Here's Chapter 2 of Final Wish... same as with Chapter 1, there's gonna be stuff edited out whenever I get the whole thing (or close enough to the whole thing) finished... But anyway, here ye go.
Spoiler warning: Again, possible spoilers ahead... read at ye own discretion...
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A few days crept by, and Vivi had begun to readjust to sleeping and eating again. Hours were spent either sleeping or watching after the egg with periods of solemn thought scattered through the day. During those times, he would find himself sitting alone in his own room staring out a window, or by the grave of Mr. 36, or even sitting beside the stream to watch the water flow as it always had. The other mages would leave him alone whenever Vivi had sought out time with himself as per some silent request that registered with his tentative glance. They understood that Vivi rather liked being able to think and wonder of things that they themselves would barely be able to comprehend...
Vivi was in the middle of one of those thought sessions, the chosen place of which was beside the stream. The sky was clear except for a few fluffs of misty clouds. A regular sparkle danced upon the rolling surface of the water, and the trees leaned in around Vivi to watch their reflections bubble and waver.
It was quieter that usual.
Vivi sat with his legs splayed out before him and his palms pressed against the ground to keep the rest of him up. His light blue coat lay folded neatly beside him, relieving at least part of his face from the reign of shadow. It was a tad warm for his tastes, and he didn't really need to hide from the others. The light colored shirt he wore beneath provided him with enough relief from the climate, and so he was content.
A sharp outcry from elsewhere in the village caught his attention. From over the rolling hill of the stream's bank he could see a little ways into the village's central square, as it were, and could see at first one, then two, then four, then six Black Mages pointing and staring up at the sky. Many more began to line out of their huts to see what the calamity was about.
Thin ribbons of blue writhed into visibility, entangling itself in a double helix of mystical energy among the sky. Glittering puffs of light sparkled along its writhing length for a moment, then paused into invisibility.
By now, Vivi had gotten up and had rushed over to his fellow Black Mages standing panicked and confused. Mutterings of queries between one another ran thick.
Mr. 288 was among the last to appear and when he did, everyone immediately silenced themselves and looked at him expectantly. They shifted in position from a messy crowd of mages to a neat arc around Mr. 288, spacing each other apart so that the ones behind could look upon their leader without a tall hat blocking their view.
Mages mechanically parted way for the tiny mage as Vivi made his way to the front of the arc, just as curious as the others as to what Mr. 288 had to say of the anomaly in the sky.
Mr. 288 didn't have to make effort to gain the attentive gazes of everyone; from the moment he stepped into the open all mouths were shut and all eyes had fastened on him. His eyes swept over everyone, meeting each gaze with a calm not of acknowledgement, before he cleared his throat and said, perhaps with more simplicity than anyone would have liked, "I think everyone should stay inside for a while."
It had never dawned on anyone to question 288's hunches, so they didn't. Like a disorganized school of fish, they all separated at once, heading to wherever came to mind. A few followed Mr. 239 to the weapon shop, another few went to the Inn, and others still went back to their own huts. Mr. 288 watched silently, taking mental note of the general headings of each before noticing that all but Vivi had left. Before he could say anything, Vivi narrowed his eyes in puzzlement and asked, "Mr. 288, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure, Vivi, but I don't think we should stay out to see." He glanced helplessly at the sky, to the spot where a frozen glitter still remained as if trapped in time. "Strange things like that don't happen every day, and I doubt much good will fool--"
A shriek overpowered his voice and both immediately looked up. From the dense sparkle the twin strands of blue slithered forth, spinning about eachother in a mad frenzy, blurring into a fluctuating sliver of matter taking a white=hot glow. In an instant, a flash of pure white light ripped through the skies and just as quickly melted away, leaving a bright green afterimage burning through Aviv's eyes.
He blinked furiously to try to clear the bright stain from his sight but to little avail; the only glimpse he would have managed came between blinks. A mass of black scale and wing shot across the sky and disappeared behind the lips of canopy. Another shriek quickly roared by to catch up to its owner.
Mr. 288 had his head hanging and was rubbing slowly at his eyes with a single hand. Eyes had filled every single window of the village, staring up and after the dark figure that graced the sky.
Vivi stared after the beast, willing away the afterimage in silence. ... where is that thing going?
"You say your friends headed back to Conde Petite?" asked Mr. 288, suddenly raising his head just enough to squint at Vivi. "Whatever that was, it's headed straight for them..."
Vivi's breath caught in his throat. They should have been by Conde Petite yesterday... What if it's going past, too...? His head snapped in the direction of his hut.
"You won't make it to them in time to warn them," said Mr. 288. His eyes wandered back up to the sky, tracing westward where the flying beast soared. "And something tells me that they already know of it... That summoner friend of yours..."
The thought of Dagger summoning something like that which just passed didn't do much to calm Vivi, but still... If Dagger called it, then maybe they're just...
