AN: *wails* the end is nigh!
Book Three of the Sorcerer Arc ~ Battle Lines ~ Chapter Twelve ~ A Battle Won...
Surprisingly, for all that they were hardest pressed of the three battles, Galbadia Garden's was the only fight that found itself halted by the fading light. The Galbadian soldiers simply melted backwards into the darkness, as silent leaving as they had been throughout the fight. Immediately the SeeD fighters, too experienced to risk a counter-attack in the confusion of twilight, attempted to aid their fallen comrades - those who still lived - further beyond where the fighting had been fiercest. They were driven off time and time again by unseen snipers, not killed, but warned and wounded until they were forced to give in. Even as it became too dark to see without the aid of lights, the snipers still managed to keep their perfect aim, probably using night-sight scopes.
So, angered and sickened by the Galbadian lack of respect for the standard military code that granted both sides the right to tend to their fallen, the SeeDs withdrew for the night. They expected, from the Galbadian's, so far unbroken, silence, that the night would be tense, but quiet. They were wrong. Not more than an hour after twilight had seen the Galbadians fall back, after the SeeDs had been forced to abandon their injured comrades, the screaming began. The worst of it was, the screams were those of their wounded who remained lost in the darkness.
And when the sun rose high enough to bring light to see by the next day, the SeeDs who had suffered through the night, as tortured by the screaming of their friends as their friends were by the torture itself, there were new horrors to see and face.
Eight wooden crosses had been erected during the night, four upon each side of the bridge. A SeeD decorated each cross, all but one still, although barely, alive and conscious. All had been stripped of their uniforms and crucified, heavy metal spikes punched through each wrist and both ankles. Blood had dried on the crosses, staining the wood and giving off a stench fouler than usual. But that wasn't the worst. Before the first rank of Galbadians, held in check by stout leather collars and chain leashes, were the disfigured forms of four other SeeDs. Each, had the SeeDs known what fate had befallen their headmaster, Martine, looked similarly disfigured. Flesh had melted and flowed, pooling into lumps and leaving bone and muscle bare. Hair had fallen out, pushed free by great blisters that had burst, the pus within drying a sickening yellow over the scalp and face. Here and there flesh was just missing, as though torn away by some starving creature. And they were clearly insane, salivating and straining forwards, eager to rend and kill whatever lay in their paths, no matter that those whom they were so eager to destroy had been their friends and comrades only hours before.
More than one SeeD turned away and vomited violently, most only bringing up bile. There were few with stomachs strong enough to eat with the knowledge that it might be a friend screaming for mercy only a few metres away. Fewer still were able to retain anything they ~had~ eaten at the sight of what their wounded had become. But as the Galbadians advanced, the SeeDs stood their ground, knowing, however hard it might be, that they were no longer fighting their friends, but monsters in their guise. Only through death, they knew, would their souls be laid to rest.
Xu watched with a mixed sense of resignation and pride as the relentless stalemate began once more.
***
Squall was aware of Seifer's presence, hovering just close enough to be nearby, but just far enough away not to be intruding. He was also aware of the GF, Hades, watching in a similar way from the dimension the GFs inhabited. Quite what they thought he would do, he wasn't sure. He didn't know himself. Not since his spirit had been roughly pulled back from the grey lands by Seifer. He'd been aware of the connection between his body and spirit growing ever fainter, nearly ready to fade to nothing, leaving him as good as dead. He hadn't cared, too desperate in his futile search for Ellone's soul, too lost in his grief and anger.
He still couldn't understand ~why~. She'd left no more note than one with a cryptic message about the future demanding sacrifice - Squall had a sneaking suspicion that Seifer thought he'd understood it, but in truth the brunette had as little real idea as the blond. And he couldn't forgive himself for the way in which she had manipulated them both. He should have realised that her concern hid another agenda. He should have been paranoid enough by now. But...he had wanted to believe he could trust her, his half-sister. He had wilfully turned a blind eye to the danger signs, the warnings that his sorcerer senses had tried to give him as she lied and turned his attention elsewhere. It was ~his~ fault that her fading presence had gone unnoticed in the mindless spiral of pleasure he and Seifer had been locked in. All ~his~ fault.
