Chapter 14: Guilt
"...Do I know you?" Ryu turned to her.
Silence passed by while he stares at the newcomer brought back into Unita. A pretty young woman. She was tall, wearing a white knitted sweater, black and white jeans, and a pair of heeled shoes. The left side of her mouth had a fang sticking out of it with heterochromia eyes of having blue eye on the right and red eye on the left. Her wings... hidden from view.
"You're Chiyoko... but...I don't know why you love me." Ryu added. "Sorry, but...I am not the Ryu you know."
"NGH...!" Ryu groaned in anger. "Did I mess things up with here?"
"I do not know but you seem to not want her to take advantage with her amnesia in the same vein as yours." Caledfwlch told him. "However, she's worried about you. She had that feeling but she didn't know if you are the same person she loved."
"...I don't know what to do." Ryu murmured. He sits down onto the chair behind him with his hands in front of his face. They know nothing about each other... are unsure... He heard towering steps coming, heavy steps of someone large coming toward him. He looked up, seeing Noct and Al coming. Their partners joining them with Fortem wearing a fishing hat and Gargo inside the basket, checking if everything were inside.
"Hey, Ryu." Noct greets. "Just given a... day off today."
Al studied Ryu for a few seconds before he decides to inquire for confirmation. "Are you alright?" Ryu sighs loudly as he got up from the chair.
"...I just ...I don't know." Ryu told them. "I just met this girl. Really pretty girl. I don't know who she is and why but... She was the same person in those memories Caledfwlch gave me but...I am not ready to reaffirm my feelings to her."
"Hm... You shouldn't rush things, given your cases." Al tells Ryu. "Though those memories are true, you shouldn't rush ahead. Give her, and yourself, time to steady each and your own. She will need the time to accommodate to Unita."
"...Chiyoko..." His chest expanded and contracted with heavy breaths. Ryu's mind was conflicted and needed some time for himself. Fortem wondered if Ryu can join them but...Ryu was an impatient person. Will an activity that requires patience work right now?
No. As much as help was wanted, theirs weren't going to help Ryu at best. Al looked quietly and he motioned Noct to go ahead with Fortem and Gargo. "We'll give you time as well."
"Thanks, guys..." Ryu smiled and waved. "Have fun." The giant nods and he follows after his companions to spend their day off together.
Fishing was an activity where fresh and live fish were caught. It was an activity many would love for the delicious meal that was obtained from this activity. All one needed was a fishing rod, bait, and somewhere to contain the catch. Noct and Fortem looked at the storage on the boat they rode on. Water to keep them alive and never let them go.
"It's... a hammerspace..." Noct mumbles. The storage just appeared to be small, but from inside, it could be a large sea in there.
"Hammerspace?" Fortem wondered. "Why hammer?"
"It's more of that space that looks small from the outside, but it's really spacious from the inside." Gargo glides over to Fortem.
"Where's the hammer?" Fortem looked in.
"There's no hammer in a hammerspace." Gargo informs him while Fortem stares in the water. Al heads over to Fortem. "A hammerspace is an interdimensional space accessed from a storage medium." He explains. "Though the storage area appears small on the outside, inside there is a mass amount of space where inventory is kept and more or so safeguarded."
"Whoa..." Fortem was in awe. "Is it some magic?"
"It is, in a way. Not many understand why, but we can keep many things inside a space to which we can call out in moments." Gargo held a fishing rod fit for them. Some stared at what Al had, a fishing rod twice the size as Noct's height while it was picked out of the basket. A hammerspace too.
"Here you go, Fortem." Gargo passes one to him. A medium-sized one, perfect for his size. He took a few looks at the tapering body to the top, the long string rolled up by the handle area and aligning with the body upwards to the end... and a hook attached at the end of this string...
"Okay." Fortem watches Al take out some bait, earthworms.
"Here, we'll all begin with these." He tells the others. "Attach them to the hook..." Fortem did so and watched Noct do the same thing. They cast out their hooks into the water and waited. They looked at the buoyant balls their hooks had. Reel in if it moved.
"..." They waited.
"..." They waited.
"..." They continued to wait...
"..." Fortem looked at the float. "...Oh!" He exclaimed, reeling in and spinning the lever once he saw it go down. He felt the pulling force against him pulling it in, it wasn't as strong as his own, but it was trying to escape now.
"Oh no you don't!" Fortem screamed, kicking the side of the boat and reeled in. It barely even shifted from his force. He reeled again as the catch began to relent against the line, it reacted when feeling the pull and tried to escape again. He gave one more pull when the line reaches near the boat, making water spray as the catch was pulled out of the water.
