Unveiled

I ran into the recovery unit and almost tackled Vincent to the ground as I hugged him tightly. I felt him awkwardly hug me back before I pulled away and pushed hair out of my face, looking down and coughing weirdly, shifting my weight.

"Way tae barge in unannounced," Nevina stated. She was sitting on the table with one leg crossed over the other. Her left wrist was still banded up. I still didn't feel confident enough to try and heal her.

"How's your wrist?" I asked quietly, still feeling embarrassed about my entrance but thankfully not enough to go red in the face.

"Aye it's fine. Stingy but fine and don't worry it's no fae infection," She replied, holding up her broken wrist. "Reeve said he'd be here soon. Ye look pale wit's up?" I'm always pale Nevina.

"Nothing. Nothing I'm fine," I knew I was trying to convince myself of that more than anything. Argento's offer still rang in my head. I would never accept it but it still sent shivers down my spine. I turned to the door as Reeve entered.

"I'm glad you got here so soon Angevale," He nodded. "And I see you've recovered already Vincent."

"Right, anyway," Nevina got our attention by tapping on the table. "Let's get this overwi' 'cause I'm shattered. We've got Shalua's story but wit happened at the warehouses?"

"Christie came into contact with a woman who called herself Rosso the Crimson," I started immediantly. "Reno then phoned me about this and once we got to the warehouses Rosso was still there. She wanted something called the 'Protomateria' because it is the key to controlling Omega. She... also wanted me to hand myself over to Deepground," There was an awkward silence which followed. I looked down and rubbed my arm. "Then she attacked us... Vincent unleashed Chaos' power before he passed out... that's it."

"Yer brother may 'ave had somethin' tae dae wi' Deepground," Nevina blurted out, making me stare at her in stunned silence. Argento said they had information on Genesis... she wasn't lying then. "I wis lookin' at the documents I wis sent and it talked about a rogue Soldier known as 'G' and all information on 'im 'as been destroyed before Meteor fell. There's only one person who fits that description and that is Genesis Rhapsodos." I nodded slowly before deciding.

"Another Tsviet approached me while I visited my Mother's grave," I said. "Her name is Argento but she didn't give a colour. She said if I turn myself over to Deepground I would be used as bait to lure Vincent and the Protomateria to them... in return they would help me find my brother."

"And what did you say?" Reeve asked.

"Nothing, Shalua phoned me during the discussion. Argento told me to consider the offer," I replied. "And I'm not prepared to turn myself over to them no matter what the circumstance is."

"Right now we need to find out what Omega is," Reeve stated. I really was convinced that Omega would turn out to be a Weapon. I kept that fear to myself though. "Any ideas?" We kept silent as we thought. Well they thought. I kept my speculation to myself.

"Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate. Behold might Chaos, Omega's squire to the lofty heavens," Shalua recited aloud. That passage was very familiar to me. Something I remembered from my past. Reeve seemed pretty surprised at the passage as well.

"Where did you...?"

"It's from Dr. Crescent's thesis," Shalua replied. "I only saw a fragment of the document though. It seems that Chaos, Omega and..." She turned her head and stared at both Vincent and myself. "... They all seem to be connected to Dr. Crescent in some way." Very little of me I suspect. I was just the nosy child who got on Lucrecia and Hojo's nerves. The child who saw too much.

"Do any of Professor Furanio's files say anything?" I asked. Fina and Lucrecia were good friends... surely Fina may have recorded some of Lucrecia's theories.

"I'll look into it," Shalua nodded. "But unless we find more information of Dr. Crescent's thesis then we won't get anywhere." The alarms suddenly went off and Nevina ran to the cameras and turned on all of the camera footage. Outside was a whole Deepground unit... with that man Azul at the head.

"Shalua, put the buildin' on lockdown!" Nevina yelled as Shalua ran to the computers and put in codes that placed defences. "Ye tae get doon tae the ground floor and help the soldiers."

