2021-07-17: After the Fall
- Cutscene: After the Fall
- Cast: A Mysterious Woman and several Gebler infantry.
- Where: Beneath Zanarkand
- Date: 7-17-2021
- Summary: A group of soldiers make a decision.
None of them knew how long had passed after the ruin had been detonated by the Odessa rebels. It could not have been long; fifteen minutes, perhaps. Perhaps much less. They fell in the wind. They screamed in the dark. Albrecht had broken his neck in the fall; so it had been more than a few minutes.
There were four of them and the woman.
"I can't stay with you," she said, in the homeland's language. "But if you want to come with me, I will take care of you, the best I can."
The woman's eyes had turned to the ground then. Her eyes were sad, but they just had that shape. Her face was hard to read, in the gloaming.
None of them moved, because they could see at all from the small fire that sat, without fuel, in the pit to which they had fallen. And perhaps because she had closed Albrecht's eyes.
"All that I would ask of you is that you unload your weapons, just for now, and let me have any detonators you're carrying," the woman said. "You should be able to protect yourself with Ether if anything seeks you out. If a rescue team comes... then, you can say that Drifters robbed you while you were stunned. The penalty for losing ammo isn't much, right?"
None of them spoke.
The fire flickered. Without fuel, it was silent.
"If you come with me, you may never be able to return," the woman said. "Unless Solaris changes... changes so much that you might not recognize it... then there won't be an end to the conflict between the surface-dwellers and Solaris."
"They could purge," Elody began, but then she stopped. The woman closed her eyes.
"They could," the woman said. "But, there are places where they won't be able to reach. Not unless everything else is already gone."
There was silence again, for moments. There might have been people shouting, somewhere terribly far away. But perhaps there wasn't.
"If you want, I have some light sticks," the woman began, and that was when Louis began to weep, silent, wet tears that glowed like rubies and topaz in the firelight.
The woman drew out a hankerchief, often laundered but clean, and passed it to Louis.
Louis sobbed into it, once. He held it over his mouth. He asked, "What will you do if we don't give you our fucking detonators? What if we don't - what if we just kill you." The others drew in sharp breaths, and shifted, but they did not speak up. None reached for their weapons.
"I would try to protect myself if you did it right now," the woman said. "I have people who I need to find... to be honest with you, I thought that I should simply leave. But... that soldier."
"Albrecht," Louis choked.
"... I wish I could have tried to heal him. I'm sorry," the woman said. "As for the rest... if you shot me while I was leaving, I couldn't do anything to stop you."
The silence returned for the last time.
"What do we have to do," Elody said, quietly, and the others let out their breath.
"Take off your insignia and your armguards," the woman said. "Leave them here. That should make you look different enough to avoid people firing on you. Do any of you speak the surface-dweller language well?"
"I do," Louis said. "Elody, a little bit, also, yeah?" (Elody nodded, to confirm.)
"Then, you should speak for everyone, if we need to. If any of the other Drifters antagonize you, please say that you're a ((Prisoner)) and say you're with the ((Black Wolves)). Do you understand?"
When they had, the woman continued: "If I get hurt - or worse - tell the other Drifters you want to speak to Dr. Uzuki. He speaks the homeland language, so he will be able to help you. If you can't find Dr. Uzuki, ask for LEON ALBUS, or IDA EVERSTEAD RAY, or NOELINE and RIESENLIED. Say those names back to me, please."
A ragged chorus of strange names, of people they had never known. The woman smiled at them all, and though Elody despised it most of all, they were all comforted to see it.
Apfel spoke up. "If we ask for them, what... should we say?"
"Oh, if you just give them my name, even if I've been killed, I'm sure they'll try to help you. If all else fails, and it's still Spira, try to find Yuna or the Al--"
"No, I mean," Apfel struggled for words, "I mean, who are... YOU?"
"Oh," the woman said.
"My name is Elhaym van Houten. I'm glad to know you all."