Queen of Souls
By Soul Hunter
Chapter Seventeen
There were more than twenty moving parts assembled in one intricate and impressive mechanism that comprised the sleek and effective Hyperion. It was designed for accuracy and silence. Even when pulling the trigger while striking an enemy, it hardly made a sound, at least not one that leveled to that of his rival's Lionheart. Seifer had always wondered what was so special about that weapon Squall wielded. A little Adamantine, Dragon Fang and Pulse Ammo and the world already feared him. Did they really fear him or his weapon? Why be afraid of a mere weapon, he asked. One was just about as useful as a razor blade in the hands of a Parkinson's patient. It wasn't the weapon that counted, it was the warrior behind it.
He grimaced and wished he never even coined that adage. The Twin Jutte, even if combined, was still far shorter that the Hyperion. If anything, the man who wielded it did nothing but prove him correct, much to his disdain. Seifer still couldn't believe how someone who was at least three inches shorter than him and with no reputation to speak for whatsoever could best him so convincingly. But as he recalled the battle, he could only concede to his opponent's mastery of the fighting arts. He was quick and agile beyond belief. And he seemed to have the ability to read his mind. No one has ever done that to Seifer before. Not even Squall. If there was one thing that he made sure to master during his training, was that to prevent his body from giving away incoming attacks. But the strange warrior predicted his every maneuver like he was moving in slow motion.
Seifer groaned in disgust. Try as he might, he couldn't deny that it wasn't Hunter's prowess that was disturbing him. He may be egotistical, but even he wasn't inflicted with the futile infirmity of dishonesty to one's self.
"Seifer, I swear I'll kill you if you hurt him."
It appalled him, but Seifer couldn't dispute the truth that he was in fact frustrated after hearing Quistis shoot those words to him. Even if he wasn't the most cooperative comrade she had, he still didn't like how she unequivocally chose the side of that stranger. She was supposed to be his colleague. They may not be that amiable as friends like she was with the others, but a SeeD should always know where to stand, and that should be beside fellow SeeDs. But instead, she even threatened to kill him. This was a far cry from the Quistis he knew who may have grudgingly stood behind him in past missions, but also made it clear that she will die in his defense if necessary. Nope, that wasn't Quistis at all.
He felt half-amused and half-annoyed at himself. Was he feeling jealous? Why was he even bothering himself with such thoughts? Only two days ago he was lashing at her, accusing her for being partly responsible for reminding him always of his now hopeless position as far as Rinoa was concerned.
"To hell with this!" He mumbled. He had thrived before without her vaunted approval. There was absolutely no reason why he couldn't use his infamous indifference to urge himself against caring. Concentrate on the job, make sure she was brought into custody, finish the assignment, and then go home to his posse. At least their allegiance was always assured.
Yet somehow, Seifer sensed a predilection against turning Quistis in. This was one more thing that he hated about himself. The instructor was instrumental for helping him regain his place in the Garden that he once betrayed. He owed her much, another thing that he had been trying to refute along with the fact that in spite of himself, he truly had always believed in her.
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Andrea sighed while gazing at Hunter with concern. She noted the look of resignation in his face as he peered quietly outside the window. She almost felt jealous, he didn't act this way before with her. His dilemma had always existed ever since she met him but it was only now that she saw it affect him this heavily.
"You never had that much trouble trying to tell me about it." She rested her head over her arms. The words carried an almost accusing tone, and it would have been exactly that if she still harbored a longing for that bond they once shared. The smile he returned with was clearly laced with sadness.
"Yeah, you're right." Hunter concurred. "Says lots, doesn't it."
"You really fell for her hard, didn't you?" Andrea replied.
He just nodded in resignation.
"Hunter" Andrea began anew. "Do you remember why you were compelled to let me in on your secret?"
"Of course." He quipped back. "You deserved to know."
"Yes, I did. And so does Quistis." She smiled faintly. "You did the right thing when you opened yourself up to me. It just happened that I couldn't accept that truth. I could never live with something like that."
"Is that why you left me?" Hunter asked intently. "It's because of that thing that you can't live with? And not because of Jae?"
