The Cavern and Palace
Misty stood in front of the carven. It looked like a black void next to the think blanks of white snow. She breathed in the coolness of the air. It didn't seem cold to her at all, even though she was only wearing a strapless black evening gown and her two katanas. She wondered why she was dressed with out a coat in a middle of a snowstorm.
The snow fell against her soft elegant skin. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. The snow fell onto her face and hair. She soaked up the coolness and softness of the snow and wind. She looked forward and shook the snow off of her. The void of the cavern was tempting. She looked around then walked towards the cavern cautiously with her swords drawn. There were no signs of life around, for at least a 25-mile radius. She entered the cavern.
The darkness swallowed her up whole. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the cavern. She closed her eyes a breathed deep. Voices came into mind. Come on, let's just do it… Sephiroth… Oh my god… I don't want you!!!… Who are you?!?… Mother… You WILL be mine… Get over yourself Rufus… Jenova… This is your last mission… Find HER!!!… Misty, I love you… I can't listen to you… I hate you… Rufus is going to end the world… Who da fuck are you?!… Oh god, help me… Muh hahahaha!!!… Shut up!!!… Save the world… Mother… Lifestream…Mother…
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Misty fell to her knees shaking her head and silently praying that the voices would stop. "Who are you?! What do you want from me!?" Tears ran down her face. She dug her nails into her own skin. She felt the room move. She looked up. The room was totally different. She fell backwards; she wasn't such if she should be amazed or afraid.
The room was brightly colored. Blues, greens, teals, reds, pinks, purples, and yellows, hit the walls at different angles. They seemed as if they were reflecting off of water. They rippled across the walls, roof and floor. There was a fountain of some sort in the middle of the room. She could hear water running. Misty felt someone else's presents in the room.
She got up off the floor and look around. The room became more extravagant. There were two trees on either side of the room and four ponds in each corner with small creeks running to them. She rounded the fountain and few times. She could tell there was someone else besides her there.
"Hello?" She looked around the room.
A hall way appeared and a tall, thin woman in a dress walked out. She didn't walk. She floated along the path and behind her flowers bloomed and iridescent butterflies followed to. Her dress was whiter then snow at the top, which faded all the way down to a dark ice blue. Her long golden red brown hair flowed around her. She had butterflies and flowers laced all through out her hair.
She looked up at Misty. Her eyes were as green as the Lifestream. They were outlined in black and had green and silver eye shadow on. Her skin was soft and fair. Her lips were placed perfect on her face. Not to plump not to thin and they were a pink rose color. And then she spoke.
"Misty…"
Misty could feel tears in her eyes build up and she did not know why. What out think she spoke. "Mother?"
Her mother nodded. "Yes, Misty. It is me."
Misty choked on her words. "Where… Where am I? Am I dead?"
She shook her head. "No, you're in a Guardian Force realm. And you have to find out what this means on your own."
Misty was shocked.
"Take care of your younger sister."
"I will mom. Don't worry. I'll guard her with my life."
She touched Misty's face. "Save him. Save the world. Show him the truth and trust the ones you're with. Go to the City of Ancient's. There are a lot of answers there and he's there." She looked towards a waterfall that had appeared. It showed were the city was. Behind the Sleeping Forest." Misty's white materia glowed a pale green. "Pray."
"Mom, your cold…" Misty looked up at her mother with teary eyes.
She shook her head. "No, you…"
Misty woke up in the rest cabin. She shook her head and looked at her materia. It was still glowing. Misty jumped down from her bunk and ran to the control room. She shoved the crew out of the way absent-mindedly. "Cloud change of plans! Go to The City of Ancient's!"
Cid and Tifa looked at Misty.
"What?" Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Nobody knows were the City of Ancient's is." He put a hand on his hip.
Misty panted. "I know. Go towards Bone Village."
Cloud looked at Misty then at everyone else.
"What about Starlet?" Vincent stood next to Cloud.
Misty threw her hands in the air. "Screw Starlet! Sephiroth is there!!!"
Cloud looked at Vincent shook his head. "Did you fall out of your bunk? Hit your head to hard?" He touched her forehead.
