Saria: (pounding head against a desk)
Tori: Saria... (is stopped by Zas)
Zas: She hasn't slept well for four days and has skipped almost seven meals in the same time, do you really want to bother her?
SA: That's training for you, even I feel sorry for her.
Tori: There is good news though, we're in MIAMI!
Zas: (grumbles) Well, guess I couldn't have hoped for much more snow in Cleveland...
zzzzzzzzzz
We had several hours to prepare for the flight to Egypt and in that time we were allowed to wash up, take naps, and were given some fresh clothes they had available at the Embassy. We all got plain jeans and t-shirts that belonged to a non-military group of volunteers in Egypt.
It wasn't much but we at least would look like people there to help despite the revolt and the hope was that we wouldn't be bothered.
Once we were all clean and dressed we were transported to a private airport where the small plane we would be flying was parked. Luckily we got a private briefing room there and Trey wasn't present yet.
"Not comfortable wit' this, are ya?" Cid asked as he settled across from me.
"No," I admitted. "This sort of flying is... not even grey!"
"What do ya call this anyway?"
"Ghosting." It drew a grimace from me. "A ghost crew is a crew that will disappear like it was never there."
"Shinra did things like that!" Cid grimaced also. "Usually for suicide missions."
"This could be counted as that."
Cid paled then glanced at the others before deciding to change the subject.
"So, where'd ya learn those stunts?"
"When have you seen me doing stunts?
"In Rocket Town when ya stole Shinra's plane!"
Now I did laugh. "You saw that? I assumed you were too busy chasing your pilot-less plane!"
Cid shot a glare at Zack then who had floated in our direction and the puppy yipped. "Saw some."
I shrugged then noticed everyone's eyes on me then.
"I want to hear where you learned!" Aeris said as she sat across from me and Tifa smiled as well while Barret shuffled over and flopped down next to Aeris which earned a squawk from Zack. "That guy we ran into seems to know more of your past than we do!"
"And you know a lot about the rest of us!" Tifa added. "This was the most we've ever heard about your past."
I glanced at Zack when most of the others nodded. He returned my gaze evenly and I saw that he hadn't even told Aeris about my family.
"I've always loved aircraft and the stars," I admitted. "I went to college to be an engineer and got my pilot training at the same time. It was... wonderful really. My first job in that field was as a part-time stunt pilot and instructor. It drove my students wild and they were always happy to see me compete!"
"Great..." Yuffie looked faintly green just hearing about this while everyone else, Zack included, was fascinated.
"How did you train for stunts?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah! Sounds fun, yo!" Reno tossed in.
"I learned the basics with an instructor. We were quite the pair! On more than one occasion we would try to outdo one another in the plane. There was one time that we went crazy; going lower than was necessary or trying to keep the plane in the configuration for a stunt longer than was safe! We got so disoriented that he threw up which caused me to throw up and that continued until we made it back to the ground. Someone had called the police about our erratic flying and the officer that met us on the ground threw up when he saw us covered in each other's vomit!"
Cid stared at me in shock then howled with laughter and was joined by Reno and Barret very shortly then everyone else. Even I was smiling as I found myself sharing something about my life without fear or shame.
"Why'd you quit that?" Reno demanded and my smile froze.
Rude noticed and surprised me by saying, "Don't answer if you don't want to."
"What? Why?" Reno whined. "Went from an awesome job like that to flying for a company from the sounds of it!"
Tifa noticed my now brittle expression as well. "Any other great stories? Did you ever win one of those stunt competitions?"
Cid didn't see my face. "Wanna know the same thing as the crazy Turk!"
The statement earned him flat looks from everyone except Reno and he finally looked at me.
"Hey, it don't m-"
I raised my hand to silence him. Everyone else had long ago shared their story, it was long past time I shared at least part of mine.
"Trey and I worked for a company that was more of an organization," I explained quietly. "We would fly into places, dangerous and/or isolated places, to deliver medical supplies and personnel. I got into that..." My eyes burned faintly.
"It's not important," Zack stated firmly.
"But-"
"Hey!" Trey called brightly and I bit my lips. It took years for me to almost feel ready to tell my friends my story, there was no way I was going to say anything about it to Trey.
"You're all ready I see!" my temporary co-worker said jovially and I remembered that was actually a point about him I had previously liked. Now it seemed cheap and empty, probably because he knew we were going into a potentially dangerous zone unarmed and without a means to get out, and he seemed not the least bit concerned!
The walk to the plane was silent in the cold, dark early morning, the ground crews having been ordered to not look at us as we boarded the plane and I was pretty certain that the security system was experiencing "technical difficulties". Our plane was already fueled and ready to go when we boarded, Yuffie dragging her feet particularly slowly as everyone seated themselves and secured their belongings. Cid seated himself closest to the cockpit as Trey and I shoved our bags into the closet.
