After the overwhelming popularity of the idea, I'm starting this rp. Remember, this takes place in the modern time. So people won't be very happy if you draw your weapon in public. Be careful. Also, this was an important question, and I'll answer. You can talk to your Inhabiter whenever you want. And I have to have Sephiroth as my enemy. Sorry, Azure Flame

 

Joy sat in the cafe, drinking his coffee slowly. He couldn't believe all of it was real. Final Fantasy, everything. And why Cloud chose him was boyone his understanding. After all, in the games, he was the cool dude. Still, having the Buster Sword was pretty cool. He finished his coffee and walked out slowly. He put his hands in his pockets and tried to imitate Cloud's expression, but he burst out laughing, causing to people around him to look at him. Oh, if only they knew.

The explosion shot Vincent out of the window, and a lot of the painted glass stuck into his back. "Well that's over," Vincent thought. He saw a huge meteor coming down for the mansion. "Well we got all of our equipment right?" ,Marcus thought. Vincent let go, and let Marcus take over. Marcus landed hard on a police car, blood ran out of his left arm, and the glass shards shatered in his wounds causing more to appear. Marcus passed out with the sound of EMT's rushing him, and the news woman screaming. "We're alive though, but man Vincent that was close," Marcus thought. "You nearly got us all killed. You need to control what you say and do, and so until then consider this the last time I speak to you kindly. As for our relationship, earn back my trust, and I will start letting you have free will. Until then, everything will be me, and you get to sit back and learn," Vincent said emotionlessly. Marcus felt the scorn...he couldn't feel his body, but he felt Vincent's words hit worse than the fire and glass ever could.

Joy frowned. "I...I don't remember much after picking up the Buster Sword." He looked around. "Where is it, anyway?" He heard Cloud cough in his mind. Cloud, what happened to the Buster Sword? Cloud responded, I destroyed it. It was evil, and it was weakening you by the second. Joy groaned. And now, I don't have a weapon, again. He then looked at Mariah. "So, what DID happen after I picked up the Buster Sword? Did we fight someone? Did we lose?"

Mariah took a moment to recall everything that happened from that moment at the hospital when they were separated. “You started feeling unwell right after you picked up the Buster Sword. I was about to try to help you to your room, but I found out that James was attacking the governor’s mansion. I went over there as quickly as I could, and you arrived shortly after me. We all fought James, and you were acting really weird, had this look of pure rage, and you seemed to be more impulsive than usual. Anyway, James was extremely powerful, which I’m sure is due greatly to Sephiroth, and I’m pretty sure we were nearly killed. But Marcus got us out of there, and here we are, on an ambulance once again,” she concluded with a humorless laugh. “So you don’t remember any of this? Then you probably don’t remember meeting him, but Marcus White, the governor’s son, is being Inhabited by Vincent Valentine!” she tried to lower her voice as she said this last part, both for her own sake and for Marcus’s sake. “That’s how we escaped--Marcus used Vincent’s ghost cloak form to get us all out of the mansion.”

 

She tried to look around, but she and Joy seemed to be the only injured people in the ambulance. “I hope Marcus is alright,” she said. Then she looked at Joy again. “Are you okay? Like really? I’m concerned about you since you weren’t yourself during the fight, and now you don’t remember any of it.” She was almost afraid to ask the next question, but her mind was now racing and she couldn’t stop herself. “Do you think we’ll actually be able to beat James at this rate?”

Vincent woke up in a hospital bed. His head was throbbing, his left arm was completly bandaged up, and he noticed the doctors had removed his shirt. He then noticed a series of burns that ran from his chest to abdomine. "Well we sure had one Hell of a night, I can't remember ever getting as close a call as this," Vincent thought. "Hey, atleast we didn't die," Marcus thought, "And....OH MY GOD WHY DOES MY BODY LOOK LIKE THAT?!?! I CAN'T GET A GIRL WHEN I'M PINK!!" Vincent gave himself a face palm, and then noticed that his face was smooth and free of burns. He was also glad that he could see out of both eyes. Then he worked up his muscles and sat up. The puncture wounds on his back were scabbed over, and felt like they wouldn't take much time to heal. "Good news and bad news Marcus. Good news is, you won't look like a spotted Gekko for long, but the bad news is that the slash Sephiroth gave to your chest is going to be permanent," Vincent thought. Marcus was relieved, he wouldn't be pink, but he'd have an awesome scar across his chest. Vincent then decided it was time to move out, so he got up out of the bed, and put on his clothes.