So what to do now? He couldn't bring Ellone back, not now, and the vigilance of his knight meant he couldn't join her in death. Squall sighed heavily, brushing a weary hand across his cheeks as though searching for evidence of the tears that hadn't fallen. Esthar was as good a place as any to wait for the end...but... He'd tried waiting already, had thought then that he was strong enough to watch as the world went to hell, and he went along for the ride. But Ellone had changed that, and he had acted, and still lost her. And now... Now he couldn't go back to doing nothing. It wasn't enough, and it was too much at the same time. Too many thoughts would plague him now, refusing to let his mind go blank, dwelling on nothing. All he had to fall back on was the mindless routine of battle...
"Mea culpa. (1)" He whispered. "And whether good fortune and a sure aim go with us or not, we'll go down fighting."
***
Seifer wasn't sure what was going on in Squall's head. Sure, he could tell that the brunette was hurting badly, that he was also furious and tired, and that he had come to a decision, but nothing more than that. If experience told him anything more, it was that Squall was blaming himself for everything, completely ignoring the fact that it had been as much his knight's fault as his own. That and he was most likely ignoring all the other factors that probably pushed Ellone over the edge.
So when Squall finally emerged from the room he'd fled to after his own, semi-intentional attempt at suicide had failed, looking as stoic and emotionless as ever, Seifer was instantly suspicious. Not, however, as suspicious as he would have been had Squall emerged and run sobbing into his arms, and not as suspicious as he would have been had Squall once again blocked the emotional link between them. It seemed that, for the moment at least, Ellone's meddling had resulted in a truce between them.
"Report."
Seifer watched Squall's face carefully as he told his sorcerer what he knew of events in the outside world. The brunette's icy mask was back in place, but it wasn't half as strong as he was trying to make out. A shadow crossed his face as Seifer reported on Kylari's activities in Galbadia, and repeated the essence of messages overheard by Esthar's external listening posts regarding the fighting at sea, on Balamb, and at Fisherman's Horizon. A deep frown appeared when Seifer told him of the strange visit Edea had received in the Esthar medical centre, the ice sorceress giving up her life and her powers with no explanations. The only good news, smoothing away the frown into an expression that could only be called relief, was that Kylari had forced the hands of everyone else except Galbadia. The forces that remained - with the silent exception of the Shumi and Esthar - had all officially declared themselves allies of Garden, SeeD...and the sorcerer.
"But apart from that, nothing much." Seifer couldn't help but finish facetiously. Squall spared him a moment's attention, the brunette clearly deciding who or what, if anyone or anything, Seifer was mocking. Dismissing it with a slight grunt, the sorcerer headed for the door. "Hey! Where we going?" Seifer demanded. Squall stopped, sighed, put a hand on his hip and turned, looking slightly exasperated. The attempt at normality was too forced though, and Seifer could see right through it to the irritable impatience beyond. Wherever Squall was headed, the brunette was in a rush to get there.
"To warn Edea, and then to Fisherman's Horizon. I think Kylari has had a hand in events there." Revenge. That was the light burning in Squall's eyes, a light Seifer recognised all too well. He couldn't help but think back to his conversation with Zell and Quistis, the warning he had given them that now seemed like a premonition. Squall was returning, but he was returning for his own revenge, and they might not like the consequences. Sorceresses hell bent on revenge weren't the subtlest of people, and from the White SeeD's example, neither were sorcerers.
Frowning, Seifer started to ask what Edea was being warned about, but the words hadn't left his mouth before the door slammed open, a panting and red-faced aide in the doorway.
"Sir! President, sir!" Seifer nearly cursed, would've told the aide to get the hell out if he could've found the words. But he couldn't. Squall's face, turned away from the aide, but clear to Seifer, was twisted in fury, and the sudden build-up of power around the brunette reflected that fact. "President Leonhart, sir!" Fury and power vanished with the aide's second shout. Squall's icy mask crumbled, revealing pure and utter confusion. Slowly he turned, staring at the aide with wide, unbelieving eyes.
"What did you say?" His voice was a near whisper, cracking slightly as he tried to decide what to make of the situation.
