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delicatebarness · 11 months ago

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safe & sound | prologue

Summary: Bucky is given his new assignment.

Warning: Mob AU. Age Gap (Bucky - late 40s/Reader - early 20s). Dad's Best Friend. Mentions of Violence/Blood/Bones. Mentions of weapons.

Word Count: 423

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A/N: I wanted to just get on with it and make a start. As always feedback is appreciated and highly encouraged :) thank you!!

Tags: Let me know if you want to be tagged.

In the city's heart, shadows danced in the alleyways and whispers carried weight, the weight of the Rogers dynasty. Steve Rogers, a man of authority, led his empire with a determination that brooked no dissent. His wife, Natasha Romanoff-Rogers stood by his side, an equal in every sense, and her presence was as chilling as a winter evening.

Their legacy was filled with secrets, built upon the bones and blood of those who dared to oppose them—bounded by a fierce love that went beyond the chaos they masterminded.

Then, there were the twins. Their children, you and Peter, bore the weight of your parents' legacy on your shoulders.

Peter was the elder twin, a reflection of your father’s determination. From a young age, your parents groomed him to inherit the family business. He was schooled in the art of manipulation and intimidation.

You were the younger twin and the polar opposite of your brother. Where Peter had embraced the darkness of the family name, you sought out the light. Your innocence remained untarnished as you wandered through life with wonder and hope.

Together, you were the heirs to the Rogers legacy, a legacy steeped in blood and betrayal.

Your paths diverged further as you grew older. Peter had immersed himself in your family’s business, an ambition driving him to climb the ranks of the underworld. One day, take over your father’s mantle.

On the other hand, you yearned for something more, something that went beyond the confines of your family’s gilded cage.

As the Rogers legacy thrived, a whisper of a testament to the power, love, and loyalty lurked within. You and Peter stood at the edge of your destinies as a shadow of your father’s past loomed ever larger, threatening to consume the Rogers whole.

It was in the wake of this ominous threat that your father, the patriarch of your family, made a decision that altered the course of your life forever. Concerned for your safety, he turned to his oldest friend, a man who was forged from the same steel as himself: Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Known throughout the underground as “The Winter Soldier” but to you and Peter, he was “Uncle Bucky.”

“Will you protect her, Buck?” Your father’s voice was grave as he asked for his friend's support, his eyes reflected a weight of the world that had settled upon his shoulders.

Bucky’s gaze met his with a solemn node. “You don’t even have to ask, Steve.” And with their agreement, a new chapter in your life began.

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holly-fixation · 5 months ago

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Chapter 9: Mission Complete

Summary: Sephiroth learns that he has a child, a lab made specimen existing under the same terrible conditions he was raised in. In a moment of pure rage, he rescues his child. However, his fate has long been sealed, but the child’s fate is unknown.

Never did he expect the cadet that killed him to take responsibility for the heir of His planet.

Inspired by various asks to @rottenpumpkin13

Please enjoy.

Chapter 9: Mission Complete

“They're not supposed to be brown!” Marlene stole the wax instrument from the older girl's hands.

“Sorry.”

“Don't you want them to be colorful and happy? Your flowers look dead!”

“Well these ‘flowers’,” Sera held up the gray-white sheet filled with wax, “Don't look like flowers at all.”

“Because they're all wilty and have too many wrinkles! They're supposed to be tall and smooth.”

“I'm not trying to…” She sighed, shaking her head before looking at the child. “How do you draw them?”

“Like this!” Marlene grabbed a yellow crayon. “First you draw a circle.” She filled it in immediately before grabbing a pink one. “Then you make the petals.” She showed an easy pattern of smooth scale like half ovals. “And then you add some lines for stems.” She snatched a light green and pulled a straight line off of the pink before adding oblong shapes. “And those are the leaves. Done! Now you try!”

Sera gave a pained look before flipping her page over to the clean side. She unscathed the yellow wax and formed a perfect circle at the center of the page.

Marlene watched in wonder.

The older girl dragged the pink across the page with the grace of a swordmaster. Beauty and skill resonated in her movements.

But something happened.

