My December
A Final Fantasy VII Story written for the Viewing Public
By: KrystalDragoness aka AngelTigerBaby
Author's note: Well, that was the intermission, and I'm sure you are all wondering one thing, "WHAT HAPPENED?!" I accidently made the last chapter and the intermission for it very very confusing, what with the switching from point to point showing what was happening with every character, (Well, mostly every character), And what's up with Scarlet and Shin-Ra? Well, I intended to give you all the details in this chapter, once I finish with this chapter, it's time for disk 2 of the 4 disk series (Just like Final Fantasy! Aren't I smart?) Anyways, here we go, this is Chapter 8. Oh, and here's some of those hard to pronounce last names. DeVries is Deh - Vrees, Lueke is Loo - Key, and I think that's that. Oh, and for everyone that's wondering where the timeline is in this fic, It's kinda confusing, and I'm about to confuse you all more.
Angel - Began her job during the Sector 7 Pillar Assault
Sector 7 Pillar Assault - Happened a few years ago
Meteor - Is happening while this is going on
Last Encounter with the Turks - Happened before the main story. Most of the encounters are left unmentioned, but yeah..
What about The Turks and Tseng you ask? You'll find out the entire story behind Sephiroth and Tseng fighting, or at least my side of it anyways. And also why Tseng wants to hurt Reno in every possible way (In Disk 2, that's why I'm ending disk 1 now). Anyways, I hope ya'll like this chappy. And the song is Linkin Park - My December, the very song that inspired this ficcie. ^.^; If it has ( ) that means it's a duo male & female, since this version is from Reanimation, I think. And if it's * * that means it's just Female.
Chapter 8
"Let the rain come down and wash away my tears, let it fill my soul and drown my fears, let it shatter the walls, for a new sun, a new day, has come..." - Celine Dion, A New Day has Come
My Cruel December
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Reno was sitting in the bar quietly when the barmaid slammed a paper down in front of him. "Another one bites the dust.." "Who?" The barmaid turned her eyes towards the newspaper and spun it towards her, looking at the still not yet drunk turk. "Rude DeVries, Age about 32, died today in a freak accident involving a derailing of a local midgar train on it's way to Sector 6 station. It is reported that the turk was one of over 25 deaths in the train's derailment. It is also reported that upon derailing, it plummeted about 200 feet down to the ground in Sector 3's slums." Reno looked up from his budweiser bottle and looked at the barmaid. "Shin-Ra's at it again." "Yeah, they're hunting you all down, watch your back." "I'm always watching my back. Angel and Elena died just yesterday, according to the papers, and I'm sure that cheap slut Scarlet had something to do with it." "Hold on, what'd Angel and Elena look like?" "Angel was about 5'6, green eyes, black hair with blonde streaks, wearing a baggy blue tank top and some tight blue shorts. Elena was about 5'4 1/2, blonde hair blue eyes. She looks about 19." "I've seen them." "When?" "Today. Before you came in."
Reno slammed a hand on the counter and sat upright from his slump, setting his beer bottle down. "HOW LONG AGO?!" "About 2 hours you've been here, so I give them 5 minutes before you came..Wherever they are they're long gone by now." "Were they with someone?" "Yeah, an oriental man with long black hair and a chain with a lot of blades." "Tseng..the bastard." The barmaid immedietly cringed at the name. "He's changed lots, he isn't calm and level headed now, he's out for blood. Tseng told me to tell you once you figured it out that he had the girls and for you to come to Midgar's Shin-Ra headquarters. And he'd discuss it from there." "Fucking bastard.." Reno said, standing upright and walking out of the bar. "Bye hon!" The barmaid said, watching Reno's retreating back as the doors slammed shut behind him.
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Angel opened her eyes groggily, where was she, then she snapped to realization. The same cell she had been a guest of Shin-Ra in about 5 years ago, was now once again her home. Glancing around in the shadowed surroundings, she saw Elena, who was unconsious and had several cuts and bruises adorning her face, not to mention her navy blue uniform jacket had been taken off of her, and her sleeves to her shirt were ripped here and there. The dim artificial light was pouring in from the cell door, leaving her to resume her search of the cell. Standard issue lumpy cot, disquisting pool of water growing unidentified objects that looked like it hadn't seen light in about 15 years, Elena knocked out on the floor, 34th floor from the looks of things.
A piece of paper was mounted on the wall, perhaps a dirty little secret for Shin-Ra that they expected to kill her and Elena so that the duo couldn't release the information. It was a white piece of paper with names, all of turks. "Rude DeVries, Angelina Lockheart, Elena Lueke, Reno Cordingley" all decorated the paper, Rude's name was crossed off, a skull and crossbones on the side. Footsteps were approaching the cell, and Angel was searching every bit of her thoughts for some kind of defense against this oncoming opponent. She heard the jangle of keys as the footsteps got louder, finally stopping by the cell door. A voice that sounded firmiliar was heard as he was speaking to someone with a softer, younger voice. "Tseng..Rufus?" Angel called, approaching the bars but staying arms length away from them. The two figures emerged from the shadows. "Mission complete, Ultimecia'll be pleased." "Yes, now, what'll we do with her in the mean time?" Rufus finished, looking into her eyes with an expression of pain.
This is when Angel noticed why he had that expression, blood was slightly staining the top of the left shoulder of Rufus' white jacket, Tseng had his 'lucky charms bracelet' digging into Rufus' shoulder by the shoulderblade. Rufus cringed visibly and frowned at Angel, who nodded in a way that only someone looking for a nod would be able to see. Before Tseng could do more damage, Angel slammed her hand through the bars after rushing fowards, her hand hit true, knocking Tseng backwards a bit and giving Rufus some breathing room. Angel heard the firmiliar click of the shotgun loading it's bullet intended for Tseng, who was getting up after the sudden attack.
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"WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!" Reno yelled, making the young man, obviously about 18, cringe in fear. "They never returned to the stables sir." "You're joking." "No sir...I'm not." "Damn...." "Do you want anything?" "A decent chocobo." "Ah, Midnight'll handle the job for you." "What?" "Midnight, the chocobo that's up for adoption." "Is that right?" "Yeah, he's a halfbreed and a failed experiment, he's a black and blue chocobo combined together." The boy said, leading Reno in front of the stall that read "Midnight" on the front, the dark dark blackish blue chocobo warked, raising it's head sadly and looking at Reno. "I'll take it." "He'll be 98 gil." "Right, keep the change." Reno said, stuffing a 100 gil bill into the pocket on the boy's shirt. "Have him read to ride by the time I get back in here, I'm going to buy supplies." "Yessir." At this, Reno left the stables and walked into the main 'office' of the chocobo farm.
A tubsy man, in his late 50's or early 60's, with a gray beard looked at him kindly. "Hello, would you like to buy anything today sir?" "Yeah, give me 30 potions, 6 tents, and 98 ethers." "4,800 gil." "Here." Reno said, stuffing the money in the man's hand and then snatching the bag of supplies and going upstairs, he packed it into the pack Angel had left behind, which had the remainder of those items to make them 99 each. Slinging the pack over his shoulder, Reno walked downstairs angrily, that's when he saw her..
Tifa Lockheart, owner of Sector 7's "Tifa's 7th Heaven", accompanied by Cloud Strife and Red XIII. The instant she saw him, Tifa raised her fists and got ready to fight, watching as Reno dropped the pack on the ground. "What do you want THIS TIME?!" "Whoa whoa whoa babe, no problems here." Reno said, holding up his hands as if yto surrender against her. At which point the group lowered thier guard, except for Tifa, who was as alert as a security company. Reno grinned, with his classic grin that all the women fell for. "Now, here's the deal. You don't bother me, I let you scamper off to some hiding place and say I never saw you, you're happy, I get paid, everything's great." "Right. And why would we believe that?" Tifa said, narrowing her chocolate brown eyes to glare at the sea green eyes of Reno. "Because Lockheart, I'm trustworthy, or is Strife going to tell you that I'll zap you in a split second?" "You would." Cloud inturrupted. "Maybe you Strife, but not Lockheart, I can imagine better uses for her other than being a test subject for my Electromag rod.." Reno replied, looking at Tifa slowly, eyes resting on her breasts for a second before he returned his attention to the world around him.
