Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Akirame Norwen ❯ Sors Immanis, Et Inanis ( Chapter 25 )

(A/N: Hehe... things are warming up! This is gonna be *good* for just the right atmosphere, Sephiroth's theme *a live, orchestrated version, not the midi-like original* is strongly suggested... just loop it so it plays through-out the whole chapter... other than that, anything that can send chills down your spine and make your pulse rise.. that works too. Enjoy, my friends.... enjoy.)

Chapter 25: Sors Immanis, Et Inanis

Irvine and Jerdania quietly sneaked into the cargo bay, playfully tagging each other and leaping about the various boxes and bags. The two insomniacs almost silently chased each other about the huge room, when suddenly Jerdania stopped.

Sephiroth settled down and let himself drift into a rare dream. A bright green glow... voices calling... the earth screaming... Meteor...Holy...how had he survived? His heart stopping, and Mother's promise that he would never die... Cloud's Omnislash... he had surely died, and entered the Lifestream... the feeling of floating, his physical body forsaken.... and yet, here he was, not in any heaven or hell.... he struggled to remember....

"Sephiroth?!" A voice suddenly cried out. He looked up to see a young girl's face, her honey eyes wide with shock. For a split moment, he was transfixed by her long braid, which now lightly swished about her waist...just like her...

He quickly snapped out of his trance as the girl began to run... she would alert the others onboard.. he couldn't afford to be found out.. he wasn't nearly as powerful as when Jenova was still active in his bloodstream. He had to stop her. Rising, he spread out his arms and faded from visibility.

Jerdania leapt effortlessly over small boxes, and took little time to jump and climb over taller crates. "Irvine! Run! Sephiroth is in here! We gotta warn someone!!" she screamed, hearing the sound of rustling leather and a clinking sword somewhere behind her.

Sephiroth added a burst of extra speed, and drew his sword, holding it out in front of him, getting ready to skewer the girl. He was only mere feet from her, but where was the other? Suddenly feeling sapped of energy from lack of sleep (yet another disadvantage of Jenova's dormancy), he regained visibility to save strength. He smirked as a box came flying towards him. He effortlessly sliced through it with his Masamune, the contents scattering about the room. That didn't keep Irvine from landing a solid blow to the back of Sephiroth's head with a pipe.

The cowboy dropped the weapon and continued to run forward as his life depended on it. The door was just a few yards away... but Sephiroth had barely been stalled. He was already dashing towards them, the sword slicing through the cargo in his path.

Where they going to make it? Jerdania was just behind Irvine... just a few more feet.. She could hear the aggravated, white-haired monster growling as he leapt over the last box and was mere inches from them... Irvine suddenly grabbed Jerdania's hand and threw her ahead of him and out the door, leaping after her, just as Sephiroth leapt upwards, his sword ready to make a quick death.

BANG! The door shut, causing Sephiroth to smash into it. Growling, he grabbed the handle, only to find that the two miscreants had locked it.

"Jerdania, we ain't got time to straggle, let's go!" Irvine hastily said, grabbing the girl's hand again and now racing down the hallway toward the stairs.

Riku, Erik and Sora met again in the hallway, accompanied by their trusty weapons and armor. "You guys ready? Where's Irvine! We need him too! Did you all grab enough potions? Erik, do you have your materia ready?" the leader quickly asked, receiving nods after double-checks were made.

"Riku...what's going to happen?" Sora asked, knowing that somehow, Riku always knew what to do.

The leader's eyes closed, as if he were searching for an answer. "*What's going on? Why did you tell me there was danger?*"

"*Riku! He's here! He's on the ship, and he's going to kill us all by destroying the ship! You have to stop him!*" The voice shouted in his mind, causing adrenaline to fill his body.

"*Where is he at?*"

"*He's-" the voice was suddenly cut short by dark laughter.

"*He he heh. Boy, you think you can challenge me? Try and find me first.*" a deep, ominous voice mocked him.

