Catherine Shaw, Imperial scientist, high-level mage, skilled with various dangerous implements, with an IQ in the high 200's, was not happy.
Well, this would probably be an understatement.
She had been demoted since the Rebels attacked the Reality Engine base last time, and been assigned to guard duty by the recently promoted Renaku. And to think she once stood above him!
Groping blindly in the dark, she huddled herself up against the wall. "What in hell just happened?"
The trooper standing next to her sighed. "Goddamn power cut. And in the middle of an attack too."
"Where are you keeping the Rebel girl prisoner?'
"Armory, ma'am."
Shit, if it was really THAT Tara, then they were in for some serious problems. "Do you know the way there?"
"Yep."
"Lead me." She offered him a hand.
Surprisingly, he took it. His hand was warm against her own. "Hold tight." Then he was off, dragging her behind him. Her cloak billowed out behind her in a black flag as they rushed past the dead and dying, muffled explosions in the distance.
All too soon, they were there. The trooper let go of her hand, and she was surprised to find herself actually missing the physical contant.
"Holy crud." He whispered. Wondering why he had stopped so abruptly, the Imperial scientist stepped round his red-armored form to get a better view.
The glowbar in the ceiling flickered weakly, giving out just enough light to reveal the mutilated bodies of half a dozen Imperial guards, blood spattered across the floor, and weapons and materia spilled all over the floor.
"I guess she was here." Catherine muttered usefully. She strode in, being careful not to step in any of the dismembered human body parts. She began sifting through the pile of junk, looking for something.
The trooper, meanwhile averted his eyes at the sight of his dead comrades. "What 're you looking for?"
She gave him a long hard stare before replying. "It's gone. She took it."
"What?" He muttered unintelligently.
"The summon materia. They're missing."
f i n a l f a n t a s y : r e a l i t y
FINAL FANTASY REALITY
an angelhawk studios production
original concept by redshadow
written by chaosrayne
disk one: 10en: see j00 0n th3 oth3r 5ide...
Tara let Rain deal with another group of red-armored troopers ahead of them while she opened the ornately carved wooden box and removed one red materia from it, clicking it into one of the empty grooves on her right glove. She smiled.
They had some good weapons after all. But the Imperial's stingy policies meant that they did not allow the use of summoning materia unless it was an extreme situation.
Tara had no qualms about using it for them.
In her mind, however, she was only doing this as a routine. She was incredibly confused as to what she should do. Her job as an assassin for the Imperial Empire told her to knock out, no, kill Rain and hand his body in to Renaku. And possibly the bodies of Patch and Alex as well.
But, she had been weak. She had allowed herself to form an emotional attachment to the boy. What else could it be? She had felt nothing other than fear, pure fear that shook her to the core that the dark-haired teen was dead. He very well could have been.
It was a selfless sacrifice. Rain knew he had the chance of dying when he threw himself in the line of fire. But he had done it, and with no other excuse than that he had cared about her. How ironic. He had ended up saving the life of the person that was supposed to kill him at risk of his own.
She fought back the tears. She had nowhere to go, now. Renaku would not accept sentimental attachment as an excuse to fail. Even more likely, he would send people to dispose of her.
Nowhere to go.
She forced her mind back to the present. It was still a war zone, after all. Crying in fury, she doubled over a trooper with a fierce punch to his gut, and took the opportunity to kick him in the face. Twisting around him, she used his own plasma pistol to shoot him in the chest. He twitched as he collapsed.
Requisitioning the pistol, she turned to fire just as the three others behind her collapsed in a hail of automatic fire. Rain grinned wildly at her, leaning the assault rifle on his shoulder, staff behind his back.
No time to think about emotional problems. Have to fight, keep fighting, always fighting.
Kicking open another door that led deeper into the complex, Tara led the way, her face streaked with blood.
Scarcely a hundred meters away, Durandal steamrolled through the front gates, as the laser gates and power for the facility had been shut down by Tara's spell.
It was also helpful, since it meant the perimeter plasma cannons were offline, allowing Alex to cheerfully destroy them as they stood helplessly, unable to fire.
Patch drove on until the tunnel grew narrower. He knew Durandal would not be able to maneuver properly, boxed in and an easy target for fire. "Hey, Durandal, this is our stop. Keep 'em busy as long as you can."
"Yes, sir. I will hold them off as long as I am able. I will be in constant contact with you through comlink." The robotic voice stated.
