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missingmywing · 5 years ago

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Let Us Embrace Whatever It May Bring

@boomchickfanfiction this was inspired largely because I randomly remembered your 30-day challenge, went back to reread them, and rediscover your D&D au. And then got seriously inspired by the remake because I’ve got this colossal D&D universe that I’ve never written or posted anything for. Which is a shame.

So, thanks for reinspiring me!

(Potential spoilers for FFVIIR)

(Link to headcanon post on this; here!)

. . . . .

“They’re going to be so confused.”

“Of course they are, that’s what makes it fun!”

“Cloud is going to hate us.”

“Oh, he is not. Admit it, he’s going to be so excited to bring back the goofy try-hard jackass from the original story. He’s been irritated at what Strife’s slowly turned into across the multiverse, all because he actually payed attention in Intro to Psychology and accidentally took the “play to reality” character type a bit too literally. A hard reset is exactly what he needs, bonus points when he realizes where we’re going with this.”

“Which, hopefully, won’t be until the end of the first part of the campaign.” Sephiroth sent Aerith a pointed look. “We’ll have to be careful not to give them too much to work with too soon.”

“Tell that to the DMs,” she shot back, nudging her cousin with a grin. “Who’s heading it this time? Angeal was the main one last time, even with your parents helping him out, but are we going back to that?”

“Time travel isn’t Angeal’s usual forte,” Sephiroth conceded, “but that adventure was very much his. I’m not willing to take that from him unless he’s an actual player this time. Which, considering where we’re starting the timeline, he can’t be. Not with his own character, at least.”

“That is true,” she sighed, leaning back in her chair to stretch. “I definitely agree; it was his and he really owned it. I know Auntie was super impressed.”

“Yes, yes, mother is very supportive of dragging people into nerdom. It’s why she and Gen get along so well.”

“And that they share a nickname?” she grinned.

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. “That too. So, how are we going to pitch this without arousing suspicion?”

“‘Hey, why don’t we see if we can keep Aerith alive this time?’”

He sent her a deeply unimpressed look.

“I know it may come as a shock, but the world doesn’t actually revolve around you, y’know.”

“This one does!” she shot back with a brilliant grin. “Now help me figure out how to set this up so no one realises that we’re literally resetting the timeline.”

. . .

“Hot damn we actually got everyone here,” Barret looked around, impressed, at the barely-contained chaos of people reuniting, getting food and drinks, and discussing storylines.

“I didn’t actually expect everyone to show up when I sent out that message,” Aerith admitted. “I mean, I did send out the call for Avalanche specifically, even if everyone was invited.”

“What, ya’ thought we wouldn’t show up to a new campaign for this story?” Reno asked with a grin, slinging an arm over her shoulders. “Everyone shows up for the first and final sessions, even if they don’t participate. C’mon Aer, this is our baby. We all wanna know what new adventure awaits us on the distant land of Gaia.”

“Yeah, who’s getting possessed this time?!” Zack called across the room with a grin. “Do I finally get to come back to life for good? Does Cloud finally die for good? Do he and Seph finally bone in-game?!”

“No, that was Dissidia,” Cloud corrected with a grin, and laughter rang through the rooms.

“Oh boy, that campaign,” Genesis grinned, elbowing Sephiroth.

“You weren’t even there,” Sephiroth protested, elbowing him back with a smile.

Angeal shook his head from where he and Jenova were setting up the table. “That’s what you get for live-streaming it.”

“It was a fantastic campaign,” Jenova assured them. “Full kudos to your DMs, they did a fantastic job juggling everything and showing how young their gods were last time, especially in comparison to Cosmos and Chaos from the first two campaigns. And all from behind the anonymity of a computer and avatar.”

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her, and she winked at him. She preferred to stay anonymous in the wider campaigns like that; it preserved her character’s image.

“It was fun,” Cloud admitted, “even if it was chaotic. And speaking of fun and chaotic, is everyone here?”

“Role call!” Jenova shouted through the house. “DM’s to the floor prompto! Avalanche and evil people, to the table! Everyone else, spread out and stay out from underfoot!”

There were chuckles and laughter as people called out jibes and protests toward their treatment, but everyone gathered just the same. With some subtle prompting from the DMs and two schemers, the people from the Midgar section of the Meteor campaign were settled closest to the DMs, Shinra (Rufus, the Turks, and Reeve) on one side and Avalanche on the other, and Aerith managed to snag Zack into sitting next to her. At his raised eyebrow she winked.

Angeal cleared his throat, and it fell quiet.

“You all have your intro Meteor sheets, right?” He glanced around, and everyone nodded. “Right, get those out and let's get some stat comparing for this campaign.”

That raised a few brows and murmurs, but the rustling of bags and binders and papers soon filled the room.

Sephiroth was careful to hide his endgame Advent Children campaign sheet behind his intro Meteor one. No reason to give anyone ideas at this stage. The anticipation and confusion would be so much more fun if they were all kept in the dark.

His eyes met Aerith’s, and she looked just as excited as he felt.

They took a few minutes to minorly rework the sheets to better suit their play style now, but the changes wouldn’t be major enough to impede the story. Good.

Jenova clapped twice, Lucrecia and Vincent finished tidying up the papers, Hojo spread out the stat sheets, and Angeal once again cleared his throat.

“Imagine, if you will, a sky. Filled with clouds, oversetting a dusty plain with rocky hills. A bird flies overhead, feathers dark and scraggly. It soars through the sky, over the plains, toward a large mass of metal plunging into the sky.”

Angeal had the perfect voice for narration, everyone was hooked from the first sentence, and there were shifts of excitement at the mention of the ruins of Midgar.

“Carried up by the wind, if flies into a cloudbank, navigating through large metal beams and poles. With a burst of sunlight, it emerges on the other side- overtop of a thriving metropolis.”

There was a burst of noise at that. Gasps and shouts of surprise at the realization that these weren’t ruins, and it probably wasn’t Edge.

Jenova called for quiet, and all the DMs looked amused.

“So what, we doin’ a time-skip?” Cid raised a brow.

“No, that doesn’t make sense.” Elena dug through her notes. “In the AC campaign it opened with a five hundred year time-skip and Midgar was a jungle, remember?”

“Yep, Nanaki and his cubs were overlooking it,” Kunsel confirmed, pulling out the concept sheet he’d sketched out at the time, as well as the character sheet he hadn’t yet gotten to use. Apparently he wouldn’t get to use it this campaign either. Darn. He had tons of cool stuff Nanaki had learned over those five hundred years.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that we didn’t time skip,” Rufus pointed out. “It just means that we’re before it was reclaimed by the Planet. It could be a two or three hundred year time skip, and we’re descendents. A city could easily be totally reclaimed in a hundred years or less.

“Or,” Cloud cut in, “we could just wait and see what nefarious plot our DMs have in store.”

“I just got done with the Number 3 campaign with the KH crew, so I know what my theory is,” Reno drawled, drawing snickers from everyone who followed that particular convolution.

Aerith giggled, and tried not to do it too hard. Reno would be the first to figure it out, solely due to the central part he played as Axel in that particular campaign with that group. He’d keep quiet though, just to see how long it took everyone else.

Angeal smiled at them, but continued. “It flies over the train tracks, the cars on freeways, and down between buildings in what appears to be an entertainment district. Children on bikes ride down the street, past construction crews and people loading fuel cells into cars, shoppers entering and exiting shops along the street, and cars making their way along the road. The children ride down a hill, across a road, and reach a playground with a few toys… and a strangely shaped slide.”

Cloud stilled, suspicion arising in his eyes, and Aerith and Sephiroth bit back smiles.

“Day fades to evening, to night, and as the young girl slides down, something catches her eye in the distance. She turns to looks, and watches as a large burst of green erupts from a distant building along the giant outer wall.”

More and more people were beginning to realize, and Reeve looked breathless at the description of something he’d labored at for weeks alongside Jenova, Lucrecia, Hojo, and Vincent to make somewhat realistically believable for his first campaign with them. He was blindly groping in his bag for the sketches and blueprints he’d rendered out on his own.

“Imagine, the sparks of green float up and up, into the cloudy sky, until they resemble stars- and now imagine drifting through them, through the emptiness of space-”

Oh, Cloud knew this. He remembered this from their first Meteor session. Their introduction to the fully realized Midgar, at the introduction of Reeve to their group. And, judging by other people’s reactions, he wasn’t the only one.

“Holy shit,” Barret breathed from beside him, and an incredulous grin was slowly spreading across Zack’s face, while Tifa looked torn between excitement and horror.

“Imagine floating down, down, until buildings take shape. An alleyway, and in the alleyway is a girl. Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask.”

There was silence for a moment, and Aerith counted down the moments in her head. Three, two, one-

The room exploded into chaos. People were shouting, throwing out questions and theories, laughter and horror in equal bounds on people’s faces.

“Yes!!! Oh yeah, Wedge is back baby!” Zack’s gleeful shout was the most obvious, drawing laughter and groans of protest in equal measure at the reminder of Barret’s Avalanche cell.

“Are we reworking Meteor?!” Elena looked ecstatic. “Because there is so much I want to rework with my fighting style! I have some nifty new spells that I want to try against a bigger level gap!”

“Oh noooo,” Reno groaned, dropping his head back. “I’m gonna go back to bein’ the guy who dropped the plate. Not cool, yo! I finally made everyone forget about that by bein’ a quirky idiot in AC!”

“Ha!” Yuffie grinned. “We’re never gonna let it die!”

Sephiroth focused on Cloud. “You seem conflicted.”

Cloud started, then grinned ruefully at him. “I am, a bit. I’m ecstatic to come back of course, to get Strife back before I put too much realism into his reactions, to completely rework him from the ground up. I mean, this was my first campaign as a major player the whole way through. I’m thrilled. I just also happen to remember all the horrible things that happened to turn Strife into sir angst-fest that he was.”

“Perhaps,” Sephiroth acknowledged, “but if we’re reworking it… then doesn’t that mean that you can change things this time around?”

Cloud sent him a flat look, though his eyes were warm. “I’m not naive enough to think it’s that simple. Between you and the DMs, this won’t go smoothly at all.”

Sephiroth smirked at him, that damn smirk that got to him every time. “Perhaps,” he repeated in a purr, “but isn’t that the fun of it all?”

“Alright children, settle down!” Jenova shouted, but her wild grin showed her true feelings on the matter. “Yes, to answer the question… we are, in fact, reworking Meteor. For a couple of reasons, but mostly… yeah, character development was a large part of it. A couple of people backed themselves into a corner with their characterizations, and needed a sort of… reset.”

Cloud winced, his own feelings being the most well known on the matter. “Oops,” he said weakly.

“It’s not just you,” Lucrecia assured him. “Vincent and I need to rework ours too, because Dirge wasn’t… hmm.”

“I need a character alteration,” Vincent said flatly. “I didn’t like how I played some of that, and would like to have come to some of those conclusions earlier, because some of my lack of action felt a bit too forced and I would like to see if I can smooth it out.”

Yuffie frowned. “What was wrong with it?”

“Essentially the same problem as Cloud, I took the after effects too seriously and made my character more depressed and stagnant than necessary. I’ll see if I can tone it down a bit, or at least form it into a slightly more active shape earlier.”

“And my entire character needs to just be completely reworked,” Lucrecia sighed. “Granted I use character very loosely, because she’s basically just an NPC, and since we based this whole thing on one of our high school campaigns, I am very annoyed with what I turned her into.”

“You turned her into that because she annoyed you and you didn’t like her anymore,” Hojo pointed out dryly.

“I know, but I’m hoping I might be able to fix it.”

“Hashtag-doubt,” Jenova murmured. “I, for one, am perfectly happy with my character.”

“You would be,” Sephiroth said dryly.

“And you aren’t, darling?”

“No, I am,” he assured her. “Just reminding you of your own nature.”

Murmured conversations broke out as people reevaluated their character sheets, considering possible changes. Cloud noticed Rufus, digging out a familiar pet-sheet and quickly scratching out the name up top, and snorted. A glance around revealed Zack gleefully revising Wedge’s sheet, While Jenova and Angeal already had Jessie and Bigg’s revised sheets out in front of them.

Reeve was considering his own three sheets, clearly calculating stats, as was Kunsel. He caught sight of Reno’s sheet just as Angeal called- “This isn’t Kingdom Hearts, Reno, you cannot pull Axel’s stats over to your Turk, he isn’t Lea.”

“Lameee,” Reno groaned, but put the sheet up well naturedly.

“They don’t even use the same element,” Tifa pointed out with amusement, her own sheet done with few revisions.

“Meh,” he shrugged, glancing over. “Not gonna revise stats, Tseng, Rude?”

“A few a bit later, perhaps,” Tseng responded distractedly as he flipped through his later sheets. “As of right now, however, no. I’m content until I can unlock a few higher-tier spell combinations.”

Rude nodded. “Same here. I know what I want to change, but I need higher levels first.”

Barret was grumbling along with Cid about potential mechanics later on, and Cloud turned his attention back to Genesis and Angeal bickering lightly about Scarlet’s potential and materia abilities. He shook his head with a smile, and waited for everyone to finish up.

Angeal cleared his throat once again, calling for silence, and continued.

“Long, flowing brown hair, with a pink dress, red jacket, and pink ribbon in her braid. Her green eyes are focused on an opening from which the sparks are floating out of; as though she is receiving answers to questions only she would know to ask. She starts, suddenly, as though breaking out of a daze, and straightens with a nervous glance around, as though looking for something. Nothing appears, but she quickly stands and hurries out of the alley, glancing over her shoulder as she does. She stumbles into someone, and drops some of her flowers, in her distraction. Quickly kneeling to pick them up, she collects all but one before a man carrying a box and thus can’t see it, steps on it. She slowly picks it up, cradling it in her hands, before her gaze is inexplicably drawn to the sky.”

Angeal to a breath, and continued.

“Pulling away from her, up and into the very sky she’s observing, see the building, lit brightly against the dark, theaters and shops and restaurants; further up and see the city take shape, enormous metal plates with large gaps between them, and at the center… at the center is a tower. Looming over the entire city with an ominous presence, it oversees all that goes on in the city.

Now we go down, down past the other side of the tower, down to Sector 1. A train flies along the rail, a delivery for Mako Reactor Zero. And atop that train is a young man. Blond flyaway hair and a modified SOLDIER uniform, a large sword attached to his back. As the train slows, he looks up, glowing blue-green eyes steely with determination. The train pulls to a stop in the station, and two guards separate to do an inspection.”

Angeal smiled.

“Roll for initiative.”

. . . . .

#ffvii remake #ffvii remake spoilers #ffvii au #d&d au #my writing #fanfic #whew #this was a ton of fun #i didn't even realize how much i'd written #and i'm definitely going to expand upon this verse #because this was way more fun than i was expecting it to be

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razziecat · 5 years ago

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ffviihalloween OCT 28 🥀 Gothic tales of the macabre and morbid, telltale hearts and family curses

Hello, friends, and welcome to Story Corner! Please enjoy this story in three parts.

Wedding Hell Blues

The SOLDIER squad formed up at the doors to the chapel, each man in full uniform, a sword on his hip or at his back. Spectators clustered behind them, and everyone’s eyes were on the closed doors. Hojo found himself in the front row of the crowd, next to a slim, familiar man in a dark suit and a neatly-trimmed, dark bronze beard. Well, this was awkward. He’d known it was inevitable. They were related now, after a fashion. “Director,” he said, voice carefully neutral. “Lovely day for a wedding.”

“Hojo,” came the equally-dry reply. Veld nodded to the woman at Hojo’s side. “Lucrecia.” “Wasn’t it a beautiful ceremony?” Lucrecia dabbed at her eyes with a lace-trimmed hankie. “Veld, you look very handsome today.” She glanced at her husband, shaking her head. “Not everyone balks at wearing a suit.” Hojo scowled and glanced at his watch. “So, Veld, how did you get your daughter to agree to let you give her away?” “I didn’t,” said Veld. “We argued it to a draw, and when the shouting was over she agreed to be ‘escorted’ down the aisle, provided the whole of AVALANCHE took part in the procession.”

Well, that explained the twenty-odd members of the entourage, and a more ill-matched group of attendants Hojo had never seen. He’d kept his mouth shut, though. The groom’s family was handily outnumbered, and besides that, every member of the wedding party was openly carrying. There came a rustle of movement at the chapel doors, and the SOLDIER CO barked, “Detail! PRE-SENT! ARMS!” As one, every man lifted his blade high into the air, forming a gleaming arch of steel. The doors opened, and the newly-married couple stepped out into the sunshine, resplendent in silver and black. Pride lifted Hojo’s head and shoulders, pulling him out of his habitual slouch. Even without armor, Sephiroth was magnificent. Garbed in a black suit subtly designed to mimic the cut of his uniform, his hair a silver waterfall down his back, he glittered like the morning star. Even his eyes shone, blue as a highland lake. No trace of any other color showed through; the lenses, painstakingly ground and polished by hand, were undetectable. Hojo sighed in satisfaction. A brilliant smile graced Sephiroth’s face, almost too bright to look upon. Lucrecia squeezed Hojo’s arm. “Oh, he looks so happy!” Hojo grunted assent. Beside her new husband, Elfe was a drab little mouse, but it wouldn’t do to say so in her father’s hearing. At least she’d opted for a dress, although it was a soft silver-gray, knee-length with a split skirt, rather than some fluffy white confection. Leave it to the rebel to flout tradition wherever possible! As the couple moved down the path beneath the arch of swords, Elfe strode forward as though marching into battle. Sephiroth would have to work to keep up with her, rather than she with him. Modern values. What had happened to the old days? By chance, his eyes met Veld’s, and a spark of rueful concurrence passed between them. Veld shrugged, and the moment was gone.“Don’t be so gloomy!” Lucrecia tugged at Hojo. “Come on, the reception is starting!” “Drinks,” Veld murmured, turning away. Well, things were looking up! Hojo allowed his wife to tow him toward the refreshments. A few hours later, he wandered down the stone steps of the mansion, following them deep into the basement rooms that no one ever visited. With the key he kept always in his pocket, he let himself into the room farthest from the door. He flicked on the old battery-powered lantern, pulled up a chair, and sat, propping his feet up on top of the dusty coffin. He might be imagining the low growl like a roll of distant thunder, or the cold rattling of the heavy chains that bound the casket. He raised his glass in a mocking toast. “Hell of a party going on upstairs, Valentine.” He sipped champagne. “Too bad you’re indisposed.”

