The Other Ancient
Chapter 6-Trouble
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
Oh my gosh, sorry it took so long to update! Okay, more stuff happens in this chapter, hopefully it doesn't suck! :P
"I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me." -J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Zack
Inside the pagoda was a spacious room that was, admittedly, impressive.
There were thick, tall pillars with small fires at the top, sort of like lights. Brightly colored tiles decorated the floor with intricate designs painted onto them. Walls crafted from fine wood completed the interior.
As they neared the center, there was some kind of Wutaian writing. He wasn't particularly interested, but he snuck a glance at his rather silent partner to see her inspecting the floor with an admittedly adorable frown on her face. Usually he was terrified of her on missions, especially ones involving the war - but in this moment, she was just...well, her.
Autumn quirked an eyebrow. "Combat...? Is this some sort of training room?"
Zack turned to frown at her. "What?"
She pointed to the floor. "The writing...it says "combat". Or something like that..."
The ravenette felt his eyes widen in surprise. "You can speak Wutaian?!"
"Yes, Zack, I can read and speak a different language. You know you can always learn too if you want." Her brilliant sapphire eyes rolled as her tone oozed sarcasm.
"Nah, I'll stick to what I'm good at." His glowing sky-colored eyes drawn out even more because of the surrounding flames.
Just then Zack heard a creak, and spotted some dust trailing down from the ceiling. Autumn had already gotten into a fighting position with her blade drawn, shooting a barely controlled Thundaga spell at the ceiling with precise aim.
He dashed out of the way just at the ceiling opened up, letting two ogre-like monsters down. One was wearing crimson armor and the other wore forest green. In their massive hands they gripped menacing axes that could effortlessly slice someone in half. Everything about them was heavy, bulky and enormous. The entire room rattled as they landed with a thud.
Autumn had already left the safety of the sturdy pillar Zack had pulled her behind and was currently approaching the giant creatures. Even from the distance he was at, their stench hit him: A hideous odor of rotting flesh and something undefinable.
Garbage?
Zack resisted the urge to gag while he saw Autumn crinkle her nose, holding the handle of her sword ever so tightly, ready to fight them as he hastily emerged from his cover.
"A-Sakura! Why'd you leave me behind?! You could've gotten hurt!"
"Zack, I can take care of myself. It's you that could've gotten hurt." She shot back curtly.
The ravenette then remembered that if there was one thing she hated, it was being treated as someone weak.
He went quiet, instead grinning at the two monsters. The Thundaga attack had stunned them for the moment, giving the two SOLDIERs a little breathing room.
"You must be the anti-SOLDIER monsters I've been hearing about." Zack grinned, eager to face this new challenge head-on.
He saw Autumn roll her eyes out of his peripherals before she charged at the green armored one as he took on the red.
"I'm gonna win that bet!" He thought with a renewed determination as his attacks grew fiercer.
Autumn
Leaping up, she swung her sword in an upward slash on its huge body, then blocked an incoming swing of its equally large battle ax. There was a loud clang as their weapons collided with a metallic ring, even creating some sparks that popped and whizzed off the Ice Queen's blade that sent out ice due to her equipped Ice Ring.
Landing a horizontal slash on its left leg, she dodged and used a somersault kick, then an ax kick, turning swiftly to dodge. Earning a limit break after glowing lavender, she sprung forward with an increase in speed. Jumping high in the air, she let out a roar as she swung her left leg out in the form of a side kick to smash into the creature's face, which was amplified with an explosion.
She then twisted in the air and flipped, kicking the creature in the jaw with an upward kick that was also supported by an explosion. Then she landed and sprinted forward, dodging the massive tomahawk aimed for her much smaller body and lithely climbed on top of it, slashing the hand and arm of the creature as she traveled further up the beast with a trail of explosions in her wake.
Finally, when she reached the head, Autumn reared back a fist to deliver the final blow. "It's over for you, meat-head! Meteor Barrage!"
