Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII: Order and Chaos ❯ Act I: The Sinister Knight ( Chapter 1 )

Final Fantasy VII: Order and Chaos

By

Golden-sama

Author's Notes

The story here mainly revolves around Vincent, Cloud, Yuffie and Cid. I do recommend you have at least a faint understanding of Final Fantasy I and T (One and Tactics). THIS IS NOT A CROSSOVER. However, for reasons you will see soon enough, we recommend you have that understanding.

Extended Summary: Meteor and Holy have collided, but somehow the Lifestream had managed to save the planet for now. However, the Lifestream of the planet connects to the Lifestreams of other planets, and someone very sinister has found his way to Midgar. Now a strange man with supernatural powers has appeared and with him is an army of demented beast like nothing the people of this world have ever seen. Things get even weirder when a ball of Lifestream that has been hanging over Midgar since the Meteor incident begins spitting out flowers all over the city. Reminded of Aeris, Cloud makes his way to the destroyed ShinRa building, and is never heard from again. Now the man who had rebuilt the lands is up to something sinister, and war is gripping the lands. War between the sinister man and Reeve, the new President of ShinRa. And Vincent alone had any understanding of this strange man, and Vincent alone may hold the key to life . . . or death.

Couples

Cloud x Tifa

Cloud x Aeris

Reno x Tifa

Reno x Elena

Cid x Shera

Vincent x Yuffie

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The flames burnt, and the bodies of the dead reeked. The young warriors who had come all this way to stop evil, watched in joy as the dark one's body burnt.

It was young Cid Final who first found it. A young, black haired youth, still entangled in the blue robes of his mage clan. In the farthest corner of Garland's study, the young mage had found some odd writing, it was in the common language, but what it was, he did not know.

"This is odd." Cid spoke softly to himself. "Very odd."

And so the young mage began to read, from what he would later discover to be one of Garland's travel journals. He read about how the dark knight first found this land around the same time Sephiroth, Zack and Cloud arrived in Nibelhiem. The young mage read about how Garland used his black magic to make himself invisible and intangible to the people of this world. He read how the dark knight watched Cloud and his friends, and watched every thing that happened.

Finally young Cid Final, a black mage, found the last chapter in the travel log. A chapter that began after Meteor's falling, Holy's calling, and Aeris' one last attempt to save mankind.

The following words were found in the journal of Sir Garland, former Knight of Corneria. Translated by myself, Cid Final, Black Mage. The lands and people that these words speak of are foreign to me, but perhaps someone who reads them will understand.

And so it was that the people watched as Meteor fell, and the great Holy battled the dark Meteor, to no avail. But then the Lifestream came and saved the people. None no how, or who was responsible, but that matters not, for never again would pain or evil harm the lands. . .

Or so it was believed for about thirty minutes.

People are a funny creature. They complain and complain about their leaders, in this case, the ShinRa, but when they're gone, the people don't know what to do. Midgar was in ruins, and without ShinRa to lead the people, who would?

Homes were destroyed, families torn apart, and an odd green vortex had appeared over the now desolated ShinRa HQ. Whatever was going on was scary. And the people needed some help.

That is what first turned my eyes to their reality.

No, not true. I stumbled onto their world in an accident. But I enjoyed it. And when I saw all those people divided and leaderless and those souls with no one to guide them, I saw my chance.

That is why I went. I knew, of course, of Cloud's power. But I did not believe he could fight me. Sephiroth was a weakling in the shadow of my own greatness, and Cloud had only barley won against him. So did I fear them?

I should have. . .

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FINAL VII FANTASY

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"So what's the . . . plan now?"

The alleyways were filled with people. The slums of Midgar were never quite so alive before. Old men ran about the streets mingling with the young, mothers searched the ruble of the cities in frantic attempts to find their children, husbands searched alongside, looking for their wives. Children came out from hiding, hoping to see their parents again.

And watching it all from an alleyway, were the Turks. Or what was left of them.

Reno, who had always been calm, cool and collected in the face of danger, was still just that. He sat on an old wooden box piled on top of another wooden box. He played with his hair as his glowing eyes ignored the rest of the world. Rude was leaning against a wall, quiet as ever, waiting for Reno to tell them what to do. And Elena was her self too.

