Final Fantasy VII-2: Searching for the truth

[Storm]

A buzz shook Serparon's leg. He ignored it. A second buzz, more vigorous than the first shook, followed by a ringing tune. It was his phone. Rubbing his eyes, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Mr Viper"

"Vipera..."

"Vipera, have you begun your task?"

"Yes sir, I am at Costa De Sol. I've got here just almost 2 hours ago. I'm starting on the report."

"Boy, I hope you are not relaxing. You are ment to be investigating the lifestream."

"Yes sir, I am finding my ideas to work from, with a retrospective the things that have happened. I'm going to ask the locals, then go and..."

"Boy, you are ment to be finding where the lifestream is vast, find out about the lifestream and it's power. This is an important assignment. From the article you produce, ShinRa can..."

"... ShinRa?"

"Get cracking and don't fail."

The phone cut out. Serparon sighed. "What have ShinRa got to do with this?" He rose himself from the tree, taking his pad and pen back out of the bag. He pulled his trousers over his beach shorts, followed by his trainers. "What am I supposed to do?"

He turned, as if to say farewell to the peaceful sea. The waves were breaking frequently upon the shore. Ever so slightly, they were increaing in size. "Hmm... the tide must be coming in".

[cetra_aeris]

Ki was just as surprised as the res when Ora had awoken. She had dropped the pillow that was held in her hand, wanting to laugh at the look Naomi had, obviously wanting to hit him with a pillow.

She stayed quiet, though as he had gotten up and they had headed out the door. When they were standing in front of the villa for the second time today, she couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Shall we enter?"

She looked away from the Villa and at Marlene. She looked around at their group, Naomi, Ora, Marlene and herself. It was odd. She would have never expected to find herself here or doing something like this. She smiled, took a deep breath looking back at the Villa and nodded. She felt as ready as she would ever be.

[Aerif]

"Ok... Anybody got a key..."

The door was locked, not to Marlene's surprise but more rather to her disapointment. It was obvious she wouldn't be getting through that door.

"I guess we can't check in there for the other half of that locket..."
"You don't need a key to get through this door, just a little bit of strength."

Ora pressed his shoulder to the door and pushed, bringing the rotten door off it's hinges.

"Oops... Maybe I pushed a little hard..."

Now that the door was open the group where free to enter the derelict building, and they did so, stepping over the gap between the wooden floorboards.

"Whatever you do here Naomi, don't use that fire materia..."

They could see the basement, where AVALANCHE had stored their findings from their journey. The fastest way down there would be to jump into one of the holes. However the group wanted to reach the basement alive and had to find a more sensible way to get down to the sub ground floor.

They walked from the light of a torch that Ki had had the sense to bring, it took them a while to find a suitable route and they had to plan their every move but eventually they reached a derelict staircase going down to the basement where they all got to work on finding the trinket which would lead them to their next clue.

They managed to find a large supply of potions and a few elixirs but no locket. The short visit had ended up making the group stay for 2 hours searching for the half locket. However they exited the villa empty handed and Marlene tried to think of where the locket could be.

It was lunch time now and they had managed to find a café to eat at. Marlene fiddled with her phone trying to get the person who had called her in Midgar to call again. But it was no use. She couldn't find any trace of the call on the phone...

[Omega OwA]

Ora was just as dissapointed as everyone else when the group left Villa Cloud without any half-locket. He could have sworn he saw someone behind a family of old barrels, glaring at them right before the four left.

They then breaked for lunch, but he did not feel like eating anything.

Ora thought about the locket as he sat there at the table, rocking on his chair.

'Somethings missing. Could someone have stolen it? Why? Maybe we just didn't hard enough...'

He wanted to go back there but something about the place did not feel right.

Taking a small sip from his cold drink, he saw Marlene fumbling around with her PHS. She looked a little disturbed but he kept quite. Ora then thought about his own PHS. He took out his bag and rustled through his things to find his PHS but it was not there.

'Maybe those thugs took it back in Midgar.....But I had all my things, right?'

"So, where are we going next?" Ora asked, looking around the table.

[cetra_aeris]

Ki felt dissapointed when they had left empt handed. But in truth, she couldn't have been more glad to leave. It was eerie and something about being in there just didn't feel right. Yet, to her own surprise she found herself wanting to look around more.

