The Last of an Elite
Chapter Twenty Nine: I'm Not Going to Die!
By InterfaceLeader
-~-~-~-
Tseng navigated the maze without too much difficulty, though he noted the way items and boxes shifted their positions so that he could never approach them. The defence system clearly tapped into the Planets energy in some way, utilising a technique similar to that used by summon materia, which only let itself be found by those the Gods allowed.
It was oppressively silent. The occasional monster that roamed the ledges presented him with little difficulty, and he soon reached the end of the complex interlocking ledges and stone walkways and entered a long dark corridor, along which large hollow stone boulders rolled at regular intervals. Each boulder had a gap carved into it, just wide enough for a man to stand in without being crushed whilst the boulder rolled over him.
He strolled along the corridor, pausing as if by accident at exactly the right spot each time. Turning off about halfway along, he found a deep circular pool of water, glowing with a faint iridescent purple.
He looked into it, wondering. But the surface was smooth and opaque, showing nothing but his own reflection.
"Tseng!" The silence was broken abruptly, and he looked up. At the foot of the hallway stood Elena, who waved. "Wait up!"
He waited, whilst she ran backwards and forwards along the corridor, barely making into the gaps and once being chased all the way back to the beginning by a boulder where she couldn't make it into the gap at all. Eventually she reached the pool, out of breath.
"Elena," he said. "What're you doing here?"
Elena flushed. He doesn't need your help stupid! Look, he's obviously doing fine without you! You'll just slow him down!
"I um... thought you might need back-up," she said, knowing it sounded lame. He's going to make you go back, if he'd wanted you he would have sent for you!
"Alright." He turned away from her, glancing at the pool again briefly before starting back towards the hallway and the boulders. She hurried after him, unable to believe her ears.
"We're looking for something, anything that might tell us how to get to the Promised Land," he spoke without looking back at her, stopping as a boulder sank down around him and rolled past. Elena gulped and followed him into the corridor, diving forward just in time to make it under the gap herself. For a second everything was grey stone, then it passed and she ran forward, keeping an eye on the next one, ready to freeze at any moment.
"The Promised Land..." she stopped again, as the second boulder rolled around her. "I guess it really does exist then? I thought it didn't..."
"Yes. You were going to tell me what you researched about it." Tseng turned the corner, vanishing from her sight. She ran faster, not wanting to lose him.
"Well uh... I read a lot of the official scientific research into it, about it's properties and so forth," she turned the corner herself, to find Tseng leaning against the wall waiting. "Uh... but that wasn't enough so I also looked at ... legends and myths, the kinds of things that normal people think of when they think of the Promised Land."
"Yes?" He was giving her his undivided attention, and she struggled for words under his gaze.
"And what I thought was... it's not so much a place that you can find, it's not really a Land. It's more a state of mind... it's like..." she trailed off, twiddling her fingers. "I guess I'm not making much sense."
"Keep going."
"Well... The Cetra went there when they died right? Supposedly... And a lot of people think that means it's a kind of Heaven right? But we all know that when someone dies their spirits get taken into the Lifestream until being reincarnated somewhere else. So what I thought is, maybe it's the state of mind someone achieves just before they die."
"Then why do we say it's a land of abundant Mako?"
"Because I think it's when you're looking into the Lifestream. But you've still got just enough of you left to understand."
"Interesting." Tseng nodded slowly.
"I'm sorry." Elena looked at the ground. "Obviously it must exist because we're here looking for it."
"Just because you look for something doesn't mean it exists." Tseng started walking again. "The President believes it exists, and that means we have to find it. Whether it actually does or not is fairly irrelevant."
Elena frowned. "But...."
"Enough." Tseng cut her off. "The only important thing at the moment is to explore this temple."
-~-~-~-
By the time they reached the main room of the Temple, Tseng's respect for her had gone up several notches, though she didn't know it. She was too busy picking dragon scales out of her hair to notice him pause and study her for a brief second before turning to the walls of the room.
It was long and narrow, made of the same richly coloured stone as the outside. There was a strong yellow light that didn't seem to have any particular source, diffusing along the floor and yet leaving the roof in shadows.
The walls were covered in enormous pictures. Tseng frowned as he looked at them.
Elena ran past him and down to the end of the room, making a quick but total analysis of the whole place.
"Tseng, what's this? Can we find the Promised Land with this?" she said finally, coming back to where he stood.
"...I wonder. Anyway, we have to report to the President." Tseng turned from the pictures, and looked at her again. She nodded instantly and started around him.
Always enthusiastic and quick to follow orders... and smarter than I gave her credit for. Tseng smiled faintly. She'll make a better Turk than Reno thinks at least.
"Be careful, Tseng." Elena had paused, reluctant to leave whilst they had been getting on so well. She wanted to thank him, for listening to her and for agreeing to let her accompany him. But she knew to do so would be unprofessional, would suggest she doubted her own skills.
"Yeah... Hey Elena, how 'bout dinner after this job's over?"
She froze, her mind replaying the last sentence. He can't mean... does he mean...?