"P-president Leonhart, s-sir..." The aide stuttered, suddenly afraid. Realisation suddenly dawned on Seifer."Of course." He muttered.
"Report." Squall snapped, startling the already worried aide, making the man jump slightly.
"Um, yes sir! Balamb Garden sent an urgent request for aid on behalf of Galbadia Garden, they specifically named you and Seifer Almasy - although we haven't responded to any of their queries about your presence." The aid quickly added the last, recalling with a slight hint of amusement how anxious the communications technicians were to find out just ~how~ Garden had confirmed Squall Leonhart and Seifer Almasy's presence in Esthar.
Squall tapped his fingers on his thigh for a moment, thoughts racing.
"Assemble the army." He decided, waiting for the aide to fumble a notepad and pen from his pocket before continuing. "Organise a militia from the civilian population, and designate one veteran unit from the army to integrate itself with the militia. The rest of the civilian population is to take essential items only and evacuate to the Vienne mountains - they are to be escorted by the militia and the veteran unit." There was a long pause. "Designate a cadet unit to remain here - they will be under the command of sorceress Edea and her knight. Dismissed." The aide turned and vanished back the way he'd come, footsteps fading quickly into the distance.
"What are you planning Squall?" Seifer murmured, softly enough that the brunette could choose to pretend he hadn't heard. "Edea has to be one of the last sorceresses alive, so Kylari's definitely going to come after her, and yet you're chasing after her shadow, and stripping Esthar of defenders as you do it."
Squall, as Seifer had thought he would, didn't answer. But the blond knew he'd heard.
***
It was like fighting an unending stream of dolls, animated and given their orders, and turned loose on an enemy. The Galbadians just kept coming, wave after wave, undaunted by the failure of their attempts to sap morale, but similarly uninspired by the ground that they were slowly gaining. And they still made no sound. That was the eeriest thing of all. No matter how badly wounded, they kept coming silently forwards until they were physically incapable of moving any further, and then they lay, silent and unresisting, as the ranks behind trampled them to death. It was almost like fighting zombies, but these soldiers moved with the same fluid ease as a living person, bled the same rich red blood as living people. If anything that only made it worse.
Xu had long since left the safety of Galbadia Garden's observation deck for the dangers of the battleground below. Not that she was in the front ranks, but she was with the magic users supporting the physical fighters from behind. A series of well-timed GF strikes cleared a long stretch of the bridge, enabling those at the front to catch their breath, and to take whatever healing potions they required to continue fighting. She might have ordered them to push forwards then, if she hadn't already tried the tactic once before...
Shuddering at the memory, it took Xu a moment to notice the stillness that had crept into the ranks around her. A hushed muttering broke out, and she craned to see beyond the frontline fighters. The Galbadians had stopped. Finally, at long last, they had stopped advancing. But there was no sense of relief, because ~something~, two ~somethings~, were advancing. They looked like Creeps, if the shadowy monsters were given bulk and an ape-like form, but the way they advanced...
Evidently feeling the same way, the SeeDs with long range weapons opened fire just as the magic users cast their spells. The resulting maelstrom of magic and lead was loud and violent, but not loud enough to drown out the piercing screams that rose from its heart. The air cleared, and the two creatures were down, unmoving. Xu felt a fearful shiver climbing her spine. That had been ~way~ too easy. As if feeling her foreboding, one of the creatures twitched and then unfolded upwards once more, followed quickly by its companion, both seemingly unharmed. The SeeDs besides her shrank back slightly as the monsters recovered and began to advance once more. Xu found the front line slowly moving closer as they too began to give way before the new foe.
"Hold the line!" She bellowed, anger lending her the volume she normally struggled for. The SeeDs froze, most not having realised that she was even down with them. "They might not be going down easily, but I'm sure as hell not either!" Deciding that, whether her weapons were suitable or not, she might as well lead from the front and inspire them that way, Xu pushed her way to the fore, calmly turning her backs on the advancing creatures to address her troops once more. "We've fought tougher enemies in the past, and we've always won!" A grin began to stretch across her face as she saw what no one else had yet noticed. "And we'll win this time!" She let the laugh that threatened to become hysterical escape briefly, raising a hand triumphantly in the air, already certain of victory. "Because, we're ~not~ alone!"
