4- To Defy a King
The sunrise showered to the field with a golden light. An endless sea of bodies was gently warmed by the new sun. The few who remained carried their dead off to the valleys to give them proper burials. The battle was quick, but both sides were damaged heavily.
Sephiroth still required healing, so he granted command of the coming battle to Beatrix. While this was a battle for the self-defense of the castle, since it was such a far distance from the city, it was considered to be under General Sephiroth's command. Beatrix was just as efficient as Sephiroth would have been, however, and the quick attack was devastating to the Wutainese. Though greatly outnumbered, Beatrix's ambush had effectively halted the advance of Wutai's forces. There was no more threat.
Sephiroth had given her the precise position of Wutai's strike, and she was able to attack the army very early in the morning, while they were preparing. Beatrix led a regiment of 2,000 against a Wutianese force of nearly 5,000, but due to the timing of the strike, most of the warriors had no armor, and the mage force was already exhausted from the preparation of support spells. A few waves of arrows and thunder spells cleared most of the threat before her troops hurtled down towards the Wutainese to finish them off. One thousand Wutainese managed a successful retreat, but such a small force could not be a further threat to the Hallow Bastion. Beatrix, though clear victor in the battle, walked with the weight of 1,200 casualties on her shoulders. She had pleaded for a larger force, but Sephiroth had insisted she could win with 2,000. Beatrix also dragged her comrades to the valley below, to bury them away from the torture of their final battle.
It was during these long trips from the battlefield to the valleys and back that General Beatrix began to think about Sephiroth's words the last time she saw him. Surely that story cannot be true, she thought. Lord Ansem would never betray his people in such a way…
But Beatrix could not discover a reason for Sephiroth to lie about such a thing. He had never indicated any interest in the throne. And even if he had, though the people of the Hallow Bastion loved Sephiroth, they loved their king more, and they would surely condemn Sephiroth for saying such filth about their leader.
But Sephiroth had never lied to her. Not once.
Perhaps… he should be trusted.
* * * * * *
The changing room was thick with the stench of blood, sweat, and fear. The Behemoth had forced all the students into cover, and it was here that they ran. The injured were being nursed by the mage students, while anyone with a sword took turns guarding the doors. The result of the Behemoth's attack had been devastating, 11 students had already died, and the battle was still continuing outside.
Tifa sat alone and uncomforted on a bench in the corner.
She had first intended to aide Cloud and Sephiroth in the battle. She knew she wasn't as strong as the two warriors, but she refused to let herself stand by and do nothing as Cloud faced the most difficult battle of his short life. That was before she noticed Aerith, though.
Tifa never knew what to think of Aerith. They had never had a chance to talk, or to have some "girl-bonding". Rinoa and Aerith got along well, but when around them Tifa just felt really loney, as if she had been left behind in a world of adventure and love.
Love? Tifa questioned herself. Love… love… love. She found herself repeating that one word, aching to discover its hidden meaning, trying to find out what it all meant. What does Aerith feel for Cloud, was it love? What does Cloud feel? What do I feel? She pulled her legs into her chest and buried her head in her knees, trying to cry.
What I feel… doesn't matter. Cloud loves her, and that's it. My place is not with Cloud. My place is to protect my king.
With that, Tifa stood up and walked toward the door. My place is to protect the king, she thought, and took her turn on guard until the battle was over.
* * * * * *
"You did wonderful out there, you know," Rinoa whispered softly, more to herself than to her unconscious love lying before her.
Much more had happened since Squall's duel with Seifer, but she tried her best to ignore the Behemoth's rampage and the screaming students in the locker rooms and forced herself to talk only to Squall, and only about his achievements. Somehow she thought that this would bring him back to the real world, to comfort her a little bit.
Of course, Squall had made no improvements in the fifteen minutes he had been out. He and Seifer both had entirely missed Cloud and Freya's duel, and were even sleeping soundly through the giant beast's attack. She looked at Squall's face, which was no longer deep in thought about anything. Squall was always thinking too deeply about something, and this was possibly the first time she had ever seen him so peaceful.
