#baby cloud is mostly under sephiroth’s care

[therubyjailcell]

so i said i wanted an AU where the crisis core trio adopted zack.

[our-heartless-angels]

I got impatient, so I'm gonna info dump my AU onto this blog and none of you can stop me. (It begins below the cut)

Content warnings: Talks of abuse, torture, death, manipulation, miscarriages, and (possible) mentions of self harm (if i get there ofc)

I was really inspired by Crisis Core when creating this au, and at the time I was looking at those "Hero swap" aus where Sephiroth and Cloud swap places. When making my au (with CC in mind), I decided to take that premise and completely flip it on it's head.

Thus, The Seraphim Verdict: An au where everything is the same except for Sephiroth and Cloud. Because of these two being the sole changes, certain events play out very differently. How differently, you may ask? That's what you're about to find out.

In this au, Sephiroth wasn't born from the Jenova Projects. I was inspired by all the angel motifs attached to the canon Sephiroth, so I thought that I would make him into a real angel. A seraph, to be exact. He's the main character of the story. Cloud, however, is a human-turned soulless demon who loves nothing more than to make Sephiroth suffer. He's the main antagonist, and instead of vowing to destroy the planet, vows to become its supreme ruler.

Side note: The remnants we're created when Sephiroth was four, as a result of physically splitting into three people, meaning they cannot exist outside of him, nor can he exist outside of them. He can separate into the three whenever he's put under stress that he can no longer handle, and this happens at random, so yes they used to be in SOLDIER, too. Hojo forced it upon them just as much as he did with Sephiroth, and as a result while Kadaj is mostly the same in behavior as he is canonically, Loz and Yazoo are fundamentally changed due to mistreatment by their peers. Loz is a lot less of a "no brains, only brawns" character, having wizened himself up and sealed away all emotions that weren't his rage, and has sent several SOLDIERS into the infirmary after getting fed up with being beaten by them. (Many SOLDIERs were paid to harrass the trio by Hojo "for their own betterment." He was also forcefully tranquilized out of fear that he'd kill everyone in the building if they did not stop him.) Yazoo regressed into an anxiety filled mess, refusing to stand up for himself, as he fears punishment. People deemed him the weakest link, and he's been a target his whole life, leaving him completely afraid of the world.

Sephiroth was created by many gods all at once, using the soul of what would have ended up being Sephiroth, as Lucrecia in this universe ended up having a miscarriage, meaning that Project S was a failure. Though because they used the soul of what was to be the Sephiroth we would all know and love (or hate), this seraph would have been made flawed in their eyes. He, as a newly created (baby) seraph, would have earned an extra wing. An extra wing that was a part of his more human-like appearance. They only saw him as a mistake that shouldn't have been made, and they dumped him onto Gaia, his Grace intact and everything. The gods thought their creation would have not been capable of survival in this fragile form of a child, and thus pretended he never existed, abd because of this, never made another angel ever again.

From the start, the seraph has known abandonment. From the start, he was fated to be alone. From the start, he lacked the love he deserved to have. That was, until a distraught Lucrecia stumbled upon the abandoned baby one night outside of Shinra HQ. Being worried for the child's safety, and holding that longing of wishing to be a mother, decided to take him as her own in secret, once determining that he was abandoned there.

In secret, she cared for him. She loved him dearly, and was completely enamored by his tiny, white feathered wing. Unfortunately, this didn't last very long, as one day Professor Hojo discovered him and decided to take him away without her knowledge. As she was returning to the child, she was distraught by his disappearance, and through grief she left, never to be seen again. Hojo, now in possession of Sephiroth, decided to write off Project S as a sucess, in an attempt to hide his true research.

Sephiroth has the same kind of childhood he would have in canon, though he was never really addressed as a person until he was around ten years old (in human years), and instead he was treated like a beast. Even when he started calling him a "he" instead of an "it", he never really treated him well whatsoever. Even if he was supposed to be his father, he never acted like one. Not once. Those abandonment issues and that separation anxiety he harbored ever since he was an infant only got worse the older he got, as Hojo often took advantage of this, and he purposefully had him isolated. Sephiroth rarely interacted with others in his childhood years.

Sephiroth would also experience everything he would come to experience in his life pre Crisis Core, and all the way up until he was an adult. Crisis Core does play out relatively the same, save for a few key differences.

