Chapter 2 - Resurrection
Reeve waited patiently for the Highwind to land. He had the file on Angel with him, which detailed her fighting skills, which beyond telling him that she was dangerous, he didn't have a clue about what half of it meant.
"Reeve, climb up!" Tifa shouted down as the Highwind landed. "We'll meet on deck, it's faster!"
"Alright" Reeve replied as he began climbing the rope ladder. Once he was on the deck he began talking "We last saw Angel heading out of the Shin-ra building. She went through sector 4, but we lost her. This indicates that she could be going south, but I think that was a ploy, however we can't be certain. She may be trying to re-enact Sephiroth's journey. I've found these files, but all I can tell you is that she's just as dangerous as Sephiroth was, perhaps more so."
"Why do you think that Reeve?" Red asked
"Well, when she finds out who killed her brother, then she may want revenge on all of us personally. We all know how powerful revenge is" Reeve said.
"Do you have any pictures of her?" Vincent asked curiously.
"Sure" Reeve pulled out a small picture of Angel and passed it to him "Remarkable how similar they look isn't it?"
"You can say that again" Barret looked at the picture "There's hardly no difference"
"Thanks Reeve, we'll deal with this once we figure out which way she went. Where will we find you?" Cloud asked
"In Kalm. I have to take these files back then I'll join up with you later." Reeve said as he climbed back down the ladder.
Once Reeve was safely back on the ground, the Highwind took off again.
"Now what?" Cid asked. "We've no direction to go in."
Yuffie who had been listening whilst she looked out over the landscape, remembered the glint of a gold chocobo in the distance, but she hadn't said anything because she wasn't sure if she had actually seen it. She was about to say this to Cloud when his PHS rang.
"Damn it, now what?" Cloud wondered as he accepted the call.
"It's Billy, from the ranch, your Swift has been stolen, someone calling themselves Angel."
"WHAT!" Cloud almost yelled down the phone "Was anyone hurt?"
"No why? The chocobo was taken and a note left" Came the reply from Billy and he read the note to Cloud.
"Ok Billy, we'll recover the chocobo, I'm on the Highwind now." Cloud said as he switched the PHS off. He looked at the others. "She's heading to Bone Village, on my gold chocobo."
"Cloud, I was about to say I'd seen a gold chocobo a few minutes ago, when Reeve was climbing up here. " Yuffie said
"Why didn't you say so in the firs' place?" Barret told her, we could've caught her sooner"
Cloud sighed. "Ok lets move out and get her" The Highwind's jets fired as it headed North.
Angel dismounted from the chocobo, and left it in a small pen inside the village. One villager watched her in suspicion.
"What're you doin'?" he asked her.
Angel turned to look at the man, "I'm just leaving this chocobo here and I'll retrieve it later when I return. Please, could you take care of it for me?"
The suspicion vanished and the man nodded, "Sure, where're you headed?"
"The city of the Cetra, I was told it's somewhere near here"
"You mean ancients? Sure, it's near here, but lemme give you a warnin'. A couple of months ago a young woman was killed there, the place reeks of the deed."
"Killed? Who by?" Angel asked, slightly worried.
"Dunno, the people who came through chased her murderer though, they were friends of hers" came the reply.
"I'll keep an eye out then, thanks for the warning. Which way is the city."
"Through the sleeping forest, you need the lunar harp to wake it, and that group, called Avalanche has it"
Angel thought for a few moments "I think I can pass through, I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the forest will let me"
"Well be careful then" the man said as he turned to care for the chocobo. Angel nodded and started to head to the path that would lead her to the forest. As she went through the main part of the village she noticed the looks of slight fear, and wondered what could have caused it. She knew that it had to have some root in what had taken place in the last few months, and now more than ever she wanted to know the truth.
On the Highwind all the members of Avalanche were sitting in the briefing room.
" How come I was not told by Lucrecia?, she would have known that she was going to have twins" Vincent asked.
" Unless Hojo kept it a secret for some reason" Cloud replied.
"Probably to allow her to be used in the Jenova Project. You know what Hojo was like, he was unscrupulous when it came to human feelings." Red said. "If I was to guess though, she's the female version of Sephiroth, she would've been an excellent study for him to observe if gender made a difference. I've been looking though some of the notes left at Nibelhime" he added when he got surprised looks from Barret and Yuffie.
" If Hojo was still alive I'd" Vincent broke of the sentence in barely suppressed anger.
"What I don't get is why she tried to kill Hojo, I mean even Sephiroth didn't go crazy til' he read the stuff in the mansion" Yuffie added.
Cloud shrugged " No idea"
Tifa who was polishing her Premium Heart gloves looked up " She's the only woman ever to survive SOLDIER training, who knows what it did to her, it could've made her more unstable than Sephiroth"
At that moment one of the crew walked into the room, "We're almost at Bone village Sir" he said, saluting Cid.
"Thanks, now lets see if she came here…." Cid said as he got up and walked out.
Cloud nodded "Alright, lets go." He agreed, as everyone else started to get their weapons and materia ready.
