"Um, Yuna... are you sure we're going the right way?" Sora asked.
"Yes, I'm positive. We're almost there." You responded.
"Ok, cause it feels like we've been walking in circles"
"Sora, SHUT UP!! How can Yuna concentrate if you're yapping your mouth off?!" Ivy hissed at him.
"Well sorry! God, you are so moody"
"Why you little"
You sighed. Ivy and Sora had been at each other all day, and it was driving you insane. You studied your surrondings. This is takeing too long! We should of gotten there by now! You continued your way, picking through the underbush. Finally! You smiled in relief as you made your way to the all to familar cliff. Turning around, you said. "Its here"
Loz eyed the cliff. "Where"
"Here." You tapped a section of rocks. "All we need to do is unblock the entrance, then go through the cave, unblock the next entrance, and we're there"
"Ok, leave this to me!" Ivy said, stepping up. She closed her eyes, raising her hands in front of her. The rocks started shakeing, then they lifted up in the air, and over to the side, reveiling a small entrance leading down underneath the cliff. She opened her eyes and smiled at her handy work. "No bad, if I do say so myself." She said smugly. Sora rolled his eyes. "When you're done bragging, move. You're blocking the way in"
Ivy glared at him. "Well excuse me! I'll like to see you do better"
"How about I set"
"Enough you two! Please, can you stop already? You're fighting like two niwights!" You begged them.
That shut them up. "Whats a niwight?" Asked Cloud.
"A creature that gets fights about every little thing." You replied.
Ivy entered the cave, followed by vincent, Cloud, Sora, Loz and Yazoo. You stopped before entering. You closed your eyes, opening them slowly. I'm really going back there, but... what happened to it? Horrifying images flew through your mind. You squeezed eyes eyes shut, willing them to go away. "Yuna?!" You opened you eyes, and looked at Kadaj. "Are you ok?" He asked, worry lacing his features.
You nodded. "Yes, I'm alright"
He walked over to the entrance, turning around and offering you his hand. "Come on. Its alright." He said soothingly.
You took a deep breath, and slowly reached for his hand. When you're hand was in his, he gently guided you after him, into the cave. You gulped, feeling nervous. "Why are you worried?" He asked.
"It just has been so long since I left. I don't even know what has become of that place." You answered. "I guess I'm just scared to find out"
"I guess thats only natural." Kadaj replied, squinting to see in the dark.
"Do you need light"
"Yeah, abit of light would be nice here." He replied.
You nodded, and held up your free hand, a ball of light appeared, and you could see again.
He glanced back at you. "That trick must come in handy"
"It does, but its mostly used for purifying"
"There you guys are! I thought we lost you back there!" Ivy said with a smile.
Cloud glared at Kadaj, then looked at your hand. "Whats that"
"A light ball. It'll help us see in the dark." You replied.
"Ok Yuna," Sora stepped to the side, pushing you forward. "Lead the way"
You walked to the front of the group. "Its not that hard to follow. Its basiclly one big path, with several smaller ones branching off of it. As long as you stay on the main one, and don't stray off the path, its next to impossible to get lost"
"Even still, I'll take the back." Sora volunteered quickly, dashing to the back as fast as he can.
"Scared, are you?" Ivy taunted.
"Do not make me set you on fire!" Sora warned.
"Whats wrong with him?" Vincent asked.
"Hes a Black Magik user." Ivy replied. "He deals with the dark arts, so anything like that-" She nodded towards the ball. "Will harm him immensely . With Magik, its all about strengths and weaknesses. Black Magik does little good against him, but the purifying techniques of White Magik is like poison to him"
Vincent nodded. "So what happens if you use all 6"
"Usually everyone uses all 6. Its just that you use 1 more then another, making you stronger in that one, but weaker in the other"
"When you are done telling secerts of Magik, may we please get a move on?" Sora yelled. "The longer that thing is out, the weaker I get"
You shook your head, a small smile on your face. Cloud and Kadaj were right behind you, glaring at each other. Vincent was deep in discussion with Ivy, Loz and Yazoo were talking in hushed tones, probally plotting something, and Sora brought up the rear, his eyes fixed on the ball.
The trip was pretty uneventful. The party traveled in silence, glancing around every so often. After a couple of hours have passed, You reached the entrance to the village. "We're here." You announced, turning around. Ivy and Sora moved up to the front.
Ivy closed her eyes, stareing at the rocks not moving. "Are you ok?" You asked.