The curve of drawn petals began to drag and wilt. Details began to meld together. Green, the final color, seemed to bleed on the page as shades merged into an ugly, dirty brown.

“Nooooo!” Marlene shouted dramatically. “What happened?!”

Sera returned the instruments, huffing with a small scowl. “I don't want to draw anymore.”

“But you're never gonna learn if you don't practice.”

She stared daggers at the little girl.

Tifa placed two cups of water on the counter. “Why don't you try drawing something else?”

Sera glared at the woman now.

“Is there anything you know how to draw?” Marlene asked.

The hood hid her eyes as she turned away. “...No. Nothing worth seeing again.”

“What is it?!” The girl in pink jumped excitedly.

“It's a nightmare. You don't want to see it.”

“It can't be that bad. Not as bad as your flowers.”

“Marlene-”

“No, it's a literal nightmare.” Sera corrected. “A horrible, ugly, monstrous thing… just an inhuman, anomalous…” Sera growled as she trailed off, holding a hand to her head. “You want the truth? There. That's the only thing I can draw.”

Marlene watched for a moment silently before hopping up with a knowing glare. “You're just trying to scare me!”

The head of starry hair shook beneath the hood.

“Pleeeeeeease?”

Inhuman eyes suddenly flicked up and she stood, the chair screeching on the ground. “Something just happened. Something big.”

Marlene and Tifa looked at each other before returning to the other girl.

“Did you hear that?” The mako child questioned.

“I don't hear anything,” Tifa answered.

Sera ran to the door, pressing her ear to the wood. A few seconds passed. “People are talking about it. I think it's the reactor.”

“The reactor?”

“It seems they succeeded in their objective.”

“What objective?”

“Blowing up the mako reactor.”

Tifa covered Marlene's ears immediately. “That's not their objective!”

“It's not?” The question came so genuinely the woman almost believed it.

“No! They were supposed to damage the mako pump to shut down the reactor for a few weeks!”

Sera's eyes widened.

Little hands pulled Tifa's away.

“What are you guys talking about?” Marlene was absolutely adorable. The situation surrounding her was not.

* * *

The Sector was a mess. The blown reactor shook the foundation of the very plate beneath their feet. Most tried to flee. Others searched for their families and friends.

However, some continued selling delicate petals in the middle of a crisis.

“Hey. Flower girl.” Cloud called out as he approached sharply.

“Heya,” the woman in pink and red spoke casually despite the tension in the air. “Would you like to purchase a flower?”

“It's not safe here. Bring those to whoever's waiting for you back home.”

There was the smallest sigh of faded amusement. “Are you sure I can't stay?”

Cloud took a step closer, fully within range to make her obey. “Unless you want to have a run in with public security.”

“Such a shame… well, in that case-” She pinched one stem and slipped it under the straps of the SOLDIER uniform. “For whoever's waiting for you at home. On the house.”

With that, the woman about his own age finally left.

Good, because Cloud's job wasn't done. He walked down the street to the square, deliberately fighting and knocking out every trooper that approached.

At the center, helicopters soared overhead, signaling Cloud's location with spotlights. Short ranged troops, grenade troops, elite troops, even shield troops attacked without hesitation. The Buster Sword flew through the air with the grace of a dragon, slicing through everyone of Shinra's pathetic security. The few bullets and shrapnel that lodged in his skin would be gone and healed within the hour.

As if security could ever defeat a First.

He led them to the train tracks until their most advanced cadets were no more and jumped through bullet filled air onto the moving vehicle below.

With the slightest stroke of luck, security's disorganized nature and the complete inability for commanding officers to remain calm during a sudden crisis, especially over the phone, they'll be long off the train before transportation and city planning even find out which train they're on.

The mako green of a light polluted night sky quickly vanished to the tunnels that would take them down to the underplates. Now Cloud just had to find them.

He banged on the door of a storage container with the width of his sword. A few seconds passed before the metal slid open, and Cloud flipped inside.

“What the hell!?” Came Barret's bark.

“Look who knows how to make an entrance,” Jessie teased.

“We thought we lost you back there!” Wedge's concern sliced through.

