Chapter Seven: Pavane
Ryu was up to his waist in the decayed remains of a giant heart; the straps of his pack dug into his shoulders and the sound of the bell as he moved was for the first time irritating. Behind him Scias and Cray let out staccato puffs of breath that echoed his own. Nina leapt above him with wings beating. As she began to descend she grabbed onto a web of decayed tissue and began to climb toward the light from above. Normally Ryu would have welcomed light as a sign that they would soon be out, but as it was it merely made it harder to ignore what he had been trying to.
He understood now why the people of Astana (he thought they'd been terribly calm, for people who'd supposedly had a riot) had laughed at their declaration of intent to go after Yuna and then offered to sell them nose plugs (D'you think we haven't already tried? one had said). Their leader, an Imperial thaumaturgist, had set up his office in the Carronade facility that had been vacated by the military and vehemently denied that he had provoked any riot (I assure you, he said, no blood whatsoever was shed), and he had said much the same thing, but in a far more wordy way. Even Yuna's assistants in Astana Base, deprived of their work, had merely given them infuriating smiles and wished them good luck in their travels.
Nina let out a small cry as her handholds gave, and she hovered for a moment before finding others, some way lower. Once his heart had regained its usual rhythm Ryu found that he had flung his arms wide in preparation to catch her. He quickly continued his climb after drawing his sword and cutting his own handhold, then slashing at a giant fly that had come too close for even the minimal comfort that could be obtained while squishing through rotted organs that had once belonged to Nina's sister.
The last time they had been here their path had been blocked by a giant vein, and an apparition of Princess Elina had directed them to seek the Dragonslayer; that particular obstacle was gone now, but there was no longer any pathway for it to block except for the burnt and hacked bits down below, where the people of Astana had made their attempts. The thought seized him that they were trapped here, and they could swim in the rot for the rest of their lives and never get any closer. But that was silly, he'd had the same thought further down and now here he was, wasn't he?
When finally Nina took his hands and pulled him out, he lay flat on his face gasping for a time before he got to his feet and helped her extract the others. Even now the stench insinuated itself with them, instead of being conveniently left behind with its source. Rags were produced and passed around to clean up the clinging filth - it would not do, when confronting Yuna, to be plagued by the smell. Nina had foregone the offered nose plugs but had bought a bottle of strong perfume to dip the cloths in. Soon they were overwhelmed with overripe fruit, in lieu of rotted meat. The quilt he had acquired in Kwanso remained clean and fairly unscented, to his relief, and he returned it to the pack with care.
In Chedo after defeating A-Tur they had seen General Rhun slumped against the wall of the Imperial Castle. What he had said then gained significance when it was compared with those of Fou-Lu's memories that had slipped through before Ryu had realized, and those that continued to gravitate to him despite his best efforts.
Even if we knew not what we were doing, he'd said, we aided him in his pursuit of power... we helped him in his attempt to kill a god... "He" had to be Yuna, especially since Rhun had inquired to Ursula about him just before giving the confession. Yohm, too, had mentioned it before making himself a living torch - he remembered that through Fou-Lu. As if doing what he had done to Nina's sister hadn't been enough, it now seemed Yuna had been behind the Empire turning on Fou-Lu - including the hex on Soma Forest and the sacrifice that had powered it.
Now that the cleaning was done with, everyone turned to checking their weaponry. Most of their heavier armor had been left in the safekeeping of the inn - they doubted Yuna could hurt them significantly on his own, but they would probably have to take him out hard and fast before he could escape. Now that he really thought about it, it depressed Ryu how many times Yuna had escaped - from the Imperial Castle, though Fou-Lu, unknowing of the extent he was implicated, had not expended that much effort against him to begin with; in Kwanso when they had sought the Dragonslayer - though, again, they hadn't known how important he had really been; and in this same place. Ryu had been outside, as per Elina's request, but even he had heard Cray's outraged shout and Yuna's protest - I can create gods! You can't kill me! just before he must have made his retreat.
And he's right. He can run and run forever, and we can run around after him, only a little ways behind him if we're lucky. When he's in danger he doesn't even have to look for a way out like the rest of us, just zap and he's out of it just like that. What with all the time we're taking out here, it would be a wonder if he hasn't caught on and got out already.
As if his mind had been read, their activities passed with minimal speaking, and when Cray finally said "Let's get this done with, then," it was a half-whisper. They approached the door to the house one at a time, so that the noise of several feet moving all at once would not be risked, and as if on a signal all sounds of breathing ceased. Ryu clutched the bell to muffle the sound and as he did he chanted in his head, three-two-one-zero. Three-two-one-zero. Three-two-one...
