Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Avatar: the Last Airbender or the Final Fantasy series. This is a work of free fiction, I am not making any money from my writing efforts.
New World Knowledge, Old World Power
An Avatar the Last Airbender and Final Fantasy VII crossover fan fiction.
By D.A.
3
2
1
Denzel slowly opened his eyes, at first unable to see anything, but after a few minutes his eyes had adjusted to the dimness around him. Glancing around himself he noticed a faint green light blinking on and off in a regular rhythm. Beyond the light, which he noted was part of a small box on a stand, he could hear someone else breathing, the faint outline of a woman visible on the nearby bed.
Denzel looked at the ceiling, confused and wary. A tile ceiling? He thought, Where is the wood roof? The fire pit?
Glancing back to the blinking dot, he suddenly realized it was pulsing in time to his own heartbeat. It's a heart monitor. But that shouldn't be possible. No one here has technology that advanced, not even the-
"Denzel…" the other person whispered, her voice hoarse, interrupting his train of thought.
"Aria? Over here." Denzel looked in the woman's direction, recognizing her voice and noticing the movement as she began to look about.
At first she didn't respond to him, but after a moment she groaned as she rolled her head so she could look at him.
"Denzel? Oh… my head hurts…" she groaned again, "Are you alright? What about the kids?"
Denzel blinked, his head must have been fuzzier than he thought. He had forgotten about the children. He glanced about the room once more, encase they might be sleeping on a foldout bed or chair, but saw no one else and turned to Aria.
"Don't know. I think… I think we're back…" he said, keeping his voice controlled, but unable to keep the tightness out of his tone.
"But… We thought we were trapped there…" she said, then gasped.
"I watched you die…" she breathed.
And the memories flooded back.
Lightning and fire raging about them, beating at the stone temple they were making their last stand in, hoping against hope the children would be safe. Aria taking a burst of fire and falling back and out of sight into the room behind them, then a flash of lightning slamming into him, flinging him back. There had been heat, pain, and then darkness.
Denzel shook himself out of the nightmarish memory. He'd deal with what had happened back there later, right now he needed to find the children. If he and Aria had arrived home, then maybe the children had preceded them. And, hopefully, that insane young woman hadn't managed to follow them.
"Aria, can you get up?" he asked as he sat up.
"I'll try…" she whispered, then slowly sat up.
"I feel fine… let me see…"
Standing, she and moved to the middle of the room, carefully stretched, and began moving through several katas.
At the same time, Denzel climbed to his feet, wishing the whole way for a solid dirt floor under his bare feet instead of the cold tiles. At least they were both dressed in scrubs, instead of that horrid hospital gown. They must not have been in the hospital for long.
An orange light filled the room from behind him, and he began to turn. When he heard Aria's faint gasp, he spun and found a small flame spiraling around Aria, weaving around her hands and arms as she moved.
It always awed him when she was using fire, both when they where training under Tifa and Cloud and later when they found themselves trapped far from home, and he would never get tired of it.
"It followed us back, Denzel," Aria whispered as she moved, tears faint at the corners of her closed eyes, "The Bending followed us back."
The fire had always been comforting to her too. She'd once told Tifa -and Denzel had been shamelessly hiding at the top of the stairs- that the Fire Materia had always felt so comforting and familiar. Like an old friend, or like when Tifa and Cloud and Marlene and Denzel would all hug her close and tight after she'd had a nightmare.
"Sun must be up…" Aria murmured, her tone changing subtly and pulling Denzel out of his memory, "Denzel, would you find and open the curtains? I need the sunlight."
"Alright." He whispered, somehow both inexplicably relieved and excited, just like Aria, that they could still Bend.
Denzel moved over to what looked like curtains, though he supposed they could have been dividers, and gently pushed them aside. Gentle, warm sunlight fell through the window, spilling across the floor and up the walls. Hearing Aria shift behind him, he watched from the corner of his eye as she moved up beside him, letting the warm early morning light wash over her face. With a sigh her features relaxed as she stood in the light, soaking up the warmth pouring through the window.
Denzel belatedly realized they where on the fourth story of what he believed was the WRO Edge Municipal Hospital. So much for hopping out the window, he thought, frowning slightly, but at least he knew where they were now.
000
Sairento Kitai, second to last Airbender and only surviving heir to the honorable merchant family of Kitai, was annoyed as he sat in the middle of the room, eyes closed while he attempted to meditate. He had been treated like a child since the parents of his Lady and her chosen had found them at that metal building. Reactor, that was what Cloud Strife had called it.
He wasn't a child! He was a capable and honorable noble, even if from a lesser family. He shook his brown haired head, brushing his annoyingly long, shoulder length hair out of his eyes. And what made it more frustrating was how hard it was to practice his fire katas, and the few air katas he had learned, with so many people around.
