Disclaimer: The FFVII world is the property of Square-Enix, as are all names, locations and terms where appropriate. I am a filthy rotten copyright infringing thief. But equally, I feel owed for having bought Dirge of Cerberus.
Warnings: Language, violence, religious themes
Card: The Fool.
Summary: An archaeological dig incurs the wrath of an ancient Planetary guardian… and what does the mysterious group known as the Apostasy have to do with it?
Comments:Get out of my mind, Frank Herbert!

For a brief introduction and an explanation of the "religious themes" warning, see the end of this chapter. I would have put it in a separate chapter, but that's against the site guidelines, so…

This being a rather different sort of fanfic, centred entirely around OCs, I honestly don't know whether I should be inflicting it on people. I don't usually beg for reviews, but if you'd like to see more of this work please drop me review so I can judge whether there is any interest in this sort of thing.

Chapter I

solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant - Tacitus
"They make a desert, and call it peace"

ν — Era 20030315

"How far is this place anyway?"

"Yeah, and how do we know there's anything there? You sure this isn't some kind of setup, boss?"

"My suit's too tight."

"Well, mine's too tight and it itches."

"Yeah, we'll never be able to fight in these things."

"You're just not used to 'em. They're not that bad. Besides, fancy your chances out there without it?"

"Hell no."

There was a heavy thump on the panel between the cramped cargo area and the driver's compartment.

"Ah, stop your whining back there!"

That got a half-hearted mumble of assent from the dozen men in the hold. A job was a job, after all, and finding materia wasn't easy at the best of times. Finding it, removing it in a useful state, and getting it back to civilisation was even harder. That was why people were willing to pay so much. And why it was worth going after, even if it did mean trekking deep into the desert. There were worse places.

The transport skimmed over the dunes, a tiny dark dot against the vast expanse of white, throwing up clouds of choking sand in its wake.

It was observed.

ooAoAoUoo

A small camp had been set up in the shadow of the huge cliff face by the time they arrived. An advance group had gone ahead – no use in moving this many men into unknown territory on a hunch and the word of the Apostasy. According to the briefing they had received from their employers, early communications had reported back encouragingly; the camp wasn't attracting any wildlife that couldn't be handled and brief sorties into the caverns behind the rock face had revealed the telltale green glow and distinctive smell indicative of mako.

Kenan Danes dismounted the transport lightly, barked the order to join camp at the men emerging from the rear of the vehicle, and tried not to be too self-conscious adjusting his survival suit. The things could be a devil to fight in, but they kept out the worst of the heat and the sand and kept you from dehydrating.

He scanned the camp; brown tents and brown suits against red-brown rock in the dying light. It didn't look like they were going to have any defence problems up here at least. One side a against a sheer cliff, small perimeter already guarded by the barriers set up against sandstorms, not many monsters around… worst case scenario was if some well equipped pirates got wind of the dig and came by air over the cliffs… setting up on sand wasn't great, but it reached right up to the sheer rock and there was little other option…

The soldier spotted the tent he was looking for. As he approached he started to hear scraps of conversation from the small knot of men hunched over the equipment set up outside.

"…down there. Sonar scans are showing a couple of big caverns, maybe…"

"…anything moving…?"

"Preliminary scans show some big patches. Probably swarms of whatever, doesn't read like a single creature, but whatever it is I'm not sending anyone down there without backup."

"Hmm… always the way, always the way. Well, we'll be sending a preliminary expedition down tomorrow to take a look at the place. And considering we have… ah, our backup."

The man turned and Kenan pulled off a smart salute, noting "head of expedition" and, most likely, "archaeologist". Middle aged, probably able to hold his own against most of what could come after you outside the cities, not to be taken too lightly so soon, but not a military man.

"Danes reporting, sir!"

"Alright, stand easy, or whatever it is you military types say."

Kenan relaxed slightly. Behind the archaeologist, the other two men continued to mutter over various charts and readings.

"I'm Dr. Leito. In charge around here, but I'm sure you've been briefed at least that much." The man gave Kenan a questioning look.

"Yessir." Yes, this one knew what he was doing, unlike a couple of dig masters he'd been unfortunate enough to work with. The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose, and continued.

