Warning! Strong language at the begining of this chapter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6: The Ancient
The quartet of survivors rose shakily as debris rained around them, a metallic shower resulting from the annihilation of Sector Seven's slums. Squall was first up, helping Quistis to stand. Zone and Zell rose as well, hacking and coughing as dust settled around them like a malignant fog.
Squall glanced over his shoulders and winced at what he saw behind him. The gate to Sector Seven was simply gone, annihilated totally and utterly. In its stead was a mountain of twisted metal, broken stone, and shattered glass. Chunks of shattered material jutted out like broken bones piercing skin, and Squall could only wonder how many lives were lost in the crush.
"Oh, Hyne," Quistis whispered. Behind her, Zell cursed and pounded the ground, spider-webbing it.
"HYNEDAMN!" Zell screamed. "Motherfuckers! Why? Why the fuck did they have to crush a whole damn city!"
"Zell, calm down," Quistis answered as evenly as she could, even with tears rimming her eyes.
"I don't want to calm down!" Zell replied, running over to the debris and giving a brutal kick. "I want to find those Shinra fucks and stick them in their own damn Mako! Hynedammit!" Zell grabbed a jutting metal bar from the wreckage and swung it around, almost breaking it in half as he smashed it against the mountain of debris, before flinging it aside.
"Zell!" Zone said quickly, grabbing the brawler beneath his arms and pulling him back. "Control yourself!"
"Let go me, dammit!" the brawler exploded, snapping his head back and smashing it into his comrade's face. Zone, dazed, let go of the brawler and backed away. Zell spun, looking almost as if he was going to attack Zone, until Quistis stepped between them.
"Zell!" she shouted, and a moment later, the brawler calmed down, apparently seeing the pain in her eyes. A moment later, Zell let out an inarticulate roar of fury and smashed his fists down into the dirt, sending a small tremor through their surroundings.
"Hynedammit!" he yelled again. "They crushed the whole of Sector Seven just for us? How many people did they kill just to get at us? How many people have to die for us?"
"You saying it's our fault that plate came down?" Zone asked, his own face filled with anguish.
"Hell no!" Zell replied, standing up, his rage beginning to return. "Hell! No! Shinra built those reactors that are killing the planet, Shinra strafed the train, Shinra dropped Sector Seven! It's never been anyone but Shinra! And someone's gotta stop those bastards!" Zell looked around, and spotted Squall facing across Sector Six, toward Sector Five.
"What about you?" he asked, and Squall glanced back, then looked up to the destroyed sector.
"Before this I didn't care anymore about Shinra," Squall replied quietly. "Even after the train, I still hated Shinra for what they did to me and everyone else, but I still only viewed them as an enemy of circumstance." He turned back south. "Now, though, I'm not so sure if I want to ignore them. But one thing I do know," he added, looking up toward the central pillar, and, Zell imagined, the Shinra Building beyond.
"They have Rinoa," he said. "Shinra ruined my life through their meddling, and killed countless people. They have Rinoa, and I'm going to save her, and I'm going to pay them back."
"What?" Zell muttered. "Squall, caring about someone else? Where did this come from?"
"Maybe I'm not the heartless mercenary you think I am," Squall replied, glancing back, and looking pointedly at Quistis. "Maybe there's still part of that boy I once was still inside. But that doesn't matter. I'm going to save Rinoa, for my own reasons. You coming with me?"
"Balls-first into Shinra HQ?" Zell asked. "That sounds nuts, but it's almost crazy enough to work! After what they did to Sector Seven, I'm feeling like mounting old man Shinra's head on my wall!"
"If you're going after Rinoa," Quistis added, "I'm with you!"
"What about you?" Squall asked Zone, who blanched.
"Me? Shinra HQ?" he replied. "Umm, well, I think its suicide, but if you're going to go in, I won't sit out."
"Do us one better, Zone," Zell replied with a grin. "Head into Wall Market and see if you can get us some supplies. I get the feeling we'll need 'em."
"We'll need to head to Sector Five in the meantime," Squall added. "I'm pretty sure Rinoa went there with Xu and Watts. I want to see if they're still alive, and I also want to know more about the Ancients."
"Ancients?" Zell asked, and Quistis nodded.
"Yes," she whispered. "Tseng said something about Rinoa being an Ancient."
"I want some answers," Squall said, thinking back to a man who had called himself one of those, an Ancient. Without another word, Squall set off across Sector Six, Zell and Quistis following him.
Later that day, they crossed into Sector Five, the whole town abuzz with talk about the plate crash. Recorded versions of Shinra's proclamation that AVALANCHE was behind the collapse further enraged Zell, but the brawler tempered his feelings with images of forthcoming revenge.
They soon found Rinoa's house, and entered, only to find themselves momentarily staring down the barrel of Watts' gun. The rebel blushed immediately upon seeing who he was aiming at and stood down.
