Final Fantasy: Bonds of Trust
By C.S. Rife, AKA: Omega Gilgamesh
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy, all its sequels and spin-offs, and all franchise related locations, concepts, and themes all are owned by Square-Enix. Any legal infringement is purely unintentional, and will immediately be corrected if found at fault.
Author's Note: I've decided to move this to the FFVII section. The reason being that I couldn't justify continuing this story with so few people reading it over in the Final Fantasy Crossover's section. I'm like a business, if I don't get customers, I eventually die off.
Prologue: The Moon's Watery Reflection
In and out and through the beams of silvery light cast from the gentle night's moon, a figure ran through the streets in a virtual panic. Along the way, as his need for air failed to overpower his need to arrive at his destination, he tried to rationalize what he had seen out there from the rooftops in the brisk autumn night. It had to have been the moon's light playing tricks on him, or some spirit fooling around with illusions. Yet no matter what he told himself, he failed to hold back this sense of terror.
The streets, made of sand compressed to near stone-like hardness, sparkled brightly in the brilliant moonlight, illuminating the familiar streets and alleyways and corridors to where he needed to go. And he saw, far off in the distance and above the rooftops, the walls of Lunaqua. He knew, looking up at those walls, the walls that have stood against endless armies and never fell, will be rubble come the morning.
Running off the main road into an alleyway between two houses of clay and sand with swirls of blue and white marble, he found a trap door leading to his destination: the catacombs.
Pulling up the heavy wooden lid, he jumped down the hole, not caring for the ladder, and found himself in familiar territory. Lights adorned the ceiling, illuminating the niches where skeletons remained, and he saw the familiar iron door that was out of place in the sand-stone mausoleum. He ran over to it, and pounded it so fast the code rhythm was hard to pick up.
A moment later, it opened to show a room with computer consoles and communication equipment, all being attended to by various mechanics and technicians. His followers, his brethren.
He made his way through the room, noticing instantly the increase in activity, until he caught sight of a tall man, with tanned skin contrasting his silver hair done in a sleek ponytail, wearing navy blue trousers and light blue coat with tails. Argist, Duke of Lunaqua, and the very man who accorded them refuge in his city-state. There, few would know of them, they could carry out their mission in secret. The man was standing anxiously next to a radar station, waiting impatiently for the technician to finish interpreting the data on the screen.
"M'lord." He greeted the Duke, walking up to them, and then spoke to the technician, eagerly pounding away at the keys. "Give me a report."
"Lord-Aegis, sir, it is difficult to give any exacts at this time." The young technician answered. "All I can tell is there are at least fifteen thousand units, and a lot of them are big, and I mean big."
Knowing there was little to be gained from staying with him, the Lord-Aegis of the secret order of Luminosus Finitor moved to another station, giving out the order, "Display them." What he saw on the viewing screen turned his blood cold, but he dared not show it in front of his men and women. Though the monitor's image was dim compared to the room, he saw what he need to. Monsters; hundreds of them in that one scene, ranging from slithering Basilisks to Malboros to Elnoyles and the towering Behemoths.
"How in the hell?" Argist murmured in awe and shock. "What force…what power could send something like this at us?"
The Lord-Aegis could think of no entity, short of the Gods themselves, capable of controlling monsters, to give them a common goal. This wasn't some natural occurrence, it was an army. And he knew exactly who the target was.
"M'lord," he spoke to the Duke with some urgency, "they're not after the townspeople, they won't hurt them if they are evacuated out the eastern gate." Not waiting for a response, he spoke to his second in command, a slight woman of auburn hair with a powerful voice belying her small size, "Myrna, give the order to evacuate Cid via the emergency sewer circuit. With any luck, he'll be out of harm's way inside of five minutes."
Myrna nodded, and answered quickly, "Yes sir, Lord-Aegis, but if I may suggest getting the children through there first? Cid will take some time to transport through the underground waterway, and we can get them out faster than we can-"
"Cid's safety takes precedence!" He stated. "The children will leave via the North and South Gates, hopefully missing the crowds, but if we lose Cid, we lose everything! His safety comes before theirs, or yours, or even mine, is that understood?"
After a moment, Myrna nodded. Clicking on her ear-piece, her voice resonated over the inter-com, "This is Lord-Shield Myrna, we have an emergency!"
