Disclaimer: Anything that obviously has something to do with Final Fantasy 9 is owned by Square-Enix, and if you have any queries about ownership of any item, please contact me at for further information. If you want to use any of my original characters, or any original concepts in this piece of fiction, then please contact me before doing so, or I'll hunt you down and kick your ass.
A/N: Anyway, there's quite a bit of disaster going on here tonight, and if anyone of you read my blog (link in the bio), then the results here are absolutely nothing to do with what's going on in my personal life at the moment. I recently ran through where I wanted this story to go, how I wanted it to end, how I wanted the characters to interact, so I now have a clear idea of what to do next. This means that not only will I update more often, but there'll be a hell of a lot more foreshadowing too. Plus (hopefully) there won't be too many plot holes too. XP As the Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy says, suspense is still a major killer in the universe, so I'll stop ranting and get on with it!
Chapter 10: Dead London
Chris's Group
The light trickled into the room through the clean net curtains, light patterns dancing on my opening eyes. I stirred slowly, reluctant to awake. It was hard to believe that there was a war on, when I looked out through the window and saw nothing but peaceful green fields and blue skies. I laid back in the comfortable bed, trying to remember a dream I'd had during my peaceful night's sleep. It had been much nicer than the usual death and destruction that usually filled them. I looked around the bed, and saw clothes on the floor, clothes that did not belong to me lay strewn carelessly across the floor. It was at the instant when I felt something stir beside me that I realised that it may not have been a dream. Melissa was lying right next to me, still sleeping peacefully, a distant smile on her face, as thought she was dreaming. I ran my fingers softly across her side, feeling her silky soft skin. She opened her eyes, gazing into mine in a way that made a shiver run up my spine.
"Sleep well?" She whispered.
"Next to you, who wouldn't?" I smiled as I responded.
---
After we'd finished getting dressed, Eve came knocking, before quietly opening the door. She grinned.
"Thought so." She laughed and went back outside. Melissa's face reddened slightly, and I grabbed by the waist and carried her laughing out of the room. Before long, we were back on the road. Even though we were heading off to what could be certain death, there was a certain bubbliness in my heart that no bad news could destroy.
---
The day passed by, and we finally reached the outer limits of London. Thick columns of smoke rose from within the once great city, blacking out the leaden sky. Deep within, I could hear the faint sounds and shudders from explosions, and we headed on in, the explosions getting louder and heavier. Every now and then, a wounded civilian would scramble past us, trying desperately to escape the chaos within the city. When we reached the houses of Parliament, the full scale of the destruction grew blazingly apparent. Big Ben struck out, indicating that it was currently seven o'clock in the evening. Around the important landmark were positioned hundreds of soldiers, who had set this place up as their operational base, rushing backwards and forwards, passing messages to each other urgently. Next to the river bank were six mounted rocket launchers, technicians standing by.
"Bows and arrows against the lightning." Melissa murmured. "They haven't seen the Titans yet." Suddenly, as if on cue, the ground started to thunder. Windows shattered, soldiers ran to their positions, and I could only watched helplessly as the Titan I had seen before strode into sight. Clustered around it, advancing slightly more quickly, were the smaller machines, only mounted on four legs, but still as big as a house. Instantly, the six launchers I had seen before spoke, firing a salvo at one of the smaller machines. The rockets impacted heavily with into it's side, blowing both it's left legs off in a series of explosions. It flailed around before falling to the floor, causing a shudder across the earth beneath us, fire spilling out of it's shattered corpse. A group of Imaginary Numbers charged across the bridge in front of us, causing a full scale fire-fight with the brave soldiers who had taken up position in the area. Again the launchers spoke, but this time, the Titan sent them to oblivion, firing a single shot that lifted every person, including our small trio, several feet into the air in a massive explosion. The Titan stood up straight, towering over everything in the area, charging up another shot. Eve suddenly ran forwards, grabbing one of the hand-held rocket launchers a dead soldier had rather carelessly dropped. She pointed it towards the approaching Titan, striking it in one of the joints of it's six legs. The rocket blew apart all the inner workings rather loudly, causing the leg to grow limp. However, there were still another five to go, and the Titan had finished charging it's cannon. She turned to look at the other soldiers that were left alive.
"Aim for the leg joints! It's useless attacking the main body, it's far too strong!" Some of them crawled to their feet, grabbing their heavy weapons, firing off more and more shots, streaking into the towering beast. I turned to notice more Imaginary Numbers moving in across the bridge behind, so I launched off a Flare spell right into the centre of the group, sending them flying in random directions. I suddenly felt a horrific pain in my chest, and looked down to see a small hole the size of an acorn, blood bubbling out of it with each breath I took. I sat down, clutching the wound in a vain attempt to slow the bleeding.
