Final Fantasy: The Chronicles Of Paine Chapter VIII
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-gigaknight 3!
A great rumble shook the sands of the desert like a tremor. The ground vibrated, and the desk rattled. There was a loud sound of engines in the air. Clearly shaken, Rikku stood up from her chair and ran outside the tent. Yuna and Paine were at her heels, as the trio gazed up into the sky. A dark shadow enveloped the construction site as the massive object in the air blocked out the hot afternoon sun. It was Cid's airship. The massive yellow aircraft landed gently on the soft dunes of Bikanel, and out stepped not Cid, but somebody else. He wore a crimson robe, and hid his eyes from view with a large hood. He walked quickly up to where Yuna, Rikku and Paine were standing, and he spoke,"Hi, I was sent here by Cid to help someobody move a downed airship. Are you the right people?"
"Is that you, Yaibal?" Yuna asked.
"High Summoner Yuna!" He gasped. "Please, I beg of your foregiveness for my being rude,"
"That's alright. And please, just call me Yuna," She said.
"Why did Cid send you instead if him coming here?" Paine asked.
"You understand he cannot just wander around? He needs to pretty much keep himself secret ever since he became a spy. I think he just suffers from agoraphobia. Anyway, I'm here to help you guys fix your airship and get it moving again. Don't worry, I brought a crew with me, so you three can just relax. Oh, and which one of you is Rikku?" he asked.
"I am," Rikku answered quietly.
"Your father wanted me to give you this," Yaibal handed Rikku a small slip of paper.
"I'll look at it later thanks," she said, tucking it into her robe pocket.
"Right, well, me and my team will get to work right away. By the way, where is the ship?" He asked stupidly. Paine pointed off in the direction of the Celsius's crash site. Yaibal ran back onto Cid's airship, and moments later he ran back out being followed by several people, all of whom appeared to be former Youth League members.
"So what do we do now?" Paine asked.
"It's getting late, you guys can stay the night," Rikku said. "Just take all your stuff to that tent over there," she said, pointing off to an empty tent. "Don't worry, there's enough beds for everyone."
"Aren't you staying in the same tent as us?" Yuna asked.
"No," Rikku replied shortly.
"Screw it, let's go," Paine said, starting to head for the tent.
Brother walked up to Rikku, still apparently shocked at what his sister had done to herself.
"Rikku-," he started. She cut him off, holding her hand up to silence him. She then whispered something to him in Al Bhed, which translated to "I'll talk to you after,". Somewhat frustrated he was still one of the only people who had no real idea of what was going on, he followed the group to the large military-style tent. When they reached it, they noticed they had a roommate. A black mage slumbered quietly on one of the wooden bunk beds in the corner of the tent. He seemed extremely familiar somehow. Yuna took the cellular phone she found in Kilika from her pocket and looked it over. The picture of the owner resembled the person in this bed.
"That's Vivi," Yuna gasped. Paine put her hand over Yuna's mouth to silence her.
"Maybe we can find out why he's been following me," she said. She took a pistol from her holster and pointed it at the mage's face.
"Wake up!" Paine ordered harshly, while tapping the barrel of the gun on Vivi's head. He woke in a panic, clearly caught by surprise.
"You..." he grunted. He started to get up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Paine said, cocking the pistol, so let's talk." Vivi listened to Paine, and remained motionless as he spoke.
"I've been sent on a quest to find and destroy you," he started.
"Yes, I sort of figured that out myself. Why are you trying to kill me and my team?" she demanded.
"It's my job. I'm doing what my boss tells me to," he explained.
"Everybody, leave the room," Paine ordered. Without asking questions, the rest of the team reluctantly went outside the tent.
"Now you listen to me, you arrogant little shit, it's one thing that you're trying to kill me, trust me, in my line of duty that becomes normal. You however, endangering my friends is something I have a problem with. And I know it was you who put that bomb on our ship," Paine growled.
"Can't get anything past you, now, can we? However, you may be wondering how I've made it to this island so quickly. Well, I used a teleport spell which warped me near where the Celsius picked you up, and then I snuck aboard before it took off. I then planted the bomb and damaged the fuel line to make a cover up. But it seems that wasn't really necessary as you've caught me with my pants down, so I'll level with you. If you let me go, I'll leave you and your friends alone," Vivi bartered.