She leaned on the table, watching Marlene fiddle with her PHS. She closed her eyes and tried to think where they could possibly find that half-a-locket. Although she was trying to think of somewhere that would seem likely to hide it, her thoughts kept traveling back to Midger. In specifics, Tifa's bar, 7th Heaven.

She remembered it vividly, always running in when she got a chance just to take a peek. But Tifa always took her back outside to her mother. She frowned as she thought, trying to remember everything when a memory came to her. Once, when she had been hiding under one of the tables, she had seen that one machine go down under the floor. She had been startled and had ran out straight home.

"So, where are we going next?"

She jumped a bit, letting out a sigh and looked at Ora. She turned from him back to Marlene. Ki fiddled with her drink looking at it as she twirled a straw around in the cup. "Do you think... that maybe... I don't know... It might be in Midger somewhere? Like the ruins of Sector Seven, or somewhere they used to visit alot?" she suggested a bit timidly.

[Aerif]

It was now evident what 'anonomous caller' now meant to Marlene, it meant that the caller, whoever it was, sent to no signal as to what number the phone has. She checked through her address book but couldn't find any trace of the hinting voice.

"Maybe, we're trying to hard... Now, what did that text say... Find the other half of the key... Who has lots of keys? Wait... Doesn't Elmyra have a lot of keys?"

When Marlene looked up she realised she had been speaking her thoughts quite loudly. Everybody was staring at her.

Marlene tried to ignore the stares as she phoned Elmyra using her PHS.

"Hello? Elmyra?"
"Oh, hello Marlene"
"Elmra, I need to ask you about a certain key..."
"..."
"Huh?"
"Oh sorry, I take it your talking about your father's half key..."
"You know, and you didn't tell me?"
"Marlene you never asked..."
"So where is it?"
"It's under my bed..."
"Isn't that where..."
"Yes Marlene, you did mistake it for a christmas present when you where looking for them..."
"Oh..."
"Do you want your key? I think it's about time you had it..."
"Yes, I would"
"Well if I was you I'd use that small fortune in your pocket to get some plane tickets."

So Marlene did, the group boarded the plane toghether, Marlene also made sure to leave tickets for Tare and Evander if they had wanted to come, and because it was a package deal she had decided to leave one on the beach as though being charitable...

[Omega OwA]

The four were on the plane for what felt like days, though Ora didn't bother much. He looked out the window almost the whole time they were in flight. Being on the plane reminded him of the thrill of flying high in the sky.

He wanted to experience that again, especially since he had forgotten after all the events that have taken place through the passing months. He then thought back to what had happened to him since that day he 'saved' Caije and Marlene.

So many things had come and passed. Ora thought if their small group would become as famous as AVALANCHE did.

His thoughts were interrupted by a large rumble of the plane.

"Have we landed yet?"

They were still in the sky. Ora examined outside his window. An Airship could be seen not too far away, it seemed as if he had seen the ship before.

"ROCKSLIDE?"

[Aerif]

"ROCKSLIDE?"
"Pardon?"
"Outside, it's the ROCKSLIDE airship, the one we saw Alicia escape from..."
"Oh... I shouldn't worry about them too much Ora, think about it... They must be searching for Alicia or something. She's probably still missing as I didn't see her on the shores of Costa Del Sol..."
"Either that or their searching for us..."
"Without their leader? ROCKSLIDE is a major terrorist group, most of it's members probably couldn't wipe their own bottoms without guidance from their leader. ROCKSLIDE don't even know we're back..."

Although Marlene could not read Ora's thoughts she had a feeling that Ora wasn't totally convinced. His other thought also came into Marlene's head, this flight was taking ages. Marlene could really do with some form of entertainment other than the in-flight 'movie' which was really just an animated film starring a chibi-fied President ShinRa trying to take over the world but failing miserably and falling on his rear end wherever it was possible.

It was no wonder Marlene fell asleep resting her head on Ora's shoulder...

[Omega OwA]

Ora wanted to beleive Marlene but it felt like the ROCKSLIDE Airship was following the plane they were in. He frequently checked back at the window to see if it was still there. Finally, he checked back and it was retreating down under the clouds.

