"Land of the Glass Pinecones"
Final Fantasy 7
AU Fic
Songfic
by Sephiroth
Sephiroth@map.com
Disclaimer: FF7 belongs to SquareSoft Ltd. The song "Land of the Glass Pinecones" is by Human Sexual Response (I kid you not!)
:: Denotes song lyrics.
Land of the Glass Pinecones
by Sephiroth
:: Land of the glass pinecones.
:: They only grow for the full moon
:: The farmers never gather them
:: The magic cones are heaven-sent :: Land of the glass pinecones
:: Their seeds are made of rhinestones
:: The squirrels never scatter them
:: They know what rhinestone seeds portend.
Atop a wintry caldera, a remarkable tree grew and blossomed. Its nettles were pale silver tinged with white, as if it were perpetually coated with a fine layer of snow, its bark was as black as the midnight sky, and it stood a full five meters taller than the next tallest tree upon the caldera.
The moonlight shown down upon it, and it drank in the lifestream energy of that far satellite.
Cold, silently, it was as dangerous as it was beautiful. The reason for this was its cones. Marvelled at from afar by many, they were nevertheless untouched by man and beast. Giving of prisms of light, they were delightful to look upon. But made of glass as they were, they offered no food to the creatures who lived in the other trees. Nor did these creatures dare to cast the seeds upon the ground, for to do so would be to hasten the doom set upon the world the minute the tree had sprung up from the cold snows.
*****
Cloud sighted the tree one afternoon in the late summer from the deck of the Highwind and his blood turned cold.
"It can't be..." he stared at it, too startled to turn and flee. //Get a grip, Cloud.// he told himself. //Its just a tree. That's all... Just a tree...// But its uniqueness, its coloring, all these were telling him, screaming at thim, that this was not just another tree.
"I have to get down there!" he told Cid. "I have to see that tree for myself."
"I don't think its a good idea." Cid pointed out, not unkindly. "There might still be monsters, or..."
"Monsters I can handle." Cloud patted the hilt of his sword. "And 'or' is what I want to go see about."
"I guess I can't talk you out of it." Cid asked.
"No." Cloud shook his head and ordered the pilot to lower the airship to disembarking level.
"I have a bad feeling." Cid told Tifa. "I really wish I could've talked him out of it.
:: Land of the glass pinecones
:: They smash on the grass when the wind blows
:: The splinters fly throughout the land
:: And pierce the eye of every man
The minute Cloud was out of sight, there was a sudden gust of wind and a sound, like the ringing of a hundred tiny windchimes, and a sudden scream of pain and horror. Then Cloud was staggering away from the tree, holding his face, rivulets of blood running through his fingers. He ran until he hit the rope ladder, then scrambled up it as fast as he could. Then he was at the ship's railing and falling onto the deck, passing out in shock and pain.
:: Land of the glass pinecones
:: The eye now sees what the tree knows
:: The splinters burn, but then we learn
:: That when we spend we have to bend
:: Its all a part of nature's plan
:: All a part of nature's plan
:: Land of the glass pinecones.
He woke in a hospital a day or so later. He could feel the warm sun on his face, but could not see it. Not since ...
"Damn you." he swore. "I know that was you. Enjoy your little taste of revenge while you can. I will heal and then I will come back and I will cut you down."
//I'd love to see you try.// a voice as cold as snow and as deadly as glass whispered in his mind.
:: My my its growing in size... (echo and fade)
And atop the wintry caldera, several glass-coned trees shivered with the triumphant laughter of their shared human soul.
PART TWO SOON