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Final Fantasy VI: The Sands of Time

Book 1: The Begininng

Chapter 8 - Dream's End

Part 8.7 - Silent Streets

The trek through the streets of Narsille was a quiet one for Dune, Bismark, and Indie. Dune remained oppressively silent, and the two old men did not want to disturb him. They both felt It was best to leave the man to his thoughts right now.

They knew it was only a small chance that Mae would somehow turn up at Dune's apartment since the last time they were there, nearly a month ago. They believed the Committee members when they said Mae wasn't their prisoner, but that hardly narrowed down the possibilities. Narsille was a large city, and it was in a state of confusion that no one in this generation had ever experienced. For all they knew, Mae had been one of the panic-stricken people running in the opposite direction.

Dune's presence did not help the turmoil in the streets, either. Seeing a huge beast-like giant walking the streets while the nightmarish storm raged above was a combination that few citizens could handle. Most people fled at the sight of the new Dune, some threw rocks from a distance. One person even tried to fire a gun at him. The reactions didn't seem to faze Dune at all, and the man with the gun dropped the weapon and ran when the bullet did no more damage to Dune's rock-hard skin than the tossed stones.

Apparently there had been strange sightings of other monsters roaming Narsille, as well, and from the descriptions Bismark and Indie had gathered from the frightened populace, they knew who it must be.

"It looks like Levi beat us here after all," Bismark said unhappily.

"Not surprising, considering how fast the Maiden crew said he tore off from Crescent Island." Indie replied just as glumly. "I wonder what he's planning now?"

"He will seek an army, and then try to claim Narsille for his Goddess," Dune said abruptly, looking straight ahead.

"Why Narsille?" Indie asked, disturbed by Dune's calm reply.

Dune remained silent for a moment, then turned to look at Indie with a jagged smile, his best attempt at a comforting glance. "The fallen Masters seem to think this place a special confluence of energy lines. Doom, the Master of Ice, for example, considered the icy peaks of the Narsillian mountain range combined with the frigid northern climate the prime location for the center of his new empire. I am sure the other fallen masters have similar reasons for coming here."

Bismark and Indie were always unsettled by the strange knowledge Dune would sometimes reveal about his former demon, Doom. They said nothing about this to Dune, afraid of what he might say. They knew nothing of his battle with the will of Doom beyond the Ultima Gate, and were glad to keep it that way. From what Genju had told them, it was not an experience an Esper would want to discuss.

"At least we haven't seen any sign of that monster Sade," Bismark said, trying to find something more positive to talk about.

"He is here," was all Dune said.

Bismark and Indie said nothing. Dune's odd manner was starting to get to them. The sooner they got him to his apartment, the better.

Dammit, Dune, what's the matter with you? Bismark thought to himself. I hope we find Mae soon. I bet she could bring Dune out of this strange mood he's been in. Poor Dune, he doesn't deserve this.

After making their way a few miles into the city, Dune suddenly stopped and tensed as if for a fight.

"Sade is near."

Bismark opened his mouth to speak, but the ground twisted under him, knocking him over. Several more tremors rolled through the city streets like waves, throwing all but Dune to the ground. A few seconds later, the streetlights blinked out, and all of Narsille went dark. The only light in the city was the constant flashing of lightning and the ominous red glow pouring out from the cracks caused by the quake.

"What's happening?" Bismark shouted over the roar of the quake.

"The Master of Fire is making his move." Dune said as calm as ever, keeping his balance despite the shaking earth. He turned his shaggy head and peered into the darkness, looking for something only his cold eyes could see.

"The smoke," Dune said cryptically.

Before Bismark or Indie could respond, Dune glowed with his intense blue aura, illuminating the surrounding area. Dune was right, there was a think cloud of smoke gathering around them. It curled and licked at the edges of Dune's aura, but did not enter.

"What is this...?" Indie said almost in a whisper. When he looked at that smoke, he had the distinct feeling of hungry wolves prowling at a fire's edge.

"Sade is building his army as well..." Dune said thoughtfully. "Do not let the smoke touch you, unless you want to join the legions of the Vengeful Poltergeist."

"Fat chance of that!" Bismark said, trying to keep his spirits up. Things were quickly getting out of control. But he trusted Dune, even with his strange behavior. Dune was the only thing keeping them out of Sade's hands right now.

"Let's hurry," Indie said with as much strength as he could, getting to his feet with some effort. "It looks like the earthquake is over, and we're almost to our apartment."

Dune said nothing, but he moved forward, Bismark and Indie keeping inside his cold dome of protection.

