So here's another chapter for you. I know I've been working a bit more slowly lately. Please forgive me. I hope this makes up for it. I don't have much to say about it though. We're getting into the meat of stuff now.
I disclaim what I don't own.
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Chapter 11
Death Through Revelations
Night came to Bevelle and Kijo and his unit were stationed in their respective quarters. There was a small window that Kijo took a brief glance through. Outside, it was dark. Very dark. This wasn't a common occurrence in Zanarkand. Night-time there was accompanied with brighter neon lights that lit the whole place like the middle of the day. Kijo sighed. He missed the lights.
Turning to the other four soldiers, he spoke to them in a low whisper. "Ok…so I think we've all come to the same conclusion here."
"This Orman guy is doing something conspicuous," Shuyin muttered, his eyes firmly focused on nothing in particular. Kijo nodded.
"Exactly." He turned to Solene. "This is your specialty, Solene." The woman nodded, face dropping slightly in concentration. "You're gonna need to find him and follow him for a bit, every night. Find out what's going on. Wait for something weird to happen and then we'll go from there. Until then though…the rest of us are going to have to lay low. We don't want to get caught up in the politics of this place. The less we're seen, the better."
His words were met with slow, understanding nods from his unit. Solene did not nod. He face was screwed up in thought, already at work contemplating how to sneak about the Bevelle headquarters. Slowly, the men's eyes drifted to look at her and watch as she worked out her plans. After a few minutes, Kijo spoke up again.
"Are you going in disguise? Or are you doing it in stealthier clothing?"
Solene shook her head. "Disguise for tonight." Her eyes flicked up and looked out to the left somewhere, checking her thought process. "Yeah. I'm sure this place has a curfew but I can use the 'just returned from the field and didn't remember' card at least once. I can move around pretty inconspicuously that way, and if I'm caught, they'll just send me back here."
Kijo grunted in approval. It made sense. She would be safest like that. With a final nod, he stretched and leaned back onto his cot. "Ok, whenever you're ready, head out. Report back as soon as you can." He stared up at the ceiling and heard her stand, her Bevelle gear clanking softly. "And just remember," He looked at her, his eyes serious now. "Don't do anything that will put you at risk. Your priority is to stay alive right now."
Solene smiled and chuckled softly. "Of course sir. I know that already."
Then, without another word, she walked to the door of the room, patting Roy and Brahv on the shoulder as she went. The door opened and she exited, letting it fall shut slowly behind her. Kijo smiled.
"Ok then, no use staying up and wasting good darkness like this. Let's get some rest, eh boys?" There were a few nervous laughs from Roy and Brahv, but they all agreed. They were exhausted. "You too, Shuyin. We all could use the rest."
Shuyin remained silent, watching the door Solene had just exited through. After some time, he nodded. "Ok, sure."
The four men gathered their rough covers about them and closed their eyes. In spite of their excitement for the day to come, they were all able to fall asleep within an hour. The night passed peacefully. Silence reigned over the misty corridors of Bevelle and the war seemed so far away. They were being housed by the enemy and treated as allies. The whole situation was rather funny. Kijo went to sleep with a small smile on his face.
The next day, the sun rose out over Spira, as it did on any day, and Kijo rose with it.. His eyes immediately scanned the room. Shuyin, Brahv, and Roy were all sleeping lightly in their cots.
Solene was not there.
Kijo leaned against the wall and rubbed his eyes. When the sleep had been wiped away, it changed nothing. Solene was not in the room. Kijo stood up slowly, not wanting to wake the other men. He stepped toward the empty cot and looked down. It could have been the fact that he had just woken up, or simply his own naiveté, but he couldn't concede to the fact that the fifth member of his unit was not where she should be.
He had expected her to come back in the middle of the night, perhaps early morning with no exciting facts to tell. She was going to return with a story consisting of a Bevelle security member telling her to get back to her room, nothing more. Then she would return and they would rethink their approach.
But she wasn't here.
