Red Dawn

Red Dawn: chapter 5

Author: Sweetstarlights (sweetstarlights@hotmail.com)

Site: www.lonelykitten.cjb.net

***

Author’s note: [giggles insanely] this is it! The chapter I start killing people! The City of the Ancients lay ahead of us and I thirst for blood! I’ve been waiting for this, I haven’t killed anyone since the second chapter... but I promise this time that people will die... I just didn’t know if I was going to do both ancient places in one chapter before. But now... heh heh... the fun begins...

***

The Black Materia gleamed in the sun light as Sephiroth held it out for Eve to see. Her eyes sparkled as she looked into the depths of the shinning black orb. Eve didn’t dare touch it, she didn’t know if Sephiroth would really allow it. For all she knew he might strike her if she did. He never did unless it was in a sparing match during training, but one couldn’t be too sure around him.

“It’s so beautiful...” Eve whispered as she tried thinking of a way to put it on a chain to wear around her neck.

“And yet it has the power to destroy the whole world. This only proves that great power lies in beauty,” Sephiroth commented as he lifted the orb close to his face. The light reflected off the materia and threw black and dark purple glow on his face; Eve couldn’t help but think that Sephiroth looked beautiful himself. Eve quickly shook her head to dispel the thought from her head; this wasn’t the time to start having werrid thoughts.

They were just outside of Junon now; Sephiroth flew carrying Eve in one arm and the Black Materia in his other hand. But this was only a brief stop; they were to continue towards the City of the Ancients as soon as they were rested enough. Eve told Sephiroth as they flew that Aeris would try and stop him there using the White Materia, Holy. He wasn’t too happy about this, but she told him that this would be when they would attack and kill as many of them as they could. Sephiroth suddenly held the materia before Eve again, she stared up at him blackly, not know what to do. He grabbed her hand and lifted it up. Gently he placed the Black Materia in her semi-open hand as she looked at him with a confused look. “Why...”

“I want you to hold it because you have something to put this in. I trust you not to do something stupid with it.”

She gave him a suspicious look, but carefully placed it in her pack amidst her various clothes. Eve had a hard time trusting Sephiroth for many reasons; one being that he was Sephiroth, who knew when he was going to go crazy and kill her; another being that he was a man, Eve had a hard time trust men to begin with and she didn’t know if he was like every other guy she’d known. There were more, but it was that forever to say them all. Sephiroth asked if she was ready to go, all Eve did was motion that she was fine.

***

I can’t believe this...

How did we not know...?

We should have seen this coming...

Why her...?

Eve suddenly was sitting upright as she woke from the dream. She could hear the voices of Cloud and his friends... but was that possible? They were in a forest not unlike the one in Tahoe, a day’s walk to the Bone Village. Eve looked over and saw Sephiroth still sleeping, barely moving as he breathed. She sat up and leading against a near by tree, still dizzy from the dream. Was that really their thoughts? This can’t be happening... she thought. But then again, a lot of things that shouldn’t happen had. What next? I’ll start having visions too!? Her thoughts cried angrily, she wasn’t in the mood to start going crazy now.

“What troubles you, Eve?”

Eve turned and found Sephiroth fully awake, looking at her with concern. “Nothing,” she answered angrily.

“You’re lying.”

She looked away from him and out into the forest. “So what if I am? Does it really matter? As long as I can tell you what’s going to happen, why care what’s wrong?”

“Because you’d be no use to me if you weren’t okay. Now, tell me what’s wrong,” Sephiroth demanded. He was shocked at this sudden influx of emotions in Eve, she never asked such questions before. It must have been caused by a dream...

Eve moved herself to the other side of the tree and out of the eyes of Sephiroth. She wasn’t about to tell him that she heard voices in her dreams, all concerning the fact that she was the one helping Sephiroth. She sighed quietly and closed her eyes, hoping that he’d give up and go back to sleep. But her hopes were not answered. When she opened her eyes a minute later, Sephiroth was hovering over her. Eve jumped back in surprise and hit her head on the tree behind her, something she did often around him.

“Well?”

She rubbed her head as she said, “I wish you’d stop doing that...” Sephiroth moved closer to her, knowing that it would make her talk. “Alright, fine! I’ll tell you, just back up a bit!” He took a step back and awaited Eve’s explanation. Eve sighed irritably, “I don’t know. I was dreaming, that’s all.”

“About what?”