"The plan Elena?" Reno said at last to answer her question. "You worry to much. You were a Turk. You should relax."

The blond began to ask what Reno meant by `were' but she stopped and sighed. Elena kicked a can from her standing spot at the alleyway's entrance and walked over to sit on some boxes near Reno. She knew what he meant. ShinRa was gone. And so were the Turks.

"Fire's moving this way." Rude observed. It was true; most of Midgar was on fire. Thought the Lifestream and Holy had stopped Meteor from destroying the earth, the City had been badly damaged.

"Yes it is." Reno said casually as his Mako eyes scanned the approaching flames on nearby rooftops. "Well, lets go then."

Reno stood and brushed a strand of his brown hair from his eyes, in an instant Elena hopped up beside him, and Rude turned to follow. Reno gave a low sigh and scratched his head.

"Is Cloud still our enemy?"

Elena asked suddenly as the three of them walked out into the streets of the crowded slums.

"Dunno. I guess that depends on weather he wants to be or not." Reno said. "Why?"

Elena shook her head. "Because I recognize this road. It's the road to ShinRa HQ."

Reno nodded. "Yep. Thought we'd go check and see if anyone's alive. See if we still have jobs."

Elena placed a hand down one of Reno's shoulders. The brown haired man turned around and looked into Elena's glowing eyes with his own.

"What?"

"That vortex, the one over top of the HQ."

"I saw it. That's where Meteor disappeared. I don't think we have to worry Elena. And if you're scared you can stay here. These aren't orders, I don't think we're gonna have any more orders anyway."

"It's not that Reno, but I'm sure Cloud and his group will head to that Vortex."

Reno raised a brow. "Why would you think that?"

Elena shrugged. "I don't know. I guess just because I think he had something to do with it."

Behind them, Rude nodded his agreement.

"Yep. Well like I said, if they want to fight, we'll fight."

And with that, the three Turks set off for their former employer's office.

*****

Cloud's eyes burned with Mako light, though he never was in SOLDIER as he believed. The blond was mildly confused still about what exactly did happen five years ago, but he was done worrying about the past. He could be human, a Sephiroth clone, a weakling, a warrior; he didn't give a damn anymore.

Cloud had been so consumed in the last few days with stopping Sephiroth, that he had forgotten all his sadness. He sighed and cast a look over his shoulder. The group was in Midgar, down in the slums. They were in the remains of Wall Market. The town hadn't been damaged too badly, but there was some burning and some destruction.

Tifa was helping a couple of kids get their cat out from a trash can, the cat was okay, but scared silly. A small smile crossed Cloud's face, but it didn't last.

Yes, Cloud had feelings for Tifa. Yes, in time he'd probably date her; marry her, live happily ever after. That would be nice. Unfortunately, that would not happen anytime soon. Because there was another girl Cloud had feelings for. Of course it would never work out with her, mainly because she was dead.

He had seen her death over and over again in his sleep. Cloud wondered if killing Sephiroth would make that pain any easier. Perhaps. Or maybe it would be worse. He didn't know. All Cloud did know was that he wanted to let go of the past, but to let go of it, he'd have to let go of her.

Lately, Cloud had become very good at seeing things from the corner of his eyes. So when he saw the faint object blowing towards him, he caught it quickly. It wasn't a bomb or bullet or magical spell like most of the things that flew at him lately had been, instead it was a small flower. The stem was cut off, but the pedals were intact.

"What the . . .?"

"What happened?" The flower girl in pink had asked him.

"Nothing. Hey listen . . ."

"The flowers? Oh they're only one Gil each. Would you like one?"

"You don't see many of them in the slums."

"Nope."

"Sure, I'll buy one. And you better get out of here, it's not safe."

Cloud sighed. He was reminded of Aeris. Everywhere he looked. Everything from their meeting in the slums, to her `brilliant' scheme to sneak into Don Corneo's mansion, to her making him promise to take her on an Airship, he missed.

"Cloud." Tifa said, but her voice wasn't filled with sadness or happiness either, it was filled with shock and awe. The spiky haired boy who had been through so much already turned around and his jaw dropped.

