A/N: Okay, after some editing, this turned out rather well, I think. I wanted to end on a positive note, and I finally worked out how to work in the most important part.
So, this will be the last chapter until we're moved and settled in at the new place. No, we're still not sure for sure where that will be, but there were two places we were waiting on possible word on, and they could let us know if it's a go at any point during the month, so...Fingers crossed.
Curtain Drawn
Rufus had found a place to sit outside while the weather was fair and so he could be easily found. By then, it was approaching evening, and he could watch the approaching sunset and the pass alternately from his perch. Earlier in the day, he'd gone for a climb up the mountain as well, and had realized a second military camp had moved just into view, probably less than a day's walk, from General Volstok's camp, though a fairly dense forest still separated the two camps. One couldn't see the other from ground level, but also couldn't see an approaching attack force, not from ground level or above. Somehow, that worried him.
In the meantime, much of the camp had already cleared out, some having already chosen to risk the pass into Gaian territory while most had headed for the Amestrian border. To his surprise, they weren't going straight to it, but heading rather farther west, making him wonder why they weren't taking the shortest route into the other nation. Was there something on this particular border they wanted to avoid? Or, perversely, was there something they wanted to encounter further west? He'd have to wait for someone to talk with him to ask, and so far, that had only been a few commanders who had told him to let anyone who asked know their decision.
The sound of approaching footsteps made him turn to look, and found the General himself approaching, with Kariya beside him. Several others followed them, but most of those kept going—heading for the pass—while Kariya and Stanev stopped beside him, the dark haired man sitting with a tired sigh.
"About a quarter remain, now," the General commented quietly. "All have gathered their possessions and moved to this side of the camp, knowing they have no choice but to leave now, and the only question is 'in which direction?' I have made my decision to cross with you, and those who have asked know so. They should all have decided soon, but I shall remain here until the last has departed."
"I had intended that, and to stay with you until then," Rufus agreed. "I take it that means the ones who are still here will stop by to let you know before they go?"
"Yes," the older man agreed. "We have been lucky so far, though by all rights, their forces should begin entering our camp at midnight—by the time of day when they would have used it, that would be when the contaminated zone would have cleared. Should any of us remain at that time..."
"We still have surprises, Lakis and Kariya especially," the blond shrugged. "If they happen to find us before everyone has left, they won't live to tell the tale. By the way, why are they all going further west rather than straight across?"
"They mean to cross at Fort Briggs, also to warn them to be prepared for attack all along the border," the General answered, gaze tired. "We have attacked Fort Briggs a good many times. Their commander is preternaturally strong, and she commands a rare kind of respect from her troops. While her command base is Fort Briggs, she holds the command power along the entire border, and first and foremost, it is her acceptance those who take refuge there must win. Her word carries far too much weight to simply dismiss, and if she would vouch for long-time enemies, they would have a real chance to be accepted in Amestris."
"Ah," Rufus nodded, realizing the point was a good one. "That would explain things. I have to commend whoever came up with that idea—it likely is their best chance."
Stanev nodded. "Captain Zarkov left with the first group heading that way, as he will be the one to negotiate on behalf of all those who follow him. It was his idea, also because he knew if we were attacked here, it is highly likely they will be under assault soon as well. And they do not have the defenses or the forces assisting them at Fort Briggs which you have here. Warning is a good thing, in this case."
"True," the blond agreed. "Tell me, is there any chance we could negotiate a peace treaty before all-out war lands on our heads?"
Giving his head a shake, the General sighed and offered, "While I find that unlikely, there is one General who may decide on at least a temporary truce, possibly more, but that assumes he will be the one sent here to handle the situation in our stead."
"And because he's only one of several, and is known to be more moderate, the likelihood he'll be sent here is very, very small," Rufus assessed, and got another nod.
"One thing I still do not grasp is why you would undergo an ordeal such as this Cleansing more than once. Any sort of test could be failed just by chance if you were having a less than ideal day," the General commented.
"Test..." Rufus blinked. "Exactly what do you think it takes to be Cleansed?"
With a small shrug, Stanev replied flatly, "All things are tests to prove one's worth, and something is always required of those to be tested."
