Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII Compilation belongs rightfully to Square-Enix. This amateur effort at fan-based fiction is in no way making profit off of the licensed characters described therein, nor is it associating any new original characters to Square-Enix either.
Chapter Four
Dahlia froze before the entrance to the Ramuh room, taking in a sharp breath and grasping at the hair on the top of her head. Beyond the doorway the room looked as if it were made purely of electricity and nothing else. The flashes from the lightning were a strobe even against the much larger burial chamber, reminding Sephiroth of the cheesy effects of the Haunted Hotel at Gold Saucer.
"You won't make it," said Sephiroth as he stopped to stand behind her. This time there was simply too much of the electricity to catch a glimpse of Ramuh's apparition.
He just doesn't intend for us to leave, thought Sephiroth.
Dahlia reached into her shoulder bag and produced a notebook, which she pushed into Sephiroth's chest. "Read the second-to-last page." With an extra deliberate shove of the notebook she turned away from the death trap and hurried further into the burial chamber.
The unopened notebook in his hands, Sephiroth glared after her form. "Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, his voice echoing across the tomb.
"Upstairs!" she called out, her soprano echoes making his ears ring a little. Dahlia ran past the arrangement of sarcophagi and then ascended a flight of steep steps that took her to the second floor. Sephiroth could only see the top of her head from behind the second floor's banister as she ran it's length around to the side opposite of the stairs, just above where the secret ante-chamber was located. Sephiroth made sure to have it noted on Ment's map as the 'Loveless room,' as it hadn't been illustrated there previously.
"Did you read it yet!?" she shouted, causing Sephiroth to scowl as he opened the notebook and began quickly flipping the pages towards the end. "Come on, you! We don't have all day here!"
Perhaps he should have left her trapped in that room…
Dahlia's desired page turned out to be a diagram of the arrangement of the seven sepulchers. They were positioned with three on each side of the west and east walls, and only one facing the north wall. Dahlia had also copied the Ancient's language and hieroglyphs on each coffin, along with a translation for each. Sephiroth wasn't the least bit surprised to find that each burial was named for a summoning.
Starting on the west wall: Shiva, Ice Empress. Odin, Who Condemns. Ramuh, Thunder Sage. On the east wall: Hades, Judge of the Dead. Alexander, Holy Conqueror. The shattered sarcophagus nearest the Loveless room remained unnamed.
As for the north wall: "The Once and Future King," Sephiroth read out loud. "Which summon does that refer to, Dahlia?"
He heard her sigh audibly. "Knights of the Round!"
Sephiroth approached it. He had never seen Knights of the Round, nor did he know of anyone who had. It was an extremely rare summon materia that was only rumored to exist, supposedly more powerful than the rest. The Once and Future King's grave depicted a carving of a warrior asleep on the sarcophagus' lid. There was sword clutched in his hands, lying across his legs. It was the only part of the image that was highly decorated, the blade pleated in silver and the hilt encrusted with rubies. The Ancient's language was etched on the sword, but Sephiroth knew next to nothing about this particular Cetran legend.
He placed gloved hands upon the lid and pushed.
"No! What the hell are you doing!?"
Sephiroth hissed at the sight. He only opened it a crack, but he could easily see that the Once and Future King's grave sat completely empty with no trace of a body ever being there to decay for two thousand years. Sephiroth regretted ever hoping for the miniscule possibility that the materia could be found inside as well.
Dahlia's light footsteps came pattering down the stairs. Groaning she pushed the lid back into place with some trouble. "These are delicate artifacts, Sephiroth! We have a special process for opening them. Exposing the body to oxygen could cause it to decompose at a much quicker rate!"
Ignoring her, Sephiroth opened Hades'. Before she could scream at him, he announced, "They're empty." Dahlia hurried to his side to see, only to gasp at what he showed her. "All of them."
His ex-wife took a step back, palming her forehead. "I don't understand. Why would anyone make a tomb and not bury someone in it?"
Sephiroth recalled Shiva and Ramuh's apparitions but said nothing of it to her. "Those Who Still Fight…" he murmured. "The summons were never laid to rest. Instead of moving on their souls were absorbed into the Lifestream and became materia."
Her eyes lighting up, Dahlia slapped her fist into her other palm. "Then this is all a distraction! A diversion for what the Cetra really buried here!"
Sephiroth sighed. "Not the Keystone again…"
"But it makes perfect sense! With the presence of the summons as traps, they could protect the Keystone against enemy tribes, such as the early humans or the hated Gi of Cosmo Canyon lore. Come on, look at this!" Without any discretion, Dahlia grabbed Sephiroth's arm and began pulling him towards the stairs. Immediately he freed himself from her grip and coldly brushed past her, up the steps on his own.
