Sarita and Dehat followed Cadwgawn to the room he'd mentioned. When they came there, Sarita was amazed of its appearance; it looked like it was a room taken right out of a five star hotel.
The walls of the room where shaded deep red and seemed to emit a gentle glow, providing just enough light to see from one end of the room to the other.
In the middle of the room was the 'small spring' Cadwgawn told them about. The spring was more a sort of bath, big enough to swim in if they wanted to.
Standing lined up next to the bath where statues representing the elemental spirits and carved in the head of the bath was Leviathan, the water elemental. The water inside the bath was crystal-clear, neither one of them had ever seen water this pure.
Cadwgawn sat down on the side of the bath and moved a lever. This triggered a mechanism that brought the statues to life, squirting water into the bath. He looked at the astonished look on Sarita's face and smiled with delight. He motioned the others to sit down and stuck his head under one of the squirting statues. He felt refreshed by the water and looked at his newfound friends.
"So… what do you think of this place?"
Sarita folded her hands together and said softly; "It's beautiful. I've never seen anything like this before."
Dehat grinned and said; "I have, but after a little dispute about who should pay who, I was kicked out and they didn't let me in again."
Cadwgawn rolled his eyes and watched how Sarita splashed some of the fresh water on her face. He saw how the water flowed of her face, down her neck towards her bosom.
"It isn't polite to stare blond, even you should know that."
Cadwgawn promptly looked the other way, hoping that she hadn't notice that he'd stared at her.
Dehat laughed and settled himself against one of the statues.
"Who would have imagined that old Sephy had a place like this inside his fortress. Now than, what are you all doing here? Wait, I'll go first."
He closed his eyes and sighed: he seemed to think for a minute.
Cadwgawn was surprised by this but kept his silence.
Dehat started speaking with a deep voice: "Like I said before, nowadays I'm a sword for hire, kind of a mercenary, but I wasn't one until recently.
I used to live a somewhat normal life in one of the very last free places left to us humans. We never had any trouble with a WEAPON or the Hellion armies that roamed the planet; possibly they believed that no one would live in the harsh climate of the northern crater area.
We lived in wealth and didn't care about the troubles of the rest of the planet, we where quite selfish and didn't want to share anything so we kept our existence secrete to the world. This might have caused our own downfall, we weren't aware that a new kind of Dark soldier had been created by Sephiroth.
When one of our people found a half dead woman out in the snow, he took her in his home. This was the start of our demise. We where surprised that I wasn't the only human alive with the mako blessing. Yes, we knew why my eyes glowed the way they did. But the woman wasn't the same as me, the moment she was fully restored she rushed out and wasn't seen back for a long time.
When she returned she wasn't alone, but had at least a hundred men and women with her. We welcomed her back with open arms, thinking that we could create some sort of Utopia for the human race. But when they came inside they drew their weapons and killed everyone inside our city. I was the only one that was spared, why I still not know.
So I guess my reason of being here is to get my revenge, nothing more fancy than that, just plain old revenge. I didn't travel here directly though; I honed my skills with my katana first, that's why I became a sword for hire."
Dehat sighed again and swung his feet over the side of the bath and placed them in the water.
Cadwgawn studied Dehat's face and could see that there was more to the story that he'd told them. He decided not to ask too much about Dehat's past.
Dehat opened his eyes and looked at Sarita.
"And what about you? What is a lovely lady as yourself doing in a place like this?"
Sarita looked at Dehat and shrugged; "What's there to say? My friends and I decided to take matters in our own hands and we revived Avalanche. We came here to assassinate Sephiroth and by doing so we hoped to bring back a free life for everyone."
Dehat frowned and waded his feet through the water.
"Yeah, but what's the story behind it all. Why did you decide to tale matters in your own hands?"
Sarita closed her eyes and shook her head; "There where so many reasons: For Kuno, a dear friend of mine, there was that his old hometown was transformed into a laboratory where the Cyrus had spawned from and the loss of his wife during an Hellion raid on the Village where he lived.
For Kyrios there was that he remembered how it used to be to live in freedom, he was born before Sephiroth took control over the planet. He was also the founder of the next Avalanche; he'd been here before and was one of the few that had survived the summoning of the WEAPONS.
He was also the one that had saved my life when I was just a little girl and all alone in this world.
And as for me? My reasons are somewhat the same as yours, to get revenge and to create a world where it is safe to have children. 'Couse that is all I've ever dreamed about, to live a peaceful life with a man and the children we'll have together."
Sarita stopped talking and looked at Cadwgawn.
