All right. Change in plan guys. I am on the computer and I have about enough time to write another chapter so I am about to get down to business.
Chapter 28: Heart Of The Lion.
Everybody was on edge and they walked cautiously. They were now in lines of three and they looked like a miniature army going to war. Their faces were dusty and black and their steps were silent. The only sounds that were heard throughout the cavern were the soft breathing of the team members. The tension was so thick in the air that it was stifling. Beads of sweat rolled down each face of the team and each person's heart beat quickened with each step.
There seemed to be no monsters in this area. It seemed almost as if the monster's held a high respect for that certain area of the cave. Just the very surroundings made the team feel like they were in constant danger. They walked a while and they finally reached a certain place in the crater where before them there was just wide open space that seemed to hold no purpose.
This is when the team put their second course of planning into action. Barret, Tifa, and Cloud as the main team proceeded into the narrow doorway. On their previous journeys, when they had entered this cave before it was a dark entrance and they had to feel their way around to stay on path. Now they stood before the narrow path and stared at what lay ahead of them. Their hearts raced with anticipation and an unknown source of fear made its self present. A shrill un-human like shriek that sounded like a challenge echoed around them. Cloud, Tifa, and Barret stopped in their tracks and looked at the what used to be pitch black entrance way. It was now light up with bright green. The team instantly knew what it was. It could be one of two things. It could be Mako or Jenova's blood. But when they really thought of it Jenova's life source WAS tainted mako.
Cloud's heart hammered in his head. He felt her. Her presence was so strong he had to fight to stay on his feet. He turned around and beads of sweat were rolling down Sephiroth's forehead. He turned back around and Tifa saw his look of anguish. She pushed up on him and gave him temporary relief. They stayed like this for about five minutes and when it was time to go everyone prepared themselves. The main team entered the entrance and once inside their whole world transformed. They fell through a river of green every man for himself. Cloud was going through inner turmoil. His insides burned and his head felt like it had exploded. When this finally stopped and he got up he saw his whole team around him. He looked around and instantly began to panic. Then he heard a voice:
"Don't worry everyone is ok." Sephiroth said
"How long have we been out?" Cloud asked.
Sephiroth thought about it and then came to a conclusion.
"I would say about a half hour" he finished
Cloud's eyes went wide.
"What the hell happened to us?" he almost shrieked
"Apparently we fell through some type of vortex and landed here. I am not sure where we are but I know that we are no longer where we were about an hour ago. Sephiroth said. I suggest we wake everyone up. I feel like I am being watched again."
Cloud looked at him and nodded.
He pulled out his Full Cure materia and paired it with an all. He turned to his side and noticed Sephiroth following him.
"We need all the power we can get. We don't know what's behind or in front or on top of us."
With a final nod they both went about to casting their spells. A green mist floated from both of them. As if the mist had a life of its own it went about as if trying to find a vessel to posses. When it found its target it entered either through mouth or nostrils and once in side exploded into a burst of green power. This caused the heart to start pumping faster and the veins, arteries, lungs, and all other vital organs to do their job.
Once the whole team was up again they looked at their new surroundings which by the way turned out to be black at every corner.
"Where the hell are we?" Yuffie groaned.
"I'd like to answer that question for you little girl!" said a new voice.
"Litra" the new voice commanded and all of a sudden there was light.
What the team saw made them gasp in horror. The were surrounded by a good bit of unearthly beasts. There were things with no heads, twelve arms, two heads, no legs, wings, and all every other thing you could think of. It was a sight from hell. But what caught the attention of the team was the figure clad in all black pants and an all black muscle shirt that bulged anywhere you looked. He had pale skin similar to Vincent's. It was obvious to the team that he had undergone some kind of change. But as to what it was they had no idea. What caught their attention most was his eyes. He had color shifting eyes. From blue, to green, to red, to orange, to purple, to black, to brown and so on. He looked at the whole team and stopped when he saw Cloud and Sephiroth standing Side by Side wit their weapons drawn. "
So you two are the rebellious children that Mother was talking about". He said.
His voice was liquid smooth and carried a sense of superiority.
Cloud spoke up:
"And who the hell are you?"
"My name is Assai and as to who I am…well I am you brother" he smiled
"BROTHER! What the fuckin hell are you talking about" Sephiroth screamed.
"Calm down Sephiroth. Assai warned. Mother re-birthed me and I am now one of you. I feel what you feel. I am now connected to her and it feels great. You are a fool to deny mother total and complete usage of your body. And for that I despise you. I would stay here and beat the hell out of you but mother and I have more important things to deal with right now. She was wise enough to trick you into coming here. Today will be the day that you surely die. And just to let you know we ware heading to the City Of The Ancients where we will continue our business. But that piece of information is useless to the likes of you for you shall die right now. One of the monsters that you shall fight here today will have a wonderful surprise for you so choose your battles wisely my brothers."
At the mention of The forgotten City there was a soft but sharp gasp from the Ancient in the group.
With one last look around Assai burst forth black wings and leapt into the air were he vanished into a rainbow of colors and was gone.