"You know," she told him below the screams of terror, "you're beautiful when you're asleep." She smiled to herself and turned around to check on Seifer who was—sitting up and loading his gunblade?
"Seifer? You're awake?"
"Yes, I'm awake. And its very comforting to know that beast is rampaging around outside and you're sitting here doing nothing about it," he scoffed at her.
"Hey hey hey! You sit back down! I'm the one in charge of you here, and I am not going to let you run out of here in some delusional fit of glory, okay? You're not listening to me!" she shouted at his back as he turned towards the door and began to limp to exit. "Gaahh! Seifer, STOP!" she yelled, and held out both her hands in front of her in concentration.
Seifer froze magically feet from the door. He struggled with the muscles in his face and managed to grunt out, "Release me from your spell, witch. This is something I have to do."
"No, you're in bad enough condition right now, Seifer. I'm not going to let you go out there. If Sephiroth can't handle that monster, than you certainly don't have a chance." Rinoa was a strong mage, but Seifer's will was fierce. She could not keep him from moving for much longer. It then that she felt a hand on her shoulder and lost her concentration completely. Seifer fell to his knees, but continued his slow journey to the door.
"Waitaminute… Squall, you're awake? Tell him to sit back down!" she told him, now in a muddled rage. She was not in the mood to see anyone else get killed.
"Seifer," Squall began as he sat upright. His rival eyed him cautiously, but did not move. Squall reached for his gunblade and loaded it. Seifer readied himself.
"No, Squall, that's not what I meant!" Rinoa began, but Squall put his finger over her lips, affectionately silencing her as he stumbled over to Seifer. The men stared at each other.
"Take this," Squall said, holding out his weapon. Seifer, surprised, merely nodded, and walked out the door, gunblade in each hand. Squall fell to the floor and Rinoa ran to help him up.
"Squall…" whispered Rinoa, holding back her tears as the crowd awed at Seifer's undying spirit. "Squall, why did you do that?"
"Because, he is a soldier. This is what he was born to do." Rinoa took Squall's arm over her shoulder and hugged him as she helped him walk back to is makeshift bed.
"… and you?" she asked him. He made no reply.
Seconds later, the room was filled with Seifer Almasy's familiar war cry, and then all was silent.
* * * * * *
The next few days were ones of extreme unrest among the people of the Hallow Bastion. Many mourned the tragic fate of one of the best upcoming soldiers, among the many others who died in the attack. Sephiroth, Cloud Strife, Aerith Gainsborough, Freya Crescent, and the late Seifer Almasy were honored as heroes for bringing the downfall of the great beast that attacked the ceremony that day. More and more sightings of the heartless, as they had been so properly named my the king, were being recorded, and soldiers from nearly every branch of defense were being combined in order to protect the kingdom from these new threats. General Sephiroth was head of the new, unnamed department. General Beatrix and her regime had not yet returned from their successful battle.
It was under the premises of his new command that Sephiroth announced a conference in front of a large portion of the media and the general public this day. It was, however, not the actual reason for his new speech. Sephiroth had decided after the Behemoth's attack that Ansem must be the reason for the many deaths, and that his madness must be revealed to the kingdom. He had immediately sent a message to general Beatrix of his plans, and instructed her to call Lord Ansem to the battle field in order to say a prayer for the dead, then await his next order to bring her troops back. It wasn't until Beatrix received this note that she had realized Sephiroth's reasoning in sending her with so few men: a coup was in progress, and the Great General would surely need as many men to fight for him as he could get. Sephiroth was planning to oust the king and take up the throne until he found a worthy candidate to replace him. He would not let any more men die at the hand of a mad ruler.
Sephiroth's conference was well attended, and he was sure that that news of his declarations would reach the entire kingdom before nightfall. He was almost positive that he was about to cause a civil war, but Sephiroth was not worried about that. He had never lost a war.
Guards sure to be loyal to Sephiroth were placed at all entrances to the stadium he was speaking in. He did not have personal guards, since he felt no need for them. His wounds had finally healed enough for him to be able to swing his sword with his full strength once more. His agility had returned. Only his magic abilities still needed more recovery.
The ceremony started off as initially expected, with one significant difference: Ansem was in attendance.
