Keys to the Past

Here's some fighting action. Hope you like it. This fic will get more meaty in later chapters, so stay tuned...

Chapter 3

She parked her motorcycle near an outcropping of trees, and covered it so it wouldn’t be seen. Getting off the bike she started walking through the forest, she was thankful that the monsters had not attacked her. She checked for footprints, and found a few. Watching with trained eyes, she crept silently through the dark. The reversible cloak she wore was dark, and made her almost invisible. When Grandfather became her guardian, he said she was never to come to the Ancient Forest. Ever. There was something in his eyes when he said this. A fear, and now she would find out what that fear was.

She walked through the dwellings not sure what she was looking for. Picking through them, she walked until the ring her grandfather had given her started to vibrate. A similar vibration came from under a ruined fireplace nearby. Hikari went to it, and dusted the dirt off the bottom. There was a symbol there that looked like one of the symbols on the stone in the cellar. She went to touch it, it illuminated with a dull white light, and the stone it was made of crumbled. What was left was a rectangular hole. Hikari reached inside, and found a metallic box. Her grandfather must have put this here, otherwise how would he know about it. Setting the box down on the ground, she picked the lock, and opened it. Inside there were three pictures. One of grandfather when he was younger with some of his most trusted Turk friends. The second must be her mother and father with Sensei Bugenhagen, and Sensei Nanaki. “I do look like my mother, and father looks like grandfather,” she thought. The third was a picture of her mother sitting, and smiling, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. The top of the picture was folded over. Unfolding the top there was her father standing next to a man. This man was in the picture of her grandfather and the Turks. “That must be Vincent Valentine,” she thought. Nothing else was inside the box, so she placed it back in the hole, and covered it with dirt.

She turned the pictures over to see what was written on the back. The names of the people in the pictures were written on the back, and confirmed that the man with her parents was indeed Vincent Valentine. Under the names on the one with her parents and Vincent Valentine was written in red ink Cerberus and JI Project. The writing was the same as the note she found in the trunk earlier. Mother must have written this too. This has to be a clue, but now was the task of finding the secret lab. She put the pictures in the bag at her waist.

She stood, and carefully started walking back out of the ruins. She heard a subtle noise, a shot rang out, and hit near her feet. She said to herself. “Damn it all! They must have found out about the lab. Grandfather must have told those soldiers something, and they must have reported before he could kill them.”

“Who are you? You are trespassing on Shinra property. Come out and show yourself, or we will have to kill you,” said a male voice. Hikari did not like being told what to do.

She rang out with, “Go to hell you bastards. This is Halcyon land, and free to anyone who can beat the monsters. Shoot at me again, and I will retaliate. I have no qualms about harming Turks, or Shinra soldiers.”

The same male voice answered back. “So you know who we are?”

Hikari answered in return. “Yes, and you are the dirt that covers the dirt that Rufus Shinra walks on. Tell Bossman that he will need to keep his muscle heads around him. I’m going to make myself known to him soon enough.”

Evidently this hit a nerve, because another male voice answered with, “You are an insolent woman. We will have to teach you some manners. You better be prepared, because we’re coming in to get you.”

Lights started to flicker on searching for Hikari as she started to sneak around, choosing whom she was going to deal with first. There were three men, one woman, and four Shinra soldiers. Nothing big, which was a good thing, because she did not want to deal with being captured right now. The woman would be first. Slipping the clasp loose on the cloak she wore, she got closer to the woman without being detected. Hikari then ran at her using surprise as a weapon. Tightly enclosing the cloak around the woman, Hikari wrapped her in it so that she could not move. Unable to free herself the woman screamed in anger. Then came the woman’s yell, “Tseng! Help me!”

Hikari threw her on the ground after another shot hit near her feet, and dove behind a wall. A handsome man with long black hair, and a mark on his forehead ran in their direction with an angry look on his face. He pointed his smoking gun where Hikari dove as he approached the woman on the ground. He tried pulling the cloak free, but it wound around the woman tighter the more he pulled.

“Damn it get this thing off me Tseng. It’s squeezing me,” said the woman gasping for breath.

“You will release her,” the man said between clenched teeth. “Do as I say now, or you will lose your life.”

Surprised at what the cloak was doing, Hikari thought this would give her an advantage. “You will do no such thing Turk trash. The cloak has a will of it’s own, and I am the only one who can release it. If I am not harmed, then I will release her. You will give me your word of honor as a Turk.”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“I give you my word of honor as the granddaughter of the Great Sword Sato.”

The Shinra soldiers started to whisper to each other. They knew her grandfather was a legendary Turk in his time, and that he was dead.

“Sato had no family. You’re lying.”

“I have proof. If you let me come out I can show you that proof.”

“I give you my word, but only if you are telling the truth. If not you will release my partner, and then you will die.”

“Agreed, but if you do not believe me, I wish to go down fighting.”

“Agreed, but you will have to fight my partner whether or not you’re telling the truth. It seems you’ve made her very angry.”
She stood, and walked out from her hiding place with her hands in the air. The Shinra soldiers raised their weapons at Tseng’s silent command. Flairs were lit, and illuminated the area in a halo of white light.

The woman was still on the ground glaring at her. The other two Turks stood behind Tseng. One was a huge bald man wearing sunglasses clenching his fists, ready for a fight. He was handsome in a rough, bouncer at the nightclub sort of way. The other was a very handsome, cocky red haired man carrying a baton settled on his shoulder with the Shinra symbol on the handle.

Whistling, the red haired man spoke, “Wow. Such a beautiful little goddess shouldn’t cause trouble. It could get you hurt.”

“If you are so set on harming me, I wouldn’t recommend it. I wouldn’t want to hurt that pretty boy face of yours,” Hikari replied as she raised her chin. The red haired mans eyes widened at this comment, and as he started to speak Tseng interrupted.

