The rain fell on the darkened windows of the ShinRa mansion, hitting them with unsettling rhythms. Bitter torrents from the Nibelheim Mountains blew across the cobble stone street, stirring up drenched leaves and brushing them violently across the walkway that led up to the haunting home. Wild slender fingers of dark, evil vines entwined each other, choking the tall stone building. There was a strike of light that ripped through the blackened sky like a tear across a cloth of pure ebony. The ribbon of light was followed by an malevolent roar; an unearthly growl that made even the proud Nibelheim Mountains tremble in fear. In the brief flash of light Marlene Wallace could make out carved dragons and clouds etched in the thick mansion doors, carefully guarding the entrance from unwanted intruders.

The gate groaned as Marlene forced it open, the hinges of the black steel rusted over from years of negligence. Not bothering to shut the gateway, Marlene rushed to the mansion to shelter herself from the pounding rain and icy wind. As she reached the door, another crack of lightning shocked the sky and from the corner of her eye, the teen could have sworn she saw a ghost walk past one window, its evil cape flowing silently behind it. The brunette frowned, then brushed her smoothly combed hair back with her fingers. Beads of water fell off her slick locks and dropped to the ground like diamonds from the heavens only to be shattered as soon as they hit the coarse stone of the stairs.

Marlene pressed her palm against the oak door feeling the roughly carved wood under her hand. With an expert flick of the wrist she twisted the lock-pick, pleased with the loud click of the interior locking mechanism as it unlatched. She pushed open the door, a little bit puzzled to find it open easily and smoothly, even though it, supposedly, hadn’t been used in years.

Slipping silently into the house, Marlene smiled as she looked at the wonders of the deserted mansion. The thief explored the empty halls inspecting each item salvageable for her own benefit. Lazily she ran her fingertips over the mantelpiece streaking a line of dust off of the cold stone. A brush of wind behind her made the Wallace girl turn sharply, but all that was there was a gaping doorframe. Marlene chuckled uneasily then turned back to the sill. She picked up a hoary plate and blew off the dust to reveal the sparkling silver under. Pleased with herself, Wallace brushed the rest of the soot away and admired the platter. Behind her, there in the reflection, was not the expected void of the room, but a sharp clash of black and red cloth. Startled, the teenager dropped the silver disk and spun around. She soon found herself pointblank in front of a legendary weapon, the Death Penalty. Behind the evil barrel of the gun stood a tall dark man with startling eyes of burning crimson.

"Trespasser will be eliminated."

So she closed her eyes and waited for the shot to fill the air, the last sound she knew she would hear. Outside, the brightest strike of lightning shattered the darkened sky. Rain fell and the wind blew but other than that, there was nothing.

Disclaimer: (For all my fan fictions [I forgot to add these])

The characters and settings are all properties of Squaresoft inc. names such as Marlene Wallace, Nibelheim, ShinRa, Vincent Valentine and Death Penalty, are not of my own creation. In other words… this is a Fan Fiction I have written on characters out of the videogame: Final Fantasy VII. It is one possibility of what may happen at the end of the actual game.