Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Strife ❯ The Crater ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1: The Crater

The sun rose over the northern continent, making the white snow on the ground almost blinding to look at. Though the temperature stayed the same, the morning cold had a sharp bite to it, which would make anyone think twice about venturing out in the snow wasteland...well almost anyone. A young woman could be seen trudging through the snow, heading north further into the continent's heart...the crater. She was far away from the crater, maybe three miles still to go, but she trudged on through the deep snow. A close look at this woman would make any man smile; she had long dark crimson red hair that reached her lower back. Her shapely body was covered in only a pair of kaki short shorts, and a black tank top that showed off her flat stomach that had some definition to it. Most of her skin was red now from the cold, her legs suffering the most from being against the sub-zero snow. She had a brown pack on her back, just slightly filled up. The last observation you could possibly make on this woman was her stunning eyes because her head was facing the ground, watching her steps as she made them, but when she flipped her head up, making her hair fly back away from her face you could plainly see her eyes were a radiant emerald green. As you watched this fair creature, you had to wonder what she might be doing here in this freezing white blanket of landscape.

"Oh it's so cold...," her teeth chattered as she spoke, she had her arms folded against her chest. "How could it be this cold in the summer? Boy, I feel stupid for coming here in shorts..."

She continued to trudge as she spoke to herself, but her pace grew slower quickly as her body became too cold, "I have to keep moving...," with her knowing that, she began to run as fast as she could through the deep snow, trying to keep her body from freezing to death. It started to work after a bit of time, but then she lost her balance in a deep pile of snow and fell face-first into a drift fluffy white. Her body stun everywhere that the snow made direct contact with her fair skin, and soon she was shaking so bad that snow was knocked off on top of her by her body`s spastic movements. Her mind fell away from where she was, and her shaking stopped as she lost all consciousness. Her mind traveled away to last night and why she was now in a drift of snow in the middle of nowhere.

She stood at the top of mount Nibel, watching to the north as a bright light exploded from what she could sense was the crater. Her eyes reflected the bright light, as her eyes became glossy, tearing up...knowing what that meant. It meant Cloud had won...beaten down Sephiroth, and though everyone else in the world that saw that magnificent spectacle was joyous, she could not find even a smile inside of her. Her head turned quickly when Meteor rushed through the atmosphere and stopped, hovering over Midgar. She stood there in "aw" at the terrifying display. It twirled around in a massive circle over the largest city on the planet, causing tornadoes and strong winds to rip the whole city apart. Though not too long after the gigantic bringer of Sephiroth's furry showed up, the ground around her in several different spots started to glow a vibrant mako green.

"What the hell?" She slowly backed up against the rock wall, watching streams of mako come out of the ground, and it did not take her long to know what it was, "life stream..."

It went up, spiraling around itself as it continued its way up into the air. The confused woman looked around from her top view of the landscape all around her, and her eyes widen, seeing this phenomenon happening all over the planet. Green lights shined up the night sky everywhere she looked then suddenly all at once they headed in the direction of the Meteor. Her teachings from Red's grandpa had helped her now to understand what was happening.

"The planet is trying to save itself...," as she stood there, one of the life stream waves went right through her. She could look down and see the green glow coming out of her mid section of her body, and it left a warm feeling that felt like she had just laid into a hot steaming bath that spread through out her entire self. Her eyes closed slowly and as she did, she saw Aeris's face smiling at her, and she knew that the life stream flowing through her, was Aeris's. Her smile was almost mischievous, the way she looked right at her, but then she was gone. Her eyes opened quickly to see the life stream had passed through her now, but the warm sensation stayed. While she was in a daze about what just happened, the sky grew brighter full of green. She moved her red hair out of her face then her eyes widened to see the wonderful sight, all the life streams were spiraling around the Meteor, then suddenly a flash of light so bright she was forced to close her eyes.

