Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, but I borrowed the game from a friend and loved it. Yes, I'm being literal. Squaresoft (Square Enix now?) created Final Fantasy VII, so I'm happy to say that they own it. The own every single Final Fantasy. This story is dedicated to all those anonymous soldiers who just happen to be in certain places at certain times, and always die. It could probably go for any FF game with a war or soldiers in it. I just kinda wrote it because I felt like it, not trying to write well or anything. And if you do not know what "anonymous" means, look it up.
PS. Random comment, but I spent half of writing this listening to FF7 music, and the other half listening to "Petrouchka" by Igor Stravinsky. If you do not know who this person is, or what the piece of music, I would suggest studying some classical music. ^_^; Sorry, just had to put that down.
The Anonymous Soldier who Always Dies
By Mewgia
Bob never really knew what was going on. He was just an ordinary Shinra soldier, who'd grown up in Midgar and was happy in Midgar. Life included training, fighting the occasional thug from the slums, fighting the occasional monster, and basically, being a fighter. Bob had served in the war between Wutai and Shinra, and was proud to say he'd survived it all.
So obviously, he was rather surprised when a dragon used Flame Thrower on him and found everything going black.
Soon, Bob the Shinra Soldier realized that having everything dark was kinda unnerving, and tried waking up. Didn't work.
Suddenly, he heard a voice speaking to him.
BOB, YOU WILL BE AT THE TRAIN STATION BY THE SECTOR 1 REACTOR.
"Why?" Bob asked. "Am I dead?"
YES YOU ARE DEAD.
Bob felt rather confused and sad. "If I'm dead, then why am I going to be at the train station by the Sector 1 Reactor?"
YOU ARE AN ANONYMOUS SOLDIER. WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS GET PAST MY SECURITY MEASURES AND GO STRAIGHT TO THE LIFESTREAM. SO WE NEED TO REUSE A FEW.
"I beg your pardon!" Bob yelled at the Voice. "I am not an anonymous soldier, I am Bob the soldier!!!"
YOU ARE MOST DEFINITELY AN ANONYMOUS SOLDIER. AND I HAVE MANAGED TO STOP YOU FROM GOING INTO THE LIFESTREAM. SO YOU ARE GOING BACK.
"HEY!!!" Bob yelled again, extremely confused and angry. But before he could protest...
*(Weird swooshy music)*
Bob found himself at the Sector 1 Train Station.
The other soldier stared at the newcomer. "How'd you get here?"
"I dunno, I died and then someone told me I'm an anonymous soldier so I had to come back," Bob explained.
The other soldier stared. "That's interesting. Anyway, the next train is coming up. Ya hear it?"
Bob listened around the corner and heard a train pull up. "Yeah."
A few moments later, they also heard the surprised grunts of guards from around the corner, and three people ran by their location. The two soldiers stared.
Bob scratched his head. "That's not right."
A moment later, a large black man with a gun for a right arm shot past.
The two soldiers looked at each other. They ran around the corner to where the train was. "Attack!!" they both cried, only to be met by a man with spiky blonde hair in a SOLDIER outfit and a sword bigger than himself.
Unfortunately, their efforts were in vain. The man used his regular attack and killed both soldiers.
*(Weird swooshy sound)*
Bob winced. "This isn't fair!!" he yelled at the darkness, knowing the Voice would respond.
NOTHING IS MEANT TO BE FAIR. THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE AN ANONYMOUS SOLDIER IN AN RPG GAME.
"RPG game? What's that?"
The Voice paused as if it had realized it had accidentally let out a clue.
YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT SORT OF STUFF. YOUR NEXT LOCATION IS SECTOR 1 AGAIN, ONLY IN THE STREETS.
Bob was not excited. "Thank you for at least telling me what's going on."
*(Weird wooshy sound again)*
Bob looked at the surroundings and found himself with a group of other soldiers, who were all staring at where the Sector 1 Reactor used to be. Bob gasped.
"What happened to the reactor?!" he yelled at the other soldiers, who all turned and were surprised at his entrance.
"A bunch of terrorists blew it up! We're supposed to be trying to find those responsible," one of the soldiers informed Bob.
Suddenly, a man with spiky blonde hair (the same one from earlier) ran past. Bob stared for a moment, before pointing him out to the others. "Hey! He killed me and another soldier!" he yelled.