"Sorry, sir!" he quickly apologized stepping aside. To their right, Xu, who had been hiding on the opposite side of the door, came out of hiding, sheathing her sai.
"Zell, thank Hyne you're still alive," Xu said, relief readily apparent on her face. "When we heard the plate come down, we thought . . . ."
"We were lucky," Zell replied. Behind him, Squall frowned. The ex-SeeD didn't believe that their escape had hinged entirely on luck. That cable hadn't been there before Zone had heard that noise. Squall scanned the room, noting that it looked like there had been a short scuffle that was only just being cleaned up.
"What happened?" Squall demanded, and then noticed that Caraway was stepping out of the kitchen, worry splashed across his face.
"Shinra came here," the former general explained. "Turks and regular soldiers. Xu and Watts tried to fight them, but there were too many. They were going to kill all of us until Rinoa offered to come quietly if they would let us go. They agreed."
"What do they want from her?" Quistis asked. Caraway looked away briefly, and then sat down at the table in the center of the living room.
"Rinoa is an Ancient," he explained. "The last surviving Ancient."
"Ancients?" Zell muttered. "You mean those fairy-like magic users? I thought they were all gone."
"They are," Squall replied quickly. "Most of them died out or are in hiding." He turned to Caraway. "You aren't her real father."
"No," the former general replied with a shake of his head. "It was a long time ago. Twelve years. I had just resigned my commission as a general and had moved down here in the slums. I had gotten off the train late at night, the only person getting off at the station, and I saw them."
"Them?" Zell asked, sitting down. Everyone gathered around the table, listening intently to Caraway's story.
"A brown-haired woman and a little dark-haired girl," Caraway continued. "The woman was pale and bleeding severely. I rushed over to her side, where the little girl was sobbing and crying her eyes out. The woman tried looking up at me, and told me to please watch after her daughter." Caraway paused, and looked back up.
"Her daughter's name was Rinoa. The woman died moments later, and just afterward I heard the sounds of boots approaching. Shinra soldiers were coming for her and her daughter, I realized, and I scooped up the little girl and ran off into the slums. Ever since, I've raised Rinoa as my own. Within a few weeks we were like father and daughter." He chuckled.
"She was incredibly talkative. And stubborn too. Kept telling me about how she had escaped from some research laboratory, how her mother was returned to the planet, and so on. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but I knew the labs she mentioned must have been Shinra's, so I hid her as much as I could from their constant searches."
"Returned to the planet?" Zell asked, and Caraway nodded.
"I wasn't sure what she meant by that," he relied. "When I asked her, she said that she meant this planet. She didn't really clarify, as if it would only truely make sense to her and no one else. Even though I raised her for twelve years and she talked all the time, I still didn't really understand her, but I had an inkling of what she might truly be when he entered her life."
"Who's 'he'?" Zell asked.
"Seifer," Squall immediately answered, and Caraway nodded. Everyone else looked at him in confusion.
"One of my comrades in SeeD," Squall explained. "Rinoa told me he was her boyfriend for a while."
"Yes, that was him," Caraway confirmed. "He cared for her, and I'm certain she was in love with him. One day when he came by, he warned Rinoa that she was being searched for by Shinra. He told us they were looking for an 'Ancient.' He disappeared a few days after that, and we never saw him again. I was worried that he had been killed, but Rinoa assured me he was safe. At first I thought it was just her hoping he was still alive, but she seemed so very certain. She knew he was alive, as surely as if she was watching his vital signs. She tried to hide what she was capable of, but I knew there was something special about her. She was in tune with all types of life. I'd see her at times out in the garden, just sitting there, as if listening to a song no one else could hear."
"I'm amazed she was able to hide for so long," Squall added, and Caraway nodded.
"Shinra would never harm her, so she was able to escape them easily enough," he replied. "She's much tougher than she looks."
"But she's in Shinra hands now," Squall muttered darkly. "I'm not going to leave her there."
"You'll have to go all the way into Shinra headquarters," Caraway replied, shaking his head. "That place is a solid fortress. There's an entire battalion of Shinra soldiers there, not to mention Turks, SeeD, and Hyne knows what else. There's no way you three can breach that facility. It's impossible."
"Impossible is what SeeDs do," Squall answered simply. He turned to Zell and Quistis. "Are you two still up for it?" he asked, and they nodded immediately.
"Like hell I'm going to let them get away with this!" Zell proclaimed.
"Same here," Quistis added.
"Then let's go," Squall stated. He turned to the other two members of AVALANCHE, and noticed that both Watts and Xu were still injured, Xu still favoring her leg while Watts had several bandages around his arms and legs.
"I can't ask you two to come," he stated, and both rebels reluctantly nodded.
"We'll just slow you down," Xu replied.
