(Please note: Final Fantasy VII and characters are the property
of Square,
etc., etc., etc. Song lyrics (c) 1997 TCF Music Publishing, Inc. The
end
song is (c) um, dunno about this one either... it's by Bob Carlisle
& Randy
Thomas... So that's my disclaimer. Don't bother suing me, I don't even
own
my own computer.)
Bishonen no Miko© and Vegeta proudly present:
Faith, Hope and Love: the Story of the One-Winged Angel
(Stage 4)
*** *** ***
We were strangers
On a crazy adventure
Never dreaming
How our dreams would come true
Now here we stand
Unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you
-"At the Beginning" Richard Marx & Donna Lewis
After a few days, Vincent realized that traveling with Marlene wasn’t
so bad
after all. At least she could cook, and she was pleasant company to
have
around; sweet, innocent, and utterly delightful. But as time passed,
Vincent
noticed a certain "bond" growing between Sephiroth and Marlene, and
then one
night...
Marlene was cooking some fish they had caught earlier in the day, and
joking
around with Sephiroth at the same time. But as she reached to turn
over one
of the fish on the coals, a large forest spider suddenly dropped out
of the
trees onto her hand, and she jumped back screaming, clutching at Sephiroth
for dear life.
Poor Sephiroth... unable to do anything with his arms full of Marlene,
he
could only watch as Vincent swiped the spider away with his claw. But
as
Marlene got over her fright, she looked up at Sephiroth...
...and at that moment, Vincent saw it. That spark. Sephiroth, holding
Marlene gently, his eyes shining and Marlene, leaning against him,
her cheeks
flushed...
*They’re in love...* he realized, and he fervently hoped that neither
one of
them would break the other’s heart.
But much to Vincent’s relief, they only grew closer, though they didn’t
seem
to realize it yet. And then on Marlene’s 19th birthday, Sephiroth produced
two gifts for her. One - a minature whistle pendant on a gold chain,
pratical, yet pretty. Two - a bouquet of flowers, perfect for her womanly
side. And finally, from both Vincent and Sephiroth, a bow and quiver
of
arrows. Vincent was nothing if not practical, and he insisted that
Marlene
learn to use them, even though neither Vincent nor Sephiroth were great
archers themselves. But it gave her confidence, and after a bit of
practice,
even Marlene insisted on taking her turn at watch those many nights
when they
were sleeping underneath the stars.
One night, as the trio slept in a cave on a deserted beach, Vincent
awoke to
see Sephiroth and Marlene sitting together on the beach. He was used
to
seeing the two of them up at the same time, Marlene practicing her
archery
skills by moonlight with Sephiroth supervising, but this time, the
two of
them just sat there on the beach together, huddled under a blanket
for
warmth. And altough they talked in hushed tones, Vincent could still
hear
what their words.
"You know, Sephy... Barret isn’t my real father either," Marlene was
saying.
"But he loved me and took care of me. And I still miss him."
"Well, Vincent told me that this man, Hojo, was my real father, but
what sort
of man would give up his wife and child to science?"
"But don't you ever wonder about Hojo? I often wonder what Dyne, my
real
dad, was like."
"Not really...Vincent’s been the only person who ever really cared about
me,
and so in every way, he is my father."
"Poor, poor Sephy... I often wonder what hell lurk in your memories..."
"I’d rather not know," said Sephiroth flatly. "I don’t want to take
the
chance that I’ll go mad again. But I do know this much - I was an
experiment, a guinea pig..."
"No, you’re not a victim, Sephy! You’re a fighter, a survivor."
"Marlene, I’ve never been as human before as I am now. And all because
of
Vincent, and you, Marlene..."
Behind them, Vincent sighed inwardly. They reminded him so much of what
he
had with Lucretia, and what he had lost... no, what had been taken
from him.
And as Sephiroth gently took Marlene’s chin in his hand and leaned
foward for
a kiss, Vincent shut his eyes. *Lucretia...*
"You ever have any regrets?" asked Marlene’s voice a few moments later.
"Regrets? Hm, yes, but there’s nothing you can do about the past. All
we
can do is look foward to tomorrow. And I am happy to say, there’s been
very
little in the last two years that I’ve regretted."