"Whoa..." Fortem exclaimed with awe.
"You've caught one, Fortem!" Gargo praises.
Fortem nodded as he brought the fish into the boat and checked it out. A big one. Al helped in removing the fish and throw it into the hammerspace while Noct had already a large basket full of fish. The others stared.
"Aniki...how...?" Fortem muttered in disbelief. Did it took too much time for him to reel in that fish that his partner got more? They knew he was the last Crystallian, but was fishing expertise a required power to be one?
"..." Noct was still in focus as he felt a bite, reeled it in skilfully and brought it out of the waters.
"He's already fishing out fish so quickly..." Gargo agrees sharing Fortem's surprise.
...
Al fished out a boot. "Quickly to the extent that we possibly couldn't catch any fish at all..." Al comments.
Fortem fished out a box. "Delivery box here?"
"A delivery box?" Gargo asks.
"Yes."
A squawk was heard at a distance as Fortem returned it into the waters.
"What was that?" Gargo wonders.
Al sighed. "Quez must have been trying to make a delivery through this area..." He says.
As such, the avian dove down into the waters and took the delivery box. Noct stared at the hammerspace that is now full.
"Every adult fish in here..." Fortem muttered.
"...Whoa." Noct finally spoke ever since he sent the hook into the waters the first time.
"...Looks like we're done here..." Fortem groaned, sending a small fish back. He'd have liked to fish more, enjoy this natural air above water. But alas, all things have to end... When one is present along with them.
Noct, the last Crystallian... and the King of Fishing.
"Take care of the room, I'll be back."
Those were the last words he said before leaving his room. Gale looked around the place, removing dusts and fixing the assortment of treasures he found inside the storage room. An impressive feat, indeed, for this treasure hunter. They weren't stolen, right?
He studied some, relics of the past... at least he guessed that much with his time here. Even with his mental age near Locke's age, he didn't have the same eye as a treasure hunter. Better keep them ready... He heard some ringing. Didn't Locke bring his phone?
He headed over and looked at the recipient of the call. Terra. The avian picked up the phone, the vibrations would continue until the call would automatically stop and inform of a missed call through notifications.
He looked through them. "There are... a lot of missed calls..." Gale murmurs. He looked at the amount of calls in the past few days, all are designated as 'missed' calls.
Locke... From the unresponsive actions done to reply to them, it was quick to tell that Locke deliberately did not pick up the calls.
This recent call, should he answer it? His feathered wings hovered above the screen, at the contacts, contemplating whether he should assure at least... How long had they been calling? He remembered seeing some of them go around Unita, searching for him. He knows that Locke is finding a way, that... legendary treasure that is able to bring someone back to life... bring his deceased love Rachel back to life.
Just then, the phone vibrated and he jumped in surprise. His wingtips hit the screen in response, ending the vibration that came.
"Hello?" Gale answered. "Ms. Celes?"
"Your voice..." the respondent answers. "...You're not Locke, are you?"
"Just his partner, he left his Digivice and told me to watch over." Gale answered.
"I... I see." Celes spoke. "...These days, Locke has begun to isolate himself away from everyone else. Knowing him..."
"I do not know but it must be just a myth." Gale murmured, knowing what Celes meant. "Phoenix Mountain, do you know about it?"
"...Phoenix Mountain..." There was some silence from Celes' side. "...There was a place from where we came from. But a rift tore that area apart from it. It could be sent into another world, or inside an interdimensional rift..."
An interdimensional rift... An completely unstable space, unknowns are buried within seen unknowns...
"Is there something with that Kefka?" Gale wondered about the God they killed.
"No... Even if with what happened during then, I don't think Kefka was responsible for the cause of the interdimensional fracture."
"I see..." Gale looked over one picture frame of Locke's friends before he came to Unita. "Phoenix... Is bringing back the dead even possible?"
"With the power of Phoenix, thanks to the scriptures from the Feymarch's Library... it is possible." Celes informs Gale.
"Phoenix...Who is she?" Gale wondered, not sure if that Phoenix was female but felt something to guess it.
"...Phoenix... is known as the Eidolon of Rebirth." Celes answers. "Her flames bring forth reborn life wherever it touches onto deceased bodies. You are familiar with the base conscious-recovering feather called a Phoenix Down, do you?"
"Yes, Locke showed them to me."
