Bwee. Fixed Chapter 11! Yay! *really pleased with her fluffy sap* Yay!
^________^
Viteros: ..... *rolls eyes*
Disclaimer: Nope, I'm afraid we still don't own FF9. Too bad, huh? But, wonderous Square still owns it. ^^ Our characters are our own creation, though, and may not be used.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~Chapter Eleven~
He raised his delicate eyebrows, shuffling closer to her, sitting cross- legged in front of her. Placing his palms on her knees, he rested his chin on top of his hands.
Making no move to shake him off, she frowned. "Of course I am."
"Tell me of your past. Please?" he begged, his eyes pleading.
She couldn't refuse. "...I guess I could..." she said quietly, averting her eyes from his. "Well, I am one of Garland's...creations. Yes, one of his Genomes with a soul. He created me as an infant, I had a life like any 'normal' child. Kuja, he is maybe seven years older than me. He was like my older brother; we are inseparable. He became much more to me, though.
"Garland...it is like he loathes us, though. He does not hesitate to harm us. He has broken bones, bruised, scarred.
"My life...is it filled with feelings of uselessness, worthlessness... That evil man, I hate him with every fibre of my being and--" She turned her face back to him, noticed that he was staring at her with rapt attention. She slowly turned slightly red. "Forgive me; I got a little carried away..."
"No, don't worry." He smiled. "Passion is a good thing."
She smiled a little, she couldn't help it. "I am glad for that."
They sat there in silence for a long time, both lost in thought, Angel still resting his chin on Sephira's knees. As she shifted a little, he blinked, pulling his head up. "My goodness, how long have we been sitting here?" he asked, grinning slightly.
"I can assure you, I do not know," she said wryly.
Angel removed his hands from her knees, tilting his head to one side. "I cannot believe this. You still do not trust me, you do not even like me, not at all."
"I--"
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Excuse me?"
He leaned closer once more, taking her shoulders. "Are you afraid of me?" he repeated, a little quieter. When she didn't answer, averting her gaze, he took a hand from her shoulder, placing it under her chin and tilting her head upwards, to look at him. "You have nothing to fear from me. I will *never* harm you. Do you understand? Ever. I promise you that."
Staring at him, she was shocked to find that she believed him. She was even more surprised to find herself coming to like him. If he was no true sorcerer, what was this spell he was weaving around her?
"Why promise something to me? You barely even know me, and--" She halted as he placed a finger to her lips. "..Wha?"
"Shh..." Leaning forward slowly, he kissed her gently, as though he thought she would fear him more, if he had been more forceful. Brushing some hair from her partially shut eyes, he ran his fingers lightly down the side of her face.
"How adorable. Pet, you are quite the charmer."
Quickly pulling away, Angel swung around a little, blinking in surprise. Sephira, blushing, glanced around the black-haired seraph.
"Master Terisas," Angel breathed, quietly. "W-what brings you here?"
"I am here to carry out a couple of experiments, child. Get out." Terisas jerked a thumb behind him, to the door.
She instantly disliked him. He looked cruel, wicked. His eyes were cold, dark. His hair, shoulder-length, grey with age, framed his face. He smiled, a frightening expression from him. Taking steps forward, towards them, he reached out a hand, which was covered by a leather glove. His other hand was left bare, though.
"Come, boy, get up. Leave us." When Angel made no move to get up, Terisas gathered Angel's hair in his hand and forcefully yanked him to his feet. Angel cried out, his hands flying to try to free himself.
"Please, let me go, Master!" he cried. Terisas threw him to the side, Angel stumbling, collapsing to his knees again. He leapt to his feet as Terisas kicked him.
"Get out! Don't disobey me!" Terisas shouted, glaring at Angel as the youth made a hasty retreat, stumbling out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Sephira, staring wide-eyed at Terisas, shrunk back when he turned to her. He reminded her so much of Garland.
"Now, my dear, we need to run a couple of experiments on you. I need to see something. It's quite important, so don't struggle, don't disobey me."
"I...I--" she stammered, swallowing.
"Are you going to tell me that you don't want to obey? Very well." Ducking down and wrapping a hand in her hair, he dragged her to her feet, throwing her against the wall. Grabbing both of her wrists, he held her off of the ground, slamming her back once more into the wall. Yanking out a knife, he thrust it through her hands, straight through, into the metal behind her. She screamed, until her breath ran out, then she panted, struggling, blood running down her arms. Terisas laughed.
