Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or X. If I did, I'd be bragging about it in a bar somewhere.
Chapter II
"A Brave New World"
The town of Guadosalam.
For the first time in over 2000 years, Vincent walked through the streets of a town, amongst others. In daylight nonetheless.
Guadosalam was like no town he could remember. There were no familiar landmarks, no burnt out Mako reactors, no rubble and ruin from the METEOR fallout. There was no obvious technology present. They had torches for streetlights and candles instead of lights. There was no machinery of any kind.
As Vincent strode over the cobblestone roads, he noticed the strange looks he was receiving from the local people. Some were looks of astonishment and plausible recognition; others were looks of fear.
He liked the looks of fear better.
Vincent gave a few odd looks himself as he saw his first Guado. In all his travels, Vincent never saw anything like him. He was a tall man with absurdly long arms and legs. He had green hair pulled back in wavy, unmoving locks and a neatly trimmed beard. He was escorting a young child with wild blue hair that split into two long antennas on either side of his head. A third long lock spilled over his face.
Vincent watched the two as they walked by him, the young child staring at the gunslinger. The child's eyes were wide in astonishment and curiosity. Vincent narrowed his own red eyes at the boy before walking off. As he walked away, his sharp hearing could hear the boy whisper to his escort.
"Tromell that man looked like that guy from the stories Mommy reads to me!" he said as he pulled on his escort's arm.
"Now, now, Master Seymour," Tromell smiled at his young charge. "What an imagination you have." He gently pulled young Seymour along and away from Vincent.
Vincent walked quickly towards a dark alley. It all began to make sense to him, all the strange looks. He remembered what Braska had said: "You and your companions are legendary. Your tales are written in the Book of Yevon. They have been our bedtime stories for hundreds of years."
Gliding into the comforting and familiar shadows, Vincent quickly removed his crimson cloak and headband. His long black hair spilled into his eyes and Vincent causally brushed it away with his claw. Lowering his arm, Vincent stared at the claw. He contemplated what to do with it. He never tried taking it off: he didn't think he could. He rolled up his sleeve and frowned at the massive metal straps Hojo had used when he tore off his flesh and blood arm and replaced it with the golden monstrosity he now had for a hand.
Unable to remove the claw, Vincent draped his cloak over it to hide it from anymore prying eyes. Now dressed only in his pointed boots and black body suit, Vincent returned to the streets, letting his hair fall over his face and hide his eyes.
Nobody noticed him as he quickly left town.
-X-
They called it the Moonflow.
It looked like a big lake to Vincent.
He sat along the bank, far from the main road where no one would bother him, staring at the lake and the sparkling pyreflies that sparkled along its surface. It reminded him of the still waters near the Ancient City, where they had put Aeris to rest.
A voice startled Vincent back to the present.
"Hey buddy, got any spare Gil?"
Vincent turned to see a tall, skinny man in worn, leather pants and a red shirt behind him, hands buried in his pockets.
"People still use Gil?" Vincent asked, amused.
"What else would we use? Toilet paper?" the gruff man laughed. "Come on man, you gonna give me the money or am I gonna have to take it?" he sneered before pulling a pathetically small gun out of his pocket and leveled it at Vincent's head.
"What is that? A child's plaything?" asked Vincent as he looked at the gun.
"NO, you idiot, it's a gun and it's loaded," smirked the would-be-mugger. "Now give me all your money or I'm gonna shoot you in the face!"
"How pathetic the weapons of this time have become," said Vincent quietly.
"Haven't you been listening here, Mack? I'm gonna shoot you…"
The mugger's voice suddenly fell to a gargled whimper as Vincent drew his gun with lightning speed and shoved it into the man's open mouth. The man's mouth was stretched to its limits to fit the three massive barrels.
"This is a real gun," Vincent said in a hard, steady voice. The man's eyes grew tearful as Vincent cocked all three barrels.
Vincent looked over the man's shoulder at a sign for something called a Shoopuf. "This Shoopuf, it will take me across the lake?" The mugger murmured something unrecognizable.
Vincent removed his gun from the man's mouth. "What did you say?" he asked as he kept the gun level at the man.
"Ye-ye-yeah the Sh-sh-shoopuf will take ya across the Moonflow," the mugger stammered in fear. "Please don't hurt me, man?"
"Shut up," Vincent ordered and the man did, but continued to bounce around nervously. Vincent eyed the man carefully. "Your clothes. Give them to me."
"What?"