Her fist, in the form of a reverse punch, collided with the side of its face and sent it crashing into the ground from the explosion that followed. The 2nd Class flipped off of the creature to gracefully land back on the floor.
"Nice try, but I don't go down without a fight."
Zack was taking longer with his, but Autumn knew he could handle it judging by how he didn't have a single scratch on him yet.
While he dealt with his own monster, she had to wait for him to finish. She also remembered that she hadn't equipped her Moon Bracer, which kept up a persistent Barrier and nearly slapped herself for not having it equipped already.
"Okay, now I think I'm all set." She smiled a little, proud that she'd obtained so many useful accessories through her years in SOLDIER due to her missions.
When Zack finally finished using his limit break Chain Slash she faced him. "So, we both got five points?"
He partner nodded. "Yeah. So now I have fifty-four, and you have..."
"I have sixty now, Zack." The brunette answered.
Groaning, he rotated his right shoulder to pop it back into place. "Man! Okay, how about the next ones we make twenty points?"
"Okay, that sounds fair. Raising the stakes a bit high though, aren't you?"
The ravenette before her merely shrugged. After they sheathed their swords, his cell rang, redirecting their attention. He put the phone on speaker for her.
"SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack victorious again!" Zack gloated instantly.
"You mean barely escaping major injuries because of my quick reflexes? Yeah, I know, you're welcome." Autumn retorted, rolling her eyes in irritation.
"Good work. Now, get out quickly. There's only five minutes until detonation." Angeal warned.
"Understood!" The 2nd replied.
Zack hung up and slipped his phone back into his utility pocket behind his sword.
Autumn continued on as the ravenette called out, "Director Lazard, are you watching?"
With a laugh, he started to run to catch up with her. Something was off, though. She could feel it.
"Gotta move!"
"Yeah, no kidding." She replied dryly to his announcement.
Just then, two more anti-SOLDIER monsters came crashing down from a trapdoor in the ceiling. One was red and one was blue-Zack took on the red one as she handled the blue one. He still had a smirk on his face.
"No time to play!"
Autumn instantly fired a Blizzaga spell at the creature, wishing she'd equipped Libra to learn its weaknesses and affinities. It roared in pain as the ice embedded itself in its tough hide, piercing straight through its armor.
"Okay, let's see if I can do this right..." The brunette muttered, feeling her hand start to tingle from the use of magic and the static that was forming from her Thundaga materia.
"Take this!" She shouted, sending volts of electricity at the monster, who jerked and twitched as its metal plates acted as conduits for the lightning, which was also amplified by the ice.
Autumn was already out of sight of the creature, vaulting up over its head to dive down and attempt to stab it right through its armored head. But the monster - despite getting severely electrocuted - knocked her away with one giant hand.
She skidded to a stop and charged forward, darting left and right to avoid its spiked club. It managed to kick her, which sent her flying through the air with a pained cry. She felt her ribs break from the impact as she failed to land properly, gasping from the agony of the rebound.
The brunette was so dazed from her rough collision with the floor that she barely managed to roll out of the way of the anti-SOLDIER monster's club, feeling a spike graze her arm. She stumbled and started running, fumbling around in her pockets for a potion.
When she finally got one out, it nearly fell out of her hand from the quaking steps of the monster on her tail. Downing it quickly and speeding up the process significantly with her Cura materia, she gritted her teeth as her ribs healed themselves and turned to block another swing from the club.
Using Blizzaga as a distraction, she leapt up to deliver a spinning roundhouse to its face, causing it to stumble to the side with a swaying gait.
She then cast Blizzaga on the floor right next to its teetering foot, making it trip on the solid block of ice.
"Going down!" The 2nd called out before her sword glowed a light red with a limit break.
As she advanced on the monster, she brandished her blade repeatedly to shoot out beams of fire that instantly started to eat away at the armor and flesh of the monster. Ignoring its cries of pain, Autumn finished it off with a final strike to its unguarded neck (Fire Force 2). Ichor spurted out to coat her shirt, which caused her to groan in disgust.
