Chapter 3: Artificial
The weather on the Carteneau Plains this night fit the mood so appropriately that it was eerie. The air was deadly still and all animal life was completely quiet, as if the land itself was anticipating and fearing what was about to happen. The sky, the stars and moon, were obscured by a thick ceiling of pitch black clouds. It had not begun raining, not yet, but the air tingled as if preparing for a storm. The only light came from the torches of the surrounding men, the firelight making their shadows dance before it faded off into the distant fog.
"I close my eyes, tell us why must we suffer?"
Nervous voices rose up around the assembled men, an old song to calm their nerves as battle approached. What began as a single faceless voice quickly swept through the ranks, until every soldier from the lowliest enlisted man to the most decorated general was singing in a low rumble. The army of Radiant Garden remained somber out here in Carteneau, but their voices never faltered once as the assembled crowds stared out to face the fog with sweaty hands gripping their weapons.
"Release your hands, for your will drags us under."
Radiant Garden's entire might had assembled on the plains of Mor Dhona, a mountainous desert region, with the intent of finishing the war that had plagued their kingdom for years. The neighboring kingdom of Onrac, a techno-magical society on par with Radiant Garden, had long sought to expand its borders. Onrac had conquered much of the known world, leaving the city-state of Radiant Garden one of the only independents left. And when Onrac encroached on them with the intent of taking their bountiful, beautiful lands, Radiant Garden had fought back without a second thought. Thus began the War of the Magi.
"My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander?"
Movement in the fog. The men of Radiant Garden shifted but did not charge forward, not without their superiors' word. From out of the fog came the forces of Onrac, their soldiers as mortal as Radiant Garden's own and no doubt just as scared. A thought passed through the minds of several Garden soldiers: Were they, too, singing a song for support? No matter what the outcome, both sides knew full well that this would be the final battle of the War of the Magi and bring an end to years of conflict.
"How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us?"
Near the front of Radiant Garden's army a large, armored figure knelt in the dusty dirt of Carteneau. He did not sing along with the rest of the soldiers, nor did he stand shoulder to shoulder with them. His was a special case. Resting his masked forehead against the massive, segmented broadsword, Radiant Garden's secret weapon—Garland—looked as though he praying and trembling. But his stalwart demeanor could not be further from the truth. The immortal super soldier, bioengineered by Cid Lufaine in the halls of the Bastion, was eager to prove himself in his first real battle. To show his strength to those weaker than he. He was trembling not in fear, but in excitement.
The men's singing stopped. Onrac's army ceased advancing and stood across the plain from Radiant Garden's. At the head of Radiant Garden's army, one of the generals raised his hand and the soldiers watched in a nervous anticipation. The anticipation did not last long. A mere moment later, the general swiftly brought his hand down with a slice through the air. The heralds at his side, holding the banner of Radiant Garden high, blew loudly into their trumpets and the soldiers let out a mighty cheer. With a roar, Radiant Garden's forces charged forward into Carteneau.
They were met by an equally loud battle cry from Onrac's forces who also barreled down onto the dead field. The armies met in the center of the wastes, weapons clashing immediately. The first among them fell right away, their comrades forced to trample their corpses as battle began. Blades bled and shields shattered as the uncountable forces began their rampage at the heart of Mor Dhona. Both sides fought valiantly and for home, family, and to bring an end to the strife of the War of the Magi.
Cries of pain and anger rose up among both sides, though the battle could hardly be said to be divided into 'sides' anymore in the chaos of it. Radiant Garden and Onrac both shifted back and forth in a sea of men and steel, neither force either relenting or gaining ground. Swords and battleaxes sang as they swung through the air alongside lances that pierced several men at a time. Arrows rained down from above, the archers safe in the back lines. Armored chocobos barreled through the battle lines, knocking men aside and onto the ground.
Amidst the combat, great explosions rocked large swaths of land. Beams of energy fired from behind Onrac's lines, behind even their archers, as the encroaching empire's magi-technology machina cannons fired on the forces of Radiant Garden.Large machina walkers bearing a vague and passing resemblance to chocobosmade their way slowly into the fray with riders on their backs, but their lack of speed was made up for by the variety of weapons firing Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder magic.