This cued Cloud to lunge fowards, held back by Tifa as he drew his sword. "Bastard, shut up!" "Oh, what? Haven't you had any ass lately Strife? Is that why you're pissed?" "Fuck off Reno." Tifa muttered in reply, holding Cloud back as he got ready to lunge and drive his sword into Reno at any second. Reno grinned and got his Electomag Rod out for defense in case Cloud tried anything. "Language, language, my dear Lockheart." "Don't call me your dear anything." "Oh, I'm hurt." Reno said, making a fake pout then looking at Cloud, who was still ready to kill Reno. "Your boyfriend wants to harm me Lockheart." "I wouldn't feel like stopping him if I wasn't nice right now." "That's cruel. After all those fights we got into as well." "I'm a cruel person." Tifa said, narrowing her eyes. "Hm, I bet I can make you less cruel." Reno replied, a crooked grin appearing on his face. "You asshole!" Cloud said, breaking free of Tifa's grip and lunging at Reno. After catching the Turk off guard, he brought the ultima weapon across Reno's face, drawing blood on his cheek.
Putting a hand to his cheek and laughing, Reno wiped the blood from the cut, it left a crimson streak on his cheek though, making him appear like the soul connection to some demonic thing. His grin appeared on his face once more, allowing him to get an even more evil look as he hit a button on the Electromag Rod. It sparked with electricity for a second, then glowed blue. Before Cloud could react, Reno had slammed the EMR against the man's jaw, rendering him in pain against the wall. Tifa bit her lower lip, watching, then watched as Red XIII jumped in, leaping on Reno's back and trying to bite him viciously as he beat Cloud. Spinning with amazing agility that was only fine tuned by training in Shin-Ra's elite training courses, Reno spun and slammed his back against the wall, making Red fall to the ground after hitting his head on the back of the wall.
Cloud began to get up, but was met by another blow by the Electromag Rod, rendering him on the ground now and making him a free target for Reno. "Hey asshole, remember all those lucky fights you won against me?" Reno said, jerking Cloud's blonde hair to pull his face from the ground, noticing some blood on his lips. "They were just that, luck." He finished, delivering a sharp blow to Cloud's face with his knee. Unfortunatly, Tifa decided to jump into the fight and swung at Reno's head. After ducking and putting up the Electromag Rod, he grabbed Tifa's wrists and pinned her against the wall. "Don't EVER swing at me again." "Bitch..." "No, I am not a female nor a dog." "Go to hell." "I've been there actually it's pretty nice." "FUCK YOU!" "I know you'd love to.." Reno finished, grinning. He had neglected to notice Red was right behind him though. The creature leaped up and sank his claws into Reno's shoulders, causing the Turk to yell out in pain from the attack and spin, slamming the creature against the wall and making him release Reno once more.
Spinning viciously to face Red XIII, Reno charged the Electromag Rod, and watched as electrical bolts began to spread across the length of the steel. Then brought it down on Red's head, shocking the beast and forcing him to back up. "Now, if You'll excuse me." Reno said, turning, grabbing his pack and then stepping over the wounded bodies to go to the chocobo stables, a satisfied grin spread across his face... "Little fucking asshole." Tifa muttered to herself, crouching behind the two wounded warriors, that were still stunned. "Hmph." Tifa stood up, glaring out the still open door at the back of the retreating redhead. The man behind the chocobo stable's counter grabbed the phone and was talking into it at high speed. "Yessir! He's coming, he just bought a chocobo and he's heading for the Shin-Ra building, he just bought supplies!" The man hung up, leaving Tifa looking at him questioningly. "WHO, may I ask, were you talking to?" "T-The chocobo carrige ma'am.." Tifa narrowed her eyes, even though she hated Reno, the conversation made her wonder about what the redheaded turk was in for. "...Right, the chocobo carrige operated by Tseng of the Turks?" "..er.." The man stood there with a blank expression on his face. Tifa grinned, "Now tell me, who were you REALLY talking to?" "Ts-Ts-Tseng..." "That's what I thought, what were you telling him?" "Th-That the man with the red hair was coming, there's a girl that he wants that Tseng has.." "...Typical." Tifa muttered, discarding the thought that it was anything other than a mere scramble to get the attention of a girl Tseng and Reno deemed 'Hot'. 'You're too fucking concerned. Stop thinking about it.' She could imagine Cid saying to her.
Tifa raised her eyes to the door and thought things over for a second. "And you'd be right." "Pardon?" "Nothing." Tifa waved a hand dismissively and helped Cloud to his feet. Red was nursing a burn on his head though, which Tifa healed with a quick spell. "If Aeris was here we would have wo--" Tifa cut Cloud off midsentence. "If Aeris was here life would be great wouldn't it Cloud?" She said angrily, turning and walking out the door. Even though Aeris was her friend, it still pained her to think about his love for Aeris. Even though Aeris had given him plenty of reason to love her, it hurt Tifa badly. She stepped out into the air, the wind blowing on her face as she wondered what to do next. Cid's voice echoed across the field, the highwind ready to lift into the air. "Come on girl! We're going to fucking leave!!!" He said, watching Tifa run across the field to the highwind.
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Angel's hands searched the pitch black room for the doorhandle, knowing that any second Tseng would bust through the door and attack them both. Rufus' face was so pale, he seemed ghostly, eyes wide with shock. "I never thought this would happen!" "Well it did, so shut up and let me get ahold of the door handle so I can get this open!!!" "Hurry, I hear footsteps!" "I need more damned time...YES! I GOT IT!" Angel said as her hand closed around the black doorknob, she twisted it and ran out of the presidential suite to the rooftop, eyes searching for an escape. Rufus turned to look at the door they left behind, as Tseng walked through the presidential suite towards the door. "CLOSE IT CLOSE IT CLOSE IT!!!" Angel shrieked, staring at the door. Rufus ran fowards and slammed his body weight against the door, hearing it close with a slam. Angel ran to the ledge and looked down, trying to find something, she knew that Elena would have to be waiting for them somewhere out of the Shin-Ra building.
That was when she saw Elena, fighting army upon army of SOLDIER. Wind blew her hair viciously as Angel stared down at the fight, watching Elena lose and shaking in fear, the Turks were losing in a race for their lives. It was at this exact moment that a cry of pain erupted behind her, and Rufus crumpled to the ground. Tseng kicked the door open with unbelievable force and looked at Angel, who turned and reached for her blades hanging on her hips. Which just happened to not be around. "Shit." "Missing something?" Tseng held up the belt with the blades and the materia. "God I hate you." Angel narrowed her eyes, thinking of what she could do against Tseng when he had weapons and materia and all she had was her fists. Unaware of everyone that was watching her.
~This is my december, this is my time of the year, this is my december, this is all so clear....~
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Reno heard his feet pounding against the ground as he ran towards the mass of SOLDIER and got his EMR ready to attack with, Elena's yells coming from inside of the mass. Sending a bolt of electricity into about 50 of the obviously only 75 and paralyzing them, he searched for Elena, and found her casting a fire 2 spell on a local set of 5 SOLDIERs. They fell, but the bullets that slammed through the air from the machine guns brought Elena down too. Eyes wide, Elena fell to the ground. "Goddamn it...." He muttered to himself, using the pyramid specialty he had learned while in training and encasing the remaining survivors of SOLDIER in golden pyramids.
~Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin' I'd missed, Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin' I'd missed..~
Spinning on his heel and putting up the EMR, Reno ran to Elena and knelt beside her. "Elena, get up girl." "..Angel..she's..still alive.." "You have to help me out here Elena." "No...Reno, it's been good to work with you.." "Shut up, you're talking too much shit for your own good." "..Angel...Needs.." Elena's breath became shallower, eyes turning glassy and far away seeming. "Don't quit on me Elena." "Help..Help her..go." "Elena.." Reno sat down the dead turk and looked up at the Shin-Ra building towering over him, giving the area an ominous black shadow. Standing up and wiping the blood from Elena's body on his navy blue pants, Reno got his EMR ready and walked through the door of the Shin-Ra building. Everything was silent except for the terrified sobs of the deskworker.
~This is My December, This is my snow covered home, This is my December, This is me alone..~
Lights flickered on and off in the lobby, the building had been literally torn to shreds it seemed. "Where's Angelina Lockheart? She was brought in by Tseng Chan today as a prisoner." The desk clerk looked up, eyes red from tears and face shocked. "U-Upstairs, Turk's Lounge.." "Thanks." Reno didn't even look at the clerk, he'd seen her many times before. Walking fowards, he hit the elevator button with a finger and watched it open. Stepping inside, he heard the telltale ding that gave away the fact that it was moving.
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Angel felt the last section of concrete her feet could find go underneath her feet, realizing behind her was several stories of unforgiving air and at the very bottom was even more unforgiving concrete. 'Reno...why aren't you here? Why'd you leave us?' She thought to herself, feeling the wind blowing in her hair as Tseng approached her. His dark brown eyes seemed an unholy black at the time, giving him the look of a demon. Maybe that was why everyone feared him. The chain of razor blades slid out from under his sleeve, revealing itself in the pale moonlight. A glimmer of light reflcted from his eyes, which flashed a strange golden color before returning to normal. 'May as well try talking.. fighting doesn't really seem to be my good subject right now..' Angel thought. "Tseng, snap out of it! You're killing your own teammates!" "This is my mission. Destroy the soceress." "I'm not a soceress Tseng, I'm nothing more than a normal everyday TURK!" "Correction, you're the ancestor of the soceress Rinoa Heartilly, survivor of Ultimecia's attacks upon the world that would have rendered her in control of time and space!!" "That's just dumb Tseng! Look at what you're saying!" "I'm saying what I am told." "You're not a puppet!" "Maybe not, but I always complete a job." Angel yelled out as the chain whipped by her, cutting her arm in several places before retreating beside him.
~And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin I'd missed, And I... Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that, And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin I'd missed, And I... Take back all the things that I said to you...~
Hearing a quiet ding of an elevator, Angel glanced nerviously at the presidential suite. Nothing, not a soul. But fortunatly, the person on the elevator had stopped at the floor right below. Unfortunatly, Ultimecia had arrived. Her golden eyes flared in pleasure. "Finally, we meet." "Who're you?!" "Ultimecia, the pleasure's mine, soceress Angel." "WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP CALLING ME A SOCERESS?!" "Because, you are..I sent Tseng to recover you, so I can personally kill you and end the life of any future soceresses that may stand in my way!" "Why though?!" "The magical bloodline runs thin my dear, the soceresses carry it on, but only barely, if I destroy you, I destroy any white magic that may defeat me and my descendents!!" "God, you suck. You could at least make up a better plot." Ultimecia grinned, raising her hand and saying something in a chant, she watched meteors rain down from the sky upon Angel and the ground she was standing on. Several meteors struck the ground, causing it to crumble and give way, leaving the screaming girl to fall towards the collapsing ground. 'Angel..I know you can hear me..' 'Wha..Who is this?' 'Elena..I have reached a plane that I do not know, there are monsters here..' 'The summon realm..' 'A dragon creature named Tiamat said for you to summon her.' 'But I don't have the materia!' 'Focus..you can do it...' 'Right..Tiamat...I summon thee, arise Tiamat..' The words rolled through Angel's mind easily.
'Arise, Queen of Dragons, Annialate those whom stand in your way..AWAKEN!' Before Angel could realize wha she had done, she felt a spell of floating casted upon her, looking for the caster, she saw Rufus' youthful face as he stood up, looking at the duo. "WHO DID THAT?!" "I don't know." "WELL FIND OUT AND KILL HIM! SHE ISN'T DEAD YET!" "Yes Queen Ultimecia..." Tseng said, spinning and seeing Rufus, who was standing weakly, holding his shotgun and ready to shoot Tseng. "I wouldn't try that if I were you boy." "..I've tried a lot of things nobody else would." "You can rule with us still, it isn't too late to control everything, the world, the universe, everything in your wildest imagination. You can control it Rufus." "You're a fool to believe that Tseng." "Think what you want boy, it was nice to know you.." Rufus let out a startled yelp as the razor whip slammed across his throat, leaving him on the ground to die as Tseng stepped over him. "I'll deal with the other one too." "Good." Ultimecia watched the floating girl pounding on the window in front of her..
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Angel pounded on the window, waiting for Reno to notice her. "Damned soundproof pieces of shit!!" Angel yelled, kicking the glass and watching it shatter, followed by Reno spinning startledly. "Angel..?" "Reno. You're alive." "You're...floating... I'm seeing things aren't I? You're just a vision telling me you're dead and to give up now..Aren't you?" "No, I'm real...I promise you that, listen, we have to get back up to the roof, Rufus it up there against this psychotic clown bitch and Tseng's coming down here now!!!" Reno stood there, listening to every word. "If I wasn't crazy, I'd say you've lost your mind and you need a vacation." "You are crazy, so there." "Fine, but now what to do..?" Angel yelped as the float spell wore off, Reno lunging fowards to grab her before she fell to the ground below, but he was too late.
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Tiamat opened her crimson eyes, adjusting them to the ground around her. It had been thousands of years since she had been summoned, the lava around her gave her cavern an eerie red glow, spreading her wings and roaring, she lunged at a wall, clawing into the cavern's dirt wall and causing the lava to start an active volcano on the surface. Unaware of this, she wrapped her wings around her body, the lava rushing upwards to erupt from the new volcano right in front of Ultimecia. "And we're off!" She said, her serpentine voice finely tuned and extremely feminine. The lava rushed upwards, and Tiamat could see the stones and rubble built up underneath the surface of the planet for millions of years as she rushed by it in the violent lava flow. Finally reaching the top in an explosion of red flaming hot liquid, she spread her wings and let out a shriek.
Beating her wings, Tiamat shook the embers from her dark blue body. She now knew why she had been called Bahamut so much, the only difference was her body was dark blue and his was black, she was female and he was male. Otherwise they were exactly identical. Diving after her summoner, Tiamat folded her wings in towards her body, hearing Angel's screams. "I'm coming..I'm coming..goddamnit why am I so slow?!" Tiamat growled, diving faster and going past Angel, then stopping to catch the girl in one clawed hand. "You alright?" "..Fine...you came when I summoned you." "Sorry it took so long, lava jam." "Is that a play on traffic jam?" "Lighten up, you're a soceress, aren't you?" "How would you know." Only soceresses can summon me or Grievier.."
~And (I'd... Give it all away), Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away), To have someone to come home to..~
Tiamat beat her wings again and flew into the moonlight, making herself a black dragon's shadow amongst the white moon and the deep red glow of Meteor, which added a blood toned affect to her. Diving down and holding onto her summoner, Tiamat charged a mouthbeam that was pitch black flames and glowed. Angel suddenly knew the attack in her mind and nodded. "DARK... FLARE!" Tiamat roared, launching it at Ultimecia and causing a circle of black flames that closed in on the soceress. When the flames cleared, she was gone. "Too easy." "Way too easy." Angel agreed, unnoticing of the soceress right behind her on Tiamat. "You got kinda heavy, summoner." "I did..?" "Maybe I'm just tired.." Tiamat growled quietly. "Or maybe I'm with your summoner..." Ultimecia laughed, getting a spell ready.