"So we get close and personal?" Alex muttered, hitting the strap release buttons on her harness and checking her knife.
Patch grabbed his gatling gun. "Ayup." He seemed to pause for a second, them reached into his pocket and pulled out the small handheld terminal that he had used in the O7 before it had become a rapidly expanding cloud of subatomic particles. "Take this. In case I get killed or captured, this will contain instructions on what you are to do."
"You won't die, Patch." The blonde said with absolute conviction. "I know it."
"I'd hope to hell not." The Rebel trooper groaned. "If I die with you watching my back, it'll be all your fault."
"I like." Alex replied, plugging the small comlink earpiece into her left ear. "See ya, Dave. Nice knowing you."
"I could say the same." Durandal replied. "Take care." He added, showing one of the human traits he still had.
"You too."
And with that, the explosive bolts on the emergency escape hatch blew open, sending the hatch up and away. Patch, heavy artillery strapped to his back, jumped out, followed by a blonde who held her knife like she knew how to use it. And that she knew she did, as well.
In a side passage of the tunnel, a door opened, and red-armored troopers piled out.
"Down!" Yelled Patch, as rifle fire holed the spot where they had been. He started up his gatling gun, feeling the wonderful sensation of the cylinders rotating through the weapon.
Each of the cylinders on Patch's gun was capable of firing depleted uranium slugs - a hell of a lot of them, nearly 360 per second. Multiply that by a factor of six, and you'll know what I mean.
Expended ammo shells ejected out the gun at high speed, forming a rapidly growing pile at his feet. The pack he wore, filled mostly up by one long ammo belt, began to grow lighter.
The Imperial troopers were equipped with the latest in spider-silk armor plate technology. It was nearly impervious to all types of small-arms fire, excepting plasma pistols. Patch's fire mowed them down like weeds in the face of a lawnmower.
When the last of them had fallen, Alex raised an approving eye at the pile of empty shells. "Good shooting."
"Let's go." Patch muttered, dumping the gatling gun and pulling out his antique shotgun. "We have to catch up to the other two."
Alex was at the door. "Already ahead of you." Opening the door a fraction, she tossed a frag grenade inside, and closed it again. Three seconds later there was an earthshattering boom and the heavy steel door bent almost double off its hinges.
Prying the smoking door open, Alex beckoned. "You know where the Engine room is?"
"Follow the signs." Patch gestured to the slightly smoking sign on the left side of the corridor. "That is, if you don't damage them first."
"Got it." Alex replied, checking the materia on her knife hilt. "Let's find this Reality Engine thing and get the hell out of here."
The O7 trooper turned at the next junction and let out a burst from his shotgun, as the form of an Imperial trooper went flying, blasted backwards from the force of the shot. Behind him, Alex followed.
Then Rain and Tara were running towards them, chased by two Imperials with plasma rifles.
Rain dived forward, aiming his assault rifle, and jumped, letting off two bursts in midair. The troopers that had been trying to sneak up behind Alex ate hot lead as they fell. Alex let a knife fly, burying itself in the neck of one of the troopers who had been chasing Rain. The other one fell victim to a shotgun blast.
"Damn, we're good." Rain noted, landing.
"Lieutenant Patch." Durandal's voice sounded in Patch's head. "Sustaining heavy fire. I'm damaging them too, but there are more of them."
"Keep them off for just a little longer! We have to get to the Engine!" Patch replied, already up and running. "Guys, follow me!"
Alex was right there beside him, as well as Tara, who looked for some reason incredibly depressed. She was still as sharp as ever, as the twin sai in her hands showed. Rain brought up the rear, assault rifle still blasing.
The four of them burst through another, larger door, Tara and Alex both with spells ready, Rain with rifle at shoulder height, and Patch still sporting his shotgun. The Reality Engine stood where it had been, the only difference being that most of the electronical equipment and stuff surrounding it had been moved. Then, the group finally halted, facing one single woman.
"I knew you would come here and try to destroy the Engine before you died." Catherine Shaw yawned, inspecting her nails. "A last act, as a tribute to your dead Rebel brethren?"
"I came here to find my friend Kira." Patch spat, tersely, his shotgun aimed at her. "And if you try to stop me, I will have to kill you."
She didn't answer him, her eyes roving over each of his companions in turn. "Is this all you have left? A bunch of unruly children? Please." Her eyes came finally to rest on Tara. "And this one. Do you have Imperial assassins working in the Rebel force now?"
