(Please note: Final Fantasy VII and characters are the property of Square,
etc., etc., etc. Song lyrics (c) 1990 Mustaine Music and Theory Music. There. That's my disclaimer. Don't bother suing me, I don't even own my
own computer.)
(Blah blah blah... I tried to keep this story accurate in as many details as possible, but please don't scream at us for our name spellings, explanations
of people's motives, etc. etc. That's what fanficking is all about - taking an original idea, and taking it to a whole new level. - Miko)
Bishonen no Miko© and Vegeta proudly present:
Faith, Hope and Love: the Story of the One-Winged Angel
(Stage 1)
*** *** ***
Sitting up late at night
I tiptoe through the darkness
Cold as hell, black as spades
Aware of my immediate surrounding
-"Lucretia" Megadeth
Vincent clumsily cradled Lucretia’s head in the crook of his mechanical left arm, leaving his right hand free to gently caress her loose tendrils of brown
hair. "Lucretia, don’t..." he managed to whisper.
She frowned up at him. "What are you saying? There’s so much I have to do... I really messed so many things up in my life, haven’t I?"
"That’s not important now, Lucretia..."
"I wish I had been with you Vincent. I’m sorry about everything. And
Sephiroth..."
*He’s dead Lucretia,* thought Vincent, but he couldn’t bring himself to remind her about it again.
Before he could say another word, Lucretia began crying and said, "I never even got to hold him... poor Sephiroth." She reached up for Vincent and
pulled his head closer to hers. "Promise me Vincent - if you see Sephiroth, tell him that I love him... and that I’m sorry... for never even hugging
him."
"Lucre... okay, I will."
"Promise me," she said, her voice fading.
"I promise."
"That’s good, Vince..."
Tears sprang up in Vincent’s eyes. "Don’t Lucretia; don’t go!"
"Vincent, I love you..." she whispered, and her eyelids fluttered shut. "Your promise..."
*** *** ***
"Vincent?" Tifa was standing in from of the former Turk, waving her hand before his eyes.
"Eh? Oh sorry..."
"It’s hard to believe it’s been 14 years."
"14 years... but what can become of the present if one refuses to leave the past?..."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing... nevermind. Anyways... I went back to find Lucretia, and we were able to spend a brief time together... But the Mako treatment was too
much for her body to handle... She passed away not too long after I had just started feeling as if my sins were atoned for..." Vincent trailed off,
creating a lingering silence in the room.
Cloud cleared his throat. "Well Vincent... all that is behind you now... A lot of things disappeared forever during our journeys... we can’t change
that, so we have to look forward."
Vincent shrugged lightly, and returned to his silent ponderings. Tifa looked at Cloud somewhat uncomfortably. While the Strifes were always glad to see
one of their old traveling companions, Vincent was by far the oddest man they had ever met. They were never really sure what to say to him, or what he was
thinking.
Finally, the uncomfortable silence was broken by a knock at the door. Relieved, Tifa jumped up and answered it. Opening the door, she was greeted
by the sight of that ridiculous mechanical cat atop a large, stuffed moogle.
"Ree-...! Cait Sith! What brings you here? Come in, come in!"
Tifa led the big toy into the living room where Cloud and Vincent were. Cloud acknowledged the cat with a wave, but Vincent didn’t even seem to
notice he had come in. Cait took a moment to position his large body, then said, "Well... I wish I had some good new to report... but
unfortunately, that’s not the case this time..."
Cloud leaned closer. "What’s up?"
Cait continued, "It seems that Neo-Shinra is up to something again. After Midgar was completely evacuated, a group of scientists took a bunch of the
old Mako refining equipment and a lot of Hojo’s old notes and went back. No one knows what they’re up to or where they went exactly, but now it seems
that Midgar is coming back to life, so to speak. There’s been a lot of new monster activity spotted around there now, and the general folk are getting
nervous... So I was wondering if maybe you could help me... deal with this little problem?"
Cloud grinned. "All right! I’ve been waiting for a little action. All this peace time stuff just doesn’t suit me like I thought it would... Whaddya say
Tifa?"
Tifa nodded. "If people are in trouble, then we HAVE to do something! When do we leave Cait?"
The mechanical cat grinned. "Right away! I already contacted Cid, and he’ll be swinging by with Highwind 2 as soon as he gets my call... You guys had
better get ready, for I’ve heard that some of those monsters out there pack quite a wallop."
