I've been suffering through a rather annoying bout of Murphy's Law as of late, following right after starting a new job, which is the reason for all the delaying. Hopefully, I can get things back in order at some point in the near future, at least enough so to finish writing the other half of the next chapter that I don't have finished yet.
Begin!
Book I, Part IV: Mortal Conflict - Dissension in the Ranks
Chapter VI—Overcast
[July 7, 2152 | Esthar, Business District, Estharian Science and Technology Institute, Second Floor | 6:29 PM]
I've seen some strange things in the time I've been both in Spira and here in Gaia. Flying, human-sized, magic-wielding fish, seven-foot tall canary-yellow birds as large as a horse that serve the same purpose, an airship-sized whale-like creature capable of leveling small towns with a sneeze, and entities masquerading as little girls who can unleash destruction on scales best represented in nuclear yields are just a few of the little things I've come across, and yet…
I can't decide if any of that is stranger than the short little man that I've been looking at for around the past two hours.
"Vat is it?" he asks, noticing my eyes staring at him yet again. "You can't zit here for ten zeconds vithout moving?"
An exasperated sigh escapes my lips as I continue to stare at the man, Doctor Hans Odine, and his weird outfit – the purple robe and odd-looking, foot-wide collar in shades of red and white only serve to put him far, far out of place in the otherwise professional-looking institute. He doesn't look at me as I stand up from my chair, seeming to tower over him even at my relatively short height, but instead turns to a computer screen and begins to analyze something with a thoughtful expression.
"I'm just wondering how much longer I'm going to have to wait here," I say, folding my arms. "I've been through an hour and a half of tests – you can't tell me how long getting the results will take, can you?"
"Zis iz delicate!" he exclaims, walking back over and poking me in the chest emphatically. "Zis process iz not something that iz just vinished in minutes! I vill tell you myzelf when ze process is complete!"
With a huff, he starts to head back over towards the computer panels in the room as I sit back down, annoyed at the lengthy testing, the inactivity, and the tiny doctor's attitude in equal parts.
"I kinda want to strangle you with that puffy frock," I mutter, flopping back down into the chair.
"You'll have to forgive Doctor Odine," another voice says from nearby, this one female. "He can be a bit…eccentric."
"Can you get Doctor Odine to be a bit less of an insufferable genius?" I ask, a bit more snappily than I care for. The woman doesn't say anything for a moment, and I sigh again before looking over at her, tilting my head to massage one side of my forehead at the same time. "Sorry, Dr. Mizrahi. I don't like being idle too well, and I don't care too much for being prodded either. This is driving me just a bit crazy."
The woman, an older woman in around her thirties dressed in the red and white uniform that I've seen most of the scientists and doctors wearing here, nods understandingly at me from the desk nearby. "I understand – to be honest, we don't often see young people like you coming for studies, especially not of this particular nature," she says, shoulder-length brown hair shifting slightly as she looks over.
"Mizrahi!"
"Yes, doctor?"
"Come take a look at zis, vill you?"
Dr. Mizrahi quickly stands up, striding over to the terminal that Dr. Odine is sitting at and stepping behind it to focus her eyes on the displayed data.
"Vat do you make of zis?" he asks, and I can see the woman bend slightly to take a better look at the screen.
"Are those…wait, that can't be right…" she mutters, before looking up at me. "You're a Trabian SeeD, correct?"
"Right," I say, standing up again and starting to walk towards them. "What about it?"
"Do you use Guardian Forces?"
"Yes."
"Were they junctioned?" she asks, and my look of confusion seems to register to her a moment later, causing her to amend her statement. "During the last test – did you have any Guardian Forces junctioned to yourself?"
"No," I reply, wondering where she could be going with this line of questioning. "I only have Shiva, and she was unjunctioned – Odine told me to before he started the test."
"Zee? Now, vat could be causing zis anomaly?" he asks Mizrahi, who looks about equally as confused as I am.
"I…doctor, I really don't know," she replies, shaking her head before looking at me. "Do you mind repeating that last test? I'm afraid that we may have received some incorrect readings for some reason."
Hesitantly, I nod, both at the idea of enduring another thirty minutes in the mildly-confining machine that I'd been examined by before as well as the idea that something really could be seriously wrong – what would cause them to ask whether I had really had all my GFs unjunctioned? Dr. Mizrahi nods, moving around the desk again as she starts heading towards another corner of the room, featuring a large machine made of white and gray metal resembling nothing so much as a giant vertical tube. The front of the machine opens to each side, I know, much like a set of elevator doors but in a semi-circular fashion, and the metal 'doors' are actually made in three sections to deal with claustrophobic patients, as Doctor Odine explained to me during my first time in the thing. As I watch, the three panels open outward to allow me to step inside the machine, which looks much more high-tech on the inside, featuring sensors lining the walls in a number of myriad forms along with other objects which I don't recognize. The two top-most panels close as I turn around, facing the outside of the machine, and I can hear rapid typing from Dr. Mizrahi outside as the machine begins to power up.
"Just stay calm, like before. It'll be over before you know it."
'I really wish it was already over,' I think to myself, sighing and closing my eyes as I try to relax amid the deep hums of the testing machine. Nothing I can do now but wait and think, it seems, and neither of those are sitting well with me right now.
[July 7, 2152 | Timber, Sheridan Excavation Services, Train Yard | 7:14 PM]
Sheridan Mining, as it was more commonly known by the Timber locals, was a quaint little company set right at the base of one of the large, rocky cliffs that lay some forty or fifty miles outside the city in the direction of Galbadia. It had been founded fourteen years prior by a man named Walter Sheridan, a Dollet native, and had been owned and operated by his family ever since then. Walter Sheridan, unfortunately, had passed away several years ago, leaving the company in the hands of his son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Marie Sheridan. The pair moved from Dollet to Timber soon after the death of Andrew's father, and following some legal paperwork and a few business talks, Sheridan Mining was once again in capable hands. Before long, Andrew had become rather accustomed to living in the smaller rural town as opposed to the larger, more sophisticated seaside town of Dollet, and he found himself developing a great deal of sympathy for the Timber natives suffering under the rule of Vinzer Deling. After giving it a great deal of thought both alone and in talks with his wife, they made a mutual decision to help the only real way they knew how.
