The Silent Beyond The higher-ups called it 'Operation Djose.' Lucil called it an exercise in futility. They were supposed to investigate an 'influx of fiends' near headquarters. The meeting with Kehni still replayed in her mind, however, and she seriously doubted that this was a simple fiend extermination. The boy had been devastated, and quite obviously distressed, but people did not lie about Sin, and any Chocobo Knight (especially one previously under her command, she admitted with no small amount of pride) would have been able to easily dispatch of any ordinary fiend. Now was not the time to wonder about such things, however, and so Lucil focused her attention on the young men and women accompanying her on this thus far uneventful boat ride. A few of the other officers sat chatting with one another, but most of the soldiers were silent, somber. It made an odd little chill go up her spine, so she instead decided to check up on Elma. The girl was currently doubled over the railing of the ship, more than likely divesting herself of her lunch. Lucil winced. She had no idea Elma got seasick. After a moment of thought, Lucil made her way to Elma's side, tapping the girl on the shoulder. Elma hiccupped a bit, groaning under her breath as she regarded her Captain blearily. "...Ma'am?" "Hello, Elma. Seasick?" "Yes Captain. Very much so..." Elma's head dipped back down, as if to prove her point. Lucil gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, resting her arms on the railing. "I had a friend once, who had the worst case of motion sickness. The poor girl could barely stand up half of the time...she hated traveling by sea. She did have a couple of things she did though, that took her mind off of it." "What did she do, Captain?" "First, she'd walk around quite a bit, stay in open spaces. The second thing she'd do was suck on hard candy. She preferred mints. Ah, and ice as well, though ice was something she was only able to get during missions to Macalania. We had an...agreement of sorts, that I would be able to tease her for being a landlubber, so long as I kept plenty of mints at hand. I never really broke the habit, though I can't stand mint myself. Here you are," she murmured, handing Elma a small piece of candy. "Maybe it will help a bit." "Thank you, Captain!" Elma popped the candy into her mouth, sitting up for a moment. Lucil stared up at the sky. They were nearing headquarters; she could tell. It was never sunny in Djose, and now thick, heavy clouds gathered overhead. It would rain, more than likely, and the young Captain frowned as she imagined how difficult it would be to traverse the terrain. They had some chocobos, but not nearly enough, and fighting on foot would be dangerous. She sighed inwardly. She admitted to herself that she had been going through battle plans almost obsessively, but she found it difficult to relax. Kehni's mention of Sin still bothered her, and she would not be satiated until she saw proof of it herself. She did not fancy herself an optimistic fool, but she thought it was best to take caution when dealing with rumors of Sin's return. The Crusaders stationed in Besaid had been able to quell the questions which erupted after Reia arrived, dressed in Bevellese garb. The girl never seemed to slack when it came to formalities, and for once Lucil had been displeased by it. She had stuck out like a sore thumb, and it was no wonder the peaceful island village had erupted at her visit. They had quieted down when the younger captain made her exit, but Lucil could feel the unease coming off the villagers in waves, and had eventually told Elma, Clasko, and the Crusaders to pack up and prepare to leave for headquarters. It would do no good if people started to worry. There were rarely visitors in Besaid, but even one mainlander catching wind of Reia's visit would have all of Spira in an uproar. They did not need that, not at all, and Lucil did not want to be responsible for such chaos. Though the Chocobo Knights were an elite squadron, they were still simply a branch of the Crusaders, and lately, with the steadily growing use of machina weapons, Crusaders were hardly appreciated. There had even been talk of excommunication, and that thought unnerved Lucil even more than Sin. Without Yevon, Crusaders and Chocobo Knights alike would have no outside support, and the group would dissolve all too quickly, leaving only branded heretics in its wake. Shaking off the uncomfortable thoughts, she instead turned her attention to Elma. Lucil was hardly oblivious; she knew very well that Elma's devotion went a bit further than that of a soldier and her superior, but she tried her best to dissuade it. Though same-sex relations were not viewed with extreme disgust, they were generally frowned upon, and with Elma being her subordinate, that made things even worse. She had done her best to distance herself from the younger woman, but she did genuinely enjoy the company, and if not for her rank and duty, she would be more than happy to pursue a relationship with the girl. Lucil was fairly good at distancing herself, however, and this was no exception. Elma would eventually move on and find someone more appropriate. It would do no good to allow such a thing to continue, and Lucil reluctantly admitted that she might have to go about pushing her away, perhaps even relocate her. The thought