Cloud smirked. "No problem... Lemme see here now." Cloud walked into the other room, with Tifa and Cait right behind him. The room was adorned with
all of Cloud’s weapons that he had collected over his journeys. His Force Stealer sword, Zack’s and then his Buster Sword, his Murasame, his
crystalline Ultimate Weapon, even Ragnarok and Apocolypse were all hanging on
various sections of the wall.
Cloud considered for a moment, then took Ragnarok down off the wall carefully. Swinging it a few times for warm-up, Cloud nodded to his wife and
grinned. Tifa opened up an old, battered chest and took out her favorite glove, the Hand of God, and also grabbed their materia bag, which housed a
few of their old materia that they didn’t give to (or didn’t have taken by) Yuffie when their journeys were done. Tifa handed out a few to Cloud, and
then slipped a few into her own weapon.
Cait nodded when Tifa and Cloud looked like they were ready to go. "Okay... But what about Vincent... is he going to stay here?"
Tifa shrugged, "I don’t know... We can ask him if he’d like to come along, but I don't think he will."
The 3 walked back in to the living room, but they were surprised to see Vincent on his feet. Vincent checked his own materia that he had on him, and
slid a few into the slots that lined his Ultimate Weapon, a long barreled rifle that was a gift from Lucretia. Cocking the gun into readiness,
Vincent twirled it and holstered it like an old pro. Turning to face his rather
shocked looking hosts, Vincent nodded and said, "Let’s go."
Cait finally managed to get a hold of himself, "O... okay!" and the small cat pulled out a small cordless phone and called up Cid to come pick them up.
*** *** ***
The journey from Nibelheim to Midgar was relatively fast, and Vincent stood on the bow of the entryway of the Highwind 2, watching the earth roll out
underneath him. His cloak blew about in a dramatic fashion, and Vincent couldn’t help but lose himself again in the thoughts of Hojo, Lucretia, and
their child... Sephiroth...
Cid, Shera, Cait Sith, Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent all walked from the Highwind 2 carefully. They had stopped right outside of an encampment where a small
group of villagers had tried to set up a new town. The big stuffed moogle walked up to a man that was apparently the mayor and asked, "So... where did
you last see the monsters?"
The man replied in a frightened tone, "We saw them,... there! By the crater of
Midgar... You’re really going to take care of them right?"
Cait nodded, and Cloud also added, "Cait, I think that some of the villagers could use a little assistance in their evacuations... they all look like they
wanna get out of here..."
Indeed, everyone could tell that the villagers had had enough of whatever they had gone through. A caravan of goods and equipment looked like it was
preparing for departure. Cloud turned to Cid, "Hey Cid, you think you, Shera and Cait can handle things here?"
Cid scoffed, taking a drag off his cigarette, "Sheiiit... You just don’t wanna be stuck with all the ^*&$ing baggage Cloud!"
"We’ll be happy to help," said Shera, giving Cid a sideways glance before walking off.
Cloud grinned and nodded. "Damn straight... besides, I think Tifa and I... and well, Vincent too, can handle the monster problem a lot faster if we
don’t have to worry about a bunch of frightened people running around while we’re trying to work."
Cid sighed, "Fine... I’ll do it... Just hurry your asses up! If you’re not
back by the time I’m finished, I’m leaving your miserable carcasses here!"
Cloud nodded. "Fair enough...Let’s go Tifa, Vincent!"
The party of 3 trudged off towards the start of all their adventures from 14 years prior... Midgar.
Despite everyone’s personal thoughts, they had to keep rather focused as new types of Mako produced monsters attacked them on their way to Midgar. The
monsters seemed relatively weak though, and the seasoned warriors had little trouble making their way to Midgar... But when they neared they could all
tell that something was going on. Cloud could see that two of the old Mako
furnaces had been either re-activated, or were having whatever stores of Mako that remained siphoned out of them. Large clear tubes had multi-colored
light flowing through them, and these tubes lead both into and out of the earth itself.
The party descended through what had once been Section 4. The town that had once been was deserted and only small
scavenger animals remained. A few Mako monsters also walked through the streets. These monsters were a bit stronger
than the ones outside, so the party had to be a little more careful.
Not sure really where to go, Cloud decided to follow one of the tubes that was jutting out of the ground to its source. He wasn’t disappointed either.
They found what apparently was the entryway of an underground bunker. The door was locked, but not for long after Cloud’s six-foot Ragnarok sliced
through the lock. Kicking the door open, Cloud slowly made his decent, followed by Tifa and Vincent.
As the three descended, they could all see more and more of the strange, Mako filled tubes bringing energy both upwards and downwards. Tifa asked aloud,
"I wonder what all this Mako energy is for?..."
