Final Fantasy Impact

Fiction based on sources already out, original material and other personally made literature.

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Xanien
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Post by Xanien » Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:54 pm

You think so? I was a little worried about that chapter. I'm a little worried about Sephiroth's character in general. I did enjoy doing Gau how I did him though ...
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Post by Trigo » Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:52 am

i think the way ur doing SEPHIROTH is intersting as no-one knows him on that world.
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Post by Xanien » Sat Aug 26, 2006 1:28 am

Well, if at any moment this story becomes A BIG PILE OF SHIT please tell me so I can fix it up :P. Now writing the story starts to become difficult :P.
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Post by Xanien » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:45 am

Chapter 21: Obiter Dictum (Dead Words)



The walls of his room were gone and had been replaced by naked trees. Their hundreds of finger-like branches deeply outlined the empty, white sky. The twisted forest had formed a path that led two ways, both drenched in an eerie white light. This dead forest had been planted in the middle of nowhere, surrounded in an endless sea of white nothingness.

"Why have you come here?"

"Huh?" The sudden sound of a voice startled Cloud, causing him to spin around in the middle of the path to see where it came from. Had he imagined it? He was shivering, dressed only in the pair of gray sweat pants that he always wore under his old uniform. Cloud didn’t know how he had gotten into this mess, or even where the hell "this" was. It seemed like he had been wandering in this wilderness for hours already, lost since he had woken up. The landscape was unknown to him, alien.

A chilling breeze flowed around the trunks of the trees and hit Cloud in his back, causing him to cringe and shiver while the chills ran through his entire body. No sooner had he recovered he was blasted again, weakening him to the point where he crouched down on his knees to find more warmth from his body. He couldn’t stay still forever though . . . too long and the winds would defeat him, eventually draining all of his energy. It felt as though ice was mixing with the blood in his veins.

The wanderer had a choice now. He could freeze to death and not move, or keep walking. It was an easy choice, but Cloud did not fully understand why he had made that decision as he started down the left path. His eyes strayed from the path as he walked, looking outside of its boundaries, which were only known to him because of the petrified, knotted trees. There was nothing. An abyss? No. An abyss is dark and foreboding, appearing to be without a bottom. This was something different, something more elusive to grasp. It was an entirely sterile environment, devoid of any landmarks and forlorn. Uncertainty hung in the air as Cloud traversed the endless wilds. The sky connected to the ground seamlessly, leaving no visible horizon, no destination. To see no difference, no change with each step, would cause any regular person to go insane in no time at all. But not Cloud. Once he started down the path outlined by rotting stumps and broken trunks, he would see it all the way to its end. He had no other choice. If he rested and lost his bearings, he would end up lost forever, stuck walking in an endless circle.


"Turn back now . . ."


It was so cold . . . so very cold. A thin layer of ice had formed on the branches around Cloud while he trudged on. Millions of frozen water droplets hung from the limbs of the trees. Some forming into icicles and others looking like rain that never reached the ground. Time . . . no wait, life itself was frozen here.


"Leave or you’ll never be able to return."


"Where else can I go . . ." the warrior mumbled under his visible breath, trying to hide his growing contempt for the voice. It was hard to walk, let alone talk back to something that probably existed only in his mind. Cloud knew better than to doubt his gut feeling. There was a reason for this path, there was a reason for this journey, and there was a reason for him to keep walking. Instinct had come to his aid many times before, so why should he start to doubt himself now? There was no response to his first challenge so he decided to make himself heard this time, "Where in this world is there a place for somebody like me? WHERE DO I BELONG?" he screamed angrily into the white void composing this world, his words echoing continuously while he took deep, cool breaths to calm his racing heart.

The hellish surroundings answered him, sending a gust of artic wind to push him backwards and turn him around. But he didn’t let it deter him. It actually had the adverse affect on Cloud and gave him the resolve to push on and find the end of the path even as his body began to numb. He squinted his eyes and wrapped his arms around his chest to block the wind and keep the remaining warmth in his body close to himself, then moved on. Hurricane force winds blew him back and slowed his steps, but Cloud only bundled up tighter and forced himself to take step after step forwards. How long had it really been? Hours? Days? There was no sun, no sense of any time . . . he didn’t even know if it was morning or night because his surroundings would never change. It was dreadfully white all the time. Cloud felt like he would embrace the darkness if it was offered to him.


"Why do you continue, knowing that failure is only a second away?"


"I made a promise to myself never to give up. If I do I let down my friends, the people I love, and most importantly myself. Keep on talking. Keep on threatening me, and I will keep on moving even if it means my own death . . ." Cloud protested, gritting his teeth through the wind.

The voice seemed determined to stop him or at least turn him back, "Leave . . . or you WILL die."

"No, I’ve come too far. I won’t so you’ll just have to kill me," Cloud declared, "You hear that? KILL ME!!!"

"Even after all I’ve said you’re still intent on dying?" Cloud didn’t bother to respond. He had made himself as clear as he could already, "Very well," a white wolf materialized not to far from the hero, and its powder white fur swayed gently in the breeze, "Follow me," the wolf said to him. At this point Cloud was beyond questioning why this animal could talk, or as to how it had appeared out of nowhere. He figured that he had been hearing this voice in his head for weeks already, and he had even conversed with it. Inside that blonde, spiky haired head of his, Cloud figured he had already become a bit crazy.

The forest suddenly disappeared and Cloud blinked his eyes as sunlight poured down all around him, warming his body. When he opened his eyes again he found himself in a large expanse, filled with young trees and shrubs, their natural emerald colors laying down a comfortable coat of vegetation low to the ground. Their green leaves held strong on their branches, soaking in the still, dead air. Every so subtly the fog receded down to Cloud’s ankles, revealing scattered pink and yellow daisies everywhere. What was this place?

