The Blue Guardian struggled slowly to his feet, wincing at the wounds
across his body.
"Tempest?" he asked, and with that one word Nemo collapsed to the
ground, his sword clattering abandoned to the stone cave floor beside
him.
Tempest opened his eyes as he felt rain pounding down on him. Just for a
moment, he had the strangest feeling he should be somewhere else - but
it faded quickly as he surveyed the forest around him with practiced,
professional eyes. There was nothing obviously wrong, but his instincts
told him that his enemy was still out there. The man beside him seemed
to agree.
"Tempest, we've got company." The man's voice was low and level.
Strangely, it took Tempest a moment to remember Typhoon's name - but as
soon as he had, it fit as naturally as a glove. The man was tall and
broad shouldered, and had a two-handed sword the twin of Tempest's own
drawn and ready. His eyes showed the tell-tail signs of Mako infusion,
and his blonde hair was cropped to a military buzz. Both of them wore
the uniform armour of Soldier's special forces unit with practiced ease.
Memories flowed easily through his mind - they had been hitting a Wutai
unit behind enemy lines, depending on surprise and superior skill to
cause heavy damage before pulling back. The hit had gone to plan, and
the team had split up into pairs as planned to evade persuit as they
left. But now, something was following them... something or someone that
neither of the two had been able to get a clear sighting of, despite
their Soldier training.
"Whoever they are out there, they're damn good." Tempest said under his
breath while scanning the area they were moving through.
The two of them continued on towards the pick up point, scanning the
trees as they went. Tempest reckoned they were about half a mile away
from their destination when the first shuriken came flying in. Reacting
on instinct, Typhoon batted the projectile out of the air with his
sword.
Tracing the path of the projectile back, the two of them spotted a
figure in black readying a second throwing star - and now that they knew
what they were looking for, they rapidly began to spot more and more of
them, leaping from tree to tree through the forest after them - silent
as shadows, black as the night, their faces covered by hoods and black
cloth masks. They seemed both familiar and yet new to Tempest, but one
thing was clear - they were heavily outnumbered by those he could see,
and there were probably a lot more of them he hadn't spotted yet.
Shaking off the feeling of deja-vu, Tempest settled into a battle stance.
"My, haven't we become popular all of a sudden" He said, idly to Typhoon.
Typhoon grinned. "Bit too popular if you ask me. I wasn't especially
planning to make a heroic last stand today - race you to the pick up
point?"
"You're on." Said Tempest as he started running, still on guard for any
attack.
The two of them plunged on through the forest, each taking a side to
cover with the ease of practiced team work. Tempest slipped easily into
the rhythm of a long distance runner, covering the distance with calm
precision.
They never even saw the trap unto it was sprung. Some how, a contingent
of the black clad figures had managed to get ahead of them, and as they
burst into a clearing, the rain of shuriken started, darts of steel
flicking out of the rain in flashes of reflected moonlight. Both of the
the men brought their swords round in parrying arcs before them,
ricocheting projectiles off in all directions - but there were too many,
too fast. Behind him, Tempest heard a nasty gurgle from Typhoon and the
sound of a body falling to the floor. Warm blood trickled down him from
several wounds.
And then...
...he was standing in a forest glade, the night dark and raining.
Lightning flashed down nearby, impacting close enough that the ground
beneath his feet shock. He was bleeding from several wounds, and
twisting back and forth in the middle of the clearing trying to look in
all directions at once.
In the forest around him, black shapes slipped back and forth, and then
suddenly, as the next lightning bolt hammered down, the shapes leapt
into the clearing as one.
6 figures, all clothed in black, carrying short straight edged blades.
Moving in lazyily crossing circles, they surrounded him, slowly closing.
He knew that he wasn't good enough to take all of them, and with the
calmness of imminent death he raised his sword into fighting position
one last time.
And then, down from the sky plummeted his dues ex machina. Sephiroth
dropped, hair billowing behind him, Masamune outstretched in his hand
with materia studded around it's hilt.
There was a flash of green...
...and as the glow of the healing spell faded, Nemo/Tempest found
himself looking up into the gentle eyes of Aeris. Beside him, Tifa was
shouting at the confused looking guardian.
"What have you done to him!" She yelled, fists raised in front of her
again.
Nemo/Tempest smiled back at Aeris, before attempting to stagger back to
his feet. "Well, that was educational." He said to himself as he levered
himself upright. "He didn't do anything to me Tifa. He just triggered some
bad memories that I'd forgotten, that's all." Nemo/Tempest turned to the
blue figure. "I thought you were dead. Why are you blue and homicidal
instead?" Nemo asked him.