"How you cry...humorous..." Walking slowly towards a table in the center of the room, he picked up a book, flipping through it. "This is one of dear Garland's journals. He wrote of one of his most admirable experiments, wrote of it a great deal. Do you know of the Crystal of Life?"
"Of...of course I do..." Sephira hissed through gritted teeth, pain causing her to whimper unwantedly.
"Excellent. Well, you see, Garland wrote of something he did with that Crystal. The Crystal has a kind of life force in it, something almost like a soul. So, do you know what he did? He compressed and changed it, to fit a Genome, and placed it into one of his creations. The Crystal was, unfortunately, destroyed in the process. But, the world did not return to Zero, no, it continued, because of the compressed soul in one of the Genomes.
"He also noted that he placed some kind of protection spell on the soul, so that it would be more difficult to destroy. I do not know how to break the spell..."
"Why... why would you want to destroy the Crystal....?" Sephira gasped.
"Why? Power. Absolute power..."
"You would destroy the planet, as well as yourself!"
Terisas smiled, shaking his index finger. "Tsk, tsk. It will not destroy me. I am eternal and--"
"You are a fool!"
"Am I? All I need to do, to live just a little longer, is to take a little bit of life from you. It's so simple. I have lived for so very long, and it is not at all difficult." Laughing, Terisas, book in one hand, moved back towards Sephira. Standing beside her, he flipped through the book again. "Ah... I've read this so many times... I know his stories, I know all of his rhymes. And yet, I am not even a step closer. It tears me apart! I need the book with the spell, and how to reverse it! I know he has it; he doesn't do anything scientific without writing it down! I don't know where it lies, though!" Resting his head on her shoulder, he reached his free hand up and touched it to her face. "I am certain you have the Crystal's spirit within you, but I cannot harm it!"
"No... I am an ordinary Genome..." Sephira protested, shaking her head to remove his hand.
"Of course you are, my dear," Terisas said with a hint of sarcasm. Leaning against the all, he flipped through the pages of the book again, skimming through the words. "This kills me! I cannot use you in anyway, until I know how!" Swinging around to look at her, he asked, "Do you feel pain?"
"Goddamn right I do!" she cried, gasping in agony.
"I wouldn't think so. You are a doll, a puppet. They don't feel any type of emotion..."
"Let me down! Please!" she begged, tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. He was hitting on the exact part of her life she didn't want to delve in. She didn't want to question her existence; it only left her feeling alone, depressed, worthless, and devoid of life.
Terisas laughed, reaching up and pulling the blade from the wall, out of her hands. She tumbled to the ground, curling up in a huddled heap, holding her hands close to her. Blood dripped onto the floor, pooling a little.
She looked up as he took one of her hands, examining it. "You do bleed, though. Is it real blood?" Running his fingers over her palm, he licked the blood from the tips, smiling. "It is. Garland really outdid himself."
"Leave me be," she wailed, tearing her hand from him and cradling it with her other hand, close to her chest.
"I suppose you do know it is real blood, do you not?" Grabbing her hand again, he turned it over, wiping some of the blood from her wrist, tracing a couple thin scars that were marked in her skin. "Hm.. I would think you do... Why would you try to commit suici--"
Wrenching her hand from his once more, she shrieked, "Leave me alone!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Viteros expertly piloted the ship over the Destiny, and the two Genomes in the cargo hold hurriedly dropped their first volleys. Kuja looked as the small, nondescript balls fell down towards Terisas' airship and he said curiously, "What exactly are these small things supposed to-"
POW!
The first one hit, and it exploded into a huge, blossoming flower of flame. As more hit, the airships rocked, slammed hard by the sheer power of the very air being hurled across the sky.
"We're out!" yelled Zidane, "What do we do now!?"
"We move in!"
"What!?" near-screamed Kuja, "What are you planning!?"
Viteros laughed. "Suicidal is the way to go now! Let's go!" The airship went into a sharp dive, throwing everyone back.
--------------
"Sir, the ship has disappeared from our scopes!"
"What? No ship that small has a cloaking device!"
