Sorry this chapter took so long to pump out. After saying that the next chapter would have Aleron in it, I was determined to get to that point in this chapter. The truth is I probably could have broken this thing in two.
Also...I at long last played "Dirge of Cerberus". Not all of it, mind you. I'm only to Chapter Four. It was nearly impossible for me to start. You see, I actually have a phobia of videogames. At least, a phobia of new, non-RPG ones. I'm afraid I won't be able to beat them, and then I'll be stuck and never get good enough to triumph. This particular game scared me particularly, because my friend told me how difficult it was to advance with the "gil or EXP" type of system. Luckily, I've got the strategy guide, so I found so much gil in the levels themselves that I can afford to level up and still have good weapons.
SPOILER ALERT (Dirge of Cerberus): If you haven't played the game, move on to the first page break and enjoy the chapter.
I can see now why some people think that my story came close to hitting the nails on the head. You could consider the New Shinra Army a type of Deep Ground, I suppose, although their goals are far less malicious and scientific related. Well...in a manner of speaking, anyway... Then, of course, there's the WRO itself, similar to the PPA in some ways, and a few new revelations...like the fact that it was Lucrecia, not Hojo, who turned Vincent into what he is. Then there's dudes like Azul the Cerulean who resemble some of my manimals from earlier chapters, and the fact that in my story Hojo was still operating below the surface of Midgar.
Conversely, I seem to be "behind the times" in terms of technology. When I first planned this story, I didn't even have guns. I figured after Meteorfall that the world would be in chaos, and without mako power everyone would be back in the stone age. I scrapped that idea when I drafted it, realizing that there was still plenty of technology left on Gaia. After seeing Advent Children, I decided to boost up the technology level even more. But now that I've seen Dirge of Cerberus, some of the battle scenes look ripped straight out of "Attack of the Clones"'s Battle of Geonosis. Given the general lack of cities in the FFVII universe, I find it hard to believe that an infrastructure could progress enough to make all that stuff.
I thought it was a little silly to make a whole game based off of an optional character in FFVII. Believe it or not, I have met people who have played through the game without ever finding Vincent (they never could figure out the safe). Also, all of the "lame" characters seem to be the central ones in this, like Reeve, Cait Sith, and Yuffie.
Some of you have asked me this before, so I'll set the record straight. With the exception of calling Vincent's gun "Cerberus", I probably won't integrate anything from this game into my story. After all, the events of Dirge of Cerberus never happened in this story. I could treat my story as an "alternate universe" that reaches some of the same ends as that game through different means (i.e., the fused Planet Protector Army and Wutai Gold Navy could rename themselves the World Recovery Organization), but that would only serve to confuse new readers.
One major beef I have with the game is the entire opening flashback scene to Midgar. To me, it almost seems like an insult to gamer's intelligence by introducing a twist that we, in theory, "should have known about". Based on the sequence, the group should have known that Rufus was still alive (apparently, Yuffie spent her "one day" before going off to battle assisting relief efforts in Midgar...which is OOC in my opinion anyway...). Also, we apparently are supposed to forget that the battle at the Sister Ray ever took place. I consider that an affront, because I still remember how that's probably the hardest battle in the game other than the WEAPONs (if you're not prepared). Hojo went through several mutations before I chopped him into bits. Nuff' said. I would have believed it if Hojo's defeated body drug itself off to heal (like in, for example, my story), but to suggest that the fight never took place? I feel a bit of Kathy Bates from "Misery" coming on...
Anyway, I'm ranting too much. Here's your chapter. I'm off to hope that I leveled up more than my friend did. She said that by the time she got to Chapter Four, enemies were killing her with one shot... :(
A hiss of steam erupted as Sephiroth dipped the metal blade into the water. He listened as it slowly cooled down and subsided, losing its malleability and becoming solid. Once it was done, he pulled back on the tongs and slowly removed it from the water. Steam continued to come off of it as it emerged into the fiery light…
It was a three-foot long curved blade. It was double edged on both sides, and sharp and strong enough to easily slice through steel or even adamant. It had been folded over a thousand times, making the already nearly unbreakable steel that much more formidable. Not Ragnarok, Ultima Weapon, or even the Masamune could break through it. It wasn't the work of any ancient being…but it still deserved a place among the most lethal crafts ever made on the face of Gaia.
And now…it was nearly finished.
Sephiroth turned the blade back around and toward the magma. This time, he dipped only the wider end of it into the flames. Once that was set, he turned to get the other component for the weapon. He hadn't much time now. He had to hurry and complete this before it was too late. He was due to meet with his new friend very shortly…and he would have to rush to make it even with this weapon completed.
However, he still felt some pleasure at the fact that he could already feel Aleron having arrived. Now all that was left was to break the last few bonds…
Reno was feeling rather sore and strained when he and his companions finally found a place to stop.
As he had said, they walked all night. He wasn't sure if their cover had ever been blown or not in the canyon, but they had managed to get through none the less. With that done, they now were fairly home free. There were more outposts, of course, and many more troops stationed between them and Neo Junon. But by then it was dark, and sneaking around them wasn't a problem for operatives like themselves. Unseen, they managed to sneak into the City of the Ancients, past the Sleeping Forest, and began to emerge into the other side. At that point, the sun had been up again, and the four found themselves wandering into the sea of artillery that constituted the Defense Grid of the Northern Continent. But none of these were meant for ground assaults, and the troops that were stationed there didn't present many problems. It was ill suited for defending against a small group of invaders who had managed to make landfall. They managed to avoid contact that entire day.
The sun was setting by the time the group finally arrived in Neo Junon. It wasn't a city per sae now that it was fully complete, but more of a large naval shipyard. There was a heavy guard here all the time now, always prepared for an invasion. That included many sweepers and tanks, all of which were on higher alert since the defection that had taken place a few days ago. Added to that plenty of helicopters and Gelinkas, searchlights and platoon patrols everywhere, guard dogs being led up and down streets, and it looked like a pretty impregnable military zone.
However, they wouldn't be the Turks if this would daunt them. There were still plenty of shadows and places to hide, and by the time they made it into town the sun was setting again. They were getting tired and sleepy, but they still managed to find their way easily enough deeper into the city. Reno managed to take them all the way up into the last row of naval warehouses before he finally led them to a stop. He had elected one of the warehouses that had been closed down due to resource loss. The NSA was running a bit dry, and they no longer needed to store as many weapons and materials as they had in their heyday of ship construction. That gave a variety of places to choose from. They decided on one particular one that still had large waste in it, such as palates and broken down crates, which was due to be recycled at some point. It also had the nice benefit of having holey metal walls, with plenty of spaces to look out of and scope the area.
They had managed to get into the warehouse without leaving much of a gap in any of the openings, and then silently closed the way behind them so that they left no traits. The corner they had elected on crouching down in was well hidden. The pallets and crates that were piled up provided a sort of small maze and lots of optical barriers toward anyone spotting them. It would do well for the next few hours.
Reno himself let out a bit of a gasp when the four reached it, before falling on the ground. Grumbling a bit, he pulled off his backpack and began to move to undo his snow gear. He wouldn't be needing it now. Rude and Elena did much the same, and began to peel off their effects in the same way. They had been walking for nearly two days now, and they had little to nothing to eat in that time. That would be a strain on anyone.
Well…almost anyone, it appeared.
Krystea hadn't broken a sweat the entire trip. While the others were heaving and tired, she was still standing as she calmly and quickly removed her pack and unzipped her snowsuit. Reno looked up to her as she did this, revealing the rest of her scantly clad suit beneath. However, it wasn't just for perverted reasons. He noticed that she hadn't sweat within her snowsuit either. That got his attention. She should have anyway, if only because the suit was doing its job and keeping her warm. There was no heat in this building either, and though the other Turks were hot, Krystea in her bare skin should have soon been showing goose bumps. But after pulling off her clothes and pausing to check and reload her weapon…he saw that she still wasn't cold.
Once Krystea was done with this, she turned to the others as she put her gun back in her holster. The others were still recovering, and Rude was beginning to go for one of the energy bars they had shoved in with their gear. She, however, looked ready.
"Alright. Let's do this." She announced. "What kind of boat should we go for?"
Reno exhaled and raised an arm. "Easy there, Sarisa Tycoon. We're taking a bit of a breather first."
Krystea paused here, and then formed a frown. "We should wait to rest until we're off this continent. We're still in danger here."
"Well, I don't think we're quite up to it yet." Reno tiredly answered. "We've been walking for close to 36 hours, and I can't tell if my feet are numb from soreness or cold."
This only made the woman frown more. "We're this close to getting clear, and you want to stop now?" She nearly accused. "I thought we were supposed to be thicker skinned than this. We're Turks, right? I feel just fine. I think we should take it before anyone else realizes we could be here."
"Good for you." Reno tiredly answered. "But I think it would be better if we get a bit of rest and wait until later tonight, when patrols are lower and the sky is darker. All it would take is one missile to knock us out of the water on a small boat."
"And sorry if we're not all as physically capable as you." Elena threw in sourly. "Not all of us have special cells running through our bodies making us stronger."
Krystea only seemed to get more upset at this. She crossed her arms and turned to Elena. She was silent for a moment, before she lashed out with a biting question.
"…Why did you even become a Turk?"
Both Rude and Reno looked up at this, as well as Elena. The woman was confused. "What?"
"You whine about me. You whine about having to make this trip. You whine about methods. And now you whine about this." She snapped back. "You're pathetic. I can't believe they let such a complaining little wretch like you in here. What do you think this is? Tea time? If you can't stand a little rough terrain, then maybe this is the wrong sport for you. Personally I'd love it if you got lost. Then I'd be able to have some peace without your stupid inane babbling ten times a day."