"I am never wearing this shirt again."
Glancing over, she saw that Zack had just finished his own battle and left the monster behind with a satisfying 'thud', only for another to replace it. Just when she was about to help him some smaller monsters decided to try and ambush her, except due to her Sense materia she got to them first and destroyed most of them with a shot of Blizzaga.
She heard the anti-SOLDIER monster Zack was fighting collapse to the floor with a couple of thumps from his limit break Rush Assault.
While she was finishing up the oncoming attack of the multiplied amount of monsters like bizarre bugs and tail vaults, the sliding metal sound of Zack's sword reached her ears, signaling he was truly finished and walked over to the bodies in triumph.
If they both got twenty points from the previous two anti-SOLDIER monsters, that meant she had eighty, and Zack had seventy-four. But add on the extra twenty he just got, that would mean he had...
NINETY-FOUR POINTS?!
And she just got about...well, considering each of the puny monsters were only one point, she had about ninety. Dang it! Zack won!
But all of a sudden she heard Zack cry out followed by a thud. Autumn turned to see the anti-SOLDIER monster get back up after seeing Zack get slapped by its giant hand across the room and collide with a sturdy support beam. He held his head, obviously having received a concussion from the heavy blow.
Her eyes widened in alarm. "Zack!"
However the monsters I still hadn't finished off kept me busy.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Zack trying to lift his sword that was still in his hand as the monster stalked towards him, the floor quaking with each step. Sadly, because she was distracted a Bizarre Bug used this opportunity to shoot out its Poison Powder, effectively hitting her with the toxins. She would've been more worried about the poison if it hadn't been for the fact that she'd been protected by her Champion Belt, which negated its effects.
She quickly cut down the creature as quietly as she could, but it screeched from her stab into its back and alerted the anti-SOLDIER monster to her whereabouts.
"Oh, crap."
Autumn narrowly dodged the giant palm aiming to squash her like a bug, but this particular creature was faster than average. Did she have any Hypers? Well, now was as good a time as any.
While dodging and retaliating blows with her materia, she scrummaged around in her pockets for any sign of the potions. She felt a sudden deep, stinging pain in her arm, and glanced at it to see that the mace had cut into her flesh deeply.
"Well, seems like I'm getting a little clumsy. Oh please don't tell me I sold them all!" She thought in dread when her fingers finally brushed up against a familiar bottle.
"YES!" The brunette cheered, hastily chugging down the contents as she felt a surge of energy.
Looking around, everything seemed to slow down as she sped up and nimbly dodged the mace aimed at her. She cast Blizzaga at its face, then focused on slashing at its ankles to disable it. Dark red blood spurted from where she sliced, causing a slow howl of pain to emanate from her opponent as it tried to grab her.
She instead ran up its arm from the hand, having stabbed it from the wrist and dragging her blade up behind her as she continued her ascent, leaving a long deep cut on its tough hide. She melted any armor that got in the way using a Firaga spell that went a little crazy.
That was when the world started to spin.
"Oh no...no, no, no! Of all times, my magic reserves choose NOW to kick me in the head?!" She thought blearily as her vision started to blur.
Fervently searching her pockets for an ether, she barely escaped the hand she'd severely injured to ingest the liquid and then drive her blade through the monster's head, only to get blocked by its tomahawk that it had picked up from one of its fallen comrades. She'd only half-finished the ether when her Hyper stated to wear off, and as everything sped up she started to feel the drain of the concoction.
Just when she was about to slit its throat instead, she heard her partner groan. Unfortunately, it was enough of a distraction for the anti-SOLDIER monster to finally grab her in one of its gigantic, meaty hands and proceed to fling her across the room with incredible force.
Now weakened and lacking energy, she couldn't stop herself from skidding across the floor several times, flipping until she crashed into a wall. It completely knocked the wind out of her, leaving her gasping desperately for air like a fish out of water.
Pain exploded in her back and head, leaving her writhing on the floor as it traveled throughout her body. Through the black spots in her blurred vision, she saw the monster begin to make its way over to Zack.
