A.N: You know what I'm gonna say by now, but I'll say it anyway, thanks for all the reviews that I've been recieving. I've decided to carry on with this fic (I assume anyone who has read up to this point is interested in this fic so, yay, good news.) However, please don't neglect to review...it's always very appreciated to see what people think of my work.
Anyway, Enjoy this chapter.
Germination
Dim light shone weakly on damp, brown walls of rock, ragged surfaces covered with thick green slime and dull grey-green moss.
Zelos scowled in distaste at it, running a dirty finger down its surface, grimacing as the digit slid over slime with little effort.
"You got us caught," Sheena reminded him, tying her hair back, pulling it away from her face.
"Oh I'm sorry, would you rather we let that girl be brought in and tortured?"
Sheena remained silent, a few strands of ebony hair still dangling in her face. Gingerly, Zelos brushed the strands behind her ear, an attempt at a peace offering.
It had been 6 days since he and Sheena had been captured, 8 since Genis and Raine had gone missing, and the ninja still wasn't entirely ready to forgive him for getting them into this situation.
They had been grouped together with a few other humans who had been captured for aiding half-elves and put to work, digging a long, rather pointless tunnel, deep under the surface of the earth. Consequently it was dark, cold and wet, their only source of warmth other than themselves being the small oil-lamps that flickered dimly behind them.
The tunnel was a few dozen miles long already, dug by humans and half-elves who had long since died or been moved onto other projects. Most likely, the former.
Zelos sighed heavily as the people behind him and Sheena prepared themselves for work and he turned, tucking his now tangled red hair down the back of his shirt, frowning at the greasy feel of it.
Walking to the back of the group he hefted a pick-axe over his shoulder, before returning to the rock face, standing in line with the others. Sheena joined him a second later.
"Alright, ladies and gents!" A voice called from behind them, their supervisor "Remember to watch out for cave-ins and on the count of three, lets get this tunnel extended…one, two…" Zelos shifted his grip on the shaft of the axe "three!"
--
"Alright guys, let's pack it up for now!"
The call cut through dust filled air and immediately a dozen heavy pick-axes fell to the floor, clanging heavy as they hit it.
Sheena brushed a hand through her hair, feeling it coming loose of the band that tied it back and growling in frustration. Zelos stood beside her, breathing heavily, his entire upper-body coated with a layer of grime.
Blue eyes slid over to her as he sensed her watching him and he smiled brightly, teeth white against dust-greyed skin. She rolled her eyes, showing irritance, feeling relief that someone could keep smiling at least. Even if it was only Zelos.
"Lunch awaits." He stated, and made a sweeping gesture with his hands back towards the entrance of the tunnel, several miles away.
"I still can't believe they make us go all the way back up there to eat and then come all the way back down."
He shrugged "As long as we get a break from this place I don't really care what they do."
"That sounds about right for you."
"What can I say? I am your constant."
"My constant pain in the ass."
"Sheena, your words wound me."
She snorted in amusement, flicking yet another piece of dust coated hair out of her face. Beside her, Zelos walked in silence, his gaze boring a hole into the back of the head of the woman walking in front of them. The woman's gait was uneven, staggered from fatigue caused by too much manual labour, too little rest and food.
Even humans were treated like crap in this place.
A light up ahead illuminated a small mine cart set on tracks and Zelos hopped into it, jumping cleanly over the side, offering a hand to Sheena as she crawled over the side of the cart, slotting in next to the other workers and sitting sullenly as the cart began moving.
It would be another half-hour before they reached the surface and got to eat their oh-so-wonderful meal of stale bread and Zelos, despite his show of energy by jumping into the cart, sat gratefully on the floor of the cart. The hour long break was brief, considering how long they would be working for, but it was a break nevertheless.
Pulling a clump of matted, dust covered red hair over his shoulder, Zelos preened, trying unsuccessfully to remove some of the mess from it, looking up to Sheena as he did.
She was leaning back against the cart; her head tilted back, eyes closed. Ebony hair trailed limply onto her shoulders which heaved slightly as she breathed.
It wasn't hard to see that the treatment was taking its toll on her and Zelos felt guilt stabbing at him, knowing that he had dragged her into this. She wouldn't let him forget it either.
The cart jerked on its tracks suddenly and its occupants lurched with the movement before slamming back into the wooden walls of the cart, grumbling about the rough journey.
Sheena opened her eyes at the shake, rubbing the shoulder that had slammed into the wood before noticing Zelos' vacant gaze at her, distant and apologetic with his thoughts. She smiled slightly, for all his flaws and his betrayal (which lets face it, was five years ago) he had a good heart and he could be one of the sweetest guys ever…when he wasn't follow some 6 foot, blonde, 5 inch waisted hussy around anyway. But…he was even starting to grow out of that. He was as flirtatious as ever, but it had been a while since he had had any actual partners…that she knew of anyway and she and Zelos had gotten pretty close in the past few years.
