FN: You people with your 100+ hits in two chapters, and your gush of positive reviews (four reviews in one chapter, a new high for me thank you very much Reiko x 3, pride1289, biting bullets, and chibi-selen) YOU MAKE ME SICK! All of you except Reiko, at least, she's given me feedback across the board. but the rest of you! If you don't want to check out Ronin Trip that's fine with me, it's a different game and not all of you may have played the Suikoden series, but none of you have any excuse to come here, read this fic, leave me reviews, and then go scurry away without taking a look at Twilight Perfection a fic which was the first one I ever felt truly confident enough to post on and I spent a lot of time on.
If you've already read Twilight Perfection (Aira Slytherin) go back and at least glance over a few bits of it, and leave me a review on it since being a socially maladjusted nut job like most great writers (I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly Harper Lee became a veritable hermit after she wrote to Kill A Mockingbird) the reviews I get from you folks are one of the few sources of human interaction I have, and so words can not say how much I want them.
I know Twilight has a plethora of Original Characters (well five at least) and due to the fact that my writing style has developed two years or so ago when I started working with a good friend of mine to post it means that there are parts that I now see as having room for improvement (but what writer doesn't feel that way about any of their works when they look back at them) but still it does something (retelling the entire story of FFVII as if Sephiroth hadn't gone crazy after finding out about his past in Niblehime) which I consider a good deal more original than this story in which I taking the characters, interposing them into a vaguely Trigun like setting with Vaguely Trigun like personalities, with as you will see in this chapter a vaguely Trigun like plot (including conversations that are more or less designed along the same line as one that took place in Trigun) and of course breaking up the monotony with Trigun like fight scenes.
That said the monotony will be further when in the chapter after this one rolls around when (SPOILER skip the rest of this pargraph to avoid!) "new" villains show up who are by and large the same original characters as show up in Twilight Perfection except that they're the heroes in that story and the villains in this one and they're more less streamlined down to their bare bones quirks and with all their psychotic tendencies set one measily notch higher.
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(X's inserted for ease of avoiding spoilers.)
Oh and by the way, I wrote this story before I realized that when you have the character say a line you're suppose to start a new sentence so that you so that should give you some idea of how much editing I need to get this tripe upgraded to actual tripe instead of being simply "tripe like" for lack of a better word.
If you can't stand original characters playing important parts, then go read (and review) Music of the Twilight, which is basically the story of Phantom of the Opera an Aeris/Sephiroth fic with Final Fantasy VII characters and a few twists (two original characters in minor rolls) which thegr8sephiroth also posted (search for him by author name to find it and Twilight Perfection) which despite an atrocious update rate due to my editor's busy schedule and computer problems, it is only one chapter away from being finished, so read and review that if you haven't already and you somehow manage to struggle our way through this chapter. So now that I've finished spewing bile all over you here's the third chapter.
In the half scream semi hysterical sarcastic words of Alfred Matthew Yankovic... "I hope you enjoy it!" Serriously I'm going to keep slamming you people because it seems to have started a Spring Time For Hitler like vibe that makes this story more popular than any of my others.
The Immortal Gunman
Chapter Three: Who I am hates who I've been.
It would be seven days before the group left the town of Blooming Flower and the town had slowly begun to get back on its feet by that time. The Cetra where the slowest when it came to realizing that the change had come, perhaps it was simply because they were less used to change either for good or ill.
Still, when no more dead bodies where to be found, when no more bullets where fired, they too realized that it was okay to stop worrying about weather or not they would live to see another sunrise. Though the town would not exactly come to accept the group, they where (even if they didn't directly say so out loud) very grateful for their involvement.
Sephiroth spent most of the week helping with one project or another, he seamed to be everywhere at once, working with a fervor that could have surprised any person who didn't know who exactly he was. He prayed over the dead bodies, and dug graves, marking them with small crosses that Lucrecia made, he helped lift a surprising amount of wood for the building of the new church, he helped scatter the ashes of the dead across the sand in hopes that perhaps it would bring some fertility to the soil. and he even hunted a little of the extremely scarce game that was left to feed some of the surviving people.
