What Makes a Monster?
Chapter one: Plunge Into The Lifestream
Disclaimer: (Sings) I was going to the park one day, in the merry merry month of May! I was taken by surprise, Final Fantasy caught my eyes, but I still don't own it to this daaayyyy!
We've finally done it...
Crimson eyes gazed down into the Northern Crater where they'd just finished off Sephiroth. All of them were beaten and exhausted - but perhaps none more than Vincent Valentine.
For Vincent had a secret that he kept hidden inside about Sephiroth, one he decided he would never admit to his comrades. It was a secret he would carry with him to the grave.
Sephiroth was Vincent's son.
Vincent closed his eyes slowly, a great pain clutching at his chest and throat. Killing Sephiroth was necessary... He was going to destroy the Planet... But is this act just another sin to the list... or is it a part of my redemption? He slowly opened his blood-filled eyes, raising them to the sky up above. Lucrecia... How would you judge me? Would you say I had freed Sephiroth from his insanity.. Given him peace at last... Or does the fact that I helped kill my one and only child... our child... just prove how monstrous I really am?
"Vincent?" A voice stirred him out of his thoughts. He looked over at the leader of their little group... The spiky-haired youth looked ready to topple over against the slightest breeze. "Are you coming...?"
Vincent finally realized that the entire group had begun making their way out of the crater, and they were all looking back, waiting for him. He gave himself a mental shake and followed after them. He was not usually so unobservant of his surroundings.
A massive earthquake knocked them all to their knees, the rock cracking and falling all around them. As soon as it passed, it was followed by the sound of rushing water. A glance down toward the crater confirmed that the Lifestream was bubbling up toward them, rapidly rising. Several more tremors began to shake the entire crater as the Avalanche members staggered to their feet and took off running as fast as they could manage. Fortunately, the earthquake had caused the Highwind to come crashing down to their level, and they wasted no time boarding the air ship while the voluptuous painting of Lady Luck smiled upon them.
"Hang on to your britches and don't piss in 'em!" Cid hollered as he started up the Highwind and sent it rocketing up out of the Northern Crater, just as the Lifestream rushed up behind them. With no seats save for those at the control panels, everyone grabbed what they could to keep from plummeting. At the sound of claws screaming against metal, Vincent turned to see Nanaki losing his grip on the floor, sliding back, his fierce eyes wide with panic.
Vincent quickly shifted to wrap one leg around the rail he was holding on to, removing his cloak and tying one end securely around the rail. Using it as a rope, he swung down to catch Nanaki around the middle just as the feline lost his grip, hefting him up to grab onto the cloak. Nanaki swiftly took advantage of this, sinking his claws into the fabric for a better hold, crawling up to clamp onto the rail with his jaws, making sure to keep the firey tip of his tail away from Vincent's face.
An ominous sound of cloth tearing snapped Vincent's attention upward just as his golden claws tore through the last bits of the old, tattered cloak. Eyes slightly wide with surprise, he thought he heard someone scream as he fell, just before his back crashed into the metal frame of one of the windows, the rest of his form impacting the glass and causing a great spiderweb of cracks to spread out from his body.
He slowly opened his eyes again, his body screaming with pain, chest constricted with the wind knocked out of him as he gazed blearily up at the others. Tifa was screaming his name, and Cloud shouted down at him not to move.
Crack...
He slowly turned his head and stared at the spreading cracks on the glass beneath him, slowly starting to breathe again.
Craa-aa-aack...
Vincent could feel the glass giving way beneath him, slowly lifting his gaze to stare up at his comrades. All of them were staring down at him with terror... And the only word that came to his mind was ...Why?
Crrrr...
He could feel his heart pounding, his eyes suddenly snapping to Cid, who was attempting to straighten out the aircraft. As the ship began to straighten, he began to slide...
CrrrrrRUNCH!
As the glass gave way beneath him he grabbed for the frame of the window, his fingers slipping away with the horrid screech of claws ripping into metal. He heard Tifa scream his name one last time as he plummeted down... Tumbling through the sky, down toward the rising green flood of Lifestream, he never made a sound as he plunged into the viscous liquid and sank into it. And as his world began to go black, he closed his eyes, his last thought a silent plea: ...Lucrecia... Please... Forgive me...
A/N - It's about time I finally started a Final Fantasy VII fanfic. So, what do you think? Good, bad, no friggin' clue? Please REVIEW, the life of this fic depends on your feedback!