This chapter is experimental. I wanted to write this in Zodiark's POV...so he's bascially narrating. If people like this, then I shall do the same for the next chapter, but if not...I shall stick to my own normal (giggle) way of doing this. I also got a little (sniggers) bit carried away here. This is a VERY long chapter, but only because I wanted to get everything set up for the next one! Everything in this chap I wanted to keep in...so if it's crap...I'm sorry. Special note to Feens (who will probably hate me for how I ended this...sorry!) but it was she who kinda aided me in Vaan's quickening "speech". Do enjoy and again...I apologise for the length.
Extra note: I am so horrible to Basch! I love him dearly but why do I put him through such shit?!
Extra extra note: Swearing is in this...please lemme know if it seems a bit off. Ta! XD
Enjoy!
Final Fantasy 12
TRUE FEELINGS
ZODIARK
In the midst of darkness I was created. I was weaved from it's essence and forged with the strongest of its power. I was the last of my kind to be given life and as I grew, so too did my strength and my temper was wrathful.
The Gods themselves feared me, but my devotion to Order, prevented them from destroying me completely. I became their tool, I was their puppet to keep the so called peace they treasured.
I am Zodiark and I was the Keeper of Precepts. I kept everything in its place and no one dared to confront me. I was balance and I was punishment. I grew quickly, so much so, that the First herself began to fear me.
Though She was glorious in all her being, She was afraid of what I had become. She was worried that I would become stronger than Her, when already that was too late. It was She who prevented my mind from maturing. But that was a mistake on Her behalf. As the youngest of all my brethren, I could learn more quickly. I retained and absorbed more than She ever hoped. As the First thought she was keeping dominance over me, I grew in ways she could not possibly have dreamed.
My power would not be harnessed by Her.
There was only one.
I loved her from the moment I sensed her.
From the moment of my creation, all I felt was my Angel.
She was what a being of the Darkness craved for, it was what I needed.
She was a creature of such holy light, every thing pure, wonderful and beautiful in existence, that she weakened me. She was Ultima.
Our opposites connected us. Neither of us could live without the other, we were completed and were as one together. She tempered my rage and anger, She gave me feelings that I never thought could have existed within me. The Angel was my hold on sanity and on life. Though our love would come at a terrible cost.
When the First found out about our connection, I suffered from her violent rage and endless torment at Her will.
She disfigured and tortured me, my "body" was slashed, twisted and deformed into a grotesque shape, the First hoping that my ugliness would repel Ultima. Her jealousy was all too obvious, for why else would she have done this? I had gained the love of the Angel! NOT Her! For that love, I was made to feel agony beyond all pain.
When the Goddess could no longer stand the sight or feel of me, she banished me deep in Henne.
I despaired in misery in my stone dungeon with insanity as my only companion. Not even the one who had created me, came and tried to break me free. I was abandoned and was left in the darkness knowing not of Ultima's fate. I knew only the dying of my soul and the desire for blood.
0000000000
The blood lust for revenge soared beyond elation when the Humes dug too deep beneath the surface of Ivalice. They opened up the confines of my prison, yet I was still unable to fully pull free of the First's imprisonment. It did enable me to at least move and exact my own justice on anyone who confronted me. After all, in my eyes, everyone was guilty and they all fucking deserved to be punished. Insanity had told me that there were no innocent anymore, everyone would suffer just as I had.
Humes. The beings created by gods, unworthy and small. In their greed and selfishness, these pitiful beasts had no idea they would meet their judgement when they delved into Henne. They died in the most excruciating ways I could unleash and as I did so, I felt justified and righteous in my revenge. Every death I inflicted meant that I was just one step closer the one who deserved it above them all.
The ripping and shredding of their vile bodies, the splattering of blood and their screams, was all in preparation for the Goddess. Her death will not be as swift nor as kind. This I had vowed.
Yet I did not expect one Hume to stand in my way.
Just before his arrival, I heard the one voice in my mind I had hoped for, but after all these years, never expected to hear. She was the one who created me. I suppose you could say she was my mother, but those are Hume terms. The being was beyond that. There was only one reason why she found me now.
"Zodiark. This hume is your last chance. Do not defeat him. Hold your anger, there is a way for you to get everything back.."
There was no listening to that voice. I was incensed with a dark rage that didn't want to listen to Her or to anything around me. Especially not these humes, to me, they were mere sacks of blood and bone to bash against my prison walls…to stain the stone with the blood of countless others before them.
Though I had no idea.
The great and all mighty Zodiark just didn't expect.
When the female was crushed by my throw, it never occurred to me that one low life scum of bile and shit would show such strength in retaliation. I was pummelled to the brink of death by a hume! By a man who seemed just as incensed as I.
I had prayed for death in the past, but I certainly didn't want to die like this. Not at the hands of this hume man.
"I can help you!" Her voice was like a whispered hiss in my head. I could not ignore her, but as her desperate pleas for my compliance shrilled higher, all I could think of was why hadn't she been here when I needed her?!
"I can help you, Keeper."
I didn't need her fucking help!
" If you ever wish to escape Henne…if you ever want to exact justice on the one you hate, you must do as I ask."
The Goddess. My hate was fuelled by her, it burnt and raged for her death and the endless ways of her torture never left my dreams.
"Zodiark, I need you to join with the hume. You must persuade him to share your soul, your essence will be absorbed into him."
Join with the hume?? She had the audacity to ask me to do such a thing? Those creatures are disgusting putrid shit on the bottom of existence! They are unworthy crap ever to be brought to life! How can I possibly bare to do this? Even seeing the man standing before me, I was disgusted at such feebleness. I swore I would not share a body such as his! Never!
"You want to see Ultima again? Do you wish to be with her?"
More than anything else, more than my lust for First's blood on my skin.
"Then he is the only way you can do this. I cannot break you from the First's prison, the binding spell is too powerful. If you let the hume kill you, you can become a part of him and you will be able to leave Henne. He will not resist."
I was more than reluctant to heed her words. She had said she loved me and that she always would, but I could not just accept this. How could she even think that by joining with a hume, that things would suddenly become better?
There was resistance, I saw it in the Hume's cold blue eyes. Whilst his companions stood silently around him, I saw the hate in his gaze. The female hume was still on the floor, the retribution he sought for her injuries was immense and unforgiving. I heard his thoughts.
"Do you not realise who he is? Do you not sense his own feelings for the woman you just struck down?! "
The love. The unwavering devotion and love was strong, fierce and agonising, even for a hume. It wasn't anything how I felt for my angel, in fact it was pitiful in comparison, and it was all they were capable of. Poor fools. Because this creature felt love for another one of its own kind, I was supposed to sympathise? I was supposed to think it could possibly help me?