"Sir," a surprised general offered to his lord, "I was not expecting you to be present this afternoon."
"I know, General, but some things are too important not to be a part of." Ansem tried to read the face of the cold warrior standing in front of him. "Of course, I sent a priest of some prestige to the battlefield to guide the dead. Pity there were such heavy losses… why was it that you granted General Beatrix so few men?" he added suspiciously.
"I beg your pardon my Lord, I sent her all the men I could spare." Sephiroth grudgingly bowed to Ansem. When he arose, he noticed that the stage was set and the time for his announcement had finally arrived. He would speak the truth, even with Ansem here. If need be, I'll kill him myself.
"Excuse me, my Lord, I must make an announcement," he said as he stared into the orange eyes of his mad leader. He held back the urge to strike.
"Or course, of course, no apology necessary… but…" Sephiroth, already in the process of walking to the podium, stopped and turned quickly. "Please allow me to introduce you. It is the least I can do for my Great General Sephiroth."
"… Yes, of course, my lord." Sephiroth took a seat on the sole chair on-stage, intended for Ansem, and thought. What was Ansem up to? He knew that Ansem's actions always proved a purpose; he was a calculated man.
Ansem approached the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, today the Great General Sephiroth has come to speak of the growing monster problem within the Hallow Bastion. I am here to introduce him, but also to shed some light to the people on some of the facts we know." Sephiroth eyed him carefully, hand resting on his sword. A small creature appeared in front of Ansem, small and black like the one Sephiroth had scene in the endless catacombs of the castle. Ansem was not the least bit surprised by it, and merely levitated it off the ground with a flick of the wrist. It struggled, but Ansem kept it still easily. The audience gasped as a whole.
"This is a Heartless," he explained. "These beings who have begun to attack the city regularly have no hearts, and therefore have an extreme hunger for them. They search dark alleys for wanderers and steal their hearts, being careful to avoid deadly light. I have been experimenting with them in my lab and the results have been truly astonishing.
"For example, these creatures did not even exist in our world a month ago, but in the past few days we have been overrun with them, even the massive Behemoth that took the lives of many young warriors. The question that needs to be asked is this: why are they here now? Surely something, or someone must have led them here? I have a theory: I believe the Heartless arrive in a world due to the darkness in an individual's heart. Every heart has a dark side to it, but it takes a heart of true evil… no, power- in order to summon the beings to a world. These creatures have incredible power, and are not to be taken lightly. Perhaps they even have the power to raise the dead, or to delay a death long enough in order to give a new life?"
Ansem turned behind him and eyed Sephiroth. Sephiroth knew what was coming and quickly skimmed around him, watching the guards' reactions carefully.
"There is one man in our midst who may be the source of these Heartless, and his death may bring peace back to this Hallow Bastion. Some nights ago, in the midst of the castle's catacombs, I noticed him disposing the bodies of two of my assistants into a hidden ravine where, he thought, no one could ever find them. He was risen from the dead in order to come back and force his rule upon this kingdom, and my poor assistants must have discovered his terrible secret. I'm sure a man in such a position would show no mercy." He turned around again and stared Sephiroth in the eye, making no move. The audience gasped and screamed and many flinched when Sephiroth slowly stood up from his chair.
"I know I would not," Ansem said at last, more to Sephiroth than to the shocked listeners. "Come with me quietly and you will not be harmed, General."
Sephiroth drew his sword with a flash. "I will not speak the same for you, traitor."
"… Kill him!"
Guards on all sides hesitantly approached Sephiroth. Even those that Sephiroth believed to be loyal advanced. 'Pity,' he thought. 'Some are such fine warriors, as well.'
Before any of the troops had a chance to strike, Sephiroth whipped the Masamune around once in a great swing and beheaded four men. He wasted no time in advancing on Ansem. His speed was incredible, but Ansem was no mere private. He easily dodged Sephiroth's first slash. The general fluidly raised his sword once more and attacked and dismembered three more guards. They were becoming more and more hesitant to attack.
"Leave him be!" Ansem shouted to guards, and all turned and fled. While the ruler was losing his mind, he still did not care to lose his strongest supporters.