"We'd better run...now!" Melissa shouted, pointing to the crippled Titan, which was flailing about, three of it's legs out of action. She dragged me to my feet, and I stumbled after her, the shock of the gunshot wound in my chest slowing my movement considerably. My hands were trembling out of control, as we ran onto the bridge, trying desperately to escape the falling monster.
The stumbling Titan fell, landing directly on the houses of Parliament, decapitating Big Ben and blowing the place apart in one fell swoop, the resulting explosion blowing the both of us off our feet, sending a great pain through my right thigh, as I felt a chunk of shrapnel blow it's way through my upper leg. I panicked as the bridge beneath us started to crack through the sheer impact it had just suffered, slowly breaking into pieces. My heart jumped out through my throat as I saw Melissa slip into one of the cracks, and I dived over, grabbing her hand to stop her from falling. I could see the water, tainted red with the blood of thousands of innocents, rushing in a mass torrent beneath us.
"Don't let go!" She pleaded. I felt my grip on her hand slowly slipping, my hands slick with sweat and blood. I shouted out in despair as she slipped away, falling several feet into the swirling torrent below. I scrambled to my feet, and caught one last glimpse of her despairing face, as the waters swept her away from me.
Neil's Group
The ocean was quite calm, which was a brief respite in the recent adventures that had befell the group. Most of the surviving Black Mages and Genomes were heading towards Alexandria too, a fleet of boats slowly drifting them towards their target. The boats were modified fishing ships, the long slender sails baring a golden star symbol cupped in two hands, the symbol of Black Mage Village.
Neil was stood beneath the deck, with the chocobo known as Bobby Corwen. He had grown considerably in five years, becoming a strong yet gentle adult chocobo, his golden yellow feathers were brilliantly soft to touch.
Neil was thinking hard. Sure, he'd always thought Bruce was an arrogant idiot, but that didn't prevent the slight feeling of pity he had for the poor guy. No doubt he would suffer a horrible death at the hands of the enemy. He gave Bobby Corwen one last stroke before heading out onto the deck, standing beside Mikoto, who was busy viewing the harbour barely visible in the far distance.
"So...what were those things?" Mikoto inquired. Neil sighed and explained the whole story to her. She blinked for a few seconds, mostly in surprise. "So they are from another world?"
"Basically."
"Funny. I always thought that we were alone in the universe, yet here are soulless creations, created solely to destroy. It is a stark reminder of the way we Genomes could have turned out." She paused, before looking determined. "This man, Draco, he needs to be stopped. He's exploiting those with no choice in life, and for that he must pay." She murmured, looking out to sea.
Samantha's Group
The sun filtered in through the smoky skies, shining light into the room. Kuja slowly awoke, gently shifting Samantha, who's head was resting on his shoulder, sleeping peacefully. He climbed down the steep staircase and went into the living room, where Joachim was sat directly in the middle on a wooden chair, his eyes closed in exhaustion. Kuja moved out into the room, looking out of the window at the devastated street in front of the house.
"Horrible, isn't it?" He heard Joachim mutter. He turned to see the young man staring directly at him, his arms folded. "I'm a light sleeper." He explained.
"Anything else I should know?" Kuja asked.
"Oh, a lot more. But most of it I cannot tell you." He glanced at the doorway leading upstairs, listening carefully, before lowering his voice. "You're growing quite attached to her, aren't you?" Kuja faltered for a second. He couldn't deny it, there was definitely something about her that piqued his interest, yet he didn't know what it was.
"What makes you think that?" Joachim lifted his head backwards, closing his shining blue eyes. He stood up and joined Kuja at the window.
"Do you believe in fate, Kuja?"
"What?"
"Do you believe that there is a set path we are put on, and that path is the one we must tread. One that we are given when we are born into this world."
"I don't know. I used to think that what I was doing was all that I could do. Then Zidane and the others rescued me from this fate, and they saved me. Now I'm not so sure, everything I have done so far I feel has been leading up to something, but what that something is escapes description." He explained. Joachim nodded.
"I ask because if we are all consigned to a fate, then I will not be around much longer. When I was given this mission, I was told that it was impossible that I would return alive."
"How would you know if it is impossible?"