"That chill comeing from behind the rocks... can you feel it too?" She asked.
You nodded. "Sora, what do you make of it"
"Death." He replied. "Something had been here, leaving this feeling of pain and suffering behind. Its faint, so what ever it is, its gone now"
"Ok, but are we making the right choice?" Ivy asked. "Should we really e here at all"
"We need to see this place again, even if it is... a plce of yesterday." You replied slowly. "We need to see for ourselves what has become of the village"
Sora nodded. " Ok, Ivy. Do your thing"
"You're only being nice because once I unblock the path, we'll have light, so there'll be no need of that ball." A sweat drop appeared on Sora's head. "Whatever. Well, here goes nothing." Ivy closed her eyes, hands raising up. The rocks began shaking, but didn't move. She moved her hands in an upward motion, but they still didn't move.
"Whats wrong?" You asked.
"Whoever put these here, odviously didn't want them to be moved." Ivy replied through clenched teeth. "A little help would be nice"
You nodded. "Kadaj, can you hold this?" You gently set the ball in his hands, then turned to face the rocks.
"Ok, on the count of three, activate Green Magik 100,and start moveing the rocks with all your might." Ivy said, as you and Sora got ready. "One, two, THREE!" The circle appeared underneath all three of you, and you began to feel the strain on your body. The rocks slowly began to move to the side. "Almost there..." Ivy said. Then there was a big explosion, sending the three of you flying back, into the rest of the group.
"Ow." Sora was the first to sit up. "Remind me never to use Green again"
"Oh shut up!" Ivy snapped. "Did we do it"
You sat up slowly. "What was that?" You looked down to find yourself on top of Kadaj. "Oh sorry!" You scrambled off of him, blushing lightly.
Ivy noticed that she was on Vincent. "Thanks for breaking my fall." She said with a smile.
"Lucky you guys, I landed on solid rock!" Grumbled Sora.
Kadaj and Vincent got up. The dust finally settled, exposing a large entrance. Light streamed in, and you walked slowly to the entrance. Once out of the cave, you frowned. "Ivy, I thought you said that everyone died"
"They did, I can still hear their screams in my dreams. Why"
"Then were are the body's?" You asked.
Sora looked around. "Except for the state of some buildings, it doesn't look like there was a fight here"
"Ok, this is weird." Ivy proclaimed.
"Proceed with caution. Don't go anywhere with out someone else." You said, feeling uneasy. Who could of done... no, he wouldn't have. Could he
"You're not htinking that..?" Ivy asked.
"Who else knew about this place?" Sora replied.
"Lets see if we can find the body's first. Then we'll start thinking of suspects." You said, walking forward. "Lets go"
Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Cloud, and Vincent came out. "I thought that this place was suppose to be a graveyard." Yazoo said.
"You guys stay here. Don't leave this spot." Ivy ordered. "We'll come and get you in a bit"
"But"
"I MEAN IT!!" She yelled. "Something screwy is going on here, and until we can figure out what happened, we need to know where you guys are. So stay here and don't move!" She turned to go.
"Why should we?" Cloud demanded. "Every step of the way, you and him treat us like we are nothing but bothers. We can take care of ourselves you know"
"SO?! What did we tell you about this place?! It's full of ancient magik, and isn't safe for the likes of you! So stay put"
"Make me"
Sora turned around. "I'll take care of this." He started to pull out his syth.
"No." You stepped in front of him. "We're going to need all the help we can get. We'll split up into groups of 3, and we'll cover more ground." You took a breath. "This is now their business too"
"Fine." Sora's hand left the syth.
"Ok, you can come." Ivy called to them. "Vincent and Cloud will go with Sora, Yazoo and Loz will come with me, and Kadaj will go with Yuna. Understand? Good." She started to turn around, but then thought better of itand faced them again. "Oh, and feel lucky. It isn't often we do this.Like it or not, you're still outsiders"
Kadaj walked up to you. "We'll take the North end. Sora, you go and check out the west end. Ivy, go and check the east end. We'll meet at the center of the village when we're done. If you find anything, send up a signal"
They nodded and went off. "Why are you so worried?" Asked Kadaj as you set off.
"The last visiter to the village that I know of was Sephiroth, and that was 10 years ago. Either Sephiroth had came back, or someone else found this place. Either way, its not good"
"So... this is where you lived." Kadaj said, examining his surrondings.
"Yeah, personally, I prefered living here then any other place. It just seemed... safer I guess. Every where else I went, I lived in fear, of what will happen next."
