The Spirits Within
Chapter: 8/21 + epilogue

Prompt: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Characters: Jack, Ianto Owen, Tosh, Rhys, John Hart, the Doctor

Rating: PG

Notes: See chapter 1 for notes and disclaimer.

Chapter 8

Ianto watched a vast area littered with the remains of human soldiers flash past below, then turned away. Around him the transport remained silent.

Jack and the other Deep Eyes were in their armour, with their helmets stored under their seats. Owen was flying the transport while Toshiko studied a holographic image of the terrain, using Ianto's data to track where they were headed. The seventh spirit was a green blinking dot on the screen, calling to them.

General Hart's three men had still not taken off any of their full armour, leaving even their helmets in place. The Doctor had warned him that his revelation to the Council would not sit well with the military. He would be considered a traitor to humans the moment he did something wrong, just because there was an alien trapped inside him. And those three were with this mission to make sure his first mistake would be his last.

So he wasn't going to do anything wrong, just let the general stew until they found the last two spirits and solved all this. Then he could take his Hub Cannon and shove it.

To the left of the transport Ianto could see the few tall buildings still standing in old Berlin.

"Our target is fifty klicks west of the old Berlin barrier city," Toshiko said.

Ianto knew there was nothing left there either. The battle they were flying over had been the last stand for this entire area.

"Roger," Owen replied from the cockpit.

"Phantom concentration?" Jack asked.

Toshiko looked over at her captain with a very sick frown. Then she shook her head and went back to monitoring her holo-panel. Ianto saw the look and knew, without Toshiko saying anything, that there were a vast number of Phantoms in this area. Large Phantoms, from what he understood. The biggest on the planet.

"Exactly what are you reading?" one of General Hart's men asked, his voice firm and cold. Ianto didn't like any of the three, and hadn't even bothered to try to get their names, even if they would have given them to him.

"Not good," Toshiko said. "We've got big metas everywhere."

Meta Phantoms, as Toshiko called them, were known to grow the size of battleships, and regular weapons didn't stop them without exact hits. They could reach out with their tentacles and cover the space of a dozen city blocks. And one swipe from one of their tentacles killed instantly. Some of them could even fly.

Ianto knew that the Phantoms he had gone up against in old London were nothing compared to these.

"So it's gonna be a real picnic," Rhys said.

"Basic fire is going to be ineffective," Jack said. "Build up your charges and make them count."

He turned and looked at Ianto, giving him a half smile. "Stick close to me," he said. "No heroics today?"

He nodded.

"Everything by the book," he said, his gaze not leaving him.

"By the book," he said, smiling at him. "Right."

And this time he meant it. Tangling with a Meta Phantom was not something he ever wanted to do.

He didn't even want to see one up close. Pictures had been more than enough.

Toshiko brought up a rough map of their destination on a holographic image floating in front of Jack. "We can drop energy buoys here, here, and here." Red lights appeared on the screen as he talked.

Ianto noticed that the red lights indicating the energy buoys surrounded the blinking green of the spirit they were after.

Jack nodded. "That should allow us time to land and get the target."

"And with luck," Toshiko said, "get out before the Phantoms even know we are there."

The idea being that the buoys will attract the Phantoms, right?" Ianto asked. He understood how Phantom energy and particles affected humans, and that Phantoms were attracted by certain types of energy, but he knew little of how the military used that information.

"Yes," Toshiko said, her voice not very convincing.

There was silence around the transport. Ianto looked into Jack's eyes. He wasn't looking any more convincing than Toshiko sounded.

"For a while," Jack said. "We're going to have to be quick with this."

The tension in the transport made the air feel thick and heavy to Ianto. He hadn't been this worried about any of his spirit retrieval missions, including dropping into old London.

Finally Rhys broke the silence. He turned to General Hart's men. "So, you're from the 307s? Ever done any wasteland recon before?"

The three said nothing. Not even their gazes altered.

Rhys shrugged and turned away. "It can get pretty ugly."

Again the heavy tension of silence settled over the transport. Below, the wasteland flashed past, filled with the dead of a long-ago battle that had turned the war with the Phantoms against the humans. Ianto knew his history well enough to know that, after this major battle, humans had retreated behind the barriers, venturing out only to keep the Phantoms at bay.

The only good thing since this battle had been humanity managing to get back into space and build the space stations and the Hub Cannon weapon station. Even though the Phantoms had come from space on the asteroid, it seemed they couldn't get back there. And the humans were starting to use that advantage more and more. Ianto knew it was the only advantage they had.

"Buoy away," Toshiko said.

"Hang on!" Owen shouted as he banked the transport hard to the right, forcing Ianto to grab onto the wall to keep from sliding back into Jack.

The transport skimmed over the rough ground until Toshiko said again, "Buoy away."

Again Owen turned the transport hard right and after a moment Toshiko said, "Last buoy in position, Captain."

Owen once again yanked the transport hard to the right, into a position in the middle of the three buoys.

