My Little Crisis Core

by Mudkipman98

Angeal?

Rain began to fall as Zack lay in a pool of his own blood. His SOLDIER armor was full of bullet holes, much like the rest of his body. He lay spread out, face up in the mud and tightly holding his faithful weapon, the Buster Sword.

He could hear the sound of someone dragging themselves toward him. As he tried to move his eyes, he saw the person approaching him. Cloud Strife. One of his best friends.

As Cloud pulled himself closer to Zack, he looked into his dying friend's eyes. Zack just barely managed to say a few more words, knowing that the end was rapidly approaching. "For the... both of us..."

"Both of us?" responded Cloud slowly.

"That's right... You're gonna..."

"You're gonna," repeated Cloud, urging Zack on. Zack grabbed the back of Cloud's blond head and pulled him down to his chest.

"Live." He paused, still holding his friend down on him. "You'll be... my living legacy," he managed. He let Cloud go, half of Cloud's face smeared with Zack's blood.

Turning his head as much as he could manage, Zack took his sword in his hand and began to lift it. "My honor, my dreams," he said, lifting the sword up to Cloud's chest. "They're yours now," he finished, pushing the sword into Cloud's hands.

"I'm... your living... legacy," replied Cloud in a half-conscious deadpan. As he looked down at Zack, he noticed his closed eyes and still chest. He began to choke. Slowly, he lifted his head into the stormy sky and screamed for a few seconds. When he stopped, memories of his time with Zack began flashing through his mind.

"Embrace your dreams," echoed Zack's voice in Cloud's head. "If you wanna be a hero, you need to have dreams."

"Thank you," said Cloud to his dead friend. "I won't forget." The clouds split as the rain stopped, shining a few rays of sunlight on the dead SOLDIER. "Good night, Zack," muttered Cloud.

Cloud began to stand up, turning around to walk away towards Midgar. "That girl," said Zack to himself, now certain that he had passed on, yet still lying on the ground. "She said the sky frightened her. That looks so, liberating," he said, looking into the clouds. "Those wings, I want them too." He began rising into the air slowly. "It feels... good," he said as he began flying into the sky.

Zack's voice echoed in Cloud's head again. "If you see Aerith, say hi for me. Hey, would you say... I became a hero?"

As Zack made contact with Angeal's hand, he opened his eyes to look into his old mentor's matching pair when he noticed something odd. Angeal was purple. He also had purple eyes and wasn't exactly human. In fact, he didn't even look remotely like the SOLDIER Zack knew.

"Angeal?" asked the wounded SOLDIER. It didn't take long for Zack to recognize the familiar heat of a raging fire nearby. As he opened his eyes wider, he looked around to see a bunch of houses engulfed in hissing and roaring flames. He saw shadowy figures running from the fire, trying desperately to get to safety.

Focusing on them, he managed to make out clearer shapes. They almost looked like... horses? No, that couldn't be. He had never heard of any place where horses were the dominate species. Then again, he'd seen some pretty strange things.

"I said, who are you?!" screamed a voice in his ear. He hadn't noticed the purple figure screaming at him. As he looked at her, he found that she too was a horse. However, she had a horn and wings.

"OK, now I know I'm dead," he said out loud.

"What the heck do you mean you're dead? You're right here in front of me!" The figure shook its head. "Never mind. Now, answer my question. Who are you?"

"Um, shouldn't you be more focused on the fire?" asked Zack as he tried to stand up.

"The fire started when you and that other idiot showed up. He started burning the place while you slept!" Wait. Other idiot? thought Zack. Who could have caused all of this?

"Listen.. um, purple unicorn with wings, could you get off me? I have a bad feeling about this, like I've seen this kind of situation before."

The purple horse sighed then stepped off of Zack, allowing him to jump to his feet and look around more. What he saw made him feel as if some one had just shoved a wooden stake into his heart. Standing there, amid the flames, was the familiar, ghost-like form of Sephiroth.

"Bu-but that's impossible," stuttered the ex-SOLDIER, scared out of his wits. Shaking his head to get a hold of himself, he grabbed his Buster Sword off his back, crouching slightly into his battle posture. But I thought I gave this to Cloud, he thought to himself as he held the weapon tightly.

Before he let his thoughts stop him any longer, he rushed forward in an attempt to strike down the enemy he thought Cloud had dealt with. As he reached Sephiroth, he felt his blade clash with his opponent's, sending sparks everywhere as the two weapons collided. Before Sephiroth could strike back, Zack back flipped away to stare into the eyes of the demon in front of him.

Sephiroth wasn't an actual demon, but he possessed the power and heart-stopping intimidation of one. He stood at 6'8" wearing a long, black coat with silver shoulder pads and black pants with black boots. He had long, silver hair and carried a long, thin sword nine feet long. His eyes were greenish-blue, the color of all SOLDIER members as a side effect of their exposure to MAKO energy.

As Zack prepared for another attack, he stopped as he watched one of the horses try to attack Sephiroth. It was too late to warn it, though. With a flash of light, the horse's chest split open, spraying blood across the ground and on Sephiroth's boots. He kicked his foot a little to get the blood off, then turned to look back at Zack.

Zack couldn't move. He was petrified. Why couldn't he see Sephiroth's blade? He was impossibly fast. Much faster than when he and Zack fought at the mako reactor.

Sephiroth just started walking toward him. Zack could only stand there as the figure of Sephiroth moved closer and closer until he stood only 3 yards away. Pulling his arm back, Sephiroth jabbed his nine-foot sword into Zack's shoulder, spraying the purple pony with Zack's blood. Zack's arms went limp and he dropped his sword as Sephiroth slowly lifted him into the air. Twilight could only watch with horror-filled eyes as the strange man in front of him was lifted off the ground by the one who had set fire to Ponyville.

