Tears of the Moon.
By Lakyan.
Disclaimer: I do not own FF8. Pity.
A/N: This is the sequel to Lunar Cry. About 16 years later.
Lanyari crept through the thick undergrowth. There was much prey in this forest. Many species were native to the planet, but a few creatures she came across were of her own world. Of course they were the Not So Wise that survived and multiplied in the optimal environment. She breathed in deeply. The atmosphere contained a lot more nitrogen than her own world, and so she was able to breathe a lot easier. She was a lot stronger because of the excess energy produced by her metabolic systems. Her protective talismans had provided her with luck, and their jingling did not hinder in her search for food. Not just food though, she was also searching for a Wise One. There was a good chance that there were Wise Ones, arisen from the survivors of the Tears. She kept going, as she had not yet explored this area of the forest. She came upon a cliff, and almost as far as the eye could see was a vast plain. The vegetation was sparse, like her home, and she could see a lot of her fellow species of the White world, as she came to know it, roaming near the base of the cliffs.
Lanyari began to climb down, but placed her foot on a loose stone, and slid and tumbled the rest of the way down. She stood up shakily, and let out a hoarse cough as she cleared the dust from her lungs. A grunting growl got her attention, and she stood face-to-face with a Horned One. These large creatures had rich purple fur, and a red mane. They also had long horns that protruded out on either side of its face. Lanyari could not see its face, but that was typical of the species, the horns were too heavy.
The Horned One growled again, shaking its battle-scarred horns wildly. Lanyari roared a warning, and placed her feeler on the beast's horns to placate it.
"I am Lanyari of the Wise Ones of the White World." She told it.
The Horned One stopped roaring its challenge and, lifting up its horns, looked at her.
"You speak our words?" He asked.
"Yes…there are more of you?" She asked, withdrawing her feelers.
"Not like me, but they speak," The Horned One spotted Lanyari's talismans. "Come, I will show you."
He led her along the bottom of the jagged cliffs, to a small valley. There was a triangular stone sticking out of the ground. It was polished smooth, and Lanyari recognised the characters on it as the same from the White World. Lanyari started to read the words.
"Across the plains the Wise Ones wait. Come follow, and so meet your fate. From the White World we have come, to live our lives, bathed in the sun."
"Our ancestors inscribed that on the stone, to point the way for the newly Wise to our city." The Horned One explained.
"You have a city?" Lanyari sat down, flicking her whiskers with interest.
The Horned One let out a loud bellow, which echoed throughout the crags.
"Yes, and that is where you are going. Your guide shall be here soon."
"A guide? You are not coming?" Lanyari asked.
"No I must patrol the border between the Great Forest and the Great plain. For the sake of our society, the Hairless Ones must not find us." The Horned one explained.
A low growl was heard, and a large spotted streak hit Lanyari hard. She rolled over in the dirt, biting and clawing at her attacker in rage. The form bit down on her neck, but only hard enough for a submission. Lanyari twisted round, forming a ball of fire between her feelers. She hurled it at her attacker, but before it stuck, she felt its weight lift from her. The fireball missed, and the assailant was tossed from the horns of her guide.
"That will be enough Rashta. She is Wise."
"Very well, Kanya." Rashta struggled to his feet. Fresh blood was oozing from a cut above his eye. Lanyari could see that a good foot and a half was missing from one of his feelers.
"One of the Hairless ones did that. I can no longer use magic because of it." Rashta noticed her staring.
"I am sad for you." Lanyari bowed her head politely.
"Don't be, magic users are feared as much in our society as that of the Hairless Ones. Sure it makes my job a little difficult, but I seem to get along fine." He sat down.
"Who are these Hairless Ones of which you speak?" Lanyari flicked her tail with interest.
"We do not know much of them, except that they will readily kill any one of us. They go about on two legs, and are as tall as a Bladed One. They have no fur that we know of, except for a tuft of a mane on their heads. They have no natural weapons, and so are weak in battle. However they carry artificial weapons, these make them formidable opponents. We fear them and hide from them. They have a city on the other side of the mountain range you have just crossed. Surely you must have seen it?"
