Warrior Soul
Part I: Chosen one
By Tanthalas Fierolobo
"A SeeD must learn
that no one is unarmed or defenceless… not even when they are dead."
-
Quistis Trepe, 'Teachings.'
CHAPTER FIVE: Just a memory. The Lab: GER-47 P.
The Cold War ends.
16. Why me?
Squall begun to be tired. He had
been walking without rest for around sixteen hours. He was now on the railroad
tracks, and Fisherman's horizon was just a few kilometres away. The trading
routes were now closed again (they had been closed once more two years before,
during what had been called 'The Fisherman's Revolt' for information on
this term refer to 'Kholos Chronicles', Volume two hundred thirty-four, chapter
seven, Estharian Library), so there was no danger. Where he was now, he
could only see the ocean, the deep blue seas now painted in dark yellow, ochre
and orange tones by the burning artist, the dying sun. With his palette of
colours, he also painted the firmament with dark reds, deep oranges, dark and
pale blues. The few clouds around were tricked mirrors, reflecting the
magnificent colours in paler versions of them. Squall took a sip from his water
bottle and decided to stop and spend the night there, captivated by the
wonderful sight. He had had much time already to think about his situation.
Each step he gave, each metre he left behind was getting him away from the life
he had worked so hard to obtain, from a life he loved. He was walking directly
to the life he left behind many years ago, and to an almost certain death. He
did not know what expect to find in Esthar, or what to do when he arrived
there. Ellone had mentioned monsters that menaced mankind, and that he had to
lead the fight against them, but there was nothing clear in her words. Or maybe
there was nothing, and Ellone was simply having a nightmare or something. Now,
he was in his way to become a fighter, a leader again. Become a leader again?
For whom? For Esthar? Esthar people did not even know who he was (well, that is
what he believed; he was a hero for everyone in the world… a martyr indeed.
With his sudden disappearance, Quistis had said that he died in the final
confrontation with Ultimecia, dealing the final blow that finished her life.
Only some assistants to the SeeD party after her death that had seen him knew
the truth Zell, Irvine, Rinoa, Quistis, Selphie, Xu, Edea and Cid Kramer,
Nida, the now dead Melisa and some other important SeeDs like Christopher
Mallow or Julianne Robson. Quistis had two main reasons to do this: first,
to prevent everyone to look for him. It was his will to leave and everyone
would respect it, in gratitude for all he had done; and second, for not harming
his reputation, and create a legend instead. It was much better for him and
for them all people believed that, and not that he had gone leaving all behind,
not caring for them.) Or what he had done in the past. Why would Esthar make
him, a simple traveller, a simple outsider, their leader? Or maybe she was
referring to be the leader of the SeeDs again… he did not want to think about
it. The actual Garden leaders would never let it happen. He was sure that his
old friends hated him for what he did (or, better, didn't), Rinoa the most, and
would not want to know anything about him (don't misunderstand, he had learnt
to ignore it). Rinoa… he hadn't thought about her in… how many years? He had
lost the count (Eventually, he gave up counting the days around nine years ago.
He did not know that in two days it would be his 29th birthday, but
he didn't care at all, though.) He sacrificed their friendship, he sacrificed
their love for what he had now and was going to lose. The first months of his
self-imposed exile he had tried to deny it thinking that she had never loved
him, and he had never loved her, again and again. With time and effort, he
forgot her, throwing her presence away from his head… in the real life. But the
dream world is ungovernable. He still dreamt with her sometimes, but he usually
could not remember the dreams. The times he could, he remembered a jet-black
haired woman without identity, but nothing more. Strangely, he had never
associated that image to her. He always dreamt that he shared with her all the
wonderful things he had seen; the magnificent sunrises and sunsets, the
incredible monsters and animals, the calm forests with crystalline streams, the
breathtaking sights on the top of a mountain, the wind striking his hair and
clothes… but he never thought that it was Rinoa. She was now a shadow of his
past, and he had forgotten the past; partly thanks to his will to forget it,
partly thanks to time. But now, the memory was fighting to emerge from the
darkness of the deepest corner of his mind. It almost won the fight. He
remembered her, he thought about how angry she surely was; but when she, the woman, with her dark brown eyes with long, thick eyelashes, with
her friendly warmth, with her amazing mysteriousness, with her mystical charm
menaced him with imprison his soul again, he shook his head, sat down and began
to prepare something to have a frugal dinner. The memory simply vanished.
17. The other side
Jerold Nieven was extremely bored,
and a little sleepy. He was standing at the entrance of something that looked
like a natural cave, wondering why he had been ordered to be there; he had been
told to guard it, and notify immediately if someone approached. It was around
midnight (he had been there for almost five hours), and the night was calm. The
cave was located in one of the 'green spots' of Esthar: a 100x100 metres square
full of trees and vegetation, with narrow grass paths to walk. There were no
lights in it, so it was deserted now; only the sound of the branches and leaves
of the trees swinging with the soft breeze broke the silence. With his lantern,
he glanced around again. And again, all was completely normal. "I want to go
home," he thought with a sigh. He imagined his wife, receiving him with a warm
embrace and a soft kiss. He imagined his little daughter, only four years old,
sleeping in her bed. But no… he had to be there at least for two hours more,
and then the turn would change.
He hated his work. He hoped that
soon he would find another job, a better one. A job that would let him spend
more time with his beloved Celia and his little Risa. At his thirty-three
years, he could obtain many good jobs, with some luck. He slowly blinked,
trying to throw away his mental distractions and glanced around… again.
Nothing.
Suddenly, he felt how something
grabbed him from behind. He tried to pull out his weapon, but a brilliant
silver blade was over his throat and a hand over his mouth in a fraction of a
second.
-
Don't even try it. - The shadow whispered in his ear. It was a female voice. -
Now, you have a second to faint. - Nieven did nothing. - Time's out.
With
a simple, clean movement, she sliced his throat open. Jerold's body fell to the
ground, instantly dead. "Why can't I breath?" had been his last coherent
thought. Then, five more shadows emerged from a group of trees, all covering
their bodies with completely black clothes, and joined her at the entrance of
the cavern, while she cleaned her blood-covered knife in the corpse's clothes.
A woman, who appeared to be their leader, spoke.
-
Seifer, Zell, hide the body. Kristyne, go in and decode that door. Rinoa, if it
doesn't work, try to open it silently
with your magic if you can. Irvine, come behind me.
The
black dressed men and women did as they had been told. A minute later, the
doorway was decoded, and six darker shadows between the shades of the cave were
in it. Their leader spoke again.
- Let's go in.
Next
day, they didn't hear the desperate crying of a widow and her four-year-old
daughter.
18. Laboratory
-
You had not to kill him. - Rinoa said in a cold voice to Quistis. Her
ever-present premise was 'no blood shedding'.
-
They had not to kill my students and
SeeDs. - She replied in the same tone. "Then kill them by yourself if you want
to, but do not use Kristyne for it," The Sorceress thought. She was going to
articulate her thoughts, but Quistis cut her before she could. - Seifer,
scanners. - She turned to him. - What do they say? Any more life forms?
Seifer
had in his black-gloved hand a little artefact (it was of the size of his fist)
with a green screen in it, and a few buttons at its sides. They were a few
metres inside the cavern, in front of the now deciphered doorway. Despite the
darkness, they all noticed that it was labelled with the yellow letters 'GER-47
P'
- I can't tell. There must be some
kind of inhibition field surrounding the base. Heat-detection scanners, and
detection systems in general seem to be useless in here.
-
Rinoa, can you use your 'detection system' then? - Quistis never ordered
directly to Rinoa, despite she was her subordinate. She always (except counted
times) behaved towards her like a complete equal in command, asking instead of
giving orders. It was not fear to her, of course, but respect and friendship.
Rinoa, on the other hand, hated to give orders. She did not like leadership,
and let all the leader work to Quistis (she was the Commander, after all.)
-
Gladly. - She closed her eyes in concentration, but a while after she suddenly
opened them again. Quistis, who was in front of her, could see that her eyes
turned from amber to dark brown in seconds. - How strange… - The Sorceress
said. - There's a magic barrier all around this place too… strangely, I did not
feel it when we were outside. Certainly, there's someone that does not want
this base to be found… and that someone can, or could, use magic. Laguna said
that it is from Adel times...
-
I understand. We can't explore this place without knowing how many people we
will find. Can you… destroy it or something?
-
I think I can… but it will take an important amount of my power. The magic
field is quite strong. - She glanced to their expecting faces. - Maybe you'll
prefer not to see this. - She said, specially looking to Kristyne. She
understood what she meant.
-
C'mon, Rinoa, I've seen it once, remember? - She said, with a nervous smile.
- Please proceed, Rinoa. We are
wasting precious time. - Quistis said. The aforesaid sighed.
-
Very well then…
Rinoa
gave a few steps away from them and knelt. She knew that this was going to
exhaust her, and did not want to fall to the ground when she finished. She
closed her eyes again, and put her hands on the ground in extreme
concentration, canalising her powers. She began to softly mutter some
unintelligible words: "Aine non adowe,
kainhyne don amare io serei, Ainetoh Xumare, fedeix inhyvete aninhare…"*.
