Final Chance

Chapter Three
The Trials pt.1
By: Catriana and Sentora

Day One

Siblings fought. That was common and something to be expected. Brothers usually fought more with fists than words, since it was always easier to say you kicked your brother's butt than it would be to say that you shut them up by saying the better line. Kicking butt always got the point across. Of course, what keeps some siblings from doing this is strict discipline. The parents teach the children that this is wrong and it is not to be tolerated. Bickering only led to unhappiness and unhappiness led to misery. Misery was a bad thing. Did this stop Nemo and Sephiros?
Not on your life pal.
"The map says go SOUTH, Sephiros..." Nemo began
"Um...no it says North, Nemo." Sephiros countered "Maybe you need glasses."
Both boys were cranky, despite the sleeping arrangements. Both had slept fitful dreams, tossed and turned and kept Terri awake all night. Nemo, when he didn't get his six to eight hours of sleep, was cranky anyway. Sephiros, she believed, was only cranky because he didn't get to sleep in the same tent as Terri.
Terri was beginning to see them as irrational and foolish.
We do not have time for this. She thought We are already behind. We have not even taken down camp and it is already midday. At the rate we are going, not only will we be late, but we will also be lost. She took out her compass, a small pendant with a sliver of materia which was supposed to help guide one the right way. Moving quickly, she took down both camps while the boys were arguing, packed everything up and looked up at the boys.
And promptly threw both bags of heavy things at them, whether they caught it or not.
And she threw them hard.
Because Nemo wasn't carrying the camping materials, he was able to catch himself from falling, however, the map completely flew from his hands and onto the floor. Sephiros, not being so lucky, was thrown onto the floor by the heavy materials, gasping for air as his lungs tried to help him breathe after the wind was knocked out of him.
Terri decided to put on her best Diana impersonation. She put her hands on her hips and tried to frown, however, the emotion never reached her eyes. "We are behind." she said simply "Because of both of your counterproductive behaviors, we cannot camp tonight until later if we're going to get anywhere. Which means we will have to carry an oil lamp with very little oil a lot longer than we should, meaning we might run out before the Trials are over. If you have torches, I would like to know where they are, as I do not have any. Furthermore, your constant bickering was for nothing, the right way is West, not North or South. That was why I was given the map, and not you two. Your jobs are strictly to use your materia and your fighting skills. Please leave navigating to me, as you both can clearly not do that well at all. If your bickering continues, I will leave you. By my calculations, if I were to leave you, my chances would be slimmer, but I could still make it. You two, without a map and with your bickering, would not only never get out of the cave, but you would then disgrace your mother for the reasons why you could not leave the cave. If you would like to live with that on your conscience, that bothers me not. It is your mother you will have to deal with." she took the map from the floor, looked at it and using her pendant she closed her eyes and concentrated. As it glowed a slight pink and pointed to West once again to prove her point, she put the pendant away, put the map in her bag and walked towards the west, moving to leave, whether the boys were with her or not.
Sighing, Nemo looked at Sephiros "Terri is right. Let's just put our arguments behind us for now and try to get out of this damned cave."
There was silence. Then:
"Nemo...." Sephiros warned "We don't need to worry about that right this minute."
Nemo, who was starting to follow Terri, frowned "What do you mean?" he asked "You heard Terri right? We shouldn't be arguing okay? We need to try and get out of the cave as fast as possible. Don't tell me you're trying to be a jackass." he said, starting to become annoyed. Why did Sephiros have to be so stubbron?
"Nemo...." Sephiros growled "Get over here. Now."
Fuming, Nemo turned to Sephiros "What?!" he demanded "Why do you have to....oh." he paused as his eyes grew wide and he began to move towards the side, as if to avoid something coming his way, "Um....TERRI!" Nemo cried out as a large, wait, make that very large, hoof came down where his spot was. Nemo skillfullly avoided the attack by the large bull, not that it mattered since the bull then slammed Nemo in the side with its large head, sending Nemo straight into Sephiros and they both took a ride and met the far wall of the cave. It was a pretty wall though, if that makes a difference.
"This...." Sephiros started as he pushed a K.O'ed Nemo off of him "Sucks." his eyes narrowed as he tried to size up his opponent, analyzing and gathering up the data needed.
Ground based monster, so he'll rely on Earth attacks. Sephiros thought, Wind attacks are Nemo and Terri's specialty, not really mine. My attacks won't do as much damage as theirs would. Ice works somewhat, but I'm better with Fire and Lightening. Fire will just piss this thing off more, lightening might work if I use a powerful enough Materia, which I really don't want to use since this creature isn't all that powerful. I could try using my actual attacks, but if he uses an Earth based attack, I'll be hurt a lot. Damn. Be nice if Terri was around...Nemo is out of it already...