The sun had risen on their group and there were only four of them. Kijo shook his head. It was too early to assume anything. So she wasn't here. Perhaps she had roomed up in another soldier's quarters. They all looked the same. Or maybe she had gotten backed into a corner and needed to wait until the guard shift changed and she could leave her space without being seen as a suspicious person. There were too many possibilities to assume the worst yet.
Shaking the other four men awake, he began to dress himself again in the soldier's uniform. They groggily rose and one by one, went through the same realization he had. They said nothing to each other. Speaking their thoughts would make them seem more real and none of them wanted that at the moment.
When they had all dressed, Kijo walked to the door and looked over his shoulder. "I'll go first." He received some blank nods and then walked through the door. He moved quickly through the misty hallways, keeping an eye out for Solene. He made a large perimeter sweep, working from a memory of a blueprint he had once seen as well as his experience yesterday.
Solene wasn't anywhere.
Upon returning to the room, he shook his head solemnly. "I didn't see her."
There was a long pause. After some time, Roy spoke.
"What…what does this mean?" He looked up at Kijo with eyes asking for some sort of comfort. Kijo sighed. Why look at him like that? He already knew what it meant.
"It means nothing."
Kijo looked up sharply at Shuyin, who had just spoken. The blond haired boy was staring out the window, as though concentrating on something very important.
"It doesn't mean anything. We don't know if she's dead, captured, lost, or just had to run back to Zanarkand." Shuyin reached up and rubbed his temples with his fingers. "We don't know anything about what happened to her. We can't assume anything or we might end up making a mistake. We can't assume…but we need to proceed with more caution than ever. We should probably act on the premise that Solene has been captured or killed. We can't let our guard down now."
Kijo looked at Shuyin carefully. He couldn't have said it better himself. "That's right. Shuyin's got the right idea. Keep an eye out for Solene from now on, but we can't be searching for her." His eyes swept over the remaining men. Brahv nodded solemnly and Roy looked down at the ground, upset, but understanding of the situation.
"We're gonna lay low for a few days. Try and confine ourselves to the room and not leave unless we have to." He sat down on the bed. "Is that clear?"
"Yes sir," was the reply.
The following days were quiet. Like Kijo had said, the Zanarkand spies confined themselves to their room, twice a day sending one of them out to scout the area and see if anything had changed. They were not bothered and three days passed in silence. On the fourth day, something new happened.
Kijo was lying on his cot, staring at the ceiling of the room and trying to plot out his next move. "Three days…" he mumbled. "We can start moving again on the fifth." He turned his head to look at Brahv who was the closest to him. "Tomorrow we start investigating Orman again. He's more suspicious now than ever because Solene never came back."
Brahv nodded and was about to speak when there was a hurried knock on the door. Roy and Kijo jumped in surprise. Kijo gathered himself and gave out a few hand signals. The four rushed to pick up equipment and look as though they were doing something professional. It would be unnecessary as the person who knocked called through the door.
"Hey!" Holtz's high voice pierced through the door. Kijo relaxed slightly but listened carefully. "They found a spy from Zanarkand! They're down in the Great Hall right now! Hurry up!"
Kijo felt a pit open up in the bottom of his stomach. Not a word had to be said. The four dressed quickly and in a matter of moments were rushing out the door. They rushed down the halls and were joined by several lingering Bevelle soldiers as they ran. After a minute, they emerged into the great hall. The mist was stirred into frenzy from the crowd that had formed. Kijo pushed through the mob until he could see who everyone was looking at.
"Go ahead and shoot!"
A young man with wild eyes and short black hair was backed up against a guard rail. Beyond him, a deep pit stretched downwards. He was backed into a corner and in front of him, a row of Bevelle soldiers stood with their rifles aimed at him.
"Rall…" Kijo whispered to himself. The man he had designated as the leader of the fourth cell stood, backed into a corner.
"Shoot me already! You've already killed the rest of us!" He stepped forward and spread his arms. "I'm the last one so why not just pull the trigger you Bevelle bastards!"
