A/N: The problem with my style of updates (alternate between this story and the next) is that I usually forget what happens the last time. Alas, it is my fear of neglect due to favouritism that forces me to do as such. Does anyone have a better suited system?
Chapter 10:
Link choked back a cough as he shovelled away the small patch of earth designated as Shael's grave. Like Navi before, the fairy fell to the unknown disease that not even Saria, with her ancient knowledge on medicine, could determine.
At least they managed to move to another planet, one without an army set on killing them. They hoped to find a doctor, anyone with the glimpses of medical knowledge, to help cure Shael. The country they landed in was embroiled in civil war, and nearly everyone who could read had been killed off. No foreigners dared set a foot in until the war subsided, which probably will be when the last man falls dead. At least no one paid any attention to the aliens, so intent on plunging their weapons into their brothers, neighbours, and friends.
Link wished he could say that Shael's death was quick and painless. Wincing as he spat out a dark globule of blood, he remembered how the fairy convulsed in his fevered dream, dying in a strangled sigh as clotting sealed the blood from the brain. The only thing Saria could hope was that the heavy fever inflicted detached Shael from the pain wracking his body.
And now it seemed it was Link's turn to bear the disease. Saria was caught in her own woes, and he didn't want to trouble her with what started with just heavy coughing. At present she was whittling away at a large chunk of wood, trying to create an expanded form of Shael, immortalising his features in the last refuge she had. Biting back a groan from the searing pain in his chest, Link returned his gaze to the shovel, resuming his digging.
Saria had to rely on memory to reconstruct Shael's characteristics, the disease shredding away any aesthetic dignity of its victims. Skin would alternate between paling and blotching, hair either shrivelling and falling or greying and falling limp. Navi didn't suffer as badly, but Shael suffered the ultimate injury to a fairy as days before death his wings fell off. Resilient and fairly accepting of his impending demise, he spent the days after crying, crippled hands always returning to pat where his wings would have rested.
Link wondered what the disease would do to him. He already gave it a name, the Void-bearer. Somehow it managed to live through the non-existence of space to contact and affect them, and so far the only consequence from it was death. The name didn't seem to depict its true gruesomeness, but Link wasn't good with names, so Void-bearer stuck.
He had no wings to lose, so what would he lose instead? His life seemed a given, but before, what – an arm, a leg, two? Maybe the ability to see, or speak, or hear. Navi went mute shortly after the symptoms appeared, Shael went blind in a couple of days. Maybe he'll follow the pattern and go deaf.
Link didn't have much time to ponder upon that as Saria came up, putting a tender hand on his forearm. Blinking, he didn't have the energy to resist Saria as she gently remove the shovel from his grip. "Stei sri ester," /Get some rest/ she said soothingly, forcing a smile.
Link glanced at her work before returning to her eyes, green eyes dry of tears and suppressing sorrow. "Maire tes zeirs…?" /But the statue…/ He made an attempt to take back the shovel, but with a slow headshake and a gentle nudge of his arm Saria kept the spade.
"Ce'fue contlai," /It is done/ she said softly, with her free hand guiding Link away from the grave. "Stei sri ester." /Get some rest./
Another sliver of pain shot through his chest, and Link stood quiet for a while before responding. "Maire…" /But…/
His sentence wasn't finished as with a clank Saria dropped the shovel and suddenly hugged him, tears soaking through his shirt. "Se nai krest vrost que," /I don't want to lose you/ she sobbed, loosening her hug when Link coughed heavily but clinging on nonetheless, "nai que, nai siluma silucron." /not you, not anyone anymore./
Link looked at her shuddering frame, stroking her hair. The Kokiri being ever immortal never saw death, and any close encounter would leave any shaking. Exhaling quietly he nodded, returning the hug. Saria only hugged him tighter.
"Stei sri ester."
-S-
You would imagine that if kept alive for a few centuries, your ability to do things would improve due to the repetitive nature granted from having so much time to do it. Link was an exception, being stuck inside lava, he could not move, blink or even breathe, and he sometimes questioned why he was still alive. For anyone he imagined so, with Jemnezmy they would be right, unfortunately so.
With an expletive Cloud ducked under a sudden gale of frost, withdrawing his sword and rolling back. Despite looking like it was made of jelly the 8-Eye proved resilient enough to tackle Tifa without going splash.
With a surprised shout the bash on her knee proved enough to knock her over and it was luck only that allowed her retaliatory kick to connect. It bounced back a few metres before steadying itself.
The Jemnezmy decided to dart forward, hands swinging in knife chops hardened by a layer of ice. Cid parried her rapid attacks with his spear, but some got through, chipping his armoured undercoat and those that did not spread the frost across his weapon.
"That's how ya meant to start a fight," Cid laughed, releasing a burst of fire magic to warm up his fingers, "jus' chargin' straight in without a reason." Another spout of fire got the Jemnezy to dart away, choosing to fight a more docile opponent like Aeris.