Those differences were: He was lied to twice about what he truly was, Cloud's jealousy towards Sephiroth's position and perceived power, and the subsequent attempts to squander his good name which lead to him seeking out a power beyond himself to get his wish of power granted (by a demon who was thought to be a god), though at the cost of his humanity, and thus his slowly degrading sanity, the Nibelheim Incident was all staged (Sephiroth pretend to go insane) in an attempt to draw Cloud out, and have him show everyone what he really was, Zack doesn't get killed, and Genesis doesn't end up with Deepground

The events post Crisis Core are both very much the same and also very different. While Cloud was going around, and continuing to try and paint Sephiroth in a bad light through lies and deceptions, Sephiroth, who had newly acquired an ally in Vincent Valentine, are going after Cloud, as Sephiroth knew the truth behind Cloud's false acts of heroism. The two go out to Shinra HQ, where they discover the existence of the Black Materia, to which after promptly putting an end to Professor Hojo, set out to retrieve it before Cloud does. When they suceed, it would be moments before they come across Cloud (and his freshly manipulated group of friends). Sephiroth, who has been anticipating their arrivals, decided to hand the black materia to Vincent, telling him to leave and not return until he deemed it was safe. By the time they arrived, Vincent was long gone, and Sephiroth remained.

Cloud made an attempt to pry out the location of the black materia on his person? and Sephiroth, who wasn't exactly lying to him, tells him he never had such a thing in his possession. Cloud wouldn't believe him though, and after countless attempts at making him hand over something he never once had in this moment, beat up the seraph in a fit of anger before leaving him there once determining that he wasn't lying. Sephiroth not once fought back against Cloud, as it felt completely unnecessary. Vincent does eventually return, taking Sephiroth with him to where they were currently camping out, so he could tend to his wounds in a safer location.

That night, however, they would receive a nighttime visit from a very distressed Aerith, who sought out Sephiroth personally. She was quick to beg and plead with the angel, knowing that he was the key to her salvation. She asked him to send her back to the lifestream. To his shock at such a request, he vehemently refused her no matter how much she pleaded with him to. Aerith then told him everything about the mistreatment she suffered behind everyone's back through the hands of Cloud Strife. All the gritty details of his physical and mental abuse upon her were laid bare for him to see, and that was enough for him to (reluctantly) aid in her suicidal desires under confirmation that this was something she actively wanted.

Pretty soon, he was to take Vincent to meet with her at a place long forgotten to time. While Vincent remained stoic about this predicament for the sake of not worrying the seraph, Sephiroth's thoughts were all over the place despite his blank expression. He tells Vincent to hide himself in case Cloud's group decided to go and find her, while he went to prepare himself for this moment. He complies, and once he left, Sephiroth took up residence in a high spot and waited. Unfortunately, he still had his gripes about doing such a thing. He didn't have much time to dwell, as Cloud came over towards a praying Aerith, who looked furious that she left him and the others behind. Before Cloud could do anything against her, Sephiroth made his move. As he was inches away from taking her life, he sensed her feelings about this shifting away, and coming to the conclusion that she didn't actually want to die anymore. It was too late, however, as by the time she had second thoughts about it, his blade would pierce through her, and she would ultimately die by Sephiroth's hands.

He was absolutely horrified by what he had done. The trauma of knowing her final feelings were that of wanting ro live hit him like a bag of bricks, as he quickly withdrew his blade. He looked at her in complete horror and silence, as Cloud's anger rose. From that moment on, Cloud declared to Sephiroth that he will make him suffer tenfold for what he did to the cetra girl, and he immediately left to quell his rage before it got worse, leaving Sephiroth to be responsible for putting her body into the waters that surrounded him, a sombre tone suffocating him all the wile.

Zack Joins the duo a few days later, after he was satisfied with his visit to his family. While the death of Aerith remained fresh on Sephiroth and Vincent's minds, they refused to tell Zack about it. It was during the addition of Zack, that they came across one of the gods. A god of time by the name Chronos had come in search for the seraph they got rid of, a feeling that he was still alive having brought him there. He was the sole god who wanted him dead, and thus he finally came to fulfill such a wish. When the trio arrived, Sephiroth immediately told his allies to leave. While Vincent understood why, Zack however, had a much harder time understanding why he didn't just let him fight with him. Sephiroth told Zack that this was his payment for forcing all those assignments onto him in the past, and that he's doing this to keep him alive, to which got Zack to reluctantly comply, and they two went somewhere more safe.

The subsequent battle was brutal and completely unfair. A mere seraph going against a whole god was simply unheard of, and the seraph was very close to losing his life, though by a stroke of luck, he managed to pick up on the secrets to Chronos' underhanded tatics, and decided to use them against him, which lead to him out right managing to kill the god for the sake of his survival. Beatened and bloodied, Sephiroth then collapsed. Vincent and Zack return, only to see a dead god, and their barely allive leader. They were quick to grab him and retreat, where Sephiroth would spend a few days recovering (much to his disapproval).

