Chapter 21: Revelation of a deception
“And when Brother David agreed to marry us, it was the best moment in my life, nothing else will compare to the moment we were proclaimed married. It was the best feeling in my…”
KA-BOOM!!
A massive explosion shook the ground, above of us a fireball erupted from the middle of one of the towers, bits of steel being flung out with the smoke and debris.
“What the hell?” I muttered
Out of the smoke from the explosion slowly emerged an airship, of such size and dimension I had never seen before, but it was obvious that someone had.
“The Hildagarde V!!!” yelled Cid
The airship moved forward through the smoke and began to climb up out of the city.
“Order all airships to intercept the Hildagarde V, destroy her if necessary!” yelled Cid at his nearest aide.
“What’s going on Cid?” asked Zidane as I ran over to them, I could hear some people in the crowd screaming, and many people began panicking, fleeing in different directions.
“My latest airship, she wasn’t due to be launched for another week…Somebody’s stealing it!” he shouted
I looked up at the airship, and knew what I had to do. Looking at Zidane and smiling I ran for the Fenrir II.
Reigannas POV
I was too late, the explosion confirmed my fears and seeing the airship leave I
knew what was happening. Just in the distance, by the tower the airship had
just departed I could see where the funeral was taking place, pushing people
aside by telekinesis I moved quickly forward to the park.
“Don’t go after him Domino!” I pleaded with the distant genome.
Several more explosions rent the air as I reached the small aircraft. The design was familiar to the Fenrir I which had chased Zidane for the South Gate many years ago before getting destroyed by its pilot, Black Waltz III.
As the propellers began whirling I looked up and saw a silver dragon pass overhead, as it flew past it fired a purple energy blast into the crowd, killing dozens and flinging people high into the air.
First an airship and now silver dragons…it has to be Fury I thought to myself.
Now in the air over the crowd I swung the craft around and headed straight for the Hildagarde V, dodging passing silver dragons and energy blasts, piloting the ship as Thunderchild had taught me to months ago.
Sirens began to wail within the city as more dragons appeared, confusing the airship fleet as they moved in on the Hildagarde V, I could see large explosions from other areas of Lindblum as the dragons attacked randomly, I hoped the Tantalus hideout hadn’t been damaged again and that all my friends in Tantalus were ok.
“The dragons aren’t distracting the airships enough, we’ve got five closing fast!” I warned Fury, as in front of us a silver dragon was messily blown apart by a well placed shell. I could see Fury visibly flinch, even though he wasn’t looking out of the screen, it was as though he felt the dragon die.
“Very well, looks like the Lindblum fleet is going to find out what this ship can do. Rhiana, take over the controls.” He said, letting go of the ships wheel and walking over to me.
“What?!” I baulked at the idea, I’d never piloted a ship before
“It’s easy, just keep us in this direction, the ship will do the rest…skeleton crew, remember?”
I nodded and walked over to the controls, holding the wheel in my hands I kept the ship on a course of 310, heading back to our home on the Forgotten Continent.
Meanwhile Fury had walked off the bridge, I didn’t know where he had gone but I could see the battle playing out around me through various mirrors placed in strategic places, and I knew that if we didn’t do something and fast then we were in deep trouble.
“We’re all dead.” Muttered Lawrence
“Well, why don’t you do something about it?!” I snapped at him
“No-one asked, and besides, this is more fun.” He said, relaxing in his chair at the side of the bridge.
I sighed and kept the ship under control as a thunderous din suddenly erupted from behind me, from what I could see, the Hildagarde V’s cannons had just opened fire.
I sat in the rotating ball which freewheeled on the upper deck of the Hildagarde, from here, all of the cannons could be aimed and fired at any target around me. To prove this point I selected a nearby airship and opened up a broadside shot at it, a massive fireball from the front of the airship indicated a hit, not a crippling hit but a hit nevertheless. Another two rounds finished the airship off, as it exploded in a violent cloud of flames and fell out of the sky, I selected another airship and opened fire on that one, the smoke from the cannons on this ship momentarily obscuring my view.