*****

"What's that?" Elena blinked and pointed, thought she didn't need to. Reno saw it too.

"Dunno."

*****

Barret was sitting on the curb in the slums, not far from where he left Tifa and Cloud in Wall Market. He was in fact sitting in the destroyed playground, just outside the former section 7.

"Papa!"

Barret's eyes opened and he turned up his head, walking towards him was some man he'd never seen before, and behind him was Elmyra Gainsborough, and Marlene.

"Marlene!!!"

The large man with the gun in his hand went tearing off down the street, he pushed the man he didn't know out of his way, and grabbed his foster daughter in a tight hug.

"Papa!"

"Marlene!"

The hug was a tear filled one, and when it was over Barret set the little girl on his shoulders and looked at Elmyra. Did she know about . . .? Then he turned his eyes to the odd man on the ground and to the ShinRa patch on his suit. He raised his gun arm.

"Oh come on Barret, after all we've been through you're gonna shoot me?"

Barret blinked, he recognized that voice. Behind him, a small toy cat sitting on a stuffed Mog had spoken. Barret blinked for a second before he realized the man must be the real Cait Sith. Reeve.

"Sorry."

"What the hell is that!?"

"Hey, as weird as it sounds comin' from my dir'y mouth, try not `ta cuss in fronta Marlene--"

But before Barret could say another word, he turned his head and saw what everyone else in Midgar was looking at right now. The vortex over ShinRa HQ.

Flowers began to fall out, blowing all over Midgar in the wind. Thousands, millions of flowers.

*****

None of the flowers had stems on them, but the pedals were perfect and pink.

Cloud blinked once, before he tore off as fast as his feet would carry him towards the ShinRa HQ building. He heard Tifa cry out his name behind him, but he couldn't worry about that now.

*****

Reno was leaning against the edge of the ShinRa HQ building. Flowers now covered the grounds of this place, and he, Rude and Elena were equally covered by the pink pedals.

"W-what do you think this is?"

Elena asked worriedly. Reno shook his head and pulled his hair from his Mako eyes.

"Dunno."

Rude lifted his head, which was now thickly covered in the pedals. "Here comes Cloud."

Reno nodded. "Guess he likes flowers."

Cloud stopped as he ran, in front of him were the Turks. Did they do this? Had they caused these flowers? No . . . no it was her. She caused them.

Cloud reached his hand up and pulled the sword into it. He wasn't going to fool around with the Turks this time, if they wanted a fight, he'd kill them.

"So you want to fight, eh?" Reno said.

"I want you to get the hell out of my way." Cloud responded coldly.

"Sure."

Elena let out a sigh, Rude merely brushed some pink pedals from his head.

"Come on." Reno began to walk over to the side, and then leaned against the flower covered railing. Elena and Rude took places next to him. Cloud eyed the three of them for a moment, before he took off down the path into the ShinRa building.

*****

Never before had anyone from this world laid eyes on him, but his eyes had been all over them before. His name was Garland, and he was once a Knight in the Court of Corneria. Now he was a traitor and a madman. For thousands of years the swelling of time had contained Garland to an endless circle, which began -- and ended -- with four young warriors of light.

Now however, Garland was not on his own world. He was in an alternate dimension. The Black Knight smirked and laughed. This "Lifestream" as they called it here, was an endless supply of souls. He could use them, take them, and break the cycle. He could defeat his enemies and rule all.

How many dimensions were there? Garland did not know or care. He could keep finding new ones and stealing the souls of those worlds. And then he would rule everything.

That is, he would if not for these flowers.

Garland wore all black, from head to toe he was covered in a black Knight's outfit both leather and a metal breastplate, complete with black cape. On his left hand was a black leather glove, but on the right was a black gauntlet, made from metal, with a flaming red gem embedded on the top.

With that gauntlet, Garland could steal the souls of any living being who was near death, or dead, or in this case, he could steal them from the very Lifestream itself. Or he would have been able to. But when Garland had attempted to do so only a moment ago, instead of souls rushing out to him, flowers had come out.

"What's this thing trying to pull?"

The knight muttered to himself. He raised the gauntlet again and cried out, the green vortex that was the Lifestream grew for a moment, and then more pink flower pedals came spilling out.

"Damn."HIS! more pink flower pedals came spilling out. vortex that was the Lifestream glew for a momentin this case, he could ste

*****

Cloud was running through the ShinRa building, looking for her. He knew this was crazy and pointless, but how else could he explain so many flowers? How could he explain the Lifestream? She had to be here. Aeris had to be alive.

It was then Cloud heard a bang, and saw from a hole in the wall that more flowers were raining down. Someone was in the tallest tower, someone was on the roof. That someone had to be Aeris!

*****

Down in another part of Midgar, down by the wreckage of the Highwind, sat three more of the rag-tag crew. Cid, Vincent and Yuffie. An odder threesome had never been made.

Cid, the legendary pilot, who loves smoking, cursing, and flying. Yuffie, a high spirited, wild Ninja who follows no rules but her own, and Vincent, a cold, quiet man who has seen horrors. And now the three of them sat, talking.

"So Vincent." Yuffie said with a yawn. She was lying on the ground, playing with two small orbs of materia. One was green, a magic orb, called Fire; the other was purple, and used to lure Chocobos. "What are you gonna do now? Goin' back to the creepy coffin thing?"

Vincent sighed. The man who always wore black, draped in his blood colored cape that was made from a Fire Rat's fire and was stronger than any armor was currently standing against the side of the Highwind.

"No." Vincent shook his head. "She was my lover, but it was Hojo who committed the true sin. It was Hojo who deserved the punishment I have given myself."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Geez she was sick of this! She goes on the adventure of a life time and all the guys are totally nuts. Well, Cloud was okay, but Tifa looked ready to kill the Ninja if she even flirted with him. Vincent had the tall, dark and handsome thing, but damn was the guy a downer. Barret was crazy, and Cid -- she looked over to where the pilot was in the middle of a hacking cough while he scratched his butt -- well Cid was Cid.

"I tell ya what I'm gonna do." Cid said. "I'm gonna have to get a new dammed airship!" Cid went off into a cursing fit about the shape of his airship and the way it was useless now thanks to Sephiroth.

*****

Cloud ran as fast as his feet would carry him. He stopped in the doorway of the utmost tower of the building. President Rufus' body was still in a burnt out corner, Cloud shook his spiky head.

"Not even you deserved this."

Cloud then turned his eyes towards the roof. Several holes and burn marks were visible in the roofing of this room. And through them he could see the Life stream's Vortex. And next to it he could see the figure of someone.

Cloud's blood instantly froze. It wasn't Aeris who was standing at the Vortex. It was hard to see the person clearly, but it clearly wasn't Aeris' body that stood before the Lifestream.

Cloud's sword was in his hand, and he quickly made a leap to the roof. The odd man in black turned around at once, and a twisted smile appeared on his face.

"Well, Cloud Strife, how nice to meet you."

Cloud said nothing; he just scanned the man in black for a moment. The blond warrior was surprised, he didn't know who this man was, but for some reason Cloud had a very bad feeling about such a person.

"Not in a mood to talk? Very well, then you may leave."

Garland raised his right hand that was gloved in his gauntlet, and a ball of fire shot forth. Cloud saw it coming and jumped backward, allowing the ball of flaming light to pass harmlessly by him.

Quickly Cloud was back on his feet, and running towards Garland. The evil knight only smirked, the young blond hero was running at full speed, his gigantic sword more than ready to chop the dark man to death, but Garland would not allow that.

In one quick motion Garland leapt foreword and with his gauntlet he grabbed the sword. Cloud snarled and pushed with all his strength, but the sword would not dig into the glove. Garland's evil face bent into a cruel smile and in one quick motion he drew a knife from his own belt and buried it deep within Cloud's arm.

With a cry Cloud fell backward and landed on the ground, while the large sword fell away from its blond barer.

"Now Cloud Strife, leave me be so that I may have these souls."

Cloud was in horrible pain, but the stab wasn't very bad. He was bleeding badly, but the cut wasn't deep enough to harm him in any way but annoying pain.