Beware of Turks Bearing Gifts

Sephiroth and Elfe’s daughter received her name on the wings of a storm.

Family and friends gathered in her honor at her grandmother’s house. Veld arrived at the party as forked lightning split the sky, thunder rattling the windows. Lucrecia’s arms tightened around the baby. “Oh, I hope that’s not an omen!” “It’s a promise,” Elfe said. “She’s going to kick ass and take names.” She smoothed the baby’s pale gossamer hair. “Aren’t you, Ingrid?” “Pretty name.” Veld placed his gift on the table piled high with name-day offerings. Oh gods, he was a grandfather now, and wouldn’t that take some getting used to? Elfe accepted a brief embrace, and that was progress; time was when she’d as soon slug him as hug him. “It means hero’s daughter.” She glanced over her shoulder at her husband, surrounded by AVALANCHE, and deep in a discussion of last night’s kendo competition. “Good choice, then.” Veld smiled a greeting at Lucrecia. A quick scan of the room picked out familiar faces, but one was missing. “Where’s Hojo?”

“Working, of course!” Lucrecia rolled her eyes. “He promised to be back in time for the baby’s name-day, but it looks like the storm front’s keeping him in Nibelheim.” “He’ll be sorry he missed it, I’m sure.” Veld let Lucrecia place the baby in his arms, awkward at first, relaxing as he remembered the art of holding an infant. Dark eyes in a heart-shaped face regarded him with wary curiosity. “You’ve got an unusual pedigree, child.” Soldiers and scientists, rebels and Turks. What a mélange! Gods grant that he never failed her the way he’d failed her mother.

Later, Veld took a glass of chilled white wine, while Elfe extracted Sephiroth from his clique and sat him by her side for the presentation of the gifts. Twenty-some years ago, it had been Veld, his wife, and baby Elfe--Felicia, then. If only her mother had lived to take part now! Veld shut that thought away, along with other regrets. The dead were dead; they didn’t return. Ingrid lay in her cradle, happily gumming a stuffed Moogle toy, while ribbons and wrapping paper were scattered, and presents admired. The first one proved to be a hand-made chocobo-down quilt in bright primary shades. Elfe spread it across her lap. “Cloud, this is marvelous! I didn’t know you could do needle-work.” “Winters are long in Nibelheim,” Cloud said, grinning. “You have to do something creative to combat cabin fever.” Tifa’s gift was a companion to Cloud’s: An herbal pillow, small enough to be safely kept in a baby’s crib. Elfe held it to her nose. “It smells lovely! What’s in it?” “Chamomile and hops,” Tifa said. “To help her sleep.”

Yuffie’s gift turned out to be materia, surprising no one: A Mastered Heal, because, as Yuffie said, “Hey, you never know what kids might get into!” Next, a slim gold chain bearing three gold beads, from Barret and Marlene. “Three for luck, to start her off,” said Barret. “One new one each year, until she’s twenty-one.” Last was Veld’s gift. Elfe smiled. “Oh, books! Fairy tales.” Her eyes misted as she paged through the three small volumes. Good memories? That smile was all the thanks Veld needed. Once upon a time… He rose to refresh his drink, just as thunder crashed and rolled overhead. Rain hit hard, dimming the late afternoon light. The scent of ozone and wet earth prickled his nose. “Looks like Ingrid’s paternal grandfather isn’t going to make it,” Veld remarked. “He sends his regrets.” Veld reacted to the smoky voice and tall, shadowed figure before recognition hit him. He blocked the path to the cradle, stopping the intruder clad in black leather and ragged crimson, and only then did his brain catch up. Veld’s prosthetic hand shook, fingers spread flat against the man’s chest. “Gods of Gaia. Is it…Valentine?”

The apparition inclined his head. Wild black hair, ice-white skin, blood-red eyes in an impossibly young face, elegant bones honed sharp by something dark and predatory. “Veld.” Sephiroth had risen, a welcome presence at Veld’s back. AVALANCHE moved, taking up defensive positions to left and right. Veld trusted that someone had by now slipped Ingrid out of her cradle and into safety. “Who is this?” said Sephiroth. “My old partner. Thirty years gone.” Veld took in every line of Valentine’s body, wraith-thin and garbed in clothing both antique and viscerally disturbing. Gold covered his left arm from elbow to fingertips, ending in draconic talons. “Where the hell have you been?” The fine lips twisted. “Hell, indeed.”

“Where is my husband?” Lucrecia’s voice, raw iron with a razor edge. “Why are you here?” Valentine’s fiery glance barely acknowledged her. “He’s…indisposed. I’ve brought a gift for my…for the baby.” He moved, so swift that Veld’s eyes couldn’t follow, stepping around Veld, one long arm outstretched. A small white object lay on his gloved palm. He offered it to Elfe, who stood beside Sephiroth. She didn’t hesitate. “It’s a rattle.” She held it up for all to see, shaking it gently. The soft clink and clatter sounded to Veld like the chuckling of crows. He took the rattle, examining it. Hand-carved, smoothed and polished, the whole of it hard and cool to the touch. But not true white. More like old ivory, or…bone-colored. Chilled, he looked up, meeting Valentine’s eyes. “What is this?” “It’s an oath fulfilled.” Valentine’s mouth curled into a shape that wasn‘t a smile. “It means ‘never again.’” “Vincent--” “Later.” One lean finger touched Veld’s lips. “Perhaps.” He turned away, his midnight hair hanging thick and tangled, except for one long, plaited tail pinned to the red band encircling his head. Wind at the door tossed the black braid, stormlight catching in silver threads.

Sephiroth shut and locked the door. The silence and shock that gripped the room broke, but Veld shook off the questions. “Lucrecia.” He took her arm. “Come with me. We need to talk.”

Head, Hands, Heart

Veld approached Shinra Manor from the south, avoiding the main road up the mountain. A stand of black oak trees marked the estate boundary, conveniently screening him from sight. He slipped through the formal gardens at the rear of the house, and on to the old library in the east wing.

Vincent would be watching the front door. Veld preferred to scope things out before that inevitable confrontation.

Third window from the left: Faulty latch. He eased it open, drew aside the heavy dark drapes. Stared at the back of a bookcase, blocking his way in.

He could push it to one side, but if it fell, the noise would alert Vincent and anyone else on the premises. Assuming any of the staff remained. He wouldn‘t bet on it. So, on to the kitchen garden.

Once magnificent with fruit trees and herbs, the garden had diminished to one small cold frame beside a mound of recently-turned earth. The pantry door, almost invisible in the lee of the wall, yielded to Veld’s lock-pick. He risked a small light. A broken chair and a pile of scrap wood made a minor obstacle. He pushed past them, paused to get his bearings.

Silence and shadows. An antique iron stove brooded in one corner, cold. The massive oak table centering the room held only a single, broad-bladed knife, stained dark.

“Dirty tools left lying?” Veld murmured. “I taught you better than that, Valentine.”

Vincent was neither stupid nor careless. The knife pointed toward the door across the room, opened on a narrow stairway. It led, Veld recalled, to the basement.

Too obvious. He explored the ground floor first, floorboards creaking softly as he walked. A sigh at the very edge of hearing stirred the heavy air; the back of his neck prickled. He refused to turn and look.

Dust whitened the old-fashioned furniture in the sitting room and the formal dining room. Little of the house was in use. Only the office showed signs of recent occupation: Leather briefcase on the desk, cloth jacket draped over the back of the chair. An open notebook, its leaves filled with an esoteric shorthand in a bold black scrawl.

He took the bait, deciphering page after page of a private journal dated over thirty years ago. Part of his mind admired the brutal efficiency and sheer creativity of the experiments described, even as cold sweat crawled down his spine.

The subject of the experiments was identified only by an initial, but it was enough. This was more than a piece of the puzzle; it was the key to the mystery. He’d been led to this point from the moment he’d arrived at the house.

He turned back to the hall. In a corner, light glinted. He bent for a closer look.

Eyeglasses, wire frame twisted askew.

Nerves taut, he returned to the kitchen, to find the basement door now shut. A length of heavy steel chain hung from the knob, broken links trailing on the floor. He gathered it up, stuffing it into his pocket, and opened the door. Cold air wafted up the dimly-lit stairs, tasting of iron and copper, and the sharp, oily bite of mako. He went down the stairs, since that was what Vincent wanted.

Shinra Manor boasted several sub-levels. The first one held the labs, specimen cages, and mako tubes. He checked the cages first: Empty. Should he be relieved, or worried? Moving on, he found the mako tubes bubbling quietly, glowing softly in the dark. That left the labs, at the darkest end of the hall.

He flipped the light switch in the first one. Gods of Gaia! He backed out, suppressing the urge to vomit. Now he knew the source of the raw-meat stench. Was there any use in looking further?

In point of fact, there was. He had a promise to keep, no body, and no rogue Turk. Veld Dragoon did not leave a job unfinished. The thought of checking the rest of the labs made his stomach churn. He was too old for this shit.

In the second lab, no gore, still no bodies, nothing but long-idle equipment hung with shaggy cobwebs. He moved on, and that was when he noted the rusty-brown footprints–long, narrow, tapering to pointed tips–leading down the hall to the lab farthest from the stairs.

“Goddamn lunatic games,” he muttered, following.

Once more, he hit a switch, unsurprised at what the light revealed: Vincent Valentine, all black leather and ragged cloak, tangled hair framing ember-red eyes in a face untouched by time. He leaned against a steel worktable, arms crossed, gold talons tapping.

“I don’t play games, Veld.”

“Then what do you call all of this?”

“I call it justice,” Vincent hissed. “Payback.” He moved with unnatural speed, pinning Veld to the wall. “You let me disappear. You and everyone I knew went on with your lives, and forgot about me. Thirty years, Veld!” The grip of his gold-clad fingers tightened around Veld’s throat, just short of pain. Veld could still breathe, still speak.

“We thought you were dead.”

“I was.” Vincent’s fingers tightened a fraction more. “I am.” Abruptly, before Veld’s air ran out, he let go and backed away. “And yet I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault. I don’t even blame Lucrecia…much.” His eyes flamed, and he snarled, canine teeth catching the light. “Hojo. It was all Hojo!”

The lines of his body blurred, going dark, gaining height and bulk. His face flickered, one moment a beast’s muzzle filled with dripping fangs, the next a parody of grinning madness, all teeth and staring eyes. Adrenaline sparked a burst of energy to the materia in Veld’s metal arm, but before he could release it, Vincent melted back into his own human shape.

“I was more merciful than he,” Vincent said. “I let him run. Let him try to escape. I gave him the night, the dark of the moon and her shadows to hide in. The last thing he heard was the howling of wolves.” He smiled, eyes half-hooded. “I am what he made me, and that’s what destroyed him in the end. As a scientist, I’m sure he appreciated the irony.”

“You could,” said Veld, against his better judgment, “be charged with murder.”

“Go ahead. If you think you can hold me. If you think anyone cares.”

“What am I supposed to tell his wife?”

“Oh, I’ve already sent her a message,” said Vincent, at the worktable again. “And not only her. There’s another with a right to know. In fact, it should be–”

Veld’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, seeing two messages flashing.

Vincent smirked. “Timing is everything.”

Veld listened to both messages, one delivered with cold, military precision, and the other shaking with horror. He listened twice to make sure he understood. When Veld looked up, Vincent had shifted so that he no longer blocked what stood on the table.

“Did you know that mako makes an excellent preservative?” Vincent turned the wide glass jar, watching the contents spin lazily in the green liquid.

Veld swallowed bile. “Why…?”

“I suffered hell’s own torture under these hands. It’s only fair.”

“And…the ‘message’ you sent to his son?”

“Hojo was only his father in the intellectual sense! It’s an average-sized brain, by the way.”

“And Lucrecia?”

“She chose his heart over mine.” Vincent smiled, a deeply disturbing sight. “Now it’s hers in fact as well as metaphor.”

Veld closed his eyes. “Gods damn you, Valentine.”

“Yes,” said Vincent. “I believe they have.”

And so concludes our morbid little tale. Sleep well! ;)

#ffviihalloween #Vincent Valentine #Veld #Hojo #Lucrecia #Sephiroth #Elfe

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aseatinhell · 6 years ago

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Buy me coffee!

It had been the first decade passing that made Cloud think that something wasn't quite right. He'd never been good at facing things, least of all his own face in the mirror.

At thirty-something, Cloud was pretty sure he shouldn't be staring into the face of the same Nineteen-year-old cadet he had been when all of this had begun. Maybe it was impossible to perceive aging on your own face, or something like that. Hell, maybe it had something to do with the mountains of identity related trauma he had. He really, desperately hoped that that was the case.

That same year, Vincent laid to rest the last surviving remnants of Deepground with something of a heavy heart. The things that ShinRa did to the human body had wildly varying effects. He considered his own lengthened, possibly endless, lifespan the extremely unluckiest end of the spectrum. He had selfishly thought that perhaps the survivors of Deepground might have the same misfortune but today had proved there would be no such luck. He turned away from the lonely little makeshift graveyard in the forest of the ancients that he'd been tending for years now, and brushed the dirt from his hands.

Cloud went about business as usual, happy to take the most dangerous jobs that cropped up in Edge for a modest cut of the pay-- or none at all. He wasn't just a courier, but a proxy-- something that he found a good deal of meaning in. The same as always-- no matter how many times he got crushed or stabbed or grabbed in the jaws of a great mako-mutated beast, he survived. Tifa had begun to look at him strangely, with some sort of distant, haunted expression that he couldn't place. Marlene was gearing up to take over the bar, and Denzel could almost keep up with Cloud-- almost.

Vincent still loved his solitude, but he kept closer to those he cared for. Time was short. He knew you could sleep it away, if you tried hard enough-- and there was too much to lose. It was twenty years since meteor-fall when he really noticed the anomaly when he went to speak with Cloud. He had thought it could happen, but hadn't thought fate or-- their personal goddess, would be that cruel. Vincent sat in the city of the Ancients, alone in the sea-salt air and prayed. He begged Her, begged Her to not put Cloud through what he had to live with for years-- and a yawning, empty future spread out before him. He had the distinct flash of a vivid memory, of Aerith laughing and mocking him-- not entirely kindly.

Then stop moping about it. If you're both stuck, then don't you want to make it less awful for him, too?

Nanaki was the only one not sobered by the news. It was hard for the others to wrap their heads around. Cid looked positively envious. Cloud couldn't stop staring at Barret's head of silver hair. He had joked about it, hoping he wasn't showing late signs of Jenova genes or something. For the others, the truth meant something strange and unknowable but it wouldn't bother them-- they wouldn't care once they were dead. For Nanaki it meant relief at not living the eons without a friend or two. Saying the words made it more and painfully real. Cloud wasn't aging, and likely wouldn't any time soon.

That was when Vincent moved back to Edge permanently and let Cloud and the others help him get a small apartment of his own-- he didn't want anything more. He began to learn how to live normally again albeit a bit stubbornly. He spent the days helping Cloud with work, and the evenings in quiet, rapt conversation with him trying to untangle the existential dread that was surely settling over him. Vincent himself had never had the chance to feel it creep up. He was simply thrust forward into the reality of it.

A few months into this shift, Vincent found Tifa on his doorstep, her mahogany hair streaked with white he wasn't sure he remembered noticing before. She hugged him suddenly, ignoring the bewilderment that caused him to stiffen as though he didn't know how to return the gesture. She thanked him for being there for Cloud. It was so very simple and he thought it was strange-- wasn't it simply what he must do? What he would always do? He had looked after him ever since they'd met, an instant fondness grown towards the man that he couldn't name.

Everyone was in town for the 25th anniversary of Meteor Day. Yuffie's entire surviving family, including her children and husband were lavishing-- or perhaps harassing-- Nanaki with affection, and the others were already drinking and reminiscing, though Cid and Barret couldn't really hold their alcohol as well as they used to.

Vincent moved through the shadows in silence as he always did, unchanging and a bit melancholy despite everything. He had changed though, even going so far as to don new clothes in an effort to wash away his past. It had taken years and years of unfurling the tightly clenched fist he kept around his heart. Lucrecia's digital memory and knowing the Rui siblings had begun the process, and now he felt Cloud reach out and gently uncurl the fingers of his hand.

Vincent hadn't noticed him. He'd thought he'd been alone on the stoop of the warehouse overlooking the festivities. Cloud had quite literally taken the digits of the new prosthetic that had been made for him, gently pulling the fingers out of the fist Vincent had clenched them in to get a better look at it himself. Luminescent blue eyes shone softly out of the darkness as he looked it over.

"That's some craftsmanship. They're coming up with new stuff every day. Looks like it works good." Vincent had been reluctant at first. He still felt he didn't deserve anything but a hand that served only as a weapon.

"It's... yes, it works quite well." Vincent let a small smile touch his lips, fleeting like a ghost.

"Good. It suits you. It's... it's good," Cloud seemed to struggle with the words for a moment, and he-- to Vincent's surprise-- laced his fingers with Vincent's golden metal ones. "See? Now I can do stuff like this. No pinching or poking."

Bemused, Vincent drifted back towards the metal stairs that lead up to a side door, a good perch that Cloud seemed to have picked out for himself. He tried to come up with a way to admonish him; to remind him that they didn't know how many more festivals like this they had with the others. But Cloud's eyes seemed to warn him away from it, and he let the seeds of a selfish wish sprout. That alone was why he settled on the stoop and rested his head on Cloud's shoulder.

"I... never wanted this for you. I had hoped..." Vincent began, as he had a hundred times. "You hoped I'd die, right?" Cloud said, a playful smirk tugging at his lips. "That-- well, when you put it that way..." He looked bashful, as though he'd been caught with his cloak on inside out or something. "I know. I... You're always telling me. That it's gonna hurt. I know that. I know what it feels like. We all do. So when it comes... well. We'll just have to face it. I'm kinda scared-- anyone would be. But I'm grateful. That I can be with you. I hated how you were always alone, and I guess now I get why everyone was always trying to bring me back out of the inside of my head." Cloud didn't always have a lot to say, but when he did it was what he meant. It meant everything.

Vincent lowered his head for a moment, eyes closed as he tried to accept what Cloud said and not fight him. It was selfish to want him there with him, to want him at all. "We're going to be... together for a long time." Vincent said uselessly.