It took a moment for realisation to spread through the ranks, and by that time Squall and Seifer were already pushing their way through, dozens of fresh Estharian soldiers close on their heels. Xu turned back to face the creatures as Squall and Seifer drew level with her, finding that even the shadowy creatures seemed daunted by the arrival of reinforcements on their opposition's side. Or maybe it was the arrival of a sorcerer and his knight. Xu could feel the sheer aura of power radiating from Squall, and to a lesser degree from Seifer, and wondered how she'd missed it before.
"Stand down Xu. The SeeDs need a break, and only Squall and I can take these out anyway." Seifer murmured, on her left. Squall, on her right, seemed lost in contemplation of their enemies, but nodded as she glanced at him for confirmation.
"Yes sir!" She snapped off a textbook salute, falling back through the ranks that parted to let her go, and calling the exhausted SeeDs after her. Seifer watched her go, waiting until she was out of earshot before he turned to Squall.
"What now?" He asked, wondering if Squall would actually tell him this time, or if he would be left to guess his way blindly along.
"The Estharian soldiers should hold here while we deal with the Nether Ghouls. They can follow us up or hold their ground as we need once I find out what Kylari's done to the Galbadians." Acutely aware of Squall's impatience, Seifer quickly relayed the orders to the Estharian captain, still finding that he had to jog to catch up with the brunette.
***
The Nether Ghouls had, as Xu had briefly speculated, stopped as they sensed the arrival of many more of the weaker creatures they had been facing already, but mainly they had stopped as they sensed the arrival of more dangerous prey. Much more dangerous prey. However, they were under a compulsion to drive forwards, and so retreat was not an option. They would have to fight, but first, they would attempt to scare away the threat...
***
Seifer resisted the urge to cover his ears with his hands as the Nether Ghouls opened their mouths and screamed. He thought he might go deaf, but as his hearing shut down in automatic self defence, he noticed Squall flinching backwards, shaking his head. Of course, Seifer realised, a sorcerer's senses were much sharper than a normal person's, much stronger than even a knight's senses. Quite how many sub-sonic levels Squall was picking up, he wasn't sure, but Seifer was ready to swear that his bones were starting to vibrate with the sound.
Finally, blessedly, the sound stopped, leaving his ears ringing and deaf to anything quieter than an explosion next to him. Squall didn't seem to be in much better shape, the brunette actually going as far as casting a cure spell on himself. Following his example, Seifer did the same, finding, to his surprise, that the ringing stopped, and he could once again hear the sound of the wind quietly whistling over and under the bridge.
***
The Nether Ghoul's screams, fortunately for the onlookers, didn't travel well against the wind, and only reached them as a high, reedy screech. But they could imagine the volume from the way it stopped Squall and Seifer in their tracks, and from the faint blue green lights that indicated healing spells. A few of the SeeDs winced in empathy, and then everyone watched in shock and awe as both sorcerer and knight attacked in perfect, graceful unison.
The fight was over in seconds, gunblades infused with the power of a sorcerer easily cutting through flesh that shimmered in and out of existence faster than the eye could follow, but for the few seconds that it took the onlookers were held spellbound, watching as Seifer and Squall moved in attack patterns that truly seemed more of a complex dance than a sequence of fighting moves.
The remains of the shadowy monsters melted into the darkness of the few shadows cast by the rails of the railway, and seeped away to reveal the Galbadian army behind.
A Galbadian army that slowly began to march forwards once more...
***
Kylari had expected resistance. Admittedly, she had expected a typically pathetic mortal resistance, but she hadn't expected to find Esthar deserted. Even if she strained her senses all she could hear was the dry whistle of wind between the buildings, the soft scraping as scraps of paper and other rubbish was blown along the ground. The city, it seemed, had been forewarned and evacuated. A soft shiver ran up her spine, some extra sense warning her that only the sorcerer or her prey could have known she was coming. That only they could have warned the city and organised its evacuation. And if they had organised a retreat, they could well have organised a trap of some kind.
