Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon Heart ❯ Sharing a Heart ( Prologue )

Okies, here it is, the sequel of Mako Eyes. Now, some of the ideas I have for the dragons' powers I got from Dragonheart (I loves that movie), but other than that, it mostly comes from my head. Alright, so with that said, here it is; Dragon Heart, the sequel to Mako Eyes!

 

 

 

 

Three years later

 

“Come on Vince, hold on!” Vincent could hear Tifa cry from somewhere in the deepest conscious of his mind.

 

“Dammit, Cloud we're gonna loose `im!” Cid cursed.

 

“No, we're not! Come on Vincent! Hold on just for a little bit longer!” Cloud yelled.

 

Vincent could no longer feel the pain as he felt himself slip into darkness. Perhaps now, he'll be able to see where she was and always be able to protect her, even though he would no longer be living… Aneilla... I'm sorry... but it looks like I have to break my promise...

 

*~*~*

 

“Damn it!” Cloud cursed as he saw Vincent slip into unconsciousness. He looked up at Cid who stood across from him, both men trying to stop the bleeding from Vincent's chest. Cloud knew it pierced the heart and if they couldn't heal him soon… “Vincent, don't you dare die, you bastard!” Cloud hollered at the red cloaked man, hoping that he would hear him.

 

“Never thought I would see the day when you'd curse like that, Cloud,” Cid said, before turning back to Vincent and said, “God dammit, Vince, you die an' I'm gonna pull you right back from hell an' kill you myself!”

 

Tifa stood next to Yuffie, both girls crying and holding each other. “He's not gonna make it!” Yuffie wailed.

 

Cloud looked up as Reeve walked in followed by Nanaki. “Reeve…”

 

Reeve shook his head, looking down at Nanaki. “Nothing,” the dark haired man said, shaking his head. “There isn't anyone who can help him for miles… We are beyond all help.”

 

Cloud hung his head and then he heard Nanaki sigh softly with slight regret. “Not all,” the lion wolf said. Cloud looked up at Nanaki questionably, who looked up at him and said, “There is one other who can help, someone we all love very dearly, but…”

 

“But what?”

 

“If she does this, then she cannot return to us, or Vincent, because he must never know… in fact, none of you should know about this ancient power, but if it's the last choice we have, we must take it…”

 

“`She'?” Cloud asked, his voice a whisper. “Do you mean…?”

 

Nanaki nodded and said, “Put him on a stretcher, quickly. We don't have much time left.”

 

*~*~*

 

The AVALANCHE team walked into a deep cave that was lit by fire mako founts that covered the cave walls. But even Yuffie was uninterested in these founts as they carried their injured friend through the cave, following Nanaki. Finally, they entered a deep cavern where a wall came up a few feet, creating something of an altar before the cave went deeper into a smaller cavern where they could hear a familiar voice singing softly. Nanaki gestured with his head for the others to rest Vincent on the altar before turning his head and looking into the other cavern.

 

“Aneilla!” Nanaki cried. “Come out now! We need your help!”

 

Cloud stared in shock as the singing subsided and the dark form or a dragon stepped out of the cavern. She looked at them and then at Nanaki. “I told you not to tell them where I was,” the dragon said angrily. “Not until I was done...”

 

“I know Aneilla, and forgive me, but I know that you would want to help in this.” Nanaki looked at Vincent and that was when Aneilla must have noticed the gunslinger lying dying before her for the first time.

 

“Vincent... what happened?”

 

“We were attacked, by rebel WRO members,” Reeve said angrily. “Apparently, some of them didn't agree with us working alongside Shinra to try to make this world better.”

 

“We need your help…” Nanaki said softly, before nodding to Cloud. Cloud walked up beside Vincent and pulled back the cloth that was pressed there to stop the bleeding. Even from her height, Cloud knew that Aneilla could see that the wound in her friend and lover was fatal, despite his regeneration ability.

 

“This wound is mortal... you understand what you are asking?” she asked, looking at Nanaki.

 

“Yes, I know, and I know that when you do this, Vincent must never know and you will leave, and never allow yourself to see him again… but I also know that you would want to be the one to do it.”

 

Aneilla sighed sadly and Cloud couldn't stop himself from asking, “Why won't you allow yourself to see him again?”

 

“Because... when I do this, he will become immortal, more than he is now... he will not die unless I die, and if I avoid him, the better off he will live longer. It is for the best, for both of us.” Aneilla then straightened and reared up on her hind legs. “Now, all of you, witness the wonders of an ancient magic, so old, that even many dragons have forgotten about it. You will be the first, and possible the last, humans to ever see this done.”

