1Me: Yes, I know. It's the third chapter I've written in a 24 hour period but I owe you guys a lot so... yeah.
Lloyd: This is gonna be a flashback right?
Me: Yeah and its not gonna go nowhere like the last one. If anything, it's gonna be rushed so... you've been warned.
Lloyd: Jen Rem Doesn't own ToS or FF, only Tiamatt, The Oblivion Blade, and Ash.
Tiamatt sat in the back seat of the buggy, squashed in between Barret and Red XIII as they crossed the river and headed for Cosmos Canyon. The car suddenly jerked to a halt outside the steep, crimson walls.
"We'll have to walk from here." Red said as he leapt from the vehice and shook out his fur. Tiamatt yawned and stretched her arms, wishing she could spread her wings but... she did not want to cause trouble.
"Ok. We'll follow you." Cloud replied. Red nodded and leapt up towards a worn path.
"My home is not too far away. It should take about an hour to reach." the cat like animal said.
The group started the trek up the canyon to the small town. As they walked, Aeris decided to see how far Tiamatt was coming on her training.
"Can you hear the whispers yet?" the younger Cetra asked.
"I think so but they are hard to understand." Tiamatt sighed. "They are more of mumbles then whispers though."
"True." Aeris laughed. "Hey, I think I can see the town!"
"Hey Red! What's that big thing?" Barret asked, pointing to a large building at the very top of the canyon.
"Thats the obseveritory where my grandfather lives."
"Grandfather?" Cait Sith asked. "I thought you where the last of your kind."
"..." Red looked uncomfortable about the subjected.
"Halt! Who goes there?!" a watchguard asked.
"It is I, Nanaki. I have returned home." Red answered.
":Nanaki! Welcome home! You should see Bugenhagen as soon a possible." the guard smiled.
"Ok." Nanaki nodded. "You guys wait here. I'll be back in a moment."
"Alright." Tifa replied with a smile.
The group waited for about ten minutes before the cat came bounding back up to them and lead them to his home to meet his grandfather, an odd levatating old man named Bugenhagen who knew much about the planet and the solar system. The conversation soon switched to one about Nanaki's supposedly coward of a father, Seto, which greatly upset the cat and caused him to run off. Bugenhagen then asked the group to retrieve Nanaki so that he could learn the truth of his father.
The group was soon fighting in the hidden Cave of the Gi. Through the twist and turns of the now dead enemy, the group traveled but when they reached the end of the cave, they found the exit blocked. A the ghost of Gi Nittak haunted the cave and upon seeing Nanaki, attacked the group but the monster was easily quelled. The exit now clear, Bugenhagen showed Nanaki Seto, the hero of Cosmos Canyon, who was turned to stone from the Gi's posion arrows as he fought off the invaders. As the rest of the group let Nanaki have a moment with his father, a long mournful howl echoed through the canyon.
The next day, the group moved out again, this time on foot. Nanaki was given the choice to stay in Cosmos Canyon but he decided his place was with Cloud and the others so he stayed. After a couple days of traveling, familair spiky mountains came into view and Tiamatt grew tense.
"What's wrong miss?" Cait Sith asked innocently. Tiamatt just glared at him, knowing that Reeve knew perfectly well what was wrong.
"I don't like this place." Tiamatt said simply. Tifa gave her a sypathetic smile and gave the former SOLDIER a pat on the back.
"You still miss him don't you?" Tifa asked her. Tiamatt nodded, feeling the tears begin to well up despite how she fought to hold them back. "Cheer up. Maybe there's a way to save him."
"Come on Tif. Don't be filling her mind with false hopes." Barret scolded. "That fool got himself into this and he's gonna pay with his life."
"Shut up!" Tiamatt snapped. "You know nothing about him!" Tiamatt ran off into the town, disappearing into the Shinra Mansion.
"You could be a little more sensitive." Aeris glared at the bulky man.
"I think she just need's sometime alone." Cait suggested, pat the mog doll below him.
"It can not be easy traveling with the group bent on killing the person you love." Red added.
"We'll leave her be for now. Let's investigate the town for Sephiroth." Cloud suggested.