*You ever have any regrets?* The question rang through Vincent’s mind,
muffling the rest of Sephiroth’s and Marlene’s discussion. *Yes, I
did, but
you’re right Sephiroth... I certainly don’t regret the course my life
has
taken in the last few years, ever since I re-met you...*
"Vincent. I know you’re awake," Sephiroth said as he crawled over to
where
Vincent lay. "Can I ask you something?" Marlene peered over Sephiroth’s
shoulder curiously.
"What is it?" responded Vincent, opening his eyes slowly. He rolled
his eyes
upwards over Sephiroth’s face until his gaze met those haunting Mako
eyes...
"Would you mind if I adopted your surname? If I became a ‘Valentine’
as
well?"
Now there was a question. "No, I don’t mind. Why?"
Sephiroth turned and grinned at Marlene, then said, "I just proposed
to
Marlene... and she said yes."
*** *** ***
He walked slowly through Kalm once again, his footsteps falling automatically
in front of one another as if even they recalled the exact path. Vincent
finally looked up to see Barret’s house looming before him, but after
a few
knocks on the door, he realized that Barret wasn’t home.
"You lookin’ for Mr. Wallace? He’s at work, you know," a passerby called
out
to Vincent.
"And where is that?"
The man pointed down the street. "Turn right at the end right there,
and
then go all the way down till you reach the new construction yard.
You can’t
miss it, mister."
"Thanks." Vincent followed the man’s directions and came upon a large
dirt
lot busy with activity. Several house frames were already up, but it
was
obvious that more work needed to be done to make the area livable.
Vincent
scanned the area quickly, and finally caught sight of Barret, who was
putting
his arm attachment to good use riveting steel bars together. Not wanting
to
be a bother, Vincent simply sat down and waited until Barret went on
break
several hours later.
"Barret..." he said in greeting as he approached the bigger man.
"Eh? Vincent... whatcha doin’ here? Not to smart of you, showin’ up
here
alone and all... I’m still upset about Marlene runnin’ off with ya
3 years
ago..." said Barret warningly.
"Marlene is what I came to talk about."
Barret considered his options, then motioned for Vincent to start talking.
Vincent cleared his throat, then asked, "Which would you like first?
Good
news or bad news?"
"Good, I suppose," said Barret, narrowing his eyes.
"Very well. Marlene is fine and very happy... she sends you her love
and
wishes that you could see her now."
"Then what’s the bad news...?"
"She and Sephiroth are now living near Nibelheim, next to the Strifes.
And... their wedding is in two days. She would like very much for her
father
to be there, if possible?"
After Barret finished gasping for air, and wiped at his eyes, he looked
over
at Vincent and said, "You sure have a way with words. With Sephiroth,
eh?"
He sighed. "I’m an old man Vince; I dunno if I can take this... but
I didn’t
raise Marlene to be no dummy... if she wants to be with him, what can
I do?"
"You can wish them the best. And walk her down the aisle."
Barret nodded in agreement. "Okay then - we’ll head out tonight, after
work."
*** *** ***
Travel was easy enough on the two of Cloud’s gold chocobos that Vincent
had
brought with him, and the two men reached Nibelheim by the middle of
the next
day. After dismounting, Vincent said, "This way," and pointed out a
small
house next to a larger house, the Strife house, on top of a grassy
hill.
Barret hung back, a bit apprehensive at first, but then the doors to
the
first house swung open and two people peeked out. The shorter one,
a young
lady, then ran out and called out, "Daddy!"
Barret couldn’t help but smile and wave back. She looked radiant; her
hair
swinging out behind her and her eyes sparkling, and as she gave Barret
a
mighty hug, even Vincent allowed a smile to grace his features. Sephiroth
caught up with her after a few moments, and slowly extended his hand
to
Barret once Marlene was through.
"Mr. Wallace?"
Barret’s eyes swept over Sephiroth. The great former SOLDIER was now
clad in
simple workpants and a buccaneer shirt, but still retained his hawklike
eyes
and toned physique. He looked back at Barret, a bit hopeful, and maybe
a bit
nervous too...?
