by: Amisha N. Smith
Firstly, let me just say sorry for taking so long with this newest chapter. I've been so busy with things that are super important (video games) and other things of mediocre significance (college, work). Anyhoo, I'm back. (Lucky you.) And I'm ready to get this story back on track. Now, where were we? Ah yes….
Final Fantasy: Quest of the Elements
Chapter Six
"Your majesties! Your majesties, please wait!"
Steiner waved his arms and yelled frantically as he ran down the boarding plank of the Hilda Guarde and across the plain towards the king and queen. The ship had barely landed before Zidane, Garnet, and Vivi had disembarked and were speedily rushing towards the forest. Not that he could blame them. After all, their children were currently in the custody of a homicidal madman and being hunted by a giant killer bug. "Your majesties, please! A small moment of your time!"
Zidane stopped and whirled to face the knight. "Look Rusty, we don't have a moment", he snapped. "Kuja's got our kids, and we're gonna get them back. Now. And if you plan on tagging along, may I suggest you shut your trap and move your ass? We ain't waiting for you."
"Of course I'm coming, you idiot!", Steiner yelled back in fury. This was one of those times when the knight would forget that Zidane was his royal monarch and revert back to the habits he had picked up from his earlier years; back when he and Zidane would constantly berate each other. "But it would be very unwise for all of us to just rush headlong into this forest! It goes on for miles, and if we all get lost at once we may never get the girls back!"
"Well, what are you suggesting that we do?", Vivi asked anxiously.
"I suggest that we split up into different directions", Steiner replied. "If we're all searching different places in the forest, there's a bigger chance that Kuja and the girls will be found."
Zidane stroked his beard. "Not a bad plan, Rusty", he admitted. He then turned to his wife. "What do you think, Dagger? I think it's worth a try."
Garnet nodded. "Indeed, it's a sound idea", she agreed. "This forest is huge, and if we all get lost in one place, we'll never get anywhere. Splitting up will help us cover more ground." She then straightened up and prepared to take charge. "All right, this is how we're going to do this. Steiner, you will go immediately due west. Vivi, you head north east into the thicket. I'll go straight ahead, and you, Zidane, will go straight east. Everyone got that?"
"Loud and clear", Zidane replied.
"Got it", Vivi answered.
"Here, everyone. Take these", Steiner said as he handed everyone each a strange looking wand-shaped instrument. On the head of each wand rested a clear glowing crystal. "What the heck is this?", Zidane wondered out loud.
"There are called starlight shooters", Steiner answered. "They are used in festivals by children who are too young to handle fireworks. The crystals on each one are sort of like magic lamps. When one of us finds the girls, or if we get lost or in trouble, we can use these to shoot a bright light into the air, thus signaling the rest of the group where we are."
"Very good", Garnet said with a nod. "Excellent work, Steiner." Steiner responded with a salute. "Now then", Garnet continued, "let's get moving. The sooner we find Kuja, the sooner we can flatten him and save our daughters."
"I'll second that", Zidane said. And without another word the four of them split up and headed into the woods.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Nova cried out in pain as the behemoth slapped her aside with one of it's huge paws. She landed face-down in the dirt, stars dancing in her eyes. "Ow", she said weakly as she rose to her knees and rubbed her backside. "Oooh, my aching ass." She then looked over at the behemoth and saw that it was much worse off than she was. The silver haired swordsman that had saved her life, the one who called himself Sephiroth, was easily making short work of the beast. The behemoth had cuts and deep gashes all over it's body, wounds that were swiftly multiplying with each second. The behemoth roared in agony and struck out at it's attacker, who simply dodged and counterattacked with his sword with a speed that was… inhuman. At one point, the young man reached out with his hand and viciously grabbed the behemoth by it's throat. He then threw the large beast high into the air with impossible strength, jumped up after it, and began slashing it all over it's body in mid-air. Nova was unaware of how wide her eyes had grown and how low her jaw had dropped as she watched Sephiroth land gracefully on the ground about half a second before the behemoth crashed to the ground behind him in a bloody heap. The young man then eyed her with a dark smile that chilled her to her bones.
