Disclaimer: FF:TSW and the related characters don't belong to me, if Square wants to raise a fuss let 'em because I'm broke!
Author's note: This work of fiction picks up right where the otherwise nicely done movie left us hanging at the end. I felt that is wasn't really fair to us fans, so I decided to continue it on the way I felt was logical. And there might be something really BIG around the corner the road for Aki & Co.! So, read on, review, and enjoy!
Chapter One: Phantom Crater
The great eagle gave a shrill cry and circled in the early morning breeze. A flick of her tail feathers and she effortlessly descended, head cocked as her keen eyes regarded the object that was hovering precariously close to the edge of a gaping fissure. Had the bird of prey swooped even lower, she would have noticed a small platform that was being winched slowly upwards, and the two still forms upon it as it emerged from the dark shadows of the crater below.
Aki felt the newly-risen sun on her face, and her thoughts traveled back over recent events…the joyous discovery of the final eighth spirit; the deadly beam of the Zeus Cannon lancing down again and yet again, as General Hein single-mindedly sought to destroy the phantoms; the crash-landing of the Quatro containing Gray and herself. Her brown eyes brimmed with tears as she looked down at the silent, motionless figure whose head she cradled in her lap. Gray Edwards had selflessly sacrificed himself so that Aki, Dr. Sid, and the rest of humanity could survive. Now his body, an empty shell, was all that remained.
The platform's upward travel slowed, then stopped with a slight jerk before retracting into the Black Boa's main loading bay. The main hatch swung closed as Dr. Sid coaxed the ship over to starboard and maneuvered it to a touchdown on firm ground. He left the cockpit and quickly headed aft to the loading bay. Upon entering the bay, he got one glimpse of Aki's face, and immediately knew what had happened. He paused, his eyes expressing sorrow.
Aki's voice was choked. "Gray was brave. He knew this was a one-way trip. He did…he did what he had to do." She gently laid his head on the platform and stood, stubbornly ignoring the pins-and-needles sensations in her knees. Dr. Sid knelt and slid his hands beneath the captain's arms. Aki grasped his ankles, and together they carried Gray into the craft.
"Let's get him into the medical lab. Easy, now." Walking backwards, Dr. Sid led the way to the small infirmary that was attached to the main lab. Carefully, they lay the courageous Deep Eyes leader onto the table, and Sid looked around. "I'm afraid that I don't see anything to secure him with."
Aki glanced up, eying the cluster of overhead analysis equipment.
"Here. I can use a stasis field to keep his body from…shifting. That will do until we get to Houston." She reached up and flicked a switch. There was a low hum and a shimmering silver field surrounded the prone figure.
This done, she sighed and leaned against Dr. Sid, and it was then that her emotional dam broke and she was swept away in a tide of misery. Her shoulders shook with her sobs and she turned her face into Sid's chest, barely hearing the comforting words of her mentor, who embraced her and wordlessly allowed his protégé to express her anguish.
After a few more moments, she pulled away and hastily wiped at her tear-streaked face, somberly heading towards the cockpit.
"Let's go," she said. "There's nothing left for us here now."
* * *
Its powerful engines powering up from standby mode, the Black Boa prepared for departure. In the pilot's seat, Aki ran through the standard pre-flight routines. Her movements were automatic, almost mechanical; her mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of Gray, and what he meant to her, now, in the end. Emotionally exhausted, she gazed out of the portside window.
The phantom crater was a huge empty eye socket, its malevolence gone now that the phantoms had departed. Dr. Sid had been in contact with Houston, and had been relayed the news that the Zeus Cannon, and all aboard, was now nothing but a rapidly dispersing cloud of gas and debris in low earth orbit. Down in the Leonid impact site, somewhere, there still remained the wreckage of the Quatro that she and Gray had utilized in their attempt to project the spirit wave amalgam. Unless a salvage team was dispatched here, that vehicle would remain undisturbed for decades. If only Hein hadn't fired his cursed weapon, Edwards would still be alive and sharing her company even now. She tried to pay no heed to the sorrow within her, but it was hard to do.
It was so damn hard.
"Everything is stowed, Aki. Are you ready?" Dr. Sid asked softly, looking at her with concern. He had taken the co-pilot's seat and belted in, his hand gently yet firmly squeezing her arm.
