Disclaimer:
– I do not own Final Fantasy VII or its characters. 'Cause if I did… teheee… XD
Warnings:
– Although I like pervy things this is just a little friendship story with a weird Female OC thanks to Akia.
– Also it's the first time I'm writing something in English (Akia don't understand Portuguese and I know nothing in her idiom as well) and I have no English BETA, so I hope you can forgive me for all the mistakes I'll probably make. And if any of you could help me pointing them please do. Thank you! =D
Pairings:
– No pairings…maybe on another fanfic my friends! =)
Sumary:
– A weird Turk and a serious Soldier 1º Class were sent to collect samples inside a mysterious and dangerous place. But as long as he follows her instructions they'll be alright.
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The following day began rather early as the female Turk decided to take her substances at 5 in the morning. This way she calculated that at 7 A.M. the side effects would have subsided and she would be able to supervise the Soldier's injections herself. Perhaps at 9 o'clock they would be ready to leave for the Valley.
Sephiroth was long awaken and at the first floor he was informed that possibly around 7 Minami would be prepared to proceed on him. He also went as far as asking one of the scientists where the girl might be only to hear that she hasn't left the toilet since her injection time.
Close to the predicted hour a limp Turk finally left the bathroom going directly to the kitchen where she got a whole bottle of milk to herself and crumbled on a chair starting to drink. Her annoyed face warned everyone that she probably was in a real bad humor. But that huge frown could also be caused by the white liquid she was forced to swallow.
Sephiroth received the injections punctually at 7 A.M. and suffered the same process he had faced in the first day. Blood pressure periodically checked, little nausea treated by a couple of milk vials, but since he was expecting the same vision effects there was no surprise when every single nuance in that room started to vibrate heavily to his eyes.
After another little check up in their health state confirming everything was OK they finally left the house doing the same course till getting to the Valley.
The different part really started when they followed a trail in the opposite side from the one they took the first day. The weird bent trees seemed to be closing on them as their number increased considerably. Few little to medium of those weird animals were found walking around and Minami strongly advised Sephiroth to pay attention and not to step on any.
"In some groups they seem to respond when one faces sudden pain." She explained. "So this part of the valley is quite lively when some start hunting others."
Sephiroth then started wondering how she could know so much about the place. Especially about the creatures' behaviors. If that girl had experience any kind of trouble to discern as much how could she still be alive if that place was a Red Area? He had seen the beasts around part of the Valley, some of them had no presence at all so the explorers couldn't identify where they were. At least not until in their vision camp. Others seemed quite strong and fast. Not to mention those beasts were also Mako modified.
After at least 2 hours walking through the woods collecting samples and taking more notes they finally found another opening where trees simply hadn't grow. Strangely enough there was a fine line of trees on that little forest's way out as if they were strategically planted to form some kind of barrier.
However the real interesting part was right ahead.
The Ruins. But not the ones the soldier had seen previously. These were certainly the most impressive.
"I thought you'd like to see this place." Minami said following one of the many stone ways down to the torn constructions.
And those weren't simple stone ways gathered only for a firmly walking purpose. There was a real distinct pattern of colored stones leading to a circular center on the ground also fully decorated with a winds-like design. What was left of some walls had carved drawings seeming to tell a little story along with old unrecognizable runes. Cracked Statues of many forms and sizes filled the whole place. Some were simple just cut from some kind of white stone. Others from the same material exhibited detailed little stones incomplete patterns decorating unmovable clothes forms. Red and Blue Mako Crystals were also quite used on their ornaments.
Sephiroth stopped in front of a huge stone face half buried in the ground. The part outside the earth was taller than him. It was from a female sculpture. And for its pieces scattered around he imagined that that was at least 18 meters high when on its feet. The hair, and adorns appeared to be finely carved before the aging actions.
The Turk was quietly seated on a hand piece fallen at a little distance just observing the Soldier's silent astonishment and wondering if her reaction was the same her first time there. But then it seemed he suddenly remembered he wasn't alone turning around to locate the girl's spot.
She didn't want to bother him by moving and spoil the moment taking his attention off of the picture. But since he did it himself she took advantage of that reaching for another milk vial.
"Just take your time." Minami calmly said. "We still have plenty." And drank the liquid, frowning as usual.
Was that the reason she wanted to leave earlier? He did not know. But if that was he couldn't be more thankful. Seeing those was much better than reading in the books.