Misty rolled her eyes. "Err, must I do everything myself!?" She held her bracelet out and began to cast Sleep.
Cloud laughed. "What are you going to…" He fell asleep with everyone else.
"Damn…" Misty looked at the one of the crew. "Go to Bone Village."
"Yes ma'am!" He began to go to Bone Village.
Cait Sith came down the bow. "Hey guys, I got some snacks for you… what the hell happened?!" He dropped everything.
Misty looked at him.
"Misty?!"
"Their asleep. They wouldn't listen to me…"
He looked at her blankly. "So where are we going now?"
"The City of Ancient's"
"But no one…"
She put her hand up in protest. "I know where it is."
"Ooooooh. Ok. But we have to make a pit stop at The Temple of Ancients." He began to pick up the food he dropped.
"Why?" Misty looked at him.
"The president ordered the Turks to get the Black materia, before we or Sephiroth got to it. They're going for it tomorrow. They think Sephiroth won't know."
Misty nodded. "Their wrong. We'll have to split up in groups. No use if we all go together. Plus, I gotta do some things tonight, I'll explain to everyone else what's going on and what we need to do."
Cait Sith nodded and continued to pick up the food. "Hungry? I can't eat it…I got some sushi."
Misty smiled. "Yeah, I'm a little hungry." She sat next to him and ate what he brought.
When everyone else gained consciousness they already landed at outside of Bone Village. Misty and Cait Sith were gone.
"Ow, my head…" Yuffie complained. "GET OFF ME!!!" She kicked Cid off her legs.
Cid growled at Yuffie. "What the hell happened and where the hell are we?" He rubbed his side where Yuffie kicked him.
Cloud rubbed the top of his head. "What happened?" He looked around. "Err, Misty…Where is Misty and Cait Sith?"
They all slowly got up and shook off their drowsiness.
"Damn her! She's prolly tryin to kill all o' us!" Barret was enraged at Misty. "Where she at? Imma kill her!"
"Calm down. She brought us here for a good reason." Red XIII sat up and then began to walk to the deck of the airship. "Let's all go see."
Cloud looked around. "Wait."
Everyone turned around and looked at him.
"Where is Aerith?"
Everyone looked around and shrugged.
Cloud rolled his eyes and walked to the stairs that led to the deck of the Highwind.
When they reached the deck they looked over the edge.
Misty and Cait Sith were talking to one of the locals.
"So we need the Lunar Harp to wake up the forest to get back there?" Misty had her sunglasses on and she leaned to the left a bit with her hands on her hips.
The local nodded. "Yeah, but it's somewhere in the archeology dig. You can pay us about 100 gil per worker to dig and find it. 500 gil for five workers and a grantee to find the harp or something of other value." He looked at Misty then at Cait Sith that back to Misty. "It's up to you."
Misty looked at Cait Sith and nodded. "O.K. We'll pay." She pulled out her coin pouch and pulled out five gold coins.
The local smiled. "Thank you ma'am! Now, you and your partners can stay at the inn over here for free. We'll let you know in the morning if we find it. If not, check the box here. If there's anything in it, it's yours. Oh, and we have a market here. Please by something, anything. We need the funding." He began to walk off to tell the others about their new job.
Misty nodded. "Thank you."
"No, thank you! Now we have something better to do!"
Misty smiled and turned to Cait Sith. "Such friendly people here." Cait Sith nodded. "Whelp, back to the Highwind to check on the others. They should be waking up." Misty and Cait Sith turned to the Highwind. "Well, maybe we don't…"
Cloud and the others made their way down the side of the Highwind. "What was that all about?!" Cloud yelled at Misty and Cait Sith.
"Yell at me, not Cait Sith. Well, I just made a deal with the locals. We have a free night here and we can buy items cheap. Be happy." She turned away from Cloud and began to walk back to the village.
Cloud chased after her. "What did you do? Put a spell on them too?!"
Misty swung around. "No… I paid them 500 gil so they could find the Lunar Harp about it. And ask Cait Sith about it." Misty looked over Cloud's shoulder. "Where's Aerith?"