"We can't see it anymore sir."
"Continue the search. I will go and personally apologize to Lord Terisas."
--------------
Meanwhile, having landed directly on top of the control bridge just behind the scanning satellite dish array, Viteros relaxed and stretched out. "I told you I was the best!"
There was a silence. "Actually...you did not," said Kuja.
"No?"
"Never once," said Zidane.
"Oh...dang."
"Anyhow, we must think of how to get out of this happy little situation," said Kuja, looking out the window. "We are safe for the moment, but as soon as we launch, or if this ship ever docks, and I am sure it has to sometime, we shall have soldiers all over us."
"This is true," said Viteros thoughtfully. "Maybe if we...dunno if this'll work..."
"First, never say 'dunno' again, and what are you thinking?" asked Kuja impatiently. "She is going to die in there, you know!"
"I'm worried too, but lets not rush happily along to our doom," replied Viteros, eyes closing. "I'm thinking, so don't hurt me if I stop moving."
After a while, Viteros started snoring softly. Kuja slapped his own forehead, and Zidane said, "Know how to play poker?"
Kuja looked over angrily. "What the hell is that!?"
"I'm not sure..."
After a while, Viteros got up. "Yeah, I think we can do it, but I'll need your help for this." He started rummaging in a few boxes, and he said, "Kuja, Zidane, could you go back and get a couple of boxes...one that says 'my big box of extra leathery things' and another that says 'obscenely powerful but thin steel poles that interconnect'. I'll be waiting up here; I've got to get something that's around me somewhere..."
Wasting no time, the two Genomes hurried back with the boxes, and Viteros took them and grinned. "This is called insanely strong tape, and it'll hold basically anything together. We'll arrange the poles into this delta type of shape and then tape the leather on top, and then make handholds underneath out of more pole, and more leather."
"Why more leather at the bottom grip?"
"Makes it much more comfy," said Viteros. "Let's get to work."
------------------
After a while their hanggliders were finished, and the three were just about ready to go. Suddenly, Viteros grinned. "I've just gotten a thought."
"Good job," said Kuja sourly. "What is it?"
"This airship of mine has a special sequence built into its programming, just in case a situation like this comes up. Not exactly, of course, but you know, just kinda, and-"
"Get to the point!"
"OK, calm down, you guys. This airship was designed specifically to do damage with the philosophy "I'll die and take you with me", and as such, it is built with a network of explosives all along its frame, key points, and engines. If you would trigger a few of those bombs, then this thing goes bang in a really really big way."
Zidane was confused. "But if we blow this up, we'll be stranded!"
"No, I see what you mean.take out Destiny, right?" asked Kuja.
"Exactly. Destiny blows, and that really cripples Terisas, at least temporarily. And trust me, I've got this under control. Wait a second."
He whipped out a small rectangular device from his cloak. He opened it, and the two could see it was covered in small buttons.
"What is that?" asked Zidane.
"Cell phone," said Viteros. "You would not believe how much these guys make me pay to talk to people.oh, hey, Cid! How are you! And Shera? Yeah.yeah.uh huh.no, remember me? No? Oh, c'mon, remember me, Viteros Ojikage?...me, you don't remember me? Don't you remember, you were with me at the Arten Race back at Midgar? I."
Suddenly, Viteros pulled the phone away from his ear, grimacing at the long, long stream of curses that flowed from the phone.
After a minute or two, Viteros put it back on his ear. "Wait, calm down! Remember, I paid you back! Yes I did, full! But anyhow, Cid.I need your help. I need you to fly the Highwind to coordinate SKY. Can you do that? Yes? Okay, then.see you later.thanks a lot!"
Viteros shut off the phone and grinned. "You can always trust my main man Cid Highwind. Like me, he's been in too many Final Fantasy."
"Pardon me?" asked Kuja.
"Ignore it.he's kinda weird," said Zidane.
Viteros walked over to the control panel. "Sionara, you bloody pile of junk," he said, pushing a big red button that said, "DON'T PUSH THIS!". Suddenly, the entire screen went black and had a big red number 5:00 on it.
"When that runs out, we die!" yelled Viteros, "So we hurry! To the roof!"
