Author's Note: It has been FAR too long since the installment of this saga of multiple fused worlds. Yes, after the last couple chapters, I won't pretend there's only three anymore. After about chapter 4 I'd planned the addition of a fourth world, and decided for a fact on what it would be shortly thereafter. Which world is it? All will be answered by Chapter 30. OK, not all, but you'll know who the mystery characters are. Hopefully, I can have that posted by the end of August. The way my life went the last time I promised a deadline, I'll only guesstimate now so as not to disappoint anybody. It looks like I'm back now, and a minor case of writer's block has been cured by a darker sense of where this story is going. If anybody though T was too strong of a rating, they won't before long.
Chapter 24
"If he escapes, I will kill every last one of you," he threatened the lackey.
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Why not simply kill him?" He began to unsheathe the Masamune.
"That ape put up a good fight," the man growled, a slight wheeze in his voice. "I want that power. Ultima is strong, but it isn't that strong."
Sephiroth laughed. "Did you finally find a match? I'm surprised it took you this long."
"Don't push your luck," the man growled. He was clearly annoyed by the effort his battle had taken. "You're the one who was killed twice by Cloud."
"I learned my mistake," Sephiroth said. He was far too pleased to see the man like this to take his insult seriously. "Have you learned yours?"
The man went to retort, but something caught his eye. "Where's Genesis?"
"Running an errand," Sephiroth said simply.
The man was furious. "Who are you to order him around? Genesis is my pawn, not yours!"
"I needed him for something while you were busy not existing. Did you finish your business in between existence?"
"I did what I needed to," the man said, refusing to admit that he had been distracted by the sorcerer with a tail.
The ground beneath them suddenly shook as realization dawned on the man. "What exactly did you send Genesis to do?"
Sephiroth simply smiled.
Death, blood, destruction, war, that haunting laugh. Another died beside him, and on his other side, someone was injured greatly. A bright flash, and all he saw was her face, her beautiful face staring at him, asking him to come home safely.
He woke up, unsure of what happened. Who was that girl in his dreams? She had been there the last few nights as the same dream repeated itself in his head. Where was he? What was he doing? Who was she?
Rakunya sat up in bed and looked at his Materia. What did it do? Why had he forgotten about it? How did that girl in the emerald cloak know about it?
"Can't sleep?" Yuffie asked.
He looked up and saw her standing in his doorway in her pajamas. He motioned for her to come in; if there was anything he needed right now, it was a friend.
"Restless again?" he asked.
She nodded. "Thought I'd take a walk, and I saw your Materia as I passed by, so I figured you were awake."
Rakunya sighed, still staring at it. "Yuffie…do you remember the day that I showed this to you?"
"Yeah," she asked. "Why?"
"Do you remember what it did?"
"Of…" She cut herself short. Come to think of it, she really didn't remember much of what happened when he used it. "I remember…everything looked different, somehow…like you were showing me a whole new world. Why do you ask?"
He paused, wondering if he should let her know. "That girl in the cloak yesterday…she knew about it. More importantly, I think, it reacted to her."
"That's weird…" Yuffie said, thinking. "The only time I've ever heard of Materia reacting to somebody was when the White Materia reacted to Aerith."
"So," Rakunya asked, "not only do I have a special Materia, but I'm not supposed to have it?"
Yuffie shook her head. "I don't know what I mean," she admitted. "I wish I could remember what happened that day. I guess I forgot with the stress of everything that's happened…"
Rakunya sighed. "It'd be nice if one of us remembered what it did…" He shook his head.
"Don't worry about it," Yuffie said, giving him a small hug. "I think the more important thing right now is that Reeve's source knew about it…come to think of, she seemed to know you, too, didn't she?"
"I wish I knew why," Rakunya admitted. "It doesn't make sense. Who could she be? I didn't recognize her voice at all, but she knows me somehow. I just don't get it."
Yuffie thought for a minute. "Well," she said, standing up, "I don't think we're going to get the answers tonight. You hungry?"
Rakunya suppressed a chuckle. Leave it to Yuffie to distract him with food. Although… "Let's go try to find something," he accepted, standing beside her and gesturing to the door in a mock-polite way. "Ladies first," he smiled.
A silence fell over the group as they passed the scenery. There had indeed been a battle here, but the devastation was on a scale never seen before, not since the destruction of Cleyra or the attack on Lindblum. The very land was ravaged from the force that had swept through, a force rumored to be an Eidolon. Tears formed in Garnet's eyes as she clung to Zidane for support.
Only one thought ran through Zidane's mind: How? Eiko certainly wouldn't have done this, but did anyone have the capability to extract the Eidolons from her anymore? The other two worlds knew so little about Eidolons, so he doubted they would even think of extraction. Someone or something had caused this devastation…how?
"Keep moving," Amarant growled. "There's another battle not far from here."
Sure enough, as they reached the top of the hill, they saw a battle taking place, although 'massacre' was the first word that came to Zidane's mind. Esthar's troops were trying to hold their ground against Fenrir, and they were failing miserably. Further from the field, SOLDIER troops fired from an unreachable distance, safe from all harm.
