6
CHAPTER 6 – OFF THE RECORD
The waves continued to ebb back and forth all along the shoreline. Each time they receded, shells of all different shapes and sizes came to light in the sand beneath, ripe for the taking. There had been no one else in these parts to disturb them for nearly a century, at the very least; the barren wastes stretched inland for as far as the eye could see, with naught but faint traces of regrowth. Desolate as it was, there was a sense of tranquility to be found standing there, at the world's end, far from humanity at large. His assigned security detail were the only exception for the moment. Considering the wide variety of vicious wildlife sprawling across the continent however, it was one he was more than willing to entertain.
Scanning his eyes over the beach, he soon spotted another suitably big conch shell. He strode over, hefted it up from the sand, and gently placed it in his open backpack with the rest. He'd long since stopped counting however many he'd gathered. All the same, he figured it best to overcompensate. He was prepared to keep going until he could no longer comfortably fit any more inside. The amount ultimately made no difference; he was sure Selphie would appreciate the thought regardless.
"Fancy some souvenirs?"
The voice from behind paired with the tide washing over his sandals caused him to jolt in place. He spun around to see his friend standing just beside. With a glance past him, he could see the armed security troop accompanying them was further off from their position than he'd remembered.
"We'll be out here for a while, right?" Bahamut answered. "I've got to send her something. When's the mail ship due out, again?"
"Three days. And I'm warning you, there's going to be a lot more scrutiny and paperwork involved. This isn't your local post office."
He wasn't surprised in the least. Tiamat had warned him well in advance of the sheer amount of red tape wrapped around this particular project. All the same, he was eternally grateful to him for extending the invitation, not to mention sorting out his passage to the research center. The background check alone had taken a full month to clear, even with his friend's recommendation, and despite his prior data analysis work for his department. Had it been anyone else, the exception likely wouldn't have been granted. But then, they'd needed a suitable subject. In his own time of need, he'd only been too happy to oblige.
He and Tiamat had known each other for years. In light of their friendship, as well as their respective unconventional names, they'd eventually come up with their own personal nicknames for one another: 'Matt' and 'Mutt'. Although Bahamut hadn't been keen on the correlation with a mangy dog in his case, he'd soon enough warmed to it, and could at least stand to hear it coming from someone like him. His friend's short black hair was neatly combed, and his face clean shaven as was the norm. The most striking difference as far as Bahamut could tell was his casual outdoor attire; seldom were the days he'd ever seen him not dressed in his usual white lab coat. Obviously, their current locale was hardly the place to be concerned with appearances.
"You've got to introduce me one of these days," Matt hinted.
"How about you ask for a couple weeks when we're done here?" he replied, slinging the backpack over his shoulder. "I know we're going to be due for celebrations back home."
"One step at a time, Mutt. Everything's still touch and go. We can hope for the best, but don't get yourself too worked up over it."
Easy for you to say…
He turned his gaze back across the sea. As his eyes swept due north, he thought again of Selphie, hoping she was making the best she could of her studies. Her renewed vigor in the wake of Elise's passing had been inspiring to behold. It was the only reason he'd felt comfortable enough to leave her behind in Trabia for such an extended period. Not even a month had gone by, and already he missed her dearly.
"Hey, don't put yourself down too much, either," Matt reassured him. "Anyway, glad you found something to keep you occupied. The capture team shouldn't be too much longer. You really didn't have to tag along, you know."
"Beats being stuck on the base with nothing to do," he insisted, turning to face him again. "So, what's the haul usually like?"
"Depends. We try not to venture too far inland if we can avoid it. Good news is, there's still plenty of species to choose from in these parts. Some are benign enough that you can get in close without much of a fight. And others… well, just ask the poor guys who wrangled up those blue dragons for us."
Bahamut had yet to encounter any of said wildlife along the coast; his security detail had done well thus far to steer him clear of potential threats. He took Matt at his word, however. Tales of the continent's vicious hordes had traveled far and wide over the years. He would never have dared to set foot on its soil without ample protection.
"Can I, though?" he shot him a doubtful look.