"Over here," the wolf led him to a flat boulder that rested invitingly on the ground, its features soft and dull, "Sit," Cloud sat down as best he could, surprised to find the rock warm against his legs.

"Cloud," a tender hand gently gripped his naked shoulder. This person’s hand sent a shock through his body, causing the frozen wanderer’s entire body to loosen up and relax. This touch was familiar. Cloud’s heart slammed against his ribs with each breath as the endorphins pumping through his body went into overdrive.

This feeling . . .

It took less than a second for his body to spin around, but it would take a lifetime to interpret what his senses were telling and what his eyes were showing him.

"What?! No!" Cloud jumped back, causing the hand on his shoulder to fall off. His heart was beating faster than before and his emotions were cycling through both fear and anxiety. Why was his subconscious showing him this image? Why was it playing an evil trick on him? What was there to gain from more pain, more anger? "I thought . . ." he almost believed it but corrected himself before he let everything start all over again, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you here Aeris?" Cloud murmured as he bowed his head, trying to calm his heart. He ran his right hand through his hair, breathing hard as he contemplated what to do next, what to SAY next.

Aeris thought for a couple moments, her sapphire blue eyes looking around the lifeless terrain as she searched for the words to say to her former bodyguard, "To help you."

"To help me what? Do you want to help me KILL myself? Is that what you meant about me dying if I didn’t turn back? Seeing you again is more of a fatal dagger to my heart than any weapon you could use against me . . ." Cloud didn’t think he was weak, he didn’t need any help. Up until a few seconds ago he had managed to take care of himself just fine. But now, seeing her again . . . it was too much. Just the possibility of it created a hint of sadness in his voice.

"No! Don’t say that! I wanted to see you again also, I didn’t want to die and leave all my friends behind," Aeris explained, bring her clasped hands up to her mouth. She looked as though she were praying with her head tilted down and her eyes closed tightly, "But there are things in the world, things you have to do in YOUR life that are bigger than yourself. You know what was the most important thing to me in that life. Only I had enough power to do anything about it . . ." Cloud looked away from her pleading eyes, not focusing, " This will be the last time I will ever talk to you Cloud. I shouldn’t even be doing this right now, but I didn’t see that I would get any other chance. Please, just-"

"Aeris . . ."

"Just give me a moment will you?" a flash of frustration flashed over her face but soon vanished as she thought of her next words. She had to choose them well because she would never be able to do this again, " We went through a lot together, right? You were my bodyguard remember? We were a great team you and I . . . there wasn’t any obstacle we couldn’t get around if we put our heads together."

"That’s true," Cloud answered. The corner of his mouth started to form into a small grin as Aeris talked about the good old days they had once shared, bringing back the memories of their travels that had happened in what seemed to be another life. It was comforting to hear that she missed him just as much as he did. He wanted to go back to those times . . . and live them over forever.

"And our date in the Golden Saucer’," she continued, blushing a little, "I don’t think I ever thanked you for it . . ." her stern and positive attitude was starting to weaken, Cloud could tell by the tone of her voice, "I had a great time with you. I hope that we get to do something like that again, in our next lives."

Reincarnation? Wait, she’s right. Cloud started to remember Bugenhagen’s speech about the planet in Cosmo Canyon. Every living thing has a life force, and when they die their life force returns to the planet. A new life is composed of a mixture of the lifestream. But is it possible to come back as a whole self? An original self? Of course . . . Sephiroth was evidence enough of that, "Yeah, that would be nice," Cloud said, trying to remain positive. Being able to talk with Aeris renewed all of the feelings and emotions he thought he had closed off after she had died. Cloud didn’t want it to end, even though he knew that all things have to end.

"You’ve changed Cloud," Aeris told him as he looked at the ground once more, tapping his thumbs together.

"I know. I didn’t really plan on becoming like this, but after what happened-" Cloud responded with a solemn look on his face.

"Nobody ever plans for change. All you can do is have faith, and hope that whatever destiny has in store for you is the right thing. Cloud . . . you’ve become so negative about, so solitary. The harder you try to stop change, the more it will destroy who you are . . . and who you were," Aeris changed that train of thought, " By the way Cloud, did you and Tifa-"

"No!" Cloud shot an angry glance at her, his comeback causing her to stop questioning him for a moment and take a step back. It was hurtful to feel words from his mouth spoken with such frustration and fire. Seeing her hurt as though she had taken an arrow to the heart, Cloud quickly rebounded, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just that, well . . . there was something between us but it didn’t work out. I don’t really like talking about it . . . with anybody."

"Because of me right?" Aeris said, staying perfectly still. She didn’t want to have Cloud shout at her again, but she had to know.

To this he didn’t know how to respond. The obvious answer was ‘Yes’ but Cloud didn’t want to make Aeris feel bad because he had convinced himself that he could never love anybody again . . . at least, not how he had cared for her, "It was just too soon. It was too much, too soon, and at the wrong time. I loved her, but I loved different things about her. Tifa was there along my side the whole time supporting me, believing in me. But . . ."

"But?"

"It just hurt too much to lose you," Cloud continued, His demeanor suddenly become more somber, "Me and Tifa, it just wasn’t the same as me and you and I knew it. I really cared for her, but for the wrong reasons. Her love came out of necessity, but your love came from another place. It’s just that . . . it’s . . . my heart is split into two because of this!" Cloud slumped forward, a look of calm sadness came from his eyes, "Aeris . . . why? Why did you have to die? Why’d you have to leave me, leave all of us? Why??"