Sephiroth, after fully recovering, decided the next thing they would do is to break out those who were pulled under Cloud's influence. It was time they knew the real truth. They then silently trailed after Cloud and co, one by one convincing Yuffie, Red XIII, Cait Sith (and by extension Reeve), Cid, Barret, and finally Tifa into joining them on their quest to stop the demon. Each person had varying levels of difficulty when it came to breaking them free, with Tifa being the most stubborn. Once Cloud was alone, he scoffed at the betrayals, deeming that this endeavor was better done solo, and headed to the northern crater on his own.

Once the team was finally assembled proper, they decided to take a break for the next few hours one day to get a clearer head, so they could decide together when it would be the right time to strike, leaving Sephiroth all alone with his own thoughts. He then spent the night alone with the highwind, thinking over all that happened in the past, and hoping that the future he sees in his visions wasn't too out of reach. Eventually, everyone came back together, fully refreshed and ready to take on their foe. The group soon sets out, and what happens is deemed a final battle they would never forget.

Soon after the events, and within the time span of two years, it would be proven that Cloud refused his own demise, and forced himself back into the world of the living. All he felt was hatred towards Sephiroth. This was when he decided to make him pay, setting out to find him. This then began a painful cycle of Cloud finding him, and taking him away somewhere. Sephiroth would then undergo bouts of physical and mental torture that no living human would be able to survive, let alone be left mentally sound if they happened to live from it all. It was a constant loop that eventually was broken up with Zack coming to his rescue (despite it being mostly too late, and the damage having already been done.)

This constant cycle would break down the once untouchable seeming man, leaving him as a broken, and pathetic version of what he once was. Gone were the days where he remained strong in the face of torment, for now he ultimately became soft and meek through his suffering. He became a shell of his former self from then on....

Oh yeah btw Sephiroth stopped physically aging around his twenties, so he permanently looks like how he does in Crisis Core, fun fact.

[altocat]

I went to a casino recently so I’ve been wondering… what would the soldier crew + cloud do at a casino?

Genesis is given a STRICT budget by Angeal. No betting everything. No getting into fights at the poker table. No suspicious behavior. Genesis, as it turns out, has one or two tricks up his sleeve to land things in his favor, something that more than often gets him into trouble, if not seriously beaten up. Angeal keeps him under a very tight leash.

Speaking of Angeal, he's extremely frugal and hates gambling, playing maybe a slot or two before monitoring the others for the rest of the evening. Having grown up poor, it just feels like a massive waste of money to him.

Zack just likes the bright colors and flashy lights. He avoids the tables altogether, preferring the slots, particularly the themed ones. He doesn't even care if he wins or loses. He just likes when the graphics get all fancy.

Sephiroth hates the slots because he has no idea how they work and mostly just furiously mashes random buttons before breaking multiple machines on accident. Incidentally, he happens to be a whiz at poker because his expression never changes!

Cloud is still a baby and is not allowed to gamble yet! So he sits in the lounge and sulks drinking an orange juice (because he isn't allowed to drink yet either!). To make it up to him, everyone promises to pledge 5% of their winnings to him. Except for Genesis, who promises NOTHING. The bully.

[rainbowcarousels]

You can blame @aimeelouart for asking about my keeping track of how each relationship between AGSZC progresses for the fact this meta now exists. It was somewhat hastily written in the back of my maths textbook so please excuse the lack of polish and put it down to the fact I couldn’t take another 2 hours of algebra.

Fives Company, not a Crowd

Relationships with Love

(or how AGSZC functions in the JBSWM universe*)

Cloud

Love is something that is given without expectation of return. This is applicable both platonically and romantically, he's willing to put everything on the line for the people he loves but he doesn't really expect them to do the same for him. Some of that comes from the fallout from his and Tifa's trip up the mountains and the subsequent responsibility placed on him for that but other parts stem from wanting to feel included but not being able to put himself out there so it's a lot easier to  be prickly and pretend you don't care when in reality, I think Cloud loves incredibly deeply and it's why he's easily hurt by it no matter how strong a front he puts up. At eighteen, he's still trying to find a balance between keeping everyone at bay so he doesn't get hurt and letting himself figure things out and take those risks. There's a fun parallel to Sephiroth there in that neither cut themselves any slack for mistakes so it's hard to get out there when you might make one when making a mistake – especially in his first real adult relationship –  feels like the end of the world. His only really obvious love up till that point is his mother and I do think he misses her a lot, but is also deathly afraid of letting her down and that weighs on their relationship.

The rest under the cut!

