Final Fantasy VII
Memories Not Forgotten
Author's Note: I just wanted to let everyone know a quick little something. From this point on, there will be vague references to Advent Children. Nothing too major. Prime examples are the following:
In one of the official trailers during the fight with Bahamut SIN, Vincent is somehow 'flying' with flames beneath his feet. Since I'm not 100 sure what this is about, I'll make up my own reason.
How Cloud came to having his motorcycle.
As the story progresses, (perhaps much later) each character will be featured in their Advent Children attire, and why they change.
And a few other things. Note that (if I can help it) nothing will happen in my story that happens in the movie. An example is the person in the wheelchair in white being revealed. For those of you who know who it is, okay. And for those who don't shouldn't worry about it just now, since he won't even be mentioned until later.
And as mentioned last chapter, depending how this chapter turns out, depends on whether or not the rating will change.
Finally, some characters may use some of their Limit Breaks when they fight. See if you can catch who uses what Limit Break, and when.
Chapter 7
The Hammer Falls
"Captain! Two minutes to target!"
"I think this is close enough. Land just over there!"
The ride from Rocket Town to Nibelheim wasn't a long one, but Cid had been barking orders like mad since they left.
"Cid," Cloud looked away from the glass for the first time since they took off, "is 'it' ready?"
Cid also stopped in his actions, long enough to give the blonde a nod, "Yeah, it's all set down in the cargo bay."
Confused expressions set across the rest of the party, though none of them had said a word. The landscape was whiffing by at such a high-speed, that a sudden jerk caused all who were standing up to fall onto their faces. Apparently the pilot activated the break too soon. The entire craft jutted several times, before it stopped some twenty feet from the ground. Everyone took this moment to quickly recover.
"All right, everyone. Be careful." Cloud declared to the group, who soon disbanded from the cockpit.
As they were starting up the ladder that lead to the bridge, Cloud turned off and started down a different path, to which Tifa caught his arm before they were separated, "Cloud, where are you going?"
He turned and replied with, "Cid made me something special a while ago. Now seems a good enough time to use it."
Tifa looked confused, "What is it?"
"You'll see. Just don't die on me."
That was the last thing he said before he vanished from sight, promptly snatching his weapon from a nearby rack as he exited.
Filled with doubt and worry, Tifa swallowed her fears, and followed the rest from the ship.
They all stood on the small bridge of the ship, which now overlooked the open plains which lead to Nibelheim. The town itself was but a smoking ruin from where everyone could see, and amidst the ruins was a behemoth of a creature. It was blindly smashing aside buildings in search of human prey.
"What… in the world is that?" Tifa had asked, looking almost scared.
No one answered at first, since no one had an answer for her. It seems like nothing else ever seen before.
"…It's a Bloodthirst." That voice belonged to Vincent, who was soon met with multiple eyes.
"The hell is that?" This was Cid.
Vincent seemed reluctant to speak, but he explained nonetheless. "A Bloodthirst is a type of ogre. As its name suggests, it feeds off of blood. When angered, it goes into a blind rage, and it becomes next-to-invincible. If we are to defeat it, we must use extreme caution."
Barret seemed a little skeptical, "It doesn't look so tough. We've beat worse things'n than!"
"It's skin is extremely thick," Vincent continued, "hurting it won't be easy."
"So how're we goin' to fight it?" Cait asked this with a monotone in his voice.
Vincent did not reply at first, only looked down toward the ground, as if thinking. Then, "It only has two weaknesses: its head, and its heart. Those should be our key targets." Again he stopped, and shook his head, "But even then it will be dangerous for some of you. You should stay back and use the power of your materia, and leave the fighting to the rest of us."
At this, Tifa almost felt insulted, because she knew he meant herself and Cait. Maybe her fists and his toy body wouldn't do much damage, but she still loved to fight side-by-side with the others. Maybe it was for the best, however.