"Do you want to see Ultima again?! Then don't take no for an answer from him! You are superior! You have suffered much….inhabiting a hume's body is nothing if it means it will get you back to Ultima! If you do not….then everything I have worked for is ruined! Zodiark…..my son……please…."
Reason started to make some kind of sense within my mind, there was no other way to find out what happened to Ultima. My tortured and twisted body was on the brink of death and I would not be able to endure much more. The hume was my last resort. It was sickening to think he could save me.
I asked him and I heard his response.
"I understand."
Liar. He knew nothing of what it would be like to share his body with an Esper, yet it seemed the idea was just as revolting to him as it was to me. The hume refused, he said no….he would not help me. Stupid inferior scum, I don't need permission. I could just take over his body now!
"He will break the glyph. Then you will not be held at his command."
I didn't know what that was until the final stroke. The last stab of the hume's sword ripped apart my physical form and death never came. It was very strong binding magic, forming a tight and uncomfortable crystal prison around me. I had no idea that the hume now had control over me and that he could use me just as the gods could, a tool at his command! He would be able to summon my form from the ashes and I would be helpless to do anything except his bidding.
But I heard her voice, telling him to break it. There would be no control for him.
The moment the crystal broke, I remember only blackness. I felt confined even more, squeezed into a tiny enclosure that could not contain me. I felt emotions and saw memories of a hume man that were like blurry colourless images. Everything in his short and worthless life was without texture or depth, it was cold. It was a lonely existence.
Except when she was around. The female hume I had injured was his sole purpose for living, she was his reason for taking every single breath and continuing with his pitiful existence. He needed her. As I needed Ultima.
"You can control him now. Take them all to Ultima, make sure the Dynast Queen liberates her as well. Then…we can proceed to take back Ivalice."
It all became clear. The war, Ultima had tried to fight for me and others had rallied to her side, but it had only resulted in death and her imprisonment. If to share these hume bodies was the only way, then indeed the one the Occuria had called the Dynast Queen would be the vessel for my Angel. For my new host, he would do anything to prevent harm from coming to his Queen, and therefore no harm will come to Ultima.
It was the only satisfactory thing about this whole plan. Though what my creator had in mind, I would not know.
00000000000
Basch woke and as he looked up, there was a strange sight to behold. Viera. Two of them. Though they were none I recognised as Viera. One was missing her ears, cut or hacked off purposely and now only short bloody stumps moved in slow twitching motions. She was the worst of the two, so afraid, disturbed by the silence now roaming in her mind.
Fran, was teetering on the edge also, the emptiness almost consumed her, but I saw the glimmer of hope in her bloodshot eyes. It was the last fragile hope which was riling up such strong emotions. Viera were not known for such displays of emotion, yet I could sense her despair and fear. I felt both of their anguish and I could hear their frightening silence…Golomore sang no more.
Frail creatures indeed. I remember when the Viera had been created, beautiful things they were, beyond ethereal, like the elements…pure and raw. When Golomore had given them physical form, they became mere shadows of what they had been created for. Now they were just as pathetic as the humes.
"Basch….can you walk?" asked Fran, her voice hardly able to utter the words through her emotional choking. "Do you have the strength to fight?"
"I do…." Though he barely did, he was just as weak as they were. "Fran….where…where are we?"
"We are in an Archadian sky ship…landed outside Giruvegan. It was not easy to find you."
"Ashe…" his voice rumbled and croaked. "Have you seen Ashelia?"
Fran shook her head and I felt the despair in my hume host. Both of us had hoped for some news from these Viera. We had seen Ashe get shot, before the horrific assault on us by the soldiers had blacked us out. Even in the cell, when Balthier was taken away, neither of us knew what had happened. Until "she" made us talk. "She" tried to tell us, but neither would believe it. We had to see for ourselves. Yet he held out with more hope than I, he struggled to his feet and gazed around at the wrecked room before us.
The guards were dead, their blood still oozing from their slit throats and seeping across the floor; the glass wall of the cell was smashed to pieces and Basch cared not at the pain from the many shards cutting in his bare feet. He headed straight to the exit. Fran tried to steady him, but he collapsed against the wall.
"You are not well." said Fran, resting her long clawed fingers on his shoulder.
Neither are you Viera, I thought.
"You do not look well yourself." Basch replied, wincing only now with the pain in his soles.
Our thoughts were becoming far too similar and that actually worried me. It wasn't that long ago, I could take over his body completely and leave him forgetful of my actions, but now…the lines that separated us were beginning to blur. Far too much for my liking. It has been over a year since we first melded together, and we were now becoming something different. Basch feels it too.
"We have all changed, Basch." Fran said, her head bowing in sorrow. "Not all for the better. We must not linger here, more of the Judge's soldiers will be on the way. We have to find the others."
"My Angel." My host curled up against the metal of the wall, his hands clutching tightly round his waist. "Ultima…."
Fran's face twitched and her eyes widened in understanding. I became more than alarmed, for I knew that Basch had meant to say the name of the Dynast Queen. The fact that he did not, that he spoke the endearments I associated with Ultima, worried me greatly. It was getting difficult to distinguish between the hume woman and the Holiest of Espers. Will there come a time when we could not tell either of them apart…or ourselves?
"The Queen's Esper." Fran's long slender fingers clasped lightly at Basch's bare arm. "The Esper with whom she co-exists with?"
"Ashelia…." Basch rested his head against the wall, and the image of Ashe's death from the pirate's gunshot flashed across our minds. The blood: the way it felt when it spattered on his skin, the stench of it, thick and heavy in his nostrils. The image of the slick blood gushing on to the ground, staining the earth a deep red, made me choke. At that time I had thought Ultima dead, along with the Queen. I still feared it now.
"You know what happened?" Basch asked, astonished that Fran could know of such a thing. She nodded a weak response.
"From the very beginning, Basch." she replied softly. "I saw the change that took over you in Henne. I knew and sensed that an Esper was inside you and that it was he….the strongest, who destroyed Nalbina."
I had not forgotten what I did. No longer able to bare the chains that had shackled my host once again, or my distance from Ultima…I had unleashed every inch of my fury that remained inside. It blew apart the well, the Darkja ripped apart the fortress and everything in its path until I had found her. But upon our escape, my emotions got the better of me, and even I couldn't control my powers. Nalbina, the fools who had remained, anyone who did not flee or escape, were obliterated.
The moment Fran mentioned the event of my wrath, so now did Basch remember. The memory block of the slaughter faded and he fell once more to the floor swathed with agonizing guilt.