"Th... Thank you very much," she said, her head jerking up and down like a puppet on a string. She felt like all her motor-functions had temporarily seized up and she was unable to stop the enormous smile that spread across her face. Realising she was about to burst into tears of pure joy she hastily said "If I may be excused..." and ran from the room, where she whooped several times and started a quick and spontaneous dance.
-~-~-~-
Reno stared blankly at the computer screen, oblivious of the text that scrolled across it. The pile of reports he had meant to type up had gotten no smaller since the start of the day.
I wonder if...
He kept half an eye on Rude as he closed the program and accessed the Shinra network. If he had a brother, or if Elena was right and he had an entire family, all he needed to do to prove it was find their records.
-~-~-~-
The helicopter took off, Elena grinning out of the window. The scenery spread out below them as it started its journey back to Midgar. She noticed, but didn't really think about, three people crossing the open land to the west, heading towards the forest.
-~-~-~-
The Shinra Guards slipped away from their various squads, the Pilot left the Helipad, and all six met once again in the junk room.
They pulled the weapons and materia out of the hiding places and distributed them amongst themselves. The Pilot took the tiny gun, stowing the firearm in his belt.
"We know the plan of attack?"
Nods.
"You've got the steal materia?" This to one Shinra Guard.
"Yes," he waved the yellow orb.
"And you're ready to cast wall?" This to another, who again nodded.
"And I've got this." The Pilot patted the gun in his belt. "We're ready then. We'll follow him when he leaves, and as soon as he's away from the main building.... we do it."
-~-~-~-
"Is this the Promised Land? No, it can't be..."
Tseng shook his head. What are we supposed to do? Throw giant flaming rocks around or something? This doesn't match up with anything I've heard of...
A sudden flash of white light, right on the edge of his vision.
He turned, automatically.
Kneeling on the floor, sword held straight up, Sephiroth raised his head.
"Sephiroth!!" Tseng was stunned. There had been no sound, no warning at all.
The warrior stood, in one fluid motion. Green eyes met his, held the gaze for a fraction of a second and then broke it, looking past him.
"So you opened the door. Well done." A frozen voice, the words brittle and sharp. Tseng took a wary step forward, and paused. There was something else, something on his left, something so faint he couldn't make it out visually though all his other senses were screaming at him.
"This place... what is it?" Tseng knew one thing; he couldn't defeat Sephiroth. Not alone.
"A lost treasure house of knowledge. The wisdom of the Ancients..." Sephiroth turned and raised his arms, an all encompassing gesture. "I am becoming one with the Planet."
"One with the Planet?" Tseng's mind was racing, I can't defeat him, but he doesn't know how strong I am either... All I have to do is find out as much as I can, and survive long enough to tell someone.
Sephiroth turned back to Tseng, leaving behind a ghostly after-image that glowed and faded. No longer able to see the after-image, Tseng could sense it was still there. Shadows in the air to the left... who or what are they?
"You stupid fools. You have never even thought about it. All the spirit energy of this Planet. All its wisdom... knowledge... I will meld with it all. I will become one with it... It will become one with me."
"...you can do that?" Three figures... there's three people to the left and there's another Sephiroth. Ghosts? Ancients?
"The way....... lies here."
Faint laughter, on the edge of his hearing.
"Only death awaits you all. But do not fear."
He didn't dodge. To draw out a losing battle would only cost him in the long run. Instead he took the sword blow, allowing the sharp blade to slide into him below his rib-cage, deliberately twisting himself on the blade so it just missed his spinal cord. Pain exploded inside him, a fragmented star-burst that shot through his whole body. He fell to the ground, the sword sliding free with a spray of blood, his blood. He wanted to scream, to somehow end the pain, wanted to grab the wound and stop his blood from running out across the floor, but he forced himself not to, forced himself to lie still even with his life spilling from him in a great rivulet of red. He had to play dead.
"For it is through death that a new spirit energy is born. Soon, you will live again as a part of me." Sephiroth's voice, no change in the icy tones marking the slumped body. Tseng waited, every muscle screaming at him to move, to escape, to stop the wound, to stop the pain, every warning system in his body going full pelt. He felt light-headed, the pain had turned from a sharp jagged starburst into a dull ache that throbbed at the same rate as his heartbeat.
Silence. He waited, unmoving, eyes closed. Nothing. Get out get out get out get out, his body cried to him. Wait. Patience. Be sure, he thought.
Still nothing. He let his body take over, curling up automatically round the wound, stopping the blood flow as best he could. The pain had changed again, becoming a blunt saw scraping through him. He had lost a lot of blood.
He stood, and it hurt. He took a step and nearly cried out it hurt so much. Everything was going dark, and he stood still for a second, breathing deep.
I'm not going to die. Not here. Not now.
He forced another step, gritting his teeth and ignoring the protests that ran through him. Every movement was agony, a pain from somewhere deep inside. The sword had gone clear through him he realised, and blood was forcing its way through the fingers he had clamped over the hole.
Walk! Ignore it, just keep walking!
He wasn't sure how he made it across the clock hands, wasn't sure how he managed the rolling boulders. By the time he reached the maze he could barely see, he was keeping the darkness back by sheer force of will.
