"How can you get very far
If you don't know who you are?
How can you do what you ought
If you don't know what you've got?"
--A. A. Milne
"To look is one thing
To see what you look at another."
--Taoist Saying
"For When You Return"
Part XIII
In this sector, Esthar was at its prime. Everything was new and shimmering, and the industrial grey-blues were replaced by more vibrant colors -- storefronts blazed neons, the wiring under the glass streets were fluorescent, and everything blared with the muscle-vibrating mixture of heavy-bass techno from various different clubs.
It was night, and above the glow lie nature's contribution. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the cold made the stars shine even more brilliantly against the atmosphere. There was a breeze, and it came warm off the ocean, even though they couldn't see it through the mass of the pleasantly lit city.
Rinoa had departed earlier that afternoon, as Ellone had known she would. However, what the woman did -not- know was that the dark-haired woman had gotten the worst welcome imaginable in her return, and that dark, dreadful events were ensuing in Balamb. How could she have possibly known?
So she simply laughed gaily, as if there weren't a care in the world. To Ellone, there wasn't, not really. However, this would be the last time that she would laugh like this in a very long time, if ever again.
"So we were in Deling, right?" Iskyua said. He was walking pleasantly at her side, dressed in the form-fitting garb of a city soldier. Technically, he was still on duty. However, as he had argued:
"I'm still walking around and keeping an eye on things, right?"
His helmet was gone, though, and he had discarded his more heavy artillery for a smaller pistol that he kept tucked back and away, out of view. And as for 'watching' -- he seemed to be completely attuned to Ellone, caught up in his story in that chattery, easy-going way of his, "I was back training to be a soldier there, couple years back... there was this stupid rant going around the table at the motel bar, you know? We were young and crazy then, nothing like I am now." His hands, which were pleasantly moving in illustration, paused as he gave her a playful little wink. "Well, my -friends- may have grown up, at least."
Ellone smiled and tucked her shawl tighter around her arms. They have taken to the streets, on account that Iskuya wasn't able to drink while he was on duty. The places were too crowded, anyway, he'd told her, they weren't any fun. The walkways were a million times more interesting.
"Yeah," He had said with a wink. "The streets are really in style... excusing, of course, the fact that I have to stay out here and patrol. That had absolutely no weight in anything. None. Would I lie?" He batted his eyes. She had laughed.
Iskuya had been doing most of the talking, she knew, but Ellone didn't mind. She found him pleasant to be around, and had trouble taking her eyes away from him. He was so...magnetic. And, as she looked his way Iskuya met her eyes with his grey ones, smiling with them vaguely as he spoke, as if the electricity was too much to hold. "And those damn bus drivers, you know -- so stubborn. We're like, we want to go to the hotel, and they guy's like, no, you've got to go down the block. This bus takes you to the shopping center." Iskuya threw up his hands. "The hotel is right on the way! You'd think they'd just stop and let us off!"
"'Course, the hotel is just down the street from the shopping center, but still..." Iskuya shrugged. "So we all banded together and... I'm boring you, aren't I?"
The sudden shift in topic drove Ellone into a blink, as she was temporarily set off course by the question. "What? No, of course not!"
Iskuya eyed her carefully, staring into her irises in a way that was both humorous and breathtaking. Ellone felt herself flushing. "...You aren't...lying to me, are you?" He teased. "Come now, Ellone, I'm a tough guy. I can take it. You don't care about the bus story, do you?" He paused and touched a finger to his lips. "Let's see... I can think of another one. How about the drill sergeant story? Or the naked-guy story! Everyone loves that kind of stuff!"
She rolled her eyes a little and grinned. Iskuya pleasantly shared the moment for a while, before continuing in a less showy tone, "Hey, here's an idea -- how about an Ellone story? I haven't heard one of those in a long while."
Ellone let out a little laugh-laced puff of air and slid her eyes off to one side, avoiding his gaze for the first time. "I don't know," She muttered a little, putting her gaze on the dark glass street, a passing woman, and finally another soldier on sentry. "I don't really have any stories to tell..."
"Of course you do!" Iskuya argued good-naturedly. "Everyone has got stories, and I'm willing to bet that they're all better than mine. I mean, heisting a Deling Bus? I'm blushing over the fact that I tried to tell it to you."
"Well...no, it's just..." Ellone brushed a stand of brown hair behind the shell of her ear and looked back at him, shrugging ashamedly. "I guess these last few years... my whole -life-... Well, you know about the war and everything behind it."
"I sure do," Iskuya said, letting out a dark little huff of breath. It was the first sound to come from him that was not cheerful, although his next glance warmed a little. Despite this, however, he looked much more serious. "Do you get to talk about it a lot?"
"Well, sometimes," She admitted. "Now that I'm finally with Uncle Laguna again, it's easier. Sure, we're doing a lot of catching up, but yeah... I've been able to talk to him a lot, about a lot of things."
"Like when you were with Odine?"
Ellone glanced over at him sharply. He was looking at her innocently, and she felt a little rush at the sight. Of course he knew. A lot of people knew. And he didn't mean any harm, it was clear by looking at him. The talkative man simply was offering himself to listen. "...Yeah." She finally answered. "Like with Odine."
"Did he...hurt you?"
Ellone's lips parted a little, but Iskuya jumped to interrupt her, both in gesture and in voice. "Look, I'm sorry. We don't have to get personal if you don't want to. I just don't particularly like that guy, Odine, or how he works. It's okay to be into your job, yeah, but not to that extreme. I guess... I'm just worried."
"Worried?" Ellone narrowed her eyes at him. She had been blushing. "It's over, Laguna rescued me years and years ago..." But still, she wondered. Although the tests were more careful and wary under Laguna's firm eye, she still went to Odine's laboratory on a scheduled basis... had Iskuya known that?
He answered her question. "I guess I've seen you on that side of town, you know?" He tentatively said. For once, he seemed a little listless. Guilty? Ashamed... embarrassed? Yes, the latter seemed to hold the firmest.
Ellone saw this and set a hand on his lightly-armored shoulder. Carefully she shifted her head so that she was meeting his eyes. Her brows lifted reassuringly, and she said, "Really, it's fine... when he was studying me, he found something out... It's not an illness, not really, but he likes to monitor it for what he has convinced Laguna to be an 'important cause.' That's all. Really."
"You're sick?" Iskuya asked.
"No, not really... I'm just... different."
Iskuya looked over at her and smiled, the barest twittering uplift at one corner of his mouth. "You're definitely something, that's for certain."
Ellone let a little breath out from her lips, and in that huff was a laugh, soft and wiltering. Smiling back into his eyes, she felt the first comings of a rush, something that escalated in her chest and lifted her face up to his. She saw him close his eyes, come to meet her, and that feeling rose to a cresting intensity--
And broke.
A guard pushed by her, knocking her unpleasantly into Iskuya's chest. His arms went around her, not in passion but in surprise, as he caught her and tried to keep her on her feet. Both hands turned as the soldier went hurrying by.
Ellone looked over one shoulder, felt her hair crinkle against his chest and her cheek. Suddenly, it felt very cold. Behind her was another guard moving their way, and as her eyes swam wildly from side to side, they stopped on one man after another... standing at the corner, moving hastily down the street, coming out from a building, looking around with some sort of intent in their motions.
The crowd seemed oblivious. They moved on, couples held onto each other, and the music and laughter never shifted a beat. Ellone, however, was shocked into stillness. "What's going on?" She asked. By then she had stepped out of Iskuya's arms, but he was quick to take hold of her elbow.