The Highwind landed just outside the village, and as startled villagers watched, the fully armed Avalanche climbed down the ladder. Once they all climbed down they began to walk towards the path that would take them to the Sleeping Forest. Tifa held the lunar harp under her arm ready to use it once they got into the forest.
" Well I would say that she definitely came through here" Red said, startling the group suddenly.
"How'd you guess that?" Barret asked looking at Red.
"Simple, Swift is over there" Came the reply, as Red indicated the gold chocobo.
Cloud walked over to the small crowd of villagers that had assembled. " Excuse me but did you see where the young lady riding that chocobo went?" he asked politely.
"Sure she walked up that path to the Sleeping Forest, she said something about needing to go there, and not needing the harp" the man that had talked to Angel earlier replied "She seemed a nice enough sort, there's nothing bad going on again is there?" he turned away from caring for the chocobo.
"She's Sephiroth's sister, the sister of the man that murdered Aeris in the City" Cloud replied truthfully "We're going to stop her carrying out her brother's plans"
"You're kidding me?" The man replied.
"Er .. Cloud, we're not sure WHAT her purpose is yet. We haven't even met her" Vincent interrupted, then he added "but we'll find out and if it is malevolent we'll stop her."
"Ah… alright, just be careful, there's been reports of dangerous creatures on that path, more than what there was when you last came through here." The man said turning back to care for the chocobo.
As Avalanche walked away Yuffie looked at the village and commented "Ya know, it's strange but there's no-one scared. I talked to some of them and they all agree that she just walked into the forest without doing anything."
Barret looked at Yuffie "So ya's sayin' that she isn't dangerous? That's crazy! She's the sister of that $@%*& Sephiroth"
"Barret, calm down. We'll ask her when we catch her" Tifa said, calming Barrat down.
"Tifa, can you wake the forest up? Otherwise we'll get lost in here for good" Cloud asked, as he leaned against a tree.
"Sure" Came the reply as she played the harp. The eerie tune echoed around them and seemed to flow with life. As the tune continued the forest seemed to become less unfriendly and more welcoming to the people who had entered it. Once Tifa had finished the tune she put the harp back in it's case and put it on her back, where it wouldn't be damaged if she got into a fight.
"I wonder how Angel got through here without the harp?" Cid wondered.
"Same way Sephiroth did, I'd guess," Tifa said, as she walked through the forest beside Cloud. "Although that's puzzled me for quite a while now, Aeris didn't need the Harp either"
"Aeris was Cetra, so the Forest would let her pass anyway" Red answered from behind her "And as for Sephiroth, and Angel.. well I can only speculate that it's because of either the Jenova cells or the Mako"
As they made their way though the forest they could see the dead bodies of some creatures that had been killed not so long ago. They all looked like they had been killed by a longsword, and high powered magic. The creatures were also some of the more dangerous ones that Avalanche had encountered when Jenova was in control of the Northen Crater.
"I don't like the look of this" Cid said, lighting a cigarette.
"Angel?" Yuffie asked?
"Probably" Vincent replied "What I don't like is that these creatures are prowling round near inhabited areas."
"I agree, how long ago do you think she came through here?" Barret asked
"About half an hour would be my guess." Red sniffed the bodies. "it wasn't that long ago, we should catch up to her in the City."
Tifa looked round, on alert, in case there were other creatures in the area. She saw something move out the corner of her eye. "Incoming guys,"
Cloud turned round, his sword coming out of it's sheath so fast that it looked like a blur. To their left a group of malboros and a blue dragon were heading their way.
"Just what we need…"
*Come to the waterfall * Angel heard a voice tell her as she entered the Ancient City. In front of her she saw three different paths, but she felt the 'voice' urging her along the left hand path. As she walked along this path she noticed the run down nature of the town, she could see that the shell buildings were eroded by time and what looked to be decay. She imagined what it must have looked like before it was abandoned.
Angel had heard about this place, when she was younger. Hojo had been ranting about not being able to get to it because the forest wouldn't let anyone pass through it and no plane could land near it because the ground was too uneven. Once she got to the cave she looked round, and saw a cascade of water which flowed around a platform high up in the building. She was impressed by how it had been done. She walked round the crumbling path and onto the narrow path that led to the cascade. As she got closer she could see that there was a jewel on the platform, which was glowing and as she got even closer she could see that the jewel was projecting an image onto the waters surface. As she watched Angel saw the image of a young woman praying to something. She could see her look up as a man approached her, and saw the smile. Then Angel watched in horror as a person she recognised leapt down from a high perch and impaled the woman with his sword. Angel couldn't believe that her brother would murder someone who seemed so innocent, in front of the woman's friend. Then she saw a small greenish white materia orb that had been in the woman's hair, bounce down some steps and fall into some deep water. She saw the orb resting on the bottom of the body of water, glowing green, then glowing for a short while, until it calmed then returned to a pure white in colour
. *Find the materia and use it * the voice told her * Only then will you know the truth of what your brother did*
As Angel walked back to the fork in the road, she pondered what she had seen. Did Sephiroth have a good reason for killing the woman, or was he the one in the wrong. She wondered, not for the first time, if the voice in her head was a product of madness or a real voice. She didn't know if she was going insane or not.
