Operation:Retrieve Stolen Flower Cart!(CC.FFVII Fanfic) Done | Page 1 | Written Works of Art | Guild Forums

III The Sorceress III

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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:04 am

Okay. So, I work for my school's literary magazine and the teacher who runs the whole operation wanted some fanfictions in this years book. So he turned to me and asked me to write one. Note: this had to be kept pretty short to get put into the book >.> Keep in mind, it also needs to be enjoyable for people who have never played the game as well.
Hope you enjoy what I have done. There are at least two parts. I'm pretty sure it will stay at two. But here's the first part.
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Operation: Retrieve Stolen Flower Cart! - Part I

The train whistled loudly as it pulled into the train station at its normal time, six o’ clock in the morning, bringing the commuters from the lower level of Midgar, known as the slums, to the upper level which was held by supports up nearly fifty meters into the air. Most of those who rode the train scattered about the plate named Sector 8. Within moments, the platform was cleared and all seemed as it was before the train had arrived. Quietly the conductor, with nothing better to do, set to shining the red diamond ShinRa Electric Company Logo which decorated the side of the train. The red emblem was one that everyone in Midgar and most of the world had come to associate with the bettering of the world or evil. Those who said the massive electric company claimed that they were advancing the world with technology. The others begged the question, who had ever heard of an electrical company with the need of a standing army? Let alone one that killed the world in order to produce electricity?
“Whoo! Looks like I made it in time!” The conductor dressed in his authorized ShinRa red uniform jumped somewhat as the young man’s voice had caught him by surprise.
“Can I help you?” The conductor asked as he tilted his head towards the young man, and studied his clothing as it was typically easy to tell what one did for a living based on the uniforms which ShinRa provided: metal shoulder pads, a black sleeveless turtleneck shirt, hiking boots, black pants which were secured at the waist by a familiar belt with the emblem for ShinRa’s elite army squad logo stamped on it. “A SOLDIER member?” The conductor asked taken back by the sight of the young man as it was not often that a SOLDER member would be sent to the train station.
“Name’s Zack,” the black haired SOLDIER member replied, taking a step forward and holding out one of his gloved hands towards the conductor, his short spikey hair bouncing somewhat with the step he took. “Nice to meet you.”
“Anthony,” the conductor said shaking Zack’s hand firmly though stuck in a state of awe as he looked at the bright blue eyes of the SOLDIER member.
“The eyes, huh? Seems like a lot of people aren’t used to the eyes of a SOLDIER. Really, you haven’t seen a SOLDIER before?” Zack asked with a grin as he took his hand back.
“I’ve heard stories about SOLDIER people having strange eyes but those are just so bright. They basically glow. Not human if you ask me.”
“Mako infused eyes. The trademark of SOLDIER,” Zack said rather proudly as he placed his hands on his hips. “Human or not, they’ve impressed my girlfriend. She seems amused by them.”
“I see,” Anthony said quietly. “Well, what brings you here?”
“I want to go down, I thought that was why most people came to the train station.”
“True. I just don’t usually have passengers to go down to the slums until later.”
“Well. Most people don’t have the day off either. I’ve been saving my vacation days. So when does the train leave?”
“In a few minutes. Why don’t you just go grab yourself a seat now?”
“Will do!”
“I’ve got to ask you though. Why would a SOLDIER waste a day off down in the slums?”
“I’ve got my girl down there waiting for me,” Zack replied simply enough with a wide smile. He did not wait for any further comments or questions from Anthony and simply climbed into the first car of the train. Zack looked around the empty cart, picked a random red cushioned seat and simply fell into it. He allowed his eyes to wander to the digital clock which was at the front of the train. Three minutes had passed and when the next number blinked onto the screen, the doors of the cars shut automatically and locked. The train whistled once more and with a jerk forward, it began its trip down to the platform down below in the slums of Midgar. Within a moment the light of day disappeared as the train moved under the plates, beginning to coil its way downward the center support of all of Midgar. Zack was almost tossed from his seat as the train began to stop suddenly, the brakes squealing under the pressure of attempting to bring the tons of metal to a halt at the station. Soon the screeching brakes feel silent and the engine gave a steam-filled sigh: the train had finished its trip. The exit light above the exit door of the car soon lit up red, and the speakers of the train allowed a soft ding to play. The doors unlocked and opened by themselves, allowing the lone passenger to exit the train.
