Archdruid Sephiroth Presents
A Final Fantasy VI One Shot
"All That Remains"
General Marcus Vrax was one of the most stalwart supporters of the dream set forth by Emperor Gestahl... A Magitek Knight of the Second Order. Indeed, Marcus Vrax was second in his skills and training only to General Leo himself. So it came as a shock to him when he was chosen for such a task.
"You will go to Sector Beta with the child and take care of her," the Emperor had said. It wasn't a request, it was an order.
The child in question was the bastard child of Kefka, carried only eight short months by the woman he raped, Terra Branford. The child was female and would effectively be only a quarter Esper... but half Magitek infused human. There was no telling just what the child would be able to do when she got older. This was precisely what Emperor Gestahl was hoping for... or at least Vrax imagined it was. But to place him in charge of the child was... puzzling to say the least.
"Me?" the general asked. "I'm a warrior, not a daycare specialist."
Undaunted the Emperor explained his command. "You're trustworthy. I don't think I can trust General Leo with this... and I know I can't trust Kefka considering he's responsible for it. If he knew Terra had a daughter, he'd stop at nothing to either control it or kill it. Take the child to the facility then report to Cid in two weeks telling him she didn't survive, even if she does. Let him think the child is dead."
"Very well, my lord." But Vrax was bothered a bit by that last part. Why would the Emperor want the continued existence of the child kept secret? Was he afraid that Cid might do something?
"I'm counting on you," Gestahl added, reinforcing the fact that he was trusted above all others.
That settled it. There was no turning back now. It was a royal decree and he just effectively swore an oath, one that was likely to keep him off the battlefield for the rest of the campaign. He effectively went from one of the most feared men in the army to an unlikely foster parent.
"I will raise her as if she were my own." The words came easily to Vrax, and with good reason. "I guess it is well that I have no family left alive to tie me to the capital... I have a feeling I'll be at Sector Beta for quite some time."
Sector Beta was a research facility that experimented with alternative forms of Magitek. The main building was an imposing structure of steel and concrete towering 14 stories. The structure sprawled out in three directions north, west, and south forming a T-shaped structure. There were several levels below ground as well.
The entire facility sat on a large island located far to the south of the city of Albrook. It was covered in trees and inter spaced with rivers, streams, mountains, and hills. It was beautiful to be sure, but it was not Vrax's cup of tea. He preferred the bustle of Vector over this remote facility.
Alya, the child he was taking care of, was now close to two years old. It had been 16 months since he gained this assignment. No one at the facility questioned why the child was there, or in the care of an Imperial General. After dealing with the likes of Kefka, they knew not to ask the wrong questions.
Alya was already intelligent enough to know she was different, but she didn't know why. Her blonde hair was a gift from her father, Lord Kefka, while her green eyes came from her mother, Terra. The hair was perfectly matched to her father which made some of the scientists express discomfort around her. That was one shade of blonde you remembered.
Lord Kefka hadn't visited the facility in a couple of years, which was just fine by the scientists. It was fine with Vrax as well, who was under strict orders to not reveal the child's existence to the madman. He wouldn't reveal her existence even if ordered, he understood how controlling Kefka was when it came to any aspects of Magitek.
Of course the reason Kefka wasn't there had much to do with the events happening elsewhere in the world. There was a report about the capital being attacked by Esper and the Returners in peace talks with The Empire. It seemed unthinkable, but The Empire was losing the war. Vrax was upset by this, feeling if he was only there he might have been able to help.
It was a relatively clear day as Vrax carried Alya around the outside of the facility. Though he'd rather be inside, Alya seemed to like the outdoors so he relented. He came upon a brook that passed close to the facility and sat on a rock, allowing Alya to wander around a bit within sight. For a child just shy of two, she was very active and very intelligent.
A few minutes after his arrival there he felt a rumbling, as if a great train were passing by. But there were no railroads on this island. Just a standard road that led to the docks where supplies would be received. He had no idea that thousands of miles to the north east, a great mass of land was now floating. Never-the-less, his instincts told him there was danger.
"Alya!" he called out, and the girl responded instantly, awkwardly running back to the massive man. He scooped her up just as a scientist was running towards him.
"General Vrax!" he yelled. "We need to get you to higher ground! The ocean is receding!"
