Diverging Paths Chapter 6
The Aftermath...
By Link Kokori
Toron stepped forward, his eyes gleaming.The throne of this giant fortress was open...
"Hold on, buster," a voice, feminine, scolded.
Whipping around, Toron saw three unmistakable figures.One of them was dressed in drag, and appraently was a she.The one in the middle was fat, layered, and blue.His eyes and teeth didn't appear to make him look like a friend.And the the last one...he had his hand on his sword, which hung loosely from his garb.
"Who you?" he asked.
"Why, we're a certain someone's...friends." Ozzie answered.He made a short command. "Slash, attack!"
Slash dove forward, his sword whipped out.As he pulled the blade back, Toron held out his hand.Instantly, Slash's body made a loud crack as his legs and arms broke.The sword fell to the ground, and he collapsed.The other two, Ozzie and the woman, looked at Toron in amazement.
"He live," Toron explained. "He won't forget."He stepped forward, again, and sat on the throne.His laughs echoed through the Black Omen.
***
Crono groaned.
The Majestic was a heap of shrapnel and burnt electrical wiring.Smoke billowed from the parts that weren't already ashes.Fires, dancing lightly over the remains of Turtle's Paradise, were overburst in the pub.People, their eyes glistening with tears, noticed the bruised and bloody Crono awakening.They approached, slowly, but with a type of anger that rarely comes out.
"You've killed our people!" a forerunning woman cried.Her eyes gleamed with a fire that would certainly be put out on him.Crono tried moving away, dragging his body over the ground, but the townspeople followed.Crono neared a fallen Vincent, and shook him.
"Wake up!" Crono whispered, his voice lightened and hoarse.A voice rang through the crowd, and the townspeople stopped their approach.
"HEY!!" the voice cried.A teenager pushed herself through the crowd, followed by an old man."Watch it!" the girl yelled, and pushed through to the front.
"Are you people crazy?!These are heroes!They wouldn't be around if it was for you!" the girl explained.Vincent, awakened by Crono, saw the girl.
"Yuffie...?" Vincent, groggy, asked.The girl spun around.A bright young face turned to face him.
"Vincent...geez, you look bad."she said, and walked over to him.
***
These ropes really hurt, Marle thought to herself as she struggled to loosen the bonds on her wrists.As Rude, Reno, and Elena took them through the halls of some underground bunker, she wondered what they were being led to.A cell?An execution room?
At last they reached their destination.Opening the door, Rude allowed Lucca and Marle into the room.
"We have the people that came from the disturbance, Mr..." Rude said.The swivel chair spun around, revealing a deformed, but obviously true-to-life, Hojo.There was no hair on his head...a long, sliming tentacle was attatched to his elbow, and his feet were...well, webbed.
"Thank you, Rude," Hojo said.He tossed a bag at the feet of the Turk. "Here's your payment: 5000 gil.Now, I have another mission for you..." he proceeded.Handing Rude a document, he shooed Rude out of the room.Turning to the girls, he nonchatingly asked, "how old are you two?"
"We're both 15," Lucca answered.Hojo just shook his head and continued.
"Your names?
"I'm Lucca, she's Marle."
"Your blood type?"
"...I'm A-positive..."
"Your sexual preferences?"
"WHAT?!!!!!!" Lucca yelled. "What the hell is that?"
"A simple question, that's all." Hojo explained. "I just felt the need, to...know this."
Lucca sighed. "...we're both heterosexual," she said at last.Hojo took these answers down in a notebook. "Okay, that'll be all." he said. "Feel free to ask me any questions."
"Alright," Marle started. "What's your name?"
"Hojo."
"Hojo what?"
"Just Hojo.I dropped my surname a long time ago."
"What happened to you?"
"I was attacked while in a fit of insanity.During the battle, I was heavily wounded...I used my biological experiments to recreate my bone structure and missing cells."
"Eeew," Marle commented.
"You obviously aren't someone who enjoys scientific work," Hojo joked.He turned to Lucca. "Do you enjoy the mysteries and powers of experimentation?" he asked.Lucca simply nodded yes.
"I enjoy machines, however," she pointed out. "That is the difference between us."
"Ah, yes, that brings me to my next question..." he said.Hojo pulled out the Gate Key from a bag left on his desk."Would you mind explaining what this is?"
Lucca gulped.
***
Toron scanned the horizon through a window port not to far from his throne.He saw mountains, seas, villages, everything.Soon he would have control.Soon he would be a god.
Soon.
***
Magus floated through time.It had seemed like eternity.That gate had been flawed, specifically.Damn Toron.
A low growl...one that reminded him of Lavos.
Lavos?
***
Godo sat in the top floor of his temple, listening intently.
"Sephiroth swung us off the Masamune, and now, here we are," Tifa finished storytelling.Godo rocked his head up and down.
"I see...so Sephiroth has returned, and from your friend's story," he said as he looked to the spunky and spiky-haired Hero Of Time, "a sorceror has taken control of a flying fortress.This is not good," he quickly decided. "There is a hidden passage to the Crater, just out of the mountains," he pointed out, shoving a long finger towards the range outside. "You might be able to take the path to Sephiroth."
"We'll go.He took..." Cloud trailed away, his voice un-understandable at the last few words.
"Very well.But allow my daughter to lead you.She has the most knowledge of this mountain range.But first, rest here," he asked.The group agreed, and settled in.
As the full moon rose, Tifa was unsettled in her sleep.A nightmare was taking place, a terrible one.
Tifa stood at the Crater's opening...Safer Sephiroth's looming figure escalated well above her height.She slipped down to the old, rickety ladder.Climbing into the opening, rocks crumbled as she made the last few steps.Safer Sephiroth's body turned, and it's giant head started to look down.TYifa gasped loudly, and jumped behind a rock.Crouching and praying that she wouldn't be seen, she stayed there for a few minutes.She looked up...and Safer Sephiroth's head had returned to it's old post.Tifa crawled from her space, and quietly started to step down towards the Crater's opening.
She reached the area where the final Jenova battle took place...only to see a figure that resembled Cloud being hacked away at by a shadowy Sephiroth silhoute.Tifa started to scream, before it all went black...
And she woke up.
.