"Now what I wanted to ask you was: why did you use precisely those words back there?"
Cadwgawn shrugged and stared at the statue in front of him.
"………Don't know. Why?"
"Well… those where exactly the words Kyrios spoke when he first found me."
"….O,….The words came out before I realized it. I…… I didn't know."
Cadwgawn got up and rummaged through his pockets, picked out a whetstone, after that he drew his sword and started to sharpen his blade.
Dehat smiled and said with a flair of amusement in his voice; "Don't pay to much attention to him, I think he's a little shy when it comes to girls."
Sarita giggled and stared at Cadwgawn.
"I think you're right Dehat, he's blushing."
Cadwgawn didn't know how to react and focused on sharpening his blade. He tried to do it as nonchalantly as possible but the fact that he'd became the center point of everyone's attention caused him do work with a little to much enthusiasm and he cut himself on the already razor-sharp blade. He suppressed a curse and put the bleeding finger in his mouth.
Sarita had watched his every move and walked up to him with a small bandage in her hand.
"Here, use this for you're finger."
Cadwgawn looked up at her and accepted the bandage. He wrapped the bandage around the small cut in his finger and tucked the whetstone back in his pockets; he was finished sharpening his sword for today.
Sarita saw how he'd wrapped the bandage around his finger and sighed; it was clear to see that he'd never used a bandage before.
"That's all wrong, I guess you need a woman's hand right now. No, don't resist, I know it's a small cut but still."
She grabbed his hand and unwrapped the bandage. Cadwgawn tried to pull his hand back but Sarita didn't let go and draped the bandage accordingly around the cut.
Cadwgawn watched her face and when she was finished she stared him directly in the eyes.
"Now, doesn't this feel much better?"
Cadwgawn tried to bend his finger but the bandage was draped to tightly around it.
"………I can't move my finger, I need my finger to guarantee a firm grip on my sword."
Dehat threw a pebble in the water next to Cadwgawn and some of the water splashed on him.
"Yeah, I've seen how firm you're grip was before. I don't think the bandage will change anything in that."
"But I… whatever!"
Cadwgawn tried to counter the remark but couldn't find the right words. He looked at Sarita who still held his hand and frowned.
Sarita saw this and realized that she still held his hand. She squeezed in it once and let go of it. She stood up silently and walked back to the place she'd sat before.
Dehat rummaged in one of his pockets and retrieved a package of cigarettes.
"Well, it looks like were not going anywhere soon, so I just as well can have a smoke."
He lighted one and sucked his lungs full with smoke. He offered the package to Cadwgawn after blowing out the smoke but Cadwgawn declined. Dehat looked at Sarita but she shook her head. Dehat placed the package on the ground next to him and took another hit.
"Okay blond, what's you're reason to be in here? Is it revenge like me, or is it a more noble goal?"
Cadwgawn shrugged and stood up. He walked around for a bit and sat down again. He looked at Dehat and shrugged again.
"……………To tell the truth, I don't know what I'm doing here."
Cadwgawn stood up again and walked towards one of the walls. There he turned and looked at Sarita.
"There's a lot of things that I don't know, or maybe better said, can't recall. All I can remember is that I woke up next to a large lake filled with a strange liquid three years ago. I don't have a single memory from before that time. I've been to a lot of places since that day, but everywhere I came people treated me as if I was some kind of monster, some kind of freak. It wasn't until today that I finally found out why people had treated me the way they did. If I hadn't met Sarita today, I wouldn't have known that it was the glow in my eyes that freaked people out."
Cadwgawn walked back to the side of the bath and sat down. He waded through the water with one hand and looked at Sarita.
"After I've roamed the land for more than one year, I met a man who lived in a house near one of the villages not far from here. This man was the only one that treated me as a human, but I guess that if he wasn't blind since birth, he would have treated me like everyone else. He took me in his house and educated me in a lot of things.
But there was something inside my head that kept on telling me that I should travel here, to this place. At first I ignored it and I told the man what I felt. He said that I should try to ignore the feeling because this place was home to the darkest of the dark. I didn't understand him, but I did as he told me. But the man was old, very old and on one day he didn't wake up out of his sleep no more. It was on that day that the feeling to come her came back, stronger than before. After living alone for some months I finally gave in to the feeling and traveled here. And you all know the rest since then."
Cadwgawn closed his eyes and opened them when he felt someone touching his hand. He looked up and stared into the brown eyes of Sarita. She looked at him silently; she could relate to some of the things that had happened to him. Cadwgawn tried to speak but couldn't find the right thing to say.
