Last modification date: 03/25/99 ====================================================================== CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: A Final Fantasy VII fanfic by Madamhydra ====================================================================== SUMMARY for Parts 1-7 --------------------------- Part 1: DREAD HARBINGERS A year after Sephiroth's defeat at the Northern Crater, all seems peaceful until the WEAPONS begin to reemerge. Cloud and his friends immediately suspect that Jenova is somehow involved and set out to investigate. However, before Cloud meets up with his friends, he suffers an unfortunate 'accident'. While not serious, the accident provides ominous hints that Cloud's past is much darker and more sinister than anyone imagined. --------------------------- Part 2: IT'S A GREAT DAY... FOR SCIENCE The team goes to a Shinra research facility called ESSARUF to check out a mysterious theft that may be linked to the supposedly deceased mad scientist Hojo. It seems that someone (or something) was after a very special cell sample. But more disturbingly, several of the scientists at the Shinra facility show an ominous amount of interest in Cloud himself. During a battle against intruders, one of the facility's scientists -- a woman called Dr. Roissy -- suffers a near-fatal fall. --------------------------- Part 3: FIRE & BLOOD The team heads to Nibelheim -- a town once again devoured by flames -- to look for clues about Cloud and Zack's escape. But where the hell are the Turks? Searching the Mansion, they find a gruesome discovery in the basement -- one that evokes a curious reaction from Cloud. A picture of Zack begins to emerge from various people's memories. Cloud agrees to lead the others but only at the cost of a potentially lethal promise. Reeve comes across an unexpected source of information about Cloud's past. --------------------------- Part 4: CONSPIRACIES OF SILENCE & OMISSION After a night's rest, Cloud and his friends return to Nibelheim and the Shinra Mansion. Cloud discovers that Hojo has indeed returned and is responsible for the attacks on the ESSARUF facility and the most recent destruction of Nibelheim. Cid's team finds an unspeakably grisly discovery. In the meantime, Reeve uncovers more details about Zack's life and even more questions about Cloud's years in the Shinra Army. --------------------------- Part 5: SHARDS OF TRUTH Cloud, Cid, and Tifa return to the ESSARUF facility to question Dr. Roissy about the missing cell sample. However, Roissy's sister, Dr. Montessi, has an entirely different plan in mind for Cloud. Dr. Savois, another of Roissy's sisters, provides Cid and Tifa with some unexpected assistance and information as they rescue Cloud from Dr. Montessi's clutches. Back in Nibelheim, Red struggles to decipher Hojo's lab notes while Barret finds out that other things besides Reno were taken from the Shinra Mansion. The group reunites to explore a familiar outcrop south of Midgar. During an emotional outburst, Cloud makes a shocking verbal slip. Something about the area triggers terrifying memories in Cloud and causes him to run away. His flight provides the opportunity that Hojo's been waiting for. --------------------------- Part 6: THE JAWS OF THE BEAST As Tifa and the others deal with Cloud's abduction, a badly disoriented Cloud confronts Hojo and meets up again with Reno. The poisonous gas used to subdue Cloud drives him into a state of delirium where memories of the past take over. But whose memories? Cid and the others receive help from an unexpected source.. Scarlet, who's managed to escape from Hojo's grasp, and Cloud's friends exchange information and strike a deal to rescue Cloud and Reno, but not before Hojo extracts a very important item from Cloud. --------------------------- PART 6 (side-story): MIND GAME This side-story reveals what really happened in the Shinra Building's 67th floor detention area on the night of President Shinra's murder. --------------------------- PART 7 (side-story): THE FALL OF WUTAI This side-story recounts the events which led to Sephiroth's and Shinra's victory over the island nation of Wutai. --------------------------- PART 7: REUNION Cid and the others race through underground tunnels to rescue Cloud and Reno even as Hojo initiates his scheme to reconstruct both Sephiroth and Jenova. During a brief pause in their journey, Tifa reveals a little about Cloud's childhood in Nibelheim. An interesting, dream-like encounter takes place between Sephiroth and Aeris. After the Turks free Reno, everyone heads off to rescue Cloud, but they're too late -- Sephiroth has returned. However, this Sephiroth is very different from the madman they faced before and his presence triggers a wave of strange emotions in Cloud. Cloud and his friends have little opportunity to deal with this apparently sane version of Sephiroth between a surprise attack by Hojo's creatures, a disturbing conversation with Hojo, and a vicious mental assault by the resurrected Jenova. Sephiroth has his own set of problems as he comes to a shocking realization about the relationship between Zack and Cloud. Everyone attempts to escape the weapons plant before Sapphire WEAPON arrives to destroy the resurrected Jenova. ---------------------------