"It should be a simple enough operation. Clear out the caves as best as possible, provide security for the camp, and the workers while they're down there. If we find anything that is, but things are looking very promising and, well, Apostates are seldom wrong. Anyway, I'm sure you wouldn't be here if the PEF hadn't offered you something up front."

Well, that was true enough. "Yessir. Anything else I should know about, sir?"

"Well, we don't yet know what's down there, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you to exercise caution. And…" he paused, giving Kenan a look that was half calculating, half sympathetic, "have you ever worked with Apostates before?"

"They… there are Apostates actually here?" the soldier shifted uneasily, and frowned. "That… wasn't in the briefing. How many?"

"Just two. They never travel alone. So… never worked with them, hm?"

"Not personally. Not closely, at any rate. But you don't spend much time in the mercenary business without running into them at some point. I have seen them fight. They're… good. But to be frank, they creep the hell out of me. Sir."

Leito laughed.

" "Good", eh? There's an understatement. And enough with the "sir". "Dr. Leito" is fine." He sighed. "The Apostates… don't ask me why they're here. Probably just looking for something to fight. If the Apostasy didn't want us here they wouldn't have said anything to the Foundation in the first place, so I doubt they're a threat. Despite their reputation, they usually aren't."

"So… are they actually working with you, or just hanging around?"

"Tough to tell, with Apostates. They've agreed to join our preliminary expedition into the deeper caverns, so let's hope it's the former."

"I see. How many on this expedition?"

"As few as possible. I'll be going – don't look at me like that, I can handle myself just fine – Marcus over there," he gestured over his shoulder to one of the men studying the sonar scanning readouts "he's one of our surveyors, the Apostates, as I said, and yourself or one of your men. Don't expect the Apostates to report to you about what it's like down there, and neither Marcus nor myself are soldiers. Best that you people see for yourself, hm?"

"That's not many at all… what if we run into trouble?"

"We plan on backing out as just soon as anything starts to look nasty. Let the Apostates fight if that's what they're after, they can hold off near enough anything at least long enough to let the rest of us escape. We may not be their responsibility, but they sure as hell aren't ours either."

Kenan nodded once.

"Alright… well, if there's nothing else, with your permission I'll go and assign watch duties to my men. And warn them about the Apostates." That was going to be interesting. Opinion of Apostates was always divided; wariness, fear, anger, even admiration…

"Very well then. We should be going in early tomorrow if everything goes to plan, so be sure to get some rest, hm?" With that, the doctor turned back to the two surveyors.

ooAoAoUoo

ν — Era 20030316

"Entrance was under the sand level, we had to dig a bit and use the storm shields to keep it clear. Don't worry, it's perfectly secure, and even something did go wrong, which it won't, we've got people on this side to dig us out…"

Kenan grunted noncommittally as he checked his guns. The surveyor, Marcus, sat cross-legged on the sand, crosschecking various scans and instruments and producing a steady stream of chatter. Maybe he was nervous. Maybe he was just a talker. Whichever it was, Kenan was secretly glad of it; he'd never admit it, but silence made him edgy. Growing up in the cities you got used to a constant background hum – people, machinery, whatever.

"…there should be a pretty easy route down to one of the main chambers, at least according to our scans, that's where we'll be headed. As long as we don't run into anything, heheh… oh, ah, Doctor…"

Marcus jumped to his feet and distractedly brushed some sand off his suit as Dr. Leito approached.

"Ready to go, Doctor. I've worked out what should be the easiest route down to the chamber we decided on, and several alternatives in case something unexpected turns up. Programmed it all into the nav unit, so, um, yeah. Good to go."

Leito just nodded shortly, and turned to Kenan.

"Ah, so you have decided to come along personally… Danes, wasn't it? Good, good. Have you prepared?"

"Ready to go when you are, sir. I mean, Doctor."