Elena stared back in stunned surprise. She was rendered speechless by this. Reno knew why immediately. Krystea had suddenly turned mean…and she had never been mean to the rest of them before. She had never been this biting of Elena either. But now that he saw her looking at the blond woman…he saw her eyes filling with hate and spite. Her lips were curled into a sneer. The blond Turk paused a moment, and was about to speak up to defend herself. However, before she could, Reno spoke up.
"Look…can it. There's no need to be so irate. You must be tired because-"
Krystea's head snapped violently around to Reno. Her eyes were blazing with fresh anger. The man felt as if an invisible hand dipped into his throat and choked him.
"Don't you dare tell me to 'can it' ever again, you letcherous little punk." She nearly snarled. "What do you think I am? Some little twerp like the rest of the whores you go out with that you can just order around? You little bastard… I'll twist your 'little nightstick' off and shove it down your throat."
Now it was Reno's turn to look surprised. He wasn't usually miffed by someone insulting him…but Krystea had turned savage. The amount of loathing and hate on her voice made it sound as if he had suddenly become the most vile object in Krystea's life. That mad blazing look in her eyes made her look ready to do exactly as she had said if he so much as winked at her wrong. Now, Elena had been rendered dumb again, and Reno was silent too. That left only one person…who began to raise his hand up.
Krystea wheeled on Rude before he had a chance. "Surprise, surprise…Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum." She snapped. "You want to get in on this too? You think I can't smack you away as easy as this little prick?" She pointed a finger at Reno at this…so hard and sharp that he could almost swear he felt something try to stab against his chest when he did.
Krystea paused here, and backed up a bit so that she could look at all three at once. None of them said anything now, just stared at her. But her eyes were still blazing as she glared at them.
"I'm sick of all of you." She snorted. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but ever since I started getting better than all of you, you've been annoying the piss out of me. You seem to hate the fact that I'm better than I was. That I'm not some weak, frightened, little babbling twit. I've become better. More. More than any of you could understand. The only conclusion I'm getting is that you're all jealous. You hate the fact that little old Krystea who had to be saved time and time again is now the best Turk out of the four.
"You're all disgusting. You're supposed to be master killers and operatives. And look at you! Nine civilians beat the sh't out of you time and time again! Here you are, moaning like a bunch of puppies about being too hungry and tired! You're a disgrace to the name Turk! Worse yet…you're a disgrace to the human race if this is the best that they can do! A pervert…a twink…and some mute idiot!"
Krystea grit her teeth and nearly hissed at them. She tightened a hand into a fist, and sneered again as she shifted weight. "Fine. If you little babies want your 'widdle nap', then take it. I'll stand guard. I'll actually be doing something constructive and protecting your worthless, weak, lazy asses. We'll wait two hours."
With that, the woman turned and looked to leave. But before she even took a step, she turned back behind her.
"…And once you get up, I don't want to hear anymore complaints about me or anything else, or I'll be so pissed off I think I'll knock your teeth in."
After saying this, Krystea looked forward. Still muttering and angry, she stormed off around the edge of the crates and began to walk back deeper into the warehouse. The three Turks, stunned and silent, were left sitting there. No one even moved until Krystea's footsteps left. It was like some angry parent had just finished with their children, and they were too terrified to even move for fear of being struck or yelled at again.
Reno didn't dare say a word, but he thought plenty. It was perfectly clear now. Krystea wasn't just a bit different in mood. Her personality was different. She was becoming more aggressive and fierce…and sensual, if last afternoon had been any indication. She was like some sort of lustful savage now, and she was getting worse. As he turned his head around and looked to the others, they looked back at him with the same idea in their minds. No one said it out loud…but they were all thinking it. It hadn't been a coincidence…and it hadn't been any accident. Krystea was becoming more like the "Advent Children". He had no idea how it had happened or why, and he didn't really care. All that mattered was that her mentality was becoming unstable…and quickly. If they didn't do something to stop it soon, then there was no telling what would happen…or what she would do.
And yet…fear had them now. Reno wasn't sure if it was true fear…or some effect that Krystea was having on them. But it kept them immobilized. They didn't dare say anything to each other or discuss any plan. The warehouse echoed too much. She'd hear them…and the thought of what she would do after that unsettled even ones as brave (or foolhardy) as Reno. But there was nothing to do yet. At some point…they'd have to knock her out or restrain her. But how would that be possible? She could break any bond at this point…and sedating her was impossible. Her cells had gobbled up stuff like that before. Now that she was made of the cells…how much less effective would it be? That left smashing her on the head…but again, the thought of what would happen if that failed…
Reno leaned back at last. He had to try and think of something soon. They were all running out of time, both on this continent and with Krystea.
How do I begin?
Ragnar thought this to himself as he paced in his office. It was late now, well past closing time for everyone else. Night had already fallen on the city. All of his work was done for the day, but after that morning he naturally still had a lot on his mind. Primarily was how he was going to improve his combat ability. He was working on strength and speed aspects, but he knew he had to do more than that. He had to be able to focus his senses as well. He couldn't afford to screw up again as he had in the meeting.
Bahamut had studied the nature of thoughts, emotions, and energy flow for thousands of years. That knowledge couldn't be readily absorbed into a mortal brain of much smaller intellect. Ragnar had enough ability to sense emotions, like an empath, but he lacked the ability to do much more than that. He was still relying too much on his external senses. He had to try and read what an opponent did before they did it, or he'd be betrayed by his hearing and sight. How could one sharpen an ability like that?
There was one way that Bahamut presented. He could strip himself of all but a loincloth and go live in the wilderness, where his ability to survive and eat would depend on him reading the feelings of both his surroundings and the life forms nearby. He couldn't very well do that, not with his duties in the PPA. And doing it on a smaller scale, as he had been for a while in the Baptismal Garden, wasn't much of a help either. He only learned how to hear the Planet as a whole, not how to sort things out individually. He frowned at his dilemma. The part of his brain that was Bahamut told him that he should have kept up with his mental exercises as he used to…
Wait a minute…there's something. That old reflex exercise that Bahamut used on me… If I did it in a dark room with earplugs or something, then I bet that I could-
The phone ringing broke Ragnar's flash of insight, immediately making him frown. He sighed as he turned and looked to his desk. As he began to approach it, however, his anger was quickly forgotten. No one called him here this late unless it was something important. With that in mind, he soon reached his phone, snatched it up, and placed it against his head. "General Ragnar here."
"It's Colonel Nanaki, general." The voice on the other end responded. "I found it."
Instantly, the exercise disappeared from Ragnar's concerns as he heard this news. He quickly pulled his body around and made for his chair. "That's great. What'd you find?"
"I was on the right trail. I found it in a book of deities for various cult and pagan religions. When I was younger, I was expecting mythology and found an index. Luckily it started with an 'A', or I wouldn't have read it long enough to see the name so I could remember it now."
Ragnar's brow furrowed. "Did you say 'cult and pagan religions'?"
"Yes. Aleron is related to one. There's little information unfortunately. The one record of the name comes from transcribing the words of an oral poet, one who himself collected the name from other oral traditions. As such, it's a fragment of a fragment of a fragment. According to the text, one particular cult believed that all sentient beings were going through a cycle throughout the whole of Gaia. First they would explode in number, much like population eruption that we see today. But once they reached a zenith, they would decrease again until once more there was only one original person. That person would be the last child born of two people. They believed that person would be Aleron."
"So what is Aleron?"
"Aleron is the god of the end of the world. Once Aleron was born, it was supposed to destroy the rest of Gaia. Then it would destroy itself, and its remains would provide the building blocks for the next world to be created. Something to that effect. It's very fragmented…I'm inferring a lot."
Ragnar hesitated and took in this new information. After a pause, he called back on the phone.
"Thanks a lot, Nanaki. Could you call the Seventh Heaven and tell them what you just told me? In particular, make sure Aerith knows."
"…I seriously dislike using these phone devices, but as you wish."
"Once again, what would I do without you? Ragnar ou-"
"General Ragnar?"
Ragnar caught himself. "…Yes?"
"…Call me Red XIII."
The youth paused a moment, but then smiled. "Alright, Red XIII. Ragnar out."
The general turned and put the phone up. After doing so, however, he turned and leaned on his desk a bit. He began to think about what this meant. Bahamut's knowledge, sadly, could offer little to this. There were many cults in his age. Some of them had worshipped death over life, as this one appeared to have done. Many were only a few individuals. Even Leviathan couldn't keep track of all of them, especially if this one had formed during the Age of Corruption. It sounded likely, seeing as much was dying during that point. There was a good chance that Sephiroth had picked up the name by coincidence and not with any purpose in mind.
But what if he didn't? That would imply something potentially related to this. Some last member of a race giving destruction to Gaia… Well, he himself fit the bill rather well. Yet the thought that Bahamut had picked up was not personal. He had definitely been thinking about someone different from himself…or something. As far as major magical beings were concerned, Bahamut had tabs on all of them. There weren't any left that could possibly be that destructive…
There was one other possibility… He could have been thinking about the Cetra themselves. Aerith was before recently the effectively last member of her race… She was also the one who had the potential to become the Sorceress… If that was the case, then she could indeed bring destruction to this world. Yet this didn't seem correct either. Sephiroth shouldn't have even known about this. The Planet had told the espers about it, but there were no records left elsewhere for him to realize this truth. And even if he somehow could peer into the Lifestream and get knowledge of it, as he appeared to have done for everything else, then what? He should be interested in not making it happen. Once she became a Sorceress, she would annihilate him.