The ship's pilot took a deep, shuddery breath. "Yes. The autopilot course is set to Houston Barrier City coordinates." She grasped the left-hand joystick, her other hand stroking the control keys, and increased power to the VTOL system as she coaxed the shuttle upwards. The landing gear retracted as the linear aero-spike boosters went through their priming cycle. The passengers were pressed down into their seats as acceleration began to build, and then both the crater and the Caspian Mountains were rapidly falling away and slipping astern. The ship turned westward; the few clouds that remained were beginning to thin out as the day warmed.
Dr. Sid opened a common broadcast channel, and the cockpit was immediately filled with the babble of enthusiastic newscasts, which were spreading worldwide about what had occurred at the crater. The two scientists were evidently already regarded as heroes.
He listened on for another minute, and then rolled his eyes, grunting as he killed the radio and looked at Aki.
She sat slouched in her seat, face expressionless, staring out of the forward viewport as they entered the upper layers of earth's atmosphere.
"Aki, Captain Gray and his squad died protecting us. Had Hein succeeded with his plan, the entire planet would have suffered. As is stands now, we have saved human civilization. Gray would not have wanted you to grieve for him."
She sighed. "Yes, I know. But it's just…I pushed him away in the time following my operation, and I shouldn't have done that. He loved me, and it's only now that I understand how much…that I'll miss him."
Aki lapsed into silence; the only sounds in the cockpit were those of the quiet chattering of the shuttle's flight systems. She was so uncharacteristically out of it that she almost failed to hear a series of faint beeps from the ship's sensor suite. After another moment she finally noticed it, and irritably reached over to shut it off. Then she froze, cocking her head. When she spoke, her voice was curiously flat.
"Dr. Sid, did you shut down the sensors after you detected the eighth spirit?"
"No, I didn't. Why?" Noticing her odd manner, he tilted his own head towards the readout. Then his gaze slid sideways and met hers. "Wait a minute…"
An idea began to form in Aki's mind. Her fingertips danced on the floating holographic controls and she shoved the stick over. The vista outside slipped to starboard as the ship banked around and headed back towards the impact site. "Autopilot off-line. I'm taking her down. Something is in that crater!"
Sid grasped the arms of his seat as the floor tilted away beneath him. "Aki, are you certain that we're not just picking up the Quatro? It was powered by ovo-packs, maybe a couple are still functional."
Her eyes, narrowed now, flicked towards him, and her voice showed signs of animation. "No. It's something else…take a closer look at that readout. The pattern…it's different from any other signatures we've ever recorded. Whatever the scanner has acquired possesses a faint trace of a human waveform! If this warrants an investigation, I believe that this is all the reason we need."
Aki's voice lowered to a near-whisper. "Whatever it is, it's not phantom energy…"
* * *
Once again the Black Boa touched down, and not more than a few meters from its original landing spot. Aki hastily unfastened her safety harness and was out of her seat almost before the engines had ramped down to idle. She hurried back to the lab, opening the main storage locker and strapped on her wrist computer, reconfiguring its settings as she did so. She reached into the open locker again and brought out a shoulder pack, then checked the charge on her light rifle. This was the same weapon that she was armed with in the ruins of Old New York. She had a suspicion on what she might find, but nevertheless had no intention of departing the Boa unarmed. She walked back to the cockpit and poked her head in.
"Dr. Sid, I've got to go down there," she said, securing her headset. "That waveform could be more than just the a mere power cell. I don't know how to explain my hunch…but I intend to find out!"
Sid regarded the headstrong young woman. "I'll monitor you from the cockpit. I want you to remain in constant radio contact, you hear?"
Aki acknowledged his concern with a small nod, before heading to the landing bay once again. As Dr. Sid moved across to the pilot's station, he called after her. "And Aki?"
She paused in the passageway, looking back over her shoulder.
"Be careful."