The two most powerful men in the Hallow Bastion carefully eyed each other as a scene of panic surrounded them both. Everyone was fleeing for their lives.
"You are losing your touch, old friend. According to your reputation I should be beheaded by now," Ansem mocked.
"You will not escape your blame, traitor. If I must, I will force it upon you!" With a cry Sephiroth sprinted and attacked Ansem. The king had set up a magical barrier to block the attack, but Sephiroth's quick strikes dissolved the shield quickly.
"Ahh… there is your strength, General," he said with a smile.
With his final assault, Sephiroth slashed at the king's legs, but Ansem jumped over it. He blocked an overhead slash with magic and sidestepped two thrusts before counter attacking for himself.
Upon Sephiroth's advance, Ansem summoned a pillar of fire to appear around him, baking the general in its flames. His mind was still weak, and Sephiroth could not fight back against this attack. Smoking, he was not hesitant to retreat from his currently stronger foe.
When the fire disappeared, Ansem could no longer see Sephiroth. He scanned the area quickly and intently until he found him sitting of the roof of a nearby building.
"Hahahaha… Come down, General, and finsh your fight!"
"No… when did you attain such power?"
"In the depths of your darkest nightmares," Ansem answered coldly and sinisterly.
"You will not get away with your actions. If you will not punish yourself for those deeds, I will do it for you."
With these words, Sephiroth quickly limped away, fleeing into the nearby mountains.
* * * * *
"I'm a big girl, you know. You don't have to walk me everywhere."
"No, I do. You know that there are heartless running around all over the place. What would I do if you got hurt?"
"Jump Tifa," Aerith replied sarcastically, looking back at her boyfriend and playfully flipping her bangs. Cloud smiled nervously. "You you're really not letting up on this, are you?"
"Not a bit," he replied dutifully, trudging along with this massive sword.
"Fine… I guess that means I'm going to have to tell you where I've been going, then, huh?"
"That would be nice," Cloud remarked understatedly.
"Fine," she sighed as she grabbed Cloud's hand and ran into an alleyway, where she leaned against the cold brick wall. The sun was just beginning to go down for the evening, and the whole sky was blazing orange. Aerith, searching for her words, looked nervously at the long shadow cast by Cloud and was suddenly scared of him. She gasped and almost ran away, but when she looked up at the concern in his eyes the fear left her. She had no reason to fear Cloud, right?
"What's wrong?" he caringly insisted.
"Nothing… nothing. Listen, Cloud." She stared straight into his eyes, afraid to look away from them. He stared back intently. "The first day I saw you, you know, in the bar? I was waiting for someone. I was waiting for a contact, a man named Cid Highwind."
"A contact? A contact to what?" Cloud inquired.
"I'll get there… I came into town that night from my home in Baria, to the south. I was promised a job and a place to live, as well as a prestigious education. My family's not so rich, so I jumped on the offer, but the man I was supposed to meet didn't show up. I had no idea how to contact the people I needed to, because aside from the name 'Cid', I didn't know anything. And do you have any idea how many Cids there are in this city? Its insane.
"I ended up staying in a hotel for a few days, and then I decided to check things out with the school. I thought maybe I had already received permission to start my classes. I hadn't, but luckily I ended up talking to Zack. I learned that Cid was supposed to take me to Zack, so now I was back on track again, and ready to start on the work I needed to do in order to get my education."
"Wait, you were supposed to talk to Zack? Are you being placed under military service or something?" Cloud asked nervously, almost to afraid to mention the possibility of his love in a battle with Wutai.
"No, just let me finish. That evening I was taken to my first meeting. I met with Zack, Cid Highwind, Laguna Loire. Cid's the king's head of transportation, and Laguna is the head of foreign affairs. The last member of the group was… Lord Ansem."
"You've been meeting with Ansem?! Aerith, he's the king! What are you working on? Its gotta be pretty important if you're working with the king himself."
"I know, I was really shocked when he first walked in. The others hadn't even told me what was going on yet, so I just sat there silently and tried to figure out why I was so important to them. Finally, Ansem told me. Cloud, you know that I'm good with magic, right? That's how they first found out about me, through my magic scores from my old town. Most specifically, they thought I was abnormally good at a type called Dimension Magic: changing the sizes of things, messing with people's heads, even teleporting. And since I'm still young, they thought I would still be improving."
