After the Storm
Chapter 9
Yuffie had been pretty disappointed when she'd gotten there. Using her intuition and what tracking skills she had, Yuffie had followed the shadow creatures back towards the east. However, the continent wasn't exactly wide and there weren't many places to hide. And so, Yuffie had found it. . .
A shack in the middle of nowhere was NOT acceptable evil villain hideout in Yuffie's opinion. There were some things you simply did not do, and not having an impressively cool hideout was one of them. Sephiroth had had an entire evil crater, so this came as quite a let down.
Sulking, Yuffie had examining the front of the little cabin when it had proven to be not quite what it looked. Oh, it was indeed a little cabin in the middle of an open field, but that isn't to say there wasn't anything else. Creeping around the side of the cabin she'd found it completely by accident. It was pretty hard to miss, in fact.
After stepping through the barrier, Yuffie had found herself standing in front of an immense sprawling estate. So, this was one of those invisible joints you read about in fairy tales? It was definitely clichéd, but she somehow wasn't surprised. Yuffie smiled her approval before slinking out of sight.
A huge garden had been laid out in front of the huge mansion - that's what it was, really - and fortunately for the young ninja, it offered many places to hide. It was patrolled heavily by the shadow creatures Yuffie had fought before. Remembering everything she'd learned about them before, Yuffie had made a large point of keeping her Conformer out of sight and out of mind. The Fire Materia was still in the weapon just in case, but Yuffie didn't want to attract attention.
Reconnaissance was the first job on her agenda, and that meant getting inside. No difficult for a fully trained ninja. Yuffie could scale the sheerest walls without breaking a sweat. Just because a place was being guarded didn't mean that you couldn't get in. It just made it more interesting. Yuffie had broken into more than a few stores in her earlier career and she was damned good at it.
A large fountain gurgled happily in the sunlight, and Yuffie crouched behind it, half in the bushes. A sound alerted her to the approaching guards, and Yuffie flattened herself on the ground. She didn't breathe for the few seconds that the guards were the few feet away that could get her caught. Fortunately, the seconds did not stretch on, and the guards moved along their route. They probably didn't even think that anyone would be able to find this place, let alone want to get in, she thought smugly.
Pulling herself slowly up, Yuffie scanned about for the next place to hide. A long cement walkway extended up to the mansion, with a blocky railing down either side. The railing itself was about three feet high, quite thick and with a slight overhanging edge on the outside. Taking all this in, Yuffie made a dash for it.
Diving behind the ledge, Yuffie lay on her stomach, and inched along on her elbows. The walkway was a long one and this an unpleasant way of moving. Yuffie directed all her attention to getting up and away as soon as possible. The grass tickled her arms and legs, and the rough surface of the railing chaffed at her side as she crawled on.
Suddenly, a dark shadow shot over Yuffie. Screaming a curse in the silence of her mind, Yuffie rolled herself against the railing and under the overhang as much as possible. Instinctively, her breath caught in her throat mid-gasp.
The dark creature above her tilted its head and looked carefully over the side. Its dark face was as equally hidden as the others had been but Yuffie could have sworn she'd seen two yellow slits where its eyes might have been. For a second everything froze, and Yuffie was certain she was caught. Her Conformer just out of grasp, she waited to be hauled out into the light.
Instead, a moment later, the guard withdrew and continued it's slow pace down the lawn. Nearly choking on her relief, Yuffie waited another two minutes before moving. It didn't do to take chances, and she was pretty angry with herself for losing focus. She began to move again, but this time kept her eyes and ears open for the telltale signs of someone coming.
When she finally reached the end of the way, Yuffie had already pinpointed the orchard to her right as her next destination. There were many small trees growing in a neat little garden, but through them several huge, ancient oaks reached for the sky. It would provide excellent cover and perhaps more.
Moving fast, Yuffie rolled forward and onto her feet before disappearing once again into the mass of branches overhead. Also an expert at climbing trees, Yuffie was up high before you could blink an eye. She had never liked heights but that didn't mean she wouldn't go there anyway.
The little apple trees couldn't offer her much, but the oaks were a different story. Yuffie couldn't help but wonder. She had been here not two weeks ago and none of this had been here then. Not the cabin, not these trees and certainly not this mansion. She had done enough building in Wutai to realize that huge houses like these did not simply grow over night.
The twisted branches were like a jungle gym, but for her it was only play. She could slip through the tightest of spaces and was quite a good gymnast as well. Climbing along, Yuffie searched with her eyes for a place to get in.