"No!" His face contorted with sheer shock and terror. "By the gods! No!"
He began to shake, his hands trembled uncontrollably as he finally saw what I had caused. The whirlwind of black magics within the midst of the doused skies, the screams, the ripping flesh…the charred remains. It horrified him.
"It was not you!" Fran uttered, her palms clasping firmly onto his bearded cheeks and forcing his face up to see her sincerity. "Do not bare this guilt as if it were you who did such a deed!"
Guilt is a hume emotion I detest, though I could not help but feel Basch's agony as my own. I have killed so many, and all with a righteous and glorious sensation in my soul…but now as he shivered on the floor, I felt for the first time the shame and horror at what I had wrought on Nalbina. It was sickening, I became anguished and weak, aghast at my actions and so sorry for the lives I took. I was never sorry for anyone or anything I killed, for I knew that death had been deserved. Not for some of those in Nalbina. Basch's cries echoed again and again….they were innocent. They had not done anything.
"WE killed them all." Basch growled, though it choked with a heart wrenching sob. "I killed all those people….civilians! They died because of me!"
"Basch! Do not blame yourself!" Fran's hand squeezed hard against his flesh, her claw like nails pinching to the point of breaking his skin. "It was Zodiark! Not you! Never has there been tale spoken of such fusing between Esper and Hume! It was not thought possible, not even by me! You cannot expect to control the influence of a being evolved beyond your kin…especially Zodiark. His will and his power are beyond all the others. Do not blame yourself for his actions, Basch. Please! Don't let yourself be drowned with his possession. You must keep going, be strong! This is no place to linger and wallow in what has already been done. We cannot stay."
Fran was right. The sound of screeching and clanking armour was echoing from a distance and as Basch looked up, he saw the worry in both Fran and Mjrn's faces. They were just as weak as we, their strength from breaking into the airship and finding us, debilitating them even more. How they had managed to in their state, I couldn't fathom. They were wrecks, fucked up and fragile, that it wouldn't have been possible for them to have gotten so far, especially with the alarms intact. Yet Basch had never under estimated Fran and her kind. Especially of one Viera in particular, one he knew only too well.
They had managed. They had found our cell with only a long sword and a katana between them. Basch and I had nothing. He had no armour shielding his half naked body, and his feet were sliced from the broken glass. There were no weapons to defeat the soldiers, only his fists and my magics which would keep us safe.
Yet….Nalbina. Basch's damned shame was eating me up! I didn't feel the strength within me or him, we were both enveloped in his stupid guilt! The flashes of my memory were not as glorious as I remembered, as the deaths haunted me and forced me to feel such sorrow. Could I possibly summon up any of my core to help with this escape? I need to save what I must for the First, with her I cannot fail to defeat.
"Basch! We must go now!"
Fran tried to pull Basch up on her own, but that was impossible as his heavy weight just slumped. Only after several attempts did he manage to stay on his feet, and edge to the door.
"Do you know where the others are?" asked Basch as he remembered his other travelling companions. Penelo…sweet little Penelo, what had happened to her? Jiiryn? Were they together or even alive? Balthier….the less I thought of him, the better. Yet for Fran, I could see why she still clung to her remnants of hope. She was tainted by the hume's love.
"I know not." she said. "But we must hurry…Mjrn and I may not be able to withstand much more."
We understood all too clearly. Basch straightened up and half limped and half strode out of the cell. His fists were clenched as the first of the guards were coming up the corner. Their shouts became louder, alerting the others behind them they had seen us.
These were not ordinary Archadian soldiers, certainly not from Larsa's service. Their armour was, if possible a much darker shade of black and the edges of their helms were sharper and more menacing. Their weapons were longer and far more intimidating. Not to me any way.
I am Darkness…I was made in it and I was made of it. The powers were at my bidding, and as they approached, all I had to do was wipe them out, with a single thought.
But that did not work. Instead of unleashing the full extent of my wrath, the darkness only formulated around Basch's hands. They smoked and burned like black fire and I could feel the scorching through his skin, but instead of obliterating all of the guards, the resulting streams of dark that ripped from his palms only killed the first few in the pack.
It was not enough, but Basch was already running towards the rest of the guards. I worried not. His skills at bare fist fighting were impressive compared to other humes, it was hard, brutal and crushing…his whole ability to fight (Though hume-noid methods of conflict were like but mere puffs of breath to my physical damage) was only marred by his conscience and compassion. If he had none of those, we would be a force to be reckoned with. Yet he still felt as I. The Dynast Queen…My Seraph…nothing mattered more. Nothing would stand in our way, for these were people responsible for taking Her.
The feeling of his knuckle cracking hard and through a guard's metal helm was so invigorating, neither of us cared for the agony the broken metal wrought on us. The adrenaline soared Basch on for more of the fight, his leg rose high and his knee whacked sharp against the guy's groin. As the guard doubled over in pain, (such sweet cries!) Basch slammed his hands on the back of his armour and flung the gasping man round behind him where Fran dispatched him with a single swipe of her sword. The splattering of his blood against Basch's skin was a joy to feel and did Basch seem to like it too?
With the amount of guards that were swarming towards us, it would have been impossible to have defeated them all. We would have surely died, but what Basch did next surely shocked me. Something which I never thought would happen. I did know he had been taught in the ways of the Quickenings, but as soon as he threw his next punch, I could not believe it.
On the moment of impact with the guard's stomach, there was a blast of pure darkness fire along with it. It wasn't powerful enough to blow a huge hole in the man's stomach, but it had enough force behind it, to send him flying. He, not I had summoned that power. A hume should not have been able to use my magic!
The brawl ensued, Basch only managing to avoid a few cuts from their weapons, and Fran helped with cutting a few of them down as well. I would not let him falter from our injuries, neither would the Viera, who used what little healing magics they could. The fight was like a swirl of blood and brawn meshing together. The rush was unbelievable, I felt joy of Basch's furious reactions combined with my power. The hits infused with pure seething darkness, dealt more damage than mere fists could do. I fuelled Basch on, I gave him as much as my strength as I could, and as each guard was dispatched by us or the Viera, I felt more powerful! We did.
The bleeding soles of Basch's feet suddenly ignited with black flames which coiled up his legs and twisted around his body. The power felt so great!
He pelted one foot out towards a guard. His foot cracked the man in the face, the fire swathing him melting the black helm that covered him. In the same fluid motion, Basch spun round and knocked another crashing into the wall. He barely ducked in time as a sword swiped by his head, such an action allowed the soldier to meet Mjrn's katana. As Basch rolled, I could see through his eyes that this Viera was not going to last long.