"Those carry a small fragment of Phoenix's recovery powers. They do not resurrect one, only recovering their conscious with the powder after crushing the feather itself. There are the Phoenix Pinion and the Mega Phoenix feathers, boasting stronger recovery effects to snap one back quickly."
"Then...If Phoenix is that powerful, why do people stay dead?" Gale asked, remembering seeing graves and that girl...
"...It's because... the governors of the worlds handling death are gone." Celes answers. A while passes before she continues. "And Phoenix herself... has not been seen in any world."
"..." Gale remained silent. "Does Locke know where she was?"
"...I don't know." Celes tells him.
"...Locke..." Gale looked out of the window. "It's getting late and Locke's not home yet."
"...I... see..."
"...Did you ask anyone?"
"..." Silence pass before she tells Gale. "Tell Locke... that Celes called." Gale heard a click at the end, the call ended. He placed Locke's phone back on the table. "Where are you Locke? I...we're worried."
He hoped... that there isn't anything that will be too late while he studies the dimming skies.
Al walked around the place. It was him alone, no one else was here. He turned around, searching for someone. He let out a few, steadying breaths. It was all so dark, normally wouldn't be able to see a thing.
He continued walking, not knowing where to go. His giant footsteps is the only sound in this void of oddity, he couldn't hear anything else... not even a whistle of wind.
"..." After a momentary pause, he took a few steps.
An armored woman with waist-lengthed raven hair stood before him. The armor she wore was white with the symbol of the Crystallian Royalty on her breastplate. Some cloth dangled around her waist and a sword sheathed beside her left hip. On her head, a circlet with three gems amounted. She had a pair of beautiful blue eyes and flawless milky skin that Al recognized that beauty, a beauty that rivaled a Goddess.
"Ah..." He breathed out. "...So...ph...ia...?"
She didn't answer.
He shook... He wasn't... He couldn't even... on that day...
Then there was another, a hulking giant from the way they tumbled down. Al turned to one side to see... "S-Se...phi...rot?"
He was staring at a six-armed giant, his bulky, muscled arms having surrounding dirty gold bracers on his wrists and biceps. The giant had a pair of membranous wings that resembles one of demon nature protruding from his back. He has several pairs of horns around from his head: pointing away from the sides of his head, curved horns pointing upwards from the lower area of the head, pointing upwards from behind the sides of his head and some resembling tridents directly behind his head. His eyes are a brilliant red and on his forehead appears to be a protrusion of a yellow nub. His bulky torso has the form of a crest resembling plant roots surrounding a glowing blue protrusion from his chest. He hasn't much clothing other than the bracers on his wrists, biceps and knee, only having a structural bottomwear resembling a klit, also having the design of roots.
Some halberd was sheathed, Al turned to the side to see the newcomer.
"..." Al had remembered this one, having seen him weeks ago. "Zur...van..."
They stood together. Goddess, Fiend, and Demon. The three entities of the Eidolon, Crusader.
Some wings unfolded.
"!!!" Al saw the wings. He turned, seeing a bipedal dragon that was dark blue in outer scales with a more dirty white underbelly from below his jaws all the way down to his massive tapering tail with rectangular spines lining downwards. Some of that white also extended down to his inner thighs. His large membranous wings have sharp spines out from the top of the wingbones, and similar-appearing spines are located at above his elbow joints, hook-like ones from behind his shoulders pointing forward. His underbelly has chiselled muscles lining downwards to his hip areas. Compared to the rest of his body, his horned head from a tapering neck was relatively small.
This dragon, he knew of was the Eidolon known with many names. Dragon King and Hallowed Father were among them. However he was called Bahamut. One of the most powerful Eidolons who lived.
"Bahamut..." he murmurs.
...
The trio, Crusader, suddenly disappeared.
"!!! No!" He reached out to air.
A bright light. A bright light covered an entire city. Al could only watch the display of the engulfing light that was held within a dome form as the buildings were within the light, the walls and features remaining untouched through the rays.
He looked down and took a step back.
"...I... I... I'm... sorry... I..." He begins to murmur under his breath.
He knelt, despite his mechanical body, tears fell down the glowing red eyes. They fell on Bahamut's supine body. Not moving, only his breathing can be seen.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I couldn't do anything... I couldn't even try to save..."
Anti-Magic, even with Eidolon's strength surpass any living beings, they require magic to sustain themselves. The flow of magic needed to be active for all of them, otherwise... without it, they begin to lose their strength.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Al's voice was breaking down, his murmuring growing louder to himself.