Aha. There, just ahead, was a large window. A long thin branch extended towards it, and Yuffie scampered up it. It bent slightly under her weight, but her balance was perfect and she was springing onto the window ledge in mere seconds.
The window looked into a large sitting room, ornately finished. The floor was wood but covered with an expensive red rug. All the furniture was the expensive, tastefully understated kind that Yuffie had never liked much. The whole room looked like it had been designed to look pretty. But not, well, lived in. Yuffie could almost swear that some of those chairs had never been sat in more than once.
Yuffie felt along the edge of the window with her fingertips and gently pulled upwards. To her considerable surprise, the window slid open without effort. Cautiously, she slid into the room, half expecting alarms to go off any second. But nothing happened. Congratulating herself, Yuffie looked around the room. There were two doors, although there was no way of knowing where they led.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps pounded in Yuffie's ears. Someone was coming. Her search turned frantic as she tried to find somewhere to hide. None of the furniture would give her the necessary cover, and not to mention that she'd be totally trapped.
Her eyes fell on a medium sized grate up above. It was high up, but that was no difficulty. She just hoped she had the time to get inside before the newcomer got the door open. Flashing into action, Yuffie hopped onto the back of the couch against that particular wall, and quickly pried the grate off the wall. To her credit it was indeed an air vent.
She pulled herself inside before pulling the grate back on after her. She was just in time as the nearest heavy wooden door swung open. There wasn't a lot of room to turn around in, so Yuffie had to back up a bit before she found a place where she could back up and turn.
Crawling forward, she edged back towards the room from where she'd come. It seemed like a logical place to start looking for information, so Yuffie peered through the grate and into the room.
There were two people in the room, or so Yuffie thought at first glance. She quickly had to revise that first assumption. One of the figures was a shadow creature, and it was standing with its head bowed. The man was tall and well dressed with dark hair, but he stood with his back to Yuffie. Something about his posture seemed familiar to her. He was talking to the monster as if it were a servant.
"We have big plans, No.15, and we cannot afford to have them interrupted. Your Master may believe that one person can be important, but I do not hold with it. We should not we sitting here waiting to be found!"
A hissing could be heard from inside the creatures black hood, and although Yuffie was sure she was not hearing words, they echoed in her head.
"It iss not up to yhou to quessstion. The Massster iss very clear on thisss. Yhou will work hiss will and accsept yhour reward. If you fail, yhou will be terminated. There iss no other way."
The man seemed taken aback by the cold voice that rang in his mind. He did not back down, however.
"O-Of course, I would never dream of disobeying. . . But you must be as dissatisfied as I. Think of what we could do turned loose. No, I see you will not answer that. But rest assured I will complain to your Master."
Even his voice seemed to scream with recognition, but Yuffie could not fit it into place. She watched as the man swept out the door to be followed much more slowly by the creature.
So, someone was running all this from behind the scenes. Well, next task was to find out who and show him that no one gets away with what he did to Wutai.
Yuffie pushed herself backwards and then turned around again before venturing further into the air ducts. If she found anything dangerous then she wanted to be able to meet it head on. Something outside of herself to Yuffie that she would find what she was looking for at the center of the mansion. She didn't know how or why, but she had always believed that she should never doubt such inklings.
As she crawled on, guided only by her sense of direction, she remembered her dream last night. Every night is was as if she got pulled further and further into the dream until she would be unable to escape. The man in her dreams needed her now and he would be waiting for her in this mansion. There was no doubt about that.
Vague sounds came to her as she went through the darkness, shafts of light from the rooms she passed and fleeting conversation. Sometimes she would stay and listen for a little while, others she would pass on by without even acknowledging their presence. She was being led further and further in and although she knew it, Yuffie could not fight it. She had no desire too. She wanted to find out who or what it was so she could put paid to the ringmaster, whoever he was.
Finally, the incessant pulling onwards stopped, and Yuffie followed a side duct down towards a large vent. It sloped downwards slightly so that she had to brace herself against the grate to keep upright. It opened into a huge circular room, the likes of which Yuffie had never seen before.
A large dais was set at the northern end of the room, and an intricately carved chair that had more than a passing resemblance to a throne. But Yuffie's attention was entirely riveted on the man standing in front of that throne, and she had no time for anything else.
The man was young, no, he seemed young, maybe twenty, but another feeling told Yuffie he was far older. He had peculiar black hair that reminded her of Cloud's and a tall figure. He was dressed in crimson red, and had a short black cape to go with it. He had an open face that should have been friendly, but instead was vaguely menacing. His eyes were what drew Yuffie the most, however. They were black. Not the usual black that you often saw in Wutai, but an unnatural black that was like looking into the depths of space.
