AUTHOR'S NOTE: Before I start, I must give credit to two amazing fanfic authors who have shared some of their ideas. First, I must direct the reader to the absolutely wonderful works of T'Shael, who gave me the Aeris & Sephiroth idea. If you haven't read her Mirror Image series, do so before reading this at the following link: http://www.angelfire.com/games2/AerisSephlove/
The character of C.J. Highwind was borrowed from the Bible of FF7 fanfics, Children of Jenova by Sailor Solathei. Please read it first by visiting the following link: http://www.crosswinds.net/~princessartemis/fiction/ffvii/coj/children.html
Having given proper credit, I'd like to introduce you to my new FF7 series. I hope you like it! Please review and leave suggestions as to what you'd like to see happen next. Enjoy, and remember, this is only the beginning!
FINAL FANTASY VII: WHITE & GOLD, CHAPTER 1
The Sorceress Oriana turned abruptly on her heel and paced back across the room, her white tunic flowing behind her like a cape. Purely as the result of experience (much of it unpleasant), her subordinates knew better than to interrupt her once one of her patented moods had set in. Benevolent though the Sorceress was, her temper was particularly short in times if trouble.
And a time of trouble had indeed set in. Few in the castle had slept since the waves of gold had swept through the musty halls. Sorceress Oriana had spent a fortnight pacing the length of her antechamber, lost in a typhoon of thoughts. Even her personal maid, Lady Austine, had been unable to read her mistress' countenance; this brought great distress to the other servants of the household, for if even Lady Austine could not perceive the situation, things were bleak, to say the least.
Sorceress Oriana, however, remained entirely oblivious to the hum of anxiety amongst her servants. The unyielding resonance of gold engulfed her entire being, paralyzing her mind with the rare sensation of fear. Rare, indeed, for fear was something Oriana seldom felt, wielding the power she did, but this had shaken her. Ever since she had first awoken from her sleep, her head spun like a tornado of molten gold. The vision had set into her mind like a cancer.
The Sorcress tapped her staff against the cold, stone floor as she walked, sending shivers up the spine of Lady Austine. Owing purely to instincts of self-preservation, the latter kept as great a distance from her mistress as possible, cowering in the corner of the darkened room. She made a vertical ascent into the air when the Sorcress broke the silence with the first words she had spoken in weeks.
"It is time."
* * * * * * *
Aeris Gainsborough bit her lip in fear as her husband helped her up the stairs of Tifa's Seventh Heaven. She wrinkled her tiny nose at the air that wafted through the open door; the stench of cigarette smoke, she felt sure, would do nothing but harm to the child she carried. Sephiroth, ever the protective husband, seemed to agree, for he led her to the back room of the establishment before the putrid air even hit her lungs.
Gathered in the bar's meeting room was the AVALANCHE group: Cloud and Tifa Strife (with eight-year-old son Zack, who had fallen asleep in his mother's arms on the ride over), Cid and Shera Highwind, accompanied by daugher C.J., Vincent and Yuffie Valentine, Barrett Wallace, Red XIII, and former Shinra employee Reeve and his enigmatic companion, Cait Sith. Tifa rushed over to hug Aeris as her friend entered the room. Cloud scowled at Sephiroth; Sephiroth scowled back.
"Alright, then," said Cid, plucking the cigarette from his mouth. "Let's get this show on the road." He glanced over at his closest friend, Vincent Valentine. "What's this all about?"
Vincent waited until Sephiroth and Aeris had seated themselves to speak. He rose from his seat, trembling slightly; public speaking was not among his long list of talents.
"I called this meeting," he began, avoiding the group's collective gaze, "becuase I received a message last night from a, ah, most interesting contact."
"Who?" Cloud barked.
"She identified herself only as the Lady Austine of Odessa."
Sephiroth and Aeris exchanged nervous glances. The land of Odessa, located even farther north than their current residence of Icicle Villiage, was as deeply shrouded in folkloric mystery as it was in snow. Few travelers' accounts to the land had ever been published, making it a prime subject of mythology amongst the former Shinra world.
