A/N - I've taken a while to add a new chapter, as I've corrected an error I made in my original upload of chapter 2. It was a screwup as a result of not playing the actual game in a few years. Never fear, mistakes have been atoned for, and the story is back on track. Please enjoy! - Triad
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"Do you really need all this crap, Ed?" I whined, three duffle bags worth of industrial equipment hanging off my shoulders and arms while I walked like a hobbling penguin through the snow.
"Oh come on, you're a big boy." He smirked at me over his shoulder. Jerk. He was only carrying one bag, and it looked like a light one at that. Probably just his saw. He didn't trust anyone else with that baby. We trekked through the entrance of the mines.
I breathed hard. I'd run thirty miles up and down hill and hadn't had a second to rest, and now I was in for a night of heavy lifting in the dark mines. I curled my toes to avoid stepping on the rapidly forming blisters. No matter how good your shoes are, you'll blister up after a day like mine.
My stomach growled in frustration. It was seriously missing Leila and her cooking. If you're as active of a person as I am, you really regiment what and when you eat. Your body learns to adapt to a precise schedule. When you mess it up, it's not happy. It was letting me know. I hadn't even realized Edgar was talking.
"So, did you notice?" He asked me, stepping over a puddle in the mines.
"Notice what?"
"She's stick thin. It's awful." I didn't realize he was talking about Terra until I thought about it.
"Nah, I didn't." I lied. I felt it when I picked her up, but I didn't really feel like talking about Terra with Edgar. Talking about any woman with my brother was always a drag, full of condescending advice and ridiculous anecdotes. It was like talking about booze with a wine snob.
"Poor girl looks like she hasn't eaten or slept in days. And were those Arvis' clothes she was wearing?"
"Who knows…maybe she doesn't have anything warm."
"I tell you, she just needs someone to take care of her." I rolled my eyes. I saw this coming. I slung one of the bags off my shoulder and hung it at the full extent of my arm, giving my back a break.
"I'm sure you're up for the job." I said, blandly. He was quiet for a minute.
"It's not her fault, really." He went on. "She's a little bit of an oddball. She's caught between two worlds, even though the Esper part of her is gone. She's not entirely human on the inside."
"Oh, so you know what she's like on the inside, huh? So that's what this is about." I joked. Get over yourself, man. He scoffed at me.
"You're so corny. You don't think I genuinely care about our friend?"
"Hey, whatever, I'm not one to judge."
"She's had a rough life, she shouldn't spend so much time alone." He mused.
"I'm sure you care, you should probably tell her that or something."
"These things must be handled delicately." He said, very matter-of-factly, pointing up ahead. Arvis and Terra had built a small fire in the hallway near the plaque on the wall. They were standing around it, waiting for us to come back. I didn't know if they could see us coming up the hall from outside the flickering globe of firelight. I whistled like a train, cracking the silence off the cave walls. Terra and Arvis jumped, startled. She drew her clear, crystalline longsword off her hip, holding it delicately, her eyes darting around the darkness.
I walked ahead of Edgar, into the light. She immediately relaxed upon seeing me, tipping her blade down to the floor. I sighed immensely and let all three bags slide gently off my arms onto the cold, damp rock floor. Edgar set his bag down near the wall and immediately knelt down next to it, rummaging through it. I sat down on one of my duffels, hard mechanical parts poking me in the legs and ass. I winced, but it was less painful than standing at this point.
Terra bent at the waist and handed me a canteen of water. It was half empty. I reflexively chugged it down in a matter of a few seconds, swallowing loudly. The warmth from the fire began to thaw the skin on my face. It was painful but soothing. It was the first break I'd had all day. I mentally prepared myself to work through the night as Edgar began drawing long chalk lines on the stone wall of the cave.
"Sir Sabin Rene, wake up!" Arvis nudged me with his cane. I jolted awake, feeling the cramp in my neck. I blinked, finding everything as it was before I closed my eyes. Had I really fallen asleep, propped up against the duffel bags full of drill bits and jackhammer attachments?