As if on cue, Terri appeared from where she had left, Materia in hand and ready to use. She looked at the giant bull with a blank expression on her face. She would hinder the bull, and Sephiros could use his physical attacks to weaken it. If only it were that easy.
Apparently the bull was not in a very good mood. He charged at Terri with so much speed, Terri almost wasn't able to dodge fast enough. Being faster than Nemo and slimmer helped, as she was able to out maneuver the bull and move to Sephiros side, who had his sword out and was ready to go.
"So..." Sephiros began "What's the plan?" he asked her

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Her head hurt a lot. It was her own fault really, as she shouldn't have used Bolt 3 just to get someone that she was pissed off at. Her father had always scolded her about it, told her that it was a foolish person who used Mastered Materia and wasn't ready for it. She was able to handle other Mastered Materia quite well, just not Lightening materia. In short, she had a whopper of a headache and it was not going away.
"If this is what a hangover feels like, I'll never, ever drink." Storm moaned as she tried to open her eyes.
And met black ones.
Thus was the reason now why there was screaming in all of Sector 2's underground sections. Even other Clans could hear Storm miles away. Promptly, after getting over his shock, Gimotachi clamped his massive hand over her mouth, shhhing her with a small hiss.
"Shut up." he snapped "It's just me. Geez, you'd think I was trying to kill you or something." when he got no real response he glared at her "Now...I'm going to remove my hand, and if you scream, I'll snap your neck. Got it?"
A receiving glare was all he got.
Ignoring the wrenching feeling he was getting in his stomach, he continued to glare at her "Look woman," he began, careful not to call her 'kid' anymore "You're on my turf okay? Just put up with me for a couple of hours and I will be more than happy to let your spikey ass stalk right out of this Clan area. No one really likes Humans here all that much anyway. They, and I, will be happy to see you gone. Now, will you cooperate with me?" he asked
She nodded and he removed his hand.
"If you hate me so much, why didn't you just leave me back there?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking very much like her father.
Wish I knew, hon. He thought It defies all logic with me too. "We're not animals, regardless of what you Humans may think." he snapped "It isn't my way to just leave people defenseless."
This was partially true. If it had been anyone else he would have helped them, Human or not, but because of the fact that he felt...what he had when he had looked at her, it was the only true reason he hadn't left her there. The girl had been lucky indeed.
"After I tried to kill you?" she asked, a bit sheepishly. Gimo looked at her and cursed to himself as his insides did weird things.
She was real cute when she looked like that.
He cleared his throat "You couldn't have killed me with that." he pointed to a pendant around his neck. It was a red jewel wrapped with a black strip of leather "This, my dear lady, reflects most lighting and fire spells. You wouldn't have been able to touch me with that Mastered Materia of yours, especially when your aim sucks big ones." he added, more to himself than to her.
She puffed up and pouted "So what? It's not like I'm a master mage or anything." she snapped "I'm just a kid."
My ass. Gimo thought "Yeah, well for a kid, you sure do know how to throw a massive sword the same size as you around like it's nothing." he pointed out darkly "Your dad...his name is Cloud Strife right?"
Storm blinked at him and he nodded, noting that he was correct "We Anthros like to be updated in the recent events. We know of Neo-Shinra and we know of how the old Shinra fell and who was responsible. That Buster Sword you're carrying is something we Anthro's know and respect, vaguely. So I've been guessing that you're related to him in some way, either his little sister or whatever."
"I'm...his daughter." she said "I'm his first child."
He nodded "Alright, now that makes sense. You look just like him." he sighed "Well I guess you're wondering where you are. This is my Clan's home, which is ran by Ronwe, leader of the Clan. I'm next in line to be leader. Most Anthros live underground in Sector 2, and we live a stable life here. Ronwe is much nicer than I am, and he likes Humans so he was the one that allowed me to let you in without too much fuss." when she shifted in a weird manner he turned away from her and looked at the door "Anyway, because you so recklessly blasted your Materia, almost all of your clothes were messed up and my "sisters" are mending them. You had some burns on your arms, so that's why they've been wrapped up. Overall, you're doing fine. If you wait for a couple of hours, your clothes will be done and you can...go...home...what the hell are you doing?!" he demanded as Storm jumped up and gave him a hug
"Thanks...for not leaving me with those slugs." she said "I really hate slugs." she said and sighed "I hate slugs a lot..."
