Legacies: Chapter 12
by: Gemini83
Disclaimer: You know it, I don't own FF8. But I do own this story.

Far beneath the ground, a subway train made its way through the dark tracks. The only light, other than that which came from the cabins, came from posts at irregular intervals, and on the stops along the way.

This cabin was more dimly lit than the others, and at the back of the train. That's why Greymalkin had chosen it. The few people in this cabin paid no attention to him. Even if they had, what they would have seen would have drawn no special attention.

Greymalkin mused on this particular choice of travel. He preferred it to the jerkier ride on chocobos. A pity the lines ran only so far...

He blinked as they neared another station, the blue-green light momentarily blinding him. When his vision cleared, he saw others had entered the cabin, also dressed in black. This normally wouldn't have bothered him, but something was off...


He ducked and leapt to the other corner, as bullets broke through a glass window. The screams ringing through the air were almost secondary in his mind. What he couldn't fathom is how he'd been found. Greymalkin looked around as he rolled to his feet, seeing several civilians dead, others dying, and still more screaming from fright.

Without hesitation, he ran to the broken window, grabbing the muzzle of a gun that peeked down from above. He wrenched the weapon from it's owner, and turned, butting the handle of the rifle into a robed figure creeping up from behind. Then he turned the rifle again, firing into the ceiling. He heard several shouts of pain and dismay, then the return fire came.

More screams rang out, as the bullets ricocheted throughout the cabin. Greymalkin screamed with rage, pushing past several more dark figures, and opened the door at the end of the cabin. He leapt into the last cabin, and locked the door behind him.

He backed away, catching his breath.

Greymalkin's head cocked to the side, "you know, there's no need to hide. I know where each of you are."

"Very interesting," replied the voice, "but why did you choose the last train car to escape to? It isn't easily defendable, no crowds to hide behind. Do you think this will keep the others out?"

Greymalkin turned, "it isn't intended to."

Another dark robed figure came out of the darkness at the end of the last cabin, "oh, this is for the sake of the civilians then? How romantic."

He eyed the figure closely, and raised his eyebrows, "the Illuminati are getting desperate. Any younger, and they'd be robbing the cradle. How old are you boy, fresh out of your teens?"

The figure growled, "old enough."

Greymalkin grunted, "more's the pity."


Another figure crashed through the window, and faced Greymalkin, "thanks to people like you, everyone has to grow up early."

"Like Seed?" asked Greymalkin.

The first shroud sneered, "Seed is a misguided ragtag group that could not understand what it beheld, and sold its soul willingly in the face of convenience."


Greymalkin sidestepped as the door behind him crashed in. As yet another figure rushed at him, Greymalkin grabbed the outstretched knife, turned it, and stuck it up to the hilt in the attacker's chest. Greymalkin stepped aside again, letting the body fall to the floor in front of its comrades.

"I still can't believe," said Greymalkin, "that you people still believe that Alicia's way is the answer. She's a fool who'll destroy-"

"SHE IS WISER THAN YOU WILL EVER BE!" shouted the first shroud, "I'VE HEARD ENOUGH LIES!"

Greymalkin saw shadow after shadow file into the cabin. They came in through the broken door, they came in from the windows. A few even came in from the opposite door that lead to the tracks. Greymalkin backed against a side of the cabin, careful to keep away from the windows, looking at the far wall carefully.

He laughed, "well, I'm glad she's beginning to take me seriously. Still, I don't know whether to be honored or insulted."

"Surrender," said one of the shrouds, "you can't win."

"You think so?" asked Greymalkin, "we shall see..."

He raised his hand, drawing a hidden pistol from his belt, and shot the control panel at the far end. The cabin lights snuffed out, and the car began to separate from the rest of the train.

It was still traveling at breakneck speeds, and the result was an uncontrolled tottering. The momentary disorientation was all Greymalkin needed to draw his gunblade, dimly lighting up the cabin with it's freakish silvery glow. Then he threw himself into the mass of dark bodies...

The first shroud he reached attempted to cast a fire spell on him, but Greymalkin was moving too quickly. Instead, the spell hit those behind him, and ahead screams rang throughout the cabin. Bodies heaved to the side, trying to smother the flames that wouldn't die.

The shroud cast another fire spell, this time charging the air around Greymalkin. He felt the stifling heat, saw it melting the walls...beginning to warp both ends of the car.

With a groan and a jerk, the final coupling loosened, breaking the car off from the rest of the train. Then Greymalkin made his move, thrusting his blade through the shroud's chest, jerking it out and turning to face another.

'The good news is that the cabin's still in one piece and separated,' thought Greymalkin, 'the bad news is there's too many to move around in here.'

He leapt as high as he could without hitting the ceiling, and crashed down onto another shroud, sword first. He fired his blade sideways, simultaneously freeing it and hitting another shroud with the bullet.

He turned yet again, clashing swords and glaring into the eyes of his opponent. Greymalkin had the experience, but there were too many of them to waste time. He twisted his blade, forcing his enemy to draw back. In that split second, Greymalkin knelt and raised his gunblade, skewering the man in the stomach. Greymalkin lifted him off the ground as the man screamed in agony.