But Radiant Garden met Onrac's machina with spells of their own. Row upon row of spell casters channeled magic spell after magic spell, raining destruction upon Onrac and healing their allies when they had the chance. Domes of interlocking hexagons defended men from the machina cannons. And for those who could not naturally control mana and so had trouble casting spells, there was Materia, a recent invention of Radiant Garden's that allowed absolutely anyone to cast magic. Spells flew through the air on both sides, lighting up the night as if it were the middle of the day.
Garland stormed through both clashing armies, swinging his broadsword wildly, breaking apart the segments and whipping it back and forth as a massive chain, or crushing it into nearby fighters as a heavy war hammer. Friend and foe alike fell to Garland, he cared not whether they were Onrac or Radiant Garden. His goal was to win. To be the best, and to embrace the endless cycle of battle that was the truth of the world.
He swung his sword out in a wide circle, felling three combatants in a row without bothering to look at the colors they sported. Before their corpses had even hit the ground Garland quickly spun in the opposite direction and cleaved a fourth soldier in half. Without missing a beat he ran forward, dragging the tip of his blade along the earth, and then brought it up to parry the blow from an Onrac swordsman. The swordsman's own weapon was knocked high into the air and Garland wasted no time in exploiting the opening, swiftly bringing his sword down on the surprised soldier and beheading him.
Without a second glance, Garland moved on from the fallen man and continued into the fray undaunted. Arrows and spells rained down around him, felling soldier after soldier but only bouncing off of his own armor. Garland increased in speed, shoving aside Radiant Garden's men with his shoulders and raising his broadsword up with both hands. He held the massive weapon up behind his shoulder and then leaped into the air before throwing it out, spinning around once more and extending the sword into its chain form to increase its range, lashing at everyone in the area with a giant steel whip. When Garland landed back on the ground, his heavy armor kicking up dust, he retracted the chain and used his momentum to spin once more, never ceasing. His sword kicked up a tornado that tossed men every which way and carried him up into the sky. Hefting the sword up above his head, Garland brought it down on the head of one of the walking machina armor as he fell.
Garland's blade struck its power source and the machina exploded, hurling a fireball out and up, forcing everyone locked in combat to halt and flee. Amidst the smoke and debris, Garland caught sight of another figure calmly approaching him through the flames as if out for a morning stroll. Like Garland he was clad head to toe in armor, though of a shade of silver so dark it was almost black. He held two small swords, on in each hand, and a black cape billowed behind him with the mark of Onrac emblazoned upon it. But it was the newcomer's horned helmet which identified him, the unmistakable mark of a Judge Magister—the military leaders of Onrac. This could only be Judge Gabranth.
Gabranth stopped in the center of the clearing in the battlefield that the exploding machina had created and attached his two swords into a weapon resembling a dual-bladed polearm. Beneath his own mask, Garland smirked; armor does not hide the weakness of one's heart. He lifted his own sword and met Gabranth's silent challenge with a silent agreement, approaching the Judge head-on. Their clashing weapons kicked up a powerful wind that put out the lingering flames from the machina explosion and caught the attention of the closest soldiers, though the battle continued to rage above and around them.
Garland swept his sword upward and knocked Gabranth high into the air, though the Judge righted himself with a flip and his weapon flashed a dangerous orange. As Garland leaped up ready to slam him back to the ground with his sword-turned-hammer, Gabranth struck first and jabbed his polearm forward. Despite the thin weapon not being designed for mighty blows, it struck Garland with a surprising, inexplicable amount of force and sent him flying back. As Garland recovered and dived right back into the fray, he noted that Gabranth was continuing to hold his weapon in front of him and the orange aura had stretched across his body.
Garland's next swing was dodged, but he split his sword into two and swung out to strike Gabranth in the side. Toppling the Judge over and breaking his concentration left him open for an attack from the other half, followed by a mighty swing from the sword once it was recombined. Garland then jumped into the air and released his sword's locks, transforming it into its whip form, but Gabranth rolled out of the way and once more his polearm flashed orange.