Patch froze.
Ever so slowly, not taking his eyes off the Imperial scientist, he pulled his Desert Eagle out of its holster with his free hand and leveled it at Tara, the laser sight painted on her face.
Tara closed her eyes.
Oh my god.
She was an assassin! All along! Sent to kill us! Pretending to be a thief!
And to think SHE KISSED ME!!!
Little lemmings appeared in my brain, had a little tea party, and danced the macarena on my skull.
That girl was an assassin.
And to think I SAVED HER!!!
My attention snapped back to the woman in the black cloak. She knew more than she told us - I was sure of it. I may not have taken Battle Psychology back at the academy, but it was obvious she was holding something back. A trump card?
I didn't let go of my rifle, keeping it lined up on the woman in the cloak. I recognised the cloak from somewhere - the mage that had downed Bob. Great. Now this got personal.
Ignoring the little debacle between Patch and Tara, I walked closer to the woman in black. I felt the odd feeling that I had seen her before, somewhere...
Her eyes widened as she saw the pendant around my neck, and I grinned in my mind. She would not expect that, and that would most likely put her off her balance. I hoped that was a good enough advantage.
She spoke first. "Who are you, and why do you have the Dragon's Tear?" The voice was cold as ice. I had to make a conscious effort to stop myself from shuddering at the sound of that voice.
"I'm the kid the Rebel summoned." I answered, pushing all the emotion away into the back of my mind the way I had been taught and hoping that I sounded at least half as chilled as she was. "The Dragon's Tear is mine."
"You think so?" She smirked - the first facial expression I had seen on her face so far. She would have been beautiful had she not been so cold.
Then she made a motion with her hands. It was a simple one, but I felt a prickly feeling in the air as magic flowed across my body. I was immobilised in seconds, the assault rifle dropping from limp fingers. An enormous, invisible pressure forced me to my knees. I saw the same thing happen to Patch, as his eyes widened and both his guns fell from his hands.
Alex struggled, but slowly, surely, her trembling form dropped to the floor, tears of rage coming from her eyes as she fought the invisible power that was holding them cold.
Tara was the only one left standing, her eyes hollow and weary. All trace of the cheerful girl I had known was gone.
"You think so." The woman in the black cloak repeated. "And what now? Will I just take the Key from your unmoving body? Or will I kill you and watch you bleed to death? I know..." She continued, a smile on her face. "I think I should test where the assassin's loyalty lies."
Tara's head jerked up, her eyes frightened. I was reminded of a deer caught in headlights. "...What do you want?"
"Kill them." The cloaked woman hissed. "It's your job, after all, isn't it? You were supposed to kill them and you failed. I now give you a chance to redeem yourself. Kill them all. Starting with this one."
The invisible force pushed me facefirst into the ground, where I landed in front of Tara.
I watched as she drew one of her sai with shaking hands.
"I'm sorry." Tears ran across her cheeks as the knife drew closer to my neck. Five inches. Four. Three. And still the sharp deadly edge grew closer.
She stopped.
I guess some of the pain and betrayal my face felt must have conveyed itself to her. As she bent down, a contorted expression twisted her face. She looked so sad, so hopeless, that I couldn't resist comforting her, helpless as I was.
"Don't you... dare touch me..." I mumbled defiantly through gritted teeth.
"What are you waiting for?" The mage snapped. "Kill him already."
Tara took a deep breath, her chest heaving. She closed her eyes. "I... can't do it."
"What did you say?"
"I said I can't do it!" Tara wailed in a tortured scream.
The Imperial scientist sneered. "Pitiful. Weak. You are worthless." And with that, she backhanded Tara across the face, sending her sprawling. "Bitch." She added. "Die with them as well." And she gestured, ready to immobilize her as well.
Tara, tears streaming down her face, said one word. It was one word I would remember for a long time to come. "No."
Hope sprang in me as Tara swung her other sai knife into her free hand. "I won't let you kill them!" She yelled, tackling the black-cloaked woman.
The woman was too quick, however, and countered with a throw that sent Tara flying. She went down in a painful heap, but quickly rose to her feet.
"So. It's like this, is it? A duel of mages?" The woman muttered, rolling her sleeves up and exposing a long-bladed knife that was also stocked with little green orbs. "So be it."
There was utter silence for a few seconds.
