:: A Mans Valour ::
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Disclaimer:
Well I don't own any of the characters or places used what feature in the game, the rest are mine.
I also don't own Final Fantasy.
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Authors Note:
Well here goes, my first Final Fantasy FanFic I hope you enjoy it I have written this to start of the fanfiction part in my Final Fantasy Site at http://www.ffsystem.net if you want to add your work there you are most welcome.
Thanks to Ashley and Patrick who have helped make this happen ^_^ Also a note to my Utopia kingdom, to say hi!
~*~
"Mr President, here is the report of the battle against the Wutian's on our assault against the outpost. We did might I add crush them in a glorious battle fighting for Shin-Ra's name – our popularity has trebled, I have also arranged your victory banquet in the mansion tonight. Now our enemies tremble and have shivers sent up their spines when your armies show up in battle. They shall not be bothering us again."
~*~
Report of the battle.
Our forces arrived at the outpost at 21:30 hours, a battle commenced the following day at 06:45
A glorious battle took place, but we have managed a victory!
We have taken back the overrun outpost, and have recovered many men!
We lost about 1500 of our soldiers, mainly grunts. Our forces will be again available on July 3rd.
We killed about 4900 enemy troops. We also imprisoned 925 additional troops in our Dungeons.
~*~
The commander of the SOLDIER first class, a smart muscular man, knows in his mind the true horrors of war will never be seen by the president of Shin-Ra, and deep down he resented him for that, or put in his report....
Following the President's orders for Shin-Ra's largest army to assemble, the army lined up in square formation five thousand units strong, not a movement not a sound by the mass of human killing machines awaited their orders to go to war. As the General inspected the fine and elite SOLDIER first class and its trainees he noticed them to each have a specialist weapon, melee weapon users stood to attention at the front, with rangers at the back of the mass of men. The second group had the draftees from the general population, people from the slums mainly who needed the extra cash flow. At the right in a separate group Shin-Ra had hired a group of mercenaries to assist in the incursion, they didn't come cheaply so there was as little as two hundred of them. The general was called up out of holiday with his wife Elmora to go and command these soldiers in battle, three more commanders in charge of each group. O'Neil walked over to the mercenary sect named the Elf Liberation Force, aka E.L.F. whom would fight for money for any cause. The commander of E.L.F was a large elf, trained in many arts of war named Jones who used a mighty bladed staff to slice multiple enemies in two with little effort. O'Neil did his final inspection of the mercenaries and gave his orders and final destination to their commander. Repeating the process with the civilian soldiers which were poorly armoured but willing to fight for the money, and giving the orders to their commander, a more lanky man than his counterpart of the mercenaries who used a large broad sword as a weapon, a crude but effective piece. O'Neil noticed its wear and obvious frequent use by the bloodstains. The commander Whatts, commander of these draftees took his orders and rushed off to his make shift mobile control centre to announce the orders. O'Neil gave his last orders to his commander of SOLDIER first class, and Sephiroth's platoon instructor. The commander known to many as the Great Maximus, who had become famous when dragons were a problem to the city of Midgar, who led a group of five men, and destroyed their energy source to end a reign of destruction. Like O'Neil Maximus used a double bladed mithrill axe.
~*~
All orders were given, destinations plotted, strategies made and the military was prepared. Now the long march lay ahead of them, now the army was high spirited and neat and tidy, but they all knew too well that things would change.
"Ladies and gentlemen" The general O'Neil said, stood atop of a makeshift stage.
"At fourteen hundred hours on the 1st of July, the Wutian military attacked and overran our newest military outpost" We will ride military transports across the sea to the west, there we shall disembark fifty miles south of the outpost, we will march up, set up camp and battle the second day."
"As far as we know they are using Summon forces, such as Leviathan…" this was followed by a short gasp by some of the crowd.
"That is why" the general continued but left a short pause, "we shall bring with us a mage from the science department, he will control its force, and quell it."
