We're inching ever closer to the revealing of many things...but we're not quite there yet. As always, first, the replies!
Shadowkiller27: Thank you. I suppose I'm just not used to compliments.
Sandstone: No. He just...vanished. Teleportation, if you will. And yes, we're slowly catching up...or are we? (grin)
Daniel Wesley Rydell: ...For once, I have no words for you.
Bracey Face Anime Gurl: It gets worse.
KamiKaze no Kage: Indeed. And quite a useful one. Lenne is the exact same one that you all know, and no, she is not Ben's girlfriend. Ben was simply...curious...when he called her in the Farplane.
ChaosRonin: Welcome to Eternal Requiem, ChaosRonin, and thanks!
Iron Reaver: Glad I'm staying true to the character. As much of a jerk as he is...(smirk)
And now, we're somewhere around the halfway point of the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 22—Closer To The Truth
Kilika Island, the now-bustling port city and a place I saw vanish before my eyes two years ago. Our next destination was obviously here, and as I look around I discover that our target is nowhere to be found.
"So, where is Dona?" I ask, glancing at Yuna.
"She should be in her home on the upper level," Yuna replies, both of her differently-colored eyes dancing around as she examines the second level. "There!" As Yuna points, our eyes fall across a hut on the upper level, the door facing away from the rest of the village unlike most of the other huts.
"Dona's house, alright," I mutter to myself, beginning to walk up the stairs to the upper level. Yuna and the others follow me, people traveling from place to place all around us. Slowly, Yuna knocks on the door, prompting a scuffling from inside and footsteps. The door opens to reveal Dona, who puts her hand on her hip and stares at Yuna.
"My, my, my, my...what brings you here?" the scantily-clad former summoner asks, Yuna meeting her gaze without hesitation.
"We heard fiends were coming from the temple," Yuna replies, and Dona seems to smirk.
"And you just had to come running."
Wisely, I decide to keep my mouth shut as Yuna continues.
"Well, uh, I wouldn't say that," she fumbles, clearly somewhat embarrassed by the comment.
"I'm not even sure there are any fiends," Dona says, an air of tiredness surrounding her words.
"You haven't checked?" Paine asks. With a slightly annoyed expression, Dona turns to the taller girl.
"I'm in the Youth League. Do you think they'd let me in the temple?" she asks sarcastically, and I nod.
"True enough," I reply, shrugging. Paine gives me a glance as if to say, 'You're not helping,' before turning back to Dona.
"So now what?" Rikku whines. "We giving up?"
"Let's take a look around first," Yuna says, shaking her head. Dona seems to frown, sighing deeply before starting to speak again.
"You'll never get near the temple. The Youth League's blockaded the forest entrance." Slowly, she turns towards the gate at the back of Kilika, staring at it intently. "As they should. We can't have those temple vermin crawling into town now, can we? Besides," she continues, turning back to us, "it spares me from having to see that sulky face."
"Sulky face..." Rikku mutters, thinking out loud, before her head snaps up again. "Barthello?" Dona gives a short nod in reply.
"Of course. He's with New Yevon, so naturally he's in the temple. But then, it's really none of my business."
"Then we'll make it ours," Yuna retorts, looking between Dona and the three of us. "Besides, I'm worried about the fiends."
"If you want to go that badly, I won't stop you," Dona says with a sigh. "But, they're turning people away at the gate." As Dona points to the gate near the back of the port, I can see two guards standing there, one near each side.
"Then we need a plan," I state. Silence comes over the five of us for a minute, before Dona looks up, turning to all of us.
"I've got it. I'll distract one of the guards. That's your chance to run through." With that, the former summoner begins to head to the gate. Silently, we follow, but remain a bit away from the gate in order to see the events unfold.
"I knew she was worried about him," Yuna whispers, and we all nod.
"She tries to hide it, but it's still pretty obvious," I state, watching Dona intently as she speaks to the guard. We're not close enough to hear what is being said, but the guard on the right looks at the other suddenly, who leaves quickly. Dona continues to speak to the remaining guard as both of their voices begin to get louder, the two of them seemingly in an argument over something. Dona pretends to storm off, the guard following her with his eyes, before she stops and starts yelling again. The guard is now looking the opposite way, and Yuna and I turn to each other.
"That's our cue," I say, beginning to sneak towards the gate.
"Right!" she replies, following my lead along with Rikku and Paine. Together, the four of us sneak to the gate which, to my infinite surprise, is simply bound with a small rope. It's a simple matter for Rikku to untie the knot and open the gate, before we quickly and silently move through it. Just when we think we're in the clear, however...the second guard returns, seeing the gate open.
"You, what are you doing!"
"Run!" Paine cries, as the four of us take off into the wooded area beyond, Dona shouting after us as the guard gives chase.
