Chapter 86 – Resurrected Monsters
Lenne watched the whipping snow outside the windows of the Celsius' bridge. Descending through a curtain of thick, grey clouds, the airship emerged above a towering mountain. Her eyes could hardly find a suitable place to focus on. Mt. Gagazet's immense mass surged out of the earth. Through the dense layers of snowfall, she spotted ascending spires, ancient ruins, and snowy trails.
The incredible view left her enthralled by its sheer majesty. Eventually her eyes drifted to Brother seated in the navigator's chair in front of her. His hands gripped the controls with a grave intensity. Pockets of turbulence shuttered the entire ship. He furiously steered the ship through harsh crosswinds.
Lenne could feel tension radiating from Brother. Not one soul on the ship had a nice word to say about Seymour, yet she still had no idea what this enigmatic figure was about. Her cluelessness kept building up the level of anxiety inside her. Wiping her hands on her skirt, she couldn't keep the sweat from her own palms.
She turned towards Paine and Rikku. They both huddled around Shinra at his console, listening to him yammer on about something. Lenne couldn't quite make out the young boy's words. Unable to stand around and let her mind race wild, she approached them. The concern written on both of her new friends' faces did little to quell her anxiety.
"Any word from your friends on the mountain?" she asked.
Rikku groaned. "No, not a thing. Oh, I'm so worried about Kimahri."
"I'll try contracting him again," Shinra said.
Paine smacked her fist on the console. "Do we have any idea where Seymour is?"
Shinra tapped his fingers on the keys of his console. "I'm still scanning. The snowstorm is hindering my ability to scan though."
Lenne tried to follow his lightning-fast fingers. "Is it normally this bad here?"
Shinra shook his head. "No, not too often."
Rikku scoffed and threw her hands up in the air. "And of course it has to be really bad now when we need to help the Ronso!"
"Once we get a little closer to the ground, that should help."
Paine looked over at Brother. "How long before we can land?"
"Not sure. Maybe a couple of minutes. It's hard to see anything in all this snow," he answered.
Lenne looked at both of her friends. "What are we going to do when we land?"
Paine shrugged. "Wish I knew. Until we know the situation, we're just flying blind."
"It's just one person. What harm could he bring by himself?"
Rikku crossed her arms. "It's not just him."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Lenne asked.
"Buddy reached out to Nooj, who told him that Seymour has all of the Guado behind him again."
"Great, just like before. I wonder if he's riled up animosity towards the Ronso," Paine said.
Rikku firmly placed her hands on her hips. "I'd bet gil on it."
"There's no way he doesn't start a war," mumbled Paine.
Lenne felt herself losing her nerve. If this returned psychopath started a war, how would she be able to save Yuna? From the artifacts left in her memory from her bond with Yuna, Lenne recalled all the innocent people her friend devoted herself to protect. Lenne admired Yuna's selfless devotion more than anything else about her. She refused to let anyone, or anything, stand in her way.
"What can we do about it then?" she asked.
"I say we meet him head on," replied Paine.
Rikku shuttered. "Easier said than done. It was hard enough beat him the last four times we had to."
"What choice do we have?"
Rikku sighed. "Yeah, I get it. But we don't have Yunie or aeons and stuff like that this time."
Lenne's heart ached at the obvious pain in Rikku's words. She missed her cousin immensely, and no amount of comforting words could quell that pain. Even though she wished it wasn't so, Lenne knew she could only be an inadequate substitute.
"That may be, but we have our own wildcard up our sleeve," said Paine with a sharp grin on her face.
Rikku cocked her head to the side. "What's that?"
"Lenne, of course. Seymour has no idea what she's capable of."
"Oh, yeah that's true!" Rikku exclaimed. "Especially with that fancy dressphere she picked up in Bevelle."
Lenne felt unnerved when both her friends looked at her. Their belief in her ability to stack the deck in their favor radiated palpably. She appreciated their confidence but couldn't share in it.
"We're just about to lan," called Brother.
Rikku pumped her fist. "Alright, let's get ready to help Kimahri!"
Lenne followed Paine and Rikku into the lift. She felt the ship jolt then come to a halt. Whatever fiend or monster lurked outside, she readied herself to take it on. When the hatch opened on the ship, she stormed outside. Blistering snow whipped against her face. She looked around, squinting her eyes to keep the frigid flakes out of them. Tiny crystals of ice encrusted themselves on her eyebrows.