Joy shook his head. "I don't know. After all, hasn't Sephiroth alreasy stated that he never used his full strength, and we would all die if he did?" Now Joy was scared. What if they couldn't beat him. Then he remembered something on the TV screen before it changed to the mansion one. Mysterious sword found in Alaska. Several sources state it is a sword from the popular 'Final Fantasy' series. But Joy was too wrapped up in revenge. He sighed, and looked towards Mariah. "Hey Mariah, pack your bags. We're going to Alaska."

When they arrived at the hospital, their wounds were already partially healed, confounding the doctors. “Well...get this prescription filled, go home, and get lots of rest,” said the physician who checked on Mariah.

 

“Thanks, I will,” Mariah replied. Yeah, right, she thought. Alaska? This was crazy. But, of course, Joy would need the Buster Sword if they wanted any hope of defeating James. And there was no telling when or where James would show up again. They couldn’t afford to be apart now--it was too dangerous. She went over to the clerk’s desk. “Hey, is there a Marcus White here by any chance?”

 

“You’re not talking about the governor’s son, are you? What’s your name?” the clerk asked.

 

“Yes, he’s...a friend of mine. My name is Mariah Gates.”

 

The clerk typed on her keyboard. “I’m sorry, I can’t give you any information unless you’re specifically listed as a point of contact in his records. You don’t show up in any of them.”

 

Mariah was exasperated, but tried to stay pleasant. “Well, um, thanks anyway,” she said with a fake smile. She would just have to try and find him herself. But first, she would need to find Joy and get his cell phone number in case they got separated again. She was sure he must be finished being examined by the physician by now.

Joy stopped talking to the physician. He was exasperated by all the stupid questions he was asked, usually about ow he got his wounds. He just said hew wa near the mansion when it exploded, and hurt himself. Finally, the physician let him go. He walked out the room. Luckily, no one had seen his wound from James stabbing him in the chest, a fact that Cloud stated must be kept hidden. He stopped in the middle of the hallway. Wait. How was he going to get to Alaska?

Vincent started walking down the hall, doctors were trying their hardest to stop him, but he kept walking down the hall. He ended up infront of the consierge's desk, and saw Mariah standing infront of it. "Hello there, I'm guessing you're talking about me?" ,Vincent asked. Marcus thought, "Hey! I wanna talk! I know I'm not the smartest in a fight, but your track record with people sucks!" Vincent grumbled in compliance, and let Marcus take over. "Hello Mariah! It's nice to see you again!" ,Marcus said.

August woke up, feeling far better than he had before. His body was still injured and he barely had any energy to spare, but considering he was on deaths doorstep just a few hours before, he considered it great progress. "You know, we've really got to work on our synchronization if we're ever going to stand a chance in another battle. I have a lot of different weapons to summon which provides great versatility, but if you don't have the strength or stamina to pull it off then they won't be worth much," Vaan thought to August.

 

"I know, I know!" August responded inwardly, getting out of his bed and into his clothes, neatly lain out for him.

 

"Well then there's no use in sitting around like this!" said Vaan to him, his cheerful nature almost annoying.

 

August headed past various concerned Nurses, dismissing them with a smile and a wave as he headed for the Consierge desk at the front to check himself out. Upon arriving there he saw a surprising but welcome sight. "Hey Mariah, what're you doing here and who's the new guy?"

Just then, on a nearby TV, a news reporter said, in a scared voice "We interrupt this broadcast for an important news bulletin!" The screen cut to the news room, where James stood, hilding the Masamune to the throats of the anchors. "I am James Seraphim, inhabited by Sephiroth, villain of the game Final Fantasy 7." James said. "We know that Mother, I mean, Jenova, is hidden somewhere in this world. And we know that the Mayor and his son Marcus has something to do with it. I will give you one hour to return her to us, or I will summon a meteor big enough to destroy most of the planet. You will then have until the meteor strikes to bring us Jenova. If you do not, then you will all die and I will become one with the planet." Then the TV cut back to it's regular programming.

