Author's Note:
I don't own the rights to Final Fantasy or any of its characters. Not feeling 'funny' right now, so no funny disclaimer for this chapter. Ah well.
Chapter Fifteen
Empty
One day after their departure, their ship docked at Costa Del Sol, and Barret, Red XIII and Marlene went to a local chocobo dealer and bought one. They decided not to linger at the vacation resort, rather preferring to return to their respective homes. So, it was within moments of their arrival to the sunny beach that they left, Barret astride the chocobo with Marlene seatin in front of him, and Red XIII trotting beside them, easily keeping up.
During the trip, Barret kept finding himself adjusting his synthetic hand. It was designed to be able to work like a normal one, but its appearance of a machine's limb and the weight of it didn't sit right with him. He had gotten used to the gun-arm and its encumbering weight. It had been awkward, completely useless when coming to dexterious tasks, and something made only for violence, but now that he didn't have it, it didn't feel right. It was as if he had left an important part of himself behind with Cloud, and he found that he oddly missed his weapon.
The ride to Corel didn't have the hurried pace of their adventures while chasing Sephiroth, but nor was it leisurely. They only had so much time to spend, and the small group wanted to spend as much of it as possible in their respective homes.
It was on the second day of their journey while they were nearing Corel, the sky just becoming night, that they noticed that something was horribly wrong. Barret reined in his chocobo, and looked over the horizon, searching the darkening sky for something.
"Hey, Red!"
The feline warrior stopped his trot and sat down on his haunches. He quirked his head to the side, giving Barret a quizzical look. "Yes?"
"You notice something?" he said, gesturing to the horizon to the south.
Red XIII scanned the area in question, and saw the same as Barret. Darkness descending, grasslands, and in the distance, a desert. The feline managed a shrug. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"No," Barret said, realizing what it was that seemed to wrong with the horizon. "There's somethin' wrong all right. Don't know what, though. Too damn dark already. I'm sure if there were some damn light I could tell what it was, though."
Red XIII snorted, "Gold Saucer should provide appropriate light..."
The two stopped their musings short, and began to frantically search the horizon for the great, golden tree-like tower that always lit up the night horizon with its flashing lights and fireworks. Every night was said to be day at Gold Saucer, and every morning the rest period. But where were the lights now? Where were the fireworks?
Fear began to pump through Barret's blood. Something wasn't right. Something was horribly wrong.
"We gotta get to Corel."
"But, I need to get to Cosmo Canyon--"
"I don't care, Red. Somethin's up, an' I'm fearin' for my home town. It's closer than the Canyon. You comin' with me'll cost you half a day. But if you don't come... I dunno what's up, but I'm afraid."
Nanaki appeared as if he were about to say something in response, but then merely nodded. He stood back up, then loped at full speed towards Corel.
"What's happening, Papa?" Marlene asked from her spot on Barret's lap.
"I dunno, sweetheart. But I'm sure everything'll be fine." He gave her a few more comforting words, reassuring her that nothing was wrong, and then drove his heels into his chocobo's flanks, sending it racing ahead at full speed.
It took them an hour to reach Corel at their speed, and what they found when they got there astonished them. Normally, the village of Corel was a small, 'backwater' mining camp more than it was a village. It was hardly populated at all these days, but what they found was not what they expected at all.
Corel was deserted.
No one was there. It was as if everyone had just decided to leave at once. Red XIII immediately began to look for tracks, while Barret, with Marlene in tow, searched individual shacks, huts and tents for people. It was completely dark when he finished, and he hadn't found any evidence of any people. It looked as if it had been abandoned within the past day or so. Things had just been dropped, food still left out... for whatever reason the people of Corel had left, they had done so in a hurry.
