Chapter 20: Chaos Reigns

Abra looked out over the dark sea. The moon was already high in the sky, making the tips of the waves glassy and white. They splashed up against the side of the ship, sending a spray of glitter across the metallic hull of the craft. Their insignia had been stenciled on the side, and over the years, without any new coating of paint, it had begun to fleck off and lose its consistency. One of his hands strayed to his arm where the same symbol was tattooed onto his skin.

He was one of the few whose blood remained in this project. Time had worn their little group down, but it hadn't made them forget. Nothing could ever make them forget. His purpose was burned into his brain like his own name, as permanent as the tattoo.

He would never let the same thing happen to his children, or their children, than had happened to his grandparents. All the generations down from him were going to be protected now. And they could finally reclaim their homeland and rebuild.

A woman hurried past him with a stack of papers in her arms. Her honey brown hair flashed in the moonlight, betraying her heritage. It bothered him how many people were of mixed blood now. It was something they'd have to fix at some point. But nations couldn't be built out of a handful of people. Some mixing was going to be necessary — he had to keep reminding himself of that. Plus, he wasn't in charge, so things weren't bound to be going exactly as he would have liked.

The ship bobbed impatiently under his feet, ready to leave.

More than anything, the SeeDs bothered him. Had he been allowed to take care of them in the first place, when he'd found them alone and injured in the jungle, they wouldn't be in the position they were in now. He understood that they needed to keep a low profile, that SeeDs going missing on their island wasn't the sort of publicity their project could withstand (not yet, anyway). But now they didn't know whether the three were alive or dead and couldn't be certain enough of their security to stay where they were and finish up their research.

He thought he knew why the SeeDs had come. Sascha Maurden.

Abra had been the one to recruit Maurden in the first place. The boy had a look about him, the sort of face that made Abra think they might share blood somewhere a few generations back. He'd known at the time the kid's mother was going to be a problem; she was a loose end they should have taken care of rather than rushing off to the island instead. Maurden had been alive with the thrill of the project and had been certain that his mother would let him go. But she hadn't.

And in the end, Maurden had turned against them anyway. He'd lost his nerve, and Abra had him killed.

It was hard to feel now like the whole thing hadn't been a massive mistake. But he didn't want to be the one to undo their years of work, so he tried not to think about Sascha or the past that could implicate him in the problems of the present. He rather liked to blame that on someone else.

"Abra." His superior, Aurelia, walked up beside him, her eyes sharply rimmed with eyeliner.

"Yes?" He hated being subservient. But this was hardly the time to get into the issue of leadership with her.

"I want you to release the shadow cats," she said.

"Which one?" he asked.

"Lucy. And any of the others you can handle as well."

Abra nodded. Lucy had always been his favorite; he'd raised her from a hatchling.

"And I'd like you to get the children as well," she continued, crossing her arms. "Put them on my ship. Don't let anyone see you. And get the hell out of here. Don't wait for me or anyone else."

Abra nodded again.

People were rushing by him now, their footsteps like drums against the ship's deck. It rang in Abra's ears, blocking out other sounds and keeping him on edge. He'd gotten used to living in the quiet jungle after all these years. And leaving had him on edge.

"Where do you want me to take them?" he asked.

"Home," she replied. "Hopefully, I'll see you there."

With that, he left, fading into the shadows at the jungle's edge. The forest breathed and squirmed around him — a living, slithering entity. The heavy night was filled with unease among the brush. The birds and the bugs and the lizards were all still awake, all still stirring. It was a little disconcerting, he thought.

A moment later, his suspicions were confirmed.

The night behind him erupted, shattering and tumbling with the constant rattle of what could only be gunfire, bullets snapping against metal and ripping into flesh.

So the SeeDs were alive after all. Damn.

He picked up his pace, his determination lifted further. They'd survived worse than this, he thought. And Lucy was only a few minutes away.