"I don't know," He said. His voice was low, and when she looked at him, his eyes were roaming as well. "It's nothing to worry about, I'm sure." One look into his face, and she knew that he was lying. "It's probably just another uprooted monster. Let's go."
He pulled on her elbow. This had been done earlier in the night, when he wanted to get her attention and point something out to her. However, this time the tug was firm and controlling. He was tense, she could feel it clearly.
And her feet had just started to move when she saw it. Iskuya was stopped short, and he turned around to look at her over one shoulder. She was staring at a point in front of him, and he turned his head quickly that way, only to look at her again. "Elle?"
"...Iskuya!" With her free hand she pointed. There was a dark space between two clubs, a maintenance building that was a little set back from the street. It was bleak and industrial-looking, and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the sector. This, however, was not what Ellone was motioning toward. Two figures were slipping into that shadowy metal door. They wore the uniforms of Esthar soldiers, but had no helmets... When they looked around warily to make sure that they were covered, Ellone had seen their faces.
Biggs? Wedge?
"I recognize those two!" She said. "They used to be Galbadian soldiers!"
Iskuya looked at her curiously. "...So?" He was still in mid-pull, holding onto her arm and looking fully ready to move. Like ants drawn to honey, the number of soldiers intensified around them, but this was now on the backburner in Ellone's mind.
"What are they doing here?" She asked. "Something's wrong!"
"Elle," Iskuya said reassuringly. She could sense his wariness, and that made his mask of calm seem false, a ruse. "A lot of soldiers here transferred from other systems. -I- was trained in Galbadia too, you know. Remember? There's nothing wrong with me." Nothing, perhaps, except for that increasing anxiety. "Let's keep moving."
"No," Ellone said firmly. "This is different. This is very, very wrong!" Iskuya's nostrils flared a little, but she didn't listen to his arguments any longer. With a jerk she pulled her elbow out of his hold and rushed down the street. Iskuya's eyes went wide and he spun to tear after her.
"Ellone, wait!"
She didn't stop. By then the two once-Galbadian soldiers had closed the door after them, and the building had become darker and more lifeless without their presence. Tearing through the crowd, she ignored the stares and snaps until she was standing in front of the building. Ellone cast one glance over her shoulder, saw Iskuya's head bob above the crowd in his rush to catch up. She thought to wait for him, but didn't want to waste time.
Something horrible was going to happen.
She put her hand on the knob, set her shoulder to the door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open.
The room was dark. It was also empty. Stepping inside, Ellone looked around. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did she saw that the room was tiny. She could have lie down and touched her toes on one wall and her fingertips on another. From somewhere came the sound of dripping water, and with a start she realized--
It was coming from below her.
Dropping to her hands and knees, she felt around the floor. Eventually her fingers met a loosened grate cover that had been set aside, and just beyond it there was a dark, depthless hole. She hadn't seen it when she'd stepped in, and was glad that she hadn't kept walking.
Holding her breath, she heard the sound of voices down below, the smack of boots meeting thin puddles of water. Her eyes went wide and slid from side to side, and within two beats she realized that they were heading further and further away. Quickly she reached back, pulled off her shoes and threw them aside.
Turning herself around in her crawl, she finally set her toes onto a rung of the ladder and started easing herself down. It was so dark, and she trembled with each inch of descent. The hole was black and narrow for a moment, and then she broke out into a wide tunnel of what looked like an underground system. There were dim overhead lights, and again her pupils expanded to adjust.
"Ellone!" The sound came from above, just as she set her feet upon the slimy, solid cement floor. She let out a silencing hiss, but Iskuya had something else on his mind for a moment -- he had run right into the hole. There was an oomph and a crack as his knee hit the ladder and his chest smacked on the lip, and then a clatter as he caught hold of a rung and kept himself from plummeting.
Out from his lips came a string of curses so harsh that she was nearly taken aback.
However, fear kept her in check. "Shh!" She hissed.
"Don't 'shh,' me, goddamn it! I almost killed myself!"
"We're going to -both- get killed, if you don't keep quiet!"
"Quiet?! I think I broke something!"
Ellone looked warily from wide to side. "Look, hurry." She said up to him in a low voice. "I can't wait much longer. We can't loose them, Iskuya."
Iskuya learned well from experience. He knew that if he hesitated or argued, she'd leave him behind again. Muttering out hostilities under his breath, he eased himself down the ladder warily, being careful of his throbbing knee. That entire leg was going stiff, and his chest ached where he struck it.
When he finally got onto solid ground, he reached out for her again. She slapped his hand away and looked at him intensely. Iskuya, despite himself, glared back and tried to hide his painful wince inside of that expression.
"What do you expect to happen, Ellone? Even if they are up to no good, what are you going to do about it? Huh? We need to get -help-. There are a dozen soldiers up there. Did you ever consider, you know, going to one of -them- instead of throwing yourself down into the goddamn sewers?"
"Something's wrong. I..." He presented a good argument, but her gut told her that it was wrong. And, upon realizing this, she lifted her chin a little. "I have to keep going. Follow, if you want, or better yet -- go back for that help of yours."
And then she was moving again, running fleetly down the corridor with her feet bared. The sight was almost as humorous as it was terrifying. There she went, a thin girl in a white skirt and a sleeveless shirt, running awkwardly and without form like a newborn fawn. She wouldn't last a second in this dangerous atmosphere.
"And what am I supposed to tell them?" He called to her. "That you had a bad 'feeling', calling all guards, calling all guards? Ellone? Ellone?"
"Shit." He muttered, and ran after her.
"Why is the water black?" Ellone asked him.
They were keeping a quick pace, but a measured one. The two soldiers had gotten quite ahead of them, but they left dark footprints in their wake. There was no sense in fretting, Iskuya had grumbled, not with a trail set out for them. Chances were that it would lead to a big embarrassment. The guys were probably just maintenance workers.
As he had known, the comment hadn't stopped her.
"Because it's not water," Iskuya replied grudgingly. He looked very irritated to be there. Ellone felt sorry for him, yes, but again she made no offer to pull back. "It's mostly oil residue, runoff from all the machinery that we've got here. An advanced city leaves advanced waste."
They soon found little reason to be silent. As they moved deeper and deeper down the tunnel, they were struck with the loud sound of generators whirring and humming. Iskuya hadn't known what everything was for, but Ellone had a feeling that he was holding back his information. Somehow, she sensed that he knew that something strange was afoot as well...
Telling her would only keep her moving, though, and that was clearly the opposite of what Iskuya wanted. He kept putting his hand on her, as if making sure that she was next to him and safe, even though the lights told him that she was there. Ellone, however, seemed fearless.
"You're going to get your dress dirty," He kept saying.
"Shut up."
"Next time, I choose where we spend the evening, okay?"
"Shut--" The statement shifted into a cry, as she stopped short and went hurtling back into his chest. The entire tunnel shook and rumbled, and with wide eyes and his arms around her Ellone looked up at the ceiling. Something ground, metal squeaking against metal, and then there was a crash and spray of oil as a chunk of rock fell.
Iskuya stepped back against the wall and held her head to him, curling into her protectively. Ellone was blinded for a moment by his hold, her face crushed into the fabric of his uniform, but then she felt something even more terrifying than the trembling ground at her feet. He had sucked in his breath in shock.
Shaking, rattling, she slowly turned her head to look beyond the sanctuary of his arms. Something enormous had risen from the earth, cracking the narrow ravine where the oil river ran and growing so that its head nearly touched the wide, sloping ceiling above them. She saw its back first, human like and twisting with muscle and glistening oil. Long, narrow arms stretched out and sent spider-webs of cracks in the wall as its claw-like fingers dug into the stone, and its enormous, beak-like jaw spread open with a dry creak, exposing rows of needle-sharp teeth so long that it was unable to close its mouth.