"Because I have seen what is about to happen, and I know my place in this story." He shifted suddenly, cocking his head to one side, listening. "Looks like sleeping beauty just woke up. I bet she'll get a shock in a second when she figures out you've moved." Almost on cue, there were rapid footsteps upstairs, and her worried face popped around the doorway.
"Oh, I thought something had happened! Don't do that!"
"What did I tell you?" Joachim whispered, turning back to the window.
"I'm going to have a shower, I wanna get out of these bloody clothes." She informed, casting a suspicious look across the two men at the window. "No peeking!" She pointed out, before running back off upstairs, accompanied by the sound of running water.
"How do you know so much about us?" Kuja turned to Joachim.
"Let's just say that we're more alike than you think."
Chris's Group
There were a dozen dead bodies in the road, their body fluids splattered across the floor, painting a horrific painting of death and destruction. The sun was setting on the distant horizon, swaying unnervingly through the smoke as it slowly died. I had seen too many bodies in the streets of London, a fine dust settling over everyone, softening their outlines in the dying light.
But I didn't care.
I limped slowly out onto the ruined bridge, looking at the body of the fallen Titan as it lay in it's grave on top of the charred skeleton of this country's government headquarters, lying next to the shattered stump of our greatest monument.
But I didn't care.
All I cared about was one person in this city of the dead, and she had gone, swept away in a cruel twist of fate. My heart felt like it had been shattered into a million sharp fragments, tearing apart my insides every time I moved. My breathing was starting to sound haggard, the bullet wound in my chest oozing bubbling blood slowly. What was I doing here? Why was I still alive, while London lay mourning in it's dark veil? Why was I alive when the one person I loved had been taken from me? I felt intolerably lonely, as I limped closer and closer to the smashed edge of the bridge. I was inhumanly weary, footsore, hungry, thirsty, slowly dying from the numerous wounds that pitted my body. I dropped to my knees in anguish, screaming into the sky.
"Why? What have I done to deserve this?" I interrogated the powers-that-be, slowly going mad from the pain that could not be healed. At that point, my body, my very soul, and everything else, simply gave up. I slumped to the floor, letting the darkness swallow me.
Just let me die...
---
Meanwhile, Melissa wandered alone, tired, soaked wet through, shivering in the cold, searching each body she found for any sign of the one she was looking for. Her heart felt as though someone had shoved needles into each of the vital parts, each pump of blood was unbearably painful, each breath she took was strained. She wiped the combination of blood and water out of her eyes, trembling with fear, pain and cold. To think that this morning she had been so happy and at peace with the world, all the pain and suffering, all the stress she had suffered, gone in one night of passion. Now that gap had been replaced with a deep feeling of grief and loss.
She noticed a thin line of red droplets on the dusty floor, still fresh and wet in the dying sunlight. Her hopes raised significantly, giving her the strength to keep trudging on, following the line of blood towards the place where she had last seen him. Finally, she reached the ruined bridge, covered in bodies, and her heart dropped out of her body. Amongst the bodies was the one she had been searching for, lying broken and defeated in the middle of the graveyard. She ran to his side, unable to hold back the tears. His face was a gaunt white, his body perfectly still. She gently wiped a sliver of crimson away from his face with trembling hands, before resting her head on his silent chest and sobbing openly, the floodgates open.
After a few minutes, she became aware of someone standing behind her. She turned to see Eve, staring numbly at the sight before her. She silently knelt beside Chris, a fierce look of determination in her eyes. She placed her hands just above his heart, causing his body to jerk suddenly. She took them off, feeling for a pulse at his neck, before trying again, watching as his body jumped off the ground once again.
---
Just let me die... My subconscious pleaded, yet I could feel something, a deep feeling of refusal, like some giant voice deep within boomed NO. I could slowly feel life emerging from deep recesses within, my body waking up once more. Slowly but surely, light began to emerge into my eyes, and all the pain, the suffering, everything came rushing back in an unbearable montage of rapid images.
Suddenly, it stopped. I could see the smoky sky above, and my spirits rose as I saw the one object of my love stood, tears streaking her face, water dribbling from her soaked shivering body.
"Am...am I dead?" I mumbled as loudly as I could, which sounded more like a whisper.
"Far from it." Eve replied, just out of my line of sight. I tried moving my arms, and the air was suddenly crushed from my lungs as Melissa jumped on top of me, crying with happiness.
"I thought I'd lost you." I whispered into her ear, her soaked body dampening mine. "I can't live without you." I silently thanked whoever it was above who had brought her to me.
Samantha's Group
The trio continued their weary way along the road, back towards Amsterdam. If there was anyone left alive, then there might still be a chance to alert others to this threat. The highway was scattered with smashed up cars, bodies hanging out of windows, all was still.
