Scene VIII

Unity as a Safeguard…

“I think you should read this, sir. It just arrived by Moogle.” Handing Rabit the flyer, the ghost watched as his expression went grim at the words on the paper.

“Jake! Pack your stuff and let’s go!” Rabit leapt from his seat and gathered what few belongings he had, running upstairs to make sure his partner wasn’t dozing off.

“What’s wrong?” The young man was packing his own bag when Rabit burst into the room, but wasn’t moving as quickly as Rabit would’ve wanted.

“We’re leaving, now!”

“Already? But you said we needed to make some more gil first?”

“Change of plans. We need to go before the soldiers march into the city.” Confused completely now, Jake decided to leave the inquiry for later and finished packing his things, throwing his bag over his shoulder as he ran downstairs to meet Rabit.

“Good work, let’s go!” Making their way to the window, Rabit and Jake stopped short when the doors to the mansion were thrust open, a dozen soldiers marching into the abandoned house. Spotted instantly, both of them raised their arms into the air, signifying their surrender.

“Check their wrists!” Following orders, two of the soldiers moved closer to Rabit and Jake, pulling their arms down and examining their wrists closely. They found what they were looking for, after removing a few trinkets designed to cover up their crystals.

“They have them, sir! We’ve got two of them!” Lowering his guard to report, Rabit took advantage of the opportunity and released the fury of his dagger on the soldier’s back, swiftly changing targets to the other soldier before Jake. As both went down, Rabit grabbed Jake’s arm and dragged him behind a couch, narrowly dodging a flurry of arrows coming from the other soldiers.

“You two have exactly ten seconds to come out, or we’ll flush you out with another volley of arrows!” Ignoring the soldier’s threat, Rabit looked to the window, unsure if he or Jake would be able to make that kind of leap without taking an arrow to the side.

“What are we going to do? We only got ten seconds!”

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking.” His heart racing, Rabit couldn’t help but feel this was the end, seeing no other way to survive this than to surrender. At that instant, the screams of the soldiers rang out across the room, and Rabit peeked from behind the couch to see what was going on. Their ghost friend had emerged from the second floor to help them, moaning in a strange fashion as he approached the soldiers. Distracted, Rabit grabbed Jake’s arm and yanked him towards the window, almost throwing him out of the house on impulse. Looking back at the ghost, Rabit granted him silent thanks before leaping out the same window.

Outside, more soldiers marched down the streets, apprehending everyone and checking them for crystals, much like what had happened to themselves. Concealed in the darkness of the alley, Rabit tried to find the safest way out of the city.

“What are we going to do? These soldiers are from Bevelle, I recognize the symbol on their shields.”

“Bevelle’s out of the question, Jake. We’re heading south, to the Lachenta Wetlands. I know a nice spot there where we can hid until things die down a bit.”

“Okay, but how do we get there? There are soldiers everywhere.”

“You’re going to let us waltz right through town. Pull out your flute.” Catching on, Jake removed his instrument from his bag, pressing it to his lips and starting a melody. Rabit cupped his hands over his ears, trying to weaken the effect of the lullaby as he watched the guards on the street become groggy, eventually falling to the ground completely. With the immediate watch down, Rabit led the way down the streets, Jake following closely as he continued to play the lullaby.

***

“Do you hear that? Sounds like someone’s playing a lullaby.” Arion turned to face the direction of the music, but Celeste grabbed hold of his arm and continued dragging him towards the clan hall.

“Do you want to be captured by Bevelle? Ignore the stupid music and let’s go! If there’s one safe place in all of Deling City, it’s the clans. Lucky for us, I can let us join without any hassle.” Arriving at the massive doors to Clan Atomos, Celeste and Arion used their combined strength to push open one of the doors, slipping inside before sealing it again. Inside, the eyes of dozens of clan members glared them down. Celeste smiled as she walked forward.

“Don’t mind us! We’re just riding out a storm in here!” Arion watched, still amazed by her ability to sway the minds of people with just the sound of her voice. However, there were a choice few whom remained unaffected by her flowery speech.

“Crystal bearers, am I correct?” The man sitting on the massive throne’s armrest walked towards the two strangers, followed by a woman carrying a book.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Must have me mistaken with someone else!”

“She’s the Orator, it would explain why the rest of the clan is simply ignoring the fact she’s in here. Her voice commands all who hear it.”

“Except other warriors. I’m Ark, head of Clan Atomos and Archer of the Crystal Warriors.” Extending his right hand while holding up his left to show them his own crystal, Arion gladly shook the man’s hand as a sign of friendship.