Zack

Loves to love (and he loves to dance, kudos to anyone who got that reference). The walking embodiment of a carebear, loves quickly, easily and casually. The more affection and love you throw at him, you'll get it back tenfold. The trick with Zack is that he lives his life with his heart so open that he has a natural connection with most people but it does make it more difficult to spot the differences between puppy love and intense, romantic love. This is one of the reasons he and Gen clash so much, Gen is 10000% passion and intensity and Zack always seems casual even when he's not. Ultimately, Zack is only 20 and still has a lot of trouble balancing his life between love, friendship and work. Since he's a social creature by nature compared with Cloud's more introverted nature, he's pretty decent at reading people and what they're feeling and absolutely wants to listen to them and hear about what they're feeling instead of having to guess. Compared with any of the other four really, he grew up with a strong sense of his social community and it helped instil a lot of compassion and resilience in his ability to love.

Sephiroth

Big yikes on this front. A walking talking advertisement for dysfunctional attachment and it would not surprise me in the least if he has some kind of attachment disorder as a leftover from a childhood which has probably left it's fair share of emotional scars. If I consult my Master timeline (and my attempts to make sense of Gast's timeline since he appears to have left Shinra on a fact finding mission around the time Sephiroth was born and left again for real this time two years before Aerith was born taking Ifalna with him), his first experiences of emotional connection are Hojo (yikes), Gast (who must come back sporadically from his fact finding between 1979 and 1983 so even before he dies when Sephiroth is four it's probably difficult to pinpoint as a positive attachment), Ifalna (here is where I get a little creative with canon but I do quite like the idea that if she did end up at Shinra before Gast left that he would have wanted to be like LOOK AN ANCIENT BABY and have her be like um no no that is not but also he was probably a toddler at the time and has no real strong recollection of her) and then SOLDIER. We know he served with adult SOLDIERs so I really doubt he connected in any strong way with them having had an extremely sheltered upbringing and oh yeah HE'S TWELVE. Man this one needs splitting up because it's Sephiroth.

So Enter Gen & Angeal when he's around 13, maybe closer to 14. What we know from Zack!Cloud and see from some of Zack's memories in CC, Sephiroth is not cruel but he is a hell a taskmaster and I think there's two big reasons why I put his connection with Angeal first. One, Angeal is a hard worker, he tries to do as much as he can and get himself out there and Sephiroth can respect that.Genesis on the other hand is talented, which...means he actually has to work hard at the things that don't come naturally to him for the first time and since he had the hero worship thing going on and Sephiroth was not social, they did not get along easily until they had a better understanding of each other. This is the same understanding that Gen gradually loses through degradation in canon, whereas Angeal and Sephiroth remain close-ish. Two, Angeal doesn't take anything personally and remains at a respectful distance, even when trying to connect. Sephiroth for his part was perplexed by his continual attention and has no idea what to make of it. It's only when Angeal is still doing it a few months down the line, when Gen has calmed down a little from his perceived slight, that they're able to forge stronger connections and I think there's a tandem effect with those two where Angeal is emotionally open and unobtrusive and Gen is not about to talk about anything emotional but he's physically affectionate. Most importantly of all, they aren't afraid of him, even the parts that a lot of other SOLDIERs may find disturbing, Angeal wants to just check in on and Genesis is mostly thinking 'meh, I could do that'. So ultimately, what would end up being his relationship with love is largely impacted by people who keep him at a distance or leave for a long time and then it's like a bus, you wait for one friend and two come along at once.

So then we have his concept of love being defined largely by friendship because his concept of it is so heavily defined by two people who were friends with each other and him first. The potential problem being that his world gets very wrapped up in only two people and as such, he's obsessive and possessive of them because it's all he has. Then Zack comes along and he's hyper affectionate, social, loving basically in a way he hasn't really had thrown at him and he doesn't fully know what to do with. To a degree, Cloud is easier – he's independent, prickly and does not get on with people which for him is relatable. Zack comes in like nothing he's ever experienced and the way he loves is so different that it's left him trying to figure out how he feels about this new kind of love coming into his life.

Angeal

Hands down a nurturer. It's all about putting his time and energy and heart into a relationship and letting whatever kind of love blooms happen naturally. While I don't think he forms connections easily, he tries to keep himself open and supportive of people around him and that lends itself to connecting with people. I do think he had a strong, loving role model in his parents (well, mother and stepfather, fuck you Hollander) and he had good relationships with them so he has some model by which to judge what love looks like. I also think canonly this is the thing he never really gets over losing, his mother and his connection to his parents.

I think Genesis has always been his great love story. They were, when they were a couple, one that would tell the story of how they met bit by bit until Angeal let Genesis take over telling it because he knows Gen never ever stops talking. I think it's one of the reasons they work well together – Angeal has the calm, quiet and cosy sort of love compared with Genesis who is passion and intensity 24/7. They balance each other out because Angeal does also try to push at his partners to behave, he will be passive aggressive or take small measures to try and correct things (a good example in 7s9s is that he will lock the liquor up knowing Genesis can break it but it's the fact he at least tried to get him to behave that helps him sleep at night) but ultimately, he is more passive as a person. When it was just the trio, Sephiroth added to some of the calm from Angeal but also more than matches Gen for obsessiveness. As things progress, Zack's casual nature adds to the calm but his excitement adds to the intensity and Cloud's introversion adds to the quiet but he's also a mouthy little shit.