The sweat and adrenalin was something I was slowly beginning to grow accustomed to in humes. It fired him on even more and we were regaining more strength within us! I rejoiced at his barbarianism.
It was blur of how many we actually took out. Neither of us knew where we were going, but as we were confronted by even more soldiers, the floors and bulkheads of this vessel soon took an almighty pounding.
I unleashed a Darkja spell as powerful as I could through Basch's body. The floor rippled like the Sandsea in a storm and the bulkheads buckled under intense pressure. Explosions and choking smoke filled the air. Just like it had in Nalbina.
"Basch!"
Fran's voice sounded above the roaring force of the spell. It broke my concentration and slowly the assault died down. Basch turned round.
"You do not need to destroy the whole vessel! Don't let Zodiark take control over you!"
Take control?! Stupid Viera bitch. I was more than ready to turn my darkness on her, I even felt Basch's fist rise up, clenched and already igniting the darkness.
"Basch!" Was that real fear in the Viera's voice?
The fist lowered and Basch stumbled amongst the bodies still lying in the smoking corridor. He looked around, dazed and I felt the stinging in his eyes from the dense smoke.
"It is not him…nor I." he murmured. "It's….both of us."
Fran's eyes widened in astonishment, I felt Basch jerk suddenly at the sound of his voice, or was it mine? We both said the words, our voices spoke as one.
"No…." Both of us tried to deny the sound coming from Basch's lips, yet we synched too perfectly. "I will not become something other than me! I won't become you!"
"Then you must will it! Tell him you are Basch Fon Ronsenberg!" said Fran, taking hold of his hands. Her skin was cold and clammy, shaking but still with a strong firm grip. "You are Hume! A good man, not a being of darkness. Do not let Zodiark overwhelm you!"
We both attempted to wrench ourselves from her hold, angry and frightened at the same time. He was my host, but I was becoming more than just a mere presence within, more than just a guest sharing his physical form. I recalled all his memories, my own becoming degraded as I thought of them in pitiful Hume equivalents.
Ultima, I did not see her magnificent radiance, but only as she was now, with the face of his Dynast Queen. I remembered not my Angel's heavenly tones in my mind, but the hume female's voice in his ears...I was losing everything. My world, my existence was not the same. I hated it. I hated that Basch's inferior emotions were becoming mine. The compassion, the guilt and shame. Every good deed he did, every weak and pitiful feeling he had when he took a life.
"Fran…." Basch sagged against a twisted and broken wall. "I feel his rage…I can remember everything he's done. I know everything he is! I cannot help but be swept up in his essence. I can feel the dark…the shadows…his despair and love….."
"Ivalice is plunged in darkness." Fran said, "We must do what we can to bring it back into the light. The Goddess must be stopped and Zodiark may be the only one who can do this. You may be the only one."
"It's too much…" Basch's hands clasped at his tattered sweating hair and pulled. "He is far too strong for me."
"Basch…I have known a lot of humes, many are indeed weak, but I have never thought that of you….you are resilient and powerful, weakness is not who you are."
"I'm tired of being strong….so damned tired."
"Then accept the silence….." Mjrn's soft mutters caused both to look towards her, as she slumped down opposite Basch. "There is no more song. No more existence. There is no purpose for living. For any of us."
The poor wretched creature was shaking, staring at her katana which was caked in blood. Her own hands were doused with it and tears were streaming down her face. Now it seemed that Fran herself would cry. Their once pure magnificent souls were being tainted and stained just as mine was. With the Hume inferiority.
Golomore had wrecked a harsh punishment indeed on those who abandoned her, and now they would grow old and die, their long lives extinguished just like the rest of this world.
And for the first time, I realised…Basch was no immortal. He would not live forever and when he died, so too would I.
"Sister….." Fran knelt down next to her, and took hold of Mjrn's blood soaked hands. "There is still a little hope. We need to reach the great Crystal….we can…."
"You have hope, Fran." Mjrn whispered. "You have someone….he needs you as much as you do with him. I can see that you would not exist without him, even now in this state. Yet I have nothing. I cannot abide this change….I am not hume. I don't wish to be hume! I don't want to bleed hume blood."
"Those are your emotions talking!" snapped Fran and she held her sister's hands to her chest.
"Out of control Hume emotions!" Mjrn retorted fighting to pull away. "I want none of them! Before, Golomore gave us life, she was our mother and creator…but with her gone, I have no one!"
"You have me!" Fran squeezed her sister's hands with more force. "As long as I am here, I too shall give you strength! We can get through this change, this condition will be nothing if we are together!"
They were completely insane, their eyes were so bloodshot and their skin deathly pale, it might have been better if both of them did allow themselves to die.
I cursed myself for being so mean, though, I suspected that was actually Basch. Now, after she put us back together again, the fusing had changed between us. There would be no us and no difference. We would cease to be Basch or Zodiark….but someone else.
"We are both going to the Nexus….we have to do whatever we can to help Basch. Because everything that has happened is because of the Goddess, and he is the only one who can stop her! The first was the one who made Golomore do this, the Goddess was the one who killed her!"
"Don't keep saying that! I know the Wood is gone! It's absence is shredding me inside! But Fran…what can we do?"
"We can get out of here." Basch said. He was too polite in his words.
"Basch….Mjrn is…"
Fran didn't have time to coddle her sister now. For Basch already saw the second wave of these soldiers.
The need to get back to the fight fired that angry lust for inflicting pain within me. I know that if he stopped trying to resist me, if he let those moral barriers down for a second, we could soon blow this entire hull apart! Piece by piece!
Yet, he resisted still, despite his longing to give up.
I was about to unleash the magic again, when both of us realised the soldiers we were approaching weren't coming for us. In fact, they were battling unseen opponents. The ripple of the Darkja spell had gone on further than I thought, dealing great damage to the structure of the ship and reaching these soldiers even here. Whoever they were fighting, had taken full advantage of the spell's aftermath. The Archadians were not doing well.
"We must aid them!" growled Basch. He didn't wait for any response from the women and immediately charged forward. He was like a wrecking ball crashing into a solid wall, a whirlwind of black mist just enveloped those soldiers closest to us and the power crushed them before they could even respond.
However, another flame ripped across the corridor. A pure bright red and orange burst scorched with heat and there was a very familiar cry of triumph which followed the assault.
"It's Vaan!" Fran uttered.
To Basch, there was even more determination to help the young hume child. The clashing of swords and explosions of lesser magics drew Basch deeper into the fight. The enemy was to be stopped and more fighting was just what I had craved for.
