Chapter 9
Thunder rumbled across the sky in a hopeless attempt to catch the lightning that had flashed mere seconds before. A thick blanket of dark, threatening clouds hid the sky and the rain came down in torrents, punishing the ground beneath it. Though the wind howled it could barely be heard over the thunderous rain that quickly flooded small streams and rivers. A single light could be seen flickering in the small village of SafeHaven as a group of soaked adventurers shared a room in the otherwise sleepy tavern. Their desire for warmth and food far outweighing their need for sleep and the coins Sarion flashed at their host made her more than happy to oblige.
"Is she going to be alright?" Sarion gestured behind Yuna with his wine glass.
Kneeling on the floor, face buried into Paine's inner thigh was Rikku. The girl was shaking as hard as the leaves out in the rain. An irate Paine was glowering at the smaller girl, her continuous attempts to free herself from the barnacle-like girl proving to be in vain as every time she became free, Rikku would reattach with renewed vigor.
Yuna giggled and sipped at her own wine. "Which one?" Waving a hand with a smile she looked back to Sarion. He reminded her of him but she found her sadness almost nonexistent. It wasn't that she was interested in Sarion romantically, at least that thought wasn't what came to mind, but it was more she found that traveling with Rikku and Paine had been the best times of her life. While it had originally begun due to trying to find him it ended up as a great adventure with the two people she cared for most.
Seeing Sarion's patient gaze, she giggled again realizing she had been spacing out. "Sorry, I mean that Rikku will be fine. She is astraphobic, afraid of thunder and lightning. She's been this way forever. You should have seen her out on the Thunder Plains!"
With a laugh, Sarion nodded. "I understand. Though I almost fear for her safety with the look on Paine's face."
As he said that a crash was heard. Paine had placed her free leg's boot against Rikku's shoulder and shoved the girl away, sending her careening into a pile of baskets holding linens. As she met the eyes of Yuna and Sarion she simply shrugged and sat by the window, watching the storm rage outside.
Rikku rubbed her bottom and jumped to her feet, slinking over to Yuna and Sarion's table. "I'm starving!"
The two at the table shared a laugh as Rikku joined them for some soup and bread provided by their gracious host when they had arrived before they all turned in for the night. The tavern was small, having only three rooms and the group had taken the only remaining vacant one. As Yuna sat on her bed she looked around the room they had claimed; Rikku's already snoring form on the bed beside her and Paine kicked back in a chair by the fire, eyes already lidded.
Sarion however had told them he believed the girls deserved their privacy and had removed himself from the room and went out to the bar area. When Yuna had questioned where he would sleep, he had waved off the question with his usual smile. 'Who are you really Sarion?' she thought to herself. 'I have a lot of questions for you over breakfast.' With that thought, Yuna slipped out of her wet and ruined clothes, setting them next to Rikku's by the fire. Looking over at Paine she sighed and nudged the warrior, earning an annoyed look in response.
"Paine, you should really hang your clothes by the fire. We already had you fight off a fever just a few days ago."
Scowling at the younger girl, Paine pushed the hair back from her eyes. "I will when I am ready to sleep. I may go down for a drink before then."
Yuna found her thoughts stilled as she gazed into the ruby eyes of Paine; the fire danced in the warrior's eyes in an almost mesmerizing way. Seeing Paine's eyes narrow in annoyance, she giggled and looked at the fire. "Alright Paine, just try and get some sleep okay? I want to look around for some new clothes tomorrow." As she said this her thoughts went to Paine's injury and she knelt down beside her. "How is your wound?"
With a sigh of exasperation Paine stood up and walked towards the door. "It's fine Yuna, get to sleep. I will rest soon enough." Before Yuna could speak again, she was already out the door.
Flopping down on her bed, Yuna let sleep overtake her at last. She was more exhausted from their journey than she let on and her mind had been running on overdrive all day. Where were they? And the thought that worried her most of all was, how long had they been in that cavern?
"Fire on the bridge! Fire on the bridge!" Buddy's voice echoed over the com.
Sparks flew from the computer screen, throwing Shinra into a railing and rendering him unconscious. Brother was doing all he could to maintain steering while Buddy struggled to keep the system running at all. Fires had broken out all over the Celsius and one of the engines was threatening to give out.
"Paine! Rikku!" Yuna ran down the hall, pounding on doors. She knew they must have heard the alarms; she had been awoken from a dead sleep from the noise and turbulence. Rikku opened her door and peered out, her hair in disarray but her daggers in hand.
"Yunie! What's going on?!"
Pounding on Paine's door, Yuna looked back at her cousin. "I'm not sure. The alarms woke me up and there are fires all over the Celsius! Something must have happened!" She kicked the door in front of her. "PAINE!"
Rikku grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "She's likely already out of her room. We should go to the bridge and see-"
An explosion interrupted Rikku and rocked the Celsius, causing both her and Yuna to stumble into the wall. The sound of steel against steal rang clearly in the following silence and both girls shared a look. Paine.
Without hesitation both sprinted to the elevator only to find it was powered down but the emergency lights showed it was stopped up on the exterior deck of the Celsius. Rikku and Paine shared a look of horror and began prying the doors open with a nearby pipe and Rikku's daggers.