I felt so incredibly useless. I was unable to move, while Tara fought for our lives and hers. This, without a doubt, sucked big sweaty donkey gonads.
I watched with trepidation on one of the loudest silences I had ever heard.
Then the Imperial mage opened up. "Aurora, exhale bloody air, call forth your tainted light! Shadow Flare!" Small motes of dark fire appeared, burning brightly in midair. They converged on Tara and exploded in a colossal explosion of pyrotechnics. She screamed in pain.
But she got up, and dodged the subsequent fireball the Imperial mage sent her way. "Too slow!" She jumped sideways, ducking behind a large crate packed with equipment.
"You can only run for so long." The black-cloaked woman laughed, cackling evilly. "Are you afraid? Of what? Of me? This will be nothing compared to what will happen when Renaku gets his hands on you.
Then her eyes lifted up... to see Tara standing on top of the crate, hands outstretched in a classic caster's pose. She turned to run, dodge, anything, but it was too late. "Untainted light, enter my hand and grant me your all-embracing purity! HOLY!!!" Between her palms, a glimmering ball of white energy formed, which then shot out in a pure comet of power to smack into the dark mage and send her flying.
I nearly sprang up cheering. Then I noticed something. The magic pressure holding me was gone! I stood up, ready for action... then I realised something. The power holding Alex and Patch was still active. I sighed, tried to move them, and failed miserably.
The magic duel between Tara and the other woman had escalated, their combat dragging them further away into the far corners of the room, leaving small craters where missed spells impacted.
Then I became aware of a soft humming emanating from somewhere on my person.
I looked down and saw my pendant, actually floating in air, tugging on the cheap silver chain holding it. I shifted about, but it never moved, the tip of the triangle inside pointing in one direction.
The Reality Engine.
For the first time, I became truly aware of it. Energy hummed around it in arcs, and I could actually feel the thing's power flowing through me. Entranced, I reached forward.
My pendant snapped off the chain.
The small metal ornament flew forward, spinning crazily, before it centered itself in midair, right between the top and bottom transporting discs of the Engine.
It seemed to be glowing strongly.
I lunged forward. "No, you're not getting away from me - "
I then realised I was actually IN the Reality Engine.
Snagging the pendant, I prepared to jump back and -
No. I grabbed it and pulled with all my might. It wouldn't budge.
Panicking, I reached for it with both hands, hoping that I would be able to actually get it out.
There was an incredible pulse of silver energy. It rippled outwards in all directions. I felt as if my entire body had become a being of pure power, formless, shapeless, just infinitely there, so full with magic.
I saw myself, in a million reflections, drifting away from myself, flying through the void, pulled in a million different directions. In a million different universes. Living a million lives. Having a million hopes, dreams, loves, and hates. And I knew, that with a thought, they were all, essentially ME. One of me looked at me through my eyes, and I had this incredible feeling that I was watching myself watch myself watch myself watch myself....
I screamed, as a white-hot burning sensation appeared on the back of my right hand. I looked at it through my eyes (MINE!!!) and saw a mark, burned black against my skin, the mark of the triangle within the circle.
I rose my hand, up, instinctively, and I felt energy ripple from me to the machine. The Key was affected by its close proximity to the Engine it had been created to operate. The Key was me. I was the Key.
I was the Key.
Tara rolled behind another crate as a wall of fire slammed against the place where she would have been.
She was tiring and she knew it. The other mage was fresh, equipped with more varied and powerful materia, and more experienced. She knew there was no possible way she could win this fight. She could only prolong her own death.
Catherine knew this as well. She was happy to bide her time, toy with her prey a little, give it an illusion of winning, and then destroy it utterly.
But they both stopped to turn and watch when a silver wave of energy pulsed out from the central cylinder of light that was the Reality Engine.
Tara noticed two things: that Rain was missing from where he had been held prisoner, and that the Engine was shining so brightly it was impossible to see anything inside.
Alex and Patch were both on their feet, eyes wide. The magical radiation had the effect of dispelling any long-term effect spell, as the power from the Engine peaked and rippled over them all in waves.
"What the..." Patch muttered a curse that would have been too vile to type, and that was saying something. "He's inside?"
The black-cloaked mage smiled. "The Key has been returned to the Engine. The Dragon's Tear has fully activated the Key. The power of the Engine will remain the Imperial Empire's forever!"
"I think not - " Tara turned, but she was too late. The other woman was already within casting range. She never had a chance.