From that point on, the resistance movement in Timber – the Forest Owls – found themselves the recipients of rather mysterious funding from unknown beneficiaries at evenly-spaced intervals. Very few people knew that Sheridan Mining's owners had a part in the Timber resistance, and the information was kept very quiet even now; for their part, Andrew and Marie kept the books straight by writing such funding off as "charitable donations," leaving only those closest to them any the wiser of where the money had really been going. In the past few months, though, the pair had begun to worry that they had been caught and were being retaliated against indirectly. Shipments of mineral ore and other materials to Esthar and Dollet had found themselves attacked and even hijacked by, for lack of a better word, bandits. It had cost the company several hundred thousand Gil to replace lost equipment and manpower, and that wasn't even counting the millions of Gil they found themselves losing in the actual shipments themselves. The funding had lowered steadily over the past few months, and those closest to both the resistance and the company had started keeping their distance from each other to try and dissuade anyone from proving the connections. It wasn't illegal by any means, but no one wanted Galbadians with a bit too much animosity towards Timber to find out and decide to deal with the situation as they saw fit.
The Forest Owls, however, had caught a lucky break when Vinzer Deling had been killed at the hands of Sorceress Edea, and then yet another when his son met an untimely end at the hands of an assassin barely a year later. Now, it seemed, former general Hibrom Caraway seemed set to take the presidency of the nation away from the Deling family's hands for good this time, following his brief stint as acting leader of Galbadia following the senior Deling's death. No one else in the Deling family wanted to try their luck against the honored military figure, and the only other people running were senators that most held in the same regards as the fiends that roamed the world as the result of Lunar Cries. It seemed to foretell good futures for Timber and the Galbadian nation as a whole, an omen of better things to come following the aims of a dictator and sorceress in years past.
"You're being such a baby about this!"
Andréa's ear perked up as a young female voice drifted through the train yard that her team was currently occupying. A large freight train of around twenty cars was set up and ready to go, from the looks of it, with several cars loaded down with freshly-cut wood as well as treated lumber, while other cars held varying amounts of stone, coal, and mineral ores presumably mined from the hills of the area. A low rumbling filled the air from the engines of the large train, dulling the noise of their footsteps as they moved.
The SeeD team leader casually stepped around the end of the train itself, coming almost face-to-face with a woman that looked to be a couple years older than her own twenty years, though still best described as girlishly cute. Short blond hair framed an innocent-looking face that was currently wearing a rather frustrated expression, as well as a modest body covered by a floral-patterned sundress and sandals. She walked alongside a young man, the apparent source of her irritation, with short dark hair and rather plain clothes; a simple blue sweater and dark blue shorts was all that he wore along with a pair of brown leather boots.
"Hey, I'm not the one who –" the man started to protest, cutting himself off as he noticed Andréa and the two behind her step around the train car. "Who're you?"
"We're here about a contract," Andréa said calmly, not showing any interest in their squabble. She'd been given descriptions and names of people to look out for as mission contacts, and while the man she was looking at matched one of those descriptions, the woman wasn't in any of the files. Just in case, she decided to keep things vague for the moment. The man seemed to take in the appearance of the three for several seconds, his eyes drifting to the scythe strapped to Andréa's back and the gunblade at Tetsuya's side before he finally nodded.
"The new security we hired, huh?" he asked, receiving another nod for his trouble. "Glad to see you're here. My name's Zone – I'm a friend of the company owner."
"I'm Erica," the girl said, almost a bit too cheerily as she waved politely. "Dad'll be happy to hear that the new contract finally went through, won't he?" Zone gave a half-hearted agreement as he leaned up against the train car nearest him, still examining the trio of SeeD officials before him. Andréa and Tetsuya didn't seem to catch much more attention from him, but Yuki's quiet fourteen year-old form earned a raised eyebrow and a skeptical look directed towards Andréa.
"You guys sure don't look like security," he commented, glancing back at Yuki again, "but I guess that's the whole point, isn't it?" Andréa shrugged, not answering one way or the other.
"How do we know you're really qualified for this?" Erica suddenly asked, her voice now a bit calmer and more restrained. "I mean, you do have a girl with you that can't be more than sixteen."
"Yuki? Demonstrate."
Andréa had halfway expected that Erica's question might've been asked by someone, and Yuki nodded as she caught the meaning behind Andréa's words. Tetsuya's face shifted into a faint smile as magic gathered around all five present, flotation magic suddenly taking hold and lifting them all a foot off the ground accompanied by brief, startled cries from Erica and Zone. Yuki seemed to be putting little effort at all behind the spell itself, as well, focusing instead on Andréa as she began to speak.
"I would advise you not to discount Yuki because of her age. Trabia's programs of study are primarily magic-oriented, and Yuki is one of the most promising SeeD that Trabia has seen in recent years. I assure you, she is more than qualified for this mission."
The spell faded away as Yuki released her grasp on the magical energy, letting everyone drop back to the ground safely. Erica looked a bit startled, but nodded quickly, deciding to take Andréa's advice to heart.
"So, we're just watching a train?" Tetsuya asked. "Anything you can tell us about what or who we're up against?"
"I wish we knew ourselves," Zone said, shaking his head. "We've been attacked a couple times now. Once, they didn't bother with an attack – they just bribed the guy driving the engine and stole the whole train. We never figured out what happened to it."
"You're sure it's the same people behind each attack?" Andréa asked.