I then noticed, that everything was, in fact, not as it was before I closed my eyes. In the space where Edgar had been drawing lines was a gap. Eight feet by four feet and it went deep into the wall, further than I could see from this angle.
"I can't believe you can sleep through that racket, young man!" Arvis chuckled.
"I grew up around it…" I shrugged. Edgar would often saw and pound away in his workshop into the wee hours of the morning, sometimes for days on end without sleep. In bed in the room directly under across the hall, I learned to deal with it. I can sleep through anything.
"Well, come on now, have a look!" Arvis limped into the opening in the wall, stepping over the chunks of rock that were scattered all over the floor. I grunted loudly and hopped to my feet, my muscles just starting to relax and cramp up from the days exhaustion. I walked like I was a rusted tin man toward the opening.
Inside, Edgar was holding up a torch over Terra's shoulder. He was sweating and covered in sooty rock dusk. The light glinted off an icy surface at the end of the tunnel, about ten feet in from the opening. I squinted to get a better look.
Through the ice I could make out a darkly armored figure, arms crossed over its chest, a pole-axe or a halberd in its grasp. Gideon was some sort of entombed warrior.
"A knight, perhaps." Edgar said quietly to her. She nodded. "Figaro's the nearest kingdom, maybe he was one of ours. I could look through our records when I get back."
She slowly reached out and put her hand on the ice, dragging it slowly down the surface. I could hear her barely mumbling to herself, unable to make out what she was saying. Maybe she was talking to Gideon. I knew she was desperately hoping he was an Esper, that there still could be the possibility that the power of magic still existed without Kefka.
"He's frozen solid" Edgar remarked to her. "If we get him out of here, I can defrost him safely back at Figaro Castle."
"You might want to secure him first, what if he's alive?" I called over their shoulders. Edgar looked at me, a little annoyed.
"Sure, that too. Good to see you're with us again, Sabe." I smirked in return, breaking into a yawn. I slapped my hands together, rubbing the moisture out of them.
"So, we gonna yank this bad boy out of here or what?"
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"C'mon you fuckin'…mother…God…damn!" I hissed in agony as I bucked my hips upward against the rope tied tight around my waist. Terra was embarrassedly smiling like a little kid listening to the bad words coming out of my mouth. I habitually cursed when I had to do a real heavy lift. It was an ugly habit but there are worse ones.
Both hands wrapped around the tough fiber cord, I dug my feet into the cold dirt and arched my back again, pulling with all my force. Edgar had driven two spikes into the ice and had cut slopes into the top and bottom to make it easier for me to yank it out of the hole. I'm sure it made a difference, but I was having a hell of a time.
I panted, my back aching from the tension, even though I was super careful not to round it or anything. I was pulling this thing with picture perfect form, but it still hurt like a mother. I looked at Edgar, who was hiding a smile.
"Am I even moving this thing at all?"
"Yeah, looks like you're about half a foot out, Sabe. Need some water?" I shook my head at him. I steadied my feet in the spiked stirrup type things he gave me to dig into the floor, and I arched again, letting out a few more sailor cusses under my breath.
Lean, I had to lean back farther. I locked my abdomen tight and pulled with my core, my arms and legs locked in position. I opened my eyes for a second and I could see an upside-down Terra watching carefully. I tensed my neck so tight my head could've popped off.
"It's moving, Sabin!" She yelled, ecstatic.
"Breathe, keep pulling!" Edgar smiled, genuinely impressed. "Let's go, world's strongest man. Breathe." I mustered a grin, repositioning my hands. Pull, God damn it, pull!
I grunted my way into a scream and started taking steps, the enormous chunk of ice following me toward the opening in the cave wall. Pieces of the ceiling were dropping in black chunks around the ice block. Closer to the light, I could see the gloomy vent in his big helmet, his very imposing armor. He obviously was trying to make a statement, this Gideon.