What is this? Twenty questions? Eve couldn’t help the thought, she was in a nasty mood. But she continued in a wavering voice, “I don’t know, all I heard was voices. They were all upset, upset that I was the woman they heard was with you.” She sighed again. “It was just a dream and a load of crap at that. Dreams mean nothing.”

“No, it means that they are afraid. I assume that it was ‘them’,” Eve nodded, “Then they believe that you’re not really evil, but a hostage. It will be easier to kill them now than I thought.” Sephiroth smiled seemingly to himself and walked away. “Come, the City of the Ancients is ahead of us and there is much to be done.”

Eve shook her head and stood up, grabbing her pack as she moved. “Let me guess... the hostage thing really isn’t your style?” she asked sarcastically.

“Of course, but neither is traveling with a woman I’m not bedding...” Sephiroth answered as he walked off.

“What the hell does that mean?!” Eve screamed.

“Exactly what you think it does...” Sephiroth laughed as she tried throwing a large rock at his head, but the rock missed when he dodged the throw. Silently the rock landed back on the ground as they walked on through the forest.

***

They reached Bone Village by mid afternoon, mostly due to that fact that Sephiroth walked at a faster pace than normal. Eve had spent the whole time trying to figure out what Sephiroth had said to her meant, coming up with she really was a hostage or he trying to get her into his bed. Neither of them did she like. Sephiroth was incredibly beautiful, but Eve was [by now anyway..] nineteen, and proud of the fact she was still a virgin. Besides, her job was to tell him what not to do so he didn’t get killed, not to be his play thing. But, as always, she chased the thoughts from her head before Sephiroth could listen to them. They quickly entered Bone Village. It was named rightly so, the buildings were all made of bones. Eve couldn’t help but feel disgusted; the bones of the great creatures shouldn’t have been treated as this.

Silently, they trotted through the village of bones, not listening when someone tried telling Sephiroth that he needed the Lunar Harp to enter the Sleeping Forest. Infact, he nearly laughed in the man’s face. Sephiroth lead Eve into the forest, ignoring the yelling behind them. The Sleeping Forest was different than the one outside Bone Village, the trees seemed to glow green and strange unseen things could be heard. Eve shivered, but kept following Sephiroth. After sometime, she noticed that they had been to one certain place once before. “Hey, haven’t we been past here before?” she asked.

Sephiroth stopped and looked around. “Yes, the forest is trying to stop us. This can easily be fixed.” He closed his eyes, as if to think, and held his long sword before him. Eve stared wide-eyed as Sephiroth started glowing, his features brought out by the light. Then suddenly the forest was no longer green and a light shown ahead of them. Sephiroth reopened his eyes and smiled at Eve, as if to boast the fact he was more powerful than her. Eve glared at him and walked towards the light and out of the forest. She walked onto a path that looked like it was made of a large dragon’s scales, her boots taping as she stepped on the odd tiles. When she heard Sephiroth walk quickly out of the forest and after the fast moving Eve, she heard the strangest sound. It sounded like the trees had crashed together, but when she looked the opening that she and Sephiroth had walked through was gone. When Eve tried to go back and take a look, Sephiroth grabbed her arm and dragged her until she started walking in the direction that he liked, and by then they were had reached the bottom of the path.

Near nightfall they reached the city, the ancient tree growing out of the middle of it. Eve followed Sephiroth as he made his way towards the middle of the city, trying not to fall asleep as she walked. They reached the innermost part of the city, where Aeris would meet her end. The trees were huge here; they covered the seashell house in darkness. Eve could sense that Sephiroth was going into one of his moods where he ignored her, so she muttered something about finding a place to sleep and walked off. She didn’t bother to see if he had acknowledged her presence, Eve climbed up on of the many trees to the top and went to sleep before Sephiroth could find her. [Author’s note: if you haven’t figured it out, Eve hates being ignored.]

***

In the morning sun shone through the tree tops and straight into Eve’s eyes. She woke slowly, trying to shield her eyes and stretch at the same time. She had forgotten all about climbing up a tree to sleep the night before, so she wad quit startled when she nearly fell out of the tree. After many moments, Eve forced her head threw the canapé and looked around. She looked to the entrance of the city, shielding her eyes as she looked, and saw someone walked through the gates. Eve at first thought it was Sephiroth, but when she looked closer she saw it was really Aeris. Wearing pink as always and carrying her metal rod, Aeris walked slowly through the town before heading towards the place she would breathe her last breath. Eve pulled her head back into the shade; she needed to find Sephiroth fast.