"Absolutely," Erica said, beginning to lead Andréa's team alongside the train towards the engine cars. "Red outfits, black vests, black masks over the nose and mouth. Always the same, except for the one incident Zone just mentioned." Ahead, the SeeD team could see several people moving between a large building and one of the engines, apparently prepping the train to depart. Defending a moving train would be difficult, she knew, especially considering the myriad number of ways to attack such a thing.
"We were told something about paramagical use from the attackers," the blindfold-clad girl continued, causing Erica to stop as Zone went on ahead towards the front of the train.
"That's right," she replied. "We had a few security guards on duty the first time we were attacked, a couple months ago, but they couldn't do anything against these guys. Bullets just bounced off of some kind of magical shields, and they were throwing fire and lightning everywhere. We didn't have a chance to even think up a plan before they'd taken over the train. After that, we brought in more security, better weapons, but…it never had much of an effect. It finally got to the point where we didn't know what to do, up until Zone decided that he was going to try and call in SeeD – said they'd done it once before, back when Deling was still in charge."
"You were there to see all this?"
Erica's head dropped a bit. "No, but…that's what I heard from everyone, at least. I mean, I don't really have a reason not to believe it, but –"
"I'm not saying I don't believe you," Andréa interrupted. "I'm just trying to get an accurate picture of the situation."
"Sorry," she murmured, looking back up again. "It's just…we haven't really been able to do anything about this, so a lot of us are starting to lose hope. A lot of people quit right after the first attack, and it hasn't gotten any better, no matter what we've tried."
"Don't look so down," Tetsuya said, putting a hand on Erica's shoulder. "They can push around a couple security guards, but we'll make these guys regret tangling with SeeD. Right, Andréa?"
"Boundless optimism as always, Tetsuya," she quipped, looking back at Erica. "But yes. We'll get the job done – it's what we're paid to do."
"How long before the train leaves?" Tetsuya queried, looking past Erica at the engineers moving around the two engine cars attached to the train.
"Probably not long," she said, following his gaze and noticing Zone talking to an engineer standing on the steps leading inside the second engine. "It looks like they're getti –"
A loud roar suddenly cut over the dull sounds of the train engines as the ground exploded nearby, causing Tetsuya and Yuki to flinch and Erica to scream at the sudden violent noise. Andréa's head snapped around only to 'stare' at the form of a small, hovering airship colored in dark red, black, and silver metal. The craft itself was sleek and vaguely arrow-shaped, but the first thing that caught Andréa's notice was the lowered portion of one side of the aircraft, seemingly designed for quick entry and exit to the main body of the ship. She could see a figure standing up near the edge of the opened side, shouldering a weapon of some kind that they were attempting to reload, as well as lines hanging from the side upon which more figures were sliding down to the ground.
Whoever they were, Andréa's first impression was that they were most definitely professionals, and SeeD training wasn't quite out of the question yet. Her thoughts didn't keep her from barking out orders, however, even as she reached for the scythe on her back.
"Tetsuya – get her inside to safety, and then handle that airship! Yuki – protection and support! Make sure the civilians have a chance to get to cover!"
Tetsuya was already pulling Erica away towards one of the structures by the time she finished speaking, a protection spell from Yuki flowing over both of them as they moved. Satisfied, Andréa turned back towards the group of red-clad figures that were storming the train yard and began to focus, a protection spell also flowing over her as energy began to melt away from her form and solidify into several chain-bound humanoid spirits. There were only around twelve or so enemies that she could see, and they were already splitting up and taking cover at various points around the area – likely, they intended for that airship above them to cover them as they moved.
Well, that simply wouldn't do at all.
A quick gesture sent an explosive burst of Fire magic towards one of the hiding figures that flushed him out impressively, parts of his uniform burning even as Andréa sent him to the ground with a following blast of magic. Yuki added her own touch as she cast enhancing magic on herself before following up with a pair of Blizzaga spells that sprouted from the ground in front of Andréa in thick icy walls, giving her additional cover from any retaliation for the moment. One of those walls exploded mere seconds after it was created, sending jagged shards of ice scattering around the area following the impact of a fragmentation grenade from the airship bay's sole remaining occupant. The team leader sent a quick burst of lightning up towards the airship that struck the side, not doing any real damage but causing the one wielding the grenade launcher to slide further into cover for a moment.
That moment was all the time Tetsuya needed to carry out the other part of Andréa's order.
The air snapped and crackled as it was suddenly filled with electrical energy, thick clouds seeming to swirl into existence in seconds as Tetsuya's summoned Guardian Force began manifesting. A swirling figure began to emerge from the clouds, a bright yellow and green form that suddenly spread impressive tapered wings out wide to reveal its full bird-like appearance. Quezacotl, Guardian Force of Lightning, flapped its thin wings for a moment as it hovered above the three SeeDs before electrical energy began to gather at the tip of its 'beak,' quickly expanding into a ball of energy at the fore of its head.
Andréa could almost picture the look of distress on the airship pilot's face as Quezacotl unleashed the storm of energy, engulfing the airship in a massive web of lightning that sparked and pitted the hull of the craft even as it tried to get away. She saw the one who had been launching grenades fall over inside the bay as the airship rapidly retreated, sparks worming across its hull as the pilot tried to keep the airship from crashing after the electrical attack.
Shimmers of energy caught Andréa's attention following the summoned creature's magical attack, and she looked out over the field again from cover to see several of the red-clad invaders clap their hands together, prompting a deluge of attacks of various types – a stream of water flew towards Tetsuya from one enemy, electrified by a quick jolt of lightning from a second, while two powerful bursts of fire erupted into Andréa's shield, forcing her back and causing her to send in her spirits to give her a moment to gather herself.
