Einjarjar: Heir to the Blood
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction by zero0000
Summary: The last heir to a dead dynasty must come forth to claim her birthright. Keeping it, however, will be the biggest challenge. Norsefic.
Prologue: Coming of Age
xxx
"Milady Aeris?"
The chocolate-haired princess of House Gainsborough turned at the sound of her maid's voice. The girl had slipped her head in the door briefly before swinging it open and offering a full curtsy. "Lord and Lady Gainsborough request your presence, if it pleases you, milady." Aeris smiled.
"Tell my parents I will join them shortly."
"As you command, milady."
The morn was the young Lady Gainsborough's eighteenth naming day, the day when she would assume full responsibilities as a respected member of her House. Secretly, Aeris had both anticipated and dreaded this day for her entire life, when she must put aside her childish things and ascend to bigger and brighter things.
She directed her eyes out to the clouds outside the window and whispered a silent prayer to her Guardian, the silent knight who dwelled in the deepest parts of her dreams and fought off the nightmares with his noble blade. All her life she never learned why he was there, and when asked, her parents only said that perhaps some god was watching over her safety. It was an acceptable answer to her at the time, and Aeris felt no need to question it.
Traveling on light footsteps, Aeris descended the spiral staircase from her private chambers and walked forth into the main ballroom, where already all the preparations for her coming of age were being made. The workmen and the maids all greeted her cheerfully and with great delight, as there was no other person more beloved in these lands than her. She was the jewel adorning the crown of Gainsborough, adored by all in Midgard.
The door to the throne room swung open upon her approach, and the young lady offered a sincere smile of thanks for the doormen, who puffed their chests out proudly at the princess' silent gesture of appreciation. Aeris strode out to the middle of the room and she offered a deep, formal curtsy to both her parents.
Lord Gast smiled at the gesture. "Rise, daughter," he commanded. "There is no need for formality when one is amongst family. Even you must be aware of this."
"Ah but how am I to learn proper court manners if I do not practice from time to time, father?" Aeris replied, rising to meet Lord Gainsborough's eyes. "One must also be aware of how one represents one's House, am I correct?" At this Lord Gast broke out into a very amused laugh. "Well reasoned, daughter. Now come and let these old arms embrace you once more." When they broke contact, Lady Gainsborough embraced the girl as well, planting a kiss upon each cheek at the finish.
"How goes the morning for you daughter?" Lady Gainsborough inquired. "Today is your eighteenth naming day. Surely you wish for nothing better than to finally be treated as an adult?" Aeris could only nod. "I admit that I do look forward to tonight," she said, clasping her hands together "but I must admit that I also am fearful at finally leaving my childhood behind. It is such a painful thing for me to imagine, as if I was leaving behind all the memories I have made from the moment I first awoke to a measure of understanding in the world.
Lord Gast laid a hand upon her shoulder. "One need not abandon one's memories when one is merely creating new ones," he quoted. "There is much for you to learn yet, dear child, but let me be the first to assure you that nothing of who you are need change after tonight. Unless, you wish it, of course?"
Aeris shook her head vigorously, sending waves of her hair flying in all directions before they alighted upon her shoulders once more. "I do not wish it so, father," she said. "I have no intention of abandoning who I am."
xxxx
The war between the Aesir and the Vanir had ended in a stalemate a full thousand years before, both sides suffering major casualties even before the final skirmishes on the heavenly fields were played out to their ends. Due to the horrors of the war both sides sued for peace, neither race willing to let another conflict like this one come to pass. The mortal scribes would turn to this moment as the Great Remorse, the moment when even the very gods sought reparation for their own actions. For more than nine centuries, the peace held.
Until one fateful night seventeen years before.
Lady Infalna, one of the Aesir's most politically powerful Valkyries, was slain in her own palatial estate close to the borders of Asgard's Gladsheim. The Aesir cried for blood, demanding reparations from the Vanir, who denied all involvement. For several tense months both camps were prepared for an all out war, and even then several encroachments were made upon both races' territories. For a while, it seemed peace was indeed an unlikely goal between the Children of Njord and the Children of Odin.
It was a painful decision for the remaining members of Infalna's line to send their liege lady's only daughter to Midgard, the human world, for her own protection. It was believed that since Lady Infalna was the primary target of the assassination, her own line would soon become the center of the ire of whoever unnamed individual it was that affected her death.
It was later proved to be a prudent move, as no sooner than the assignment of Lady Infalna's child into the hands of a mortal family did the cruel instigators of her murder make their move. All who belonged to the House of Infalna were dead before the morning after their heir's departure.
Seventeen years have passed. And thus, a new chapter comes into being.
xxxx
The blacksmith looked upon the open forge and at the unfinished blade that lay within. There would be more work to be done here, he realized. It was not often he miscalculated the purity of a batch of metal, and every occasion could be counted upon the fingers of one hand. He took out the blade and stared at it, deciding quickly which parts of the glowing chunk of metal must be hammered a certain way to preserve the strength of the weapon. Metallic affinities were taught to him from days long past, and though this was to be a mere guardsman's blade, the blacksmith took pride in his work enough to focus some measure of his vast skill upon the creation of the weapon.
His methods were perhaps the reason why he chose to dwell so far from the city. There would be no people poking around here, no one to question the strange glows within his forge. Best of all, there would be nothing to disturb his quiet contemplation short of Ragnarok itself from coming to pass.
He raised his hammer high and began to work. The inside of the smithy rang out with the musical notes of the metal being shaped, sparks coloring the air as if to paint the very picture of the blacksmith's talents. He stopped shortly after the metal started to turn red, dipping the flattened chunk of steel in a barrel filled with water. After the smoke cleared, the blacksmith turned to address the cloaked individual who seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"You have no business with me here," the blacksmith said.
"Hast thou forgotten thine tongue?"
He held the stranger's gaze, not willing to back down in the slightest. The stranger said nothing, but his night-black cloak seemed to stir as if with an unseen breeze. The pair stood at an impasse for a few moments until the other man broke the silence. "I do not speak it any longer," The blacksmith said, dropping to a seated position in front of the forge. "There is no more reason for me to do so."
The cloaked man nodded. "Thou speaketh the truth, Master Valentine," he said. "Thou hast no reason to speak thusly." Valentine turned his red gaze upon the stranger and snorted. "I suppose you do have business with me then? Well? Let's hear it. I'd love to know why they wish to disrupt the peace I have built around myself for the past few decades."
"I request thine aid with a mission of utmost import," the stranger replied. "Concerning the legacy of Lady Infalna." Valentine nodded. "So her daughter is hidden here in Midgard after all," he said, as if to himself. "Have things grown so bad with the peace of our realms? Can we not avoid the conflict this would cause?"
"I am in no place to speak on the matter. I only come to do my duty."
The blacksmith turned his gaze away from the forge again, weighing the substance of the stranger's words. "Yes," he said absently, taking out the glowing piece of metal once it shone white. "Duty binds you all, does it not? I will aid you. But only to the extent of helping Infalna's heir. I will accompany you as far as the border. No further than that."
"I would ask of thee no more than what thou art willing to give.," the stranger said, and with those words he faded away into the shadows.
Valentine hammered the glowing piece of steel for a few more minutes after the stranger left. Once it was in the water barrel, he called out a single name. "Nanaki." From the glow of the flame a red lupine creature emerged, its haunches covered with scars and a strange feathered headdress adorning its mane. "Thine bidding, master?" the creature said, swishing what looked like a lit tail behind him.
"Send a message to the mortal. Tell him the price of the bargain will be paid tonight."
"As thou wouldst command," the creature murmured, and disappeared in a shower of sparks and flame. Valentine shook his head.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Cloud Strife."
xxxx
"Yuffie! I can't believe you're here!"
The Wutain shogun's daughter found herself tackled from behind and hugged fiercely. "Heya Ris-chan," Yuffie Kisaragi said, grinning. "It's your birthday, remember? I'm not even going to think of missing it!" The two had met during a diplomatic trip to Wutai when House Gainsborough offered their help to refugees from the failed war versus the Shin-Ra Empire. It was one of the things that solidified the relationships with the fiefdom and the oriental nation, the blossoming friendships of then twelve year old Aeris and seven year old Yuffie.
The girls held hands as they walked, chatting about recent events in their lives and watching the work progress for the party the coming evening. "I can't believe you're going to be of age," Yuffie said, a note of awe creeping into her voice. "I mean, it never really felt like you were older than I was more than now." Aeris laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I suppose we're just both act immature then?"
"Yeah… Hey! Wait a minute!"
The younger brunette chased after her, laughing as they ran. The young lady Gainsborough was about to pull away when she slammed bodily into what felt like a brick wall. "Oof!" Aeris cried, to her surprise a pair of gauntleted hands caught her before she fell. The first thing she saw when she looked up was a pair of bright blue eyes and a grinning Zack Fair.
"You know," the knight said, raising an eyebrow "it isn't really very ladylike to run through hallways." Aeris slugged him playfully in the arm, backing away from his grasp as Yuffie caught up to her. "I think I'm allowed a little leeway, Master Fair," she said, raising her head to meet his gaze. "You know what must happen tonight. After today I must put away all my childish things, including this behavior."
