Chapter 3 – Silver Extremity
Rinoa sighed as Dr. Kadowaki pressed a needle into her arm, watching as the blood filled the capsule on the end. The Sorceress was used to having tests done on her – SeeD, Esthar, Galbadia – they all wanted bits and pieces, blood and urine, spinal fluid, feathers…
She was lucky Squall was her Knight. He was always by her side, always keeping her safe. He determined what was understandable and what was…improper. Dr. Odine, for example, seemed to have it in his head that Rinoa would reproduce differently then Gaian's. Disgusting old man…
The old woman pulled the syringe out of Rinoa's inner elbow and placed a small dab of salve on the prick of blood forming on her skin. Made from the essence of the recreative elements of Potions, the salve would heal the tiny puncture within seconds. "Okay Rinoa, you can go see Squall now. Could you please send Quistis over when you do?"
"Yes ma'am." Rinoa replied quietly, hopping off the bench she had sat on and pulling on her blue cardigan, her face tense as her hands popped out of the sleeves.
Kadowaki watched the woman leave her side silently, walking down to the end of the infirmary to sit next to Squall's supine form. She knew that she was worried about Squall…but then, what could they do? Kadowaki was not one to give false hope – and at the moment, they didn't know what was specifically wrong with the men. Only that keeping them cool stopped their seizures, and hooking them up to slow-drip Potions stopped their foaming. Each and every man was still in a coma, their brain-patterns all still, barely moving – almost like they had shut down completely…
Quistis looked up to Rinoa as she approached, watching the younger girl sit down quietly besides Squall. Quistis herself was seated next to Seifer, the blond man's face twisted in pain as she dabbed the sweat from his brow once more. "Quistis, its your turn…" Rinoa said as she looked down to Squall.
Quistis nodded as she stood, walking around Seifer's bed to walk past Squall's, placing a reassuring hand on Rinoa's shoulder as she walked past, Rinoa lifting her own hand to give Quistis' a gentle squeeze in return. Quistis slipped the hand from the young woman's shoulder as she walked down the infirmary, looking about her as she did. Every single bed was full of supine males, some beginning to quiver before a student replaced the ice-packs covering their bodies, the only sounds being the quiet interchange of statistics between students and the drip drip drip of the IVs.
At the far end of the infirmary were the boys, and Quistis craned her head back to look down to them as she approached Dr. Kadowaki. They were still unconscious and unmoving – but were flanked by several SeeDs, the women poking and prodding them with instruments, taking fluids and readings and scans. Their respective couples were all there – Rinoa keeping a silent vigil next to Squall, eerily similar to his own quiet vigils… Selphie, clutching Irvine's hat in her hands as she stood by his bed, looking down at the red-headed gunslinger and trying to fight back the tears by biting her lip… and Angel, the fist-fighter looking like she had just gone fifteen rounds with Odin as she sat next to Zell, her hand on his heart, as if making sure it kept beating…
"Please take off your clothes, Quistis." Dr. Kadowaki said to the Instructor when she turned back around. "We need to perform a complete body scan to see if you have any foreign elements on or in your body that could be associated with this disease."
The blonde woman nodded curtly, instantly unbuttoning her coat and pulling off her formal tie as she spoke. "Do we have any idea on what this is, exactly?"
"Not yet." Was the curt, abrupt reply. "Just fold your clothes up and place them over there before stepping into the booth. I must check on your comrades quickly."
Quistis watched Kadowaki turn sharply and walk down the infirmary, tapping one of the women writing furiously on a clipboard to gather her attention.
Quistis felt a sting of embarrassment as she took off her bra and panties, folding them up and placing them neatly on her skirt and coat on the bench, making sure to keep her back to the majority of the people around her. The infirmary was normally an open area, and this kind of procedure was usually conducted behind a screen discreetly – not so today. Kadowaki either hadn't bothered to put the screen up or didn't have the time. Quistis knew that she was overreacting a little as she peeked around her, trying to see any spying eyes. All the eyes here were either closed and occupied with a seizure, or female – and occupied with the men having seizures.
Regardless, it would only take one Trepie Fan to spy her like this and chaos would erupt, even within the female population, and even within this crisis. Oh sure, try to be a little more vain… Quistis thought to herself as she opened the booth – to jump in fright, startled to see Dee already seated within!
"Hi!" The younger woman said with a smile, waving at Quistis from her seat within the booth, oblivious to her own nakedness as she looked Quistis up and down. "Wow, you really take care of yourself, huh?"
Quistis blinked incredulously, her hands and arms occupied with covering her dignity as opposed to Dee, whose hands were resting by her sides. "What are you doing in here?!" The older woman cried, her cheeks blushing crimson beneath her blonde bangs.
"Mr. Cid says that I should get checked more thoroughly then Rinoa," Dee said impassively with a small shrug. "Seeing as I was born on the Immortal world."
"Oh…" Quistis said in realisation, the information not really explaining why Dee was still in the booth.
"You'd better jump in quickly. Dr. Kadowaki yelled at Rinoa for taking her time. Don't worry, I don't care. Maybe I can help you out like I did Rinoa!"
Quistis turned her head, spying Kadowaki coming back down the infirmary briskly – before she slipped into the booth, shutting the door behind her to sit down on the cushioned seat besides Dee. The contraption was a new addition to the Gardens, fresh from the Estharian labs – it looked like an big cylindrical pod on the outside, hollow within with seats circling the walls within. Tiny sensors scanned your body the moment you sat down in the seats, the cushions taking sweat and skin samples as well as nerve and muscle reaction readings by sending tiny pricks and waves into the flesh. It did everything from x-rays to DNA samples.
Obviously it was not built with privacy in mind. As usual, the Estharian motive of efficiency meant the more occupants, the quicker the results on a broad spectrum.
Quistis' blush was growing crimson as she spied Dee looking her up and down again, causing her hands to dig deeper into her flesh, as if it was covering her further. The way she looked at her…it was almost…analytical. "Do you mind?! We have the concept of privacy on Gaia!" Quistis hissed.
"Oh, sorry!" Dee said with a laugh before slapping her hand onto her face, covering her eyes with her fingers. "Better?"
Quistis could only growl, trying not to look at the younger woman as Dr. Kadowaki's voice came through on the intercom. "You two alright in there?"
"Yes!" Dee said happily.
"No!" Quistis cried, sitting up in her seat.
"I'm sorry Instructor, you'll just have to put up with it. We're in a crisis, and I cant pull Dee out until I've completed a thorough scan several times. You'll be out in a few minutes."
Quistis could only scowl at the smooth metallic walls of the booth, the baby-blue tinge doing nothing to sooth her ego, before sitting back with a huff, pouting as she looked over to Dee, who looked stupid sitting naked with her hand over her eyes, her head cocked to see if Dr. Kadowaki had anything else to say, nibbling on her bottom lip in anticipation. "Oh, put your hand down for Hyne's sakes. It's just the two of us." Quistis said with disdain, keeping her hands on her private bits. "And cover yourself, for god's sakes…"
Dee did as she was told, taking her hand away to see what Quistis was doing with hers – before mimicking her. "I'm sorry, Quistis…" Dee said with a nervous chuckle. "…I can see why you have such a large following of fans, though…"
"Yes, well, everything you see in here will stay between us! Is that clear?!"
"Yes ma'am!" Dee replied, saluting crisply – before slapping her hand back over her chest with a short laugh, to which Quistis rolled her eyes and groaned.
The two women sat in silence for a few minutes as the machine hummed softly, quietly going about it's business. Quistis felt the slight tingle sensation of the seat on her bare flesh as it took her samples and noted with bemusement that it almost felt nice, like getting a massage but underneath the skin. She kept her eyes on the floor, inspecting Dee's feet, which were crossed lazily, her toes waggling slightly in a bored fashion. The younger girl's body was very toned, not a shred of fat on it. Quistis couldn't help but allow her eyes to stray upwards, seeing that Dee was staring off into space, her eyes focused on a spot on the wall as she crossed her legs and began to jiggle her feet, humming softly to herself.
