Chrono Trigger: Twins of Destiny Chapter 17

Inside Information

By Mox Jet

            Alaria and Teclis stood across the street from the installation, preparing to part from Yiri.  The irony was that they would hopefully not be away from him long; in fact they wished everything to go smoothly and quickly.  Garbed in M-1 uniforms that Euel had procured for them, they held in their hands the ID cards that would get them into the facility.  Placed conveniently over the tips of their left forefingers were artificial flaps of skin with fake finger prints.  Beneath the fake layer hid a thin vein of blood that would match up to the files.  Euel’s forgery equipment was actually sophisticated enough to simply replicate the blood based on information in his computer; no real blood sample was necessary.

 

            “You’ll do fine, kids,” Yiri said.  “I promise that Euel is a true artist.  You don’t have to worry an inch about being found out.”

 

            “I’m worried more about our mannerisms,” Alaria admitted.  “How do we act as what would be considered military?

 

            “You know how he acts?” Yiri asked, pointing to Teclis.

 

            “Yeah.”

 

            “Just do that,” Yiri said, slightly smirking.  Teclis furrowed his brow, but made no comment.  Alaria grinned, taking a deep breath.

 

            “Okay, then,” she said, exhaling loudly.  “You ready, Tec?”

 

            “Ready as ever,” Teclis answered.  “Shall we?”

 

            “Aye,” she said, turning to Yiri.  “We’ll see you in an hour, max, I think.”  He nodded.  She looked back to Teclis.  “Let’s go.”

 

            “Agreed,” he said, spinning casually towards the building and walking towards it.  Alaria followed after him.  He gazed back at her quickly.  “Just act casual, Alaria.  Just tell yourself you’re doing nothing wrong and never give nervous glances.”

 

            “Yeah?”

 

            “Sure,” he said.  “How do you think I managed to pick Yiri’s pocket and have him clueless about it for days.”

 

            “How long ago did you do it?” she said, laughing.

 

            “After he logged us into the system.  Basically, after he didn’t need to help us anymore.”  He chuckled.  “If you were listening, he’s actually been moaning about how he lost his wallet for a bit, now.  He’ll love it when he finds that I paid him with money from his own bank accounts.”  He let chuckle.

 

            “Why don’t you like him?” Alaria asked.  “He’s been helpful thus far.”

 

            “He smells funny,” Teclis said.  “It’s me being cynical again, likely.  I just…don’t trust people that openly offer to help.”

 

            “Well, we should be done with him after this.  We’ll likely be moving on to Renektent in search of what this information tells us.”

 

            “Is that what you decided?” Teclis asked her as they reached the first door.  The building was the standard white affair on the outside.  It looked to be about seven stories high, narrowing as it climbed.  The roof was flat, save for some antennae of sorts protruding from it.  The doors had been flanked by two wings of the building that extended out on either side of the entrance.  Two pillar supported a headstone above the gate that read “Navarre Viavius Geminus Jugande.”  Neither had bothered to read the stone.

 

            “Yup,” she said, smiling as they opened the double doors and wandered into the entry hall.

 

.

 

            “They’re on their way,” the man said into a phone as he watched the two teens wander into the building.  “I’d say give them fifteen minutes before you go in.”

 

            “That sounds pretty apt,” a voice said on the other end, a tenor with a pretentious accent.  “Would you like to be there?”

 

            “Only when they torture the boy,” he said.  “But I'll come in after I see your men enter.”

 

            “Has the building been informed?”

 

            “Yes.  We wouldn’t mess this up…not after he stumbled into our hands so effortlessly.”

 

            “Excellent,” the pretentious voice said.  “I’ll see you in there.”

 

            “Right,” he responded, closing his phone and putting into his pocket.  Finally ready to collect on the snide comments he had been hearing all week, Yiri smirked.

 

.

 

            The inside the building was far different from the outside.  They were greeted by a surprisingly elaborate entry hall complete with multicolored marble floors and columns supporting a second floor that looked down onto the main floor through a large circular gap in the center of the room.  Below that circular gap, sitting on the first floor, was a large stone globe that depicted the world of Celes.  The globe was actually moving along the true axis of the planet.  Around the of the globe the words “Superiority, Control, and Fear,” were etched into the floor in gothic font.  People in uniforms bustled around, the smell of sweat not overpowering the faint smell of musk in the room.

