March 29th, 1820, Town Square, Alexandria.
15:50 P.M.
Freya hated farewells with a passion.
Losing loved ones had been a painful constant in her life, with the added bonus of always being the one left behind. This time around, however, the roles had been reversed. As the mystical barrier intended to shield the population separated them, Zidane's expression hit a little too close to home for her. She knew exactly how it felt, to watch the people she cared about walk away to an uncertain fate.
"Dragon pals," she mouthed at him, letting Beatrix and the others get ahead of her.
The genome let out a small chuckle.
"... Dragon pals," he answered, winking at her.
Freya nodded, rested her spear on her shoulder and headed toward the burning city.
She hated farewells with a passion.
"The fire spreads. If we don't act fast, there won't be anything left to save..." Beatrix said, staring at the dense plumes of smoke rising above the Alexandrian skyline. She had brought with her the survivors of her unit as support, and Freya could feel in the way they gripped their weapons the hatred that boiled within them.
"Alright, team, as we've previously discussed, we'll take point and secure the rooftops, so the ground team can move forward with minimal risk," the Burmecian explained, addressing her ragtag dragoon squad. "Our priority is to keep Mikoto safe. If she goes down, it's over for us, so stay sharp. Do you have any questions?"
The five lancers remained in respectful silence, backs straightened and spears firmly planted on the ground. Three of them had been knights in the past, and the rest consisted of a retired bodyguard and a young squire. Through discreet use of Mikoto's abilities, Freya had made sure they weren't actually double agents, and with her as their new leader, they had vowed to protect the people within the barrier. Six dragons. She hoped the number wasn't some kind of omen.
"Good. Let us go forth," she said.
March 29th, 1820, Market District, Alexandria.
16:05 P.M.
With the dragoon squad watching for threats from above, Beatrix's team advanced through the ravaged market district as quietly as possible. The golems patrolled the main streets, so they had to use the alleyways and less known passages to remain unnoticed.
At a certain point, Freya signaled the general's group to hide, so they took shelter inside a destroyed shop.
"Oh, no..." Beatrix muttered, recognizing the place. The windows had been smashed, and the entire room reeked of sulfur and death. The wooden floor was charred and covered in deep scratches, yet what caught her eye the most were the myriad round holes in the walls, as if a Cactuar had sprayed them with needles. Inch-thick needles.
"Grandma Olson's Delights..." Mikoto whispered, reading a hanging sign near the counter. "A bakery..."
"In times of hardship, the Olsons would always volunteer to help us feed the hungry," the general stated. "To meet such an unfair end... are we doomed to repeat history over and over again..?"
"Why would they do this..?" the genome mumbled, horrified by the scene. "What is Treno trying to achieve?"
"Re-unification under their rule, I suppose..." Beatrix replied, carefully peeking outside. "Alright, the coast is clear. Let's get moving, girls. We're too exposed here."
March 29th, 1820, Town Square Wall, Alexandria.
16:20 P.M.
"I really hope they're okay," Zidane thought, looking at the city from atop the Royal District's wall. A dense mass of golems had congregated outside, and they were all staring at him with their unnerving yellow eyes. Unflinching. Unwavering. Like hunters, stalking their prey.
"Do you think they'll attempt to breach the field, sir?" a female knight in plate armor asked him.
"They're welcome to try. We could easily wreck 'em that way," the genome replied. "... They're up to something, there's no doubt about it, but what? What are they waiting for..?"
"It's so quiet out there... do you think General Beatrix made it to the tower already?" the knight asked, disturbed by the machines' predatory behavior.
"I doubt it, but I'm glad we have these tin cans' full attention. That should make it easier for the girls to move around," the king replied. "Madeline, there's something that's been bugging me for a while now..."
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Could you please find out why hasn't the Gargan Roo patrol reported in yet?" Zidane said. "I've ordered them to flood the tunnel a few minutes ago, but I've received no response or confirmation whatsoever. If we let these things pop out of the ground behind our defenses, we're screwed."
"Right away, sir!" Madeline exclaimed, saluting the king and leaving in a hurry.
"Come on... we're running out of time," the genome muttered, sweat sliding down his temple.
March 29th, 1820, Gargan Roo Entrance, Castle Grounds, Alexandria.
16:25 P.M.
