Chapter Two: Secrets Revealed
Disclaimer: I do not own FF 7, just the Cetra that I made up.
A woman sat at a desk looking at a microscope. She had reddish brown hair held up with a simple white band and wore glasses over her hazel eyes. She was wearing a white lab coat over a magenta turtleneck sweater and cream-colored slacks. She heard her communiqué device beep. She opened it and rolled her eyes when she saw who it was.
"What do you want?" the woman demanded.
"You don't love me anymore?" the man wailed piteously.
"I never even liked you, much less loved you. I'm on the job now and I don't need you to interrupt me." Valeria started to close the device.
"Wait Valeria!"
"What?" Valeria was getting annoyed.
"Please, master healer, listen to what I have to say!"
"Fine. You'd better say it quickly before Bindi catches me. She reported me to Maximus for 'slacking off' the last time."
"Melody has been found."
"SAY WHAT? Tell me everything you know, NOW!" The man laughed. Valeria's reactions were so hilarious when concerning her younger sister.
"She was at the world of the humans."
"AND?"
"She befriended Tifa Lockheart, the busty woman who defeated Sephiroth."
"I don't need your lustful comments to be added in."
"Alright, alright. Maverick is over there now and there have been recent developments on the-you-know-what." the man lowered his voice.
"On what?"
"The Mists." Valeria nodded. "Apparently Lockheart doesn't know about Melody or us."
"I'm not surprised; Melody is good at keeping secrets."
"Too bad she's too hot-headed for my tastes."
"No girl wants to be part of 'your tastes.'" (At least a normal one.)
Valeria heard the door open behind her. She closed the communiqué and turned with one fluid motion, suspecting it was Bindi trying to pester her again.
Rather than the vivacious, trouble-making blonde, it was a tall, handsome male with dark hair and dark green eyes. He was Leon, Valeria's fiancé. "What were you doing?" the man asked.
"I was just replying to Peterson."
"That troublemaker?"
"Yeah. You know, that must be your secondary gift."
"What?"
"The ability to be able to work with that man and not die of sheer annoyance."
"No." he walked behind her and set his hands on her shoulders. He bent over and whispered, "My secondary talent is being able to calm the fiery temper of one of the Solheart sisters." Valeria smiled. It was true.
"Valeria, what are you doing?" they heard outside of the door. Leon quickly stood up straight.
"So how can you tell?" he asked. Bindi walked in. She grinned when she saw who was in the lab.
"Hello Leon, Valeria." Valeria glared at the two-faced wench. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," Leon replied. "Why?"
"Valeria just looks angry, that's all." Valeria rolled her eyes quickly. Bindi was always, always out to get Leon.
"Anyway," Valeria said pointedly, "this one has these lines right here on the circles, whereas this one doesn't."
"Ah. Excellent observation, Doctor." Valeria smiled as Leon called her his nickname for her.
"Grr." Bindi growled in jealousy. She stormed out of the room.
"It seems you scored again." The communiqué device beeped.
Valeria was surprised when she saw who it was; Bindi couldn't have contacted Maximus that fast. "Yes Maximus?"
"Valeria, I'm sure you heard Melody was found."
"Yes, I did."
"I want you to go with me. I need a capable healer for this trip since I don't think Maverick will use his own magic. It would be too dangerous."
"What about Adrienne?"
"Some of the council needs to stay in case of emergency."
"That is true."
"I also need you to get Melody back in line. We don't need her to leave on us again. You do know what her secondary ability is, right?"
"No, she always kept that a secret."
"Then it is hers to reveal. I expect you to be in the Warp Room in five minutes."
"Yes sir." Valeria quickly gathered her things and ran to the room.
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"Where is she? The only thing she is on time for is medical emergencies!" Orion exclaimed. Lena and Uma (Lena's best friend) snickered. The door to the warp room opened and Valeria ran into it holding a small bag.
"Sorry, I had to return a specimen to the frozen room and..." Valeria quickly explained, but Maximus held his hand up.
"It's alright. We aren't in a rush. Alfred start the transporter." Alfred rapidly typed on a computer. It was connected to a round platform that was enclosed in glass that reached the ceiling of the large, amphitheater-like room.
"Coordinates 'Midgar Area, 6, 34.' Activated." Alfred typed a button and the glass tube filled up with a pale green concoction of liquid and gas.
"I'll be taking Valeria, Lena, and Warren. The rest is to lead this place, especially if we get attacked."
"Yes sir," the other council members said.
The people going stepped one at a time into the tube and vanished in the mixture. When the last left, Alfred pushed another button.
"Ten thousand gil says Melody will come back," Cleo proposed.
"You got yourself a deal," Orion replied. They shook hands.
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"This is it?" Valeria asked.
"Yes," Maximus replied.
"I heard it was very popular on my last reconnaissance mission," Andain commented.
"I'll bet it is. This Tifa woman is supposed to be a good cook slash bartender. Personally, the mere thought of being around alcohol all day every day is sickening," Lena commented.
Maximus stood next to the door and knocked on it. It was opened by Melody.
"Welcome to Tifa's Seventh Heaven," she said casually almost as if he was a customer. The group walked in. Lena looked around.