He could do nothing more than wait and hope as the wavering echoes of roars and explosions wandered from beyond the mountains.
~~~
There was a lot of fire floating on the ocean. Terrified screams and vengeful screeches rang clearly in their ears.
A summoning didn't go according to plan. The Sacred Beast Bahamut careened madly through the hazy sky, shooting plumes of Mega Flare at whatever it had deemed worthy of destroying. Royal Alexandrian warships were reduced to nothing more than burning fortresses of wood and steel, and the scent of burning flesh was thick over the muggy mist.
The confrontation with Kuja didn't go exactly as planned. Granted, they managed to meet one of their objectives; the creature primarily responsible for creating the mist had been eliminated and the mist had already seemed to be thinning. But the man they were after had already fled upon his silver Dragon, though with some friction from the crazed Bahamut.
The group clambered precariously down one of the giant twisting vines that draped the Iifa Tree. Steiner had taken the lead, wielding his sword before him as if believing any mist creatures wouldn't dare attack a burly man in rusty armor holding a rather dinky, in Zidane's opinion, sword. Quina wasn't far behind Steiner, and was followed by Eiko, Dagger, Zidane, and Freya.
The princess's eyes were pink with tears threatening to spill; she saw the King of Dragons destroy the warship that Queen Brahne, her mother, was on... The party was respectfully silent for a long while and worried glances was frequently exchanged between all.
"We're getting closer to the ground," Steiner rumbled uncomfortably. "We must keep our guard up for any swarms of mist beasts..."
"... I wonder how mist taste," said Quina thoughtfully.
Eiko growled and snapped, "What a great time to be thinking of food, 'ya big dope..." The young summoner's mood had been just as violent and unpredictable as it had been when the group first met her, and the situation didn't make her one bit more cheerful.
Quina didn't bother with a rebuttal; it may have seemed simple minded or even stupid, but it knew when to keep its mouth shut.
"This isn't the best time to get a temper, Eiko," said Zidane in his usual confident tone. "We've still got things to deal with." He heard Eiko grumble something under her breath then silence herself with a deep scowl on her face.
They continued on as such for several long, dwindling minutes as they partly walked, partly climbed their way back to the ground. Bahamut could still be seen swooping over the still floating carcasses of once-proud Alexandrian warships.
Zidane was watching Dagger every step of the way. Her eyes, once a dark sparkling amber, looked glazed and... tired. Everyone looked so tired... He considered trying to put his arm around her, but wondered if she would take it the wrong way; upsetting her now, in her already pained condition, was something he knew he didn't want to do.
From behind a thicket of gnarled vine hanging not too far in front of them appeared the jet black body of Bahamut. Its head, adorned with two long and curved horns protruding from the sides and one curving back from the top of its skull, turned to observe them. It seemed to float perfectly still in the air, its wings only giving the occasional twitch of tense muscle.
The party froze immediately to stare at the mighty Dragon, just as it stared at them...
Zidane could her Eiko whisper, "What do you want?" To his surprise, Bahamut seemed to focus immediately on the child, though he wasn't sure how; the dragon didn't seem to have any eyes to focus with. Eiko registered it as well, for she gasped and pulled back to tumble into Zidane.
Bahamut growled softly, looking to Dagger. Was it... curiosity? The delicate lift in pitch... sorrow?
Tears dropped from Dagger's lashes and trailed slowly down her cheeks... she whispered, sounding so far away... "Why?"
The Sacred Beast had no answer. It grunted, a thick rumbling pop bubbling through its throat. It's wings snapped wide then gave a single powerful downwards thrust to propel itself skywards in a single flap. Bahamut spiraled away to the heavens, its body glowing a pale blue before melting away into the glowing double helix that marked its appearance.
"Well... that was interesting," Freya remarked, hefting her javelin anxiously. "Now that it's gone, I suppose we can focus on that Kuja fiend..."
Steiner looked at Dagger with a familiar look of concern on his brutish face. "Princess.... Are you alright? All this has been such a terrible strain on you..." He narrowed his large eyes and shot a condemning glare at Zidane, who simply ignored it.
The princess didn't respond immediately. Her eyes focused on Steiner and lost him just as quickly, wandering over the horizon and to a plot of beach just south of the Iifa Tree. Wreckage congregated about the shore, darkened about the rim with splotches of soot... and not too far from the charred areas lay a large mass of something grayish... something...
"... m-... Mother...?"
"What? Princess, I-- Princess?!"
Steiner gaped from an expression bred from pure terror and pure amazement as he watched Dagger set off in a dead run down the vine they traveled, apparently forgetting the painfully clear fact that any step taken at a wrong spot would mean her fall from the Tree, and to a grave far beneath the translucent blanket of mist. Without delay, forcing that fact from his own mind, he jolted after the princess as fast as his armor-clad body could be forced to take him.