Settling into the right seat of the cockpit, I stared at the headset that had been provided for me for a long minute before ensuring it was plugged in then slipping the set over my ears and adjusting the microphone.
"Get the clearance while I get us running," Trey ordered as he signalled to the ground crew who had just appeared that he was ready for engine start.
Shalua
Seeing Reeve walk around the WRO headquarters with a baby in his arms was interesting but the man seemed to be a natural with the child who smiled happily at him and everyone.
Aiden seemed to know her as well and greeted her even more warmly than others with a laugh and holding out his arms. It seemed that the couple and their friends were keeping him very happy.
"He would like you to either hug or hold him," Reeve guessed as they headed downstairs in the elevator.
She gave him the hairy-eyeball for all of a minute before relenting and holding out her own arms to take the child. The boy had giggled happily as she held him for a moment before holding his arms back out to Reeve who had promptly taken him back.
"Still getting used to fatherhood?" she asked conversationally.
The commissioner nodded. "Don't know how Rachas managed and she watched him like a hawk while working!"
"There is a reason for that," Shalua murmured in reminder. "You'll both always have to be on the lookout, especially in the city."
Reeve's eyes widened as he realized that Shalua was right. He and Rachas had chosen a house in what was slated to be a gated community for the privacy but the gates weren't up and anyone was able to get to their front lawn! If they had more children then they'd have to constantly be on guard in case Rachas's secrets ever got out, whether that be the secret of her blood or the secret of Sephiroth's fate.
His eyes softened as he looked down at Aiden who smiled at him, his eyes the exact same shade and color as Rachas's now. This was his son, his family, and he would be damned before something happened to them with him unable to protect them as had happened to Dr. Gast and his family.
They were going to need a new house, one with a security system that would meet all of his expectations with plenty of room for them all to grow. Not remote but easily missed. Rachas could have an actual garden and their children would have plenty of space to run!
"Would you send me plans on where people are planning to build and project sites?" he asked. "The ones that are just outside the city and away from highways."
"Planning to build a house?" Shalua teased. "Well sign me up if you are. I think Shelke will be going stir crazy soon. She stares at any flowers I bring home like they're holy relics."
A community! Reeve shook his head as the idea struck, uncertain how he could have not thought of this. It wasn't just Rachas at risk due to blood right now, there was Aeris, her twins, Shelke, and most recently Alex. All of AVALANCHE could be their security if he built a gated community for them! They could also bring his mother, Rick, Denzel, Marlene, and Mrs. Gainsborough! Zack's parents might even like to join them!
"If you can, bring those plans by my house tomorrow," he instructed the scientist who looked at him in surprise. "I'll call Mrs. Gainsborough, Vincent, and Shera."
"You're serious." Shalua stated in a deadpan voice as she regarded the man. "Men only consider something like this if they feel there is an actual future-" She cut off as she stared at him then for the first time he had known the woman, a grin crossed her face.
"You see a future here, don't you? Are you engaged?!"
'Count on one of the smartest and most determined people he had ever met to figure out the engagement based upon vague clues!' Reeve thought as he adjusted his hold on Aiden as the elevator door finally opened to reveal Vincent on the other side, a satisfied smirk planted on his visage.
'Make that smartest and the sharpest of ear,' Reeve mentally corrected.
Normal
The flight was simultaneously the longest and shortest I had ever flown. The reasons were simple: I didn't want to go but was excited to be back in control of a plane. I tracked every mile, knowing that that was another mile less between me and a massive conflict that I really wanted no part of. It was another mile less between me and the Arabic nations that viewed women as property and non-Arabics as second-class if that.
Egypt wasn't that bad but I was terrified of what we might find.
Thus far we had met Merlin, the Lady of the Lake, the Brothers Grimm, and the stars of the dark fairy tales and lore compiled by the brothers. What were we going to find in Egypt, a mummy?! I swear if I found myself face-to-face with Imhotep or King Tut then the moment we found Jenova I was going to tear that thing's head apart with my fingernails!
Taking a deep breath, I tried my best to calm my thoughts. Thus far all those we had met were Cetra that were upset and Minerva had sent Cetra here 2,000 years ago. The Ancient Egyptian dynasties ended sometime around 300 BC when the last Pharoah lost in battle and fell to the Persians.
After that there was the rise of the Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt which had famous figures such as Cleopatra before Egypt was annexed by Rome. Cleopatra was MUCH closer to the timeline of when Cetra would have appeared on Earth since she lived from 69-30 BC but her bloodline was too established, too well rooted to be questioned. No, people who appeared supposedly out of nowhere would be peasants and the Cetra would have most likely been nomadic.