She looked almost like an Centran warrior-woman of old. There was not one ounce of fat, barely a blemish on her skin, her hair soft and full. She obviously groomed herself, judging by the lack of hair anywhere else besides her head. The only note of damage were some small scars which were scattered around her chest and arms, old wounds from the battle on 'Planet Hell', as the younger SeeDs had come to call War-World where Heart Rinoa met her demise.
This made Quistis feel depressed. She looked down at her own body, her skin like alabaster, supple and clean even after the fighting on the train. Unlike Dee's soft flesh, however, Quistis' body was covered in fighting scars, ugly marks of war. Each scar filled her with melancholy – each mark made her ugly. Sure, she was considered one of the most beautiful in all of SeeD…perhaps even the most beautiful…but she still looked at each of the scars as a blemish on her skin.
It made her wonder why she had joined SeeD in the first place…so young she had been…and thanks to the GF's she had used over the years, she still couldn't remember the actual reason…
"…When did you get that one?" Dee suddenly remarked, watching Quistis absently finger a long, thin white line which traced over her thigh, her finger following the repaired skin gently.
Quistis smiled a small smile. Even though she despised being seen naked, Dee had, with that one question, made it…not matter. "…It had been in the Desert Prison. Zell had just come back with our weapons, but the magic dampeners were still active, so we proceeded cautiously out…but Zell, the blockhead, hadn't exactly been subtle with his escape, and some guards were waiting for us. The Galbadian Army trains their soldiers well."
"But you escaped, didn't you?" Dee asked, cocking her head slightly to one side as she asked the question.
"Of course." Was the curt reply. "We wouldn't be having this conversation if I hadn't, now would we?"
"Oh…yeah." Dee said, sniggering slightly at her own stupid question.
Quistis' small smile remained on her beautiful face. The girl was obviously as bored as she was, and wasn't gagging to check her out, which was a fair feat on it's own. "What do you do in your free time, Dee?" She asked, genuinely interested. This was the first time the two of them actually had some time together…Quistis was normally too busy to bother with the girl.
"Well, Ma was teaching me the Flowing Water technique the other day during class, and Daddy was showing me how to fix a motorbike down at the garage, and Grandma was showing me how to cook fish…" Dee began, rambling incessantly.
She told Quistis about how she had gone out by herself just last week, catching the train to FH and laughing at the people and their solar panels. The immortals had long ago learned how to harness the power of the cold fusion, using them to do everything from power cars to run industrial complexes. The mere idea of using sunlight to power a city was funny to Dee. "I mean, what if it rained?" She said with a chuckle. "The old man who ran the place was very upset with me, calling me a 'whipper schnapper' or something. I met one of Daddy's friends too – Grease Monkey! He showed me around his shop and all the stuff he made – did you know he has a backscratcher that makes toast? He was naughty though…his girlfriend didn't like him showing me around. She called him a dirty letch, whatever that is, and punched him. She had good form, but lacked power, so after I gave her a few pointers she really put some hurt into him!"
"You went out by yourself?" Quistis remarked. "I'm surprised you left Zell's side…or Zell let you go…"
"Oh, I told Daddy where I was going. He was fine with it. He's shown me around a few places…Dollet, Deling, places like that…it was very scary the first few months – I'd never seen so many men in one placed after the war - but it was easy after that."
"Why?"
"I just imagine them all with boobs. It makes things much simpler."
It was the matter-of-fact way that Dee said it that made Quistis laugh out loud. The entire booth seemed to rock as Quistis doubled over, shuddering as tears ran down her face.
"Whats going on in there?!" Dr. Kadowaki called in over the intercom.
"N-n-nothing!" Quistis called back, fighting back the tears and laughter as she sat up again. "We're just talking."
"Well try not to move so much!" The doctor barked back down into the booth.
"Oooh, she's really angry today…" Dee said quietly, looking up to see where the voice had come from before looking back to Quistis, shrugging. "I don't see why. This is all going to get sorted out, and then we will all get back to our lives."
Quistis chuckled, this time a little bitterly. "You say it like it happens every day…"
"Well, doesn't it?" Dee asked. "Daddy is always going off to fight someone, and sometimes he get shot or stabbed or burned or poisioned…I remember one time he came back without a foot! Well, carrying it. And look at your track record so far. I'd say everything will be alright…"
The instructor sighed sadly. "I'm afraid it's not as simple as that, my dear. We don't even know what it is that's doing this."
"Well, I know it's not Freedom, that's for sure." Dee muttered sullenly.
Quistis sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. "What makes you so sure?"
Dee lifted her hand to tap her temple. "History injections given to me when I was grown. I know all about Freedom and what it did to the men in our universe, and none of the symptoms match. Immortal men were disintegrated instantly, or melted away all over the world, without warning. The only thing this has in common with Freedom is that it targets males." She punched her fist into her palm to ram her words home. "Not the same symptoms. Not the same spread. Not the same thing."
Quistis remained quiet. Dee spoke with absolute determination – in her eyes, there was nothing in this that would make her believe that it was Freedom.
But…this was a different universe. Who knew what kind of quantum-physical changes might have occurred in order for the universe to understand, to comprehend, anything that comes through to their world?
It was all very confusing, even for Quistis, and she figured the last thing Dee wanted was a row over whether a crippling disease from her home-world was going to kill her adopted one.
Angel was wandering the corridors of the Garden, her face stony-cold. She couldn't believe this was happening, on her wedding day, of all days.
After she had been checked out by Dr. Kadowaki she had sat by Zell for a while, watching as her friends were all wreaked with pain – the men physically, and the women mentally. Eventually she could not take it anymore, standing quietly and leaving the room, then leaving the infirmary entirely.
Now she wandered the main corridor, watching the female students run about, tending to the sick boys. She tried not to sob as she watched a small boy tremble on a bench, his muscles twitching as his head flopped and jerked, the two girls tending to him having to place a blanket under his head to stop him from hurting himself before casting a block of ice onto his chest, one girl using the butt of her nun-chaku to smash it into pieces and spread the ice evenly over his body.
He couldn't be any more then seven.
She needed to escape the madness around her, and span on her heel to run down the nearest corridor, almost tripping over a foot sticking out from underneath a seat and bowling over a girl carrying a pail of water, the girl's angry bellows falling on deaf ears as Angel beat a hasty retreat.
Running down the hall she was on now, her hands blocking her ears to the angry yells behind her, her eyes pricked with tears, she came to a wide empty space, devoid of people or…the dying.
She stood for a moment, trying not to cry, her hands clamped down over her ears…before she began to weep, her body shuddering as she moved her hands down from her ears to her eyes, shaking with each sob…
"…Are you okay, my little weeping bride?"
Angel blinked, her face puffy and red with tears as she looked up…
…To see the silver-haired old man looking down to her over the Cafeteria counter, munching slowly on a hotdog. Angel could inspect him more thoroughly now, even through her tear-stained eyes – she could see that he was tanned, a single baby-blue eye looking down to her, and the silver hair on his head was joined by a straggly beard which covered his chin and under his nose. He looked concerned for the woman, his single eye looking down to her with sadness, and almost apologetically he pushed a plate full of hotdogs over to her on the counter.
Gingerly she stood on wobbly feet before taking one, still sniffling as she looked down at it, almost as if she had forgotten what it was and what she did with it. "..Bride?" She asked, her voice tiny like a child's.
The old man motioned with his own half-bitten dog, lifting it to his mouth and biting into it with one hand as he rotated his other, motioning for her to follow suit before pointing down to the destroyed wedding dress she was wearing. "Looks like you've had a rough morning…"
Cautiously she lifted her own and bit into just the end, getting mostly bun and a little sauce – before she began to cry again, tears rolling down her cheeks as she bit into her hotdog again, almost automatically, the brilliant taste dulled by her overwhelming sadness.