He blinked suddenly, awareness of the present coming back to him and his eyes flicked up to meet hers.
"Barricade coming up!"
The warning was shouted from the front-most cart and the occupants braced themselves for the crash with the metal barrier. Instead of slowing the cart to a gradual halt, the Saloth'sarians apparently thought it was much more fun to let it crash and give the workers a good shaking.
The impact was loud, the noise reverberating down the tunnel and Zelos looked up at the rocks a few feet overhead, wondering if they could be shaken loose by the noise. He quickly scrambled out of the cart, following Sheena closely as they left the mining area, heading for the mess hall where they would eat their lunch.
"Wilder! Fujibayashi!"
The two stopped, turning to face their supervisor dubiously. The man was hardly friendly at the best of times, so the fact that he had singled them out was greatly worrying.
"We've got a new construction expert coming in to help on the digging front. We want you to represent the diggers."
"Why?"
"Because you're not totally broken and exhausted like the other slaves. You can put on a good show for us to make him see that he's working within an…equal opportunities environment."
"And if we tell him that you treat us like crap?"
The supervisor merely smirked and pulled a whip loose from his belt. They both got the message pretty quickly.
"So…you go and meet him, now."
"But.."
"You'll be eating with him."
"I think Zelos was referring to our appearance," Sheena stated, gesturing down at the mass of grime clinging to them.
"Ah of course. There're clean suits in the ante-chamber before you go in. You'll be given a few minutes to change before you go in."
Dejectedly the humans nodded, setting off in the directions their 'superior' had just indicated.
"Oh Zelos, one more thing."
The red-head stopped, turning his head to the man who was striding towards him.
"What?"
"Just this." He reached out quickly and snatched a handful of Zelos' hair dragging the ex-chosen back towards him before using the other hand to collect all the hair together at the base of his neck, holding the other man firmly in place.
"It's proving to be a liability." In one movement he drew a knife from his belt and sliced upwards in a smooth arc.
Zelos, who had been leaning away, being held back only by his hair, suddenly pitched forwards as the tension disappeared, falling face-first onto the floor.
The supervisor chuckled as Zelos pushed himself up, turning his head to glare at the man. He merely continued laughing, throwing the severed hair at him before walking away to attend to different matters.
The ex-chosen glared at the retreating back as he pushed himself up from the floor, his hair clutched in one hand. Glaring down at it he threw it to the floor angrily, dust rising from it at the impact.
"Bastard has no idea how long that took to grow."
Sheena walked over to her miffed partner as she stood, glaring at the 3 foot of matted red-hair that lay on the floor, taking him by the elbow gently and guiding him away.
"C'mon Zelos, we have to go meet this construction guy….besides, it'll grow back…eventually."
Zelos grunted moodily, letting himself be led away by Sheena.
They walked quietly, the nobleman constantly running his hands over the ends of his now chin-length hair, muttering to himself.
"It's only hair, Zel."
"That's not the point. It's the principle…the fact that they would do it."
"Cut off your hair?"
"Violate me!"
"…You're making it sound like you've been raped."
"And what's the definition of rape?"
"Forcing someone to engage in something against their will."
"And did I want my hair to be cut off? No. Did they do it against my will? Yes."
"Ok, fine, Zelos, they raped you of your hair."
"Hmm."
"Just be glad they haven't really done that."
"I guess."
The meeting room they were heading for was now only a short distance away and the two humans entered the building that housed it hesitantly before climbing the stairs and slipping into the ante-room where they changed clothes.
The doors to the meeting room were heavy oak and try as he might, Zelos couldn't hear anything through them.
"Guess we're going in blind." He commented, closing the zip of the suit, noting that these ones actually offered some protection unlike the rags they usually worked in.
Looking to Sheena to see if she was ready he nodded and offered her a small smile, before opening the door and stepping inside, the ninja following him closely.
The room was rather bare, just plain walls and a few pieces of furniture decorating the chamber.
A coffee table sat on top of a small rug, a couch arranged on each side. On one of them sat an extremely tall, well built man, his short hair hidden the hat he wore. He was leaning forwards, sipping from a cup of coffee his face turned away as if guiltily.
"Uh…hey…are you the construction manager?" Zelos asked the figure.
The man jerked at the sound of Zelos' voice before turning slowly to look at his guests, eyes widening as he saw them. Standing, he pushed the hat from his head, revealing neat sky blue hair.
Sheena stared before taking in a gasp of breath, mouth curving into a smile as she recognized him.
"Regal!"
--
"So you haven't seen Raine or Genis?" Regal asked, sipping a cup of coffee as Zelos and Sheena sat by him, taking their own drinks.