~This is my December, Those are my snow covered trees, This is me pretending, This is all I need~
Angel's eyes flashed an even brighter tone of green than usual as she spun to face Ultimecia, Tiamat slamming into the roof of the Shin-Ra building from the sudden shock of the events that just took place. "WITH THE POWER OF THE ANCIENT SOCERESSES! I BIND YOU FOR 7 YEARS AND 7 DAYS!" Angel yelled, glowing as angel wings spread from her back and her outfit changed. A black leather pair of shorts and a black haltertop were part of the outfit she wore, which also beared black knee high, high heeled lace up boots and her hair flying freely except for a silver band on her head bearing a singular sapphire that was glowing. Her left arm was decored in a black band made of leather as well. Her neck had a choker, which was also black, bearing a silver dragon clutching a crystal in between it's claws, and on her right side of her head, a string braided in a small amount of her hair contained turqoise, silver, and jeweled beads, and at the end, the feather of a pheonix. Her dual blades appeared on her waist, held by the belt that she commonly wore, which was also in black leather and silver. The blades were the same color as normal, but glowed in a dark blue tone.
Ultimecia narrowed her eyes. "WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO REVEAL YOURSELF NOW?!" "Because.. I can win." Angel replied, raising her hands in front of her face and firing a spell that seemed like a mix of Holy and Tiamat's attack combined together. Ultimecia yelled out as she flew backwards, the energy opening a portal behind her as the area went solid white. "Be prepared when the bind is over girl! I will have your head upon my castle wall!" She yelled as she disappeared into the abyss. Angel landed on one knee, hearing a crunch sound from underneath her. "What..the..?" Everything was clear now, the trees, the land, she was in Nibelheim, her hometown. The snow was falling freely, a cool wind blowing against her body as her hair flew wildly. Her wings had disappeared, leaving her in her limit break outfit.
~And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was something I'd missed.. And I... Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that, And I... Just wish that I didn't feel there was something I'd missed.. And I... Take back all the things that I said to you..~
"What happened...?" Angel said, clutching the necklace of the dragon in a closed hand. "Where's Reno? Or Tiamat..? Or anyone..?" Then she saw him, Reno, and herself, she was younger then, more naive, when they had been together. She had walked in on him with a youthful barmaid named Elizabeth. Her younger self was walking out in the cold right now, shivering because she had nothing more than her adventurer's outfit to keep her warm. To her older, more experienced self, the cold was only a mere thought in your mind, if you thought you were cold, you would freeze to death, if you thought you were warm, you could wear shorts in the snow and not feel cold. The girl fell to the snow, face first, snowflakes landing on her freezing body. "Hey...You'll need this." Angel said, giving the young girl, who still went by Angelina, the Fira materia from her blade. The girl looked up, covered in snow and shaking, she let out one small mutter of a word. "Th-Thanks.." Now everything was white again. "Where am I? This is getting insane!" Angel yelled to nobody in particular.
Then she saw a figure, a man in a rumpled suit, with spiked hair and a ponytail. The figure was blurred, but she could see it walking towards her, then he just stood there. She recognized him from behind when he turned around, and ran towards him. "Reno!" Angel shouted, running as fast as she could, trying to catch up to the man before he walked away. Once she caught up to him, she put a hand on his shoulder, or at least tried to anyways. "Reno...? It's me, Angel!" She said, reaching for his shoulder and feeling her hand slip through his body completely as he walked away from her, leaving her alone in a field of flowers that gradually became covered in snow, ice cold snow. "What's going on here?!" Angel yelled, dropping to her knees as the snowflakes fell upon her softly.
Another figure approached her this time, A girl. She had blonde hair and wore a cleanly pressed navy blue turks suit. The name tag read 'Elena Lueke'. She stopped in front of Angel and knelt down, looking at the young and confused ex-Turk. "Angel...Reno's looking for you, but you're making it to where he can't find you." "Bullshit! He was just right there..." "It's because of your heart Angel, You've seperated yourself from the real world so you can find your memories and the answers to them, but those answers can be found only in the real world, not in your world..." "What's that supposed to mean?!" "It means, I was told to say this by some chick who claimed to be your friend, and it means that you have to go on a quest of your own and find your own answers, leaving Reno by himself to recover from the fall of the Turks." Angel looked up at Elena. "You mean I have to leave him behind?" "Yes. It's for the best." "Whadda you mean by that?" "I mean...Well, you'll find out what I mean..." Elena turned and began to walk off, fading away into white as Angel stood up, her boots crushing the snow underneath them. "ELENA! WAIT! GET BACK HERE!!!" Angel yelled.
Memories flashed past her head, one started and merged into another, followed by another, then another, all leading to the same thing, the present. She felt her clothes change to normal as she was standing on the roof of the Shin-Ra building, hearing Reno running out to the outdoors section of the building to find out what had happened to her.
~ *Ahh, ah* (And I'd...Give it all away), *Ahh, ah* Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) *Ahh, Ahh, ah, ah* (To have someone to come home to)..~
Feeling the wind blow her face, she felt herself falling fowards, Reno's arms catching her and holding her. "Are you okay Ang?" "...Fine.." she said, buring her face in his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt a tear fall down her face as she thought about how she was going to break it to Reno that she was going to go onto a quest to find out who she truely was. Right now though, she could only realize that he actually cared about her, and she wasn't some one night stand to give him a good time. Biting her lower lip to hold back her tears, she removed her face from his shoulder and looked at him in his pale blue eyes. "...I have to go." Reno's expression went from a slight smile to a full frown as she said this, and the spirit that had sparked up in his eyes was carried away by the winds that gusted by occasionally. "You're....what? Angel, no. You--" Reno couldn't finish a sentence. But Angel silenced him by a finger to his lips. "I have to find out who I really am." Reno opened his mouth to speak again, and was cut off again by Angel's calm voice. "This is something that I have to do to find the truth that is my life story..I know I wasn't always an orphan, I have to find out about my parents, my family, my real life. Not the misguided story Shin-Ra told."
~This is (My December,) This is my time of the year, This is (My December,) This is all so clear..~
Reno looked at her silently as snowflakes fell around them. "It's never snowed over here before..." He said, trying to get off the subject of Angel leaving him already. "I'm sorry that I can't stay, but you have to understand.." Angel said, picking up her blades that Tseng had left behind in battle and strapping the belt around her hips, then beginning to back up towards the ledge. "Angel.." "Goodbye." She leaned back over the edge, making Reno bolt fowards to watch in shock as Tiamat swooped underneath her and caught the girl. The duo flew into the moonlight, snowflakes falling around the moon as Meteor closed in on the planet and made the white snow seem like drops of dark red rain. Reno watched silently as she left him, realizing she may never come back again.
~(Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to, (Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to, (Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to...~
Angel looked back, already missing Reno as the snow landed on her figure and the wind from Tiamat's wings blew her hair. Reno remained on the tower, looking at the moon and turned away. "Goodbye, Angel of Darkness..." He said, walking into the presidential suite to attempt at finding Pheonix Downs to revive the fallen comrades that had fought in battle with him and Angel only a few minutes ago.
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Author's Ending Note: Okay, that's the ending of Disk one, I hope ya'll liked the chapter, and you can see why the namesake of the fic is "My December". I was listening to this for hours when I designed and began this fic, and I'm amazed at how detailed it turned, not to mention how popular, (REVIEWS RULE! And so do ReviewERs. ;-P) This ends Disk 1, Disk 2 will come out whenever I get a solid idea to return the fic to popularity upon. Which may or may not be soon.
