Star Ocean: The Second Story

The Unknown Threat

By CodenniumRed

Disclaimer: Star Ocean and Star Ocean Ex are the property of their respective companies. The fanfiction I write in no way reflects any desire for profit on my behalf.

Chapter 3: Imprisonment:

A low rumbling. Static containment. Shrieks of the damned. This situation was unreal, Ashton thought. What was this place? The blur clearing from Ashton's vision, he was finally able to see that he was in a chamber of sorts, hollowed out from the depths of the planet. Perhaps a catacomb? But how had he gotten here?

Then he remembered - remembered how the knaves had surrounded him, how they hurt Rena and himself with their super-heated plate bodies. Yes, Ashton remembered how he blacked out at their captor's mercy. But why did they choose to show mercy? Before pondering that thought, though, Ashton remembered something more….

"Rena!?" Ashton looked around, but she was nowhere in sight; nowhere to be found. He tried to move, but every part of his body, save his neck, was bound tight to some sort of rack. However, Ashton was upright.

"Gyoro? Ururun?" No answer.

The pain, Ashton now realized, was unbearable. Perhaps, for now, it would be best to lie still.

His thoughts, though, were interrupted by a heavy cranking of chains. Very loud those chains were, almost deafening. Red light poured forth into the room, enshrouding everything under its ghastly glow. Emerging from this light were three figures, misshapen shadows contrasting an effulgent backdrop.

Closer still the figures approached. The devils Ashton had been battling before, no doubt. Through their helmets, Ashton could see their teeth bore into a permanent snarl, signifying unparalleled rage. Their mere proximity scolded Ashton's skin ever so lightly - they drew power from this place, no doubt. What sort of power was it, though? And what more could they possibly want?

The figure on the left spoke first. "You know too much. Your punishment will be legendary."

The middle figure bellowed, low and close… close enough so its breath almost made Ashton sick.

"Are they planning on interrogating me?" Ashton worried. "I'm sorry Rena… I have failed you."

With that… Ashton braced himself….

********

"Help me…."

Rena found herself bound to the floor, large ceiling looming overhead. Tears rolled down her cheeks as best they could at such an angle. She was crying.

"Ashton," her voice trembled. She just wanted to see him.

Noise was stirring all around her. Those things Ashton and she had been fighting were all over the place. Performing tasks of sorts… but what? Their function, Rena noticed wasn't much different from worker bees in a hive.

Although Rena herself physically been left relatively unscathed, she was in tatters emotionally. Her heart felt to be in a place far removed from where she now was. How could it not be, when she didn't even know where this was? It seemed like she would never be able to see anyone she knew again.

"Why bother healing myself?" Rena then concluded. "I'll only delay the inevitable. It's hopeless."

One of those Marauders then approached Rena. It was the first time she really got to view its face close-up; mangled and deformed its features were, all the while a red light emanating from bodily cracks and faults strewn across the surface of its rotten skin.

It sniffed her out, obviously searching for something. The search must have been for naught, though, for the manifestation slowly crept away from Rena - but not without dripping some of its wet, steaming saliva upon Rena's stomach.

The burn was too much. Reflexively, Rena began to mutter words under her breath. Briefly, she was enveloped in a greenish glow; the pain was gone in an instant, as were all previous scars and bruises.

"Powers of healing…." observed the Marauder, who had apparently witnessed the miracle. "So it is true after all…."

Almost as if the foul beings were telepathically connected, an organized bunch swarmed around the baffled Rena, unbinding her from her floor-mounted prison. Where were they taking her now? Scared she was, but Rena could not help but feeling the slightest tinge of hope, somehow. Anything was better than being left on the ground to rot. Or so she thought….

********

Everything was a blur as these foul creatures escorted Rena to some unknown location. Was it minutes, perhaps hours, of traversing through endless carved-out crypt? All sense of time to Rena was lost, until the pillagers finally released her from their grip, dropping her to the ground.

She looked up to see herself in a large antechamber, supporting pillars casting Hellish shadows away from some unknown light source. Rough hewn wood and dank air filled the room with an almost unbearable stench; Rena was still dazed by her long trek to this place, and these conditions weren't helping any.

Then an eerie wind, a chilling breeze. The ground seemed to bellow a sort of warning; Rena had a feeling that something would happen.

Large, heavy doors ahead of her opened. It was strange she hadn't noticed them before - or was it, considering her condition? In any case, they were blatantly obvious now; red light seeped into the room like a tainted waterfall - perhaps this was the source of those shadows she barely noted.

But fear paralyzed Rena as her eyes lie upon the figure emerging from the doorway. An enormous, misshapen beast it was, complete with serrated fangs and razor sharp claws jutting out from its devilish frame. The demon loomed closer to Rena still, its actual body a sort of shadowy figure upon itself.