Iskuya was unable to step back, because he was already firm against the wall. Pulverized rock fell onto his head in the form of dust, and he pulled Ellone more tightly into him. Slowly one hand unwound, and with rattling bones he reached back for his pistol.
"S-s--ta..tay sti-sti-still..." He stuttered very, very slowly. His gaze was locked onto the creature, which was pulling its spidery arms back and eyeing the two of them like a hawk would eye a mouse. "V-very...very....sti-stil--Damn it, MOVE!"
Ellone felt a rush as he let go and shoved her forward. Loosing her balance, she fell to the ground and landed flat on her stomach. There was a huff and intense pain as Iskuya landed partially on top of her. Just as they had spun away the creature had thrust its claws into the wall where they had been standing, and rocks broke to fall all around them. Ellone fearfully put her arms over her head, and she felt Iskuya do the same.
"Run!" He cried, as he rolled off her and onto his chest. His pistol was in both hands, and with his cropped hair lopsided, a black smudge on one cheek and his eyes intense, he pulled the trigger to fire at the creature, which was pulling its arms out from the wall again in a spray of dust. Ellone watched this with wide eyes, and then in a rush of panic she shoved herself his way and knocked his elbows up.
Both bullets that he had fired harmlessly pounded into the ceiling.
"What in the hell are you doing?!"
"What in the hell are -you- doing?! It's covered in oil!" Ellone snapped back. They would have continued the argument, save the fact that the creature was sending its nail-like claws down at them again. With a shove of her heels Ellone sent herself launching forward, and Iskuya rolled again. Both narrowly missed impalement. The walkway crumbled, and with a clench of its fist that portion was torn away. Angrily, the monster threw its handful of rock back over one shoulder and dug into the walkway again, setting its beady eyes on Iskuya.
By then the man had gotten to his feet, and with his head low he sprinted down what was left of the walkway. Letting out a deafening roar, even above the generators, the creature tore out the rock in front of him. Iskuya did a double take and leapt back, putting himself against the wall again in terror. He stood on an eight-yard long shooting range, and found himself to be the target.
Ellone had fallen into the ravine, and her entire back was covered in oil when she dragged herself out on the opposite side. It smeared when she wiped her face, and with a wince she heard Iskuya's cries from over the generators, the crashes, and the roars. Painfully she pushed herself to her feet, shaking, and then she saw it:
Iskuya stood on a small island with his back to the wall. There was nowhere else for him to go, and half of his head was in a gashed crevice in the cement. Blood drizzled down the side of his face, and his eyes were wide, his hands claws against where he stood, and his chest heaved madly in his terror.
Everything seemed to move slowly as the monster reared back its bony arms, and Ellone felt her lungs expand in the beginnings of a scream, something that her mouth was too stiff to allow her to push out. "No," She hissed without a breath, so softly that she didn't even hear herself say it.
"No!" This time, the sinews of that oily mass shifted and it moved, looking over its narrow shoulders. Ellone realized just what she'd done, and with a rush of panic she stepped backwards. Iskuya too, having realized that the final strike had not come, opened his eyes to see the monster turning to face away from him.
"Ellone!" He cried.
But she was not listening. Her thin lips trembled, she stepped back again in spite of herself, and then she tensed her jaw and narrowed her eyes. All of a sudden she was moving across the walkway and toward the creature, she set her feet together and brought her two longest fingers to the inside of her arm, which she rapidly extended. Closing her eyes, she lowered her head.
There was a flash and a whirling hiss, as a circle of light wound about the ground at her feet. And then, glowing and blank-eyed, she threw open her arms. There was a burst of radiant energy, a rush that spiraled and screamed down the tunnel. Iskuya turned his cheek against the stone, and the creature retracted.
It visibly shuddered, and then the glow died.
Ellone dropped her arms. Her legs were wobbly, and that powerful confidence died along with the light that had come with it. Woozily, she staggered off to one side and fell in a slump against the wall.
Stunned, Iskuya watched this, and then he saw the creature lift its arm to strike at her. Whatever she had done, it didn't seem to have any eff--
And then, suddenly, the blackness of the oil that made up the creature's flesh began to loose its sheen. The muscles started to knot and drew into each other, drying out and turning a dust-like grey. That arm trembled in mid-air, and for a moment the monster seemed frozen in time. And then the joint of its elbow shattered, crumbled down to its wrist, its shoulder, its neck and torso.
That oil had broken into ash.
Iskuya watched the enormous monster catch and billow down to the ground in powdery pieces, and through the snowflakes of black he saw her standing there, dazedly against the wall with dizzy, half-empty eyes.
He stared blankly at her until the blackness took hold of him and dragged him into unconsciousness. Even as he fell, that image remained in his mind.
Ellone knew that she had to keep moving, and somehow she did. With a push of her shoulder-blades she stumbled away from the wall and toward the oil-filled gully. She probably could have jumped it, if she braced herself and used all of her energy, but she didn't have any energy to use. Tiredly she slogged across and dragged herself onto the small island where Iskuya was slumped in a seated position.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice cracked. Iskuya groaned and rolled his head, but that was enough for her. Tensing herself, she managed to straighten and start walking. Crossing through more sludge where the monster had torn out the path, she eventually reached a straight way of solid ground.
"Ellone?" Iskuya was calling after her. He sounded dreary, and she didn't have to turn around to know that he was still slumped over in half-awareness. Her magic had affected him, and she knew that it would be a while before he could stand. She couldn't wait that long, she couldn't wait another minute.
"I have to keep going," She called to him. "You can catch up."
She didn't wait for his reply, although he drowsily kept calling her name.
At the next turn the tunnel seemed oddly clean in comparison to the newly-formed wreckage that she had left behind. Miserably she tried wiping the oil from her arms and her legs, rubbing her hands against the wall to clean them as best she could. The smell was nauseating, and it didn't help that she was dizzy.
But slowly her energy began to return, her eyes began to clear, and her heart began to pound. Hard.
The pair of footprints were clear, and she rounded a corner that took her to a niche in the wall. There was less light here, but she could still see clearly -- it was little more than a square space. The river did not turn, it kept going straight... and the niche seemed like nothing more than a short hallway carved into the wall. A dead end...or so it seemed. The footprints lead there. Tentatively, Ellone edged down it. Her bare feet made not a sound, and she held her breath inside her chest.
With wide eyes she slowly made her way to the wall that ended the hallway and turned around in a small circle. She couldn't see the oily trail in this lighting. Carefully she looked up, trying to find another ladder, a hole...but there was nothing.
Her answer ended up being right next to her. Idly, frustrated, Ellone had looked off to one side. There, set in the wall, was a steel door. Her heart skipped a beat and leapt into her throat. With wide, wary eyes she inched forward, looking it up and down. As she neared she started to hear voices. Arguing.
"Don't ask me, the boss said it was right here."
She set her hands silently against the door and then put her ear up to it. Her lips parted a little so that she could hear better, and with hardly a breath she tried to catch as much of the conversation as she could.
"We hook it up -right- here. Look, look at the picture. Idiot."
"Here? What about there?"
"No. Look, count them. Third one down. We hook up this thing into this part of the switchboard, and then connect. That'll give us complete control of the city's security system. Home free, medals of honor."
"That's what you always say, Biggs. That's what you always say -right- before everything goes to hell."
Oh, why didn't she wait for Iskuya?! He was right, what was she thinking? She didn't want to go through this alone. However, as the conversation began to quiet and the sounds of working took its place, she felt her resolve rise along with her panic. What were they doing? The security system? What was going to happen, once they got control of it?
