#clouds like should i go and cid shouts at him too | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

superhusbands4ever · 3 years

Text

The Chain - Chapter 2/15

Now to check in with The Bad Batch.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Full Work | AO3 Link

Fandom: The Bad Batch (Star Wars)

Characters: Crosshair, Hunter, Howzer, Rex, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, Omega, Various Clones

Relationships: Crosshair & Howzer, Crosshair & Rex, Crosshair & The Bad Batch, Crosshair & Omega, Hunter & Rex, Hunter & Omega

Additional Tags: Crosshair Redemption, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Humor, Found Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Graphic Violence, Eventual Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: One year after the events of The Bad Batch, Crosshair struggles to reconcile his choice with the harsh truth of the world around him. He finds enlightenment in the most unlikely of places and realizes he may have made the wrong decision. But is it too late to do something about it?

Two years after the events of The Bad Batch, Rex reluctantly agrees to allow Hunter and his squad to help him rescue a man who's been captured by the Empire, an Imperial double agent who's cover has been blown. What Hunter thought to be a simple extraction ends up having far greater consequences for their squad than he could have ever anticipated.

At any moment the decision you make can change the course of your life forever.

- Tony Robbins

“How much longer until we’re there?”

Hunter turned from the navicomputer to look at the young girl beside him.

“We should be dropping out of hyperspace in a few minutes, so not much longer,” he said, fiddling with buttons on the computer. “You should go ahead and get your stuff ready for when we land.”

“Okay,” she smiled, bouncing on the balls of her feet excitedly. “I can’t wait to see Rex. I want to show him how much better I’ve gotten with my bow.”

Hunter smiled. “I’m sure he’s excited to see you, too. It’s been awhile.”

She nodded, skipping away to her room to gather her things.

She’d grown so much since the day the Batch met her on Kamino two and a half years ago. Sometimes Hunter wondered if maybe Omega did actually have advanced aging with how quickly she’d shot up in so short a time.

Before where the top of her head had only come up to his chest, now she was tall enough to lean her head on his shoulder when standing together (though the others teased that had more to do with his own height than Omega’s.) Her hair was longer too, down to her shoulders in a frizzy mess of blonde curls. Her face had lost some of the baby fat she’d had nearly three years ago, and she was slowly but surely looking less like the awkward child they’d saved from the Empire, and more like the young teen that she was becoming.

She’d settled into her place in their squad much more comfortably now, too. Going on supply runs and various jobs for Cid would be impossible without her — she factored into all of their plans, worked fearlessly and flawlessly with the others, and had become so proficient with her bow it made Hunter’s chest ache when he watched her.

Her confident shooting and various games on missions with Wrecker reminded him so much of their missing family member it hurt. They hadn’t seen nor heard from Crosshair at all in the two years since they’d left him on Kamino. Since he left us, he tried to remind himself. He made his choice.

Their squad worked their hardest to stay under the Empire’s radar since Tipoca City, picking and choosing jobs that weren’t too risky, that didn’t grant too much exposure. Rex was right that day on Ord Mantell — being dead in the eyes of the Empire had its advantages. Especially when that meant the leftover bounties from the Kaminoans on Omega disappeared. From what Tech could glean from Imperial channels, as far as the Empire was concerned, the sole survivor of the destruction of Tipoca City was Commander CT-9904. The longer it stayed that way the better.

They couldn’t figure out why Crosshair would protect them, would lie and tell the Empire that they had perished in the bombardment. They thought maybe it was only a matter of time before they were caught out, before Crosshair’s anger at them got the better of him and he let it slip that they were still out there somewhere in the galaxy. But as a month turned into six, six months turned to a year, and a year turned to two with no Imperial bounties on their heads, they began to accept that maybe this was Crosshair’s last gift to them. A chance to survive the Empire, at least by him not giving them away.

Hunter would be lying if he said that knowledge hadn’t given him hope. That maybe his little brother, who’d slept in his bunk during bad storms as a cadet and gave him Lula to hold when the sensory overload got too bad, was still in there somewhere. That the cold, angry, and jaded man they’d seen on Kamino wasn’t all that was left of their kih’vod.

Nowadays he wasn’t so sure. As far as they knew, Crosshair was still with the Empire. And with each day as the Empire’s list of crimes and atrocities grew, Hunter’s hope for his little brother realizing his mistake and coming home to them dwindled. Maybe Tech was right. Crosshair was severe and unyielding and nothing could change that. Crosshair had made his choice.

This… is who I am.

Maybe this was who Crosshair had been all along, much as it pained him to consider.

The navicomputer beeped and pulled him from his ruminations just as the ship shuttered, dropping out of hyperspace in the Yavin system.

He stood and walked toward the cockpit, watching as the forest moon in front of them grew larger as they grew closer.

“Entering atmo shortly,” Tech announced, pressing buttons on the dash. “We should be landing at the base momentarily.”

“It’ll be good to see Rex again,” Echo said, stretching his arms above his head. “I wonder if he’s found any more clones since we were here last.”

“He seemed optimistic last time we talked,” Hunter agreed. “There were more clones than I expected there already a few months ago.”

“Rex is a proficient and effective leader,” Tech added as he brought the ship down through the clouds, “it is not surprising that he would have decent success on his mission.”

“I just wish we could help him more than doing the occasional supply drop,” Echo said. “It feels wrong to not be helping with the vode. To not be joining the fight.”

“Keeping off of the Empire's radar is more important right now,” Hunter reminded his brother for what felt like the hundredth time, “which we can’t do if we’re running rebel missions to help clones defect from the Empire.”

“I know, I know,” Echo grumbled, crossing his arms petulantly. He sighed. “I just…”

Hunter laid his hand on Echo’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

“I know.”

“Beginning landing sequence now,” Tech called as he flipped the landing gear.

As the ship touched down on the landing pad hidden away from the base in the trees, a loud crash came from the back racks, followed by twin groans.

Hunter squinted back at the pair. “What was that?”

“Nothing!” Omega and Wrecker both shouted back.

Omega stepped out of the hold, bow strapped to her back, fiddling with the strap of her pauldron. She saw Hunter looking at her and smiled brightly and innocently at him, moving to stand in front of Wrecker as he rushed to clean up the knocked over crates. Hunter rolled his eyes.

Soon after the five of them were offloaded and walking through the trees toward the base. It didn’t take long to reach - as they drew closer Hunter felt worry stirring in his chest at the sounds of raised voices, scraping crates, and the general sounds of chaos that, in his experience, indicated something bad was happening.

He sped up a bit, the others following behind him, and he heard them all make their own noises of concern as they drew close enough to the base for the others to hear.

A couple of Regs standing at the entrance of the hangar bay moved forward as if to stop them, but waved them through once Hunter pulled off his helmet.

“Captain’s inside,” he said, nodding to the chaotic scene behind him.

They all walked inside slowly, Omega jumping out of the way of a frantic looking nat-born woman, the upper half of her jumpsuit tied around her waist, waving a datapad threateningly and shouting at someone on top of the freighter in the middle of the room.

“What’s going on here?” Wrecker grumbled as they watched clone and nat-born alike clamber around, gathering supplies and loading them into the freighter.

Hunter’s brow quirked as he watched two men load a crate of explosives while another loaded a crate of ammunition onto the ship.

“It would appear they are prepping for an urgent mission,” Tech said, adjusting his giggles as they watched the chaos.

“We just commed Rex an hour ago and he said everything was fine,” Echo looked toward the group, concerned.

“Hello boys!”

They all turned at the sound of a familiar voice and watched Gregor walk toward them, fully armored, with a wave and a grin on his face.

“And lady,” he added once he was next to them, smiling down at Omega and offering her a high five which she accepted.

“What’s the hustle for, Gregor?”

“Bit of an emergency came up in the last hour or so,” Gregor said with a sigh, face falling into a serious expression as he looked around. “One of Rex’s main operatives sent out a distress signal. Looks like he’s been busted and needs extraction.”

“I didn’t know Rex ran stealth ops,” Hunter said, surprised.

“Oh, he doesn’t. But this one is a bit of a special case,” Gregor explained. “He’s had a man playing double agent in the Empire for about a year now. He’s the guy who’s been helping us save all these clones.”

Glancing around, Hunter couldn’t help but be impressed. He knew Rex had made it his mission to fight the Empire and save all the regs he could, but Hunter hadn’t realized just how many Rex had managed to accumulate even since they were last on base four months ago. There had to be dozens of clones just in the hangar bay. Who knew how many were in the rest of the base.

“One man helped smuggle all these clones out?” Hunter asked, surprised.

“Them and more,” Gregor nodded. “Even helped some get their chips out first.”

“And now the Empire’s figured him out.”

“Aye, vod,” Gregor sighed. “Rex wants to try and extract him as soon as we can. He’s done so much for us… we don’t leave men behind.”

Hunter nodded, very carefully ignoring the way Echo shifted at his back.

“Trooper! Make sure you load a couple emergency field kits and a med scanner into the cargo. I don’t know what sort of condition he’ll be in when we get to him.”

The group turned to watch as Rex rounded the freighter, fully kitted up in his customary 501st blue armor, helmet tucked under his arm. Captain Howzer followed close behind him, similarly decked out in full armor. Rex stood and directed a few of the troopers around before turning to the group huddled to the side of the chaos.

“Evening, Bad Batch,” he greeted as he walked closer, chuckling when Omega ran forward to wrap her arms around the man’s waist.

“Hey there, ‘Meg.”

Howzer nodded respectfully to Hunter and the others.

“What’s going on here, Rex?” Echo said as he stepped around Hunter.

“Emergency extraction,” Rex said simply, accepting the gentle kov’nyn from Echo when the man reached forward. “Bit of a sketchy situation. We need to leave as soon as possible.”

“Heard about your man,” Echo said, “how deep was he?”

“Very deep,” Rex sighed, expression pinched. “Hopefully we can get to him before, well….”

Hunter nodded as Rex trailed off. By this point, they were all familiar with the Empire’s idea of justice against those they felt had wronged them.

“We should head out,” Rex said, nodding at Howzer and Gregor. The two saluted and Gregor slid his helmet on. “It’s a couple hours to Daro and I don’t want to waste any more time.”

Hunter started. “Wait, Daro--?”

“Rex, wait!”

The group turned to watch as a rather gaunt looking clone with a handlebar moustache ran up to the three captains.

“I’d like to request permission to go on this mission, sir,” he said, snapping breathlessly to attention and saluting.

Rex looked at the other clone with concern clear on his face.

‘I don’t know, Boil. You’ve only been here a couple of days, you should be taking time to recover--”

“I understand,” the clone - Boil - said, relaxing. “But I owe it to the Commander to help him. It’s my fault he got caught in the first place.”

“No it wasn’t,” Rex argued, reaching out and clapping Boil on the shoulder. “He knew the risks and it was his decision. Besides, you have no way of knowing--”

“That signal went out within days of getting me out,” Boil said quietly. “I know how high of a risk I was, but he did it anyway. I owe this to him.”

Rex held the other man’s gaze for a long moment before sighing and turning to Howzer.

“I hate to ask,” Rex began apologetically, “I know the two of you are close, but--”

“I’ll stay here,” Howzer agreed, reaching up to pull his helmet off. “Man the fort, as it were.”

He glanced over Rex’s shoulder at Hunter and the others before turning back to the other man.

“Just…” Howzer sighed, face pinched, “bring him back safe, okay?”

“That’s the plan,” Rex assured him as the two braced arms.

He unclipped his bucket from his belt and slid it over his head.

“Sorry to dash on you like this, boys,” Rex said, turning back to Hunter and the rest of their squad. “We’ll have to catch up another time.”

“I understand,” Hunter said, reaching forward to clasp the other clone’s hand. “Good luck on your--”

“We can go too!”

Everyone in the cluster turned to look at Omega, who pushed her way forward between Hunter and Boil to stand next to Rex.

“You can?”

“We can?”

Hunter and Rex glanced at each other before Hunter turned back to Omega.

“Yeah!” Omega insisted, looking imploringly at Hunter. “We’ve been to Daro and broke out Gregor before, you know the facility. You guys are trained in special ops, and if this guy is as important as Gregor says he is then they’re going to need all the help they can get.”

Rex glanced back at Gregor who shrugged.

“Omega,” Hunter sighed, “we can’t-- they’re going into a major Imperial base. If something happens and we get caught, we’ll be in serious trouble. The Empire thinks we’re dead and we need to keep it that way. Besides, Gregor knows the inside of that base better than any of us.”

“But we can help!” Omega argued, frustration clear on her face. “Whoever The Commander is has saved so many people, if our help gives Rex a better chance at saving him, I think we should do it!”

“Omega, we can’t risk--”

“We can’t run from the Empire forever, Hunter,” Omega said softly, grabbing Hunter’s hand.

“Besides, I--” she glanced over to Rex who had yet to speak, before turning and leaning closer to Hunter.

“I have a feeling about this mission,” Omega said quietly, eyes bright as she looked at her brother. “This feels right. I think this is where we’re supposed to be. I can’t explain it, but I… I think we need to do this.”

Hunter sighed, staring down at Omega’s hand on his.

He knew logically that their safety from the Empire wasn’t meant to last. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to hide Omega and his squad from them forever. The Empire certainly wasn’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future, so running into them again was ultimately inevitable. It was hard enough keeping his squad away already, Echo arguing with him about helping Rex and the rebellion more and more as the Empire grew. Wrecker and Omega were starting to back Echo up whenever he and Hunter argued, so he knew it was only a matter of time.

He just thought they’d have more time than this. Two years was admittedly a long time to continue on without Imperial detection, but Hunter had been hopeful their peace could last a little bit longer. Omega may have been growing up quickly but she was still a kid. Kids shouldn’t need to worry about rebellions and Empires and bounties and missions and death.

Besides, this seemed like an unnecessary risk to Hunter. Whatever feeling Omega had about this mission, Hunter wasn’t getting it. It felt like a waste to risk their tentative peace and safety from the Empire on a rescue mission for some man they didn’t even know. No matter how impressive his work against the Empire was.

But as much as Omega was a bleeding heart about helping those in need, she was also stubborn as hell. A trait she shared with all the clones, really, but it had gotten worse in her time as a member of the Bad Batch.

Hunter looked back into Omega’s wide eyes and felt his resolve crumble. He sighed, glancing back to the rest of the squad. Tech and Wrecker looked impassive as they stared back at Hunter, likely waiting for him to make a decision and follow whatever option he chose. Echo was looking back at him with the same amount of hope, the same determined resolve that Omega had in her eyes and Hunter knew he was losing the battle here.

He sighed tiredly, turning back to Rex.

“Got room in that ship for five more, Captain?”

Rex was frozen in place as he stared back at Hunter. His body language gave no indication as to what he thought of this development, though the incredulous tone he’d used to question Omega indicated that this was not a turn of events he was planning, or even hoping, for. With his helmet on and staring blankly at him, Hunter had a hard time getting a read as to what the other man was thinking.

Rex’s head tilted just slightly to glance briefly at Howzer, who was standing to the side watching the exchange with a strangely intense look in his eyes.

“I don’t know if--”

“Please, Rex?” Omega said, stepping up to the older clone.

Rex shuffled under Omega’s intense gaze, a feeling Hunter was very familiar with. Finally he sighed, dropping his chin to his chest before turning back to Hunter.

“I don’t have time to argue about this— fine,” he said, ignoring Omega’s happy whoop. “But you have to do exactly as I say, okay? No matter what happens.”

If Hunter didn’t know any better he’d say the Captain sounded tense, almost nervous. Hunter nodded and heard the others agree as well.

Rex kept his gaze on Hunter for another moment before shaking his head and turning toward the freighter.

“Let’s go,” he ordered, commanding tone back as he barked orders at the men around them. “We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”

Hunter turned back and nodded at the rest of his squad, who all nodded and slipped their helmets back on their heads as they checked their gear.

“Good luck,” Hunter heard Howzer mutter to Rex, who just shook his head. Something told him they weren’t talking about the mission.

Together they followed Rex, Boil, and Gregor up the ramp of the freighter, Rex and Tech headed for the cockpit. As everyone else got strapped in and the engines on the ship started, Hunter couldn’t help but wonder if he was making the right choice.

Omega may have had a good feeling about this mission, but Hunter had a feeling this mission was going to change everything for them, and he wasn’t sure it was for the better.

#cady writes #the chain #the bad batch #tbb #the bad batch fanfiction #tbb crosshair #tbb hunter #tbb tech #tbb echo #tbb wrecker #tbb omega #captain rex #my fic

9 notes · View notes

meteorstricken · 4 years

Text

Sephiroth Week, Day 7 Prompt: Rebirth

“Assimilation”