"Y… you're a… demon", Nova managed to stammer. That seemed to make Sephiroth's smile grow wider and Nova was suddenly terrified; even more terrified than she was when she was falling to her death into the canyon. Sephiroth turned his back on her and walked over to the behemoth. He cruelly kicked the beast and sent it flying till it crashed into the wall of the canyon. With an evil laugh, he walked over to where the behemoth landed and kicked it again, sending it rolling wildly to the side until it stopped right by the river. The behemoth made a sound that was something like a whimper, and Nova actually found herself feeling sorry for the fearsome creature. Sephiroth looked like he was on his way to do more damage to the monster, but Nova couldn't allow that. She'd seen enough.
"Stop it!", Nova yelled as she rose to her feet to face Sephiroth. "What the hell is wrong with you?" The young man froze and slowly swiveled his head to stare at her with a gaze that seemed like it could turn a cobra to stone. Nova tried her best to feign indifference at Sephiroth's deadly glare. "The monster is down. You don't have to keep beating it up", Nova said angrily.
Sephiroth stared at Nova for about a minute. He then turned and slowly began walking over to her. Nova tried to back away but realized she couldn't move. She was frozen in place; petrified with fear. Sephiroth walked right up to her and leaned over into her face. Nova could feel an immeasurably mighty power emanating from the young man; a power that seemed to envelop him. It felt as if it was enveloping her too as he stood close to her.
"First of all", he said in a dark voice, "I don't take orders from anyone. Especially from a useless, loud-mouthed brainless female monkey like yourself. So, for your own sake, don't ever tell me what to do again. Understood?" As he said that last word his hand brushed the hilt of his sword, sending a silent message to Nova that she understood loud and clear. A lump formed in her throat and she began to sweat profusely. Sephiroth then straightened up and folded his arms as he glared down at Nova. "Secondly", he continued, "that monster is an enemy. It was trying to kill you. And in a fight to the death, mercy is nothing more than an idiotic notion. If your situations were reversed, and you and the monster were in each other's shoes, do you think it would have any pity for you?"
"I… I… don't care", Nova managed to stammer defiantly. "It's still wrong to beat a living creature while it's down! It's not civilized! And being civilized is what separates humans from monsters!"
When he heard that, Sephiroth threw his head back and laughed loudly. "What's so funny?", Nova asked, her eyes narrowing. "Human?", Sephiroth sneered after he was done laughing. "Last time I checked, 'humans' didn't have monkey tails growing out of their asses." Nova could feel her face turn red and her blood pressure rising. Sephiroth smirked, seemingly satisfied that he had pissed her off once again.
"That's it!", Nova yelled at Sephiroth, temporarily forgetting that she was actually rather afraid of him. She pointed her finger in his face just one fourth of an inch from his nose. "Now listen up, asshole", the angry princess snarled. "I don't know what your problem with me is, but you'd better get it in check. And lay off the snide comments about my tail! You got me, pretty-boy?" She then looked down at his weapon. "By the way, what's with the super-long sword?", she asked in a flat voice. "Are you overcompensating for something?" No sooner than when she said that did she suddenly find her oxygen cut off as Sephiroth grabbed her by her throat and raised her into the air. Nova struggled, gasped for air, and even tried to plead for mercy, realizing that the last sentence she said might very well have been a few words too many. She looked down at Sephiroth's face, which was now contorted with fury, and was pretty sure that she was about to die.
"I can't believe you had the gall to say that to me", Sephiroth said in a voice thick with anger. "Insolent human bitch. I'm just thirsting to kill you." After about half a minute, he then released Nova and she crumpled to the ground, holding her throat and coughing uncontrollably. "However", Sephiroth continued as he looked down at her in sheer contempt, "seeing as how your survival determines my very own, I have no choice but to spare your life. For now."