Around 600 AD was when Egypt was conquered yet again, this time by Byzantines and then the Arabs despite there being a firmly established Christian faith there (or maybe it was because of that).
Six centuries passed under Muslim rule and then a Turkish military caste took control for about three hundred years then Egpyt got taken by the Ottoman Turks. Napoleon temporarily came through and conquered Egpyt but the French were expelled just three years later which then was followed by several tumultuous years before a new leader was acknowledged who set up a government which later became a puppet government for the British.
The final stage that I knew of was in the 1950's when a revolution occurred that freed the Egyptians of the British and established them as a republic.
In other words: if there were any Cetra in Egypt, I would only be able to guess at what time they were from or what beliefs they held to! But it was highly unlikely that I was going to meet a mummy even if magic was accepted and openly practiced in Ancient Egypt.
"So what have you been up to these last few years?" Trey asked suddenly, tearing me away from my headache inducing history review.
"Flying, living," I replied as I turned my attention back to the windshield of the aircraft and couldn't fight the smile as I saw the Mediterranean spread out before us in the light of dawn. Mother Earth was even more beautiful than I remembered.
"Obviously," was the reply. "I mean life in general: has anything happened? Did you... meet someone?"
Trey and I had slowly been getting closer before I had disappeared, I had even been considering taking the initiative and asking him out. Whatever respect I had for him or feelings I once had, it was best to just level with him.
"I have," I admitted quietly.
"Serious?"
Glancing back at the door to the passenger cabin, I noted that it was shut. "We're engaged."
"Congratulations."
The response was a bit flat but still honest.
"So which one is he?"
"He's not here."
"Will I get to meet him?"
"Not likely." Not unless Trey managed to find his way to Gaia one day then sought me out.
Silence continued for a few minutes before I tried to continue the conversation.
"What got you into this area of flying?"
"I had a friend in Blackwater/Xe/Academi/whatever-they're-called-now who pointed me in this direction after the company..." He sighed deeply then. "I talked to some of them about trying to find you but they didn't know where to start. You had plenty of reasons to stay but just as many to want to disappear. Add to it your last transmissions and some were actually declaring that you were grabbed by aliens!"
I wondered right then if he would be shocked to hear that I had been taken but not by humans or aliens, but by a goddess!
"So, was it aliens?" he asked with a grin when he noticed my twitching lips.
"Oh goddess, you're onto us!" I replied with a laugh. "Don't tell anyone, but every one of my companions except one is actually from another planet, as is my fiance!"
Trey laughed at my joke, not realizing that I wasn't lying and why should he? Most humans dismissed completely the possibility of aliens walking amongst them, especially ones that looked exactly like humans and technically were humans.
We continued to talk for a few minutes before a knock came at the security door and I turned to allow a very curious looking Cid in with permission from Trey. Until we started our descent the other pilot stayed in the cockpit with us, asking about the various systems, goggling the GPS (which I made a note to explain it in better detail later), and drinking in the feeling of flying even if he wasn't in control.
As Cid left though and we reverted to sterial cockpit, which was the discontinuation of unneccessary conversation, my thoughts again wandered to what might be waiting for us in Egypt and I began to sweat. There were plenty of groups that could be, and would have been, very mad at some point or another. Egyptians being robbed of the treasures of their nation, Christians being forced to bend to Muslims, Egyptians angry at the invading French, French angry at the uprising of the Egyptians... The list went on and on and each offered a rather different and extreme possibility.
By the time the landing gear contacted the pavement of the runway and finally jolted me out of my musings, there was already a long list in my head of what could be here. It didn't allow for a pretty picture.
The airfield that we landed at was one of those that looks either deserted or sees very little traffic. But something about the people who came out to guide and refuel the aircraft had me immediately on guard. I couldn't read minds at the moment but I was familiar enough with the typical actions and stances of fuelers and ground crew to know when someone is acting strange.
"Is there a place here for us to rent a car?" I asked as Trey ran through the shutdown flows.
"Doubt it," he replied as he narrowed his eyes at the rampers as well then shrugged. "Might have someone a bit more important than I thought boarding."
So he caught the strange behavior of the rampers also.
Cid opened the cabin door when Trey yelled back that it was safe and Yuffie caused several of the men outside to jump in alarm as she barreled down the stairs, her short shorts quickly getting everyone's undivided attention.
Kunsel followed her out then everyone slowly made their way out, Cid and I lingering the longest in the aircraft and I breathed in deeply as I allowed my envy to rise. This plane was so beautiful and my own was now a literal pile of junk. We were trying to have it fixed but I knew within days that it wasn't salvageable as anything other than scrap or a source of cannibalized parts. Cid also glanced around with a faint grin that soon fell away.
