Cloister Fourteen

"Well, the two of you look very well rested this morning," Yuna commented happily as Beclem and Isaaru emerged onto the bridge the next day.

Rikku giggled at this comment. Paine smirked. Beclem wondered if he had perhaps been just a little too loud that last night.

He ignored the reactions of the two women, and placed his hands in his pockets to realise that Keekah's gifts from the day before were still tucked away there. He pulled out the so-called lucky charm and showed it to Isaaru.

"What do you make of this?" he asked. "Keekah gave it to me yesterday. She called it her lucky charm, but she said you would probably know more about what it actually does than she would."

Isaaru frowned, and inspected the jewel for a moment, letting it dangle in front of his eyes. He clutched it closely in his hands, and then gasped.

"What is it?" Beclem asked.

"This is a very rare jewel," he explained. "Usually when casting magic you need to use up some of your energy to get any results. This jewel though allows you to take energy from it instead, meaning that you could potentially cast as much powerful magic as you like in a battle without becoming weary at all."

"Keekah was right," Isaaru commented, as he tied the charm on to the end of his staff. "This charm is very lucky indeed."

He had just finished tying the string around the intricate loop on top of his staff, when a loud alarm sounded from the Celsius's bridge.

"We've picked up a distress call coming from Luca," Buddy announced from his position at the navigating equipment. "There have been reports of a massive fiend in the city. It's apparently destroying everything in sight. So far no-one has been able to stop or even wound it."

Yuna gasped at this news. Beclem and Isaaru glanced at one another, shivers going up their spines as they both recalled the same pair of cold yellow eyes.

"What does the fiend look like?" Beclem asked.

"The reports don't say much," Buddy said, "and I wouldn't trust what they are saying. At least twenty metres high, covered in spikes, and like something out of a nightmare. It doesn't sound like something that would really exist if you ask me."

Beclem turned extremely pale at this news, and Isaaru placed a hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him, even though Beclem could feel a slight shake in his lover's fingers that Isaaru was trying to repress.

"Do we go and help?" Rikku asked, turning to Yuna for guidance.

"If it is as dangerous as they say, we may not be able to do anything," Paine commented.

"Come on," Rikku whined. "If we can beat Vegnagun then we can take on that thing!"

"The Gullwings may not be able to do anything," Beclem commented, making everyone in the room apart from Isaaru turn to stare at him. "And they may not have to, but Isaaru and I have to go and face that thing."

"We fought with it before," Isaaru explained. "We know what it can do."

"But you could get caught," Tidus reminded them.

"I know," Isaaru said, his hand reaching out to grab a hold of Beclem's. He gave his lover's hand a gentle squeeze. "But we can't leave the people of Luca to die."

Beclem gave Isaaru a sad smile, and nodded his agreement.

"Besides," he added, a strong spark beginning to appear in the ex-Crusader's eyes. "I want a rematch."

"All right then," Yuna said, giving Isaaru and Beclem one last questioning look. The two men nodded at her. "On to Luca!" she commanded.

------+-+(O)

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" Isaaru asked Beclem as the two of them prepared for what was undoubtedly going to be a difficult battle.

"No," Beclem admitted. "But it's not a question of whether we want to do it, is it?"

Isaaru nodded sadly.

"We've reached Luca," Buddy announced over the ship's speaker system. "Or at least, what's left of it."

Beclem and Isaaru ran to the ship's bridge and then moved to the window to look down at what had once been one of the grandest cities in Spira. The city's famous Blitzball stadium was now no more than rubble. The larger area around it had been completely flattened. Patches of white covered the ground, Beclem paling at the sight as memories of the strange poisonous substance came back to him.

"We have just received word that both the Youth League and New Yevon have sent battalions to help get rid of this thing," Buddy announced. "I don't know if that's going to do much though. Not if this fiend can destroy an entire city this quickly."

"Eep!" Rikku suddenly exclaimed from her side of the bridge. "It's huge!"

"There's no way we'd be able to actually see it from this height," Buddy told her.

Beclem and Isaaru moved over to stand beside Rikku. There was no mistaking the odd shape of the dark fiend as it moved, making an entire building crack and crumble into dust with one movement.

"That's it," Isaaru confirmed. Buddy froze, looking quite shocked and scared by the information.

"Chappu," Beclem whispered, pressing one hand against the glass of the Celsius's window.