made her uneasy. She had been with Elma so long that she could not imagine being without her company, her cheerful exuberance. She shook her head. She had become too attached. At the end of this battle, she would gently break the news to Elma, have her relocated, and her troubles would be over. She spared a glance at her subordinate, noting that some of the color had returned to her face. She always seemed so very young, and small, even though Lucil knew that beneath that childlike naivet‚ lay a fine soldier, one she had trained. She felt an odd, frightening surge of warmth, and cleared her throat. "Would you like to take a walk around the deck, Elma? Perhaps it'll clear your head." "Umm...I'd like that very much, ma'am." Since Elma would be leaving her soon, she rationalized, it would do little harm to spend a bit more time with her while she was around. ---------- Elma had to admit that walking around helped a little bit. The Captain was oddly talkative today, and Elma got the odd feeling that she was on edge about the mission. Elma couldn't blame her though, after what they had seen. Poor Kehni, he had looked so...broken. Elma had never seen a grown man openly sob, and even Reia had been shaken. She hoped more than anything that Sin had not returned, but as they neared Djose, predictions became far bleaker. Even the sea had been fairly silent, and Elma found that it was impossible to search for answers in its murky depths. She wondered what would await them on Djose's shores. Was Sin really alive? She could not fathom it. Ten years had come and gone, and she had stumbled out of adolescence and into womanhood with only the memory of sinspawn, of attacks on Kilika, the screams of the villagers and the tears that came afterward, the wailing of the pyreflies, iridescent and fragile as they began their ascent into the Farplane. For the past ten years, she had only worried about the occasional fiend attack and whether or not her Captain would catch on, if Clasko would be alright traversing the fiend-infested paths in Besaid alone with only their chocobos as company. Sin seemed oddly distant to her, like a nightmare she had a long time ago. But when she heard Lucil's strained laughter, watched the way her hands made nervous gestures in the air, as if to punctuate each word she said, she realized that the possibility was very real. She was a bit disappointed that Tyhlan would not be accompanying them in this mission. Macalania was too far away, and when they had spoken before, a few weeks back, the Al Bhed had mentioned most of the soldiers there had been dispatched to Bevelle, more than likely to escort Maester Mika. She had asked the girl how she felt about being in Yevon's capital, and the blonde had simply shrugged it off. She had been far more easygoing than before, which was quite a feat, considering Tyhlan's personality. It seemed that her time in Macalania had given her time to grow, and Elma was unsure as to how she felt about this oddly mature Tyhlan. The girl had always been clever, but she had a new, quiet wisdom about herself. It was a little weird, but...she seemed peaceful. All the fire of teenage youth had dimmed, and in its place a woman had emerged. Elma felt an odd pang of envy; her friend had changed so much! Even her speech had become more polished; more than likely a result of her time in Macalania with all of those Bevellese soldiers. "You have to learn how to deal with situations that might not be your ideal, Elma. It isn't so bad, really. No one gives me any trouble; only a few people even know I'm half Al-Bhed, in fact. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the Knights. Besides," and then her smile turned wistful, "I have someone to keep me company." Elma had not heard such warmth in her friend's voice in a very long time, but before she could ask who this 'someone' was, Tyhlan had quickly skirted over the subject. Elma still wanted to know how she managed to keep any and all attention off her love life. She certainly gave Elma a lot of grief over hers. Even though she missed her friend, as she watched the shores of Djose slowly grow closer, she was a bit happy the girl was relatively safe in Spira's capital. Elma wasn't sure she could say the same about herself. The other ship goers had become oddly silent, and Elma watched the warmth in Lucil's eyes fade away to nothing. Hands checked weaponry and armor, people looked over one another. Even the younger soldiers had ceased their chatting, instead making sure that their odd machina guns were working correctly. An 'in and out' mission, they had said, but Elma wasn't so sure anymore. It seemed far too silent, foreboding. When the ship finally arrived at Djose, the group of soldiers exited as if they were a funeral procession, and Elma put a hand on the hilt of her sword as she tried to swallow down the nervous beating of fear inside of her. ---------- Lucil ordered the soldiers to pan out across the area, directing the snipers to stay back and the swordsmen to join her on the front lines. There was not a fiend to be found, and she felt confusion become replaced by a cold realization. Sin was here. Of course, she could not see it, but she knew it lurked deep within the sea, waiting for the moment where it would unleash its hellish sinspawn on all of them. She would order a retreat, but Djose Temple was too close for