Back at HQ, the situation was tense. Shin-Ra was preparing for what later would be called the final battle of the Wutai war.
All of their missions had been cancelled.
Nobody knew when the Wutai would choose to attack or where. They wanted them available at all times so they´d be ready the second they´d strike. Only one thing was for sure, attack they would.
Upon Lightning´s reportings, further investigations had led to the conclusion that the Wutai had indeed taken over one of Shin-Ra´s weapon factories. They had apparently threatened employees into sending false reports to HQ, so nobody would get wind of it. That way Shin-Ra had supplied the Wutai forces with weapons for weeks. The damage was already done.
There wasn´t much left to do for them but wait.
Claire Farron was sitting in the common room of the SOLDIER floor, just staring out of the glass fronts looking over Midgar, waiting, while Zack kept doing squats behind her to keep himself busy.
They both gave a start when suddenly her phone started to vibrate. Every call could be "the one" these days.
Looking up at Zack, his phone motionless in his palm, they exchanged curious glances.
They would have informed both of them if the Wutai had attacked yet.
Picking up her communication device, Lightning read the received text message:
"Briefing room. Now."
It was a message from Lazard.
She got up immediately and hurried over in the direction of the briefing room, Zack´s voice trailing behind her: "Hey. What is it about?!"
She didn´t take the time to answer.
Entering the room, she was surprised to find some of the Turks as well as Sephiroth already gathered inside.
Reno Sinclair was beckoning her over to take a seat to his right (he must have regathered his courage it seemed and his enthusiasm). Claire Farron just greeted him with a glare. Knowing the redhead had a thing for her, she quickly walked over to slip into a seat next to Sephiroth. Settling down to his left, they briefly exchanged puzzled glances.
No. He didn´t know why they had been summoned either.
It was just a second later that Lazard entered.
Lightning could´t help but notice how stressed and tired the director looked, the knot of his usually tidy blue tie slightly askew.
"So now that we´re all gathered... Let´s move on to business." he began without further ado.
"As I´m sure you are all aware of, we are in the middle of a war against Wutai, the deciding battle up ahead, and as I am sure most of you have realized by now it doesn´t look good for us." Lazard´s words echoed from the walls of the briefing room. There was not the tiniest sound to be heard as he paused to let his words sink in.
Lightning was not surprised. She had known this all along.
"So..." Lazard continued, "In cooperation with the weapon development department, the department for public safety maintenance has come up with a plan, a strategy, that will hopefully turn the tide for us."
All the gathered people´s attention focused on the bespectacled man in front of them, the Director went on:
"This strategy relies on the use of a completely new generation of weapons. With those weapons we will exterminate the Wutai for once and forever. This will mark the beginning of a new era of weapon development!"
Listening to his speech, Lightning couldn´t help but wonder where they would actually come into this. Weapon Development wasn´t exactly SOLDIER business. They didn´t even use any of Shin-Ra´s huge palette of arms to choose from.
It didn´t take long for Lazard to reveal however, that in order for them to create said weapons they needed something. An object. A mysterious object that under utmost secrecy, they needed to obtain. And they needed to obtain it fast, as time was running short anyway. The Wutai could attack any day now.
Now that sounded more like soldier business. Or maybe something for the turks?
They left within the hour.
It wasn´t exactly much time to prepare for a top priority mission, but hey, if they didn´t succeed Wutai would probably flatten them anyway.
Claire Farron couldn´t fathom why they had sent her along with Sephiroth and the Turks. Given the importance of this mission, they had chosen to send their best operatives. She didn´t understand why they had picked her instead of Angeal or Genesis.
Not being provided with any details about their mission, the only thing she knew was that Sephiroth and her job was to make sure that damn thing would get home safe, Lightning had to let the Turks take the lead. Looking out of the window of the airship that would bring them wherever it was they needed to go, she couldn´t help but feel uneasy.
She hated the fact that she didn´t know anything.