~*~
The march began to Junon, the docking port, people marched at a slow pace, energy will be needed for the battle not the march there, or there will be simply no march home either. Keeping to main roads, crossing the mountain pass was a short job and the army had massed in Junon docks, each platoon entered a small military transport, painted a royal blue with a golden Shin-Ra logo on its side. Inside the transports it was cramped, forty to a transport, Sephiroth's platoon and its commander Maximus. Sephiroth was unusually quiet within himself, his sword has drawn and layed across his lap, he was gaining strength as he had when he was young. Not much was said, people thinking to themselves, concentrating their minds on the tasks ahead.
The Wutian mountain range rose up from the horizon. Suddenly a oddly timed missile shaped figure rained through the sky towards the Wutian's outpost, dropping smaller balls of fire down on its path leaving a fire coma behind it for miles. The ball of fire flew out of view, and then the ground rumbled, sending a large wave towards the transports, which engulfed many. Most could just sail through, some of the more superstitious people thought the water would swallow them up from the sounds it made, then the shock wave hit them knocking all but the strongest to the ground, even inside the transports shaking them violently. Then the most depressing bit came, the screams of the injured, shouting out in pain, the sound was unimaginable, one the general or his army will never forget. The sound will haunt them in their dreams for years to come, but our president will no little of the sound and sleep well tonight. It was not long till the transports landed on a beachhead.
~*~
It was about midday when the army took its first break, an hour at a large creek, where fresh water flowed into a lake, trees for shade, and open space. Supplies were dumped and a volunteered garrison was put in place. Sephiroth had volunteered, and was standing watch leaned up against a tree, one eye watching a small mud path back to the south and the other watching the massing army. As Sephiroth expected nothing happened, he signed inwardly as they were called back into their positions, Sephiroth loved the discipline of the army, but the walking and walking, was beginning to get to him.
The fifty-mile march north took no time at all, and the army, even with its size hadn't yet being spotted by the enemy. Smoke from the camp could be seen billowing up from the horizon, the General sent a group of five scouts ahead, which soon returned with a place to camp, just below a hill so that most of the camp would be concealed from the enemy outpost.
Shortly after the camp was set up, there came a smooth rumbling sound coming from behind the camp. The general moved around to see a dragon like creature had flanked them "Maximus!" he shouted as the general ordered his men into defensive positions assuming it was a foe, he prayed to the Gods it was not an enemies doing or they would be goner's for sure. The dragon like creature with deep red scales, a long neck and tale, with a truly massive wingspan. It flew past them by about 100 meters, the air drag left behind it made the Shin-Ra flag stretch off of its poll, the wind was like a wind tidal wave but of wind not the element water. The three commanders ran up to the general ready to give the orders to attack the dragon, the atmosphere in the camp very tense. "Stop!" someone voice shouted
"Don't attack it! Its my summon! Bahamut! Leave it alone" a young mage, dressed in black robes shouted, stumbling towards the general.
The massive creature had large scales and was a winged creature, who's monstrous roar was enough to deafen any man, it looked like the mother of all dragons, it then turned towards the camp and glided with monstrous elegance. If the commanders didn't have a job to do they would have stared at the beast in awe, but they had other more important things to do. They with some will power turned their backs on the dragon and walked off, the beast came to a stop above the army camp. An intelligent being it recognised summoner it flew on some more, deciding not to attack the camp knowing it will have other prey. The red unholy glow the beast emitted let out a radiant red light onto the camp of the army, giving away the camps position. O'Neil cursed in no quiet terms, and shouted at the beast to move away, the beast not understanding the language of the humans remained in its position. O'Neil called for the mage to contact the beast. The young mage had his red summon stone glowing around his neck, which glowed a eerie red light, a mages job is dangerous an inexperienced mage could make the materia shatter around their neck if it was too powerful for them, which could instantly kill them. The red glow expanded and a beam shot from the materia towards the Bahamut, the red light surrounded the dragon, which grunted as it moved away from the camp to a more secluded place until it was needed.