“Seems like you handled it though.” Biggs gave a playful punch to the bolted pauldron.

“Well someone had to draw attention and keep security off your back. Can't do that if we all stay with the group.”

He swore passengers on this vessel could hear the chorus of groans this freedom fighter group released.

Thankfully the remainder of their travel resulted in no special surprises or visits from the company at the center of the city. AVALANCHE cheered at the edge of the station for Sector Seven to the point that even they realized they needed to keep their mouths shut before someone caught on.

Barret kept a few steps ahead of the group. The quaint streets hummed with the now hours old news of the reactor. Most citizens remained inside to watch the Shinra News Network and its latest updates.

Not that the group minded the lack of attention, especially when Seventh Heaven came into view.

Tifa gently prodded the little girl in pink. Marlene glance forward and lit up like the sun with a smile.

“Daddy, you're back!”

“Damn right I'm back! C'mere, my baby girl!” He lifted her like she weighed nothing, putting her on his shoulder as he laughed heartily. “It's time to celebrate!”

“Yay!”

“Stay away from the expensive stuff,” Tifa warned with a small smirk at the tender display.

“Hell yeah!” Biggs and Jessie high fived. “Let's go!”

“I said don't take the good stuff!” The bar owner yelled after them as they took off into the restaurant.

Wedge stumbled behind as always. “Guys! Wait up!”

Cloud watched the girl with celestial hair approach slowly. He opened his palms and spread his arms slightly, allowing her to hold him way tighter than he expected.

“You're okay…”

Something burned in the back of the mind. His heart filled with fear, the sensation zipping up his spine. The darkness in his chest kept his hands at his sides. An agonizing moment passed before the world felt tolerable.

The memory of fire's source seared regardless.

Sera suddenly let him go, taking a step back and staring up to his eyes. The feeling surrendered as she scanned him intensely. “What's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

He went to ruffle her hair, but the contact with the hood triggered the same icy warning. He forced his hand to remain for a moment, fighting the instinct to pull back immediately. “Nothing's wrong. And don't worry, no injuries that haven't healed already.”

She glared just a bit in disbelief, squinting ever so slightly.

“I told you, I had this.”

She looked down, gripping the hem of her shirt. “...Okay… You're right…”

Cloud looked past the girl to his childhood friend. “Was she good?”

The child glared.

“She got better as the night went on. It took a while to warm up to Marlene.”

“That makes sense.”

“I'm right here,” Sera informed as she crossed her arms. “Are we going inside or are we looking for a place to stay for the night?”

“Just a minute with Tifa, okay?”

The girl sealed her mouth and returned to the restaurant. The occupants cheered at her arrival, making Cloud feel a little less guilty.

“Where did you get a flower?” Tifa broke the pause.

Cloud reached for the stem fixed between his armor strap and his sweater. He slowly freed it and handed the gift to her.

“For me? In the middle of a mission?”

“Not exactly on the schedule. It just kind of happened.”

Tifa grabbed the stem delicately and observed the yellow petals. She couldn't help but smile, yet the kindness grew into some kind of silent amusement.

“What's so funny?”

She shook her head, still smiling with a poorly hidden laugh. “It’s nothing. Let me put this in water before it wilts.”

Cloud followed his friend into the bar. AVALANCHE continued their celebration with what was notably water and maybe a juice for Marlene, sharing kid friendly stories and exaggerating their protection of the planet with the victory that night. Sera sat at the bar, her arms crossed on the counter with her head on them.

Tifa walked behind the bar and filled a cup with water, dropping the stem inside with a clean motion. Only then did she notice the girl, a flash of confusion in her red eyes.

Cloud approached the bar opposite of where he planned on sitting, looking within the brown hood.

Was she…asleep? How much had she done today?

“Sera?”

Her eyes shot open immediately, but the exhaustion took longer to fade. She didn't even lift her head from the bar. “Are we leaving?”

Cloud shook his head. “Sorry. Not yet. You can go back to sleep.”

Kitten like eyes closed once again.

