Chapter 6: The Hunted
Rikku had no fond memories of the moving floors beneath the temple proper in Bevelle. Walking it always made her dizzy and the paths themselves went in so many different directions and she found herself relying on Baralai's confident stride to find the way through the vast twists and turns. She had been there before, but there was certainly no enjoyment or nostalgic memories in returning. Yuna and Paine had an easier time making sense of it all and Rikku wanted nothing more than to put it behind her again.
Baralai knew his way around perfectly and his pace kept Rikku on her toes. His path took her in places she was fairly certain she'd never seen before which looped back through areas she remembered more distinctly. They had to avoid anywhere Traditionalists might be wandering and get as far as they could while the Praetor's absence was undiscovered. It would be far more difficult after Rialdo realized Baralai was gone.
Rikku quickly discovered why Baralai gave her the charm bracelet. The depths of the temple were still populated by fiends of all shapes and sizes. She wanted to leap right out of her skin at the first one they encountered, her weapons drawn and battle stance begun before she even realized the creature wasn't paying her any mind. She frowned at it when it finally dawned on her and then looked toward Baralai to find him smiling.
"I told you, keep that on down here at all times, Rikku," he said. "And no fiend will harm you."
"So why couldn't you just tell me that, huh?" she asked.
To that, he chuckled softly and relented with a quiet, "Touche. It's not easy giving up on keeping secrets."
She eyeballed him with a frown after that, "Well, what else are you hiding from me, huh?"
Baralai fell quiet at the accusation in her voice, the smile melting away to an expression more rueful and even ashamed. "Rikku, everyone has secrets. I'm sure you have your own, things that you'd rather others never find out. Sometimes it's best to leave locked doors shut."
Rikku stopped nettling him about it after that. Part of her felt guilty for pressing him about it, though it bothered her that he'd felt no need to at least tell her what the bracelet was for. She could have figured it out, she supposed, he did hint at her heavily. But that wasn't how Rikku was raised. You spoke your mind among the Al Bhed. Secrets and innuendo were an alien concept.
The silence permeated their journey through the walkways of the temple and didn't break until they were well into the depths below the Chamber of the Fayth. Where everything split into a hundred different paths filled with so many twists and turns that just thinking about it made Rikku's head hurt again. Finally she just couldn't take the silence anymore. "Baralai... how did you learn your way around here so well?"
"I had two years," he replied. "I spent quite a bit of that time exploring these depths. Bevelle is a large city, and much of the underground is connected to the temple. Over a thousand years of projects, creations, machina. Some of it is complete and simply sitting dormant, forgotten. Others were never quite started, or only half finished."
"Two years is a short amount of time to get to know over a thousand years of stuff."
He chuckled at her again, "Very astute of you. Truth is, I spent some of my formative years here, at the temple. My father was a priest of Yevon. He wanted me to follow in his footsteps."
"So is that why you entered the Crimson Squad?" This was a rare opportunity to ask some of the things she'd been dying to know for a long time. "I mean, if that's not a door I should be opening."
"Somehow, I think that if it were locked, Rikku, you'd just pick it."
She giggled, mostly because it was true. "So tell me, then. I'm picking!"
"Fine, but let's make sure we keep the pace at least. We must not forget that Rialdo leave no stone unturned when he discovers that I am gone."
For that kind of promise, Rikku would have gladly started jogging. She wasn't going to complain about the brisk walk, though.
"I joined the Crimson Squad at my father's request," he continued, "He thought it was an excellent opportunity for me, and had high hopes that I might achieve some end there."
"He must not have known what was going to happen then," Rikku said. She understood just how much Yevon hid not only from the people of Spira, but even from its own members. The story saddened her, the more she thought about it. That Baralai's own father had such high hopes dashed because of Yevonite machinations. Baralai said nothing more on the subject, though. He looked at her from over his shoulder, face half buried in his collar. The sadness in his eyes silenced her, and she swallowed any other questions there were to ask.
So she spent the next few minutes thinking of something, anything, cheerful to comment on. Baralai never slowed, and the corridors remained as confusing as ever. Rikku knew they'd bypassed the chamber where Vegnagun had once rested. She couldn't help but think of Via Infinito. It wasn't quite the same, there were fewer fiends to run into and no jumping to get to the lower cloisters, but the reminder still made her long to be outside again, or in the safety of the Celsius.
"Where exactly are we?" she finally asked.
"These are the corridors that priests and subordinates once used to access Via Infinito. To make repairs when necessary."
Rikku never considered there was an alternate way to access the confusing maze of cloisters and corridors. "Yuna's gonna freak when she hears about this. Hey... what exactly was Via used for anyway?"
Baralai grimaced when she asked that, probably because it was yet another locked door she was picking at. "Via Infinito was used as a test for Maesters once upon a time. It was a practice that eventually became archaic and fell into disuse. Mostly. I know that Maester Kinoc was sent through here, as was Maester Seymour's father and many others before them."
"But... they all... were unsent..." Rikku trailed off. The more she thought about it, the more it disturbed her. Baralai didn't have to reply to her, either. It made sense, in a perverse way, considering they kept seeing the Maesters in those depths.
Baralai had kept the pace for so long that when he suddenly paused, Rikku nearly ran into him. "Huh? Why are we stop--" He cut her off by turning around abruptly and setting a finger against her lips. But his eyes weren't on her, he was glancing elsewhere, all around. Only then did she finally hear it. A low hum that eventually turned into a chant with words she couldn't recognize. It was just quiet enough that she would never have noticed it had Baralai not stopped and quieted her. Reaching up, she pulled his hand away from her mouth and whispered, "What is that?"
"They must have realized I'm gone," he murmured, "We must hurry." He reached for her wrist, for the charm bracelet that he'd given her earlier. "And you may as well take this off now, it'll be useless. So please be cautious from now on. Rialdo is changing the game board."
He gave her no time to remove it, though, keeping a hold of her hand afterwards to pull her along after him. They weren't walking anymore, either, Rikku struggling to keep up with Baralai's quickened steps. It was fear that gave her the impetus to keep going, even as her lungs started burning and her legs demanded she stop for just a moment. Fear of the unknown, and of the fiends that would no longer ignore her. The path sloped further downward and then broke into a group of floating stone panels above a sea of smoky gray wisps.
Here Baralai suddenly came to a stop, letting go of Rikku's hand. "This... this is different." And if Baralai no longer knew where he was going, that spelled trouble.
"Of course it's different, Praetor." Rialdo's voice sent chills down Rikku's spine. "We had a change in plans, you see. A different direction than the one that you intended." The sound of machina guns cocking echoed around them. The walls on either side of them fell away to reveal Rialdo and Kellock standing beside each other, a host of New Yevonite guards in front of them, their weaponry aimed at Rikku and Baralai.
"I would so hate to have to kill the girl, Baralai," Rialdo said, tone smug, "So put down your weapons and let us put an end to this ridiculous chase."
To Rikku's surprise, he dropped his staff almost immediately, lowering his head and bowing to Rialdo. "So long as you bring no harm to this woman, I will go quietly."
"Hey! I can take care of mys--" Again Rikku found herself cut off, though this time only by the look on Baralai's face as he straightened and glanced at her again. His expression spoke for him, begging her to be quiet, for fear she'd really get hurt this time.
"Rikku," he murmured, "You are very valiant and brave of heart. I ask only one thing of you: Survive."
She had no time or opportunity to answer him, not as the guards came up behind them, pulling her arms behind her and dragging her away.