As the soldiers and guards turned on us, Basch didn't hold back at all. His pounding fists did more damage than any of their weapons could, but new wounds, cuts and gashes were added to Basch's already doused body. Fran's magics were of little use, Mjrn had lost all of her abilities and was barely able to use her sword…weakening even more. The battle, bloody and heightened as it was…was as high a rush as I could feel with this existence. It roared in my soul as I brought order to chaos, once more.
"Gabranth!"
A wash of a powerful healing spell drifted over Basch, who turned round, whilst at the same time elbowing a weakened soldier in the face. The source of the spell had been Zargabaath. The Judge was fighting along side the Vaan boy and it seemed they too were barely managing to hold out.
"Thank you."
Even in the midst of a fight, Basch still had his manners. I despaired at such a trait. Yet as he muttered the words, both he and the Judge bowed in gratitude, then the bows suddenly became a quick duck to the ground, as at the same time Vaan let release another firaga spell. It exploded like a bomb above us and as Basch peered under his arm, he felt relief to see that both Fran and Mjrn had ducked to the floor as well. Anyone standing was taken out by the young hume's assault, burnt and defeated.
When the smoke cleared, there was silence, Basch got to his feet and helped both Fran and her sister as well. All around us were bodies of the Archadian soldiers, yet my pleasure in its sight was dampened once again by Basch's regret and sorrow. How could I possibly be myself when his feelings kept over taking me? I doubt that soon my feelings would matter.
"Right, that's them dealt with!" said Vaan, wiping at his tingling hands as the heat of the Firaga spell hadn't quite diminished. "What do you think? Another four hundred more to defeat before we reach the cells?"
Vaan turned to Basch and one of his confused and puzzled looks came across his youthful face. He scratched at his head and cleared his throat with an annoying cough.
"So…Basch….thanks for the help and…..is running around in your underwear the new fashion for you? Aren't you a bit cold?"
"What happened to you, Gabranth?" asked Zagarbaath as he finally took off his helm and wiped at his sweating brow.
Basch said nothing. There was no time to go into details for them, no time for rest. Every second spent trying to explain anything would be time lost to save Ashelia. So he headed off past the wreckage of my spell in search of the women.
"Hey Basch!" Vaan shouted after him. "We can't just run off! We have to find the others! And what about Fran and Mjrn……whoa……neither of them look well! They need to be treated, they need a rest!"
"No!" Basch stopped in mid stride. "We need to find Ashelia! She is….."
"Basch!" Zargabaath grabbed hold of his shoulder only to be viciously shrugged off. "The women need medical treatment! They will only be fatigued further if we…."
"It is not safe in this area!" said Basch more gruffly than normal. "I need to find Ashelia immediately!"
"We know where she has been taken." The older man replied.
"WHERE??"
Neither one of us could contain our outburst. Both of our voices roared together again.
"Holy crap!" Vaan jumped away from him, a sword he had confiscated off a soldier pointing directly at Basch's chest. "You spoke just like those freaky kids!!"
Kids? There were others who also had my kind possessing them?
"His body also holds an Esper inside." said Fran as she gripped painfully at her abdomen, wincing at her pains. "Zodiark has done so since we faced the Keeper in Henne. They are in symbiosis."
Vaan wasn't sure at first. I could see something was troubling him greatly, but then he just nodded as if some vast unanswered problem had finally been solved.
"Well….yeah…..I knew Basch could be a little cranky, but I had noticed that he was even more so after the mines. Now I know why. This does shed some light on the matter."
Cranky?? This is not cranky, kid, this is way beyond cranky! This is seriously pissed off! Neither Basch nor I would stand any more time of the futile time wasting. Basch edged forward, his fists clenched with frustration at his sides, and a scowl harsh upon his face.
"Where is Ashelia? If you know, we will have you tell us, Vaan….tell us now!!"
Vaan held the sword out again towards Basch and jabbed the tip of the blade on his chest. His eyes furrowed and his jaw tensed with strong determination. He wasn't going to back down.
"Ashe has been taken to the Great Crystal. Larsa is with her too. Basch, there was this woman…just like Arla….she is the one who…"
"Ashe is alive?"
"Sure she is." Vaan nodded. "But she is not herself, Basch."
"Then we go to her, NOW!"
Basch brushed away the blade, his palm sliced by it's sharpness, but Vaan was quicker. He moved in front of him, still holding the sword steady, and with his free hand, he gave Basch a hard shove.
"Hey, no!" Vaan growled. "I know you want to get her and we will!! But Fran and Mjrn are on the verge of collapsing here! You don't know what they're going through, how its really affecting them! Let's get them to a medical bay and tend to them! Then we can find Penelo and Balthier and we can all go and save the Queen together!"
"He is right." said Zargabaath.
"We don't need your help for any of this."
Basch and I were more than capable of killing anything in our path by ourselves. These stupid shits would only get in the way, hinder us.
"Ashelia needs us."
"Us? That voice is really starting to annoy me!" Vaan sneered, shoving Basch back once more. The sword was now at a very stable hold by my host's throat. "Let me talk to him! I want to talk to Basch, the hume…the big guy! The one who actually gives a damn about others! I want to speak to him, Zodiark, before I go all holy on you!"
I should have snapped his fucking neck in a second, but my anger at such audacity was quelled by my host. He was still clinging on to all his niceties and polite manners as best he could, but I knew that he had briefly thought of shoving the boy aside and leaving them all. I was shunned back by Basch and I allowed it as I felt again his shame for thinking of such a thing towards Vaan. It was pathetic.
"Vaan…." Basch's head dropped and he sighed. "Forgive me. It is difficult to keep any kind of control over Zodiark. I am finding it difficult to be myself….I fear I'm becoming lost….."
I noticed he didn't say to Vaan that he had wanted to leave. His comforting words to his "friend" made the smile return on Vaan's face, ten fold, and his sword now propped over his own shoulder. .
"No problems….the Basch I know wouldn't leave us like this." he said. "You never once abandoned any of us all those years ago."
"Aye…..I will not do so now, Vaan."
Basch looked to Fran and Mjrn and without saying anything further, he checked over the weakest of the two. She was still shaking and now he could see that her own blood was staining and stanching her leather skirt. She was sweating heavily so Basch picked up Mjrn and settled her into a comfortable position in his arms. The Viera/Hume just went limp in his hold as he began to walk off again. "Zagabaath….will you carry Fran?"
"I can walk….." said Fran sternly. She staggered and almost hit the floor, but the other Judge Magister grabbed her before she could. His hand gently rested against her elbow, and eased her into an upright position.
