Raddie entrusted Great Moomba with Acma, before stealthily approaching the Ragnarok. Its hatch door was wide open. Many footsteps of different sizes on the new snow trailing from the aircraft to the mountain's entrance indicated that passengers had followed Seifer and Quistis. This meant the seniors might be in danger. Despite his worry, Raddie was certain venturing into the unknown mountain and being outnumbered would be no wise choice. He also did not want to leave Acma behind in her state.
He decided to go into the Ragnarok, taking advantage of the element of surprise. If it turned out that some enemies still lingered inside, Raddie could summon Great Moomba back to his side instantly.
He tried to avoid the view from the aircraft's cockpit and approach the door that had just closed. This Ragnarok was a frequent loaner from Esthar to Balamb Garden which Raddie knew its cameras' blind spots well. Conveniently, Garden staff had installed a security system that allowed elite SeeDs to use the spaceship. Taking a deep breath and preparing his Twince Lance for the first strike if necessary, Raddie tapped his badge to open the door.
A slender figure greeted him. He was debating whether to perform an attack, but the figure chose for him by keeping his Twince Lance still.
Time-freeze.
"Timeth?"
It took Raddie longer than he could believe to recognize his suite mate. Not putting on his cadet vest or SeeD uniform as usual, Timeth wore a loose thick brown cloak, making him look like a priest. His hair grew longer and was let down past his shoulders.
The silver-haired boy did not seem surprised at the sight of Raddie. He must have seen Raddie's approach to the aircraft from afar.
"Where is Acma?" Timeth asked Raddie.
"She's safe. What are you doing here? Which side are you on?" Raddie asked. He couldn't move his sword, but Timeth had no weapon in hand either.
Raddie noticed something was off. Timeth used his right hand to channel the time freeze, as opposed to his dominant left hand, which appeared to have been amputated for a while.
"What happened to your hand?" Raddie asked.
Timeth didn't answer Raddie's questions, but quirked his head towards the mountain's entrance.
"You're not safe here. I won't harm you, but they can return any time, and I can guarantee they wouldn't be happy to see you two..." Timeth said.
"Who are they? Was Shrewdya with you? Answer me!" Raddie grew frustrated at his old friend, now turned cold.
"Shrewdya is alive..." Timeth finally gave Raddie a relief.
"Where is Acma?" Timeth asked.
Assuming Timeth was worried about Acma just as Raddie was with Shrewdya, Raddie answered vaguely.
"She's alive. But whatever power she has seems to weaken her."
"I want to see her..." Timeth requested.
Raddie was reluctant at his request.
"I won't ever harm her. And if I wanted to harm you, I could have done it already. As for your questions, I'll let you see and answer them yourself soon. We don't have much time. Let me see how I can help."
Raddie tightened his grip on the Twince Lance, surprised that it was still under the time freeze. Timeth's power seemed to have grown significantly, too.
He'd changed a lot over the course of a few weeks. Raddie thought.
"Alright."
Raddie showed Timeth the way, not forgetting to keep his guard. Timeth didn't touch Acma, just examined her from afar.
"Her power is a little stronger than a puppet, but nowhere near her sister's. Take these Hero. Hide. Don't let Elutia find you two. She has killed plenty of sorceresses in the past months, a number I can no longer keep track of. She'll kill Acma or use her body as magic conductor in no time."
Raddie was taken aback by his friend's words.
"Although... Usually what happens is that a sorceress' core absorbs magic to a saturation point, during this process they get ridiculously stronger. After that, their body starts to disintegrate. Her weakening state happens too early, she's not that strong," Timeth explained his confusion. "Her wings are not even spread out yet."
Raddie confused. "Wings?"
Timeth let out an amusing scoff. "You'll see them when she gets stronger, if she manages to live until then."
That's right. Acma said her genes were mix between human and monsters. She always wore the same thick jacket outfit despite Balamb's sunny weather. But her extra body parts did not bother Raddie at the moment.
"She had internal bleeding and almost died if not for Seifer's Knight Aura. Is this because of the… saturation point you just mentioned?"
"I see... Interesting, let me double check," Timeth took out a device in his pocket and placed on Acma's chest. "No, the reading agrees with my previous assessment. Her body should be able to handle this much magic, even ten times more. If she happens to have internal injuries," Timeth took out a few blood bags from his gear. "Here, her reserved blood for her Limit Breaks. This might help with the internal bleeding until she gets her surgeries."