A Final Fantasy VII Story written for the Viewing Public
By: KrystalDragoness aka AngelTigerBaby
Author's note: Well, that was the intermission, and I'm sure you are all wondering one thing, "WHAT HAPPENED?!" I accidently made the last chapter and the intermission for it very very confusing, what with the switching from point to point showing what was happening with every character, (Well, mostly every character), And what's up with Scarlet and Shin-Ra? Well, I intended to give you all the details in this chapter, once I finish with this chapter, it's time for disk 2 of the 4 disk series (Just like Final Fantasy! Aren't I smart?) Anyways, here we go, this is Chapter 8. Oh, and here's some of those hard to pronounce last names. DeVries is Deh - Vrees, Lueke is Loo - Key, and I think that's that. Oh, and for everyone that's wondering where the timeline is in this fic, It's kinda confusing, and I'm about to confuse you all more.
Angel - Began her job during the Sector 7 Pillar Assault
Sector 7 Pillar Assault - Happened a few years ago
Meteor - Is happening while this is going on
Last Encounter with the Turks - Happened before the main story. Most of the encounters are left unmentioned, but yeah..
What about The Turks and Tseng you ask? You'll find out the entire story behind Sephiroth and Tseng fighting, or at least my side of it anyways. And also why Tseng wants to hurt Reno in every possible way (In Disk 2, that's why I'm ending disk 1 now). Anyways, I hope ya'll like this chappy. And the song is Linkin Park - My December, the very song that inspired this ficcie. ^.^; If it has ( ) that means it's a duo male & female, since this version is from Reanimation, I think. And if it's * * that means it's just Female.
Chapter 8
"Let the rain come down and wash away my tears, let it fill my soul and drown my fears, let it shatter the walls, for a new sun, a new day, has come..." - Celine Dion, A New Day has Come
My Cruel December
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Reno was sitting in the bar quietly when the barmaid slammed a paper down in front of him. "Another one bites the dust.." "Who?" The barmaid turned her eyes towards the newspaper and spun it towards her, looking at the still not yet drunk turk. "Rude DeVries, Age about 32, died today in a freak accident involving a derailing of a local midgar train on it's way to Sector 6 station. It is reported that the turk was one of over 25 deaths in the train's derailment. It is also reported that upon derailing, it plummeted about 200 feet down to the ground in Sector 3's slums." Reno looked up from his budweiser bottle and looked at the barmaid. "Shin-Ra's at it again." "Yeah, they're hunting you all down, watch your back." "I'm always watching my back. Angel and Elena died just yesterday, according to the papers, and I'm sure that cheap slut Scarlet had something to do with it." "Hold on, what'd Angel and Elena look like?" "Angel was about 5'6, green eyes, black hair with blonde streaks, wearing a baggy blue tank top and some tight blue shorts. Elena was about 5'4 1/2, blonde hair blue eyes. She looks about 19." "I've seen them." "When?" "Today. Before you came in."
Reno slammed a hand on the counter and sat upright from his slump, setting his beer bottle down. "HOW LONG AGO?!" "About 2 hours you've been here, so I give them 5 minutes before you came..Wherever they are they're long gone by now." "Were they with someone?" "Yeah, an oriental man with long black hair and a chain with a lot of blades." "Tseng..the bastard." The barmaid immedietly cringed at the name. "He's changed lots, he isn't calm and level headed now, he's out for blood. Tseng told me to tell you once you figured it out that he had the girls and for you to come to Midgar's Shin-Ra headquarters. And he'd discuss it from there." "Fucking bastard.." Reno said, standing upright and walking out of the bar. "Bye hon!" The barmaid said, watching Reno's retreating back as the doors slammed shut behind him.
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Angel opened her eyes groggily, where was she, then she snapped to realization. The same cell she had been a guest of Shin-Ra in about 5 years ago, was now once again her home. Glancing around in the shadowed surroundings, she saw Elena, who was unconsious and had several cuts and bruises adorning her face, not to mention her navy blue uniform jacket had been taken off of her, and her sleeves to her shirt were ripped here and there. The dim artificial light was pouring in from the cell door, leaving her to resume her search of the cell. Standard issue lumpy cot, disquisting pool of water growing unidentified objects that looked like it hadn't seen light in about 15 years, Elena knocked out on the floor, 34th floor from the looks of things.
A piece of paper was mounted on the wall, perhaps a dirty little secret for Shin-Ra that they expected to kill her and Elena so that the duo couldn't release the information. It was a white piece of paper with names, all of turks. "Rude DeVries, Angelina Lockheart, Elena Lueke, Reno Cordingley" all decorated the paper, Rude's name was crossed off, a skull and crossbones on the side. Footsteps were approaching the cell, and Angel was searching every bit of her thoughts for some kind of defense against this oncoming opponent. She heard the jangle of keys as the footsteps got louder, finally stopping by the cell door. A voice that sounded firmiliar was heard as he was speaking to someone with a softer, younger voice. "Tseng..Rufus?" Angel called, approaching the bars but staying arms length away from them. The two figures emerged from the shadows. "Mission complete, Ultimecia'll be pleased." "Yes, now, what'll we do with her in the mean time?" Rufus finished, looking into her eyes with an expression of pain.
This is when Angel noticed why he had that expression, blood was slightly staining the top of the left shoulder of Rufus' white jacket, Tseng had his 'lucky charms bracelet' digging into Rufus' shoulder by the shoulderblade. Rufus cringed visibly and frowned at Angel, who nodded in a way that only someone looking for a nod would be able to see. Before Tseng could do more damage, Angel slammed her hand through the bars after rushing fowards, her hand hit true, knocking Tseng backwards a bit and giving Rufus some breathing room. Angel heard the firmiliar click of the shotgun loading it's bullet intended for Tseng, who was getting up after the sudden attack.
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"WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!" Reno yelled, making the young man, obviously about 18, cringe in fear. "They never returned to the stables sir." "You're joking." "No sir...I'm not." "Damn...." "Do you want anything?" "A decent chocobo." "Ah, Midnight'll handle the job for you." "What?" "Midnight, the chocobo that's up for adoption." "Is that right?" "Yeah, he's a halfbreed and a failed experiment, he's a black and blue chocobo combined together." The boy said, leading Reno in front of the stall that read "Midnight" on the front, the dark dark blackish blue chocobo warked, raising it's head sadly and looking at Reno. "I'll take it." "He'll be 98 gil." "Right, keep the change." Reno said, stuffing a 100 gil bill into the pocket on the boy's shirt. "Have him read to ride by the time I get back in here, I'm going to buy supplies." "Yessir." At this, Reno left the stables and walked into the main 'office' of the chocobo farm.
A tubsy man, in his late 50's or early 60's, with a gray beard looked at him kindly. "Hello, would you like to buy anything today sir?" "Yeah, give me 30 potions, 6 tents, and 98 ethers." "4,800 gil." "Here." Reno said, stuffing the money in the man's hand and then snatching the bag of supplies and going upstairs, he packed it into the pack Angel had left behind, which had the remainder of those items to make them 99 each. Slinging the pack over his shoulder, Reno walked downstairs angrily, that's when he saw her..
Tifa Lockheart, owner of Sector 7's "Tifa's 7th Heaven", accompanied by Cloud Strife and Red XIII. The instant she saw him, Tifa raised her fists and got ready to fight, watching as Reno dropped the pack on the ground. "What do you want THIS TIME?!" "Whoa whoa whoa babe, no problems here." Reno said, holding up his hands as if yto surrender against her. At which point the group lowered thier guard, except for Tifa, who was as alert as a security company. Reno grinned, with his classic grin that all the women fell for. "Now, here's the deal. You don't bother me, I let you scamper off to some hiding place and say I never saw you, you're happy, I get paid, everything's great." "Right. And why would we believe that?" Tifa said, narrowing her chocolate brown eyes to glare at the sea green eyes of Reno. "Because Lockheart, I'm trustworthy, or is Strife going to tell you that I'll zap you in a split second?" "You would." Cloud inturrupted. "Maybe you Strife, but not Lockheart, I can imagine better uses for her other than being a test subject for my Electromag rod.." Reno replied, looking at Tifa slowly, eyes resting on her breasts for a second before he returned his attention to the world around him.