Then nothing. Ryu craned his neck, trying to look around the corner of the house. He had heard something from the other side. But of course - if Yuna was in there, he wouldn't bother about being quiet, would he?
Cray placed his hand to the door and looked from side to side. Everyone nodded, and Cray nodded back, like some kind of bizarre ceremony. The Opening of the Door.
And then it was open, Cray was through, and everyone piled through after him; it seemed they turned somersaults over one another in their sudden hurry. Somehow Ryu landed on his feet in time to see Cray dash across the room.
Yuna sat beside the massive bed holding a journal and on the bed - no time to look at that, he was turning around, he had to have seen Cray by now, and now Ryu was running as well, shoulder-to-shoulder with Cray and then past but still not fast enough. Yuna was standing up and he surely wouldn't get there in time and the bell was jingling and why was the wall crumpling in?
He ducked to the ground and shut his eyes as Ershin called a warning and Nina screamed. When the noise stopped he dared to look up.
A-Tur, who they had fought in Chedo, who had shown them the way into the Imperial Castle, stood where Yuna had been. Blood dripped from wounds in his front half, presumably from crashing through the wall; a great deal of that wall had been converted to a new layer of carpet. More fragments were scattered on the bed, on which Elina lay. Her hands were neatly folded atop the bloodstained covers pulled up to her shoulders. She stared ahead with utter indifference. It's to be expected - dead eyes can't look around, can they?
"Yuna - where's Yuna?"
"I have him, m'lord."
Indeed, Yuna lay beneath A-Tur's paws, unmoving; it looked like he'd taken a few knocks from the collapsing wall as well, though some of the blood had probably come from A-Tur. Nina and Scias hurried forward and began to cast healing spells. Ryu began to lift his hands to call Ch'o Ryong to join in, before he remembered. He had questions, but it seemed crude to ask them in the middle of first aid.
Finally, it looked like the bleeding had slackened, and he spoke. "What're you doing here?"
"I was concerned for you, Young Master." A-Tur dipped his head. "I didst hear you speak of this mortal, and so I sought him out. I was unsure of how I might confront him without inciting him to flee. I thank you for your timely distraction."
"No problem," mumbled Ryu. "He's still alive?"
"He is, Young Master. You doth wish me to change this?"
"Oh - no. That's fine for now. Thanks." He went over to join Nina and Cray at the bedside.
As he approached Nina began to tremble - vibrate, almost. He ventured to place a hand on her shoulder, and she turned and pressed her face into his collarbone. Startled, he pulled back halfway but then hastily returned to his former position. She didn't seem to notice. "Ryu...oh, Ryu... she..."
He looked. The body looked surprisingly free of the rot that plagued the organs below. Though maybe it's all on the inside. No. "She does look like she could be-"
"Not just could be," she said, and she tilted her head up. "Ryu, she's come back."
This time he pulled back completely and glanced around the room for reactions. There were none - Scias continued plucking splinters from A-Tur and healing the points of extraction, Ershin observed the unconscious Yuna, and Cray stood on the other side of the bed, gazing down at the covers. So she couldn't have shouted. But to Ryu it made little difference.
He looked back at Nina, whose tears had created damp spots on his shirt. She nodded vigorously. "I know it sounds silly, but I swear, Ryu, she's breathing."
"Nina, she -"
"I know she did. That's why I said she came back." She leaned over the bed and held out her hand over Elina's face. "See, I felt something. You try."
He held out his hand, and in due time he felt an exhaled breath, light but there. He looked at her. "Now what?" "Now what?" Is that the best I can come up with? You'd think with someone coming back, as Nina said, there would be more excitement than this.
"What?"
They faced Cray, who stared across the bed at them. Nina said, "Cray...? Did you see...?"
"I don't know. Wait..." He took hold of the bottom edge of the blanket. "Sorry about this." With that he drew it upward as if he were unveiling a holy relic. After a certain point, Ryu saw the bare skin of legs, which would not have been unusual if it weren't for the fact that it only extended to a point just below the knees. Cray pulled it up about another inch, then folded the blanket over into a double layer, averting his eyes from the stains. "She didn't have these," he said. "What he did to her - she didn't have any legs anymore at all. What's this supposed to mean?"
This time Scias heard. "She's g-growing them b-back? B-but then -"
Ershin heard as well. "Deis says, few of the living can regenerate to such an extent. She says, certainly the dead cannot."