 

            Right as they walked through the main doors, they came to a set of turnstiles that people were passing through.  Quickly picking up on what those around them were doing, the took their ID cards, slid them through the designated slides, and placed their fingers in the specially designed inserts.  While not truly feeling it, they could sense a small needle pierce their fake skin, withdraw the fake blood, and go back into hiding.  They continued past the turnstiles, content in passing the first test.

 

            They took a moment to look around and gauge their surroundings and quickly noticed a large interactive map on the back wall, similar to the one they had seen in the library.  A convenient “You are Here” label shown in bright red.  Gazing at the map for a moment, Alaria indicated with her head that the library was off to the left.  Teclis nodded and the two spun sideways (as military-like as possible) and headed off in the mapped direction. 

 

            “Not so bad,” Alaria said, somewhat under her breath.

 

            “Don’t jynx us,” Teclis muttered. 

 

            The headed down a hallway which grew much less elaborate than the main room.  The walls were white with an aqua trim, the floors still retaining the colored marble look.  Oddly enough, they couldn’t tell where the light was coming from as there were no windows and no discernable light bulbs of sorts.  Luckily,  blue digital displays that hung from the ceiling indicated with arrows where specific rooms were.  They saw, as expected, that the library was towards the end. 

 

            They followed the light down the hall and entered a door on their right that opened up to the library.  It almost matched the majesty of the main room.  This library was also two floors, similar to the public library in form but far more elaborate in adornment.  Engravings of battle scenes lined the walls which now appeared to be made of stone.  Holographic projectors created images all along central isle of the room.  Blue lights that hung from the ceiling of the second floor lit the room (where there was ceiling, as opposed to just space).  The area rugs that were spaced through the room were blue, black and gold.  Once again, the teens found themselves fighting looking awed. 

 

            “I suppose we just take a terminal like we did in the public library,” Teclis suggested, finding his way to one of the terminals that was off to the side.  They were met with a familiar card swiping mechanism.  Teclis brought out his fake ID card once again and passed it through the slide.  Sure enough, the screen came to life and the database welcomed Tyrion Mandrake into the system.

 

            “Bingo,” Alaria muttered.  “Now let’s search…”  Teclis nodded, first typing in the word Crystain.  As if some magical key had somehow unlocked the gate to heaven, the engine produced results.  Teclis opened up the first query.

 

            “Crystain,” he said, reading aloud.  “Originally discovered by an exploration team off the coast of the island nations of Guraiwai, it has been noted for its multi-planar properties.  Believed to strike past the physical defenses of a being, once it properties were discovered, M-1 was immediately dispatched to invade Guraiwai and take over the Crystain that they had mined.  With the research that followed, it was concluded that the substance may in fact be deadly to Geminus and his servants.  The physical regeneration that Geminus’s elite warriors display is completely bypassed when struck with a Crystain weapon. 

 

            “Before M-1 was able to claim all of the Crystan that Guraiwai had mined, it suspected that the Nisai Ryu managed to escape with enough of it to forge several blades.  These weapons are sought after by the Empire.  See also, Nisai Ryu, Geminus.

 

            “Lavoid,” Alaria said.  “Let’s see about that.”

           

            “On it…” Teclis said, his fingers running over the touchpad.  “L-a-v-o-i-d, right?”

 

            “I….think so, yeah,” Alaria said, not really sure.

 

            “Okay, here,” he hit the search key.  Nothing came up.  They both frowned.  Alaria put her hand to her chin for a moment.

 

            “Try: Geminus.”

 

            “Okay,” he plugged it in.  This time, some listings came up.  He clicked on the top of the list.

 

            “Geminus,” Teclis read.  “The extra-terrestrial being that is currently aiding Ithilmar in its quest for global domination.”

 

            “What??” Alaria asked, in slight disbelief.  Teclis kept reading.

 

            “Following the discovery of his existence in a large geological stratum beneath the Crystain deposits in the Gurawai islands, Queen Jara proposed linking the failing Ithilmarian power systems to the energy that Geminus was freely giving off.  The following led to the creation of the Oceanic Power Facility which is currently operated by enslaved Gurawaiians.  The OPF has been successful in maintaining the steady power flow that has kept the Ithilmarian in the air.  Geminus has also helped M-1 by supplying troops in the form of his Elite Guard, as well as insight into the higher workings of the energies of the universe.

