12.7.10 Act II reposted. The first few scenes are unchanged, but there are two crucial new scenes added at the end.
Despite appearances to the contrary, there was not enough sexual ambiguity, gender confusion, innuendo and cross-dressing in the movie version to meet the Bard's exacting standards. This script contains his improvements. Enjoy.
ACT II
Scene 1, A slum church.
Enter Marlene and Tifa
.
Marlene
A right goodly place is this church, Tifa.
See how flowers in abundance grow
So gloriously as I have never seen.
Surely it must be an angel who lives here.
.
Tifa
These signs of habitation strewn about,
The hard bed on the wooden floor, the lamp
The books, the brassbound magic chest,
Speak what I did not wish to know was true:
'Tis Cloud who lives here now, my poor Marlene.
And see, the blackened cloth, the stain of sin.
.
Marlene
Oh, woe. Does Cloud have Geostigma too?
.
Tifa
I think he wants to die and be with her.
.
Marlene
We cannot let him die. We will wait here.
Until he returns, and then take him home.
.
Enter Loz
.
Loz
Ho, wench, ho, answer me this: where's mother?
.
Tifa
Have we met, sir? You look familiar.
.
Loz
I am but a child indeed, and playful
After the manner of my kind.
.
Tifa
Bully
Thou truly art, but I've thy measure, aye.
.
They fight. Tifa falls. Exit Loz with Marlene.
.
Scene 2, Healen Lodge
Enter Reno, Rude
.
Reno
Prithee, partner, dost thou ever feel bad
For all the wicked deeds that we have done?
All the murders that we have committed?
All the lives we ruined, all the hearts
We broke and trampled, all the lies we told,
The bribes we took and gave and then betrayed?
The cards we marked, the booze we pinched, the girls
We said we'd call but never did?
.
Rude
Perchance.
.
Reno
T'was japes, though, aye? Merry times.
.
Rude
Thou speaks't true.
T'were better, though, we recognised our crimes.
.
Reno
I only ever followed orders, yo.
.
Enter Kadaj, disguised as a puff of smoke. They fight. Reno and Rude fall.
Enter Rufus.
.
Kadaj
You have sent me on a wild goose chase, sir, and wild geese are not to my taste, for I am a vegetarian, sir. I know you, sir, better than you think, and I know that false words pour from your rosy lips as smoothly as honey from a honey pot; but I will not be seduced by their sweetness, sirra. You will tell me the truth. Where is mother?
.
Rufus
Alack the day. My minions were careless.
Consider how easily thou didst best
Them: they are clumsy and incompetent
As thou canst most readily imagine.
.
Reno
My lord, scruple not to spare our feelings.
.
Rufus
He dropped Jenova from the chopper. We
Cannot account for her whereabouts.
.
Kadaj
"Tis pity, then, that thou didst not feel some
Pity for these miserable wretches,
Once thy servants, as I do believe,
If these bloody ID cards speak the truth.
.
Rufus
Tseng! Elena! Where are they? Speak, villain,
Who thou art, and why thou art doing this!
.
Kadaj
To answer that question would cost me more
Breath than I am willing to waste on you.
But this I'll say: once we have Jenova,
Sephiroth shall be paying you a call.
Exit
.
Scene 3. A church in the slums.
Enter Cloud
.
Cloud
Rufus Shinra lives! T'is marvelous strange
And passeth understanding, how he did
Survive the burning of his mighty tower.
Cursed miracle! Inevitable chance!
That he who least deserveth life, should win
Merciful reprieve from merciless fate,
While she whose very presence was as light
And warmth shed by a never-setting sun,
Whose smile was kindness, and whose laughter joy,
Should have the flame of her brief candle quenched;
N'er by phoenix down to be rekindled.
Monstrous justice, deformed and corrupted!
Villainous unfairness, of mako spawned!
Rufus Shinra lives, Aerith Gainsborough's gone.
And I, too, I who should have died, extend
My miserable existence to no end.
Zack, alas, nought wert thou sacrificed for!
This world's a worse place now than t'was before.
Tifa! What dost thou here? Art slumbering?
Tifa? Art thou dead? Who did this to thee?
.
Tifa
A silver-haired androgynous young man.
He asked for Mother, and then took Marlene.
Dark waves of night o'ersurge my troubled mind.
My eyes will not stay open. I must sleep.
.
Cloud
Tifa! Marlene! Too late! The guilt! I swoon!
.