Is there a clue I'm missing? Something I've overlooked? Is there some other race that's a problem? Is there some new potential threat? Was the New Shinra involved in cloning of Sephiroth? Are there anymore "Advent Children"? Azure was the last one for Sephiroth… The Planet hasn't detected the presence of any others. The only other person who would know would be Hoeng…and he's not telling anyone. Though maybe if we went back to his lab, we…
Ragnar froze. A thought had suddenly come to mind...an unpleasant one.
…What about Krystea?
She teleported… Zola severed the connection, but the transfer was happening…
The mass looked unaffected…but what if some of it did transfer?
What if some of it did fuse? And if it did…
Ragnar's look quickly went from being stunned to horrified.
The general snapped around to his phone and snatched it up. He moved to dial for a moment, but then paused. He looked up and thought for a moment, trying to remember what number he had to call at this time of night. Once he remembered, he leaned down and quickly dialed. After doing so, he pressed the phone to his head and eagerly waited for the ringing to cease. After it had done so about three times…he began to worry that he wasn't going to answer. He prayed and tapped his finger against the desk nervously, again losing control of his strength and chipping up wood in his wake.
Finally, the other side picked up rather slowly. A groan was heard, and then a rather tired voice.
"…It's nearly midnight, General. I've been in bed for almost an hour. If this is about the weights…"
"This has nothing to do with the weights." Ragnar quickly cut off. "I need your help. Is there any way that you can get me in contact with the Turks?"
Reno stirred a bit and snorted as he began to wake. Abruptly, his head snapped up from where it had been resting on his folded up coat. His eyes fluttered open, and looked around a bit, having forgotten where he was momentarily. As his eyes looked about, he became aware of dim light streaming in through regular holes in a metal wall that partially enclosed him. He saw crates piled up around, making almost a room where he lay. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed Rude and Elena nearby. They were lying in their discarded snow gear, sleeping away, much as he had been doing a moment ago. The area was quiet and still. Even outside was pretty quiet at this point. Most of the patrols and troops had to have gone in at this point. The Turks were quite alone in a quiet, secluded world.
The Turk winced a moment, and cracked his neck. Sleeping on the ground had been somewhat uncomfortable. It was cold in there, and it had gotten colder since they arrived. However, he now remembered what they were doing there, and why they were there. They were escaping from the New Shinra while they still could. He and the others, minus Krystea, had been taking a two hour nap to rest up before they made their push to take a boat and try to escape the NSN defenses. Grunting a bit to clear the cigarette tar that had settled in his lungs, Reno raised his watch to his head and looked at it to see the time.
On doing so, his eyes widened. It was four hours since they had first set down. He looked up in amazement, remembering what had happened that long ago. Krystea looked like she was barely willing to give them two. So why were they here for so long? Why hadn't she woke them up?
Reno grunted a bit and began to rise. Once he managed to get on his feet, he straightened his back for a moment and cracked some vertebrae. He exhaled as he looked around himself again, sending out another breath of misty air. Nothing but silence greeted him. The area was still and quiet.
"Krystea?" He finally called out.
Reno was a bit surprised at how loud his voice sounded in the silence of the warehouse. They had been yelling earlier, and still it hadn't seemed as loud as this. Not only that…but the sound seemed to almost be absorbed by the air. It felt as if invisible walls were around him, deadening the noise rather than letting it echo, and reflecting it back against him. At any rate…there was no response.
The Turk cracked his neck again, and then began to walk forward. He hesitated after taking his first step, however. It was loud…and yet at the same time its echo seemed to be blocked. It was a strange sound altogether…and it unnerved him. However, he pushed that idea aside, and continued to walk forward. Each footstep made the same noise, but he kept on regardless. Slowly, he stepped out from the corner and into the crates around him.
It seemed strange. Reno couldn't remember the crates having been arranged like this when he came in. As he left this space and began to walk…they suddenly seemed to be far more maze like… They almost looked as if they had been piled higher as well. Nevertheless, he forced himself to walk on and started to go into them. Soon he found himself beginning to weave into them. And as he walked along…he noticed that the crates around him seemed to grow larger and more confusing… They began to twist and turn, leaving more entrances for every way he went. And with them high as they were…he couldn't distinctly see the walls of the warehouse as he moved along…
"Krystea?" He called again.
Reno's footsteps continued to make that sound…as if they were the only things in the entire universe. Yet as he wandered deeper into the crates…it seemed to only lead to more confusion. The air seemed to turn cooler. His breath fogged more and more as he went on. The room seemed to darken further, although his eyes should have been adjusting more with time…
The man chanced a look behind him at long last. But on turning back…he received a horrible surprise. He saw nothing. The same maze that was in front of him was now behind. The Turk wheeled around and looked in front again. Again, the same maze, looking almost exactly as it had behind him. No walls or doors or anything…just an endless maze of crates. This didn't make any sense. He remembered coming in here. He remembered clearly seeing everything in the same pathway. What was going on? What was happening to him?
"…Hello Reno."
The Turk's spine went cold. A voice as subtle, calm, and cold as death itself sounded behind him. He snapped his body around, and nearly reached for his weapon.
There, he froze.
Krystea was standing plainly behind him. Her arms were folded calmly behind her, and she stood with legs together straight and tall. Her head was slightly bowed. She stood there calmly and silently as if she had been there the whole time. Reno noticed more, however… The air around her seemed dark…even darker than before. But her body stood out…almost as if it was radiating its own pale light to make it distinct.
Then there were her eyes…they glowed more than anything else. They seemed to blaze forth like pale green lights. A smile was across her expression…large…and hungry.
Reno swallowed once. Suddenly…he felt even more fear inside him. He felt as if he was caught in some trap…and the monster inside the maze had found him. It didn't matter that his mind was telling him this was Krystea and that there was nothing to fear. His heart and his flesh told him he was in grave danger…
"You…you were supposed to wake us up in two hours…" He slowly replied, his voice stammering more than he could remember.
Krystea merely smiled wider, and took a step forward. Her eyes seemed to blaze forth again…and looked straight into his. A power radiated from them…and seemed to enter into his own body and flood his mind and his limbs. He suddenly felt warmer as she neared.
"I must have lost track of time." She answered with the same smile. She took another step forward…this time swaying her hips slightly as she did so. Her eyes took a lustful look. The power seemed to surge through Reno even more now. He felt warmer than before.
For a moment, the man couldn't breathe or move. The rest of the world around him seemed to darken further…leaving only Krystea. Her eyes…they seemed so powerful…her body seemed to be much more than her surroundings…almost on another plane of existence. Reno swallowed at last, struggling to keep his body moving.
"We…we need…to go." He finally managed to choke out in a small voice, barely able to will himself to speak. "We…we need…to wake the others…"
"Let them sleep a bit longer." Krystea answered as her grin widened a bit more. She stepped forward again, more sensually this time. Reno felt his skin creep. Again, he stopped breathing…and he couldn't speak again. He felt his mind beginning to swim as his body became arrested in movement. The rest of the world began to fade around him…leaving only himself and Krystea.
The woman kept smiling as she inched closer and closer. Reno began to feel her breathing as she slid up right in front of him. He began to sweat. He started to breathe again, but it was rapid and irregular. He tried to turn his eyes away, but was unable to. He realized what was going on…but he couldn't stop it. He was losing the ability to even think of resisting…
Krystea reached out a hand and ran it along the side of his face. Her own face began to near his. Her eyes seemed to grow larger yet.
"Big Reno…leader of the Turks, now that Tseng is gone…" She slowly and quietly cooed as she stroked his skin. "You're such a personality, Reno… Always doing what he wants…always getting what he wants… So fiery… So independent… You're a perfect rogue. You're exactly what so many women are looking for…what they fantasize about…dream about…"
Krystea's other arm came forward, and began to feel along the edges of his suit. She tugged at his lapels once or twice as she came in closer. Slowly…her arms began to rest against his chest. His legs began to pull in and tuck against his body. Reno saw this…and felt his insides turn to water. His breathing became more irregular as he felt himself grow warmer. Thoughts of resistance began to slip fade…as he let her nestle closer and closer to him.
One arm encircled his neck. Her hand went up and began to stroke his chin as Krystea brought her head in. She crooked her neck and looked up, deeply into his eyes. Her body moved against him more…more arousing… As her head grew nearer, Reno began to think only of himself with her… His lips began to move out. Seeing this, Krystea let out a small laugh, as she pushed her bust higher…
"You want me, Reno?" She asked innocently. She grinned again, showing off her perfect teeth. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm all yours."
Reno couldn't help it. He felt his body lose restraints. He felt his lusts begin to come out. Here she was…a perfect woman. He saw it the moment he had seen her. He couldn't deny it…she was beautiful. She was the ideal shape and figure. She was a woman he had dreamed about being with his entire life. The thought of her being a friend was thrown out the window. He didn't even care that he knew her or where he was. She was the only one here. She was all that mattered…and he wanted her. He had never wanted anything so badly in his life. He felt himself hungering for her… And she was offering to sate his lusts.
Reno's lips stabbed out…and they locked. Krystea smiled, leaned back, and let him dive in and have a full drink. Reno started off mild…but as he sensed her lack of resistance he craved more. He began to make the kiss more passionate. He began to press in closer, savoring it. And it felt great…as great as he thought it would. It set his flesh on fire. It drove him wild. He wanted more…right now. He had to have it.
His arms were freed at last…freed to begin to move up and toward Krystea's clothes.