Cloud nudged him gently, and Vincent lifted his gaze, turning to look at him in the close quarters. He hadn't stopped to think about how they were crushed in together on the narrow staircase, and he hardly processed the soft hush of Cloud's lips against his when it happened. Cloud could only think about how soothing the cool of Vincent's skin was compared to his own, and Vincent drew in close to the warmth.

"Yeah. I think there are worse things. Even if another meteor comes... I'll be here with you." Cloud squeezed his hand and let out a little sigh as Vincent relaxed against him, his cheek on his shoulder again.

The first burst of multicolored light sang across his pale skin as the fireworks started, and Cloud knew that he had been given a gift rather than a curse-- it was time Vincent started seeing it that way too. They looked up into the sky, and though every star could be seen for miles, Cloud was sure he felt a drop of rain splash onto his cheek. He smiled, and up to the stars whispered a silent "Thank you."

#strifentine #clocent #cloud strife #vincent valentine #final fantasy vii

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inevitablesurrender · 6 years ago

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Tumblr’s on Fire so I Have to Post These Before My Birthday Drabbles - 7/10

Series: Final Fantasy VII Characters: Nanaki, Cloud and Tifa. Request: Nanaki, post-game, heartwarming. Notes: Set... sometime between the game and Advent Children, though I've mostly ignored minor canon details as per usual. *cough* I kind of really like how this turned out even if I keep getting annoyed at accidentally writing about things that go unsaid. ...That probably doesn't make sense to anyone else, but that's fine.

The aftermath was... extensive. Of course it was; they'd been in the thick of it, the destruction and the battle, felt the raw power whip against and around them... But when they finally returned to Midgar, only then did they truly realize the extent of it all. Ruins. And people still living in the lasting shelter which remained of those ruins. Life as they'd known it had changed dramatically, but it was still there. To be able to rebuild and go on.

The days following their victory was a surprising blur of mostly sleep and laying awake staring into the distance, trying to come to terms with what happened. Barret insisted it was resting. And that was... such a concept.

Off and on as a group they managed to rest for about a week. More than enough time to reflect on what came next; and on parting. Cid had somewhere to be, of course, as did Yuffie, and while Vincent wasn't very specific, he too decided to wish everyone well and rely on his own devices. There were promises to visit, to keep in touch... and honestly, Cloud believed it was more than politeness. Plans were being made by those who wanted to remain, trying to figure out how best to rebuild and find lives again. Cloud was still trying to wrap his head around the thought when he heard Tifa sigh deeply and stand up with a small cardboard box full of everything that hadn't been broken at the bar. Translation: not much. "Guess we didn't have insurance." She attempted to joke, moving the box aside. Cloud himself sat on one of the only chairs that still resembled its former self, even if one of the legs was worryingly wobbly. Beside him, he'd cleared a place for Nanaki to lay, on top of a few discarded jackets. Luxuries would take a little longer. "I'd avoid that conversation with Barret about now." He grinned lightly at her snort, turning his attention to his furred friend's tail flick. "You sticking around here for a bit?" Not that he expected an extensive answer, or even a serious one, but when one bright, thoughtful eye turned to him, he didn't really mind the momentary silence. "I think I would like to travel for a while." Nanaki finally responded, flashing his own version of a smile. "I would like to be able to see the world without fighting. Then I may go back to where I was born." Simple plans, in one way, but well beyond what he'd imagined before his journey began. A breeze blew through the partially open wall; something Cloud was sure should have annoyed him; just another reminder of everything that was broken. It... didn't, somehow. "Cid would probably give you some rides, if you wanted." He suggested, reaching for an easy response. Giving a little sound of amusement, Nanaki assured diplomatically, "I will ask." "Maybe I could get a sidecar installed." Whether or not that was a tease was definitively unclear under the almost bored drawl; but truthfully he was taking in how oddly relaxed the moment was. Not routine, by any means, but comfortable. "I... appreciate the thought." Cloud chuckled quietly at that non-answer. Yeah, maybe a sidecar was a bad idea. Not that he wouldn't have tried upon request. "Sounds good, though. Traveling a while. Lots to see." "Many wonders that I couldn't appreciate the first time through." Nanaki confirmed, head tilted as he stared up at Cloud for a moment before looking away again. "Maybe we owe them new eyes to see them with." He wasn't overly surprised when the only response he got from the blond human was a hum of agreement, tail flicking once again. "You'll visit?" Tifa asked, the hope in her voice unrestrained as she turned, dusting her hands off. "Or write, at least?" Nanaki grinned a bit, looking at his paws. He didn't mind learning, but holding a writing implement might be another thing. "Maybe I could get people to write on my behalf? But I'll visit. I'll be sure to." Satisfied, Tifa nodded once before turning back to the ruins of glass and splintered wood. Well, she considered trying to salvage some of the hardware. It'd been a nice bar. "You mean it though, right?" Cloud asked casually and low, but there was a tightness in his voice that gave him away. That, more than the careful fingers stroking over the fur on Nanaki's shoulder. It was alright when Cloud did that, or the girls; any of the companions he'd fought beside, really. He knew they weren't treating him like a pet. It was... sort of comforting. "Yes, I do." He thought of Grandfather, then. Of how he insisted they were all connected to each other somehow, no matter what; but it was sort of nice to make sure of that every so often. "I don't expect a sidecar to be waiting for me." Snorting, Cloud gave him a gentle shove instead. "No promises either way."

#drabble #Final Fantasy VII #FF7 #Nanaki #Red XIII #Cloud Strife #Tifa Lockhart

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choco-glow · 3 years ago

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Dance With Me Pt. 5

The air raid siren was a hell of a wake-up call, and Tifa rolled out of bed wide-eyed, confused, and worried…and felt a lump in her throat when Cid did the same thing, growling under his breath. She shot him a glance and he jerked his head towards the rocket, throwing on jeans and a tee shirt heedless of her blushing company and shoving his feet into his boots, grabbing up the spear. He pulled her into a gentle kiss though, blue eyes worried.

“Shin-Ra.” He growled out before darting out the door, and Tifa ran to the bathroom, shucking off her night clothes and pulling on her clean gear, glad she’d thought to bring up her gauntlets and boots herself the night before. She was the second to hit the stairs, right behind Cid, with Cloud, Barret, Vincent, Yuffie, and a sleepy Aerith trailing behind. Red simply grabbed Cait Sith in his mouth and leapt down to the first floor, and Cloud led the charge towards the rocket out Cid’s back door. Tifa’s heart was pounding in her throat as they fought the crowds of tourists and techs, panicking as they fled whatever horrible things Shin-Ra had brought to bear on their wayward outpost.

Cid’s roar of anger was the first sign that all was not well, and Cloud wordlessly turned on his heel, running backwards now and reached out a hand to offer her a boost; she took his arm without a second thought, both of them the strongest aerial fighters, and he swept her up, turning and leaping for the launch center roof. He let her go at the midpoint of their arc; he landed hard, while she turned her fall into a blur of somersaults, eyes closed to the centrifugal forces and hit the roof feet first in a run. They’d practiced the move in Midgar dozens of times, both in private at the quarry and in their own battles with Shin-Ra, and when they hit the edge of the roof, Tifa bit back her scream of worry; Cid had said he could fight...

She hadn’t met Palmer yet, of the Shin-Ra heads; Cloud had, however, and he growled, blue eyes glowing even in the dawn light, pointing to the gun in Palmer’s hands. Below them, Cid was fending off a trio of the lower level Turks, swinging his spear in a whirlwind over his head before bringing it down before him, still spinning it as a shield to knock them back. Their electrostaves and batons were no match for the ancient weapon, and with a graceful twirl, Cid knocked out one, slammed the second into a dumpster, and stunned the third one with a well-placed blow to the stomach…

And then Palmer fired his weapon.

A burst of electrical energy, glowing yellow from a powerful Thundara materia, arced out of the weapon and caught Cid’s spear; too late, he tried to let go and let out a howl of agony as he shuddered and shook with the electrical shocks, dropping to his knees and falling back, clearly stunned. Tifa glanced at Cloud, her heart frozen, and he snarled, giving her the gesture she’d been hoping for.

They both leapt off the roof together, and Cloud swung the flat of the blade forward as he leapt a moment after her, catching Tifa’s boots and giving her the boost she needed to perform a full divekick, one of her more powerful moves that they’d already perfected on this journey. She slammed into Palmer, bouncing off the portly director as she sent him flying into the debris at the base of the rocket, and landed next to Cid, gauntlets up and glowing with her golden Chakra materia, while Cid shot her a weak grin and Palmer hissed, picking himself up with a shake. Tifa glared him down, and Cloud landed on Cid’s other side, growling as he helped the Captain up.

“What’s going on here, Captain?” He snapped out, his anger barely contained at Palmer, and Cid twirled his spear, wincing a little as he settled back into a fighting stance. Tifa watched him out of the corner of her eye, worry melting into relief; he was angry, and definitely hurting, but he was going to be okay. and she tried to calm the fluttery feeling in her stomach. Not right now, butterflies, we have a fight ahead of us.

“This lil’ fuck’s tryin’ ta steal my goddamn plane, is what’s goin’ on here.” Cid rasped out, and Palmer gave a hideous little giggle, gesturing widely with the large materia gun in his hand. It was definitely a new design, something Scarlet’s researchers had created, and Tifa resolved to try and get it off him; Vincent had his enormous Cerberus handgun, but the sniper needed better gear, and if they could use this against Shin-Ra…

“It’s too good for the likes of you, Windbag! You know you owe everything to the President! Especially the new President; Rufus Shinra wants results, and even when we got you the metals you needed to rebuild that airship…you couldn’t even manage to get it fully operation. Now…hand over the plane like a good little stooge and we’ll let you keep your rocket. Hell, we might just get you that fuel stipend you’ve been begging for!” He burst into high-pitched laughter, and Tifa bit her lip against swearing at him, glancing at Cid…and the agony in Cid’s eyes was enough to make her heart ache. He looked like a man torn between two worlds

Cid glanced up at his rocket, his dreams…then his glance fell on his plane, and Tifa could see that though the rocket was his lifelong dream…the Bronco was his freedom. Barret had tried to buy it off Cid the night before, and Cid had simply smiled and with the foulest words imaginable, told Barret exactly where to shove his offer. He wanted to do that to Palmer too, Tifa could read it in the set of his jaw, and for a long moment, she was afraid he’d choose one or the other…but his eyes darkened with rage, and he took up his fighting stance, spear at the ready.

“Fuck off, Palmer, you ain’t takin’ shit from me, or from this town. I’ll get that rocket up in th’ stars my own damn way, fuck you and fuck Shin-Ra. I’m done with you motherfuckers forever. Now get th’ fuck outta my town, ya cowardly yella bastard.” He snarled out, and Palmer’s giggles stopped, eyes narrowing over his florid nose.

“Wrong answer, Windbag.” He brought the gun up fast, too fast for Cloud to deflect it, but Tifa was there, Aerora and her gauntlets dispelling the flames of a powerful Fira casting, and glancing over her shoulder, she was shocked to see Cid…gone. No…not gone; airborne. Cid came screaming back down out of the sky not a moment later, spear slamming into the earth just after Palmer leapt back, squawking, and as two more Turks ran up to fight, Tifa leapt up to one of the support struts and slammed into one Turk with another divekick, Cloud a whirlwind of blades with the second, while Palmer was swearing and sputtering over his gun, working on a second spellcasting.

As Cid prepped to go airborne again, he let out a sharp whistle to her, holding out his hand, and Tifa bounced into his arm as she deflected the Turk’s baton, heart leaping as he wrapped his arm around her waist and leapt. For a moment, the world fell away and Cid’s lips were on her cheek, then on hers as she turned to face him. The kiss was searing, as bright as the sun, and he grinned a little when they pulled apart, nearly to the apex of his leap.

“Can I have this dance, darlin’?” She grinned back, laughter bubbling up out of her, and he spun her around, again and again, a flick of his boots controlling their descent now, her hair tossing out in a wide arc as they gauged the fall together. Cid’s hand held hers tight as they picked up speed, and they twirled together, the very winds themselves making music as they neared their landing. Cid angled the spear just so, and Tifa clutched the handle with him, bracing her boots next to his, and when they slammed into the ground, she executed a backwards somersault kick that took out the Turk in an instant, and the impact knocked Palmer into the roadway, the gun thrown far enough that he couldn’t reach.

The gun itself began to shake and rattle, and another electrical blast, this one larger than before, pulsed out of the now broken weapon and slammed into a large truck. The whole vehicle came alive with the excess energy, and fired up, picking up speed fast as it barreled down the road now. Cloud cut down the second Turk with a swear, and Tifa, heart pounding, grabbed Cid and pointed to the Bronco, screaming at Cloud.

“INTO THE PLANE!” For once, he didn’t question her, and the three of them piled into the tiny cab, Cid swearing as his hands flew over the controls, and they started rolling with a jolt, just in front of the truck’s path. Palmer went down with a squeal behind them, but Tifa didn’t care; she clung to Cid’s shoulders and squeezed herself in behind his seat, praying they’d make it out to sea, at least…and then they were airborne.

To say it was an experience was massively understating it; martial artist though Tifa was, she’d never actually flown anywhere, and as the rolling grasses faded into sandy beach, then bright blue sea, she stared below them, eyes huge. Cid let out a whoop as they cleared the tide, and Tifa closed her eyes, tucking her head into his shoulder, breathing easy now…

When Cloud snarled out a swear and something impacted the side of the Bronco. Cid was all rage all over again as he guided them into the sea, Tifa’s stomach dropping sickeningly at the fall. They landed hard, but not so badly that they were sunk; shakily, Tifa glanced over the side of the plane, and blinked as sturdy pontoons dropped from the body of the plane, the battered wheels spinning weakly in the clear waters.

“Well, fuck.” Cid muttered, taking out his battered pack of smokes and lighting one up.

“Highwind, please tell me we’re able to get back to the mainland.” Cloud growled, and Cid sighed, reaching his free hand up to stroke Tifa’s arm where it was still around his shoulders, giving her a soft squeeze that she returned, shaking all over still from the fear and the adrenaline.

“Hold yer horses, Strife. Yeah, we can get back ta th’ town, but my plane’s wrecked; she ain’t flyin’ nowhere now. She can float, but that’s about all. Lemme get th’ prop restarted.” He finished his cigarette in record time, and hauled himself out of the seat, turning to face Tifa. “Tifa, hon, can you hit the gas when I say? Not to th’ floor, just halfway.” He held out his hand to help her into the seat, and she gave a weak smile, nodding.

“Of course, this pedal here?”

“That’s the one, darlin’. Thank you.” His kiss was as warm as before, and Tifa melted into it, surprised that Cloud wasn’t glaring at him…in fact, glancing over her shoulder, she realized he was looking out to sea, giving them a little privacy. With care, she settled in the seat, foot on the gas, and Cid carefully laid down on the upper wing of the plane, one hand on the propeller. “Alrighty, Tifa, on the count of three. One…Two…Three!” He pulled hard on the prop, and she put her foot down just halfway, like he’d asked…and the little engine roared back to life. Cid rolled back over to the cab, and settled behind her, leaning over the back of the seat to help her learn how to steer the handle.

With his careful coaching, Tifa guided the Bronco back to the beach, where the rest of AVALANCHE was waiting, anxious and worried, and as they pulled up the sands, Cid showed her the switch that killed the engine, then leapt down and trudged through the wet sand to grab something off the side of the plane…that something was an honest to god anchor, which he hauled halfway up the beach and dropped, waving for Cloud and Tifa to follow. Tifa was first out of the plane, Cloud right behind her, and as she headed up the beach, it was Cid she looked to first, still so worried about the repercussions of his beloved plane being trashed…but he just gave her a smile, warm and sweet as he leaned on his spear…His next words might have been for Barret, but his eyes never left Tifa’s, and her heart sang.

“Well then, Wallace, looks like you jus’ got a new member o’ th’ team.”

#FFVII #FFVIIR #Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy VII Remake #Tifa Lockhart #Cid Highwind #Cifa #Tifa/Cid #Cloud Strife #palmer #materia gun #Tifa's bamf attacks #wanted to go more indepth with her fighting style #but I felt this was pretty accurate.

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lettersofsky · 7 years ago

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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

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illusioneery · 8 years ago

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And last part of this, it is. Happy 20th anniversary, everyone C: (Belated, but still)

#sefikura week | day 7: The End

The truth about what he had with Sephiroth was simply spilled out by Tifa when they reached Kalm and reunited in the inn. Cloud had been telling the very little he could remember from that time in Nibelheim, long ago; that he had flashbacks of Sephiroth attacking him that made little sense to him for some reason he didn’t know.

Well, at least until Tifa said “Of course it doesn’t make sense, what kind of boyfriend would do that to you?”

“…Boyfriend?” He cast an accusatory look at Zack. What else wasn’t he aware of that the raven haired man didn’t tell him?

“Yeah,” Tifa answered “He started acting all possessive when he saw me and you had to make it clear that you were taken to make him stop.”

Under a still accusatory look and feelings of betrayal because of the former SOLDIER first class hiding that bit of the story, Zack and Tifa took over for him with telling everything they knew about the incident and before that.

And even if in the end, he forgave Zack upon knowing that the other man’s intentions in hiding that weren’t bad ones, there was still the shock of knowing he wasn’t just dealing with a General gone rogue. He had an insane ex boyfriend willing to destroy everything while somehow finding a way to mess with his mind.

(About that, Cloud had no idea of how it was possible, until he was told by his former SOLDIER friend that before Sephiroth, another man found a way to “clone” and control others.)

Their route to the Northern Crater wasn’t a straight path. At the same time that Sephiroth was out there and represented a great danger that needed to be dealt with, there were other dangers like Shinra.

With their search recruiting even more people to the cause, (a pilot from Rocket Town that went by Cid, a small ninja from Wutai going by Yuffie, a sin burdened man named Vincent and a robot cat from an amusement park — where, by the way, Cloud had a funny “date” with Red XIII — who asked them to call him Cait Sith) not only they were dealing with the many dangers, but also with personal resolution for each of them.