"She also claimed to be the assistant to the Sorceress Oriana," Vincent added, his red eyes finally meeting those of his audience. A murmur of surprise arose from the group.
"Who the hell is that?" Cid asked nervously.
"Ain't never hearda no sorceress," Barrett muttered.
"Vincent, are you sure this wasn't a prank of some kind?" asked Red XIII.
Vincent shook his head. "No. I can't explain why, really, but...no."
"Well, what did she say?" demanded Yuffie. "You still haven't told me."
Vincent glared at his wife."I'll tell you when I tell everyone else," he snarled. Yuffie and Vincent were a case study in marital unhappiness.
"She said," Vincent continued, leering angrily at his wife, "she needed our help urgently. She has requested our presence in Odessa at once."
"In Odessa?" Sephiroth chuckled. "Not even the Highwind can make it up there."
Cid cast Sephiroth a nasty glance. "What the hell do you know about what my ship can and can't do?" he snapped.
Vincent continued before Sephiroth could retort. "She told me she would clear a path for our ship."
Cid snorted. "How the hell does she plan to do that?"
"I don't know. All she said is that she requests our presence within two weeks' time."
Cloud winced. "Two weeks? We've got four other missions ahead of us this week alone."
Vincent bit his lip. "I can't say why, exactly, but I have a feeling this is something we must deal with immediately."
Cloud stood up and faced his red-caped friend. While he normally would have objected, the determination in Vincent's eyes was fierce; besides, Vincent rarely requested special missions. "Two weeks it is, then. No earlier."
Vincent nodded. "Fair enough."
* * * * * * *
C.J. Highwind swung her legs beneath the seat. She hated long trips on the Highwind, especially when the parental units ordered her to remain seated. Were it not for Zack Strife, her boy-friend (not a "boyfriend," as she was wont to point out), keeping her entertained with a game of scissors, paper, & stone, she would have undoubtedly gone bananas.
"Scissors cut paper!" Five-year-old Zack laughed triumphantly, taking back the handful of candy he'd bet on his previous turn. C.J. sighed and scowled.
"You cheated," he said, folding her arms across her chest.
"I did not!" Zack cried, bewildered. "How do you cheat at scissors, paper, & stone?"
C.J. stuck out her lip. "You just did."
"Aww, you're just mad 'cause you lost again."
"Hey, you two," said Tifa, overhearing the dispute, "why don't you play something where nobody can cheat?"
C.J. considered this. "He'd find a way to cheat somehow."
Tifa laughed. "Well, then just sit tight 'till we get home."
Cloud, standing beside her, glanced over at the kids and smiled. "Those two have had a long day. They're getting cranky."
Tifa smiled and put her arm around his waist. "Sounds like someone else I know."
Cloud blushed and kissed her. "Yeah, Vincent can be that way."
Tifa giggled. "I was thinking of you, for the record."
Cid, standing at the ship's wheel, laughed and shook his head. "But come on, Vincent can be a real prick when he wants to be."
Shera looked over at her husband in surprise. "Not a nice thing to say about your best friend."
"Come on, Shera," said Cid, puffing on a cigarette, "you've seen how he treats Yuffie."
Shera looked at Tifa, who nodded in agreement. "As fond as I am of Vincent," Tifa said, sighing, "it's hard to overlook the whole mess with Yuffie. Sometimes I just want to punch his lights out for treating her like he does."
"Give him some credit, Tif," said Cloud, "he's had a pretty rough time lately."
Tifa frowned. "So have you, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like shit. Or to pretend that your obligations to me don't exist."
Cloud shrugged. "So what do you think about this whole sorceress thing?" he asked, eager to change the subject. He felt irrationally sympathetic for Vincent's situation, and his view was clearly not shared by the rest of the group.
Shera and Tifa exchanged glances. "I was wondering when you were going to mention that," said Tifa, looking at him with a bemused expression. "I had the feeling you didn't want to talk about it."