I fell on my ass in exhaustion after I'd dragged the damn thing three feet forward in one straight pull. Terra and Edgar helped me up to my feet and walked me back down to the fire.
"I'm so out of shape." I laughed in between gasps. Terra tried to give me some water but I waved it away. I would have vomited if I drank anything after that kinda strain.
"Take your time." She said, softly, rubbing my neck and traps with surprisingly strong fingers. My eyes fluttered a little, unintentionally. I mean, she really dug her fingertips into the muscles themselves. I could have sworn they were the hands of one of my students, judging by the grip. I groaned and hung my head down, letting her wring me out like a dish towel. I felt like I could fall asleep right there as she squeezed all the tension out of my neck. What a woman. Maybe Edgar was onto something.
"You ready yet?" Edgar said, a little impatiently, after a moment. "We still have to hurry. Right Arvis?" The old man must've nodded or shrugged because he didn't say anything. I opened my eyes as Terra relaxed her long fingers and slid them off me. I sighed. Man, why'd she have to stop?
I walked sluggishly back to the opening once again, shrugging my shoulders, getting the blood working again. I picked up the long cord and looped it around my waist, waiting for Edgar to tie some super-complicated knot at the back. I heard a rumble in the tight space inside the wall.
"Ed, could this thing be collapsing?" I asked, taking an uneasy step back.
"No…it's a cave, the ice isn't holding anything up…"
"Something in the wall is moving." I stated, emphatically. I stood there, listening. My heart started picking up it's pace. The ice budged. At least, I thought it did. Then it was suddenly sliding toward me with a gravelly rumble.
"Woah, guys, move!" I scrambled back, twisting my ankle as the spiked stirrup on my boot dug into the floor and stubbornly held tight. "Shit!" I hissed, yanking it free as my ankle panged in sharp discomfort. I ran on all fours like a bear out of the opening as the three of them stumbled back out of my way.
"It's moving? On its own?" Edgar craned his head in front of the opening as I went past. He quickly pulled away as the knight entombed in ice slid into view. Terra grabbed Arvis and pulled him aside. We watched in stunned disbelief as the eight-foot-tall, four-foot-wide cube of ice slid completely out of the opening into the tunnel.
"What the hell?" I mused, baffled.
"What the hell…" Edgar agreed. Terra took a careful step around the back, looking deep into the ice, her hands pressed against it, like she was trying to feel through the thick frozen wall between her and the dead guy.
"Who are you…" She whispered to him. I looked at her, trying to read her solemn face. She was so hard to read, and I sucked at reading people.
"M-Miss Branford! TERRA!" Arvis stuttered his way to a cracked scream. I jumped as his voice echoed sharply off the rock walls into my ears. I looked frantically around, panicked.
In the opening of the wall, maybe six feet off the ground, this thing was hanging in the looming darkness. It was long and snakelike, and made of jagged stone. It had black gaps for eyes, and fangs that jutted in horrible random directions out of its deformed mouth. It was suspended in the air a few feet from Terra, its jaw slack.
She turned around in a blur, a full second before my paralysis faded. She instantly reared up against the ice, fumbling for her sword. I swore I could hear her heart nearly break through her ribcage. It opened its jaw wider and let out a sound.
It was like the plates of the earth shifting. Like two huge pillars of unpolished rock grinding together. It rattled the marrow in my bones. I bit down on my tongue frantically.
The pain snapped me out of it. I lunged forward.
"Sabin, get her out of there!" Edgar yelled, pull-starting his saw. I yanked my feet up and down, fighting the damned spikes that were sticking into the floor with each step. I jumped and kicked one of them into the ice, vaulting up in the air, my fist cocked back.
I crushed it right at the tip of the nose, my waist turning behind the punch. Rock dust billowed on the impact. I landed in front of Terra, looking up at the tiny spider-web cracks I made in the surface of its head. The head jerked toward me blindingly fast. It opened its mouth wide again and made that rock grinding sound. I seriously almost pissed myself.