He was laughing softly, and his laughter could have frozen a volcano in mid eruption. Another man stood a little ways away, his head bowed. It was the same man she had seen before, but to Yuffie's great chagrin, again she could not clearly see his face. The man in red spoke to the other, his voice high, cold and clear.
"You have 'concerns'?" He laughed again. "We care nothing for your petty scheming. You have ambitions to rule the world; We can see it on your face and in your heart. We will give it to you, but We need the girl first."
"But. . . But why, master? Why do you need an insignificant!? You have power beyond these mortals wildest dreams and yet you seek one of them for aid!? It makes no sense!"
"Perhaps not to you, not yet. But without her, there can be no going any further. And we cannot go back. We must clear the way for final preparations. This is the one who can give us the last edge we need."
"Who, master? Who can give you what you cannot already take!?"
"Peace, servant. She will be joining us in a moment and then all your questions shall be answered. We do not need to waste Our time by explaining the trivial details to you. Simply be content because I have commanded it so."
"The one you sent for has been brought in, Master, but it took some doing. It put up quite a good fight; nearly as good as the girl in fact. We took it in the end only because it did not know how to wield the weapons against our dark soldiers."
"Ah. . . yes. I heard about the girl. I had expected no less from her. Very well, bring in the other. It's about time we welcomed our guests."
The man bowed and shuffled backwards towards the door. Opening it, he slipped out and could be heard giving orders. Yuffie wondered what the hell was going on.
She was far from stupid and could have easily figured out that there weren't that many girls who managed to take out a large group of shadow creatures in the last few days. So, they were talking about her, huh? But what could she have that they wanted so badly? And what a shock for them when she turned up here and now to ruin it for them. She could hardly wait to show them what they were messing with.
The doors opened again, and two shadow soldiers entered. They half- carried someone between them, but whoever it was blocked from view. The second man entered again.
"Master, the one you sent for." There was something like satisfaction dripping in his voice. "As you promised, when you have no further use for it, it is mine."
The man in red smiled so that Yuffie felt the chill even up here.
"As you wish, servant." He carefully raised a perfect hand snapped his fingers. The two soldiers instantly dropped the person held between them and stepped back. The man was bruised and a little bloody, but in the instant she saw him, Yuffie's blood ran cold.
It was Reno.
~*
Chapter 9
Yuffie had been pretty disappointed when she'd gotten there. Using her intuition and what tracking skills she had, Yuffie had followed the shadow creatures back towards the east. However, the continent wasn't exactly wide and there weren't many places to hide. And so, Yuffie had found it. . .
A shack in the middle of nowhere was NOT acceptable evil villain hideout in Yuffie's opinion. There were some things you simply did not do, and not having an impressively cool hideout was one of them. Sephiroth had had an entire evil crater, so this came as quite a let down.
Sulking, Yuffie had examining the front of the little cabin when it had proven to be not quite what it looked. Oh, it was indeed a little cabin in the middle of an open field, but that isn't to say there wasn't anything else. Creeping around the side of the cabin she'd found it completely by accident. It was pretty hard to miss, in fact.
After stepping through the barrier, Yuffie had found herself standing in front of an immense sprawling estate. So, this was one of those invisible joints you read about in fairy tales? It was definitely clichéd, but she somehow wasn't surprised. Yuffie smiled her approval before slinking out of sight.
A huge garden had been laid out in front of the huge mansion - that's what it was, really - and fortunately for the young ninja, it offered many places to hide. It was patrolled heavily by the shadow creatures Yuffie had fought before. Remembering everything she'd learned about them before, Yuffie had made a large point of keeping her Conformer out of sight and out of mind. The Fire Materia was still in the weapon just in case, but Yuffie didn't want to attract attention.
Reconnaissance was the first job on her agenda, and that meant getting inside. No difficult for a fully trained ninja. Yuffie could scale the sheerest walls without breaking a sweat. Just because a place was being guarded didn't mean that you couldn't get in. It just made it more interesting. Yuffie had broken into more than a few stores in her earlier career and she was damned good at it.
A large fountain gurgled happily in the sunlight, and Yuffie crouched behind it, half in the bushes. A sound alerted her to the approaching guards, and Yuffie flattened herself on the ground. She didn't breathe for the few seconds that the guards were the few feet away that could get her caught. Fortunately, the seconds did not stretch on, and the guards moved along their route. They probably didn't even think that anyone would be able to find this place, let alone want to get in, she thought smugly.