Nothing of note came readily into her view. She surveyed the ravine surrounding her, noticing two striking, stone pillars at the opposite end. Beyond them led to a village in the distance. She followed Rikku into the Ronso settlement while Paine scouted the opposite end of the ravine, searching for any sign of people amongst the snow-laden homes.
Rikku called out at the top of her lungs. "Kimahri! Garik! Anyone?"
Lenne searched the homes but saw no signs of activity. She peered into one of the windows, spotting two young Ronso huddled together in the back corner. She motioned for Rikku to come over.
"I see two inside here."
Rikku looked in the window, waving at the Ronso. "Lian and Ayde! Hey, it's me!"
Both of the young Ronso scuttled for the door, crashing into each other in their attempt to let Rikku inside. They both gave Rikku a suffocating hug.
"Hey, geez! Don't crush me now," said Rikku with a laugh.
Ayde beamed. "We're so glad to see you again. What are you doing here?"
"Coming to save you guys from that meanie, Seymour. We heard he's back . . . somehow," explained Rikku.
Lian nodded. "Yes, he is! He attacked us."
"Where is everyone at now?" asked Rikku.
"Up the mountain," Ayde answered. "Kimahri and the others chased him out of the village."
"Did he or the other Guado state their intentions?" Lenne questioned.
Ayde looked at her strangely. "Who are you?"
Rikku chuckled nervously. "Oh, this is Lenne—a friend of ours! She's uh, filling in for Yuna at the moment."
The awkward delivery of Rikku's explanation made Lenne queasy in her stomach. She was a poor substitute for Yuna, even though Rikku's statement held some truth to it. Lenne scanned over both Ronso boys, doing her best to ease their confusion with a smile.
Lian scratched his head. "Well, I heard Seymour say something about revitalizing Yevon in his own image."
"Geez, that sounds gross," said Rikku. "Then why is he in Mt. Gagazet?"
"To train the Guado to fight and kill again."
Rikku grunted. "I was afraid you'd say that."
"We should go help your friend Kimahri and chase Seymour off the mountain," Lenne said with furious eyes.
Looking at her with wide eyes, Rikku pumped her fist into the air. "Yeah! Let's go kick that weirdo out of Spira again!"
Rikku told the two young Ronso to stay hidden in their home and rushed to track down Paine. Lenne spotted her first, engaged with a Guado warrior just outside the settlement. Lenne tried to watch her friend trade blows with her opponent. The snow drift blowing in her face obstructed her sight.
Rikku raced up with her curved blades in each hand. She launched herself at the Guado, spinning in the air, slashing him repeatedly. Paine added to Rikku's attack with a swipe of her massive sword, slashing him in the middle of the back. The Guado fell lifeless into a snowbank.
"Nice timing," said Paine with a grin.
"Hey, don't mention it." Rikku stuck out her tongue. "Guess I don't have to explain that all the Guado are here to kill the Ronso."
Paine sighed. "Nope."
Lenne walked up to her friends, gripping her cold hands tightly together. She felt reluctant to press forward, considering she had never been to Mt. Gagazet before. Judging by the sheer colossal height of the mountain, it must have held an innumerable number of paths and cave structures for a battle to spill into.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" asked Rikku.
Paine brushed snow out of her silvery hair. "I don't hear much here. The fighting must be further up the mountain."
"Do you think we can fly up the mountain?" asked Lenne.
Rikku posed the question to Brother over the CommSphere. Pressing it up against her ear, she patiently listened to his answer. Lenne felt a painful anticipation build up as she watched Rikku's face contort between expressions until she rested on a dour frown.
"Well, what did he say?" asked Paine.
Rikku sighed. "The weather is too bad, so the Celsius is stuck here for now. We'll have to go on foot."
"That's just great. I hope we don't freeze before we find Seymour."
Lenne stared up at the mountain, squinting her eyes to see as far as the snowfall would allow. "Where do we go first?"
"Up," answered Rikku.
After looking blankly at Rikku for a moment, Lenne chuckled at her friend's simple, but obvious answer. The towering summit loomed over her, setting a daunting task for her and her friends to overcome. She had spent most of her life in Zanarkand. Even in her rush to follow Shuyin to Bevelle, she didn't need to scale a mountain to reach it.