"Sure, if you want to swing by the infirmary when we get back," Matt smirked. "Don't worry, no one's died yet. They're all professionals."
"And what about Esthar? I take it they've staked their claim on the eastern shore?"
"Not exactly. Though… I guess you could say we're stuck with their sloppy seconds."
Matt turned his eyes away, and cast them up into the sky. Bahamut followed his line of sight. Save for a few clouds passing in front of the sun, there was nothing there.
"Matt?" he prodded him to go on.
"It's nothing," he hummed. He just as quickly turned away in the direction of the security platoon. "See you back at the boat. We cast off in about an hour, so don't take too long, you hear?"
"Sir, all systems are up and running! We should be set to begin trials."
"Excellent," Matt responded to his scientist grunt. "Give them the okay down below to send up a test subject. Something small to start us off."
"Yes, sir!"
Bahamut's eyes darted back and forth across the laboratory in the interim. Swarming around him and Matt were a dozen or so workers all dressed in sterile white lab coats, identical to their own. Each likewise wore their respective ID cards clipped to their breast pockets; as the only person aboard not an official member of the research team, a laminated card simply reading 'Visitor' was all he had been given upon arrival. They bolted from workstation to workstation, checking whatever readouts were displayed in preparation for the impending experiment. The great glass test chamber in the center towered above them all; its wide cylindrical body stretched all the way up to the ceiling, empty but for the moment. If Matt could be taken at his word however, soon, he and all those present would be witness to history in the making.
"Mark it down," he quipped as he turned to him. "Today's bound to be a red-letter day. I'm sure of it."
Before Bahamut could come up with a response, Matt was on his way across the lab. He trailed behind him as he approached a large steel cabinet set against the far wall. He swung its doors open to reveal rack after rack lining its interior from top to bottom. A vast number of bronze spheres roughly the size of billiard balls sat neatly organized along each row. Matt reached in and plucked one out seemingly at random. With a simultaneous press of both switches on its top and bottom, the metal ball's two halves parted by less than an inch.
"You seem confident," Bahamut muttered to him.
"This is the easy part," he explained as he trailed back towards the test chamber. "We've been handed the formula on a silver platter, with all the guesswork taken out."
"And you're sure you can trust the information you're getting?"
"If only you knew, Mutt. If only you knew."
He strode up to the side of the containment unit, where a raised, reinforced metal box akin to a safe was ingrained into the glass. He took hold of the lever on its outside, twisted it, and pulled the door open. Predictably, the test chamber interior lay on the other side. Erected within the sturdy, square metal frame however, was a holder with a perfectly concave top. Its size and curvature looked perfect to hold one of the spheres. On cue, Matt placed the one inside, and sealed the hatch back up. Meanwhile, the circular platform in the center of the chamber had since descended to the lower levels.
"It's a shame I can't tell it all to you straight," he sighed as they trailed away. "I'm already putting my neck out just by bringing you on board. But trust me… you're gonna see some serious shit in a minute."
However frustrating it was to be kept in the dark, Bahamut knew Matt's hands were tied. He was already plenty grateful for whatever clearance he had been afforded. So long as the process worked as intended, he could live without a full understanding of its inner workings. And so long as there was a chance it could be harnessed for the purpose of other, more pertinent fields of research in line with his own interests, he was prepared to wait as long as the proceedings took.
The central lift within the test chamber finally rose back up through the divot. A small rabbit-like creature with pale-green fur was sat atop, with both its feet shackled in place on the platform. Besides its unnatural color, the large ruby protruding from its forehead convinced Bahamut it was anything but ordinary. And yet, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the creature. Perhaps it was its small size, or the fervor with which it struggled to pry its over-sized feet from their restraints. He could only hope the process would be a relatively painless one.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" Matt declared. "Commence the transfusion!"
Within moments, an audible humming began swelling from the center of the room. It continued to intensify with each passing second, prompting the rabbit to hunch down on all fours, covering its ears as best it could. For as loud as the noise was becoming to his ears, he could only imagine how overbearing it must have been from within the glass. And then, just as it reached fever pitch, the chamber burst alight. Sizzling streams of pure energy shot out like lightning from all sides, converging on the creature's body. He brought up his hand in front of his eyes, both to shield them from the light, and the horrifying sight of the creature as it was atomized.