 

            “It said in that other article that the Oceanic Power Facility was abandoned, though,” Alaria said, barely above a whisper.  “That wasn’t the case?”

 

            “I’d trust this information over whatever they released to the public, Alaria.  You know that it looks like they censor stuff.  No wonder mention of it disappeared completely…they must have not wanted people to know that they had completed it.  But why?”

 

            “Maybe there’s a problem with absorbing energy from this Geminus thing?” Alaria suggested.

 

            “Black energy…” Teclis mused.  “That’s what they were calling it.  Why suddenly hide it?  Wouldn’t people know that the original power source failed?”

 

            “I guess not, but why would the government cover up something like this?”

 

            “Perhaps they didn’t want people to know that they were working with an extra-terrestrial.  I mean, if this is right and Geminus is some kind of alien, wouldn’t that cause a kind of panic?”

 

            “Sure,” Alaria agreed.  Then, she understood.  “So when they found out more about Geminus, they realized that they couldn’t let the public know about his existence and so they had to cover it up.”

 

            “That’s what I think.”

 

            “Let’s keep reading.”  Teclis complied.

           

            “Geminus’s origins are unknown,” he said.  “Cases have not even been documented regarding what he looks like.  For M-1’s purpose, he is to be considered a ruling body on to par to Commander Darius.  See also: Darius Godessaire, Nisai Ryu, Lyons-Ithilmarian Alliance Treaty, and The Royal Twins.”

 

            “Darius Godessaire.  Check that out.”  Now Alaria felt as if they were getting somewhere.  Teclis complied, entering the name and bringing up the information.

 

            “Commander and Chief of the Ithilmarian Military, M-1,” he read aloud.  “High level magic user suspect of being able to tap all eight naturally occurring Winds of Magic.  Warrior and General of unequaled power, victorious in over one hundred campaigns and countless battles.  Age suspect to be in the vicinity of three hundred and fifty years, but possible more.  He shows no sign of age.  Unique physical characteristics include dark blue hair which, while common among females in Ithilmar, is undocumented in any male besides M-1 Agent Tyrion Mandrake and the lost Twins of Queen Jara.  See also: Royal Twins, Tyrion Mandrake, Geminus.

 

            “Tyrion Mandrake,” Alaria said.  “Definitely Tyrion Mandrake.”  Teclis nodded emphatically. 

 

            “Newest M-1 Recruit and conclusion to the first part of the Lyons-Ithimlarian Alliance.  Suspected to be the first of the lost sons of Queen Jara, as indicated by his proven ability in combat, his ability to interface with the Black Armour, Cyoren, and his proliferation of Black Energy which Geminus described.  His energy signature is remarkably close to that of Commander Darius’s, whose hair coloring he shares.  See also: Nisai Ryu, Lyons-Ithilmarian Alliance Treaty, Royal Twins.

 

            “Try the Lyons Treaty, next,” Alaria said.  It’s come up twice now.”

 

            “Okay,” he said, bringing up the information.  “The Alliance is based on the following terms: In exchange for Lyons’ aide in discovering the whereabouts and apprehending the Lost Twins of Jara, Ithilmar will provide support to Lyons with their military.

 

            “M-1 agents participating in this agreement are to treat all Denegradian soldiers as enemies of Ithilmar as well as enemies of Lyons.  See also: Royal Twins, En’Kai.

 

            “Royal Twins, next,” Alaria said.  Teclis shook his head. 

 

            “No...I have a better idea.  It’s come up far too much now to not be a major player…” he typed the words Nisai Ryu into the box and brought up what was available.

 

            “Nisai Ryu,” he read.  “An ancient order of warriors originally founded in the days that Ithilmar had just taken to the sky.  Its  purpose being to act as a mediator to the surface nations, the Nisai Ryu were formally trained in aspects of both open combat and espionage.  They acted as subterfuge agents for several hundred years.  Following the first Saidiar rebellion in the eighth century, though, it is suspected that their goals changed.