Krystea parted lips with his as he paused long enough to breathe in deep. He could feel his passions boiling over, and he needed to gather his strength. She leaned in more and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Yes…that's it…" She whispered. "Keep coming… Take this… Indulge your flesh, creature… Smother yourself in lust… Give in to your passion and desire for pleasure… I'll give you more than you ever dreamed of… Become the voluptuous creature you are… Gorge yourself on me until you choke…"
Reno heard this…but didn't care. He didn't understand anything anymore. He only thought of having her…having her all to himself… He had to have her. He had to have her now. He needed to be free…free to rip her clothes from her body and then do every dark thing he had ever dreamed of before in his entire life… His arms were loosening further. His body was coming free…but free only to completely indulge himself…
Yet as he was about to cut loose…give way into being an animal…stop thinking and just indulge…he had enough sense to do one last thing as his arm raised for Krystea…
With his last bit of will…he curled his hand into a fist and brought it down against his own manhood.
A jolt of pain soon rocked through his system…and his sensual train of thought was derailed slightly. A bit of his senses began to come back…and with them came a memory.
The way a woman always cools me down…giving me a knee to my package…
Snap out of it man… You're acting like they did…before she killed them… She's trapping you like them… You need to get out of this…get out of it now before it's too late…
Again, Reno's arms seized up. His body was becoming paralyzed again. But it wasn't before he managed to slam his eyes shut. When that happened…the power began to fade. He could still see her eyes, just like an after image…but their power diminished. It began to wear off…and he started to come to, like out of a dream… His body slowly loosened up, but he forced himself to move his sluggish, immobilized limbs…and his eyes opened again…
For a moment…he saw Krystea. One arm had gone to her side…and she was pulling up the Valentine…
Commanding himself to move, Reno balled his other hand into a fist, and with a grit and groan lashed out and smashed it into Krystea's hand. On hitting it…the shock of the blow made her hand open up, and her gun toppled from her grasp. Hitting her lessened the power over him even more…and using that sudden onrush of strength he brought his other arm up and belted Krystea across the face as hard as he could.
The woman gave out a cry of pain as her body went toppling backward. A moment later, it crashed into a stand of crates and then collapsed to the floor temporarily. With that…the last of the spell was broken. Reno gasped as his breathing returned to normal. He reached up with a free hand and wiped the sweat from his brow. He felt his body cool down, and the thoughts began to vanish. Still…he was stunned at how he had nearly been caught… He looked down to the ground, and saw Valentine lying there. Gritting his teeth, he kicked at it and sent it sliding away to the side.
It was then that Reno noticed it. The sound was normal again. Surprised at this, he looked up. He soon discovered he could see normally now. And as he looked around, he saw everything had changed back. The lights were back. The crates were lower again, and he could see throughout the entire warehouse. They were in a few piles instead of a maze. Everything had been stopped. He even thought he could hear a bit of moaning and groaning from farther away, the sound of the others waking up.
The Turk sighed in relief. It was over. He had barely escaped…but in the end he had resisted. Turned out the thing that was supposed to kill him saved him instead…
Reno didn't think of this long, however. Krystea was slumped on the ground a moment…but then she grunted and began to pull up again into a squat. She was recovering. Reno spotted this, and immediately reacted. In a snap, he went for his nightstick. As soon as he dipped his arm into his coat and yanked it out, his thumb adjusted the power level to maximum. He knew how much stronger Krystea was now. He was surprised a punch had done even this much. However…he couldn't risk it now. He had to put her out while he still could, before she tried something like this again…
"I'm sorry about this, Krystea…" Reno said aloud as he began to advance.
Yet right after saying that, the man stopped as he saw what had happened.
Krystea had barely drawn herself up into a squat…when she began to move stiffly and jerklike. Her fingers extended, and then crooked. They shook and spasmed as she pulled her arms and legs in toward herself. He began to hear her grunting…and giving out some sort of whine. As she did…her arms pulled in more, and her head began to collapse on top of her knees. Her fingers curled back and placed against the sides of her head. She began to breathe stiffly…nearly wheezing.
Reno hesitated a moment. What was going on? He couldn't have hit her that hard… Was she trying to trick him or something?
Slowly, however, through the whining and moaning…Reno heard something.
"…P…P…Please… Kill…me…"
Reno's eyes widened. This voice had no power or extra force in it. It was far more…mortal. And it had a familiarity to it that Krystea hadn't had lately. It hit the Turk immediately.
"Krystea?"
"K…Kill…me…"
The Turk forgot about his prod. He let it fall from his hand to his side, and then immediately dove to the ground for the woman. She looked like she was seizing at this point…or struggling to hold some horrible pain back. Once down, he immediately reached out and put his arms on her shoulders, gripping firmly.
"Krystea? Is this really you?" He asked. "What's going on? What's happened to you?"
"Please…Reno…" She answered through clenched teeth. "I…I can't…hold…her back…anymore… This…is the last…t…t…time… She's…getting…too strong…"
Reno heard this…and the rest of it clicked. Krystea had been the one who left the message the other night. He didn't understand fully what was going on…but it was making sense to him. This thing was some sort of Sephiroth clone…and its personality was taking over. Whatever they had done to her was turning her into that woman…and Krystea was being kicked out.
Reno held Krystea a moment longer, but then turned to the side. He saw his nightstick just a few feet away. Seeing it, he turned back to the woman. His jaw tightened.
"Hang on, Krystea. I'm going to knock you out. We're going to take you to the PPA and your sister. They can help you."
Krystea grunted again as her eyes clenched. Her face turned red as her teeth began to grind.
"It's…too…late…" She hissed in between her teeth. "She's…killing…me… I…I…I'm…almost out… Can't…get rid…of…her…"
"Krystea…"
"Kill me…!" She suddenly increased in volume as her face began to turn violet. "Kill me…before I kill anyone else! Before I…help…HIM…!"
The sudden surge in emotion in the voice stopped Reno from considering anything else. He stared at her only a moment longer…and realized he couldn't disobey. Quickly, he spun around behind himself and grabbed his electropole. It was still at high voltage…and he hoped that whatever of Krystea was still in there would be alright as he turned back and aimed it for him.
The instant he turned…an iron hand shot out and enveloped his throat in a crushing grasp.
Gagged, Reno let the pole drop from his grasp. The sudden crush was so painful that he couldn't focus on anything else but snapping his own hands to it and grabbing for it. But he did manage to look to the eyes of the one who was doing this.
Krystea's face, within the span of a second, had gone from agonized to wicked.
Her eyes seemed to glow as a malevolent grin spread on her face.
"Too slow, ape."
That was all Reno remembered before her other fist came forward and smashed him in the face.
Ring-ring-ring ring ring ring-ring-ring!
The first coherent thought that Reno managed to produce was the fact that he hated that ringtone, and that he gave himself his fiftieth mental note to change it. After that, however…a new thought arose…namely that his face felt like a sixty-year old doormat. He felt some sort of biting and chronic pain radiating through it, and it throbbed so much that it seemed like some of it had gone numb. His brain had been rattled inside of his skull, and as such he was too sluggish and out of it to remember what had happened, or even get an idea of where he was and how he was positioned.
Then, he started hearing other things.
Gunshots…and screaming.
Reno managed to slowly crack open his eyes, groaning all the way. It was like his nerves hurt. As he did, he began to remember what had happened. He had been in the warehouse…Krystea…or whatever was inside Krystea…tried to kill him… He resisted it, and he had tried to knock her out…but then…
As the Turk's vision came into focus, he recognized the ceiling that he was now gazing at. It was the same metal skeleton that had made up the warehouse before. He realized he was still there. Grunting, he began to pull his head up slightly. Every movement hurt it, and it made his face throb more than ever. But as he leaned up, he began to see crates and the metal walls. Judging from his position, he was sprawled out like a banana peel on the floor…and about twice as mushy.
Even as he leaned up and his senses began to come clearer…the gunshots and screaming ceased. The source of the sound went silent. Reno winced and shook his head. Had he been imagining that? Was he just so dazzled he thought he had heard it?
But then…Reno heard that obnoxious ring tone again. And now that he was more recovered, it was clear. That part hadn't been a dream. Frowning…and then wincing for any facial movement hurt…he looked down to the side of his coat. Somewhat slowly, he reached inside it and pulled out his phone. He held it in front of him to read the number.
Unlisted.
Great…that narrows it down to exactly everyone I know.
Well…that wasn't exactly true. Some of the numbers that he heard for more often he had assigned a name too, so that even if they were unlisted at least the phone would know who they were. Whoever this one was hadn't called him yet, or at least had been noteworthy enough to merit a name. After a moment's pause, Reno shrugged. Why not? Even if it was a death threat from the New Shinra Army, he didn't really care at this point.
Reno hit the talk button and put it to his head.
"Yes?"
"Reno, is that you?"
The Turk immediately froze. His memory was good enough to remember the voice of everyone he had ever met. It was a good skill to have in his trade, after all.
"…How the hell did you get this number?"
"Rufus Shinra gave it to me. That's not important right now. I need to know something. Has Krystea been acting strange at all lately?"
Reno couldn't help it.
He fell down on his back and burst out laughing.
Reno hadn't heard anything so ironic in a long time. He just had to bust out. He didn't care if anyone heard him or not, and he didn't care about the seriousness of the situation. So…first the New Shinra…and now General Ragnar. They both knew more about what was going on than the Turks had. This was hilarious. And they were supposed to be the intelligence agents… Did everyone on Gaia know this and they just hadn't told them?
"Er…hello? Reno?" Ragnar's voice came from the other end. "Are you alright?"
Reno laughed a bit longer, but then started to calm down. As he did so, he heard something else. There were shoes or boots clicking against the stone of the warehouse. From where he was, he couldn't see them, but they were rushing up to him. He snorted at the thought. So be it. He was a bit too strung out to care whether or not he was captured at the moment. He held the phone back to his head, however.