By the time the brightness had begun receding, and he found the courage to peek out, the chamber was empty once again. There was nary a trace of the rabbit anywhere within.
"Moment of truth," Matt muttered. He gestured for him to follow as he started retracing his steps to the side of the chamber.
Bahamut obliged. Together, they weaved their way back to the side hatch, bypassing the rest of the team still staring in awe at what they'd accomplished. Matt threw the hatch open on the spot, reached inside, and snatched out the sphere. The meager gap in its plating was plenty to allow the radiant energy now contained within to shine through. However brilliant its glare, the triumphant gleam in Matt's eyes was perhaps brighter still.
"What did I tell you?" he proclaimed to Bahamut before turning to the rest of his team. "Ladies and gentlemen, we've done it!"
The room suddenly burst into a round of applause, replete with cheers and hi-fives all around. Bahamut could only imagine their elation, to have the fruits of their collective labor validated so quickly. Perhaps before his time aboard the station was up, he too would share in that same overwhelming joy.
"Reset the chamber!" Matt called out over the celebration. "We're running it again as soon as it's cooled down. Let's try something bigger this time."
The merriment subsided in short order as all hands promptly fell back to work. With a nudge at Bahamut's shoulder, he again gestured for him to follow him back to the cabinet from whence he'd first taken the sphere.
"Not something you see everyday, huh?" his friend chuckled.
"So… it's trapped inside there now?" Bahamut nodded to the bronze sphere in his hand. "Just how do you condense its body down to make it fit?"
"We don't. By using this method, we've taken the body out of the equation completely."
"What do you mean?" he asked, utterly confused.
"It's complicated. I'll try to spare you the quantum mechanics behind it, but there really is no simple way of laying it all out. What we're doing here isn't so basic a concept as just infusing the subject with the energy. It's about achieving perfect synergy between two different essences, whereby they merge into one. In doing so, the creature's cells metamorphose, transforming it into a new form of being altogether: a sentient, independent energy force, physically intangible, but kept perfectly stabilized, and capable of periodically replenishing and revitalizing itself."
Matt paused as they reached the steel cabinet. He swung its door open, and plucked another sphere out from the middle rack. He spun back around, bringing up both his hands before Bahamut. In his left was the freshly energized sphere, still gleaming brilliantly from within. The one in his right was but an empty shell by comparison, hollow and lifeless.
"That last part is more or less the entire point," he continued. "Imagine you're doing some heavy lifting or exercise, and wear yourself out. With a bit of rest, your body naturally revitalizes itself. It's the same general principle; the creature's entire physiology is comprised of pure energy now, including its circulatory system. And so, rather than keep wastefully filling these spheres up with a strictly finite amount of the raw energy, we can ensure a practically limitless supply for each one by using these creatures as a conduit instead."
Convoluted as the concept was, Bahamut could at least wrap his head around his friend's explanation of it for the time being. And yet, the implication therein was anything but a positive sign for his own interests.
"And what if the subject doesn't have a functioning circulatory system?" he nervously asked for clarification. His eyes remained fixed to the gleaming sphere held in Matt's grip.
"I never said we had it all figured out," he reminded him. "All the research so far has effectively been laid out for us in advance. It's our job now to take it further, and see where it might lead us. However it all turns out, at the end of the day, you can be sure we've given it our best shot. Any more than that, I can't promise."
Bahamut finally averted his eyes to the floor. He knew he was asking the impossible for him to provide any concrete assurance.
"You know, if you want to help us out, I could really use someone to catalogue these," Matt pivoted.
He gestured to a powered-on computer terminal just beside the cabinet. Its screen displayed an open spreadsheet document, not unlike those he'd previously compiled for Matt's department many times before.
"Just indicate the serial number, creature type, and its position on the rack. You'd be doing me a big favor."