Yukino sat and watched the horrific broadcast. Worried about what she should do she calls on Serah for guidence.

"Oh Serah I truly wish I could help stop that man but I dont see what I could do...".

"Dont worry Yukino just go out there and do what you feel is right. Be brave and be carful".

"Your right Serah I have to do some thing!". She left her apartment, bow blade in hand heading toward the TV station secretly hoping that she runs into some one anyone that would be willing to help her.

(@Not-with-a-whimper: LOL I don’t think our characters have actually met yet. But I can just try to work around it. If you want to edit your post later, I’ll edit mine, too. Also, wasn’t August at his lake house in the last post you made, #215? I mean, it doesn’t really matter to me, I just wanted you to be aware of the inconsistencies in case you wanted to change some stuff. We could pretend like the events in #215 never happened. )

 

Mariah was a little puzzled at Marcus saying hello to her twice, but then she realized it must have been Vincent the first time. “Marcus, I’m so glad you’re here!” she said. She looked over at the clerk, who tried to hide the surprised look on her face. Mariah smiled at the clerk, turned back to Marcus, and lowered her voice. “Joy’s been saying that his Buster Sword was found in Alaska--don’t even ask me how it could’ve ended up there. He wants to go there and retrieve it as soon as possible. Apparently he hasn’t officially met you yet, and I was afraid he might be so hurried that he would forget about you and Vincent. I think it’s best for the three of us to stick together, because if one of us were to get confronted alone by James, I don’t think it would be good. So, um, how do you feel about going to Alaska?”

 

Before Marcus had a chance to answer her, another young man came up to her. He had auburn hair and orange eyes, and he had an aura about him similar to what she felt around Joy, James, and Marcus.

 

“Hey, Mariah, what’re you doing here and who’s the new guy?” he asked.

 

Now Mariah was really puzzled. How did he know her name? Tifa, is this someone we should know?

 

“Well, I can sense that this guy has an Inhabiter, but his Inhabiter is unfamiliar to me--resided in a world different from mine, I assume. Interesting that he knows your name... I think we can trust him though.”

 

Wait, maybe we live in the same apartment building! I guess he does look a little familiar...

 

“Um, hey,” she said with an awkward smile. “Well, let’s just say my friends and I had a conflict of interests with someone else, and...had to come to a compromise. Anyway, this is my one of my friends, Marcus. We’ve, uh, kind of been through a lot together for the past few days, along with Joy, my um...” Mariah tried to think of an appropriate word but gave up. “...my other friend.” She cleared her throat. “A little bird tells me you may also have been through a lot over the past few days, just like we have... Sorry, what was your name again?”

 

Shortly after he told her and Marcus who he was, her attention suddenly turned to the television on the wall when out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a familiar face on the screen. It happened to be the same television on which she had seen the live report about the attack on the governor’s mansion. Déjà vu, she thought humorlessly. It was James. He was talking about how he wanted Jenova back. “...We know that the [governor] and his son Marcus has something to do with it. I will give you one hour to return her to us, or I will summon a meteor big enough to destroy most of the planet...” She looked back at Marcus. Did he really have something to do with this Jenova, like James was claiming? More importantly, what were they all going to do about it? Yet another fight sounded almost inevitable. At least it looked like they might have one more person to help them against James now. But how was Joy going to fight without the Buster Sword?

Marcus looked at them, he sinced something was up, and so he told her straight up. "Listen, Vincent says that Sephiroth rambles about this kind of thing all the time, but ironicly...Vincent has a good idea of where Jenova is. If there is any area you know of where some kind of strange occurance has gone on that might be where the thing Sephiroth was looking for is at," Marcus said, "Oh, and my father has a jet we can use. He is the govenor after all!" "Well played Marcus, see you are learning!" Vincent thought.