Gimo turned to her, putting an arm around her slender body "Uh...welcome." he said "I thought you were trying to be mad at me." he offered
"Too sleepy to be mad." Storm said drowsily. Apparently she had been falling asleep while he was talking. "So take your thank yous while you can." she murmured in his fur. "You're...soft."
Gimo promptly brushed her off, almost slammed her onto the bed and far away from him and stalked out of the room, shaking Storm from her sleepyness and blinking as she stared at the now closed door.
"What was that all about?" she asked and then huffed "Can't be nice to anyone these days."
I will not think of a human that way, I will not think of a human that way, I will not think of a human that way, I will not think of a human that way...damn it! Why can't I get some beautiful, OLDER Anthro woman to be my lifemate? Someone who has a figure and isn't sassy, wait, she can be sassy coz that's more fun for me, and nice and who HAS A FIGURE?! No, I get stuck not only with a loud ass, smart ass, flat everything looking GIRL but she's HUMAN to top it off. Gods, do you hate me or something? Did I do something wrong? Or do you just like to see me suffer while you laugh hysterically and point at me. I swear this is NOT fair. And it doesn't help that she looks damn cute whenever she pouts or frowns or looks sleepy or...DAMN! And why can't I stop thinking about her? She's just a kid for crying out loud. And furthermore....
"Gimo?" a voice asked
Turning, Gimo turned to face the Clan leader, Ronwe. He was as tall as Gimo, but his antlers made him taller. He always seemed to be calm and his eyes held nothing but kindness. But beneath that lurked a fearsome power, and it was this power alone that made him the leader, and his leadership skills second.
Ronwe smiled at Gimo, as if sensing his distress "Son, you wanted to speak to me?" he asked "I know you haven't been able to get away from the Human female so I haven't tried to visit you, but seeing as you're out and I'm here, I think that maybe we can discuss what is on your mind."
Gimo shrugged "Sure." Heh, couldn't get away? Hell, if it hadn't been for my damn emotions, I would have been talking to you already, but since I couldn't conquer it, I sat there for five hours just looking at Storm, hoping she didn't overdo it with the Materia thing. I am so pathetic. "Well...I was kinda wondering about that Lifemate thing and all."
This acquired a hard stare from Ronwe and Gimo immediately straightened up and looked him straight in the eye. There was heavy suspicion within Ronwe's eyes, but as he spoke, these suspicions never reached his voice "Gimo, you have known of that since you were a pup. I doubt I should have to explain it to you. What is the matter?"
"I would prefer if we went someplace more nonintrusive." Gimo said, looking around "What I got to say, ain't for nosy people."
Ronwe nodded "I agree. Come, let us go to my chambers and we will discuss it." he said and turned, walking down the hallway a bit, with Gimo following.
Anthros lived in underground caverns that they had made homes out of. Most of these places consisted of winding hallways and many many rooms. All the hallways were lit with candles. At one room, with the doors lightly colored with more colors than the rest of the Clans, Ronwe opened the door and led Gimo inside.
The Clan leader's room was always the largest. Ronwe's room was no exception. It was lightly furnished, with small decorations. It had one large table with chairs and in another room, there was his bed. That was pretty much it. Gimo snorted, when he became Clan leader, his "pad" would attract all the ladies.
Not anymore. Not now that you have Storm...
He muttered something and then sat down at the large table at Ronwe's insistence. Ronwe sat at the head of the table and put his hands together, waiting for Gimo to speak.
Feeling highly uncomfortable, Gimo cleared his throat "Well basically, I was out getting some of those slug things when I saw that girl, Storm Strife." he said and when Ronwe seemed to be doing nothing but listening, he continued "Well she was annoying at first, and I tried to get her to get lost, but then I guess she got pissed at me, and unleashed her Mastered Materia."
"How old is she?" Ronwe asked
"Not old enough to handle that type of Materia." Gimo said honestly
"I see. Foolish."
"Yeah, she's a hothead. Anyway, when I went to go and scold her, she fainted on me. When I looked at her, really looked at her, I...feltsomething." he rushed
This got a raised eyebrow "Felt something?" Ronwe asked
"Yeah. It was real strong, like a feeling one would get when they first realize that they like someone, but it's more intense. I felt if anything happened to her, I'd lose a part of myself. That's when I realized..."
"That she was your lifemate?"
"Yeah! And it really pissed me off too. What will the others say?! She's thirteen years old in human years, she's still just a little kid! I can't understand it, so I thought that maybe I was wrong. But then when I sat there, I couldn't stop...staring. It was really giving me the creeps. Everytime she smiles or whatever I feel funny and it ain't right. Tell me I'm wrong Ronwe. Tell me this isn't what I think this is. I don't think I can stand being bonded to a human female. Especially not her." he spat
Ronwe smiled and nodded "I see." was all he said
That's it? Gimo thought sourly No words of wisdom? No, "don't worry Gimo, we can fix you up with a cure right away" ?! I'm almost in a state of hysteria and all he can say is "I see"!? I will not be bonded to that....that...