Before long they were climbing up the perilous elevator shaft and opening the latch to a maintenance door on the elevator car. As they pulled themselves up; they gasped at what they saw; the door was a mangled mess of twisted steel covered in scorch marks and blood. Brushing by Rikku, Yuna ran out onto the deck without considering the dangers. Her friend was in trouble, nothing else mattered.
Kicking another creature off the deck and out into the open air Paine grunted as a club connected with her left shoulder, dropping her to a knee. Turning towards the source, she brought her blade up with her right hand and cleaved into the head of the strange monster that had struck her. These creatures were unlike anything she had seen before and it frightened her that they had done so much damage in so little time.
The beasts were varied in height, from shorter than Rikku to taller than even Brother or Buddy. They had pale yellow skin that appeared to be stretched over the bones beneath with strange armor that was rusted and barely held together. They carried an assortment of melee weapons but the majority of them simply had metal clubs or staves. Where did they come from? What was their purpose? Why had they never been seen before? But perhaps the most disturbing question was, how did they get on the Celsius during flight?
Yuna gasped as she saw Paine down on one knee, leaning heavily on her sword; her heart ached at the sight of her battered friend. Blood ran down Paine's face from a viscous wound at her hairline above her nose, the right side of her face was red and swollen with various scratches going down her chin to her neck. Rushing towards her wounded friend, Yuna noticed Paine's left arm was limp at her side, blood dripping from her fingers that trailed from her battered shoulder. Ducking a blow aimed for her face, Yuna spun and fired a round into the creature before her causing it to stumble back but simply advance on her again. Before she could raise her pistols again Paine's sword exploded through the skeletal head.
"They don't die that way. You have to destroy the head."
Rikku kicked a nearby monster off the Celsius on her way over to Yuna and Paine who now stood in the center of the deck, surveying the dozens of creatures crawling their way towards them from all sides. "What are these things?" Looking over she saw Paine and let out a squeak of panic. "Paine!"
With a growl Paine raised her blade once more, the weight an obvious burden on her single arm but her face held a stoic determination. "I'm fine. We have to stop them from getting inside."
As the girls fought off the strange skeletal creatures, they felt the Celsius shift and shudder as the struggling engine finally gave out. The ship pitched, throwing many of the creatures off and tossing the girls into a heap against one of the railings. They were now running on one engine and the Celsius was far too massive for a single engine to power it.
Yuna struggled to her feet as the Celsius continued to struggle to remain in flight and helped Paine up as Rikku stood up beside her. Before she could speak a massive explosion from the rear of the ship rocked the Celsius violently.
As she felt her feet leave the deck, everything appeared to move in slow motion. Rikku calling out for her as the quick-thinking thief clung to the hand rail, the creatures that looked unfazed by the fact they were now in mid-air, but it was the expression on Paine's face that froze the blood in her veins. The now airborne warrior did not look scared, did not look injured, nor did she hold her usual calm expression but a feeling Yuna did not know Paine could express: sadness. As their eyes met, she swore that the ruby eyes before her had a shimmer and Paine reached out with a gloved hand towards Yuna.
"Yuna, I-"
In a rush, time came back to speed and Yuna's extended hand came up holding only a glove, the owner thrown from the Celsius. Before the distraught cry could escape her lips Yuna found herself falling freely as well as the Celsius tipped and made its own descent towards the ground below. Closing her eyes tightly, the fear of the inevitable death below gripping her, Yuna couldn't help but picture Paine's ruby eyes filled with tears and without realizing it, she called out for her.
Author's Note
So I have to say I'm pretty proud of this chapter. I hope it answers some questions and opens many more! It's one of my longer ones and I considered making it MUCH longer but I truly felt the end of the sequence was too perfect of a way to end a chapter and HOPEFULLY leave you wanting more. Did it work? FYI I did a LOT of research on the Celsius for this small amount of info shown. It's tough! As for the engines, I don't know if there was more than one or not but I went with two. The ship is huge! If it's not right, well, artistic license! Anyhow, please please R&R so I know to keep going!
Sha Yurigami – Thanks for the reviews! Coming from another talented writer I appreciate them greatly! I'll address in order:
1: I will never complain about more reviews! I'd rather one per chapter since it allows you to address things as you find them.
2: The talk on the bridge was when Paine revealed her past to Yuna, almost, but Rikku interrupted. With some "artistic licensing" I'll be adding another bridge scene in a later chapter flashback to go more in-depth. As for her vulnerability, I really enjoy it. Especially due to THIS chapter showing you how close she came to losing her already.
3: I know, "WHERE ARE THEY?!" has to be bursting in reader minds and I'm sorry it's not been addressed yet. I promise, soon! And by soon I mean like, very soon! And LOL sorry Rikku creeps you out? Not sure how I'll go with her yet. I mean, think of her comments and especially the hot springs!
4: Thank you for that! Keeping them in character is hard without having played in so long. I want them to be SOMEWHAT normal but also to be a little different. They've been through a bit. And yes, the cavern is cursed… or is it blessed? Hmm, interesting thoughts… All will be explained!