Against the common sense of the rest of the group, they ran right after him.
"Priiincesss! Waaaiiiittt! Wheeere are youuu gooiinnnggg?" echoed the Pluto Knight's voice, shaky with his bounding trot. "It's daaanggerrrouusss doowwwn heeerrree..."
What is she doing?, Zidane asked himself. He could tell where she was heading; the way she wove around from vine to over-crossing vine, keeping her path as direct as possible through the labyrinth of twisted organic matter... to the beach, upon which rests fragments of ships and fragments of beings...
He blinked and narrowed his light blue eyes - was there something moving amid the piles of debris? Just the slight twitch of something, perhaps by will of the breeze or by its own power...
"Goodness," he heard Freya mumble somewhere behind him. "It's the Queen..."
From father ahead, he heard Steiner gasp with horror. From even further beyond Steiner, the softest of whimpers escaped Dagger's lips.
~~~
Vivi didn't know why, but without warning he felt a sickening pain in the very pit of his stomach. A burning sensation settled in the back of his throat, and for a long while he stood hunched over by the outer edge of the village waiting to vomit.
~~~
The stench was horrible on the beach. Not only did piles of soggy wood and dead bodies drift onto the coast, but fish, charred by Mega Flares that invaded the waters were crowding upon the darkened sand in long rows. Water drew in, then receded from the land in steady pulses driven strong by heavy tides. Foam spread in thin sheets on the sand, and the death that lay in the earliest stages of decomposition...
But where Queen Brahne lay, it was quiet and devoid of the stains of battle, unless her weakened body and spirit could be a token of strife. She was not nearly the most attractive being of flesh and blood to ever take part of life on Gaia, but there was a subtle appeal in her appearance. Robes gained through royalty clung tight to her bulging body, wet with blood and water...
... so much blood...
Steiner stood stiff not too far away from the dying Queen, eyes fixed straight at some point peeking over the horizon. His jaw was set tight, as was his grip on the sword pointed down to the earth.
... why did this happen?
Dagger knelt down beside the still breathing mass of her mother. Even the quietest of breath sounded excruciatingly loud; like sandpaper rubbed over sandpaper, and yet so faint. The trails of tears burned bright pink along her cheeks in thin vertical stripes and she suppressed a sob when Brahne's head shifted slightly upon the firm pillow of sand to look up at her daughter with her black-framed eyes.
... why is she smiling?
~~~
He stared at the forest floor, at the chaotic assortment of leaves and twigs laying matted from feet stepping over. Light blurred into a kaleidoscope of color, dancing with the greens and browns and oranges and reds of the foliage drifting carelessly about him in his small grove by the village. He tried to breathe...
~~~
Brahne's blubbery lips puckered into a warm smile. "Garnet... I'm so glad... I could... see you..."
Why is she smiling?!
"... I'm sorry for all... of this... Garnet... I didn't know..." A hack erupted in her throat, and she curled up as best she could until the coughs resided.
Dagger noticed how limp Mother had become. There was barely any bounce when Brahne's head fell back upon the sand, rolling about weakly before reclaiming the strength to let her look at her only daughter. "Ohh, I've been so.... foolish..."
"Mother..."
Brahne smiled once more... weakly. "I'm.... sorry.... You're going to be... Queen, now..."
"But..."
"Be good to... our kingdom... Garnet... Love it... like I love... you...."
".... Mother!?"
~~~
He was crying. He was scared. Fear, pain, torture - they were all clear to him now, pummeling into him with an alien ferocity. His body had long since crumpled to a heap on the cluttered forest floor, on his belly with his hands cradling his wet face... Twigs and other such prickly forest matter poked relentlessly at his skin, just as the overwhelming pain and sorrow probed for a grip in his soul.
... what is this? Why...?
"Vivi~!"
He wanted to look up and see who was calling him, but his muscles weren't listening. Why can't I move...?
"Vivi...? Are you out here?"
I'm not... He managed a pitiful whine, hoping that would be enough... The crunching of leaves and the snapping of twigs beneath someone's feet neared him, then stopped.
"... Vivi? What are you doing out here?"
... help...
"... Vivi?"
... just... help...
Strong hands encircled his sides and he felt himself being lifted up. His body was flipped over slowly and cradled close to the warmth of... who? Tears blurred his vision, which had already dimmed for a reason unknown to him...
"Vivi? Why are you crying?"
I don't know... just...
The mage's voice began to sound frantic. He didn't want him to be scared, and his tears flowed without restraint...
"Vivi?! What's happening?! Don't st--"
He couldn't hear the voice anymore. The sensation of being shaken sprung even more pain into him, about his shoulders and his neck, but he couldn't move. What little he could see was swallowed by darkness, and stillness reigned once more.
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Ooo, fun fun. Could you do me a favor and review? A writer isn't much without feedback from her readers, ne? ^_^ Arigato!