She joined him at a large engraving, which was a wall-size diagram of the first floor, much like the one Sephiroth held in Dahlia's notebook. However, the spots for each sepulcher were blank, simple impressions engraved deep into the picture.
"Should items be placed in them?" Sephiroth questioned. They were all about the size of a small brick, but he didn't remember coming across any items in the tomb that would fit inside.
Dahlia came closer to the diagram and then stood on the tips of her toes as she reached a hand out to touch something at the top of the illustration, a long line of hieroglyphs, instructions perhaps.
"…three will release thee," she translated. "Choose the three."
Sephiroth stared at the engraving for another long moment. When Dahlia moved to touch one of the empty spots, he caught her wrist, holding her back.
"Don't," said Sephiroth. "Shiva and Ramuh's power were released in the other rooms. We wouldn't want Knights of the Round, would we?"
Her wrist still in his grasp, Dahlia smirked at him. "I thought that the Great Sephiroth would do fine no matter which one we chose."
"You're right," he replied. Sephiroth let her wrist free, her hand falling to her side. "I just can't say how well you'll fare."
Dahlia scowled and immediately touched one. Ramuh's spot. The place where her fingertips brushed emitted a soft green glow, completely filling the miniature version of Ramuh's grave. Sephiroth pulled her away from the wall as the tomb suddenly became dark, the torchlight extinguished by a sudden gust of wind. Dahlia gasped as he shoved her to the floor, forcing her to crouch against the balustrade.
Except for the green glow of the carving, only the electricity from the other room gave light to the tomb, emitting the strobe effects throughout the burial chamber. A sudden explosion of sparks in the middle of the chamber revealed Ramuh's apparition again, only this time his physical appearance was more like the summon Sephiroth was used to seeing from the materia. Ramuh's beard was no longer black, but now gray, and his tired facial features were now exaggerated to appear more wizened and sagely. Whatever human vulnerability Sephiroth glimpsed in Ramuh's room was now gone.
You've corrupted the humes with your lifeblood as well. And now they follow your example by consuming the Lifestream for their own ends. It is unfortunate, but in the end, the humes may be extinguished along with you.
Sephiroth briefly glanced down at Dahlia, but she gave no indication that she heard Ramuh's voice at all. He shook his head with warning at her as she attempted to peek over the balustrade to catch a glimpse of Ramuh. Dahlia screamed as Ramuh sent a lightning bolt their way, striking and splitting the banister she hid behind. Sephiroth leapt over it as Dahlia crawled away for another spot to hide behind.
Ramuh gave no indication of moving, but the air in between both Sephiroth and the summon was filled with a violent ball of electricity, thrust out towards the approaching SOLDIER 1st class. Sephiroth let himself fall back down to the first floor, where he stood momentarily while bits of blown and charred wall fell around him. The corner of his eye caught Dahlia running down the steps as lightning bolts chased her, where she eventually dove behind one of the summons' graves for cover.
Sephiroth swung the seven-foot long Masamune blade at another lightning attack, discharging it even as he felt the current shake the blade and his connecting hand and forearm. Knowing that his weapon remained undamaged, Sephiroth charged ahead, swiping at the flurry of lightning strikes that came his way, hearing them crash all around the chamber and bringing down more bits of the ancient tomb. He pressed forward towards the summon, and as Ramuh attempted to shield himself, Sephiroth jumped, brining Masamune with him in an upwards strike.
Then as fast as Ramuh's lightning attacks, Sephiroth brought the sword down, then across, left and right and diagonally both ways, making exactly eight slashes that would have left a normal human in pieces. Ramuh was destroyed in an explosion of electric current, pushing Sephiroth back a bit the moment his boots touched the ground. Sparks dissipated into the air, and soon enough he found Dahlia crawling out from behind the sepulcher, her brown hair singed at some of the ends, and the top of her head frizzed up from all of the energy. He noticed finally that she had chosen to hide behind Ramuh's grave.
"Why?" he asked her.
"He wouldn't destroy his own tomb would he?" she replied, dusting herself off. "Even if he doesn't sleep in it…"
Cleaning some dirt and grime off of Masamune, Sephiroth said with an indifferent tone, "You can go choose the second summon if you wish." Truth be told, he hadn't encountered Alexander or Hades in a very long time and was curious to confront them.