Zack stepped out and took in a deep breath only to wish that he had not. “Man, they really need to clean up down here,” he muttered as he looked at the litter which decorated the platform and ultimately towards the overflowing trashcans close to the station. It was so different than the top level – not even the sun shone down in the slums, creating a stiff and dank air. What made the slums even worse though was the smell in some areas due to the garbage which tended to accumulate. Hopefully the flowers would change that soon enough. Thanks to his idea, hopefully Midgar would be covered with flowers in due time and they would no longer be a luxurious item.
The SOLDIER member made his way through the market area of the slums which happened to be near the train station, thankfully here the smell was not too bad. The few shops that were open at this time had no customers and the clerks seemed to be in a morning daze from just waking. The only ones who were awake enough to do anything were the children who raced around the shops playing their games. One of the young boys rounded a corner quickly and bumped into Zack, ultimately falling down.
“Watch where you’re going!” The boy said quickly as he stood up.
“You didn’t steal my wallet again did you?” Zack asked flatly and went to reach for his pocket.
“Oh. Hey Mister. No. I didn’t. Besides, you have that materia that was letting me steal things so easily.”
“I know. But first impressions are hard to get rid of,” Zack grumbled as he folded his arms.
“Going to see Aerith, Mister?”
“That’s the idea. I sent everything down here to make her an even better flower cart,” Zack said rather proudly.
“That’s good. You should ask her what happened to the last one.”
“Wait-What?! What happened to it?!” Zack asked quickly though the boy merely shook his head.
“Go ask Aerith! Good luck, Mister!”
“Oh man,” Zack muttered quietly while the boy wandered off to find his friends. He rubbed the back of his neck only to shake his head. “I wonder what happened to it.” Not wasting any further time, Zack hurried out of the market place, and jogged past the other houses which were similar to shacks in order to reach the one spot he knew he would be able to find Aerith at: the church. The large gray brick building stood alone among crumbled buildings. Sadly enough, the church looked as if it were barely clinging to life as one of the towers had fallen down long before Zack had even known the place to exit. The rooftop had two holes decorating it; one was formed by an I-beam which had fallen during construction of the upper plate and the other had been made by Zack himself when he had fallen through the plate. While he was still flustered about his mentor having sent him falling, he was in a way thankful as that was how he had met the woman he called an angel.
Carefully, he pushed open one of the large wooden doors and entered the church. The wooden panels creaked loudly under his heavy boots. Beyond the dusty pews was a hole in the wooden floor, and from there a brilliant patch of golden colored lilies had sprouted. However, the rare sight of flowers was not what he was concerned with. No. It was the burnet who was tending to them. “Hey, the flowers are looking good. Like always,” Zack called with his trademark grin towards Aerith.
The young woman looked up from the flowers and towards Zack only to give a smirk towards him. Her emerald eyes matched the leaves of the lilies which obscured her face from Zack’s view; but, he could easily see a gleam of happiness in them.
“I didn’t expect you to come today,” Aerith said getting up off her knees.
“Well. I wanted to surprise you,” Zack paused for a moment; “Surprised?”
“Mmhmm!” Aerith said giving a quick nod towards him. As she nodded, Zack caught a glimpse of the ends of the pink ribbon which was loosely tied at the base of her braid.
“Hmm.”
“What’s wrong?” Aerith asked quickly, tilting her head to the side somewhat as it was not often that Zack looked rather serious around her.
“Well. There’s something wrong,” he said with a sigh and shook his head slowly.
“What?!” Zack gave a sigh and folded his arms.
“You’re going to have to turn around and face the back of the church for a moment,” he said shaking his head still.
“Um. . .Okay,” Aerith agreed slowly and turned around as Zack had asked. After a brief moment she felt the ribbon in her hair getting tugged at. “Hmm?”
“That’s better,” he said as he finished retying the bow the ribbon had made.
“Leave it to you,” she muttered with a smirk as she played with the embroidered flowers that decorated the left strap of her white tank top.
“I try,” Zack replied simply as he leaned on Aerith somewhat, allowing his arms to hang over her shoulders before embracing her in a hug.
“Hey Zack?”
“Yeah?” He asked as he leaned his forehead against the top of her head.
“Thank you.”
“For? Fixing your ribbon?”
“Well. That and for coming today,” Aerith said with a warm smile. She brought her hands up and put them on Zack’s arms as if to hold them there. “I wish you had more days off.”
“I know. But you know you have to pay the bills somehow, right?” Aerith simply nodded and leaned her head onto Zack’s arm and closed her eyes, savoring the moment. “First thing’s first for today though,” Zack said with a sigh. “Got to make that flower cart for you.”