"Andréa!" Yuki shouted, quickly casting Shell magic over her body and running up towards her to help with the counterattack. "They're –"
"Alchemists," she said, nodding in an acknowledging fashion. "I know. We need to hit them hard and fast – can't let them use any of the abilities they might have." Yuki watched for a moment as four spirits of Andréa's creation began to attack the invading figures, using small bursts of elemental energy that were quickly countered by retaliatory use of Alchemy, before nodding quietly.
"I'll use my GF."
"Then we'll get our hands dirty," the older SeeD said, looking to the third member of their team. "Tetsuya! With me!"
"Got it!" he shouted, unsheathing the gunblade at his side and joining Andréa as she began to run towards their enemies. There was a moment of hesitation in the ranks of the invaders as they saw the seemingly suicidal charge, but they reacted quickly as they began to pour elemental power into the pair of approaching SeeDs. Bolts, waves, and bursts of fire, ice, lightning, and other elements raced forward at the duo, but they remained unfazed as the energy of Haste played over their bodies, increasing their speed by a large margin over the attackers.
Andréa spun fluidly around a burst of fire before cutting apart a small ice wave with her scythe and closing in on the one who had fired it. She left the man no time to react, doubling him over as the hilt of her scythe met his stomach before she drove a knee into his face, knocking him back and off his feet to lie motionless on the ground. Immediately, she spun again and tore a geyser of water in twain before advancing on that attacker as well, tearing into his left leg's upper portion and crippling him before slashing across his chest and leaving him in a ragged, bleeding heap.
Tetsuya's gunblade fired across from his companion, and a man went down with a gaping wound in his torso inflicted by the concussive weapon. Another tried to spear him from behind with a long, straight saber, but found his weapon jarred sharply upward before the heavy gunblade sliced across his chest as well, firing again and leaving a vicious wound that sprayed crimson into the air. A lightning bolt blasted into his side suddenly from a third direction, causing Tetsuya to stumble and jerk both from the pain and momentary loss of motor control, but his junctions mitigated the damage enough to allow him to recover before the offender closed in completely. Tetsuya allowed himself a bit of a smirk at the man's horrified realization that his target wasn't incapacitated, right before blowing the man off his feet with a concentrated Thundaga spell from short range.
The remainder of the force, now at only about half their strength, seemed hesitant to attack the two SeeDs in the middle of the combat – while they were well-trained, they were not used to facing opponents like SeeD, and most had no interest in throwing their lives away simply for money they'd never be able to spend. Their brief seconds of hesitance worked even further against them as the magical energy in the air increased rapidly, Yuki's Guardian Force finally making itself manifest behind her two teammates. What seemed to be a slender, skimpily-dressed woman materialized before Yuki, long blond hair falling alongside two long, green and yellow feathered wings – the form of the Guardian Force Siren. A harp melted into existence in her hands as she looked towards the ground, and she began to play as she closed her eyes, a silent melody streaming forth from the harp strings as waves of barely-visible magical force that split and moved towards each of the remaining enemies.
Andréa and Tetsuya both backed off slightly as the remaining enemies were assaulted by the energy pulses, watching as they flinched and shook in pain as the energy passed through them. Yuki moved up to rejoin the pair, watching intently as one of the Alchemists recovered and clapped their hands to use their power…only to have nothing happen, Siren's magical Silence effect having subtly taken hold on them during the attack. A look of dawning realization slowly began to appear on the group of foes, which gave way to fear moments later as the SeeDs prepared to attack again. One foe at the back broke and made to run, and that was all it took to cause a scrambling retreat from the rest, breaking into a full run in the direction that Tetsuya's summon had forced their airship.
"Problem solved," Tetsuya said, flipping his gunblade over and sliding it back into its sheath. "Looks like they need some work on that Alchemy of theirs, huh, sis?"
"Eyes up, Tetsuya," Andréa replied, 'staring' straight ahead with her covered visage. "That's not all of them."
Even now, Tetsuya was still unnerved as to how she could see perfectly fine while effectively blind, but he did as instructed. One of the group's members had stayed behind, it seemed, and was now facing the trio of SeeDs from afar. Slowly and deliberately, they reached up and removed the pair of cloth coverings that hid all but their eyes from view, revealing dark hair tied back into a tight bun and a feminine face with bright red lips curled into a small smirk.
'Seems they got some better security,' the woman thought to herself, watching each of the three with equal care. 'Guardian Forces…which means only one thing.'
She was fully aware of the reputation that SeeD held in the world, particularly following the events after the attempted assassination of Sorceress Edea some time ago. Even one wasn't to be taken lightly; three posed a significant problem to small forces like hers, Alchemy or no. The older female and male seemed to be skilled with melee attacks, though she'd caught a glimpse of magical skills with the spirits that the older girl had summoned at the start. The smaller girl seemed to be exclusively a mage, or otherwise weak in melee combat, as she had made no move yet to do anything outside of magical attack and defense.
"My, my," she began, taking a few light steps forward towards the group of SeeD officers. "How quickly you dispatched the few under my command…as if anything else could be expected."
"I would have thought you would have taken the hint along with your men," Andréa said casually, watching the woman carefully as she took each step. "Or is your eyesight deficient?"
The red-clad woman laughed, the sound coming across as a sharp, mocking tone that rang across the now-quiet area. "Coming from one who wears a hood over her eyes! You aren't aware of who I am, then?"
"Besides an obstacle? It doesn't matter."
"Someone wasn't taught manners growing up, it seems," the woman said, the smirk unwavering on her face. "Kirce Valtroux – am I to assume that you're so ill-mannered as to not return an introduction in kind?"
Andréa didn't respond to the arrogant woman, instead sharing a brief glance with each of her teammates. "Tetsuya, Yuki. Pay close attention to her – I'm going to engage her personally. I want the two of you to assess her capabilities and then move in to assist me once the scales tip one way or the other."
"Got it."
"Okay."