"Because Cloud," the dream world that Cloud had set up was starting to fall apart. Darkness crept towards them in the distance, splotchy holes of nothing popping up out of nowhere. The trees rotted away and their limbs crashed onto the ground below, "because I loved you. I couldn’t stand to see everybody die when I could do something about it. I wouldn’t have chosen to live my life any other way up until that day. I was happy for once in my life when I was with you. Please, understand this . . . understand my sacrifice."

‘But it hurts so badly,’ Cloud thought to himself as he looked into her eyes, clenching his fists as hard as he could, digging his nails into his skin. The dream world continued to evaporate, vanishing. The white space was disappearing, being replaced with a creeping darkness. Aeris took note of the impending doom awaiting her and approached it head on, turning away from her friend who still sat on the stone. Cloud wouldn’t move, using the pain in his palms to drive his feelings away. He didn’t watch as she slowly walked away from him, towards the abyss, "And now you are leaving me again, " Cloud said through gritted teeth, fighting back a tear that was struggling to free itself from a the corner of his eye.

"I don’t belong here in your dreams Cloud. I belong in your memories. I never said that you couldn’t remember me, but you have to come to the terms that I’m no longer with you," Aeris’ voice started to fade away. The eternal night was almost upon her and soon she would be gone just like everything else. Cloud looked up from the ground and searched for her image, but found it nowhere.

"Where are you? Where’d you go?"

"Cloud, thank you for loving me. There is great potential in life . . . please don’t waste yours. I lived how I wanted to and died how I wanted to. Let my sacrifice make you stronger," Aeris’ words became weaker and weaker, like a whisper over the phone. The black space had taken up everything, leaving Cloud floating in a sea of darkness. Before everything was gone, before everything ceased to exist, her voice sounded one last time, only a decibel above the silence, "Cloud . . . never forget me." And with those words Cloud’s world returned to that of nothingness.

"Cloud, time to wake up!"

"I said wake up!" a priest swung his staff down against Cloud’s chest and knocked the wind out of him. Cloud quickly got out of bed and stood at attention, "Good, now get ready. We leave in less than an hour."


---------------


SHIT. Really sorry I haven't been updating this. The stupid thing is that I had chapter 21 finished a MONTH ago, but I forgot to post it here. I just finished 22 and was about to post that but realized I hadn't even done 21 yet. Sorry! I guess I'll post that next chapter in a week or so.
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Post by Trigo » Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:33 pm

Xanien nice work as always and give urself a good kick for not updating it
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Post by Xanien » Sun Oct 08, 2006 3:29 am

Dude, I really appreciate you reading this and posting. Thank you very much. I'll post that next chapter tomorrow for ya.
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Post by Trigo » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:42 am

cheers
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Post by Xanien » Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:47 am

Chapter 22: Vincent – Birth



Mobliz



Demon, monster, beast, abomination . . . throughout his life Vincent had been called many of those names. The people who said it usually did it out of fear or hatred, not knowing the sad truth behind Vincent’s transformations. They didn’t want to know, and probably wouldn’t have believed the story anyways. Once Nibelheim had been rebuilt, and the memories of the research teams that had once operated out of the basement of the mansion were forgotten, Vincent happily enclosed his cursed body in a coffin. He was the dirty little secret of the Shinra Corporation. A former high level operative of the Turks organization, he once had access to knowledge that outlined in detail how nasty , coercive, and exploitive the Shinra family had acted in order to obtain their untold trillions of gil.

So of course they knew. All residents of Shinra’s Nibelheim knew. It was their job to know. Vincent was another failed experiment, just like the rest of Hojo’s projects. Vincent was the easiest kept secret within Shinra. He was a failure as a Turk, and a failure for Hojo. And in Shinra, failures are swept under the rug and forgotten.

"Bring him in," a voice said as Vincent became aware of his surroundings, or the lack there of. In total blackness something massive came up from behind him and grabbed his arms. Vincent struggled against it but couldn’t get any leverage. It would have been easier to move a mountain with his bare hands than to try and slip out of that cold grip. His eyes strained painfully in the dark, hoping for any sign of his captor. He twisted his neck, swearing to himself he was looking DIRECTLY at this person pushing him along, but he saw absolutely nothing. They began to move forwards, each slow step slow and awkward but filled with power. He could feel the ground shake through this thing’s hands with each step. The former Shinra agent wasn’t scared of course. He had gone through years of training dealing with torture methods and interrogation in order to keep his employer’s secrets safe . . . but just because he wasn’t afraid didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling uneasy. Vincent hated uncertainty.

"Set him down," a voice snarled from the dark.

"Who is that?" Vincent demanded, his tone unusually louder than usual.

"Silence!" Another voice boomed. Vincent didn’t take orders, especially from people he didn’t know. It was part of his training as a Turk; ask questions but don’t answer them. He was about to speak again when a huge hand came up from behind and closed over his mouth and nose, muffling his words. Using his freed arm he punched and jabbed at the hand as hard as he could but to no avail. It felt like he was punching solid rock.

"You can speak later, but for now you will listen to us," A pair of eyes, green in color, appeared in front of the ex-Turk. It looked less like actual eyes and more like empty orbits filled with light green flames. The eyes themselves gave off a dull glow, letting Vincent see the one hand that had entirely covered his mouth, nose, and neck. He started to have trouble breathing the longer the hand was kept there, "We will let you go, but you won’t be able to move. At least, not until we get what we want from you," the green eyes seemed to nod to the thing that had embraced Vincent and he was put down. Once there he slowly turned his head to look at his captor. He couldn’t see anything. All he saw were two more eyes just like the first, but pale yellow in color. They seemed to float higher than the others, a good couple feet above Vincent’s own head. The yellow seemed not to want anything to do with him and stared past him into the night.