-----------------
A few seconds later they ran out of the airship holding their makeshift hangliders. Grabbing hold and running, they jumped off the side of the ship, flying quickly to the objective, Outer Heaven SKY.
Despite the terrible threat hanging above their heads, and the fear sitting like a massive stone in his stomach, Zidane couldn't help being carried away by the exhilaration of flight. He smiled, he laughed, his hair rippled in the breeze and he closed his eyes in euphoria. Nothing like flying inside of a metal shell, this was being in the sky, being one with the sky, feeling the wind in your face and the freedom of flying through the clouds, through the endless blue.
Finally they landed on the outside of Outer Heaven SKY. They put their gliders in a pile and cautiously approached the roof door. Viteros pulled out a small metal box covered in wires. He set it near the door and then scurried.
Boom. (understatement)
The door blew open, and they rushed in, knowing full well what an idiot Viteros was for exploding the door with a bomb.
Viteros' thoughts: I am so awesome. Fire. Explosions. Oh yeah.
Kuja's thoughts: What a nimrod. Let us hurry and save Sephira.
Zidane's thoughts: Dagger...lets get disguises...Dagger...
"We should grab a few straggler soldiers and masquerade as them," said Zidane, as they neared the bottom of the stairs and saw the lines of marching, armored soldiers. Tersias' warriors were dressed in thick body armor, with masks that concealed identity and destroyed individuality, turning them all into a faceless, determined, deadly horde.
"How wonderfully convenient that the bad guys all wear masks. This'll be easier than I thought." Viteros grinned. Then he looked downcast. "But they're all in neat little rows. How will we get costumes?"
"We could go to an armory or something. They have got to have extra uniforms," said Kuja. "And whatever those things that they are holding are."
"They're called guns," said Zidane. "Vit's got one."
"Oh yes. I saw it before at Ipsen."
"But back to our problem," said Viteros, a little annoyed, "How do we get to wherever they store the extra suits?"
"We hurry," said Kuja simply, getting up. Crouched down, he hurried down the hallway.
"If there's one thing I've learned from playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it is shoot the security cameras, move out of their range, or use a chaff grenade."
Zidane turned to Viteros and said three words. Two were "What the" and the last is not appropriate to write down, sorry.
Viteros and Zidane followed behind Kuja, watching out for the cameras.
"By video game law," said Viteros, "we shouldn't be forced to creep along like this for too long, or else the player will lose interest and quit. So I think we'll soon find the armory...right here, what did I tell you guys? And look, inside, there's our save moogle."
The three went inside, Kuja and Zidane careful not to get too close to Viteros, or talk to him, or glance at him.
They hurriedly rummaged through the drawers and shelves, and Zidane opened a standing drawer that revealed bunches of uniforms folded and put onto shelves with helmets on top, and Kuja found the gun rack. Viteros was too busy rambling on about how "And the main villain always knows more than the good guys! What's up with that? I mean seriously, it's like Cloud Strife, Solid Snake, and Fei Fong Wong among others were ALL idiots, and while I'm talking about bad guys..."
Throwing a helmet at Viteros' head, Zidane hissed, "Get away from the door, and put this on."
Viteros grabbed the helmet and stuck it on. "I always hated these.they're so.so."
"Annoying?"
"Confining?"
"No.ugly."
Kuja smacked his head. "Just put it on, idiot boy."
----------------
A few minutes later three soldiers stumbled out the doors and walked down the hall, watching other soldiers and trying to emulate them.
The airship Destiny did not have lights, and was instead a pure black emptiness. The helmets had a way to show, however, all of the surroundings illuminated and as bright as day. They walked down the halls quietly, after seeing the soldiers they quickly ducked into shadow, avoiding all others now that they knew how to act.
"We need to get to Sephira," said Kuja quietly.
"I agree," put in Zidane, "We need to get to her quick. Who knows what they've done to her?"
Viteros looked around and breathed deeply. "Knowing Terisas, something very very bad. We need to hurry, yes, and-"
"Get here, so hurry to leaving be?"
Viteros spun, gun hand up. "Who's there!"
"Best thing dark.easy hide. So easy."