Where they were going, what they were supposed to retrieve, what was awaiting them there...
So many questions. So many risks.
It wasn´t a nice job. Nobody was talking. All of them were stressed and tense, they knew they needed to succeed at all costs and fast.
It was late in the evening already when they reached their destination.
Stepping out onto solid ground again Claire Farron realized they were in the middle of a jungle, a huge pyramid-shaped structure rising out of the thicket a few hundred meters away.
Where the hell were they?!
And why would someone bother to hide a materia out here?
Making their way through the bushes towards the outstanding stone structure, it didn´t take long until emerging from the tree line they were presented with the full view of that building. A huge pyramid like thing completely made of stone with steps receding from the ground leading up to some kind of temple on the top. It looked like an entry.
"What is this...?" the pink haired female wondered aloud. She had never seen anything like it before.
"The Temple of the Ancients..." Sephiroth answered from somewhere next to her, his voice merely a whisper.
Turning to look at him Lightning waited for him to elaborate, but the silver haired first class didn´t say a word.
He just continued to stare at it, his gaze fixed at the top.
"I thought it was only a legend..." he said after some moments of silence.
"Temple of Ancients, yo?" Reno Sinclair said in astonishment.
Lightning so wasn´t pleased with his coming along. But it wasn´t her place to complain. The more they were the better. They needed every man.
"What are we waitin´ for?! Let's have a blast!" the redhead added laddishly before taking off over the plank bridge. Lightning caught Rude giving a frustrated sigh before he followed with Tseng close behind.
She stayed behind a little longer.
Looking up at Sephiroth she couldn´t help but wonder:
"What is the Temple of Ancients?" she asked him, keeping her voice low.
"The Temple of Ancients was built by the Cetra a thousands of years ago." he started, looking down at her with a frown.
"Or so the legends say..."
"The Cetra..." Lightning murmured.
She felt more questions forming in her brain, but she didn´t get the chance to pose them, as without sparing her another glance the general brushed past her to keep up with the others.
The bridge was old and the canyon was deep.
The pink haired female didn´t dare to look down into the dephts below.
But the bridge was nothing compaired to the stairs.
She didn´t know how many steps their where, all she knew was that it took them hours to climb them. Reno and Rude reaching the top panting like crazy, the two first classes managed the ascend without breaking a sweat.
That´s why they send SOLDIER to deal with the important stuff, right?
They saw what they´d sent the turks for when Tseng opened the door with the help of a materia he referred to as „the key stone". SOLDIER might be superior when it came to stamina and strenght, but the turks knew all the secrets it seemed.
The heavy doors revealed a path leading into a large cavernous room, a maze of staircases full of traps and dangers lying ahead of them.
Some of them they barely managed to avoid.
Rude almost got himself squashed by one of the boulders falling from the ceiling and Reno actually grazed his arm at one of the traps. It was a close call (to Lightnings great dismay).
It was then that suddenly Lightning understood why they had sent so many of them.
They were just spares in case somebody got killed.
She didn´t know how long they were trapped inside that labyrinth. It seemed like ages until they reached the temple´s heart. The air musty and stale they found themselves in a corridor with strange murals decorating the walls, drawings of People looking up to the sky, illuminated by nothing but the flickering lights of their torches.
They made her feel uneasy.
What was this materia used for exactly?
Lightning couldn´t fathom.
Oh, why did they always have to send them underground...
She hated the feeling of being trapped, the walls pressing in on her she felt slightly claustrophobic.
Staying even closer to the walls they ventured further.
"We must be nearly there." Tseng said.
"It must be here somewhere."
"It is..." Sephiroth confirmed. "I can feel it..."
Now that he´d said it Lightning realized she could feel it too.
A lingering presence, luring her deeper into the cave, pulling her towards it. Whatever `it´ was...
The others only stared.
„Oy... What do you mean, feel it?!" Reno began, looking at them suspiciously. „I can´t feel shit."