"How old could they be?" He muttered while tracing a wall drawing with his left hand's fingers.
"Above 5 thousand years I think…" She said in a wonder. "I could not find those written symbols on the oldest history records I've ran after. And I've spent months using my whole night time studying them. Not to mention archeology articles."
"How did you find this place?" He asked still looking at the details.
"Walking around I've spotted these from somewhere up there." She simply pointed on a huge rock's direction.
"I meant the Valley..." This time he seemed a little intrigued at her discover.
Minami fell silent. Dull eyes not paying attention anymore. She hasn't told Shinra or even Tseng. Although she was almost sure the older Turk knew about it and respected her stillness. But Shinra would probably keep asking questions till get to that hidden location. And most certainly turn the place upside down looking for more of the Late Doctor's secrets.
"I'm sorry." The Soldier apologized. "For the inconvenient question."
"It's OK."
And then she suddenly felt tempted to tell someone that wasn't really her discovery. That young guy seemed to inspire a little trust. However a Turk should never trust anyone. But maybe this time and only…
"It's a secret I share with no one else…" The girl started and then slowly continued. "If only the answer would never leave this place…" She thoughtfully said looking at him. "Or if I knew how long a Soldier's word could last…"
"A Soldier's word lasts until its owner's death." Sephiroth seriously declared intending to defend his post and not because he was dying to know.
"Oh… I think I found one." Minami said giggling a little. "A Soldier I mean… It may be my lucky day."
Again, another unexpected reaction on his part. He frowned and closed his eyes trying not to smirk at the situation however one of his mouth corners turned a little upwards. He wasn't used to that kind of treatment.
"Maybe…" The young man finally answered staring back at her again.
"So…" She started quite serious that time. "Do I have your word that you'll never reveal to anyone about this Valley's discovery?"
"You have my word." He agreed.
Minami closed her eyes and heavily breathed out.
"The Late Doctor left a particular diary on Tseng's care to give me when I was older." She seemed thoughtful once more. "Some parts of the diary where quite confusing making no sense but later I found out those were tracks I had to decipher." She smirked. "I have no idea how he knew we were going to think alike in the future… But in the tracks I've found a code. And the code was a location… A house." Then the voice became low and somewhat sorrowful. "He wanted me to go there alone and discover that he used to write to his wife on a weakly basis but he never sent the letters." She lightly frowned while remembering that. "He continued doing so even after her death as per their dates… and in one of those I found a map… and out of curiosity I ended up here."
The blue eyes were open again observing that the Soldier was respectfully listening.
"There was a lot more in the house." This time her tone got back to the normally lazy one. "Including a note to me saying: 'It's all yours and it will always be. You are free to do whatever you will and share with whoever you please. I'm really sorry for everything. Take care'."
There was a new silence that extended for almost 1 minute till Minami break it again.
"Come to think of it…" The Turk frowned pondering about the situation. "I'm free to share with whoever I please…" She gazed around and then it was time for him to frown in a bit of confusion. "It wasn't intentional but… I'm kind of sharing this place with you right now."
That took him off of guard. It felt nice to be trusted before but now it had completely changed. He felt… Honored.
"And it doesn't feel bad at all." She concluded jumping from the stone hand. "There are more ruins like these in the way to the next place we head for. Shall we go?"
The next two hours they followed down the largest river in the middle of the Valley always alerts not to stumble on anything that might be hidden in the way. Indeed there was a great deal of ruins next to the watercourse borders. There were even leftovers of an ancient stone bridge that once may have conducted to the other side. How did the inhabitants construct such long way through? What kind of technology did they have? What did happen for them to disappear? All that was a complete mystery.
However all those thoughts simply paled in front of the next big surprise.
The river, that huge water torrent, ended in a strong waterfall that seemed to eternally fall into a deep dark abyss.
Looking down it was possible to see large Mako Crystals glowing through a long way. Their lights slowly fading away in the distance and disappearing to only gods know where into the earth.
"Remember I told you things would get pretty odd?" Minami elevated her voice to overpower the waters ragging noise, but not to the point of screaming. "Now we go down."
A side-glance was all she got from her quiet companion. There was no real expression on it but the Turk kind of felt he was expecting to be told that that was a joke.
"Well… Not that down." She calmly explained. "And not descending from this point either."
And so the girl proceeded to lead the way to one of the closest ruins where she pointed out an entering going into the ground. And it had stone stairs also decorated in accord with everything else they've seen previously.