"Well no wonder so many of them won't cross here," Kariya commented sardonically. "If their precedent is that it really can't be just as easy as walking through an energy curtain—nothing else at all—they've all been thinking they shouldn't risk it if there's anything at all not up to par with their physical or mental skills."
Rufus had to pinch the bridge of his nose at the words. "I don't care. I'm not entirely sure we're currently equipped to sustain the whole force, anyway. But General," he added, looking up at the startled, dark haired man. "You need to realize this. We were actually all asleep when we were first Cleansed." The man's eyes widened in shock. "There is nothing to do—Minerva just lets a special kind of energy wash over us, and the results speak for themselves. We aren't risking anything. There's no test to fail, other than your honor and integrity, which you can't actually just change at the flip of a switch, either. You are, or you aren't. That's it."
Stanev's mouth opened, but no sound came out. After a minute, he shut it, and just stared at the blond for another minute or so before managing to get out the question, "Why does your deity of a sort not test you with things to prove your intent, unlike every other one we know?"
The question made Rufus blink, but it was Veld, coming to report on the results of the passage so far, who commented, "Don't think we don't get tested that way, too. She makes us prove ourselves in other ways, but most of those are by putting us in positions where we need to make a choice, and where we actually know which one is truly right. And even knowing that, some either refuse to believe in her, or are so stuck in a specific way of thinking that they willfully choose the wrong choice. I'm one of the few who took the offer and made the right choice, and by doing so, I realized I could live a different way—a way which allowed me to survive purification."
"If she gives you the answers—" the General began in confusion.
"She's not trying to demean, punish, or kill us," Veld cut him off flatly, and the man's eyes widened again in utter shock. "She's trying to help us learn and grow, and guide us to be better people, people who will be able to live the right way, not the wrong, harmful one. Her success rate has been shockingly high, so I think she's got the right of it. Yes, she gives us the answer, then she says 'now you need to come to me of your own will, otherwise it'll be meaningless.' Then, we choose to take the offer or not."
"...She has no intent to punish intrinsic sinners?" Stanev asked slowly.
"She doesn't see people as 'intrinsic sinners', she sees us all as children who have a lot to learn and need a teacher to guide us," Lakis' voice came from behind the man, making him start and spin to look at the curly brown haired Turk in surprise. "I've met her personally more than once, and spoken with her directly. 'Choice' is a major facet of life and living, especially for sentient beings. Taking it away is wrong. People can make wrong choices, that's true, but in some cases, they may even have needed to for something else to go better.
"I'll give you an example. Turks are hardly paragons of honor—we've done some perfectly brutal things to others, including assassination, sabotage, and even occasional torture. Enter Ed, the young man everyone and their dog wanted control of because of his sheer power, and him knowing everything we were doing wrong which was destroying the world and lives unnecessarily. He gave us the answers Minerva wanted us to have. All of the Turks who were alive at the end survived purification because we took the answers Minerva gave us through Ed and turned our skills to trying to save the world and its people, not destroy them. We found our honor."
A long silence fell, so Rufus faced Veld and asked, "So what's the most recent report?"
"We're up to two who dissolved when they passed through, but that's it—out of over two hundred men, that's actually very good odds," Veld shrugged. "They were all surprised there was nothing more to it than that, and have been very quiet since heading over. 'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' was how Reno described it. I'm guessing that's got something to do with this discussion you were just having?"
"It does," the blond agreed. "Go and inform them that Minerva isn't going to be giving any further tests of that sort—they've already passed, just by having the courage to pass through her Cleansing curtain to begin with. And be very clear that she isn't the sort to demand the kinds of tests their Gods apparently do—those are of no use to her."
"Yeah, I'll make sure word reaches them. So far, everything else has been quiet, but I saw from up top that it looks like the distant camp is getting more active. I don't know if waiting here is a good idea," Veld offered.
"We have to, anyway—we'd still have to defend the pass," Rufus shrugged, then paused. "Well, I suppose we could just let them all march through the Cleansing curtain. It would be both ironic and just, in a way."
