Mist swirled around the portal Dante had exited from. Great, thought Dante as he looked around him, I'm in a place that I don't even know of. Dante looked about, seeing nothing but grasslands in every direction. The portal behind him began to shrink. "Hey! You can't just leave me here!" Dante shouted, but to no avail. The portal had already closed, leaving nothing to show it was even there. Great, Dante thought as he took another look about him,I'm stuck here. Where in the world am I?
Dante slept for a couple of hours, before being rudely awaken by something pecking him in the forehead. "Hey! Who's the big shot?" yelled Dante as he got up to pull his sword out of it's sheath. "Easy there, sir. My chocobo just wanted to know if you're alive or not. It seems your pretty alive." Dante looked up to come face-to-face with a very big bird. The bird seemed to have taken an interest to Dante. It wouldn't stop looking at him. Dante looked over the big bird to see a man sitting on the bird's back. He seemed to be the one who was talking to him. "Hello, sir. You seemed to be lying there so we got to thinking you were dead as I had said earlier ago." The man looked to be in his 20's, apparently strong too. Dante thought about it for a minute before asking the man, "Where are we? This place is strange to me."
The man stared at him as if he were a vampire. "You're kidding right? We're in the world, Gaia. Or that's what this world was called last time I checked. Anyway, sir. Do you need some help before I go on my way? I have to deliver the chocobos I caught this evening." The man pointed behind him. Dante looked behind the man to see lots of gold birds. All seem to have taken an interest in Dante as he peered at them strangely. Dante was now totally confused. What was a chocobo and what was the world Gaia, why was he sent here and where did he need to go? "I'm sorry, I just have no idea what to do and I'm too weary from today's events. Could you please tell me where the closest place to sleep is?" The man looked at Dante and realized he did look tired. "Listen, sir. I can't let you walk around these plains on foot, you'll tire out easily. Here, I'll let you keep one of my chocobos. You'll need one if you plan to travel around here. Oh, by the way my name's Joe." Dante looked at Joe before replying. "My name's Dante and I thank you for letting me have one of your, er, cho-co-bos."
Joe let him choose a chocobo from the line, then left him with a pack and a map for directions. He also left what looked like an orb in his hand. "You'll need that if your chocobo get's lost. That orb will call the chocobo back. All you need to do is call the chocobo's name." Dante waved to Joe as he got smaller in the horizon. "Well, it looks like it's just you and me, Goldstein." The female chocobo looked at him before he pulled her rein in the direction on the map. The location he was heading to was a place near a lot of mountains. The place was called Nibelheim. It looked pretty close on the map. "Come on. Let's go, Goldstein." The chocobo chirped as if she agreed with him.
Dante took two days to cross the great ocean, considering the chocobo was scared of something. The chocobo had the ability to cross over any surface, but the chocobo appeared to be frightened of something in the water. So they found an alternative. Dante had learned that the chocobo was capable of flying over the ocean. At first, the chocobo didn't want to do it, fearing that she would fall into the ocean. He had spent a day coaxing her into flight. The next day was hard spent on the chocobo since it had to fly against the wind currents. So when they had landed, Dante gave the chocobo some greens, to show his appreciation . On their third day, they had made it to the place called Nibelheim.
Dante wasn't very interested in the place. He walked into the place, expecting empty streets, not these bustling crowds. "I thought the streets would be empty, right girl?" Dante asked the chocobo as if the bird was another person. The chocobo nodded, clearly disliking big crowds. Dante chuckled, agreeing with his big companion. It had been a long time since Dante last had a companion, the others dying because they had been his friends. "Come on, let's head to that big mansion. It seems everybody is avoiding it." Dante and his feathery friend headed to the mansion. To the crowd, it looked like a man in red leading a chocobo to an empty mansion. The crowd gave them plenty of space, too much that Dante was suspicious. Why would they give us plenty of room? Unless, they are working for Vergil! Dante thought, suddenly tense in the big crowd. The chocobo, clearly irritated, began to hit anybody close with her wings.
The crowd made a circle around Dante and Goldstein. An aisle appeared in the circle of people, suddenly, the air seemed to smell of decay. The people suddenly turned into monsters. Goldstein, clearly terrified, began to tug against her reins. Dante didn't want to get her hurt, so he let her go. She ran then took flight, narrowly missing a slash from Vergil's katana. "Hm, seems your bird has gone away. You should have ran with her. That way we could kill both of you. But it seems that I'll just have to kill you first, then your big bird." Vergil suddenly charged at Dante. Dante reached for his guns, but they weren't there. He reached for his sword, yet it wasn't there either. The last thing he remembered was Vergil gutting him and giving him an evil pschotic grin. Suddenly...
Dante woke up in a sweat. He noticed that he was near Nibelheim after the shock of his nightmare wore off. Goldstein was asleep under a tree. His back was set against the fire. And his weapons were in a bundle beside him. Dante finally understood what happened. He had been haunted by Vergil again. He sighed and laid down. At least Vergil isn't in this world at all. That was the only comfortable thing in his mind right now. Dante fell into a dreamless sleep, not having another nightmare of his evil twin.