This cued Cloud to lunge fowards, held back by Tifa as he drew his sword. "Bastard, shut up!" "Oh, what? Haven't you had any ass lately Strife? Is that why you're pissed?" "Fuck off Reno." Tifa muttered in reply, holding Cloud back as he got ready to lunge and drive his sword into Reno at any second. Reno grinned and got his Electomag Rod out for defense in case Cloud tried anything. "Language, language, my dear Lockheart." "Don't call me your dear anything." "Oh, I'm hurt." Reno said, making a fake pout then looking at Cloud, who was still ready to kill Reno. "Your boyfriend wants to harm me Lockheart." "I wouldn't feel like stopping him if I wasn't nice right now." "That's cruel. After all those fights we got into as well." "I'm a cruel person." Tifa said, narrowing her eyes. "Hm, I bet I can make you less cruel." Reno replied, a crooked grin appearing on his face. "You asshole!" Cloud said, breaking free of Tifa's grip and lunging at Reno. After catching the Turk off guard, he brought the ultima weapon across Reno's face, drawing blood on his cheek.
Putting a hand to his cheek and laughing, Reno wiped the blood from the cut, it left a crimson streak on his cheek though, making him appear like the soul connection to some demonic thing. His grin appeared on his face once more, allowing him to get an even more evil look as he hit a button on the Electromag Rod. It sparked with electricity for a second, then glowed blue. Before Cloud could react, Reno had slammed the EMR against the man's jaw, rendering him in pain against the wall. Tifa bit her lower lip, watching, then watched as Red XIII jumped in, leaping on Reno's back and trying to bite him viciously as he beat Cloud. Spinning with amazing agility that was only fine tuned by training in Shin-Ra's elite training courses, Reno spun and slammed his back against the wall, making Red fall to the ground after hitting his head on the back of the wall.
Cloud began to get up, but was met by another blow by the Electromag Rod, rendering him on the ground now and making him a free target for Reno. "Hey asshole, remember all those lucky fights you won against me?" Reno said, jerking Cloud's blonde hair to pull his face from the ground, noticing some blood on his lips. "They were just that, luck." He finished, delivering a sharp blow to Cloud's face with his knee. Unfortunatly, Tifa decided to jump into the fight and swung at Reno's head. After ducking and putting up the Electromag Rod, he grabbed Tifa's wrists and pinned her against the wall. "Don't EVER swing at me again." "Bitch..." "No, I am not a female nor a dog." "Go to hell." "I've been there actually it's pretty nice." "FUCK YOU!" "I know you'd love to.." Reno finished, grinning. He had neglected to notice Red was right behind him though. The creature leaped up and sank his claws into Reno's shoulders, causing the Turk to yell out in pain from the attack and spin, slamming the creature against the wall and making him release Reno once more.
Spinning viciously to face Red XIII, Reno charged the Electromag Rod, and watched as electrical bolts began to spread across the length of the steel. Then brought it down on Red's head, shocking the beast and forcing him to back up. "Now, if You'll excuse me." Reno said, turning, grabbing his pack and then stepping over the wounded bodies to go to the chocobo stables, a satisfied grin spread across his face... "Little fucking asshole." Tifa muttered to herself, crouching behind the two wounded warriors, that were still stunned. "Hmph." Tifa stood up, glaring out the still open door at the back of the retreating redhead. The man behind the chocobo stable's counter grabbed the phone and was talking into it at high speed. "Yessir! He's coming, he just bought a chocobo and he's heading for the Shin-Ra building, he just bought supplies!" The man hung up, leaving Tifa looking at him questioningly. "WHO, may I ask, were you talking to?" "T-The chocobo carrige ma'am.." Tifa narrowed her eyes, even though she hated Reno, the conversation made her wonder about what the redheaded turk was in for. "...Right, the chocobo carrige operated by Tseng of the Turks?" "..er.." The man stood there with a blank expression on his face. Tifa grinned, "Now tell me, who were you REALLY talking to?" "Ts-Ts-Tseng..." "That's what I thought, what were you telling him?" "Th-That the man with the red hair was coming, there's a girl that he wants that Tseng has.." "...Typical." Tifa muttered, discarding the thought that it was anything other than a mere scramble to get the attention of a girl Tseng and Reno deemed 'Hot'. 'You're too fucking concerned. Stop thinking about it.' She could imagine Cid saying to her.
Tifa raised her eyes to the door and thought things over for a second. "And you'd be right." "Pardon?" "Nothing." Tifa waved a hand dismissively and helped Cloud to his feet. Red was nursing a burn on his head though, which Tifa healed with a quick spell. "If Aeris was here we would have wo--" Tifa cut Cloud off midsentence. "If Aeris was here life would be great wouldn't it Cloud?" She said angrily, turning and walking out the door. Even though Aeris was her friend, it still pained her to think about his love for Aeris. Even though Aeris had given him plenty of reason to love her, it hurt Tifa badly. She stepped out into the air, the wind blowing on her face as she wondered what to do next. Cid's voice echoed across the field, the highwind ready to lift into the air. "Come on girl! We're going to fucking leave!!!" He said, watching Tifa run across the field to the highwind.
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Angel's hands searched the pitch black room for the doorhandle, knowing that any second Tseng would bust through the door and attack them both. Rufus' face was so pale, he seemed ghostly, eyes wide with shock. "I never thought this would happen!" "Well it did, so shut up and let me get ahold of the door handle so I can get this open!!!" "Hurry, I hear footsteps!" "I need more damned time...YES! I GOT IT!" Angel said as her hand closed around the black doorknob, she twisted it and ran out of the presidential suite to the rooftop, eyes searching for an escape. Rufus turned to look at the door they left behind, as Tseng walked through the presidential suite towards the door. "CLOSE IT CLOSE IT CLOSE IT!!!" Angel shrieked, staring at the door. Rufus ran fowards and slammed his body weight against the door, hearing it close with a slam. Angel ran to the ledge and looked down, trying to find something, she knew that Elena would have to be waiting for them somewhere out of the Shin-Ra building.
That was when she saw Elena, fighting army upon army of SOLDIER. Wind blew her hair viciously as Angel stared down at the fight, watching Elena lose and shaking in fear, the Turks were losing in a race for their lives. It was at this exact moment that a cry of pain erupted behind her, and Rufus crumpled to the ground. Tseng kicked the door open with unbelievable force and looked at Angel, who turned and reached for her blades hanging on her hips. Which just happened to not be around. "Shit." "Missing something?" Tseng held up the belt with the blades and the materia. "God I hate you." Angel narrowed her eyes, thinking of what she could do against Tseng when he had weapons and materia and all she had was her fists. Unaware of everyone that was watching her.
~This is my december, this is my time of the year, this is my december, this is all so clear....~
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Reno heard his feet pounding against the ground as he ran towards the mass of SOLDIER and got his EMR ready to attack with, Elena's yells coming from inside of the mass. Sending a bolt of electricity into about 50 of the obviously only 75 and paralyzing them, he searched for Elena, and found her casting a fire 2 spell on a local set of 5 SOLDIERs. They fell, but the bullets that slammed through the air from the machine guns brought Elena down too. Eyes wide, Elena fell to the ground. "Goddamn it...." He muttered to himself, using the pyramid specialty he had learned while in training and encasing the remaining survivors of SOLDIER in golden pyramids.
~Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin' I'd missed, Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin' I'd missed..~
Spinning on his heel and putting up the EMR, Reno ran to Elena and knelt beside her. "Elena, get up girl." "..Angel..she's..still alive.." "You have to help me out here Elena." "No...Reno, it's been good to work with you.." "Shut up, you're talking too much shit for your own good." "..Angel...Needs.." Elena's breath became shallower, eyes turning glassy and far away seeming. "Don't quit on me Elena." "Help..Help her..go." "Elena.." Reno sat down the dead turk and looked up at the Shin-Ra building towering over him, giving the area an ominous black shadow. Standing up and wiping the blood from Elena's body on his navy blue pants, Reno got his EMR ready and walked through the door of the Shin-Ra building. Everything was silent except for the terrified sobs of the deskworker.
~This is My December, This is my snow covered home, This is my December, This is me alone..~
Lights flickered on and off in the lobby, the building had been literally torn to shreds it seemed. "Where's Angelina Lockheart? She was brought in by Tseng Chan today as a prisoner." The desk clerk looked up, eyes red from tears and face shocked. "U-Upstairs, Turk's Lounge.." "Thanks." Reno didn't even look at the clerk, he'd seen her many times before. Walking fowards, he hit the elevator button with a finger and watched it open. Stepping inside, he heard the telltale ding that gave away the fact that it was moving.
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Angel felt the last section of concrete her feet could find go underneath her feet, realizing behind her was several stories of unforgiving air and at the very bottom was even more unforgiving concrete. 'Reno...why aren't you here? Why'd you leave us?' She thought to herself, feeling the wind blowing in her hair as Tseng approached her. His dark brown eyes seemed an unholy black at the time, giving him the look of a demon. Maybe that was why everyone feared him. The chain of razor blades slid out from under his sleeve, revealing itself in the pale moonlight. A glimmer of light reflcted from his eyes, which flashed a strange golden color before returning to normal. 'May as well try talking.. fighting doesn't really seem to be my good subject right now..' Angel thought. "Tseng, snap out of it! You're killing your own teammates!" "This is my mission. Destroy the soceress." "I'm not a soceress Tseng, I'm nothing more than a normal everyday TURK!" "Correction, you're the ancestor of the soceress Rinoa Heartilly, survivor of Ultimecia's attacks upon the world that would have rendered her in control of time and space!!" "That's just dumb Tseng! Look at what you're saying!" "I'm saying what I am told." "You're not a puppet!" "Maybe not, but I always complete a job." Angel yelled out as the chain whipped by her, cutting her arm in several places before retreating beside him.
~And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin I'd missed, And I... Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that, And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was somethin I'd missed, And I... Take back all the things that I said to you...~
Hearing a quiet ding of an elevator, Angel glanced nerviously at the presidential suite. Nothing, not a soul. But fortunatly, the person on the elevator had stopped at the floor right below. Unfortunatly, Ultimecia had arrived. Her golden eyes flared in pleasure. "Finally, we meet." "Who're you?!" "Ultimecia, the pleasure's mine, soceress Angel." "WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP CALLING ME A SOCERESS?!" "Because, you are..I sent Tseng to recover you, so I can personally kill you and end the life of any future soceresses that may stand in my way!" "Why though?!" "The magical bloodline runs thin my dear, the soceresses carry it on, but only barely, if I destroy you, I destroy any white magic that may defeat me and my descendents!!" "God, you suck. You could at least make up a better plot." Ultimecia grinned, raising her hand and saying something in a chant, she watched meteors rain down from the sky upon Angel and the ground she was standing on. Several meteors struck the ground, causing it to crumble and give way, leaving the screaming girl to fall towards the collapsing ground. 'Angel..I know you can hear me..' 'Wha..Who is this?' 'Elena..I have reached a plane that I do not know, there are monsters here..' 'The summon realm..' 'A dragon creature named Tiamat said for you to summon her.' 'But I don't have the materia!' 'Focus..you can do it...' 'Right..Tiamat...I summon thee, arise Tiamat..' The words rolled through Angel's mind easily.
'Arise, Queen of Dragons, Annialate those whom stand in your way..AWAKEN!' Before Angel could realize wha she had done, she felt a spell of floating casted upon her, looking for the caster, she saw Rufus' youthful face as he stood up, looking at the duo. "WHO DID THAT?!" "I don't know." "WELL FIND OUT AND KILL HIM! SHE ISN'T DEAD YET!" "Yes Queen Ultimecia..." Tseng said, spinning and seeing Rufus, who was standing weakly, holding his shotgun and ready to shoot Tseng. "I wouldn't try that if I were you boy." "..I've tried a lot of things nobody else would." "You can rule with us still, it isn't too late to control everything, the world, the universe, everything in your wildest imagination. You can control it Rufus." "You're a fool to believe that Tseng." "Think what you want boy, it was nice to know you.." Rufus let out a startled yelp as the razor whip slammed across his throat, leaving him on the ground to die as Tseng stepped over him. "I'll deal with the other one too." "Good." Ultimecia watched the floating girl pounding on the window in front of her..
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Angel pounded on the window, waiting for Reno to notice her. "Damned soundproof pieces of shit!!" Angel yelled, kicking the glass and watching it shatter, followed by Reno spinning startledly. "Angel..?" "Reno. You're alive." "You're...floating... I'm seeing things aren't I? You're just a vision telling me you're dead and to give up now..Aren't you?" "No, I'm real...I promise you that, listen, we have to get back up to the roof, Rufus it up there against this psychotic clown bitch and Tseng's coming down here now!!!" Reno stood there, listening to every word. "If I wasn't crazy, I'd say you've lost your mind and you need a vacation." "You are crazy, so there." "Fine, but now what to do..?" Angel yelped as the float spell wore off, Reno lunging fowards to grab her before she fell to the ground below, but he was too late.
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Tiamat opened her crimson eyes, adjusting them to the ground around her. It had been thousands of years since she had been summoned, the lava around her gave her cavern an eerie red glow, spreading her wings and roaring, she lunged at a wall, clawing into the cavern's dirt wall and causing the lava to start an active volcano on the surface. Unaware of this, she wrapped her wings around her body, the lava rushing upwards to erupt from the new volcano right in front of Ultimecia. "And we're off!" She said, her serpentine voice finely tuned and extremely feminine. The lava rushed upwards, and Tiamat could see the stones and rubble built up underneath the surface of the planet for millions of years as she rushed by it in the violent lava flow. Finally reaching the top in an explosion of red flaming hot liquid, she spread her wings and let out a shriek.
Beating her wings, Tiamat shook the embers from her dark blue body. She now knew why she had been called Bahamut so much, the only difference was her body was dark blue and his was black, she was female and he was male. Otherwise they were exactly identical. Diving after her summoner, Tiamat folded her wings in towards her body, hearing Angel's screams. "I'm coming..I'm coming..goddamnit why am I so slow?!" Tiamat growled, diving faster and going past Angel, then stopping to catch the girl in one clawed hand. "You alright?" "..Fine...you came when I summoned you." "Sorry it took so long, lava jam." "Is that a play on traffic jam?" "Lighten up, you're a soceress, aren't you?" "How would you know." Only soceresses can summon me or Grievier.."
~And (I'd... Give it all away), Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away), To have someone to come home to..~
Tiamat beat her wings again and flew into the moonlight, making herself a black dragon's shadow amongst the white moon and the deep red glow of Meteor, which added a blood toned affect to her. Diving down and holding onto her summoner, Tiamat charged a mouthbeam that was pitch black flames and glowed. Angel suddenly knew the attack in her mind and nodded. "DARK... FLARE!" Tiamat roared, launching it at Ultimecia and causing a circle of black flames that closed in on the soceress. When the flames cleared, she was gone. "Too easy." "Way too easy." Angel agreed, unnoticing of the soceress right behind her on Tiamat. "You got kinda heavy, summoner." "I did..?" "Maybe I'm just tired.." Tiamat growled quietly. "Or maybe I'm with your summoner..." Ultimecia laughed, getting a spell ready.