The old man smiled apologetically at her before gobbling his own hotdog down quickly, like he hadn't eaten in weeks. "Gods, these taste awesome…" He muttered, his voice like a tire rolling down a gravel road – crinkly like aluminium foil. "…I never get them when I come here...I always just miss out…"
"Who are you?!" Angel said abruptly, slamming her nibbled hotdog down on the counter, the sausage within flying out in a squirt of tomato and mustard sauce to splat into the wall behind him, the old man deftly leaning to the right, dodging the sausage with skill, watching it fly over his ear with a wide eye before looking back at the crying woman. "I'm sorry, but who the heck are you?!" Angel replied to the eye.
The old man stood up straight, clearing his throat as he wiped flecks of sauce off his jacket and sucking them off his fingers. He looked sad – almost infinitely so. "You really don't remember me? Boy, those GF's really mess with your mind…"
Angel was just sobbing now, the hotdog forgotten, her face in her hands.
The old man sighed, scratching his beard for a moment, before slipping over the counter to land beside her, placing his arm around her shoulder, the woman leaning into him, his grip feeling familiar and warm. "C'mon, we'll sit you down and get some food into you…you'll feel better after that."
Angel allowed herself to be sat down in a chair at a table before having a fresh hotdog being shoved into her hand. The old man patted her cheek, wiping the tears from her face gently, before sitting down besides her, taking up his own hotdog. "…My name's Barque. I was your very first martial arts instructor."
Angel squinted, her eyes red-rimmed from the tears, her hands clutching the hotdog like a life-line. "…I'm sorry, but…"
"I taught you all you know about fighting."
"…No..."
"I showed you around the library on your first day. I helped you with your homework. You were one of the best damned students I had!"
Angel shook her head, forcing a small apologetic smile through her tears. "I'm sorry…"
"No…no, it's okay…" Barque grumbled, biting into a hotdog and ripping it in half with his teeth in irritation, chewing it aggressively before swallowing. "…It's happening more and more these days. The cost for power."
The weeping bride looked him up and down, something suddenly hitting her. "You…you're not sick."
"Nope." The old man replied with a wickedly cheeky grin, as if he was in on the biggest joke in the world. "How about that, huh? My back has been killing me for years, arthritis in my knuckles…but one damned virus cant put me down." He chuckled coldly. "It seems the universe has got more in store for me to put me down too soon."
"…What do you mean?" Angel asked, wiping the tears off her face before standing. "We…we need to get you to the infirmary, get you checked out…"
"Sit down, sit down girl! I'm fine, Doctor Kadowaki has already checked me out, there's nothing wrong with me…" Barque grumbled, pointing to Angel's discarded hotdog. "C'mon now, eat up! It might be the last time you get to have a quiet meal for a long time."
Angel plonked herself back down into her seat, looking down at the hotdog. "I…I don't know…if I can eat at a time like this…"
Barque sighed irritably as he picked up another for him off the plate. "I understand sweetheart. You've been through so much today, but you must keep your strength up, so eat! It'll make you feel better, I promise."
Lifting the hotdog to her lips, she paused momentarily. She wondered if this made her a bad person, enjoying food at a time like this…before, steeling herself, she took a bite, confidently chewing it, before swallowing it down, shuddering slightly at the joyous sensation it sent through her.
"Aha. And what finally broke you?" Barque asked with a grin.
"…You're right. There is work to be done. A-and I have no time to feel sorry for myself. Plus…Zell would want me to keep going. For everyone…not just for him."
Barque's grin grew wider. "Aha! A very noble man, this Zell…"
Angel nodded, biting into her hotdog again – the old man was right, it was making her feel better – and pointed to his tattoo. "You've got his tattoo…I've never seen anybody else with it before…"
"That's coz he copied me!" Barque barked, waving his hands in the air, sauce from his hotdog flying to splatter along the floor.
"Copied you?" Angel echoed, frowning.
"Yeah! I used to train him when he was younger, and a little during his time at SeeD. One day he went to Galbadia on an excursion, the next thing time I see him he's got this on his face! And I thought I was the only one foolish enough…"
The woman giggled a little. The old man was beginning to make her feel a lot better. She felt safe with him, like she'd known him her whole life – which, according to him, she had. She had to admit, the GF's did tend to mess with your memories – it wasn't difficult to consider that she had forgotten him because of them. She felt better because of it anyways – there was no way she could've forgotten such an individual.
She was still laughing at a face he pulled when he bit into a hotdog to find he hadn't cooked the sausage enough when she spied Selphie walking into the cafeteria, the girl looking about like she had lost something. "Selphie!" Angel called, waving for the bubbly girl, who spotted them instantly in the dining area and ran up to them.
As Selphie approached them, her breathlessness gave way to a wary look. "Hey, what's going on?" She asked, frowning down at them.
"Selphie! You remember me, don't you? Instructor Barque?" The old man said, looking up to the girl who was regarding the two of them a little quizzically. "…What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?!" Selphie cried angrily. "All our boyfriends are down and out, possibly dying, and you're in here laughing and having fun! And no, I don't remember you, how could I possibly remember anything at a time like this?!"
"He was just trying to help me, Selphie…I'm sorry…" Angel said soothingly, standing to place her hands on Selphie's shoulders to squeeze them.
Selphie was panting, looking up at Angel as if to say how dare you have fun at a time like this with her eyes. The girl was obviously very fragile, even though she had, before, remained stoic and vigilant besides Irvine's bed.
"I'm sorry Selphie…" Angel whispered to her friend, tears welling in her own eyes.
"Selphie…" Barque called from behind her, causing the girl to level her steely gaze towards him, making him blanch and gulp as he held out the item he had gotten up to get. "…I…I got you this…"
She looked down at the offering – a banana and strawberry smooth-whip from the cafeteria's drink machine. Normally they were sold out by the time she got to the cafeteria. Taking the drink from the old man, eyeing him curiously, she tipped the contents down her throat, the two people watching her widening their eyes as she gulped and gulped and gulped…
…Before dropping the cup with a long, drawn-out breath, the paper cup rattling as it hit the floor.
The young girl blinked a few times before looking up to Angel. Gone was the anger, the offering sating the beast. "…That was just what I needed." She said to her friend with a small smile, before grabbing her and hugging her tightly, whispering apologies into her ear as she tried not to cry.
Angel whispered soothing tones back into Selphie's, letting her know that it was alright and that they were all tense and that it would be alright soon before they released one another. Selphie wiped a tear from her face and beamed a smile up at Angel, composed now. "Well, now that's out of the way…we've got confirmation on Julius and Veronica's location. We have a SeeD deployment ship just outside Deling, so…"
"Wait…Julius?" Barque said suddenly, frowning down to Selphie and Angel. "…Why are you looking for them?"
"Because they were one of the first people to explore all the different universes…because they came back and nobody has heard of them since then…who are you anyways?" Selphie said, her cute little brow crinkling as she looked up at the older man. "You smell like my grandpa!"
"Hmph…" Barque grunted, muttering to himself as if surprised by this revelation.
"What?" Angel asked. "What do you know about all this?"
Barque paused, clearing his throat, looking like the cat that had been caught with the canary. "Well, erm…you see, the thing is…"
"Selphie?! Have you found…oh, there you two are!" Dee called, running into the cafeteria as she pulled on her jacket. She was dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a black shirt, one of Irvine's cowboy belt-buckles prominent on her belt. She had her combat boots and fighting gloves on, the adamantine on Zell's old and refined Ehrgiez gauntlets shining under the stark lights. "C'mon., we gotta get a move on! We gotta get you two done up in your civvies and out to the ship, we gotta move, time's a-wastin'!"
"Ah, but, we, um…" Angel stammered, looking back to Barque as Dee grabbed both Selphie and her by the arms and began to drag them towards the exit.
Barque stood in the white brilliance of the fluorescent lighting, pulling his silver mane up and into an untidy ponytail as he watched them move with his one good eye, the baby-blue affixed on Angel as she was dragged unceremoniously to the exit. "Go, Angel…go to save the world…again." He muttered to himself.