Viteros saw the blade flash suddenly, whirling through the air, flying at them. It took a split second for him to aim and fire, knocking the thrown sword to the ground. He scanned the area, and shouted, "Akumu! Where are you!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Please read and review! We will draw you pictures! ^o^
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Sephira's Gallery: http://sephira.deviantart.com/
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Viteros: ..... *rolls eyes*
Disclaimer: Nope, I'm afraid we still don't own FF9. Too bad, huh? But, wonderous Square still owns it. ^^ Our characters are our own creation, though, and may not be used.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------- ~Chapter Eleven~
He raised his delicate eyebrows, shuffling closer to her, sitting cross- legged in front of her. Placing his palms on her knees, he rested his chin on top of his hands.
Making no move to shake him off, she frowned. "Of course I am."
"Tell me of your past. Please?" he begged, his eyes pleading.
She couldn't refuse. "...I guess I could..." she said quietly, averting her eyes from his. "Well, I am one of Garland's...creations. Yes, one of his Genomes with a soul. He created me as an infant, I had a life like any 'normal' child. Kuja, he is maybe seven years older than me. He was like my older brother; we are inseparable. He became much more to me, though.
"Garland...it is like he loathes us, though. He does not hesitate to harm us. He has broken bones, bruised, scarred.
"My life...is it filled with feelings of uselessness, worthlessness... That evil man, I hate him with every fibre of my being and--" She turned her face back to him, noticed that he was staring at her with rapt attention. She slowly turned slightly red. "Forgive me; I got a little carried away..."
"No, don't worry." He smiled. "Passion is a good thing."
She smiled a little, she couldn't help it. "I am glad for that."
They sat there in silence for a long time, both lost in thought, Angel still resting his chin on Sephira's knees. As she shifted a little, he blinked, pulling his head up. "My goodness, how long have we been sitting here?" he asked, grinning slightly.
"I can assure you, I do not know," she said wryly.
Angel removed his hands from her knees, tilting his head to one side. "I cannot believe this. You still do not trust me, you do not even like me, not at all."
"I--"
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Excuse me?"
He leaned closer once more, taking her shoulders. "Are you afraid of me?" he repeated, a little quieter. When she didn't answer, averting her gaze, he took a hand from her shoulder, placing it under her chin and tilting her head upwards, to look at him. "You have nothing to fear from me. I will *never* harm you. Do you understand? Ever. I promise you that."
Staring at him, she was shocked to find that she believed him. She was even more surprised to find herself coming to like him. If he was no true sorcerer, what was this spell he was weaving around her?
"Why promise something to me? You barely even know me, and--" She halted as he placed a finger to her lips. "..Wha?"
"Shh..." Leaning forward slowly, he kissed her gently, as though he thought she would fear him more, if he had been more forceful. Brushing some hair from her partially shut eyes, he ran his fingers lightly down the side of her face.
"How adorable. Pet, you are quite the charmer."
Quickly pulling away, Angel swung around a little, blinking in surprise. Sephira, blushing, glanced around the black-haired seraph.
"Master Terisas," Angel breathed, quietly. "W-what brings you here?"
"I am here to carry out a couple of experiments, child. Get out." Terisas jerked a thumb behind him, to the door.
She instantly disliked him. He looked cruel, wicked. His eyes were cold, dark. His hair, shoulder-length, grey with age, framed his face. He smiled, a frightening expression from him. Taking steps forward, towards them, he reached out a hand, which was covered by a leather glove. His other hand was left bare, though.
"Come, boy, get up. Leave us." When Angel made no move to get up, Terisas gathered Angel's hair in his hand and forcefully yanked him to his feet. Angel cried out, his hands flying to try to free himself.
"Please, let me go, Master!" he cried. Terisas threw him to the side, Angel stumbling, collapsing to his knees again. He leapt to his feet as Terisas kicked him.
"Get out! Don't disobey me!" Terisas shouted, glaring at Angel as the youth made a hasty retreat, stumbling out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
Sephira, staring wide-eyed at Terisas, shrunk back when he turned to her. He reminded her so much of Garland.
"Now, my dear, we need to run a couple of experiments on you. I need to see something. It's quite important, so don't struggle, don't disobey me."
"I...I--" she stammered, swallowing.
"Are you going to tell me that you don't want to obey? Very well." Ducking down and wrapping a hand in her hair, he dragged her to her feet, throwing her against the wall. Grabbing both of her wrists, he held her off of the ground, slamming her back once more into the wall. Yanking out a knife, he thrust it through her hands, straight through, into the metal behind her. She screamed, until her breath ran out, then she panted, struggling, blood running down her arms. Terisas laughed.