"You're calling about…" Reno looked to his watch briefly. "Four hours too late, Mr. Vice. Strange doesn't even begin to describe it. Try a mixture of a psychotic bloodlusting assassin and a dragon lady killer. Of course, this all took place before she started looking a bit like some old friends I had the displeasure of fighting…"
Reno didn't immediately hear a reply to this. Instead, he heard some sort of whispering on the other end that was clearly self-directed. But it sounded like some sort of expression of horror, mixed with some vocalization that he was right about something.
Reno didn't pay much attention to this, however, for a moment later two shadows fell over him. He looked up…and found who the owners of the footsteps were. It was none other than Elena and Rude, both dressed in their suits.
"Oh, thank God!" Elena exclaimed. "He's alright!"
"…Told you." Rude simply answered.
Elena paused afterward, and noticed that Reno was on the phone. She frowned soon after. "Who in the world are you calling at a time like this when you look like that?"
"Hello to you too, Elena." Reno answered as he realized that the two had come from the other direction, opposite the one where they had been before. He began to raise his free hand, which Rude took and began to pull. "Nice to see you too, Elena. Don't worry about the broken nose, Elena. Don't try to help me to my feet. Just leave me here to bleed."
Elena frowned more indignantly as Rude yanked Reno up to his feet. The man was unsteady, and his head swam as he nearly blacked out. However, he managed to get a hold of himself and solidify his legs underneath him. "I wanted to stay and help you. But Rude told me you'd be fine, and suggested we go after Krystea."
"Who are you talking to?" Ragnar's voice spoke up again from the other line. "Are the others there? Is Krystea still there?"
Reno frowned and wiped at his brow. "What do you mean, 'go after Krystea'?" Reno asked the others. "What happened?"
"We heard you two scuffling." Elena answered. "We came out to see what was happening. That's when we saw you in a bloody pile and we managed to catch her as she flung open the warehouse door and went outside. She went right into the midst of a patrol without caring…" Elena hesitated here, but then grimaced. "At least…as much as we can figure…"
"What do you mean, 'as much as you can figure'?" Reno responded.
"They were dead by the time we got to the door." Rude darkly answered. "She blew them into bits with the Valentine."
"What the heck is going on over there?"
Reno frowned and turned to his phone. "Could you shutup for a few minutes?" He put it down to his side afterward, and looked back to the others. "Then what?"
"She went crazy." Elena answered. "She used every bullet in her gun, blowing away as many officers as possible. Once she was out of bullets…she began to jump on them…clawing and biting. It wasn't until she took out some officer's combat knife that she started using a weapon again. She ignored the guns. Some of them started to run…but she chased them down. She was like a cheetah as fast as she was."
"A few made it to the alarms." Rude threw in. "But something happened. The power seemed to go dead around her. No one could call for help…and she killed them before they got much farther."
"Well where did she go?" Reno asked.
"She's still out there." Elena answered. "She was going through the dead and making sure they were all dead and not just dying. Then we heard you laughing, and so we came to see what was going on."
"Then what the hell are we standing around here for!" Reno shot back, and immediately pushed past the two of them and began to run for the exit himself. The other two hesitated, but then turned and began to run after him. Soon all three were headed for the warehouse exit. Reno was tempted to hang up the phone, but for now he kept it on.
Reno didn't bother to ask them why they hadn't jumped in and tried to stop Krystea themselves. He knew the answer full well. If Krystea had indeed somehow deadened the power…then this confirmed that she had a power over wills. She had exerted her passion over him…but over the others she exerted fear. They had been stopped from making a move against her, no doubt. Besides…if she was really doing this all on her own, then she had to be rather intimidating. Reno wasn't sure what he was going to see when he left the warehouse…and he wasn't sure he was going to be alright with it himself.
The three reached the opening a moment later. Reno didn't stop, but charged right out through it. He kept running around once outside…but subconsciously he slowed at what he had seen.
Reno hadn't seen anything this bad since Sephiroth's attack on the New Shinra HQ Building. Rude had been right about the patrol. Bits was the only term that could apply to them now. A single shot from the Valentine was enough to kill anyone. It was a cannon. But she had shot them additional times…until there was nothing left but something bloody and indescribable. Yet as he emerged and made his way around this grisly pile…he saw much worse. Dotting the field all over were signs of battle and blood. The way the blood was splattered meant that it had to come from the Valentine, and he saw the angles indicated that she had barely gotten that far from the warehouse before she had killed another two patrols.
Yet as Reno ran away from the warehouse and more toward the direction of the shore, the splatters stopped. Most of the soldiers were sliced up…but a few of them looked like they had been torn up by an animal. It was savage even for him. He found himself avoiding the bodies by extra large margins. True to what had been said…the lights around here seemed dimmer, and were flickering. It was as if the power had gone down. Not only that…but it seemed colder here. The wind was sharper, and bit into him more through his suit. Last but not least…as he passed by the bodies, he felt much colder. The air around him seemed to die. It was as if her presence was somehow still on each of them…lingering after their deaths…
"Look!" Rude suddenly exclaimed.
Reno froze in midstep and turned to Rude. The bald man was pointing up to the ocean. Reno looked ahead, and realized that he had been so transfixed on the bodies that he hadn't noticed that they were now only fifty feet from the edge of the docks. However, that wasn't all. One of the two man patrol boats was speeding away, headed due south. It must have left just moments ago, judging from the distance and how it was still accelerating. The three watched it for a few moments of silence.
As they did, Reno noticed that something wasn't right about this. Something was missing from this picture... Then he realized it. The boat was moving away without any hindrance. None of the shore cannons were targeting it. The destroyers out in the bay were leisurely moving along without so much as lifting a chain gun to the fleeing ship. It was like it was invisible.
"That's her." Rude flatly stated. "No one else but her is still alive other than us."
"But why isn't she being shot at?" Elena asked. "She has to be setting off the whole Defense Grid…"
"Maybe not." Reno spoke up. This got the attention of the other two, who looked back to him. He gestured out to the boat. "You said that she somehow deadened the alarm systems. Maybe she's neutralizing the radar as well."
"How?" Elena asked. "She doesn't have any device that would do that."
"Maybe it's one of her new abilities…" Reno mused.
Fzzt…zzzzt…
The Turks perked up as they heard this sizzling sound. It was coming from behind them. Immediately, the three spun around to the source. They soon saw that they weren't in the only region that was dark. It appeared that most of the buildings behind them, stretching much farther back than the warehouse, were dim and flickering too. However…they also noticed that it was changing. The ones that were farthest away from them were flickering more frequently. The transformers were making those sounds, and appearing to spark or fire up. A moment later, and the lights suddenly lit up again to their full strength. No sooner did they do it than the next ones along began to fire up as well.
"Whatever she did…" Elena announced. "It's wearing off."
Reno stared at this a moment longer. After that, he moistened his lips, wincing a bit at the coppery taste, and then whirled around to the docks. Immediately, he began to run to them again.
"Alright…time to go!"
Rude and Elena both spun back to him. Rude instinctively began to run after him, but Elena hesitated a moment before running after him.
"Huh?" She called.
"We've found our way out, and if we don't take it now we're going to miss it." Reno answered as he ran up to the edge of the dock.
Most of the dock was built to accommodate destroyers. For that reason, it was set up almost like a "concrete cliff", so that people could walk right onto the deck of the massive ships. But when the destroyers were out, the dock could be converted to store other ships. Such was the case now. As Reno reached the edge and looked down, he saw that metal supports had been run out down below to make room for six patrol boats. One was missing. There were metal rungs in the concrete cliff leading down to them, and so he quickly picked the nearest one and began to climb down it.
"Krystea is somehow deadening the radar." Reno explained as he rushed down the rungs two at a time. Rude soon followed above him. "That means that so long as she's nearby, no radar is going to work. So that means that if we follow her close enough, no radar will pick up on us. It also means that if she gets too far, the radar will pick up on us leaving and will blow us out of the water."
Elena, at this point, was at the edge of the dock herself, and looking down on the two. She paused a moment as she began to realize what he was saying. As she stood there, however…something else happened. The next row of buildings came on…and with them came their alarm systems. The distant sound of a code red began to blare in those buildings. A moment later, when the next bit came up, they too began to sound the alarm. Sweating and swallowing, Elena quickly turned over the edge and began to run down as well.
Reno, by now, was at the bottom. He quickly swirled around, touched down on the ground, and then turned and ran to the boat. These things were kept locked nowadays, but Reno had the foresight to having a universal key for every model vehicle in the New Shinra made. He quickly dove into his pocket and came out a moment later with a ring of no less than two dozen keys. Yet it took him no time to go through them and find the right one. On doing so, he leapt into the boat and sat in the driving seat. Rude, on his part, quickly undid the knot that was holding the boat in dock. Elena arrived a moment later, and quickly jumped into the back, as there were only two seats.
As Rude finished untying, Reno fired up the engines. It was still dark in their area, but they weren't sure how much time they had left. They could be out to sea a ways and still be in range of the guns when they came back on. Rude ran around the edge and jumped in the front, and the instant he did Reno gunned the engine up to full throttle. Rude got a nasty snap back, and Elena was nearly thrown from the boat, but both stayed secure as the ship gathered steam and then took off after Krystea.
