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Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time
Book 1: The Beginning
Chapter 5 - Maidens of the Sea
Part 5.3 - Unpleasantries
"Greetings, friends!"
Levi raised his hands in a cheerful wave to his fellow travelers a few yards away on the Maiden of the Sea. Bismark muttered a curse under his breath and stalked off without a word, his wooden leg stabbing angrily at the deck as he did. Alex and Indra stood their ground and looked at Levi with suspicious eyes. Dune simply stared at the ghastly figure waving and smiling at them as if they were nothing more than well-met companions on the high seas. The rest of the crew on deck went about their duties without so much as glancing in Levi's direction. There were no friends of Levi's on this ship.
After a few tense moments Indra spoke up, his usual carefree manner cast aside in favor of a more fitting role for dealing with one of the vilest men he had ever known. "So we meet again, Jonah. How many years has it been? Not enough, I'd say. If you are quite done with your attack on our vessel, then I say we get this mission started properly."
Levi let out a raspy laugh laced with years of disease and decay. "Only fooling around with you, Indie. You'll forgive an old man for his old habits, I hope?"
"I forgive you for nothing," Indra said coolly.
"Well I won't beg for it, as you know." Levi shot a lopsided glance at Alex, who shuddered as if hit by a cold wind, but remained silent. "The past is the past, though. We are partners in crime once again, and you don't have to worry about my antics. I assure you my interests in this mission far outweigh any pleasure I might get from watching you lot fail, as great as that may be. I was just getting it out of my system, you see."
"You're rotten to the core, Jonah, and if you try anything on this mission, I will see to it personally that you never see land again. If we can get through this mission without your assistance, then we'll try our damnedest to do it."
"The feeling's mutual, old friend. Now if we are done with the pleasantries, I say it's time to set sail and find whatever it is the Committee has entrusted us to find. I pray the Maiden Elia will allow us safe passage through her realm, then." Levi said this well-known sailor's oath with mock empathy, and his real intent couldn't have been more obvious to those listening.
Levi dismissed the Maiden with a bored flick of his gnarled hand and quickly spun around on his own wooden leg and marched off to his place in the middle of his ship, barking orders to his crew every step of the way. He stopped just under the mainmast of his ship and looked sharply up at the vacant perch high above. "Kite! Where are you, you ungrateful whorechild! Get up here and man your post! Good-for-nothing brat, I'll throw you up there myself if you don't show yourself this instant!"
A young teenage girl leaped up from the pile of crates and barrels she had been loading and ran silently towards the mast, dropping the barrel she had been carrying in her panicked haste. She looked scared to death, and was thin and pale enough to fit the part. She wore nothing but filthy rags and a filthy ribbon to tie back her long black hair in a bun. As she passed Levi, he gave her a rough push towards the rigging that almost sent her sprawling to the deck. She simply absorbed the blow and continued on her way in mute submissiveness. Despite her malnourished look, she scrambled up the rigging to her post with the nimble agility of a cat, ignoring the leers of her fellow crewman as she went. This oddity among the rest of Levi's burly crew caught Dune's eye, and he squinted through his glasses to catch a better glimpse of her as she scurried up the rigging like a rat fleeing a sinking ship. Who was that, and what incentive could she possibly have to stay on the ship of a man like Levi?
Dune didn't have time to think about the mystery girl, for as soon as Levi's ship had started to drift away, the Maiden lurched forward and began to move away from the beach as well. This sudden movement pushed all trains of thought out of Dune's head except for one.
"I hate the sea."
Nausea gripped Dune and he groped for something to hold onto as the old familiar feeling worked its way through his stomach. Some things never changed.
After a few days at sea, Dune slowly got used to being on the gently rolling deck of the ship, and ventured from the room he had holed himself up in after the unpleasant beginning. The sun was low in the sky and dusk was just over the horizon, painting the sea a soft golden hue as blue-green turned to yellow, orange, and finally red. He looked out over the vastness of the steadily reddening sea and sky, and marveled at how like the desert it could appear. The sloping waves slowly rose and fell much like the sand dunes seemed to under the hot desert sun. As beautiful as it was, to Dune it was still nothing but a poor imitation of the grandeur of the desert sands he longed for.
"Quite a sight, as always," a gruff voice spoke from behind him. Dune, lost in his thoughts, jumped at the voice and turned to meet Bismark's stern but peaceful face. Whatever mood Levi had put him in had long since passed now that he was back in his element.
"I'm afraid I'll never share your love of the sea, Captain, but I must admit it does calm my nerves, even though it still upsets my body." Both men chuckled at this, and continued staring out to sea.
"Here, Dune. Look over there and tell me what you see." The Captain pointed straight ahead into the endless, and altogether unremarkable, waves.
"I don't see anything. What am I supposed to be looking for?"
"An island. And you won't find any trace of it now. There used to be a large star-shaped island right over there, but it sank to the bottom of the sea almost thirty years ago. I came up here to see for myself what had become of it."
"And what did become of it?" Dune asked cautiously. He had noted the sad tones in the Captain's voice as he spoke of the island, and knew whatever happened on this spot wasn't just another history lesson for him. This was a very personal place for the Captain.