"Ronwe..." Gimo began
"The girl is your lifemate." Ronwe said, "It is that simple. You know in your heart that it's true, simply deal with it and move on."
"Easy for you to say. Why don't you try being her lifemate? She's impossible! And not only that...if I'm nice to her she'll probably do female things that'll just really piss me off. I don't need to go through female things. I already have enough problems with my little sister."
This got Ronwe deep in thought "Right. Your sister. We will have to do something about her. She cannot go with you."
"Scuse me?"
"When that girl leaves, you go with her."
"Like Hell!" Gimo spat, raising up from his chair "I refuse to go with that annoying, sexless, aggravating female of a human anywhere!"
The room suddenly got a bit darker. Ronwe, for the first time since the small meeting, almost scowled "You would do wise to respect your leader, Gimo."
That was the only warning he would be given.
So Gimo sat back down and fumed in silence.
The room became a bit lighter and a bit less stuffy. Ronwe cleared his throat and smiled once again, kindness reaching his eyes. "She is not ready to be your lifemate, Gimo, and you will have to protect her from...others. So you will go with her when the time is right, and you will protect her as a lifemate should. I have been waiting for this day," he began and stood up, heading towards the door, Gimo following, "and I knew that when it came, it would come in the form of a young woman. Human no doubt. Gimo, depending on what you do depends on whether you stay with your lifemate, or lose her in the future. Fate has a major role for you to play, and not just for your lifemate. Please take care my son."
Gimo nodded, sighed and left the room. As Ronwe closed the door, his smile collasped and turned into a worried frown.
"Not just for your lifemate...but for our entire race as well."

Note to self...slamming into walls is NOT fun....
Sephiros pushed rocks off of his weakened body as he slowly began to stand. Using his sword to keep him from falling he leaned upon it, looking at the gigantic bull with a narrowed eye and one that was about to close shut from being injured. He glanced over towards Nemo who was rubbing his very sore head as he too struggled to stand. Turning back to the bull Sephiros wondered just how in all of Planet's Creation were they going to defeat this thing.Technically, it should have already been dead, Nemo using his magic skills and he using his sword skills and strength to defeat it and Terri as magical backup. Technically. In reality Nemo's attacks had done little to the bull and using up Materia on the first day was NOT a good idea, especially when the creatures logically would get harder, not easier.
It really didn't help that Terri was doing little to nothing to help the two out.
Oh, she arrived alright, but when Sephiros asked her for a plan, she simply said "Figure it out," and walked away towards where she had been walking earlier. Apperantely she was not very happy with them, which was odd because she supposedly had no feelings. But one thing was for sure, without Terri's strength, brains, and Materia-using abilities, they were so screwed.
"This is all your fault Sephiros!" came an angry remark from Nemo "Terri got pissed off at us and now she's left us! How are we supposed to fight this thing?!"
"My fault?!" Sephiros ground out, forgetting about the bull for a moment "What do you mean my fault?! First of all she's supposed to be a frickin' android or whatever, so she can't be pissed off at us if she has no feelings what so ever. And second, it takes two to tango little brother so it ain't just my fault."
A loud, annoyed sound from the bull signaled that bickering would get them no where. Especially when it decided to use the same Earth/Bolt attack its been using (in other words, while it shakes the ground from under you it also shocked the living bejeezus out of you) for the past twenty minutes. Nemo and Sephiros both flew into the air, Nemo using the ceiling to brace himself as he landed feet first and then shot off towards the bull, landing on its back. The bull, realizing that it had a 'tick' to get off, began to leap and twist and turn and move every way imaginable to get Nemo off of its back, making very loud annoyed noises as it did so. Sephiros, on the other hand, flew to the far side of the wall, doing Nemo's trick and bracing himself against the wall, using it to bounce back and try to stab the bull while it tried to get Nemo off of itself. This resulted in Sephiros plunging his sword into the bull's throat as Nemo plunged his sword into the bull's back. A sharp, piercing scream emitted from the bull and the entire room lit up. The boys had little time to wonder why as sharp pain pierced through them as well, the bull using his special Bolt attack on himself to shock both boys and hopefully kill them. Because of the suddeness of the attack, they were stuck to their swords, the shock of the attack making them unable to let go and the electricity poured through their bodies, spiking their hair and burning them in several different places. It was so painful that even screaming was almost impossible. All Sephiros thought about before he lost conciousness completely was that they were going to fail and how disappointed Nemo was going to be because he couldn't help Terri...
