Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > General > Writer's Corner > [FS] Final Fantasy VII: Outcry of Torment

[Mercen-X]

Episode 3

The Shera hovers over Wutai as Tifa, Cid, and Shale ask around about Cloud. The place is a dead end. No one knows anything.
The group travels over to Mideel where the locals can only remember Shelke and others fighting back the zombie masses.
"Why does it feel a little too calm right now?" Tifa asks.
"You know the ol' sayin'." Cid says.
"You think something bigger is on its way?" Shale asks.
"I don't think, I know. Experience..." Cid says.

The Shera lands outside of Bone Village and Tifa proceeds into the Forgotten Capitol with Shale close behind.
"This place gives me the creeps." Shale declares.
"It's just an old city."
"An old city that once belonged to an even older race, it stirs my insides in a bad way. Do you really think Cloud will be here?"
"I have to see for myself." Tifa says, abruptly ending the conversation as she hurries ahead.
The two arrive at the lake where the body of an old friend was laid to rest.
"Well, he's not here. Can we go now?"
"Don't be so immature, Shale." Tifa says and walks into the large hermit shell that represents the city's center. "There's one more place we have to check. But it only appears at night."
"Whoa, whoa! Night! I'm not waiting around for nightfall. You're nuts!"
"Fine. Then go back to the Shera. I can handle this alone."
Shale considers it a moment. She decides to walk after Tifa.

Shale is way too nervous to sleep and can't understand how Tifa can rest with any peace given the circumstances. When the depth of the night arrives, a glow pours into the room and Tifa awakes. She walks down the crystalline stairs that appear, leaving Shale unconscious from sheer lack of energy.
Tifa reaches the bottom of the stairs and stalks over to the altar where Aerith...
After taking a minute to reflect on the past, Tifa notices Shale has arrived beside her, tired and obviously annoyed.
"You left me alone up there. Asleep in a dark abandoned... ancient city."
"You're alive aren't you? Seriously, with how tough you are, I can't see why you would be afraid of something that just isn't there." Tifa says.
"Are you saying you don't believe in ghosts?"
"I believe. They're just not here. All right?"
"Try telling that to her." Shale points.
The glowing image of the flower girl from Midgar appears before the altar.
"Aerith!" Tifa shouts.
Aerith looks up above her, then back at Tifa with a smile before disappearing.
"What the heck was that about?" Shale asks, disturbed.
Tifa thinks back to the events of nine years ago. "Upstairs!" She exclaims as she charges back up the lengthy crystal stairset.
Shale follows her to a strange platform where what looks like a rotisserie sits in front of another platform. Tifa tinkers with the rotisserie until it starts to rotate and then heads up to other platform. Shale drags herself up beside Tifa and watches as water rises up around the platform, showing bit and pieces of famililar imagery.
"There!" Tifa says as the waterscreen shows Cloud struggling to his feet in a dark chamber.
"Tifa. This doesn't help us."
"No. It doesn't."
Suddenly, a new face appears. Despite an air of malice and reddened irises, Tifa recognizes this face and the person among them who would be the most disturbed by her appearance.
"Come on. We're leaving."

[Mercen-X]

Episode 4

"Can you tell me, again, why we're bothering to look around this place?" Raine asks.
The three of them have been searching the outskirts of Edge for hours and found nothing.
"You don't really think Cloud is out here, do you?"
Kasic shakes his head. "No."
"Then, what are we looking for?"
"Something else. Something that's still important."
Finally, Kasic spots it. Buried up to the hilt in a small hill cluttered with rocks is Zack's old sword. The sword with which no one could match Zack's proficiency. The sword Cloud had placed here as a monument to an old friend; to an old hero.
"This is the Buster Sword." Kasic says as he places his hand on the grip.
"That sword is huge. There's no way a fourteen-year-old runt will be able to--!" Raine shuts up as Kasic lifts the sword from the dirt with one hand. She stands in awe until Kasic loses his balance and the sword tugs him to the ground. "Well, that was almost impressive."
"Either way. I've got the sword."
"Well, you won't have it for long, kid."
The group turns to the ugly voice to find another man with one arm. This one has his left arm replaced by a gun.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the guy that's gonna put you kids in the ground." He says and opens fire on them, laughing maniacally.
Kasic and Raine dodge frantically to avoid the rain of bullets pouring out of the madman's gunarm. Hariet, paralyzed with fear, is unable to move and seems an easy target. However, the bullets never seem to hit her.
Raine returns fire on the cackling menace as Kasic circles around to nail him with the Buster Sword.
The crazed gunner lobs a bomb at Raine causing her to duck away in a panic and then turns his attention to Kasic, grabbing his throat with his right hand as the bomb explodes behind them.
"Damn! Who are you!?"
"You keep asking that. You must really want to know." He says as he shakes Kasic violently. "My name's Dyne."
"Dyne? I know that name. You're supposed to be dead."
Dyne throttles Kasic again and tosses him to the ground near Hariet's feet.
"In case you haven't noticed, kid," he says and takes a breath, "there are a lot of people around these days who are supposed to be dead."
"Yeah, well I'm sending you back to your grave." Kasic says and leaps in to slash at Dyne.
Dyne maneuvers away and is suddenly surrounded by other walking dead. "On this Planet, the dead outnumber the living."

