Chapter Text
Ilberd threw himself from the top of the Wall, Nidhogg’s eyes in each hand. Hydaelyn was singing, the same song from the Calamity, but She was almost whispering. Altani stood deathly still, eyes glowing in the blue light of an Echo.
There was silence, and Babby swore he could feel the hairs standing up on the back of his neck as the aether swirled around, concentrated on Nidhogg's eyes.
A bright red light shot up towards the sky, drawing in the aether around them as it formed.
"This light, is it…" Alphinaud breathed, terrified and trembling.
"His death completed the ritual. The Primal is taking shape." Papalymo said somberly, gaze stuck on the ball of aether slowly forming in the sky.
"Well, can't we stop it!? There must be something we can do!” Yda cried, flickering back and forth between Papalymo, the aether, and Altani.
“There is… one thing,” Papalymo mumbled, walking forward to where Ilberd had stood only a few moments ago.
“Wha─? Hey! Where do you think you're going!?”
“Master Louisoix briefly contained Bahamut by means of a potent spell of sealing. I will now attempt to do the same.”
“But that's impossible! We would need hours to collect the necessary aether, i-if not days!” Alphinaud shouted, pale as a sheet and focused intently on Papalymo.
“Ah, Alphinaud... Though I concede it may not always be apparent, I was ever your grandsire's finest pupil,” Papalymo explained, pulling Tupsimati out and holding it carefully.
“Tupsimati, of course! The staff still holds enormous power, broken or not.” Alphinaud looked shocked and thoughtful, but still watched Papalymo warily.
“Don't you dare, Papalymo! I know how that spell works!” Yda interrupted, shaking her head. There was a tense moment of silence, the two watching each other, and then the hum of an airship closing in broke the quiet.
“It is time to leave!” Yugiri cried from the airship, Thancred behind her with Hilda at the helm.
“Quite right! Quickly, now! Off you go! The further away the better!”
“No! If you're staying, then so am I!”
“No, Yda! There is a path only you can walk, and it must not end here─not like this!” Papalymo turned his gaze to the airship before continuing, “Take her! Please, you have to take her!” After a quiet nod, Thancred jumped off the airship to cart away Yda despite her protests, and Alphinaud joined them with his own grumblings.
“This is one battle the two of you cannot fight. Away with you both. Go!” Babby nodded, turning immediately and grabbing Altani by the shoulder.
“We need to go, come on!” She was frozen stock still, staring sightless at the aether in the sky.
Her eyes were still glowing, still stuck in the Echo. Papalymo seemed to notice it then, shaking his head.
“Hydaelyn, You test us at the worst times,” he sighed, “Get to the airship. I’ll send her up.”
Babby blinked, and he had a feeling that Papalymo could see how much he did not believe that statement.
“Please, Babby.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going.” He jumped up to the airship, turning to watch Papalymo again. He nodded, then with a wave of his hand shot a white ball of magic at Altani, throwing her back and up to the airship, directly at Babby. He yelled (yelped, Thancred would call it) out, stumbling backwards as Altani all but crashed into him, knocking them both down.
“Hilda, I think he means now!” Thancred yelled, and then they were moving. Babby disentangled himself from Altani, who was still staring directly at the ball of aether despite having been thrown.
He realized that she was breathing far too fast to be healthy.
“Tani?” He breathed, trying to get her to look at him, something, anything other than those sightless eyes.
She started to heave, clutching at her chestplate and struggling to keep a breath.
“Fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck-” Yugiri was quick where he wasn’t, removing Altani’s helmet and beginning to unstrap her gauntlets and chestplate. He found his limbs as she removed the gauntlets, and helped with unstrapping and removing her chestplate, setting the armor aside for the moment. Yugiri calmly pushed Altani into a ball, with her head between her knees, hand smoothing against her back and waiting for something to change.
“The hells was that?” Thancred gasped, kneeling down next to them.
“I-I'm not sure. I don't know when the Echo started, but it was somewhere… somewhere between Ilberd taking off his hood and the Primal forming. ”
“Did you not get one as well?” Alphinaud asked, pacing back and forth across the deck.
“No, nothing. Hydaelyn… She was singing. It was quiet, but I’m pretty sure it was the same song from the Calamity.” Thancred sighed, scrubbing at his face.
“Let’s focus on getting back to friendly ground,” his gaze drifted to Yda, still clutching at the railing of the airship and watching the ball of aether. As they flew away, aetheric… sticks (he wasn't quite sure what they were) appeared all around the ball, and in an instant they had skewered the ball of aether, and something else entirely appeared from below the ball, sealing the newborn primal inside.
He'd bought them time.
Grief and relief washed through him, as he turned his attention back to Altani, shoving the loose armor into her bag and busying himself with trying to prevent her from getting worse.
Yda was understandably upset about what had happened at the Wall, but truth be told Babby could not focus on the conversation at all. He only tuned back in when Thancred had turned to address Alphinaud.
"Go on. Go back to the Rising Stones. The others need to know what happened here." Alphinaud nodded sagely, walking away with Hilda following a few moments behind. Thancred turned to him, already rummaging through Altani's bag looking for one of her whistles. "What's your plan?"
"Gonna take her back to Gridania, for now. She's in no shape for Coerthas or teleporting to Mor Dhona. Yugiri, can I ask you to find Arga? He said he'd be staying in Gridania for a few weeks when we last spoke. And maybe a conjurer, if they can spare a pair of hands." Yugiri nodded, racing off into the trees as Babby finally found Altani's Draught whistle, and brought it to his mouth and blew. Within moments, the larger-than-average chocobo was at their side, cooing quietly at her owner. "I know, I know, you don't like me on the reins." He coaxed her down far enough that he could swing Altani into the saddle, before he climbed in behind her and took the reins. "I'll see you both around." Thancred nodded, and with barely a moment they were off to return to Gridania.
