Chapter Seven: Soulless Eyes
Edwin Darwell, now under the assumed name of Graon Rowan, glanced at his watch as he alighted the train, stepping onto the Deling City platform. He noted that it would be the SeeD practical exam today, and silently he wished his protégé good luck. He paused to glance inconspicuously at his reflection in the glass front of the ticket counter and a stranger looked back. Ed was a master of acting and disguise, and he prided himself on doing all his makeup jobs. He could be an old, rasping woman one day or a tall, stern doctor the next.
His previously straw blond hair had been given an expert dye job, and now it was jet black. A beard had been allowed to grow, making his face look drastically different. Makeup had lightened his tan to a paler, more sickly pallor, to give the impression that he spent more time studying in the indoors than going outside into the sun. Dr. Kadowadi and Tre Tazakin had helped, implanting a device into his voice box so that his voice was deeper and totally unrecognizable. Ed was confident that these changes would alter his appearance too much for his enemies to recognize him. He put on a serious, solemn expression, settling comfortably into the role of the disgruntled Galbadian scientist he had chosen to play. He had actually attended university when he wasn't running about planting bombs and assassinating someone, and he'd majored in science, biology especially. Many a time he'd worked undercover as a learned professor and brought powerful syndicates to its knees.
He smiled inwardly to himself. Judging from his briefing from Tre early this morning, he would enjoy this assignment better than any other. What they were doing was an outrage, a perversion of nature. He would be glad to be part of its downfall.
He unhurriedly walked down the streets, his one bag swinging merrily in his hand. Through Tre's expert hacking skills, he was now registered in the hotel records as having reserved a room and wouldn't have to wait. After another hour of shameless 'perpetration', Tre had Graon Rowan in the citizens' list of records, put him in the Deling University, had him graduate one year before the Sorceress War(the second), noted him as being fanatically loyal to Sorceress Edea/Ultimecia and Vinzer Deling, and added that he had unemployed after Ultimecia's downfall, wandering around doing odd jobs and seeking another chance to help bring his city back to power. Through Seifer's information, they found that the Galbadian commander back then, Rabe Dorgain, now the General and Jacob Caraway's successor, had been buried up to his neck in half the plots in Deling City, including the overseeing the building of an underground lab beneath the city. Cid suspected that had been what the technician, fooling around on the sensors, had found. Seifer's revelation had made the situation even more dire.
Ed still distrusted the blond mercenary a little, after all that had transpired, and found it a bit hard to shake the idea that Cid might have been too soft. He had been one of the few in Garden trusted to keep Seifer's presence secret for the time being, to ensure that the news didn't leak out and send half the students, who all had lost loved ones to the invasion Seifer had led, into a panic and the other half into a murderous rampage. Another part of him chastened himself sternly, pointing out that despite Cid's obvious compassion for the renegade SeeD, the Headmaster was not a fool, and if Seifer held no regrets about what he had done, Cid would certainly have seen it and kicked him so far out of Garden that he'd still be flying when he reached Esthar.
Edwin entered the hotel, signed his name, and was just settling happily in his room with a meal of cold ham, chocolate cake and a bottle of red wine- after all, the spenditure for this mission was all on SeeD budget, so why couldn't he just indulge himself?-when the telephone rang and he was informed that he had a visitor.
"Who?" he asked.
"He refuses to identify himself, though he is adamant that you will know him. Do you wish to see him, sir?"
Ed said nothing, though his heart raced. It couldn't be the SeeD; they wouldn't jeopardize his identity when he was undercover. The realization made his blood run cold. It must be...him. Damn, he thought, this is too soon.
"Sir?"
Realizing that he was on a open line, he forced his voice to sound normal and said, "Yes. Please send him to my room."
"Very well, sir." The receptionist put down the phone and Ed spent the next few precious minutes composing himself. He slipped on Graon Rowan's dour, serious personality as one might put on clothes, which he was particularly good at. He made sure that he looked excited rather than nervous, anticipatory rather than apprehensive. Brushing the crumbs of cake off his shirt, he straightened his collar just as knocking sounded dully on the door.
This is it, Ed thought, walking forwards.
Graon Rowan pulled open the door, to see a figure wearing a trench coat with a turned up collar accompanied by a bellhop. The stranger shoved past the bellhop rudely and slammed the door shut, ignoring the bellhop's yelp of pain from the other side as the door whacked his nose.
"You're very early," Graon observed laconically.