Knowing instantly what that meant, he ran with Alya up the hill back to the fortified facility. As he crested the hill he looked west, towards the coast and saw that indeed the water was pulling away from shore quickly. Multitudes of fish were flopping about on the suddenly exposed seabed.
"Tsunami," he whispered with only the slightest touch of fear in his voice. "Get everyone inside!" he ordered. "Lock down the facility! Now!"
The building was the most fortified location on the island, but he wasn't certain if it would hold up to the rigors of a massive wall of water. He watched as the men scurried about, shoring up doors and getting everything of value into protected areas.
It was less than an hour when the blue line of the wave was visible from the tower. The unstoppable wave rushed the shoreline with the force of a thousand Magitek blasts. It destroyed the docks almost instantly, splintering them apart before it slammed into the hillside, obliterating layers of soil instantly.
Vrax was on the fifth floor when the wall of water hit. He heard the windows on the fourth floor shatter upon impact and the screams of the men as they were suddenly slammed with an outstanding force. Many he knew, would be killed instantly. The ones that weren't so lucky would drown. The water quickly rose over the windows on his floor and he knew he had to make a run for it.
Clutching Alya to him he ran for the stairwell, knowing the elevators would be suicide. As he hit the stairs he heard the windows shatter, which spurred him on faster. He didn't stop until he hit the ninth floor and he saw the water didn't make it past the seventh. It was now rushing down the other side of the hill into the valley. He leaned against the wall, breathing a sigh of relief, believing the worst was over.
Then he felt the rumbling again. This time it felt as if it were coming from everywhere at once. His Magitek senses alerted him to a dramatic shift of the ether, as if a fundamental shift in the very balance of magic had just occurred. Alya instantly began crying which took Vrax off guard. Alya was quiet and calm throughout this ordeal. Suddenly, at the moment of the ether-shift, she was very upset.
'Must be the Esper part of her,' he thought to himself. 'But what could have happened that would upset her this much?'
The rumbling suddenly went from distant to everywhere at once. The skies blackened and the oceans swelled again. The building shook as windows shattered and the tower swayed. Vrax knew he had to get out of there otherwise he was done for. He ran back down the stairs, careful not to slip on the water. He tried to keep Alya's eyes hidden from the bodies that were strewn about and the destruction around them.
'What the devil is happening?!'
Vrax got outside and watched as the entire tower began to fall east. He ran south sliding part way down the hill and bracing himself. Alya's cries got louder. Around he could see the forest was shifting, some parts rising up and others suddenly falling. Water rushed into low lying areas and washed support buildings away. The sound was incredible, but Alya could be heard even over all the chaos. He held her close, trying despirately to keep her calm as the world ended around them...
Hours later, the land finally calmed. Survivors spread out to try to salvage what they could. Vrax stood upon a hill looking over the changed landscape, trying to ignore the surreal feeling of it all. How long would it before an Imperial cargo ship came with relief supplies? Would one even come? These where the questions on everyone's mind.
Vrax had the dreadful feeling that he already knew the answers to those questions.
Over the next two years, the world would change further and evil monsters roamed the lands. Even here, on this remote island, monsters would arise at night. There were a scant 50 survivors on the island from an original host of 300. Now they would die at the rate of 3 a month to monster attacks. By the end of the first year, only a scant few were still alive.
"Where are they?!" one of the scientists screamed at the shoreline. "Why haven't then come?!"
He would repeat this every day in the shadow of what was left of the facility. Vrax and his daughter would sadly look on, both realizing their changed realities where permanent. No help would come, and the few remaining survivors were on their own.
One day, Vrax felt his strength ebb from him and he knew that magic was indeed dead now. Whatever happened to cause the ether to shift had effectively destroyed it's existence, and likely was the direct cause for the cataclysm that left this world in ruins. Without magic he was just a swordsman, and the remaining survivors feared that they would all die soon.
14 Months after the island's sundering, the last of the survivors met his fate at the teeth of a Malboro. Vrax and Alya were now the only ones left on the island. Vrax abandoned the camp that night, carrying Alya in one of his great arms and running for the hills to the east. He held his gunblade in his right hand, keeping it readied for any threats as he ran.
Eventually, Vrax found a defensible area on top of a plateau. There was a small cave to provide protection from the worst weather and plenty of space to make a small farm for the two of them. He built cottage against the rock wall near the cave and continued to raise the child.
