Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters in this story.

Author's notes: I actually managed to get an early start on this one. Yes, this is another one of those chapters that was so cool, I've been thinking about various elements to put in it for the better part of a year now. Hopefully, I've managed to display that in my writing properly and didn't make an ass of myself in the process like everything else I try to do. XP

I also wanted to apologize for taking as long as I did in updating. Despite my early start, life got in the way. I graduated from college last week (go me XD) and everything kinda spiraled into a clusterfuck. Now I'm unemployed and still looking for a job. XD Bah. At least I can still write.

Chapter 12- Ruined City and Old Friends

XXXXXXXX

It was one thing to see Lindblum's destruction in the game. It was entirely different to actually experience it.

In the game, you only saw a few brief images of soldiers being attacked. Everything was covered by an ominous music track. A gamer didn't see entire city districts pulled away all at once. They didn't feel the heat of the fires all the way out into the surrounding fields. They didn't hear the screams, the pleas for mercy, or the children begging to know where mommy was.

I felt sick.

I thought my constitution was stronger than this, but I had to lean on my crutch as I nearly threw up.

"Trevor," Vivi said. "Why are they doing this?"

"Monsters…" I said, giving into my rage. I gripped the crutch so tightly that for a moment I worried about breaking it.

Atomos continued to devour the city. It looked like nothing more than a giant mouth pulling everything in like a black hole. The title "Dimension Eidolon" fit it well.

"We need to go," I realized. I started walking on my now-shaky legs. Atomos finished its attack and vanished9, dropping the hundreds of people who weren't devoured to the streets and buildings below. But the screaming didn't stop. The fires continued burning, and I knew that I could have prevented all of it. This was my fault.

"Trevor…?"

Ramuh was right. If I had put a little more trust in the others… If I had told the others the truth from the beginning, then maybe I could have stopped this. Stopped Brahne from attacking, or maybe more people could have gotten out.

"Trevor?"

It was my fault these people were dead. I did NOTHING!

"Trevor!"

"WHAT?"

Vivi shrank back to a walk. It was only now that I realized how fast I had been running. The pain from my foot had been a dull ache. The adrenaline must have had me going.

"Um… You're bleeding," Vivi said sheepishly.

I looked down and saw blood seeping out of my sneaker. I had been putting too much weight on it.

"Shit. Sorry Vivi," I said, putting my weight back onto the crutch. I gripped it firmly and pressed on.

"I'm just really worried about everything here," I explained. "It only makes sense that Brahne would go after Lindblum after she tried to destroy Cleyra."

"O-okay…"

"I didn't mean to snap. Sorry."

I had to get control of myself. If I started losing it now, then there was no way I could open up to the others later.

"It's ok," he said. "I know how you feel."

"You do?" I asked, confused at how he really could.

"Yeah… Queen Brahne is using Black Mages to hurt people," he said. "It's just like in Burmecia. All those people…"

I glanced back as Vivi jogged to catch up to me. Maybe having to rely on himself while I was unconscious did more for him than I thought. This war was really making him mature.

"C'mon, we need to get to Lindblum," I said. "There might be survivors."

"Alright."

XXXXXXXX

The smoke was still piling high and plenty of people were still screaming. Vivi and I approached the front gate as quickly as we could, keeping ourselves out of sight from any Alexandrians or Black Mages that could have been in the area.

Even the front gate, which was far enough away from the actual combat, was a scene of carnage. Lindblum Soldiers were lying in their blood, slain by Alexandrian soldiers cutting off the best route of escape. I couldn't see any Alexandrian bodies.

"This is just like Burmecia," Vivi said solemnly.

"Yeah."

In the panic, the only lights were the fires that were burning away the homes and buildings. I was glad that Vivi and I walked into the mostly unharmed Business District. I remembered the last time I was here was during the Festival of the Hunt. Back then, there was a turbulent atmosphere. Now with the flickering shadows dancing on the walls, there didn't seem like much of a point to fighting back here.

"Why are they doing this?" Vivi asked. "Don't they know they're hurting people?"

"There are very corrupt people in this world Vivi," I explained. The air was thick with the stench of the dead, which only fueled my anger. "Monsters that take human form."

I looked on the corpses of the citizens of Lindblum in the streets. The Alexandrian troops must have swept through here as part of a shock campaign to take away the soldier's resolve. These people died just so an attacking nation could save some troops in the long run.