 

            “The Saidiar, formed to resist the use of Geminus’s energy, had eventually formed into a full-blown Anti-Ithilmarian effort.  It is thought that around this time they swayed the Grand Masters of the Nisai Ryu from the function for which they were originally formed.  As of here, they appear to have taken up two new goals.  First, to train an army to fight Geminus when the time for his return has come.  Second, to seek out the ‘Sons of Geminus’ and teach them to fight against Geminus himself.  The Sons of Geminus are suspected to be either the Avatars of Adrekal or perhaps even the Sons of Jara, given their incredible power.

 

            “The Nisai Ryu, while once having been one of the arms of our state, are now our enemies and should be dealt with accordingly.”

 

            “Part of…Ithilmar?” Alaria asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.  “And designed to fight Geminus?”  She took a step back from the machine.

 

            “They were building an army,” Teclis said.  “How ironic.”

 

            “How did I get taken into the Nisai Ryu?” Alaria asked herself.  “How could we have been duped so completely.”

 

            “The Lavoid and Crystain are the key…” Teclis said.  He turned to her.  “Geminus,” he said.  “Geminus is the Lavoid.  Crystain is the key to beating him.”

 

            “Why is that our concern, though?” Alaria said.  “What would the Nisai Ryu want to fight something like that for?  Why do they want the Son of Geminus… and what does Griever sect have to do with this?”  She froze.

 

            Avatar of Adrekel! She thought.  The Son of Geminus is the Avatar of Adrekel!  They were looking for Teclis.  No wonder he teleported us away; they were protecting him.  But what does it mean?

 

            “All in due time, friends,” came a tenor voice from the door behind them.  They spun to see a number of black-clad men with long swords swarm into the room.  Standing at the center of them was a taller man with dark blue hair.  Just behind him was a man clad in white that was all too recognizable. 

 

            “Yiri?!” Alaria asked in shock.  “What is this?!”

 

            “Sorry, Alaria,” he said.  “But after all, Business is business.”

                       

            “I echo my partners concerns.  What is this?” Teclis questioned, already beginning to gather ethereal energies and realizing that the Winds were rather weak in this area.

 

            “Your arrest,” the blue haired man said.

 

            “What have we done?” Teclis asked.

 

            “In addition to breaking into a Government Installation, murdering thirteen men, and resisting arrest, you, Teclis Spelman, are wanted under the suspicions of being a deserter of the Nation of Ithilmar,” the man said.

 

            “That’s ridiculous,” Teclis scoffed.  “How can I be a deserter of something I was never a part of?”

 

            “Oh, but you were, friend.  You were,” the man said.  He raised his arm and pointed at the teens.  “Arrest them.”

 

            “Who says I’m going down that easy?!” Teclis screamed, focusing some of the energy that he had gathered and launching a fireball at the man with blue hair.  The energy dissipated as it hit him.  Teclis grunted.

 

            “What the fuck?” he wondered, frozen in temporary confusion.  Alaria was not bothered by it.

 

            “Eargghh!” she screamed.  Lifestream rushed into the room.  She snapped her hands forward and knives flew out of his sleeves catching the men to Yiris' sides in the head.  She flew into the fray and drew the short swords that hung at her hips.  Lunging and catching the first man in the stomach, she swung her free blade to the left and slit the next man’s throat.  The soldiers then finally began to react and swarm the two teenagers.  Lifestream swirled around her and her speed increased.  She ducked under another swipe and hacked off the attacker’s legs from the knees down.  Her other blade came up as she spun clockwise, but she was parried by a skillfully placed sword.  She backed up, and tried to consolidate her space.

 

            She managed to cut a few more down before they were all around her.  Granted, she was fast, but these were M-1 soldiers and she wouldn’t be able to hold them off for long.  Despite flashes of lighting that signaled that Teclis was hurling spells and fending off enemies on his own, they would be overpowered relatively soon.

 

            She spun around in a circle with both arms extended, forcing her enemies back and deflecting some of their blades, but she knew she could not hold out for ever.  These were not thieves in the woods or smugglers from the mountains.  These were possibly the best trained soldiers in the world.

 

            “Get out, Alaria!” Teclis screamed, letting loose an arc of blue energy that sliced through the oncoming soldiers and freeing her a path backtrack through.  He could feel some of their equipment activating though…ether disrupters.  They were making the Winds harder for him to draw on.  They had come to fight a magic user.