That, in Cloud’s case, came in the form of memories rushing right back to him. It hurt; a different pain from being stabbed by that particular sword, a different pain from seeing Aerith almost meet the same end and knowing that who was behind the act had been special to him once. A different pain from being used like a puppet for a plan to put a Meteor in the sky, coming for the Planet, to be accomplished. It hurt because it was something that brought him so much happiness once and he couldn’t have any of that anymore.

The more of it that came to him, the more it pained Cloud knowing what they’d have to do, what he had to do, to avoid a big tragedy.

Cloud decided that everyone needed to realize the true reason they were doing this for, upon realizing his own. “Saving the world” sounded like an obligation rather than a reason and that didn’t seem right. Even if small, he wanted everyone to be fighting for something worth risking their lives for.

And maybe, part of why he was fighting was to find peace for himself and his friends. But another part of him said it was also to allow Sephiroth to finally rest, if there remained anything of the man he had once known.

“Hey, Cloud, do you remember when we were little… before you left for Shinra?” Tifa asked beside him. She hadn’t a place to go like the others and ended up staying with him. Somehow, it was a good thing, that, to have a friend around and not be so lonely in the airship by himself.

“I called you to come to the water tower… never thought you’d actually show up.”

“You made a promise…” She started.

“Which I couldn’t keep,” the blond pointed at the part of the long scar that was visible on her belly. He couldn’t prevent that, neither could he save his mother or help Sephiroth before things got out of control “but I’m glad that didn’t end worse.”

“It’s alright. We were silly children and I… I kinda thought we were going to…” Tifa trailed off.

“…End up together?”

She nodded. “When did you figure out you liked men, anyway?”

That was a tough question as it had never been something that he realized like the way one would suddenly remember they’ve forgotten food in the oven. It had been a process, concluding with the fact that he saw himself being with a man as something that felt right and couldn’t even imagine being with a woman anymore.

“A while after I got to Midgar, I think. I’d have written to you about it but I thought you’d be like everyone else in that town and turn your back on me.“

“You sort of told anyway, when you appeared with him. What changed, then?”

“He was jealous of you, I decided I was happy with him and didn’t want you two to get into a fight.” Cloud sighed. It had been a little cruel to just spit out that he was dating Sephiroth back in the day, like that, but it was still better than keeping Tifa’s hopes up. After a while, he decided to ask “Did you date anyone from that time till now?”

She avoided his gaze and blushed a little. “T-that girl from AVALANCHE, Jessie… I don’t know if you remember…”

“Woah, hold on… you like girls?”

“Boys, too. Both.”

Cloud opened his mouth to let out a little “Oh”, before calling her to go back inside the airship. It’d be morning soon and no matter if the others came back or not, they had a big mission to deal with.

Above them, a raven and a white owl flew by. A strange sight, two different birds like that keeping each other company, the blond thought.

Unknown to him, the birds were actually a manifestation of the dead resting beyond, watching over the living. Mischief and pride, two birds curious about what would come to happen to a former comrade.

Even if everyone returned, there was something only Cloud was supposed to do in that Crater and he realized it when he was pulled into the Lifestream for a final battle. One of them would have to put an end to the other.

Sephiroth approached him once it was done, as if he wasn’t bleeding and ready to leave at once.

“Thank you,” he said, gently touching his face, sliding his hand a little to the side of the blond’s head “You fought well.”

“You taught me well, too,” Cloud added, tears forming in his eyes with the realization that his Sephiroth, the one who brought him happiness, had returned and was now free.

“And you learn fast.” There were so many things to say then, but the Lifestream suddenly dancing around them offered just one “Cloud, I have to go now.”

“Can’t I just… take you out of here?”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Sephiroth said, his calm tone hiding away the pain of that fact.

“I just… I… I wanted to save you, too.” The blond sobbed.

“I know. I’m sorry,” he pulled Cloud close to him “Gaia, how I missed you… I think I’ll miss you until it’s time for you to join me, but for now… this will have to be enough.”

The kiss he gave the blond was barely a gentle touch before the streams carried him away.

In the few years that went on after that, life was going considerably well for most of them. Reeve — the man behind Cait Sith — started an organization to help the world in this new era of Shinra being out of business, which most of them helped with.

Tifa started a new bar in a new town that was being constructed near Midgar. Barret went to Corel, as the kind of energy the town supplied once was relevant again. Aerith and Zack opened a little flower shop together. Red XIII — or rather, Nanaki — was travelling across the world. Cid, Vincent and a woman named Shera were very happy together, after Vincent battled his nightmares and survived to tell the tale. Yuffie was working on making Wutai be the place it had been, again.

Meanwhile he was… handling deliver services. It brought him to many places and tied him to nowhere, no one. Maybe it was for the best, even if he distanced himself from his friends a little.

This time of the year, he usually went to the northern continent; to leave flowers in a place deep down the caverns in the Crater. It had became a tradition to honor that date, that anniversary of sorts even if it was a sad event.

He was about to call Cid to get him there later, when he got a call from Aerith.

“Yes, you picked up! If you have some time, can you go to the old church? Maybe take a blanket along? I kind of had… a feeling.”

By now he was used to Aerith’s feelings of things that were to happen or were happening in regards to the Lifestream. So, after he told her he would, he changed his route to the ruins of Midgar.

The old church’s ceiling had been destroyed along with so many other places due to the violent encounter of Meteor and Holy. The ground had been ruined, too, and flooded with the rain.

Flowers still grew by the altar, as it had always been, but now the building housed a lake of sorts.

No matter what, it was still a place in which Cloud could find peace and forget for a little while the difficulties he had faced in his journey. And so, he opened the door without hesitation, then immediately took a step back in his surprise.

In the lake there, stood a man with long silver hair, who turned to greet him with an expression that didn’t spoke of the corruption, the malice from two years before that.

Cloud dashed forward, to embrace said man in any way he could and soon as possible.

In the place where he could find peace, he found his home again.

#the proportions on this sort of bug me but i don't want to go mess with it aah #sefikura #ff7 #sefikura week 2k17 #wheeee little late but better late than never #i can't believe this is over wow

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kalta79 · 7 years ago

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That’s A Wrap!

“Well, that’s fine. Hey, you’re my publicist, make it public that I’m just like everyone else, I have to work for a living like everyone else, that’s why I wasn’t on the campaign trail during the filming. Now I have to go to the wrap party. We’ll finish this discussion tomorrow morning, alright?” Elena hung up the phone and turned to her husband. “Are you ready to go?”

“Just a minute.” Rude grabbed the baseball cap he had bought after he picked her up from her doctor‘s office and shoved it on his head. Elena smiled at that, let her election staff complain about the movie only slightly improving her poll numbers in the target demographic, it had improved her in more important ways.

***

“Does this dress look alright?” Yuffie asked Reno.

“It looks as nice as the others did.” Reno gestured to the four dresses laying on the bed.

Yuffie frowned. He was back to being as distracted as he was when they first started filming, and she hadn’t missed how he kept looking at his watch. She was worried he might not forgive her for keeping secrets. He had come back to bed that night she told him the truth, which was a great relief to her, but things had been different since then. She was eager to get this wrap party over with and get back home to their regular lives, hopeful that would help mend things between them. “Let’s go.” Yuffie said, and headed out the door.

***

“Is that what you want to do?” Cid asked Shera.

Shera nodded. “Not only can I make more money as a gofer on film sets, the benefits are better, and it’ll be safer. Plus the variety will be a nice change...there are only three kinds of passengers to deal with as a stewardess: the drunks, the whiners, and the virgin fliers. The faces change, but not the personalities. It’s just the same old, same old…each film would be like a new adventure. The money we’ll get from Advent Children will let us put a down payment on a nice-sized house between town and the airport, right on the monorail line, so you’ll be closer to work, and if I need to fly out to film locations, it’ll be easier for me too.”

“I suppose you’ve got a house picked out already.” Cid said as he casually lit up a cigar.

“It’s got four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, and a large fenced backyard.” Shera handed the flyer to Cid.

***

Reeve was ecstatic…Rude had called him earlier and asked if he was still available to be hired as a private driver, and promised to discuss terms at the party.

***

“Oh! I didn’t expect to see you until the wrap party.” Aerith exclaimed as Rufus walked into their apartment.

“You’re moving out?” Rufus looked the boxes everywhere.

“Yeah.” Aerith taped up the box she was holding. “That’s the last one. Oh, before I forget, here’s my share of the rent for the next two months.” She handed him a check.

“Vincent Valentine? The teacher? He gave you this check?”

“Once I get paid for the movie, I’m going to pay him back.” Aerith put her box on the stack, then got them on the handtruck.

“Are you going to move in with him?” Rufus asked.

“He feels I might get bored with him if I’m around him all the time, so we agreed on a trial period before he gives me his answer.”

“Answer? You asked him to marry you? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, though I bet he was. He’s been good for you.” Rufus had noticed the change in her wardrobe since she got involved with Vincent. The simple dress she was wearing now managed to be demure but extremely attractive at the same time. Aerith had shifted from nightclub to country club, and had quit pissing off every attached woman in the immediate vicinity.

“I could say the same about you and Scarlet.” Aerith smiled at him. She had noticed Rufus’ behavior becoming more mannerly, and Scarlet becoming less prissy. “Could you help me out to the van?”

“Sure thing.”

When they got down to the minivan she had rented, Aerith turned to face Rufus. “I would suggest that you ask Scarlet to move in with you, but I don‘t think she‘s the type.”

“Not without a wedding ring.” Rufus agreed.

“So propose to her! Who’d have thought that I’d end up with a high school English teacher who’s nine years older, and you with an older socially correct virginal nanny?” Aerith opened the sliding door and started putting her remaining boxes in the van.

“What?!”

Aerith laughed at the expression on Rufus‘ face. “You didn’t know? Boy, do you have a lot to learn about women!” She put the last box in the van, and then put the handtruck in as well before closing the door.

“I just thought she didn’t think it would be ‘proper’ for too much affection in public, or to be alone with a man without a marriage certificate.

“Well, I’ve got to go to Vincent’s and unpack and return this van to the rental place before the wrap party, so I guess this is goodbye. At least as roommates, I’ll probably see you at the wrap party and the premiere.”

“Good luck with Vincent.” Rufus told her.

“And you with Scarlet.” Aerith went to kiss him on the cheek, but Rufus turned his head, and they were both pleasantly surprised to feel nothing when their lips touched. “That was a naughty boy!” Aerith wagged her finger at Rufus. “You better wipe that lipstick off your face before Scarlet sees you.” Aerith got in her van and waved at him before driving off.

***

“Smile, everyone!” The photographer said as the cast and crew huddled around the wrap party cake so he could take their pictures. “Okay, now just the cast.” He snapped pictures of them, then just the crew.

“My face was going to freeze that way if I had to keep smiling any longer.” Yuffie commented to Elena as she massaged her cheeks to relax the muscles. “Why is Rude wearing a hat anyway?” Yuffie asked as she saw him talking to Reeve, who left after Rude handed him a piece of paper. She had been upset that the children weren’t there, but maybe it was for the best.

Elena smiled. “My official doctor confirmed my pregnancy this afternoon. And that there’s more than one fetus, but he didn’t know how many yet. Rude freaked out momentarily at the news and accidentally hit his head. He’s got a cut on this head that looks worse than it is, didn’t require any stitches, but he bought a cap to hide it instead of explaining it.”

***

“I’ve got something to do, I’ll be right back.” Zack told Shalua before walking towards the exit, stopping when he saw Sephiroth and his cousins. “Hey Sephiroth, I heard you want to be a director. You want to be my assistant for the next film?”

“Really?” Sephiroth was excited.

“Definitely. Talk to Shalua, she’ll give you the info.” Zack said, and then went out the door, heading upstairs to the special effects lab.

“Who’s there?” the man focused on something on the screen of one of the computers asked.

“Hey Biggs, I thought you’d be up here, since you weren’t downstairs for the pictures.” Zack said.

“Just making sure what you asked me to do is error-free. I don’t know why you wanted it done, but…” Biggs waited a few moments, then took a disc out of the computer and put it in a case before handing it to Zack. “There ya go.”

“Thanks buddy, now will you come downstairs and party with the rest of us?” Zack put the disc in his jacket pocket.

“Sure!” Biggs hurried out the door.

Once Zack was sure Biggs was gone, he found the files that he had burned onto the disc, and deleted them from the computer before heading back downstairs.

***

Yuffie suddenly realized she didn’t know where Reno was. Looking around, she saw him off in an alcove, talking seriously to Elena, who had a large manila envelope in her hands, which she handed to Reno. Full of curiosity and dread, she approached them. “What’s going on here?” she asked.

“Follow me.” Elena took Yuffie by the hand and led her outside. “Any minute now…” Elena said, looking at her watch.

Suddenly a fancy town car with tinted windows in the back pulled up to the curb, and Yuffie was surprised to see Reeve come out of the driver’s seat, and walk around to the back door facing her, and opened it. Her jaw dropped when Denzel and Marlene got out.

“Yuffie! Yuffie!” they exclaimed together as they ran to her, hugging her. “Reeve said we were going home with you…can we?” Marlene asked.

“What?” Yuffie looked from Elena to Reno as she held her children. Reno handed her the manila envelope, and Yuffie opened it, taking the papers out. “These are adoption papers…”

“Already signed and approved by Judge Gast. He’s an old friend of my family.” Elena explained as Reno took the children to their car. “What’s the fun in being a Mackintosh if you can’t throw your weight around? You helped me get a family, I can help you get yours.”

“Do they…” Yuffie felt herself getting choked up.

“They know only what you told them. Judge Gast was hesitant about signing off on this until they told him how nice you were to them during the filming. Now why don’t you go home and get them settled in?” Elena suggested. “I’ve been to enough socially required parties to tell you that there’s no reason to hang around now. Unless you want to get hassled by reporters, that is.” Elena went back inside.

***

Tifa wasn’t feeling much like a party, but she was determined to make the best of it. Cloud had shown up, with some girl who introduced herself as Lisa. She seemed to be quite hyper. It made her feel less guilty about attending with Tseng, but Cloud still wouldn’t talk to her unless he absolutely had to.

“How is your wrist, Barret?” she asked, seeing him alone at the punch bowl.

“It’s healed, and wearing that damned prop is over for good, thankfully.” he grumped. “Say, would you be interested in investing some of your earnings in real estate?”

***

“Um, I have a confession to make.” Rufus said as he and Scarlet were eating their pieces of the cake.

“What is it?” Scarlet was worried he was going to tell her they’d never see each other again now.

“Aerith and I were roommates, but for a one bedroom apartment, and we shared the bed.” Rufus admitted.

“Oh, I knew that.“ Scarlet breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“What?” Rufus was surprised.

“You don’t know much about women, do you?” Scarlet asked, then realized his choice of words. “Were roommates?”

“Yeah, she moved out this afternoon.” Rufus looked over to where Aerith was trying to take some selfie pictures of her and Vincent next to what was left of the cake, but people kept coming to get more and ruining her picture.

“So what does that mean? Are you going to be homeless?” Scarlet asked.

“Oh no, I just…uh…was thinking that maybe someday, it might be a good idea to…uh…” Rufus wasn’t even sure what he really wanted to say, so he had no idea how to say it.

“Well, maybe someday it might be a good idea for me to give you an answer, once you properly ask.” Scarlet smiled at him.

***

“I’ve never worn a tuxedo before.” Vincent said, feeling uncomfortable to be so dressed up.

“Well, consider this a trial run for our wedding.” Aerith smiled up at him. “Everyone will be staring at us, so we need to look our best. And you do…I can‘t wait to see everyone ogling my handsome husband-to-be.”

“They’ll be staring at you, not me.” Vincent couldn’t believe how beautiful she looked in the formal dress she had picked out. It was cream-colored silk with a subtle floral pattern handpainted on it that gave it an Asian feeling. The neckline that was only low enough to be teasing with cleavage, especially with the black pearl necklace she wore, having a pendant that dangled provocatively between her breasts, and the skirt went down to just above her ankles. Brand name three-inch black heels and a evening purse that matched the dress completed her outfit.

“Well, they can look all they want, but only you get to touch now.” Aerith was about to kiss him when the doorbell rang. “That must be the limo the studio sent, let’s go!”

***

“The limo’s late!” Kadaj complained as he paced back and forth in front of the window.

“Might be traffic.” Yazoo said.

“Or construction, or an accident.” Loz chimed in.

“It’ll get here when it gets here. Just calm down or you’ll ruin your tux.” Sephiroth told Kadaj.

A few minutes later, it pulled up. “There it is!” Kadaj would have bolted out the door if Sephiroth hadn’t suddenly blocked his way.

“What are you doing?” We’re late already!” Kadaj exclaimed.

“I’ve got a confession to make. The limo’s late because it picked up a special guest for you. So calm down and don’t make a fool of yourself.” Sephiroth explained, then opened the door and serenely walked out to the limo, standing in front of the back door until all his cousins were there. He waited until he saw Loz discreetly get out his camera to begin the surprise. “In honor of your first red carpet as a major character in a movie, I present to you…” Sephiroth opened the limo door. “Your mother!”

Loz snapped pictures repeatedly as a slow flush creeped over Kadaj’s face and neck as his mother got out of the limo.

“Oh, doesn’t my little man look so handsome!” she exclaimed. “I was so excited when Sephiroth called and told me that you wanted me to come to the premiere with you. I wasn’t sure what to wear to such a fancy event, but he told me to wear my bingo best.”

Kadaj took in her dowdy floral print dress that resembled a muumuu. And her shoes looked more like slippers than shoes. He felt his face go numb as she pinched his cheeks. The whole ride to the premiere, he couldn’t bring himself to speak, but he was able to glare at his cousins. How could they do this to him today?

***

“The stars have started to arrive for the world premiere of Advent Children, the latest film put out by Avalanche Films. Everyone is eager to see the results the director, Zack Fair, was able to achieve with a motley crew of novice actors. With the exception of Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart, that is.” Celebrity reporter Genesis Rhapsodos spoke into his microphone. “Word is the well-known couple has finally called it quits for good. And here she is, Miss Tifa Lockhart with her manager Tseng.” Genesis hurried over to them. “Miss Lockhart, is it true that you and Mr. Strife are no longer together?” he asked, then shoved the microphone in her face for an answer.

A sad expression came over Tifa’s face as Tseng put an arm protectively around her. “We’re here for Miss Lockhart’s film career. If you have questions about that or her outfit, we’re happy to answer them. But her personal life is off-limits.” Tseng coldly told Genesis.