‘It’s just another nightmare, nothing more,’ Vincent thought to himself.

"No, it’s not a nightmare," a voice cracked from the opposite direction. As Vincent searched for the owner, another being became present to him. Another pair of eyes opened up and burned uncontrollably around its face with the color red. This one seemed to be getting closer to him as it talked.

"Yes, it’s something much worse," then, right in front of Vincent’s face, two piercing, silver eyes appeared. Caught off-guard Vincent tossed himself backwards, only to find that he couldn’t move his own two feet. He crashed hard onto the ground, his metal arm making a loud ding as he hit. "We told you that you’d be stuck," the mystery with the metallic eyes repeated. Although Vincent couldn’t see him, he could feel its loathing grin burning into his mind. It was laughing at him, at his . . . weakness, "Like I said, you aren’t going anywhere until we are finished."

"What do you want," Vincent angrily asked, grimacing as he stood back up.

"Your blood, your soul," the red eyes mocked him, its flames growing as it toyed with him and jumped in front of his face.

"No more questions!" the green eyed one hissed. It got really close to Vincent and pushed up against him, just as the gray eyes had done. It was impossible to keep track of all of them, and for all Vincent knew the one with the yellow eyes was still behind him.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" Vincent lashed out, trying to take a swipe at his captors.

"It seems like you have a problem with authority. You just don’t know when to shut up!" with amazing speed the red-eyed being closed the distance between Vincent and itself and sucker punched him in the stomach. Vincent coughed as the attack caused him to lurch forward in pain. He felt a tight fist unfurl with claws pointed lightly at his abdomen, "I’ll spill your guts if you make an outburst like that again . . ." the ruby-eyed horror told him. In the time it had taken Vincent to recover from getting the wind knocked out of him, the four pairs of eyes surrounded him.

"It’s only natural when you don’t have the vision," the gray-eyed voice continued, "but you’ll see soon enough. It will all be revealed to you in a matter of time, just not in your current state. Giant . . . grab him."

The huge entity behind Vincent locked onto his arms once more before he was able to react. He exerted twice the amount of pressure on Vincent’s arms then he had done the last time and in seconds Vincent could feel the bones in his arm start to buckle. The pain was immense. Little by little he could feel the fractures moving along his arm in multiple places, and even though he had no feeling in his robotic arm, hearing the pieces of metal crumple and having the titanium bolts that held it together shoot off was just as bad. The pain in his other arm shot up past his shoulder, and then to his lower back, paralyzing Vincent’s entire body.

"If you won’t listen to us when we talk to you," the gray eyes moved into Vincent’s line of site in front of him and stopped talking for a moment. From there it grabbed Vincent’s healthy forearm and began to squeeze until the veins on his arm flared up, "then we have other ways of getting through to you. Such as . . . PAIN!" in a flash the sadistic being dragged something sharp down Vincent’s arm, ripping off flesh and tearing open the skin from his elbow to his wrist.

"Ahhh!!" Vincent screamed out as he violently jerked his body to get away from the torture, his legs kicking furiously. But the grip on him was just too strong and it only served to weaken him further as more blood pumped through his arteries, squirting out occasionally through his arm. Even if he could get loose, he was in no condition to fight these monsters. Vincent regained what little composure that was left in him and breathed heavily through his nose. The crimson liquid that coursed through his body continued to spill out of his veins . . . warm and sticky at first as it flowed down his forearm before becoming cold and dripping off his knuckles.

"Ah, I see you understand now. We can finally get down to business," the one with ash colored eyes reveled in Vincent’s agony. It lived to see the man like this. Pain, fear, anger . . . it was his lifeforce, "Lately Vincent, we’ve noticed a change in you."

"A very bad change, at least for us," the red one added.

"You are getting weaker," the shifty green eyes told him. A circle had been formed around Vincent and the eyes were moving around him, taking turns talking.

"And that means that we are getting weaker too. And you know as well as we do that we all hate weakness." The gray being started to take a physical shape as it spoke more, and so were the others.

"Yes, we were created from those weaknesses. We are the outward manifestation of your weaknesses Vincent!" The being with the green eyes began to materialize as he listened more.

Yes, it all makes sense. I understand . . . now I can see,’ Vincent had finally caught on to what had been happening and the scene unraveled right before him.

"If the weaknesses leave, then we all leave too," the giant spoke up for the first time. With relative ease, Vincent freed himself from his unmoving prison and walked backwards from the circle. What had towered behind him was a hulking giant, Death Gigas. Its massive muscles ripped through the gray skin tissue on its body even when it stood still. Moving around the circle was the Galian Beast; a lycanthropic being with pointed horns and an insatiable thirst for blood . . . Hellmasker; a twisted soul with a wicked appetite for torture . . . and the king of disorder, Chaos. The dead eyes that had haunted Vincent now had bodies to go with.

"We won’t let you change," Galian Beast told him as its long, red tongue flicked across its piercing fangs, "even if it means controlling you all the time."

"And we know you wouldn’t like that, would you?" Chaos asked Vincent with its arms crossed in front its chest. To make the point that he was serious, Chaos extended his wings to their full 5 feet wingspan and floated into the air just above him, the force of the wind blowing harshly into his face.