Garland in the meanwhile had returned to watching the large ball of green light. He wanted the souls, but something was stopping him. What could this thing be? What were these peculiar flowers?

"Blade Beam!"

Garland paused and turned around; Cloud was sitting on his knees, and in his hand was the large Buster Sword he had gotten from Zack five years ago after Sephiroth went crazy. The sword was glowing with a odd light, and suddenly Cloud smashed it to the ground, sending a ripple of light through the burnt roof at straight at Garland.

*****

Tifa was worried about Cloud, but she knew what he was doing. Indeed, she too had wondered if it was not Aeris who made these flowers appear, but she believed Aeris dead.

Yes, Tifa wanted Cloud to herself, and as much as she hated to admit it, she knew that Cloud still had feeling for the dead Ancient Girl.

Tifa was now sitting with Barret, Reeve, Marlene and Elmyra. Still she was worried about Cloud. And, as mean as she knew it was to think, she was also worried that indeed Aeris was up there.

She shook her head. No, that was a horrible thing to think. Aeris was dead, and if by some miracle she was alive atop the ShinRa building, then it was a blessing, not a curse. Yet . . .

"What the @#$%! Cloud's in trouble!"

Tifa turned her head around in a second; she looked up and saw it. There was a blast of flame, an explosion of color and sound, from the ShinRa building.

"C'mon!"

In an instant Tifa, Barret and Reeve took off towards the ShinRa building. However they would be too late . . .

*****

That had taken Cloud by complete surprise.

The blond youth was lying on his back. He had tried to fire the devastating `Blade Beam' technique at Garland, but instead the eerie knight had dodged the blast and fired his own explosion at Cloud.

"You are most annoying, Cloud Strife. I do believe it's time for us to part ways."

With that, the knight raised his gauntleted hand and spoke in a tongue that was foreign to Cloud. The youth felt his body surrounded by light, and suddenly he heard a scream.

At first it was faint and far away, but it was getting louder. He thought he saw Aeris leaping towards him just before he blacked out.

*****

Reno was still leaning against the side of the ShinRa building. Elena and Rude still by his side. The brown haired, Mako-eyed man didn't speak to either of them.

Running towards the ShinRa building was a small group of people. The closer they got, the better Reno could see them. Leading them was beautiful ol' Tifa. With here was Barret, the mother of that Ancient girl, some small girl Reno did not know, a large dog-like beast he believed was called Red, and finally . . .

"President Reeve, good day sir."

This caused the entire group, including Reeve, to stop.

"Wat the `ell you call `im?" Barret said.

Reno pushed a lock of his brown hair out of his eyes.

"We've checked the building; none of the other ShinRa executives are alive. Well, we can't find Palmer, but we believe he had turned tail and abandoned Midgar."

A look of understanding crossed over Reeve's face. None of the other ShinRa executives were alive. Therefore, Reeve just got one big promotion -- to President of ShinRa Inc. Before anyone could speak further, there was a distinct cackle from atop the building.

*****

Garland looked on at the green vortex with pride. He had for a third time that night attempted to take the souls from the Lifestream, but this time there was nothing stopping him.

Garland's face became a twisted smile; he could now take these souls and go home--

Suddenly from deep inside the knight, a blackness that had rested for a long time awoke. The black knight ran across the roof, forgetting all about the souls and the Lifestream.

The presence. The dark, blackness that had enveloped Garland's soul since that fateful day that seamed so long ago . . . was here. Of course the evil was still inside the knight, but it wasn't just inside him. He felt it. Here. In Midgar.

And on the outskirts of town, Vincent Valentine felt the same presence.

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Well, that's it for the first chapter. I promise it will get better. I'm starting work on Chapter 2 tomorrow, so I should have it up and posted in just a few days at the most.

Now for those of you who have never played Final Fantasy I, Garland is the evil knight who makes up both the first and final boss. He also plays a smaller but no less evil role in Final Fantasy IX as the evil knight who created Zidane and Kuja. As for the ". . . dark, blackness that had enveloped Garland's soul . . ." well, if you've beaten FFI I'm sure you know what I mean, and if not, you'll see soon enough . . .

Arigato for reading!

Ja ne!

~ Golden-sama