Nightmare's Disciple
Prologue
"Wisdom begins with wonder.", words uttered that have lasted longer than the man who uttered them. Long ago, I would have laughed off any contemplation, any effort into rationalizing the words of old dead men. The way I saw it, they were dead and buried, food for worms and maggots. What they said and what they did, had no bearing on the things around me. The past was gone, the present was the only thing that mattered...Or So I thought.
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The wind ripped through his hair, causing It to whip about in varying directions. Far infront of him, he could see the leader of this small group, looking very at home in the bleak, grey mountains. Infront of the leader was the hired guide: A pale girl with chestnut hair and oversized mammaries for her age, much to his and his friends enjoyment. Looking over her shoulder, the guide girl caught him staring, causing him to avert his gaze quickly. An amused smile formed on her lips due to his embarrassment, and he knew If Cloud caught word of that, he would never hear the end of it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Cloud far behind, with his head down and face obscured by the mask he had chosen to wear out of shame. Though they were good friends, he would never understand the logic behind Cloud's thinking, he ran away from everything hard, yet expected everything to just fall into his lap. Behind Cloud, Zack was watching for any monster, hoping to try out the new materia he purchased before the mission had begun. Another close friend of his, Zack was the anti-thesis of Cloud. Happy go-lucky, passive and charismatic, his skill with charming people got him to the top rather than pure skill with the blade. Cloud had been many a foil to Zack's 'doing's', his bitter and anti-pathic nature scaring away any potential lady Zack may try to aqquire. Zack had tried to break him of this attitude, but to no avail.
His mind was brought back to reality as the group approached a rickety rope bride, caution obviously not being on the minds of the groups leader and guide. One by one, they all began to walk along the bridge, he himself a little cautiously. Halfway across the bridge he heard a snap, and before he knew it, was falling--hurtling to the ground. Instinct kicked in, moving himself closer to the side of the cliff In mid-air, he drew his Katana Yoshiyuki from it's scabbard and struck it into the mountain wall. Driving his feet onto the wall and griping the handle of his katana tightly, stopping his descent. Looking down, he could could see the other members of his group far below on the ground. Apparently Sephiroth had plenty of cue spells, but he couldn't jump down from the height he was at, otherwise broken legs might be the best outcome. He would have to scale down the side of the mountain, an endeavor that would take some time. The wind began to pick up, making his keeping balance much harder. Looking down, he could see the group moving along, disregarding the face that he was missing.
"Well...It seems Sephiroth really hasn't changed over the years.." He said to himself with a snicker.
Positioning himself, he slowly pulled his katana from the rock. Pushing himself off of the wall, he flips backwards, plummeting once again towards the ground. Readying himself to strike into the rock again as he neared the ground, a sudden gust of wind flew him backwards, away from the wall and to the ground below--flat on his back. Slamming into the ground, his body writhed in pain for just a moment before he fell out of consciousness, still clutching his sword.
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"Darksangel, up and atem!"
"..........zzzzzz......"
"Darksangel! Get your ass up!!!"
"......zzzzzzz....."
".....DARKSANGEL!!!!!!"
His eyes shot wide open, woken abruptly to find his SOLDIER commander, A giant of a man by the name of Dimitri Ahn staring down at him with blood shot eyes. Dimitri's cropped head was covered by a blue Shinra style cap, wearing the standard blue and black trimmed uniform along with it, standing very menacingly with his gigantic blade, Apocalypse, behind his back. Kevin smirked a bit, rolling off of his cot and on to his feet, still wearing his uniform fatigues and boots, his coat and tanktop laying on his bed. Whipping a hand through his mess of long brown hair, Kevin shrugs his shoulders.
"Yes?" Kevin said simply, though with a hint of amusement at Dimitri's anger.
Dimitri's anger flared to greater heights, his eyes wide and teeth gritted.
"What do you mean 'Yes?'!? Do you plan to just sleep your days away!?" Dimitri screamed at him.
Kevin smirks slightly, shrugging once again.
"That was the plan..." He replied, matter of factly.
Dimitri sighed, trying to calm himself while placing a hand to his forehead.
"How long has It been since your last mission, Kevin?" Dimitri asked, his hand still on his forehead.
Kevin tilted his head, looking up as he thought of an answer.
"Hmm....Three months now, I think."
Dimitri shakes his head, looking up, directly at him. A sudden, malicious smile appeared on his face, causing Kevin to wince slightly.
"Well, It's time you had a mission, boy! And...It just so happens...That I've signed you up for one!" Dimitri said, smiling evilly.
Kevin gulped to himself, scratching his head at the thought of a mission Dimitri would send him on. Dimitri turned and picked up Kevin's shirt and jacket, throwing both to him then turning his back to him.
"The mission is a routine checkup of a Mako Reactor out in Nibel, apparently the locals are complaining of problems. Shouldn't be much trouble for you, especially since you'll have some familiar company..."
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"So much for familiar company...."
Kevin arose with a groan, pain still searing up and down his body. The pain was bad, but receding slowly, thanks to the Mako present in his blood stream. However, Mako took alot of time to have such an effect on the body, meaning that he had been laying there for some time. Opening his eyes as he rolled himself onto his stomach, he found that It was now night, and a strange smell was in the air...Pushing himself up, he steadied himself as he nearly fell. Pulling a small vial of green fluid from his jacket pocket, he popped the cork and drank the fluids quickly. The effect was instantaneous, the pain disappearing slowly. Looking around, he found his katana Yoshiyuki at his feet. He bent over and picked it up, standing to his full height again as he sheathed it. His senses becoming clear, he could finally distinguish the smell--It was smoke. Running a hand through his hair, he looked up to see far in the distance, a thick cloud of smoke rising into the air.
His cold blue eyes squinted slightly, knowing full well where the smoke was coming from.
"Nibelheim...."
His pain lingering lightly, he rushed down the rocky paths and towards the burning town of Nibelheim.
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He arrived at the town many hours too late, to find only corpses and burning houses. Looking around, all he found was the dead, no survivors. A noise far infront of him caught his attention, the sound of a steel scratching against the ground. Walking towards the sound, he found a man on his belly with a pitchfork at his side, scratching it across the ground helplessly. Bending down, he rolled the man over, to find a huge gash across his chest, bleeding profusely. His face contorted in pain, he opened his eyes slightly. Kevin shakes his head gritting at the scene.
"Who did this to you!?" Kevin said, anger in his voice.
The man's eyes were unfocused, but he maintained consciousness, turning his eyes to look at him. He coughed several times, specks of blood falling on his face.
"Soldier...Silver haired....S-Soldier..." The man replied, before his head tilted, and the spirit in his eyes was gone.
Kevin stood once more, gritting to himself as droplets of rain began to fall. Thunder crackled in the distance and the wind swept through his hair, he squints his eyes sharply.
"Sephiroth...."
He sat on the floor, staring out into the night as the rain poured down on him. He closed his eyes for just a moment, that moment turned into a minute, that minute into an hour, as he lost himself in his exhaustion and anger. The hours passed by, and he was awoken. Now, he was being dragged across the ground, his arms bound behind his back. His eyes looked up, and he saw two Soldiers at his sides, dragging him across the gravel towards a Shinra carrier. Behind him, he could hear the voice of a man he knew, the voice of hojo.
"Leave the other two in the mansion..." Hojo said with an amused snicker.
"What about that one, sir?" Replied a Soldier.
"He's too valuable as he is...We have enough beasts...But not enough monsters." He could hear Hojo's cackling voice far behind after that statement. Closing his eyes once more, he fell out of consciousness, and lost himself.