"Initiate them," Jack said. "And take us to the target. Fast."

Out the window Ianto could see a bright blue light flash into being. He recognized the light instantly as coming from ovo energy cells. More than likely the cells were encased inside a small barrier glass. The light from the buoy would make the Phantoms visible to the naked human eye, as well as attract them.

Ianto could see a massive Phantom appear and turn toward the energy. Then other Phantoms did the same.

Owen dropped the transport down hard and fast, into a small open area. Out the window Ianto could see they had landed in the remains of what had been a fearsome battle. As far as he could see there were rusting tanks, twisted metal, and bodies. Human bodies, still covered in their armour.

"Helmets on," Jack ordered. "Let's go, people. Owen, stay ready to pick us up."

"You got it," Owen said from the cockpit.

As the Deep Eyes stood and snapped on helmets, the transport door smashed to the ground, forming a ramp down. Toshiko went out first, taking point, her weapon at ready.

Rhys was right behind her.

Jack indicated that Ianto should be at his side.

He nodded, then pulled his sensor off his hip and flipped it on as they moved down the ramp. He was the only one not in any kind of armour, and he was glad of that as the hot desert air smashed into him. The dryness of everything around him, including the air, made everything feel brittle. The air was perfectly still, and it smelled of dust and age. It had been a very long time since a live human had seen this place.

Or anything else alive, for that matter. At the bottom of the ramp he stepped over a human body, one leg torn off, the bone white and sticking out.

Around him the Deep Eyes had spread out, taking up defensive positions.

Behind him, General Hart's three men came down the ramp.

Ianto looked around, letting his sensor get a target line on the seventh spirit. They had landed on the side of a slight ridge. Below, in a shallow valley, Ianto could see a swarm of Phantoms hovering around a bright blue light. They were massive, shaped like some kind of nightmare insect. It was the most horrifying sight Ianto had ever seen.

"Looks like they have taken the bait," Jack said softly, as if speaking too loud would attract the monsters.

No one said anything as Jack looked at him. He studied his sensor, its blinking light indicating that they were close to the spirit. It was just over the slight ridge to his right. He pointed in that direction. Jack nodded and signalled they move out. With Jack beside him, Ianto lead, following the blinking signal of his scanner. With each step the signal got more intense.

The others spread out behind them, forming a human spear cutting slowly through the old battlefield. Ianto could not believe the number of human dead that filled this wasteland. Humanity had put up one of its biggest fights right here, and lost. And, in that loss, had given up most of the planet to the Phantoms.

He forced himself to take deep, slow breaths of the hot air to ease his nerves. The beeping of the scanner was the only thing that was important right now. They came over the small ridge to face even more wreckage. From what Ianto could tell, directly in front of them was the mixed mess of a plane and a few tanks, smashed together.

The sensor was clear now. They were close. "The seventh spirit should just be beyond that line of wreckage."

Jack nodded and headed toward a gap in the twisted metal. "I don't see how any living thing could survive out here."

"We'll find out soon enough," Ianto said.

Carefully they worked their way through and over the rough ground, wrecked equipment, and human remains. The carnage around them seemed to be endless. Not even in his nightmare had he seen death like this. At one point they came upon what looked to be the remains of a massive ovo-pac, similar to the buoys they had dropped, only antique-looking.

"This area was the first part of the overall battle," Rhys said, his voice low and controlled. "It all started out as a Phantom cleansing mission. My father is in here somewhere."

Ianto jerked, then looked around at the twisted remains of humans that littered the ground like rocks. There was nothing any of them could say. He couldn't imagine how Rhys was managing this, stepping over bodies, any one of which might be his father.

Toshiko turned to look at Rhys, then nodded in support.

Ianto looked back to his sensor. The seventh spirit was close. Very close.

Suddenly something else moved on his monitor. He looked around, then glanced up. A beautiful hawk glided effortlessly on the hot updrafts.

"I'll be damned," Rhys said.

"A survivor," Ianto said.

"What's it doing out here?" Jack asked.

"Maybe hoping for life to return," Ianto said.

"Is that our spirit, Doc?" Rhys asked.

"No," Ianto said, checking the sensor. The seventh spirit was right in front of them, a very short distance. Ianto moved forward, forced to step on a fallen soldier, his arm forever reaching for something in front of him. In the distance the swarm of Phantoms massed around one of the buoys, almost entirely blocking out the blue light of the ovo-pac. The faint beeping on his sensor was now almost a continuous noise. "We're closing in on the life-form we need." Ianto moved the scanner from side to side. "We're very close. It should be right in front of us."

"I don't see anything," Jack said.

In front of them was another body of a solider lying face down in the dirt. As he passed the body, the readings on his sensor reversed, as if he was now moving away from the spirit. He stopped and turned around. Everything on his scanner said it was right in front of him, but the only thing there was the body of the soldier. That couldn't be.

