I don't own anything except the Takahari family, their Dragoon Spirits, Kenji Okamura, and Victor d'Eltham
The airship felt ancient.
That's the only word I can describe the feeling as. From what I gathered, this ship had been underwater for a thousand years, until the Al Bhed recovered it, just after recovering Tidus.
It was also crowded; it looked like every Al Bhed who survived the massacre at Home had gathered aboard the ship.
And, to top it all off, I had no idea where we were going. But Rikku apparently did. "Follow me!"
She took off running, and Karen, Rose and I followed, bemused. "Where are we going?"
"To the Bridge!" she replied without pausing. "My dad will be up there, getting ready for take off."
I paused as a thought struck me. "Karen, stay by the hatch and make sure the other Guardians get aboard safely. And take out any fiends or Guado that get too close."
She nodded. "Not that there should be many enemies left; not after your little rampage." Karen split off and headed back the way we came.
On the Bridge, Rikku listened as her father, Cid, barked orders in Al Bhed to the crew. "We're lifting off," she translated. "Are Tidus and the others on board?"
I closed my eyes, concentrating; I wasn't as sensitive as Ian, but I could usually sense familiar auras. "They're fine," I said after a moment. "They just boarded and are headed out way."
"Just in time!"
Indeed, the doors above the airship opened, and sand poured in as we lifted into the open air. "You sure this thing is safe?" I asked quietly. "It seems to violate all the laws of physics!"
"Don't worry; we've used all kinds of machina from the ancients... though this is the first time any of us have flown an airship," she admitted.
The other Guardians skidded into the room just as the ship reached the surface. "What's going on?" Tidus asked.
"Just watch," I advised.
Cid gave some more orders, and the other Al Bhed were visibly grief-stricken by them. "Okay, I give," Karen said. "What's up?"
"We're gonna blow up our Home," Rikku whispered.
"With what?" Wakka demanded.
Cid turned. "With one of the forbidden machina!" He began to lead his crew in the Song of the Fayth.
I was impressed when the Al Bhed airship's flanks sprouted missile tubes, and even more so when the huge salvo launched from them.
When they detonated, I had to shield my eyes from the glare, and I was nearly tossed from my feet when the blast front caught up with us. "Ugh!"
I had to shake my head to clear it, and when I looked up once more, the Al Bhed city was in total ruin, and Wakka was awkwardly trying to cheer up Rikku. "Hey, don't look so sad, yah? Just think of it like happy fireworks!"
Rikku glared, but before she could retort angrily, I drew my Taser and shot the big idiot full of electricity for his insensitive remark.
As Wakka lay on the deck, twitching, she glanced at me. "Thanks, Ryan. I know he didn't mean it that way, but..."
"He still shouldn't have said it." I flashed a grin. "Be glad Ian's not here; he might have stopped me from zapping him."
"Or you might have shot him, then Wakka?" She managed a smile.
"Not likely." I shook my head. "The only time I ever got the drop on Ian was when I was under the control of the Soul Slayer, a thoroughly evil sword that has since been destroyed. Since then, I haven't hit him with so much as a snowball. I'd the swear the guy is psychic."
We were interrupted as Tidus advanced purposely toward Cid. "Where's Yuna?" he demanded. "Tell me where she is!" He grabbed the Al Bhed leader...
And was promptly hurled across the room. "We're looking!" Cid replied, glaring. "I'm going to find my niece, and make her stop this pilgrimage of hers!"
"Even against her will?" Auron asked quietly.
"Better than a dog's death." He looked defiantly at the Legendary Guardian. "And I'll take down anyone who don't agree!"
"You're the captain," Auron said agreeably.
I did notice, however, that he didn't say he would actually abide by it.
"How will you locate her?" Lulu asked.
Cid waved at a sphere hanging in the center of the chamber. "Another ancient machina. We'll find her soon enough."
"A scanner of some sort," I noted. "Looks like these 'Ancients' were more advanced than Earth. At least in some ways; I doubt they ever put a man on the moon... or moons, whichever..."
Some time later, an image appeared in the sphere: Yuna, wearing a wedding dress in a strange, ostentatious place, along with... Seymour.
"What's Yuna wearing?" Wakka asked, perplexed.
"It's called a wedding dress," Lulu said, rolling her eyes.
"What's Seymour doing there?" Rikku asked, voicing my thoughts. "I thought Ian killed him!"
