Leviathan
Hermione had been waiting for over an hour, now. Other had gone to check the camp and had yet to return.
Wrapping her arms around her body, she shivered.
Snap!
Getting to her feet, she drew her wand.
“Get down on the ground! Now!” It was a soldier… okay make that a troop! From what Hermione remembered of her previous visit to this place, these were the soldiers of Wutia’s army!
She attempted to comply, but one of the soldiers struck her on the side of the head, knocking her to the floor; her wand slipping out of her grip. “No!” she shrieked, feeling her arms pulled back, she yelped in pain, she’d been cuffed.
*Champ!* Other was stood in their way, about to fight them off.
“No, don’t! Please, I’m not the enemy!” bittersweet relief as Other lowered her arms and followed behind, silently.
Hermione was frogmarched through Fort Tamblin, whilst the structure was still the same, she noticed that barracks were full to capacity, this wasn’t just a platoon, this was an army!
“Couldn’t have just left me at the camp, could you, Genesis?” she mumbled, annoyed.
She was thrust unceremoniously into a pokey little dungeon, she caught herself against the opposite wall and turned in time to see the door slam behind her.
Sosuke… was he still here? She wanted to ask, but didn’t know if anyone here spoke English, “oh you idiot! You can speak Wutaian!” having fully chastised herself, Hermione walked up to the door. “Other, are you in here with me?”
“Naturally.” The reply was in front of her.
Hermione heaved a sigh, “get out of here. Find my wand, I dropped it back in the glade. Once you’ve found it, go and tell Sephiroth that I’m in here. I’ll see if I can’t talk my way out, but just in case I don’t-”
“-I’ll make sure he comes in for you.” Other gave Hermione a quick hug before disappearing.
“She’s in here.” Someone was coming for her, steeling herself, Hermione readied herself for negotiation.
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Other hurried through the Fort, her feet taking her back the way she had come. Something was tugging at her, but she had other things to worry about at that moment.
*Am I not worthy of your attention, Niece?*
Other stopped. “Uncle?” frowning, she turned to see her Uncle stood at the Leviathan fountain. She grimaced, “I have enough to contend with at present without having to deal with you!”
Her Uncle laughed, “indulge me, for a moment.” He approached her; she took a defensive position. “You have chosen a fine Champion, Niece. However, you should know that what you and your brother are attempting here is next to impossible at present.”
Other narrowed her eyes, “what are you saying?”
“Only this. I am not your enemy. Fate does not like to be tested. Continue down this path and you will condemn your Champion to a life of nothing but pain and misery.”
Other blinked, “how do you know this?” she whispered.
“This is how your Mother and I fell afoul of your true enemy. Fate took it upon herself to turn Him on us.” As he spoke, her Uncle vanished, leaving behind a slender piece of intricately carved wood; Hermione’s wand!
Picking it up, Other looked to the stars, is this true?
Shaking her head with a growl, she continued to move towards the exit, “I haven’t got time for this!”
Racing through the rest of the fort and out into the glade, Other stopped to catch her breath. As she had been running she had noticed that she was bruising, someone was hurting Hermione.
“I have to hurry, before they do anything else to her!”
Dashing through the trees, Other burst into the camp she had left and saw a soldier cock his weapon. “State your purpose!” he called, getting the attention of others around her.
“Oh, to hell with this, I don’t have time,” Other took a deep breath, “SEPHIROTH!” she shouted.
“No need to shout, I’m right behind you.” Sephiroth was indeed behind her, “you blew past me before I could get your attention.” He must have seen the distress in her eyes, “what is it?”
“Hermione’s in the Fort. We were captured by Wutai troops, there’s no telling what they’ll do to her in there, Sephiroth!” Other stilled, her stomach felt funny. She couldn’t breathe!
Coughing, she tried to breathe in, but found her lungs filling. Giving one more cough, she took a much-needed breath, “fountain!” she coughed before she succumbed to darkness.
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Hermione managed a breath as the rag was removed from her face.
Her lungs filled with sweet oxygen as a voice met her ears. “Who knows you are here?!” the soldier she had the misfortune of being with was clearly a sadist.
“I t-told you! I am here on my own! I was supposed to be meeting with Sosuke!”
This was not what he wanted to hear, her head snapped to the side, the sting of the bruise that will soon form made her hiss.
She wanted to curl up in a ball and call for her mother! She was scared…. “Genesis…” she breathed.
“Lies! Sosuke has never mentioned meeting with a Midgar whore!”
Before Hermione could reply, he had hold of her hair and was forcing her head back against the table, the heavy rag placed back over her face, held flat and soaked. HELP ME!
“What is that?!” the soldier let go of her, the rag still in his hand as she sucked in a breath coughing out the exhale and water to see a red glow coming from somewhere outside her peripheral vision.
There was a loud menacing hiss coming from somewhere, I am here to serve the one who is not from my world! a serpentine form appeared in her mind’s eye, come find me, oh chosen one, I shall protect you from those that would seek to do you harm.