To be fair she put up a good fight, despite being weighed down by maintaining the gravity Materia managing to raise a defence against the fast thrusts. The Jemnezmy gave up with trying forcing her way past the staff, and with comical ease snatched it free from Aeris' grasp. With her free hand she grabbed Aeris' jaw, up close looking at her eye to eye. With a small smirk Jemnezmy moved away and returned the staff, jumping at a distance to launch another miniature blizzard at Red XIII.
Strangely enough Aeris didn't return to fighting, rather walking around dazedly with her eyes glazed. Suddenly she let free her hold over gravity, and everyone minus Tifa, Red XIII and Vincent were sent to the ground from the increased weight of their weapons.
"Aw crap," Barret swore, struggling to unlatch his gun arm from himself, "confusion! Aeris, snap outta it!"
Her response was to thwack his downed form with the butt of her staff before puttering away to club Vincent. It usually took a decent hit to knock someone back to proper confidences, and with Vincent struggling to raise his gun higher than knee level, he was unable to deliver such a hit.
While the group was down the 8-Eyes took the opportunity to strike hard and heavy, glowing green and siphoning the health off Yuffie and Barret, using the channelled energy to heal themselves. Barret was still stuck with his gun latch and Yuffie had yet to empty her sleeves of all her knives.
Link withdrew his own identical knife, managing with surprising strength to hurl it at one 8-Eye. It fell short, reducing its potency from a death blow to a minor injury from its bounce off the floor, but that was damaging enough that Tifa's follow-up kick killed it as well as tossing it like a football. Its failing form crashed into the unsuspecting Jemnezmy, cutting short her next Cold Breath attack.
With a snarl Red XIII shook off the small bits of ice hanging to his mane, charging forward to bite the remaining 8-Eye. It floated aside, barely missing his jaws and drained a bit more life. The insult was added upon injury when he was struck again by another of Jemnezmy's frost attacks.
With a growl he homed back onto the 8-Eye, hunched low. With a low rumble of "Sled Fang" he darted forward at previously unseen speeds, teeth rending through the offending object and carrying on. The remaining halves of the 8-Eye fell loosely against each other and dissolved away.
Wriggling free of his sword Link faced down against the Jemnezmy as Red XIII took a breather. "You're not a people person, are you?" He asked surprisingly cheerfully as they measured each other. Jemnezmy could see the swirling of incredible age around Link, yet he had not shown any special abilities.
Her expression turned from stone ruthlessness to mild confusion, wondering why he could talk to her. It quickly returned back, and with a rapid combo of hand chops she replied with a solemn, 'All intruders must die.'
"Hey, but we're good intruders! Can't we get off for that?" Flipping back to dodge the edges of ice coating her forearms, Link accidentally bumped into Aeris. A quick duck allowed him to dodge her careless swing of the staff, and he quickly pedalled another direction.
The Jemnezmy scowled, arm shooting forward for a palm strike. 'I said, all intruders must die – good or ill is not mine to judge.' With his back close to the walls Link didn't have much space to avoid, so instead clapped his hands around her wrist, halting her attack that way. The manoeuvre sent him skipping away though, rubbing his palms furiously against his trouser legs to get some heat back into them.
A quick glance around showed that Cloud was still on the ground, his sword crushing his right shoulder underneath it. Barret had given up on freeing his gun arm, and was instead trying to pivot around it to aim. Yuffie, who still had her giant shuriken on her back, had not managed to get up properly and was doing all she could to not breathe dirt. The final 8-Eye was being volleyed around by Tifa and Red XIII, and Vincent was nowhere to be seen.
"Well, Aeris here is a Cetra, or at least part Cetra. She's not an intruder," Link tried to reason, turning around to point at the said girl. Blinking at her swaying form, he suddenly realised his mistake and with a sigh rolled to the side, avoiding a hit by Jemnezmy's Cold Breath.
Aeris wasn't in the proper state of mind to dodge it however, and got the beating up front. Gasping from the waves of cold, she rubbed the frost off her face and looked around. "What am I doing…?" she asked softly, looking at her companions stuck on the ground. Looking up showed the Jemnezmy standing there, a forlorn expression on her face.
'A Cetra… daughter?' she whispered softly, and only Link could here. Before he could relay that to Aeris though, Vincent dropped from the place he was hiding and with an expertise flip landed behind the still form of Jemnezmy. With fluid motion he raised his gun to heart height and darting his eyes around for any possible interference, fired.
There was not the spray of blood that Link imagined, just the lady crumpling onto the ground, eyes blank and body slowly dissolving. 'Daughter, the One Winged Angel… is near… flee…' Before her body fully dissipated, she managed a small smile.
"That was how you start a fight," Vincent chuckled, twirling his pistol back into its holster, "but this is how you end it." Looking at his metallic claw arm, he wriggled it with an impressed whistle. "I don't know whether I should thank Hojo for using light alloys," he muttered, flicking his eyes at Cloud's sword, "but the very least this thing is great for clinging onto ceilings."
"Yeah, sure," Cait Sith mewed, "I'm made of partially of metallic fibres, and I'm still down here. Aeris, a bit of help?" She was brushing off the rest of the moisture from her dress front, and mouth shaped in a little 'o' nodded and went hunting for where she dropped the gravity Materia.
Once the issue of weight was resolved, it was time to cure the injured of their injuries. Most of these didn't come from the opponents themselves, but from Aeris releasing her hold over gravity. With a gritted grunt Cloud winced as the potion and Tifa's magic knitted his shoulder bones back together rapidly, Barret just shrugged as his muscle strains were cured, but Yuffie was a bit more expressive with her broken ribs.
"Ow, you sadistic woman, are you trying to kill me?" she yelled at Tifa, who absorbed it good-naturedly. "Fix the bones, damn it, not stab my lungs! That's tuberculosis you're giving me, not medicine! Goddamn you guys, how can you take it without even blinking?" Her final comment was directed at the men.
Cid shrugged as he downed his own bottle of tonic. "Thirty percent alcohol," he muttered, raising his drink. Taking another swig he handed it over to Barret who accepted it with a grunt.
Once everybody was remedied and Tifa's magic replenished, it was time to examine their current position. "Well," Red XIII said at length, "we know that not all clock arms are going to help us, at least."
Cloud nodded, looking at the second hand tick. "So, what's our best bet? It's not like we have any indication which one's are bad."
Caith Sith raised his hand diffidently. "I could use my raffle system, if you like – it's better than pure chance."
"Yeah, but not by much," Barret grumbled. Nonetheless there didn't seem to be any other way of deciding, and without preamble Cait Sith pulled out his raffle box, rotated it several times and withdrew a ticket.
"Well, that's strange," he commented, "it says 'improvements come under the adjacent four of six, yet it is the multiples of six that multiply progress.' Very useful, that."
Red XIII hummed as he stared at the gate with the roman numeral for six. "Well, the four closest would appear to be gates four, five, seven and eight. The time's one fifteen: we have time to reach gate four."
Through their mad dash across the clock face, jumping over the moving second hand, they never thought of the question why time moved forwards eleven hours in their battle time to return from two o'clock back to one. When that question was finally asked, a few theories of will and the Temple's distortion over space and time cropped up, but Link ended it with a simple "Who cares? It works."
By improvements, it ended up to be a bunch of items strewn across the place. Barret tripped over a lump in the ground, his fall displacing the dust to reveal the most garbled trumpet. While everyone was trying to ignore Cait Sith's happy hooting, Cid grabbed a rock to throw at the cat, but it disintegrated to become an elixir. After discreetly adding his '30 alcohol' and pocketing it, they came across a new weapon for Aeris (cruelly plunged into the ribs of a skeleton). The strangest 'improvement' was when the gate brought them back to the maze earlier.
"Hmm," Tifa sounded as Yuffie picked open the lock, "what's this? A ribbon?"
"Meh," Yuffie muttered, pooling out the surprisingly clean fabric from the chest, "just a bit of junk. I was hoping for something more useful."
It looked like a very expensive piece of junk to Link though. As he handed it down the line, he could feel its silky texture and see up close the ornate patterns sewed on and yet not damaging the touch. It wasn't a long piece of fabric, stretching only from Link's wrist to his shoulder (although a bit of tugging proved it could extend further). It eventually ended up in Cloud's hands to decide what to do with it.
"Seems a waste ta just throw away," Cid commented, jabbing the ribbon with his spear. Luckily Cloud didn't hold it too tight, and the fabric just folded around the sharp point. Aeris reprimanded him with a light hit.
"True," Cloud agreed, unconsciously wrapping the ribbon around his fist, "so… who wants it?"
Red XIII declined despite his usual attraction to hair trinkets, given that it looked like it was of little battle use. Tifa liked her hair free; Yuffie didn't have enough hair (although Barret received a real beating when he said that) so it ended up with Aeris.
"Hey Link," she asked, gingerly replacing her little Materia bead from its previous hold into the new one, "why don't you tie your hair?"
Link shrugged. "I don't know… I never did so before. Where I came from, all the children didn't bother to tie their hair." Link scratched his head, dimly remembering that he used to wear a cap. "I'll definitely need to wash it though."
When they returned to the clock face, they were surprised to see a Faerun there. Not that they knew its name, but like all the others it appeared more or less the same. Under a bit of scrutiny Link could tell that this wasn't the same one as before.
'The key, the key, the key,' it chanted silently, almost sneering at the others that could not hear it. 'I have the key.'
"Key? What do we need a key for?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow. The others were strangely quiet.
'You need this key to be free of the maze you'll soon see,' it cackled, hopping up and down over the clock handles, achieving amazing leaps over great distances. 'You need this key, but you can't catch me!' Mockingly it saluted to them in mid-air before changing its trajectory and ran through the sixth gate.
"Well, that one's a strange one," Link sighed, turning around to look at the group. "We'll have to chase it down – why are you staring at me?"
The word 'you' didn't fully encompass the numbers that were staring, given that everyone was. A few with their mouths open, it took a while for them to assemble and Tifa to ask, "Where the heck did you learn to understand it?"
Link blinked. "You didn't ask during the fight, so I assumed you knew. My bad, forgot I didn't tell you." Turning back to the clock face, he gestured for them to follow. "The other purple dwarf got me to drink the fountain's water, which did wonders for my ears, and we need to catch this one for a key of some sort. You guys coming?"
If anyone noticed, they would have found that the clock hands weren't moving, and where the Faerun had to jump to get to the gate, the hands mysteriously were properly aligned for them to run there. No one noticed, Link caught up in trying to regain the lost time spent explaining, Yuffie wondering why she followed common sense and didn't drink the water, Cid cursing the last cigarette and the rest still pondering on Link's newfound skills.
What they did notice however was how long it seemed to take to just reach the gate, as the arms seemed to subliminally grow longer, and when they finally arrived everyone was panting for breath.
'Tired, tired, you're all tired,' the Faerun popped up suddenly, bouncing off Cloud's back and scampering off, 'work for me and you'll be fired!'
"Oh, shut up with the rhymes," Link groaned, rubbing his temples.
'Stop rhyming, stop rhyming, so who's trying?' It chuckled gleefully, 'I have the key, and you can't catch me!' With another salute, it pirouetted off Barret's head and scuttled further in.
Their chase led them to a strange room, filled with glowing doors. The Faerun waved at them and jumped into one. 'Follow me if you can, you'll never know where I ran!'
That proved true enough, as following him through the door he came from always resulted in them being behind him when he ran off again. Given that this tactic wasn't working, Cloud called the group in for a better strategy.
"Well, there are ten of us and…" he broke of to look back at the room, "around twenty doors, so if we each went to one door each, we got roughly a half chance of nabbing the dwarf thing. Agreed?" Purely random luck of course, but no one could think of a better alternative.
The first try failed, the Faerun dancing out of a door between Yuffie and Aeris. With a cackle, it groped their backsides and darted off before their weapons smashed the space it stood on. 'You took your gamble and lost the result, so cover that unhappy face and suffer your pout.' Arcing around a swing by Cid, it jumped back into another door.
The second try proved more successful. In the tunnel Tifa entered, everyone else heard her shriek, a loud slap noise and after a few seconds she exited, red-faced and holding the Faerun by its ankle.
"I got the little bugger," she muttered darkly, "now what?" The Faerun squirmed to get free, and she shook it roughly.
"What happened?" Cloud asked as they all gathered around, "your face is red."
Her face reddened, whether out of embarrassment or fury Link couldn't tell. "Don't ask," she replied grimly, shaking the Faerun as a little more revenge. Her free arm raised a bit, and thinking better of it she dropped it back down. "Now what?"
Link crouched down took look at it in the face. "Well, we caught you. Key please?" he asked fairly amiably. The Faerun frowned at him, turning its head aside.
'You want the key, but you're not getting it from me.' With an adamant huff it folded its arms.
Link sighed. "Tifa, shake him." It was a command she was glad to carry out.
'W-wait! W-wait! Fine, fine, the key's not mine!' It stuttered out, trying unsuccessfully to reach inside its jacket. Link flicked his wrist, and with one final hard shake, Tifa stopped. The Faerun took a while to compose itself and handed them the key.
'The door's up there, and I must warn you: beware.'
"Yeah, yeah." Twirling the key around his index finger, he turned around to face the group. "Come on guys: we're going to that top door."
"Are we really meant to go there?" Yuffie asked, keeping her eyes on the fleeing Faerun. "I mean, it's a way to go, but is it the right one?"
"We will never know unless we go," Red XIII replied, raising an eyebrow when Link smacked his palm against his face.
"Eh, it's nothing. Just rhymes." Link muttered, rubbing his nose gingerly. As they ascended up the stairs, he tried to glean a bit more information. "So, what does histories say of Jenova?"
The answer was sharp as it was bitter. "The calamity from the skies," Aeris responded, keeping her eyes to the ground, "bringing its disease and driving the Cetra mad." Raising her head in thought, she added, "You know, the remaining bits of information always question whether Jenova was a male or female. They call it a 'he' when it promised peace, but a 'she' when it wrought its destruction."
Link nodded slowly, helping her stabilise when she nearly tripped. This room was strange in that it seemed made of compact soil, compared to the granite and marble of the rest. "Heh, they probably mistook me as part of Jenova as well. Saria was a girl." Inhaling deeply, he asked, "How was Jenova found?"
Surprisingly enough Vincent answered this. "She, as you call it, was believed an Ancient. Humans desired the powers of the Cetra, and Jenova seemed a good place to start. Dug up from the ice, studies were done on her cells and make-up to empower humans."
"Oh, and what happened?"
Vincent gave a flat smile. "I was the result, among others."
The door proved to be the embodiment of the Temple: positively ancient. After a coughing fit blowing the dust off, the next problem was fitting the shiny brass key into the rusty iron lock. With a grunt Link managed to get the key to turn halfway before it hit a snag and stopped.
"Let me try," Cloud said, stepping forward. Rolling his shoulders, he gripped the ring with both hands, and squatting slightly to lower his chest to the lock's level, applied the strength he used to swing that heavy sword around…
… Which while proved not sufficient to move the lock, was more than enough to twist the key into a messy blob.
With a grunt in the throat, Barret nudged Cloud out of the way. "Nice try, now lemmee try," he ordered, fidgeting something into his gun arm. "Y'all might wanna stand back."
Barret's bulk meant that those behind him couldn't see what he was doing, but to Tifa to his right, she had a clear view of him chugging into his gun barrel a… grenade?
"You idiot, what are you doing!" She cried, but it was too late. Satisfied with the click it made, Barret took two steps back and aiming at the lock, fired. With a cry she threw herself at the floor, raising her arms to protect her face.
The expected explosion didn't come. Warily she brought her gaze up to see the grenade wedged above the lock inside the dent in the wooden door. Relieved it was a dud, she stood up ready to give Barret an ear-boxing over brash conduct.
BOOM
The explosion sent everyone reeling back, Aeris nearly falling off the platform if not for Cid being in the way and graciously falling off for her. Yuffie and Link were clinging onto the edge due to their enhanced reflexes allowing them to snatch the end, and everyone else was strewn across the ground. Barret's dark skin appeared a little darker, but he wore a genuinely pleased expression.
"Tha's the way: knew 'em timed grenade would come inta use," he said cheerfully, shaking the soot of his gun arm. The gate had swung open, its ends smoking and a metre diameter circle missing from its front. With a creak the left gate proved too weak for the shock forces, hinges popping open and with an ominous groan, fell on top of Cloud. It was big enough to reach further, and with a garbled cry of pain Link let go his grip to relieve his poor fingers. He realised his mistake quickly enough, and clasped onto Yuffie's ankle.
"Second time!" she yelled, swaying to shake Link off. "Second time my legs have been so abused! Get off!"
In the meantime Cid managed to climb back up, patches of soil still stuck on his body from his rough landing. "Normally, I'd approve of such action," he growled slowly, "but today, yer a dead man."
His spear charge was cut short when he tripped over the fallen gate, receiving a muffled groan from Cloud underneath. Link used to live in dense vegetation areas, and Yuffie's swaying was nothing like the real rustling of the wind, and with the expertise of a kid climbing vines he clambered up her form, pulling himself onto steady ground before helping Yuffie up.
"Twice I've been so accosted," she muttered, giving Link an unhappy glare, "that's four times altogether: once by Cid, once by that dwarf, and twice by you."
Link shrugged in apology. "Sorry, but we had to get up somehow, and I didn't think falling first would be a pleasant experience."
"Yeah, but you could be a bit more sensitive to a woman."
"A sweet morale tale, I know," Cloud muffled, "but I'm still here, underneath this door. A bit of help?"
It took Cid, Barret and Red XIII's combined strength to lift the gate half off Cloud, and soon everyone wanted to display a bit of their mind at Barret's thinking.
"You're an imbecile, a complete moron," Tifa started, jabbing his chest with each insult.
"Ya coulda warned us first, dope head!" Cid ranted, waving his spear dangerously.
"But I did – I told y'all to stand back," Barret defended, trying to avoid the nasty tip of the spear.
A deep laugh from inside the room ceased their shouting and drew their attention. Standing at the end caressing a black thing on an altar was one Sephiroth, next to the murals was another, and the third stood near the entrance laughing at them.
"This is the pathetic excuse of a group that tries to interfere?" he laughed darkly, sneering at their dusty forms. "Union is key to co-operation." Eyes narrowing dangerously, another copy appeared next to the one speaking, adding, "Conveniently, it is the key to power: true and ultimate power.
"What am I talking about? You ask, do not lie." The copy at the altar took a few steps forward, looked up and disappeared. A replacement appeared next to the murals and voiced out, "The Planet heals itself. Spirit energy bottles at an injury, fixing the wound. The greater the injury, the more spirit energy accumulates."
That one returned to looking at the murals, and Sephiroth at the front spoke out. "And when the injury is big enough to nearly kill the Planet," he intoned, eyes flaring with sudden life and animation, "spirit energy accumulates… enough energy to make me God."
Cloud shook his head. "You're mad, you know that?"
Sephiroth didn't look like he was listening, or ever cared. "The ultimate form of destruction magic, one that the Cetra themselves wished they never created, will be needed. The Black Materia," another version appeared next to the altar, "will summon Meteor. I will become God, ruler of existence."
Red XIII stared wide-eyed at him. "That is madness!" he shouted, baring his fangs, "You will kill everything – animals, plants, the Planet itself!" Readying to launch himself at Sephiroth, he yelled, "You must not do this!"
This time Sephiroth paid more attention to Red XIII's hurtling form, but only enough to bat him away with his sword. Red XIII managed to twist his final leap to redirect his momentum, but the sword managed to still strike true, if not deep. With a whimper he was tossed back, an inch deep slash running across his belly.
"Fetch it, pet, and fight." With those words Sephiroth cast one glance back at the altar, and left.
The effect wasn't one many were expecting. Cloud suddenly lurched forward, hands clasping his head roughly as his feet fell over one another. Half-words escaped his mouth, nonsensical with little meaning. Tifa rushed forward to help him from tripping, and soon enough he recovered.
