Chapter 11
"General! Reporting for status update on Mission 201, Sir!" came the traumatized voice of a soldier, after a rather tremulous salute."
"You're the one from unit Alpha 6?"
"Affirmative, Sir!"
The tall man wearing the dark green Coat turned around. The medals on his pocket cast their shine on the soldier's face. A brown half-burnt cigar was stuck in between his lips. His thick brow line and his dead cold gaze made any Shin-Ra soldier shudder. He took off his gold-embroidered cap and placed it on the table on top of a map. He puffed a smoke in the air, making a strand of his silver hair fly up.
"So...was 201 a success? Don't answer me in a negative, soldier..." he said in a frosty tone.
"N-n.........negat-"
The general's fist smashed down on the table, causing his glass of wine to fall on the ground and shatter. The soldier took a step back and then brought himself to attention, beads of sweat starting to form on his temple.
"What were the reasons...? Don't give me that 'resistance' crap, soldier..." the general said, hoping he wouldn't hear what he knew he would.
The soldier spoke, "I-I am afraid so, sir..."
"Aren't you losers ASHAMED of yourselves!?" The general shouted, "I send FIFTEEN of you WITH an airship...to a tiny village on a small continent...."
The general sighed, doing his best to keep him temper low.
"Rupert..." he mumbled to himself, "Get a grip on yourself, will ya?"
He calmly walked over to the soldier and placed a hand on his shoulder. The soldier stood still, in his rigid position, hoping desperately the general would discharge him in one piece.
"Ok...what have we lost?" General Thorne said, "How many of the fifteen...?"
"All f-fifteen sir.... and...the airship..." The soldier blurted out.
General Thorne's fingers immediately wrapped around the soldier's neck. He flung him aside, sending him crashing into a box of rations. He marched furiously out of his tent into another one where a group of Shin-Ra soldiers were busy with computers and other communicative devices.
"Get me on COM with HQ" General thorne barked, "I want the president on the line..."
A Red-haired woman in a dark blue attire walked in to the President's office. She wore a shadowy blue cloak around her neck and a shimmering green ring on her index finger. On one of her arms was a silver metallic claw, with fingers as jagged as hell. Around her waist was a belt filled with all sorts of materia. She walked to the president's desk and saluted him.
"Sir, reporting for status on mission 1202." she said.
"Go ahead, General Keiara." The president said, resting his elbows on the arms of his executive wing chair.
"Mission complete. No losses of any sort. Results as expected, Sir!"
"Good. That means every one of those Wutai resistance rats are six feet under?"
"Affirmative, sir. We torched their hideout."
"Good. Good. You're doing a great job, General."
"Thank you sir. And what of Mideel, sir?"
"That moron Rupert has screwed up again.... I just had a conversation with him over COM."
"Fatalities, sir?"
"Fifteen men, an Airship and of course, our pride, Keiara..."
"................."
"Anything else, General?"
"I have nothing more to report, Sir!" Keiara said saluting the president again.
He dismissed her with a smile. She turned around and walked out of the president's office into the elevator and pressed the 'G' button and waited. The lift moved slowly down the cylindrical structure made of glass at the side of Shin-Ra headquarters. As soon as she reached the ground floor, she walked out of the headquarters into an air of tranquility. It was about one A.M in the morning. Not many people hung around Shin-Ra's Headquarters at that time of the night.
She took a step forward before she suddenly halted.
She laughed loudly, "Really...You fools think you can kill me like this...?"
Then from a Tree nearby, two shadows jumped to the ground. Both of them stepped into the light of a nearby lamppost.
One of them had a knife in his hand and tears in his eyes, "you killed.... Almost everyone of us in Wutai...you heartless...witch!"
The other was his sister, who was just an early teenager, "yeah.... We just wanted you Shin-Ra jerks to not use the temple as your base...for that, you killed grandpa, mom....". She broke into tears.
Keiara yawned, "So you've come to kill me..."
Both the boy and the girl drew out their weapons. The nearby light illuminated their ragged clothes, as they got ready to attack. The boy took a step forward and the girl closed her eyes and hugged her brother. A green aura surrounded both him and his sister as they became semi-transparent.