"Zack...run...get...out of here..." She tried to yell, but it came out as barely a whisper.
Then she let herself sink into the endless sea of darkness.
Autumn's POV
After what seemed like eternity, I felt the familiar cooling and relieving sensation of a Curaga spell, and someone opening my mouth to pour in a bitter-tasting liquid: a potion.
"...sorry...sword...wear, tear, or rust..." I heard Zack apologize.
At first I wasn't aware I was even awake, but hearing Zack's voice that initially faded in and out proved I definitely wasn't dreaming or even unconscious. There was no way he'd ever be in my dreams - he was too annoying.
Groggily, I opened my eyes to see everything as a blur. I drunkenly brought a hand up to the back of my head, grimacing when pain erupted in my skull. I came away with blood on my gloved palm.
Fortunately, the wound already closed up thanks to the combination of the Curaga spell, the potion and my enhanced healing.
As my head cleared, my vision started to sharpen. My other senses followed suit, and I found myself moved but still inside the pagoda. Why weren't we dead?
"You're both a little more important than my sword," I heard Angeal say, and looked over to see my mentor in the flesh. "…But just a little."
Oh. That explained it.
Angeal helped Zack up after a little chuckle and a smile, showing he wasn't totally mad with us.
"Thanks!" My partner grinned.
"Right, just ignore the now conscious 2nd that would've saved your butt if you weren't so freaking loud. I'm fine, thanks for asking." I sighed, about to struggle with getting up until a hand hovered before my face.
"Are you sure? I used a Curaga and a Hi-potion, but that was a hard hit you took." Angeal commented before I accepted his hand.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Thank you, Angeal. I owe you." I smiled, dusting myself off.
"Don't mention it. How long were you out?" He asked as we started heading out of the pagoda.
"Up until the point I heard you sweetly mention that we're a little more important than your sword. I'm never letting that go, by the way." I smirked, hearing him groan a little.
Normal POV
Once the trio had left the premises of the pagoda, they treaded across the cold ground, seeing as it was in the middle of the night.
Hearing footsteps behind them, Autumn and Zack turned to see Lazard running towards them in his usual attire, looking strange and it stuck out compared to the scenery.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm not used to being on site."
Angeal folded his arms. "You didn't have to come."
"The operation will bring an end to the war. I have to see it through personally." Lazard insisted, then turned to Autumn and Zack.
"SOLDIER 2nd Class Sakura and SOLDIER 2nd Class Zack."
Both of them stood straight and stiff, their arms at their sides as an automatic response.
"Sir!" they replied.
"You both performed your duties admirably at Fort Tamblin. I saw it with my own eyes." Lazard said and put one of his hands up to the bridge of his glasses.
"Frankly, my evaluation of the two of you is..." He removed his hand from his glasses a bit overly dramatically.
"You are frightening individuals. No SOLDIER member I know has ever taken out an entire Wutai army by themselves," He glanced over at Autumn.
"-or such powerful enemies as the Crescent or the anti-SOLDIER monsters." The Director stated, his eyes flickering over to Zack, who grinned proudly and did his signature fist pump into the air.
Autumn remained collected, though her glowing sapphire eyes seemed to gleam a little brighter against the shadows.
"Yes, I was quite surprised myself." Angeal agreed.
"Your efforts in the Wutai War will be remembered in history. It seems your dreams of becoming heroes has already come true." Lazard praised.
Zack was seriously about to explode with joy - or crush the Director in a hug. The brunette beside him remained quiet except for a 'thank you', deciding not to correct Lazard in the fact that she never wanted to be a hero.
"Let's not get carried away, Director. Zack and Sakura still have a lot to accomplish." Angeal paused, then grew a tiny smile. "Ha ha, I suppose you're right. Zack, Sakura, I hope you'll both continue to excel."
Autumn flushed underneath her mask at the praise. "Thank you, Angeal, I won't let you down."
"Roger that Angeal!" Zack beamed, struggling to contain his laughter towards Autumn's expression.