I began to chuckle and then laugh out loud as the airships hull was ripped open by an explosion and it broke in half, falling out of control towards the ground.
Then something caught my eye, a small two seater craft approaching erractically, I eyed it up and then aimed the cannons for it, I judged the occupant had to be an enemy, the only ally in the area was Ilvian and he was, or I hoped he still was, on a silver dragon.
I gently squeezed the trigger, sending a round of shells at the small craft as it flew close to the ship. As it flew over the rear engines, the shells connected and the ship blew apart in a large ball of smoke and fire.
“Hmm, almost overkill.” I muttered as I aimed for another airship.
I landed awkwardly on the engine of the Hildagarde V, something had told me to jump out of the Fenrir II, so I had, seconds later the whole ship had blown apart, ripped to shreds by a high explosive shell. I had barely escaped with my life!
I slowly stood up and took a moment to look around me, behind me the large propellers sliced through the air, pushing the ship on, in front and to the right there was the connection between the airship hull and the engines, perhaps if I destroyed that connection the airship would be forced to surrender.
A deafening thump and a brief shrieking noise signalled another shot from the cannons but this time the fire was returned as a shell struck the side of the Hildagarde V, a small but violent explosion shaking the deck underfoot. Immediately the cannons fired again, striking the attacker and destroying it in one shot.
“What has Cid done to this airship, it’s almost indestructible!” I said to myself before walking on, heading for the airship wing.
“Uh oh!” muttered Lawrence
“What?” I snapped, irritated at his stupid petty comments
“We’ve got trouble. Mithril Yugami shaped trouble…look!” he pointed at one of the mirrors, I could just make out a genome wearing a purple dress walking towards the wing which held the port engine on.
“I’d better tell Fury,” I said “Come, take the wheel!”
Lawrence raised an eyebrow but didn’t argue as he took the wheel with both hands, only stopping to hand to me a strange device with a cryptic instruction.
“Give this to Fury, he’ll know what to do with it.”
I nodded and ran for the gunnery deck, where I guessed our master would be.
We ran for the airship docks, or at least that’s where Zidane said we were running for, I didn’t have a clue where we were going so I followed Zidane, and the rest of the Discworld team followed me.
“Is this normal for ‘round here?!” I asked Zidane
“It’s never happened before, well, that’s a lie…Kuja stole the original Hildagarde…”
“Did I?” asked the silver haired genome from beside Zidane
“Yeah, but no-one else has. Especially not from one of the most guarded installations in all of Lindblum.”
“You think it’s this Fury?” I asked
Zidane nodded, his blonde hair briefly covering his eyes as he ran, as he cleared it with his hand he replied
“Yes, I think it is him. He’s early though, for his warning.”
“You didn’t seriously think he’d keep his word did you?”
“I suppose not.”
As we ran I noticed someone familiar running the other way.
“Reiganna!” I yelled over the sound of panicking people and attacking silver dragons, not to mention the din of the airship battle taking place overhead.
She seemed to hear me as she changed direction and ran over to us, her normal clothes replaced by battle armour and her silver hair semi-obscured by an elaborate winged helmet.
“Reiganna…you look…radiant.” Gasped Kuja on an awestruck voice
“There’s no time…where’sYugami?” she asked, a pained look on her face, as though she had been running for a long time.
“She went to stop whoever’s stealing the Hildagarde…why, what’s up Reiganna?” asked Zidane
Reiganna sighed and then told us of her ordeal in the Twilight Forest, and the awful truth she had just uncovered. I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing, and judging from the looks of the others around me, neither could they.
I reached the airship end of the wing and began to summon a fireball which I hoped would be strong enough to damage the airship. Then I would find whoever had done this and stop them before they could do any more damage.
