Final Fantasy 7
The Eternal Weapons
Disclaimers: This is an AU of FF7 and all FF7 characters belong to SquareSoft. This story is not for profit.
___________________________________________________________
Chapter 1
The Beginning
While thunder was heard behind the Corel Mountains, the group of excavating scientist were in a hurry to set up camp. They were aware they had chosen a bad week for the expedition because of the bad weather around the 3rd season, but the excitement of a scientist is hard to pass by.
The group of 19 men and women quickly hurried into the bigger tent after their smaller tents were set up. The meeting that was to take place would fill them up with all the information they needed about the project. They were all wearing forest green t-shirts, and all had the ShinRa logo on it, their company.
The Science Department of the ShinRa government was always in activity. They were always on top of a new project or making better adjustments of old ones. President ShinRa had given permission to the Science Department for this certain project when rare waves were interrupting radio communications. In a quick investigation, they were able to centralized the area where the waves where coming from.
While they were all taking their seats on the floor, the raindrops were making themselves be heard. A brown haired man made himself comfortable in front of the scientists. He felt the excitement radiating from everyone in the tent, and that made him smile with anticipation. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and clasped his hands then placed them in his jean pockets.
"Well, I guess we are all… "Under the weather huh?"
A couple of muffled laughter were heard, then silence once again.
"I appreciate all of you coming in today, even though I know most of you wouldn't have missed this for the world's rarest creature marathon. But I think I can say for all that this is really something worth a while."
He reached inside his back pocket and pulled out his glasses and put them on.
"As you all know, we are here to investigate further the rare readings we have been receiving from around this area. As tomorrow morning we are to locate the highest peak of waves and see what it comes of it. We are to be in four groups of four and one of three. Having Dr. Langston, Dr. Clamski, Dr. Hojo, Dr. Readings and myself as group leaders. The equipment supplied to you by the President will be enough for this two week investigation."
"On the table on your right are paperwork of all the information you already know, but might want to get back to it and some that might be new to you all."
The man pointed to a table on his far left. Supplied with stacks of paper documents.
"I can assure you by the time you finish reading those, all of your questions will be answered without me.
One of the women scientists raised her hand and smiled.
"Yes Dr. Readings?"
The brunette smile widened.
"Dr. Gast, I just wanted to thank you for making us part of this expedition. It was a last minute arrangement but I guess we are all grateful to be out of the labs."
"Why… thank you Lucrecia… I mean… Dr. Readings. And for your information I only included the best of the best for this side project."
They all grinned in pride.
The grasses were still wet because of the fallen rain that had stopped almost at dawn. The sun hadn't even risen yet and the scientists were already setting for their assigned area. Dr. Hojo, a man with ebony hair and wide prescribed glasses walked faster and joined Lucrecia's side with a thin smile on his face. The man was quite attractive and Lucrecia thought that his eyes were a gorgeous set of blue, which was of course…when he wasn't wearing those ridiculous eyeglasses that were a bit too big for his face. But she couldn't deny that every time she looked into his eyes she could almost see the whole constellations of stars in them. She felt butterflies in her stomach every time he smiled. And when he suddenly had to make skin contact with her, a simple touch of his skin was electricity to her nerves. She didn't quite understand why she felt this way about Dr. Hojo, he wasn't the best scientist or the wealthiest man, but she couldn't stop the feelings she would get whenever she was near him.
"Lucrecia, how are you this morning?"
She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
"Wonderful, and I can almost tell you are feeling the same way? Am I right?"
He chuckled sweetly and bowed.
"Its always a wonderful experience when I'm close to someone as wonderful as you"
And that was another thing, his sweet talk was just too irresistible to ignore. She turned back to the walking crew behind her and grimaced.
"Sephral, you're girlfriend is surely giving me the hard look."
He turned around to see the red haired young woman walking behind them looking as if she would walk up to them any second and pull him away from her. Yes, he was engaged, Lucrecia knew. But she couldn't help it. They both turned back to face the horizon, and the road that would take them to the separation point.
"She's going to be alright. Nothing wrong with talking to one of my colleagues. And besides, I talk to whomever I want to talk to. And I like talking with you."
"And why is that?"
"You're not boring"
She laughed then, and he joined in quietly.
"After this expedition is over, I would like to take you to a nice place I found"
"What?"
"Yes, yes… it's in the sector 3 plate. A very nice diner. I'm sure you will like it."
"I don't think your girlfriend will like me hanging around her."
"I didn't say she was going"
Lucrecia turned to look at him, and she realized he wasn't joking. She didn't know what impulse took over her but she was shocked when she finally agreed to go with him.
Dr. Gast was looking at his monitor, he knew he was on the right track; he could feel it. A feeling that was almost hypnotizing. He could feel some kind of pull and wondered if anybody else was having the same feeling. But he decided not to voice it. He was looking at the monitor but not really seeing the readings of waves, he concentrated solely on the feeling. A feeling that was almost bliss. He looked back to his two other companions, who were busy with their tracking equipment. Gast suddenly stopped and looked around him. The base of one of the mountains looked odd to his eyes, its color differed from the rest of its mountain. Of course that was natural, but the color it gave was anything but. He dropped his equipment and walked slowly towards it. And he felt the feeling grow, intensify more and it almost made him gag. He suddenly felt light headed and thought for sure that he was going to faint as it made him sway a little. One of the crew walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Aeros? Are you alright?"
Aeros looked dazedly at the man and nodded slowly.
"Yes… but I think… I think I found something"
Lucrecia took her walky-talky in her hand as she heard the message.
"Where are you located Dan?"
"129 alt. 13 long. Right at the base of Mount Warlow."