Without waiting for an affirmative response, he closed the active sphere, forcibly pushed it into his hand, and walked away. Bahamut turned to watch him trail back into the heart of the laboratory, intermingling with his research team as they prepared for another test subject to be sent up. Not content to remain standing around doing nothing, he ambled over to the computer, and began entering the information as instructed. He twirled the sphere around in his fingers, carefully poring over its casing for the serial number. He found it printed along the bottom, just beside the lower switch.
As he reached for the number pad to input the characters, he suddenly stopped. Out of the blue, he'd been struck by an epiphany. Unnerving, unethical, and completely unlike him as it was, he could hardly believe the thought had crossed his mind. He turned his head back left and right to take stock of the room. No one looked to be paying him any mind; they were all too absorbed in their own work to notice. Likewise, he spotted no security cameras along the walls or ceiling trained to his position. The opportunity was his for the taking.
Acting on impulse, he stealthily pocketed the sphere as he maneuvered back to the open storage cabinet. He then reached inside, pulled out another empty one, took note of the corresponding spot on the rack, and quickly returned to the computer's side. Several keystrokes later, and his deception was immortalized on the record for all to see. He returned the decoy sphere to its slot, double checking once again that his actions hadn't garnered any undue attention. Not a single other person spread across the laboratory looked the wiser. Neither did he expect they would be anytime soon. As more functional spheres were produced and subsequently catalogued, the empty one would disappear into the collection like a needle in a haystack. Even in the event it were discovered, he had plenty of leeway to feign ignorance. The sphere's energy having seemingly dissipated could be passed off as a defect inherent to their first ever attempt.
Most importantly however, he had no known ulterior motive to warrant suspicion. He'd intuitively known from the outset not to bring up Selphie's enrollment in Trabia Garden to Matt. Given Galbadia's ongoing hostilities with SeeD in recent years, he'd assumed having any connection to the latter, however tenuous, would have barred him from a spot on the project. Evidently, they would have been right to do so. For whatever guilt he felt in going behind Matt's back, his determination to help his daughter achieve her goals was so much stronger. Hands-on experience with one of these spheres early on would be enough to give her a leg up on the competition, and ensure her transfer to Balamb.
The mail ship would be due in for pick up within the next two days. With any luck, the collection of seashells he'd already planned to send her would be an adequate means to smuggle the sphere out. At least one of the conchs had to be large and dense enough to conceal it. He shuddered to consider the repercussions should it be found. It was a gamble to be sure, but one he knew was worth taking. If Matt couldn't promise him a miracle, he was determined to at least send her home a consolation. He turned back to watch the impending spectacle unfold before his eyes once again, the sphere burning a hole in his coat pocket all the while.
I'm sorry, Matt… please, forgive me…
After six more days aboard the research center, Bahamut had yet to be approached about his treachery. The package had gone out aboard the delivery ship seemingly without a hitch. Better still, for all his good fortune, several of the following trial runs had displayed a noticeable lack of it. Although the team's efforts were more often successful than not, there had still been the occasional mishap; insufficient cooldown periods, disagreeable test subjects, and energy stores depleted mid-procedure had resulted in a number of reject spheres. Precedent for Bahamut's ruse was becoming more plausible with each passing day.
He continued to catalogue the collection as it built up, his nervousness on the matter gradually easing. All the same, he still had jitters for another reason altogether: in between set daily production times, the team's other field of research had likewise been making headway. Upon declaring the package's contents, he'd been allotted a single sheet of paper to compose a letter to Selphie. He'd written nothing pertaining to the sphere, nor his whereabouts, or reason for being away; he knew it would all be looked over before shipping. He'd simply said he was thinking about her, and that provided all went well, he'd be able to bring her home something even better. Now, that possibility was looking more realistic than ever.
Within only a few short days, they'd already successfully reanimated several species of dead creatures. The test subjects had started small, as with the GFs, and gradually worked their way up. Varying brain tissue volume and mass naturally correlated with the amount of energy required; too much could easily fry the creature's faculties beyond any hope of functioning again. With enough trial and error, the team had soon enough determined a scale by which to measure the general amount necessary. Their success rate had become significantly more consistent overnight.