The dragon attacked the thick concrete walls of the outpost all night, and not even the soundest sleepers could stay awake. O'Neil and his three commanders of his battalion were in the centre camp tent, and devised a strategy, the mage was present to try and bring luck upon the army. Whatts had devised a strategy that the first 100 peasantry soldiers would run forward into the battlefield, and the commanders would watch them die. To see where the bulk of the defences were coming from, a harsh tactic for the people chosen but it was life effective in the long run. This would be done at dawn leaving time for units to be re assembled before the sun had fully risen.
~*~
Dawn struck as the top of the sun peaked off the horizon as if it was still in hiding from the battle ahead, it seems slow to rise, and the army took it as a sign that the battle would be very deadly.
The camp was packed up ready for a quick escape if needed. The army stood in its three groups in a defensive like shell, each man covering the other with a shield a tactic the once great nation of Rome used efficiently against the armies of the world. The 100 soldiers picked by drawing the short straw, which was abundant in the fields around, not even the maddest of people, would be insane enough to volunteer to this potential suicide mission. The men lined up about ten meters apart began a fast run, with weary sad features on their faces they walked on, they only did it for the fact their families would get one hundred thousand gil. Each waiting for the return flag to be raised, a signal that they could return as the commanders had assessed the strong holds of the enemy's defence. Only three survived. However this tactic had shown a great defence in the perimeter of the battle field, the battle ground was once an expanse of farms but they had been previously burnt and ruined. Now a bleak desolate wasteland, which will be un farm-able for years to come. A small stream flowed through the middle of the field, obviously used for irrigation. O'Neil knew all to well it would have red blood flowing through it in less than an hour. Although O'Neil knew the attacking army had the advantage of higher land, all be it not by much, and we seemed to know about their defences and had Bahamut to help too but, scout counts said we were evenly matched in numbers. The battle could go either way, and none of us might never see our own home again, the general thought of home, his beloved Elmora. He promised her he would retire out of military service after the war, and that maybe even one day they could bring up a child, but he had so many friends, he somehow knew he wouldn't be able to keep that promise.
~*~
The bottom of the sun had rose above the horizon, showing O'Neil knew it was time to attack. Now or never, so to give the order, to be ready O'Neil raised his Axe high, to give his troops the signal to stand by and get ready to attack, when a trained arrow hit him and pierced his heart. Medics from the travelling army rushed to him and tried to save him, as they got to him he managed to force out the words, "Elmora… I'm… sorry… ugh" and with that he died. The other three commanders were a bit weary of raising their weapons, to signal their readiness, to have all the commanders and the general dead before the battle started would be a massive moral boost to the enemy and have a negative effect to our troops. Then suddenly some draftees from the slums started to murmur. Thinking they were being rowdy, as their general had just died was a mistake. They all rose their weapons to signify a ready position, making a sliding metallic sound of scraping metal all in unison, thus producing cover for their commander Whatts to signal his readiness. The mercenaries and SOLDIER did the same, effectively covering their commanders from view and not showing who the commander was, the enemy could not shoot them all and so the commanders made their signals. The army doing this had given a happy mood to the attacking army, and made them be one, a brave act by all it was a great moral boost. The weapons went back down into their ready positions, and as the general was dead, Maximus took charge. Maximus shouted a war chant, the rest of the army building up it too, making the furor of war even stronger, now was the time to strike while the men where in this state. The soldiers ran through towards the enemy soldiers who fired their arrows, something the Wutian's were good at doing, and then in turn the Wutian's charged towards the invading army. The SOLDIER's followed their soldier counterparts into the battle, shouting great battle cries. The E.L.F. mercenaries were ordered to infiltrate the defending camp behind them destroy it and attack via the flank. Seeing the soldier's commander-less, as Maximus had to manage the entire army. Jones decided to join them in the fight, and left his highly trained mercenaries to the job, he trusted them and had faith in their abilities, he left Lanval, a small but brutal man in charge of the group, who went off at a brisk pace.