Vincent smacked him with the barrels of his gun. The man fell to the ground, a trail of blood forming above his right eye.
"Question me again and I'll blow off something you'll miss," threatened Vincent and he leveled the gun at the man's crotch. "Give me your clothes.
Removing one's clothes is one of life's easiest and simplest activities, but for the terrified mugger, it was like rocket science. He struggled with this pants and shirt for over a minute until he finally got out of them. He stood along the bank of the Moonflow in holey underwear.
"Leave. Now," Vincent ordered as he lowered his gun. The mugger didn't move at first.
"You're gonna shoot me in the back as soon as I turn away," he whimpered.
Vincent's gun snapped back up. "I'm going to shoot you in the front if you don't leave now."
The smell of urine filled the air as a yellow stain blossomed across the front of the man's underwear. Vincent looked away in disgust before firing at the ground near the man's feet. The dirt exploded in a cloud and the man scampered away from the crater near his big toe. He screamed and took off towards the main road, running past workers and travelers alike, hearing them laughing at him and his urine stained underpants.
Vincent waited until he was long gone before picking up the clothes. Wrinkling his nose at the smell of unwashed cloth and sweat, Vincent threw the shirt into the water of the Moonflow. He changed into the leather pants as the shirt soaked and pulled a small pouch out of one of the pant's pockets. He opened it to find a small pile of gold pieces inside. Gil. They were smaller and less ornate than the ones he remembered, but it was money nonetheless.
Wringing the water out of the wet shirt, Vincent put it on, fumbling with the buttons.
"Damn claw," he cursed to himself. Clothing and buttons especially didn't work well with the claw. That's why most of his clothing had straps and belts instead of buttons.
Vincent, clad in his new clothes, his own clothes tied in a bundle under his cloak-concealed claw, walked away from the Moonflow's banks and back to the main road to catch a ride with a Shoo-puff.
-X-
Vincent sat calmly on the back of the massive elephant-like Shoopuf as it crossed the Moonflow. The ride was peaceful, although there was much talk amongst the other passengers about some crazy man running around in his underwear earlier.
As they traveled across the river, Vincent was again amazed by the lack of technology. In his time, a massive bridge would have been built across the vast river and cars would have traveled across it, not elephants.
The people were without technology as well. There were no cell phones or watches. Many were dressed in homemade clothes. Vincent's own stolen clothes weren't homemade, but were still clearly made by hand, not in a factory.
More and more questions rose in his head and Vincent began to wonder if this Sin creature had anything to do with this…
-X-
Vincent reached the Temple of Djose the next day. The air around the temple was thick with the stench of ozone and the cackling lightning surrounding the temple made Vincent's long hair stand on end.
'Perhaps here I can get some answers to this Yevon business,' he thought as he pushed open the massive door.
The inside of the temple was dark and gloomy. Torches lit the area, casting eerie glows upon the massive statures that took up much of the temple. Vincent could see several people kneeling before the statues, others praying along the wings. They kept waving their arms in graceful circles in front of them while they prayed.
An elderly priest in elaborate robes that reminded him of Braska greeted Vincent as he entered, waving his arms in the same graceful pattern Vincent saw the others doing. Unsure of its meaning, but not wanting to draw unwanted attention to himself, Vincent returned the gesture to the priest, making sure he kept his claw concealed in the process.
"Welcome, my son," the priest said. "Welcome to the Temple of Djose, the lightning temple. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I'm just passing through, Padre," Vincent whispered, keeping his voice down. "I just wanted to look around and pay my respects." A lie, but not a bad one. Vincent just hoped the priest would buy it.
"Ah, yes. We don't get many travelers these days, not with Sin and the Al Bhed terrorizing the lands. But you are here and unharmed. Praise be to Yevon." He bowed before Vincent, doing the arm circle thing again.
Vincent bowed his head to the priest and walked away before the old man could ask any more questions.
The temple was a large circular structure with bleachers on one end for worship services and a large staircase leading to a guarded shrine on the other side. A door on either side of the staircase led to back rooms. 'Dorms for travelers and the priests,' Vincent assumed.
Vincent walked along the sides, looking at the various statutes. They were all noble figures both men and women. Each carried a weapon of some sort varying from wands and bows to swords and staffs.
Vincent continued to explore the temple until he stopped at a large picture engraved into the far wall beside the staircase. It showed a picture of a falling star, much like the ones in the hieroglyphics from his tomb. Below it was a picture of two figures battling. It was Cloud and Sephiroth. Vincent began to chuckle at the representation. The passage of time had changed the likenesses of Cloud and Sephiroth even more than it had changed the very world.