 

            “I can’t!” she screamed, back, trying to fight her way back towards him.  She felt a rushing shock up her leg, though she didn’t have to look to know she’d been stabbed.

 

            “Then I’m doing it for you…” he said under his breath.  “It’s me they want!” this time loudly.  He sent out a pulse of wind that knocked the encircling troops back.  Then, he began to gather more energy.  He closed his eyes and held his hands out in front of him.  “And you’re not getting killed on account of me!”

 

            “Teclis!” she screamed back.

 

            Time began to move slowly now as Teclis began to cast the spell.  Sarah explained this as the Splitting Sensitivity Effect.  A person who is at least somewhat sensitive to the Winds of Time will feel it when large splits begin to form in the Multiverse.  At this moment, the casting of this spell was crucial to many eventual time lines, and so Teclis sensed time itself being torn apart in multiple directions.

 

            “No!” Alaria screamed, sensing what he was doing.  “Don’t send me away!”  She felt an electrical jolt serge through her, indicating that they were using stun weapons.  She gathered more Lifestream and focused it into a series of energy blades that shot away from her, bringing down a few more men.  There were just too many, though, and she had no time to heal.

 

            “I have to!” he said, almost completing the spell.  “But don’t worry…I’ll see you soon!”  He brought the final Winds into position.  “…I promise!”  He swung his arms up in a circle and a great light tore into the room and engulfed Alaria.  Runic circles lit up the floor around her and the air rippled with magical energy.  In a flash, she was no longer there and the swords of her attackers were slicing through air.  The quickly noticed the change and turned their attention to Teclis.  He looked at the soldiers and grimaced.

 

“One last chance,” he said under his breath.  He was already holding his hands over his head again, starting to focus.  He began to chant.

 

            “Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows…”  The enemies would be on him in an instant, but he would try and cast this spell.  The only thing he had going for him was that they had to take him alive, so they couldn’t just out and out kill him…

 

            “Burried in the stream of time is where your power flows.”  The room lit up in red light and the soldiers momentarily stood back.  Drawing the Winds had been extremely difficult, but drawing from the powers of the Dark Ethereals…that was something else.  The Teleport spell had been just about the last of the Winds he could gather.  They wouldn’t see this one coming.

 

            “I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand before the might gift bestowed in my unworthy hand.  May the fools who stand before us by the power you and I possess!!”  The energy had gathered, but the soldiers decided they needed to hit him now.  They rushed him.  He wouldn’t get it off.

 

            “DRAGON SLA-” he was cut off by the electrical surges of as many as ten cattle prods jolting him in his sides.  The magical energy dissipated, leaving nothing but a room that was about twenty degrees hotter than it had been five seconds ago.  He went out after struggling physically for about half a minute, finally being clubbed over the head.  Yiri and the blue haired man walked up to the limp body.

 

            “You sure you need him alive, Darius?” Yiri asked, his cheerful tone completely absent, the ruthlessness that Teclis had subtly detected now clear.

 

            “Yes, Yiri,” he said.  “I need him alive.  He’s worth nothing to me dead.”  He turned away.  “Take the body.  We make haste for Renektent.”

 

            “ You want us to find the girl?” one of the soldiers asked.

 

            “No,” Darius said, shaking his head.  “She’ll come for him…I’m sure of it.”

 

.

 

            Alaria sprung up from the ground drawing the Crystain blade from its sheath and holding it in a position threatening a strike.  She was temporarily ignorant in the pain in her leg and sides, but only wanted to smell the blood of those M-1 soldiers.  It wasn’t long, though, before she realized that there was no one around her.  No soldiers, no people, no Teclis.  She felt a little woozy, but was with it enough to know that she had been sent away, exactly against her wishes.

 

            “Dammit!” she screamed, throwing the sword to the ground.  Then, her vision began to blur and she became dizzy.

 

            “Whudya have to…go and do that for, Tec?” she asked the air, breathing heavily.  Then, she passed out.

 

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“It’s nice when they do some of the research on their own.  It makes explaining the entire thing a lot easier when they already know part of the equation…” –Tristan Tenser


Chapter 18

Chrono Trigger Fanfic