Reno looked up ahead, and saw that Krystea's own boat was already just a black dot on the horizon. It was almost impossible to make out now, what with it being night and being mixed in with the waves. Yet he aimed for what he thought was it and held on. The ship continued to pick up speed for a short while. While it did, Rude and Elena looked behind them. The warehouse was now back on. They could see some of the guns of the Defense Grid moving. They were about a half mile away when the shore totally lit up. Once it did…they watched nervously as they saw the guns turn and rotate to face them. For a moment, they thought they were toast as one of them actually fired. However, Reno kept his cool and kept driving. The others watched as the shot came out…but hit a good hundred yards away from them. None of the other cannons fired. They were already too far out of range. With that came a moment of relief. The Turks next looked up to the destroyers. At the moment, they were moving in between several of them. But they were still dark. Only the farthest ones were coming to life…and they were also out of range. Some of them turned to try and fire, but a ship of that size couldn't move that quickly. Another few moments passed, and soon they passed the last of the destroyers, which were still dark. A minute later, and they had put almost a mile between themselves at it.
Only here did the three Turks breathe a sigh of relief.
"We're clear." Rude announced.
"Thank God." Elena echoed as she relaxed herself a bit more in her position. Soon after, however, she began to wrap her arms around herself. "…Too bad we couldn't get a boat with a top…" She murmured, referring to the icy wind.
"Hey Rude, how far can we get in one of these things?" Reno asked, ignoring Elena's comment.
"They're built for patrols, not transport." Rude replied. "The only place in fuel range is the Eastern Continent…right on the PPA's doorstep."
Reno had thought as much. He noticed that if he was going in the same course as Krystea, then both of them were headed right for the shore. There wasn't any sophisticated tracking equipment on this boat, but it coincided with their direction well enough, and he was smart enough to know where they were going. It made sense. Special powers or no, Krystea didn't want to swim that distance. That meant that she was headed for the nearest place to make landfall. If they followed her, then they'd be able to go after her again once they hit the shore.
Of course, Reno thought with a grimace…what did they do when they caught up with her?
He thought again of the mutilated bodies…
Somehow while suppressing that disturbing thought, Reno remembered something else. Ragnar was still on the phone…or at least, he should have been. That had been over ten minutes ago. Not sure if he would get an answer, the man took a hand off the controls of the boat and dipped into his pocket. He pulled out the phone a moment later and placed it to his head.
"You still there?"
"…Did you guys do something to make the New Shinra mad?" Ragnar's voice answered after a short pause. "I only caught bits and pieces of what you've been saying…but are you actually chasing Krystea at the moment?"
"I don't really want to go into details over the phone, but here's the important part." Reno answered. "We're headed right for you in two separate boats. When we reach your radar scopes, we would appreciate it if you didn't blow us out of the water and allowed us to land."
"Land? You're coming here?"
"Can you let us land or not?"
"…Fine. You guys are supposed to be double agents for us and all."
"That's probably going to change after tonight."
"Nobody in Wutai knows about our arrangement, so I'm going to have to have a squad arrest you when you hit shore."
Reno winced a bit at this. "Highly unadvisable, Mr. Vice, unless you have a squad you never liked that much."
A pause on the other end. "…Is that a threat?"
"We're not the ones you need to worry about. I wouldn't recommend anyone less than someone on our level coming out to meet us. There's…probably going to be some difficulty."
"…Alright. Then I'm going to come down myself and I'm calling up Cloud."
"Have it your way. But if I might make a suggestion…"
"Yes?"
"It would probably do more good to have Aerith along."
It is done.
Sephiroth cooled the weapon one final time, now complete and deadly. Yet no sooner did he pull it out than he produced a long length of thick black fabric, and with a quick motion enveloped, concealing its true shape and nature. In a few moments, all that it looked like was a long blade bundle.
The dark man slowly rose, bearing his new parcel with him. He tucked this under one arm, and then turned toward the exit of the flaming mountain. As he began to walk out, he kept his grim smile. The weapon was complete…and Aleron was on the way. Now it was finally time for them to meet. And he had prepared a mighty gift. It would be a bit of a long way to travel…but with his new amount of power it wouldn't take long.
Sephiroth walked a while to make his way out of the flaming caves, but gradually the magma died down around him and the breeze of the cool night air replaced it. As he made his way on, the flames vanished, and the dark man disappeared into shadow. After winding his way through a few more caves, the entrance appeared. He approached this readily, and in moments he was emerging out from the mountain and into the night sky.
Here, he paused a moment. His burning green gaze turned down to the valley below. There was Wutai. It was much bigger and more sophisticated now. It was lit up morning and night. However…it was also dimmer this night. It seemed as if the lights were shrinking back into their wicks or resistors, afraid to emerge for fear of something… The wind blew harder and colder now…and it had a stagnant smell on it, like nothing was living on it. Advanced as the city was below, Sephiroth realized, this time he would need no army to turn it to ruin. Within the span of two hours he could destroy over half of it and leave most of the population dead all by himself. However…such things were beneath him now. Wasting effort on destroying weaklings was meaningless.
The man turned his look to the sky next. It was moonless outside…and on the horizon something loomed. Clouds were gathering there…large and ominous. They were churning and swirling already, and they were moving in over the city and the world itself as far as the eye could see. Lightning flashed within them, and Sephiroth could hear thunder within. A powerful storm was coming to cover this world.
It made the dark man smile to see it.
Calmly, Sephiroth held up an arm to his side. Obediently, his body began to levitate. His coat and feet gently rose off the ground, hung down, and began to rise. He let himself ascend for a few moments, until he reached a height of about twenty feet and not caring if any human saw him.
Then, once there, he turned his body in direction of Midgar…and took off at a speed so blinding that one could scarcely believe that they hadn't dreamed seeing one going that fast.
This…is not right.
Ragnar thought this to himself as he tried to maintain his jogging pace down the streets of Midgar. Normally, he would have easily have been dashing down it, nearly sailing above the pavement with giant bounds. Given the urgency of the situation, he should have been doing so now more than ever.
Yet…whatever was affecting the weather was affecting him too.
The sky right now was pitch black and starless. The only light that came forth from it now was occasionally lightning bolts. It was strange…a thunderstorm in winter. It wasn't unheard of, of course…but in this area it was something of a rarity. And it was violent too. Ragnar could feel gusts of powerful air ripple the heavens and the ground below. Pieces of trash were flung along through the streets as the wind came, and snow was whipped up and stung him in the face. The air was cold…much colder than it had been earlier. It seeped into his clothes and pierced him in tender spots. And yet…it neither snowed nor rained. The tempest in the sky continued to grow more violent, with the thunderheads building and churning on themselves, but nothing came from it.
Yet that wasn't all. It wasn't just how this storm had come out of nowhere and had turned so violent, with not a single weather service reporting it… It was that it seemed to be darkening everything else. The lights on the street seemed to dim. Some of them were flickering. There was an unusual amount of silence out here. It was a busy city, and Ragnar knew he should normally hear machinery at least. Yet he heard nothing of the sort…just a still silence. Even his own footsteps seemed muffled. And the air he breathed… He might have dismissed it before, but with Bahamut's senses he knew the truth. The air was growing stagnant…dead. And with the coldness, it was becoming almost…tomblike…despite how fast it was circulating.
Ragnar could only recall one other time he had sensed this so distinctly.
The thought made him put a bit more speed into his pace.
Ragnar didn't know what was going on with the Turks, but he had an idea that his worst fears might be confirmed. Something had happened to Krystea. How bad it was he didn't know…but it was causing a schism within the Turks. And it had obviously been the source of some mixture of problems effecting them. The thought only made Ragnar more and more uneasy. Azure had been sane at first, but had eventually been taken over by Jenova and Sephiroth. What if Krystea was the same way? She may not have fused as much as Hoeng had intended…but once the fusion had taken place, the cells could have kept dividing until they took her over…
He did as they wanted. He made some calls to various officers and personnel, telling them to be on the lookout for a pair of small boats. He told the WGN to stand down, although they were rather sore about it. They had hoped they could ease their "semi-permeability" after Maritza arrived. However, with this they were back on having to let more in. Fortunately, the Turks hadn't earned as much chagrin with Wutai as the other NSA commanders had, and ones as high as Godo knew that they were working as double agents. It had taken about an hour to get all of this squared away. Ragnar wasn't sure how much time he had before the Turks arrived, but he knew that it couldn't be as long as it took for the fleet to get here. A speedboat was much faster. Judging by what time it was, he supposed it could be any time before dawn.
After clearing this up, Ragnar put in a call to Cloud. Again, he feared that he would be harshly received, or that he would at least annoy him by waking him up. He was most surprised to have the phone answered on the first ring. Apparently, Cloud was not only much more civil, but he had been sitting awake for hours. On hearing the brief account of the Turks, he agreed to get dressed and go to the shore. However, he brought something else to mind as well. Ragnar wasn't exactly sure where the Turks would arrive. It could be anywhere on the shore. With that in mind, he said that it would be better if they took positions interspersed along the shore to make sure that at least one of them could reach them quickly when they arrived. After agreeing on two points, Cloud hung up to go about his business.
Once this was done, Ragnar once again got his sword and headed out. This time…he was headed out to the Baptismal Fountain. He knew that Aerith had gone there to try and pick up a sign of who "Aleron" was, but that she hadn't come back yet. He wasn't that worried at the time. The neighborhood had some patrols in there, and Aerith had a history of running off to be alone for an extended period. However…he was a bit more worried now. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened to Krystea…but the feeling of the Planet itself quaking within him told him that they were all in danger.
Ragnar at last reached the neighborhood. Up ahead, the ruins of the church began to loom in the distance. The general made a line for it and quickly ran up. As he did, the buildings nearby broke and exposed the sky momentarily. The young general cast his eyes up there when they did…and both he and Bahamut within him quaked somewhat. The sky was looking absolutely malevolent now. It seemed almost as if Meteor had returned to devastate the world again with how chaotic it was. He said a prayer that that wasn't the case as he reached the door and ran in.
