Claire watched the six large metal humanoid figures gathered at the other end of the hall. The humans stood together near the door they came through into this large hall. Some of them were trying to evaluate the situation and come up with a plan while others either weren't listening, like Claire, or doting over another, like Fang. The former statues stood quiet, watching the humans, as if waiting for something. After a long enough time of the stare down Claire hesitantly took her gaze off the six metal humanoids.
"So what do you think they are?" Claire asked the group, even though she was looking at Hope.
"I'm thinking they are Eidolons." the silver haired young man answered.
"And I'm still sayin' that's impossible." Sazh added "Those things are just a story that someone made into movies."
"And someone turning into a giant beast is normal?" Jihl snapped, referring to Dysley.
"We saw that Shinra goon turn into a huge freak too." Fang piped up, referring back to Sephiroth in the PSICOM outpost. Claire was immediately mad about Sephiroth being called a goon again but let it go this time.
"What are Eidolons?" Claire asked.
"Ancient constructs that legends say were intelligent and powerful but they were created during the final days of the Cetra civilization in a desperate attempt to stop their enemies." Hope said as if reciting from a textbook "There has been no solid evidence of them until now."
"In the movies they're giant alien robots that protect Gran Pulse from evil giant alien robots." Zack helpfully added "Oh and they can transform into cars and whatever."
"Not helping, Fair." Jihl scolded.
"What do you think they're doing over there?" Sazh asked to change the topic.
"Waiting for us to attack, I'd say." Claire suggested.
"Maybe they're discussing if we're enemies." Vanille suggested "They did save me." Claire nodded and threw together a plan quickly. It was not a good plan.
"Zack, Hope, come with me." Claire commanded as she turned to face the metal giants. Time to put her bad plan into action.
With the two men flanking her Claire walked forward with Blaze Edge in hand. The metal giant with the sword and shield stepped away from its group and met the three in the middle of the hall. The pinkette looked up into the shining eyes of the mobile statue and kept her expression stern and as expected the statue did not respond in any form. The Knight planted one end of its sword on the ground and bent down to get closer to the three people before it. With its face only a couple feet away it stared into Claire's ice blue eyes and moments pulled into seconds. Claire kept her eyes on the face of the giant knight knowing full well that with one movement that massive sword could cleave her in half but she would not falter.
"Hey Light?" Zack asked from her side "What are you doing?" he was clearly uneasy about this situation.
"Proving we're not afraid." She answered without looking away from the statue. Claire was lying. She was terrified of the silent giants for the simple fact of they have been responding in intelligent manner, not just attacking like the other Cetra constructs.
"Hey! Listen up, big folk!" Sazh called out. Claire saw the six figures look at him and wheeled around herself "We don't want any trouble from you guys! We didn't mean to come into your home and we're just looking for the way out." Sazh spoke as he walked forward and held his arms out in a friendly manner "Some of us just want to go home, others are on a mission." He walked past the figure in front of Claire and continued towards the other five "But none of us wanted to be here and we really don't want to fight you. We're sorry for waking you up for nothing."
"Sazh?" Zack asked but was ignored.
"If you show us the way out, we'll leave you be and never come back. Hell, we don't even know where we are so you don't have to worry about us telling anyone about you." the metal giants shared looks, glances, and some nods clearly showing they were smart enough to comprehend Sazh's words.
The red feminine giant stepped up to Sazh and held out its hand in a greeting manner. Without hesitating Sazh reached up and placed his hand in the giant's. Everyone stared in wonder as the two shook hands. Sazh turned back to the others and his expression was both spooked and thrilled. But the rest of the fugitives remained where they stood. The giants regrouped and stood in a semicircle, the two blue feminine constructs waved the group over inviting the humans to stand in the middle. With hesitation and every instinct telling not to, the fugitives did as invited. Then the floor lit up with a circular arrangement of symbols and the world shimmered before they were all suddenly in a different place.