Suddenly they heard a big splash coming form where Dehat was sitting. They looked up alarmed only to stare at a huge boyish grin that covered Dehat's face.
He shrugged and pointed at a statue that had fallen into the water.
"It just tipped over, it wasn't my fault, honestly."
Cadwgawn stood up and walked towards the door.
"Come, it's time to get moving again."
He opened the door and immediately closed it again. He stumbled backwards and grabbed at his left arm; a small stream of blood oozed down from a cut inflicted by sharp claws. Something kicked down the door before he could do anything, trapping him underneath it.
Dehat and Sarita jumped up and got ready to battle whatever would walk in the room.
Cadwgawn managed to lift the door somewhat so he could escape. He joined the others and drew his sword. They all stared at the door, waiting for 'it' to enter.
"What the hell just happened to you blond?"
"I got trapped underneath the door."
"Before that."
"You're bleeding!"
Cadwgawn looked at his right shoulder and saw that something had left a deep cut. He looked at Sarita and grinned.
"Looks like you got you're work cut out for you now, this time I'll need some real medical attention."
"Don't complain if you can't move you're shoulder later okay."
"Look alive guys, here it comes!"
Hell broke lose right after Dehat had spoken these words. Hellions swarmed in the room as if they where a tidal wave made out of flesh and claws. Cadwgawn and Dehat stormed towards them covered by continuous gunfire provided by Sarita. The monsters that had entered the room first, died before they had landed even a single blow. Dehat and Cadwgawn where completely surrounded by the monsters within seconds, it didn't matter how many they killed; for every fallen monster, two took their place.
"This isn't going to well blond, there just to much of them."
Cadwgawn cleaved a hellion in two and evaded the attack of another.
"You're right, lets regroup and find a way out of this mess."
"'kay."
Dehat jumped up to get a somewhat better view and saw that the entire room was filled with monsters. He beheaded three monsters on his way down and cut off the claw of one of the monsters that came at him. He found Cadwgawn and joined him in the fight against his opponents. Suddenly Dehat stopped fighting and looked around him.
"Hey blond, where's Sarita?"
Cadwgawn froze and if it weren't for Dehat he would have met his maker well before his time. Cadwgawn cleaved his sword trough the monster in front of him and started hacking a way back to where he last saw Sarita. When he came there she was gone. Dehat had followed him and protected his back. Cadwgawn felt something he never felt in his short existence: fear.
"Saariiitaaaa!"
The fear changed into anger and Cadwgawn fought like he'd never fought before. Swinging his enormous sword he killed almost every monster in his proximity and if it weren't for Dehat's quick reflexes he would have killed him too.
"Yo blond, watch it will ya. I'm on you're side.
Cadwgawn turned to Dehat and mumbled an apology. They both turned when they heard a scream coming from behind them and saw that Sarita had climbed up one of the statues and was surrounded by monsters. Cadwgawn didn't hesitate and ran in her direction but was swarmed by monsters. He tried to fight them but there where too many of them. Dehat saw Cadwgawn disappearing in a wave of monsters and tried to help him but he was grabbed from behind. Dehat jumped in the air to break free, but the monster didn't let go. The monster that held Dehat threw Dehat towards one of the statues and Dehat flew right through it, breaking it into pieces. He got up as fast as he could and looked for his sword. Another monster grabbed him and threw him against the floor. Dehat was trapped and couldn't find a way out until he saw one of the statues gems laying next to him. He grabbed it and thought; (If it works for blond, it might as well work for me.)
The room turned black and suddenly it begun to rain. The rain turned into a thunderstorm, bright thunderbolts cleaved through the dark. The only sound that could be heard in this storm was the sound of a galloping horse. A bolt of thunder lighted the room and a horse with six legs could be seen. On the back of the horse sat a man dressed in an old armor and a worn out black cape. The man overlooked the battlefield and without any warning he stormed forwards cleaving every monster in two with his sword. The man and horse disappeared after the last monster had been killed.
Dehat threw off the dead monster and stood up. He looked at the gem in his hand and smiled. He turned and saw Cadwgawn standing with a glowing rock in his hands. Dehat looked at his gem, at Cadwgawn and back to his gem.
(Just a stupid gem!)
He tossed the gem and walked towards Cadwgawn.
"Hey blond, got more of those stones?"
Cadwgawn looked up to Dehat and shook his head, "No, I only had two. They where attached to my sword."
"Think you can give one to me? I think I know how to use them."
"Looks like he knows how to use them too."
Sarita walked towards them and picked up a sword one of the monsters had dropped.
"Hey guys, think you can teach me how to use this? 'Couse guns aren't that useful in this place."