"We're on our way"
Sephral sighed in annoyance as he heard the message. That idiot of Aeros always was the one with luck on his side. He wished he would just step aside and let him do the findings. He wasn't jealous of the Head Chief of the Science Dept. but he didn't like the fact that Aeros was better than him. But he knew that could always change. Everything that goes up has to come down. When he heard Lucrecia's voice on the radio his thoughts of Aeros were pushed aside.
He was engaged yes, but his feelings for Derma were quickly fading. Started fading as soon as he had met Lucrecia. She was Beautiful, intelligent, ambitious, and a hard worker. Everything he ever found attractive in a woman. Derma had some of these qualities, but not all. He was aware that Lucrecia was single. He had every intention of making Lucrecia his. He was waiting for the perfect opportunity to send Derma back on the road.
He and his crew started making their way toward Mountain Warlow; he wasn't too overjoyed in seeing what Aeros had found.
President ShinRa wasn't a man of patience, when he wanted something done right away, it had to be done right away. No excuses. He looked down at the beaten woman on the floor.
"Why do you make me do this Sapphire? Why do you always make me upset? I told you to get the list done by noon today and look…"
He pointed to the grandfather clock on the wide living room.
"It's five o'clock and not even a word is written down!"
The woman tried to stand but gave up on her second try.
"I'm sorry Rutus, I tried…"
"Don't fool me woman… if you would have tried it would've been done by now! All you do is go against me; do you think that's fair? Do you think its fair what you do to me? I buy you everything you want, I keep you safe and under my roof and I keep you healthy and wealthy and you cant even do me ONE single puny little favor as to write the damn guest list!"
"I'm sorry…"
"You're sorry!"
He took her by her blond hair and dragged her to the sofa where he took her and threw her hard against it. She outer a painful cry as she squirmed away from her husband.
"All you do is be sorry. Guess what? I'm not sorry!"
The phone started to ring and he looked at the machine. He turned back to her then cursed under his breath as he went to pick the phone up.
"Yes?"
"What do you mean?"
The construction team arrived right away, along with President ShinRa and Vice President Domino. Aeros was pleased with all of this. He knew he had found something great. Even though he didn't know what it was yet, he felt that it was a great discovery. He sensed something inside the mountain. And the radio waves were at its peak. Rutus walked up to Aeros and the quickly shook hands.
"I have everything you asked of me Aeros, the carrier has all the machines necessary for this little side project of yours. I wasn't busy so I thought I might as well see what you've accomplished… again…"
Aeros laughed joyfully, Rutus and himself had known each other since Child School. They were from the same town of Icicle. Aeros had been with Rutus, beside him from the very beginning, even on the Midgar Project.
"Thank you Ru, I was hoping you would come. Another accomplishment for your company is a major momentum."
"OUR company Aeros… OURS…"
Lucrecia felt exhausted, a week of excavating and still, there was much more to do. She was writing in her notepad inside her tent. The night was silent and cool. She wanted to go back to the city. A week ago she was glad to be out of that metropolis, but now she did miss it.
She was proud of the city she was part of, Midgar was a great place to live, lively, and even the city under the plate was alive. Midgar was surrounded by beautiful forest, and she could stand on the 68th and 69th floor and see the entire view. And the stars were beautiful from so far up, as if she could almost touch them if she reached a little higher. The stars were beautiful out there too, around Corel, they were more cleared because no light covered their light. She had fallen asleep twice outside while looking at them.
She stopped writing as she heard someone whisper her name. She closed her notepad and walked outside her tent to find Sephral standing aside her tent. He smiled and waved innocently, the sight made her smile too.
"Hi"
"Hi Sephral… what are you doing here?"
"I came to see you… actually, to show you something… I want you to follow me."
"Where?"
Sephral sighed and started walking without her.
"Sephral?"
He had almost disappeared into darkness had not the stars were shinning upon them. She looked around her before she followed behind him.
They had climbed higher than camp. Where not a mountain blocked their way for a couple of kilometers. She gasped as she saw the night sky from further up. They walked up to the end of the cliff where Sephral sat down dangling his feet from the cliff's end. Lucrecia did the same after he padded his side on the ground.
They were silent for a couple of minutes, just enjoying the view. Sephral looked at her and their eyes met.
"My father always used to tell me stories of space and its galaxies."
He sighed and looked up toward the skies.
"About other creatures living out there. Of one day where they could come to this planet and we would all coexist with one another. And he would tell me how beautiful they were… because…"
He laughed as he remembered.
"He had seen one… and I would believe him so… and he would tell me that I might get to see one too…"
"Do you still believe?"
"Oh yes… I do believe in life in outer space. But I think they would stay away from this planet…"
"Why's that?"
"Are you kidding me Lucrecia? They step one feet in this place and they will get back into that ship of theirs screaming for their lives…"
They both laughed on the idea.
"This planet is too cruel… Humans are cruel… they think cruel and act cruel."
"Sephral… not all of them do"
"Of course not… but most do…"
No one said anything for another long moment.
"My father… the moon was his favorite object up there. He would have these theories of it that of course… included humans."
They both turned to the full moon.
"I didn't believe him on that one though. Too sentimental…"
Lucrecia smiled and that urged him to continue.
"He used to say, "Sephral… when the love of your live is near, you'll know who she is." And I would ask him how would I know so, and he would say, " You'll see the moon in her eyes…"
He laughed softly.
"But I believe it now"
"Why now?"
"Because I see it in your eyes."
She stood staring at him, as he still stared at the moon, he slowly turned his head and looked at her.
"I do…"
He slowly raised a hand to her face and pushed her bangs behind her ears.
"I do…"
She leaned closer to him as she slowly closed her eyes. And when his lips touched hers she knew this was her heaven.
Author's note: I wanted to start from scratch… I hope you all review. Criticism is welcome too…