A Cruel Fairy Tale
By: Katan Yue
Disclaimer: I do not own certain characters owned by Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy series, and Dirge of Cerberus games.
Chapter 2: Project SORA part 1
One night, a big meteor fell from the sky and landed in the outskirt of Queen Jenova's kingdom. From coast to coast the people of Jenova's Kingdom panicked. Every one believed that the meteor was a bad omen; an object to bring death and misfortune to their prosperous kingdom.
"Your majesty…please, do not think of going close to that foreign object. The oracle has warned all of us of it's powers of evil and destruction."
Jenova's royal counselors, wizards, and seers, warned their queen about the misfortune that the meteor would bring, but she never listened. For you see, young Queen Jenova was always curious and energetic. She did not believe in such superstitions; she was a seeker of truth. She wanted to prove to everyone that their superstitions were unfounded.
One night, a month after the meteor had fallen to earth, in the dead of night, young Queen Jenova went to investigate the bizarre event.
That night, everything changed………
Venture Tower, Wednesday 2:25 a.m.
A mysterious individual walked through the deserted halls of Venture Tower; a corporate building and a safe gathering where the elders of the vampire covens met on important occasions. The strange figure kept walking idly towards the pent house of Venture Tower. For the moment, the elevator in Venture Tower was stuck on the 7th floor; making him find another way up to the pent house by using the construction lift located in the 10th floor of the building. The black robed figure could visibly cringe at the thought of all of New York's Ancient Primogen gathered in one place at once.
What could they be thinking……
The only reason why the elders met was to pass more oppressing laws against rogue vampires, to uphold the ludicrous rules of the Masquerade, and for the protection and safety of their own skin. Everyone else did not matter.
Virtue's Council, Venture Tower 2:43 a.m.
Voice 1: "They took the crystal……"
Voice 2: "I see……"
Voice 3: "Why would they steal the crystal? The two rogues guarding the crystal at Glacier Prison were easily defeated by some unknowns."
Voice 1: "But the crystal……is too heavy…too massive to be transported by human means. They practically tore the chains and unhinged the crystal from the stone prison."
Voice 2: "They used a form of teleportation."
Voice 3: "Then we are certainly in trouble…… They now have the 'key' to our very existence. How could they know where the 'key' was? No one else is supposed to know, but us…"
Voice 2: "They used the same methods we used to get our hands on the crystal. If I was a powerful enough psychic to intercept the key's body, then, they deployed their own psychic to find it."
Voice 4: "But no one is powerful enough to find the 'key'. It literally took several millennia to find it. How could they-"
Voice 2: "Shelke……"
Voice 5: "Namine, are you sure? No one has heard of Shelke since………"
Voice 2: "The First Holy Inquisition when the first Christians… first surfaced after the Underworld Rebellion."
Voice 5: "Are you sure it wasn't a Methuselah?"
Voice 2: "I'm positive Amon…a Methuselah has the knowledge, but not the power to pull something like that."
Voice 3: "Then we are doomed. Without a doubt, they will awaken the 'key' and use it to their advantage."
Voice 6: "Relax……"
The suave, regal voiced man said amusedly as he made his way into the meeting room. He had been listening to the debate long enough to be exasperated by the Ancient's worries and brainless speculations. Only Namine and Amon were intelligent enough to hold his interest.
Unison: "Rufus Shinra…"
The tall, blonde man smirked in satisfaction at the surprise he had caused the foolish Ancients. Rufus Shinra could be a tad cold and intimidating with his expensive, antique white colored suits, and icy blue eyes. If that was not enough to intimidate anyone, his special mercenary force of vampires known as TURKS would do a good job of intimidating anyone in his path.
"Yes, the one and only."
Voice 5: "You seem too confident, Shinra."
"Ah…I see that you still have issues with trust, Amon."
Voice 5: "Don't play games with us Shinra. Tell us, what do you have up your sleeve?"
"Spoken like a true soldier and hunter, Amon."
Voice 3: "This is hardly the time to argue! We have met here tonight, because we have reached a crossroads at this point. The key has been stolen and we need to find it before anybody else awakens it and manipulates it as they wish."
"Relax, Ladies, Gentlemen." Shinra address the members of the Virtue's Council with a curt bow.