One of the major things Angeal brings to the table is that his default setting is to care, same as Zack and that everyone at this table needs taking care of in some way. Cloud is obvious, he's struggling the most but he also feels that way with Zack because he can't completely separate the mentor-ship role even he tries to respect Zack as a First Class in his own right, Sephiroth has so few connections that being able to read him and react in a way as needed is extremely valuable and Genesis is just extremely responsive to the first instance of a seemingly unconditional love in his life and even if he would hate to admit it, loves that Angeal tries to take care of him. I think he's happiest when he can express how he feels to each person in turn in their own language and watch them respond.

Genesis

I think with Genesis there's a very large difference between his relationship with love and his relationship with romance. Romance is easy, he can be lyrical and affectionate and flirtatious at the drop of a hat but the emotion behind it being love is tricky at best. For some reason, I've always viewed him as someone who was a very clingy kid, who wanted parental attention constantly, was constantly seeking reassurance and often didn't get it. We know that Gen at that point was confined to Banora so I do think his parents would leave a decent amount when he was young and it's one of the reasons he latches on so hard when he meets Angeal. Angeal is not only present all the time but wants his attention and doesn't seem to mind that he chatters on and on. It's probably something to do with the idea if he keeps talking, he'll stay longer or trying to just fill silence because I think quiet disturbs him on some level because he's actually terrified of loneliness.

As he's gotten older and he turned out to be good at a few things, he got some of the loving responses he'd wanted but I also think as much as this reinforced the idea love is earned and you have to pay for it, a part of him from Angeal, from seeing his parents relationship with him covetously, knows that love can be unconditional but fears it's not so for him and probably spent a great deal of their early romantic relationship waiting for Angeal to realise and leave.

It's why his relationship with Sephiroth when they make the decision to expand the relationship to include him is initially categorised as casual, he can walk away any time and so can they, it's super casual, okay? Except I don't really think it was, it was just an out and then with Zack, he has no out. Zack is happening and it's love or bust. There's no out and then Zack does not seem that into making an effort and he is Not Happy about that. If you then contrast that to Cloud, who is incredibly responsive to his attentions but without demanding it. There's a lot of control on his end when it comes to his relationship with Cloud so it felt a lot less high stakes. Then Hojo happened and all of that went out the window because it was obvious how deep in he was at that point, he was willing to try and comfort Zack and keep him out of trouble, he was willing to care for Cloud in a way that isn't totally to his nature (if Angeal is the gardener, he's a very finicky plant – needs much attention and the right amount of everything to grow properly and will pretend to be dying if you miss a day) and show concern where he would usually rather jump off the plate headfirst than show emotions that vulnerable.

*This is your standard disclaimer that this only applies to how I see them in this verse, it's not applicable elsewhere but I might use examples from elsewhere to back up the point.

[im-totally-not-an-alien]

Final Fantasy prompts no 15

1. Zack jumps into a mako pool to save trooper! Cloud, but comes back up with both him and a older blond man with a massive sword. They are both unconscious and quickly flown back to HQ.

2. AVALANCHE fights Sephiroth after he revives for a 4th time. "Where's Cloud?" Tifa demands, staring up at the madman.

Sephiroth stayed suspended in the air, one wing flared out like a dark banner, even as he died. "Close."

"I swear to the Planet, if you hurt him-!" Barret roared, but was cut off by the monsters quiet laughter.

"I didn't kill him," he rasped, the only show of weakness he'd made the entire fight, his voice carried even as he dissolved into dark particles, "You did."

And Cloud fell to the ground.

3. Roache joins AVALANCHE. He mostly just hits on Cloud and asks to race.

4. Cloud got lost on the mountain when he was a child and never made it home. He was presumed dead but actually lives near the peak of Mt. Nabil, drinking mako infected water and talking to that wierd lady in his head.

5. Zack walks into Seventh Heaven one day, having no idea who he is.

6. Cloud travels back in time but he's a ghost. He uses this time to terrorize Sephiroth, and haunt Zack and his younger self.

7. Vincent comforts his friends by lifting up part of his cloak and pulling them into it, wrapping them up in the soft material.