The strange feeling intensifying, Lightning could make out a pedestal somewhere ahead, nothing but a shadow in the darkness, a faint purplish glow coming from it, drawing her closer.
All of this seemed slightly familiar.
Yes. She remembered retrieving the materia from that old military bunker.
And she also remembered it guarded by a freaking bloodthirsty robot trying to rip them to pieces and causing the whole ceiling to drop on them, once they had gotten hold of that damn thing.
Great... Just great.
Nobody dared to say a word, not even Reno, as cautiously they approached it.
A small dark orb glistening on top of the pedestal just large enough to fill it´s holder´s palm.
But this materia was different.
Yes. It was nothing like any materia they´d ever seen.
Instead of clear and shiny like all the materia´s Lightning had ever heard of, seeming to be filled with an inner light that immersed everything around them in a magical glow, the materia infront of them was dark and empty. Instead of emitting light like the others, this one actually seemed to feed on it.
It was getting darker and darker the closer they got.
The light from their torches somehow sucked away towards that thing, it seemed as if the materia absorbed the light itself.
And it was hungry. Yes. It wanted more.
"What is this...?" Lightning carefully began, staring transfixed at the strange dark sphere in front of her.
Yes. It looked like Materia. But it also somehow looked dead. No. Evil.
Looking at it, she could feel something inside her stir. Something inside of her she hadn´t even realized was there before, something inside of her waking to reach out for it.
It was a scary feeling. As if something, or somebody really, was invading her mind, was trying to take control over her body. Somebody who somehow was already there inside. Had been for quite some time now.
It didn´t make sense.
What was suddenly wrong with her?
That thing inside her drinking in the sight of the black sphere innocently sitting in it´s socket, Lightning had a hard time tearing her gaze away from it.
Looking up at Sephiroth she could tell that he could feel it too.
He seemed tense as he too was staring at it mesmerized.
"So the legends are true then..." he whispered, the purple glow reflecting strangely off his mako eyes.
Turning back to it, Lightning could feel that presence inside her threatening to take over again, pushing her to extend her hand, to just reach out and take it, to keep it for herself, or rather for that thing to take her...
What was this?! Was this the Materia´s doing?!
It certainly was hard to resist.
"This my friends is what they call the black Materia." Tseng explained, his voice sounding strangely muffled to the pink haired female´s ears.
It was as if the materia sucked in sound as well.
"It is a mysterious and incredibly powerful Materia... It is believed to summon what in ancient recordings they call the Ultimate Destructive Magic."
Lightning couldn´t help but wonder how Tseng seemed to be completely unaffected by the thing´s influence. Maybe turks did have their qualities after all.
"Shin-Ra apparently plans to use it as a weapon against Wutai."
"Huh?!"
Lightning couldn´t believe her ears. They were planning to use this thing?! THIS THING?!
She somehow doubted anyone could ever control it´s powers.
"Only few know of it´s existence, let alone how to use it." Tseng concluded.
"What does it do?" the pink haired female asked, all her attention fixed now on that tiny ball in front of her, eyes glued to it´s light absorbing surface.
"I have absolutely no idea..." the Turk admitted.
"So what are we waitin´ for?!" Reno suddenly cut in. "Let´s just take that thing and get it done with, yo!"
Before anyone had time to realize what he was doing the redhead extended his arm to grab the Materia and wrench it out of its socket.
"NO!" Tseng and Sephiroth yelled in unison.
But it was too late.
Claire Farron just watched in sick fascination as Reno´s eyes widened in shock and gasping in pain he let the orb drop to the ground, nursing his electroshocked fingers.
"Fuck - Wha -!" He didn´t have time to end his cursing as a deep rumble from inside the ground announced what was to come next.
The floor starting to shake, the ceiling started to cave in, the whole structure threatened to collapse.
Lightning had already known this would happen.
Somehow it was always like that.