She opened her eyes to feel that warmth run through her body once more, and the bitter cold from the snow had faded away. With the renewed strength in remembering the night before she got up and began running once more, only this time more carefully. Her determination grew as she ran, and all she wanted to do was get to that crater. As she still ran her heart out for a good mile the warmth in her body grew within her chest, but her legs were once again starting to feel the bite of the snow's harsh temperatures. She bit down, taking the pain and kept running, now the pain driving her harder, rather than slowing her down. She took her eyes off her foot steps and when she looked into the horizon, she saw the sight she had been waiting for. It was the crater, now in her grasp practically, as she tried to run faster now. As she quickened her pace she nearly tripped again but caught her balance before doing so and continued to run her way right for the crater's tall rim. Once she got there, it didn't seem as tall as it should have been, but she soon learned why...much of the crater had collapsed last night and left a snow and dirt filled area inside of its rim. Also many glowing spheres of materia lied among the crater's rim in the snow. Jassi could only figure they were made from the explosion's heat and pressure. Jassi decided to leave the materia untouched...she had more important things on her mind. She stood at the very edge, looking down into the crater, scanning for any signs of Sephiroth's body, but soon after she started looking, the rim gave way underneath her. Her eyes grew wide as her body fell down twenty-five feet to the crater's newly made floor. Upon landing her left leg was flooded with a sharp pain, she then rolled over as fast as possible. She couldn't believe the sight she saw, her leg was bleeding everywhere and she could plainly see a massive gash over her mid-thigh. Slowly her head turned right to see what had cut her leg so deeply, and when see spotted the cause her face lit up into a smile as she forgot completely that her leg was bleeding so bad. There hidden just slightly by dirty snow and now blood soaked snow was the legendary masamune of Sephiroth's. When her mind came back to reality she took off her pack and searched through it to find a potion she could use. She started to panic when she couldn't find anything. "No I know I packed some! This is impossible...I have to have one!"

She sighed deeply as she tried to calm down and think. Once she made herself stop panicking, she ripped one strap off her pack. Her hand was shaking as she placed the strap under her thigh, it soon became a dark red, covered in blood. She knew what she had to do, but she feared the pain it would cause. She inhaled slowly, and bit down on her lip as she quickly tied the strap down on her gash as tight as she could. Her mouth opened and her eyes closed tightly in pain as she tried to tighten it some more despite the pain that made her hands shake even more and a tear to escape the corner of her clamped down eyelids. It took her some time to tie a knot because her hands were trembling too much. Her watered eyes opened slowly once she was done, and slowly started to stand, putting as much of her weight on her right leg as possible without tipping over. Despite the fear she now had that she may never leave this crater and die in the same burial grounds that Sephiroth's body laid she tried to relax and think of what to do. Her stubborn self refused to leave now that she was here without finding Sephiroth alive or dead. The snow beneath her feet was slowly turning a darker red by the second as her left leg was completely covered in her blood, there was hardly a spot left of her nature cream skin color. She sighed heavily trying to think of what to do. Then she remembered the masamune. "How could I have forgotten about his sword?"

As she walked back to the masamune slowly, limping all the way as every step caused an adrenaline rush of pain to fly through her body. She slowly knelt down then quickly sat because the pain was too great. Once the pain faded she slowly started to remove the snow around the blade in search for the handle. Jassi had to scoot about two feet before the handle was found. As she continued to dig at the snow, she made a shocking discovery. Sephiroth's hand was gripped around the masamune's handle. Though as she uncovered more of his body, she realized something wasn't right. His skin had a green tint to it from the mako casing that enclosed Sephiroth. The mako was hard as a rock, and about three inches thick. Jassi's digging pace increased until she revealed his face. His eyes were closed, and a small trail of blood trailed out of his mouth. Upon further inspection, Jassi noticed that the masamune had a thin layer of mako over it. Then Jassi pulled out one of her daggers that she always kept in her boots. With aim and care she began to chip away the thin layer of mako from the top of the handle. With one last firm hit on the area, a large chunk cracked and then fell off, revealing most of his hand. With her free hand, she gently touched his exposed his skin, and it wasn't as cold as she had expected. Jassi then began to tear and chip off the mako, piece by piece until she was up to his shoulder of the arm she had been freeing. There was an air pocket on the other side of his neck that would be easy to chip off without a risk of hitting Sephiroth. With a sigh, she raised up the dagger and hit the mako as hard as she could. The blade ripped through the mako, shattering the green crystal. The shattered mako rippled and cracked almost to his waist, and completely revealed his face. Jassi out away her dagger and sighed again as she rested for a moment. Then she felt for a pulse on his neck...nothing. The exhausted woman placed her hands on his chest and sent a small electric current through his body...still no heart beat. She continued another three times with no luck, and finally she just sat in the snow beside him, taking another rest. Soon she felt very dizzy, and before she could react...Jassi already fell in the snow, unconscious.

