Rikku walked across the metal flooring of the Whale. It thrilled her to think that and the hull was all that protected her from the cold, twisted emptiness of the shadow realms they passed through. They'd been travelling for days according to the clocks in the ship.
Rikku wouldn't sleep despite the late hour. It wasn't the creaking or groanings of the ship like everyone else complained about. Instead she just wanted to some peace and quiet for herself while she found it.
So, color her surprised to find the ladder to the engineering level already lowered. Rikku descended and found Luca sat on the ground, legs crossed, and examining a fried capacitor.
"What did that?" Rikku asked.
Luca snapped her head up and yelped when she hit a beam. "Didn't hear you come down," she said.
"Did that come out of the engine?"
"Yah. I mean, it's got backups, but… wow." She held out the capacitor to Rikku. A hole through it showed jagged edges that looked melted and re-solidified.
"Looks like a power surge," Rikku said.
"I thought so too. But look." Luca pointed out a spot where the capacitor came from. "I've got half a dozen filters around it and nothing else looks touched."
Rikku jumped on the ladder Luca had unfolded and climbed to get a closer look. "Is it okay to not have a capacitor here?" Rikku asked.
"Like I said, I have some backup systems. I routed the power elsewhere."
"The power's off for this entire section?"
"In E-5, yup."
Rikku leaned back to check the box name and pulled out her flashlight to get a better look. Wires meant to connect to the capacitor hung loose. The damage was too localized. "Must've been a bad part," she said.
"That's what I thought. I should have brought Calca and Brina since they did a lot of the mechanical work. Here, I got an extra."
"Let me. You should sleep."
"Thanks." Luca gave Rikku the part and moved toward the exit. "Leave the power in the secondary port for now. I'll take another look when I wake up."
"Will do." Rikku checked both sides of the new part and doublechecked connections. Luca's footsteps faded above her.
Rikku rested the capacitor in its place and connected it to the filters around it. She ran rudimentary diagnostics. Nothing out of place.
She descended the ladder and hit the switch that closed panels over the box. Something beeped behind her. A red indicator light flashed by E-5.
Which it shouldn't because there was no power running to that box.
The ground rumbled like the engine kicked into gear, but she couldn't dismiss it so easily. She cursed this supposedly advanced technology that gave no additional indicators of trouble source.
A low growl sounded behind her.
Rikku turned and came face-to-face with a twisted coeurl. How in all the sands of Home—? "This is a spaceship," Rikku said. "Did you stow away?"
It lunged at her with a feral hiss. Rikku rolled out of the way. It crackled with electricity and Rikku remembered dark nights on the thunder plains.
Her head rang and the next thing she remembered was coming back to reality on the cold, smooth floor in the depths of a spaceship.
A gunshot split the air.
Rikku pulled herself to her feet. She couldn't focus. Noise rang and swam.
Balthier landed at the bottom of the ladder and took another shot. The bullet took the coeurl's shoulder. It shrieked and came after him.
"Best get up if you want to survive this," he said.
Rikku had left her claws by her bunk. Why was she so stupid? No ingredients either, or…
Light glinted off the jagged edges of the broken capacitor in the bag behind the coeurl.
Balthier evaded the beast and shot its torso. It screamed. Rikku dashed around the side and grabbed the capacitor.
The coeurl jumped her way. Rikku slashed it with her makeshift weapon and tore the belly. Its claws caught her arm.
Another gunshot and it slowed. Rikku jammed the capacitor into its neck and it fell to the ground. It flailed and Balthier put another shot in its heart and finally stopped its convulsing. It turned to ash.
Rikku's arm bled and she stung all over. She collapsed to her knees with a look up the ladder she couldn't climb. She summoned what white magic she could, but space left her too dry to fix it up.
Balthier knelt beside her and offered a bottle of water. Rikku sniffed and accepted it. It soothed her throat and she wished she could pour it on her burns.
Balthier said, "The beast was as much a threat to myself and the others as it was to you. It's a miracle we noticed it before it killed someone."
"Electricity in the engine. That could…" She struggled to speak. "Fry the… engine."
Balthier eyed the ruined capacitor. "Then it seems we found the problem. You should rest. Don't allow such a vile creature of the void to leave its mark on such a young beauty."
"I don't see myself making it up that ladder any time soon."
"Ah, yes. Then you'll allow me to escort you up?"
"Please."
Balthier helped her to her feet and despite the burns, they wrestled their way up that forsaken ladder and toward the sweet release of sleep.