"Nova! Nova!", a girl's voice yelled from above. Sephiroth looked up and saw a great silver-white dragon descending from the sky. On the back of the dragon were two of the most peculiar looking individuals Sephiroth had ever seen. One was what seemed to be a young girl wearing strange clothes and an even stranger looking large pointed hat. The other was a young fair featured man with silver-white hair much like his own, albeit a little shorter. But Sephiroth could see, from the flamboyantly elegant white suit the young man was wearing and the effeminate, almost delicate air he had about himself that their similarities ended with hair color.
No sooner than when the dragon landed did the young girl with the pointy hat jump down off it's back and rush towards his direction. "Nova! Oh, Nova!", the young girl cried in a teary voice as she ran past Sephiroth up to the girl he had saved earlier and threw her arms around her. "Oh, I'm so glad you're okay!"
"More or less", Nova replied, still stroking her throat where Sephiroth had grabbed her. She glared daggers of hatred at the warrior, who merely smiled evilly in return. Nova gently hugged the girl sobbing on her chest. "Hey, it's okay, Viva. I'm alright. You don't have to be scared anymore", she said reassuringly.
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Sephiroth observed the tearful reunion between the two girls and shook his head in disgust. Emotions; another reason why he detested humans so much. In fact, it was one of the biggest reasons they were all so useless and pathetic. The only real use he ever found for humans was to gain a sheer sense of amusement while mercilessly slaughtering them in herds.
"Nova, I thought you were a goner for sure!", the one named Viva said as she helped her chum to her feet. "How… how did you survive?"
"Well", Nova said, as she rubbed the back of her neck and once again started glaring at Sephiroth, "I guess you could say this guy saved me."
Viva looked up and eyed Sephiroth curiously, as if just noticing him for the first time. "Mister? You saved Nova?", she asked shyly.
Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "More or less", he retorted, already irritated with the endearing little human girl.
Viva cocked her head to the side inquisitively. "Well… thank you", she said timidly. "Um… where did you come from?"
"Careful, Viva", Nova warned her friend. "Don't get too near him. This guy's not playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean." Before Sephiroth could respond to the girl's insolence by kicking her in her face, he noticed that he was being approached by the young man he saw riding the dragon with Viva earlier. Even the young man's style of walking seemed rather effeminate and unthreatening. Yet Sephiroth could sense that there was much more to him than there seemed. He could practically feel that the strange man was pulsing with power; not quite enough power to rival his own, but enough to make him formidable. Yet Sephiroth remained calm and indifferent as the young man walked up to him. He was confident that, if the young man were to try anything funny, he could handle this guy in his sleep.
"Ah! Sephiroth, I presume?", the young man said grandly, waving his arm with a dramatic flair that Sephiroth found not only to be unnecessary, but extremely irritating. This guy hadn't said five words in his presence, and he was already itching to cut him in half.
"Indeed", Sephiroth said coldly. "And you must be Kuja."
"The one and only", Kuja replied with a sweeping bow which only served to irritate Sephiroth more. "Necron told me to expect you to show up. I just didn't think it'd be this soon. Oh, and thank you for saving the princess."
"Whatever", Sephiroth snapped nastily. "Look, I only saved her because I'm being forced to do the bidding of Necron. So don't bother thanking me, because if that meddling asshole deity wasn't holding my very existence hostage, I'd be off doing something that was actually worth my time. Got it?"
Kuja seemed slightly taken aback by Sephiroth's rudeness. "Ah, y-yes. As you wish", he replied. Nova sneered and shook her head in disgust at the rude warrior, and Viva just stood there and said nothing; seemingly too awed and afraid of Sephiroth to utter another word.
Sephiroth took a few seconds to look around at his three new companions. He then sighed and started rubbing his temples. So, these guys are the "Elementi" that Necron was talking about?, he thought to himself. I'm gonna have to travel with these pathetic human losers? When he was done mulling over his ill fortune, he looked up and narrowed his eyes at Kuja. "Before He sent me here, Necron told me that our first destination is the Sanctuary of Souls in the north", he announced.