Jassi's efforts did not go un-rewarded though. In Sephiroth's body, his heart began to once again pump blood throughout his veins. It took five minutes for the color in his skin to fully return, and a minute later his vibrant green eyes opened up. He began to move his hands...arms...neck...and finally sat up. He gave a confused look to see his legs encased by mako, but quickly freed himself. He looked down to see a mold of his back side in green mako among the snow. Then he noticed the woman...she looked familiar to him somehow. He stretched out a bit, feeling tired and sore, but he didn't care...he was alive.

"Damn you Cloud...I will repay you soon now, just you wait I`ll take my revenge against all you love, and only then will I ki..." as he spoke his eyes traveled back to the woman lying in the snow, causing him to trail off and loose his thought. She had tiny bits of mako over her, making the suggestion she had removed the mako from him. "Well I guess I should help her...I mean she did save me, I suppose. I wonder why she helped me...no one has ever helped me with anything, and she saves my life?" He slowly turned her over so he could see her face, then his eyes widen with hatred, he could now place who she was. "Jassi Strife!!" His mind was brought back when he met her... "Nibelheim, the mission...she's Cloud's sister. Yes now I remember her vividly."

He stood over her, with his masamune in hand as he glared upon her, debating in his mind whether to kill her, or just leave her here to fend for herself. In the back of his mind, something cried out to help her...it was his conscience, something that had not spoke up in years. Sephiroth's hard glare slowly disappeared then he knelt down beside her, "what is it about her? She baffled me when I met her...and now I can't kill her. I've never not been able to do anything..." he glared a bit, mad that she had somehow done this to him. Without another thought running threw his head, he used Cure 3 on her. Sephiroth watched as her gash started to disappear.

Jassi's eyes opened slowly, to see Sephiroth knelt down right above her practically. At first it scared her and she scooted back real quick. "Sephiroth...you're alive!"

"You noticed that too? Well Jassi I wouldn't be I fear if it hadn't of been for you. So...thank you." He almost cringed as he said those words, never thanking a single being for anything in his life.

Her face lit up when he said her name. "You remember me...I didn't expect that." She looked down at her leg, and untied the strap to see her leg was completely healed. "Well thank you too. It seems I owe you my life as well."

His eyes moved to her smile, then back up to her eyes...they shimmered, emerald green and looked as if they had so much meaning hidden into them. As he stared into them, he almost became lost.

"Sephiroth?" Jassi smiled a bit nervously, as he stared at her. "You ok?"

He blinked a bit as she moved slightly, he then looked at her again "What?...oh yes I'm fine. I must ask you...why did you come here?"

"Oh well...I saw everything that happened last night...and"

Sephiroth quickly cut her off, "what do you mean...what happened?"

"Meteor came...and was hovering over Midgar. When it looked as if we were about to be wiped out, the planet's life stream from all of the world flew towards Meteor...saving itself."

Sephiroth smiled evilly, "I knew it...I knew the planet would use great amounts of energy to save itself. If only I could have been at the center of it to absorb that wonderful power." After a moment he looked back at Jassi. "So why did seeing that make you come here?"

"I came to find you..." she looked up at him, both now standing, she was at least six inches shorter than him. Her eyes seemed so lost now, waiting to be found.

"Me?...you mean that you traveled all the way from Nibelheim to here, just to find me? But why come to find me if it was almost certain that I was dead?"

"I knew you weren't dead. It was just something I had a gut feeling about. I guess it was right." She smiled at him, wondering what he might be thinking right now.

"You had a gut feeling? About me? What is that suppose to mean?" Sephiroth looked down a her, through a few strands of silver hair.

Jassi bit her lower lip a bit and shrugged. "Well I mean come on you're Sephiroth...as powerful as you are, I doubted you were dead." She sighed a bit, moving her own dark crimson hair out of her face.

