Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Bahamut & the Guardian Forces ❯ Of Ice and Stone ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Final Fantasy and all related trademarks belong to Squaresoft. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the author's permission.

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Of Ice and Stone

By Gregory Stephen/nightdragon0 (nightdragon0@hotmail.com)

<Glenn! >

"Huh? ZZzzzzzzzz…"

<Glenn! >

"…"

<GLENN! YOU FOOL! WAKE UP THIS INSTANT! >

"W-what? Argh!"

Glenn started, rolled and fell off the bed.

"Bahamut, do you know how hard it is to sleep with an audience in your head?"

<Well, it can't possibly be worse than your snoring. Anyway, you were supposed to meet Ashley at 5 'O' clock. >

"And?" Glenn checked his watch. It was 4.55pm. "Shit! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Idiot." Muttered Glenn as he raced out of his house.

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"Don't bother running, you're already late." Ashley called as he approached.

She shoved him a Coke as he sat down. They were seated at the corner of a McDonald's restaurant. Glenn took a sip and a few moments to catch his breath.

"So, what's the scoop?" he asked.

"Well, Brad sent me an e-mail. Remember in the papers recently there was this thing about a strange creature sighting?"

"Yeah, I read it."

Ashley showed him a printout of the letter. A small picture was at the bottom. It was very blurred, but Glenn was just able to make out some small creature about the size of an average dog.

"See the woods in the background? They're actually pretty close to Aldrea's family ranch. She checked it out and guess what, her pendent reacted!"

The pendants each of the four wore were they're only means of picking out any abnormal activity. At a close enough range, the pendants would react to any form of magic or creatures from the GFs' world by glowing in a soft, golden light.

"Great! This is our first lead since…well our very first encounter."

"Yeah, they're going to check it out tonight."

"What a way to spend a Friday night." Glenn sat back in his chair.

"And how bout us?"

"Hmmm…" Glenn could've told her about his meeting with Shiva, but he'd already made an agreement with Bahamut not to mention it to anyone else. Bahamut seemed to have his own reasons, but Glenn secretly liked the prospect of being the 'hero'. "Nothing for us, I guess."

"None for me either," Ashley said.

"Well, all we can do is wait. It'll be nearly impossible to find that Dynaock guy in human form." Glenn stared into the glass window and saw Bahamut's image.

The dragon was glancing at the sky, obviously lost in thought.

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"There's a lot on your mind."

<Huh? >

After leaving Ashley, Glenn had found a quite spot beside a pond at the local park. He took a pebble and threw it into the water, sending ripples out in all directions.

"Come on, you can tell me."

<… >

"It's about that lady, Shiva, isn't it?"

<I suppose I can't hide it from you. > The dragon's image appeared on the water's surface. Glenn made a quick check to see if anyone was within earshot.

"And what she said about trouble in your home world. Hey, if it were me, I'd be worried too. But I don't see why you didn't want me to tell the others."

"Then couldn't the others help?"

<I've…asked a lot from them already. Remember the story we told you at the start? They came with me simply because they were my friends. Even through I could offer nothing more than my gratitude, they followed me to the end. > Bahamut clenched a claw into a fist.

"Hey, don't try to change the subject. What about Shiva? Should we try to find her or what?"

"Let's start with the area we last saw her!" Glenn jumped to his feet. "It'll be dark soon, but it's worth a shot!"

Glenn suddenly felt something rush past him.

"What was that?"

Glenn checked the area, but saw nothing. A rustling of leaves caught his attention. He looked up just in time to see some small object hit him in the face and knock him into the pond.

SPLASH!

"Ugh! Hey!" Glenn wiped the water out of his eyes and caught sight of the prankster.

<Carbuncle! > Bahamut exclaimed.

The small green sprite with a red gem embedded in his forehead playfully jumped about, laughing in a high pitched, squeaky voice. It resembled small furry animal, about the size of a dog.

"Come here you!" Glenn made a dive for the little GF, who simply skipped out of the way.

He ran down the path, crossed an empty road, scaled a fence and disappeared into the alley beyond.

"And that was?" Glenn asked as he followed.

"That's it?" Glenn grunted as he pulled himself over the fence.

Ahead, Carbuncle waved to him before running around the corner.

"Yeah, I know. Dammed, this is…"

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"…just great!" Aldrea groaned.

She took another step and almost fell. Luckily, Brad was there to catch her.

"Come on," Brad urged, holding up his pendant, "we're almost there. Besides, our GFs would be useless in this dense forest."

"I know, I know."

They'd come prepared this time. Wearing jeans and boots to protect themselves from the pricks of the long grass. Armed with stronger flashlights, cell phones and a camera. But it still made Aldrea uneasy coming out to explore the forest in the middle of the night. She took a look back and could barely make out the shape of Brad's car in the darkness.