She went on like this, but nothing happened at first. Then, she started to
breathe quicker, to talk quicker. She buried her fingernails in the soft earth
of the floor, her magic-imbued heart pumping faster and faster. The first
physic changes began; her hair slightly grew, and so did her fingernails. First
soft, then deep dark blue veins began to cover her cheeks, arms and finally her
forearms. A golden glint escaped from behind her closed eyelids. While her
hands were turning in sharp claws, she stood up. When she was on her feet,
began to slowly raise her arms, and what had been a barely audible whisper
turned into articulated words that the others couldn't understand. With her
arms up, her razor-sharp fingers extended, her extremely long hair swinging
with a breeze that only surrounded her, and before the speechless SeeDs, her
feet began to elevate from the ground. She suddenly opened her eyes; they were
completely gold, without any white part in them, and shined with a magic aura
that surrounded all her body. She slowly rose from the ground until, without
apparent reason, it all stopped. With a final arcane word, that sounded like "diinhyvete", Rinoa brought down her arms
and fell, putting a knee on the ground. Her breath was deep and fast as, with
her head down, fatigued, her eyes, hands, hair, cheeks and arms quickly went
back to normal.
-
Done. - She managed to mutter. She did not feel the barrier any more; she had
literally disintegrated it particle by particle. She heavily stood up, and
walked to the others, trying to keep balance. - No more barrier. Let me a few
seconds to recover…
-
Of course. - Quistis replied, giving Rinoa her arm. A few later, when the
Sorceress' heavy breathing went back to a normal rhythm, she broke the silence.
- That was… amazing.
Rinoa
smiled weakly between inhalation and exhalation. Despite they had seen her
using her magic other times, they never got used to the power she displayed, to
the changes that her body suffered. Very few times she had used such an amount
of it before, and she knew that she had never unleashed all her power, not even
in her hardest trainings. She released Quistis' arm and stood by her own,
almost completely recovered.
-
Let's see. - She put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes, concentrating
once again. A minute or so later, she opened her eyes. - Two more thinking life
forms, I can tell, plus some rats and so. I can sense their feelings, but
vaguely from this distance: boredom for one, desperation and panic for the
other.
-
May they be Kiros and Ward?
- Maybe… but even if they are not I
don't think they represent a menace, though; for their emotions, they don't
seem to be guards. Their feelings seem to be a prisoner ones… but I can't be
sure from here.
-
Hmmm… this complicates things. The fact that they might be prisoners implicates
that this is more than a missile base. - Quistis gave the Sorceress a glance of
gratitude and talked to the others. - Well, let's move. We won't split up, but
keep a distance of two or three metres from each other; stay in the shadows
whenever you can, and watch your step… there may be traps or security devices
elsewhere than here. - She turned to Kristyne, who was standing beside the door
controls. - Open the entrance.
With
a quiet buzz, the door slid open. A large, wide, poorly illuminated passage
with countless steps, that led downstairs to another doorway, was behind. The
sight that awaited them passed that doorway was, when less, intimidating. When
they silently, with all sort of cares, reached the opposite entryway, a huge
circular room was revealed to their eyes. The ceiling, an enormous dome, had innumerable
neon lights, equidistant from each other in a row that went all around the
room. Just some worked, so the poor light that came from the ones that were lit
imbued the vast place with a cold, mournful blue semidarkness that made more
than one shiver. The whole room was plagued with all sorts of machines and
computers; many were utterly destroyed, but it was evident that most of them
did not work for the numerous sparks that lighted sporadically the place,
making the ambient even gloomier. The floor was covered with broken glasses, so
walk silently would be impossible for the SeeDs. Four doors were distributed
along the wall, leading to unknown inner chambers. The silence was oppressive,
just broken by the sound of the electrical sparks from the machines and the
quiet buzz that came from the only things that were functioning: some
cylindrical water tanks, two metres from top to bottom and around seventy-five
centimetres from one side to another, that shone with a strange pale blue
light. They were aligned across the right semi-circular wall of the room, and
had several cables and connections attached to them. From that distance, none
of them could see what the tanks contained. Then, Quistis spoke.
-
Definitely, this is not just a missile base. We must explore this place. First,
let's find these 'life forms'.
- They can't hear us from this
distance, so we can make a little noise without risk. - Added Rinoa.
-
Good. Irvine, Kristyne; check for traps around those doors, and see where they
lead. Seifer and Zell, try to find a working computer inside this mess of
cables; beware of the electricity… I don't want to smell roasted SeeD flesh… -
"again", she added to herself. - Rinoa, let's find out what those water tanks
contain.
Without
any more words, they split up. As silently as possible, Rinoa and Quistis
approached to the enigmatic glowing blue water tanks. They could see now they
were not empty: a vague silhouette at first, the strange shape inside revealed
more of its nature as they approached trying to avoid the numerous broken
glasses and destroyed artefacts on the ground. Finally, they reached the first
of fourteen containers. Quistis gasped. Rinoa scowled deeply. Over a plaque
labelled 'FAILURE - 11', there was one of the most grotesque visions they had
ever seen. A vaguely humanoid creature, of a greenish-yellow colour was inside.
Around a metre tall, it had countless twisted tentacles instead of legs. Five
arms, with fingerless hands were attached somehow to its deformed torso; its
head didn't have eyes or nose, just an enormous mouth, full of razor-sharp
teeth. Its rotting skin had numerous scars and pustules, making it even more
horrifying. It was something atrocious. And, for the raising bubbles, the
slight heart pumping, the little breathing movement they noticed, they knew it
was something alive. Sickened, they
both went from tank to tank, each next creature worst than the previous one,
all sort of imaginable horrid deformations plaguing their twisted, changing
bodies.
They arrived to the eighth
container, bigger than the others, labelled with 'FAILURE - 34'. The humanity
of the creature inside was almost completely lost in appearance; it was an
amorphous mass of yellow flesh and bones, with two malformed legs and arms with
fat toes and fingers. What appeared to be its head was buried between the
barely noticeable collarbones, so only the minute nose and eyes were visible.
And were those eyes what horrified even more the women. Those coal-like eyes
without eyelids had intelligence, and
stared at them without mercy. And then, they realised the pain the creature was
suffering. Those eyes spoke of pain; described agony with all sort of details;
told them the crudest tale about suffering; all in a few seconds. Paralysed,
they observed how the living thing slowly, painfully raised its arm; saw how it
slowly, painfully raised its index finger, and watched how it slowly, painfully
pressed it against the glass and wrote, with a putrid green liquid that had to
be its blood. In green, twisted letters there was written, backwards, a
petition; a pleading: 'KILL ME'. A
moment later, the liquid was diluted in the water, a mere shade remaining in
the crystal. Quistis' sickened gaze met the Sorceress'.
- Rinoa…
- I know. I'll put an end to their
suffering.
She went to the first one, and
slightly touched the glass while she closed her saddened eyes, her head bowing
forward. Soon, magical flames consumed the distorted bodies, one by one, as she
touched their respective tanks. They both perceived the gratitude in the few
creatures that still had a little bit of intelligence remaining before they
were completely burnt; gratitude for setting them free from a half-life of
torment. They slowly turned away from the containers, giving a last glance to
the ashes of the creatures; Rinoa's was sadness incarnation, Quistis' was made
of pure anger. They approached to the awaiting SeeDs, that had finished their
respective tasks and were looking expectantly to the women, their eyes asking
mute questions (except Irvine's) that would never be answered. Zell was the
first one valiant enough (or, valuing the women's expressions, stupid enough,
it depends of the standpoint) to ask:
- What was inside those... things?
- There was something… ter... -
Rinoa began to reply, but the Commander cut her immediately with an ice-cold
voice:
- Nothing. There was nothing there,
and none of you will ask again about the matter, understood? - Zell gave a step
back, and they all slowly nodded, knowing what her words meant. Only the most
horrible things could upset Quistis in such an extreme way. - Seifer, anything
of use?
- No. All has been destroyed
carefully. None of the computers work, no documentation, no data-disks, no
nothing.
- Zell? - He answered just shaking
his head. Quistis scowled. She turned to Irvine and Kristyne. - Well? Any
traps? - Irvine talked for first time.
- Yes. I managed to disable all the
three of them. It was not easy. - The woman stared at the movement of his
mouth, her lips becoming a thin line. "His voice has changed." She thought.
"The joviality, the happiness that once plagued his comments has
completely disappeared. Even I can feel his suffering, his emptiness."
Quistis changed rapidly her thoughts, concentrating once more in the important
mission they had. She would have enough time to think profoundly about it
later.
- Kristyne?
- Each of the doors leads to the
same semi-circular corridor. This corridor is huge, and has lots of similar
doors that lead to what appear to be cells. I counted fifteen, and two were
inhabited, sir. There are three more corridors connected to the main one that
communicate to other parts of the base. According to the signs on the walls,
the first one leads to the missile storage room; the second and third ones, to
the male and female employees' barracks, respectively. - She seemed uneasy, and
turned her gaze to the floor, looking ashamed. - An awful... stench... comes
from there, sir. - "Even more aberrations?" the Commander thought. Rinoa
gave a significant glance to her.
- Well, let's move. We'll try to
talk to those prisoners.
They stepped into the main corridor,
where the illumination was even worst. The floor was covered with crystals and
cables, like in the other room, but there was something more here: blood. Dry
blood patches covered certain spots of the place, the metallic smell of blood
mixing with the horrible stench of death that came from the secondary
corridors. Kristyne silently pointed to the closest of the inhabited cells, and
they slowly, making as little noise as possible, approached to it.
- Which one is this? - Quistis said
to the Sorceress in a barely audible whisper.
- Desperation. Claustrophobia. -
Rinoa said with golden eyes. - He seems paranoic, but not mad… yet.
Quistis frowned; she approached
carefully to the cell door, and opened the little window on it. She glanced all
around the dark room, and saw a hardly perceptible startle in a corner. She
began to talk, trying to appear friendly, without knowing what to say.
- Hello? Is someone there? - She
said. There was an uncomfortable silence before the prisoner's answer. A
trembling, fearful voice, of unknown sex, came from a corner in a whisper that
the woman scarcely heard, and almost didn't understand.