The subjects had returned to life, if only for a short while before the energy was fully expended. Without exception, their demonstrated behavior was aggressive; they would aimlessly rage within the test chamber, kept at bay by the glass until they collapsed back into the throes of death. Further research would be necessary to develop a means of prolonging reanimation beyond the span of a mere few minutes. At any rate, some form of consciousness was evident. And so, after much consideration, the green light had finally been given for human testing. 'Project Eden', as it had been dubbed, was a go.
He stood beside Matt at the main console, waiting with bated breath for the specimen elevator to arise. The vast range of wildlife he'd seen raised up over the last week, whether living or dead, had been breathtaking to behold. And yet, never before had his nerves fired so hard as to see an ordinary, naked human female ascend into the chamber. She lay perfectly still on a sterilized metal table in the center, lifeless as she'd been for the last three months. Her once golden blonde hair had long since lost its vibrancy, now on the verge of turning completely white. Her physical figure, though fully intact, had lost virtually all its muscle mass; there was almost nothing left to the woman Bahamut had once loved but skin and bones.
It had taken great effort for him to prevent her body from rotting away; had Matt's invitation come even a day later, it would have no longer been possible for him to keep the embalmers from doing their job. He'd likewise arranged for a closed-casket funeral, opening himself up fully to the ire of some of her attending relatives. Doubtless they would treat him kinder once they saw her up and about again. He could only imagine how Selphie would react, for that matter. Despite whatever hardship he'd faced along the way, the light at the end of the tunnel was finally coming into full view.
"You're sure you've got the energy levels sorted?" he nervously prodded Matt for the umpteenth time.
"Keep asking that, and I'm just going to keep giving you the same answer," his friend irately replied. "We're doing the best we can. You nagging us to hell and back isn't going to improve our chances. Just calm down, and cross your fingers."
Sure thing. It's not like it's your family riding on the line…
A momentary setback was the worst Matt could expect from this particular trial not going as planned. He had no personal stake in the matter outside of whatever sympathy he felt for a friend. Although Bahamut knew he was being unreasonable, he couldn't help it. He'd traveled so far, and gone to so much trouble just for a chance of reviving Elise. To see those hopes dashed at the final hurdle might just be too much for him to bear.
The now all too familiar start-up hum suddenly fell over the laboratory. Like the opening tuning strains of an orchestra, it called forth the attention of all present for the impending spectacle. Bahamut held his breath. It was all he could do to keep composed as the energy fizzled to life within the chamber, wrapping itself around Elise's limp body. It encircled her just as all the deceased test subjects before, almost seeming to dance of its own accord. Tempted as he was to look away, he stifled the urge.
The brightness began to dim after a short while as the infusion neared completion. It was then, as he continued anxiously watching for any sign of movement, that he noticed her complexion had turned ever so slightly less pale. Perhaps it was a trick of the light. Or perhaps by some miracle, all had turned out well after all. There was no telling until she displayed some sign of movement. Unable to exercise any further patience, he darted to the chamber's side just as the last wisps of energy dissipated.
He stood with his hands and face pressed to the glass, desperately praying for her to give him a sign. Now so close, he could tell for certain that her skin had regained some degree of color. Gangly as her frail physique was, she already looked more like the woman he loved than she had in some time. And then, her head moved. Her upper body was next to follow as she steadily sat up straight upon the table. Somewhat disturbingly, her arms had played no part in it; she looked as though she were a marionette being forcibly pulled upright. Still, her eyes remained shut. None of it made any difference to Bahamut. The fact she was moving at all was enough to put a beaming smile on his face. Just as the first tears of joy began welling up in his eyes, a hand lightly clamped down on his shoulder from behind.
"You see?" Matt happily assured him. "All according to plan."
Bahamut, so overwhelmed by elation, could hardly believe just how worried he'd been mere moments before. Hindsight being 20/20, he ought to have had more faith in his friend's technical expertise. He did not turn to face him, however. Every ounce of his attention was still trained on Elise, freshly awakened from eternal slumber. At last, her eyelids fluttered open. As they swiveled around the test chamber and turned to face him, his lips finally withdrew into open-mouthed apprehension. For however striking their vibrant blue color was, her stare was void of any emotion. Neither did her expression show any. She looked completely hollow, an empty husk given the bare essentials of motion and nothing else.
