Disclaimer: All Final Fantasy material is copyright to Square-Enix. I do not own any of the official characters. They were merely BORROWED for the purpose of fan-fiction. All non-FF characters belong to me.
A/N: I will note that I have only played FFVII, Dirge of Cerberus, and watched Advent Children, Case of Denzel, and Last Order. Please take that into consideration if you see that some details may not be correct. Also, occasionally the story will go into POV (point of view) with Vincent, and a character I will introduce eventually.
Prologue: The Beginning of the End
These battles will never end... In the beginning, a mad scientist, Hojo, started what we call, the Crisis, or to those involved, the Jenova War. He helped create Sephiroth, and years later, Sephiroth lost his mind, believing Jenova to be his mother, thus summoning the black magic, Meteor. Thanks to the Lifestream, and the white magic, Holy, we AVALANCHE, defeated not only Sephiroth, but Meteor as well, and for a time, peace reigned. Two years later, remnants of Sephiroth stirred up trouble again, 'causing an illness, known as Geostigma, to plague most of the planet's population, due to the will of Sephiroth in the Lifestream. They were defeated, and Geostigma was cured by the will of Aerith, a Cetra that travelled with us two years prior before she was killed by Sephiroth. Another year later, I was chased down by the dark secret of Shinra, known as Deepground, for the Proto-Materia that not only controlled Chaos, but the WEAPON, Omega, as well. The WRO, and AVALANCHE defeated Deepground, and I defeated Omega, sacrificing Chaos, a gift from Lucrecia, to save the planet. When this last war ended, I had finally let go of my past, forgiving my own sins.
A year had passed since that last battle, and everyone was making their way in this time of what we hoped, was everlasting peace. I even found myself visiting my comrades more often. But nothing lasts forever, and this peace was short-lived. Weiss and Rosso were alive and very much kicking, with yet another army behind them, and for some reason, they were not the least bit human. We were close to beating them again, until a man named Genesis emerged, and one by one, cut AVALANCHE down to three. Yuffie, Nanaki, and I were the only ones to remain intact from the first battle with Genesis. Yuffie returned to challenge him with the strength of Wutai behind her, only to be defeated as well. Knowing we could not defeat him, Nanaki and I watched over our fallen friends, and eventually their graves, as well as their descendants. Unable to watch the world burn slowly, I faced Genesis again...and this time, I had no escape...there was nothing to save me from death now. Genesis merely left me there, and so, I failed. Everyone...
As I took my final breath, I could only remember seeing...her face.
Beep, beep, beep. Riley Tombs groaned in half-sleep, a hand reaching out of a thick comforter, slapping the offending object. Instead of the alarm turning off, the clock practically flipped and clattered to the floor loudly, startling the cat currently perched on a hip. At least the alarm seemed quieter under the bed. The noise roused the ball from underneath the blanket before removing the cover. She rolled her head to the side, blinking owlishly at the sunlight penetrating her blinds as she sat up, hunched over. She finally leaned over, reaching under her bed, flicking the switch, ceasing the noise. She looked at the time more closely, suddenly cursing and jumping out of bed.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it; I'm late again!"
She rushed, jumping into the shower, brushing her teeth at the same time, making things awkward. Jumping out, she cleared the moisture away from the mirror, brushing long, straight, layered dark brown hair (with the under-layer dyed dark red), with chin-length layered side bags. She washed her face, cleaned out her ears, and checked her icy blue eyes for any abnormalities, like sleep gunk. She dressed quickly into a red long sleeved shirt with a large black t-shirt overtop with a few punkish designs on it, black cargo pants, a red and black chequered belt, and a pair of combat boots. She grabbed her school bag and left shortly afterwards with a chocolate chip muffin in her mouth.
It was already lunchtime by the time she reached College. She went through with her afternoon classes, got notes from her fellow classmates and ate afterwards in the cafeteria. She didn't know what to do for the future, so for now, she was in General Arts and Sciences...for the third time. She was twenty years old and completely indecisive about her life. She managed to stay somewhat in shape, so she wasn't all that bad looking, however, one wouldn't know that due to her baggy clothing.
She sat there, rereading notes to refresh her memory from the previous two years, sighing. She felt no meaning in her life, and to tell the truth, she wasn't very social, thus why she didn't have many friends. The only thing that managed to fill the void was her video games...more precisely, the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, and even more precisely, Vincent Valentine. She had no idea she was actually doodling the handsome ex-Turk's face while completely zoned out. She had all merchandise related to Vincent.
"Jeez, I really don't have a life," she muttered out loud.
She left the grounds, heading to the shopping district of the city, headphones blaring nu-metal and techno. She walked into the only arcade in town, planning on turning into a game zombie while she raced, rapidly fired, and danced. She got so many tickets so quickly, her schoolbag, which was normally empty, was packed. She walked up to the prize counter, having them count her tickets.
"Jesus, you practically have a treasure trove, miss!"
"Huh," Riley replied dumbly.
"You have about ten-thousand and some odd amount more," the clerk stated, "You could have any prize on the shelf, or at least, multiple things."