Each of the women were quiet as they exited the ship, stepping out into the brisk Trabian cold, the snow crunching under their boots and fog curling from their lips as they looked about themselves. The waves of the sea lapped onto the shore behind them, pieces of frozen seawater washing up to the shore along with seafoam.
Their ship had deployed only three hours ago, with all of them dressed and prepped for anything. Selphie took the lead, her yellow dress traded in for a yellow bodysuit with black stripes up either side, her nun-chaku's chains tinkling as she held them in her hands, spinning them around and around like a fan. "Its been so long, Trabia…" She whispered, looking out to the frozen desert before her. "…I've missed you."
"Gods, how can you just stand there like that in that little thing?" Dee whined, stamping her feet and stuffing her gauntleted hands under her armpits, as if it would help to heat them up. The Immortal was used to a perfect climate, 25C perfectly – which, thankfully, was what Balamb was all year round. Even in the wet season.
"You grow up in this place and you get used to a little cold." Selphie beamed back to Dee, as if her cheery demeanour would warm her up. "This is nothing! You should see what happens when a blizzard blows around!"
Dee looked over to Quistis as she stepped out of the ship herself, the older woman reaffirming her Save The Queen whip was firmly affixed by her side. She was dressed in a pair of black thermal leggings, an orange parker covering her body, thin gloves affixed to her hands. Her spectacles had been replaced with small shades, to countenance the glare from the sun on the snow. "I thought a blizzard was some kinda magic…" The younger girl said to Quistis, who chuckled slightly.
"It's another word for snow-storm. Don't worry, we won't get one around here – although we might run into the typical run-of-the-mill monster or two out here, so keep on your toes."
"Monsters?" Dee asked, looking over to Rinoa and Angel as they stepped off the ship. Rinoa instantly moving over to Dee to cuddle up against her, her blue cardigan wrapped tightly around her slim body as she pressed close to the teenager, trying to share their warmth. "What kind of monsters?"
"Snow lions…although they normally stick to the forests…there's sometimes packs of Gaylas, but they're fairly timid…" Angel said quietly, shouldering a small backpack before clipping her coat closed. She wore a pair of yellow snow-pants and combat boots, her leather coat with it's fluffy collar shutting out the majority of the cold. Her hands were covered in her own gloves, thick leather covering her knuckles. The fingers were left open, however, and she stuffed her hands into her coat pockets to make sure they were warm.
"We'll make short work of them if we run across any. But we need to stay on point – where is this village, Selphie?" Quistis asked the smaller girl, turning to her as she spoke, as if dismissing the others.
"This way! Follow me!!" Selphie cried, breaking out in a short jog, running up the shore to the snow-covered dunes before beginning to follow the coastline to the east.
"Oh gods, how far is it?" Dee cried, watching the others walk past her, Rinoa transferring herself to Angel as she passed, leaving Dee shivering alone next to the ship, the sound of the sea lapping at the shores the only thing keeping her company – before she broke out into a run. "Hey, wait for me!" She wailed.
Nobody spied the shadowy figure leaping from the back of the boat to the snow-covered shoreline, crouching low and watching the women disappear over the ridge…
It wasn't a long walk along the shore. Their destination was a small fishing village a half-day's drive from the Trabia Garden's ruins, but they had only come ashore a few hundred meters away. Dee had caught up to the others quickly, and the group briskly made their way towards the village.
Smoke curled up from the chimneys atop old clay buildings, junk scattered across the snow-covered plain before the main gates. Large wooden walls stood erect around the village, a vigilant attempt to stop the monsters rummaging through the occupant's trash or, at worse, taking one of the elderly during their morning sabbaticals through the streets. The buildings were like little domes, tiny bulges in the frozen ground surrounded by cars and bicycles and rubbish bins. The interiors betraying the exteriors – each one was sunken into the ground, a little underground enclave that used the sunken design to trap the warmth within the dome.
Selphie walked up to the gates and gave the left one a push, putting all of her tiny frame against it – and being rewarded with a creak and movement, a dollep of snow falling from the top of the gate to thump onto her head, causing her to shriek with surprise and the rest of the group to chuckle to themselves.
"The hunters must be in today." She said, deftly brushing the snow from her brown bangs. "They would've locked the gate otherwise. News spreads fast now the Estharians stopped blocking all the radio waves."
"Huh?" Dee grunted to Quistis walked past her.
"It's a long story." Quistis said, looking back to the girl with a smirk. "When all this is sorted out, I'm going to have to grill you on the history of Gaia again. Not so easy without a memory implant, is it?"
Dee pouted and shoved her hands into her pockets. She'd received all her teachings from injections into the body, nano-machines giving her all the history, mathematics and grammar training before she had even been let out of her pod, back on the Immortal world. She had soon realised on Gaia, however, that learning itself was a lot harder. This universe had so much culture and history, so much diversity, that after a few months Dee had simply given up on trying to figure it all out and kept to Balamb. It was a lot like her home-world. Things were simple and straight-forward. It was warm. The people were nice.
"How did we come to know where Julius and Veronica were, anyways?" Rinoa asked suddenly, forcing her teeth to stop chattering for a few moments and, holding her hands out before her, casting a small Fire in between them, holding it close to her chest enough to keep warm. "I thought Julius was done with SeeD."
"He is, sort of." Quistis replied as they walked down the center of the village, Selphie scampering across the road again and again, wiping the snow off the label to see what the address was on the dome and muttering to herself at her constant failure to find the right one. "After the War, he took Veronica and simply vanished…" She frowned slightly. "It's actually a good question, though I suppose we don't have time to worry about it right now. It's the only lead we have going at the moment…"
"Where did the info come from?" Dee asked Rinoa, approaching her to hold her own hands out to the ball of flickering flame.
"I don't know…the SeeD who told me just gave me the location and that Cid had approved us to leave Garden and find them."
"That's strange…" Angel whispered, almost to herself as she watched Selphie jump to her feet after studying a label very, very hard, making sure to double-check it again.
"It's this one!!" She called, leaping in the air with excitement, before hopping to one side and stamping her foot down into the snow just on the edge of the dome.
Somewhere beneath the bulge in the snow, something buzzed.
Selphie frowned, waiting only a moment before stamping her foot down on the pressure-pad again, her only reward being a buzzing noise. "Their doorbell works! Why wont they answer?!" She cried, the rest of the group gathering around her as she began to jump up and down on the button, the bulge buzz-buzz-buzzing with each landing.
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
"Maybe they aren't home?" Angel asked.
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
"There's fresh snow all around the dome and it's not snowing." Quistis replied. "There would be tracks leading out of the door if they had left recently."
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! "C'mon dammit!" Selphie yelled, resting all of her tiny weight onto the buzzer.
"…This is the Dome of Garnet and Zidane Tribal. Selphie!!" Rinoa cried, leaping up from her crouch before the label to whap Selphie on the head. "It's the wrong place!"
"Owww! That's their cover-names, feather-head!" Selphie cried back, rubbing her head as she stepped off the buzzer.
"Oh…I knew that." Rinoa replied quickly, before rubbing her chin thoughtfully – and stamping her foot down, kicking the door in!!
"R-Rinoa!?" Angel cried out. "Wh-what are you…"
"Well, they're not answering the door and there's no tracks outside. Which means they're still inside somewhere. And we're not getting anywhere freezing our asses off outside waiting for them to not answer." Rinoa said, placing her hands on her hips and scowling at her fellow Sorceress. "C'mon, I'm a freedom fighter, I know when someone's holed up and don't wanna be bothered! Lets get inside and check for clues already!"
Then she turned and walked down the steps into the dome, Selphie close at her heels like an excited puppy. Quistis simply shrugged at Angel and followed the other two, Angel hesitating for a moment – before Dee grabbed her hand. "C'mon mum c'mon!" The teen said excitedly, squeezing her hand before disappearing down the hole herself.
Angel sighed. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this…" She whispered to herself, looking about her at the village as a whole –
And blinking as something moved behind a dome a few domes down the road.