Sephiroth used his sword to sever the hinges of the cargo hold's door, stepping back before kicking it over. Now free, he looked around his surroundings.. and spotted an emergency alarm on the wall. Perfect. He casually walked over, and brushing a long strand of white hair from his face, he pulled the lever. A siren began to ring, and red lights illuminated the dark, metallic halls with a deadly glow. Just the right atmosphere for murder. With a silent laugh he began to walk down the hallway towards his next target.

Cid Highwind shot up as soon as the sirens began to blare. "What the !@$# is going on?!" He growled, jumping out of his hammock and racing toward the captain's bridge. He quickly arrived and found that Rikku, the other Cid, and most of the flight crew were there, trying to assess the situation.

"Cid, thank Hyne you're here! Someone on the cargo level set off the emergency alarm!" A random crew member shouted, scanning various monitors.

Cid growled and reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette to help wake him up. Quickly lighting it, he let it drip from his lower lip and angrily pulled the switch to turn on the electricity. Nothing. "What the ^*%#?"

Sephiroth smiled evilly as he replaced his sword. The lights, heating and other such power was good as gone. He found no reason to completely disable the ship. He needed the prey alive, otherwise his master would have his head. Rolling his eyes he quietly exited the room, preparing for what would assuredly be a brief fight. No one *should* die... but assuredly, minor casualties couldn't be helped.

"Sir, the essential generator has been disabled." Another random crew member reported, making Cid stamp his foot and cuss.

"!@$%-it, what about our main generator?"

"No sir, the ship's power is fine. Someone is trying to set up an ambush!"

At that moment, two teenagers burst into the room, panting and shuddering. "Sephiroth! Sephiroth is on board! I saw him! He's in the cargo hold!" Jerdania quickly informed them before collapsing on the floor.

"What the #$^%?! Sephiroth? I thought that son-of-a-!@#%& was dead!"

Rikku ran to the exhausted teenagers' aid, helping them sit up and offering them a canteen of water.

"We gotta...we gotta warn Riku and the others." Irvine managed to wheeze out, trying to stand up.

"You're not going anywhere.. I'll tell them for you." Rikku said, standing up and running to her room.

Taking little time, she quickly armed herself with her glove Godhand, and quickly shoved a couple vials of hi-potion in her pocket. Who knew if she herself would run into this "Sephiroth".

Meanwhile, the leather-clad villain was stepping into the elevator, once again cussing the lack of even basic abilities, such as levitation or phasing. Tossing his long hair back, he punched the button to close the doors. Taking a brief minute, he closed his eyes and searched the various holds of the ship for his target...ah, *there* it was. Completely defenseless as well. This shouldn't be too hard to do. Opening his eyes, he punched the number 4 button. They were on the top floor.

Sephiroth tapped his foot in impatience as the elevator creaked upwards. So much for technology. His eyes widened when the elevator began to stop. Level 2? Someone was going to come in. Looking around, he spotted the trap door in the ceiling. Using his sword to punch it open, he hastily pulled himself up and lay flat on the roof, only to look up and realize that he was going to be crushed flat.

He peaked down into the car and saw the five well-armed Al-bhed piling in. He didn't have much choice but to wait and pray that he didn't get crushed. Dying once was painful enough. The elevator began to rise again. He watched as the opening to the third floor passed. He closed his eyes and waited...when the elevator stopped. He opened one eye and looked around. Well, guess he'd been lucky after all. He rose his head and smacked into the concrete ceiling. Cursing the ship under his breath, he waited for the Al-Bhed to leave before sliding back into the car... just as the doors closed on him.

"Ugh...please! Not now!" Sephiroth angrily growled, punching the buttons in an attempt to stop it. The button worked, and the elevator stopped and opened... to a concrete wall. Sephiroth's eye twitched as he formed a plan of action.

Rikku continued to dash down the stairs, and suddenly realized that once again, she had lost her way... where was she? She looked around and spotted a sign. She was on deck 3, when she should be on deck 4. She gave a deep sigh. After living on this ship for a month, she still could barely navigate the maze-like corridors. To save herself time, she ran over to the elevator and pushed the up button... but instead she heard the noise of...scrambling coming from the tunnel. "What the...."