"I am grateful for your help." His eyes suddenly got dimmer, as he glared slightly. "But I can't ignore that you are the sister to my most hated enemy...do not think I will spare your life forever." He whipped out his masamune, placing it an inch from Jassi's jugular.

Her eyes widened and her muscles tensed all over her body making her breathing almost unnoticeable. Slowly she moved her mouth to speak. "Just because I am his sister, doesn't mean you should kill me now. I obviously do not feel the same way about you as he does."

"Your right. I won't kill you now...I'll leave that little task for a later date." He smirked evilly as he pressed the blade against her neck till he could see a drop of blood run down his blade and a few down her neck. "There's a little reminder of our future date together."

Jassi stepped away and held her hand against her bleeding neck. Her eyes looked distressed and lost for a few seconds as they darted across the ground. Then she looked up at him in a small amount of fear mixed with a lot of other feelings no one could have guessed by her face. Suddenly she was just plan out mad. "I didn't come all the way up here to safe you and then have you threaten my life!" Jassi walked closer to him with a glare of lightning sparks coming from her pupils. "If you want to try and kill me, then do it now so I can kill you right now in this crater where I found you, before I notice I made a mistake reviving you in the first place!"

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow as the young woman stepped up to him, now only inches away and glaring up at him. "My, don't you have some balls...what makes you think you could ever defeat me? How old can you be? Maybe 20 at the latest? Look here little lady, be thankful I'm not killing you and get out of my way."

"I am 22 years old, and that's plenty old to know my strength limits by now. And I know I am a match for you."

Sephiroth blinked for a second or two, then smirked. "Sorry I'm not the couple type..."

Jassi's glare hardened in an instant. "I did not mean it that way! I meant that..."

He cut her off with a smirk still on his face. "Are you sure you didn't mean it that way? I think you just might of."

Her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out but a few mumbles. Then she sighed, showing her great aggravation before she spoke. "No I certainly did not..." Her eyes looked away slowly. "Why would I want to be a match with a lunatic like you?"

"Maybe the same reason you came all the way up here to save this lunatic." Sephiroth glared down at her with some curiosity of what her response may be.

Jassi was flabbergasted... Sephiroth had pinned her within the first minutes of speaking together after the years ago that they first met. He knew how she was thinking, and it irritated her to no end. She knew that she also irritated him that she was Cloud's sister and he now owed her something. "I came here because..." She sighed, and spoke again with a new sense of priority. "Because, when I stood there watching Meteor fly towards this Earth, and I became afraid that I may be witnessing my death...a thought crossed my mind. A man with enough power to summon something like that could do great good is he just had the right guidance, and a someone to...to"

"Someone to be with?" Sephiroth shook his head slowly. "Sorry Jassi, I was made to be a killing machine...not some goody good doer like you or your brother. No I have my job...and it's to give people like Cloud to fight in a epic battle till finally either good or evil prevails. Which, in this case is evil...it will be now with your help. So thank you for helping me. I am now fit enough to win slowly but surely in this world. Whether I have someone beside me or not will not make a difference at all. How could it?"

"Oh but you're wrong...having someone by your side can be the difference between life and death. But I don't care if you have a partner or not. It's none of my concern, and never will be, and that is just fine by me."

"Is it? Somehow I don't think you feel that way."

"Listen here smart ass...if you think you know so much about women, why have never had one with you...ever?" Jassi raised one eyebrow with a snooty look on her face.

Sephiroth cringed a bit. "Oh please...women are nothing but trouble, and would probably get me killed."

"It seems to me that without this woman...you would be dead."

Sephiroth's eyes glared suddenly, and his face became rather flushed. "I have no more time for this or for you to keep distracting me! Now I am going to leave you here. Do not follow me, and the next I see you I will kill you. Keep that in mind, the next time you feel a need to fill your curiosity. Ignore it, or it will kill you just like the phrase `curiosity killed the cat'. You will be that cat...and I'll be the dog that will get you in the end."

Jassi stood in wonderment, and smirked. "Just because I out spoke you, you are threatening my life...again?"