"Yes." A voice says in the darkness. "The dead outnumber the living. But only the Living possess the will to continue to live; to exist. Whatever plague has befallen the Planet; the dead do not have this will to live. So who is it that wills them to?"
Darke stalks through the darkness with Death Seto at his side.

[Mercen-X]

Episode 5

"Are you awake?" A voice asks in the darkness.
"Where am I?"
"Far from home." The voice replies.
"Who are you?"
"...The Puppet Master. It's nice to meet you..., Cloud Strife."

Kasic slashes through the undead hordes as Raine fires relentlessly... up until the last bullet casing falls to the ground.
"Damn it!" Raine shouts and begins to retreat.
Kasic slouches in a huff as the weight of the Buster Sword bears down on him. As the zombies encircle them and close in, Kasic can see Dyne heading for Hariet. She screams in panic and sends a chill up Kasic's spine.
"No." Kasic says and stands, no longer struggling to catch his breath. Shrugging off the exhaustion, he hefts the sword in his hands and as Hariet watches him, she can sense a familiarity about his stance. "You... can count on me!!!" He shouts as he launches himself at Dyne, slicing undead obstacles to ribbons along the way.
As he bears his sword down on Dyne's gun-arm, Kasic can feel those words giving him strength. The word's spoken to him by the hero of Gongaga.
Suddenly, Kasic's eyes flash in a moment of epiphany. He slams Dyne back, sending him sliding across the dirt.
"Why do you want this sword, Dyne?"
Dyne stands up.
"I didn't pick up this sword to use it."
Dyne begins walking toward Kasic as he continues to talk.
"I picked up this sword to carry it."
Frustrated, Dyne begins to run at Kasic, now firing a spray of ammunition from his gun-arm.
Kasic blocks the oncoming projectiles with the Buster Sword. "The sword is the key. This sword will light the path, unlock the shackles of death, and rend the bond that has hidden the hero of this world!" Kasic seems to be speaking in someone else's voice.
When Dyne is finally too close, the most unexpected thing happens: Kasic shouts. "Zack!"
Dyne turns slightly and sees the undead Zack standing beside him.
Kasic and Zack share a glance before Zack grabs Dyne by the arm and rockets a punch into the Buster Sword that launches it and Kasic a half-mile away. "Time to go." Zack says and drags Dyne into the ground.
Kasic slowly recovers and gets to his feet. When he picks up the sword, all he can do is stare at it until he feels the anger boiling within him. "Zaaaaack!"

[Mercen-X]

Episode 6

"Yes. I've located the one you've been searching for..." A voice says in the darkness. "Deep within the bowels of Midgar. The ruins of Deepground..."
"The time is near. This fate can no longer be fought." A black-armored steps from the shadows.
"Then to the surface... Adonis."

"I haven't been able to locate Vincent Valentine either." Shelke says in a voice reminiscent of her Transparent days.
The group stands in the conference room of Cid's airship discussing the situation.
"Of all the times for those two to disappear." Yuffie complains.
"It can't be helped." Cait Sith speaks. The last of the old crew to appear aboard the Shera to aid in the search for the two heroes, Reeve's sneaky doll has been as unlucky as the rest.
"Cait's right. We have to find out what's going on and put a stop to it. If we expect to find Cloud and Vincent, this is the only way." Tifa declares.
"A lot of good that'll do..."
Everyone looks at the pessimistic gunner, Shale.
"What?"
"I think," Raine speaks up, "what Shale means is that we're not going to find out what's going on and we're not going to stop it."
"What are you talking about?" Tifa asks.
"Only those kids have what it takes to figure this game out and only they hold the key to our survival. I've put my faith in that. That's all I'm saying."
Hariet enters into the room. "Kasic."
Kasic turns to his sister, nods, and stands. "Raine's right. I'm still not sure exactly what we're supposed to be doing, but it's up to us. Me and my sister....."
"Then what? What do we do? What do you do? Where do we go?"
A ring on Tifa's cell phone suddenly disrupts the conversation. Answering it, Tifa surprises the group with a look of hope. Then the look turns to suspicion. "Deepground."
"Deepground." Shelke echoes.
"Who was that?" Cid asks.
"That was Darke. He's found him. He's found Cloud. He's... in Deepground."
"Midgar." Kasic says. He and his sister nod to one another and then look around the room.
"Fire up the engines!" Cid shouts and walks out of the room.