- Wh… who you are? I do know not the
voice yours… - "He doesn't seem very clever," Quistis thought. She felt then
the tingling sensation of Rinoa's voice penetrating in her thoughts: "He does
not seem a menace, though; at least for now. He's a Shumi, Quistis", The
Sorceress 'said' her. The Commander glanced at the jet-black haired woman, a
little surprised. A Shumi? What was a Shumi doing there? Why would a Shumi,
member of a tribe that had always been friendly allies to humans, be held
captive in a place like that? Quistis could not think a reason. "I thought
Rinoa could not read Shumi's minds," she thought then to herself remembering
the Sorceress mental words, looking at her amber iris. The tickling feeling
came again to the back of her head. "I can't. That's why I think he's a Shumi. I can sense his feelings, nothing
more. An incredible rush of hope overruns him right now." Quistis slightly
nodded, and turned to the window again. "I will never get used to that," she
thought, with a barely noticeable sigh. She finally talked to the awaiting
prisoner:
- I… we are here to help you, if you
collaborate with us.
- You… you not will make feel pain
again to me… you will? Aplease… not do hurt me with evil machines again, you
won't? - Quistis had to take a few seconds to understand the strange sentences
of the Shumi before answering.
- I assure you we won't hurt you. If
you behave calmly and answer our questions, we will free you. Do you understand
that? - Quistis saw how he moved in the corner, excited and extremely happy. He
almost couldn't control his words.
- Yes, yes! Will I answer, will I
with you go! Free, at last be free with you, your will be! - His voice was
trembling with excitement and joy. The woman turned her sapphire eyes to
Irvine.
- Irvine, unlock the door.
He did as she had said. It was quite
a simple lock, so in a minute or two the door was opened. Seifer gave his
lantern to Quistis, who entered the room first, followed by Rinoa. The rest of
them stayed at the entrance, carefully listening to the conversation inside,
watching the Shumi's movements. The cell was almost in complete darkness, so
Quistis pointed the light directly to the prisoner's body, trying to see his
complexion. Definitely it was a Shumi from head to feet: yellow, hairless skin,
a little paler than normal from the absence of light; a body about a metre and
forty centimetres tall, covered with rags and tattered clothes; and big hands,
with long, habile fingers. The SeeDs could see now why he had not moved from
the corner where he was sitting: he had chains attached to hands, feet and neck
that let him move just a few centimetres from the cell wall; he could not even
stand where he was, so he had to be in the same sitting position all the time.
But there was something extremely strange: his eyes. They were not the usual
black-as-coal eyes of a Shumi, full of peace, patience, and logic. They were
light grey eyes that had the glint of pure madness and paranoia inside them.
"It's easy to explain that, looking at his condition. This place would destroy
any mind." Quistis thought. Without knowing why, she began to think she could
truly trust the poor Shumi, and was beginning to like him very much. Again, the
mental voice of the Sorceress entered with a tickle inside his mind. "Treat him
kindly. Make him trust you. I think there's valuable information inside that distorted
mind." Quistis nodded and glanced at the chains that tied him.
- Just wait a little, friend, and we
will remove those horrible chains from you. Then, we will take you to our ship.
There you will answer our questions, and I promise that then you will be free
to go, if you want. - She said. The Shumi's face was happiness incarnation. The
commander motioned to Kristyne to enter, and watched her as she bent over the
Shumi and, with expert hands and eye, carefully examined the intricate lock of
the shackles.
- Give me three minutes… - She
whispered. Quistis nodded and talked to the excited prisoner, realising that
they had not asked how he was called.
- What's your name, friend? - She
said with a warm smile. The Shumi did not answer for a while; he was anxiously
staring at Kristyne's hands and face. When Quistis was going to repeat her
question, he suddenly raised his head and gazed directly to her.
- A name… a name I used to have,
yes. Lius? Tydus? Maul? Doul? Loum? Loum… yes, Loum it was. I, Loum am named. -
He said. He suddenly began to babble after that. - Loum… doum, roum, soum,
loud, soun, sounds? Yes, loud sounds… loud sounds my ears pierced, my brain
pierced, my mind pierced. Unbearable noise… horrible noise… torment, torment,
torment… horrible torments… - he went on like that, until Kristyne stood up.
- Done. You are free from those
chains, Loum. - She said. The Shumi, with an eager expression in his face,
tried to get up several times, but to no avail. He finally gave up, in
frustration.
- Weak. Weak, I am. I… starve. I,
not strong enough am. I can move not, no longer. I'm damned… damned… harmed…
Starved… Carried? - He looked hopefully to Quistis. She glanced to Rinoa, to
Kristyne, and then to Loum, worried. Rinoa was the first to speak:
- One of you - She looked at the
men. - Will have to carry him until we arrive to the ship. - "I'm not in the
mood right now to make levitate a Shumi that has gone nuts all around this blue
hell," she bitterly added to herself.
Seifer and Zell looked to each
other, frowning. Irvine simply snorted. Finally, Zell gave a step inside the
cell.
- Oh, all right, I will do it… - he
approached to the Shumi. - If you'll excuse me… - Kristyne couldn't help to
smile as he, without many contemplations, lifted the slim Shumi and put him
over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Seeing the annoyed look of Seifer,
Quistis and Rinoa, he asked. - What? What's the matter?
- Carry him delicately, Zell. He's in a very fragile state. - Rinoa explained.
- Oh! - Zell did as she had said, carrying
Loum in a more proper way. The Commander glanced impatiently to her wristwatch.
- We have spent too much time in
this repulsive lab. We will free the other prisoner and leave the talking for
later, so, move out.
They left the room quietly and, with
Kristyne's indications, reached the other inhabited cell.
- Boredom, you said, Rinoa? -
Quistis asked in a whisper. Seeing the Sorceress' nod, she approached to the
door and asked as before: - Hello? Is anyone there?
The reply did not make them wait:
- You already know ze ansver. Vy do
you ask, zen? - A voice inside the cell said. Everyone, even Irvine, deeply
frowned. Everyone, even Irvine, though: "Of course." Everyone recognized the
voice, and the peculiar accent. They should have known that any scientific
atrocity should be attached immediately to the name Odine. Why he was trapped
in what surely was his own research laboratory? That was something they would
have to obtain from him. A moan came from behind the Commander, from the Shumi
that was in Zell's strong arms. She looked in Loum's direction, to discover
that he was completely panicked all of sudden. His eyes went to one SeeD to
another, burying his body into Zell's arms. Words came out of his mouth in
terrified disorder, true fear within them.
- No! Voice! Torturing again,
torturer he again, no! Let him NOT come to out! Horrible... unspeakable
voice... no, no, no! Sounds!
Piercing sounds! Piercing machines! Destroyed... my partners... destroyed...
all destroyed, all killed... not again. - He suddenly fell silent, but his eyes
continued moving hysterically, almost out of their sockets. Rinoa went
immediately to his side, trying to comfort him with sweet words, caressing his
pale yellow forehead, treating him like a scared child. Quistis looked back to
the door, and talked to Dr. Odine through it, without hiding her repugnance
towards him.
- Odine… why are you in there? Your
own employees finally decided to let you die from starvation to make you pay
for your sins against humanity?
- I don't know vat are you talking
about, Trepe. Free me and stop viz zis nonsense.**
- Oh, you don't know? Really? What
about the HSI virus, for example? Or those horrible Ethernoi monsters you brought from the moon? The thing is,
do you deserve to be freed, Odine? -
Her voice grew even bitterer - I think not. I don't have any time to waste with
your life.
-
You need me, and you know it. Or you don't vant to know vat happened here? Then
I vill sit here until I die, and all I know vill die viz me - He stated.
Quistis scowled even more. They had the Shumi, but Odine would surely know much
more about that place than Loum. And she could not lose so valuable
information. Reluctantly, she agreed.
-
You win, Odine. But you will tell us everything
you know about this, understand?
-
Very vell, very vell, open ze stupid door now.
-
Kristyne... - The Commander said. Kristyne simply talked from her position, a
metre or so behind her.
-
Don't worry, it's not locked. Odine can't go out because it can only be opened
from outside. Just turn the handle.
Quistis
put her gloved hand on the handle of the cell door, and began to turn it. Just
then, she felt Rinoa's hand on hers, stopping her, with a warning in her eyes
and lips.
-
I... have a bad feeling about this, Quistis. We should not open this door. -
She whispered. Quistis replied in the same tone.
-
Are you insinuating that it is not Odine who's behind it?
-
No, I'm sure that he is Odine. But... I feel a great danger; don't ask why,
because not even I know. It is very... strange. I can't describe it with words.
-
We truly need him, Rinoa. He has the answers to all our questions... and I
assure you we have many, many
questions. We must assume the risk... - They both fell silent for a while,
trying to make a decision. Finally, with a sad sigh, Rinoa spoke.
- Very well, then... - She took a
step back, and so did the others, that had listened fearfully to the worrying
conversation. Quistis glanced to everyone, nodded, and took a deep breath (the
deepest breath she had taken ever, she thought). Then, she slowly, carefully
moved the handle, sweat running down her forehead. The door finally, with a
soft 'click', opened... and nothing happened. Odine's voice came from the blue
darkness, breaking the horrible, oppressive silence.
- You are very lucky. Now, ve should
run if ve don't vant to blow in pieces.
- What!? - Quistis shouted. Odine
continued.
