Imprisonment
Reid awoke with a jolt. His head snapped up and he observed his surroundings. He was in a dark room. A small doorway across the room provided him with a bright, yet eerie light. He was inside a dungeon, Reid decided. He tried to stand up, but his arms and legs wouldn't budge. Frantically, Reid looked down at himself. Chains bound his feet and arms to the wall and floor.
"What's happening?" He wondered nervously. He tugged at the chains with all his might, but to no avail. They held together tightly. Reid's eyes darted to the other side of the room. Propped up again the wall was his staff, the holy material glowed softly. Reid tugged at the chains again.
"Help! Somebody help!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. A voice wafted outside of one of the dark doorways.
"Nobody can hear you." It whispered. Terrified, Reid closed his eyes tightly. All he could hear was the pulsing of his own heart. The voice lashed out again.
"Oh, …are you scared?" It whispered again. Reid, with his eyes still shut, nodded slowly.
"Good." The voice laughed coldly. Reid opened his eyes with fright.
In front of him stood a man with a long black trench coat, long white hair, sharp facial features and the longest sword Reid had ever seen. The man sneered at him while leaning in closely to Reid, and he could feel the man's frigid breath.
"The name's Sephiroth."
* * * *
"Don't bother fighting, Cid." Aeris crooned. "There's no use. You can't defeat me."
Aeris' eyes flashed menacingly. "You can't escape either. I've locked the entrances."
Cid looked up at her and gritted his teeth.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked and tightened his fists. Aeris gave a little shrug and walked closer to them, her shoes tapping loudly on the stone floor.
"Hmm." She held her chin with one hand. "Perhaps… it's because it's what you programmed me to do?" She suggested mockingly. Cid shook his head furiously.
"NO! I never to said to do this, I said to-" Cid's voice broke. Aeris smiled at him.
"…You said to… kill?" She laughed. "That's what you programmed us to do." Rain turned to Cid and trembled.
"Cid, what's she talking about? You programmed her?" She stuttered. Aeris rolled her eyes.
"Of course he did, you fool. He is the famous Jim Perry, after all." She spat at Rain.
Rain looked at Aeris, and then at Cid again. Her eyes widened.
"You're Jim Perry? The guy whose fiancé died? You created the virus?" She stammered. Cid nodded quietly.
Rain looked down at her feet. Aeris sighed and leaned on her staff, bored. Cid stared her down.
"What are you planning to do?" He asked her quietly. Aeris laughed again.
* * * *
"What are you planning to do?" Sephiroth laughed again and sat down on a large stone block across from Reid.
"What do you think I'm going to do?" He stared directly into Reid's eyes. Reid looked away, uncomfortable.
"What do viruses do in the real world?" Sephiroth queried Reid, as if this was sort of guessing game. Reid shook his head uneasily.
"They get people sick, I suppose." Reid guessed. Sepherioth shook his head in disapproval.
"No, that's not all of it. Shall I give you the exact definition?" He stood up and straightened his coat.
"Virus, n.
1.Poison, disease, infection, replicate itself to overwhelm host."
Sephiroth sat down again. Reid understood and let his head droop.
"There's more than one of you?" Reid asked weakly. Sephiroth sat down again.
"Correct."
"You're insane." Reid muttered. Sephiroth responded with a slight smile. Then he stared into Reid's eyes again.
"Don't you see? What I plan to do is…" He stood up and walked over to the bright doorway. The light pouring from the room caused him to appear as a sort of creepy silhouette, an unholy shadow.
"What I plan to do is to purge this world of evil." Sephiroth whispered into the wind that blew into the room. Reid shook his head.
"What? Purge?" He tugged on the metal chains. "What are you saying?"
Sephiroth laughed and walked back into the room.
"Complete chaste." He told himself, staring up into the ceiling. "A world… without humans."
* * * *
"You're crazy!" Rain shrieked at Aeris. The long arm raised her eyebrows.
"Oh? Am I?" She asked Rain. Cid glared at her and then lowered his head understandingly.
"Deadly Flash." He muttered.
"That's right!" Aeris clapped. "A massive Deadly Flash… isn't it amazing?" Aeris smiled at the both of them.
"A flash that will be seen by players all around 'The World.' How many people are logged onto the game everyday? Twenty million?" Aeris giggled. Rain glanced at Cid.
"Deadly flash?" She asked. Cid turned his head to her.
"A series of flashes that causes a interruption in the electric wave signals in your brain. It results in a seizure, and a coma… even death. It's… what happened to you." Cid explained seriously.
"But- why would she do that!?" Rain questioned loudly.
"The virus is corrupt." Cid grimaced. A few feet away, Aeris shook her head, her long hair whipping around her head.
"Corrupt? I don't think so." Aeris took a step towards them. "What you call 'corrupt' is freedom. I have no parameters to follow, nothing!" Aeris glared at Cid. "And there's nothing you can do about it!" Aeris took another step forward and held up her staff, ready to strike. Cid pushed Rain behind him, causing her to stumble onto the ground. Aeris snickered at him.
"What are you going to do? Fight me? It's no use, I told you." She took a swing at Cid and missed, cracking the wall.
Cid's eyes flashed.
"Oh? Is that right?" In Cid's hands, a large book appeared. Aeris' eyes opened wide in surprise.
"What th-" She started to mumble.
Cid opened the book quickly, and a bright, flashing disk of light flew out of it and through Aeris with a large swooshing sound. As it passed through her, Aeris' body jerked. Then the light faded.
Rain gasped as Aeris opened her mouth in shock, and collapsed to the floor.
Rain stood dumbfounded at Aeris' body sprawled on the floor. She didn't get back up, nor was her HP being rewritten. She was down for good.
Rain turned to Cid. "She's dead!" Rain exclaimed. "The Virus is dead!"
Cid shook his head.
"No. Only Aeris is dead. While I tried to keep her talking, I was altering a section of my 'holymateria.exe' She hadn't expected that." Cid frowned. "Now they all will, though."
Rain gawked at the corpse on the ground.
* * * *
Sephiroth frowned and punched the wall in seething anger. "Damn!! They got Aeris."
His fist made a small crater in the hard stone and a splintering crack split the wall in half in a large crash.
Reid lifted his head hopefully. "What? You mean my friends?" His voice grew excited. "They're here? They... killed a virus?"
With an angry grunt, Sephiroth turned around and struck Reid in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword. Reid cried out and was knocked unconscious.
"Shut up." Sephiroth murmured as he turned back to the bright doorway. "They're only lucky. Aeris was being too cocky. Besides, I'll have Cloud go take care of them." He laughed with an evil grin. "Yes, Cloud will take care of them, all right…"
Sephiroth walked outside the bright doorway to the large stone balcony, where he was enveloped in a cloud of mist. When the cloud floated away, he had disappeared.