"I have, and it frightened me. I have often looked upon it with a sense of dread. The survivors of the last Tear headed in that direction after they landed." Lanyari forced the thoughts of them devouring their own dead from hear mind.
"Yes the last Tear. It has been some years, and we have seen few survivors. You, however, are the only Wise One to come from the White World for a very long time." Kanya said.
"There was one before me?"
"That there was, long forgotten in time. He carved the words on the Pointer Stone which you see here, and founded the only city of ours that we know of." He explained further.
"A rather impressive feat given he was of the Tricky Ones." Rashta noted.
If Lanyari had eyebrows they would have sky rocketed.
"A Tricky One? Even the Wisest of Tricky Ones never amount to much." Lanyari choked out.
Rashta and Kanya started chuckling, an odd sound, a sort of whuffing noise from their respective throats.
"Never underestimate the Tricky Ones." Rashta laughed as he stood up and started across the plain.
"Where are you going?" Lanyari asked.
"Home. Are you coming or not?" He called back over his shoulder, a note of amusement still in his voice.
"Fare well Kanya." Lanyari called as she departed.
Kanya just nodded his head solemnly and marched his back to the mountains.
After about a weeks walk across the large and barren plain, Lanyari demanded a rest. She plopped herself down near a creek, and began to slurp greedily at the water.
"So tell me of the White World and the Tear." Rashta said after taking a drink himself.
"The White World is very busy. There is a myriad of shapes, sizes and colours to see, and that's just the people. We don't have many buildings as such, but we have a large city on the Dark Side. And there are many dwellings made by Those Underground. The Wise Ones live in the City, and the Not So Wise live in the cave dwellings. The Tears happen periodically, when the White World gets too overpopulated."
Rashta nodded when Lanyari finished.
"Tell me of your City. It would be useful to know something of it before I get there." She asked.
"There's not much to tell. I haven't been there a while, so it may have changed since I left. I prefer to patrol the border with Kanya and a couple of others. The Hairless Ones know that we are here, but they know nothing of the City, or our society. We try to keep the ones on foot out, and it usually works. The Sentries have to have much battle experience to keep them out. Many of our people have no experience, so the Sentries as well as the magic users are feared. Thankfully, we have a peaceful society, and the Sentries are not warmongers anyway. Overall the City is rather boring." Rashta finished.
A dark shape flew overhead. Lanyari ducked instinctively, while Rashta looked up with interest.
"It's probably just one of the Great Ones." He said dismissively.
Until it came around, and he realized that it was not the shape of a Great One, despite many similarities. It looked artificial.
"Hairless Ones! Come! We must fight!" Rashta ran towards the rapidly descending shape.
Lanyari followed uncertain. The ship opened up, and three creatures got out. They walked down the gang plank, weapons glinting in the sunlight. Rashta skidded to a halt, growling a low warning. The Hairless Ones looked at him, an odd gleam in their eyes. They reeked of adrenaline, on account of a snarling Rashta in front of them. Lanyari stayed back a little, not knowing what to expect from the strange beasts.
"Daddy, why is that one wearing beads?" an adolescent female asked.
"Don't know, don't really care. It's just a Torama." Said an older male with slightly greying hair and a scar on his face.
"Lets just bash it," said the adolescent male that was with them.
Lanyari drew some conclusions from this short exchange. She could not understand their language. The older one was a father, the adolescent ones, his young. And they were probably going to kill them. Lanyari leapt to Rashta's side at this.
Both let out fierce snarls, and the Hairless Ones drew their weapons. The two-legged creatures struck first, slashing at them with the sharp blades they each wielded. One got her blade stuck on Lanyari's beads, which came off, and Lanyari's neck felt oddly exposed. She backed off a bit, and started hurling fireballs with her feelers. Most connected with the Hairless female before a magic spell was put into place. Now her magic slammed into an invisible shield which glowed a dim red. She thought of something a little different. She glanced over at Rashta, who was bravely fending off the two males. Lanyari edged closer to the female, ducking and dodging the strange blade in her hands. She wrapped her feelers around the creature and concentrated for a few moments. It cried out but the males did not hear her. Lanyari let off the most powerful magic spell she had in possession. Contained within the small space of the shield the spell was amplified, and the female was engulfed in a ball of green smoke that soon glowed white hot. The shield burst and the magic dispersed but not before doing some damage. The female was unconscious. Lanyari turned to Rashta, and the two males now backed off. Rashta let out a snarl and the males attended to the female.