She followed her instincts South, knowing that if the population had been evacuated they would have headed for the mountains to the North. That meant that her quarry would be to the South - the exact opposite direction - in a bid to draw her away from the 'innocent' civilians. Kylari didn't care about them, yet. But she was wary now, especially after the unexpected show of strength from the Galbadian lightning sorceress.
It was that wariness, the fact that she had unconsciously shielded herself, that saved her from the ambush. The Estharian cadets sprang out at her without warning, attacking silently and without reserve, knowing that their best chance for success lay in a swift and deadly surprise attack. But they hadn't counted on her being shielded, and were at a loss as their attacks were easily repelled. Kylari, for her own part, ~had~ been surprised. For some reason, she found that she couldn't sense her attackers in any way except by seeing them, realisation dawning that they were shielded against her senses somehow. Esthar did, of course, have a history of having to deal with sorceresses, and had apparently managed to find some way to shield themselves from being sensed other than visually.
It wasn't until she had, in a panicked retaliation, killed them all, that Kylari truly realised she had been attacked by cadets. At the same time she came to the conclusion that it had to have been the sorcerer who had warned the city and arranged its evacuation. He was, after all, the brother of the former President's named heir. Which meant that he had deliberately left only cadets to defend the city and the sorceress. Kylari could sense Edea now, could sense that the other woman had grown in power. She laughed softly to herself, realising that Edea had to, somehow, have come into possession of the ice sorceries as well as her own water sorcery, but the laugh died quickly as she wondered at the sorcerer's planning.
An entire city evacuated, where previously he had seemed uncaring of civilian casualties, going as far as having Dollet completely obliterated in order to crush the Centra cult - a spineless bunch whom Kylari hadn't really been overly interested in. And the sorceress Edea, whom he had provided with a new knight, left alone, except for a token defence. It was almost as if he was ~letting~ her take the final sorceress...
Maybe he was, she thought, suddenly paranoid. Maybe, all this time where she had spent so much effort to take all the sorceresses and bring their powers together in one vessel, working around the many minor victories he had denied her, she had really been playing into his hands... After all, if ~she~ had her reasons for desiring ultimate power, surely he was the same. And it would explain why he had gone to the aid of Galbadia Garden - she had felt the deaths of her two Nether Ghouls confirm that fact.
Then Edea and Nida stepped into view, and all thought had to be suspended in favour of fighting.
***
Edea knew she should have been carrying the advantage into the fight. She, after all, had both a knight and the powers of two sorceresses. But she was wiser than that. Even weak cards could beat a strong hand played badly, the game of triple triad a good teacher for so many things in life. There was also the matter of the types of sorcery that they were both wielding. Poison sorcery was designed to sap the strength of an opponent, and whilst water was designed to nurture, and ice to protect, neither were proof against the inexorable drain of illness. As for her knight - Nida was already busy fighting a Ruby Dragon that Kylari had summoned...
Wishing she had more confidence of victory than the slim hopes she nurtured deep in her heart, Edea prepared to cast her first spells...
***
"Not quite alive," Squall muttered, glaring at the advancing Galbadian soldiers. "But not quite dead enough..." Seifer frowned.
"So, what? You can do something or you can't?" Squall snorted, still glaring, apparently thinking through his options.
"I can try... Get behind me, and stay there." Glowering, Seifer did as he was told, watching as Squall drew himself up, seeing the slight aura of power shimmering around him as the brunette gathered his powers.
"Mihi parendum est! (2)" Squall called out to the advancing soldiers, his voice strengthened by a judicious application of his power. Seifer thought the front ranks hesitated, only slightly, but it ~was~ a hesitation. "Eritis abiri! (3)" The front ranks ground to a halt, stumbling forwards as the ranks towards the back pushed blindly into them. "Te amove! (4)" Slowly, so slowly, the front ranks began to push backwards, edging away from the brunette. "Te amove!" Squall repeated, using more of his power so that more of the Galbadians heard him, prompting more of them to begin the backwards shuffle.
"Well, that worked." Seifer muttered, watching the chaos of seven front ranks attempting to reverse the tide of an unknown number of ranks behind. Squall nodded.
