. This was it, for the first time in at least twelve years, he was going to see his mother. Would she recognize him? Would she cry or scream or be angry? Did she even know he was still alive? Why hadn't she come for him? Question marks cluttered his mind and made it hard to think. And then, there was a big, unmissable black mark on his heart... did she know he was a murderer? Uneasily, he pulled the hood of his new coat further over his face. Just as she'd seemed to have faded out of existence, Serena was there again, beside him, holding his hand. "I'm still here Erik. She's awake, I can feel it."
"Premonition, or just digestive problems?"
"Neither, this is something... that would be hard to explain. Let's just call it a feeling for now." A certain knowing look flickered in her eyes, and she straightened her shoulders and walked more firmly.
So this was his house, was it? It didn't seem to strike any familiar tone in his mind. Just a simple wooden equivalent of a tropical double-wide. No woman sat on the front porch, but the windows were glowing with light from inside the house. As Akirame almost numbly opened the screen door, they could hear the clink of dishes being washed and set somewhere. "Oh no, she's cleaning... that mean she's going to be really quiet, then she's going to hit one of us."

Evela was like any mother, really, in that she seemed to just be endowed with the ability to know exactly what her daughter was up to at any given moment. It wasn't remote viewing, or any other psychic ability, it was just a gut feeling, and for the past month it had been constantly swinging between utter panic and calm. She knew that in the end her daughter would be fine, and that she would come home. The other parents had panicked, and they had come to her, demanding, demanding that she tell them what she knew. She hated it so much, the way they regarded her like some sort of mystic. Certainly, she had a sort of... power, as it were, an uncanny gift to stare into space while drinking her coffee, and just knowing exactly what was going on around her. She was so aware of things, it frightened people just to be near her, and know that there was nothing they could hide from her at all. Evela knew everything that happened on the island, and it had caused the rest of the community- which she'd never become a part of from the very moment Eugene brought her here- to respect, fear, and even hate her. Like she cared what they thought, she had been in love with Eugene from the very moment he'd arrived in her village so long ago.
Details were something she never forgot, every memory a perfect photo in her mind, sharp and clear, even when she wished they'd become blurry and fade. Those days would never matter again, what happened had happened. They'd gotten married, he'd dragged taken her here, they'd had children... and then he found out about her. Come to think of it, it was rather astonishing to think he hadn't noticed anything peculiar about the very town she'd come from. It wasn't like she was the only one, there were plenty of other people just like her, all of whom were now... elsewhere, just being like she was. And that's it. Casually she picked up the last dish from the hot water in the sink and rinsed it, not looking up when she heard the screen door open. Yes, she was immensely relieved, but she'd known all along that her daughter would be alright. Riku too, of course... strange, she'd never felt much of a mother towards him, but more like she was just watching him until someone came to get him back... he'd always acted likewise. Oh well, there was a reason, she'd know it soon enough. Didn't change the fact that she was going to give him a right beating for dragging those kids away. She'd been looking forward to it.
"Mom... we're back..." Akirame's voice trembled with uncertainty and emotion, and Evela's heart twanged right into mother-mode.
"Oh Hyne, Akirame!" She whispered, turning and pulling her daughter into a soothing embrace. "Riku, I'm going to kill you in a bit."
"I know, Evela."
"No 'sorry', huh? That figures, just like you to do something stupid and not feel that you should apologize." She couldn't help but smirk at that, though, and kissed her beloved daughter's forehead. "I knew you'd keep them safe, Riku. You've always been responsible, but such a damn fool."
The boy only wearily nodded his head and sat down, while two other figures hovered uncertainly in the hallway, one jittery with nervousness. They'd been through too much; all of them stank of exhaustion and poor hygiene. At least Evela wasn't the sort who needed calming down and a long explanation. She always knew whether or not you told her anything. At the same time, you never knew about her... but now a strange look of serious disbelief clouded her deep brown eyes. "You two in the hallway, come here where I can see you," she said in the tone of voice used when giving a command to an intruder in your home.
One of the two was a girl, not very tall, but a very beautiful mulatto girl, who had the exact same sort of knowing, stern glance that Evela had. Another one, then? So it's like that... I know that you know, girl. Something like an intense truce of powers built up between those two just at that one glance. The other stranger was a good bit taller than her, and dressed like a cult member, and even more unnervingly was the fact that they seemed to sort of fade in and out of focus, sharpening and blurring around the edges until you blinked. They seemed sort of edgy about stepping out of the shadowed hallway and into the light cast from the kitchen.
Deciding not to put this creature at too much unease, she stepped into the shadows, and had a very strong sense of entering another person's territory, but at the same time she felt welcome there. She'd dealt with these things before plenty of times, and she knew exactly how to handle herself without missing a beat. It was just that the welcome was foreign to her. This creature had been quite anxious to meet her. "And who are you?" She asked, looking at the hooded cloak as if it was the person itself, instead of trying to peer into the dark to make out a face.
"It's me, Momma," a male voice distantly mumbled.
"'Momma'... it can't be..."
Erik reached up and pulled the hood away, and Evela saw herself looking right into her own eyes, set in a face hauntingly like her lover's... "Momma, it's me, Erik."
Evela dropped the dish on the floor, and heard the crash without even really noticing it. The shock wrapped her in a blanket, and she fuzzily reached out and touched his cheek, feeling how warm the shadows were. "My baby boy... all these years I thought I'd never see you again..."
Erik trembled and stepped forward into his mother's arms, the shadows wrapping around them both in a secure bubble. "Momma, I'm home," he cried.