She turned quickly, only to see that Sephiroth was right next to her. Eve jumped in surprise and started falling off the tree branch. At the last second she grabbed onto a twig on the side of the branch, and then wrapped her arms around the width of the tree limb. Eve swung her legs up and wrapped them around the branch also. Eve remembered that she was deathly afraid of heights, she began shaking badly as she tried not to look down.

Sephiroth sighed and flouted down to the limb beneath Eve and looked up at her. She was clinging to the underside of the branch shaking in fear. “I thought you were afraid of heights...”

“I-I am....” she replied in a quivering voice.

“Then why are you in a tree?”

“I don’t know!!” Eve cried.

Sephiroth sighed. She can kill people, but put her higher than four stories and she’s powerless... “Let go of the branch Eve.”

“N-No... too scared...” she whimpered.

“Let go of it, I’ll catch you.” Eve hugged the tree harder at the very idea. Sephiroth was about to go up here and pull her off it, but she suddenly let go of the tree. She dropped like a rock into Sephiroth's arms, a look of fear in her eyes. He looked down at Eve amazed. He turned on the branch and gently set Eve down, who was still shaking a bit. “Now... what were you looking at?”

Eve blinked at the question, but then remembered what she had seen. “Oh! Aeris just walked into the city. I’m guessing that Cloud might be here in about...” Eve started counting on her fingers mumbling, “If they’re a day behind her... with the time it will take to find the harp... I’d say about two days... maybe more.”

Sephiroth looked down beneath them and watched Aeris walk towards the seashell house that lay before them. She silently walked into the house and out of sight. “You mean that I have to wait two days to kill her? Wouldn’t it just be easier to kill her now?”

Eve shook her head. “It would but then you’d just be leaving Cloud a rotting corpse and not leaving him to believe that it was his fault that she dies before him. The later would be more fun. The look on his face when she dies will be priceless...” Eve thought of the part in the video game were it happened, the graphics were sub par, but it was still funny to watch. Just thinking about it made her want to laugh; however she was able to hold it in. she looked up at Sephiroth and asked, “So now what?”

Sephiroth sat down and leaned against the trunk of the tree. “We wait here for Cloud to get here.”

Eve stared at Sephiroth, who decided to rest his eyes, in disbelief, “What?! And stay up here?!”

Sephiroth opened one of his eyes and looked at Eve. He closed it again and answered, “Yes. Unless you want to stay where Cloud can find you and kill you...”

Eve glared at Sephiroth, but sighed in defeat. She laid down on her stomach and looked down at the ground underneath her. She really didn’t feel like dying yet, so she kept quiet and drifted back into sleep.

***

It was three days before Eve caught Cloud and the whole group walk into the ruined city. And by the look on Sephiroth's face, he was very happy. The last few days had been murder for Eve; the silence was enough to have her think about facing Cloud’s sword than Sephiroth. But she kept herself busy listening to her music. She and Sephiroth watched them search the ruin city looking for them from the safety of their tree, though they looked like ants from where they were.

When the sun began to set Sephiroth took to polishing his sword, leaving Eve to be bored again. By the time the set was gone and darkness filled the sky she had had enough. She jumped from one branch to another, getting as close as she could to the little seashell house that Cloud was sleeping in. Eve perched herself on a branch that had no leaves on it and switched on her CD player. The music filled her head as Eve swayed back and forth.

I had a dream that I could fly... I could feel each moment as time goes by... We’d never be to far away... You’d always be there I heard you say...

The song was from another video game [Legend of Dragoon, if you really want to know], but Eve only hoped that it would be enough to wake everyone. Well... that and it make Cloud think for a moment. The song was to be a foreboding one.

I never thought... thought that this would be our last goodbye... I still can dream that one day love will out from the sky...

Just before the next verse Cloud and his friends emerged from the seashell. Eve let the song slowly fade to a whisper, then silence. She quickly went back and found Sephiroth waiting for her. “It’s time,” she told him.

He smiled grimly at her and stood up. They went towards the ground, Eve jumping from branch to branch while Sephiroth flouted down effortlessly. When they got there the last of Cloud’s friends had entered the house beside the lake. Eve walked head of Sephiroth and looked inside. There was no one there and the hidden door was open. Sephiroth walked past Eve and into the spiral room. “What are you waiting for?”

