Legion It was snowing, a phenomenon that was common in the region around Trabia, being nestled in the high mountains as it was. Balamb Garden had landed nearby and Quistis stepped out into the chill mountain air. The skies where gray and the landscape devoid of color. Nearby vents spouted steam into the air, causing a low hanging mist to obscure everything within several yards. The overall effect was depressing and Quistis sighed and pulled her oversized, fur lined trench coat about her comfortably. Fujin stepped out on the landing ramp beside her and stretched with an oddly cheery expression. Unlike Quistis, she liked the cold, liked the gray stillness. It made her feel normal. "Its cold." Quistis murmured as they made their way to Trabia. "NICE." Fujin smirked; looking around at the frost glittering on the branches of the dormant trees lining the path that led to Trabia’s front gate. Security greeted them and waved brightly. "Kinda chilly this morning eh." The young man chuckled; noting how Quistis bristled as a gust of chill wind whipped her hair. "They’re on their way, you can wait inside if you want." The guard said, nodding towards the guardhouse, where a rotund and ill-mannered looking youth sat reading some adult magazine. "We’re okay." Quistis smiled peaceably as another gust of wind whipped past. This time Fujin, who deemed it unnecessary to bring a coat, shivered. "That’s what you get." Quistis winked at her. "I told you it’d be cold." Fujin hunched and rubbed her hands together, then scurried towards her like a child hiding from an obnoxious relative. Grinning, Quistis opened her coat and wrapped it snuggly around her. Being a fare deal shorter, the coat all but engulfed her, leaving only the upper part of her face visible. The guard gave them an awkward glance and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Looking around idly he started to whistle a goofy tune. Quistis and Fujin looked at him in annoyance causing him to shrug sheepishly before walking back to the guardhouse. Luckily, they didn’t wait long, within moments Selphie and Irvine approached the gate, their wedding guests in tow. "Quisty!" Selphie giggled, running up and hugging her, not noticing Fujin. Fujin made an odd barking noise and thrashed in aggravation as she was squished between the two. Selphie yelped in fright and nearly fell over backwards. Irvine caught her and laughed as Fujin peered angrily at them from under the cover of Quistis coat. "Sorry." Quistis giggled to the two, patting Fujin atop the head so she’d quit scowling. "I wish I had a camera." Irvine chuckled. "READY TO GO?" Fujin snapped grouchily. "Yup, all set." Selphie beamed brightly. "How’d it go with you guys?" "Miss anything fun?" Irvine added as he led the gathering of wedding guests to the onramp. Fujin looked up at Quistis expectantly. "Um..." Quistis stammered unsure what to say. Fujin started to speak up but Quistis stuffed her back in the coat. "What!" Selphie barked. "Oh boy..." Irvine sighed. "Let’s talk about it inside, it’s cold out here." Quistis smiled. "You tell me now!" Selphie ordered. "Tell me, he didn’t ruin the wedding!" "Who?" Quistis sighed, wishing she never opened her mouth. She knew tough, Selphie would find out, best to get her anger out of the way before the wedding started. "Don’t be coy." Selphie stamped her foot. Irvine ignored the growing conflagration; he’d learned long ago to leave well enough alone and continued shepherding everyone inside. "It’s a silly little thing really." Quistis sighed, rubbing her brow. Fujin looked up at her incredulously. "Why don’t I believe you." Selphie said sourly before exploding into a tantrum. "Damn it Squall! I knew he’d screw it up! What did he do?" "Hon calm down." "Don’t tell me to calm down." "It was a miscommunication, really..." "UNDERSTATEMENT." Fujin mumbled, her face still half buried in the coat. "Shush." Quistis nudged her. "Quisty." Selphie said gravely, showing she wouldn’t tolerate anymore stalling. "Everyone thought it was a wedding for Squall and Rinoa..." Quistis said hurriedly. "But it’s okay, everyone is working to fix it." "Oh, is that all." Selphie sighed. "MORE." Fujin coughed. "What?" Selphie frowned. "You’re not helping..." Quistis whispered to Fujin sourly. "APOLOGY." Fujin mumbled back. "Well!" Selphie snapped, her breath forming icy clouds in the chill air. "It was all in the media, the news, they were reporting it like was a national event. The presidents son getting married and all that..." "Oh of all the bonehead.." Selphie blurted, it was the last coherent thing she said before bursting into a nearly illegible tirade of obscenities soul foul it even made Fujin blush. "That’s uncalled for." Quistis finally said, weary of all the nonsense. "Easy for you to say, it’s not you’re wedding..." Selphie cried. "You’re wedding is still on hon." Quistis offered. "Yeah but now its got this stigma over it." "It could be worse hon, it could’ve been cancelled. "You say that like it’s a bad thing. Perhaps