"Change of plans. Your contact thinks that he was followed, so I came here instead," his guest snapped, removing the trench coat to reveal a dark- haired, handsome man with craggy features. Graon bit back a gasp. "Sir, I had no idea-"
"Shut up," the man snarled, prowling around like an restless cat. "I don't have time for your nonsense." He looked up sharply. "You want to be one of us, Dr, Rowan? You keep your mouth shut at all times unless I tell you to open it, and you work hard. Eventually I might even come to trust you. For now, though," he said contemptuously, "You're an unknown, and you'll be very much in my notice. Be very careful, Doctor. We don't like traitors."
"I hope I can prove myself to you,, one day, and prove you wrong, sir," Graon replied, chastened, eyes downward.
The other came up behind him, and Graon sensed his smile, though he couldn't see it. "I hope so, too, Doctor. Disposing of such problems are so...so messy."
He moved to Graon's front, staring at him challengingly, and the part of him that remained Edwin Darwell shuddered at what he saw in General Rabe Dorgain's eyes. They were a vivid, cobalt blue, but behind that was nothing. No mercy, no compassion, no joy, nothing. Just a dark, empty void where nothing could exist. All this man knew was satisfaction, precision and efficiency.
Soulless eyes. The eyes of a monster.
*** It was dark, fittingly, it seemed, an aura to match the hideousness of all they had done here. The only light came from the computer screens in the corner of the room, where Dr. Zane Amrily sat.
He was staring intently at the monitors, where the face of Revival loomed, white and dark and anxious. "I need those codes to the main computers, sir," the spy said quickly, words tumbling out nervously. "Instructor Darwell left this morning on a mission, and it could mean-"
"You shall have them tomorrow anytime as is convenient," Zane said, dismissing Revival's request.
"One of the SeeDs seem to be really suspicious of me, though everyone else seems to have accepted me."
"Oh, really? Who?"
"It's an instructor-oh, crap, my roommate's coming back! I-I need to go!" Revival hastily switched off the device, and the spy's face faded from the screen. Zane swore, then caught the imposing figure of Rabe Dorgain moving towards him. "How goes the project?" the general asked.
"Well enough. Revival is perceptive and resourceful, and I have no doubt that the project will be successful."
"It'd better be," Rabe replied coldly. "I've spent much time and resources on this, and I'd like to see my attention paid off."
"You won't regret it," Zane assured him. "Was the new candidate eligible to join us?" he queried, eager to turn the conversation to safer waters.
The general pondered on the subject. "He does appear enthusiastic and almost hopelessly patriotic to the point of blind worship, and certainly he is intelligent. I asked him some scientific questions no ordinary person could answer and he reeled off the answers easily. I have decided to accept him for the time being, but only time will tell to prove if he will be a valuable asset or not."
"Will you lead him here?" Zane asked.
"Yes, but blindfolded. The path to the surface will be hidden until his loyalty is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to be unshakeable."
"Your precautions are wise, General," Zane responded.
"As they should be," Rabe returned emotionlessly. "Shall we quit bantering and start the explanation you promised?"
"Right, sir." Zane reached into his lab coat and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "As you can see, General..." he begun.
*** The paramagic course for beginners ended with Rinoa shuffling her notes and smiling at the class pleasantly. "Good day, cadets, and I expect an essay on the properties of monsters in the Fire Cavern next Tuesday!" she announced amid comical groans of dismay. The class picked up their books and started to head out, but Rinoa caught Phoenix's eye and motioned for her to stay behind.
The girl walked shyly to stand in front of the teacher's desk and waited. Rinoa smiled approvingly at her. "Your theory could use a little brushing up-but that practical was just incredible! I don't think I'd never seen anyone learn to draw and cast level two spells so fast. Did you learn how to do it on your own before or are you just a child prodigy or something?"
Phoenix blushed with pleasure at the Sorceress' praise. "It just comes naturally, y'know?" she said self-consciously. "I think about it, and...that's it."
"You'll certainly be a great spellcaster someday," Rinoa congratulated her student warmly. "And it's nice to see that you are modest too. You may go now. Just wanted to tell you."
Phoenix skipped cheerfully out of her class and went to her dorm. As she did so, she caught sight of Instructor Axiliam at the far side of the foyer, arguing softly with a stranger, judging from the expression on his face and the motion of his hands. Travis raised his voice, and she heard the words, "...shouldn't have...Sorceress..." He paused and stared suspiciously at Phoenix, so she averted her gaze and continued on her way, inwardly worrying, and suspecting, a lot of things.
Just who is Revival? And, seriously, were you half-expecting the guy in the trench coat to be Seifer? Sorry. Just had to ask. What is the 'project'? What was Travis talking about? You'll find out, folks, as the story unfolds.