Cloud forgot about the 500 gil. "I thought she was with you…"
"No, She was asleep with you guys."
Cloud looked at Misty "Well, if she's not with you or with us where is she?"
"Where is who?"
Cloud and Misty jumped. "Aerith!"
"Where were you?" Cloud looked at Aerith in relief.
She giggled. "The bathroom."
"Oh…"
Misty looked at Aerith and then Cloud and shook her head. "Gather everyone I have to explain what's going on..." She walked to the Inn. The Inn Keepers greeted her with warm and friendly smiles. She smiled back. "Hello."
They smiled back. "Welcome."
Misty nodded and smiled. "Thank you for letting my friends and I stay here. We appreciate it." She bowed her head.
They smiled. "No, thank you." They bowed their heads.
Misty nodded.
Tifa and the others walked in. "So what's the plan? That's if you have one." Tifa sneered.
Misty just looked at Tifa. "OK. We have two things to do. One is go to the Temple of Ancients and the other is see what's in the City of Ancients. The Turks are already on their way to the temple to retrieve the Black Materia. We need to stop them." Misty paced in the room. "We need two parties. I want Aerith with me here. Vincent, Cait-Sith, and Tifa go to the Temple. Radio us if anything happens. Cloud you come with us. The rest of you stay stand by on the ship. We may need you guys. But we'll call. We all leave bright and early in the morning so let's get a good night's rest." Misty gave no one a chance to object and went into her room and went to sleep.
Misty woke up hearing someone singing. She walked to here window and squinted to see. She rubbed her eyes. She could see nothing. She put on her shoes and walked outside. She looked around and listened to see where the voice was coming from. The moon was guiding her through the site.
She got up to the top of the site and saw someone sitting on a rock holding their knees to their chest. It was a girl. Her skin was glowing like the moon. Her hair was past her waist and blacker then the mid-night sky. She was looking at the moon and singing. "Night is life of you, you can hold the moon in your hands, turn it into ice like all the rest…" She stopped at turned to see who was there. "I've been waiting for you Misty." She sat on her side now.
Misty was stunned by her beauty and voice.
Her eyes were a light blue with iridescent sparkles glowing in them. Her lips were a faint pale blue. Her skin was glowing. She got up and moved towards Misty. "You're not dreaming." She touched the side of Misty's face. Her hands were cold.
"W-w-who are you?" The lady awed Misty.
The woman smiled. "Don't be afraid. I'm Starlet's sister. Moon Dancer. I've come to give you a message and warning." She looked up at the sky.
Misty stepped back. "What?"
"Starlet will kill you. You can't stop her and you can't avoid it. I've also come to protect you as much as I can. You're still young and learning. I'll help you along the way." She stepped around Misty. "Here, you forgot this." She handed Misty a necklace.
Misty looked at it. It was her faery necklace that had an unknown and unusable materia in it. It was a dirty silver. The faery had butterfly wings spread out with two red ruby materia at the top tip of the two wings and a clear- rainbow crystal materia above and behind the faery's head. The faery looked familiar. "Thank you…" She put it on. She had the necklace ever since she could remember. "I thought I lost it."
"Wear it and it shall protect you." She put her hand over Misty's eyes and Misty passed out.
Misty woke up in her room the next morning as if she didn't get up, except she had the necklace on. She looked at it and wondered. She looked out her window and saw the rock where Moon Dancer was. Her room door opened. Aerith walked in. Misty looked at her and got up.
"Everyone wants to talk to you." Aerith glanced at Misty's necklace then walked out.
Misty got up to get ready. She rubbed her eyes and thought about last night. She walked to the mirror and pandered if she had the necklace but didn't notice it or if it really did happen. The necklace's crystal glowed dimly. She looked at it then continued to get ready.
She put on a new pair of black shorts and black tank top she had bought before she went to bed the previous night. She slipped on her black combat boots, tied them and left her room.
Everyone was waiting for her. Aerith approached her.
"Were you sleep walking last night?"
Misty shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of…" So she wasn't dreaming.
