Disclaimer: All FF:TSW characters are still property of Square, even if Square has no desire to do anything with them ever again. No profit is being made from their use.

Author's Note: See? I'm trying to get this up faster than I have been doing for other fics. If I can keep up a decent updating schedule, it might help prod me into finishing some of the other unfinished works here, such as "Life's River Shall Rise," which I'm having a hard time getting back into – it's just been far too long since I last did anything with it. But I'm trying. And if I can't, I'll try to work on all new fics to keep you all happy. I didn't abandon the TSW fandom; I'm just in a bit of a slump.

Infinite Requiem

Two The Soul Past Saving

Aki gathered herself, tensing for flight, but the grip upon her shoulder was like a vise. Brought up short by that powerful grip, Aki stumbled, tried to get her barely-responsive legs under her, failed and fell against her captor with a cry. The other caught her, steadying Aki before turning her so their eyes could meet. The indignant cry that had been rising in Aki's throat at her treatment was choked off as she realized she knew this woman. Her bizarre nightmarish reality had just taken a new twist – she'd last seen this woman thirty years ago, if the news cast could be believed, but she hadn't aged a day!

"Corporal Proudfoot?" Aki asked tentatively. Unlikely, she admonished herself, not after thirty years. More likely that this was her daughter or some other relative that bore an uncanny likeness.

"Doctor Ross." Her voice was husky, sarcastic, and all-too-familiar. "So you do remember me." Aki stared at the woman, wondering how she could be here. Then again, wasn't Aki herself here, thirty years out of her own time? Wasn't it possible the same thing had happened to the corporal?

Did that mean that Gray could be here somewhere, too?

She studied the other woman, noticing that Jane, too, had a body of metal ending just beneath her jawline, hidden beneath a form-fitting black outfit and an ankle-length coat. "What's going on? What happened to me? What happened to the city?" The words poured from Aki in a jumble. "Where's Gray? Is he here? What about Sid?"

Jane rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I'm not the best person for explanations; I'm just here to fetch you. Come with me, and everything will be explained." Jane began to stride away, clearly expecting Aki to follow her. Aki just stood, staring after her, mind still too numb to fully comprehend what the corporal had commanded. Realizing that the doctor wasn't following, Jane pivoted on one foot and glowered. "What are you waiting for? You do want to know what the hell is going on, right? You're not going to get the answers just standing around and gawking."

Aki didn't see how she had much choice; either follow Jane, a woman she barely knew but felt some trust towards, or stand around and 'gawk,' ending up who knew where. A stranger in a strange land was more likely to unknowingly break the rules and end up in prison. So Aki set off after the soldier, hoping that their destination would yield more answers than questions. Jane led her back the way she'd come, and Aki wondered if they were going to walk all the way back to where she'd awoken. But before they reached the perimeter fence, Jane paused. She flicked her left wrist, bringing up a small screen that hovered above the vicinity of her wrist. It bleeped softly as she brushed the screen with her fingers.

For several long moments there was silence. Aki tried to fill it with questions, but Jane merely shot her a smoldering glare, and Aki fell silent. The silence between them stretched interminably, until Aki finally decided to break it by asking what they were waiting for. But before she could form the question, a low humming noise that had gradually been increasing in intensity grew too loud for her to be heard. Aki looked skywards and saw a small craft, similar in build to a Copperhead but much smaller, hovering above them. Jane pushed her back with one arm, with the other she manipulated the wrist computer presumably linked to the ship's guidance system and brought it in for a landing.

Jane pulled open the cockpit's hatch and motioned for Aki to get inside. She didn't argue, just awkwardly attempted the climb. Unfortunately, her leg didn't want to lift that high, and Aki fell against the hatch's edge. Jane grabbed her arm and assisted her climb; Aki hid her face in embarrassment at her clumsiness, but Jane's face was surprisingly understanding. "It's always a little awkward, at first," she said. "Once your brain adjusts to your new neural pathways, you won't even notice."

It was on the tip of Aki's tongue to ask why she had to adjust… but Jane had promised answers were coming. And Jane had gone back to her previous taciturn attitude, so Aki remained quiet. She could wait a little longer for the answers she sought. She just hoped they'd be good ones…

At least she had plenty to study while she waited; the city below, and even the ship itself, were all marvels. The controls of the ship were simpler than those of any craft Aki had flown; it almost seemed as if Jane were directing it by thought alone. Had technology advanced enough for such a thing to be possible? Perhaps; thirty years ago, the cybernetic body Aki wore would have existed only in science fiction novels.

