(This is a fantasy story idea that I've had for a while now, combined with a bit of final fantasy. In fact, this story started off in my head with Sephiroth in it. It's something a bit different, and doesn't focus quite so much on the Final Fantasy storyline and characters...)
A young orphan girl from earth is living her life unaware that she is in fact an enchantress. Unfortunately for her, an evil power wants to wipe out all enchanters, and has pulled Sephiroth from the life stream of his world and resurrected him. He is given promises of power and sent to kill the last remaining enchantress...
But evil is always balanced by good, and someone else has been pulled from the life stream to help the enchantress...
(First fic on this site, please review!)
~~~
Guess I'd better put in a...
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy is the property of Square, not me (as much as I would like to own it, cos then I'd be quite rich...and I'd own Sephiroth....*drool*)
1- Resurrection
The Dark Lady stood over her well of darkness and looked into its depths, her midnight tresses pinned back from her beautiful face and her violet eyes blazing with anger. She should be free now, but she wasn't...and why was that? Because another one of those pitiful, wretched vermin was still alive, somewhere...
Her servant had just killed what she thought to be the last of the enchanters. She had revelled in the man's pain as the subhuman monster she had sent after him had torn deeply into his flesh, licked her lips as she saw the blood gushing from the wounds, felt the warm liquid flowing through her fingers, smelt his terror, tasted his life fluid...all as if she had been there herself. It had been so much more enjoyable this time round, when combined with the knowledge that once she took this man's soul, she would finally be free.
She had been so sure...
She grimaced as she remembered how she had felt afterwards. There had been dismay at first, when she had realised that the spells keeping her trapped in her underground prison hadn't budged at all. Then had come the fury, which she just had to take out on someone...and it wasn't her fault the closest thing in reach at the time had been the hell-dog servant. Admittedly, it hadn't been the servant's fault, either, but that hadn't mattered. Killing it by destroying its mind through the mental tie she had established to control it had helped quell her fury greatly...
But now...now it was time for her to find a new servant.
She concentrated on the well in front of her, a simple, natural rock structure filled with black, tainted water, liquid tainted by her darkness. She concentrated, chanting quietly under her breath, and the waters shifted. Stars appeared in the water, billions of them, scattered over dark velvet. She picked one at random, and the waters shifted again, until she was looking at one of the planets orbiting that star, the only inhabitable one in that solar system. Nothing special, nothing that she hadn't seen before.
She waved her hand over the well and the water seemed to part...but it was the darkness within that was parting, making way for an image of a man's face. Long silver hair blew around him in a breeze that the Lady couldn't feel, and beautiful blue-green eyes sparked with a calm anger that would frighten most people. However, it intrigued the Lady, and she probed deeper.
Images flashed through her mind as she probed his. She saw unbelievable amounts of anger, enough to rival even hers, a thirst for vengeance, insanity...but most importantly, evil. Oh, he would be perfect...but first she needed to find out even more, what had happened in his life, where he was now. She delved into his past, letting herself meld - temporarily - with his memories. Or rather, fragments of memories...
Cruelty, no love, not for me, not ever -
- different, why do I always feel different? What is it about me -
- an Ancient, me? Of course, this is my destiny, I am meant to help mother take back what is hers -
- how dare they do this to me! I cannot be killed, and definitely not by this young upstart -
- all I have to do is wait, the black materia will soon be mine...the girl who could call holy is gone, gone out of my way -
- finally, Meteor is coming! Hear that, mother? It will soon be time -
- NO! This cannot be happening again! Why?! -
Hmm, this was very interesting. Deeper she went in, and saw what the man had been trying to do, and saw his failure. And his death...
"Oh, poor baby," she murmured, sympathising with him easily; she knew what failure was well enough. "So much potential, such a shame...you could have been useful to me..." She cocked her head to one side, and pursed her lips. She could still use him, even though he had been killed.
"How would you like to be given another chance at destroying your world?" she asked the image in the well. "Would you like that?" She didn't get an answer, and didn't expect one. She turned on her heel and walked quickly through the small cave she was in, her red skirt and black cloak trailing along behind her.
She had done the best she could to make the system of caves she was trapped in nicer, but it was difficult. There were magical glowing orbs that followed her wherever she went to provide her with light, and she had managed to create some basic furniture with creative use of her magic and the abundant rock, but that was pretty much it. There had been crystal water travelling through the caves, trickling and tinkling down from above and flowing through little rills cut into the rock by time, but she had no appreciation for such things and had gotten rid of most of it long ago. The only water left was a small spring in the lower levels, and her dark well a way above it.
The Dark Lady moved down a short tunnel into another chamber, went through a nearby doorway and into another tunnel, took several turnings, went into a corridor spiralling downwards, made another turning... and finally she was in a wide, high-ceilinged chamber.
The walls here were smooth and shiny, and twisted into strange shapes; most were difficult to discern, but here and there were some which resembled faces. The rock was darkened, tainted like the water of her well. In worst shape was the raised platform in the middle, which seemed to radiate darkness.
This was where the sorceress wielded her dark magic.
As she strode purposefully towards the platform she threw her heavy, black cloak away, revealing an outfit which wasn't exactly modest. Her long red skirt was made of a filmy material, all but see-through everywhere except around her groin. Her red halter-neck top left little to the imagination, and held up the skirt with thin straps. Her beauty and ample curves had been very useful to her throughout her life, and in the days when she had been free she had got almost everything that she wanted, freely offered or not.
