Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Sins of Two Fathers ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"The Sins of Two Fathers" and the general overall concept of "The Sins of Two Fathers" is completely copyright Orin Drake 1999-2003, as are the character Kyrie Leonhart and Rodger Kinneas. The characters Seifer Almasy, Squall Leonhart, Quistis Trepe, Ellone (Leonhart?), Laguna Loire, Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Timett, Rinoa "The Great Big Bitch" Heartily (biased? me?), Sephiroth and Cloud Strife are copyright Squaresoft, as are the terms SeeD, gunblade, Trabia Garden, Griever, and probably a lot of other stuff I forgot to mention. Hell, if you played the game, you know. Enough said. Kyrie and Rodger are mine, the rest are not.
Background: To be completely honest, I had no idea this was going to turn into a serious story. All I started writing was as a free-for-all squickfic yaoi fan fantasy, but it got so out of my control that the characters are actually... endearing. What have I done?! Ah well. Lesse, there's a real obvious homosexual relationship, but they don't really do anything in this chapter, so... oh, there's language. You know me, I like my nasty language, so look out. It's innuendo city in this chapter, though. Spooky.

A note to the hard-core FF7 fans: I have taken a little artistic license with the whole materia system. This is simply because... I think my idea is cooler. *grin*

She sat there in the dirt, staring out at nothing for quite some time. She was... rather stunned. The moment she had touched the materia, it had absorbed into her flesh. Not like water through cloth, however; not quite that easily. It had hurt a bit. Burned more than anything, like lemon juice in a paper cut. Only on a slightly larger scale. And the feeling of something that was only halfway "there" just... melding with her. She could still feel it, but only if she concentrated.
So. Sephiroth had left her with an Ultima materia. All alone. With this deal. The main problem of the moment: how to use this new tool to her advantage. And there was obviously only one way to do that.
"Cloud!" she called, shaking him right out from under the spell.
"Wh--!" he awoke suddenly to nothing short of an earthquake.
A lopsided grin met him, her eyes glittering with some awful intent, so it appeared. "Teach me how to use Materia."
As the spell broke for one of them, it seemed to lift from all of them. Rodger stirred with a typical "up too early" groan, and Vincent sat bolt upright at having heard her words.
"Ma-Materia?" fear tinged the wide awake blue eyes. "Where the hell did you get Materia from?"
Utterly bluntly, Kyrie responded, "It was part of a one ended deal with Sephiroth."
Now that got him to sit up. "What?!" Cloud shrieked. "You made a deal with Sephiroth?"
"Are you kidding?" she challenged. "What, you think I'd really do anything for that psycho?" She lowered her voice, closing her eyes and feeling the materia beat with her own heart. "For a 'god', he sure was fucking stupid to make a deal with me."
Vincent almost felt a greedy sense of... pride at that. Why pride came to mind and not satisfaction, he didn't bother to understand. He'd been sleeping a long time.
Cloud was nearly sorry he'd doubted her. But no one could be too careful in dealings with, as she so aptly put it, "that psycho". He shook his head, trying to figure this one out. "Do you know which Materia?"
Well, if what Sephiroth had said was true... "Ultima." She tried a sincerely nonchalant tone.
She was met with only a dazed stare. The blonde finally rubbed his eyes with a deep breath and murmured, "I think I'm still dreaming."
"Sephiroth gave you Ultima in exchange for..?" Vincent ventured, astounded. Ultima was amazing enough on its own, but Sephiroth having given it to her... there must have been quite a deal.
"Oh, just killing you." She couldn't help the hint of a cocky grin.
At first, there was silence. Long and too shocked to end. But then Rodger took the initiative with a stretch and a yawn. "You must be way too good at lying." He had developed faith in her after all this time. But, still. It was a little scary, a deal like that. Or maybe the fact this guy believed her... he had a lot to get filled in on. He still wasn't sure what the big deal was, but... he understood how serious it was.
