0_0 Wow, this is my first fanfiction in a REALLY long time, but I think that I've gotten a bit better since the last time now that I've been writing my own stories instead of fanfiction.
What inspired me to write this? Well, last night I finished Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, cried at the ending, then watched Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, got pissed about how that ended... And then when I went to bed, I had this weird dream. 0_0
It was about a group of travelers, literally the ones that are in the story, that for different reasons went to Shinra Manor. And then it sort of flipped scenes, one of them being an incident that occurs between my two OC characters Ryuu Mori and Artemis van Hughes (. I chose this name because I LIKE it, not because of her culture... It was the first one I thought of since I wanted an American character in a Japanese setting, but I might change her last name later.), and another being a rather gruesome scene between Zack and Artemis that I won't say... And well, I just HAD to write it down before I forgot it!
Oh, and why did I keep calling Sora a dolt/dork in this story? ^_^ I did it to spite him. *Love you, Sora!*
And why did I make Zack seem a bit more... mean? To spite him too! *Love you too, Zack!*
^_^ Anyways, I hope that you guys enjoy this, and give me ANY feedback that you want on this prologue to the story, especially on a last name that would fit Artemis if van Hughes doesn't work!
Prologue:
~Solitary Strike~
"SOLDIER First Class, Zack Fair?" A spiky-haired ravenette glanced up from checking his mail, Mako-infused eyes brimming with curiosity.
"Yep, that's me. What's up?"
"You've been assigned to investigate the Shinra Manor in Nibelheim for any suspicious activity, by order of the Science Research Facility." An infantryman replied. Zack put his communicator back into his pocket.
"…I seem to recall that they don't give me a check, so they don't give me orders."
"They specifically asked for you to follow through with this since Sephiroth is still remaining inside of the data room until further notice."
Zack heaved a sigh, turning to leave. "Okay. Fine… I'll get to it…"
~Two Is Better Than One~
A young girl with black hair tied into two ponytails heaved a sigh and then knocked on a door, café-colored eyes concerned. "Ryuu? Are you in there?"
"Yes, I am…" A male's voice called back. She opened the door, and then noticed a boy with short brown hair staring out of the window. She stood on the side of him, and sure enough, steel-colored eyes never blinked once or even so much as glanced in her direction. "Good day, Artemis…"
"Do you need anything?"
"…The birds are singing really cheerfully today. It must be nice of them to be able to fly freely, without a care in the world…" Artemis looked away.
Ryuu Mori was seventeen years old, and he had glaucoma, which had only recently made him nearly blind. He had been living on his own to attend high school in Nibelheim despite the small region, but his plans backfired all too soon.
Artemis van Hughes was an old friend of his that moved to America with her parents to attend high school, but soon returned to Midgar in order to care for him despite being two years younger and having to leave school. She had no idea what possessed her to do such a thing, because surely her life was more important than his at the moment, friends or not.
Maybe it was her parents' influence! Yes, that had to have been it!
"…Do you want to go outside and get some fresh air?" Artemis asked. Ryuu turned around and slowly reached out a hand as if he were trying to grab hers. Artemis blinked and then gently grabbed his hand. He began to smile, caressing her hand with his own. Her face reddened slightly.
"I'd love that. I'd love that very much." And then they left Ryuu's home and made their way outside.
"Now, don't you dare let go of my hand, okay? The last thing I need is for you to get lost in your own hometown…" Artemis warned as the two roamed the streets.
"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on it. Why would I when I have a really cute girl like you assisting me~?" Artemis rolled her eyes at this.
She could tell that he was a bit TOO happy that she had decided to bring him outside. Or maybe it was just because she was there that he was overjoyed. For some reason, that began to piss her off more and more.
"…Is there any place in particular that you wanted to go today…?"
"Can we go to Shinra Manor, in the outskirts of the town?"
"The outskirts of Nibelheim…?"
"Yeah!"
"And why do you want to go there of all places, Ryuu?"
"Because the mansion is really cool, of course, from what I've heard. I can't see it anymore, but I know that you'd probably like it there. You like going to adventurous places, don't you, Arte?"
"…We're not going inside, so why does it matter?"