As for the city, it was composed of towering spires – their height no longer limited by the barrier – with open terraces and walkways, their gleaming surfaces shining brilliantly in the moonlight. When the sun was up, it must be blinding, Aki thought. Most fascinating, however, were the crowded thoroughfares as people enjoyed the nightlife – crowds that included Phantoms that bobbed in and out of sight. No one ran, no one fought… they'd become just another part of the cityscape, albeit a part that moved on its own. They may have been sculptures, for all the notice they garnered. She pressed her nose to the side view port as she took in the view, not caring how ridiculous she must have looked with her face smashed to the glass.

"There's our destination," Jane said suddenly, and Aki's head jerked forward. She was about to ask where, but then she saw it: Directly ahead was a dome of pulsing light, beneath which was a skeletal framework of metal and conduits. It was immediately recognizable: a barrier. Of course, Aki realized. The people may be protected, but plants and animals would still need to be shielded from the Phantoms. Aki wondered just what was contained under this particular barrier, because it looked so… small. Jane flew over the top of the barrier, lightly tapping a code into the onboard computer. Below, a hatchway began to open, revealing a large hangar, and Jane brought the craft in for a vertical landing.

Jane didn't give Aki the chance to look around before she was being led off towards a set of double doors at the opposite end of the hangar. She glimpsed more light craft like the one she had flown in, as well as ships of designs that she had never seen before. Delicate and elegant, little more than glassed-in metal frameworks with no defenses against the Phantoms. The kind of transports that would have been developed had the entire world not been thrust into a life-or-death situation where everything had been designed for defense. Aki wondered what it would be like to pilot one of those fragile machines. It must be the closest a human can get to flying without their own set of wings…

Then they were through the great metal doors, and the view was cut off as they portal slid shut. Jane escorted Aki past a knot of people that didn't even glance up at their passage, stopping before a lift tube. "Almost there," Jane said gruffly. Aki shivered with anticipation, and no little fear. Soon, she'd why her entire world had been turned upside down.

She had the feeling that she wouldn't like the answers…

The lift tube deposited them on an ill-lit floor, with a long, empty corridor that seemed to extend forever. There were cracks and chips in the walls, some sloppily repaired and others left to fall into worse ruin. As Jane began to stride confidently down the hall, accompanied by the echoing click of her heels, Aki held back. Where did she bring me? After the haunting beauty of the habitable portion of the city, this decrepit hallway came as a shock. How could they let the part of the city precious enough to be protected fall into such disrepair? And who was down here who could answer Aki's questions? Whoever it was had apparently fallen out of favor…

Aki tried to peer through the windows of the doors they passed; the hall appeared to be lined with offices, half of which showed signs of being empty for quite some time. Jane ignored them, heading straight for the door at the very end of the hall, beneath a broken light fixture. She tried not to think that it was an ominous sign as Jane opened the door without knocking, and beckoned for Aki to follow her in.

The office was further indication of the occupant's disgrace. Dark, because there weren't bulbs in half of the fixtures, with plastic cases of data files stacked haphazardly around the room – the office apparently doubled as a file storage room. There was a stale, dusty odor to the air, with just the faintest whiff of alcohol. There was a massive desk, with a figure bent over in the seat behind it. Jane moved in front of her before Aki could pick out any details, and there was a soft, whispered exchange that Aki couldn't catch. Then Jane moved aside, and the seated figure flipped on the light on his desk.

For several moments, Aki and the man behind the desk studied each other silently. His age was difficult to determine; his body looked as if had wasted away, leaving behind little more than wrinkled skin and bones – there was no metal beneath his shabby clothing. Thin white hair hung limply from his scalp. She would have guessed him to be in his eighties, except that his eyes looked much younger. She searched his face, with its sharp, hollow cheeks and angular features, and wondered why it looked so familiar.

Aki wondered how to begin, but the man began to speak before she could. "Dr. Ross," the man said calmly. "Welcome." His voice hadn't been affected by whatever had wasted his body; it was still deep, faintly sardonic – and utterly familiar. Aki's eyes widened as she was flooded by unpleasant memories, all the result of this man's interference.

"You…" she whispered. The man gave her a thin smile that didn't reach his eyes. There was so much she had wanted to say to General Hein should she ever come face to face with him again, but now that she had, the words had died in her throat. He looked so frail… and now that she was closer to him, she realized he wasn't in a seat, after all, but a wheelchair. Jane tensed, ready to forcefully separate them if need be, but Aki was too stunned to do more than gape, even if it did make her look like a landed fish.

"I see you remember me," he said. "Good; that saves us the time of introducing ourselves. Have a seat," he added, pointing to a worn chair pushed to the side of the room. Jane dragged it over for her, and Aki numbly sat. The chair wobbled beneath her; one of the legs was shorter than the rest. How, she wondered, had Hein, who had always had an immaculate office, come to this? Once seated, she continued to stare at Hein with a dumbfounded expression.