"There's a hidden path through the woods! Walk the treetops!"
"Go! I'll take care of it!" Paine shouts to us, turning to face the guard. I look back just in time to see the guard begin to grapple with Paine. Bad move. Paine slams her head into the man's face, dazing him, before punching him squarely in the nose. The man crumples to the ground, not making much of an attempt to get up, as Paine dusts her hands off and jogs back towards us.
'Note to self...never get Paine angry.'
"I think that bought us some time, but we still need to hurry. What did Dona say about the treetops?" I ask, looking around at the small area.
"Walk the treetops..." Yuna mutters, looking around as well. Suddenly, Yuna stops, turning back to us. "Hey, look at this!" she cries, pointing to something a bit above us. Looking up, we all notice a tree, bent over to create a makeshift path over the rest of the woods.
"Hardly a coincidence," I say to myself, chuckling, before stepping over. With a small jump, each of us pull ourselves onto the path and begin walking, careful to keep our balance and not fall off. As we travel along the path, we can see other trees that are bent in much the same manner, designed to continue the bridge of sorts all the way to the steps near Kilika Temple. Below us, we can see guards blockading every ground path through the forest.
"This is too easy," I whisper, feeling a little wary about the entire situation. Maybe it's just paranoia, but I don't like the feeling I have right now.
"Just relax...we're almost to the temple," Yuna tells me, pointing to the steps which are now in view. Slowly, I nod, continuing to follow the trio of girls along the trees.
As we hit the end of the makeshift bridge of sorts, we look down to see if there is anyone around us that might spot us. No one is around; apparently, all the other guards are blocking the paths. Silently, we drop down from the trees and dash up the stairs, careful not to make too much noise. The temple soon looms in the background, and we continue to run, seeing the occasional pyrefly flit past us on its way back to the Farplane.
"Well, definitely fiends here too," I state, pointing to a few scattered pyreflies.
"After seeing the other temples, you really expected this one to be different?" Paine asks, and I just shrug.
"Can't hurt to hope, you know."
"Come on, let's hurry up and get inside!" Rikku urges, running towards the doors of the temple. Quickly, we all follow her inside, coming face to face with several people sitting down on the floor of the main chamber. Others are tending to small wounds on each of them, which means that everyone pays little attention to us, assuming we're just more people sent to help. Slowly, we walk through the temporary infirmary, entering the Cloister of Trials.
The first thing we see as we walk inside is the slumped figure of Barthello, leaning against the wall of the trials and clearly unconscious. The second thing? A winged Daeva fiend, looking straight at us. A moment of silence is shared by both our group and the fiend, before it growls, causing us to draw our weapons.
"Armor Break!" I cry, immediately striking the fiend in the chest and lowering its defense. Snarling, the Daeva swats me away with a clawed hand, before casting Haste on itself. A second spell follows a moment later, the Demi spell sucking away a good portion of our strength.
"Magic Break!"
Paine's attack slices the fiend's arm open, causing it to slash her across the chest. As she stumbles back from the attack, Yuna blasts the fiend with an Enchanted Ammo attack, the fiend hissing in pain from the magical assault. Rikku slashes the fiend in the back then, having snuck up behind it while its attention was on Paine and I. A final Trigger Happy burst from Yuna sends the fiend slumping to the ground, exploding into a cloud of pyreflies that float towards the ceiling.
"That was easy...for a change," I grumble, stepping over to Barthello. Shaking him a little, I watch as the former guardian groans and opens his eyes, sitting up straight in an instant. Stepping back, I watch him get to his feet as Yuna and Rikku walk over.
"Barthello?" Rikku asks, her unspoken question being answered quickly by the burly man.
"I'll be okay."
"The fiends?" Yuna asks. Barthello simply shakes his head in response.
"We're holding them off...somehow. They're coming from inside!" he exclaims, motioning deeper into the temple. "One after another..."
"Have any reached the town?" I inquire, my gaze shifting absently over the walls of the temple.
"No. If they reach the town, they'll reach...Dona," Barthello states, his eyes flashing with emotion for a moment.
"They won't," Yuna says reassuringly.
"Thanks," Barthello replies, nodding at Yuna.
"Dona wants to see you," Rikku cuts in, causing Barthello to look at her out of mild shock. "Well, she didn't come right out and say it, but you can kinda tell."
"I want to see her too," Barthello says softly. "Even if we believe different things, I'll always feel the same about her. The time of the summoners may have passed, but I will always be Dona's guardian. I live only to protect her!"
"She'd be glad to hear that," I remark, stepping deeper into the temple.
"Take care of yourself, Barthello," Yuna says, moving to follow me. Barthello simply nods, stepping back outside the Cloister of Trials as Rikku and Paine join us.
"So...where do you think all of these holes lead?" I ask, trying to make conversation. The silence is beginning to unnerve me.