"Hey, I'm not homicidal. I think." Typhoon rubbed his jaw in
comtemplation and nearly sliced himself open with the icey blue claws on
his hand. "Damn it! Anyway, I don't have a clue. Last thing I remember,
we were in a forest getting chased by some ninja dudes and then I got
hit in the throat by a piece of metal. I have some vague memory of
Sephiroth dropping out of the sky, and then everything going green."
He looked down. "Then I wake up in some weird glowy mako spring, with a
blue body bleeding anti-freeze and feeling battered as hell."
"Cura," said Aeris. The guardian's wounds closed immediately.
"Er... thanks. Tempest - what the hell is going on?"
"I'm not entirely sure. I'm reasonably willing to bet that Hojo has
something to do with the reason you're blue and formerly homicidal, but
beyond that all we know for certain is that president Shinra is dead, and
in all likelyhood he was killed by Sephiroth." Said Tempest/Nemo. "We were
trying to get outside the city through these caves when we ran into you.
You said something about not letting us defile this place then you
attacked." Tempest/Nemo smiled. "We gave you a good kicking, and when you
regained consciousness you were making sense again. Like old times
really." he said with a small chuckle.
"Nemo," said Tifa. "Why is this guy calling you Tempest? And what's this
about Hojo?"
Tempest ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "He's calling me
Tempest because it's my name." He said quietly. "Until he said it just
now, I couldn't remember what my name was." Tempest looked up at the three
others in turn and then looked away again before continuing. "A few days
ago I woke up in the Sector 7 train station waiting room. I couldn't
remember anything relating to myself before that point. Hell, I had to
find a mirror just to learn what I looked like. I could remember skills, I
knew I could fight, I had my sword and armour and I could remember current
events up to just after the war finished. So I gave myself a name, and I
went out to find mercenery work. I knew I had to have been in Soldier
because I recognised the glow in my own eyes, but I didn't think going to
them for information would be safe. I've been remembering bits and pieces
in flashes over the last few days. I remember all sorts of stuff about
Shinra training and tactics. I remember being experimented on by Hojo,
that's why I was so interested in getting Aeris out of there. I remember
the last mission Typhoon and I were on during the war. We were making our
way out to the extraction point when we were attacked by a group of ninja.
All dressed in black, all with short swords and shuriken. We were losing,
Typhoon here caught a shuriken to the throat, and then, just as we were
about to be overwhelmed, Sephiroth arrived and took them out. I don't
remember anything after that until a few days ago." Tempest paused for
a moment. "As for Hojo, if he got to me, then he could have gotten to
Typhoon, and I don't know anyone else who does experiments with mako
infusion that could have caused him to change blue the way he has."
Tempest stopped and looked up at the others waiting for their reaction.
Tifa managed to look both surprised and as if pieces were falling into
place at the same time. "So that's why you had the skills and the
knowledge - but not the rep. And why you were willing to help rescue
Aeris for so little money."
She paused as Typhoon fell bonelessy to the floor. "Hey, that's exactly
what you did when he mentioned your name!"
Aeris stood looking at Nemo calmly.
Tempest moved over to check on Typhoon. As he was doing so he looked up at
Aeris. "You don't appear too surprised by all this?"
Aeris tipped her head to one side slightly as if considering. "No, not really." She smiled. "I'm not really sure how mercenary swordsmen are supposed to act so I have very few expectations."
Typhoon groaned slightly, and sat up as Tempest knelt down beside him. "You just had to remind me, bro, didn't you? I remember Hojo now. Not something I really felt the need to be reminded of. I just wish I could remember anything else... now that I've had a moment to catch myself - the only things I can remember are that last run through the forest and some flashes of being in a tank in a lab."
"I know one thing, though." He continued, "I didn't have this body in the lab. It feels... different. And it has overlays of something more primal in my mind, too. I feel an urge to protect this place, and the mako springs in general. It's as if I'm driven to protect the planet in some way. I'm also become instinctively aware of knowledge about myself - I know that I can project icey bolts of energy, and that if I'm taken out of a high mako area I'll quickly die. This is really, really, weird."
"I could never work out whether the memories of Hojo are from before or
after that mission. I can't imagine I'd continue to work for Shinra after
they put me through that though." Tempest shook his head. "Wait, you can't
leave here?" he asked Typhoon.