"But she's not dead," said Ryu.
"Yes. Deis says it is so."
Nina dove onto the bed and caught her in a ferocious embrace while kneeling on the half-legs. "Elina - we're here, it's all right! It's me, don't you remember me? Oh, Elina -"Elina stared over her shoulder.
"Id-don't think she h-hears -" Ryu turned toward Scias, who immediately stopped speaking, then stepped aside at a moan from behind him.
By the time Yuna's eyes opened, Ryu, Scias and Ershin had formed a semicircle around his head. Ryu stared down at him for a moment, uncertain of what could be said, then turned away to collect himself. Nina had begun to cast more healing spells, though they seemed to have little effect on her sister's pallor. Cray looked on with his hands moving around each other in elaborate patterns, oblivious.
Ryu turned back and said "Did you do this? Did you bring her back?"
"She says to note that if you lie you had better hope whoever was really responsible for this decides to render you aid."
"D-did y-you, then?"
Yuna let out an incoherent squeak in response. "A-Tur?" said Ryu. "A little bit lighter, please." This probably qualified as torture, but Ryu didn't much care at the moment. You should be able to take something so much less than what you've dished out - to Elina...
...and to Mami.
A-Tur nodded and eased up on the pressure on Yuna's chest, though not completely. Yuna took a breath, opened his mouth, glanced at Ershin, closed his mouth, took another breath, and opened his mouth again. "Regrettably, no."
"I g-guessed as m-much."
Yes, to Mami. Yohm might have been the one who decided to use her in the Carronade, but if it hadn't been for you and your wanting to kill Fou-Lu - to do what? Satisfy your ego- she'd never have been caught up in all of it. Of course it's likely she'dve never met Fou-Lu at all if it hadn't happened, but wouldn't that be a small price to pay to live out the rest of her life?
"But were I not here, she would soon have died once again."
Ryu said, "How do you figure that?"
"She is incapable of self-directed movement-"
"Yes, I would've figured that considering her legs are only about halfway done."
"Well! What I meant by self-directed," said Yuna, "is that she must be prompted to do anything, including eat and drink, and then only in minute amounts. She does not speak. Had I not come here she likely would have wasted away unnoticed." Ryu found his miffed tone grotesquely funny under the circumstances.
Scias said, "I... I know that if I w-were in that position then I w-wouldn't feel m-much like t-talking either."
"Wish Ursula was around," said Cray. "She could probably recommend a doctor or something. We'll have to ask around when we get back to the city." Ryu began preparing to talk Cray out of snapping Yuna's neck right then, and was slightly bemused when no such proposal came after. He guessed he was preoccupied with Elina's return. But what surprised him still more was that he, Ryu, had meant to give more than token protest to the idea.
He abandoned the arguments rendered unnecessary for the time being. "A-Tur? How did you get up here?"
"Young Master, if I might offer an opinion, I doubt 'twould be wise for you and your companions to attempt it with your charge."
"Okay. Thanks for telling me." He turned away from A-Tur and Yuna and got out the quilt again. "Here. Good thing we brought this." Nina nodded thanks, took it from his hands, and brought it over to the bed, unfolding it and shaking it out as she did.
When Elina was wrapped in it, Cray picked her up - he looked halfway like he was carrying a rolled carpet and halfway like he was sweeping his ladylove away to a happy ending. "I'll take care of her," he said. "Let's get out of here." Still no mention of Yuna.
"A-Tur?" said Ryu. "Pick him up and get down by whatever way you want, all right? Don't let him get away. Not again."
"As you wish. I wouldst prefer to follow you, Young Master."
"Okay. Nothing wrong with that."
A-Tur dipped his head and picked up Yuna by the collar, where he dangled like a hanged man. Cray marched through the open door with Elina in his arms; Nina followed, then Ershin and Scias. Ryu took the rear, walking alongside A-Tur. He let the bell swing freely now.
It's strange - I used to be a god, or the closest thing to it, and this is the first miracle I've ever been privileged to see. And after the Endless left, or fell, too.
I've really got to wonder who it was.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Little clarification regarding the title - "Pavane for a Dead Princess" is a tune on the Breath of Fire IV soundtrack. I think it's pretty obvious, if you've read the chapter/played the game at least past Chapter Three, just who it refers to.
So now that you've read that little tidbit (or skipped it, which is well within your rights) it would be appreciated if readers of this chapter see fit to point out what they think went wrong. Remember, it's a bit difficult for me to fix my future stuff if I don't know just why you choose not to review. Thanks again.