So. This chapter turned out ALOT longer than i expected. :D I should probably write something awe-inspiring here, but lack anything amazing to say at this moment, writing the end of this chapter took alot out of me. Whoo. Inspiration-wise. Drained.
I'll soon be posting on my deviantart account a few new things.
OH AND I HAVE A POLL! XD Finally discovered that thing. Maybe you guys could vote on it? Probably will be a short story. Like three chapters. Yuffie/? but dont know who, a Angst/Romance. Got suggestions?
Songs used:
Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Music: Theme of CRISIS CORE "Dream and Pride"
Crisis Core FFVII Music - Combat
E Nomine by Wolfen
Mitternacht by E Nomine
About 11:30 am...
Shannon approached the front desk receptionist of the university's health center, still extra-smiley over that dream that had seemed so real of her biggest video game crush. However, she was also confused as to where she went from here. Was she supposed to find those two people who had showed up in her room? Whatever that girl had done, it had made her feel so much better - the bruising and swelling on her face from the impact with the bench had disappeared completely, although there was a scar from the gash that would probably stay. It was amazing she wouldn't need stitches. They also had apparently left her a pair of flip flops, which solved the bare foot problem for the moment.
The brunette knocked timidly on the window of the middle-aged receptionist, who was currently giving her sudoku puzzle an accusing glare. Said receptionist woman jumped with a startled gasp.
"Sorry," Shannon quickly apologized through the glass, "Just thought I should check out or something."
The woman shook her head, pushing the evil puzzle away digustedly. "It's fine hon...let's see, and your name is?"
"Shannon Pearson."
The woman shuffled some papers out of the way to find a clipboard with a sign in sheet on it. Shannon noticed a broken name tag ("Margie") resting forgotten by some photos of children and a dog. A beagle.
Shannon smiled, thinking of her own wild "Regal-the-beagle" at home.
Margie-the-receptionist-who-had-a-beagle frowned, pushing up her glasses back into place on her nose. "Hmm, that's strange, you don't seem to be anywhere on our list...just some Rima Pearson-"
Shannon groaned loudly, cursing inwardly at the ceiling, "That's my middle name, but everyone seems to be calling me that lately."
Margie's mouth twitched with a small smile, "Your friends must have put it down as a joke then. Alright, just show me your school ID and you'll be all set."
Shannon dug in her pocket. By some miracle, she actually had the thing for once.
"Alright, you're all set dear, have a good day."
"You too," she responded cheerily, though a bazillion foggy half-formed questions were going in her mind; who were the people who took me here? Who was that guy? Was that dream with Zack real? Was that guy Zack? Why were they talking about Reeve and Jenova and why did Aeris randomly abandon me? Wait. Aeris...upset...possible Zack flirting...
Uh oh.
Shannon suddenly had a bad feeling.
How the hell was she going to find out what was going on with Amy and Jenni and those two people who rescued her without Aeris?
"Oh hey, I forgot -" Margie struggled with opening a piece of paper folded a bazillion times into a tiny paper football. "Your friends wanted you to meet up with them, I think. They left this note for you, but I can't understand that gibberish for the likes of me!"
Relieved and excited, Shannon accepted the halfway unfolded paper football, vaguely noticing the curious Cheshire cat grin on the receptionist who was now watching her intently. The note was rather short, but written with two different handwriting styles in various places, with random ink blot smudges. But that wasn't what made her raise an eyebrow. It was the really odd message.
"Steer clear when tin soldiers and mice do spar. Go play poohsticks. The emerald clock beckons. Your heart will find the road."
Twitch, twitch.
"What the hell?!" Shannon blurted, causing the receptionist to laugh her head off.
Shannon sheepishly looked between the note and Margie. "I don't get it either...unless-" Shannon scrutinized the note again. If the strangers were working for Reeve, and possibly thus either for AVALANCHE or the Turks or something like that, then they would want to keep a message secret. So-
"...maybe it's code..." Shannon murmured aloud, never looking up from the wrinkled paper. The middle-aged woman's chuckles finally died down, and she shook her head disbelievingly at the silly quirks of young people.