Over the years, the farm started to yield less and less crops and he knew the world was dying. This forced him to hunt more. When Alya reached age seven, groups of Triliums moved into the area, and Vrax knew it was time to leave. These odd creatures were highly poisonous and very aggressive.
While moving north, a group of Rhinotaur attacked them. These massive creatures were reminiscent of rhinoceros but humanoid. Vrax remembered they absorbed elemental lightning, but that knowledge was useless to him now that magic was dead. He was shocked however to see that they kept their bio-electric currents despite magic's disappearance.
There were seven of them in all. The first jumped in to try to gore him with its horn. Getting two hands on his gunblade he rushed forward on the pad of his foot and swiped upwards with his massive blade, pulling the trigger just before impact. The gunpowder charge in the weapon set up a powerful vibration allowing the weapon to cut with more efficiency, and the first Rhinotaur was split in half from crotch to shoulder. Alya tried to stay close but she knew she had to avoid the swinging blade.
"Father!" she cried, alerting him to another that was attempting to flank him. He cut this one across the mid section, using the last of his remaining gunpowder charges to take him out quickly. When a third attacked he slashed but it took several direct hits before the creature backed off from him. It bled in several places.
Vrax heard one of the Rhinotaurs building up an electrical attack and saw it was aiming for Alya. He pushed her out of the way taking the charge directly. It pulsed though him causing his body to seize up but his determination wouldn't allow him to drop his blade. The pain was intense, forcing him to kneel but he refused to submit. He tried to get back up but a searing pain ripped though is muscles.
"Alya!" he cried out. "Run!"
But the child wouldn't run. "Get away from my daddy!" she yelled at the remaining four Rhinotaurs. The moved in for the kill, and Vrax knew they were all dead. They could be the last of the human race, and this was how it would all end... on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere.
Suddenly an aura of energy appeared around the child and for the first time in years Vrax felt the ether around him become excited with energy again.
"Impossible," he whispered in disbelieve.
Her aura exploded as she screamed out, "I said LEAVE US ALONE!" A wave of fire passed over the area, originating from the child. Though Vrax felt the heat, the flames didn't harm him. The closest Rhinotaur wasn't so lucky and was instantly incinerated, leaving a blacked skeleton and ashes behind. The wave continued badly scalding and burning the remaining three. Two died to the flames, shrieking as they burned away. The last which was badly burned but still alive fled with the other injured one that still bore blade wounds from Vrax.
The former Imperial General watched as Alya finally began to calm herself and her aura reduced in intensity. At her feet, he saw that grass was growing at the rate of a centimeter a second.
'So that's why the world is dying,' he realized. 'Magic is the key to life. The fact that things are still alive means that the power isn't completely gone yet... but it's going away... except...'
Standing before him was a girl who could very well signal the revival of magic.
Once she was calmed completely, her aura faded away. She went to her father and tried to help him up.
"Daddy!" she said fearfully.
"I'm... okay..." he lied. "I... I just need... a moment... to shake... off... the stun."
When she touched him, he expected to feel great pain, but instead a warm feeling covered over him, and for a moment, a white aura appeared around Alya. The pain in his muscles instantly faded away as the shock-based paralysis left him.
"What?" Vrax whispered as he got back to his feet. "How did you do that?"
"I... I don't know, daddy," she replied. "I just thought about what I wanted to do and it just... happened."
"The power you possess hasn't been seen on this world for close to four years now. It's called 'Magic', Alya."
"But it seems natural to me that I have this power," she explained innocently.
"I see." Vrax considered her. "Alya... I've always told you that you were special... and now you have proved it beyond all doubt. You are special, perhaps the most special little girl in the whole world."
She seemed excited about that.
"Thank you for saving my life," he added. "If it were not for you, we would both have been killed by those monsters. But your use of the power needs to be disciplined in order to reach your full potential. I used to have that kind of power, but the world changed. Now I can feel the force of magic around you. I still can't seem to call up the power from within me, but I can still teach you how to use the power properly."
"Okay! I want to learn!"
Vrax laughed. "Easy there kiddo. We need to find a safe place first. We'll keep going north."
"Okay!"
As the years went on, Alya learned much about her power. Soon she was able to use proper Imperial Magic and call upon powerful Esperian powers from the part of her that was Esper. In time, she even learned how to use Vrax's blade as a focus for even more powerful magic. He made her a set of leather armor when she turned 16 and a sword of her own. Her skills only increased in power as time passed.