He was forced to dismount from the chocobo while in the ferry to Gridania proper, needing help from Muraudel to get her into the boat. At his questioning, Babby could only shake his head and mumble out, “Her Echo’s lasting longer than usual,” and prayed that she wouldn’t freak out again. Romarique gave them a similarly confused look when they arrived in Gridania, though Muraudel stopped outside the boat to speak with him. Argasar was running full speed towards the pier, stumbling over the gate and pressing his hand against her forehead once he was close.
“Is she ill?”
“She’s been in an Echo since we left the Wall. Haven’t figured out what’s going on yet.” He only hummed, then shook his head and took Altani from him, holding her close to his chest.
“Yugiri went off to Stillglade to try and get a conjurer. She said you’d be heading for the Roost?” Babby nodded, winded and shaking out his arms.
They walked to the Carline Canopy in silence.
When they arrived, Miounne wasn’t behind her counter, pacing back and forth near Antoinaut’s space. She glanced up at their entry and waved them over, opening the gate and holding it open for them.
“Yugiri is already in a room with Brother E-Sumi, they only just arrived. It’s the third room on the right.”
“Thank you, Miounne.” Argasar moved fast despite his size, and hurried into the room Miounne had pointed out. Babby nodded at Miounne and followed Argasar in silence.
Yugiri left as soon as they arrived, saying that she was needed at the Rising Stones, nodding to the group of them and vanishing out the door. She assured Babby that if there was anything critical, they would let him know, but he should focus on Altani.
He couldn’t argue with that, and set their things down in the corner of the room, away from everyone, and tried to not get in Brother E-Sumi’s way while he worked. Argasar seemed(?) to know what he was doing, or at least had a much better understanding of it than Babby himself. The two of them worked in whispers, Argasar taking supplies and focuses out of a bag he hadn’t noticed near the edge of the bed, listening intently to Brother E-Sumi’s whispers.
He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the sun was beginning to set, when finally, there was something.
“M'zhulu…” Altani mumbled, and when Babby looked up, her eyes were still glowing and sightless. Argasar cursed, whistling lowly.
“M'zhulu, Twelve I haven’t heard her say that name in years.” Brother E-Sumi tilted his head, face pinched in confusion.
“I’m afraid that name is unfamiliar to me.”
“I’m not surprised, I barely knew her myself. Back when the Scions were the Path of the Twelve, they paired everyone up with somebody, and they’d send people out together on the missions. She and Altani got paired together when she joined them. We didn’t talk much about Path stuff, but I know they were thick as thieves.” Brother E-Sumi hummed, now thoughtful.
“Tell me, do you know what she practiced?”
“If you mean how she fought, she was a conjurer, mostly. Picked it up at some point and stuck with it. Damn good at it too, had to be with Tani taking the big hits.”
“What did she look like?” Argasar whistled again, looking up at the ceiling in thought.
“Miqo’te, tanned skin, orangeish-pink hair, it was cut short. She was… she was right around Altani’s height, I believe.” Brother E-Sumi hummed again, then turned back to Babby.
“And you said that she went into this, most likely around when the Griffin summoned his primal?” Babby nodded, watching Brother E-Sumi’s face carefully. “Then I might know what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, tilting his head and walking forward.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it in anyone with an Echo, but after Cartenau, many of the soldiers who returned would have flashbacks, feel like they were standing on the fields again. Sometimes very mundane things would set them off, and I remember one distinctly who could scarcely hear a bowstring’s twang without descending into panic.”
“You think she’s having a flashback like that?”
“Yes, and that the Echo is making her relive it, fully. You’ve both mentioned in the past that you take on the role of the person whose memories you’re seeing. She may have very well taken her own place in her own memories.”
“But it’s been bells. That can’t be normal.” Argasar said, crossing his arms. “Their Echos usually only last a few moments.”
“I believe the Echo is at fault for that, but if she is reliving her memories of Carteneau, they could very well be going in circles, each memory retriggering the flashbacks.”
“So how are we supposed to break her out of it?”
“I believe she mistook me healing her for M'zhulu, in whatever memory she’s in right now. On the other hand, if you did, Argasar, that dissonance could drag her back to reality.”
“Why me?”
“I am hoping that she will recognize you as her brother, as you are visually distinct enough from M'zhulu. While your abilities are still developing, even just a Cure spell should suffice.”
“What about if I used Physick on her? I wasn’t even into Arcanima at all, I'm half sure she'd forgotten me by then.” Brother E-Sumi only shook his head.
“I fear that you might look too similar to M'zhulu for her to differentiate. If she can mistake me for her, I do not think it is too far to say that she can mistake you as well.” He turned back to Argasar, patting at his forearm and stepping back, almost hiding himself from Altani’s eyes. Argasar only sighed, shaking his head. He took a small, weathered wand from his side with trembling hands. After taking a few deep breaths to steady his nerves, he started waving the wand in a practiced motion, drawing green-hued aether to Altani.
She looked confused for a moment, turning her head, staring directly at Argasar’s waist, then she craned her neck up to look confusedly at her brother.
“Ar...ga?”
The glow in her eyes shattered, and she recoiled back with a groan of pain, thinning out to a hiss. Brother E-Sumi was quick to cast another healing spell, which at the very least lessened the pained expression on her face. Argasar looked ready to collapse, instead choosing to sit down at the edge of the bed. Babby rushed forward, gathering her up in a hug before he could stop himself, clutching at her back and kissing pressing his face against her head slowly rocking them both back and forth. She froze for a moment, then slowly hugged him back, watching all of them confusedly.
"... I take it something happened?"