"These bastards will do anything to get what they want, no matter who they have to hurt or destroy," I continued.

As I spoke, a squad of four Alexandrian soldiers came around the corner. They saw Vivi and I ambling towards them and rushed us.

"Hey!" the one in front yelled. "All civilians are to report to the holding cells immediately."

I ignored them. "Then there are the minions that blindly follow their master without thought for themselves or for the world around them."

The lead soldier came at me and grabbed me by the shoulder. "Hey, didn't you hear me? I said get into your cage or we'll deal with you by force!"

I scanned the lot of them. One of them was holding a little girl firmly. The kid couldn't have been more than six. She was crying while holding a small, singed teddy bear.

"And the only effective way to deal with these things is to kill every single one of them."

"That's it!" the lead soldier said. She pulled out her sword and held it against my throat. "Either you're coming with us or—HLKK!"

I shut the bitch up by shoving half my short sword into her gut.

"Be quiet," I told her. My voice was low and coarse. I found the energy came to me very easily. I charged up the sword and used Pulse on the soldier. One half of her fell towards her friends. I threw the other half to the side.

"You…" one of the remaining guards said. "What are you?"

"Let the kid go," I warned, teeth bared and sword ready.

They didn't comply. They all drew their swords and came at me all at once.

"Vivi!"

"Got it!" the little mage called out from behind. He quickly launched a fireball over my shoulder that hit the soldier holding the little girl dead on. She fell to the ground, releasing the child.

The two other guards paused for only a second. It was more than enough for me. I sent more energy into the sword and a ball of Chi capped the tip. I thrust the blade into the street, just as the soldiers neared me. The resulting blast sent rocks and a shockwave towards them. One soldier was thrown back into a building while the other took a rock to the head. I didn't know if she was knocked out or killed, but I didn't care.

I took a few seconds to breathe. I was sure that I was able to manipulate my Chi so quickly now because everything around me was pissing me off. The added anger and fury pushed me beyond my normal limits. Maybe it was because seeing the little girl so scared in the clutches of those soldiers—

Hey, where'd she go?

"Trevor!" Vivi called out. He pointed at the end of the street where the girl had run.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at her. "Get back here before you get hurt!"

She didn't listen. I could see her clutching her bear tightly as she ran blindly, but there was no way I could catch up to her.

"Vivi, you have to go stop her!" I said. "Bring her back so we can keep her safe."

"Okay," he said, rushing off. I hobbled along as well as I could on my crutch, going horribly slow. I tried to figure out our next steps as I walked.

First, we need to find all the survivors that we can. Then we need to get to the castle. Then we wait for Zidane and Garnet and get to Fossil Roo. That shouldn't be too difficult.

Unfortunately, as I was lost in thought for the moment, I didn't notice the other patrol force sneak up behind me.

"Hold it right there!" one of them barked.

I turned to face them. I still had some residual anger from the last fight, but this lot was out of range, and with my foot the way it was, I couldn't jump them.

"We saw what you just did," the same soldier yelled. One of them pulled out a bow and aimed it right for me. "Turn yourself over and we won't kill you."

I blinked, feigning boredom. "How do you know I won't just kill you where you stand?"

"Because if you could, you would have done it by now."

Dammit. Dead on.

I should have known better than rush into the city like this. I was clearly injured, Vivi was a kid who was still afraid of war, and Kaiten still wasn't responding to me. I had almost every disadvantage bogging me down. But at least we still had one chance in my partner by my side.

"Vivi—"

"Get away from her!" he suddenly cried out. As soon as I turned, a Black Mage backhanded Vivi. The new enemy stood over the terrified little girl, staring down with a blank expression.

"KILL!" it said robotically.

"No!" I yelled. "Vivi, you have to stop it!"

"If you move, we will kill you!" the soldier said again.

I was torn. Risk death to save someone I probably couldn't, or just let her die and do nothing.

The little girl screamed helplessly. "Mommy! Where's my mommy?"

The Black Mage ignored the horror in her voice as it charged up a fireball to incinerate her.

"MOMMYYY!"

Three shots suddenly rang out. The Black Mage stopped casting at once and fell back, dead. Two spots of blood appeared on its chest, as did one in its forehead.