"No, and we've been here…what? 6 days?" Sheena responded, brushing some remaining dust particles from her hair.
"I see."
"So what's the deal with you Regal? Working here I mean."
"I was offered the job of construction manager on an expansion project at this site and since, thanks to the half-elf girl you rescued told us, we knew that this was where the Saloth'sarians made base, I accepted, with the intention of helping you, Raine and Genis to escape."
"It's not that simple though.." Zelos mumbled, running his fingers through his now significantly shorter hair. Regal seemed to have taken the hint that the red-head was not willing to talk about the loss of it when he had given it a pointed glance earlier and Zelos' had glared daggers at him.
"Because of all the other half-elves. We cannot leave them here to suffer."
"Exactly."
"Which is why it is actually quite fortunate that you are in here."
"What?!" Sheena sputtered, choking on her coffee.
"You couldn't escape with me straight away under any circumstances. In order for you, and the half-elves, to escape, there must be a mass revolt to confuse the authority here."
"So we spread the message," Zelos stated "We get them to band together against their oppressors."
"It is the only way. With you and Sheena in here, we can get information to form an attack from the outside, as well as you working on the inside."
"Hit 'em hard and fast from every side," Sheen smiled, nodding.
"Indeed. I'm able to bring Lloyd and Presea in as help for the project too, so information you gather can be passed onto Lloyd, who under my instructions will be only working part time, so that he can relate the information back to Kratos and Colette."
"Who are doing what exactly? Kratos is injured and Colette isn't a strategic planner or executer of plans."
"Actually, Kratos is almost fully healed…however, he is beginning to seem restless in regards to getting the plan underway."
"He feels guilty about Genis and Raine."
"Yes…that aside, he and Colette are attempting to protect and gather the half-elves who are still free. Once they have enough, they'll be ready to hit the organisation from the outside."
"And then we start the revolt in here."
Regal nodded.
"…What about Raine and Genis?" Sheena asked after a moment "We rarely get in touch with the half-elf slaves as it is…and even then it'd only be the lowest levels of work we get in contact with."
"What do you mean?"
"Half-elves are sorted into performing different tasks by their levels of intelligence…we only work with the rock-breakers…we wouldn't be able to get near Raine and Genis and I doubt you'd be able to find a feasible excuse to."
"Hmmm…. I see what you mean…we must hope that the half-elves we get in contact with can somehow pass on the message to even Raine and Genis' level."
"Hoping? That's it?"
"We don't have any other choice, unless something changes before we begin the…" Regal stopped suddenly when a door from lower down in the building slammed shut.
"We must discuss our parts in this later…"
The door to the room swung open suddenly, revealing the supervisor from earlier.
"Forgive me for my intrusion, but have we reached an agreement?"
Regal stood, straightening his back as he regarded the other man.
"We have. I will supervise this project providing the conditions I stated earlier are met."
"Of course. You can bring in your workers to aid you and they can come and go as you please…and of course you'll have a mixture of human and half-elves working under you. I'm afraid we simply don't have enough human workers for you to have an all human team."
"That is fine, as I said before, I don't care about the race as long as they work and will listen to me."
"Then I will ask you to accompany me to the administrative buildings where we can get a contract drawn up…under the inspection of the Leader of our organisation of course."
"The Leader?" Zelos questioned.
"I assure you that it is none of your concern, Wilder. You and Fujibayashi may return to the mess hall for your meals."
"I will be in contact with you." Regal stated his friends as they left the room reluctantly. The door closed heavily behind them.
"So Duke Bryant, would you accompany me in meeting the Leader then?"
Regal nodded. "Yes…may I ask…your Leader…what is his name?"
"Ah…we don't know, I'm afraid…the Leader likes to keep such things to himself. He says it defines him as the ultimate authority in our organisation."
"I see…well, it is good for one to define themselves as such…however they choose to do it." The words, praising this supposed man who captured and worked half-elves to death, left a bitter taste in Regal's mouth and he found himself almost choking on the words.
"Yeah, I think it is. You'd know about that, I imagine."
The Duke clenched his teeth at the words, the idea that he was anything like that man…he may have sinned in killing his love, but he was not capable of such cruelty as this 'Leader' was.
"Yes…It is necessary to have a certain amount of control over the situation."
Smiling, the supervisor walked to a door on the other side of the room that Regal hadn't noticed before and he opened it, gesturing for Regal to walk down the long glass and chrome corridor into the buildings beyond."
--
Whispers of it floated through the air, a rising feeling travelling through hushed voices. Hushed seeds of hope were planted in the minds of slaves…human and half-elf alike, waiting for the dawn of opportunity to initiate their germination.
So there you are. Now, please push my pretty purple button.