The Spiral of Time

By Cid2000

Prologue

Author’s Note: They called me MAD for writing a fanfic exclusively about Final Fantasy 7 in 2003, over six years after it was released. But I showed them! I showed them ALL! KYA, HA, HA! No one can stop me now! Oh, hold on a second…there’s a mob with flaming torches and pitchforks outside…

Remember me? Thought not.

So…this is the point where I give a recap of who I am, right? Here goes…

I think more than anything that I’m remembered for some pretty sub-standard comedy fics with the odd good one thrown in (most notably “Time of the Gods”, “Time of the Gods 2”, “A Very Yuffie Christmas” and “Chaos: A Tragedy”). However, one fic that I quite enjoyed (at least half of it I enjoyed, half of it was testosterone-fuelled nonsense which I wish I’d never written) was “The Last Ancient”. When I started writing that back into 1998 (scary thought) I said that I would only ever write one serious fic, that being “TLA”, and that it would stand out from my comedy fics so that when a new reader came along and read one of my average or below-average comedy fanfics, then a veteran reader could say something along the lines of; “Cid2000? In his time he was a hell of a writer. Just look at The Last Ancient. 50-something chapters of pure excellence…well, more 25 chapters of pure excellence and 25 of testosterone-fuelled nonsense when you think about it, but that ain’t important.” Well, you get the picture. Basically, I wanted it as something to fall back on. If ever I ended up writing nothing but terrible comedy fanfics filled with clichés and unfunny jokes that I could point to the Last Ancient and say “I wrote that. It’s mine” and actually be proud of it.

But things didn’t quite go that way. Whilst Rocket Town was practically flooded with my comedy fanfics without fail, TLA was in fact a very traumatic experience to write.

In fact, I originally made the foolish mistake of writing several chapters at a time all in one Word Document and then exporting them as HTML files separately. Now, do you know what happens when you get 60 pages of fanfic and Windows crashes during saving? Well, you get tears for a start. Not to mention quite a lot of stuff getting broken. But that wasn’t all. Three major crashes, two hard-drive changes, one new computer and one website closing down later, and all traces of The Last Ancient ever existing have vanished off the face of the earth.

Add to that the fact that the fic was taken seriously only by very few people because of glaring similarities to Sailor Solathei’s classic “Children of Jenova” and it was all rather a pointless exercise.

Similarities to a classic, I hear you say? Surely that can be a good thing? Well, no not really. You see, when I read Children of Jenova for the first time (about half way through writing chapters 15-26 of TLA), I realised that a whole lot of my great new characters had already been used. The slutty member of the Turks, the child of Cid Highwind…it had all been done. There goes any originality. Add to that the scenes of sex-based humour (not to mention testosterone-fuelled nonsense) and Lifestream shenanigans, and most readers saw the same thing I saw. TLA might have been great if it was finished in 1998. But it wasn’t, and so it had all been done before. Although there were some unique classic moments (such as being the only fanfic I know of that dared to kill of Cid Highwind…well, for a while anyway), there was one other thing that made it similar to CoJ, after years working on TLA it stopped at a crucial point in the story. No one ever found out what happened to anyone.

And in case you are wondering, no events from TLA will be mentioned in this story. However, some similarities do occur. There are some events in this fic very similar to what took place in TLA or what was planned to take place in TLA but never did, as the fic was unfinished. And yes I stole Reeve’s last name, Brannon, from Children of Jenova. So sue me, it suits him more than any lame ass name I could come up with.

And if you’re someone who has read my works before, then welcome back. And most importantly of all, if you or anyone you know of, has a copy of any of my fics (especially The Last Ancient) then please get in touch with me at either skumfrog@hotmail.com or p.reed94@lrs.sch.je. Thank you.  Now that’s other with: Let’s Mosey!

Prologue

In the beginning, there was nothing. Which exploded.

For most universes, this was the beginning. Sometimes things happened slightly differently, but it basically all boils down to that last sentence.

But in one universe, things happened differently. Most religions believe that time moves in straight lines, from young to old etc. Some believe that time moves in circles and that all things are reborn after dying.

However, in one universe, things didn’t develop quite that way. Although most of the inhabitants don’t realise it yet, in this universe time moved quite differently. Time moved in a spiral. This meant that time still moved from young to old etc., but also that things were reborn.

Things were born and lived their lives, then died. After dying, their spiritual energy was diffused into the ebb and flow of a million consciences, not just of humans but of all creatures, all plants, all things that lived and died, even worlds. However, due to the spiral of time, there could be upsets in this pattern. Whilst on a world where time moves in straight lines, life is relatively uncomplicated and you can guarantee that things will die and stay dead, and on a world where time travels in circles you can guarantee that people will die and be reborn.

On a world with a “Time Spiral” though, anything could happen. Some people could die and be reborn, whilst some could never truly die at all. Some spirits could avoid being pulled into the energy of the universe, the Lifestream altogether.

Whilst the inhabitants of one planet in this world didn’t yet realise it, this alteration in the flow of time was about to threaten the very existence of the world they lived in, in ways they could only imagine in their wildest nightmares.

Scholars in Cosmo Canyon widely acknowledge that the Lifestream flows like a river toward the ocean. Sometimes there are small waves or upsets in the flow, but these usually settle themselves. Sometimes you could encounter a relative tidal wave in the Lifestream; a colossal upset in the very balance of life and death. But even this is nothing compared to one thing.