(Play: Fight Tune "Crimson Impact" – Masashi Hamauzu, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus)
Kirce had to admit that she was impressed by the speed and fluidity of her opponent's opening attack – the scythe in Andréa's hands was lunging forward almost before Kirce's mind really registered the movement. Fortunately, a moment was enough, and Kirce's arms shot up in a block as the scythe clanged off of something metallic, deflecting off to the side as Kirce turned away and removed her arms from beneath the blade. Andréa caught the faintest shimmer of colored metal underneath the long sleeves of Kirce's shirt as the red-clad woman moved before her foe's hand twitched, fingers snapping as an eldritch glow briefly emanated from the back of her right hand. The air in front of Andréa suddenly burst into flame, the Flame Alchemy forcefully and suddenly causing her to draw back and put some space between them again after her initial strike.
'Flame…just like Katanas,' she mused, twirling the scythe before casting magic over herself, the Shell magic briefly manifesting as a pink barrier around her before fading away. 'Nothing I can't handle.'
The scythe flashed again, cutting apart another ball of fire from the Alchemist in front of her before she moved, whipping the scythe in horizontally but finding her range not quite enough to land a blow as her opponent evaded. She pressed the attack, leaping forward and fluidly bringing the scythe around once more to cut down in front of her, tearing the ground apart as she momentarily wielded the large blade one-handed thanks to her junctions, the dirt offering the resistance of butter against the finely-edged weapon. The weapon came around again as Kirce struck out with her right fist, the flat of the blade meeting flesh to block the strike easily –
The Shell magic around Andréa suddenly flared as Kirce let a torrent of fire loose from her hand that completely engulfed the blinded woman, eating away at the magic and causing her teammates to shield their faces from the heat of the technique.
'Maybe not just like Katanas,' Andréa mentally corrected, struggling to 'see' her opponent through the fiery haze. 'Katanas doesn't punch people with Alchemy.'
Another burst of fire dissipated against Andréa's scythe blade, and she immediately turned in that direction, lunging from the remnants of the fiery cloud and bringing her scythe around towards her now-revealed foe. Blade clashed against metal again, and the sleeves of Kirce's shirt were sliced raggedly as the metal bracers on her forearms saved her from losing those same forearms, the crippling strike instead turned into one that threw her from her feet as the last of the fire disappeared from the air.
'Not very strong…can't have junctions, or she'd have blocked that better. Can't be SeeD.'
Satisfied with her assessment, Andréa moved towards Kirce again, intent on following up with a crippling strike while she had the advantage. The woman seemed to be all bluster, and if she was all that was in the way of completing the mission, Andréa figured that she should go ahead and end things while she had the chance. There was no point in drawing out a mission just for personal enjoyment, unlike a certain red-headed Alchemist she knew of.
Another flash of magic caught Andréa's attention almost at the same time that she found herself stumbling, a sharp pain in her leg asserting itself and causing her to skid to a stop, planting the hilt of her scythe into the ground quickly to keep her balance.
"Andréa!" Tetsuya called, his voice reaching her ears as she glanced down towards her left leg, noticing that something appeared to have burned a small hole clean through the upper portion of her leg, above the knee. As she looked back up, she saw Kirce in a kneeling position with her left arm outstretched, hand smoking faintly from…something. The attack had been subtle and fast – she hadn't really noticed Kirce release the attack, merely the aftermath. Through the momentary haze of pain, her mind registered exactly what the attack had been, even as unlikely as it seemed to her.
'Lightning Alchemy, too?'
To an Alchemist, training in an elemental proficiency such as Fire or Lightning-element Alchemy was usually a lifelong affair. Most Alchemists worked with a single elemental proficiency for their entire lives, continuing to refine and perfect the art as much as they could both in and out of combat. Rarely, however, would one decide to branch out and instead learn about multiple elemental proficiencies. The benefits were many; choosing two proficiencies that complimented each other could often give the Alchemist an advantage much greater than the sum of the two parts. Water and Ice, for example, were mutually beneficial because of the potential to use created water for Ice Alchemy or melted ice for Water Alchemy. However, it was almost impossible for one who specialized so to be as good at any one branch of elemental Alchemy as someone who had solely practiced that element.
Andréa was spared from further attack by the sudden flight of a thick metal pipe in Kirce's direction, the large metallic piece propelled by a combination of Float and Aero magic from Tetsuya and Yuki. It slammed into the ground where Kirce had been crouching as she leapt away, tearing a short but deep trench in the earth before coming to a stop as the pair moved to reinforce their leader.
"You alright?" Tetsuya asked, taking a defensive stance in front of Andréa as he looked back towards her.
"It's…restrictive, but I'll live," she stated, keeping her face carefully neutral despite the pain as she cast some curative magic on the wound. It would stop what little bleeding the heat of the bolt hadn't stopped already, but it would take a bit more care to heal that she couldn't afford in combat conditions right now.
"Dual-talent Alchemy?" Yuki asked, a bit of awe creeping into her voice. "But…I've never heard of anyone doing that!"
"It happens," the older girl said, keeping careful watch of Kirce, who seemed to be observing them for the moment. "Rare, but it exists. Most find it more practical to focus on one element."
"Jumping in to protect your leader?" Kirce said, her singsong voice holding a mocking edge to it. "How heroic!"
"Yuki, cover me. I'm gonna wipe the smirk off her face," Tetsuya said, gunblade back in his hands again. His sister nodded, calling up magical energies, and he took off in a leisurely jog towards the Alchemist that turned into a full-on sprint halfway through. Tetsuya's gunblade led his charge, slicing and stabbing out as he began to engage the grinning female in melee combat.
To his chagrin, she was more agile than he was, obviously being trained in some form of close combat which let her keep ahead of his whirling gunblade. A quick sweep was ducked under, a thrust parried by the metal bracers and countered with an equally fast burst of fire that Tetsuya bulled through like it didn't exist, surprising the woman enough for him to slam into her with a shoulder charge. She rolled backwards, but regained enough control over her direction after a few moments to turn her uncontrolled fall into a more controlled hop back to a crouching position.