- I don't know vy zey put a timer,
but ve shouldn't try to find it out now. Ve should run like hell instead. Could
you carry me? I fear I'm too veak... - He said. At the moment that they all
understood what those words implicated, a soft humming came to their ears from
afar. The Commander's gaze met the Sorceress', Kristine's met Irvine's, and
Seifer's met Zell's, all eyes incredibly wide open. Loum looked stupidly at
their expressions. In a second, they all began to move; Seifer entered the cell
like a lightning and went out with a gaunt Odine over his shoulder. They all
ran wildly towards the entrance of the Lab, trying to avoid the obstacles on the
floor. Quistis gave orders to Zell as they ran, shouting with all the power of
her lungs:
- Zell, make the Ragnarok land in
front of the cave!
- I can't with a Shumi in my arms!
Take, Kristyne! - He shouted to her, that was the closest. The aforesaid took
the remote control that the blond SeeD offered her and managed to operate it
while running. The fact that they had to shout made Quistis think for a while.
She realized that what had been a barely audible buzz was now quite a strong
sound, and it grew louder every stride they gave, making them yell over it. You
don't notice things like that immediately in a situation where you are running
for your life... as fast as she could, she went through one of the doors that
led into the huge circular room.
They were running through the main
room; the sound was so strong that everything was trembling, and some crystals
broke because of vibrations. The floor was trembling more and more; they
difficultly managed to not fall to the ground as they came closer to the exit.
Rinoa was running beside the water tanks, when they could not resist the
vibrations any more and broke. Countless glass pieces went through the air and
some hit her hard, making her fall over a myriad of broken crystals, close to
some sparking cables. The crystals painfully cut her hands, forearms, knees and
face when she fell to the ground. The pain made her grit her teeth. "I will
have time to heal the wounds later," She thought. And that thought made her
realise something: in the commotion, she had completely forgotten her powers!
The mind of a Sorceress is something extraordinary. It is very difficult to
understand a normal human mind, to imagine its thoughts; to understand or
imagine the complexity of a Sorceress' one is almost impossible. The fact is
that, in less than a tenth of a second, an internal conflict took part within
her; something that made her finally realise that what Edea had told her was
slowly, but inexorably, happening; something that dreadfully scared her. This
is just an approximated explanation of what happened inside her brain:
The first thing she thought was that
she could escape from there in a second if she wanted to, go to a relatively
safe place with her magic… not caring for her friends. Their lives mattered
very little for her; She even thought "I will avenge Selphie without their help
if I have to". She almost did what she had thought, thinking that there would
be no way to save them, or worse, not caring if there was a way. Then, she
realized what she was thinking: leaving her friends, her most loved friends
there, letting them die horribly without doing anything to save them? She would
die before doing that; she would risk her life for them, not caring for her
own, as she had always done. They were their family, the only family she had:
without them, she'd surely die. That was the correct decision, that was what
she had and was going to do; but the fact that she had been so close to take
the first option, the fact that she had even considered it was what
frightened her: since she was a Sorceress, she had never, ever considered to
put her interests first than the others'. Noticing that she had no time to
lose, she rapidly threw out of her mind these thoughts and tried to save her
companions' lives… or perish with them in the attempt. She stood up. Her eyes
turned amber, dozens of pale blue veins covered her cheeks and arms' skin, and
an aura of the purest white appeared around her black clothed body as a cloud
of white, pristine feathers surrounded her…
Irvine would not give up. He knew
that surely they were going to die there; it was obvious that the first
explosion was imminent, and the lab would blow in pieces with them inside. But,
despite he was sure that all was lost, he kept running with inexhaustible
determination. He would never accept death before avenging Selphie. Something
softly touched him on his right shoulder as he heard the word 'haste'
whispered inside his brain. He slightly turned his head to see what it was, but
he merely saw a white and black light ball passing by his side with incredible
velocity; a winged light ball, that left behind of it a trail of shining
white feathers. The effects of the spell were immediate; Irvine could move now
twice as fast as before, his body felt lighter… he could feel how time
literally expanded for him. He couldn't help to smile. Now, with a bit
of luck, they would escape alive. And nothing would stop him from taking
revenge.
- Keep running! – Quistis shouted
uselessly. The sound was so strong now that no one could hear her. "Odine will
pay for this… if we survive." She thought. "He is responsible of this, not me…
it's not my fault… it's not my fault…" Despite her thoughts, she felt inside
her that it was her fault. She had led them, her SeeDs, her friends, to
their deaths. She felt they would die because of her. She almost gave up
running from guiltiness, from desperation. Just then, she felt a tender hand on
her shoulder, and the word 'haste' whispered inside her head. She
noticed that suddenly all things around her passed by her side faster;
extremely faster, indeed. She did not need to turn her head to know what had
happened. A falling feather made her nose tickle as hope reborn inside her
heart.
Seifer hated Odine with each
particle of his body. It was he who killed Raijin and Fujin. They finally died,
after a week of suffering and agony, six years before, victims of the HSI virus
that affected a portion of Esthar, Balamb and Trabia. The vaccine was developed
(by the same Odine that had created it) just before it reached Galbadia. And
now the fact that he was forced to save him was eating him from within… just
like the virus did to his dear friends. He was among the few people that
happened to be completely immune to the virus effects, and he would never
forget what he felt seeing them dying, seeing Raijin agonising, babbling
senseless words… seeing Fujin, his dear strong Fujin, silently crying in pain…
tears he had shared with her, tears he had kissed from her deadly pale cheeks…
"If it was my decision, Odine, I'd let you die here like the dirty rat you
are." He thought. "But we need you… for now. You will pay after we take the
information from you, Odine, I swear. You will pay for making Fujin cry. You
will pay for making Raijin beg for a fast death." The ground trembled rougher
and rougher for moments. Seifer did not see an obstacle that had moved in front
of him; he tripped on it, and almost fell. Trying to gain a precarious balance
he put a hand on one of the ruined computers with his free hand; the sharpened
broken crystal of a screen cut his palm, making him grit his teeth. And was
just there, with an overwhelming roar piercing his ears, the floor under his
feet trembling, disorder and chaos surrounding him, blood running down his
black gloved hand, where he realised he would not be able to make Odine pay
later, that there would never be a 'later' for him. Despite it, he managed to
continue running with a silent Odine over his left shoulder, following Zell
towards an exit he would never reach. Something roughly touched his right
shoulder, and he heard the word 'haste' inside his head. He recognized
the common spell and knew what would happen then: his feet barely touched the
ground as his legs and all his body trespassed time, moving twice as fast as
before. A ball of white and black colours passed like a bullet by his side,
reaching Zell in less than a second. They had a possibility to escape now, and
he knew it was thanks to her. Instead of gratitude, or relief, he felt
hatred invading his body as he ran towards the entrance of the lab.
"We won't make it. We won't make
it!" Zell was running like never before in his life. He was the second, only
Kristyne ahead of him, a few metres far; they were running through the middle
of the huge main room. "This place looks much bigger than before!" The roar of
what surely were tons of explosives in an activation process was so loud, so
unbearable, that he almost couldn't hear his own thoughts. What had been a
barely noticeable weight in his arms was turning slowly in a burden heavy as lead.
"We are going to die here…" Suddenly, something touched his right shoulder as
he felt the word 'haste' whispered inside his head. He slightly turned
his head to see a shining silver and obsidian sphere of light passing by his
side at extraordinary speed. The effects of the spell were immediately
noticeable as he ran to the now extremely close (now, it looked much closer for
him) exit. A rush of relief invaded his body like a divine elixir, making his
legs run even faster.
Kristyne glanced back sporadically
to see how others were doing. The exit was close enough for her to maintain an
agonizing hope alive, despite she had to make more and more efforts to keep
balance. She was running so fast that her feet almost did not touch the ground,
but she felt that it was not fast enough. "Just a little more… it's close… just
a little faster…" She glanced back again, and her eyes opened wide; something,
a sort of lightning ball of white and black tones and golden in the middle was
going from SeeD to SeeD with astonishing velocity, reaching her in just a
second. It touched her shoulder, and continued towards the entrance of the lab.
As she heard the word 'haste' whispered to her ear, a rain of white
feathers told her that hope would not die so easily.
Rinoa went up the stairs without
touching them surrounded by a white aura, her magical wings silently, rapidly
flapping, making her float over the floor. She stopped on top of them, and the
seconds turned into hours as she waited for her friends to appear. The shattering
clamour and the unbearable trembling was making the stair corridor collapse,
parts from the ceiling falling to the floor, so the passage was filled with
dust. She knew they were running out of time. "They won't be able to go through
that," she thought. Joining act to thoughts, she managed to focus and ignore
the piercing sound as she raised her hands in front of her and casted a wind
spell, slightly modified to fit her necessities. A sudden whirlwind appeared
from nowhere at the bottom of the stairs and rapidly moved towards the exit of
the building, the magical wind absorbing and pushing the dust and some broken
ceiling pieces with it. It passed under the concentrated Sorceress without
touching her, and went out of the structure, dying outside. Just then Kristyne
appeared, moving extremely fast, followed by Zell, Seifer, Quistis and finally
Irvine. Quistis said something to her, but she could not hear her or any other
thing apart of the horrible noise. Despite she was exhausted (making her body
move with such velocity, casting spells while doing it and that last whirlwind
had almost finished with her energies) she managed to use her magic once again:
she closed her hands, like grabbing something, and the bigger pieces of ceiling
that had not moved with the wind began to levitate, irradiating a purple /
violet aura, moving out of the SeeDs
way, passing under her as the other spell did. The SeeDs had to make it on
their own now, she had done all she could. They were reaching Rinoa's position
already, their legs moving so fast it was difficult to see them, going up the
now free of obstacles stairs. The Sorceress turned around and, making a
prodigious effort to not fall unconscious, she headed for the Ragnarok, now
landed in front of the 'natural' cave. She almost did it. She fell on the fresh
grass, at a few metres from the ship, utterly exhausted. The last thing she
could hear before fainting was a ravaging explosion that made the ground below
her violently tremble, but she didn't care any more. The Estharian moon
appeared to smile at her as she closed her eyes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Actually, it HAS sense, ya know? See… Arcane Language: Aine
= Me, I, myself; adowe = obey, attend (inadowe=to obey) hyne = change, freedom,
free; kain- = suffix -ing; don = force, power; amare = because / love; Io serei
= myself, my being, my presence; Xumare = Sorceress; Ainetoh = Rinoa, the Sorceress name; fedeix = command,
give order (infedeix=to command); in- = the 'to' of an infinitive; hyvete =
disappear, go away; aninhare = you, yourself, your presence. So, "Aine non
adowe, kainhyne don amare io serei, Ainetoh Xumare, fedeix inhyvete aninhare…"
Come to be more or less "Obey me, changing forces because I, Sorceress Ainetoh,
command you to disappear..."