Garland pursued the judge, but Gabranth whirled around and attacked him again, jabbing twice then breaking his polearm apart and slashing several times with both swords. Once the weapons recombined, Gabranth once more held it out in front of him defensively and was again surrounded by the orange aura. Garland did not intend on giving him the opportunity to finish whatever it was he was charging. Transforming his sword into a whip once more, Garland roared and lashed out at Gabranth (as well as about a dozen soldiers), knocking him in the head with the tip of the chain. Gabranth turned his fall into a roll, but was lashed by the whip once more and pulled back toward Garland who awaited with his weapon transformed into a hammer.
The hammer came down, sundering the earth at their feet, but Gabranth got away. Garland did manage to catch his cape in the attack, however, tearing at it and tripping Gabranth up. One last time Gabranth was surrounded by the orange glow, and now it stayed as he split his polearm into the two swords once more. He slashed rapidly at Garland, who ate each and every blow; they were nothing to the stalwart knight. When Gabranth slammed the two swords to the ground and sent out a shockwave, however, Garland found himself flung back into the wall of fighting soldiers. He roared and knocked away the men with his sword before charging back at Gabranth.
Broadsword met polearm and sparks flew in the middle of the Carteneau Plains, the two greatest champions of Onrac's and Radiant Garden's armies doing battle. Booming laughter erupted out of Garland despite himself. Truly this man was a challenge to behold! Good! Perhaps here, battling another masked soldier amidst bloodshed with spells flying above them, Garland could at last achieve his deepest desire, his final fantasy.
But those thoughts would have to wait.
A massive explosion, several magnitudes greater than that which Garland had caused by destroying the machina, shook not only Carteneau but all of Mor Dhona. Soldiers ceased their battles and turned to face the source: a pillar of fire that erupted out of the ground, spewing red-hot rock everywhere and causing them to rain down on the battlefield. With a terrifying roar, something began to climb it way out of the fire, something with aspects both reptilian and canine, with devil-like horns and a long, flowing red mane. Screams rose up from Radiant Garden's defenders as the monster made itself known…followed by cheers from Onrac's forces. And from both sides, one name rang out above the cacophony: Ifrit, Eidolon of Fire.
Amidst the screams and Ifrit's roars, a terrifying tornado swept up in the back of Radiant Garden's lines, blowing out spells, scattering arrows, and picking up soldiers to toss them into the rocky cliffs around the edges of the plain. The tornado flashed a brilliant green before it vanished, revealing its source to be a vaguely humanoid female figure, only far too tall to be human. Garuda, Eidolon of Wind, had pale green feathers coating its entire body, four massive wings on its back, and razor-sharp talons in place of its hands. Garuda let out an echoing screech and sent a whirlwind through Radiant Garden's forces, sending even more soldiers flying to painful, sudden deaths.
At the point where the whirlwind stopped, massive pillars of ice erupted out of the earth and then shattered, sending razor-sharp shards raining down on Radiant Garden's forces. Shiva, Eidolon of Ice, was the last of the three to manifest. Like Garuda, it was humanoid and feminine in appearance; unlike Garuda, it was a pale blue color. Its blue hair was frozen at the tips, and a cloak of icy mist flowed down from its back. The temperature plummeted to freezing levels just from its presence. Shiva extended its hands out and snapped its fingers, freezing a section of the army instantly. With a wave of its hand, the frozen soldiers shattered.
The Eidolons were Onrac's secret weapon. They were unnatural creatures of pure mana, primal aspects created and summoned by secrets known only to Onrac's military. The entire reason that Radiant Garden had invented Matera, and even created Garland, was for the purpose of combating the beasts. But while they were monstrous and powerful, the Eidolons were not invincible. Radiant Garden's remaining soldiers rallied to the challenge when Garland, with a battle cry that sounded across the Carteneau Plains, continued to battle Gabranth in defiance of the Eidolons' summoning.
