Ripples in a Pond
Chapter 8
Rating: PG
Warnings: Untoward violence to some poor innocent airship. And yaoi in yet further chapters.
Pairings: (Since it's become pretty obvious in one case) Seifer/Zell, light Irvine/Selphie and implied Squall/Riona. The chosen threesome won't be named to avoid spoilers.
Summary: All bearings are lost when SeeDs experience an unfortunate crash that sends them on a planet where technology is at its beginning and monarchs stillrule. Theonly thingthey can do is try and keep their heads over the water and go with the flow, less they drown.ff8-ff9
Notes: I am not happy with the marriage scene, but it thwarted me till the end, so bleh.
Among the hustle and bustle of last minute preparations for the wedding, Quistis had unwittingly attracted the attentions of a fierce maid that had taken it upon herself to further alter her already very modified wardrobe. Before she could so much as blink, much less protest, she'd found herself in a dressing room, discarded dresses surrounding her and mercilessly preventing any escape.
"What is with you tall ladies?" the maid sighed exasperatedly for the hundredth time, rummaging through important numbers of chests and wardrobes. Quistis really wondered to whom it all belonged.
"I wouldn't want to inconvenience you longer…?"
"Raina."
"Raina. I'm sure what I already have will be enough," Quistis tried, also for the hundredth time. The maid clucked her tongue, eyed Quistis' plain and faded dress that had been given to her to replace her old tattered clothing, and returned to her foraging.
"I do not think so, lady. It's a royal wedding." Raina greatly emphasized the word royal, and for a moment a private smile smoothed her worn features lined by long years of manual work.
There was simply no defeating the woman. Quistis grappled for patience and watched the bustling maid taking out dress after dress, holding them up only to discard them again, her annoyance growing with each failure. She'd started grumbling about having better things to waste time on than this.
Quistis decided it might help if she showed a modicum of interest. She started half-heartedly shuffling through the silk and velvet and cotton fabrics. "Everyone seems really excited about the wedding," she stated rather obviously, aiming for a subject that would lighten the mood.
"Of course! They don't come too often, especially the likes of this one," Raina answered. She unfolded a deep blue silk dress, appraising its length, and for the first time she looked hopeful. "This might do. Arms up."
Quistis complied, and the maid tumbled the dress over her shift. It fell a little short, not quite brushing the top of her slippers. "What's so special about this wedding?" she asked, moving as directed as the maid pondered on the fit.
The woman looked at her from under her lashes as she knelt to make adjustments to the hem. A light shone in her eyes that had not been there before and a slow, tender smile crept over her features. "Why, because it's a well-suited marriage of love. Lord Tribal's value was recognized and he was allowed to wed the Queen despite his lineage." She shook her head and straightened, chuckling. It made her look suddenly much younger. "It's a happy union, and the people feel it. It makes them hope of a new age of peace and joy."
Raina's fine words touched something within Quistis that she'd never thought of uncovering. Melancholy grasped her, though she was still confused about its source. She decided not to dwell on it for now.
"I understood that there has been troubled times in the past?" She remembered something Vivi had talked about in the Black Mage Village's cemetery, about a queen that had gotten a little too greedy.
The maid's sudden tug on the loose waist of the dress was sharp. "Yes. But that's all over now. Lord Tribal will make a fine King, and together with Queen Garnet, they'll help put those dark times well behind us," she answered, her tone absolutely certain.
Seeing Raina's single-minded confidence in the outcome of the marriage, Quistis didn't have the heart to point out the many wrong turns even a happy union could take. Take what Vivi had told her for example; apparently it had looked like a happily ever after, until everything went wrong.
"I'm sure they will," she murmured, her words sounding insipid to her ears, yet it seemed it was the right thing to say. Raina's mood lifted somewhat.
"And that, lady, is why I will not let you go there in rags!" Her dreaded pincushion in hand, the maid bustled around her, adjusting as best she could the dress to her frame.
Quistis laughed. "I surrender to your good will, madam." She'd surrendered long ago. That woman could probably bully around anyone; even Riona and her good-natured stubbornness.
Thinking of Riona only underlined her absence, and it was obvious that Squall had played a hand in the matter. A great feeling of emptiness settled in the pit of Quistis' stomach at the thought of the girl waiting for news back in Garden, only to be told that the ship had crashed and that all communications had been lost. Squall and her might not have parted on good terms, but she knew the girl's heart. Not knowing exactly what had happened to Squall --if he was alive or not-- and not having been able to see him for the last time with a smile, would eat at her like poison.
Quistis shook her head. She missed Riona, but she refused to think in a way that suggested she'd never see her again. They'd find a way back, somehow.