"Allow me to help you." said the old man. "The medical bays are a few floors below us and…."
"Balthier is there." Basch stated. "He was taken from my cell and sent to recover there. I believe Penelo and Jiiryn are with him."
"Balthier……" I saw the spark in Fran's eyes, the glistening tears pooled with such choking emotion that for a brief moment, she found some strength within. "You have seen him?"
I felt Basch's struggle. The guilt of Balthier's beating…for it was his anger that had pummelled the sky pirate to a bloody pulp, not mine. I felt the guilt he still harboured, for having hated the creature's partner.
"I saw him, Fran." Basch looked away from Fran's questioning red eyes. Yet he said nothing further. He wasn't about to mention that he was he reason why Balthier needed to receive medical aid and that it was he who beat the younger man to within an inch of his life. Both of us still raged at the other man for shooting Ashelia in the first place. If it wasn't for that shit…..we wouldn't be here.
"Then we must go." Fran replied weakly.
"Quickly!" Vaan said. "The alarm to this ship must have been knocked out by that Darkja spell, but that doesn't mean more soldiers won't be coming."
"Zagabaath….carry Fran." Basch said. "We're going now! Vaan, keep at point….use your….."
Vaan raised both his hands and wiggled his fingers.
"Fire spells! All ready, Basch! Plenty of magics still left in me yet!"
Does he have to be so cheerful like that? Ugh!
We all moved away at a quick pace, Basch and the other Judge carrying the frail Viera. Vaan went ahead and disposed of any further soldiers that we came across.
The resistance put up from the remainders of these hume weaklings was nothing but an annoyance. Vaan's flaming magics were of some help, but I still had to lend my strength to finish them off. With Mjrn in Basch's arms, it wasn't as easy to fight, but we managed to descend to the lower levels of the ship to the medical bays. As we approached the bright hygienic and spotless white corridors, both my host and I sensed that something was wrong.
In any Archadian airship as large as this one, the medical bays were often well manned by the appropriate personnel. Healers and nurses were always around, even some minor ranked soldiers would be on guard for security. Yet there was no one. It was all empty. There was only the harsh horrible white corridors and the crisp clean wards with machines next to the beds. There were long rows of glass cabinets containing potions, elixirs and other assorted items, running along the walls. The colourful liquids reflected spiralling patterns and smatterings of colours on the bare white walls, a kaleidoscope of potions mixed and churning before us. It reminded me a little of home.
Basch squinted, sensing too that the illuminations in this area wasn't as it should be. It hurt his eyes and a cold sweating shiver was dousing us. I knew straight away, this medical bay was tinted with holy. How, I didn't know, but it was because of me. They knew that it would weaken both of us, and so it would have kept us docile if we ever needed to come here.
"Treat them, Zagarbaath." Basch said, placing Mjrn onto one of the beds. "As much as you can."
"I can cure their wounds…but whatever has changed them like this will be beyond my aid."
"There is nothing he can do for us." Fran uttered softly as she was lain on a bed next to her sister. She peered down at her own blood stained legs and her face turned in disgust at the stale stench that assaulted her nose. It was affronting all of us.
"He will do what he can…" Basch pinched his nose and rubbed harshly at his stinging eyes. The holy was emitting from the lights, and neither of us could stand being here much longer. "Vaan…we shall find Penelo, Balthier and Jiiryn. They must be here somewhere."
"I don't know the lay out of Archadian ships very well Basch. Where else could they be?" asked Vaan, watching as Zagabaath began to collect some hi-potions from the cabinets.
Both of the judges gave each other a look before Basch moved over to the door of the ward. He leaned against the frame and tried to ignore the annoying pain from medicals holy bathing. I just wanted to get out of there. I couldn't concentrate or focus….there was no need to fucking stay here!
Then we both remembered.
The crash site of the Strahl, both Balthier and Penelo had died. We had seen their bodies and the lack of their life, but Ashelia…she brought them back. Ultima used her magics and brought them back, but there would be a price. There was always a price, not even I could bring back the dead without something going terribly wrong. It was as nature designed it.
"They will not be here then." Basch spoke. "Just a few sectors along from here, there are also some laboratories. Science rooms dedicated to medical research. Jiiryn could have been taken to one such place, she could be experimented on because of her condition."
"Experimented on??" Vaan cried out. "Then what the hell is Penny doing down there too?!"
Are you going to tell him Basch? I wondered if he would say anything about how Penelo's dead body had been found, covered in blood and void of any soul? How Ashelia brought her back?
"I know not."
Liar. Basch knows full well that although she had not shown any signs of abnormality like Balthier had, it would only be a matter of time before she did. Nature never let anything come back without taking some kind of payment.
"Then I'm not hanging around!" Vaan rushed out to the corridor, looking either way in a frantic worry. "I'm not going to let them do anything to her! Basch…I can't let anything happen to her! Please, we gotta find Penelo."
What did I care really for the little hume girl that so smittened Vaan? She was not Ashelia, she held no Esper soul inside of her nor could she do anything to help me stop the First and exact my revenge. She was no one to me. None of them were. Only Ashelia…..only the Dynast Queen.
"I will take you to them…" Basch agreed. "And I too hope that nothing has happened to her."
"I…." Vaan gripped hard at his sword, his sweating hands wringing the handle of it nervously. His head bowed, his blonde hair flopping over his face. "I promised her Basch….when we were younger and living in low town…when her family died. I promised I would look after her…keep her safe. I can't let anything happen to her…I don't know what I would do if…."
"I understand." Basch nodded and then began to proceed further down the corridor, with Vaan behind him. It wasn't far and thankfully the sickening holy that emanated from the lights weren't in the ones that lit up these corridors. Even the walls seemed darker and ominous and upon reaching a corner, I sensed the presence of guards.
Looking round, carefully edged up against the wall so as not to reveal ourselves, both Basch and Vaan saw several armed soldiers outside the labs. There were even a couple more Judges. Basch recognised none of them, so was being far more cautious.
Damn this. No more wasting time. Enough of his concerns or fears, we had to get out of here as soon as possible, I wasn't going to let him keep me back any more.
The black fireball ignited around Basch's clenched fist and before he could even restrain himself, I used as much strength as I could to propel the darkness towards the unsuspecting soldiers. The Darkness slid from our fingers and soared through the air, sapping up any light in it's path. The corridor was plunged into black and there was a chill that followed it in it's wake. The spell hit the soldiers with a heavy and powerful blow which dropped them to the floor, where they remained, completely incapacitated. They would feel their life drained, all hope would be gone. They would suffer in the depths of their misery, afraid and despaired, before death would take them.
