Chapter Four
Two Alorian students walked through the wooded area smiling at one another as they laughed, an odd sort of peace set in their hearts. They knew in this place no harm would ever come to them. Rather, they thought they did.
"You know Michelle, I saw that cute boy looking at you again today..." The girl walking next to her began to blush. "I think you should ask him out."
"No... He wouldn't want to anyway."
"Well, if you dooooon't I guess I'll have to for you!" the girl blurted and took out a small phone.
"NO!" Michelle leapt onto her and the two rolled a few feet away. When the threatening phone-wielding girl looked to Michelle she could see a blank face, simply staring with a far away look.
"Michelle?"
"L-Look behind you..." The two girls then screamed and ran away.
*
Tifa stumbled down onto her knees, trying to get a clear picture of where she was, as difficult as it was. Faint screams were fading away and she realized that must have been the person who had landed on her.
Rays of light dotted through the illuminous green trees and wild buds sprouted in the oddest places, as rare as they were. Vines went along the dirt path like a snake carefully placed in just the right place.
The over-all effect was quite spooky.
She slowly began to recall how she came to be here - a painful experience to say the least. It was like a stabbing white light firing through her skull, hitting everything in it's path until at last it found what it had been looking for.
There had been some sort of attack... Yes, that was it. It hadn't been anything major.
Tifa levelled herself to the height of the dozen imps surrounding her, just to stare each one of them in the eye. In that very moment she could see the fear so obviously displayed on their faces - they were looking at Death.
And then she was gone. Her feet began to burn at the incredible speed of which she moved, but she brought her hand up in an uppercut, palm still open. The imp landed several feet away, blood dripping away from his/her mouth.
The others around her began to move away, now frightened of this woman whom had looked so helpless moments ago.
But before she had a chance to deal with the miserable creatures someone else had a different idea. One of the frightened imps about to run from Tifa suddenly bursted open, his blood flying from his stomach as jaws emerged. The entire body crumbled as a wolf far too large for the hole shot through it, his shiny coat covered in blood.
It was a massacre. All the imps were suddenly losing limbs, heads, or simply having holes gaping in their sides. Wild, high-pitched screaming was everywhere and Tifa felt the urge to weep at the sight of it.
Then there was no more screaming, no more cries of pain or help. She found herself surrounded by what appeared to be twenty wolves. They all had glossy black coats of fur and were absolutely huge - nearly as tall as her shoulders level was. They didn't bare their teeth at her or growl. They simply began to close in on her.
"Oh no you don't." She took two steps before moving too fast for the vision of any normal being. When they didn't move any more she thought she did indeed move too fast for their eyes. But when her fist, even covered with the amazing glove, connected with the first wolf she realized why they hadn't felt threatened.
It had been hitting like a brick wall. But Tifa could do that. It was like punching a diamond wall. So incredibly tough it felt like nothing could pierce it. The wolf merely moved back about a foot or so from the impact.
"I have more strength than that, dickhead." So another punch hit it, followed by another then more came, followed by kicks. She finally finished off the barrage of hits by doing a roundhouse kick, catching it in the neck and sending it an easy dozen feet away - dead.
The others had been quite suprised by the strength of this human but they showed no sign of it. They merely continued to close in on her.
"By the Gods may you burn in hell!" her arm made a swift movement as the words were said, and she saw they still showed no fear. One of the wolves jumped up and bit her arm, forcing the spell down for now. They weren't afraid, even if it had killed them all they wouldn't have screamed. She could see that now.
They all disappeared. Trails of black blurs moved around her at such a pace even she could not keep up. She turned, fixing her posture into a battle technique and waited for the attack to come. At last a thin paw dug a shallow cut in her back. She wailed a bit, but then a second shallow cut marked itself on her chest. Then her legs were being attacked, and some had even dared to go for the arms.
It would now be obvious to anyone she was being toyed with, but Tifa was too stubborn to admit defeat to anything breathing. Her arm cut across swiftly once again and a raging inferno of molten lava tore through four of the wolves.
So, they have a weakness! She smiled as she prepared another spell. The feeling of power began to swell in her mind until she could no longer control it, and a barrier of fire surrounded her, appearing from thin air.
Six of the wolves were unlucky enough to be diving at her at that very moment and they all hit the barrier, then slid across the ground roasted.
Nine more were now remaining, and they waited patiently far away from the fire. They looked quite a bit like Nanaki. They're going to wait for the shield to die! I have to get away NOW! Keeping the shield up as best as she could she began to run.
It was not as easy as one may think. A shield will not travel to wherever you go - you have to move it yourself. So keeping track of the shield moving at her exact pace she was only paying half a mind to the running bit.