"How you cry...humorous..." Walking slowly towards a table in the center of the room, he picked up a book, flipping through it. "This is one of dear Garland's journals. He wrote of one of his most admirable experiments, wrote of it a great deal. Do you know of the Crystal of Life?"
"Of...of course I do..." Sephira hissed through gritted teeth, pain causing her to whimper unwantedly.
"Excellent. Well, you see, Garland wrote of something he did with that Crystal. The Crystal has a kind of life force in it, something almost like a soul. So, do you know what he did? He compressed and changed it, to fit a Genome, and placed it into one of his creations. The Crystal was, unfortunately, destroyed in the process. But, the world did not return to Zero, no, it continued, because of the compressed soul in one of the Genomes.
"He also noted that he placed some kind of protection spell on the soul, so that it would be more difficult to destroy. I do not know how to break the spell..."
"Why... why would you want to destroy the Crystal....?" Sephira gasped.
"Why? Power. Absolute power..."
"You would destroy the planet, as well as yourself!"
Terisas smiled, shaking his index finger. "Tsk, tsk. It will not destroy me. I am eternal and--"
"You are a fool!"
"Am I? All I need to do, to live just a little longer, is to take a little bit of life from you. It's so simple. I have lived for so very long, and it is not at all difficult." Laughing, Terisas, book in one hand, moved back towards Sephira. Standing beside her, he flipped through the book again. "Ah... I've read this so many times... I know his stories, I know all of his rhymes. And yet, I am not even a step closer. It tears me apart! I need the book with the spell, and how to reverse it! I know he has it; he doesn't do anything scientific without writing it down! I don't know where it lies, though!" Resting his head on her shoulder, he reached his free hand up and touched it to her face. "I am certain you have the Crystal's spirit within you, but I cannot harm it!"
"No... I am an ordinary Genome..." Sephira protested, shaking her head to remove his hand.
"Of course you are, my dear," Terisas said with a hint of sarcasm. Leaning against the all, he flipped through the pages of the book again, skimming through the words. "This kills me! I cannot use you in anyway, until I know how!" Swinging around to look at her, he asked, "Do you feel pain?"
"Goddamn right I do!" she cried, gasping in agony.
"I wouldn't think so. You are a doll, a puppet. They don't feel any type of emotion..."
"Let me down! Please!" she begged, tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. He was hitting on the exact part of her life she didn't want to delve in. She didn't want to question her existence; it only left her feeling alone, depressed, worthless, and devoid of life.
Terisas laughed, reaching up and pulling the blade from the wall, out of her hands. She tumbled to the ground, curling up in a huddled heap, holding her hands close to her. Blood dripped onto the floor, pooling a little.
She looked up as he took one of her hands, examining it. "You do bleed, though. Is it real blood?" Running his fingers over her palm, he licked the blood from the tips, smiling. "It is. Garland really outdid himself."
"Leave me be," she wailed, tearing her hand from him and cradling it with her other hand, close to her chest.
"I suppose you do know it is real blood, do you not?" Grabbing her hand again, he turned it over, wiping some of the blood from her wrist, tracing a couple thin scars that were marked in her skin. "Hm.. I would think you do... Why would you try to commit suici--"
Wrenching her hand from his once more, she shrieked, "Leave me alone!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Viteros expertly piloted the ship over the Destiny, and the two Genomes in the cargo hold hurriedly dropped their first volleys. Kuja looked as the small, nondescript balls fell down towards Terisas' airship and he said curiously, "What exactly are these small things supposed to-"
POW!
The first one hit, and it exploded into a huge, blossoming flower of flame. As more hit, the airships rocked, slammed hard by the sheer power of the very air being hurled across the sky.
"We're out!" yelled Zidane, "What do we do now!?"
"We move in!"
"What!?" near-screamed Kuja, "What are you planning!?"
Viteros laughed. "Suicidal is the way to go now! Let's go!" The airship went into a sharp dive, throwing everyone back.
--------------
"Sir, the ship has disappeared from our scopes!"
"What? No ship that small has a cloaking device!"
