Chapter 1: The Quarry
I stood before the great oak doors, trying to swallow my fear and go inside. But I was just too afraid. Not of the sculpted skulls and gargoyles that leered at me from every angle, but of what I would find inside. Mother hadn't been herself. Not the extravagant dress or make-up so much, but her manner. I had simply come to bid her goodnight as I always did, but she had pulled me into an embrace so tight I was surprised I could still breathe. And that look in her eyes had been so confusing; I had been unable to work out whether she was excited or sad.
She had frightened me with all her talk of visitors and hiding. I didn't know what I could expect behind those doors. But the thought of cowering in my bedroom alone frightened me even more. I needed my mother, regardless of what she was like at the moment.
Steeling myself, I grasped the handle of one of the heavy doors and put all my weight on it. Slowly, the door inched open until I saw - nothing. That is to say, I saw my mother's Master Room with the circle of pillars and the elevated throne. But there was no sign of Mother herself.
I took a couple of tentative steps inside, half-expecting to find her standing in the shadows beneath a pillar. Still nothing.
I was instantly afraid. The Master Room was empty and utterly silent, so why then did the air seem as heavy as a shroud? Why was it not just cold, but clammy? Why could I smell blood? And Mother. Mother. Where was she?
Suddenly, the Master Room was filled with white light that for the briefest moment threw everything into sharp relief. A fraction of a second later, it was followed by the clash of thunder. And as the thunder died away, I could hear a new sound. A low growling somewhere between a lion and a swarm of bees. It filled the air outside the Master Room, every second growing louder. Closer.
I ran from the chamber and back out onto the walkway. The growling filled my ears until I was almost deafened. A heartbeat later, the most immense craft glided past the tower. Built of gleaming metal painted red, it glowed like fire in the grey dawn. For a moment I was utterly perplexed; but my confusion was quickly replaced by terror. For there, emblazoned on the side of the side of the craft was a black-and-white emblem that I had never before seen except in books, but had lived my entire life in fear of.
The emblem of SeeD.
Terror filled my mouth, as strong and bitter as bile, and sucked it dry. Reaching up on tiptoes, I watched as the airship descended, slowly, slowly, past the ruined towers and the broken battlements, making straight towards the bay.
SeeD.
SeeD were here.
My mother had disappeared, and SeeD had arrived at the castle.
I took a step backwards, terrified that I had already been seen. My heart was pounding so violently I felt sick; I could hear the blood roaring in my ears and see black at the edges of my vision.
SeeD. SeeD. SeeD.
A thousand memories shrieked through my mind at once. My mother, holding me when I cried, kissing my bruises when I fell, telling me that I should fear nothing in this world - except SeeD. SeeD were the wicked hunters who hated us and who wanted to hurt us and who didn't care that I was just a little girl. Mother wasn't scared of anything - except SeeD. They were the monsters that reached out from my nightmares and threatened to pull me into the darkness. Mother feared SeeD like she feared death.
Death. SeeD. SeeD and death. Death and SeeD.
The sky was spinning above me, and I only just managed to clutch at a gargoyle for support. Somewhere over the petrified chattering of my mind I could tell that the engine of the airship had hushed. SeeD had landed on the bay. Outside the castle. The monsters were coming.
Mother Mother where are you? Help me help me help me HELP ME!
Had she known this would happen? The guests she had spoken of - were SeeD her visitors? Had she known they were coming? Is that why she told me to hide? Was she hidden, too?
But the Master Room smelled of blood.
And suddenly I knew, even if I didn't understand.
My mother was dead.
I didn't know how or when or even why, but suddenly I knew it as surely as I knew my own name. Mother was dead, I was alone in the castle, and SeeD, the faceless nightmare that had plagued my life since before I could remember, were hammering at the gates.
Somewhere from the depths of my stricken mind, I remembered Mother's last words to me in the art gallery.
"Just promise me that whatever happens, you will never let them find you."
This must have been what she meant.
SeeD were at the gates. I couldn't let them find me. Whatever happened.
I had to escape the castle. Jumbled memories of my childhood assailed me. If SeeD found me, they would hurt me; they didn't care that I was just a little girl. Whatever happened, I must never let them find me.
Run, Alynna. RUN.
Staggering to my feet, I fled back down the walkway towards the ladder. The pounding of my feet was almost as fast and painful as the pounding of my heart. I could imagine SeeDs in their white uniforms filing from their great airship, all armed and all lethal. And all with the one ambition: to destroy me. A group of cats after one tiny, frightened mouse.