Although the other soldiers gave Bob funny looks, they all went after the man.
Bob and another soldier were the first up. The man turned, looking at them with mako-colored eyes. Bob gasped, realizing...
The man chose to fight and not run and killed Bob and the other soldier.
*(Wooshy sound)*
"He was in SOLDIER!!! I just got killed twice by a guy from SOLDIER!!!! HE MUST BE AN EX-SOLDIER!!!!!" Bob yelled into the darkness.
I SHOULD EXPECT THAT YOU FIGURED THAT OUT FROM YOUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE MAN.
Bob felt very insignificant. "I'm gonna get killed again aren't I?"
THAT IS THE INTENT. YOU ARE AN ANONYMOUS SOLDIER. THERE'S NOT MUCH ANONYMOUS SOLDIERS CAN DO IN RPG GAMES EXCEPT GET KILLED BY THE MAIN CHARACTER.
"What?!?!"
UH...I SHOULD NOT HAVE SAID THAT. ANYWAY, HAVE FUN IN SECTOR 5!
*(whooshy sound)*
Reno turned, surprised to see an extra soldier behind him, plus the two he'd brought. "So they sent another to help me get the Ancient?"
"Wha?" Bob asked.
"Never mind." Reno turned away from Bob, muttering to himself about how soldiers were incapable of doing many things. "I'm going in first to see if I can get the Ancient by myself. I will call you if you are needed."
Reno walked into the church, talking for a while.
Bob scratched his head. Everything was too strange for him to take in. Especially the entire deal with RPG games and main character and the whole part about him being an anonymous soldier.
Reno called in the soldiers, and Bob rushed in along with the other two. He caught a glimpse of a familiar person – a man with spiky blonde hair.
A short conversation happened, ending with the man running off with the Ancient, and Reno running over a bunch of flowers. "Don't step on the flowers!"
Bob yelled back in protest, along with the other soldiers. "Hey, you just stepped on them!"
Reno shrugged, and the group ran through the back door of the church.
At Reno's command, the soldiers shot up close to the Ancient girl, causing her to fall from her place on the stairs. Bob managed to corner the girl after she fell, finally happy that he was living longer than a few minutes. His joy was short lived, when a large heavy barrel fell on top of him.
*Woosh!*
"Lemme guess," Bob sighed, "It was that guy again."
YES.
"You're not very talkative are you?"
ONLY WHEN I NEED TO BE.
"Uh huh. Let's see, I've been killed three times now, and you STILL won't let me go to the Lifestream and die a humble death!"
BECAUSE YOU ARE CAUGHT IN MY SPECIAL CIRCLE OF ANONYMOUS PEOPLE. YOU ARE AN RPG ANONYMOUS SOLDIER. DEAL WITH IT.
Bob glared into the space where he supposed the Voice was. "I hate you," he said finally.
WELL, LET'S SEE...IT SEEMS THAT WE HAVE A GREATER ABUNDANCE OF ANONYMOUS SOLDIERS AT THE MOMENT, SO YOU GET TO WAIT UNTIL DISC 2.
Bob raised an eyebrow. "Disc 2? What?!"
YOU WILL BE FREE TO GO ONCE DISC 3 HAS BEEN COMPLETED.
Bob sat in space for a while, contemplating his fate. The Voice kept saying he was an RPG game character. And said things about discs. So, trying to figure some things out, and deciding he did not want to stay just an anonymous soldier, he asked the Voice a question.
"Are there any RPG games in the world?"
WHY DO YOU ASK?
"I just wanna know."
POSSIBLY. THE GAMERS WOULD NOT KNOW, BECAUSE ANOTHER RPG IN AN RPG WOULD BE CONFUDDLING.
"Whatsit stand for?"
ROLE-PLAYING-GAME.
Bob snapped his fingers. He understood, kinda. But he was rather depressed by the news. "So, the entire world is simply part of a game..." he said to himself. "And discs...that must be how they work..."
The Voice seemed to realize its error.
FORGET EVERYTHING YOU JUST LEARNED.
"I can't do that!!!" Bob yelled.
THEN DO NOT MENTION THIS TO ANYONE. OH, AND YOU CAN GO BACK INTO YOUR WORLD NOW.
*Whooshy sound again*
The Voice sat back, if you can say it could. The whole business was annoying. Messing with NPC's, and especially that Bob character. The only soldier it had managed to stop from going straight to the Lifestream. Once the game was over, it could relax again.
*wooshy sound yet again*
Bob came back, none too happy. "Not funny!" he yelled at the Voice. "You make me go back, only to find that Meteor's gonna' hit the planet, and there are large monsters of mass destruction called Weapons roaming about, and then I get killed by one! Sapphire Weapon! And especially since you consider me anonymous, and an NPC, I will prove to you that I am not JUST an anonymous soldier!!"
GO AWAY.
The Voice was bored.
*Whoosh!*
Very bored.
Bob, still extremely angry, found himself in charge of a train heading on a track. Not sure of what to do, but fully expecting his death, Bob sat and commandeered the train for a while, ignoring the sounds of battle behind him.
When he finally heard the sound of someone behind him, he lazily turned around, and was surprised to see, not the strange EX-SOLDIER he had encountered in the past, but instead, a somewhat familiar man with goggles, blond hair, a spear, and a cigarette in his mouth.
"You – You – Cid Highwind?!?!" Bob stared in shock. He remembered the man as the one chosen to pilot the Shinra NO. 26, but attacking a train on a track…?
"Sorry, but you gotta die!" Cid quickly speared the man in front of him, and hurried to try and stop the train from crashing through North Corel.
*Whoosh!*
Bob was not amused. After all, would you be amused if you found someone you had heard much about in the past sticking a spear through you? See, now you understand Bob's level of enjoyment about this whole thing.
YOU NEXT DESTINATION IS –
"I don't wanna know, I don't wanna know!!!" Bob yelled, covering his ears and closing his eyes.
The Voice raised an eyebrow. Maybe sending the anonymous soldier everywhere was beginning to mess up the man's head.
MAYBE I JUST WON'T TELL YOU THEN.
"Never mind!!!" Bob uncovered his ears and looked up attentively. No, he did not simply look, he looooooooooooooked.
The Voice stared. Bob had scary eyes when he looooooooooooooked.
YOU WILL BE IN JUNON. YOU WILL BE GUARDING A SUBMARINE. HAVE FUN.
Bob now loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooked.
The Voice immediately sent Bob away before the scariness of the eyes destroyed his own power. For in reality…
Looooooooking was the only weakness of power the Voice had.
*Whoosh!!*
Bob had just realized this as he found himself at the underground reactor at Junon. He looked around, sitting in front of the submarine, not really amounting himself to anything. He knew he was going to die…so why bother trying?
He knew why he had to. The "Anonymous" Soldiers had to resist!!
He ran to the end of the platform and yelled to another soldier there, "Send a message to everyone in the army! Say, 'Don't Enter the Lifestream, and Don't be Anonymous!'"
The soldier looked at him like he was crazy.
"JUST DO IT!!!" Bob shouted, and the other soldier slowly went away to take the order, somewhat confused.
At that moment, The EX-SOLDIER ran up, followed by Cid from earlier and Wutaian girl ninja with a large shuriken. The seemed to be heading for the submarine, conversing slightly with themselves, and running towards it.
One of the soldiers by the submarine noticed. He shouted, "Intruders! Protect the submarine!"
At those words, the remaining soldiers (plus Bob) ran up to the dock where the submarine was and found themselves running aimlessly around the entrance to the submarine. The EX-SOLDIER glanced at them with interest.
"Why are we doing this?" one of the soldiers suddenly commented, not really knowing why his feet were carrying him around the submarine dock without stopping.
"Because...we are anonymous soldiers," Bob sighed sadly.
"Huh?" was the simultaneous reply of the other soldiers.
Before Bob could reply anything else, the EX-Soldier, along with Cid and the ninja ran up and attacked easily dispatching the group of soldiers and continuing on into the submarine.
*Whoosh!*
Bob sighed. He hoped his plan would work, but really wasn't sure how everything would turn out. All he knew was that he was back in the weird dark area with the Voice.
HAHAHA. ENJOYED?
Bob looooooooked.
The Voice shuddered.
Bob yelled, "The Anonymous soldiers will strike back!!"
LIKE THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK IN THAT STAR WARS MOVIE?
Bob lifted an eyebrow. He had no idea what Star Wars was.
HMPH. NPC'S. THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT BIGGS AND WEDGE FROM EARLIER IN THE GAME WERE NAMED AFTER STAR WARS CHARACTERS.
Bob did some more looooooooooking.
The Voice winced.
UMMM...YOU GET TO GO TO THE SHINRA TOWER NOW!! BYE BYE!!!
*Whoosh!*
When Bob found himself at the tower, he also found himself surrounded by confused soldiers.
"What do you think that message meant, 'Don't be anonymous?'" one of the higher ranking soldiers asked.
Bob suddenly found himself shouting out. "Because we are simply the machinations of random people's minds and all we are are anonymous soldiers who fill in space and have to be killed! Which is why we will stop it and not let ourselves simply be used as tools!"
The other soldiers stared. "Are you okay?" a SOLDIER member asked him, raising an eyebrow.
Bob shook his head. "No!! We're all gonna die! We must start a rebellion!!"
Although the other soldiers didn't understand the behavior of their fellow soldier, they listened in.
Bob filled them in on his strange plan.
And then the tower was destroyed by Diamond WEAPON. Along with Rufus, the current Shinra president, and many soldiers.
*Whoosh!*
The Voice was stunned to find a huge army of soldiers standing in front of it, led by a few SOLDIER members and a familiar face...
ANONYMOUS SOLDIER!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!
"The Anonymous soldiers are rebelling!!" he cried out, followed with shouts from the other soldiers as they finally realized what was going on.
YOU CANNOT REBEL. YOU ARE...A PUPPET.
The Voice generally had fun quoting random people. But it did not expect the next actions of the army.
The soldiers all looooked.
GASP!!!
The Voice had never done that before.
Bob gave an evil laugh. And the soldiers all continued. They all loooooooooooked.
AAAAGGHH!!!!
The Voice did not expect any of this. And so, it immediately set up a state of emergency back in the game.
~~~~~~
The gamer stared at his television set, as he completed his battle with Jenova-Synthesis and heard a scream. After all...there still wasn't any real recordings of human voices in the game, except in the case of the last song, "One Winged Angel"...
The gamer continued playing, deciding to ignore the last moment.
~~~~~~
The soldiers continued with their looooooooooooooooking.
The Voice continued shrieking in horror.
The gamer continued to be confused by the sudden random shrieks he heard during his final battle with Sephiroth. Maybe his friend had scratched the disk the many times she had played it...
~~~~~~
AAAAAAAAAAAAGGHH!!!! YOU'RE RUINING THE GAME ENDING!!!!
"Serves you right!!!" Bob yelled in his crazed manner, as he and the large army of soldiers continued their loooooooooooooooking.
~~~~~~
Meteor refused to give up its assault on the Planet. Holy wasn't helping, due to the fact the Voice was too busy with the many Anonymous soldiers.
Red XIII stared out from his vantage point on the Highwind. "It's too late for Holy. Meteor is approaching the Planet. Holy is having the opposite effect. Forget Midgar, we've gotta worry about the Planet!"
~~~~~
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA –
The Voice collapsed from overusing its voicebox.
"Hurry!! Enter the Lifestream!!" Bob shouted to the other soldiers.
The soldiers disappeared from the dark area, along with Bob.
Aeris looked on, deciding she had to do something. She also left the strange dark place, since she'd entered to find out what the commotion was.
By the time the Voice had recovered from its bout of loooooooooking, (it shivered as it remembered that), it realized that it Bob had just caused the entire end FMV to occur...so everything had still worked out perfectly. The Voice leaned back in its easy chair and listened to the ending music of the game. It thought Bob was increasingly annoying, but after all, he was simply an anonymous soldier.
Although Bob had tried his hardest to prove to the Voice that he was not a simply anonymous soldier, he did not realize that there was nothing he could do. He would forever be an anonymous soldier.
The Voice was just glad that he no longer had to worry about the annoying man.
"AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGHHH!!!!!" Bob yelled as a familiar teenager with brown hair, double belts, and a scar across his forehead and nose slashed him in half with a gunblade. "Why me? WHY ME?!?! WHHYYYYYYY MEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!?!?!?!"
The End
(A/N): Okay, the ending sucks. I wasn't trying to be good or anything...the story just popped up out of nowhere while I was doing homework...
Five points is you can guess who the familiar guy in the last scene is. I hope you know.