“Another one?”
“Well, I liked the last one but you didn’t. So, I figured I would make you a new one. I had everything sent down here in pieces. Remember?”
“So that’s what everything was for?”
“Yep! I made sure to get some pink cloth to match your ribbon!”
“I saw.” Zack let go of Aerith and turned around, expecting to find two flower carts where she usually parked them in the church, yet there was only one. There was only a simple one that was rather shakey and which Aerith had disapproved of as well.
“I didn’t want to ask. But what happened to the other one? I really liked that one,” Zack asked as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Well. Long story short, it was stolen.”
“What?!” Aerith simply nodded towards Zack. “Who would steal it?! Why – That just makes me so angry! Do you know who stole it?!”
“Mmhmm,” Aerith nodded again. “Let’s see. They each looked the same and…” Aerith trailed off for a moment as she thought about the thieves. “They each had one black wing! And they scared me because they just swooped in from the hole in the roof!” Aerith folded her arms and shook her head slowly. “Sorry Zack. I just let them take it.”
“We’re just going to have to go find them then!” Zack declared only to stop for a moment. “Wait. They had a wing?”
“Yes.”
“Genesis copies,” he muttered quietly.
“What?”
“And I thought I would be getting the day off,” Zack said shaking his head. “Alright. I’ll go find those guys and get your cart back-“
“You don’t need to-“
“And I’ll teach them a lesson for you. Nobody steals from Aerith! Right?!”
“Um,” Aerith tilted her head only to smile eventually and give a sharp nod towards Zack. “Right!” She said catching his enthusiasm. Perhaps that was what drew her to him so much? “I’ll come with you!”
“I don’t know…”
“Come on! Please? You were planning on spending today with me, right?”
“Fine. Just…If things start getting bad, I want you to get out of there, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt. Alright?”
“I guess that’s a fair deal.”
“So, where did these guys run off to with a steam-punk flower cart?” Zack asked only to feel Aerith tug at his shirt. “What’s up?”
“I know where they went. But,” Aerith paused for a moment and looked down. “Um. You don’t have your sword with you.” Zack’s mouth fell open somewhat as she had brought up a valid point. Indeed he had left his claymore-like sword back at the ShinRa headquarters and he knew full good and well that if he went back to get his sword he would be roped into doing some assignment from Lazard, Sephitoth, Tseng, or even Kunsel!
“Uh. Well. You see…We’re in the slums so we should be able to find something for me to use, right?” Zack asked hopefully as he tilted his head towards the side. “To be honest I was not expecting to need it today,” he said under his breath. “But, let’s get going! Operation Retrieve Flower Cart –Begin!” Zack stopped for a moment as he heard Aerith giggle behind him. “You know, I’m actually being serious,” he sighed.
“Sorry. You’re just too funny sometimes.”
“Let’s just go. You lead the way, I’ll find something to use.” Before Zack could say anything else, Aerith started out of the church rather quickly, leaving him to catch up to her. As he emerged from the church, a pipe sticking out of a pile of scrap metals caught his eyes. It was not too bulky to use – it even looked like Aerith could possibly use it. But, it would do for now.
“Coming?” Aerith asked looking over her shoulder towards Zack.
“Someone’s impatient about getting the flower cart she didn’t like back,” Zack called towards her with a smirk.

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 5:51 pm

Operation: Retrieve Stolen Flower Cart – Part II

Other than the flickering lights over head, only green and red lights provided some form of light to the storage warehouse of ShinRa. Different automated weapons which had been reported stolen by ShinRa lined the walls, a few of the machines on and other off. Ebony colored and gray dulled feathers littered the floor of the warehouse due to those who had taken control of it. Two of those responsible for the ShinRa warehouse takeover stood around their most recently acquired ShinRa material. Yet neither of the two knew exactly how to start it or to even use it. And what about the lilies that were stored in it? Suddenly the light, which looked like a headlight from a motorcycle, turned on and caused the whole warehouse to be illuminated.
The duo responsible for gaining what they believed to be a secret military weapon of ShinRa glanced towards each other as if to question each other if they had turned on the light silently. The light shone softly on the red leather vests, the cheapest of any protection available, the two wore and bounced off the black feathers that made one sleeve of their uniform as well as the feathers which adored their one wings. One of the two folded his lone wing against his back tightly and started to circle around the machinery, studying it with brown eyes under his helm which hid most of his face from view. As he reached the back of the cart, he took a handle bar and pushed on it causing the cart to move forward somewhat. For a few moments, he pushed and pulled the cart in attempts to see if it would activate itself.