She didn’t answer him, only glare at him and follow him towards the hidden door. The steps were made of crystal as they stepped down towards the alter that lay at the bottom. Sephiroth looked over the edge and peered down. He didn’t like the distance to the bottom, walking would take too long. He took off the ground and into the air, taking Eve with him. Her daggers were already drawn, but she did not seem happy with dragging her up into the air. Eve did a semi-flip and turned herself upside down. She arms were crossed, waiting for it to happen.

Eve watched Sephiroth try to get Cloud to kill Aeris as she knelt in prayer, and fail. Frustrated, Sephiroth took his sword and both hands and plummet towards the alter. His sword got Aeris in the back, the sword’s tip coming out through her stomach. Suddenly Eve began dropping down head first towards the ground, her arms posed ready for attack. It was Barret that appeared underneath her, so as she got closed she pulled her dagger back and struck him in the chest. As the rest of her body came down she swung her legs down and pulled herself free of the large black man, whose face was pale and horror struck. Eve felt her legs touch the ground as Barret dropped down, a huge bloody hole in his chest were she dagger had been. Eve spun around and found the red lion coming at her. He leaped into the air, his claws coming down on her. But she was too fast for him. She jumped over him and shoved bother her daggers into his back, Eve could feel his back snap as he crashed into the ground. Blood sprayed across her face, but she paid no mind. The next person to come at her was Tifa, but Sephiroth quickly told her that that was enough killing for one day. Dodging Tifa’s punches, Eve sighed and shook her head. Eve gave Tifa a Spinning Heel Kick* that sent Tifa flying into the remaining numbers of Cloud’s friends. Eve hopped up the stones towards Sephiroth and saw Cloud, crying over the dead body that once was Aeris. She grunted in disgust at the sight, “How pathetic!”

“I know, but not everyone has your lack of emotions,” Sephiroth commented. He glanced over Eve’s shoulder. “It seems that you’ve made them mad, Eve.”

She turned and saw that the whole group was trying to make their way towards the alter. She sighed and raised a hand. With a flick of her wrist flames sprouted up from the water and surrounded the alter in red green fire. Eve looked down and saw that the White Materia had been shot back out of the water with her fire. It lay at her feet, wet and shinning. She bent down and picked it up, no knowing if it might come in handy. Eve turned back around and saw that Cloud had been stupid enough to draw his sword against Sephiroth. Sephiroth just looked at him amused. When Cloud brought his sword back to attack him Eve grabbed in and threw it through the flames. It hit the ground somewhere as Cloud stared at her in some sort of stupor. He tried to hit her, but she grabbed his arm. With a twist, she threw his out of the flames. Eve slapped her hands together as if she had dust on them. “Well that was easy.”

“Yes, but we should leave now while the time is right.” Something above slammed down before them. Eve nearly screamed when she saw that it was the Jenova. She pointed at it, trying to speak but didn’t. “It follows us. Now come before I decide to leave you here.”

“Yeah right. I basically hold your life in my hands!” Sephiroth laughed and grabbed her by her waist, lifting her up with him away from the monster. Eve saw the looks on their faces and waved at them as she let her flames die down to revel Jenova behind them.

***

Sephiroth landed on the other side of the trees by the exit that would take him and Eve closer to the northern territory. He set Eve down, blood covered her but he didn’t mind. She took out a rag and began to wipe it off. He turned away and said, “Three dead... this couldn’t have gone any better...”

“Sure it could, if you would have let me kill Tifa...”

“No... She should be the last to die before Cloud... Now what did you pick up back here?” he had turned back to Eve, who was sitting on the ground resting.

Eve turned to him and held up her closed hand. When she opened it, the White Materia pulsed with a green light. “I thought that it might come in handy.” Sephiroth looked at the small materia and smiled. Eve couldn’t help but think that Sephiroth's eyes were the same color as the materia. She put the little green orb into her pack, which her had hidden so she could find it later, and placed in next to the black one.

Sephiroth watched Eve get back on her feet, the blood on her clothes almost invisible on her red outfit. “Come on Eve. They might not leave till morning, but we still need to stay well head of them.”

Eve mumbled some curses under her breathe, but followed Sephiroth out of the city of the dead.

***

Yeah!!!!! I killed people! That was fun! And it’ll keep gettin’ worse as the chapters go by... one by one they’ll all die until there are only four that make it to North Cave in the end... but who will it be? Guess you’ll have to read to find out! [laughs evilly]

* Spinning Heel Kick: this is a move I see on WWE wrestling all the time. I just thought that it would work here.