(OOC: Ah, apologies. I had forgotten that August didn't come in to the first fight with Sephiroth until it was over, you were far from the scene, and then Scardigne showed up. About the lake house, that was actually Scardigne/Gabranth training there. August/Vaan has no lake house. August made his way to the hospital after escaping Scardigne and, after signing in, fell unconscious at the front desk. I figure that our two characters living in the same apartment complex would be the easiest way to explain my oversight, so if you wouldn't mind then I'll go with that.)

 

Mariah seemed a little confused about who he was. August couldn't blame her. He'd only moved into the apartment complex a few days ago and the only reason she'd made a big impression was because she was one of the first truly kind people he'd met since moving over from London. "It's August, and nice to meet you Marcus," he said, first to her, then turning to the guy next to her. "I, uh, live in the same apartment complex as you. We met a few days ago," he continued, trying to explain the situation to Mariah. Was he really so forgettable? His shy nature had kept him secluded from others for far too long. He was honestly thankful for the influence Vaan was having on him, even if it did come at the price of being hunted like a demon. Wait... nevermind.

 

"Yeah, you could say I've been through a bit lately. I arrived at the scene of a meteor crash shortly after it occurred and was harassed by a loon once I got there, a guy convinced that he was going to save the world by eliminating me and a few new friends just because we were special." August seriously hoped that she caught on, because he really didn't feel like being more obvious than that.

 

A newscast flashed on which caught all of their attention. Another one of us? Boy if anyone's a monster it's that guy, August thought. "I get a feeling that we're going to have to do something about this ourselves," Vaan said to August.

 

After the newscast, Marcus gave his spill. Guess we're all on the same page then, thought August. Vaan, however, simply sighed. "Yep, my feeling about this has been confirmed. Well, I guess this is as good a chance as any to get in some practice and make our mark on this world!"

(Ooohhh sorry I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the name of the character in that post--I mostly skimmed through it. Alright, apartment complex excuse it is then! ;P)

 

“A jet, huh? Sounds great to me!” Mariah said to Marcus. “Now we need to find Joy so we can all settle this together.”

 

Before beginning the search, she turned to August. “So, who’s your Inhabiter? Mine is Tifa Lockhart, and she tells me she doesn’t recognize the person Inhabiting you. I assume it’s not someone from Final Fantasy VII?” She felt a little silly saying that last part. Before, she had talked about these people like fictional characters, because that was all they were to her. But now that she had gotten to know them as real people, it was hard to just refer to them as characters from a video game series.

"Oh, Tifa? She was always pretty cool. I felt bad for her about the whole Cloud situation, though. Mine's from Final Fantasy XII, as is this girl named Sara's. We got split up recently, though. I have Vaan, and aside from the obvious physical boost, I now have the ability to summon weapons at will and do variations on some of the concurrences from the game, along with his Quickenings, or what you'd call Limit Breaks. The only bad thing is that I haven't figured out a way to do them using Vaan's nearly boundless energy and instead have to use my own. Once I can figure that out, I should be a much bigger help in a fight. At least I'm decent at adapting to changing environments," August answered. As an after thought, he added "So who's Joy's inhabiter, and what about you Marcus?"

Joy finally got away from the physician. He quickly walked out of the room, hoping he could find Mariah soon. He paced the hallway, this was a big hospital. He had different thoughts lately, not evil ones anymore, but depressing ones. Serious thoughts. Cloud's emotions and personality was now affecting Joy. He sighed, ad leaned against the wall. Should he ask a nurse where they were? He shook it out of his head; the nurse would be no help. Giving up, he slid down so hew as in a sitting position, hoping they would find him.

“Heh, it’s funny you should ask that, because Joy’s Inhabiter is actually Cloud Strife,” she replied, trying not to look sheepish. “But about Cloud and Tifa...I think they’ve been able clear up some misunderstandings.” She smiled. “So, Vaan sounds like a pretty cool guy. And really powerful--Joy and Marcus and I will need all the help we can get against James...”

 

Then she remembered that the clock was ticking. James was allowing only an hour for whoever had Jenova to turn...”her” over before he would destroy the whole world. How could he do this? Wasn’t there some part of him that Sephiroth hadn’t completely conquered? Either way, they had to hurry and find Jenova, and preferably defeat Sephiroth without killing James. But the latter might not be possible.