"Well, do you think you can crack it? And what's this 'pooh sticks'?"
Shannon laughed, "Well, you know Winnie the Pooh? Where they all throw the sticks over one side of a bridge over water and basically run to the other side to see which comes out first?"
Margie smiled warmly at the picture of the kids and the dog, "Oh, oh yeah, I forgot all about that. Well you have fun with that code of yours, and good luck!"
Shannon grinned, "Thanks."
A short while later, the brunette had wandered off into the forest-lined paths of the middle of the campus, heading towards the bridge by the art building she practically lived in for her major. Why?
To play pooh sticks, of course. She had nothing better to do, and it might give her some hints.
But the first thing Shannon noticed when she had entered this more woodsy part of the campus was how alive she suddenly felt - like she had just come out of a spa or something. Not that she'd ever been to a spa yet, she'd heard they were amazing though, and she completely planned on going to one, it sounded like lots of fun and-
-Fwoom-
Shannon, startled, stopped completely in her tracks to look up. Jesus Christ that was a low flying plane. Wait. It looked kind of funny - it was hard to tell, with the blinding sun in the way, but the shape had seemed irregular-
The amazing spa feeling dissipated, followed by cascades of whispers. Shannon whirled about, but found no people nearby. Strangely enough, it was as though a whole forest of people was whispering to her-
Or rather, the whole forest.
This whole being part Cetra thing was starting to creep her out.
Shaking her head, Shannon bent down to pick up another stick to throw over the bridge into the gurgling stream.
"...weapon..."
Shannon froze. Oh, that was that weird voice of the Planet.
"What?" She asked, staring up at the sky, at the trees.
"...Child...you must...defend yourself..."
Ah, well at least now the messages from the Planet voice are starting to sound clearer, Shannon thought.
But people don't need to defend themselves with weapons unless they're in danger - were more of those creeps who chased her around campus nearby?
Shannon bit her lip, searching around for something she could use if she got attacked. She didn't see anyone right now, and if they had a gun, she'd probably be as good as dead, but maybe she could get a nice pointy stick -
A warm presence behind her seemed to be calling silently.
Curious, Shannon turned around, to come face-to-face - or rather, bark - with a very tall aspen tree. Without thinking, she slowly placed a hand on the trunk, and a beautiful chorus immediately sang only for her ears, silent to the rest of the world.
Shannon gasped, taking her hand off the tree. The forest was silent again. She stole a glance around to make sure no one was around, then slowly wrapped her arms to reach part way around the trunk. The gentle, soothing melody returned again, filling her with an indescribable inner peace; the holy music of Gaia. She suddenly understood that the tree was, in its own way, talking to her. It was the most surreal feeling - and she, a Cetra, was basically the parent or guardian for the tree - for those flowers, for this whole forest - for the whole...Planet.
And she was the last one who could care for it.
Shannon listened intently, breathing deeply with her eyes closed, and slowly slid down the base of the tree, as tears began to fall down quietly from her cheeks.
She felt so alone.
The breeze picked up, causing the aspen and many of the other nearby trees to drop cool leaves on her. It felt reassuring somehow, and Shannon couldn't help but believe it was no coincidence. She rested with her back against the base of the aspen, and looked up into its branches.
"Thank you," the Cetra whispered.
A few minutes of peace, and she slowly began to fall asleep to the lull of the mysterious tune only an Ancient would ever be able to appreciate. But the Planet's voice returned to her head without warning.
"Hurry, dear Child, for you are our last! It is time to go where you are needed most."
Shannon jolted awake. Wow, reception's really good when you lean against a tree.
"The enemy soon draws near. Arm yourself and descend to the waters," the voice urged hurriedly.
"With what?!" Shannon yelped desperately, leaping to her feet.