The doctor smiled a little tiredly, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Hmm, good. That just leaves…"

There was a crunch of boots on sand, close, and Kenan's head snapped around to the sound on instinct. How had anyone managed to get that near without…

Apostates. Two of them, like Dr. Leito had said, forms completely hidden under black robes. Even their faces were lost in shadow under deep hoods. The effect was deeply disconcerting. It gave the impression of there being nothing under there at all…

…they say those things are cursed. Hanging around all the old cities like ghosts…

…what d'ya reckon they're hidin' under those robes, eh? Everyone says they're hideous mutants…

…they never talk, I heard. Just look at you like they're staring straight into your head…

…the PEF captured one once, ages ago. Took it to one of those out of the way facilities. Well, after a few days, they suddenly lost all contact with the place. When they got there they found everyone dead. Torn apart, blood all over the walls…

…the strongest ones could take out an entire army without a scratch. That's how all those ancient cities were destroyed…

...they can sense materia, right? And mako, even deep underground. No wonder the Foundation are trying to…

"…Well, I guess that's everyone, hm?" Leito's voice cut through Kenan's thoughts, and he blinked. He knew most of the rumours were crazy. He'd seen Apostates, he'd seen them fight, albeit from a distance, and they didn't fight in their robes. They were perfectly human underneath. All right, they were stronger and faster and somehow more focused than ordinary humans, and they kept themselves to themselves and followed some weirdo religion, but they weren't monsters.

Probably.

He looked over the two Apostates again. The taller one was probably just under two meters, and there was the distinct impression of a broad frame under the robes. The second, stood slightly behind the first, barely came up to the other's shoulders and was slight enough that the details of his, or maybe her, frame were hidden by the heavy robes. How could they stand to wear those things in this heat?

"This is your party?" the taller Apostate said, the empty-looking hood shifting over the three of them and coming to a rest facing Dr. Leito. His voice was soft, almost a murmur, and something about the slight muffling of the hood made it sound as if it was coming from a distance.

"Yes," Leito began. "You know who I am, this is…"

The Apostate cut him off with a gesture.

"Introductions are unnecessary."

For a moment the doctor looked like he was going to give a sharp reply, but obviously thought better of it.

"Well then. Whenever you two are ready."

The Apostate looked down at his companion, who just nodded once.

"We are ready. Lead the way."

ooAoAoUoo

He shouldn't have assumed it would be any cooler down here. Kenan wiped at the sweat dripping off his face and tried to concentrate on Marcus' steady commentary on their path rather than the stifling heat. The stillness of the air made the place feel like an oven.

"Gets a bit tight up ahead, we'll need to go in single file for a bit. After that it opens out into a bit of a cavern, no one's actually been down there or any further yet, so we should be extra careful from then on…"

The faint glow from the walls was slowly closing in on them. Just as Marcus had said, soon they were forced into going single file, the two Apostates at the front, Marcus and Dr. Leito after them, and Kenan guarding the rear. Tactically sound maybe, but it didn't stop him feeling uneasy that all he could see ahead was the dark silhouettes of the Apostates. Well, at least anything coming from out of unexplored territory would hit them first.

Was there anything down here? The air seemed too still. And the Apostates didn't seem to be expecting a fight, still robed and hooded as they were. Why did that thought make him even more uneasy?

Probably because he had a nasty feeling they knew something he didn't. He was getting the creeping impression that he'd walked into something that was bigger than anyone around him was letting on.

"The cavern should be coming up in just a bit… there, um, might be a bit of a drop, so, um, watch your step…" Marcus trailed off. The Apostates ahead gave him no acknowledgement.

They stopped.

"It's only about ten feet according to the scans, but if there's no easy way up or down…"

The Apostates both disappeared out of view to the right.

Marcus edged up cautiously to where they had been, and peered around in the dim light from the walls.

"Hey, there are stairs… damn, these must be old."

"So, this place was once inhabited, hm?" Dr. Leito muttered, coming up behind him. Kenan followed. The passage opened out into small cavern, with only a narrow ledge falling away into the darkness where the path had once been. Down to the right a rough stairway had been carved into the wall, the steps faintly outlined by mako glow in the rocks.

The two Apostates were waiting at the base of the stairs, both looking towards the far end of the cavern. Kenan found himself following their gaze. A pulsing light was coming through a large cleft in the wall there; there had to be something lighting the chamber beyond. Materia? But he'd never seen materia glow that strongly…

"Incredible…" Leito breathed. "Well well, the Apostasy are full of…"

There was a rustling off to the right, and an odd chirping. A delicate creature emerged from a dark crevice in the rock above them; a thin, serpentine body twisting through the air, held aloft on translucent, membranous wings. It turned its head towards the group, hissed menacingly, gave a strong beat of its wings propelling it across the cavern…

Kenan let his instincts take over. He draw a gun, aimed carefully around the join between the wings and the body, and pulled the trigger.

