"Nanaki, give it the greens!" Gabriel exclaimed, attacking the nearest monster. "Which kind? asked Nanaki. "Any kind! just do it!" Gabriel responded. He sighed wearily. After leaving Kalm town, he, Nanaki, Inno and Cait Sith had split up from Cloud, Aeris and Tifa. They had then spent most of the day trying to catch a chocobo, which was necessary if they wanted to cross the marshes. Unfortunately, Gabriel was the only one who had experience with the mysterious creatures. "Whoa, he ate that FAST!" Cait Sith mused, waving his megaphone to emphasize the point. "Wha..." Gabriel turned his attention to the chocobo. Sure enough, it had quickly devoured the greens Nanaki had given it. His jaw dropped and he turned to Nanaki. "What'd you give it, the cheap stuff?" He asked. "Well, you said that any kind would do, so I just assumed..." Nanaki trailed off. "Aaaagh, just attack!" he sighed, picking off another monster. "What, the chocobo?" asked a confused Cait Sith. "No! The monsters, the monsters!" Gabriel yelled, totally exasperated. "And Inno...Inno! Stop laughing!" "Hehe...I'm sorry," Inno managed between giggles, "It's just...hehe...you're all so...so...MWAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!!!!" "Oh, for the love of..." **************************** * Improfanfic Presents... * * * * Final Fantasy: Fated * * * * Chapter Six: * * Changing Fate * * * * By Omi No Miko * * * * Concept Started By: * * Samantha Rodgers * * * **************************** "Wow, what's this place?" Inno asked, as she gazed around the cave. After finally catching a chocobo, they'd used it to get into the cave across the marshes. "It's the mythril mines, I've been here before." Gabriel responded, one hand on his chain sickle. He was looking around him in a cautious way, occasionally looking out through the cave entrance. "Be careful, there's a lot of monsters around here. It's dangerous." "Gabriel...look!" Inno hissed, pointing to a higher level of the cave just in front of them. There they could see three people in uniforms which identified them as Turks. One was a bald man, another was a blonde woman. Finally, there was a man with long black hair that was kept down, and a dot in the middle of his forehead. Inno and the others shrunk back against the cave wall, trying to not be noticed. After a while, the three Turks left. Nanaki sighed in relief, then stepped back into the open. "That was close." he said. The others nodded in agreement. "So, which way now?" Cait asked. He gazed around the spacious cave and shrugged. "I'm lost in here." "It should be up this way, if I remember correctly." Gabriel informed them. He climbed a nearby vine, then motioned for the others to follow. "Once we get out of here, we'll meet up with Cloud in Junon." ------- Gabriel sighed as they walked to Junon. He felt weird taking the role of leader in their small group. It wasn't entirely bad, but...he just wasn't used to spending time with other people. It somehow reminded him of...no! He couldn't think of that now! *Relax, Gabriel,* He told himself. *This is neither the time nor the place for that.* "Gabriel? Gabriel, are you listening? Woo-hoo, helllloooo?" Gabriel blinked. The large, furry hand of a mog was waving in front of his face. "...huh?" Gabriel wondered, as he slowly became aware of the situation. "As I was saying, before SOMEONE decided to space out on us," Cait chided him, "We're almost to Junon." "Oh, okay." Gabriel said, still slightly out of it. Junon was a fairly dark town, with scattered houses and shops. A path to the side seemed to lead to the polluted ocean, where a lone man was fishing. suddenly, a voice came from behind them. "Oh, there you guys are! We've been waiting for you!" Tifa cried, running up to them. She was closely followed by Aeris and a thoughtful looking Cloud. "Oh, hey..." Gabriel greeted them, as he looked around the town. "What's with this place? It's so...so dead." Cait said. Inno remained silent. She had to agree. Compared to the bright Kalm town, even the thriving Chocobo stables, Junon was a shock. Of course, Midgar was just as bad, if not worse. *Midgar...* Inn thought. *Mom, Les, Wedge...