"Think we'll get lucky enough to...?" he asked as we finally headed out and I wasn't sure what he meant. Lucky enough to fly in another nice plane? Lucky enough to take one back to Gaia with us? I wouldn't mind taking a Hawker or a Citation X with us if given half a chance, even if I had to train a co-pilot myself after staying here an extra couple of weeks/months to learn to fly one... Okay, maybe I'd want to go back to Gaia to see Reeve and Aiden first.
Outside everyone had once again congregated and sweat was already forming on a number of brows, my own incuded as we stepped into the scorching sun. Several cars pulled out onto the tarmac and unloaded a number of people, many in business suits, all of them moving towards the plane.
One of the men looked like he was former military and had shoved the keys he had into Rude's hand, issuing instructions to him at almost a mile a minute.
"It's mostly topped off and should get you a decent distance," he barked as he indicated the van behind him. "Make sure to check in within a day. Even if there isn't much violence being directed at none combatants, try to avoid any crowds."
I glanced back at Trey then, wondering if he had arranged this in some way but he didn't even look at us. Turning back, I saw Yuffie was already gagging at the sight of the van and once again was reminded of our shirts and it clicked. That man thought we were with the humanitarian group!
Zack started to collect the bags from everyone and passed several to Cloud, the two of them starting a line to load the back of the van with our bags.
Rude slid into the driver seat in spite of a protesting Reno, once again in a car that had the driver's seat on the right side instead of the left. There was a lot of pushing afterwards as Cid, Barret, and Reno all tried to claim the front seat only for all three to yell angrily when Zack dove into it from the back and locked the door.
I deeply wished that I had gotten the front seat when I could once I got into the van myself and saw that it was a very nice, very modern van. Zack was already playing with the radio but we weren't hearing much at the moment due to how fast he was spinning the dials.
Just as I was getting comfortable in the front bench seat where I would best be able to yell directions or orders at the two in front, my foot caught on something and I glanced down.
It was a bag/purse, not particularly expensive. Grabbing it, I glanced back at the plane but saw that the door was already shut and the plane was taxiing towards the runway. Whoever this belonged to was unlikely to turn around and come back for it.
Opening the bag, what I saw almost had me jumping out to run after the plane. Two years on Gaia had caused me to miss out on a lot of technology changes but even I would recognize an iPhone, a brand new one from the looks of it. There was also a miniature iPad, a wad of bills that I didn't recognize, an iPod with headphones, and chargers for the various gadgets.
Digging out the iPhone, I looked it over before pressing what looked to be the power button then noticed a sticky note on the back.
'Idiot,' I mentally grumbled as I realized how new this phone had to be since the person it belonged to still had to be reminded of their password. Entering the password was easy and then I was staring at the screen before me, a type of screen I hadn't seen for almost two years. It was mesmerizing.
"What's that?" Yuffie demanded as she sat down next to me and I glanced at her with a grin.
"This is called a cell phone," I informed her.
"That little thing?! It looks so weird!"
I couldn't deny that but I did grin at her as I finger clicked an icon that indicated iTunes. My old account might still be available!
It took two attempts to remember my password then I stared at my old song list, uncertain what to list to. It had been so long.
"Now it really doesn't look like a phone!" Yuffie declared as I felt Kunsel lean over the seat behind me to look.
"It's a phone alright, the technology on Earth is just a decade or two ahead of Gaia."
"What's that mean?" the ninja asked as she narrowed her eyes at the device while Kunsel laughed.
"It does more than typical phone functions, doesn't it?"
I grinned at Kunsel then looked over my playlist and finally just hit the shuffle key.
I blinked in surprise a moment later as the music started, but it wasn't coming from the phone. It was being played by the car!
The opening keys for the song got everyone's attention and even Zack stopped fiddling in the front seat as Rude pulled off the tarmac. Since there was only one road at the moment, I felt no immediate need to grab the map he had found.
"Let's get it on,yeah, yall can come along. Everybody drinks on me. Buy out the bar just to feel like I'm a star, now I'm thanking the academy! Missed my ride home, lost my iPhone. I wouldn't have it any other way, if you're with me let me hear you say: I like it like that! Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on!"
Zack yelled in excitement and turned up the volume on the radio while Yuffie laughed, Cait Sith hopped into my lap, and behind me I actually heard Cid shout, "Turn it up!"
"I like it like that! Sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off! I like it like that, yeah! One more time, I can never get enough! Of everybody, sing it right back, I LIKE IT LIKE THAT!"
Tifa was laughing now as she glanced over the seat and Yuffie was already trying to steal the phone from me.