I started to climb the ladder, faster than I had ever climbed it before. The rungs were still slick with the rain from last night's storm and my hands twisted more than once. Urgency made my feet clumsy and I slipped, standing either on air or on my hem. Once, I almost fell and my chin hit painfully against a rung. Yet somehow I made it to the top and to the second ladder. Up, up, then stepping over to the still hand of the great clock. It was wet beneath my feet. I found myself praying to any deity that might be there that I wouldn't fall. I clung to any niches and cracks in the stonework that my fingers could find, inching along the clock hands, willing myself not to look down, don't look down...
Soon, but not soon enough, I felt my hands touch the edges of a doorway. I clutched at the crumbling stone desperately and pulled myself into the clock tower, away from the clock face and its perilous surface.
But I couldn't even allow myself a moment of relief. SeeD would be spilling into the entrance hall...
The clock tower usually terrified me. The ever-grinding cogs roared like a Behemoth and were so huge and brutal that they could easily mangle any limbs that were trapped between their teeth. Images of that possibility had terrified me ever since my childhood, yet somehow even that fear paled in comparison to that of SeeD, and I found myself cutting swiftly through the room, sliding smoothly through the cogs as if I did it all the time.
And soon I was out, though the grinding from the room behind still churned in my ears. I could imagine SeeD spreading throughout the castle. I needed to find a place to hide before I stood even a chance of escape. And I wouldn't find one in the tower. It was too empty, too obvious, and it was a dead end. The castle had over a hundred rooms, and over a thousand secret crannies and corners. I just had to be quick, and SeeD would never find me.
I fled down the staircase, my feet slipping on makeshift planks or slapping against stone stairs. Down, down into the shadows, and round, circling round and round until I was dizzy with it. I was out of breath; I could feel a sharp pain in my side with every breath I took. Yet I didn't stop once. I couldn't. In my mind's eye I saw the dread agents of SeeD spreading like a miasma through every room in the castle. If I stopped, I wouldn't find a hiding place and I would be found. I had played hide-and-seek as a child; this would be similar, but more dire. Infinitely so.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, the bottom of the clock tower. Not even stopping to catch my breath, I fled outside, into the cold, grey dawn.
Where to go now? A rickety wooden bridge led to the chapel, but that was too direct; I would most likely find SeeD already there or in the courtyard. On the other hand, there was the ladder to my left, and I knew it led even further down to a hidden passageway - but that depended entirely on whether the flood gates were open or not. If they were, then that passage would be submerged. I racked my memory, trying desperately to recall whether or not the fountain in the courtyard had been flowing when I had passed before. Part of me thought it had, yet another part insisted it hadn't.
With every second I wasted hesitating, SeeD were drawing ever closer.
I couldn't run across the bridge; I couldn't go to the chapel. I would all but run into them if I did. The only option left open to me was to climb down the ladder and pray that the flood gates were closed.
There was no rain down there, but mist gathered in the hollows of the stonework and clung in tiny droplets to the ladder. Learning from my near-fall just minutes before, I lowered myself carefully down each rung. There was less distance to fall, but the stone would be just as unforgiving. But I was going too slow.
Not fast enough, can't go faster, hurry, can't...
Where would SeeD be now? Would they have reached the courtyard yet? If they were, and the flood gates were open...
I reached the bottom, onto the stone plinth above the waterway. Glancing down through the mist, my heart jumped with relief when I saw that the flood gates were indeed closed; the only water below me was in the scattered puddles left by the dammed water. The passageway was open. I could escape this way.
Crouching down, I twisted round and cautiously let myself off the plinth. My fingers caught the edge and I hung there for a moment before I allowed myself to drop. I landed on my feet in a puddle of cold water that instantly seeped through my shoes.
I glanced around, trying to decide what my next course of action would be. There was a gate that led to the courtyard - dangerous, too dangerous. The way that was quicker for me would also be quicker for them. On the other hand, taking the waterway route would force me to take a long detour through the castle, with perhaps just as much chance of running into SeeD.
Hurry, Alynna, decide, no time!
The gate to the courtyard was open. My heart plummeted like a stone into my stomach. It opened into a relatively concealed passage, but what if SeeD found it?
I ran to the gate, and tried desperately to push it back into place. I couldn't be followed, I couldn't be found. But it wouldn't budge. The only way to open or close it was through the organ in the chapel - a trick of Mother's designed to deter intruders, and one that was now rebounding upon me.
Nevertheless, I tried to shut the gate, digging my feet into the ground and putting my whole weight against the wooden slats. My hands burned and splinters embedded themselves under my skin; sweat broke on my brow; anxiety pressed down in my chest. I was almost weeping with effort and desperation.
Move! I begged the gate silently. Please, MOVE.
And then I heard it. And the fear I felt was like falling from an unthinkable height.
Voices. Footsteps. In the courtyard.
SeeD.
I had wasted precious moments in vain.
I had no choice now. I had to run.
I fled back along the waterway, my footsteps echoing against the high walls that pressed around me. They sounded so loud, too loud. Far too loud. SeeD would hear them, and would come after me. The gate was open. I was aware of it with every foot I ran from it. I could imagine terrible SeeD warriors stepping through it even now, coming into the waterway, seeing me...
Run, Alynna, don't look back.
It was madness, but I believed that if I did look back, SeeD would come through the gate. If I looked back, they'd know where I was.
A wall reared up in front of me. I had no idea where I was now; I had never been down here before in my life. All I knew about the passageway was that it was here. The only escape route I could see was a grille at the foot of the wall. As soon as I saw it, I rushed to it, tugging at the bars with all my strength. But it was firmly built into the stone.
I felt like I had just died inside. I looked over my shoulder, certain I would see SeeD pursuing me down the waterway.
And then I saw it. Half-hidden in the shadows was a wooden door. My salvation.
I threw myself at it, hopeful, yet at the same time dreading that it would be locked. But the door opened almost as soon as my hand touched it and I stumbled into the shadows beyond.
I screamed.
Someone was already there.
They sat opposite me, crouched in the shadows, looking straight at me, one hand outstretched.
SeeD!
I backed against the doorway. Tears sprang into my eyes and streamed down my face. I shook my head, whimpering, "No, no, no..."
I failed. They found me. No! Mother, no! I failed!
A cloud must have moved in the sky, for a shaft of pale dawn light lanced through the grille in the ceiling. Moisture trickled down stone walls, bare save for the manacles that hung from metal rings. The flagstone floor had been perfunctorily scattered with straw. And the SeeD - it was not a SeeD at all. Just a corpse. The remains of some poor prisoner left to hunch beneath a fraying cloak.
I wanted to cry with pity, but at the same time I could feel my gorge rising. The flesh that remained on the skull was scrappy and a foul grey-green. The lips had rotted away long ago, leaving a mouth of teeth that seemed elongated and much too large for it. The same mouth grinned balefully at me, conspiring with everything else in the castle to remind me of the fate I would suffer at SeeD's hands.
I was in the dungeons. My heart sank once again. Along with the waterway, the dungeons were the only place in the castle I had never explored. I had never dared. Mother's servants had once brought in prisoners every day and thrown them into these dark cells. Even from my chamber, tucked comfortably away in one of the wings of the castle that was still standing, I had fancied I could hear their screams. None of them had ever left.
Mother had sent most of her servants away not long ago. How I wished that one remained to guide me through the dark bowels of the castle. If SeeD didn't kill me, I would probably get lost in these myriad passages and starve.
Stop thinking. Run. Find a way out.
Leaving the poor corpse behind, I hurried to the second door on the other side of the dungeon, trying desperately to ignore the scuttling noises I heard from the shadows around me. Praying that this door, too, was unlocked, I opened it.
I found myself in a room that - at last! - I recognised. The flood gate room. I knew my way to the front hall from here - but it meant crossing a whole wing of the castle, with every certainty that SeeD would be there already.
I was almost too scared to go any further.
I leaned back against the door, trying to decide whether I would be safer risking a run through the rest of the castle, or whether there was any place for me to hide here. Nothing: only a low bench pushed into one corner, and it would be poor cover if SeeD did come in.
Somewhere else.
On the other hand, the door opposite led into the armoury.
The armoury!
I tore across the flood gate room, jumping across the empty channel in the floor, and ran to the armoury door. Mother usually made her servants lock it, but some benign deity seemed to have picked all the locks in the castle for me. The door swung open immediately.
I was sure Mother had placed one of her guardians in the armoury, but it was empty. The flickering torches revealed only the suits of armour, displayed with militaristic discipline on every side - and on the many chests of weapons and weapon parts.
I dived for the nearest one, rummaging through the unsorted jumble of axe heads, sword hilts and shield bosses, hoping to find something with which to defend myself should SeeD find me after all.
Nothing.
I moved to the next one, and pulled out a sword encased in a worn leather scabbard. Quickly, I belted it around my waist. I had never held a weapon in my life, nor did I have the first idea how to use one, but nevertheless it felt reassuring to have some form of protection just within hand's reach.
I left the armoury, if not less scared, then at the very least less helpless. But as soon as I had stepped back into the flood gate room, I heard a sound that made my blood run colder than the heart of the Guardian Force Shiva.
They were in the dungeon.
At least two of them.
Why didn't I lock the deadbolt?
I almost ran back to the prison door to do just that, but I only just stopped myself. They would get to the door before I did.
My only option was to flee.
I ran from the room, just as I heard the shriek of rusting hinges swinging. I took the stairs three at a time; a muscle stretched in the back of my thigh and I only just choked back a cry of pain. At the top of the stairs the first thing I saw was another door. Not even remembering where it led and not even caring, I ran through it.
The art gallery. Normally I could spend hours in here -
No time no time no time
I crossed the room without even glancing at the paintings, my eyes only on the door at the other end.
Just another room, just one more staircase, then I'm in the grand hall.
Then I heard a noise beyond the door. Footsteps. Heavy, determined footsteps.
If my voice hadn't fallen into my stomach with my heart, I would have screamed.
I skidded to a halt, then whipped round, ready to run back. But then I remembered.
There were SeeDs that way.
There were SeeDs both ways.
Trapped.
Trapped!
I turned round, tossing my head fearfully like a cornered horse, my eyes darting wildly around the room for some hope of concealment. If I could have hidden in the garden in the large painting next to me, I would have.
The door before me was opening.
There was only one place I could hide - and not for long.
As I flung myself behind the stairs leading to the gallery above, the door opened fully and I heard somebody walk in. The door closed again. There was a dreadful finality in the way it boomed shut that made my body go icy-cold. The slow, heavy fall of booted feet echoed against the bare stone floor and around the cold walls. My spine tingled with fear.
I drew my legs up and wrapped my arms around them, hoping against all hope and wishing against all wishes that if I could just make myself as small as possible, I would become invisible.
Please please please...
Stalk. Stalk. Stalk.
The sound of those pacing footsteps was a drumbeat of doom.
Swivelling my head as much as I could bear, I peered through the narrow slats between the stairs.
One.
One white-uniformed demon. Prowling. One predator. Hunting.
He stood at the foot of the stairs, looking around with narrowed eyes, around him then up, sweeping along the length of the gallery. I lowered my head away from the gap between the stairs, barely stifling a gasp as I did so.
Stalk. Stalk. Stalk. Stalk.
I could feel the floor vibrating beneath those heavy boots. I drew myself up even smaller.
Stalk.
He stopped.
Bile rose in my throat. He was standing near the other door. If he turned round, if he took another few steps in the direction of the Inandantiapainting...
This time, my prayers went to every deity and every Guardian Force that I had ever heard of. I prayed to disappear, for the SeeD to leave without looking, for me to melt into the shadows I crouched in.
My insides clenched. My heart was pounding in my throat, so fast I felt sick, so loud the SeeD would surely hear it in a moment. Why couldn't he hear it already? It was louder than his footfall...
I wasn't breathing. I must have been holding the same breath for at least a minute. I could feel my chest burning. But I couldn't let it out now. But my lungs were screaming. I covered my mouth with my hand, though my throat and chest felt tight and sore and I was starting to feel dizzy.
The door opened and without another glance around him, the SeeD left the art gallery. The door closed behind him.
Only then did I dare breathe out; in the utter silence it sounded like the roar of an Aero spell.
For a moment, I could only sit there, hunched beneath the staircase, as still as if I had been petrified. I didn't even dare believe my luck.
I could hear the SeeD outside the gallery, in the antechamber that led either to the flood gate room or to the rest of the castle. I could hear him speaking, even if I couldn't make out any words. Speaking to the SeeDs who had been behind me in the flood gate room?
The exchange was brief, and I tensed again in the shadows, waiting for him return, this time with reinforcements. But moments passed, and nothing happened. They had gone.
I crawled out from beneath the stairs, took a second to stretch my poor, clenched muscles, then padded silently across the gallery. I had just miraculously evaded capture and saw no reason to make any noise now.
Somewhere amidst the dark cloud of my fear, a tiny spark of hope sprang into life.
Breathing heavily, flushed by my narrow escape, I took the door handle, opened the door and stepped outside - straight into someone.
I fell backwards, hitting my elbows against the stone floor. Before I could stop it, I had uttered a sharp cry. My eyes flew upwards.
A SeeD!
A man in an immaculate white uniform, dark hair held back from his face by a white headband. In his right hand he grasped a rifle. He stared down at me, obviously as taken aback as I was.
"What the hell...?"
Then everything happened at one. I screamed loudly, a split second before he descended upon me. I screamed again - the damage had been done - and threw my hand up in defence. I had only the vaguest impression of dark eyes and a snarling mouth before the SeeD stumbled backwards, one hand clutching his face. I jumped to my feet and ran.
I bounded up the stairs, tripping up them almost, barely watching where I was putting my feet. I heard the SeeD recover and come chasing after me, all the time shouting, shouting loudly, though I heard no words, no words I could make out.
I fled along the gallery, grasping the banister beside me and using it to thrust myself forward faster. My momentum carried me straight out the open door at the end and onto to the second gallery that overlooked the main hall. I threw my hands out and grasped the balustrade. Raising my head, I saw two SeeDs standing guard just at the main doors. They were looking up. They had seen me, too.
Not even stopping to despair, I ran back to the door I had just come through; I had a fleeting glimpse of the pursuing SeeD lunging himself towards me, but I pulled the door shut and held it as best I could. On the other side, my pursuer was pounding his fists against it and trying to wrench it open. He was stronger than I was, and even I knew it was only a matter of time before my own strength gave way.
I have to escape.
Leaving the door, I tore along the gallery, cutting round the corner so sharply I was almost too soon, and streaked down the grand staircase. The SeeDs from the door surged forward to meet me at the bottom. Hands snatched at me from all sides, curses rang in my ears like thunderclaps, but with an agility I could never imagine having if I hadn't been so desperate, I evaded them all. All I knew was the main doorway; one of the great double-doors was ajar; I could be free.
I burst from the castle and down the front stairs as if I had all the winds of Pandemona at my heels. Before me one of the great chains that bound my mother's fortress to the earth stretched downwards. It swayed in the wind, the massive links groaning as they pushed against each other.
Taking a deep breath, I took a step onto the first link. The metal was rough and weathered and I was able to keep a firm foothold. But when I looked down and saw the unforgiving grey sea crashing countless feet below me, my resolve wavered, as did my whole body, and the blood seemed to drain from my head.
The SeeDs were out of the castle now and were halfway down the stairs. Their threats and curses reached me even where I stood.
I had no time to be afraid now. Within seconds I was half-stepping, half-jumping from one link to the next, making my way down towards the cape. But it seemed as distant as the moon and further away with every step I took in its direction. Behind me, I was aware of the first SeeD jumping onto the chain. Panic incited urgency, and I forced myself to go faster, despite the grim fall and dark waves yawning beneath me, desperate to catch me if I so much as wavered.
Halfway down, I saw another of my mother's creations, and my heart was beside itself with fear and relief. There, suspended in the air by means I could only guess at, were Mother's three portals. Three mystical pathways framed by white columns. I remembered her telling me once how they were intended for her servants, but also how they each transported one many miles away from the castle in a matter of seconds.
Escape.
I stopped before the portals. The SeeDs were close behind me. I didn't even have time to decide on a portal. I simply jumped, disregarding the sheer drop and the cruel sea so far below me, and let myself land at the nearest doorway. My arms flailed wildly and I very nearly overbalanced backwards, but at the last second I managed to clutch at the pillars on either side of me. I looked back, but my pursuers were lost in the bright white glare emanating from the doorway. I looked forward, shielding my eyes against the blinding light and, without a second thought but with a hundred anxieties, I stepped into the portal.
Author's note: Whew! That took longer than I thought it would! Who'da thought that escaping from Ultimecia Castle would've taken - (checks) - nine pages? It must've been that "Mother" stuff every five minutes. Don't worry, folks, Alynna's not a remnant of Sephiroth in disguise. At least, I don't think she is... (shifty eyes)
Anyway, how did you find that? I was trying to make it suspenseful, if not scary, but I think all I succeeded in was making it wordy. And with barely a word of dialogue, too (more shifty eyes).
I'd really appreciate feedback, as fanfic is as much writing practice for me as it is a pastime, and I'm constantly looking for ways to improve.
Till next time!