Yuna looked at him then, an unasked question clearly on her face. That's right, Beclem realised; Yuna was a close friend of both Wakka and Lulu, Chappu's brother and his fiancée. It would only make sense that she would know of Chappu as well.

"In Via Infinito," Yuna began, drawing Isaaru's attention towards her and Beclem as well. "I came across some very lost and angry souls. They turned into powerful fiends right in front of my eyes."

She paused for a moment then, staring out the window at Luca sadly.

"Are you telling me," she continued. "That this is Chappu as one of those fiends?"

Beclem nodded once. His hand still hadn't left the glass pane in front of him.

"This must be difficult for you," Yuna commented, placing one hand supportively on top of his. She squeezed gently, pulling Beclem's hand away from the glass, and moving it towards Isaaru. Isaaru took the hint, and grabbed Beclem's hand in his own, wrapping their fingers tightly together.

"Are the two of you ready?" Buddy asked them.

Beclem and Isaaru smiled and nodded at one another.

"Yes," they answered at the same time.

------+-+(O)

The grey ground cracked beneath Beclem's weight as he experimentally placed a foot down. He looked at what remained of the once tiled floor, now a mixture of ash and crumbled rock where it used to be shining white marble. The area of the city they were in was now completely unrecognisable. Here and there stood large lumps of stone which were now the only remnants of once great buildings. The white spheres they had come across in Bevelle lay here and there in clumps over the wreckage.

The fiend had taken its toll, and several men lay on the floor not far from where the ship had landed. One of them had been crushed by debris. The other two were a sickly grey colour, and looked as though they had succumbed to the fiend's poison while attempting to rescue their friend.

Beclem and Isaaru both tightened the strips of cloth they had brought with them around their mouths and ventured in the direction that the sounds of destruction were coming from, trying to ignore the grizzly scene around them.

"Do you suppose Chappu makes these," Beclem asked as he gestured towards the white things.

"I think so," Isaaru answered. He looked over to his lover and frowned at the man's pale complexion. "Are you sure you are all right with this?" he asked.

"It's too late to turn back now," Beclem answered in a slightly muffled voice.

The white spheres eventually began to dissipate as they journeyed closer to where Chappu was. The two men frowned as they suddenly found their path blocked by two of Luca's guards.

"No-one but designated soldiers are allowed past this point," one of them announced. "We're sorry, but we can't allow…"

The man trailed off as he took a good long look at Beclem and Isaaru, a look in his eyes appearing like those of a person that has suddenly found themselves in the company of a long-lost acquaintance and unable to remember their name.

"We have fought this fiend before," Isaaru said, ignoring the guard's unwavering gaze. "We have an idea of how we might destroy it."

"It's them," the man that had been staring at them whispered.

"It's who?" the other guard asked.

"Beclem and Isaaru," the first guard hissed. "Wedge; its Beclem and Isaaru."

Wedge paused for a moment, looking Beclem and Isaaru up and down, before drawing his gun and pointing it right at their heads.

"You're under arrest for heinous crimes against Yevon," Wedge announced. "The two of you aren't going anywhere." Wedge cocked his rifle, and Isaaru and Beclem realised he intended to shoot.

"Wedge, no!" Biggs shouted, pushing the gun away from Beclem and Isaaru. "You're not going to shoot them!"

"Why not!" Wedge shouted back. "Their sentence is supposed to be death."

"In Yevon's name Wedge; they might be able to save everyone!"

"I'd rather not be saved by criminals," Wedge proclaimed, as he brought his gun up to point at Isaaru and Beclem once more.

"Why not?" Biggs growled. "Lady Yuna was a wanted criminal when she destroyed Sin!"

And so the argument continued. Beclem and Isaaru stood in front of the quarrelling pair and looked back and forth between them, neither of them willing to make a move lest Wedge see this as a hostile action and actually shoot them, until finally Biggs said something which made Wedge completely freeze up.

"What would you do if you found out that I was a homosexual?" Biggs asked.

Even with Wedge's helmet in place Beclem and Isaaru could tell that Wedge was shocked, and had no way of countering Biggs's last challenge.

"You…" Wedge whispered, glancing at Biggs but not looking straight at him. "I… I don't… don't know." He shook his head. "You're not though, are you?" There was a pleading tone to Wedge's voice, and Biggs could only sigh and smile gently at his friend.