"Such a…brutish fighting style," she commented with a distinctly unladylike grunt of pain. "Didn't they teach you any finesse at that academy of yours?"
"Of course they did. My sister's about to demonstrate," Tetsuya said, his face lighting up as he let a smirk of his own play across it. Kirce's self-satisfied expression suddenly shifted into a look of surprise as thin, faint lines of energy suddenly erupted all around her in a sort of net or web of magical power, stinging her body and numbing the parts of it touched or caught by the intricate pattern.
'Paralysis magic?' she thought with shock, realizing all at once that she'd been played for a fool as she fought to get her muscles to obey her again. Yuki calmly stepped towards her brother, still weaving magic around her hands as she advanced.
"You can still surrender," she told Kirce, keeping the innocent look on her face as she watched the offending Alchemist. "We're not going to hurt you if you give up, you know."
"Ha!" she exclaimed, parts of her left arm and right leg moving sluggishly from the magical paralysis. "You think that the Dragon's Breath Alchemist would surrender to a bunch of kids? SeeD or not, you're a few years too young to stand up against someone like me!"
"Really, now," Andréa said, still supporting herself more on her right side to compensate for the wound in her leg. "Let's test that theory. Yuki, if you would?"
"Hai," she said quietly, looking somewhat regretful as she finished channeling her magic of choice and began propelling it outwards. The visible net of energy began to take on a faint black sheen as Yuki pushed more magic into the paralyzing spell, this spell a distinctly different kind of magic from the debilitating energy.
Tetsuya blinked for a moment as he watched Yuki weave the new spell's magic into the existing paralysis spell and then hastily began retreating, realizing after a second or two what she intended to do at Andréa's direction. Kirce began to speak as Tetsuya moved away, but whatever she intended to say was drowned out by a loud roar as Yuki ignited the magical Oil spell she'd cast upon the net, instantly turning the entire area Kirce was standing in into a massive conflagration.
It only took a moment for her to come stumbling out of the magical inferno, parts of her clothes alight with flickering flame that she hastily stamped out with her sleeves as she coughed. Most Alchemists who trained in an element eventually developed a sort of inherent resistance to their element of choice due to the long periods of time spent manipulating those particular energies, but it was an extreme rarity to find one who had trained long enough to become nearly immune to that element's effects – building up tolerance of that sort required decades of hard work that Andréa knew their foe most certainly did not have.
"…Are you really inane enough to use fire against someone like me?" Kirce demanded, straightening despite the pain she was in as her eyes flared in anger. She lashed out again as the fingers on both hands snapped, the fire behind her suddenly rushing forward and spreading out towards the trio before her. Yuki's eyes widened as she quickly tried to throw up a barrier against the oncoming flames, only to realize she was too slow as the flames engulfed the trio of SeeDs just as they had Kirce moments prior.
"You brought that on yourselves!" she yelled, enjoying the sight of the three being roasted by the magical fire. The flames crackled for several seconds longer before they shifted suddenly and violently, being blown away in an instant as Andréa spun in a vicious mid-air tornado with her scythe extended, energy emanating from the edge of the blade. She landed gracefully, looking somewhat singed but still seeming to have plenty of fight left in her; Tetsuya and Yuki, she noticed, looked much the same, though Tetsuya had taken the brunt of the flames due to Yuki's last-second barrier. Casually, she brought the scythe back across her shoulder before nodding towards Tetsuya and Yuki, uttering a single word.
"Go."
"On i -"
Tetsuya's body suddenly jerked, cutting him off in mid-sentence as Yuki gasped in horror. Weakly, he clutched at his chest as Kirce lowered her right hand, dropping his gunblade as he placed a hand over the area where a thin bolt of the Alchemist's electrical energy had just pierced.
"Nii-san!"
Yuki immediately rushed to Tetsuya's side as he sank to one hand and his knees on the ground, blood running from a small, half-cauterized hole piercing him straight through his upper body. In the few seconds it took Yuki to get to him, he was already gasping for breath, desperately trying to keep himself calm in order to keep himself from going into shock. The wound hurt much more than any other wound he'd had in the past, barring one gunshot that he'd taken during a mission a few weeks prior – and even then, his junctions had helped both lessen the physical damage from that and help him deal with the pain. This felt more like someone had taken a red-hot rod and rammed it through his chest, then left it there to burn him from the inside-out.
"Tetsuya!" Yuki cried again, putting one hand on his shoulder as she tried to look at the wound, quickly but gently moving his hand aside for a better view.
"C-Can't breathe," he managed to choke out, glancing over at her for a moment as he fought the urge to move his hand back where it had just been. Yuki fought back the urge to grimace all at once as she realized what the bolt had done – most likely, it had punctured a lung, which was very dangerous in safe conditions, let alone combat. If she didn't do something to treat it immediately, it could wind up being fatal as the lung tissue struggled to keep the ability to inhale and exhale, eventually resulting in asphyxiation.
While she had taken medical classes, a situation like this was one that hadn't been addressed in her studies – she had no idea how long she had to help, which meant that she could have a half hour or five minutes. If that was the case, then there were two things that needed to happen. First, she needed to do what she could to at least seal the wound for the moment and hope that it helped enough to keep him alive until they could get back to Garden and properly treat it. That led into the second part – the battle had to be ended, immediately.
"Andréa!" she yelled, looking around for the blind woman and finding her once again engaged in combat with the Alchemist, apparently having attacked again to let Yuki assess Tetsuya's condition. "SMD!"