**Author's note: Despite certain
person (thanks again, if you're reading this J) told me how it was, I don't know if I put
Odine's accent correctly… I hope I did, but if not, sorry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. Changing Shadows
Rinoa
was really scared. Someone, or something
was following her, but she couldn't see what, only able to hear its deep
breathing. She was walking through the streets of Deling by night, her heels
knocking loudly in the silent darkness of the deserted city. The breathing was
approaching, and she fastened the pace. Suddenly she heard a long, horrible
howl beside her, and, in complete panic, began to run as fast as she could,
trying to escape from the beast that persecuted her. She turned a corner, and
abruptly bumped into a dark form that tenderly embraced her. "Don't be afraid, Rinoa." The shadow
whispered in her ear, his dark hand caressing her hair. "I'm here, I'll protect you". She knew that voice, a voice she had
once loved, a voice she knew in each detail. But this time it would not fool
her; no, she would not fall again to his lies. She pushed him away with all her
strength. "I don't need you, I never did!" Tears ran down her cheeks. "I
never needed you, I can defend myself now, you can't imagine the magnitude of
my powers! I hate you, leave me alone!" She could perceive his sad, hurt,
disappointed expression. The shadow turned, and left her where she was. The creature
was coming, but she didn't care any more; her powers would protect her, nothing
would harm her. The beast approached, and she began to cast one of her most
powerful spells. She pronounced each word exactly, perfect in each detail, but
nothing happened. Confused, she tried other spell, but nothing. Panic invaded
her body as the demon raised one of its claws. "No! My powers! Don't leave me now!" she cried out in terror as it,
ignoring her pleads, brought its claw down. "No…"
Suddenly all went black. The pain was insufferable as the claws and fangs of
the creature tore skin, flesh and bone…
- Rinoa! Rinoa, awake! – Quistis had
her hands on the Sorceress' shoulders, trying to calm her excited body, and
occasionally slapped softly her cheeks, trying to awake her from her bad
dreams. Rinoa opened wide her eyes all of sudden with a muffled scream, and
glanced around utterly frightened. She recognized the face of her friend in a
sea of confusion and terror, and embraced her with all the little strength that
remained within her weakened body, Quistis being the life vest that would not
let her sink deeper in the dreadful waters of horror.
- Quistis! – she said as she
embraced her, her voice trembling with relief, with pleading hope, her eyes
filled with tears. – Please, Quistis, don't let it come closer… help me
Quistis… I'm so afraid… - the Commander worriedly tapped her back, trying to
comfort her. She had not expected this sort of awakening.
- Calm yourself, Rinoa, please. You
are safe now, we are in the Ragnarok, heading for Balamb Garden. Just calm down
and rest, okay?
Rinoa's
trembling slowly stopped, as she assimilated what was happening around her. She
reluctantly moved away from her friend and softly wiped out the tears from her
eyes.
-
I… I'm sorry, Quistis, I couldn't control myself… - She glanced around her; she
was sitting now in the Ragnarok's mini-infirmary bed. She suddenly remembered
all what had happened: the laboratory, the prisoners, Odine, the explosives,
her magic… - What happened? I… don't remember anything after seeing you go up
the stairs.
Quistis
smiled warmly to her. Without her, they would be dead in that moment.
- You fainted; your body couldn't
bear it any more. Kristyne saw you as she headed for the ship, and brought you
inside. You shouldn't force yourself to such extremes, Rinoa. You know it is
very dangerous.
- I had… to do it. I don't care for
my life; it's my mission, Quistis, it's my necessity. My mission as a SeeD; my
necessity as a Sorceress. I don't do it for your lives, I do it for myself.
Otherwise… you know what might happen. – She closed her eyes, and put her right
hand on her forehead as she lie on the bed again. – My head aches…
- Quite normal. – Quistis replied.
Rinoa hated that people expressed gratitude to her, and the Commander knew it.
She also knew that she didn't do it entirely for herself; it was her love to
her friends that compelled her to perform such acts. – We will talk widely
later, my friend. – She said, putting special emphasis in the last two
words.- Now just rest until we reach Balamb Garden. We will interrogate Odine,
and Loum, there.
- Loum? Oh, the Shumi… What happened
after I fainted? – Asked the Sorceress, ignoring her advice. Quistis slightly
frowned but replied equally.
- Kristyne, who was the first, saw
you fall to the ground and stay there. She ran to you, and put your body over her shoulders. We
hurried to the Ragnarok. Just when Irvine had put his feet on the platform of
the ship, Kristyne and Zell made it raise from the ground. Just then, the first
explosion made the earth violently tremble, generating a chain of explosions
that did not stop until the lab, and around a kilometre of the city around it,
was utterly destroyed. I don't know how the fuselage of the Ragnarok resisted
the commotion, but it did. – She stood up from the bed, and sighed. – It was
horrible being inside that ball of fire and smoke… I don't even know how we are
still alive. – She stopped for a while and looked to the lying Sorceress' dark
brown eyes.- A miracle I guess… – She
added, and smiled as Rinoa pursed her
lips. Before she could answer, Quistis left the room, making the door close
behind her.
20. The opposite force
Four
SeeDs and the Sorceress are with him in the interrogation room. Odine can
barely see their faces, but he recognizes Heartilly's and Trepe's voices, and
occasionally that full of hatred one… Almasy, he thinks the man is called. The
two others don't talk; one of them, a male he thinks, appears to be recording
the interrogation. He hears the Witch's voice.
-
Now is time to explain, Odine. Answer each question we ask you with the truth,
please. Your lies won't work with me. – She says to the scientific.
-
I haf no interest in lying to you. – He replies, scornfully. – For now, it is
useful zat you know ze truz.
Then
the blonde bitch begins to interrogate him, with the most stupid questions
someone can think of.
-
First of all, what does GER-47P mean.
He
can't believe those stupid SeeDs hadn't figured out already.
-
Genetic Experimentation Research, investigation project number forty-seven. –
He says. She asks once more.
-
What is it for.
-
Using genetic experimentation, basing on some special creatures, create new
beings, new individuals. I must say it vas a total success… unfortunately for
you. – Odine can perceive their deep scowls. He smiles to himself.
-
For what. – She asks.
-
For creating new life forms, of course! Ze objective of zat? Simple curiosity.
It began around four years ago… zere's no one in the vorld zat vould achieve
such progress in such little time. Isn't zat vonderful enough for you? I've
created a vole new race! And, for vat I've seen, a race zat vill exterminate
you all. – Now, every member of that barbarian tribe in the room, even the
Witch, seems surprised and upset at a time. Those brainless SeeDs can't
conceive the prodigies that science can provide. They have come into light now,
and Odine can study their expressions. The Witch recovers first, and spits her
words to him.
Irvine…
-
A new intelligent race? That's impossible! I know that's impossible… yet
you are saying the truth!
-
Of course i's possible. – He contains his insults inside his mouth for his own
good. He is not stupid; those SeeDs without self-control got angry very easily.
– I have investigated a lot, Sorceress. I have experimented a lot, too. I guess
you saw some of the failed ones…
Trepe
opens her mouth now, and speaks her inept words, with a horrified, hateful
expression in her face.
- Some? There were more than
those in the water tanks?
-
Of course. Zose vere just the living ones. – He smiles wickedly. Trepe scowls
even more, and continues with the tedious interrogation.
I
love you…
- Let's forget about that for the
moment… - She says with gritting teeth.- Now we will focus on those… creatures.
explain everything about them, Odine; how much did you create, who and how are
they. – Odine replies with utmost indignation.
-
Zey are not just "creatures", you fool! Zey are perfect… deadly perfect,
indeed. Zey are better zan humans, somezing I did not expect. You vouldn't haf
found me inside zat mouldy cell if zey veren't smarter zan zeir creators. I… -
Odine's explanation is interrupted by Trepe.
-
Creators? Who else was involved in that project? – The scientific, upset by the
interruption, replies irritated.
-
My assistants, obviously! But don't vorry. Zey all are dead now. Zey
took care of zat.
But
I want revenge…
- Why didn't they kill you too? – A
disdainful grin appears in Odine's face.
-
Because I'm not obtuse! – "As you are," he adds to himself. – I took
precautions… I modified a certain portion of zeir psyche, inhibiting zeir
capacity to kill me, incredible pain seizing zem if zey merely zought about it.
For you to understand it, I neutralised zeir capacity to harm me physically or
mentally… in a direct vay. Zey realized zat, but zought of an alternative
manner: simply confine me in a dirty cell, and let me die from starvation… or
from bloving in pieces, vhatever happened first.