Having realized how dangerous it was to have a tunnel to a hostile country leading straight into their bedroom, Garnet and Zidane had ordered the old Gargan Roo entrance sealed, and a new one had been excavated on the eastern side of the castle's grounds, near the garden. The passageway was heavily guarded nowadays, but hope remained that one day it would become a cheap mean of transport for people coming and going from both sides of the continent.
"Guards! Open up!" Captain Madeline yelled, banging on the door that led into the depths, but no one answered. She tried to force it open, but it was locked from the inside. "Dammit!" she spat, looking around for help. "Briar, Nell, c'mere!" she shouted at two passing soldiers, waving them closer.
"What is it, ma'am?" Private Briar asked, approaching her.
"Go tell His Majesty that the Gargan Roo entrance has been..!"
A loud rumble, followed by a cacophony of inhuman screeches interrupted her. She turned around and put her ear against the door, cold sweat running down her spine.
"What was that..?" Nell mumbled, paralyzed by fear.
"It's them... they're coming upstairs!" Madeline exclaimed. "Nell! Give the alarm! We have a perimeter breach!"
"R-right away, ma'am!" the soldier squeaked, scrambling for the castle as if Bahamut himself was coming for her.
"Briar, we need to freeze this thing shut before they reach the surface!" the captain said, backing away from the door and pointing her open palm at it.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Briar mumbled, shaping her spiritual force into the mightiest Blizzara she had ever created.
The door trembled and cracked; the creatures were right behind it.
"Now!" Madeline ordered, and the two Alexandrians unleashed their power in unison. The air itself seemed to shatter as their combined spells ripped all moisture from it, turning the resulting liquid into a frozen barricade.
"It's working! It's working!" Briar yelled triumphantly.
"Yeah, that should buy us some... uh-oh..."
The duo watched in horror as a large golem punched a hole in the door. Its absurd strength cracked the ice wall from side to side as if it was made of glass.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Briar sputtered, her survival instinct demanding her to turn tail and run.
"Hold the line!" Madeline barked, reinforcing their makeshift barrier with her magic.
The mechanical brute moved away from the hole and a smaller android took its place. It raised a glowing, clawed finger and pointed it at the Alexandrians as if marking them for death. Large cracks and fractures appeared within the barricade as it started melting at a terrifying rate; the automaton was dispelling it.
"Umm... captain..?" Briar said, realizing that their heroic defense was about to end messily.
"Watch out!" Madeline screamed, pushing her comrade out of the way. With a flick of the golem's wrist, the ice wall exploded, sending large chunks of it flying in every direction. Time itself seemed to slow down to a crawl for Briar as the machines started pouring out of the tunnel like a flash flood. Disoriented, she got up from the ground and faced the incoming horde. Her gaze frantically searched for Madeline amidst the chaos, but she couldn't find her.
"Captain..." she mumbled, her voice drowned by the machines' deafening gallop. Outnumbered, outflanked, she closed her eyes and accepted her fate.
BOOOOM!
An impossibly bright explosion sent her tumbling backward. She screamed in pain and confusion, the scorching light having burned itself into her retinas. Suddenly, someone lifted her up and started carrying her away from the battlefield.
"WE NEED RUN! ZIDANE DANGEROUS WHEN ANGRY!" her savior yelled. Behind them, the Tranced genome let out an inhuman howl that made Alexandria itself tremble.
"UNLEASHED AT LAST!" Zidane roared, his armor transmuted into fur and his fingers into claws. "NOW, LET THE KILLING BEGIN!"
The golems wasted no time and bombarded him with a devastating spell salvo. Without missing a beat, they rushed en masse into the resulting smoke cloud, blades bared and glowing eyes peeled.
"YOU CALL THAT BLACK MAGIC, BISHOP?" Zidane's voice boomed from within the billowing darkness.
A hovering rune made of light materialized in front of the androids, and with a searing flash, it burst into a swarm of projectiles. The machines screeched as the arrow-like beams impaled them, sending them crashing into their own ranks. Drunk with power, the genome kept firing blindly, relishing every second of it.
"I understand you now, brother..." he thought, abandoning himself to ecstasy as his spell decimated everything in front of him. His aura became blood-red as he raised his hand, intent on giving his symphony of destruction a proper finale.
"ZIDANE, NO!" Quina shouted, recognizing the ominous glow that preceded a Grand Lethal, but the genome snapped his fingers without a second thought, detonating all his magic missiles at once.
