Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of the Final Materia ❯ Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The small black desk was covered with reports and a female in mid slumber. She bolted awake and gasped. A few papers scattered to the floor, disturbed by her abrupt action. Sweat beaded on her brow as her heart raced in her chest. Memories from the nightmare hung in her mind, haunting her deep inside. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't escape the ghosts of her past. She lowered her head and wondered how many times did she have to relive that night.

She glanced at her watch that was sitting on the desk; two hours had passed since she sat down to review the reports. In an attempt to rid herself of the lingering memories the nightmare left her with, she stood up and stretched. She drew in a deep breath and walked to the sink, grabbed a washcloth, and ran cold water over the rag. When it was soaked she rung it out only slightly and wiped her face with it.

Shukera walked from the bathroom, grabbed the files off the desk, and sat down on the bed. She placed the files down and picked up the computer. Smiling somewhat, she began typing out a message to a friend she met on the messaging system, similar to that of the Internet. Satellite Internet connections were now being widely used and it became so that everyone had to have their own hand held computer.

She was feeling somber; on top of the nightmares that plagued her sleep, everything she had worked for was fixing to blow up in her face. Reports of the spies' latest activities were laid out in front of her. Each report added to her suspicion that there was a leak somewhere. She held her hands in her hair feeling frustrated as she poured over one of the reports. "This is not possible!"

A low beeping sound emitted from the small computer indicating she received a message. She shifted her gaze from the reports to the screen and read the message. Her friend told her something weird was going on with his best friend. He was suddenly lashing out at people for no reason, then he went on to talk about the girl he loved who was pining away over his uncontrollable best friend. She quickly typed out a message and went back to her reports.

Sighing, she gathered the reports and shoved them in a folder, picked up the folder, and stepped over to the shredder. One by one she fed the documents into the shredder. She watched the machine spit out small strips of paper into the bin below it. Things appeared to be getting worse now, which was something she had not planned on. It all lead to one possibility: somewhere there had to be a leak.

The computer beeped again and this time her friend was asking her what was wrong. Shukera placed her hands on her face and laughed at how he always seemed to know when something was wrong. Smiling, she began telling him about herself in more detail, things she never shared before with anyone, things she knew would place him in immanent danger. Still, she felt she could trust him, not to mention that she was about to explode by keeping everything inside. Before she knew it, her fingers began typing away furiously on the keyboard, spilling out everything about herself.

Hours later, someone tapped on Shukera's door. She looked up away from the screen when she heard the tapping and frowned. "It's supposed to be my day off!!" Quickly she told her friend she had to go, closed off the connection, and hid her computer.

Reluctantly she walked over to the door, swung it open and paused when she saw Sephiroth standing in her doorway grinning. Something about his smile made her suspicious. Usually when he wore that expression, it meant trouble was soon to follow.

Shukera sighed and leaned against her doorway. "What is it this time?? I'm tired of hearing about these rebels."

Sephiroth smirked, "No, this is better. Be in the conference room in about 10 minutes. This cannot wait!" He turned without another word and walked off down the hall.

Shukera was definitely not in the mood for a meeting. She shook her head as she locked her door and casually made her way down the hallway.