Hell Knows No Bounds As We Live, Nor When We Die.
By: RaeLynn Hikari
Courtney
I was on my way home from yet another grueling day of school. Once again I was dreading the hours of homework I had from all of my advanced classes. Thank the mighty heavens above that this was my senior year. At 18 years old, I didn't see the need to be schooled anymore. I just wanted to drink, party, and leave my boring life in the small town of Bremerton, Washington. Now, don't get me wrong. B-Town isn't that bad. I go see the local shows, go to the mall, hang with my friends outside, but I get tired of the same old days. I wake up, go to school, come home, chores, homework, dinner, more homework, and bed. But tonight was going to be different.
I wasn't going to do my homework, it could wait. Tonight, something great was coming. Finally, after waiting for years since the last game was released, a new Final Fantasy 7 game is out! But this one's different. The game's like the more recent Final Fantasy games. You know; all the online features and stuff. From what I've heard, you get to do all sorts of cool things to make your character look just like you. It had a character editing system similar to that of Skyrim or Dragon's Dogma.
My friend, Chris, got the game illegally. He was booting it up on his computer while I was at school, and then sending the link to our best friend Chandler, as well as myself. Chris and Chandler have been going out since I was a sophomore. And yes, Chandler is a girl. Nobody really knows what her real name is, but she says that your birth name is trivial, and what really matters is what name you make of yourself. I don't really agree, but she's an interesting character none the less. The two of them have been out of school for two year now, making them seniors when I was a sophomore. They're my main source of all that is bad for humanity; beer, cigarettes, and the sorts. I'm really a good kid though, honestly. I just like to let loose here and there. What was really important is that...
This game will be my escape from my bored reality.
I finally get home from school and drop off my stuff. I start to do the daily chores around the house and run into my mom.
"You have homework?" My mother asks me.
"Nope. I've just got to finish my book." I could hear my mom laugh.
"What's so funny?"
"You always say that, but it's just surprising on how many advance classes you have, but how little homework you actually have. I'm telling you now, I ain't payin for college, so you better keep up on your grades."
After vacuuming, I told my mom that I was off to read and not to worry about dinner for me. She looked at me confused for a second, but shrugged it off. I went into my room, listening to the rain slowly start to fall. I booted up my laptop and turned out the lights. I sat on my full sized bed, which was against the wall covered in various band posters, female models, and pictures of my friends and I. Looking at the poster of the whole FF7 gang from Advent Children, which hung above my bed, I smiled as I gazed into the eyes of my favorite character, Vincent Valentine.
Finally my computer finished loading up and I placed my gaming headphones on. I went to my e-mail and clicked on the link Chris sent me. I could hear the rain steadily fall faster and I could have sworn that it thundered.
"Thunder in Washington? Highly unlikely." I said to myself, "And is it really THAT dark outside? It's only 5 o'clock in April."
"Courtney?" I heard a girl's voice inside my headphones.
"Courtney here. Hi Chandler!"
"Alrighty, girls. Fill in your info and shit and let's get this party started!" Chris exclaimed. I looked at my screen and saw an all black page with just a small screen you enter all your information. I filled out all my information except my name.
Eyes: Greenish blue
Hair color: Black streaks, blonde underside, brown main color
Hair length: Shoulder
Height: 5'5"
Birthday: February 29, 1991
Age: 18
Name:
"Oh, and Courtney? You need to enter your REAL name." Chris told me. I did as I was told.
Name: Vincent May Zeke
"Ugg I hate my real name." I said.
"Yeah, but this time you can't use your gamer name. This game has a feature that helps decide your fate based on your name"
"Why do you get upset when we call you by your real name?" Chris asked.
"Cause Vincent is a boy's name."
"But you loooove Vincent Valentine, so why wouldn't you want to be called that?!" Chandler gasped in fake shock.
"Because "Vincent" is a guys' name. I happen to be a girl last time I checked. I just get upset when I'm called "Vincent" because my mom and dad were stupid to name me before they found out what sex I was. Just because a fortune-teller tells you your first child is going to be a boy doesn't mean you should just name a baby before they're born." I looked at the screen and it started to turn a bright blue color.
"Sweet! Here we go!" Chandler yelled. I smiled when all of a sudden; I heard the carbon monoxide detector beep. That meant that the storm raging outside made the power go off. A flash of lightning shinned in the distance outside my window.
"Shit." I muttered.
"Vincent? You need a light? My mom asked through the door.
"No, Mom. I'm good. I'm looking up a few things on my laptop, so I have a light."
"Well, your dad wanted to go out on a date night for some reason, so he and I are going out for dinner and a movie."
"Mom, have you not seen the weather outside? Why the hell would you wanna go out?
"Don't question the methods of your father..." My mom said with a sigh.
"...Love you mom." I don't think she heard me due to another rumble of thunder. My parents are weird, going out on a date in this weather. Maybe it was just the storm that made one feel odd. The low rumbling of outside was drowned out by a soft piano playing into the headphones.
"Aww...Aerith's theme song..." Chandler said. I looked back at my screen and saw a picture of a girl standing there waving at me.
I spent a few minutes working with the character editing profile, and soon enough I had a character who looked creepily a lot like me. "I guess this works for me... Weird that how I got my character to look just like me so easlily. I spend copious amounts of time on other games, and can't get the damn person to look anything like me" I thought. The following text popped up on my screen:
Hell knows no bounds as we live
It knows no bounds when we die
Enter into this world where life grows
The lifestream calls to you
Will you fight for what's worth fighting for?
"What the hell?" I could hear Chris say.
"I don't know." Chandler said. "The lifestream calls to you?"
We all were silent as the screen moved as if it were real. The last thing I remember is lightning striking so brightly, I couldn't see a thing. Everything went blank...
Vincent
I was walking back from the place where Lucrecia was. It was about a year since I found out everything; everything about my father, how Chaos came to be, how Sepheroth came to be, and how much my life was screwed up. Though my heart has finally started to heal, I can't ever forgive myself for who I was.
"Vincent Valentine."
I turned around to see a friendly face. Shelke was quite the character. She used to be part of a gang called Deepground. Deepground was an organization that caused much havoc and showed me who I truly am. Shelke eventually came over to the side fighting Deepground because of her sister Shelua.
"Shelke."
I could hear her take a deep breath before speaking.
"Tifa requests your presence at 7th Heaven. A storm is coming and she's worried about you. We're all worried about you."
I stared at Shelke for awhile, trying to think of something to say.
"Tell Tifa I'll be there."
Shelke smiled slightly and nodded.
"Don't forget about your friends, Vincent Valentine." And with that she walked off.
I sighed and looked to the sky. Though it was semi-clear, you could tell something was going on. I turned to follow Shelke, but she was no where to be seen.
"Hmmm."
After traveling for about an hour, I made it to Midgar. By this time the rain was steadily falling down and you could hear thunder rumbling in the background. As I walked down an abandoned street, the first flash of lightning struck. I pulled the collar to my cape up more to cover my face as a homeless person stared at me. I threw a couple of Gil at the person, and they smiled at me. I just continued to walk. Coming to an intersection, I got an odd feeling. So I pulled out Death Penalty and held it to my side. A flash of lightning blinded me for a moment. I held Cerberus tighter and waited for my sight to come back.
The ambush I was waiting for never happened. I cursed quietly to myself when I heard a scream. I ran down an alleyway to see a girl sitting on the ground with a baffled look on her face. Her mouth was hung slightly opened as she yelled the names "Chris" and "Chandler". I walked over to the dumbfounded girl and pointed my gun at her.
"Who are you?"
