Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Birth of the Bahamut ❯ A Strange and Ominous Occurrence ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Birth of a Bahamut

Name: Ian

Birth of a Bahamut

Chapter 1: A Strange and Ominous Occurrence.

The metal decks of the Highwind resounded satisfyingly as Yuffie Kisaragi sprang over the railing and down to the lower decks of the amazing aircraft. Yuffie was heading down to the lower level storage room to make a check on the materia crystals that weren't being used. Although Barret was a bit apprehensive about Yuffie checking on the materia, she had argued that it gave her a chance to see if the pills that Red XIII had given to prevent her airsickness would work. Not to mention that it also let Yuffie exercise her stiff muscles and Cloud had agreed.

"I certainly am glad that Cloud's back and all right," Yuffie said to herself out loud. "After all the things that have been happening recently, what with that Messiah woman and not to mention Sephiroth, I thought that things would never calm down."

As she walked down to the storage room, an abrupt flash of light from the storage room interrupted Yuffie's thoughts. With split-second reactions, Yuffie Kisaragi, ninja elite of the town Wutai, sprang into a sprint and, unsheathing her deadly Conformer, leaped into the room with a loud battlecry meeting a black shape that exploded by her and onto the floor of the Highwind. Yuffie immediately skidded to a halt and reversed direction, chasing after the person.

"Hey! There's an intruder on the Highwind!" Yuffie cried as she tore over the massive metal planks of the interior of the airship. But the black shape was just too fast. It stayed just out of her reach until it leaped over the railing and plunged into the open blue sky.

Yuffie skidded to a halt at the edge flipped her conformer at the shape but with a glance, she knew she wouldn't hit it. It was already to far away but she took heart in the knowledge in the fact that the thing, whatever it was, probably wouldn't be able to survive a landing at 3,000 feet. Then Yuffie narrowed her eyes as her keen ninja sight took in a different object just ahead of the black shape. The other object caught the intruder and Yuffie gasped as she saw the black thing in better detail.

"Why, that looks like one of Red XIII's people!" She exclaimed in surprise. "Hey guys! Get over here!" She tried to memorize what the two people looked like, but the two people abruptly disappeared in a bright flash of light that seared Yuffie's eyes. When she blinked her eyes open, they were gone.

"What is it?" cried Tifa as she ran up to Yuffie. Vincent and Red XIII were coming up close behind Tifa while Yuffie rubbed the blinking lights out of her eyes.

"A little slow guys. You missed him, or her, I mean, it." Yuffie said as she turned to face them. "There was somebody in the materia storage room, but it escaped before I could catch it or even see who it was, sort of." She told them.

"What did you see Yuffie?" Red XIII prompted as he nudged against her.

"Well, the person that was in the storage room looked like…. One of Red XIII's kind," She said hesitantly, "At least, that's what I think it looked like, it was more feline than Red."

Everybody's eyes opened wide as they took in the news, for Red's grandfather, BugenHagen had said that Red XIII was the last of his kind. Even Barret was unable to say anything. Red however, had a wistful look on his face.

"I wish I had seen the person." He murmured.

Suddenly Barret spoke up. "Don't you guys think we should check out the materia? Even if this supposed thief exists." He said loudly with a sidelong glance at Yuffie. "I mean, we all know what sort of job Yuffie was in before she met up with us."

"Hey! I did not make this up!" Yuffie cried indignantly. "Are you saying that I, a ninja, lied?!"

"Mebbe," was all Barret said as he strode to the room where all of their unused materia was being stored. He walked in and rummaged through the arranged materia. Suddenly, loud and fluent curses rang out of the room and even the imperturbable Vincent was taken aback by the ferocity of the curses. "SHIT!!! Bahamut's gone!!" Barret yelled as he burst out of the room, "So is the fuckin' Neo materia!" Barret leered over at Yuffie and asked her, "Are you sure you had nothin' to do with this?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Barret, calm down, you know that Yuffie is on our side and wouldn't take our materia. Just back off." Cloud said as he and Cid arrived on the scene. Cloud frowned as he looked at Barret, then Yuffie. "It seems you two haven't been able to get along since that incident with the vase." Cloud said with just the barest of smiles tugging on his lips.

The group began to head back up to the bridge with Yuffie stalking at the front and Barret striding behind, fuming. Soon, they reached the bridge and took their customary places on the bridge, Except that Yuffie was at the front taking in the scenery as it sped by more than 3,000 feet below.

