Just a quick update to say that chapter 23 is coming along slowly due a lack of time over the Christmas period (an extended illness hasn't helped either). All rewrites were completed back in October/November with the upcoming chapter currently sitting at 75% completed. Hopefully, it'll be finished within the next two weeks. Hopefully. Please enjoy this partial rough draft until then.
"Baldur's Gate! This stench is unbearable!" Locke pinched her nose with one hand and waved the other about her face as if that would do something about the thousands of years of smelly build-up.
Fun fact: It was about as useful as collecting eggs from a male chocobo's nest.
Even funner fact: Male chocobos don't lay eggs.
Celes, at the front of the group and leading them through this god-awful maze of dimly-lit, eye-watering stink, scoffed before halting at an intersection. She quietly scrutinized all options—left, right, forward, and everything in between—before pointing in a random direction and taking that particular path. She said without looking back, "Suck it up, princess. This is on par with Kohlingen if you ask me."
Terra shook her head in disagreeance and continued taking shallow breaths through the fabric of her hood. The smell in Kohlingen had been bad, sure, but that had just been straight up cow manure. The stench here stunk up the place with underlying aromas of death and decay mixed in with human excrement, which made it twenty times worse. In fact, this was an odor more foul than all of those smells put together. This was a horrible vomit inducing stink that employed the same tactics as a crazy stalker; it clung to everything and lingered everywhere. The only way to defeat it was through divine intervention. Terra was sure of it.
Even Sabin showed effects of succumbing to the toxic environment. He had long ago tied a handkerchief around his nose and mouth, what good that would do, and his normally upbeat, can-do attitude had turned timid and sluggish. It almost looked like he was suffering from poison. Of course, the sewers of Vector were by far one of the most poisonous foes they had gone up against so far. Only Kefka won that contest, and he won by a very slim margin.
Terra sighed and followed the others through the tunnel, taking care to avoid stepping on things of questionable natures and walking in the disgusting, disease filled puddles when able. She hadn't wanted the city through its sewers. She would have been more than happy to fly them over its protective walls one by one, but Celes had argued against it. "They'll detect your magic," she had said.
The group travels single-file through the tunnel.
CELES:
Let me get this straight: You mean to tell me that Maria was in on the whole thing?
LOCKE:
*sighs* Yeah, although I'm not sure if it was a blessing or a curse.
SABIN:
I dunno. I'd be pretty stoked if a woman like that were into me.
Terra giggles.
LOCKE:
Easy for you to say, you're a straight male. I'm a straight female. Not exactly my cup of tea, you know?
SABIN:
Heh. Right. Forgot about that.
LOCKE:
To be fair though, her flirtatious advances were probably the real deal. She always did have a thing for me when we were growing up.
CELES:
What was Maria like as a kid?
LOCKE:
Kinda like you, actually.
CELES:
*raises an eyebrow*
In what way?
LOCKE:
In just about every way. Loud, obnoxious, angry all the time, picked fights at the drop of a hat…
CELES stops to turn back and narrow her eyes.
LOCKE:
*cont'd* Very lesbian…
CELES:
Okay, I'll give you that, but I'm not any of those other things.
LOCKE:
Says the angry-looking lady.
CELES:
That's 'cause you're pissin' me off, mate.
SABIN:
*laughs* There you go gettin' loud again!
CELES:
Don't make me kick your arse, Figaro.
LOCKE:
And there you go picking a fight.
CELES holds her breath as she turns to TERRA, who nods in agreement.
CELES:
*sighs* Fine. Whatever. However, Maria doesn't seem to be any of those things. If she hadn't told me she hides her sexuality, I'd have never pegged her as such.
LOCKE:
I'm guessing getting hauled off to that Zozo orphanage must have subdued her personality somewhat.
CELES:
Orphanage?
LOCKE:
Yeah. Her mom died at some point before I was born and her dad is some wandering deadbeat. Her grandparents raised her until they died. Nobody else in town wanted the responsibility, so she was shipped off to Zozo.
CELES:
Baldur's Gate. I can only imagine what that was like.
They continued on, silently wandering the catacombs, guided only by the memory Celes possessed of that one and only time she had gotten lost in this place. Turn here. Go straight here. Make another turn, but in a different direction than the last, then wonder if they were lost. Someone sneezed at some point causing everyone to jump at nothing. Everyone laughed it off and kept walking, but ultimately got lost again. Three words best described the experience: dull and forgettable.
Eventually, they came upon a room that was unnecessarily oversized, almost like a cathedral. Lit torches bolted to the walls flickered on either side. Copper pipes, now verdant with age and corrosion, funneled water from some far-off location to the floor. No matter where she stood, Terra's boots were now submerged up to the tips of her toes. The very thought of standing in waste water made her want to retch.
Celes stopped in the center of the room and immediately went on guard. "Is it just me, or has the vibe in here changed?"
Locke pulled her daggers free. "I feel it too. Like this room was built for a fight."
Shivers crawled up and down Terra's spine when something cold and wet invaded her boots. The water level had risen several more inches, just enough to turn her socks squelchy. How the hell was this happening? She tried calling attention to it, but her words failed her and came out as a garbled mess…again.
Sabin said, "Uh, has anyone noticed that the water's rising?" At least someone could voice what she was thinking. Surprising, though, that he hadn't also noticed the unseen clinking of rattling chains that caught her interest.
Celes immediately cursed. "Make a break for it!" she said. "I don't want to be killed by a god damn Aps!"
"A what?" Locke said with a scratch of her head.
If an earth-shattering roar from behind caused the water around their ankles to ripple, then the giant blue-skinned bipedal pig-like creature dropping from the cathedral ceiling caused a powerful tsunami. They had only made it a third of the way to the opposite door before the group were swept off their feet by waves. Sewer water in Terra's boots had been disgusting enough, but to be covered head to toe was a different story altogether. That, however, wasn't all; the force had been so strong that everyone had slid across the entire room and out the door.
With a curse, Celes vanished from sight first. Locke and Sabin were so diligent in following that they disappeared second and third. Terra hadn't fully realized the situation until her heart decided to stay in the same spatial location, lodging itself in her throat, after the ground disappeared out from under her. As gravity pulled her down several floors, she briefly noticed pretty man-made waterfalls surrounding her on all sides. The sound of water talking to itself was soothing and nearly lulled her out of her fear, until she smacked into the pool below with an ear-shattering, excruciatingly gut-wrenching belly flop. The pain and the shock were so great that she nearly cried out. However, it was a good thing she hadn't; she had landed face-down in the water. Drowning so didn't suit her style.
After making their way to dry 'land,' the group took the time to wring some of the water from their clothing. While lamenting the heaviness of her now sticky dress, Terra noticed something hidden by the darkness. A secret hallway that housed a crudely written sign reading, 'Heer lyes ye olde goldin shinee wyer of hoap.' A crude arrow pointed further into the darkness. Terra tugged on Locke's sleeve to gain her attention and pointed across the way.
"'Here lies ye old golden shiny wire of hope,'" Locke read aloud from behind squinted eyes. "Is that the exit out of the sewers? If it is that's a terrible analogy." And as an afterthought, "The spelling's pretty bad, too."
More stories in the FFVI: Cold Fire Universe:
Rust Never Sleeps
An Angel of Snow
Who Gives Healing to the Healers?
Point Me to the Sky Above
Rust Never Sleeps Remix: Alternate and Deleted Scenes
On Archive of Our Own:
Prayer of Revenge