Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Bahamut & the Guardian Forces ❯ Enter the Maze ( Chapter 18 )

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"Ugh..."

"Eassy kid. You're gonna be all right."

Aldrea had been feeling a slight bumping, and had awoken to find herself in Salamander's arms. The armored Dragoon was carrying her through a dimly lit tunnel.

<Ow...huh? You?!>

"Oh lookss like your other half iss awake too." Salamander grinned.

<Grrr...get your claws off me you scaly freak!>

"Unicorn, calm down." Aldrea urged.

"Yeah, it'ss not like I'm ssome kidnapper or ssomething."

<And just where are we? What are we doing here?>

"I don't know." Aldrea shook her head. "Last thing I remember was the lot of us under attack by all those desert creatures."

"We musst've been knocked into a ssandpit." Salamander suggested. "You were the only one I found down here when I regained conssciousnesss."

"Sandpit?"

"I've heard miless of ancient tunnelss run beneath this desert, but I've never been in one myself. We must've fallen down through a masssively winding pit."

The area around them was a pretty unnerving site as well. Though the floor was sandy like the rest of the desert, the walls seemed to be made out of some thick, grayish rock. In fact, as it was if the entire tunnel had been cut out of solid rock.

Occasionally, there were holes in the ceiling, which allowed dim rays of light in. That provided the barest of illumination, but all the holes were too small for even Aldrea to fit through. Neither one dared enlarge the holes in fear of the entire tunnel coming down on top of them.

In addition, there were dozens of bones littering the corridor. Everything from small fragments to entire skeletons of creatures resembling dinosaurs and dragons, which Salamander stared nervously at.

<I've heard tales of entire graveyards being down here.> Unicorn commented.

"Erm, yeah, sso have I." Salamander muttered. "Thiss could even be the dreaded Sshakhrami..."

<Shakhrami?! The dragon graveyard?!>

"Shhh...argh!" Salamander started as he accidentally kicked an old dragon's skull.

Immediately, the Dragoon backed against a wall, glancing around in panic.

"Whoa! Whoa! Keep your cool big guy!" Aldrea jumped out of his arms.

"There are gonna be walking dead around here." Salamander whispered, eyes wide.

Unicorn then took control, shifting into her own form. With a loud wham, she stomped a hoof onto Salamander's toes.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Then let's get out of here as quickly as possible." Unicorn said. "Jeez, of all people, I have to be stuck in a graveyard with a perverted lizardman who's afraid of ghosts!"

"Hey! I'm not a lizard! I'm a Bangaa!"

<Guys, time out!> Aldrea shouted.

Just then, several of the bones nearby began rattling.

"Run for it! Now!" Unicorn ordered.

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<You're sure you looked all around?> Leviathan asked again.

"I truly am sorry, but I found no trace of your missing companions." The three heads of Tritoch spoke at once.

<Gargh...where could they be?!>

Soon after Tritoch has discovered the wounded group lying in the sands, they had reverted to their human forms. Fortunately, that made it easier from the winged reptile to carry their party. But Unicorn and Salamander were still missing, gone without a trace.

Leviathan, in particular, had been extremely upset by this fact.

"You have to believe in them buddy." Brad spoke up. "Aldrea is with them, and I'm worried for her too. But I know Unicorn will look after her. She always has."

"They'll be all right." Cecil agreed, holding on to Brad's hand.

<I messed up...again...> Madeen muttered.

"Don't blame yourself." Cid whispered.

<No, really, I just can't seem to get things right. No wonder dad kicked me out of the house...>

"Hm?"

<Nothing, forget it.> Madeen quickly responded. <Anyway, the town should be right over this mountain and....what the?!>

As Tritoch flew over the mountain, a town came into view all right. However, it was also a town under attack, for smoke rose from multiple locations around the area. There were dozens of sparkles as magical spells and special attacks flew everywhere.

<Dad!> Madeen shouted. <Where are you?!>

"I don't think even he can hear you over all this fighting." Cid said grimly.

"This is not good, our enemies have located our base." Tritoch spoke.

<Fa'na kuehk du ryja du vekrd uin fyo drnuikr.> Valefor added in.

"Yeah, we're going to have to fight our way through all right." Cecil agreed.

"I'll distract some of the opposing troops and allow you to get in." Tritoch decided. "Please, find General Maduin and help him!"

<You can count on us!> Leviathan growled.

