Heartstrings
Vincent Unleashed
by TacomaSquall
Part Sixteen
The members of AVALANCHE headed for the Highwind. Leading them was Barret, all of the composure gained through the previous year forgotten in his frantic worry about Marlene. "Hurry up, fools! I'll be damned if Vincent gets away with this shit!"
Hieros tried to get the huge one-armed man's attention. "Barret, we cannot –"
"Shut the hell up, tortoise-shell." Barret reached the ladder and began to clamber up, two rungs at a time. The rest of the companions hurried after him.
Finally, Cid climbed on board the airship, the last of the heroes to board. He looked at his companions and spoke. "We can reach Corel in 3 hours if I push it!" He turned to enter the airship's fuselage, the others behind him.
Hieros cried aloud, "Wait!"
Barret fixed the Sahugin with an angry glare. "What?"
"We need to go somewhere else," the Sahugin exclaimed. "There is a place where we can seek aid in preparation for our battle against Lord Chaos."
Barret rushed to the diminutive warrior. "I've gotta find Marlene!"
Hieros stepped back from the hulking giant. "You're just playing his game! As long as you follow his trail and clues, he has control over your movements." He looked at Cid. "Time is pressing. If you will take off, and," looking at the rest of AVALANCHE, "the rest of you would join me in the conference room, I'll explain how we can get a step ahead of Chaos. If you are not convinced afterwards, then we can continue to Corel."
Cloud nodded. I think I know what he is going to tell us about. Maiji told me a little about it in her story. ""Give him a chance to explain what he means. Cid, get us in the air and steer us towards Corel, then leave one of the aircrew in charge and meet with us."
* * * * * *
Tara and Grennek had gathered all of the residents of Nuavalan in the central square of the tree city. Frogs and Sahugin murmured and buzzed with whispers about the reason for the gathering.
A small group of Frogs had, ignoring the seriousness of the occasion, broke into one of their hyperkinetic games of tag. In this game, one person was "it", and everyone else tried desperately to catch him. Everything was fair game, including using non-participants as shields, obstacles, or ladders. The non-participants indulgently shrugged and tried to ignore the youths at play.
The current "it" was a Frog named Sky. He leapt from the square onto the back of a Sahugin. From there, he bounded straight up into the forest canopy. In the canopy, he rushed along the tree branches until he reached the catwalks that linked the great trees of the arboreal city. In his hurry, he never saw the Eldest of the Frogmen until he plowed into her at full speed. The two went down in a heap.
A silence fell over the assemblage. Grennek appeared near the Shrine of the Change. He looked out and saw the fallen Eldest. Without a word, he broke into a shuffling run to her side.
The silence was broken by the tinkling sound of merriment. Tara slowly sat up, her eyes twinkling. A gasp of relief ran through the crowd. She stood carefully and then helped the slender Frog that had run her over to his feet.
Tara looked at the gathered Frogs and Sahugin. She stood where she was, old Grennek on her right side, and the young Frog, Sky, on her left. She stretched her arms out to her people. We, the Accursed Ones. Our chance for redemption is at hand.
"Children of Nuavalan, I greet you." As she spoke, Tara's voice seemed to draw power from the people gathered below her.
"Two thousand years ago, I was given a charge by the last High Priestess of the Temple of Life. This charge was to stand steadfast against the world's need. The charge was to stand fast that our people might rise above the curse that created us to stand alongside the other sentients of the world – Cetra, Kyrrawlen, and Human."
"High Priestess Ifaine spoke of a time when the Cetra would have vanished from the face of the world. A time when humanity, the lastborn, would ascend to the stars. She told me of Jenova's return and of the rise and fall of her son, Sephiroth. She told of the coming of my adopted daughter, Maiji Carpenter, who makes magic with her drawings – seeing with true sight, piercing all barriers. She told of our failure in our compact to keep secure the Temple of Life."
"The time she spoke of, when the world is facing the Apocalypse, is now. Jenova has risen for third time, and has taken human form. The Mako-twisted Lord of Chaos has been freed, and seeks to establish his dominion over all, before casting it all into darkness and remaking the world in his image. Jenova's master has come to the Planet and has begun plans for a wholesale invasion."