The creature gave a short shriek and dropped out of the air. It writhed briefly on the ground, then lay still.

There was a moment of tension, but no other sounds. Kenan lowered his weapon.

"Hey, nice shot."

"Well, I am good for some things."

A shape detached itself from the ceiling at the far end of the cavern. Then another, and another, and then the whole far ceiling gave way in a mass of twisting, shrieking bodies that caught themselves just before hitting the ground and surged forward on powerful wingbeats. Yet more poured out of high crevices, and the only way to any exits involved going towards the mob…

"Keep still," a female voice said calmly. Kenan found himself obeying despite his every instinct to dart for the nearest exit. It was their only chance, there was no way they could deal with this many, there must be hundreds of the things…

The leading beast, almost on them, burst into flames, and with an incredible blast of heat the fire filled the cavern from that point forward. It looked like the air had been set ablaze. The roar and the shrieking of dying creatures was deafening.

It only lasted a couple of seconds, then the blaze faded leaving only charred corpses the overpowering stink of burnt flesh. The shorter Apostate lowered her hand.

"Whoa…" Kenan and Marcus both managed to choke out simultaneously. Kenan tried to blink the fumes and sweat out of his eyes. There was no way he had just seen that. Magic might be powerful, but it wasn't that powerful… Just who were these two?

"What a stench," murmured the taller Apostate, with a trace of amusement. "You should have used something else, akhoti." His companion laughed.

They both set off towards the glow at the far end of the cavern, with a swish of robes and the occasional unpleasant crunch of ash underfoot. The three remaining men stared dumbly after them.

"The infamous Apostate elite… the Yeledim Gehenna…" Dr. Leito eventually muttered. He shook his head slightly. "Alright, that was close. But we're here now, and I doubt anything will be coming at us after that, hm?" He set off after the Apostates. Marcus gave something between a laugh and whimper, and followed, and Kenan went after him.

The chamber beyond was breathtaking. There had to be enough materia to power a small city, in vast stalagmites and veins in the walls, filling the place with a soft green glow. The stuff must have collected over centuries, maybe even millennia. The air was cooler here, and there was the faint sound of water… a mako fountain, bubbling up from the depths of the earth and forming a small pool of vibrant liquid in an alcove in the rocks.

Kenan tried to keep at least half an eye on the exit as Marcus and Dr. Leito busied themselves with investigating the chamber. The two Apostates were by the mako pool, and as he looked over to them the female knelt down and briefly dipped a hand into the green liquid. She then looked up to her companion and said something Kenan didn't quite catch. He looked away before either of them caught him watching them.

After several minutes of excited muttering between Marcus and Leito, the doctor laughed and turned to the Apostates.

"Well, well, well… you people certainly know how to buy off the Foundation, don't you? I'll have to recommend a full investigation of this place right away. The materia here alone makes this site invaluable, and the carvings underneath could take years of study. Let alone anything else we might find in this complex."

Kenan took another look at the walls. Now that he knew what he was looking for he could make out rough, faint shapes that he'd previously taken as part of the natural roughness of the rock. And… buy off the Foundation?

"So… just what is this place?" he asked. Dr. Leito turned to him.

"Well… difficult to say what at this stage. But I do have reason to believe these carving date from early Mu-Era, maybe even late Lambda-Era. In other words, this site is around four thousand years old. Quite a find, we could…"

The ground lurched, dislodging a fine rain of dust from the ceiling.

"What the…? Well, it might be prudent to return to camp at this point. No time to waste getting this dig underway, hm?"

The cavern started to shake, and the air filled with a distant rumbling. There was a crash from somewhere in the tunnels.

"Shit, why now?" Marcus cursed. "This could cause a cave in! We have to get out of here!"

A flash of black crossed Kenan's vision; the Apostates were already moving. He didn't think twice about following them. When even Apostates thought it was best to retreat, you didn't hang around to find out why.