"You do know that we're going to get into trouble for this, right?" Aldrea asked.

"Yep." Brad just kept walking and hacking a path through the forest with a machete.

Although it took a while longer, they finally arrived at a huge tree. Unlike the others around it, this one was completely bare. Not a single leaf on any of its branches.

"Well, our pendants seem to point here." Aldrea remarked, holding up hers. "But it's just a tree."

<Perhaps we must, manipulate it somehow…> Unicorn suggested.

Brad already had that idea and was running his hand along the branches. One of them abruptly moved.

"Ah ha!" Like a lever, it moved down when Brad pushed. A doorway slid open in the body of the tree. A spiral staircase led down into darkness.

"Wow." Aldrea gasped. "Now we're getting somewhere."

<Stay alert. > Leviathan reminded.

"Yeah, let's watch ourselves." Brad agreed. "We don't know what we'll find down there."

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<Ashley, does it hurt your feet walking around shopping malls like this? > Phoenix asked.

"Well, not really." Ashley paused beside a window. And looked into it so she could see Phoenix's image. The firebird was preening a wing. "Besides, we've got pretty much nothing to do."

<Say, what's that really tall building out there? > Phoenix's image pointed a wing to the tallest building outside.

"That one?" Ashley replied, "It's supposed to be the headquarters for some new computer company. Some businessman suddenly struck it rich or something. Not that I really care bout this stuff."

Ashley had to stop talking because some people were passing by. One man bumped into her and knocked her down. His coat slipped slightly, but he quickly pulled it back on and continued walking.

"Hey! What a creep." Ashley muttered angrily. She made a quick check of her possessions to make sure she hadn't been pickpocketed.

<Ashley, did you see his shirt? >

"No. Why?"

"What?" Ashley felt her pendant, "But it's not reacting."

"I'm following him!" the mysterious stranger was already disappearing from view. Briskly pushing her way through the crowd, Ashley did just that.

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Glenn paused, panting and gasping for air. Carbuncle had led him on a merry chase and now, he was back where he'd started.

"W…where'd…he…go?"

The little GF suddenly jumped off the second story balcony and knocked Glenn into a dumpster.

"OW! Not fair!"

As quickly as he'd come, Carbuncle scampered up the fire escape, heading for the roof of the building.

<Perhaps I should try. > Bahamut offered.

"Thought you'd never ask. Let's go!"

With that, Glenn relaxed and his body morphed into Bahamut's form.

"Rrrrrrrr! Feels good to stretch my wings. It's pretty cramped in your body."

<Oh, just shut up and get a move on. >

"Don't worry, he won't get far." Bahamut spread his wings and took off. It wasn't easy, but he managed to pick up speed, even in the cramped alley.

Carbuncle had just scampered up onto the roof.

"Gottcha." Bahamut grinned.

He had almost reached the top when a white sheet was suddenly thrown in his face.

"Argh! What the?!"

Temporarily blinded, he swerved to the left, and frantically reached for the sheet. He did succeed in pulling it off. Unfortunately…

"Oh SH-"

An electrical power cable was right in his path.

BBBZZZZZZTTTTTTTT!

"RRRRRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!"

Furiously, Bahamut snapped the cable in half.

<Ouch. That's gotta hurt. I'm sure glad I don't share all the physical pain as you. >

"Shut…up…" Bahamut gasped. He was still in the air, flapping his wings weakly.

"Well, excuse me for not being more sympathetic, but…GO TELL SOMEONE WHO CARES!"

Bahamut's roaring was interrupted by the laughing of Carbuncle. He waved, opened the roof hatch and jumped down.

"Grrrrr! Wait till I'm through with that little pip-squeak."

The dragon king smashed the hatch open and dropped down into a dimly lit corridor. It led only to an elevator on one end and a slightly ajar door on the other. Bahamut could hear soft footsteps coming from behind the door.

<You should check it out. > Glenn suggested. <But keep your cool. >

Bahamut carefully approached, checking for any traps along the way. The area seemed clear, even when he opened the door and found Carbuncle quietly sitting on an office desk.

Now, I've got you!

The dragon took a step forward and immediately realized his mistake when the floor tile sank beneath his weight. There wasn't even time for him to fly away, before he ended up caught in a metal net. Unable to take the weight of the net, Bahamut landed on his back on the floor below.

It was when he tried to get up that he realized that he was lying on some gummy liquid. Very sticky and very strong, because it held him down. Not matter how he struggled, his limbs, tail and wings were immobilized. Firing off any breath attacks was a pretty bad idea, as it would bring the entire roof down on his head. Now, that left him literally…stuck where he was.

Carbuncle looked down through the open trapdoor, pulled down his eyelid and stuck out his tongue.