She only marginally perceived it all.
None of it was important.
No.
What seemed far more interesting to her was the Materia.
Yes. The Materia.
Sitting there on the shaking ground only a few feet from her, emitting that raw power. A power somebody as weak as Reno could never possibly dream to handle.
No he was weak... So weak. Merely human.
The orb hadn´t even allowed him to hold it...
But she... With all her powers... She was superior.
Maybe the black Materia would choose her.
Yes... She could feel it... She should be it´s rightful owner... She should be the one to have it´s powers at her disposal... The one to decide about the destiny of the world. Nobody else.
Her body acting on its own, Claire Farron crouched down to pick up the orb.
It didn´t hurt her.
Not even a tiny bit.
"Shit, we need to get out of here!" came Reno´s voice again. The others hurrying out of the room, Lightning hadn´t really heard him. Absorbed in the dephts of that thing, somehow posessed, she seemed unable to move.
She hardly even realized Sephiroth´s hand closing around her upper arm and dragging her out of there. Didn´t remember their way back to the surface.
Everything passing by in a blur. She didn´t notice any of it until tumbling down the stairs outside, she landed in the vegetation face first.
Multiple arms grabbing her from every side, she instantly found her body pinned to the ground. Her right arm bent into an unnatural angle she only had time for a short stiffled cry before she felt the materia being forced from her palm.
Her fingers closing tightly around the tiny sphere, the pink haired female found she couldn´t let it go.
NO! It was hers! HERS!
"Hand it over now!" she heard Tseng´s voice, her arm being twisted in an agonizing way, she gave another yelp of pain.
Looking up she could see his probing eyes, Reno and Rude having her pinned to the ground, the latter was unmercifully applying pressure to her tormented limbs, but somehow she found she couldn´t comply.
Her body still acting on its own she realized she had no control over it. Her hand clutching the dark orb tightly, Tseng trying to pry it from her fingers with both of his hands, her muscles only tightened further, Lightning couldn´t help it.
"Hand it over, now!" Rude shouted, twisting her arm all the way.
There were tears now forming in her eyes from the pain.
The pink haired first class, she didn´t know what was going on, what had happened, who she was.
All she knew was that it was hers and that she wouldn´t let them take it.
The pain in her body made the tears spill from her eyes and onto her cheeks.
Lightning didn´t even realize.
„FUCK!" She suddenly heard Reno snap. „HAND OVER THE MATERIA NOW OR – OR!"
There was the muzzle of a gun pointed to her temple and Rude was about to rip out her arm, when suddenly she felt Sephiroth´s presence somewhere next to her, strangely calming to her.
Looking up into his mako green eyes, she could see curiosity and concern there.
"Lightning let go..." he said gently, his gloved fingers forcing the Materia out of her hand.
Yes. She was easily stronger than all of the Turks togehter. But she was no match for Sephiroth.
There was a strange kind of loss and a relieved sight escaped her throat the second Rude released her arm.
Abandoning her tortured body they all turned to look at Sephiroth instead.
Following their gazes she could see that glint in his eyes.
A power-hungry, dangerous glint, mirroring exactly how she had felt just seconds ago.
Lightning found a muscle twitching in his jaw. Sensed the quickening of his heartbeat eventhough he was standing a few feet away.
For a second there she thought that he was going to lose it like she had. That he´d just grab the orb, keep it and use it, whatever the use of it might be, to releash it´s unknown powers on the world around.
But the next moment it was gone and he handed it over to Tseng nonetheless.
The latter emitted a relieved sigh.
Reno Sinclair offering a hand to help her up from the ground, panting heavily the pink haired female realized she felt shaky and unstable on her feet.
It wasn´t from the previous fight alone.
No.
That orb, it had been draining her of energy.
"Hate to hurt you, sweetheart." Reno said looking at her apologetically.
"What was that about, anyway?"
Lightning found she couldn´t answer. She didn´t even know herself.