Hey guys, welcome to Accomplice, my first sequel! NOTE: If you haven't read Apprentice, go read that first, or you won't understand anything...
This story follows Rin throughout Meteorfall, where she gets to deal with Cloud's messed up memories, lame Sephiroth clones, and the emerging of the Heartless. Just how much will Rin changes things? The big question is, will Aerith live? I really haven't decided yet, and I am hoping for your feedback to aid me in my decision. I could go either way, because she is in KH, but then again, I could just write her out of it just as easily...
Anyway, going on to Sophia... Rin's chapters will be numbered with Roman Numerals (I, V, X ect.) while Sophia's will use normal numbers. I'm not going to say much about her, just go read her chapter that will be posted shortly.
All of Sophia's story is written by my sister (while I edit it) and Rin's story is all mine. Obviously, we do not own anything belonging to Square Enix or Disney, as KH will be coming into the story later...
ONE MORE THING. There is FANART links on my profile. GO LOOK AT THEM.
Now, enjoy! Remember, we're starting out with Rin, and next chapter will be with Sophia.
Chapter I - Memories
I cracked an eye open, quickly surveying the breathing rate of my roommate. Only after confirming that my sister was indeed asleep did I dare to silently step out of bed and slip through the door that was always open just a crack. Though the house was dark at this time of night, I could see perfectly thanks to my mako-enhanced eyes. Dutifully side-stepping around the long memorized squeaky floorboards, I descended the stairs into the roomy kitchen. I picked up my weapons that guarded the front door, equipped them, and stepped quietly out into the night.
It was difficult to distinguish night from day in the Slums, but I seemed to have a sort of natural clock installed within me as a leftover from my days in SOLDIER. People milled about in Sector 5 at all hours, going about their business, casting a weary glare upwards every once in a while to the oppressive plate that hid the life-giving sun and sky from view. I was not like the other people of the Slums, though. To me, the plate was a shield, literally and figuratively.
I, although only thirteen years old, walked the streets with the air of a master samurai about me. With one hand on the hilt of my katana blade, I kept the other lounging in a pocket, hiding the shiny wealth of materia in my old ShinRa Alpha armlet from view.
The Midgar News was blaring from one of the Jumbo-tron screens that hung above the Sector 5 market, addressing the bombing of a Mako Reactor yesterday by the terrorist group known as AVALANCHE. I only sighed at this; both ShinRa and AVALANCHE were fools. Aerith, my adopted sister, almost got hurt in the explosion while selling flowers.
That's the last time I'm letting her go vending alone…
After all Aerith and her mother have done for me, the last thing I wanted was for Aerith to get caught up in ShinRa business. Turks were already after them both, Aerith for being an Ancient, and me for being an ex-SOLDIER. Well, experiment would be a more appropriate term. Not that I minded. No, SOLDIER had to be the best thing that ever happened to me, besides meeting Aerith. In SOLDIER, I met him. I was pretty sure that without him, I would've been killed or forgotten in a lab by now, just another project.
And even though heis gone now, I haven't forgotten him. Whenever I see a ShinRa logo, I remember. Whenever I see a Turk, SOLDIER, or swordsman, I remember my hero. The one who taught me how to live, even though he didn't know how himself; the first person in my life that was bound to me by platonic love; the one that rescued me from the darkness, only to be consumed by it in the end. My light, my guardian, my father:
Sephiroth.
~Rewind 7 months~
It was a typical day for me; I was heading to Sector 6 to meet with a client who had hired me for a mercenary job a couple days ago. The meeting place was a private room in a well-known bar that was busy even in the daytime—maybe because it always feels like nighttime in the slums.
The bouncers let me through with no problems; in fact one even pushed a couple people out of my way for me. An unnecessary gesture, but it's the thought that counts, right? I made my way to the back rooms, and entered Guest room #5.