March 29th, 1820, Radio Tower District, Alexandria,
16:27 P.M.
"Finally... the heart of the swarm," Freya thought, staring at the radio tower complex from the safety of a nearby roof. She crouched and peered over the ledge at the streets below.
"What can you see, ma'am?" Sir Osbern whispered, carefully approaching her.
"... Fourteen machines guard the door to the compound. Half of them are different from the ones we've seen until now..." she replied.
"Different? How so?"
"They're smaller, and there's a winged one too," Freya stated.
"Like the ones we saw patrolling the market district?" Sir Osbern asked, raising a gray eyebrow.
"Exactly."
"Dammit... what do you suggest, ma'am?"
"Hmm... I think we should..." Freya said, but a distant howl cut her short. "That voice! Could it be..?" she thought, turning around just in time to witness a gigantic explosion.
KRA-KOOOOM!
Her heart skipped a beat.
"N-no..." she mumbled, helplessly watching one of Alexandria Castle's towers crumble and fall, pulverized by a magic blast so mighty that it rivaled anything Kuja did in his heyday.
"What was that?!" Sir Osbern squeaked, having nearly fallen off the roof out of sheer surprise. The entire Burmecian squad stared blankly at the fireball, each one wondering if their loved ones had gotten caught in it.
"That light..." Freya muttered. A sharp pain made her clutch her chest as the memory of Kuja murdering her at the very heart of the universe replayed in her mind again, and again, and again. "N-no..! Not.. now!" she stammered, looking at her trembling hands; they were glowing a blinding white.
"I've told you. You can't protect anyone."
The ground beneath her feet suddenly turned into smoldering rock. She raised her eyes and saw her own Tranced form, staring at her from atop the Hill of Despair.
"Who are you..?" the Burmecian asked.
"I am everything you were destined to be, but failed to become," the entity stated. "I am the source of your strength, power incarnate. I am the Beast."
Another wave of sharp, stabbing pain forced Freya to her knees."Nrrrrgh..!" she grunted, finding herself unable to stand up.
"Pathetic," her monstrous reflection sneered. "Save us time and stay down. I'll take over from here."
"... Whatever you are, I won't endanger my comrades by cutting you loose!" the Burmecian declared, panting heavily.
The impostor glared at her for a moment and then began descending the slope, summoning an energy spear to its hand as it walked.
"You know what your problem is?" it asked. "You're not worthy of the Crescent legacy. You're a liability, just like our father!"
Freya gasped; now she was furious.
"How dare you speak of him like that?!" she hissed, finding in her own indignation the strength to get up and fight.
"Why shouldn't I? Mother died because of his incompetence," the Beast replied, savoring her frustration. "Now, tell me, sister, how many have already perished due to your failings?"
"That's it! I swear to Reis I'll kill you!" Freya barked. Blinded by rage, she sprinted uphill, intent on bashing her alter ego's skull in. The wraith kicked her in the face instead, sending her tumbling backward. Without giving her time to even try standing up, it leaped high into the air and landed on her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
"See? You don't have what it takes to fight your own battles!" the doppelganger roared, pinning Freya down with its foot. "Now do something useful for once in your life and let me replace you!"
Having said those words, it raised its weapon and aimed for the Burmecian's heart.
"Don't listen to her, kiddo! You're better than this!" Kain Crescent's voice echoed in Freya's mind, prompting her to open her eyes just in time to see the fiery spear approaching.
"You won't replace anyone!" she roared, catching it with her hands milliseconds before it impaled her. The entity screamed in agony as the dragoon's touch destabilized its form.
"What are you doing?! You can't survive without me!" it shrieked, melting into a seething mass of energy.
"Of course I can, impostor!" Freya retorted, clenching her teeth and absorbing it back into herself. The Beast desperately thrashed and struggled, but the dragoon's resolve overwhelmed it, and they both lost consciousness as they fused once again into a single being.
"Lady Freya? Lady Freya!" a distant voice echoed in her head.
"Sir Osbern..?" she mumbled, coming back to her senses. Raw, unbridled magic swirled within her soul like a hurricane, and she realized, much to her dismay, that she could not stop all that pent-up power from manifesting.
"Lady Freya... you're glowing..." the Burmecian knight stammered, taking a step back.