Cloud was dressed in glowing armor, like some knight errant, his face heroic and determined. They didn't even get the sword right. Instead of wielding his crystal Ultima Weapon, Cloud was holding a simple one-handed broadsword.
Sephiroth was even worse. The slim, handsome figure was now more monster than man. His face had become a gruesome snarl, as ugly as it is evil. His body was bulky with oversized, angular muscles. Black, leathery wings replaced the feathery pinions Vincent remembered. Sephiroth's sword, the legendary Masamune, was gone, replaced by a forked spear wreathed in dark flames.
"Cloud and Sephiroth must be rolling over in their graves," chuckled Vincent as he stepped away from the etching. He climbed the staircase towards the guarded shrine.
"You cannot go any further," said the priest at the top. "Only Summoners and their Guardians are allowed to enter the Cloister of Trials."
"But I wish to see," replied Vincent.
"Then go become a Guardian," replied the other guard and he rudely pushed Vincent back towards the stairs. Vincent's hand instinctively went for his gun, an old reflex. He caught himself just in time and turned his back to the guard.
"Damn, young punks," the rude guard complained to his partner. "They don't respect nothing anymore, not even the teachings."
"He looked odd, maybe he was part Al Bhed or something and didn't know," replied his partner.
"A damn heathen then. That's even worse. He ever comes back, I'll have him arrested."
Vincent stood at the bottom of the stairs, hearing everything. A small smile twitched at the corners of his lips as a plan formed in his mind.
-X-
Nightfall. In Vincent's own time, night was almost as clear as day in some places. The Mako reactors continuously pumped Lifestream out of the planet and cast an eerie glow over the landscape night and day as a byproduct. The big cities like Midgar, Junon, even some of the smaller ones like Rocket Town and Nibelhiem, always had streetlights and electric signs to light the darkness. People in Midgar couldn't even see the stars, even up on the plate. It was just too bright.
Djose didn't have any Mako reactors or streetlights or electricity of any kind, save the lightning sparking off the temple itself. The land was covered in a true darkness only found in the wilds of the world. Small lights, fires in homes or campsites, dot the landscape, but hold no sway over the darkness.
To Vincent, the darkness felt like home. Dressed back in his own clothes and cloak, Vincent used his powers to fly over the landscape, dodging the occasional stray lightning bolt. He flew silently, only the slight sound of the wind in his cloak made any noise. His cloak seemed to take on a life of its own as he flew. Its tattered crimson edges arced and tumbled against the wind, reaching out this way and that.
It only took a few moments to reach the temple and less time to fly into the open window near the roof. Vincent crept into a dorm room filled with snoring priests. Tiptoeing through the slumbering priests, Vincent exited the room silently. Now on the second floor landing of the circular temple, Vincent took to the air again. Creeping along the shadows of the ceiling, he stopped directly above the entrance to the shrine. The two guards from earlier were still there, sitting restlessly against a pair of wooden chairs.
Vincent dropped from the ceiling and landed right behind them, not making a fraction of a sound. The two guards continued their conversation as if nothing had happened.
"I hate night duty," grumbled the rude one. "It's always so boring."
"You said that about the day shift too," replied his partner.
"Well they both are pretty boring. It's not like anything ever happens, well other than that Al Bhed heathen trying to get in earlier."
"You mean me?" Vincent's chilly, demonic voice whispered behind them. The guards freeze in fear and slowly turn around to see a pair of glowing red eyes peering out of the darkness at them. They stumble to their feet, knocking their chairs down the staircase. Before they can draw their weapons, two hands: one gloved, the other a monstrous gold claw lash out of the darkness and slam the guard's heads into one another's. They fall to the ground in a heap, unconscious but otherwise unhurt.
Vincent steps fully out of the darkness and opens the door to the shrine, what the priest had called the Cloister of Trials. Vincent steps through the door and into the dark chamber.
-X-
The room is dark until he steps fully into it. Then on its own, dozens of torches light casting bright firelight along the entire area. The torches light the way towards a circular platform with a small glowing button on it. Vincent steps onto the platform and, all on its own; the platform sinks like an elevator. The lift carries Vincent deep underground and stops in front of a pair of stone double doors. A small orb, glowing with electrical energy rests on a pedestal next to the lift.
"It can't be," utters Vincent as he stares wide-eyed at the orb. He picks it up and the slight weight feels familiar in his palm. "Materia," he whispers. "It's a Lightning Materia."