Pulling herself slowly up, Yuffie scanned about for the next place to hide. A long cement walkway extended up to the mansion, with a blocky railing down either side. The railing itself was about three feet high, quite thick and with a slight overhanging edge on the outside. Taking all this in, Yuffie made a dash for it.
Diving behind the ledge, Yuffie lay on her stomach, and inched along on her elbows. The walkway was a long one and this an unpleasant way of moving. Yuffie directed all her attention to getting up and away as soon as possible. The grass tickled her arms and legs, and the rough surface of the railing chaffed at her side as she crawled on.
Suddenly, a dark shadow shot over Yuffie. Screaming a curse in the silence of her mind, Yuffie rolled herself against the railing and under the overhang as much as possible. Instinctively, her breath caught in her throat mid-gasp.
The dark creature above her tilted its head and looked carefully over the side. Its dark face was as equally hidden as the others had been but Yuffie could have sworn she'd seen two yellow slits where its eyes might have been. For a second everything froze, and Yuffie was certain she was caught. Her Conformer just out of grasp, she waited to be hauled out into the light.
Instead, a moment later, the guard withdrew and continued it's slow pace down the lawn. Nearly choking on her relief, Yuffie waited another two minutes before moving. It didn't do to take chances, and she was pretty angry with herself for losing focus. She began to move again, but this time kept her eyes and ears open for the telltale signs of someone coming.
When she finally reached the end of the way, Yuffie had already pinpointed the orchard to her right as her next destination. There were many small trees growing in a neat little garden, but through them several huge, ancient oaks reached for the sky. It would provide excellent cover and perhaps more.
Moving fast, Yuffie rolled forward and onto her feet before disappearing once again into the mass of branches overhead. Also an expert at climbing trees, Yuffie was up high before you could blink an eye. She had never liked heights but that didn't mean she wouldn't go there anyway.
The little apple trees couldn't offer her much, but the oaks were a different story. Yuffie couldn't help but wonder. She had been here not two weeks ago and none of this had been here then. Not the cabin, not these trees and certainly not this mansion. She had done enough building in Wutai to realize that huge houses like these did not simply grow over night.
The twisted branches were like a jungle gym, but for her it was only play. She could slip through the tightest of spaces and was quite a good gymnast as well. Climbing along, Yuffie searched with her eyes for a place to get in.
Aha. There, just ahead, was a large window. A long thin branch extended towards it, and Yuffie scampered up it. It bent slightly under her weight, but her balance was perfect and she was springing onto the window ledge in mere seconds.
The window looked into a large sitting room, ornately finished. The floor was wood but covered with an expensive red rug. All the furniture was the expensive, tastefully understated kind that Yuffie had never liked much. The whole room looked like it had been designed to look pretty. But not, well, lived in. Yuffie could almost swear that some of those chairs had never been sat in more than once.
Yuffie felt along the edge of the window with her fingertips and gently pulled upwards. To her considerable surprise, the window slid open without effort. Cautiously, she slid into the room, half expecting alarms to go off any second. But nothing happened. Congratulating herself, Yuffie looked around the room. There were two doors, although there was no way of knowing where they led.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps pounded in Yuffie's ears. Someone was coming. Her search turned frantic as she tried to find somewhere to hide. None of the furniture would give her the necessary cover, and not to mention that she'd be totally trapped.
Her eyes fell on a medium sized grate up above. It was high up, but that was no difficulty. She just hoped she had the time to get inside before the newcomer got the door open. Flashing into action, Yuffie hopped onto the back of the couch against that particular wall, and quickly pried the grate off the wall. To her credit it was indeed an air vent.
She pulled herself inside before pulling the grate back on after her. She was just in time as the nearest heavy wooden door swung open. There wasn't a lot of room to turn around in, so Yuffie had to back up a bit before she found a place where she could back up and turn.
Crawling forward, she edged back towards the room from where she'd come. It seemed like a logical place to start looking for information, so Yuffie peered through the grate and into the room.
There were two people in the room, or so Yuffie thought at first glance. She quickly had to revise that first assumption. One of the figures was a shadow creature, and it was standing with its head bowed. The man was tall and well dressed with dark hair, but he stood with his back to Yuffie. Something about his posture seemed familiar to her. He was talking to the monster as if it were a servant.
"We have big plans, No.15, and we cannot afford to have them interrupted. Your Master may believe that one person can be important, but I do not hold with it. We should not we sitting here waiting to be found!"
A hissing could be heard from inside the creatures black hood, and although Yuffie was sure she was not hearing words, they echoed in her head.
"It iss not up to yhou to quessstion. The Massster iss very clear on thisss. Yhou will work hiss will and accsept yhour reward. If you fail, yhou will be terminated. There iss no other way."