we should...you know, wait till this blows over." Selphie frowned. "Don’t you dare, everyone has worked to hard. To blow everything off over something this stupid is just plain wrong." Quistis snapped. "But..." Selphie whimpered. "No buts! You’re getting married and that’s final!" "Sheesh... you don’t have to yell." Selphie huffed then shrugged, before running after Irvine. Quistis gawked in disbelief at her. Fujin turned slightly and looked up at her dumbfounded lover. "WE GO NOW?" "Ugh." Quistis groaned, then started back inside. **************************** Out of a mixed need to get away for a while and curiosity about Fujin’s so called friend, Squall had taken up Aegis’s offer to share a few drinks at a nearby dive. As they entered the bar Squall looked about. It was a dimly lit, smoke-laden place. An ancient, dust coated ceiling fan that spun lazily overhead as small neon signs sputtered and blinked along the wall behind the bar. Towards the back, several shadowy figured played pool, as a old black and white television sputtered grainy images of what appeared to be boxing. Sitting down at the bar, Aegis ordered a couple of beers for them. The bartender was a burly, older man who looked to be the sort to take little gruff. "So, just how did you meet Fujin?" Squall asked as they sat down. "Weird thing that." Aegis huffed, lighting up a monstrous, foul smelling cigar. "One day this scruffy looking girl came staggering into my shop, I own army surplus store in low town, anyway, she was banged up and feral looking, I figured she was a runaway trying to shop lift. Weird gal, but hey, I seen worse, I work with the local children’s help center, so, to make a long story short, I decided to help her out. Cleaned her up, fed her and dropped her off near that floating sc8hool of yours. I think she had some guy she was trying to get back home to." Squall coughed awkwardly. "Whoa." Aegis blinked, noticing hid apprehension. "You’re not the guy are you, that’d explain why you’re lady friend blew up in your face on TV." "What?" Squall stammered and took a gulp from his beer. "You’d better not let something like that leak out man, media is tearing you guys a new already." "What leak out?" Squall gawked in confusion. "Hey no need play games man, its non of my business if you’re having a affair." Aegis shrugged. "What, who, me, with Fujin?" Squall balked, as if the thought was terrifying. "Yeah." Squall exploded into laughter, drawing looking from Aegis, the bartended and everyone in the immediate vicinity. "It’s not that funny." Aegis said simply, taking another drink. "No, no, it’s not like that, Hyne, no." Squall sighed, taking a breath. "My mistake then, but why the freak out?" "Not my place to say, but no, I’m not having an affair." Squall sighed growing somber. Looking lazily across the bar and caught his own disheveled expression reflected in the bottles. "I’ve ruined it..." He mumbled, his voice quivering. **************************** "What do you mean you’re not paying?" Quistis said with calm anger into the speakerphone atop Cid’s desk. Fujin sat kicked back on the other side of the desk, her feet lounging lazily on it’s cluttered surface as she studied a snow globe curiously. "You’re band of lunatics blew up my barn!" A mans irate voice screeched. "Actually sir, Tethlicons explode when slain, it was unavoidable." Quistis sighed, "There is a dead horse stuck in a tree in my front yard!" The man bellowed indignantly. Fujin’s eye went wide and Quistis mouth dropped. "Sorry to hear that sir, but the fact remains, you hired us to rid you of the beast that was killing your livestock." Quistis sighed. "Where’s the man in charge! Why am I talking to you!" "I’m in charge here sir." Quistis said once in a droning tone. "You’re a buncha crooks!" "Sir, I’m sorry about the barn and the um...horse...." "Don’t give me that, you, you, charlatan!" "Okay look, we’re here to help people, but we can’t do this without funding." "How you stayed in business this long I have no idea! You’re incompetent!" "Sir I’m not going to sit here and be insulted all afternoon." Quistis said smoothly. "HUMPF." "How about this." Quistis offered, formulating a plan. "I will send some students out to help rebuild the barn, and we will deduct the cost of the horse from you’re bill." "I don’t want anymore of you hooligans around here, you’ll be biting the heads off my chickens next!" "I see you’re not going to be reasonable at this time Sir, I’ll contact you later when you’ve calmed down." Quistis said politely before hanging up. "Ugh." She groaned then looked at Fujin sourly. "WHAT?" Fujin blinked from behind the snow globe, "Get your feet off there." Quistis snapped lightly, swatting at her feet. Fujin squeaked and did as she was told. "HARD?" She asked as Quistis leaned back in her chair. "I don’t see how Cid does it, and here I thought I was good with people." "YOU ARE." "I don’t know. I guess its true, you can’t please everyone." Quistis sighed then wiped her brow. "Hyne it’s