comfort, and she would rather die than allow a place of worship to be destroyed by that hideous beast. Bolstered by this, she calmly ordered her troops to wait, ignoring their various looks of confusion and impatience. Her chocobo shuffled uneasily beneath her, and she had no doubt that the mount more than likely sensed the coming of Sin. Elma was at her side as always, and her dark eyes held a steely resolve that Lucil had never seen before. She knew Sin was out there as well, and Lucil resisted the urge to tell the girl to fall back. No doubt her subordinate would cause a ruckus, and arguing with her would not serve to improve her troops' morale. A tall young man with pale skin and hair as deep auburn as her own moved to her side. His voice was very calm, and she realized she recognized him immediately. He was of distant relation to her, but she had never really looked too deeply into discovering her family history. By the time she had joined the Knights, it seemed to be a futile gesture, and she had simply forgotten. "Lucil," he murmured softly, staring off into the distance. Lucil caught Elma's look of surprise, as if amazed that the man would refer to her by her first name only. "Luzzu," she responded frostily. "I assume you have forgotten that I am indeed higher in rank than you are." At his slightly hurt look, her voice softened. "I would appreciate it if you referred to me by my title in the presence of my lieutenant." She spared a passing glance to Elma. "Ah. I apologize then, Captain. Should we perhaps fall back? There seems to be nothing to report..." his eyes narrowed suddenly, and Lucil followed his gaze, moving her chocobo back a few steps. Something dark moved beneath the water, and she felt the hair rise on the back of her neck as the sky was replaced by a familiar, writhing black mass. "Sin!" she heard someone scream before deluges of water crashed down against the shore. Sinspawn squirmed and crawled out of the sea's murky depths, and the snipers wasted no time in pelting them with bullets as the soldiers on the front line tore through tentacles and hard shells with their swords. Soon the sickly smell of Sin's toxin and blood filled the air, and Lucil watched the first, lone pyrefly wail up into the heavens. The sinspawn came in waves, mandibles and sharp teeth clicking as they tore into delicate human flesh. She saw one man's legs literally get pulled from under him as he was covered by the writhing beasts. "Fall back!" she screamed, slashing into whatever sinspawn she could see. Her chocobo deftly avoided the creatures, but she could feel that the bird was quickly losing strength; soon exhaustion would roll in and the beast would be nothing more than a meal for the disgusting spawn beneath them. The battlefield was in a state of complete and utter chaos, and the sounds of anguished screams sounded faint as blood rushed in her ears. She had realized, belatedly, that Elma was no longer by her side. Steering her chocobo forward, she resisted the urge to scream as a strangled garble escaped the bird's throat. The sinspawn had gained hold of him, and she cringed at the smell of burning feathers and blood as one of the spawn scrambled up her chocobo's body, acrid poison dripping from its maws. The chocobo bucked wildly, and she could no longer control it, tipping backward and slamming her head against the hard ground. Stars dotted her vision as she stood to her feet, watching with disgust as her steed was swallowed up by the pulsating bodies of the spawn. She had no time to waste, however. She did not know how long she fought, but the smell of Sin's toxin filled her nose and throat, making her vision hazy. She slashed through countless Sinspawn, so much so that her arms and legs burned from running, from the repetitive movement of her sword rising and falling to rip the creatures asunder. She had to find Elma before she collapsed. Her armor had been all but torn from her body, burned away by spitting poison, and numerous lacerations and cuts marred her skin. She realized in an instant that she was about to pass out. Her vision weaved in and out unsteadily, and the toxin made her dizzy and weak, but she forced herself to stand upright. I am Lucil of the Chocobo Knights, I am Captain Lucil, I will not be felled by simple toxin, I will not die today, I will push forward. I will not die... She felt a rush of air at her back, and realized with a sudden, sick clarity that Sin was charging, preparing to shoot some form of energy down at the battlefield. There would be nothing left but blackened corpses, and she felt panic take over. Where was Elma? She had to find her, she had to figure out where she was. She could barely see anything, however, only the blurred images of countless soldiers fighting and dying. Sin had returned. It was back, and there was no stopping it. She felt her vision become seared with white at the sides as Sin unleashed its deadly attack, and then everything fell into darkness. ---------- She had to be dead. She could hear the moans and wails of the pyreflies in the distance, and came to the conclusion that she must be in the Farplane. But if she was in the Farplane, why did everything hurt so much? Elma groaned, fighting off a wave of nausea as the smell of blood and toxin filled her nostrils. Her vision filled up with painful, blinding white before it dimmed, and