"There!" Raina's voice broke into her thoughts. Quistis blinked at her, regaining her composure. The woman gave her such a studied look of casualness that Quistis knew she'd let her thoughts show on her face. "This will do. I'm sorry I couldn't find something more suitable, lady."
Turning her around towards a corner of the room, Raina let Quistis study her reflection in a tall mirror. She thought the result was much better than the maid let on. The dress was of a simple cut and fitted comfortably thanks to the maid's makeshift adjustments. The dress remained mostly unadorned, with the only extravagances consisting of the long sleeves opening up on layers of white lace and the touches of silver embroidery here and there.
"It's beautiful," Quistis said truthfully, though she could already tell what the disadvantages of wearing the dress would be. Her movements would be greatly limited. "Thank you."
"Think nothing of it, lady. Now if you'll excuse me," Raina trailed off and bustled out of the room before Quistis could say another word.
She looked around at the discarded dresses the maid had apparently forgotten in her haste. Sighing deeply, she started picking them up and placing them back as best she could in the chests and wardrobes. She was in no real hurry and actually welcomed the time to think.
Something was nagging at the back of her mind, something she resolutely ignored as she went about her quick cleaning up. Rather, she kept her mind on Riona and on their predicament. It looked hopeless, and the feeling of clawing despair was hard to fight, but a thought struck her then that made her forget the fabrics in her hands. So far, they'd only concentrated on the impossibility for them to go back. But what if someone else came?
It was likely that Laguna already knew about the severed communications. Procedures would be made to investigate the crash and rescue operations would be engaged. Quistis fingered the soft cotton draped over her arm, watching the intricate embroidered patterns without seeing them. She didn't dare hope too much. Many things could obliterate a rescue mission, not the least being the asteroid field. And time. Whatever happened, even the fastest operation would take a lot of time to organize and conduct. They couldn't just sit back and wait to be rescued, but at least a glimmer of hope remained.
Suddenly, the situation was not entirely hopeless. Quistis stuffed the rest of the dresses wherever she could fit them and marched out of the room, her mind swirling with possibilities, her heart lighter than it had been for the last few days. She had to talk about it to the others, if they hadn't already thought about it.
---
The size of the crowd was incredible. In the large inner courtyard of the castle, nobles and commoners pressed against each other, straining to see what was happening atop the large, marble stairs. The ceremony was taking place outside, under a beautiful blue sky, so that as much of the people as possible could witness it. The courtyard, however, was far from large enough to contain the entire Alexandrian population, especially with the roped-off space the higher nobles had been given at the front, but it was the best arrangement possible.
Quistis stood among the reverently silent crowd, close to the ropes. She couldn't hear what was being said, but at least she could see properly. The official was talking to the couple's bowed heads; there wasn't much to look at for now.
She'd managed to find the others despite the rush of activities and had been amused to see that they had also suffered the attentions of a righteous maid. She thought the clothes suited them all very well, even the too-tall Seifer. Judging by the looks on the men's faces, they didn't seem to share her opinion. Selphie stood just beside her, holding her arm to make sure the crowd wouldn't separate them inadvertently. She was very pretty in her green dress. Seeing how Irvine's eyes couldn't stay focused on the ceremony, Quistis was amused to see that she wasn't the only one who thought so.
An even deeper hush suddenly fell over the crowd. Quistis turned her attention on the marriage. The official was speaking the last words and placing the crown on Zidane's head –the marriage doubled as a coronation in his case. The crowd held its collective breath. The now King and Queen turned to the people, the official intoned his last declaration, and the crowd erupted in a deafening roar of applause and cheer.
Quistis clapped along, smiling broadly as Selphie jumped gleefully beside her. The happiness was so thick in the air, it was hard not to be infected. And yet, something prevented her from fully appreciating the moment.
The couple beamed with utter happiness, all pretences dropped as Zidane waved at the crowd and cheered along, Garnet laughing with good humour beside him, her cheeks dotted with red. Their hands were linked and didn't look like they'd let go any moment soon.
Quistis looked at the people around her. Squall was clapping dutifully, his expression sullen. Zell was cheering as much for the marriage as to annoy Seifer, who was, predictably, bristling with frustration beside him. She caught Selphie and Irvine sharing a soft, private look, a strong arm curling around a small waist, and realized they were the only one amongst them who could fully appreciated what was happening.
And then, with that thought, the feeling that had nagged her in the dressing room came back in force and she could ignore it no longer. A wave of nostalgia filled her, blocking out the cheering around her like a buzzing in her ears. Despite the hardships they had lived through, these people could stand here, their dark past put well behind them and their weapons discarded, so that the only thing that mattered anymore was to enjoy life and love.