"You who dwell in darkness, you who command the primordial chaos, you who lie in wait to rise again, add your will to my own, grant your power to my hand, that together we may extinguish the light of hope!!!!!!" Catherine cackled insanely. "UNHOLY!!"
The dark spell knocked Tara into a wall. She fell down in a heap and did not get up.
"And that takes care of that." Catherine muttered smugly. "As for you - " She snapped her fingers, and a fully charged plasma rifle nudged the back of Patch's skull courtesy of a Imperial BlackOp trooper. Two more covered Alex.
Patch sighed. Nothing for it. "Okay. You win. We surrender." But as before, he twitched an eyebrow. It was at Alex this time, not at Kira, but it still got the message across. Alex's eyes grew wide.
Durandal was in her ear, whispering comfortingly. "Go to Rain. He needs you. Patch wants you to do this. Get out of here alive."
She nearly let off a reply, but she realised speaking would alert the Imperial BlackOps covering her. She hoped to hell this would work; offering a silent prayer in her head for Patch and Tara, she broke and ran for the Engine.
As the BlackOps tensed their fingers to fire on her, Patch threw himself sideways, into the path of the shots. The Rebel trooper hoped his sacrifice was not for naught - the Rebellion's ideals had to live on. In the minds of kids if it had to.
But as the plasma bolts came close to him, a flickering magical barrier appeared. Weak though it was, the burning pockets of plasma spanged off the barrier, saving Patch's life.
"YOU!!!" Catherine screamed in incoherent fury. "Why won't you DIE?"
Tara was crawling forward, blood darkening her clothing in several places, but the materia in her sais shone with power and her eyes gleamed with the fire of defiance.
"I guess a last gesture wouldn't hurt." Tara muttered through a mouthful of something with the coppery taste of blood. "Hey! Catch!"
A small, ornately carved wooden box flew through the air. It was a poor, throw, weakened as Tara was, but Alex still managed to catch it, snagging it cleanly out of the air. She stopped for a second, unsure of what to do.
"Go!" Tara yelled. "Go to him!"
Alex turned and sprinted in an all out dash, racing for the pulsing cylinder of light that was the Reality Engine.
Catherine readied a spell. "...Shadow F-"
"No, you don't." Tara growled. "I'm not finished yet." She focused, concentrating what was left of her strength and will through the glowing red materia in her glove. The words came easily and naturally to her mind, the power of the guardian rising through her body. She didn't know whether she could control this guardian... ready or not, it had to be done. It was her last chance.
"...From thy eternal slumber I call to thee!" Tara muttered, as quietly as she dared. "Voice of the north wind, dancer of frost! I conjure you, I invoke you, by the power bestowed on me through your covenant!"
"What are you doing?" Catherine asked, mildly.
Not caring, the redhead continued the spell. She could not stop it now. The spell had begun to take on a part of her essence, and she could not end it. The spell had to follow her through at its own pace. "...Let the air and earth be sown with the crystals of winter! I call upon you, Shiva, Goddess of Ice! Diamond Dust!"
The world faded to blackness.
Tara looked around, as the darkness slowly reformed itself into shapes of icy slopes, with snow falling from the sky. And in front of her, floating in air, peaceful and serene as winter itself, stood the form of Shiva, Guardian of Ice.
Shiva smiled down at the redhead. What is wrong? I sense you are... hurt.
"No shit." Tara spat grumpily out onto the clean white snow. She was shocked to discover that the patch of snow had turned blood red.
Shiva shook her head, laughing as small crystals of ice continued to fall from the sky. Not on the outside. Your emotions are troubled. Is something the matter?
Tara stopped for a moment. She couldn't hold it in, not all, not now. She began to cry openly, hot tears dripping onto the ice. Everything that had happened in the last few hours... it had been too much.
Surprisingly, Shiva floated down from her perch in the sky to land next to the other girl, and held her in an embrace. I understand.
"It was just a job!" She mumbled between sobs. "And I couldn't do it! I was supposed to kill him! And I couldn't! I've... fallen for him!" Her sobbing redoubled, as the goddess of ice held her close.
It's okay. Shiva murmured comfortingly on the voice of the north wind. Not being willing to kill doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you more human. Having a consience is nothing to be ashamed about.
Tara cried herself to sleep in the goddess's arms.