"Okay." Cloud finally agreed, Rodger's words having broken up the tension a bit. He didn't have any reason to distrust her now, did he? Though, at the back of his mind was the nagging thought that he had no reason to trust her, either... But certainly he and Vincent could overcome her, Ultima or not. He just sincerely hoped they wouldn't have to. He kinda liked her. "Sit."
She did so eagerly, ready and willing to learn all this odd little orb had to show her. It had seemed like a big damn deal. And anything that could contain magic was of great help in the situation. Even if she didn't have the first clue how to use any of it.
Cloud took a deep breath, trying to remember how the whole thing had been described to him. Of course, that came up just a touch blank. That was a really long time ago. So, he just put it in the most direct terms possible. "Materia is only as good as the person who holds it, makes it. If you don't use it from time to time, it'll never get faster or more powerful."
Oh, interesting. She was catching on. "So, the more you use it, the better it becomes."
"Right." The blonde agreed, glad to see she was a fast learner. "But if you use it too often, it'll drain your life energy. So you have to use it sparingly at first. And, if you aren't used to Materia, you can only carry a couple in the beginning."
A couple? she thought. There are more? "Lucky me, I only have one."
Cloud looked up and across the way at Vincent. "Do you have any more?"
The pale man closed his eyes, concentrating. It'd been far too long to remember. He felt only one globe, pounding deeply but slowly inside of him. It was weaker than he ever remembered it being, but it was there. "Only Lightning."
Cloud grunted. "I've got... Fire, Ice, Restore and Heal." He placed his hands on his hips and regarded Kyrie closely for a moment. She might be a beginner, but dammit, she could handle one more. Gently, he held his hand out, palm up, just a few inches from his chest, and took another deep breath. Slowly, the flesh on his palm began to glow with that eerie green the Ultima materia had caught her eye with. The skin itself began to bubble like it was being burned, but in a bright green explosion of light. As the glow intensified, the light became matter and formed a globe that pulled itself out of his skin and floated just an inch above his hand. He opened his eyes, panting slightly. "Kyrie, you take Heal. I don't know if there's anything poisonous out there, but..."
"Are you sure you shouldn't keep it for yourself?" she asked, apprehensive about having the responsibility of it. She was new to this; she wasn't even sure if she could handle one, let alone two.
Cloud held eye contact and nodded, standing by his decision. Her hesitation was quite understandable, but he had already made up his mind. "Yeah. Don't worry about it."
She took a few breaths to steady herself, almost frightened to breathe across the gleaming orb. Slowly, delicately, she reached for it and noted with a gasp that, as her hand neared it, it simply floated over to her palm all by itself. As if it knew, as if it perhaps did have some consciousness... but it didn't feel like it did. Maybe it was something other than consciousness that drove it, but--her thoughts collided with brilliant green nothingness as Heal absorbed into her skin, that burning pain vibrating through her for only an instant, but just a little stronger than before. It was eerie, a little unnerving. But as the pain disappeared entirely, she felt almost a little... perk. A jump in energy. It felt good, honestly, and she grinned ever so slightly at Cloud.
He smirked back, knowing the feeling was something akin to "warm and fuzzy". He couldn't imagine Kyrie liking "warm and fuzzy", and it was quite amusing. "Rodger, you take--"
"Oh no." He responded to his name instantly. "I don't think it's safe for me to have anything like that around..."
But Cloud would not be swayed from this decision, either. "You take Fire." He continued, confident. "It will be useful for your weapon."
"These work with our weapons?" Kyrie asked, remembering her parents having spoken of magic and Guardian Forces that actually worked with their weapons long ago. Before the Guardian Forces were freed back from where they came, anyway.
"Once you learn how to use them, you won't want to use your weapons without them." Cloud responded. "It might take some practice, though." He glanced at Rodger again, having stayed on the far side of Vincent.
And Rodger knew he was being watched. Coaxed, really. He did not want to do this. It was too weird. He'd heard all kinds of things about magic. While his mother was quite good... there were nothing but horror stories about his father. But, Kyrie's come hither glance seemed to warm him up to the idea--a little. Mostly it just gave him the balls to walk over and sit down beside her with a thud.