"Is this all you brought me here for?" Vincent responded as he flexed his woundless arm. It had all been an illusion . . . only in his head. He sounded rather indifferent to the demons, trying to play off what had just happened. But they were a part of Vincent and knew better. Death Gigas and Hellmasker could care less, but Galian Beast got defensive at his weaker half’s comments. His ruby red pupils dilated his tail slammed the ground hard. Drool was dripping off his fangs and his dagger-like claws were gleaming in the low light before Chaos put himself between the two.

"For now," Chaos answered, " Consider this your only warning."

And with those words they vanished and so did the darkness. The afternoon sun was high in the sky and its rays shone through the room, making the temperature in the small wood and brick establishment almost unbearable. Red was gone from the bed next to his own, but most likely was close by. The hole Terra had left when she flew out of the room let an unusual amount of light into the room, hurting Vincent’s eyes. Its brightness almost caused him to go back to sleep . . .

"Momma!" a boy cried from outside the door of Vincent’s house. Intrigued he darted out the door and ran to where the children were gathering. To his astonishment, gliding out of the sky and towards the crowd was the same magnificent being that Vincent had seen earlier. She landed roughly and collapsed to the dirt, her hair standing on end moments before losing the pink fire that had covered her body and instilled with amazing powers since yesterday.

"Terra, are you okay?" Nanaki asked, worried after what he had seen the other day. Soon the kids were repeating what he had said and were putting their hands all over her to make sure she wasn’t hurt anywhere.

Vincent was glad to see that his friend was fine. He hadn’t seen him since before the incident, but there were more pressing matters at hand, "We should help Terra," Red agreed and the both pushed through the kids to get to her. Carefully, Vincent picked up Terra’s weakened and fragile body and took her into the house that she had let he and Red stay in. As he lay her down on a bed, she started to come too.

"You’re okay now Miss Terra," Nanaki said, "You’re back in Mobliz."

"Unnhhhhh . . . huh?!?" She seemed to get her energy back rather quickly and looked to everybody as though she had just woken up from a long nap, "NO! Kefka! STOP IT!!" she suddenly freaked out, recalling the gruesome events from the day before. She had been unable to speak to anybody about the atrocities she had witnessed, and having to mull it over in her mind over and over again had taken its toll. She pulled the blankets over her body close to her mouth, beginning to cry and scaring the little children that had followed Vincent and Red into the house.

"What?" Vincent wasn’t sure he had heard what she said correctly.

"Say that again? Who?" Nanaki asked, probably thinking the same thing as his friend.

After calming down, Terra was able to talk again, "I saw them . . . in Albrook. As I flew over the town Kefka came into view. There was another man with him. Tall and thin with long silver hair. It was so horrible. They killed without hesitation . . . and poor Gau. What did that man do to him?!" she told them, the tears streaking down her cheeks, " I don’t know how Kefka came back, bit it was all so horrible. All those people, those mothers and children . . . they never had a chance," the kids had gathered around their mom and were now hugging her, trying to calm her down as best they could.

"Terra, now I know you’re a little shook up, but you have to help me. Who was that other person you spoke of?" Red asked.

"He had called himself Sephiroth. Yes, that was his name. He was no better than Kefka. God no . . . the children were screaming," Terra relapsed again into what she had been like before and they could get nothing else out of her after that. Her body shook uncontrollably.

No!’ Vincent thought, clenching his metal appendage into a fist, ‘How is it possible? Xanien should have destroyed him! I saw it with my own eyes and nobody could have survived . . . even him!’ Vincent had to find out where this had happened. He had to find out if what he thought was true. Was it really who Terra said it was? He picked out the oldest looking boy in the crowd and asked him, "Boy, I need your help. What is your name?"

"Duane," he answered. He was a skinny kid with blondish-brown hair and a rather adult looking outfit on. He seemed like he wanted to grow up and be a man as quick as possible, but his eyes said otherwise. He was still just a frightened kid.

"Duane, is there a map anywhere in this town? Can you show me where this Albrook is?" Vincent tried to retain his calm, looking over at Nanaki who gave him an equally worried look. They knew they could not stand by and let this world face his terror all alone, " Red, have the others woken up yet?" he asked as they walked towards a small building twenty meters away.

"Not yet. They are still recovering from the crash."

The once cold and quiet Vincent was no more. He couldn’t think about a life in a coffin anymore. He couldn’t wait and let the world take care of its own wounds . . . its own mistakes. The man reborn as a freedom fighter that had helped Cloud, Barret, and all the others had to take action. Vincent followed the boy over to another building and inside it was a small library. Working as fast as he could the boy fingered through some of the books.

"Here it is," Duane said as brought the book over to a table and opened it up to a world map," We’re here," the boy said, pointing to the western end of a thin landmass surrounded by water on all sides. He dragged his finger slowly across the wrinkles of the map, crossing the ocean until he came to a point on the paper near the bottom of the large, southernmost island, "and Albrook is across the ocean, down here-"

Vincent didn’t need any more information. He was out the door before Duane could even look up from the book. He spared no time kicking down the locked door to the house that held Nanaki’s and his own weapons. On a shelf out of reach to most of the small children was his extremely high-powered Death Penalty rifle, a gun with a medium sized barrel and decent range. As unassuming as it looked, its true power came from the ammunition is used. Re-useable bullets that could be filled with the shooter’s life essence for an extra punch. Use it too much and it could kill you . . . hence the gun’s name "Death Penalty". On the table lay both Nanaki’s Ziedrich Bangle and Vincent’s Imperial Guard. Both were amazingly sturdy bangles that fit over their limbs perfectly. Each one was filled with a rainbow assortment of material which they had brought with them on the journey more out of routine than actually thinking they’d have to use them in battle.