"Right, let's do this!" cried Lenne.
She activated her Garment Grid and transformed again into a whimsical sailor costume. A faint pink light emanated from her hand. A rush of electricity and mental strength coursed through her body, gently lifting her feet just off the snowy ground. Her visor changed the pure white snow to a pale, magenta color. She appreciated the visor shielding her eyes from the wind.
The force of her flight left a trail of powdery snow behind her as she followed her friends up the mountain. Narrow pathways wound up the mountain. The paths crossed over gigantic ravines. Looking down over the edge, the far distance down to the bottom of the path unsettled Lenne. Thankfully her dressphere gave her the ability of flight.
For her, the march up the mountain consumed little effort because of this. For Paine and Rikku, the hike greatly taxed them both. The treacherous weather conditions further exasperated this challenge. Lenne noticed the wind and snowfall taper the higher they climbed up.
The relenting blanket of snow revealed a large cave at the end of the rocky path. Sounds of conflict echoed out from the entrance. The low murmuring of shouts and shots fired cut through the dimming swirl of the wind.
Paine immediately unsheathed her sword. "Do you guys hear that?"
Rikku nodded. "Yep, sounds like fighting."
"Right—let's go!"
With all haste, Lenne pursued the sounds of battle with her friends. The bright white from the mountain quickly disappeared, replaced by dim, murky brown and black. Cold, dry air supplanted the cold, wet snow from outside. The stagnant air carried the faint smell of blood. Lenne could feel her heartrate jump in speed.
She followed Paine and Rikku through the dank reaches of the cave. The sound elevated in volujem with each step closer. The pinkish glow from her hands revealed a body beneath her. She jolted to the side, nearly hovering directly over it. A body of a dead Ronso lay in a heap, blood seeping from his chest. His horn had been broken into two pieces.
"Oh no!" Rikku exclaimed. "They're killing the Ronso!"
Scanning the path ahead, Lenne discovered more bodies of Ronso and Guado scattered on the ground. One of the Guado, a young man hardly of age, tried to lift himself up. Paine stomped over to him, dragging him up by his collar. He screamed in agony.
"Where is Seymour?" she yelled.
The Guado coughed. "He's . . . he's up ahead. I think he's out of the caves."
Rikku pushed one of her curved blades against his throat. "Why does he want to kill the Ronso?"
"Because the Ronso wanted to kill all of us," he replied.
"But they didn't. Yuna stopped that from happening," said Paine.
"I know," the Guado whispered. "I'm sorry."
Blood spilled out from his mouth when he coughed again. His body jittered in Paine's hands until his eyes rolled up to the back of his head. The young Guado exhaled one last time.
Paine laid his body down on the cave floor. "Dammit . . ."
Lenne watched both of her friends stand in silence, both staring at the lifeless body still trickling blood from his wounds. Rikku covered her mouth and began to cry. Paine screamed and aimlessly slashed her sword against the stony wall of the cave. Her incoherent cry echoed throughout, repeating her immense anguish.
Overwhelmed with shock, Lenne's hands trembled. She didn't know what to say, even though she had witnessed scenes such as these many times before a thousand years ago. Her friends needed to process what just happened, but she knew there was no time.
"We must go on ahead," Lenne said, placing a a hand on both of their shoulders. "If we're lucky, we can save the rest of them."
Rikku looked up at her with tears pouring down her face. Lenne did her best to provide her friend with a comforting smile, but her own heart ached. Rikku slowly nodded before wiping her tears away.
They raced out of the cave together. Darkness gave way to light, unveiling an intense battle raging just outside. Guado fighters surrounded the remaining Ronso, who bunched together to form a single nucleus. Ther spears extended in all directions, staving off the Guado's attacks.
"Kimahri!" yelled Rikku.
Two Ronso parted just enough to let Kimahri peak through the crowd of battlers. His eyes popped open when he saw Rikku emerging from the cave. He tried to yell something at her, but the Guado fired a shot just wide of his head. The battle resumes with fury.
Paine and Rikku charged into the fray. They engaged with the closest Guado, hacking away in seething rage. Blood flowed from veins and screams echoed atop the mountain. The entire scene before Lenne overloaded her senses. The carnage sucked her mind into a hell from her far distant past.