"The truth? Yes, it's because of that. I loved you but I didn't love you that much, I guess. And for what it's worth, I'm really sorry."
Hunter felt his knees weaken and consequently sunk to the floor. There was a time when he hoped to hear those very words, believing that he wouldn't feel as hurt if Andrea had chosen to leave him because of his own irresolvable shortcoming, and not due to a reason that involved another man. It would have been kinder for him. But now the effect was completely the opposite. This only proved that Andrea would still have left him even if she hadn't met Jae. And Quistis can and may do the same thing.
"I'm so scared." His guttural voice echoed. "She might do the same thing you did. I I don't think I can take that rejection. Not from her."
"So what are you going to do? Keep it from her? You know something like that doesn't stay hidden permanently. She's bound to know sooner or later."
"I know" Hunter echoed heavily as he pushed himself up. Thinking back, he remembered all the chances he took and risks he accepted throughout the long and tumultuous course of his life. His predestined existence was ironically adorned with so many decisions that he had grown almost immune to the rigors of making a choice. This was just another crossroad to him, merely one of many. But unlike the past ones, he didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life, he didn't know which way to go. Either fork carried too much at stake.
He then realized that both forks eventually converged on the same destination. Hunter recognized the truth that an option just didn't exist for him. Andrea knew this, and she could not feel anything but pity for him.
"I have no choice." He stated dejectedly.
"I'm sorry" She repeated prior to landing a caring hand on his shoulders. "I know it's a long shot. But if there's anything I can do, please don't hesitate to let me know."
Hunter closed his eyes to dam in the rush of melancholy that had been threatening since a few moments ago. He wanted to thank her, but his voice was dammed in as well in his weighted throat. He had always hated being in a no-win situation. He tried to momentarily kill the thought while remembering the urgent business at hand.
"Yes, there is one thing you can do." He forced out. "Let us go. Quisty and I still have a job to do."
"But Hunter, I can't do that. I'm under orders."
"Andie, look at me." Hunter turned to her with a firm look in his glistened eyes. "The killer is still out there. And I know that you know that I'm telling the truth about Quisty and myself. We are the only ones who have any hope of defeating it. Not you, nor your army, nor those SeeDs. Only us."
The Estharian captain assumed her professional mindset and stared resolutely into the dark knight. Hunter sensed the skepticism budding in her mind.
"Look into my eyes. Andrea, you know me. You know I'm telling the truth. You have to release us because if you don't, you'll be condemning countless more innocent lives!"
"Yes, I know you, dammit." She snapped back. "But you also have to know that I'll be risking my entire career in granting your request."
"Andrea, you've always wanted to do the right thing. It's just unfortunate that you have to be limited by the authority of your superiors." He answered. "And this instant is no different. If I could, I'd certainly try to protect you but right now, we really can't do anything else."
The captain replied with a wry chuckle. "Why are you asking me this, Hunter? You're the world's greatest escape artist. I know that you can take off from this place whenever you want to."
"Yeah But it's going to make you look a lot worse for failing to secure a prisoner."
She smiled. Hunter's thoughtfulness had always been one of his finer aspects that still endeared him to her. Captain Frost then turned around to activate the backlight of the display board behind her desk.
"All right, you win." She finally conceded. "But before you go, there's something I have here that might help you. Look here."
Hunter trained his eyes to the white display panel that showed a detailed map of the southern Esthar continent. The cartographic display covered the immense area between Kashkabald Desert and the fabled Lenown Plains of the former Centra continent. Andrea reached behind the lighted board for her laser pointer.
"See this black outline and the small red dots?" She began to explain. "The black line stretching from Lenown Plains is the path of the creature as tracked by the overhead sentinel satellite. The red dots are the towns that littered the face of southern Esthar."
"Okay" Hunter acknowledged. His brows met while focusing on the display.
"Now take a look at this. This is the position of the monster yesterday when you and Commander Trepe engaged it. It's plain obvious that in order to get there, it had to traverse a wide corridor just north of the eastern branch of Talle Mountains." The red laser dot traced an oval scoping the area she emphasized. "The creature is heading north-eastward toward the side of Cactuar Island. But there's something strange about this."