"Mister Antonio," I said as soon as I spotted my client. As soon as he heard my voice he whipped around, abruptly ending the conversation he was having with another man at the other end of the room. He strode forward at a more controlled pace, almost leisurely.
"Ah, kiddo…" he said, in that fake- enthusiastic tone of voice one uses when they must tell disappointing news. "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna hafta cut you loose." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "I got dis guy for a bargain. Says he's ex-SOLDIER too. And I gotta say, he looks a bit more convincing than you. No offence or nothing', I've seen you in action, it's just…business. Yous undastand?"
I looked past Antonio and examined the man he had been talking to. Now that the client was gone, he was just standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over a thick SOLDIER uniform belt. He had an armlet equipped, but it looked pretty cheap. There were a few other pieces of amour remnant from a SOLDIER uniform, but it was impossible to tell of what class. He had blond hair that spiked out in all directions, but still somehow looked soft and natural. His mako blue eyes swept over me in scrutiny, but then a light seemed to go on as he recognized me. He also came forward to stand beside my now ex-client.
"Sorry Rinny, better luck next time," he said and reached forward to ruffle my hair. What the hell?
I quickly backed up and squished the urge to seize Spikey's hand and crush it. "Excuse me, but I prefer Rin." I said to the blonde. "I'm sorry, but you have me at a disadvantage."
He blinked, as if coming out of a daze, and stood up straight. "Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER First Class."
We shook hands before Antonio swept Spikey out of the room, calling out apologies and farewells. I left shortly after, still trying to process the information I just learned.
There was no First Class SOLDIER called Cloud Strife. First Class were few, and I had known them all thanks to being Sephiroth's apprentice. Even so, the man's name sounded somewhat familiar. And he did have the eyes. Maybe he was promoted after I had left? A slight possibility; the chance that he was just a mere imposter was far more likely. I dismissed it as such, and set off to return to Aerith's church to see Akuma. Talking to him always helped me clear my head.
It took me longer than usual to get there because I took a detour down an alley to kill a man who was trying to rape a little girl. I pulled him off her, tossed him away from me and shot him with a blast of Fire3. There were no remains. The girl was unharmed; she had fought him bravely. I took her home, and after leaving her family with my business card (scrap of paper with my number—I did escorts as well as mercenary work) I continued on to my original destination. It disturbed me how people down here will walk right by such atrocities without blinking an eye. I did everything in my power to pay back whatever good grace had led me to Aerith and her mother, and I did so with passion.
I saw Strife again as I passed into Sector 5, only this time he was alone and had a large sword strapped to his back—the Buster Sword. Or at least a weapon strongly resembling it; however, I remembered that Zack had told me the Buster Sword was one of a kind—made specially for Angeal when he became a first-class SOLDIER. I almost ran into several people trying to get a better look, but I only caught glimpses of spiky blonde hair among the fast-moving traffic of people. I growled in frustration and resigned to keep an eye out for the imposter tomorrow. With difficulty I turned around and completed the last leg of my journey to church, which was through the bustling market. Finally, old wooden walls and stained glass windows came into sight.
"Hey, Akuma," I called as I entered the old building. There was sunlight shining through the large hole in the ceiling, warming the cerberus napping up in the rafters. Said dog reluctantly rose to his feet as he heard my call, yawned, and jumped down into my arms. He then promptly started an assault on my face with his three tongues, something he knew I could not defend against.
"Enough, enough!" I tossed him out of my arms and towards the flower bed, only to have him snap his little bat wings open and glide right over the blossoms. Once on the ground, he stretched only as dogs can, before simply walking into the flower patch and flopping over onto one side to continue his nap. I went and sat down beside him, and drew him into my lap. I then laid down, being careful not to squish any plants, and Akuma crawled into a better position on my chest.
"Akuma, what do you remember about Zack?" I asked slowly, threading my fingers through the soft fur of his mane. Memories of easy laughter and bright eyes, spiky hair and a strong smile. That was before the Buster Sword. After acquiring it, he was subdued a bit, almost solemn. He grew up, became mature. The realization of reality sunk in.