She frowned, turning fully to look down the road. "…What was…" She asked, before Dee called out again, causing her to back up to the hole – and quickly descend down into the dome.
Within the dome, beneath the snow, the four women stood within the foyer. It was much like an apartment in Balamb – a small foyer was the first area you stepped into, a small box for snow-clad boots at one side of the steps for the boots to be dumped into and defrosted. To the left was a kitchen with a small electric oven, to the right was the living area, a round room with a television and a couch. Directly in front of the steps leading into the dome was another set of steps leading further down – these led to the bedrooms and bathroom.
"How could anybody live like this?" Dee asked herself quietly, looking about herself in wonder, up at the lights embedded in the ceiling glowing brightly down to her, the frost in the corners of the floor and ceiling. "Buried under the earth, away from the sun…"
"Its what we do. It's their only way to keep warm when we aren't on the move. Houses on the surface would only freeze." Selphie replied. It wasn't uncommon for people to question her people's ways. Trabians were a unique bunch.
"I don't know if I could handle this every day…" Dee said, looking down at a telephone on a small table next to the entrance to the kitchen. "…I don't think anybody had been here in a while. The phone is just coated in dust."
"Not everybody can or do talk as much as you and Selphie." Quistis muttered as she walked out of the kitchen. "…Although I'm forced to agree. Their fridge has food in it, but it's out-of-date for at least several months. And there is the thick layers of dust everywhere. I think Cid's information is wrong."
Angel and Rinoa had walked into the living room, looking around at the room. Walking over to the fireplace, Angel sighed sadly as she looked at the top of the dust-laden hearth. "No photos…no nick-knacks…there's nothing here. No evidence of anything being here, either."
Rinoa nodded quietly, running her hand over the edge of the arm of the couch, looking down at the dust that was collected on her palm and fingers, before walking over to the fireplace next to Angel, crouching down before it to gently nudge the burnt-out wood within the fire pit.
"Nobody in the bedroom or bathroom!" Selphie cried as she bound back up the stairs, startling Dee for a moment as the yellow-jumpsuit clad woman furtively ruffled the dust out of her hair . "This place is totally deserted!"
Selphie and Quistis looked at each other as Dee examined the phone again. The look they shared was one of muted desperation – beneath Quistis' in-control demeanour and Selphie's excited prancing about, was a growing sense of despair. This was the only lead they had so far – and time was running out. They didn't have the time for a man-hunt – the boys might not last that long.
"Are you two okay?" Rinoa asked them as Angel and herself entered the foyer, Dee ignoring them as she ran her finger down the handle of the phone, bringing it up to her face so she could examine the collection of dust a little better.
Quistis and Selphie looked at each other again, before Selphie spoke up. "…Why wouldn't we be okay? We've only got our loved ones in the infirmary infected with the Freedom virus, slowly dying…"
"Not the Freedom virus!" Dee called as she rubbed the dust between her fingertips, before pulling off the metallic gauntlet and running her finger over the dust again.
"Everything will be okay, Selphie. We've been through tougher stuff then this." Rinoa said confidently, moving forward to grasp her friend's hands and give them a squeeze.
"…You know, I would've thought you two would've taken this a little harder then you are." Quistis said, her voice holding a chill to go with the snow outside. "Your Knights are sick, almost dead, and you're been acting like it's nothing."
"We are not!" Rinoa growled at Quistis.
"…There's no point in getting upset." Angel said quietly. "…Worrying will only make things harder. We just need to focus on what has to be done."
Dee stood up suddenly, looking down at her fingertips, before walking over to Angel.
Quistis was beginning to rebut as Dee approached Angel, taking her by the shoulder and leading her into the living room as Quistis' voice rose to follow them. "Well, I wish we all had your focus, Angel, because I don't know about you, but I feel like this is a waste of time, and we're better off spending our time by our lover's sides instead of wasting our time chasing ghosts!"
Whilst Angel was happy Dee had rescued her from Quistis' angst, she was confused at the troubled look on her face. "…Honey? What is it?"
Dee looked down at her fingers again, holding her gauntlet in one hand as she lifted her hand up to Angel's ear. "Listen…" She said, rubbing her fingers together right next to Angel's ear.
The sorceress blinked in mute surprise. It sounded like something was crunching together, like puffed rice crunches when you squash it under your fingers. Angel pulled back to watch the dust underneath Dee's fingers slowly crunch into powder, instead of collecting into a small lint ball. "W-what is it?" Angel repeated.
"I don't think this is all dust. I think it's nano-bots." Dee whispered, looking around her and at the room they were in. "Everything. They're dead and they're covering everything. Trillions upon trillions of them everywhere."
"Wha – of course!" Angel declared. "Veronica's nano-bots! But honey, why did you take me aside like that?"
Dee looked down sheepishly at her boots. "…I didn't know wether dust went crunchy in this world or not. Everything is dust-proof in my world, and, well…I wasn't so sure what dust really was…"
Angel looked down at Dee for a moment – before hugging her tightly. "Honey, I know you feel embarrassed, but next time just say it! We have precious little time!"
Once this information was relayed back to Quistis she did two things – fumed briefly for not thinking of it herself, and thought hard. "…The nano-bots are protein-based, according to the files on the Immortal world – and they tend to dissolve by themselves after a short while. Ergo, Julius and Veronica must still be here. Somewhere in here."
Her eyes narrowed as she lifted her dark glasses off her nose to tuck them above her forehead. "There's precious little time left. Tear the place apart."
Half an hour later, Dee and Selphie were down in the bedroom, Dee using her superior strength to tip the king-sized bed up and onto it's side as Selphie rummaged through the cupboards, pulling out the contents and dumping them in the middle of the floor.
"So, this is all, like…dead robots?!" Selphie asked Dee as she looked down at the dust in the bottom of the cupboard – before using the butts of her nun-chaku to smash the wood into splinters, looking for some kind of trapdoor or switch in the process.
"Kinda. Sorta. I guess. Can a robot die?" Dee asked back with a note of confusion in her voice as she tipped the bed over, the frame clattering against the wall as she pulled out a small knife from her belt and began to cut into the carpet beneath.
"…I guess. I mean, they wouldn't be all over the place then, would they?" Selphie replied as she pulled the edges of the cupboard, shaking it vigorously, before letting it go with a huff and moving to the drawers besides it, feeling around the edges for any buttons or latches before beginning to pull out the drawers one-by-one.
Dee shrugged as she pulled the carpet from the ground with a grunt, her muscles knotting underneath her jacket as she tore it from the ground to see the cold concrete beneath. Above her head, above the ceiling, thumps and bumps could be heard from the living room, Angel and Rinoa searching desperately.
She paused in her work to look up at the ceiling, watching the light flicker as something heavy thumped into the floor. "Quistis is wrong, ya know. Mama and Rinoa are taking this just as hard as you guys – its just they have each other to rely on for support." She looked down at the floor underneath the carpet, grunting as she ripped some more up. "…Maybe because they're both Sorceresses or something, I dunno…"
"This has all twisted us right up…Quistis more then usual, I think." Selphie said quietly as she poked her arm into one of the drawer-holes, feeling the inside of the drawer for anything suspicious. "You know she never had a real boyfriend before Seifer? I don't wanna say it, but if she lost him…I dunno what she'd do."
"That's a bit sad…" Dee said, ripping up more carpet sullenly, slowly moving across the room – before yelping as she ran into the wall. "Atch! What the?!"
Selphie frowned, getting up off the floor to move over to Dee as she rubbed the bump on her head. "You okay?"
"Yeah…that's weird." Dee replied, pointing down to the floor.
The two girls looked down at the edge of the floor where the carpet ended – underneath the wall, it seemed. "Guys, we found it!!" Selphie cried as Dee stepped forward, pulling her gauntlet off with her teeth to run her palm over the wall.
"…This section of the wall feels less rough then the bits besides it. And it's warmer then the other bits too." Dee muttered as she ran her bare hand over the wall – before stepping back and, with a powerful shout, kicked out with her boot – to slam her foot into the wall hard, the entire dome shaking under the power of the kick.
