Rebirth of a Holy Dragoon
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. OCs belong to various friends. I think you know the drill by now.
Notes: Sorry, guys. I've been working on my original stories over on my Fictionpress page instead of fanfic because I find it a lot more satisfying here lately, along with having to reinstall Windows, and... This story really isn't a main focus for me at present. It just isn't. That's life, right? ANYWAY. I have a duty to myself to finish this, so I'm not going to abandon it.
Warnings: You don't remember the list of warnings I gave before? Fine. Here. Cursing, potential OOC, OC x Canon, stupid fluffy romance, sex, angst, self-insert author avatar, shitty storytelling.
FIC START!
Chapter Fifty-seven
Canti wasn't sure how to navigate the masses of sick, half-dead people. She had no idea how many she'd passed. It was an endless sea of people, many of them collapsed on the ground from having wasted away so long. Corpses littered the sidewalks, just fallen over in the places they died. She thought the rotted clothes stank while inside that building, but being out in the open, the stench of death hung heavily in the air. She stopped for a few moments, throwing up what little stomach acid was in her system, as she tried to head where Balthier had told her to go, but she was lost. She had no idea what was where. Balthier didn't even tell her what direction the port was in. The last time she ate was that meal Mateus had forced her to eat, and she didn't even really eat that much of it because of the circumstances. The sun overhead offered no relief as the heat pounded down upon her.
"Papa," she whispered, trying to force herself to stand back up. "I have to make it back for Papa Cid and Kain…" But she had no energy within her. She couldn't force her muscles to move any more than she had. Before it was pure adrenaline and fear of being caught and put back in that cell underground. "…I have to…" Her eyes closed as she fell onto a piece of the sidewalk where no others were all ready, still hearing the dull moans of all the sick people either wandering aimlessly around her or lying strewn about the place. "…Kain…"
…
When her eyes opened again, she felt as if someone was holding her. Her vision was terribly out of focus, but she did notice that she was being supported. "...Papa?" she asked.
"Afraid not," came a soothing familiar voice. "Forgive me if I've disappointed you."
Tears formed in Canti's eyes as they came into focus. She saw pale blue eyes looking down into hers, framed by that lovely blonde hair that was so prevalent in the family she'd been adopted into. "I'm not disappointed… not in you. I'm just glad to see that you're free…" She found the strength to pull herself up and suddenly hug around him as tight as she could. "Kain!"
"I've wanted nothing more than to hold you," he whispered, gripping her to him. "Thought I was dead the moment you ran out…"
Canti nuzzled her cheek into his shoulder. "Balthier helped you, didn't he? Like he promised?"
"You bet I did," Balthier's voice answered from behind them. "Now, then. We're heading to the beach, aren't we?"
"Yes!" she said enthusiastically.
...
Einar couldn't believe what he was seeing on the screen. Specs were going completely out of control. Apparently, matters on the inside weren't resolving themselves the way that Leviathan said they would, and the young man had only grown that much more frustrated with it. The more he watched it spiral out of control, the more he just wanted to intervene himself. If there was going to be a timeskip, he wanted to initiate it as soon as humanly possible.
He heard a door shut nearby, which caused him to get up from the Control Panel.
"Don't get up, kid," an informal voice said, and Einar just sat right back down. "Odin wants a report right now."
Einar turned his head only slightly to not look rude while addressing the Eidolon that had walked in. "Lady Asura," he began. "It isn't going well at present."
"Is that so?" Asura asked, shaking her many-faced head. "Leviathan is this girl's personal guardian, and he simply can't get any of this right... Ugh, I knew my husband was unsuitable for this."
"Why would you say that, Lady Asura?"
"The guy believes too much in the ones he protects. He doesn't want to even protect me."
"Lady Asura, with all due respect, you can protect yourself."
"I'm his wife."
"Yes, but you're also the patron goddess of all white mages, and the overseer of all children," Einar explained. "You don't need protecting. There's a reason why he believes in you."
"Then tell me why he believes in this beloved human of his, hmm?"
"Canti is capable of rising above adversity. She's shown so much promise, especially during her time as a keeper. Her emotions were unchecked, and that was her downfall, but had she been able to control herself, she would have gone to become one of the greatest in our time," Einar said, smiling. "It's because I believe in her that I'm even here now. I believe in who she was supposed to be, and who she's going to grow into while being the subject of Project:RE."
"All right, fine. You've done a great job of justifying why the Feymarch is being used to house this," Asura said, chuckling at him. "Tell me why things aren't going well."
"When Leviathan stepped out of the system to come out here and handle things from an outside position, everything fell apart. The government ripped into two factions that are warring with each other, and there's a rebellion trying to overthrow the way that everything works - including Leviathan being the Headmaster of Dagurreo," Einar sounded more than exasperated. "He's given me permission to do a timeskip and reprogramming, then give a reboot, but..."
"But?"
"He wants there to be balance first, and the more I wait, the further from balance we're getting!"
"Oh. Well. That's easy." She shrugged. "Give the executive order. Timeskip now."
"But, Lady Asura!"
"Look, kid! There are literally no safe havens for humans anywhere within any of the Fifteen Realms. None," Asura was growing impatient. "Darkness took over every Archive we had. The barriers have failed. Keepers are either dying or merging with the Ardent itself. If she's supposed to be this grand savior, we need her before we go extinct! You know the command, don't you?"
"I do."
"Give out that order before I feed you to a Malboro."
Einar took in a deep breath, placing both his hands on the control panel. "Command input, Project:RE..." he said, staring into his monitor. "...Dhalia."
The screen lit up with all sorts of overriding windows. Einar pulled his hands back and watched all of the operations take care of themselves. He didn't feel anything as he watched all go down. Leviathan said it was only to be used in an emergency, but based on what Asura just told him, that sounded like it was the most important emergency that could ever emerge.
"Cosmos help us all," Einar whispered.