"The Sanctuary of Souls?", Kuja said as he stroked his chin. "Hmm. Why there?"
"Don't really know, don't really give a shit", Sephiroth growled. "All I know is that He said He'd give us more instructions and further details into what the hell is going on once we arrived there. Hopefully He'll tell us how to easily dispatch whatever "evil" is threatening this piss-poor excuse for a world. And once that's done and over with, I only pray that Necron will allow me to return to my own world."
"Your own world?", Viva piped in, instantly curious. "You mean… you're from another world?"
Sephiroth whirled on Viva. "That's none of your business, human!", he snapped nastily. "Ah!", Viva cried and jumped behind Nova. That was when Nova officially reached the breaking point in her temper. Sephiroth had no right to yell at Viva like that. "Geez, do you have to be such a dick?", Nova yelled at him, not impressed at all with Sephiroth's attitude. "What's your problem anyway?"
"Shut up", Sephiroth growled menacingly.
"Make me", Nova growled, just as menacingly.
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and flexed his fingers, longing to grasp the hilt of his sword and teach this mealy-mouthed piece of human garbage a lesson. I know I'm not allowed to kill her, he thought, skimming over his options. But maybe Necron wouldn't mind if one of his Elementi were missing a few fingers. Or perhaps an eye or a foot… His thoughts were interrupted by a loud roar behind him. Sephiroth spun around to face the behemoth once more, his sword already drawn. Argh, I can't believe I forgot all about that beast!, he thought, furious at himself for being so careless. It's all because I allowed that monkey-tailed misfit to distract me.
"AAAHHH! Th-the behemoth! It's back!", Viva yelled fearfully.
"Oh dear", Kuja said. "Persistent little beast, isn't it?" He then looked closer and saw the beast was wobbling on it's feet, hardly able to stand. It had fierce gashes and bruises all over it's body. It looked as if the only thing keeping it alive at this point was sheer force of will. "Well, well. Looks like someone has been busy", he said, glancing over at Sephiroth. Sephiroth said nothing. He merely started stalking towards the behemoth, ready to slice it to ribbons. "Stay back, all of you", he snapped. "I'll finish this once and for all."
"Get outta my way!", Nova snarled as she rushed past Sephiroth, her Twin Moon blades drawn. "Nova! W-wait! Come back!", she heard Viva yell fearfully. But she wasn't listening. She was too mad at Sephiroth to listen to anybody. I'll take care of this, she thought angrily. Who the hell needs that jackass? I can do this all by myself! Nova ran right up to the behemoth and raised her daggers, ready to strike the beast dead. But before she could swing her weapons down for the kill the behemoth opened it's mouth and a purplish-black cloud emitted forth from it, engulfing Nova in a mist that smelled so foul she immediately began to cough and gag uncontrollably.
"Uuuurrghhhh! What… what the… h-hell?", Nova said as she doubled over, trying her best to keep from vomiting. She heard a loud thump ahead of her and looked up to see that the behemoth had dropped dead. "Nova! Nova, are you alright?", she heard her best friend say while running up behind her. Nova straightened herself up and dusted herself off.
"It's okay, Viva. I'm fine", she said as Viva ran up to her.
"Never do that again!", Viva said angrily. "What's wrong with you? That thing could have killed you!"
"Hey, chill out! I said I'm fine!", Nova replied with an edge of anger to her voice. "It's not like I can't handle myself!"
"I'm afraid that's beside the point, my princess", Kuja said, sounding just as angry as Viva did. "How could you be so reckless? You could have been seriously harmed! Don't you ever think before you act?"
