SO THE DEAD MAY SMILE
Note: Thank you to those who reviewed my last AC Fanfic. I appreciate it, and I'm glad you liked it. Trying something a little different now. A multi-chaptered one. UH OH! Remember my last failed attempt with Innocence Lost? Yeah, well I plan to carry on with that one. I WILL! Promise =P
So here's the prologue. There's a bit of LucreciaXVincent and CloudXAerith, as well as a NEW CHARACTER...OR TWO...OR THREE. OK there are quite a few new characters! ENJOY!
Arthur Spoole sat quietly on his high-backed chair at the head of the company meeting table. At that very moment, a heated discussion was taking place between a few of those others seated, and Arthur felt strangely pleased that his ideas caused controversy. He liked challenges. He knew that soon he would have to step in and produce a mind-blowing speech that would convince all twelve of the associates he had gathered here today to discuss his proposition to want to agree with him. But that was not important right now.
So with the polite, interested smile stuck on his face, he lost himself deep into his own thoughts about the reason behind the meeting. Arthur Spoole's latest product.
THE MICROSMILE.
It had all started when Arthur had been a young lad, around about sixty-odd years ago. He had not had a happy childhood, as being an only child made life very lonely. But losing his mother had made it a whole lot worse. Arthur couldn't remember what illness she had suffered. Nor how long it had taken her to die. But what he could remember were her very last words, as her breathing became more laboured in those final few hours.
"You're a good kid Arthur, promise me one thing. Promise me you'll do something. Make a difference to the world Arthur, and always aim high, for nothing is impossible." Arthur had promised, and with tears of pain running down her cheek, the life stream took her.
His life had never been quite the same from there on. His father had tried his hardest though, and Arthur appreciated that. When losing their partners, many disappear into the void of grief, and refuse to accept circumstance. But James Spoole knew his priorities and knew that Arthur would suffer if he did not receive the attention needed, and so got back on his feet as quickly as possible. Arthur admired his father for that. Arthur had admired his father for everything, and particularly now, as his father had been the inspiration for this idea. The idea that was going to change the world.
Arthur Spoole had lost his father not more than three years from the moment he sat at the rounded table. He too had died from an illness, causing Arthur to wonder if maybe there was a curse of some sort in his family. But what was important was that his father too had made Arthur promise to make a difference. To change the planet. And Arthur had promised. Then his father died.
With a smile on his face.
And all at once Arthur Spoole knew what to do. He set up his own business, MAD Creations. Many took the word MAD in the context of insane, and this was fitting as many of his creations were rather far-fetched, but it was actually an acronym of MAKING A DIFFERENCE. And that is exactly what Arthur Spoole intended to do. He had promised the only people he had ever cared about that he would. All his research had led up to this moment, the creation of THE MICROSMILE.
And soon...everyone would die with a smile on their face.
A small part of Arthur's consciousness told him that the time had come to make his speech. He stood up and coughed as his chair made a noise of protest at the sudden movement. The argument stopped as he moved and all eyes were on him. Confidently, Arthur cleared his throat.
"Gentlemen..." He began.