All at once, his optimism came crashing down to earth. Though she hadn't yet said a word, her cold, unfeeling indifference spoke for her. This was not his beloved Elise. It seemed that for all the possibilities afforded by reanimation, there was no salvaging her soul. And so, the question was raised: what point was there in bringing back to life a loved one, if they would no longer be the same person at the end of it all? Her companionship meant nothing to him without the same charming personality he'd come to adore underneath. Even should he take her back home with him, and try his best to re-acclimate her to the life they'd shared, things would never be the same. It would only be a shallow facade, or worse, a gross abuse of her body to serve his own selfish needs. He knew Selphie would think the same.
Before he could explain his thoughts to Matt, the chamber suddenly became alight with energy once more. To his horror, it radiated like a wildfire from Elise's seated figure. He didn't need his friend's frantic screaming from his side, white noise to his ears, to understand something was very wrong. Slowly, deliberately, she raised her hand out towards him. For a moment, he wondered if perhaps she'd recognized him after all. The thought was just as quickly wiped away as the energy exploded outward from her.
He was promptly blown off his feet in a cacophony of shattering glass and screeching steel. He flew backwards through the air, his back slamming against the far wall. The wind was knocked from his lungs in an agonized gasp as he collapsed to the floor. As the stars gradually faded from his vision, he turned his eyes back up to take in the scene at hand. All around, the once orderly laboratory had devolved into complete chaos. What other scientists hadn't been flung about like rag dolls scrambled either for cover or the exit. Slumped down right beside him was Matt, who'd been swept away along with him; he achingly stumbled to his feet with a grimace.
Elise stood upright in the center of the destroyed test chamber, the luminous energy still flowing freely from her body. It lashed out wildly in gleaming golden tendrils, shearing through the surrounding workstations with ease, and frying whichever unfortunate workers came within its reach. Bahamut was in total shock. Though he'd already understood this entity was no longer his dear wife, he couldn't fathom the reason for this sudden outburst of power. None of the prior reanimated creatures had shown anything of the sort, however aggressive they'd been.
A sizzling beam arced just past him before he could give it further thought. He craned his neck to see the blast slam straight into the storage cabinet; it toppled over with a thunderous crash. As its doors flopped open on impact, the spheres began to spill out and roll across the floor.
"Motherfucker!"
Bahamut turned his head back to see Matt standing in front of him. Without warning, he grabbed him by the arm and yanked him up to his feet.
"If she absorbs those… damn it, move!"
He was off before Bahamut could get a word out. All the same, he knew better than to doubt his friend's expertise at this juncture. Doing his best to ignore his aching back, he darted after Matt to the collapsed cabinet, slowing once his feet met the rolling spheres. There were too many for the two of them alone to possibly round up, much less with how far spread out they were. Regardless, he had to try. He reached down, and scooped up the nearest one. The moment he did, everything changed.
The energy blast engulfed him from head to toe. Instantly, whatever lingering soreness he felt from having been thrown against the wall became moot. This was a pain far more intense, visceral, and all encompassing. It washed over his entire body, seeming to pierce through every pore in his skin at once down to the molecular level. Time slowed. His muscles locked up; he couldn't even open his mouth to scream. As he struggled to swivel his eyes down, he realized to his horror that his body was swelling at an alarming rate. One by one, his ligaments sickeningly snapped out of place. It wasn't long before his bulging clothes and white lab coat were completely torn to ribbons.
As the pain soon gave way to a strange, otherworldly numbness, he finally turned his attention to Matt, himself also swathed in the energy's wide radius. What he saw left him positively revolted. His friend's form was practically unrecognizable: half man, half reptile, his skin having metamorphosed into a sickly, scaly blue-grey hue. He screamed in alarm. To his surprise, his jaw opened this time, only for a guttural shriek to erupt forth from his throat. It was then he fully realized just how far along his own transformation was. Within moments, a wicked snout jutted out from his face. And then, a pair of lengthy protrusions sprouted from his back.
