Cid Highwind, who'd been
standing in the doorway, spoke then. "Lemme do it." He looked at them. "We're
bein' attacked. Some damned colony of space monsters is mad as hell at us, and
is comin' down to try and wipe us out." Reno's mind did something it had never
done before. It entirely blanked out. "Eh??" Cloud took over. "Yes, we're being
attacked. We don't know why, or by who, but we do know that the things are
coming from space…and they're estimated to arrive...in three days."
Reno
saw Elena lurch backward behind him, saw Rude catch her and right her again.
"W-w-what??" She spluttered. "Maybe we'd better elaborate," Cloud said. "…"
Agreed Rude. Reno just nodded. Cloud sighed. "About a month ago, the scientists
at this observatory spotted some steadily moving specks in the distance. He
didn't think much of it at the time, assuming it was simply some space debris.
Last week, the things became more visible. They are quite living, traveling in
cubical objects, and are ugly as hell, too. With our new technology, we were
able to view the large guns and weaponry carried within their transports." He
dropped his eyes, and Cid muttered, "This ain't gonna be pretty."
Reno
continued to stare at his former enemies for a long time before speaking.
"And…you say…3 days?" Barret turned then, and grunted in acknowledgment, and
Cloud spoke again. "All the people here have come to seek a place where they'll
be safe if these…creatures attack. But I'm not even sure this place is safe.
Our only hope is to blast them before they blast us." Elena looked incredulous.
"S-space creatures arriving in th-th-three days…and we're gonna…fight them?"
"Crazy as it may seem, yes." There was a long silence.
"…We're
fighting," commented Rude suddenly. Reno stared at him, and then nodded slowly.
"Yeah…we are." Even Elena was nodding now. "Let's kick some spacey ass," she
said, but there wasn't any energy in the comment, and though everyone tried to
laugh, it was a hollow sound, like the earlier sudden emptiness in Reno's mind.
"Flaming shit," he muttered. "I'm not going down without a fight."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The
next day passed at a snail's pace. Elena found herself spending most of the day
walking up and down the beach, watching the waves crash against the shore, and
listening to the sounds inside seashells. A dolphin reared up in the waves,
splashing water all around it. Oddly enough, Elena thought it was the most
beautiful beach she'd ever been on.
She
knew what that thought was clearly enough. She knew she was thinking how she
might never see a beach again, or a forest, or even a sunrise. I've only thought this way once before, she
realized. When Meteor was still a threat. It was chaos
then. Everyone knew…that they were going to die. She
slumped backwards in the sand and closed her eyes. We defeated it
then…can't we defeat it now? Maybe it's not a big solitary rock. Maybe it's
harder this time. But…we have to try.
She rose then, and walked into the surf,
letting the tiny foamy waves wash over her bare feet. She remembered when she
was a little girl, and her father had taken her to a beach by their home. She'd
been scared of the waves then, and the hot sand. She remembered her father
laughing at her fear, and picking her up to give her a pretty pink shell he'd
found. She'd been laughing then, in her father's arms…
Like
she'd been laughing when she was on a different beach, only last year, with
Reno and Rude. She was so much older of course…daddy had passed away peacefully
a few years before. They were celebrating her birthday…and Reno had knocked her
into the water and splashed at her, and they had all gotten wet and sandy and
exhausted…and happy, that day. Was it really only last
year?
Looking up into the sun, Elena put her hands
in her pockets and smiled sadly. "Hi dad," she said, cocking her head to one
side and squinting. He'd always told her to be courageous. "Never be afraid of
anything, Elena," he'd told her once. "You never need to fear anything. You can
take on the world, if you want to, my dear. You can do anything." She felt a
tear drop onto her cheek, watched it as it fell and melded with the salty
waves. "I'm not afraid, daddy. I'm not afraid."
Sinking
to her knees in the water, she whispered, "But really, daddy, isn't it all
right to be afraid…sometimes?"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
When
she joined Rude and Reno again later that day, they didn't ask where she'd
been. Reno knew they were all having trouble coping. He almost wished he'd
never known about the threat from space, so that he and his friends could have
had their last 3 days in peace and maybe a bit of happiness. Not like we didn't need some purpose in our lives, he
thought. Not that we really were what most people
would call happy.
But looking back on it, Reno realized that
they had been happy. They'd had very little money, very little substance to
their lives…but they'd never been happier. It took a sudden realization of
mortality to see it, he thought bitterly. For the last
three years, he thought, we've had
enough to eat…well, almost always. We've had each other's company, and we've
had the good times that it's all brought us. Sure, we've had the bad times too,
but so does everyone. Are we really gonna lose it all now? Just as we realize
what we've got?
Shaking his head fiercely, he stood up abruptly from where he was sitting outside the observatory, startling Rude and Elena out of their own chairs. "Rude, Elena, put something decent on. We're going out to dinner tonight."
