Spoiled Yet Selfless
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy characters are owned by Squaresoft and not by me yadda, yadda, yadda. I you are reading this, then I pity you.
-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/----/\/----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/----/\/----/\/-----
"It's been awhile
Since I could hold my head up high,
And it's been a while
Since I first saw you,
And it's been awhile
Since I could stand on my own two feet again,
And it's been a while
Since I could call you," - "It's Been A while" Staind
# The Great Northern Cave - Final Fantasy 7 #
* The Day After *
Tifa and Cloud sat alongside a nearby beach that helped barricade the land of Nibelheim. The sun was setting, and the sky seemed to be filled with fire. There was a gentle breezed that caused the grass to sway slightly, letting its aroma lift into the air. Hand in hand, Tifa and Cloud had talked during the beginning of the walk, but slowly afterward, the conversation drifted into a sound silence. Both were off in their own world; Tifa was thinking about the future, and Cloud, his past. It was hard to stay in focus with the dreamy scenery around them. Even the monsters were lost in the peace, laying around sleeping or chasing each other about. One of the frolicking Bandersnatches even went over to play with Tifa. Still, as the day began to die, and night pushed the sun away from Nibelheim skies, the Bandersnatches had run off to find food for their young'uns. Tifa knew they should be enjoying this wonderful weather, for come winter, the rains would force them inside, turning Nibelheim into a dark and dreary town. Even so, they stayed silent. Tifa wondered what Cloud was thinking off, since his thoughts always seemed to interest her. However, both of their trains of thought were broken at the sight of an aircraft heading toward them. Tifa squinted t o see who the vehicle belonged to, but the sight of the bikini-clad woman gave it all away.
"Cid," Cloud muttered.
With a tremendous gust of wind, the Highwind landed, causing the long grass to shake violently. As it came to a full stop, a black cat on a moogle jumped off the deck and started speedily hopping toward them. From the way Cait Sith's moogle ran, Tifa suddenly knew there was something wrong. Simultaneously, she and Cloud stood up, sprinting to meet up with the cat.
"Cloud!" Cait gasped. "Tifa!"
"What's wrong, Cait?" asked Cloud, a look of worry framed on all three of their faces.
"We've got trouble! I'll explain later! Pack up whatever you need and meet me back on the Highwind!" Tifa looked at Cloud, who glanced back, nodded and took off toward his house, Tifa tailing behind him. Cait watched as the two left, thinking to himself, We're gonna need all the help we can get…
Inside his house, Cloud thought of what could be the problem. It was then as he packed away his sword into its sheath that a terrorizing thought occurred to him. It couldn't be….. Him…. Could it…? No… He told himself. Of course not. Pocketing the last of his materia, and scrounging up any potions he could find, he headed out the door, noticing that Tifa was already done and waiting for him. As he headed up toward her, she said, "Maybe we should get Vincent. Cait Sith seemed pretty distressed; I've never seen him like this before…"
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Cloud replied, smiling. "We better hurry though." The smile disappeared. "Cait Sith said this is pretty urgent." With that, the two sprinted up toward the ShinRa Mansion, awarded with stares of some of the passing townsmen since no one dared to enter the "haunted" building. It was a rumor Tifa spreaded to get people to leave Vincent alone, since now that the incident from about 7 years ago was settles into history, people it would be alright to search the mansion. Tifa, Cloud, and Vincent, before he went to sleep again, had decided that the house shouldn't be messed with, as it was the symbol of an old era, one that shouldn't reoccur. As the two friends entered the ShinRa Mansion, memories came back to them both.
# ShinRa Mansion Theme - Final Fantasy 7 #
The ground floor was just the same as it ever had been: dusty, rickety, smelling of mold… Along the way to the secret stairway, they met a couple Dorky Faces, who flew around laughing in an annoying way until Cloud got pissed and sliced them in half. He earned a reprimanding look from Tifa, who in return, got an innocent grin back. As they headed down the circular stairway, a disgusting scent nearly over powered them.
"Argh," Tifa moaned in disgust. "What is that?"
"It smells like something's… rotting.." Cloud said, grimacing. Carefully and slowly, they headed down the steps. By the time they reached the bottom, the only light available was the soft glow of the lamps on the walls. The ground was slightly mushy, probably from all of the mold growing all over. When they neared the door to the secret room Vincent found peace in, Cloud pulled out the key and opened the door, dust flying all over. Coughing as they entered, Cloud went and knocked on the coffin's lid. Almost at once, it flew off, and the being inside sat up.
