BROTHERS IN ARMS
by Digintegrated - Hunter Bill
Disclaimer : Watch out, fellows! I own three things this time, the rest legally belongs to Squaresoft. Everyone okay? So let's start.
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CHAPTER 6
SETTING THINGS UP
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"Blue Magic?", Cid asked.
"That's how we call the spells used by our enemies, that we can also learn to use back on them later on.", Quistis answered.
"Hey... looks like our Enemy Skills materia."
Cid then noticed that Quistis was remarkably exhausted by the fight against Tri Point.
"If our Fire magic is now operative, I'm going to try this too... White Wind!", the spearman announced.
A magic gust of wind wrapped the team. In a moment, Quistis was totally recovered.
"It's really working now? It wasn't shining 30 seconds ago!".
Zell quickly understood.
"Yeah! If this is true, the more minions we kill, the more magic we get back."
"Hmmm, this may be true... By the way, Miss Quistis, what a brilliant plan to destroy this electrical filth!"
"Thanks a lot...", she answered.
She had opened the book and started to turn some pages.
"So? What's written?", Cid asked.
"Let's see... Ultra Waves... Basic attacking spell. The cerebral waves emitted by the attacker can stun his opponents and make them lose their balance. This spell is mainly used among insect-like creatures, and more particularly Caterchipillars. In order to learn it, and so on, and so on... One of the first spells I have gained. Hold on, I'm going to search for more."
Quistis browsed through different spells. She didn't know most of them.
"Dragon Force... Death Force... Hey, Aqua Breath. Another one that I know."
Zell and Cid could have been bored to death, since that book only interested their team mate. However, as they recalled Eden's speech, they decided to wait patiently, trying to do something else.
"After all, every single detail could favour us...", Cid said to Zell.
"Yeah...", the young man answered.
"Warn us if you find something interesting, Miss Quistis. We're going to see by the side of the chemist's desk.", the spearman announced.
"All right."
The SeeD instructor had started reading again. She was revising the properties of the Fire Breath spell as the two other people were watching over the desk with particular attention.
"Do you know about all this gizmo?", Zell asked.
"Yeah, a little. In fact, I'm more mechanic than chemist but I bet it works all the same: 'must follow instructions."
However, all those bottles that were giving off suspicious smokes made him more and more puzzled.
"Erm... on reflection, I'd like not to touch this... What is...?"
A sheet of paper was set near the biggest bottle. A sort of mysterious writing was on it:
"C.Spike + RF = Sh.P"
Zell seemed to understand this weird message.
"See... C.Spike... Cursed Spike... I think it's about these dark spikes that some monsters leave behind them as they die... the other things, I don't really know..."
"Tell me, you just talked about Cursed Spikes, right?", Quistis asked as she had stopped reading her book. "Come and see."
She showed them the page.
"Shockwave Pulsar...". The name was circled and the page book-marked.
"A particularly devastating spell that allows the attacker to imprison his opponents into a magical explosion. It is said that this spell is even more powerful than Ultima itself; however, its efficiency hasn't been really proved yet, since no Blue Magic user had succeeded by the day to craft the item that could allow him to learn that spell. Nevertheless, a single thing has been taken for true about this spell: for the rare times it has been summoned, bits of Cursed Spikes have been found at the points of impact..."
"So Cursed Spikes + something would give that spell?", Cid wondered.
"It looks like somebody's trying to craft it, look... the name is circled and apparently, the experiment is on the way.", Zell remarked.
"Ultimecia...", Quistis thought.
She kept on reading and found out this interesting detail.
"One should notice that this evil spell could also be countered. This parry, named Counterspace, would have been cast by one of Hyne's direct descendants as he would have been in a bad situation during a long battle against a Weapon. He would have succeeded in vanquishing the Weapon by experimenting the spell when the Weapon itself would have prepared to finish him with a Shockwave Pulsar . Unfortunately, the secret of the spell would have been taken away by the Sorcerer in his tomb. The only clue left by the magician before his death were these two words: Moon Stone."
"So that RF... here we are! I think I got it!", Zell exclaimed. "We may have to refine the Cursed Spikes with our Guardian Forces... Shoot! It's true... our Guardian Forces are disabled."
"Yes but... look at the experiment.", Quistis warned.
One of the biggest jars on the left side of the desk was stoppered and set upon a portable stove, that was off. A glass pipe was running from the cork, passing through many glass bottles in which were some chemical products. This network ended into one of the black bottles that was still emitting smoke. In the left container, the three people could distinguish remainders of Cursed Spikes.
"Ultimecia must have attempted in simulating the item refining...", the instructor said.
"...in order to learn the Shockwave Pulsar", Zell added.