A sneer formed on his face. "That is not why I am threatening you. I am threatening you because you are my enemy despite you helping me, you are the enemy and I will sooner or later vanquish you. Just like I will soon vanquish Cloud and his little friends, but I think I'll kill you first right in front of him so he has to suffer, knowing it was his fault you died."

"Fine Sephiroth, go right ahead and think like that, but I know better. The moment you leave this crater your mind will travel back to it and think of me. How gutsy and wild I am for standing up to you, for saving you. And your mind will keep puzzling about me over and over...but I'm sure you don't agree, so please go ahead and prove me wrong. Get the hell out of here."

Sephiroth went to step forward a bit but stopped himself and shrugged. "Very well..." Sephiroth put his masamune away and nodded at her with a smirk. "I'll see you around." He closed his eyes and was off like a flash.

Jassi stepped forward, looking up as she could watch him fly away. Her mouth formed into a small smile as she grabbed her pack and went to find a way out of the half collapsed crater. After a minute or so she found a crumbled area and climbed up with fair enough ease. Once she reached the top, she saw only white powder against blue sky. The sight caused her some distress, and she sighed as she began to trudge through the snow, headed for the southern port.

His eyes opened slowly to see Jassi standing in the crater, his eyes stayed on her till she became such a small dot in the white landscape he couldn't she her movement. He looked forward with a smirk, thinking about his first move. What should he do now that he is free. He had the element of surprise, not a soul knew he was alive...no one. Then she crossed his mind. Jassi knew very well he was alive, she could very well go tell Cloud, Shin-Ra's army...the whole world. It would be a trap only to feel the shame of defeat again. Then he shook his head, he could not see her doing that. Maybe anyone else, but not her...maybe he thought that just because she was the only soul to have ever helped him when he needed it. Then his mind traveled further as he thought of her, remembering the day he met her.

Cloud was feeling car sick from the ride there. As they entered the small and quiet town of Nibelheim, people shut themselves inside their homes in what appeared to be fear. Then the silence was broken by a door flying open and this young woman with long red hair ran towards our squad. She stopped in front of Sephiroth and smiled this incredibly gorgeous smile that made her look even younger than she was. She introduced herself very formally and politely to Sephiroth, and then she asked where Cloud was. Sephiroth directed her to the town entrance, where Cloud was getting over his nausea. She said thanks then headed quickly that way. It wasn't till the next day that he saw Jassi again. This young woman, much like Jassi's age had coal black hair and a shapely figure was to be the mission group's tour guide to the Mount Nibel reactor, but Jassi showed up and insisted Tifa was wrong for the job. After he watched the two ladies argue for a few minutes, he choose Jassi to be the tour guide. Later that day they were hiking up the mountain, on the bridge it gave out and everyone fell. When they had landed, Sephiroth immediately looked for Jassi to make sure she was ok. To his surprise, she was helping Cloud up. From then on she kept surprising him throughout the hike, and the few days to come. Then when he started to burn all of Nibelheim down his mind was fuzzy, and he couldn't stop himself. Then he saw her, on the ground trying to get up and in his way. He stopped himself somehow, he chose her alone to live among the whole town.

Suddenly his mind was snapped back to reality. The voices of people on the shore below knocked him out of his thinking state. His eyes skimmed the area and a smirk came to his face. "Hello, hello."

Jassi trudged through the snow for what seemed forever, but it was only a little over an hour and a half, the walk back was quickened by her need to get home before she was missed. She longed to get back to Nibelheim, walk into that big mansion, upstairs into the bedroom and fall asleep for hours to come. That thought flew out of her mind in a split second as she saw the snow turn from white to red. A corpse laid in front of her, then as she looked up on the horizon her mouth dropped. Everyone on the port was dead...then on the water a large cargo ship sailing away, and somehow she knew that there was a presence on there. Sephiroth was on it...that meant that he was a very slow flyer, has thinking about her too much, or he took precious time killing every last person.

Sephiroth walked to the back of the ship, looking back at the now empty port. A smirk formed on his face to feel the sensation of death once more. Then his smirk grew bigger as he saw Jassi run to the end of the docks, watching the cargo ship sail off. Sephiroth just waved with the evil smile upon his face till he could no longer see her, or she could see him.