Aerith shrugged. "I could have sworn I saw you… Maybe I was dreaming." She giggled then walked to Cloud and Cait - Sith.
"Let's get moving." Misty looked over everyone. "Does everyone have everything? PHS? Healing potions? Materia?"
Everyone nodded in union. "Yup!"
Misty clapped. "Aight! Let's do this!" She walked outside and went to the treasure box. She opened it. The harp was in it with some other things. "Good." She turned back to the others. She tossed the other things to Cid. "Cloud, Aerith… Let's go…" She looked up at the tall trees of the sleeping forest. Not even did the breeze make the trees move. It certainly was sleeping. She looked back at the rest of the group. "Will you guys be ok?"
Barret slammed his fist into his hand. "Hell yea!"
Tifa smiled then nodded.
Misty smiled back. Just then a worker from Bone Village ran up to them. "Miss Misty!"
"Yes?" She turned to him.
"It's Shin- Ra! They got the Black Materia and the heading for the crater! Hojo is with them!!!" He was almost pulling his hair out of his head.
"WHAT!?" Misty jumped. "How…? Who…? We gotta go!" She turned back to the others. "That totally caught us off guard! Cait! I thought you said they'd leave tomorrow!"
Cait- Sith shook his head. "I thought so too… they must… I don't know honestly…"
"Well we have no time to…"
Just then an tremor hit. Then another after another. Harder each time. Knocking everyone to their knees.
"Wha the…?" Barret shook with the tremors.
An earth-shattering roar tore through the sky. The tremors calmed down.
Misty slowly got up. "Oh my god, no…" She looked up at the sky as everyone else did. "No…" She fell back then got up and ran towards the crater but one of the villagers stop her.
"Madam. You left this here a while back…"
Misty pondered at what it could be. Then she heard a Chocobo cry. "Chikao?!"
They brought out a black, silky, healthy, full-grown Chocobo.
"Chikao!!!" She ran toward him and petted him. "I've missed you!!!"
Chikao gave a squeal and bowed his head for her to get on.
"Right." She jumped on him and gave a gentle tug on his reins. "I'll met you guys there!" She snapped his reins and they ran like the wind.
When Misty and Chikao made it to the crater Misty jumped off and looked around. The winds had died down. Monsters began to gather. Another roar ripped through the air. In this distance she could hear Highwind's engines start and warm up. It would take about fifteen to twenty minutes before the others got there. There was no time to wait.
"Stay Chikao…" She petted and kissed his head. "Go to Bone Village if anything happens." She looked at the long rocky way to the center of the crater. She sprinted forward towards the center. She jumped, ducked, spun, and ran from monsters. She had no time. Finally she halted and looked down the crater. She made it. She took a few quick breaths then as she was about to jump down Jenova knocked her down.
Jenova, human form, was on Jenova- LIFE's shoulder. "Hello dear." She cackled. "I see we meet again. But where are your other 'friends'?" She laughed again. "Or do you not remember?" She tossed her head back.
Jenova- LIFE roared. It wasn't like the previous few.
Misty drew her blades. "Is this all a game to you?!" She growled under her breathe. "I should have killed you when I had the chance…"
Jenova stopped laughing and looked at her. "And when would have that been? When Sephiroth went psychotic?" She laughed. "You couldn't have… Even if you wanted to or knew. My head was in Nibelbeim and my body in Midgar… I could have grown another head or body…" She cackled. "But anyways, I would love to keep this conversation going but I must go… have fun with my other self!" She smiled and snapped her fingers. With a flash of light she was gone and left Jenova- LIFE.
Jenova- LIFE seemed extremely pissed.
Misty swallowed hard. "Crap…" She muttered. She closed her eyes and put her swords in front of her and began to silently summon Bahamut ZERO. She disappeared as Bahamut's elements appeared.
A deafening roar ruptured through the air. Bahamut ZERO appeared in front of Jenova- LIFE and roared in its face. As a bright light formed in front of Bahamut ZERO's gapping mouth. He pulled his wings back hard and ferociously and pushed forward as he let his Terra Flare attack go.