One day, fate would change her life forever.
In the early morning, Alya heard Vrax screaming her name. She quickly grabbed her own sword and ran outside to find Vrax was battling creatures she had never seen before. They were humanoid with longer limbs and glowing midnight-blue eyes. Their hands ended in long blade-like claws and their mouths held rows of teeth.
With her left hand she launched bolts of searing flames while her right held her sword in a reverse grip. She manged to pull some of the fiends off of Vrax as her body became a wheel of death. Vrax fought hard and she fought even harder, but the monsters kept coming. She had never seen anything like it before.
"Alya! We have to get out of here!" Vrax yelled.
"I know!" she yelled back and summoned down bolts of lightning to destroy some of the new comers, but her powers were being stretched, almost as if the creatures were simply there to wear them down. "This smells of a trap."
She noticed too late another fiend, this one with reverse blades along its arms closing on her father from behind.. "Look out!" she screamed, but it was too late. The creature brought its blades down. They punched though the flesh between the collarbones, delivering mortal wounds. Alya's heart sank, and something awoke within her. The monsters closed in on all sides ready to strike down Alya, but she didn't move.
Words came to her, and they left her lips before she could control them. They were whispered... a low volume that underlies the sheer power of the words.
"Cast off vanity... and embrace reality... Ultima."
Her eyes closed as the monsters leaped upon her, but at that moment, a blast of blue energy emanated from her. The fiends never touched her, thrown back by the awesome force of a spell that hadn't been uttered on this world for more than a decade. The ground around her tore up, trees were uprooted and darkling monsters were instantly disintegrated under the force of pure destructive energy.
The wave destroyed everything it touched, but just as it happened 9 years ago, Vrax was untouched by the energy. At the end of the spell, Alya collapsed to her knees. Everything felt like it drained out of her. It took a minute before she was able to get herself back to her feet and walk over to Vrax.
Upon seeing he was still alive she quickly slid down to him and tried to heal his wounds... but they wouldn't close.
"No!" she cried weakly. "You can't be too far gone! I can save you!"
Vrax's hand gently clasped her arm.
"No... daughter," he weakly replied. "It's... too late for me. You have to go on alone..."
"No, father! Please don't die!"
"I'm sorry, Alya... nothing can... save me now..." He coughed a gout of blood. "Listen to me... hear my last words..."
She leaned in closer as her tears began to fall uncontrollably.
"You are... more than just... unique to me... you... you are part Esper... and part Magitek warrior..."
"What?" she whispered between tears, not believing what she was hearing.
"It... is so... Your father... your birth father... he was a great mage... and your mother... was half-Esper. Her name..." He coughed again.
"Don't! Save your strength!"
"Her name was Terra... Branford..."
"Father..."
"I was... ordered to take care of you... but I loved you like a father should. Never... forget... you are... this world's last... hope..." His eyes began to close.
"Father! No! What do I do now?! What am I supposed to do?!" Her cries began almost frantic.
"Fig...a...ro..."
At this last word, he expired at last.
As the tears fell, Alya went numb... realization fell upon her that she was now completely alone. For almost an hour she stayed still next to Vrax's body feeling nothing but numb to everything. Finally she stood up and resolved herself to what needed to be done now. She put her sword back in its sheath and took up her father's gunblade, wearing the sheath of it over her back.
She took the time to bury him there in the woods, placing his helmet at the head of the grave.
"Figaro," she whispered to herself. "He told me about that place. An ally of The Empire once... But would there be anyone there that can help me now?"
She traveled north, knowing that Figaro would be in another land. Upon reaching the shore she made a shelter and spent the next week building a raft. It was an awful risk she was taking, but she knew that she was dead either way if she did not. The island had almost nothing left to give her.
As she left the shoreline, she shed one last tear. This island had been her home for 16 years... now it was just a place of horrible memories and lost family.
She looked forward... The future was uncertain, but she knew she could always trust what her father had told her. She would make for Figaro...
But would she find her destiny there? Or would she learn that she and her power were truly all that remains?
What I've felt... what I've known
Turn the pages, turn to stone
Behind the door, should I open it for you?
What I've felt... what I've known
So sick and tired, I stand alone
Could you be there, 'cause I'm the one that waits for you,
Or are you unforgiven too?
End