Tiamatt sat cuddled down in the corner of the basement Library where she had awoken to Sephiroth losing his sanity. As she cried softly into her knees, she noticed the sound of soft breathing, coming from behind the wall. She had heard rumors of someone being locked in here years ago but she didn't believe it. Could someone really live here forever? Never leaving the mansion? Never eating or drinking? Only sleeping for years on end.
"Whose there?" She asked quietly but no reply came. Tiamtt stood up and listened carefully to the sound till she found a hidden door in the wall but it was locked. "There really is someone here. Hmm... now that I think about it, I do remember seeing small sheets of paper scattered through the building. Maybe they have the combination to the safe upstairs. I bet the key to this room is there."
Tiamatt, mind now working on the mysterious breathing, began to search the house for the notes. Finally after an hour she finally found them all and used them to unlock the safe on the second floor. Lost Number rushed at her in an attempt to keep her for accessing the key to the secret room.
"Dragon's Flame!" Fire surrounded her sword as she spun in a wide circle, severely injuring the two headed beast. "Haste!" Tiamatt rushed forward, slashing at the magic half of the beast till the side went limp. That half taken care of, she returned to a safe distanced and accessed the materia in her arm. "Fira!" Lost Number hollered in pain as the fire engulfed it till it fell in a heap on the floor. The monster now dead, Tiamatt calmly stepped over the corpse to retrieve the key and the Odin Materia.
"Tiamatt!" The ex Turk turned to see her group enter the mansion.
"Here!" Tiamattt threw the Odin materia at Yuffie who immediately lunged for it and fell flat on her face. "I thought ninja's weren't suppose to be clumsy."
"I ...ah...Just didn't want the materia to shatter." Yuffie pouted.
"Whatever." Tiamatt shrugged. "Come with me. I found something."
"Really? What?" Cait asked as the group began to follow Tiamatt down to the basement.
"There is someone trapped down here and I believe this key unlocks the room." the ex Turk replied, showing the key. "Right here, there's a door." She inserted the key and shoved the door open to see a coffin sitting in the middle of the room.
"What the hell?" Barret shouted in confusion. "Why is there a coffin down here?"
"I don't know." Cloud replied. "What's inside of it?"
"Go check it out." Aeris said, trying to encourage Cloud out of her own fear.
"Alright." The blonde swordsman sighed and walked up to the coffin. He stretched his hand over it to knock on the hard wood but the lid suddenly moved by itself to reveal a man in black with a red headband and a red rape. He had long dark hair and wore a metal claw on one hand.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" the man asked.
"We are hunting a man named Sephiroth. Do you have any information on him?" Cloud asked.
"...Please leave." the man replied coldly, lying back down and closing the lid to the coffin.
"You have information on Sephiroth and I want to know." Tiamatt growled stepping towards the chest.
"Please leave me in peace so I can complete my punishment." The man replied from within the coffin.
"Punishment? Punishment for what?" Barret asked. The man sighed, knowing the strangers wouldn't leave till they got the information they wanted. He pushed the lid off once again and looked at the group.
"If I had been able to protect the one person I loved, then the nightmare would have never been born and the world would be at peace." The man sighed.
"Never been born?" Tiamatt growled. "I could never imagine a world without him."
"You have feelings for him though he is a monster?" The man asked.
"Sephiroth is not a monster!" Tiamatt roared. "It is my fault that he found the Calamity in the reactor and died. It's my fault that he's now bent on destroying the world. It should have been me, not him so don't you dare call him a monster!"
"Tiamatt..."
"Shut it Aeris!" the former experiment snapped. "Who are you to call anyone a monster!?"
"...my name is Vincent Valentine. I am a former Turk. I would like to join you on your journey to stop Sephiroth and have some unfinished business with Hojo." Vincent said calmly, unfazed by the outburst.
"Not if I get to him first." Tiamatt replied.
"You also have a past with him?" Vincent asked.
"Hell yeah and he's gonna pay for ruining my life." the Cetra snapped.
"Then let us be on our way."
Me: there another flashback. I kinda showed a more emotional Tiamatt in this chapter but I think it kinda fits the situation so... READ AND REVIEW EVERYONE!!!