In the morning, Dante entered Nibelheim to find that it's streets were empty. Only a few people seem to be out and about. He started to head into the mansion, but stumbled over a black mass. Clearly, the thing had once been human, but now was a monster. Dante was about to attack the thing, putting it out of it's misery, when the thing uttered a single word, "Reunion..." before falling over, dead. Dante was again confused. What did the thing mean, reunion? He shook off the thought and headed to the mansion again, leading his chocobo along the empty streets.
As they entered the building, the door slammed shut. Dante knew he was trapped, but by who he didn't know. Suddenly a projection appeared in the middle of what used to be a ballroom. "Hello, sirs or madams. It seems you have stumbled into this house by pure stupidity, luck, or both. You'll be trapped here for a while unless you solve this riddle." the guy appeared to be in his early 30's, he possibly could have been a scientist for the fact of his white coat. The man gestured around him in a royal sweep, indicating the mansion. "In these walls, you'll find one of my experiments. I don't care if you help him or not. I just put him in here to see if it would be fun to find him. I give you my first clue to you." The man dissapeared, and in his place laid an outline of the mansion and four shining dots in the upper stairs. "The four dots represent the clues you'll need in finding my experiment. BUT, there is a price. To find that out, you must solve the riddles. Good luck and good bye." The guy laughed as the image dissapeared.
Great, thought Dante as he looked at the map and the first clue, how am I going to get out of this place now? Dante was thinking of how to solve the next clue when, all of a sudden, he heard banging on the front doors. The doors opened, revealing a person who appeared to be a soldier, a girl carrying a staff and a girl who looked like she could use her fists. Dante eased his chocobo into one of the rooms, suspicious of these three strange characters. "Cloud," yelled the girl with dark brown hair, "why are we here?" "I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll find Sephiroth here." Cloud said as he headed up the stairs, and right into the room Dante was in. Crap, not good, thought Dante as he tried to edge into another room, fearing the strangers would attack him, or worse, Goldstein. "Um, guys" a third voice appeared among the other two. That must be the girl with the staff, Dante thought as he tried to hide in the shadows, but to no avail. The girl looked straight at him, "Guys. There's another person here. And he appears to be stuck in this place." By now, the other two had given up fighting each other to listen to their companion. Now they were staring at Dante so intently, he felt embarassed at being found in the mansion. "Um, hello?" Dante said uneasily, these people were giving him the creeps. "Hello, sir. Are you stuck in here too? You see, we're stuck too." the staff girl said smiling, obviously a good person. "Aerith! Do you really think we should trust this guy?" muttered the guy with a long blade. Aerith replied surely, "I wouldn't trust him if he was mean, and besides he has a chocobo with him. He wouldn't be so nice to a chocobo if he was mean." Goldstein appeared annoyed on the comment and hissed at the girl named Aerith. "Aerith, get back! That chocobo might attack you!" cried the girl with dark brown hair. "Tifa's right, Aerith. That chocobo seems pretty mean. Maybe we should get out of here." the spikey- headed person said, obviously wary of Goldstein and Dante. Dante decided it was time to step in, before things got messy. "Excuse me. But wasn't I the first person in this house?" he said, annoyed that they hadn't seen him yet. They stared at him, as if he was a ghost or something. He got annoyed by their staring. "If you people will stop staring at me, I'll tell you on how I came to be here."
Three hours later... "And that's why I'm here."Dante said, as he finished telling them his story. "Now would you tell me why you are here?" Cloud and his gang told him how they came to be here. It appeared that they had a similar situation. "Well, let's make a deal. We help you, and you'll help us? Deal?" Cloud asked, sticking out his hand. "Deal." said Dante without any hesitation. Both shook hands, sealing the pact. "Now what is this riddle you talked about?" Tifa asked, getting back to the situation at hand. "Oh right. Before you guys had entered the mansion, I was on the last part of the riddle. It said I was to find a hidden door in the basements in here. Now, has anybody been in this building before?" All of them looked at Cloud, knowing he was the only one to enter the mansion before. "All right. The mansion's basement is in this very room." Dante, confused, asked Cloud how the basement could be on the second floor. "Easy," Cloud said as he moved about to stand next to a wall, "behind these walls is a secret passageway that leads to the basement." Dante, still confused asked the one question they all were pondering. "Right here." Cloud said, pulling a lever that was hidden among the walls compound. Once the lever was pushed, the wall slid sideways to show a foreboding spiral staircase.
Dante and Cloud's gang headed down the stairs. The only two who weren't coming was Goldstein and Aerith. Aerith appeared to be scared of the dark and Goldstein was too big to fit through the staircase. So they waited while the rest went under the mansion.
Dante looked around the place as they reached the bottom step. He liked the look of the place. He wasn't a big fan of light and the basement was dimly lit. Cool, thought Dante as he looked about him, I could make this my home. "Hey, Dante!" It was Cloud. He looked like he had found something important. Dante came over to where Cloud stood before a wall. In the middle of the wall was a door that had a lock with chains around it. "Hm, this must be where the experiment that wierd guy was talking about is held." Dante said, moving to the door while producing a key from his pocket. "You sure this is it, Dante?" Cloud asked, seeing there was no way this could be what the guy said. "yes, I'm sure." Dante replied, putting the key into the door.