"I should inform the remaining men that our estimate is true and we will have to be gone by midnight," the General sighed faintly as he rose and headed back into the camp. The others blinked after him, then turned to one another for a moment before Kariya followed him.
Rufus then turned to Lakis to ask, "What did you manage to find out over at the other camp?"
"They have another tent like the one we destroyed here, and it looks like they've brought more, and stranger, artillery with them. One of them is damaged, and I assume it's the thing they apparently shot at us with, and were expecting it to break, since no one seemed worried or in a hurry to repair it. They're also flying a flag of the sort I associate with the very wealthy in Shinra lands or the Wutain nobility—I think we've got not just a General there, but someone else high in the ranks. Getting in won't be easy, not even with teleport, because I don't have a specific target in either a place or a person to go to, and there are way too many guards to slip past," the Turk explained.
Rufus pondered that for a minute, then asked, "Could you sabotage them enough to give us a bit more time?"
"I actually think that would be counter-productive and they'd rush us sooner to try to get away from any kind of 'attack'," Lakis shrugged. "And I don't have time to be subtle."
"Fair," the younger man agreed. "And chances are, they'll head right for the pass if they find the camp empty."
"Likely," the brown haired Turk agreed.
"Then, our best bet will be to have people waiting just past the curtain, on the upper levels of the pass, so we'll be able to way-lay anyone who crosses and stays alive, or out-right attack anyone who doesn't reach the curtain before it comes down in the morning," Rufus decided. "Veld, can you handle that? If we have time, Angeal's forces and us Turks will be able to join the people on the walls, but we may not have so much time by then."
"I'll make sure my team is up in the pass, and yours can meet them on the ground at the far end of it," Veld decided, and Rufus nodded. With that, Veld gave a short, cursory wave and headed away to make those arrangements.
...
About two hours later, after dark had fallen, the General returned with what looked like the rest of his camp. Rising, Rufus asked, "Is that everyone, then?"
"Only a few others hurried to catch up with the ones heading for Amestris, so yes, this is the last, and we will all cross now," General Volstok agreed.
"Good. Let's get going, then," the blond nodded, and shouted over to Angeal.
As they all headed for the pass, some of the SOLDIERs spread out along the line of troops coming across, and Rufus and the General led the line. The rest of the SOLDIERs took up the rear guard, and they calmly made their way through the pass. As they walked, Rufus noted with amusement that their Motos—five had agreed to come help them defend the pass—were up on the cliffs near the Cleansing curtain, watching the people pass curiously.
One then suddenly sat up and looked towards the Drachmaran side of the pass, then shouted, "Attack comes from Drachma! To the far side, now! Hurry!"
The Drachmarans would have frozen to gape at the Moto, but Rufus knew the warning for what it was and shouted, "You heard him! Get moving! We've got the other army coming up behind us fast!" The words spurred everyone on quickly, and as they all poured out of the pass, Rufus slipped away to double back onto the level the Motos were on. He had a good view of the pass from beside one of them, and watched the approaching Drachmarans with a small frown.
"I hope Minerva won't mind us doing this," he sighed suddenly.
The Moto beside him huffed in amusement. "If she swore she would hold it until sunrise, then she will, and this is merely circumstantial. I doubt she will care especially much if it means so many fewer of the enemy to fight at a later date."
Rufus had to chuckle at that, then sat back to watch the progress of the army below them. They were almost to the curtain now, and those on the cliffs would become visible to them around the time they reached it. Veld crouched beside him to also observe the proceedings below. And somehow, the people were either all so brainwashed or mind-controlled that they kept marching into a curtain which was dissolving the ranks ahead of them into pyreflies.
Then, he eyed the men's faces with sharper eyes and realized—they were marching to their deaths, knowingly and willingly, because they didn't want to live anymore.
Somehow, that was a great deal more terrifying than the beast Lakis had defeated.
In all the floating pyreflies, eventually it became much like a blizzard and the whole lower path was completely obscured in the light. In frustration, Rufus rose and moved down to a place which wasn't filled with those lights, followed by Veld—and found some men stumbling out of the pyreflies with stunned expressions, falling to their knees as they tried to process what had just happened. For a moment, he wondered what he should do with them, then sighed and recalled the agreement—any Drachmaran who willingly passed through the Cleansing curtain and came out safely on the other side was entitled to his, and their, support and protection.