Cid didn't say anything, but has understood the potential hazard that was looming behind the whole team.
"Well, we've got to risk everything for everything.", he finally said.
"How?", Quistis asked.
"Have you got some Moon Stones or something like this? Show them all!"
Quistis and Zell drew them out. Cid examined them, took out several other ones from his pockets before grabbing the whole lot and putting it into an empty glass jar. He then removed the cork from the other one and used it to stopper the container of the Stones hermetically. After having set it upon the stove, he scratched a match.
"Hope you know what you're doing...", Zell asked.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained.", the spearman replied. "There exists a way to counter a Shockwave Pulsar that could be tested using Moon Stones... well it seems to exist, doesn't it?"
Quistis nodded.
"Well you just have to put an empty bottle in place of the dark one and look what will happen."
Quistis followed his order. Cid scratched his match again and lit the stove. The stones started to emit a thick mist that went through the pipe network and landed into the empty bottle. A few minutes later, the mist began to condense and take form in a jelly-like matter that was glowing more and more. The light was becoming dazzling.
A bit later, the Stones were almost completely disintegrated. Cid turned the stove off and bent over the container on the right side. The gelatinous matter was boiling a bit but stabilized. It was still shiny. When Quistis touched the bottle, it appeared that the matter was attracted by her hand.
"It might be good..." she said. "I'm going to try and assimilate it."
Quistis concentrated and poured the content of the bottle in her hand. The shining and jelly matter got slowly down. As it reached her fingers, it turned into a vapour that penetrated the fighter's body. In a moment, nothing remained of it. Quistis had completely absorbed it.
Cid was standing there, admiring...
"So that's Blue Magic? I hope it will work anyway. I'm counting on you, Miss Quistis."
"I'm rather counting on your success at this experiment. After all, you had the idea to give it a try with Moon Stones, yes or no?", Quistis added.
"Oh yeah... you're right... Whatever, we just had to follow the instructions, right?", Cid answered confident.
~~
Cloud, Squall, Tifa and Rinoa were in a dreadful state. Krysta was now dead, Cloud could finally take his time to take care of his mates.
"Regen All!", he announced.
The four people got surrounded by a magical orange spiral. Their wounds were healing gradually. So they took a moment to chat.
"Excellent sword performance, Cloud." Squall said.
"Thanks a lot... I think I could say the same for you.", the swordsman answered.
"Tell me... In your world, are you part of an army corps or something?", Squall asked.
"I had actually been in the ShinRa army since I was 15. I had tried to reach the Elite SOLDIER level but I realized I was not made for it. But this hadn't prevented me to learn on my own the battle sword handling after I deserted."
Squall didn't want to talk about desertion, since the devotion he had towards Balamb Garden, but he went along with the discussion nevertheless.
"How did you desert?"
"It's because of Sephiroth.", Tifa precised. "He had come back to our place, Nibelheim, but during his stay, he had turned completely mad. He had just realized he was the result of genetic experiments."
"From this moment, he had become aware of his powers. One evening, he set the village on fire and has departed to the Mako reactor in the mountain district, near Nibelheim."
"Mako?", Rinoa asked.
"The Planet's energy. It's been continuously absorbed by the ShinRa company and harnessed to produce electricity, but those bureaucrats don't want to know they harm the planet by doing this. Moreover, they have created Sephiroth.", Tifa precised.
"To be short...", Cloud resumed. "The day when Sephiroth went to the mountains, Tifa and my pal from army days, Zack, an elite soldier, had tried to stop him, but they had failed. Tifa had been seriously wounded, but Zack hadn't got over. He gave me his sword and his equipment before he died. This is how I used this sword for the first time against Sephiroth and driving him to the Mako at the bottom of the power plant."
"How horrible!", Rinoa said. "And that is the reason why you're looking for him?"
"It's one reason. Actually, when Sephiroth had become aware of his powers, he had only one idea: destroy our world. We had seen him again after the Nibelheim catastrophe: he was even more powerful. He had summoned a Meteor to carry his plan on."
"The Meteor we saw near the fortress in that wasteland, isn't it?", Squall asked, a bit surprised.
Cloud answered in a nod.
"Strange... we have been around the world many times, we've neither seen any fortress nor meteor before... You might come from the past, if we had to believe in what Eden had told you", Squall continued. "But when?"
"We'd better go and check this secret library that has been mentioned by your big bird.", Tifa suggested. "We might find an answer."
"If only we know where it is...", Squall answered.
The three other people remained silent.
"And I should recall you that we've only beaten this far, as far as I know, two of the guardians of Ultimecia. We should better take care of the others too.", the Gunblader said.
"True...", Tifa approved. "Our materia isn't totally operative yet. I hope the other people are okay, too..."