0 0 0

Kelly stood braced against the railing around the top hatch of the vessel, her back hammering into the railing every time the automatic machine gun belched out a bullet. Through the flashes of light, she could see the fire ripping into the side of the enemy ships. Their hulls were scarred and bleeding under her onslaught.

The gun pumped out more bullets, the volleys falling like a tidal wave over the vessels and filling her with an unaccustomed sense of power. She was heady with it, her blood running hot with each shot. A flush filled her cheeks.

Finally, the gun clicked instead of fired, her current available ammunition spent.

The silence that fell was a muted roar. The voices of the islanders were echoing over the water, orders being called in amongst the chaos that was keeping a firm foothold. In the other direction, Carson's voice was screaming over the communication system.

"What's going on?" he demanded. "Kelly! Is that you shooting, or them?"

Kelly stumbled down into the vessel's cabin, her back bruised and her heart only nearly beginning to slow. She needed to change positions now that she'd given herself away, so she tapped the green buttons on the navigation panel first and started up the ship's engines.

"Kelly?" It was Adrian's voice coming over the com now. "Are you okay?"

He sounded scared.

The ship lurched into movement, the force sending her momentarily reeling.

Once she regained her equilibrium, she opened a channel. "Adrian. I'm fine."

"What happened?" he asked.

"I had to delay them," she replied. She'd been watching the islanders prepare to leave since she first spotted them. People had been running around like ants, stuffing the holds of their vessels with everything that they could carry. She knew that everyone else wouldn't arrive in time to stop them from escaping unless she stepped in.

"Good. Keep an eye on them. But don't get too close. They might be armed."

"Okay."

"Be careful."

She smiled a little at the concern in his voice. "I will."

0 0 0

Quistis and Seifer dived through the dark hallways which yawned before them. Every step pumped more blood through Seifer's body, making him dizzy and throwing the world out of focus. Still, with as much as his adrenaline was making the building tilt and swerve around him, his thoughts were clear and damning.

It was obvious: the compound was nearly abandoned. He and Quistis had barely seen anyone, but it hadn't occurred to him that the islanders might actually be leaving the island completely. He should have figured it out. Of course they would move now that SeeDs had stumbled upon their secret.

He cursed himself, cursed his teammates.

They were the best damn soldiers in the world, and they'd been beaten by a bunch of jungle dwelling hippie scientists. What if they got down to the coast and found everyone already gone? There'd be nothing left behind then but the mangled body of Sascha Maurden and a bunch of mostly empty buildings. And Quistis's mission would be a failure. He didn't want that to happen — not for her, and not for himself.

She was a little out of breath when they finally approached the front door. It was hanging open, the night creeping in with all of its dangers. Carson and Adrian were already gone, on their way to intercept the islanders. Seifer and Quistis darted out into the dark after their comrades and it fell across them like a quilt. Disoriented and momentarily blind, they grasped each others hands and ran toward the trees. All was sound and touch: her fingers twined through his, their labored breathing, and their footsteps. Bahamut stirred to life in Seifer's head, sharpening his senses.

Shots exploded nearby, punishingly loud to his over-sensitive ears.

It was chaos. Then, as suddenly as it started, the shooting stopped.

Quistis's communication badge shuddered with sudden traffic.

"What's going on?" Carson demanded. "Kelly! Is that you shooting, or them?"

He paused and Seifer and Quistis continued to run.

Adrian came on next, his voice full of panic and worry. When Kelly finally responded, her words passed through and around Seifer; he didn't pick substance out of any of them. All he had room to process was that she was alive and safe.

Which was more than he could say for himself when a moment later a roar grumbled through the trees behind them.

Quistis swore, gripped his hand so hard it was painful, and they ran as fast as their feet could carry them, hoping the shadow cat hadn't noticed them yet. It gave Seifer a horrible shiver of deja vu. Running like this, covered in sweat, from the sound of this monster was going to haunt him from years, he thought…if he lived.

They burst out of the forest together into a meadow near the coast and almost plowed into the two people waiting there.