The room they were in now was just as massive as the other chambers they had seen but this one was circular with a domed ceiling. In the center was a circular marble table that was easily ten feet, or more, across with several small sets of stairs to get on top of it. Lining the walls set about equal distance apart were very large crystals. There were a dozen rows of these crystals going up to the roof and each one provided a soft light. Across the chamber from the group was a door with a balcony above it. The fugitives stared in wonder as they started making their way towards the door. Claire looked over and saw the giants, no, Eidolons bowing respectively before following the humans. The pinkette was starting to think there was a lot more to the eidolons than the stories told.
"Hey Lightning?" Zack spoke up "Come take a look at this." Claire saw Zack standing close to one of the crystals and joined him. He was looking at the crystal or rather, the blue haired teen girl inside it looking like she was praying. The rest of the group came over to take a look as well.
"That's uh, unexpected." Jihl commented.
"Yeah, now look at the two crystals on the sides." Zack told them and they listened. Inside the other crystals was a blue haired teen girl with the same clothes, different accessories, different hairstyle, but the exact same face.
"Hope? Know anything about this?" Sazh asked.
"This is beyond me." He reply.
"There's a legend 'bout this." Fang spoke up "Never though' it was even a li'l true."
"Short version is legend tells of a girl that can see the future and is reborn in every generation." Vanille added "Oh, and she is supposed to have an immortal guardian that finds her every time she's reborn."
"Yeah, I'm sure that's true." Jihl commented sarcastically.
"You do see the girls in the crystals, right?" Zack said with sass.
"I'm with Jihl on this one." Sazh added "Even after the Eidolons there, it's hard to buy that a girl could see the future or there is someone that is immortal running around. I think the world would've noticed if someone wasn't dying."
"Hope? Lightning?" Zack looked between them for support. Claire scoffed at the idea of an immortal being and Hope shook his head.
"Immortality is something out of fantasy. But I can't deny a girl being reborn with the evidence right here." the silver haired young man conceded.
Zack gave a sigh "You guys have no imagination or sense of wonder."
Stone cracked and broke away from the ceiling, crashing down onto the marble table. All looked up at the hole in the roof just as a cloud of black mist came pouring in. It rushed over to the door the group was heading to and obliterated the obstacle. The Eidolons were immediately racing over the table to the door, chasing the mist. After sharing a look the humans were in pursuit. They followed the Eidolons through halls into another large chamber but this one had a large crystal throne in the center and standing facing it was a tall man in black with very long silver hair.
"Sephiroth!" Claire and Zack shouted together.
The Eidolon with the sword and shield charged in to attack and with a loud crash of steel on steel was thrown to the side of the room long before its sword got close to Sephiroth. The other five Eidolons decided against attacking after that. Zack and Claire charged in close but stayed out of reach of Sephiroth's Masamune. The man looked over the group of humans and Eidolons and did not look impressed. But then Fang walked up to Claire's other side and pointed her lance at Sephiroth.
"So what are we waitin' for?" she asked with a smile.
"He is the best fighter in the world." Claire stated "Attacking-" she was interrupted by Fang charging in and blocking a slash. She saw one silver eyebrow arc in response.
"Impressive. You are stronger than you look." Sephiroth stated "But just how powerful are you?"
"Lightning?" Zack said to get her attention "What do we do?" the pinkette responded with a single word.
"Attack."
The helicopter had to land in a clearing to the east of the ancient Cetra temple, forcing the Turks to proceed on foot. Serah was glad to be back with her friends but felt awkward not having a weapon. They all knew Tseng had an extra pistol on him, at all times, but they all also knew that Serah had rubbish accuracy with a pistol. But she more than made up for it by being a sharpshooter with a bow and having great hand to hand combat skills, which she had kept hidden from Avalanche.
Except for the odd creature the walk to the temple was rather pleasant. Elena and Reno updated Serah on all she had missed in her time away, in regards to office gossip, certain television shows, and new places to check out in Midgar. Cissnei and Rude gave updates about new recruits currently in training. Tseng remained quiet and focused on the target as always though he didn't interrupt the chatter. After all, the Turks are supposed to be up to date on everything.
"Hey Tseng," Serah said after Rude and Cissnei were finished "Do you have any news about my sister?"
"Last I heard she was in Palumpolum on a mission for President Shinra." Tseng answered curtly and honestly "If she's sending reports, only Rufus is getting them." He didn't want to tell her what Rufus had done.
