AN: Guess what I got everyone? An iPod Touch! I'm really happy that I can read reviews while in school now! I'll be updating whenever I can, starting today, so you'll have to wait for the chapters to be up. I'm still getting used to having school again and all that crazy stuff. I have good news! Since several of my teachers are going to be absent for a while, I've got more time to write the story in my notebook!
There's more but I think you've waited for the chapter long enough.
So here it is!
Chapter II: The Possessive Remnant
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Maigen's POV
I woke up on ZERO's back when we landed on the road to Mt. Nibel. The mountain was larger than I imagined. I was here for three reasons and three reasons only: To destroy JENOVA's remains, to recruit Vincent, and to have a home for at least a year. I called ZERO back, before beginning my trek towards the Shinra Mansion.
Hey! Kid! Minerva wanted me to give you a message!
"And what could that be?" I muttered, careful to avoid voicing anything loudly while in the outskirts of Nibelheim. I could attract monsters or maybe even civilians.
She's giving a choice of three people you can restore the memories of. All you have to do to make them remember is to go up to them and say 'Kihondesu.' They should remember everything they did in your world.
I cocked my head to the side and stared at the sky, but it hurt too much to have the sun glare down at me. "But it's Japanese for 'but of course'! How is that going to bring their memory back?"
Don't ask me you little brat! I'm just the messenger! If I weren't a guy, you'd be spanked by now! Who taught you to act towards your elders?
"Thank you voice in my head!" I dismissed cheerily. With a newfound resolve, I ran to the entrance of the Shinra Mansion.
Well… The theme justified the building. The Shinra Mansion was in every way gloomy. Parts of the building lay in such a pathetic state I was surprised it was still standing. I brushed aside the shivers running down my back and entered through the front door.
The main foyer of the mansion was just like it was in Crisis Core albeit a little more clean… and less monsters. I ran up the stairs as soon as I closed the door with my sword drawn. If there is one thing that I've learned about this place is that those reptile-turtle things with the trident and the floating pumpkins were the most common in the mansion. Yes, I know I'm a fan, but I don't feel like remembering the names of every monster that I have to kill. If I do, I'd be sitting on the computer for at least a few days. I found the bedroom with the rotating wall. Opening the secret passageway, I peered around me to make sure that nothing was in sight before climbing down into the basement.
I shivered when a battle cry echoed through the dreary cavern. I reached the bottom of the ladder, my sword still drawn. I peeked through the doorway to find two reptile-turtle things fighting over the body of a pumpkin thing. I knew that the monsters in this world ate meat, but the gave never actually showed the monsters feasting upon their prey. Wow… I feel like Gaia's version of Jeff Corwin. But, I kiss the monsters I watch. "Hell Firaga!" I yelled casting the spell at the two reptile-turtles.
I sprinted to pick up the keys they dropped, but when I made a move to walk towards Vincent's 'room' a hand wrapped around my ankle. My head turned towards the pumpkin monster. A body was under it. I heard a groan from under the monster's body. I knelt a little bit to take hold of the hand wrapped around my ankle.
"Who are you?" I whispered to the form under the pumpkin monster. I squeezed the figure's hand in an attempt of comfort to the figure under the monster.
The hand squeezed back with a pitiful whimper. "M-mother?"
My eyes widened as I realized who it was under the monster. I began to lift the monster off of him. "Hold on. I'll get you out from under there."
After the monster was off of him, I blushed slightly at his exposed form. His front was facing the ground, so I'm still not scarred for life. I didn't let go of his hand as I pulled off my backpack to search for my Kingdom Hearts blanket. When I found it, I set it on top of the guy's back. When the soft cotton sheet touched his skin, he launched himself at me in a firm but warm embrace. I gasped in surprise, falling backwards onto my butt.
"Kadaj!" I cried in alarm and worry when he burrowed his face into my chest and sobbed. My gaze softened as I hugged him to me, rubbing his back. "It's okay Kadaj. I'm here."
"Mother! I've been searching for you for so long!" he sobbed.
"Kadaj." I cooed. "I'm not your mother."
His head snapped up to stare at me in the eyes. "You're not JENOVA, so even if you aren't my mother, I don't care!"
My eyes only got bigger. "But JENOVA's your mother!"
He sat up and pulled me to his chest in another warm embrace. "No she's not! She abandoned us here in order to help Sephiroth corrupt the planet. She used us all as stepping-stones to destroying the planet. A mother doesn't do that to her children. A mother is kind, warm, and caring. You're all those things, so you're my mother!"
My face turned bright red. Something about this situation was slightly off and my face was pressed against his tone chest. "I'm not even old enough to be your mother!" I exclaimed, detaching my face from his chest to his neck so that I breathe.'
"How old are you?" he asked, shivering.
I sighed and pulled away to grab the blanket and wrap it around his body. "I'm fourteen and make sure the blanket doesn't fall off again. You'll catch a cold if you run around without clothes." I turned my head away in embarrassment.