"The interior is rather nice for a place filled with drunks," she said. "Of course, that doesn't mean I like it." Tifa looked at Melody. The redhead of the group and Melody looked at each other and shook their heads inconspicuously.
"These are Maximus, Lena, Warren, and my sister, Valeria," Melody said while gesturing to each person.
It was obvious who was Marc's father. They looked exactly alike with dark brown hair and flashing green eyes. He had a sword sheath strapped onto a brown belt. The handle was that of a classic saber. It had some sort of symbol on the handle.
Lena was a tall, beautiful blonde woman that had the air of confidence similar to that of Scarlet's. She was wearing a black skirt and a pale green short-sleeved shirt. She seemed as if she was conceited.
Warren was tall man with brown hair that had bangs that covered his eyes. He had green eyes similar to those of Aeris' and they looked almost as if they were blood relatives (That is, however, impossible, Tifa thought).
"Where's Maverick?" Valeria asked. Melody pointed to a door casually while taking a long drink from a teacup.
"Hello, Valeria," Maverick said as soon as he heard the door open. He laughed at her facial expression.
"I am very, very disappointed in you," she commented as she feigned anger. "I know that you like working alone, and are good at it, but you have been close to death one too many times." She walked next to him and lowered her voice. "Why don't you use your healing magic, anyway?"
"Because," he simply stated.
"'Because'? That is the most ridiculous answer you've come up with. And how could you possibly speak out so much information to a spy?"
"I didn't know he was one until he was about to run away. I'm not like Lena; I can't sense who's on our side."
"That's true. I think that's the only reason why she's on the Council; she's a stuck-up, ornery person that close to no one could get along with. It seems like she's always trying to be number one." Maverick could just see the anger building up inside the redhead. (Which is a trait of her and her sister, Maverick mused.) "At least you didn't tell them about us."
"Okay. Time for the healing. I want to get back on the job as soon as possible."
"You are hopeless!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms up in the air. "Ameliorate Maximus!" A green light surrounded the room and vanished. Maverick flexed.
"Another thanks to the master doctor."
"You're like a little brother to me. I have to take care of you."
"That makes me feel so much better."
"Try not to get yourself hurt next time, you hear? I want to know how you got hurt this time. Not right now, but later when we get to headquarters. Get dressed in these clothes."
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"So the hero is returned back to full health," Lena commented. Maverick smirked.
"You could say that." Lena thought for a moment and as quick as lightning pulled a pistol out of Maverick's pocket.
"Ah ha. Here's the 'proper' way of interrogating a spy." She pointed the pistol (in a professional way) at Johnny. "Let's start with the introductions. My name is Lena. What is yours?"
"J-Jonathan, Jonathan Lyre."
"Good. You passed level one." Lena's green eyes shone with a deadly glimmer. "Level two: whom do you work for?" He was silent. "You don't want to answer?" Lena pointed her pistol at a 'certain area.' "I will ask it again: for whom do you work?"
"T-the Mists of Gaia, particularly under K-Kwanda."
"Kwanda what?"
"I don't know. Surnames are kept a secret in the Mists."
"Kwanda is the name of the Regent of Cosmo Canyon," Tifa threw in. Lena looked at her.
"Thank you for that info. We need to research this Kwanda. Level three: what do you know about the Mists that we don't?"
"Kwanda is the leader of the Espionage Division. They were not originally like the Shinra. They were more like a mercenary organization."
"And?"
"There are five districts: espionage, research, executive, reconnaissance, and labor. Each district has its own leader with an advisory council. You build up your rank, so to speak. There are two ways. You can start at labor, than reconnaissance, espionage, and then executive. Or you can start at labor and jump to research, which should really be called the scientific research district. It is very difficult to pass from rank to rank."
"How do you do it?"
"By taking a test in a way. It's not a written test, but more like a talent test. Had I gotten away, I may have been promoted to the executive district. That is the smallest and highest branch. The largest is, of course, labor. It's a lot like SOLDIER. First is the guard, than the SOLDIER level one through three, then it's the leader of the fields that meet with the ultimate leader."
"Who is the ultimate leader of the Mists of Gaia?"
"I'm not exactly sure what his name is. I don't think it's his real name. Was it Strife? Guile? Zeal? It's something like that. He would walk into a room and everyone could not look at him. He had blonde hair that was streaked with silver, and blue SOLDIER eyes. It's very freaky."
"Thank you for your information. The problem now is that we could not trust you." Lena was casually spinning the pistol while he explained things. She stopped and cocked the gun. "I'm not a big fan of spies, so I let them die agonizingly slow. But, we may need to milk you of more information because I know you're hiding something. For now, sweet dreams. Break Minimus!" Johnny's face turned chalk-white and he froze with a face of terror. "Petrified."
Author's Note: As far as the words after the spells go, I'm sure you could tell that it reflects the power of the spell. Here's a quick (and basic) explanation of "Secondary Skills." I'm sure you noticed that all Ancients have some sort of skill besides that of mostly healing magic. All of the Ancients have another proficiency, and that is their secondary skill. For instance, When Maverick said he wasn't like Lena, he meant that his skill was fighting rather than an uncanny ability to do something like read people's minds. She knows when they are sincere or not and whether someone is hiding things. The next chapter is when Tifa finds out about the Cetra- ness of the people. She suspects it already but is not 100 sure. Don't forget to review!