Tritoch swooped over a squad of Flan, jelly-like spell-casting creatures, and opened the jaws of his three heads.

"Tri-Dazer!" He screeched, disintegrating a good amount of them.

All the Flan turned towards the flying reptile as he sped off, allowing Brad and his group to drop down and assume their alternate forms.

"Tsunami!"

"Energy Blast!"

"Terra Homing!"

The combined force of the three attacks was easily enough to clear a path for them. Dodging the flying projectiles of the battle, the trio reached the outskirts of the town. However, they were stopped by a pair of unpleasantly familiar figures.

"You again? When will we ever be rid of you?!" Minotaur growled.

"Yeah, but we ain't letting ya pass!" Sacred added in.

"We don't have time for these freaks." Madeen whispered.

"You go. We'll take them." Leviathan nodded. "Hey bozos! How about we make our own entrance then?!"

Leviathan leapt forward, curling his serpent-like body into a ball. He spun right into the duo, knocking both over. At that, Madeen sprinted and jumped over the fallen Minotaur Brothers, disappearing into the streets behind.

"Argh! Hey!" Minotaur stood up, waving his axe about. "You're not going any...urrgghh!!"

Valefor grabbed the smaller bull in her talons and tossed him against his brother.

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"Dad!!" Madeen raced through the streets. "Where are you?!"

A couple of walking suits of magical armor spotted him and moved to block the lion's path. Snarling, Madeen ducked beneath one's sword swing and elbowed it away, grabbing its sword at the same time.

With the weapon, he quickly slashed and took the other one's head off before moving on.

"Damn, how do I find him in this mess?" He gasped.

<Shouldn't you be able to sense his magic if he's using it?> Cid suggested. <You did tell me that once.>

"Yeah, maybe..." Madeen ducked into an empty building and focused. Almost immediately, he felt the force of his father's magic flowing. He had to be close by.

Following the trail, Madeen was soon rewarded by a familiar cry.

"Chaos Wing!"

Madeen rushed onto the scene just as the white explosion took place. Mauldin was somersaulting back from the burst at Cerberus attempted to sink his fangs into his hide.

Naturally, Mauldin appeared similarly to his son, except that his fur was dark brown instead. He also had a larger pair of horns on his head, similar to another GF, Ifrit.

"Hargh!" Madeen flew in and delivered a flying kick to Cerberus' side, throwing him off course.

"Madeen! You made it!"

"Nice to see you again too dad." Madeen muttered.

"Grrr...I hate to break up the reunion, but I'm not impressed." One of Cerberus' heads growled. "Counter Rockets!"

Father and son took off in separate directions, bouncing off the walls of two nearby buildings and springing back towards Cerberus. In a series of combined kicks and punches, the two managed to beat Cerberus into a wall.

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"Raghh!!" Leviathan had managed to dodge three blows, but the last of Minotaur's axe swipes caught him across the chest, leaving a long scar.

"Hey hold still! Argh!!" Sacred yelled.

Valefor was busy flying circles around the larger bull and finally bashed him on the back of the head with her wing. As she landed beside her fallen opponent, Minotaur threw Leviathan aside and came for her.

"Watch out!" Leviathan cried, though a little too late.

Valefor was sent crashing into a nearby wall, the broken concrete pieces falling down on her. Sacred had picked himself up by this time and came at Valefor with his halberd.

Suddenly, a blade flashed across the earth elemental's path, slicing off the top of his weapon. Yojimbo leapt backwards, standing protectively over the stunned Valefor.

"Hey you're that guy from before." Leviathan gasped. "Back in the cave where we crossed between the worlds."

"It seems that once again, our goals are the same." The samurai spoke solemnly, raising his weapon. "Daigoro!"

A dog-like creature jumped out of the shadows and onto Sacred's back. Crying out in surprise, Sacred was too startled to dodge the Energy Ray Valefor sent at him. At the same time, Leviathan sprayed Minotaur with a strong jet of water, throwing the brothers together in a wet pile.

Snarling, the two formed a defensive position as they held their ground and knelt down.

<Earth elementals remember?> Cecil called. <They'll be able to heal themselves like that.>

<And remember what you guys did the last time?> Brad added in.

Leviathan and Valefor gave each other sneaky grins. At the same time, both ploughed into the Minotaur Brothers. The heroes grabbed their opponents with their tails/talons and hurled the pair into the air.

