Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of Square-Enix and associates. Gundam Wing is the property of its creators and affiliates. We make no claim of ownership regarding the franchise, merely to this story as a work of fandom.
Authors' Notes: This is the revised version of Shinigami. For those of you that read the original version, there will be drastic differences between these two versions. Our original claim in regards still stands with regards to cross-world pairings.
If you wish to read the original version (or what we had posted of it) e-mail me (Niara) and I can send it to you.
Shinigami
Chapter 1
By Aurora M. Tepes and Niara A. Tepes
Duo trudged through crowded streets of L3, head down and hands shoved into the pockets of his worn leather jacket. Cold wind, attributed to the broken heating regulator in this sector of the colony, bit into his skin, sending shivers down the brunette's spine. As he walked, he tried not to think of anything, not the destruction of the Maxwell Church, not the horrors of the plague on L2, not the cold, gray labs and glowing green fluids filling his lungs, his blood, making him go absolutely crazy as it ate at his mi–
The sharp sensation of his nails cutting into his palms broke through his train of thoughts. Duo hissed softly and turned, moving through the crowd and into a garbage-filled alley, unclenching his hands. He pulled his shaky hands from his pockets and studied his palms, frowning at the thinning crescents decorating his pale palms. They slowly sealed closer together, turning into faint pink lines before turning white and disappearing completely.
"Figures," Duo grumbled. He leaned back against the wall of the alleyway, uncaring of the dirt and grime. It really figured that on his birthday, he, the self-proclaimed God of Death, was haunted by his memories of the dead and dying. Which was why, no matter how many times Quatre asked him, he would never tell the others when his real birthday was. To him, it was easily the day he hated the most.
Duo scowled and shoved away from the wall and twisted around. Pain shot up his arm as he slammed his fist into the wall of the alley, cracking the stones and probably one of the bones in his hand. He grabbed his upper arm, panting slightly and fighting the urge to scream. To tear. To destroy. To kill.
He took a deep breath through his nose and breathed out through his mouth, waiting for the pain to fade and the faint glow in his eyes to fade back to normal. He squeezed his arm tightly and flexed his injured hand, wincing at the slight scrape of bone against bone before the two pieces fused back together. A low, melodious voice laughed at his discomfort and Duo shoved it to the back of his mind, closing his ears to the taunting of the voice that had never truly faded from his mind and only grew stronger over the last couple of years.
As he made his way into the streets once more, he sighed and shoved his hands back into his pockets, fingers brushing against the cell phone he had turned off before going on his walk. He was already running late for a meeting with the other four former pilots and he didn't want Wufei coming after him with that katana. Again.
*~*~*
The rain washed filth from the top of 7th Heaven, the gutters spewing rain water, dirt, and grime on the streets of the slum below. Tifa took a slow, deep breath as she watched the limo pull up in front of her bar. The others, save Vincent and Reeve, had only just left, staying in various places throughout the area, and would be back the next day. Though she loved the company, it sometimes exhausted her, and the situation only got worse considering the ShinRa were just arriving. She glanced over at Reeve, who lingered in the doorway, watching, and sighed. Why in the world they decided to help those people was beyond her.
Shaking her head she looked down at the diamond sparkling on her left ring finger and smiled softly, remembering that, at least this time, Cloud would be by her side throughout the ordeal. Though he hadn't been the most supportive in the past she knew that her now fiancé wouldn't let her down again. That was a promise and he never broke his promises.
Below, the door of the bar opened and she heard footsteps tromping on her nice, clean, wood floors and she knew she had a lot to clean up after everyone cleared out later in the night.
"TEEF! DRINKS!" shouted one of her expected, though unwanted, guests. With such a lack of regard for manners, it could only be Reno.
"We probably shouldn't keep them waiting," observed Reeve, having also, it appeared, recognized the owner of the loud, accented voice.
Cringing at the thought of what the red-head would do to her bar if she failed to appear soon, Tifa turned away from the window and they made their way out of her and Cloud's room and down the creaky staircase, deciding it was best to at least greet her guests before acknowledging the time was going to be a complete disaster.
Her hand ran lightly over the polished hand rail as she descended and took a calming breath, reminded herself that these were her allies right now, and stepped off the stairs. Upon entering the main floor of the bar, she noted Rufus, in his impeccable white suit as always, surrounded by his TURKs. Tifa donned her politest smile and made her way to the group of five.
"Hello Rufus, Reno, Tseng, Elena, Rude," she greeted, nodding at each of them in turn. "As far as drinks go, I'll give you one now and one when dinner's served. You're not getting drunk when we're discussing plans." The fighter smiled sweetly and moved behind the bar, grabbing a couple glasses and mixing drinks for Rude and Reno, already knowing their preferences at this point. Reeve sat on one of the bar stools, perched elegantly against the wooden edge of the bar while Tifa mixed the drinks for the TURKs and Cloud drifted in from the garage out back where he had been working on Fenrir.