He pushed the Materia into a slot built into his claw. The jolt of energy coursing through his body confirmed it was a mastered Materia.
Vincent waited for his body to readjust to having Materia equipped once again before continuing on. He pushed open the stone doors and entered a long passageway. More torches sprang to life and lit his path. Vincent pocketed more Materia as he walked down the passageways, using them to open doors and clear new passages. One activated another lift, taking him to a large chamber.
Vincent walked into the chamber and the sound of an elderly man singing a beautiful hymn filled his ears. He followed the voice to a large stone blocking off the entrance to a tunnel. Using his clawed hand, Vincent raised the stone effortlessly. He brushed aside some feathery curtains that were behind the stone and enter the tunnel. The singing grew louder as Vincent walked down the tunnel until it opened into a vast tomb.
-X-
The singing came louder than ever as Vincent stepped into the tomb. A large seal was set into the ground, depicting a fierce looking unicorn with a large horn shaped like a lightning bolt.
Vincent stepped onto the seal and the air in front of him began to shimmer and the outline of a man began to form. Vincent's deadly reflexes took control of his body and his gun found its way into his hand. The shimmering air began to come together and, with a flash of lightning and a boom of thunder, an old man appeared in front of Vincent. The old man had a flowing white beard that covered his entire chest, flowing white robes, and carried a massive crooked staff.
"I remember you, gunslinger," the ghostly image speaks.
Vincent lowers his gun. "And I remember you, Ramuh."
The Thunder Sprit smiles down at Vincent. "It seems the thousands of years since our last meeting have been much kinder to you than they have to me."
'Relatively speaking,' Vincent thought. "What happened to you?" he asked aloud. "Where is your Materia?"
The ghostly image of Ramuh fades from sight and reappears sitting on a rock on the other side of the seal, across from Vincent.
"One thousand years ago, the world was attacked by a vicious, unspeakable evil, much like the man we fought together so long ago," begins Ramuh.
"I have been told about this SIN creature," interrupts Vincent. "I was asked to go and help fight it several days ago."
"I don't think even your formidable powers could have done much against that unholy monster," admits Ramuh. "As I was saying, the world was attacked by SIN. It rained down more terror and destruction upon the land and people than I have never seen. Its power was immeasurable. He changed the very shape of the planet, rearranged the continents, sank some into the sea, and razed others to ash. This went on for several years until a beautiful young woman named Yunalesca traveled the world and gathered up all the Summoning Sprits and our Materia. She took us to Zanarkand, a large city built upon the ruins of Midgar. Here she summoned us all in an epic battle against SIN. The battle claimed many innocent lives as we battled. Bahamut ZERO destroyed an entire mountain range, turning it into a vast plain now called the Calm Lands. In the end, we defeated SIN and destroyed it, but with heavy losses of our own. Many of the younger Spirits were destroyed. Only the oldest of us, the most powerful were able to survive, but we were severely weakened. Yunalesca took advantage of this and ripped us from our Materia. She bound our weakened spirits into stone statues." Ramuh pointed to the floor Vincent stood on. He looked down and could see the stone statue underneath the unicorn painting.
"What is the unicorn?" Vincent asked.
"Some of us were so weak our natural forms were deteriorating. So Yunalesca further changed our Spirits and bound us to new forms as well. I was bound to the form of a unicorn. Ifrit was bound to a bestial demon. The three dragons: Bahamut, Neo, and ZERO tried to fight back and were bound to one another, creating one Dragon King from three, drastically reducing his strength and power. We ceased being Summoning Sprits and became Aeons." The Aeon Spirit sighed heavily. "And then SIN was reincarnated."
"You said you destroyed SIN?"
"We did," nodded Ramuh. "But like Sephiroth, SIN found ways to reincarnate itself after it was defeated. It has been this way for the last thousand years. And for the past thousand years, my brethren and I have been forced to serve Summoners on the never-ending battle against SIN."
"You're a prisoner?"
"In all meaning of the word, yes. My Materia is gone, destroyed in front of my very eyes. The only way I can leave this temple is when a Summoner proves worthy of our strength. They come here on their pilgrimages, we fight SIN, sometimes a Summoner of special worth will defeat SIN, and some time later SIN will be resurrected. It is a never-ending cycle of death."
"I am sorry," Vincent says again. He bows his head to the ghostly image before him and turns to leave.
"Wait," calls the Spirit. "There is something you can do for me and my brethren." Vincent returns to the tomb's seal.