I looked on, in a mixture of relief and confusion before I remembered the Alexandrians behind me.

"Kill him!" came the order.

But the attack never came. The soldier holding the bow was cut in half as a massive sword ripped through her stomach, cleaving her in half. The other soldiers had just enough time to see their new attacker towering over them just before he ripped them apart as well.

The towering man stood over me, sword resting on his shoulder as he offered me a hand up.

"Boy, you really did a number on yourself to wind up like that," came a familiar voice behind me where the girl was. "Still, thanks for the warning. You saved our lives."

I saw a man with short curly brown hair holster a gun as he helped the girl to her feet and guided her safely towards me, picking Vivi up along the way.

"So what's it been, a week?" he asked.

I just smirked. "Nice entrance Dante."

XXXXXXXX

As the battle came to an end for Trevor, his counterpart was resting, watching the scene play out from his host's subconscious.

"It'll be amazing if he doesn't kill both of us one day," Kaiten remarked.

He had recovered from the battle, but had opted to stay out of combat for one simple reason.

Kaiten hovered his way around the empty white room until he came to the familiar hole he had once created. He had been spending much of his time examining the dark room with the burning house.

There, one of the two memory books buried in the field of blood was still glowing through the thin layer of blood coating it.

"You glow when his anger flourishes," Kaiten said to the book. "Yet I still have no idea what you are."

As Kaiten hovered over the books, he came to a conclusion.

"If you're what I think you are, then you're the reason the host gets so angry. Maybe a deeply buried rage? Or some sort of personal issue."

The book's glow began to fade, matching the surrounding darkness.

"And if that's the case, we need to find out what happened so that he doesn't give in to his anger and follow the old men's plan."

Kaiten came closer to the book.

"Alright, I'll help with this one," he said. "But it had better not get me killed."

Kaiten reached through the blood and grabbed the cover of the book.

"Haven't done something like this in a while."

But before he could open it, the book began to glow again. Kaiten had just enough time to back out before a ball of light shot out of the book, missing him by inches.

"Shit!" Kaiten looked back in time to see another attack aim for him. Again, he barely dodged it. "Why would a memory have a defense system?"

This time, several balls of light swarmed out of the book. They flew up before redirecting and shot towards Kaiten.

The Terran knew better than to stick around and flew backwards as well. The defenses chased him around the room for a moment before he made a break for the hole in the ceiling. Kaiten landed away from the hole and materialized a sword, waiting for the next assault.

But the attack never came. The glowing spheres shot out of the hole and converged in mid-air before falling back towards the hole where they stopped. They grew brighter, and before Kaiten knew it, they had sealed the hole.

"What the hell?"

Kaiten slowly walked back to the spot where the hole once was. The floor was solid once again. Considering the hassle he had just been through, he wasn't entirely crazy on getting back in.

"Damn. This guy's got issues."

XXXXXXXX

"So how long have you guys been out here like this?" I asked.

"Not long," Dante said. He was busy searching through a pack of supplies. "After you warned me to stay out of the Industrial District, I started staying with Wayne. He lives just a few blocks from here."

"And your new gun?"

Dante pulled out the gun he had used earlier. It was similar to what he had used for the Festival of the Hunt, but it had six chambers. "Latest model," he explained. "I wasn't able to use it during the Festival because it kept getting jammed. I only figured out that I had to rebuild the gear-shift in the chamber barrel a few days ago."

"Uh… okay…" I muttered.

"Here we go!" Dante said, finally pulling out a potion. I took it and laid still as I downed the vial. I heard my bones crack and pop as they reset into place. It was uncomfortable, but at least I could walk again. I stood and tried putting weight on my foot. There wasn't any pain at all.

"So you've been fighting the Alexandrians this whole time?"

"Ever since they flooded into the Business District," Dante explained. "Wayne and I saw that they were capturing all the people they could so that they could put them into prisons."

"Probably so they could keep the out of the way," I surmised. "But why did you bring this lug around?" I asked, pointing behind myself.

"Hey!" Uzu complained. He brought his giant claymore down and pressed the tip of the blade beside my leg, probably to intimidate me.

"I ran into Uzu as he was fighting off some Black Mages," Dante said. He laughed as he said, "He was cutting through them like paper. He's pretty good to have as support."

Uzu just grunted.

