The Last Shinra Soldier ➝ Final Fantasy VII ✓

Foulanders

The interior of Fort Tamblin was composed of crumbling walls and ancient torch holders poised on the wall every few paces; the flames cast a feeble glow along the dusty path, sending menacing shadows flitting along the fragments of tiles. Every now and then, we came across a small ambush party hidden amongst shadowy alcoves; even their luminous orange uniforms were concealed by the darkness. We took care of them with ease, pushing their bodies back into the gloomy fissure from which they came.

Not paying attention to his surroundings, Zack abruptly walked into a sandy, grey urn and almost fell into the dark interior of it. I burst into a fit of giggles, unable to contain them as it raised a series of confused exclamations from hidden troops. "What's going on?" I heard someone whisper in a sharp voice. I was still chuckling as I swiped my sword round the corner and hit something hard. Another urn.

This sent me giggling even more, and I had to let Zack take care of the addled enemies, his face still flushed red.

"Okay, okay. It wasn't that funny!" He exclaimed in exasperation. I even agreed, but something erupted inside me and I couldn't diminish what it had started.

It took a few moments for me to calm down and regain my composure.

"I apologize for my... childish behaviour," I muttered as we continued down the seemingly endless passages. I was starting to get bored; I thought the mission would be at least somewhat interesting, but ambling through dusty corridors, with a small break to battle every now and then, was not what I was expecting. But perhaps I ought to be glad we hadn't come across these 'anti-soldier creatures' yet.

"Whatever," Zack sighed, but I caught the smile playing on his lips.

"Where to now?" I asked, halting him, as we landed at a brick wall. A dead end.

"Err," He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged, looking about helplessly. "I was sure we were going-"

He was cut off by a deep rumbling and groaning, like the sound wood emits when straining to snap. The wall adjacent to us suddenly began shifting, the tiles jolting awkwardly as the entire wall changed position, leading us to another passage.

"Hey, that's pretty cool!" He declared, nodding his head in approval.

The grin was instantly wiped from his features, however, as we were greeted by a low growling.

Oh, no!

But what padded slowly out of the shadows was not the beast I was expecting.

"Hmm. What are these little beasties?" Zack muttered, discerning their brightly coloured whiskers and protruding, green tongue. The fur framing it's face ruffled as it growled again, the low-pitched sound rolling off it's twitching tongue.

"Foulanders," I replied, catching his words amidst the growling. "Natives of Wutai. The army must have bred and trained them."

"To do what?"

"Kill," I muttered, just as one of the irrational creatures launched itself at Zack. He nimbly ducked just in time, but he was still thrown off-balance, slamming into the neighbouring wall. The Foulander skittered forward on four paws, heading towards me. I instantly drew my sword and thrust it forward, catching the clumsy creature between it's ribs as it tried, to no avail, to dodge my smooth attack.

"There they are!" The voices cut through the silence as more troops emerged from the new passage. I instantly shot a fireball in their direction, suppressing a grin of victory as I caught their pained grunts and yells. The remaining Foulander was soon disposed of by a burst of magic from Zack; thunder.

"Didn't think you had any Materia equipped," I muttered mindlessly as we picked our way tentatively over the contorted bodies and through the crumbling passage.

"Why's that?"

"Well, you never seem to use it," I smirked, finding myself in another candle-lit corridor, in which half a dozen dishevelled crates were stacked up haphazardly. I gingerly stepped around them, afraid something was hiding, but shuddered with relief as I caught sight of nothing.

"I hope we're nearly there," I heard Zack mutter to himself, flexing his gloved fingers.

"Nearly where, exactly?" I challenged, turning to face him. We hadn't actually been given a destination; just clear out the Fort. Shinra knows how many more passages we'd have to trek through, disposing of petty solders in luminous orange outfits!

"Well, you know, the end," he trailed off, sighing and running a hand through his hair. I felt slightly guilty; had I made him upset? I forced a smile and lightly punched his shoulder.

"Hey, are we going to get going? Or are you going to stare in the distance while those Wutai troops die of boredom."

His features regained some colour and he grinned, pumping his fist in the air. "Let's do this!"

 ~~~

Bit of a smaller chapter, this one. Hope you don't mind. How many times has Zack said 'Let's do this!' or 'Let's go!'? I need more Zack phrases, and not just 'Piece of Cake!' after every battle! :) 

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~  _imagine_fantasy_