"It's not so bad." His girlfriend was obviously trying very hard not to break out into a great big, all too cheery expression. "It just feels... weird."
He couldn't help the chuckle. It was a little humor, and that was useful. Turning instantly into a horrified look on his face, he watched up close as Cloud levitated another gleaming green orb from his hand in what seemed an exceptionally grotesque act. Without wanting to, using his mind to forcefully drive his body, he reached out for it.
It was actually an incredible feeling. Not... pleasant, really. Not even good. Not fun or something he ever really wanted to go through again. But it wasn't that bad. It was more interesting than anything, that burn all the way through his body, making its way even inside of his thoughts before dissipating into a steady hum; not one he could hear, but one he could feel. The materia was a part of him. "Damn." He stated, finally coming out of it.
"Fun, huh?" Kyrie teased.
"Less than you made it out to be." He grinned back subtly.
"You two need to practice, first." Vincent suggested. "Then we will continue. Our destination isn't far, correct?"
"Not at all." Kyrie responded, stretching out until she was in a standing position. That initial buzz had receded quite a bit, leaving only the feeling of not quite getting enough sleep, but being too excited to care to make another attempt at it. "The river should be close, and almost right after that is where we need to be."
The pale man nodded, walking around to stretch his legs out. He would be most interested in watching them practice their Materia skills.

Cloud had the two of them lined up together facing into the open, about ten paces apart (just in case). There was really no telling what sort of a reaction they'd get out of their Materia just yet, so it was better to be nice and safe. And not aim for anything in particular.
"Okay..." the blonde began, chin in his hand. He wasn't really sure how to start this off. The words "Have at it" didn't really work in this situation, as it had with him. "Well... you feel the pulse, right?"
"Right." Kyrie responded, feeling two separate ones. They were beating at the same time, the same pace, but they were actually noticeably different. She could only suspect that if she held three, she'd be able to feel all three separately, as well. The thought was as eerie as it was surreal.
"Yep." Rodger answered a little less than enthusiastically. It just felt so... odd. Add to that the nervousness that he was going to blow them all up or sneeze and ignite or something equally awful...
"Good." Cloud walked behind them, ready to help but not ready to become a target. "Now... there's that beating rhythm in your chest. You have to... expand that to your fingertips. When you learn that, you can expand it to your weapon."
"See? Easy." Kyrie joked.
Cloud put a hand on her shoulder for just a moment, trying to pacify her unspoken concerns. "When you can feel the pulse, you can feel it move. Visualize it. See it move into your fingers."
"'See it move into your fingers...'" she repeated quietly, closing her eyes. There was obviously a little too much concentration at first, causing the Materia to feel like they were becoming solid boulders in her chest. And then there was not enough, the orbs turning to jelly and not reacting at all. She then took the words to heart, seeing the Ultima orb in her mind's eye as it might look inside of her chest; complete darkness save a glowing green. Then she imagined that green light running through her veins with the blood, igniting the passageways through her body, roaming with speed and accuracy into her fingertips... "Ow."
Cloud raised an eyebrow, having seen the very beginnings of what truly was Ultima work it's way from her hand. It was kind of like a miniature storm, really. Vincent watched from several feet away, amazed that someone with no experience was able to get a result the first time, small as it had been. It was rather like a tiny green cloud had formed over her hand and struck a miniature bolt of lightning rather than a massively destructive spell, but... hey, it was a start.
Rodger stared in silence for a long moment. "That's not making me feel any better."
Kyrie lightly rubbed her fingers together, the feeling of being lightly singed wearing off quickly. "Well... it's a beginning, right?"
Shaking his head, Rodger was beginning to get even more apprehensive. He had fire. He might seriously cause himself harm. Not to mention everyone around him. He might accidentally burn down the whole continent.
"Try." He heard Kyrie whisper. Not in a forceful or demanding way, like some other people he easily could have spat upon. It was more than just a word. Hell, it was a vote of confidence and a suggestion.