Sephiroth shook his blade a little, causing more of Zack's blood to fall to the dirt before flinging him into one of the burning buildings.

As Zack crashed through a weakened beam, he felt the heat of more burning wood surround him. He slowly opened his eyes, a gash on his forehead leaking blood into his eyes. He tried to heal himself using a Curaga materia, but nothing happened. He tried again, yet there was no effect. He hadn't even spent any MP(1).

As he checked his gear, he suddenly lost his will to fight. All the color left his face when he realized that his inventory was empty, including all of his materia. All that was left was one high-potion. Even his armor had weakened and lost its upgrades he had applied over the years.

Trying to avoid any other blood loss, Zack quickly drank up the high-potion, letting the warm healing fluid work its way through his body. His cuts sealed and he felt rejuvenated. Picking himself up, he grabbed the closest flaming stick and began to make his way back through the hole he had made.

Meanwhile, Twilight was still trying to recover from the shock of being sprayed with an unfamiliar creature's blood and having to watch as he was thrown through a burning building. She simply looked up at Sephiroth, a look of pleading on her face. He ignored it, bringing his blade high above his head. He readied himself for a killing blow when suddenly, he felt something on fire hit the back of his head.

When he turned around, he was met with the Buster Sword and only a brief moment to block Zack's swing. When he took notice of its wielder, a wicked smile crossed his face.

Before Zack could launch himself back and prepare for another assault, he heard the audible voice of Sephiroth over the flames as he spoke one word that spelled death (again) for Zack.

"Omnislash," spoke Sephiroth.

Oh shit, thought Zack to himself. He didn't even have time to think as he felt blow after blow connect with his body as Sephiroth's sword snaked back and forth, striking him relentlessly.

When the attack was finished, Zack was a bloody mess, barely able to stand as he felt his strength ebbing away. He knew he couldn't take one more hit, but how could he heal himself without more potions or a Cure spell?

Then, he felt something new. His body began to recover. Rapidly, it seemed. First, the small cuts, those quickly followed by the larger, and finally the feeling in his muscles and the largest of the slices. Before he knew it, he was back to full strength. That, and he could feel the strength of his built up limit break. He turned his head slightly to see the purple horse's horn glowing, sending a stream of energy his way.

"Payback time," said Zack with a cocky smirk.

Sephiroth chuckled to himself.

"I thought you'd say that," grinned Zack. He prepared himself, letting the damage he had received build up around him before releasing it. "Limit Break! Angle's Revenge!" he yelled.

The Buster Sword doubled in size and turned a pure white as white wings of pure energy grew out of Zack's back. Rising into the air, he continued to build up his energy.

As the power of Zack's beating was working for him, Sephiroth felt the power radiating from his adversary, smothering his own in his weakened state. He nearly lost his life fleeing from Cloud on Gaia. He was in no condition to take such abuse from Zack. He tried to jump back and away, but he was far too late.

Zack dive bombed Sephiroth with as much force as he could, slamming his blade down onto him and creating a massive shock wave of energy. Sephiroth felt his own power seeping away by the second.

Before Zack's attack could finish him off, he used the last of his magic to teleport outside of Ponyville and retreat into the Everfree Forest, leaving behind a shower of crow feathers in his wake.

Zack felt the energy leave his body and realized that Sephiroth was gone. Calming himself, he let his blade shrink while his energy wings simply disappeared into thin air. He spun the buster sword a few times before bringing it to his back where it hooked on with a satisfying click.

He then turned around to thank his winged unicorn ally for her help only to see she had collapsed from exhaustion. He quickly rushed to her side while pegasi up above started bringing storm clouds to put out the fires. "Hey, stay with me," he said, picking up her relatively small form and putting her on his back. At this point, he wasn't sure whose blood was now running off of her body and onto his SOLDIER uniform. He didn't care either way.

He jumped up onto one of the roofs that hadn't caved in and called to one of the pegasi. "Hey, you with the gray coat!" he yelled. A mare with golden, crossed eyes hovered in front of him. "Any idea where this pony lives?" he asked, switching the term he was using based on the creatures' relative size.

"Yeah mister. She lives at the library," came the pegasus' reply. "I can show you where if you like," she finished with a smile.

"That'd be great," replied Zack.

"Okay then, follow me!" With that, the pegasis turned around and began flying over the buildings. Knowing that he couldn't jump on all the roofs since most of them had probably been weakened by the fires, he jumped to the ground and began to sprint through the streets, trying to keep up with the mare that flew over head.

Author's Note:

(1) I can't think of another way to word magic. Later, Zack describes it as Stamina of some kind, but he doesn't truly understand it himself.

Comments

[Xaldon Ajide]

Separoth really has no reason to be there that is not where mother is so he should probably return to his own world to find MOTHER. tis all I have to say.

[Zachurra]

Im feeling a little iffy towards this. I like the concept of putting some of my fav characters in the mlp universe, but i think you need a revisor who has read a lot of proffessionally written stories. Also, maybe make it seem more like reality and less like a video game.
Good luck, hope this turns out well

[Mudkipman98]

2298210
Thanks. I was thinking about making it more realistic, but I wasn't sure how I could work it in without losing a lot of what makes Final Fantasy 7 what it is. If you've got any ideas on how I could do that, I'd love the help.

[ExcitedReader]

It's a great story idea, but it feels rushed. Zack dies, taken to equestria, then fights sephiroth, who by the way couldn't have just come right before him when sephiroth was defeated years before Zack's death.

[Spirit Shift]

The worst part was, Sephiroth could feel it. He knew he wouldn't be able to take that much damage since he had just used all he had left to teleport here before Cloud could kill him. He tried to turn and run, but too late.

Sephiroth would never run like that
lol i was playing this while reading the beginning and it was soo sad