"WWAAAHHHH!!!!"

"Effortless water, break your silence, attack!" Leviathan chanted. "Blizzaga!"

"Vnaawehk feht, cbayg uv vunkuddah dnidrc! Frost!" (Freezing wind, speak of forgotten truths! Frost!)

The two ice elemental spells combined to form a giant ice cube that froze the two Minotaurs solid within.

<Whoa, that's pretty nasty.> Cecil commented as the ice cube hit the floor with a loud thud.

"Now, we have to go after Madeen." Leviathan panted, worn out from the intense battle.

"No need." Yojimbo said, sheathing his sword. "They already have some reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?"

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"Counter Rockets!" Cerberus fired off another blast, which both Madeen and Mauldin were able to dodge.

"Give up now!" Mauldin taunted. "You can't beat both of us."

"Grrr...I don't have to." Cerberus snarled. "We've already relayed the location of your little town to the Master! It's only a matter of time before we...huh?"

Even Madeen understood the reason for Cerberus' abrupt pause was the fact that the ground was shaking. He just didn't realize the shaking was being caused by a flock of Chocobos until he saw them coming.

And at the head of the pack was the Amazing Chocobo, ridden by none other the Phoenix.

"All right boys! There's your target!" She pointed towards Cerberus. "Charge!!"

"AARRGGHH!!!!"

WHAM!!

In panic, all Cerberus could do was turn and try to run away. Unfortunately, the Chocobos were much faster than him and he was promptly trampled by the entire flight.

Madeen and Mauldin simply stood to the side, gawking as the dust cleared to reveal a flattened Cerberus with Chocobo footprints all over his body, swirls on the eyes of all three of his heads and his three tongues hanging out.

Phoenix drove her steed back towards the two and leapt off, stomping on the barely conscious Cerberus.

"General Mauldin, great to see you again!" She winked. "Looks like I got here just in time!"

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He didn't know how long he'd been wandering through the invisible maze of light, but Glenn's feet were certainly starting to ache. Finally, he rounded a corner and hit into another dead end.

"Crap." He moaned.

<Wait, I feel something.> Bahamut told him. <Touch the wall.>

Glenn reached out slowly with a trembling hand and suddenly felt a shock running through his body. Letting off a soft cry, Glenn instinctively jumped back and blinked. But when he opened his eyes again, Glenn found himself standing in a different place.

It was at the entrance of a cavern, with the rays of the morning sun streaming in through the opening. There were several soft growling noises coming from further in and Glenn moved forward with interest.

What he saw caused his jaw to drop.

Playing amongst a nest of hay were two small dragons, one a dark purplish color and the other a deep blue. The two were jumping over each other, clawing and biting in the midst of their games.

"I don't believe it...it's me..." Bahamut stuttered.

Glenn then realized that his partner had been standing behind him all this while. Somehow it didn't surprise him that Bahamut's body shone with a bluish light, as did Glenn's own hand.

"So, this is a vision of the past?" Glenn queried.

"Definitely. My eyes are still fuzzy from Alexander's spell, but I can recognize the sound of my younger self, and..."

"Really? That's you as a hatchling?" Glenn pointed. "Aw...you were so cute! Just makes me want to go right up there and cuddle you."

"Shut up!" Bahamut growled.

"But who's the other dragon with you?"

"That's...well..." Bahamut paused for a while. "My sister."

"Sister? You never told me you had a sister."

"I've never told anyone."

"Why?" Glenn pushed.

The scene slowly begun to change, showing the two dragons as they got older and larger. Slowly, they moved from walking on all fours to the upright form that Glenn recognized Bahamut as.

"I was the older sibling. Us dragons aren't spoon-fed everything by our parents, so my sister and I were left to do things on our own." Bahamut explained. "The two of us, we did everything together. Those were the good times. The times when magic still governed the different worlds, which were all joined as one."

Glenn continued to watch as the younger forms of Bahamut and his sister wrestled each other on a hillside. Bahamut moved and both went rolling down, which ended with his sister slamming Bahamut's back against the floor.

"I'm an only child, so I've never had anyone that close to me." Glenn remarked. "What happened? Is she still around?"

"No, I...oh no...please no...not this..." Bahamut dropped to his knees and clutched his head, as if in pain.

