All I can say right now is, thank you for all the lovely reviews.
Zack and Claire proceeded through the fort with little difficulty. They would encounter a group of Wutai soldiers around almost every corner, and at least one of the squad would shout something before they charged into certain death.
When they arrived in the central courtyard, they calmly walked towards the pagoda. Before reaching the front steps of the structure Zack got distracted by a statue of a snake-like dragon. He walked over to it and stood staring at it for a moment.
"What's this?" Zack asked no one in particular. Claire had to agree with him on that, so she walked closer to get a better look.
"That is Wutai's guardian deity," A voice from behind them said calmly "Leviathan," Zack and Claire turned around and saw three Wutai soldiers in silver armour "We are the Crescent, the Wutai army's elite unit. We appease the wrath of Leviathan, and smite the enemies of Wutai," Claire huffed her amusement at the misguided beliefs of the Wutai soldiers "Our beloved homeland has been brutally ravaged by Shinra."
"I heard that if we could process the mako here, it would help people live better lives. But then you attacked us without even hearing us out!" Zack said to defend the company that almost owned the world.
"What do you know of the pain we have suffered? Shinra has continually brought fear and oppression to the innocent people of Wutai!" Zack and Claire remained silent "I would like to ask you one last thing. Are you two satisfied with using your immense power to serve an evil organization like Shinra? Does it bring you joy to torture innocent people?" Both Zack and Claire felt those words cut deep.
Claire was trying very hard not to let any emotion creep past her mental wall. Zack hung his head before speaking in a near whisper.
"That's not what I. . ." Zack drifted off.
"If there is any remorse in your hearts," The soldiers tone had gone to a pleading tone "Then atone for your actions by joining our cause!" Zack and Claire once again had no response "Of course, we cannot pay you much, but you can use your power in the name of justice!" Zack slowly brought his head up and looked at the soldier that had been talking.
"Justice. . .? Is that really the case?" Zack said with a thoughtful tone.
"Is it so terrible to provide mako to people and make their lives better?" Claire said to refocus herself and Zack.
"I. . . We chose to serve Shinra. Whatever happens, we have to stand by that decision," Zack said, quoting Angeal and glancing down at Claire.
"I was foolish to think I could reason with villains," The soldier said in a dark tone "For those of us born and raised in Wutai, losing our land is the same as losing our lives. Hence, I must eliminate you, as my last duty to the land and my family. You will now witness the wrath of the Wutai!"
Zack and Claire drew their swords and jumped to the sides just as the three soldiers sent a volley of gunfire at where they had been standing. The SOLDIER duo was able to incapacitate one of the three Wutai soldiers and decided to let him live. It had been the soldier that spoke to them before the battle.
"Why do you not finish me?" The soldier asked from the ground.
"Go home to your family," Claire said in her most commanding tone, which had yet to be perfected.
"As long as we breathe, we will continue to target Shinra," The soldier on the ground stated "I promise . . . one day, we will have your heads."
"I'll be waiting," Claire said flatly.
"Just go home, and stay there," Zack said over his shoulder.
Zack and Claire walked up the steps at the front of the pagoda and cautiously approached the door. They had had enough with ambushes for today. But once again, a voice came from behind them.
"One, avoid unnecessary training!" The voice of a young girl said "Two, protect Wutai at all costs! Three, ugly Shinra SOLDIER people . . ." Claire actually took some offence at that ". . . Must be PUNISHED!"
Zack and Claire turned around and saw a small girl facing them. She had jaw length black hair, a green headband, a green and yellow Wutai shirt with a yellow hood, white shorts, and yellow with white shoes. The girl seemed to be about nine years old and she had the most cocky stance.
"Who are you?" Zack asked the girl.
"I'm Wutai's greatest warrior!" The girl said proudly.
"I highly doubt that," Claire whispered to Zack.
"If you wanna go further, you have to go through me!" The girl continued.
"You shouldn't be playing here, it's dangerous!" Zack said to, hopefully, make the girl go away "Go home to your parents."
"You're the one who's going home!" The girl shouted back at Zack "If you insist on going any further, you'll have a fight on your hands!" The mysterious girl began running at the two and Zack just started scratching his head.
"Oh, man . . . What am I supposed to do here?"
"Humour her," Claire said with a small shrug.
When the girl reached them, she started to punch Zack's SOLDIER belt.