"Speaking of plans… what exactly are we planning?" Cloud asked, keeping his arms crossed as he leaned against the door frame, looking over his former enemies with no emotion playing in his eyes.
"My wedding, unfortunately," Rufus murmured, moving out of the protective square and leaning elegantly against the bar. "Please mix one of those for me, as well, Tifa."
Cloud pushed off from the wall and walked over to the window, choosing that vantage point to look over the area where Marlene and Denzel played in the rain. "In case you haven't noticed, this is a bar, not a wedding planner's office. We don't do that sort of thing."
"This isn't something I will enjoy anymore than you," Rufus shot back. "But the bride is a dignitary, so we require high security. Hence, we will need your services."
"We aren't a security service either," Cloud pointed out, turning to stare at the ShinRa exec. "I run a delivery service."
"Trust me, Cloud, I believe this would be a good job to take," Reeve stated as he stood from his place at the bar. "I would entrust this to the WRO, but then news would spread more quickly and the last thing we need right now is publicity as that could cause an assassination attempt. This is going to be difficult enough to keep hidden with this few people involved."
"So who is the bride?" Tifa pressed.
"I can't release that-" Rufus began.
"Relena Peacecraft," Vincent cut in, veritably appearing from the shadows near the entrance of the bar. "The last ruler of the now dissolved Cinq Kingdom. She works, now, as a dignitary between the Earth and the Colonies. One would think the remaining TURKs could carry the case alone."
"In any other situation," Tseng explained, "we would. However, there are extenuating circumstances for this that were unforeseen when the betrothal agreement was originally drawn up, such as the status of Minster Dorlain's older brother."
Tifa frowned as she set the drinks on the bar and pulled out two more glasses and the bottle of whiskey that she kept under the bar for herself and Cloud in case of special events. She poured two fingers of whiskey in each glass and put the bottle away before sliding Cloud's glass to him. "Betrothal?"
"Do you honestly think my father was going to leave the choice of my future spouse up to me if he could avoid it?" Rufus replied as he picked up his drink and tossed it back.
Tifa shared a look with Cloud and took a slow sip from her drink. From what they both knew of the late president of ShinRa Electric Power that was very much something he would do. Even in his grave, the fat bastard still caused problems for them all. Tifa thought he was almost as bad as Hojo in that regard.
The martial artist set her glass down and leaned forward on the bar, studying Rufus intently for a moment before sighing. "How long do we have to prepare for this supposed wedding?"
"Minister Dorlain and her party should be here by the end of the week," Rufus grumbled. "Three days until they arrive and then the wedding is set to be held a week later."
*~*~*
The hotels in New Luxemburg, the city built over the ruins of the old Luxemburg, were considered to be some of the nicest and most cost efficient hotels in the region. Though, considering they were competing with small town inns and hostels, this was hardly something any of the men currently waiting in one the rooms of one of the more discreet hotels particularly cared about. These three, easily among the most dangerous men in the history of the world, were sprawled in various positions across the room.
Quatre Winner, the youngest of the three and CEO of Winner Corporations, lay on the small bed, the only one of the three with a small enough frame to fit comfortably, and stared at the off-white ceiling of the room. It was rare that he got the chance to relax even a little with his job and the work he did as a Preventor in his spare time.
The other two, Wufei Chang and Trowa Barton, were leaning against the window ledge and the doorway respectively, eyes closed and heads lowered in a state of rest. After a minute, Wufei checked his watch for the hundredth time and growled softly.
"Why are we still waiting for the baka, exactly?" Quatre closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, counting backwards silently from twenty to keep from snapping at the Chinese scholar when he finally answered.
"Because, in the event of an attack or something of the like, Duo might easily be our most valuable resource. You don't survive alone on L2 as long as Duo did without picking up a few lifelong tricks. The slums of Edge are much like L2 and Duo will be able to navigate them much more easily than any of us would." The blond former pilot opened his eyes and sat up slightly, casting a pointed glare at Wufei. "I for one don't blend very well with the common man, but Duo does. He'll be here soon, so just be patient and wait."
"All that and you'll need my rapier wit to withstand to boredom that is bound to be Rufus ShinRa," Duo piped in as he pulled himself over the window ledge and into the room. He sat on the ledge, impish grin in place, and waved at the other three. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Traffic was a witch to get through outside the atmo."
Wufei grunted and Trowa rose from where he had been leaning against the wall, his green eyes snapping open to glare at them. "Let's go. Relena wants this over with as quickly as possible."
The other pilots nodded and the, quite probably, youngest veterans of the war, left the hotel they had met up in, their minds trained on the job at hand once more.
A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of our revised edition of Shinigami. We will try to have the next chapter posted within the next six months, however, neither of us can make promises in that regard. Please review, if you wish.