“Nothing, Caina,” he finally called to the other with a scratchy voice, almost similar to that of a growl of sorts. “How did you get the light to come on?”
“I poked it,” Caina replied with his voice eerily the same as his partner’s. “What should we do, Lucifero? Do you think it needs some code?”
“I don’t see an input device.” Lucifero moved around the three wheeled machine once more, attempting to find if there was a number pad he had missed. Finally he saw something near the handle bar. It seemed that those of ShinRa had decided to attempt to keep this thing undercover and hidden as a simple calculator sat near the handle bar, a ShinRa logo decorated the wielded calculator. “Perhaps this is it?”
“It looks like a calculator! That can’t be it!”
“I guess it does its job rather well then if it has you fooled!”
“What would the code be-“ Caina stopped as the light on the front went out. “Hm. Let me look at this again,” he muttered moving back towards the front. The light seemed to have moved down somewhat. Carefully, Caina pushed the light back into place and it turned on once more. “I see! This light must be in place before it will come on!”
“Why does it fall out of place though? Perhaps there was too much wire used?”
“Perhaps.” Caina looked at the flowers that were held in the cart only to start pulling them out from the bed in the cart. Finally when all the flowers were out, he removed a plastic covering from the bottom of the inside of the cart, showing the wiring from the light to a simple battery. Was that really it that was hidden under the lilies? No room for hiding any sort of artillery? There were no sensors – no nothing! Just an overly long wire for the light connected loosely to a battery that one could pick up at any store! “Lucifero, what if we’re wrong about this?” Caina asked as he pulled his head from inside the cart.
“Shh. I’m attempting to concentrate,” his partner growled as he continued to punch in different numbers into the calculator, hoping for a result with a number combination eventually. Quietly, Caina fetched a set of pliers and began to fix the wiring at the bottom of the metal cart. When he finished shortening the wire so the front light sat properly he found several other wires that had not been connected to the battery.
“Perhaps this is something?” He asked himself and set to placing the wires around the proper nodes on the battery. As soon as he fixed the wires he heard a static sound briefly followed by speech.
“Today is supposed to be a clear day today in Midgar! A great day to be outside folks with a high of about seventy five degrees Fahrenheit and a low of sixty eight degrees Fahrenheit! Here’s a message from our sponsors, none other than the ShinRa Electric Company!”
“What did you do?” Lucifero asked as Caina pulled himself out of the cart once more.
“Sounds like a radio,” Caina muttered as the commercial for ShinRa began to play from a speaker that was at the back of the cart. Lucifero simply shook his head towards his partner slowly.
“This seems futile. Without the blue prints, there is nothing we can do with this thing! There are simply too many combinations to enter!”
“Well, this is the least we can do,” Caina said reaching over towards the machine behind him and taking a small can of red paint from the top of it. He took the paint brush from the can and painted a large ‘x’ over the ShinRa logo that decorated the side of the cart. “There.”
“It closes too. Perhaps as a way to charge energy within itself?” Lucifero asked as he pulled a metal cover from the back over the top to the front of the cart, giving the top a spherical shape.
“Who knows without the original planning designs.”
“The flowers!” The two men turned around quickly, a feather or so to fall from the feathered sleeve. At the entrance of the warehouse stood Zack with Aerith behind him. “Look at them!”
“Hold on Aerith, I’ll see if I can get rid of these guys and save your flowers,” Zack said holding the pipe out in front of him as he would normally with his sword.
“How did they find us?!” Caina asked quickly as he pulled his two thick daggers from his waist.
“No idea! We must eliminate them though,” Lucifero replied as he too drew daggers from the belt around his waist.
“Stay back,” Zack warned quietly before stepping forward to the two who were responsible for stealing the flower cart. Thankfully, he could hear the radio working on it and the light was on indicating that it had not suffered too much damage since it had been stolen. One of the two Genesis copies, called that simply due to the fact they had the same appearance as Genesis under their helms, took to the air with its one wing and vanished up towards the shadowed ceiling of the warehouse. The other lunged towards Zack with its daggers aimed to pierce his chest.