"You're the bastard!" A voice from somewhere behind Kijo caused the crowd to cheer. Kijo raised an arm and let out a cheer as well, but kept his eyes carefully on Rall.
"So why not just kill me then!?" Rall paced back and forth wildly looking back at gun barrels pointed at him. "Waiting for those people in charge to tell you 'you can shoot'? You need a command for everything? Maybe this is why we always kick your ass on the field!"
BANG
"Agh!" Rall fell back and clutched at his thigh where a small hole was beginning to spurt blood. He fell to one knee and supported himself on the guard rail behind him.
"Hold your fire, dammit!"
Rall smiled bitterly through tears of pain. "Hold your fire? What for? What are you waiting for?"
Kijo watched him. What was he waiting for? If they weren't going to kill him, they were going to interrogate him. Why didn't he just turn and jump. What was he doing? No one was going to save him. What was he thinking?
"Not going to shoot?" Rall struggled to pull himself into a standing position. "Still waiting for that command to fire. Fair enough." He leaned back against the railing. "Then let me have my last words now." He smiled and pointed behind him at the large pit behind him. "You see this?"
Silence fell over the crowd. The spy's demeanor had changed. Kijo edged forward, listening intently.
"How many of you know what's down there? Don't say nothing." He laughed wryly. "Those people who are going to tell you to shoot me are building something down there."
And there it was. The reason he had been stalling. Rall had found something. He had no proof that there were any other spies in the audience that surrounded him now, but if he could get the word out to just one…his work would not have been in vain. He was guising it as a call to arms. A secret the authorities were holding from the people. It was brilliant, really.
"You trust them so much, don't you?" Rall continued, raising his voice. "But they're hiding this from you! A giant machina! The likes of which you've never seen! They've been building it for a while now and it's nearly finished! Oh yes…they've nearly finished it now." He laughed loudly. "It's bigger than this whole damn building, can you believe it?"
Kijo couldn't. Bigger than the building? How was he supposed to destroy something like that? They didn't have enough explosives for something of that magnitude. What were they going to do?
"They don't trust in your ability to fight! They don't think you can win against us! That's why they're building it, the giant machina meant to destroy my home." He stepped forward. "The people in charge here…how can you trust them, if they don't trust you?" Murmurs began to ripple through the crowd. "They don't trust in you, that's why they've built it. The giant machina…known as…"
"FIRE!!"
The scream echoed through the Great Hall and Kijo turned to see the old man pointing at Rall. Orman. As he turned, there were several clicks and then…
BANG
Kijo turned back as fast as he could. Rall stumbled back, his body now riddled with small holes where blood began to flow from. His eyes rolled back into his head but he smiled as he bumped into the guard rail.
"The…machina…"
He tipped backwards slowly, leaning over the guard rail and gradually toppling over the edge. The room was completely silent as he fell over and into the pit. He kept smiling, speaking one last word.
"Veg…na…gun."
Then he was gone, silently falling into nothingness as he flew downwards and out of their view. Kijo stared at the spot where he had disappeared and offered silent gratitude to the valiant Zanarkand soldier. Thanks to him…they knew what it was. They knew it existed. They could do something. But…what?
"Hmph…Zanarkand bastard was crazy as hell, wasn't he?" Kijo looked to the side where another Bevelle soldier had whispered to him. Kijo gritted his teeth for a moment and then smiled.
"Heh…yea. Must have been out of his mind."
There was movement to his left and Kijo felt something bump against him. He stumbled forward slightly and felt a hand reach up to his collar and grab onto it. Another Bevelle soldier leaned in close to him and pulled him close.
"You'll have to move tonight. I'll be leaving for Zanarkand, meet me in the room as soon as possible. Make sure Shuyin, Roy, and Brahv are all there." The soldier brushed Kijo's front with their hand and straightened him back up. Kijo moved with the soldier and glanced down at them.
"Sorry for bumping into you," Solene said simply and then left.