Their match continued in the middle of the apocalypse. Ifrit, Shiva, and Garuda all entered the fray, sending horrifying blizzards, raging infernos, and terrible whirlwinds every which way, killing hundreds of soldiers. Throughout it all, Garland and Gabranth continued to fight. They leaped out of the way of Garuda as it charged through the battlefield with winds kicking up around her; rolled under Ifrit as it leapt this way and that, causing volcanic eruptions wherever it touched the ground; and they shattered Shiva's blades of ice as it conducted a macabre dance across the plains.
But they were finally halted when a massive pillar of light erupted out on the horizon, lighting up Mor Dhona as bright as day for a single instant. All sound ceased as the forces of both Onrac and Radiant Garden, the Eidolons included, turned to the horizon in time to hear a mighty roar that shook the earth. The roar was mighty enough to kick up winds rivaling Garuda's own, and it was accompanied by an explosion that shattered entire mountains in the distance. The explosive shockwave toppled most soldiers and evaporated those nearer to its source as the creature that had caused the destruction made itself known in a most devastating way.
Fire rained from the heavens, triggering explosions as they landed both in the distance and within the battlefield. Horrified screams rose up among soldiers of both sides and weapons clattered to the ground, their war forgotten as men scrambled desperately to save their lives. Pillars of smoke rose up from the scorched earth, growing in number with each explosion. The clouds above had turned from black to a deep orange, as if the sky itself was on fire. And amidst it all, a dragon on a scale nearly incomprehensible flew through the skies with its wings stretched to their fullest.
No longer entertaining his duel, Garland swiftly transformed his sword into a hammer and crashed it into Gabranth's gut, sundering his armor and shattering several bones. As Gabranth fell to the earth, Garland turned to face the creature and recalled the debriefing the armies of Radiant Garden had gotten before setting out for the battle this night. Radiant Garden had been working on creating the ultimate Eidolon, a beast of destruction so all-powerful that it could only be called a living, breathing natural disaster. They had codenamed the project 'Ultima WEAPON'. This…thing could be nothing else.
"Bahamut," Gabranth managed to say amidst wheezing breaths, "will end you all."
With a flap of its wings and another deafening Roar, Bahamut sent out more fireballs, uncountable in number, which crashed into everything in sight. They flew as if bound to its will, flying this way and that, swerving around Ifrit, Shiva, and Garuda and hitting locations across Carteneau that would cause the most damage and highest casualties. As with Garland, Bahamut did not care in the least bit whether it killed forces of its own side or the enemy's. When Bahamut swept low over the ground, the heat radiating off of its body caused the earth to transform into molten rock, consuming the fleeing soldiers that had stood upon it.
When one of the fireballs came barreling toward Garland, the stalwart knight stood his ground and batted it away with his broadsword, sending it flying into a nearby mountainside. The subsequent explosion nearly knocked him off of his feet, but he planted the tip of his weapon into the ground to stabilize him. Once the wind died down Garland slowly raised his head to find himself face to face with destruction itself.
Bahamut hovered before Garland, its eyes as large as a man focused on him. It unfurled its wings to their full length, in doing so kicking up a wind that pushed away the dust and smoke created by its rain of destruction. A low rumbling came from the back of its throat that escalated into another roar, though not one as loud as earlier. Garland grinned behind his helmet; here was another super soldier created for the sole purpose of destroying the enemy. Here was a kindred spirit.
Here was a challenge.
There was no need to hold back. Garland's body contorted beneath his armor, straining the polished metal and causing it to snap or even shatter at various points. A second pair of arms burst out from his sides, their flesh yellow-brown that gave way to red at the extremities. The horns of his helmet shattered next, revealing real, biological red horns beneath them that continued to grow. As pieces of metal fell to his feet, Garland dropped his sword to the earth. His body increased in size, growing too large for the armor to contain him though not anywhere near as large as Bahamut. Before it was shed entirely, two wings broke out of his back and tore at his cape.