Al's red eyes brightened and he was staring at the ceiling of his room. Not the city... The city where Heavensfall ended.
"..." It was... those kind of nightmares... again. He heard some snoring. His head turned to the sleeping Terriermon, using his ears to make a bed like how a dog curled when they sleep. Still sleeping, seemed like his movement didn't bother him. However, Al wanted to protect his friends. He couldn't bear to lose more after he failed four.
He pulled the blanket slightly more to cover Gargo's petite size while he breathed to steady his pacing inner works.
"..." He breathed out once again, feeling everything return back to a calming halt. Yet, his worries remain strong.
He looked at the digital clock, 2:01 a.m, it read.
He reached for his phone. Was Locke awake? His fingers hovered above the screen. Maybe he should... just in case... He was about to reach for the dialling button when he stopped.
...He shouldn't. But the worry weighed again. His finger reached and he hit the button. It took a moment, Al began to worry but then there was an answer and he heard some groans of pain. Gale's voice.
"Argh...Why did you call me so early?" Gale complained.
"...Gale?" Al questions.
"Yeah? I was dreaming of Ms. Chiyoko when you called."
"...Is Locke back home?"
"...No."
"Not yet?"
"No, he hadn't returned yet. He told me to wait for him and I know he is still alive. My Digivice can know his status and it isn't dead. However, his location is unknown."
He is still alive, that was a relief. His location was unknown. That part worried him. "It's really late, two after midnight."
"Celes called earlier." Gale explained. "I'm still here, she knew he is alive but there was something about Phoenix Mountain. She didn't know where it is, none of her friends did."
"...Did you say... Phoenix Mountain?" Al's tone froze.
"Yes, Celes mentioned it to me." Gale continued.
"...That place... It is known to be the last known residing place of Phoenix... But it is highly dangerous for even skilled adventurers..."
"Wh-what!?" Gale exclaimed, "Celes never told me about that. How dangerous is it!? Damn it, I need to go but I don't have any leads where he is."
"..." Al was silent while Gale spoke on the other side, his voice somehow becoming mute from around Al. If Locke's daring to find Phoenix Mountain through interdimensional rifts... it could mean...
His life...
Gargo was still asleep yet Al fixed the blanket once again to cover him and made him comfortable. His body shook at the thought... the thought of endangerment...
Crusader...Bahamut...Those four were on his mind. He couldn't do anything to even keep them safe... Those weigh heavily since those nine years of guilt-ridden torment...
Locke...
...He doesn't want to lose such a close friend. Al didn't want his failure to repeat itself again, because he can do something this time.
...Even if... he has to put his life on the very pinnacle.
"Out of service?" Fortem wondered, Noct and him looking at why the Temple of Time was closed.
"I wonder why..." Noct looked at the time, opening hours should already be here at this time of day. Yet it wasn't open. Noct wondered why before some cold rushed around them with a giant towering from behind.
"Whoa...!?" He turned, he didn't even register the presence of this white-furred creature with thick eyebrows, piercing purple eyes and a rather kept 'stache-like fur. He is dressed in a thick brown jacket with the sleeves covering up to where the green began on his arms, just below the jacket is where some dark blue part of a shirt peeked and he has jeans on with brown boots.
Fortem was shocked, this creature was even more muscular than his GeoGreymon form. Just who was this creature?
"..." The snowman-like creature looked at the shut doors.
"Something the matter?" Fortem asked.
"..." The snowman began to mumble loudly. Priestess? The priestess was missing? More mumbles from the snowman.
"...Uh, okay... Got... any ideas on where..." Noct asks.
Shakes of his head.
"Oh, I didn't know you would visit us today, Arubo," a voice called.
The snowman quietly turns to a direction with a mumble. They turned to see a woman who would pass for a regular human woman if it weren't for the frills on the sides of her head and the red horns on her chest and back that looked like a heart. She had green bowl-cut hair, white skin, and azure eyes. She wore an azure priestess' attire. The attire looked like a gown with some imprints that matched the patterns of the veins of the statue of the God in the courtyard. One Noct wondered was that azure diamond on the necklace she wore. It was azure and was at the center of some silver pendulum as if it was on one's armor.
"Sorry, Esme told me she would leave for a while to deal something." she explained.
The snowman, Arubo, mumbles while he looks down.
"You know my daughter, stubborn and takes her job seriously." the woman laughed. "She takes so much of her father that I see more of him on her than on Rutem. I know I should worry for she is my daughter but I've seen her handle things more troublesome than this. I know she'll come back nice and easy for the wedding."
