Novel: Final Fantasy VII - Aftermath

[Shinn Asuka]

[/siz]

The city of Midgar, a great city of nothing but pure technology, was ruined by those who wish to be placed in power over the people. Because of this, the city slowly began to fall apart. The people split into two classes, anyone who worked for ShinRa Electric Power sat above the top of the slums, where the lower class of people would remain. This would cause many uprisings, the most known to the history books ended up being AVALANCHE, who nearly single handedly destroyed the entire ShinRa conglomerate.

Enter Sephiroth. One who wished to become a god, though he was only a mere human in the end. His demise was caused by the acts of Cloud, when he was attempting to merge the Lifestream, Meteor, and Holy. After this, the likes of the AVALANCHE team split off, Cloud, Tifa, and Barret making a new home, while Vincent and Cid headed off on their own, separate ways. Yuffie headed back to her home town of Wutai, and that is where our story begins, not in Wutai, but in the Great Northern Crater.





Chapter On:
The Great Northern Crater[/color][/size]


The Great Northern Cave, the final resting place of Sephiroth, was once a dark cavern. Filled with pools of amazing, shimmering makou, the liquid form of the Lifestream which runs through the planet, it formed a semisolid grave for the silver haired ?demon.? The green-blue liquid shimmered in its new grave, showing no real form of life amongst it; only in its own existence would it be considered ?alive.?

Now the Great Northern Cave was no longer a cave, but more of a crater. It was the place of the final showdown between Sephiroth and Cloud, the place where Meteor, Holy, and the Lifestream were combined into one. Now, the Great Northern Cave was nothing more than a giant crater, filled to the brim with its own liquefied materia, known as makou. Makou, in its own form, was neither a liquid nor a solid, but a happy medium, in its own place between the two; it would never bubble, nor stir or sweep, only remain calm and still, a remembrance for the dead.

The dead, also known as the remembered, or ?Those Who Cannot Be Seen.? It was those who had died and been buried, who had a strong heart, which slowly turned to the liquid makou and were forced into the Lifestream to be reborn as one, as a collective, one large collection of thoughts. These people would become the voices of the planet, to cry out to those who carried the blood which flowed through the veins of their ancient heritage, giving them the title of Cetra. Those with Cetra blood were rare, and the last known person who carried that bloodline was Aerith ? the one who had been gruesomely murdered by the silver haired devil, Sephiroth. Though, for one, there is always another; a pair, a twin, one made for the first. The person did exist, and though he did not know it, his love had been lost, and the planet cried for him in his dreams.

A single thought floated amongst the collective thoughts in the Lifestream. ?Damn you,? it said, ?I hate you all. This is not over,? it whispered, ?it will not be over for a long time. I won?t let it end.? The collective thoughts tried to overpower it, ride it out. Make it come to a sensible conclusion. ?Please, it?s been over for almost two years now. Please, leave it be. Please. Let it be over.? whispered the cries of the Lifestream.

This hindered the voice very little, if any at all. Not rattled at all, the voice only grew stronger. ?All of them,? snapped an angry reply, ?They will all die for what they did to me! I will have my revenge! THEY CANNOT KEEP ME LOCKED IN THIS PRISON FOREVER!!?

Suddenly, from the center of the makou pit in the Great Northern Cavern, bubbles arose. As if evolving from thousands of years, the bubbles rose and took a shape, the form of a human, only this form had two wings, one an angel wing, the other that of a demon. A hand emerged from the semi liquid, and in it clasped the half broken hilt of a legendary sword. Slowly, the being emerged from the pool of makou, and onto the shoreline?

[Shinn Asuka]

Chaptr Two:
A Summer Promise[/size]

Cloud Strife stood in the noonday sun just within the window of their new bar, though it was still titled ?Tifa?s Seventh Heaven?. He smiled to no one in particular as he watched the people outside the window head to their new jobs within the rebuilt city of Midgar. Oddly, it had only taken two years to completely rebuild Midgar and make it prosperous again, but it was a trend for the better. The slums had been completely torn down, and suburbs had been built in their place. The new government cared for the people, which was good, plus food and money were bountiful, so there was no fear of an economical relapse.

?Hopefully we?ll have better business today? were the words that became spoken, albeit softly. With a sigh, he returned to mopping the floor, moving the wet tendrils from the mop in the same pattern he?d been using for the past hour. He?d, by this point, pretty much mopped the same spot for the last half hour, not even realizing that the rest of the floor had been neglected.

?I?m home~!? came the happy-go-lucky voice which snapped the blonde back from his trance. Arms wrapped around his waist, and a kiss came to his cheek, and he finally managed a smile. The baggy shirt that he wore wrinkled some as the woman took a step back. ?A bit sloppy today, eh Cloud??

?I felt that today should be ?casual? day here at the Seventh Heaven? he grinned back at her, and in response he got a powerful, yet playful punch to the shoulder. She may have been a woman, but she was still very strong, physically and mentally. After all, she was the only one who managed to bring Cloud out of his makou and Lifestream induced coma.

?Tsk-tsk, Cloud, you spiky haired fruit,? she would slyly say, before giggling ?Still as cute as you were on day one.? This caused a violent red blush over Cloud?s cheeks before he headed back towards the bar, and placed the mop up.

?That was a long time a??

?You?re blushing! How adorable!? by now Tifa was holding back her laughter as Cloud stood, flustered by her constant teasing.

?Ahem. Anyhow, I made you that promise, on that summer night long ago, that I?d come back to you and protect you,? he smiled over to her, ?and now, look. I kept it?through the Sephiroth battle, and even through the economical rebuilding. Everything is nearly perfect.?