...Oh Gods, Oh Gods, Oh Gods..
"Okay, we tie these wires together right he--"
Ellone sucked her breath tightly into her chest and slammed the door open with her shoulder. Her tight lungs forced out that air, and she turned her terrified exhalation into a cry. "Stop!"
The two soldiers stared blankly at her. One of them had a wire in his hand, and the other a flashlight in his mouth. It dropped to the floor in his shock. Ellone looked from one to the other warily, and it took all of her will not to run away.
"What are you doing?!" She asked accusingly. "You're not supposed to be here!"
The soldiers exchanged glances, and then looked at her again. "Who in the hell are you?"
Ellone's nostrils flared, and in a burst of improvisation snatched a pipe off one of the machines in the room. While doing so she caught a glance at exactly where they were, and it looked to be a control-area of sorts. It was probably what managed all of the underground generators in this area...
Holding up the pipe in front of her, she managed a stance. "My friend is going for Esthar security right now!" She cried, trying to make her terror sound like bravery, her lie like the truth. "We know who you are, and...and..."
They looked amused, and with cruel swaggers they slowly advanced on her. "Security?" The larger one said. "You just got a transfer of new soldiers today, I'd imagine that they're on patrol right now?"
The other one grinned. "They have loyalty to us."
Ellone's breaths rattled frightfully in the cold basement air. With wild-eyes she looked from one to the other. Loyalty to -who-? But then, it was starting to make sense. Why were all of the soldiers gathering over this sector? It had seemed so mysterious...
Security...soliders...
"An invasion...?"
"You could say that," Biggs said. Wedge slammed a fist into his palm. "Let's just say that it's an offer that you can't refuse. Heh."
"I can't believe this. -This- is our retaliation," Wedge chuckled. "I'm going to have -so- much fun wit--"
Ellone didn't stand around to listen any longer. With a grunt and clenched teeth she leapt forward and swung the pipe like a baseball bat. There was a crack as she connected with the top of Wedge's head. The man had attempted to dodge, but all he saved was his skull from being crushed. He was knocked off his feet.
Biggs threw up his hands. Ellone, in a frenzy, faced him and swung the pipe around furiously. The soldier took a step back, but she kept herding into him. "Why!?" She cried. "What have we ever done to you, except GIVE!? We opened our goddamn gates to the world, and what does it do?! Attack?! Huh?! Answer me!"
Wedge groaned and tried to push himself up. He flopped, and after the third try managed to get onto his bottom. He dizzily put his head between his knees. "Shit, man."
Biggs put his hand down to reach for his weapon, but Ellone was more ready for this than she had ever been for anything else. Powerfully she snapped at him, cracking the pipe into his wrist .The pistol clattered onto the floor, and flew back as her foot hit it. She threw herself at him wildly.
He managed to catch the pipe in a hand before it connected with him, and together the two of them crashed into one of the control panels. The lights in the room flipped on, and then dimmed again. Ellone was still screaming at him, so terrified that she had gone temporarily mad, and Biggs was starting to cry out as well.
"Stay out of this city!" She cried.
"We were hired, it's not our fault, Lady! Lady! Lay off!" Biggs was breaking into a whine, until he finally got a firm grip on her shoulders. Powerfully, she lifted her off him and threw her down. Ellone's mind scattered in panic as she went sailing, and then she let out a painful cry as her back met the cement floor, right in front of the open doorway.
"Damn it," Biggs said, brushing himself off. Wedge painfully got himself to his feet, and he looked at the fallen woman roll onto her side and curl up into herself. "What a joke."
Wedge murmured a reply and painfully rubbed at the side of his head.
Ellone got onto her hands and knees, with her hair hanging and her bottom facing the two soldiers. She was panting and humiliated. She could feel their eyes on her, staring... they didn't come after her. She was so weak, so helpless, and so pathetic that they didn't even bother coming after her right away. She was going to die, and they weren't even going to put any effort into it.
And then, suddenly, the heel of her hand met something on the floor. With a rush she lowered her eyes and saw the butt of Biggs' pistol. Her chest constricted and her heart sped up in realization. Too afraid to look over her shoulder and see if they had noticed, she edged back and set her hand upon the weapon.
With them watching, she eased herself painfully to her feet. Her back was to them, and it was surprisingly easy to hide the pistol, hold it against her stomach. She tried to get her finger around the trigger, and kept hunched over. It wasn't hard to pretend that she was in pain -- she was. Her shoulders, her arms, her legs... everything hurt.
"Well, sweetheart," Biggs said. "I'll have to congratulate you. You're going to be the first casualty of this mission."
And then she was spinning toward him, gun in hands and pointed right at his face.
"Draw your weapon and I shoot," She snapped to Wedge, who was already making the motion. He dropped his hands and sneered at her.
"Damn it, where did that come from?"
"It's yours, you moron," Wedge hissed.
"Quiet, both of you." Ellone said. "I have some questions, and you're going to answer them. Understand?"
They glared at her.
"Good," Ellone said.
Glare.
"Who sent you?" She asked. They were silent for a moment, and Ellone felt at a loss. What if they didn't answer at all? Would that mean that she would have to shoot them? She didn't want to kill anyone...
Oh, why didn't she listen to Iskuya!
"The General of the Galbadian Army." Wedge said bitterly.
"...Galbadia?" Ellone said incredulously. "But..." Her eyes roamed about for a moment, confused.
"Is that a question?" Wedge tittered. "'Cause I don't quite know how to answer it, and I really, really don't want to di--"
Biggs elbowed him sharply in the side.
"Where in Galbadia is he?" Ellone asked. She didn't know if she was asking the right questions, but she had to make due as she was. For now, she tried to get what she could, and hopefully she would be able to get them back to the surface...
...Where Galbadian soldiers lurked in disguise...
Oh, Gods. What was she going to do?
And then three realizations hit her. Neither man had answered her question, and both were smirking. These, however, were nothing in comparison to the third.
An enormous shadow broke up the dim light in the room, and she heard the click of a firearm ring out right behind her. All of the blood rushed to her feet, and then Biggs visibly relaxed, despite the fact that Ellone still had his own gun aimed at him.
"It's about time you got down here, Boss. As you can see, we have a little problem."
Wedge was grinning painfully.
Ellone knew that she had lost. It was over. Trembling, she found that she had lost control of her arm. It dropped to her side, and her quivering fingers slowly began to vibrate the gun where she held it. Like a penny on a shaking table, it eventually slipped out of her hold and clattered onto the floor.
Why had she tried to do this alone?
"Boss? What's up?"
Ellone saw the expression shift on Biggs face, saw the barest glimmer of confusion lace into his irises. Narrowing her eyes, she set her heels and slowly turned around to see what had made him hesitate.
Iskuya was standing behind her, haggard and torn, with the barrel of his pistol extended purposefully. Ellone felt her jaw go slack and then a blissful feeling of relief rose up into her heart. Tears sprang into her eyes, and her hand went onto her chest. "Oh, thank god," She whispered.
Iskuya was still looking levelly at her. Ellone, unable to blink, stared into his face. Never did she look down at the gun barrel; never did she see the way that the pistol was perfectly leveled with not Biggs, nor Wedge... but her. She didn't need to. All she had to do was look at his face, and she knew.
Ellone felt those tears of relief begin to burn painfully in her wide eyes, and she took a stunned step away from him. Backwards, but not far enough.
"...I'm sorry." Iskuya said. But he couldn't have been that sorry, because before he even finished that last word he pulled the trigger.
End Part 13/?
To Be Continued.
If you don't know who you are?