"GGRRRRR! [Censored] YOU! YOU [Censored]ING SON OF A [Censored]! WHEN I GET MY CLAWS ON YOUR [Censored] FUR COAT, I'LL RIP OFF YOUR [Censored] HEAD AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR [Censored] ASS! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU LITTLE-MMMMMMRRGGHHH!"

That was when Carbuncle dumped a bucket of the sticky liquid on his face, gluing his mouth shut.

"You shouldn't use such nasty words here." Carbuncle scolded. "After all, we do want to keep this fanfic at the PG-13 rating you know."

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"What is this place?"

"Looks like some whole underground lake."

"Yeah," Aldrea shone her light, "Huh? Look there!"

"What's this? A cyber cafe?"

"More like a school science lab."

A row of computers had been lined up along one of the walls. Next to that were a group of tables and shelves stacked with all types of laboratory equipment. Brad walked up and begun examining the computers.

"All the equipment here was probably powered by some portable power generators." Aldrea said. "But I wonder what's the big secret they were researching. And why here?"

<I'm afraid I haven't the slightest clue either. > Unicorn said, <But it seems rather suspicious that… >

Aldrea saw something in the shadows. It was about a foot away from Brad.

"Brad! Watch out!"

"What?"

The creature lunged. Brad was barely able to avoid being smashed to bits like the computers. Aldrea shone her light into its face, momentarily stunning the creature. In the light it seemed humanoid, but with wings, a tail and a lizard-like face. It hunched low down and prepared its next attack.

"Even I know what that is!" Brad yelled, "A gargoyle. I used to read stories about them when I was a kid."

<Well, you're living one now. > Unicorn shouted. <Heads up! Another one's behind you Aldrea! >

Aldrea cried out in surprise as she dodged the attack from behind.

<Brad, go for the water! > Leviathan urged.

"Hey! Come and get me!" Brad threw some stones at the two gargoyles.

Both left Aldrea and begun chasing Brad. He raced for the water and plunged in. There was a bright flash from below the surface and Leviathan's head rose from beneath.

Roaring, he brought up his tail and smacked one of the gargoyles aside. The second was a little smarter, dodging a bite and slashing the side of Leviathan's face.

<Aldrea, hurry! >

"I know." Aldrea backed away. Out of nowhere, a white cloak appeared in her hand. She threw it over herself and morphed. Unicorn, in her place, emerged.

Meanwhile, the two gargoyles were ganging up on Leviathan. One had managed go grasp onto his head and was attempting to jab his eyes. The other was grabbing onto his tail. The sea serpent eventually managed to shake it loose and fire off a spray of water from his mouth. The force of the attack slammed it into the wall, shattering it to pieces.

The other took advantage of its friend's demise to sink its fangs into the back of Leviathan's neck. Roaring in pain, Leviathan managed to shake it off, but the damaged was already done. The sea serpent's body was getting stiff.

"Rrraaghh! What's happening? I can't move!"

His body turned to stone, Leviathan collapsed on the water's edge. The gargoyle moved in for the kill.

"Hey! You!"

Unicorn charged, horn raised forward. The gargoyle leapt over her, however, Unicorn stopped and gave it a kick with her rear legs, sending it flying off. She spotted Leviathan's petrified form.

"Hang on!" She raced over. Her golden horn lit up with magic energy. "Heal horn!"

Slowly, his body returned to normal. Leviathan pulled himself up.

"Thanks. Now I know why we brought you along."

"Glad to be of service." She smiled. "But now…"

Both turned to face the lone gargoyle, who wasn't looking as confident as it was before.

"Tsunami!" Leviathan called out the name of his attack.

"Holy!" Unicorn reared up on her back legs and cast the spell.

The gargoyle was shattered into millions of pieces. Leviathan and Unicorn looked at each other and let out sighs of relief.

"Whew."

<Great teamwork guys. > Brad congratulated.

<Well, at least we know that our foe was doing something here. > Aldrea said. <But what? >

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"Hey, where'd he go?"

Ashley stopped short. The alley led to a dead end.

<I'm sure I saw him go this way, > Phoenix said, <but with your eyes, I can't really tell. >

"Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence." Ashley muttered.

She thumped a fist against the wall in frustration and examined her pendant. Nothing…wait! It began to glow again!

"Huh?"

Something moved. A…shadow?

Ashley's reaction was swift, grabbing the lid off a garbage can and using it to parry the attack. The creature was black except for its glowing yellow eyes. It roughly had a body with two hands and a tail, but seemed flat, like a piece of cloth.

<Ashley, these shadow monsters are known as Creeps. They're not very strong, but are particularly good at sneaking up on their prey. Watch out, they tend to attack in numbers. >

Ashley had to dodge another attack from behind.

"Yeah, figures."