"Til the break of lawn, yeah, party on my lawn! Whistle as the the girls walk by, if the cops roll up (so what?) pour the cops a cup, cause everybody's here tonight! Call a taxi, pack the back seat! I wouldn't have it any other way! If you're with me let me hear you say! I like it like that! Hey windows down, chillin' with the radio on! I like it like that! Sun's so hot, make the girls take it all off! I like it like that, yeah! One more time, I can never get enough! Of everybody, sing it right back, I LIKE IT LIKE THAT!"
Yuffie and I had escalated to having a fullblown wrestling match over the phone. For some reason or another I just wouldn't, no, couldn't let it go. Somehow or another, just in being able to have it and open my old iTunes account I had taken back a piece of my old life that I had missed and I wasn't ready to part with it yet.
"Oh oh oh oh, like that! Oh oh oh oh, like tha-"
The song cut off as my finger hit the screen and it skipped to the next song and my grip slipped as my heart skipped a beat at the opening cords for the Advent Children version of 'One-Winged Angel'.
Yuffie's cry of triumph was lost on me as shivers and goosebumps flew up my arms.
"Man!" she declared as the voices began their chant and my heart quickened even more. "I hate classical! How do I change it?"
I lurched forward and slammed my finger on the forward arrow right as the choir reached the "Se-" for "Sephiroth".
As much as we needed to bring down Jenova, I didn't want anyone thinking of Sephiroth now, or why his name appeared in a song on another planet. Telling everyone of Minerva's plan to bring help from another planet by making the people unknowingly aware of the happenings on Gaia and effectively providing a blueprint of what to do was not a subject I wanted to broach, EVER. Yuffie would probably love it but Cloud and a number of the others would view it as a horrible infraction on their personal lives, especially Cloud. Zack would likely hate knowing that an entire planet full of people knew of what he and Cloud had gone through at the hands of Hojo.
My relief was palpable as the next song filtered over the speakers, 'Still Alive' by Lisa Miskovsky. Aeris thrilled everyone by joining the song, singing along with the music with a smile on her face and I remembered this was the song I had taught her first when we were captured by Shinra and had to wait for everyone to come for us and when we were enroute to Gongaga after saving Corel and securing the first of the huge materia.
Reaching towards the front, I snagged the map from the dashboard and spread it open as Aeris continued to wow everyone with her knowledge of an Earth song.
The first place I could think of to search was Giza; specifically the Great Pyramid of Giza. The lesser one might have something there too but then again... I scratched my head as I stared at the map and wondered where to look.
Glastonbury Tor had been a lucky guess and the Black Forest was an accident. We couldn't hope for either of those here in Egypt; it was too large with a LOT of history and had too much desert. We could easily wander the country, going from site to site and not find anything due to so many being lost or not shared with 'outsiders'. Maybe it would be smarter to just hit the pyramids, then Cairo, and finally Alexandria. Most of the history I knew of could be found at those sites as well as the population. I could also try to check with the hospitals and see if there was any outbreak of something resembling the bubonic plague.
"Directions?" Rude's voice floated rom the front seat as Yuffie and Reno began to fight over the iPhone due to the mini-ninja skipping a Papa Roach song that the Turk thought sounded interesting.
It took a bit of flipping with the map and I almost asked for us to stop before I found the airport that we had landed at. Just as I suspected it was small, out of the way, and a fair dstance from Cairo. Far enough away to be easily overlooked and for aircraft to come and go without anyone noticing. Luckily Giza was only forty kilometers away and I directed Rude to the nearest main road, almost yelling the entire time so to be heard over Reno, Cid, and Barret's rather loud and raucous accompaniment to Papa Roach's 'Getting Away With Murder' which Yuffie decided halfway through wasn't that bad.
Zack wasn't thrilled by the song though and jumped into the backseating area to try to have a turn with the phone. I welcomed the presented opportunity and dove into the front seat, gaining control of the volume dial which I promptly turned down to a less earsplitting level.
Rude grumbled something incoherent, his eyes staying firmly on the road ahead of us, I did notice him rubbing one of his ears a bit.
It wasn't difficult to find our way to the pyramids, they were clearly marked on the map with a route drawn in pen. What was difficult was the walk to the pyramid with the tourists flocking about. It was around that time that we discovered that you needed a ticket to enter the pyramids.
"I can't believe they charge that much and don't allow cameras!" an annoyingly loud woman "muttered", and to be honest I was certain she wanted to be heard. "And seriously, only selling two hundred tickets a day?!"
If I hadn't already been sweating, that comment would have caused me to.
It took a bit of hunting to locate the ticket stand for the pyramid and I ready to murder someone when I realized we didn't have the money to pay for tickets until Yuffie was fiddling with the iPhone still and I immediately remembered the wad of bills I had found in the car.