When Sephiros opened his eyes, he felt right as rain. This was odd to him, as earlier his life had been flashing before his eyes, almost literally. He went to sit up, and found himself on a pallet and a fire was in front of him. He looked around and noticed that camp had been set up and meat was cooking on a spit. As he gazed around confused he spotted Terri, sitting with Nemo and talking. He was smiling and seemed happy and was eating, whatever the heck that meat was, but he seemed a bit upset about something. He didn't show it, but it was obvious in his features. As Sephiros turned to go back to sleep, they both noticed him and Nemo smiled.
"Hey, big bro." he began "Get enough sleep? You've been out for five hours."
"Yeah." Sephiros looked at Terri and Nemo "What happened? We were just fighting that big bull thing a second ago...or a few hours ago, sorry. Don't tell me it's dead."
"That would be correct Sephiros." Terri began simply "While you and Nemo were being shocked, I chose that opportunity to battle the large monster, and defeated it by using a ice and bolt spell. While it can distrbuite lighting, it can also be damaged by it, especially when its main weakness is ice. I was able to split the monster in half this way. After this, I promptly carried you three into shelter, set up camp and put you two on pallets to be comfortable while I skinned and went to cook the bull. We will have enough rations to last us almost a year depending on how much we eat a day. Since you two eat quite a bit, it might take a while. Thankfully, we only have three days. We can take the remaining meat to the villagers for them to use. The meat is of high quality and the hide would be excellent for clothing."
"So what about us?" Sephiros asked
"When I brought you both here, I healed you using my Full Cure materia. I have only one left. You cannot afford to become injured like that again, otherwise it would be very damaging to our time. We are very behind and it is nightfall. We will have to camp here tonight and try to make up our lost time. This is the result of bickering and trying to prove who is better than who. If you two do not overcome your differences we will fail in this mission." she got up and walked towards her tent "I shall sleep in this tent alone tonight, please try to stay comfortable as you will be partners from now on. In order for us to succedd we must be a well organized unit. Until then, you two will deal with each other until we are." she said and walked into her tent, zipping it up for the night.
The boys looked at each other, looked at Terri's tent, once again at each other and then let out an audiable sigh of discontent.
This sucked.

*Storm…*
There were a thousand words and metaphors to describe her existence now, yet one rose above them all.
Hell.
Her body, a source of pride, now her prison. Only Tifa’s mind remained truly hers now. Jenova had allowed her that much. For now.
It had begun, ironically, when she healed Cloud’s fractured mind in the Lifestream. She hadn’t thought how vulnerable hers had been at the time, the hell spawned bitch silently invading her like a plague and corrupting her by inches over the years until she was little more than a puppet, forced to watch as her family was slowly torn apart…
“It’s getting late…”
Cloud hadn’t relaxed since Storm left, at first pretending nothing was amiss, then setting up camp in his favorite chair by the door. The simple but comfortable rocker the two of them had built, Tifa always joking that it looked like they’d carved it with the Ultima sword…
That had been almost three hours ago.
He suddenly stood, strapping The Ultima Sword to his back and started for the door.
“…I’m going to find her…”
*Yes!* Tifa screamed. *Go find her! Tell her I’m sorry!*
Instead her body brushed sensuously against him as her arms wrapped around his waist.
“She’s probably staying at a friend’s house, dear. Let her cool off.”
“She would have called.” Cloud said stubbornly.
“Not if she wanted you to worry and get back at me.” She replied, Jenova subtly persuading him through her cells within him…”You know how troublesome she’s been lately, especially to more she hangs around that Djinn girl…”
The glow of Cloud’s eyes slightly dimmed a moment, then returned to normal as he sighed. “You’re probably right.”
He did take one last look at the door before letting her lead him upstairs to bed.
Tifa wanted to cry in defeat. Damn her!
<…Damn me? Damn yourself for being so weak!>
Jenova stood over her with a taunting grin…her appearance beginning to match hers…twisted.
<I’m a fair woman, Tiffany Lockhart…You took my mate and children from me, now I take yours…>
Tifa glared at her, fighting the urge to leap at her.
<Especially your dear little boy…I have such plans for him…>
Instead conserved her strength….for the right moment…
*Enjoy yourself while you can bitch…*

Author's Notes: Man this kinda took a while. Sorry for the delay, Sentora and I have been busy doing that thing called real life. We're still working on this fic, as you can see, and Chapter 4 will be out hopefully one day. Till then, look forward to some other fics that we're going to be working on! ^_~
-Catriana