Ragnar came to a halt as he crossed the threshold and looked in front of him. There were no lights in this area or nearby, and with the sky as stormy and bleak as it was…it was pure black. It was only because of Ragnar's heightened senses that he was able to see the vague outline of the pool, the trees, and the waterfall. Even the rushing seemed hushed tonight…as if the water had dried up. However, his vision had a better function. Because he was part Bahamut, he had the heat vision that the esper possessed. It took only a moment to shift the wavelength of his sight to key in on heat. With it being winter, he had no trouble zeroing in on a form close to the water, kneeling by it.
"Aerith?" Ragnar called as he began to approach the figure. He heard no reply, but continued to draw closer. He left his heat vision on, for trying to see in the blackness was useless. However, he saw that the figure did not look up. On coming closer, he began to make out hazy red details that showed that it was Aerith, and she was indeed kneeling. However, it wasn't in the prayer position she normally possessed. She was sitting on her haunches, and her body was somewhat bent over. Her head was bowed down and low.
She looked…sad.
This began to concern Ragnar even before he reached her. His face turned to unease and a bit of worry as he closed the last few steps. He finally came to a stop as he reached her left side. There, he silently looked down on her for a moment. She didn't move. She didn't look up or say a word. However, Ragnar didn't fear she was injured or dead. Her body would have been cooling if that was the case, and he would have heard irregularities in her breathing and heartbeat.
"Aerith?" He called again.
At last, the Cetra moved. She didn't look surprised. She just slowly raised her head up and looked out.
"…Is that you, Ragnar?" She finally asked. Her voice was unusually quiet.
"…Yes, it's me." Ragnar answered. "Aerith, what's wrong? Were you talking to the Planet?"
The Cetra paused again.
"…No. I stopped some time ago."
Ragnar hesitated again, his brow furrowing.
"…Aerith, tell me what's the matter."
The woman again was silent and didn't move. Ragnar looked to her uneasily himself a moment longer, but then crouched down to her side and moved in a bit more. He switched off his heat vision and looked to her with his own eyes, which were still very good at absorbing light. He could see her almost distinctly even now.
Slowly, she turned her head around to look at him.
Her eyes were shimmering, and her face was scared.
"…He…she…Jenova or Sephiroth…" She began slowly, nearly stammering. "They were angry. They were yelling curses at me to stop. It sounded as if they'd make my ears bleed…loud as they were…trying to get me to stop trying to find who Aleron was." She paused here, and swallowed. Her eyes shimmered a bit more when she continued. "But…I finally looked past them. I couldn't see far…but I saw someone…someone I didn't expect."
Ragnar leaned in a bit closer. "Who, Aerith?"
Aerith nervously bit her lip in reply, and stiffened.
"…I saw Krystea."
Ragnar felt a weight drop inside him. That sank it. Whatever this was, be it Aleron or no, it had to do with Krystea. His worst fears had to be true. Zola hadn't kept her from fusing…and now it was unleashing a new monster on Gaia. For a brief moment, he felt himself tense up. His battle mentality began to come out, and his muscles began to tighten in anticipation for a fight.
However…that didn't last.
Aerith moistened her lips once, and then bowed her head. She began to quiver. Her full fear began to come out, and her eyes shimmered more. Seeing this…Ragnar's own tension abated, and he softened again on seeing her like this.
"…I don't know what they want with her…or what she has to do with Aleron…" Aerith spoke aloud, her voice even quieter and shakier. "But…but…" The Cetra paused again, and then looked up into Ragnar's eyes. "She's the only family I have, Ragnar. She's the only other Cetra. If they hurt her…kill her…found some way to control her…even…if that experiment worked that Hoeng tried on us…"
Ragnar didn't let Aerith say another word. He could see what had kept her here now. She had seen Krystea…and she had been thinking one bad scenario after another. He had to remember that Aerith didn't know the truth about Krystea…that it was impossible for her to be her sister. She believed she was her own flesh and blood. She cared about her greatly. With that in mind, he came forward and embraced her. The Cetra immediately returned it. She didn't cry, but she did quiver in his grasp. She placed her head over his shoulder and gripped him fiercely, as if she could somehow absorb some of his bravery or strength.
"I'm scared, Ragnar…" She spoke aloud. "When it was me, I didn't care. But this is someone else. She doesn't have the same connection with the Planet as I do. She doesn't have it to reassure her or warn her. Sephiroth…I know he wants to kill me…"
"It's going to be alright, Aerith. I promise." Ragnar reassured. "This is what I came to tell you. She's on her way here."
On hearing this, Ragnar felt Aerith's quivering cease. Immediately, she pulled away from him and looked to his face in astonishment, as if to see if there was a lie in it. "She is?"
Ragnar felt a knot form in his stomach at having to tell Aerith a half-truth, but he didn't want to do anything to make her fear the future more than she already did. With that in mind, he gave a nod to her. "I got off the phone with the Turks a couple hours ago. They're coming here. They've abandoned the NSA. She'll be here sometime before dawn. I was coming to tell you that so that you'd come with me to wait for her."
Aerith's eyes lit up as a smile spread across her face. She began to look overjoyed. "That's great! Now she'll be around us and we can protect her!"
Ragnar tried hard not to stiffen here, and managed a smile. "So…do you want to go or not?"
"Are you kidding?" Aerith asked with a laugh, and immediately began to rise. "Let's go! It'll take me a while to walk that far."
The general kept smiling as he stood as well. If this went ill…Aerith was soon going to find out the truth the hard way. The part of him that was Bahamut didn't like this, but there was little for it. She'd only get more distressed and angry either way if the worst scenario happened. Perhaps the presence of Aerith would snap Krystea out of it, or at least stun her long enough to be immobilized. This event had not been in the previous timeline. Perhaps seeing it would give Aerith another outlet for anger. Perhaps it would be nothing…Krystea would recover before this was done. Ragnar was pretty sure he could disable her if she tried anything, and do it painlessly. He could try to recall one of Bahamut's hypnotisms on the way there… There was lots of reason for optimism…
However, as Ragnar stood and looked up into the sky again…seeing it turn ever bleak, and the world beneath it turn ever tomb-like…he began to fear that such wouldn't be the case…
The world had changed in the past few hours.
Reno knew this wasn't natural, and he had enough superstition for it to nearly freak him out. The sky wasn't supposed to act like this.
The sky above had turned black. That seemed typical…it was night, after all. And yet…this wasn't right. It seemed more than just black from night. It seemed as if God had dropped ink on the firmament of the heavens and it had been stained a pure inky color. There wasn't the slightest trace of blue anywhere. The clouds seemed to gather more and more…coming lower and lower to Gaia as they did so. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled not only the sky but the water and earth as well. Yet the lightning…seemed dim. It seemed shockingly white and pale, as if it was being deadened just like the other lights from before. The wind was getting colder and sharper with each gust. It made Reno feel like ice himself now. And yet…the smell of the wind…it was like something barren and dead for a long time…
Reno wasn't alone. Rude and Elena were the same way. They nervously looked up to the sky as well. It almost looked as if it was ready to fall down on them…much as it had been under Meteor. At that time, they hadn't cared. They kept doing their job to the bitter end.
But this time…they actually felt fear looking at it.
Reno tried to snap this out of his mind and looked ahead. However, there was nothing left to see. It was so black out now that it was almost like being in space. For all he knew, Krystea had veered off miles ago and they were chasing a shadow. Yet they had nowhere else to go. Even if this wasn't where Krystea was going…they didn't want to be out on this ocean dead in the water. And from the looks of how the fuel was doing, that would be the case pretty soon.
A wave lurched the boat upward. The passengers held on tight until it subsided, and then relaxed. That had been happening more frequently lately. The ocean was getting violent, almost ready for a squall. Yet no rain broke out, no matter how violent the storm overhead became.
"This weather is starting to freak me out." Elena murmured. "I hope we make landfall soon…"
"We will." Rude calmly reassured…although even his voice seemed a little on edge.
Reno had to admit he was on edge as well, and even Rude couldn't convince him. He knew they had to almost be there by now. But with how dark the sky was…and how empty and vast the world seemed around them…it was almost impossible to accept. It seemed as if they were nowhere…just some boat floating on an endless ocean. Nothing for eternity in every direction…and nowhere to go or land. The thought scared him…being stuck on an endless ocean in the same boat for eternity. Never seeing anything but darkness and the same boat…never hearing anything but the same silence…and the same waters that you could follow for months and be in the exact same spot…
As Reno felt this feeling begin to grasp him, however…he finally saw something. It was weak, but it was the most welcome sight he had seen in a long time.
As one of the waves in front of him subsided, it revealed a faint row of lights on the horizon.
Rude saw it too, and immediately pointed out. "There."
Elena looked up as well, and breathed a sigh of relief. "For a moment…I almost thought I never would see land again…"
In terms of an ocean voyage, what they had just been through was one of the shortest in the world. Normally, Reno and Rude would have teased her for thinking something so foolish. However…both of them had felt the same thing a moment ago. Reno noticed this, and it made him more uneasy rather than comfortable… Yet he kept the boat going full speed to the shore. He wanted to get it there quick…almost as if he was subconsciously fearing it would vanish again.
Yet the lights didn't vanish. They drew closer as the boat made its way onward. The lights were dim, however…almost as if some fog or haze was blocking them, or as if the land ahead had switched to lower powered bulbs for as far as the eye could see. Yet Reno recognized the pattern. It was Edge and what was left of Midgar. Not only that, but he could see a few red lights closer and interspersed. He realized what those were…the shore defenses and the Wutai Gold Navy. As he went closer, and the lights spread out slightly, he began to see a pattern and outlines. They were positively identified as destroyers after that.