 

“Hey, guys, we need to get out of here. I’m going to go find Joy.” Without waiting for them to respond or seeing if they were going to follow her, she walked toward the place where Joy must have been examined by the physician.

 

 

After about a minute of wandering, she found him sitting in one of the hallways. “Joy!” she said. “James is going crazy looking for Jenova. He’s threatening to summon a meteor that’ll destroy the entire planet if Jenova isn’t revealed to him in an hour! But of course we can’t just find her and give her over to him without a fight. I...I don’t know how you can fight without the Buster Sword. You may need to go to Alaska alone... Marcus said something about a jet, but I don’t know exactly where he plans to take us.” She realized that was rambling now. “Oh, how can we possibly find Jenova and have you get the Buster Sword from Alaska in an hour?!” she exclaimed in frustration.

 

Then an idea came to her. It was probably the stupidest and deadliest idea she had ever come up with, but it just might buy them all some time. “Wait...I can go to James alone, hopefully without a fight, while Marcus and August find Jenova, and you find the Buster Sword. I can tell him we know where Jenova is, but we’ll just need a little extra time to get her. It’ll be kind of a bluff, but apparently Vincent has a good idea as to her location. And anyway, I’m assuming it wouldn’t be humanly possible for us to retrieve Jenova in just an hour, wherever she is. If I go to him by myself, he may be more likely to believe me--I'll mostly be telling the truth, at least. Hopefully Sephiroth wants his Mother badly enough that he’ll be willing to extend our deadline.”

After resting for a while, Chuck got to his feet and started walking around. He passed a TV store and saw James on the displayed TV's. He and Squall could sense that he was an Inhabitor as well. He was horrified by what James was saying, though Squall, being from 8 not 7, had no idea what he was talking about. "We've got to head to the TV station and stop him." he said. He began running to the TV station, when he noticed a girl (Yukino) heading there as well. "You an Inhabitor too?" he asked her.

 

(So Mariah, Chuck, and Yukino can fight James at the TV station.)

Yukino took notice of the boy now following her. "Yes I am, I have Serah from FF13". She continued heading towards the station getting more fearful with every step. "Did you see that broadcast? Are you heading to the TV station"?

Marcus nodded at Mariah and said, "Good luck. Ok, Joy....do you know of any weird circumstances that have happened lately?" He was concerned about what would happen if Mariah failed, but it was best to stay positive. After all, she was teamed up with Tifa, and Tifa was a strong woman. He knew they'd be ok.

 

<Edited Post>

August thought to himself. "No idea what's really going on here or what I can do to help, but I know I have to do something." Vaan responded as August headed out the door behind Marcus. "That's the spirit!"

(@Damion Strife: LOL Mariah actually found Joy and talked to him already--did you read my post all the way through? It was originally in the third paragraph, but I just now edited the formatting so now it's in the fourth paragraph. Maybe I shouldn't have had Mariah having a such a long one-sided conversation with Joy before Number XV had a chance to respond, but...I just had so many ideas! So yeah, when Number XV gets back on here, he can probably just have Joy go with Marcus, instead of Marcus searching for him, unless he has something else in mind.)

OOC: I am extremely sorry I haven't posted in a while. My life has pretty much turned crappy. We lost our house, so my grandparents are trying to buy a new house for us. Plus, I have so much homework. This hasn't been the best start of

Anyways, I shall post. Kind of confused about what's going on since I skimmed through reading but Xeveemon hasn't replied again yet has he?

 

Sara replied to Victoria, "Yeah, sure. That'll be fine. It can give Chuck and I a chance to recuperate after that nasty battle. See you in a bit." She hanged up and put her phone back in her pocket. Sara looked back at Chuck, "Well that was Victoria..she said Paul and her would be able to pick us up. We can rest while they preform at their concert." After a few minutes of silence, Sara spoke again, "So..Who's your inhabiter again?" As she waited for his reply, Sara tried talking to Balthier again. Balthier, can we talk? She asked. She waited. Nothing. She thought and sighed, Still don't want to talk to me?

(OOC: Sorry, I just edited it. I was a little out of it when I put that post down. LOL)