Suddenly, a giant aircraft soared overhead, kicking up the fine layer of dust that had settled in the road. It looked very familiar, like a more swept back smaller version of the Destiny. It swung through the air and landed just in front of them, a distant ethereal figure hopping out of the carrying area of the airship.
"Hurry up! We've got to get out of here now!" Rayth shouted, dragging his rifle out of the ship and taking aim towards them. After he fired the first shot, Kuja realised that he was not aiming at them, but at the clone that had been standing behind them, about to strike. Suddenly, Imaginary Numbers started popping out all over the place, jumping down from trees, crawling out from under cars, firing like maniacs towards them. Sam drew her blade, slicing into the nearest one that was between them and the safety of the airship, cutting a deep gash right across it's chest. The next thrust went straight through it's heart, killing it instantly. She stood back, proud that she had just achieved her first kill. That was right before the bullet shot straight through her side, causing her to cry out in pain. Rayth retaliated with a expert shot that knocked two clone's heads off in a single shot. Kuja was firing spells at anything that moved and looked remotely hostile. Joachim was firing bullets in every direction, his handguns weaving an artful tapestry of destruction, junctioned with the black magic in his body, caused the bullet trails to shine many different colours. At that point, he saw what had happened up ahead, Kuja helping Sam along towards the airship. He turned to face the opponents.
"No-one gets past this point alive!" He shouted to the clones, his body slowly transforming, long black claws sliding out of his fingers. When the transformation was finished, he looked even more terrifying than normal. He turned to shout back at the others.
"Flee, my queen." He said, his dark eyes focusing on Sam.
"Get us out of here." She heard Ebony order in her head. On the one hand, she had been told to run. However, she couldn't just leave Joachim behind. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about him too much, as the enemy didn't last long with him. He ran at superhuman speeds to dive onto the airship, transforming back to his original form, panting breathlessly. Sam looked at Rayth, who was climbing into the pilot's seat.
"Where are we going?"
"We need to go and pick up Chris and Melissa."
"What about Eve?"
"Eve?" He looked a little puzzled for a second, and shook his head in annoyance. "Why do you insist on picking up more useless lifeforms on your travels?"
"Hey, I happen to feel quite strongly for that useless lifeform, thank you very much." Joachim chipped in, pointing his finger in the air to make his point. Sam suddenly felt a shiver run up her spine, and a sudden urge to do things best not described.
"Ah, looks like it's almost that time of the year again." She heard Ebony gleefully jabber.
"What are you talking about?"
"You'll soon find out." Somehow, Sam really didn't like the sound of that.
Neil's Group
Neil ran up the steps into Alexandria Castle, trying to find Dagger. Suddenly, he noticed Steiner standing by the staircase to the upstairs.
"Master Day, I wasn't expecting you back so soon." He noted in surprise.
"No time to talk Rusty, where's the Queen?"
"She's upstairs with Zidane, why?"
"Because there happens to be a rather large army on the way here." Steiner's face paled.
"Surely you jest!"
"Nope, they've already attacked Black Mage Village, and it's highly possible that we'll be next."
"He's right. You have to sound the alert now, or this entire continent will fall." Mikoto backed Neil up.
"What's all the noise down here?" He heard Dagger's voice floating down the staircase. She ascended gracefully, before noticing Neil in with a puzzled look. "Back so early?"
"Your majesty, we need to prepare the defenses of this city."
"What in the heavens are you talking about?" She really looked puzzled now, but stumbled as the ground began to steadily shake. Neil, Calum and Mikoto all looked around towards the front of the sprawling city in terror.
"They're here..." He whispered.
Chris's Group
We must have sat there locked in a deep embrace for well over an hour. What more was there we could do? I could quite visibly see that the entire British government had been wiped out in the attack. There was no-one else to warn, no way of contacting any other country. I sat, arms around Melissa, waiting silently for some sort of plan to formulate in my head, when I noticed a shop window across the road burst into life, each television set in the display turned on, scattering an eerie light across the darkened street. The scene on the televisions were that of a complex looking command centre, people rushing around in the background, carrying important-looking documents to others. In the very centre of the screen, standing in front a panel showing all sorts of complicated read-outs, stood Vincent, gazing into the camera with a mixed look of sorrow and determination in his eyes.
