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Legacy of the Lifestream	By : butabara Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 2387 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not Own FFVII or its affiliates. I make no money from this execise in literary creativity.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A.N. Alrighty, folks! Next chapter is here and ready to go! Many thanks to riverseithr for the ideas, and the HALF of this chapter that she wrote, and to Sytherea Orianthe for her mad beta skillz, as both River and I went through it and STILL missed things.
Hope you enjoy, lovelies! R&R!
Chapter 12: Crash Course
Harmony stifled her giggle as Kadaj peered straight into her eyes. The youngest Remnant was staring hard, trying his best to find his invisible lover. He could feel her watching him, but try as he might, he could not see her.
Harmony watched as Kadaj looked right through her, and took a moment to look at him openly, without him watching her. She noticed that time had changed him more than she had first observed. His eyes were still the bright, glowing feline orbs she remembered, but there were faint lines at the corners betraying his age. His face was more angular, longer. He'd grown out of the young, smooth, childlike roundness. His hair had faint streaks of silver lighter than the already gleaming color, and was slightly longer than she remembered. Her gaze traveled down his neck and shoulders to his hands, once thicker and slightly more pudgy, his fingers were now thin, almost frail. Harmony knew what a deception that was. Thin or no, those hands held the power to snap a man's body in two with almost no effort.
Kadaj's height had remained the same, as Harmony knew it would. He was well past that stage of growth. Still, the new style of black leather he wore made his legs look incredibley long, his torso thin and a bit more lean. She brought her eyes back to his face, taking in his still full, almost pink lips. She could see the clear tracks of time there, too, in the lines around the corners of his mouth.
His voice startled her out of her thoughts.
"I'm going to find you." He said matter-of-factly, "And I'm going to do it like a Remnant!"
With that, Kadaj turned on his heel and fled into the forest, calling for Harmony to follow if she wasn't scared.
Under a nearby tree next to the small fire, Sukai let out a quiet laugh. "So that's a glamour." She chuckled to herself. "Cool."
"What do you mean?" asked Yazoo, curious on how she saw Harmony when they did not.
"Well heat sensors," said Sukai, "The glamor, my heat sensors pick it up and well me being a genius-"
"To the point," said Yazoo.
"Ah, right," said Sukai rubbing the back of her head, "My goggles, they have broad spectrum range on both infra and ultra violet light, and night, and other things. I also have a setting to see through things, like walls and such and even can draw up crude maps with my wrist computer."
"How long is your range?" asked Sephiroth calmly, "We do not want to be caught by suprise."
"My range is five hundred meters," Sukai said in a matter of fact tone, "They are the best there is to offer. No one could come even close. However I would have to scan for instruments, if they have any. With a top-notch tech, I would say the range is about two, maybe three hundred meters at best. However, I don't know if they are using robotics, regular scanners, or what. I can check after I am in range, and with minor adjustments I can safely nagivate you guys into the barracks."
"How can we be sure that it will work?" asked Vincent, "There is the chance they could hone in on the signal of the comms."
"We test that here of course. Syth, you and Vincent try hack into my encrypted coding if possible. Hari, you take position and I will gauge my limits, starting from low to high and you sneak around me. If I find you, I will pop off a couple of shots with blanks," Sukai said, "I know they can out fox the enemy, but...I just want to make sure that you can do it. Not that you are terrible or anything, but you are the one with the glamour and if you go..well. I doubt we could get very far without you."
"It is rather impressive." Sephiroth noted, sitting down next to her to soak up what little heat the fire offered.
Sukai looked at him and smiled. Though Harmony still had it coming for her meddling, she had to admit, she was rather grateful. Sukai also followed into the forest, to wait in a clearing to help Hari out. She decided that if Kadaj was going to help without enhancements, one with enhancements could offer more insight. So she waited for the opportunity to slip away from the party and follow those two, curious on how things would turn out.
!#$%^&*()
Kadaj peered below him. He had perched on a well-covered, thick tree branch as soon as he was far enough away that Harmony wouldn't see him hide. He wasn't sure if she'd follow him, but with that insult to her courage, he didn't think she'd back down.