Pulling out the wad of bills, I glanced up at the board then realized how expensive this was going to be. Then I wondered if we were even here in time to buy tickets when I realized that they only sold tickets at 8am and 1pm.
"How many?" the agent asked as we approached and I glanced at the price again then looked back at who was available.
"10?"
"Don't have that many tickets left," I was promptly informed as a shoving match started up again behind me as Reno tried to grab the iPhone from Yuffie again.
"Then how many are available?"
"5."
I grumbled then peeled five of the bills marked with 100 and tossed them onto the counter, collecting the tickets before turning back to see the level of madness that Yuffie and Reno were causing.
Cloud was trying to break up the fight without success by pulling Yuffie away from Reno who still was trying to take the phone. Rude had taken a hold of Reno's shirt and was keeping the man from jumping all over Cloud and Yuffie. Aeris was attempting to play peacekeeper while Kunsel backed her up, and Alex was looking at the phone with mild interest. Security showed up a moment later.
"Leave!" the soldier-like man commanded the squabbling pairs.
"They didn't mean any harm," Aeris attempted to placate but was pushed along with the Turks and Cloud, Yuffie, and Kunsel . Alex was standing close enough to be associated with them and I stared in wonder as eight of our group was pushed away.
"Wait! We were going in there!" Zack yelled as he ran after the group and the guards regarded us coolly.
"Tickets?" he asked and Zack looked at me.
My own expression must have indicated something was wrong but before I could say anything the guard noticed the tickets in my hand and snagged them, counted them, then the number of our group.
"Five here, you can enter," he said as he gestured towards Zack, Barret, Cid, Tifa, and me. Cait Sith was utterly dismissed due to him currently looking not unlike a stuffed animal situated on my pack.
"What? But we're all together!"
"They only had five tickets," I murmured to Zack as he sent me an accusing look.
"Troublemakers don't enter," the guard stated and that seemed to renew the fight between Reno and Yuffie as they squabbled over whose fault it was that they couldn't enter the pyramid.
I was shellshocked as I realized that even though only five of us could enter the pyramid in the first place, we hadn't been able to choose our team. Yuffie, though easily distracted by treasure, was actually an excellent investigator. Kunsel was level-headed and smart, and Aeris was a Cetra who could sense any sort of presence that could allude to Jenova.
What we had available now was not a crack team for this sort of operation but it was all we could probably get away with at this point in time.
Tifa must have understood this since she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the designated entrance. A few people were entering as well and the five of us fell in behind them.
"Man!" Barret whistled as we moved through a tunnel. "People who build this must'a been good miners!"
"This ain't minin'," Cid argued as his eyes traveled over the walls.
"Course it is!" Zack cut in and I glanced at Tifa as we followed the passage way to what looked to be a flight of stairs into a well formed hallway.
"See this! Minin' builds skills like these!" Barret intoned.
"This is sculpting."
Cid's response had Barret seeing red but I ignored them as Tifa tried to be the peacekeeper this time.
Looking around, I dug a flashlight out of my pack and flicked it on to get a better look around, a small passageway that sloped down catching my attention. It was gated and locked though so I didn't bother with it right then and instead continued up a narrow stairway.
"Up ahead is the main chamber and the Queen and King's chambers could be reached from it." I heard someone ahead saying. "The walls taper as they go up."
My light played on the walls and ceiling so I could see for myself as I tried to make myself look like any other tourist but the entire time I felt myself on edge. Any moment I expected to feel some sort of darkness, a piece of the Earth Lifestream that had gone stagnant and was being used to fuel some ancient ghost's rage.
A low tone sounded then, almost like what you would expect from a bunch of humming priests, vibrating the chamber and I almost dropped my flashlight in shock as a hand grabbed my elbow.
"Sorry," Tifa murmured when she saw my shock then nodded ahead of us to where a man was facing the wall, his mouth open and I realized he must have been the one responsible for the tone.
"Feel anything?" the martial artist inquired as we continued the climb.
"Not yet," I replied then noticed I didn't hear anyone behind us. "Where are the guys?"
"Barret looked so awed by the structure of the hall, I think they might still be back there since it's so narrow and neither Zack nor Cid were small enough to slip by Barret.
A smile tugged at my lips as I felt Cait Sith shift to look back most likely.
The three of us followed the passageway all the way up and though the air got a bit heavy, nothing indicated something was off about the place for me. The lighting was terrible and I was thankful for my flashlight, but nothing felt ominious.
We couldn't go up any higher so we turned back then and headed down towards the entrance only to almost run into someone coming from a passage we had somehow missed.
Tifa and I exchanged glances before heading towards the cut passageway and both of us stared at it in wonder. The thing was all of 3ft tall.