“Yes, my dress is a Rosso original, obviously. She made it specially for this premiere” Tifa referred to a fashion designer known only for working in shades of red. She modeled her dress for the cameras. It was dark red with a tight fitting bodice, only one sleeve, and a loose flowing skirt, embroidered tastefully with crystal butterflies. She wore a matching diamond necklace and earring set that had been a birthday present from Tseng.

“Oh, here’s the newly elected Mayor, Mrs. Elena Mackintosh and her talented chef husband, Mr. Rude.” Genesis announced into the camera, walking away from Tifa and Tseng, who went over to Tifa’s fans so she could sign autographs for them before heading inside.

“Mrs. Mackintosh, do you have any plans to continue in the film business?” Genesis asked Elena.

“No, I’m fully committed to improving the lives of the citizens of Midgar. And making Midgar more attractive as a filming location might help with that, I didn’t know how many people needed to be employed to make a movie until now.” she replied, flashing a smile at the cameras.

“Fascinating.” Genesis drawled, wondering why he even bothered asking a politician a question like that. “May I ask who you’re wearing?”

“Certainly, Nero custom-made this dress for me, to accommodate some recent changes.” Elena ran her hands over her growing belly, a genuine smile spreading over her face as she did so.

“How far along are you in your pregnancy?”

“I’ll be five months tomorrow.”

“Are the rumours true that you’re carrying septuplets?”

Elena frowned, and Rude stepped between her and Genesis, towering over the reporter. “Back off.” Rude said before offering his arm to Elena and leading her inside.

“Jerk…” Elena muttered under her breath. “That was a cheap tactic to spout a false rumour so I’d automatically correct him.”

“Don’t stress yourself out, Elena.” Rude said. “It’s bad for the babies.”

“I’m fine, I won’t do anything to risk them.” Elena told him as they took their seats. The studio had a special chair for her to sit in so she’d be more comfortable. It was also located closest to the ladies’ bathroom. Elena sighed as she gratefully sank into the chair. She was glad she wasn’t carrying septuplets. The quintuplets she was actually carrying were enough for her. She could already tell they had separate personalities based on the movement she felt in different areas at all hours of the day and night. The advantage of having so many children at once, there was no need to fight over names, there was enough to go around.

***

:”Good to see you again, Mr. Strife. Who is your date, and what is she wearing?” Genesis asked, putting the microphone in front of Cloud.

Lisa grabbed the microphone out of Genesis‘ hands, resisting his attempts to reclaim it. “I’m Lisa Fields, and this silk patchwork dress was made by my two nieces, Jean and Louise. Hi mom and everyone back home in Sioux Falls! I love you all!” Lisa blurted out and then gave the microphone back, following Cloud as he went to sign autographs.

“Yes, well, that’s very nice, I’m sure. Oh, and here’s the custom-painted limousine that is owned by the director, Zack Fair. Let’s see who is gracing his arm this time.” Genesis walked towards the limo with film reels painted on all the doors, and a director’s chair on the hood.

“Zack, we’re here. Zack! We’ve got to get inside.” Shalua half-heartedly protested his nibbling on her neck.

“Let me just get inside you first.” Zack said, sliding his hand up her thigh. “Besides, it’s always best to appear that you’ve got more important things to do than what you’re doing, and they won‘t start the premiere without me. You know that.”

Shalua had just started giving in to his desires when they were interrupted by a knock on the window.

“The world awaits, Mr. Fair. Care to come out and tell us what we can expect tonight?”

Zack and Shalua both groaned in disgust as they recognized Genesis’ voice. “I’m sorry, babe. I promise we’ll try again on the ride home.” Zack straightened his tuxedo before opening the door, leaving Shalua inside to put herself back together.

“So, how proud are you of this film?” Genesis asked Zack.

“All I’m going to say is that this will be a night to remember for years to come.” Zack smirked, then turned to help Shalua out of the limo, now that she had made herself presentable again.

“Is that a hickey on your neck?” Genesis held the microphone up to Shalua’s mouth.

“Let’s get inside now, Miss Rui.” Zack said, taking her hand and pushing past Genesis, not even stopping to sign autographs.

”Maybe we’ll have better luck with this next group.” Genesis muttered under his breath as he moved on to Sephiroth and the cousins, with a much older woman accompanying them, who stared around in awe at everything as she clung to Kadaj’s arm.

“Is it true that none of you have acted professionally before this movie?” Genesis asked as he approached them.

“Oh, they’ve always been little actors when they got in trouble. I remember their stunts when I used to babysit them when I would visit my sisters. This one was the sneakiest one though.” Kadaj’s mother patted Sephiroth on the arm. “Do you remember me having to constantly scold my little Sephy-Wephy?”

Kadaj started instantly feeling better as his mother started humiliating his cousins as well, but then she changed topics.

‘To all you single women out there, my son needs a wife. He likes sandwiches for lunch with the crusts cut off and hot dog casserole for dinner. He usually doesn’t eat breakfast. And when he gets sick or hurt, you just have to rub his big toes while reciting the Three Little Pigs to make him feel better.” Kadaj’s mother said directly into the camera, not noticing how her nephews were smiling.

“That’s very good to know, but…” Genesis started to say before she started again.

“Oh, and my nephews also need a woman…Sephiroth needs his food divided into bite sized portions before you give it to him, Yazoo will only take a bath if you sing to him while he’s in the tub, and Loz can’t sleep without a nightlight and his Silly Billy Goat stuffed animal.”

Genesis was feeling so embarrassed just by witnessing that scene that he decided to leave them alone and move on to the next couple. “And here is Miss Scarlet, being escorted by Rufus Shinra. Miss Scarlet, which designer are you wearing? I’ve never seen a dress like that.” Genesis remarked.

“This dress is…” Scarlet was about to explain her disdain for ‘fashion’ and that she just used the dress she wore to her high school prom, with the barest amount of alterations, when she heard her name being called. She turned to see Marlene and Denzel running towards her, Reno and Yuffie following at a slower pace. They threw their arms around their former nanny, and she hugged them back.

“We missed you, Scarlet.” Marlene said.

“Ah, here are the child stars of the film. Is it true your parents died during the filming of this movie?” Genesis asked Denzel and Marlene.

“Sir, please leave the children alone.” Scarlet requested angrily, tightening her arms around them as she felt Marlene start to tremble.

“How does it feel to have to have been adopted twice?” Genesis persisted, sticking the microphone in their faces.

Rufus and Reno started to charge Genesis, but Scarlet was quicker. Genesis wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but the next moment he was laid out flat on the red carpet and the right side of his face hurt bad, with Scarlet standing over him with a balled fist.

“A gentleman is never supposed to refuse a request from a lady. You sir, however, are no gentleman, so I don’t need to be a lady.” Scarlet declared, giving him a good swift kick in his ass with the pointed toe of her high heeled shoe.

Rufus stared at Scarlet for a moment, in awe at her sudden violent rage. He never thought she had it in her…when she went to kick Genesis some more, he reluctantly tried to stop her, and Scarlet accidentally kicked his leg hard.

“Oh, I’m so sorry Rufus!” Scarlet exclaimed as Rufus fell down on one knee, and something tumbled out of his tuxedo jacket pocket. “What’s that?” she asked and went to pick it up.

“No, don’t open it!” Rufus protested too late as Scarlet opened it, then dropped it in shock.

“Well, I guess it’s too late for the surprise I had planned for later this evening.” Rufus grabbed the little blue velvet jewelry box off the ground. “Since I’m already on bended knee, Scarlet, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Rufus held the box up, presenting her with a two carat diamond engagement ring.

Aerith and Shera, who had just arrived separately with their respective partners, squealed when they saw Rufus proposing to Scarlet, and hurried over to her.

“Say yes! Say yes! You two already look like those figurine couples on wedding cakes! That was so romantic…well, except for the whole beating up the reporter thing.” Aerith excitedly told Scarlet, hugging her from the left.

“You can have the wedding at our new house…it’s got a large enough backyard, and it’s fenced to keep out trespassers. Oh and the actual house is big enough for lots of guests too…please say yes, I want to prove to Cid that it can handle being a high traffic house for when we start our family!” Shera blurted out to Scarlet, hugging her from the right side.

Still on the ground in pain, Genesis brought the microphone to his mouth. “There you have it, ladies and gentleman, assault and battery with a surprise proposal right here on the red carpet. The whole world is awaiting Scarlet’s answer.” Genesis announced as security showed up to escort him off the premises.

Reno helped Rufus up, who kept his eyes on Scarlet, who remained stunned by it all. “Please say something, Scarlet.” Rufus pleaded.

Scarlet opened her mouth to say something, but no sound came out as she fainted. Luckily Aerith and Shera were still holding onto her so she didn’t fall onto the ground. “Is…is that a maybe?” Rufus asked, looking around at everyone for an answer.

***

Rufus carried Scarlet inside after Yuffie checked her vitals and assured him she was okay. The change in temperature as they entered the building revived her, but she was disoriented for a moment and thought Rufus was carrying her over the threshold.

“My husband.” Scarlet murmured, putting her arms around his neck. Then as Rufus put her gently in her chair, she remembered his proposal. She must have passed out, and she felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment. It wasn’t so much that he had proposed to her in front of worldwide cameras, it was that she had lost her temper and acted very unlady-like, injuring Rufus and forcing his proposal, then Aerith and Shera had mobbed her, and Aerith had whispered in her ear how much she was going to love having sex with Rufus on their wedding night, and it had been too much for Scarlet, especially when she couldn’t think of any proper etiquette to handle situations such as that.

***

“I don’t see Barret anywhere.” Tifa said, looking around at the other tables.

“I heard something that he’s got something in the works that changed his plans for tonight.” Tseng told her as he inspected the appetizers on their table. “Dammit!” Tseng suddenly swore, and Tifa looked sharply at him, then realized he was looking at something, and she turned her head to see an usher guiding Cloud and Lisa to their table.

“This is so exciting!” Lisa exclaimed as she and Cloud sat down at the table opposite from Tseng and Tifa. “Oh, I’m Lisa Fields, it’s nice to meet you.” She stuck her hand over the table to them, keeping it there until they both shook it. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m so happy that you left Cloud for him.“ Lisa blurted out, looking first at Tifa, then at Tseng. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here with Cloud,” Lisa paused to smile adoringly at him. “And you two look so cute together…you have matching hair!”

They all just stared at her for a few moments until they noticed a hush falling over the room, and saw Zack Fair walking up the steps to the stage with the huge screen behind him. Taking his place at the podium, he began speaking into the microphone.

“Thank you all for coming! Before we begin, the appetizers on your table were provided by one of our stars, Mr. Rude, whom you all know is a very talented chef. Those of you with allergies, the blue platters have nuts in them. The red platter is vegan, so there’s no dairy. And for the first surprise of the evening, I’d like to welcome Barret Wallace to the Avalanche Films family. He is now in charge of filming locations. For those of you who don’t know, he graciously allowed us to use his properties to film Advent Children. Let’s give him a big round of applause!” Zack started clapping, and everyone joined in.

Barret came out on stage, to the podium where Zack moved so Barret could use the microphone. “Thank you everyone. I hope our esteemed Mayor meant what she said, because I’m looking forward to finding many more good filming locations in Midgar.” Barret said before nodding at Zack and leaving to sit down at his table.

“And now, let’s welcome the man responsible for this all, Mr. Hojo!” Zack started clapping again.

After a few moments of applause, Hojo stormed to the podium, annoyed that Zack had taken so long to introduce him. “You skeptics who don’t think great film can be made without great talent in front of the camera, don’t understand the risks and experimentation needed to create cinematic history! Start the film!” Hojo yelled and headed back to his seat.

***

As soon as the end credits started rolling, Zack excused himself to Shalua. “I’ll be right back.” he said before quickly leaving the room and heading up to the projector room. “Hey, can you do me a favor?” he asked the worker.

“What’d ya want?” the woman asked as she took a swig from her soda can.

“I’m going to go get on stage for another little speech, and when I’m done, please start playing this.” Zack took a plastic case with a DVD inside out of his jacket pocket. “Thanks a million.”

“Whatever.” she said as Zack left, hurrying back downstairs to the stage.

“I hope you all enjoyed the show. I have one more surprise for you all, a special thank you to Hojo! ROLL IT!” Zack yelled, then went back to his seat.

Images of Hojo dressed like a baby girl complete with pink bonnet and slippers, in one of the actors’ trailers, appeared on screen. “Where’s that damned Shera with my bottle? I need a diaper change when she gets here!” His ranting was interrupted by a knock on the door. Hojo immediately curled up on the floor. “Gaga!” he exclaimed before sticking his thumb in his mouth.

“Stop this right now!” Hojo stood up so fast his legs were stiff and he hobbled to the podium. “This is a lie! I only recorded the actors in their trailers, never myself! And pink isn’t my color, I only wear blue baby clothes! You will never work in this town again!” Hojo yelled at Zack, unaware of the mob of angry actors that started heading towards him when they heard him admit to spying on them.

“Shame on you, you bad man!” Kadaj’s mother snapped at him, causing Hojo to turn to face her when he heard her, and was rewarded by being backhanded by her purse.

“Do you know the criminal and civil charges that can be filed against you for that invasion of privacy?” Elena’s eyes glinted dangerously as the actors backed him up to the edge of the stage. “Judge Gast would be very happy to rule over your cases.”

“You all are nothing without me! I made you all! Don’t threaten me!” Hojo turned to leave and fell off the stage. Yuffie ran to check him out, and then took out her cellphone to call 911.

“I have a broken arm and possible concussion at 5671 Silver Screen Drive, please send an ambulance.” Yuffie told the dispatcher before hanging up. “He’ll be fine, he’ll just need to spend a couple days in the hospital.” She said as she looked up to her cast members peering over the edge of the stage.

“He’s the one who will never work in this town again.” Elena stated, taking out her own cellphone. “Reeve, we’re ready to go.”

***

“Hey, can I grab a ride with you guys?” Barret asked Cloud and Lisa.

“Of course!” Lisa exclaimed. “Right, Cloud? Pleased to meet you, Mr. Wallace. I’m Lisa Fields.”

Barret smiled as he got into the limo seat opposite them. Cloud didn’t say anything, he had kind of learned that was the best course of action with Lisa, because she was such a chatterbox that he rarely had a chance to say anything anyway. He wasn’t sure if he had done the best or the worst thing in his life when he called her after Tifa confessed about her relationship with Tseng. He frowned over thinking about her with another man. As if divining his thoughts, Lisa took hold of his hand and squeezed it, then kissed him on the cheek. His frown faded as he thought about how the only way he could usually get her to stop talking was to have sex with her, which really worked for him except that he didn’t feel like actually talking then either. And she was a nice girl who was obviously devoted to him alone, which didn’t hurt one bit. He squeezed her hand back, wishing they could have some privacy right now.

“Wasn’t that such a romantic proposal on the red carpet? Do you think Scarlet will say yes?” she asked Barret and Cloud, who both just stared at her, then shrugged.

“I don’t even know her.” Barret said.

“Isn’t she a few years older than him?” Cloud asked.

“That just means Rufus really loves her.” Lisa stated emphatically. “They should rent a yacht and take a month long private cruise for their honeymoon, just the two of them and the world.” Lisa sighed dreamily.

Barret was relieved when they stopped in front of his house. That girl’s nonstop chatter, especially about romance, made him feel like he was trapped in a nightmare. How could Cloud stand her?

“Hey, this isn’t home.” Lisa said a little while later when the limo stopped again, this time in front of a classy hotel. “Why are we here?”

“You’ll see.” Cloud said, taking her hand and leading her inside to the front desk.

“Oh my God, this place is beautiful.” Lisa let go of Cloud’s hand and turned in circles, taking in everything in the lobby.

“I’ve got a reservation, Mr. and Mrs. Cloud Strife.” he told the clerk, as Lisa stopped moving and looked at him with her mouth open in surprise.

“Oh yes, the honeymoon suite.” the clerk said after typing the names into the computer. “Will you be using the credit card you reserved the suite with to pay for your stay?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, here are your two keycards, everything you requested is in the suite waiting for you. Enjoy your stay with us.” The clerk flashed an artificial smile as he handed Cloud the keycards and went to ignore him in favor of the next client when the other clerk, a woman, nudged him.

“What’d you do that for?” he asked his coworker.

“Don’t you know who that is?” the woman replied under her breath to him, before turning to Cloud and smiling winningly at him. “Please forgive him, Mr. Strife, he lives under a rock. I can’t wait to see your new movie!”

“No problem, Miss…” Cloud peered at her nametag. “Miss Crescent.”

“If there’s anything you need at all, please let us know.” she called after them as Cloud took hold of Lisa’s hand and led her to the elevator.

On the ride up to their floor, Cloud was pleased that he had managed to surprise her into stunned silence with his secret holiday he had planned for them. The elevator came to a stop and he led her to the door of their suite when she finally regained her voice.

“What is all this?” she squeaked out as Cloud opened the door and she followed him inside, staring at the rose petals on the bed and strewn around the sunken marble bathtub nearby.

“I planned this two weeks ago.” Cloud admitted. “There’s a wedding chapel on the first floor, fully licensed. Of course, this might seem less romantic to you after watching Rufus proposing to Scarlet, but…”

“Rufus has nothing on you!” Lisa blurted out excitedly as she flung her arms around Cloud’s neck and kissed him.

***

“Where is this?” Rude asked as Reeve pulled to a stop in front of an unfamiliar house.

“This is where Hojo lives. Give me your book of matches and stay in the car. I’ll be right back.” Elena put the matches in her purse and grabbed the two bottles of champagne that she had grabbed from the premiere party before managing to get out.

“Do you think the video recordings from our movie trailer are here?” Rude asked. Against his better judgment, he wondered what it would show of their attempts to conceive, and wished he could watch it just once. Of course he didn’t know she was trying to get pregnant then, he just thought it was due to the movie set atmosphere and wanting to make sure he wouldn’t be tempted by Aerith’s flirtatious ways with every man on set. All those mornings he had woken up feeling so drained from her when he knew the level of shape he kept himself in, made him want to see the video evidence of how she did that to him.