"Anyway, we need to get this one to Wayne's shop," Dante said, indicating the little girl. "He has a storage shed underground. We can hide her and anyone else we find there until this is over." Dante kneeled down so he was eye level with the girl. "Hey, can you tell me your name?"

The girl just hid her face behind her bear.

"She's shy," Uzu said. "Let's just get her back before anything tries to hurt her again."

"Aww… Uzu's good with kids," I teased. "Inn't that cuuute?"

"If you don't shut the hell up right now I'm going to pluck off your toes and feed them to a sparrow."

"Guys, enough!" Dante scolded. "Wayne's waiting for us. We need to get moving."

It felt good to move without a crutch again. The rush I had been in to get to Lindblum while using it had left a real impression on me. My shoulder still felt sore from the crutch digging into my skin.

The girl walked along with us slowly. She seemed to keep her distance as far from Vivi as she could. I tried to part them by nudging Vivi closer to the front so that the girl could feel better cowering behind Uzu's frame. The giant kept a careful eye on her.

"It's just in the next plaza," Dante reminded us. "Just keep an eye out. Wayne said he was going to set up a few traps around his shop."

"Traps?" I asked. "He's got a twenty by twenty workshop with a two ton smelter fixed to the wall. What kinds of traps can he really have?"

My questions was answered by a scream coming from the next plaza. Uzu picked up the girl and the lot of us ran, only to see another four-woman Alexandrian squad attacking Wayne's shop. Well, three of them were. One soldier was screaming in pain with excessive burns over half her body.

Then, I saw Wayne, outfitted in light armor and holding a trident low in front of himself. He looked bored or tired. He must have been working to keep everyone safe.

"We were trying to be nice!" one of the Alexandrians yelled. "Just hand over the prisoners and we'll pardon you, but no, that wasn't good enough for you!"

"That's stating the obvious," Wayne said. "Now, get out of my shop before I kill the rest of you."

"Flank him!" the leader said. Instantly, the two other soldiers surrounded Wayne on each side.

"You will move or we will kill you!" the soldier warned.

"Or I can do this."

Wayne stepped back and pointed the tip at one of the flankers. He flicked a switch by the handle of his weapon and one of the barbs flew away, straight through the soldier's armor. He turned and repeated it to the other soldier, sending another barb flying through her chest. The leader was so stunned that she didn't move in time as Wayne rushed her, spearing her in the gut and sending her to the ground. He pulled out the trident and spun it once, flicking off the blood from the tip.

"Well… I'm impressed," I admitted.

"You certainly know how to build new toys, don't you?" Dante said as we walked into the shop.

"I just build them," Wayne said. "You're the one who designs them."

Wayne walked to the wall and grabbed another trident. This one was missing its middle barb. "I think this is the one that shoots fire."

I blinked a few times, in awe. "So can the magic engineer design me some new short swords?"

"I'll think about it."

"I see you've found a new survivor," Wayne said, pointing to the girl who was now holding onto Uzu's head tightly for support.

"Yeah, we found her alone, wandering the streets," Dante said. "We found Trevor and Vivi trying to save her too."

"Oh yeah, I remember you now," Wayne said with a nod. "I see you're still using my swords, but how'd that armor I made do for you?"

"I fought Beatrix of Alexandria, she blasted a gaping hole in my chest, destroyed the armor and one of my lungs and nearly killed me, so I had to toss it."

"…Oh. That sucks."

"Yeah."

Behind us, the girl whimpered on Uzu's shoulder. The giant man glanced at her and, without a word, let her down so she could sit on the ground. She was tearing up as she collapsed.

"Is she going to be alright?" Vivi asked Dante and myself.

"She's alone now," Uzu said. "She misses her parents and the carnage outside scared her to death."

"What are you, psychic?" I asked.

"You could do it too if you paid attention for half a second."

Ouch.

As we talked, a woman walked around the corner in the back of Wayne's shop. She had a bandana over her head and looked like the kind of refuge that they were always putting in the paper back home.

"Excuse me, Mr. Quinn?" she asked, looking to Wayne. "I was hoping you'd let me go out and—"

"Mommy!" the little girl screamed, running for the woman.

"Clara!" the woman gasped. She immediately knelt down and hugged her rushing daughter. Tears of joy cascaded from her eyes as the two of them reunited.