The Team wasted no time and jumped into action. From the corner Red cast haste and Big Guard on the team. Yuffie went about to cast a regen and Aeris cast Wall to back up the Big Guard.
Cloud and Sephiroth ran into battle side by side. They came upon the enemy in quickness. They charged and didn't stop until they both had pierced 5 enemies each in the heart with their massive swords. Sephiroth spun to his left and caught a beast in the face with the hilt of his sword. He lunged forward and kicked an enemy in the back, with a quick look behind him he saw an advance coming his way he stepped back once threw his sword over to his left hand brought it back and pierced the throat of yet another monster. Something grabbed him from the back and this pissed him off. He threw his sword to the ground and wrapped his arms around the neck of his new victim. He pulled the unskilled beast over his back to lay flat on its back and brought his elbow down with lighting quick speed into the forehead of the foe. He was rewarded with a sickening crunch and then an explosion of black goo washed all over his jacket and pants. From the smell of it he knew that this was jus not tainted mako it was rotten mako. He got up and looked around for his sword. When he spotted it, it was in the hands of an enemy lunging for Yuffie. He smiled and truenamed his weapon.
(Quick Author's Note: this is my story so I will do my own thing. At the end of this chapter I will explain the whole truename thing, read on for now. It gets interesting)
"Misamunelir" he whispered.
With that his sword stood straight up in the air. The confused monster looked at the weapon and tried to catch it from rising higher. Sephiroth then began to move his hand in a circular motion the sword doing the exact same thing, its blade gleaming wickedly in the light of the cavern. Sephiroth then pulled his hand back and the sword flew back and out of sight, seemingly lost in the cave. The monster turned his head and Yuffie caught his attention again. The monster began to walk towards her and then broke out into a run. Sephiroth sent his had flying forward and the sword began it journey of murder. Yuffie was chasing an enemy, an enemy was chasing her, and the sword was chasing them. The sword picked up pace and struck the enemy that Yuffie was chasing in the forehead. It lifted this abomination up and redirected it path to the second one. This foe who by now realized what was happening turned and ran the other way. When he turned around to see behind him the sword caught him straight between the eyes. The massive sword continued this until there were fifteen monsters flying around covering the length of the sword. Seph then commanded his sword to drop them and return to him. When this was done Sephiroth had already killed close to 20 monsters and he was just beginning.
Tifa was in her element. She was squaring of against two monsters. One had six arms and the other had 4 legs with no arms. Tifa used this to her advantage. She did a sweep kick and landed the no armed monster on the ground. She then dived with her elbow and cracked the neck of the atrocity. She leaped back on to her feet and kicked the jaw of the oncoming monster. She held up her wrist and closed her eyes when she opened them again, what she saw made her smile. The monster was a frozen block of solid ice. She turned around and got a running start she then did a flying kick and let her foot fly into the head of the monster. It came right of and exploded into ice cubes and black puss. The rest of the body was frozen in place and looked like a fountain except it had black liquid spewing and not crystal clear water.
Cloud was a madman and the slaughter came to him. He hacked and he hewed but they just kept coming. He was running low on energy but felt it come back and saw Aeris from the corner of his eye. He smiled at his little sister even though she couldn't see it and then called forth the devil himself. Ifrit. He rose from the pits of the abyss in a furry of flames. He looked around and spotted his enemies. He landed and where his feet touched steam rose and there was a burnt spot in the shape of his feet. With an ear shattering roar he lifted his hands into the air and slammed them into the ground. The ground broke into pieces and he flung them after the retreating foe. Block after block after block was flung and anywhere they landed damage was done. After all the blocks were flung he opened his mouth and the flames that burst forth were hot enough to melt diamonds. Enemies died and they screamed as their fate befell them. Their rotten flesh fell to the ground in sizzling heaps, their bones melted and their hearts exploded. Most were dead before gravity took effect, but some died standing, only to be remembered by their charred remains of unearthly things that once inhabited their corrupted bodies. Ifrit snorted one last time and as the smoke that emanated from his nostrils vanished so did he.
When the team reappeared Cid and Barret wasted no time. Of a sudden the whole party disappeared once again, Neo Bahamut and Bahamut Zero made their presence known. With a double team move they both landed about 100 feet away from each other. Thus forcing the feeble and cowardly monsters into the middle. When the cattle was herded they looked at each other. Like mimes they put both hands up and created and impenetrable force field. One of the idiot monsters try to run through it but by the time it got on the other side the faint wind blowing through the cave blew what little dust remained away. They both let out a roar that sounded more like a laugh and got down to business. They both closed their eyes and when they were reopened four red eyes stared at the herded fools. Before anything else happened the entire force field was filled with white-blue laser beams that lasted until there was nothing left standing between them. They closed the field and with that sadistic roar flew away. B. Zero punched Neo B. in the arm as if to say good job and Neo hit him back jus like brothers do and with that they were gone.
The team reappeared and all was still. Then one little monster came out and walked right up to Cloud. Cloud wasted no time. He raised his sword and brought it down with a crack.
"Cloud!" Sephiroth yelled.