The mood of the vision instantly darkened as Glenn continued to watch. The rain had begun pouring down within the vision, and the two dragon siblings landed to take shelter beneath the trees. However, as the two huddled together, dozens of dark figures approached from the shadows.

Glenn gasped as the cloaked humans raised all sorts of projectile weapons and fired. The siblings were struck and thrown into panic. Next a net was thrown over them as more men charged in to beat them down with melee weapons.

"No....how could they..." Glenn stared.

One of the dragons, the sister, was then dragged over to the side where a circle of men were chanting in an odd language.

"This was the ancient times, where humans and us existed in the same world." Bahamut whispered. "Humans were often afraid of us dragons. They feared the power we possessed. My sister and I were not spared from this, and....that you see was a spell intended to capture us. However, it all went wrong..."

The struggling female dragon then fired off an energy burst from her jaws. It slammed into the circle of spellcasters, scattering the group as a large black vortex appeared. Its pull was so strong that the young dragon was clawing madly at the ground, trying to find something to hold on to.

"Instead, it opened that vortex you see there." Bahamut continued. "She was screaming for me to save her, but I...I...was too weak then..."

The younger Bahamut raised his head and weakly reached out a claw towards his sister. It seemed like he was struggling to move, but to no avail. His sister soon disappeared into the vortex, just as it closed and vanished.

"I...I couldn't save her. And I hate it. I hated all those who did that to her...to us..." Bahamut clenched his fists. "And I wanted....I wanted....revenge!"

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The next scene showed a larger and older Bahamut firing his Mega Flare into an already flaming village, sending the humans beneath fleeing for their lives. Even that wasn't enough as the dragon swooped down and crushed several with his talons.

"That was my maddened streak, the massacre I caused." The dragon's voice was shaky at this point. "Hundreds, thousands...I don't know how many lives I took in my fury. That was before Mauldin came to stop me."

"Mauldin? The same general Mauldin?" Glenn queried.

"Indeed. I gave his team a very tough fight, but in the end, they sealed me within a stone statue and planted me on a mountainside. Even though imprisoned, I was allowed to see the death and destruction I had caused. The grief nearly drove me insane." Bahamut shook his head. "How different was I from those who had caused my sister's death?"

"Bahamut..."

"Eventually, Mauldin gave me a chance at repentance. They let me out of my stony imprisonment and Mauldin offered to train me as a protector. It was there that I learnt my father had, in turn, once been his mentor too. I gave up a little of my old powers, which is why I'm not as big as you saw me when I was destroying that city. That was the first time I could truly call myself a Guardian Force."

"So, that's why you went through such ends to help my world." Glenn nodded. "It's all about making up for your past mistakes."

"But about what Alexander said, the 'true opponent being a figure from the darkest reaches of my past'..."

"And you're thinking its...her?"

"I don't know. But I want to find out!" Bahamut stood up and opened his eyes, blinking to indicate that his eyesight had finally returned.

At that moment, all traces of the visions faded and the two were returned to the maze of light. There a glowing white sphere descended towards them.

"What's this?" Glenn asked out loud.

"It must be the Forbidden Spell." Bahamut nodded, drawing the Ultima weapon. Upon touching the sphere, the mystical energy flowed into the sword and vanished completely.

"I have one last warning for you." The voice of Alexander boomed. "The spell will also completely annihilate the one who casts it. Remember that."

"Great, things are always forbidden for a reason." Glenn sighed.

"Go now...the path ahead awaits you..."

As Alexander finished his last sentence, Glenn and Bahamut found themselves engulfed in yet another bright light.

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"It'ss like thiss place goess on forever..." Salamander mumbled.

"For once, I might actually agree with you." Unicorn sighed.

It hadn't been a good trip for them, having to deal with walking skeletons and the rising ghosts which haunted the dark and dingy corridors. With no other choice, the duo followed whichever path seemed to go upwards, hoping that it would be the one to lead them back to the surface.

Their current pathway however, just ended in another dead end.

<Not again!> Aldrea moaned.

"Let's go back to that junction and try another path." Unicorn said as she turned around.

"Hold on!" Salamander walked closer to the wall and pressed a claw against it. "Wind! I feel wind!"

"Really?!" Unicorn gasped.

Sure enough, the Dragoon had his fingers in a crack, which allowed a slight breeze to blow through. Nodding to each other, the two began digging and clawing at the wall. Slowly, the breeze became strong and light even started streaming in.