"It is time for us all to stand against this tremendous evil." Tara's voice hardened. "It is time that we go forth to stand alongside those who have hated us for being different, for reproducing our kind the only way we can, by transforming others. It is time for us to rise above our lowly place, and stand aside humanity as brothers."
"I ask that we raise our voices together, using the Song to release the magic that hides us from humanity. The time has come for Nuavalan to come forth from its hiding."
Her voice grew cold. "The Apocalypse is upon, my people. The event we were named for. It is time for us to come forth and face it."
She was met with a single, united chorus. "WE WILL!"
Tears streamed down the aged Sahugin's face as she led her people in singing the magical song of masking. There must be time enough to do what must be done. We must not fail…
* * * * * *
In the conference room of the Highwind, Hieros addressed the members of AVALANCHE. "Cloud, you have heard part of this tale. Maiji knows most of it, and so does Yager. Please bear with me, for the others need to know what you already do."
Hieros crossed his arms and continued. "Two thousand years ago, a terrible event befell the Planet. Meteor was called here by Jenova. Only by sacrificing their civilization's future were the Cetra able to save the Planet. Two of the Cetra had failed to stop this cataclysm from occurring. One of them had been the priestess at the Temple of Life who foolishly allowed Jenova to gain possession of the Black Materia. The other was a priest, who tried to use Holy to stop Meteor, and failed. The cost of their failure was to be cursed. They were forced to undergo a shapechange and a curse. They became the first Frogmen."
His voice became sad. "The priestess Astarte Ifaine's-daughter became the Tara. And Garen Jourmand's-son became Grennek. They learned what you now know, that Frogs could transform others into Frogs by virtue of the magical Frog Song. This is the only way that the Frogmen can reproduce. The curse was tied to this new lifeform, and a promise that both would live to see the day when Jenova returned."
Yuffie exclaimed, "That's what Aeris said!"
Cloud turned to the Wutai-born ninja. "What?"
Yuffie looked embarrassed. "When she and I talked alone. Her last words were that I should seek Astarte and Garen, and that the Apocalypse was drawing near."
Hieros nodded. "Over time, the two Frogmen made others, and started a small society. It was 200 years after Jenova's imprisonment that Tara was summoned to the Temple of Life, which you humans called the Temple of the Ancients. It was then that Tara heard the Prophecy of the Apocalypse."
"Apocalypse is coming,
The dark one has fallen but is not destroyed.
The traveler shall live again.
Her child shall call destruction
Defenders shall come
Challenged to sacrifice,
Firstborn and lastborn must together fight.
Guardians must fail in their cause,
And the defenders be betrayed
To save the world.
Apocalypse is calling.
Be wary, child of the Apocalypse.
Your people shall find salvation
Or damnation.
When Meteor comes.
When the last Cetra dies,
When the lastborn journeys beyond the skies,
When the painter who paints from the soul's canvas arrives,
When the twisted return, greater than before –
In an age of the lastborn,
In an age of twilight and fire,
Apocalypse comes.
Frogman of the Apocalypse –
If you are worthy,
The Apocalypse shall be your people's salvation.
If you are not,
Then all are doomed."
As Hieros recited the Prophecy, his voice became different. The voice was deeper, rumbling in a bass far lower than the Sahugin's usual tenor.
"Darkness stands against darkness,
Dominion is their goal.
Conquest borne on conquest,
Fire from fire.
Order's bane returned.
Barriers long-erected fall to dust,
Nations meet their doom.
Night falls at midday –
Shadows come to life.
Destroyer threatens all.
When the Dark Lord comes,
When the Law of Death is threatened,
When the dead strive against the Destroyer,
When a child is conceived from strife's heart,
In an age of murder and grief,
In a time of sacrifice,
The Apocalypse has come."
As Hieros finished speaking, a hush descended on the members of AVALANCHE. The scream of the Highwind's engines could be heard, as Cid's expert hands coaxed greater speed out of the airship than ever before. Finally, Maiji spoke softly. "Cloud, do you remember my story?" Cloud nodded. "That voice is the same one that spoke through High Priestess Ifaine two thousand years before."