She attempted to make a run for it, but three more shadowy creatures appeared, cutting off her escape route. Ashley backed as far as she could into a wall.

"Phoenix, let's fight!"

Flames engulfed Ashley's body. They're weren't hurting her, but instead transforming her.

Phoenix screeched and lashed out with her talons, knocking some of the Creeps away.

"Let's take this where there's a little more room."

Flapping her wings, Phoenix flew up. The Creeps followed, climbing up the side of the building. At the top, Phoenix stopped and readied herself. The first one extended its hands and lashed out for her. Phoenix swerved to one side, then attacked with her talons, ripping it in half.

The next three reached the top and begun lashing out for her as well. Fortunately, flight was her advantage, easily allowing her to elude them. The last one hung back and cast a Thunder spell on her.

The firebird screeched in pain.

"Ouch! OK, payback time!"

She dive-bombed the leader, knocking it into the rest. The Creeps ended up in a tangled heap.

"That's right boys, huddle up and make one nice BIG target! Phoenix flame!"

Spreading her wings, she tossed off a bunch of fireballs, which vaporized the monsters in a flash of light.

<Great! > Ashley told her partner, <But we still lost the guy. >

"Yes, such a shame."

Sirens began blaring in the distance.

<Phoenix, let's get out of here! >

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"Carbuncle! You were only supposed to use this trap if he was being uncooperative!" A voice called out.

"I'm sorry." Carbuncle gave an innocent look. "But it was fun."

Shiva entered the room Bahamut was trapped in. Now that she was in her true form, Bahamut could see that she was the same as ever. A beautiful woman with a snow-white skin color.

"I'm really sorry about that." She said, kneeling down beside Bahamut. "Are you all right?"

I've never been so humiliated in all my life!

At least, that was what he wanted to say, but what came out was more like: "MMMMRRRggHH! MMrrrGGhhh!"

"Oh yes, I think I should get you out of there." She waved her hand, sprinkling some snow-like powder over him. The glue dissolved and Bahamut was able to pull himself up.

"I'VE NEVER BEEN SO [Censored] HUMILIATED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

"Typical you, when you're pissed off." Shiva gave a laugh, "Now I'm sure it's really you."

"Whatever made you doubt it was me?" Bahamut asked.

"Well, you won't like it but…"

"Shiva, please tell me! It's not like I can keep up to date while being locked up as a stone statue."

"Back in our world, war's broken out."

"What?"

"Come into the next room and sit down. I'll explain." Shiva changed into her human form and Carbuncle jumped into her arms.

Bahamut too reverted, changing back into Glenn's form.

<We'll go with her for now. > Bahamut said. <but watch her carefully. I'm not sure I can completely trust her. >

"You're the human?" Shiva asked.

"Name's Glenn. I'm Bahamut's partner. You'll have to talk to me. Either way, Bahamut can still hear us."

"I know. I've worked with humans before." Shiva waved her hand. "Here, this way."

Glenn followed her into the next room.

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"After you all left, the gate between our worlds was sealed." Shiva began her story, "There was peace for many years. Until that day…"

Glenn took a sip of the coffee he'd been offered and listened intently.

"It was Diablos, one of the 'dark' ones. He suddenly approached the elders saying that he had some connections that could open the gateway to the real world. He said that we could attack by surprise and that that world as our own. Of course, the elders were against it. Although they banished him to the outer lands, it wasn't the end. Many of our own sided with him. They began conjuring up all sorts of evil and dark creatures. I urged Maduin to take action, but he was unwilling to go against orders."

"Maduin?" Glenn asked.

"Like your father trained him before." Shiva said.

"Hey, I hate to stick out like a sore thumb, but can we get back to the story?" Glenn asked, "It was getting interesting."

"Oh, yes. The dark ones launched an attack on our capital. It was so sudden and so precise, the elders and our army never had time to react. I was away, but Maduin was there at the time of the attack. I heard that no one survived."

<No… > Bahamut whispered.

"Those of us who didn't join Diablos in his mad quest formed a rebellion against his forces. So, the war began."

"And you?"

"I couldn't stand it. I somehow managed to find the gate. As its seal had been weakened, I was able to slip through and hide out here. However, I fear the forces of light may be falling. The dark could be mounting an invasion."

"I really don't know. I lost touch with most of them when the war began. I don't even know what side they're on. Palidor and Fenrir helped me escape. They insisted on staying back to hold off the enemy forces. They'd said they would join me later, but I never heard from them again."

<Those friends… > Bahamut was filled with both remorse and rage at the same time.

"But now our worst fears may be coming through. I recently sensed a breach in the fabric of space."

"A what?" Glenn asked, "You're not making any sense."

"Yes," Shiva reached forward and took Glenn's hand. He could feel the shaking through the snow-like touch of her hand, "and I need your help…"