?That?s true,? Tifa said thoughtfully, ?and I?m glad you decided to stay. After the others left, I was afraid no one would be there for me, but you proved that wrong.? She blushed slightly, before she turned away and cleared her throat. ?Anyhow, time to open up shop.?

By that time, it had already reached about ten in the morning, and the sun was slowly getting towards its apex in the sky. The ?closed? sign was flipped over to read ?open,? and people began to enter in order to get their morning coffee and a smile, as was always offered by the ?Seventh Heaven.? The fact that the ?Seventh Heaven? was technically a bar didn?t change how many people came in during the mornings for a cup of coffee, a bagel, or anything ? it was treated as a café instead of a tavern, which was perfectly alright with Tifa.

Tifa handed a little girl a bagel and smiled as she took the 5 gil for it, before a voice snapped her concentration. ?Miss Lockheart, correct?? as she followed the sound of the voice, there appeared to be a man as its projector. Standing just barely taller than Cloud, he wore a black business suit, and a pair of dark sunglasses. Short, yet slick black hair with violet highlights sat atop his head, pulled back to show a still extremely youthful face.

?Yes, that?s me. What can I do for you, sir?? she asked, though there was no apparent nervousness in her voice, she was worried. Suits and sunglasses caused that, as bad run-ins with the TURKs had made a bad impression in men dressed as such.

?We need to speak. Can I have a moment of your time?? He was very courteous, and his voice was full of an amazing enthusiasm. She nodded, and he headed over to a table, to which she followed and finally sat across from him.

?What is this about, mister???

?Hartline. Alexander Hartline, Miss Lockheart. And, it is about your brother.? He pulled off the sunglasses to reveal shimmering violet eyes, which amazed her. That was a color she had never seen before, and the way they glowed?she seemed drawn into them. Slowly, she regained herself.

?My bro??

?Miss Lockheart, we have reason to believe he is dead.?

[Shinn Asuka]

Chapter Thre:
Life after Death[/color][/b][/size]


The light in the room was bright, seeming even brighter against his sore eyes. He could feel his wrists shackled to the cold steel he was lying on, and tested them with the only strength he could muster, but it wasn?t enough to do anything but rattle them. His entire body was sore, as if he?d been beaten for hours on end, and he felt like he should just give in, and let the darkness once again retake him. Unfortunately, that could not happen, as when he was almost unconscious again, an earsplitting crash awoke him.

?I see you?re awake? came the voice, which didn?t seem all that menacing, more nerdy than anything. Stepping up beside the table was a man who had long black hair, pulled back into a ponytail, with large round glasses that framed his face. He grinned slowly as the other?s eyes slowly began to refocus, and finally focused enough to allow him to see the professor.

?I don?t believe it?? he whispered, looking up at the professor, who was cackling. ?Don?t believe what, Mister Hartline?? responded the professor, who reached down to look at the man?s arm, which was covered in ?tread marks,? though they were slowly healing.

?You?you?re supposed to be?be dead?? His eyes began to slip shut again, but a blinding light caught his eyes before he could get them shut. The professor was holding a penlight, looking down into the crimson color that his eyes had taken.

?Not I, but my clone,? came the response. ?You think that the great Professor Hojo would have perished so easily? Of course not. With the research I have already completed, assembling a clone was simple enough ? hell, we did it with Sephiroth; he was only the test subject. I cannot believe that that idiot Rufus ShinRa believed that the clone was really me.? He laughed, it being cold, full of malevolence.

?What are you..?? whispered the Hartline twin, as Hojo picked up a new syringe; it filled with some sort of green-blue mysterious substance. Pulling down on the straps the table had, it tightened the hold on the man?s arm, and the syringe plunged deep inside, injecting the fluid down into the veins.

It burned terribly. It was like his veins were filled with molten lava, trying to eat its way to the surface of his body, melting through the core and out towards the sky to crust. Hojo watched in astonishment as the Hartline twin collapsed against the table, writhing in pain. ?Excellent,? he said to himself, taking a look at the charts beside him which were showing the vitals, heartbeat and blood pressure, internal temperature, and mental stability. Each was rising, getting higher, peaking. The internal temperature scale actually malfunctioned, reading that his temperature had reached a maximum of 156°.

?Vincent Hartline, patient 102-487. Enhanced project Alpha, under ShinRa guidelines A4, E6, and F7. Code: Top Secret.? Hojo would speak into the recording device, which was currently video taping everything going on. ?Patient has been injected with a mixture of makou energy, Jenova cells, as well as some of the leftover cells from the Sephiroth cloning experiment. Subject?s internal temperature, heartbeat, and brain patterns are each over the limit; monitors have been turned off due to the fact that they were giving errors.?

?Hojo?? Vincent would hiss between gritted teeth. His sharp fangs showed in the dim light, as he growled at the professor, trying to lash out at him. ?I?ll kill you, you son of a bitch! How?How dare you do this to me?!? This only brought a smile to the professor?s face.

?You lose this round?your life was extendable to ShinRa, and that is why you work for us now.?

?I?d never work for you?I?d rather die before I did that!?

?As you wish,? came the smart-ass reply from the professor, and he pushed down again on the peddle, causing it to cut off the air to Vincent?s body, the chain around his neck becoming taught. ?You can die; it would make this easier on me. I have all the data I need to create another of you.?

The lights of the room began to dim again, before it all fell into blackness, and Vincent fell deep into unconsciousness. Hojo let out a slight sigh of relief, had the other known what his powers truly were capable of, there may have been problems ? but because he did not yet know, things would be so much easier on him. Pressing a final switch, the table turned and deposited the man into a glass tank which filled with the semisolid makou, and with that, the professor exited the room, to file his report.