It was something that, as mercenaries, she and the others had given up. They might have left the war behind, but not their weapons. It was their purpose, and as long as they followed that road, the unbridled happiness and carelessness that she was seeing all around her would be almost impossible to share.
Realizing that she was frowning, Quistis forced her features to relax. She didn't regret her choice, which was why she had been able to bury that sacrifice. She was from another world, another reality altogether, and had no cause to envy this one. As she resumed her clapping, she resolutely trampled over the gloominess that had settled over her. She clapped and cheered and made way with everyone else when the royal couple prepared for their ride through the city.
As mercenaries, they had the possibility to give other people this joy. It was compensation enough.
---
It was during the royal banquet, where they'd surprisingly been invited to the main table, that Squall's group learned they would be leaving for the north again soon.
"We'll go check your ship out, then see what we can do to help you," Zidane was explaining, gesturing with a golden goblet sloshing with wine. Seifer eyed the man's flushed features carefully. He certainly looked…happy, yet he didn't sound or acted half as inebriated as the quantity of wine he'd drunk suggested. It appeared the King knew how to hold his alcohol.
Beside him, the Queen was being more careful with her manners. She nodded more sedately. "We'll see if we can't salvage anything, and I will send one of my best engineers with you."
Squall asked a question, but Seifer wasn't listening anymore. He gestured for more wine. Though he doubted these people's usefulness in getting them back, he didn't think they might slit their throat in their sleep anymore. Still, he didn't believe them wholly innocent and good-willed either; he was pretty sure they had other reasons for this trip back up north. But it remained a good idea to go check out the ship. If not these small people, they might actually find pieces of equipment that could be repaired.
Seifer downed his goblet. Wait a second there, what had Zidane said? "We were attacked last time and nearly lost the ship. I hope you're not flying anything so pathetic again," he broke in. He wasn't too worried about facing another one of those dragon creatures, but it would break his fun if the ship crashed under his feet. Again.
Zidane shook his head and shot him a wide, confident smile. "No chance of that happening, not with the Invincible. It'll be faster than anything out there, and it's fully armed. Don't compare it to some merchant's airship."
Really. It probably couldn't compare to the Ragnarok, Seifer mused. "I hope you're not putting too much faith in your ship."
The King's grin was toothy. "You'll just have to see."
So he would. Seifer returned his attention to his food, but just as he was about to introduce his potatoes to his fork, something kicked him under the table. Seifer delayed the meeting in favor of glaring at the irritant before him.
"Watch your overgrown feet, chickenwuss." He'd been seeing entirely too much of the kid lately. They were more often than not only chance encounters, but each one of those was one too many. Sure, he enjoyed annoying Zell, but even he had limits to his tolerance.
Zell pointed a silver knife at him. "What was that for? They're just trying to give us a hand!"
Seifer rolled his eyes, feeling familiar annoyance boiling up. "And what makes you think they don't have anything else in mind?"
"What makes you think they do?" Zell challenged right back. "They've haven't done a single suspicious thing against us!"
"That's no reason to trust them blindly. I thought you'd learned as much." A hint of a smirk touched his lips. Maybe he could salvage this conversation.
"I don't trust them blindly! I'm just not being paranoid," Zell replied defensively, gesturing widely with hands still holding sharp utensils. Maybe, with some luck, he'd poke someone's eye out and shut up. Then again, that would probably make him even louder.
"Paranoia can save your life," Seifer argued, pointedly setting down his fork. Maybe Zell would take the hint.
Zell threw his hands up –utensils included, missing Irvine's ear by an inch—and shot Seifer a profoundly exasperated look. That was rare. "No wonder you're always alone, man!"
His train of thought skittered to a stop. Seifer narrowed his eyes, his hands very still, as he spoke in a dangerously smooth voice. "What?"
Zell gave him one of the looks Seifer hated the most, one that seemed to accuse him of being thick on purpose, one that looked down on him. He grated his teeth. Nobody gave him that look, much less Zell Dincht.
"You're always suspecting everybody and everything! Nobody's going to give you anything else, so you'll always end up isolated," Zell explained, sounding far too sure of what he was saying.
"Contrarily to some people, I don't feel the need to suck up to others to make friends," Seifer bit back, angry at how defensive he sounded. He was letting Zell, of all people, seriously rile him up. It was time to end this conversation. "And I don't remember it being any of your business." Seifer looked back down at his plate and started eating those damn potatoes, striving to look casual and unaffected.
"You're damn right. You and your charming personality can just have a wonderful life together."