"Awright then! Let's go!" Barret bellowed out, and was the first to start down the ladder.
"This doesn't look good…" Yuffie hesitated at first, but also began down.
"Hopefully, its not too late for the people…" Red said this just as he jumped down, only to be caught by Barret.
"This'll be a piece of cake!" After grabbing up his weapon, Cid Slung it over his shoulder, and slid down the ladder.
"… Be careful, you two." Was all Vincent said. Yet he did not depart from the airship just yet. He seemed to be planning something.
Ignoring him, Tifa turned to Cait, and looks hesitant to have to carry the toy body all the way down the ladder.
However, Cait relieved her of that worry, "Dun' worry, Tifa! Another body is already nearby."
Nodding, she stood up over the ladder, giving Vincent one last stare, before starting down as well. "Where are you, Cloud…?"
It was a rather exhilarating rush, everyone running together to face some giant monster head on. Though Barret could not run as fast for his larger size, he still kept up very well. Out ahead of them, the monster had already seen their approach, and was hulking its way toward them. The beast was large, roughly fifteen feet high. It's skin was leathery, saggy in some placed. The face was disfigured, jaw splitting in two at the chin, rows of rotten fangs here and there. Giant eyes with burned white, looked on hungrily. In one hand, was a giant rustic cleaver, and in the other, what appeared to be a large ship anchor, though it was more of a hook than anything else.
Tifa stopped in her charge, as a second Cait bounced up next to her. She looked on as the rest of them charged forward, certainly toward their doom.
But a ring of hope stretched over her, as a familiar figure shot across the sky overhead.
A red-cloaked figure was being carried through the air, lines of flames being left in a trail. Supporting materia was glowering from the three-barreled handgun, which was soon ejected from within the cloak. The crystals are what seemed to be giving him the ability to fly.
"Vincent!" Tifa called into the air. The figure looked over its shoulder, and showed her that it was who she thought it was.
"All right, Cait. Let's show this beast who's boss!" Tifa again declared, as she slammed one fist into her other open palm.
What she got as a reply, was the mog bouncing about, swinging its arms madly about in punching motions. "All right!"
From the sky, Vincent aimed the end of his weapon toward the oncoming enemy. Index finger yanked back the trigger several times, causing loud explosions to be heard from all around. From the end of the weapon, a shower of sparks and shrapnel, each bullet hitting its mark somewhere on the beasts head, though it seemed barely affected.
Yuffie had dashed off to the far side of the behemoth, twirling the four-point shuriken around in her fist. The materia in it began to give off a radiation, causing her weapon to begin sparkling here and there. It was then that Yuffie propelled her figure into the air, near the beast's chest. Bringing the weapon back as far as she could, she brought the weapon back down across its chest, hard as she could, leaving a giant slash mark.
Red XIII was charging across the charred ground at a much higher speed, leaving dust in his wake. The beast saw his movement, and attempted to slam the butt-end of its cleaver on top of him, yet Red hurtled himself into the air at the last moment, his fangs catching the creature's arm. He hung on for dear life, while trying to rip off the skin to expose a weak spot.
However, the Bloodthirst dropped its giant hook, and took Red within its giant hand, and simply slammed him into the ground. It was here that Red was motionless, but multi-colored sparkles invoked his body. The source of the magic came from a materia in Tifa's glove. Red felt all pain in his body escape, and rose back to his feet.
"Thank you, Tifa." Before leaping back into action.
Barret moved off to the opposite side of Yuffie, and was unleashing showers of shrapnel upon the enemy. The gatling gun spun about at a high-rate, which sent bullets every which way. It stopped, however, as a ball of flames formed amidst the turrets. Clutching his gun-arm with his free hand, Barret launched the flaming sphere at the beast's head, and hit head-on.
Cait was swinging his blue megaphone about madly, only to throw it out towards the beast. Explosions of flames erupted all around the monster, before a much larger dome of purgatory formed around it. Even as its skin was now bloodied here and there, and even charred, it still showed no signs of fatigue.