 

With that, Aneilla lifted up a row of scales on her chest, revealing the unarmored skin below. With a talon of her other claw, she sliced herself open with a quick sweep, growling softly in pain as she did. A bright red light shone through the cut and everyone watched in wonder. Then they heard a deep breath come from Vincent and they all looked as they saw him take his last breath.

 

“It's too late…” Tifa whispered.

 

“No…”Nanaki said softly. “Just watch…”

 

Everyone looked back up as Aneilla reached inside of herself with three fingers and pull out a bright glowing orb of light, so bright that it hurt to look at it. Holding it as gently as if it were made of the most fragile glass, Aneilla moved her claw so it rested right over the hole in Vincent's chest. They watched as the glowing orb sunk into the wound and they could see it glowing deep in his chest, where his heart was. They gasped as Vincent took in a deep breath and Aneilla healed the wound with a small thin jet of fire. “A life for a life, my heart, now yours... Live long, Vincent, and remember me... I'm sorry that I cannot keep my promise.” Aneilla looked up at the others and nodded. Cid and Barret lifted up Vincent's stretcher and began to carry him out. Tifa and Yuffie looked up at Aneilla with sad eyes before following the men. Reeve bowed low to Aneilla before following the others. Only Cloud and Nanaki remained.

 

“Why did you do it?” Cloud asked softly. “When it meant that you would never see him again… why?”

 

“Knowing that he is alive and well is better than knowing that he is gone forever. Either way, I was going to lose him, but at least this way, I know that he will be alive, and that makes me happy.”

 

“Does it really?”

 

Aneilla didn't answer his question, but only said, “Remember, he must never know... Cloud, you must never tell him. Lie to him, tell him that I've left and will never come back, but do not tell him why.” Then the dragon turned and began to walk deeper into the cavern, saying behind her, “Take care, Cloud Strife...” Then she was gone, and Cloud never saw her again.

 

*~*~*

 

496 years later

 

Nanaki stood on the cliff, overlooking the ruined city of Midgar. The once great city, where so many battles had taken place, was now nothing more than an overgrown memory. The old buildings were covered with vegetation and greenery, as was the landscape surrounding it. But the only creatures living in the once human inhabited city were now wild beasts and fiends. The only ones still alive that were around during its glory days were himself, Vincent Valentine and Aneilla Crimsonwing. But Aneilla had up and disappeared and Vincent… Nanaki sighed deeply, hanging his head.

 

Three hundred and ninety-six years ago, Vincent went into a sort of mad rage when he realized that what his friends told him a hundred years before after he came out of his coma was true: that the love of his life since Lucrecia was never coming back, that she left him, just as Lucrecia left him years before. He was determined to kill the dragon that had broken his heart and set out to hunt her down. Nanaki couldn't stop him, had tried, but failed, because he couldn't tell the heartbroken man the real reason of the dragon's disappearance.

 

She saved his life, and then, for the best of both their lives, she disappeared, never telling them where she went. Of course, Nanaki and the others saw the results of the work she'd been doing when she was gone from their lives. Dragons, the peaceful kind, began appearing and helping in the reconstruction of the world and fight against those who tried to stop them from doing so. Lands that had been blasted from Meteorfall once more grew greenery and life, the deserts around Midgar and Edge became lush forests and the world went from brown and dead looking to green and full of life. For over a hundred years, the dragons worked, and then Deepground returned, around the same time Vincent went into his heartbroken rage.

 

Rebels that attacked them four hundred and ninety-six years ago, the ones who sent Vincent to his near-death, reformed Deepground secretly for a hundred and fifty years, the WRO and Shinra Company not knowing until it was too late. Many dragons had been killed in the battle that followed and the remains of the WRO and Shinra Co. fled into hiding, as well as the rest of the dragons. And Vincent, after striking a deal with Deepground's leader, sought out, hunted down and killed any dragon he could find, hoping to find Aneilla while doing so. But he never did, and Nanaki knew that he never would, for the young dragon won't allow him to find her. He knew that Vincent wouldn't stop until every last dragon was slain before he felt his revenge against the woman who broke his heart was fulfilled.

 

Nanaki lifted his head to the sky and spoke softly. “Why Aneilla, why must you torment him so? Hasn't he suffered enough?”

 

But he didn't receive an answer and he had a feeling that he never will.