The ground started to shake violently, but Keiara maintained her balance. Soon, a rocky pedestal started to rise out of the ground. It rose till it was as tall as the Shin-Ra headquarters building. Suddenly, the wind became crazy as a huge creature rose behind the pedestal and stood on top of it. It's fins and tails were a razor-sharp blue. It's hide made of scaly aqua- shaded thick scales. It had a tongue like a snake's. Its pointed face looked down at its opponent, General Keiara.
It screeched as the sound of a tidal wave approaching, filled the air.
The General smiled, the ring on her finger, glowing even more brightly.
"LEVIATHAN!" She shouted to the God of the seas, "LOOK AT ME..."
Leviathan paid no heed.
"I HAVE THE RING OF ORION, LEVIATHAN!" Keiara shouted, "SEE FOR YOURSELF!"
Leviathan hissed loudly and looked at the General. The ring on her finger glowed very brightly.
"AS YOU CAN SEE, LEVIATHAN, THIS RING MEANS I CAN OPEN THE EYES OF ORION. WILL YOU DARE TO FIGHT ORION, LEVIATHAN?" She continued, "HE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE YOU AS CLEAR AS I CAN."
Leviathan screeched hysterically.
"NOW IF YOU DON'T KILL YOUR SUMMONERS..." Keiara smiled, "...I WILL OPEN THE EYE OF ORION!"
Leviathan let out another glass-shattering holler. Soon, Keiara's body became translucent and the brother and sister who had summoned Leviathan, re-appeared in the flesh.
"Carl..." the girl said hugging her brother, "what's happening?"
The boy stared wide-eyed at Leviathan, "I don't think God Leviathan is going to protect us, Leene..."
Sifan Leonhart lie awake, the pain in his arm, not allowing him to sleep.
[2 A.M...Two hours...I am losing a lot of blood...]
Avatar stormed into the room, almost banging the door behind him to splinters.
"Phillona left somewhere nearby. They're Goddamn MAD, I tell ya...they wound you and here you are, bleedin' to death and the girl who can treat your wound has gone somewhere.... Why? They're not telling. Where? They don't know. You know, I shouldn't have helped them...They should've all just-" Avatar fumed, cursing himself and everything else on earth.
"R-relax...A-Avatar...It's not like I am gonna die..." Sifan said in a weak voice, although he felt he would die any moment.
"Don't SAY THAT!" Avatar shouted, "look...there's something you need to know...that bullet was Iridium-tipped...meaning you'll be knockin' on heaven's doors in another hour! Ever wondered why an ordinary gunshot on your arm was suckin' the goddamn life out of you?"
Just then, the door clicked open. Phillona Strife walked into her room, a bowl in her hand.
Avatar Fenis flew into frenzy again, "Where the hell did you go? You get a bullet into his hand, and run off somewhere!? You got some nerve..."
"Avatar!" Sifan said, "Calm d-down!"
After staring down Phillona, he walked of the room, slamming the door shut again.
Phillona walked over to Sifan, after taking a few packs of cotton, bandages and a few small bottles. He frowned as she opened the bottles.
"Relax. This isn't going to hurt." She said, dipping the cotton in one of the bottles.
[Yeah. That's what they all say...]
"You know..." Phillona said, "You're lucky to have a friend who's ready to kill me because Trex gave you a gunshot wound..."
"..................................."
"Look. I wanna apologize for everything...."
"..................................."
"I am not talking to a zombie here, you know............"
"...................................."
"Hey..." Avatar said loudly through the window, his voice in a much relaxed tone, "Tell Mr. Zombie when he's gonna kick the bucket...."
"Don't worry. You're not kicking anything." Phillona said wiping the wound with the cotton.
"...................................."
"I am sorry for taking this long. I had to fight a few monsters on my way back. The Remedy was really far off..."
"....................................."
"Don't look so stern. I am not gonna kill you..." She said pouring the contents of another bottle into the bowl she had brought. She then touched his neck. It was burning hot.
Avatar snickered from outside the window, "Don't take Sifan's sober look too serious. It's jus that ol' Sifan isn't used to pretty girls touching him like that...."
Sifan wished his arm were all right so he could chuck one of the bottles at Avatar's grinning face.
Phillona smiled as she applied the contents of the bowl on his hand. It burnt so badly, Sifan wished he were dead.
"It'll just burn a little for a while..." Phillona said walking to the sink and washing her hands.
[Little? you call that little...?]
Phillona removed the bandage from its coil and began to wrap it around Sifan's left arm when Sifan cleared his throat, "Ahem...uh...maybe you can let Avatar do that..."