How can you do what you ought
If you don't know what you've got?"
--A. A. Milne
"To look is one thing
To see what you look at another."
--Taoist Saying
"For When You Return"
Part XIII
In this sector, Esthar was at its prime. Everything was new and shimmering, and the industrial grey-blues were replaced by more vibrant colors -- storefronts blazed neons, the wiring under the glass streets were fluorescent, and everything blared with the muscle-vibrating mixture of heavy-bass techno from various different clubs.
It was night, and above the glow lie nature's contribution. There was not a cloud in the sky, and the cold made the stars shine even more brilliantly against the atmosphere. There was a breeze, and it came warm off the ocean, even though they couldn't see it through the mass of the pleasantly lit city.
Rinoa had departed earlier that afternoon, as Ellone had known she would. However, what the woman did -not- know was that the dark-haired woman had gotten the worst welcome imaginable in her return, and that dark, dreadful events were ensuing in Balamb. How could she have possibly known?
So she simply laughed gaily, as if there weren't a care in the world. To Ellone, there wasn't, not really. However, this would be the last time that she would laugh like this in a very long time, if ever again.
"So we were in Deling, right?" Iskyua said. He was walking pleasantly at her side, dressed in the form-fitting garb of a city soldier. Technically, he was still on duty. However, as he had argued:
"I'm still walking around and keeping an eye on things, right?"
His helmet was gone, though, and he had discarded his more heavy artillery for a smaller pistol that he kept tucked back and away, out of view. And as for 'watching' -- he seemed to be completely attuned to Ellone, caught up in his story in that chattery, easy-going way of his, "I was back training to be a soldier there, couple years back... there was this stupid rant going around the table at the motel bar, you know? We were young and crazy then, nothing like I am now." His hands, which were pleasantly moving in illustration, paused as he gave her a playful little wink. "Well, my -friends- may have grown up, at least."
Ellone smiled and tucked her shawl tighter around her arms. They have taken to the streets, on account that Iskuya wasn't able to drink while he was on duty. The places were too crowded, anyway, he'd told her, they weren't any fun. The walkways were a million times more interesting.
"Yeah," He had said with a wink. "The streets are really in style... excusing, of course, the fact that I have to stay out here and patrol. That had absolutely no weight in anything. None. Would I lie?" He batted his eyes. She had laughed.
Iskuya had been doing most of the talking, she knew, but Ellone didn't mind. She found him pleasant to be around, and had trouble taking her eyes away from him. He was so...magnetic. And, as she looked his way Iskuya met her eyes with his grey ones, smiling with them vaguely as he spoke, as if the electricity was too much to hold. "And those damn bus drivers, you know -- so stubborn. We're like, we want to go to the hotel, and they guy's like, no, you've got to go down the block. This bus takes you to the shopping center." Iskuya threw up his hands. "The hotel is right on the way! You'd think they'd just stop and let us off!"
"'Course, the hotel is just down the street from the shopping center, but still..." Iskuya shrugged. "So we all banded together and... I'm boring you, aren't I?"
The sudden shift in topic drove Ellone into a blink, as she was temporarily set off course by the question. "What? No, of course not!"
Iskuya eyed her carefully, staring into her irises in a way that was both humorous and breathtaking. Ellone felt herself flushing. "...You aren't...lying to me, are you?" He teased. "Come now, Ellone, I'm a tough guy. I can take it. You don't care about the bus story, do you?" He paused and touched a finger to his lips. "Let's see... I can think of another one. How about the drill sergeant story? Or the naked-guy story! Everyone loves that kind of stuff!"
She rolled her eyes a little and grinned. Iskuya pleasantly shared the moment for a while, before continuing in a less showy tone, "Hey, here's an idea -- how about an Ellone story? I haven't heard one of those in a long while."
Ellone let out a little laugh-laced puff of air and slid her eyes off to one side, avoiding his gaze for the first time. "I don't know," She muttered a little, putting her gaze on the dark glass street, a passing woman, and finally another soldier on sentry. "I don't really have any stories to tell..."
"Of course you do!" Iskuya argued good-naturedly. "Everyone has got stories, and I'm willing to bet that they're all better than mine. I mean, heisting a Deling Bus? I'm blushing over the fact that I tried to tell it to you."
"Well...no, it's just..." Ellone brushed a stand of brown hair behind the shell of her ear and looked back at him, shrugging ashamedly. "I guess these last few years... my whole -life-... Well, you know about the war and everything behind it."
"I sure do," Iskuya said, letting out a dark little huff of breath. It was the first sound to come from him that was not cheerful, although his next glance warmed a little. Despite this, however, he looked much more serious. "Do you get to talk about it a lot?"
"Well, sometimes," She admitted. "Now that I'm finally with Uncle Laguna again, it's easier. Sure, we're doing a lot of catching up, but yeah... I've been able to talk to him a lot, about a lot of things."
"Like when you were with Odine?"
Ellone glanced over at him sharply. He was looking at her innocently, and she felt a little rush at the sight. Of course he knew. A lot of people knew. And he didn't mean any harm, it was clear by looking at him. The talkative man simply was offering himself to listen. "...Yeah." She finally answered. "Like with Odine."
"Did he...hurt you?"
Ellone's lips parted a little, but Iskuya jumped to interrupt her, both in gesture and in voice. "Look, I'm sorry. We don't have to get personal if you don't want to. I just don't particularly like that guy, Odine, or how he works. It's okay to be into your job, yeah, but not to that extreme. I guess... I'm just worried."
"Worried?" Ellone narrowed her eyes at him. She had been blushing. "It's over, Laguna rescued me years and years ago..." But still, she wondered. Although the tests were more careful and wary under Laguna's firm eye, she still went to Odine's laboratory on a scheduled basis... had Iskuya known that?
He answered her question. "I guess I've seen you on that side of town, you know?" He tentatively said. For once, he seemed a little listless. Guilty? Ashamed... embarrassed? Yes, the latter seemed to hold the firmest.
Ellone saw this and set a hand on his lightly-armored shoulder. Carefully she shifted her head so that she was meeting his eyes. Her brows lifted reassuringly, and she said, "Really, it's fine... when he was studying me, he found something out... It's not an illness, not really, but he likes to monitor it for what he has convinced Laguna to be an 'important cause.' That's all. Really."
"You're sick?" Iskuya asked.
"No, not really... I'm just... different."
Iskuya looked over at her and smiled, the barest twittering uplift at one corner of his mouth. "You're definitely something, that's for certain."
Ellone let a little breath out from her lips, and in that huff was a laugh, soft and wiltering. Smiling back into his eyes, she felt the first comings of a rush, something that escalated in her chest and lifted her face up to his. She saw him close his eyes, come to meet her, and that feeling rose to a cresting intensity--
And broke.
A guard pushed by her, knocking her unpleasantly into Iskuya's chest. His arms went around her, not in passion but in surprise, as he caught her and tried to keep her on her feet. Both hands turned as the soldier went hurrying by.
Ellone looked over one shoulder, felt her hair crinkle against his chest and her cheek. Suddenly, it felt very cold. Behind her was another guard moving their way, and as her eyes swam wildly from side to side, they stopped on one man after another... standing at the corner, moving hastily down the street, coming out from a building, looking around with some sort of intent in their motions.
The crowd seemed oblivious. They moved on, couples held onto each other, and the music and laughter never shifted a beat. Ellone, however, was shocked into stillness. "What's going on?" She asked. By then she had stepped out of Iskuya's arms, but he was quick to take hold of her elbow.