I turned angry at the thought of the blonde imposter. Aerith confessed to me that Zack had died about a month ago; what kind of person would steal a sword off a corpse? Who could do that to Zack? Who would even kill Zack in the first place—dampness started to fog my eyes at the thought. Of course ShinRa. It's always ShinRa.
"Zack Fair! Second Class!" The man shouted, clearly excited to meet the general. "I wouldn't expect you to know my name, sir…" Zack was smiling, and I guessed he did a lot. Spiky black hair, and eyes the color of the sky.
I stepped forward. "My name is Rin. I am Sephiroth's apprentice." I said calmly, shaking his hand firmly.
"Nice to meet ya." replied Zack.
"What was that, Zack?"
"Start a food fight?"
"No, the one before that."
"Eavesdrop?"
"Yeah."
"Okay okay! But let me finish this first, pleaaase?"
"So Rin, have you ridden a chocobo before? They're really fluffy and have these feathers that spike up all over the place…They come in all sorts of colors, and the colors depend on what the chocobo can do. Like green ones can run over mountains, blue ones can walk over water, black ones can do both, and then there's the legendarygoldenchocobo!"
I raised an eyebrow. Golden? "And what's so special about them? They blind their enemies with their shining coats?" I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"No! They have the power to cross entire oceans!"
I just stared at him. Ha, like any chocobo can walk onwater…
"Yah right Zack. You're just yanking my chain…"
"Nuh uh! It's true! Right Angeal?"
The first class turned his head back to us.
"Sorry Rin. He's right on this one."
"Ha! In your face! I was right! Haaha!"
I decided I didn't like so Zack smug, so I grabbed his arm and yanked back, while planting my foot on the back of his knee. And down he went, landing heavily on his back.
Spitting out dirt, he scrambled up, and brushed himself off.
"That wasn't nice! I should stop letting you beat me up…"
"Rinny!" Zack exclaimed happily, before reaching forward to ruffle my hair. "There you are! Seph said you were gonna be out till late! I was getting so bored, but now we can play two-player mode-"
"Hey look, puppies-Whoa…" Angeal and I came over to a container that was sitting on an observation table. Inside, were about ten puppies- but they were corpses. And each of them had three heads.
"Aw man, look at them…poor little guys…" Zack was immediately sobered at the sight.
"Cerberus's." I was upset, and I didn't know why. I've never seen even a normal puppy. But those creatures were so cute and innocent-looking; I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
"Hey, do you hear that?" Angeal whispered, and Zack and I immediately strained our mako-enhanced ears. There was a faint, subtle whining. Very, very quiet, but still there.
"Maybe one's still alive!" Zack said, hope flooding his features. Angeal said nothing, so Zack and I started carefully removing the cerberus puppies from the container. And there, under the corpses of his brothers and sisters, was a live, mewling pup.
A young woman was tending to the white and yellow flowers, humming to herself. She looked familiar to me somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it.
The young woman heard us, and turned around. Her eyes fell on me. "Rin?"
I hid my surprise the best I could. "That's me."
She smiled, and stood up. "Zack has told me all about you! I'm glad we've finally met."
I let out a sigh. Of course this was all Zack's doing, somehow.
"And who are you?" the lady asked playfully to Yuki.
"Yuki. Rin's my best friend." Yuki answered politely. "And you are?"
"My name is Aerith. Would you two care to help me with the flowers?" she asked, smiling again.
Zack's hair went from being spiky and all over the place, to being gelled back with one strand hanging down in his face. The Buster sword hung at his back now, having passed on from Angeal to Zack. Zack told me everything that had happened in Modeoheim, even though he was in tears while he did so. I watched Zack as he retreated. He had looked up to Angeal so much. I would be lost without Sephiroth or Akuma, or even Zack or Yuki. Friends may not be necessary to survival, but they are what givemeaningto survival.
