Scarlet's Web

By Rikku Al Bhed

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Disclaimer: 

I don't own Square Final Fantasy VII or any of the characters.  I wish I owned Tseng and Rufus.  Sigh. 

Introduction:

This is a choose-your-own adventure type story.  Since some people might not know what that means, I'll explain.  The rest of you can skip this paragraph.  In this type of story you read a chapter then at the end you are given a choice of chapters to turn to.  You don't read the story from the first chapter to the last.  If you do it won't make much sense.  Instead you follow the chapters as the story tells you to.  That means that there are a variety of endings. 

Scarlet's Web takes place just before the game starts, so there won't be any spoilers about the ending or any other major plot spoilers.  But, there may be minor spoilers if you haven't completed Final Fantasy 7, such as the identity of the person behind Cait Sith.  

Now onto the story.

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Section 1: It Starts

Scarlet sat in her office and twiddled her thumbs.  She was incredibly bored.  If she didn't do something soon she'd fall asleep at her desk.

Scarlet was the head of Weapons Development in the Shinra Headquarters.  She had power, brains, and beauty.  When she walked down a hall all eyes were on her.  Both men and women stopped what they were doing to stare at the way her red dress hugged her body.  Men wanted her, women envied and hated her.

Because of her looks most people thought she was a slut.  Scarlet didn't see herself that way.  She saw her body as a tool and used it to gain her goals.  She slept with men if they could give her something she wanted.  No more, no less.

President Shinra valued her talents and her looks.  He allowed her to get away with almost anything.  It was rumored that she slept with the President to get her position in the company.  But that wasn't true.  She earned her position through hard work and perseverance.  Even though she was blond, she wasn't stupid.  Anyone one who underestimated her quickly discovered that she knew how to use the weapons she created.

Despite the fact that her job was usually extremely taxing, there were times when she didn't have anything to do.  When that happened she turned to pranks to ease her boredom.

The most dangerous prank Scarlet ever played happened while the major stairwell was under construction.  No one was supposed to use it, but people snuck through anyway.  Scarlet decided to cover the top step with lubricant.  None of the workers stopped her; the constant traffic interfered with their work.  The next employee who walked down the stairs slipped on the step and tumbled to the bottom.  When she reached the bottom most of her bones where broken, she would have been in extreme pain if she hadn't died from a broken neck. 

Scarlet didn't care that the woman died, but the President did.  Apparently he was having an affair with the victim and cared about her. He sent the Turks to 'ask' Scarlet to stop killing people.     

After that her pranks became less deadly, but not less creative.  The last secretary Scarlet had wouldn't sit still.  Most of the time Scarlet was busy enough to ignore it, but one week her twitching started to annoy Scarlet immensely.  She got fed up and asked her secretary to get her some coffee.  While she was gone Scarlet covered her secretary's chair with superglue.  When the hapless victim sat down she stuck to the chair and couldn't stand up.  Scarlet couldn't stop laughing once she saw the horrified expression on the woman's face as she realized that she couldn't get up without removing her skirt. 

There was one prank that she was surprised that she didn't get in trouble for.  Normally the Vice-President lived in Junon, but once a year he visited his father in Midgar.  During the last visit she placed some special shampoo in the Vice-President's bathroom.  It took Scarlet all her willpower to not laugh every time she saw Rufus' blue hair.  Despite frequent washings his hair stayed blue for the whole week.  It was well known that Scarlet did practical jokes, and she was surprised that the President didn't reprimand her.  Since he didn't he must have found the prank humorous too. 

Thinking of her past pranks eased her boredom somewhat.  Yet it wasn't enough to completely cure her boredom.  She had a couple of hours to waste before she had the meeting with the President, who would give her more work.  She wanted to ruin someone's day, but couldn't think of any creative way to do so.  She needed an inspiration. 

It suddenly hit her.  Hojo was one of the few people who truly excelled at making others' lives miserable.  Perhaps he could give her a good idea.  Scarlet normally avoided Hojo's lab, he was annoying and a bit creepy.  The way he walked hunched over reminded her of an old man.  And his laugh gave her the chills.  If only she could laugh like that, her laugh just annoyed people.  Despite her dislike of the man, it wouldn't be the first time she visited Hojo for an idea. 

Scarlet left her office and took the elevator up to Hojo's lab.  At the elevator rose she frowned, it was unfair that his office was on a higher floor than hers.  People might think that he was more important than her.  Once she reached his lab, Scarlet carefully adjusted her dress and opened the door.

Hojo looked up at Scarlet as she entered his lab and grimaced.  "What do you want?  I'm about to start a very delicate operation and can't be bothered."

"I need an idea for a prank.  It doesn't mater what."  As she spoke, Scarlet looked around Hojo's lab curiously.

Hojo sighed, "A prank.  Like the hair dye?" 

"Exactly," Scarlet exclaimed.  "So what do you have?"

Turning back his back to Scarlet the scientist growled and pointed to Scarlet's left, "On that shelf is a box.  In that box are two potions.  Either one will keep you amused for a while.  Take one and don't come back."

Scarlet pouted, "Only one, why not both?"

"The other potion is for the next time you get bored."

Scarlet walked over to the self.  There was only one box on top and it was labeled 'Scarlet'.  That must be the box he meant.  She carefully removed the box from the shelf and opened it.  As Hojo said there were two small bottles inside.  Each was filled with a mysterious brightly colored liquid.  One was green, the other was red.

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Which potion will Scarlet choose? 

Will Scarlet choose the red potion?  Go to Section 2: Look, it Matches my Dress!

Or will she choose the green potion?  Go to Section 3: What an Ugly Color of Green.