"Let me give you one last piece of advice, Ancient. No matter what you do, it's futile. It's all part of this Planet's system. Many foreign entities from the skies fall into the Planet's life cycle unknowingly and now Jenova’s in there. So where does its soul go? Even if you try to destroy it, it will never disappear. It has merged with the Sea of Mako, drifting through every part of the Planet through the Lifestream. One day, you will all have to live as part of Jenova. Hahaha... It's only a matter of how soon that will happen."--Professor Hojo to Aerith, 'Maiden Who Travels the Planet'

~~~~

Spring

The planet's personality was changing. Spring brought forth flora in vibrant, unnatural colors--purple spiny fronds where long, gentle gold and green waves used to grow. Giantism emerged in some of the smaller creatures. A house kitten born the previous winter might be confused with one of the big, feral carnivores, because that's what it had become. Chocobo teeth were novelty for country fairs, once their keepers learned how not to get bitten. And, incidentally, once they figured out that the birds no longer craved greens. A herding dog or two was lost to that discovery.

Although the change brought fear, for the most part, people learned to live with it. Smaller villages put up fences. Hunting became a popular pastime once more, granting some of the elderly a renewed sense of purpose as they trained their grandchildren. Cuisine and medicine transformed by leaps and bounds. At times it was a struggle, but adaptation allowed everyone to continue living their normal lives for the most part.

What had brought on this change? What had so influenced the planet's idea of itself? Most--from the subsistence farmer to the W.R.O. expert reporting directly to Reeve Tuesti--believed that it was simply the growing pains of a world that had been through way too much in too little time. Jokes of planetary puberty abounded.

No one could say for sure, but there was also no evidence to the contrary. Wily though the world was, there seemed to be no deliberate villainy afoot, and the last Mako reactor had been disabled years ago.

----------------------

Summer

They were once members of Shinra-endorsed fanclub called the Silver Elite, which also served as an arm of the old company's propaganda efforts. Although long since disbanded, many remained friends, and they journeyed together to Icicle Inn that Summer to get away from the abnormal heat that had cloaked much of the world, binding it into one shared season. It was unusually warm here as well, but pleasantly so.

Under a full moon they gathered around a fire, black-cloaked and nervous. All at once, they'd felt the urge--no, the need-- to dress that way. It was comfortable, they said to one another, but they couldn't define it any further than that, and they didn't try to. A hush fell over them. One woman began to hum a directionless, unknown tune. Two more joined in with her. Then, all together, they somehow achieved a perfect, united harmony.

"Do you remember Sephiroth?" one of them spoke when they'd ended the mysterious song.

There was laughter at first. Of course everyone remembered. The only reason most of them knew one another was because Shinra had convinced them to lust after its prided SOLDIER. Not that much convincing had been needed--the man had been a living masterpiece.

"But he was more…he became more than that, didn't he?" the eldest voiced. There was something desperate and pleading in her tone, as if she was trying to remember part of the doctored tales they'd all been fed that perhaps wasn't so made up.

"If Chairwoman H was right…maybe?"

"Whatever became of her? Did anyone ever actually meet her? Who was she?"

"Probably just another company shill."

Another long, drawn out silence descended over the group. The fire snapped and crackled, and a chilly wind blew down from the Great Glacier--a rapid-melting mass that was said to have flooded the ancient ruins nearby. Small runoff streams had turned to pregnant, raging rivers. There was one they could all hear nearby, roaring as it raced out to the ocean.

"He's alive. I can feel it. We were lied to."

"He can't die. Not truly. He will always return."

Fearful glances rounded the flames. Some nature of spell had come over all of them; something far more potent than raving, pop culture-promoted thirst. What had started as a get away to remember the bad old days had turned to an impromptu cultish conclave, though not one believed they were making anything up. The words and tunes and rhythms surged through them from without--something magical and terrible.

There was no time to think twice. They had heard the call, and they'd all obeyed. What more was left to them?

"The Crisis and Solution, beginning to end to beginning again. Become now the cycle and the meaning, the life and the death, in aeternum, forever and ever," raised up an overlapping chant.

There was weeping. There was trembling. They all shouted the name. And they all threw themselves into the fire.

----------------------

Autumn

When Fall arrived, it brought with it dying, pretty leaves and a stilted harvest time--the world had not yet adjusted to living the same season all at once. Supply chains were strained, but attitudes remained upbeat. The planet was healing, everyone agreed. They had to follow its lead so that it could complete the process. For all humanity had taken, a little sacrifice for a couple of years was a small price to pay to be able to witness the planet at full strength--something only the Ancients would have last seen. To live in such a time was a privilege.

And that remained the message, even as Rufus Shinra, his Turks and W.R.O. operatives in Midgar and Junon convened over video calls in darkest hours before dawn. It had now become mercilessly clear that the planet was not acting on its own.

"Yes, degradation, like SOLDIER," Tseng confirmed. "It was first observed in the Junon area forests."

"Which life forms appear to be affected? Is it a danger to humans yet?" Reeve asked.

"Everything our people have tested has come up positive, including crops and cattle. Anything that eats has it," Rufus broke in.

Reeve crossed one leg over the other, wiped his brow, and loosened his collar. "But degradation comes directly from…" He couldn't bring himself to finish.

"Jenova cells. The late Professor Hojo's Reunion theories never accounted for something of this scale, however," Tseng supplied.

"Reunion suggests a gathering together of infected organisms. This is just…it's a take over!" Reeve exclaimed. "How do we stop it?"

Eyes darted between one another. Heads bowed. Of course, there was no stopping it now. It was something that, if they'd not been distracted with everything else over the past several years--Sephiroth's second coming, Deepground and Omega, and the sheer labor expenditure it took to try to keep society stable and rebuilding through those setbacks--should have been researched and addressed immediately following Meteorfall.

But no one knew enough. No one even knew to ask if there could be such all-consuming consequences for the SRD's environmental failures like this. It was beyond imagining.

"We don't. We stay the course," Rufus finally answered.

"Accept that adaptation is necessary, and everyone has to do their part to live with it…" Reeve said, defeated.

----------------------

Winter

Sephiroth opened his eyes. He could sense that a frigid cold had overtaken the surface world in its entirety. Mother's essence had at last permeated all things, causing the ecosystems to assimilate and the seasons to act as one. All plant life had returned its energy to the planet, and there its cycle had ended with him; one with him. He was the new living thing they were all to become.

The planet itself was a second skin for him now, one that he was gradually peeling back with each new death.

All fauna was at his fingertips to do with as he pleased--he needed only reach out. Whales, bloated and transformed beyond their bodies' functioning, beached themselves. Fish devoured one another in a feeding frenzy, each one poisoning the other. Bears that would have hibernated crawled out restless from their dens, fierce and hungry. They waded up streams to feed, restrained to the instinct that would have prepared them for the Winter months, freezing to death overly-gorged. House pets turned on their keepers, content to feed on the hands that had faithfully provided for them.

Spirit energy surged and surged into the planet's core, into him. He was rising, becoming…

Bleak despair shrouded the humans' domains as the months crept onward, and Spring failed to arrive again because he did not ordain it so. Some of them killed themselves; others relished blame and murder. Most of the time, they were inspiration enough for themselves, but that did not stop Sephiroth from amusing himself, pushing where hesitation plagued them. Riots and mini wars broke out.

A select few names, he withheld from the end until the very last. Cloud, Tifa, Nanaki, Vincent, Cid, Barret, Reeve, along with some who remained with Shinra were to see the world in its total desolation.

When that day came, he drew them together at the ocean's crimson-dyed shore and announced his presence in their minds. Yes, it was him all along. He had done this, and they'd accomplished nothing but to watch and wait. They'd allowed him to infect all things, and for a time, had taken joy in it. Now, all that was left of the surface was them, the corpse-littered ice-encrusted landscape, and its bloody waters.

As one, they fell to their knees, and he placed a weak, breathy proclamation on their frost-bitten lips--"The Crisis and Solution, beginning to end to beginning again. Become now the cycle and the meaning, the life and the death, in aeternum, forever and ever."

At last, he sent a tidal wave to crush them, and their souls were his.

----------------------

Rebirth

A dead planet spun erratically off its axis, breaking orbit from its sun, and flung itself into the depths of space. Fragments broke off from the old husk until all that was left was the green orb that had incubated inside. Brilliantly glowing, it shattered into a million gleaming shards, and a living entity full of wings and eyes--the summation of all life that had ever lived on that world-- unfurled from it.

A god was born.

#sephirothweek2020 #sephirothweek #sephiroth #ffvii #my fics #day 7 #mild gore #major character death #graphic depictions of violence #lovecraftian shenanigans

24 notes · View notes

miss-tc-nova · 4 years

Text

A SOLDIER’s Memories - Cloud Strife x Fem!Reader Pt 8

Ah, I love it!

ALSO CONTAINS MAJOR SERIES SPOILERS...Then again, if you don’t know already, what the heck?

Part 8: Frailty

Cloud’s been acting a little odd since our duel at the Gold Saucer. Granted, we’ve been through quite a bit of hell since then so I suppose I should clarify that Cloud has been acting odd around me. I don’t like it. I catch him often staring at me while in the midst of conversations with others. He’s increased his attempts to interact with me or at least put up with my antics. Of course, even in my ridiculousness, I ensure that there are clear boundaries drawn in the sand—there will be no personal bonding time; we’re “work buddies” now, not the love struck teens we used to be. And I will not let my brain convince me he’s the same when he’s not; I don’t need that.

I strut out of town towards the airship, kind of excited to show off my prize to the group. I hop up the steps and walk through the airship, singing, “Lookey lookey what the SOLDIER Queen brought back! Oi, Cid! Bring us some glasses!”

I set the crate on a desk as people gather around.

“What’re you yellin’ about?” grumbles Cid.

Reaching into the box, I hold up a bottle. “Your queen doth provide.”

Tifa peers into the box, a grin on her face like I knew there would be. “Is this what you’ve been getting into all morning?” she scolds playfully.

I shrug. “More or less. There was a monster problem and now there isn’t. They couldn’t afford to pay me though and insisted I take this.” Opening the drink in my hand, I take a swig. “I normally would’ve said no, but I’ve heard talk that you’re one hell of a bartender.”

I spot Cloud coming into the room but before I can focus on him, Barret reaches into the box. “Damn, I knew I liked you SOLDIER.”

“You threatened to off me on multiple occasions,” I quip.

He points at me. “That’s ‘cause you a threat.”

“Damn right. Now let’s drink!” I push the youngest of us away. “Not you, Yuffie. You’re a minor.”

“Aww!”

Tifa starts pouring out glasses and everyone gets to drinking, except Yuffie and Cait Sith; even Red has a one. This is the lightest any of us have been in a long time, just as I hoped.

It’s dark out. Most of the alcohol is gone and several members of our squad are out cold or have retired to bed. It’s only us girls and Cloud but he’s sitting quietly in the corner while we chat away.

“Hey, what’s this?” Yuffie asks, digging through the box and retrieving a piece of paper. She turns it over, revealing several numbers and a name scrawled across it. “Ooo. It’s a phone number. You’re naughty,” she teases.

“Is that how you really got us these drinks?” Tifa joins in.

This is an awkward subject and I kind of want to go back to talking about Barret and Marlene. Still, I go along with it. “No way. Though he was hinting really hard that he’s free tomorrow night,” I laugh, taking another swig of my drink.

“Maybe we can talk the others into staying another day. I think you should really consider going to see him.” I know Tifa’s just trying to look out for me, but I’m absolutely not interested in romance right now.

This is where I make my mistake. My automatic response comes out of my mouth before I can think about it. “Nah. I already got a boyfriend.”

Cloud’s spit take from the corner mirrors exactly how my brain is now panicking.

Why did I say that?! I’m such an idiot!

After the Nibelheim Incident, the reply had truly been an automatic response, but as time went on, I came up with this unrealistic hope that if I continued to say it, it would be true. That sure backfired on me. Anyway, I lost all desire to invest in any new personal relationships so I never curbed the habit; men that dared approach me were quickly put down with that statement. If they weren’t, they needed extra special explanations and I don’t want to go into that. I’d done so well in keeping these people, no matter how much I like them, at a distance, but now I’ve finally slipped up and it might be the worst mistake I could’ve made in front of them.

“Cloud, are you okay?!” Tifa shouts. The choking man holds up a thumb. I curse his resilience just a little when the two females turn back on me.

Yuffie puts her hands on my knee, bouncing in her seat. “You have a boyfriend?! What’s his name?! What’s he like?!” She’s a gossip depraved teenager.

I can’t contain the heat of embarrassment and fear rising in my face. “Sorry, no! I-I misspoke.”

She puffs out her cheeks. “What do you mean you misspoke?”

I stare eat the amber liquid in my glass, thumbs running along the rim while my brain attempts to regain composure. I guess I couldn’t hide everything from them forever. Full of nerves, I answer truthfully, well almost. “Well I…had a boyfriend. But he’s gone now.”

“Wait! When did you date? Where is he now? What happened?”

Dammit Yuffie! I just need her to shut up before I strangle her. “He died.”

Instantly, the atmosphere in the room goes south and the girl is no longer all that eager, just as I hoped. “Oh. I’m sorry…”

After attempting to lighten everyone’s mood, I have successfully ruined it for those of us in this room.

“What happened?” asks Tifa softly. I wish she hadn’t.

I heave a sigh. “It was years ago, before I met you guys and I was still in SOLDIER. He was an infantryman working for Shinra too so we ended up working together a lot. Then one day…we went on a mission that didn’t go so well.” My fingers slip around the pendant hiding my dearest memories, the thoughts burning against my fingers. “I know I should’ve let go by now, but I just can’t bring myself to find someone else.”

Tifa rests a hand against my back. “Hey, different people grieve in different ways. He must’ve meant a lot to you, so it’s okay that you still miss him.”

Yuffie’s got far less tact. “So what was he like?”

I didn’t want to share any of my life with these people; I haven’t shared it with anyone in five years. But somehow, in this moment, I can’t help talking about him. A smile sneaks onto my lips. “Heh, he definitely kept me grounded. He could bring me down from any fury within minutes. Got me out of plenty of sticky situations and we argued all the time, but it was never serious. Just for fun, ya know.” Gods, my heart aches, but these were the happiest moments of my life. “But he was always so sweet and would do anything for me. His hair was so soft and I could’ve spent hours looking into his eyes. The way he smelled was always so comforting. I just…” Against my will, my eyes flicker to the blonde. “I miss him.”

There’s silence and I can feel the seams I’d welded together so tightly beginning to crack. I went further down the rabbit hole than I meant to. Before I break, I need to get out of here. I give my head a shake and set my unfinished glass aside.

Putting on my usual guise, I stand and say, “Okay, I think that’s enough for me.” I hate that look they’re giving me. Still, I smile. “You guys have fun, but don’t stay up too late. I’m gonna go crash.” Nobody says a word; all just staring at me with a mix of awe and sympathy. “What?”

Tifa answers with concern. “You’re crying.”

I blink in surprise, realizing that my vision isn’t as clear as I would’ve declared. Now I’m definitely in trouble. I clear my eyes, bringing back my mask. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

The bartender stands. “Maybe you should hang out with us a little longer. We can keep you company.”

“No. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” I’m not, but I’m not going to show her that. My muscles strain to maintain my composure and steady breathing and these damn tears keep trying to escape. I need to go. “I’m just gonna get to bed. I worked hard for that alcohol, you know.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” With a brief way, I head for the rooms. “See you guys in the morning.”

Just outside of the room, I pause, stuffing the screams back down. I can hear them.

Yuffie mutters, “I’ve never seen her cry.”

Tifa agrees, “No, even when Aerith died. She was sad, but she didn’t cry…”

More tears fall. Dammit!

I head quickly for my room, desperate to lock the door and hide away, hide my shame and misery. Just as I reach for the handle to my door, a hand grabs my wrist and pulls me back around. There’s no time; the tears just keep falling and I don’t have time to hide them from the very cause of it all.

“Cloud?” He can probably hear the grief in my voice, but I try to stay calm. Pulling from his grasp, I wipe at my face. “What’s wrong?”

The man just stands there, staring down at me with a look of pure pity that I loathe. I don’t want to see it, let alone from him.

My words come a bit more sharply this time. “What? What is it?” When I still don’t get a response, I turn back to my room, but again he stops me. This agitates my anger and weakens my control on my tears. “I don’t need your fucking pity! So if you don’t have something to say, you can fuck off!”

Those words get promptly thrown right back in my face. Cloud reaches out, his cool, calloused hand brushing some of the water from my face.

“I’m sorry.”

For a moment, it’s him and it shatters everything. My willpower breaks and I bury my face in his chest, hands desperately grasping at his shirt. All control goes out the window as I sob. At least I might retain some dignity; Cloud moves us from the hallway and into my room. I’m sure he’s uncomfortable, but he still sits on the bed with me, letting me fall to pieces. His presence, his embrace, his heartbeat, all of it makes this whole thing so much worse, but I’m far weaker than the persona I’d built to hide it all. I can’t bring myself to let him go or push him away. I’ve held onto this despair for so long it’s overwhelming; so I’ll take advantage of his presence at least for now.

#cloud strife #cloud x reader #cloud strife x reader #ffvii cloud #ff7 cloud #fem!reader

27 notes · View notes

echoes-of-the-clockwork · 4 years

Text

Book Three: Pestilence (Ignis x Reader) Chapter Six

A couple of days have passed since the group's trip up the Rock of Ravatogh. They were currently back in Lestallum, heading toward the gas station on the main road. "Don't wanna keep Cid and Cindy waiting. They're fixin' up the boat as we speak," Gladio stated.

"We ought to thank them," Ignis said.

"Actually, Jared's the one we oughta thank."

"Yeah..." Prompto mumbled melancholically. "He really thought of everything."

Noctis and the others meet up with Iris at the Coernix Station, where she awaits them beside the Regalia. "Filled 'er up for ya!" She chanted when she turned and saw the group approaching.

"Thanks," Gladio said to his younger sister.

"So, um..." Prompto glanced around the large group. "How is this gonna work? There's six of us, but only five seats."

"Oh..." Iris mumbled in realization. "Maybe I should-"

(Y/n) quickly interrupted the young girl. "I've my own ride. Iris will ride in the backseat with Noctis and Gladio."

Gladio crossed his arms with a smirk. "More surprises for us?"

"More or less," she grins. Lifting her hand, she placed her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A cloud of smoke surrounded the group before dissipating. Standing a few feet in front of Pestilence was a horse.

Iris gasped, placing her hands over her mouth in shock. "How did you...?"

"This is Erra, my loyal steed. He will be my ride," (Y/n) exclaimed.

Gladio explained to his sister who the white-haired girl truly was while the horse meandered away from his rider and seemed to be attracted to Ignis. His hooves clicked against the pavement as he approached the strategist. Ignis wasn't fazed, more shocked than anything, as Erra sniffed the front of his dress shirt.

Pestilence watched with a giggly grin plastered on her face. "Seems you've caught his interest, Ignis."

Ignis stared into the white of Erra's eyes as he reached out a gloved hand slowly toward his muzzle. The horse stepped forward when it saw the advisor's hesitation and placed his muzzle against the man's hand with a joyous snort.

"Magnificent," Ignis gasped in wonderment as he petted the steed. Erra closed his eyes, enjoying every stroke of the tactician's fingers.

(Y/n) crossed her arms over her chest, popping out a hip. "What a greedy horse..." Erra heard his rider and his eyes opened. He trotted over to her and bumped his head against the side of hers, making the Horseman laugh. "Yes, yes. I know it's been a while, but I need your assistance now."

Erra bobbed his head up and down with a huff, nuzzling his snout against her cheek as a way to say he'll help. The Horseman scratched the top of his head with a smile.

After Gladio finished his explanation, Iris was in complete shock and stared at the ivory-haired girl with wide eyes. "No way..." She mumbled. "They're real? I thought the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were just a scary fairytale. Gladdy told me the tale about them a couple years ago."

"Those tales you speak of are falsified," (Y/n) stated. "Our true tale has yet to be written in the pages of any book."

"What's the real one?" Iris asked curiously.

***

Four souls were pulled from the four corners of Hell, gifted with abilities no human, god, nor daemon could comprehend. Each soul was given one of four aliases that accompanied their powers-War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. Now dubbed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by the Daemon King, Aeshema, they were sent to a world between the living and the dead known as the Inner Sanctum-a domain where the Four Horsemen would reside and keep order of the monsters who relish to break the seal preventing them from entering the world of the living and quenching their bloodlust.

With the seal preventing the monsters from escaping to the land of the living shattered, the Horsemen were tasked with traveling to the bustling world to hunt down the monsters that escaped and kill them before humans fell victim to their bloodlust. Once each Horseman slew their share of the monsters, they would be granted passage back to the Inner Sanctum.

Once the Four Horsemen reached the gateway and entered the portal, they arrived in the land of the living. Famine, Death, Pestilence, and War went their separate ways and disguised themselves as humans in order to walk among the living and hunt down the monsters incognito without startling the lives around them.

***

"It's shorter than I though it would be," the young Amicitia comments.

"That's because the story has yet to have a conclusion," (Y/n) grinned. "The final details are currently in the works as we speak."

"Wow," she gasped. "Does that mean all of us are a part of the story?"

Pestilence nodded. "Yes."

"That's cool and...a little scary."

"C'mon, ladies. Time to head out," Gladio called out to them.

Iris nodded with a joyous smile. "Let's get this show on the road!"

As the boys and Iris pile into the car, (Y/n) mounts Erra. She threads her fingers through his creamy mane and combs through a few knots. "All set?" She glanced down at the people in the car beside her.

"You bet," Noctis replied, looking up at her. "Think you can keep up?"

Erra scuffed his hoof against the asphalt in response, causing Pestilence to grin. "I should be the one asking you that question."

Ignis started the Regalia, the engine coming to life with a faint roar. Erra followed after the vehicle as it left the gas station and took off down the road away from Lestallum. Without needing guidance, the steed kept pace with the car, running beside it on the shoulder of the road.

From the corner of her eye, (Y/n) could distinctly catch a glimpse of the flash every time Prompto took a picture. While riding atop Erra, she could hear what the group was discussing. "Looking at the Regalia really reminds me of home," Iris said with a gentle smile.

"It sure doesn't look like any of the cars you see around here," Prompto points out.

"And it's a lot roomier, too! I can't imagine trying to cram five people, including Gladdy, into one of those things. Even just trying to squeeze Noct, (Y/n), and myself in the backseat would be difficult. Have you ever ridden in one?"

Noctis shook his head. "Can't say we have."

"There was barely enough room for our luggage! Thank goodness you guys could give me a lift."

"Think the others made it to Caem alright?" Gladio pondered.

"I suppose we'll find out when we get there," Ignis stated.

"I could check on them if you so desire," (Y/n) spoke up.

"Yeah, but how're we suppose to contact you?" Noctis asked. "Doubt you have a phone."

"The orb," she replied, grabbing Ignis' attention. "It's not just an artifact. It's a summoning device. Hold it in your palm and call my name. I'll be at your side within mere seconds." Their eyes briefly met before the advisor had to refocus his gaze on the road ahead to avoid crashing.

"It's okay, (Y/n)!" Iris shouted. "I'd rather have you along for the ride. It's nice having another girl around to talk to!"

Pestilence smirked at the young Amicitia before turning her gaze forward. She was about to respond but was interrupted by a roaring engine above. Glancing up, her eyes narrowed when she spotted an enormous ship flying overhead.

Gladio clicked his tongue with a groan. "Oh, great. Another flying fortress."

"You've encountered such a ship before?" (Y/n) asked.

"Indeed," Ignis replies. "Let's pull over."

"Noct..." Iris mumbled in worry, glancing at the young prince to her left.

"Relax," the raven-haired boy soothes her. "We've got this."

The royal retinue, Iris, and (Y/n) soon come upon Old Lestallum. Ignis pulls over and parks the Regalia in front of the motel. "Taking matters into hand?"

"Delivering justice for Jared," Noctis declares, climbing out of the vehicle alongside his companions.

"And for Talcott, too," Prompto adds.

The bodyguard eyed his little sister as she exited the backseat and walked toward the motel. "Iris, I'll need you to wait here."

She nodded in response. "Alright." She looked toward the (e/c)-eyed girl, wondering if she was going to tag along. "Are you going with them, (Y/n)?"

"We require her assistance," Ignis answered before said girl could. "Our apologies, Iris."

She shook her head. "It's fine. Just be careful out there-all of you."

The royal advisor reverted his gaze back to the prince. "Careful, Noct-only fools rush in. I suggest we review our intelligence and devise a plan."

Noctis agreed with him and placed a whistle in his mouth. Blowing into it, four chocobos came charging up the highway, answering the call. They skidded to a stop in front of the gas pumps a few feet from Erra and (Y/n). "Let's go!" The azure-eyed boy hopped onto the turquoise-feathered bird while the others mounted the remaining three chocobos.

The four chocobos, along with Erra, took off down the road and left the limits of Old Lestallum. They rode across the bridge and toward Fort Vaullerey. "Surprised to see 'em this far out," Noctis commented as they searched for a vantage point.

"Leave no plot of land unconquered," Prompto retorts.

"Those aren't conquering numbers," Gladio tells the photographer.

"Likely building a supply line it would behoove us to cut," Ignis stated.

They rode up the side of a hill around the side of the cement walls, spotting soldiers and machines patrolling the area around the fort. (Y/n) gestured to a watchtower located near one of the walls. "A perfect spot to devise a plan. With a view of the innards of the fort, constructing a plan will be a cinch."

"How're we suppose to get around the guards and the massive machines?" Prompto asked.

"If we attack, all eyes fall upon us and our plans of infiltration will be disrupted." (Y/n) hops off Erra and pats his side. "Be a dear and cause a distraction." The horse nods and takes off toward the prowling enemies.

Ignis, seeing the Horseman was without a ride, offered her a lift on his chocobo. She accepted his kindness and mounted the white-feathered creature with his help. The saddle was a little cramped, but it wouldn't be long before the two would have to dismount and head in on foot. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he tugged in the reins, urging the large bird to follow after his companions.

Feeling her arms around him caused his heart to race, threatening to burst through his ribcage and out of his chest. Never in his life has he ever been so conscious of a girl until he met (Y/n). Their conversations were full of meaning and never had Ignis felt such a deep connection with the opposite sex before meeting her. Though he has only known the Horseman for a week, he would be lying if he said their newly developed bond wasn't already on a much deeper level than he had anticipated.

Whenever Ignis thought of Pestilence, all he could imagine were their lengthy chats, her kindness, and the haunting images the nightmare that has infested his mind during his sleep plagued him with. For the past few days, the images became clearer and clearer. He could make out names and where the nightmare took place. He wanted to ask her about such gruesome imagery, but he felt it would be prying into something with much more deeper meaning than he could grasp. Every time he heard her hoarse, begging tone, he desperately would try to save her from plummeting to her death, but everything he did was all in vain.

"Ignis?" (Y/n) called out to him. He blinked a few times with a small 'hmm' before realizing they had reached a point where the chocobos refused to pass. She unwound her arms from around his waist and hopped off the bird. "Are you alright? You seem to have been deep in thought."

"Yes," he responds in a low voice, dismounting the chocobo.

Pestilence knew he was lying by the look in his eyes, but she zipped her lips and decided not to pry. "Shall we? The others have already rushed ahead."

The strategist nodded and followed the others up a stairwell, eliminating a couple of soldiers before trekking up the stairs leading to the watchtower. Noctis tugged at his bangs and glanced at the two latecomers. "What were you two doin'?"

"Chatting," (Y/n) responded.

"A.K.A. flirting," Gladio grinned playfully.

The Horseman placed a hand on her hip and stared disapprovingly at the brute. "I've no clue as to why you think we're "flirting" nonstop, but not once have we exchanged intimate words. Hold your tongue, Gladiolus."

"Ooh," Prompto snickered. "She didn't use your nickname, big guy. (Y/n)'s got a sassy side to her!"

The Horseman rolled her eyes with a frown. Noctis cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "So, what's our plan?"

Ignis, mentally thanking the prince for changing the subject, spoke. "Find the base commander and take him into custody. Targeting metal men will yield little in the way of reconnaissance, but bones bend easily. We'll split into two groups of two. Prompto and Gladio will generate a diversion. (Y/n) will accompany us in procuring the commander."

Prompto hooked his fingers through the belt loops of his pants and grinned. "Aw, yeah-making a scene is what I do best."

"A spark of confidence is all it takes," (Y/n) states.

Ignis adjusted his glasses, glancing between the interior of Fort Vaullerey and the raven-haired boy. "Noct, are you prepared?"

Noctis met his advisor's determined gaze with his own unwavering one. "Let's do this."

#ffxv x reader #ffxv #final fantasy xv x reader #final fantasy xv #ignis x reader #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #gladiolus amicitia #Noctis Lucis Caelum

4 notes · View notes

flowersoldier · 4 years

Text

Not this Time

Chapter 1: Won’t let you Go

Chapter 2: Won’t let you Die

ff.net AO3

Cloud was practically dragging the others around like dead weight. They just weren't fast enough! He got in lots of fights with his teammates. Cloud yelled at Cid for making the Tiny Bronco go faster, Cid yelled back, then Barret yelled and then Tifa as she tried to stop their fight.

Trying to find out where the hell this Sleeping Forest is, was taking way too long. And now that they knew it, they should hurry up before anything happened! But instead they only slowed him down. “Can't this stupid thing go faster?!“ Cloud yelled at Cid yet again.

“How many fucking times do I have to tell ya this?! Sit down and shut the fuck up, it's going as fast as it can!“ Cid yelled back at him, making the ex-SOLDIER only angrier.

“Guys! Please.“ Said Tifa, before Cloud yell back at the pilot. Instead he huffed and stared at the sea. Deep down he knew that they're all effected by Aerith's disappearance. They're all extremely tense and edgy, but his worry for Aerith made him feel ten times worse. Aerith obviously planned all this and wrote everyone of them a letter. A farewell letter. Or...should he say suicide note? After all, Aerith was in danger more than ever. She was alone, Sephiroth was either in this city already or will follow her there and she knew it. She knew she might die, that's what she hinted at in the letters. 'In case I won't come back', 'if I don't make it' those where the things she wrote.

He didn't know what she wrote to the others but they might have a similar end. As everyone took their time to read them, he noticed that there were tear stains on every paper. She was obviously crying a lot and he was too unconscious to help her. And the others haven't noticed what's been going on with Aerith. Tifa and Yuffie have been crying when they read their letters, Vincent was just silently staring at it. Nanaki was mostly quiet, too, except for some sniffling noises. They became good friends, that much was obvious. Aerith always used to pet and tickle his ears and nose and even though he said he didn't like it, he didn't do anything to stop her. Cait Sith was silent the whole time and of course they could only guess what Reeve's reaction on the other end was. Cid's been cursing under his breath the whole time, he didn't even smoke once that day. Maybe because Aerith always told him to stop smoking. And Barret was mumbling things, too. He didn't sound as angry as Cid, more annoyed.