"Whoa, careful! You'll bring the whole dome down around us!" Selphie wailed as the other three women scuttled down the steps behind her to enter the bedroom.
"No time left!" Dee shouted in reply, twisting her body around – to launch another powerful kick, this one slamming into the door hidden within the wall with brilliant force, the paint covering the door cracking to reveal a human-sized rectangle beneath. Dee stepped back, her jaw set, and with a sudden shout she stamped her foot out, suddenly launching herself forward in the process, her entire weight in the back of the kick –
Which blew the door off it's hinges to clatter into the darkness within.
The women all held their breathes. Dee stood before the now open doorway, pulling her gauntlet onto her naked fist before her fists balled, ready for anything. Selphie stood behind her, her nun-chaku gripped tightly in one hand as she peered into the darkness. Quistis, Rinoa and Angel all stood behind them, wide-eyed and momentarily confused.
Nothing happened at first…
…Before a woman's voice called forth from the darkness. "…You may as well come in."
The girls all walked in as one, Dee leading the group with her fists up, to enter another room of the dome. Much like the living room above them, this one had a couch and a tv, static blaring on the screen – but on one end was a table with several computers all hooked up together, wires running into walls and tiny satellites and broadcast arrays strewn over the room. On the other end of the room was a double bed, a shape filling the blankets covering it…
Sitting on the couch was a woman, her silhouette slight within the shadows of the girls. The only light that entered the room was coming from the bedroom the women had just invaded from, and the harsh snow emitting from the television.
Rinoa stepped forward, blinking in the sudden darkness. "…Veronica?"
The woman on the couch turned her head slightly at the name, but said nothing.
"Vero, its me, Selphie." Selphie piped up. "Remember me?"
"Yes Selphie. I remember you." Was the quiet reply.
"Hold it…" Dee muttered, her hand suddenly coming out to grab Rinoa, her arm barring the woman's way forward.
"What is it?" Rinoa asked, taking a step back and frowning down to the girl – before realising what was wrong.
The walls were moving.
No trick of the light, no flash of static on the walls. The plaster literally undulated, squirming and shifting, rolling like ripples on a lake, shuddering like a naked babe. The walls seemed to move as if they were a sentient being.
"Nanos." Dee muttered again, slowly lowering her arm. "The entire room is filled with them."
Quistis blinked and looked down at the floor – to watch as it rolled around over her boots, coming up to her ankles and spilling out into the bedroom behind them. It was the color of mercury, rolling like liquid metal, and it flowed freely around their feet. Selphie yelped as she noticed, lifting her feet up and out of the billions upon trillions of tiny machines one at a time, shaking them off her boots to no avail.
The woman on the couch sighed like she was dealing with children, before slowly moving to a stand and turning around. She wore nothing, her naked skin glistening with glittering silver as she turned to face her guests. Her dark hair had turned a dull silver, almost like it had been dyed a chrome colour, and her face was streaked with channels of silver coming from the corners of her mouth, her nose and her eyes – as if she had been crying mercury.
Rinoa's sudden disgust at the living room was instantly quelled as she looked at Veronica in complete shock. "…Veronica…" She breathed, almost as if the person who stood before them was not her but something…different.
"I'm still me, Rinoa. At least, I am so far." Veronica said coldly, her silver brow crinkling audibly as she frowned, almost in disgust.
"…What happened?"
"You know what happened." Veronica spat, the walls around her rippling like a muscle clenching and unclenching. "The 'miracle cure' the Immortals gave me. The accident."
"Oh Veronica…" Rinoa breathed again, taking a step forward – to be stopped as the floor stuck fast around her feet, her boots trapped in a quagmire of nanomachines. She had to catch herself, being suddenly struck off balance for a moment. "Veronica, what…"
"I know why you're here." Veronica interrupted. "And if you think I'm going to help you after this, you're sorely mistaken."
Quistis frowned, speaking up from the back of the group as she placed her hands behind her... "What do you mean…"
"Shut up!!" The naked silver woman shouted suddenly, the walls and floor suddenly erupting into action, razor-sharp spikes shooting out from the walls and undulating across the floors with the shout like a decibel reading. "You SeeDs! You don't deserve to have this world!!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Dee shouted, feeling her skin crawl as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, trying to keep her cool as the sharp spikes protruding from the floor slid past her. The nanomachines were still responding to her, responding to her words, her emotions, and acting them out with vicious intent.
"After the war, after everything he went through!" Veronica shouted again, her fists balled by her side, her body quivering with anger, the spikes on the walls quivering along with her. "…You forgot about us! You let us go! And now he's dead and he cant come back!"
"Slow down a minute!" Angel cried, grunting with effort to pull her foot out of the nanomachines they were standing in to wade forward a meter. "What do you mean forget?! What do you mean dead?! Where is Juluis?!"
Veronica's face twisted into a furious ball then, and the walls suddenly exploded outward, Selphie and Dee shrieking to fear as the nanomachines swarmed around them, smashing into their bodies and flinging them around the room –
Before they were both dropped down to the ground with a thud, the solid floor greeting them unceremoniously, a swift crack of a whip sounding once again as Dee looked up to see Quistis, Save The Queen unfurled and crackling with electrical energy. The razor-sharp tip had slashed out to slice through the wave of nanomachines, cutting them off and sending an electrical pulse through them at the same time, killing them instantly.
Quistis now waved the whip before her, the tip sparking and spitting electricity, the nanomachines scattering before it. "Veronica!!" Quistis roared, her hips twisting to pull back the whip, the tip cracking loudly within the small room. "You will stand down!!"
Dee picked herself up quickly, watching in wonder as the nanomachines around her scattered like frightened dustlets, whipping around – to see Veronica had leapt back from the couch and was standing before the bed, shivering in fright, almost cowering – but still standing before the bed. The nanomachines that had covered the walls and floor had slid away from the others to cocoon the bed, covering it completely like a mound of silver shavings.
"Okay! Just put the whip away!" Veronica cried desperately, wincing as Quistis snapped the whip once again, electricity flashing out of the tip. "Please!!"
Quistis sullenly lowered the weapon, walking forward to approach Veronica – but keeping the weapon in hand, keeping the handle moving, steadily flicking the length of whip behind her almost like a cat flicking it's tail. "What is on the bed?"
"…Julius." Veronica whispered, the venom returning to her voice now the whip had been lowered.
"What happened?"
The silver woman's jaw quivered, her fists balled beneath her as she clenched her teeth together. "After we left WarWorld, you forgot about us!" She hissed. "We were preparing to return, we were told we'd be welcomed with open arms in Galbadia – but when we arrived outside Deling, they attacked us! They thought we were terrorists!! I remember Julius screaming in rage as he tore apart our attackers, swearing and cursing Zell's name!"
"What did Zell do wrong?!" Dee interrupted.
Veronica levelled her steely gaze to the girl, the young Immortal returning it with as much passion as she could muster. "He swore to Julius that once the mission was over, we'd be welcomed back to the Gardens. But the leader of the Galbadian Garden didn't even want to listen to us. He said that Julius was a traitor and a deserter and that we should both be shot for his transgressions!"
Quistis tightened her jaw. Over the years after Trabia was shot down, Julius had been on the run from the Gardens for stealing Veronica's body. It was taboo, trying to revive a body that had suffered a Full Death – to try to bring such a person back was a great insult. Especially seeing as Veronica had been gone for almost 48 hours when he retrieved her. During his time on the run he had used his incredible skill with a computer and his SeeD training to not only keep one step ahead of his chasers, but also throw as many spanners into the workings of the Gardens as he could, spiteful for his treatment by his former friends. Quistis could almost taste her disgust, almost picturing the SeeD Commander of Galbadia as Squall handed over the re-enrollment papers to him, the wiry smirk on his face as he handed them to his second, the smug look in his eyes.
They must've planned it all along…played us for fools… Quistis thought to herself.
"But Veronica, we need you now…" Rinoa said quietly.