"They are leaving, we can go now." Rashta urged.
Lanyari did not move. She wanted to make sure. The semi conscious female grabbed at Lanyari's fallen beads, and then she was carried aboard the ship. The giant craft lifted off and made for the City of the Hairless Ones.
"My beads…" Lanyari sat down, upset at loosing her only possession in the world.
"Don't worry about the beads; you might be able to convince the Great Wise One to give you more." Rashta dismissed the topic, and started again toward the city.
"I'll get them back somehow." Lanyari sighed, and began to follow him once more.
By the time the sun began to set the city was in sight. It didn't look too advanced like the City on the White World. Nor did it look too primitive. Set into a deep ravine, the buildings were mostly made of red clay bricks; stacked almost haphazardly on top of one another. Yet there was a certain order in the chaos, such was the architecture of their people. The city gleamed an eerie red in the fading light, giving it a sort of ethereal look. Rashta marched straight into town, greeting a few people on the way. They all enquired about Lanyari, but he used a sort of slang speech to communicate with them, so she could barely understand.
Rashta led her through a maze of dwellings, building materials and eating areas. Many species dwelling in the city were meat eaters, and these areas were mainly covered with blood and small amounts of offal. Lanyari was later to learn that further along the northern mountain range was a large farming community, and these people farmed many native species. These they exchanged for building materials and various other supplies. This was the rather primitive economy upon which the peace was based. This was an example of a truly communist society, where greed was unheard of, and therefore unable to corrupt the minds of the citizens. It was based upon the principles of the White World, where any beast could do what they wanted within their own personal limits. Of course, the Not So Wise were nowhere to be found in the great city, choosing to live a wild life on the plains. They were safe from the Hairless Ones by the Wise, as the Wise felt compelled to protect their kinsmen. This society lived in harmony away from the Hairless Ones, minding their own business, and not worrying about the comings and goings of the outside world. The Moon Monsters were happy to lead their lives in ignorance and bliss, that is until Rashta return, bringing One of the White World with him, as well as news that the Hairless Ones could now fly in Great One shaped aircraft. This news caused a stir amongst the community. Many feared for their safety, and the appearance of One from the White World was thought to be an ill omen. Lanyari could understand their fear, for she had been inexperienced in battle before she came to the Multi-coloured world.
Rashta eventually led her to a large clay brick building, coloured in ochre and crushed lapis lazuli.
"Here we will find the Great Wise One. He has been in power for about 30 years, and is not a White-Worlder. This is, to say, he is an Orange One and he is native to this planet, and knows more about the Hairless Ones than any one else. That is what helps keep us hidden." Rashta flicked his short feeler towards an entrance.
"I shall wait for you here." Rashta sat on the dusty path.
Lanyari padded up the stairs, towards the maw of the building.
Yellow eyes glinted in the darkness. Lanyari was startled by them when she entered the inner chamber.
"Forgive this darkness, White-Worlder, as I am old, and the sun hurts my eyes." The golden orbs addressed her.
A candle fired up near the yellow points, revealing a greying animal that was clearly orange in its youth. A white stripe streaked across its belly, and its fire red mane was shot with grey.
"Please come closer and share your tail." The Great Wise One gestured to a straw stuffed cushion.
Lanyari padded to the cushion, and sat, gold earrings gleaming in the candlelight.
"My name is Lanyari, and you have guessed correctly, I am of the White World."
"I am Mason, son of Sculptor, and father of Sculptor. And what brings you to our city, Lanyari of the White World."
"I came from our home in the sky during the last Tear."
"Ah yes, the Tears of the Moon. Such has not happened for sixteen years. What had you been doing before you come to me?" Mason asked.
"I lived in a forest to the south. The Sentry, Kanya, found me as I ventured onto the plains. From there the Sentry Rashta guided me here. He waits outside."