Sephiroth's POV:
You smirked as you watched them. The poor fools, they just don't know what they were up against. Your powers have grown since you came back, and had increased at an alarming rate. Your eyes flicked between the three groups. One Promised One in each group, with one swordsman, and one shooter in each group. They were being cautious, sure, but that would do them little good. But right now, you needed to find out what their weaknesses and strengths were. Some were more odvious then others, but you still needed to find them. Finally, you're gaze rested on Yuna. Remenbering last night, you smirked. Soon, it'll all come together soon. You know knew why they were here, it was for a few reasons actually. They were curious about what had became of this place, it was something they needed to do, whose reasons didn't interest you. What interested you was the Sumbei, the ceromony that Ivy and Yuna would be preforming soon. It was suppose to give them insight on matters close to their heart, and was done at the sacred springs. Your smirk grew wider. It would all come together soon, and little did they know, they were all playing their parts to prefection. Everything was going exactly to plan.
Your POV:
"You guys didn't find anything either?" Ivy asked you.
You shook your head. "Nothing. Its kind of weird. Maybe we'll find something at the South end, at least thats where the burial ground is"
"I think that someone shoud check out the libary." Sora said. "Whoever was here could have looked through there"
"Alright. You, Cloud,and Vincent go and check the South end, the rest of us we'll look through the libary." Ivy said.
"Why do you think someone might have looked through the Libary?" Yazoo asked.
"Easy, our entire history is recorded in there. From the minorest spell to the greatest calamity, from our sweet begining to the bitter end." You replied. Reaching for the doors, they swung opened easily. "Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Something that doesn't belong." You instructed, as you all spread out to search.
Cloud's POV:
Danmit! I should be the one helping Yuna, not Kadaj! You thought angerly. "What exactly are we looking for?" Vincent asked Sora.
"Anything that doesn't fit." Sora replied. He stopped walking, eyes fixed on something. "Like that." He headed towards the door of one house. "Interesting. My bets are that Sephiroth was the one here." He said, picking up some flowers on the door step.
"Why do you say?" You asked him.
"Because," He said, his hand on his syth. "This used to be where Yuna lived." He opened the door with caution. "Be on your guard"
You don't need to tell me that. You placed a hand on your sword. Entering, you noticed something. The place looked lived in, like someone had been there recently. You enetered a bedroom, filled with toys. Some artwork was on the walls, with some spell books piled up on a desk. This must have been Yuna's room when she was a child. Leaving the room, you entered another down the hall. You frowned. Something seemed off about this one, it was too different from the rest of the house. "Sora, Vincent, come here for a sec." You called to them.
"What is it?" Sora asked annoyed.
"Is this what you would classify as 'something that doesn't fit'?" You asked. Sora entered the room, stopped, and stared. Vincent soon followed, gazeing.
"Yes," Sora said slowly. "This is definitly something that doesn't fit."
Your POV:
"Someone odviously had a lot of time on their hands." Ivy threw up her hands in frustration. "Every single book and scroll has been read, and put back. Yet there is no clue on who did this"
"What about the spheres?" You asked her.
"Whats a 'sphere'?" Kadaj asked.
"Its sorta like a video. You record what you want on it, and later yu can watch it." You told him.
"Ya, someones been in there too." Ivy grumbled. "We're never going to find out who did this at this rate"
"Ivy, Yuna!" Sora ran up to you. "We found something, you better come quick. I think we have a good idea on who did it now"
"Why, where did you find it? And what is it?" Ivy asked.
"I think its Sephiroth, and we found it in Yuna's old house. Come on"
Your eyes widened. "What do you mean its in my house?!" You demanded as Vincent and Cloud ran up.
"Easy. Its. In. Your. House." Sora said.
You took off. "Yuna, wait! You shouldn't go there alone!" Ivy cried after you.
Reaching yor house, you threw open the door. Racing in, you checked the rooms. Nothing. Then you reached the last one, your parents bedroom. Grasping the door knob, you opened the door. The room was not the safe haven you remenbered it to be. Somebody had lived there for sometime. Nothing was in its old place, like they had been picked up and examined, then placed back down. Different sheets were on the bed, and the shape of a body was creased onto them. Stepping into the room, you glanced around cautiously. Looking over to the desk, you saw a single black rose lying on it. Walking over, you picked it up, turning it over in your hands. A piece of paper fluttered down. Bending down, you picked it up, straightening as you read it.
For my Beloved, Yuna.