Dahlia grinned from ear to ear. "No need!" Quickly she dashed back towards the Ramuh room, which was no longer consumed by the summon's power. All that remained were charred walls that left only portions of ancient drawings and inscriptions dedicated to the Thunder Sage.
"I had assumed that you already dealt with whatever Shiva had done to her room," Dahlia explained. "If so, I didn't see any reason to waste time with three more summons. Defeating Ramuh should have been enough to deactivate his trap and open the way back to the exit. Turns out I was right."
"Clever," Sephiroth admitted, and Dahlia preened a bit. He then led the way through the rooms, and following Ment's map, they took the necessary passages through the tomb towards the exit the map described. There were more floor traps that Sephiroth had to carry Dahlia across to avoid the spikes below, but the two still made it without further trouble to a damaged wall on the north end of the tomb, which opened into a dank cavern partly submerged in knee-deep water they had to push through. Sephiroth followed the light in the distance, and the merest of murmurs coming from those waiting outside for them.
"So how are Angeal and Genesis these days?" Dahlia suddenly asked, her voice an echo in the semi-darkness.
His silence and eventual halt was Sephiroth's only response. He didn't turn to look at her, but already she knew that his expression was hardly a pleased one. Dahlia abruptly stopped, the sloshing of the water instantly stilled.
"Oh hell," she breathed. "What happened?"
Sephiroth continued through the cave without an explanation. As he expected, she hurried after him, demanding that he tell her, but Sephiroth turned a deaf ear to her commands. It was only when they were finally standing in the sunlight that Dahlia shut her mouth, for in the small pond they were surrounded by the rest of the anxious research team.
"You found her!" Myrna splashed through the pond, only to tug and pull and prod at Dahlia, who protested in vain at the overbearing examinations. Questions erupted from everywhere, and soon enough Dahlia Cuddy was out of sight, buried deep in the concerns of her team as they dragged her away back to the campsite.
Sephiroth stayed behind, opting to sit at the shore of the pond to clean and dry and his sword. The small cave entrance across the water gave no indication that it was at all connected to the Tomb of Those Who Still Fight. As the day slowly waned into twilight, Sephiroth sent a message to Lazard.
'I'm going to pretend that you knew nothing about who was running the excavation team, but you owe me one, Director.'
Lazard responded within minutes. 'Me, owe you? If my memory serves me correctly, you chose this assignment for yourself. If you wanted to know who was at the head of the project, I don't see anything that should have stopped you from asking.' Sephiroth could almost imagine Lazard's amused smile, the twinkling of blue eyes behind those reading glasses. 'Give Dahlia my regards.'
Sephiroth snapped the mobile shut, scowling to himself as he stared angrily at the sand before his feet. It was only when the sun disappeared for good behind the trees that Sephiroth returned to the campsite. The commotion and panic that he saw there earlier was gone, only soft snores drifting out from some of the tent flaps. There were some trailers stationed about, most of them dark save for a few that were alive with workers who would no doubt stay the night to solve the mysteries discovered inside the tomb.
The older man Ment came out of the one of the trailers, mumbling angrily to himself. "Came here to kill ourselves is what we did…" Sephiroth returned the man's short wave with a small nod before entering the trailer. Myrna stopped speaking and turned to look at him once she noticed his presence.
Dahlia rubbed her eyes. She sat at a small eating booth, not unlike the ones used in many diners and restaurants, while Myrna stood over her with a disapproving look. "Sephiroth, I'm not sure if you've met Myrna Wallace. She's come over from Corel to lend a hand."
"We have," Myrna said shortly. "I'm going to head to bed though, before you come up with anymore insane theories."
The tall woman brushed past Sephiroth as she left the trailer, and in response Dahlia sighed in exasperation.
"They all want to know why you're here," she eventually said, "why Shin-Ra sent you instead of someone else. Now they that think its Wutai that's trying to steal from the tomb; that they're planning to take rare materia to use against Shin-Ra."
"The war is over," Sephiroth explained, as a teacher would to an attention-deficient student. "Wutai surrendered a week ago."
Dahlia stretched her arms tiredly over her head. "We're a little out of the loop way out here. News comes every once in a while from people visiting from Cosmo Canyon. That's where we hired most of our team from."
Sephiroth took a moment to look around, noticing the stacks of papers and documents everywhere, hiding a small computer. The soft amber lightning made Dahlia seem more tired-looking as she scrawled away on a notepad. Sephiroth made his way to the small kitchenette to lean against the counter.