And then there's Cloud himself. He got two letters. One for him and one for Elmyra. He just didn't understand why she wanted him of all people deliver her this...He wasn't really Elmyra's favorite person. As the blonde waited impatiently till they finally reached their destination, he kept reading the letter over and over. She told him her plan in the letter, actually the same that she told him in his dream. She didn't say what she'll do, only that she's the only one who can do anything. He only wished she told him what it was she had to do. Was that really something none of them could help her with? Was it really necessary to go alone? They could've at least stayed with her and protect her, while she's doing her Cetra magic...

Cloud wasn't really sure where he should direct his anger to. He was angry at himself for letting all this happen. He was angry at his teammates for not keeping a closer eye on Aerith. And, of course, he was angry at Aerith for leaving him. Them. For leaving them. Cloud knew she could fight, she was a powerful mage, but there's no way she could beat Sephiroth.

When they finally reached Bone Village, Cloud was the first to get off the Tiny Bronco and ran ahead. He heard the others behind him calling him to wait and slow down, but that's not a thing he could do. He had to find Aerith as fast as possible! But he was stopped anyway. The people there told him he needed a Lunar Harp to even get through the forest. And in his despair he would've dug for it with bare hands.

But he was forced by everyone to be patient. Even wait overnight, goddammit! Of course he didn't get any sleep, he just wanted to find Aerith as fast as possible! He had no idea how everyone else were able to sleep. The guys luckily found the harp on their first try and then he went back to dragging his teammates around like the dead weight they were.

As they went through the forest, they noticed gigantic shells lying around. At some point it looked more like they're underwater. So this was the City of the Ancients...The team split up to look for any signs of where Aerith might be, but they couldn't find her. Although Cloud did feel something pull at his heartstrings, but it only lead to a dead end...After searching through the whole day, they eventually decided to rest for a while. Cloud desperately wanted to keep searching but he checked every shell building and possible hiding spots more than thrice. She wasn't here. Or...at least they couldn't see her. Because his heart told him that she was here. But there was really nothing he could do right now.

Cloud woke up with a start. He had no idea what woke him up, but his heart was racing in his chest and he felt the urge to hurry. The pull in his heart increased, as if trying to lead him exactly where he had to go. “Guys!“ He yelled at everyone, who were sleeping peacefully. Cloud jumped off the bed and grabbed his sword. “Wake up!“ The blonde yelled again, when his teammates stirred awake.

“What? Is something wrong?“ Asked Tifa sleepily and rubbed her tired eyes.

“I hope it's important spike.“ Grumbled Barret.

“We need to go.“ Was the only thing Cloud said. After all, he had no idea what just happened either or where they're supposed to go.

“Where?“ Asked Yuffie, saying the question everyone were asking themselves. But Cloud didn't have an answer. At least not a direct one.

“To Aerith.“

“So what, you know where she is?“ Asked Cid skeptically and Cloud couldn't hold it against him. They looked everywhere and couldn't find her.

“Not really...I know for sure she's here. I can feel it in my soul. Uh...“

Before he could feel embarrassed over his words, Tifa nodded, encouraging. “Lead the way then.“ And that he did. He went back to the biggest shell building, right in front of a lake. It was like he was pulled there by an unseen force. They looked there first, but it was empty, too. So Cloud expected that nothing changed.

“I smell her!“ Called Nanaki suddenly. Everyone looked at the wolf-like creature. He sniffed the air and the ground, before pointing to the stairs with his snout. “Up there.“

Cloud was the first that leaped on the stairs, running up till he saw a hidden path that hasn't been here the first time around. A very long cystal-like staircase brought them back down again, underground perhaps. But there was light down there and even an underground lake. And in the middle of it all, on a platform that looked like an shrine, knelled the flower girl, praying and seemingly unaware that she's been found.

“Aerith!“ Cloud jumped down the rest of the stairs and ran towards her, stopping right before the lake. The others quickly caught up to him. Tifa was about to go to her friend, but Cloud stopped her. He'll go first. The blonde hopped on the little platforms leading up to her and then he was right in front of her. There was so much he wanted to tell her. He wanted to apologize, ask her if she's okay, what she's doing and why she left on her own. But he couldn't get out a single word. Instead, the headache returned and his vision blurred. An invincible force made him take his sword. He held the sword tightly with both hands and slowly brought it up over his head.

Cloud tried to fight it, but he lost all control over his body. Something else was making him move and there's a little voice in the back of his head tellim him to 'do it'. Just as he was about to bring the sword down on her, his teammates pulled him out of this trance.

“Cloud!“ Called Tifa.

“Stop!!“ Growled Nanaki.

“No!“ Exclaimed Yuffie and Cait Sith horrified.

“What the hell are ya doin'?!“ Yelled Barret.

“Get a fucking grip, Spike!“ Shouted Cid.

“Snap out of it!“ Added Vincent at last.

Cloud backed away from the flower girl, shaking his head and letting the sword fall to the ground. “What are you making me do...?“ He grumbled, even if Sephiroth himself couldn't hear him. The fog in his mind cleared and he saw Aerith smiling at him. How could she smile when he was about to kill her? Or did she smile because he successfully defeated Sephiroth in his mind? Then something behind her glowed pale green and her smile brightened. Whatever she did there it must work.

They looked at each others eyes for a moment longer, before Cloud noticed something lurking from above. Something...black and silver. He didn't need to look to know what it was. And when something moved in the corner of his eyes, he moved too. To Cloud this felt like forever. How he ran to Aerith to push her away and cover her with his body. But it only took seconds. And when his brain caught up, he noticed he wasn't the only one to protect Aerith. Tifa was right beside him, having had the same idea as him. They were both lying on top of Aerith, shielding her with their bodies from whatever harm that may come to her.

And behind them he heard metal hitting the floor. Everything was a blur. He heard Barret and the others yell. And then gunshots. But for now he only looked down at Aerith. “Cloud. Tifa...“ She said surprised but happy.

“We got you, Aerith.“ Said Tifa, smiling at the flower girl happily. Aerith's eyes filled with tears and even though there was so much Cloud wanted to say right now, but now was not the time. He looked behind him to see Sephiroth already being attacked by the group. If they were just one second too slow...No, he didn't want to think about it.

“Tifa, stay with Aerith.“ The ex-SOLDIER ordered, only receiving a determined nod from the martial artist. Cloud got up on his wobbly legs and ran over to his sword, while Sephiroth transformed into another Jenova monster.

The team helped him fight the monster and Tifa made sure Aerith was save, even if they knew Aerith could fight too. But this time her safety was more important than ever, because they almost did lose her a few seconds ago. And there's no way in hell he'd let this happen again. Once they finally killed the monster, Cloud was by Aerith's side in a second. “Are you okay?!“ He asked, the panic was still in his voice. They may have prevented Sephiroth from hurting her, but she could've still hurt herself on the way here. Not to mention...the bruises she still had from him. But they weren't as visible as in his dream. She surely cast some healing spells to let them fade.

“I'm fine.“ She answered, sniffling slightly. “Thanks to you guys.“ Cloud's heart skipped a beat, when she wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged him tightly. He was pretty sure she could hear how fast his heart was pounding in his chest. But he was hesitant to hug her back. He still couldn't trust himself around Aerith. He attacked her twice now. Well almost twice, but still. “But you didn't have to do it. It...would've been okay.“ Aerith mumbled into his neck. He couldn't believe what he was hearing there. His jaw clenched tightly and he balled his fists. Did she seriously just tell him that dying was okay for her?! Now he did hug her back, his previous hesitance forgotten. His arms wrapped around her slender waist and pulled her as close as physically possible.

“Are you insane?“ Cloud wanted his voice to sound harsh and angry, but it sounded more desperate and broken. “Don't say this.“

“But...“ He felt her pulling away to look into his face, but he'd probably break down completely if she did. His left hand grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back against his chest.

“I said don't.“ He repeated, burying his face into her hair and taking a deep breath to calm down. Well...nothing could calm his nerves as much as Aerith's flowery scent did.

The blonde shivered, when Aerith's hand ran gently over the back of his neck and through his hair. His heart was still pounding as if he just ran a marathon. Well, it wasn't wrong...“Calm down.“ Aerith whispered, as she kept caressing him. She surely heard his fast heartbeat, his still rigid breath. The panic didn't let go of him, the adrenaline of the shock and battle was still flowing through his veins and he felt himself trembling. His grip on her tightened and as he recalled the moment...The moment where he almost lost her. Where Sephiroth almost pierced his sword through her...Despite himself he felt tears gathering in his eyes and before he even had the chance to fight them back, they're already gliding down his cheeks. Cloud gritted his teeth, not sure if he should feel embarrassed about it or just feel happy that he was able to save her. He decided for the latter.

Although, it was very embarrassing to cry his eyes out in Aerith's hair while the team was watching them the whole time. They surely wanted to talk with Aerith, too, but he wasn't done with her yet. “Aerith...“ He whispered with a broken voice. Cloud wished he could hold her tighter, but he was afraid he might hurt her if he did.

“It's okay.“ She said, her hand didn't stop running through his hair and over his neck. It was very calming, but Cloud was so relieved to have saved her that he couldn't stop crying. “Everything's okay, Cloud. I'm here.“ These two last words echoed in his head. Yes, she was here. He saved her. He and Tifa saved her. “I'm here.“ She repeated, letting him hold her for as long as he needed. Eventually she managed to calm him down. Her soft voice and the way she caressed him did their job. Still, he needed to take a few deep breaths before he was able to let Aerith go again. He really wished he could hold her forever and never let go.

Aerith very slowly pulled away and gave him the most beautiful smile ever. Her eyes were wet and red, too. She cried, too. Maybe she was just as happy as he was? “You good?“ She asked, tilting her head in a very cute way. He's learned a long, long time ago that she's not someone to take for granted, but now he'll cherish her even more from now on. For as long as he lived, he'll make sure she's safe and sound. Her safety was the most important thing. He didn't care about Sephiroth and his stupid plan. He'll only defeat him for Aerith's sake. Aerith wanted to protect the planet and he'll help her as best as he could.

Cloud nodded and then was led off the shrine by her. She held his hand, grounding him. Tifa went to the others while he had his breakdown. And the rest...they all went halfway back to the stairs, their backs facing them to give them their privacy. Now he felt bad for yelling at them earlier. “Guys.“ To his demise, Aerith let go of his hand once they reached them.

The group turned around and in a second Tifa and Yuffie hugged the flower girl tightly. “Aerith, don't ever do this again!“ Scolded Tifa, but hugged her tighter. Yuffie was right out crying.

“Sorry...I had to do this...“ Aerith said with a meek voice. Once the girls let her go, the guys approached her.

“Do ya have an idea what a heart attack ya gave us?“ Asked Barret, who wanted to sound harsh, but his voice was too soft. He gave her a bear hug, literally.

“We were all so worried about you!“ Said Caith Sith that still sat on his big Moogle.

Then Cid put a hand on her shoulder. “Do ya have an idea how fucking annoying Spike was once you left?“ Cloud and Cid glared at each other for a moment, while the flower girl giggled.

“I'm sorry, really. I won't leave you alone with Cloud ever again.“ She joked. Then Nanaki went to her and sat down.

“I'm glad you're okay, Aerith.“ He said and as she kneeled down to tickle his nose he let it happen. Even Vincent told her how glad he was that they could save her in time. He also looked at Cloud as he said this.

“I'm sorry...“ Repeated Aerith and looked around the group. “I didn't want you to worry about me...but I had to go. Only a Cetra can stop Sephiroth.“

“And how the hell are ya supposed to stop him when you're dead?!“ Yelled Cid at her, who earned himself death glares from everyone. Except Aerith, of course.

“What were you doing there?“ Asked Tifa then. At this, Aerith reached behind her head to the pink ribbon.

“The elders taught me a lot in the Temple...“ She began, as she pulled the ribbon off. “They told me everything about the Black Materia. What it can do to the planet. And how to stop it.“ Then she took her 'useless' Materia out of the ribbon and showed it to them. It was smaller than normal and now glowed a pale green color. Everyone stared at it for a moment. “They told me I've got it all along. The Materia my mother gave me...It's the White Materia. With it, I can summon Holy. And stop Meteor.“

“Wait.“ Interrupted Barret. “You're telling us we have what it takes to stop this maniac? And ya didn't tell us?“

Now Aerith looked down, guiltily. “I...didn't want you to get hurt.“ She said as she balled her fist around her Materia. “I know Sephiroth knew I have it. And we both knew in order to summon Holy I had to come here. I thought if I went alone you all would be save.“

To all of their surprise, Yuffie slapped her. It wasn't rough, but enough to snap them all out of this daze. Cloud couldn't help but glare at the girl's back and Tifa looked like she wanted to scold her, but then the little ninja was back in Aerith's arms. “You're a dumbass!“ She yelled, crying in the flower girls arms.

“Yuffie and Cid are right.“ Agreed Nanaki. “Did you really think we wouldn't follow you? After everything we've been through?“

“Did you think getting yourself killed would help any of us?“ Added Tifa, her eyes were still filled with tears. “It would've done us more harm than anything Sephiroth could ever do to us.“

Aerith looked at the ground guiltily, while still trying to calm Yuffie down. “I'm sorry.“ She mumbled, looking so sad that Cloud wanted to hug her again. But the group did it for him already. They all came together in a group hug. Barret had to pull him and Vincent in and Nanaki just rubbed his head on Aerith's leg. And last came Cait and the Moogle, squishing them all together.

Once they were all outside again, they decided to take a nap before they had to leave again. The battle was hard and they all had to recover from the shock.

Just as Aerith wanted to follow the others into these shell houses, Cloud held her back. He took her hand and didn't speak until the others vanished inside. Aerith just waited for him to talk, while he tried to get the words out. “Aerith...Promise me you won't leave like this again.“

The flower girl tilted her head to the side. “Cloud...“

“Promise me.“ He interrupted her harshly, but felt like apologizing the second she flinched.

“I didn't know you'd be so worried about me...“ She mumbled. Cloud knew she was stalling, but...

“Of course I'm worried about you.“ His grip on her hand tightened slightly, but not enough to hurt her. “Just promise me you won't run off again. I have no idea what I should do without...“ Cloud stopped when he realized what he said, but now it wouldn't make any difference anymore. “You...“ This might be a good chance to tell her his feelings. Something like this could happen again and he'd regret it till the rest of his life for not telling her. “You're very important to me, Aerith.“ He said, looking away from her gorgeous eyes. “I...“

Before he could say it, he felt a little finger on his lips. Then the hand cupped his cheek and turned his head towards her. She gave him a sad smile. “Are you really sure about this?“

Cloud had no idea what she meant with that, but yeah, he was sure and dead serious. “I love you.“ He finally said, staring into her eyes. Aerith's green eyes filled with tears and did something he wanted since they were alone. He pulled her into another hug, but this time to comfort her and not himself.

But her words was nothing he expected. “I'm sorry, Cloud. I didn't want to cause you so much pain.“ She said, her voice was muffled against his chest. “I thought if I could prevent you from falling in love with me...you wouldn't be that hurt.“

“You did a terrible job then.“ He mumbled into her hair. “I love you since we first met. Didn't help that Shinra kidnapped you. Or our date in the Gold Saucer. Or everything that happened since then. Just made me love you more.“ Now, Aerith hugged him back, gripping his clothes tightly.

“I love you, too, Cloud.“ She eventually said after a silent moment. This was enough to fill his heart wich such a warmth and it felt like a heavy weight was lifted off of it. “But Cloud, me dying here was supposed to be fate...“

“Screw fate.“ He grumbled, holding her closer. “We already defied it multiple times, heck we killed off the keepers of fate. You said the future is open and I want you to be in that future you're fighting for.“ Aerith was silent then. He just hoped he could reach her the way he wanted. “We're gonna protect you, okay? And if you'd just promise not to run off again we can save the planet together. Now that you summoned Holy, we're on a good way to prevent Sephiroth's plan. And with you by my- our side, we'll be able to defeat him easily.“

“I have the feeling you wanted to say something else.“ The old Aerith was back, teasing him like always. He could kiss her.

“With you by my side, I can defeat this son of a bitch.“

Now, Aerith pulled away slightly to look at his face. “Cloud Strife, did you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours?“

“No, that came after...“

Aerith's eyes widened in horror and realization. “Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Forget what I said!“

The blonde couldn't help but chuckle at her outburst. Sure, it still hurt talking and thinking of his mother, but that was normal when you lost someone you loved. At least now he could protect someone. Would his mother be proud? “It's okay.“ He said, as he pulled her closer again and leaned his head on hers.

“Cloud?“ Said blonde hummed, telling her that he was listening. “Look at me.“ He didn't let her go immediately, he took a moment to relish her warmth against him, her flowery smell, before pulling away enough to look at her face. Then her hands cupped his face again and pulled him down to her. And before he even realized what's happening, their lips met. It wasn't anything special, just a light brush that was over in a second, but it meant everything to Cloud.

It wasn't even his first kiss, but a kiss with Aerith. Now he could die a happy man. “I promise I won't run off again. We'll do this together.“

Cloud cupped her face and pulled her up for another sweet kiss. “Thank you.“ He mumbled, as he leaned his forehead against hers.

#clerith #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy vii #ffvii #se #square enix

9 notes · View notes

fallintosanity · 5 years

Text

lucis apparently managed cell phones and some local-to-insomnia version of the internet without ever achieving flight of any kind, much less space flight. niflheim has magitek airships but not much by way of advanced digital tech. for that matter, gaia has PHSs and sort-of-internet on them and is approaching spaceflight, but also has fully functional holographic training rooms.

technology, how does it work?

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11

Noctis slept nearly the entire ride to Rocket Town, which was a full twenty-four-hour flight in the helicopter, counting the stop in North Corel to refuel and let Reno get a few hours’ sleep himself. Cloud almost thought Noctis was faking being asleep to avoid having to make small talk - or avoid the probing questions about his history and training Cloud had intended to ask - but the couple of times Cloud had tried to get a reaction out of him, he hadn’t responded any more than when Cloud had first tried to wake him up that morning.

He had no idea how Noctis could sleep that much and still be yawning and bleary-eyed when they climbed out of the helicopter onto a field just outside town, but at least the guy was on his feet. Reno led them across the field and into the town, which was far smaller than Cloud remembered - just a couple of houses, including Cid’s, plus several buildings which looked like offices or storehouses for the rocket program. The rocket itself towered over Cid’s house, shiny and incomplete, a metal skeleton with its wires and tubes and tanks exposed to the elements.

Noctis whistled softly as he spotted the rocket. “The hell’s that thing for?” he asked.

“The President wants to send a guy into space,” Reno said with a shrug. “Dunno why, it ain’t like there’s much up there except dark and cold. But apparently that whole thing’s what it takes to launch someone into space.”

“Huh,” Noctis said. His expression suggested he hadn’t ever considered spaceflight before, but then again, most people hadn’t. And if Cloud didn’t figure out how to warn Cid about the faulty oxygen tank before it forced him to abort the launch, no one else would. Maybe he could find a way to do that while he was here.

But Reno didn’t lead them to Cid’s house - instead he went to one of the smaller side buildings and opened the door without bothering to knock. Several startled scientists looked up as they entered, but the surprise quickly changed to relief. One of the scientists, an older woman with steely hair and a nearsighted squint, rose from her seat at a desk and crossed to greet them. “I’m so glad you were able to get out here this quickly,” she said without preamble. “We need to start adding the plating to the frame within the next two days or we’ll have to strip it back down and redo the weathering for safety. But the materials for plating are all stored in the barn the coeurls took over.”

Reno nodded lazily, as though he had any idea what she was talking about. “We got just the guys for you,” he said, and jerked a thumb at Cloud and Noctis. “Commander Cloud Strife, SOLDIER First, and Noctis Caelum, SOLDIER Third. They’ll wipe out those coeurls, yo.”

Under his breath, Noctis muttered, “Lucis Caelum.” If Reno noticed, he gave no sign, but Cloud filed it away for reference. He’d been wondering how Noctis’s name worked - Noctis didn’t seem to mind being addressed as just “Caelum”, but clearly it bothered him not to have the “Lucis” part included in a more formal introduction.

The woman didn’t seem to notice Noctis’s correction, either; she turned to Cloud and said, “Excellent. Please let me know if there is anything my team or I can do to assist.”

“Just point us to the barn, ma’am,” Cloud said, “and stay inside.”

“Of course.” She stepped around Cloud, half leaning out the door to point. “Follow this street to the edge of town. You’ll see the barn out there; it’s the third one out, the only one without sides. But be careful - the coeurls have been seen as close as the farthest houses.”

Cloud nodded and glanced at Reno. “You staying here?”

“You’re the SOLDIERs, yo,” Reno said. “I’m just the chaperone.”

Noctis snorted, his eyes glittering with amusement. Cloud couldn’t blame him - Reno wasn’t exactly anyone’s idea of a responsible adult. Or at least, he didn’t appear to be so. It was part of what made him so dangerous. Cloud shook his head and led the way back out of the building, Noctis trailing on his heels as he followed the woman’s directions out to the edge of town. Curtains flicked aside in the windows of the houses they passed, and a few curious children were bold enough to lean out to stare. Cloud and Noctis ignored them.

“Got a plan?” Noctis asked.

“Kill them fast,” Cloud answered. “Magic slows them down, but doesn’t hurt them much, so don’t waste time on materia.”

“Not even fire?” Noctis asked, then when Cloud shot him a curious look, added, “I thought coeurls didn’t like fire.”

Cloud shrugged. “I never noticed a difference when I fought them before. They’ve shrugged off every element I’ve thrown at them. It’s best to go straight for swords.”

“Okay,” Noctis agreed. He swung his rifle off his shoulder and began checking it over, careful to keep it pointed at the ground. “Then you go in close, and I’ll cover you.”

“Just don’t shoot me,” Cloud said.

“Yes, sir,” Noctis answered, lazy sarcasm dripping from the words.

They reached the outer edge of town, denoted by the end of the white picket fence that lined the road. From here, Cloud could see the half-finished barn, its corrugated steel roof poking up above a pair of nearer sheds. He couldn’t hear anything unusual, but coeurls were quiet beasts right up until they tried to kill you. In a low voice, he said to Noctis, “Get up on the rooftops. Try to get a clear line of fire.”

Noctis nodded and slipped away along the side of the nearest shed, while Cloud kept walking along the road toward the barn. The dirt was too dry and packed to make out paw prints, but here and there he spotted tufts of pale yellow fur, or deep claw furrows. A low noise, an almost electric zap, caught his attention from somewhere behind the shed where Noctis had gone, and Cloud drew First Tsurugi and stepped forward, ready to provide backup if one of the beasts had snuck up on Noctis. But no coeurls appeared, and a moment later Noctis himself leaned over the edge of the roof, rifle in hand. He’d gotten up there remarkably fast - maybe there was a ladder or something. He waved an all-clear to Cloud, then gestured that he was going to get closer to the barn.

Cloud nodded back and resumed his own walk forward. The sound he’d heard had probably just been something inside the shed, some bit of machinery for the rocket program. Time to focus on the coeurls ahead of him. He checked the materia slotted into his sword, making sure his Barrier was ready, and his Restore, too, just in case. Noctis had proven incredibly competent so far, but against this many coeurls, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. Satisfied, Cloud raised his sword and stepped around the last shed into full view of the half-built barn.

The barn was long and low, little more than a corrugated roof held up by steel beams over a cement floor. Stacks of huge wooden crates, bales of rebar, and piles of steel plating lined the edges of the floor, with an open space in the center presumably for loading and unloading. Half a dozen coeurls were sprawled on top of the crates like oversized housecats. They lifted their heads at Cloud’s approach, their long whiskers floating deceptively lightly in the slight breeze, tips sparking with deadly magic.

Cloud knew from experience that they wouldn’t attack unless he struck first, but they were also territorial - if he got too close to the space they’d claimed, they’d view it as an attack. The way they were spread out around the barn, some of them a full ten feet up on top of stacks of crates, meant he’d be swarmed no matter which one he went for first. And coeurl prides were usually eight to ten animals, so there were likely several more somewhere he couldn’t see. He really should have arranged some kind of signal with Noctis - with this setup, it would be much better for Noctis to shoot first, to distract the beasts while Cloud closed on them. But he didn’t want to risk looking up on the roofs for Noctis now, and potentially giving away his position.

A sudden gunshot rang through the air, and the coeurl perched on the highest crate jerked and died. Noctis had solved the problem by shooting it in the eye. The rest of the coeurls yowled in fury, leaping to their feet and focusing on Cloud, the only threat they could see.

Cloud didn't hesitate - he leapt in, First Tsurugi flashing as it sliced through the thick hide of the nearest beast. It twisted at the last second, and what should have been a fatal strike instead opened a bloody line along its flank. Another gunshot cracked nearby and a coeurl crouching to pounce on him fell dead. Cloud took down the one he’d struck, but then had to dodge into a narrow space between several stacks of crates as magic exploded around him, heat blasting his face and ice crackling on its heels.

“Cloud!” Noctis yelled. “Look out!”

Cloud whipped around, squinting in the shadows behind the crates - just in time to spot the gleaming eyes of the biggest coeurl he’d ever seen. Its whiskers sparked and snapped and suddenly the air filled with lightning.

Electricity raced along Cloud's bones, seizing his muscles and spiking agony through his body. He dropped to the ground, First Tsurugi falling from his grip. For an awful second he was back in Nibelheim, in Hojo’s lab, strapped to a table as the scientist electrocuted him and laughed—

Then Noctis shouted his name again and he was back in the present, in a narrow gap between huge wooden storage crates, facing down a massive coeurl whose whiskers were already crackling with renewed power.

Cloud scooped up his sword and flung himself free of the gap, half-crawling out into the open space between the crates and the wooden wall of the adjacent shed. Thank Odin, the giant coeurl didn’t follow him out; he didn’t think he would have been able to escape again. Electric surges still jolted along his limbs, making his motions jerky and unstable as he struggled to his feet. He glanced up, looking for Noctis on the roof of the shed, but it was empty. Only then did he register the sounds of a fight on the other side of the crates - growling and claws on concrete and battle cries. Cloud staggered around the crates and finally spotted Noctis, out in the center of the unfinished barn, ShinRa broadsword flashing as he fought the coeurls.

The electric blast must have really done a number on Cloud - Noctis’s motion was a blur, bluish afterimages trailing behind him as he dodged and spun through the coeurls’ attacks. He spotted Cloud, relief flashing across his face before he had to drop low under the whiplike lash of a whisker. Cloud blinked furiously, scrubbing a hand over his eyes until the afterimages faded and his muscles quit spasming. He still took the extra precious second to cast a Restore on himself before raising First Tsurugi and diving back into the fight.

Noctis had taken down two more of the beasts already, which meant he had a kill count of four to Cloud’s one. Cloud was hardly a competitive guy, but if he let that stand, he’d never hear the end of it from the other Firsts. He split his sword, slicing through the pair of coeurls harrying Noctis from behind and giving the other SOLDIER a moment to breathe. Noctis had come in strong while Cloud was down, but he was clearly flagging now, moving more slowly and having trouble dodging the combination of magic and claws flying at him. Cloud leaped into the air, combining his swords once more and swinging the full weight of First Tsurugi onto the back of a coeurl about to take a bite out of Noctis’s arm. The creature screeched in agony as it fell to the ground, its spine severed; Cloud’s next swing took its head.

“Thanks,” Noctis gasped, then, “Shit—”

Cloud didn’t waste time turning to look; just flung up a Barrier around them. The way Noctis’s eyes had widened was enough to tell him the big coeurl had finally reappeared. Another surge of electricity battered the Barrier as Cloud spun around, tearing the protective magic to shreds and sending static tingles along Cloud’s arms. The big coeurl sat at the open front of the barn, blocking the only way out that wasn’t over or through the crates. Two more coeurls, only slightly smaller, flanked the big one, their whiskers sparking.

Noctis muttered, “The coeurl acquires charge from the particles in the air. If you see it seated on its haunches, stay back.” He sounded like he was reciting something, a touch of a strange accent coloring the words.

Cloud nodded agreement. “The big one’s about to cast again. You take the one on the left.”

“Got it,” Noctis said, just as the big coeurl’s whiskers lashed.

Cloud called another Barrier, bracing himself against the onslaught of electricity. Over the crackling he heard movement on the crates behind him - but even as he started to turn, Noctis leaped over the Barrier, over the lightning barrage, to land sword-first on the leftmost coeurl. Cloud swore under his breath and followed, charging through the last of the electric storm toward the big coeurl. Electricity sparked and crackled along his muscles and First Tsurugi’s edge; he gritted his teeth and pushed through it, splitting the sword as he reached the rightmost coeurl.

Its whiskers snapped at him, but Cloud rolled low under them, driving the point of the hollow blade into the beast’s throat. It gurgled and died, and Cloud yanked the blade free in time to roll to the side, away from the swipe of claws as long as his hand. The big one was the only one remaining, and if they could just kill it before it was able to charge up another blast—

Noctis appeared behind its haunches, sword swinging low and hamstringing it even as it tried to spin on him. Cloud took the opening, his main blade plunging into its torso as the hollow blade took its head. The beast collapsed to the ground, the magic gathered in its whiskers fading to nothing and leaving the barn silent except for Cloud’s and Noctis’s panting breaths.

* * *

“Mako mutants,” the steel-haired scientist said grimly as she handed Cloud a cup of hot tea. “We’re seeing them more and more lately, although normally they stay closer to the reactors.”

“What’s a mako mutant?” Noctis asked. He sat next to Cloud at the rickety table in the scientists’ office, apparently none the worse for wear despite his mad dive through a coeurl’s electric blast. Cloud remembered how Noctis had dived through his own Bolt spell during their spar a few days ago, and resolved to ask him what his trick was.

“Beasts warped by overexposure to mako,” the scientist explained to Noctis. “Bigger, stronger, faster than normal monsters. ShinRa tries to keep the areas around each reactor clear of potentially dangerous fauna, but they can’t be everywhere.”

“Plus, we’re seeing more natural mako fountains,” another scientist added. “I’m starting to wonder if AVALANCHE isn’t right after all, about us hurting the Planet—” He broke off with a hiss and the kind of wince that meant he’d been kicked under the table.

“AVALANCHE is a terrorist organization,” the steel-haired scientist said pointedly, with a sharp glance toward Reno where he was sprawled at a desk on the other side of the lab, seeming absorbed in reading something on his PHS. “Their proselytizing isn’t backed up by our research.”

Cloud bit down hard on his tongue to keep from saying something he shouldn’t. Now was neither the time nor the place, not with Reno here, though he stole a glance at the second scientist’s name tag: Govert Velner. He’d have to come back here sometime soon, not just to talk to Cid about the rocket, but to encourage Velner’s interest in AVALANCHE’s work.