Scene 4, the Forgotten Capital
Enter Kadaj, Loz, and Marlene
.
Kadaj [sings]
When I was but an a tiny little lad,
With a hey, ho and hey nonny no,
My mother promised I would go to the bad
Hi nonny, hey nonny, ho nonny ho.
.
Kadaj danceth.
.
Marlene
Alack for me, a vulnerable orphan
Brought here against my will, and then compelled
To frolick in their moonstruck masquerade.
Oh Cloud! Make haste! Come thou and rescue me!
.
Loz
Behold, Yazoo and the brats from Midgar.
.
Enter Yazoo and children.
.
Kadaj
Brothers, sisters, all join in
With a hey, ho, and hey nonny no,
Soon Reunion will begin
Hi nonny, hey nonny, ho nonny ho
Do as I do, drink like me
With a hey, ho, the wind and rain.
Then you'll one with mother be,
And Sephiroth will come again.
.
All
Hey nonny, hi nonny, diddle diddle dee
.
Kadaj
Ah, me.
.
Yazoo
What a heavy sigh is there! Kadaj, speak:
What deep sorrow welleth in thy soul?
.
Kadaj
My heart missed a beat, and now cannot find
Its wonted rhythm. I know who hath it,
But the name is more than I dare confide,
Even to thee.
.
Yazoo
The thief should be punished.
.
Kadaj
.
T'was no theft, but freely given away
Unasked for and, I fear me, undesired.
Leave me be; by and by I will be well.
.
Exit
.
Yazoo
Come, friends, let us complete our preparations.
.
Exeunt
.
SCENE 5 Healen Lodge, interior
Enter Rufus Shinra
.
Rufus
Afflicted by unspeakable desires,
My loins do burn with dark, unnatural fires.
My heart is as distempered as my flesh,
Aching, throbbing, itching for release
From suffering that dare not speak its name.
Kadaj, get from my mind! Tempter, begone!
Foul fever! Is this yet more corruption
Twisting me to the core of my manhood,
And blackening my twice-besmirched soul?
And yet, methinks I never saw a maiden
So soft of cheek, so delicate of mien
As that cruel fair youth – too unfairly cruel
Cruel in his beauty that pierced mine eyes,
And pinned me thus, a monstrous specimen
Of every malformed, misbegotten lust.
More have I cause to hate him than to love!
Spawn of Jenova! Sprig of Sephiroth!
Certes he must have cast some dev'lish magic.
His cursed manipulation hath unmanned me,
Stiffening the prick of my fond yearnings
And softening my hardened resolve, he
Launched a sneak attack on my defenses,
Double-cut my heart with shame and passion,
And my resistance hath been slashed all.
But soft, here comes my minion. Reno, what ho?
.
enter Reno
.
Reno
You should lend that joke your wheelchair, yo.
My good lord, I bring you news of Cloud.
For Rude and this thy fool, your humble servants,
Sought, and in th'abandoned church did find them
Stretched like dreamers on th'Ancient's flowers,
And on our shoulders we took up their weight
And to the bar, their home, we did return them.
She'd been in a fight, but he is ailing,
E'en with thine own blotchy canker, lord.
I left Rude with them. They are sleeping still.
And I made all haste here to know thy will.
.
Rufus
Stand guard o'er them. Abide their wakening.
Then fill them in on everything we know.
.
Reno
Once more, Reno, away, on duty's wings!
.
Exit Reno
.
Rufus
Anon, good Reno. If thou only knew
My real sickness, thou mighst not serve so true.
Enemy, away! I'll master my heart.
Now will I revive my strength and shield me.
Th'enchantment he hath cast must I dispel,
By summoning the willpower to counter
Th'insiduous poison of quicksilvery charms.
And yet… Kadaj, do thou but morph thyself
And mime the damsel which I would'st thou wert,
Transformed would be the barrier that doth
Divide us, and thus with a kiss I'd seal –
Enough of that! Rufus Shina, abjure
These wicked imaginings. There's no cure
And thou, unregenerate, must endure
It in silence. This sin you dare not speak.
Nor give the public cause to think you weak.
My secret love goes with me to the grave
Thus, tho' my heart be lost, my pride I'll save.
.
Exit
Is Rufus doomed to love in vain? Is there more to Kadaj than meets the eye? Will Cloud sort out his feelings for Tifa before Reno makes a move on her? And will anyone remember to rescue Marlene? Act III coming up soon.