“Trust me. Just stay here, I’ll be fine.” Elena replied, and headed to the side of Hojo’s house. Peeking through a window, she realized it must be a guest bedroom. Breaking the window by hitting it repeatedly by one of the champagne bottles, she then broke open the bottles by hitting them on the window ledge. She doused the thick curtains, then threw the bottles into the room, one landed on the floor, one on the bed. Lighting a match, she threw it onto the carpet. “Let those video recordings burn!” Elena declared as she hurried back to the limo as fast as she could.

“Take us back home fast, Reeve, but stay under the speed limit.” Elena ordered as Rude helped her back in.

“What did you do?” Rude asked.

“What my pregnancy hormones told me to do.” Elena said with an enigmatic smile. “Oh!” She suddenly clutched at her stomach.

“What‘s wrong with the babies?” Rude paled.

“Nothing’s wrong, don’t worry.” Elena relaxed and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s just I think I have a boxing match going on in here.” Elena patted her stomach, then closed her eyes and leaned against her husband. “I’ll be glad when I don’t have to feel them fighting for space anymore.”

***

Marlene and Denzel had fallen asleep between Reno and Yuffie on the limo ride home, worn out the by the day’s excitement, which was a huge relief to Yuffie. Reno had been subtly pushing her to tell them the truth, but she kept putting it off, unsure how they would handle it. If Hojo had been recording her and Reno in their trailer, then it would have recorded her telling him that Marlene and Denzel were her children. She would have to tell them tomorrow before they found out from someone else. Yuffie hoped they wouldn’t run away when she told them…it had been hard enough losing them away the first time, it had taken a year for her to not hear Denzel crying for her when she gave them away every time she closed her eyes, and until the day they came back into her life, she still heard it when something happened that deeply upset her, like losing a patient.

***

“How come you didn’t tell me you were all playing such bad men in that movie?” Kadaj’s mother asked her son and nephews.

“You didn’t ask.” Sephiroth muttered, and she slapped his hand for his impudence.

“You asked for it…this was your idea after all.” Yazoo smirked until she slapped his hand too.

“I see I’m going to have to call your mothers when I get home.“ she told her nephews.

The atmosphere was far from cheery as the men all sulked and pouted while the limo drove to a hotel near the airport where Sephiroth had reserved a room in advance for his aunt to stay in overnight before returning home, and it didn’t get any better without her in the car. Kadaj was still mad at them for their prank, and they were all feeling upset to be treated like they were five years old again, and realizing they were acting like little children again didn’t help at all.

***

Rufus and Scarlet were silent as the limo started driving them back to their separate apartments, both lost in their own thoughts about Hojo‘s revelation that he had been spying on them. Rufus didn’t want any sex tapes of him and Aerith surfacing to ruin his new life. Scarlet was just upset at the thought of someone spying on her, it was just so…improper. She shuddered at the thought of someone watching her shower or change clothes or use the toilet. Scarlet felt dirty and violated, and she didn‘t know what to do about it.

“Would it help if I kill him?” Rufus suddenly asked, startling Scarlet, who didn’t realize she had spoken aloud.

“I don’t want to visit my fiancé in jail!” Scarlet snapped without thinking.

Rufus brightened. “Does that mean your answer is yes?”

Scarlet opened her mouth to say it was a slip of the tongue, but she looked at his hopeful expression and realized that was a lie, she did want to marry him. Scarlet nodded to answer him. “You did ask properly, after all.”

***

Tifa laid her head against Tseng as soon as they were in the limo, and his arm automatically went around her. “That was without a doubt the most interesting premiere I’ve ever been to.”

“Hojo will pay for what he did, don’t worry.” Tseng promised her.

“I’m not worried about that anymore, I’m worried if I’ll be able to fulfill my contract to film Jade Locket next.” Tifa confessed.

“You mean because of this?” Tseng put his hand on her as-yet flat stomach and barely squeezed.

Tifa smiled at him. Her pregnancy seemed to her as a blessing and sign that her life was exactly as it should be. She had tried on infrequent occasions to conceive by Cloud, hoping to salvage their relationship by having a child, but had never succeeded, and now without even trying, she was having Tseng’s child. And she was getting better film offers, and hints of her own TV show. “I don’t want to jeopardize our child.”

“Everything will be fine.” Tseng reassured her.

“Everything is fine.” Tifa corrected him as she curled up against him. She couldn’t remember ever being happier, especially because despite his sullenness at their table during the viewing, Cloud had occasionally looked at Lisa in a way that Tifa had once wished he would look at her.

***

“Well babe, I’ve got a promise to keep to you, don’t I?” Zack gave Shalua a wicked grin as the limo started heading back to Zack’s place.

“Are you sure we won’t be interrupted this time?” Shalua asked as he slid his hand between her legs again.

“Definitely. I gave the driver a hundred to take an extra hour on the return trip.” Zack said before kissing her.

Shalua enjoyed being with him, but she wondered how long it would last. She knew his reputation, and gave it two more months before he got bored with her.

***

“Why did you tell that Scarlet woman that we would have her wedding at our house? The backyard is only big enough for my workshop!” Cid protested as he and Shera were let off at their house, and the limo returned to the rental agency.

“You are not building an aviation hangar in our backyard! You can have a barbecue and a horseshoe pit, and that’s it!” Shera exclaimed. “We already talked about it when we signed the papers, remember?”

Cid wanted to sulk, but he knew he really couldn’t build his own plane, because there was no runway for him to take off with. And he liked grilling his food…playing with fire made him feel so manly.

***

“I bet Scarlet has already told him yes.” Aerith told Vincent as he unlocked their front door.

Vincent only nodded. They didn’t talk on the ride home, because they had both fallen asleep almost right away. He was a still a little groggy, and was looking forward to some more sleep. He headed straight for the bedroom, and Aerith closed and locked the front door before following him. “Care to help me take my dress off?” she asked him, presenting her backside to him as he sat on the bed taking his shoes off.

Once he unzipped her, Aerith carefully took it off, and rezipped it before hanging it up in the closet, then she sauntered over to Vincent. “Can I help you undress now?”

As they lay entwined a little while later, Aerith drew circles on his chest with her finger. “I’m glad you have tomorrow off, cause I was thinking we could try something new then.”

“What do you want to try?” Vincent was nervous…he was always worried that somehow he would disappoint her and she’d leave. He had been lonely when they met, but he had gotten used to it. Now he had gotten used to seeing her smile at him first thing in the morning.

“Getting pregnant.” Aerith informed him.

“What?!” Vincent was suddenly wide awake.

“I want to have a child with you.” Aerith calmly said.

“But we’re not married yet…”

“So? Think of it as getting more ‘street cred’ with your students.” Aerith suggested. “Imagine their shock upon realizing their stuffy and boring old English teacher is living in sin with a younger woman.” she couldn’t resist teasing him.

Vincent mulled that over for a moment because his students had been nicer since word got out that he was in an action movie, and when Aerith had occasionally dressed up in one of her clubbing outfits to bring him his lunch when he forgot it. And the thought that she actually wanted his child was amazing.

“If that’s not a good enough reason, just consider it lazy sex.” Aerith continued, trying another tactic.

“Lazy sex?” Vincent asked in surprise.

“Yeah, because we don’t have to take the time to take any precautions. We can just have sex whenever we want, and just enjoy ourselves.” Aerith started caressing his chest. “Let nature take its course…”

***

Scarlet sat in the special chair Aerith had told her to sit in, wondering why she had agreed to this. She had chosen Aerith to be her maid of honor at Rufus’ suggestion, he was hoping it would cheer her up some. He had been worried when he had seen an article in a tabloid at the checkout line about Aerith, someone had leaked her recent medical records, and told the whole world that she couldn’t have children. Rufus had called Vincent and got them invited over for dinner. Scarlet wasn’t exactly fond of Aerith, but she had been startled by the change in her. Despite any lingering feelings of jealousy she might have towards Aerith, she had to admit that the woman was naturally upbeat and friendly, but as they ate dinner, it quickly became obvious that Aerith was seriously hurting...she had only barely smiled once. So now here Scarlet was at her bachelorette party, wondering with a certain amount of dread as to what Aerith had planned.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough coffee?” Shera asked Elena, startled when she saw the bags under the mayor’s eyes.

“Five babies who all have their own sleeping and feeding schedules, even with day and night nannies…no, I don’t think I’ve had enough coffee.” Elena said as she took a sip from her fourth cup. She wasn’t looking forward to Scarlet being on her honeymoon and losing her day nanny for two weeks. The only thing that she was looking forward to was Rude taking time off from work to be take care of their children in Scarlet’s absence. The nannycam would give her priceless entertainment as Rude found himself knee-deep in dirty diapers and baby spittle. After all, if it wasn’t for his stamina in the bedroom, they’d probably have only had two or three children.

“Even one sometimes feels like one too many when you‘re not sleeping.” Tifa chimed in, waiting to get some coffee for herself. She wasn’t really complaining though, she loved her infant daughter more than anything. She and Tseng had named her Joy, because that’s what she was to them.

“Are you okay?” Aerith asked Tifa as she took her cup of coffee and sat down in a corner, almost as if she was trying to hide herself.

“Just the regular obsessed fan issues that come with being an actress.” Tifa told her in an offhand way, not wanting to admit how worried she and Tseng were. Whoever had been sending her letters that seemed to get more threatening as time went on, they knew things that meant they had been spying on her, but she couldn’t see how, they were very careful at home, and when word reached Elena about the problem, there had been a sudden increase in police patrols in the neighborhood Tifa and Tseng lived in.

Aerith wondered if there was some truth to the rumours that the cast of Advent Children was cursed. Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo had died when a drunk driver hit their taxi on the way to the airport. She couldn’t have children, and now Tifa had a stalker…

Listening to Tifa and Elena talk about sleepness nights, Shera was glad she and Cid had decided to wait to start their family until they had enough of a nest egg to afford Shera’s maternity leave. She wanted to stay home in the final months of her pregnancy, as well as the first year of their baby’s life. So they wanted two years of her income saved up to make sure they were covered in case of emergencies. And tomorrow’s wedding would give her a taste of what babies were like in a social setting. She had suggested to Scarlet and Rufus that they get married exactly one year to the day after he proposed, so she and Cid would have time to settle into the house and then get it ready for the big day, and they had talked it over and agreed. It would double as a reunion for the cast of the film as well.

A knock on the door caught everyone’s attention, and Aerith smiled. “The entertainment’s here!” She hurried to the door and opened it just enough for her alone to see who it was, and when she just stood there, the rest of them came over, and when Tifa opened the door all the way, they all got rooted to the floor as well by shock and disgust.

“Ah, so we again!” Hojo exclaimed. “I’ve been hired to provide the night’s entertainment. Which one of you is the lucky girl?”

“Get out of here now!” Elena ordered, having found her voice.

“Uh-uh, I have a signed contract. If…” Hojo took the contract out of his pocket and looked at it. “Aerith Valentine refuses my services, the cancellation clause means she owes me $1000.”

“Let me see that.” Elena grabbed the contract out of his hand. “Dammit! He’s right, everyone. We have to pay him $1000 if we want him gone.”

Hojo smiled grotesquely as they pooled all the money they had and paid him off. “Pity you didn’t want to save some money by letting me perform. After all, I’ve already seen all you naked.”

Some time later, he woke up bruised in a nearby gutter. He was relieved to find his money safe. After he was blacklisted by the film industry, he come up with a new scheme…he’d get women to pay him to leave them alone. It was perfectly legal, and because each event he got hired out for only took him ten minutes at most to get asked to leave, he could easily get ten grand a night in cancellation fees. He’d be back on top in no time.

***

“Are you ready?” Aerith asked Scarlet as she helped the bride into her wedding dress, as Shera, Yuffie and Tifa got into their bridesmaids’ dresses in the adjoining room.

“I hope so.” Scarlet replied.

“Well, I never gave you my present at the bachelorette party last night because it wasn’t anything tangible, so I‘ll give it to you now.” Aerith told her.

“What is it?” Scarlet was nervously curious.

Aerith whispered into Scarlet’s ear so the bridesmaids wouldn’t overhear, and a few moments later, Scarlet’s cheeks turned bright red. “That’s what you can expect from Rufus on your wedding night, and what he really likes.” Aerith concluded. “Trust me, you’ll enjoy it.”

***

“Okay, I think the women are ready now, let’s get your bachelorhood over with.” Cid told Rufus.

“I’m ready.” Rufus stated.

“Are you sure the women are ready?” Vincent asked. All the women who attended Scarlet’s bachelorette party had come early, and their men had been worried about them, because when the men started to undress for bed, each woman’s face turned Christmasy, being an unique mixture of green and red coloring.

***

“Doesn’t she look beautiful?” Lisa blurted out excitedly to Cloud as they watched Scarlet walk down the aisle from their seats in the front row. “Of course, our wedding was the best.” She smiled at Cloud and kissed his cheek, then they sat down as Scarlet took her place next to Rufus. Lisa was imagining her and Cloud up there getting married again when she noticed something on top of the fence behind the bridesmaids that seemed funny to her.

“What’s that?” she asked her husband.

“Probably the paparazzi.” Cloud said, frowning as he watched it move as the minister asked if anyone had objections. “Oh shit, that’s not a camera, it’s a GUN!” Cloud yelled out the last word and total chaos erupted.

Yuffie, on the bottom step of the special gazebo that had been rented for the wedding, grabbed Marlene who was standing on the ground next to her in her role as flower girl, and threw her down on the ground, covering her daughter’s body with her own as a single shot rang out.

Cid and Rude had started running for the fence as they saw where the shooter was, who tried to escape by clambering down the other side. They just about vaulted the fence to catch him, and the guests heard sounds of a fight, then another gunshot.

“It’s okay, he’s dead!” Cid yelled over the fence. “Is everyone okay?”

The guests picked themselves and looked around, freezing when they heard Shera scream. Everyone turned in her direction, seeing Aerith and Tifa unmoving on the gazebo steps, covered in blood.

“Dammit!” Yuffie cursed as she examined them. “They’re still alive, but barely…somebody call an ambulance and tell them we’ve got two female gunshot victims with massive blood loss.” Yuffie looked up as Tseng and Vincent stood over here, looking dreadful. “Give me your jackets. They’re going into shock, and we need to keep them warm. Tseng, put your hands on Tifa hard to stop the bleeding. It looks like the bullet went through her before hitting Aerith. Both wounds need to stop bleeding.” Yuffie was more worried about what internal damage Aerith had, since the bullet had entered where it could damage multiple organs. Shera had brought a dozen hand towels, and Yuffie was doing what she could to control the bleeding with the help of Vincent and Tseng, though their hands were trembling so much that it was hard for them to keep the pressure on the wounds.

Finally the ambulances arrived and the police moments later. IVs were quickly set up for Aerith and Tifa before they were loaded onto the gurneys and into the ambulances, their men riding to the hospital with them, Yuffie speeding behind them.

Aerith briefly woke up during the trip when she felt Vincent’s hands take one of hers in a viselike grip. “You don’t look so good.” she told him. “You don’t have to worry, it’s just the movie curse, remember?” Aerith smiled at him before closing her eyes again.

***

The ambulance carrying Tifa pulled over, and Yuffie barely slammed on her brakes in time to avoid hitting it. She got out and ran to the ambulance. She banged on the door.

“What’s wrong?” Yuffie demanded to know when the door was opened by Tseng, who looked like he was going into shock as well.

“She’s crashing!” the paramedic tending to Tifa exclaimed as he got the defibrillator ready.

Yuffie was grateful that Elena had been able to get some grants to upgrade Midgar’s ambulances recently with better diagnostic equipment. She glanced at the monitor with Tifa’s dropping vitals clearly visible. “Charge to 300!” she ordered the first paramedic before focusing on the driver. “Get us to the hospital!” Looking at Tseng, she realized he was about to collapse from stress. She took out her cellphone and handed it to him. “Call Reno and tell him where I left the car.” Yuffie hoped that would distract him long enough to calm down.

They successfully stabilized her, and as the ambulance pulled into the emergency bay of the hospital, Tifa had regained consciousness. “Tseng?” Her voice came out as a whisper.

“I’m here, honey.” Tseng responded, squeezing her hand.

“Why can’t I feel my legs?” Tifa asked.

***

Two plain-clothed police officers knocked on the Highwind‘s door, and Cid answered it, staring at them almost rudely. “I’m Detective Hewley, and this is my partner Detective Hollander. We’re here to investigate the shooting today. May we come in?” The taller man asked.

“Sure.” Cid said as he stepped aside, noticing the shooter’s body being loaded into the medical examiner’s vehicle.

He led the two detectives onto the patio where all the guests and the wedding party were waiting to be questioned and released. The crime scene investigators were all over the two scenes, the first being the fence and surrounding area where the shooter was when he fired the shot that hit Tifa and Aerith and then was killed, the second being the gazebo where Tifa and Aerith were hit. The whole area was taped off.

“We’re trying to identify the shooter.” Hollander said after introducing themselves to the crowd. Hewley went to see what the CSIs had turned up as Hollander showed a picture to the crowd. “Do any of you recognize this man?”

“That’s Biggs!” Shera exclaimed.

“Biggs?” Hollander asked, writing the name down.

“He did the special effects for the movie we were in. Well I wasn’t in the movie, I was the on-set gofer, so I’d take him things every so often. Sometimes he‘d seem nice, other times he seemed a bit creepy.” Shera explained.

Hewley came back. “Well, there isn’t any evidence yet that there were more than two shots fired from the gun recovered next to the body. And the M.E. said from her preliminary exam here on scene, it looks like he died during a struggle. Anyone care to tell me what happened?”

“I will.” Elena said, walking out of the house holding one of her babies over her shoulder, obviously trying to burp them.

“Oh, Mayor, I didn’t know you were here.” Hollander said as Hewley asked her for her story.

“I was upstairs tending to the babies since Scarlet was their day nanny and she was the one getting married. I was changing a diaper when I heard the first gunshot and I ran to the window, where I saw Cid and my husband jumping the fence to tackle a man who was trying to run away on the other side, then that man collapsed. Then I heard Shera scream and Yuffie started working on Aerith and Tifa.” Elena told the detectives.

“Okay, well then we’re going to need to test Cid and your husband’s hands for gunshot residue.” Hewley said.

“Fine, but please hurry up, I’d like to get to the hospital now.” Elena requested as Hollander waved over one of the CSIs to administer the test.

“Ma’am, we’re also going to need to take their clothes for examination.” Hewley said.