8. Zack Fair radiates intense himbo energy and Cloud hates that it makes him swoon.

9. Cloud finds other escaped experiments and decides to care for them

10. Someone in AVALANCHE gets seriously injured and Cloud becomes super overprotective

11. Someone manages to get a good hit on Cloud, but instead of bleeding his skin chips off like porcelain and black particles/smoke flitters out. Everyone realizes that Cloud is literally a living doll. (Doll au) (Cloud is a doll brought to life by Jenova's Edrich powers and is fueled by souls/mako)

12. AU where Jenova claimed ALL of the SOLDIERs as her children and influenced them into joining her journey through the cosmos. Those who fought it, like Zack and Cloud, were put into a deep slumber and stored somewhere safe while the others annihilated the planet and she fed each of her little Eldrich babies by hand. Then packed them up to raise them properly on a nesting planet.

13. Cloud and Sephiroth are both sent back in time to thier old bodies. They both remember everything, and Sephiroth kinda freaks out because he's not under Jenova's influence anymore and 'Oh, gods. What have I done...' so now he's trying to apologize to Cloud and come to terms that with the fact that he's fallen in love with the small blond.

Cloud is desperately pushing the "Open doors" button in the elevator.

14. Sephiroth asks Genesis, Angeal, and even Zack for romantic advice.

15. Another world was threatening war with Gaia. Cloud used the black materia at the behest of Minerva, destroying the other world. His makeshift family comforts him, and he admits he can hear Jenova in his head, praising him for what he's done. Saying that she was so pleased to have at least one successful son.

[goddessofroyalty]

(1/?) The ff7 rremake has hit all of us like a train and I found your 'Cloud is the mom of the remnant triplets' verse AND found 'The Completely Inept Courtship of the One-Winged Angel's Cloud' around the same time, and I started thinking about how Sephiroth's atittude towards the triplets would change across the compilation + time travel. In the OG Cloud would be trying to protect them via Seph&Jenova don't finding out about them and then mid-game Sephirouth is like 'oh yeah, i know about them

(2/?) 'it's fine, they'll become part of me when i become god' and that is just one thing to add to cloud's self-loathing. then in advent children he gets creepy and personal (just like with cloud, really), and by the remake timeline he not only is haunting cloud way sooner than OG, he is doing shit like picking one of the babies out of the crib and commenting on their looks.

On a side point to start off with, can I just say how good of a fic The Complete Inept Courtship is. For those who haven’t, go check it out - it’s outsider POV found-document of a crisis core era world dealing with time traveling Sephiroth and Cloud and their apparent newfound... obsession with each other. Super good honestly.

Anyway, back on point - that’s the thing Sephiroth isn’t actually all that super interested in the triplets during the original game. Mostly he’s interested in them as potential puppets but as far as puppets go a set of actual toddlers isn’t as useful compared to Sephiroth’s other options. They are an extension of him in his eyes, sure, but not one of much use.

At most they can be used to throw Cloud off center by revealing that Sephiroth has known about them the whole time (despite Cloud’s desperate attempts to prevent). But past that he has little interest.

Honestly I try not to think that much about Advent Children in this verse. Because... well... how would that work? Do the triplets go evil and decide to resurrect daddy (if so damn that final fight would hit Cloud so much harder)? Is it some random other ex-puppet/new-clone (would they have a level of reverence for the triplets/think they’re unpure because carried by Cloud?).

Like Sephiroth, once in play, would absolutely want the triplets as much as he wants Cloud and would be trying to get them on his side/in his possession to control Cloud with them as well. Just... how Sephiroth gets into play is less clear.

The remake he’s totally invested in them. Still a lot because he can influence Cloud through them. But he very much wants Cloud to know he’s aware of them and ware of his connection to them. And... also it’s a ficlet under the cut

---------

Cloud knows what follows the brain-splitting headaches. But it doesn’t stop his blood from running cold when he sees him.

Sephiroth.

Sephiroth who is standing next to the cot. Standing between Cloud and them.

The triplets – three infants that Cloud hardly remembers birthing let along conceiving.

But the silver-hair and cat-slit eyes make it clear who their sire is.

A sire standing over them looking down at them.

Cloud wants to do something, anything, to draw Sephiroth’s attention away from them.

But his muscles are frozen. And he finds himself feeling lucky to even be able to still breathe.

“You must be so proud of them,” Sephiroth says, reaching down into the cot, gently running a finger over Loz, Yazoo.

Cloud feels his muscles tensing. He wants to tear Sephiroth away from them. For all his conflicted feelings about the three he cannot deny the maternal instincts that are so strong in hi. The pressure under his skin demanding he protect the pups he birthed.

“To think,” Sephiroth says, picking Kadaj up, cradling the swaddled infant in his arms, “that we all start so vulnerable like this.”

“Let him go,” Cloud manages to growl out despite his muscles still feeling frozen in place.

Sephiroth gives a huff of almost laughter, but other than that he ignores Cloud’s words.