"Because… I want you to be able to be happier again. It must be a bother having to take care of me all of the time…" Artemis mentally agreed with that. Ryuu seemed to have gotten a bit TOO friendly with her since he developed glaucoma, but she assumed it was because he lost an important portion of his life. "Just think of seeing the mansion as a breath of fresh air. So, please…?"
She smiled a bit. "…Okay. I guess a quick trip to Shinra Manor wouldn't hurt…"
"Great! Hey, Arte… Do you see those stairs over by the archway?" Artemis glanced over, noticing them.
"…Yeah, I see them."
"That's the way to the outskirts. Then you have to go through the forest trail, and then to your right, you should see a mansion. That's Shinra Manor."
"I'll, um, keep that in mind…"
~Three Is A Magic Number~
It was a warm summer's day in the country-boy town known as Nibelheim. A spiky haired brunette waved back to his two friends, grinning. "You guys have GOT to see this place in the outskirts of Nibelheim! It's so cool!"
"Hold on, Sora, wait for us!" An auburn-haired girl called back, giggling a bit.
"Aw, come on, Kairi. Just let him have his fun. You know it's been a while since he's been back here," A young man with long, slightly spiked silver hair replied.
"Still, Riku, you never know…"
"COME ON ALREADY!" The boy known as Sora whined from a distance.
"Don't get your Keyblade in a bunch, we're coming!" Riku called.
The three were in Nibelheim visiting Sora's VERY distant relative Cloud Strife for the summer break before they returned to school on the Destiny Islands. Originally, Sora was supposed to go to Nibelheim alone, but he wanted his two best friends to see 'his second home' in Midgar. So far to Riku, it was a drag being in the country. Kairi was just happy knowing that Sora was excited about being back for the first time in about a year. To the three, it was nice to be able to go on another adventure in another world every once in a while.
Soon, the three came to the outside of what appeared to be a rather large manor. "You see it? This place is Shinra Manor! Isn't it neat?"
"…Looks like some big stupid house to me." Riku mumbled.
"Sora, do you know who lives here?" Kairi asked.
"…I don't think that anyone does. Cloud told me that the place has been abandoned for a while, but SOLDIER operatives travel here consistently to conduct scientific research, or to investigate the Mako Reactor out in the mountains."
"Oh, would you look at that? Little Sora knows big words." Riku joked.
"I'm serious!" Sora exclaimed, half-whining.
"So, what was the purpose of you wanting to show us this place again?" Riku asked.
"I want to go exploring! I've never been inside of the Shinra Manor before, and it looks like it'd be a pretty neat place just based on the outside of it!" Sora beamed.
"…I'm going back." Riku mumbled.
"Aw, Riku, don't be a killjoy! Come on!" Sora whined.
"…Sure, I'll do that when you quit being a brat! For all we know, there could be someone living there, and if we intrude, they could get us arrested!"
"Life's too short to live the same day twice." Sora quoted. "Besides, it'll just be for a minute and then we'll leave!"
"No way. I'm going back. Come on, Kairi." Kairi blinked.
Sora looked to Kairi. "Kairi, you'll come with me, right? It'll be fun."
"…I think Riku has a good point…" Kairi replied slowly. Sora crossed his arms. "If we go, we'd probably get into some kind of trouble."
"…Aw, fine… We'll go back…" Sora said in defeat. Just as Riku was preparing to leave, he ran into a girl, knocking her and a boy down by mistake.
"Oh, man, I'm so sorry!" Riku exclaimed.
"Artemis!" The boy whined. The girl looked back at him and immediately helped him to his feet.
"It's okay now, Ryuu, calm down…" The girl known as Artemis looked to the silver-haired boy, smiling a bit. "…Hi there..."
"Hiya…" He replied back, waving. "Coming to the mansion too?"
"…My friend Ryuu wanted to come here… You see, he's nearly blind, and for some reason he wanted ME to take a break by bringing HIM here…"
"I'm right HERE, you know!" Ryuu whined.
"…Oh, I can understand that." Riku replied, chuckling.
"And what about you?" Artemis continued.
"…My dork of a best friend Sora wanted to show our friend Kairi and me the mansion, but we were just about to leave…"
"Ah, I see. I'm Artemis, by the way. Artemis van Hughes. And this guy right here…" Artemis pulled Ryuu a bit closer. "…is Ryuu Mori."