This was how she emerged from the edge of a cliff, rolling down a mountainside with her shield having failed. The wolves came leaping after her, and with more grace they managed to run down the hill. And just as the first two caught up with her she kicked off from her back and back-flipped all the way down the remainded of the hill.
The two stopped for a moment then Tifa reached two fingers for her temple. They began to glow a not very normal color before a wave of fire flew over all the wolves.
From there she stumbled along to the nearby forest, praying it was the town she had been searching for.
*
A group of seven men had at last decided to go and see this so-called 'moster attack', as the two girls had yelled as they ran towards the town.
Alore had a great barrier casted over it so that most people tended to miss the town. Their eyes would sort of shift and notice something else, away from the forest the town was in. It was in this way animals and humans had never come here for long. The last person was a young explorer dozens of years ago, whom decided to live with the natives.
The grandson of this man had pleaded to go with the group of men. Though they had decided that a mere fourteen year old child should not see a monster they had decided to let him when he brought up the fact he was the only person in Alore who could use a sword besides his grandfather, whom was far too old to go.
The group of eight slowly made their way down to the 'monster', all a bit nervous. Except for the child prancing about with the sword. A real fight! FINALLY!
He continued to swing the blade at nearby trees and vines, until at last he was told to stop. "Ken! Stop that this instant!" The boys head fell, a bit disappointed.
From the little information gathered here you may have guessed that Ken is a bit 'different' from the other villagers. He and his twin sister Kia both also carried physical traits that none other in the village did. They had black hair and dark brown eyes, with a naturally tanned skin that shone like a golden light. They had tall forms that were both athletic and incredibly strong at the same time, as if millions of strands of muscle were packed tightly together.
They also enjoyed to fight. That was said to be a trait inherited by their grandfather. But no matter who was laid the blame the love of the adrenaline was far too great for them to give it up.
Unfortunately, loving battle and living here made that love hard to please.
Mostly Kia and he would fight one another, or practice magic and new techniques. Their grandfather often taught them certain things, seeing as how there was no-one else who could. Their father hadn't liked battle at all and didn't resemble their grandfather at all - he had died when they were just children. Their mother soon killed herself too.
So it was at this point they begun to live with their grandfather, and to live the art of battle.
"Okay Ken, be careful when we get there. We don't want you to get hurt - your grandfather would kill us if that were to happen. If things get too extreme you can use that... blade... of yours." Weapons were strongly disapproved of in the village, but it had been passed down to Ken from his grandfather so it had gone without much disapproval of the natives.
They soon found the 'monster' that had been said to attack the two girls.
Ken suddenly felt stupid for ever thinking it was a monster. It was a small, shredded body lying in the dirt, blood drenching their clothes.
"What is it?"
"Should we poke it?"
"Maybe its a wolf!"
"Nah, too small to be one!"
Ken couldn't believe it - these adults couldn't recognize a person. "It's a woman you idiots! Carry her back!" The men stood astonished - no child talked to adults like that. One investigated the woman before looking back at everyone a bit red.
"Yep. Definitely a woman..." The other men took steps back, expecting Ken to do something since he was about the only one not embarassed.
"Oh for the love of the Gods. Give me your jacket, Mr. Bailey." The man threw it over to the boy and he wrapped the woman in it before lifting her up by her armpits. "Someone give me a hand. Look, she's dressed now! See?"
A couple of the other men came over to help, before telling Ken to run ahead and make preparations. Better than nothing I guess. Picking up his sword from the ground where he had to discard it a few minutes ago he slid it in his belt before running down the path.
When he reached the main part of Alore he ran past all the people gaping at him, until he reached the clinic. He dove through the doors at a remarkable pace and onyl just didn't slam into the doctor.
"Young Ken, what seems to be the hurry?"
Attempting to catch his breath he began to speak. "Well... you see, we found the... the monster... It was a woman... I think... I think she's nearly dead sir... Lots of..." he took a deep breath. "Lots of cuts, and I think she's broken both legs. Probably major blood loss and infections."
"I... see. When will the others get here?"
"Just a few more minutes, I imagine. Ten, tops."
"Come. Help me prepare for the visitor."
*
Though it had most definitely been a long rest that had been hours - days, even - Tifa's eyes fluttered open groggily with a deep laziness. She knew the feeling - it was the one that you get when one day you have two hours of sleep, and the next day you get fifteen hours of sleep. It made you tired as hell.
But she was pretty sure she had had a long sleep the night before? Confused she began to try and set up - at this point she noticed two things.
The first was that she was in a bed. A warm, fluffy bed. With a pillow. Meaning she was in a home, or a building - probably a fire nearby. That could be either a good or bad thing. And judging from the second thing she noticed, it would be a bad thing.
For the second thing she noticed was that she had been tied to the bed, not tight enough to hurt her but tight enough to keep escape out of the question.