"People of Earth, I do not mean to cause any panic. Who I am is not important, but you must know by now that not only your world, but the entire universe, is in grave danger. The forces that have attacked your cities have retreated. To where, we are not sure, but we are doing everything in our power to ensure that this disaster does not go avenged." He paused for a second. "As for my operatives, you know who you are, the call has been made to make a complete withdrawal to headquarters, and to await further instructions. As for the people of Earth, I cannot guarantee we will win this war, but I can assure you that all precautions will be made to ensure that life will go on, and that the death and destruction of those we love will not have been in vain. Thank you for your time." He bowed to the camera, before all the screens once again fell dark and silent. We all stared numbly at each other. Draco's forces had retreated? Why? He'd had us on the run, why stop now? Why not finish us off? My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by bright searchlights sweeping over the city, like a knife cuts through butter. I couldn't quite make out the object that was causing this, but I could certainly make a good guess. As it turned out, my guess was correct, and the Thunderchild swooped down in all her glory, sweeping her searchlights across us, and landing swiftly at the end of the trashed street was sat on. I climbed wearily to my feet, the all-over joy of finding Melissa being nibbled on annoyingly by the pain from the multiple wounds I was suffering from. She helped me along, putting my arm around her shoulder and aiding my smashed leg in walking. Eve kept a look out around us, holding an arm-blade that had obviously been stolen from an Imaginary Number out, ready to use it at any opportunity.
Finally, we made it to the waiting airship, her slender wings folded up neatly against her body to prevent them smashing against the bombed-out buildings around her. As we climbed on board, I realised with a sweeping joy that some of the others had made it too. Kuja sat on a small metal bench, holding a sleeping Samantha, with a nod of approval in my direction. Eve ran forward and swung her arms around Joachim, smiling with relief.
"How'd things go?" I asked Kuja, who nudged the sleeping girl next to him.
"Not too bad I suppose, it could have been a lot worse."
"Did she find her parents?"
"No, the house was abandoned when we got there. We met a little trouble though, one of those men from the palace turned up. It was a close one though, if she hadn't distracted him, then we wouldn't have stood a chance."
"Distracted?"
"Yeah, she ran out and attacked him. She got wounded though, but that gave us enough time to recover and take him out." I looked down at her, while she snuggled against his softly clothed arm, smiling a little. I was impressed, if she'd truly taken on one of those warriors alone, then she'd certainly grown a lot over the past few days. Either that, or she'd been desperate.
"I see you two have really kicked off together, eh?" He rolled his eyes.
"How many people are going to say that before I have to start hurting them?" Melissa chuckled behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist. He raised an eyebrow. "Looks who's talking."
"At least I can admit it, you can't seriously tell me that there's no feelings in that cold heart of yours for the vulnerable little girl currently clinging to your arm?" He faltered for a second. "Relax about it, just let things take their natural flow. You've been through enough over the years anyway, it's about time you started be enjoying yourself a bit!"
"Heh, he's going to regret that over the next few days." Joachim chuckled.
"Why would that be?"
"I have a feeling that the wraith inside her is going to be wanting a little...more...from that relationship soon." I looked at him puzzled, and Kuja looked a little surprised.
"Will you stop being so cryptic and just tell me what's going on!" Kuja groaned.
"Hey, you'll be seeing it in me soon enough." Eve looked at him, a mixed look of anticipation and worry on her face.
"Oh damn, I forgot about that."
"If you lot have quite finished, we have to get to Alexandria pretty quickly." I heard Rayth shout from the front of the ship.
"What's the matter?" Melissa asked, looking a little worried.
"We're meeting up with Omega Wing outside Alexandria. We've had reports of a massive army coming in from the south, and they're going to need all the help they can get."
"What happened with the rest of the enemy?" I asked, hearing him sigh.
"I don't know, they just vanished suddenly. Even our military strategists haven't figured out exactly what's going on. It's as if they've gone into hiding." He looked at the panel in front of him, which had been quite angrily flashing red lights at him for the past minute. "Anyway, Vincent should be able to explain in more detail when we get back. Right now, we've got to get Alexandria and help them out." I nodded, plonking myself down on the bench next to Eve and Joachim, wincing in pain from the numerous wounds in my body. However, when Melissa sat next to me and snuggled up for a quick nap, I quickly forgot about everything. I could only hope that we could get to Alexandria before anything too bad happened.
That's your lot for the moment. If you're wondering why all this relationship stuff's going on, let's just say that there's a pretty big reason...well, two big reasons, why it's going like this. It has something to do with the final part of the trilogy, so you'll have to bear with me for the next few chapters while everything (ahem) sorts itself out. So, in other words, I may have to up the rating a bit XD.
Au revoir, mes amis!
Chris