“Looking for someone?” asked a bitter voice from behind me, as I turned I saw Fury standing behind me, his black cloak blowing in the wind created by our passing through the air.
“Yes, and now I’ve found you, I must stop you.” I replied, releasing the spell and drawing my sword.
“You may not like what you have found.” Warned Fury as he also drew his sword
“But nevertheless, I will stop you.” I promised as our battle commenced.
Fury was a master with the sword but he was overconfident, I could see as our swords connected in a flash of light that he was going to focus entirely on attacking and not defence, here I had a chance, if I could just get past one of his attacks.
He swung his two-handed sword around in a long arc faster than it should have been possible to with a sword of that size and for a moment I wondered about his hidden powers.
“You’ve plagued me for long enough Domino.” He snarled at me as I ducked under his swing and brought my sword up to strike at his chest, somehow he dodged the surely perfect blow, moving backwards and out of range in a blur of speed. It was a manoeuvre I had seen once before, but its user was dead.
I blocked his next swing and sent a fireball at him, he raised his hand and blocked the fireball, and as it exploded in a pall of smoke he sent one back at me which knocked me off my feet. I landed on my back on the wing connecting the engine to the airship and tried to get back up but for a moment I couldn’t. Fury quickly advanced on me and swung his sword down in a decapitation movement, he missed my head as I moved to one side but he managed to skewer me in my left shoulder causing me to hiss with the pain it caused. As a retaliation I brought my foot up and pushed him in the stomach, sending him falling back. Standing up quickly and brandishing my sword I ran over to him and sliced across his chest, my sword ploughed a bloody line across his rib cage.
“Aaah, you bitch!” he yelled as he quickly got up, but he wasn’t quick enough to dodge my next blow which was aimed at the face, my sword sliced clean through his mask and I could see a trickle of blood come from the line it made. Fury recoiled and covered his face in his hands.
“You don’t know what you’ve done.” He said
“I’ve nearly defeated you.” I confidently replied.
Then Fury looked back up, as his mask fell off and his true face was revealed to me, and as I saw this face all the fight suddenly went out of me, I dropped my sword with a clatter on the airship deck and fell to my knees completely horrified.
“What’s the matter Domino…you look like you’ve seen a ghost, oh I AM sorry, you have seen a ghost haven’t you?!” said Thunderchild with a snarl
“You’re dead!” I protested.
“No, but you will be!” he shouted as he punched me in the face and knocked me backwards onto the deck, I offered no resistance, no fight because I didn’t have the will or the want to.
“But…I saw the ship…explode!” I protested
“Enough! You, genome, talk too much.” He snarled at me.
He pulled out a strange device, which I recognised from my days in the laboratory as being a blood sample collector, he jabbed it into my arm and drew out some of my blood into a cylindrical receptor.
Then he put it back in his cloak and sheathed his sword.
“And now, it’s time for you to die.” Said Thunderchild with a sneer.
“Please…I love you, I’ve always loved you!” I protested as he grabbed me by my shoulders and pulled me to my feet.
“Humph, well, I never loved you…and I never will!” he replied, breaking my heart and my resolve with those simple words.
Nagys POV
“What the hell is that doing here?!” yelled Mizrah
A silver dragon stood in front of us, blocking our way into the airship pen, it roared at us as we drew our weapons, only one person refused to attack the dragon…Kuja.
“Stop! Don’t attack him…I…I recognise him!” he said, running between us and the dragon.
The silver dragon nuzzled Kuja as he walked over towards it and lifted a foot for Kuja to stand on, when Kuja did, the silver dragon lifted him into its back and flew off.
“Well…that was odd.” I muttered
“I hope he knows what he’s doing.” Said Zidane
“Me too.” Agreed the Regent.
With that, we carried on running to the airship pen and to the Hildagarde III.
“You couldn’t even dream of stopping me Domino, I have more power than you could possibly imagine…your pathetic Trance x2 is nothing compared to the destructive power I possess.”
Uh oh I thought He’s gotten his ability for Dragon
or Ultima trance back.
But my thoughts were all overruled when Thunderchild picked me up and walked over to the airships edge, I knew what he was planning to do and began struggling in his grasp.
“Please, don’t do this…I beg you!” I pleaded with him, even with my ability to fly the drop would kill me because of the speed I would hit the ground.
“You are a thorn in my side and you must be disposed of.” he said, speaking as though I was a piece of household waste which he was throwing away…I was his wife!!!
“I’m your wife Thunderchild, listen to me, whatever’s happened to you…I can help you with it. Just please, listen to me!”
He looked me in the eye as I dangled over the edge of the Hildagarde V, my legs flailing uselessly. I could see the evil in him just by looking into his eyes, this person, although he looked and spoke like my husband…he wasn’t my Thunderchild, he wasn’t the person I was betrothed to over a year ago. Something had happened to him, something had changed him to what he was now, a powerful and despotic tyrant who was about to kill his own wife simply because she was a ‘thorn’ in his side.
“You don’t get it do you, you stupid genome, I don’t want to be changed back, I like who I am, this is the real me! If you could never see it then I guess you’re dumber than you look. Now goodbye Domino, I would say I’ll miss you…but I won’t!!!”
He let go.
I fell, the Hildagarde V shooting away into the sky above me as I plummeted towards the ground, as I fell away my last thought was to shout to him, shout how I felt even though he hated me, even though he had just thrown me to my death, even though I knew it wouldn’t make any difference.
“Thunderchild!! I love you!!!”
And then both he and the Hildagarde V were nothing more than a smudge in the brilliant blue sky as the ground drew ever closer, my mind just shut down, prepared for the inevitable and shocked by what had just happened, shocked that my own husband had just sent me to my death.
I barely noticed the abrupt landing in someones arms, barely recognised Kujas face as he peered over me in concern and only just recognised the silver dragons voice.
<It’s ok Mistress Domino, you’re in safe hands now.> as being Silverias.
As we flew back to Lindblum I could see the Hildagarde III leaving the city at the head of a small fleet of airships, I could hear the propellers running and the shouts of orders being given as we headed for the Hildagarde III. Several pairs of cannons tracked us as we moved closer, but didn’t fire, someone on the Hildagarde obviously knew we were friendly.
We landed on the deck of the airship, I staggered and then fell out of Kuja’s arms and off the side of Silveria, collapsing in a heap on the deck.
“Domino!” shouted Zidane as he ran to my side
“I found her plummeting towards the ground, she’d fallen off the side of the Hildagarde V” said Kuja
I shook my head frantically, Kuja was almost right but so very, very wrong.
“No, I was thrown off the side…by Thunderchild.” I whispered, still in shock.
“I feared as much.” Said Reiganna
“What’s happening Rei?” I asked her, Reiganna seemed to be more in the know than most of the people around me to have expected my reply.
“Thunderchild has turned evil somehow, I don’t know how…four days ago, however, he attacked the Twilight Forest, stole the crystal of life and nearly killed Gallion. I know it was him because Gallion recognised him and not only that…he left his sword behind.”
She drew out of the scabbard on her belt, a large two-handed sword I recognised as Draconus, Thunderchilds sword.
<I can verify what Reiganna is saying, I was with the master when he stole the crystal. I don’t think he knows what he is doing, he doesn’t seem to know his past fully.>
<He knew enough to know I was his wife> I replied
Silveria nodded slowly, his large silver dragon feathers being ruffled in the breeze.
<Yes, and for that he wants to kill you. You’re his only weakness…he still loves you Domino but for him love is a weakness and one he fears will be exploited.>
I nodded glumly.
“Well, whoever he is, we’ll capture him, and the Hildagarde V intact or my name isn’t Regent Cid Fabool!!” exclaimed Cid from behind us.
“I hope so Cid…because if we fail then the whole planet is in serious trouble.” Said Reiganna.