If anyone asked him he how he could managed to do so much in such a short period of time he merely said that god granted him a nearly boundless energy to help him serve his children. Vincent was not quite as helpful, but he was a bit more willing to make conversation with people than Sephiroth.
Granted the main reason he didn't spend that much time helping people was because he spent so much time with Lucrecia who spent much of her time working in a small blacksmith shop she had set up.
For her part Aeris simply helped Lucrecia with her work by gathering of the materials she needed, the materials and helping the other Cetra once again bring plantlife back to the town. At the end the week the townsfolk held a banquet in honor of the four people had saved them, however only three of the four attended, Sephiroth still had more "work" to do making tombstones, digging graves, as well or some other miscellaneous task.
The next day the four set out on a trip through the vast stretches of desert that now filled the Promise Land towards the town of Running River.
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The young Cetra looked at Sephiroth as if he was a being from another world; it was a look Sephiroth had grown use to. Though all Cetra where spiritual by nature, few were religious, at least in the way humans would describe such a word. The Cetra were already ready to accept the word of God, they just needed to be informed of it. Sephiroth's task was simply to convince the spiritual of the power of the Holy Spirit. The boy's question was spoken with the complete innocence of youth. "What are you?"
Sephiroth took such questions in stride, for being a man of God among druids easily made one the object of much attention. He had spent a fair amount of time actually practicing his trade while his mother had cared for Aeris, and he knew it well. He smiled, and much to his surprise it was practically a genuine smile as he went down one knee to look the child in the eye (though he didn't remove his glasses). He spoke slowly and clearly. "I am a priest."
The child's eyes filled with the wonder of one who was witnessing a rare animal that none of his friends had seen or even heard about. "What's a priest?" Sephiroth shrugged completely at ease for that moment. "I am a messenger of God."
The child looked like he wanted to take a few steps back at that comment but didn't. Instead he tried out the new word he had herd like testing a new type of food. "God?" It was distorted to Sephiroth's ear but his intention was quite clear. He repeated the word a few more times, each time a question until finally he turned his attention back to Sephiroth. "What is god?"
Sephiroth looked up to the sky as he answered. "'Who is God' would be a more appropriate question. God is the being through whom we live, who makes us what we are." The child's eyes misted over slightly, as if unable to hear such words and fully comprehend them. "God...but what about the Planet? The plants and animals we eat, the water we drink, these things are created by the Planet."
Sephiroth nodded and once again locked eyes with the child. "Yes, the planet feeds us in body and mind, so God may feed us in soul. Do you know who created this Planet, or any planet for that matter?"
The child's eyes where now fully open his mouth practically agape. "God, created the Planet?" Sephiroth nodded, and gave the child a few moments to think his words over.
When the child did finally speak again with was with an odd sort of reverence. "The Planet is greater then any of us, but I can hear it, not always understand it, but hear it. If God is a being even greater then the Planet, how can I hear his voice?" Sephiroth spoke with complete reverence. "You already can, God is in each of us, even if you don't realize it. Much as the life blood of the Planet gives us the power to live, God touches each of us and gives us the power to be more than an animal ruled by instinct. The only thing you must do to hear the voice of God is to take a moment and reflect on all around you."
The boy looked up at Sephiroth with true respect in his eyes. "If we Cetra are the messengers of the Planet, and a priest is a messenger of god, doesn't that make you something greater then a Cetra?"
Sephiroth shook his head sadly. "Anyone can be a messenger of the word of God. However..." As Sephiroth spoke he very slowly began to reach for his glasses. "There are those, who have called me... an angel." Sephiroth removed his glasses for only the slightest moment allowing the child a glance at his glowing green eyes. He returned the glasses to their normal resting place in the blink of an eye, and turned around, calmly walking away from the child, a smile still on his lips.
Then his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of two small glowing cobalt gems. They were a sight Sephiroth had seen before, and he slowly walked towards them, making sure to avoid looking at them again in the process. He sat down on a small bench and could feel a slight shift in the air currents around him as another person sat down opposite him. "You smiling, now there's a sight I was right when I predicted myself never living to see."