Cid was nowhere to be seen. All that was changed, however, because a yell caught everyone's attention. Cid was seen leaping from the roof of a burning building. With the spear outstretched, Cid forced the weapon into the gut of the Bloodthirst when he came within reach. Shortly after the spear hit, another explosion shot all around the area where the beast was.
Vincent was still circling the air, unleashing round after round from that large gun of his. Every which way the bullets could be seen hitting their marks, because blood was bursting out from everywhere.
"This thing is stronger than it looks!" Yuffie exclaimed from off to the side. She had since removed her weapon from the beast, and each point was dripping in dark blue ooze.
Red was just nearby, his entire figure letting off a radiant red glow. With the top of his hairpin aimed at the monster, a sea of star-shaped energy blasted were fired across the plains, some hitting the Bloodthirst's face, others hitting his limbs and legs, leaving minor cuts. "We can't give up yet."
While the fighting continued, a familiar noise caught Tifa's attention. She turned away from the vicious fighting, to see a large dust cloud on the horizon. It sounded like a motorcycle. "It couldn't be…" Tifa had almost forgotten about 'him'.
The motor echoed loud on the plains, and it wasn't until it was barely five feet from where Tifa was standing for her to see who it was. The wind cut through the rider's light-gold spikes that was his hair. Eyes were concealed by a pair of dark riders goggles. It looked larger than most other motorbikes. Two wheels were linked together by steel supporting rods, and two in the back.
"Cloud!"
From the side of the bike, a large slot opened up, revealing a sort of rack, and inside rested the Buster Sword. Cloud ejected the weapon from its slot, and the rack closed once again. The sword gleamed in the sunlight as he approached, and Tifa and Cait quickly stepped aside just as the bike whizzed past.
At the last second, Cloud dug his boot into the passing dirt, and yanked the handlebars off to one side. This caused the motorbike to tilt to its left, but continued to skid to the right, toward the Bloodthirst. Cloud brought the sharp end of Buster around in a hard swing, aimed at the base of the creature's foot. However, due to its thick skin, the blade only cut halfway, but it was enough to render the giant beast motionless.
As Cloud sped off, Vincent removed the flames from around his feet, falling directly toward where the Bloodthirst had fallen. His left claw arm outstretched, the fingers ejecting razorblades from the knuckle. The distance closed between them at a high-rate. A loud roaring cry from the monster as the razors found their way into its chest cavity. Blood shot up everywhere, droplets hitting Vincent in the face here and there, yet he did not pay much attention.
Another figure was once again coming from the sky, and it was Cid once again. His spear was again pointed toward the ground, and he was shouting into the air. Another roar, as Cid's spear-point found its way into its neck. Cid removed his spear, flipped backward, and removed a red stick from his jacket. Using the lit end of his cigarette, he lit the dynamite stick, and threw it so it landed just near the monster's chest.
Everyone backed up to a safe distance just as the stick exploded, flames invoking the fallen corpse. The rumbling settled, and the dust slowly cleared. The beast's body had been severed through the middle, due to the dynamite. The head and arms were still attached to the main body, but it appeared to be dead.
"Is it over?" Tifa remarked at how large the beast was when she stood just inches from the hand which still held the cleaver.
Vincent landed just nearby, placing the weapon back into his cloak, "Seems to be. We should head back to Rocket Town."
"What about the people of Nibelheim?" Yuffie pointed out.
Red emerged from the side of the fallen monster. "If any are still alive, they will repair the town. They did it before, right?"
But Tifa still tried to protest, "And why can't we help them!"
A large hand was placed on Tifa's shoulder, she turned to see Barret inches from her own figure. "Let it go, Tifa. There's really nuthin' we can do for 'em."
"Yeah," Cid added, "We saved them from this… thing. That's all we can do."