With a whoosh, the doors were forced open, and a very, very aggravated Sephiroth made his entrance, his green eyes burning. Then he spotted the frightened looking blonde standing in front of him, heavily armed. Cocking his head, he put out his hand.

Suddenly the girl's body was paralyzed. Sephiroth smiled. At least he could still do this. With a nod of his head, the girl almost mechanically began to walk up the stairs, heading towards the target.

Riku led the group down the hallway, all brandishing their weapons as they headed towards the stairway. "Wait...where's Red?" Erik asked, turning to look back.

"We don't have time for that... Sephiroth could be slaughtering people right now!" Riku growled back.

"Riku!" Rikku's voice cried out. "I know where Sephiroth is! He's waiting for you!" She warned them.

"Good. Where is he? We're ready to kick his leather butt!" Sora proclaimed.

Suddenly Rikku's eyes began to glow, and she held herself in a fighting stance. "What the heck?" Riku asked, holding his sword out at his side.

"You're not going anywhere unless you get past me." A voice that clearly wasn't the Al-Bhed's challenged.

"Rikku, I don't have time for this!" Riku protested, angrily swinging his flaming sword.

Surprisingly, Rikku shrugged and stepped aside. Eyeing her warily, Riku walked past her. Sora never took his eyes off her... but Erik didn't move. Something felt very wrong to him. Suddenly he unfurled his whip and lashed it out, wrapping it around her armed hand, which was just inches from taking Sora's head off. Jerking the whip, he pulled Rikku to the ground. "Guys, restrain her with something!" Erik shouted, running over to pin the struggling girl to the ground.

"Here, I've got some shoestrings!" Sora proclaimed, dangling them from his hand.

"....Where did you get those?" Riku asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Sora gave his trademark smile and handed them over. "They're from her shoes."

Indeed, upon inspection, the girl's shoes were laceless. Shrugging, Erik hastily took the long strings and bound the girl's wrists and feet together, forcing her to either sit with her legs bent, or fall to the ground.

Nodding, the group continued down the hall...only to find that it was empty. "What... where are you, Sephiroth! Don't play games with me!" Riku shouted, swinging his blade through the air, which ignited with flames.

A vision crawled into the back of the valiant boy's mind... A sword held directly over..... "Akirame!"

The group took little time racing back up the stairs past Rikku, and down the hall to the rooms. Riku quickly turned the knob, and shoved the door open. There Sephiroth's silhouette stood, holding a blade just inches away from the sleeping figure. "Don't you dare hurt her!" Riku demanded, frustration welling within him.

"You move, she dies." The villain's deep voice warned.

"What do you want, Sephiroth? Do you want me? Fine then, have me! Just don't hurt her!" Riku's eyes darted from the figure to the open bathroom door, forming a plan.

"You would do well as a ransom." The man agreed, pulling the knife away and holding it at his side, then putting out a hand, beckoning the boy forward.

Riku sighed and nodded, walking forward, much to his friend's dismay. Then, without any warning, Riku launched himself across the room and, using all his strength, shoved the man into the open bathroom, hastily closed the door, and put a chair under the knob. Inside they could hear the man angrily growling and pounding the door.

No one noticed that Erik wasn't there.

Erik suddenly found himself drifting along the corridors, led by some unknown...compelling force. After what seemed to be an eternity of wandering, he found himself in the outlook room, a huge, mostly empty deck covered with windows. The pitch black was slowly illuminated as the moon peeked out from behind a cloud. A hooded figure stood in the middle of the room, almost beckoning Erik to approach.

Mindlessly the blonde stepped forward, and met with the eyes of the stranger. What seemed to be years passed between them... suddenly Erik stumbled backwards, clutching his head and groaning. With an ear-piercing scream, he fell to the ground unconscious. Taking a moment to stand over the completely helpless boy, the cloaked figure walked down the steps and vanished.