She was on the platform now, and smiling a strange smile. Though this was going to be dificult, she just knew that it would be a worthwhile investment. She raised her hands above her head, and began to chant.
***
His spirit floated alone on the lifestream. Alone, always alone...all he had now to keep him company was his fury and hatred, burning away inside him. He knew that he would stay like this for a long while, trapped in the energy that should have been his to control, excluded from the normal circle of life because of the Jenova cells inside him...
Jenova...
He had failed her, his mother. He had promised her that he would help her get back what rightfully belonged to her, the Planet, but he had failed. That only added to his anger, and his hatred for those who had banded together to fight, and defeat, him. Holy had spared them as it swept through the world, and they lived on while he was trapped here, being consumed by his own evil...he loathed them...
I will have my revenge, he thought. No matter what I have to do, I will make them pay...
He continued to drift, planning his sweet revenge, muttering curses about Cloud Strife and his pathetic friends, though he was the only one to hear them....
Then, suddenly, he was no longer alone. There was another presence with him, with a core as dark as his own. Strange magic latched onto him, and though he squirmed and snarled his anger and indignation, he couldn't shake it off. He was pulled towards a tear in the fabric between worlds, and through it into another place, where there was no harsh viridian light surrounding him and tormenting him...
***
The Dark Lady found her target and grabbed hold of him with her magic. That was the soul caught; now she just needed the body... She pulled the spirit through into her world, and held the small, pulsating, blue-green mass in front of her. She used the spirit and the knowledge inside it to recreate the man's body, piece by piece, on the ground below her platform. It sapped her energy greatly, but once the job was finished she had just enough energy left to finish her work.
The soul hanging in front of her formed into a viridian-hued replica of the body on the ground, and lowered into it. She fused the two together, then used the remainder of her energy to give life energy to her servant-to-be.
With that done she fell to her knees, gasping but grinning in triumph. She knew without checking that the man was alive. The light-orbs whirled around her madly, torn between the two living beings in the chamber, then finally split into two groups, half staying with her and half going to the now stirring form on the ground.
The Dark Lady leant back and lifted her head, watching the man intently as he got up. He let out a half-groan, half-growl, and pushed himself up with his hands. Long silver hair hung over his face, obscuring it from the Lady's view for now. He shifted until he on his knees, like she was, then his feet, and slowly stood up, unsteady on his feet. The Lady noted his broad, well-muscled chest and shoulders, bare without his long black coat, and the long sword strapped to his back. Her lips curled into an unpleasant smile.
He stood still for a few moments, gathering his energy, then swept his hair away from his face. His handsome face was pale, with somewhat pointed features, and brilliant blue-green eyes that seemed to glow slightly. His icy gaze was fixed on the raven-haired woman before him. He said nothing, just scrutinised her silently.
"Hello, Sephiroth," the Lady said finally, making herself get to her feet.
His eyes raked over her voluptuous form before returning to her purple eyes. "Do I know you?" he asked, his voice and face emotionless.
"No," she replied. "But you will soon. You see, you are going to be my new servant. That is what I resurrected you for."
"Don't bet on it," he snapped, viridian eyes flashing. He turned away, but the light orbs moved in front of him and darted at his face. He lashed out at them with his hands, but his movements were very slow by his standards; he was still too tired. He needed rest...but that would have to wait until he got out of this place. He pushed forward and past the orbs, for they were just an irritation and nothing more, and strode towards the exit...but then he felt his energy being drained. His eyes widened with dismay, and he fell back to the floor, laying on his side.
The Dark Lady, on the other hand, now had enough energy to stand easily, and walked slowly towards him. She knelt down in front of his prone form and lightly trailed a long fingernail down his cheek and to his chin, which she gripped gently with her fingers and titled up towards her. He was glaring daggers at her, his brows and nose twitching slightly as he fought to keep his expression from twisting into a snarl.
"I gave you my energy," she informed him quietly, her violet eyes amused. "Until you get your own energy back, whether you are on your feet or flat out on the ground is up to me."
"But when I do become strong enough to stand on my own," Sephiroth said slowly, his voice a harsh whisper as he struggled to breathe, "I will make you suffer. I can be creative when it comes to inflicting pain."
The Lady smirked. "Oh, that sounds positively delightful," she purred. "I look forward to it. But in the meantime, you are at my mercy." She let go and stood up, trying to ignore the fact that she was still very tired. "Perhaps we could come to an agreement," she said, looking down at him.
"Well, I obviously have something you want," Sephiroth said after a moment, then sneered. "However, you have nothing that I want. No deal."
The Lady shrugged, turning away. "As you wish. But...when you leave this place, where will you go? What will you do? I know what you wish to do, Sephiroth, for I have seen into your mind, but without my aid that won't be possible. You won't be able to get back to your own world, and even if that was possible, you wouldn't have the power to finish what you started - or rather, attempted to start." She turned back to face him again, hands clasped loosely in front of her. "So you see...you do need me."
Sephiroth remained silent for a long time, eyes closed, and the Lady began to wonder if he had passed out from exhaustion. But then he opened his eyes again and turned his cold gaze on her. He took a few deep, laboured breaths, and said, "So, if I help you, you will give me all the power I need, and send me back to my own world?"
The Lady smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, you have my word." It was a pity her word meant very little...
A few more moments of silence. Then:
"What must I do?"