"Now, let's hurry. Sephiroth is waiting." Angeal turned.
"Sephiroth? The SOLDIER hero?" Zack asked excitedly as Lazard and Angeal began to walk away.
Autumn stood next to her partner and shook her head. "Poor Sephy...I bet he's never met someone like Zack before."
"Wow! I get to meet a hero!" Zack exclaimed with joy, but then sharply whipped around with Autumn to the other direction, sensing someone or something.
Three warriors in red armor and carrying deadly-looking twin daggers did inhumanly fast cartwheels around them before stopping and stood surrounding the two SOLDIERs, poised to strike.
Autumn drew her sword at the same time Zack did, running forward and slicing down one of the strange enemies and then another. It went by fast, surprisingly, and the two had finished them off rather quick.
"Zack! Sakura! Come on!" Angeal called.
The duo began to comply, but a tingling sensation at the back of the brunette's neck made her pause. Zack continued, oblivious to her absence.
Turning her head, she caught the rustling of bushes and a darkened figure suddenly springing out from above her.
She hastily cast a Blizzaga spell, dodging an attack from dual blades that would have decapitated her. The person had a visor and mask on, completely hiding his identity. The 2nd was surprised by his unnatural strength, which caused her to crash onto her back, knocking the wind out of her.
"Dear Shiva, how many times is this going to happen?!" She thought, counting this as the third time tonight that she'd gotten the air forced out of her lungs.
Gasping for air, she struggled to keep the dual blades that were inching closer to her neck. Desperate, she brought her knee up to send a powerful kick to her attacker's stomach.
He was sent flying off of her as she sucked in deep breaths of oxygen. Leaping onto her feet, Autumn charged at her assailant, only to see him begin to retreat.
"What the-" She started, confused by the swift change in behavior.
"You're not ready." The male cut her off, sounding disappointed.
The 2nd's jaw dropped, utterly bewildered by his statement.
"Excuse me? You just tried to kill me and now say I'm not ready? Not ready for what?"
He leveled his head so it seemed he was staring at her. "Mother can't have you yet."
"What the he-" Autumn was once again cut off as the figure slunk back into the shadows.
"You're very interesting, Sister. We'll see if Mother was right about you."
"Hey, hold on a second!" She cried out, but he was already gone.
"What the heck was that about?" The brunette wondered, slightly chilled by his strangeness.
"Crap, I need to catch up!" Autumn exclaimed, realizing how far behind she was.
Sprinting, she reached Angeal, Zack and the Director to see more bodies of the mysterious warriors and more approaching.
"Take the director to a safe place." He ordered Zack.
"Then contact Sephiroth." The blonde protested.
Autumn rolled her eyes just a little. She didn't like the fact that Lazard wanted to depend on a busy SOLDIER hero all the time and not her perfectly adequate partner right beside him. Her mentor shifted into a fighting stance.
"Zack is more than enough." Angeal reassured the insistent man.
Zack jogged ahead a bit, beckoning the director as he did so.
"Follow me, Director."
Autumn looked at Angeal. "I assume I'm staying here?"
He nodded in response. The brunette turned to Zack. "Be careful."
The ravenette silently promised her he would before the two masked enemies charged at Angeal and Autumn as the ravenette 2nd and Lazard began to run.
"You ready for this?" Angeal asked his one out of two of his prized students.
She smiled, nodding. "Yup. I am taught by the best, after all."
Autumn's POV
I rushed forward towards one of the new enemies, hitting away its dagger-wielding hands.
He grabbed my wrist, fingers clenched around the bone. I responded by flipping my hand, grabbing his, turning so his arm was over my opposite shoulder and throwing him brutally to the ground. I drew my sword and stabbed him through the chest, yanking out my sword after a brief twist. Flecks of blood dirtied my cheek.
I swiftly spun around to slash an upward arc at another mysterious enemy. Afterwards, I turned to grin at Angeal. "All done."
Then, someone I had never expected walked forward, mockingly clapping.