Sephiroth nodded, still refusing to look at the speaker. "I was empty before, now I am full of God's eternal love." The other voice grew spiteful at Sephiroth's calmness. "That's not all you are full of now." "This was not a chance meeting, what are you doing here?" "Today I am a messenger."
Sephiroth's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "A messenger from whom?" "Your parents." Sephiroth's mood went from annoyance to fury even if the change was virtual invisible. "Those two are hardly my parents, I will communicate my desires to them with weapons, not with words."
"Funny, you didn't use to be the pathetically shallow type. You must be spending too much time searching for your God, because your head is lost in the clouds. What does it matter who handed you some of your DNA when you compare it against who planned for your creation?"
There was only the slightest hint of the fury building up with Sephiroth present in his voice. "I was conceived in their mind as nothing but a living weapon." "So what, Seph? What are any of us but living weapons, to be a SOLDIER is to cast off humanity."
"Now therein lies the difference between us, you volunteered to be what you are, I was never consulted in my creation, I never asked to be anything but human."
"How funny, Jesus never asked to be the son of God, but I didn't seem to stop him." "The people wanted Jesus to be a warrior, but he chose to be a priest, I have merely made the same choice."
"You seam to be trying to have it both ways." "I have a right to be who I chose to be and no one can change that. Now tell me where they are." "What would you do if you could find them?" "If you must know and could doubtlessly guess, I will finish what my true father started, sending them both to hell." "You should show more respect to your elders."
"Why should I, they are mistaken, and it matters not who is mistaken; they must be corrected." "Even if it's you?" "I was not mistaken, this world is destined to be a perfect world, a world for Cetra. People like them. have no purpose here, if you side with them then you to must be destroyed."
"You would kill me?" "I managed to do it once already for a cause I believed to be worthy of bloodshed, why should doing it a second time be any harder?"
"Because I'm one of you now. I've been blessed with the same gifts you have been given. If I wanted to I could kill every person you can see in the blink of an eye. No wonder you went so delightfully mad, the power of death is intoxicating."
"Do not call up that which you can not put down. Do you want me to end you second life here and now? Since you've clearly sided with them it would be a pleasure." "A pleasure you will never have. Do you believe that any man can stand against the power of the ancient god who destroyed the Cetra once before?"
"The Lord shall be my shepherd, I shall fear no evil." "I see dieing once hasn't taught you any lessons about your own mortality and weakness."
"I have learned quite a lot actually, it is simply that you can't see it. God's blessings are with me, I now walk with guidance from above. Humans are truly pathetic creatures, even those of us with the advantage of being born something above the norm, we are nothing without God. God's hands guided my actions in my last life, through my bind vengeance did not those who would protect the Planet and its people emerge triumphant? The only difference is that in this life I accept and acknowledge God, I will be more than just a vessel for raw hatred. I will do God's will, and protect the innocent people of this world."
"You will fail. But then you always were the idealistic type, and you always thought big. Now before you insist on sidetracking me again, I have something to give to you."
Sephiroth heard something placed beside him and, still refusing to look at the other man picked up the object in question which turned out to be a small box. He opened it and found 12 small coins, or half of 12 small coins. The mocking voice continued it's derision.
"12 coins, or half of them as you can see. Eight for the members of Avalanche who defeated you, and four for the four of you. Soon you discover the great dangers of refusing your true mother and father. Soon 12 deadly killers, your brothers and sisters will begin hunting you and your group. If they give you even a tenth of the hell you deserve then it will be enough to make them worthwhile."
"So tell me Zack, why did they chose you to bring this to me?" "Because you can not even imagine what you did to me that makes me loath you so." "I suppose then it isn't a simple matter of me just about killing you." "Correct, you erased me from the world." "How exactly?"
The rage in Zack's voiced could not have been any stronger without igniting a literal inferno. "How many people mourned my death, how many people knew of my grave? Precious few, and because of what you are solely responsible!
What you did to Cloud Strife, making him think he was me, so that you could make him dance like your personal puppet. Do you know what it is to watch someone else not even pretending, believe that they were you? Everyone who might have ever thought they knew me would instead come to know him. No one noticed I was dead because they had him in my place.