Tifa faced the twittering beast of a robed bird that bounced about like some caffeinated child without enough sleep. They fought others like it, but this one carried more of that dark discoloring that seemed associated with that outcropping outside town. She wished she could stamp these things out for good.
"Denzel," she said. "Be a dear and stay back for this one."
He adjusted his position on the ledge. "But—"
"Something doesn't sit right here." The thing gave a twisted howl and spun about in place. "And I want you far away in case it tries something."
"But we've fought it before."
"Not like this." Beneath the sludge, a new color scheme glinted in the dulled light of the overcast sun.
"Fine." Denzel retreated down the ledge. "Just be careful, okay?"
She cringed at his genuine concern and flexed her fists. Then she charged the creature.
It gave a short squeak before she landed her first hits—it felt like punching a pillow. The thing recoiled and she adjusted her angle before it bent and bounced her back. Calling it a bird felt like a stretch.
Tifa skidded and righted herself. The puffball twisted and started a spell, so Tifa ran in to interrupt it.
Once she stopped that spell with a kick to where its face should be, Tifa slammed it into the ground and pinned it with a well-placed knee. She meant to call for Denzel before the thing bounced her again. She flew across pavement.
Denzel leaped from his hiding place and yelled profanity at the bird-monster. Tifa shouted for him to stop.
The creature danced about on its tiny toes and summoned a warped behemoth that swiped its ugly claws Denzel's way.
Something primal woke up within her and Tifa scrambled to stop them. Denzel evaded its movements.
Tifa slammed into the behemoth and forced the thing onto its side. Denzel took on the puffball while she struggled with the big guy.
Blood pounded in her ears and Tifa broke one of the thing's legs before it flung her off and sent her skidding again.
Tifa kept her balance this time and rushed it. She took hold of its head and swung onto its back.
The beast roared with frustration and stood. Tifa held on and steadied herself against its skull with the soles of her feet. It raged against her grip and flung its head about.
Tifa kicked away and closed back in. Wrapped her legs around its neck and her arms around its eyes.
"Get back!" she yelled to Denzel, who rammed his pole through the puffball's stomach. It sprayed him with an oily, blackish liquid. "Now!"
He darted her a glance before running.
… Straight at the behemoth.
Tifa screamed when the boy slapped the behemoth's shins with that black-stained pole of his and got it kicking about in response. It grabbed at Tifa, too, but each swing went too wide of her.
She looked about them and gauged the space necessary to throw this thing sky-high, but found too much street clutter in the way. But she couldn't think of a way to get Denzel up here.
"Throw it to me!" Tifa yelled.
Denzel glanced toward her, motions frantic, and moved behind the thing before tossing his pole her way.
She caught it and slipped it under the behemoth's chin. Once she had it secure in both hands across its neck, she set her feet against the behemoth's back and pulled.
Denzel finally got the message and ran for cover while the beast stumbled in place. Tifa strained to pull the thing tighter until the behemoth finally wavered and fell into a crouch. She kept pulling until it collapsed onto its front, clawing and gnashing at the ground.
One finger caught on the pole and ripped it away. Tifa cried out and hit the ground. Cracked head against concrete.
More profanity. Tifa barely thought past the painful haze but made out the blurry shape of Denzel casting fire. The behemoth lit up in a blaze that blasted the vicinity with a sweltering heat and Tifa wondered if that really was oil that dripped from it.
Denzel rushed to her side, cure alight in his hands, and Tifa found it cute how small his spells were next to Aerith's. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Sure." She forced herself into a sitting position and yelped at a burst of pain in her wrist. Tried to lift it, but that just made it worse. "Dammit—broken."
"I'll heal it."
"White magic doesn't work so well with broken bones."
"It's better than nothing, isn't it?"
Tifa grabbed two large pieces of splintered wood from a shattered box and placed them on either side of the bad wrist. "We need a long strip of cloth."
Denzel hesitated and set his pole down—she didn't notice he'd taken it up again. He fumbled in his pockets but didn't find anything. "Where?" He looked at her. "Your ribbon?"
"My—" Tifa looked at the pink strand of fabric tied around the arm of her good hand. "Oh. Yes, that'll work."
"But don't you need it?"
"It'll work just as well on my wrist. Take it for me, will you?"
They wrapped the ribbon about the splint and though Tifa knew better splints, Denzel did too well for his age. "Can I heal it now?" he asked.