“No one watches my husband strip but his doctor and I.” Elena coldly snapped. “My lawyer will meet us at the hospital to make sure we cooperate legally with your investigation. I shall leave you gentleman to it.”

***

The wedding party found Yuffie trying to calm down Vincent and Tseng in the waiting room, all of them still in their blood-stained formal wear.

“Any news?” Shera asked hopefully.

“No, they’re both still in surgery. I know both of the doctors operating on them, and they’re in good hands.” Yuffie replied. “I’m thinking Tifa will be out of surgery first. The bullet most likely missed any vital organs based on her entry and exit wounds.” Yuffie refrained from mentioning her fears about Tifa’s spinal cord being damaged, based on the bullet’s entrance wound being so close to her spine, and Tifa’s comment about not being able to feel her legs.

“Aerith Valentine?” a bloodied doctor asked as they came into the waiting room.

“That’s my wife!” Vincent stopped pacing and looked at the doctor. “Is she okay?”

“She’s very lucky. The bullet somehow didn’t damage any organs, it just bounced around inside her causing bruising on them, and it took us a while to find it. The blood loss was the main issue. We’re going to keep her for a couple more days to make sure there’s no sign of infection.”

“Can I see her?” Vincent asked.

“She won’t be awake yet, but she’s in room 219 if you want to wait til she’s conscious.” The doctor shrugged and left.

Everyone was feeling more hopeful as they waited to hear about Tifa, and a little while later her doctor came out.

“Miss Lockhart came through the surgery. She’s recovering from the blood loss, unfortunately the bullet nicked her spine, and there’s no way to tell if the damage is permanent or temporary. We‘ll keep her for observation for a week to have a better idea of her condition. She’s in room 335, but only immediate family visitors please.” he told Tseng, and as he left, Vincent came back.

“Aerith is asking for you two.” Vincent told Rufus and Scarlet, who looked at each other in surprise, and then followed him to their room.

Aerith managed a weak smile when she saw them come through the door. She was still quite pale, but the monitoring machines she was hooked up to all seemed to be alright. “Vincent told me what happened, and I was wondering if you two could do me a favor?” Aerith asked Rufus and Scarlet, who had to listen hard because she was still recovering from the anesthesia and was slurring her words a bit.

“What?” They asked together.

Aerith looked at Vincent, who went and opened the bathroom door, and the hospital chaplain came out. “I want you two to get married right now. You’ve waited long enough already.”

***

A few minutes later, Rufus and Scarlet walked back to the waiting room with bemused expressions on their faces.

“How is she?” Everyone asked them.

“She’s still weak, but I think she‘s going to be okay.” Rufus said.

“She had the hospital chaplain marry us.” Scarlet blurted out. After their first failed attempt with a fancy wedding with all the trimmings that ended in near tragedy, it felt so anticlimactic and unbelievable to succeed in less than five minutes with an impromptu ceremony by a chaplain who had been hiding in the bathroom.

The members of the wedding party congratulated the newlyweds, and Elena suggested they go back to Scarlet’s room in the Mackintosh mansion for their wedding night. “Everyone’s okay now, and you’ll be safe from the police and media there until this is all sorted out. Of course the babies are two rooms down, but that might remind you to be careful.” Elena explained. “Reeve, would you take them back home now?”

“Yes ma’am.” Reeve said, and led the couple out to the limo.

***

“This is a nice room.” Rufus said as Scarlet opened the door to her suite of rooms. “Wait!”

Scarlet froze mid-step. “What is it?”

“I’m supposed to carry you over the threshold, remember?”

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t do that to me again, I thought there was another shooter!”

“Nope, just proper behavior.” Rufus picked her up and carried her inside, kicking the door shut and finding the bedroom. “Now it’s time for improper behavior…”

An hour later, a slow flush was spreading over her face as Rufus collapsed on top of her. “And that’s what sex is like.” he said as soon as he caught his breath.

“That’s not what Aerith told me it would be like.” Scarlet heard herself say, distracted by her body still tingling with excitement and pleasure.

“Well, that’s because Aerith didn’t rate the wedding night special. That’s something only you get.” Rufus explained, kissing his bride. “And I have quite a few other specials to show you tonight…”

***

“I’m ready.” Tifa told Tseng once she had her dress on. “Where’s Joy?”

“I’m here, Mommy!” She ran into her parents’ bedroom and plopped down on the bed. “Are we really going to a movie party?”

“Well it’s not really a party, it’s the 10th anniversary of Advent Children, the film I was making when I got pregnant with you.” Tifa lovingly stroked her daughter’s hair.

“That’s where that bad man who tried to kill you came from.” Joy frowned. “And that’s why you’re in a wheelchair now.”

“Just when we go out for long periods of time. I can walk with my canes around the house, don’t forget.” Tifa pulled her daughter into her lap, hugging Joy. Her daughter had been her main motivation for all those painful months of physical therapy to try and get some mobility back. No one but her family and her therapist knew what a triumph it had been to just be able to get out bed on her own steam.

“And don’t forget that bad man is dead so he can’t hurt your mommy anymore.” Tseng told their daughter as he checked his tie in the mirror. He would have killed Biggs himself anyway. The police had searched his apartment and found evidence out that he had been stalking Tifa for years before she started filming Advent Children, and that he was the one recording the stars’ trailers on set, turning it over to Hojo. Except for the footage from Tifa’s trailer, he had edited it to take Cloud and then Tseng when they were with her, and put himself in their place.

“And now it’s time to leave or we’re going to be late.” Tifa said, and Joy got off her lap as Tseng picked Tifa up and gently put her in the motorized wheelchair. “Come on honey, get back on my lap and Mommy will give you a ride out to the car.” Tifa patted her lap, and Joy climbed back on, excited as Tifa sped them through the house to the garage as fast as she safely could.

***

“You look so pretty, Mommy!”

Aerith nearly jumped. “Oh, Hope, don’t sneak up on people like that. Where’s your sister?”

“She’s having Daddy put her shoes on.” Hope explained. “Are you ready?”

“I just have to finish putting on my makeup.” she told her young daughter. It was hard for to believe her twin daughters were already five years old. The doctors had no explanation for how she got pregnant finally, it just became the accepted view that something happened when she got shot, and then was operated on, that made her able to have children. Aerith hadn’t needed to even think of names for them, Hope and Faith seemed perfect. “Alright, let’s go get your sister and your daddy, and go to the reunion…I’m sure there’ll be ice cream there.”

As they walked down the hall to the twins’ room, Aerith had to stop for a moment and catch her breath. Even though they said there was no permanent damage from the bullet, sometimes she would suddenly feel serious pain in the area the bullet had been found and removed. But if that’s what she had to deal with in order to be a mother, it was a small price to pay. Regaining her composure, she and Hope found Faith chattering on to Vincent about butterflies and fairies as he tried to convince her to put her dress back on.

***

Elena was grateful for the suggestion that getting a van for transporting the quintuplets around would encourage the voters to see her less as the Mackintosh heiress and more like them. Today not only did she and Rude have to go to the cast reunion, but Rufus and Scarlet as well, with their four year-old. Reeve was driving. An oversized passenger van is the only thing that was suitable for this excursion.

***

Cid and Shera were trying to get out the door with their two year-old son when Cid’s cellphone rang.

“Yeah? I’m off today, I’ve got…no, I understand. Fine, I’ll be there.” Cid hung up the phone, with an angry expression on his face. “Roberts is drunk again, and there’s no other pilots available to take his flight.” he told Shera, who sighed.

“Well, I’ll drop you off at the airport and then head to the reunion. But you’ll miss out on cake.” Shera told him.

“Save me some.” Cid said as they got into their car. “But no fruity cake nonsense.”

***

“They’re all dressed and ready to go.” Lisa said, referring to their daughters, as she walked into her and Cloud’s bedroom, where he was getting dressed. “They’re looking forward to being stars for the day. We’re not going to be late, are we?”

“If we are, it’ll be expected.” Cloud replied. He couldn’t believe it had been ten years…his relationship with Lisa had been such a whirlwind because of her naturally high energy level, that before he knew it, they were married, then she started getting pregnant about every couple years. After she gave him three children, he got a vasectomy so he didn’t have to worry about changing more diapers. He sometimes had the uncomfortable feeling that Lisa knew exactly how to manage him, but his marriage had been a happy one, so he never made an issue of it.

***

The auditorium was packed with reporters and fans, and the noise level subsided when the announcer strolled out on stage, stopping in front of the tables for the cast to sit at. “Thank you all for coming to the cast reunion of Advent Children.” he spoke into his microphone. “You will all have an opportunity to ask questions, but please be respectful of them, and no requests for pictures or autographs, there is time set aside for that afterwards. But you will be searched if you want your picture taken with one of our guests. Now let me welcome our guests, the cast of Advent Children!”

The applause was deafening as the cast filed out onto the stage and took their assigned seats, each with an assistant to fetch them anything they needed. Tifa was at the end of the table to accommodate her wheelchair. The video cameras were set up so the stars could be seen on the giant screen behind them by the attendees in the nosebleed section.

”Now who would like to ask the first question?” the announcer asked.

“Before we start, I’d like to request a moment of silence for my cousins who died just after filming ended.“ Sephiroth spoke into his microphone, and Shalua squeezed his hand under the table, sitting next to him as his assistant. When Zack started having starlet hopefuls come around, she had taken up with Sephiroth, who had constantly been around as Zack’s protégé. And she knew how guilt-ridden he felt about the prank he had pulled on Kadaj by inviting his aunt to the premiere to humiliate his cousin, and having his cousins die the next day.

The other cast members quickly seconded his idea, and after the cameraman was handed a promo group shot of Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo in their costumes, he put in front of the camera so it showed up on the big screen. The moment of silence was then started. “Thank you.” Sephiroth spoke again, concluding the tribute.

A hand was raised in the audience, and one of the security guard ushers handed the man a microphone to speak into.

“Do any of you feel there’s any truth to the rumour about the curse haunting the cast of the movie, given the tragedies many of you suffered?” Genesis asked.

A gasp was heard from an attendee in the front row, as Hope and Faith ran naked onto the stage, wearing eye patches and waving their dresses behind them, which each had a skull and crossbones drawn on them obviously with a thick black permanent marker.

“We’re pirates! We’re pirates!” they shouted as one of the daycare workers hired to take care of the actor’s children appeared as well, trying to chase them down. Vincent and Aerith each grabbed one of their daughters.

“There is no curse, just a blessing in disguise.” Aerith loudly proclaimed as she smiled at Vincent putting their daughters’ dresses back on them as they protested being clothed again. With a warning to them to behave if they wanted ice cream, Vincent handed them back over to the daycare worker, who took them backstage again to the temporary playroom.

“Where are Denzel and Marlene?” a reporter asked.

“They’re in college studying for finals.” Yuffie answered. She couldn’t believe that Denzel was getting married after he graduated in the summer. Yuffie found it hard to think that she might become a grandmother in the next few years.

Another hand went up, and when the microphone was handed to the woman, she rolled her wheelchair out into the aisle. “I’d just like to thank Miss Lockhart for her work on behalf of disabled actors trying to break into the industry.“

“Thank you.” Tifa replied. Once she was recovered as much as she was going to, she had been amazed at how hard it was to find acting roles without being able to walk more than a few steps at a time, and it went against her sense of fair play, so she had established an advocacy foundation to fight the idea that only people in perfect health could act. Her former cast members had supported her, and Elena had used all her connections to get tougher anti-stalking laws enacted. Tifa was willing to believe that Aerith was right about a blessing in disguise.

“Is it true that Avalanche Films and Shinra Corporation are involved in real estate disputes?” a reporter asked next, addressing his question to both Barret and Rufus. “My business is not limited to the film industry.” Rufus said. After he had gotten his business degree, he had decided to start his own company that his children would eventually inherit. Scarlet had given him a son that he hoped would want to follow in his footsteps.

“I signed all my properties over to Avalanche Films, we have all the filming locations we’ll ever need.” Barret added.

***

After the two hour Q&A session was over, a cake that Rude had prepared in secret was brought out. It was a model of the Bahamut summon with the faces of the cast airbrushed on the back. A professional photographer snapped a few pictures of the cake and the cast, then the right side of the auditorium was set up for pictures with the cast, and the left side for autographs.

“Where is Cid?” a little boy asked Shera as he approached her in the autograph line.

“He had to fill in for another pilot as we were leaving to come here.” she explained.

The boy frowned. “I wanted to give him this.” He held up a little model of the airship. “I made it myself.”

“Oh, that’s very nice. I can give it to him for you, if you want. What‘s your name?”

“Brian.” the boy said as he reluctantly handed his creation to her.

Shera whispered something to her assistant, who went and talked to Brian’s mother.

The autograph and photo sessions lasted two more hours, and then the cast headed over to Elena’s where the cast could catch up on the last ten years in private.

***

“You made it!” Shera exclaimed as Cid showed up at Elena’s estate.

“Yeah, I sobered up Roberts really quick after the first flight.” Cid replied with a nasty grin.

“Well, I have something for you.” Shera handed him the airship model. “A little boy named Brian made it for you. I got his address from his mother if you want to send him a thank you note.”

“I think we’re outnumbered by the kids here.” Reno told his wife as they put their eight year-old son in the playroom with all the other kids of their former cast members.

“Just remember, when we get home he’s going to be on a sugar high from the dessert buffet Rude made for the dinner party.” Yuffie reminded him.

They took their places at the formal dining table, and Elena showed them the monitor she had for the children’s playroom so they could all keep an eye on them while eating dinner. One of the maids would be bringing the children the dinners and desserts their parents picked out for them.

“A toast to the next ten years being as successful as the last ten have been.” Rude lifted his champagne glass.

“Hear hear!” the other cast members exclaimed.

Tifa took a sip from her glass, then suddenly spit it out. “Are you okay?” Tseng asked her worriedly. She just pointed at the children’s monitor in response, and everyone turned to look. Elena turned on the volume with the remote.

“We’re pirates! We’re pirates!” All the children were waving their dresses or shirts around, each marked with skull and crossbones on them, except for Hope and Faith who were just clapping and giggling in the middle of it all.

“There’s the next generation of actors.” Zack remarked as the parents just stared dumbfounded at the screen.

#ffviiac #ffvii #lemon #drama #romance #humour

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lettersofsky · 7 years ago

Text

Untitled Vincent Thing

I splurged on that Vincent fic that I talked about before. It was very fun to write; just a small thing nothing too major. Tip Jar

Vincent stared down at the young girl in front of him, brow furrowed minutely as he turned her words over in his mind. While it was true that he needed to obtain a portable communication device to keep in contain with Cloud and the others, he doubted that it would be nearly as difficult as Marlene was making it out to be.

He did not have a polite way to say that though and Barret was likely to become irritated with him if he upset his daughter in anyway, leaving him in a particularly difficult bind. The logical solution would be to entertain Marlene and allow her to help him, despite how unnecessary her presence would be.

So that was the decision he decided upon.

In retrospect, the decision was one of the better ones he had made lately.

A young man was in front of him, trying to explain something in very small, simple terms but he was unable to understand any of what he was saying. He glanced down at Marlene who was listening intently to what the man was saying, somehow understanding the words that were coming out of his mouth.

He left them a few moments later, allowing them to browse their selection of devices by themselves for some time. Marlene turned her gaze up to him once the man was gone, staring up at him with a cocky expression.

He would admit that he was completely out of his depth here, technology had apparently changed quite a bit since he had been sleeping. He remembered when communication devices were still in their infancy and unreliable at best, not to mention they were larger than his hand had been and cumbersome to carry with them.

Completely different from how they were now.

Now, the devices were slim and compact, able to be carried in a person’s pocket and holding a variety of programs within that allowed them to act as more than their intended purposes.

“I only need to keep in contact with everyone,” he reminded her, crossing his arms over his chest as she rolled her eyes at him. “I do not require anything other than that.”

“Fine,” Marlene sighed in exasperation, turning away from him to look at the information next to each different kind of communication device. She muttered to herself as she considered each of the devices in turn, the words reaching his ears but meaning nothing to him. Things had been much easier back before Hojo had shot him; he only had to take what the company had handed to him and ensure that he didn’t break anything, much easier to deal with.

She turned back to him with one of the devices in her hand, presenting it to him with an intent look. He blinked at her small form, staring at the device incomprehensibly before she sighed at his inactivity.

“It’s the same model Cloud’s got,” she explained to him, speaking with an obvious slowness to her voice. She was using the same tone she used on Barret when he didn’t understand something that she thought obvious, he’d only heard her use it twice before today. “It’s the most durable one they’ve got and the buttons are big enough for your fingers.”

“... If that is what you believe to be the best.” He responded, unsure of what else to say. He really needed to listen to Reeve more when the man went off on tangents about the advancements in technology, now if only the man made it easier by not turning the discussion to his feline companions then Vincent might have had an easier time with listening to him.

That was a completely different issue entirely though, and Marlene had started speaking again.

“... battery since you won’t use it much.” She said, staring at him until he nodded silently, agreeing despite not knowing what she had said. It was unlikely that it was anything that he’d regret; she was not a malicious child, after all.

“This is the one, then?” He asked her, noticing that the previous young man was approaching them once again. If this was the one he’d be obtaining then they could purchase it and leave the establishment, return her back to Seventh Heaven where Barret was hopefully already waiting for them.

From there it would be easy to listen to her teach him how to use the device and let her put in the contacts he would need. With luck, the device would be set up before dark and he could leave without worrying about being unavailable if another crisis arose while he was away from civilisation.

As was apparently the way of things now.

He would have stayed away from Edge for a bit longer than he had if not for Reeve and his decision to send him multiple pictures of his various cats at all hours of the day.

But unfortunately for him; Reeve, upon learning of his obtaining of a communication device, had taken it about himself to bombard him with messages at all hours of the day. At first he had been willing to ignore the other man’s actions, deleting the messages and refusing to respond to him.

It did not work.

Reeve did not stop sending him multiple messages a day and flooding his device until Vincent dreaded the message tone of the device, even silencing the noise did nothing to alleviate the feeling as he would ignore the device all day until he picked it up and had to deal with all the messages that had built up through the day. It was ridiculous at its best and beyond irritating at its worst.

Which had led him to his current place, sitting across from Marlene and explaining his predicament to the young girl; Tifa and Barret were both laughing at him in the background, they were not even feinting an attempt of being subtle about their amusement, he could hear them.