Opening his eyes, he looked across the room to Rokku and Ki. Well, at least he had a room he shared with the twins. He knew he could trust them, and Ki was skilled at knowing who to trust and who not too. She said they could trust the Strifes.
Still, he would rather wait until Aria and Denzel had returned before giving these people any more of his trust. If there was one thing he had learned living in the Fire Nation, especially having one of his cousins be a personal aide to the Princess, it was keeping his trust close.
000
Rokku and Ki turned a page of the small picture book Mrs. Tifa had given to them. Each page showed a different scene from the past. The Comet, Geostigma, the building of Edge. Things in the book's past, but the childrens' far off future.
Or maybe it was now their present. The whole thing was rather confusing for them, despite the sure if vague explanation a nice lady had given them before they woke up here. But the pictures were amazingly detailed, and the captions above and below each one where easy for them to understand.
000
After forty or so minutes Denzel and Aria heard the door being opened, and turned to see who was coming in. Cloud and Tifa stopped in surprise, but smiled and quickly walked over to them, wrapping them both in a welcoming hug as they all stood in the warm morning light.
"It's so good to see you!" Tifa said, holding Aria close while Cloud gave Denzel a bear-hug before turning to Aria and repeating the hug while Tifa held Denzel for a moment.
"Where have you been the last five months?" Cloud asked in his normal quiet tone, looking from Denzel to Aria.
"It's a really long story…" Denzel spoke back, "When can we get home?"
"After the doctor checks on you. He should be here in a couple minutes." Tifa answered, "By the way, do you know a Sairento Kitai?"
Aria and Denzel both blinked, surprised for a moment at the quick confirmation to their hopes concerning the children.
"Yes!" Aria exclaimed, followed by Denzel's quick question of, "Are Ki and Rokku Tamashi with him?"
"Actually, yes." Tifa answered, startled, worry in her gaze, "Kids, what happened while you were gone?"
Aria and Denzel shared a look, worried and nervous, and nod before looking back at Cloud and Tifa. Squaring his shoulders, Denzel spoke first.
"We saved them. From a terrible place and a terrible woman. A woman who scared me more than the stories about Sephiroth ever did."
"Where are the kids?" Aria asked, looking to Tifa hopefully, "Are they outside, or at home?"
"At home, with Marlene," Tifa smiled reassuringly, "Ki and Rokku were sleeping in your room when we left, and Sairento was sitting in Denzel's room meditating with the door open."
"Let's have the doctor clear you to come home, then we can perhaps get the whole story." Cloud quietly interjected, receiving a nod from Tifa and Aria. Denzel walked back to his bed and sat down, and was soon followed by Aria who sat beside him.
000
They didn't have long to wait. No sooner did Aria and Denzel sit down, than a doctor and two nurses walked into the room.
"Well," the doctor said, sounding both surprised and pleased, "You're up and about earlier than I thought you would be, but I'm not going to complain about being proven wrong."
He chuckled as one of the nurses left the room with Cloud and Tifa in tow, probably to sign something though Aria and Denzel would be signing their own release forms, then set about their check up before he cleared them to leave.
After a short chat with the doctor about how they felt, and the usual battery of tests for a normal check-up, the WRO doctor gave them a clean bill of health, simply saying he wanted them to get plenty of rest, food, and water for a day or two at least, including no magic. Easily agreeing, Denzel and Aria took the small bags handed to them by another of the nurses, who had been in and out the whole time, and quickly dressed.
As Denzel pulled on his grey vest over his red knit-sweater, which he had left untucked from his jeans, he kept his back to Aria while she dressed in her usual light blue tank-top and black shorts. His sister, Marlene, wouldn't just give him an ear-full if she knew he got dressed in the same room as her best friend. Or in the same room with any girl, for that matter. But they felt safer without walls blocking them from helping each other, and it had long since stopped being embarrassing and become a comfortable routine.
Walking to the door, they paused and shared a smile. Though he felt almost naked without his sword, they were home, after months away from family and friends, and home had always meant safe.
Nodding to each other, Denzel held the door open for Aria and followed her out.
They walked down the hall and out a double door to a waiting area, and there waited Cloud and Tifa. Now all they were missing was Marlene and the children they had saved.
"Ready to go home." Tifa smiled over at Denzel and Aria, "You've got a lot to tell us."
"When we get back to Seventh Heaven." Denzel said once more, "We'll explain as best we can."
Cloud nodded, also once more accepting the delay, and they set off for the front desk and home.
000
"Do we tell them everything?" Denzel asked Aria.
They were walking a few feet behind the others, enjoying being back in their hometown and allowing Denzel to subtly Bend some of the Earth under his fingers a few times when he knelt to pick a few small flowers for Ki, when Denzel had whispered his question.