But he was too late. The monster was dead and hell was let loose.
The cave shook and pieces of rocks and rubble flew in every direction. The team ran around and tried to look for an exit. In the next second they were transported the same way they got there. This time without the pain and agony. What the team didn't notice was the still twitching to halves of the freshly killed monster being transported with them. They didn't notice because where they now stood was in an open area. The outside visible.
"This was never like that before" Red Shouted over a rushing and roaring sound.
Sephiroth was about to comment but a voice started to speak. Jenova's voice.
"My Children. I see you have found my surprise and now you will surely die. My new son Assai did well. The battle that you have ahead will surely be your last. But please do me one last favor and look up.
The team had been fortunate. They were supposed to receive that message before the battle, but Assai had messed up and let them in on a part of the enemy's mission that was vital.
As the team looked up they saw a big field of crackling and sizzling energy in the shape of a sphere. It was huge. The team was speechless as they witness what happened next. Out from the eastern most part of their peripheral view they saw a little dot that grew larger by the second. When they were able to see what it was they armed their selves for Ultima Weapon was upon them. It flew right above them and went past them heading straight for the big sphere of energy. When it reached its destination it stopped and looked directly at them. It let out a screech as if to curse them. It then started glowing bright red and the team thought that a shadow flare was coming their way. It glowed red until it seemed like a big ball of fire then of a sudden a red orb the size of an average human head was released from the chest of Ultima.
Aries gasped: "the Hate materia"
The team looked at her and then remembered what she had said about the prophecy.
After the orb was released Ultima entered the sphere and froze the materia floated above the sphere and took its position above Ultima and that was that.
The team heard a soft rumbling and it eventually got louder. When they turned to the source of the sound they spotted about 30 enemies approaching them.
"When will this stop" Yuffie sighed
When the two sides were in close range a human was visible in the midst. Obviously a surrogate for Jenova for he spoke with a hiss and his voice was two toned.
"Now you have unlocked the irreversible furry of the planet and you will now die. The surrogate pulled out a battle riffle and aimed. Now to take care of my rebellious children."
He aimed and pointed at Cloud first. As Tifa witnessed this, her heart tightened in her chest and breathing was hard. He is going to die is all that ran trough her mind. She heard a shot ring out and before she knew it she was in front of Cloud and she felt a bullet pierce through her. She felt another and another and then one more. She hit the ground and she hit it hard. Her head spun and different color stars blurred her vision. From bright vibrant colors to murky brown and black. Even through this circumstance she smiled. I'm dying she thought. This is the end. She felt strong arms wrap around her now trembling frame. It took all her might just to look up and see who it was. She prayed to God it was Cloud. She saw him a bloody red spot on his shoulder. He was crying but she did not hear him. She read his lips but his words were mute to her dying body. Breathing was hard now her chest was filling up with her own blood, and it seeped from the corners of her mouth. This was the end she thought and she was going to die. With one last bit of strength she put her hand on Cloud's face and whispered a soft I Love you before blackness became her new world.
"TIFFA! TIFFFA! Get up, no this can't be. We had to get married. TIFFFFA!" he yelled.
Tears now streamed down his blackened face. No one could feel the pain and anguish that he felt now. No one. His heart was on fire his very soul threatened to exit his body. His mind was awhirl and he felt an intense fury well up in his chest and he felt like a blood vessel in his brain had popped. He looked up and saw his friends in battle. Another shot rang out and Cid fell o the ground.
"NOOOOOOO!" he yelled.
And got up but he wasn't on his feet two Golden wings protruded from his back and he was airborne. His Ultima weapon lay forgotten on the ground and in his hands there was a ball of energy growing with his furry. His team disengaged from battle for they feared what they saw. His eyes were blood red, all his veins visible in his forehead, two golden wings, his hair was now tinted red, and his whole being was transformed. He rose above all his enemies and they cowered in fear. Cloud lifted his hands above him and this energy ball was now the size of a blimp. With one last scream he unleashed all his furry and turned back to the now lifeless body of his fiancé,
"FURRY OF TEARS!"
And they were dead.
"Tifa" he whispered
He landed next to her and picked her up. He wrapped her in his arms and then used his two golden wings as a barrier and while inside he cried.
The rest of the team began their journey towards the high wind. Which was now visible. Sephiroth, Barret, and Aries stayed behind. Yuffie helped Cid up and the rest of the team departed. That day a heart was broken and a life was shattered. Cloud underwent tremendous stress and fainted. Before he hit the ground he returned to his normal self. Sephiroth picked him up and Aeris ran to Tifa.
A tear fell from Aeris and she placed her head on Tifa's neck. She looked up to Barret and smiled. Barret looked at her like she was going crazy. But what he heard next was enough to bring the sunshine back into Cloud's now shattered life.
"She's alive".
Well that was stressful to write. Damn yo. I am tired as hell. Hope yall enjoy that. Don't know when the nxt one is gonna be up but read on and keep reveiwin it makes me feel good. Goodnite. If you don't know who the prophecy is talking about by now you guys are slow as hell.