A small smile crossed her face. "I will, doctor." She entered the bay and stepped onto the parked platform, holding on as Dr. Sid brought the Black Boa's main engines up and flew the craft towards the crater. Sunlight flooded in as the huge loading door hissed open. As Aki waited for the craft to position itself over the chasm, her gaze was drawn to the infirmary's doorway. Hope stirred faintly within her. Would her crazy plan work? She turned and faced the open hatchway, her hair stirring as the breeze outside picked up slightly. Finally, the ship was at station holding; Aki activated the lift controls and the platform arm swung out. The winch motors hummed, and she began her descent into the crater. Large slabs of dark rock began to rise on all sides, and memories rose unbidden, as, for the second time, she entered the lair of the aliens.
But there are no aliens here now, she thought. No more phantoms, just the Earth's Gaia, restored.
Once the roaring of the Boa's engines had dropped to something a little less ear-splitting, she switched on her com unit. "Dr. Sid, do you read?"
A slight hiss of static, then: "Yes, Aki, loud and clear! What is your position relative to the power signature now?"
"According to my tracker it lies to the southeast, roughly fifty-two meters from my current location. Can you verify?"
Up in the cockpit, Dr. Sid brought up a holographic display. An icon designating Aki's position was slowly dropping towards a large flat outcropping, essentially a wide rocky ledge that jutted out into a chasm of unknown depth. A larger symbol indicated the Quatro, which was indeed not too far off the heading she had just radioed.
"Confirmed. But be aware that some of those larger rock formations are showing signs of instability. This probably occurred when the alien Gaia departed."
"I read you, doctor." More minutes passed, then: "I'm nearing the bottom…okay, I'm down." Suddenly she gave a cry of surprise.
"Aki! Come in!"
There was a pause before she answered. "I'm alright, I just slipped a bit…the floor is uneven. I'm heading towards the source now." Above her the sky was a wide circle of azure blue, crossed with mid-level clouds, but her immediate surroundings were dark and ominous. She activated her headpiece light and eye scanner, and the shadows near her evaporated; stony cliff-like structures loomed all around. She only now grasped the sheer power the massive alien Gaia had expended when it had headed deeper underground, in its attempt to escape Hein's vicious attack.
She began to walk. The crevasses surrounding turned the faint whine of the hovering Boa's engines into eerie howls, making a chill run down her back. She kept her weapon at the ready and continued on, boots crunching on small pieces of rock and debris.
After a few more minutes of picking her way along the uneven cavern floor, she made another report. "Dr. Sid, the waveform source is dead ahead, just past a rock fall." She managed to find footholds in the small heap of broken stone, and she scrambled over. What lay before her brought her up short.
"Oh, my God…"
Her earpiece clicked. "What do you see, Aki?"
For a brief moment, she could not reply as she took in the scene, which was dimly illuminated by the faint skylight above. She slowly descended the pile of rubble and approached the remains of the Quatro. Two of its wheels lay askew, the drive units crushed, and the globular cockpit area was a ruin. A small fire still smoldered fitfully, casting a wan glow. Dark smoke rose from the engine's ventilation grille.
The forward fringes of her spotlight picked out faint marks on the ground. She turned the full force of the illumination on them, and shivered as she realized what she was seeing. They were the serpentine tracks made by the heels of Gray's boots; she had hauled him away as well as she was able, her grief granting her the strength to get his body back to the lowered platform. With a real effort, Aki composed herself and spoke, her voice echoing around her.
"The Quatro is pretty much destroyed, doctor." Aki said as she neared the wreckage. She glanced at her wrist unit, which alerted her with a series of beeps. "But the energy source is stronger-I'm getting readings from within the vehicle!"
She mounted the short stairway and ducked her head inside, coughing as she got a lungful of acrid fumes. Amid the mess scattered about she caught a glimpse of a discarded nocturne rifle. She remembered removing its ovo-pack, under protest from Gray, patching it into the vehicle's shield generator and using its power to "download" the spirit that she had carried within her.
Aki consulted her wrist computer once more. The source was very close by, literally within arm's reach. She cast about, searching…
Then she saw it.
Battered and dented, the rectangular power cell lay half-hidden beneath the broken passenger seat, where it had slid to rest on the slanted floor. Aki reached for it, her hand trembling slightly. Then her fingertips were touching the dark alloy case. Pulse racing, she grasped it and brought it up to her eyepiece, and gasped, for the tiny holographic screen of her headset had never misled her.
The ovo-pack flared with the blue glow of bio-etheric energy.