"Vincent, I know what you’re thinking and you can’t do it!" Red stated from the doorway, "if it is him, there is no way you can win on your own. It’s suicide! We should wait for the others to wake up, then we should search for the other survivors. Cid, Shera, Cloud -"

"No. I have no other choice. There is no other way," Vincent replied, slipping the Ziedrich over his wrist and around the upper part of his forearm," this bangle nullifies all the elements right?" Nanaki nodded. Vincent finished fastening the armor and undid the safety on his gun. There would be no talking him out of this, "Good." Vincent walked out into the courtyard and slipped his rifle into a leather holster across his back.

"Vincent . . ."

"Nanaki, if I don’t come back, then . . . No, don’t worry about me. I will see you later," his canine friend looked at the dirt beneath his paws. How much later was what he didn’t want to think about. If Sephiroth and this Kefka person were allowed to take over this planet unabated, it would most likely be sooner than they would like. He didn’t want to have to look into Vincent’s eyes. But he knew that Vincent’s odds weren’t that good, "Nanaki . . . good bye."

Vincent buckled everything down on his body and jumped easily onto the nearest roof. Perched on its zenith like a gargoyle, he pulled his new white cloak around his mouth like he had done countless times before. Painfully, he forced the wings of Chaos through his skin, blood soaking into his fresh cape as his talons ripped through the fabric. Leathery gray wings. A white cloak. Black hair and black clothes underneath and a look of determination nobody had ever seen in Vincent’s eyes before. He was an unlikely avatar for an alien planet where nobody knew him. But he was going to be the first line of defense against the other ‘alien’ that had landed here and would surely destroy it. Jumping off the roof he spread his wing, catching a gust of air upwards and flying away just as quickly as Terra had done. He was off towards Albrook, riding the winds of change that would forever change the face of this planet.



-------------

Okay, that's the last chapter I have finished. Not too sure when the next chapter will be out. Keep your eyes peeled for an update. 4 more chapters to go before moving on to Book 3 of 4.
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Post by Trigo » Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:36 am

Nice work and mind to update it here plz
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Post by Xanien » Fri Feb 02, 2007 11:52 pm

Well, I haven't written any new chapters lately because I've been doing a lot of back research by playing the old games. I'm almost done with 3, 1 and 2 are beat . . . I think I will either write some more in the next few weeks/ next month or sometime in the summer when I get the time. I feel like it's time to push forward to the end of book II of Impact and have all the old stuff totally revised. I think the second time around is DEFINITELY better with Impact. Sorry about the long wait, there is no excuse for that. I hope you've been keeping happy with some video games yourself and music and what not. Keep looking for updates and hopefully next time you see a post in here it will be a nice sized chapter!
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Post by Trigo » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:21 pm

Yea an update
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Post by Xanien » Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:43 am

Chapter 23: The Misconceptions of Man



Part 1: Setting the stage


The Falcon is the only usable airship in the world. No other flying ship comes close. Even the Empire, with their vast amount of wealth, knowledge, and technology have been unable to recreate such an efficient ship. Their airplanes lack the ability to stay in the air for long amounts of time, and their limited size heavily reduces their combat capability.

Falcon (and the Blackjack before it) had been built from lost technology, in a civilization hundreds (if not thousands) of years before them. The engines and propulsion systems of each ship was a veritable black box, a complete mystery to its crew. Control of both vessels had been under the master gambler and pilot extraordinaire Setzer Gabbiani since the discovery at Darryl’s Tomb. It had remained an utterly obscure and isolated ruin for ages until Setzer’s friend and rival, Darryl, happened upon the cave by sheer accident almost 10 years ago. The airship was radically advanced, and both friends wanted ownership of it. When it was decided that it would be impossible to negotiate any type of deal, the infamous "bet" was born.

A race. More precisely, an airship race.

Setzer brought gathered a crew of engineers and headed down into the ruins, taking notes, performing tests, and learning as much as possible about the aviary relic. He then set out with his crew and created (or recreated) a copy of the enigmatic ship. Thus, the Blackjack was born. Finally the day of the race was at hand, and both camps were declaring victory even before either of the airships had taken to the sky. Darryl was overly confident, and bet not only her fortune but the ship on her victory. Setzer, a born gambler, instantly accepted her terms of the bet and thus it began.

It started from the quiet northwestern town of Kohlingen and blasted through the sands of the Figaro desert, skimming the waves and searing the water along the Serpent Trench before finally coming to an end in Mobliz. In One hour, thirty one minutes, the Falcon had won with the Blackjack almost two hours behind it. Dejected, Setzer met the conditions of the bet, turning over his fortune and the newly christened Blackjack to his rival. Darryl refused her winnings and instead told the disgraced pilot he could keep his ship and winnings. She could not, and did not want to break the spirit of a man who meant so much to her. Setzer was the only man that had passion and the arrogance enough to challenge her and stand toe to toe. Instead, she took his heart and soul in the trade, forever indebting the white haired gambler to be by her side no matter what.

They fell dangerously in love together, taking risks that by themselves they would never take. Darryl had lived a fast life, perhaps too fast because her existence was wiped from the face of the planet in an instant in a fiery crash. Darryl’s whole life had been in front of her, but fate doesn’t take age into account before cutting the threads of destiny. Her body had been unable to be recovered, so Setzer still held onto the slim hope that she was out there, somewhere. Though after the planet shifted into the ruinous world of Kefka with his light of judgment setting the landscape alight, that hope became even fainter.