Cloud tensed. "What's there to talk about? We don't know much of anything at this point. We'll go up there, see if this person even exists, and if so, what she wants. Sounds like a standard mission to me."
Cid looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound that way to me," he said. "Whole thing sounds pretty goddamn crazy if you ask me."
Cloud bit his lip. He hated being on the defensive. "What do you mean?"
Cid snorted. "Quit lyin' to yourself, Strife. This is the most bogus request AVALANCHE has ever received."
Cloud frowned. "What's bogus about it? Just some nut claiming to be a sorceress. Hell, it'll be good for a laugh, if nothing else."
"If it's only good for a laugh," said Shera, eyeing him curiously, "then why are you even bothering to go?"
Cloud sighed. Shera the logical engineer had him cornered. He sighed and looked away. "Because it could be genuine." He looked over at her, his expression unreadable. "You never can know for sure."
Cid snuffed out his cigarette. "Alright, everybody, in yer seats. We're landing in Rocket Town in two minutes."
*******
Yuffie bit her lip, praying silently that the lullaby had succeeded in putting her infant son to sleep. The black-haired, red-eyed child shifted as she settled him into the crib, but remained otherwise silent and content. Clenching her fists, she tiptoed out of the nursery and closed the door behind her. The Shinra Mansion she and Vincent occupied had dreadfully squeaky doors, and she flinched as the hinge squealed in protest; fortunately, little Raven Valentine continued to sleep.
A slap of sadness struck Yuffie's face as she thought of the husband she was about to return to. A year ago, things had been different -- she and Vincent had fallen in love, or so it had seemed at the time; they spent hours on end talking (as much as Vincent was ever willing to talk), traveling, and fighting alongside the rest of AVALANCHE. She grew more in those few months than she had in the past eighteen years, making the transition from girl to woman virtually overnight. Five years had passed since Sephiroth's defeat and resurrection as an ally of AVALANCHE; Yuffie, as had Aeris and Tifa, felt she had at last found the true love for whom she had so long languished.
Everything changed, however, when their passion resulted in an unintended pregnancy.When Yuffie's condition was confirmed, Vincent became suddenly cold and aloof, treating his new wife (following a shotgun wedding in Junon) with alternating indifference and disdain; he spent his free hours in Lucrecia's cave, mourning openly the woman thirty-eight years deceased whom he had once so deeply loved. On the night of Raven's birth, Vincent disappeared, his whereabouts unknown even to Cid, his closest friend; the members of AVALANCHE existed in a state of continual panic for the next three weeks until Vincent mysteriously reappeared. He offered no explanation as to where he had been, and Yuffie was loath to ask. He treated his newborn son with the same indignant indifference he showed his wife; indeed, in the five months since Raven entered the world, his father had yet to hold him.
Yuffie trembled as she approached their bedroom. They seldom spoke, and when they did, she was all but guaranteed a nasty berating for being a nusiance. He hadn't so much as touched her since she became pregnant with Raven; pent-up sexual desires had burned an emotional ulcer into her heart. She bit her lip, forcing back tears.
She walked nervously into the bedroom, where Vincent sat at the window, staring out into the darkness. If he noticed her entrance, he gave no indication. Trembling, she tiptoed over to the bed, pushing back the velvet comforter and curling up between the sheets where they had once made passionate love for hours on end. Vincent remained silent and motionless for some time before rising from the window seat.
"Where are you going?" she asked meekly, bracing herself for the acrimonious response she was sure to receive.
Vincent scowled. "That's none of your business," he snapped. "Go back to sleep."
"I wasn't sleeping," Yuffie murmured, squeezing her eyes shut to stem the flow of tears.
Vincent let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, try to," he hissed, heading for the door. "I'll be in later." He paused. "Start getting ready for the trip up north."
When she could no longer hear his footsteps on the stairs, Yuffie Valentine burst into tears.