"A little too late for that, isn't it?" Veronica growled to her. "Do you know how we've lived our lives the past year?! On the run. Hounded. Forced to hide in shitty little dives, forced to hide from Garden! I couldn't even visit my parents, tell them I was alive again!" She laughed sarcastically. "And how could I when I look like this. I'm a freak! I'm a walking biomechanical factory! The nanomachines keep replicating and replicating, they just keep coming and I don't know how long I can keep from losing complete control!!"
Her voice reached an octave on the last word, her arms lifting to reveal her fingers curled rigidly, as if she was about to strangle someone. Her body hunched down, her muscles pulling taut beneath her skin, as if she was trying desperately to keep something inside of her.
Save The Queen kept flicking about on the floor, the tip skittering and sparking, keeping the nanomachines surrounding the bed at bay. "I'm sorry for what has happened to you, but we don't have time." Quistis said, her voice like permafrost. "The men on the world are coming down with something, a virus, and we think it's Immortal in origin."
Veronica chuckled quietly, pulling up to flop down into the nanomachines behind her, the cocoon giving under her weight like a beanbag. "And what makes you think I'll help you when I cant even help myself?"
"You owe us."
Dee and Selphie turned to look at Angel, who stepped forward, placing her hand on Quistis' shoulder, pulling her away from the silver woman gently, moving up to Veronica to kneel before her, like a knight kneeling before a queen. "We brought you back. We gave you life again. And we promise to give Julius his life back too."
The silver woman shook her head slowly. "What are you going to do? Give him some Phoenix Down?" She leaned forward slowly, looking down to Angel with sadness in her eyes. "He had cancer. He'd gotten it years before Zell came for him. He used up the last of his strength fighting in the War, and running…and I couldn't keep cutting it out of him." She leaned closer to Angel, silver mercury dripping from her eyes and mouth as she whispered into her ear. "He could feel the nanomachines devouring it. Devouring him. And he was in constant agony." The mercury began to flow from her eyes now. "Every day I caused him more pain…and every day, the more I cut out, the more it grew…until…"
She pulled her head away from Angel to fall back against the cocoon, the bulb withdrawing under the bed – to reveal the lump within the sheets, Veronica leaning against him, leaving a silvery trail as she rolled over on the sheets.
Swalllowing nervously, Rinoa stepped forward slowly, approaching the bed and reaching out tentatively for the top of the sheet, pulling it back…
…And began to dry retch, yanking the covers back over the body as she spun away, tears in her eyes as she ran from the bed, Dee catching her and holding her steady, a bewildered and frightened look on the young girl's face.
Rinoa couldn't speak. There were no words. All she could do was picture the sad, pitiful man, handsome in a rugged sort of way, the joy that had inhabited him when he'd finally completed his quest, holding his lover in his arms and feeling her warmth once more…
…and now all she could see was the pitted husk of the dead corpse.
"We still need you." Angel said quietly, her eyes closed, her body unnaturally still. She had only caught a glimpse of what Julius had become…and she was fighting the memory with all her might. "We need you, and Julius needs you."
Veronica sighed audibly, sitting up to look down to Angel. Her face was full of pain, the silver still streaking down her face…but she reached up to brush them off her face. "…Almighty Hyne, you don't listen do you?"
Angel slowly opened her eyes to look up at Veronica. "We cant take no for an answer."
She then reached out, grabbing Veronica's hands tightly, squeezing them within her own grasp. "I promise you, Veronica…we will help you fix this. I don't know how yet…but we will."
The silver woman looked shocked at the physical contact, as if no one had touched for a very long time. She let out a long, drawn out sigh, almost unbelieving…before nodding slightly. "…Okay. For you…whoever you are."
"I'm Angel. Angel Din…" Angel caught her breath for a moment. "…Angel Centurion."
Veronica smirked to her. "…Zell's fiancée, hmm?" She chuckled, shaking her head again. "By the gods, you're in for a tough ride."
Selphie, Quistis and Rinoa watched Veronica put on the special suit Quistis had brought with her in her backpack. The suit had been made with nanomachines in mind – once the air-tight material was closed and sealed, small pockets around the legs and body would begin to fill with the excess that Veronica constantly excreted. It was made from a special plastic, something the Estharians had dreamt up for space travel – only thing was, it didn't have the insulation needed for the extreme cold for space. It worked just as well as a hazardous chemicals suit. It wasn't a permanent thing, of course – when they got back to the Balamb Garden, Veronica would be placed in an air-tight containment area until they knew what was happening.
Angel and Dee stood away from the others, in the fake bedroom, Angel facing the stairs as Dee walked up behind her. "Whats wrong, Ma?"
Angel looked back to the teenager with fear in her eyes. "…To see her like that…it's unbelievable what has happened to her…"
The Immortal girl looked down to her boots. "…I cant help but feel…responsible somehow. It was our Resurrection procedure that did that to her…"
"It's not just that…" Angel whispered. "Without Julius to ground her, she's lost now…just existing. He brought her back for nothing. She's frightened, confused, and angry at the world all at the same time…I just don't see how running tests on her will make any of it better."
"I know. The nanomachines would've been everywhere by now. Who knows what Cid is thinking." Dee said with a pout.
Angel stared at Dee. The girl had obviously missed the point entirely. Angel wasn't worried about Veronica's nanomachines….she was worried what would happen once they got back to Garden.
Rinoa walked into the room, her face a little pale. "She's ready now, I think…"
"Are you okay, Rinoa?" Angel asked, her face full of worry as the Sorceress approached her and grasped her shoulder for support.
"…It's not that he was dead…it was that he was so…" Rinoa whispered.
"I know." Angel replied quietly, pulling the girl into a hug, holding her tightly.
They separated as Quistis lead Veronica out of the darkness, the silver woman now clad in a bright yellow space-suit, a helmet sealed over her head, a clear plexi-glass sheet revealing the silver face within. Veronica looked distraught as she left the room, looking about herself anxiously, almost like she was expecting an attack. Selphie followed them both closely, approaching Dee. "Um…Vero asked if you could….well…"
"What Selphie?" Dee asked.
Selphie didn't say anything. She just turned and pointed back into the dark room.
Looking to Angel for a moment, Dee slowly followed Selphie's finger, entering the dark room once more to look down at the bed….and the shape upon it. Only this time, it wasn't a figure hidden within shadows – the figure had been cocooned by the nanomachines that had inhabited the room once more, but this time they had solidified, turning to stone around the corpse of Julius, entombing him within. It didn't take long for Dee to figure it out, and with a small grunt she grasped the sides of the solid stone and hefted it, the massive weight causing her to stagger back with a small yelp – before she regained her balance, gritting her teeth and forcing her muscles to take the strain.
Then she staggered out of the room and wondered how she could get it up the stairs.
Outside the dome, the girls waited for Dee to join them, hearing her mutter curses and groan as she tried to lift Julius up the stairs. Angel had offered to help, but had been bluntly refused – Dee was a Valkyre, one of the strongest Immortals ever, and she would handle this with dignity. Angel shook her head as the stone began to slowly come up from the portal down into the dome, the small pauses filled with grumbles and swear words. The girl was just as stubborn as her father.
As Dee shoved the stone out into the snow, Selphie racing forward to give Dee a hand out of the portal, Veronica turned to Angel. The older woman was watching Dee very intently with a small smile on her face. She had her father's strength, alright…
"Angel…I just want to say…"
Angel turned to Veronica, curiosity filling her face. "…What is it?" She asked…
…Before falling forward to her knees, her eyes wide as she lifted her hand up to her neck, a small dart with a fluffy red plume on the end of it jutting out of her neck – before she fell face-first into the snow, unmoving.
"Angel!" Rinoa shouted, running forward to Angel – before her head jerked back and she fell forward onto her face, her body sliding to a halt as a dart jutted out of the centre of her forehead.
"Sniper!!" Quistis screamed as Rinoa fell, twisting and running for the open portal – before a dart hit her head, just behind the ear, her body tumbling to the snow as well, Save The Queen unfurling out of her grasp as she lay still.