That's what I get for having a girlfriend. He joked to himself, closing his eyes and breathing in deep, steady breaths. He would try. He was pretty good at visualizing--the thought gave him an unintentional grin from ear to ear. Just being that much at peace with the situation all of a sudden, Fire seemed to react instantly to his desires and rush in a green haze through his mind, shooting out his fingertips in a short-lived, delicate rain of sparks.
"Pretty fuckin' cool." He heard Kyrie comment before he dared to open his eyes and see the damage. First, one eye opened. Then the other. Seeing no vast fire in front of him, he looked down just as the last ember died.
"Keep your eyes open next time." Kyrie mouthed to him more than spoke.
Ah, young love. Cloud thought, keeping his comments strictly to himself.
"Another try." Kyrie suggested to herself. Again she closed her eyes, trying to keep herself calm and confident as Rodger had so obviously been at that moment. Sure it was a little reaction, but with practice came better results, right? This time she called upon Heal, picturing the green glow moving through the other hand. There was a definite response; she opened her eyes in time to catch just the faint glitter of some sort of shimmering light dancing just inches from her hand, raining down something that almost resembled smoke. It was gone, blown away with the wind just a moment later, but she had every right to feel just a touch cocky about that one.
"You are both learning quickly." Vincent commented, walking a little closer. Their range obviously needed improvement. But the flow was there, and that was a good beginning. Especially for people who'd never encountered Materia before.
Cloud thought perhaps it came from their parents being magic users. Hell, Kyrie had sorceress blood in her. That may explain her immediate ability at Ultima, small result as it had been. It would take time and effort.
While Kyrie was still tentatively patting herself on the back, Rodger made a very cocky spin and held his hand out, pushing a little more energy with it. The rain of sparks sort of... exploded, this time. Not in a harmful way, but in a way that made Rodger suddenly less than cocky.
Kyrie grinned widely, but kept her mouth shut. Some things were just better left unsaid.

Breakfast was a nice break between practices. The cockatrice had gone completely untouched throughout the night (probably because of the silver haired freak, Kyrie thought), and a single thigh would provide a pretty good meal for all of them. While Vincent got up and "wandered off", Rodger gave Kyrie a bit of a look. She, like Cloud, pretended not to notice as she trimmed the bird.
It had taken Rodger three tries and quite a bit of convincing, but he finally actually ignited the flames with his own fingertips. Cloud sat back in shocked silence for a while, thinking himself absolutely stupid for not remembering that he could have done that. Of course, they found the flint, so it wasn't a big deal. But it did set him on a path of wondering what other things he didn't remember. It was beginning to bother him. Even as the two lovebirds quipped at one another and made joking challenges, his mind wandered. Were there any truly important things he could have forgotten? Something that could really help them out now? His mind had been a mess before due to Sephiroth's influence. Now it was due to time; possibly even a worse fate than before. He knew he needed to be very careful.
The three of them ate, but sparingly. They had no water with them, so it wasn't a good idea to get full just yet. Granted that the river was close, but Kyrie could not be sure just how close. It was too much of a danger to even consider at that point.
More or less out of amusement alone, Cloud offered to be Kyrie's first "victim" of Heal. She'd given him a slightly softer death stare than the one he'd received from her before, but she agreed. "Don't blame me if your turn into a Geezard, though." She warned.
"Not with Heal." Cloud dismissed. "I wouldn't let you near any kind of Transformation Materia."
Instead of a death stare this time, he got the tiniest jolt of Ultima. She was grinning like a big cat, knowing exactly what she was doing. Already she'd learned the strength of the materia depends upon how much you allow to pass through you. She might not have been that powerful yet, but she was learning quickly. Perhaps even a touch too quickly.
"Remind me not to make an enemy of you." Cloud quipped, half seriously.
"I don't think I need to remind you." Kyrie delivered the line gracefully with a straight face.
Rodger tried very hard not to laugh. She was just ever so pleasant to everyone, wasn't she?
"Wait on the Heal." Cloud suggested softly.