By the time the surrounding aura had subsided, his muscles and bones had re-settled into their new form, and he could move again. Suddenly, the anguished malevolent shriek of a woman pierced through his mind, too immediate to have reached him through his ears. He let the now minuscule sphere fall from his grasp, and darted his head back to the center of the room. The gleaming energy gathered around Elise looked ever more radiant than before. With another mighty blast, she descended through the floor, leaving a gaping hole in the bottom of the destroyed test chamber. The shrieking began to grow fainter, trailing further away by the second. All around, the laboratory lay desecrated, with wreckage and bodies strewn all over.
Finally, he turned his attention back to Matt. He gasped, or rather roared, in shock as he noticed the hulking dragon now standing in his place. Thick blue scales ran across its hide, just as black with gleaming gold linings across its breast. Both its wings extended out to either side nearly as far as its body was tall. Bahamut's only reference for its height came from how close its head was to the ceiling. And yet, his own line of sight seemed to be perfectly level with it. There could be only one reason for that.
With a nervous glance to either side, he noticed wings of his own drooping down to the floor; though a lighter shade of blue, they were virtually identical in structure. His own hands had likewise grown sharpened talons, and his underbelly silver armored plating. For all intents and purposes, the beast before him could just as easily have been his mirror image.
'There's no way… please, tell me this is all a bad dream…'
[Wish I could.]
He abruptly turned his eyes back to the opposing dragon, meeting its stare. He was sure he hadn't imagined those words. Just as the incessant screaming, still yet to fade away completely, they had somehow registered to his brain directly, without needing to pass through his ears.
'Matt? Is that… really you? Can you hear me?'
[I… guess so. Telepathy, huh. There's something I never would've expected. But, I guess it makes sense if we're both sharing the same frequency now.]
'Matt, what the fuck is going on here?! What happened to us? Shit, what happened to Elise?!'
[I don't know, damn it!]
The dragon swiped one of its claws through the air between them in frustration.
[You think I woke up this morning expecting to be the fucking test subject? For us, my only guess is that when we got zapped, it gave the dragons in the spheres we were holding an outlet to re-materialize, using our bodies as a conduit. That's probably why we can talk like this now. We're literally on the same wavelength. As for Elise… I honestly don't know what went wrong.]
Even as the explanation seeped directly into Bahamut's brain, it was several moments before any of it properly registered. He was simply too astonished by it all to know how to react. In the end, disbelieving rage was all he had.
'What do you mean you don't know?! For fuck's sake, I thought the buck stopped with you around here?!'
[I'm sorry, Mutt. The best we can hope for is that she eventually runs out of steam. Since her body's still technically dead, it ought to stop functioning once she's expended all her energy. From the looks of it though, she's already managed to take in plenty more from the rest of these spheres.]
'And what about us? You think if we just get it all out of our systems, we'll go back to normal too?'
[Not the same thing. Remember what I told you about the creatures contained in these spheres? How their circulatory systems become adapted in order to revitalize their energy supply? That's more than likely where we are. We'd probably just end up killing ourselves if we pushed that hard. Again, I'm sorry. At least we didn't get sucked up by her, or fried. Or lose our minds along with our bodies.]
Although Bahamut knew what he'd meant by the phrase, he begged to disagree; his mind felt as though it were gradually crumbling to pieces with each passing second. Every conceivable thing that could have gone wrong had done so in the worst way possible. The guilt was tremendous; had he only been selfless enough to let his dearly departed wife rest in peace. The price for his vain pursuit of giving her another chance at life had been not just his own, but also Matt's, and every other unfortunate soul who'd died aboard the research facility thus far. Now, trapped in the body of a hulking, ferocious beast, what hope could there be for him to live a normal life again? How could he ever be a father to Selphie now?
As he continued to have his mental breakdown, Matt began stumbling his over-sized reptilian feet towards the center of the room. Each step looked to be taking considerable effort.