"The forest you speak of is the Great Forest, Grandidi in the human tongue, and none of us venture there. It is much too close to the Shining City."
"Human?" Lanyari tried the strange word.
"The Hairless Ones," Mason chuckled deeply. "You forget I am native to this world, and know more of its native creatures than anyone."
"Rashta and I encountered the Hairless Ones on the Great Plains. We drove them off."
"This is disturbing news. I will have to double the border patrols."
"They came in a sky ship." Lanyari said.
Mason sat down abruptly in shock. "Then the news is all the graver…"
"They stole my protective talismans." Lanyari growled deeply.
Mason however, was not listening. Lanyari flicked her tail impatiently.
"I must think deeply on this. You may go."
Lanyari turned and paced out of the room, the candle extinguished behind her.
Some weeks passed by without any sign of the Hairless Ones. The borders were quiet and the Sky ship had not returned. Lanyari found residence with Rashta. She tried to make friends among the various monsters, but they always kept their distance. Rashta was frequently away for days at a time, being a Sentry, and Lanyari found herself longing for companionship. She explained all this to Rashta, who was very understanding, but could not see why she could not make friends.
"I want to see the world," She sighed. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life cooped up in the city. The Others do not seem to understand."
"I'd suspected as much. I'm not stopping you, but I will wait for you to return." Rashta said, before licking the side of her face.
"Thank you Rashta." Lanyari sighed once more, placing her head under Rashta's chin, and rubbing his neck.
"Wherever you choose to go, I will guide you to the border," Rashta stood. "But before you go I have something for you."
He disappeared outside for a moment, and returned with something in his mouth. It was a small silver band. He threaded it onto one of her feelers, so that it was sitting even with one the gold rings in her ear. On it was an inscription in their script; 'To my beloved Lanyari Rashta'.
"Rashta it's beautiful." Lanyari rubbed herself along his full body length.
They started to make their way across the plains. After a couple of hours the city was completely out of sight. They made their way past the many streams and canals that wove through the plain. Many monsters roamed these plains, Lanyari could now see.
They were a day and a half's journey from the pointed rock, where Rashta would leave her with Kanya, when a not so familiar, yet identifiable shadow passed over them. The Hairless Ones were back on their ship. They landed not too far away, and Rashta began to stalk the inhabitants. The same trio got off, though the young male now sported a tuft of fur on his chin.
Lanyari crouched low to the ground, certain that the Hairless Ones did not know they were there. This proved to be a mistake.
Rashta dashed from his cover, making straight for the group, Lanyari close behind. The Hairless Ones drew their blades and slashed before Rashta had a chance to strike. The older male struck him, shearing off one of Rashta's feelers, and leaving a long gash down Rasta's flank.
"Rashta!" Lanyari roared, darting now between her fallen mate and his attacker.
She swiped a sharp clawed paw at the older male's leg, knocking him off balance.
"Father!" The young male called.
"How stupid of me, I forgot Toramas are fiercely protective of their mates." He got up, narrowly avoiding a fireball from Lanyari's feelers. The young female managed to get behind Lanyari and cried out as she brought down her sword.
Lanyari whirled around as the young female administered the coup de grace to her mate. With a savage snarl, Lanyari leapt on her mate's killer. She put all her weigh onto her front paws pressing the creature into the ground.
"It's you…" The female grunted, but Lanyari took no heed.
She raised her head, teeth bared and glinting in the sunlight. She brought her head down to tear out the throat of the beast, but felt something heavy collide with her rear knocking her off balance. She hit the ground hard, and heard her leg snap where it hit a rock. She roared in pain, her eyes squeezed shut. The older male was approaching her, his blade hung low. She realized in her head that she was going to die here, without seeing the world, as she had dreamed. Something moved toward her, but Lanyari was so focussed on the older male with the scar that she did not notice the female place herself between her near killer and her sire.
"Raine, move." The older male told her firmly.
"No Daddy." The female had her arms spread, defending Lanyari.
Lanyari could not comprehend what was happening. The female she had nearly killed was now defending her, but for what purpose?
"Raine let me put this beast out of its misery."
"No Daddy, we can heal it, it will be fine."