He looks back quietly before giving a relenting nod.
"...You two must be visitors." the woman guessed. "Welcome to the Temple of Time, I am Grace Earthbound, the Matron of Time. My daughter left for she has business to attend to so you can visit us until further notice."
"Business? Some sort of personal job?" Noct inquires.
"Yes, it seems it is to preserve a family honor." Grace added. "Knowing my daughter, she is adamant in backing down. Just like my husband and I have no room to stop her even when I am her mother. Just what Dialga told me, my daughter would leave me when she's old enough and make her own decisions."
Fortem wondered about that while Noct turned to Arubo. "So... uh..." He starts off.
Arubo simply mumbles again. He didn't know what they meant. "...Uh..."
"I wanted to see how they do things here and know the time in each world," Fortem bemoaned.
Arubo mumbles again in disappointment. He soon left, Noct wondered what to do before spotting a flutter of a cloak. "Hm?" His eyes took brief note of the cloak's appearance...
It was his.
"Aniki?" Fortem wondered while Noct followed the cloaked figure.
'Again? What's he got for me this time...' Noct wonders as he stepped and trailed the figure.
"Anyways, would you like some tea?" Grace calls out, which prompted Noct to flinch while they stopped to turn to her. He didn't know why but that tea she was offering. Hearing passerbys not to drink the Matron of Time offered, even if it was a rude gesture. "..." He stared... It was...this bad?
...He probably shouldn't take any chances...
"Tea? I like tea, ma-" Fortem started before Noct covered his mouth with both arms and pulled him away. Grace wondered what was that before Noct went to follow the Watcher.
"Umm...Good day?" Grace wondered. She didn't know why they were even leaving in the first place.
"..." He continued to follow the path behind left by the steps of the moving Watcher. He needed answers. What was this Watcher's interests on him? He sees the Watcher enter a portal, guess whatever waits behind... he has to go through.
"Aniki?" Fortem asks.
"...Come on, Fortem." Noct tells Fortem before he runs into the portal.
Noct looked around the place he and Fortem landed on. He felt so many battles of enjoyment were fought here. The way of those who enjoy battle find this place a utopia for them. He looked at the buildings and houses of this place... It was strange, it looked all so otherworldly... It has a more futuristic construct of walls, something quite unbecoming of this environmental feeling.
He turned around with Fortem beside him. What was this place? He paced around the many buildings all lined up as any regular settlement would have. Some appear to be living quarters, some appear to be weaponsmiths, there was even one that was neither.
"Hey, 'scuse me." He turns to one passerby.
"Need something, traveller?" One of the residents asked.
"Can you tell me... what this place is? Looks like it's bustling in here."
"Never heard of the Coliseum? It is a world that exists beyond the plane of space, time, and dimension."
"The... Coliseum?" He has never heard once of that realm's name...
"You want to enter? It will be worth your time and help your skills." So it's... a place to hone your own skills? Noct looked at himself and Fortem. They probably needed more work with training here... Though he still doesn't know much about this Coliseum...
...Maybe that was the Keeper of Records' intention: He wants him to train intensely...
"Oh, who's this little dinosaur?" They inquire.
He looked at Fortem. "Can he participate in the matches?"
"He may but I am wondering about some help with these crates." the resident showed several of them. "I could use some help getting them in."
Fortem wondered for a bit and decided that...
"Can you have me take my GeoGreymon form?" He requested. "Mister can use some help."
"Hm... Okay, then..." Noct shuffled and called out his Digivice. He hit the commands and directed the face to Fortem.
Fortem was covered by light with an array of 1s and 0s. His body grew, not turning into his more powerful form as GeoGreymon. He turned to the crates and began carrying them.
"Where shall I put them?" he asked.
"Follow me." the man took some and led Fortem away. "I'll be back, Aniki!" Fortem told his farewells and followed the man down toward the inn.
Noct watched Fortem disappear from his sight and looked around the buildings. He took sight of a larger building that towered well compared to the rest of these buildings, it wasn't a skyscraper such as the Organization's HQ, but it stood out clearly.
It was large enough for a ring of a big battle and everyone around to watch this spectacle. A form of entertainment in the old times. It was just the outside... but the inside... he had to find out the gist of it. Rules, inhabitants and more...
He went in...Passing a hooded figure in an azure cloak from the entrance. He stopped. "...Hm?"
Just...who was that figure?
Chapter 14 Concluded