Kadaj studied my red face for a moment before grinning. "Then, you're my little sister."
I turned to stare at him before nodding. "I'll be your little sister." The familiarity of him calling me that caused some of the spark to return to me. I smiled in happiness. "And you're my big brother!"
Zipping up my backpack, I began to wonder how Kadaj not only got to Nibelheim, but why was he on Gaia in the year 1999. He and his brothers didn't even exist until after the events of Final Fantasy VII.
It was another gift from Minerva. Yazoo and Loz are in captation by Shinra. Sorry about the lack of clothing. We had to drag them to this timeline as soon as they entered the Lifestream.
Well that answered my question. I rose from the ground, tugging Kadaj up with me. "I have some business here, Kadaj."
His right hand grasped hold of my right arm as his other hand kept hold of the blanket. "Where are we going little sister? And when can I take off the blanket?"
I turned to stare at him. "I'm going to recruit an old friend and you can take it off when you get some clothes." I blushed a little when I spoke the last part.
Kadaj stopped walking and pulled his hand away to muffle what I believe to be a laugh. "If that's the problem, then here." He released the blanket to reveal his skin-tight leather suit.
I blinked a bit then remembered that Kadaj's gang could materialize their clothes from some sort of shadow matter. I frowned as I replaced the blanket back into my backpack. "I feel stupid now."
He laughed again. "It's alright. You didn't know that I could materialize my clothes."
I nodded slowly. I knew, but he doesn't remember who I really am or of his time in my world. I fought the urge to bring his memories back, but I knew that it wasn't needed. Whatever bonds I created with him were beginning to reconstruct themselves. We continued towards the back of the cavern to stop in front of Vincent's chambers.
"What's behind the door?" asked Kadaj.
I sighed before taking out one of the dropped keys from before and sticking it into the lock. Turning the key, I handed Kadaj my two katana. "Stay out here until I call for you." He made a move to complain, but I beat him to it. "I'll be safe inside, but I'm counting on you to keep the monsters away on the outside."
His head snapped to attention. "Leave it to me!"
I smirked at him kindly. "I know you'll be able to do it!"
His face lit up in a smile, a light red tint appeared on his cheeks. I kept the image in my head even as I opened the door and entered the chamber.
The smell of rotting flesh filled my senses as darkness overtook my vision. Unlike the game, the room was dimly lit by a torch on the back of the wall of the room. I quietly made my way towards the coffin that was first to the right of me. I crossed my arms and smirked lightly when I heard faint snoring coming from the coffin. I was nostalgic to me.
The light snoring brought back memories of days that were real, but not remembered. No matter how many times I had offered Vincent the bed on the school camping trip, he never once took it. The trip was a few days after the Six Flags trip and it lasted for a week or so. The teachers that taught the arts at school were all competing in a contest to win a grant for new school equipment for the arts.
So it was Mrs. Brigante, the chorus teacher, the art teacher, printing tech teacher, and Vincent that entered the contest. However, since Mrs. Brigante was pregnant, sh choose to abstain from the event. Each class would then have to stick their names into a hat then draw out one name to decide who would compete with the teacher. The gang didn't want to go so they wrote my name instead of theirs on the slip of paper they threw into the hat. Of course, I had no clue what was going on with them. So when my name was drawn and the gang snickered, I realized what they did.
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May 13th 2011
My face remained passive as I turned to the gang. "You put my name instead of your own." I stated bluntly.
Zack was always the first to crack when under pressure. "I'm so sorry!" he cried, hugging my leg. "We'll never do it again!"
I wobbled slightly and then sweatdropped at Zack's guilty conscious. "I'm not mad, Zack. I wanted to compete for the grant."
They all froze. "Wait… What?" they all spoke in unison.
I laughed gently. "You all did me a favor!"
"But what about Genesis?" Yazoo asked. Believe it or not, we're on good terms with each other now.
I shrugged. "What about him?"
"He's not going to let you go camping in the woods alone with Vincent just for a grant, Maigen." Weiss stated, crossing his arms.
"It's Vincent." I deadpanned.
They all thought about it for a moment then spoke in creepy unison again. "Yeah, you've got a point."
For those of you who don't really get what I'm saying here, well just think about Vincent. He's one of the least likely to do something bad to me. So when I said, 'It's Vincent' everyone knew that they were all being paranoid. Even though it was Vincent that I was going with, Genesis wasn't all that consenting.
"No." he grumbled trying to detach me from his leg. "You're not going with another man."
I gripped his leg tighter. "But it's Vincent!"
"No" Genesis replied, unrelenting. "You are my girl, and I don't like the idea of you alone with anyone but me."
"Then you're a pedophile and a pervert because I'm only 14!" I glared at him.
"I'm fine with that. But you're still not going." He also glared.