Hunter slowly nodded his head. "There are no more towns along that path. Whereas there are four on the western bound of Talle Mountains."
"Exactly. For some reason, he deliberately swerved east, in the process traveling away from those desert towns. I thought it's strange because the creature had been so predatorial in going after one village after another. There has to be something that turned his attention to the east when he should have turned west, based on his 'feeding' pattern, so to speak."
The Estharian captain wasn't finished yet with her statement, but Hunter's face had already begun to assume an unsettled hue with the dawning of a frightful realization. His voice was frantic when he spoke out once more.
"What's his current position right now?"
"We don't know. The satellite had already passed beyond range as of noon yesterday." Andrea retorted. "Why?"
"Shoot I was too distracted with Quistis that I failed to realize this sooner." He contemplated, his face turning pale with alarm. "I'm betting that he turned south along the sea as soon as he reached the northernmost tip of those mountains."
"Why? What's he after?"
"The graveyard of the incubus clan." Hunter replied anxiously. "He's going to resurrect the incubus clan! Andie, you have got to help us. We need to get there immediately."
"Yes, of course. Take my cruiser. You can get there in less than an hour with it."
"Thanks." He shot back. "And please, whatever you do, do not send your men after us. Those already in the field, recall them. It's too dangerous for them. Quisty and I will have to take care of this ourselves."
"Hunter" Andrea called out before Hunter made his exit. "What do we do if you fail?"
"No don't even think about it"
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Sirens started blaring loudly, piercing the night air with deafening resonance. The response was quick, with a melange of rapid footsteps of Estharian and Galbadian soldiers responding to the emergency. A squadron managed to reach the wide artificial scaffolding where the Estharian air detachment was docked. The soldiers stopped abruptly when they saw a dark green shuttle cruiser speeding onto the makeshift runway. They were too late to stop it.
As the cruiser lifted off, a pair of eyes gazed at it curiously. Watching it disappear into the clouds, the lad with the long, gray coat grinned thoughtfully. He was pondering earlier whether to play a role in the escape of his comrade, deliberating if he should do it and in the process give her the satisfaction of seeing his soft side. Seifer sighed thankfully. Now that Quistis had escaped, at least his plan came together with his reputation still intact.
He thought about the dark knight who accompanied her, his grin widening with fascination at the thought that the instructor had finally met her match.
"Well what do you know" He muttered. Squall had just lost his strongest cheerleader.
He looked to his side just as a certain Estharian captain joined him on top of the ledge overlooking the camp. She looked back at him with her familiar, commanding expression. Seifer raised an eyebrow in telling her that he wasn't the least bit impressed with her display of authority. Especially not after what she had just allowed to happen.
"What are you looking at?" Captain Frost shot out.
"Nothing." The SeeD snapped back with a snicker. "You realize this will create one hell of a mess, Captain. But don't worry, I won't tell if you won't."
Andrea smiled amusedly. "Deal."
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Aboard the shuttle cruiser, an uneasy silence permeated as the instructor quietly manned the controls of the speeding aircraft. Hunter sat beside her, equally silent. But his mind was far from assuming the same stillness that prevailed around them. If it had been under a more normal situation, he would have easily dismissed her silence without much thought. Maybe she was just concentrating and focusing all her attention to the mission at hand. Or maybe she was exhausted. There can be a lot of reason why a girl would suddenly stop talking.
But he knew they weren't under normal situations. He saw the questioning look in the instructor's face when she realized the truth about the Estharian captain being an old 'acquaintance' of his. And she certainly noticed how he avoided her interrogating eyes when a sergeant came by their holding cell to tell him that the captain wished to talk to him. Hunter subsequently questioned why didn't he just tell her outright what was happening. He didn't really intend to, but in being apprehensive about her reaction, he had inadvertently kept her in the dark regarding an integral part of his past.