"Something tells me that 'thinking' is not this girl's strongest suit", Sephiroth said coolly as he joined the group. That was all Nova could stand. She whirled on Sephiroth, eyes blazing with hatred. "Who the hell asked you to butt in?", she snarled. "You know, I'm really getting sick of you, asshole! Why don't you…" She suddenly stopped talking, mid sentence, as she found herself gasping for air. She clutched desperately at her throat, feeling very much the same way she felt when Sephiroth had grabbed her by her neck earlier. Only this time, instead of only being deprived of oxygen, she was also extremely dizzy and aching all over her body. Her eyes began to bulge and her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. She thought she could hear Viva asking her what was the matter but she wasn't exactly sure. Not that it mattered, seeing as how she couldn't answer Viva even if she wanted to. A black curtain fell over Nova's eyes as her senses abandoned her.
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"Nova! Nova! Please open your eyes!", Viva cried as she raised Nova by her shoulders and began shaking her. But it was to no avail; her friend remained unconscious.
"What's wrong with her?", Kuja asked, alarmed, as he bent down to examine her. He put his ear to her chest to listen for her heartbeat. After a few seconds he raised his head, looking more alarmed than ever. "Her heartbeat is faint, and she's not breathing!", he said in a panicked tone.
"Nova! Please! What's wrong?", Viva cried as she fell to her knees beside her friend. Tears were running down her face by then. Sephiroth was the only one who appeared calm at this point. He just sighed, shook his head in disgust, and walked over to where Nova lay. I really, really hate humans, he thought to himself. He then stretched out his arm until his palm hovered right over Nova. A stream of light shot down from his palm and hit Nova's chest. A couple of seconds later Nova gasped loudly and began breathing deeply.
"Nova!", Viva cried. "She… she's breathing! Oh, thank god!"
"Wha… how?", Kuja said, looking up at Sephiroth. "How did you… what was that power?"
"Something well beyond your ability to comprehend, human", Sephiroth sneered. He then leaned down and inspected Nova. "All I did was cleanse a huge portion of the poison out of her lungs so she can breathe. She's still contaminated, however. Her only chance of survival is complete detoxification."
"P… poison?", Viva said, fearfully. "But… how? When?"
"Remember that dark purple cloud the behemoth blew in her face just before it died?", Sephiroth replied. "That was a miasma attack, an extremely poisonous and deadly assault indeed. Even in the face of it's own death, the behemoth was determined to kill." He looked over at the dead beast and smirked. "And to think the foolish girl was actually pissed off that I was 'mistreating' the poor beast. I wonder what the stupid little monkey-tailed jackass has to say now."
"Don't call her that!", Viva yelled angrily.
"If you want to help her", Sephiroth continued, "then you only have one chance. You must get her to eat some boiled kupo greens."
"Of course! Kupo greens are an excellent remedy for any illness, even miasma poison!", Kuja exclaimed.
"Do you have any kupo greens on you?", Viva asked hopefully.
"No, but I do know where to get some nearby!", Kuja replied. "Directly east of here is a village named Chocotopia. They have kupo greens galore there! We should get moving right away!" He gently picked up Nova in his arms and rushed over to his dragon. Viva had already rushed past him and was perched on the back of the dragon, more anxious than he was to get going. "Don't worry, princess", Kuja said as he gently laid Nova down onto the dragon's back. "You haven't been written out of this play just yet. You are the lead actress in this story, after all." Kuja climbed up behind Nova and looked over at Sephiroth. "Are you coming?", he asked the warrior.
Sephiroth looked at the strange group of humans and was about to weigh his options, then he remembered that the reason he was here was because he had no options. He had to go with them. He had to make sure Nova survived. Because if she didn't, Sephiroth knew that he and Necron would be having yet another conversation, and the second one would be even less pleasant than the first. With an angry sigh, Sephiroth walked over to the dragon and quickly mounted it's back behind Viva. "I'm on", he snapped. "Let's go." Kuja gave a whistle and the dragon flapped it's wings and rose swiftly into the air, heading for the top of the canyon. Sephiroth couldn't help being impressed. Even with four people on it's back, this dragon had more than enough strength to rise effortlessly off the ground. It took the dragon mere seconds to reach the tattered bridge over the canyon and it took off like a streak of lightning, heading eastward.