Now that the shaking had stopped, Bismark could hear something else in the air. It was the sound of screams, echoing out from the darkness around them. Thousands and thousands of forsaken Narsillians were now struggling to make it out of their crumbling city. Bismark shuddered, realizing that many of them would not survive, despite any efforts they could make to help the city. Things had gone past the tipping point for Narsille and only a miracle would save it. The damnable gods were in control of the city's fate now.

"Damn you, Levi. You'll pay for this..." Bismark cursed under his breath.

"Look!" Indie shouted, pointing directly ahead of them.

Dune's and Indie's apartment loomed into view, indistinguishable from the many other mythril towers to a stranger. Indie knew his home at a glance, though, and smiled with relief at the welcome sight.

The three wasted no time making their way across the broken streets to the apartment building. It did not seem damaged, thanks to the sturdy mythril frame. There were no lights in the building, but they knew it was not abandoned. Many people were fleeing the city, but there would be just as many who would choose to stay inside where it was safe, hoping to wait out whatever was befalling their city. Was Mae one of those people?

Indie was the first one inside the building, rushing past the others into the dark ground floor lobby. There was a good chance Mae would not be here, but Indie's moogle companion Kumiro definitely would be, waiting for his master to return.

Indie had been worrying about his small friend ever since he left for Crescent Island. He had thought it would be safer here in the city, so he had left him behind. Now Indie wondered if he had made the right choice.

As soon as Indie had opened the door to his room behind his shop, a ball of white fur shot out and clung to Indie's chest like a frightened child.

"Kupo!" the moogle squeaked, shaking from the tip of his pom-pom to his clawed toes.

Indie seemed to know exactly what that short greeting meant and soothed his child-like friend. He spoke in human words, but the moogle understood him perfectly, and soon stopped shaking.

The moogle let go of Indie after a moment and looked at his two companions. Bismark was a trusted sight and Kumiro didn't concern himself with the familiar face. But Dune's monstrous visage sent the moogle into another fit of hysterics, and this time Indie could not calm him down.

"Puu! Puu! PUU!" The moogle almost screeched, flying in agitated circles around Indie.

Indie had expected a negative reaction to Dune's altered appearance, but this was even worse than he had feared. The only time he had seen Kumiro this frightened was when he had ventured too close to the strange statue in the windy valley on Phoenix Isle.

"Kumiro! This is Dune! You remember Dune? He's our friend." Indie tried to reassureh is friend, but his words had no effect. He knew the moogle understood him. After thirty years in the human world, Indie was confident the moogle understood human speech just as well as any human. So why was he being so stubborn?

"PUU!" The moogle shouted loudly, pointing one clawed finger at Dune. Dune, as usual, didn't seem to mind being the object of fear, and simply waiting patiently near the entrance to the building.

The moogle scrunched up his face in a look of extreme effort and contorted his mouth in a series of silent motions, then did something Indie had never expected, and had never seen in all his time studying the odd creature.

"PUUUUU...Baaaaaaad! Nnnnooooot...Duuunnne...kupo!"

It sounded alien coming from the tiny mouth of the moogle, but there was no doubt - the creature was speaking human words, apparently with great effort.

Indie was speechless. He stood looking at Kumiro with his eyes wide and jaw hanging open for several seconds before he recovered his senses. He had always hoped he could eventually get Kumiro to actually speak, but he had almost given up on the idea, assuming it just wasn't physically capable of it. He was elated at this turn of events, but at the same time frightened at the words the moogle had said.

Bismark, too, was taken aback. He only half-believed Indie when the old man claimed his pet was as smart as any human and understood human speech. There was no denying it now. Bismark looked back and forth between the moogle and Dune, wondering what Dune would say.

But Dune said nothing, and only smiled. Did he think it was just a cute trick?

The moogle did not speak human words again, but continued to chirp in the stream of unintelligible sounds it normally used.

"I...I don't know what's wrong with him," Indie said once he got his voice back. "I must admit this is the first time he's ever actually spoken in our language. I am sorry, Dune, don't pay him any mind, he's just frightened at your new appearance."

"I understand," Dune said peaceably. "It takes more than some reassuring words to trust a face like this." He laughed, but the laugh did not sound pleasant to Bismark or Indie.

The moogle continued to fuss about Indie, refusing to calm down or go anywhere near Dune. Indie eventually grabbed his companion gently around the scruff of his neck and held him still.

"I am sorry, but Kumiro isn't behaving very well is he?" Indie said apologetically. "I'm afraid I can't stay any longer, and I don't think Kumiro will follow you two upstairs. I'm sure you're eager to see if Mae is still here, Dune, so I'll let you two go."

