The Makings Of A SeeD
By Bhamv
Chapter 7 – The Last Of The Shumi
Author's note: Again, sorry for the delay in updating. Real life has an irritating habit of getting in the way of fanfiction.
*****
The Shumi village, due to the peaceful and accommodating nature of its occupants, maintained no defenses to speak of. The front gate was always open, and usually there were a few Shumi present to keep an eye on things and to welcome guests. The majority of the village itself was located underground, and a single large elevator transported passengers and goods between the surface and the subterranean. A lengthy winding road led a long way from the gates of the village, ending at the seaside miles away, ensuring that any visitors would be able to find their way to the village with no problem.
Squall could feel something was wrong as soon as he stepped onto the road. It'd been torn up, with deep grooves dug into the surface of the path, as if a massive caravan had passed through. Far in the distance, a thick column of smoke rose into the air, a black streak against the sapphire blue of the dawning sky.
"Something's wrong." Squall said.
"You think so too, huh?" Seifer replied from beside his captain. "Nothing to do but to check it out. C'mon, let's go."
Squall nodded and, beckoning to his team, set off along the path to the Shumi village. The further he progressed the stronger the feeling of something being amiss grew. He halted his SeeD team five hundred yards from the village entrance, and crouched behind the crest of a hill. The plume of smoke was much closer now, clearly rising from the village itself, and the acrid scent of ash and char mingled with the cold morning air. Digging his binoculars out of his equipment pack, Squall put them to his eyes and peered at the village through the distant haze.
The walls and pillars of the outer Shumi gate were shattered and crumpled on the ground, which was muddy and potholed. Tongues of flame flickered here and there, quickly consuming what remained of the structures. Large craters littered the landscape, intermingled with scattered piles of rubble and corpses. The only things that still stood were a group of soldiers and several huge machines – Estharian military.
Squall handed his binoculars to the person next to him, not particularly caring who it was. He'd seen enough. Quistis took the binoculars and looked through them, then gasped and dropped them onto the snowy ground, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Squall leaned down to pick them up, then noticed patterns in the snow on the ground. Leaping to his feet, the binoculars forgotten, he pulled out his gunblade and tensed in readiness.
"What is it, Squall? What's the matter?" Rinoa asked, alarmed, as her hand flew to her wrist launcher, ready to let fly with her projectiles at any moment.
"Esthar's beaten us to the village. There are tracks in the snow here. The Shumi village has been destroyed by bombardment and I think this is where they bombed them from." Squall replied. His team gasped in shock.
Irvine was already on his hands and knees, his face so close to the snow the brim of his hat brushed against the powdery surface. "Yep, these tracks definitely look like Esthar boots. And those bigger patterns are probably from the Gespers and Elastoids. Looks like you're right, Squall."
Seifer looked doubtfully at the ground around him. To him it was just a hill full of trampled snow. "How can you tell?"
"They teach us this stuff at Galbadia Garden, okay? Just trust me." Irvine replied, getting to his feet and brushing the snow off his knees. He then pointed toward the village, "All the tracks lead away from here, towards the Shumi village, but they don't come back. I think we're safe from an ambush here, all the enemy forces are at the village."
"Well let's get them!" Zell yelled eagerly. "Irvine, can't you blast them from here?"
"What if there are still Shumis alive in there?" Selphie asked.
Zell's shoulders slumped, "Oh yeah, that's a good point..."
Squall beckoned to his team, "Come on, let's get closer. They won't be expecting us, we can ambush them before they ambush us."
*****
Philos Sheocer held the position of Unit Captain in the Esthar Army. As an UC he was in charge of one unit of infantry and battle machines, and answered to a great many higher-ranking officers. Generals, Division Leaders, Legion Commanders, and even the President himself... well, since the President wasn't around, it was the Regent who gave the orders now. Fortunately for Sheocer, the Regent wasn't nearby at the moment; in fact the only higher officer in the area was a General, General Ruben Yen to be precise. The General had been given the task of destroying the Shumi village from Regent Nimcoti, and Sheocer's unit was the one chosen to do the dirty work. At the moment the dirty work was virtually done, the village was completely razed and the Shumi population wiped out. The elderly General wanted to be out of the area before anyone discovered the final result of their work, since the tale of the rout of Esthar's forces at Trabia Garden had spread far and wide.
Bad news needs no HD network.
Sheocer was inclined to agree with the General. He didn't want to face the SeeDs who managed to take out ten times their number in Etharian military. According to the rumors being whispered in the barracks, each individual SeeD was akin to a walking death trap, immune to damage and able to kill with a flick of their fingers or the wink of an eye. Of course, nervous soldiers tend to exaggerate and turn rumors into outright lies, but he'd still feel better if he knew he didn't have to lead his unit against the Garden's fighters.
