The temperature in the mountains had dropped to well below zero and the fractional movement in the air current stirred up the newly born, fluffy snowflakes that lay loosely on the ground. The roads and footpaths were engulfed in snowdrifts and you could barely see your hand in front of your face for the fog. This was what was to be expected in the middle of November. The air was fresh and damp yet everything seemed cheerful. Dr. Sephier had tried to conquer these mountains before and had failed so he was just a little pessimistic of getting through in one piece and arriving at his destination. Who would've known that something so beautiful could be so deadly.
The harsh conditions, however, were no match for the sheer determination of Dr. Sephier to see what was going on at the research site in the Crater, as he traced the road up to the mountains with a twinkle of success in his eyes. The 'specimen' they found in the Crater was the object that Dr. Sephier had wanted to study for years and he wasn't going to let a bit of bad weather part him from his dream. It was all of a sudden that the fog cleared and the snow stopped falling as coarsely as it previously had been doing and Dr. Sephier stopped the car and got out. He could see his breath as he sighed happily at the view he could see from the mountain; as if the bad weather he had just come through was non-existent. He blew into his cupped hands, rubbed them together, and then revelled in the delight that the warmth of his breath gave to his fingertips. He couldn't help but to think of the six people who were killed. He recalled that in the phone call.
"...No determined cause of death..." he muttered to himself as he reached out to clamber back into his car. The icy glow on the road matched the icy glow in Dr. Sephier's heart apart from one minor difference. Sephier's eyes; they were burning with enthusiasm. The smile dropped from his face as he carried on travelling.
The roads were narrow leading to the site but Dr. Sephier was so transfixed on the thought of making his dream a reality, he honestly didn't care. As he pulled up to the gates of the compound the guard was asleep in his keep with a slightly steaming, luke-warm cup of coffee by his hand so that indicated that he hadn't been asleep for long. The doctor gave a friendly peep on his car horn that startled the guard to wake from his slumber—he pondered how anyone could sleep in this weather in the first place, it made you wonder how much these people got overworked to be sleeping on the job—As the barrier to the compound slowly reclined into its holster, the doctor pulled up and parked his vehicle in the middle of the vast space that stood before him. The temperature had dropped again slightly from the start of his trek, but it was nothing to worry about. The doctor stumbled out of his car and wondered over to the hut situated on the west wall of the fortress-like structure—it needed to be a fortress with what went on within the walls—As he breathed erratically because of the cold, small ice particles accumulated on the stubble that he had yet to shave. That was just to show how cold it could get in this region of the world. He stepped inside the hut and the waves of comforting heat were welcomed on his face. He hastily stepped inside as not to let the warm air out and the bitterly cold air back inside.
~oO0Oo~
"I'm glad you could make it sir..." Bernard—his trusted assistant and noble friend stood there with a glimmer of hope as his mentor strode in through the door. A smile crept upon the doctor's ace and this was the first genuine 'relief' smile he had made in the past week.
"...Dr. Sephier...sir." A new recruit stood up sheepishly from the corner and hesitantly spoke. "We have reason to believe that the E-M maybe gone for good, it is nowhere to be found. Sir." She cowered back onto her chair and carried on filing the paper that was sprawled all over her desk.
"Thank you, Miss...?" He gave the girl a vacant look and waited patiently for her to fill in the missing pieces of information.
"Calder, Miss Alicia Calder." She grinned at the doctor and a twinkle of trust showed in her eyes—Calder...that name was familiar to Sephier, yet he had no recollection as to where from, only that is was a familiar sound to his ears.
"Happy to meet you Alicia, just call me...Doctor." Bernard was the only on to incorporate the 'Sir' into the equation as if there was something bestowed on the doctor by him, and him only. It was mainly down to the respect that the one man had for this individual and he guessed that it wouldn't hurt to show his gratitude in how he spoke.
"Listen up, all of you," Dr. Sephier's words radiated through the hut as the serious tone in his voice had a sharp edge to it that got the information to where it was needed. "The specimen has yet to be recovered and I am afraid for its safety, the harsh weather may cause damage to the outer layers of the materia, leaving the more weaker, condensed layers vulnerable..." His knowledge of the situation shined brightly and showed up in his words as the gaze of all the people in the room fell upon him. Bernard was the one to reply to this statement—he was always the one to speculate everything he heard ranging from this situating to the incident two weeks previous where the team thought up the idea of the materia existing—Not only was Bernard a scientist, he was also a gifted logical thinker and incorporating his ways of thinking into some of the hypothesis's he whipped up—A double-sided sword was the best analogy to what he did; taking pride in his scientific work and making everything identical to his other work so it could be just as good.
"Sir, you are talking about the specimen as if it was a life form when it is no more than an inanimate object." The doctor grinned and replied to his colleague's notable observation skills.
"You see, the thing is...it is most possibly a life form, a clever one at that." Sephier reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out the tatty letter from the N.S.R.L—threadbare because he had read it so many times trying to fathom out what it all meant—As he handed it around, the spirit in the room lifted and the emotional atmosphere in the room was no longer as tense. Excitement beamed from all the scientists as they ran their eyes over the writing on the letter. It was amazing that a single piece of paper was to bring such enlightenment to a group of people such as this. Bernard was the first to speak up as always.
"Hoax." He spat out the word as if what was on the letter was a taboo. "This is nothing but a hoax." Dr. Sephier raised his eyebrow at the statement from his assistant. He opened his eyes wide to the expression on Bernard's face. It was a menacing grimace that shook the doctor's soul as he gave him the cold shoulder.
"I can assure you Bernard, it is genuine. Does the look on my face make you assume that I would lie to you all?" He looked at Bernard in amazement because he didn't believe it was real. "This was on my desk last night and is what prompted me to come out here today."