The Regen spell was about to cease his effects upon the four fighters. They got up, freshly restored.
"So, what should we do now?", Cloud asked.
"We get down the chandelier and we check the door facing it. Hang on well!"
~~
Selphie had been re-enabled to use her Full Cure spell. In a moment, Barrett and Irvine were restored.
"Hey, this is excellent!", Barrett congratulated. "I didn't know you were able to do tricks like this."
"Er... thanks!", Selphie answered, more and more intimidated.
"At least, you're not like this pesky Yuffie, always expecting the right time to try and steal something from us.", the juggernaut resumed.
"Who?"
"A girl from our team. She stayed down there with those who couldn't come with us because she didn't really fancy a fight against Sephiroth. She doesn't know what she's currently losing..."
Selphie didn't say anything. She was watching Barrett with attention. As he was to Irvine, the giant was looking impressive to her in the beginning. His friendly thoughts towards her and Irvine made her more and more thoughtful.
"Okay, should we go on?", Irvine asked a bit later.
"I was about to suggest it.", Barrett answered.
So they went out of the Art Gallery by the door facing their entrance. They got into a room with dark walls, lighted by candelabrums as for the other rooms. Facing them was a big stained-glass window. A raising staircase was leading to a passage on the left wall, another was going underground. The tree people couldn't exactly distinguish what was down there, but they all wanted to know more.
"Should we go down?", they all asked at the same time before bursting into laughter.
So they did.
~~
"Watch out for the shock!", Squall shouted.
The four put their feet at the same time upon the chandelier which landed in the room floor with an ear-breaking noise. Tifa was almost ejected from it.
After it went back up, the four people headed to the big door of the room and opened it.
They found themselves outside again, on a paved alley. In front of them they could see a fountain, that was slowly flowing. It was near the entrance of a chapel, that had remarkable stained-glass window designs. Two secondary alleys, paved too, went from this entrance and bypassed it by both sides. They could also see the two towers dominating Ultimecia's citadel, linked together by the corridor with monster statues, approximately thirty or forty feet above the ground. The left tower was a steeple. The clock on it was stopped. Behind them, they could see, above a sort of sentry corridor, the balcony upon which they had just fought their opponent Krysta.
"Impressive...", Tifa commented. "A bit scary, but impressive."
Cloud nodded. He agreed with what she said, although something bothered him since he got out with the others. Something he couldn't describe but appeared as familiar to him. His thoughts were confused. He was breathing irregularly. Squall and Rinoa were intrigued and turned back to ask him what was wrong.
"Se... Sephiroth... He's up there... He's watching us...", Cloud answered in a toneless voice.
The couple and Tifa could see a dark silhouette moving in the outer corridor linking the twin towers. Cloud wanted to rush but was stopped dead by Squall.
"Cloud! Our magic isn't completely operative, moreover I'd rather prefer our team mates to come back before facing him."
The young blonde man was raging inside, but could calm down.
"By the way", Rinoa asked, "where are they?"
"We're here, Squall!". It was Quistis. She was with Zell and Cid. "How has it been up there?"
"It was hard, but we made it. And you?"
"The same...", Cid answered. "We've also made some kinda weird experiments with Miss Quistis and her Blue Magics."
"What kind of experiments?", Squall asked.
Quistis told them about their achievements in the cellar.
Squall thought for a moment, then started to say:
"We have to..."
"...expect the worst, I know.", Quistis continued before laughing up her sleeve.
The young man, disconcerted, didn't know what to say anymore.
"Moreover, we don't know what Sephiroth would be able to do this time.", Cloud added, as his mind was still haunted by the black-caped man. "But if I... if we can't face him right now, we'd better return to the castle's main entrance and know what Barrett and your two other comrades are doing. Okay?"
"All right.", Squall accepted.
They were about to return to the chandelier room when Cid warned them:
"The fountain!"
This fountain, placed between the two buildings, had stopped flowing and was gradually getting empty. Cid came closer to it, followed by the others' look. The spearman drew on his cigarette, bent over the coping, inspected the bottom of the fountain and took something that he showed to the other people. "It's a key."
Author's note : the Counterspace, the G-Force-less refining alchemistry and the Blue Magic Spell Book are my creations but if you think I've stolen anything, just let me know. I hope to find in the future a bit more personal elements to improve this story. I also hope that my family won't keep going in-&-out of my room while I'm typing... :: checks in the corridor :: for now, it's quite quiet!
Special thanks go to Mandy and Brent from the Final Fantasy Forum for reviewing my work.
To you all, have an HAPPY NEW YEAR and my best wishful friendly feelings from me,
~~ Digintegrated Hunter Bill ~~