A sudden chirp from Cloud’s pocket saved him from the awkward silence that descended over the table. He pulled out his PHS and flipped it open: a new message from “Treasure Princess”, aka Yuffie Kisaragi, the ten-year-old daughter and heir of Lord Godo of Wutai. Cloud had been trying to pay closer attention to her messages ever since he’d had to haul Yuffie out of the Northern Crater with a mated pair of blue dragons on their heels. She claimed not to appreciate his attempts to keep her alive - backed up by literal kicking and screaming every time he showed up to rescue her - but she kept sending him updates on her location anyway.

Skimming the message, Cloud sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. He’d thought she’d finally started to listen to his admonishments to stick to less dangerous parts of the world; the last few times he’d had to rescue her it had been “only” from the wilds of the southern part of the West Continent. But she’d apparently made it back up to Modeoheim, and was planning to strike out for the Northern Crater again.

“What’s wrong?” Noctis asked.

Cloud sighed again. “It’s complicated. But… would you mind if we ran an errand before going back to Midgar?”

“What for?” Noctis tilted his head, clearly trying to get a look at Cloud’s PHS.

Cloud tossed it to him to let him read the message, then raised his voice. “Reno?”

“An errand to where?” Reno asked, proving he’d been paying more attention to the conversation at the table than he’d been letting on.

“Modeoheim.”

Reno lifted his head, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. “What’s up there?”

“Yuffie Kisaragi.”

Reno’s other eyebrow joined the first and he sat up straighter. “Isn’t that the princess of Wutai?”

Noctis’s head came up sharply, grey eyes flicking between Reno and Cloud. Cloud just nodded. “Do you guys mind?”

Reno shrugged. “Whatever, yo. I don’t have anything pressing back home.”

“Sure,” Noctis agreed. “Do you want to go now?”

Cloud nodded again, setting his empty tea mug on the table and rising to his feet. “The sooner the better. She’s only ten, but you’d be surprised how much trouble she can get into.”

#final fantasy vii #ffvii #final fantasy xv #ffxv #sanity's final fantasy crossover fic

28 notes · View notes

kingdomhearts-rewrittenarchive · 5 years

Note

Oooh! Ask and you will receive! Sooo...what if one day Leon, Cid, Yuffe, and Aerith happen to find Vincent in Radiant Garden?

We’re gonna assume that he just got thrown into a different world when Radiant Garden was consumed and just…couldn’t get back. Then one day a weird, black portal opens up and all of a sudden Vincent finds himself in a place that’s oddly reminiscent of RG, but it’s falling apart and kind of bleak.

He wanders around a little then from somewhere above him he hears a familiar voice just shriek his name. Then it clicks where he’s heard it before.

“Yuffie,” he drawls, watching the exuberant ninja run up to him and he actually lets her when she flings her arms around him.

“God, Vince, where have you been?” she asks, eyeing him up and down but, like the others, he still seems the same as he ever did. No worse for wear, just as quiet and somber as ever. “No, don’t answer,” she says, tugging on the edge of his cloak to indicate he should follow here, “The others need to hear it too. They’re gonna be so excited!”

“The others?” he asks, curiosity evident even if his voice doesn’t really change. “Everyone else is here?”

“Yeah, Leon, Aerith, Cloud, Cid, the gang’s all here! Well, except Tifa. We don’t know where she is. Also Sephiroth is here, but he’s not really around much.” she says, navigating the decayed passageway of what was once Radiant Garden with ease.

He falls silent as he takes in her words, a sigh of relief passing his lips, though she’s unaware. He had wondered, after the world went dark, where the others were. No one else seemed to have landed with him, but she made it sound as though they had all been together.

Soon enough, they stop in front of some ramshackle stone building, still falling apart but better than a lot of the other places he had seen. Without knocking, she opens the door, which creaks on its hinges. There are voices inside, chattering happily, but it stops when all eyes land on him.

Suddenly, there’s a half a dozen voices shouting his name and arms around him, enveloping him in warmth. He stands frozen, unsure how to react to the warm welcome, until they all let go, at which point they start pelting him with questions.

“Where were you?”

“Are you okay?”

“How did you get here?”

And all sorts of variations of them. He’s unsure which to respond to first, then another familiar voice cuts through it all, reprimanding them for badgering. A hand claps his shoulder, and Vincent looks over to see Leon, same as he was the last time Vincent had seen him, maybe little more severe, but it was to be expected. “It’s good to have you back. Are you alright?”

Vincent nods as Leon leads him over to the table, and the others gather around as he takes a seat. Now that the others are quiet, Vincent begins to explain. “I don’t know what world I was in. There were no other people, as far as I could find, but many little creatures that came as fast as I could cut them down. I don’t know how I got there, but I got back through a strange black portal that opened up earlier today. I don’t know where it came from,” he said, watching the others for a reaction. Their faces all fell immediately, looking worried or thoughtful in turns.

“Sounds like one of the corridors the Organization used to use. I wonder why one opened up there,” Cid said, glancing at his computer. He was itching to let Ienzo know, as he was the one most likely to have an idea. Well, him or Even.

“The world’s might be trying to right themselves after Xehanort twisted them so badly. Vincent belongs here and had no other way to get home so…” Leon said, trailing off. He also acknowledged silently that Ienzo or Even might have a better answer, though. That would be the first thing they did once they were done with Vincent.

“Well, whatever the case is, we’re really glad you’re home, Vince! We need to find Cloud, he’ll be over the moon! He was really tore up when he found out you weren’t here. He actually got separated from us too. Said he ended up in a world where they did gladiator fights or something,” Yuffie said. She was, in typical fashion, overexcited and ready to go hunting, standing beside Vincent but bouncing on the balls of her feet and glancing at the door every ten seconds.

Leon sighed and shared a knowing look with Vincent, who stood up from his seat. He gave everyone a wan smile before pushing Yuffie’s shoulder in the direction of the door. “Since you’re so eager, you should know where he’s at. Lead the way.”

Behind him, the others broke into muttered discussion, all the words blending together into nonsense Vincent didn’t feel like deciphering. As he stepped out the door he glanced around, and relief bloomed in his chest, even as he felt a pang of despair at what their once grand world had been reduced too. But he was home, and the others were working on restoring it, and he would do his part to help.

i have no idea what happened here it wasn’t supposed to be a scenario but here we are. also i don’t really know what vince is like so i just based it off of his cameo in advent children which i watched and loved

#khscenarios #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts 2 #kingdom hearts 3 #final fantasy viii #final fantasy vii #yuffie kisaragi #aerith gainsborough #cid highwind #vincent valentine #squall leonhart

11 notes · View notes

winterune · 5 years

Text

In the Aftermath

Cloti Fall Festival 2019 Day 2 hosted by @clotiweek

Prompts: Family & Friends / “Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life”

Summary: In the aftermath of Sephiroth's demise and Meteor's destruction, a huge festivity is being held at the outskirts of Midgar. Everyone has already been swept away by the revelry, and Cloud wonders if he is allowed to join in when they had just lost a friend not too long ago.

Also available on AO3 and FFN.

~*~*~*~*~

In the wake of Sephiroth’s demise and Meteor’s destruction, the party of eight landed just outside the city of Midgar to such a huge festivity one would only find once in a lifetime. A giant bonfire had been lit, various musicians were playing on a makeshift stage made from the ruins at the city outskirts, and the plethora of people were dancing and singing and laughing. The Meteor that had loomed over their planet, that had threatened to destroy all life, was gone.

His friends had been solemn after witnessing the lifestream coming to life and stopping Meteor’s advance. The face he had seen—just a glimpse of a smile, as if she was trying to say, “I’m here.” Cloud wondered if the others had seen it too.

Cloud was sitting on the ruins of a building, taking a quiet sip of his drink. Everyone had already been swept away by the revelry. He could see Barret and Cid roaring with laughter and shouts and friendly curses with the other men, mugs of beer on each of their hands. Vincent was even there, sipping quietly, with not much of an expression on his face. The others had probably taken him by force, and Cloud had to wonder how he had managed to get out of it. Red XIII and Cait Sith had been caught by the children, who ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the tricks they showed them. If Cloud could have a say in it, he would say that this party was for them. His friends deserved this, more than anyone, after everything they had gone through.

As Cloud took another sip of his drink, his feet tapping into the rhythm of the music, his attention was caught by the two figures entering his vision—Tifa and Yuffie, having completed a full circle around the fire and still dancing in unison with everyone else. The young ninja had pulled Tifa away to join the dance just as Tifa had been about to sit beside him with her own mug. Not that he was feeling left out or anything, but Tifa’s mug was still left untouched beside him.

So, Cloud found himself watching them. A part of him wondered whether it was some folk dance everyone knew, or just something the people had started on their own that somehow spread far and wide. A simple step-step-step followed by a twirl and a clap-clap-clap. It fell into the beat and rhythm of the drums and flutes and violins.

But that wasn’t what caught his attention. What caught his attention was her face—the smiles and grins and laughter. That utmost joy and great relief that he hadn’t seen for a long time. No more frowns, no more wrinkled foreheads, no more pursed lips nor fisted hands. Gone were the anguish and agony. Gone were the frustrations and hopelessness. And for a moment, Cloud forgot how to breath, because he was back in Nibelheim all those years ago, sitting by the window of his room as he waited for a glimpse of the girl next door, peeking over hedges or bushes to see her laughing with her friends, and all he had wanted was to go up there and say, “Can I play with you?”

“Hey!”

A clap to his back brought him out of his reverie. The force behind it was so strong that Cloud almost fell off his seat, his drink splashing all over.

“Ah…” Cloud scowled at his now wet hand and damp shirt.

Cloud glared at the older guy, but Barret only took his seat beside him without showing the least bit remorse. His mug was still full. Or was it already his second—third—drink?

“You’re not going to dance?” he asked in his deep baritone voice.

Cloud’s reply was a soft noncommittal grunt, as he adjusted his seat on the stone slab, putting some distance between him and the big, burly man.

“Why not?” Barret asked, taking a big gulp from his mug. “If anyone deserves this, it’s you.”

Cloud didn’t reply. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to join. A part of him wanted to. But there should have been nine to enjoy this festivity, but only eight came back alive, and no matter what Cloud did, his mind would go back to the loss of a friend and a comrade and he felt like he shouldn’t join them in this celebration.

In Cloud’s silence, Barret clicked his tongue in irritation. “God, you’re such a pain!” he said, and without preamble, he snatched Cloud’s mug away and pushed him to his feet.

It was so sudden that Cloud stumbled forward, almost losing his footing. He whipped his head over his shoulder and sent a glare Barret’s way as he said, “What the hell—?!”

But Barret had a feral grin on his face. “Be a man and ask her to dance!” he said, loudly, over the revelry, and before Cloud could even think what he had meant, Barret had already put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.

Cloud didn’t know just why Yuffie suddenly jerked her head up toward them. Having spotted Cloud and Barret together, Barret gave her a nod and a grin, and Cloud watched from the corner of his eye as Yuffie gave Barret a similar conspiratorial grin, before she bowed her head apologetically at Tifa and rushed toward them.

Cloud frowned at Barret, who just waved him away with a “Go on.”

Had they planned this?

But there was no reason to refuse. If anything, it would probably hurt Tifa if he didn’t go.

Cloud sighed. “Fine,” he said.

“All right! That’s it!” Barret exclaimed behind him, as Cloud fisted his hands and strengthened his resolve before he walked over to Tifa still in the circle of dancers.

***

Being with Tifa was a lot more nerve-wrecking than Cloud had initially thought. He didn’t know why. They had been together for months since he came back to Midgar. Why was he suddenly being nervous now?

Tifa’s instructions on how the dance work seemed to enter his right ear and exit through his left. He couldn’t comprehend a word she was saying. God! And his palms felt clammy. If only his heart would stop beating so loud, maybe he could actually do this right!

Tifa waited for the right moment to enter the dance, and when she said, “Okay, now,” Cloud wasn’t sure what he did wrong. He tripped over his own leg and then stumbled backwards. It happened so fast that Tifa couldn’t even react before Cloud fell on the ground with a thud.

He had half a mind to glare toward Barret’s direction, whom he knew was still sitting where he had left him a few moments ago with Yuffie. He could just imagine them snickering.

Tifa’s giggle brought him back to his predicament and Cloud felt his face growing hot. Falling on his behind right at the start of the dance was so mortifying!

“Here,” Tifa said, holding out a hand.

Cloud eyed it with a scowl. “I can’t dance,” he mumbled.

That response, however, only elicited more giggles from her. “Come on,” she said, grabbing his arm and tugging him to stand up. “It’s not that hard, really. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

Cloud was really not a dancer. He had never danced, not even when he was little. But he remembered often seeing Tifa dancing with her friends back then, and she had looked so happy. The smile she had had then was almost the same smile she had before.

Would he be able to see that smile up close?

Albeit reluctantly, he did as he was told. Tifa grinned at him as she pulled him up and she told him, “Just follow my lead.” A part of him knew that should be his line, but he didn’t care about it at the moment because Tifa was smiling so sweetly at him.

They waited for the right moment and Cloud remembered the music just as it was about to start a new passage, and this time, he didn’t miss the beat when Tifa said, “Now.”

His dance was rough if compared to Tifa. Hers, however—the way she moved was so in sync with the music it was as though the dance had been ingrained into her body for years. She moved nimbly, and even the most basic movements seemed beautiful.

It turned out the dance was more than just a series of steps, twirls, and claps. Not too complex, but not too simple either. Cloud stumbled a few more times, eliciting more giggles and smiles from her, but as he gritted his teeth and was determined to get this right, Cloud finally found the meeting point where the dance and the music seemed to meld together, and Cloud suddenly felt his body moving in rhythm with the beat.

Noticing this, Tifa laughed. Not a mocking or teasing laughter, but a victorious laugh, and she clapped her hands and said, “See? It’s not hard.”

Cloud felt himself grinning. It really wasn’t hard at all. He wasn’t a dancer, and he was sure not everyone at the party was a dancer at all. He only needed to let loose, to stop thinking for a moment, and let his eyes, ears, and body took control.

Cloud met Tifa’s gaze and he saw pure joy there. A pure, genuine, and sincere happiness. An ear-to-ear smile that reached her reddish-brown eyes. And there it was—the girl he had yearned for throughout his childhood. That joyful, childish smile that had been buried prematurely by the untimely death of everyone she had known and loved. Even back then, Cloud had only seen glimpses of it. Tifa was never one to show her feelings, but when she did, it always took his breath away.

Cloud grabbed her hand. He noticed her widening eyes. This wasn’t in the dance, but he didn’t particularly care. In a swift movement, he tugged her toward him and gave her a couple twirls under his arm, before they changed positions and fell into the beat of the dance once more.

Tifa raised and eyebrow questioningly, but Cloud only replied with a grin. Maybe she understood, maybe she didn’t. He didn’t really know why he did that himself. He only knew that he wanted to see more of her smile.

After a moment, Tifa did smile and laugh and say, “Let’s do that again.”

***

The dance ended after a couple more turns around the fire. Everyone was smiling and clapping and shouting in celebration. The two of them walked away from the crowd, and Cloud’s eyes scanned his surrounding for his friends. Barret was back with Cid and the other men—their faces already red with all the alcohol in their system; Vincent was nowhere to be seen. Yuffie was stuffing her face with some food she found somewhere and Cait Sith now had a larger crowd that consisted of more children and adults. Red XIII—ahh there he is—was sitting among the crowd, his tail swishing this way and that, as some children sat against him.

“Everyone looks so happy,” Tifa commented. Cloud glanced down at her. Apparently, she had also been scanning the crowd for their friends.

“Yeah,” he replied.

There was silence, in which Tifa quietly watched as the musicians start to play another song and a new batch of dancers gather around the fire. “This is okay, right?” Her voice was too quiet, it was almost lost in the loud festivity, but Cloud had heard it. “She would want this for us, right?”

Cloud looked at her. Her shoulders, which always seemed so strong and sure, suddenly seemed small and weak. “Tifa?” he asked, concerned.

He felt a small tug on his hand. Her hand was there, holding just the tip of his fingers.

“I saw her,” she said, her voice soft, “when the lifestream broke free from the earth. Just a glimpse, but it was as clear as if she was standing right there in front of me.” A wistful smile grazed her lips. “She was smiling.”

Cloud froze. In that moment, he realized, once again, how selfish he had been. He wasn’t the only one whose mind was preoccupied with Aerith’s death. Everyone probably felt the same. They knew that nine should be here but only eight came back. It’s precisely because of that that they were trying to enjoy this moment as best as they could.

Tifa was right. Aerith wouldn’t want them to brood over her death more than they should, and she would want them to enjoy themselves as much as possible.

Cloud firmly held Tifa’s hand in his own. “You deserve this, Tifa,” he said. “Be happy for this. I’m sure that’s what she wants.”

Sometimes, Cloud forgot about it. Tifa and Aerith were the two girls in their party who had been together since before they left Midgar. Their meeting might have started at an odd footing, but they had grown quite close—as close as any girls would be. Cloud had been too preoccupied with his own troubles that he sometimes forgot how much Aerith’s death had impacted the rest of them, especially Tifa, who rarely showed her feelings to other people. Tifa always looked so strong, so sure, so bright in his eyes that he forgot how sensitive this girl was. She was the girl who tried to brave the mountain pass to Mount Nibel when she was only 8 years old just so she could see her late mother.

Tifa met his gaze and there was a soft smile on her face. “We all deserve this,” she said.

Cloud smiled back. They did.

~ END ~

#thank you cloti #cloti fall festival 2019 #clotiweek #cloti #final fantasy #final fantasy vii #ff fanfic #ff7 fanfic #fanfiction #my fanfiction #my story #gahh sorry for the weird title #i'm so not good at titles #clotiweek 2019

2 notes · View notes

up-sideand-down · 6 years

Text

Here We Go Again

I said I was thinking about a Mamma Mia-esque AU with some ABBA lyrics in there. I wasn’t lying. This is it.

AO3 Link

Cloud fussed with her mother’s sweater after she finished pouring tea. Claudia swatted her daughter’s hand away with a nod towards their guest. Tifa, used to the Strife’s silent arguments, was more than happy to put sugar in her own tea.

“I had hoped you weren’t hurt too badly,” Claudia said, “I told them they needed to take better care of the guides.” Tifa just shrugged, scratching under the strap of her arm sling.

“It’s just a scratch, but it could be a fracture,” she said with a shrug, “They told me to keep it like this for today to let their Materia heal it if that’s the case.”

“I take it you’re not going up there again though,” Claudia said. Tifa looked disappointed.

“No,” she said, “I would, but…whatever monsters that reactor made…they’re too tough, even for me.” Tifa smirked at Cloud’s snort. Claudia gave her daughter a disapproving look, but ignored it.

“That’s…kinda why I asked to come over,” Tifa admitted, “I’m not going back, so…those ShinRa guys will need a new guide.” Cloud knew where this was going.

“No,” Cloud said, “I’ve had enough of ShinRa for a lifetime.”

“It’d just be a couple days,” Tifa said, “And everybody knows you’re the best-“

“I’m retired,” Cloud said, adding one more cube of sugar to her mother’s tea.

“Cloud Strife,” Claudia said sternly, “You are 20 years old and too young to live off that retirement package…especially with my doctor’s bills.”

“And they are paying, Cloud,” Tifa said, “Paying very well.”

“Oh yeah,” Cloud said, “How much is this pay?” She blew on her tea before taking a sip. Probably half of what her infantry pay was.

Tifa told her.

Cloud choked. Her mother pat her on the back, a little smugly.

“That’s almost triple my salary when I was in Midgar,” Cloud said, “those assholes were holding out on me.”

“That’s why…I think you should do it,” Tifa said. Cloud caught the look she gave Claudia.

“You knew she was going to ask,” Cloud said. Claudia looked saddened.

“What’s the name of the game, Ma?” she asked.

“Chiquitita,” Ma said, “I hate to see you like this, you’re so sad, so quiet. You’re draining yourself dry to take care of me,” Claudia said, “At least with this…I can know you’ll have something leftover when I’m…”

“With that kind of money,” Cloud started, “I could move us to Mideel…where that clinic is.”

“And…you are the best shot in this town,” Tifa added, “by far.”

“Your gun still work?” Cloud asked her mother.

“What am I a fool?” Claudia said, “Of course it does, Chiquitita.” And Cloud sighed.

“Alright…how do I get started.”

Habit made her tuck her hair under her beanie. She suddenly missed that god awful helmet as the SOLDIERs came up. Three of them. This monster things must have been serious if they sent three SOLDIERs. She remembered them well enough from her infantry days. A lot of her comrades hoped to join them. She had too for a while. She had long since given up on the idea.

She had liked Commander Hewley well enough. He had the foresight to tell her to ignore Private Hessen. She hadn’t heard of the third one before. He must have just arrived because she hadn’t seen him before. She’d remember seeing someone with silver hair.

“Nice…another hot chick,” the young man who had to be Hessen said, “You sure know how to pick ‘em Hewley.”

“I’m certain Angeal chose her because she knows the area much better than you do,” the newbie said.

“I chose her because she was the only volunteer,” Hewley said, “though I’m sure she’d be happy to walk away due to your attitude Blake. Giving us another day without a decent guide and leaving us stuck here.” Cloud detected the disapproval in Hewley’s voice and noticed Hessen wilt a little. She didn’t smirk…completely.

“Besides,” Hewley stated, “Ms. Strauss does have a resume history with the company.”

“So…we have a private Strauss?” Hessen said.

“Corporal,” Cloud corrected, “and I’m sorry to order you about but I suggest we start moving. I’m not comfortable taking the bridge.”

“Why not?” Hessen challenged.

“Because I’ve been on it when it’s snapped before,” Cloud replied, “And the town can’t always afford to do scheduled maintenance on it. Once we get down in the valley I can get you through the cave system. There will probably be more of those…monster things y’all are looking for on my path.” Hessen wisely kept his mouth shut.

“Then lead away Ms. Strauss,” Hewley said. Cloud readjusted her weapon.

The incident with Tifa must have startled the SOLDIERs. The moment she heard the growl they pushed her back and unsheathed their weapons. They didn’t tell her to stay put, but it was heavily implied. A little insulting, but Cloud had seen enough SOLDIERs to know they could do things she just couldn’t.

She did, however, take them ditching her as full permission to load her weapon. She heard the howls and knew it was probably Fangs. The mako probably drove them insane. Made them unafraid of humans and so much stronger.

She saw Hewley start at her first shot. He noted the dead Fang behind him. Hewley held one cupped hand over his head, asking her to cover them as they fought. She had permission to shoot. She smiled.

“Couldn’t let us have all of them,” Hessen grumbled.

“She was covering us,” Hewley said nudging the Private, “which is how she is earning triple rate for being our guide. Besides, we are to expect a lot of hostile activity. There will be bigger and harder things the deeper in we go. She’s helping us keep some stamina so we can save the ethers.”

“I thought I recognized you,” the silver haired one said more softly, “You were the runner-up in the sharp-shooter contest 8 months ago.” She just shrugged.

“Your hair was shorter then,” he noted.

“Military regulation,” Cloud offered, “I see it doesn’t apply to all SOLDIERs though.”

“I heard the Turks talking about recruiting you,” the man continued.

“They offered,” she admitted, “but I had to come home.”

“For what it’s worth…I don’t think you would be the best Turk…their cover fire is not as…precise.” Cloud smiled at that.

“That is either the strangest flirt or the most sincere compliment,” she said, “I’ll take the latter.”

“That’s…what it was.” She fought not to laugh at him.

“Sephiroth, quit weirding out the guide,” Hessen said, “I may still have a shot.”

“Only in your nightmares,” Cloud replied.

Ten Years Later

Zack sneezed at the cloud of dust that puffed when he moved the next box in the storage room.

“Bless you,” His Ma said, “but…what do you think?” Zack looked around the cluttered room. He saw a window, a nice little cove to put a bed, empty walls to put up his pictures and posters …yea he could visualize the first room he would have all to himself

“I think it’s perfect,” Zack said. His Ma ruffled his hair.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep any of it?” he asked. Ma blue a wayward spike of blonde hair out of her face.

“Well if you want to go through it, that can be your job,” she said, “I haven’t looked at most of this crap in years.”

“I can price some stuff then,” Zack said, drawing a smiley face in the dust on a cabinet.

“Deal,” she said, “we’ll cart, you organize. I’ll get Barret with that lift.” Zack ran down to the room he shared with his mom and pulled out one of his washable markers before dashing back down to the storage room that hadn’t been lived in since his Gran was alive. He heard various people calling for his Ma, her own voice arguing back. Running a hotel was a tough business…especially in a vacation spot like Mideel, but she made do. Zack had saved various travel articles that praised their little hotel. Small and cozy, but good service and lovely views. With a short jaunt to some mako fountains. She was probably hoping to use the money selling most of this stuff to start building that addition she was planning.

Let’s see the cabinet was dusty, but sturdy. Looked like it would fit in their dining room or more sparse guestrooms. If not keeping 50 Gil.

Boxes of old books. 1 Gil per book.

Another box of books

An old tool box. Give to Cid or sell for 30 Gil.

Some old curtains it seemed. Clean and sell for 20 Gil.

Another box of…scrapbooks. Zack paused. He pulled one out. He opened it gently. It had been buried and spared most of the dust. He recognized his mother instantly, even as a baby. Her hair was still blonde and spiky and her eyes so blue.

Actually…his baby pictures looked an awful lot like hers. He flipped through pausing and smiling at how carefully Gran had put this together.

Cloud, 5 years, summer festival — featuring Ma in a flower crown.

Cloud, 8 years, after winning King of the Hill — featuring Ma with a wooden sword, held triumphantly over her head.

Cloud, 10 years, first hunt —Ma with Gran’s gun slung on her back. He set it aside too look over later. Then a photo slipped out. Zack picked it up.

It wasn’t a photo, but a newspaper article with a picture. He furrowed his brow. He recognized his Ma. She didn’t match the other’s uniforms, just dressed comfortably, with her hair tucked under a hat. It was what she wore when they went hiking together. He didn’t know those men though. Or their uniforms. The belts looked somewhat familiar.

“ShinRa ending mako monster rampages,” the headline read.

ShinRa SOLDIER agents ready to depart with guide Cloud Strife, the picture caption said. His heart leapt a little at that. This must have been what SOLDIER uniforms looked like 10 years ago. His heart almost stopped as he looked closer at the men.

He sprinted out of the room, nearly knocking Barret off balance. He didn’t hear Barret shouting at him to watch where he was going, or to get back here and help him. He sprinted back up to his room, digging through his drawers to find some of his posters. He found the one from ShinRa…the one his mom hated. He unrolled it, kneeling on it until he could see the face he was looking for. He held the newspaper photo up to it.

They matched. The newspaper version was much younger, but they were a match.

His mother had worked with Sephiroth—the Sephiroth—once before. He couldn’t squash the thought.

He’d asked Ma dozens of times, perhaps thousands. He loved her with all his heart…but he wanted to know. He was curious as to who his Dad was. Why he wasn’t here. Ma always promised to tell him when he was older. It still hurt sometimes.

And now all Zack wanted to know was if it was possible for Sephiroth to be his Dad. He was ten years old…and this article was from ten years ago.

Was it possible?

Cloud walked into the storage where Barret was chastising her missing son. She shook her head, then saw the book. She smiled at her Mother’s handiwork. She had loved making these books. She touched a few photos that featured her late mother. There was a piece of paper glued on the back page. She read it with a sad smile on her face. A poem from her mother, a song really, telling her to cheer up. It was exactly what her mother would do.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t throw everything out,” she said to herself.

“What you wanna keep the wardrobe now?” Barret said.

“Not that dummy!” Cloud said, “Zack get back down here and help if you want your own room!”

“Coming Ma!” She shook her head, but set the scrapbooks aside, with a gentle pat.

Chiquitita, you and I know

How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving

You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end

You will have no time for grieving

Chiquitita, you and I cry

But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you

Let me hear you sing once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

Try once more like you did before

Sing a new song, Chiquitita

— Keep singing for me Cloud. With all the love from your Ma.

#my writing #abby lyrics #sefkura #Fem!Cloud #Cloud Strife #Sephiroth #Angeal Hewley #Zack Fair #Mamma Mia!AU #it's cheesy and happy #so enjoy #or despair

41 notes · View notes

daydreambouquet · 3 years

Link

Zack never survived the Nibel Reactor and therefore couldn't rescue Cloud from Hojo's clutches. From this single point of divergence, the story unfolds.

The “fun” version of this chapter has way more snowboarding.

Preview of Chapter 25 - The Reunion

Climbing to the summit of the crater takes the entire day, and by the time Tifa finds the crisp edge of the precipice, the sky is darkening fast. An experienced climber might have made it in half the time, but the group travels slow, treating each treacherous chasm and slippery rock face with caution.

She wipes sweat from wind-burnt cheeks and peers into the devastatingly large and bottomless crater. The sheer expanse of it makes Tifa feel dizzy. Barret crouches next to her on the overhang.

“Bein’ in a place like this... Damn, it sure feels like the planet’s tryin’ to kill us,” he says. “Don’t it know we the good guys?”

Tifa commiserates. She finds a solid handhold and lowers herself to a platform of ice on the crater’s interior. Cloud is right beside her, then the others follow. The wind dies as they descend.

“Am I crazy or is it getting warmer?” Cid asks.

The sky recedes to a pitch-black oval. No stars or moon tonight, yet there is a faint light coming from the depths of the crater below. Their flashlights cut along bluish-white surroundings.

Climbing down is more complex than climbing up. Every step is on the brink of a plummet. Yuffie slips once, and Barret catches her. A fragment of ice falls from her boots, tumbling into the void, and it doesn’t echo for several excruciating seconds.

The further they go, the more Tifa notices a peculiar mist curling from the ice, like smoke. The team slides along dislodged icy chunks and cracked permafrost.

Hours pass. Exhaustion is overtaking them. The glow at the base of the crater hints at green and silver, throwing their world into cold lunar hues. Deeper, the rocks spiral. The ice becomes striated with filaments of organic matter like tree roots. The mist permeates thick, diffusing the light below into a haze.

The trail narrows into a single cavern entry.

Tifa hesitates. Nanaki sniffs with some trepidation.

“Mako,” he reports. “Or rather...the Lifestream.”

“The Promised Land is ahead,” Barret says. “Or what Shinra thinks of it, anyhow. Pure Mako.”

Cloud doesn’t look well. “Let’s just hope nobody falls in,” he says, and no one can tell if he’s joking.

The caves are a natural system of materia crystallization, pulsing with warmth and gentle lumination. Flashlights are no longer necessary. But that fog persists.

“Stay close…” Tifa says to everyone, though Cloud is the only one who answers. He will, of course.

The caverns open into a vast chamber of splintering rock formations. A long stone bridge extends into fog, lit by the source of the greenish glow below.

A form appears in the mist. A woman. Directly on the bridge.

“Aerith!” Cloud shouts, running forward. He knows she’s nearby. That uncanny connection is spiking.

Tifa jolts after him, but soon her footpath is a swirling maze of white and green. She hears Cloud ahead and the others behind.

“Aerith!” Tifa calls. There is no answer.

Then she bumps into Cloud, who is stock still, one arm extended to prevent anyone else from moving forward. A shadow rises. Tall. Much taller than Aerith or any human being. The form is massive and bloated, surrounded by flickerings in the fog like dozens of flies. The air is filled with them, with it.

Tifa cannot catch her breath. Cloud holds her arm, but his grip is too tight. He’s cutting the circulation off.