"I'm sorry sir, the reason I thought it was fake..." He lifted his sinewy hand and pointed to the date and time. "Look." Dr. Sephier knew what was there but he was still curious as to what point Bernard was about to make.
Doctor J. Sephier
Icicle Inn
Northern Continent
11th November 2057
12:25pm
The doctor's mouth open in awe as he saw that the date had changed from the paper he held in very hands the night before. A shudder ran down his spine and sent a wave of speculation for the first time into his body. "Sir, the reason I was shocked about this letter is that it is timed for thirty-five minutes before we found the specimen." Sephier ran his hands over the report on the find and nodded his head in hesitant agreement. The wiped the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his sleeve and raised his head to address the rest of the group.
"Putting this event aside, lets just assume that this analysis is true for it is the best explanation we have to the events that have happened over the last two days." Everybody mumbled a slight sentence each, that agreed with the doctor's assumptions.
"I am not going to handle this lightly and there is a very high risk of this being a dangerous operation to find, and recover the specimen. If you like to, you can leave now, not be a part of the operation and leave us to it. If you think you are brave enough…Sorry, if you know you are brave enough, please stay." Dr. Sephier looked around the room for the slightest sign of movement between the students. They just stood there. Like an army ready for battle, knowing that it wasn't going to be all peaceful and bad things are going to happen. They were the troops; Dr. Sephier was the sergeant.
"First off, lets put all the pieces together and see what information we have on the specimen." Some of the students stirred in their seats until finally, one youngster rose a hand and started to speak as soon as Sephier's gaze fell upon him.
"The specimen was found in the northern section buried 6 ft under several sedimentary layers indicating that it had been there for at least 50 years..." His eyes quickly darted through the papers that were trembling in his hands. "There were traces of organic matter around the subject of unknown origin." The words struck Bernard as soon as he heard them. He stood up from his chair and walked over to the student.
"Why didn't you tell me about this boy?!" His raised voice struck fear into the student as he looked, shocked, at his teacher.
"That's enough Jones!" Sephier intervened and pushed Bernard aside. "That is no way to treat your students. You never saw me shouting at you in such a manner." Bernard looked at his mentor with an apologetic face, hoping that the doctor would soon forget about his recent actions. Dr. Sephier spoke in a polite manner to the young man, which lifted his fear slightly so he could speak. "Why wasn't this reported?"
"Well…um, sir...um" The words were stuck in his throat and somehow he had to dislodge them. "Sir...um, I didn't report then because, um, I didn't think there was enough, erm...evidence of the substance to support an inquiry into what it was."
"I can see your point son." Dr. Sephier's tone lightened in his voice as he carried on his questioning. "I do think that what you did would've solved a lot of problems by overlooking something that might be a waste of time if further investigated." A hint of a smile was showing upon the students face. "But don't do it again." The doctor smirked and the student's hopes of doing something good were shattered. Sephier left the room with Bernard closely behind. Sephier had gained a new shadow.
~oO0Oo~
The doctor slowly advanced towards the reference library on site and placed his hand on the door handle. The air was still cold outside but the blizzard had stopped and sunbeams highlighted the neat snow across the compound floor. He raised his other hand and placed it onto his assistant's shoulders.
"You know as well as I do, because you're a logical man, that this is something that could turn out nasty." Bernard's icy blue eyes peered into the doctor's soul and it seemed that they demanded an explanation to what was going on. Somehow, Bernard knew that something strange was coming. "After everything we have been through together, can I trust you to keep the information you are about to see a secret?"
"Of course you can do, Sir." It was if a light was shining out of Bernard's face. He had obviously never been told to keep a secret before; it made him feel special.
"Good." Sephier opened the door and walked in, shaking the snow off his boots. He took them off and placed them by the door as not to saturate the floor of the hut with water once the snow had melted. Bernard closed the door behind him and did the same. He walked over to where Sephier was busy analysing a book entitled 'World History,' sat down beside him and smiled. He felt so privileged to help a great scientist with his studies yet he didn't feel the slightest bit nervous—he probably had got used to the aspect of working with Sephier since he had practically grown up with him and his work surrounding his life in one way or another—Dr. Sephier flicked through the pages and stopped suddenly at the section about 'Meteor and Sephiroth.'
"Bernard, what I tell you now is not to be mentioned to anyone until we have something concrete to work with, do you understand?" Bernard looked up at the man he was sitting beside and dipped his head in acknowledgement and listened with a respectful ear to what the doctor had to say.
"When Sephiroth was defeated, his remains were never found and the shell of the crater caved in burying everything with it. Everyone knows that Sephiroth summoned Meteor with the divine powers of the Black Materia as he 'merged' with it, so to speak. Since Sephiroth's remains weren't found after the incident—mainly because people didn't dare go near to the crater and excavate it—neither was the Black Materia. Neither of them were recovered or even looked for. I have come to the conclusion, over many months of thinking, that the Black Materia was the object we were looking for, hence it was the 'specimen' we found yesterday." Bernard froze with the information and was on the verge of passing out.
"So what you mean is, we have found The Black Materia?" His eyes widened which made them look rather garish behind his jam-jar glasses.
"Yes." Sephier paused for a good two minutes before he carried on as if to place an intentional suspense aura in the room. "Not just the Black Materia, but what was left behind with it..."
Bernard took shallow breaths and muttered a single word under his breath, yet loud enough for the person sitting next to him to hear if they were paying attention, which Sephier was... "Sephiroth..." and stared at the doctor—this was nothing like before; the stare wasn't of disbelief, but of complete and utter desperation: desperation to find out more...