At this, Cloud parked his bike just nearby, though did not kill the engine, or even get off of it. He was still holding his bloodied Buster. "We still need to get information from the Turks. After that, we'll decide what to do."
Cait bounced up, "I'll get some folks from Midgar to come help 'em here."
Tifa still wanted to help the people herself, since she did used to live here. Even if most of her memories from here were not real, she still was born here. Yet in a deep chamber of her heart, she was glad it was gone. It reminded her too much of what happened, five years earlier."
"All right… let's head back to Rocket Town." She declared.
After finally all agreeing, the party slowly started away from the ruined state that was now Nibelheim. Cloud started his bike, and followed the others, just slow enough so that he could not leave them behind.
Tifa, however, did not leave just yet. She stood near the giant corpse, ignoring the putrid smell. She looked over what little was left of a place that was once her home. With two hands clasped against her middle, she did her best to choke back tears.
'What's wrong with me…?'
Despite the fact that everyone was all right, she still hurt. How could they deny her in helping rebuild her and Cloud's home? Maybe they didn't live there anymore, and maybe they wouldn't come back even if they WANTED to, now that it was in ruins. But she still wanted to help in any way she could. The mountains that surrounded the area saw everything she saw, that day. Sephiroth murdering everyone, setting the town ablaze, killing so many people, including her father. They knew how she felt…
Coming to grips with herself, Tifa turned and started after everyone else, attempting to leave her sorrows with the dead monster. Though she did not notice the shadow which grew over her shoulder.
The beast was not dead. In fact, it was much alive. The arm which held the cleaver rose, slowly, until it was just over her retreating figure. Tifa eventually took notice of the giant shadow, and looked over her shoulder just in time to see the massive weapon loom over her, before it was swiftly brought down in a vertical slash.
"CLOUD!"
Tifa couldn't move, all she did was turn and snapped her hands around her head, cowering against the ground like a whipped dog. But before she allowed death to take her, the extremely loud sound of metal hitting metal caused Tifa to jerk her gaze upward. There was Cloud, Buster slammed against the giant cleaver. Cloud's weapon looked cracked near the middle, due to the force of the other weapon.
Cloud grasped the hilt with both hands, and pushed the weapon upward in a crescent motion, this pushed the Bloodthirst's weapon off, at which Cloud swung Buster again, harder than last time. The clash which followed shattered both the cleaver, as well the Buster sword. Cloud's sword was shattered at the middle, with only one pointed edge on the far left end.
The metal pieces scattered here and there, and Tifa didn't think the Buster could be broken. She thought that Cloud must be that strong…
Sick with adrenaline and anger, Cloud spun the shattered weapon in his hand, over his head. Instantly, blue and white swirls danced around the blade. Cloud leapt into the air, pressing the weapon into monster's abdomen, and continued to soar upwards, The Buster easily cleaved the beast in two, despite being broken. The head split at a curved place, and the two halves fell to different sides with opposing, earth-quaking thuds.
By now, the rest of the party had come back to see what was going on. They arrived just in time to see Cloud land just near Tifa, and dropping the broken weapon at his side.
Tifa shakily stood up, after being helped up by Cloud, his hands upon her shoulders.
"Tifa… are you okay?" His words were so soft.
"Cloud… you… I…" She couldn't speak, the emotion was too much for her to handle.
So it was that, despite the on-lookers of the other party, Tifa placed her lips across the other's, who-- despite his shock-- returned the emotion. The kiss did not last long, but it was the best feeling in the world to Tifa. The rest of the group merely looked on in silence.
And despite the heavy emotion, Tifa pulled away, tucking her face between the crook of Cloud's neck, who linked his arms around her.
Maybe it was a fated love… or maybe it was the emotion of the moment. After all, they all almost lost a respected and loved member of their group.
Action, bit of drama, and bit of romance, all in one chapter. I love it. Pleasepleaseplease review. I really worked on this chapter.