Basch traipsed through the bodies, looking down at some of them and wondering those same damned thoughts he did every time. Who were the men behind those masks? Did they have families, loved ones they held so dear, and if so why then did they go against their Emperor and their country? Were they really all that bad? I used to think it all worthless to contemplate, humes were humes…they died so easily and for so little. Their lives meant nothing. Yet as I kept telling myself this, I was inundated with Basch's sentiments and found myself asking those very same questions. The confusion and intermingling of his inferior thoughts with mine was putting a strain on the both of us.
"This way!" Vaan had opened the doors that the guards had been so inept at keeping secure, to reveal a downward sloping corridor. It was devoid of light except for the small dark blue illuminations emanating from thin strips in the walls. Shadows spread everywhere amongst the gloom and it was so inviting. Basch followed the young hume child and his strides on the metal floor were heavy, pounding with haste. As he brushed passed Vaan, I could feel Basch's body tense and his heart was racing and pumping with adrenalin.
At the bottom of the slope, there was a doorway with a single window at the top, from which a light was pulsing with a steady beat. There was the sound of machinery inside and voices. Vaan paused with the sword ready to attack anyone threatening behind that door, he looked at Basch and I could see a very dedicated gaze back from him. If anyone was hurting his hume friend…then something terrible and uncontrollable would unleash from within. There was a fury inside that made me respect the boy more.
He had crouched down and waited for a signal from Basch. We walked up and peered through the small slit window at the top of the door. I couldn't make out anything because of the flashing lights, but Basch nodded, and reached out a hand to touch the metal.
The door blew inwards under an explosion of arcana and we all rushed in. What awaited before us was a sight even I never expected.
The room was a large domed laboratory, with observation levels high above the main floor. There were four main examination tables, surrounded by electronic devices and screens. Work benches were littered with surgical instruments, yet they looked like torture devices, most with sharp and serrated edges and others sparking and cracking with electricity. In this entire room, I saw teams of Archadian scientists, wearing protective clothing and cloth masks covering their faces. Blood stained them all, it pooled and spattered on the floor and the coppery smell was so pungent in the air that I could taste it on Basch's lips.
But the scientists weren't the only ones who were here. There were more soldiers, and in their hands, they held not swords or weapons normally known to humes. It was something else.
Vicious long shock sticks were buzzing with energy, beating a steady but vibrant white mist through the clear cylinders and on one end there was a very long thin serrated needle. This was beyond what humes were capable of and I knew that one jab from that thing and we would be rendered useless.
The screeching alarm kicked in only a few seconds after the explosion of the door . The scientists in their shock panicked and backed away from the work benches and us.
A very shocking sight met our eyes when we saw who was on those metal slabs.
The three of them were naked upon the beds, their modesty only covered by thick leather straps. They were covered in blood yet there did not appear to be any signs of actual cuts on their forms. It was clear to both Vaan and Basch that Balthier, Penelo and Jiiryn had been more than tortured and experimented on. They had been violated in ways that only sick scientists could have done.
"PENELO!"
Vaan's face had turned a deep crimson red, his eyes couldn't gaze away from the sight of the little blonde thing, swathed in red and unconscious upon a harsh metal bed. He held up his sword and as the nearest soldier approached him, there wasn't any thought at all. Vaan just cut him down with a single swipe, and the armour might as well have not been there.
Then I was shown once again the real hume vigour, a rage just like Basch's, when someone so dear has been violated. The young muscled lad was now just as incensed as my host, as he ran straight to the swarm of soldiers and was swinging his sword in heavy and aggressive sweeps. As he fought, his angry croaking cries roared above the clashing of metal, and a bitter chill formed in the air, as the mist began to swirl around his body. A deep fiery red.
"Vaan!"
The young hume child wasn't listening, he had gone mad with rage, tears were gushing down his red face and he wasn't going to stop for anyone. Basch knew that if he didn't help, Vaan would not be able to take them all by himself.
So grabbing a soldier and wrenching the strange weapon from his hands, Basch smashed the butt of the shock stick with brutal force to the other man's stomach. That soldier collapsed to the ground, and we then immediately spun to tackle the others coming from behind. Three or four more tried to contain us, the strange weapons they had desperately tried to pierce Basch's skin, but we were too quick; ducking, dodging and turning, always preventing those shock sticks from taking us down. These soldiers were very skilled at their fighting, much more so than the ones we dispatched earlier, but none of them quite held up to us.
It was two against a crowd. A sword and flaming crushing fists unleashed untold damage. The and wonderful sounds as screams, snapping of bone and the tearing of metal and flesh, sung beautifully in my head, but the mist would do far worse.
The mist was very potent in this room, it was thick, sweet to my senses and so powerful as both these humes began to swell with its magnificence. Fire and darkness, red and black mist ebbed through us…through them….oh sweet Ultima…this felt powerful!
Basch's clenched fists cracked the very fabric in the air, each pound at the frosting mist shattered it like glass. Whilst at the same time, two large roaring spheres of fire were orbiting the two the humes, protecting them as the quickening powered up. The devastating Pyroclasm, once it reached full strength, Vaan would leave this lab a mass of scorching cinders. The look of shock on the scientists faces showed that they had not expected any of this. Especially not from these two.
One man stood out from the others, he pushed some of his quivering colleagues in front of him and barked loudly above the roar of the charging mist.
"Cripple Ronsenberg!" he yelled, as he tried to scramble as far away from the two men as possible. "Do not kill him! We need Zodiark intact!"
Oh do they now?!
The quickenings were almost to explosion point, the huge balls of fire that floated near Vaan were ready to be unleashed, and already the Impediment Ruin was allowing the dark mists to seep in through the cracks Basch's fists had made. The coward of a man who was trying to further his distance from them, had made himself a target. The man had some knowledge of magic, as now holy light began to ebb from his fingertips.
Both Vaan and Basch stormed towards the screaming panicking man, a sword and a pair of pummelling fists dispatching those who couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
I could see in the young boy's mind, exactly what he was feeling.
"You're the man in charge….you did this to Penelo…to all of them! I can't let you get away with that!"
The anger was sweating off him, I could taste it in the air with the wrathful sharpness of the mist. Basch could feel it too. His mind was buzzed, a tremendous high coursed through us both.
Yet the Ruin was never completed, a sharp agonising pain jabbed with driving force into Basch's back. Basch crashed down to the floor, the holy shock stick still jarred deep into his flesh and forcing the magic straight into his system.
The screams that left his mouth was from both of us, as the holy magic ran like liquid hot lava through Basch's veins. The room became a haze, a blur of confusion and dizziness, then the cold metal of the floor met Basch's face with a loud crunch.