she felt her jaw drop of its own accord as she observed the carnage that lay in front of her eyes. There were dead bodies everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Some had kept all of their limbs; others were not so lucky. Elma turned and realized she could not move. She glanced around and realized her body was pinned by a dead soldier's own. Eyes clouded by death glanced down blankly at her, and she noted a gruesome, horizontal scar across his neck. She could see where the Sinspawn had tore out his throat, and all that was left was congealing, brown-red blood and an empty, gaping hole. Elma shrieked and pushed the dead man off of her, standing to her feet and then immediately falling to her knees as nausea won over. She retched violently, gagging as the smell of death snared her senses, the cloying scent of blood and toxin creating another wave of nausea. She staggered to her feet again, stumbling blindly over dead bodies and batting away pyreflies as she searched. She had no idea what she was searching for, really. It would be a miracle if Clasko had lived, she thought regretfully, and the Captain... Oh no... Elma scanned the battlefield, searching for Lucil frantically. "Captain!" she screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth as she called out. "Captain Lucil! Captain!" "Elma?" she heard a voice call back in response, and she turned to see a very pale Clasko running over to her. His face was covered in blood, and Elma hoped it was not his own. "Elma!" The man gave his comrade a hug, sobbing into her shoulder guard. "Yevon, Elma! I thought you were dead!" She patted Clasko on his head, noticing with some dry amusement that he was a bit shorter than her. How he had survived this...travesty was beyond her, but she was beginning to think that Clasko was either very blessed or very clever. She had her gil on the former. "I'm fine, Clasko, don't worry." She gave him another pat, as if to prove to him that she was indeed alive, and then returned her attention to the battlefield, shaking her head sadly. "Clasko...have you seen the Captain?" "No...no! Not at all! Oh no, what if something happened to her? What are we gonna do, Elma?" "Nothing happened to the Captain," Elma said, more to convince herself than Clasko. "We'll search every body here until we manage to find her." She gulped, shaking down another quell of nausea. "Even if it takes all night." Clasko paled considerably. ---------- Yevon help her, for she had never been in so much pain. Lucil's skull felt as if it were made of stone, and her chest and legs burned painfully. She tried to open her eyes, but even that caused an uncomfortable stab of pain to move through her, so she instead remained still. She wondered if she had been blinded. How unfortunate that would be. Perhaps she was dying, but she doubted that. Her breath came out in painful rattles, and she could feel her lungs struggle to gather the needed amount of air. Sin's toxin still burned her nostrils, and the throbbing in her head increased tenfold when she realized she could not seem to take a breath of fresh air. She heard sounds near her, and assumed it was the sinspawn coming to finish her off. Her body tensed, and then she simply relaxed. What was the point of fighting them now? It would do nothing; she was going to die anyway. She tried to laugh, but that caused an unbelievable amount of pain as well, so instead she satisfied herself with listening to the blood pound in her ears and her odd, irregular breathing. "Captain!" she heard someone cry out. The noise was akin to a thousand needles being stabbed into her temples. "Oh Yevon," another voice murmured. This one was softer, and she was rather grateful that it didn't have the keening whine of the first. "Captain, can you get up?" She felt a rush of clarity hit her. Elma... She forced herself to speak, ignoring the rattling in her chest. "I...cannot...can barely...breathe..." Elma shushed her gently, kneeling down to run slender fingers through her hair. Normally, she would not allow Elma to coddle her in such a way; it was highly unprofessional, but she could not muster up the strength to care. The caress was oddly soothing, and took some of the edge off of the white-hot pain that raced through her. "You have to relax, Captain...Clasko and I are going to take you to Djose Temple, alright? We'll see if someone can heal you." Lucil sighed in relief, remembering why she had Elma as her subordinate. The woman was beyond capable. "...Thank you." "Don't talk." Elma was helping her to her feet, and Clasko, in an odd display of strength, took her from Elma, carrying most of her weight on his own. She knew that Elma had told her not to talk, but she felt she had to say something before she passed out. "I...Elma...I am happy you're...alright." She caught a flash of the girl's smile, then she mercifully slipped into unconsciousness. She had a fleeting thought of assigning Elma somewhere else, and then decided that the idea was simply idiotic. She was no bumbling teenager; she could control her affections toward the girl and still be rewarded with her presence. Besides, she thought drowsily, she has proved her worth in battle today...it would simply not do to have an esteemed soldier reassigned in the boondocks somewhere...Elma will stay by my side.
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