The battle was over before they had a chance to help, and Fenrir slew the last surrendering soldiers. Garnet gasped in horror and the coldness of ShinRa; there were no survivors left when Fenrir faded away. They tried to catch the troops, but something else caught their eye.
"Eiko!"
Indeed, the summoner was not far from them, though she didn't seem to hear them. She seemed to have lost her usual spunk, and her eyes seemed empty and sad, but it was indeed Eiko. Her gaze was oddly vacant and unfocused, as though something in the distance had caught her attention.
"Eiko!" Zidane shouted again running up to her. "Where have you been?"
The summoner failed to acknowledge them as she walked past, following the wreckage of battle. Zidane tried to stop her, but she simply walked past. "Where are you going?"
"Who iz disturbing ze summoner?" a voice demanded. An oddly dressed man rushed over from behind the group. "Stay avay from ze summoner!"
Freya raised her lance, causing the strange man to stop at its point. "Who are you, and what have you done to her?" she demanded.
"You have not heard of me? I am ze great Dr. Odine! I am renowned for vorking with ze sorceresses, and soon for mind control!"
"Mind control?" Garnet whispered. "Why?"
"Vy not? Obviously, my research vorks! Ze summoner iz completely oblivious to you!"
The group readied their weapons. "Fix her," Zidane insisted.
Instead of appearing worried, Odine simply called to the summoner. The group was knocked to the ground by the force of Fenrir. "My experiments are not finished," Odine said simply. "I vant her to believe she obeys me of her own free will!"
"The hell are you to control other people?" Amarant asked, standing shakily but quickly regaining himself. He assumed a fighting stance, ready to knock Odine into the hill if he refused to cooperate. "Give her back, the way she was before."
"As long az I have ze summoner, you cannot harm me!"
Angered, Vivi fired a Firaga spell, but it was deflected by a Shell spell, no doubt cast by Eiko. Zidane stood, feeling the power of Trance over taking him, but he fought it back. If the killed Odine, they'd never know how to get her back, and he couldn't risk Odine using Eiko like a human shield.
"Face it," Odine taunted. "You are powerless. So long az ze summoner lives, she will obey my every vord!"
"Then what if you aren't alive?" Amarant threatened.
Odine pointed to a gold headband that Eiko was wearing. "Do you see zat? I am ze only von who can remove zat without damaging her mind, and I haven't figured zat out yet. I am you're only hope of returning her to normal. So long az ve both live, she vill continue summoning Eidolons for Rufus!"
A black shadow suddenly leapt forward, lunging straight for Eiko; Zidane barely noticed in time to tell Eiko to look out, and by the time he did the shadow was almost on top of her. A dagger appeared at the front of the shadow, and Zidane thought for sure that she would die. Miraculously, however, she contorted her body to avoid the knife, twisting around and bending backwards.
The shadow landed just past her, revealing himself to be a black clad man, dressed much like an assassin with his face hidden behind a mask. "That's impossible," he growled.
"You zought you could destroy my vork? Did you think you could end zis var early?"
Suddenly, the assassin had a shuriken readied between each finger. He threw them at Eiko in rapid succession, each one aimed flawlessly on a fatal path. Again, Eiko was able to contort herself in ways that allowed her to avoid each one and silenced Zidane's group.
"What have you done?" the assassin growled, afraid of the answer.
"I have made her better."
Freya's lance and the assassin's dagger were both pressed against Odine's throat. "You won't get away with this, you brigand!" Steiner shouted. "What have you done to Miss Eiko?"
Odine smiled coldly. "My sources, zey secured me vith Jenova cells after ze last appearance. Ze summoner has been infused so that she may perform her duties better!"
Zidane marveled at the power of Jenova's cells and wondered what kind of hell Eiko had endured receiving the treatment. The assassin, however, had a decidedly different response.
"For the crimes you have committed against humanity, you may not live, doctor," he growled. He pulled his dagger back, slicing Odine's throat open as he did.
No sooner had Odine shrieked in pain than the assassin found himself thrown to the ground by Fenrir, who was greedily trying to devour the black clad man. Before the other party could react, Midoon was summoned, causing great injury to the group. Eiko rushed to Odine's side and healed his wound before the two of them left, Odine laughing maniacally.
Midoon did not last long; the further Eiko was from the scene, the harder it was on her to maintain two Eidolons. Fenrir disappeared under the assassin's knife. The assassin stood, not wanting to have killed an Eidolon, but praying that he had kept it out of the next battle.
He began limping back to the shadows, but Zidane stopped him. "Who are you, and why did you try to kill Eiko?"
"If Odine speaks even a half truth, the girl must die. As you saw, I cannot kill Odine while she lives, unless you can come up with some way to separate the two of them long enough that she cannot come to his aid."
Amarant stood. "Let me take care of that."
The assassin snorted. "A gorilla against the might of the cells of Jenova and the powers of a Slave Crown? Odine has both working for him, and while he does not understand the dangers of that volatile combination, I do, and I intend to kill him before he can learn what to do with it. The Jenova cells, though…we did not expect that…"
"We?"
He disappeared into the shadows before Zidane could get any more answers.