After several tense minutes, the wall finally came down, allowing them to move into a large, open chamber. This one was far bigger and brighter than any of the rooms they'd passed through on their long trek through the labyrinth.

But like most of the other rooms, this one was piled full of bones.

"This just might be the right way." Unicorn nodded. "Erm...good job."

"Thankss!"

"Maybe you're not as dumb as you look after all."

"Doess thiss mean you'll go out with me now?"

WHAM!! Unicorn stomped on Salamander's toes.

"Forget I ever said that! Humph!" Unicorn took a few steps forward, then stopped short. "What the...?!"

In front of her was the carcass of a large, adult Wyvern. It was similar in shape to a dragon except it only had two legs, no upper forelimbs, a pair of wings and a barbed tail. Although most of it had been reduced to bones, there was still flesh and muscle hanging off the lower abdominal area and part of the legs.

Dozens of small insects buzzed around the carcass, which also gave off a foul odor.

"Thiss fellow died only recently." Salamander remarked, moving to take a closer look.

<That I can tell.> Aldrea agreed. <Some of its flesh is still there.>

"It was a sshe I believe, look at the horn sstructure on the head." Salamander gestured. "Looks like sshe died in agony too. Ssee her neck twisted back like that? And the boness that make up the wingss? Clearly ssnapped apart."

"Like she was dragged down here before being killed." Unicorn finished. "Hey, look at that!"

There was something amongst the bits of flesh left on the carcass. Salamander carefully tore the flesh apart and came up with a large, oval shaped object.

<An egg?!>

"A Wyvern'ss egg." Salamander nodded, rubbing his claws over it. "Wait...it might sstill be alive! I can hear beating within the egg!"

"It's probably your imagination...yargh!!" Unicorn's sentence was cut off as the ground begun to rumble.

Bones everywhere were thrown up as the largest centipede either had ever seen burst from beneath the ground. The only thing different from the smaller versions was its gigantic, gaping mouth with lots of greenish, foul-smelling fluid dripping down from it.

The horrific bug eyed the pair of travelers and let off a long screech.

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"Whoa! Yeowch!" Glenn landed with a thud, fortunately on a patch of grass. "Ow...can anyone put me down properly these days?"

<Oh don't complain.> Bahamut's voice growled.

Glenn pulled himself to his feet, rubbing his sore bottom, and glanced around. This area wasn't the same one they'd been in before. It was instead a lush jungle with tall trees all around. The chirping and clicking noises of insects and other small animals were all around.

Suddenly, there was a rustling of leaves from behind.

"Huh? Who's there?!" Glenn whirled around, but saw nothing.

<I heard that too. Someone is definitely here...>

Another noise caused Glenn to turn again, only to find nothing but leaves and broken branches on the spot. Then, he spotted it....a small shadow scampering up a nearby tree.

"Hey you!!" Glenn dashed over and delivered a hard kick to shake the tree.

There was a soft squeak as the green, furry object fell....and smacked Glenn right in the face. With a surprised yell, Glenn tumbled backwards and landed on his back.

"Hi! Long time no see!" The little critter giggled.

"Carbuncle!" Glenn jumped up and grabbed him with both hands. "Don't scare me like that!"

<What are you doing here?> Bahamut asked. <And where's Shiva? Wasn't she with you?>

"Well...."

<Carbuncle, this is serious!>

"She got captured by that big evil Diablos guy. He caught up to us after we went through the gate."

<Do you know if she's all right?>

"I followed them. Shiva and some others are being held prisoner in a secret base beneath this jungle. But I couldn't go very far in. There are all sorts of weird things in there, and that meannie Diablos is the worst of all."

"Then, you've been here all this time?" Glenn queried.

"Well, I'm lost see. And it's really scary in this jungle at night." Carbuncle shivered.

"Bahamut, you think this is why Alexander dropped us off here?"

<Possibly. Seems the immortals have their own motives for giving the two of us a helping hand.> Bahamut muttered. <But if Shiva's in trouble, I'm not leaving her that way.>

"Carbuncle, can you take us to where Shiva and those others are being held?" Glenn asked, kneeling beside the little green GF.

"Sure, but it's gonna be dangerous."

<Dangerous? After all we've been through, I'll say that I laugh in the face of danger!>

"Yeah, and you'll probably die laughing too." Glenn whispered.

<Shut up you idiot!>