Raddie felt relieved at Timeth's new blood supply, although the root cause of her bleeding remained unknown. They transfused blood to Acma's veins, and the girl looked less pale.
"Sorry I don't have Knight Aura like Shrewdya to help more," Timeth said.
"Shrewdya? Is she…"
"She's Elutia's Knight now," Timeth nodded.
"How?" Raddie gasped at disbelief.
Timeth patiently explained. Half a year ago, besides planning for G-day to attack Balamb Garden, Acma was also tasked by Galbadia to lure Seifer Almasy to Galbadia Garden. There, Seifer was subjected to health exam, which was merely a camouflage for researching the real Sorceress Knight's secret of near immortality. Elutia seemed to have the secret to grant Knight Aura, which basically means the extremely strong healing power that helped offensive knights recover instantly in battles.
"Then can we ask Shrewdya to save Acma?" Raddie asked, though he knew how ridiculous that would sound.
"I can't fill in all details for you. But I'm sorry to say that she's no longer the friend you all know. Anyway, they have been inside for quite a while and can come back soon, I gotta go," Timeth said and handed Raddie his own gear with more food supplies and other essentials. "I leave some items in this gear. Tell Acma to look inside, she'll understand."
"Why don't you come with us? Timeth! Wait!" Raddie called out to him.
"I can't. We have different destinies now. Again, stay invisible. Observe them from a distance. You'll see. Don't be a fool and trigger a fight. Good luck!"
Timeth entered the Ragnarok. He'd always been the taciturn, only said things when needed. Raddie struggled to recall any instance where it would be wise not to follow Timeth's instruction.
Returning to their tent, Raddie carefully cleaned up their traces, hiding all equipment and vehicles. He then retrieved Moomba back to his consciousness before casting Hero to hide Acma, Chicobo #25, and himself. Using binoculars, he observed any sign from the mountain.
Quistis had shown her unlimited power, and she was with the guy with the magical Knight Aura that fueled him. Not that Seifer required much supernatural kick to swing his Hyperion on anything that moved. But the way Timeth described the situation made Raddie feel the silver-haired guy had no doubt in Elutia's ability to defeat the seniors. Acma's twin sister had been described repeatedly as one of Galbadia's puppet masters, but admittedly Raddie knew too little about magic history to exactly know what abilities such individuals could possess. Controlling puppets should be one, obviously. But since Raddie had struck down a dozen of them back in G-Day without too much effort, he wondered if Elutia's strength could be easily suppressed by some experienced SeeDs.
Just as Timeth promised, Raddie had a lot of questions answered as Elutia's crew marched out of Mount Evalescent.
Four puppets, similar to those Raddie had seen, emerged. Their feet didn't touch the ground. Timeth opened the Ragnarok to let them in one by one. Once inside, they all dropped to the corner like a pile of meat.
Followed the puppets was another figure hidden in a brown cloak, although there were two large black feathered wings spreading out from two holes on the cloak's back. Her long red hair streamed down past her waist, each strand seemingly pulling away from each other as if they were soaked with magic.
Raddie needed not see her face to guess she was Acma's wicked twin.
"Anything fun around here?" Elutia asked Timeth.
"Nothing. Did you find her?"
"Both of them. Piece of cake as the foolish knight was easily manipulated, and Ultimecia's heir couldn't kill him to save herself," Elutia replied with a mocking voice. "No sign of my sister? I'd have thought she'd have followed them here."
Timeth shook his head to confirm. "Where are the rest?"
"They're coming out. It's kind of crowded in there. I shouldn't have brought everyone here," Elutia replied. "Ah, there she is, our beautiful knight."
Raddie recognized the posture of the emerging girl despite being heavily equipped with armories from different sets. Shrewdya always had a good sense of what armories were best suited for both practicality and aesthetics. Her dragon-shaped helmet covered most of her head, leaving just enough space for her long black hair to pool down. She seemed to have cut her hair, with its length now touching her mid-back. She held a long sword whose handle seemed customized to fit in a barrel, just like a gunblade. But her other hand held something bloody Raddie couldn't make sense of.
Raddie thought Shrewdya's presence would have shocked him enough. But he was dead wrong to see who followed his best friend.