The Song of Eternity
Canto 2 : Gaia
Verse 10
Garland's Secret
Faced with destruction,
Fearful of the forces against him,
In desperation he activates his two fail-safes.
Kuja was up and walking two days after the execution. He took a seat in the meeting room with Deklin and Nathan as they awaited Cid's return. "Ever since the day of the execution the city has been covered in smoke and we haven't been able to accurately assess the damage," Nathan explained to Kuja. "We got word that the smoke had cleared earlier today and relayed it to Cid and the others on the Invincible. They should be back soon. We also got word of some explosions somewhere on the western continent yesterday, hopefully they can shed some light on the situation," Nathan stopped and looked at Kuja. "What happened to you yesterday?"
"It felt like I was exerting a great deal of energy, but I wasn't. It felt like when I used the Starlight blast on Parm, then I passed out," Kuja explained. "I dreamt while I was sleeping though. I dreamt of a great battle where I was fighting a giant mechanical monster, only it wasn't me fighting, whoever it was, was using a huge red sword," Kuja finished as he watched Nathan's reaction.
"Maybe you and Travis are linked somehow. You're describing Travis's sword and one of the WEAPONs, we'll see what Cid says about the explosions, it's a possibility that there was a battle and since you and Travis can both use Starlight, you felt what he felt. If not, I have no idea," Nathan finished.
They sat in silence for a while until the door opened and Cid, Eiko, and Amarant walked in. "How goes the General?" Amarant said lightheartedly as he sat down next to Nathan.
"Great. At least I have an army this time," Nathan said irritably. "What did you find?"
"The city is floating again, but there was heavy structural damage," Cid explained. "We saw the remains of the three minor WEAPONs, but no trace of Alpha or the other two there. Also, we did not see any people moving at all, it's like a ghost town," Cid finished.
"Great, the entire populous of the city disappeared," Nathan muttered. "Amarant, get a team together after the meeting and go check it out. Be careful though, there are booby traps all over the place," Nathan ordered as Amarant nodded. "What about the western continent?"
"It looked like a war went on," Eiko said. She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, exhausted by her actions over the last couple days.
"The ground was turned to glass in some spots. There were several fresh craters from explosions," Amarant explained. "When we landed and got in close, there was a lot of dried liquid on the ground. Some of it was blood, some of it was an oil like substance that Cid identified as WEAPON blood. We looked around some more and found what was left of the Alpha WEAPON. Someone destroyed it, the only guess I have is that it was your brother," Amarant finished.
"Okay, so we have two WEAPONs and Travis to account for," Nathan said. "Amarant, get your team out tomorrow morning to investigate the city. Everyone else, start looking for the WEAPONs and Travis," Nathan ordered as he left the room. Cid followed him, talking about what routes to take with the Invincible.
"He seems to have the situation well in hand," Kuja observed as he got to his feet. "I will be going back to my room now, I am not yet fully recovered," he bowed before exiting.
"You two, get some sleep. You're coming with Lani and me tomorrow," Amarant ordered as he followed Kuja.
"Eiko, you awake," Deklin nudged Eiko with his elbow.
"Nope," she joked as she yawned and opened her eyes. "What'd I miss?"
"We're going with Lani and Amarant tomorrow to check out the city. Time to get some rest," Deklin explained as he stood up and stretched. "Eiko, I…" He stopped as he saw that she was sleeping again. "Nevermind," he said to no one as he picked her up and carried her to her room for the second time.
Deklin materialized with Amarant, Lani, and Eiko in the streets of the Terran city. He dropped to a knee soon afterwards to catch his breath. "Keep and eye out for traps, Nathan said they come out of the street itself," Amarant warned as he waited for Deklin to get back up. They walked forward along the street cautiously, keeping a sharp eye out, but nothing happened.
"Anybody home!" Lani shouted as they entered an open area, but did not see any signs of life.
"Don't do that again," Amarant said through gritted teeth as he looked for an attack. "What's going on here?" he wondered out loud.
"Amarant, I think we're okay here," Deklin said as he dropped to a knee and put his palm on the ground. "Help me pull this up," he motioned for Amarant. They drove Deklin's sword into a groove on the ground and used it as a lever until a foot diameter metal cylinder was raised three feet from the ground. "This must be the security system," Deklin observed as he checked out the cylinder.
"Looks shut down," Eiko said as she poked it with her staff. "There aren't any lights on either, the power must be out."