"Who dare disturbs me? Oh, is that you Cloud?"
"Yeah, Vincent, and Tifa, too," responded Cloud.
"Mornin', Vincent," Tifa giggled.
"Good morning, if that's what it is," he replied, yawning. "Now, what can I help you with?" At this, Cloud turned serious.
"Cait Sith came," Cloud said. "He told us there's a problem, and it's pretty bad. By the sound of it, he needs all the help he can get…"
"So you want me to come along," the ex-Turk finished. "Yes, I shall. I'm already equipped with everything I need, so shall we set off?" With this, he stood up.
"Yeah, we should hurry," Tifa added.
Cloud nodded. "Let's go."
# Trail of Blood - Final Fantasy 7 #
As they headed out the doorway, that same smell washed over them again, only stronger than before.
"Ugh, Vincent, what the hell is that!?" Tifa cried. "It smells worse than before!!"
"I don't know, I've never noticed anything like it since I went back to sleep…."
"Did something die and rot in here?" Cloud questioned.
"Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……"
Something sounded, a low, pitiful moan. The trio stopped, frozen partly in fear of what that sound was. With it, a slow slushy wet sound rose, like something moving around taken long steps, and then the sound of something being chewed on.
"I…..I think it came from the stairs……" Cloud muttered, partly taken in shock. Slowly, Vincent, Cloud and Tifa turned, and what they saw caused them to tense up even more. In front of the stairs, what looked like two halves of two different zombies stapled together was crouched another one of its kind, obviously dead. It was slowly pulling it up toward its mouth, taken a bite out of it before putting it back down again. It swallowed, stopped, and looked toward them, standing up straight. It moaned again as it blocked the entire path to the stairs.
"It's a Ying-Yang," Vincent whispered. "But it looks like its evolved….."
"In other words," Tifa inferred. "No one came down here, so they started to rot and die, resorting to eat its own kind."
"Well, if you put it that way…."
"Um, people, can we concentrate?" Cloud interrupted, slightly frantic, since the monster had started toward them, slowly dragging its feet. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to cause the to devolve…" With that, he unsheathed his sword.
"Er.. Right," Tifa muttered, adjusting her gloves slightly, while Vincent pulled out his Death Penalty. With a grunt, Cloud jumped forward, slicing at the monster, and Tifa, afraid to get close to it, casted Bolt3. Yet, as Cloud backed away form it, the monster was barely hurt, aside from the fact its arm had fallen off. Vincent ran forward, and began to shoot at it, blowing away the top part of its head. It dropped to the floor, twitching at first, but then coming to a halt. It was dead.
"Um… Ew…" Tifa said, brushing some of its gore off her arm.
"Well, that was - " But Cloud never finished his sentence, interrupted by more groans behind him. Out of the door that lead to the library/science room, three more Ying-Yangs came out, more revolting and demented than the first. The second was barely together, it's right arm broken and limp, it's head swinging in all directions. The third was almost free of skin, and most of it was just bone and tissue. One of its halves was missing as well.. As the fourth one stumbled toward them, Tifa saw that one of its eyes had been gorged out, leaving a black liquid to trail down its cheek. It's opposite leg was broken, which caused it to limp toward them. It made her want to hurl.
"There's too many," Cloud informed. "And they're way to strong! We gotta get out of here!" But as they turned to head up the stairs, they say the corpse which the first Ying-Yang was eating slowly get up, skin and miscellaneous gore hanging off its body. With one arm out, it walked toward them, groaning. They were surrounded.
Tifa stood there aghast. It had been dead just a minute ago, and now it was up and wandering about. But then she wondered, why didn't the first one get up? However, she was pulled from her train of thought when a slimy hand touched her shoulder. She turned and gasped. The fourth Ying-Yang had reached her. It grabbed her shoulder and tried to pull her toward it. Tifa attempted to fight it, knowing it would take too long to cast a spell, but as she punched and kicked it, the monster wouldn't let go. It tried to pull her closer so it could bite her, yet punching it kept it from doing so. However, she was beginning to tire, and the other two were catching up…
"FIRE3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Suddenly a blast of flames appeared, torching the monster. It howled, pulling away from her, and Tifa stumbled backward, Cloud catching her in his arms. He pulled her back toward where Vincent was, who was keeping the one behind them from closing in. Cloud grabbed Tifa's hand and pulled her toward the stairs.
"Come on, Vincent!" He shouted. Vincent nodded and rushed ahead, using his shoulder to slam the walking corpse away, giving them time to pass. They ran up the stairs, into the room where they were concealed, and slammed the door behind them. Tifa collapsed into a nearby chair, tired from the battle. Cloud attempted to catch his breath, while Vincent stared at the door.