"Aww, now that's nice," Dante said. "And here I was worried the kid would be an orphan."

The woman hugged her daughter, Clara, for a few more seconds before looking at us and thanking us dearly.

"Thank you so much," she said. "I can never forget this."

'No problem," I said with a wave. Dante smiled and Uzu nodded.

The woman stood up, still cradling the girl in her arms. "Come on Clara. Your father's waiting for us in the back."

"I like happy endings," Dante said. "So, I guess we should go out and find some more survivors. Are you two coming with us?"

"I'd like to, but we can't," I explained. "Vivi and I need to get to the castle and find the Regent."

"The Regent?" Dante repeated. "Why do you need to see him?"

"Because Vivi and I have info on what's pushing Brahne to fight this war and conquer the continent."

"What? You're kidding! How'd you do that?"

"We snuck into Alexandria castle to rescue the princess and overheard Brahne saying it."

"You… what?" Dante asked. It was obvious that he was perplexed.

"It's a long story."

Dante scratched his head for a moment, then glanced at Wayne and Uzu, then turned back to me.

"So we need to walk the few miles to the palace, breaking through who knows how many lines of Alexandrian troops, putting who knows how many other people at risk in the crossfire, tell the Regent this info of yours even though he's likely under heavy observation, then somehow find a way out of the city before Alexandria can retaliate?"

"Pretty much."

"Are you suicidal?"

"Only on Mondays."

"Will it end the war?" Wayne asked.

"It'll cut off Brahne's supply lines," I explained. "The Black Mages and the Eidolons, like the one that destroyed Lindblum just now."

"You know where she gets them?"

"I know her supplier."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and the sooner we stop him, the sooner we save everyone. Are you guys with me or not?"

"I'll go!" Vivi said almost immediately.

"You know this is insane, right?" Dante asked. "I mean, I'm just an engineer. I barely have any combat experience and it's only a few of us going against an entire army."

"Not to mention the air cabs are out," Uzu added. "We won't have an easy time getting to the castle."

"I have to stay here," Wayne said. "Someone has to look over the civilians here. If the Alexandrians don't find them, they might trigger one of my traps."

"Yeah, alright," I said. It would have been good to have Wayne with us. He looked like he had some unique weapons. "What about you two?"

"Yeah, I'll go," Dante said after a moment. "They destroyed my home and my workshop. I want a little payback."

"I might as well," Uzu said. "I don't have anything better to do."

"Alright, good," I said. This should be enough. Vivi and Dante gave us a range advantage, I had my magic, and Uzu was a walking powerhouse. We definitely had enough to punch through any Alexandrian forces as long as we were careful.

"Let's get moving," I said. "Alexandria's going to be hard enough to fight as they are. We can't let them get a better foothold in the area."

Outside, we could see the smoke still rising. It seemed to make way as the Red Rose flew slowly through the air. I imagined that Brahne was somewhere up there, looking down on the ruined city with glee. Her ship seemed to take the scenic route as it flew towards the main castle.

"That's the Red Rose, isn't it?" Dante asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

I watched in silence as the luxury ship cruised into the air dock. She would have the Falcon Claw and the collection would be half complete. I just hoped Dagger didn't run into any Alexandrian guards, or Lani the bounty hunter. Otherwise, Brahne would have had three pieces and the only thing keeping the universe out of total ruination was a 6-year old girl watching over the last piece in Maiden Sari.

I lowered my gaze and looked down the road to the castle. Much of the city was still on fire. On the other side of the plaza, the fire had burned away a shop, revealing a new path into another district.

"Dante, which district is next to this one?" I asked, pointing to the new pathway. "The one over that way."

"That's the culinary district," he said. "The chefs in the castle are going to be pissed that their food supply is getting overcooked like this."

"Does it lead to the castle?"

"It connects with the education district and then the noble's district. We can get to the castle through the noble's district."

"Good, then we found our way there." I started marching on, careful of debris as I stepped through the burned building into the culinary district. I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

On the other side, there were more bodies, mostly of soldiers, as well as several Black Mages. Blood covered the alleyway we stepped through, some of it reaching the second story windows. More buildings were on fire here and the shops and bakeries gave off an ironically sweet smell. I started to hate myself as I felt hungry amidst the carnage.

"Everyone grab a snack while you can," I said. "We're going to be at this for a while."