"Carson! Adrian!" Quistis shot past them, dragging Seifer along behind her. "Run!"

They didn't immediately respond, staring instead at the couple sprinting away from them. And Quistis skidded to a stop, turning around to yell at them again. The shadow cat tore through the trees then, breaking off branches in a shower of leaves and sticks. It was right above them, illuminated by the full moon, blood and terror made flesh.

Carson lifted one hand in the air and with a futile kind of fury summoned his guardian force. Leviathan rose up out of the earth, its dragon face not so different from that of the hostile shadow cat.

Leviathan hissed, his forked tongue sticking out of his mouth, and then his tightly corded body curved into a s-shape that exploded into a torrent of water.

Like a waterfall, it gushed white and frothy over the shadow cat, and the monster leapt and screamed in the tide, its eyes rolling back wildly in its head. Terrified, but seemingly unharmed, it turned and fled, its screams filling the night and forcing birds from their perches. The sound made the hair on the back of Seifer's neck stand up. And as Leviathan slithered back into the confines of Carson Brecht's mild and undeserving brain, he felt a short thrill.

Water.

Hyne — that was it. It hadn't followed them into the water. And Sascha Maurden's body had been pulled from the sea. It was a simple method of control, one that average people like these without the benefit of elemental magic would be able to employ. It was what they needed to control these things, and he had Brecht to thank for discovering it.

"Oh my God." Carson fell to his knees. "Was that a…? Holy Hyne."

Quistis looked at Adrian, then at Seifer, her mouth hanging open. "Did you see how it reacted?" she asked.

"Yeah. Damn thing didn't even look hurt…just tore out of here," Adrian replied.

Carson was gasping, his forehead touching the ground now. He looked like he was hyperventilating, but Quistis ignored him. "Kelly," she said quickly into her com-badge. "We've found a way to deal with the shadow cat. I need you to look in the supplies and find anything you can that has water magic. We're going to need as much as possible. And if you can, waylay the islanders a bit. We need to keep these people from leaving before we get to them."

Seifer grinned; Quistis was taking charge again.

This was the Quistis he loved.

"Way ahead of you," Kelly replied. "They're scrambling, but I'd say you've got a good twenty minutes before they're going to depart. Where do you want me to meet you at?"

"Same place you dropped us off at," Quistis answered. "We're going to stock up. Then I want you to drop us off as close as you can to the islanders. We're going to take the offensive here. We can't let them get away with this kind of technology."

"All right. I'll get everything together and I'll be there in five minutes."

"Thanks." Quistis smiled and looked down at Carson who had finally pulled himself together. "Come on. We're going to need you," she said, her voice and her expression full of authority.

Seifer and Adrian shared a look, pride evident in both of them.

0 0 0

Aurelia looked over her ships. Their sides had been carved open and their guts were spilling out into the sea. She could still hear the rattle of gunfire in her head.

This isn't happening, she thought and closed her eyes. Please, Hyne, this isn't happening.

She opened them again but nothing had changed. She shuddered with a mix of anger and fear. This was all her fault. Everything they had been working for, her parents and her grandparents, and now under her leadership everything they had done was crumbling. Years of hopes were being crushed. Generations were turning in their graves.

By God, if these people wanted a fight, she was going to give them one.

Her black hair swept around her, hovering like an angry storm cloud growing around her thoughts. If she was successful right now, at this final stage of the project, her name would be spoken for eternity among her people. Aurelia would be synonymous with salvation. She could even become a religious figure: a protector, an avenger, a goddess. This handful of SeeDs weren't going to stop that, she decided.

Casting her eyes to the trees, she wondered if Abra had released the rest of the shadow cats yet. Soon the creatures would be sweeping across the island like a scythe.

It was close enough to the way they'd been banished and humiliated generations ago to seem karmic. Soon, the world would remember their names, and if they didn't speak them with reverence the way they once had, then at least this time they might speak them with fear. One way or another, the entire world was going to face them soon. And not even Esthar, with all of it's technology, would be able to hurt them again.