The Captain said nothing for a moment, then cleared his throat and spat into the ocean.
"This is where I lost both my leg and my eye. This is a cursed place, Dune, and the sooner we pass it by the better. Although, where we're going is probably even worse."
Dune looked out across the waves, hoping to glimpse even a tiny outcropping of rock. There was nothing, though. Not even the smallest sign that any land had ever been here. What could have happened here to cause an entire island to completely vanish beneath the now placid waters?
"What happened here? And what happened between you and Captain Levi?" Dune's curious nature got the better of him and he couldn't help but pester the Captain about his experiences, especially after seeing firsthand the almost unnatural hatred between the two men. He rarely ever spoke of his past, and as Dune peered at the stony expression he now wore, it seemed now would be no exception.
The Captain spoke in clipped tones, rushing through the unpleasantries before his memories could resurface fully. "It's none of your concern. The past is the past, and I have no reason to be digging up those old stories. Especially not here and now." Bismark waved his hand contemptuously in the direction of the Golden Goddess, which hovered menacingly behind them like a vulture waiting to pick the bones of a dying animal.
"We'll be entering the Mordic by tomorrow if the wind keeps up, Dune, so I suggest you get prepared for the dive," Bismark stated matter of factly, changing the subject to something less personal, and less painful. "I don't believe you've ever done this before, so it would be wise to figure out what the hell you're doing before you jump in the water, got it?" Bismark gave Dune a look that said the conversation was over, and waited as he wisely left to return below deck. Once he was sure he was alone, Bismark took a small pouch out from under his thick captain's coat and held it tightly to his chest. When he spoke again, it was in the voice of a man many years younger, and yet at the same time many years older.
"May the hands of Elia guide you to your final rest, old friend." This was a common sailor's prayer for lost companions, and unlike Levi, Bismark's voice was full of geniune reverance towards the sea's power.
Bismark carefully untied the pouch and emptied its contents into the waters, then tossed the pouch in as well. He sighed and turned to leave. A sudden movement in the waters below caught his eye and he turned back towards the open sea. Had something moved down there? He couldn't be sure with his one eye, but it looked as if something had swam by and snatched up his pouch. For sure, he could no longer see the empty bag floating on the surface. He sighed again, and left the deck for the comfort of his bed. He was too tired to be sure of anything right now, and was just glad to have gotten the chance to keep a very important promise.
Across the waves on Levi's ship, people were still bustling about keep themselves busy, for fear of Levi's wrath if caught slacking. Levi was nowhere to be seen, and instead was holding counsel in his private quarters with a cloaked figure who seemed to melt into the very shadows of the sparsely lit cabin. Levi listened to the figure with visible annoyance while savagely carving a hunk of meat from the extravagantly prepared meal before him. A fine way to spend his dinner, he mused.
"You don't need to tell me what to do. I am Captain here, so leave me alone! I'll handle Bismark and the rest of them in my own way." Levi yelled out into the darkness, as if speaking to himself.
Out of the shadows a voice responded to his, utterly devoid of any emotion or feeling, but still full of power. "I will tell you what to do as long as I am on your vessel, Levi. Thankfully, that won't be much longer if things go the way Sade predicts they will. I will take my leave when the opportunity arises. Until then, we do nothing. You will wait for my signal, understand?" The ghostly figure's casually tilted head rose to meet Levi's one-eyed glare, daring him to defy his words. His cold, grey eyes showed no sign of life behind them.
"Bah!" Levi slammed his knife into the wooden table with an audible "thwack!" that would send any of his crewman running from the room in terror. The shadowy figure merely stood and waited for the rest of this tiresome man's ranting that he knew was coming. "You Committee people are all the same. You think you know everything. Well I'm telling you things aren't going to go the way you want to out here. The sea is a fickle mistress, and no amount of scheming can change her mind. If things start to get out of hand, I'm going to do what I need to do to get the job done. I won't be denied the treasure of a lifetime because of you, or anyone else." Levi plucked the knife from the table and waved it threateningly at the shadows. "Do you understand?"
He understood. This man was as arrogant as Sade, but without the almost palpable power and presence to back it up. Let the "Captain" have his ship, if only to stop his whining. It did not matter which way the mission went, as long as the real treasure he sought was in his hands by the end. "Fine. But I have my own orders, and if you get in my way, I won't hesitate to get rid of you or your ship. Things have been set in motion that are far beyond the likes of you, Captain. You're just a bit player, remember that." He spat Levi's title out with measured petulance, and savored the look of outrage on the ugly fool's face.
"We'll see who's the bit player in the end, Phantom. Now get out of my sight - what little of you there is to see, anyways. You're spoiling my dinner." Levi dug his knife into his meal once more, signaling the end of the conversation. Phantom nodded in mock acquiescence and wordlessly faded back even further into the shadows until he truly was invisible. If he left by the door, Levi didn't see or hear it, and didn't care. The sooner this lackey of the Committee was off his ship, the better. Let Bismark jump at his own shadow for a while. Levi grinned at this thought and resumed his meal as if the phantasm of a man known only as Phantom had never been there at all.
Outside, the sun began to set on the sea, now stained blood-red, as the quietly approaching waters of the Mordic beckoned both ships to their destruction.