Jenova- LIFE staggered back. It was seriously weak. Misty reappeared. Bahamut ZERO was still there but behind her.
Misty swung her sword about her head a few rounds before letting it go forward and cut through the air into Jenova- LIFE's chest. She then charged forward and leaped holding her other sword above her head bring it down on Jenova- LIFE. She pulled her other sword that was in Jenova's chest down ripping through. Misty pulled out her swords and jumped back.
Jenova- LIFE groaned and fell forward onto the floor. It melted into the ground and evaporated. Bahamut ZERO roared and Misty bowed and thanked him. He flew into the sky. Misty then jumped down into the center of the crater.
When Misty hit ground, Scarlet, Hojo, and Rufus were there. Misty growled. "I should have known.
They all turned around at the same time.
Rufus smiled. "Hello Misty."
Scarlet sneered.
Hojo cackled. "Oh, this should be interesting."
Misty was puzzled. "What Hojo?"
Hojo, Scarlet, and Rufus turned back around and looked up.
Misty raised an eyebrow and looked up. Her eyes grew big. "How… How… How can that be!?" She shook her head.
In a water like blue crystal, surrounded by roots and cavern rock, was Sephiroth. A sleep. In a cocoon like stage. He was frozen in time. He looked the way as he did before he disappeared. He actually looked peaceful.
Misty's eyes began to water. "WHAT have you done!?" She sprinted towards Rufus but something caught her and held her back.
"Calm down." It was Cloud.
Misty fought to get him off but failed. She went limp in his arms. "Why? Why did you do this?" She sobbed and curled onto the floor. Tears rolled down her face onto the ground. "I hate Shin- Ra!!!" She clawed at the ground. "Why couldn't you have left Sephiroth and I alone?! Were you all to jealous?! WHY?!" She slowly stopped sobbing and got up as if she was possessed.
Her head slightly tilted to the right. Her eye didn't fill with hate and anger behind them, but blankness. Her hands slowly reached for her swords but stopped. A twisted smile spread across her face. She was like a doll. She looked at Hojo then Rufus. She put her hands out in front of her and went toward Rufus. Not walking but gliding towards him. The tips of her boots dragged across the floor.
Everyone watched on. Hojo was wearing the psychotic smile.
Misty's lips curled and she snarled at Rufus and grabbed his neck. She growled at him.
He tried pushing her off but his attempts were futile.
Scarlet went to help him but Misty just knocked her away like a rag doll.
Misty choked him and began to shake his head. Her voice wasn't soft and mysterious like before but deep and rough, like something out of the Exorcist. "Your father was stupid for trying to separate Misty and I. He was smart though. He knew if Misty and I got married we'd leave our ranks and start a family. Then Hojo stepped in saying that there was no way we could ever have feelings for each other." She choked him harder. "Now I show all of you what my powers are and that I and Misty will not be separated anymore. We will be one in the earth in the Promised Land. We will be together forever. We are…"
Cloud through one of Misty's daggers right in between Misty's body and Rufus. "Stop! There is no Promised Land, Sephiroth! I'm sorry about you and Misty but now is not the time to destroy earth. It's not the end! You can still live with Misty in peace!"
She let go of Rufus and looked at him. He was blue and coughing for air. "No, it's the beginning." She jumped off him but got the Black Materia and tossed it to Cloud.
But has Cloud caught the materia his face went blank and he floated. When he got the Black Materia he went towards Sephiroth.
Just then the blank look in Misty's face faded and she fluttered her eyes as if she just woke up. She looked at Cloud and fell back into the ground. "Oh my god… what have I done." She tried to go after Cloud but some type of force held her back. "No!" She reached up as if she was trying to grab him. "Damn you Sephiroth…"
Just has Cloud gave Sephiroth the Black Materia the earth began to shake and Cloud was knocked back down to the ground. Lightning and wind picked up. The tremors picked up again and so did the roaring.
"WEAPON…" Misty hung her head down. "The WEAPONs are awake…"
The cavern began to fall apart.
"Come on!" Vincent grabbed her a pulled her up and toward the opening of the cavern leading the crater's center…