"Cloud…" Tifa managed. "If you hadn't done cast that when you did….."
"Don't worry about it," he said, smiling. "You've said me loads of times before, and those things weren't exactly pushovers."
"Either way… Thanks…." Tifa smiled back. The last thing she needed was to be eaten to death. It was probably a painful way to die. The team decided to check their materia before they left. Vincent had a Water, Thunder, Wind, Time, and Hades, as well as two All materia. Cloud had Fire, Full Cure, Barrier, Bahamut Zero, Ice, Contain, an All, and the Knights of the Round. Tifa carried her Enemy Skill, Shiva, Itfrit, Alexander, Thunder, Restore, Ice, Earth, an All, and a Luck Plus.
"Well, should we head back to the Highwind?" Tifa asked. As soon as she had said that, a scratching noise was heard from the door they just came through. Shortly after, something moaned from the same spot.
"We'd better go…" Vincent said.
"Yeah, we need to hurry," added Cloud. He ran out the door to the stairway, but stopped before he got to the first step, mouth open, gaping at something they could see.
"Cloud," Tifa called. "What is it?" For her answer, he pointed, and Tifa and Vincent ran out to where he stood, and stopped in shock as well. There must have been at least a hundred Dorky Faces, laughing maniacally, and Tifa knew why.
"Cloud, did you by chance happen to kill any of them?" Vincent asked calmly.
"Er……. Maybe……" He replied in a naïve way.
"Ah, well it seems that since no one has entered for the past 2 years, and since Dorky Faces enjoy playing jokes on travelers, they have gotten bored. I would conclude that since you killed off two of their members who were just having fun, they are pretty upset…." With that, Vincent backed away from Cloud, and Tifa, getting the message, did so as well. Right on cue, the Dorky Faces shot towards the poor blonde in a single file line, right when they almost hit him, he took off in a sprint down the stairs and under the balcony, out of sight. The Dorky Faces followed, and when the last one was gone, Vincent grabbed Tifa by her wrist and ran out the door.
"What are you doing?" Tifa cried. "We can't leave him in there!!!"
# Lurking in the Darkness - Final Fantasy 7 #
"Dorky Faces aren't too powerful," Vincent informed. "Even in large numbers, they won't be able to take Cloud down. The most the could truly do to him is suck a bit of his energy down and cast some random statuses on him. His armor should protect. Besides, if he does have problems, the Dorky Faces will eventually leave him alone, and we can go inside and help him. If we go in and fight them now, and if we get in trouble, no one can help us. Cait Sith will probably think you two are busy packing." Tifa paused, then sighed. Vincent was right; she didn't need to watch over him like a babysitter. They sat on the ground and waited. Even though Vincent felt pretty sure of himself, Tifa began to worry, not to mention Cloud's horrified shriek gave her a heart attack. She tried to get to her feet, but her caped friend snatched her wrist and shook his head defiance. Tifa sighed and returned to her sitting position. A few minutes, the door to the haunted mansion burst open, and two Dorky Faces emerged, something wiggling in their grasp. The rest of the Dorky Faces were behind the duo, howling in laughter. The two Dorky Faces threw the little animal they had at Tifa's feet. Still cracking up hysterically, the monsters slammed the door shut behind them as they reentered the house. Tifa crouched down and Vincent walked to her side. Lying right there was a little frog clothed in a dress and a wig, nearly drenched in make up. The frog shook hopped up and shook its head, then groaned and pulled off the wig while ripping off the dress. Using its forearm, it wiped the makeup clean off, looked up and said, "Does anyone have a Maiden's Kiss?"
* * *
# Infiltrating ShinRa Tower - Final Fantasy 7 #
Barret Wallace, Cid Highwind, Vincent Valentine, Red XIII, Yuffie Kisaragi, Cait, Cloud, and Tifa stood around the long table in the conference room of the Highwind. After the fiasco that happened in the ShinRa mansion (and after Vincent and Tifa finally found Cloud a Maiden's Kiss to fix him back to normal), they returned to the airship where Cait Sith was waiting. He seemed anxious to tell them all about what happened, since the only other person who knew was Cid.
"So, Cait, care to explain just what the hell is going on?" Cloud asked. Cait Sith took a big breath, and began. He told them about how he met up with the four mysterious people at Midgar, and how they seemed to be looking for something, but didn't find it. He then explained how incredibly powerful the one girl he fought was. Cait made sure to get every bit of detail into his story, and each member of Avalanche listening intently.
