The Fall of Gaia
[A-N] Hello, again, ! This is my first true attempt at a serious fanfiction with an actual plot. I am putting more effort into this story than any other I've written. You will see many ideas you recognize, but not a lot of characters you remember. This is because "The Fall of Gaia" is set far into the distant future, thousands of years after the events of Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. This is, as the title says, a crossover between Final Fantasy VII and X+X-2, and this is also an Alternate Universe fanfiction, but these two deviations are not readily apparent, as they usually are, and will be made more clear in later chapters. Our story starts in Spira, a changed world filled with advanced technology and great cities reminiscent of an age in the distant past. Time has drawn our world in one great circle, and the world is ripe for the next great calamity. [/A-N]
Chapter One: Planetfall
"My name is Zeitu Yunegi, I am 19 years old and I lived the Great City of Besaid, the smallest of the Great Cities (well, I didn't actually live in the city itself; my family has always lived in a small wooden house next to the ocean). We lived a relatively carefree life; that is, until what we now call the Planetfall…"
The morning light filtered through the blinds as the ocean smell wafted in through the open window. Blue eyes blinked open, black hair shook awake as a pale body rose from the scarlet sheets. A mouth opened with a yawn, revealing a perfect row of white teeth as two long arms stretched into the air. The alarm clock on the bedside table struck 8:00AM, and began to speak with foreign voices the ears were too tired to listen to, and a soft hand pressed the button on the alarm's face, "SNOOZE."
Zeitu awoke for the fifth time, and he cursed to himself as he rolled out of bed. The clock's face read 8:20, and he was suddenly brought back to reality. "Shit," he told the clock, blaming it for his cold breakfast. His sister had laid out his breakfast twenty minutes ago, and she could not help but to remind him twelve times before he ran out of the house and onto the sandy road. The Besaid Environmental Preservation Society had done a good job in keeping the beach from being overrun by buildings and roads; the entire face of Besaid, save for a small patch of forest and the beach, was covered in skyscrapers and streets.
Zeitu worked at a small item shop on the first level of the city, east block. The city had four levels, denoting height, and eight blocks separating each of the cardinal directions around the center pillar. The position on the shop on the lowest level will be very important, as you will see.
He walked through the busy city streets; machines, as the Al Bhed called them, sped down the crowded roads with incredible speed. Bright lights, neon signs, and loud voices filled the dark undercity for those too poor to live in the more luxurious upper city. Just as he grabbed the handle to walk in the shop's front door, a head full of scarlet hair caught his eye. He turned, and saw a girl he recognized. She was looking at the flowers outside the store's front window, and she was the same girl he had often caught himself staring at from behind the other side of the glass. 'Now's my chance,' he thought to himself. "Those flowers are for sale, if you'd like to buy some," he said, smiling as best he could, as nervous as he was. She frowned, looking up at him, "I can't afford them." And it was true; in Besaid, flowers were a luxury only those on the upper two levels could afford. Zeitu smiled, "I know a place in this city where the flowers grow, I could take you there if you'd like," he offered nervously. He was happy to see her face brighten, "Oh, I'd love to!" She exclaimed, "When?" Zeitu smiled a little easier now and tilted his head to the sign stating the store's hours, "Store closes at six, see you then?" She nodded, "I'll be there!" It took a couple minutes for him to realize that he didn't even know her name, but as he took his spot behind the counter and tuned out the angry store owner, he couldn't help but feel this was the best day ever.
"The hours that followed are unclear to me. I was too busy daydreaming to notice several important events that were happening outside. As day slowly turned into night, a peculiar green glow from the sky became more visible with each passing hour. We, on the lower level, had no idea what was about to happen, but the rich were already beginning to notice the unfamiliar object in the night sky."
The upper levels of the city stood still with fear as the burning round object eclipsed that luminous full moon and began to fill up the sky with a brilliant green light. A great tower rose across the horizon, as if to meet it, and a blinding white light seared upwards through the sky, as if slicing the very heavens themselves. The winds threw violent waves up against the shore and whipped through city streets with a fierce howl. Zeitu ran outside to see what was going on, as the light struck the colossal visitor with a deafening explosion which sent ripples through the air itself, it seemed. Many on the upper level, with a direct view unclouded by smog, were blinded by this fierce glow, but they were the lucky ones, for they were now unable to see the horrors that would soon be crashing down upon them. The threat from above was now no longer one great ball of fire, but several, and these shards soared through the air in all directions. A cloud of debris struck the city head on; screams filled the air as the sheer velocity of the shards ripped through the upper city like paper, and the endless rain soon brought the fourth level down upon the third. Zeitu began to run. He did not know why he was running, or where he was running to, but something was telling him he had to run. Soon, everyone was running, and the great screaming mass of people was escaping the city as fast as they could. Buildings and support structures began to fall left and right and crushed people under their weight. The largest, and last, of the shards falling down upon them hit with one final bang, and the third level was completely vaporized as the object ripped through the second and left first level a smoking crater of fire and rubble. An eerie silence filled the air, and the world swirled to dark with choking dust as the Planetfall fell into a quiet aftermath. Zeitu collapsed onto the ground, his ears ringing in the silence, and the dark world turned black.
End of Chapter One
[A-N]
Well, that's our first chapter. The next ones will probably be better, if there are any. I don't think I'll continue this if the first part doesn't go over well with you readers. Read and review, please, because your feedback is what helps me improve.