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King Puck sat in a wooden chair in the guest room of the Hilda Guarde, looking out the window and sulking like a chastised child. His guardian, Freya, had locked him in the room, fearing he might do something stupid like try to run off and find Nova on his own. And Puck had to secretly admit that's probably exactly what he would do if he ever got the chance. He longed for adventure, always. Deep in his heart he knew that he wasn't really king material. He was a rolling stone, as his father often called him in the past. And that was one of the few things he and his father actually agreed on. He truly was a free spirit. And free spirits don't do well in cages.
"Aw man, I can't believe they left me in here", Puck said gloomily to himself. "Geez, it's not like I don't know how to fight. How come everyone but me gets to go on cool adventures? It's not fair." He slumped down in his chair and heaved a heavy sigh. Whoever thought being royalty was a great privilege was severely mistaken. Before Puck had become the royal monarch of the Kingdom of New Burmecia he had traveled the land, experiencing all sorts of new things, seeing the sights, and, most importantly, having fun. Now that he's a king, all he hears is responsibility this and responsibility that. No more happy life of a roaming vagabond for him. Now he's responsible for the well-being of an entire freakin' country. A terrible burden to put on the shoulders of someone who's so used to being free.
"I can't take this anymore!", Puck suddenly said, standing up from his chair. "What's it gonna take to get these guys to realize that I can take care of myself? Sheesh, Zidane is a king too, and he gets to go out on adventures! Why can't I?" He stalked angrily over to his window and looked out at the clouds, wishing he were anywhere else but in this room. His eyes caught the shape of something big and white flying through the sky just ahead. "Whoa, that's one big bird", Puck said to himself. He then squinted and looked hard at the creature. "Huh? It almost looks like there are people on it's back", he said to himself. "Who would ride a bird?" He cocked his head to the side quizzically. "It's too big to be a chocobo", he said wonderingly. "So then, what the heck… is…?" Suddenly it hit him. That wasn't a bird. That was a dragon. A silver-white dragon to be precise. Which means the people riding the dragon must be none other than…
"Kuja! Nova! Viva!", he yelled excitedly. He ran over to his door and began pounding on it and yelling frantically. "Hey, anybody! I just saw Kuja! Hey, anybody out there? Hey!" No one answered. Pissed off, he turned and looked around the room, searching for a rope or anything else that he could use to lower himself out the window. His eyes rested on two extremely large, silk woven tassels hanging up by either side of the door. "Hmm. That'll work", he said with a grin. He snatched the expensive looking tassels down off the wall and tied them together. He then threw one end of his make-shift rope out of the window and tied the other end to the sturdy leg of the huge wooden table of the guest room. He walked up to the window and braced himself. "I hope this works", he said solemnly. Hanging onto his end of the tassel-rope, he jumped out of the window. He dropped about seven feet before the tassels ran out of slack and he found himself dangling about five feet off the ground. He let go of the tassels and fell the rest of the way, landing on his feet and then falling on his rump.
"Ouch", he said as he got up and rubbed his spine. He then pulled his compass out of his pocket and pointed it in the direction the dragon was flying. "They're headed east!" he said to himself. "That's in the exact direction of Chocotopia! Hmm, I haven't been there since I became king of New Burmecia. I wonder how ol' Chief Elgin is doing?" He looked to his left and his right, making sure no one could see him. Then he started walking swiftly eastward, sword dangling at his belt and a confident grin on his face. Another exciting adventure has begun for him, and he couldn't be happier. "Heh heh, I'll show Freya", he said, his heart racing with excitement. "I'll show 'em all! I'll save Nova and Viva all by myself! Then they'll have no choice but to recognize my true strength!" The thought of people finally realizing how strong and capable he was spurred him to move even faster in his swift pursuit of Kuja's dragon.