"Raine, please! It's a wild beast!"
The female then raised her blade to her sire.
"No Daddy, I'm not so sure of that now."
"Not Wild? You would raise a weapon against your father to protect this beast?"
"Oh, if it's not wild, then what is it?" the young male piped up.
"It is intelligent." The female gripped her blade tighter.
"How can you tell?"
"The beads we found last time, which I cut from her neck, were incredibly well crafted. From bone, metal, and semi precious gemstones none the less. No dumb beast could do that. And the rings in her ear have been crafted by a master jeweller."
"How do you know this is the same beast as last time?" The older male inquired.
"It's because of the rings that I know. No other Torama or monster for that matter has ever had beads or jewellery of any sort. The male she was with, who now lies dead by my hand is missing a foot and a half of his left feeler. This is the same male we saw her with last time."
"What do you plan to do with it?" The older male asked.
"I could take her to Dr. Odine. He was very intrigued by the beads. I'm sure he'll be interested by their owner."
Lanyari stopped listening to their conversation, though she could not understand a single bit of it, when she looked back at Rashta's limp body. A long keening note uttered from her throat, and she continued to mourn her mate.
She snaked a feeler over and touched his still warm flank, and with one last sad moan, she laid down, ready to give up and die.
She felt something pick her up, but she took no notice. They took her aboard the ship and placed her in a small room. But she took no notice.
Raine tended to the Torama's wound. The leg was broken halfway between the paw and the elbow. Raine pressed her hands against the tan fur, and let the healing magic flow into the beast in front of her. The Torama just kept making the same moaning noises as it did before. The animal was rather docile, not attacking, and not defending itself either. Raine thought it might have something to do with the death of its mate. The poor beast just laid there, her feelers only twitching every now and then.
Raine left the Torama alone, leaving the room to consult with her father before deciding what to do next.
"How is it?" Squall Leonhart asked.
"Still the same as before." Raine answered, surprised that her father enquired about the beast's health.
"Good. We will be landing at Odine's lab in an hour." Squall replied shortly.
Raine sighed. Her father could never understand. Raine had long suspected that the monsters were intelligent, at least some anyway. A few of the monsters she had fought in training had had a spark of awareness in their eyes, and seemed to execute their attacks with deadly precision. It was these battles that she found the hardest, requiring all her skill to survive. The two they'd just fought were of that category. She had to commend the male, for last time he had managed to keep both her father and brother at bay. The female was very intelligent. Raine had never seen another monster use her magic quite like she did. Using her feelers to penetrate the Shell spell, and then setting off an Ultima inside the spell that was supposed to protect the inhabitant was a stroke of genius. Raine would never have thought of something like that. She guessed that was why she was knocked out by it. Thinking of the female, Raine turned to a security monitor, and noted that the Torama was now pacing up and down the far wall from the door. She seemed agitated now. She looked up at the camera, and a faint roar sounded through the bulkhead. The Torama raised her feelers and blasted the camera with a ball of flame. Raine was greeted by a burst of static from the TV screen. Raine grunted annoyance, and sat down to await the end of the flight.
The Ragnarok touched down just outside the Lunatic Pandora Research facility. The giant crystal pillar encased in metal and stone loomed over the squat building like a Ruby Dragon eyeing up its prey. Odine had been working on a translation of the inscriptions that completely covered the inside of the ship. He had found an alphabet consisting of twenty-one characters, as well as marks that he was sure were to represent the vowels. He had not some across anything like this before. He was surprised when he discovered a Moomba reading the script and understanding it late one night. Of course the Moomba couldn't talk so a translation was out of the question. So Odine took to teaching the Moomba how to write in human characters, so a full translation would be possible. Odine did not know why the Moomba knew the characters, nor did he know much about Moombas at all. To Odine, Moombas were just some dumb mutated animal, ubiquitous and harmless. Until now that is.
"Hurry Up," Odine whined. " Zis iz important bizness."
"Laguna!" The Moomba squeaked happily.
"And enough of zat squeaking!" Odine threatened it with a raised fist.
The clearing of someone's throat got Odine's attention. Squall stood in the doorway, his children behind him. The stench of ozone from the Ragnarok's huge engines hung in the air.