Magic gathered in her hands as she turned her attention back to Tetsuya, confident that Andréa would keep the situation in hand long enough for her to try and stabilize her brother. She was beginning to form a rough plan in her mind to deal with the injury, though she'd only considered it in the realm of theory before now. A Curaga spell played over her hands as she pumped curative energies into the chest wound, hoping to at least mostly seal up the lung tissue and other potential internal damage before she cast her next spell.
"Yu –"
"Don't talk. Stop magic," she said, channeling the energy for the magic even as Tetsuya gave a short, weak nod, understanding her intent.
Slow and Stop magic were grouped into a classification of magic that, for lack of a better group name, was termed "Time Magic" by scholars, a group which also included Haste magic and several other spells. The name was actually a bit of a misnomer, as the spells in the group didn't actually have anything to do with manipulating time flow, but rather manipulated physiological processes. Haste, for example, sped up the electrical signals that flowed throughout the body, increasing the body's natural abilities, reaction time, and the brain's ability to process the information at faster rates. Slow magic did just the opposite, slowing down those signals, thereby reducing the physical abilities of the afflicted. Stop magic was partially an extension of the abilities of Slow magic and partially more like the classification's namesake – it effectively froze all physiological processes for the duration, for good or ill, almost as if the person had been placed in a bubble outside of time. This had benefits and drawbacks; while it could stop negative afflictions such as poisoning or trauma for a short time, it could also cause the body to atrophy if left under the spell's effect for too long.
Tetsuya's body seemed to freeze in its place as Yuki cast the magic over him, a light sheen overtaking him that flowed and moved over his form. She finally let out the breath she'd been holding as the magic took full effect, her breath coming in quick pants as she stood back up. She had cast a lot of magic, and she was nearing the limit of her abilities now. Looking over, she saw Andréa still fighting, though it looked now like she was gradually losing – the wound in her leg was slowing her down, and despite the presence of two summoned spirits that were keeping the pressure on, Kirce looked to be gaining the advantage through the use of her Alchemy skills.
Newfound energy surged through Yuki's veins as she cast one final spell on herself, pushing herself to draw on the specialized training she'd been given as a member of SeeD as the Aura magic infused her body with renewed power. She took hold of her emotions and used that to fuel the fire within her, letting out a yell as she pulled on that power and forced it outward in the form of her Limit technique. Motes of energy began to form in front of her, hovering in the air as she pushed energy into the technique until ten had fully materialized before her body, each brightly glimmering with a different color. She let out another yell as she threw her arms forward, setting each of the motes on a different path to the same target – the Alchemist in front of her. Andréa, while looking quite a bit worse for wear, still realized what was about to happen and quickly disengaged from her target, letting her remaining spirit close in and absorb the brunt of a fiery blast for her as she retreated.
Kirce's instant of surprise at Andréa's retreat quickly turned into panic as she saw the spiraling energy beams of Yuki's Limit bearing down on her, and she snapped her fingers to release another torrent of fire at almost the exact same time that the beams converged and detonated on her position, releasing another explosion of various elemental energies that nearly threw Andréa further backwards. Spent, Yuki collapsed to the ground beside Tetsuya's frozen form, utterly drained of her mana.
A small blast of fire suddenly exploded directly in front of Yuki, knocking her back onto the ground with a short cry to lie there, unable to move due to fatigue and pain. Andréa made to move once again to try and salvage the situation, but was forced back by a bolt of lightning that just missed her intact leg as Kirce reappeared from the dirt kicked up by the explosion of Yuki's Limit.
"You. Can't. Beat. Me!" she screamed, punctuating each word with a blast of fire that finally toppled the SeeD squad leader, leaving her dazed and burned on the ground as she tried to recover from the flames. Kirce looked like she was going to collapse at any moment, sheer rage appearing to be all that was keeping her going despite all the magical burns, bloody cuts, and bruises covering her body. The crimson, cloak-like cloth that she wore over her shirt was little more than tattered fabric now, and she had a painful-looking cut across her midriff that was still dripping blood, not to mention the multitude of burned patches of fabric and equally-burned skin that dotted her body. "You're just kids! Weak, arrogant kids that need to learn a lesson!"
Eyes wild, she snapped again with both hands, releasing a widespread wave of fire that threatened to engulf the three SeeD officers…
...only to have it melt away into nothingness nearly the instant it left her hands.
The clattering of boots on rock filled the suddenly-silent train yard, and Kirce snapped again to no avail; her Alchemy refused to respond to her will, cut off from her by the power of Silence magic. Her expression became horrified as she looked past Tetsuya and Yuki towards the source of the sound, mind finally processing what – or rather, who – she was seeing.
"…You…!"
Black boots came to a stop in the train yard, the figure wearing them slowing from their run to come to a stop some distance behind Tetsuya and Yuki. Andréa followed Kirce's shocked gaze, smiling despite the pain as she saw what Kirce was looking at. Dark hair with caramel highlights framed the youthful, female face of the figure, and her light-blue cardigan settled around her as she started walking again, magic flowing around her fingers like running water.
"Leave," Rinoa Heartilly said, her soft voice carrying a hint of steel that was plainly evident to everyone that could hear it.
Kirce knew exactly who Rinoa Heartilly was, and she had never imagined that she would ever come face-to-face with the young woman. As far as anyone knew, she was the last remaining Sorceress on the planet, with former Sorceress Edea's power now transferred into her own as well as the formerly-sealed Sorceress Adel. That information had been kept under extremely close watch ever since the incident with the Lunatic Pandora at Tear's Point, but information was also extremely difficult to keep under perfect guard. What had been certain victory for Kirce had suddenly crumbled to dust with but a word. Talented Alchemist or not, even she knew that she was no match for a Sorceress, especially not one who wielded the kind of power that Rinoa had.