"Yes."
He touched her finger—clearly avoiding the damaged part—and his face wrinkled in concentration. How many times did he use this in the past? Was that how she didn't hear of Marlene's fights?
Denzel wasn't finished when Tifa gestured for him to stop. She stood and he followed suit, but not before taking his pole again. It scraped the concrete.
Tifa tried to move her wrist despite the pain and winced. She waved Denzel off and said, "Anything that white magic hasn't fixed won't get better with more."
"But—"
"I'll figure it out. I don't want you fighting anymore."
"I want to help!"
"I'll do my best to make that unnecessary. I don't want you get hurt, okay? I want to keep you safe."
He frowned and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
Tifa put an arm about his shoulders and held him close as they went on to regroup with Cloud and Marlene.
The streets were quiet around here thanks to the monsters that roamed the place and more and more residents preferred to stick to shelter where possible. Tifa's family were part of the few who chose to single out the things and beat them back.
"Where do they come from?" Denzel asked.
Serah said something about the church bothering her when she visited but didn't report any hordes of monsters. "I don't know."
Cloud unbolted the door at Seventh Heaven when they arrived, and they entered to find Marlene sitting at the table and eating microwaved noodles. It smelled like cheap spices.
"Dealt with a swarm of mutant rodents near the River Sector," Cloud said before taking a seat by the table. "Looks like they're getting bolder."
Tifa pulled out a chair for Denzel and he hopped in beside Marlene. "We just took down a behemoth," Tifa said before taking her own seat. "Apparently some of these seemingly minor pests can summon bigger ones."
Denzel shuddered and Cloud got up to get more food. Marlene slowed her eating and looked at Denzel before casting Tifa a funny look. Marlene's eyes drifted to the hand that hid beneath the table and Tifa shook her head at the girl.
Marlene scowled and stuck her chin on the table. Denzel fidgeted and kept glancing between Tifa and Cloud.
"Anything from the Turks?" Tifa asked. "Weren't they handling a lot of these guys, now?"
"I haven't heard." Cloud set water heating.
"No news is good news, I suppose, especially with those guys, but we don't exactly have a lot of others with work on this monster invasion problem."
"Doesn't mean we have to coordinate with them."
"But we'll find greater strength in numbers."
"You want Denzel and Marlene working with the Turks?"
"Point." Tifa rested her good arm on the table. "Maybe you or I can work with the Turks and the other will stay here with the kids?"
"No!" Marlene said. "I don't want to be left behind!"
Cloud rested against the counter while the water warmed and Tifa could swear his eyes lingered where her ribbon should be. "It would be safer."
Denzel pouted and shrunk against his seat. Marlene slapped the table and said, "I won't be left behind!"
Tifa wondered at the temper that Barrett left with her despite their growing distance. "These monsters are growing in number and strength," she said. "You two shouldn't be out there when it gets worse."
"I don't care! Don't treat me like a kid!"
"We are kids," Denzel said.
"We'll talk about it later." Cloud turned off the heat and poured the steaming pot's water into bowls before adding the noodles. "For now, we need to eat and rest."
"Can we at least have some treats tonight?" Marlene asked. "We haven't had anything fun for two days!"
"Maybe if you do all your evening chores fast enough," Tifa said, "then we can talk about treats."
"Fine." Marlene turned back to her food.
Denzel accepted a bowl and chopsticks from Cloud. "What do we do tomorrow?"
"Same as we always do," Tifa said. "After tonight's guests, we gauge what the morning will look like and go from there."
Cloud's phone rang and he glanced at the number before mouthing "Turks" to Tifa. Then left to answer it with a, "Strife residence."
Tifa looked at the curious kids, who watched her for an answer. She just forced a smile and said, "Probably a salesman or one of our traveling friends."
Neither appeared to buy it.
"Will we have to leave?" Marlene asked.
Tifa steeled herself. "No."
"We could," Denzel said.
"We're not running."
"Why not think of it like a vacation?" Marlene asked.
"Because vacations don't involve throwing ourselves into the unknown like that."
"What if it's not unknown?" Denzel asked.
Tifa shook her head. "We're not talking about this right now. Because right now the safest place is in this house and until that changes, we're not going anywhere."
Marlene and Denzel reluctantly conceded, though Tifa knew that wasn't the end of this discussion. If the monsters kept growing bolder, than they'd have to at least consider moving cities.
If only Yuffie would get back to them about Wutai's situation.