Seifer nearly cracked a tooth on his silver fork when he bit a little too hard in his food. He nursed it with some wine, at the same time hoping it would help drown out that annoying little voice in the back of his mind constantly repeating Zell's words. That was the last thing he needed right now.
---
Pressing his hands against the thick glass of the bay window, Zidane excitedly pushed his face as close as he could, as if he wished to pass right through it. He thought he could just make out the scar of red that marked the wreck. From everything he'd heard, he couldn't wait to finally see it with his own eyes. Cid stood beside him, his flamboyant cloak tucked behind his belt, and he was obviously just as excited as Zidane. Garnet had talked to him and asked him to join the expedition as the official engineer, knowing full well that the man would be unable to refuse such an offer.
"Finally," Cid breathed. "This trip was too long, I'm itching to see this wonderful ship with my own eyes."
"It would've been longer with any other ship," the genome commented. What a merchant's ship did in eight hours, the Invincible could achieve in half that time.
"It doesn't matter. The wait would have been the same to me."
"It's a wreck, though, so don't expect too much," Zidane pointed out, but it didn't lessen his own excitement in the least. "I wonder how it could've compared to the Invincible?"
"The Invincible can't fly in space, but it can do other, just as impressive, things. It would have been a close race," Cid mused, reaching forward to finger the glass before him. The man was endlessly fascinated by the Invincible's craftsmanship and had used it many a time as inspiration for his latest creations.
"Yeah, but we don't know what else this one can do. Squall's as tight-lipped as a Tonberry over it," Zidane chuckled. The man's silence over the subject didn't really bother him. He'd studied these people during their stay in Alexandria, and he was truly starting to believe their story of a simple, unfortunate crash.
The shape of the wreck was becoming clearer by the second now, until the Invincible stopped right over it and Zidane could fully appraise the level of the damage. His jaw fell open and smacked against the floor.
Though the Invincible was hovering over the main body of the red ship, its remains spread a good distance away, all along the deep, angry trench its fall had gouged in the ground. Its carcass lay broken like a dismembered, grotesque animal with its guts spread around the body. Beside him, Cid was verbally aghast and outraged at the end this ship had met.
"What a shame, truly. I can't believe it," he muttered, shaking his head. "It's a miracle its main body is still intact!"
"What makes you say that?" Zidane asked, now more interested to see if any monster had laid claim to the wreck. It would do no good to land in a monster-infested trap. He still had Vivi's misgivings in mind.
"The track it made when it crashed. From its length and depth, I can say it touched the ground with incredible force." Cid tugged at his moustache, a deep frown settling on his brow as he thought and analysed. "I don't know many of our ships –except the Invincible, maybe—that would have survived such a crash so well."
Zidane whistled. "Imagine if we had whole fleets of Invincibles and that ship!" He was sure that they would be able to learn a lot from the wreck, no matter its condition. It wasn't completely obliterated, after all.
"Lindblum's skies would be a sight to see."
"Hey! They already are, leave some for us," Zidane laughed. It didn't look like there were any monsters down there. Though he was relieved, the genome found it strange that it had been left alone even after so long.
"Alexandria has much to be envied." Cid stepped back from the bay window with one last sad look at the wreck and turned towards Zidane. "Say, why didn't Garnet come? I'm sure she would've wanted to see this."
Zidane shrugged with one shoulder. "Both of us can't be gone from Alexandria anymore, at least not so soon. She volunteered to stay this time." His smile grew crooked. She'd been very clear that she wouldn't always be the one house-sitting while he had his fun.
"Very wise," Cid approved with a nod. "I'll go tell the captain to find somewhere to land." The older man made for the stairs that led to the overhead commanding platform just as Squall was coming down. The sight of the brown-haired young man stopped Cid in his tracks. "Wait!" he blurted out, though he was obviously standing Squall's way at the bottom of the stairs.
"What is it?" Squall asked, slightly taken aback, one eyebrow raised in question. Zidane had to admit that Cid's attitude was startling. He abandoned the window to come closer and hear what this was all about.
"How did you survive the crash? The impact force should've killed you!" Cid asked bluntly. Zidane was just as curious about the answer; he hadn't been able to find out either.
Squall simply shrugged, his every gesture dismissive. "We were lucky," was his simple answer.
But Cid would not be satisfied so easily. He shook his head, unconsciously tugging at his moustache. "It can't be just that. You wouldn't have all survived."
"Some of us didn't," Squall deadpanned, his face becoming perfectly blank, if a touch annoyed.
