(Cloud follows Bugenhagen to the sealed door.)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo"
"Are we all set?"
<CHOICE>
Just a minute
Yeah
***Cloud
Just a minute
Bugenhagen
"Not ready yet? Tell
me when you are ready."
***Cloud
Yeah
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. Shall
we go?"
<//>
(Bugenhagen flips a switch and the door opens.)
Bugenhagen
"All right. Come in,
come in."
Red XIII
"Hey? Aren't you going
with us, Grandpa?"
(Bugenhagen shakes his head)
Bugenhagen
"What are you crazy?
It's dangerous in there. I told you that!"
"You want an old man
like me should go first? I'll be right behind you."
(They enter the door. Climbing down a long series of ropes and ladders,
they reach the bottom of a long tunnel. Traversing a cave, they reach a
doorway, where Bugenhagen speaks.)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo."
"Everyone here's a
Ghost of the Gi tribe. Killed in a certain battle."
Red XIII
"A certain battle?"
Bugenhagen
"The vengeful spirits
of the Gi didn't disappear, and couldn't return to the Lifestream..."
"We still have far
to go. Ho Ho Hoooo."
(They travel through the next cave.)
Bugenhagen
"As you can see, this
cave leads to the back of Cosmo Canyon."
"It was unfortunate
that the Gi were larger than us. If they attacked though here, we wouldn't
have stood a chance."
Red XIII
".........."
Bugenhagen
"Let's move on."
(They pass the next cave.)
Bugenhagen
"This warrior went
through the cave all alone."
"Fighting attackers
one after another..."
Red XIII
"Grandpa........ That
warrior...."
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo... We're
almost there."
(In the next cave, they find a huge, grotesque statue on the wall, surrounded
by lava.)
Bugenhagen
"What is this.....?"
Red XIII
"Grandpa, is he...!?"
Bugenhagen
"After death... The
ghosts of the Gi... Like stagnant air....."
"This... can't be!!"
(Boss battle with Gi Nattak)
Bugenhagen
"Thank you, Cloud.
Because of you, we survived."
"Nanaki, you have
grown strong too."
Red XIII
".......Oh yeah?"
Bugenhagen
"Now I know that it
wasn't a mistake bringing you here..."
"Come, I have something
I want to show you. Right over here."
(They all file into the next room. There is a huge pile of boulders surrounded by fog in the center. Red XIII leaps onto it.)
Red XIII
"This is..."
Bugenhagen
"...The warrior who
fought against the Gi."
"He kept them from
taking even one step into Cosmo Canyon."
(Bugenhagen floats, slowly, into the room.)
Bugenhagen
"But he was never
able to return to town..."
(He hops up on a stone and gestures upwards.)
Bugenhagen
"Look, Nanaki. Look
at your father, at the warrior, Seto."
(The camera pans upwards. We see a stone figure of one of Red XIII's tribe atop a high cliff. The moon glows red in the sky. FMV sequence as the camera swings around the figure.)
Red XIII
"...That... That's....
Seto?"
Bugenhagen
"Seto continued to
fight the Gi tribe here. ...To the protect this Canyon."
"Even after the Gi's
poisonous arrows turned his body to stone......"
"Even after they all
ran away... Seto, continued to protect us."
"And he continues
to protect us, even now."
Red XIII
"Even now..."
(The camera pans back down to Red XIII and the others.)
Bugenhagen
"You thought that
he was a coward and ran away. But he, alone, risked his life to protect Cosmo
Canyon."
"That is your father,
Seto."
(Red XIII turns to Bugenhagen.)
Red XIII
"That..... that is
Seto? ...!? Did mother know?"
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo... She
knew. The two of them made me promise to keep this cave shut."
"They asked me to
seal it myself and not to tell a soul."
"Thay said we should
forget about this cave."
(Red XIII looks down)
Red XIII
"........."
(Bugenhagen turns to Cloud)
Bugenhagen
"Cloud..... Would
you mind leaving the two of us alone?"
(Cloud nods. He and the other exit.)
Bugenhagen
"Nanaki, I want you
to continue your journey with Cloud and the others."
Red XIII
"Grandpa!?"
Bugenhagen
"Listen, Nanaki."
(Bugenhagen floats back and forth.)
Bugenhagen
"Cloud says they are
trying to save the planet."
"Honestly, I don't
think it can be done."
"For even if they
stop every reactor on the planet, it's only going to postpone the inevitable."
"Even if they stop
Sephiroth, everything will perish."
(Bugenhagen stops and looks at Red XIII.)
Bugenhagen
"But, Nanaki. I've
been thinking lately."
"I've been thinking
if there was anything WE could do."
"As a part of the
planet, something to help a planet already in misery..."
"No matter what happens,
isn't it important to try?"
"Am I just wishing
against fate?"
(He shakes his head)
Bugenhagen
"I am too old to do
anything about it..."
"This year, I'll be
130. Ho Ho Hoooo."
(He raises his arms)
Bugenhagen
"That is why, Nanaki,
you must go with them! For my sake."
(He stops and hovers.)
Red XIII
"Grandpa..."
(Bugenhagen floats away from Red XIII.)
Bugenhagen
"I wanted to show
you your real father before you left..."
"I'm so glad that
you came back while I was still alive to show you."
(Red XIII shakes his head.)
Red XIII
"Grandpa... don't
talk like that. I don't want to think of life... without you....."
(Bugenhagen starts bouncing, then stops)
Bugenhagen
"Ho Ho Hoooo. Well,
I've had a long life."
(Red XIII stands up courageously.)
Red XIII
"Grandpa! You must
live!"
"I'll see to it."
"I'll see to what's
happening to the planet. And I'll come back to tell you."
(Bugenhagen turns towards him)
Bugenhagen
"Nanaki..."
(Red XIII leaps forward.)
Red XIII
"I am Nanaki of Cosmo
Canyon! The son of the warrior, Seto!"
"I'll come back a
warrior true to that noble name! So please, Grandpa..."
(Red XIII looks up. The camera pans up; small drops of water are falling from above.)
Bugenhagen
"That's... Seto's.....
Seto....."
Red XIII
"Seto... Fa... Father...."
(Red XIII leaps to the highest point on the rock structure and howls
up to the moon, and Seto. The camera pans up to show Seto, tears falling
from stone eyes.)
phoenixgenesis@game-developer.com
Continue to Part 8 Scene 70