R & R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Edwin Darwell, now under the assumed name of Graon Rowan, glanced at his watch as he alighted the train, stepping onto the Deling City platform. He noted that it would be the SeeD practical exam today, and silently he wished his protégé good luck. He paused to glance inconspicuously at his reflection in the glass front of the ticket counter and a stranger looked back. Ed was a master of acting and disguise, and he prided himself on doing all his makeup jobs. He could be an old, rasping woman one day or a tall, stern doctor the next.
His previously straw blond hair had been given an expert dye job, and now it was jet black. A beard had been allowed to grow, making his face look drastically different. Makeup had lightened his tan to a paler, more sickly pallor, to give the impression that he spent more time studying in the indoors than going outside into the sun. Dr. Kadowadi and Tre Tazakin had helped, implanting a device into his voice box so that his voice was deeper and totally unrecognizable. Ed was confident that these changes would alter his appearance too much for his enemies to recognize him. He put on a serious, solemn expression, settling comfortably into the role of the disgruntled Galbadian scientist he had chosen to play. He had actually attended university when he wasn't running about planting bombs and assassinating someone, and he'd majored in science, biology especially. Many a time he'd worked undercover as a learned professor and brought powerful syndicates to its knees.
He smiled inwardly to himself. Judging from his briefing from Tre early this morning, he would enjoy this assignment better than any other. What they were doing was an outrage, a perversion of nature. He would be glad to be part of its downfall.
He unhurriedly walked down the streets, his one bag swinging merrily in his hand. Through Tre's expert hacking skills, he was now registered in the hotel records as having reserved a room and wouldn't have to wait. After another hour of shameless 'perpetration', Tre had Graon Rowan in the citizens' list of records, put him in the Deling University, had him graduate one year before the Sorceress War(the second), noted him as being fanatically loyal to Sorceress Edea/Ultimecia and Vinzer Deling, and added that he had unemployed after Ultimecia's downfall, wandering around doing odd jobs and seeking another chance to help bring his city back to power. Through Seifer's information, they found that the Galbadian commander back then, Rabe Dorgain, now the General and Jacob Caraway's successor, had been buried up to his neck in half the plots in Deling City, including the overseeing the building of an underground lab beneath the city. Cid suspected that had been what the technician, fooling around on the sensors, had found. Seifer's revelation had made the situation even more dire.
Ed still distrusted the blond mercenary a little, after all that had transpired, and found it a bit hard to shake the idea that Cid might have been too soft. He had been one of the few in Garden trusted to keep Seifer's presence secret for the time being, to ensure that the news didn't leak out and send half the students, who all had lost loved ones to the invasion Seifer had led, into a panic and the other half into a murderous rampage. Another part of him chastened himself sternly, pointing out that despite Cid's obvious compassion for the renegade SeeD, the Headmaster was not a fool, and if Seifer held no regrets about what he had done, Cid would certainly have seen it and kicked him so far out of Garden that he'd still be flying when he reached Esthar.
Edwin entered the hotel, signed his name, and was just settling happily in his room with a meal of cold ham, chocolate cake and a bottle of red wine- after all, the spenditure for this mission was all on SeeD budget, so why couldn't he just indulge himself?-when the telephone rang and he was informed that he had a visitor.
"Who?" he asked.
"He refuses to identify himself, though he is adamant that you will know him. Do you wish to see him, sir?"
Ed said nothing, though his heart raced. It couldn't be the SeeD; they wouldn't jeopardize his identity when he was undercover. The realization made his blood run cold. It must be...him. Damn, he thought, this is too soon.
"Sir?"
Realizing that he was on a open line, he forced his voice to sound normal and said, "Yes. Please send him to my room."
"Very well, sir." The receptionist put down the phone and Ed spent the next few precious minutes composing himself. He slipped on Graon Rowan's dour, serious personality as one might put on clothes, which he was particularly good at. He made sure that he looked excited rather than nervous, anticipatory rather than apprehensive. Brushing the crumbs of cake off his shirt, he straightened his collar just as knocking sounded dully on the door.
This is it, Ed thought, walking forwards.
Graon Rowan pulled open the door, to see a figure wearing a trench coat with a turned up collar accompanied by a bellhop. The stranger shoved past the bellhop rudely and slammed the door shut, ignoring the bellhop's yelp of pain from the other side as the door whacked his nose.
"You're very early," Graon observed laconically.