He was right, he learned, when he heard a snap from further behind him, and a whispered curse that was quickly silenced. Even as a member of the group that had defeated Jenova, she was still a rookie.
For a moment, nothing happened, and then Kadaj's extraordinary eyesight caught something that could prove to be potentially problematic. Coming upon him in his tree, were seemingly disembodied footprints in the dirt and leaves.
He allowed a wicked look to grace his features and raised himself from laying on his stomach across the branch, to a crouching position, ready to spring the moment she was close enough. To his tickled amusment, the footprints stopped directly beneath him, the invinisble woman seeming to stop and consider her situation.
With silence that would impress even the greatest of the Wu Sheng, he sprung, falling with full force and gritting his teeth when his body collided with something he couldn't see.
The shock of being tackled from above had Harmony's glamour dropping. She gasped and struggled for a moment, and then stilled when she realized who was atop her.
"How...?" She said, clearly confused. "Could you see me?"
Kadaj shook his head. "No, your glamour was very effective. Even with mako enhancements, I couldn't see you... but I could see your footprints."
Harmony let out an enlightened sound. "Ah, that's a problem."
Kadaj nodded. "Yeah. We need to talk to Sytherea and Sukai about this. That could prove to be our downfall."
With that, Kadaj began to rise to his feet, however, he never made it. One moment he was fighting off the beginnings of desire, the next he could feel the harsh wash of materia pulsing through him, and feel the stinging and aching as his body morhped and transformed into a slimey frog.
Harmony let out a startled cry, and then looked in the direction that the bright flash had come from. Seeing her inventor friend standing there with her gun pointed in their direction, she began to laugh nervously.
"Oh, hey Sukai! How long have you been there?"
!#$%^&*()
Sukai stood there in the middle of the wood that she asked Hari to pass by and attempt to sneak around her. She clicked her tounge out of being impatient. What was keeping Harmony? Sukai began to worry for her new friend. There could have been a patrol that caught her, but Zack, Genesis, and Angeal were on sentry duty. Biting her lip she adjusted the sights on her goggles to zoom in on the surrounding area. Slowly she turned so she could get a full three demenstional reading on the immediate area. Though it would take her more time to realize what was around her, her personal computer would aleviate some of the work. The computer on her wrist beeped and informed her that three heat signatures were to her left, while two were ahead.
Readying her weapon she crouched low and began to look ahead, preparing to save her friend. She focused on the two figures on the forest floor. When her brain finally processed who was 'attacking' Harmony, she blushed and began to hate her job.
"Oh sweet Leviathan. Zhè liǎng gè xūyào zhuānzhù yú qítā shìqíng." She muttered under her breath before a small thought crossed her mind. If they were too preoccupied to notice she was still out there, they really needed a lesson on what was important. Fixing their relationship, while needed, would have to come later. A sadistic smile painted her pale face as she loaded a small glowing orb into her launcher, that snapped it onto her gunblade. "He better have a Barrier up."
She took aim and fired the small orb. It was a small device invented by her for those who were not well versed with materia usage, or when one didn't have time to cast a spell. Inside the small orb was a well contained, latent spell. Surrounding it was a double layer of thin glass. Between the glass panels was a small layer of Mako, used to activate the spell during the three second delay. This one just so happened to have the spell Tansform inside. It wasn't meant to harm, but the point would get across.
Sukai grabbed Harmony and lead her back to camp with the transformed Kadaj in hand. She was beside herself at the moment. How could those two do that while they needed to save the children? She contemplated on how broken those two were. The strain of being apart must have done more damage than she assesed in the first place. She sighed and walked up to where Harmony and newly transformed Kadaj were.
"Oh, hey Sukai! How long have you been there?"
"Long enough, you two are coming with me," said Sukai with a disappointed frown on her face. She then grabed Kadaj in one hand and Harmony in the other and began to walk back to camp.
