Total Eclipse of the Heart: Part 7 - Beyond this Fragile Planet - History can repeat itself in the strangest ways.
By
Deborah (Kosagi) Brown

Skies of Arcadia and all associated characters are copyrighted to Overworks and Dreamcast. They just hang around my Gallery to cause trouble.

I listen to Fina's 'mother' only partially, having already learned these facts when I'd found her Crystal. The black loopers had no need, nor wish, to live in the upper skies. Only in the Dark Rift, which carries Deep Sky upwards, do the Elcian occasionally rise up. Their intelligence is more than animal, but they – like all loopers – are shy creatures that prefer to avoid confrontation.

If the Elder's speculation is correct, somehow Galcian came in contact with a black looper and found a way to harness its power. Even those loopers that inhabit Middle Sky are powerful creatures. An Elcian would almost certainly be more. Galcian's very name suggests an amalgam, though it would be senseless to assume anything further without more facts.

"We had a station watching the Dark Rift," she says through my voice. "Perhaps you could learn more there. And I believe you may find my 'daughter' there. From what I am told Galcian said, it is the most likely place."

I know what station she means. Originally used just to observe all Arcadia, including the Rift, it had been turned to storage for the life bank, containing the crystals that make up our people's lives, all held in stasis until such time as the Silvite race would be ready to return to Arcadia. There is something else there, too. Something that I don't think Galcian knew about. Or he would never have put Fina anywhere near them.

"Where is this station? Can we reach it with Fina's ship?" Vyse asks.

"The station is on the Silver Moon. And no. The only way to reach it is through a teleport device within this shrine."

I interject, "I know where it is. We'd better hurry."

"One last request," the Elder says. "Smash my Crystal."

***

Vyse took a deep breath, staring into Ramirez' eyes and seeing pleading in the Elder's expression on the young Silvite's face. At last he nodded and Ramirez set the crystal down. Drawing his sword, Vyse used the hilt, shattering the brilliantly shining object into tiny shards.

"The last Elder," Ramirez said. "It's better so. She was slowly going mad. I barely managed to get her attention." He was carefully picking up the shards, dropping them into a pouch that already contained other such shards. At Ilchymis' curious look, the Silvite gave the healer a wry smile. "The other Elders – or what remains of them."

Standing up, Vyse looked at the other two. "Okay. Let's go."

Rather to Vyse's surprise, Ramirez didn't move immediately. "Vyse there are those gigas out there."

"All the more reason to hurry, get Fina and get back," Vyse answered, a bit impatiently. He was worried, not just for Fina, who was surely terrified out of her mind, all alone up there, but for Aika, who might – any moment – run into the gigas.

Ramirez stood and gazed directly into Vyse's eyes. "You go back to the Far Horizon. You and Ilchymis. I'll get Fina."

"What?" the two men demanded, voices shocked.

"This has been a trap all along. A trap for the Far Horizon, which must pose a threat to Galcian for some reason. He expected Enrique to give it to you, but he must not have realized it could descend to Deep Sky outside of the Vortex. More, it's a trap for you, who have always been able to stop him. You cannot walk further into it." Ramirez kept his gaze firmly on Vyse, as if he feared to look at Ilchymis.

"So you take the bait? If you're right, you'll be trapped, if not killed outright. There will be no way to get out."

"The Elder underestimated your engineers. If Brabham cannot find a way to alter Fina's ship's engines to reach the Silver Moon then he's not the engineer we thought he was. If he has Centime and Han's help he will certainly succeed. In the meantime, I will take the bait, be trapped up there with her and protect her from whatever dangers there might be."

"We will," Ilchymis said firmly. "Vyse, you don't need me for dealing with gigas."

***

As Ramirez turned a startled gaze on him, Ilchymis looked back firmly. "You're healthy," he told the Silvite. "But Fina may not be. She may need my help. Besides, I" he faltered, not wanting to admit that he was unprepared to leave his friend, even if he wasn't needed anymore.

The emerald eyes gazed at him for a long moment and Ramirez' expression was a bewildered mix of longing and disbelief. "Is there no way to change your mind?" he asked softly, plaintively. "I don't want to take you into more danger." It was an admission the Silvite would never have made before and it made Ilchymis feel better somehow. As if he were still needed.

"No," Ilchymis answered at last. "You can't change my mind." He looked at Vyse, who did not look at all happy. "You go, Vyse. We'll take care of Fina until you can reach us."

Vyse shook his head. "You two are both crazy."

"Hmph. As if you aren't, rushing into disasters that you barely squeak out of?" Ramirez asked, his wry smile taking the sting out of the accusation. "Vyse the Trouble Magnet."

With a laugh, Vyse nodded. "Right. I'm out of here then. Good luck." He turned and ran.

Once the Blue Rogue was gone, Ilchymis turned to look at Ramirez. "Let's go."

***

I run through the hallways, closely followed by Ilchymis. A part of me wishes I had the strength to demand he go with Vyse. That part of me isn't winning though. My body is stronger, my will returned to me by virtue of all the chams I have swallowed, but in one thing I am still weak. I want him there. I want his support.

