Note:
What you are about to read is a murder mystery fan fiction based on the characters and geography of Final Fantasy VII. Any event from the game beyond receiving the black materia did not occur for the sake of this fan fic. Aeris remains alive, Sephiroth has completely vanished, and the black materia has been hidden forever so it may never be used. Sorry for the brief and rather lame explanation, but I'm not going to make up the tedious details of events that did not even occur in and are not important to this story.
As mentioned in the quick profile, this story is rated 'R' for explicit blood, gore, and mild language. You have now been warned, twice in fact.
Try to unravel the mystery of the murderer, and see if you can figure out their motives by the end of Chapter Six. Read on, and enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter One: First Blood
Tifa sat quietly on the couch with a large bowl of popcorn, attentively watching the television set. It was late Friday night and Cloud was at the bar with some friends, but Aeris was home with her. At the moment she was upstairs getting something to quench their unbelievable thirst from their salty snack. They were watching a scary movie, and there was a great thunderstorm raging outside contributing to the atmosphere. All the lights in the house were also out, partly because Cloud had blown a fuse, but also to create a spooky effect on the household for their Late Night Scary Movie Fest. The girls had phoned Yuffie to join in on their Fest, but she was out. Too bad; now that they had gotten to know her she was quite fun to be around.
Tifa continued to watch. She had offered to pause the movie while Aeris was upstairs, but she had declined. Tifa suspected that she was a bit frightened, being a touch weak of stomach, and had wanted to leave anyway. True, the effect of the surround sound system, high volume, and previously mentioned atmospherical effects made the movie seem frighteningly real. Tifa smiled slightly: she enjoyed frighteningly real movies, even if her friend did not.
Speaking of whom, Aeris certainly was taking her time. It had been several minutes now. Perhaps twenty. Where had she gotten to? It should only have taken her a moment to grab a couple of sodas and return downstairs. Even if she had paused on the way up to attend to some private function, she should have been back long ago. She wouldn't have left Tifa to watch the movie alone just because she was afraid. What had happened?
Tifa was a tough girl. She didn't fear many things, and she could certainly defend herself well. But the combined effect of the scary movie, absence of light, and phenomenal storm had generated a certain fear for her closest friend. She decided to get up and investigate. Setting the bowl of popcorn aside, Tifa ventured slowly up the staircase and into the hall.
"Aeris! You ok?" she called. No answer. Strange, Aeris was most polite and had always answered when spoken to. Tifa's heart thundered in her chest. Something was definitely wrong. She now had a very bad feeling. She should have gotten up and checked on her sooner. What was going on?
Tifa wandered into the kitchen, where her friend's destination had been. The fridge door was slightly ajar, but that wasn't anything new; it was old and stubborn, and rarely ever closed properly. Still, it worried her even more. Aeris was not here. Where was she?
"Aeris?" she tried again. A dull roar of thunder and crack of lightning sounded in response. Tifa shivered. She closed the refrigerator door and made sure it stayed shut. Then she walked through the kitchen towards the dining room.
Here, something was definitely amiss. A chair was thrown across the room. Two bottles of soda were in shatters on the ground. The dining table was pushed slightly to the side, the tablecloth falling off and the gorgeous vase of flowers, a gift from Cloud, which once served as a centrepiece had spilled onto the floor. Dark footprints from the spilled water and soda led out of the room. Aeris' footprints.
Alarmed, Tifa stalked cautiously towards the foyer, where the footprints led. She stopped to pick up half of a broken bottle; it would make do for a crude weapon.
A deafening clap of thunder sounded, a blinding flash of lightning filled the room. Tifa jumped. The light revealed the true colour of the footprints and the spilled liquid: it was deep red. Blood red. Tifa ran to the foyer. There, by the open door, was Aeris. Dripping with blood, heart torn from her chest, her corpse lay draped across the floor. Even the booming thunderclaps could not drown Tifa's piercing scream; it could be heard throughout all of Nibelheim.
What you are about to read is a murder mystery fan fiction based on the characters and geography of Final Fantasy VII. Any event from the game beyond receiving the black materia did not occur for the sake of this fan fic. Aeris remains alive, Sephiroth has completely vanished, and the black materia has been hidden forever so it may never be used. Sorry for the brief and rather lame explanation, but I'm not going to make up the tedious details of events that did not even occur in and are not important to this story.
As mentioned in the quick profile, this story is rated 'R' for explicit blood, gore, and mild language. You have now been warned, twice in fact.
Try to unravel the mystery of the murderer, and see if you can figure out their motives by the end of Chapter Six. Read on, and enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter One: First Blood
Tifa sat quietly on the couch with a large bowl of popcorn, attentively watching the television set. It was late Friday night and Cloud was at the bar with some friends, but Aeris was home with her. At the moment she was upstairs getting something to quench their unbelievable thirst from their salty snack. They were watching a scary movie, and there was a great thunderstorm raging outside contributing to the atmosphere. All the lights in the house were also out, partly because Cloud had blown a fuse, but also to create a spooky effect on the household for their Late Night Scary Movie Fest. The girls had phoned Yuffie to join in on their Fest, but she was out. Too bad; now that they had gotten to know her she was quite fun to be around.
Tifa continued to watch. She had offered to pause the movie while Aeris was upstairs, but she had declined. Tifa suspected that she was a bit frightened, being a touch weak of stomach, and had wanted to leave anyway. True, the effect of the surround sound system, high volume, and previously mentioned atmospherical effects made the movie seem frighteningly real. Tifa smiled slightly: she enjoyed frighteningly real movies, even if her friend did not.
Speaking of whom, Aeris certainly was taking her time. It had been several minutes now. Perhaps twenty. Where had she gotten to? It should only have taken her a moment to grab a couple of sodas and return downstairs. Even if she had paused on the way up to attend to some private function, she should have been back long ago. She wouldn't have left Tifa to watch the movie alone just because she was afraid. What had happened?
Tifa was a tough girl. She didn't fear many things, and she could certainly defend herself well. But the combined effect of the scary movie, absence of light, and phenomenal storm had generated a certain fear for her closest friend. She decided to get up and investigate. Setting the bowl of popcorn aside, Tifa ventured slowly up the staircase and into the hall.
"Aeris! You ok?" she called. No answer. Strange, Aeris was most polite and had always answered when spoken to. Tifa's heart thundered in her chest. Something was definitely wrong. She now had a very bad feeling. She should have gotten up and checked on her sooner. What was going on?
Tifa wandered into the kitchen, where her friend's destination had been. The fridge door was slightly ajar, but that wasn't anything new; it was old and stubborn, and rarely ever closed properly. Still, it worried her even more. Aeris was not here. Where was she?
"Aeris?" she tried again. A dull roar of thunder and crack of lightning sounded in response. Tifa shivered. She closed the refrigerator door and made sure it stayed shut. Then she walked through the kitchen towards the dining room.
Here, something was definitely amiss. A chair was thrown across the room. Two bottles of soda were in shatters on the ground. The dining table was pushed slightly to the side, the tablecloth falling off and the gorgeous vase of flowers, a gift from Cloud, which once served as a centrepiece had spilled onto the floor. Dark footprints from the spilled water and soda led out of the room. Aeris' footprints.
Alarmed, Tifa stalked cautiously towards the foyer, where the footprints led. She stopped to pick up half of a broken bottle; it would make do for a crude weapon.
A deafening clap of thunder sounded, a blinding flash of lightning filled the room. Tifa jumped. The light revealed the true colour of the footprints and the spilled liquid: it was deep red. Blood red. Tifa ran to the foyer. There, by the open door, was Aeris. Dripping with blood, heart torn from her chest, her corpse lay draped across the floor. Even the booming thunderclaps could not drown Tifa's piercing scream; it could be heard throughout all of Nibelheim.