"Sabin!" Terra shoved me aside, swinging her crystal longsword in a hard overhand arc, sparks glinting of its long craggy neck. I rolled to my feet as she covered me. My ankle screamed in pain. I frustratedly kicked one of the stirrups off. These things were going to get me killed.
With ridiculously scary agility, this thing started bobbing and weaving its ugly head as Edgar and Terra took swings at it with their weapons. It really didn't seem to like the look of Edgar's roaring saw.
"Sabin!" Edgar growled in frustration, glancing at me sitting on my ass. I frantically kicked at the second stirrup. Edgar swung for the fence with his saw, causing the serpent to buck against the wall, lunging down across the floor out of the way. Right toward me.
Terra shouted surprisingly forcefully as she cut down with both hands into it's long neck, more sparks flying. Sharp fragments of stone plates slid off where she hacked it. It didn't stop it, though.
I put my feet up like a cat, instinctively, putting anything between me and it as it barreled down the mine floor toward me. It opened its disgusting beaklike mouth with teeth pointing every which way as it bore down on me. I pushed off the cave wall and kicked up with my one spiked boot, puncturing the hard roof of its mouth. I grabbed two of its jagged bottom teeth and pushed hard, trying to force it's mouth open. I could hear it grind in pain. I swiveled my foot around inside it's mouth, digging deeper. Suffer, you bastard.
It was my hurt ankle, the one I was digging into it with. Forget the pain, fight. The pain faded. My ankle began to tingle, and soon I could barely feel it anymore as I hung on, my body thrashed around by the struggling monster. Edgar was cutting a swath in it with his saw, Terra was hacking chunks out of it as I struggled with its freakish mouth.
With another grinding roar, it whipped its head side to side and recoiled back into the wall. I was shaken free; I spun like a corkscrew in midair and flopped down, my palms reflexively slapping the floor as I hit, my wrists relaxed. I grunted as a little of the wind was slammed out of my diaphragm, but I could have fallen a lot harder. A split-second later, I jumped up on my numb ankle, and pursued the retreating rock snake. Terra slashed the air near its darting head. It snapped its erratic teeth in return and sucked back into the wall, out of her reach. I ducked under her sword and ran through the opening.
Where the tomb of ice was, was a long winding tunnel that went down a few feet into absolute blackness. I could hear this awful thing rushing backward down the tunnel. I stared down into it for a moment, letting my adrenaline peak and drop. I limped backward on my one spiked boot. The three of us stood, unsure of what to say.
"Mordris…" Arvis mumbled, standing up. He'd dove for cover at the start of the fight and laid with his head covered until it was over.
"You know that thing?" Edgar asked, breathing hard through a clenched jaw.
"I always suspected he was real…he's…horrifying."
"Yeah, he's handsome alright." I scoffed, yanking the stupid spiked stirrup off my numb foot once and for all. Terra noted my limp. She's pretty observant.
"Are you alright? Sit down." Again, I waved her away.
"I'm fine…I need a minute…" I sighed, unsure of how I was going to continue moving this God-awful block of ice in this condition. I felt like utter hell after this ordeal of a day. I just needed it to end.
"Sir Sabin Rene, don't worry. I'll get a team of my men to hitch this up on a dolly and we'll move it out of here, you've done quite enough, the three of you." Arvis consoled us. We weren't going to argue.
"I though this was secret?" Edgar muttered, confused.
"It won't be secret for long. Let's go." Arvis assured him. I tiredly limped to the exit of the mines. Rest. I just needed rest.
That night, when I took my worn boot off to get into the bath in Arvis's house, after the worst day I'd had in years, I noticed something strange. My left foot, the one I twisted on the spikes, the one I jammed into the mouth of Mordris, the mine-snake, was solid stone from the ankle down. I sat on the edge of the tub and tapped its numb surface with a blistered finger and felt my stomach turn.