Selphie had immediately begun to try and push Dee back into the dome, trying to stop her from being hit. Dee protested, however, yelling at Selphie to get in herself, to stop kicking her in the head – before the kicks began to slowly subside, Selphie tumbling down the portal onto Dee, causing the two girls to roll down the stairs and crash into the foyer, smashing into the phone table and causing it to shatter into pieces, nano-husks filling the air as Dee and Selphie rolled to a halt.
Dee shoved Selphie off of her and placed two fingers against her neck, checking for a pulse and feeling it strong and steady beneath her fingertips. She looked at the dart, hollow with a small tuft of red fluff on the end, sticking out from Selphie's temple. A tranquilizer dart.
Rage flashed in the young girl's eyes. "We seriously don't have time for this!!" She yelled as she leapt to her feet, anger giving her feet wings as she bolted for the stairs, taking them three at a time to leap out of the portal, placing her foot on the end of the landing and pushing down with enough force to launch her off into the air!!
Flying through the air a good few meters, reaching the top of her arc and feeling gravity beginning to tug on her body, she barked a victorious yell as she spied someone lying supine atop one of the domes – before grunting in surprise as she felt something hit her abdomen, the dart hitting her just above her left hip. There was no force in the dart's penetration, it simply wasn't there – then was.
She hit the ground hard, falling to her side with a grunt, snow erupting as she rolled with the fall – to leapt to her feet, letting her momentum push her body back up to it's footing and into a sprint, running up the side of the dome she was approaching, her boots digging into the snow as she leapt again, her lithe body erupting from the ground almost like she was shot from a cannon, her legs coming up beneath her as she drew her fists up, her arc making her come down upon the sniper's position –
As she slammed her fist into the top of the dome, the steel roof crumpling under her fist, the entire dome shuddering violently and shaking the snow collected atop it off like a dog would shake off fleas – but her opponent had rolled at the last second, pulling his rifle with him as he slid off the edge of the dome to come up to his feet.
Instantly Dee was upon him, wrenching her gauntlet from the roof and throwing herself at him with a scream. She could see that the attacker was a male and covered in snow to conceal himself as he lifted his rifle with one hand to shoot another dart into her chest, the dart hitting just beneath her right breast – before he flicked it down, gripping the barrel and holding the weapon out before him to deflect Dee, twisting his hips as she landed upon him to shove her off his body, sending her sprawling into the snow.
She was on her feet immediately, leaping to them like a cat before charging again, running forward with speed before suddenly leaping, her entire body twisting to the left as she threw her right leg out, the tip of her boot aimed at his head – as he threw up his arms in an X, catching her leg expertly and, twisting his hips and stepping out of the way once more, allowed her to fall to the ground, hitting the snow with a wet thud.
Screaming in rage, Dee lifted herself up on her hands to flick her legs out, spinning her body around to slam her foot into the leg of her assailent – who buckled under the kick, his knee bending in as he twisted with the blow – before he suddenly twisted his knee back out, forcing it straight, Dee's leg repelled almost as soon as she landed her blow. Following with the momentum of the repel, Dee spun her body around within the snow, arcing her other foot up and out, aiming for the man's chest – but he grappled with her again, grasping her boot before it even landed the blow within an iron-clad grip and pulled her back across his body, sending her sliding across the road and into the side of a dome, crashing into some snow-covered trash-cans, refuse and snow littering Dee's body as she rolled to her belly.
Pushing herself to her feet once more, finally learning that rushing the man wasn't going to work, she advanced more slowly, her gauntlet-clad fists raised. She could see her assailent more clearly now – he was old, possibly older then Cid, and only had one eye, a dark patch covering the right, long white hair flowing down around his face from the fight…
She took advantage of her attacker's disability, her left hand snaking out to distract his left eye, his right hand coming out to slap it aside – as her right hand flew through the air to strike his ribs, her body twisting into the blow…as he stepped forward, her hand slipping past his ribs to be trapped between his torso and his arm, his body twisting again as his foot came out to throw her to the ground once more, this time with enough force to almost cause the ground to shake.
Dee hit the ground hard, coughing as the wind was blown out of her. She watched with pain-filled eyes as the one-eyed man stepped back, allowing her room to move, even though she didn't. Gritting her teeth, tasting the cold snow and gravel of the ground, she doggedly pushed herself to her feet, staggering only for a moment – before advancing once more, her fists flying fast with almost lightening speed, her left jab deftly flicked to one side as her right hook was expertly dodged, her body twisting with a round-house kick aimed for the abdomen – which scored, blowing the man off his feet for a moment, lifting him a few inches off the ground to skid across the floor for a moment, Dee feeling the sweet sense of victory looming – before he landed and, stepping forward and into range with almost uncanny grace, stabbed his left leg out to plant his boot into her stomach.
It was a force unlike anything she'd ever felt. The kick was so powerful she was literally blown off her feet, her body sent straight across the road to deflect off the curved roof of a dome and smash into the roof of the one behind it, the steel crumpling like cellophane beneath her body as a loud donnnng echoed out over the open plain.
"Oh my gods…" Dee breathed as she pulled herself out of the crater and slid down the edge of the dome to land on the street outside. She had never been kicked that hard. That's why she felt a shiver of fear shoot up her spine as she watched the one-eyed man walk around the dome she'd just bounced off and begin to approach her.
"W-want some more huh?" Dee called defiantly, slowly and painfully pushing herself to her feet, staggering as she regained her balance.
"No." Said the one-eyed man, standing before her and crossing his arms, looking down at her as she breathed heavily and put her fists up. "I'm just waiting."
"For wha…" Dee whispered as she finally fell forward, her body finally succumbing to the tranquilizers he'd shot into her torso.
"That." Barque muttered, stepping forward to kneel beside her and roll her over gently. Her eyes were still half-open, her breath soft as steam curled from her lips. The old man gently brushed the snow from her face and placed her head down into the snow softly, sighing sadly as she mewled slightly. "You'll be okay, little one…everything will be okay." He whispered softly, stroking her hair until the chemicals took full effect.
When she was finally asleep he pushed himself to his feet with a grunt, wincing as he felt his hip where she'd kicked him. "Ach…you were better then I'd thought…" He muttered to the sleeping teenager as he placed his hands on his back and lean backwards, his spine cracking audibly in the cold.
"Is it over?" A voice called, Barque straightening up to see Veronica peering out from behind the crumpled dome.
"Yes, my dear. She's asleep now."
Veronica stepped out from her hiding place and approached the old man, walking up to stand beside him, looking down at her. "So…that's…"
"Yep."
"…Will she be able to…?"
Barque sighed, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck through his thick white hair. "…I thought so, but it's beginning to get difficult to predict stuff now…and this has thrown a spanner into the works. I'm going to have to keep playing my cards close to my chest until the very end – otherwise who knows what might happen."
The silver woman nodded, her suit crumpling audibly as she turned to him. "…But you'll keep your promise?"
Barque smirked down to her as he lifted his hands to pull his hair back, tying it up into it's ponytail before doffing the snow out of his beard. "Of course, my sweet. This is merely a hiccup. Now come. We'll gather up Julius and be on our way…a little earlier then I'd said, but then, I've had time to prepare…"
And the two walked off, leaving Dee in the snow, sleeping quietly as snow began to fall around her…
Sorry for such a long delay in chapters. Made this one a biggun in ways of apology, lol.
This storyline has been a difficult one to write. As opposed to the last two Tournament stories, I've actually been planning this one out for a long time, writing down a storyline within a small notebook I keep on me at all times. Suffice to say, this has helped me with the narration of the story, and helps me think up new ideas – but because there's so many ideas just waiting to come out, sometimes its hard to focus on the chapter at that time.
This story is nowhere near over, obviously, but within it there will be many things I'll be putting to you that might shock you, might confuse you, might scare you. Please note that I will try my hardest to keep the story flowing as best I can.
I'm not shy in saying that I think this will be one of my best stories yet, and I'm happy to still have a few people who will enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it.