"We can't see it anymore sir."
"Continue the search. I will go and personally apologize to Lord Terisas."
--------------
Meanwhile, having landed directly on top of the control bridge just behind the scanning satellite dish array, Viteros relaxed and stretched out. "I told you I was the best!"
There was a silence. "Actually...you did not," said Kuja.
"No?"
"Never once," said Zidane.
"Oh...dang."
"Anyhow, we must think of how to get out of this happy little situation," said Kuja, looking out the window. "We are safe for the moment, but as soon as we launch, or if this ship ever docks, and I am sure it has to sometime, we shall have soldiers all over us."
"This is true," said Viteros thoughtfully. "Maybe if we...dunno if this'll work..."
"First, never say 'dunno' again, and what are you thinking?" asked Kuja impatiently. "She is going to die in there, you know!"
"I'm worried too, but lets not rush happily along to our doom," replied Viteros, eyes closing. "I'm thinking, so don't hurt me if I stop moving."
After a while, Viteros started snoring softly. Kuja slapped his own forehead, and Zidane said, "Know how to play poker?"
Kuja looked over angrily. "What the hell is that!?"
"I'm not sure..."
After a while, Viteros got up. "Yeah, I think we can do it, but I'll need your help for this." He started rummaging in a few boxes, and he said, "Kuja, Zidane, could you go back and get a couple of boxes...one that says 'my big box of extra leathery things' and another that says 'obscenely powerful but thin steel poles that interconnect'. I'll be waiting up here; I've got to get something that's around me somewhere..."
Wasting no time, the two Genomes hurried back with the boxes, and Viteros took them and grinned. "This is called insanely strong tape, and it'll hold basically anything together. We'll arrange the poles into this delta type of shape and then tape the leather on top, and then make handholds underneath out of more pole, and more leather."
"Why more leather at the bottom grip?"
"Makes it much more comfy," said Viteros. "Let's get to work."
------------------
After a while their hanggliders were finished, and the three were just about ready to go. Suddenly, Viteros grinned. "I've just gotten a thought."
"Good job," said Kuja sourly. "What is it?"
"This airship of mine has a special sequence built into its programming, just in case a situation like this comes up. Not exactly, of course, but you know, just kinda, and-"
"Get to the point!"
"OK, calm down, you guys. This airship was designed specifically to do damage with the philosophy "I'll die and take you with me", and as such, it is built with a network of explosives all along its frame, key points, and engines. If you would trigger a few of those bombs, then this thing goes bang in a really really big way."
Zidane was confused. "But if we blow this up, we'll be stranded!"
"No, I see what you mean.take out Destiny, right?" asked Kuja.
"Exactly. Destiny blows, and that really cripples Terisas, at least temporarily. And trust me, I've got this under control. Wait a second."
He whipped out a small rectangular device from his cloak. He opened it, and the two could see it was covered in small buttons.
"What is that?" asked Zidane.
"Cell phone," said Viteros. "You would not believe how much these guys make me pay to talk to people.oh, hey, Cid! How are you! And Shera? Yeah.yeah.uh huh.no, remember me? No? Oh, c'mon, remember me, Viteros Ojikage?...me, you don't remember me? Don't you remember, you were with me at the Arten Race back at Midgar? I."
Suddenly, Viteros pulled the phone away from his ear, grimacing at the long, long stream of curses that flowed from the phone.
After a minute or two, Viteros put it back on his ear. "Wait, calm down! Remember, I paid you back! Yes I did, full! But anyhow, Cid.I need your help. I need you to fly the Highwind to coordinate SKY. Can you do that? Yes? Okay, then.see you later.thanks a lot!"
Viteros shut off the phone and grinned. "You can always trust my main man Cid Highwind. Like me, he's been in too many Final Fantasy."
"Pardon me?" asked Kuja.
"Ignore it.he's kinda weird," said Zidane.
Viteros walked over to the control panel. "Sionara, you bloody pile of junk," he said, pushing a big red button that said, "DON'T PUSH THIS!". Suddenly, the entire screen went black and had a big red number 5:00 on it.
"When that runs out, we die!" yelled Viteros, "So we hurry! To the roof!"