Chuckling to himself at the irony of it all, Barret finally extended
his hand
as well and shook Sephiroth’s warmly. "Well, welcome to the family
I
guess.... You’ve made Marlene quite happy, so I’ve heard..."
Sephiroth smiled as Marlene let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Please,
join us for lunch. We... we have a lot to talk about."
"Hey, you guys coming up or do we have to come down there?" called a
voice
from the hilltop. Cloud and Tifa, Cid and Shera, Red XIII and Koneko,
and
even Cait Sith and Yuffie; they all stood there, waving at their friends.
"Hey, how come everyone else knew about the weddin’ but me?" Barret
asked
gruffly.
"Oh Daddy!"
With a laugh, Sephiroth and Marlene urged Barret to follow them up the
hill,
but Vincent stayed behind. Sephiroth turned and gave him a questioning
glance, not even moving when Vincent waved him on. He waited for Vincent
to
catch up to him, the two of them walking slowly behind the Wallaces,
following the father and daughter at a slight distance....
*And so it ends... Lucretia, I kept my promise, atoned for my sins...
and
gained a son AND a daughter!* Vincent glanced at Sephiroth and gave
him a
quick smile. *Thank you, but now I know, this is just the beginning...*
*** *** ***
There's two things I know for sure.
She was sent here from heaven,
and she's daddy's little girl.
She'll change her name today.
She'll make a promise,
and I'll give her away.
Standing in the bride room
just staring at her,
she asked me what I'm thinking,
and I said "I'm not sure,
I just feel like I'm losing my baby girl."
"Walk me down the aisle, daddy, it's just about time"
"Does my wedding gown look pretty, daddy?"
"Daddy, don't cry."
With all that I've done wrong, I must have done
something right
To deserve her love every morning,
And butterfly kisses
I couldn't ask God for more, man, this is what love is
I know I've gotta let her go, but I'll always remember
Every hug in the morning, and butterfly kisses...
*** *** ***
Fin
Bishonen no Miko's© [and Vegeta’s] notes: Yep, a joint effort!
Actually,
Vegeta did a lot of the writing cause I’m slow [No joke on that part],
but
the story idea was entirely mine [who else could do it? >I< certainly
wouldn’t!] ^_^. And to think, he thought that this was going to be
a Vincent
x Sephy story [now where would >I< get an idea like that?... hmm...
Ms. Yaoi
no Miko...] but HA! I proved him wrong. Please let us know what you
think... it was kinda hard for me (at least) to write this, being that
I
never even played the game [yeah...But >I< have], hahaha...
BTW - Sephiroth Valentine is an Odd sorta name, huh?
For anyone who cares, I wrote the very beginning Lucretia part, the
part from
where Sephiroth is at Cloud’s house to the part where he and Vincent
leave,
that part from where they reach Cosmo Canyon all the way to the part
where
Marlene sneaks off to join Vincent and Sephiroth, all of Marlene’s
travels
with Sephy, and the very end. Vegeta wrote the part from where Vincent
come
out of his flashback to where Vincent gives Sephiroth his hug ^^, the
Vincent
and Sephiroth conversation on the way to Cosmo Canyon, and the part
where
Marlene is saved by Sephiroth. [BTW... I’ll have you all know that
I was
forced! I didn’t want to do it! She MADE me do it! She... *WHACK*]
Oh yeah, in case you found the flow of time confusing, it was something
like
this: Lucretia died a few weeks/months after the end of the game, Marlene
was
4 at the time... then 14 years later, Vincent, Cloud and Tifa find
the newest
Sephiroth clone (the real start of this story) and Marlene runs away
from
home (so she's about 18?)... then 3 years after that, she and Sephiroth
are
getting hitched (she's 21 and he's 33, I guess...) Sorry about the
abrupt
transistions... I know the story is choppy in parts ^^.
If anyone wants to reach me, come to my Shrine of Bishonen at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/4814/
or you can e-mail me at:
bishonennomiko@rocketmail.com
Vegeta can be e-mailed at:
vegeta4@yahoo.com
Bishonen no Miko©, January 10, 1998
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