Most scholars in Cosmo Canyon will tell you that the Lifestream flows like a river toward the ocean. But none will tell you what happens when it reaches that ocean. That is because, for the most part, they don’t know.

But before long, they will find out. As will you, and everyone else on the Planet. And they are not going to like it.

But that’s not all that there is to address. Seven years ago, Sephiroth was killed by a group of travellers who, for ease’s sake, we shall refer to as AVALANCHE. However, they could not stop him before he unleashed the power of Ultimate Destruction Magic from the Black Materia. They planned to use the Ancient Cetra Magic of Holy to counter-act the Ultimate Destruction Magic of Meteor, but the power of the Black Materia was far too strong. The Planet needed to do something in order to prevent it from suffering a massive injury, and so summoned up the Lifestream. That much, you know.

However, there is more to it than that. Meteor was, albeit slowly, tearing apart Midgar, the largest city on the planet and home of Shinra Inc.’s headquarters, thanks to Sephiroth’s magic. AVALANCHE had planned to use Holy to offset Meteor and to save the Planet. Midgar though, being the capital city of the world and home of Shinra Inc.’s headquarters was powered by seven Mako Reactors (formerly eight until one was destroyed). A Mako Reactor works by drawing the spirit energy out of the planet and converting it into electrical power. The Planet saw that Midgar was more of a long-term threat to its survival than the ensuing collision with Meteor was and thus Holy and the Lifestream also began tearing the city apart.

With Midgar all but destroyed, the combined powers of Holy and the Planet’s Lifestream could easily eliminate the threat of Meteor.

Now, seven years later, the upper city of Midgar no longer exists and the towns formerly known as The Slums beneath have thrived, whilst it would take years for them to become full-fledged towns they are definitely on their way. And what’s more, thanks to the Plate being destroyed and the Lifestream’s interference, plants can once again grow safely in the towns.

The eight surviving members of AVALANCHE, with no immediate threat to the Planet to worry about, went their separate ways and began to lead their own lives.

Cloud Strife had returned to Nibelheim, as the town had been left empty after Shinra had shut down and removed all of the employees that had been stationed there. Now, the town was home to the Cloud Strife Planet Research Fund, a charity organisation set up by Cloud and Tifa to help find out more about what they could to save the planet.

Tifa Lockhart had also returned to Nibelheim and was working as a volunteer for the Cloud Strife Planet Research Fund and as an instructor at the Zangan Memorial Martial Arts Centre, a scheme set up in memory of her late martial arts instructor Zangan to help train people at self-defence.

Cid Highwind had retired as a pilot and was living with Shera, whom he had now married, and spent most of his time working on his various vehicles and helping out the residents of Rocket Town with any mechanical problems they might have.

Barrett Wallace was living in the former slums of Midgar with his daughter Marlene and was spearheading a campaign to help repair his hometown of North Corel and to start up the coalmining business again as a temporary solution to replace Mako Energy as the planet’s chief energy source, as the Planet was currently powered by Hydroelectric Power alone which could be unreliable.

Nanaki, or Red XIII as he was often known, had taken over from his “grandfather” Bugenhagen as the chief scholar of Planet Life at Cosmo Canyon and also works as an advisor for the Cloud Strife Planet Research Fund.

Yuffie Kisaragi had changed very little in the last seven years. Still in her early twenties, she wasn’t as mature as her friends. She still spent most of her time fine-tuning her ninja skills and plotting new ways to make money. Something has been disturbing Yuffie for some time, something she is too afraid to tell her friends about…

Vincent Valentine had settled many of the demons that had haunted him in the past, yet he still lived in the former Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim, although he now owned the whole building as opposed to being confined to the basement. When the Nibelheim Mako Reactor was shut down, most of the monsters that had resided in the Mansion left the town to go to Mount Nibel.

Reeve Brannon was now a minor member of a political party called The Party for Planet Preservation. Due to his habits of using a robot cat and a stuffed moogle during demonstrations at public appearances, many people outside of his hometown of Junon did not take his role in the party seriously. He also worked for customer relations at the Gold Saucer.

Speaking of political parties, Shinra Electrical Company Inc. had not completely liquidated after the Headquarters was destroyed by the combined efforts of Meteor, Holy and WEAPON. Although they no longer had any military force and very little political power, they did have money. And they did have a new headquarters, situated in the former location of the town of Mideel.

Finally, now that there are no active Mako Reactors, what is the state of magic in the world? Well, seeing as there is no Mako energy being processed which can then be compressed into Materia, the only places that new Materia can be found is at natural Materia fountains where it must form over time, being shaped out of pure spiritual energy.

In the beginning, there was nothing. Which exploded.

Cosmo Canyon scholars are about to find out that history really does repeat itself.

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Author’s Note: Well, that’s the prologue finished. Don’t expect this fanfic to be finished within a few days, this is going to be a long-winded procedure, probably taking months at least before it’s complete. I think that this was a pretty good prologue, although the part where I described what was happening to the members of AVALANCHE was a bit too list-like and not as good as the rest. And to all you trivia buffs out there; this is the only chapter I have ever written to a fanfic to have no speech in it whatsoever.

Well, see you at chapter 1!

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