-----------------
A few seconds later they ran out of the airship holding their makeshift hangliders. Grabbing hold and running, they jumped off the side of the ship, flying quickly to the objective, Outer Heaven SKY.
Despite the terrible threat hanging above their heads, and the fear sitting like a massive stone in his stomach, Zidane couldn't help being carried away by the exhilaration of flight. He smiled, he laughed, his hair rippled in the breeze and he closed his eyes in euphoria. Nothing like flying inside of a metal shell, this was being in the sky, being one with the sky, feeling the wind in your face and the freedom of flying through the clouds, through the endless blue.
Finally they landed on the outside of Outer Heaven SKY. They put their gliders in a pile and cautiously approached the roof door. Viteros pulled out a small metal box covered in wires. He set it near the door and then scurried.
Boom. (understatement)
The door blew open, and they rushed in, knowing full well what an idiot Viteros was for exploding the door with a bomb.
Viteros' thoughts: I am so awesome. Fire. Explosions. Oh yeah.
Kuja's thoughts: What a nimrod. Let us hurry and save Sephira.
Zidane's thoughts: Dagger...lets get disguises...Dagger...
"We should grab a few straggler soldiers and masquerade as them," said Zidane, as they neared the bottom of the stairs and saw the lines of marching, armored soldiers. Tersias' warriors were dressed in thick body armor, with masks that concealed identity and destroyed individuality, turning them all into a faceless, determined, deadly horde.
"How wonderfully convenient that the bad guys all wear masks. This'll be easier than I thought." Viteros grinned. Then he looked downcast. "But they're all in neat little rows. How will we get costumes?"
"We could go to an armory or something. They have got to have extra uniforms," said Kuja. "And whatever those things that they are holding are."
"They're called guns," said Zidane. "Vit's got one."
"Oh yes. I saw it before at Ipsen."
"But back to our problem," said Viteros, a little annoyed, "How do we get to wherever they store the extra suits?"
"We hurry," said Kuja simply, getting up. Crouched down, he hurried down the hallway.
"If there's one thing I've learned from playing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it is shoot the security cameras, move out of their range, or use a chaff grenade."
Zidane turned to Viteros and said three words. Two were "What the" and the last is not appropriate to write down, sorry.
Viteros and Zidane followed behind Kuja, watching out for the cameras.
"By video game law," said Viteros, "we shouldn't be forced to creep along like this for too long, or else the player will lose interest and quit. So I think we'll soon find the armory...right here, what did I tell you guys? And look, inside, there's our save moogle."
The three went inside, Kuja and Zidane careful not to get too close to Viteros, or talk to him, or glance at him.
They hurriedly rummaged through the drawers and shelves, and Zidane opened a standing drawer that revealed bunches of uniforms folded and put onto shelves with helmets on top, and Kuja found the gun rack. Viteros was too busy rambling on about how "And the main villain always knows more than the good guys! What's up with that? I mean seriously, it's like Cloud Strife, Solid Snake, and Fei Fong Wong among others were ALL idiots, and while I'm talking about bad guys..."
Throwing a helmet at Viteros' head, Zidane hissed, "Get away from the door, and put this on."
Viteros grabbed the helmet and stuck it on. "I always hated these.they're so.so."
"Annoying?"
"Confining?"
"No.ugly."
Kuja smacked his head. "Just put it on, idiot boy."
----------------
A few minutes later three soldiers stumbled out the doors and walked down the hall, watching other soldiers and trying to emulate them.
The airship Destiny did not have lights, and was instead a pure black emptiness. The helmets had a way to show, however, all of the surroundings illuminated and as bright as day. They walked down the halls quietly, after seeing the soldiers they quickly ducked into shadow, avoiding all others now that they knew how to act.
"We need to get to Sephira," said Kuja quietly.
"I agree," put in Zidane, "We need to get to her quick. Who knows what they've done to her?"
Viteros looked around and breathed deeply. "Knowing Terisas, something very very bad. We need to hurry, yes, and-"
"Get here, so hurry to leaving be?"
Viteros spun, gun hand up. "Who's there!"
"Best thing dark.easy hide. So easy."
Viteros saw the blade flash suddenly, whirling through the air, flying at them. It took a split second for him to aim and fire, knocking the thrown sword to the ground. He scanned the area, and shouted, "Akumu! Where are you!"
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