Oh... shit, Catherine thought as the silvery-white form of Shiva, the Lady of Winter herself, rose from the limp form of Tara to hang in the air. Her eyes blazed with a fury that few had ever seen from the guardian of ice.
The BlackOps did the smart thing and began to back away. Unfortunately, they were nowhere near fast enough. Patch dived behind a metal crate, having seen Callings before and knowing the damage they caused.
You... hurt her in this way? Shiva asked questioningly.
Catherine did not reply. She was too busy flinging out protective spells like they were going out of fashion. "Guardian souls, grant us your defense! Shell!"
Too little, too late. Shiva arched backwards, gathering a ball of pure frozen WhoopAss(tm) in her hands. Snapping her entire body forward, she hurled it across the room. As the energy flew forwards and dispersed, the entire area was coated in a layer of ice metres thick. BlackOps struggled, before they were caught in sub-zero temperatures and they begun to freeze.
Not freeze as in cold. Freeze as in solid. Before long, all that remained of them were lifelike frozen meat popsicles.
Patch, being shielded from the brunt of the assault, winced as a layer of ice formed over his head. Gathering his strength, he began to break through it.
Catherine, even being heavily shielded, still felt the chill of the wrath of the Goddess of Winter. Shiva was not one who could be crossed safely.
As Shiva disappeared, Catherine let loose a sigh of relief. That had been too close. Tara had been smarter than she predicted, keeping the Summon materia for her own use instead of stashing the lot and selling them for money later as she was wont to do. Her mind leaped to the wooden box the assassin had tossed the other girl - that was the store for Summon materia! Great. That would cost a fortune to replace.
And speaking of magic... She stared at the massive glowing cylinder that was the Reality Engine with more than a little trepidation. For all the research, the Imperial scientist still didn't know everything about the machine - only that it had the capability to send people to other universes if the Key could be controlled.
So. The kid was the Key. He would have to be controlled.
The sound of some very rough cursing broke her attention.
She drew her Magnum and tapped the back of Patch's head with the barrel, resisting the urge to laugh. It was comical - the Rebel trooper had managed to break a hole in the ice large enough for his head to fit through, but none of the rest of his body.
"Are you going to come along peacefully, or not?" She smiled sadistically.
He muttered something under his breath. "I don't care, as long as you get my ass out of here. I don't know about you, but its fuckin' freezin' in here."
Catherine chuckled. "The great O7 lieutenant Patch Randall, captured. What would Renaku say?"
All this power.
It flowed through me, intrinsically bonding me into the pattern of the universe, the wheel of time itself. I felt as the universe felt, and hated and loved and dreamed as Rain.
I was just about ready to let go, to release myself and spiral into that wonderful, wonderful existence of energy, when a pair of arms reached around me.
A warm body pressed into mine.
Alex.
I couldn't do this.
I couldn't just leave her. She needed my help.
The feeling of being pulled in a million directions came again. On one side there was Alex, needing me to help her. On the other there was this power, this Engine, that beckoned me to it, drew me to it even as I struggled to maintain my own mentality. And on another side, a large part of me that just wanted to go home, back to Madame Tessaline's orphanage, to see her caring, lined face, and enjoy the cookies and milk I had as a child.
Love.
I turned to her, my eyes pools of silver energy. "What is it?"
She was holding back tears. A day for sorrow, is it then? I felt the pain of loss and angst, of release and hope. I realised then I was actually feeling what Alex was, as she was inside the Engine. I knew her in that moment as well as I knew myself.
"We have to go on, don't we?"
"Yes." She answered, but I already knew. "Patch... he somehow knew he was going to... die today." She had to struggle hard to actually admit he was dead.
"I know." I answered. Our minds linked, I felt the beginning of tears in my eyes as well. "What does he want us to do?" I asked, silver energy all around us. We were in the Engine, and here, I controlled all.
She pulled a small handheld computer from her pack. After all that had happened, she still had her old JanSport bag. "He left us this."
The machine emitted a small 'beep'. Then the Durandal test pattern appeared on the tiny screen, followed by the sound of Durandal's voice.
"Help!" It said.
Before I knew it, my mind was already prying into the handheld device, seeking out answers.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked.
"It's... so... small." Durandal muttered. "Where are we?"
"The Engine." I grinned proudly. "And its all mine."
"Durandal, are you okay?" Alex questioned, but before I even asked I knew it. It was saddening.