"How is that possible?" Barret was incredulous.
"The Eldest of the Frogmen, Tara, has some little magic left, even after her transformation from Cetra to Frog and then Sahugin. Her magic allows her to cause listeners to see what she is describing when she tells a story." She looked at Hieros. "She told me her story when I first befriended the Frogmen so long ago."
"So where is this City of the Cursed that Aeris spoke of?" Yuffie asked.
Cloud answered, before Maiji, Yager or Hieros could speak. He fixed Hieros with a direct look. "Near Gongaga. I assume that your people will let us find Nuavalan, right?
"Yes." Hieros spread his hands out on the conference room table. "Helping you is our chance for salvation."
"Very well. We're going to Nuavalan."
* * * * * *
Vincent walked forward into the gloom of the cave, the three Turks alongside. Each step was a battle for the scarlet-and-black clad gunslinger. Somehow, he both looked forward to and dreaded the coming confrontation.
As he walked, he was besieged by memories of a past he had now been told was all an illusion. Snippets of time spent as a member of the Jenova Project's security detail. Burning moments of conflicts with HoJo that sustained him later, when hatred and self-despite were all he had. Memories of a love affair that took his spirit soaring to the greatest heights of joy. All false… Who am I, then?
Vincent felt the tunnel he was in give way to the larger cavern that had served as her abode when AVALANCHE had come here a year before. He felt the change, rather than saw it, because all he could see in the chamber ahead was her. Standing in the center of the cavern was the person he had come seeking.
Lucresia.
* * * * * *
The Highwind's engines were shrieking in protest of the speeds Cid had coaxed from them. He looked over at the speedometer – 135 miles per hour. Not enough. He pulled the throttle one more makeshift stop past the point it was designed to go.
He squinted into the slipstream. Ahead lay the forests of Gongaga. Rising from the center of the rainforest was a scintillating column of light. That's strange, that had never been there before…
The column vanished, and Cid gaped as the Highwind rapidly drew closer to a city that lay nestled in the trees of the rainforest. Beside the city lay a huge clearing, and gathered there seemed to be every goddamned Frog in the world, with almost as many Sahugin alongside.
The City of the Cursed lay spread out over a mile of forest, and had homes that seemed to have grown out of the trees, rather than having been shaped from them. The homes ranged from the lowest branches to almost the very tops of the trees. A latticework of walkways and spiraling staircases wended their way from tree to tree and building to building. Light reflected from windows that looked to have been secreted by the trees themselves.
Cid had discounted the idea that the silly Frogs and the annoying Sahugin were anything more than just monsters. Looking at what the Frogmen of the Apocalypse had accomplished in two thousand years, and kept hidden from humanity, he could no longer deny their status as people. Damn…
He picked up the intercom and toggled the transmit switch. "Guys, we're here..."
* * * * * *
As he looked at her, Vincent felt a tidal wave of images and sensations swamp him. Her smile the first time they met. The blood pouring out of her chest after his bullet struck home. The feel of Lucresia's breasts pressing against his naked body after making love. Her words, "I love you, Vincent." The rush of anger he felt when she told him tht she was pregnant, and that the child was not his. Her laughter. The look of amazement when he proposed to her.
Each memory, Vincent faced. Vincent weighed each one, and told himself that it was not the truth. Each memory wilted under the cold light of the file that he had been given. As each false memory weakened, Vincent felt the chains of grief and guilt that had bound him for so many years slip one link looser.
"Vincent, why have you come here?" Lucresia's voice shook with confusion. "Why have you brought your enemies here?"
Vincent slowly raised the Twilight Scope, flicking the weapon's safety off. The selector was on single-shot. He avoided looking at the face of the woman that had rewritten the script of his life. "Because, sometimes, even enemies will tell you the truth."
Vincent pulled the trigger.
* * * * * *
Captain Townsend paced back and forth. Time was up. He turned to his Weapons Officer. "Darryl, prepare to fire all missiles."
End of Part Sixteen