Jack stopped beside him and looked at where he was aiming the scanner. "You're not going to tell me it's him?"

Ianto just kept studying the scanner, moving it down closer and closer to the body of the long-dead soldier.

"That's impossible," Rhys said.

"Yeah," Toshiko said.

"Defensive positions, people," Jack ordered.

He pointed out where he wanted the three general's men as well. They formed an outward-facing circle around Ianto and Jack.

Ianto looked at Jack and he nodded. It had to be the place. Something was alive here. Something was the seventh spirit. But what could it be?

Jack reached down and rolled over the body of the soldier.

A white skull was visible through the faceplate of the helmet. Parts of the skeleton fell free as the armour broke apart, exposing bones and old clothes.

The scanner still told his the spirit was there. He took the eye-scope out of the side of the scanner and put it over his right eye, adjusting it quickly. He had set the eye-scope to show him exactly the shape and size of the spirit. As he put it on, it became clear what he had been looking for. The seventh spirit was the dead soldier's portable ovo-pack, used to power his weapon so long ago.

The idea froze him for a moment. He took a deep breath and bent down, studying the old hardware.

"It's not the soldier or a plant under him," Ianto said. "It's his ovo-pack."

"What?" Rhys said, glancing back for a moment before turning to keep up his watch.

"How can that be?" Jack asked. "The ovo-packs power our weapons, the barrier cities, everything we use against the Phantoms. It's just bio-etheric energy."

"And to create that energy," Ianto said, "we use living tissue. Single-cell organisms."

"You're telling me his backpack is the seventh spirit?" Jack asked.

"Yes," he said, getting it loose enough to pick up.

"We have incoming," Owen said, his voice clear over the com link from the ship.

Ianto stood as Jack glanced around.

"This side, too," Toshiko said.

"And here," Rhys said.

Ianto could see that suddenly the Phantoms were all around them, coming in over the rocks and wreckage, their shapes illuminated by the energy from the ovo-packs they had dropped. They were all massive. One seemed to tower into the sky like a building, moving slowly. Others resembled giant kites, twisting and looping in midair; others were like sea serpents diving into water, with tails spanning hundreds of metres.

Suddenly one of General Hart's men was attacked by a part of one of the big kite-like Phantoms that came up out of the ground under him. The guy screamed, the sound echoing over the hot battlefield.

Ianto knew instantly it was too late for him as the Phantom ripped out his spirit, releasing sparkling blue electrical energy in the process. He watched in horror as the soldier's blue spirit floated in the hot air for a moment before vanishing.

An instant later the soldier's body slumped to the ground, dead.

Toshiko took the Phantom out with one shot.

"Rhys," Jack shouted, "get this soldier's pack."

Ianto could do nothing but watch as Rhys took the seventh spirit out of the dead soldier's backpack. The calm, quiet desert air was now cut with the sound of firing as the others opened up at the oncoming aliens.

It was an amazing sight as the Phantoms, their shapes illuminated by the light from the buoys, turned toward them. It was so frightening, he felt almost drunk. Giddy.

His mind told him that was wrong. Yet it was how he felt, and he couldn't seem to control it.

"They're not working," Ianto said. He giggled to himself.

"Yeah. Thank you," Jack said, glancing at him.

Ianto tried to make the smile stop, but for some reason he couldn't. This wasn't supposed to be funny. They were all in danger of being killed.

But suddenly that didn't seem to matter either.

Part of his mind shouted that something was wrong.

Something was controlling him.

The other part didn't care.

Suddenly everything around Ianto seemed to spin.

The world seemed to go into slow motion; the intense desert heat cut at him, making him sweat. How could Jack stand it out here with that massive armour on? He had to be cooking like a crab in a pot of boiling water.

He laughed at the thought, the sound lost in the blazing of weapon fire.

His attention turned to the sound, and suddenly it was as if each shot was coming from inside him.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked, staring at him.

His voice sounded distant and slowed down. "Of course I am," Ianto said, but even to his own ears the sound of his words seemed hollow. He put his hands over his ears, but that didn't help.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Jack shouted. "Standard formation. Toshiko, take point."

"Shit," Toshiko said as she blew apart a kite Phantom. "Something's not right about this. This shouldn't be happening."

Ianto stumbled over a rock as they scrambled back up the hill. It felt as if the ground was a hundred miles below him, and his legs weren't even there anymore. Jack had him under the arm and was pulling him along. He couldn't remember when he had grabbed him. He was lucky Jack was here. Maybe they could just stop for a moment and rest. Then he could tell him how lucky he was to know him. Maybe he would even let Jack kiss him. That would be nice.

"Something's attracting them!" Rhys shouted as he blew apart two Phantoms coming at them from over the top of the hill.

"Owen, get us out of here!" Jack shouted.

Ianto could no longer even feel the earth. It was as if he was watching the events and the battle from a distance. Almost through the eyes of the Phantoms themselves.

And none of it seemed to matter to him.