-
Continue describing that 'perfect' race. – Odine manages to control his anger
against her doubtful tone, and answers normally.
I'll
never leave you…
- Les' start from ze beginning.
Around four years ago, I vas investigating ze nature of one of ze most
vonderful creatures over Kholos, our planet: ze Shumi people. Zey, vizout being
supernatural monsters viz intellect, like ze ruby dragons and very few ozers,
had an incredibly developed intelligence. But zat vas not vat intrigued me at
first; it vas zeir mutating ability vat amazed me. Most Shumis, as you might
know already, mutate into different sorts of creatures, depending on ze nature
of ze Shumi; and not only mutate into 'moombas' or 'elders', as you might
think, despite zese are ze most common. It occurs in a time zat humans vould
call puberty; but, dislike ze human puberty, ze changes experimented in ze
Shumi's body are not progressive: zose changes take part vizin a very short
amount of time, around two or zree hours, on average. Ozer zing zat astounded
me vas zeir longevity… zose who do not change can last for at least five
centuries. A moomba dies relatively fast: around seventy years… but did you
know zat an 'elder' can live more zan an entire millennium? – Avenge me… - And
zat vizout talking about ozer transformations I've seen, like the Terrs or the
extremely rare (and extremely intelligent) Vulciinks – Odine enjoys their
puzzled expressions when they hear the unknown terms. He is completely sure
he's the only one in the world that has studied, or even seen, those creatures,
the only one that has heard their voices and learned about all they could say
to him. - … for zose, time is meaningless. But retaking the zread, I vas
studying zem ven I realised ze incredible possibilities zeir avesome metabolism
offered. Ze result of four years of hard research, experimentation and, I
assure you, many disappointments, you could see it. My lab completely
destroyed, all ze information lost, and a new race of super-creatures zat hate humans… but it vas vorzvile, ohh, sure
it vas. Ze 'Uktumi tribe', as zey call zemselves (quite a better name zan
Project 47), are ze most incredible and marvellous among my creations. – Odine
is enjoying his explanation. Exposing his developments to the SeeDs is a
pleasure he can't describe.- I vas able
to create just eight before zey began ze rebellion, but zey are intelligent.
Zey know how to create more, I'm completely sure. But, I've not described zem
yet. Physically, zey are somezing extraordinary. Ze same Uktumi can be ze most
beautiful rose, and ze ugliest of monsters, venever he vants. Zas' because zey
can morph into ozer forms, zey can change zeir appearance as zey please.
I, viz my genius intelligence, modified ze shumi's changing properties, and viz
– Give me his blood… - some manipulations you can't even understand, I
made possible to zem to control zeir ability. But, the Uktumi aren't based just
in the Shumis… I've vorked viz many different species of creatures, and I found
some zat vere compatible viz the Shumis… humans among zem – He pauses,
expecting a dramatic effect. Enjoying the SeeDs' frowns, he continues - Again
zanks to zeir metabolism, I vas able to define viz exactitude zeir mutations. I
vill skip all ze process I vent zrough, and go directly to ze final result: - I
will help you…- apart of zeir exquisite, elegant normal appearance (zey
mainly look like an elder, but viz much more refined shapes. – Odine can't hide
how proud of his creation he is. – Zeir skin is covered by brilliant red fur,
like moombas', and zeir face is more feline zan shumi; zeir stylised hands are
habile and delicate, ze movement of zeir vole bodies is graceful and
harmonious. Only zeir eyes, zose marvellous, glowing purple eyes show how
deadly zeir intelligence is.) Ze standard Uktumi can morph into zree totally
different forms, venever zey vant: One of zem is ze "Shuman form": in zis form,
zey look like humans, exteriorly. Ze most beautiful, pretty humans you can see,
indeed; zey are perfection made beauty. And zas' vat vill help you find one:
zey are unnaturally beautiful. Very vell, ozer form is the "Varrior
form": zey adopt it ven zey have to fight, obviously. Zeir body zen becomes
practically an incredibly improved version of a Terr, viz some modifications. –
He deserves it… - A big but agile body, viz fibrous muscles able to
crush anyzing zat gets in zeir vay; zeir upper pair of arms end in incredibly
sharp claws, vile ze ozer pair has attached to zem a razor blade each. Zeir
legs are extremely strong, making zem able to move exceptionally fast and jump
very long distances, unlike the Terr, zat has no legs, but an ophidian bottom
zat makes zeir movement very slow. Zey have a pair of vestigial vings on zeir
back, zat zey use to jump even furzer. But is zeir head vat is more
frightening: a big devilish head, normally viz a pair of large, black horns… a
mouz full of deadly fangs, viz poison in zeir tips; and ze eyes… ze gloving
purple eyes able to freeze you in panic vere you are viz zeir gaze. I guess zas
enough about zem, but notice zat I'm just talking about ze standard Uktumi. Zey
all have zese transformation abilities and no ozers, but zere are plenty of
variations vizin each; each one of zem is different, as humans are, and partly
because I used different sorts of creatures as basis. Oh, also, zey can morph
into a Shumi too… ze only difference between zem and ze real ones are zeir
purple eyes. – I love you… - Zat is, in a very short summary, vat ve haf
between our hands. Vell… vat you, Trepe, haf in your hands. – He finishes
talking. The silence that follows is something so oppressive, so dreadful, that
it is unbearable. But no one can break it. The SeeDs are unable to think,
unable to move, as they slowly realise the magnitude, the huge magnitude of
what is going on. Only a word, just a word overwhelms the mind of each person
in the room: "Why". A voice, the Sorceress', raises from the abyss of
silence.
Avenge
me…
- When, when will Laguna learn to
control this wretch? – She whispers.
Avenge
my death…
- Oh, by ze vay, Laguna is surely
dead now. Zey had a plan of action, I'm sure. Zey sent ze missiles, and zen
eliminating Laguna vas going to be zeir next movement. - With his blood…- I
don't know more about it, zough.– He states. Again, silence. Horrible silence
only interrupted by the soft deaf sounds of the recorder. Odine still has his
wicked smile on his lips, pleased with the effect his words, and his actions,
had in the hated SeeDs. Finally, Trepe speaks her mind, with a mixture of
hatred and fear in her whispered voice.
Kill
him!
- Why, Odine? Why? – She
manages to say. She goes on muttering it, like a litany. – Why…
Now!
- WHY? – The atmosphere suddenly
explodes in anger, the most burning anger a human can produce. This almost
tangible ball of pure hatred is headed directly to Odine. The only SeeD that
had not discovered his presence to the scientific was now under the room's
light. His face was totally twisted with hatred and anger, fire burning inside
his eyes, but the other three SeeDs and the Sorceress could recognize him:
Irvine Kinneas. He continued talking, shouting his words to Odine. - I'LL TELL
YOU WHY!! BECAUSE HE IS A SADISTIC BASTARD!!! – Odine's scornful expression
changes completely. He sees what Kinneas holds in his hand.
The outraged SeeD raises his rifle, aims to
Odine's head and pulls the trigger.
Kill
him!
- Irvine! – Heartilly yells.
Kill him!!
- Vait, I know zeir veak p… - He
can't pronounce more words. This time no one is fast enough to stop Irvine from
shooting, but no one would have been able to stop such will power anyway if
they had tried. With a noise that hits hard the walls of the silent room, the
bullet goes out of the weapon and passes through the nose of the scientific in
an ascendant trajectory, breaking through the skull, reaching the brain and
going out through the occipital bone. The grey matter of the genius, mixed with
his blood, dirt the back wall of the room.
Thank
you, my love…
Kinneas puts out his rifle. Without
saying anything more, goes out of the interrogation room.
I
love you…
21. Selphie's Weapon
Quistis
was speechless. She glanced to Seifer, to Morien Shathletorn (A trustful SeeD
that was recording the interrogation), to Rinoa, and then to the bloody corpse
that once had been Odine. Finally reacting, forgetting the dreadful
"confession" the Scientific had made, she gave a withering glare to the Sorceress
before hurrying out of the room after Irvine. He was walking down the corridor,
apparently heading for the elevator. Quistis reached him and grabbed his
shoulder, forcing him to look at her. The Commander practically shouted to his
expressionless face.
-
Why in hell did you do that!? He still had VITAL information! Do you know what
you have done!? We NEEDED him, stupid! – She roughly said. Irvine remained
inexpressive, staring directly to her cold sapphire eyes.
-
He deserved it. Finally he has been punished. – He gave his back to his
superior, and began to leave. Quistis instantly understood everything. Her
words were enough to freeze him where he was.
-
Why do you this to yourself, Irvine? Why you torture your own self in this way?
Don't you realise this won't make her come back? Do you really think that
Selphie would want that… - She could not finish her phrase. Irvine turned and,
with thunder speed, he grabbed her by her shoulders and hurled her against the
wall.
-
Don't say her name. – He merely whispered with utmost anger, his
narrowed eyes staring intensely into hers, his hands still grabbing her
shoulders, the words passing through his gritted teeth. - Don't dare to
mention her again or I'll kill you with my own hands… you know nothing. Nothing!
– With a grunt, he released her and
walked away.
Quistis
stood where she was, leaning on the corridor's wall. After a while, instead of
being upset, instead of punishing the rebel SeeD for his direct
insubordination, she simply shook her head, feeling extremely sad.
-
Poor Irvine… - She just muttered, waiting for the sorceress to approach her.