"Right," I nodded, drawing my sword and running out the room with Vincent.


The Deepground soldiers had completely swarmed the entire building as we made our way down. I had been shot in my left arm but managed to get the bullet out but apart from that we had killed a vast amount.

We were making our way to the lower levels of the building to stem any of the soldiers who may be using underground passages to gain entry. I kept my sword out as we continued down.

"Don't move..." I halted and gripped my sword tighter. Shalua had a gun to us and was prepared to fire at us. However she was aiming at someone else...

"Very perceptive of you," It was the girl from Kalm. Vincent and I stared at the little girl before I looked at Shalua, realising the resemblance between them.

"I knew it was you, Shelke," Shalua stated, putting her gun down. The girl stared up blankly, unaffected by Shalua's words.

"Do I know you?" She asked coldly, not caring.

"You haven't changed at all... not in ten years..." Shelke stared up at Shalua as the woman tried to get through to her. "Shelke it's me! Shalua! Your sister!" Shelke turned away, bringing out her weapons and pointing them at Shalua.

"Stay away from me," She warned. "You're not my sister. I've been alone for ten years in Deepground, thinking that you would save me one day," I noticed Shalua visibly shaking and about to burst into tears. "They turned my body into a tool of war, and without my daily dose of Mako I will die. However I do not consider myself unfortunate. A decade of suffering has made me what I am today... even if I should be nineteen this year..."

"I'm so sorry Shelke..." Shalua weeped, falling to the ground.

"Now it is time to put the past behind us," Shelke readied her weapons and before I knew it I stood infront of Shalua, my sword pointed at the girl. She wasn't the least bit intimidated.

"Oi!" Nevina yelled with a knife in her hand. Reeve was behind her with a gun.

"Reeve Tuesti and Nevina Sinclair," Shelke said blankly. "Now I can terminate you all at once."

"Ten years and ye don't give a shit about your sister!" Nevina yelled. "Look at her!" Shelke didn't back down and kept her weapons pointed at Nevina and Reeve.

"Your sister has put her life on the line time and time again searching for you," Reeve tried to reason but was failing. "She's given more than her arm and her eye in order to bring you home safely."

"I've heard enough of this," Shelke was about to attack when Vincent and I put our weapons on her.

"Stop!" Reeve shot at the sprinklers and set them off, distracting Shelke long enough for us to pull back into another room, pulling Shalua into the room with us and shutting the door.

"Shalua ye alright?" Nevina tried to calm down the hysterical woman. Vincent had went back out to sedate Shelke leaving us to take care of her older sister.

"I had no idea she was alive... that she was in Deepground," Reeve muttered.

"You weren't told... it's understandable..." I shrugged. "Sometimes what we've been searching for so long turns out to be... not what we remember it to be." I stared at Shalua as Nevina calmed her down. She was sobbing less but was still shaken by Shelke's attitude.

"I can't believe... ten years have done to her..." Ten years is enough time for anyone to change. For anything to happen.

When everything went silent Shalua was the first to rush to her feet and burst through the door. She held her little sister in her arms. We didn't see it as our place to be there. The four of us turned and walked away.


We were walking through the corridors back to the ground floor when the ceiling started to come down on us. We got out of the way in time but Azul had found us. He was grinning and looked like he was ready to murder us.

"We meet again," He grinned. He stared at Vincent as he spoke. "Answer me this: Do you know why you exist?" Why he exists? Why does Azul want to... the Protomateria? He wants that doesn't he? Vincent didn't reply, which made Azul grimace. "I see... you are ignorant of your own destiny. Very well. I will show you what you really are!"

Vincent fired his gun and I blasted fire at Azul but the bullets didn't do anything to harm him. He laughed at us and walked closer to us slowly.

"You think you can win with though toys?" He asked menacingly. "Enough of the games, Vincent. Give me the Protomateria," We started to back up and we were ready to run from the man. He stared right at me with a glimmer of bloodlust. "And Deepground does not need you alive, Angevale."