Even Aeris, who knew I had died, she wouldn't admit it. She wouldn't tell my parents the truth. Instead she ran away, she chose to try and bury her sadness in the thoughts that Cloud was simply me. I watched a me hold her, but could never do it myself. Watched her forget me to fall into some one else's arms. I watched my name which should have gone down second to yours, fall into the pits of ignorance. You erased my name and branded Cloud Strife's on top of it. There is a pain to that which you shall never know."
"What makes you sure of that?" "How could you be forgotten? The great Sephiroth, General Sephiroth, your name has become part of history, as you have become a living legend. No one will ever forget your deeds, be they for good or ill." "If all that matters to you is what other people think, then I simply feel very sorry for you. You are less then a man. "
"I don't need your sympathy, I don't need your friendship either. I had the latter in my last life, and it killed me." "Your threats will do nothing to stop me." "Of course, you can't be stopped, you would never stop. However I have something else in mind entirely, this time I am going to erase you."
"How do you plan to do something that you yourself admitted was impossible?" "I said it couldn't be done in the last world, it will be done in this one. By the time we are done with you, there will not be so much as speck of dust left, not one person who knows your name! I suggested we start by doing the only thing you never did to me, killing your parents.
Don't go rushing off half cocked Seph, it's already too late for you to do anything to save them." Sephiroth clenched his hands in anger and he looked over at where his cross lay. Vincent and Lucrecia had gone off together, and Aeris was wandering about the town on her own. However much he might want to strangle Zack, it would have to wait.
"It's funny, there once was a time when I would have called you brother Zack, but that time is now far past. First by me standing still, and now you do it while I walk ahead leaving you behind." "Save me your excuses."
"Very well Zack, but let me leave you with a bit of advice my current trade demands I impart unto you. You refuse to realize that I have torn myself away from the two you would call my parents. To call me brother is to invite yourself into the Valentine family, a very serious mistake.
To have a Valentine after your name requires not only strength, but the respect of the others in the family. After today you will never again have my respect. The best I can give you is my pity. Proverbs 11:29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise at heart.' I was that fool once, too bad you insist on making it your turn."
"The words of your god are meaningless against my god who makes her existence quite clear, while yours hides in the shadows." "He that hides in the shadows has the advantage in any battle." "Shut up Seph, you always had to bring tactics into everything." By the time Sephiroth turned around, Zack was gone.
Vincent and Lucrecia had only just taken seats by the bar and were about to start a conversation with the bar keeper in the hopes of wringing some information from him when the shot rang out. Both of the new arrivals flung Vincent and Lucrecia themselves to the floor with blinding speed out of nothing more than pure instinct.
It was unnecessary though, the gunshot had achieved it's purpose, it went into the ceiling and drew attention to the man who had fired it. He had black hair much like Vincent, and much like Vincent he clearly had lost his left hand and had it replaced with a prosthetic. But instead of a claw or human looking hand, an assault rifle jutted from this man's arm.
A golden belt ran from that rifle down to his hip, and all around his chest, and his eyes burned with a fire that had nothing to do with mako. He fired another round into the ceiling again as he spoke. "MY NAME IS DYNE, AND I'VE COME TO KILL YOU VINCENT!" The other patrons, especially the Cetra tried to back away from the man, but Vincent calmly stood back up, and looked the man right in the eye. "Why do you want to kill me?"
Dyne glared at him. "You're Vincent Valentine? Don't make me laugh! You're the one who my master feared as 'The Legendary Gunman' ha! I'll eradicate you!"
He brought the assault rifle to bear and released a spray of bullets. Vincent however, brought down his foot and the chair he had been sitting in (that he had knocked down while exciting it) flew back to his hands. Vincent interposed the chair between himself and the spray of bullets, and he managed to block any of Dyne's shots that came close to hitting him, though it was left seriously dented in the process. Vincent dropped the seat and scowled at the would be assassin. "How unsophisticated. If you can't kill someone with your first shot, what makes you think your next twenty nine will have any more luck?"
Vincent jumped backwards before Dyne could let lose with another blast and he was crouched safely behind the bar before the next storm of the bullets where even halfway to him. The golden belt jumped around Dyne's waist as he fired, his face contorting with rage. "Do you know why I want to kill you? Do you know what we should be Vincent Valentine? We should be even! We both lost everything we had, including our left arms to Shinra!
We both never saw our children or wives in the last world! We both died miserably painful deaths separated from all we loved! We both mourned our loved ones so much that we couldn't live without them! WE WERE EQUAL! But in this world, suddenly it all ends! You are reunited with your loved one and child, and I am left alone! What kind of justice is that?! I will do what this world did not, make us equal once again!"
Vincent heard him speaking quite, in fact he heard more then the man thought he did. He could tell exactly where those words where coming from. He raised Redemption above the bar not bothering to look, and fired. The round tore across Dyne's face leaving a red mark as Redemption went back underneath the bar Vincent smirked in confidence as his own voice came out far more cool then Dyne's. "We are hardly equal, I'm clearly a much better shot then you."
Dyne's rage only increased. "LETS SEE YOUR 12 SHOTS MATCH MY 1200!" Vincent shrugged and jumped back up on the bar. "Where's the challenge in that? I can beat you in three shots."
Vincent quickly fired of two shots one from each of his guns. The bullets blew apart Dyne's chest leaving huge gaping holes where his lungs used to be. Dyne just laughed. "YOU CAN'T KILL ME! I'M ALREADY DEAD!" Completely unhindered by his injury, Dyne centred his gun and started blazing away at Vincent once again.
"Looks like I might need ten or so shots after all." Vincent stood completely still and fired two shots. Dyne stopped after shooting 30 bullets and paused for a moment. Vincent stood still and didn't have a single mark on him. "As I said, no skill, thirty bullets, and I could detour all the ones that might of hit me with only two of my own. Why don't you come back when you've learned to shoot like a man?"
Dyne's voice exploded. "DON'T MOCK ME, LET'S SEE YOU HANDLE FULL AUTO!" Dyne hit a switch on his arm and blazed away. Vincent ran, bullets flying past him like dust specks in a sandstorm. He dropped to the floor in a roll firing off two more shots in the process, sending Dyne's arm flailing about as large bullets knocked it momentarily aside.
Vincent stood up again both guns centred on Dyne's head. "I've had enough of your foolishness. That gun is no different then your mouth, it just spews pathetic little statements that don't mean anything." Vincent's guns roared with twin shots like the hammer of god. Dyne was ready this time, though.
His gun whipped around fast enough to block the shots with his gun before he started unloading on his opponent once again. This time a few of his shots connected, and Vincent was pushed backward by a virtual of wave of metal which came was went his way. He fell backwards onto the bar and Dyne advanced on him, somehow managing to walk forward against the overwhelming recoil of his arm.
However during the momentarily pause when Dyne stopped firing to adjust his aim, Vincent suddenly rolled over the side of the bar but not before firing another pair of shots. Dyne smiled as he looked down on the bar. "You worthless coward, your shots missed that time!" Suddenly Dyne fell backwards, and looked down at his legs, Vincent's bullets had blown his kneecaps off.
A moment later however a pair of metallic rods stuck out from Dyne's legs, and split in to five separate rods. The stuck into the ground and he lifted himself back up on his makeshift legs. His smile was horrific to behold. "I was made for just one purpose Vincent, TO MAKE THINGS EQUAL BETWEEN US!" Vincent stood up and looked right down Death's barrel. "No two lives are ever truly equal. We are who we are, now let's see how well you fight without that arm."
Three more bullets slammed into Dyne's arm, in practically the same place as Vincent's first two shots targeting it. Dyne looked at his arm and smiled. "What do you think your aim is worth in the end Vincent? All they managed to do was dent my manual reload, my arm's automatic reload function will still let me rip you to shreds."
Another voice came from behind Dyne. "If you say so, but now you've only got thirty rounds left." Before the voice had finished speaking, a knife was lodged itself into Dyne's golden belt not far below his arm's reloading slot. The short haired man turned around and came face to face with Lucrecia smiling and his anger grew even greater. "If all I can do is kill you, THAT WILL HAVE TO BE ENOUGH!"
Vincent watched helplessly as Dyne emptied the last of the rounds that he could load into his arm into Lucrecia's body until the only sound that filled the tavern was the clicking of an empty gun. Vincent's eyes burned with incredible rage, however Dyne was prepared for his reaction, as Vincent came practically flying out over the bar Dyne reached into the brown jacket he wore with his right hand and pulled out a grenade.
Two things happened only a fraction of a second apart, one of them was the sound of Dyne's sneering voice as he yanked the grenade's pin. "I KNOW YOU'RE OUT OF BULLETS!" As the grenade left his hand Vincent herd another voice utter second cry. "Vincent use your third gun!" He didn't know how he could be hearing Lucrecia's voice, she was dead. More to the point what was his third gun suppose to be?
Vincent was on his feet and into the air sailing towards Dyne both men's eyes blazing with hate as the grenade sailed straight at him. Vincent knew he couldn't dodge that grenade in midair, and then he knew just what he had to do. He simply let go of Death.
Then slowly his left hand turned like a rotating screw. His hand didn't come off, but it did move forward and to the side allowing a cascade of machinery to take its place. Then his hand dropped below his arm, and it was now was perfectly position to pull a trigger, which was connected to a gun barrel emerging from out from his arm socket. He was somehow still able to manipulate that hand, he pulled the trigger, the gun fired a bullet, and then time no longer stood still.
The bullet smashed into the grenade which exploded in cloud of shrapnel. A cloud Vincent emerged from more or less completely unharmed. His foot connected perfectly with Dyne's chest and the man fell to the floor. Vincent jammed the gun's barrel practically right through Dyne's eye socket, the look in his red eyes made whatever hatred Dyne had been able to call forth seem like nothing but a child's temper tantrum.
"SHE'S DEAD! THE ONLY WOMAN I COULD EVER LOVE IS DEAD AGAIN!" Dyne spat some black oily substance in Vincent's face. "Who cares?" Vincent kicked his fallen foe in the chest. "DO YOU THINK I'M JUST GOING TO KILL YOU! DO YOU THINK I'LL GRANT YOU THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH AFTER THAT? YOU PISSED OFF THE WRONG MAN YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF TRASH! NEVER ANGER A TURK! I'LL MAKE YOU BEG FOR DEATH BEFORE THIS IS OVER, WEEKS, MONTHS, I'LL HANG YOU UP TO DRY LIKE A FISH!"
Vincent wanted to give into his greatest inner deamon, Chaos, but he knew Chaos would tare this man limb from limb in a matter of moments. If he was going to do this slowly then he'd have to do it as himself. It wasn't fair, that she should be ripped from his hands yet again. By some idiot who didn't even understand the way the world worked. Just as Vincent was ready to kick the man again he heard her voice again. "Civilized men just shoot rabid dogs. He isn't worth your time."
Vincent spun around, and his eyes where astounded, his mouth fell agape at what they saw. Lucrecia was standing back up, carefully using one of the bar stools as a support, the holes in her chest slowly growing shallower by the moment. Finally only pink skin remained where the bullets had gone through her body. As she stood straight up she met Vincent's astonished gaze and managed a weak smile. "This body cost me my life last time we where together, but it looks like it saved it this time around."
Vincent s mouth moved like a fish out of a water, as she continued to explain. "It may have been intended for Sephiroth, but the mako and Jenova cells that Hojo injected into my womb didn't all stay there." Vincent nodded and turned back to the waste of life named Dyne that was still under his feet. "I was wrong Dyne.. there are two differences between us one is that I'm a much better shot then you. The second however is much more important, you give the word 'Love' a bad name."
Another bullet from Vincent's third gun finished the job, and the madman's body law completely still. Vincent kicked the body one last time. "Good riddance to bad rubbish." Lucrecia nodded her agreement. "I guess I should have told you about that particular feature first chance I got, but I thought it would make a good surprise." Vincent nodded slowly. "I think you can consider both of us surprised."