She finally found her tongue. "You're behind this?" she sputtered. "You bastard! What did you do to me? What happened to the others? What the hell happened to me?" Her voice took on a shrill tone, and she tried to calm herself, to no avail.

Jane shifted closer, but Hein looked unruffled by her outburst. "I suppose I did have a hand in this," he said, waving Jane off. "That's part of why I had you revived. I need your help." Aki narrowed her eyes and sat back, but her curiosity was full to the point of bursting, so she was willing to listen. Hein kneaded his forehead as he gathered his thoughts. "I'll start from your accident," he began.

"It wasn't an accident," Aki said sharply. "One of your men shot me." That was the one thing she remembered clearly about the Tucson mission.

Hein didn't deny this, merely continued. "From the notes later recovered, Dr. Sid was attempting to implant the spirit directly into your chestplate to save your life." Something about his phrasing bothered her for a moment, then she realized what it was: he'd said 'spirit,' and he'd said it without the scorn he'd openly shown back in the Council chambers. "Unfortunately, something went wrong with the process, and the Phantom particle broke free. Apparently, the only way the doctor could see to save your life was to cryogenically freeze your body before the particle could spread, and cure you by completely eliminating the Phantoms from the planet."

Aki knitted her brows. Cryogenics weren't very advanced, or hadn't been thirty years ago. For him to use such a risky procedure her, the situation must have been desperate indeed. "He worked diligently to complete that 'spirit wave' of his, with the help of Gray Edwards."

Aki jerked upright at the name, and she demanded, "Gray? What happened to him?"

Hein looked irritated to be drawn off the subject, but perhaps realizing he wouldn't get anywhere until Aki knew the truth, he explained, "Captain Edwards and his squad were taken in to custody for treason immediately after Dr. Sid's attempt to save your life. To save his squad, he took all the blame, accepting a court marshal while his squad got off free." His gaze flicked towards Jane, and Aki couldn't resist looking herself, but the woman's face displayed no emotion. "Afterwards, he devoted himself to constructing the spirit wave and saving you."

"What happened to them?" She was afraid to ask, because she knew she wouldn't like the answer. The Phantoms still haunted the earth, and she hadn't been revived until now. Something had gone terribly wrong…

"From what I gather from reading Dr. Sid's notes," Hein continued, they were after the final spirit, which was located within the Phantom crater itself." Aki felt cold; a visit to the Phantom crater would be a death sentence… "They might have pulled it off, except…" Here, Hein faltered. He looked as if he didn't want to continue. "Except that I persuaded the Council that the Phantoms were using human agents to infiltrate the barrier cities, and that you were one of those agents. They authorized use of the Zeus Cannon." Aki felt her blood – or whatever now passed for blood – freeze in her veins. No… "I used it at the same time Dr. Sid and Edwards attempted to retrieve the final spirit." His voice was heavy as he whispered, "Dr. Sid was right; the cannon was too powerful. They were killed by the blast… and ever since then, there've been more Phantoms. And the Cannon overloaded and exploded; I barely made it out alive. I didn't make it out whole," he nodded at his chair-bound body.

But Aki wasn't pitying his frail frame any longer. "You… you killed Sid and Gray!" She stood up, and she would have been shaking with rage had her body been responsive. "You monster!" She spun on her heel, almost tripping and falling. "Why should I do anything for you?" She took a step forward, but was halted by Hein's next words, and the desperate tone with which he spoke them.

"Because you're the last chance this world has," he said. "The earth is dying, Dr. Ross, and I need you to save it."

Aki turned slowly. "What?"

Hein's gaze was beseeching. "You've seen it out there," he said. "Now that we have a way to live among the Phantoms – if you can call that 'life' – no one is taking an interest in destroying them and reclaiming the planet. When the cyborg procedure was first introduced some twenty-five years ago, people the world over submitted to exchanging flesh-and-blood for spiritless machinery." Sensing her curiosity about the subject, he said, "The procedure involves a paring away of the flesh and the spirit within the flesh, until only a bare minimum is left for survival. The remains are then encased in the metal shell, which has a small internal barrier around the living organs within. All that's left of who you were is a collection of organs." Aki felt sick to her stomach, though she was no longer certain she even had a stomach.

Seemingly unaware of her feelings, Hein continued his explanation. "It seemed perfect; not only did it protect, but it offered a form of immortality." He nodded towards Jane, who hadn't seemed to have aged since Aki had seen her thirty years ago. "Not only that, but the bodies need only special processed food, rather than anything grown in farms. We no longer needed quite so many farms or livestock. People began to… forget why we needed to destroy the Phantoms."

Aki remembered how the city's inhabitants had ignored the Phantoms as if they weren't even there. She was still furious at Hein, but the ramifications of what he was saying were sinking in. "But… what about children?" she asked. If her body was as much machine as she'd suspected, then she'd never have children. Neither would any other cyborg.