"Shouldn't we?" she asked, puzzled, "We can trust them, Denzel."
"I know, but what if they don't believe us...?" Denzel looked down.
"Denzel, we're their kids and Benders," she whispered, looking at the two in front of them, "Tifa and Cloud will know if we have Materia on us or not, and no one knows spells that can do what Bending can."
Denzel was quiet for a few minutes, and Aria could see he was thinking.
"Ok." he nodded once, "You're right. There's no reason not to tell them."
Matter settled, Aria smiled as they jogged up to Tifa and Cloud, and continue on to Seventh Heaven.
000
As soon as they stepped into the bar proper from the garage, Rokku and Ki jumped up from the booth they had been coloring at and ran right up to Denzel and Aria. Sairento also stood, but approached at a more sedate speed, and stopped a short distance away. Ki wrapped her eight year old arms around Aria's waist, giggling, while Denzel sat on his heels, placing a hand on Rokku's shoulder. A look of relief pasted between them as Rokku nodded and Denzel stood back up.
Observing the interactions, Tifa and Cloud shared a smile and a glance.
Sairento took a step towards them, nodding to Denzel, then turned to the waiting Aria.
"Lady Curtis," he whispered Aria's last name with a faint accent, then spoke at a normal volume, "I am glad you are well."
"Glad to be well." she replied, smiling, then whispered, "And Sai."
"Yes…?"
"I'm not royalty."
"Still, you are a Great Name."
Tifa and Marlene, who was walking down the stairs, each arched an eyebrow at the whispers, but let it drop. Denzel and Rokku rolled their eyes, as Ki giggled from her place beside Aria.
"Glad you're back, Aria." Marlene said, a grin on her face as she stepped down the stairs.
"Good to see you too, Marlene." Aria chuckled, leading Ki over to Marlene, while Denzel and the two boys followed.
Marlene giggled, pulling Aria into a hug, then adding Ki right before Tifa joined in. Cloud and Denzel shared a smile, knowing how the girls in their eclectic family could be. Sairento and Rokku simply shook their heads. Girls…
"So, will we get an explanation now?" Cloud directed his quiet question to Sairento, but looked to Denzel for an answer. Denzel nodded, and led them into the kitchen.
After a late breakfast, Cloud led Denzel, Aria, and Tifa into the bar proper while Marlene lead the kids up to the spare room they'd been given as their's. It had taken a quiet talk with Aria, but Sairento had agreed to accompany the twins with Marlene for a trip to visit the Meteor and Geostigma monuments before they stopped off at the school to register for class in a week.
The bar was empty today, it being a Sunday and the one day a week Tifa closed it so they could have family time. Tifa set glasses of water at a booth, and they all sat with Denzel and Aria on one side, while Tifa and Cloud sat on the other.
"Well… we wanted to see the places you had gone before you settled here. We had decided to start at the beginning, so we went to Nibelhiem to check out the reactor there." Aria started, "While we where in the outer reactor core, there was this flash of, of mako colored light."
"We couldn't stop ourselves. We kept going right to the Mako pool in the center of the old reactor." Denzel continued quietly, "Once we got to the room, there was this blinding flash of light, and we blacked-out."
"But the people there said they hadn't seen you in months." Tifa said, "What happened to you?"
"We woke up in a stone chamber, like in the temples in Wutai." Denzel said, glancing to Aria, "Once we got outside, though, it was not Wutai."
000
Denzel and Aria spent the next couple of hours telling Tifa and Cloud about their time in the Earth Kingdom, where they found the three children, and how they learned of bending. Throughout the whole tale, Tifa and Cloud kept their peace, simply listening, though Cloud had added a grunt or two of acknowledgment.
As they finished, Cloud and Tifa shared a look of worry, relief, disbelief and shock. They almost couldn't believe what the two had gotten into, and out of.
"Do you know if Azula followed you through?" Cloud asked, only to be answered by silent and worried shake of their heads.
"No, we don't," Aria whispered, "We weren't even sure the children had made it through until you mentioned them."
"Then let's hope she didn't." Tifa replied, worry in her gaze, "You were right Denzel, she sounds as bad a Sephiroth."
-TO BE CONTINUED-
1
2
3
A/N: I know, I didn't tell you, in detail, what happened while they were in the Elemental Nations. That's because I'll be writing it later on. Maybe as a prequel, maybe as flashbacks like Jimmy Wolk did in his NGE fanfic "The 2nd Try". Which you should read, by the way.
Concepts from "Embers" by Vathara, and the name "Aria Curtis" from Qwi-Xux's FFVII fanfics are both used with the permission of the respective authors. You should read their stuff too.
Further uploads depend on how fast I manage to write chapters... Which might be awhile, so if someone wants to adopt it, just ask.
Read and Review!