“Hey!” Tifa's voice cut through the laughter from the table near the door. “You get five more minutes. I can't keep this place open all night.”

The collective groan, albeit a half hearted one, resonated through the building before joy filled it once more.

“So Cloud,” Tifa placed her palms on the counter. “What can I get for you?”

The blonde glanced at the group behind him. “Not interested.”

“This isn't about work. This is about seeing old friends. What would you really like?”

Cloud glanced back at them one last time before taking a seat at the counter. “Something hard.”

Tifa smirked. She placed a short glass on the counter before grabbing a metallic container. He watched as she expertly poured red and orange liquids together without a single measuring device in sight. She scooped ice cubes into the container with the grace of a ballerina before taking a small salt shaker and dusting the final pink ingredient on top. Then he swore she flipped the second container out of nowhere and shook the drinks skillfully over her shoulder before finally pouring the translucent red liquid into the glass on the counter.

“The house specialty. The Cosmo Canyon.”

Cloud investigated the drink for a moment before holding it up to eye level. Then he looked straight to the bartender as he complimented, “Beautiful.”

Tifa gave a light hearted roll of her eyes. “Just try it.”

Cloud raised the glass to his lips and took an easy sip. Well, he assumed it would be an easy sip. Despite the western taste, he refused to show how bitter the drink truly was.

And come on, he had much worse in SOLDIER.

“How come SOLDIER boy gets one?” Jessie came up to the counter and tried to wrap an arm around Cloud, but Cloud immediately slipped out of her grasp, standing behind the high top seats.

“Because he saved the mission. One minute,” Tifa warned.

Jessie barked with laughter. Despite the sweetness, it only hurt his ears. “Fair enough. But if you're lookin’ for more work, don't hesitate to ask.”

Cloud kept his mouth shut as she left, waiting until she was distracted to glance at Tifa once more.

“Anything else I can get you.”

“My money. You owe me two thousand, remember?”

As if the team heard him, they funneled to the pinball machine and lowered to the hidden level below.

Tifa's hands locked as her fingers fidgeted, her gaze reserved. “Yeah… about that…” She opened the register and fished out his pay, cold hard Gil landing in his hand.

Twelve hundred Gil, to be exact.

Cloud's heart dropped. “That's it?”

“Sorry, we spent the rest preparing for the mission. I thought we had enough left over, but…”

Mako eyes met the printed black wings of the brown hoodie. What were they supposed to do now?

“But wait! Tomorrow's water filter day. I sell them through the Sector and they practically get rid of the rotten egg smell! You'll have the money you need as long as no one puts up a fuss... And you can come too so no one cheaps out!” She seemed excited before the realization hit, her energy drained instantly. “But wait, then I'd have to pay you for that too…”

“It's fine. We agreed on two thousand. I'll help.” Cloud softly tapped the counter next to the little girl, who again awoke instantly. “Come on, we have to go.”

She hopped to his side without delay, one hand on her sheath.

“Wait. Please? Let me make a quick call.” Tifa's eyes were wide like a begging puppy's.

Cloud sighed, feeling the burn of Sera's stare on the side of his head. “...Okay.”

When Tifa disappeared into the back, Cloud gave Sera a small pat. He fought through the dark sensation in his mind and his mind alone. “Just another minute, okay?”

“...Are you sure you're okay…?”

“Positive. Though some sleep won't hurt.”

“I can keep watch.”

“We won't need to keep watch.” That wasn't entirely true. Even without Shinra, the slums weren't exactly safe. “Well… hopefully we won't need to keep watch.”

She nodded softly, pushing unruly shimmering hair back into its confine.

“Okay!” Tifa came back, and the joy in her voice brought relief to their hearts. “I got you a room. You'll have to thank my landlord tomorrow, she's the sweetest thing. Practically raised me when I got to Midgar.”

“Sounds perfect,” Cloud announced. “Lead the way.”

To be continued…

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Thanks for reading!

#ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy vii #sephiroth #cloud strife #final fantasy 7 #tifa lockhart #barret wallace #jessie rasberry #biggs ff7 #wedge ff7 #s and s #s&s #seraphic and sinister #sns

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