"There are small areas with barriers, like this one, where people who don't wish to undergo the change can live and reproduce, and there's the Haven space station where people live, as well. But they're few. We're a dying species on a dying planet."

She couldn't think of anything to say to this. She'd thought that finding a way to live without fear of death would be a good thing, even if it was in harmony with Phantoms, but this… She just couldn't find the words.

"I was disgraced by the Zeus's failure," Hein said softly. "I spent several years on the Haven station, agonizing over what I'd done, letting my health decay. Finally, I realized that this was my fault, that if I'd let Dr. Sid create the spirit wave, we might not have this problem. To redeem myself, I began to look in to ways to correct humanity's mistake. I even got a hold of Dr. Sid's notes to try to replicate what he did, but I find that it's beyond me. And then… your body was located, still frozen, but badly frostbitten and past the point of reviving. The Council refused to save you by changing you, remembering what I had said about you being a Phantom agent, so I used all the money I had to locate someone who would perform the procedure without letting the Council know. You were left in the old city so Jane could pick you up without anyone seeing her make contact with this doctor. You woke up a little earlier than you were supposed to, but fortunately, we had a tracking device installed, so Jane was able to tail you. And now… here you are. I brought you back because I want you to reconstruct the spirit wave. I want you to save the world… if it's not already beyond saving."

XXX

Aki stared up at the water-damaged ceiling above her, her mind too restless for sleep. Assuming she could sleep; Jane had said that her body still required rest, but for all Aki knew, it had a different way of getting that rest. She'd left Hein over an hour ago, after his incredible pronouncement. She'd tried to get him to say more, but he'd turned away, becoming absorbed in the holographic screen before him.

Jane had led her out of the row of offices and down a floor to the room where Aki would be staying. They hadn't even for her agreement… Aki would have been annoyed that they'd just blithely assumed she would help; but really, what choice did she have? She'd previously devoted her life to save the planet, and as long as it needed her help, how could she refuse?

The corporal – or whatever she was now; Aki hadn't seen any indication the woman was still in the military – had taken pity on her and dropped her earlier reticence. She'd taken a seat on the sagging cot that was to be Aki's bed and looked up at the woman. "He's not as bad as he used to be," Jane said. "And for what it's worth, he's sorry for what he did." Aki's lips thinned; the apology wouldn't have meant much coming from the former general, and it meant even less coming from his lackey.

Aki didn't want to talk about it. So instead she asked, "Why isn't he like us?" She would have thought that Hein would be first in line for the chance to prolong his life so that he could fight the Phantoms long past what he could do in his current crippled incarnation.

Jane considered the question carefully before answering. "It's his penance," she said quietly. "He doesn't think he deserves to live after what he did. His injury, his disease – he sees them as punishment for what he did. He blames himself for the increased Phantom presence due to the Zeus, and for the deaths of the people who actually might have stopped the Phantoms forever. He's struggling to redeem himself, but he believes that he's beyond saving." There was a tenderness to her voice that Aki wouldn't have expected, and she wondered: did she have feelings for Hein? The woman had been very protective of him in the office… Perhaps that was why she seemed so anxious to make Aki understand.

But she didn't want to think about Hein right now. "What happened to the rest of your squad?" From the way the woman winced, she knew she'd hit a sore spot. She was sorry she'd asked; she hadn't known Neil Fleming or Ryan Whittaker very well, but they'd been quite kind to her.

"Sergeant Ryan Whittaker refused the surgery," Jane said. "The last I heard, he was up on Haven space station with his family." She looked saddened by this, and Aki could imagine her pain. She was still young, while Ryan was aging and would die. "And as for Neil Fleming…" Was that a catch in the other woman's voice? "When the procedure was first begun, there was a sixty-five percent chance of survival. I volunteered to go first, and it went perfectly. But when Neil went under the knife…" she trailed off. "He… he didn't make it," she whispered.

And before Aki could convey her condolences, Jane had fled the room. Now, she was alone, with several more unanswered questions running through her mind. Save the world… It was a tall order, but it was possible, assuming she could find eight compatible spirits. She'd need scanning equipment, a lab, a ship… and what if the spirits didn't exist? Hein had said there were fewer farms and livestock. People were exchanging their spirits for these… these mechanical travesties that let them play at life. She hated that it had been done to her…

Worse, she now faced a long, empty life ahead of her. No Gray. No possibility of children. All her relatives had been elderly when she'd… when she'd been frozen, and were now likely to be dead. Perhaps she had friends who still lived, friends who'd forfeited real lives to become cyborgs, but would she want to see them now? She didn't know if she wanted to have anything to do with anyone who willingly submitted to the surgery…

Maybe… maybe it would be for the best to let the world die…

To Be Continued…