"She has such a love for life." Cloud thought to himself as he leaned against the bulkhead. "I wonder if she could have just made it all up and taken the materia for her quest...no...she couldn't have. She's grown up too much to do something so juvenile as steal materia that she helped collect. Besides, where could she have put it." He said to himself as he closed his eyes in thought.

Yuffie paused and glanced back as she heard a voice whispered her name. She looked down and saw that Red was calling her name. She hopped off the railing where the ground was whipping by far below. Moments later, she and Red XIII were huddled behind the bulkhead where he could usually be found.

"What did the person look like?" He asked eagerly, as she got comfortable, leaning on the bulkhead.

Yuffie couldn't help but smile at Red XIII's eagerness because after Bugenhagen's death, Red XIII had retreated into a shell of maturity and showed very little emotion. This was a good reminder for Yuffie that he was still the young outgoing animal she fondly remembered. "I'm not sure really, I couldn't get a good look at he or she because they disappeared too quickly, but it was more feline than you are, and black. I'm sorry that I don't know more." She said to him apologetically.

"That's all right. I was just wondering." Red told her but she could see that it really affected him. He got back up and moved over to the window and, settling down, curled his tail around him and looked wistfully at the blur of the landscape speeding by, not really seeing it.

Yuffie got back up and gave Red a pat on the head before returning to place on the bridge. Soon she was lost in her thoughts, as was each other person on the bridge, pondering about the validity of Yuffie's claim of an intruder, where the materia had gone or things as trivial as whether or not they would get the cargo back to Midgar on schedule.

cd

As the Highwind soars through the air with its cargo a mysterious meeting was taking place on the far south continent. In a dark forest of trees, that were horribly twisted and scarred as if a poison was slowly draining the life from them, a man in flowing scarlet robes was striding towards something. His features were obscured in the long robes that he wore. Soon he reached an area where his sickness had killed all living organisms, except one. The young panther-like animal, which had just recently escaped from the Highwind, was moving towards the scarlet-robed man with somewhat hesitant strides.

"You have come." Said the robed man in a raspy voice that portrayed an image of an old man that was very, very sick. And that was not far wrong when looking at this man yet, behind the weakened voice, there was a lurking power of such force that even the black cat cringed and took a few involuntary steps backward. The man continued, "Have you brought what I have asked for?"

"Yes, I have. Now will you help me rescue my mother?" The black cat said, the thought of his mother strengthening his resolve to get the man's help.

"Of course, you know that I am always here to help in any way I can." replied the man, and if one looked closely enough, you could see the beginnings of a sinister smile on his lips. And then, he waved his hands over the black cat's head in an intricate pattern, "I am always here to help…"

"Wha?..." moaned the black cat. His body faltered and he staggered as if some great weight was pressing down on him. With one last great, he collapsed to the ground; his last thought being of his guardian's betrayal.

The old man stooped over the black cat's body and soon got back up again, after ascertaining the pulse of the great cat's heart. He then snapped his fingers at the woods in general and as if by magic, small black shapes materialized out of the trees. "You will bring the cat back to my lair and prepare him for the ceremony."

The twisted black shapes that were the old man's underlings scrambled to obey his commands as he picked himself up and walked away, deeper into the woods where he could go and replenish his weakening health. His steps seemingly weak and frail yet exerted a mysterious sense of magic and power.

Later that night, the great cat whose name was Thanu awoke to sounds of some mysterious intoning. He shook his head groggily, trying to shake the weakness off and then recognized the voice of his previous master of who had betrayed him. With a great roar he tried to leap off the stone slab but could not, his limbs were tied down and although he should have been able to break free of those bonds through sheer strength he could not. Presumably he was still weakness from the spell that was cast on him.

He looked around and found that the chamber was dimly lighted and by the smell of the dank musty air, he was deep underground. By turning his head, he could see his deceiving master who was standing at an altar with something that seemed to glow with an unnatural light.

The words of magic flowed from the mouth of the wizened old man smoothly and to the ears of the great cat, he sounded stronger somehow, younger. Suddenly, as the old man's voice rose to a climax, the spinning orb burst into brilliance, Thanu realized that it was the Bahamut materia he had stolen. His chest exploded in agony as the blue materia was placed on his chest by the old man. The last thing he heard was the voice of his previous master and teacher, "By the power of my very spirit, I call upon the power of Bahamut to awaken within this beast so that you may serve my bidding..….