"I was... about to die." Durandal answered. "They managed to get the emergency power supplies to the guns and destroyed me. My core is still intact, its probably the only reason I'm still here - "
"Durandal." I muttered gently. "You're dead."
"No, my core is - "
"This isn't a broadcast. There aren't any broadcasts coming out of the Engine. I'm sure of that." I stopped, feeling the power of the Engine again. "You're been destroyed. Your brain is fried. And you've been uploaded to this handheld computer."
"...Oh." Durandal murmured. "Does this mean... I'm not human anymore...?"
Alex sighed, grasping the concept quickly. "You don't have an organic bit left in you. Now you're just a computer program."
Durandal stopped dead. There was silence on the screen for a few seconds more, then the test pattern returned. "I... understand."
"So where do we go? Patch is... gone." I asked the computer, preferring not to delve into the machine's mind, as that could be seen as an invasion of privacy in the only mind David J Skye had left.
"In the event of Lieutenant Patch Randall's decease or incapacitation, the following media files shall be unlocked. Play now?"
I nodded facing the handheld's small camera 'eye'. I am secretly glad for the computer camera, as a blind Durandal would probably lead to a traumatized and instable Durandal in no time.
There was a beep, then Patch's familiar voice belted from the tinny speakers. "Hey. If you're listening to this, I'm probably dead or dying. So here's what you do. You can either go back to your home universe, live out your lives, and ignore everything that happens. Or, you can do me a bigass favor and find a girl called Kira Highwind."
"Kira...?" I mutter.
"She's the only mage with enough power to take down whatever the Imperials have to throw at her. She's also a damn good friend of mine. She was thrown into some crappy universe called Hades when the Reality thing misfired. The only one who can bring her back is Rain, since he has the Dragon's Tear to control the Engine." Patch's tinny recorded voice continued. "Find her and bring her back to our home universe, and set her loose on the Imperial Empire."
Alex nodded as tears streamed down her face. Even in defeat Patch's voice seems to hold a sort of weary indifference, as if he knew he was going to die and he didn't care.
"She could use some of your help too. But... what am I saying? Free will, right? I'm not forcing you to do this. Sure you can go home if you want. But bring Kira home. She deserves at least that much."
I feel Alex's pain through the mental link we have while we are both in the Engine. I can't help but feel some of her pain as well.
"Ah, what the heck. With a little luck, you people will watch my back so I don't get killed, so what's the use of this goddamed media file anyway? You know what to do if I'm killed, though." The voice of Patch through the speakers coughs uncomfortably. "And if you find Kira.... tell her.... ah, screw it. I love her, and always will. Thanks, signing off, this is Lieutenant Patch Randell. And kid, keep your nose clean."
"Media file playback ended." Durandal states tonelessly.
Alex clutches a small wooden box to her chest. "What do we do?"
I close my eyes. I can't do this. But I have to. But I will. And I will.
Why?
Because it's the right thing to do.
Through me, millions of other me's speak. Some of them fight, some of them hate with a vengeance, some bury themselves in the chill of emotionless combat... but I owe it to Patch.
Sighing, I open my eyes again. "Let's do it. We owe it to the big guy."
"Yeah." Alex holds me close, her tears forming small drops of damp cloth on my t-shirt. I pull my jacket tighter around me and check I still have the 'ashandarei'. "Let's do this."
Concentrating, I draw a shape in the air with the tip of a finger. Energy runs through my hands like water from a tap, as the shimmering circle with a triangle in it widens, flashes once, and a portal opens. I feel it, and the direction is like a neon sign in my mind: #666 HADES.
I turn to Alex, realising she is grasping my hand abnormally tightly.
I smile, a simple gesture of comfort, but it means so much. As a result, she holds onto my hand tighter.
"See you on the other side." She mutters.
"You too."
And with that, we step into darkness.
Unlike the uncontrolled, magical energy overload from last time when the Engine had been used without the Key, this time there was one gigantic pulse of silver energy, and then like that, it just stopped.
Like a light had been flicked off in the room, the Engine's glowing cylinder of light went dark.
Motioning for a couple of BlackOps to cuff Patch, Catherine Shaw walked over to the machine, gasping in shock as the smoke clears and the fiberglass cylinder is shown, empty.
Empty.
"DAMMIT!!!" Catherine yelled, as she kicked furiously at a stray piece of equipment, sending it skidding. She had her chance. Both of them were in the Engine, it was activated, there had been a window of opportunity there...