When they arrived in camp, Vincent and Sytherea were still working on her encryption, which brought a small smile to her face. However it was a suprise to her to see Sephiroth helping them. It would seem that whatever he said to them was able to help them enough with the three layer firewall she placed on it. She frowned but before she could say anything Yazoo walked up to her and got her attention.
"Is something wrong?" He asked, "Where's Kadaj?"
Sukai tossed the frog in her hand at Yazoo with more force than she should have, "Chocobo-Brain was distracting Harmony. He is to be taken into your care, since you are on that job anyway, taking care of animals. He is not to be changed back until he has learned his lesson."
Sephiroth and the others looked up at Sukai and then back at the frog. Sephiroth had to swallow the laughter that was threatening to burst out. He was impresed that Sukai could transform the Remnant, considering he was informed that they were almost able to knock Cloud unconcious in the Forgotten City before Vincent intervened. Kadaj must not have been paying attention, and he was glad that someone had put the imature Remnant in his place.
"How did you do that?" Asked Harmony.
"Magic," Said Sukai flatly, "I heard Sassi once made Zack bark, did she not? I transformed Kadaj. How I understand your magic, you need incantations. Here it is the same, but different. While we tap into the natrual flow of energy from the Lifestream, we do not need lengthy words or incantations to help us call upon it for help. We also do not live by your creed - magic is an extention of our will. While I did not harm...him, we need to think rationally and be calm right now."
"I-I think I follow you," said Harmony.
"Good, then what was he telling you before I turned him into what I am considering an improvement?" Sukai said in a cold, indifferent voice.
"What happened to you?" Asked Harmony, worried she had upset her new inventor friend.
"Sorry," Sukai apologized, "My training. I separate emotions from reality. Both Turk and Soldier are instructed on this process. Think of it as battle meditation, however you did not answer my former question."
"Oh, Kadaj mentioned that he could see my footprints in the earth." replied Harmony. "He said that you and Syth could help with that."
"We could," said Sukai taping her chin lightly,"I will need your boots. I can blend technology with Materia, that is why I am a genius, but before I ramble. I can make an anti-gravity field using a reverse spell for gravity implimented within the soles of the shoes, with the right program...Yes that would work."
"Wait you can control gravity?" Harmony gasped in disbelief.
"Yes, amoung other things." Replied Vincent. "We were able to heal you on Earth. Here we are able to do much more. In your world, we did not have access to the Materia."
"Can I learn how to control it?" She asked.
"Sure I could teach you," said Sukai, "but I need to work on the anti-gravity-"
"I can do it," said Sephiroth, "It should not be too difficult."
Sukai stared at Sephiroth with wide eyes. "You could?"
"All I need to do is calibrate a basic program that copies down Materia, access the sub format and encode the materia spell within while adding a sub routine that allows one to attach the soles of the boots with the specified surface. We will need to add more layering to the sub format to allow a broad range of surfaces, since we do not know how the building is structured. We can safely say that there is some form of metal for a more stable structure, but we do not know if that is the sole material." Said Sephiroth with no difficulty, completely flooring Sukai. "If that is the case simple magnets would be useless, and we have no idea if they use pressure plates. Taking into consideration that you mentioned they may have heat sensors, I can also program them to give off a lower temprature with a low level Ice materia, setting it to pulse in small intervals of time, since a human's blood stream is controlled by the external enviorment and internal temprature regulators such as the feet, top of the head, under the arms, and other major blood vessles that are close to the surface of the skin. That should solve the heat signature problem as well. It will take some time, but it is able to be completed."
'I think I am in love,' thought Sukai, standing in awe of the Great General.
!#$%^&*()
"I can't believe how quickly you put these together!" Sukai gushed to Sephiroth the next morning. The General smirked.
"It was nothing. Maybe I'll tell you about it, if you behave." He replied.
"Alright then, we now know how to get past the heat sensors, pressure plates, and cameras, but who's going with Hari?" Zack asked. "I nominate myself!"