"I'm a little surprised any of that batch are still alive," Veld commented from beside him.
"As am I," the blond agreed. "But, Minerva was clear on what to do with the survivors, so could you go get General Volstok to speak with them—I have no idea if they know Amestrian, but in case none of them do..."
"Sure. It's better than sitting around here with nothing to do but watch the pyreflies," Veld agreed, then headed away to get the man.
With a long sigh, Rufus made his way down to the lower level of the pass, which made the other men look up in alarm. When they saw he had no weapon in hand, they hesitated, then stayed where they were. For all of about six men to have survived, Rufus really had to begin wondering if there was some sort of unknown criteria involved in how the Drachmarans distributed troops to units. Most of Stanev's forces probably would have survived based on the ones who had crossed, while most of these were just the opposite, after all. The odds of that being chance were very low.
Finally, the General joined him, staring in surprise at the small group of troops—they were up to nine of them by then—who had clustered just past the veritable wall of pyreflies. "They're all yours, General. Explain to them what the agreement was so they know why we aren't attacking them just now," he told the man, who gave a slow nod.
It took about half an hour for Stanev to explain everything and answer their questions, then he faced Rufus again and said, "If you will have them, they would stay here. I believe they have—what you know as trauma?"
"By the fact that their whole army marched into that Cleansing curtain with the intent to die, I rather gathered that," Rufus agreed flatly. "I don't think anything else could have been the case. These ones in particular will be sent on to our central city, far from the frontlines, and where they'll be able to get help in dealing with the trauma. Yes, we'll have them—those were Minerva's terms, so we're going to treat them just like your forces, with all the same thought and care."
"Thank you," the older man agreed with feeling, then faced the men to pass the word on to them. They gave what was an obvious thanks to Rufus, though he couldn't technically understand the terms, and he just nodded and motioned for them to follow him as he led the way to the camp. Veld passed them with Angeal and several SOLDIERs to move up to the wall of pyrefly 'snow', guarding the pass just in case.
Of course, this would mean another late call to his mother...
FoWD-HC
When Ed heard a PHS ringing, he turned to look for the source, and had to pause and blink as he saw his mother sitting between Hohenheim and Rashad, both men sitting very close to her. If he was right, Al was also sleeping in her lap, which should have meant Zahir and Nasima were the ones sitting near her. Oddly, he thought they had already gone to bed. Which didn't explain why his mother, who was wholly devoted to Hohenheim, was so cozy with Rashad, apparently with his father's permission.
At the second ring, he blinked again and put that out of his mind for the time being—he could think on it later. Finally, after it had been answered, he found the source, and realized Lady Shinra was pinching the bridge of her nose as she spoke on her PHS. Getting up, he headed over to where she was sitting, taking the place beside her and noting how Vincent looked apprehensive on her other side.
"Rufus, you can't afford to move anyone until you know for sure if you still need a defensive force there when the pyreflies clear," the woman commented suddenly, still pinching the bridge of her nose. "They should be gone by morning, and you'll be able to see what state the enemy is in. If there aren't many left, you can probably spare some people to escort them here. If not, I'll have to send people up there to retrieve them. Either way, they'll make it here, and the only thing in question is how soon they will."
"What happened with Drachma?" Ed asked.
"Just a moment while I explain to Edward," she said into the phone, and lowered it to explain what had happened to the blond boy. All eyes were on her, and on him, just then, as they all wanted to know what was going on. At least, all eyes of those still awake and at the fire, which wasn't nearly 'everyone'.
By the time she was done, Ed was tipping his head to the side and watching her with a furrowed brow. "You realize she's a lot more deliberate than you think, right?" he asked flatly almost as soon as she'd stopped speaking.
"In what way?" she asked in surprise.
"I wondered why she said 'sunrise' in the first place—the timing for that was really, really odd," he shrugged. "Usually, it would be something like midnight, something a little more specific than 'at the time the sun rises', when that 'time' changes day-by-day. I'm pretty sure she intended to have that army hit her Cleansing and to get the results from it, too. We can ferry the traumatized ones over quickly. Even if it's late and we were getting ready to sleep, doing that won't take long, and the only question is where we'll put them to sleep overnight before they talk with Lucrecia in the morning."