* There were those large areas where there were only the dead bodies of the innocent civilians. The countless people who Sephiroth had killed in the Shinra building. Too many! Sephiroth had to be stopped, even if...even if it was Inno herself that he would kill. "Yo! Inno! Iiiiinnnnnno! Jeez, why is everyone spacing out on me today?" Cait Sith complained. Inno snapped out of her thoughts, startled. "We're gonna go buy some supplies. You coming?" Inno considered the idea. "Actually...I think I'm just going to look around the town a bit." She replied. Cait nodded and walked off with Cloud and the others. Inno sighed and began strolling around the desolate town. She was surprised when Nanaki ran up behind her. "Inno, do you mind if I come along?" He asked her. Inno smiled and nodded. The two of them walked slowly around Junon, trying to take in every sight. They sat down near the beach, both feeling very thoughtful. After a brief silence, Inno turned to her companion. "Nanaki, where do you come from?" Inno asked suddenly. Nanaki seemed startled by her question, but answered anyway. "Well...my home is in Cosmo Canyon, a long way away from here." he began, "All sorts of people come to learn about the stars from my grandfather, Bugenhagen. You should go there sometime, it's incredible." Nanaki sighed, and shook his head. "I wish I were there now." Inno out a reassuring hand on Nanaki's back. "It's all right, you'll see him again. I'm...I'm sorry for bringing it up." Nanaki smiled at her. "It's okay, Inno." he said, "Just talking about it with someone helps. I'm glad I could talk to such an understanding person." "Aaaiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Help, someone!" Inno jumped up, alarmed. It sounded like...a little girl? "What was that?" she asked. Nanaki stood up as well, and looked at a spot further down the beach. "It sounds like it's coming from over there, let's go!" he exclaimed, already starting to run. "But...the others..." Inno hesitated. She wasn't sure the two of them could take whatever had made that little girl scream. "No time!" Nanaki yelled, quickly moving out of Inno's sight. Inno hesitated for a few seconds, then ran after Nanaki as fast as she could. ------ Cloud froze, his handful of gil inches from the store clerk's. He could've sworn he heard a scream just then...but his head had been messing with him so much lately. "Hey, what's the problem?" the irate clerk asked him. Cloud shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. But still, that scream...someone was in trouble. Cloud thrust his money into Aeris' nearby hands, then ran out of the building. "Huh? Cloud, where are you going?" she questioned, running to the doorway. "Someone's hurt!" he yelled as he ran toward the beach, "Gotta go, sorry!" There was a brief silence as Aeris let this piece of information sink in, then she calmly paid the clerk and ran after Cloud. "Like I said, EVERYONE'S spacing out on me today!" Cait said, rolling his eyes. ------ "Um, Nanaki? What is that thing?" Inno asked. Trying to see all of the creature, she looked up...and up...and up. "I don't know, but it's up in the air, which means I can't reach it." he replied. Inno turned away from the monster and knelt down next to the little girl, who had been violently thrown aside by the monster. She was so little...so innocent... *flash* Inno stood up, rage in her eyes. She walked slowly toward the monster, her left eye slightly twitching. She raised her hands, lightning crackling around her. "Bolt 3!" she shouted, hurling the magic at the monster. Over and over, attack after attack, she wouldn't stop until it died. "No more!" she yelled, "No more deaths! Why does everyone I love have to die?!" *flash* Inno, both emotionally and physically tired, peacefully passed out on the sand. ------ Rufus Shinra was a busy man, and didn't like to be bothered. He was also a very popular with the ladies, as almost all the women who had heard of him were in love with him, either for his looks, his money, or his power. This made it extremely hard for him to interact with women, whether it be for personal or business matters. "Shinra-san?" his timid secretary asked, quietly entering the room. She smiled a bit when she saw his face, and Rufus could swear her eyes glazed over a bit. "Yes, Mary, what is it?" he asked her, brushing a lock of his beautiful hair out of his face. Mary faltered a bit in her step as she watched him. "Ummm...uh, well, it's almost time for your parade." Mary managed. "You