Angeal rolled his eyes. "Pup, you have no idea how to be subtle. If you go in, the entire base will know we're there before we're ready for that!"
Zack huffed, but could reluctantly agree that his mentor had a very good point.
"Well, you guys did have a point: They'll be waiting for me or V." Sytherea said. "We'd walk into an ambush, and neither of us know how to work those boots if something goes wrong."
"I'll go." Kadaj said. "You'll need someone to watch your back while you're disarming it, and Hari will be focusing on her glamour."
Yazoo scoffed. "Your current predicament is proof that you can't focus right now." He motioned to Kadaj's skin, which was a sickening green-and-black color. Harmony had demonstrated her power to Sukai, but the more powerful presence of the Lifestream within Sukai's materia was too strong for Harmony to completely overcome. The Remnant would need what Sukai called a 'Maiden's Kiss' before his skin would return to its normal alabaster shade.
"I can still-" Kadaj started, but Sukai cut him off.
"Sephiroth made the boots. He should come. He's more than adequate protection." She said.
"Can you focus on the mission if he goes?" Kadaj snapped, referring to the nearly suffocating sexual tension that everyone could feel between the two.
"Don't insult me. Of course I can focus, and complete the mission faster than anyone save Sytherea!" Sukai snapped back.
"How will you communicate?" Angeal asked. Genesis nodded and threw in his own comment.
"You can't even whisper to each other, its too much of a risk that someone will hear you."
Sukai pulled the sleeve of her jacket up around her elbow, revealing a wrist-to-elbow length metal device. She pushed a few buttons, and a holographic keyboard appeared. "I can use this to talk to you guys... but I don't know how we'll communicate with eachother."
"We could use TAPS." Sephiroth suggested.
"That's... actusally a good idea." Sukai admitted.
"What is that?" Harmony asked.
"Tactical Auxillary Phrasing Sequence... TAPS. Its official name is Chùmō Biānmǎ, literally meaning Touch Coding, but in Common we call it TAPS." Sukai explained.
'Yeah, I bet you two want to tap one another.' Thought Harmony. 'I swear I will have revenge for turning Kadaj into a frog. When this is over, I am going to make them see that they have it bad for one another. Even if I have to lock them in a closet!' Instead, she went along with her original thought.
"Oh! You mean like Morse Code?" Harmony said, getting excited. Her time with the Guarda in Ireland had left her bored out of her mind, with very little to entertain herself... so she 'borrowed' some books from Cormac, and found herself enthralled with learning the nearly silent language.
"What is that?" Sukai asked, always interested in learning about Harmony's world.
"Give me your hand." Harmony said. When Sukai complied, Harmony went to work on her palm, issuing a series of taps and slides across her skin.
Sukai's eyes went wide. "I can't believe how much our worlds spill over, nor can I believe that you're as devious as to carry through with that."
"What? Is it the same? What did she say, I didn't see it?" Zack said, struggling to peer around Harmony's back.
"None of your business!" Sukai snapped.
Sephiroth had seen the motions of Harmony's hand, and unlike Sukai, he knew how very devious the witch could be. They would definitely have to be on their guard for a while, lest they find themselves in an improper situation.
"That settles it, then. Sukai and Sephiroth will go with Harmony. Once the security system is sabotaged, Sukai will signal us with her holographic comm, and we'll follow you in." Sytherea stated.
"And once we're in, we'll send a message to Cid to get the airship here, find the guy we need, nab the bastard and be on our way!" Zack said, pumping his fist.
Harmony gulped and nodded as they mounted their chocobo. This was it. She steeled herself, refusing to let fear and doubt overrun her mind.
She was getting the children back. Gaia, Earth, and every God and Deity in between be damned, no one would stop her from her destiny.
'I'm a Guardian.' She thought with a deep, cleansing breath. 'This is what I live for. This is why I exist.'
*Translation: those two need to focus on other things.
*Common/Midgarian: These are used interchangeably, but they mean the same thing. Sorry for the inconvienence.
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Legacy of the Lifestream