“Quit stalling, and show me this proof woman.”

She walked towards him; he holstered his gun, and walked towards her. They stopped in front of each other, and looked each other in the eye.

“There is a ring on my finger. It has the Great Sword crest on it,” she said.

“I’ve met Sato, and seen the ring before, but you could have stolen it when he was killed.”

“The ring would have harmed anyone who touched it. It will only recognize its rightful heir,” she said remembering her grandfather telling her this long ago. She lowered her arm to show him the ring on her finger.

Tseng took her hand, and studied the ring. He then looked up at her, and thought, “Reno’s right, she is attractive.”

“Interesting. You tell the truth, but why didn’t he say anything about you?”

“He was ashamed of me because I wasn’t a boy, and he didn’t want his heir to be killed. You have kept your word, and now I will release her.”

“Fine, but you will fight her, and if you win you will go free. I can’t guarantee you won’t be hunted once you leave here though.”

Hikari nodded. Tseng pulled his gun out, and motioned for her to release his partner. Hikari walked over to where the woman lay, and she released the woman. Ready for the woman to attack, she backed up, put the cloak on, and got into a fighting stance.

The woman got up, and got into a fighting stance as well. “Fucking bitch, you are gonna die,” Elena said with venom, as she surged forward and attacked.

“I don’t think so.” Hikari dodged her fist, and popped Elena in the mouth. This pissed Elena off, and she went for her gun.

“No. You will fight me with your body. I want this to be fair,” Hikari said punching a sensitive nerve on Elena’s arm making it go numb. Elena dropped the gun, and shook her arm to get the feeling back with little success. She backed up and shook her jacket off as Hikari kicked the gun away. Elena went back to the attack, and started to use her feet in blinding kicks. Hikari blocked every kick and any punch as they were thrown, as if she knew what the woman’s next move was.

Tseng realized he had underestimated Hikari as a fighter, and he has seen this particular fighting style. This woman is truly who she says she is. The fight between Hikari and Elena escalated.

“Hey buddy it’s too bad we wouldn’t be able get that girl to become Turk. She’s good. We’re getting some really nice entertainment tonight don’t you think? Hey, Rude? Did you hear me?” said the red haired man as he tapped the baton on his shoulder.

Rude took off his sunglasses, smiled, and shook his head in agreement. The usually quiet man crossed his arms and said, “I think Elena has a nasty fight ahead of her. Let’s see how it turns out.” Smiling, both men turned to watch the fight.

“You shouldn’t have started a fight you cannot win. When I’m done with you, you will regret setting foot here,” Elena said as she kicked at Hikari.

Hikari moved away from the kick aimed for her leg, and kicked back aiming for the Elena’s head. Elena tried to dodge, but got caught by the edge of Hikari’s boot. A cut appeared on her cheek, and blood dripped from the wound. Stepping back from Hikari, Elena felt her face, and her hand came away bloody.

“You will pay dearly for that you fucking bitch. I will enjoy torturing you, and watching you suffer. It will be the last time you fight against the Turks or Shinra,” Elena screeched.

Hikari felt this wasn’t a situation she didn’t want to be in any more. Opening her senses looking for a way to escape, she knew they were surrounded. The soldiers were moving in closer as the fight became more intense. The Shinra soldiers lowered their weapons as they cheered their comrade on. She sensed a soldier nearing her back. ‘Sometimes it is wise to run away, and live to fight another day.’ She remembered Sensei Bugenhagen saying once when he was alive.

Hikari flipped backwards, kicking Elena away from her, and went towards where the soldier was standing, spun, and kicked the soldier out of the way. When Hikari did this a shot rang out and slammed into her upper arm. Searing pain shot through her body. As she fell to the ground she looked up and saw a gun in Elena’s hand. Hikari knew she would get hurt lowering her guard, but took the chance just to get away. Elena went over to her, and dragged her up by her hair. Knowing Elena was too close to for anyone to shoot at them, Hikari twisted around her, and pulled the wicked looking knife from the back of her top. She put it to Elena’s throat. The woman gasped as the sharp blade stung her throat.

“Well done Turk, but your buddies will let me go now. Drop your weapons, or your pretty comrade will get worse than what I gave her face,” she said and hissed at the pain in her arm.

They relented and dropped their weapons at Tseng’s command.

“Let her go and we will let you leave somewhat unharmed. You’re a great fighter, why don’t you join us, and…” the red haired man said.

“You’re a jackass, pretty boy. If my grandfather were still alive to hear you say that, he would chop you to bits. He died cursing you bastards to his last breath,” Hikari interrupted and walked backwards with Elena. “It’s time for me to go now. I suggest you don’t follow me, because if I don’t get back to where I need to be, then my friends will come looking for me, and you don’t want these particular friends on your tail.” Hikari pushed Elena away. Using one of her smoke bombs, she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Elena fell into Tseng’s arms. As he pulled her up she said, “Tseng? Who the hell was that?”

“I don’t know, but she is related to the Great Sword. We will have to investigate further. Are you ok Elena?” Elena nodded yes as she fumed. She looked at Tseng and he saw the cut on her face. He lightly touched it, and used his heal materia.

“That little bitch will pay for cutting my face. I’m going to hunt her down, and kill her slowly,” she said hatefully.

“Well all, we should get back to the Boss, and let him know what’s up. I still think it’s too bad that woman and Elena didn’t fight longer. That would have made our night.” The red haired man said.

“Shut up Reno! You are such an asshole, and what are you smiling about Rude? Damn it. That woman was right; you are a bunch of muscle heads. Let’s go,” Elena said as she gave Reno a dirty look.