Disclaimer: All characters and locations that appear in any of the Final Fantasy games belong to Square-Enix.

The Silver Redemption

Chapter One: The Gathering

Miles beneath the surface of the Planet, an emerald liquid flows. Hazy smoke figures travel this stream of souls, known to the surface dwellers as the Lifestream. Normally, either a soul in the Lifestream becomes reincarnated, to create new life on the planet, or is transported to the World of Souls, the Zero World. Amongst its mustard colored clouds, and its never ending plains, dwells the one being that created it all.
Surrounded by his grand coliseum, on a mighty throne encrusted with otherworld jewels, sits the ruler of the Zero World, Necron. A being of unbeatable strength, of undated age, and has been since the beginning of time. Eons ago, in the deepest reaches of the universe, a single wave of energy ripped a hole. As the hole expanded it became a dark void, on the other end of this void came forth from the poisonous clouds, Necron.
One of the only beings able to breathe in the airless space, Necron was the first true eternal creature. Never aging, never looking back, that was his true purpose, but somewhere down the line he went astray. He began to quench his thirst for power by creating the Zero World. He needed souls, so he created the many dimensions, and all of their inhabitants. As their time wore out he would kill them off and feed upon their soul's sorrow.
A once magnificent being to look upon, now, from millennia of sorrow taking, he's become just as blue as the sorrow itself. Ashamed of his greed and lust for strength, he crafted a mask in which he wears to this day. The mask has seen far too many years, for it is shredded and torn. Yet, his face has been lost to history; no mortal has ever looked upon his mighty face.
He once resembled a modern day Greek gladiator, but now, sadly the same can not be said. Protruding forth from his back, span two great wings, those who have not known him might say that the wings are nothing more than two mighty Cypress trees. His arms may have just molded together across his chest, for he never moves them.
Three rune rings circle his body, the two below his knees spin horizontal, while the other spins vertically on his torso. The ring passes through his torso as if he was dead, nothing more than a soul, but he is not. Perhaps a side effect of consuming the souls of the dead. The static that emits from his being, is powerful enough to kill any mortal it touches. At a fraction of his strength he can create the biggest vortex ever seen in this world or the next.
He and he alone created the seven Divine Paths. But he created ten paths, why? Three are hidden to the eye, the eighth path is known as the Cetra Path, all Cetras travel that path. The ninth is the Spirit Path, the only connection to the living world. Finally, the most dangerous of all paths, the tenth path. The path of the Underworld, the Road of Hell, the River Styx, all means the path sealed by the good willed, and traveled by the damned.
In the core he waits now, for a group of allies, the saviors of their planet. Plagues have troubled this particular planet many times, and many times more the same allies teamed up and defeated the threat of the Planet. First was the Cetra, Sephiroth, unaware of his Cetra heritage until the creature Jenova opened his eyes. He traveled to the Temple of Ancients, he sought the Black Materia. His puppet, Cloud Strife, gave him the Black Materia and he summoned the ultimate magic, Meteor.
Meteor, a giant asteroid summoned to destroy the planets it collides with, each time not dying but gaining more strength. This was known as the Meteor Crisis, now referred to as the Great Darkness. The second was a demon; he plagued the Planet of its life, and even defeated the Reborn Legend. He was an old man, part demon, his name was Havoc. His reign of evil lasted five years. Sephiroth's on the other hand, lasted a mere year, if even that.
It has been seven centuries since the defeat of Havoc, and the end to the Havoc Crisis. Now, in the core of the Zero World, a reunion will be taking place. A unity of allies, and a Ceremony of Remembrance.

A flash of blonde hair flew past the threshold of the First Divine Path as the bearer ran into the center of the Zero World, the core. The blonde haired warrior, his hair did not flow with the tide, but instead was spiked like the jagged rocks at the bottom of the fall. Dressed in navy blue pants, and a blue-violet muscle shirt, surrounded by a crimson cape, he appeared. Upon his shoulders sat the armor of his once respected idol, Sephiroth. Hidden beneath the mass of hair, deep blue eyes with a hint of emerald shone.
The gentle curve of his jaw held a frown, he was the first to arrive, and he would have to wait for the others. Making a good sense of time he laid down upon the clouds, no longer half-expecting to fall through into a bottomless void. Soon darkness took him; he passed into a peaceful nap. The blonde warrior slept undisturbed, unaware he was being watched.