*************************************************************
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Wow, Vincent sure is being a jerk....I wonder what's eating him? You'll hear more about Aeris & Sephiroth in the next chapter -- they are a VERY happy couple, just like they were in T'Shael's mirror image series. For those of you who've played FF8, look for some *surprise* characters in the near future!
-Madame S.
The character of C.J. Highwind was borrowed from the Bible of FF7 fanfics, Children of Jenova by Sailor Solathei. Please read it first by visiting the following link: http://www.crosswinds.net/~princessartemis/fiction/ffvii/coj/children.html
Having given proper credit, I'd like to introduce you to my new FF7 series. I hope you like it! Please review and leave suggestions as to what you'd like to see happen next. Enjoy, and remember, this is only the beginning!
FINAL FANTASY VII: WHITE & GOLD, CHAPTER 1
The Sorceress Oriana turned abruptly on her heel and paced back across the room, her white tunic flowing behind her like a cape. Purely as the result of experience (much of it unpleasant), her subordinates knew better than to interrupt her once one of her patented moods had set in. Benevolent though the Sorceress was, her temper was particularly short in times if trouble.
And a time of trouble had indeed set in. Few in the castle had slept since the waves of gold had swept through the musty halls. Sorceress Oriana had spent a fortnight pacing the length of her antechamber, lost in a typhoon of thoughts. Even her personal maid, Lady Austine, had been unable to read her mistress' countenance; this brought great distress to the other servants of the household, for if even Lady Austine could not perceive the situation, things were bleak, to say the least.
Sorceress Oriana, however, remained entirely oblivious to the hum of anxiety amongst her servants. The unyielding resonance of gold engulfed her entire being, paralyzing her mind with the rare sensation of fear. Rare, indeed, for fear was something Oriana seldom felt, wielding the power she did, but this had shaken her. Ever since she had first awoken from her sleep, her head spun like a tornado of molten gold. The vision had set into her mind like a cancer.
The Sorcress tapped her staff against the cold, stone floor as she walked, sending shivers up the spine of Lady Austine. Owing purely to instincts of self-preservation, the latter kept as great a distance from her mistress as possible, cowering in the corner of the darkened room. She made a vertical ascent into the air when the Sorcress broke the silence with the first words she had spoken in weeks.
"It is time."
* * * * * * *
Aeris Gainsborough bit her lip in fear as her husband helped her up the stairs of Tifa's Seventh Heaven. She wrinkled her tiny nose at the air that wafted through the open door; the stench of cigarette smoke, she felt sure, would do nothing but harm to the child she carried. Sephiroth, ever the protective husband, seemed to agree, for he led her to the back room of the establishment before the putrid air even hit her lungs.
Gathered in the bar's meeting room was the AVALANCHE group: Cloud and Tifa Strife (with eight-year-old son Zack, who had fallen asleep in his mother's arms on the ride over), Cid and Shera Highwind, accompanied by daugher C.J., Vincent and Yuffie Valentine, Barrett Wallace, Red XIII, and former Shinra employee Reeve and his enigmatic companion, Cait Sith. Tifa rushed over to hug Aeris as her friend entered the room. Cloud scowled at Sephiroth; Sephiroth scowled back.
"Alright, then," said Cid, plucking the cigarette from his mouth. "Let's get this show on the road." He glanced over at his closest friend, Vincent Valentine. "What's this all about?"
Vincent waited until Sephiroth and Aeris had seated themselves to speak. He rose from his seat, trembling slightly; public speaking was not among his long list of talents.
"I called this meeting," he began, avoiding the group's collective gaze, "becuase I received a message last night from a, ah, most interesting contact."
"Who?" Cloud barked.
"She identified herself only as the Lady Austine of Odessa."
Sephiroth and Aeris exchanged nervous glances. The land of Odessa, located even farther north than their current residence of Icicle Villiage, was as deeply shrouded in folkloric mystery as it was in snow. Few travelers' accounts to the land had ever been published, making it a prime subject of mythology amongst the former Shinra world.
"She also claimed to be the assistant to the Sorceress Oriana," Vincent added, his red eyes finally meeting those of his audience. A murmur of surprise arose from the group.