"I'm not sure...it could be anywhere, really," Yuna responds after a moment. The look in her eyes is filled with worry, and her movements seem to be tense, as if she's nervous.
"Don't tell me you're the one wanting to go down there now?" Paine asks, an air of sarcasm in her tone.
"Who, me? No, no..." I reply, an innocent look on my face. As the cold, stone door of the Chamber of the Fayth comes into view, I slowly put a hand on my blade, preparing to step inside. Yuna takes the lead, and the four of us enter the once-sacred room, looking around. A cloud of pyreflies floats in front of us, like inside the other temples, and it slowly takes form into the fiery aeon, Ifrit.
"Again..." Yuna mutters, staring sadly at the creature.
"An aeon?" Paine asks, never taking her eyes off of Ifrit.
"Yeah," Yuna answers, Rikku stepping over to her quickly.
"Yunie..."
"I know. I'm ready." Yuna cuts Rikku off quickly, grabbing her pistols and leveling them at Ifrit.
(Play Parasite Eve theme Primal Eyes)
"Tableturner!"
Yuna's first shot lances out of the gun and blasts into the powerful aeon, who roars in pain from having his own energy used against him. Rikku runs over to Ifrit and slashes as well, the aeon's counterattack barely missing her.
"Ready?" I ask Paine, who nods, running alongside me towards Ifrit. "Power Break!"
"Armor Break!"
Our duo of attacks serves to do nothing more than anger the aeon, who casts a Fira spell at Paine. Paine staggers with the hit, and as I turn my attention back to Ifrit I'm hit with a powerful ball of energy, the Meteor Strike knocking me back a few feet. Shaking my head to clear it, I watch as Yuna fires a volley of shots into the aeon, the attack nothing more than small cuts to the creature. Frowning, Yuna spherechanges into Black Mage, as Paine slashes once again, her blade enchanted with ice. Ifrit growls as Paine slashes his undefended side, slapping her away with ease.
"Ice Brand!" I yell, continuing Paine's elemental assault on Ifrit. Slashing down, the aeon takes my attack along the arm, and I jump back just in time to avoid being caught by the counterattack. Ifrit growls and casts Fira then, catching me off guard as the attack explodes in my face.
"Cura!"
I can hear Rikku cast the white magic spell, and I watch as Paine goes back on the offensive, having been healed by the spell. A second Cura washes over me a moment later, followed by a bright flash of light as Yuna spherechanges into her Floral Fallal dressphere.
"Ice Whirl!" At Yuna's cry, a chain of icy explosions go off in Ifrit's face, the aeon roaring in pain and stumbling back from the powerful skill.
"It's weakening..." I mutter, raising my sword again. "Thunder Blade!" Running up to Ifrit, I slash down hard, shocking and cutting the aeon with one swift movement. Ifrit jerks from the strike, before its hands begin to glow with red energy. Leaping up into the air, the aeon sends the now-larger energy balls at us, which explode and engulf us with flames. Even through the hazy flames, I can see Ifrit blast a final energy ball from his mouth, which also explodes under us. The four of us cry out in pain and slump to the ground, bleeding and burned.
"I really...hate...fire..." I moan, slowly working my way back to a kneeling position and using my sword for support. Paine is doing much the same, and Yuna is sitting halfway on her knees. Rikku leans on her staff, slowly casting a Cura spell on herself. I manage to get back to my feet as Rikku casts Cura on Paine, then Yuna. Paine immediately sets upon Ifrit, Yuna aiding her friend in buying us some time to recover. As another Cura spell heals up the burns and cuts on my body, I grip my sword tightly, focusing energy into it as I charge Ifrit.
"Excalibur!"
My holy-based attack cuts a large gash into Ifrit's chest, and Paine follows my attack up with a stab into the aeon's chest, eliciting a roar of agony as the aeon slumps to the floor and explodes into pyreflies once again.
(End Parasite Eve theme Primal Eyes)
"Another hole," Paine mutters, walking over and examining the now-familiar sight at the back of the chamber.
"It's all connected," I murmur to no one in particular.
"Indeed it is. I'm simply wondering how long it will take you simple-minded children to figure it out."
"Shut up, Shuyin..." I mutter, causing Rikku to turn to me.
"Did you say something?"
"Uh...no, I didn't say anything," I reply, realizing my slip a moment too late. "So...should we get back to the Celsius now? We still have one more temple to check out, after all."
Yuna just nods, staring at the hole for a moment longer with a distant look on her face before turning and stepping out of the chamber. Silently, the three of us follow, each lost in our own thoughts.
'I just hope things don't get completely out of hand...they're pretty out of hand now as it is.'
A bit shorter than usual...but the next chapter will make up for that. Our group finds themselves in the middle of a settling of differences between friends...and tempers flare. As always, please read and review!