O'Neil's body had been taken to the supplies by some medics so it could be transported home for proper burial. Which left Jones, Whatts and Maximus standing alone with the battle raging on in front of them, just as the two charging armies met each other like two walls of bodies.
Jones said simply and calmly with a smile on his face: "I think its time we joined the party."
Whatts drew his bladed poles from his back and Maximus extended is razor fists, and Whatts replied "Gate crashing is so much more fun."
Maximus smirked "there go our invitations" and ran off into the battle, quickly pursued by Jones and Whatts.
~*~
Whatts, Jones, Maximus and until now O'Neil had always worked together in battles, and they became good friends, the death of their comrade had angered them, and in the battle they showed no mercy. Maximus unlatched the giant axe from his back, and wielded it, the axe was made of mithrill and it could slice through bone with ease. The group of three ran straight into the main group of enemies taking out as many as they could in the time they had, the fact they had done that boosted the soldiers moral so much they were willing to fight to the death. The three used a circular technique moving at all times, heading towards where the commanders were of the defending army, Jones started to shout, "We need to take out them commanders, then the outpost is ours". Then in a blink of an eye Maximus moved off and split up from the other two, he had seen Sephiroth alone in battle, in a group of enemies, at least ten to one, Maximus was just about to run into the battle and help. When Sephiroth's sword emitted its blue light again, only this time the light engulfed his body. Somehow he levitated in the air, he swung his sword around in a circle what looked like a hurricane it was done so fast, leaving all ten men cut in two. He then lowered to the ground on one knee, while the limit wore off, he pushed up and fought on, slicing enemies in his path, heading towards the enemy commanders. Maximus wide mouthed, ran up to catch up with Sephiroth to fight with him, he was now too far away from Jones and Whatts, it gave two areas of targets for the enemy to try and hit. Whatts and the his fighting partners often raced to their target for first dibbs.
Maximus used his axe in a similar movement to Jones's bladed staff. Used in two positions in front of the face but at an angle, effectively slashing the enemy from head to toe, more useful for slicing through enemies in front to clear a path head. But both Maximus and Jones were using their weapons over their heads and to the side, effectively slashing necks and arteries or even decapitating their enemy. Whatts's shield was black steel, darker than the night sky, but by now it had red blood splattering on it. Even though they had being in the battle for such a short time the three had what seemed to be red bladed weapons from the amount of blood.
The young mage dressed in black was there co-ordinating Bahamut, from time to time a red beam could be seen going from the mage to Bahamut, Bahamut had blown a whole in the wall to the outpost. Bahamut was instructed not to blast the battle on the field as it might hit its own people, so it concentrating on causing damage to the outpost, sending fireball after fireball crashing into the walls.
Jones and Whatts had the greatest amount of enemies concentrating on their position and Maximus had just caught up with Sephiroth, and made an effective team they began to pull ahead of them. When two bulky defenders appeared in front of Whatts, Jones was busy stopping the soldiers reaching them. So Whatts had to deal with the new threat. Whatts was very agile, and jumped high in the air appearing behind them, the left defender was too slow, and Whatts's blade had cut the back of his neck, and the defender slumped to the ground.. The other defender had a long sword with him and was in a swooping swing heading to Whatts's head when Jones's Bladed staff cut through the sword and followed through to slide it through his belly. The defender slumped to the ground, as Whatts looked up and nodded with a grateful smile and they carried onwards into the melee.
The weather here in the north of the island was treacherous and could change in the blink of an eye, and sure enough it did. The rain clouds rolled in, bringing thunder and lightening with it, the Bahamut saw lightening it roared, and sent five fireballs in quick succession towards enemy defences which caused great damage, setting many people on fire, or killing others instantly through burns. The enemy archers saw the opportunity and caught Bahamut off guard, sending hundreds or arrows into its underbelly. It roared and left as quick as it came, leading enemy soldiers to gloat, saying they were too powerful for it, but indeed with heavy rain the battle would prove to be more difficult. The heavens opened and quickly the small stream, which as O'Neil predicted was flowing in blood, came into a small torrent. The ground became softer and the army started to lose their footing, and losing more soldiers than they could kill in return, casualties were high, when finally the E.L.F's showed their faces, having completed their mission in destroying their camp, came and flanked the defenders, surrounding them. The soldiers fought even harder knowing that there was now a chance of them winning and getting our alive. The Enemy was surrounded.