Vincent answered quietly, "It’s similar to the refinement set-up that was used to siphon energy from Jenova... Hojo theorized that since ‘she’ was
partially made up of energy, ‘she’ could be used to power Midgar. However, the process was too inefficient, and was scrapped... Whoever is in charge
here has apparently found a way of perfecting the process."
Cloud added, "Or found a more suitable power source..." Vincent simply nodded, and they
continued down the stairs.
Finally, they made it all the way to the bottom of the stairwell, and were greeted by a large steel door inside what appeared to be an underground
warehouse. Wires, spare parts, and boxes littered the area, and there seemed to be no one about. Curious, Tifa began looking over the boxes, and Cloud
started examining the door. Tifa jumped when the sound of Vincent’s gun echoed through the room, and what was once a camera exploded into smoking
fragments. Vincent looked at Cloud and said, "Well, ‘they’ are probably going to know we’re here... so be ready for anything."
*** *** ***
Four men in blood and chemical stained lab coats huddled around monitors and strange machinery. Occasionally flicking switches or pushing buttons, they
monitored the progress and condition of the being inside a large, smoked crystal sphere. Wires of all sorts and sizes jutted from all angles from the
sphere, and Mako energy could be seen pulsating through the tubes as it
rushed out. The loud yell of another man suddenly broke the silence, "Gaspar! Gaspar! Someone’s here! Someone’s entered into the sanctum!"
The man who was apparently Gaspar looked over at his assistant, "Who? I tell you, if another batch of those idiot townspeople made it down here again..."
walking over to the security room angrily, Gaspar went to check on his intruders.
Banging through the door, Gaspar asked in an annoyed tone, "Well?... Let’s see our guests."
Gaspar’s assistant pushed a few buttons, and a computer screen flared to life. Gaspar examined the party, paying extra attention to Vincent. Finally
he said, "I knew that they’d make it here one way or the other... They’ll never understand the pains or genius of science... all they know is fighting
monsters... Very well... try to lead them into area 4F. When they make it there, release XJ67... That should be more than enough to take care of
them... and if you bother me anymore, it had better be for a damn good reason!" Gaspar stormed out of the room and went back to his laboratory.
*** *** ***
Cloud looked over the door and the wall panel, but couldn’t think of anyway to open it. The door resisted all the spells that they had thrown at it, and
Vincent’s gun couldn’t even make a dent. Suddenly, another door at the other
end of the room opened up. Looking at his wife and friend hesitantly, Cloud said,
"Heh... An invitation if I ever saw one... Well, shall we?"
Vincent nodded, and the 3 walked through the door. A few more doors opened up, leading the party downwards towards the center of the complex. Finally,
a large door labeled "4F" loomed out of the darkness, and it opened. As the three walked inside, the door closed behind them. Then the large door at the
opposite end of the room opened slowly, but instead of a corridor, the party heard the loud roar of some beast.
The floor began to shake lightly as the sound of large foot-steps approached. Cloud backed off to stand in front of Tifa, and Vincent simply held his gun
out in wait. Finally, through the gloom, the body of a large, mutated green dragon entered into view. Walking on 6 powerful looking legs, the beast was
at least 200 feet long from tip to tail, and a long neck leaned forward, exposing a hideous head that housed 6 eyes and a large, gaping maw of sharp,
multi-rowed teeth.
Cloud sucked in his breath, "Jeez... that’s a pretty ugly looking thing..."
Then the party heard a loud voice ring in from a loud speaker far above, "XJ67 is NOT ugly... Ahem... Welcome warriors of legend! I must say that I’m not at all surprised to see that you finally made your way back to
Midgar... the circle of adventure has a way of coming back to its origins
does it not?"
Tifa called out, "Who are you?!"
Gaspar’s voice spoke again, "My name is Gaspar... A former assistant to the great
Hojo... I’m afraid that a world without Mako energy doesn’t suit me or my associates in the slightest... When you and your merry little band
defeated the great Sephiroth and destroyed all of Hojo’s grand works, we were left with a world that no longer needed us. So we decided to show the world
what it’s like to abandon her children! We’re going to take the world for ourselves, and the people be damned!"
Cloud shook his head, "Your kind never changes does it? All you want is more power and more fear. To take over the world... Pathetic... Well, let’s
have at your little pet here, and after that... we’re coming for you Gaspar!"
Gaspar laughed, "Well spoken Cloud, failed clone of Sephiroth! Oh, Hojo had much to say about you... well, I shan’t keep XJ67 waiting any longer..."