"Sure, we'll teach you, right blond. Blond?"
Cadwgawn didn't react, not even when Sarita touched his right arm.
"Cadwgawn? Something wrong?"
Cadwgawn still didn't react; he just stood there looking at noting in particular. Blood oozed down from a small cut just above his left eyebrow and out of the wound in his right shoulder. Slowly he raised his left hand and looked at the gems he held.
"…………Dehat?"
"Yeah?"
"You said you knew what these gems are so tell me, what are these gems and how can they hold this power?"
"Huh? Eh, well… All I know is that they are called materia and they hold the powers of the planet or something. I was told once that they where used by almost everyone in the days before Sephiroth's reign, but they lost their power right after Sephiroth took control over the world."
Sarita interrupted him.
"They didn't lose their power, but to use the power you have to release a enormous amount of energy, and not just any energy but it has to be… well Kyrios called it mako energy. He once told me that mako energy is the same as spirit-energy and all living things contain this spirit-energy."
Cadwgawn looked at her completely puzzled.
"What are you talking about? What is this mako energy?"
Sarita sighed and tried to remember more correctly what Kyrios had told her but failed to recall.
"Sorry, I can't remember precisely what Kyrios told me, but I do know that you can use this materia and I think Dehat could use it too."
Dehat frowned and sat down on top of one of the slain monsters.
"Why do you think that?"
"Well, just… because."
"Uh uh, because of what?"
"I think she means because you too have been blessed with mako, as you said it yourself." Cadwgawn turned to Sarita, "So, you think that I can use this materia because I have a huge amount of mako, spirit-energy inside me."
Sarita tried to interrupt but Cadwgawn hushed her and continued, "It doesn't really matter what it is called, we can use this power and that is what's important, sorry that I brought it up. I guess I was somewhat shocked by the power and needed to understand it a little better."
Dehat stood up and walked towards the bath. He looked at the water; it had turned from bright blue to a deep red as a result of the many corpses that floated in it. He sighed and walked back to the others.
Sarita had forced Cadwgawn to sit down and was cleaning the wound on his shoulder. It was the only wound he had except for some little scratches and bruises.
Dehat sat down and watched how Sarita tried to attach a bandage around Cadwgawn's shoulder, but Cadwgawn wouldn't hold still so it took her quite an effort to do it, but eventually he gave in and she strapped the bandage around the wound. Sarita sat down with a triumphant expression on her face and looked at Dehat. She gave him a huge grin and punched Cadwgawn against his wounded shoulder.
He let out a cry and rubbed the place she just punched.
"What was that for?"
"For making me work so hard."
"But I… you wanted… I didn't need… yeah whatever!"
Cadwgawn stood up and rummaged trough his pockets.
"You gonna sharpen your sword again? Don't cut yourself blond."
Cadwgawn glared at Dehat and tried to think of something he could use to counter the remark. Unable to find one he sat down and stared in front of him.
"Ooh, I think we hurt his feelings, I'm sorry about that."
"You didn't hurt my feelings!"
"But Sarita did?"
"No!"
"Say Sarita, did you know he nearly lost it when he couldn't see you anymore. I'm telling you, he went bananas."
"I did not!"
Sarita got up and crouched next to Cadwgawn.
"You where worried about me, thank you."
She gave him a hug. Cadwgawn tried to push her away but she held on tightly.
"Let go, ok I was worried, but I didn't went bananas."
Sarita let go of him and stared him directly in his eyes. She bended over and kissed him on the cheek.
Cadwgawn looked at her and mumbled, "What was that for?"
"For being worried about me." Was the answer she gave him.
Dehat stood up and laughed when he saw the puzzled look on Cadwgawn's face.
"Ok, enough of this, let's move out before more monsters show up. It won't be so easy to get to the throne room now, after the ruckus we made here. You guys coming with me?"
Sarita pulled Cadwgawn up and walked to Dehat.
"We're ready, right Cadwgawn?"
"Huh? Uh… what?"
Dehat smiled and tapped him on the back.
"Sounds ready enough, lets go."
They left the room, unaware that they weren't the only living persons left in the room. A man walked out of the shadows and looked over the carnage the others had left. He walked to the bath and said to himself, "So the son has returned. And that other one, he looks so much as… well now, this could become most interesting. And little Sarita, how much she has grown."
He heard a noise outside the room and disappeared in the shadows once again. A small group of hellions walked in the room, talking to each other. They all stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the bloodbath. The commander of the group was the first to speak and ordered to inform all other squads that the intruders are in the right wing.