Okay, so this is my fanfiction novel. It includes characters from Final Fantasies III, IV, V, VI*, VII* and Tactics*, as well as from Secret of Mana*, Chrono Trigger*, and some I made up (the *marked ones are the games I myself have played). Obviously it’s a crossover which also makes it an alternate reality off of FF7….okay, you get the idea.
Please don’t complain to me about the characters; if they’re acting strangely it’s because I changed their circumstances or their past, and that’s just to make everyone fit together. Please don’t take this too seriously, either, even though I did try to set it up so that people who have no knowledge of the story can still read and follow the events. In any case, please enjoy.
Final Fantasy2
Prologue
"I don’t know why you even bother with my approval anymore," the man grumbled, buttoning up the collar of his white cotton shirt. It was late, and he had been pulled away from personal "business" to be led down twisting corridors and stairs in a place that no longer felt familiar to him. The machinery that had once fascinated him as a child was now dull and covered in soot, totally alien to what he had once known.
"President says he wants you to see his latest find," the soldier leading him replied, a few steps ahead.
"You mean Hojo’s latest guinea pig."
The soldier didn’t say anything after that, which was fine by both of them. They walked the rest of the way with only the clang of their footsteps and the hum of Midgar’s distant reactors as company.
The sixty-seventh floor of the central Shin-ra building was a science laboratory, run by Professor Hojo. He was a short man with slick black hair and a pinched face like that of an owl. There was always a strange glint in his dark beady eyes; some hazarded this was due to the experiments he conducted, but others said—in hushed whispers behind his back—that it was his intention of evil leaking to the surface, and ancient secrets that refused to die. Age had caused his body to become shriveled, but the changes in his mind were undoubtedly of a different origin.
"Ah, King Edgar," Hojo crowed as the pair entered at last. He spoke the title with a slight edge, making it perfectly clear how much respect he held for him. "So good of you to come. Forgive me for the late hours."
"Oh, think nothing of it," Edgar boomed heartily, shooting his escort a stern look as if to keep him from commenting on his change in moods. "I’m glad to be included. Is the President here?"
"No, actually. He sent his son Rufus." Hojo indicated to a white-suited youth with blond hair, his face bland with indifference. "But not to worry; President Shin-ra fully understands my intentions."
"I’m sure he does." Edgar glanced about the expansive laboratory, eyes landing quickly on a tall, slim figure. "Why, General," he greeted pleasantly, "I didn’t expect to see you here. How are you?"
"As well as to be expected," she replied somewhat offishly. His charming exterior had always frozen against her icy demeanor. "The President wanted my opinion on this."
Rufus crossed his arms. "What are we doing here, exactly?" he asked irritably. "No one’s told me what’s to be decided on."
"You’ll see, you’ll see." Hojo grinned through thin lips, leading the trio towards a door at the back of the lab. "This is quite a find our soldiers discovered: a young man in a small mountain town called Nibelheim –I’m sure you’ve heard of it. He’s one of our soldiers, we assume, but so far no one’s been able to identify him. Anyway, his name makes no difference." He opened the door and motioned for them to go inside. "It’s his…accomplishments that interest me."
In the center of the smaller lab was a flat metal table supporting the body of a young, blond man in his mid teens. He’d been stripped of his clothes save a thin sheet, exposing the sweat-dampened flesh of his chest and arms to dozens of tiny needles and scanners, suctions and tubes. Shallow breath echoed through such an apparatus that had been shoved down his throat. As the group came hesitantly forward they could see a pile of bloody rags and utensils prepared to be washed. Edgar questioned the doctor on this.
"He’s come all the way from Nibelheim," Hojo explained, "and he was injured. There were also two others: a member of SOLDIER First Class who died this morning, and a young brunette." He pointed out another table that showed a similar, yet less busy example of the first boy’s situation. "We suspect she’ll live."
"Why bring her here?"
"Nibelheim was destroyed recently," he explained. "These two are the only survivors that we know of."
General Celes strode forward, first inspecting the girl before making her way to toward the prime focus of Hojo’s interest. His eyelids twitched as if in the grip of some nightmare. She bent over him, reaching out a hand to touch curiously the pointed spikes of his blond hair. "He’s kind of scrawny to be in SOLDIER, if that’s what you’re thinking," she said quietly. Her voice was oddly subdued.
Hojo nodded, still smiling with those tight lips as if he held some great secret, and was amused by her remark. "He looks it, doesn’t he? But he has something in him –I’m sure of it. You see…" He paused dramatically. "…this boy has killed the great Sephiroth."
Two of the three guests started in surprise at his declaration, staring at the boy’s pale form. "That’s impossible!" Rufus exclaimed. "Sephiroth is practically invincible." Celes flinched, but her face held a look of placid calm, and she said nothing.
"So far the reports are inconclusive," he conceded, "but the fact stands that four people went into the reactor that night, and we only pulled out three. The SOLDIER related the story before he died. Also, this boy’s sword was covered in treated blood –most likely Sephiroth’s blood. When he wakes up we’ll be able to question him. My assistant Lucca is already working on some drugs that will persuade him to share his memory."
Edgar seemed to ponder this very carefully. "So you’re going to put him through the process," he said simply. "Make him part of SOLDIER."
"That is my intention, yes."
"Does my father know of this?" the President’s son asked thoughtfully.
Hojo blinked slowly. "I already assured you that he did. He’s already approved the next step, in fact. I just wanted you three to be informed."
Just as I thought Edgar thought gloomily. My authority means nothing. "Of course." A movement of Celes’ drew his attention, and he frowned. "What are you doing?"
Celes had circled both tables several times, finally coming to rest by the boy’s head. After a moment of consideration she pulled her hair away from her face and begun to twist it behind her, then ordered that the lights be brightened. The assistants obeyed curiously.
"What are you doing?" Edgar repeated, his first attempt having been ignored. He started to come forward but she signaled him back.
"Hey." She tapped the boy’s cheek lightly, then again, as he didn’t respond. "Hey, wake up."
"He can’t hear you," Hojo told her, smiling in a kind of interested, amused way. "He’s been unconscious for hours."
Celes didn’t act as if she’d heard him. "Hey, come on," she continued, faintly tapping his closed eyelids. "Wake up. Wake up."
She waited patiently for a few moments, and just as Edgar was about to suggest that they return to bed several of the wall-mounted monitors began to sound. "He’s starting to regain consciousness," reported one of the attendants.
"Finally." Celes took the boy’s hand and squeezed it gently, the touch giving him something to cling to as his mind cleared. Gradually, his eyes opened, regarding her with blurred sight –she’d anticipated that. "Hey, you’re awake."
He blinked, dazzled by the intensity of the lights. His lips moved soundlessly about the plastic breath tube. She leaned forward so that she could hear the muttered words within. "T…Tifa?"
"I…I can’t remember anything," she whispered despairingly, and Edgar smirked at her acting abilities. I’ll congratulate her later. "Who are you? What’s going on?"
The boy’s face twisted in a pained expression, and he stared at her with almost fear. "Who?" He paused. "I’m…Cloud…"
Celes waved her hand at the nurses, and one slipped a pad of paper and a pen into it. She began to scrawl on the paper while still gripping his fingers tightly. "Oh Cloud, I’m sorry. Of course it’s you. It’s me, Tifa. Do you remember what happened?"
"A…a little." Everyone began to crowd around, straining to hear.
"Can you tell me?"
"I…think…"
"Please try, Cloud," she said softly, leaning forward. "Tell me everything."
*All characters as well as everything else mentioned in this story are property of Square Soft. I’m using them without permission for entertainment’s sake, so please understand this and don’t sue me.