“I’m Arion, the Alchemist. This is Celeste.” Shaking his hand, Celeste glared at him slightly, annoyed that her speechcraft couldn’t affect him or his companion.

“I take it you’re in here to avoid the Bevelle soldiers outside.”

“Yes, we came from Bevelle yesterday, but there was no sign of any march on Deling. Whatever this is, it happened just yesterday, or perhaps overnight.” Arion and Celeste followed Ark back to his throne, where he once again took his seat on the armrest. Sitting around the throne were a number of other people, closely watching the newcomers to the hall.

“We received word of it just a short while ago. Apparently, the head of Yevon died yesterday, and the new guy in charge, someone named Garland, claims a group of people with crystals on their wrists is to blame for the kidnapping and potential murder of the former head’s daughter. With the might of Yevon behind him and the support of the common people of Bevelle to bring back the girl, he was able to mobilize the troops quickly to strike Deling.”

“Wouldn’t the other nations see this as an act of hostility? Surely no one is going to just sit by and watch as soldiers of Bevelle come storming into their homes.”

“We thought that as well, Celeste. Unfortunately, the other nations have formally announced that they would allow Bevelle to search their lands freely, wishing to assist Garland in his search for the abductors of the girl. This is bad news for us, being crystal bearers.”

“Is it just us four?”

“No, there are others.” Pointing to the people sitting close by, they all stand to greet their newest allies. “In order, that’s Cyril, Jessica, Brown, Vittee, Tita, and the little one is Cherry. And of course you’ve already met my friend and advisor, Nira.”

“Glad to meet you all.” Arion took the time to formally greet each of the other warriors, while Celeste was content with just a simple wave of her hand.

“So what happens if Bevelle soldiers try to bust inside this hall? Do we fight them?”

“We have an agreement with Bevelle, and they will not storm our hall demanding us to show them our wrists. With the amount of crystal bearers in here, we couldn’t allow that.” As the words escaped Ark’s lips, the great doors of the hall flung open, dozens of soldiers storming into the hall. The other clan members brandished their weapons, prepared to battle the intruders. Ark called for them to stay their hand, walking up to the leader of the soldiers.

“We had an agreement that my hall was not to be disturbed.”

“Under orders from Yevon and on the confession of another person, we were told this hall contained at least half a dozen crystal bearers, and that this clan was their mask to avoid detection.”

“What!?”

“Therefore, we are here to search every single clan member. Resist, and you will be considered an enemy of Bevelle.” His anger reaching the break point, Ark stormed back to his throne, where gave the rest of his companions a meaningful stare. Turning to face the rest of the hall, he raised his hand.

“Clan Atomos, we have been betrayed by Clan Odin! Defend yourselves!” Raising their weapons to the soldiers once more, the entire hall erupted into a frenzy, driving the soldiers of Bevelle back outside the clan hall. Meanwhile, Ark led the warriors into a hidden passage behind the throne.

“Why are we hiding from them? Surely ten warriors can easily take out all those soldiers.” Celeste was quite angry at having to run, but followed Ark deeper into the tunnel.

“It’s better that we not make our powers public yet. If people knew that we were capable of that now, they’d rally behind Garland and consider us all monsters. We’d be shunned from society. For now, we hide, until someone publicly denounces Garland’s theory. After that, we can then go on the offensive.”

“Still don’t like the idea of running.”

“Ark? Where exactly does this tunnel lead?” Tita had never seen this part of the hall before, and was eager to know where her boss was taking them. He remained silent until they reached a small cave, brightly illuminated by a pond glowing eerily in the dark.

“What is this place?”

“It’s a place I found a long time ago. I had the previous head of the clan build that secret passage from the hall here. The water glows because of a fragment of a crystal that is lodged under the water.” Walking over to the glowing pond, Ark dipped his hand into water, pulling up a small amount and drinking it.

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Nira was obviously iffy on drinking the water, but Ark nodded.

“The crystal gives the water a magickal healing property. It’s something like a potion, only much more potent.”

“So we just sit here until Bevelle leaves?”

“No, Brown. We sit here for just a few more minutes. The clan may have driven back the soldiers for now, but they’ll be back quickly. They’ll come inside the hall again, and search the place for us. When they see that we’re not there, they’ll storm the city again. That’s when we make our escape.”

“Sounds easy enough. Come along, Cherry, let’s go taste this funky water.” Tita grabbed the young girl by the hand, dragging her to the pond on the other end of the cave. The rest of the warriors followed, anxiety running rampant amongst them. The moments before a battle were always the most tense.