Seeing Garland's transformation, Bahamut reacted. Fire began to form in its massive jaws and around it. More meteors flew in from all around them, meeting the flames Bahamut was conjuring and coalescing into a massive orb above its head as it reared back. The light consumed everything in the vicinity, making the massive Eidolon the only being visible for miles around. The sheer power of Bahamut's charging spell caused trembling rocks to lift off the earth.
Garland's helmet fell to the earth beside his sword.
Bahamut launched Teraflare.
x-x-x
"…after a terrifying battle Garland destroyed Onrac's unstoppable weapon, thus bringing a decisive end to the War of the Magi. What little of Onrac's forces remained surrendered right then and there, in the destroyed Carteneau Plains of Mor Dhona."
The lights were dim in Ansem the Wise's study as only a single bulb illuminated the small room. The damage that had been done by time and numerous invaders had been cleaned, but more for the sake of finding anything hidden than out of any desire to restore the room to the way it had used to be. With a pile of history books and research journals sitting beside her, a woman in a black suit sat atop the desk and flipped through the tome she held in her hands.
"But Garland did not stop there. With his true power unleashed, he went on a rampage nearly comparable to that of the Ultima WEAPON. Cid Lufaine's ultimate creation killed thousands, not only soldiers but innocents as well, of both Onrac and Radiant Garden. In one night, Garland wiped Onrac from the map. He was stopped by the top magi of the Bastion, who forcefully constrained his mutations and imprisoned him in new binding armor of Cid Lufaine's design. As Garland could not die even from execution, he was locked away forever beneath the Bastion, dubbed the False Stalwart for the fury and chaos he held behind that unmoving metal mask."
Cissnei closed the book and set it down on the pile next to her. Hopping down off of Ansem's desk, Cissnei picked up the books as well as a folder of her own notes she had taken during her research. Garland was a subject that had fascinated her ever since he appeared at the final battle with Xehanort alongside Maleficent's lackeys Diablo and Pete. Most of the research had come from the vast library near the top of the Bastion, but this one was kept within Ansem's study; the study she was all too willing to leave, it was downright creepy being down here all alone.
Cissnei put the books and her notes into a bag and slung it over her shoulder, ready to report to Leon. With Maleficent still out there, Garland was as well, and he was the most unknown of her forces. They needed to be ready for next time. And as Cissnei opened the door to make her way out of the castle and back to town, she suddenly found herself face-to-face with another pair of Bastion delvers. Or rather, face-to-chest. Cissnei craned her neck up to smile at Biggs, the friendly giant with pale green skin, then looked down and stepped aside for little Wedge with his two-toned hair to come on in.
"Hello, Cissnei," Biggs greeted as he crouched down to fit under the door frame.
"Hey, you two. Cid send you here?"
"We're supposed to get some part for him," Wedge said as he struggled to climb up on top of Ansem's desk. "Something for the Claymore defenses."
Cissnei couldn't help but giggle. "You still haven't fixed that? Here, it's probably this thing." Cissnei reached into her bag, digging for a device on the bottom that she had found earlier; knowing Cid would have wanted it, she had intended to deliver it to him when she got back to town. But if Biggs and Wedge could do that, then all the better. The mechanical object Cissnei retrieved was simple in design, with wiring hooked up to a piece of purple crystal that was embedded in the center.
"Wow!" Biggs took it gently and examined it with interest. "What is it?"
"The crystal embedded into it is called 'nethicite', I think. It absorbs latent magic in the air then can be used as a power source. They used things like this for all the tech in the Bastion, like those magic lifts upstairs, but it wasn't too widespread to the public."
Wedge gasped, then jumped up and nabbed it from Biggs. "No way, this is nethicite? Awesome!"
Cissnei flinched as Wedge fumbled his landing, but he kept the device from slipping out of his grasp. "Hey, easy with that. It's not exactly replaceable."
"Dangerous, too," Biggs added. "Nethicite is known to explode violently if it absorbs too much magic."
Cissnei held her hands up in front of her and took a step back. "Oookay, I'll just leave that thing with you guys, then. Don't blow up the castle now."