Sephiroth made quick wrist flicks what could sent his large masamune in almost reaching the commander, who Maximus slipped in the mud, and an enemy dived on him. One drove a knife into his leg, when Sephiroth heard the shout, he couldn't not turn back, he turned on the mud, and extended his arm out in a long jabbing motion, skewering the knife-bearing enemy in the side. He lifted up the screaming enemy into the air, who slowly slid down part of the blade, spewing his guts out on the way down, Maximus got up and slashed him off Sephiroth's sword with his axe. "Thanks, I wont forget this" he said
It wasn't far to get to the commanders from where they are, Sephiroth had quickly dealt with two people coming in from the left, and Maximus swiped his axe downwards over someone's skull, instantly killing them.
Maximus and Sephiroth reached the lone defending commander first at a small command post, and with his axe and Sephiroth's masamune they could easily deal with the bodyguards. The defending commander was no stranger to fights, he used a steel scimitar, Jones and Whatts arrived soon after, just as the commander cast a spell on Maximus,
"Flare!" Shouted the commander, and directed his energies towards Maximus, Sephiroth quickly concentrated and sent a magical wall around Maximus, just as a fireball like object came crashing towards his chest. The fireball hit the wall and lost its magic energy. Sephiroth smiled, "That's twice," Maximus said as he began his limit break, 'avenger'.
While Maximus was charging his spiritual energy Jones and Whatts charged in on the scene, as Sephiroth moved to a more defensive position, Jones swung his weapons down smashing into the commanders leg. Who just smiled as Jones looked up, to see metallic armor around his legs, arms and chest underneath his clothing. The commander raised his scimitar high to plow it through Jones's back, when a blade came in to stop its path, allowing time for Jones to leap out of the way. "Avenger" shouted Maximus, who ran in a straight line to the commander, swinging the axe in a figure of eight, The axe travelled straight through his armor, and Maximus kept running by him, as segmented parts of the enemy commander fell to the ground.
Now the E.L.F's had arrived and the defenders were severally outnumbered nearly five to one, some were even surrendering while others fought on. When it became apparent to the defending soldiers the battle was lost those who didn't want to be captured, to keep their honour some committed suicide, but a majority of the remaining troops surrendered their weapons.
~*~
The remnants of the army stood to attention inside the outpost complex. "Casualties are high" Maximus started, "but we have taken liberated the outpost, but remember, we have won this battle, but the war is not over. We will go home to Midgar now, other divisions of the army will complete the cleanup, pack up your going home."
~*~
Whatts, Jones and Maximus were in the centre tent, packing up in silence, the death of their friend had saddened them, "What shall we tell Elmora?" enquired Jones slowly,
"Oh god! Elmora! The poor woman" signed Whatts.
"Ill deliver the message personally," said Jones "We were school friends, I'm sure she'd prefer to hear the news from me"
~*~
The march home was made in silence, as O'Neil's body had to be buried on the battlefield, but he will never be forgotten by many, an unorthodox death in war, but he will be remembered for his life of bravery.
~*~
"Sire we have paid the mercenaries their money, and they are on their way, and the peasantry soldiers have being dismissed and sent back to their families, and the SOLDIER are back to the barracks."
The President finished reading the report.
"Good job commander."
"We have two medals of valour for people in the battle, one for the late O'Neil, it will be given to Elmora in a ceremony, and the other, to a man who saved my life twice, Sephiroth."
"Very well, you are dismissed"
~*~
The stream in that very battlefield flows blood to this day.
~~~
I hope you enjoyed it.
Blakey
(Please review if you read, so I can make it better)