An alien head protrudes through the mist, eyeless, jawless, held by a contorted spine. Asymmetrical appendages curl fingerlike on one side and thick and flat on the other. The skin is stretched and ripped, exposing bulbous organs held by viscous material. An iridescent sheen coats its body. Long tendrils extend from every orifice.

Tifa pulls her glance to Cloud. They should run. Because this thing is pure nightmares.

#final fantasy vii #ff7 fanfic #fanfiction #ao3 #final fantasy 7 #jenova #cloud strife #reunion #zack dies earlier

0 notes

nautilusopus · 7 years

Text

The Number I

Chapter 11:A Good Old Rousing Round of Bad Decisions

Fuck this took a while. I mean I don't regret sitting on it for as long as I did because it's an important one and it needed work. And also because I wanted to focus on Sanctum C's Aeris/Cloud week and I dropped the ball really hard on that too LOLWHOOPS

Thank you to @fury-brand, @auncyen, @cateringisalie, @themateriodictable, @limbostratus, @cloud-and-tifa, and probably another two people I had look at this because I need this one to be PERFECT.

There are holes in the world, and spaces between numbers. Neither should exist. Cloud starts noticing them, and he isn’t the only one who has. And unfortunately for him, he’s both. (Contains graphic depictions of violence.)

Cloud leaned out the window and looked out into the street below him. He promptly got a rock to his face for his trouble, and he quickly ducked back inside as more followed them.

"About what I expected," he muttered. A mob assembled in two days wouldn't have more than Molotovs and rocks, right?

"There's a lot of them," said Jessie as she risked a quick look out the window. There wasn't a person left alive in Edge that hadn't lost something to Meteorfall, or Shinra, or Soldier, or all three.

"I could probably take 'em out," said Cloud. His sword was downstairs, if he'd even need to use it. Even if anyone present had access to materia, it was a safe enough bet that they wouldn't be as good as he was.

"Don't," said Reeve sharply. "I've already contacted the authorities."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "And what makes you think they aren't gonna join the mob themselves?"

"Because I know their boss. Cloud, if you kill anyone..."

"I'm not gonna kill anyone. Just scare them off a little." Truth be told, he couldn't really blame the mob outside. He'd certainly taken measures on his own time to find a few employees he'd discovered had worked for Hojo. The world was better off without them.

"Someone else should do it," said Cid. "Don't wanna give 'em another reason for them to think you're a threat."

"Dibs," said Yuffie quickly, and began to hurry downstairs, but was shoved back into the room by a furious Barret on his way up, Marlene trailing behind him. Neither one of them managed to get a word in before he leaned out the window himself.

"You motherfuckers best clear out!" he bellowed. "You set foot in this bar and I blow your damn head off!"

"See? Barret's got the right idea," said Cloud, as the mob quieted ever so slightly and Reeve pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Are they here to kill us?" Marlene managed to squeak out. "Do we have to leave?"

"It's okay. They're only here to kill me," said Cloud. This was not as comforting as he thought it would be, as Marlene stared at him in horror. "And it's not gonna work," he quickly added.

"Let's just find somewhere without windows and wait it out," said Jessie.

They all piled into the kitchen, where Nanaki was already waiting, anxiously pacing. Marlene was quietly hyperventilating now. The last time she'd experienced anything like this would have been years ago, waiting in the basement of the original Seventh Heaven during a raid. She'd been just old enough to understand that there was danger. Now she was old enough to understand why.

"They don't like you very much," said Nanaki as Cloud perched himself on top of an oven.

"I'd guessed," said Cloud, who was absently watching Yuffie trying to distract Marlene with more card tricks. He and Nanaki were probably the only ones present who could still make out what the mob was saying from the kitchen. "Shinra's murderer" was one of the more polite ones. "Freak" and "abomination" were some of the more dramatic ones. And one of the older terms he hadn't heard in a while, "dead-eye".

"I could take 'em. Just saying," Cloud grumbled.

"Don't," said Tifa. "If you retaliate they'll just see that as you proving them right." She sat down next to him on the counter. "Even if they have it coming," she added with a small smile.

Cloud almost reached out for her hand, then paused. His own palms were still covered in ink from the pen the thing had made him crush, and it was beginning to dry into a sticky mess.

"What did any of that mean?" he asked quietly.

"What did what?" asked Nanaki.

"I smashed up my room with tic-tac-toe or something," said Cloud.

"It was binary, dumbass," said Cid.

"Binary tic-tac-toe, then --"

Cloud heard another crash, and the crackle of flames. Someone had thrown another Molotov, this time through the front window.

"Right," said Cloud, and slid off the stove and ran out the door before anyone could stop him.

A few people were already beginning to widen the hole in the glass to climb in through. The minute they saw him, a cry went up through the crowed, and they backed off from the hole as Cloud raised his hand, claiming the flame that was already consuming a couple tables for his own before snuffing it out. He saw people readying weapons: some had kitchen knives and crowbars and shovels; another two had guns, though he couldn't make out whether they were traditional projectile or thermal; many were unarmed, but that didn't discount the possibility of materia on their persons, or even mastered spells.

The one in the front, he actually recognised; it had been the man from the roof, and he was looking at him with that same expression of disgust, only now he was holding a shotgun -- definitely projectile. More easily dodgeable than thermal, but a hell of a lot more destructive if he couldn’t.

Cloud stared them down as the reality of what they had come here to do seemed to settle in for them.

"Go on," he spat. "There's a hundred of you and one of me, right? I'm a danger to everyone in the city, right?"

He snatched up his sword from where it lay by the door and stepped outside, and he saw the people nearest to him flinch. One woman spoke up.

"You took my daughter from me." The contempt in her voice was overlaid with grief. "You people took her away."

"You're fucking crazy," yelled another one. "You all are, it's just a matter of time."

More people began to speak up.

"You people firebombed Angola!"

"My son was left to die! You promised him a new life and you left him to die!"

"Justice for the real Junon!"

"They should have euthanised Sephiroth and you both!" screamed the man from the roof, and the din of the mob picked up again, emboldened by their own righteous anger.

"I had nothing to do with that!" shouted Cloud, but it was lost in the roar of the crowd, which seemed to have gained enough confidence back to start calling for blood again. He began to scan the crowd again, trying to tally up how many he could take out before someone pulled a trigger or had time to get off a spell. The one in the back with the rifle, maybe not. The man in the front from the rooftop as another story -- he had a clear shot, and all the motivation to do it. But if Cloud could get to him first...

One of the braver ones clawed their way to the front, and the next thing Cloud knew there was a man throwing himself at him.

He sidestepped it easily and delivered a quick jab to his back with his elbow. Before the man had a chance to get up Cloud delivered a firm kick to his ribs, shoving him back towards the rest of the mob as Tifa came out of the kitchen and joined him outside by the doorway.

"Get the hell off my property!" she yelled. "I already called the cops! Clear out! Clear the fuck out!"

It was too late -- the rest of the mob surged in towards them both. Tifa dropped into a defensive stance right away, but Cloud had already taken a swing at the nearest citizen with his sword.

It had been with the flat side of the blade, of course, but the woman it connected with went flying into a news stand and crumpled against it, gasping in pain. A fist sank into his gut, and hand grabbed his leg and yanked, trying to throw him off balance. He lashed out with the other foot, kicking the closest thing he could get his leg into. He heard a dull crack as someone's kneecap gave out, and a scream. Good.

Beside him, he heard Tifa having a similar experience -- there were already six people limping away from her as she body checked a seventh into a wall. While none of them had any broken bones (probably), the crowd seemed more and more willing to at least leave her alone. A crowbar impacted the back of his head the second he looked away to watch her, and he rounded on his assailant and grabbed his arm, ready to snap it like a twig as he heard the cock of a shotgun behind him --

A bullhorn cut across the din and Cloud let go to clutch at his ears in agony -- it was so much louder for him, and inside he also heard Nanaki involuntarily howl. Someone in a uniform began shoving him and the mob apart, and Tifa grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back inside the minute they were both free.

Tifa just gave him a look.

"They attacked me first," he said. "I swear to you."

The back of his head itched, and he reached up and found it wet -- the skin had already healed, but his hair was still damp with his own blood. Tifa had a busted lip but was otherwise untouched.

"It doesn't matter anymore," said Tifa. "They got what they wanted, even if they didn't realise it."

He looked out the window, and the glass and burned furniture that was now in his home. The air smelled like smoke and and blood and awful cologne.

"Now what?" said Cloud.

Tifa shook her head. "...I don't know."

He watched the crowd disperse over the next half hour. He let Tifa do most of the talking to the authorities. He quietly swept up the glass and the ashes. He nailed boards over the broken windows. He did his best to wash the blood and ink and soot from his hands and hair.

He went back to his room, and he sat in front of his boarded-up window, and he imagined looking out at the sky.

Aeris was probably just a little bit drunk. They'd had a small party in the fifth ring with their ration packs, Aeris's candy, and a bottle of champagne someone had had the foresight to include with them, probably for an occasion just like this one. Zack was still over the moon about the whole thing, and was grinning from ear to ear as usual, but there was something different about it this time. He'd always looked slightly bitter when smiling, now that she thought about it. But this one looked real. Angeal and Lazard had decided to abstain from drinking, and were somewhere in the fourth ring going over the medical equipment. The chance that it might get used had suddenly gotten a lot higher.

"So -- what now?" asked Aeris. "We could send back '144' but it wouldn't get us any closer to communicating with them. Not really."

"Don't worry about that right now," said Cissnei. "Worry about what we're gonna tell the rest of the world."

"...Are we going to tell the rest of the world?" asked Tseng.

"I mean... we've gotta, right?" asked Zack.

"What would we tell them? We don't really know much ourselves," said Aeris. " That could cause a panic, too."

"Well, we're gonna have to tell someone. The board of directors, probably, when they ask what the hell we've been up to all this time."

"So, they just get to decide whether or not the world finds out about any of this?" asked Cissnei.

"Probably." Aeris turned back to Tseng. "We'll be on the panel though, right?"

"Also likely," said Tseng. "As for Cissnei, I am not sure. Officially she's here as an ambassador."

Cissnei looked up from her empty cup. "If they say no, am I supposed to just take this to my grave?"

"Hope not," said Zack. "But it's possible." That fact didn't seem to be doing much to dampen his mood. Perhaps he was drunk as well.

"Well, maybe I can get one of them to write a speech for me," said Aeris. "For the aliens."

"If they understood it," said Cissnei. "Or if you could get the message out."

"I don't see why I wouldn't," said Aeris. "If I can get a word in..."

Oh.

"I suppose we know why they're mad now," said Aeris. "If they're intelligent, I've just been walking one around."

"That's not possible," said Tseng.

"How's it not possible?" she replied.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?" said Zack. "If they're the same thing as whatever Aeris has been using, then we've been broadcasting right into them."

"That's true," said Tseng. "But it isn't possible. We picked up brainwaves, I believe. The human mind is complicated. So is the mind of anything else intelligent, I would assume. What we picked up was either an animal, or near brain death. Aeris shouldn't have cancelled it out entirely."

"But we don't know that." She stood up suddenly. "Maybe their brains work differently. If they have brains. Maybe it's like octopi --"

"Octopuses," cut in Tseng. "The root is Greek."

"...however you say it," she said, giving him a look, "and they've got decentralised nervous systems."

"We can find out," said Zack. "Next time we do this, why don't we just run the signal we found and yours at the same time? We can do that, right?"

"...In theory," said Tseng slowly, looking at Zack as though he were surprised he'd suggested it. "I would have to ask Lazard if that was advisable. It seems unsafe."

"There would be a risk of seizures," said Aeris. "I can guess that much. But I still say it's worth it."

"We will figure that out tomorrow," said Cissnei. "We have earned this. Pass me the champagne."

Somehow everyone managed to get themselves back up the next... morning? It had been a while since she'd seen a window, and time had more or less lost all meaning. Officially it was 5:00. That was morning enough.

They had forgotten to clean up the ration packaging from last night, so she wound up picking most of it up herself. She was just about finished when Zack walked in.

"Oh -- shit, sorry. I can, uh..."

Aeris shook her head. "It's fine. At least no one's hung over."

"Cissnei is, a little. I let her sleep for a bit."

Aeris nodded. "That's fine. She's..." She tried to search for a polite way to say "nonessential personnel".

Zack was nice enough to save her from the end of that sentence. "Yeah. Anyway, we're gonna have medical on standby for you, just in case."

"I'll be fine. It's for science," she said, smiling a bit. Zack frowned.

"You're... really invested in this, huh?" he asked.

"Yes. Aren't you?"

"Yeah -- I mean, I am, yes, but... what's your stake in this?"

"You already know. Nearly everyone does."

"Just... that's their reason, isn't it?"

Aeris turned to look at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

"What about you, huh?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Why are you really doing this?"

Zack's face hardened. "Because I need it. I need to be doing this."

There was something in his voice that almost sounded like anger. It was quickly gone again.

"I mean, just think of the tv deals we'll be getting from this," he said, and he was back to the other grin. The punchable one.

Aeris shook her head as Lazard walked in the door. "Guess it's time," she said. "Wish me luck."

Zack just shook his head. He still seemed preoccupied with something when the time came to count her down, given he'd given her the count of "three hundred I guess".

"Really."

"Look, there's a lot of stuff me and Angeal are doing. Just try to relax."

The hallucinations were beginning to creep in again. She shut her eyes, but she could have sworn she was hearing whispers as well. They were a lot harder to tolerate for this long.

"How much longer is this gonna take?" she asked. Zack didn't reply.

"Zack?" She opened the lid of the tank, and fell out into the dark emptiness.

It felt much more like falling now, too, until suddenly it felt like being dragged. She reached out to catch herself on anything, but suddenly everything she was falling through wanted to catch her, grabbing and pulling at her with a thousand hands made of nothing, and she absolutely didn't want to be caught. She felt herself falling again until she landed hard.

She looked up, and for a moment she was certain she was hallucinating again -- she was sitting on the floor, in a rather dingy little room. Looking around, it was fairly utilitarian -- no nicknacks, no odds and ends. A single cupboard with one of the drawers half-open, containing unfolded, wadded-up boxers. A tire sitting against the wall, and an office chair, and a desk. And above the desk, an unadorned wall with --

oo o o oo oo oo o

Her breath caught. There was no distortion. She could hear muffled conversation in the distance, and soft breathing in the room besides her own. The room was pitch black, but she found she could somehow still see. On the bed above her was a very large man, built like a truck and with the most expensive-looking prosthetic arm she'd ever seen, and next to him was a girl with her hair in a plait that looked about seven or eight.

Humans. They looked human.

She looked down at herself, then, and saw a hand. She could see every detail on the surface that she'd missed before -- five fingers. Heavily calloused, pockmarked with scars. The palms were stained a dark blue with... paint? It would explain the dampness she'd experienced towards the end. She flexed it experimentally. It still felt very sore.

It had never looked this way before. She hadn't been able to see much of anything.

Unless it wasn't her seeing any of this.

She sat there for a moment, staring at her hand. Not hers. Someone else's.

She took a deep breath and did the first thing that came to mind.

Cloud lay on the floor of his room, still awake. It was about six or seven in the morning. The mob had dispersed. They had originally been planning on stationing Reeve in his room to keep tabs on him, but Marlene was still convinced Cloud was going to be killed and demanded that she and Barret be there instead. Cloud hadn't felt right having Marlene sleep on the floor, and as much as Barret resented his "tiny-ass army cot" Cloud had managed to convince him it was better than the floor. That left Cloud with his old bedroll, which still smelled of grass and diesel and woodsmoke. Outside he could still hear the rustle of garbage left by the mob. Cloud had helped Tifa clean up the bar, but he refused to fix anything outside. That was their mess.

Marlene sniffled in her sleep. This had been the exact thing he'd wanted to avoid and he'd walked headfirst into it anyway. Though he wasn't sure what the solution would have been apart from putting bars on his window. He had about as much now, with the board he'd had to nail over it.

Something moved above him, and he thought for a moment Marlene had woken up. He turned to ask her what was wrong.

He tried to, anyway, but perhaps he was still half asleep, because nothing happened. There were more moving things now, on the ceiling. He began to hear the voices again as the world blurred around him. It was here again.

He tried to get a word of warning out to Barret, but that didn't happen either. He couldn't move, and though he could feel the fear flooding him already, his breathing and heartbeat remained steady.

It suddenly occurred to him that he was still aware, and that his vision and thoughts had cleared. There were no more shadows, and no more whispering, but there was still something there, watching him. He tried and failed to warn Barret again. He was completely paralysed -- it didn't even feel like he was breathing anymore; rather, that someone was breathing for him.

He felt himself sit up. He raised his hand, or maybe his hand was raising itself. He struggled again to scream, to lie back down, to just blink on his own terms, but whatever it was wasn't even fazed by his efforts.

Marlene was in the room. Marlene was in the room with him and this thing and he should have never allowed this.

The thing knew he was here, though -- he could feel its thoughts twisting in around his own, and he frantically strained against it as it burned itself into him, and lowered its hand, and took a deep breath, and spoke.

Hello, it said.

He was stunned for a moment, and didn't respond. He felt himself shift into a more comfortable sitting position against the side of the bed.

Hello? it repeated. Then he felt his lips part, and it said it out loud, very quietly. "Hello?"

What do you want from me? he thought.

He felt himself smiling, which sent another thrill of fear through him.

Oh! Ah... It sounded surprised. Or rather, it sounded like he was surprised, with that voice-that-wasn't-a-voice he'd think to himself with. Greetings and well-wishes on behalf of my team and our civilisation. We come offering friendship, peace, and a future of prosperity with one another.

Cloud took another moment to process what he was hearing. He had about a thousand questions whirling around in his head.

What? was the only coherent thing he managed to get out of any of them.

It seemed to contract in around him further. If his struggling was doing anything, it didn't give any indication that it noticed. None of them ever did. Not Sephiroth, not Jenova, not this thing. We --

Who's 'we'? What... I don't...

...My name is Aeris Gainsborough. He -- it -- was staring fixedly at his sword, leaned against his desk. My colleagues and I have spent a long time trying to meet you all. It's an honour to finally speak to you.

He felt himself stand up then, very quietly. His gaze landed on Marlene and Barret. It raised a hand, and Cloud's heart nearly stopped.

Don't! he pleaded. She isn't -- she isn't a threat to you, none of them are -- you're here for me, right? Don't hurt my family. Please.

He felt his hand lower, and now it was the thing -- Aeris's -- turn to be confused. Don't... what?

I don't understand what you want from me. Just... leave my family out of it. They haven't done anything.

There was a long period of silence. He sat back down on his bedroll and steepled his fingers.

...What's your name? it asked.

I'm -- I'm Cloud , he thought. Cloud Strife. I'm Cloud Strife.

We're well met, Cloud, it said. I won't do anything with your family. I just want to talk to you and look around. Is that alright? The voice was calm and soothing now. The way Mother -- Jenova would be, to lure him in.

It was so much stronger than him, though. He hadn't fought off Sephiroth's influence head on, either. It would take some doing.

Alright, he relented. Please don't hurt anyone. They haven't done anything.

I, er... I won't, it said. It seemed deeply uncomfortable now.

He felt himself stand again, taking another curious look at Barret's arm.

So... who would you say you are, Cloud? He looked down the hall and began examining the door to the closet there, and the towels inside it.

I --

He didn't understand the question. And if he didn't understand it, then he could give a wrong answer. And if he gave a wrong answer, Aeris might not be open to negotiation anymore. But no answer was a wrong answer too.

I-I'm a mechanic. I like to fix things.

There was a pause. It didn't seem angry, yet. It turned around and went down the stairs. ...A mechanic? For what?

Just my bike. Sometimes I fix engines, if anyone around here has one. Or... or doors. Old pipes. Leaky roofs and things.

It looked around the bar, the area where he'd first passed out when Jessie was here. It felt like years ago.

So you're a mechanic as a hobby, and a carpenter as a job? it asked, as it looked at the board that had been nailed to the windows, and the scorch marks on the walls and ceiling from the fire.

Yes. No. I -- sure.

It began to walk to the door, where he could make out a figure lurking nearby. Without thinking, he blurted out, Stop! You can't.

...Is it not safe out at night?

Not for me. The mob left a few hours ago. And I lost my sunglasses in the crash, so I can't...

Aeris looked at a bit of glass on the floor that he'd missed sweeping up. Mob?

I crashed my bike.

And suddenly he felt a sudden surge of anger, because now he finally understood.

You made me crash my bike. I was supposed to die in that crash, but I didn't, and they saw me live and more people saw me when you made me run off in the middle of the night, and then they came here and tried to -- you did this. You did this! The whole time I thought I was going mad, and it was you! I -- gods, I can't move, I can't --I --

It was quiet for several moments. He could still feel it there, though, and he still had no control over his body.

...I didn't -- please don't hurt my family. I said it, not them, please --

I'm sorry, it said. I'm -- I'm so sorry. If we had known...

Cloud said nothing. Aeris carefully picked the bit off glass off the floor, and went looking for the garbage.

I owe you an explanation. My team and I, we're doctors working with an organisation trying to make contact with extra-dimensional life. It's a very big project, funded by almost every...

Cloud had stopped listening. There was a faint ringing in his head. He dimly felt himself slip the glass into a bin under the sink.

No. It wasn't fair. He'd fought all this time for so long, and it wasn't fair. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no --!

"No!" He screamed the word out loud and fell to his knees as the nausea began to overtake him again. "God fucking dammit, no!"

He scrambled to his feet and ripped one of the boards off the window frame, flinging it into the street with a roar and eliciting a startled yelp out of whoever was lurking outside nearby. He grabbed another one, but a hand caught his shoulder.

He turned around to look at Tifa, and at everyone else that had come rushing downstairs. He swallowed as his throat began to constrict, but he refused to cry again. He had done enough crying.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. He was still shaking with fear and rage.

"Take a wild guess," he said bluntly. "I'm going back to bed. You all should too."

They all filed back up the stairs. The figure by the door cleared its throat. “This something I should know about?”

Cloud whirled around as they stepped into the light. He was surprised he didn’t recognise that awful cologne earlier. “Reno?”

“Attaboy. Think your girlfriend will let me have a drink for once? As payment for services rendered.” Reno leaned against the doorway. His voice was casual, but his posture was tense and alert, and he didn’t actually dare set foot in the bar.

“No. I think you shouldn’t push your luck on whether or not we might try getting even, to make up for lost time,” said Cloud, casually flexing his fingers to get the point across.

“Is that any way to thank someone that’s risking his life for you?” said Reno, feigning offense, and for the first time Cloud noticed he was wearing the same uniform as the group from earlier.

“You’re a cop?” he asked incredulously.

“Well, it’s not like my old job’s viable anymore,” said Reno, shooting him a look. “And besides, I already got the skills for this. Might as well use ‘em.”

“Like mass murder?” Cloud said bluntly.

“Like knowing how to follow the orders of a superior officer,” retorted Reno. “And a good sense of self-preservation. I’m hardly gonna announce the Turk thing publicly, am I? Don’t wanna wind up like you.”

“They had to have known. You’ve got records.”

“Yeah, but they need manpower. Besides, they’ll let just about anybody be a beat cop no matter how much they might or might not suck,” said Reno with a smirk. “Right, Spikes?”

“Don’t call me that,” said Cloud icily. “That isn’t my name. It’s Cloud.” He had taken a step towards Reno without realising it. The world seemed to fall away at the edges. It absolutely wouldn’t do to be called something that wasn’t his name.

Reno appeared to recognise he’d crossed some sort of line, and stepped away from the door. “Look, I’m just here for crowd control, yeah? So ease up off my ass about it. I’m here for your benefit, Cloud.”

“If you weren’t such a shitheel in general I might actually believe that.”

“Look, a job’s a job,” said Reno, sounding faintly annoyed as his facade began to crack. “Killing people the company doesn’t like and putting bodies in wood chippers and throwing people out of strip bars and keeping you alive for the night pays bills the exact same way. And right now, it makes sense for me to follow orders. Got it?”

“...Whatever you say,” said Cloud eventually. Mutual need was a surprisingly powerful driving force. Stronger than a lot of things he wished it weren’t, in fact. “Have fun electrocuting civilians.” He turned to leave.

“Have fun thinking about how empty everyone’s lives are now!” shouted Reno at his back as he ascended the stairs.

Cloud did not reenter his own room. Marlene and Barret were in that one.

Instead, he went to Tifa’s room and nudged her by way of permission. She looked at him questioningly. He was too tired to explain himself and gave her a blank look before slipping into bed next to her. He pressed his face into the pillow to give himself time to collect himself, then curled up against her.

He didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

Aeris allowed Lazard to help her out of the tank and sat on its edge, wordlessly staring at the screen where she'd been keeping a meticulous transcript of the entire interaction. Don't hurt my family. She read the words again, and again, still in shock.

She didn't think it would go this way. She didn't know how she thought it would go; maybe there would be a diplomatic exchange. Maybe they'd learn a lot about one another's culture. Maybe they wouldn't learn anything at all and they'd just spend several minutes having communication issues. But she hadn't expected the pleading, and the fear, and the raw anger.

She'd still had hope for all the former things at first. It had been strange enough that she'd been able to understand it -- them. (Him? It certainly seemed male, if she was going by her own understanding of humans in her own culture, which admittedly might not apply here.) They had allowed her to look around the dwelling they were in. There was plumbing and electricity. There were engines, though what kind, she wasn't sure. There was glass and trees for wood and refrigeration for perishable food, which was part of the local cuisine. She'd caught a glimpse of the remains of a computer in the room she'd started out in, which looked like something out of the seventies or eighties. Next to it seemed to be a pile of mechanical detritus, which seemed to be in line with the claim they had made about being a mechanic. Next to that, bafflingly enough, had been a sword -- an enormous one, nearly as big as she was. Perhaps it was ceremonial in use; it looked fairly elaborate, and if they'd figured out electricity they almost certainly had weapons technology beyond that.

The pictures they'd be getting off her would be usable. The entity they were in contact with was open to communication. But now...

Worst case scenario, she'd expected crushing disappointment -- that it was just a bunch of space monkeys on the other side after all. Nothing like this.

She turned to Zack, who was still reading her transcript.

“We’re gonna have to shut down the project,” he said.

"You say that as if it's your decision," said Lazard after a moment.

Zack rounded on him. “Well, do you have any other suggestions? I’m pretty sure we’re getting slammed up the ass with a human rights violation once this is over no matter what we do.”

"You're just head of the post-bridging operation." Lazard sank into an empty chair, looking exhausted. "CERN is the head of this project. How do you think they'll feel about us closing down the entire operation after getting concrete evidence of extradimensional intelligent life?"

"They'd realise what we were doing is wrong, obviously --" began Zack. Lazard shook his head.

"They'd either demand we continue with the greatest scientific discovery of the century, or they'd assign someone else," he said. "This is happening, with or without us."

"You said it was an animal," said Aeris, cutting across both of them. She turned to glower at Tseng now as well. "You said it was just an animal. That the brainwaves --"

"It was," snapped Tseng. "That was not and is not human brain activity. It's barely animalistic brain activity. This... this shouldn't have happened."

"What am I supposed to do, then? Just keep scrambling its brain until another mob catches up to it?"

"Yes. That's exactly what you're supposed to do." Lazard wasn't looking at Aeris anymore. He'd gone back to staring at the "signal disconnected" message on the screen. Aeris shook her head in disgust.

"This is wrong," said Zack. "What about all that bullshit I had to memorise about the betterment of humanity?"

"Arguably it's human nature to trample all over whatever indigenous culture happens to be in the way in the name of discovery," said Angeal dryly. He handed Aeris a towel. She snatched it out of his hands and threw it at him.

"This is the situation we're in," he said, handing the towel to Zack. "Until you come up with a way to change it to another one, we just have to make the most of this one." He headed for the door.

"What do you think?" she asked Cissnei. Cissnei shifted uncomfortably.

"Well... what do you want to do?"

"This isn't about that. Is this about doing the right thing, which we've all decided isn't a priority anymore!"

"You don't have to yell about it," said Cissnei, crossing her arms. "I am trying to help."

"Well, you're not," she said. "None of this is any help!" She trudged off to the showers without another word.

She didn’t go back to her room right away -- they’d all be looking for her there. She paid a visit to the rats she wasn’t supposed to be getting attached to and sat in front of their cages.

The first ten rats from months prior -- she supposed he would have encountered them too. She wondered if they’d also seen out of his eyes. He hadn’t mentioned them, but they would have had to, wouldn’t they? She wondered briefly how it would feel to have rats living in your brain for nearly two weeks.

So, here was the greatest scientific discovery of the century, maybe even in the course of human history, and it was already tainted. There was a very good chance she’d be removed from the project, of course, not to mention the inevitable public outcry. At least the whole project wouldn’t be dismissed as pseudoscience by anyone that wasn’t dismissing things like the curvature of the earth and global warming and landing on the moon.

That had been the biggest concern, going into things. “Oh, you’re that girl with the parents that blew themselves up doing that starkers Heaven’s Gate thing, yes?” they’d surely have said. “I’m sorry, but we’re not interested in new age sciences. Though I’m sure Worldview would love to have your work.”

But they hadn’t. Because obviously she had the numbers to back it up, and everyone had recognised that, and not long after sharing her research there had been several government-funded groups all vying for her attention.

She’d been doing the research for quite a while, but with the funding came a new realisation -- what the research would actually lead to. Or more specifically, her part in it: for the first time, she would actually get to do something.

And by and large, she’d done nothing. She had gone to school, skipped several grades, gone to other, more prestigious schools, finished those… and then would go on to study more things, perhaps, until she died.

Between dying surrounded by more research and dying alone on another planet (and with a jolt she realised that it was now a very real possibility; the “another planet” part of it at least, ideally the second half of the project would contain little to no dying), she’d take the latter in an instant.

Several hours later after she had retreated to her room to sleep off the sedatives, she received a knock on the door to her room.

"What?" she grumbled.

"It's me," she heard Tseng say from the other side of the plexiglass.

"And have you come here to ease my conscience?"

"In a manner of speaking. I've come here to ensure this doesn't distract you from your work."

Aeris stood up from her bed and yanked the door open, glowering at Tseng. "Excuse me?"

Tseng held her gaze. "The project is continuing. You know it, I know it. The least we can do is ensure it isn't for nothing."