"But why is this important, Aerith? What does the king want with that kind of magic?" Cloud questioned.
"Well… Ansem's been obsessed with other worlds lately. He doesn't believe that we're the only one, and he wants to visit more. I know it sounds crazy, but he's done a lot of research on it, and after looking at it I have to say that I'm a believer. So now that we think there are different worlds out there, we have to figure out how to get to them. Cid's project has been to make some kind of ship that can get out of our world's atmosphere. Laguna's job is to learn how to communicate with the residents on the other world, and set up friendly relations with them. With all the money we're spending on traveling there, we won't be able to afford a war with them, especially with Sephiroth in exile. Zack's job was to find me, but he's got a good head on his shoulders and has pretty much been the voice of reason at the meetings in case the rest of our ideas are too far fetched. My job is to find a magical alternative to Cid's space ship. With that I've been working directly with Ansem, or I was."
"Was? What do you mean, Aeirth? Does Ansem meet with you guys anymore?"
"He does, but he's not interested in Cid or I anymore. He's insisting that the heartless are the answer to other worlds. He doesn't think that they're from here, so he's been studying them intently trying to figure out how they got here. Laguna got a notice from him today that he would be out on the field studying today, and to cancel the meeting. We decided to keep with it anyway, so we can further explore our ideas."
"Wow, Aerith, that's quite a story. Why didn't you tell me before?" Cloud asked, a little hurt.
"I'm sorry, but they made us promise never to tell anyone. And I could be in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out that I told you, so keep it quiet, okay?" Cloud and Aerith exchanged nods. "Oh no! We have to get there before it gets dark! C'mon, Cloud!"
* * * * * *
X year, X month, X day: Though the experiments themselves are yielding no answers to my immediate question, the research certainly is fascinating. I have come to many conclusions, but most importantly, I have decided that the Heartless are not from this world. Of this I am certain.
Their very essence of life is so much different than anything I have encountered before. Some creatures live off the flesh and blood of others, even ourselves, but none that I have known thus far have lived off the heart, the very essence of another creature. This must mean they are not of this world.
The have no natural predators, and no established prey: they will prey on anything they can. I have not yet discovered what lures them to their prey.
X year, X month, X day: Sephiroth has seen me disposing of the bodies of my assistants. He will undoubtedly attempt to stop my research. The research must not stop.
X year, X month, X day: I have decided that the Heartless can sense the hearts of others. The stronger the heart, the more heartless are attracted to it. It seems only one of an incredibly strong heart, like myself, may control them.
I still have no idea where they are coming from, but they are multiplying. This matter will now be my top priority.
X year, X month, X day: Sephiroth has been dealt with. He will return, and he will undoubtedly attempt to usurp the throne, but he will fall under my power. With the Heartless at my side I am unstoppable.
X year, X month, X day: I will disband my team assigned the task of finding a way to another world tomorrow. Deciding to skip the meeting for field research, I ended up finding something very intriguing in my castle catacombs: and elaborately decorated door. It was in a place where before there ad been no door, I am sure of it. The most relevant aspect of it, however, were the Heartless gradually coming in from the crack underneath. This is how they are entering this world.
I opened the door without hesitation, eager to discover what lay beyond. What I found was… beautiful, and indescribable, even for a scientist such as myself. I will try to find the words at another date. Its contents were cryptic, however, and I do not yet know how to take this door to the world of the Heartless. This matter I must attend to in private.
* * * * * *
The discussion was going quite well without Ansem present. Aerith and Cid discussed possibilities for travel in detail while Laguna and Zack discussed possible diplomacy problems. Cloud, not allowed inside the room, acted as doorman for the evening.
He must have done a very poor job of it. After less than two hours, there was a great thud against the door. The team consisted of three battle hardened warriors and one very talented girl, and the did not hesitate to prepare themselves for a battle. Cid ran for his spear, Zack his new sword, and Laguna reached into a pocket to pull out a handsome pistol. Aerith readied herself and formed a barrier around the others.