"Whoever lived here seemed to worship something quite meaningful to them…" She told him. Eyes distant into the passageway. "You better see for yourself" Then the girl stepped over a stone that wasn't that fixed into the others and wobbled a little not falling for pure reflex. "…Also watch where you step."
The way down was easy and almost quiet save for the crumbling sounds in some steps. The tunnel were well illuminated by some large pieces of Crystal intentionally fastened on the walls. Strangely their blue glow was stronger than the normal ones. And the more they went down the brighter the walls would become.
Finally the descending was over ending in something similar to a round Great Hall carved inside the rock. A large one at that, given to its dimensions. All decorated with broken statues, white stones probably brought from the outside and red glowing Mako pieces fixed from the ceiling to the floor. There were also other passageways, tunnels leading on different directions to other places.
That time the Soldier finally understood why she thought those late inhabitants seemed to worship something. The ruins of an altar-like structure adorned the center of the area with two cracked rectangular white stones onto it. Each apparently had space enough for a human to broadly lay on them. And that was when he understood what it meant.
A sacrificial altar.
"Each one of these tunnels leads to smaller chambers connected in a circle perfectly positioned around this hall… Except for that one." The Turk spoke pointing to the way in front the altar. "It leads to an open space facing the abyss… You can even see the close waterfall to the right side." And then again she quieted beside him.
Sephiroth was the first one to move this time closing the distance between him and the altar stones. They were simple in contrast with the whole place. But at their center there was a black stain just like if it had been burnt. He gazed intently at that and his curiosity made his head suddenly flood with images. At one point the young man looked up to the rest of the hall admiring the walls' red glow. And when he turned back to the stones there was a female body on it looking at him in pure terror.
His one step back movement was so fast and startling that at the same second Minami found herself beside him. A worried look was completely shown on her features.
Not moving one inch he side-glanced at her and when his eyes were again on that stone it was gone.
"I see that you're quite the curious person…" She mused staring at him. "We're here for only five minutes and you're already seeing things."
"What does that mean?" The Soldier slowly inquired.
"This place has some unknown type of energy that makes us kind of hallucinate when thinking too much." She explained. "You may start seeing images related to what's on your mind."
Sephiroth were indeed thinking about how the late inhabitants proceeded in that place. So that made some sense. What really startled him is that that hallucination of his seemed to be too real. Something he could perhaps even touch.
"Fortunately, the beasts outside never come down here." She calmly stated. "Although that doesn't mean it's a nice place… After experiencing something that could have been dangerous I stopped coming to this point. It's not safe being alone without someone to bring you back into reality." This time it was her turn to look at a corner and smirk. "Whatever you see around pay no heed to it. Just ignore it… Continue your work and keep cool. Try not to worry too much and they will soon disappear."
That did not seem so dangerous. He thought that perhaps there was something in the place that would try and kill them. Not a series of illusions or ghosts that can't do anything to harm anyone.
"But if you give the slightest importance to them it will start a Chain Reaction that will flood you with more and more illusions." She said in pure seriousness while her eyes darkened. "In the end, the hallucinations would become so true that you'd forget everything else as they turn into your new reality."
Well… that wasn't good news. The way she explained to him it seemed more like a person could hallucinate till the point of no return becoming permanently insane.
She also advised him to warn her if he ever felt like loosing it or too bothered by an image he couldn't get out of his mind. And if he ever thought that the girl was acting really weird to try and snap her out of it even if he had to hurt her.
"It's better if we do not take too long…" She started a little concerned. "So we work separately in this hall because we can keep each other in the same vision camp. Then we go together into the other chambers."
Sephiroth only nodded in understanding. Soon they were each one on each side of the hall collecting pieces of Mako Crystal from the walls.
Once in a while, the Soldier would take a look to confirm if everything was alright with his co-worker. But the time he perceived how much his mind seemed bothered with worries the young man simply gave a little pause in the work and tried to empty his mind so he could concentrate only in collecting. And he did quite fine as he put the pieces in a specialized small knapsack and wrote a note saying what part of the Valley he took it from.
When there was enough for the scientists to analyze he just got up from the place he had knelt and turned around to meet the Turk and head to the other chambers. It was then that he realized… she wasn't there.
Sephiroth walked a little further from the place he was standing at, trying to see if the girl was perhaps behind the broken altar to find no sight of her.