And she had dropped it, let it sift through her fingers like fine sand, as the kid had created a Reality Window and disappeared from right under her nose, with another Rebel girl, the Dragon's Tear, and a whole box of summon materia!
She was so gonna get fired for this.
Then a glint of silver caught her eye.
It was none other than the silver shape of the triangle within a circle: the Dragon's Tear! She crowed in triumph, holding it up... as it crumbled to dust, much like a one-use materia when it was used up and returned to the earth whence it came.
"DAMMIT!!!!!" Catherine howled in frustration.
Patch, ankles and wrists cuffed, a plasma rifle aimed at his forehead, relieved of his shotgun, his 8 frag grenades, his thermos of nitro, his gatling gun, his Desert Eagle, his M41-A trooper issue combat knife, still managed to chuckle.
In the corner, forgotten, Tara picked herself up, no longer crying, and snuck out of the room, hoping against hope that Rain was still alive...
END DISK ONE
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Author's Notes:
Holee crap. There goes the first disc: it's long, violent, and a little rough around the edges, but it'll do.
About the disk system: many of you who have played Final Fantasy will know about the many freakin' discs in the PlayStation FF games. And how I kicked myself when I ended up losing one. Well, maybe not the second part anyway.
Well, it's been a good ride. I have actually been so caught up in this story that I find myself coming back to the boarding house, blazing through my homework in as little time as I can (give or take a goddamned half hour), break out Lilith (my sweet, sweet baby), and end up writing late into the night.
I would like to thank Square, for being such a master of the RPG genre, (dammit! I want a copy of Unlimited Saga!!!) my Windows Media Player, for downloading lots of cool choonz for me to listen to in my darkest moments, Lilith, for NOT CRASHING when I needed her the most (whee!) My pal Red, who started this entire crazy thing off anyway with the question "Why do we exist?", Ty, for offering cheerful, bouncy critisism and being a friend to bounce rants off during the school year, Nintendo, for creating the thing I like to call a Gamecube, and whoever the hell invented coffee.
On a less personal note, I would like to thank AlphaBlades for reviewing this more than anyone else has (...sniff) and for giving me a rivalry that I have to actually work to beat. If you're reading this, Alpha, you are thanked more than words have the power to thank. Or something like that, anyway.
And I'd like to tell everybody who enjoys this fic to hear this: Rain has been accepted as an original character in Thunder Unicorn Ixion's story: Daylight and Beyond! Whee! I hope TUI has fun writing him, the depressive antisocial hole Rain is.
Enough on the Thank yous. My hands are just about to freeze to the keyboard, so I will stop soon, just as the last caffiene high wears off.
The next disk will be written sometime during Christmas if I have the time - I'm going HOME!!! WHEEE!!! By this time next week, I'll be in Hong Kong writing the next chapter in this epic: disk two. I'm also working on a little something called "Demon Hunter eX", my Christmas project, just to take a break from writing the FFR universe once in a while.
And before I forget: music. Xander thought long and hard about a list of music for the first disk. I looked over it and thought it was okay, so, whatever. All in all, I think this is a pretty good mix myself, played at the right moments.
"Anniversary" - New Found Glory
"Hello" - Evanescence
"Burly Brawl" - Matrix Reloaded (Juno Reactor Vs Don Davis)
"Fade" - Staind
"Blurry" - Puddle of Mudd
"Million Miles Away" - The Offspring
"Through the Night" - (okay, my bad, it's the theme song from Outlaw Star)
"Ich Will" - Rammstein
"We Will Rock You" - Queen
"Hash Pipe" - Weezer
"Exodus" - Maksim
"Bleed American" - Jimmy Eat World
"Stay Together For The Kids" - Blink 182
"Sing" - Travis
"Break Stuff" - Limp Bizkit
"Numb" - Linkin' Park
"Freur Frei" - Rammstein
"White Flag" - Dido
Remember, emails at angelhawkstudioshotmail.com
Email me if you want to talk about FFR, if you want help on your own story, or if you just want to bitch about life in general. Always here for you!
Until next time, this is Chaos on Lilith at Angelhawk Productions (UK branch) and saying good fic, good night. Seeya!
c.h.a.o.s.r.a.y.n.e
7/12/03
EDIT: Re-uploaded as shorter chapters as of 21/05/04
"Well, that's another triumph for clean hands, a pure heart, a good soul... and automatic weapons." --Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.