Just one of the cons of a whirlwind relationship, he thought. If they were to be allowed the time, he estimated at least two months of perennially groping in the dark for the two of them to get the handle of each one's quirks and idiosyncrasies. But 'getting to know' stages have always been fun, he thought. Morbidly speaking.
"Quisty" Hunter opened. Deep inside, he was really bothered by her silence. "A"
"If you say 'a penny for your thoughts' I swear I'm going to jump overboard."
"What?" He blurted out. "I don't think I understand"
"Um, forget it." Quistis relented with a deep sigh. "Just try not to mind me. I'm fine."
"No you're not, babes." He came back. But her repartee just furthered his agitation.
"Please don't call me that, Hunter." She said, and the way she emphasized his name disturbed him even more.
Now he could never deny the fact that she was upset about her discovery. Hunter stayed his urge to respond, unsure of how to explain his side. In the end, he realized that there wasn't anything he could offer in explanation. He kept something from her. It may have been inconsequential but that was according to HIS standards. In his experience, women have a strange way of judging what is harmless and what is not.
"Look I'm sorry." He started out anew. "I know I should have told you about her."
"You did, remember?" She answered rather quickly. "You just didn't mention her name. And wonder of all wonders, it had to be Captain Frost of all people."
"Yeah, this is such a small world, isn't it?" Hunter remarked. "I just don't know why I'm being blamed because of that."
Quistis felt like she had been placed at the receiving end of Leviathan's Tsunami attack, her annoyance instantly doused by icy cold currents of guilt when she realized her mistake. How could she even harbor ill feelings towards Hunter for an element of his past, during a time when he didn't even know she existed? She looked at him repentantly, noting the sad hue in his face. She had to remember the many times she advised her students how unfair it would be to blame their partners for some deeds or misdeeds they committed when they didn't know each other yet. Quistis felt sorry for her behavior, instilling in her mind to practice what she perennially preached.
"No I'm sorry." She sighed. "I shouldn't be barking at you like this about Andrea. Maybe I'm just afraid that"
"That I still want her back?"
"Yeah"
"No, I don't. I just want you."
Not a few times did Quistis hear of men utilizing the indirect tone to avoid being branded as liars while trying to dodge the issues thrown at them by their doubtful partners. How many times has she heard such elusive repartees as 'What do you think?' or 'You still have the gall to say that after what we've been through?' or 'It's not healthy to think that way.', etc, etc.
'No, I don't. I just want you.' The curtness of Hunter's words said it all. Now more than ever, she realized she had no reason to doubt him. And Quistis made sure that Hunter knew this by wrapping her arms around his neck and lovingly kissing him on the cheek.
He returned her embrace and held her close. Hunter could hear Quistis whispering to him, professing her devotion repeatedly. He gently pushed her head against his shoulders to draw her eyes away from his. He didn't want her to see through him, to witness the wetness in his eyes as he thought about the prophecy of doom pledged to anyone tasked to end the soul devourer's life. Hunter's mind raced for an answer, his heart groped for a way out to allow them their lives in each other's arms. But he couldn't find any.
The vessel's sensors sounded to alert them of a strange energy signature emanating from a cave merely a few hundred yards away.
"Well, this is it." Quistis echoed as she let him go. Her eyes also threatened to well out. "Let's hope that prophecy doesn't hold out."
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It had taken him what seemed like forever to reach this detestable resting ground. He had been waiting for this opportunity. And now glory was again within his reach. Before his depraved presence, the barren field inside the cavernous hall lay like a frustrated hostage, deathly eager for his mighty hands to liberate the hellish beings trapped within its bosoms. The incubus lord groaned with the growing thrill in anticipation of this moment. Soon, he will be reunited with his kin. It was just a matter of time.
The ghastly minions suddenly grew restless. They detected the approach of a threat that they knew had the power to thwart their master. He turned to them with his appalled face and took heed of their warning. His smoldering eyes then gazed upward to witness the coming of his enemies. Growling resonance echoed from his debauched maw as the cognizance of a final encounter dawned unto his sinister mind. A vow was then made as he stared fiercely at the aircraft streaking across the night sky.
Tonight, his enemies will meet their end.
End of Chapter Seventeen