"Dude, you okay?" Cid asked carefully, "Not gonna freak out on us again, are ya? Y'were talking 'bout potash one sec, north crater the next."
Cloud rubbed his forehead, shaking it slowly. "Uh, I'm alright. Damn, how long did that one last?"
Link raised his eyebrow. "You mean you have these things often?" That couldn't be good, especially if it happened while Cloud was casting a spell or swinging his sword. Link had all too much experience of a spell being interrupted halfway. Admittedly, what he tried was very stupid.
The Black Ice managed to seal Jenova, but it killed the surrounding Cetra and left the North in perpetual cold. It was one skill that the remaining Cetra feared, able to use the essence of life, invert it and creates a mass extinction. They wished Link to clear it of his mind. The only way he knew was to use the White Fire.
The Cetra chose the island that is now called Wutai due to it was the most 'magic dead' chunk of land, so thereby meaning any accidents would be better contained. Using the White Fire, Link burnt the knowledge out. The only problem when was when he accidentally struck the strand of memory for the White Fire.
Without the ability to control the spell he was casting, it went rampant. The Lifestream was forced to shift, flowing from its normal course through Wutai as the magic went wild. Fires surged, yet being created left the creator unharmed. The earth cracked from the forces of the shifting Lifestream, lava spewing from the fissures.
The end result was the mountain Link was sealed in. The Lifestream meant fertile lands, and the mountain's lava became heat for the hot springs and forges, as well as fresh grounds for plants. No wonder the people of Wutai saw Link and the mountain Da-Chao as God, granter of life and prosperity.
Link's thoughts were interrupted when Sephiroth's words came into effect. An ironic depiction of his previous memories, the ground cracked with small trembles, fire licking along the crevasses as a beast struggled free. With a roar, it released itself, the fires in its veins melting the final obstacles. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise that Sephiroth would have the power to tame a Red Dragon.
Words were not needed to move into action. Within seconds of its arrival the group scattered to avoid collective damage from its breath, positioning in a circle so that any attempted attack by it would reveal an opening someone will be able to exploit.
Cloud and Cid, from opposite directions chose to deliver the first attacks, Cloud's sword aiming for a crippling hit against the Dragon's leg and Cid for a more straightforward thrust at the neck. The Red Dragon proved quickly how it deserved its name, being no slouch at physical fighting. Spinning, it used its tail's spiked end to smash into Cloud, who managed to block by dropping his sword. Head facing Cid, it expressed its dislike to his plan, teeth sinking into his arm.
With a scream as his bones were grinded down, Cid transferred his spear to his other arm, clumsily managing to stick the point into the Dragon's nostril. With a flare of fire it let go, waving its snout to clear out the spear lodged in.
An attempt to deliver the killing blow to Cid was interrupted by a cascade of water crashing onto its neck, freezing immediately and locking its motion. Blast after blast followed on, Cait Sith, Aeris and Vincent attempting to drink out the heat from its body in hopes that would kill it.
It probably would have worked, but with its supernatural strength the icy cage was broken. Swirling to face those that dared such an attack, the only warning of the impending danger was the smoke curling free from its jaws.
Aeris was pulled aside by Yuffie, but the rest had to suffer the Dragon's breath. Vincent crossed his wrists to protect his face and Cait Sith jumped behind the giant Moogle for protection, but fire was fire, and especially with the magical kind, there was no real defence against it. A hasty water spell by Tifa removed the flames that would have proved debilitating against Cait Sith's fibre form.
Thinking about it, Link really should have had the title of 'Dragon Slayer' along with his repertoire of others. Dodging a slash by its wing, he tried to clip the softer web, which still proved hard enough for his sword to just bounce off.
This one really reminded him of Volvagia – same colour, same scales, although Volvagia was a snake and this was more Komodo style. Well, it should be possible to use the same methods to kill dragons. First…
"Hey, does anyone have anything big and heavy?" A stupid question, really, since nearly everyone used some form of heavy weapons. "I mean something large and blunt?"
"Why'd you ask?" Tifa called from the other side, shards of ice slowly forming around her fists. Her magic imbuement was cut short when she had to dodge the Dragon's tail, curling and rolling away to avoid the shrapnel from the broken wall.
"We need to smash its head with that, get it dizzy," Link replied, grabbing a loosened stone slate, spinning to get momentum and throwing it. The dragon saw it coming though, and raised its wings in defence. While it meant that the dragon couldn't see them, it also meant they couldn't see its head. Especially given its ability to breathe fire that proved painful.
Link managed to dive aside in time, but the heat reflected off the melting walls caused his clothing to shrivel slightly and his skin to redden. Barret had scaled up the back of the Red Dragon, and standing on its shoulders released all one hundred and fifteen fifty gram bullets at the base of its skull.
The Dragon roared in pain, although the attack proved to only cut through its skin only. Swinging violently its tail lashed around, hoping to knock Barret off. Barret slowly squirmed lower, reaching the base of its tail and hopping off.
Cid was there waiting, nodding to Barret. With its tail upraised, it left the softer underskin of its backside exposed. "Alright, ya big stupid fatso," he snarled, holding his spear as he would a harpoon, "face what all men fear! One thousand years of pain!"
Needless to say, it worked. Cid regrettably lost his spear, but the Dragon was definitely in pain, the haze of it wiping out any remaining semblance to intelligence.
"I can summon Titan, but he'll take time reaching us," Aeris called out to Link's earlier question. The Dragon now seemed intent on killing Cid, who was running in circles around it.
Link shook his head. "No need, I think there's something better." Waiting for Cid to reach him, Link grabbed the man and with a few deft leaps, was standing on top of the Dragon's head.
You could say that the Dragon was smart and stupid. Smart, in that it learnt when Barret was on top that horizontal sweeps with its tail will miss. Stupid, in that it forgot that vertical strikes will also hit itself. Link only had to tap-dance on its neck for a few seconds before hopping down, allowing the weighted tail to do the bludgeoning for him.
Now that the first part was done, the second part was a bit easier. The tail managed to rattle off some of the protective scales of the head. Now it was dazed, it would give Link enough time to complete his spin attack, and with its exposed neck…
Admittedly, Link distinctly remembered just hammering away with his sword against Volvagia, each strike releasing a blaze of furious heat. Darunia lay injured to the side, vainly trying to get up and aid his Sworn Brother. In the end it was Darunia who delivered the killing blow, fighting the gashes running his stone form to crack the Dragon's skull. It was probably then Link received inkling that he was the incarnation of destruction, bringing the giants to their knees. Live by the sword… well, he hasn't died yet, so rule by the sword.
The spin attack proved enough to shear through any remaining protection on the neck, a grinding sound issuing as Link passed by the throat and sawed away the spinal column. With a guttered choke the head was severed from the body.
Like the Jemnezmy, the body took its time to fade away, bits dissolving into motes of light and floating away. Some tried to coalesce and recreate the life again, given a Dragon's immortal features, but with the loss of so much blood needed, it was impossible. With a magical cry trying to desperately summon whatever was left, the motes imploded, leaving a red Materia.
"Hey cool, free stuff," Cloud noted, plucking the Materia from the wreckage. As they passed it down to be stored, Link could feel its calling, the Red Dragon's last cries to its brethren:
'Freed, freed from this torture. Brothers, aid those that aided me. Bahamut, serve this last request. I am free.'
"Hey cool, free healing," Yuffie pointed out, the burns and injuries fixed and mended.
"Dragon's Blood," Link explained. His removal of the head sprayed the place with its blood, which evaporated, taking all harm the Red Dragon inflicted with it.
"Ugh, not so cool – Dragon poo," Cid frowned distastefully, retrieving his spear. Visibly there was nothing to be seen on his weapon, but he still held it by his fingertips even though he was wearing gloves.
Barret rubbed the back of his head, looking at his gun arm. "Tha's strange. How come Link there's sword coulda cut the skin, yet my bullets couldn't?"
Surprisingly enough, Yuffie answered. "The throat area isn't as thick as the neck area, for one thing. Link was spinning like a buzz-saw, for another. Also, the kikuichimonji, with its Wutaian forging," she smiled proudly at that, "was initially made to slay the Sea Dragon, Leviathan. Not bad, eh?"
Vincent blinked. "What, the sword, or your knowledge?"
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Of course the sword: my knowledge was superb to begin with, not 'not bad'." Aeris coughed suddenly, but looked too innocent for anyone to derive any meaning from it.
Red XIII in the meantime was doing the more productive thing of surveying the scene, paying particular attention at the murals the Sephiroths were standing next to. "Hmm, most interesting," he mused out loud, "I'm pretty sure I saw this figure before. Cid, poke it."
"Why should Ah touch it, why can't you?" he asked suspiciously. Still, he stepped closer to get a better look.
"Because I don't have fingers, for one thing," Red XIII replied with a sigh, rolling his eyes. "Don't worry, I really doubt touching it would do anything – if touch was all it needed, Sephiroth would have activated it by now."
With a hesitant hand he carefully tapped the top of the black thing with a finger. When nothing happened, a more confident Cid patted it harder on the side. Still when no evident results appeared, he smashed the object repeatedly with his fist.
The room promptly shook, knocking everyone down.
"Okay, that ain't the way to go." Cid muttered. The groans of everyone else agreed with him.
"So what do we do then?" Cloud wondered, getting back to his feet and examining the black statue closer. Up close, he could see small little scratches on its surface, and on very close inspection faint entrails of white gas float sedately around the object.
"I could try asking the Cetra that talked before," Aeris proffered, scratching the top of her neck, "Maybe they could shed some light onto this."
Tifa, leaning against the murals, nodded. "Great, let's get cracking then. How'd you go at it?"
Aeris didn't listen to the question, only taking the affirmation before her eyes glazed in internal concentration. 'From magic we call', the voices said, so perhaps some form of magic would summon them again. Not gifted like Link was, she couldn't see the Lifestream, but she could hear a faint chime of wind bells as her body resonated with the flows beneath, a caressing feeling that sent shivers down her body. "Hello?" she ventured softly.
"Hello, Daughter. We are proud of you, of your achievements."