"Fine, let's start checking out the buildings, try to find the people," Amarant ordered as he let the cylinder slowly fall back into the street.
"When were they spotted?" Nathan shouted to Zidane through the closed door.
"Maybe 15 minutes ago, the mages got the scout here as fast as they could," Zidane explained as the door burst open and Nathan rushed out, pulling his shirt on.
"Take me to the scout," Nathan said as they walked down the hall.
Mikoto caught up to them a second later. "Close the door when you leave next time," Mikoto whispered as she hit Nathan in the arm.
"Sorry," he whispered as they turned into the meeting room where Steiner and Garnet were waiting with a genome. "What did you see?"
"Sir, I spotted the two WEAPONs heading west over the ocean away from here," the genome explained.
"Where the hell are they going?" Nathan asked out loud.
"Maybe Danguerro?" Mikoto suggested to Nathan.
"No, would be faster to go over the ocean, east from the city. There is nothing on that continent. Where could they be going?" Nathan scratched his head as he tried to figure out their reasoning.
"Do you think, maybe the Air Garden?" Zidane suggested.
"What's an Air Garden?" Nathan looked at Zidane confusedly.
"The chocobo Air Garden, it floats around in the sky. Not really anything there, we cleared out all the items a decade ago," Zidane explained.
"Zidane, the Eidelon ghost may still be there," Steiner suggested.
"The what?" Nathan asked.
"Ozma, the ghost of an Eidelon, very resistant to physical attacks. We fought it once before, but who knows if it's still there. I'm not really an expert on ghosts," Zidane explained.
"Great, just great," Nathan muttered as he thought up a plan. "Okay, we're gonna get in touch with Cid, get on the Invincible and head out to check on what's going on," Nathan ordered as he left the room to find a mage.
"So, you married him?" Zidane asked Mikoto.
"Quiet," Garnet said as she elbowed Zidane.
"What? I just wanted to know what's going on around here, I've been dead for the last four years," Zidane defended himself.
"What the hell is going on there?" Zidane said out loud as he squinted at the Air Garden as they neared it. As they got closer, the action became more clear. Ozma was battling the two remaining WEAPONs as the Air Garden shattered around them. As they got closer, Ozma turned to attack them, giving the WEAPONs the opportunity they were waiting for.
Cloudchaser got below Ozma and flew up into it, somehow becoming insubstantial. The Shadow WEAPON flew above Ozma and seemed to melt, covering the sphere that was Ozma in complete darkness. The darkness began to solidify and shrink within minutes. The sphere shrunk down and changed form until it resembled a human. Finally, the features became clear and Zidane, Garnet, and Steiner recognized the form. "It's Garland…" they whispered as Garland turned to face the airship.
Garland looked at the airship and raised one arm, making his palm face the airship. "Evasive maneuvers!" Nathan shouted as he realized what was going on. A light formed in Garland's palm and shot forward, clipping the airship, sending it crashing towards the ocean below. As it spiraled toward the ground Nathan ordered everyone to abandon ship. "Find a mage, a parachute, or a window, just get out of here!" He shouted as he grabbed Mikoto and kicked out a window on the bridge. "Hurry up, there's no time people!" he shouted before he pushed Mikoto out the window and started helping the others escape.
"What did you find?" Lani yawned as she watched Eiko work on the computer screen. They had separated from Amarant and Deklin ten minutes ago when they found the computer room.
"Something about a failsafe device being activated upon the death of Garland," Eiko explained. "Actually two. First one says something about using the Shadow WEAPON to make an ultimate fighting machine. Second one says something about sending probes to other worlds, but needing a great power source," Eiko explained as she rubbed her eyes.
"How many probes?" Amarant frowned as he walked back into the room.
"Twelve."
"Well, we figured out where all the people went," Deklin said as he leaned up against the wall.
"Twelve chambers under the city," Amarant said as he took a moment to gather himself.
"Are you two okay?" Lani asked as she checked on Amarant.
"Twelve chambers, full of tables, with genomes on them," Deklin said as he sat down on the ground.
Eiko went to check on him, but she waved him away. "What about the genomes?" she asked him as she crouched down beside him.
"All dead," Deklin shook his head.
"Drained of life, and another spherical object in the center of each room, hollow, like their lifeforces were used to send the probes out," Amarant explained. "We need to find out what those probes were."