I lounged in our hotel room until I heard the ShinRa party return. Or, what was left of it. When I went down to greet them, I saw only Zack, Tifa, and an infantryman.
"Hey Zack. What happened?" I asked, as Zack carried the infantryman up to their room. Apparently, he was out cold.
"Gimme a sec," Zack said, sounding tired.
He laid his friend down on a bed, and muttered something. He sat down on another bed, letting out a large breath.
I walked over to him, and prodded his stomach. "Not to be rude, but where is Sephiroth? What happened?"
Zack sighed again. "Genesis showed up. I guess he is still alive…"
I raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"He said some stuff to Sephiroth… something about him needing his help cuz he's degrading."
That puzzled me. How could Sephiroth possibly help with that?
"Then Sephiroth just left. Dunno where Genesis went. There were G copies when I went back outside the reactor—that's how Cloud got hurt. He was protecting Tifa."—
- There. Cloud. I remembered now. He seemed so much younger back then, innocent…
An infantryman. So it could have been possible that he had been promoted… but it was difficult to get into the SOLDIER program in the first place, let alone climb the ranks to the top within five years… The ranks of infantrymen are mostly composed of rejected SOLDIER candidates. Imposter or no, it still did not explain how Cloud had gotten the Buster Sword. I wanted to find out. Badly.
Unfortunatly, life had other plans. The filtering sun was warm on my face and body, and Akuma's weight on my chest convinced me not to move from my current position. It was simply too comfortable. The sweet smell of the white and yellow flowers was very potent, and very relaxing. A hymn Aerith often sung when tending to the blossoms started to float slowly through my foggy mind, and no matter how hard I tried I could not get it out of my head, nor return to theorizing about Cloud Strife.
Akuma's breath was steady, and in tune with the rise and fall of my own chest. I studied the inhalations and exhalations, observed the quiet snores, and found myself falling into a similar state of unconsciousness. I gave in and closed my eyes, letting my eyelids be warmed by the sun. The warmth seemed to seep in through the lids and penetrated my skull, ceasing all remaining brain activity. A moment later, and I was in dreamland with Akuma, chasing weird yellow clouds and sky blue butterflies. A lone wolf watched us from atop a cliff far away, even as rain began to blur everything in sight, eventually falling into blackness…
Rushed footsteps woke Rin from the darkness. Her chest still hurt from the wound, and when she heard a familiar strangled gasp, her heart began to ache too. Zack.
"Rin!" he fell heavily to his kneels beside the girl, hands reaching out, but stopping at the sight of her wound. He pushed the sweaty and bloody hair out of her face instead.
"H-how did this happen…" Zack choked out, who had already cursed himself five times over for not having any Restore Materia. "Did Sephiroth…?"
Rin managed to nod her head, and look up at Zack. He was relieved to see that her eyes had gone back to purple, and that the pupils were no longer slitted like a cat's. "He's… not Sephiroth… anymore…" Zack's eyes widened. "I… wasn't… me either… but…" she had to stop, as coughing overrode her speaking ability.
"Stop, don't worry about it," Zack said, voice wavering slightly, "Listen… I'm gonna come back for you. But if… if something happens, and I don't come back, can you promise me something?" he took out a potion, his last. He used it on her, and even though it didn't make a dent in her chest wound, it helped restore her voice.
"O-of course, Zack."
He picked up Rin's hand, and put on his best puppy face. "Look after Aerith for me?"
Rin couldn't help but copy his smile. "No problem. Go get him…"
Zack put her sword back in its scabbard before charging into the back of the reactor where Sephiroth waited, Buster Sword in hand…
"Goodbye, Zack…"
*Waiting for the tomatoes to start flying* Please let me know what you think! And please point out any errors you may find; I'll give you a cookie! And By the way, Rin's next chapter will resume at the beginning of the game!