hot in here." Fujin nodded in brisk agreement, she had been stewing for the last hour. Getting up Quistis walked to the thermostat, it was maxed out at 80degrees but it felt even hotter and the humidity made her sticky. "Oh here we go again." She sighed, tapping on the panel. "I thought they fixed this mess." "Miss Trepe." Cid’s secretary called over the intercom. "Yes?" Quistis answered. "Mr. Kinneas and some students are here to see you." "Send them in." Quistis sighed, sitting down. "SEE LATER." Fujin grinned, standing up to leave. Quistis smiled and nodded. "Love you." Fujin blushed slightly and gave her a wink. The door opened and Irvine came in wearing shorts and a tank top. Fujin slipped out without him or his companions noticing. "Could you kindly have some one check the heat out, it’s like a sauna in here." Irvine said in a somewhat cranky tone. "I take it all the thermostats are malfunctioning." Quistis said, already certain of his answer. "Ever dang blasted one." Irvine huffed, the small group of students behind him grumbled in agreement. "Surely the maintenance teams are on it. Even if they’re not, you could have called them yourselves." Quistis pointed out. "Nobody is answering. We kinda figured you had em off doing something." "Nope." Quistis frowned slightly. "Strange." Irvine mumbled thoughtfully. "Damn..." Quistis hissed, hoping up. "What?" Irvine asked as she hurried past him. "Round up some teams." "What’s up?" Irvine asked as he hurried to catch up. "Nida!" Quistis called in to her headset as she slipped it on. "Yes Ma’am?" Nida answered cheerfully. "Any trouble?" "Nope, we’re all in the green. Someone needs to fix the heat though." "Land!" Quistis ordered as she neared the elevator. Fujin was just stepping in as they approached. "WHAT?" She asked worriedly, noticing the look on Quistis’ face. "Land?" Nida asked in confusion, "Bring us down, we may have a problem in the core again." Quistis elaborated. "Will do." Nida responded and set the controls to descend. He was more than a little surprised when nothing happened. "Miss Trepe, I don’t have control." He called nervously. A high-pitched shriek shot through the speakers causing them to feedback. The noise lasted only a second and died down amid faints sounds similar to eerie whispers. "Quistis?" Nida called again, to no avail. Looking worriedly out the bay window he was thankful they weren’t in immediate danger of crashing. Their present course was south, over a fair stretch of ocean. "Keep a eye on things." He said to the three aides who helped out on the bridge. "If control comes back set us down and kill the engines." "Where are you going?" One of the aides, a skinny young woman, asked nervously. "I’ll be right back, just going to talk to Quistis." Nida assured them. ************************* Quistis had gathered a small team of junior SEEDS, along with Fujin and had gathered at the entrance leading into the core. Irvine had left to get his gear and round up some more help in case it was needed. "I hope I’m not being paranoid." Quistis sighed as tied back her hair. Fujin, standing nearby, readied her recently restored chakram. "BETTER SAFE." Fujin mused. "I know, I just have a feeling..." Quistis murmured. "READY?" "Yeah." Quistis nodded then got the attention of the others. "Okay everyone listen up. I’m not sure what were dealing with yet. It may be nothing, but be prepared, and do not split up unless I tell you too. As things stand now, we’ve some technical problems, there have been various reports of systems acting up throughout the garden. All the maintenance teams are MIA. Something may have happened, they could have quit, gotten trapped, gone hostile or worse... Either way, we take nothing for granted until we get an idea of what’s going on, got it. Report anything out of the ordinary, anything at all. Is that understood." Everyone nodded in agreement and Quistis entered the code that opened the door leading into the steamy underworld that was Balamb’s core. A gust of foul smelling wind hit them as the metal hatch slid open, inside, all the lights were off, even the dim, crimson emergency lighting that supposedly had it’s own power source. "Damn..." Quistis hissed under her breath a she moved forward. "Hold on Ma’am." Nei, one Quistis’ recent graduates said, interjected herself between the instructor and the door, "Wouldn’t do for you to go first, being our leader and all." Nei smiled apologetically. "I got it." She assured her then stepped through the door. Quistis started to protest and looked to Fujin for support. "NEI CORRECT." Fujin said in grim agreement then followed the eager young SEED. Quistis grumbled slightly but let them lead the way; the others followed after, forming a tight group as they pushed through the depths. Everyone switched on their flashlights, the beams looked almost solid as they cut through the thick clouds of steam that permeated the darkness. ************************ "Nida!" Irvine called, jogging forward as the young pilot passed by