"Seymour is dead," Auron said. "As dead as Jyscal was."
I winced. "An unsent. Just what we don't need. I guess that's what Yuna's doing there, though; getting close enough to send him..."
"Where is that?"
"That's Bevelle," Cid said. "And they've got the strongest defenses anywhere. We can't get in there!"
"We're going to rescue Yuna," Tidus said in an odd, firm tone of voice. "That's all that matters. I don't care how hard it is!"
Cid stared at him for a minute, then burst out laughing. "I like your attitude, kid!" He turned back to the pilot, Rikku's brother (named, of all things, Brother). "All right! Bevelle, here we come!"
In preparation for our arrival, the nine of us headed aft, toward the elevator that led to the top deck of the ship. The area seemed to be some kind of observation room, judging from all the windows, and I welcomed the chance to relax for awhile.
"I wonder how Ian's doing," Karen said, staring out. "I think we were unconscious for a couple days after Sin showed up under Macalania; there's a lot of ground he could have covered."
"I think he's probably somewhere on Earth," I said after a time. "Endiness doesn't have the technology for that cyborg, and from her accent and name, she was French. Beyond that, I haven't a clue. Earth's a big place."
"I'd like to see it sometime," Rikku said, sounding almost wistful. "It sounds nice."
"That could be arranged," I said, thinking. "Assuming the spatial anomaly that got us here isn't temporary, we could get you from here to Endiness, and the Dark Mirror, which grants us passage back to Earth, is still at the Shrine." Glancing out the window, I sighed. "I don't go back there much anymore; seven years ago the Kyuuketsuki Ryoushi were virtually wiped out by Sandora's cowardly attack; and the year before, when Ian was still overseas, the Hideoshi family was eliminated when a neighboring clan, the Fukai Maunten, launched an attack. There isn't really much left out there for me."
We were interrupted as Cid's voice came over the ship's intercom. "Hey! There's something coming at us to port!"
I was across the deck before I'd even realized I was moving. "Obutsu! Ittaizentai!?"
"What is it, Ryan?" Karen rushed over, and then she too saw it. "Rose, you gotta see this!"
Ian's fianc's eyes widened as she spotted the creature swiftly approaching. "It cannot be! They're all dead!"
"Guess this particular Dragon didn't get the message," I said grimly, staring at the blue, winged shape slicing through the sky. "We need to get topside, now."
"What is it?" Auron asked.
"Something from Endiness that's supposed to be extinct," Karen replied. "A Dragon."
"Leave this to us," Rose said. "We are Dragoons, you are not. You can't defeat it."
"Wait a minute!" Tidus protested. "I've got one of those things, too!"
"Save it," I advised. "This is not the battle for someone who doesn't yet know how to use his powers properly. I know you did well against Seymour's aeon, but the fact remains that you have no training in Dragoon, or aerial, combat."
"I'm going with you!" Rikku said unexpectedly. "I can help! And besides," she added, with a strange expression on her face, "I... feel something."
She seemed at a loss for words to describe it, but I glanced at her speculatively and nodded slowly. "All right. But be careful; at the speeds were moving at, if you fall, you'll be far behind us by the time we can even try to catch you." Without further comment, I drew my blade and rushed for the elevator, my three companions on my heels.
Cid obviously didn't need to be told to keep some distance between the airship and the Dragon; he kept it just close enough for us to reach it, and matched speed with it.
"Okay," I said as we stood on the deck, already in our winged armor. "Atakku!"
"As if we didn't know," I heard Karen mutter, and then we were off, wings shedding magic as we swooped in on our target.
"Any idea what this beast might be called?" I called to Rose.
"Well, it's sapphire," she said, shrugging. "Other than that..."
"Then we call it the Sapphire Dragon," I decided. "Jade, Violet, Golden, Sapphire... it fits."
I dodged to one side as a grenade arced past and struck the Dragon on the nose. Rikku's work, no doubt, though it mostly just irritated the beast.
Then the battle was joined, and there was a flurry of stabs, cuts, and biting, as two ninja, an ancient warrior, and a Dragon exchanged blows, with the occasional grenade of various types thrown in.
"Big winged nasty to starboard!" Karen called out a short time into the battle. "Looks like the Guardians have it under control." She dropped beneath a claw, kicked its mouth, and stabbed it in the chin.
"Good, 'cause we're busy," I replied. Then I was promptly hit in the chest by a flailing Dragon limb, and I slammed backwards into the airship.