"Who the hell is that?" Cid asked nervously.
"Ain't never hearda no sorceress," Barrett muttered.
"Vincent, are you sure this wasn't a prank of some kind?" asked Red XIII.
Vincent shook his head. "No. I can't explain why, really, but...no."
"Well, what did she say?" demanded Yuffie. "You still haven't told me."
Vincent glared at his wife."I'll tell you when I tell everyone else," he snarled. Yuffie and Vincent were a case study in marital unhappiness.
"She said," Vincent continued, leering angrily at his wife, "she needed our help urgently. She has requested our presence in Odessa at once."
"In Odessa?" Sephiroth chuckled. "Not even the Highwind can make it up there."
Cid cast Sephiroth a nasty glance. "What the hell do you know about what my ship can and can't do?" he snapped.
Vincent continued before Sephiroth could retort. "She told me she would clear a path for our ship."
Cid snorted. "How the hell does she plan to do that?"
"I don't know. All she said is that she requests our presence within two weeks' time."
Cloud winced. "Two weeks? We've got four other missions ahead of us this week alone."
Vincent bit his lip. "I can't say why, exactly, but I have a feeling this is something we must deal with immediately."
Cloud stood up and faced his red-caped friend. While he normally would have objected, the determination in Vincent's eyes was fierce; besides, Vincent rarely requested special missions. "Two weeks it is, then. No earlier."
Vincent nodded. "Fair enough."
* * * * * * *
C.J. Highwind swung her legs beneath the seat. She hated long trips on the Highwind, especially when the parental units ordered her to remain seated. Were it not for Zack Strife, her boy-friend (not a "boyfriend," as she was wont to point out), keeping her entertained with a game of scissors, paper, & stone, she would have undoubtedly gone bananas.
"Scissors cut paper!" Five-year-old Zack laughed triumphantly, taking back the handful of candy he'd bet on his previous turn. C.J. sighed and scowled.
"You cheated," he said, folding her arms across her chest.
"I did not!" Zack cried, bewildered. "How do you cheat at scissors, paper, & stone?"
C.J. stuck out her lip. "You just did."
"Aww, you're just mad 'cause you lost again."
"Hey, you two," said Tifa, overhearing the dispute, "why don't you play something where nobody can cheat?"
C.J. considered this. "He'd find a way to cheat somehow."
Tifa laughed. "Well, then just sit tight 'till we get home."
Cloud, standing beside her, glanced over at the kids and smiled. "Those two have had a long day. They're getting cranky."
Tifa smiled and put her arm around his waist. "Sounds like someone else I know."
Cloud blushed and kissed her. "Yeah, Vincent can be that way."
Tifa giggled. "I was thinking of you, for the record."
Cid, standing at the ship's wheel, laughed and shook his head. "But come on, Vincent can be a real prick when he wants to be."
Shera looked over at her husband in surprise. "Not a nice thing to say about your best friend."
"Come on, Shera," said Cid, puffing on a cigarette, "you've seen how he treats Yuffie."
Shera looked at Tifa, who nodded in agreement. "As fond as I am of Vincent," Tifa said, sighing, "it's hard to overlook the whole mess with Yuffie. Sometimes I just want to punch his lights out for treating her like he does."
"Give him some credit, Tif," said Cloud, "he's had a pretty rough time lately."
Tifa frowned. "So have you, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like shit. Or to pretend that your obligations to me don't exist."
Cloud shrugged. "So what do you think about this whole sorceress thing?" he asked, eager to change the subject. He felt irrationally sympathetic for Vincent's situation, and his view was clearly not shared by the rest of the group.
Shera and Tifa exchanged glances. "I was wondering when you were going to mention that," said Tifa, looking at him with a bemused expression. "I had the feeling you didn't want to talk about it."
Cloud tensed. "What's there to talk about? We don't know much of anything at this point. We'll go up there, see if this person even exists, and if so, what she wants. Sounds like a standard mission to me."