up the hall. Nida paused and backed up to see who called him. "Irvine what the hell is going on?" The lights throughout the garden had begun to flicker now and the humidity was to such a point that a thin mist had started to gather along the floors. Students stood in the halls trying to get information; some were nearing a panic while others used the opportunity to clown around in the chaos. Selphie had taken it upon herself to gather what little teaching staff remained aboard until the new school season started. They small group tried their best to get control and gather information "Where the hell is Quistis?" Nida asked, sounding anxious. "Down in the core, something has happened to the maintenance staff." Irvine explained as a young girl tugged eagerly on his coat. "Huh?" Nida frowned. "All of them?" "Looks like it, we can’t find a one." Irvine frowned. "Guess they went on strike." He mused somewhat candidly. "I’ve lost control of Balamb." Nida whispered, not want to cause a fit. "You’re joking..." "No..." "Then why aren’t you on the bridge trying to get it back?" "I have the bridge staff watching it. Somehow I’ve been locked out." "Damn it, where are we?" Irvine hissed, "Over the ocean." "That’s good... I guess." "We won’t be for long, we’ll be reaching the mountains in a few hours at our present speed." "That’s not good." "We need to get control back soon or we’re going to have to kill power to keep from crashing." "Understood." "Communications on the bridge are out also, some kind of interference. I don’t have a headset so call Quistis, tell her the situation, I’m heading back to the bridge." Finally, the girl tugging on Irvine’s coat got the better of him. "Yes?" He said somewhat grouchily. "There’s a monster in my room." The little girl said quietly. ****************** Unnatural, that was the only word best to describe the aura permeating the core. Although the sound rhythmic thrumming of Balamb’s massive engines made it hard to hear, one still had the sensation of eerie silence. Quistis didn’t know why or how, but she knew that if the maintenance staff were down here, they were dead. Something foul was going on, she knew it deep in her bones. "STRANGE." Fujin said warily, grabbing Nei by the arm to halt her advance. "What?" The young woman asked, startled. "NEW PASSAGE?" Fujin frowned, looking about. "What are you talking about?" Quistis asked, moving closer to them. Fujin held up a hand to silence her as she looked around again, as if checking something. "WRONG." Fujin muttered again getting confused. "That’s not right, we’ve been heading the right way." Nei mumbled irritably as she called up her map on a hand held display. "HERE BEFORE." Fujin grumbled. "SHOULD TURN." "Hey she’s right...?" Nei said quietly as she checked the map. Quistis frowned and called up her own map. It was a fairly straight shot to where they were so it was unlikely they’d made a wrong turn, but sure enough, the passage was not as it was supposed to be. Nervous whispers started coming from the other members of the search team but a stern look from Quistis silenced them. "That’s damn peculiar." She murmured as she touched the wall where the passage should have turned. "ORDERS?" Fujin asked, eager to get moving. She didn’t like standing still, in case something was stalking them. "Irvine?" She called on her head seat. Loud hissing was the only reply. "Of course." She sighed then tried again. This time he answered albeit barely audible. "Quistis...Nida...." Were the only words she could decipher. She assumed, since the engines were running that Nida had not landed and Irvine mentioning his name meant something may have happened. "Were leaving." She informed the group, she had no doubt something sinister was going on. "Hey I see something." One of the squad members blurted as he moved forward to point. A figure stood far up the dark hall, just out of reach of the lights. "Who goes there." Quistis barked, nodding for Fujin and Nei to advance. The figure shook violently as if he were a recording being fast-forwarded, then screamed. The sound was purely alien and so terrible it raised the hair on the back of everyone’s neck. The entire hall to swelled outward around the figure then rippled forth like waves. "What the..." Nei balked and halted her advance. Fujin went a little farther but stopped as the ripple roiled past her causing the ground to roll under her feet. The figure was gone and the hall seemed normal once more. "ILLUSION?" Fujin wondered aloud. A pipe running along the ceiling detached silently behind her and dropped down around her like a snake. "FUJIN!" Quistis shouted and ran forward. Fujin grunted and kicked madly to no avail, despite its fleshy movement, the steel pipe was a hard as it was supposed to be. Nei unsheathed the trio of claws from her forearm bracer and slashed at the pipe. Sparks flew and the blades dug in but did not break through. She did however get them stuck and were promptly snapped. The floor began to shudder and soon, pipes, steel