Daggers and Flowers

Chapter 1- Awakening

Alarms blared and heavy booted feet pounded through the halls of the newly repaired World Regenesis Organization headquarters. WRO soldiers stocked on weapons and emergency packs before boarding the vehicles that would take them to the Northern Cave Crater.

For reasons unknown, strange bursts of energy had been reported in that area by WRO officials centered in the Icicle Area in the past few days, and while the bursts of energy were mostly harmless, a red alert had been issued just half an hour ago.

Something had happened in the Northern Cave Crater. Something had appeared inside it.

Considering, the Remnants of Sephiroth had a year before appeared in the Northern Cave Crater, no one was optimistic. And the war against DeepGround had happened just six months before. Thankfully what was left of DeepGround was in hiding. Still, the WRO needed to get there first.

Cloud was mostly silent the entire flight to the Northern Cave, mostly trying to ignore the motion sickness. He had been on edge all week after Reeve called to let him know about the activity. He was glad that he could help out from time to time, but he was behind on his deliveries. He wasn't sure what to think about the situation, but he was sure that whatever had happened, it wasn't good. WRO soldiers paced back and forth and Cloud overheard their conversations.

Are the Remnants back? Is it the Calamity? Is it DeepGround? What is happening?

It took a few hours for the pilot to fly the airship to just outside the Cave and the WRO soldiers filed away, each receiving orders from their generals. Cloud blinked in the bright sunlight that reflected off the bright snow. It was freezing and the wind blew loose snow about, almost obscuring visibility. Cloud found Vincent before they entered the cave systems underneath the crater and the WRO soldiers followed. They exchanged few words. Everyone was too apprehensive and strangely quiet.

Cloud kept one hand on his sword and held a large flashlight in the other as they trekked deeper and deeper into the dark caves.

She opened her eyes and was greeted by freezing cold air around her and the smell of sweet flowers in her nose. Dim sunlight filtered through a hole high, high, high in the ceiling above her and it illuminated the soft bed of wildflowers she was laying on. She shivered.

Where was she?

She sat up, confused and disoriented. Her arms were sore and her head was killing her. She looked around and saw rocky, earthen walls and dark tunnels. How did she get there? It was cold, and snowflakes fell through the hole in the earthen ceiling. Frost was starting to form on the fragile petals of the flowers around her. When she breathed, she could see her breath. She heard the wind blowing through the empty dark tunnels that surrounded her little spot of earth.

She glanced back up at the hole in the ceiling. Dark icy stalactites hanged from the ceiling, far above her. She looked around the cavern again, this time noting that it was small and the cold hard ground was covered in dust. Three tunnels lay ahead of her and one was behind her. The bed of flowers she was sitting in seemed so out of place in the cold. They were small and brightly colored. She recognized a few, poppies and primroses, morning glories and daisies and lilies. A few dark roses were mixed in with the flowers that she didn't recognize, and the smells of the flowers were sweet and welcoming in the musty air.

She shivered again in the cold and rubbed her arms. Wait a minute.

She looked down at her bare arms. What was she wearing? Where did she get the white dress? Why were flowers braided into her hair? And just where did the flowers around her come from?! She didn't recognize her clothes, the flowers, her surroundings. She started to panic.

She froze as she picked up a faint noise in the tunnels ahead of her. It sounded as if someone was marching and they were coming closer and closer as she strained her eyes trying to see into the dark.

"Hello?" She called. Her voice startled her. It was her voice, clear as ever, but she was speaking a language that she didn't recognize. She cleared her throat and called out again in the strange language, this time a bit louder. The marching paused and was replaced by the sound of running.

She gasped as a group of men and women in tan army fatigues and red berets holding large rifles and handguns burst through one of the tunnels before her. Her heart leaped to her throat as they aimed their weapons at her and yelled for her to stay still. They weren't speaking the language that she had spoken in, but she wasn't relieved.

Instead, the girl stood as they aimed their weapons at her. She started to shake and she glanced at the tunnel behind her.

"Hey! Don't even think about it," a woman ordered, taking a step forward. That was enough for the girl as she turned and ran to the tunnels behind her.

"The target is mobile!"

"Don't just stand there. Run after her!"

"Take samples of the flowers. We've gotta report this."

She yelped and ran faster as flames and ice filled the walls of the tunnel. She heard the men and women yell as they ran after her, ordering her to stop running, but thankfully not one of them decided to fire at her.

She burst through the end of the tunnel. It had led her to a dark cavern filled with dim white sunlight from holes in the high above ceiling. She froze and stared at the lake in front of her. It looked cold and there was a large dark stain at the bottom of it that looked like an oil spill. She was very sure that oil spills didn't sink underneath water, but she stopped caring when she heard the footsteps catching up with her.

She splashed forward, wincing at the cold icy water around her calves. The silt her bare feet kicked up stained the white sundress she had woken up in. She turned around as shouts filled the air. At the front of the heavily armed group were two men, one with spiky blond hair and a ridiculously large sword and another dressed in black and red with possibly the scariest expression she had ever seen on anyone's face. The look on his face was scarier than the gun in his hand.

They froze just ten feet before the freezing lake and her heart stopped at the sound of deep growling. She reluctantly turned around to see a large serpent rise from the water, looking hungry as it towered above her. She screamed and ran out of the water as fast as she could as it roared. She would rather take her chances with the scary men and women that opened fire on the water serpent.

Just as her bare feet hit the wet sand at the edge of the water, the man with the scary face shot at her. She didn't have time to react as the bullet hit her leg. It hurt, but this only lasted seconds as her leg turned numb and she fell. Suddenly she couldn't move.

She started to panic as her consciousness ebbed away, the roars of the serpent fading in her ears as a group of the men and women rushed towards her.