A thousand years ago, her conscription into Zanarkand's army to defend her homeland thrust her into a world she never could have imagined. Lenne sang for hope, summoned for strength, but wielded no power to stop the madness. She watched many of her friends and fellow summoners cut down during the war with Bevelle.
In the moment of familiar unwonted destruction before her, she finally realized what kept her soul alive for a thousand years. The utter helplessness tearing at her heart prevented her from rest. Lenne had no power to save anyone, not even Shuyin. It erupted out of her like a black fire—colorless and formless. Yet it inflicted unending torment upon her. It nearly swallowed up Yuna two years ago.
The world around Lenne seemed to flow in slow motion. This raw, unfettered pain finally unlocked itself, imprisoned for far too long. The bitter grief bubbling up inside her dulled all her senses to the external world. She could only focus on the hurt, and nothing else seemed real.
Her eyes watched her friends engaged in gladiatorial combat. Paine whirled herself around, taking on three Guado at once. She drove them back with her sword, allowing a handful of Ronso to press out of the protective nucleus they had previously formed. Rikku shouted at the Guado, throwing a yellowish device hidden inside one of her pouches. It burst in a dazzling array of yellow electricity, electrocuting a Guado until he fell limp on the snowy ground.
Not knowing what to do, Lenne stood motionless. Every nerve in her body refused to accept the orders to move, no matter how hard she tried to engage her body. Even her lungs refused to inhale. She felt her throat contract, choking the remaining air out of her passageways.
Her eyes followed a tall Ronso with blue and white fur thrown to the ground by two Guado assailants. Blood stained his arm guards and chest protector. The broken horn adorning his head struck Lenne as unlike the other Ronso. From deep within her, Lenne recalled a memory from when she was tied to Yuna. Her first guardian, long before she embarked on her pilgrimage, he protected her first. This was Kimahri, leader of the Ronso.
Adrenaline surged inside of Lenne, forcing away the paralyzation her fear inflicted on her. She clamped her hands together in fists and flew towards Kimahri. Time around her stood still, but she rushed forward unimpeded.
She fired blasts of psychic energy from her hands, powered by a millennium of excruciating distress. The blasts knocked the Guado pinning down Kimahri off him. Again and again, she fired on them with unrelenting fury until their bodies were flung far away from the Ronso. Not satisfied, Lenne cast a transparent shield around herself and flung herself into the chaos.
A Guado shot her from behind. The impact of his bullet barely tickled her skin, the shield around her absorbing its force. She spun around and screamed incoherently at the Guado. His eyes widened in terror as Lenne charged at him. She fired a beam of energy from her visor, slicing open a gaping wound on his chest.
He used one hand to press against the cauterized wound and charged Lenne with his gun. He swung it at her head, which she blocked with her forearm. Again, she fired a beam of energy from her visor, jolting the Guado backwards until he crumbled to the ground.
She looked beside her to find Paine had come to her flank. Both women locked gazes for a moment before continuing to engage the Guado soldiers. Lenne fired another volley of energy from her hands, kicking up snow from their impact on the ground. A heinous laughter quickly captured her attention.
Hovering above the earth, a monstrous figure revealed itself. The body of a man, clad in dark metallic armor, loomed over everyone. Complex patterns and runes that pulsed with a sinister energy adorned his form. His face revealed calculating eyes overflowing with malice. Wisps of ethereal light swirled around him, as if he commanded a dark, mystical power. He cracked a dastardly smile.
Rikku gasped. "Seymour . . . it really is him."
"Ah, old enemies have come to play," he said.
"What do you want?" Rikku yelled.
He cackled. "To finish what I started years ago. It seems the invisible forces of the world have given me a new lease on life."
"There's no way we'll let you get out of here!" Paine shouted.
Seymour scanned the battlefield over before uttering a response. "It seems you're a bit shorthanded if you wish to stop me. And for that matter, I don't see Yuna anywhere."
"We can beat you without her," said Rikku.
"Can you now?" questioned Seymour. "Shame. I'm sure she's resting better somewhere else. The Farplane perhaps?"
Paine growled, "Go tell hell, Seymour!"
He belted out a maniacal laugh. "Pathetic. What chance do you stand without her?"
Lenne moved towards Seymour, narrowing her eyes on the monster before her. "Plenty! I will rid Spira of you in her place!"