Tale of the
Snow Queen
By Inarae
ginabrae@aol.com
I've been informed that this story can be read to be happening
in the lifestream. I'll edit it to
correct that soon, but for now, just know that it doesn't. Sorry about the confusion!
Disclaimer: Final
Fantasy seven and all associated characters, worlds, and ideas belong to Square
Soft and probably a lot of other people.
I don't intend any infringement of their rights, I'm just chatting about
my views of some characters to other fans.
Absolutely no money being made by anyone in any shape or form. That's allowed, right?
PS. Is there a Final
Fantasy Fanfiction mailing list? Anyone
interested if I start one? See the
author's notes at the end.
Rating: PG-17. Ok, maybe PG-13. I don't know. It's above
G but I don't think it qualifies as R by a long shot.
******************************************************************
I was born
Maria Ann Walters to a family of storekeepers in Junon. I had two brothers and three sisters; my
parents must have liked kids. I like to
imagine this happy, chaotic, noisy family, full of love, but maybe they were
really alcoholics who didn't practice birth control. Maybe they sold me to Shinra for a case of beer. I don't know, because I never met them. All I know about myself I learned from two
small pieces of paper stapled to the back of my shell when I awoke. Yes, I can read. I'm not sure how. Maybe
they were trying an experimental sleep-learning procedure on me while I was
growing in that round metal machine. I
think they were trying to make me into some sort of soldier. That's all human scientists really seem
interested in after all. That doesn't
bother me as much as it used to though, because it means they probably used the
data from me to create him. I think I'm
proud of that, even though I share the honor with billions of other monsters
throughout the world.
When I
hatched, and yes, I use that word even though it's supposed to refer to
animals- I'm a monster after all;
that's close enough, there was a team of scientists standing ready as I blinked
and cowered away from the first light I had seen in my life. They tied me down to a table and began
running experiments. When they finished
with me they threw me away. Shinra
scientists have some ethics, apparently, however few, and they apparently match
the number of brain cells, because they just led me out of the complex and went
back inside. Even they couldn't kill as
many creatures that had once been human as they were running through there
without some pang of guilt apparently.
It was stupid because most of us just went off to kill humans- if we
didn't stay to slaughter each other. We
didn't know any better, and humans had hurt us, and we were hungry, and there
weren't enough animals around. Yes, animals. Humans call us all monsters, once human or
not. But some are actually supposed to
be this way, so I call them animals. If
they look partially human, they probably are.
But there are monsters who look completely like animals, but have human
minds. Like frogs. It's a sad life.
The
laboratory complex was somewhere near the equator, or at least south of here by
a good deal. I mean that it was
hot. Painfully hot to me. There's a human saying about blood like
ice. It means a person who doesn't
care. For me, it's kind of the
opposite. Whatever the liquid in my
veins is, it's not based on water. It's
got a really low boiling point. Ten
degrees below zero, it functions like blood.
Ten degrees above, it begins to turn to gas. I don't know how I got to the northern continent, with it's snow
and glaciers. Perhaps some instinct,
although that seems to imply adaptation to one's environment, and that requires
evolution and I certainly have none of that.
Perhaps it was the planet guiding me here in pity. Yes, I can feel the planet. Not hear it, the way the Cetra theoretically
could, but a feeling. I know when it's
hurt. I know I don't belong to it. And there's something inside of me that
hates it and causes occasional flashes of pain that drive me into a murderous
rage.
The first
time it happened, I had stumbled across a pair of men scaling the Northern
Glacier. Humans think it's fun to do
things like that apparently. I was
lonely. Not that I really knew what
company was. There are others of my
kind here, but most of them don't have any brains. I don't know if the experiments burned the intelligence out of
the weak ones, or if they had done something special to those of us who can
think. It's not a blessing, trust
me. In any case, I somehow sensed that
I wanted to approach those men. So I
did. They were terrified when I
appeared, with my purplish brown skin and glowing red eyes. But they were interested too. They invited me to stay, with gentle
gestures and silly noises. I remember
how surprised they were to learn that I could talk. They also taught me how to use spices on food, for which I am
eternally grateful. Eternally. . . yes, we monsters live a long time. I think it was seven centuries ago that I
hatched. And we breed like
rabbits. Humans kill us when they can,
but we reproduce too quickly for them to keep up, that's why there's so many of
us. Anyhow, then the pain came, and I
felt like my body was tearing me apart.
When I recovered, the men were dead, spears of ice through their
bodies. The second time I tried to
associate with humans, I ended up
pregnant.
If few first generation monsters
have brains, second generations never do.
Even when one parent is human, apparently. I named her Lydia, and she's beautiful and about as intelligent
as a dog. I knew by then that most
humans lived together after they mated.
I thought he'd want to see her.
So I went down into the nearest human town to find him.
They hated me. They tried to kill me. They called me monster, evil, demoness. When I explained that my child had a human
father, they hissed at me and called me seductress and whore. Perhaps I had seduced the man. I'm not quite sure what seduction is, but I
know my magic does affect men's minds, confusing them. I've seen men attack their comrades when I
appear. So perhaps they were right. And I've killed humans. Together that qualifies me for evil I
suppose. But humans think that he's
evil too, so I don't mind.
He's nice to Lydia despite her
heritage, even though I told him all about her when we first met, trying to see
if he would run away or try to kill me.
He just looked at me and raised an eyebrow. He's always nice to all of us.
There's a
species of reptilian monster around here that flies and spits ice like I
do. They look like small dragons, so I
call them ice dragons. One of the men
who came up here had a chocobo, and decided I wanted a pet too. So I asked him how he did it. He told me that he got it young and feed it,
so it loves him now. So I stole an egg
from a mamma dragon and gave it fresh meat when it hatched. His name is Sydney, and he's still with
me. Ice dragons are fiercely
loyal. Sydney fights off anything that
threatens me. I'm sure he'd die for me,
if it came down to that. I wanted him
to protect Lydia actually, but he'll only serve me. So I got another egg, and taught Lydia how to raise it. Now most of the ice women around here have
dragons. I'm not sure if they're Lydia's
descendents or if the others just watched us and thought it was a good idea,
but it makes me happy I helped them.
I keep
mentioning him, but I haven't explained him to you yet, have I? He's tall, and strong, with hair as long and
silver as mine, but the his silver is brilliant and polished, like jewelry
that's been well cared for. The silver
of my hair looks rather tarnished, mingled with greens and browns that blend in
with the rocks peeking through the ice and snow. His eyes are strange like mine also; they glow like the moon, but
his are the intense color of the southern grasslands that I vaguely remember
from all those centuries ago. He ought
to fit in well here, all silver and black leather and tanned skin, but those
eyes. . . everyone who sees him knows he isn't truly a creature of winter. He came a year ago.
He doesn't mind when the conflict
and pain inside of me hurts so bad I just want to kill, and I lash out at him
with gale force winds and shards of ice, or strike at him with spells of
confusion and seduction. He just
catches my arms and holds me till it passes.
He barely even feels any of it, so strong is he. I can't hurt him, and I love him for that.
He doesn't
love me, but that's ok. I'm the queen
of the snow women, and now I have company.
He even brings me books, and music, and videos from the human world. And he tells me stories about it. About a male named Cloud and a female named
Tifa, who run a restaurant in a big city and argue a lot. He says he doesn't make it up, that he
somehow knows what's happening hundreds of miles away. I laugh, but keep coming back for more. I'm not sure why he remains so closely tied
to the human world. Perhaps because
that's where he grew up. I keep trying
to convince him to be happy here, but he's just not interested. He wants to watch the humans, to interact
with them. I'll give him time. He told me he has a long lifespan too, so I
can wait. He's still young, and I
wanted to be with humans too, once, before I decided I hated them.
I'm not
sure if he counts as human or one of us, but I'm glad he's here.
*************************************************************************************
This story takes place after the
game, and after a long story called "To Define Evil" that I'm in the process of
writing. Since I want to finish before
I post any so I can make sure it all fits together, here's a summary of
it. Sephiroth is back, and after a lot
of fighting, etc., has sworn to leave mankind alone. He's gone off to live near the Northern Crater to avoid people,
but watches Cloud through his mind for human interaction.
The first snow lady I saw seemed to
have a strong personality, and I wondered what she had thought about Sephiroth
when he came through. Somehow I thought
their personalities would match well, perhaps for no other reason than that
they're both gorgeous and look kind of similar, almost like they were related
somehow. The idea sat on the back
burner for months, and then a few days
ago I was trying to decide where to put Sephiroth at the end of my story, and
decided on the Northern Crater. Then
this sprung forth. Hope you enjoyed it. By the way, does anyone know if there's a
Final Fantasy (any version) fanfiction mailing list? Is anyone interested in joining if I start one? Mainly just so I catch most of the new
fiction coming out, but also for editing help, questions about the game for use
while writing, and to discuss ideas.
Tell me what you think at ginabrae@aol.com
I also have a webpage at http://www.geocities.com/ginabrae/index.html with other fanfiction I did - some really
bad, some pretty good, but the rough draft of the first half or so of "To Define Evil" is there.
I have another web page with a
translation of the Japanese manga (comic) Tenma no Ketsuzoku i.e. Clan of the
Tenma i.e. Crystal Lord Opera at http://www.geocities.com/ginabrae/clomain.html
Just a little shameless self
promotion, couldn't resist.