I wonder, does he understand that need? Is that why he is with me? I would like to hope that it isn't, that he comes because he is concerned for me, not simply because he thinks me too weak to stand alone. It is not, I think, just pride that says that. It is the hope that there might be something more.

Yet I am still broken. My crimes still weigh on me, though I can bear them more, now that I am physically stronger. An ability to bear them, however, is not the same as being able to accept them. If anything, my new strength only drives me harder. I have much to pay for. I only hope Fina does not have to pay as well.

***

Vyse ran through the door onto the bridge. Momentarily out of breath, it took him a moment before he could take the wheel from Aika and several more before he could speak. "We have to get out of here. Contact the Delphinus and prepare for battle."

"What is it? Where are the others, what about Fina?" Aika demanded, worriedly, rushing over to her station.

"Ramirez and Ilchymis have gone to find her. I came back because Galcian has brought back the gigas."

As everyone on the bridge stared at him, Vyse glared. "Come on, people. It's not like we haven't had to deal with stuff like this before. Let's get a move on!"

***

Ilchymis followed Ramirez, recognizing that the Silvite was too driven by his worry to discuss matters. There wasn't much to discuss, anyway. The teleport device was either trapped in such a way to kill or entrap them up at the Silver Moon station with Fina. He doubted any other possibility.

"Here," Ramirez said, tensely, pushing open a door and pausing in front of a circle inset in the floor. "This is it." He looked at Ilchymis, smiled sadly. "I want to make you stay. I want to knock you out and leave you here. I can't."

"Then don't. I'm here for both of you." Ilchymis caught his breath at the look in those emerald eyes. Achingly sad, filled with self-loathing and yet, at the same time, a determination to rise past it all. "I am not following you because you're too weak," he added softly. "If anything, I'm the weak one, now. I can't seem to let go."

The smile brightened slightly. "Neither can I," Ramirez replied. "But I won't accept what I haven't earned. So, let's see if I can." He walked forward onto the circle with Ilchymis close behind.

The two faded into nothingness.

***

I stare around the room, feeling Ilchymis close behind me and both glad of his support and sorry that I can't seem to stop needing it. He wants to be there, though, and I think I understand why. Maybe someday I will find a way to make myself worthy of that concern. I fully intend to, somehow

I look at the circle we stand on and recognize that it is dead. So, a trap indeed, and not one that leads to instant death. Galcian must have wanted Vyse to suffer. There is sustenance here. Enough for months. There is no escape, or so he must have thought. "Let's find her," I tell Ilchymis and he nods.

Walking forward, I pass through the doorway into a hallway. To either side are long windows looking out on a pale landscape. The Silver Moon. Its surface gleams with the power it contains and glitter as well with silver creatures. Ilchymis exclaims, staring as one of Cupil's kind comes wandering close and stares in at us.

"This is where they come from," I tell him. "My ancestors discovered them when they reached this moon, long before the first Rains."

"There's so many of them!"

"Yes," I agree. "There's not nearly enough power on Arcadia for them to multiply. But here there is no limit to what their numbers." I go silent as we open the door at the end of the hall and step into a large room. I have to fight Cupil's hunger again, for this room contains the life banks and these crystals are a draw greater than any cham or memory crystal.

I am distracted from my hunger, however, by the sight of a figure standing in the middle of the room. She stares at me with wild and frightened eyes. "Fina!"

Her scream echoing through the room rips a new hole in my heart.

***

"Gigas? Vyse please tell me you're joking."

"I wish I was, Enrique. I wish I was. You had a close call. They were all waiting for you at the bottom of the Vortex." Vyse looked over the railing at his friend as Enrique stood on the deck of the Delphinus, seeing the worry in the young Emperor's eyes. "It's only a matter of time before Galcian calls them out. He thought we'd come in the Far Horizon and – for some reason – he must have wanted it destroyed. Now that he's failed, he'll surely be sending them after us."

Enrique's expression went sour. "And I was so sure we'd kept it secret." He shook his head. "I should have known it would be impossible. All right. Do you think the gigas can get out from anywhere? Or just from the Vortex."

"The fact that he thought we'd go in that way makes me think not. So let's wait for them to come up and blast them when they come." Vyse frowned. "Can you send a message to everyone? Warn them that trouble's on its way? If we fail, then we're going to need help."

Enrique nodded. "I'll send some life ships out to get word to your father and ask him to pass the message."

"Good." Vyse glanced downwards, towards the Vortex, though he couldn't see it for the clouds. "Then the only thing we can do is wait."

***

Ilchymis started towards the frightened Silvite, who was staring at Ramirez with huge and terrified eyes, still screaming. "No PLEASE NO Ramirez PLEASE!"

Realizing that she had no idea what had happened, no idea that this wasn't just a new torture Galcian had sent her, Ilchymis spoke her name softly. She ignored him, too terrified to even realize he was there.