[Well, damn, this is going to take some getting used to.]
'How the hell can you be so casual about this?!' Bahamut raged at him.
[Mutt, please, just shut up. For all we know, maybe there is some way for us to get our bodies back.]
Never had Matt spoken to him so sternly before. To his credit, the bluntness had been enough to momentarily snap him from his downward spiral. He watched the other dragon as it poked its head through what was left of the shattered glass capsule, and stared down into the hole left by Elise.
[Looks like she just kept heading straight down. The lower levels are flooded.]
'You think this place going to sink?'
Matt abruptly turned back, his slitted eyes staring intently at him.
[That's the least of our worries now. If she makes it down to the ocean floor…]
He trailed off as the raucous, wordless wailing from before suddenly picked up again. It approached steadily, as if rising up from the depths of the netherworld, swelling in volume all the while.
[Speak of the devil.]
'So, you can hear it, too?'
Matt did not answer. He instead stormed over to the far wall, his thunderous footsteps reverberating through the destroyed laboratory; clearly, he'd gotten used to his new body's motor functions. The next moment, he slammed his entire figure against it. The steel buckled and squeaked, straining to hold him back. He quickly backed up, and charged in again. This time, the wall segment gave way. Sunlight streamed inside as the divot opened up, revealing the ocean trailing east towards the Centra mainland.
Not bothering to ask for the reason, Bahamut strode up beside and peered out with him. Down on the water, several ships had already cast off, pulling away from the research center. What survivors had made it outside were apparently leaving nothing to chance, even if it meant forsaking their fellow workers. Others scrambled about on the surrounding docks, all fighting for a spot aboard the next ship due out. It was every man for himself. And yet, as the hellish screaming continued to draw closer, Bahamut intuitively knew their efforts were for naught. Within moments, he saw a great ripple forming on the water's surface, just outside the cluster of ships. And then, it burst open as a gargantuan, round entity shot up from below.
The resulting waves were immense, easily dwarfing the nearby fleet; they were all smothered within seconds. A gleaming white dome dotted by numerous multi-colored protrusions towered above. For however imposing his and Matt's dragon bodies were, even they were but flies compared to its dimensions. The closest approximation would have surely been the research center in full. Finally, Matt broke his silence.
[Just as I feared. She's drawn even more power directly from the source.]
Bahamut's eyes refused to believe such a thing could even exist. His mind could neither rationalize it being his Elise.
[Well, come on. Let's see what we can do.]
'Are you nuts?!' Bahamut reeled.
[We've got to draw its attention so the others can escape. With any luck, they'll make it back to Galbadia, and get them to send the navy in. That's our only chance now.]
'And have you ever flown before?'
[No better time to learn. Think of it this way, Mutt… can you imagine what it would be like if that thing ever reaches civilization?]
His friend had known exactly which nerve to aim for, and struck dead center. However astronomically slim their chances, he realized it was their responsibility to do whatever they could to keep this monstrosity from wreaking havoc upon the world at large. He had a duty, as one of the men culpable in its creation. And more than that, as a father; even if he would never see Selphie again, he was prepared to lay his life on the line for her safety.
Without waiting for him to make up his mind, Matt squeezed through the hole in the wall, coming to stand on the perch just outside. He began beating his wings deliberately, rhythmically, gradually increasing speed until he finally leapt from the edge, and soared off towards the water. Bahamut watched him glide, gradually adjusting as necessary to keep his altitude up.
'You made it look easy enough.'
[It is. Just go for it.]
Grateful as he was for the encouragement, he was more relieved to learn that their telepathy continued to function over a significant distance. Not looking to test just how far, he stepped out onto the perch himself, and mentally fumbled about his musculature for the wings. A few successful beats later, he suddenly felt much more confident. As he continued to prep for takeoff, he stared into the distance, far away towards the north, reflecting on the life he'd left behind just a month ago. He'd fully expected to return within another couple of weeks at the latest. Now, regardless of however long the coming days aboard the research center would be for him, he knew he would never be back again. Bahamut, the man, was no more.
Be strong, Selphie. I love you…