Disclaimer: Me? Own Xenosaga? Nope!
Thanks to my reviewers: chibi-sama love, Fullmetal Outcast, U.R.T.V 670! -can't believe she never thanked you guys yet- By the way, I'm really, really sorry for the long wait!
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Chapter 13 - The Belly Of The Beast
While Topaz was sleeping soundly in her bed, the Elsa received a heavy hit during its trip through hyperspace, causing Topaz to slam against the wall, then roll over the edge of her bed, and crash into MOMO on the ground, causing both girls a slight bit of pain. Topaz rose and checked to make sure MOMO was all right, then suggested that they head for the bridge. Shortly after the two girls arrived, Shion made her way there, as well. KOS-MOS then explained the situation at hand to everyone.
"Shion, MOMO, why are your hands glowing blue...? What's going on here?!" Topaz asked, now feeling very uneasy.
Shion looked out the window of the ship and exclaimed,"Those are... gnosis! They're everywhere! ...KOS-MOS! Ultra Wide-Range Hilbert Effect!"
The android did as she was instructed and used the powered up Hilbert Effect. Topaz was amazed, as was MOMO; even amplified systems could only reach a range of several hundred kilometers, at best, but this was far more. Afterwards, a distortion in the gravity field developed, and the Elsa was pulled into one of the giant gnosis, seperating Topaz and the others from the Elsa crew. Little did the team know that it was going to be a long, and painful, journey to find the missing Elsa...
"Huh...? What happened...?" Topaz asked as she slowly sat up, once the others began asking the same question.
MOMO answered,"Hold on... I'm getting this feeling... Now, I'm sure of it. We're... inside of a gnosis!"
"WHAT?! You've gotta be kidding me! That's not possible, is it?!" Topaz asked the Realian.
When Shion asked if they had been eaten, chaos responded that it may not be all that far from the truth. When the subject of the location of Captain Matthews and the rest of the Elsa crew came up, KOS-MOS said that she was picking up the Elsa's signal, along with something else near it. She said that it had a waveform similar to the Zohar that was stored on the Woglinde. The android also explained that the Elsa was around 10 kilometers away. The team began the quest to find the ship.
"So... This is what it's like inside a gnosis... I've wondered about it, but this isn't exactly how I planned to figure it out," Topaz mumbled grumpily, as she proceeded along one of the many paths inside the immense creature, followed by the others.
Ziggy said,"At least 10 kilometers isn't all that far. We should be able to make it within a few hours or so; be thankful."
Topaz grunted,"Humph. A few hours? That's still too long! I don't like this one bit..."
"I wouldn't suggest complaining, Topaz. It'll only make this trip worse for you," Ziggy sternly responded.
The group continued trying to figure out which path would take them closer to the Elsa, Topaz getting more ill-tempered with each dead-end the team came across, until they finally reached a new area. Shion pointed out a sign to the group, then she began to wonder if they were really inside of a gnosis. The party became more questionable about their location after they saw that the sign was not the only object present that did not belong with the surrounding environment. Topaz was curious.
"Yenno what's wierd? This area looks more like a city, instead of a gnosis' belly..." Topaz said.
"Yeah... There are cars, signs, and even buildings here. There's something more to this place, I bet," chaos answered.
Shion stated,"I don't know what to make of this place, either... Wha -", as she was interrupted mid-sentence, apparently by a vision she had seen. "That girl... What did she mean,'He'll be gone soon'?" Shion muttered to herself.
MOMO asked,"Are you okay, Shion? You don't look too well," as she gave a look of concern to Shion.
Shion answered that she was fine, and that the party should continue looking around for a path to the next area. Topaz and the others exchanged opinions with one another to pass the time that they spent exploring. After a couple hours had passed, the group had navigated through several areas to reach the center. The vibration patterns on the ground had proven to be extremely useful in guiding the team to the center. Once there, Shion took notice of the shape of the building towering ahead.
"What is... that?" Shion asked as she pointed to the building.
chaos responded,"I'm not sure, but it almost looks like a building of some sort."
"It could be a device... A strange one, at that," Topaz added.
Shion asked Topaz,"What do you mean by that?"
"I dunno... It's just that... It looks man-made, I guess," responded Topaz.
Ziggy provided,"So, that could be some ship or object that was swallowed like us, then turned into that?"
"We're not going to end up like that, too, are we?" MOMO asked uneasily.
After MOMO was reassured that everyone was going to be all right and free of the Gnosis' stomache, Shion questioned KOS-MOS about the Elsa's signal. The android had lost the signal of the ship due to the unstable magnetic and gravitational fields near the center. She also stated that the Elsa's last known coordinates were around 300 meters below the team's current locale. This helped to regain the party's morale that it had lost during the hours of walking around. Everyone continued ahead.