"Well spoken, Lady," Zack replied, chuckling. "And my happiest greetings for you on your birthday." He reached behind his belt and took out something and said "I suppose it is a little early for this, but there is a large chance that I won't be able to be at your side tonight if rumors are to be believed." Aeris' eyes widened as the older man held out a crystalline white orb dangling from his hand from a black cord. "Happy Birthday, milady," he said, standing behind her to hang the trinket. "And may there be many more to come." Yuffie walked over and, upon seeing the dazed expression on her best friend's face, decided to cut in.
"I think he likes you."
A swath of red erupted in the other girl's face. "Yuffie!" Aeris cried. "He's practically my brother!"
"Are you sure he even thinks that way?"
"Well…"
"There you go," Yuffie pointed out, shaking a disapproving finger. "You don't. You just decided he didn't and hoped for the best. Gods, can you spend so much time around me and not get these things?"
"I'm sorry for my ignorance milady," Aeris said rather dryly. "It won't happen again."
"Better," the Wutain replied cheekily.
The pair walked through the grounds, surrounded by the strange black-clad warriors that composed Yuffie's bodyguards. Since the fiefdom shared a border with Shin-Ra, a kidnapping or an assassination was very much a possibility no matter how amicable the terms of the peace treaty had been. "The Shin-Ra are as dire wolves, always sniffing around for weakness," Lord Godo once said. "It is foolishness to trust them completely, even at a time of apparent peace."
Aeris heard Yuffie referring to the warriors alternately as shinobi, or ninja. She thought they were different names for the same thing until Yuffie told her otherwise. "Ninja are what the shadows over there are called," she said, jerking her thumb at the unobtrusive group of four (five?) moving wraithlike amongst the pillars. "Shinobi are usually forms of address for the men, kunoichi for the women. Essentially they are the same thing but our Ministry for Military affairs tend to be obsessive compulsive about this sort of thing." Aeris had to nod. Her father's own Ministry for Military affairs was exactly the same way.
"I have to say though," Yuffie said, pausing "I believe Dad when he says that about the Shin-Ra. We can't trust them. Not even after all these years." Aeris rested a hand on her best friend's shoulder. The war left a lot of wounds for a lot of people, and for the defeated Wutain, the bitterness was the hardest to get rid of. One of the ninja approached them, and after receiving leave from his mistress, leaned over and whispered something in Yuffie's ear. "Listen," the Wutain said distractedly. "I have to go. I suppose I'll have to meet you at the feast tonight."
"All right."
"Thanks Ris-chan."
Aeris headed for one of the second floor balconies overlooking the gardens and sat down, wondering what it was that had caused Yuffie to be called away so quickly. She shook her head. Now was not the time to think on these things, she reasoned out. Silently though, she uttered a prayer for her friend's safety.
xxxx
"Art thou certain?"
"She is whom we seek," the Woman in the Shadows said. "Thou shalt find entry upon the city and go into it in stealth. Our forces have been placed in places of import and they shalt endeavor to make this capture less difficult for us."
"Excellent," the man in black said. He touched the hilt of his sword and a trio of cloaked men appeared. "Thou art tasked to aid mine agent in hers," he commanded, addressing the three. "Thou shalt evade detection and thou shalt stay in the shadows until thine aid is needed. Do not fail me if thou wishest to continue existing." The three bowed and dissolved into mist, along with the Woman in the Shadows. The man in black trained his eyes upon Gainsborough castle up in the distance, frowning as he did so.
"You have evaded us for the last time, Infalna's daughter," he said. "This time there will be no escape."
xxxx
He would not allow himself to forget that fateful night.
(What's your name?)
He could not, for the sake of his own honor.
(Cloud, milady.)
And for hers, above anyone else's.
(Will you always be here to protect me?)
He remembers her name, calling him. The desperate screams haunting every single one of his frequent nightmares.
('tis my duty, milady.)
Her voice echoing in the hallways of the manse as he ran to her aid.
(Why would duty bind you so?)
Her blood pooling in scarlet rivulets underneath her quickly cooling body.
(Because I vowed to protect thee with all mine power.)
Most of all, he could not bring himself to forget that her death had been his fault.
(Why do you make these vows?)
It had all been his fault.
(Duty binds me to do so.)
And so he remembered.
(Would you stay by my side when I need you?)
With each memory he lashed himself with an invisible whip, with a vigor that betrayed thoughts that he deserved worse than this.
(Thou only need call mine name.)
And he remembered still.
(Thank you, Cloud.)
xxxx
A/N: A lot of the dialogue from here on end is going to sound a lot more flowery than a lot of fics, mostly because we're dealing with the uppercrust members of the cast for now. I'm going to try and tone it down once we get more commoners in the party, but I can't promise anything right away.
In any case, read and review as usual.