With nothing to "pack up" before they left, they waited until Vincent had joined them again. It was a simple matter of putting out the fire (Cloud attempted his Ice with relative success--it melted into a small sprinkle of rain seconds afterward, but it was still ice at first) and walking away. The rest of the cockatrice was left on the ground a good distance from the camp for the local wildlife. At least they hoped that would keep any from going after them.
What an odd feeling it was for Rodger to be traveling with a group. For Kyrie, too, though she had gotten a bit more used to it from the day before. It was like being in a herd, moving through the landscape on to another destination to feed or something. Only this was a little more serious. While he still had a hell of a lot to be briefed about, Rodger strangely had no desire to ask questions. Maybe he felt it best he didn't know exactly what was going on. He didn't fancy himself a coward... but he wanted nothing to do with the title of "bold hero", either. Looking at his father and his parents' friends, well... life wasn't so great for a hero, anyway.
After only about an hour, they noticed the land began lightly sloping down. The further it sloped, the more grasses and plants there were. The river was incredibly close, and Kyrie began to see the signs of the simple bridge that crossed it, meant mostly for vehicles. With a sudden shift in breeze, the smell of ocean was absolutely clear as well; "Minutes away." She assured them
But, of course, things never were that easy. They could see the shoreline of the sea just off in the distance to their left. They could even see the glistening of the river, and the bridge dead ahead and perfectly in tact and ready for the crossing. But there was something, something very large and four legged, standing just near the bridge's entrance. It wasn't clear what it was at first, but it caused the four of them to slow down just a little, breathing small sighs in dread.
"Shit." Rodger commented quietly, finally able to make out the beast that appeared to have taken down quite a nice sized buck for itself. "Is that..?"
"Chimera." Kyrie finished in amazement. Four heads, all of them gorging on the flesh with bloody jaws. Disturbing. "I guess they aren't extinct after all."
"Not that I want to make it extinct, but..." Cloud trailed off, indicating the small white form of a ship just past the creature. "Ugh. That thing is... ugly."
"Strong, too." Kyrie commented. "They were only supposed to exist on certain islands." She paused, coming to a complete stop, glad the beast was being distracted by its meal. A suggestion came to mind, and she turned to Vincent. "Maybe you can put that Lightning to work. Give him/her/it a good jolt and run past."
The pale man nodded slowly. It had been ages since he'd used his materia, so it wouldn't be strong enough to harm the beast. It might daze it just long enough for them to get to safety. Or... it might severely anger it. "It's worth a try."
Kyrie took a moment to test the wind, knowing that even with food already set to be devoured, a Chimera was known to attack anything it smelled. "I guess we go straight on in, then."
"Get your weapons ready." Cloud remarked, not quite convinced about this plan. None of them were, in fact. But it was the best they had if they wanted the thing to survive--regardless of whether it gave a damn about them.
A slow approach was in order so the creature wouldn't sense their movement right away. "Legend" had it that they did not have very good vision. But Kyrie knew "legend" also had it that they knew exactly where, when and who to attack even when their noses were blown off. Not a pleasant thought.
A breath. A stance for all of them, weapons ready, hearts pounding, legs taunt. Vincent extended his hand and reached for that familiar feeling. Stronger than he expected, he felt the power of Lightning almost jolt past his fingers before he even called it as if waiting in him all this time to attack. He didn't have the time to mentally pull back on the energy before it erupted straight into the beast, causing a squeal and all limbs to fall limp, then stiffen and fall limp again.
It was not a pleasant sight to watch, certainly. But it had been effective. They bolted past it and up onto the bridge--but Kyrie suddenly fell behind.
"Fucking conscience." She cursed, turning around to go back toward the monster. Sure it could rip her apart. And it probably would. But it hadn't been like the hexadragon. The Chimera had been gnawing it's little heart out on a buck, not bothering anyone. She had to make sure it was alright.
As she loomed over it, it tensed and extended its limbs again with a squeal from one of the heads. All of the eyes were half open and moving just a little, the lion's tongue hanging out but still wet. It just seemed dazed. Very dazed, but alive. There was no scent of burned fur (a miracle, she thought), and the more seconds that stretched out her venture on the edge of death, the more the beast seemed able to move. Kyrie knew there was no more time to waste; she hoped well for the creature and bolted back to the bridge.