Not to Tifa Lockheart, though. Nothing was out of the question to these fierce fighter. She turned her wrist around painfully before catching the rope on a specific part of her gloves (Gods only knew how long they had been on). She jerked her hand quickly and the rope snapped. She moved towards the one across her other hand but a light touched stopped her.
"You shouldn't be doing that."
Tifa spun around and sent a punch towards where the sound had come from. The man simply ducked and let the fist fly over his head. "You perverted bastard, if you've done anything what-so-ever to me you'll burn in hell! You hear me?!"
The man smiled, and Tifa suddenly noticed his face. His thinning, silver hair showed signs of a deep ageing. His soft blue eyes held no violence or impurity in them. "Do not fret. You're privacy has been assured."
"Who are you?! And why am I tied down?"
The man smiled as he shook his head slowly. "You may call me Rock - I am a healer of sorts. You are in my clinic and have been for the past week and a half. Eleven days, if I recall correctly.
"You have been tied down because we were unsure of whether or not you were a threat to our people. And though I can see your power is by far the hugest threat we've had in decades, I can also see you are no threat."
Tifa thought all this through for a few minutes. "Eleven days? Damn... That can't be too good. If you could just let me stay here a couple of more days I'll be out of your way soon enough, okay?"
"I'm afraid it'll be longer than that. You will be staying here for many weeks for your legs to heal. You have broken the right one in four places, and the left one is badly sprained." Tifa suddeny felt the urge to break that thin, stretched face, as kind as it was.
"I... I need to go soon though!"
"Not anytime soon, you don't." Before she could mutter another word, his hands traced her face and she fell into a deep, blissful sleep.
Nearby at the doorway Ken stood, staring at Tifa longingly. He had never really had a crush before - he'd been out with girls, but none had he ever really liked. But Tifa, as beautiful as she already was, looked like an angel in his sight there.
There was another thing he found intriguing about her.
She was taller than the girls here, and her limbs were athletic yet strong. She also had a tan that seemed to shine a golden color. She was from his grandfathers home.
*
It had now been two days, and though Cloud had not been pushing Seko at all he found himself close to Junon. But something was blocking his path - somehting that shouldn't be there at all.
Lurking far above the other small patches of forests that usually surrounded this land was a gigantic forest. There was really no other way to describe it.
The trees all looked mostly the same - they were a rich red color and they were at least a hundred and fifty feet tall. Only at about the last fifteen feet or so did the bright green leaves sprout from it, so thick and clouded it looked like level ground at the top of those.
They were packed so tightly together it was obviously intentional and nature could never do something so obvious. It was man-made. Only about a ten foot gap in the center of the forest line showed a path avaible to walk through. The gap was filled with a hard-packed dirt and stones dotted, all in the same exact position as if it had been done in tiles.
About two feet from each side knee-high bushes of the same bright green of the leaves ran along the path, clearly marking to not touch the trees (could the consequences be dire? wondered Cloud).
The low, thick mist surrounding the place gave an aroma that he rather enjoyed. There was no word for it, but it was the smell of the fresh daisies in the wind and the grass gently swaying as drops of water still trickled down them - it was the smell after rain.
It was a beautiful aroma that made the mind settle, come to a peaceful place.
In this enviroment, right here, it sickened Cloud. It most definitely did not belong here.
But no matter - this was without a doubt where he would meet the Apprentice. Taking a few steps, leading Seko carefully, he stepped into the mist. As it closed over his body he could feel a great loss taken from him.
His sword, hefted in his left hand in front of him, suddenly felt lighter. Glancing at it briefly he noticed it had several gray stones in it.
"SHIT!" They had taken the materia. That was indeed the purpose of this mist - to take all the magical energy it could. Otherwise it would be impossible to keep a forest like this in existence. It took a great amount of magic for even simple tricks.
"Damn... Come on Seko, let's hurry this up. It's so cold out here, with no materia." He jogged towards the forest and when he reached the path the trees behind him closed in.
That would not, however, be a proper way of saying it. They were put there as if they should have always been there - they didn't run around to close him, they were placed there hundreds of years ago just now. It made sense in the scariest way anything could ever make sense.
This left Cloud in entire darkness. He could have used his own energy to manifest some sort of lamp or something, but he preferred to keep all avaible energy for the upcoming battle.
"Seko, your eyes are keen here, right?" The bird gave an energetic nod. "Good - you'll be leading us. I can't see a damned thing." Sliding the sword into its place he put his injured hand onto the large bird and was led deeper into this enchanted forest.
*
Cid threw his cigarette down, peering towards the horizon with some kind of odd emotion. It wasn't quite fear, nor anxiety or hope. It was a mixture of all those, struggling to beat one another.