should come out, the soldiers are going to be marching and doing special moves and everything." Rufus Shinra just sighed, "Not THAT stupid thing?" he sighed, speaking in a bored voice. "Oh well, I suppose if I HAVE to..." He swept the annoying lock of hair out his face again, and nodded to Mary. "All right, I'll be along in a minute. You may go now." Mary got about two steps out of the door, then leaned against the wall and sighed. She sunk down so that she was sitting with her back against the wall, and put a hand to her heart. "Oh, Rufus-sama..." she whispered, "He likes me, I know it!" ------ Cloud arrived on the beach to see Nanaki standing over an unconscious Inno, with a small girl, also unconscious, next to them. He ran up to Nanaki, a questioning look in his eyes. "What happened?" he asked. Aeris ran up behind him, panting from the run. "A monster attacked us and that girl," Nanaki said, jerking his head toward the unconscious child. "Inno stopped him, but she passed out, and this girl is hurt." Aeris knelt down by the child, checking her over. "This is bad," she said. "She needs artificial respiration. Cloud, can you do it? I'm afraid I'm too tired, and your stamina's better than mine." Cloud nodded, and knelt down by the girl himself. Then he hesitated. "Um, how do I do it?" he asked, clueless. "Just take a deep breath, then breathe into her mouth. You may have to do it a few times." Aeris informed him. Cloud nodded, and took as deep a breath as he could take. ------ After saving the girl, who was named Priscilla, The group was offered a place to stay by her parents. They were only too happy to accept, it had been a trying day for them. Inno still seemed a bit shaken about her earlier encounter with the monster. She wasn't used to killing things, to knowing that it was HER that had ended its life. Her newfound friends seemed to think nothing of it...but if she killed so much, how was she different from Sephiroth? And that was another thing...Sephiroth still haunted her dreams, flashes of incomplete memories flew through her head at seemingly random moments. Sephiroth...he would kill Aeris...she'd seen it. But it seemed as if fate was changing, going a different way. Was it her that was changing it? Was Aeris fated to die? *flash* Sephiroth flew down from above, his blade drawn. He thrust it deep into the kneeling figure. Inno couldn't make out who the kneeling person was, it was so dark, so shadowy...what the...Inno! it was Inno that Sephiroth was stabbing! Sephiroth was...he...was she now fated to take Aeris' place? The blade sunk deeper, Inno's body slumped over. Pain...so much...pain. Sephiroth pulled the blade out, his face unreadable. *flash* Inno clutched her stomach, feeling nauseous. Why? Why did she have to die now? What was going on???? "Inno! Hey, we found a way to...you okay?" Gabriel asked, walking into the room. He put a hand on her shoulder, a concerned look on his face. "Yeah...I'm just feeling a bit funny, that's all..." She answered, shaking her head and getting up. Gabriel looked suspicious for a moment, then dismissed it. "Look, we found a way to get on the Shinra boat to the other continent." he said. "It leaves soon, so we better go." Inno was confused. "But...won't they recognize us?" she asked. Gabriel just grinned. "I just have to know one thing..." he replied, looking very mischievous, "What size Shinra uniform do you need?" ------ Sephiroth waited aboard the Shinra boat. They where coming here, he was sure of it. The promised land was his...they'd never get to it. Never! He would protect it from them. The reunion was coming up soon. The reunion...He could wait as long as necessary. It was only a matter of time... End part 6 ====== Author's notes and such: I was really happy to do this, because for once I actually know what the hell I'm doing. I'd actually played the Final fantasy 7 game, and therefore knew what was going on, when Sephiroth would show up next, etc. Ummm...I admit that not much really happened in this chapter. My personal favorite part was the chocobo catching, even if it doesn't go very well with the rest of the story. Thanks to all the people who helped me out on this! Mail any comments to miko_chan12@yahoo.com but PLEASE no flames! They crush my tiny self-esteem so! Seriously, I'd REALLY like some feedback on this!