The path ahead blurred with the shaking, and it was almost impossible to move fast and stay balanced. More than once Kenan found himself stumbling, or thrown painfully against a wall. The ever present rumbling was growing louder, drowning out everything but the sound of his own hard breathing. It was all he could do to keep up with the dark figures ahead of him through the sharp turns of the labyrinth of tunnels.

The tremors stopped almost as suddenly as they had started. The Apostates stopped abruptly soon after, and Kenan skidded to a halt to avoid running into them. He braced himself with a hand against the rock and bent over double, trying to catch his breath. To his relief, there were hurrying footsteps just behind him. He looked up and saw Leito and Marcus stop beside him.

"Where… are we?" he gasped.

"How should I know?" Marcus panted. "We were following you!"

"Well, I was following them."

"We're nearly out," the female Apostate stated simply, looking back at them over her shoulder.

"How would you kn…"

"We have an excellent sense of direction," the male cut in calmly.

"Doesn't anything get to those people or something?" Marcus muttered quietly as the Apostates started to walk away from them. He set off after them.

"Uh… are you two alright?" Kenan asked.

"Just a few knocks, nothing serious," Dr. Leito replied. "Come on, we don't want to be caught down here if another tremor hits."

There was daylight at the end of the tunnel around the next bend, just a short walk away. When they reached the exit, sand was pouring steadily in – the barriers must have been damaged in the quake. They scrambled up the bank of sand and back into…

Nothing. Where the camp had been was just a blank expanse of sand. Aside from the buckled barriers keeping sand out of the cavern entrance, nothing. No tents, no equipment, no people…

"What the hell?"

Both Marcus and Leito rushed forwards. Kenan just stood and stared. This… couldn't be right. They had to have come out at the wrong place. But… were there any other exits? And the barriers…

He looked around for the Apostates, and the world clicked into slow motion. They had moved along the cliff wall, one to the left, one to the right. And the way they moved… they were preparing to attack. He closed his eyes and reached for his guns as slowly as he dared, trying not to think about the fact that it would be utterly hopeless, they were too powerful.

The sand gave way beneath his feet, and he jumped backwards, his eyes snapping open. Where Marcus and Leito had been was a hissing, raging whirlpool of sand, and the edge of it had just missed him. If he had been a few feet further forward… The ground was shaking too, but an earthquake didn't do that…

Two enormous grey tentacles exploded out of the ground, showering sand everywhere. Kenan spat some out of his mouth, then had the throw himself face first onto the sand as one of the tentacles flailed overhead. He rolled over and pulled himself up onto one knee just in time to see a flash of black and silver, and the tip of the tentacle fall neatly severed onto the sand, oozing mako-green ichor. As he tried to get up the violent, pained thrashing of what remained caught him in the chest, throwing him right back against the cliff face. Through blurred vision he saw the injured limb retreat beneath the sand again. Looking to the left, he saw another blurred motion and the tentacle there, already splattering green onto the sand, whipped down into ground after its twin.

The two Apostates stopped eerily still, bracing themselves. They were out of their robes now – when had that happened? – and underneath were wearing black light armour. They were both armed with blades, a long, two handed one for the male and two shorter ones for the female. Sunlight glinted off the metal, and stranger, off the pair's hair: both had pure silver hair.

There was another rumble, and the ground trembled.

A wall of red rose out of the desert.

Kenan tried to press himself back into the cliff wall. The thing was huge, throwing a shadow over the whole area. A small head on a snakelike neck swayed back and forth over and immense body, all enormous feet and colossal clawed hands.

The Apostates were only visible as blurs of motion and flashes of blades as they fought, jumping up over the creature's carapace with impossible displays of balance and athletics. The thing was amazingly fast for its size, but apparently not fast enough. Before long it was oozing green from two huge gashes, and patches of its hide were burnt black.

A flailing hand caught one of the Apostates full on, hurling him to the ground only a few feet away from where Kenan was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. His weapon landed a little way away, sticking deep into the sand before vanishing into black smoke. The other immediately jumped back from the fight, and ran towards where he was lying, still.