He turned to his trainer pilot and gave a nod, letting the man take over the flying for now. He walked down to the meeting room where most of the men were gathered.
This was the part where the courageous captain or leader would talk about how it had all come down to this, and that if they believed in themselves nothing could stop them. This would be the part of which the teams morale was raised higher than Heaven, and every man felt like he himself was a God. This would be the part where victory was assured.
That is, that would happen if they had anyone leading the mission besides Captain Cid Highwind. Cid had always used a different method. He made them feel like such scum and losers that even if they did fail they wouldn't notice.
"So you should know how this goes, you lazy sacks of shit, or else you're paying paid for absolutely nothing at all. 'Cause if you DON'T know what we're doin' down here we may as well fuckin' blow this joint and all get laid, eh?
"Well, just in case you don't know what the hell we're doin' here, lemme tell ya'. Since the other groups have now gotten all the residents outta this place we gonna go have ourselves a little pyromaniac fun. In other words, we blow the hell out of the place with dynamite, followed by dippin' this piss-colored stuff around the place? Or vice versa, or somethin'. You hear me, bitches?"
A couple of the men whom had never served under Cid before were a bit hesitant to say anything, but half-mumbled they muttered 'yes sir' while everyone else shouted, "YES SIR!" And of course there was always one, who couldn't resist it and said, "Of course, you dickhead!"
Cid smiled and they moved out.
While everyone else began to prepare (placing on boots that would insure they didn't slip and would be discarded before re-entering the ship, getting 'water guns' to shoot out the liquid nitrogen, etc) Cid walked back to the top of the ship, overlooking the edge.
This was what it did all come down to, though. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, if they failed right here they were all going to be royally screwed.
Hopefully the fuck-ups know what to do. As he watched, the 'water guns' from the deck launched high-powered hoses that drenched Icicle Inn. The snow that was nearby melted at a rapid pace, and quickly enough there were men rushing about, yelling out something before throwing dynamite. Probably their current location or something.
While they did this the remaining scientists dumped even more liquid nitrogen into the main water supplies of Icicle Inn - sewers, pipes, wells, anything.
Within minutes there were great trenchess dug into the ground, forced there by the dynamite. Cid looked into the milky depths of the purple-black liquid sloshing back and forth. At times like these memories always did tend to return. But no more living in the past.
He took the radio that was clipped to his belt and pressed the button down. "Highwind here, sir. With twelve minutes remaining we have completed all the preparations. Next move, sir? Over."
"Bzzt... Loud 'n' clear, Highwind. ...Bzzt... Have those men out of there in five. Over. ...Bzzt..." Cid placed the radio down at his belt before yelling out 'FIVE MINUTES' to everyone.
*
The ground slowly quaked as spurts of oily, black liquid shot into the air from the newly appearing cracks. The ice began to fall apart in places, sinking into the deep violet.
Suddenly, as the explosions sounded off, fire roaring into the sky for miles and smoke billowing off, the Tainted Lifestream hissed. Smoke came from its surface, as if itself had been a living creature. It immediately began flying the opposite way, somehow now causing more to jump from the cracks, changing its shape as it moved.
More bombs detonated alongside of it as it swished back to its home, causing the hissing screech to be heard by even Cid Highwind. The high-pitched wailing seemed wrong, evil. It rushed back into the northern crater, where lightening and dark energy reigned supreme. Once again, like a living creature, it rose up for what must have been three or so miles, and with a hissing screech, exploded.
The gooey substance was thrown across the entire continent but a brilliant white flashing could be seen all across the globe. Not from the fire nor the explosion, but something else. Something they hadn't been expecting. Cid threw his cigarette down at it, deciding to give up smoking.
Thousands of miles away Reeve realized he had made what was probably there greatest mistake of his life, and began to weep.
*
Nanaki had already been travelling north, towards Costa del Sol, when he had seen the explosion. His head raised, and for a fleeting moment all hope was lost in his eyes.
Howling at the moon once he began to move once again. Like the humans, we have never known the meaning of defeat! There was still that small feeling of defeat, hidden deep in his head.
Authors Notes: Wow! I actually do something! In one day! Woo!
Anyway, I don't have too much to say right now. Yes, Ken and Kia will be main characters. Yes, Alore now has a much larger part in this fic than originally intended. As does Nanaki, Danny, Marlene, and Vincent (though he has not yet been introduced, and I'm not too sure what to do with him, he's too cool to have a minor part).
If you have any suggestions EMail Offspringrulz86@aol.com. Also, if you know the traits of each character such as hair color, eye color, height, clothing, etc it would be greatly appreciated since I have an awful memory.
If you do by any chance read this fic, please do review. It makes me happier just knowing people read this, and I love to be deeply criticized.