The man seemed taken aback by the cold voice that rang in his mind. He did not back down, however.
"O-Of course, I would never dream of disobeying. . . But you must be as dissatisfied as I. Think of what we could do turned loose. No, I see you will not answer that. But rest assured I will complain to your Master."
Even his voice seemed to scream with recognition, but Yuffie could not fit it into place. She watched as the man swept out the door to be followed much more slowly by the creature.
So, someone was running all this from behind the scenes. Well, next task was to find out who and show him that no one gets away with what he did to Wutai.
Yuffie pushed herself backwards and then turned around again before venturing further into the air ducts. If she found anything dangerous then she wanted to be able to meet it head on. Something outside of herself to Yuffie that she would find what she was looking for at the center of the mansion. She didn't know how or why, but she had always believed that she should never doubt such inklings.
As she crawled on, guided only by her sense of direction, she remembered her dream last night. Every night is was as if she got pulled further and further into the dream until she would be unable to escape. The man in her dreams needed her now and he would be waiting for her in this mansion. There was no doubt about that.
Vague sounds came to her as she went through the darkness, shafts of light from the rooms she passed and fleeting conversation. Sometimes she would stay and listen for a little while, others she would pass on by without even acknowledging their presence. She was being led further and further in and although she knew it, Yuffie could not fight it. She had no desire too. She wanted to find out who or what it was so she could put paid to the ringmaster, whoever he was.
Finally, the incessant pulling onwards stopped, and Yuffie followed a side duct down towards a large vent. It sloped downwards slightly so that she had to brace herself against the grate to keep upright. It opened into a huge circular room, the likes of which Yuffie had never seen before.
A large dais was set at the northern end of the room, and an intricately carved chair that had more than a passing resemblance to a throne. But Yuffie's attention was entirely riveted on the man standing in front of that throne, and she had no time for anything else.
The man was young, no, he seemed young, maybe twenty, but another feeling told Yuffie he was far older. He had peculiar black hair that reminded her of Cloud's and a tall figure. He was dressed in crimson red, and had a short black cape to go with it. He had an open face that should have been friendly, but instead was vaguely menacing. His eyes were what drew Yuffie the most, however. They were black. Not the usual black that you often saw in Wutai, but an unnatural black that was like looking into the depths of space.
He was laughing softly, and his laughter could have frozen a volcano in mid eruption. Another man stood a little ways away, his head bowed. It was the same man she had seen before, but to Yuffie's great chagrin, again she could not clearly see his face. The man in red spoke to the other, his voice high, cold and clear.
"You have 'concerns'?" He laughed again. "We care nothing for your petty scheming. You have ambitions to rule the world; We can see it on your face and in your heart. We will give it to you, but We need the girl first."
"But. . . But why, master? Why do you need an insignificant!? You have power beyond these mortals wildest dreams and yet you seek one of them for aid!? It makes no sense!"
"Perhaps not to you, not yet. But without her, there can be no going any further. And we cannot go back. We must clear the way for final preparations. This is the one who can give us the last edge we need."
"Who, master? Who can give you what you cannot already take!?"
"Peace, servant. She will be joining us in a moment and then all your questions shall be answered. We do not need to waste Our time by explaining the trivial details to you. Simply be content because I have commanded it so."
"The one you sent for has been brought in, Master, but it took some doing. It put up quite a good fight; nearly as good as the girl in fact. We took it in the end only because it did not know how to wield the weapons against our dark soldiers."
"Ah. . . yes. I heard about the girl. I had expected no less from her. Very well, bring in the other. It's about time we welcomed our guests."
The man bowed and shuffled backwards towards the door. Opening it, he slipped out and could be heard giving orders. Yuffie wondered what the hell was going on.
She was far from stupid and could have easily figured out that there weren't that many girls who managed to take out a large group of shadow creatures in the last few days. So, they were talking about her, huh? But what could she have that they wanted so badly? And what a shock for them when she turned up here and now to ruin it for them. She could hardly wait to show them what they were messing with.
The doors opened again, and two shadow soldiers entered. They half- carried someone between them, but whoever it was blocked from view. The second man entered again.
"Master, the one you sent for." There was something like satisfaction dripping in his voice. "As you promised, when you have no further use for it, it is mine."
The man in red smiled so that Yuffie felt the chill even up here.
"As you wish, servant." He carefully raised a perfect hand snapped his fingers. The two soldiers instantly dropped the person held between them and stepped back. The man was bruised and a little bloody, but in the instant she saw him, Yuffie's blood ran cold.
It was Reno.
~*