"What they have in their hands now, is neither the 'key' nor the 'fail safe'. What they have in their hands is nothing but a soul less shell trapped inside a crystal." Rufus Shinra looked at the around him with cold, uncaring eyes. This meeting was starting to take a toll on his patience.
"Namine…… Amon…… have you forgotten about the trial held after the Underworld Rebellion? I guess that after a couple of millennia memory does seem to forget a couple of important details."
Turning around, Shinra made his way to his seat with fast, graceful strides. Shinra then gracefully pointed towards a dark corner of the Venture Tower's meeting room.
"Ladies, Gentlemen, to ease your worries and concerns about this matter, I've decided to entrust Riku here with the important mission of finding that……very special group of rebels that dare defy us."
Commotion, shock, uproar, disapproval; these were the mixed feelings expressed by the Primogen of the Virtue's Council as the young; silver-blonde man stepped forward from the darkness of the room. The young man's black robes and a blindfold over his eyes; a respectful ceremonial gesture when in the presence of an Elder Primogen.
Shock: "How can you let a mere rebel, rogue, riff-raff vampire like him…take such delicate matters into his own hands?"
Anger: "Is this your idea of a game, Shinra! The fate of our lives in his hands? Is this why we gave you the title of Prince in New York City?"
Resentment: "Why Shinra! We could send any of our best men to find that damned crystal! Why rely on these 'gun for hire' types when I could lead the operation my self and without any casualties!"
"Why not? Think of it Amon. I do not think that somebody, alien to these matters would take the opportunity and risk to steal the crystal for no apparent reason. No foreigner knew where the crystal was. I'm going to guess it was an 'inside' job. Would you not agree with me Amon?"
"But why him? His group has the crystal failure on their belt. What makes you think that they won't fail this time around?"
"If you'll excuse me…" The silver-haired blonde interrupted. "Although we did fail to protect the crystal from Glacier Prison, the investigation conducted by us has revealed that it was the rebel group Anima Mundi who was behind the attack."
Shinra looked with interest at the silent war waging between the HUNTER Primogen, and the riff-raff vampire that was Sephiroth's childe.
Now this…will get interesting.
"What proof do you have young one." Amon demanded coldly. He was the top soldier for the HUNTER project.
Riku bowed his head politely; this was a mandatory way of both addressing and indirectly challenging someone of such high rank.
"The proof that Anima Mundi was involver in Glacier Prison's incident is in the fact that…our men were not killed. The rebel group of Anima Mundi never kills their opponents that are alien to the conflict."
"Is that all you have young one. Heh then you are really useless."
"If you'd let me finish Sir. Reno and Axel mentioned that Belthezor and Storm had attacked them. Both of these individuals have been known to be faithful members of Anima Mundi. This however, is not all." Riku said placing a set of photographs on the table. "These pictures were taken from where the crystal once stood. According to Vincent Valentine, these are protective barriers known as 'circles'. They were used alongside with white magic, Anima Mundi's only choice of magic."
Rufus Shinra could not help but clap. This showdown of tactics, and Amon's shocked expression was priceless, a real Kodak Moment. No one had outsmarted Amon in quite a while. He was amused that a mere rouge vampire was able to get the upper hand on veteran HUNTER Amon. But he knew that Riku was not an ordinary rogue. Riku was The Great Sephiroth's childe after all.
"You see Amon. No need to worry. I trust Riku to do a fine job of finding these troublesome assholes after all, Riku's sire is none other than Sephiroth, and we all know that Sphiroth is one of the first vampires to ever exist."
Everyone gasped in utter shock and Riku clenched his teeth in silent hate and resentment. Just because he was Sephiroth's childe, that didn't mean he was supposed to be this great vampire. He was not supposed to carry Sephiroth's greatness as an unbearable weight on his shoulders.
"Fine, let's see what The Great Sephiroth's childe can do about this." Amon said in a silent challenge towards the young vampire.
"Do not distress further upon this matter, Amon. To give you all a piece of mind and to ensure the complete success of this mission, I have decided that project SORA will aid Riku and his band of……followers…to guarantee our success."
If up to this moment Riku had secretly seethed from the Virtue's Council cruel contempt, he now felt like burning everyone inside Venture Tower for his own satisfaction however, he knew better than to mess with Primogens in an Elysium site.
To be continued……