C'Yaz!
Two Alorian students walked through the wooded area smiling at one another as they laughed, an odd sort of peace set in their hearts. They knew in this place no harm would ever come to them. Rather, they thought they did.
"You know Michelle, I saw that cute boy looking at you again today..." The girl walking next to her began to blush. "I think you should ask him out."
"No... He wouldn't want to anyway."
"Well, if you dooooon't I guess I'll have to for you!" the girl blurted and took out a small phone.
"NO!" Michelle leapt onto her and the two rolled a few feet away. When the threatening phone-wielding girl looked to Michelle she could see a blank face, simply staring with a far away look.
"Michelle?"
"L-Look behind you..." The two girls then screamed and ran away.
*
Tifa stumbled down onto her knees, trying to get a clear picture of where she was, as difficult as it was. Faint screams were fading away and she realized that must have been the person who had landed on her.
Rays of light dotted through the illuminous green trees and wild buds sprouted in the oddest places, as rare as they were. Vines went along the dirt path like a snake carefully placed in just the right place.
The over-all effect was quite spooky.
She slowly began to recall how she came to be here - a painful experience to say the least. It was like a stabbing white light firing through her skull, hitting everything in it's path until at last it found what it had been looking for.
There had been some sort of attack... Yes, that was it. It hadn't been anything major.
Tifa levelled herself to the height of the dozen imps surrounding her, just to stare each one of them in the eye. In that very moment she could see the fear so obviously displayed on their faces - they were looking at Death.
And then she was gone. Her feet began to burn at the incredible speed of which she moved, but she brought her hand up in an uppercut, palm still open. The imp landed several feet away, blood dripping away from his/her mouth.
The others around her began to move away, now frightened of this woman whom had looked so helpless moments ago.
But before she had a chance to deal with the miserable creatures someone else had a different idea. One of the frightened imps about to run from Tifa suddenly bursted open, his blood flying from his stomach as jaws emerged. The entire body crumbled as a wolf far too large for the hole shot through it, his shiny coat covered in blood.
It was a massacre. All the imps were suddenly losing limbs, heads, or simply having holes gaping in their sides. Wild, high-pitched screaming was everywhere and Tifa felt the urge to weep at the sight of it.
Then there was no more screaming, no more cries of pain or help. She found herself surrounded by what appeared to be twenty wolves. They all had glossy black coats of fur and were absolutely huge - nearly as tall as her shoulders level was. They didn't bare their teeth at her or growl. They simply began to close in on her.
"Oh no you don't." She took two steps before moving too fast for the vision of any normal being. When they didn't move any more she thought she did indeed move too fast for their eyes. But when her fist, even covered with the amazing glove, connected with the first wolf she realized why they hadn't felt threatened.
It had been hitting like a brick wall. But Tifa could do that. It was like punching a diamond wall. So incredibly tough it felt like nothing could pierce it. The wolf merely moved back about a foot or so from the impact.
"I have more strength than that, dickhead." So another punch hit it, followed by another then more came, followed by kicks. She finally finished off the barrage of hits by doing a roundhouse kick, catching it in the neck and sending it an easy dozen feet away - dead.
The others had been quite suprised by the strength of this human but they showed no sign of it. They merely continued to close in on her.
"By the Gods may you burn in hell!" her arm made a swift movement as the words were said, and she saw they still showed no fear. One of the wolves jumped up and bit her arm, forcing the spell down for now. They weren't afraid, even if it had killed them all they wouldn't have screamed. She could see that now.
They all disappeared. Trails of black blurs moved around her at such a pace even she could not keep up. She turned, fixing her posture into a battle technique and waited for the attack to come. At last a thin paw dug a shallow cut in her back. She wailed a bit, but then a second shallow cut marked itself on her chest. Then her legs were being attacked, and some had even dared to go for the arms.
It would now be obvious to anyone she was being toyed with, but Tifa was too stubborn to admit defeat to anything breathing. Her arm cut across swiftly once again and a raging inferno of molten lava tore through four of the wolves.
So, they have a weakness! She smiled as she prepared another spell. The feeling of power began to swell in her mind until she could no longer control it, and a barrier of fire surrounded her, appearing from thin air.
Six of the wolves were unlucky enough to be diving at her at that very moment and they all hit the barrier, then slid across the ground roasted.
Nine more were now remaining, and they waited patiently far away from the fire. They looked quite a bit like Nanaki. They're going to wait for the shield to die! I have to get away NOW! Keeping the shield up as best as she could she began to run.
It was not as easy as one may think. A shield will not travel to wherever you go - you have to move it yourself. So keeping track of the shield moving at her exact pace she was only paying half a mind to the running bit.