As she got to the fork she wondered if she should just forget all this and go find out what had happened by asking people, but the voice had told her that she would know the truth if she did this, so she headed down the middle path. Angel was almost at the central building when she heard voices behind her. As she turned round she could see a group of seven people running towards her, with drawn weapons.
"There she is!" Cloud yelled pointing at Angel. They had managed to fight their way through to the Ancient City, and it was just their luck that they saw Angel before she vanished from view.
Angel watched the people for a few seconds, noticing that one of them had mako eyes, like hers, and that he was the one she had seen in the waterfall images, until the voice yelled in her mind * Run, they do not understand what you must do! *
Angel looked startled for a second before she turned and bolted into the building. Once she entered the building she ran up the ramp until she came to a shimmering crystal staircase. She began to run down the stairs, but realised that she would never be able to reach the bottom and retrieve the materia without them catching up with her. She spread her arms and dived off the staircase aiming to dive into the water near the altar. She felt the air scream past her then she hit the icy water.
As she hit the water, Cloud reached the spot where she had dived from, Red by his side. The others weren't that far behind him.
"Where'd she go?" Red asked? "Her scent ends here.."
Everyone looked up to see if she was in mid air, a trick that Sephiroth performed frequently, but they saw no trace of her. Yuffie however was looking round and saw movement below them.
"Hey look!" Yuffie said pointing to the water. Angel had resurfaced and was swimming towards the bottom pillar.
"Hell, she must've jumped from here to get there that fast.." Tifa said, then noticed that she had something "what's that?"
"Materia" Yuffie said, knowingly
"Trust you to recognise that.. what type, can you see?" Cid replied
"OH GAWD!…. She has HOLY!" Yuffie gasped in shock.
"What!?!?" Red looked worried " Cloud, we have to stop her, Holy has the power to resurrect people, and the only person she would have any cause to bring back is Sephiroth!"
"You're jokin'???" Barret aimed his gun arm at her but stopped because he knew she was well out of range.
"Red c'mon, you're the only one who can keep up with me and Vincent!" Cloud said as he took off running down the stairs. Vincent and Red followed keeping pace with him. Cid, Barret, Yuffie and Tifa also began running, but being slower they soon fell behind. Angel had now climbed out of the water and was heading up the pillars to the Altar. As Cloud, Red and Vincent got to the bottom of the stairs Angel had reached her destination and was kneeling, in an unconscious imitation of Aeris.
"Only one of us can get up there at a time, I'll go first. Vincent you back me up with that gun" Cloud said as he began jumping from pillar to pillar. Once Cloud reached the altar he could see that Angel's back was to him, and she was an easy target. He raised his sword and brought it down with all his power, knowing that he was about to kill her to protect the planet, but the sword never hit. Angel turned, drew her sword with lightning speed and deflected the blow that was meant to kill her. She stood up, her blue eyes meeting Clouds and Cloud noticed that unlike Sephiroth, she was not insane. That made him afraid, because though his insanity, Sephiroth thought that Cloud and Avalanche couldn't harm him, Angel was another matter, she'd kill him easily.
Cloud moved into a better position to fight, unaware that the rest of his friends had reached the bottom of the stairs and were watching in horror. Vincent was already making his way towards him, intending to help.
Cloud began an attack sequence, but that was easily deflected and Angel began her own attack, one that Cloud couldn't block, she was too fast and strong. Cloud looked at Angel, knowing that the final strike would kill him, but the expected blow, that would have killed him, didn't. Halfway through the final swing Angel had changed the sword to a staff and sent Cloud flying off the altar platform directly into Vincent knocking them both towards the water.
"CLOUD! Vincent!!!" Tifa screamed, worried that the blow would have killed Cloud and the fall would kill Vincent. However their fall was halted and Vincent felt himself floating towards where Tifa and the others were. The unconscious form of Cloud was also floating to the ground nearby. Tifa ran to Cloud's side as he began to regain consciousness, and started to use healing spells to get him back up.
"What the?" Cid looked at Angel and noticed the intense concentration on her face, he realised that it was her that made them levitate.
Barret on the other hand didn't notice and began firing his gunarm at her. Before the bullets hit her a barrier sprang into existence, but not before both Red and Cid noticed her concern over Vincent and Cloud. Tifa and Yuffie helped the two men up, and turned to look at the shimmering barrier that had just appeared. Angel looked at the group for about a minute making sure that she hadn't injured any of them before turning back to the altar. She lifted the materia and called out a single word in a strange language.
"No, it can't be!!!" Red exclaimed in horror, as the others looked at him he elaborated "She's using Holy to call back someone from the dead. That word is one of few I know, it means return to life in the Ancient language.!"
"Oh $^*@" Barret and Cid swore.
"Damn, she must be calling Sephiroth back, get ready!!" Cloud said, although his head still throbbed from the blow Angel had given him, he was ready to battle. The rest of the group got ready as the Holy materia began to glow a blinding white light.
The light intensified until it filled the entire area, and once it faded and everyone's eyes had adjusted, two figures could be seen on the altar.