With a sigh, he looked at the scenery below them. The plane still was not even near its destination. 'How long has it been by now;And why aren't we there already? It shouldn't take this long. What if they keep us here forever?' He said to himself as a little joke. But it didn't seem to humour him.

He wanted to get into some open space and move around but there was none on this plane. He finally decided to rest, just now noticing Marlene had been asleep the whole time on his shoulder. He smiled and leaned back his head.

"We'll be there when we wake up....." Ora softly said to himself. He soon fell asleep, though the feeling of being watched never left him.

[Storm]

The waves were becoming huge. A of water was turning from a turqoise hue to a dark blue. A dorsal fin arose from the waves, as the shape moved closer. Cries of panic, shrill in pitch echoed the beach, as the young journalist quickly began scribbling down notes. The immense monster hauling it's body onshore with a hard metal echo. A massive... submarine?

The door opened as a dumpy man with a beard exited.

"Mr. Vipera, we have new orders. We are to head to Midgar. Reports from the Midgar military unit have encountered a suspicious vehicle heading there. It's being picked up on the radar. You, boy, are to report it. Take photos. Take film. Write. Get as close to the action as you can. Even if you get hurt, bring us information."

"Hurt?"

"Hurry up and get inside, boy."

Serparon picked up his bag and walked inside the imense structure. It was cold, with an unfriendly feeling. Little was inside but pure metal. "So much for a beautiful first assignment."

He turned towards the bearded man. "So... what do you want me to do about the article on the lifestream?"

"It still needs to be done, but we have bigger fish to fry. People just eat up stories about threat, war, violence. Who cares about the plannet eh? It's all about the economy!!! Money!!! Gwaaaahaha!!!"

Serparon sighed at this crude humour. He'd much rather write about the lifestream. And what did he mean about getting "hurt?" Were the boss of the Midgar Media Enterprise and the Midgar Gazelle so desperate for a story that they'd put one of their reporters in danger?

This was going to be a long journey...

[Aerif]

"Excuse me, Miss Wallace? The plane has touched down and we'd appreaciate it if you woke up..."
"Yeah Marlene! Sleepy time is over!"
"Naomi... You're doing it again..."
"Doing what?"
"Do you want to explain to her, Ki? Or shall I?"

Marlene opened her eyes, surprised that she had even managed to sleep upon the aeroplane. She had slept soundly upon Ora's shoulder all the way and had not stirred since she had entered the slumber. The extra voice, the air stewardess unclipped the seatbelt and Ora helped her out of the seat. She was surprised to be feeling so light headed. It was almost like a new experiance for her, and the short feeling made her think of one thousand and one things to tease Naomi with, however she resisted the urge much like Naomi had done back at the Inn when she had been given the chance to hit Ora with a pillow.

Public transportation had certainly been a grand thing for many years within New Corel, the overhead monorails could get a person to almost any area of the city, effortlessly. And what's more, it was completely free! So it didn't take the group long to get to Central Street, the very street that Marlene had spent the last 5 or so years with Elmyra. They entered the Wallace building and went up 2 floors to the 2nd floor apartment. Marlene's swipe card opened the door and the group entered, to be greeted by an over excited Elmyra...

[cetra_aeris]

The plane flight had been long and boring. She couldn't be more happy to be back on the ground. As they walked to the apartment she stretched, enjoying the ground under her feet. Not that she had hated the flight, but it wasn't something she would see herself doing very often.

Ki jumped when the excited woman she guessed was Elmyra came to greet them. She was a surprise at her reaction and she couldn't help but smile when she grabbed Malene in a large hug. Fond memories of her own past flitered through her head.

[Omega OwA]

The group was finally off the plane and onto some solid grounda fter the endless flight. Ora took a deep breath and stepped off the entryway and back in New Corel. Being in the city brought back the memories of his first visit here. This was pretty much where it all started. ROCKSLIDE caused all the trouble that seemed to only be passing thoughts.

Now that he actually thought about it, he did not seem very comfortable in New Corel. The four traveled around and made it the the Wallace building and made it to Elmyra's room. Ora seemed a bit eager to meet Elmyra though. At least we're actually making more progress than what I can remember... He thought to himself. The 2nd Floor apartment door creaked open and Elmyra popped out, obviously wanting to meet Marlene's company.