This was how she emerged from the edge of a cliff, rolling down a mountainside with her shield having failed. The wolves came leaping after her, and with more grace they managed to run down the hill. And just as the first two caught up with her she kicked off from her back and back-flipped all the way down the remainded of the hill.
The two stopped for a moment then Tifa reached two fingers for her temple. They began to glow a not very normal color before a wave of fire flew over all the wolves.
From there she stumbled along to the nearby forest, praying it was the town she had been searching for.
*
A group of seven men had at last decided to go and see this so-called 'moster attack', as the two girls had yelled as they ran towards the town.
Alore had a great barrier casted over it so that most people tended to miss the town. Their eyes would sort of shift and notice something else, away from the forest the town was in. It was in this way animals and humans had never come here for long. The last person was a young explorer dozens of years ago, whom decided to live with the natives.
The grandson of this man had pleaded to go with the group of men. Though they had decided that a mere fourteen year old child should not see a monster they had decided to let him when he brought up the fact he was the only person in Alore who could use a sword besides his grandfather, whom was far too old to go.
The group of eight slowly made their way down to the 'monster', all a bit nervous. Except for the child prancing about with the sword. A real fight! FINALLY!
He continued to swing the blade at nearby trees and vines, until at last he was told to stop. "Ken! Stop that this instant!" The boys head fell, a bit disappointed.
From the little information gathered here you may have guessed that Ken is a bit 'different' from the other villagers. He and his twin sister Kia both also carried physical traits that none other in the village did. They had black hair and dark brown eyes, with a naturally tanned skin that shone like a golden light. They had tall forms that were both athletic and incredibly strong at the same time, as if millions of strands of muscle were packed tightly together.
They also enjoyed to fight. That was said to be a trait inherited by their grandfather. But no matter who was laid the blame the love of the adrenaline was far too great for them to give it up.
Unfortunately, loving battle and living here made that love hard to please.
Mostly Kia and he would fight one another, or practice magic and new techniques. Their grandfather often taught them certain things, seeing as how there was no-one else who could. Their father hadn't liked battle at all and didn't resemble their grandfather at all - he had died when they were just children. Their mother soon killed herself too.
So it was at this point they begun to live with their grandfather, and to live the art of battle.
"Okay Ken, be careful when we get there. We don't want you to get hurt - your grandfather would kill us if that were to happen. If things get too extreme you can use that... blade... of yours." Weapons were strongly disapproved of in the village, but it had been passed down to Ken from his grandfather so it had gone without much disapproval of the natives.
They soon found the 'monster' that had been said to attack the two girls.
Ken suddenly felt stupid for ever thinking it was a monster. It was a small, shredded body lying in the dirt, blood drenching their clothes.
"What is it?"
"Should we poke it?"
"Maybe its a wolf!"
"Nah, too small to be one!"
Ken couldn't believe it - these adults couldn't recognize a person. "It's a woman you idiots! Carry her back!" The men stood astonished - no child talked to adults like that. One investigated the woman before looking back at everyone a bit red.
"Yep. Definitely a woman..." The other men took steps back, expecting Ken to do something since he was about the only one not embarassed.
"Oh for the love of the Gods. Give me your jacket, Mr. Bailey." The man threw it over to the boy and he wrapped the woman in it before lifting her up by her armpits. "Someone give me a hand. Look, she's dressed now! See?"
A couple of the other men came over to help, before telling Ken to run ahead and make preparations. Better than nothing I guess. Picking up his sword from the ground where he had to discard it a few minutes ago he slid it in his belt before running down the path.
When he reached the main part of Alore he ran past all the people gaping at him, until he reached the clinic. He dove through the doors at a remarkable pace and onyl just didn't slam into the doctor.
"Young Ken, what seems to be the hurry?"
Attempting to catch his breath he began to speak. "Well... you see, we found the... the monster... It was a woman... I think... I think she's nearly dead sir... Lots of..." he took a deep breath. "Lots of cuts, and I think she's broken both legs. Probably major blood loss and infections."
"I... see. When will the others get here?"
"Just a few more minutes, I imagine. Ten, tops."
"Come. Help me prepare for the visitor."
*
Though it had most definitely been a long rest that had been hours - days, even - Tifa's eyes fluttered open groggily with a deep laziness. She knew the feeling - it was the one that you get when one day you have two hours of sleep, and the next day you get fifteen hours of sleep. It made you tired as hell.
But she was pretty sure she had had a long sleep the night before? Confused she began to try and set up - at this point she noticed two things.
The first was that she was in a bed. A warm, fluffy bed. With a pillow. Meaning she was in a home, or a building - probably a fire nearby. That could be either a good or bad thing. And judging from the second thing she noticed, it would be a bad thing.
For the second thing she noticed was that she had been tied to the bed, not tight enough to hurt her but tight enough to keep escape out of the question.