The General's scratchy voice came over the earpiece inside his helmet, "We're done here, Captain. Lead your men onto the transports and let's return to Esthar."
"Yes sir!" Sheocer was all too glad to reply. He spun on his heel on the powdery snow and was preparing to address his men when rapid gunfire cracked through the chilly air, and six of his soldiers crumpled to the ground while screaming in pain. "What in the name of Adel is that???"
In response, a glowing red canister landed at the base of one of his Elastoids and exploded in a ball of flame, sending streaks of fire through the ranks of his men and machines, killing and disabling more than a third of them in a single devastating blow. Philos Sheocer himself was thrown to the ground by the shockwave from the blast; his armor could protect him from flying shrapnel but couldn't stop the impact from knocking the wind out of his lungs. Wheezing and gasping, the Captain looked up just in time to see the razor-sharp, gleaming tip of a long whip snake towards his chest.
*****
"That didn't take too long." Seifer remarked as he wiped blood and motor oil from Hyperion's blade. "I was hoping for more of a challenge."
"If you're looking for something to do, Seifer, you can help me out. My whip's jammed in this guy's breastplate." Quistis said, tugging at her weapon. Each jerk of her whip yanked the unfortunate Estharian soldier's corpse a bit further on the snowy ground.
Rinoa looked like she wanted to vomit, "Stop that, Quisty, stop it! I don't think I'll ever really get used to killing people..."
"None of us really do." Zell remarked, "We just sorta learn to block it out." He put one foot on the dead soldier's shoulder and gave the whip a solid heave. With a sickening wet popping sound the weapon sprang free.
"Thanks, Zell."
"No problem."
Squall was already making his way towards the rubble pile that had once been a village. His gunblade remained wielded in his hand, and his alert eyes darted everywhere, wary of trouble and prepared to deal with any problems accordingly. Noticing his manner, his team fell silent and followed behind him, thoroughly searching the area for survivors, either friend or foe.
It was Selphie who found the survivor, a Shumi buried under a pile of fallen bricks and mortar. Calling to her companions, she began lifting the heavy stones from the Shumi's body. By the time her teammates arrived, she could see the Shumi's wounds were fatal.
"Sculptor? Is that you?" Rinoa asked, recognizing the surviving Shumi's face and robes, dirty and torn they may have been.
"It... it is you? The visitors to our village have returned?" The Shumi replied weakly. "I am Sculptor... am I the last of the Shumi?"
Rinoa didn't have the heart to answer him. She turned away and closed her eyes, covering her mouth with her hand. Squall knelt down beside the stricken artisan and softly asked, "Sculptor, what happened here?"
"We... we were attacked. I do not know why we were attacked. A man dressed in white came, and he told other men to kill us..." The Sculptor replied, "They destroyed the outer walls first, then they destroyed the elevator. I do not understand why they wanted to kill us... perhaps I should make a statue of the man in white, I will understand more then..." The Sculptor managed a tiny weak smile as he thought of his craft, then closed his eyes and sighed, and was still. With his passing, the last of the Shumi race drifted into extinction.
*****
"There were only two of the enemy dressed differently from the other soldiers, which meant they were the officers." Seifer reported an hour later, after the SeeDs had buried the Sculptor in the frosty earth. Each of the seven mercenaries had offered a moment of silent reflection before the crude grave, feeling the weight of war and responsibility more heavily than ever. But there was more work to be done, so they gathered their spirits as best they could and convened for a meeting. "One of them was the huge catch Quistis managed to land with her whip, and I got the other one near the end of the battle. In other words, we've killed whoever was in charge, the guy the Sculptor was talking about."
Squall nodded, "All right then. We need to plan our next move, since obviously we can't walk into Esthar now."
Irvine snorted, "Yeah, losing two battles kinda forces you to pay attention to where your enemies are."
Squall continued, "We'll take the Chocobos south, to Esthar's borders. It's unlikely they've managed to fortify every inch of their boundaries, and we'll try to find a way in, someplace unguarded. If we can't find one quickly, we'll head back to Balamb and prepare for war."
His team nodded in agreement, and turned back towards the shore where they'd left their mounts. In their hearts, though, they held the heavy memories of a vanished race, a peaceful and gentle people called the Shumi.
*****
Ack!!! I can't believe I killed off the Shumi!!! Well, don't hate me, hate the nation of Esthar who mercilessly massacred those poor guys. Anyway, I hope I'll be able to update more often now... I've got lots of cool ideas on what happens next. Please review this chapter! Actually, please review all my chapters! -Bhamv
By Bhamv
Chapter 7 – The Last Of The Shumi
Author's note: Again, sorry for the delay in updating. Real life has an irritating habit of getting in the way of fanfiction.