"He seems to have become an esper," said Aeris. "A creature of magic. I
can't see how it's possible, but if it's true the only way for him to
leave here would be to place himself in a summoning materia. At that
point he would be able to travel, and could function briefly in the
world outside when fed mana by who ever carried the materia in a slot.
I'm not sure if we'd be able to communicate with you while you are in
the materia," she said to Typhoon, "it's not something I really have any
experience of. Of course, next time we came to a high mako area - poof,
you'd be able to operate independantely again."
"Not exactly the greatest of news. The question is, how the hell did you
end up like this in the first place? But I don't think there is any way to
answer that right now." Tempest looked at the others. "So. What do we do
now? Firstly, Typhoon, do you want to do what Aeris suggested? And
secondly, Where do we head for once we get out of Midgar? Any
suggestions?"
Typhoon considered for a while. "I don't think I want to stay here, now
that I'm lucid. It's not like there's anyone to talk to, and going
indefinately without company wouldn't be any fun at all. Being put in a
materia doesn't sound too much fun either, but it sounds like I might be
able to communicate with whoever carries me - and even if I can't, I'll
at least be able to spend some time with people when we reach high mako
areas."
"As to where we go next, I can't really help with my memory so crippled.
I remember the basic geography, but not any personal details."
Tifa shrugged. "I'm afraid I'm a city girl at heart, and have been for
most of my adult life. My home village is a long way from here."
Aeris nodded. "I've never left Midgar before - I'm afriad I can't help
you much."
Tempest's memories of the area were surprisingly detailed when he
thought about it. He soon realised why - his military training seemed to
have included an analysis of likely ways of Midgar being attacked, and
the corresponding defenses. Unfortunately, the topographical knowledge
of the area didn't seem to be answering any of the questions he had
about where. Small villages dotted the surroundings, but he remembered
very little of them apart from the fact that Shinra's military rated
them as 'expendable' in case of attack - the people would be given
instructions to evacuate to Midgar.
"We'll head to Kalm." he said. "It's small enough not to have any Shinra
troops stationed there, and large enough that we won't cause a stir. We
should be able to stock up on provisions too. Then we need to try to work
out where Sephiroth went, and what the hell he's up to." Tempest turned to
Aeris and Tifa. "I think I'll carry on using the name 'Nemo' for now. I
don't know if there are people looking for 'Tempest' and I'd rather not
find out the hard way." Tempest, now Nemo again looked back at Aeris,
"Aeris? How do we go about putting Typhoon here in a materia?" he asked.
"We ask him to change into a materia. If he has actually become an
Esper, he will be able to do it at will. Alternatively, we could beat
him to the point of death and it would happen as an instinctive response
- but I don't think that would be a good idea." She beamed at Typhoon.
"Damn straight." Typhoon replied under his breath.
"You'd probably best show us how it's done then." said Nemo, smirking as
he spoke. "Then we should get out of here and head for Kalm."
Typhoon shrugged. "Lets see what happens. You got a free slot on that
sword of yours to strap me into?"
Nemo made certain that only the fira materia was attached to his sword
before nodding once. "Ready and waiting." He said.
Typhoon walked over to Nemo and looked at the sword doubtfully. "Well,
here goes nothing."
There was a flash of red light which swiftly contracted towards the
materia slot on Nemo's sword, leaving a gleaming red crystal.
There was a brief pause, and then all three of them saw the red veins in
the cave withdrawing faster and faster towards the central pedastal,
leaving a dazing pure blue-green light. Within moments, the red taint
was gone, and a green gem lay on top of the pedastal.
"That seemed to work, though we appear to have an unexpected byproduct."
said Nemo as he wandered over to the pedestal. "Anyone care to place a bet
on this being some kind of ice materia?" he said as he picked it up. *Are
you there Typhoon?* He asked silently in his mind.
There was a brief pause and then Typhoon reappeared in a burst of red
light. "Could you hear me?" he asked.
"No. Could you hear me?" Nemo responded.
"No, not a thing. It was odd though... I didn't feel constrained at all
while I was in the gem. It felt very natural." Typhoon glanced down at
the slot on Nemo's sword. "You don't mind if I don't change till we get
near to the caves exit though, do you?"
"Of course not." Said Nemo. "It's rather a shame we can't talk while
you're materia, having voices in my head would have been amusing." Nemo
looked at everyone. "All ready to move? We should get out of here as soon
as we can. Once we are outside the city it will be much harder for them to
track us." he said.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks