Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Ghost ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the healing items/ summons/ jobs, those are Squaresofts. This is non-profit fun.

AN: Warning VERY violent chapter…as well as long. Not gory, but very death centered.

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All was quiet in the armored truck, save for a few nervous coughs and the sounds of the road. Men of all sorts laced the inside of the steely gray vehicle, sitting in the corners or occupying the metal benches to the sides. There were guards, scientists, medics, anthropologists, and the special unit, all Dynasty officials. Ashen kept to himself on the edge of a bench, hunched over slightly staring intently at the floor while letting his thoughts leak to emptiness, just as he was trained to do. The truck shook as it went over a pothole; everyone inside jumped at the jolt.

"So…what's it like?" A rough voice directed to Ashen. The youth raised his head seeing a man in possibly his mid 30's or early 40's. Rugged and apprehensive, his eyes seemed to gleam with both disgust and hate, though he and Ashen had never met. "What's it like to kill your own kind?" he reiterated with added disgust.

"Maybe that is something to ask yourself…" causally interjected a new smoother male voice. Ashen turned his focus; it was Tenth on the same bench as he, sitting with his legs elegantly crossed and arms folded so both hands cupped his elbows. His head rose slowly letting his pale face peek out from the hair that usually curtained it, "How many wide-eyed adolescent freedom fighters have you killed, all in the name of the Ghri?"

The man turned a sharp eye to Tenth, "I'm just making sure he doesn't turn traitor on us and join his demon-kind!"

Tenth lips thinned into an amused smile, "I think some meds are gambling over there, be a gent and go join them, would you? Should be an easy profit."

The man hesitated, eyeing Tenth for a moment as Tenth continued to smile looking into the man's eyes with unwavering dark eyes. He then shifted his sights to Ashen who sat hunched over resting his chin on cupped hands. The young summoner's face remained indifferent as his large oval red eyes looked lazily past him…no not past him, through him. Briefly, the man's face was consumed by alarm before covering it with a huff. Lifting his bulky body from the bench, he walked over to the hoard of gamblers.

A moment of silence rolled by between the two young men while the older man entered the realm of the gamers. Tenth watch as the man was boisterously welcomed into the game with hoots of laughter at the telling of a dirty joke… that is just the way things are on long Dynasty hunting trips. "I'm sorry…" he addressed Ashen in his causally elegant voice, "It is not for me to jump into another man's battle."

Ashen's eyes were glued to the same spot as they had been all along as he languidly spoke, "Did Dynasty say anything to you before we left?"

Under heavy lashes did his dark eyes shift, watching Ashen from their corners, "As a matter of fact, they did. They wanted us to be gentle with the camp. All manuscripts, artifacts, and religious paraphernalia kept intact. …We're just there to clear out the population, the anthropologists and scientists will clean up the mess." Tenth leaned his head against the cold metal insides of the truck stifling a laugh at his thought, "It's funny how the Ghri works. 'Shoot first; Ask questions later,' in our case 'annihilate the population first; learn about their culture later'."

"I don't question them. They can do whatever the hell they want. My only concern is my orders."

"I figured you'd say that," smiled Tenth, My-My what a soldier…even in the face of his own people. Meth, you magnificent bastard… "Well, we should be arriving soo-"

Just then the motion of the vehicle stopped and the static filled intercom bleeped on, "Enemy Perimeter is reached. Move into your individual units."

"Speak of the devil," Tenth let out as he and Ashen got up. Others made way for them while they headed to door.

"Special units and MAGE units, move out." Said the male voice over the intercom as the door slowly rolled up, the two men standing there when it finished.

"Ready?" the older MAGE inquired of the scruffy youth.

"Kind of dumb to ask that now isn't it?" Ashen asked rhetorically of his older comrade.

Tenth let out a chuckle and gestured with his hand, "Of course, after you."

The youth responded by hopping out into the brown and green world with Tenth following after.

~***~

4:00pm- 1 hr and 45mins into the attack on the summoner camp. Intricate tents set in a circular fashion at the bottom of the surrounding hillside, secluded from the rest of the Frontier. The smell of blood and burning flesh saturated the air. Blackened smoldering bodies clogged the normally spacious village square. The village was near silent, sporadic noises like a gurgling scream and the crackle of fire hinted at the activity still present.

Suddenly four people, a family, ran across the spans of the square. The father lead the way, he was bald with greenish blue tribal tattoos that looped around his head letting each end rest on his cheeks, tall and lean in baggy blue clothes. His wife's long brown hair decorated with ribbons and thin braids trailed behind her as she scooted two dark haired, barefoot children with her bangled arms.

In their mad rush to escape, evading the charred bodies of their fallen kin, one of the children, the littlest one, tripped and both he and his mother fell on the hard dirt ground. Frantically, the man and his other son ran to them, aiding them to their knees when a loud boom shook the atmosphere around them. It happened again, like an earthquake, moments later only this time it was louder and closer. Fear gripped them, freezing them to the core and prevented them from moving even to breathe as a large shadow formed in the thick haze of smoke getting bigger with each booming step.

It emerged from the smoky haze a fiery beast man, his thick muscular body like brown leather, his mane of pure fire trailed down his back. On his head adjacent to his fiery hairline were two long ringed horns that curved down two feet behind his head. His face was a mix of both man and dog, a nose wrinkled like a pug that only accented the vicious mouth filled with bone colored fangs. Standing up right on hind legs that looked exactly like an animal's. Arms massive, as each biceps bulged and veined to its maximum. His feet and hands clawed with onyx colored nails about a foot long. He looked at the family with burning eyes and snorted flecks of flame rolled with air he exhaled.

Bravely the man stood before the beast, protecting his cowering family as they gazed up petrified at the beast. The man glared and shouted with all the fury that he could muster, "ONI! I will not let you kill anyone else! DO YOU HEAR ME, ONI?!"

The beast watched as green orbs of fire encircled the brave man and what was there one moment was gone the next. A loud howl came from behind; the beast turned narrowing his eyes that met with the sight of the round yellow eyes of a large wolf. The wolf's silvery white coat bristled as it bared its ivory teeth. The beast's body tensed flashing his teeth as well, finally the two massive creatures charged at one another. The wolf pounced, preparing to maul the beast, only to be halted by searing pain for it was impaled on the clawed hand of the beast. Wolf's hurt dog like whimper echoed in the air as the beast tossed its limp body at the family.

The woman and children screamed as the body bounced once directly behind them kicking up dust while it skidded to a stop. Horrified the little family looked at the green orbs of fire that encircled the wolf and slowly the wolf disappeared while the brave man reappeared in their midst. The brave man gasped for air and fell into his wife's arms, the children gathered close to their father checking if he was okay, calling to him with their mother. Then slowly a shadow crept over the family and each head lifted to see the beast hovering over them. They didn't even have time to scream as it opened its mouth and let the giant inferno incinerate them.

The beast watched the ashes of the family float away then green orbs of fire encircled him, spinning round and round such a high speed until finally the beast disappeared. With the same speed the orbs flew across the sky to the hilltop and spun around again until Ashen appeared. Ashen remained standing until the orbs dissipated, and then weakly dropped to one knee. His breathing ragged and heavy as sweat dripped from his brow.

"Everything alright over there? Not wounded already I hope?" Tenth asked coming up the hill.

Ashen turned over to sit on the ground, "No… But I used up most of my energy."

"Oh good," the MAGE pulled something out of his coat, "I met a medic on my way back here, they said to give you this if you're spent."

He tossed Ashen a white pouch. The youth caught it one-handed and opened it. There was a syringe, a strap, and a few vials of a green substance. Ashen lifted a vial to eye level looking at the light green liquid inside.

"Liquid ether, it's not high concentrated like what fuels the M.A.G. units so it won't kill you, just give you the energy necessary to finish our task," Tenth told Ashen while looking down to the valley, surveying the damage Ashen ensued from their place on the hill top. "However it does require you to inject it, I could help you with that if you need it?" He turned his head, surprised to see Ashen's already outstretched arm over his bent knee, tightening the strap around his arm by his teeth then stabbing the needle into his arm without hesitation; " Never mind."