Irvine
had a storm of emotions inside his head as he walked to the Quad; everything
but happiness. He finally reached it, and sat in a bench that let him look
directly to the rocky shore of Trabia, illuminated by a rising sun… the same
bench where they had been sitting… exactly a dawn ago. He couldn't believe that
it all had happened in just one day; it seemed that he had already passed an
eternity without her. And now… there was something that he had not told
Quistis, something that had deeply perturbed him. Something that, during all
the interrogation, had whispered inside his head… something that compelled him
to hate… to remember… to take revenge. He had not told her, that he
thought he knew what that something was. He had not told her, that he believed
that something, was his beloved, his needed, his dead Selphie…
A
warm lonely tear went down his cheek and fell to the ground, disappearing
instantly in the grass of the Quad.
22. The King is dead…
As
the tear was falling, Quistis sat in her comfortable chair in the commander's
office, crossed her legs and looked to the ashamed Rinoa in front of her with a
frown in her face. The Sorceress began to talk, with a mixture of culpability,
regret and embarrassment in her voice.
- I apologise to you, Quistis. I…
was wrong. I will accept all the responsibility.
-
Oh, please, Rinoa… - Quistis said. - We'll discuss that later. Don't blame
yourself any more, it's useless; it was not you, nor Irvine who did that.
-
You are right, - Rinoa replied, bitterness in her voice. - it was the monster I
created. – The Commander pursed her lips.
-
I did not want to mean that…
-
But you did, and you are right. I should have let him die; at least, he
wouldn't be suffering so much in this very moment.
-
You did what you had to do. It was the only option, as you said. You gave him
the opportunity to overcome it and go on with his life, and I know he can; it's
just a matter of time and effort.
-
But he will not overcome if he doesn't want to, and what will happen in that
time? Now I see he is dangerous for us all, not only for those who killed
Selphie. We can't keep him under vigilance twenty four hours a day, and I
cannot even consider to imprison him, at least for those reasons.
-
The only way he can overcome it is with the support and the presence of his
friends around him.
-
Only if we hadn't let him assist to the interrogation…
-
Yes, we should have ordered him to be with Kristyne and Zell, interrogating the
Shumi. But, that is something that can't be changed now. I hate talking about
this, please let's attend the… the other thing. – A note of fear was implied in
her tone.
-
Wait, first, what did our little yellow friend tell? I hope his eyes are not
purple…
-
No, they still are light grey, a little darker than when he was in the cell.
And nothing really new… apart of all the senseless babbling Kristyne and Zell
had to stand, all were things that Odine explained much better.
-
Does he know that… weak point… Odine could not speak of? – Quistis shook her
head.
-
Don't think about it, okay? We already have a lot of information without
counting that. Besides, he could be lying to survive. Perhaps he expected to
make us think that we needed him, so we couldn't get rid of him.
-
Would you have killed him if not? – It was not an accusation, or a surprised
question; it was just curiosity.
-
No. I would have let Seifer do whatever he wanted.
-
It's the same or even worse.
-
Odine deserved it. I don't care if it would have been right or not. But
now, it does not matter.
They
both fell silent, lost in their own thoughts. A minute later, Rinoa slowly
raised her head, and finally asked the inevitable question.
-
What are we going to do now, Quistis? – Rinoa did not want to read her mind;
there were many times that she preferred to talk normally, and respect the
other's privacy, specially when they were important conversations.
She
did not reply immediately, and continued looking absently to nowhere. She
turned in her rotating chair, giving her back to the Sorceress, and looked
through the huge window to the endless sea, to the rocky coast of Trabia, to
the rising sun of dawn.
-
I… - She was interrupted by an incoming transmission from the bridge. Quistis
turned again to face Rinoa, and Xu appeared in the mini-monitor of the
Commander's desk. "Commander, - she began. – come immediately to the
communication centre, you should see this. Please hurry."
With a glance to the Sorceress of
"What now?", she stood up and they both hurried to see what happened.
**********
- Good morning, Sarah; we are here,
in front of the presidential palace, in a special bulletin for the ENC channel
awaiting for our President Laguna Loire to appear. He has summoned all the
media, along with every man and woman that can assist, to a meeting where he
will give a special communication of a very important nature; no more
information has been given, only that the national memorandum will be given exactly
at seven o'clock on the morning.
-
Is the crowd impatient already, Judith?
-
No, not yet, just sleepy, for the moment (she smiles) It is something very
uncommon for our President to get up so early in the morning, and everyone
wonders about what will he say.
-
(Smiling too) Very well, thank you Judith, we will connect later with your
position. (Judith nods) It's half past six and we have a lot to tell. In other
order of things, there has been an enormous explosion…
…
…………………
… -
We are connecting again to the Presidential Palace… Judith, anything new?
-
Nothing for the moment, Sarah, but it's almost seven and our President will
appear soon; the crowd is patiently waiting as they comment about what is going
on; some say that it might be associated to the huge explosion that occurred in
the eastern sector around midnight, causing numerous casualties. We have… wait,
someone is appearing in the balcony of the residence! (the camera focus on the
man who appears) but, definitely it's not the president; it is an unknown man
who comes closer to the microphones. He's about to talk.
(not-wanted-to-be-heard whisper) Whoa, that guy kicks ass!
The
peculiar man approaches to the microphones and begins to talk. He seems
extremely sad.
-
People of Esthar. – His voice is soft and harmonious, but strangely strong at a
time. It makes the multitude keep immediate silence, like he had cast a spell
over them. – Yesterday, exactly at 8:16 in the evening, something horrible
happened. – He pauses to apparently dry a falling tear from his perfect cheek.
Everyone hold the breath. He starts again, a slight trembling in his voice –
Yesterday, people of Esthar, our dear President, Laguna Loire… was…
assassinated. – The silence remains, but the change in the atmosphere from
expectancy to surprise and horror is almost touchable. The voice goes on, not
breaking through this atmosphere, but somehow encouraging it, reassuring it. –
Beside him, was the body of his daughter, Miss Ellone Loire, along with the
corpses of Kiros Seagul and Ward Zabak. –
There is something in his voice that keeps the multitude in
silence, allowing him to finish his atrocious communicate. His voice grew in
anger. – Yesterday, a pack of Galbadian Terrorists infiltrated somehow in the
palace passing through our security system undetected, got into the president's
room and brutally assassinated him and his daughter. – A second later
the crowd explodes, with anger, with hatred, with fear and sorrow. The
indomitable voice of the man is heard over the roar of the masses, like feeding
them. - Galbadia is responsible of our
horrible lost! And they will pay for each drop of blood our president shed!!
For we have the right to claim REVENGE!!! OUR ENEMIES, THE ENEMIES OF
ESTHAR, WILL FALL UNDER OUR MIGHT!!!! – The now extremely altered
mob roars making the man's voice fade under it; they acclaim the man, acclaim
war, acclaim revenge, unleashing all the rage and fury they have inside.
Unstoppable fury. Unstoppable rage.
**********
The
transmission suddenly stopped, and Xu turned off the now grey screen. She
talked.
- We managed to intercept this
transmission, which was only for Esthar City; Galbadia knows nothing about
this, and we are lucky too know before it's too late. They did not detect our
signal until it was too late to prevent us from seeing it, it seems.
Everyone in the place (Rinoa, Nida
and Xu) looked to Quistis, expectantly.
-
This… this can't be happening… - The blonde woman whispered. Then she spoke a
little louder. – So that was their next step…
-
There is more, Quistis. – Xu handed a paper with the Estharian Seal on
it to her. – We've just received it… - The
Commander glanced briefly the document, in increasing disbelief and horror, as
Xu described expressionlessly its contents. – Esthar government makes us SeeD
direct responsible of the huge explosion that took place today at 2:52 in the
early morning, destroying an extremely vital research laboratory and an
important part of the eastern sector of the City with it, causing around four
hundred victims. They claim that "A group of SeeDs entered the laboratory,
killed all the staff, stole Top-Secret information, destroyed critical
confidential documents and very important equipment, planted a bomb and left
kidnapping Professor Odine, the most important scientific of all times". With
that, they officially declare us guilty of High Treachery, Premeditated
Assassination, Espionage, Terrorism, Unauthorized Infiltration and many other
things. Still, for all the services we have given to them, they would agree to an
economical repayment and the immediate devolution of Professor Odine, alive. If
this repayment is not fulfilled, they will declare open war against us, for
obvious reasons. The mentioned repayment ascends to around ten billion Gil, for
city restoration, family compensations, equipment restitution, and so. I must
note, however, that we don't have that exceptional sum, and it would take more
than twenty years to acquire such amount of money; and Odine… well, we know
it's impossible to restore him alive.
She
fell silent. Rinoa's sad voice echoed in the place, despite her words were
barely more than whisper.
-
They know that already, Xu…
-
We have exactly two hours to reply, Commander. – Xu stated, ending her report,
and waited expecting an answer.
- But that's not true, it was a
trap! – Quistis suddenly exploded. – Those… "Uktumis" planned everything! They
were those who killed the staff and… - She felt the Sorceress' hand on her
shoulder.
- Calm, Quistis. – She glanced to Xu
over the Commander's shoulder. – We will give you a reply soon. – her gaze
turned again to Quistis. - Can we discuss this in your office?
23. Need
Despite
her exterior coolness, Rinoa was extremely worried and frightened about what
was happening… she couldn't stop repeating to herself "We will go to war… We will go to war…" while she was standing in
the middle of the Commander's office, swinging form foot to foot, behind her
friend's desk. For once, in many many years, she found herself resource-less.
She could not think of a way to prevent this war; diplomacy was virtually dead,
paying to Esthar demands was impossible, and every single inhabitant of the
most powerful nation in the world was eager to engage them SeeDs and Galbadia.