"I don't know," He said. His voice was low, and when she looked at him, his eyes were roaming as well. "It's nothing to worry about, I'm sure." One look into his face, and she knew that he was lying. "It's probably just another uprooted monster. Let's go."
He pulled on her elbow. This had been done earlier in the night, when he wanted to get her attention and point something out to her. However, this time the tug was firm and controlling. He was tense, she could feel it clearly.
And her feet had just started to move when she saw it. Iskuya was stopped short, and he turned around to look at her over one shoulder. She was staring at a point in front of him, and he turned his head quickly that way, only to look at her again. "Elle?"
"...Iskuya!" With her free hand she pointed. There was a dark space between two clubs, a maintenance building that was a little set back from the street. It was bleak and industrial-looking, and didn't seem to fit with the rest of the sector. This, however, was not what Ellone was motioning toward. Two figures were slipping into that shadowy metal door. They wore the uniforms of Esthar soldiers, but had no helmets... When they looked around warily to make sure that they were covered, Ellone had seen their faces.
Biggs? Wedge?
"I recognize those two!" She said. "They used to be Galbadian soldiers!"
Iskuya looked at her curiously. "...So?" He was still in mid-pull, holding onto her arm and looking fully ready to move. Like ants drawn to honey, the number of soldiers intensified around them, but this was now on the backburner in Ellone's mind.
"What are they doing here?" She asked. "Something's wrong!"
"Elle," Iskuya said reassuringly. She could sense his wariness, and that made his mask of calm seem false, a ruse. "A lot of soldiers here transferred from other systems. -I- was trained in Galbadia too, you know. Remember? There's nothing wrong with me." Nothing, perhaps, except for that increasing anxiety. "Let's keep moving."
"No," Ellone said firmly. "This is different. This is very, very wrong!" Iskuya's nostrils flared a little, but she didn't listen to his arguments any longer. With a jerk she pulled her elbow out of his hold and rushed down the street. Iskuya's eyes went wide and he spun to tear after her.
"Ellone, wait!"
She didn't stop. By then the two once-Galbadian soldiers had closed the door after them, and the building had become darker and more lifeless without their presence. Tearing through the crowd, she ignored the stares and snaps until she was standing in front of the building. Ellone cast one glance over her shoulder, saw Iskuya's head bob above the crowd in his rush to catch up. She thought to wait for him, but didn't want to waste time.
Something horrible was going to happen.
She put her hand on the knob, set her shoulder to the door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open.
The room was dark. It was also empty. Stepping inside, Ellone looked around. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust, but when they did she saw that the room was tiny. She could have lie down and touched her toes on one wall and her fingertips on another. From somewhere came the sound of dripping water, and with a start she realized--
It was coming from below her.
Dropping to her hands and knees, she felt around the floor. Eventually her fingers met a loosened grate cover that had been set aside, and just beyond it there was a dark, depthless hole. She hadn't seen it when she'd stepped in, and was glad that she hadn't kept walking.
Holding her breath, she heard the sound of voices down below, the smack of boots meeting thin puddles of water. Her eyes went wide and slid from side to side, and within two beats she realized that they were heading further and further away. Quickly she reached back, pulled off her shoes and threw them aside.
Turning herself around in her crawl, she finally set her toes onto a rung of the ladder and started easing herself down. It was so dark, and she trembled with each inch of descent. The hole was black and narrow for a moment, and then she broke out into a wide tunnel of what looked like an underground system. There were dim overhead lights, and again her pupils expanded to adjust.
"Ellone!" The sound came from above, just as she set her feet upon the slimy, solid cement floor. She let out a silencing hiss, but Iskuya had something else on his mind for a moment -- he had run right into the hole. There was an oomph and a crack as his knee hit the ladder and his chest smacked on the lip, and then a clatter as he caught hold of a rung and kept himself from plummeting.
Out from his lips came a string of curses so harsh that she was nearly taken aback.
However, fear kept her in check. "Shh!" She hissed.
"Don't 'shh,' me, goddamn it! I almost killed myself!"
"We're going to -both- get killed, if you don't keep quiet!"
"Quiet?! I think I broke something!"
Ellone looked warily from wide to side. "Look, hurry." She said up to him in a low voice. "I can't wait much longer. We can't loose them, Iskuya."
Iskuya learned well from experience. He knew that if he hesitated or argued, she'd leave him behind again. Muttering out hostilities under his breath, he eased himself down the ladder warily, being careful of his throbbing knee. That entire leg was going stiff, and his chest ached where he struck it.
When he finally got onto solid ground, he reached out for her again. She slapped his hand away and looked at him intensely. Iskuya, despite himself, glared back and tried to hide his painful wince inside of that expression.
"What do you expect to happen, Ellone? Even if they are up to no good, what are you going to do about it? Huh? We need to get -help-. There are a dozen soldiers up there. Did you ever consider, you know, going to one of -them- instead of throwing yourself down into the goddamn sewers?"
"Something's wrong. I..." He presented a good argument, but her gut told her that it was wrong. And, upon realizing this, she lifted her chin a little. "I have to keep going. Follow, if you want, or better yet -- go back for that help of yours."
And then she was moving again, running fleetly down the corridor with her feet bared. The sight was almost as humorous as it was terrifying. There she went, a thin girl in a white skirt and a sleeveless shirt, running awkwardly and without form like a newborn fawn. She wouldn't last a second in this dangerous atmosphere.
"And what am I supposed to tell them?" He called to her. "That you had a bad 'feeling', calling all guards, calling all guards? Ellone? Ellone?"
"Shit." He muttered, and ran after her.
"Why is the water black?" Ellone asked him.
They were keeping a quick pace, but a measured one. The two soldiers had gotten quite ahead of them, but they left dark footprints in their wake. There was no sense in fretting, Iskuya had grumbled, not with a trail set out for them. Chances were that it would lead to a big embarrassment. The guys were probably just maintenance workers.
As he had known, the comment hadn't stopped her.
"Because it's not water," Iskuya replied grudgingly. He looked very irritated to be there. Ellone felt sorry for him, yes, but again she made no offer to pull back. "It's mostly oil residue, runoff from all the machinery that we've got here. An advanced city leaves advanced waste."
They soon found little reason to be silent. As they moved deeper and deeper down the tunnel, they were struck with the loud sound of generators whirring and humming. Iskuya hadn't known what everything was for, but Ellone had a feeling that he was holding back his information. Somehow, she sensed that he knew that something strange was afoot as well...
Telling her would only keep her moving, though, and that was clearly the opposite of what Iskuya wanted. He kept putting his hand on her, as if making sure that she was next to him and safe, even though the lights told him that she was there. Ellone, however, seemed fearless.
"You're going to get your dress dirty," He kept saying.
"Shut up."
"Next time, I choose where we spend the evening, okay?"
"Shut--" The statement shifted into a cry, as she stopped short and went hurtling back into his chest. The entire tunnel shook and rumbled, and with wide eyes and his arms around her Ellone looked up at the ceiling. Something ground, metal squeaking against metal, and then there was a crash and spray of oil as a chunk of rock fell.
Iskuya stepped back against the wall and held her head to him, curling into her protectively. Ellone was blinded for a moment by his hold, her face crushed into the fabric of his uniform, but then she felt something even more terrifying than the trembling ground at her feet. He had sucked in his breath in shock.
Shaking, rattling, she slowly turned her head to look beyond the sanctuary of his arms. Something enormous had risen from the earth, cracking the narrow ravine where the oil river ran and growing so that its head nearly touched the wide, sloping ceiling above them. She saw its back first, human like and twisting with muscle and glistening oil. Long, narrow arms stretched out and sent spider-webs of cracks in the wall as its claw-like fingers dug into the stone, and its enormous, beak-like jaw spread open with a dry creak, exposing rows of needle-sharp teeth so long that it was unable to close its mouth.