"Your former companions were buried throughout the different Aeon temples. The pilot Cid is buried right here, behind this wall. Their personal weapons and possibly some Materia were buried with them. With the help of a Summoner and some of your companion's Materia, perhaps my brethren and I can escape these prisons. Gather your companion's weapons and collect the world's remaining Materia. Only you can release us and end this cycle of hate and death." His last words hung in the air as the Aeon disappeared.
Vincent stood still for a moment after the Thunder Spirit disappeared.
"Second person to ask my help in saving the world since I woke up," he mumbled to himself. Vincent walked over the Aeon seal and started rapping on the chamber walls with his clawed hand. After a few tries, he found a hollow spot in the stone. Reaching into his cloak, Vincent drew his gun.
Three shots echoed through the chamber as Vincent blew apart the stonewall, reveling a separate smaller chamber. Vincent reloaded his gun as he stepped over the rubble. An elaborate sarcophagus lay in the middle of the room, adorned with beautiful carvings of airships and dragons. A weapon rack stood against the wall, holding various spears. Next to the sarcophagus was a smaller chest with an elaborate looking lock.
Vincent walked to the sarcophagus first and knelt down in front of it. After paying his respects to a friend and comrade, Vincent turned to the small chest. A single shot shattered the lock and opened the chest. Inside was a bracer filled with three green orbs and a single black orb. Vincent inspected the orbs, finding a Fire, Ice, and Lightning Materia. The black Materia was Ramuh's Summon Materia, a burnt out shell, dead to the world.
Vincent quietly put the spare Lightning and black Materia in his cloak pocket and equipped the Fire and Ice in his claw. Another surge of power swept over him, a feeling of both hot and cold.
Grabbing the legendary Venus Gospel spear on his way out, Vincent left the tomb and chamber beyond, beginning a new quest to free the captive Aeons and destroy SIN once and for all.
-X-
Reviewer Shout-outs:
Mr. Reviewer: Glad you like the idea and concept behind the fic. Keep on reading and reviewing. Like your little penname there too. Simple, yet direct; it's very good.
Greywolf: Glad you liked the start and hope you continue to enjoy it.
Tormax: I also wonder how Cloud and his companions would have fought SIN. As well as Ultimecia, Kuja, Seymour, and every other Final Fantasy villian. Unfortunatly, Cloud and the rest of the Avalanche gang are dead in this fic (or are at least dead for now evil laugh )
Jrockerwendie: I, too, also thought Vincent deserved to be a main character. He is one of, if not the most unique character ever seen in any Final Fantasy game. Auron was my favorite character from X and I knew that if he and Vincent ever met, it wouldn't be pretty. The younger Auron was just too rash and indoctored into the Yevon bull that he would have been at odds with Vincent from the very start. You'l see how well (or not well) they get along in further chapters. Combining Spira from X and Gaia from VII was hard at first until I decided to use time and SIN as the landscapers. Plus basically having VII's world totally screwed up by METEOR helped in rebuilding it too. Keep on reading and reviewing and I'll keep writing, ok? Good.
Firestorm23: Glad you like so much. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last.
Dairokkan: Interesting penname. Yeah, Vincent is definatly the silent, brooding type that makes mountains out of molehills. Except his molehills are global calamities and such. But he definatly needs to loosen up a bit, and I think I know a character or two that could help him do just that in the chapters to come.
Yllom21: Thank you for the very nice compliments. I enjoy doing crossovers, in fact I think that's all I've written on My mind just works that way, always comparing one character to another or one storyline to another, switching characters around and such. I think its more fun to write crossovers than straight stories. You have no boundrys as long as you explain yourself well and make it believeable.
Sirius123: Well, I updated. What do you think?
Zim: Hope you like this chapter too. tell me what you think about it next time.
Josh: Naught be damned, here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it as much as the first.
Sgt. Crackers: Another Interesting penname. Vincent is a hell of a lot older now, by a good 2000 years. So if Hojo transformed him when he was 30, then he slept for like 57 years before Cloud woke him up, then went back to sleep a couple years after everything that happened, then got woke up by Braska in the time of SIN, he'd be like 2, 080 years old, something like that? I was never that good with math and I don't remember the exact times and dates of the timeline either, but I think I'm close. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Whatevergirl: Glad you're interested. Hope you enjoy the update and that you tell me what you like and dislike about the fic next time.
Thanks to all and keep those reviews coming!
Nataku's Wrath