*****
The Shumi village, due to the peaceful and accommodating nature of its occupants, maintained no defenses to speak of. The front gate was always open, and usually there were a few Shumi present to keep an eye on things and to welcome guests. The majority of the village itself was located underground, and a single large elevator transported passengers and goods between the surface and the subterranean. A lengthy winding road led a long way from the gates of the village, ending at the seaside miles away, ensuring that any visitors would be able to find their way to the village with no problem.
Squall could feel something was wrong as soon as he stepped onto the road. It'd been torn up, with deep grooves dug into the surface of the path, as if a massive caravan had passed through. Far in the distance, a thick column of smoke rose into the air, a black streak against the sapphire blue of the dawning sky.
"Something's wrong." Squall said.
"You think so too, huh?" Seifer replied from beside his captain. "Nothing to do but to check it out. C'mon, let's go."
Squall nodded and, beckoning to his team, set off along the path to the Shumi village. The further he progressed the stronger the feeling of something being amiss grew. He halted his SeeD team five hundred yards from the village entrance, and crouched behind the crest of a hill. The plume of smoke was much closer now, clearly rising from the village itself, and the acrid scent of ash and char mingled with the cold morning air. Digging his binoculars out of his equipment pack, Squall put them to his eyes and peered at the village through the distant haze.
The walls and pillars of the outer Shumi gate were shattered and crumpled on the ground, which was muddy and potholed. Tongues of flame flickered here and there, quickly consuming what remained of the structures. Large craters littered the landscape, intermingled with scattered piles of rubble and corpses. The only things that still stood were a group of soldiers and several huge machines – Estharian military.
Squall handed his binoculars to the person next to him, not particularly caring who it was. He'd seen enough. Quistis took the binoculars and looked through them, then gasped and dropped them onto the snowy ground, her hands trembling uncontrollably. Squall leaned down to pick them up, then noticed patterns in the snow on the ground. Leaping to his feet, the binoculars forgotten, he pulled out his gunblade and tensed in readiness.
"What is it, Squall? What's the matter?" Rinoa asked, alarmed, as her hand flew to her wrist launcher, ready to let fly with her projectiles at any moment.
"Esthar's beaten us to the village. There are tracks in the snow here. The Shumi village has been destroyed by bombardment and I think this is where they bombed them from." Squall replied. His team gasped in shock.
Irvine was already on his hands and knees, his face so close to the snow the brim of his hat brushed against the powdery surface. "Yep, these tracks definitely look like Esthar boots. And those bigger patterns are probably from the Gespers and Elastoids. Looks like you're right, Squall."
Seifer looked doubtfully at the ground around him. To him it was just a hill full of trampled snow. "How can you tell?"
"They teach us this stuff at Galbadia Garden, okay? Just trust me." Irvine replied, getting to his feet and brushing the snow off his knees. He then pointed toward the village, "All the tracks lead away from here, towards the Shumi village, but they don't come back. I think we're safe from an ambush here, all the enemy forces are at the village."
"Well let's get them!" Zell yelled eagerly. "Irvine, can't you blast them from here?"
"What if there are still Shumis alive in there?" Selphie asked.
Zell's shoulders slumped, "Oh yeah, that's a good point..."
Squall beckoned to his team, "Come on, let's get closer. They won't be expecting us, we can ambush them before they ambush us."
*****
Philos Sheocer held the position of Unit Captain in the Esthar Army. As an UC he was in charge of one unit of infantry and battle machines, and answered to a great many higher-ranking officers. Generals, Division Leaders, Legion Commanders, and even the President himself... well, since the President wasn't around, it was the Regent who gave the orders now. Fortunately for Sheocer, the Regent wasn't nearby at the moment; in fact the only higher officer in the area was a General, General Ruben Yen to be precise. The General had been given the task of destroying the Shumi village from Regent Nimcoti, and Sheocer's unit was the one chosen to do the dirty work. At the moment the dirty work was virtually done, the village was completely razed and the Shumi population wiped out. The elderly General wanted to be out of the area before anyone discovered the final result of their work, since the tale of the rout of Esthar's forces at Trabia Garden had spread far and wide.
Bad news needs no HD network.
Sheocer was inclined to agree with the General. He didn't want to face the SeeDs who managed to take out ten times their number in Etharian military. According to the rumors being whispered in the barracks, each individual SeeD was akin to a walking death trap, immune to damage and able to kill with a flick of their fingers or the wink of an eye. Of course, nervous soldiers tend to exaggerate and turn rumors into outright lies, but he'd still feel better if he knew he didn't have to lead his unit against the Garden's fighters.
The General's scratchy voice came over the earpiece inside his helmet, "We're done here, Captain. Lead your men onto the transports and let's return to Esthar."
"Yes sir!" Sheocer was all too glad to reply. He spun on his heel on the powdery snow and was preparing to address his men when rapid gunfire cracked through the chilly air, and six of his soldiers crumpled to the ground while screaming in pain. "What in the name of Adel is that???"
In response, a glowing red canister landed at the base of one of his Elastoids and exploded in a ball of flame, sending streaks of fire through the ranks of his men and machines, killing and disabling more than a third of them in a single devastating blow. Philos Sheocer himself was thrown to the ground by the shockwave from the blast; his armor could protect him from flying shrapnel but couldn't stop the impact from knocking the wind out of his lungs. Wheezing and gasping, the Captain looked up just in time to see the razor-sharp, gleaming tip of a long whip snake towards his chest.
*****
"That didn't take too long." Seifer remarked as he wiped blood and motor oil from Hyperion's blade. "I was hoping for more of a challenge."
"If you're looking for something to do, Seifer, you can help me out. My whip's jammed in this guy's breastplate." Quistis said, tugging at her weapon. Each jerk of her whip yanked the unfortunate Estharian soldier's corpse a bit further on the snowy ground.
Rinoa looked like she wanted to vomit, "Stop that, Quisty, stop it! I don't think I'll ever really get used to killing people..."
"None of us really do." Zell remarked, "We just sorta learn to block it out." He put one foot on the dead soldier's shoulder and gave the whip a solid heave. With a sickening wet popping sound the weapon sprang free.
"Thanks, Zell."
"No problem."
Squall was already making his way towards the rubble pile that had once been a village. His gunblade remained wielded in his hand, and his alert eyes darted everywhere, wary of trouble and prepared to deal with any problems accordingly. Noticing his manner, his team fell silent and followed behind him, thoroughly searching the area for survivors, either friend or foe.
It was Selphie who found the survivor, a Shumi buried under a pile of fallen bricks and mortar. Calling to her companions, she began lifting the heavy stones from the Shumi's body. By the time her teammates arrived, she could see the Shumi's wounds were fatal.
"Sculptor? Is that you?" Rinoa asked, recognizing the surviving Shumi's face and robes, dirty and torn they may have been.
"It... it is you? The visitors to our village have returned?" The Shumi replied weakly. "I am Sculptor... am I the last of the Shumi?"
Rinoa didn't have the heart to answer him. She turned away and closed her eyes, covering her mouth with her hand. Squall knelt down beside the stricken artisan and softly asked, "Sculptor, what happened here?"
"We... we were attacked. I do not know why we were attacked. A man dressed in white came, and he told other men to kill us..." The Sculptor replied, "They destroyed the outer walls first, then they destroyed the elevator. I do not understand why they wanted to kill us... perhaps I should make a statue of the man in white, I will understand more then..." The Sculptor managed a tiny weak smile as he thought of his craft, then closed his eyes and sighed, and was still. With his passing, the last of the Shumi race drifted into extinction.
*****
"There were only two of the enemy dressed differently from the other soldiers, which meant they were the officers." Seifer reported an hour later, after the SeeDs had buried the Sculptor in the frosty earth. Each of the seven mercenaries had offered a moment of silent reflection before the crude grave, feeling the weight of war and responsibility more heavily than ever. But there was more work to be done, so they gathered their spirits as best they could and convened for a meeting. "One of them was the huge catch Quistis managed to land with her whip, and I got the other one near the end of the battle. In other words, we've killed whoever was in charge, the guy the Sculptor was talking about."
Squall nodded, "All right then. We need to plan our next move, since obviously we can't walk into Esthar now."
Irvine snorted, "Yeah, losing two battles kinda forces you to pay attention to where your enemies are."
Squall continued, "We'll take the Chocobos south, to Esthar's borders. It's unlikely they've managed to fortify every inch of their boundaries, and we'll try to find a way in, someplace unguarded. If we can't find one quickly, we'll head back to Balamb and prepare for war."
His team nodded in agreement, and turned back towards the shore where they'd left their mounts. In their hearts, though, they held the heavy memories of a vanished race, a peaceful and gentle people called the Shumi.
*****
Ack!!! I can't believe I killed off the Shumi!!! Well, don't hate me, hate the nation of Esthar who mercilessly massacred those poor guys. Anyway, I hope I'll be able to update more often now... I've got lots of cool ideas on what happens next. Please review this chapter! Actually, please review all my chapters! -Bhamv