Catching up to the rest of the group, she noted that they still had shocked expressions. Cloud shook his head, speaking without thinking. "That was insane."
"I know." She admitted simply. Hey, she was a fighter, not a killer. Even if it was a monster. She continued walking onward, with or without them. But it was obvious that they would follow. She was simply eager not to be chastised for what she fully knew was a stupid move.
At the other end of the bridge, they actually witnessed the miraculous sight; the ship was docked and looked to be in full working order. Being that it was still morning, there weren't even any officers running about to bother them. She knew all it took was her card to get on board through the crew entrance, so that's where they headed.
The ship was fucking huge, a barge and a battleship at once. It was covered in pounded scales like a great dragon of the sea, with triple re-inforced Esthar steel. Approaching the dock, the rest of the three just followed Kyrie's lead. None of them had been around this great big steel monster before, and it was a little intimidating to note how absolutely large the ten cannons were. Kyrie, however, seemed to merely meander on by what appeared to more or less be the front of it (by default, really; it looked the same on either side from where they were) and walked quite a ways down the length of it, stopping only in front of a slightly off-color panel on the side. Reaching into her pocket, she produced proof of her affiliations and slipped the card into an invisible slot at the edge of the discolored portion. There was a beep. Then a grind and a click. After a moment of silence, there was a very loud mechanical movement of grinding gears, and the panel slid open to reveal a large elevator.
"Pretty fancy, right?" she asked, taking her card back as it was spat out.
"Neeeeat." Rodger agreed. "It must pay to be the president's granddaughter."
"At times." Kyrie agreed, indicating for the four of them to go in first. "It recognizes me. It'll close after me."
As the others piled in, she sidestepped inside just in time to avoid the panel sliding back. They really ought to fix that stupid thing. She complained to herself. I hear about more incidents of clothing getting caught on this door...
The elevator began to surge upward at a speed that was very disorienting; especially since it only took about 3.5 seconds to reach the destination. They were let off right in front of the stairway to the deck, or had the option of walking to the left and looking around the crew. Considering the time of day, however, Kyrie thought it best to get directly to the deck and try to find the captain doing inspections up there first. They wouldn't want to wander around uninvited.
The sight that met them when they reached surface, however, made Cloud's stomach flop all to hell. The deck was completely abandoned. Well, not completely. There was a little remnants of what appeared to have been a higher ranking officer smeared here and there. There was even a tattered part of uniform covering something that looked like a mutated arm in the distance. No one really wanted to know for certain.
"Hyne... damn." Kyrie grunted softly. She should have known, really. It was too easy. Just too easy. Even with the Chimera, it had been too simple a journey. Without another word, she walked down the steps and started exploring the corridors. It only took a few moments to find a piece of skull and something that may have been a foot. Instead of bothering to look around any more (it was pretty clear what she'd find by now), she merely lead them stoically to the engine room.
The fact that she had to use her card again to enter gave them all a little hope--that was shattered when they had to step over half of the captain as they walked in. This was bad. Just... bad. Again.
There was little choice at the time, though. They'd have to steal the ship and try to get it to a populated area. Anywhere would do, quite frankly. Just anywhere but where they were, surrounded by these atrocities.
"There is already a set destination." Vincent announced curiously, having found the main panel. "And according to this map... they're in the middle of the ocean."
Kyrie walked over to take a look herself. In the middle of the ocean? There sure as hell wasn't any land nearby that point, no. Had Sephiroth set random numbers? And then it hit her. "The deep sea research center."
Cloud looked puzzled. "What would Sephiroth want with fish?"
She thought about that for a moment. It was a good question. "It's been used as a drilling well into the crust of the earth since about five years ago..." she trailed off.
"You don't suppose..." Vincent began, very quietly.
Cloud took a breath. Jenova?

"Hello, Squall." He heard through his nightmare. It was a very familiar voice from his childhood, he thought, but he couldn't place it. He was convinced it was part of the nightmare he was trying to wake up from, besides.