The pain overtook us both, just as an explosion of a mist charged Pyroclasm roared in Basch's throbbing ears.
"YOU'RE GOING DOWN!"
There was a blast of scolding heat…then nothing.
0000000000000
Vision came back to us slowly. Sound was muffled and distant. There was crying…heart wrenching sobs combined with the blurred vision of black smoke and flickering blue lights.
When Basch had opened his eyes, it was to meet a very unexpected sight.
She was covered in sweat and blood, her long soaking silvery hair clung to her face, neck and back yet her eyes were staring down at us with grave concern and worry. The Viera's claws were raking through his hair, whilst another hand touched at his cheek. She was whispering in her old native tongue, words I knew to be more than just those of concern or comfort. When Basch didn't respond, she clung onto him even more tightly.
"Basch….can you hear me?" her soft voice whispered into his ear.
The feeling of her naked skin against his own felt cold and slick, she was shivering yet the heat in the air was sweltering. Basch moved his head up, his face mere inches from the Viera's.
"Basch….."
The choking and coughing spluttered in Basch's throat.
"Ashelia…" He gasped for air. "Ashe…my angel…."
The look of disappointment and sorrow displayed upon the Viera's face invoked such shame in my host. Both of us knew how this creature felt, I recalled Basch's past, those times they had spent together. She had become more hume with his company and he had wanted to love her back, but he was not capable of it.
She had to let him go. A decision that changed both of their lives.
He now loved another yet Jiiryn never stopped loving him.
I felt it all. I experienced Basch Fon Ronsenberg's deepest regrets and fondness for this changed Viera child and I began to feel my own perspective of home and my senses distorted. I was becoming Basch….I felt so sorry for Jiiryn. Pity and regret.
I lifted Basch's hand to her cheek.
"I'm sorry. For everything, Jiiryn."
"PENNY!!"
The crying horrified yell jolted Basch out of her arms and we could see the full extent of the wreckage.
The Pyroclasm had been total. The laboratory was a mass of twisted metal and smoking black charred remains, bodies lay crumpled on the ground, dead and unmoving. Yet the three beds in the centre were left undamaged.
Vaan was standing over one of them, cradling and holding Penelo's still unconscious body in his arms, stroking her blood stained hair with a shaking hand and choking on his gasping hacking breaths.
"Penelo! Wake up! Please! Wake up!!" He pressed his face against hers, his lips pressing deep against her cheeks. Still there was no response from the young girl. Vaan looked round to Basch, his eyes red and swollen with tears. "Basch!! She's not moving! She's not waking up!!"
Basch squirmed in Jiiryn's hold. As she still tried to keep him rested, Basch resisted even more and pulled himself to unstable feet. He staggered to Vaan's side and tried to check her vitals. Vaan didn't want to loosen his hold, but a single hand on his chest pushed him away.
"She lives." Basch uttered groggily. "But she is weak. Vaan, we shall take her back to the medical bay…"
"I…I…I can't lose her, Basch."
"Then do right by her and take her there now. Zargabaath and Fran can help."
"I can too, Basch."
Jiiryn stood tall and strong behind them, caring not for her shivering naked form. But the determination in her red eyes didn't reveal her weakness from a moment ago.
"I will take her back." Jiiryn spoke softly.
"No!" Vaan scooped Penelo up in his arms and headed towards the door. "No one else even comes close to her! Not now! Not until I know she is safe."
He didn't get very far. As soon as Vaan reached the door, his path was blocked as two Viera and one Judge Magister were shoved in straight into him. The resulting jolt woke Penelo suddenly, her face contorted with horror and fear. Her body began to flail frantically to get out of Vaan's grip, so much so that Vaan had difficulty to keep her still.
However, the presence of Fran and the others was not good news at all. They were shoved so hard through the broken door and were followed by some more Archadian soldiers and one Judge, This metal clad Magister was not like the others we had encountered, there was something not right with him.
"Will someone sedate that girl?" came the deep muffled voice.
"You won't touch her!" yelled Vaan as Penelo wrapped her shaking arms around his neck. Vaan's comforting hold seemed to settle her screams down to a gentle sob, but she was still shaking so much. "Any of you touch her and all that will be left of you will be a pair of smoking boots!"
The Judge laughed at such a statement and with a wave of his hand indicated for the others to try and take Penelo off him, but both Basch and Zargabaath stood in front of them, blocking them off from the young humes.
"We will not let you inflict any more harm on this young lady!" said Zargabaath.
"Your resistance is meaningless." replied the other judge. "All of you, will now accompany us off this ship."
"You're not going to make us do anything!" said Vaan.
"None of you have a choice." The Judge approached Basch and the eyeless helm gazed back at my host. "Least of all you, Captain Fon Ronsenberg. But I know you will come quietly…your queen is waiting for you."
Ashelia!
Both our desperate urges made us lunge forward, but the Judge cracked his metal gauntlet across his face. The sharp metal edge of the glove slit deep across Basch's brow, tearing his old scar open.
"You bastard!" Vaan cried. He tried to get to my host's aid, but Penelo squeezed him hard and murmured something in his ear.
But the Judge was given an equal harsh blow back. A metal bar whacked the judge hard in the ribs and he went crashing down to the ground. Through blood, I saw the man who had did it…rather too much of him. The other solders apprehended him with rough restraints but he gave little resistance back. He looked awful. His skin was tinged with red, just as the others, his bearded face was pale, but his eyes seemed….hollow.
"Balthier!"
Fran rushed over to him, but she was dragged roughly back by the other soldiers. But by then, it was already too late. The Viera, no matter how she was changed and altered on the inside, she was still very perceptive. As I sensed the fog inside her pirate's mind…she saw the blank and confused gaze in his sullen eyes.
"Balthier!"
He wasn't responding to that name. He didn't know who he was.
The Viera's red tears trickled down her cheeks.
"Balthier….."
The last of her hope diminished.
"Take them all away." said the Judge, as he got to his feet. "And someone get them clothes!"
"One moment, please Magister"
The voice.
Basch recognised it. As he wiped the blood away from his face, he saw in the doorway, a small figure standing amongst the shadows and flickering light. It was the child.
As he stepped forward and out of the shadows, the young boy was immediately recognisable, though no blonde hair adorned his head. It was black as black, but there was no mistaking who he looked like. There was no mistaking that this hume child was also someone else. Someone I didn't want to confront.
The boy walked straight up to us , smiled and extended his tiny little hand.
"Uncle Basch. It's so wonderful to meet you at last."