"And so after Mog and I escaped from Midgar, we headed to Junon, took the transport ship over, and stopped at Cosmo Canyon. We met Red and Yuffie (who was studying materia types), and telephoned Cid to pick us up."
"Yeah, and so we decided to check out who these $#$#%$^& jokers are," Cid added, blowing a puff of smoke out from his cigarette. "From the sound of what Cait told me, this is pretty ^%^%*&(* serious. We didn't have any ideas of where to go from here, so we dropped by to see if you would help." Cloud nodded, looking at the table in thought.
"Just how strong were these people," questioned Red XIII.
"Very," Cait said. "They know limit breaks." At this, Yuffie and Tifa gasped.
"This is pretty bad then," Vincent whispered in his mournful tone. "Limit Breaks have a habit of being fatal when used, unless they're defensive. Not many people can use or control them, but from what you said, this girl seems pretty experienced.
"So, now we're messin' with the big dogs, I guess," Barret moaned.
"Okay, so we know what they are," Yuffie said, a little annoyed. "Now can we focus on where they went?"
"Yuffie's right. We won't get anywhere knowing what they can do," Tifa agreed.
"But, they never said where they were planning on going," Vincent reminded them. "So, basically, we're back at square one."
A moment of silence passed, and then Cloud spoke up.
"Hold on a second… They were in the reactor, obviously looking for something," he began. "But from what Cait told us, the one person he couldn't see said that they didn't find what they needed. That's what Cait heard before he was out of their earshot. So, what's the one thing Mako is usually used for?"
"An energy source, like how those damn ShinRa freaks used it."
"Mako poisoning I suppose, but I don't see why that would be helpful… Grandpa told me back when I was a cub that Mako poisoning isn't a war method."
"Experiments, the kind that damned Hojo did on Lucrecia and Sephiroth…."
"%@%^@*& Money source, I %^^*%@&% guess…."
"Creating life? Connections with the Planet? Just like Aeris….."
"Psh, don't look at me, I'm just a cat in a cape."
"MATERIA!!!!!"
"Well," Cloud mumbled, a sweat drop forming on his forehead. "Yes, all of those things….. But I don't think it has to do with an energy or a money source, since you can't use it by small numbers and all Lifestream is the same….. From Cait's description, they don't look like scientists, and once again, Life stream is all the same…… I don't it has to do with the Planet, Tifa, no offence…. Red's right about the Mako poisoning……… So, it's gotta be that they're looking for a certain Materia. The only problem is, where are they going?" He turned toward Yuffie. "Any ideas?"
"Well, let's see….. They gotta be heading for a reactor, but most of the reactors at Midgar are drained…. Checked, heh, heh…. Ahem, you've got Nibelheim, but that's the place for Mako monsters instead of Materia, since the reactor is drying up from when Cloud told us about his past back in Kalm… Um….. There's always the underwater reactor, but I have no idea if that serves for Materia or just energy….. You also have Gongaga with their broken reactor, and Corral with theirs…."
"Wait, brat, go back one dere…." Barret commanded. Yuffie scowled and being called the name, but she did as she was told.
"I said Gongaga…"
"That's right!" Tifa exclaimed. "We found quite of bit of Materia there, as well as a summon, and summons are exceptionally rare…. That's probably the place!"
"If that's the case…" Cid hissed. "We gotta %$%$*%^*% hurry before we lose them. Let's head straight to Gongaga!"
"Right!"
-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/----/\/----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/-----/\/----/\/----/\/-----
Gomen for this one coming out so late. Been really busy with guard and school, and this is a pretty long chapter. But then again, none of you people but Ronnie bugged me, so shame on you!! ^_^ Heh, thanks Ronnie, seriously, for getting me off my lazy ass and working on this one. I hoped I filled out a few plot holes, and I know the plot's kinda messy, but I promise that some of it will come out next chapter. I've got a lot planned out now, so I shouldn't have writer's block that much.
Also, I've found out that Gaming Force isn't working, so go to www.ffonline.com to get the music. However, it only has the final fantasy music. Just to let you know.
So, what did everyone think of this chapter. I'm sorry, I know that Dorky Face scene was stupid, I couldn't resist though. The story was too serious. Also, you saw I added some gore. Heh, I'm trying to touch a little bit of everything in this story. Also, if you read and review, please tell me what you think of the romance. Talk about what you want to see for romance, how you think I'm treating Tifa (I'm trying to treat her nice), etc, etc. Thanks!