Hermione took a calming breath and looked at her torturer, unshackle me. she commanded, stealing his free will from him.
She hated doing this, but she needed to get out before her body went into shock.
Rolling off the table, she saw the red glow was, in fact, coming from the fountain directly opposite her.
Scurrying to her feet, she made a dash for the fountain, spying the now familiar red orb of a summon materia in the crystal-clear water. Jumping in after it, she knew who this was. “Come to me, Leviathan!” she called, holding her hand in front of her.
Summon runes appeared at her feet as she rose a foot into the air. The mighty serpentine figure from her vision appeared before her. Resembling a Chinese Water Dragon from back home, Leviathan towered over the troops as they all stared in horror.
“The mighty Leviathan answers the call of a Midgar whore?!” snarled her torturer, he took aim with his gun and fired a shot, Hermione closed her eyes.
There was a metallic clink of metal of metal, one causing the other to sing. Opening her eyes she saw a long blade in front of her, protecting her.
“Sorry I’m late, my friend.” A soft, deep, baritone purred dangerously in her ear; Sephiroth! “Keep back.” She watched Sephiroth straighten before returning her attention to the soldiers in front of her. “No back-up is coming for you, Captain. Surrender now and you will be spared.”
“Never!” her torturer was also the leader? Well, that explained a lot. he tuned his sneer between her and Sephiroth, “for Wutai!” he cried, rallying what few men he had left and leading the charge.
“Seriously?!” Hermione squeaked, Leviathan coiled like a snake, hissing as she struck the ground directly in front of Hermione, sending the soldiers aiming for her back into the upper building.
Sephiroth had vanished from her side and the remaining soldiers, including the Captain, fell silent, blood pooling under their bodies.
She watched in fascinated horror as her friend swung his blade, the dripping blood dispersing from the metal as water would a knife.
My duty is done, my mistress. I shall rest now. Leviathan dispersed and Hermione felt heavy.
“Can you make it back to camp?” Sephiroth’s voice echoed through the fog of her vision.
Nodding, Hermione let Sephiroth assist her out of the fountain before he gathered his troops and they all marched back.
“Aaahh!” The sound of Other’s scream had Hermione running for the pathway, Sephiroth soon overtook her and, with a swing of his blade, took out the summon before them. Out of the summon spell, fell Other and a SOLDIER Second Class. She remembered him from her last visit here, but she couldn’t remember his name. Fatigue was creeping up on her fast.
“Ouch!” Other’s voice pulled her back to reality, “thank you Sephiroth.”
Hermione noticed two unusually dressed masked soldiers, dead on the ground. Noticing something familiar about them, she stooped to remove one of the masks and fell back in fear; Genesis was dead. “No…” she gasped.
“The missing SOLDIER First Class?!” the younger SOLDIER asked, Sephiroth pulled the mask back on the other one to reveal “they’re identical?”
Hermione frowned, “a copy.” Sephiroth spat, standing, he looked at the young man. “Where is Angeal?”
“I thought he was fighting around here…”
“Hmph.” Sephiroth looked miffed, Hermione almost dropped Other as he said, “so Angeal has betrayed us as well.”
“What?!”
“No,” the younger SOLDIER argued, “Angeal wouldn’t betray us, never!”
Hermione couldn’t believe what she was hearing… “what is going on?” she succumbed to darkness.
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Other caught her Champion round the waist, “wha-, Sephiroth!” The SOLDIER was beside her in an instant. “She’s exhausted.”
“We’ll head back as soon as the clean-up arrives.” Sephiroth took Hermione from Other.
Other looked back at the copies, “are you going to tell me how she ended up in the Fort, again?”
Looking up at the General, Other sighed. “I think you already know that answer.”
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Genesis cried out in pain, his shoulder throbbing. The sensation of something moving under his skin was making him sick. He wasn’t squeamish, but this wasn’t something he was accustomed to.
“Sir?” the Private from earlier was stood outside a man-sized specimen tube, “I thought you’d like to know that the girl has been rescued.”
Genesis forgot his pain, “what do you mean, rescued? No one should have found her at the camp.”
“It seems as though the Wutai troops found her, apparently she has suffered a few bruises and appeared to have been tortured with water,” Genesis advanced on the Private a fully mastered Firaga materia flaring in his bracer angrily, “but she’s alive and safe back at Midgar!” he finished quickly.
“Genesis!” Brother caught his arm, “enough my friend. Take comfort in the fact that she’s safe! Never mind what she has suffered, there will undoubtedly be more trials for the both of you, each worse than the last.”
Genesis was going to round on Brother when he felt the skin on his back tear, he fell to the floor with a cry.
“Get out, NOW!”
The sound of blood pounding through his ears deafened Genesis to anything else as the skin continued to tear. He felt Brother try to take his coat, but a scream erupted from Genesis as he collapsed to the floor.
Brother swam into focus a second later, he was lay face down.
“Sweet Goddess my back!” he swore, lifting himself onto his elbows. The sight before him made him pale. “Oh shit!” he swore.