"Don't worry about us, sir!" Watts added. "Kick some ass, sir!" Squall nodded.
"Be good," he stated, and then he, Zell, and Quistis left Rinoa's home.
--------------------
They arrived in Wall Market some hours later, and quickly encountered Zone, the rebel burdened with a heavy bag.
"Got some gear for you!" he crowed, smiling. "Shinra's shut down all the trains, so you're kind of stuck down here, but I had a chat with some kids who said that the debris from Sector Seven should be stable enough to provide a route up."
"Good job," Zell replied with a nod. "What gear do you have?"
"Well, after that last battle I figured you guys would need to stock up on some medicines," Zone replied, pulling out a smaller satchel. "The usual varieties, as well as some stronger stuff, just in case. I also got some fragmentation grenades." Zone lifted a couple of boxes of the explosives, and Squall scooped one up, clipping the small bombs to his belt. These would come in handy.
"Figured you may also need one of these," Zone also added, pulling out another bomb, much like the ones they had used in the reactor and on the train. Zell took that explosive.
"And the guy over in the guns and ammo shop sold me these," Zone finished, pulling out a pair of large, heavy-duty batteries. "Said he scoped out the debris while picking up spare parts and wreckage from the collapse. There's a way up there, but he said we'd need the batteries to pull it off."
"I guess we'll have to trust him," Quistis said. Squall took one of the batteries, as did Zell. They each distributed the various types of potions and medicines, and were ready for the trek.
"Good luck," Zone added. "I'll head for Sector Five and link up with the others."
"You take care of yourself, man!" Zell stated. "We're gonna be here together when Shinra bites the big one!"
--------------------
A single narrow but strong cable hung down from what seemed to be a unstable mass of wreckage, reaching all the way down from the plate borders. Nonetheless, that was their route up, and Squall didn't hesitate to begin the climb, Quistis and Zell following.
After about ten meters of climbing, they passed the wall separating Sector Six from Sector Seven, and the full extent of the damage became apparent. Half of Sector Seven's plate was utterly demolished, and the remaining was dark, like an abandoned town. Shinra helicopters circled and buzzed like insects over a carcass, offering whatever aid they could to the people Shinra had just devastated.
"Damn," Zell muttered as they continued climbing. "I knew it was bad, but . . . ."
No one said anything else as they ascended another ten meters to where the cable dropped from, a hanging pile of debris. Oddly enough, Squall noted a plane engine above, the propeller at almost the right angle to give them access to the top of the hanging pile. Only the lower half of the propeller was immediately accessible, but Squall noted a panel in the side of the engine was open, revealing a spot where a battery could be placed. Shrugging, Squall moved over and plugged the battery in.
The propeller whirled to life immediately, but only for a short time. The battery they had been given wasn't that powerful, and the engine sucked up most of the energy. However, Squall noted with a degree of hope, the propeller, once finished with its rotation, had stopped at an angle that would allow them to reach the top of the debris. They took it immediately, scaling the engine and climbing higher through the impromptu bridge.
Another mass of debris hung just above them, but it would be difficult to scale up there, as it was high enough up that Squall was unsure if he could reach it, and he suspected that even if he jumped, missed, and landed back on the debris platform, the jolt from the impact would cause the unstable platform to fall apart.
Quistis solved the problem an instant later when she found a gate, the kind that lowered across train tracks to ward off cars when the train was approaching. The device was constructed out of metal, and would be able to hold their weight properly. It merely lacked power, which Zell quickly supplied with his battery. The gate rose immediately, just like with the propeller, and the trio scrambled up the impromptu bridge.
"That weapons guy must have done his homework," Zell commented as they climbed up the new debris platform.
"Let's just hope we don't need anymore," Quistis added.
A minute later, they had reached the top of the platform, and spotted another hanging mass of debris, dangling by several heavy cables and pipes, looking quite stable - compared to the platforms they'd been scaling. The only problem was distance; Squall and Zell could leap the distance, but it was almost too far for them if they were burdened by carrying Quistis. The two men considered their predicament for a moment, before Quistis' face brightened. She flicked out her whip and snapped the long chain up to another hanging pipe halfway between the two piles of debris. The chain secured, she leaped forward, swinging on her makeshift rope, and managed to land easily across the gap.
Zell and Squall followed with mighty leaps, and from there, the trio scaled the remaining pipes and cables, ascending to the world above the slums, to the citadel where Shinra nested.
------------------------
I apologize for the relatively short length of this chapter. Normally my chappies are longer than this, but my dramatic sense of placement of chapters demanded that this get its own chapter. To make up for the short length, I am updating Gunblade at the same time, thus giving you plenty to read!
Also, I would really appreciate it if I did get more reviews for this. I'm not getting as much as I get for Gunblade, actually, and considering my fanbase there I was expecting more for Synthesis....