The musty clouds of the Zero World, to most surprise, are not like clouds at all. They are actually given a more stone like texture, thus there is no fear of plummeting into a bottomless hole through the clouds. During the middle of the blonde warrior's slumber, a second warrior was heard walking toward the threshold of the Second Divine Path. The clank of his army boots on the clouds awoke the sleeping warrior, just in time to see a second blonde warrior step forth from the threshold.
As the second man walked into the light of the core, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his Air Force jacket. Carefully picking one cigarette from the pack as if each one was a piece of gold, and as fragile as glass, he lit it. He then put the pack behind his ears in the pocket of his pilot goggles, which were positioned on top of his head. He took one long puff from the cigarette, and as he exhaled the smoke he sighed. "I see you're the first one here Cloud." said the mysterious warrior.

"Just waiting for your sorry butt." replied Cloud.
"Damn, stop being such a wussy Cloud, when will you start saying ass?" questioned the man.
"Come on, leave Cloud alone Cid."
"Hey Cloud, looks like your bodyguard was here to defend you again." joked Cid.

Entering from the Third Divine Path was a young brown haired woman in her mid 20's. She hadn't changed much since the Havoc Crisis, especially since no one ages in the Zero World. She still had the beautiful shine in her brown-red eyes, still had the same outfit. The outfit she wore was a crimson red tank top, and long black hakama pants and she still wore the fighting gloves. Upon passing through the threshold her long brown hair swayed as she walked, enchanting Cloud like always.

"Must you always stare at Tifa like that?" asked Cid.
"Wow, isn't she...I uh mean...what was the question again?" replied Cloud.
"Ugh, you're hopeless." Cid muttered under his breath.
"What?" Cloud questioned.
"Nothing." Cid answered.
"What are you two talking about?" asked Tifa.

As the group of reunited allies discussed certain topics, and kept secret conversations from one another, a great nightmare was disturbing someone's slumber on the Fourth Divine Path. Halfway along the fourth path slept the ever-mysterious Vincent. His mind was plagued of the days when he was a Turk working for Shin-Ra Inc., and when he lost the love of his life. When he awoke he realized he was shivering, but at the same time he was sweating.
Vincent stood up in full posture against a tree, and took some time to pull his thoughts together, determining reality from nightmare. He never changed his outfit since he first met Cloud during the Great Darkness. He still wore the classic black shirt and pants. Buckled, and draped over his shoulders were the same crimson cloak, and the same crimson bandana wrapped his forehead. His hair was long and black as always, and his eyes were piercing red as ever. The same shadow around his eyes kept the sullen look on his face.
Vincent felt his left side go cold, then numb. He lifted his left arm up to the light from beneath the cloak. The bronze arm and its claws moved just fine, but Vincent could still feel its uncomfortable grip upon his arm's ligaments and nerves. He glanced at the tips of the claws, the little sunshine that ever shone in the Zero World reflected Vincent's cold expression back at him.
He began his last walk to the reunion, after a few steps he felt a warm spot growing inside him, directly in his chest. It spread through his body like wildfire, soon enough he was once again looking at his reflection in his bronze arm. He was no longer the dark, sullen Vincent everyone knew, he was Guardian. His beloved Guardian form came back to him in his time of need. His vision cleared and he saw not another demon blocking his path.
No longer was there a shadow beneath his red eyes, but now there was light beneath his piercing ice blue eyes. His clothes and his cloak were once more white, he had both wings again, and his hair even changed to its proper form. It became white as snow and flowed as if there was a constant gull of wind. The little light from the Zero World caused Vincent's hair to shine just like a spider's webbings in the sunlight. Vincent extended his wings to their maximum span and flew off toward the meeting place; this new development would make the trip much shorter.