Zack held out the end of the pipe, using the length of it to his advantage, and allowed Caina to run into the pipe. With the Genesis copy halted due to the wind being knocked out of him, Zack withdrew the pipe and prepared to strike his enemy once more. Not even wanting to give the copy a chance to recover, Zack swung the metal pipe from his right to left, striking the mid-section of Caina and knocking him over. “Piece of cake,” Zack said giving a smile as music blared out from the radio on the flower cart. “I didn’t think that thing worked though,” he muttered tilting his head towards the side. He gave a slight shrug as Caina managed to climb to his feet again.
Caina leapt towards Zack, giving his lone wing a beat to ensure that he would reach Zack, with a dagger in both hands.
“Zack! Behind you!” Aerith yelled from the doorway. Before the daggers could even reach the target though, Zack dove away from Caina and aimed his pipe towards the enemy once more. He did not have much time to recover from his roll as Caina moved under the pipe in hopes of getting close enough to Zack to strike him. Quickly, Zack stumbled backwards in order to avoid being stabbed. “Be careful about the flowers!”
“I’ve got more important things to worry about!” Zack grunted as he repositioned the pipe, holding it with both hands, treating it as his sword still. He lowered his weapon and hit the right wrist of Caina, knocking the dagger from the Genesis copy’s hand. However, Caina quickly brought his left hand up and attempted to strike Zack’s arm. Seeing his enemy aiming for his arm, Zack lowered his shoulder and allowed the blade to hit his metal shoulder pad and leave a deep scratch on it. “Time to finish this!” Zack swung the pipe higher and this time hit the copy on the side of its head with it. Caina fell limp to the ground as soon as the pipe collided with his head. “That takes care of that,” he declared and tossed the pipe aside. “You can come on in now, Aerith.”
“You sure?” Aerith asked though she did not wait for a response from Zack and started to come towards him. “Look at the flowers,” she whined as she got near the mound of uprooted flowers which were crushed by the dirt.
“Think you’ll be able to save them?” Zack asked as he crouched down next to her near the flowers.
“Hopefully,” she replied with a sigh.
“I’ll put the tarp back into the cart.” He walked away from Aerith and picked up the tarp which had been carelessly tossed aside. Rather quickly he placed the plastic tarp at the bottom of the flower cart. As he picked his head up from the cart, he caught sight of a black feather slowly falling in front of him.
“Zack!”
“What is the activation code?!” Zack turned around quickly, again thanks to Aerith, and ducked out of the way of the gliding Lucifero’s attack.
“What are you talking about?!”
“The code to activate that weapon! What is it, SOLDIER?!”
“It’s a flower cart! What’s wrong with you people?!”
“I don’t believe you!” Lucifero flared out his one black wing again and dove towards Zack who now had his back against the wall of the warehouse. Before Lucifero could ever hope to reach Zack, a heavy ping-like sound rang out in unison with a sickening crack. Zack watched as the Genesis copy before him fell to the ground in the same manner the other had. Behind Lucifero stood Aerith, who was breathing rather heavily, with the pipe held tightly in her hands.
“Thanks,” Zack said slowly as he was surprised that Aerith had actually taken out the copy with ease.
“You’re welcome,” Aerith said as she dropped the pipe, left in a state of near shock: had she really just killed someone?!
“Pretty handy with a pipe, aren’t you?” Zack asked as he stepped over Lucifero carefully. “Hm. Maybe I’ll get you a nice rod or something. That way you can defend yourself when I’m not around?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well. Let’s fix the lilies and get back to the church as quickly as possible. I still got to make you that flower cart. Operation Retrieve Stolen Flower Cart: completed. Now we got to work on Operation Fill Midgar with Flowers, Fill Wallets with Money.” Aerith laughed quietly as she and Zack worked to put the lilies in the metal flower cart which still played random songs with the occasional static noise interrupting.

Once back at the church, Aerith set to tending the lilies that were still in the ground while Zack set to work on, what he hoped to be, the last flower cart for Aerith. Finally, near sundown, Zack called Aerith over to see his hard work: “Aerith! Come have a look!” It seemed she had been waiting for him to call her over as she practically popped up next to him as soon as the words came from his mouth.
“It’s so pretty Zack!”
“I’m getting pretty good at this, huh?” He asked tilting his head as Aerith walked around the flower cart which stood on one small wheel that had spokes under and centered in the back as well as two large ones on the front and side. Around the white wood which had golden colored metal plating at the edges, was a long pink fabric which had been neatly attached to the flower cart.
“I really do like it,” Aerith said turning and hugging Zack quickly. “Thank you!”
“No problem at all, Aerith,” he replied with a smile as he wrapped his arms around her. “Come on. Let's go sell some flowers, my little flower girl.”