"I'm really mad now!" Rikku suddenly shouted, and some kind of big, nasty bomb sailed overhead and straight toward the Dragon.
And, since the big beast wasn't very smart, it ate the bomb. The resulting explosion blew bits of Dragon innards careening across the sky.
"Eww," Karen muttered. "Hate to think what kind of rain they're getting down there."
My attention was elsewhere, however, as a sapphire sphere drifted over to Rikku. "No way," I breathed. "Another in this group?"
She looked awed as it fastened itself around her neck. "Is this...?"
"Yeah," I managed. "That's the Dragoon Spirit of the Sapphire Dragon. You're one of us, now." I picked myself up off the deck, just in time to see Karen pulling another crazy stunt.
The winged fiend that had shown up during our battle with the Dragon, which I later learned was the Guardian Worm, Evrae (whatever that means), might have been perplexed as a winged human landed on it. If so, it wasn't for long, because the C4 plastic explosive she planted on its back detonated, showering even more gore on the ground below.
I held my head in my heads. "Okay, just shoot me. This day is getting way too strange."
Our entry into Bevelle wasn't exactly the stuff of SEAL teams; it was more like an air strike. Eight of the Guardians skated down thick cables, while I led Karen, Rose, and now Rikku through the air, slamming hard into the walkway where this "wedding" was being held.
Above us, the airship broke off; it was taking a beating, and I nearly laughed as I saw Yevonites firing automatic rifles. So much for the teachings.
"Hang on, Yuna," Tidus whispered. "Here we come."
And nothing was getting in our way. Karen and I took the fore, using our blades to literally cut a path toward the place where Seymour, Yuna, Kinoc, and Mika awaited. The red carpet grew more so, as the blood was spilled.
We ran into a definite snag when we reached the last set of stairs, though: Half a dozen warrior monks, all of them armed with either rifles or flamethrowers. Even ninja couldn't move fast enough to kill them all.
"So much for your teachings," Karen mocked, using the only weapon left to her: words. "Do they only apply to lesser mortals?"
"Something like that," Kinoc allowed. "There are certain exceptions. Now drop your weapons, or we'll kill you all where you stand."
And that was when the black-armored shape fell out of the sky into their midst, and I groaned. "Not another!" The figure wore the same sort of armor as the cyborg ninja, except this one was male, and his exoskeleton was black.
"Fire!" Kinoc immediately ordered, and a barrage of bullets sprayed at the figure. But this ninja had other plans; he drew the katana that was strapped to his back, and moved faster than I'd ever seen anyone move before, deflecting bullets with the blade.
As the monks stopped firing, faces masks of disbelief, he slowly shook his head. "Bad idea," a soft voice emanating from the helmet said. "My turn."
I stood still, frozen with shock, as the black-clad ninja became a blur of motion, slashing and cutting and thrusting with his blade. Blood sprayed as the Yevon monks were slaughtered, and when it was over, one monk remained.
He didn't remain for long, though, and I suspected the stranger had deliberately left him alive for the dramatic effect he pulled off next. In a motion almost too fast to be seen, he sheathed his blade, drew an autopistol from its holster at his thigh, and fired a single shot into the monk's head.
As the explosively decapitated body dropped to the floor, the helmet turned to Seymour. "You again? Can't you even die right?"
Yuna was standing behind the unsent maester, obviously shocked and frightened by this turn of events. "W-who are you?" she asked, voice trembling.
The ninja brought his free hand to the side of his helmet and touched a control. Instantly, the faceplate went transparent, and my bother Ian smiled at her. "It's only me, nothing to worry about. You, on the other hand..." He looked back at Seymour. "I can only assume you've become an unsent, since I removed your head pretty thoroughly."
"Indeed," he admitted. "I confess to be somewhat puzzled by your appearance, Takahari. I had heard that you lost your arm, yet here it is. Were the reports mistaken?"
"I'm not inclined to engage in small talk with you, bastard, but I'll say this: the reports were accurate." He looked back at us. "I know you guys are just dying to know what's been going on, but we don't have time to chat." His gaze flicked over to Yuna. "I'll leave the dead guy to you; in the meantime..."
Without further ado, Ian hurled himself at Maester Mika, causing them both to fall off the high tower. "Ian!" Rikku shouted, surprised.
"Don't worry about him," I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ian can take care of himself."