Moments later the youth spit out the end of the strap and unceremoniously pulled the needle from his arm thereupon tossed it to the side. Sniffing once then exhaling, his eyes closed in silence, trying to feel any changes within his body. Tenth examined the youth's expression and body posture, so relaxed, so nonchalant, and yet even in this state alert to his surroundings. A secret smile graced Tenth's lips, fancying throwing a knife at the boy just to watch how skillfully he would dodge it.

"How long till it takes affect?" Ashen finally asked in an almost frustrated tone. His deep red eyes looked at his partner for the day the tall dark clad figure stood by the slope of the hill.

"You should begin to feel it working in few minutes, but it won't take full affect for at least fifteen minutes," He could see Ashen face take on a bit of a change, narrowing his eyes. The youth was obviously displeased with this answer. Tenth opened his mouth to speak again however shouts in the distance grabbed his attention, he turned slightly eyes peering down the slope as a man calling his name scurried up the hill to him. The man reached them; he was clad in green with a helmet that covered all of his face from view, obviously a guard.

"Sir, a group of summoners were caught fleeing to the eastern hills," the man said in a low voice so only Tenth could hear, showing favoritism to Tenth only because of the general dislike and mistrust of Ashen, "We're over there holding them for you."

"No…I'm afraid they're already dead," Tenth told the man just as a loud bird-like screech echoed from the other hill. The man gritted his teeth as sweat began to form on his brow, he could faintly see a large creature in the sky swooped down to the ground on the hilltop. Shock hit the guard hard visibly trembling at the terrifying sight, a seething curse past through his still clenched teeth barely audible to Tenth next to him.

"Go now, I'll follow," Tenth assured the man who only gave a quick nod before heading down the slope at a decent speed being both cautious and quick. Now facing Ashen, "Once you regain you strength, I trust you'll come join us?"

The youth nodded in reply. "Good," Tenth smiled and left Ashen, calmly walking down the hillside.

The hilltop seemed silent to Ashen despite the battle taking place on the other hilltop and besides the few fires burning in the empty village below. He looked away from the other hilltop, the battle there not concerning him for the moment. Instead staring at the western sky, the setting sun a bright orange ball dissolving into the black haze that had risen from the village to over the hills. It seemed to cast a red shine over everything in this devastated land.

Rustle, snap, and very faint. Ashen's eyes shot right to where the sound came from: a bush. Slowly he crawled over like a cat stalking its prey he made no sound. With one quick motion he spread the bush apart, there a little girl sat huddled, plugging her ears and squeezing her eyes shut. She couldn't have been older then six. Chestnut brown hair tied into braided pigtails, dressed in a dirty dark pink dress and a blue knit wool sweater. A gray matted plush rabbit lying limp in her lap. Suddenly she stopped shivering, feeling the air change, she knew she had been found.

Gradually her two large round eyes opened revealing their true identity to Ashen. Large black pupils molding into the crimson then fading to the bright red iris; just like his own, just like all summoners had. They stared at each other into the red the represented the common blood they shared. Her dirt caked cheeks suddenly divided by two crystal clear streams; she squinted preparing to really burst out hugging her bunny's ragged form to her little heart for comfort.

"Niisan!" she cried out and jumped at Ashen clinging onto his waist. He let her, lost by her actions and words. For what little he knew of summoner ways, summoners believe that they are all related in some way so it was common for a child to call a young man Niisan they're word for brother. Considering this he realized the child's innocent mistake, she thought he was a summoner from the village come to save her.

He tilted his head down looking at the girl sobbing into his shirt, feeling a wet spot forming from her tears. His hands clamped down on her little shoulders and plucked her from his waist. She stopped crying the displacement left her confused as she watched Ashen's lean form stand tall over her. Backing up a few steps he placed his right hand out stretched in front of him, the palm facing the girl and his fingers spread apart.

"Sorry about this kid…nothing personal," his voice told her in a raspy tone.