"Vell! Vat iz it?" Odine demanded.
"Squall marched up to the diminutive man. "Ve have somezing for you!" He mocked.
"Vell?" Odine fumed at being poked fun at.
"You remember those beads we found on the Mordred Plains a few weeks back?" Raine asked, as she joined her father.
"Of course." Odine gave her his attention.
"We found their owner."
Odine's face lit up. The beads had been a spectacular find, especially in an area that no one had visited for a very long time.
"Zis iz excellent news. Vhere is it?" The small man jumped up and down.
"In the hold. It won't let anyone near it." The young man remaining in the doorway piped up.
"You, make yourself useful, you boneheaded creature!" Odine shouted at the Moomba by his side.
The Moomba squeaked "Laguna!" and went to a hatch in the wall. It pulled out a tranquillizer gun.
"Yes that will be perfect." The young man said, as the Moomba walked to him and passed him another trank.
Raine made no move to stop them. She had seen the Torama destroy the camera. An obvious sign of intelligence, which was why they needed the tranks. She watched her brother, Chris; walk outside with Odine's Moomba.
Lanyari was still pacing in her cage. She roared and raged over her captivity and mourned the death of her mate. A door at the end of the room opened and the young male Hairless One strode in. Behind him walked an Orange One. Lanyari raged even more at the sight of a younger version of Mason.
"Help me!" Lanyari roared. "I am Lanyari of the White World! Please help me!"
The Orange One stopped short. "You know my tongue?"
"Yes, I know your tongue! The Hairless Ones have killed my mate! They will kill me too!" Lanyari shouted.
"They will not kill you. They have brought you here." The Moomba said.
Chris watched this exchange in wonder. All he could here was a series of grunts, growls and roars, but he seemed to think they understood each other.
"But where is here?" Lanyari stressed.
"The home of the Lunatic Pandora." The Orange One said simply.
"So, won't you help me?" Lanyari growled.
"Of course I will." The Moomba said. He loaded his trank gun and pointed it at Lanyari.
"Hey!" Lanyari cried indignantly.
The Orange One winked at her. He promptly aimed the trank at the human's foot.
Chris yelped then slumped to the floor, dropping his own trank gun. The Moomba discarded his spent weapon and picked up the humans.
"This way." He said, unlocking the cage.
Lanyari pushed against the door, and delivered an electric shock to the already unconscious Hairless One, just to make sure he stayed that way.
The Orange One led her from the craft, and out into daylight. The Shining City gleamed in the distance. Behind the squat building loomed a massive shape. It seemed vaguely familiar to Lanyari.
"That," The Orange One waved with his paw. "Is the Lunatic Pandora."
A wave of vague memories appeared swept through Lanyari's mind. Words unbidden came to her head. A long fall and her kind eating their own. She shook off the wave of nausea at the last one.
"Let's get out of here!" The Orange One motioned.
Lanyari followed him around the side of the building.
"Vat iz taking zem so long?" Odine whined.
"I'll go see." Squall said, picking up a trank gun from the hatch.
He stalked out the building and looked around. It was very quiet. The Ragnarok glittered with it's docking ramp down. The wind blew through the trees almost noiselessly.
"Wait Dad!" Raine joined her father.
"Where's Chris? She asked, before starting to jog towards the airship.
Squall quickly caught up to her. He found her staring at Chris's limp body, with no sign of either the Moomba or the Torama.
"Well this should serve him right." Squall remarked, pulling a dart from his son's foot. "I've fathered an imbecile."
"But where could the Moomba and the Torama have got to?" Raine raised her trank gun.
"Come with me, and come quietly, they may still be around." Squall cautioned, and led the way out of the ship.
He knelt to the ground, and studied the prints in the dust. Suddenly he broke into a run. He dashed around the side of the building. Raine dashed after him, but before she rounded the building she heard a volley of gunshots, and a shout. She came around the edge, and saw her father, the Torama and the Moomba, all knocked out.
She figured the Moomba had stolen Chris's trank gun, and managed to shoot her father before he went unconscious. She sighed to herself, and turned to go get Odine.