Marlene was being kinder than the two chortling idiots behind them, listening to him quietly and not offering any kind of judgement. She was very understanding about his issue and all too willing to help him and show him how to solve the issue.

He hadn’t known that he could stop someone from being able to contact him; such a simple, easy way to stop the man flooding him with images of his cats all hours of the day. And if Reeve truly needed to contact him then he could ask one of the others to do it for him.

But, his friend would be crushed if he realised that he had ‘blocked’ him and Vincent did not want the usually cheerful man to become despondent. He decided to speak with his friend before he decided to ‘block’ him, he didn’t want to crush his friend for no reason, after all.

He enjoyed Reeve’s enthusiasm and the love and care he had for his animal companions, he simply wanted them in a lesser quantity. Reeve would understand.

#Vincent Valentine #FFVII #fanfiction #fandom #Skyee Writes

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kalta79 · 7 years ago

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Casting Call

Summary: The concept for this story is that the FFVII Advent Children 'cast' are real people, playing different versions of themselves on screen. Mature content.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Square Enix, who owns all the rights to Final Fantasy VII and its characters. This is strictly a non-commerical endeavor, I make no money from this.

“Get up!” Tifa exclaimed, shaking Cloud.

“What’s the emergency?” Cloud sleepily groused, realizing he was at her place.

“Today’s the audition, and we need to look our best. That way we’ll get lead roles, and finally become those stars we were meant to be.” Tifa reminded him.

“It’s too early to be awake.” Cloud complained.

“It’s not too early when our careers are at stake…I’m tired of being cast in bit roles as some damned floozy…today’s going to change all that. So get your ass out of bed!” With that, Tifa pulled the pillows out from under his head, ignoring his cursing as she got out of bed.

“Thanks for that.” Cloud snapped as he unwillingly got out of bed as well.

“And thanks for staying up late at the club last night just because those starlets thought you were a big star.” Tifa responded heatedly on her way to take a shower before prettying herself up properly for the audition.

Cloud was glad Tifa didn’t see him smile. He knew how jealous she got when he was around other women, and he did like to bait her. Besides, their relationship was constantly switching between on and off states, so if she caught him with another woman, it was because he could never remember if they were together that week or not. That’s one reason they kept separate apartments. It might be better if they permanently called it quits, but neither of them was quite willing to take that step, because they had been together since they were kids, and didn’t know how not to be together. So they kept reuniting, and the makeup sex might be one reason for their having such a tempestuous relationship. And he hadn’t yet met a woman with better breasts to replace his ideal pillow.

***

Elena woke up in Rude’s arms, feeling happy and nervous at the same time. Happy to be celebrating their one year wedding anniversary tomorrow, nervous because of the audition today. She had decided to run for mayor of Midgar, but even though she was still young herself, her advisors suggested some kind of a stunt to capture the youth vote, and staring in an action movie that was going to be filmed in Midgar seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that the day had arrived, doubts were surfacing. She took a deep breath to calm herself down.

“Happy Anniversary.” Rude startled her, she hadn’t noticed he was awake too.

“That’s not til tomorrow.” Elena reminded him.

“Well, can we start celebrating now?” Rude asked.

Elena sighed as he tightened his arms around her. She had wanted him since the first time she saw him, catering a charity event where she was the hostess. It wasn’t just that he was eye-candy and his English accent had done things to her that she had never told anyone, he was also an extremely talented gourmet chef. Elena had not been able to help herself, and had started hiring him for all the charity fundraisers she hosted in her job as chairwoman of her family’s philanthropic foundation. Finally she had gotten sneaky, and had asked him to privately cater a dinner for two, and then pretended that her date had cancelled on her. Rude had felt that she shouldn’t be forced to eat alone, and so they had had their first date, and eight months later he had proposed. Elena hadn’t been happy with all the fuss it created in the society papers, especially when there had been a subtle trend of making Rude seem like nothing more than a glorified burger-flipper who had gotten his hooks into the Mackintosh heiress. It had taken considerable restraint on her part not to sue the reporters within an inch of their lives for slander.

“Elena?” Rude brought her back to the present.

“Oh, sorry, I was thinking about…”

“Starting our celebration early?” Rude asked hopefully.

Elena sighed again. “I wish we could, but I’ve got a full schedule this morning, I won’t be free til after that silly movie audition. I don’t know why I let myself get talked into it…”

“Because you‘re smart enough be the first woman elected mayor of Midgar. Why don’t I meet you there?” Rude suggested.

“Would you? “ Elena was grateful at the thought of having someone there with her who wasn’t trying to tell her what to say and do like her political team was doing. Like she hadn’t learned image control growing up in the spotlight. But Rude was right, she wanted everyone to know that she wasn’t just another brainless socialite. Even getting two Master’s degrees, one in international business, and another in business law hadn’t stopped the gossip, they merely decided that the degrees were bought and paid for.

“Of course I will. You’re tensing up, and you need to be relaxed today.” Rude said, caressing her arm.

“Yes, yes I do.” Elena smiled at her handsome husband, running her hands over his chest. The first time they had had sex, she had been amazed at the shape he kept himself in…it was obvious the first time she saw him that he wasn’t out of shape, but he worked out as much as he cooked, and she loved to feel his muscled body under her hands. “Would you help me relax?” Elena’s eyes twinkled as she asked him.

“Your wish is my command.” Rude covered her body with his.

A little while later, Elena appeared in the foyer of her family’s mansion, where her election team had been waiting for quite a while.

“What took you so long? We’re half an hour behind schedule already!” her campaign manager exclaimed. “And you’re a mess!”

“So let’s hurry and catch up.” Elena said as she put her other shoe on. “I’ll get myself prettied up on the way.” She started heading to the door where her limo was waiting, then stopped and look back at the unmoving group. “Well, what are you waiting for? Let‘s go!”

“You, uh, missed a few buttons.” her publicist said.

Elena looked down at her blouse and saw that her bra was clearly visible due to the three buttons she had forgotten to fasten. She blushed as she hurriedly corrected her error. “Okay, let’s get this day over with!”

***

“Hey honey, look at this!” Yuffie exclaimed, circling something in the newspaper before handing it to her husband over the breakfast table.

“A movie audition? Why would that be interesting?” Reno asked.

“We could use the extra money. And it might be fun.” Yuffie replied.

“Yeah, we sure could use the extra money.” Reno agreed as he handed the paper back to her, thinking of their student loans, hers for medical school, and his for his Master’s degree in art history. “I’ve got to head to the museum now. What time is the audition?”

“1 pm.” Yuffie told him. “I’ll text you a reminder.”

“Thanks dear.” Reno kissed Yuffie absentmindedly on the cheek before leaving.

Yuffie frowned…she loved Reno, but he had seemed so boring lately. When they were first dating, she had found his passion for preserving culture through art as fascinating, and on their honeymoon he treated her like a priceless work of art. And now five years later, once she was in private practice and no longer besieged by the demanding training to become a doctor, that spark wasn’t as bright as she remembered it being. Reno only seemed interested in sculptures or paintings by the old Masters lately. She was hoping that being movie stars for a little bit might get their marriage back on track.

***

Reeve hoped today would be his big break. He was tired of being a taxi cab driver. He had seen the casting call ad in the paper, and was hoping that he would end up being around celebrities that needed a personal chauffeur.

***

Vincent walked over to one of his most troublesome female students, who was more interested in fashion and actors than in mastering the English language.

“What, may I ask, do you find more interesting than Shakespeare?” he asked her in what he hoped was a forbidding voice.

“Oh, nothing Mr. Valentine.” the girl replied in a simpering voice, moving her book slightly to cover something.

“A movie audition? That’s what you find so fascinating?” Vincent grabbed the piece of paper she tried to hide. “Two hours detention after school today.” he announced as he walked back to his desk.

After that class had been dismissed by the bell, he looked at the casting call information more closely. If it paid well enough, he could finally take that long overdue sabbatical he wanted, after ten years of teaching English to unwilling high school students without a vacation.

***

“Did you call and tell the airline we’re unavailable today?” Shera asked her husband.

“Sure did, but they’re going to make us work continuous flights next week to make up for it.” Cid told her, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice that he felt at being grounded.

“I figured as much, but if we pass the auditions today, hopefully we’ll finally be able to buy a house big enough for starting a family in.” Shera smiled shyly at him.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Cid said as he smiled back at her, taking her in his arms and kissing her.

***

Barret checked his watch. Still plenty of time before the audition…it was merely a formality for him to be there, since he was allowing his investment properties to be used for filming the movie in exchange for his having a role. So he was guaranteed to pass the audition, it was merely what character he was going to play that was unsure. And he was hoping that he’d get some profitable free advertising by being in the movie as well.

***

Scarlet walked upstairs to the childrens’ bedrooms. “Marlene! Denzel! Are you ready to leave?” she called out.

“Coming!” their voices chimed simultaneously, and they opened the door to their own rooms, running past her down the stairs and to the front door. “Let’s go to the audition!”

“Okay, let me just grab the keys.” Scarlet enjoyed being their nanny, but their exuberance could be overwhelming at times, and she hoped that they wouldn’t turn into snobs if they became child stars. Their parents weren’t that involved with the children unless it was to show them off, and it worried her. They were good kids, but they needed more love than they were getting at home.

***

"So what are you doing today?" Rufus asked Aerith, as they lay in their bed.

"I heard about auditions today for a movie they're going to be filming here in Midgar. It sounds like fun." Aerith replied.

"Anything with a penis sounds like fun to you." Rufus said without a trace of rudeness or jealousy, caressing her. His so-called relationship with Aerith was mostly one of convenience, they were roommates in an oversized one bedroom apartment, to keep monthly costs down so they could have extra spending money. His job as a cabana boy meant he was surrounded by women all day at work, many of them very attractive, and he was willing to earn bigger tips, since he was saving up to go back to school.

"I'm just a people person." Aerith smiled at him. "Besides, I know you're glad I think your penis is quite fun." she said as she fondled his with one hand, putting her other hand on his cheek and kissing him.

Rufus obliged her unspoken request, and before too long, he had her clawing at his buttocks as she cried out. "I know you're glad I think you're fun as well." he smirked as he got out of bed to take a shower and get ready for work. When he came out of the bathroom, Aerith was still in bed, texting on her cellphone.

"You should come to the audition too, you might earn some extra money." Aerith said. "I bet you'll earn as much in one day acting in a movie as you do acting in one week with all those desperate housewives at the hotel." She got out of bed and went into their walk-in closet where Rufus was getting dressed. "It's at 1pm at the convention center. Tell all those women that I said their husbands said hello. My turn in the bathroom before heading off to work as well." Aerith kissed Rufus, who pulled away when he felt her hands on him.

"Uh-uh, Aerith, you know the rules, only once in the mornings, we need to save our energies for earning money." Rufus knew she didn't enjoy being a waitress, even if it was at an exclusive gentleman's club where the tips tended to be huge the more cleavage you had. Aerith spent hers on fashion and clubbing in her off hours, and he knew that‘s what she‘d like to be able to afford to do all the time, party. "I'll think about the audition, don't wait up for me. It's Friday after all, the weekend crowd will be arriving." Rufus reminded her before leaving.

***

“It’s time to go, can we finish this another time?” Sephiroth asked his cousins.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.” Loz said. “Everyone knows Germany is going to win the World Cup this year.”

“Dream on, Australia’s going to kick your asses!” Yazoo snapped.

“Who cares, soccer is nothing compared to hockey.” the Canadian-born Kadaj proclaimed.

Sephiroth took a deep breath, trying not to lose his temper with his cousins. They were all stuntmen who had come to Midgar to try and prove themselves capable of acting as well. All their auditions they went to somewhat irked him, because he had a hidden desire to become a director. And he had decided to go to this audition with them, wanting to try life in front of the camera to get an idea of life behind it.

“I’m heading out to the car now, anyone who wants to be a star is free to join me.” he said, slamming the door behind him on their sports argument. “Besides, everyone knows American football is the best sport in the world.” he muttered under his breath as he got in the car.

***

Shalua was surprised at the amount of people who showed up to audition for parts in Advent Children, twice as many as expected. Following the instructions given to her by the director and producer, she counted out the hopefuls in groups of twenty and led into the special room set up that morning. Once she had them all lined up, she asked their name, occupation, and reasons for auditioning, writing it all down. As the wannabe actors looked at each other uncertainly as they weren’t sure what was going on, Shalua sat down at the table in the room and waited.

“What do you think?” Zack Fair asked the producer, Mr. Hojo, as they stood looking at the people through a two-way mirror disguised as windows in the room.

“So far, these people couldn’t find their way out of an open casket.” Hojo snapped.

“Next group please, Shalua.” Zack spoke into the microphone, and he saw Shalua touch her earpiece in acknowledgment.

“Thank you all for coming, we’ll be in touch.” Shalua told the disappointed group.

“Hell of a way to pick a cast.” Zack said, to help pass the time and maybe get a little info on why it was being done this way.

“You are merely a director, I don’t expect you to understand. To make great film, you must push the boundaries of acceptable risks. You must experiment!” Hojo exclaimed.

“Whatever, man.” Zack replied. “It’s your dime.”

Hojo was about to start an argument when he got a look at the current group entering the room. “Hello, who are these people?”

“Please state your name and occupation, ma’am.” Shalua requested to the first woman in line.

“You don’t know who the hell I am? What kind of a person are you that you haven‘t heard of me? I’m Tifa Lockhart, you fool!” Tifa snapped.

“I’m the kind of person who has a job.” Shalua replied calmly, ignoring Tifa’s seething as she caught the implication that she didn’t have an acting job right now, meaning she wasn’t as important as she thought. “And you are?” Shalua asked, moving onto Cloud.

“Why does that one guy seem so depressed?” Zack wondered aloud as Shalua got information from Vincent. “Oh, he’s a high school English teacher, that’s why.” Zack remembering hating English in high school and not being very nice to his teacher as a result, which he wasn’t too proud of now.

“They are perfect!” Hojo was ecstatic when Shalua got through interviewing them all.

“But they’re all so different. And most of them aren’t even actors.” Zack pointed out.

“That’s why they are so perfect! This will be a masterpiece!” Hojo was so excited he was starting to drool.

“If you say so.” Zack said dubiously.

“I do say so!” Hojo grabbed the microphone. “Shalua, do not let them leave. Bring in chairs and more tables with meals for them all, then bring me their information. I want to see how they interact with each other!”

***

“How old are you two?” Yuffie asked Denzel and Marlene as chairs were brought in. She and Reno ended up in line right next to the children.

“You’d never believe it, but I’m twelve and she’s ten.” Denzel said as he and his sister ate their lunch.

“Why wouldn’t I believe that? I’m a doctor. I’ve seen lots of people who don’t look their age.” Yuffie replied, humoring Denzel. He looked his age, but Marlene did look younger.

“You’re a doctor?” Marlene asked in surprise. “I want to be one when I grow up.”

Reno stopped listening to his wife’s conversation with the children and thought about how to attract more donors to the museum when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder.

“Hope I’m not interrupting you, I just thought you looked familiar. My name is Rude, and this is my lovely wife Elena.” Rude offered his hand to Reno.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Reno, and that‘s my wife Yuffie talking to those kids. I think I met you once when you catered an event for donors for the museum I work at. And I recognize your wife from her campaign posters.” Reno shook Rude’s hand, noticing that the man’s other hand was firmly entwined with Elena’s, and noticing the way she looked at Rude caused Reno to frown. He couldn’t remember the last time Yuffie had looked at him like that.

“Yes I did, and that’s why I’ll give you some advice. Don’t eat any of this food they provided, it‘s all garbage.” Rude informed Reno. “I’m only here for my wife’s sake, but I might have to have one of my apprentices be the on-set caterer for the cast and crew if this is what they expect her to eat.”

“I don’t care if you have other clients, dammit! You’re my manager Tseng, you get over here right now and make sure to earn your percentage by getting me top billing!” Tifa yelled into her phone, unaware that she had suddenly become the focus of attention in the room. Yuffie tried to cover the childrens’ ears as Tifa started swearing more as she became aware of Aerith.

Finding nothing else to do, Aerith went over to the table that Shalua had been sitting at in the center of the room, and sat on the edge of it, crossing her legs. To keep her free hand busy, the other one having a bottled water in it, she fiddled with the necklace that draped down in between her breasts in the low-cut top she was wearing. Five minutes later, every wife or girlfriend in the room told their man to go stand by the windows where they wouldn’t get a good view of Aerith’s advertising, and then the women formed a loose semi-circle near Aerith and were glaring at her.

“Is there a problem?” Aerith asked innocently.

“Yeah, you can quit being a damned slut.” Tifa snapped.

“Is there a problem?” Rufus repeated Aerith’s question as he came to her defense. He pulled her up off the table and put his arms around her waist. It was part of their agreement to pretend to be a couple if they ever got in trouble with an angry jealous lover of their current interest.

“If she’s yours, then you’d better keep a tighter leash on her.” Tifa told Rufus, who just stared calmly back at her as he drug Aerith away from the angry wives’ mob.

“Who is that man?” Aerith said as she noticed Vincent in a corner opposite the one Rufus took her to. “He looks so sad. Maybe he needs cheering up.”

“Good luck with that.” Rufus scoffed as she walked towards the other man. “I doubt you’ll score.”

“Hello, I’m Aerith.” she introduced herself to Vincent. A few moments later, she was extremely frustrated. He wasn’t even looking at her legs or breasts. He just kept staring at the floor as he talked to her.

The next commotion in the room was two-pronged. Rude and Barret were about to get physical because Barret kept trying to convince Elena to invest some of her fortune with him, and wouldn’t leave her alone. The other issue was Cid had left Shera with the other wives to go join in the sports discussion amongst Sephiroth and his cousins. The cousins were pissed off when they realized Cid was as big an American football fan as Sephiroth was. Fortunately, Shalua came back into the room holding a big box which she put on the nearest table with a thud.

“You’re all hired. Here is everything you need to know about shooting dates and times, your contracts, blah blah blah. You‘ll each be mailed a copy of the script next week, and if you leak any of it, you‘ll be fired and hit with a nasty lawsuit.” she told them all.

“But you don’t have our addresses.” Cloud said.

“Yes we do, it’s standard procedure for Avalanche Films to run a background check on all employees.” Shalua handed a thick folder to everyone and then left again.

#ffviiac #ffvii #drama #humour #romance #lemon

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