Aeris flopped back down on her bed. "And you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart, right?"

"Of course not. I have my entire life tied up in this," said Tseng, shutting the door behind him and sitting down at her desk. "It only benefits me to continue. But I am not the only one."

"What -- you think I want this?"

Tseng shrugged. "Not this specifically, perhaps. But I doubt I am saying anything surprising when I say that you clearly did want this basic circumstance in some way or another."

"That doesn't matter," said Aeris.

"It does matter. Especially when the project hinges on you wanting to keep going."

"Of course I want to keep going!" Aeris snapped. "It's a problem that I want that at all!"

"But you do, and it's required that you do," said Tseng. "Ride that as far as it takes you."

"Is that what you're doing?"

"It certainly is now. Are you or are you not dedicated to --"

"Yes. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Only if you mean it. I am not the one you have to convince. That would be the board of directors." Tseng stood up and gave a polite nod. "I look forward to completing this project with you as painlessly as possible for everyone involved."

Aeris watched Tseng leave, then rolled back over on her bed. She was unable to sleep much that night. She spent most of it writing -- they’d probably want a detailed log of everything she’d seen, beyond the pictures they could get. She took a deep breath and started going through it all, piece by piece. Just data. No pleading, no near-death experiences.

She dwelled on the arm she’d seen, the prosthetic one. If it was prosthetic, anyway. Perhaps it was a covering? The detail and motor control it appeared to offer was incredible. She wondered if it was standard fare for someone to have an arm like that, or if this was simply a very wealthy family. It didn’t seem to be. There were three people piled into one room. She had been on the second floor of a modest-looking diner. It was all a bit shabby, but nothing that would indicate they were destitute.

Then there were all the other people in the building -- and at this she paused, because how would she know there were other people? She couldn’t have. Yet she felt certain there were: at least five, maybe more. It seemed, now that she thought back on it, that she had heard them breathing, but that seemed unrealistic. She’d have to check… well, later.

The sword, too, had been a point of interest. It wasn’t behind a glass case, suggesting it wasn’t particularly old. The various gears and catches along its length suggested it had moving parts, though why a sword would need moving parts was beyond her. And it was massive; something like that would require two people to carry it, assuming it was made of real metal. It looked like it was real metal… sharp metal, at that.

The wood on the door… there were trees that were used as a construction material. She wondered what trees they used, and where they were available. Something seemed strange about the street she’d gotten a glimpse of, but she couldn’t place her finger on what it was.

It was night out, it seemed, but the moon must have been several orders of magnitude brighter than their own because she found she had no difficulty seeing in the dark. Or, she considered, perhaps the native species, while clearly human-adjacent in many ways, had better night vision.

And, of course, there was her. Or rather, “him”. The person she’d been marauding around in. The scars on her hands… some of them looked like bites. From what animal, she wasn’t sure. Perhaps Tseng would know.

From what she could tell, she seemed about the same size as she did on Earth, assuming the entire world wasn’t scaled up or down as well. Young male, more on the small side… a bit of an anxious disposition. Or perhaps he was just anxious because there was something reaching into his skin and plucking at his nerves and throwing him in front of cars. She kneaded her eyes with the heels of her palms. Moral concerns later. Record the facts.

Her senses seemed to be working more or less properly now, but there was still something that hadn’t faded from the earlier runs: the dreamlike quality of movement. Every step came easily, and the world seemed strangely soft around her. She still felt the energy coiled in every tendon. She still felt as though she could have jumped ten metres into the air if she wanted to. She realised with a start that perhaps she had. And gravity still felt normal -- she’d felt the blood rush to her head as she’d bent down to pick up the glass, and had watched it fall into the bin under the sink as it would have on Earth.

There were so many things she couldn’t figure out on her own, and there was only one person that could give her answers. Apparently she wasn't finished running damage control just yet.

"...It spoke to me."

He'd gone right to Tifa the next day. This almost definitely didn't qualify as stupid, and everyone else save her and Barret were downstairs keeping an eye out for any troublemakers (and in Jessie’s case, to glare daggers at Reno and make vaguely threatening motions with her beer). The WRO was expected to arrive in two or three days. He wasn't sure why it had taken as long as it had, but the mob appeared to have finally forced their hand.

He was restless -- he hadn't left the bar in three days now. Tifa had suggested they spar, but there wasn't much any of them could do that wouldn't put even more holes in the walls. Cloud had been doing diamond push-ups for the last half hour, with Cid sitting in his office chair, angrily chewing on an entire pack of gum.

Cloud had been working up the nerve to bring this up to her all night, and throughout this morning. He wasn't really sure why -- they knew he wasn't crazy by now. He supposed it was still one of those mental blocks in place from the labs. It was stupid. He was stupid. He should be over this already. That's what he told himself over and over again, between each push-up. You're over it. You're over it. You're over it. You're over it. You're over it.

"Last night, I mean," he added. "Before you found me downstairs."

Tifa froze in the middle of one of her crunches and stared at him.

"Cloud, you probably shouldn't --"

"No," he interjected. "I mean, it spoke. With words. Said something about friendship and prosperity."

Tifa glanced at Cid, who suddenly seemed very, very interested. "And... that's not something it normally says."

"It doesn't normally say anything. Not that I can remember." Cloud pushed himself to his feet, working out the kinks in his arms. "Neither does Jenova. Not the way you'd understand it, anyway."

"Did you say anything back?" asked Tifa.

Cloud sat on his bed and looked away. He picked at a bit of flaky skin on the mottled scar tissue covering his left wrist.

"I'm trying to help. You know that," she pressed.

"I asked it what it wanted. It said it wanted to talk."

"Did you say anything else?"

"It wanted to go outside," continued Cloud. "You came downstairs before it could."

"What was it after?" asked Cid, who seemed to have started paying attention.

Cloud shrugged. Then he took another breath.

You're over it. You're over it. You're over it.

"It said I was part of a project," he said dryly.

The room went silent again. Cloud looked down and realised he'd picked his left wrist bloody again. He sat on his hands.

"You think --"

"Maybe," said Cloud, interrupting Cid. "But it can't be anyone from Nibelheim. They're... they died. All of 'em. I checked." There had been a lot of chaos immediately following Meteorfall. No one had noticed the extra bodies, or would have had resources to investigate where they came from.

"There are only a few groups left with the resources to pull that kind of thing off," said Tifa. "All that's left of Shinra are a few ex-Turks. Wutai would probably want nothing to do with it."

"The WRO," said Cid.

"Reeve wouldn't sell me out like that," said Cloud.

"Wouldn't he? Jackass already did it once, from what I hear," said Cid. “Barret brings it up from time to time.”

Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "...That's not the same thing. He didn't start a 'project'."

"It might not be Reeve that's running it," said Tifa. "He's one guy. There are other people in the WRO. And other people in the government."

"They got the info they need, too," said Cid. "You can bet your ass they keep tabs on anyone and anything with mako in it."

"It didn't know who I was, though," said Cloud. "The WRO probably have a file on me, after the doctor thing..."

"When it comes back, ask it," said Cid. Cloud nodded, then thought of something else.

"...If I don't get to it first, can you -- when you get a chance, talk to Reeve," he said. "Ask him if there's anyone named Aeris Gainsborough working for them, or for Edge."

Tifa frowned. "Gainsborough... sounds a bit northern. Not Nibel northern, north-northern."

"Maybe it's someone up there?"

"Couldn't be," she said. "I was just there. The population was almost entirely wiped out thanks to Sephiroth. Unless there's some secret underground bunker stashed away in an iceberg, they don't have the people or the resources."

"Oh. Right." He'd seen that -- well, "seen it". Eavesdropped, more like. He wasn't sure how he'd forgotten.

"It's worth asking, though," said Tifa. "You never know what might turn up." Cid nodded, now watching Cloud carefully. Cloud shot a glare at him, and he looked away.

"We both know it's gonna turn up again," said Cloud. "You can stare at me then."

And then it hit him that it would come back again. And probably the day after that, and the day after that. Suddenly Cloud wanted to break something again. “If it’s got a name, what do you think it is?”

“It’s hard to say,” said Tifa. “I still don’t really think it’s Jenova. She never calls herself anything, and She probably wouldn’t organise a ‘project’. Now I don’t know what it could be.”

Cloud looked over at Cid. “Those holes from before. They meant something to you, but it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Mind explaining it in standard for me?”

Cid swiped a piece of paper from Cloud’s desk and an undamaged pen and rolled himself over to them. “Right -- the golden ratio.” He wrote a one, and then another one. “Add those for me.”

Cloud looked at him. “It’s… it’s just two, right? Is this a trick question?”

“Nope.” He wrote down 2 on the paper and crossed out the first 1. “Now add those.”

“Three?”

“Why’s that a question? Thought you finished first grade, at least.” He crossed out the other 1, and wrote 3 next to the 2. “And those.”

“Five. So, what’s --”

“Every number in this sequence is proportional to the two that make it up. That ratio’s in nearly every single part of the natural world. Anything intelligent that can add one and two and get three and not have it be a question for some fuckin’ reason would spot it right off the bat.”

“Where are you going with this?” asked Tifa.

“Something that can recognise patterns in nature, like a bunch of people organising a project, is looking for other things like it,” said Cid. “And it found Cloud.”

“Okay, but what’s ‘it’?” asked Cloud.

“Something named Aeris Gainsborough, apparently,” said TIfa. “So it says, anyway.”

“...So, if it knew something that I didn’t, it’s probably real, right?” asked Cloud. “The numbers, I mean. So how come I can hear it and none of you can?”

“No offense, but you’ve kinda got a track record for hearing voices that ain’t really there.”

“Piss off.”

“He’s right,” said Tifa, looking at his chest. “You don’t have to be crazy for him to be right. We all know you’re not crazy.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, lady,” grunted Cid. “He’s fucking batshit. He just hears voices that have nothing to do with that.”

“...Thanks?” said Cloud. “Look, it’s not… it doesn’t feel like Jenova. And… it didn’t -- I mean…” He glanced at Tifa. “You were there with me, in the Lifestream. The Planet doesn’t really do words.”

“Not the Planet. We know someone that does do words, though --” began Cid.

“Sephiroth is dead,” cut in Cloud sharply. “I’d know if it was him.” And that was the end of that line of thought.

“...Maybe it’s not your Jenova,” said Cid. “We still don’t really know what’s out there. Maybe there’s more.”

“...There better not be,” said Cloud. The Planet wouldn’t survive something like that again, and Cloud probably couldn’t… do whatever it was he had the first time. If he had done anything.

“It’s not outta the question,” said Cid, spitting out his gum into the trash. “Jenova’s been around for a few billion years. Maybe the reason we ain’t got a reply yet from any civilisations besides our own is ‘cause there’s no one left, because a certain someone got to them first.”

“And the name?” asked Tifa. “That bit doesn’t fit.”

“Maybe it’s someone that died,” said Cloud. “And they’re trying to reach me from the Lifestream.”

“You’re no Ancient,” said Tifa. “And we dealt with Hojo’s landline. I thought you’d stopped hearing that kind of stuff.”

“I have, mostly,” said Cloud. “I’ll catch bits and pieces from the mako, but it’s just noise. Maybe it’s too processed. Or I can’t understand it right. Or both.”

“Maybe you’re not hearing it from the Lifestream,” said Tifa. “Nanaki… he said ‘it shouldn’t be here’. But he couldn’t tell me what it was. I don’t think he knew.”

Cloud slouched against the wall -- the non-busted one his bed was against. “Then we still don’t know.”

Cid shook his head. “We still don’t know.”

No one said anything else after that for several minutes. Cloud threaded a flame between his fingers, watching the light illuminate the bones in his hand, the flame gradually shifting from orange to white to the shimmering blue of his own native magic the longer he sustained it. Cloud considered himself lucky, landing the innate magic that he had. Some people’s wound up being completely useless in a fight-or-flight situation, which was the entire point of lingering innate magic in the first place. Cloud had thought his own magic was in the ‘useless’ category for the longest time; he’d only ever used it as a light until he was fifteen and stranded in the slums without a gun during a riot. But even then, he’d always been fond of the colour. It reminded him a bit of… he couldn’t remember. Something to do with home. And grass, maybe. It had involved grass, too. And sun.

"...I've been thinking," said Tifa, cutting off his train of thought and causing the fire to fizzle into tiny sparks. "Just -- I don't have anything really planned for sure, but... when all this is over, maybe we could take a trip down to the beach."

Cloud blinked. "What for?"

"Just for fun. Doesn't have to be the one in Costal del Sol. It can be by Junon or something," said Tifa. "Somewhere quiet. It might be nice."

"A really empty beach," suggested Cloud, "where I can fight you without breaking furniture." He thought about it, and he could picture the warm weather, and the quiet, and the steady rushing of the ocean, and the sky above them, bigger than ever. He thought about taking a nap right there on the shore, out in the open, where nothing would come along and take a bite out of him. In his head, his skin didn't become red and peeling like it always did in the sun. Tifa usually fared a bit better than him, but only a bit. But there wasn't any sunburn in the version he was making up. There wasn't anyone else around to stare at his eyes, or mutter amongst themselves about his various disfigurements, or make fun of him for the way he looked beyond all that, because Tifa wouldn't care that he couldn't grow a beard or anything else.

Tifa might not, at least. He glanced at Cid.

"Should we bring anyone else?" he asked.

Tifa shrugged. "If you want. I was thinking it could be just us, though."

“I’m not really into beaches,” said Cid. “Too damn hot. Knock yourselves out.”

"That's fine," said Cloud. It did sound like it would be nice, actually. Even if it was all in his head.

Somewhere quiet and safe with company. He'd always thought Seventh Heaven was a place like that, and here he was, cooped up inside it with his feet tucked up underneath him because there might still be glass on his floor. Maybe he'd expected too much -- of his home and Tifa.

"...I'll get us something to eat," said Tifa, which made Cloud realise he'd spaced out on her again. Before he could apologise she'd disappeared downstairs.

He sat there and waited. For Tifa to come back, for him to black out again. For when he could go to the beach and see how big the sky was there.

#the number i #spitegarbage #alternate title: I Wanted Cloud To Be Hit In The Head With At Least One Crowbar In This Story

7 notes · View notes

lettersofsky · 7 years

Text

A Meeting at the End of the World

Written for the Fic Exchange over on AO3 for user frogslay. A threat in the Northern Continent draws the attention of the world's saviour, while investigating they meet someone eager to be of assistance.

“And why should we help you? This s the third time you’ve managed to screw things up.” Cloud fixed Rufus with a bland look, staring down at the older blond seated behind the desk. He had, of course, been expecting something like this when Shinra called him and asked to meet, but being proven right never failed to brighten his move.

“The second time wasn’t my fault,” Rufus reminded him, the slight furrowing of his brow the only indication that the older man wasn’t as unaffected as he made himself out to be. “Nor is this one. You can’t blame me for the results of my Father’s actions.”

“You’ll fine I’m very good with blaming the wrong people for things,” Cloud stated, crossing his arms over his chest and shifting on his feet. “Just ask Tifa, she’ll tell you all about it.”

There was a minute twitch of a fine brow before the business man took a deep breath, releasing it with a soft, almost inaudible sound. “Regardless,” Rufus said, emphasising the word. “That isn’t what’s important here. Are you going to help or not?” The question would have sounded short from anyone else but from Shinra, the words were almost desperate.

Cloud wasn’t cruel enough to turn the man down, despite how much he thought the other deserved it.

“Of course I am,” he shrugged, rolling his eyes at the stunned look he got from the business man at his nonchalant words. “Just because I hate you, doesn’t mean the Turks deserve to suffer for it. They’re ok sometimes.”

Rufus stared at him silently, peering at him with cold eyes. He took a deep breath before releasing it harshly, speaking in a blank voice. “Do you need me to send you the coordinates?”

“Nope, Reno sent them before you called. Cid’s probably already waiting for me so we can leave.”

There was another twitch, this one a bit more noticeable than the last. “I better not keep you then,” Rufus forced out through gritted teeth. “I hope to hear good things from my Turks when they return.”

“The fact that they’ll have returned will be good enough.” Cloud called over his shoulder as he turned and strode out of the office. Pulling his PHS from his pocket showed him that he had several messages from his friends, they were ready and waiting for him on the Shera a few miles away.

He put his PHS away and continued to stride out of the building, making his way to Fenrir with steady, confident footsteps. He started the engine and immediately turned in the direction of the airship.

When he reached the airship, he discovered that neither Barret or Yuffie could make it to help them, Barret was dealing with issues in Corel and Yuffie was swamped with things in Wutai. Cloud didn’t hold it against them, they were both quite busy with their lives and couldn’t keep dropping everything to deal with Shinra’s messes.

Reeve was updating Cait Sith so the one he sent with them was only for communication and wouldn’t be joining them in any battles. The small robotic cat sounded far too downtrodden when he informed them of that.

Cloud strapped Fenrir down in the Shera’s cargo hold and put himself against a wall in preparation of the journey, he really hated having to travel by anything that wasn’t his own two feet.

“If you fuckin’ vomit in my ship, then you’re gonna be the one to fuckin’ clean it!” Cid shot at him as he started the Shera’s engine, the airship rising rapidly into the air.

It was time to save the world once again.

Apparently, the Northern Continent was one of the best places to try to end the world, the other was Midgar but that was more than obvious. The coordinates Reno had sent led them to an empty, mountain range and a smouldering wreckage of a helicopter.

It seemed that being unable to land a helicopter safely was something common amongst all the Turks. Cloud remembered that Tseng had somehow managed to crash one on a beautiful day, with absolutely nothing wrong with the copter and while nobody was attacking them; it was kind of amazing, now that Cloud could think back on it.

Cid set them down a few miles away from the crash and they quickly made their way to the helicopter. The smouldering metal was a stark contrast to the snowy mountain around them, it wasn’t on fire so Cloud counted that as a win; it meant that they didn’t have to worry about the helicopter exploding on them.

They started searching for Reno and Rude then; Nanaki trying to find a trace of their scent as the rest of them searched for more visible evidence of their presence. They soon found the two hidden away in a cave and were almost shot for their trouble; the two had had a tough time of things it the number of injuries they had was anything to go by.

“He was some fucked up dude, yo,” Reno told them after he recognized who they were, the man was a little woozy but still coherent. “That fucking throne dude from year, ya’ know?” Rude nodded silently from where Tifa was casting a Cure Materia on him, sunglasses broken but still on his face.

Cloud turned to where Vincent was lurking in the shadows, peering at the mass of darkness that was the gunman. “I thought you said he died,” he questioned, tone more curious than accusing. “You’re usually so good about things like that.”

The shadows shrugged but made no other move to answer. Cloud rolled his eyes at the gunslinger and turned back to the Turks, looking them over critically. “We should get you back to the ship,” he suggested, staring at the way Rude almost fell over himself where he was sitting. “You both look like you’re about to keel over.”

“Yeah, we’ll let you guys deal with the fucker, yo.” Reno agreed, waving a hand drunkenly in Cloud’s direction. “Just point us where and we’ll let you guys get to the thing.” Rude nodded once again, muttering a soft “yeah” to Reno’s words.

“You might die if you go alone,” Cloud informed them bluntly, looking over his shoulder at Vincent as he continued. “Vincent will get you back safely, won’t you Vincent?”

There was a moment of nothing, Cloud imagined that Vincent was giving him a dirty look from where he was hidden in the shadows, before the gunslinger nodded. “I shall meet up with you as soon as I am able.”

Cloud nodded at Vincent’s answer, turning back to his other companions. “We’ll start by going back to where Nanaki picked up that scent a few miles back, Vincent will be able to follow us from there.”

His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear the words Vincent muttered under his breath, “I could track you in my slumber, in the dead of the darkest winter night.” He was sure the man was aware that he could hear him, so he ignored the other.

He got confirmation from the others and they informed Reeve of what their next course of action would be.

They left the Turks in Vincent’s care and set off for where Nanaki had picked up the scent of mako and blood.

“You sure they’ll be alright?” Tifa asked, casting a worried glance back at the cave they had just left. “What if he comes back for them?”

“Vin can hold off any fuckers that come at him!” Cid assured her, a wide smile on his face. “He’s a tough bastard! Nothing’s managed to kill him yet!”

Tifa nodded, looking reassured by his words. “Yeah,” she breathed, turning away from the cave to where Nanaki was already on the trail. “They’ll be fine.”

The Turks were, in fact, more than fine with Vincent.

And why was Cloud so sure of that? Because Weiss, the throne dude, made it obvious where he was.

A giant, glowing mako pool surrounded by large, terrifying monsters was not the most inconspicuous thing in the world. Then again, the world-ending threats never were inconspicuous; Sephiroth and Meteor couldn’t be ignored and Deep Ground made sure everyone paid attention to them.

Weiss immediately sent his beasts after them, content to sit back and watch them fall to his little (GIANT MAN-EATING) pets.

They might have been able to handle them if both hadn’t come at them at the same time. Two beasts, both larger than most houses were, bearing down on them at once, was not something they could handle easily.

Cloud almost screamed in frustration when a Limit Break did nothing against them, he did scream when one of them completely healed the other after they had almost whittled it down to nothing. Even Vincent joining them did nothing to turn the tides in their favour.

Then one of the beasts erupted into flames, writhing in agony as deafening screams of pain filled the air around them before it collapsed to the ground and went shockingly still. They stared at the corpse for a moment, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

Then a large blur of red slammed into the ground in front of them.

He stared at the man as he stood to his full height, he was tall and his red-hair fell to his lower back. He turned to them, fixing them with inquisitive mako-blue eyes before turning away with a scoff. “You’re lucky I decided to help, instead of letting these things tear you apart.”

There was a moment of silence, then;

“Aw, fuck you, you bastard! Come over here and say that to my face you fucker!”

Cloud sighed softly as Cid continued to swear at the newcomer, earning a cold look from the stranger. He decided not to bother with them for the moment and turned his attention back to the other beast; Tifa and Nanaki were divvying its attention between them while Vincent focussed on taking shots at the thing when he had the opportunity, he went over to assist them.

Taking the stranger’s example Cloud started using his Materia against the beast. While it’s twin had a weakness to fire, this other was taken down by a powerful lightning spell. Tifa and Nanaki were tired from their efforts, chests heaving with their breaths as the beast fell to the ground.

“Who’s that?” Tifa asked, gesturing towards where Cid was still shouting at the stranger. “Someone you know?”

Cloud turned to glance at the man, seeing that Cid was now shouting in the other’s face. The man looked less than impressed by what the pilot was saying. The stranger turned away from Cid suddenly, approaching them with a confident stride. “I don’t know him,” Cloud answered his friend. “But I’m not going to turn away any help we can get.”

“I agree with Cloud,” Nanaki said, watching the man approach them from the corner of his eye. “I doubt we’ll be of much help against the upcoming enemy.”

Tifa looked troubled for a moment but agreed with Nanaki. “You’re probably right about that,” she rolled her shoulder, wincing and reaching up to grasp her upper arm with her hand. “I think I’m out anyway.”

Cloud fixed her with a concerned look, “will you be ok?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Of course I will be, I just pulled something.”

He nodded at her response but the stranger reached them before he could say anything else.

“What are we going to do about our friend up there?” The stranger asked, coming to a halt next to Cloud. He peered at them all with a judgemental look but didn’t say anything else.

“You, Vincent and I will be going after him while the rest wait here for our return. If things look like they’re going south, then they’ll come give us backup.” He turned to where Cait Sith was silently listening to them, “you got all that?”

“Ay lad, Reeve said yar in the clear! We’re ready to mark ya grave if ya don return.” The cat’s response drew a stunned look from the stranger and a surprised noise form his throat.

“Good, hopefully it won’t come to that.” He turned away from his friends then and stared at the man still seated above the mako-pool, it didn’t look like he had even recognized that his beasts had been killed. “Take shots where you can Vincent, just try not to hit us alright?”

Vincent scoffed silently but didn’t say anything and moved off to find somewhere to perch.

“Right,” Cloud breathed, nodding to himself. “Ok, let’s mosey.”

“What?” The stranger questioned, staring at him like he was insane. “What about a strategy of some kind?”

“I’m going to smack him with my sword and Vincent’s going to shoot him,” Cloud answered, continuing to move as he spoke. “Try not to die.”

A harsh sound came from behind him but Cloud focused on getting himself to Weiss.

Time to finish this.

Weiss wasn’t as difficult to take down as Sephiroth had been, even Kadaj-Sephiroth had been harder to take down. Maybe they’d been giving Vincent too much credit after the whole Deep Ground thing, especially if Weiss had been the strongest among them.

Weiss had gone down after two stabs; one through the stomach from Cloud and the other through the chest from the other man. Vincent hadn’t even gotten a shot in, it had been over so quickly.

“Is it always so easy?” The stranger asked, turning to stare at him over the corpse slumped over in the throne. Cloud shrugged in response, eyes trained on the other man’s sword; it was an impressive piece, a small SOLDIER sword retro-fitted with an ornate grip and etched with glyphs that pulsed with magic. It was also red, Cloud couldn’t tell if that was by design or something that had later been added to the blade.

“Usually there’s more destruction,” he admitted in a distracted tone, tearing his eyes from the crimson blade. “Midgar gets a bit more wrecked each time. Usually someone dies.”

The taller man blinked at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was telling the truth or not. “Ok,” he breathed, turning away from the corpse to where Vincent was perched a few miles away. “I expected it’d be harder to save the world.”

“Vincent might shoot at you if you ask him,” Cloud offered, hoisting First Tsurugi onto his back. “Or if you tell him how awful he is if he lost against that guy.” He stepped down to the strip of raised ground connecting the platform the throne was on to the shore of the lake.

The other followed him quickly, keeping up with him by virtue of his longer legs. “Where are you going after this?” He asked from behind him, pressing forward to breath into Cloud’s ear. “I’d love to hear about those other times.”

Cloud glanced over his shoulder, seeing glowing blue eyes staring at him intently. “It’s not that interesting,” he tried to tell the man.

“It’s got to be more interesting than this,” the other insisted, gesturing to the silent mountains around them. “It’ll certainly make the trip a bit more bearable.”

“The Turks will love that,” Cloud said in a bland tone. “Getting to listen to how useless they’ve been.”

“Turks?” The stranger questioned, freezing in his stride. “There are Turks with you?”

Cloud paused, turning to look at the man. “Yeah, they crashed their copter so we’re taking them back.” He was quiet, staring at him without really seeing him. “You gonna be ok with that? I mean, a lot of people are uncomfortable around the Turks.”

“Hmm,” The taller man hummed, blinking lazily before snapping back to attention. “Oh, yes. No, I believe we’ll have to save those stories for a different day.” He stepped back then, a large black wing materializing behind him. “Until next time.”

He was gone before Cloud could do little more than take a shocked breath, leaping into the empty sky and disappearing before his eyes. Cloud blinked at the dark spec in the sky for a moment then turned to look at the presence that just appeared at his shoulder. “That just happened, right? He’s got a wing too?”

“Yes, it was quite impressive.”

“Right,” Cloud nodded at the man’s words, sighing and turning to where their friends were waiting. “Let’s go tell everyone the good news.”

He realized while walking back to the airship that the stranger had never introduced themselves.

Only he and Vincent could make it the next ‘potentially world-ending crisis’; the others were too busy with their own lives to come help them. Cloud didn’t blame them; if he had a choice, he would have stayed home and slept in too.

When they reached the battlefield this time it was to see the swordsman from last time get thrown across the ruins of Midgar by an enormous creature with several arms. Its lower body seemed to be melded with wires and its body was dripping with mako, it was odd to see something like this; a kind of meld between something organic mixed so closely with something non-organic.

Cloud raced to where the man had impacted the ground, dropping into the small crater around the man’s body without a moment’s hesitation. He was relieved to see that the man was conscious, groaning as he pulled himself to sit upright. He turned to Cloud with hazy eyes, blinking at him a few times before speaking. “I believe I was robbed during our last meeting,” he told him seriously, raising a hand to grasp Cloud’s shoulder “Also, you’re far too pretty.”

Cloud ignored the man’s words, focusing on casting a Cure on the other man. He watched as some of the larger wounds on the man’s arms closed before stopping his spell, looking over the man for a moment. “You’re not gonna die yet,” he informed the other, watching the way blue eyes focused on him. “Think you can keep going?”

The man nodded after considering him for a few minutes, lifting himself to his feet. “Of course I can. Can’t let you have all the glory again.”

“If its glory you want then you can have all of it,” Cloud informed the man, lifting himself from the crater. “I’m just here to kill things and get myself a pay check.”

That startled a laugh out of the stranger and they set off to engage with the giant creature, keeping a close look of the other’s back as they fought the monster.

They eventually found the creature’s weakness; the underside of its head was particularly susceptible to stabbing so while Vincent and the other swordsman distracted it, Cloud forced two of his smaller blades into the soft skin, ripping its misshapen head from the rest of its leaking body.

The other swordsman was nice enough to catch him before he fell into the gapping, open wound of the man’s neck. He picked him out of the sky between one beat and the next, carrying him with the help of enhanced strength and his large wing.

Cloud could admit to himself that it was kind of nice. The man had a tight grip on him so he didn’t have to worry about being dropped and he smelled like apples and something he couldn’t identify, it was a very nice experience.

The man set him down safely on the ground, far away from where the corpse was dispersing into the Lifestream, the oozing flesh fading away and leaving the mechanical parts behind.

“I wasn’t aware your sword could do that,” the winged man said, the feathered limb dematerializing into nothing as he fixed his gaze on the blades in Cloud’s hands. He lifted his eyes from the swords to meet Cloud’s. “Any other special tricks?”

“None I’d ever show someone without knowing their name,” Cloud informed the man, turning to look for where Vincent had placed himself. He hadn’t meant to say that. His attempted to diffuse the coming awkwardness with his next words. “My friends want to have some standards.”

A soft noise of consideration came from behind him. “I suppose that’s reasonable,” the other man moved into his personal space, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. “Is a name all I need to see these special tricks?” The question was almost purred into his ear, warm breath fanning across his flesh and freezing Cloud in place.

He hadn’t expected the other man to response like that, it was unexpected to say the least.

Cloud swallowed heavily, abandoning the search for his friend. Vincent would have made himself apparent if he was here, meaning the gunslinger had left him to deal with this situation on his own. He wouldn’t put it pass the man to do that. “Um,” he responded eloquently, frozen for a moment as he tried to figure out how to react to this new situation. “It’s a start.” The words were muttered a few moments later as he forced down the heat that was threatening to rise to his cheeks.