"For now." He muttered a brief incantation, something that Seifer thought sounded familiar - almost like a GF summons. Then he gestured, and with a massive crack the bridge broke, the far side of the break twisting downwards into the sea, whilst the near side twisted upwards, leaving a sizeable gap between the milling Galbadian army and Fisherman's Horizon. A massive cheer went up from the troops behind them, but Seifer could only wonder what Squall had meant by 'for now'.
***
She had barely enough energy left to fly unburdened, never mind with the dead-weight that was the unconscious Edea. But she couldn't risk remaining in Esthar. Couldn't risk that the sorcerer might return to finish the job Edea had nearly managed - to kill her. She was convinced now that she had been played for a fool, and now she was more determined than ever to take the sorcerer's powers - just so she could spend eternity teaching him how foolish he had been.
***
It took several hours to sort out which troops would be billeted where, especially since Galbadia Garden had managed to take on more than a few refugees from Galbadia. Fortunately the fighting had shaken up the residents of FH, so they mutely accepted it when they found themselves having to share their food and housing with the Galbadian refugees. The Estharian soldiers, who hadn't fought the silent Galbadian soldiers, had no objections to camping on the former battleground - once the SeeD dead had been recovered, and the Galbadian dead pushed into the sea. For their part, the Galbadian SeeDs, who ~had~ fought the silent Galbadian soldiers, were downright enthusiastic about returning to their familiar dorms within the G- Garden - which were incidentally also about as far as they could get from the army still milling around on the other side of the gap in the bridge.
Thus it was just coming up to mid-afternoon, although the clouds made it dark enough for early evening, when Seifer finally got a chance to talk to Squall alone.
The blond found his sorcerer standing near the upturned section of track, watching as the Galbadian soldiers marched forwards, only to be thrown into confusion as they discovered the break in the tracks, the front ranks turning and pushing backwards even as the ranks behind pushed forwards - discovering the break and retreating in a similar manner. It was utter chaos - as though the soldiers couldn't see the break until it was right in front of them...
"Iron tracks." Squall answered before Seifer could voice his confusion, raising his voice so that it reached the blond before the wind could whip it into intelligible noise. "Iron disrupts their senses - they can't sense the gap until they're right on top of it."
"What the hell are they?" Seifer demanded.
"Galbadian soldiers - possessed by Infestants." Seifer was surprised when Squall cursed and spat over the side of the bridge. "The book I got the GFs to hide must have been a decoy - she's been damn busy summoning creatures she shouldn't be able to." Mouth open to ask why Squall hadn't felt her summoning the creatures, Seifer forgot everything as the brunette suddenly fell to his knees...
***
The pain hit him like a knife in the guts, lancing through his body without warning and making him fall to his knees. Instinctively he knew what that pain meant, but his scream was cut off as nausea flooded him and he vomited bile. Seifer was behind him, and Squall reached out to warn him, but the balance was sliding too quickly, and the wall of air as the wind picked up speed hit the blond before the warning. Fortunately Seifer's instincts meant that he threw his weight against the wind, and it failed to blow him from the bridge. Many of the possessed Galbadian soldiers weren't as lucky.
Lightning crackled across the sky, the brief flash of light making the afternoon seem that much darker once it was gone. Squall closed his eyes briefly - the only moment of mourning he would allow himself - and touched a hand to the GF orb in his jacket that was suddenly heavier. Nida and Edea were both dead, Kylari was one step closer to her victory. Soon, soon it would all be over. Soon, soon he could finally rest...
AN: Eeee... Stopping there *grins* I've been going through all the earlier books/chapters and making a list of all the ulterior motive stuff that was at the beginning *grin widens* book four is going to be ~fun~.
(1) Mea culpa, Latin, means 'I am guilty'
(2) Mihi parendum est, Latin, means 'you must obey me' - against
zombies this would have more effect, but as Squall comments, the
soldiers aren't quite alive, but they aren't quite dead enough for
him to have full power over them.
(3) Eritis abiri, Latin, should mean something like 'you will be
gone' - a first (and probably last o.O) attempt at Latin grammar,
feel free to correct me :)
(4) Te amove, Latin, literally 'begone' - taken directly from a
Latin-English dictionary, so again, corrections welcome