Iskuya was unable to step back, because he was already firm against the wall. Pulverized rock fell onto his head in the form of dust, and he pulled Ellone more tightly into him. Slowly one hand unwound, and with rattling bones he reached back for his pistol.
"S-s--ta..tay sti-sti-still..." He stuttered very, very slowly. His gaze was locked onto the creature, which was pulling its spidery arms back and eyeing the two of them like a hawk would eye a mouse. "V-very...very....sti-stil--Damn it, MOVE!"
Ellone felt a rush as he let go and shoved her forward. Loosing her balance, she fell to the ground and landed flat on her stomach. There was a huff and intense pain as Iskuya landed partially on top of her. Just as they had spun away the creature had thrust its claws into the wall where they had been standing, and rocks broke to fall all around them. Ellone fearfully put her arms over her head, and she felt Iskuya do the same.
"Run!" He cried, as he rolled off her and onto his chest. His pistol was in both hands, and with his cropped hair lopsided, a black smudge on one cheek and his eyes intense, he pulled the trigger to fire at the creature, which was pulling its arms out from the wall again in a spray of dust. Ellone watched this with wide eyes, and then in a rush of panic she shoved herself his way and knocked his elbows up.
Both bullets that he had fired harmlessly pounded into the ceiling.
"What in the hell are you doing?!"
"What in the hell are -you- doing?! It's covered in oil!" Ellone snapped back. They would have continued the argument, save the fact that the creature was sending its nail-like claws down at them again. With a shove of her heels Ellone sent herself launching forward, and Iskuya rolled again. Both narrowly missed impalement. The walkway crumbled, and with a clench of its fist that portion was torn away. Angrily, the monster threw its handful of rock back over one shoulder and dug into the walkway again, setting its beady eyes on Iskuya.
By then the man had gotten to his feet, and with his head low he sprinted down what was left of the walkway. Letting out a deafening roar, even above the generators, the creature tore out the rock in front of him. Iskuya did a double take and leapt back, putting himself against the wall again in terror. He stood on an eight-yard long shooting range, and found himself to be the target.
Ellone had fallen into the ravine, and her entire back was covered in oil when she dragged herself out on the opposite side. It smeared when she wiped her face, and with a wince she heard Iskuya's cries from over the generators, the crashes, and the roars. Painfully she pushed herself to her feet, shaking, and then she saw it:
Iskuya stood on a small island with his back to the wall. There was nowhere else for him to go, and half of his head was in a gashed crevice in the cement. Blood drizzled down the side of his face, and his eyes were wide, his hands claws against where he stood, and his chest heaved madly in his terror.
Everything seemed to move slowly as the monster reared back its bony arms, and Ellone felt her lungs expand in the beginnings of a scream, something that her mouth was too stiff to allow her to push out. "No," She hissed without a breath, so softly that she didn't even hear herself say it.
"No!" This time, the sinews of that oily mass shifted and it moved, looking over its narrow shoulders. Ellone realized just what she'd done, and with a rush of panic she stepped backwards. Iskuya too, having realized that the final strike had not come, opened his eyes to see the monster turning to face away from him.
"Ellone!" He cried.
But she was not listening. Her thin lips trembled, she stepped back again in spite of herself, and then she tensed her jaw and narrowed her eyes. All of a sudden she was moving across the walkway and toward the creature, she set her feet together and brought her two longest fingers to the inside of her arm, which she rapidly extended. Closing her eyes, she lowered her head.
There was a flash and a whirling hiss, as a circle of light wound about the ground at her feet. And then, glowing and blank-eyed, she threw open her arms. There was a burst of radiant energy, a rush that spiraled and screamed down the tunnel. Iskuya turned his cheek against the stone, and the creature retracted.
It visibly shuddered, and then the glow died.
Ellone dropped her arms. Her legs were wobbly, and that powerful confidence died along with the light that had come with it. Woozily, she staggered off to one side and fell in a slump against the wall.
Stunned, Iskuya watched this, and then he saw the creature lift its arm to strike at her. Whatever she had done, it didn't seem to have any eff--
And then, suddenly, the blackness of the oil that made up the creature's flesh began to loose its sheen. The muscles started to knot and drew into each other, drying out and turning a dust-like grey. That arm trembled in mid-air, and for a moment the monster seemed frozen in time. And then the joint of its elbow shattered, crumbled down to its wrist, its shoulder, its neck and torso.
That oil had broken into ash.
Iskuya watched the enormous monster catch and billow down to the ground in powdery pieces, and through the snowflakes of black he saw her standing there, dazedly against the wall with dizzy, half-empty eyes.
He stared blankly at her until the blackness took hold of him and dragged him into unconsciousness. Even as he fell, that image remained in his mind.
Ellone knew that she had to keep moving, and somehow she did. With a push of her shoulder-blades she stumbled away from the wall and toward the oil-filled gully. She probably could have jumped it, if she braced herself and used all of her energy, but she didn't have any energy to use. Tiredly she slogged across and dragged herself onto the small island where Iskuya was slumped in a seated position.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Her voice cracked. Iskuya groaned and rolled his head, but that was enough for her. Tensing herself, she managed to straighten and start walking. Crossing through more sludge where the monster had torn out the path, she eventually reached a straight way of solid ground.
"Ellone?" Iskuya was calling after her. He sounded dreary, and she didn't have to turn around to know that he was still slumped over in half-awareness. Her magic had affected him, and she knew that it would be a while before he could stand. She couldn't wait that long, she couldn't wait another minute.
"I have to keep going," She called to him. "You can catch up."
She didn't wait for his reply, although he drowsily kept calling her name.
At the next turn the tunnel seemed oddly clean in comparison to the newly-formed wreckage that she had left behind. Miserably she tried wiping the oil from her arms and her legs, rubbing her hands against the wall to clean them as best she could. The smell was nauseating, and it didn't help that she was dizzy.
But slowly her energy began to return, her eyes began to clear, and her heart began to pound. Hard.
The pair of footprints were clear, and she rounded a corner that took her to a niche in the wall. There was less light here, but she could still see clearly -- it was little more than a square space. The river did not turn, it kept going straight... and the niche seemed like nothing more than a short hallway carved into the wall. A dead end...or so it seemed. The footprints lead there. Tentatively, Ellone edged down it. Her bare feet made not a sound, and she held her breath inside her chest.
With wide eyes she slowly made her way to the wall that ended the hallway and turned around in a small circle. She couldn't see the oily trail in this lighting. Carefully she looked up, trying to find another ladder, a hole...but there was nothing.
Her answer ended up being right next to her. Idly, frustrated, Ellone had looked off to one side. There, set in the wall, was a steel door. Her heart skipped a beat and leapt into her throat. With wide, wary eyes she inched forward, looking it up and down. As she neared she started to hear voices. Arguing.
"Don't ask me, the boss said it was right here."
She set her hands silently against the door and then put her ear up to it. Her lips parted a little so that she could hear better, and with hardly a breath she tried to catch as much of the conversation as she could.
"We hook it up -right- here. Look, look at the picture. Idiot."
"Here? What about there?"
"No. Look, count them. Third one down. We hook up this thing into this part of the switchboard, and then connect. That'll give us complete control of the city's security system. Home free, medals of honor."
"That's what you always say, Biggs. That's what you always say -right- before everything goes to hell."
Oh, why didn't she wait for Iskuya?! He was right, what was she thinking? She didn't want to go through this alone. However, as the conversation began to quiet and the sounds of working took its place, she felt her resolve rise along with her panic. What were they doing? The security system? What was going to happen, once they got control of it?