I was shorter, smaller, and armed with the flashlight so it was no surprise when it was decided in a non-verbal fashion that I should go first.
Manuevering down that passage would have made an agoraphobic person claustrophobic. Each shuffling step caused my heart to pound and it was only partially due to the closed in feeling I was getting. What really got me was the fact I knew monsters were real now, that Jenova could bring the dark creatures of fantasy into a form of existence and I wouldn't be able to run or fight in here.
Finally the passage ended and I found myself in a small room. It was completely unadorned and didn't even have the stone casket like had been in the chamber at the top of the stairs.
"What is this place?" Tifa asked quietly behind me and I shrugged in answer. Once again there was no lingering darkness here, nothing to make me think that Jenova had any presence.
"The Queen's chamber," a voice said from behind me, as though they were answering Tifa's question, and I turned my flashlight back to see... Nothing.
Coldness invaded my senses then but it wasn't the chill of stagnant Lifestream, it was dread as I pointed my flashlight down the passageway that Tifa and I had just come from. All there was to be seen was the fleeting shadows before my light temporarily banished them.
"Hear something?" Tifa joked when she saw me staring back at the passage.
"Didn't you just...?"
The brunette raised an eyebrow at me before pointing out a small square that was cut into the wall. "Want do you think this was for?"
"I don't know, ventilation?" I asked as I inspected the area with my light. Though I knew the history of Egypt from school, I hadn't had much interest in the pyramids beyond their basic use for the burial of the royals. "Doesn't look like there's anything else here."
"Right," Tifa agreed as we both moved back towards the passageway and I was relieved to leave the area though I also found myself curious as to what had spoken earlier.
True coldness hit when we were a little over halfway through the tunnel and I stopped short, Tifa running into my back.
"Why'd you stop?" she asked then shuffled to my side in the limited space and gazed out to the opening of the passage longingly. "I don't see anyone."
"Neither do I." My throat was dry again and Tifa must have realized something was wrong.
"Something here?" she demanded and I nodded. "Well let's get to a place we can actually defend ourselves in!"
She pushed me towards the entrance of the tunnel and I began moving rapidly. The cold was alarming but it didn't have any true feeling of evil, just wrongness. There was something here but I had no idea what it was other than it wasn't evil or part of Jenova.
That didn't mean I was willing to be caught in as vulnerable of a place as this tunnel.
Evil or not, I knew we were in trouble as we drew closer to the opening and the expedition lights in the tunnel began to flicker.
"Damn!" Tifa cursed as we both sped up and practically barreled into the stairway.
Throughout the structure a number of startled yells and cries were issued as the lights finally flickered out. Luckily there seemed to be professionals around because above us a light appeared coupled with some shouts in Arabic, English, and French.
"Is it still around?" Tifa demanded as she nervously glanced up the stairs.
"Yeah." I pointed my flashlight down the stairs towards the entrance where I could feel the cold seemed to be moving.
Tifa's eyes met mine in that moment, both of us realizing if there was a spirit here that it was heading towards the last known location of our comrades, as well as blocking what could quite well be the only exit of this stone tomb!
"Zack!" I shouted down the stairs, praying any response would come from behind me.
"Barret! Cid!" Tifa yelled.
No response was forthcoming and then the worst thing that could happen happened: my flashlight began to flicker.
"Come on!" Tifa ordered as she snagged my arm and we began to run towards the stairs.
The stairs were only several steps from us but my flashlight didn't even last that long, the light quickly failing and shrouding us in utter blackness.
Tifa yelped and let go of my arm and from the sound she seemed to fall down several of the stairs. I tried to follow carefully even as my head craned back to try to see if the lights from the other people were still working but saw nothing.
"Tifa!" I whispered as my hands felt their way down the walls and my feet searched for the stairs in the pitch black. "Tifa? Do you hear me?"
The cold grew stronger but I pressed forward, determined to find my friend.
A groan came from slightly ahead of me and I lunged at it, praying it was Tifa, and my hand snagged something that felt a lot like Tifa's long hair.
"Sorry," I whispered as I tried to disentangle my fingers but found I couldn't. Whatever this stuff was, it dawned on me as my stomach sank that it probably wasn't Tifa's hair.
The threads seemed to grasp my arm then and yanked, pulling me down the stairs forcefully enough for me to lose my footing. I would have cried out had it not been for the appearance of more of the thread-like presences, this grouping covering my mouth as I was dragged over the rough, sandy ground.
My feet kicked in protest as my arm swung angrily in the dark but I couldn't pinpoint the body of this thing, it was like it was formless!
There was a turn, a jarring drop of a few feet, and then I was being dragged down a slope, a fairly steep one at that.