"You must leave, Daughter. The Angered Gates have heard of your presences."
"Leave quickly, Daughter. You have answered half the puzzles, and the traps are setting."
To those watching, it was a creepy sight seeing her eyes flare back to life as she looked around, trying to pinpoint where the voices were coming from. What was creepier was that with her questions, it seemed clear she was getting some response. Link sat cross-legged, watching the Lifestream stir, tendrils curling up to try and touch Aeris before descending back into the main flow.
In a few minutes the voices seemed to leave her, so judged by Aeris stopping her questions and the Lifestream smoothening out. Her questions themselves were strange enough, starting in the language everyone spoke but gradually translating into something else. Link doubted that Aeris noticed her last words were in part the language he was gifted to hear, part a language even older.
"Well, it seems we found the Black Materia," Aeris relayed to the group, gesturing to the altar, "that's the Materia. Unfortunately, so is this entire building."
Red XIII nodded with dawning recognition, identifying the object's shape similar to the Temple's exterior. "Yes, that would explain a few things, especially when Cid hammered at it," he reflected. "So, what are we meant to do?"
Aeris rubbed her forehead at that. "The Cetra were a bit tricky in answering that, but I think it's about puzzles. Someone has to solve the puzzles of the object over there, but each time they do so this Temple shrinks, until it becomes average Materia size. So, whoever solves it, will be crushed within." Biting her lip, she looked at it hard for a moment. "Do we really need to solve it?"
Cloud nodded unhesitant. "Unfortunately so. Sephiroth has proven he can enter here any time, and he has numerous clones of himself to waste solving this thing. That he hasn't yet is a miracle I'm not wasting." Looking at the entire group, he added, "It'll be safer in our care, rather than leaving this Temple in the open for him to figure out later."
They were debating who to leave to solve the puzzles when Cait Sith volunteered. His cat thing was expendable, was his argument, and although the mental backlash would be extremely painful, it's better than the death of one of the group. He was about to proceed and herd the rest out when the Lifestream stirred again, and Aeris' eyes grew wide.
"We must leave, quickly!" she yelled urgently, already striding to the exit, "the Cetra told me Sephiroth has set the traps, and the Gate Guardian has awakened?"
"Sorry, what?" Barret rumbled, caught surprised by her sudden haste.
Standing at the exit, she flexed her hands in agitation, stamping her foot for them to hurry. "We must leave now, or else the gates out is closed, permanently!"
That got them going, grabbing whatever items they left behind and sprinting for the exit. Aeris called back that it was the twelfth gate, and it seemed to their fortune the clock was set at 6:00, meaning it should have been a simple straight sprint out.
It proved not to be as lucky, for as they ran the arms seemed to grow longer, the walls receding and pushing their destination further from reach. Tifa cursed in an unladylike manner when they could hear the slow grind of stone rubbing against stone.
"Damn this space time distortion," she swore, grabbing the slower Cid and trying to carry him and run faster, "we don't have time for this! For crying out loud, you bloody Temple, just MOVE!"
That did the trick, as with a snap of displaced air the hands shortened to normal length, leaving them at the steps of the twelfth gate. Those that got their bearings first pushed those that did not to keep running.
"I think we're a bit late," Vincent remarked as the stone gates came into view. Outward swinging doors, the weight and friction of stone was what kept it moving so slowly. Still, the time taken to reach here had cost them, and a small trickle of sunlight cut through, the beam gradually thinning. It was already too narrow for a person to fit in.
With speed born of desperation and practice, Yuffie pulled free her giant shuriken and hurled it at the closing gap. One blade bounced off the left gate's edge. The rebound lodged the opposite blade into the right gate. With a terrible screech, the shuriken slowly buckled under the pressure applied, Materia popping free from their sockets and the metal warped.
It did its job though. As the blades crumpled into one another, it created a blob too dense for the gates to crush. The thin stream of light the width of Link's thumb stopped shrinking. There was a rumbling sound, the moan of stone and cries of steel as the stone gate shifted slightly, a face stretching free to look at the interruption and those that were doing it. It howled angrily, colour bleeding into its eyes as it stared at the group.
"No," Link commented as he unsheathed his sword, "we're just in time."
Battle commenced.
-S-
A/N: Whew, the Temple of the Ancients section took a heck a lot longer than I really anticipated it to be. I may not have gotten the 'hurry up' tone right, but what the hey. Comments on how to improve that will be gladly appreciated.
In case anyone read Naruto manga, yes, that's where I got the idea of 'One Thousand Years of Pain'. I actually haven't read it – my sister has, and mentioned that to me. I decided to implement it.
Anyone played Planeshift? It's a great game, especially since it's free! The only downside I say is that it's too big (the world, not the game MB), I get lost inside the town you start in. Anyway, check it up on Google and visit the website. The graphics and music is superb, I assure you.
Well, finishing off my little block of unneeded text, please drop a review. This chapter actually was a bit larger than I wanted, but I really don't want to cut any bits off (if anyone has any suggestions which parts can go bye-bye, please tell me). Comment, criticise (constructively please), and add to your favourites!