Not to Tifa Lockheart, though. Nothing was out of the question to these fierce fighter. She turned her wrist around painfully before catching the rope on a specific part of her gloves (Gods only knew how long they had been on). She jerked her hand quickly and the rope snapped. She moved towards the one across her other hand but a light touched stopped her.
"You shouldn't be doing that."
Tifa spun around and sent a punch towards where the sound had come from. The man simply ducked and let the fist fly over his head. "You perverted bastard, if you've done anything what-so-ever to me you'll burn in hell! You hear me?!"
The man smiled, and Tifa suddenly noticed his face. His thinning, silver hair showed signs of a deep ageing. His soft blue eyes held no violence or impurity in them. "Do not fret. You're privacy has been assured."
"Who are you?! And why am I tied down?"
The man smiled as he shook his head slowly. "You may call me Rock - I am a healer of sorts. You are in my clinic and have been for the past week and a half. Eleven days, if I recall correctly.
"You have been tied down because we were unsure of whether or not you were a threat to our people. And though I can see your power is by far the hugest threat we've had in decades, I can also see you are no threat."
Tifa thought all this through for a few minutes. "Eleven days? Damn... That can't be too good. If you could just let me stay here a couple of more days I'll be out of your way soon enough, okay?"
"I'm afraid it'll be longer than that. You will be staying here for many weeks for your legs to heal. You have broken the right one in four places, and the left one is badly sprained." Tifa suddeny felt the urge to break that thin, stretched face, as kind as it was.
"I... I need to go soon though!"
"Not anytime soon, you don't." Before she could mutter another word, his hands traced her face and she fell into a deep, blissful sleep.
Nearby at the doorway Ken stood, staring at Tifa longingly. He had never really had a crush before - he'd been out with girls, but none had he ever really liked. But Tifa, as beautiful as she already was, looked like an angel in his sight there.
There was another thing he found intriguing about her.
She was taller than the girls here, and her limbs were athletic yet strong. She also had a tan that seemed to shine a golden color. She was from his grandfathers home.
*
It had now been two days, and though Cloud had not been pushing Seko at all he found himself close to Junon. But something was blocking his path - somehting that shouldn't be there at all.
Lurking far above the other small patches of forests that usually surrounded this land was a gigantic forest. There was really no other way to describe it.
The trees all looked mostly the same - they were a rich red color and they were at least a hundred and fifty feet tall. Only at about the last fifteen feet or so did the bright green leaves sprout from it, so thick and clouded it looked like level ground at the top of those.
They were packed so tightly together it was obviously intentional and nature could never do something so obvious. It was man-made. Only about a ten foot gap in the center of the forest line showed a path avaible to walk through. The gap was filled with a hard-packed dirt and stones dotted, all in the same exact position as if it had been done in tiles.
About two feet from each side knee-high bushes of the same bright green of the leaves ran along the path, clearly marking to not touch the trees (could the consequences be dire? wondered Cloud).
The low, thick mist surrounding the place gave an aroma that he rather enjoyed. There was no word for it, but it was the smell of the fresh daisies in the wind and the grass gently swaying as drops of water still trickled down them - it was the smell after rain.
It was a beautiful aroma that made the mind settle, come to a peaceful place.
In this enviroment, right here, it sickened Cloud. It most definitely did not belong here.
But no matter - this was without a doubt where he would meet the Apprentice. Taking a few steps, leading Seko carefully, he stepped into the mist. As it closed over his body he could feel a great loss taken from him.
His sword, hefted in his left hand in front of him, suddenly felt lighter. Glancing at it briefly he noticed it had several gray stones in it.
"SHIT!" They had taken the materia. That was indeed the purpose of this mist - to take all the magical energy it could. Otherwise it would be impossible to keep a forest like this in existence. It took a great amount of magic for even simple tricks.
"Damn... Come on Seko, let's hurry this up. It's so cold out here, with no materia." He jogged towards the forest and when he reached the path the trees behind him closed in.
That would not, however, be a proper way of saying it. They were put there as if they should have always been there - they didn't run around to close him, they were placed there hundreds of years ago just now. It made sense in the scariest way anything could ever make sense.
This left Cloud in entire darkness. He could have used his own energy to manifest some sort of lamp or something, but he preferred to keep all avaible energy for the upcoming battle.
"Seko, your eyes are keen here, right?" The bird gave an energetic nod. "Good - you'll be leading us. I can't see a damned thing." Sliding the sword into its place he put his injured hand onto the large bird and was led deeper into this enchanted forest.
*
Cid threw his cigarette down, peering towards the horizon with some kind of odd emotion. It wasn't quite fear, nor anxiety or hope. It was a mixture of all those, struggling to beat one another.
He turned to his trainer pilot and gave a nod, letting the man take over the flying for now. He walked down to the meeting room where most of the men were gathered.
This was the part where the courageous captain or leader would talk about how it had all come down to this, and that if they believed in themselves nothing could stop them. This would be the part of which the teams morale was raised higher than Heaven, and every man felt like he himself was a God. This would be the part where victory was assured.
That is, that would happen if they had anyone leading the mission besides Captain Cid Highwind. Cid had always used a different method. He made them feel like such scum and losers that even if they did fail they wouldn't notice.
"So you should know how this goes, you lazy sacks of shit, or else you're paying paid for absolutely nothing at all. 'Cause if you DON'T know what we're doin' down here we may as well fuckin' blow this joint and all get laid, eh?
"Well, just in case you don't know what the hell we're doin' here, lemme tell ya'. Since the other groups have now gotten all the residents outta this place we gonna go have ourselves a little pyromaniac fun. In other words, we blow the hell out of the place with dynamite, followed by dippin' this piss-colored stuff around the place? Or vice versa, or somethin'. You hear me, bitches?"
A couple of the men whom had never served under Cid before were a bit hesitant to say anything, but half-mumbled they muttered 'yes sir' while everyone else shouted, "YES SIR!" And of course there was always one, who couldn't resist it and said, "Of course, you dickhead!"
Cid smiled and they moved out.
While everyone else began to prepare (placing on boots that would insure they didn't slip and would be discarded before re-entering the ship, getting 'water guns' to shoot out the liquid nitrogen, etc) Cid walked back to the top of the ship, overlooking the edge.
This was what it did all come down to, though. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, if they failed right here they were all going to be royally screwed.
Hopefully the fuck-ups know what to do. As he watched, the 'water guns' from the deck launched high-powered hoses that drenched Icicle Inn. The snow that was nearby melted at a rapid pace, and quickly enough there were men rushing about, yelling out something before throwing dynamite. Probably their current location or something.
While they did this the remaining scientists dumped even more liquid nitrogen into the main water supplies of Icicle Inn - sewers, pipes, wells, anything.
Within minutes there were great trenchess dug into the ground, forced there by the dynamite. Cid looked into the milky depths of the purple-black liquid sloshing back and forth. At times like these memories always did tend to return. But no more living in the past.
He took the radio that was clipped to his belt and pressed the button down. "Highwind here, sir. With twelve minutes remaining we have completed all the preparations. Next move, sir? Over."
"Bzzt... Loud 'n' clear, Highwind. ...Bzzt... Have those men out of there in five. Over. ...Bzzt..." Cid placed the radio down at his belt before yelling out 'FIVE MINUTES' to everyone.
*
The ground slowly quaked as spurts of oily, black liquid shot into the air from the newly appearing cracks. The ice began to fall apart in places, sinking into the deep violet.
Suddenly, as the explosions sounded off, fire roaring into the sky for miles and smoke billowing off, the Tainted Lifestream hissed. Smoke came from its surface, as if itself had been a living creature. It immediately began flying the opposite way, somehow now causing more to jump from the cracks, changing its shape as it moved.
More bombs detonated alongside of it as it swished back to its home, causing the hissing screech to be heard by even Cid Highwind. The high-pitched wailing seemed wrong, evil. It rushed back into the northern crater, where lightening and dark energy reigned supreme. Once again, like a living creature, it rose up for what must have been three or so miles, and with a hissing screech, exploded.
The gooey substance was thrown across the entire continent but a brilliant white flashing could be seen all across the globe. Not from the fire nor the explosion, but something else. Something they hadn't been expecting. Cid threw his cigarette down at it, deciding to give up smoking.
Thousands of miles away Reeve realized he had made what was probably there greatest mistake of his life, and began to weep.
*
Nanaki had already been travelling north, towards Costa del Sol, when he had seen the explosion. His head raised, and for a fleeting moment all hope was lost in his eyes.
Howling at the moon once he began to move once again. Like the humans, we have never known the meaning of defeat! There was still that small feeling of defeat, hidden deep in his head.
Authors Notes: Wow! I actually do something! In one day! Woo!
Anyway, I don't have too much to say right now. Yes, Ken and Kia will be main characters. Yes, Alore now has a much larger part in this fic than originally intended. As does Nanaki, Danny, Marlene, and Vincent (though he has not yet been introduced, and I'm not too sure what to do with him, he's too cool to have a minor part).
If you have any suggestions EMail Offspringrulz86@aol.com. Also, if you know the traits of each character such as hair color, eye color, height, clothing, etc it would be greatly appreciated since I have an awful memory.
If you do by any chance read this fic, please do review. It makes me happier just knowing people read this, and I love to be deeply criticized.
C'Yaz!