Cid looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound that way to me," he said. "Whole thing sounds pretty goddamn crazy if you ask me."
Cloud bit his lip. He hated being on the defensive. "What do you mean?"
Cid snorted. "Quit lyin' to yourself, Strife. This is the most bogus request AVALANCHE has ever received."
Cloud frowned. "What's bogus about it? Just some nut claiming to be a sorceress. Hell, it'll be good for a laugh, if nothing else."
"If it's only good for a laugh," said Shera, eyeing him curiously, "then why are you even bothering to go?"
Cloud sighed. Shera the logical engineer had him cornered. He sighed and looked away. "Because it could be genuine." He looked over at her, his expression unreadable. "You never can know for sure."
Cid snuffed out his cigarette. "Alright, everybody, in yer seats. We're landing in Rocket Town in two minutes."
*******
Yuffie bit her lip, praying silently that the lullaby had succeeded in putting her infant son to sleep. The black-haired, red-eyed child shifted as she settled him into the crib, but remained otherwise silent and content. Clenching her fists, she tiptoed out of the nursery and closed the door behind her. The Shinra Mansion she and Vincent occupied had dreadfully squeaky doors, and she flinched as the hinge squealed in protest; fortunately, little Raven Valentine continued to sleep.
A slap of sadness struck Yuffie's face as she thought of the husband she was about to return to. A year ago, things had been different -- she and Vincent had fallen in love, or so it had seemed at the time; they spent hours on end talking (as much as Vincent was ever willing to talk), traveling, and fighting alongside the rest of AVALANCHE. She grew more in those few months than she had in the past eighteen years, making the transition from girl to woman virtually overnight. Five years had passed since Sephiroth's defeat and resurrection as an ally of AVALANCHE; Yuffie, as had Aeris and Tifa, felt she had at last found the true love for whom she had so long languished.
Everything changed, however, when their passion resulted in an unintended pregnancy.When Yuffie's condition was confirmed, Vincent became suddenly cold and aloof, treating his new wife (following a shotgun wedding in Junon) with alternating indifference and disdain; he spent his free hours in Lucrecia's cave, mourning openly the woman thirty-eight years deceased whom he had once so deeply loved. On the night of Raven's birth, Vincent disappeared, his whereabouts unknown even to Cid, his closest friend; the members of AVALANCHE existed in a state of continual panic for the next three weeks until Vincent mysteriously reappeared. He offered no explanation as to where he had been, and Yuffie was loath to ask. He treated his newborn son with the same indignant indifference he showed his wife; indeed, in the five months since Raven entered the world, his father had yet to hold him.
Yuffie trembled as she approached their bedroom. They seldom spoke, and when they did, she was all but guaranteed a nasty berating for being a nusiance. He hadn't so much as touched her since she became pregnant with Raven; pent-up sexual desires had burned an emotional ulcer into her heart. She bit her lip, forcing back tears.
She walked nervously into the bedroom, where Vincent sat at the window, staring out into the darkness. If he noticed her entrance, he gave no indication. Trembling, she tiptoed over to the bed, pushing back the velvet comforter and curling up between the sheets where they had once made passionate love for hours on end. Vincent remained silent and motionless for some time before rising from the window seat.
"Where are you going?" she asked meekly, bracing herself for the acrimonious response she was sure to receive.
Vincent scowled. "That's none of your business," he snapped. "Go back to sleep."
"I wasn't sleeping," Yuffie murmured, squeezing her eyes shut to stem the flow of tears.
Vincent let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, try to," he hissed, heading for the door. "I'll be in later." He paused. "Start getting ready for the trip up north."
When she could no longer hear his footsteps on the stairs, Yuffie Valentine burst into tears.
*************************************************************
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Wow, Vincent sure is being a jerk....I wonder what's eating him? You'll hear more about Aeris & Sephiroth in the next chapter -- they are a VERY happy couple, just like they were in T'Shael's mirror image series. For those of you who've played FF8, look for some *surprise* characters in the near future!
-Madame S.