"Oh. Okay." Serah was disappointed she couldn't send a message to Claire. She was dying to know if Claire was alright abs spent the rest of the walk in a trance of questions about her sister.
"Reno, Elena." Tseng commanded when they reached the temple "Head back to the chopper and make sure it's ready to go."
"Yes sir!" Elena responded with a salute.
"Awe c'mon, yo." Reno complained "I wanted to see the temple too." but Reno turned and started heading back with Elena.
"Cissnei, Rude." Tseng continued once Reno stopped talking "Establish a perimeter and keep watch. I suspect Avalanche isn't far behind."
"Yes sir." both Rude and Cissnei reply.
"Serah, you're with me." Tseng finished and started across the ancient wooden bridge to the door of the temple. Serah followed soon after, not trusting the integrity of ancient wood.
Inside the temple was one rectangular room with several columns on either side and many carved pictographs on the walls. At the far end was a stone pedestal or altar with a round indentation. Before Serah could begin looking at the carvings Tseng turned to her.
"Your sister was last reported to be a prisoner on the Palamecia. Since then I haven't heard anything about her. Now before you ask, I didn't say anything earlier because one of those four is a spy for Rufus and has informed him that Elena is Jihl's sister."
Serah responded with a solemn nod. She could hear the underlying message in Tseng's words. He was saying that he trusted Serah enough to share that knowledge but he also was not saying she was exempt from suspicion. Tseng was methodical and very careful with what he said. Serah was hurt that Tseng suspected her of being the spy but was not offended. If she was the spy, he had lay a good trap. Divide the group of six into pairs then tell one person that he knows there is a spy, then simply watch who gets jittery. The pinkette walked around the room looking at the carvings in the walls while her mind raced to figure out who the spy could be. She didn't get very far with her thoughts before the fine hairs on her neck perked up. With a look over her shoulder she saw Tseng watching her closely and behind him were wisps of smoke. There was a burst of smoke and from the momentarily pitch black space emerged Sephiroth.
"Tseng!" Serah shouted.
Her boss spun and drew his gun. He threw himself to the side and fired two quick shots. The bullets pierced Sephiroth's left shoulder making the soldier grunt and turn from the impacts. Tseng rolled to his feet and kept his gun trained on the soldier. Sephiroth gave an amused sigh before dashing in and throwing Tseng into a column. The Turk landed on his feet and fired a few more shots but Sephiroth slashed the bullets out of the air, the Masamune having just appeared in his hand. Sephiroth walked towards Tseng, blocking each bullet fired by the Turk until the gun clicked and the slide locked back. The moment the slide locked back Sephiroth raced forward, placed a right hook into Tseng's face, spin-kicked him in the gut which threw the Turk into another column, then shoved the Masamune through the Turk's left shoulder and into the pillar.
"Sir!" Serah heard Rude and Cissnei call out. They heard the gunfire and came to investigate.
"Stay back!" Tseng yelled through his pain "Do not engage Sephiroth!"
The silver haired man turned to Serah, leaving his sword nailing Tseng to the stone column. Serah raised her borrowed gun and fired two shots. Both hit the tall man in the chest but he didn't falter. Seemed to not even notice the shots. Serah refocused the sights on his head but couldn't pull the trigger. Memories of her childhood and fear of the current situation kept her from pulling the trigger. Sephiroth got closer and closer then grabbed the gun and pulled it out of Serah's hands. He tossed it to the side and then spoke.
"Place the keystone in the pedestal." his voice was smooth and deep, his tone commanding.
Serah merely nodded and took off her pack, digging through it for the keystone. She stood, unwrapped it, held it with the cloth, and placed it into the rounded recess in the stone; she felt that piercing gaze on her the entire time. The wall opposite the doorway to outside opened like a double door shocking the pinkette because there was no trace of an opening prior. A leather covered hand landed on her shoulder and gently guided her forward.
"Let's unlock the secrets of this ancient place." Sephiroth said calmly, urging Serah to go ahead of him.
She obey but looked over her shoulder at the three Turks watching her get taken hostage by the most powerful being on the planet. Before they were out of sight, Serah saw the Masamune vanish into green mist allowing Tseng to slide down to the floor.
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