The door flew open, and Cloud soared inside and skidded on the ground. Only the fiercest of men could defeat Cloud so quickly.
"Please disarm yourselves. I'm not here to hurt anyone," Beatrix said as she flipped her hair to the side and sheathed her sword.
"L-l-l-lady Beatrix?" Laguna managed to stutter before immediately throwing down his pistol, and jabbing Cid in the ribs until he dropped his spear as well. Zack put away his sword and ran to greet his superior.
"General? What are you doing here?" he asked, obviously nervous for being involved in a meeting without the King's approval.
"Relax, Commander, I did not come all this way to break up your meeting. There is a matter that must be urgently discussed." She quickly walked to the table, sat down and crossed her legs.
"What did you do to Cloud?" Aerith asked, casting a few cure spells.
"Yeah… you @*#$ed up the kid real bad. I thought he was supposed to be good?" Cid rudely responded as he put out a cigarette on Cloud's jacket.
"I put him to sleep. He needs to work on his magical defenses," the General replied.
"Is that all?" Laguna asked. "Oh, then I can take care of this." He walked over to Cloud, and smacked him in the face four or five times until he came to.
"Uughh… what happened?" he responded groggily.
"Can we hurry this up?" Beatrix insisted, annoyed at the great lengths being taken for these four to revive their fallen comrade.
"Wait a minute," Cloud mumbled, finally starting to come around. "What's she doing in here?"
"Cloud, please," Laguna said, "The adults are talking. Go on Beatrix, what's so important?"
They all made themselves comfortable. Cid sat on a stool while Laguna and Zack sat on the table. Aerith took Cloud's head in her lap and tried to help him out of it while she figured out what was going on, too.
"Now that I have your attention… I'll just come out and say it: Ansem is mad." Her small audience let out a little gasp, but no one said anything. "He has become obsessed with the Heartless, as I am sure you all have figured out. He has killed because of his obsession. Sephiroth found out, and attempted to tell the public and to usurp the throne, but Ansem turned the plan around and exiled Sephiroth. I was off somewhere else and was not there to support him. Nor did I have enough troops, even if the opportunity would have arisen. I, and now all of you, are the only ones who know of this."
"But…" Aerith asked, "why did you come to us?"
"Simple, you have been with Ansem over the course of his madness. The people love the King, but do not know him… you are the only ones who would believe me." Beatrix looked around and eyed her supporters. A ragtag group, but strong and determined.
"I say we follow the broad," Cid announced after a period of silence, lighting up another cigarette.
"We need Sephiroth back," Cloud volunteered.
"My thoughts exactly," Beartix said. "But how?"
* * * * * *
Sephiroth sat bleeding in a cave on the northern-most part of the mountain. He had not gotten far before he collapsed. The battle with Ansem had caused his wounds to reopen. The rage against his former lord built up, and he wished Ansem was there with him so he could strangle him. Ansem would not get away with what he had done. But Sephiroth also knew that without aide he would not last through the night.
With that thought, a small Heartless appeared from under the ground and stared into the Sephiroth's brilliant green eyes.
"… Get me food," he said, and the Heartless turned and walked off to obey his command.
Sephiroth smiled. This dance was not over.
So how's it turning out? I'm really sorry it took so long to this chapter up, but I have more important things that fan fic-ing to deal with for a little while. But with life beginning to calm down, I picked up the old story and went with it for a good ten pages. The quality of the first part ain't so great, I know, but I think it picked up again near the end, after I got into it again. The story's really starting to get going now. I hope you all enjoy the allegiances forming, and be sure to shout out some ideas: I do listen to those, you know.
So, what's up for the next chapter? To be honest I don't know yet, so I can't give one of those fancy "Next time on Batman" outros. There's a good three or four chapters left in the story though, I've just got to figure out how to tie this part to the end. But don't you worry, I'm a clever boy and I'll figure it out before too long.
And one last thing before I head off, be sure to check out my short Cowboy Bebop fic entitled What Would You Give. It sure is better than any of this Kingdom Hearts stuff. Its rated R for one bout of strong language. Check it out and thanks in advance!
Peace out, bros.