At that, the beast suddenly lurched forward, raising up on its back four legs and slashing forward with its front two claws. Cloud brought Ragnarok up in
a defensive position, and took the brunt of the dragon’s slashing attack. Twirling Ragnarok around, Cloud dashed forward, striking
downwards towards the beast’s chest. Ragnarok made four distinct cuts along the dragon’s flank,
but not only failed to draw blood, it also failed to do more than bruise the dragon lightly. Gaspar’s voice rang out again, "Oh... Did I forget to
mention that XJ67’s hide has been augmented to be several times stronger than steel? I’m afraid your little toys will be most ineffective..."
The dragon’s head quickly snaked down to bite at Cloud, but a shot from Vincent’s gun struck the beast in the forehead, causing it to rear back and
roar in anger. Cloud jumped back a bit, and Tifa fired off a huge bolt of mystical lightning. The bolt struck the monster in the back, but didn’t seem
to hurt it at all. Gaspar mockingly spoke again, "That beast has been born, bred, and fed Mako energy! Magic will be as useless as pouring water down a
duck’s back!"
The dragon whipped forward with its tail, catching Cloud in the chest and knocking him across the room. Tifa went over to try to help him, but the
dragon began to beat its huge wings about, creating a strong gale of wind that blew her backwards and onto her butt.
Vincent clutched gently at his firearm, "Lucretia’s gift, her love, will not fail me..." Aiming carefully, Vincent spun his gun in his hand once, took
careful aim, and blasted the dragon in one of its six eyes.
Roaring in pain, the creature began flailing around with its tail and claws crazily, striking all three warriors multiple times, knocking them all over
the room. Tifa quickly cast a curing spell over the party, healing some of their wounds. Just then the dragon suddenly began sucking in its breath.
Gaspar suddenly spoke again, "Oh yes... this IS the fun part... XJ67’s breath is so powerful that even the strongest of steels can’t withstand its
assault... Which lucky contestant is going to be blasted with enough magical power to fuel the Gold Saucer?!"
The dragon then unleashed a huge gout of power that would have rivaled Neo-Bahumut’s. Vincent’s eyes widened a bit, as he noticed that he was the
target of the dragon’s attack. Holding his mechanical arm over his face, Vincent felt enormous pain rip through his body as the magical wave washed
over him. Vincent struggled to stay on his feet, and his world changed colors, and faded in and out. His lips whispered "Lucretia...", but his
words could not be heard by anyone save himself. But then Vincent heard her voice in his head... her voice from his memories...
"*Vincent, I love you... Your promise...*"
Gaspar laughed in triumph as he watched Vincent get swallowed in the blast that he knew was certain death. Cloud and Tifa cried out in horror and alarm
for Vincent, hoping that some trace of him would hear them and call back. But all there was where Vincent once stood was a huge gout of rising smoke.
As Gaspar laughed again and said, "Well... one down, and now... the grand finale...!!!" the roar of another creature, something that sounded so evil
that it could only be from nightmares or hell, now echoed through the bunker. "What... what could this be...?! Impossible! Nothing could survive..."
Tifa and Cloud looked at what Gaspar was refering to. Emerging from the smoke stood what was once Vincent. Where Vincent had been was now a large,
winged, demonic figure. Cloud sighed in relief, remembering Vincent’s final limit break attack... the form of the demon of Chaos.
Chaos roared again, and in bringing up his hands, he growled out in a deep, twisted voice, "Satan SLAM!" [A new Denny’s dish?... hmm...] (I tried to
delete this, but Vegeta INSISTED that I leave it in). A huge, black skull emerged out of the ground underneath the dragon, and swirling entities of
evil rose up and clawed and hacked at the dragon mercilessly. The dragon cried in pain, but then a blast of death launched forth from the eye sockets
of the skull, and the dragon was burned so horribly that only a twisted, black carcass remained.
As soon as the monster had died, Chaos curled its wings around itself, and the form reverted back to Vincent.
Gaspar’s voice could be heard again, but this time it was in a quiet, defeated voice, "They beat XJ67... and that easily? Maybe Hojo was right
after all... let them into the main sanctum..."
*** *** ***
Author's notes and such can be found after the last "stage" of the story.
If anyone wants to reach me, come to my Shrine of Bishonen at:
http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/Towers/4814/
or you can e-mail me at:
bishonennomiko@rocketmail.com
Vegeta can be e-mailed at:
vegeta4@yahoo.com
Bishonen no Miko©, January 10, 1998