The Grand Gunman

(Notes: This is set 5 years after Dirge of Cerberus. The setting is the same as one a friend of mine created. He allowed me to use it for this fanfic. In this setting, the remnants were pulled out of the Lifestream by Sephiroth. Others lived as well, even though they were killed. I changed a few things in the setting to make the story more interesting. Here, Deepground is recovering from their defeat. The Tsviets still live and are fighting Sephiroth. Oddly enough, Sephiroth is fighting everyone. There are several non-canon characters and the story focuses on one of them: Sedraen. The same as my pen name.)

(Beginning: The story starts in the city of Edge as Sephiroth begins causing trouble. The rest will be revealed in the story.)

Part one: Encounter

As is usually true, a story never ends when it should. When the troubles end and the final chapter is laid to rest, a whole new beginning is born, stitched into the story before it. Other men and women weave their stories into the greater plot, but few know it. We will now visit one man who is about to find out...

A long, red coat blows back in the cold air as a man walks forward. His combat boots tapped loudly on the road as he headed for the center of the city of Edge. The man ran his hand through his neck-long, black hair and looked up at the winter sky, scratching his thin beard. As he stared into the endless plane, he noticed a small speck of light. It was not a star, for it was too bright even for that. He shrugged and looked directly ahead of him, putting his hands inside his buttoned-up coat.

A few seconds later he looked up again. The speck of light seemed closer. As he looked down again, something crashed. He heard nothing but a loud boom. There, in the direction he was heading, the man saw a huge pillar of light...

Grabbing the pistol out of its holster on the inside of his coat, the man ran forward to see what was happening. The weapon was a fairly large, break-action, 11mm. magnum revolver. He trusted it to blow a nice, big hole in anything he aimed at. The break-action of the weapon allowed him to use his Loader, a mechanical device on his right arm used to quickly load his weapon.

Soon the man, whose name was Sedraen, came within view of the object he was seeking... Whatever it was. He was standing in the middle of the street, a straight shot to the pillar of light.

There were a few people gathered nearby but Sedraen didn't take the time to speak with them. In the distance, he could make out two figures. One was on top of a building, the other seemed to hover in the beam of light that had created a crater in the ground below. Both were armed with swords. Sedraen began running towards the latter figure, who was a hundred-or-so feet in the air.

Suddenly the hovering figure swung back his arm and swept forth with it. Out of nowhere a wall of flame appeared, very tall and moving at an alarming rate. Sedraen ran ahead, his eyes wide, "Maledicalo!" With that curse, he began moving to his left. As he reached the buildings on that side of the road, he looked for an alley. He was lucky. There was one several meters ahead.

The flames were closing in fast, but Sedraen was just fast enough. As he neared the alley, he jumped up and ran two steps on the wall. When his foot hits the corner, he grabs it and swings himself in, planting his back against the opposite wall. As the flames pass by, tiles and wood catch on fire and fall around Sedraen.

Holding the magnum in his left hand, Sedraen stands as still as stone as the flames pass by. He winces as the heat hits him like a train. At least he got some relief from the cold. When the flames died down, Sedraen remained in the alley for a bit. At least, until he heard a cracking sound above him. Looking up, he saw a part of the wall about to fall. He was just barely able to dive out before the whole section of the wall crashed down.

What he saw next almost made him wish he were back in an alley. Looking to where the two figures were, he saw nothing but a crater. The light was gone, as were the people. But as he walked past the buildings to the intersection, what he saw was horrifying. First he saw a girl get thrown across the crater, landing against a building. Next he saw a large man holding another man by the face. Blood was everywhere.

Yet another man charged the former, who seemed to enjoy causing the one he was holding more and more pain. As the attacking man reached the other, he was impaled by a long blade that the black-caped man produced from who-knows-where. He was flung to the side and into a building. The man who would be called Sephiroth tightened his grip on the one he held.

Sedraen had had enough. Tapping the single orb of time materia on his vest, he casted haste. Moving at double his normal speed, he ran forward, sliding to a stop about a hundred feet from Sephiroth. He brings up his magnum and fires a single round into Sephiroth's back.

Slowly, Sephiroth turned to face Sedraen, his fearsome eyes sizing him up. Sedraen stood with his magnum in one hand, aiming now at Sephiroth's head. They stood like that for a while, neither moving. Sephiroth flung the man he held to the side and brought up his masamune, pointing its tip at Sedraen. He then moved forward, grabbing the handle with both hands and swinging down at Sed. Sedraen was almost hit as he rolled to the right. As he recovered, he was met by another blow.

He raised his right arm and was able to block the attack. The force almost knocked him over again. He then brought his left hand up and fired two more rounds, both hitting Sephiroth in the forehead. Sephiroth was staggered back, but only for a few seconds. Sed jumped up and backpedaled away as Sephiroth's wounds began to heal before his eyes.

Sedraen decided to give up at this point. He flipped the cylinder and barrel of his magnum down and pressed the cylinder to his right arm, into his sleeve. Six small rods extended. Three went into the empty spaces in the cylinder. The other two were stopped by the bullets. From under each of the three rods was loaded into the weapon a single 11mm. bullet.

By the time he'd finished loading (which was about one second from the time he'd began) Sedraen was already a good distance away from Sephiroth. As he got out of view of the intersection, Sed sighed, ceasing to run. He holstered his magnum and ducked into an abandoned building to his right. It was a small, one-story building. All of the windows were shattered and the door was laying on the floor...

Back at the intersection, Sephiroth grinned, his wounds fully healed. Turning around, he began to walk away from the crater and down the street 90 degrees to the left of the one Sedraen had chosen. He had better things to do than chase down a gunman. Swinging his sword to the right, he slings the blood off of it and sheaths it, still walking away...