Perhaps it was the smell of the blood, perhaps monsters are naturally drawn to the injured. Either way Tseng found himself under attack by far more of the creatures that crawled the maze on his way out than on his way in. With his martial arts useless he was forced to use his standard issue hand-gun instead. The weapon was powerful, but not powerful enough, and by the time he reached the exit more than a few of the monsters had added wounds of their own.
He left the maze, and lifted the keystone out of the altar before sliding down against it. There was a faint hum as the Temple closed off the access, and he leant back against the stone, one hand over the sword injury.
Footsteps.
"Hey! It's Tseng!" Aerith's voice. He looked up.
Cloud, Aerith and Tifa. Pride forced him up, he wasn't going to be spoken down to by Avalanche.
"Tseng? Of the Turks?" Cloud, eyeing him thoughtfully.
"Uh... I've been had." Another rip of pain through his body and he slid unwillingly back down. "It's not the Promised Land... Sephiroth's searching for..."
"Sephiroth? He's inside!?" Cloud sounded urgent.
"Look... for yourself..."Tseng lifted one hand and indicated the altar. "Damn... Letting Aerith go was the start... of my... bad luck..." He felt a sudden sense of bitterness against the circumstances that had led him here. The Promised Land didn't exist, had never existed. He had been sent here on a wild goose chase, and if he died it would all be the fault of the idiots who had drained the Planet and complained when it started to run dry. "The President... was wrong..."
"You're wrong." Aerith, anger shaking her voice. "The Promised Land isn't like what you imagined."
I know.
"And, I'm not going to help. Either way, there was no way Shinra could have won."
I know. We're going to tear ourselves apart anyway.
He kept his thoughts to himself, getting to his feet for a second time. "...pretty harsh. Sounds like something... you'd say." He spoke to Cloud, clearly the leader whatever the Shinra files might say about Barret. Taking the Keystone from his pocket he held it out to the spiky-haired warrior. "The Keystone... Place it... on... the altar..."
Without waiting to see if his instructions were followed or not, he moved away from the group to the side of the room and leant against a pillar. Everything was fuzzy, he could hear them speaking but not make out what they were saying. Were there green sparks in the darkness on the edge of his vision?
I'm not going to die.
The pain had flickered into nothing, instead there was a sense of paralysis, everything around the wound had gone icy numb.
I'm not going to die.
The room had emptied, though he had no idea if Avalanche had left or gone into the Temple. He moved slowly, everything felt stiff and seized. Blood started seeping from the wound again. He took off his jacket and shirt, ripping the latter into long strips. The fuzziness had extended to his movements, he was clumsy and could barely see as he bound himself up. He left his jacket on the floor, trying to put it back on would be too taxing, but he did pick up the gun.
He started to stand and fell back down again. His legs couldn't, wouldn't hold his weight. He took another deep breath, feeling the skin around the wound stretch and break further as he did so, and put his hands against the pillar, pulling himself up.
He couldn't walk, his legs weren't responding at all. Instead he performed a series of controlled falls from pillar to pillar, and then to the entrance. He slid down the steps of the temple, leaving a growing trail of blood as he did so. Thinking was beyond him now, it took all his conscious effort to hold back the darkness, to keep moving. Away from the Temple, that was important thing.
Perhaps his luck turned. Perhaps the Planet guided his blind steps. But when he finally collapsed unconscious he was just a few feet from the town of Mideel.
-~-~-~-
Elena skipped down the stairs of the Shinra building, going from the President's office to the Turks. It was nearly time to leave, she couldn't wait to get home and start going through her wardrobe to find a suitable dress to wear for the evening. She hoped she could find a good enough outfit, she hadn't been much given to buying dresses and clothes, never really having anywhere to wear them before now.
"Hi guys!" she danced into the office, joy and good will radiating off her.
Reno shot her poisonous look and hit the power button on his computer before standing up and sloping out of the office. She shrugged, even he couldn't damage her good mood.
"Hi Rude!"
"........" Rude shut down the computer properly and also left the office.
Elena rolled her eyes. "Bye then..." she grabbed her coat and strolled out, giving a cheerful greeting to everyone she passed on the way.
-~-~-~-
Reno walked without seeing through the streets of Midgar. The files had been there, a scrolling block of text confirming everything Elena had said, everything he had suspected from the flashback, and the strange feelings.
He felt lost. Life had been simple up to this point; Shinra told him what to do and he did it. Right and wrong didn't feature, it wasn't up to him to decide that. It had been his duty to protect Shinra, protect Midgar and make sure everything went to plan.
Then Avalanche had shown, he'd ended up in hospital and everything went wrong. His brain started playing tricks on him, Rude started questioning him, and Elena had turned up, an anti-thesis to everything the Turks were meant to be.
There was a click from behind him. And the world exploded.
-~-~-~-
A/N: I have to stop it there, sorry ^^;; It was getting rather long. Nearly double what I usually write. If you can review, please do, but I admit it's been a bit come and go recently. Anyway, hope you liked it! Not too much of a cliff-hanger at least. *hides from readers*