He spun, thrusting the flailing body back into the mass of struggling figures. The one advantage Greymalkin had was that he was alone. He could hit anyone here, and be sure to hit an enemy. Grinning wickedly, he ran through the pressing mass, swiping left and right savagely, pulling the trigger as needed when his gunblade caught.

The result was devastating, and the screaming redoubled. The sight of the shattered bodies was enough to send the shrouds into frenzy. Soon, the men began to fight amongst themselves, against phantom Greymalkins only they could see.

However, someone finally got the right idea into his head, and stood his ground, rather than running after the enemy. Others followed suit. He attacked yet another Illuminati, glaring at him through crossed swords. This wasn't what he needed, he couldn't waste time on any one enemy.

Then he felt something, more than anything. There was something wrong in his foe's eyes. Greymalkin sidestepped, as a sword thrust from behind him. The Illuminati struck his own ally through the heart. The man looked with shock into his ally's face, and was cut down before he could react. Both bodies fell to the floor.

Greymalkin calmly looked around him. Many had fallen, their bodies and blood littering the floor. But there were still too many. Then he made up his mind. He backed away slowly, letting the Illuminati think it had gained the advantage.

As the dark figures closed, Greymalkin's fists surged with blue energy, crackling and caressing him with a glowing hue. Before anyone could react, Greymalkin punched the floor, sending blue streaks throughout the cabin, lighting up the car almost blindingly. The robed figures screamed as the violent electric surge took hold of them.

Greymalkin clenched his teeth, for he too could feel the spells' power. Then another sound caught in his mind. It was the sound of burning. The screaming was almost secondary in his mind. He had heard screams enough before, and they no longer fazed him. But he had never heard skin actually BURNING before, and it was not pleasant. The sound was almost haunting, as was the smell. With a grunt, Greymalkin raised his fist. The effort strained him, and it took a moment before his vision was completely cleared of butterflies.

He looked around. The train was still moving, probably traveling faster than before because of the energy surge. Greymalkin was blinded yet again, as sunlight poured into the cabin.

"Ah," he said wearily, "we've reached a bridge."

He leaned out of the window to catch his bearings, and then a pair of hands reached down, grasping his throat. Greymalkin was thrust back into the cabin, as the attacker pressed down on him. He stuck his knee into the man's stomach, raising himself to his feet.

The attacker let go, instead pushing Greymalkin back. Darkness fell again as the car entered another tunnel.

Greymalkin finally got a vague look at the Illuminati. He was a towering giant, and again threw himself at Greymalkin, pushing him halfway out a window. The world was a blurry mass of stars and lights...and a pair of hands squeezing his throat. Greymalkin grasped at the attacker's hands, trying to pry the fingers loose, but the Illumniati had a death grip on him. Greymalkin saw more lights, and managed to turn his head to see the source. It was another train, speeding towards him.

Greymalkin needed no time to figure out the Illuminati's intention. Foregoing the instinctive response, he let go of the hands at his throat. The Illuminati saw this as a sign of weakening, but it wasn't. Slowly, Greymalkin reached up to his attacker's throat, and clenched it in a vise.

He could almost feel his own cartilage begin to crack, but he didn't let go, maintaining the discipline he had been trained to. The other train was nearer now, its horn blasts almost deafening. Greymalkin applied more pressure, and the hands around his throat loosened. The attacker grasped at his own throat, and that was all Greymalkin needed to turn him around and fling him out the window, into the speeding train.

He fell to the floor, and was blinded one more time by sunlight. He wanted nothing more than to sleep, gather his wits, but something in his mind told him he couldn't, not yet.

He turned to look at the dead bodies, and saw one of them twitching. The poor bastard was still alive. Cautiously, Greymalkin made his way to the flailing body.

The man drew back, gasping with pain and fear.

"Don't worry," calmed Greymalkin, "I won't hurt you anymore."

The figure laughed cruelly, and Greymalkin grimaced at what was left of the face. The skin was baked and cracked, still flaking off. Pus was oozing from several welts, as well as blood.

"You know," said Greymalkin, "if it makes you feel any better, that was quite a close call, much more challenging than I thought it would be."

The figure looked up, and croaked in a dry, broken voice, "save your pity for the weak...go rot in Hell."

The figure laughed harshly, then fell back, slack jawed. He was dead.

Greymalkin closed the Illuminati's eyes, "sorry, not today."

Then he heard another sound, something that set off an alarm in his head. He didn't know what it was, but it was coming from the dead Illuminati. Greymalkin furrowed his eyebrows as he turned the body over, lifting the robe.

What he saw was a red, beeping, digital display. And it was streaming numbers.

11...10...9...8...

Author's Note: Gee, I wonder what THAT means... ^_^ Okay, okay, please forgive me if any of this starts getting cliche, but I write what I really wanted to see in an FF. And if the future car chase scenes and the assassination attempts get to corny for you...well, I can always try to improve them. Anyway, thanks for reading, and tell me what I've screwed up so I can correct my erroneous ways. Take it easy. By the way, I have Skyla Doragono from fanfiction.net to thank to finally making me get my rear in gear and update again, so kudos to her. Oh, and Black Widow Spider aka Arachnia for getting pissed at me when I didn't tell her. Yep, the proverbial bonks on the head got me going. Right, read on people, read on...