There was a pause. Then humming of the earth, and the aspen the source of it all, almost like it was begging -
"But..." Shannon muttered with shock.
I can talk to trees, and now trees are telling me to hurt them by ripping off branches. Yup, I'm definitely going insane.
Whether she had approached the tree of her own free will, she would never know. But she was soon talking to the aspen again, despite herself, asking why she couldn't just use a dead branch, as though the tree were suddenly her best friend in the world who was begging to be given assisted suicide. The comfort tremors passed from the core energies of the tree into her body, both allieving her fears and answering her question.
The energy of a live tree was similar to materia's potential, at least for a Cetra. And unlike a dead branch, a live branch could contain a part of that power.
"...Okay..."Shannon murmured, and reached for a nearby branch of vibrant, toothed green leaves that Nature had so delicately crafted.
-Crack- A moment in which the Cetra could feel the music hesitate on its notes, so similar to the way a human flinches when inflicted with pain.
"...Thank you," Shannon smiled apologetically, patting the trunk once more, before quickly heading down the edge of the hill into the river.
The surface of the water quickly covered her flip flops and went almost up to her knees with freezing cold water. As luck would have it, one of her professors happened to be crossing - or rather, stumbling- across the bridge at that moment.
Shit shit shit don't look over here keep walking-
The older man, unfortunately, just so happened to notice his student standing knee deep in the river, with completely soaked jeans, holding a tree branch at least 4 or 5 feet long. His jaw dropped, and along with it, his cigarette.
Shit.
The professor looked very disturbed, waved slowly at her, as though not certain if he was seeing things.
Shannon could have just died of embarrassment. But waved back sheepishly.
After shaking his head and muttering something about "no more happy hour", he soon left Shannon blissfully alone. Oh wait. Alone. When some bad guy's coming any time.
"So, uh...you were saying, Planet person?" Shannon joked nervously, not really liking standing in this freezing cold water.
Instead of hearing a helpful whisper in response, an extremely painful and deep noise assailed her ears, and not moments after the ground began to quake. Shannon covered her ears and sploshed hurriedly under the bridge to take cover, and crouched into a protective ball.
As soon as it was over, the fire alarms of at least two nearby buildings were going off at the same time. That was weird. And probably not a good sign.
She was paranoid about staying in one place, but also afraid to come out from her hiding place. Just when Shannon had decided to emerge from under the bridge, she heard some voices above her head.
"Alright, you take your men that way and I'll lead mine past the bridge."
"Yessir!"
A young child's voice,"I want my Mommy!"
"Silence!" The commander snapped venomously, making Shannon cringe.
"But Mommy's here! I know it! Lemme go! Lemme go! Right now!"
Shannon silently cheered, Go kid go! There was obviously quite the scuffle going on (right above Shannon's head, fuck,) and it sounded like the boy was somehow able to put up a good fight.
"If you dont shut up you'll be very sorry brat-"
An animalistic snarl, then,"NOW!"
Oh god. Was that the kid?!
A gunshot, and then all went still.
Shannon was struggling to breathe normally, and not be heard freaking out.
A grunt. "Change in plans, we need to get this specimen back to headquarters pronto."
A static sound, like a walkie-talkie. "Roger that."
"Alright. Move out!"
Tromp, tromp, tromp, tromp...
When the footsteps had finally faded away, Shannon exhaled a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding, and slowly crawled out from under the bridge, no longer feeling a sense of safety there.
Ok, danger's gone, so how about some HELP Planet?! What the fuck am I supposed to be doing!? What's going on? Why-
Fshh.
Somehow a sharp object had appeared out of nowhere and was up against her throat; out of the corner of her eyes, she could see it glinting wickedly in the sunlight.
"Don't move."
A female's voice laced with dark, ominous tones, as though there was something not quite...human about them. It sounded so familiar, and yet not. Heck, this presence even felt so wrong, it was like a wave of intense wrongness so powerful that it was making her sick...the exact opposite of the tree party she'd had earlier.
Shannon whimpered.
An agonizingly long pause.
"Well," the woman continued with a sneer of amusement, "are you going to do anything, or just stand there?"
"...b..but you told me not to move," Shannon squeaked, her back still turned to this unseen enemy.
"...Ah...so this is the novice..."
Shannon trembled, clutching her stick like a lifeline, even though a measly stick she'd been able to break off a tree with her hands wouldn't protect her against a sword.
The swordswoman drawled, "Hunh, it would be so easy to just kill you right now... but what fun would that be?"
"Child, you must not leave the river."
Holy cow where were you?! Shannon halfway-scolded Planet voice. And what's so great about the water? I've stood here a long time now and I'm frickin' cold!
Shannon left her inner communication chat when she felt the blade withdraw from her neck, and breathed shakily with relief.
"Nice weapon choice," her attacker jeered, sounding so-damn-familiar!
"Repeat the incantations you hear, and holy protection will be granted to you."
Shannon was about to say a befuddled retort, when a swarm of runic symbols and foreign languages buzzed and transformed in her mind. No, her eyes.
"Well go on then. Amuse me."
...In green. Blinding, flashing, she couldn't see the campus forest anymore, just wild, intense energy swarming through her veins as she murmured words she couldn't understand without even meaning to use her vocal chords. It was like a dream she had no control over...
Shannon's body stiffened, and began to glow all over, starting from her middle and to her fingertips-
"Aw, fuck!"
The fencer lunged with her katana at the Cetra who now was glowing with green light like a star; unexpectedly the swordswoman was richocheted off with the same force as that of her own charge by some barrier.
Furiously, she lashed her katana repeatedly against the barrier from every side, but to no avail, and the girl inside the green flare was still chanting and gaining more power-
And suddenly glowing mahogany eyes snapped open.
At first, the green flare doubled in size, mostly due to the absorption of - FUCK the water! Damn it! Damn it! Fuckin' holy wa-
A solid wave of energy exploded in all directions, knocking the attacker off her feet, but she was able to avoid most of the impact - just barely.
When the light had dissipated, there was no trace of the Cetra.
The swordswoman yelled a few choice words and cut through a good amount of trees with her weapon out of spite.
Was that...Amelia?!
Shannon barely had time to glimpse the furious green eyes that bore into her before the sensation of a hook pulling her up, and the world disappeared from view.
Flying headfirst through a vortex of wildly spinning kaleidoscope colors and shapes zooming past her in cascades of twirls, her arms, legs, everything burning as though on fire-
No one could hear her screaming though. Hell, she couldn't even hear herself over the hum that was popping her ears. And the more the colors mesmerized her in this painful hypnosis, the faster she seemed to be going, and the more it fucking hurt-
Her arm was covered in reds, yellows, and blues, then purple, green, and orange the next moment, never staying the same for very long.
The vortex's center point directly ahead glowed white, and soon expanded to the entirety of the kaleidoscope, blinding and numbing the Cetra completely.
All was calm and silent in the eerie Forgotten City. Towering ivory trees guarded the perimeter of the sanctuary, silent witnesses to many miracles and secrets of the Ancients. In the center of this refuge, a lake with unknown dark depths, not a ripple across the surface.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a wind began to spin from just above the middle of the lake, pulling up water with it.
The aqua-tornado spun faster and faster until it began to burn with a pearly shine, abruptly swerving in a U-shape to the right, and crashing a loud wave against the land at the water's edge.
All grew still once more.
The silvery-white, luminous droplets on the shore shimmered a moment. Then they grew together, to make a small silver form of light in the shape of a human body. The form grew much brighter, then just as suddenly the light completely disappeared. Leaving an unconscious brunette lying on the shore, still clinging to a small white stick.
Aerith sighed from her place within the Lifestream, and turned to smile fondly, if not remorsefully, at a sleeping translucent figure nearby.
He always looked so cute as a dog.
One would say the wolf was a ghost, so easily could one see through him. Unlike the majority of the other souls in the Lifestream, he had not properly joined the current when he passed on...possessing too much Life in him to become truly dead yet, and his soul had become..."tangled" with other souls as they made their way to the Lifestream.
Because it was quite a while later before Aerith joined the Lifestream too, there was quite a mess by the time she got there. It was terrifying to see so many life forms half-hazardly being dragged along in the current, only partly joined with the green river of light. Her first chore as a Guardian Ancient of the Lifestream, then, had been undoing the knot. And what a shock and attack of emotions took her when she saw the cause of it all.
-Flashback-
Once Aerith had realized that she could watch over her fellow friends in AVALANCHE from up here, it helped her feel better. She would have to guide the Planet to use its energy and stop Meteor from crashing very soon -
But she turned with a small gasp when she saw the imperfection in the life source; you could call it a traffic jam.
Aerith was very confused why this chain blob of life - creatures, pets, humans, wildlife - had not been able to properly fuse with the rest. This was very bad, and could be dangerous if she didn't reverse it as quickly as possible. For all she knew, it could be too late.
Aerith briskly walked through empty white space like clouds to the emerald ring and began a very tedious, tiring, but rewarding tasks of freeing them all, one by one, with her blessings and healing touch.
Then she came to a black-haired serious man with a square jaw she recognized as being a friend of Zack's, who looked slightly relieved to see her. Odd, because everyone else was unconscious if they were not yet merged with the Lifestream. Oh. He must have died already, how sad.
"Are you...?" Angeal shook his head, deeming whatever his question was obsolete. "He's far too persistent."
Who?
Aerith tilted her head inquisitively at him, and the Serious Man pointed to the center of the mass he was outside of.
"See for yourself."
After extricating a goat, three Shinra Grunts, and a Chocobo, she found him.
Raven hair and bright blue eyes, a frown in his brows no doubt understandable since he had yet been unable to find peace in soul.
Zack Fair.
Her Zack, who she had wondered for so long about, and written those eighty-nine letters, before she finally lost hope in seeing him again.
The bewildered flower girl moved much more quickly than before at untangling the web of bodies and helping them into the light with quicker, more rushed blessings.
Zack, Zack, Zack, what happened to you? What did they make you do in SOLDIER that you weren't able to bear? No wonder you weren't able to come see me.
Aerith wiped away tears that had flooded her face, but smiled that he was here with her again. Even if this was not the ideal circumstance. Then frowned. She had thought for so long that he had just forgotten her, since he had been a bit of a ladies man, and she had moved on and begun to find love in Cloud. But that was just a selfish lie she had hoped to believe in, she didn't want to think he was dead. Not her Zack.
Finally, she reached the last one. And froze with dread.
The last life form left before Zack was a wolf, but its spirit had become intertwined almost completely now with Zack's. He had been here too long. She was too late.
Aerith sank to her knees in despair. What could she do? If she tried to separate one from the other, it would be like separating conjoined twins that share organs - one would be guaranteed to die, if not both. But if she left them as they were, when she used the Lifestream to deflect Meteor and shield the Planet, then any "ghosts" who had not yet joined the Lifestream and were just "floating" (as Zack and this wolf were) would cease to exist after the collision force between Sephiroth/Jenova's Weapon and the Planet's Shield.
She pressed a hand to his ghostly head on a sudden hunch.
He had just a speck of life in him, enough to cause a torrent of problems and make this mess. Just enough to not be alive, but not technically count as dead either, so he was unable to cross the barrier.
She smiled slowly, an idea dawning on her. The flower girl chanted a different tune under her breath, and the two ghostly bodies began to merge as one-
-End Flashback-
Aerith petted Zack the Wolf's back one more time. Being not really dead, it wasn't possible for her to put him into the lifestream, but when Meteor had come, he was safe from obliteration, since he was not a "ghost", containing a spark of life within his body still. She had been successful in merging him with the canine he had been stuck to like a siamese twin, so now his title of "puppy", as his SOLDIER friends had called him, was ironically suitable in a physical sense.
And the loving SOLDIER had been able to help her watch over AVALANCHE for some time now. Sometimes illegally sneaking down to Earth to check up on Cloud and get his butt out of trouble (again) in wolf form. But lately things had become a little tense. After Cloud and AVALANCHE had defeated Sephiroth and the Remnants, Aerith and Zack went down to make sure things were all settled again...
Aerith healed a small child of his Geostigma by the water, and patted him on the head with a caring smile.
When she looked up, she was staring into those worried teal blue eyes again of a certain blonde spiked crush she'd had.
Aerith had cheated. Again. She cheated in allowing Zack to illegally stay with her instead of returning to the world of the living, and she cheated again in helping Cloud return to the living when he should have already died.
But she needed Zack. And Cloud was needed to protect the world from Sephiroth's inevitable return still, so he couldn't leave yet. But it did tear at something inside her to know that Cloud belonged to the barmaid now, and that she couldn't have him.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Aerith grinned at Cloud before turning to leave, and was pleased to see Cloud actually smile for the first time in who knows how long.
Zack waved, too.
When they returned back "home", Zack had seemed slightly distant, a very un-Zack-ish thing to be. The flowergirl had assumed at first this was because of everyone getting scared of Sephiroth taking over the world and nearly killing Cloud again. But...
"I always wondered why you stopped at eighty-nine."
There was pain in the young man's voice, his back turned to her.
Aerith was confused at first, "What do you mean?"
"The letters of course." He turned to glance sideways over his shoulder, afraid to meet her gaze, and turned away again. "Eighty-nine is an odd number to stop at. Why not a hundred, or even ninety, just to round things off?"
"Zack, -"
"It was him, wasn't it?" Zack had turned to face her now, his blue eyes shining with hurt.
Aerith choked on her words. "I...Zack...It had been several years, I -"
Zack sighed, "Never mind, it's not important."
And walked off to patrol the perimenter of the green rim again, not once looking back over his shoulder.
Aerith stroked the fur on Zack's wolf pelt again, closing her eyes. Things hadn't been quite the same after that, and now that she had been helping Rima out, and had seen the result of the time flux, she knew things between her and Zack just weren't going to work. She couldn't keep him indefinitely here anyways...Only a Cetra was permitted to roam between the two worlds of life and lifestream.
She sniffed, but stood up and smiled sadly down on the canine SOLDIER.
"I'm sorry, Zack...but this is for your own good."
A small boy, about 4 or 5 years old, encased standing up in a Mako tube. His dark brown, almost black hair, floating slightly in the green liquid. It was starting to grow out some, past his chin and in ruffled, thick layers that tickled his cheeks as little bubbles moved them around.
The boy's eyes were closed tightly and lips pursed as his head drooped to his chest in an uncomfortable, unnatural slumber.
This was why he didn't budge, even when the sirens began sounding shrilly and red lights blinking.
A man in his mid twenties with ragged, shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair was tearing down the halls, breath coming in quick gasps. His desperate running stride echoing down the dimly lit maze of white halls. Ignoring the blood streaming down his right arm, which left an easily definable trail behind him. And the glass in his knuckles. And the possibly shattered bones in said knuckles.
Not that he cared anymore, he'd already been caught - but now he had a shotgun to protect himself, even if he had to use his left hand, when he was right-handed.
Time was all that mattered now.
Coming to another dead end, where a blinding alert light reflected off of all the white walls, adjacent to a security camera (which was no doubt watching his every move) he paused long enough only to wipe some annoying blood off of his arm against his tattered and stained old lab coat, and use said wounded appendage to flip off the camera.
Then paused for a moment more. His right arm...it made sense for it to be covered in red, but not black spots of this...scab-like skin. In fact, there was some on his left arm as well, but considerably more so of the black flecks and patches on the right arm and hand around open wounds.
He'd dwell on that mystery later.
Finally, the escaped prisoner found the metal bolted door he'd been searching for. Quickly, he attempted a few codes, none of which worked, of course.
Rolling his eyes, he hissed a series of profanities under his breath and blasted the door with his stolen weapon.
After the fourth bullet was lodged in the depths of the lock system, the electric door's wiring was finally reached and became frayed, sending blue sparks flying for a moment.
The ex-lab technician smirked, having come prepared, and slipped his left hand into a rubber glove to open the door and prevent some shock residue. The heavy door groaned in protest as he shoved it open, the whole time keeping his weak, bloodied right hand grasped tightly around the gun and pointed in front of him.
Scanning the room quickly, he spotted the person he was looking for, and gave a cry of bittersweet joy, nearly dropping his weapon.
"Jason...oh my god, Jason..."
The little sleeping boy in the mako chamber, of course, did not respond back. His malnourished body was covered in small bruises, a myriad of shades of purples, blues, reds, especially at key blood vessel locations in his frail, exposed arms. Unconsciously, the distressed trespasser rubbed his own arm, wincing.
"What the hell all did that bastard do to you?" He whispered sorrowfully, choking on his words.
Jason's left hand twitched in his sleep.
For a moment, the dirty-blond haired man forgot about his imperative need to hurry, and lightly plunked his head against the cool glass surface of the mako chamber, a series of complex emotions swirling on his face as he stared at the child inside.
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, even though the sirens were not making that particularly easy, he lifted his head away from the glass, and slowly tore his eyes from the specim- No, the abused prisoner.
"I will save you, little brother. And I'll make him pay Hell for doing this to you," his rescuer growled loudly, as the devil himself interrupted him with a mad bout of laughter, stalking with an air of smugness into the doorway.
Both had their guns pointed at each other in less than a heartbeat.
It was hard to say who fired first, but both shots found their targets. But only one of them had used a bullet.
With an agonizing scream, Hojo's assailant clutched his right eye in intense pain, found a very tiny, arrow-shaped object in it, and panicked, staggering against a metal table that had wheels. His shaky weight knocked the cart over and shattered its contents - mostly vials of chemicals - all over the floor, where he unfortunately landed.
Scraping his face on some glass.
Choking on some nasty liquid that he just tasted, the ex-lab technician rolled out of the mess with a groan, half-way sat up on his non-wounded arm - and felt with horror a cold tingling in his veins.
It must be poison.
Acting quickly, he ripped the dart out of his eye, screaming loudly again.
The room was spinning, and it was a struggle for him to open his good eye, but he could make out the blurry form of the mad scientist slumped across the room against the wall, an arm over his chest, his own gun out of reach. Laughing.
Laughing!
With a snarl, he shakily lifted his right arm, caked with dried blood, and readied the trigger again-
"You really think you can destroy me, foolish boy?" The scientist goaded him, sneering over his glasses.
In spite of the intense pain in his right eye, which was causing his left eye to tear up all fuzzy, and the dreaded cold feeling of deathly poison tickling his nerves, the half-blinded male began to chuckle, then full-out laugh, without complete reason.
"You're the one with a bullet in the chest, I'm the one with the gun. You tell me," the young man replied with icy humor.
Strangely, Hojo merely smiled back. "I have no need for this body, in fact," the older man continued, while the blonde stared in confusion, still pointing the shotgun at him,"You are about to prove another one of theories correct, and I will later be united with a far stronger body."
Blondie eyed him warily, unsure of how to respond to the weird maniac.
"...Right."
Hojo smirked. The flickering lights, bouncing off of his glasses, gave an even more deranged appearance to the insane, self-proclaimed "god".
"So naive. Even though you are but a worthless pawn to me in the scheme of things, I will share a little secret with you."
Good god. I knew this man was nuts...
But he's beyond batshit crazy, he needs serious pyschiatric help.
Even in his precarious position slumped against the wall, with a visibly growing red blood stain creeping through his labcoat, Hojo's sneer did not fade.
"I have discovered the way to become, immortal! And-"
Definitely mental.
"...fusing my cells with-"
Should I just shoot him now, or let him keep talking?
"...And now that I am finished with this clone's husk-"
Wait, CLONE!? He-
"...I shall utilize a far, far more stronger body for my purposes-"
...would it be worse to shoot him? Wait, no, bullshit, he's just a rambling psycho .
Only half-way listening to the freak anyways, the ex-lab assistant decided to just get it over with, leaning his weight against the wall in an attempt to stand without losing anymore dignity.
Ah, success.
"-Oh, and Nagakuro? Your dear brother was quite the successful experiment."
That sneer. That - that- bastard-
Arm shaking, no longer out of pain, Nagakuro hatefully shot a round into the fiend's leg, "You, YOU!"
"And to think," Hojo continued after a mere yelp, wishing to goad whatever being existed before him until his last breath, "that you, my talented assistant, were the one that made it all possible..."
"SHUT UP!"
-Bang-
Another leg.
Despite the shrill scream- one which the disgusted man was more than happy to hear- Hojo's insanity ruled over pain, and the screech evolved into a terrifying cackle that made his hair stand on end.
It wouldn't stop. The cruel laugh. He just. Wouldn't. Die!
In a frenzy of hatred and panic, Nagakuro shot several more rounds. Although one would have been more than sufficient for the frail body that had already been on the verge of death, the fear and adrenaline pumping through his brain made him fire until the gun was empty.
BANG BANG BANG BANG- click.
The body laid lifeless, pallid, in a pool of red on the floor. A pair of shattered glasses amidst it.
Panting heavily, the blonde turned away. Afraid of the death. Afraid, even more so, of seeing the man - the monster.
A glow of green-ish light made him turn back to look, however.
And he cursed loudly.
Such a psychopath, a heathen, a disgrace to the human race...should not be allowed to emerge into the Lifestream. It was simply not fair.
How many lives had he ruined?
With a cry of anguish, Nagakuro hit his fist angrily against the wall repeatedly, until he slid down it in despair, finally falling unconscious to the poison.
A/N: (Read if Curious about Hojo, but spoilers for DoC ahead, caution)
So how many pplz are happy Hojo is temporarily dead? At least until Weiss in Dirge of Cerberus? XD In DoC, there's that speech he made about how he realized that even after implanting Jenova cells into himself that his body was not strong enough to deal with Jenova's will, a side effect he hadn't counted on. And how he then captured the essence of his DNA into basically the internet or something similarly worded and was able from there to get reborn into Weiss with assistance from Nero, under the scheme that it would be helping his "dear" brother...
I figured, why not let Hojo learn through trial and error that he couldn't use a clone of his own body first? There are so many things that go wrong with clones, after all. It would be something Hojo would want to show his superiority as a scientist at.
MUAHAHAHA.
I wasn't quite sure if I captured well enough. After all, it's through the eyes of Blondie - who FINALLY has a name, go me! XD If you're curious, "Nagakuro" translates to "eternal black", which will mean more later, believe me. ;)
Such a pity I couldn't have someone else like Vincent kill him, who deserves the honor more, but Vincent does in Dirge so that's alright. (+Momentarily drools over Chaos Vincent badass pictures before returning+)
Right then. I guess that's it for now. Next is Amelia and Sephiroth, who wow geez I've left them too long, I need to write for them soon XD Hopefully it wont take as long to complete...ah who am I kidding XD These Chapters are LOOOONG. Me being a perfectionist doesnt help the time thing, lol. Ah well.
If you've managed to actually read this far, then please review!
Reviews feed my plot bunnies!!! :P
PlotBunny: +bounces by+