"Something must have happened with Genesis and Angeal for you to have come all this way just to bother me," she eventually pointed out, turning in her seat to look at him.
Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "I didn't come here to bother you. If I had known you were here I wouldn't have come at all."
Looking skeptical, Dahlia replied, "Somehow I doubt that. I requested SOLDIER assistance to find and take care of whoever or whatever keeps messing with the ruins and with my team, and I know that they didn't need to send you. Tell me what happened, Sephiroth."
She got up from her table to stand in front of him, peering up to see the brooding face past the silver strands of hair that hid it. "Was it the war?" she whispered, distress causing her plain brown irises to lighten.
Dahlia flinched as Sephiroth unexpectedly took hold of both her shoulders. He pushed her back away from him, none too harshly. Releasing her he uttered, "A month ago…"
Leaning back against the counter again, Sephiroth explained, "Genesis abandoned SOLDIER a month ago while he was on assignment in Wutai. Many 2nd and 3rd classes went with him to join his cause in rebellion against Shin-Ra."
Shocked and bewildered, Dahlia opened her mouth to speak, but no words formed. "And then last week," Sephiroth added, "as we invaded Fort Tamblin, Angeal defected as well."
"Then what are you still doing here?!" she exclaimed. "Go after them! Find out what the hell their problem is!"
Sephiroth shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's not that simple."
"Yes it is," she insisted with a nod. "You know them best. If there's anyone that can talk to them-,"
"- Or kill them," Sephiroth grimly interjected. Dahlia was unsurprisingly speechless. "It's what the company would eventually want."
"So, knowing that you're caught up in the middle, you decided to come here to kill time while someone else is sent to do the dirty work?" Dahlia's expression was deeply disapproving, ashamed even.
"It isn't… it isn't like that!" Sephiroth groaned. Turning away from her he added, "I'm not obligated to explain myself to you."
Dahlia sputtered, still speechless while angry. "Well, fine! You're right. We haven't spoken in three years anyhow. Do whatever you want." Stomping off back to the booth she began to gather her books and notes, slamming covers closed and shoving items off of the table's surface, making papers scatter all over the ground.
Dahlia gestured to the nearby couch. It too was covered with texts. "Sleep wherever." She then disappeared into a narrow hall in the back of the mobile trailer, and within minutes Sephiroth heard the spray of a shower running.
The next few days were uneventful as far as Sephiroth was concerned. Dahlia Cuddy's team refused to renter the tomb without analyzing every single piece of evidence Dahlia and some of the other researchers had gathered in their notes and photographs. Pieces of the tomb had been salvaged before the traps had been activated, and Myrna Wallace spent her time cleaning such artifacts like pottery shards and figurines. Even with the pair of infantrymen keeping guard, one at the campsite and another at the tomb entrance, the mission was a dull one for the SOLDIER 1st class.
On Day 4 of the assignment, he received another message from Tseng.
General Sephiroth:
We've lost contact with one of the Turks in Banora. The others have begun a search for him in the area surrounding the town, but I'm afraid this will set our progress back a bit.
- Tseng
Just as Sephiroth was about to put away his mobile, it chimed, indicating a call.
"Hey, get your ass down here!"
"Dahlia," Sephiroth stated impassively, despite her frantic shrill. They were the first words she had spoken to him since the evening he arrived.
"It's Genesis! He's down here in the Loveless Room, and he's dead!"
Author's Note: If you haven't guessed Myrna's identity so far, here it is: In the FFVII canon, Myrna is Barret's wife, who of course dies in Scarlet's destruction of Corel. Though she doesn't physically appear in the game, here you get to see a little of what I perceive her to be like. Hopefully I'll be able to develop her a little more in the next update.
Next chapter: Sephiroth wraps things up in the Ancient Forest and then heads back to Midgar.
Shinz - I'm not too fond of OC's myself, and I'm trying very hard to keep the ex-Mrs. Sephiroth from corrupting the story. I'm not planning on having much romance in this; my intention was to show that Sephiroth as a character is not the "pairing" type, and whatever relationship he's decided to have, whether it be an OC or with a canon character, it wouldn't be happily ever after. Not that Sephiroth isn't capable of compassion for another person (pre-Nibelheim Seph anyway...), as unique an individual he is (and he knows it too), I imagine that it's often hard for him to relate to anyone, much less an overbearing wife like Dahlia. Crisis Core shows that only two people came even close to that standard, and they had to prototypes of him!
I'm glad that you enjoyed the tomb setting. I had briefly envisioned Sephiroth dressed up like Indiana Jones before writing it! xD