"Whap! Pow! Bam!" She shouted each time her hand hit the belt "Take that, bad guy!" Claire could see the gears in Zack's head turning as he considered what to do. He suddenly collapsed to the ground and covered his head.
"Arrrgh! Nooo! You got me!" Zack half yelled in a defeated tone.
"There! That'll teach you to mess with me!" The girl shouted cheerfully " "Once again, I've brought peace to Wutai!" It was obvious that she had completely forgot about Claire.
The girl turned away from them and started running towards the way out of the area. Zack stood up and shook his head slightly while chuckling.
"Strange girl," He said calmly before turning back to the pagoda.
Claire turned as well, and they pushed the doors open and carefully examined the area. Their caution was quickly proven futile. A very large hatch in the roof opened and a pair of very large Ogres fell through and landed on their feet. One had green armour and had a massive mace, the other had the same armour but in red, it was slightly smaller than the other one, and it had a massive axe.
The ogre with the axe seemed to lock onto Claire and the green one chose Zack. Claire instantly knew that this was going to be a speed versus speed battle with a parallel strength versus strength battle happening. Claire assumed that the Ogre would not be able to match her speed simply because it was much larger than her.
She was almost fatally wrong. There were many times, more than Claire would openly admit, when the Ogre nearly took her head off her shoulders. She knew that she had to keep the attention of the ogre to keep it from slicing Zack into ribbons. It was nearly as fast as her and she was a fair bit faster than her comrade.
Zack ran right up to his enemy and thrust his sword into the beasts chest. He hoped he had pierced the heart of the giant, but his hope faded as the beast appeared to only be wounded and enraged. Zack pulled his sword free, threw himself to the side to avoid being reduced to a puddle and quickly climbed to his feet. The ogre lifted the mace above its head, readying another blow. Zack took his chance and, once again, ran up to the beast and thrust the sword upwards. Upwards through the beasts jaw and into its skull, cleaving its brain. The Ogre was killed instantly and Zack had barely enough time to pull his sword free before it was trapped beneath the hulk.
Zack ran up behind the other Ogre in an attempt to kill it. Zack lifted his sword above his head with the point of it aimed at the beasts spine, he was about to plant the sword in the beasts back but did not see the beast getting ready to attack. The back swing of the Ogre caught Zack in the gut and launched him across the room and into a pillar. Zack was instantly unconscious.
The Ogre turned to see what it had hit with the blunt side of its axe, letting its defence down. Claire took the opportunity and jumped into the air, ready to strike. She swept her blade across the throat of the beast causing blood to partially spray out of the neck. As soon as Claire landed she ran away from the beast because it decided to spend its final moments of life flailing about. Claire knew that Zack was safe because she had the things attention and she just had to avoid being sliced apart for a few moments.
The Ogre soon fell dead near its partner and Claire walked over to Zack to see if he was alright. After checking his pulse and confirming that he was alive, Claire grabbed her phone out of her pocket and called Angeal.
"SOLDIER second class Claire and second class Zack, we have defeated the anti-SOLDIER beasts," She stated calmly.
"Good work. Now, get out of there quickly. There's only five minutes until detonation," Angeal said to Claire, who was now worried. She had to evacuate the area, Zack was uncoscious and she could not carry him.
"Understood, sir," She said calmly once again. Claire flipped the phone closed and pocketed it.
As she stood thinking about how to get Zack out of the area, her worries increased. A third Ogre dropped into the room and this one looked viscous. It had more armour than the other two, a large carved stone flail, and it seemed to be pissed about its dead partners.
As she dodged the rapid swings of the flail, Claire started to focus on her instinctive fighting lessons from Sephiroth. She shut her eyes, paid closer attention to sounds and the feeling of the air, then lost control. When she opened her eyes next, the new Ogre was lying face down in a growing puddle of Ogre blood. Claire took a breath and sheathed her weapon. She heard Zack move and turned towards the sound.
The next thing Claire knew was an immense amount of pain in her back and one of the pillars was approaching very fast. Darkness was the next thing in her memory along with a cool breeze and the feeling of lying on grass. She forced her eyes open and saw Zack, Angeal and Director Lazard talking.
Next chapter, Zack meets Sephiroth! But you knew that if you have played Crisis Core.
My updates will be kind of slow for two reasons: 1) I have 3 other stories being written simultaneously 2) good stories can't be rushed.
So please be patient with me, and please leave a review.