He was usually much better around pretty people, he shouldn’t be getting this flustered by some random winged stranger that flung magic like he had been born doing it and had a sword as pretty as he was.

… Cloud might be a little bit screwed.

“Well then,” the other purred, pressing flush against his back and placing lips against his ear. “Genesis Rhapsodos, I can’t wait to see those tricks of yours.”

A shiver ran down his spine before Cloud could stop it, the way the other’s mouth grew into a smile told him that the swordsman, Genesis, had felt it as well. “Cloud,” he muttered quietly, shifting a bit to brush his mouth against the other man’s. “I’m… I’m Cloud.”

“Well, Cloud,” the way Genesis purred his name sent another shiver down his spine, not helped by the way their lips brushed with each word. “Shall we go to your place, or mine?”

There was a bright smile on the man’s face and he was staring at him with warm eyes.

Cloud was definitely screwed.

He was awoken a few hours later by the shrill tone of his PHS.

He groaned, reaching out from beneath the thin blanket to grasp the device. He lifted himself a bit, dislodging the warm arm that had been wrapped securely around his waist as he did so, and answered the call. He lifted the PHS to his ear and spoke, “hello?” His voice was gruff from previous activities and heavy from sleep.

“Cloud?” That was Reeve. Why was Reeve called him? “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he answered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Why are you calling?”

The warm body next to him stirred, tightening the grip of the arm around his waist. Genesis lifted himself from the bed and pressed his nose into the hollow of Cloud’s throat with a disgruntled noise. “Whoever that is better be important,” he muttered into the flesh of his shoulder. “Or I will set them on fire.”

“Is there someone with you Cloud?”

“Yeah, he said if this isn’t important he’s going to set you on fire.” He answered, glancing down at the man nuzzling into his shoulder. “He’s probably serious about that.”

“… Ok. I take it things went well, then?” Reeve asked, bemusement clear over the PHS. “With the creature that is.”

“Things went fine,” he responded, ignoring the distracting way Genesis was dragging his fingers over the skin of his lower abdomen. “It had re-joined the Lifestream by the time we left. Didn’t Vincent tell you?”

“You know that Vincent can be very… cryptic. He said something about a crimson angel and seduction that made his own look like a ‘masterpiece of a declaration of affection’.”

Cloud furrowed his brow at Reeve’s words, reaching up to run his hand through his messy hair. Genesis took the opportunity to capture the hand with his own, bringing them to rest against Cloud’s chest. Cloud turned his hand to thread their fingers together, feeling the smile that the other man pressed into his shoulder. “Yeah,” he muttered in a distracted voice. “Is that all you wanted Reeve?”

“Yes! Of course, my apologies Cloud. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing. I’ll speak to you later.” Reeve hung up then, the sound indicating he had hung up almost cutting off his last word.

Cloud pulled his PHS from his ear, closing the device and setting it back down away from the bed. Genesis pulled him back against the mattress, pushing him flat on his back and kneeling over his prone form. “I hope we won’t be having any more interruptions,” Genesis purred, eyes half-lidded as he ran a hand along Cloud’s side. “You haven’t shown me all your tricks yet.” His last words were accompanied by a smile, a warm, lazy curl of the other’s mouth that stirred a warm feeling in Cloud’s chest.

Cloud leaned forward to take Genesis’ mouth with his own, reaching up to sink his free hand into long hair. He wrapped his leg over the other’s hip, rolling up into Genesis’ space with an exaggerated movement. He used the moment of distraction to flip their positions, forcing Genesis back against the mattress before pulling from the other’s mouth.

He stared at the other with lidded eyes for a moment, staring down at him from his kneeling position. He shivered at the feeling of the man’s hand coming to rest on his side, pressing into the warm weight.

“I’ve got a few more things up my sleeve,” he breathed, using his grip on Genesis’ hair to urge the man up to meet his mouth. “Can’t promise that there won’t be any more interruptions, though. They might need us to save the world again.”

“Well then, we’re simply going to have to make the most out of our time. Aren’t we?”

#strifesodos #cloud strife #Genesis Rhapsodos #FFVII #FFVII Fic Exchange 2017 #gencloud #my stories #fanfiction #fanfic #Genesis tries to help save the world #It works out as well as can be expected #This was fun to write #little bit of implied smut at the end #Skyee Writes

37 notes · View notes

vacantgestures · 6 years

Text

Ascendant Recollection :CH 02:

Franchise: Kingdom Hearts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Love Interest: Riku

Rating: Teen

After the destruction of the Destiny Islands, Yukari finds herself dumped into a new world. Now she finds herself with not just a key, bigger list of responsibilities than she’d asked for.

Kingdom Hearts: Ascendant Recollection

Chapter 02

A World Beyond The Sea

If you're ever to take anything away from my story, just know that, getting inhaled by an enormous island eating storm is absolutely not fun.

Something else that isn't fun? Waking up on a cold slab of concrete. My head pulsed with intense pain. In fact it was probably from that three that hit me on the way up. I blinked a couple of times, before I realized that my vision might as well have been permanently blurred.

As I lay in an unfamiliar place, trying to recall the last few hours of the evening, I sighed, a bit frustrated as I stared up at the night sky. Spotted with stars, It was nothing in comparison to the spray of twinkling lights that blanketed the night back on Density Islands.

My home...

Thinking back, what had happened to it? What had caused that storm? I remember the dream that showed Riku conversing with that figure in the secret place. He'd made some sort of deal and it somehow unleashed... that dark... stuff and I woke up to a storm. But, had that really been a dream? And what did happened to Riku? And Kairi and Sora for that matter? I'd met up with Sora when things got crazy but, my other two close friends had been nowhere in sight. I supposed it was time to get a move on.

Sitting up I gazed about my surroundings. I sat in the middle of some sort of enormous court yard. Brick walled buildings surrounded me on all sides with twinkling, light decorations flickering gently in the dark. Street lights lit up the world around me with banners draped upon them reading, District 3.

Carefully, I stood up. Stumbling on my feet, I struggled to make it to the closest wall for support. Had I managed to get some sort of concussion? I blinked back the dizziness and blurred vision as I trudged up the set of stairs that led out of the court yard. At the top, I found a small compartment of houses that led down a pathway towards a pair of large wooden doors.

Pushing past them, I was met with a darkened alleyway, lined on either sides with town homes. Lit windows kept the darkness away as I made my way out of the narrow passage and into a greater plaza that, had me surrounded by shops, hotels, and big bright neon signs that did little to help my head ache. I gazed up at giant clocktower that hung above my head, reading just a few minutes past ten.

So far, I was vastly amazed. Everything here was just so... big. Back home, the tallest things we had were the humongous mountains on the mainland that sat lazing against the big puffy clouds that passed by on the horizon every day. Even the trees on the mainland had nothing on the size of the buildings, only growing so high-- often rivaling the size of some of our biggest homes, which were still not as big the shops and hotels around me.

On my way towards yet another set of doors, I found myself being slammed into. The world went completely sideways as I was forced to catch my balance while, a blubbering man, frantically held onto me for dear life.

"H-help me! Please!" The guy sobbed aloud, gripping my shoulders tightly. "They! They're coming this way!"

The man, attempted to hide behind me but, instead dragged me down to the ground with him. I shook him off, and turned to find a group of the little creatures come running in our direction.

For a second. Panic set in.

I remembered that I had only defeated them before in my dreams. I'd been in possession of that weapon-- The Keyblade. But now I was defenseless. How was I supposed to protect both this guy and myself?

I turned back to the man that had been freaking out at my feet as if I was supposed to be able to protect him. But I wasn't really much help either. With one more look at the oncoming enemies, I turned run. "Let's get out of here!" I shouted to the stranger.

It took him a moment to scramble to his feet. Yet, somehow he managed to trip and fall, crashing right into me once more. I hit the ground hard and everything began to multiply. Pushing myself up, I let go an agitated sigh as I turned to look for the guy. He was there, on the ground, cowering. Now with the creatures hovering over him, he sat there paralyzed with fear, sobbing uncontrollably.

"What are you doing?" I called out to him, trying to blink the stars out of my eyes. "Get out of here! Run!"

Sadly, even in my attempts to snap him out of his moment of terror, he would not budge. Instead, he stayed there as the creatures went in for the attack, and proceeded to claw out the poor man's heart. I watched as the creatures danced in delight at the retrieval of the prize before the man's body was consumed, only to be replaced by another little black creature.

Feeling a bit frantic, I found myself nearly frozen to my spot. My body suddenly felt like lead. It had to be from the prospect of death now becoming a harsh reality. I managed to stammer out of few words as the creatures lurched toward me. I felt my heart dive into my stomach, and shut my eyes waiting for the worst.

"Yukari!" I heard a voice call out.

Somehow melting away the fear, the familiar voice shook the terror away. My eyes shot towards the sound of the voice, and watched as the new comer had entered the scene.

"Sora!" I exclaimed delighted to see he was safe.

And it appeared that he was more than that, as he ran towards the monsters, brandishing what looked to be the same weapon I'd received. Although his held a different appearance, sporting a yellow boxed hand guard that connected to a long silvery shaft. The little prongs at the end, opened up into a true key look, that housed the emblem of a crown.

Sora wasted no time in dispatching the group of little black shadows. And much like in the dream each and every one of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Once he'd taken care of the things, he approached me, as I was still sitting a bit stunned on the ground.

"You alright?" He asked, extending a hand for me to taken.

I took it, using his weight to support my unsteady balance whilst simultaneously glancing around to ensure no more of those things would be likely to jump us. "Yeah." I answered. "Thanks... You really saved me from.. whatever those thing were."

"Heartless."

"What?"

"They're called Heartless." Sora repeated.

I looked at Sora suspiciously. "How do you..."

"After I woke up here, I ran into a bunch of them myself." He explained. "A guy named Cid, saved me. He told me I might be able to find you, Riku, and Kairi here as well. So, I went out looking. But so far, I've only found you and of course… more Heartless."

I gazed down at the Keyblade in his hands. I wasn't sure if I should press the issue, or not. But given the circumstances maybe it could wait. "So, are you saying, Kairi and Riku, were there when... it happened?" I asked.

Sora nodded quietly. A distracted look in his eyes offered more than his words. "...Yeah. I saw them." Was really all he intended to say.

"Did... something bad, happen?" I asked.

But Sora ignored my question, bringing up a new subject. "I've got to get you to safety. Wouldn't want to get jumped before we're prepared. Maybe Cid can help us out with that."

I watched as he pushed open the doors to "District One," as implied by the sign hanging above. I wondered what had happened that I had missed. Sora's hiding the possibility of bad news didn't sit right with me, but it was better to let him figure things out before forcing him to talk.

Following close behind, I glanced around at how much brighter this district was compared to the last two. More buildings, more shops and more lights. It was distinctively homier than the last, but lacked... people. I had to wonder where everyone was. I suppose the threat of those... Heartless, was quite serious, this night.

"So, do you know where this... place we're in, is?" I decided to ask, sparking up another conversation. "I mean, it seems like we finally got off the Island."

"I was told this place is called Traverse Town." Sora responded, stopping near the guard rail that sat before a plaza spotted with lights.

I gazed around at three enormous doors that seemed to serve as entry ways to other possible areas around the town. "But we didn't even have to use the raft." I recalled. From the dreams I'd been having I guess I wasn't too surprised about that. "I highly doubted it would have worked anyways."

I caught Sora look at me from the corner of my eye, but I refused to meet his gaze.

"All of this is crazy..." I went on. "Storms and monsters... what's even going on? Things were so... dull before. Everything's just happening all at once and…"

My words began to trails away as I went to look at Sora. But my gaze found the face of a newcomer who stood just a few feet away from us. Sora noticed and turned to investigate where my attention had landed.

The man standing before us had shaggy, long dark brown hair that went past his shoulders. His facial features seemed soft, rugged and unfriendly all at the same time, as he held it together with a scar that ran the length of his face, between his nose. Adorned with black jeans and a tucked in t shirt beneath his matching jacket, I wanted very much to say something to this guy about his many belts that hung around his waist.

"They know you're here." The guy mumbled. It wasn’t until that moment of him speaking that I realized his weapon. It looked like a mix of a gun and-- Okay, get this. His weapon with a flippin' sword stuffed into a gun.

I suppose I couldn't offer too many jokes. Sora was running around with an novelty sized key.

"And they'll keep coming, so long as you wield the Keyblade." The man continued.

I raised a brow. I didn't have my weapon out and on display. "But--"

"Stand back, little girl. This is between me and your friend here."

Offended, I frowned, muttering a quieted, "Rude..." under my breath.

Sora himself, already had a sort of sour look on his face as he gazed over his silvery Keyblade. Sending, testy glances at the guy, I worried about the decision he was about to make. "There's no way you gonna get this." He sneered. To which, he hastily got into a stance, indicating he was ready to fight off another nuisance if he had to. I also figured it was partly to seem intimidating.

"If that's really how you wanna do this," The man scoffed, readying his gun blade... thing. "Then let's go, kid."

"Now Sora..." I said, trying to allow him a chance to think rationally. "Think about this for a--"

“Aaaagh!!”

Sora leapt at the guy, screaming his battle cry. The man, didn't even let him get much of a chance as he shot a burning hot, ball of fire in his direction. Sora narrowly rolled out of the way, and the ball of fire, continued to come careening right at me.

I launched myself out of danger, cursing Sora's rash decision. I made it to safety in time to watch him jump the guard rail that hung over the plaza, only to be immediately chased into the open area by the man.

I watched on feverishly, as they fought, Sora almost always just missing a deadly blow. He was taking more hits that he was dishing out. It didn't take long for his movements to become sluggish and clumsy.

"Behind you!" I cried out.

Sora had stopped moving for just a second to catch his breath. But it was clear, at that moment, the man was simply toying with. Another burst of fire shot towards Sora who looked up when he'd heard my voice. Just barely, he scrambled out of harm’s way, only to be met with the man's blade that nearly sliced through his neck.

Sora blocked in time, going on to throw up the man's guard. Gripping his Key with two hands, he prepared himself to run the guy through it seemed. His face was beaded with sweat and worn with exhaustion. Sora was at his limit. This wasn't just some brawl on the beach like we had been used to. The was the cruel reality of the outside world. And in the last few hours of being here, Sora most likely had more time to experience that than myself.

The man spun, effortlessly, out the way as he kicked Sora in the back. Sora stumbled on his feet, trying to keep his balanced, but the man had the upper hand. He wasn't worn out like Sora had been. With the butt of his sword, he slammed the hunk of metal right into Sora's temple and almost immediately, Sora dropped his weapon.

"Sora!" I shouted, leaping over the guard rail, bounding over towards him.

I watched as his body collapsed, hitting the ground harder than what sounded safe.

Conveniently enough for me, the fact that I decided to start running like a psycho, caused the dizziness to resurface. Dropping to my knees, I crouched over Sora's body and latched onto his shoulders. Gently I tried to shake him awake but he was out cold. His head rolled around on his shoulders as a small groan sounded from his lips.

With a bit of a sigh of relief, I let my mind rest easy knowing that he was alright.

"Step aside little girl." The voice of the man throttled in my ears.

Looking over my shoulder, I watched as he came closer to the two of us. I was seeing double at this point but I fought through the wave of nausea that came with it.

"I'm not moving." I said, squeezing Sora's shoulders tightly.

The man, let go a sigh, as she threw his weapon onto his shoulder. "I don't have time for you. Make this easy and move out of the way."

For a split second I thought back to the dream I'd had just earlier that evening. The Keyblade that formed in my hand when I needed it most. That voice that spoke to me saying I had some power within me, that was beginning to awaken. For a moment, I did hesitate. This was all so new. Things were just happening so fast. But I wasn't about to let to creep have Sora without a fight.

Shakily, I got to my feet. I tried to control myself as the dizziness attempted to prevent me from steeling my nerves. Cautiously, I held out my hand in hopes to summon the Keyblade as I did before. I didn't know if there was a specific way to do it. Yet all the same I found myself concentrating on thoughts of protecting Sora, getting back to Riku and Kairi and just staying alive.

And somehow that worked.

Within seconds the Keyblade materialized in my possession, weighing heavily down on my right arm as I gripped it after it had appeared. I swung it once, twistingly before aiming it at the man before me, who'd then stopped to, gaze at my Keyblade.

"Another one?" The man said, as though he couldn’t believe his bothersome luck.

"Just tell me what you want." I demanded. But at the same time, I wavered. The spinning world around me forced me to shut my eyes. Clamping a hand against my head, I garnered a sympathetic response from the Stanger.

"Kid-- Hey, you alright? Hey!"

But it had been too late.

The world had turned upside down all at once as I felt myself tumbling towards the ground. The sound my blade clanging loudly as it made contact, left a horrible ringing in my ears. When I hit the stone tiling, the world didn't stop spinning. It was like everything continued on as I felt myself passing through what seemed to be memories all around me. They mixed and blurred together. The cacophony of voices swirling around my head didn't help the dizziness, but I could just barely hear the sound of faint hissing, coming out over it all.

"Get up." A voice tore through dream.

My eyes opened abruptly. Glancing around I found myself in a whole different location. The room around me was bathed in sea of deep emerald greens. The ceiling, the floor-- all of it looking somewhat lavish or fancy, in design. I noticed that I was been lying comfortably in a bed that was not my own. I easily discounted that this whole crazy night might have been a dream, when I noticed Sora snoozing in an arm chair at the foot of the bed. His head hung on his neck, while drool began to slide down the corner of his mouth.

"Oh good." The voice from before spook. "You're awake. How's your head?? Looks like you got yourself a concussion somehow."

I wasn't sure how I hadn’t seen her before but, a girl stood at the bedside. She seemed pretty young, sporting short, dark brown hair and eyes. She wore a cropped tank top with belt straps and khaki colored shorts. Fish nets sat on her arms beneath big orange gloves that matched her ankle boots which housed long, thigh high socks.

As loud as her outfit was, I was surprised I hadn't noticed her when I opened my eyes.

"Uh... It's fine." I said, almost forgetting that she'd asked a question. I lifted my hand to my head, and felt some bandages wrapped around the circumference of my noggin. I suppose it was as bad as I thought.

"Squall didn't even touch you, so I guess he got a little worried when you just passed out on the spot. We couldn't figure out how you got banged up without him even laying a finger on you."

"Uh... well, that might have actually be the tree that hit me on my way here." I confessed sheepishly.

"The what?"

"The name's Leon." The man with the scar promptly corrected the girl, not allowing me a chance to respond. He had also seemingly appeared in the room. His edgy brooding look was almost difficult to notice.

Well when you get hit hard enough...

Ignoring the man, the girl shrugged and moved to Sora. "Hey, wake up, ya lazy bum!" The girl shouted, kicking at the arm chair.

The impressive jolt, woke Sora from his slumber. Upon sleepily opening his eyes, his gaze met with the girl, who'd been kneeling over him. "Gimmie... a break... Kairi..."

"Kairi?" The girl, inquired annoyed. "The name's Yuffie! Wake up, Nerd!!"

Again she shoved the chair and Sora jolted awake. Shouting expletives.

"Yeah... I think you might had hit this one too hard." The girl said rolling her eyes.

Sora's attention immediately landed on the man, calling himself Leon and stood from his seat, ready to fight once again. "You!! You're the one that attacked me out of nowhere! What's your problem?"

"While I am inclined agree that arguing on that notion would seem appropriate at any other time," I said, drawing Sora's attention to me. "I think, it wasn't without reason."

Sora quickly looked me over before he realized the bandage on my head.

"Did he beat you up too?" He asked, concerned.

"Tree." Was all I said before he nodded understandingly.

"You alright?" He attempted to confirm.

"Wait, seriously.... How on earth did you get into a fight with a tree?" The girl, now known as Yuffie, asked.

"Enough." The man's voice cut through each of our words as we all averted out attention toward him. "We've got more pressing matters at hand. And it's got to do with the two of you, both wielding the Keyblade."

"Both?" Sora asked, his eyes catching mine.

"I can summon one too." I shrugged.

"Wait... then why didn't you tell me?"

"It doesn’t matter." The guy said. "Both of you seem to be the chosen wielders of the blade. Initially the plan was to get it from you so we could conceal you hearts from the Heartless. I didn't think you'd come on your own of course, but I was willing to do what I needed to get you to come along."

"Even if that meant beating up a kid?" I noted. "Sounds like the mindset of bully to me."

"Regardless." Yuffie sighed heavily. "You guys were running around completely oblivious to how dangerous of a threat you posed for yourselves. The Heartless can seek you out via the Keyblade."

"Meaning, we don't have lot of time, before they make their presence known." Leon went on. "This place is infested. They're crawling around everywhere. It's crazy to even think that the keyblade chose you two—Kids, of all people."

"Rude..." I interjected.

"Why don't you start making sense" Said demanded. His tone held plenty of frustration in it. "Maybe explain what’s really going on around here."

"Well, okay." Yuffie said, taking a deep. From that, I could tell she was about to give us a very condensed version of a story we might well need the full details to. "We're pressing for time so... here goes. So you know that, there are worlds outside of your own. But the thing is, they've been a super-secret up until this point. And that's all thanks to the Heartless who've been shaking thing up. They're kind of making a grand mess of things."

"The Heartless." I said. I was pretty sure Sora said it to me before, but.. "Those are the creatures that keep chasing us around. But what are they really?"

"Those without hearts." Leon confirmed. "The Darkness in peoples' hearts is what attracts them. See that you don't fall prey, for there is Darkness within every heart."

"We've learned that a man named Ansem was studying those creatures a while backs." Yuffie continued. "He recorded all he knew about them in a compiled report-- like their behavior and stuff. Sadly we don't know a whole lot about those nasty buggers, but we do know that we could probably learn more about them form the reports."

"Well maybe... you could show it to us, if it’s not too much trouble?" I suggested.

“That’s… the thing." Yuffie frowned. "We can't."

"Because...?" Sora chimed in.

"Because." Yuffie emphasized. "We don't have 'em all. We've got like a few pages with us, but the rest of them are all scattered about the place-- maybe even across the worlds. Getting them back is a real pain."

"So for now... you’re saying the only real defense we have against the Heartless that we currently can be sure of is the Keyblade." I supplied.

"Exactly!" Yuffie nodded, slapping a fist into her palm and pointing at me as a big grinned danced onto her face.

"The Heartless, tend to greatly fear the Keyblade." Leon spoke out. "Even as this is the case, they'll continue to seek you out."

"Well... neither of us asked for this." Sora said. "Is there no way to return it or--"

"Obviously not?" Yuffie answered matter o' factly. "Who are you going to give it back to? The Keyblade chooses it's master, and it looks like you two are the new lucky owners! It's yours for good."

"Okay, hold on." I said. This was all coming at me pretty fast. In a matter of just a few hours so much has happened. Now, I'm being force fed a ton of info-- and the ‘too long didn't read’ version at that. "Can we back track for a second? You're saying that we didn't know about other worlds until now because those Heartless are taking over, right? So then what about us? What happened to our island?? Last we saw of it, it was being pulled apart. Sora, you said, you were looking for Kairi and Riku. Where are they?"

Leon and Yuffie stood there with pursed lips and I listed off my many questions.

"Just because we've got Keyblades, that automatically makes us official monster slayers? Not even any trainers? At least have us be better informed before we get thrown back into it. I hardly know how to use this... Keyblade thing."

"The fact that you're sitting here, right now, possibly means that you're world is gone." Leon finally said. "Mayhaps, it's been consumed by the Darkness whenever the Heartless came. I'm sorry to break it to you, and I don't know how to say it any easier, but you probably won't be seeing you friends, family or world any time soon."

"Leon--" Yuffie's voice was soft.

"No." But Leon's was firm. "This is the reality of their situation. There is no sugar coating it."

I pressed my lips tightly together. I found myself looking at that really, nice rug as I tried to find some composure. I hated that my gut feelings tended to turned out right. But I wouldn't allow myself to believe that earlier today, really was the last day that I would see the ocean.

I looked up at the two strangers, as they both stared at me expectantly. I could read their expressions perfectly. They were sympathetic, but they really were counting on both of us being on board. I looked over at Sora. He looked pretty deep in thought too. But This Leon dude was right. We didn't really have a whole lot of options anyways. We were now, two fifteen year old kids without a home and nothing to our name except our new, very priceless looking weapons.

I let go a sigh, attempting to get my decision out, before a loud explosion sounded right within the room. That awful ringing caused my brain to vibrate around in my skull as the world started to double around me. Leon readied his weapon, barking orders around the room.

"Yuffie, get a move on! You two are with me. Let's go!" He shouted, as he tore through the mini horde of creatures that entered the room.

I hastily, but carefully got out of bed, which had still managed to be a mistake. Sora who had already summoned Key was nearly out the hole int he wall when he noticed.

"Yukari, can you manage?" He asked.

Hesitantly, I summoned my Key. Somehow it felt more heavy than I was used too. I suppose a toy wooden sword was nothing compared to this.

"I'm good." I said, shaking the stars out of my eyes. I had to be at least 90% right now. Any less meant... turning into one of those Heartless which, was not an option.

Sora nodded, leading the way out of what I realized was the room of a hotel. We had then, found ourselves in a fancy looking back alley lined with hotel balconies. Leaping over the side we were met with tons of creatures that spotted the length of the alley. Following the man's lead, the two of us hacked and slashed our ways through the enemy horde with surprising ease. I had initially thought, they would have been tougher to deal with, but the little creatures exploded upon impact of the Keyblade, making contact with their black bodies.

"Where did he go?" Sora shouted, when we'd entered the Second District through a side door of the alley.

The Heartless quickly closed in behind us, right as we slammed the door. Even still, more lay ahead. The court yard was swarming with the things dancing about, and chasing after people who, let's be honest, should have known better to stay inside.

"Who cares, let's just keep moving!" I cried out moving ahead of Sora.

I dashed through another creature that had been chewing on some guys leg. Free of his assailant he clumsily scrambled to his feet and thanked me frantically.

"Get out of here." I told him. "Make sure you tell everyone else to find safety."

The guy nodded running off as we continued to free others in need of help. But there was no real point. With one defeated, more spawned in its place. It was as if there was no end to these guys.

"Let's get out of here." Sora shouted to me, ducking into the alley that led to the last district.

I followed behind. Once through the door, we were immediately met with the sounds of screaming.

"Save meee!!" A panicked voice, cried out, resonating around the walls of the district three courtyard.

"Fight, Goofy!!" A familiar voice screeched, angrily at the first.

For second I could have sworn, I'd heard that voice somewhere before. As we ran into the square I looked all about myself but saw… nothing. That was until we looked up and noticed the two.. animal people fighting for their lives on the tiny space of a balcony above our heads.

A single Heartless had them pinned down, but there was nothing we could do to help them.

"I'm trying!" One of them shouted. This one looked like a sort of black bloodhound, but with the characteristics of a human. He charged towards the Heartless, a bigger one than I'd seen up until now, in attempts to knock it down. But the thing effortlessly swatted the dog out of its, way, sending the dog flying over the side of the balcony.

Sora and I inched forwards with anticipation, as we watched.

"Thunder!" The other voice belonging to a white duck... man?! who went barreling after the Heartless.

Instantly I recognized him from the dream, which would then prove, the dream wasn't exactly that.

"Maybe we should get up there and help them?" I suggested, glancing over at Sora who's eyes were strained on the pair. His features had been knotted into something of painful anticipation, like he couldn’t bear to watch, but he didn't want to look away.

"Ah... I don't think we'll need to be doing that." He said, carefully stepping back. "Seems like they're coming to us."

"Wah--?"

"aaaaauUAAAHAAAHHHHH!!!"

The sound of screaming, closing in, caught my attention as I realized, with great displeasure, that the two were now rocketing right in our direction.

Sora and I both moved to escape their trajectory, but found it to be a fruitless effort, as the bodies of the two newcomers collided with ours, sending us all right into the cool pavement.

I can say with unwavering confidence, from the bottom of the pile of bodies, this was not a wonderful place to be.

"Keys!!" The two shouted in unison upon, I assume, the sight of both of our weapons that had been flung across the court yard.

But their revelation was short lived as an incredible rumbling, shook the ground beneath us. This was then promptly followed by, walls spring up around the yard, and blocking off all of the exits, preventing escape.

"What happening?" Sora asked aloud, to no one in particular.

His question was quickly answered when a barrage of armored parts came crashing down out of the night sky. All around us, the pieces fell-- an armored helmet, clawed gauntlets, boots and a torso. The enormous clang of metal rattled my insides an shook my vision. It was great wakeup call but it did little to help my head ache.

At first the pieces stayed in their places, unmoving. The silence of the night managed to come back, as the ringing subsided.

"Uhh..." Sora's voice permeated the quiet. "So, who are you guys, again?"

"Ah!" The dog, who was comfortably on top of our pile, grinned wide. "The names, Goofy, and this here is Donald!"

"Are you freaking kidding me right now??" I asked, irritated, from the bottom of the heap.

At the sound of my voice, the ground began to shake. The parts of armor began to rattle as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground, and began hovering before encircling us at dangerous speed.

"I don't want to sound too urgent." Agitation, was quite prevalent in my voice. "But may this is the best time to get, off??"

It was in that moment that the boys scrambled to their feet. Sora and I made a grab for our weapons before the four of us huddled together, back to back as the parts, violently encircling us, closed in. The wind from the vortex it was creating, throwing my hair every which way. I clenched the my Keyblade tightly in my hand, hoping this wasn’t the night of my death.

"Thundaga!!" The duck man, shouted.

For a second, the world around us darkened before the temperature rose, significantly. From the sky, an impressively sized vein of lightning, came down and struck the armor, without managing to hit us. This threw the monster out of its attack. sending it flying across the length of the court yard. Seemingly dazed, buy only momentarily, the thing twitched and flinched as it stumbled and floated its way to its feet until all of the parts were in their respective places to form a sort of "body."

"Let's beat him together!" The dog shouted, charging towards the thing with nothing but a shield.

"Attaaack!!" The duck screeched, flailing his magic staff around, while blast what appeared to be magic spells.

Sora and I exchanged brief glances of blatant awe struck before following the two into battle. I gripped my blade tightly running into danger. My eyes made contact with the torso, section of the thing and noticed a sort of heart design of red and black, with a X mark running through it. Interestingly enough I realized some of the different, little heartless I'd seen, had those on them as well-- the little buggers with the knight helmets seemed like underlings to this guy?