(End: Fight Tune "Crimson Impact" – Masashi Hamauzu, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus)
"…This isn't over!" Kirce raged, backing away and keeping her eyes squarely on Rinoa. "Cross me again, and I'll hunt every last one of you down!" Her gait was somewhat staggered as she began to run in the direction that her airship had been forced, but none of the SeeD present moved to give chase – none save Rinoa were in any condition to. The Sorceress didn't waste any time moving to help Yuki as Andréa got back to her feet, making her way back towards the rest of her team as fast as she could manage with her scythe helping to support her weight. Curative magic washed over Yuki as Rinoa knelt down to the younger girl, noticing the Stop magic flowing around Tetsuya's body as she did so.
"What happened?" Rinoa asked, looking over at Yuki's brother with a look of concern.
"Lightning spell...punctured his lung," Yuki replied dazedly, the healing magic taking away some of the pain but leaving the immense fatigue. The tiredness was numbing her mind a bit to the entirety of the situation, and she found that she wanted nothing more than to sleep to take away the feeling.
"He needs to get back to Garden, now," Andréa said, once again securing her scythe behind her now that she was confident the immediate danger was past. "Yuki, stay here with Rinoa. I'm going to take him back myself."
"But…there's no way you can get back to Garden in time!" Yuki said, her voice sounding a bit more alert as the older SeeD's words sank in. "We need to do something now!"
"I know. I can get there."
Andréa knelt down onto a knee, lifting Tetsuya's body up so that he was facing her before carefully lifting his body so that it rested across her shoulders. She stood up again and gave a quick nod to Yuki before looking at Rinoa.
"Make sure she stays safe. I'll be back soon."
Without waiting for a reply, Andréa stepped into nothingness, vanishing into thin air before the now wide-eyed Yuki.
[Location Unknown]
"You sent me all the way back to that world of yours simply to play monster hunter?" Yuriev asked coolly, his facial expression betraying the restrained irritation that his demeanor and posture refused to show. If Wilhelm was affected by the Planeswalker's emotions, he showed nothing in his face, instead casting a glance upon the large, cylindrical tank set in the middle of the featureless white room. The room went nowhere and everywhere at Wilhelm's insistence; being an Author meant that reality could be your plaything with but a thought and gesture, even if the realm of your current location was not your own domain. Of course, toying with another Author's creation so carelessly could have repercussions, but he had his assurances that he could do such things as long as he did not openly shatter the realm he presently resided in.
"If you must think of it in such lowly terms," Wilhelm replied calmly, placing a hand on the glass. A piercing shriek resounded through the liquid, glass, and metal comprising the tank as a human-sized, squid-like creature thrashed into the glass where Wilhelm's hand was placed. The glass did not move, nor would it break; the Author's control over his creation was absolute. If he willed it, it could not bend nor break. "I prefer to think of it as gathering materials. All experiments must have sound beginnings, after all."
"I don't see what's so special about squid-lips here," he muttered. "It wasn't even hard to catch…couple burns, and it ended up like any other half-dead fish I've ever seen."
Another thrash, this time aimed at Yuriev's position. If one didn't know any better, they would think the creature had taken offense at the comment – that was impossible, of course. It lacked direction and true sentience, instead being driven by instinct and hunger. One large eye stayed focused directly at Yuriev, however, almost as if to defy the very fact of its nature.
"You are a scientist, are you not?" Wilhelm asked, receiving no response. "Your…abilities…certainly did not come to you by way of accident, I imagine."
"Appealing to my nature?" Yuriev sneered, barking a quick laugh at Wilhelm as he turned back to the Author. "My, my…how very insightful of you."
"Surely you must know that the greatest of victories often come in the most unassuming of subjects," the white-haired man continued, stepping around the tank to examine the creature from a different angle. Yuriev scoffed.
"You call a giant squid thing 'unassuming'?" he asked amusedly.
"Details, my dear Planeswalker."
"You Authors are strange people to work for," Yuriev commented, folding his arms. "Giving a straight answer to anyone must be too much trouble for you, hm?"
"You, for all your talent, are still mortal," Wilhelm countered, returning his attention to the Planeswalker. "You are unable to see the myriad possibilities that beings such as us can view at will. The greater intricacies of the universe are hidden from mortal eyes, no matter how powerful."
"Well, the greater mysteries could be in my grasp quite easily if you'd care to detail them in a more mortal manner," Yuriev retorted. "I cannot judge what I cannot see, and if you expect me to perform for you without the appropriate data, then I believe we'll both just be wasting our time."
"Then it is good that your task for me is complete. You may return to your benefactor at your leisure."
"What, no reward for my efforts? No payment for my services?"
"I would think the chance to aid an Author with their tasks reward enough, Planeswalker."
Yuriev scowled, but decided to bite his tongue. He tended to push the limits of respect on occasion with the Overlord, but he had learned how far he could push that as a result of his usefulness. Wilhelm would likely have no such qualms about putting him in his place should he overstep his boundaries.
"As you wish," he finally said, nodding stiffly. Wilhelm stepped back around the tank, gesturing off towards a wall of the room as he moved.
"Please leave me now, Planeswalker. I have business to attend to. Your service shall be remembered."
Yuriev didn't reply – he was, despite the lack of a reward, glad to be leaving the company of the white-haired Author. He turned quickly, stepping forward and disappearing as he moved into the extradimensional space of the Crystal Path. Wilhelm gazed thoughtfully at the tank containing the creature Yuriev had procured for him, again placing a hand on the glass as he watched.
"Magnificent…you were truly one of my finest creations, and soon, you shall be restored to that former glory."
This chapter kind of ran away from me after I started writing it. Initially, the part at Timber was supposed to be relatively short, but as I kept writing...well, things kept piling in, and I kept changing the ideas that I had until I got to a point where I just kept going with it long after I'd planned to stop. I'm pleased with it, though, so it doesn't bother me. I'm hoping to have the next chapter finished sometime around next weekend or so, as I'm working on fixing a couple problems that have cropped up lately at home. As always, please read and review.