As they began to traverse the few miles left to shore, however, Elena frowned. "Is there an air raid or something? It looks like they've been blacked out… Normally they have searchlights going."
"Apparently, Krystea was in front of us the whole time then." Reno responded, causing the woman to look to him. "She must have deadened the lights and radar. That's why we don't hear any of these destroyers coming for us. I shouldn't have bothered calling Ragnar. He probably won't even know we're here." The Turk turned to Rude next. "Turn on our light. See if it works."
Rude looked back to Reno a moment, seeming to not like this idea too much. But in the end, he grunted, turned back to the controls, reached out, and flicked a switch. A moment later, and the patrol boat's spotlight ignited. A cone of white light was projected in front of the boat for about a hundred yards. Reno even caught a glimpse of a side of a destroyer before it moved over the water. The light was dimmer than it should have been…but it did work.
"Well, that's something." Reno answered, and silently drove on.
As the Turks closed the last mile toward the shore, however…they felt uneasy again. It grew quieter as they came closer, not louder. The great destroyers around them seemed to give out less and less noise. No alarms were blaring. No people were moving on deck. No smaller boats were out. This wasn't an empty ocean anymore…but it didn't seem pleasant either. Now, it was like the place was dead…like a ghost town or harbor or whatever. The lights further up ahead stayed dim and didn't seem to give out any glow to their surroundings. They seemed almost spectral… Again, the three felt like they were in some strange dark world rather than the real one. The fact that they continued to meet no resistance didn't help…
However, they did get closer to shore. And as they did…Reno began to cut back on the engine. The ship coasted a bit longer, but the friction of the water soon began to slow it down. The light began to reveal some things again…rocks. There were a few sharp ones sticking out of the water just ahead, and beyond them were more stones signaling the presence of the shore. As they got nearer, and Reno dropped the speed further, he began to see clumps of grass. However, the spotlight didn't reveal any guns. They either were just outside of the main range, or they were going into one of the spaces between. Finally, just to the left of where the spotlight was first aimed…they saw the edge of something. Rude turned the spotlight…and revealed that it was another boat. It had been beached on the rocks, and it was empty.
Reno exhaled sharply, and wiped his face. He still had some dried blood there, although he was mostly recovered now. Elena raised her gun and checked it. Rude began to pull his gloves tighter. The three continued to tense up as they drew closer and closer.
At last, the ship was down to a crawl, and slowly slid onto the rocks. It gave a light thunk against a rock sticking out from the water, and nearly stopped completely. Caring nothing for tying it down, Reno promptly leapt out and into the shallow water, and then charged for the shore. Rude and Elena followed, all of them ignoring how icy it was. What Reno didn't ignore was how the splashes seemed to almost be dampened in terms of sound. The three moved onto the rocks, up to the grass, and quickly charged up the rest of the way.
Reno wasn't sure if it was luck…or if somehow something else did it…but at that point, the rays of the approaching dawn seemed to first make their presence know. Far in the west, Reno just now noticed a few of the black thunderheads filling the sky glow a bit gray. It wasn't much, but it was enough to illuminate a faint outline of their surroundings. And so, he halted, causing the others to stop too, and looked ahead.
This was a demilitarized zone. Up ahead of them, a rocky crag came out from the earth and went a few stories into the sky, no doubt forming an ancient cliff that in times past had been the seashore. However, most of the area in front of them leading up to it was empty, barren grassland. The wind whipped fiercely at it, but gave no sound. The place was as silent and stagnant as the ocean. Most of the snow had blown away, leaving only the grassy field. To Reno's left, which was east and southeast, the grassland went on and expanded out toward Midgar and the spectral lights. He saw no sign of any vehicles, troops, or warriors. He frowned a bit at this. Independent as he was…he had hoped for some backup.
Reno and the others then looked to the west. They followed the line of the cliff until it terminated. Yet when it did, so did the land. It appeared that the land itself came out and formed a sliver or spike of earth that thrust out into the ocean. The elevation rose here, and continued to go up as the land narrowed. More cliffs began to form edging the existing ocean, and rose higher and higher as the land tapered on.
Then, far in the distance, nearly a half mile away…they saw the cliffs facing them terminate with the cliffs on the others side into a spike. Below were rocks and crashing waves, at the end of a surely fatal drop into the sea.
Faintly visible, but clearly there on the flat landscape…was a single human shape with hair floating in the breeze.
"Krystea!" Reno called out.
The shape did not move, but it was unlikely that Reno had been heard. The waves were quiet, but his own sound seemed dampened, and didn't travel that far. However, they had their target. Reno turned to Elena and Rude, and then motioned forward. The three of them soon took off on the grassland and toward the precipice.
The three had been relaxing most of the night and sitting down, but their blood soon got running and they had stamina to spare. Running along a flat surface with only a gradual incline was easy. And so they fixed their eyes on the shadow and ran full tilt for it. The shadow never reacted to them, although it became more distinctive with time. The glow of the approaching dawn continued to seep through the clouds, and gave enough gray light to see more and more. Also, their eyes began to adjust, allowing them to see even in this pitch blackness.
Yet Reno couldn't help but feel nervous. Sweat broke out on his brow soon into the run, but it wasn't from being tired. It was from fear. The air only seemed to chill more and more as he approached, and the sound of his heart and breathing turned quieter and quieter. The blood seemed to retreat from his extremities and into himself. The odor of being stagnant grew stronger as he approached the cliff. There wasn't mistaking what it was anymore. It was the smell of death. Reno had been around the world enough times to know what dead things smelled like. Even if they didn't have a stench…they had that smell of death on them. It was some sort of sixth sense…but you could tell it. As each step brought Reno closer to the shadow…they grew slower and quieter as a feeling in his mind told him to go the opposite way with increasing urgency.
It continued to grow the closer that Reno came…until finally it arrested his movement. He abruptly came to a halt. He evidently wasn't alone in his feelings…because the others stopped as well nearby. There they stood…effectively blocking off the exit from the precipice. There was enough room to move in between, but not enough room to run past before one could react and stop that person.
There they stood, about a hundred feet away, grasping their weapons with sweaty hands. Reno felt a quiver of weakness inside him.
Shadows seemed to drape the figure before them, so that none could see who or what it was. It was impossible to make out anything other than the humanoid shape and hair in the breeze. It appeared to be facing away from them…but none of them could really tell. None of them reacted, and neither did the figure. Again…Reno found himself frozen. He couldn't say or do anything. Whatever feeling was exuding from this thing…it was paralyzing him.
Yet finally, he tightened himself up and forced himself to speak.
"Krystea…back away from the cliff." He stated in the best command he could make. "You're coming with us. We're going to see your sister."
At last…the shadow shifted. It began to turn around.
As it did, the shadows that seemed to drape it before receded, and they began to make out what it was. The figure was dressed in a long dark cape/coat, with silver shoulder armor on top of it. A pair of black boots and pants matched. The chest held the coat over it with only a couple of black straps. In one black-gloved hand was a long bundle covered with black cloth. The hair was long, flawless, and silver. The features were strong and powerful…more perfect than possible for man. The face…was twisted into a cruel smile, while the pale green eyes turned and zeroed in on the Turks like a hawk on prey. The green eyes that blazed out at them seemed to be the only unholy light in this dark world.
It was not Krystea.
All three Turks felt a ripple of that alien sensation of fear come through them. Rude's glasses covered up some of it, though his mouth opened. Elena took a step back. Reno stayed firm, but sweat came down from the sides of his forehead.
"…Sephiroth." He managed to choke out.
"Hmph." The dark man slowly chuckled. "Sister? Is that what she thinks her clone is? Her puppet? She thinks of her as an equal?" He addressed in his smooth, calm voice. "She was nothing. She was a face printed onto flesh. Nothing more than a copy. And now she has returned to nothing."
The Turks were so frozen by a sudden onset of fear that they couldn't even challenge this.
Sephiroth's smile widened. "But stay." He said as he gestured his free hand toward them. "This is a momentous occasion. You have come so very far…so you have the honor of being the first to witness my bride."
Here, at long last, one of the Turks found their tongue loosened as they gaped in shock.
"…Bride?" Elena answered.
Sephiroth calmly stepped to one side. For a moment…it looked as if his shadow had come to life, and lingered behind him even as he stepped back. That was because a dark humanoid pillar remained behind him. Yet the others soon realized it wasn't his shadow…but another person. The darkness began to recede from this one as well as it stepped forward. From head to toe, it was covered in a thick black cloak. Only the pale, almost white, face shone from underneath the hood…and then it was only the nose and mouth. They were twisted into the same cruel, calm smile as Sephiroth's.
Slowly, the arms reached up from the folds of the cloak to the hood. Once there, they calmly pushed back and revealed the head beneath. The owner closed her eyes and swished her own perfect silver hair around, before lowering her gaze and opening her own burning green eyes to focus on the three.
The Turks knew this face.
"K…Krystea?" Elena asked nervously.
"Krystea is dead, never to be seen on this world again." The powerful, deep, and calm voice of the woman replied. "I am the goddess…the mate of Lord Sephiroth. I am Aleron."
To be continued...
NOTE: The reference to Sarisa Tycoon is from FFV. Essentially, Reno is asking Krystea is some historically wild and free-willed woman.
Some of you may have noticed that parts of this seem similar to "X-Men: United". As a fairly knowledgable person of the comic X-Men series, I would be disgusted to akin my story to anything like that piece of trash. The motif simply worked well.