and copper were slithering about grasping wildly at anyone within reach. Quistis and the other SEED’s closed the distance and commenced attacking everything within sight. One youth settled both hands to the shifting floor and channeled a quake spell, hoping to dislodge whatever influence was manipulating the hallway. Everything began to shake wildly, throwing everyone to the ground. The pipe holding Fujin loosened slightly and she squirmed and wiggled free, tearing her arms and back viciously on the brackets that held the pipe together. The youth who cast the spell smiled in satisfied at the results. The bizarre denizens of the hallway lay twitching, apparently stunned and he began to channel another spell, just to be sure. As he placed his hands on the floor, the steel grating melted into a fleshy red mass. He started to rise up in shock but was to late. With one swift motion the fleshy ground melted into a maw complete with horrible teeth and immediately closed severing both arms at the elbow. Quistis’ eyes went wide in horror even as the youth screamed in pain and horror. As if waiting for that sound the hallway came alive again, this time however it was even more horrible. No longer was it just a mass of twitching metal; it had changed into a mix of steel and raw flesh. **************************** The door leading into the darkened room opened with a creak and Irvine’s form stood silhouetted as he shone his light about the small apartment. "Hellooooo any monsters in here?" He chuckled as the small girl peeked out from behind his legs. "Where’s your guardian?" Irvine asked as he scanned the shadows. The little girl was silent but pointed to the bedroom door, which was ajar but not suspicious. All children who attended Balamb full time had guardians assigned to watch over them as surrogate parents, usually older graduates who stayed aboard or even staff members. He smiled at the memory of his youth; Ellone and Edea had cared for him. He knocked on the door lightly to announce his presence. Pushing the door open his smile faded away as confused horror took hold. A body lay on the bed, human, that much was certain. The corpse had been stripped of its skin and was withered to little more than a husk. Thick tentacles hung from cracks in the ceiling, attached to the body in various places. They looked like demonic moray eels except that were made of plaster, wire, and gore. Each pulsed slowly as they drained the last vestiges of precious fluids from the desiccated corpse. "HYNE!" Irvine blurted in shock and revulsion. He staggered backward and tripped over the girl who’d been right behind him. He fell over like a tree and landed heavily on the floor, his flashlight flew from his hands and spun in circles bathing the room in an odd strobe light effect. A wailing sound issued from the child who stood hunched over clutching her face. Irvine sat up and reached out to make sure she was okay. He paused as he noticed a cascade of crimson liquid that was seeping from between her fingers. At first he thought she’d been cut but realized it was something else, it was thick and syrupy. The girl let her arms fall limply as she turned towards him, her hair tangled, soaked, covering her face. "Kid?" Irvine said casually as the light finally stopped, it lights causing the girls shadow to loam monstrously across the ceiling as she walked towards him, slowly. With each step the girl took she seemed to decompose, first her fingers sloughed off, then her arms disintegrated into steaming piles behind her even as she grew nearer. Irvine was certain he’d gone mad from the fall and scrambled to his feet even as the girl’s scalp slid away leaving only the death head grimace of a skinless skull. It opened its mouth as he stood a torrent of flesh and wire shot forth from its maw. The mess slammed into Irvines’s face and enwrapped his skull. Panic gripped him instantly as he felt what could be best described as worms slithering into everyone orifice of his skull. His thoughts immediately went to Selphie, and his unborn child. *************************** Nida stood in the elevator blankly, this fiasco was annoying him to no end. He hoped whatever glitches were causing this nonsense were fixed soon. The elevator finally came to a stop and opened out onto a nightmare. The bridge crew stood waiting for him. They were slack and pale, bluish veins could be seen pulsing under their skin. Their mouths were agape in a silent scream and their eyes were nothing more than burnt out sockets. Wires slithered along their forms, sparking and sputtering as they went. Then, most terrible of all arose behind them, an abomination. Swirling like a tornado of gore and technology the massive thing bubbled and pulsed as it continuously turned itself inside out. A deep guttural laugh issued forth as it grew even larger. Nida screamed, a primal sound that choked his voice even before the sea of pale searching hands reached for his throat.
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