“We start so dependant on our parent’s care,” Sephiroth says, walking over to Cloud. Kajad tucked into the crook of his elbow – so tiny compared to him. So fragile. “You could have left them there to die in the elements.”

Left them where?

Cloud’s memories of their birth are fuzzy and patchy. Grief and pain and the wail of three infants, but that’s it. He doesn’t even know how he ended up under Tifa’s care.

“But you couldn’t, could you?” Sephiroth asks. And he’s standing right in front of Cloud now – Kadaj within reach if Cloud could just move his arms. “The instinct is too strong for you. Your body recognises them as yours and demands you care for them. Protect them.”

“You’ve never been good at fighting those instincts Cloud,” Sephiroth says and Cloud finally feels his muscles free up.

He lunges for Kadaj and as soon as his hands grab the baby Sephiroth vanishes. Leaving Cloud standing alone in the room, apart from Kadaj in his arms and the other two infants still sleeping in their cot.

Two seconds pass before a sharp wail fills the room. Cloud coming back to himself to realise it’s Kadaj.

“Shit, shhhh,” Cloud says, bouncing the boy in his arms to try and get him to calm. No need to wake his siblings or the neighbours after all.

[unicorinspace]

Hey

Wanna see this mess of an au so far?

People from Gaia can harness Materia and sometimes the Lifestream (if infused with Jenovah’s cells) but struggle with Crystal/Elemancy magic

Was taken over by Niflheim when the entire country was destabilized by infighting between the government and SHINRA, who was slowly killing their country and draining the life stream

Sephiroth was actually corrupted by Niflheim?? Set most of the stuff in FFVII in motion + the tension within the countries governmental system perfect setup for internal collapse. Weak and easy target for Niflheim to take

AVALANCHE was fighting against SHINRA at first like in canon, but after the Nif invasion turned to trying to free the country

didn’t go well being outnumbered and low on their own supplies

people started fleeing Gaia en masse

Materia is rare and hard to find outside of Gaia

HUGE blackmarket for Gaia natives to get ahold of Materia after they’ve been forced from their home

Niflheim wanted to invade Gaia for their technology and ability to mine the Lifestream cause their own scientists cant figure it out

after they take over Gaia it kind of backfires on them

Materia and the Lifestream doesn’t react well to outsiders of Gaia

Yeah, then corrupting Sephiroth kind of backfires on them too. MASSIVELY

most projects to harness Materia and the Lifestream are dropped because fuck that it’s easier to just take over Insomnia at this point

most of Gaia is either abandoned or under heavy occupancy

Cloud + AVALANCHE + the remains of Soldier team up to do hit and run strikes

at this point Regis has opened up Insomnia for them (like with Galahd). Most of the non-combat civilians immediately go over

but anyway Cloud + co are still doing these strikes

one mission goes badly

VERY BADLY

everyone gets separated and Cloud lets himself get captured so everyone else can escape

he think he’s going to be tortured + killed for information cause the Nifs are evil like that

nope instead its Versatael (how tf do I spell his name) and he’s got experiments to run

Cause Cloud’s the first specimen he’s had that’s been Mako infused

so ofc he’s gotta check that shit out and see if he can use it to make better MT’s

it’s not a fun time for Cloud. Lots of samples are taken of his blood, hair, skin etc

He’s there for maybe a couple months? it’s hard to tell there’s no goddamn sun

but he gets rescued by Zack and Tifa and a couple others (i love zack of course he needs to live HOW COULD I KILL HIM)

they’re on their way out cause whoops the base emptied out quick, there was hardly any MT’s around

they start snooping in versataels work and find out he did use clouds samples to make some sort of abomination and it’s still in the base for whatever reason

clearly they need to destroy it before it becomes a problem

so they find the room but there’s no daemon or whatnot

nope, it’s just an incubation tube with a baby in it

“wtf we can’t kill it!”

“ITS AN ARTIFICIAL BABY”

they argue back and forth until the self destruct alarm goes off

huh guess that’s why the base was mostly empty

zack finally wins the argument and they take said baby

they’re not monsters they can’t leave a little baby behind

even if it’s not fully... human

commence awesome action scene of escape

more arguing after the fact about who’s gonna take care of the kid

it’s TECHNICALLY cloud’s cause versatael used his and someone elses dna to make said kid

“i’m not a kid person zack”

“well we’re not dumping him off with some rando couple”

cloud finally agrees. zack’s too good at arguing wtf

after a while they have to fall back to Insomnia and Lucis

it’s not safe in Gaia anymore for environmental reasons and you can only stay on the road so long with a wee baby

they still run missions for Gaia but there’s a lot of juggling

Zack, Cloud and Tifa take turns watching said baby, who’s now been named Prompto

they gave him a Lucian name so he’d blend into society better. Insomnia has a bad track record with refugees and immigrants...