Rena tried backing away, but fear dulled her regression, as the monster caught up to her effortlessly. It placed one giant claw around the contours of her head, claws digging into her scull. The pain was unbearable; Rena felt as if she was being drained. But what was she being drained of?

"You have served us well," Rena managed to hear a voice say. But this voice had no source… was it her imagination? Then she heard it again. "With your powers, the crest will now be unstoppable…."

Rena couldn't even scream as she lost consciousness.

********

Time passed. Everything was once again a blur? Was she dreaming? Rena could only wonder this as she ran through hallway after hallway, corridor after corridor.

Blistering hot walls, murky floors, endless torment… was this Hell? What about that demon? How did she get to where she was now? No sense of depth, if this place was even beneath the ground… or on Expel for that matter.

Rena's head pounded, but she was able to function - at least, by survival's standards. Why wasn't she dead? Under her breath, Rena attempted to prepare a healing spell….

No effect.

"I'm going to die here," Rena thought, between tears of fear and sadness. Perhaps she was already dead? Could being in this place possibly be a sort of punishment? But for what?

"For failing…." Rena softly concluded. Failing everything, that was… failing herself, failing the world… failing the one she now realized that she loved the most….

Amidst her sadness, Rena stopped dead in her tracks. Her sight was going, emotional and physical pain unbearable. Unable to think straight, Rena simply headed towards the unknown....

********

Ashton awoke with a startle. The door - it was opening. His ears now bled from the deafening sound the mechanism produced, a sound now muffled by the flow of Ashton's own blood.

A lone figure stumbled into the pit of a room. Clumsily, it barely made it's way towards Ashton; it didn't seem to know what it was doing. Closer Ashton managed to gaze upon it, until he saw that it was none other than-

"Rena?" Ashton wondered. He was too weak to show how happy he felt. Rena was alive and well.

But she didn't seem to hear his low call. Maybe she wasn't all that well? She continued closer to Ashton, though, eyes barely open he could now tell.

Finally she looked up, with a gasp. Was it really him? As her senses returned, so did hope. Quickly, Rena attempted to free Ashton from his vertical bind. He fell into her lap.

"Ashton," Rena continued, "I'll never leave you again…."

"Rena," Ashton responded. "I love you."

Rena attempted to heal her friend - but, not surprisingly, there was no effect.

Ashton, though, didn't seem to understand. "What's wrong? What happened to your powers?"

"They're… obsolete," Rena admitted, softly. She leaned closer to Ashton's face. "They were drained… I think. A large demon… oh, it was horrible!"

The two managed to hug each other briefly… both were still weak. Then Ashton came to a realization.

"Drained you say? That dream I had… remember this morning, Rena, when I told you about that dream? A large monster used his claw to drain me in my dream as well…."

"You dreamt of the future," Rena concluded. "Through me."

********

Time passed. "How did you escape?" Ashton finally wondered. In his dream, he was saved by reality, but in this world, where they were now was their reality.

"I don't know," Rena sorrowfully admitted. "First I was bound to the floor in some other chamber; I healed myself using my powers, for the last time. Those marauders… they must have took notice; they escorted me to that room with the demon. I blacked out at the end… then I found myself wandering this place… left to die… and then I stumbled in here…."

Rena began to have trouble speaking clearly, coherency fading. She was traumatized. Ashton couldn't bear to see her like this. Despite the pain that shot up his arm, he managed to place a single finger upon her lips.

"We'll make it through this," Ashton comforted. He looked into her eyes, she looked into his. She was still crying.

"Rena…." Ashton began. But he knew what to do now.

The two leaned in even closer to each other. Their lips met. They buried themselves in each other's arms. It seemed that they were in complete privacy….

"Privacy?" Ashton wondered, breaking the embrace between Rena and he. He had completely forgotten about his two dragon companions. "Gyoro? Ururun?"

No answer… again. Something was dead wrong.

"Ashton," Rena began, finally becoming aware of the problem as well. "Gyoro and Ururun are… are…."

"What is it Rena?" Ashton asked kindly, though with a hint of sadness in his voice. He hoped that she wouldn't say what he thought that he would.

"They're gone," Rena finally spoke. She then looked directly at his back. His robes were intact, save the shreds from the apparent torture he underwent before her arrival here.

Tears rolled down Ashton's eyes, as well as Rena's. Next to her, Gyoro and Ururun were his soul mates. He felt that a part of himself has been pulled apart. And this was true from a literal standpoint as much as it was figuratively.

After some time, the two pulled themselves together once more. "We've got to get out of here!" Ashton realized. Rena, with dried up tears still upon her face, whimpered in agreement.

She helped Ashton up on her feet. They certainly couldn't stay here any longer. But what would they face within those Hellish halls? Neither knew why they had been spared, if their condition could be called that. After all, they didn't even know their way out.

But all the while, neither would give up hope. For all they knew, the fate of the world once again was in their hands.

"Let's go," Rena finally spoke, escorting Ashton out.

The two left the room as mysteriously as they had entered.