With this estate of things, they would surely go to war; And thinking about
winning this war… was as improbable as peace. Such technology, such amount of
well-trained soldiers, such machinery and economical resources, and now such
insuperable morale… even the civilians would want to participate, adding even more
military power. They had possibilities, of course, very few but possibilities
at the bottom; but, even if they managed to win, or even survive, it would be
so devastating for both sides that it'd be a very poor victory. And behind
that, was these 'Uktumi'… what were they up to? The common things, she guessed…
become rulers of the world, enslave human race, etcetera. However, they were
the only ones who knew of their existence to the date. The black haired woman
observed the back of the Commander's chair, absently examining the 'Garden
Logo' engraved on it. Quistis had sat there and hadn't said nothing to the
moment, presumably lost in her thoughts. She patiently, nervously waited for
her to say something.
Quistis
watched the deep blue ocean trying in vain to order her thoughts, as her hand
caressed distractedly the ring in her pocket. There had happened too many
things, she had received too much information in a very short amount of time to
assimilate anything properly… the only thing that she knew for sure was that
everything seemed to be in her hands. Knowing this terrified her. It
terrified her in such an extreme way, she could not move, or even think. Being
responsible of the SeeDs was something she handled well; it was difficult, and
many times she had been frightened of what to do, but always came to a
solution. But this… She stayed there, looking blankly at the sea, until she
heard a voice behind her.
-
Quistis? – Rinoa couldn't hold it anymore. – What… what are we going to do now?
I'm clueless, what ca…
-
How an I supposed to know!? – Quistis' annoyed, desperate reply came from
behind the chair, interrupting the Sorceress as she turned to face her. She
stood up. – How am I supposed to know what to do with this mess? Should we
attack Esthar? Should we remain passive, or try to negotiate? Yesterday I was
going to an inauguration party, and today I'm trying to figure out what to do
with a world wide war, some supernatural monsters that want to destroy the
world, and…! – She noticed Rinoa's startled expression, and realised the
uselessness of her words. She let herself fall back to her chair, and sighed in
frustration. – please forgive me Rinoa but… - She looked to her face, in
distress. – this… this is too much…
The
woman approached her and put a friendly hand on her shoulder, while trying
(without much success) to smile reassuringly to her.
-
I know, Quistis, you don't have to apologize. We will find a solution, I'm
sure…
-
You are, Rinoa? Because I'm not. Every course of action I can think of leads to
a catastrophe… war against Esthar? Ha! – She exclaimed with bitterness. - I
doubt we can face them even allied with Galbadia, let alone fighting them by
ourselves. Negotiation? Impossible, you saw that transmission, and the
document…
-
Why don't just tell the truth? It's their word against our recording. – Rinoa
knew that this was impossible too, but just wanted to get Quistis out of her
hopelessness. She received the answer she expected.
-
You know the people of Esthar won't buy that. Come to think on it, their story
is much more convincing than ours! Besides, despite we can even prove our
version, they won't want to believe it. The want, they need revenge,
Rinoa. They must make someone pay for the death of their president, and for the
death of four hundred of them, not caring if they are punishing the wrong ones.
– she made a little pause, like thinking something over. - Rinoa, I feel… I
feel I'm not able to handle this. How can I bear such responsibility? – She
looked into her dark brown eyes, and finally brought it out. - How could Squall
handle it, Rinoa? How could Squall act with such coldness, such self control,
knowing that he had the destiny of existence in his hands? – The
Sorceress stared coldly into Quistis' azure eyes, her smile disappearing.
-
He did not save time alone, Quistis. Without us he would have never succeeded.
I think we did some things too, isn't it?
-
But under his orders, Rinoa. We followed his decisions, his commands. We
just followed orders, nothing more; it was he who had to decide what to
do.
-
Decide? He never decided anything! The situation always forced him to do the
things he did.
-
Even when he decided to leave everything behind and try to save you? –
Her words virtually slapped Rinoa in the face. She looked away, and permeated
her voice with a harsh cold tone, whispering her words.
-
Yes, and after that he decided to abandon me. He decided to make me suffer. He
decided to leave everything, caring for no-one but himself. – She stared in her
eyes. - What will you do, Commander?
-
I don't know! I don't know, Rinoa! – She almost shouted. She paused and forced
herself to calm, and spoke normally. - Let's try to rationalise this, if it's
possible. We must assume that war is unavoidable, and so is a provisional alliance
with Galbadia. Since they know nothing, we must prove them what we say is true,
which won't be difficult since we have that recording of Odine and Esthar
intercepted transmission. Also, we must have Timber, Dollet, Balamb, even
Winhill's help… that will be more difficult – Her voice sounded tired,
downhearted. – And what then?
-
Fight. Fight for our lives, as always.
-
But I fear this time we won't win, Rinoa. Just compare our Stalkers to their
Gryphons, or Galbadia's MCVs and Siege Tanks to their Destroyers, or their
Assault Ships*. Their soldiers and cyborgs are much more disciplined than
Galbadia's soldiers. And now, each of their soldiers, pilots and officers'
morale is insuperable, they will give to the last drop of their blood to kill
us… and just imagine the demoralization our troops, and Galbadian ones, will
have when they know the truth, the fact that the most powerful, populous nation
of the world will attack us with all it's might, apparently with righteous
reasons; the fact that most of them will die soon, the fact that not even their
leaders have much hope in winning.
-
SeeDs are the best warriors on the surface of Kholos; each one of them counts
as fifteen or twenty soldiers, or even more. – The Sorceress argued.
-
Yes, and that's why there are only two hundred ninety three SeeDs in total. You
know only seven cadets promote to SeeDs every year, on average.** – She smiled
sadly, bitterly, a blank look in her eyes for a brief instant. – I remember
only three cadets graduated the year I became a SeeD. It seems so distant now…
- She returned to present, sighing. – And Esthar counts with thousands, with millions
of soldiers, cyborgs, pilots, robots… for one SeeD, there is at least a
hundred of Estharian soldiers, or even more!
- What about the cadets? This is an
extreme situation, Quistis.
- The cadets… most of them are just
children. You agree with me that we would never send children to battle… they
fought eleven years ago because it was an invasion, they were forced to. So,
above fifteen years old we have around a thousand cadets, since at least four
hundred died… yesterday… - She still couldn't believe that almost a third part
of the SeeD institution had been utterly destroyed. All those years of
economical sacrifice, of hard work, of hopes and disappointments… all ruined in
a few seconds. Sorrow menaced to seize her mind again.
-
We will be able to resist, Quistis. – Rinoa's voice broke through her sadness,
trying desperately to give her some optimism not even she had. – Just have
hope, it's all I ask you. – It seemed like the roles had changed. While Quistis
was all 'seeing-the-horrible-truth', Rinoa was suppressing her objectivity and
coldness for the good of her friend… she really cared for her, and hated
to see her in such depressed state. However, she did not know, since she
refused to read her mind in this conversation, that the Commander had been
directing the thread on purpose to this 'morale problem', that was almost the
worse one they had.
-
Hope… "Hope, is a candle lit in the middle of the night, that guides us when
all is darkness. Don't let anyone extinguish your candle, my dear, and
everything will be okay…" – Quistis glanced with a sad half-smile to the
Sorceress' face, that was expecting her explanation about what she had just
said. – Edea told me that once, many years ago in the orphanage… It just… came
to my mind now… I remember it was a rainy day, and I was crying, alone in a
corner… I don't remember why I was crying, or why did she say that… but I
remember that, despite I didn't understand it then, it made me stop crying…
Matron Ede tapped my head softly, lovingly... – Her lost gaze turned to her
friend's eyes, going back to the present moment. – I've never let anyone or
anything blow my candle, Rinoa… until now. I… feel… my candle is almost dead
now, Rinoa, and if this situation has done this to me… just think
what will it do to our troops' spirit.
-
But… Quistis… - The Sorceress couldn't let it happen; despite her own hope had
died long time ago in the discussion, she could not accept defeat.- There must
be something… anything to do…
The
Commander had been expecting these words during the last twenty minutes, since
she caressed Griever, and she knew exactly what to say; she had thought
everything so she would not lose the verbal confrontation that was about to
take place inside her office. She took a moment to order her thoughts and
waited a little to pronounce the words she longed to say.
-
Maybe… there is something, Rinoa. I… I think I have something in mind…
End of chapter five.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
*Author's note:
Gryphon: Mid-air high-velocity close combat
ships, better than the Stalkers in weapons and shields, but a little slower.
They look like… well, I don't know how to describe them… they have three
cannons, one in each side and one more over them, looking kinda triangular if
you look from behind them; they also are equipped with four Air-Air missiles;
the pilots go in the centre of the ship, efficiently covered; it has two
reactors at the rear on each side of it to move.
MCV: Mechanical Combat Vehicle. Remember
Robocop 2 machine with the evil drug-addict inside? More or less… or Starcraft
Goliaths, they look alike too… well, they are operated mechwarriors, essentially
Destroyer: Heavy support cruiser, heavy troop
and small fighter transport and small repairing bay; all kind of close combat
lasers and turrets, heat-guided missiles, ground bombs, and many other
thingies… also has a small repairing bay specially designed for Gryphons, and
if they manage to get over the target ground, it can be used as a transport to
troops with personal reactors, or parachutes.
Assault Ship: The Estharian transport vessel,
with very strong shields and also equipped with three operated heavy
machine-gun turrets; it can transport up to 75 soldiers, cyborgs or minor
robots; it's mainly used for fast disembarks.
**other Author's note: In 25 years of existence
(more or less), seven SeeDs from Balamb's exam and seven from Galbadia's (Trabia
ones examined in Balamb) each year… counting with the reasonable casualties,
around three hundred are alive at that moment.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