"What are you planning?" Bismark asked. He did not like the idea of Indie going back outside without them.

"I have to get to the main ATLAS tower. I'm responsible for the weather in Narsille, and I think we can all agree I haven't been doing my job very well recently, have I?" Indie laughed half-heartedly, trying to sound more jovial than he felt. Kumiro's words were bothering him. "If I can make it to the tower and take a look at it, I might be able to do something about this storm."

"But you know as well as any of us that our machines are useless against this storm!" Bismark said crossly. He did not like talking about this magic mumbo-jumbo if he could help it. Indie and Alex freely reveled in its mysteries, but Bismark didn't like things that he could not explain, and it was still difficult for him to admit openly to such whimsical ideas as "gods" and "magic".

Indie smiled knowingly and said in a secretive tone, "Ahh, well...let's just say my main ATLAS system isn't quite as ordinary as I may have let on." He patted his moogle friend on the head while he held him in place. "I think there may be something we can do, but I need to get there first."

"Whatever you say, Indie," Bismark replied. He didn't want to know what Indie was talking about. Right now they needed to keep moving forward. "Just be careful, and stay away from that smoke."

"Right-o," Indie said almost cheerfully. "Don't worry, I've got my bodyguard with me," he winked at Kumiro, who was still fussing in Indie's arm. "You two be careful, too. It should take me about an hour to get to the ATLAS tower. Give me two hours and we'll meet back up again at the Maiden, alright?"

"Fine. I don't know if there's anything we can do right now for this city anyways." Bismark sighed. "Once we're done here, we need to regroup back at the Maiden and find out where Levi and Sade are at, then strike before they build these armies of theirs, or whatever."

"Good idea," Dune said amicably.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Indie said, slapping his forehead. He ran back into his room and came back out with a weather-beaten wooden staff and a flashlight. "I've got some climbing to do if I want to reach the ATLAS tower. I'm getting too old to climb any more mountains." He laughed his old hearty laugh and gripped the staff with one hand. "At least the ATLAS complex isn't as tall as that one on Crescent Island, but it's not nearly as easy to traverse. Kinda funny, eh? Those ancient People of the Moon made a better path than even we could've."

Indie stopped laughing and turned serious, looking at his two friends.

"Be careful Mobius, Dune," Indie said. "Two hours, remember."

"Right." Bismark nodded.

Indie saluted them with his staff and walked back out into the rain, his flashlight waving in the darkness. Kumiro followed him, giving one last distrustful look at Dune as he left. Whatever he had on his mind about the situation, the moogle would follow his master wherever he went.

"Well, Dune, I'm sure you're anxious to get home. Let's go." Bismark said after Indie had disappeared into the darkness outside.

Dune remained motionless, looking out at the storm through the glass doors.

"Dune?"

Silence.

"Dune! Snap out of it!" Now Bismark was afraid.

Without turning around, Dune spoke into the storm. "That is not my name."

"What? What's the matter with you?" Bismark went to grab his friend and turn him away from the chaos outside, but a cold voice stopped him just as he was about to put his hand on Dune's shoulder.

"Dune is gone, captain. There is only Maduin, the Herald of Doom."

Bismark stepped back, realizing too late the truth in the moogle's unexpected outburst. This was not Dune, not Dune at all...

"Don't try to run. Leviathan and Sade and building their armies, and so must I." The creature that was not Dune turned around, looking at Bismark with hate-filled eyes of total blue.

"I've wasted too much time with this charade, and now that we're alone, I will claim my prize." The Esper known as Maduin reached out for Bismark with blinding speed, gripping him with claws that dug into the old man's shoulder.

"Dune! Stop it!" Bismark shouted, wincing in pain as the claws dug deeper. "It's me, Captain Bismark! Mobius!"

"You fool! Dune is gone. Destroyed by his own weakness in the fires of the Forge. Soon you will join him."

"No, I refuse to believe you!" Bismark was in agony, but he managed to smile a grim smile and spit into the Esper's face. "Dune would never give up. He fought you all this time, and he wouldn't lose now."

The Esper ignored Bismark's struggling. "Foolish human. It's time you put your childish dreams aside and woke up to reality. Now! Join your friend in oblivion!"

Maduin took his other hand and swung it at Bismark as lightly as if he were swatting a fly. Bismark crumpled as if hit by a truck, falling unconscious instantly. Blood poured from his wounded shoulder and from his head.

"A spirit as willful as yours will make a fine Esper, Mobius Bismark. I will savor breaking you."