It all sunk in for her, the sickness filling her belly with awareness. "Oni…" she whispered awed, for she stood in the presence of the one the grown-ups called Oni, a rogue summoner whose killed thousands of other summoners. She could hear the howling of the gate orbs heading to their master that summoned them, as only summoners could hear them. Her death was nigh, but that didn't register for her. The thought of a summoner using the great helpers to do horribly things bothered her more. How could he allow that to happen, how could the helpers themselves allow this to happen. Innocently and quietly in her childlike voice yet sounding more adult then child, "Why do you do this?"

The question went ignored by Ashen; he had been asked this many a time before by those on the verge of death. However, the question wasn't meant for him this time. All of a sudden a sharp pain took over his head, like screaming and being stabbed in the brain. He grabbed his head his ears were pounding, shutting his eyes tightly to stop the world from spinning. His chest convulsed to keep air in his lungs, he felt like it was being stolen from him. Falling to his knees, even still the world felt like it was moving under him in rolling waves.

Somewhere the faint sound of a generator starting up then quickly followed by the multiple zaps of electricity and finally a dull thud. Slowly the pain that consumed Ashen died away and left him alone, cold, and empty.

"Are you alright?" the words grabbled still in Ashen's ears. He looked up with the corner of his eye, seeing the dark figure of Tenth towering over him. Ashen gingerly sat up on his knees, glancing behind Tenth to the smoldering little corpse, her bunny still in her burnt grip. He stood up his body tense as he dust himself off.

"I had it covered…" His icy tone caught Tenth off guard. The youth brushed past him to the edge of the slope where Tenth eyed him with suspicion.

"Sorry…I got trigger happy," He lied effortlessly, "You can have the next batch," He moved to Ashen's side.

Ashen looked down the slope into the village; the remaining summoners were magnet-cuffed and herded into a tight circle in the middle of the village.

"They're still alive…" Ashen didn't blink away from the tortured and bloodied summoners below, "I thought this was a competition?"

Tenth smiled, "It is, but Dynasty favors you best," Ashen looked at him with emotionless red eyes as he continued, " I follow Dynasty's orders, not the Ghri's."

He thought to hear a hmm or a hmph sound emit from Ashen in response, either way the youth left him, walking down the hill. Tenth looked over his shoulder glimpsing the burnt child, his dark eyes narrowed thoughtfully before following Ashen's lead.

The sun seemed to stand still in the black mist leaving the village a haze of red and gray. The straggly group of left over summoners stood in a line each wrist linked to the another's by the magnetic cuffs, some stood with brave warrior faces at the coming of death others with fear of the impeding doom. Ashen heard 'Oni' murmured through the multitude as he approached. The word brought forth the little summoner girl's face briefly before fading away in his mind, where it should be forgotten forever.

Tenth made a slight gesture with his hand, which the guard understood as an order and moved far behind Ashen. Like he did with the little girl, Ashen raised his arm in front of him his palm facing the group of summoners. There were a few gasps, but he ignored them, spreading out his fingers his feet slightly apart.

With unblinking eyes he whispered, "Come forth."

In his mind he waited for the out of body experience to over take him, the howl of wind in his ears the heat of fire in his chest. Nothing happened. He tried to concentrate, refocus on his goal, that's when he noticed for the first time…the impulses in his head weren't surging, there was no communication happening between his mind and those that inhabited it. That could never happen, they always surged, it was how they got their will across. It was as if…they weren't there. They were gone.

Shock made Tenth open his eyes wider as Ashen hand slowly dropped to his side. Whispers erupted among the surprised lot of guards; "He's finally turned traitor…" one said. However, Tenth knew better, Ashen's training wouldn't allow him to turn traitor, yet something was wrong with the boy. He pushed all thoughts aside on the matter; above all one must carry out orders.

He gestured again with his hand this time the guard moved forward, their sleek black automatic rifles aimed and ready. Ashen turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction. The tall figure watched the youth out of the corner of his eye.

"Fire," he commanded the guards as Ashen past him by. The sound of gunfire accompanied Ashen on his long march back to the trucks.