"Oh. My apologies, I didn't know," Cid apologized as his brows furrowed in wrinkly guilt and perplexity. He stepped aside to make way for Squall to pass. Zidane noticed with amusement that the younger man's words had not diminished Cid's curiosity in the least; the man was insatiable.
Nevertheless, Squall did not seem overly affected. He shrugged it off and walked by Cid and to the bay window, crossing his arms as he peered down at the remains of his ship. His expression was inscrutable.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell you about that," Zidane told Cid with a slight wince. "He told me that four others didn't make it."
"It's such a sad story. They've lost comrades, and now they're—"
Cid didn't have time to finish his sentence as Squall's voice interrupted him sharply. "Zidane! What's that?"
The alarm in his voice was clear, and would not be ignored. The genome's expression hardened into concern as he jogged back to the window where Squall stood. "What's wrong?"
The younger man gestured to the horizon. "That. Do you know what it is?"
The object in question was hard to miss, actually. Zidane focused on it immediately and all the color drained from his face. His hands were on his daggers before he could think about it. "Yeah, I know what it is…" he answered numbly. "It's bad news, and all of our deaths if we don't move the hell out of here!" He'd yelled the last words as his shock finally evaporated to leave place to sheer, raw fear. He turned on his heels and bolted up the stairs.
What the hell was it doing here?
At the commanding platform, he found Freya talking to a quickly-paling captain. He could tell by the loop in her whiskers that she knew what was going on. She eyed him sideways from under her hat. "I guess you already know what the trouble is," she said curtly.
Zidane nodded. "Yeah. Is this ship being turned around already?"
The captain swallowed audibly. "As fast as we can, but if the Invincible is fast going forward or backward, making it turn from a hovering position isn't." The captain eyed the quickly approaching threat. "If that thing keeps coming at this pace, it'll overcome us."
"I imagine we've found the source of Vivi's worry," Freya commented dryly.
Kicking the floor angrily, Zidane cursed under his breath. This was as bad is it could ever get. "But what is it doing here?"
"I don't know any more than you."
There was the sudden pressure of a hand on Zidane's shoulder. The genome whirled around and nearly put the butt of a dagger's hilt between Squall's eyes before he realized he was no threat.
"What's going on?" the young man asked curtly, utterly unaffected by Zidane's violent response. His eyes were blazing with a force and authority that the genome really did not want to antagonize right now. He exhaled shakily.
"That thing…that's Ozma," he started, peering over his shoulder at the side windows where the bouncy, multi-colored ball was moving steadily –and too damn fast-- closer. "It's the strongest monster you'll ever encounter; it'll swallow us up without even trying. Trust me, the only option we have right now is running away as fast as we can."
But Zidane knew that they wouldn't be fast enough. The ship was not turning quickly enough, and by the time they pushed it out of inertia, it would be too late. Ozma would be on them in a flash.
Squall's face was unreadable. His hand was on his blade, but it would be useless. "What can we do?"
"Take cover somehow and wish it'll pass us by," Zidane ground out. He'd confronted Ozma once, and the memory was etched so deep in his psyche that even his body recalled the pain of that faithful encounter. He did not take pleasure in reliving those moments.
By now, the ship had turned enough that Ozma was out of sight. It was no relief; Zidane could practically feel its strength and energy crackling in the air. The spacious front deck of the ship was now crowded with fighters; Amarant, Freya, Vivi, Eiko and Squall's team. All of these people were in danger, and Zidane was utterly helpless. He'd never felt so much hatred towards his own uselessness ever before.
Eiko did not help his feelings, though Zidane could have kissed her right now. The girl was running around, making use of her abilities by casting protect on as many people as possible. Before she'd even reached him, Zidane was surprised to feel the cool touch of magic on his skin. He looked around for the source and crossed Freya's eyes as the glow of magic faded from her skin.
"It's all I can do. Hopefully it'll help," she said blankly. She'd been one of those who had confronted Ozma that first time; she knew the true usefulness of Rei's Wind against that monster.
Zidane still forced himself to grin and look confident. "Thanks, both of you," he told Freya and Eiko as he felt both spell protect and support. The others echoed his words. "We owe you."
His last words were drowned by the first explosion that rocked the ship, coming from the back. After that, everything became a confusion of explosions and movement and screams as Ozma relentlessly racked through the ship. Zidane completely lost track of what was happening anybody or anything as he was tumbled around the deck like a ragged doll. He was only dimly aware of an ear-shattering blast of magic, and then of his feet leaving the floor as the ship plummeted nose-first towards the ground.
He did not even have time to register fear that another wave of destruction ran through the ship, splintering wood and metal alike as easily as one smashes an egg, and then his world went dark.
TBC