A little way down the Fifth Divine Path, the next warrior had a problem on his hands. It seemed a fiend managed to get pass Necron's ever seeing eyes. It wasn't a big problem; it was only a harmless lupine pup. Still, the warrior took no precautions. His giant combat boots echoed off the stone clouds as he braced for battle. His carefully loaded his Missing Score.
The magazine clip was large enough for at least a hundred rounds. As he slipped the magazine into the chamber of the gun, he made sure the parts locked properly. As the gun's parts clicked together and he checked the chamber, he aimed at the lupine pup with a smile. With one pull of the trigger, the fiend would be sent directly where it was meant to, the Underworld.
The warrior pulled the trigger as he felt the indescribable feeling of being extremely "Trigger Happy". Hail of bullets flew toward the lupine pup, its dark brown fur pelted with blood stains. The pup fell to the clouds with many holes in its side. The warrior walked over to the dead fiend and stared into its cold dead eyes, black.

"What was that?" asked Cid hearing the bullet shots.
"Barret," replied Cloud, "who else could it be?"
"He might need our help, we should go to him!" exclaimed Tifa.

As the allies ran toward the Fifth Path, out from the Fourth Path a whirl of white surprised them. Vincent flew high into the sky less Zero World, and once he reached an appropriate height, he closed his wings around him. A white sphere surrounded him, as the sphere shrunk it took Guardian with it. Vincent fell from the sky straight downward, the blood red cloak flying upward from the fall.
He landed in a crouched position with such force even the unmovable clouds seem to have compressed. Normally no ordinary person would be able to survive a fall like that unscathed, but Vincent rose as if it were nothing. As he walked to the others, his plate tipped boots clicked on the clouds.

"Cloud, I really don't mind going anywhere, it's just the fact that you're leading the way." Vincent stated.
"We think Barret might need our help!" cried Tifa, "we heard gun shots."
"Of course you heard gun shots, I was killing this stray fiend." echoed Barret's voice from the Fifth Divine Path.

A tall six foot or so man walked out from the Fifth Path. He wore size eleven combat boots, and green cammo pants. His vest was torn and ripped in several places, and under the open vest he wore a white muscle shirt. On one of his muscular biceps was a black skull tattoo; on the other arm was the Missing Score. This man had met an unfortunate fate since he had to have his arm amputated from the elbow down, and replaced with a gun-arm.
His face was the most chiseled feature, his hair was cut army style and his beard was unevenly shaven. In his left ear he wore two earrings and had two long scars across his left cheek. His eyes were brown, but held such an aura as if his nightmares were constantly replaying inside his mind. His dog tags were engraved with the name, Barret Wallace, former leader of AVALANCHE. Hanging upon his shoulders was the body of the lupine pup.

"Met this little fiend blocking my path here." Barret stated.
"Ah, Barret's here too?" pondered Vincent, "that only leaves Yuffie."
"I wonder what's taking her." asked Barret surprised by the fact Yuffie was not the first one there.

Just as Barret spoke a figure fell out of the sky and landed on top of Vincent. It was Yuffie. Realizing what had happened, or so it seemed, she helped Vincent back up. Patting him a few times as if she was making sure he was ok. Then, without notice she began to run toward the Sixth Divine Path.

"Where's she going in such a hurry?" asked Vincent, "Hey! She stole my only materia!"
"See you later Vince! Haha, what a nice steal." exclaimed Yuffie as she ran.
"That little pickpocket seems she hasn't changed one bit." thought Vincent.
"Where did you get that materia, I thought I got rid of all materia in my domain!" exclaimed Necron.
"..."

As Yuffie saw the entry to the Sixth Path, she looked back to make sure no one was following her. No one was, there was no point in it, and she had gotten away. Not even Vincent chased after her. She turned back to continue her getaway when she ran into someone. She fell to the ground and dropped the materia.

"Ow, that hurt!" yelled Yuffie.
"I don't care why you stole it, so much as the reason you picked me." spoke Vincent.
"Uh, ehhh, sorry Vincent." apologized Yuffie, reaching for the materia.
"Your welcome, and by the way, I'll be taking this back." answered Vincent as he picked up his materia.

Now that everyone was where he wanted them all, Necron decided to make his move. A quick shadow passed over where they all stood. As they looked up, they noticed a massive coliseum stood in place of the boundless sky of the Zero World. Necron then began his descend to the group of heroes, and as he descended he spoke in an overpowering voice.

"Welcome back to the center of the Zero World. Now, it is time to begin the Ceremony!"

[Special Thanks To] Seikyn, for his excellent opinion on details. Without him, this chapter wouldn't be very detailed.