"See..." Avatar's voice came at once, "I told you he isn't used to pretty girls touching him like that."
"AVATAR!" Sifan shouted, "JUST BECAUSE YOU CANT FIND ANY GIRLS TO CHASE AT 3 O CLOCK IN THE MORNING, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SIT HERE AND PASS COMMENTS LIKE THAT..."
"Hey wow!" Avatar said, "I think you're better already, buddy!"
Phillona laughed, completing the bandage around Sifan's arm. She then pulled a bed cover over him, "Sleep well and sleep long. You're gonna need it."
"Aw...aint that sweet..." Avatar said as Phillona walked to the door after switching off the light.
[Ok...If I am right, now he'll go flirt his head off with Phillona...]
Avatar's shadow disappeared as soon as Phillona closed the door from the outside.
[Bingo.]
Sifan heaved a sigh of relief. He wanted to sleep at once, but his thoughts barged into his mind rudely.
[Where the hell am I? Am I really.... in another dimension? In another world? At the beginning, I thought it was all one big nightmare. But unfortunately, everything so far has been so real. The pain is till in my arm. The fatigue still makes my head ache. Maybe if I get out of here and explore this 'world', I'll recognize people or places and get back to balamb.]
Suddenly, out of the blue, a feminine voice started to ring in his head.
{Sifan...}
[Great. Now I am hearing voices...]
{Listen, Sifan...}
[C'mon. Iridium can't be THIS bad]
Sifan opened his eyes and slightly raised his head. There was no one around. He reached over to a table nearby, with his right arm and drank the glass of water Phillona had placed earlier. He closed his eyes and pulled the cover over his eyes.
[Let's just hope I don't hear the boogieman again...]
Far away, beyond the plains of Midgar and the stretch of the Ocean's blue, deep under the snow of the northern continent, inside the temple of the ancients, an old man stood up and pulled a brown hood over his head.
On a small diamond pedestal in front of him, the green HOLY materia glowed brightly.
"He still hasn't accepted this world, Goshen. He's not ready.........." A voice from the materia said in a crystal clear tone.
The old man nodded his head, "Then I'll wait till he is, Goddess Aeris."
"General! Reporting for status update on Mission 201, Sir!" came the traumatized voice of a soldier, after a rather tremulous salute."
"You're the one from unit Alpha 6?"
"Affirmative, Sir!"
The tall man wearing the dark green Coat turned around. The medals on his pocket cast their shine on the soldier's face. A brown half-burnt cigar was stuck in between his lips. His thick brow line and his dead cold gaze made any Shin-Ra soldier shudder. He took off his gold-embroidered cap and placed it on the table on top of a map. He puffed a smoke in the air, making a strand of his silver hair fly up.
"So...was 201 a success? Don't answer me in a negative, soldier..." he said in a frosty tone.
"N-n.........negat-"
The general's fist smashed down on the table, causing his glass of wine to fall on the ground and shatter. The soldier took a step back and then brought himself to attention, beads of sweat starting to form on his temple.
"What were the reasons...? Don't give me that 'resistance' crap, soldier..." the general said, hoping he wouldn't hear what he knew he would.
The soldier spoke, "I-I am afraid so, sir..."
"Aren't you losers ASHAMED of yourselves!?" The general shouted, "I send FIFTEEN of you WITH an airship...to a tiny village on a small continent...."
The general sighed, doing his best to keep him temper low.
"Rupert..." he mumbled to himself, "Get a grip on yourself, will ya?"
He calmly walked over to the soldier and placed a hand on his shoulder. The soldier stood still, in his rigid position, hoping desperately the general would discharge him in one piece.
"Ok...what have we lost?" General Thorne said, "How many of the fifteen...?"
"All f-fifteen sir.... and...the airship..." The soldier blurted out.
General Thorne's fingers immediately wrapped around the soldier's neck. He flung him aside, sending him crashing into a box of rations. He marched furiously out of his tent into another one where a group of Shin-Ra soldiers were busy with computers and other communicative devices.
"Get me on COM with HQ" General thorne barked, "I want the president on the line..."
A Red-haired woman in a dark blue attire walked in to the President's office. She wore a shadowy blue cloak around her neck and a shimmering green ring on her index finger. On one of her arms was a silver metallic claw, with fingers as jagged as hell. Around her waist was a belt filled with all sorts of materia. She walked to the president's desk and saluted him.