...Oh Gods, Oh Gods, Oh Gods..
"Okay, we tie these wires together right he--"
Ellone sucked her breath tightly into her chest and slammed the door open with her shoulder. Her tight lungs forced out that air, and she turned her terrified exhalation into a cry. "Stop!"
The two soldiers stared blankly at her. One of them had a wire in his hand, and the other a flashlight in his mouth. It dropped to the floor in his shock. Ellone looked from one to the other warily, and it took all of her will not to run away.
"What are you doing?!" She asked accusingly. "You're not supposed to be here!"
The soldiers exchanged glances, and then looked at her again. "Who in the hell are you?"
Ellone's nostrils flared, and in a burst of improvisation snatched a pipe off one of the machines in the room. While doing so she caught a glance at exactly where they were, and it looked to be a control-area of sorts. It was probably what managed all of the underground generators in this area...
Holding up the pipe in front of her, she managed a stance. "My friend is going for Esthar security right now!" She cried, trying to make her terror sound like bravery, her lie like the truth. "We know who you are, and...and..."
They looked amused, and with cruel swaggers they slowly advanced on her. "Security?" The larger one said. "You just got a transfer of new soldiers today, I'd imagine that they're on patrol right now?"
The other one grinned. "They have loyalty to us."
Ellone's breaths rattled frightfully in the cold basement air. With wild-eyes she looked from one to the other. Loyalty to -who-? But then, it was starting to make sense. Why were all of the soldiers gathering over this sector? It had seemed so mysterious...
Security...soliders...
"An invasion...?"
"You could say that," Biggs said. Wedge slammed a fist into his palm. "Let's just say that it's an offer that you can't refuse. Heh."
"I can't believe this. -This- is our retaliation," Wedge chuckled. "I'm going to have -so- much fun wit--"
Ellone didn't stand around to listen any longer. With a grunt and clenched teeth she leapt forward and swung the pipe like a baseball bat. There was a crack as she connected with the top of Wedge's head. The man had attempted to dodge, but all he saved was his skull from being crushed. He was knocked off his feet.
Biggs threw up his hands. Ellone, in a frenzy, faced him and swung the pipe around furiously. The soldier took a step back, but she kept herding into him. "Why!?" She cried. "What have we ever done to you, except GIVE!? We opened our goddamn gates to the world, and what does it do?! Attack?! Huh?! Answer me!"
Wedge groaned and tried to push himself up. He flopped, and after the third try managed to get onto his bottom. He dizzily put his head between his knees. "Shit, man."
Biggs put his hand down to reach for his weapon, but Ellone was more ready for this than she had ever been for anything else. Powerfully she snapped at him, cracking the pipe into his wrist .The pistol clattered onto the floor, and flew back as her foot hit it. She threw herself at him wildly.
He managed to catch the pipe in a hand before it connected with him, and together the two of them crashed into one of the control panels. The lights in the room flipped on, and then dimmed again. Ellone was still screaming at him, so terrified that she had gone temporarily mad, and Biggs was starting to cry out as well.
"Stay out of this city!" She cried.
"We were hired, it's not our fault, Lady! Lady! Lay off!" Biggs was breaking into a whine, until he finally got a firm grip on her shoulders. Powerfully, she lifted her off him and threw her down. Ellone's mind scattered in panic as she went sailing, and then she let out a painful cry as her back met the cement floor, right in front of the open doorway.
"Damn it," Biggs said, brushing himself off. Wedge painfully got himself to his feet, and he looked at the fallen woman roll onto her side and curl up into herself. "What a joke."
Wedge murmured a reply and painfully rubbed at the side of his head.
Ellone got onto her hands and knees, with her hair hanging and her bottom facing the two soldiers. She was panting and humiliated. She could feel their eyes on her, staring... they didn't come after her. She was so weak, so helpless, and so pathetic that they didn't even bother coming after her right away. She was going to die, and they weren't even going to put any effort into it.
And then, suddenly, the heel of her hand met something on the floor. With a rush she lowered her eyes and saw the butt of Biggs' pistol. Her chest constricted and her heart sped up in realization. Too afraid to look over her shoulder and see if they had noticed, she edged back and set her hand upon the weapon.
With them watching, she eased herself painfully to her feet. Her back was to them, and it was surprisingly easy to hide the pistol, hold it against her stomach. She tried to get her finger around the trigger, and kept hunched over. It wasn't hard to pretend that she was in pain -- she was. Her shoulders, her arms, her legs... everything hurt.
"Well, sweetheart," Biggs said. "I'll have to congratulate you. You're going to be the first casualty of this mission."
And then she was spinning toward him, gun in hands and pointed right at his face.
"Draw your weapon and I shoot," She snapped to Wedge, who was already making the motion. He dropped his hands and sneered at her.
"Damn it, where did that come from?"
"It's yours, you moron," Wedge hissed.
"Quiet, both of you." Ellone said. "I have some questions, and you're going to answer them. Understand?"
They glared at her.
"Good," Ellone said.
Glare.
"Who sent you?" She asked. They were silent for a moment, and Ellone felt at a loss. What if they didn't answer at all? Would that mean that she would have to shoot them? She didn't want to kill anyone...
Oh, why didn't she listen to Iskuya!
"The General of the Galbadian Army." Wedge said bitterly.
"...Galbadia?" Ellone said incredulously. "But..." Her eyes roamed about for a moment, confused.
"Is that a question?" Wedge tittered. "'Cause I don't quite know how to answer it, and I really, really don't want to di--"
Biggs elbowed him sharply in the side.
"Where in Galbadia is he?" Ellone asked. She didn't know if she was asking the right questions, but she had to make due as she was. For now, she tried to get what she could, and hopefully she would be able to get them back to the surface...
...Where Galbadian soldiers lurked in disguise...
Oh, Gods. What was she going to do?
And then three realizations hit her. Neither man had answered her question, and both were smirking. These, however, were nothing in comparison to the third.
An enormous shadow broke up the dim light in the room, and she heard the click of a firearm ring out right behind her. All of the blood rushed to her feet, and then Biggs visibly relaxed, despite the fact that Ellone still had his own gun aimed at him.
"It's about time you got down here, Boss. As you can see, we have a little problem."
Wedge was grinning painfully.
Ellone knew that she had lost. It was over. Trembling, she found that she had lost control of her arm. It dropped to her side, and her quivering fingers slowly began to vibrate the gun where she held it. Like a penny on a shaking table, it eventually slipped out of her hold and clattered onto the floor.
Why had she tried to do this alone?
"Boss? What's up?"
Ellone saw the expression shift on Biggs face, saw the barest glimmer of confusion lace into his irises. Narrowing her eyes, she set her heels and slowly turned around to see what had made him hesitate.
Iskuya was standing behind her, haggard and torn, with the barrel of his pistol extended purposefully. Ellone felt her jaw go slack and then a blissful feeling of relief rose up into her heart. Tears sprang into her eyes, and her hand went onto her chest. "Oh, thank god," She whispered.
Iskuya was still looking levelly at her. Ellone, unable to blink, stared into his face. Never did she look down at the gun barrel; never did she see the way that the pistol was perfectly leveled with not Biggs, nor Wedge... but her. She didn't need to. All she had to do was look at his face, and she knew.
Ellone felt those tears of relief begin to burn painfully in her wide eyes, and she took a stunned step away from him. Backwards, but not far enough.
"...I'm sorry." Iskuya said. But he couldn't have been that sorry, because before he even finished that last word he pulled the trigger.
End Part 13/?
To Be Continued.