Hoping for a hand or foothold, I slapped and kicked at the walls now, praying to catch on something but nothing presented itself as the walls flew past. Twisting my head to try to see my assailant was pointless since there was no light but I still tried, hoping to see something like the faint glow of nightvision goggles or something. Of course there was nothing but then there was something, a faint light at the end of the tunnel.
The light didn't grow lighter as the descent continued, just more pronounced and it finally struck me that it could be trouble at its finest the moment the stone floor became a sand one with only feet left before I'd be dragged into the chamber.
Twisting, my fingers raked deeply into the sand beneath me as my feet tried to work their way into the sand as well, desperately trying for traction.
"Tifa! Zack!" I screamed desperately throught the gag as my struggles seemed to bear fruit and I managed to prevent myself from being dragged into the chamber. This minor victory was short lived as whatever had a hold of me have a mighty pull and my pitiful handfuls of sand only earned me a wrenched arm and a sore neck.
The light in the chamber was blue and it flowed from what looked to be a crack in the ground, shifting from light to dark hues in such an insane manner that I couldn't determine anything about the room's shape or size, just that crack and what I now saw as a strange black webbing that seeped from it and had a hold of my wrist as well as acted as my gag.
Grabbing at the webbing, I attempted to extricate my wrist from the tight hold as my wrenched captured arm throbbed in protest of any movement but no matter how much I tried I couldn't get a grip on the stuff. It flowed around my fingers like water, impossible to grip or capture yet maintained a firm hold that I couldn't break.
A groan pulled my attention back to the room and my breath froze when I saw a bulky form on the floor opposite from me and the crack.
"Ba-et-" The gag continued to muffle any noise I made as I tried to call Barret.
Cold collected again and my eyes focused on the crack as the breath in my lungs froze.
The being that slowly worked its way out of the crack was horrifying, mostly bones and brittle, preserved skin that barely clung to it. Two holes in its head must have been where the eyes once were and the gaping abyss that was once a mouth was twisted into an eternal scream. What little har was left ghosted from the scalp and looked frail to the point where even a breath would have blown them off.
My struggles began anew as the thing began to crawl towards me, its legs too frail to hold it and the dusty scratching of the brittle skin on the sandy floor redoubled my efforts as I struggled, my eyes half watching the approach of this mummified nightmare and half looking for a weapon.
A handle caught my attention then and my free hand grabbed for it desperately, praying for something to defend myself with.
The handle proved to be a bone though which I released on reflex, a leg bone to another monster that was hovering over someone else.
"-id!" I shouted at the other pilot who looked as though he were in a state of shock, the monster's claw-like hand covering his eyes. I grabbed at the leg of the creature again, hoping to drag it away from him before a skeletal appendage gripped my leg and the webbing on my arm dragged me away from my comrade.
The yanking of the webbing had set me on my back and made me all too aware of my own impending doom of being sucked dry by a mummy. As a second hand gripped my pants so the thing could drag itself closer I went with my backup plan and started thrashing.
There was no magic here, I couldn't use my Jedi skills, but my body was in better shape than my attacker's, of that I was certain.
My free hand punched and slapped at the skull, my legs kicked and bucked as my torso twisted about, trying to throw the corpse off.
The assessment of the fragility of the mummy was correct and bones crumbled against my attacks, skin turned to dust, and the thing seemed to collapse into a mound of jumbled limbs.
I was so relieved as I stared at the defeated monster before confusion hit and I turned my eyes back to Cid. If I could fight one of these things off barehanded, then how the hell had one of them gotten the drop on Cid?! He was much stronger than me physically, especially here on Earth and these things weren't being subtle in the least!
My own question was answered before I could try to help my downed comrade as more of the webbing entered my line of sight as it snapped around my body, trapping me.
Stuggling did no good now and to my horror, the webbing seemed to act almost like stitches for the mummy pieces before me and the nightmare was gently put back together. Much of its skin was destroyed now and it was much rougher looking, but it was definitely the mummy all over again and it intended to complete its mission.
Skeletal fingers climbed over my chest to my shoulders as the mummy dragged itself over my form and any twisting or resistance was prevented by my incorporeal bonds.
I waited for the thin fingers to close around my throat, for a curse to drain the life from my body, for any of the horrors that one would think a mummy could visit upon you but they never came. Instead the thing seemed to stare at me through empty eye sockets as it positioned its head over mine.
Terror clutched at my heart when the head began to descend and I wondered if this would be something like the kiss of a dementor and result in my soul being sucked out and consumed.
Every part of me was screaming now, especially since I had convinced myself that there was no way I was going to be faced with this earlier that same day!
The light touch of a skull to my forehead wasn't something I anticipated and still I stared in fascinated horror at the empty eye sockets above me before everything went black.