"Sir, reporting for status on mission 1202." she said.
"Go ahead, General Keiara." The president said, resting his elbows on the arms of his executive wing chair.
"Mission complete. No losses of any sort. Results as expected, Sir!"
"Good. That means every one of those Wutai resistance rats are six feet under?"
"Affirmative, sir. We torched their hideout."
"Good. Good. You're doing a great job, General."
"Thank you sir. And what of Mideel, sir?"
"That moron Rupert has screwed up again.... I just had a conversation with him over COM."
"Fatalities, sir?"
"Fifteen men, an Airship and of course, our pride, Keiara..."
"................."
"Anything else, General?"
"I have nothing more to report, Sir!" Keiara said saluting the president again.
He dismissed her with a smile. She turned around and walked out of the president's office into the elevator and pressed the 'G' button and waited. The lift moved slowly down the cylindrical structure made of glass at the side of Shin-Ra headquarters. As soon as she reached the ground floor, she walked out of the headquarters into an air of tranquility. It was about one A.M in the morning. Not many people hung around Shin-Ra's Headquarters at that time of the night.
She took a step forward before she suddenly halted.
She laughed loudly, "Really...You fools think you can kill me like this...?"
Then from a Tree nearby, two shadows jumped to the ground. Both of them stepped into the light of a nearby lamppost.
One of them had a knife in his hand and tears in his eyes, "you killed.... Almost everyone of us in Wutai...you heartless...witch!"
The other was his sister, who was just an early teenager, "yeah.... We just wanted you Shin-Ra jerks to not use the temple as your base...for that, you killed grandpa, mom....". She broke into tears.
Keiara yawned, "So you've come to kill me..."
Both the boy and the girl drew out their weapons. The nearby light illuminated their ragged clothes, as they got ready to attack. The boy took a step forward and the girl closed her eyes and hugged her brother. A green aura surrounded both him and his sister as they became semi-transparent.
The ground started to shake violently, but Keiara maintained her balance. Soon, a rocky pedestal started to rise out of the ground. It rose till it was as tall as the Shin-Ra headquarters building. Suddenly, the wind became crazy as a huge creature rose behind the pedestal and stood on top of it. It's fins and tails were a razor-sharp blue. It's hide made of scaly aqua- shaded thick scales. It had a tongue like a snake's. Its pointed face looked down at its opponent, General Keiara.
It screeched as the sound of a tidal wave approaching, filled the air.
The General smiled, the ring on her finger, glowing even more brightly.
"LEVIATHAN!" She shouted to the God of the seas, "LOOK AT ME..."
Leviathan paid no heed.
"I HAVE THE RING OF ORION, LEVIATHAN!" Keiara shouted, "SEE FOR YOURSELF!"
Leviathan hissed loudly and looked at the General. The ring on her finger glowed very brightly.
"AS YOU CAN SEE, LEVIATHAN, THIS RING MEANS I CAN OPEN THE EYES OF ORION. WILL YOU DARE TO FIGHT ORION, LEVIATHAN?" She continued, "HE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE YOU AS CLEAR AS I CAN."
Leviathan screeched hysterically.
"NOW IF YOU DON'T KILL YOUR SUMMONERS..." Keiara smiled, "...I WILL OPEN THE EYE OF ORION!"
Leviathan let out another glass-shattering holler. Soon, Keiara's body became translucent and the brother and sister who had summoned Leviathan, re-appeared in the flesh.
"Carl..." the girl said hugging her brother, "what's happening?"
The boy stared wide-eyed at Leviathan, "I don't think God Leviathan is going to protect us, Leene..."
Sifan Leonhart lie awake, the pain in his arm, not allowing him to sleep.
[2 A.M...Two hours...I am losing a lot of blood...]
Avatar stormed into the room, almost banging the door behind him to splinters.
"Phillona left somewhere nearby. They're Goddamn MAD, I tell ya...they wound you and here you are, bleedin' to death and the girl who can treat your wound has gone somewhere.... Why? They're not telling. Where? They don't know. You know, I shouldn't have helped them...They should've all just-" Avatar fumed, cursing himself and everything else on earth.
"R-relax...A-Avatar...It's not like I am gonna die..." Sifan said in a weak voice, although he felt he would die any moment.