[vorpalgirl]

Hmm. I was always surprised that Tifa looked at like they had got lazy in a sense. She always struck me as a powerful female figure who stayed strong out of a love for it. So I wasn't fond of Tifas blasé views on staying out of the AC seph&cloud fight. Realistically it took all the gang to get through ff7. Cloud was not that amazing. Sorry cloud I still love you. But everyone was strong without mako enhancement. So I feel Tifa and the rest would be strong and amazingly badass, not just cloud.

This is kind of a complicated one, but:I’ve seen it explained that she was feeling worried she wouldn’t be able to keep up with Sephiroth without being a liability for Cloud, because like something like just hours or a day earlier or whatever (I forget if there was any real time between or not?) she had gotten her ass handed to her by Loz.Which isn’t too unreasonable – she puts up a damn good fight but if she can’t defeat one of the Remnants she’s not going to do so hot against Sephiroth himself, who won’t be fighting with the same weapons or tactics either that Loz used, but rather a nodachi (and she’s definitely a close-quarters fighter). I don’t think Tifa became ‘weak’ – the fact that she holds her own against Loz for as long as she does and pulls some impressive maneuvers shows she isn’t weak AT ALL – the Remnants themselves were way tougher than she was prepared to deal with all out of the blue, and AC, particularly ACC, shows pretty obviously that Sephiroth is TOYING with Cloud for most of the fight, and not taking it seriously. And he still damn near kills him. Am I saying that I think AVALANCHE couldn’t have pulled it together as one? Oh no, I think they coulda and it makes me wistful for an alternate universe where they totally did that instead of the one-on-one fight. But I can see where Tifa is coming from, ESPECIALLY since I don’t think she ever said ‘lazy’, or at least, didn’t mean it in the true sense; I think she was looking at it as, you know, when they were chasing Sephiroth all over the planet, they were CONSTANTLY training, whereas now, they’re kinda…grown up and moving on and have actual shit to do other than train and worry about the end of the world (which already kinda happened and they’re rebuilding from, after all). Barret’s off looking for new energy sources in oil fields, Yuffie’s busy with Wutai stuff, Reeve has the WRO to worry about, Tifa has her rebuilt bar and a pair of kids to watch, etc., and ALL of them have probably been contributing to reconstruction projects and stuff in places like Edge. They’re in controlled or populated areas, doing stuff. Cloud however, has been out doing delivery work when he wasn’t in a depressive moment; he’s out and about where there’s monsters afoot in the middle of nowhere, and basically hasn’t let his combat skills go in favor of other worries. That said, AVALANCHE was definitely ready to back him up; aside from the Bahamut SIN battle (wherein all of them contributed), Barret basically agrees with Teef that they’re not as in-practice as Cloud with combat lately, BUT adds a caveat: “He’s got ten minutes”. I never caught that on first viewing, but it’s important, because I think it shows that NOT ONLY do they feel like they can trust Cloud with someone crazy important and difficult like that, they’re still willing to back him up if it comes to that! It just didn’t happen to, in that case. Again, I do not think Tifa or anyone else in AVALANCHE is ‘lazy’ for not spending all her time training anymore, I think she’s a woman who has a life ;) That’s not generally a bad thing.Ironically though I will point out, this is also one of several points where AC kiiiinda mixes its messages a little; it’s all about teamwork! Except when they let Cloud try and handle it himself for ten minutes (note: Barret’s right, look at the running times/time stamps; they really did give him ten minutes to beat Sephiroth by himself, pfft). It’s all about forgiving yourself and moving on with your life and rebuilding! Except the reason Cloud was the one with his combat skills still at their sharpest was because that’s the opposite of what he had been doing…pft. (That’s not even touching how mako being drained from the Planet was supposed to be a metaphor for the dangers of fossil fuel over-consumption / environmental damage, only for the society in-story to start reverting back to coal and oil the moment mako gets ripped out from under it. Like I get that they had to resort to fuel sources that were available, and you can’t go from an energy-rich society to one that doesn’t rely on environment-destroying ones overnight without transition and still rebuild without having a stop gap, but there isn’t even a mention of clean energy attempts?? Not even in the tertiary media like the novellas?? Wut. Reeve, get on the ball here! X3).AC is definitely flawed but I mostly forgive it is what I’m saying. But it’s harder to really forgive certain flaws unless you’re looking not only at the ACC version, but also taking into account the little off-hand moments and background details, and especially the novellas, where there were things like Yuffie running around the whole damn globe trying to find a cure for Geostigma, and Nanaki like spending months in the forest basically doing nothing but living his life taking care of a pair of baby animals seriously Nanaki you are such a cinnamon roll omg. But yeah, AVALANCHE had a lot of stuff they were doing in that two years.