"Erik... RUN!" Freya howled as her flesh turned into burning white steel.
"Oh, gods... retreat! Retreat!" Sir Osbern yelled as the fiery wraith in front of him let out a blood-curling screech. The dragoons immediately jumped off the roof and dispersed, looking for cover.
Alerted to her presence, the golems protecting the radio tower bombarded Freya with such a massive spell volley that it utterly demolished the house atop which she stood.
Naturally, she couldn't care less.
Unscathed by the attack, the Burmecian took to the skies with a gigantic leap. The largest automaton spread its wings and gave chase, intent on shooting her down before she could counterattack. Sparks flew from its claws as it fired a devastating lightning spell at the dragoon, hitting her dead center.
"Freya!" Mikoto yelled, watching the fight unfold from the streets below.
"Dammit... she's in trouble!" Beatrix spat, looking skyward. The sound of heavy footsteps brought her back to reality. One of her soldiers approached the last house on the north side of the block and peeked around the corner. She almost lost her head when a hail of icicle-like projectiles greeted her.
"Shit! They saw me!" the trooper yelled, panting heavily. "Machines, at least ten of them, my general!"
"We're gonna get flanked!" Mikoto squeaked.
A loud war cry, followed by the sound of clashing metal, cut her short.
"For Burmecia!" Sir Osbern shouted, and a quartet of roaring warriors joined him. Beatrix gasped; the Burmecians had engaged the enemy on their own.
"They're gonna get themselves killed!" she yelled. "Lydia, stay with Mikoto! The rest, follow me!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Blood rushing, hearts racing, the general and her four soldiers abandoned cover and charged at the golem squad to save their outnumbered comrades.
"Phalanx, now!" Sir Osbern ordered, jumping backward to avoid a swing aimed at his neck. Standing side by side like a living wall, the dragoons managed to keep the androids at bay, trapping them between two fronts. Finding themselves surrounded, the automatons tried to escape by climbing a nearby house with their claws, but Beatrix was having none of it.
"Oh, no, you won't!" she shouted, channeling her power into Save the Queen and slashing in the machines' direction. A gust of razor wind hit the golems with tremendous force, sending them plummeting to the ground.
"They're wide open! Show no mercy!" the dragoon leader yelled, and everyone pounced on the androids like frenzied predators. Mikoto winced at the sight of her teammates repeatedly stabbing and crushing the creatures. "It had to be done..." she thought, looking away.
"... Is everyone alright?" Beatrix asked, taking a short break to catch her breath.
The oldest dragoon tottered a little and collapsed on the ground as if answering her question.
"Sven! Oh, no..." Sir Osbern said, rushing to his friend's side and kneeling to assess his wounds; he had been stabbed in the gut.
"I'm done for, Erik..." the knight said, coughing up blood. "Leave me now... there's no... ghk..!"
"Please, step aside. I've got this," Beatrix said, approaching the dying Burmecian. The dragoon squad glared at her with varying degrees of intensity, but the general accepted their scorn without a word. She covered the gaping wound with her hand and channeled her spiritual power into it. Glorious light surged as her spell weaved flesh and bone back together.
"Beatrix... are you okay?" Mikoto asked.
"Shhh!" the paladin hissed, trying to stay focused. White magic was extremely draining, and she was way too old to use it on that scale. She clenched her teeth and powered through the ordeal, determined to save the knight's life no matter the cost. "There... done..." she stammered, looking ready to collapse on top of the Burmecian.
"My general, are you alright?!" one of her soldiers asked, helping her stand up.
"Don't worry, I'm just a bit winded... that's all," Beatrix replied. "He'll live..." she said, looking at Sir Osbern through lidded eyes. The dragoon glared at her for a moment and finally let out a sigh.
"Björn, find someplace safe and stay with him. You've done enough today," he said, addressing the young squire. "Nothing's changed between us, general... but thank you for saving him. We shall stay true to our word."
A loud impact interrupted their conversation. The winged golem had crashed into a nearby house leaving a large hole in the wall, and the buzzing of a hundred energy spears flying their way prompted everyone to dive for cover.
"Cover your ears!" Beatrix ordered just before Freya's volley turned the building into a pile of rubble.
"Is she nuts?! She could have killed us with that!" Sir Osbern yelled, still deafened by the barrage.
