Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

Worse Things Than Spiders

A/N: This is a story that I have had finished for some time now, but I'm just getting around to posting. It is a crossover between FF7 and FF13-2. However, the majority of the characters and the world will be FF7. I should have it all up over the next couple of days, so it won't take long. This was a little different for me overall, but I still hope you enjoy! Cheers!

Chapter 1

Sherry grunted as she pulled herself up one more slight rise. The light in front of her danced on the cave walls as the lantern she had tied to her pack wobbled with her movement. She was just glad it was bright enough that it didn't have to be held in front of her. There would have been no way they could have gotten far in these circumstances otherwise. Once she was at the top, she turned and knelt, so she could help her friend, Kaylan, up the rise as well. Once they were both up, her companion gave her a playful glare. "You know, when you asked me to go camping, I wasn't expecting something like this. Even if we haven't run into cave spiders yet, this is crazy. What possessed you to want to go spelunking?"

"You didn't have to come if you didn't want to." Sherry smirked before heading deeper into the cave.

"I didn't say I didn't want to, just... you know how I feel about spiders." Kaylan shuddered, and Sherry laughed at the motion.

"I don't like them either, but I was told these caves were pretty open; at least the parts that have been explored before. If we do run into them, then they'll be fine on the walls and not close to us. We'll have plenty of time to see them first and don't tell me you haven't been looking. We got lucky to get access to this place anyway. Not a lot of people know about it, so it's perfect." She paused when they got to another cave offshoot. It only took her a moment to paint a small arrow on the wall pointing back the way they had come. Once it was done, she turned back to Kaylan again. "So which direction this time?"

"We've been going right at every turn, so right. We can take the left ones the next time."

"Right, except for the one that led us back again, then we took a left, but I suppose right is as good as any." They moved down the right fork, chatting amiably while they continued. They had been exploring for close to three hours and knew they would be heading back soon but wanted to see if they could find something new. There had already been several breathtaking rooms filled with stalactites and such, but so far, they had only seen one small clear pool. For the region, they should have found the underground river at some point. That was what they had both been hoping to find.

They had finally decided that it was nearly time to turn back when a sudden noise caught both their attention. Kaylan looked over with scrunched brows. "What was that?"

Sherry shook her head. "It sounded like voices up ahead, but I couldn't understand anything. It's probably the acoustics."

"I thought we were supposed to be the only ones down here?"

"Jon said we were the first to ask for permission in over a year. That doesn't mean a group of kids hasn't come here without permission. I'm surprised they're this deep, though. Most people stop after the first few rooms. Let's see what's going on."

They headed forward carefully. They didn't want to surprise whoever it was, especially as they noticed the voices were yelling. It didn't make matters better that they all seemed to be male. They caught sight of a low green light around the next bend, but Sherry paused and put her hand on Kaylan's arm. She received a strange look for the movement but didn't say anything. It had just occurred to her that if these men were down there without permission, then there was a good chance they might be doing something else illegal as well. If that was the case, then they needed to get away and let the landowner know instead.