Minami had completely disappeared from the hall.
How careless he was. The moment he tried to protect his mind he stopped protecting his companion.
"What have I done?…" He murmured for the first time in shock.
The Soldier started to run around entering the chambers one by one to find nothing but a damn white stone and red Mako walls. At the last chamber he ran into, in hopes that he may find the girl, a hand promptly grabbed his right shoulder and as he turned around, there was no one.
If there wasn't anyone… nothing could really have touched him.
"It's not real…" He muttered to himself.
And the walls started to melt forming innumerous faces from men and women. The pained horrible expressions opened their eyes all at the same time and stared at him in grieve and horror.
"It's not real." He said again composing himself and trying to clean his thoughts closing his eyes.
"Murderer…" A voice he had never heard started. "… Curse you, murderer…" He frowned concentrating harder. "Shinra's dog… The Earth killers…" It wasn't really working. "Murderer…"
A sharp pained scream filled the air. That one voice tone he promptly recognized.
"Minami!" His eyes opened wide and the young man ran the faster he could to get into the hall again.
There was another desperate cry and it was coming from the only tunnel he hadn't checked yet. The one leading to the precipice. Without a second thought he entered the passage way and saw the end of it as the light outside showed him. But the more he got closer to the exit the louder the sound of hundreds, no it was more like thousands of loud shouts at a long distance reached his ears.
Soon, as he found other side, the image struck him like being hit by a train at full speed.
The bombs were dropping from the sky all around the field; casted elemental magic was killing his comrades and the enemies army was already too close to use any other strategy so he took Masamune in his left hand and slashed at once.
The extensive stripe of blue light hit the threatening front line in such a violence the blast could surely be heard many kilometers distant. And as he ran forward getting ready to do the same again a huge sword descended over his head making him rapidly move to block it with his own.
The Wutai warrior tried to overpower him with something he felt like a massive round air pressure the Soldier had no real problem to send back at him. But the bastard was somehow fast enough to be already at his side swinging the Green Buster Sword in a way he had to block sending the invisible air energy to the side where it crashed on a rock.
However something he wasn't expecting came from the other man's mouth hitting his neck's larger vein making him kick his aggressor and retreat for a moment. It did not take long as the young man advanced in the next second over the warrior, seeing him block the Masamune while trusting the tip of the massive Buster in the stone ground to use it as a shield, living it there and appearing with a Blue Buster which materialized in the air.
Taken off guard and suddenly feeling dizzy he had no time to block or avoid the big blue energy ball that came his way painfully electrocuting his body and sending him flying to hit on a rock wall.
The impact was so brutal it made his Mako enhanced body open a round crater there where he leaned for a while trying to understand why he was feeling so limp and weak. He simply couldn't move properly and when he tried his knees finally gave away.
In the end he was sat on the ground, legs extended in front of him and with his back and head being supported by the crater insides. He then closed his eyes in defeat… The Soldier had been too careless.
Sephiroth stayed there seeming to be waiting for a final blow that never came. So he opened his eyes and looking up the young man simply saw tall rock walls and a bit of blue sky… A sound of water falling nearby made him weakly frown.
"Water… fall?" He whispered seeming to remember where the hell he really was.
Then he wobblingly bowed his head looking at his own body. Dust was all around it but he wasn't hurt except for a needle on his neck. He felt it… But he was so debilitated he could not even take it out himself.
With a little more of effort the strong neck forced his head up leaning its back again on the stone behind him. The slit pupils started to focus once more helping him to scan the place around.
"The open space facing the abyss Minami talked about." The Soldier thought and suddenly his mind started to work again. He had to find her. But that body would not move…
His eyes started wandering again stopping on something green, blue and dark in front of him. A Green Buster trusted on the ground. A Blue Buster lying on the ground being held by a female hand. And someone in a black coat seated on the ground with back and head leaned on the slightly inclined wall. Blood beginning to spread under the body…
He suddenly snapped out again finally taking in the picture. But as per his immovable state that was not the time to panic… He NEVER EVER panicked. So he concentrated on her. Eyes and ears alert for any kind of movement she could do.
Nothing.
She was not even… breathing.
And all he could do was to close his eyes because that was practically the only physical part he had some kind of control yet. He did not want to see that image since he knew, by joining all the pieces, that he was the one to blame for.
He had fought and killed her.
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TBC
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Please Review… T_T