"She's in a Trance! We must wait for it to end before approaching her!" Mikoto replied, rubbing her sore temples.
"Impossible! If we let her keep firing like that, she might damage the tower!" Beatrix squawked, rising to her feet. "Come on, girls! We need to do something!"
Her squad stared blankly at her, as if she had just ordered them to go kill themselves.
"Must... remain... in control!" Freya thought, grinding her teeth as the urge to go feral became unbearable. A distant sound brought her back to reality; a dozen winged golems were homing in on her like monstrous birds of prey. She grinned and summoned an energy spear to her hand. "COME AT ME! ALL OF YOU!" She roared defiantly.
The grotesque angels of destruction attempted to overwhelm her with a coordinated attack, but for every hit they landed, the Burmecian killed two of them; their blades simply bounced off her armor, and they stopped trying to use magic against her once she started powering through their spells with nary a scratch.
"Glorious, isn't it?" a voice in the back of her mind said as she ripped the last golem's soul core out of its body. The machine stared at her with its glowing yellow eyes, and she shuddered a little when she glimpsed emotion in them (relief, perhaps?) just before it fell lifelessly to the ground.
"... These are innocent souls, forced to fight us against their will," Freya thought, looking at the cursed device in her hand. "There's no glory in this battle, only survival..."
"Freya! Can you hear me?" someone yelled from below. She looked down and saw Beatrix waving at her from atop a roof.
"Since when are we on a first-name basis with that murderer?" the Beast boomed, sending a wave of hatred rippling through her mind. "We should kill her for her impertinence!"
"There's no we either... only me, and I decide who to ally with!" Freya grunted, wincing from the effort. Staying sane was draining her strength at an alarming rate, and her Trance was so intense that it would not dissipate anytime soon.
A flicker of light in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her head just in time to discover its source; the golems defending the radio tower complex had fired a massive fireball salvo at the general, and it was big enough to level the entire block.
"BEATRIX, WATCH OUT!" she yelled, taking a nosedive to save her comrade. Her Dragon's Crest shone brighter than the sun as she sent the contained souls to intercept the barrage, but more than a few projectiles managed to get past her technique.
"Dammit, I didn't think this through..!" Beatrix thought, facing the incoming onslaught. Save the Queen glowed red as she imbued it with a Reflect spell, and with a flurry of slashes, she deflected the fireballs right back at her attackers, blowing them up and setting ablaze the area they were defending. "Oh, crap..." she gasped, covering her mouth; she had come close to destroying the compound herself.
A loud explosion resonated across the city... only this time, it didn't come from the radio tower.
Beatrix turned around immediately.
"... What the..?" she mumbled, staring blankly at the detonation's source. Due to her position at the time, she had mistaken Zidane's rampage for a skirmish near the royal district, but now that she had a clear line of sight to the castle, she realized that it was missing a rather big chunk.
KLANG!
"Huh?!" the general uttered, taken by surprise. She turned around and saw Freya standing behind her; she had blocked a projectile meant for her with a swing of her spear.
"Focus, Beatrix! This isn't over yet!" the Burmecian exclaimed, scanning the flames for signs of their attacker.
"Thanks, Freya..." the paladin said, picking up the bladed disc that the dragoon had deflected. "What is this thing..?"
"A chakram..." the dragoon replied. "I haven't seen one since..."
An armored figure emerged from the fire, walking through it as if it was nothing. Freya held her breath; there was something eerily familiar about the way it moved.
"Machine?" Beatrix asked, trying to get a better look at their opponent.
"Not sure... but I have an idea..." the Burmecian answered, lowering her weapon. "Identify yourself, monk!" she shouted, her Trance amplifying her voice a hundred times.
"Do I really need to, rat?" the stranger boomed, deploying claw-like blades from his gauntlets and assuming a hunched, almost primal stance.
"That voice... I know that voice!" Beatrix said, readying Save the Queen.
"... Amarant?" Freya stammered, almost choking on the name.
Author's note:
Hi, everybody! It's been a while! I wanted to thank you all for reading my work. A special mention for Josh1013 is in order, as he's been generously backing up this project for a good while now. He's writing an awesome fic called "Final Fantasy 9: Underworld Chaos" in which Gaia goes literally to hell, haha! You should really go check it out if you haven't already; it's a highly engaging story with lots of cool details everywhere!
See you on the next chapter!