"We'll be fine," Wedge said as he poked and prodded at the device holding the crystal…then leaped back at the first sign of a spark.
x-x-x
"'…and Sora'?"
Lea grimaced at the disbelief in Leon's voice and stared down at the empty beer can in his grip as he lamely tossed it between his two hands. "So that's a no, then?"
Leon shook his head. "Sorry, I only remember talking about Sora back then. But that was, what, almost two years ago now? I doubt I remember it clearly."
"Gotta get these things memorized, Squall," Lea commented with a dry smile.
"Don't start with me." Leon took a sip of his own near-empty can and gave Lea a sidelong glance without lowering the drink. "So, if you're so set on us talking about more than just Sora, who do you think it could've been?"
Lea groaned and held his face in his palms. "That's the problem," came his muffled reply. "I wouldn't go around calling Sora's pals my own friends, but I have no idea who else would have been with him back there. I…do know that Saïx was in the Great Maw that day, but…"
"Isa, right?"
Lea's jaw set and he shook his head. "Saïx," he corrected in a cold tone. Isa was not Saïx. Isa had died a long, long time ago, and Saïx was just some empty shell that had been wearing his friend's face. Hell, even that wasn't true; the scarred and stone-cold expressions Saïx always had going were nothing like Isa. "Saïx was there that day. I know, because he killed me."
"So, what, you think it was him you were talking about back then?"
"Well I mean, there is literally no one else it could be. Roxas was already merged with Sora at that point, right?"
"Guess so," Leon stood up and adjusted his jacket.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Lea asked half-jokingly as he stood up and tossed the can over his shoulder. "We're not done yet."
"We aren't? We established that Saïx must have been who you were talking about—if you didn't make it all up, that is."
Lea rolled his eyes and tapped the side of his head. "Yeah, so now we gotta figure out why, Squall! Why did I care about Saïx? Why would I associate him with Sora? Where is he now?"
Leon, who had been walking off as Lea was speaking, came to a halt at that. "Say that again?"
"I know your ears work, man." Lea crossed his arms and stared out over the city, his eyes downcast and a frown tugging at his lips. "I'm back and Ansem's apprentices are back. Isa turned into a Nobody the same day as the rest of us. So…where is Isa? He should have been recompleted, same as me and them."
"That's…" Leon trailed off, then after a silent moment turned back to Lea. "That's a really good point, actually. How long after you did Ansem's apprentices show up, again?"
"A couple months. And Xaldin died right around the same time as Saïx from what Sora tells me."
"Then, yeah, he should've been restored… Reeve is probably down there now, but—"
"Hold on." Lea raised a hand to cut Leon off. "Reeve is?"
"It was my idea. We need Ienzo's knowledge of crafting Materia. Listen Lea, if you're going to say I shouldn't have then you can—"
Lea interrupted him again, this time with a shake of his head. "No, don't worry. Nothing like that. It just gave me an idea, is all. I honestly never considered actually going to talk to them about this. I haven't seen them since we locked 'em up." He snorted a laugh. "Doubt they'd be too happy to see me, though." Especially Ienzo and Even, considering Axel had killed Zexion and Vexen. Oof, that'd been an awkward reunion once the apprentices turned up in Ansem's computer room.
"Leon!" The two men turned as a voice approached them, and looked down over the edge of the bailey to see Cissnei, dressed in her Turks uniform as always, looking up at them with a bag slung over her shoulder. "And Lea? What are you two doing up there?"
"Never mind that." Leon gave Lea a short wave and then hopped down from the bailey, landing next to Cissnei. "You have something for me?"
Cissnei nodded. "Information about Garland. We knew he was artificial and immortal, but I definitely know more about him now than before." As she started digging into her bag, Lea jumped down and joined the two of them.