"Don't SAY THAT!" Avatar shouted, "look...there's something you need to know...that bullet was Iridium-tipped...meaning you'll be knockin' on heaven's doors in another hour! Ever wondered why an ordinary gunshot on your arm was suckin' the goddamn life out of you?"
Just then, the door clicked open. Phillona Strife walked into her room, a bowl in her hand.
Avatar Fenis flew into frenzy again, "Where the hell did you go? You get a bullet into his hand, and run off somewhere!? You got some nerve..."
"Avatar!" Sifan said, "Calm d-down!"
After staring down Phillona, he walked of the room, slamming the door shut again.
Phillona walked over to Sifan, after taking a few packs of cotton, bandages and a few small bottles. He frowned as she opened the bottles.
"Relax. This isn't going to hurt." She said, dipping the cotton in one of the bottles.
[Yeah. That's what they all say...]
"You know..." Phillona said, "You're lucky to have a friend who's ready to kill me because Trex gave you a gunshot wound..."
"..................................."
"Look. I wanna apologize for everything...."
"..................................."
"I am not talking to a zombie here, you know............"
"...................................."
"Hey..." Avatar said loudly through the window, his voice in a much relaxed tone, "Tell Mr. Zombie when he's gonna kick the bucket...."
"Don't worry. You're not kicking anything." Phillona said wiping the wound with the cotton.
"...................................."
"I am sorry for taking this long. I had to fight a few monsters on my way back. The Remedy was really far off..."
"....................................."
"Don't look so stern. I am not gonna kill you..." She said pouring the contents of another bottle into the bowl she had brought. She then touched his neck. It was burning hot.
Avatar snickered from outside the window, "Don't take Sifan's sober look too serious. It's jus that ol' Sifan isn't used to pretty girls touching him like that...."
Sifan wished his arm were all right so he could chuck one of the bottles at Avatar's grinning face.
Phillona smiled as she applied the contents of the bowl on his hand. It burnt so badly, Sifan wished he were dead.
"It'll just burn a little for a while..." Phillona said walking to the sink and washing her hands.
[Little? you call that little...?]
Phillona removed the bandage from its coil and began to wrap it around Sifan's left arm when Sifan cleared his throat, "Ahem...uh...maybe you can let Avatar do that..."
"See..." Avatar's voice came at once, "I told you he isn't used to pretty girls touching him like that."
"AVATAR!" Sifan shouted, "JUST BECAUSE YOU CANT FIND ANY GIRLS TO CHASE AT 3 O CLOCK IN THE MORNING, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN SIT HERE AND PASS COMMENTS LIKE THAT..."
"Hey wow!" Avatar said, "I think you're better already, buddy!"
Phillona laughed, completing the bandage around Sifan's arm. She then pulled a bed cover over him, "Sleep well and sleep long. You're gonna need it."
"Aw...aint that sweet..." Avatar said as Phillona walked to the door after switching off the light.
[Ok...If I am right, now he'll go flirt his head off with Phillona...]
Avatar's shadow disappeared as soon as Phillona closed the door from the outside.
[Bingo.]
Sifan heaved a sigh of relief. He wanted to sleep at once, but his thoughts barged into his mind rudely.
[Where the hell am I? Am I really.... in another dimension? In another world? At the beginning, I thought it was all one big nightmare. But unfortunately, everything so far has been so real. The pain is till in my arm. The fatigue still makes my head ache. Maybe if I get out of here and explore this 'world', I'll recognize people or places and get back to balamb.]
Suddenly, out of the blue, a feminine voice started to ring in his head.
{Sifan...}
[Great. Now I am hearing voices...]
{Listen, Sifan...}
[C'mon. Iridium can't be THIS bad]
Sifan opened his eyes and slightly raised his head. There was no one around. He reached over to a table nearby, with his right arm and drank the glass of water Phillona had placed earlier. He closed his eyes and pulled the cover over his eyes.
[Let's just hope I don't hear the boogieman again...]
Far away, beyond the plains of Midgar and the stretch of the Ocean's blue, deep under the snow of the northern continent, inside the temple of the ancients, an old man stood up and pulled a brown hood over his head.
On a small diamond pedestal in front of him, the green HOLY materia glowed brightly.
"He still hasn't accepted this world, Goshen. He's not ready.........." A voice from the materia said in a crystal clear tone.
The old man nodded his head, "Then I'll wait till he is, Goddess Aeris."