I began to laugh. "We sound like an old married couple!"
Genesis began to laugh too. "We really do!" He engulfed me into a warm embrace. "I'll let you go, but you have to promise that you'll give me the biggest kiss you can possibly manage when you get back and that you'll win."
I laughed at his simple request. "It's a deal Genesis. Besides, I never planned to lose anyway."
The next day, Vincent and I boarded a school bus with out rivals to go down to Delaware to compete for the grant. We made a few stops for bathroom breaks because of the traffic. By the time we had all arrived to the campsite, it was already 6pm.
As we arrived at the area of the woods that we'd be setting camp in, we were told that we shared a cabin with out partners and that each team's camp was half a mile away from each other. This way, no camp could steal from another.
When we reached our assigned cabin, we noticed a problem. There were no beds, only the air mattress we brought with us. "Can we decide who sleeps where when we're done settling down?"
Vincent nodded. "It's better this way."
The cabin was as big as my room, which was quite small for a cabin. There were two tables, one by the corner next to the door, and another in the back corner. We set our individual bags on the table in the back and began unpacking the air mattress. It was a queen-sized mattress, so we pushed it against the back wall with the table.
"You can have the bed." I declared.
"No, it's only polite for you to take the bed." Vincent insisted.
"You're my guest, so you should take the bed." I pushed.
"As you teacher, I insist you sleep on the bed." He replied equally as forceful.
I scowled. "You're not going to let me win are you?"
"Definitely not." Vincent shot back.
So, that night, Vincent slept propped up against the cabin wall as I slept on the air mattress. The night went well until I started having a nightmare. I watched as my family was murdered again during that particular nightmare.
"Maigen! Wake up! It's only a dream!" I awoke to Vincent's calling.
My eyes teared up and I began to cry. "I saw them get killed all over again!"
Vincent didn't say anything as he rubbed my back. It was a silent sort of comfort. His rubbing stopped as he turned away. I reached out for his hand. "Stay! Please!"
He turned his head towards me. "Genesis won't like it."
I waved my hand dismissively. "He'll understand. He knows that I get nightmares when I have no bed buddy."
Vincent shook his head at my childishness. "Fine."
I slept peacefully during the days at camp following…
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Present time.
I smiled at that memory. During those days at camp, I had gotten closer to the immortal marksman. I was the fifth closest to Vincent than to everyone else. I pushed those thoughts aside as I used the last key to open the coffin.
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Kadaj: Little sister! (*happily glomps Bane to the floor)
Bane: (*chokes and turns purple from suffocation and heavy blushing)
Mystery person: Kadaj, you're choking her to death while embarrassing her at the same time.
Kadaj: (*hurries to get off Bane and watches her regain her normal color) I'm soooooooooo sorry little sister! (*his face: TT^TT)
Bane: (*is just getting the blood to stop running to her face) Just don't hug that tightly anymore…
Mystery person: I'm glad that I won't have to kill Kadaj as revenge.
Kadaj: …Who're you?
Bane: His name is Leslie Poppernickel!
Kadaj: No, it's not!
Mystery person: (*would headdesk, but it's not like them, so we'll just settle for a facepalm) Not again…
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iPod… iPod… iPod… Oh! There it is! Let's answer the reviews now!
twilight-yuna17: Hehe… we'll just have to wait and see now don't we!
Mata Nui: I was at my cousin's wedding when I read your review. My family made me do a toast with an alcoholic drink, so I chose vodka when I read about the tar and feathers, I spilt the vodka… Oops? You're answer is like many others… and I have to respond to your answer the same way. We'll see.
Catslock: Lol! I'm glad you liked the omake. My friends at school still can't get over the whole Leslie Poppernickel thing… I'm glad that my story is part of your fix! I'm sorry for the late update!
loveless an the living fantasy: Thank you for sticking with the story! Lol, it's not Benton… (*shudders) I don't like the idea of having him in the FFVII world… he'll fanboy over every-single-thing… Benton's actually a real person at my school… he is my stalker among others… *sighs dejectingly… Why do I always attract the weirdos at school?
Bibliotaku748: I still don't get 'shaking my head Maigen. Shaking my head.' If it's about me forgetting your birthday… I'm soooooooooooo sorry! Oh! And are you going to join creative writing on Thursday?
Minako the Dragon Maiden of DW: Yay! Another Asian reviewer! Everyone who decided to guess is relatively correct! I'm glad you read the prequel! Otherwise you'd be confused.
LoreilDarksky00: Lol just wait and see who it is! Haha! I'm glad you liked the first chapter!
Exemia: Wow… I started laughing when I read 'hasta la pasta!' I'm trying my best to satisfy you all and add a little bit of mystery to it too! I want you all to keep guessing!
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Okay! I'm thinking about starting a Facebook page for myself under my alias: BANEHiwatari. Please let me know if I should or shouldn't!