Switch to Ian's POV
At the time, I was unaware of my brother's reassuring comment to Rikku, but it was quite accurate. I was doing my level best to decapitate the Yevon priesthood, since I assumed that the others would be more than capable of dealing with Kinoc and the unsent Seymour.
I didn't yet know that Mika was an unsent himself, of course.
"How do you like this, Mika?" I said through gritted teeth as we fell. "No more lies, no more useless sacrifices, no more lethal pilgrimages; nothing but the absolute certainty of your own death?"
The man seemed remarkably calm. "But by doing something this rash, you have condemned yourself to death, as well. You cannot possibly survive the fall."
"Bet me," I replied, and released my grip on the maester. With my hands now free, I changing the trajectory of my fall and skimmed the side of the building, my exoskeletal suit protecting me from things like road burn or whatever its building-side equivalent was.
Using my new right arm, I punched a hole into the tower and held on, aborting my fall with a suddenness that was somewhat painful.
Nothing like the pain in my heart, though. Not after what I had learned during my recent travels.
Once I'd gained entrance into Bevelle Temple once again, it didn't take me long to figure out where I should go; if the others had gotten away, they probably would have headed for the Chamber of the Fayth, so that's where I headed.
A lot of corridors and several corpses later, I found myself in front of the Chamber... just in time to meet the group of warrior monks that were in the process of capturing my compatriots. "You shouldn't have come, niisan," Ryan sighed as he spotted me.
Kinoc, leading the monks, turned and smiled, knowing he held the upper hand. "Well, well. If it isn't the interloper who tried to kill Mika, and deprived Seymour of his head." His monks turned their rifles on me. "You may be able to deflect bullets, but if you do it in here, they're quite likely to hit your own friends. So be sensible, and drop your weapons. Now."
I considered arguing, then shrugged, smiled, and set my blade and gun on the floor. "That's it. I'm disarmed."
Kinoc wasn't stupid. "I think we'll just make sure of that. Remove your armor."
I nodded approvingly. He wasn't up to my level, but Kinoc did know his business. "As you wish." Tapping a few controls, I deactivated the exoskeleton and proceeded to remove it, leaving me standing there in my old ninja gi. "Shall we go on to the prison cells you've no doubt prepared for us?"
He nodded, apparently satisfied. "Yes. Come with me at once." He turned away, then glanced over his shoulder. "After you've been locked up awhile, you'll be brought before the maesters for trial." Kinoc turned to one of his flunkies. "Put the ninja leader in a separate cell. He's dangerous enough alone; put him in with others, and they could cause us problems. And station two guards just outside."
I couldn't have been happier with his arrangements.
I bided my time in that cell, waiting a half hour before I made my move. Then I gathered my strength, closed my eyes, and walked straight through the wall.
My guards were, to say the least, astonished when I walked out of the cell and into their midst. "What the-" The first guard's shout died in a gurgle as the narrow, three-inch throwing knife appeared in his throat.
"You forgot to search my ankle sheath," I said conversationally as I advanced on his partner. "Oh, yeah," I added, slamming him into the wall with my right hand, hard enough to shatter bones, "my right arm's bionic." With a casual twist, I broke his neck, then stepped back and surveyed my handiwork. "Haven't lost my touch," I said to myself in satisfaction. "Now, where's my exoskeleton?"
I quickly came to the conclusion that Kinoc's warrior monks weren't the most professional soldiers in existence; my exoskeleton was just lying on the floor nearby. I shook my head at the incompetence. Years earlier, during a vampire hunt in the former Soviet Union, I'd been kidnapped by a group of ex-Spetsnaz men; they'd stripped me completely and stuffed me in a cell that seemed to have been meant for a raccoon of other small animal, and locked up my gear. Only my knowledge of kuji and the assistance of my traveling partner, a woman now dead, allowed me to escape.
With a feeling of profound satisfaction, I reassembled the armor, activated it, and put my weaponry back in place: Heckler & Koch USP Tactical with LAM, recoil compensator, and suppressor; my new katana, with a most interesting past; and various other lethal odds and ends.
"Okay, Maesters," I said softly. "Here I come."
I was more careful this time about making my entrance; I knew simply bursting in on the trial would be a wonderful way of either getting myself killed or captured, and having been through both at one time or another, caution came naturally.
Hiding just outside the courtroom, I listened as Yuna pleaded her case to Kinoc, Seymour, and the Ronso maester, Kelk... and Mika. I cursed vilely to myself as I realized that he was already an unsent, just like Seymour.