She thought for a minute, glancing at all the items, but nothing caught her eye, "I suppose you don't have anything in the back, do you?"
Suddenly, the clerk grinned before leaving her alone briefly, coming back quickly with a boxed item, "You like Final Fantasy, right?"
"Just Final Fantasy VII and X, why?"
"Well, that company that made them—"
"—Square-Enix..." she assisted.
"Yeah, Square-Enix just came out with these, ball replica things."
She watched him pull out small glass display cases with coloured spheres, "They were already selling those. What's your point? I have all of them already."
"Ah, but do you have their latest addition?" he asked when he pulled out a more decorative case.
The stand itself was made of the finest cherry wood, a chrome plaque bolted into the front with Limited Edition Materia etched upon it. It looked like white materia to her, but if it was a collector's item, why not? He looked further into the box, and it was the only one of its kind in stock.
"This one was about to be the grand prize on our shelves. And it's about nine-thousand."
"Done," she said easily. "I'll take it. I want it. Give it."
He blinked, "Wow that was fast."
"But why is it you only have one?"
"These are actually very exclusive and it must be pure luck that this one ended up in this joint. Place is about to go under."
"Well, if the games were better, you probably would have had more luck, business-wise."
Afterwards, Riley headed home, giving the remainder of her tickets to some random kid on the way out, being more careful in her stride with the item inside her bag. She strolled down a street, walking into the more criminally active part of town. She could still remember her parents' reaction when they found out where she lived. They basically demanded she move elsewhere or return home. Riley ignored them, cutting off her connection with them. They never understood her and she could never satisfy them to begin with, so what was the point of continuing? Her stride slowed even further when she saw a homeless old woman being harassed by a couple of kids.
"Hey!" she called out, grabbing their attention. She ran over too quickly for them to run away as she grabbed them both by the hair, pulling hard, "Apologize, rats!"
"Ow! Let me go!" one demanded childishly while the other hissed in surprise pain.
"Not until you apologize to the poor lady, then I'll let you two run home like two little girls."
"Ow, darn it! Okay! We're sorry! We're sorry, right?!"
"Yeah, we're so sorry! Please, it hurts!"
Riley watched them, "How do you think she feels?! Try putting yourself in someone else's shoes! Now, get!" She let go of them one at a time, delivering a good-bye kick to their butts with the side of her foot. She then turned to the trembling woman, crouching to help her up, "Are you alright?"
"Yes...thank you for your kindness."
Riley looked at the woman carefully, considering something, "C'mon, I'll get you something to eat." She helped the woman to her apartment, bringing her up and sitting her on the couch before fixing her up some tomato soup and milk. She fed the woman, wondering why she was suddenly so kind to a complete stranger.
"Thank you," the woman said again after she finished her small meal.
Riley looked her over, seeing that she was typically dressed in rags, but her hair almost appeared clean since it was so long, smooth, and white. It looked like satin. Her face was wrinkled with age, and from what Riley could tell, she was blind, and it seemed like her eyes used to be blue.
"What's your name, child?" she finally asked.
"Riley..."
"Riley... what a nice name. Unusual for a girl, I think, but I guess that makes you, you."
"What's your name?"
"Would you believe it that I don't even remember?" the old lady chuckled, "At least, not my real name. Some folks around here call me Fable."
"Why Fable?"
"It's because I like to tell stories, but that's not all I do. I read people's fortunes for small change." Riley wanted to ask if the woman really was blind, but she was already beaten to it, "Yes, I am blind, but I don't need my eyes to see the future." She considered Riley for a moment, "Would you like your future read?"
"How much is it?"
"For you, as a small token of gratitude, it's free. Just give me your hand and I got it from there." She sensed Riley's hesitation before feeling her hand in her own. She closed her eyes and silence overcame them. Her thumb caressed her palm gently as she concentrated. She began humming softly then stopped, "Currently, you are not certain on what path to take in your life. You continue the same course in college year after year, hoping that you will either figure things out, or for something exciting to happen to you... something life-altering." Of course, Riley already knew this, but how Fable knew was beyond her.
"What else can you tell me?"
The woman merely smiled softly as she continued, "You long to be from this place and brought to a far away land. You wish to meet a man you believe doesn't exist; your imperfect man. You hope that he will show up one day and sweep you off your feet, thus bringing the much longed for excitement you desire."
Riley refused to blush. The old lady was on the nail, "Anything else?"
Slowly, the woman's smile faded, frowning with a kind of focus that seemed, distant, "Oh my...your future is...I can't say it."
This caught her attention, "What? What's going to happen?"
With a hard swallow, she continued, "You will find something, and it will bring either order or chaos. Danger lies ahead, and at the end, one of you will fall. So much pain from this man...why? He suffers; you must find him, heal him, and defeat the darkness that reigns. You must never allow the Key of the Gods to fall into the wrong hands." Without warning, Fable released Riley's hand and turned her blind eyes to her face, "Pain awaits you, my dear."
A/N: Woo! Finally did the first chapter! I'm not very good with this whole fan-fiction thing, plus I have a tendency to leave stories unfinished. But I'm determined to write this to the very end! Please read and review. But please be gentle.