"Change of plans. Your contact thinks that he was followed, so I came here instead," his guest snapped, removing the trench coat to reveal a dark- haired, handsome man with craggy features. Graon bit back a gasp. "Sir, I had no idea-"
"Shut up," the man snarled, prowling around like an restless cat. "I don't have time for your nonsense." He looked up sharply. "You want to be one of us, Dr, Rowan? You keep your mouth shut at all times unless I tell you to open it, and you work hard. Eventually I might even come to trust you. For now, though," he said contemptuously, "You're an unknown, and you'll be very much in my notice. Be very careful, Doctor. We don't like traitors."
"I hope I can prove myself to you,, one day, and prove you wrong, sir," Graon replied, chastened, eyes downward.
The other came up behind him, and Graon sensed his smile, though he couldn't see it. "I hope so, too, Doctor. Disposing of such problems are so...so messy."
He moved to Graon's front, staring at him challengingly, and the part of him that remained Edwin Darwell shuddered at what he saw in General Rabe Dorgain's eyes. They were a vivid, cobalt blue, but behind that was nothing. No mercy, no compassion, no joy, nothing. Just a dark, empty void where nothing could exist. All this man knew was satisfaction, precision and efficiency.
Soulless eyes. The eyes of a monster.
*** It was dark, fittingly, it seemed, an aura to match the hideousness of all they had done here. The only light came from the computer screens in the corner of the room, where Dr. Zane Amrily sat.
He was staring intently at the monitors, where the face of Revival loomed, white and dark and anxious. "I need those codes to the main computers, sir," the spy said quickly, words tumbling out nervously. "Instructor Darwell left this morning on a mission, and it could mean-"
"You shall have them tomorrow anytime as is convenient," Zane said, dismissing Revival's request.
"One of the SeeDs seem to be really suspicious of me, though everyone else seems to have accepted me."
"Oh, really? Who?"
"It's an instructor-oh, crap, my roommate's coming back! I-I need to go!" Revival hastily switched off the device, and the spy's face faded from the screen. Zane swore, then caught the imposing figure of Rabe Dorgain moving towards him. "How goes the project?" the general asked.
"Well enough. Revival is perceptive and resourceful, and I have no doubt that the project will be successful."
"It'd better be," Rabe replied coldly. "I've spent much time and resources on this, and I'd like to see my attention paid off."
"You won't regret it," Zane assured him. "Was the new candidate eligible to join us?" he queried, eager to turn the conversation to safer waters.
The general pondered on the subject. "He does appear enthusiastic and almost hopelessly patriotic to the point of blind worship, and certainly he is intelligent. I asked him some scientific questions no ordinary person could answer and he reeled off the answers easily. I have decided to accept him for the time being, but only time will tell to prove if he will be a valuable asset or not."
"Will you lead him here?" Zane asked.
"Yes, but blindfolded. The path to the surface will be hidden until his loyalty is proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to be unshakeable."
"Your precautions are wise, General," Zane responded.
"As they should be," Rabe returned emotionlessly. "Shall we quit bantering and start the explanation you promised?"
"Right, sir." Zane reached into his lab coat and pulled out a sheaf of papers. "As you can see, General..." he begun.
*** The paramagic course for beginners ended with Rinoa shuffling her notes and smiling at the class pleasantly. "Good day, cadets, and I expect an essay on the properties of monsters in the Fire Cavern next Tuesday!" she announced amid comical groans of dismay. The class picked up their books and started to head out, but Rinoa caught Phoenix's eye and motioned for her to stay behind.
The girl walked shyly to stand in front of the teacher's desk and waited. Rinoa smiled approvingly at her. "Your theory could use a little brushing up-but that practical was just incredible! I don't think I'd never seen anyone learn to draw and cast level two spells so fast. Did you learn how to do it on your own before or are you just a child prodigy or something?"
Phoenix blushed with pleasure at the Sorceress' praise. "It just comes naturally, y'know?" she said self-consciously. "I think about it, and...that's it."
"You'll certainly be a great spellcaster someday," Rinoa congratulated her student warmly. "And it's nice to see that you are modest too. You may go now. Just wanted to tell you."
Phoenix skipped cheerfully out of her class and went to her dorm. As she did so, she caught sight of Instructor Axiliam at the far side of the foyer, arguing softly with a stranger, judging from the expression on his face and the motion of his hands. Travis raised his voice, and she heard the words, "...shouldn't have...Sorceress..." He paused and stared suspiciously at Phoenix, so she averted her gaze and continued on her way, inwardly worrying, and suspecting, a lot of things.
Just who is Revival? And, seriously, were you half-expecting the guy in the trench coat to be Seifer? Sorry. Just had to ask. What is the 'project'? What was Travis talking about? You'll find out, folks, as the story unfolds.
R & R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!