"Hold up. Artificial? Like, a fake human?" That sounded awfully familiar…
"Huh? Yeah, a fake human. A homunculus, I guess? That's what Even's notes on the concept called it." Cissnei flipped open a folder and thumbed through some papers. "Garland was made by Cid Lufaine to combat Onrac's Eidolons in the War of the Magi. Cid's own journals call it Project Manikin. He manipulated the body and soul, two of the three parts that make up the human body. The third is the heart, which wasn't as easy to make… Here."
Leon took the notes Cissnei handed him and looked through them himself. "So what, Garland is like a Nobody? He sure doesn't act like it, he was clearly enjoying himself our entire fight."
Cissnei shook her head. "No, not like a Nobody. The heart was a challenge, but Cid Lufaine was able to make one."
"An artificial man with a heart, huh…" Leon muttered as he continued to scan Cissnei's notes. Lea, on the other hand had a nagging feeling in the back of his head. This was definitely getting familiar. Where had he heard of this before? It was on the tip of his tongue.
"Yes; or an artificial heart, anyway, to go with the artificial body and soul. Cid Lufaine created Garland by coalescing unbelievable amounts of magic into physical form, which is how Radiant Garden's scientists have always theorized that Onrac created Eidolons in the War of the Magi."
"Explain for non-history buffs, please."
Cissnei sighed. "Basically, Garland was made in the same way as the Eidolons. He's living magic given physical form. He's a…a replica of the Eidolons—"
Replica.
"That's it!" Lea shouted, startling both Leon and Cissnei. "I know where I've seen this before! Replicas! Man oh man, I can't believe it slipped my mind!"
"Huh?"
Lea rested a hand on his hip and grinned widely as he once more tapped the side of his head. "The Replica Program. It was this thing of Organization XIII's. Vexen—that's Even's Nobody—created a copy of Riku, with its own heart and everything. A Riku Replica."
Leon looked to Cissnei, whose brow furrowed. "If he had access to Cid Lufaine's notes, then it makes sense Even would have tried to recreate them."
"So should we worry about more of these things popping up from Organization XIII's old base?" Leon asked with a grimace.
Lea shook his head. "Nope. Riku was the only—only…functioning one…" He frowned, something nagging at the back of his head. He wasn't sure why he had hesitated there. It was definitely only the Riku Replica who had been running around in Castle Oblivion.
Right?
x-x-x
"Ven, I'm home! Ven?" Aqua entered the front door of hers and Ven's small home to find that the lights were off and everything was how she had left it this morning. Ven hadn't come home from school yet? Probably at Merlin's then; she'd join him a few minutes, in that case. Aqua flipped the lights on and set the keys down on the table, moving to the kitchen to grab a quick snack. Helping Scrooge out sure works up an appetite. Ven wouldn't mind her having some of that cake he had made, right? Even if it did have a big paper on top saying hands off.
Something caught Aqua's eye, though, and she found herself stopping before she ever reached the fridge. Resting on the counter was a photograph. The sunset horizon of Destiny Islands was behind Ven and Aqua as they posed on the beach with their Wayfinders held up to each other, with Sora and Kairi holding their own charm together. Riku was in the back, sitting on the sand and staring out at the water, deliberately trying to avoid looking at the four of them in an attempt to stay 'cool'.
Aqua found herself smiling at the picture, and she picked it up than sat down in a chair by the window. It had been taken only a month after Xehanort's defeat, during a visit she and Ven made to the islands…in a search for Terra, actually. Before they had really settled down in Radiant Garden. The thought made Aqua reach for her Wayfinder, and she held its blue glass up to the sun, watching the light refract through it and send blue patterns dancing on the walls of furniture.
Terra…
All this time and still no leads. She had stopped Ven from running off to find him, but every time she came home and Ven wasn't back from school yet there was always a bit of worry that he had run off again. She liked to think she knew better, and it had been a while since the last time Ven just ran off without telling her, but still…
As Aqua stared into the star-shaped charm, a sound outside caught her attention. A distant roaring. Engines? She set the picture down on a nearby end table and stood up, pocketing her Wayfinder and moving over to the window. It was definitely coming from outside, up in the sky… Oh!
Up above, the familiar sight of Highwind soared toward the Gummi ship hangar.