The chains fell off the door and it began to open. Inside looked like a ceremonial ground. It had four coffins inside the room. Three of the coffins looked like they had been opened for a while. The fourth coffin was locked. It had been wrapped in chains like the door. "so this is what he meant in finding his experiment. Now all I have to do is open this coffin up and we're free to leave this place." Dante walked up to the coffin, still holding the key in his hand. Cloud and Tifa braced themselves, incase their was a monster in there. Dante unlocked the chains. They slid from the coffin like the lock was the only thing keeping them on. The coffin's door opened, revealing a man in a black leather suit and a red silk cape.
The person in the coffin opened his eyes, sat up, and jumped from the coffin, landing infront of Dante with a gun to his forehead. "Are you the one who has awakened me?" The man asked with some urgency. Great, thought Dante, I found yet another lunatic. "Yes, I'm the one who opened the coffin. We needed to open the coffin to escape this place." The man looked at him, not trusting Dante a bit. "What do you mean 'we'?" he asked, still having his gun out. Dante pointed to Cloud and Tifa. "There's also two more upstairs, incase you wanted to know." He told the man, wary that the guy still had a gun to his head. "Hm, I guess I'm easily out numbered." The guy said withdrawing the gun from Dante's head. "What do you want from me?" he asked them, obviously suspicious in how they had come to find him and know he was here. "Like I said before, we needed to find you to get out of this place. Some guy in a lab coat locked us into this house and made us look for you. You can join our group if you want to." Dante said, matter-of-factly. "No, I think I'll stay here. This place has been my home for 30 years." the man said looking around to see what had changed in the building. "Well, if you're not going to join us. We'll be leaving." Dante said, inching to the door. "Wait!" the guy shouted. Oh crap, Dante thought, now what does he want? "Will I see Hojo or Sephiroth?" The guy asked. Cloud stepped in to answer since Dante didn't have a clue of what was going on. "Well, we're chasing after Sephiroth and we'll probably run into Hojo later." The guy in the black suit looked at them, then began to head back toward the coffin. "Hey! Aren't you going to tell us something for the information we gave you?", Cloud asked, annoyed by the guy's attitude. The guy turned around and said,"Alright. My name is Vincent Valentine." Then he went to into the coffin and closed the lid.
Cloud scowled and left the room. Dante stared at the coffin before bursting out laughing. He laughed for about two minutes before getting up. He turned and saw that everyone was staring at him. "What?" he asked, confused.
Tifa walked up to him and stared him in the eye. Then turned to Cloud. "Nope, he's not sick or anything. And he's not having a seizure." she said. Dante looked at them with a very confused look on his face. "What are you talking about? I feel fine." Cloud looked at him before walking up to him. "Well, you just suddenly burst out laughin and we thought you had gone crazy or something when the guy in the coffin assaulted you or something."
Dante stared at him for a long moment before something clicked in his mind and started laughing again. Cloud and Tifa stared at him as he laughed. when he was done he turned and faced them with a goofy smirk on his face. "You guys were worried about me, weren't you?" he said as he stared at them. This time, they looked at him with funny, confused faces. "What do you mean? We always worry for our friends." Cloud said, then stared at Dante as he had a shocked look on his face.
For the first time in his life, Dante had a real living friend. No one had been his real friend since they died everytime they came near him.
"Hey, Dante. Are you ok?" Dante looked up to find Tifa giving him a worried look and Cloud staring at him again. "It's nothing." He got up and left the room, leaving Cloud and Tifa with, yet again, confused faces. They shook off the thought of Dante acting weird and ran after him, unbeknownst to them was a fellow listener. "Hmm, so they are friends. Maybe I should help them on their journey." the listener muttered.
"Dante! Wait up!" Cloud shouted, stopping to catch his breath. "Why'd you leave so suddenly?" Cloud asked as he looked at Dante while trying to catch his breath.
Dante looked at Cloud a second time before sitting down and looking up at the ceiling. He looked up for a few seconds before looking down, sighing. He stood up, looked at Cloud and Tifa for again, before looking the other away.
Cloud started to question him again, but Dante began to speak. "I was afraid that if I let you get close to me, I would see you die like so many others." He turned to them with sad eyes, shocking them. He turned around and began walking slowly up the stairs, Cloud and Tifa following. "So when you said that I was your friend, I thought you would die soon. I tried to keep my distance, but it turns out that it didnt work." Dante sighed again, before pushing the door open to see Aerith and Goldstein.
Goldstein went up to Dante, rubbing her neck against his head, like a mother would do for a child, crying.
Cloud filled Aerith in on the current situation as Tifa searched for a way out of the mansion. Dante looked at them, confused. Why would they help a complete stranger out when he had done nothing for them in return.
Well, this is the ending of part 1. Please give me your opinion in the reviews, please