I narrowly missed the swiping of both the clawed hands as I threw myself to the ground. Rolling back to my feet, I continued to barrel towards the thing. Of course, this was all while it was coming right at me.

"Hey!!" I shouted towards the duck. "Can you hit it again!! With that lightning?"

The duck, having caught my attention furrowed his brow. "I'll need some time!"

I nodded before I turned to find Sora had paired up with the dog to take down the feet. They were making great progress until they got kicked back and sent flying. I watched with bated breath as the armored boots both came careening in my direction. Skidding to a stop, I hoped to get out of the way in time before they rammed into me.

Unfortunately for me, I took the blow, being thrown back even closer to the massive armor. Stumbling to my feet, I narrowly avoided being crushed to death. I rolled desperately for my life, slashing at the armor as I did so. Aggressively, I threw my blade through one of the boots and it exploded in a grand fit of dark smoke. Sadly, I wouldn't have time to avoid the other foot that had come rocketing right towards me.

But it seemed I wouldn’t have to, as the dog, who called himself Goofy leapt in front of me with his shield braced for impact. Impressively the foot imploded before the dog threw his shield at an on-coming claw.

"Move it!" He shouted, ducking for cover himself.

He didn't need to tell me twice.

I dove to the ground right as my head would have been taken off. The wind the claw picked up threw my hair across my face, and into my eyes. I watched as is made preparations for a round trip.

"Get up!" Sora shouted, as he yanked me up by the shoulder.

I hadn't even notice that Goofy had already been back on his feet, with his shield in hand.

"Get ready!!" I heard the duck shouting from across the court yard. He'd come charging our way, with his staff risen over head. "Back me up, Goofy! You two, be ready to finish him off!"

"Right!" Sora and I exclaimed.

"THUNDAGAAAA!!" The duck shouted, once more.

Again, the atmosphere around us dipped before a vein of lightning, larger and more expansive ripped through the air. It targeted only the enormous body of floating parts, ripping the claws to pieces and severely damaging the body and head. Both of the remaining pieces clattered loudly to the ground. Goofy flung his shield at the helmet, while Sora and I rushed in after to deliver the finishing blow.

Together, we tore through the twitching torso piece with our blades. The thing shuddered violently before exploding into bits of shrapnel and Darkness that clouded the air.

The boys cheered at the sight of the creature’s demise, while I watched as a shimmering pink, heart floated up into the sky before vanishing into the stars.

"So, you guys were looking for us?" Sora inquired.

He and I, along with a Leon, Yuffie, the animal duo and a new girl, stood in the middle of the first district. Surrounded by lights, and other dwellers of this world.

The new girl, who had introduced herself to me as Aerith, wore a kind smile. She'd been dressed in a light pink button down dress and heavy brown boots. Silver bangles covered her wrist. Her long, light brown hair was tucked into a braid. At that moment, she had been checking my head wound whilst casting what seemed to be multiple, very light doses of healing magic at it. I wasn't going to insist she stopped, because it was definitely getting rid of whatever concussion I had.

"These two had apparently been sent out to find you, at the request of their king." Leon clarified. "I supposes its only remarkable that there is two of you, but nonetheless, you seem to be prime suspects."

"Request of your king?" I echoed, thinking back to the letter, the duck man had been reading. I wondered if it was pertinent that I shared the fact that I could see things like that through dreams-- events of people and places and what not. But, I don't know how useful it would be. They'd probably just find that creepy and invasive.

"You should come with us, on our vessel!" The dog appointed. "We'll be traveling around the multiverse, taking down Heartless together like we just did."

"We couldn't do it properly without a few Keyblade wielders." The duck egged on.

"But, what about our friends?" Sora looked to me, with a hopeless expression on his face. "We still haven't found them and we don't even know if they're ok."

I bit my lip as I stared him. I kindly thanked Aerith, and moved closer to Sora placing a hand on his shoulder. "You said, you looked everywhere in this town." Maybe... they aren't here? Maybe they ended up, somewhere else."

"She could be right." Leon stated. "This isn't the only world out here, beyond yours. If you go with these guys, you’re bound to find them."

Sora's frown failed to dissipate even at that bit of confirmation.

"But, you won't be coming with us, looking like that." The duck insisted.

"What's wrong with the way we look?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"Your faces--"

"E-excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips. If he was trying to say we had to look like animal hybrids to get into their crew, they had another thing coming.

"The frowns, you too have." He clarified. "Our ship runs on smiles. If you guys come with us looking like that, we'll exploded before we make it off world."

I couldn’t tell if this was an exaggeration or not.

"You guys need to be happy!" The dog agreed. "We'll help you find your friends along the way-- no problem. We'll all be in this together."

For a moment, Sora face’s was knotted only with concern. I felt like it had been partially my fault for calling out the fact that our island couldn't have possible survived what happened to it. Even still, he'd been really weird about not telling whatever he omitted when I asked about Kairi and Riku.

I looked back at the duo and forced a grin, for Sora's and Riku and Kairi’s sake. I wanted to find them and ensure their safety more than anything. But, if all the worlds were being taken over by the Heartless, then a reunion would be short lived. "I'll take up, you guys' offer if a smile's all you need."

Sora looked up at me, curiously.

"We're gonna find them." I told him. "Together-- and with their help."

"And we'll still be helping you guys out too!" Yuffie exclaimed.

I looked over everyone. All genuine, warm smiles across their faces as each of them nodded. Our situation may have seemed hopeless but we definitely weren't alone.

"Yeah." Sora finally agreed. A big toothy grin, grew across his lips. “We’ll go with you guys."

The duck nodded, satisfied, as he held out his hand. "Donald Duck." He introduced himself.

"The name's Goofy." Declared the dog, slapping his hand onto Donald’s.

They looked to us expectantly waiting to join them.

"Yukari." I said, placing my hand in next.

"And I'm Sora."

After our little huddle we said our goodbyes. The crew each lent us an impressive lump sum of potion's which would help us out with small ailments along our journey. They gave us a bit of money to start, bid us a safe trip, insisted we come back if we found anything useful or needed anything, and sent us off on our way.

This of course, transitioned into getting to see the vessel that Goofy mentioned prior.

On the outside, it looked like a little toy made of blocks for giants. On the inside, would be the homiest, space ship I'd ever had the pleasure to grace my presence with. A quick tour around the ship allowed me the chance to learn that it included, four dormitory rooms. A small men's and women's shower, a kitchen that housed enough room to fit that max number of occupants, a lounge room that Donald corrected as the briefing room, as well as a cockpit where'd we be spending the majority of the flights, prepping for world visits.

"Welcome to our ship!" Goofy announced.

"Get some rest if you need it." Donald suggested. "Who knows when we'll come up, on our next world. Best be prepared for bigger encounters."

"And don't even think about touching this and that like you own the place!" Went a very angry, very squeaky, and very tiny voice.

Our quartet, looked down to find the smallest, cutest, little chipmunks I'd ever seen. Both of them skittered around our feet, as they attempt to hold our attention due to their size.

"All day I slave away at getting this vessel spotless and ship-shape! So don't try and trash the place, first chance ya get." One of them spat.

I knelt over and picked them up in the palms of my hand. Both of them were dressed in little, yellow aprons. A pocket emblazoned with a cog sat in full view. One of them had droopy eyes and big red nose, and double buck, gapped teeth, while the other eyed me suspiciously, sniffing at my gloves with its little black nose.

"These two are Chip and Dale." Donald informed, as he headed away from our growing party. "They're the ones responsible for the maintenance of the gummi ship."

"Howdy! I'm Dale!" The red nosed one greeted with a soft smile.

"And you two, take off your shoes when you go into that cockpit!" The one I presumed to be chip, hollered, before they boys leapt out of my hands and scurried off. But not before Chip could get in his final, nag. "I won't have ya dirtying it up!"

"Just make sure to refuel and get some rest." Goofy reminded. "You can join us in the cockpit when you’re ready"

Sora and I nodded as Goofy left us alone near the entrance of the ship. I looked to Sora, who'd been gazing around in complete awe. I had to say this place was amazing, but at the same time, I felt like the rest, Donald and Goofy mentioned, seemed like a welcoming treat after everything we'd endured tonight.

"I guess, I'll go check out the rooms." I said. "Wanna come with or--"

"Sure." Sora nodded.

Together we wandered around until we found the dorms. The first one I found, I decided to claim, plopping myself right into the bed. It wasn't super comfy, but it was still a place to lie my head when things calmed down, I suppose.

The room itself was pretty sweet too. An expansive wall made completely of sealed, air tight glass that showed the stars and things of space that zoomed by. Everything was simplistic. A small locker like closet a desk and chair, and a bed.

I looked up to find, Sora had been gazing out at the view of space. His face on the verge of drooping.

"Sora?" I called him away from his thoughts.

He looked at me, with a changed expression that masked whatever he was feeling. I suppose I wouldn't try to bring up what had been really been bothering him. Didn't want to explode the ship just yet.

"If you get scared, you can sleep in my room." I teased.

Sora grinned a bit, as he joined me at the bed side. Rolling his eyes he sat down. "You think they're okay?" He asked, in a quiet voice.

For a moment, I wasn't sure what I should have said, but I had no way of knowing the truth. "I do." I said, smiling softly at him.

"But the Island is--"

"Who cares about that right now." I stopped him. "What matters is that you and I are together. We're safe. And as long as we stick together, and work with Donald and Goofy, we'll find the others."

"Do you really believe that?" He asked.

"Why not?" I shrugged. "Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to hope."

For a second, Sora’s face went dark. I could see in his eyes that something had been bothering him.

"What is it?" I asked.

He stayed quiet a moment longer before deciding to respond. "I... I mean, back before we got to Traverse Town... I met him in the storm-- on the Island before you came." He twisted his mouth a bit, before continuing. I guess he was still trying to make sense of what he was about to say. "Riku said... He wasn't afraid of the darkness." Sora continued. "Do you think he meant, THE Darkness? The one that has to do with the Heartless?"

I frowned at this revelation. But what could I say? I hadn't been there when it happened, I couldn't even be sure of the context. I shook my head, trying to put it out of both of our thoughts.

"I don't think we should worry about that yet." I supplied, for both of our peace of mind. "We'll ask Riku what he meant when we find him."

Sora nodded quietly. "Yeah..." He agreed. "When we find him-- Him and Kairi. And then maybe they'll join us."

"Quite an idea! It wouldn't hurt grow the group." A voice chirped, startling both Sora and I.

Looking down at the floor, we found a smartly dressed cricket standing proudly at our feet. In a tail coat an top hat, a wide grin spread across his tiny face as he did a gentleman’s bow. "How do you do?"

"Ooookay, I guess privacy is out the window." I said under mind breath, staring wide eyed at the little bug.

"Whoa.." Sora awed. "You're so small. What are you doing here?"

"Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He introduced. "I couldn't help but over hear your discussion. You say you've lost your world, eh? Well the same thing's happened to mine. So I've taken up residence with the crew and have been sent out to record the goings on for the journey ahead at the request of the King."

"Ahh.." I tried not to be rude and inquire why he'd been eaves dropping. "Sorry to hear about your world. Glad you made it out okay."

"But of course!" The cricket supplied, jumping onto Sora's knee from the floor.

"I’m, Sora and this is Yukari." Sora greeted. "Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you'll be pretty busy with all that writing."

"Oh, of course! Feel free to suggest anything I might miss."

"Yeah, sure." Sora turned to me, as he got to his feet. The cricket, Jiminy leapt on to his shoulder as if to hitch a ride. "I'm gonna head to the cockpit with the others. You comin'?"

"Uhh... I think I'll catch a quick nap." I said, eyeing Jiminy. "Wake me up when we're ready for landing."

Sora nodded before he headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Once alone, I sighed, lying back in the bed. I found myself gazing out at the stars that flew by. Sora's words about Riku hadn't left me. Closing my eyes I hoped that maybe it wasn't something that was cause for concern, but the dreams would ultimately correct that notion.

I was taken to a scene where a communion of conveniently shadowed figures stood around a sort of magical table that projected an image of... Sora Donald Goofy and I, back when we'd pledged our party-ship in Traverse Town. Now feeling very watched, I floated closer, attempting to grasp the going's on.

Within the dark room, low lit by green flames, I gathered that there had been about six shapes, conversing with each other.

"The little brats, took down that Heartless!" One of the voices raged. "Who would've thought?"

"Such is the power of the Keyblade." Went another voice. "Their powers aren't their own."

"Why not just turn them into a Heartless and be done with them." A woman's voice happily chimed in. "Solve to problem, quick and easy."

"Those brats' friends, are the king's lackey's. Swoogle me eyes! Their all bilge rats by the looks of them." Spoke another.

"You're know prize, yourself." Went yet another.

"Shut up!!"

"Enough!" A final voice boomed from the shadows. Her voice was the only one to be matched with a face, as she stepped into the little light that danced about the room.

Looking into her yellow eyes, her blacked pupils gazed evilly at the image of our party on the table. Draped in high collared robes of black and violet, her green skin and horned cowl, complimented the cunning expression that waltzed onto her black stained lips. "The Keyblade has already chosen these two. But will it be they who conquers the Darkness, or perhaps will it swallow them? Either way, we shall watch them closely, as they could pose to be useful. Especially the girl."

Her grin grew wider, and in that moment, it looked as though she had made direct eye contact with my ghostly form, sat across the room. But, before I could take much stalk in the idea, I was thrown into another scene.

Dizzying colors of blue, spun around my vision until I found myself in the strangest, place I'd ever seen. Blue cliffs, rose up around me, ushering heaps of rising... water falls defying gravity in every means possible. Water shot towards the heavens as if this place existed in reverse. What was more, was the chunks of rock, floating through the air. Completely awe struck, I almost hadn't noticed a figure of blue and yellowed, curled up atop one of them.

Urgently I found myself reaching out to them. My heart raced at the sight of their waking face, a mess of confusion and fear.

"Riku!!" I shouted.

But of course he couldn't hear me. All the same, he sat forth, gazing about himself as if looking for the source of the voice.

"Where... where am I?" He asked, the silence.

I tried again to call out for him, but was met with no sign of him being able to hear me. My heart, lurched into my gut when I felt myself being pulled away from the scene. The world around me began to darken, and Riku’s image began to blur.

"W-wait! I'm not ready yet!" I cried out to no one. But that didn’t matter. The darkness around me quickly took over. Tendrils of black, smoke and ooze, shot out from the darkness. A hissing sounded in my ears, flooding my body with immediate terror. The pitch black face with yellow eyes and red mangled teeth appeared from within the darkness.　

"Sleeeeeep!!" the thing hissed, coming at me with alarming speed.

I screamed, trying to fight the thing and get away, but realized, I had woken up, back in my dorm upon the ship. Breathing heavily, I checked myself before realizing my face was drenched with tears.　

To Be Continued

← Previous Chapter | | Next Chapter ➡

#kingdom hearts #AR #KHAR

0 notes

directorscutandsomeotherstuff · 8 years

Text

Raw Emotions

(Aaaaaaand it’s Director’s Cut, the series where we find a bunch of fanfiction from a long time ago and burbledy burbledy boo. Sorry. All this shouting into the void is kind of silly, when I’m wasting time standing on ceremony. Final Fantasy Seven!)

(I started trying to play Final Fantasy Seven and it’s... not great. It’s good, make no mistake. I can see why people might be nostalgic about it. But between the muddy and confusing graphics, the inconsistent scoring, the bizarre and unrealistic set pieces, and the sheer assholery coming from basically everyone who can talk, it’s a game that’s aged poorly. And no, I’m not just saying that as a rabid, unapologetic FF9 fanboy, so don’t even bother suggesting that! >8C)

(Now, I know what you’re thinking. “DC,” I hear you groan, “This isn’t going to be some cringy Sephiroth bullshit, is it? I’m a rabid FF7 fan, and even I’m tired of the cringy Sephiroth bullshit. And the answer is, no. We’re not dealing with Sephiroth, a.k.a. Katana Wielding Phantom of the Opera. Instead, we’re dealing with the greatest love triangle in the history of fiction: that of a man torn between a woman who manipulates his emotions in order to goad him into committing acts of eco-terrorism, and a woman who makes him wear women’s clothing and wander headlong into a fat man’s decadent sex dungeon. Ah, young anime love.)

(And so, I pose a philosophical question: in the grand war between those who ship Tifa, the spunky street fighting anime girl, and Aeris, the spunky fetish enabling anime girl, on which side do you think you’ll find somebody with a username like Aeris Love Gainsborough? I choose to believe he or she can remain impartial on this front, though I haven’t read the fanfic entirely, so let’s find out together, shall we?)

Raw Emotions By Aeris Love Gainsborough ***

I just started writing this one day, trying to capture the love triangle between Aeris, Cloud and Tifa. I hope I did it justice! ^_^ Send your comments to [email protected] (Do you think they still use this address? How freaked out do you think they’d be to start getting fanmail eighteen years after they wrote this fic?)

***

She looked so beautiful tonight, with her long golden-brown hair gently flowing down her back, and in the silky lavender dress, which was the perfect color for her light, pink skin. DON'T STARE AT HER, (Gah! Fuck, don’t shout like that, man.) I told myself... Tifa would kill me. I shook my head, and turned my attention to Tifa, who was talking away quickly.

"So, Cloud, I was thinking of going down to the store to buy myself a new skirt... I don't know, what do you think? Should I get a leather one? Those are nice, but..." (”...but since I don’t really come across in-game as someone particularly versed in fashion, I don’t know why I’m talking like a valley girl about skirts, especially since I can’t really afford them in the slums I grew up in...”) She trailed off, because she realized I wasn't paying much attention to her. I was watching Aeris again, who was giggling, and stroking Red XIII's fur... I wished I could be Red XIII at that moment. (I pushed that thought from my mind, immediately. It was bad enough I wore women’s clothing, on occasion. If the girls found out I was also a closet furry...) Tifa released an exasperated sigh.

"Are you even listening to me??" she said, glaring at me.

"Huh?" I glanced at her. "Oh, oh, yeah, of course I am."

Tifa shrugged, and went on talking. I kept my eyes on my dinner plate as she talked, not letting them trail to Aeris again.

Want to hear the truth? (I still have that silk dress from Don Corneo’s place.) Whenever I look at Tifa, I don't see her as the woman she's grown into. I see the child she used to be... My best friend. I can see what she feels for me, though... (A sense of power and control, of having a giant sword wielding attack dog on standby.) When she speaks to me... When she looks at me... But I just... I just can't feel the same for her.

"...the black one or the blue one? Tell me honestly, Cloud," Tifa said. She was holding up a fashion magazine. There were millions of models wearing different mini skirts and T-shirts. (Literally millions. The page was an orgy of flesh and fabric, the likes of which had never before been captured on film.) I blinked. Most of them were black and blue. I raised an eyebrow.

"The black one," I said, trying to sound like I was listening to her. (”Also, whichever one lets you hold the most Materia. Gotta get that Steal leveled up so you can Mug people all the time.”)

"Yeah, I like that one too, I think it..." Tifa went on.

"Sorry to interrupt," came a voice. I looked up, to see Aeris. Interrupt?? She was more than welcome! "But, Tifa, I think you should get a new dress instead of a miniskirt... Maybe a short summer dress in white? I have one in my closet, if you want to see it, except it's light blue."

"Hey, that sounds cool, doesn't it Cloud? Why don't you wear it downstairs?" Tifa said.

(”What?” I shrieked, my face burning. “Listen, Tifa, that whole cross dressing thing was a one time deal, okay? A one time deal!” It was clear by their expressions that neither of them believed a word of what I was saying.)

"Well, I don't know... I think it's a little revealing for my tastes..." Aeris said doubtfully.

"Oh, that's ok..." I said, then wished I hadn't. "Uh, Tifa wants to see it..." I said, trying to cover up quickly. Aeris raised her eyebrows, and giggled. (She knew what sort of deviant she had helped create, the little deviless.)

"Ok, why not? Just a second!" she said, and walked upstairs. Tifa was looking at me strangely.

"Cloud?" she asked. I looked at her. She shook her head, and said, "Nothing, it doesn't matter... Can you pass me some of the steak, please?"

I shrugged, and passed the plate over to Tifa. I looked at Red XIII, who had been very quiet throughout the meal. (Normally, the talking red lion-dog thing was particularly chatty. Red XIII was a talking red lion-dog thing. Just in case you didn’t play the game.)

"Red?" I asked. He didn't reply. I looked a little closer. His eyes were shut. It looked like he was asleep. (Therefore, by process of cold logic, I decided that he clearly wasn’t asleep, so I called him again.) "Red??" I repeated. He opened his eyes.

"I was meditating," he said crankily.

"Er... Yeah,ok, get back to it, sorry to bug you," I said, scratching my head. He closed his eyes again. "So, Tifa, what do you think?" came Aeris' voice.

I quickly turned my head to look at Aeris, and could feel my mouth fall open. The light blue dress reached her mid thigh, and showed off her long legs. It emphasized her curves... The color made her eyes shine and her cheeks glow radiantly. The only thought running through my head was that she looked incredible. (My envy was palpable. Why was it that only women were allowed to look so damnably beautiful? Why?!)

"Close your mouth, you're drooling," came Cid's voice into my ear. He had just arrived from the weapon store, where he had been buying a new spear. (Cid was the only one who seemed to still remember that we were out trying to save the world. He was a bit of a killjoy, like that.) I shut my mouth quickly.

"It's a great dress, Aeris... I'd like one, but maybe in red, or green... I don't know if white would suit me," Tifa said. (”I mean, the white tank top I have on all the time would look hideous, without the fingerless gloves, suspenders and short shorts to offset them. I totes know how to look like I know how to dress myself, you guys.”) I don't think she had seen me looking at Aeris. She turned to me. "What do you think? Do you like the dress?"

"It's beautiful," I said, taking my eyes off Aeris for a second to look at Tifa. She smiled.

"Ok, great, I'll get one," she said. She pushed her dinner plate away in front of her, and stood up. "I'll come along, too, I know a great store," Aeris said.

"Count me out," Cid said, sitting down at the table, piling steak onto his plate. Tifa glanced at me. "Cloud, do you want to come, too?"

(This was a trap. I knew it was a trap. The two of them just enjoyed teasing me, ever since the Corneo thing. I knew better. I was better than that. I resolved to tell them no, in the most concrete terms possible, and prove I was above the temptation of pretty dresses.)

"Sure!" I said, jumping out of my chair, dropping my knife and fork onto the floor. I think Tifa thought I did that because I was excited to go with her, because she began smiling broadly. She didn't understand it was because of Aeris... It would be hard to explain. Before Aeris, we had gone out on a couple of dates, because I had fooled myself into believing Tifa was the right one for me. But after I met Aeris, I realized that, no, Tifa was just a friend. (Tifa didn’t do the things Aeris did. She didn’t hold up a mirror to one’s deepest, darkest desires and pretend they had been part of her facade, all along. To put it crudely, she wasn’t a freak like Aeris was a freak.)

We walked out of the house. Tifa was walking on one side of me. She was talking animatedly about next month's fashion (or something like that). Aeris was walking silently on my other side, looking at the animals and plant life around us. She gasped, and pointed at a field of brightly colored flowers.

"Oh, those are so beautiful, I have to gather some of them! They're just gorgeous!" Aeris said, smiling. (Aeris was always known for just indiscriminately picking flowers. It’s not like she had any sense of preservation or care-taking, she just always wanted flowers. All the time. It got borderline destructive, at times.)

"Let me help you," I said, and quickly kneeled down by the flowers, and started picking them, making a big bouquet for her.

"Oh, I don't need that many," Aeris said, kneeling down next to me. "Here, you can split it in half, and give one half to me, and one to Tifa."

I quickly split the flowers into two groups. I shoved one into Tifa's hands, and then gently handed the other one to Aeris.

"Thanks, Cloud," Aeris said, smiling.

I grinned. "Uh, my pleasure." I noticed Tifa looked just a little bit uncomfortable. "Let's go, the store's gonna close, soon, Cloud," she said.

When we reached the store, Aeris and Tifa went to look for outfits. I sat down for a second to think. I had lost track of my thoughts during the walk to the store. I decided I needed to put all my feelings together, to understand myself.

What did I feel for Aeris?? I had never been romantic, or interested in love... But Aeris brought out feelings in myself that I had never experienced. (At first it was shame, but after the third outing to the shady bars...) But why?? What was it about Aeris that made her so special and different? It didn't have anything to do with her being an Ancient, did it? (Everyone knows being an Ancient automatically makes you a better lover. That’s why there’s no more of them.) Or was it just her sweet, wonderful personality? Or the fact that she was so gorgeous it made her glow like the sun? I felt really bad feeling all of this, despite Tifa's feelings for me... Maybe if I told her, I would lose the guilt...

Aeris was in a changing room trying on another dress. Tifa was looking slightly flustered and uncomfortable, as she searched through the dress racks.

"Cloud..." she said slowly. "Can you come here for a second?"

I nodded, and walked over to her.

"Remember when we used to go on dates and stuff?" she said. I nodded. "Why don't we do that anymore?" she insisted.

"Uh... You mean like, uh... Dates? Well, those weren't really *date* dates... They were more like friends going out for meals and that kind of stuff..." I said, scratching my head meekly. (A slinky little chiffon number beckoned to me out of the corner of my eye. Be strong, Cloud. You were in SOLDIER, for Planet’s sake...)

"Really," Tifa said, a little sarcastically, but then she got emotional. "Cloud, I remember that you kissed me once... Didn't that mean anything to you? Remember, it was late at night, and we had just finished dinner... We went back to the old well, like we did when we were kids... And you kissed me... That meant a lot to me..."

I bit my lip. "Tifa... That was one time, and... Well, I think we both know that what used to be there isn't there anymore..."

Tifa's eyes brimmed up with tears. "Cloud... I still... I... I think I still..." She choked out the last words. "I still love you, Cloud..."

"Tifa... I... I think I love Aeris," I said slowly, looking straight into her eyes.

Tifa sighed, and the tears slid down her face. She shrugged dejectedly, and walked away from me, to another dress rack, where she kept on crying silently. She picked out a dress, then took it with her into a changing room. I sighed, and sat down to think again. I knew I did it all wrong... I had really hurt her. (The last time Tifa started depression-shopping, it was when her cat died. She maxed out credit cards like nobody’s business.) But at least I had told her, instead of keeping it a secret until the end. But now I had to somehow tell Aeris.

"Cloud," came a gentle voice. I stood up and spun around. Of course, it was Aeris. "I think Tifa's crying..."

"Yeah... I know... We had a disagreement..." I said.

"Is it something personal, or can I hear about it?" Aeris asked, concerned.

"Well, I suppose you'll have to hear about it sometime... I used to sort of... Uh, go out with Tifa... On dates and stuff," I said. Aeris nodded. I went on, and I begun beating around the bush. "But, I realized there was this other girl who I liked better... She's gorgeous, and intelligent, sweet, and everything I could ever want..."

"Do I know her?" Aeris asked. She really didn't know who I meant. "Uh..." I said slowly. "You are her..."

Aeris raised her hand to her mouth, surprised. She looked at me, then back at the changing room where Tifa was getting changed, then back at me.

"Cloud..." she said softly.

"Do you... Could you feel the same for me?" I asked her nervously.

(”Are you kidding?” Aeris said, laughing. “No, I can’t. You’re too much fun to jerk around, and besides, I only got involved with you for the same reason I did that other guy: Mama didn’t want me getting involved with SOLDIER boys. And, you know, fuck her. She ain’t my mom.”)

"Yes, I could... I think I already do... I think I love you," she said, looking at me in shock. My heart leaped in joy. "But what about Tifa? We can't leave her like this..."

"I know we can't... But before anything, can I do something that I've wanted to do ever since I met you?" I asked her slowly.

"What do you want to do?" she asked curiously. I leaned in and kissed her. It was the most wonderful kiss I'd ever experienced. As I wrapped my arms around her neck, Tifa came out of the changing room.

"Cloud!?" she yelled out. Aeris parted the kiss in surprise, and we both turned our heads to her, still in each other's arms.

"I can't believe I wasted twenty years of my life... Loving you, Cloud..." she muttered. (”I mean, at this point, you’re more or less rubbing it in my face. Did she put you up to this? Are you gonna tell me you’re entertaining some kind of cuckqueening fetish, now?”)

"Tifa..." I said gently.

"Goodbye, Cloud," Tifa said, on the verge of tears, and marched back into the dressing room. I looked back at Aeris.

"Cloud... Maybe we should give her some time to cool off," she said softly. "Come on, let's go..."

She took my hand, and we walked out of the store. Night had fallen, and the stars were out, twinkling away. We walked silently for about a minute. Then, I spoke. "Do you think it's wrong?" I said gently.

"Do I think what's wrong?" she said, confused.

(”The fact that I collect fetishes like a flystrip collects flies. Seriously, I think the Mako’s screwing with my head.”)

"The fact that even though Tifa is suffering, I want to take you into my arms and kiss you?" I asked, innocently. She stopped walking, and we gazed into each other's eyes. A smile slowly crept across Aeris' gorgeous features, and she leaned in, and we shared another sweet kiss. Once we parted, I smiled at Aeris.

"I... I... How can I say this..." I stuttered. I just let it rush out: "I love you, Aeris." She smiled her beautiful smile. "I love you, too, Cloud." (”But seriously, you’re actually kind of a dick, following the romance while your best friend is beating herself up. That’s kind of how murders happen, you know?”)

"You know... I still feel sort of bad... About Tifa..." I said, scratching my head.

"I think she'll be alright... There's somebody for everyone on this planet of ours..." Aeris said, smiling at me. "It may take her a day... Or it may take her another twenty years. (Luckily, by then she’ll be a cougar. I bet she’ll make for a fine-ass cougar. Mmph!” The look on Aeris’s face as she said that was distressingly covetous. I didn’t know what to make of it.) But she's going to find her Mr. Right, and she will be happy forever." "I hope so," I said gently. "I hope so."

We got back to the inn, and I kissed Aeris goodnight, before we parted ways to our rooms.

"Cloud? Wake up!" came a voice. I yawned, and opened my eyes sleepily. A blurry image of a girl appeared before my eyes. As it came into focus, I realized it was Tifa.

"Cloud, I wanted to say I'm sorry for... For acting the way I did. Believe it or not, I'm really happy for you and Aeris, really, I am... I just was really surprised... I thought that the two of us still had a chance... But I guess not. I just want you to know that, while I am sad, don't blame yourself. If you don't love me, you don't love me... You just can't pretend, it wouldn't be fair to either of us. And Aeris really does love you..." Tifa smiled a little here, and looked down. "I hope we can still be friends."

"Of course we can, Tifa..." I said, smiling. "You'll always be one of my best friends."

Her eyes sparkled with tears, and I hugged her gently. She then stood up, and began leaving the room. But before she left, she turned around, (and that’s when she recognized Aeris in the bed with me, half-naked and so obvoiusly post-coital it hurt. Surprisingly, though, she only) smiled again, the tears gently making their way down her cheeks.

"Goodnight, Cloud."

"Goodnight, Tifa."

(Aeris smiled conspiratorially as she left. “Man, I knew it was a good idea, leaving home. Corrupting the bunch of you’s the most fun I’ve had in years.” She snuggled in close and whispered “Now, about that closet furry thing you let slip, a few minutes ago...”)

#fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic commentary #final fantasy #final fantasy 7 #Tifa #Aeris #Cloud #love triangle

0 notes