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She thought she heard sirens, but she wasn't sure. She was just getting over the vertigo she had every time she was put in that glass tube, forced to be submerged in and breath in that terrible green liquid. As painful as the lightheadedness of the tube was, it wasn't as bad as when she was awake and they did experiments on her. They didn't tell her that's what it was called, telling her they were 'helping her get better', but she knew that it was experimentation. Adults always assumed she was too young to know anything, when she was already four and a half.
Her mind still cloudy from the liquid and metal patches attached to her head, she looked over at the green tube next to hers. She knew there were others in the lab, but this tube was the only one she knew someone else was in. Often, the other child's hand would press against the glass. That was the only part of him or her than she could see clearly. She often pressed her hand against the glass wall as well, hoping the other kid could see her. It had been so long since she had been with another kid. For so long, it was only her and the adults, and the child merely a few feet away, whom she knew must have been as lonely as she was. If only once, the adults would let her and the kid next to her out at the same time, and maybe even play together, if only for a little while, she would feel a lot better, the pain of this lab would be so much more tolerable.
Suddenly, she heard the valve at the bottom of the tube open, and the green stuff start to drain out. She ducked as best she could in her bed-like restraint as it started to go below her head, and she started the painful, violent process of coughing up the stuff she was forced to breathe in and out for hours at a time. Air tasted so much better, so much sweeter and refreshing.
Now that the green liquid was gone, she could see the lab better. People were moving every which way, and she could hear the siren blaring loudly. She couldn't wait to get out of her restraints and cover her ears. She didn't know what was going on, but she hoped the experiments were stopping.
Suddenly, the top of the tube was pushed off, and an elderly man, one of the scientists she recognized, reached in and quickly started taking off her restraints before the liquid was completely drained out. The moment she was free, he picked her up and held her close to him as he started to run out of the room, not caring if the green stuff got on his clean white clothing.
"Mister, where are we going?" She asked him, somewhat frightened. As she was carted off across the stone room of the laboratory, she turned her head to the tubes she spent so much of her time in, and saw they were draining the tube next to hers. "Wait!" She said, knowing this might be her only chance to see the child that had been her neighbor for so long.
Before she could see even the top of the child's head, the door into the hallway closed behind them, cutting off the sight she waited for so long to see.
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Under the clear sky, the crystal moon illuminated the green fields of the Lunaqua, showing it all in milky splendor. Just a mile west of the cliffs overlooking the ocean, the city, five miles across encased by hundred-foot-thick stone walls, was a true piece of art. Its sand and exotic stone craftsmanship was a wonder all throughout Terra. Its roads bobbed up and down, side to side, all like flowing waves still in time. From the view on the bluffs to the south, he saw the use of turquoise stone and white sand on the streets and buildings gave the city, as a whole, the image of water crashing onto sand.
And there, to the west, an army of monsters fought with teeth and claws and magicks to break through the wall. It would be mere minutes now before they were through. This was an unexpected turn of events, but in its long life, the being learned to roll with change.
The giant tiger, glowing in gold and white stripes, observed the scene miles away on those bluffs, witnessing the monsters break through the wall long before the people could begin to evacuate.
"Another beginning has begun." It muttered aloud.
A few minutes later, a great flash of light emerged from within the city, and a gigantic form began to take shape. As its visage became visible in the moonlight, the Golden Tiger bore witness to yet another turn of events, "And possibly the beginning of an end as well." The golden being watched on.
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The still winds whipped at his face as King Deiomoth rode his chocobo, leading his men, to Lunaqua. The Courier Airship took them the majority of the way, taking mere hours instead of days, and was parked a few miles behind them, not wanting to come close to the dust cloud.
Deiomoth had been to Lunaqua many times, for diplomatic business and personal time, and had come to be good friends with the Duke. Late last night, he received an emergency transmission that his neighbor was under siege, and he needed assistance. Deiomoth knew the history of the city's walls, and that anything that posed a threat to the Dukedom was something he wouldn't dare underestimate. His fears only grew as, from the deck of the airship, he saw a giant dust cloud where the city-capital was supposed to be. He made the painful choice to hoof the last few miles for caution's sake.
As he and his military elite rode just steps behind him came close to the city, the dust finally began to disperse. They could hear no noise, no sounds of battle, and instead of quelling his fears, this only intensified them. As the dust gave way to the sight what was left of Lunaqua, King Deiomoth let his breath hitch out of shock.
Where the city-state of Lunaqua once stood now rested a five mile, uneven disk of glass, forged out of the sands that once made up the capital.
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End of Prologue