It was Ramirez, walking forward and holding out his sword, hilt first to her, that made her stop screaming. "Fina. Sister. Please. It is not what you think." The Silvite's voice broke midway. "I am sorry. Please I don't ask your forgiveness. But please you must trust me. I am not with Galcian."

Fina stared at her kinsman, watched him kneel before her, still holding out the sword for her to take and Ilchymis wondered if he expected her to use it on him. Her hand reached out, touched the hilt slowly and wonderingly. "Ramirez? Is it really you?"

"Indeed." Ramirez' wry tone bit at Ilchymis' heart. This must hurt him worse than anything else, Fina's certainty of his enmity. "A much chastened and very foolish Ramirez, my sister."

"But how"

"We don't have time to discuss it. Do you know if the station's equipment is still working? Arcadia is in danger and we have to find out why."

Fina swallowed. "I already know why. Galcian Galcian is calling up a Black gigas."

***

I stare at her in shock. A Black gigas? She leads us to a monitor that shows the interior of the Dark Rift. Within something huge is moving. Something shaped like a looper, but larger than any looper I've ever seen. It is black, with a strange patterning that confuses me until she increases the image more closely. It is not one large creature, but thousands. Hundreds of thousands. All gathering together into one massive colony.

"This scanner shows the center of the Rift, where a huge black moonstone used to be. They started gathering around the thing – and Galcian – just hours ago." Fina gives me a wry smile. "I was watching because I'd gotten bored. Now I wish I hadn't. There's nothing on Arcadia able to take something like that on."

I close my eyes. This truly is more than I ever expected. I was certain Vyse could handle the gigas. He had before, after all. Even five at once would be difficult but not impossible with both the Far Horizon and the Delphinus. But this really is too much.

"What can we do?" Ilchymis asks and I look at him. Even now he's prepared to try? I remember what I thought before, that the greatest fault of my race is our willingness to give up hope. I realize what I have to do.

Striding over to a doorway, I look at Fina and Ilchymis. "The only thing we can do. We fight."

"How?" Fina asks. "From here? There are no weapons. I've looked."

Her words remind me. "Ilchymis? Give her" I realize we hadn't named the silver creature that I'd budded off earlier. I gesture at what he holds in his hands. "Give it to her. Fina Cupil's gone. Ilchymis will explain later, but this is his replacement."

She looks at the creature. "Cupil gone?" Her voice is so sad and lonely and I feel the Cupil side of me longing to rub up against her, to soothe her loneliness. Her new pet responds to her for me, nuzzling up to her and nibbling lightly at her hair, eliciting a small sad smile. "But how?"

"Later, Fina. We don't have time." I punch the code that allows me to enter the room beyond. Beyond is another doorway. "Fina Ilchymis... forgive me."

***

Ilchymis started forward as Ramirez closed the door behind him. "Forgive Forgive what?" He rushed to the door, then to the window beside it, realizing that the door led outside, onto the Silver Moon's surface. "Ramirez"

Fina's eyes widened. "He'll die out there" She rushed over to the window as well, as Ramirez stepped out of the airlock. His hair was whipped around by the power that surrounded him, his body shuddering. "What" She hit a button beside the window. A speaker. "Ramirez, come back!"

Ilchymis realized that Ramirez' dual nature was allowing him to survive unprotected on the moon's surface. What he couldn't understand was what the Silvite was doing. "Ramirez?"

"I'm sorry. I can't see any other way. If I'm wrong Forgive me." Ramirez stretched out his arms, even as a silver creature headed his way.

Suddenly Ilchymis, remembering the creature they'd fought on the way in to Soltis, remembering what Ramirez had done when Vyse and the others had first defeated him, knew what the Silvite planned. "Ramirez You can't Don't sacrifice yourself"

"Not a sacrifice," Ramirez answered, looking up at the creature that came towards him. "Not this time. This time I intend to win." He turned a wry smile on the pair staring at him through the window. "Or at least I hope I will."

Lifting his arms up, he said softly, "Take me."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes:

Desert Lynx: What's next? Desert Fox? Peach (g,d,r) Thanks for the review.

Isis2K: Hmmm. I don't think he's going to be casting Silver Eclipse in his current state, but I agree with you that it's one of the coolest Moves in the game. At least I have one in at the beginning. (Ramirez: Yes, and I'd like to discuss my state of dress, or lack thereof, with you. Kosagi: Hmmm. Maybe I should draw it. Ramirez: (sweatdrop) Uhm Maybe discretion is the better part of valor.) As for the end We'll see.

Son of Santa: Heh I think you and I may be the first two to admit to finding a link between Galcian and the Elcian. Don't let my ideas stop you from using it in whatever way you see fit, though. I'm sure you've got a neat and creative concept for it. The Seventh Moon bit was based on the fact that there isn't a part of Arcadia without one of the moons over it, so if there was a 7th moon, it had to be pretty well hidden.

It's looking like "Total Eclipse" will be about ten chapters long in the end.