"Feck it, run!" Nevina announced and proceeded to dart down the hallway, the rest of us following fast behind. We could hear Azul stomping behind us in pursuit. We kept running at full speed until Reeve and Nevina turned into a large room and Nevina shut the door and punched in a security code.

"You know that won't last for long, Nevina," Reeve stated.

"Aye I know but feck it it buys us time," She said, turning around and backing away. She then spotted a large rocket launcher. "Ehh... one of ye able tae use that?"

The door was ripped open as Vincent picked up the rocket launcher. Azul stormed into the room and without hesitating Vincent fired the rocket launcher and sent us all flying back. I cringed as I felt my arm bruise badly when I got up and rubbed it carefully.

"You really shouldn't leave those things lying around," Vincent stated to Reeve dryly. The Commissioner laughed in response but it soon stopped as the smoke in the room cleared and Azul stood in front of us, the rocket launcher in his hands.

"Ahhh bugger..." Nevina bit her lip and began attempting to open the door behind us.

"It's been a long time since I have faced a worthy opponent," Azul grinned at us, more specifically at Vincent and I.

"Reeve, leave him to us, get out with Nevina," Vincent ordered. Soon I heard the door open and after a few seconds it closed.

I loaded my gun and aimed it Azul. I held my breath as he approached us. Vincent and I started to fire at him, only scratching his tough skin until he blasted the rocket launcher. Vincent tackled me and it both missed us.

I hid my annoying school girl blush as best I could, throwing fire at Azul and running as he charged at me. Vincent distracted him by firing bullets into his back. I leapt up, kicked off the wall and fired into Azul's neck.

Before I could land Azul grabbed me by the leg and slammed me down. I could feel my bones crack into the ground but managed to roll out the way before he stomped down onto me. He was about to fire again when I halted and tried to think of a plan. Unfortunately I was stunned... standing right in front of the rocket launcher's path.

I dove down and lit of a barrier of ash which managed ot keep me safe for a few moments until I shot up and ran to the other end of the room, flinging fireballs as Vincent shot at him from behind again.

I hid behind a column and reloaded my gun while I heard gun fire and rockets being blasted. Starting to panic I reloaded and fired into the back of his neck eight times. The large man halted and turned and growled. Vincent then took the opportunity to fire a sedative into Azul's neck. It must have been incredibly strong since it was working quickly.

"You may think this is over... but..." The man collapsed and I put my gun away uncertainly as Vincent walked past him and opened the door and we got out of there as quickly as possible.


"Ye tae alrigh'?" Nevina asked as we entered the lobby of the building.

"We're fine... just shaken..." I replied, sitting down. Azul said Deepground didn't care if I was dead or not... did they mean the same for Vincent? Will they try kill us both?

"Azul is unconscious, I don't know for how long though," Vincent told Reeve. Nevina sat beside me and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Look it'll be fine. Ye wannae have a wee lie doon?" She asked. I shook my head and stared at Vincent as he walked past.

"Vincent, where are you going?" Reeve asked.

"Nibelheim," Vincent replied shortly. I immediantly stood up at that answer.

"I'm coming with you," I told him.

"No, you're staying here," Vincent stared at me sternly as he spoke, which irritated me.. "It's too dangerous for both of us to go?"

"They're after me too, you know," I retorted. "I'm not letting you go by yourself and I'm involved with too I am not going to be a sitting target for them just to pick off!" It had been a long time since I raised my voice and it felt so strange.

"Jist let her go wi' ye Vinnie," Nevina tried to reason. "Ye both 'ave been fighting them since the start so there's nae point tae split now," Vincent stared at Nevina while she shrugged. "Ye tae watch one another's backs now."

"We'll organise a helicopter to take you there," Reeve said. "We contact you if we need your assistance again."