"Riku Tamohara. Nice to meet you," He replied, grinning.
"…Likewise." Ryuu mumbled.
"Ooh, Riku's got a girlfriend~" Sora chimed as loud as he possibly could. Riku's face reddened a bit from anger.
"Guessing that's Sora, your 'dork of a best friend', huh?" Artemis giggled.
"Y-Yeah, that's him…" Sora and Kairi ran over to the two.
"Hello there." Kairi said, waving a bit to Artemis and Ryuu. Artemis waved back. "I'm Kairi Uchida. What's your name?"
"I'm Artemis van Hughes. And this is Ryuu Mori, my fri-"
"I'm blind, but I can SPEAK, you know." Ryuu growled. Artemis rolled her eyes.
"…My friend that is extremely pushing his luck today…" Sora walked around Artemis, staring at her. "…Um, what are you doing?"
"Oh, nothing really, Miss, just doing a thorough examination of you to make sure that you aren't harboring any contractions of darkness…"
"…Get any more thorough than that, and you'll be blind too," Artemis growled.
"Yeah, that's Sora for you. He's a little naïve, mind you, but he's really a sweetheart underneath the idiotic form that he's taken on." Riku replied.
"Sora Hikari, Keyblade Master extraordinaire, at your service~" Sora beamed, giving Artemis a cheesy grin. Artemis could feel a blush threatening to creep up onto her face, until she felt Ryuu practically giving her a death glare. "So, you guys live in Nibelheim too?"
"Well, I'm just here taking care of Ryuu…" Artemis mumbled.
"I was supposed to be starting high school in Nibelheim until my eyes started going bad…" Ryuu mumbled as well. "And what about you?"
"We're all from a place called the Destiny Islands. We're here visiting one of Sora's VERY distant relatives." Kairi stated.
"Hey, you kids over there!" Riku, Kairi, Sora and Artemis glanced back in unison, and a man with spiked black hair carrying a rather large Buster Sword walked past them. "What the heck are you doing over here? This is SOLDIER territory!"
"Hey, he's one of those SOLDIER members!" Sora exclaimed, pointing to the man accusingly.
"Not just any regular SOLDIER operative, kid. Name's Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class!" The man replied, grinning. Artemis blinked. She hadn't heard anything about SOLDIER before, since she lived far enough away from them and her parents nor Ryuu never spoke of them. Maybe they were anti-SOLDIER? "Now, I've got some business to handle here, so I'd advise that you all leave the premises immediately."
"Why? Is something going on inside of the mansion?" Kairi asked.
"That's classified information." Zack replied. "Only those in SOLDIER are allowed to know about certain missions."
"Well, we're kids, who are we going to tell?" Sora joked.
"That's the point. You guys are kids."
"Well, yeah, but… You don't look like you're that much older than we are. You only look like you're about nineteen or something." Artemis stated, now eyeing Zack's sword. Zack rolled his eyes, looking away.
"Yeah, well, I'm still not a kid. And even if I were, I'm already in the top ranks of SOLDIER, so you don't have much to say about that."
"It's not like I know what SOLDIER is anyways, so I don't care. I just want to see the mansion." Artemis growled.
"And I already said no, so beat it!" Zack exclaimed, temper beginning to flare. As if on cue, thunderclaps began to roar from above, and within seconds, rain began pouring. Sora felt some rain strike his arm and he yelped in pain.
"Sora, calm down, it's just water!" Riku growled.
"That did NOT feel like water! It burned like hell!" Sora roared, going out of character from the sharp pain.
Artemis glanced up at the sky, and then some rain fell onto her cheek, causing her to flinch. "He's right! That's not water, it's… acid!"
Zack heaved a sigh, hero instincts kicking in despite his orders. "Okay, everyone into the mansion if you don't want to be disintegrated by the acid rain! Hurry it up!"
...Well, with any luck I can pull together scenes in the mansion. XD
But, uh, yeah, go on and flame if you want, I'm just PRACTICING for my real stories. I have a FictionPress account with the same username, and I'm going to be uploading my original stories there soon, so if you want something better, you can look there if you want.