"All right. Are you sure they'll be able to handle being transported that way?" she asked dryly. "We're all used to the idea now, but no one on Earth seems to be, and for people who are as traumatized as they are, that's not going to sit well."
"Yeah. Whether it is or isn't, it will be a lot more harmful to them to have to stay there and watch the Gaians fight off the remains of the Drachmaran army," the blond boy replied flatly, and she blinked. "I'm weighing the possible harm of one kind of situation against the harm of another, and I still come up with better chances for their sanity by instant teleport. For that matter, Lakis could bring over the worst ones and get back there quickly. All the rest can wait, and can walk the distance. Like the Mongols, they're ours now, so they'd better start getting used to it."
She sighed faintly and gave a nod, then repeated the words to Rufus. When she had his reply, they said their farewells and she hung up to clarify, "Lakis should be here with them as soon as they've collected those dozen or so men. We still have one place they can stay for a bit, and we've almost got another building ready to be taken as temporary housing, so when it's done, our new arrivals can stay there. We need a faster way to build, though."
"Alchemy," Gran's voice commented from behind Ed. "While some of the alchemists here are working on the soul arrays, not all of them are, and most of us know how to manipulate wood and earth—stone, sand, and soil. You've been doing most of the building yourselves because it's been helping normalize your new situation, but I'm pretty sure you're going to have to capitulate on that now, at least for a few decent buildings for these new arrivals. For that matter, as far as I can tell, your 'Mages' can build those buildings, since what they're doing is just a variant of alchemy."
Lady Shinra's lips quirked for a moment as she commented, "That's true, at least to an extent. And yes, I guess we really will need a few of those buildings made to hold all the people we expect to have here within two weeks..."
"So arrange that in the morning with the alchemists who aren't helping Ed and Genesis," Rashad put in, then shrugged. "And if you have so much energy still, Basque, maybe you should finish up the building they were working on so the ones Lakis is bringing over will have that to stay in up front?"
"Why don't you? You've got all the energy and power to use alchemy—you'd be a damned strong one if you'd use it," the man retorted in annoyance.
Tipping his head to the side, Rashad commented, "I'm a Warrior-Priest for a reason, and I really don't need to add another field of study to what I'm already studying. I've left that to my brother and sister-in-law."
"Okay, someone needs to go do something right now, and you really do never seem to run out of energy, Basque. You only help Edward and Genesis on occasion, not all the time, so it would be fair to ask for your help with this one building project for expediency's sake. I'll get others to do the larger projects," Lady Shinra put in dryly.
The man blinked, then gave her an annoyed look but agreed, "Fine, I'll do that." He then headed away in the direction of the unfinished building they'd been talking about.
"Refugees, refugees, and more refugees," the woman sighed when he'd gone. "Really, how many more are we going to get?"
"As many as is needed to stop the wars here," Ed answered in dry amusement, and she laughed.
"So this is becoming a nation of refugees, is it?" she mused, her tone utterly bemused suddenly. "Though, in a way, that's also what we are, even if we were invited as part of an agreement." She paused for a long moment, then blinked and said, "And this has become a Sanctuary for us all. As such, our new city will be called Sanctuary."
Everyone began trading shocked looks, until Ed and the Cetra and Ishbalans who were still awake began chuckling, and it was Ifalna (Aeris was already sleeping) who commented, "It looks like they both approve of the name. Especially with the Cosmo Candle having been moved to here."
Lady Shinra nodded with a smile and agreed, "Sanctuary it is."
At that moment, Lakis appeared with the group of obviously mentally wounded men from Drachma, so she rose to face them and said, "Welcome to Sanctuary. Since we were still building the city, your initial quarters may be a little cramped, but there should be a place where you can rest ready shortly."
All their eyes, and Lakis' as well, widened in surprise, then the Turk grinned and said, "I'll let Rufus know we finally have a name! I like it!"
"Good to know, Lakis," she agreed with some pride and amusement.