He choked up black gunge onto the sand, and staggered to his feet. Kenan felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. No one could have survived a blow like that…

The air around the Apostate shimmered like a heat haze, and a column of transparent blue flame shot up around him towards the heavens. The sky seemed to darken as he gestured towards the monster, and a similar column on energy shot down and engulfed it. The thing roared deafeningly in pain, thrashing in the sand and finally diving under the ground away from the attack. A rapidly moving furrow of sand and a fading rumble marked its retreat. The blue fire disappeared, and the sky brightened again.

Dark energy still flickered around the Apostate. He collapsed forward briefly, clutching his head in his hands, then caught himself and straightened up. The aura didn't fade.

"Gedulah!"

There was an edge of warning in the female's voice, and more than a hint of fear. He turned a cold gaze on her, and raised a hand.

He stopped. His companion had put one of her swords right through his heart.

Even that didn't seem to affect him much. He started to pull back off the blade with a snarl. The second blade flashed around…

There was an odd moment of disconnection. The Apostate was gone, and the air was full of black feathers. They floated gently down, dissolving into nothing as they hit the sand.

Kenan staggered forward. In a daze he reached out and caught one of the feathers. It dissolved as soon as it touched his hand.

He had to be dreaming. This… wasn't real. He was dreaming, or hallucinating, or… something.

Aeternam habeas requiem.

He could hear voices, very faint, a long way away…

Haec sunt verba Matris nostrae ad Filium suum:

…they were singing, or chanting. He couldn't understand what they were saying…

Habeas requiem usque ad adventum novissimum.

He must have got heat stroke. That was it. This was all some fevered dream, and he'd wake up any second. If it was a dream, none of this was real. Everyone wasn't gone. Marcus. Leito. Everyone in the camp.

His team. His friends.

His legs gave out from under him and he slumped onto the sand, fighting the urge to throw up. They were all gone…

He was stuck in the desert with no food, only one canteen of water, no way to signal for help, no idea what direction to go.

Surely the Foundation would check on the camp when they realised they weren't getting any communications?

How long would that be? It could be days. They'd put the lack of communications down to equipment failure.

It wouldn't be before that thing came back.

He was stirred out of his reverie by the crunch of sand. The remaining Apostate was walking away. Kenan pulled himself up and shouted after her.

"Hey! You can't just leave! Do you even know where you're going? You can't just wander around out here, you'll die!"

It didn't make much sense, but the whole world wasn't making much sense. The Apostate stopped.

"It's only a two day walk out of the desert if you know the way. I have no need to stay here."

She flung both arms out in a sharply controlled motion, and the swords she was holding vanished. Sheets of pure darkness wrapped themselves around her, reforming her robes. She lowered her arms, and set off across the sand again.

Kenan considered for a second. Two days… it was possible. Better than staying here. If he was going to die, he might as well die trying.

He set off after her.

ooAoAoUoo

General Author Rambling

The plot bunnies have me again.

So, this is my far-future vision of the FFVII world, based on a good seven years or more of pondering (read: being dangerously obsessed by) the events of FFVII and their possible long-term consequences. As things get going, it may not be entirely what you'd expect... There's an insane amount of preparation (read: procrastination) I've done for this fic, including a 4000 year timeline co-ordinating two dating systems, a glossary of terms and several midi arrangements and compositions.

Yet, I'm still not sure anyone will actually want to read this. All OCs, vastly changed world, etc. Everything will eventually connect back into FFVII, and there will be several references to FFVII and its characters, but you'll have to read between the lines to spot most of them.

Ah well, if you have read all that, please give the story a try, and write a review if you like it!

Rating and Warnings

Warnings: Language, Violence, Religious themes (see below)

This fic will not go above T rating. However, there is a specific warning issue I wish to address.

This work will at times quote or reference texts and concepts of various religions, including but not limited to Christianity and Judaism. The Bible (in original Hebrew and Greek, the Catholic Vulgate, and English translations), the Kaddish, the Catholic Mass, various concepts of the Qabala, and others will all appear, either as chapter heading quotes or within the story itself. Words from the Hebrew language are also occasionally employed.

My use of these is in no way an attempt to insult, degrade or imply or incite any negative feeling towards any belief or group. However, if you feel uncomfortable at the idea of holy texts and concepts being employed in the context of fanfiction, avoid this story.