~This is my December, Those are my snow covered trees, This is me pretending, This is all I need~
Angel's eyes flashed an even brighter tone of green than usual as she spun to face Ultimecia, Tiamat slamming into the roof of the Shin-Ra building from the sudden shock of the events that just took place. "WITH THE POWER OF THE ANCIENT SOCERESSES! I BIND YOU FOR 7 YEARS AND 7 DAYS!" Angel yelled, glowing as angel wings spread from her back and her outfit changed. A black leather pair of shorts and a black haltertop were part of the outfit she wore, which also beared black knee high, high heeled lace up boots and her hair flying freely except for a silver band on her head bearing a singular sapphire that was glowing. Her left arm was decored in a black band made of leather as well. Her neck had a choker, which was also black, bearing a silver dragon clutching a crystal in between it's claws, and on her right side of her head, a string braided in a small amount of her hair contained turqoise, silver, and jeweled beads, and at the end, the feather of a pheonix. Her dual blades appeared on her waist, held by the belt that she commonly wore, which was also in black leather and silver. The blades were the same color as normal, but glowed in a dark blue tone.
Ultimecia narrowed her eyes. "WHY DO YOU CHOOSE TO REVEAL YOURSELF NOW?!" "Because.. I can win." Angel replied, raising her hands in front of her face and firing a spell that seemed like a mix of Holy and Tiamat's attack combined together. Ultimecia yelled out as she flew backwards, the energy opening a portal behind her as the area went solid white. "Be prepared when the bind is over girl! I will have your head upon my castle wall!" She yelled as she disappeared into the abyss. Angel landed on one knee, hearing a crunch sound from underneath her. "What..the..?" Everything was clear now, the trees, the land, she was in Nibelheim, her hometown. The snow was falling freely, a cool wind blowing against her body as her hair flew wildly. Her wings had disappeared, leaving her in her limit break outfit.
~And I... Just wish that I didn't feel that there was something I'd missed.. And I... Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that, And I... Just wish that I didn't feel there was something I'd missed.. And I... Take back all the things that I said to you..~
"What happened...?" Angel said, clutching the necklace of the dragon in a closed hand. "Where's Reno? Or Tiamat..? Or anyone..?" Then she saw him, Reno, and herself, she was younger then, more naive, when they had been together. She had walked in on him with a youthful barmaid named Elizabeth. Her younger self was walking out in the cold right now, shivering because she had nothing more than her adventurer's outfit to keep her warm. To her older, more experienced self, the cold was only a mere thought in your mind, if you thought you were cold, you would freeze to death, if you thought you were warm, you could wear shorts in the snow and not feel cold. The girl fell to the snow, face first, snowflakes landing on her freezing body. "Hey...You'll need this." Angel said, giving the young girl, who still went by Angelina, the Fira materia from her blade. The girl looked up, covered in snow and shaking, she let out one small mutter of a word. "Th-Thanks.." Now everything was white again. "Where am I? This is getting insane!" Angel yelled to nobody in particular.
Then she saw a figure, a man in a rumpled suit, with spiked hair and a ponytail. The figure was blurred, but she could see it walking towards her, then he just stood there. She recognized him from behind when he turned around, and ran towards him. "Reno!" Angel shouted, running as fast as she could, trying to catch up to the man before he walked away. Once she caught up to him, she put a hand on his shoulder, or at least tried to anyways. "Reno...? It's me, Angel!" She said, reaching for his shoulder and feeling her hand slip through his body completely as he walked away from her, leaving her alone in a field of flowers that gradually became covered in snow, ice cold snow. "What's going on here?!" Angel yelled, dropping to her knees as the snowflakes fell upon her softly.
Another figure approached her this time, A girl. She had blonde hair and wore a cleanly pressed navy blue turks suit. The name tag read 'Elena Lueke'. She stopped in front of Angel and knelt down, looking at the young and confused ex-Turk. "Angel...Reno's looking for you, but you're making it to where he can't find you." "Bullshit! He was just right there..." "It's because of your heart Angel, You've seperated yourself from the real world so you can find your memories and the answers to them, but those answers can be found only in the real world, not in your world..." "What's that supposed to mean?!" "It means, I was told to say this by some chick who claimed to be your friend, and it means that you have to go on a quest of your own and find your own answers, leaving Reno by himself to recover from the fall of the Turks." Angel looked up at Elena. "You mean I have to leave him behind?" "Yes. It's for the best." "Whadda you mean by that?" "I mean...Well, you'll find out what I mean..." Elena turned and began to walk off, fading away into white as Angel stood up, her boots crushing the snow underneath them. "ELENA! WAIT! GET BACK HERE!!!" Angel yelled.
Memories flashed past her head, one started and merged into another, followed by another, then another, all leading to the same thing, the present. She felt her clothes change to normal as she was standing on the roof of the Shin-Ra building, hearing Reno running out to the outdoors section of the building to find out what had happened to her.
~ *Ahh, ah* (And I'd...Give it all away), *Ahh, ah* Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) *Ahh, Ahh, ah, ah* (To have someone to come home to)..~
Feeling the wind blow her face, she felt herself falling fowards, Reno's arms catching her and holding her. "Are you okay Ang?" "...Fine.." she said, buring her face in his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck. She felt a tear fall down her face as she thought about how she was going to break it to Reno that she was going to go onto a quest to find out who she truely was. Right now though, she could only realize that he actually cared about her, and she wasn't some one night stand to give him a good time. Biting her lower lip to hold back her tears, she removed her face from his shoulder and looked at him in his pale blue eyes. "...I have to go." Reno's expression went from a slight smile to a full frown as she said this, and the spirit that had sparked up in his eyes was carried away by the winds that gusted by occasionally. "You're....what? Angel, no. You--" Reno couldn't finish a sentence. But Angel silenced him by a finger to his lips. "I have to find out who I really am." Reno opened his mouth to speak again, and was cut off again by Angel's calm voice. "This is something that I have to do to find the truth that is my life story..I know I wasn't always an orphan, I have to find out about my parents, my family, my real life. Not the misguided story Shin-Ra told."
~This is (My December,) This is my time of the year, This is (My December,) This is all so clear..~
Reno looked at her silently as snowflakes fell around them. "It's never snowed over here before..." He said, trying to get off the subject of Angel leaving him already. "I'm sorry that I can't stay, but you have to understand.." Angel said, picking up her blades that Tseng had left behind in battle and strapping the belt around her hips, then beginning to back up towards the ledge. "Angel.." "Goodbye." She leaned back over the edge, making Reno bolt fowards to watch in shock as Tiamat swooped underneath her and caught the girl. The duo flew into the moonlight, snowflakes falling around the moon as Meteor closed in on the planet and made the white snow seem like drops of dark red rain. Reno watched silently as she left him, realizing she may never come back again.
~(Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to, (Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to, (Give it all away,) Just to have somewhere to go to, (Give it all away,) To have someone to come home to...~
Angel looked back, already missing Reno as the snow landed on her figure and the wind from Tiamat's wings blew her hair. Reno remained on the tower, looking at the moon and turned away. "Goodbye, Angel of Darkness..." He said, walking into the presidential suite to attempt at finding Pheonix Downs to revive the fallen comrades that had fought in battle with him and Angel only a few minutes ago.
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Author's Ending Note: Okay, that's the ending of Disk one, I hope ya'll liked the chapter, and you can see why the namesake of the fic is "My December". I was listening to this for hours when I designed and began this fic, and I'm amazed at how detailed it turned, not to mention how popular, (REVIEWS RULE! And so do ReviewERs. ;-P) This ends Disk 1, Disk 2 will come out whenever I get a solid idea to return the fic to popularity upon. Which may or may not be soon.