"But what if I was?" Biggs said. "I'd still be me, right?"

Wedge didn't answer, just looked guiltily down at the floor as though he was thinking.

"Go on," Biggs said, indicating that Isaaru and Beclem could continue walking. "We're not going to stop you."

"Thank you," Isaaru said, nodding at Biggs as they walked past.

Wedge began shouting at Biggs almost as soon as Beclem and Isaaru had left, but the two lovers ignored them, focussing instead on the battle they were about to face.

------+-+(O)

"Well I just can't stand back and watch as two men risk their lives to save ours," Biggs finally snapped, walking off in the direction that Isaaru and Beclem had. "And I think ignoring their bravery merely because they fell in love with the wrong person would be a completely stupid thing to do. Stay here if you want, but I'm going to help them."

Wedge didn't move for a while, standing still in the place he had for the past few hours and pretending not to care about what his friend thought. He frowned as he stared out at the remains of Luca. He was not going to go and help just because Biggs was. After all, Biggs had supported those… those… Wedge tried to find a word in his vocabulary for how he felt towards Beclem and Isaaru, but realised, that despite what he had said to Biggs, there was, beneath all the hatred and disgust, a tiny amount of what he was afraid was admiration.

That still didn't mean that he was going to help Biggs, and in a couple of moments Biggs would realise that Wedge was not going to come with him, and without his friend by his side he would turn around and come back to his guard duty, as he was supposed to.

Wedge waited, and waited, but still Biggs did not come back.

"Sinspawn," Wedge cursed, throwing his rifle over his shoulder and running in the direction Biggs, Beclem and Isaaru had travelled.

"Biggs," Wedge called. "Wait for me, damn you!"

------+-+(O)

Beclem and Isaaru ducked behind a large clump of rubble as a group of soldiers wearing the uniform of the Bevelle guard passed by, managing to hide themselves from view just before the men could see them.

"They must be the reinforcements Buddy told us about," Beclem commented. "Idiots; they're all going to die."

The Yevonite's footsteps had long died down, and Beclem and Isaaru were just about to continue moving when they discovered that they hadn't been as hidden as they previously thought.

"Halt!" a man commanded as he came face to face with Beclem and Isaaru. "What do you two think you're doing he…" the man trailed off as he realised who Isaaru and Beclem were. Isaaru gasped.

"Maroda?" Isaaru greeted his brother hesitantly.

"I have nothing to say to you," Maroda whispered, turning his head so that he faced the floor instead of his older brother. "I won't arrest you, but that's all I will give you. You are welcome to help us destroy the fiend, but if you survive, the other guards will have no problem arresting you or killing you. I suggest you leave now."

"Maroda," Isaaru pleaded with his brother. Maroda turned his gaze even more so that Isaaru's eyes would not come into contact with his own.

"Maroda," Beclem called. "That's your brother talking to you."

Maroda hesitantly turned back and his eyes finally met with his brother's. For a moment Maroda saw the look of hope that persistently shone in Isaaru's eye. The dark-skinned male merely frowned at this and averted his gaze once more.

"He's no brother of mine," Maroda said, as he turned his back on them.

"Maroda," Isaaru whispered one final time as his brother began walking away.

Beclem moved to support his lover, but Isaaru had fallen to the ground in grief before he could reach out to him. Tears began streaming down Isaaru's cheeks, and he reached out after his brother pointlessly. Beclem touched Isaaru on the arm, gently moving to cradle his lover in his arms, wanting to comfort him even though he knew his mere presence could not do much to stifle emotional pain such as this. Still, Isaaru turned around and reached for him and in a way that was enough.

Their embrace was brought to a premature end as a roar echoed throughout Luca. The wall in front of them shook and crumbled, spraying debris everywhere. Beclem and Isaaru jumped to their feet to dodge a large chunk of the collapsed wall as it flew towards them.

Beclem and Isaaru turned towards the newly formed hole in the wall, Beclem drawing his pistols, and Isaaru firmly placing his staff in front of them, determination in both their eyes as they faced down their enemy.

Chappu rose from the dust, rising over the debris to cast a horrifying shadow over the area. In the distance someone screamed.

Chappu glanced around him for a bit, his claws flexing as if itching for the next battle, before his pale yellow eyes fixed on the two men standing below him.

Beclem and Isaaru nodded almost imperceptibly at one another, and charged.