FFX-3 Chat

Chapter 25

"My memories are back!"

Bria was lying on the floor, tied up, but still impressive. Shinra had never met such a man.

More than ever, the boy was delighted to have chosen one day to hide behind his glasses and his mask and to join the Gullwings. His lack of experience, because of his young age, was a problem that his brilliance did not manage to resolve. Worse still, he had been the chosen victim of mocking and bullying. His getup hid his distress or his tears, but he could not prevent his voice from trembling.

He decided to stay silent until he regain his composure. Fortunately, his interlocutor appeared to not care about being the only one to talk.

"Numerous memories have come back into my mind. Yet, a conversation between a Bedohl and myself seems like a new experience, currently. A brat, to be sure."

Shinra shrugged. He did not feel up to do more.

"But I've lost comrades because of underestimating a child due to his youth, so..."

Bria shook his head, as if to show that he will not repeat this error. He wriggled to sit up straight, cross-legged. On his guard, Shinra was waiting for the next move of the prisoner. Was he going to tell him how his comrades had died? If he was going to do so, there was a good chance that he would lose his temper, and the situation could become dangerous...

But the man changed the subject.

"You don't intend to call for help ?"

Shinra shook his head. Bria grumbled and stayed quiet. Relieved by his mutism, the boy began to examinate him. His hair and his mustache were hiding his face, and it was difficult to discern his expression. His faded look seemed to hide a secret. Shinra did not trust this man, and he knew it was the same for Lulu.

For a moment, Bria stared at Shinra in turn, before lowering his eyes.

"Leave me alone," he whispered.

His back suddenly stooped, as if the arrogance that had been supporting him so far had disappeared.

It was the perfect time to leave the room, the boy thought.

"What is a  Bedohl? Why do you call me that, sir?"

Shinra had spoken with a tone more polite than the prisoner deserved, and he regretted it. But rephrasing it was not an option: that would lead him to admit that he had made a mistake.

The man sit up straight with a sour laugh

"All the Bedohls were like you. Now, people say "Al Bhed". In the past, a man named "Alb" was their leader. Some people called them "Alb's Bedohls" or "Albedohls". It's the Church who's decided to call you "Al Bhed". A name easier to spew out, I guess. It's just a simple patch, like all the teachings of Yevon."

"I didn't know. Nobody has told us about this."

This admission was not showing his best light to to the prisoner, but he paid that no mind. His main objective was first to draw his interlocutor out. Bria nodded kindly.

"Since it's origin, this world was governed by beings endowed with supernatural abilities. Those who have predispostions to magic and mastered it have always been given an advantage, and they have jealously guarded it until now. The daily life of the destitute people has been cruel for a long time. Think carefully: back in the days, magic was the only way to produce a flame. The Bedohls are the ones who have turned the tide. Their inventions have been called "machines" or "machinas" and have spread out all over the world. Of course, the people in charge did not appreciate that. But they knew the Bedohls were useful. Instead of forbiding them, they tried to find a way to take advantage of them. 'To coexist and to prosper', that was their motto."

Shinra was hanging onto Bria's every word. In the boy's mind, Spira's history had always begun with the Machina War. It was the first he was hearing talk of events preceding  this conlict.

"But the faults are on both sides. The Bedohls have become more and more audacious, and the governments more and more tyrannical. Your ancestors carried on creating machines, but they were considered inferior to livestock from then on."

"But if that's the case, why..."

"Why did they carry on creating their machines ? Because if they refused to do it, they were killed. They have designed, built and maintained the weapons of the conflict. Rather than refusing and dying, they have chosen to live," Bria explained in a serious tone, before letting out a new sour laugh. "The Bedohls were really strange. They had created a hierarchy between them : those who had the monopoly on construction, those who could only use basic techniques, those who were restricted to physical work..."

The prisoner suddenly appeared to be sad.

"You're the descendants of the most destitute Bedohls."

"And what happened to Alb? You said we owed our name to him..."

"Let's say there was no room for him in the world of Yevon. I didn't even have to kill him."

"Excuse me?"

Shinra had thought that the man, passionate about history, liked to show off his knowledge. But he was apparently crazy. The boy knew that the mentaly ill could sometimes describe with realism a world which only existed in his mind. Maybe this was the case for Bria?

"The Alb I have known was just one of those who had taken on the name of the god of workers. His life and his death have probably changed nothing in history..."

He was appearing to stare into space. Shinra would not have been able to say if he was distracted or lost in his memories.

"Eh!" Bria let out with a familiar tone. "What is your name?"

"Shinra."

"Can you untie me, Shinra?"

"No, I can't."

"If you can't untie the knots, you can at least cut the cord."

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" The boy protested.

Howewer, Bria had not talked mockingly.

"Your airship is rooted to the post, right?"

"I don't see what..."

"And what if I tell you I know how to repair it?"

"You can do that, really?"

Those machines are designed so that they stop working after some time."

"Why?"

"For two reasons. First, you need to proceed to regular inspections. But if a machine still works without these inspections, nobody takes the time to do it, until an accident happen. And of course, the Bedohls would be given the blame for this. So, the mechanisms stop from time to time in order to maintain them. Furthermore, only Alb and his Bedohls knew how to put them back in working order. Thanks to that, they were indispensable. The governement could not eliminate them if they wanted to use their machines."

"This plan was not really great..."

"They couldn't plan ahead that the whole world was going to fall in the grip of a man determined to drop all technology."

Bria laughed, as if indifferent to the past events.

"How can you repair the airship ? You're not Bedohl."

"I've worked in Bevelle. Do you know what it looks like, from the inside?"

"A machine?"

"Exactly. And since the Bedohls are forbidden to enter the citadel, several persons had to learn how to maintain it. I'm a part of these initiated persons. I can't repair a damaged or broken mechanism, but I can restart it after a programmed stop."

"And you know the architecture of the machines? Like the engine, for example?"

"It depends on the model."

"Great!"

"I've been forbidden to inscribe these knowledges, but everything is still in mind."

"Excellent! That's great!"

The boy untied the prisoner quickly.

"Let's hurry Bria, The Fahrenheit is waiting for us!"

Behaving like a excited child,  the boy was bouncing up and down.

"Thanks, Shinra..."

Bria stood up straight slowly, and suddenly gave a knee-strike to the chest of the young man. He had aimed at the stomach, but too bad: his victim was lying on the floor, inert. The man was not feeling guilty at all. Shinra was admittedly a child, but a Bedohl above all else.

"And don't call me Bria. I'm Sloan."

The time had come for him to take on the vengeful name that his comrade had himself taken on in the past.

From now on, he knew that he was an incarnate spirit. He held out his hand before him. It seemed that he was seeing it gleaming. Since he had discovered his condition, how long was he going to be able to maintain his body and his mind?

"I should hurry."