"Bullshit. You're going to sit here as long as it takes until I get the truth I need," Paine instructed.
"Which means you won't shoot me," Vivi said cleverly.
"I'll know if you're lying to me, because people don't lie when they're staring down the barrel of a gun belonging to Spira's most deadly agent, so let's talk," said Paine. She could sense fear rising up in Vivi, because his voice quivered and wavered slightly as he spoke.
"You're bluffing," Vivi stalled. Paine aimed her pistol at Vivi's left leg and squeezed the trigger. The bullet entered and practically mutilated his left leg.
"Am I?" Paine asked. "Now if you don't smarten up and have the balls to tell me the truth, the next one's going in your head," she waved the gun menacingly at him. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal clear," Vivi groaned, holding his leg, which was bleeding profusely.
"Now, we can still have a white mage fix that up if you help me out with this. Unfortunately for you, there's no phoenix downs around here, so you're shit outta luck if I 'accidentally' kill you,"
"So what do you want me to tell you?" Vivi asked, suppressing the intense pain from the gunshot wound.
"Who is your boss?" Paine asked.
"That I won't tell you. Go on and shoot me, I'll just be reincarnated like him,"
"Who are you talking about," Paine asked coldly.
"My boss died and was reincarnated," Vivi explained. "It's only a matter of time before he can merge with a mortal such as myself and we will become one, immortal,"
"And I suppose this boss is the guy who can bring back Sin?"
"Yes , when I merge with him, he will become Sin, and we will rule Spira," Vivi said casually, so casually it was frightening.
"If I were to kill you," Paine started, "Then he would not be able to merge with you?"
"Of course not. He could merge with whomever he saw fit to share the title of 'Sin' with. He chose me because he trusts me,"
"At this point, whichever you choose to do, I can't allow you to do this. Use yor brains. This is me at my most masochistic,"
"So you'd shoot me like a dog? If he becomes Sin, he is also blessed with powers that the older Sin was without. These powers include the ability to revive anyone from the Far Plane, provided that they were sent," Vivi explained.
"If you tell me with whom you're working with, I could have you arrested and sent to prison instead of being killed. It's up to you. But do you really want to bring Spira back out of it's Eternal Calm?" Paine asked.
"I can't tell you anymore information," Vivi smirked.
"Your funeral," Paine said, unloading a shot into the mage's skull. He fell lifeless to back onto the bed. She wiped some of the blood from her face and searched his pockets. She found items that were mostly useless in this situation: potions, ethers and the like. However she did find a mysterious paper with some weird stuff on it. When Paine read the small slip of paper, she nearly fainted.
It was written as follows:
"Paine and the Gullwings must be destroyed before they leave Bikanel Island. If anything happens to you, it could ruin the entire plan. Once the team and the airship are disposed, find a way back to the Zanarkand Temple. Signed, Fayth,"
An eerie silence fell over the area. The noise of hammers and general construction seemed to come to a stop, and all she could here was the sand blowing accross the dunes. Paine ran outside in a panic.
"We need to get off this island, right now!" Paine said.
"What? We just got here!" Cloud complained.
"Strife, don't push me," she responded hotly.
"Paine, what's wrong?" Yuna queried.
"There's no time to explain. We're gonna need to take Cid's airship because we'll never make it to Zanarkand in time if we wait until the Celsius is fixed."
"What are we going back there for?" Brother grunted,
"Yeah, I thought they shut down the Zanarkad Ruins because of that monkey that bit someone," Rikku asked thoughtfully.
"No, that was just Isaaru. But c'mon, we need to go now. I promise once we're up in the air, we'll talk," Paine said.
TBC!
AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE READ THIS!
This chapter may have come as a shock to everyone to see it behave this way. Actually the thing about Fayth pulling the strings for Vivi has been going on throughout the entire story. The Fayth which is doing this is Bahamut's fayth, which is the young child dressed in the purple robe. Now, because he is an aeon, he is able to merge with anybody and become Sin. This is similar to how Jecht and Lord Braska sacrificed themselves to defeat Sin.....for a period of time anyway. Because Fayth is already an aeon, he can merge with anyone to do this. As for what his motives and why he is doing this will not be revealed until later. Stay tuned for more chapters!