Setzer could still feel her presence when he flew the Falcon. Her smell still lingered on personal effects she had been buried with, the unique setup of the ship was undeniably hers. . . everything reminded him of what Darryl used to be. Sometimes when Setzer was the only one on the deck, the wind blowing past would speak to him. He would shut his eyes tight and just let the air currents blow his silver hair, fully trusting that she would guide him as he held the wheel.

"Setzer sir, loading preparations are complete," a worker that had helped bring supplies aboard for the mission said.

"Thank you," Setzer replied, snapping out of his daze. He walked over to the railing on the starboard side of the ship and saw a group of 14 Figaro Elite guards coming up the service ramp of the cargo hold. Gogo had boarded earlier and had already found comfort in the lobby of the ship. The carpenters and blacksmiths Sabin had assigned to fix the ship had done a miraculous job on the Falcon in a little over a day. Of course it didn’t leave the ship looking too pretty with a patchwork of different colors on its hull, but the craftsmanship was superb. They had cleared out all of the loose debris from the meteor shower and had cut away the parts of the ship where the integrity had been compromised, replacing it with newer, stronger materials.

Up until a couple minutes ago, the carpenters had been making the rounds and doing last minute adjustments, making sure that there wouldn’t be any problems during flight. But now they were leaving too, along with the workers that had loaded the cargo. The ship would take off soon, but where were Mik and Shadow? Maybe Setzer could hurry them onboard. "Everyone leaving for Neo Vector board in the next FIVE minutes!" he yelled across the ship at the castle.

"Wait!" Mik screamed, running out from the doors on the lower side of the castle.

"Have you seen Shadow?" Setzer asked Mik as he ran up to the ship.

"No. Are you sure he’s not on the ship already?"

"I’m positive. Look for him will you?" Setzer asked.

"Right," The bodyguard’s steps pounded the flimsy ramp as he stormed into the bowels of the ship. Once Mik had made his way up to the main deck where Setzer was, he just stood there and shrugged.

"Damn, where is he? If he’s late it will throw everything off!" Setzer became impatient and began flipping an ace of spades through his fingers, looking up at the highest tower while alternating the poker card increasingly faster over his digits. The card suddenly slipped from his hand and he motioned for the dock to push off from castle as he told the engine room to take off.

"Without Shadow?" Mik argued, stepping towards Setzer.

"Ha, I like taking risks just as much as the next guy, but for where we’re going, our chances won’t be too good without him. Just watch," Setzer said as he pointed to the tower above them. The cold-hearted ninja appeared before them, standing precariously on the point of on the parapet, his black bandana snapping furiously in the desert wind as the ship’s engines heated up. His stunning eyes glared down at them, waiting for them to approach close enough so he could jump down.

"Ahh, gotcha," Mik said. He jogged down the stairs and in less than a minute the propellers that maneuvered the ship had started to spin. Once those had been warmed up, more hot air pressure was fed into the blimp to give the Falcon some lift. Slowly it lifted up, and Setzer went over to the wheel, guiding it closer to the castle. Once he had raised it to a high enough level, Setzer turned back around to watch Shadow, who had turned around himself to shake hands with Sabin. Banon was also on the tower to see them off. The warrior’s handshake was brief but meaningful. Behind closed doors, Shadow had promised the king he would do everything in his power to capture the bastard that killed Edgar when they met up after this operation.

"Godspeed," Banon proclaimed in a grave tone while shaking his hand. Everything rested on this mission. If it failed, who knows what would happen at Fanatics Tower. The engines located on the rear of the ship hissed as super-heated steam squeezed out of the closed valves. Shadow took this as a sign to get moving and quickly back-flipped onto the back of the ship, away from Mik and Setzer.

"Setzer, Shadow . . . Good luck!" Banon exclaimed, "and may the Returners be victorious!" he waved goodbye to them and Setzer replied with a short salute of his own.

Now, with his crew assembled and ship full, Setzer could finally be on his way. He stepped on a pedal below his wheel and opened the main valve of the engines. The flow of warm air reacted with the ship’s fuel and ignited it with an explosive force that propelled the ship forward with impressive speed. The Falcon’s mission may have just started, but soon others would be set in motion as well.


Figaro Castle: Mission 2


"There’s no turning back now," Sabin mentioned to Banon, "I think it’s time to put the second part of the plan into motion."

"Yes, I know," replied Banon as the Falcon disappeared over the horizon to the south.

"Hey you two!" somebody yelled from far below.

Banon looked towards the front of the castle and saw Locke waving both of his hands to get their attention, "Ahh, it seems like our other comrades have finally arrived."


Figaro Castle: Main Hall


"Locke, Celes! It’s been too long! It’s great to see you guys again!" Sabin said as he embraced Celes, "We had feared the worst when we heard of Narshe. Thank god you all survived. Where’s Umaro?"

"He died saving us," Celes announced solemnly, clasping her hands together as she tried to suppress the last memories she had of him.

"I see . . ." Sabin replied, his head hung. He then began to talk to them about everything that had happened in the last couple of days as they waited for the other Returners in the castle to assemble. How he had found out about his brother’s death, the tragedy that occurred in Narshe, and what had happened to everybody else.

"Cyan, thank you for getting them this far. We owe you greatly," Banon said graciously as he clasped both hands around Cyan’s, "I wouldn’t have asked for anything more of you, but I’m afraid I must. There is no other choice."

"Ah, so I see," the king of Doma quipped, "I think I know of what you speak, but please wait a couple minutes. There are two more people I have brought with me. They are tying up our chocobos in your stables and should be up shortly."