After spending another hour exploring even further into the depths of the Gnosis, Topaz and the others had made their way to the location where the Zohar was kept. After KOS-MOS advised that the party move on, and received a scolding from Shion, she stated that the object in front of everyone had an over 99.9 chance of being the Zohar Emulator stored onboard the Woglinde. Shion was astounded that KOS-MOS was able to confirm that the true Zohar was at another location; she could not remember storing such information in the android's database. Shortly after, Commander Cherenkov emerged from the flight of steps to the left. Topaz was very glad to see that the Commander had survived the trip.
"Commander! ...Are you okay?! C'mon, let's get out of -" Topaz stopped mid-sentence as she saw Cherenkov's body change.
As Shion viewed this, she asked,"Commander... What's wrong with your body...?!"
"...'Get out here', huh? Do you even know what you're talking about? ...You don't honestly believe that you'll survive through something like this, do you...?" The Commander asked as he moved closer to the Zohar Emulator, then continued,"Y...yes, I was the one who was b...behind the dissappearance of the planet Ariadne... The only thing that mattered was recovering the Emulator. Vector and the m...military were only pawns in their deployment. In spite of all that, though..." Cherenkov ended.
As the Commander finished, he then began to see things that Topaz and the others could not, and he started to scream at the invisible entities that were flying everywhere which had chosen Cherenkov as their target. W-what's happening to him?! What's he seeing that we aren't? Wait... I think I can see them... Topaz refocused on the current situation and was filled with horror at the sight before her. The Commander was overtaken by one of the ghosts flying around him, then claimed by the remaining phantoms. Each one of the scans KOS-MOS used turned up negative; she was unable to state what the group was seeing. All of a sudden, Cherenkov transformed into the shape of gigantic creature, horrifying the entire party.
"No... This can't be happening... It can't..." Topaz said, full of grief over knowing what was to come.
Ziggy muttered to himself,"It's exactly the same as that day..."
"Wait... I sense something... It's... It's a gnosis!" MOMO exclaimed in fear.
The Gargoyle, Cherenkov's gnosis form, gained two Oudogogue allies, which would make the coming battle more difficult for Topaz and the others. Shion and the others were ready to fight, but Topaz was having difficulties pulling her laser gun out of its holster. I'm going to have to kill him... Why did this have to happen? ...Cherenkov... I'm sorry...
"Topaz! Concentrate on the enemy, not your emotions," Ziggy told his shaken comrade.
"Hmm? Oh, right... I'm ready! Let's go everyone!" Topaz responded.
The party decided its attack formation would go as follows: Ziggy and MOMO would attack one Oudogogue, KOS-MOS and Shion would attack the other partner, and Topaz and chaos would go after the Gargoyle. Ziggy attacked using powerful punches and kicks from his mechanical arms and legs, while MOMO chose to stand back and attack with her powerful ethers. KOS-MOS would fire off blasts from her R-CANNON, and Shion would attack with her Shock Blade to inflict heavy damage. Topaz and chaos had the very difficult task of dealing with the Gargoyle alone until the others could finish off the sidekicks. With every hit she dealt, Topaz's heart filled with even more guilt than the moment before, but chaos tried to keep her alert.
"I'm sorry... It's just... I can't bring myself to kill him; I thought of him as my friend," Topaz somberly told chaos.
chaos gently responded,"I know, Topaz, but we have no choice... If we don't defeat him, we'll die instead..." He looked at Topaz softly, then quietly asked, "You want to see Rubedo again, don't you?"
"What...?" Topaz asked with surprise.
chaos then said,"...Keep that in mind, okay? Besides, we need to defeat the Commander to help him; release him from his pain."
With her mind newly filled with the thought of finding Rubedo again, Topaz proceeded to fight against her old friend with every ounce of strength she had. Sometime afterwards, Shion and the others had finally dealt with the underlings, and proceeded to assist Topaz and chaos in defeating the Gargoyle. Within another fifteen minutes, the party dealt the finishing blow to the beast. As she viewed her friend's demise, Topaz's eyes welled with tears, as she wept over what she had just done; she had never even dreamt of killing a friend. Wha - what have I done? I... I... killed him... my friend... with my own hands... During the time Topaz was grieving over the loss of her friend, Shion was speaking with Cherenkov through a vision.
Having seen and heard what she did, Shion began to cry, as well. Shion, however, was more open to communication with others than Topaz and was slowly brought back to her senses with the help of MOMO and chaos. Topaz had yet to subside her weeping, thus, chaos knelt down to try and bring the grieving child solace.
"Topaz... Don't cry... okay? You should rest your mind at ease, since you helped free him from the fears welled up inside him," chaos kindly reassured his companion.
Ziggy also attempted to comfort Topaz,"I'm sorry. I... know what it feels like to lose someone important to you," he told her.
"...Thanks... Ziggy. chaos. I'm sorry for getting like that... It's seriously not like me to get that way," Topaz apologized as she summoned the will to stand up.
After chaos and the others managed to help Topaz and Shion compose themselves, KOS-MOS instructed that the spatial location of the party would soon disappear, due to the dissipation of the connection between phenomenon boundaries. Before anyone could make a true comment, the area of the Cathedral Ship faded away, leaving the group somehow floating in space.