"Wonderful performance, though it could never be compared to the arts of LOVELESS."
That voice...the crimson leather coat, the reddish auburn hair, the glowing sky blue eyes...no, I couldn't be mistaken.
"Genesis?" I heard myself utter aloud in complete shock.
Questions ran through my head immediately. "What is he doing here? Is he responsible for these sudden attacks? Why? What's gotten into him?"
The redheaded man turned his attention to Angeal.
"My friend, join me. I can't do this alone any longer. This includes you as well. You know what I speak of. Can you really live on that side any longer?"
Angeal seemed very confused, as did I.
"You...you...you asshole!" I yelled, feeling my ire heighten.
The moonlight accentuated his red hair, making him seem a little otherworldly combined with his surprised glowing irises.
"Pardon?"
"Do you have any idea how worried Sephy and 'Geal have been?! Do you know how worried I have been?! What the hell have you been up to?! And don't quote from LOVELESS as an answer!" I demanded.
"I am so frustrated at this man!"
Genesis chuckled. "You know me so well."
"Of course I do! I'm your friend!"
To this he shook his head.
"Apologies, but you cannot join us. Explaining to you would sacrifice time, and you would not be as willing to come with me as Angeal." He raised his hand as swirls and fogs of magic began to swarm around it. I knew precisely what was going on, drawing my sword while evading the Sleep spell directed towards me.
"Genesis! Don't! Stop this!" I shouted, veering to the right to avoid his casting.
Charging at the apparently rogue 1st, I brought my sword down to clash with his to use it as a distraction for a roundhouse, which he blocked. I countered by spinning and using a sidekick with my other foot, pushing him back. Giving him no time to recover I tried executing a sweep kick, but he leapt up into the air and slashed his sword, which had been amplified with magic.
I cut the fireballs away, my blade shimmering a pale blue while I glowed a pale lavender. Brandishing my weapon it shot out blades of ice so thin and sharp they could probably cut off a limb or two (Ice Force II).
Genesis shattered most of them with his own sword, but one manage to nick him on the arm, leaving a shallow cut and a tear in his leather sleeve. We clashed swords again, then I used a back kick.
He caught my foot and threw me to the ground. I rolled out of his way and took a jab at the back of his head, but he turned away just seconds before impact. Just as I was about to attack again, my Sense materia helped me to just barely evade a punch to the back of my head.
My eyes widened at the sight of Angeal, who had entered into the battle against me.
"Angeal? What're you doing?!"
I ducked to avoid another punch, only to get kicked in the stomach by Genesis. I vaulted over them to prevent myself from getting cornered and cast a powerful Thundaga spell.
Genesis apparently had some accessory equipped that prevented him from taking any damage, so I switched to Blizzaga - but Angeal got to me first.
With a single right hook I was sent sprawling to the ground, wiping away blood from the corner of my mouth.
My mentor went to stand by Genesis's side, who was already preparing a Firaga spell.
"Apologies, Sakura. To know if you are relevant in any of this...while I'm almost certain you aren't, perhaps you have something to do with the goddess."
Betrayal washed over me. "The goddess? Is this all just about LOVELESS?!"
"Not at all. But it is intertwined. Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh." Genesis answered and quoted before firing the spell at me.
I blocked with my sword. "Didn't I say not to quote LOVELESS?!"
Failing to repel the incoming sleeping spell in time he aimed at me, a heaviness tugged at my eyes, but I remained standing, fighting it to the best of my abilities. As I staggered, he blasted me with Firaga, the fireballs slamming against my chest to knock me back. I think I screamed in the process. The end result was I hit my head on a rock.
"Wait...no...Angeal...Genesis..."
In my failing vision I saw Angeal turn and leave with our mutual friend.
Then I saw nothing except the fading glow of chartreuse eyes as darkness and sleep overcame me.
A/N: I am so sorry this is so late! *dodges thrown items* Yeah...I lost the internet for about a week and that really threw me off along with the never ending supply of homework. Read and review please! :)