"Very well, " Banon agreed, "for now let’s move into the throne room," Cyan walked through the double doors with Banon and Sabin, Locke, and Celes soon followed. In the time it had taken to walk there, Mog and Baram had been able to join them in the throne room, "Well, it looks like everybody is here, so I’ll begin," Banon stated, moving to the front of the room, " I know this will probably be a bit too much to handle, but please bear with me. Locke and Celes, we want you to help Sabin and the Northern Returner army mount an attack against Fanatics Tower."

"After what they did to Edgar, how can we not help?" Celes said, speaking for the both of them.

"I’ll make sure they pay," Locke added, showing the same type of attitude Sabin had after he had took control of his emotions. Next to Sabin, Locke had known the former king the best. He had corresponded with Figaro and the resistance ever since the birth of the rebellion against the Empire. Having known him all those years, it was only natural that such a strong connection existed.

"I was counting on you guys to agree. Forces from Kohlingen have already gathered here," Banon let go a sigh of relief having gained their support, " I want you guys to lead the joint forces of Figaro’s army and Kohlingen’s to South Figaro this afternoon. There we assembled a small navy of ferries that will take you to the surrounding waters located around the tower. You’ll leave tonight and attack at the sign of dawn tomorrow morning."

It WAS a lot for Locke and Celes to handle. They had barely recovered from their near death experience when they were being forced into a new one. The more responsibilities Banon put on them, the quieter they became. Maybe it would be too much, and they were having second thoughts . . . but they had a responsibility and knew what they were getting into when they joined the Returners.

" I understand," Locke accepted, " I will do as you ask Banon."

"But will those forces be enough to take out the Fanatics?" Celes asked apprehensively. She was a former general for the Empire of course, and was very knowledgeable about tactics and military strategy.

"Yes," Sabin answered for Banon," But our advisors are anticipating heavy losses."

"That’s why we were hoping that you’d support us Cyan," Banon pleaded as he turned to the king of Doma. But it didn’t seem like he would have to worry about at least one more person helping.

"I’ll help sire!" Baram said as he came forward to offer his services to the Returners. Cyan held out his hand and motioned for him to back away.

"I desired not to get my people involved. I didn’t want any more of Doma’s people to feel the sorrows of war like I have," Cyan told Banon and the others, "But now I realize that my dream can no longer be sustained with how the world has changed. Too much has been allowed to happen already. I fear that if something isn’t done soon, our world will be thrown into strife, as it was when the Empire first exercised its harsh rule. Banon, I will back thee with my volunteer defense force and Chocobo riders. But that is the best I can do."

"Thank you Cyan," Banon said, placing his right arm on the shoulder of his friend. With everybody ready to do their part, it seemed possible that the Returners could successfully carry out their operation. Only one more thing still had to be taken care of . . .

"Kupo," Mog stuttered as he timidly walked up the old man, his head bowed and eyes closed, "What about me?" He hoped that he too could contribute something to their battle.

"Brave moogle, don’t think that we’ve forgotten about you," Banon comforted the furry white creature as he got down on one knee, "if you are up to it, Sabin and I had decided to give you the most dangerous mission of them all. It’s a one-man mission of the most perilous nature. We want you to retrieve Terra from Mobliz and alert her to the situation. Her field experience and battle skills would be a great aid in the fight against the Fanatics. Do you accept?"

Mog was flattered that they’d honor him with such a mission. He knew firsthand how strong Terra was. The moogle thought back years ago to the first time she appeared in the caves of Narshe with Locke, and how she and her friends had protected the city no matter what when the Empire attacked. After losing his best friend and most of his family in Narshe, he was more than up for it. Mog hoped that he wouldn’t fail them the way he failed Umaro in the caves. Their trust meant a lot to him . . . "Of course. When should I leave kupo?" his tiny pink wings flapped hurriedly in anticipation to the response.

"Right away," Banon ordered him," You should leave with Cyan and Baram as soon as possible. It would be far too risky to travel past the tower at this stage, so reach Mobliz from the Veldt," Mog nodded that he understood. Satisfied, Banon got up and went back over to the king, "Cyan, I can’t say it enough, but thank you. The people of Nikeah will be happy to hear that you will be helping them on their raid. Meet up with them as soon as your forces are assembled!"

Cyan and Baram were on their way out when Cyan stopped, "Is there anything else I need to know before I leave?" he asked.

"Come back alive." Sabin declared with a rare smile, "I don’t want this to be the last time I see all my friends.

His comment drew small smiles from everybody too, relieving the tension somewhat, "I’ll have to agree with you on that," Locke replied.

"Okay everyone, there isn’t a moment to lose," Banon said as he began to move everyone out of the room, "All of you, good luck." From there, the warriors said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Mog left for Mobliz, Locke and Celes to South Figaro, and Cyan and Baram back to Doma. They imagined that their lives and the lives of their children were on the line for generations to come, but they had no idea that in less than a few days their own existence would be threatened.





----------------------

Ehhh, this is kind of a weak chapter, isn't it? Just some character backstory, and some plot advancement. Think of it as a glorified chapter synopsis I guess? The next one will probably be slightly better, and then it will really start to pick up again. Currently playing FFV right now, almost got it beat. I'm going to try and time it so that I'll be playing FFVI (to help with the story) after I finish the next two chapters.

Cool? THanks for reading.
Last edited by Xanien on Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Trigo » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:08 am

Good work as always.
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Post by Xanien » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:10 am

Wow, that was quick. Should I make the chapters longer? I was actually going to post both chapters together as one (this chapter was about 3000 words, and the next is a little bigger), but I thought that would be too much. What do you think? Something double this size okay for future chapters?
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Post by Trigo » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:50 am

The size is just fine its cause i haven't got much to do at work so read it all in one sitting.
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