Barret decided to check the mine shafts, thinking maybe the people had found a refuge of some sort there. Walking up to the entrance, he pulled out a flashlight and flicked it on, pointing the light into the dark tunnel. Immediately he was forced to scoop up Marlene and hold her against his chest, her face turned away from the sights within. Bodies of men lay in the passageway, all holding pick axes, mattocks, and hammers, all showing evidence of having fought in a battle. All about them were large piles of white ash. The former leader of Avalanche picked up a hammer that had been discarded and held it up, ready to defend himself from whatever may come. He also took one of the miner's helmet's, which had a small light on the front. With the hammer in one hand, and Marlene in the other, he wouldn't be able to carry his own flashlight.
He thought about leaving Marlene behind, but knew that would be even worse than bringing her inside with him. He would not leave his daughter alone outside.
"Baby... remember how Cloud and Tifa used to teach Daddy about Materia?"
"Yeah," she said, a tinge of fright in her voice. Despite his shielding of her, she had seen what was in the tunnel.
"Did you pay attention?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. I need you to do Daddy a favor. I need to carry you and this hammer at the same time, so I'm not gonna be able to play around with any of my Materia. Think you can use a Fire Materia just in case any monsters show up?" He hated asking his daughter this, but there was no other choice.
"I think so. Are the monsters gonna get us?"
"No. No they're not."
Setting the hammer down, he pulled off a Fire Materia from his bangle, then handed it to his daughter. "Don't be afraid to use it for light if you're scared."
The girl nodded, and cradled the orb like she would a baby. Picking his hammer back up, Barret walked into the mine purposefully. The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, sinking deeper and deeper into the Planet. The further he went, the more bodies he found, all surrounded with the same, odd white piles of ash. Their bodies were covered with large gashes, and on some, burns. The cuts all appeared to be precise, as if from some sort of weapon. Whatever had killed these people, it hadn't been a monster attack.
The light shining from his helmet didn't help much, but when movement registered in his field of view, he stopped, then carefully set Marlene down.
"Honey, I need you to wait here for Daddy. I'll be right back."
"Okay..."
Gripping his hammer in both hands, he set out into the darkness towards the movement. He found the source immediately. It was a woman. Her skin was all white, as was her hair. Her clothes were gray, a look of battle garb. A long, thin sword hung at her side. She was clawing frantically at a pile of rubble that blocked the passageway further into the cave.
They must have collapsed it. Meaning whatever it was that happened, must've come from the cave...
"Hey!" Barret called, getting the woman's attention.
She turned, focused now on him, her hands coming away from the wall, completely bloodied. A zealous look filled her eyes, a burning zeal that conflicted with her icy appearance.
"Are you with her?" she asked.
"Who?"
The woman's eyes narrowed, a look of suspicion crossing her face. "The Queen of the Sky. Are you with her?"
"The hell you talkin' about? I'm with no one but myself, Avalanche, and the damned Planet. Who are you, lady? Who's this Queen? What happened here?"
But the woman didn't answer. She let out a harsh scream and drew her sword. Barret lifted his sledge hammer in defense, taking the blowing on the shaft. He parried, then swung, but found she had already recovered and was attacking again. Using all of his strength, he switched the path of his hammer from an attack against her body to one against her weapon, slapping it inside.
She's crazy. She woulda died if I'd kept goin' with that swing. But then, I would've, too.
He drove his hammer against her weapon again, breaking the sword cleanly in half.
"Listen, lady, I just want answers!"
The woman howled again, and picking up the shards of her weapon, lunged at Barret again. Almost casually, he side stepped and then brought his sledge down on her back. She crumpled like a heap, falling to the ground. When her body hit the floor, she turned instantly to ash.
"The hell?"
He gave a final look at the sealed cave, and then gave an exasperated sigh. There weren't going to be any answers here. Quickly making his way back, he picked up Marlene, and ran out of the cave as quickly as he could. Outside, he found Red XIII waiting at the entrance.
"What'd you find?" he asked the feline.
"Most of the people either fled, or went into that mine. The ones who ran went into the mountains towards the direction of Cosmo Canyon. I think they look to seek solace there from whatever happened here. Other than that... I smell only ash. What did you find?"
Barret shook his head. "I don't know. More questions, that's for damn sure."