I winced sympathetically as Yuna realized the truth behind the pilgrimages, and snorted in bitter amusement when Kelk seemed the only maester at all bothered by Seymour's patricide. So all the Maesters of Yevon are corrupt... Yet more proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely. As if I needed any more, after Doel and Melbu Frahma.
My gaze sharpened with interest when Ryan produced his surprise evidence: Jyscal's sphere, recorded just before his death, and evidently recovered at some time by Ryan from Seymour's aide-de-camp. But, since the maesters obviously already knew of the facts Jyscal spelled out, and had no problems with them, it fell flat. If the sphere was to be of any use, it would be before the people, not the rulers.
At last, the trial came to an end, and the sentence was pronounced. "You will be brought to the Via Purifico," Kinoc stated. "If you survive, you will be proven innocent. If you do not..."
May God preserve the righteous, I thought. The old idea, rather common among theocracies, that if the accused is truly innocent, God will ensure that no harm comes to them. Unfortunately, I'm not a big believer in Divine Intervention that's quite that direct. Not since ancient times. I had my religious beliefs, but they couldn't be farther from the Yevonites. Though I supposed that Aztec practices were just a little worse. I never did approve of human sacrifice...
After my comrades had been led out of the court and taken to the "Via Purifico", whatever it was, I quickly decided to free my siblings and Rose first. With four stealth-trained warriors on the loose, freeing the others would be that much easier.
It did not surprise me that they weren't very surprised by my intervention. "I was wondering when you were going to show up, Boss," Ryan said after I dispatched the guards. "When you didn't show up at that kangaroo court, I figured you'd gotten out." He pointed at my armor. "But what's with the cyborg getup?"
"And what did you learn while you were gone?" Rose added.
"I'll explain once we're out of Bevelle," I said. "Not safe here."
"Was it good, bad, or ugly?" Karen pressed.
I turned. "A mixture of bad and ugly," I said, and led the way toward the exit of the Via Purifico without another word.
We reunited with Yuna and her Guardians at the end. "Ryan! You're okay!" I raised an eyebrow and shot my brother a speculating look at Rikku's shout, and the eyebrow rose farther when the young Al Bhed threw herself at him. Well, well, well. I wonder what's going on with those two? I suppressed a chuckle at Ryan's expression; he seemed just as surprised. There'll be time enough to straighten everything out once we're out of here, I thought.
"Now that we have made it safely this far, we must hurry out of Bevelle," Auron said, breaking up the reunion. "I do not trust the maesters to let us go simply because we have 'proven' our innocence."
"Quite right, Sir Auron."
I whirled with superhuman speed as Seymour's voice reached us. "What have you done now, you bastard?" I demanded, seeing Kinoc's body upright before him, with the boneless quality of a corpse. "Now you've killed him, too?"
"I have set him free," Seymour said, shaking his head. "He wanted power, and the more he got. The more paranoid he became. He was fearful of losing his power, so I have freed him from this existence."
My blade appeared in my hand, and I settled into a stance: knees bent, left leg in front, hilt parallel to the floor, next to my head, and the blade resting between the first two fingers of my outstretched left hand. "I've got eternal rest right here, Seymour, waiting for you. Come and get it."
"As you will. I will grant you death; you seem to want it so." The fabric of reality seemed to warp around the unsent madman, a great darkness, and the monks he'd brought with him vanished, along with Kinoc's body.
When the space-time continuum returned to normal, Seymour had changed into some kind of grotesque monster, and he began reaching for us.
Kimahri blocked his path. "Hurry!" he shouted. "Run!"
I shook my head. "Not a chance. I can kill this maniac... or unkill him, whatever it is you do to an unsent... quicker than you. See?"
People who have never trained with swords are often surprised by the sheer reach of a three-foot blade on the end of an arm, and Seymour was no exception. My katana blurred through a series cross-cuts, eviscerating him about twenty times over, and a final blow, powered by my bionic arm cleaved through him completely.
Before the bloody thing had hit the floor, we were running for the gates.
Author's note: I guess I'm on a bit of a roll here; it's been months since I updated this frequently. I apologize if I left anything out; I'm working from memory here.
Next chapter, Ian's hidden past will be revealed; I'll try to get it out as soon as possible.
Nothing to respond to this time, it appears. Read it and let me know what you think. -Solid Shark
