Title: One More Time
Author: Chibi Envy Chan
Rating: M
Pairings: AGSZC, rest will be revealed
Warnings: Boy/Boy and Girl/Girl Love, OCs
Summary: The future looks bleak. An old enemy returns to finish off what it started. With Gaia weakened, they have only solution.
Notes: There will be slight crossover later. There's a reason behind it.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. Never did. Never will. What a shame.
And Then It Began
Throughout history, good and evil fought hard against in each other in a never ending war. Neither side gaining complete victory over the other, but neither side completely losing. Yet in spite of all these clashes, one could not exist without the other. They needed each other to define themselves. Good could not exist without knowing what was evil. Evil could not exist without the knowledge of good.
Long before Jenova arrived, an unknown entity, a calamity, fought against the forces of Gaia. It was an epic war that lasted centuries and continued until today, however, this was a cycle, an endless waltz: peace, restlessness, and war. Everyone danced to this tune whether they knew it or not. Some like it and some didn't. It was a hit or miss.
The land became scarred with all the fighting. Many perished. Even though one side 'won' (gained the upper hand), both sides suffered losses. In the fight between the Cetra and the unknown entity went back and forth as to who held the upper hand, a tug of war on a large scale with devastating results. Eventually the Cetra managed to gain an upper hand and keep it. The unknown entity retreated in the deepest recess, recovering its strength and biding its time.
Due to the intensity of the fighting and severity of the damage, both Gaia and the Cetra needed a long time to recover. First the flora began growing in the burned and charred areas, which was followed by the creatures that eat them, the herbivores and omnivores. Once they were back, the predators made a comeback, including human kind. As the land flourished, the inhabitants increased exponentially.
Peace reigned supreme, but it was not to last.
Jenova arrived with the intent of conquering the entire planet, infecting it with her essence. Not at full strength, the Cetra were pressed to defend the planet. Many perished in the fight against this new threat, this new calamity. One by one until it came down to a small group. One person was all it took to make a difference. Just one person. One Cetra stood out amongst the survivors. She led the remaining forces against Jenova, and when it seemed victory was around the corner, Jenova brought out her trump card. She brought her greatest weapon. In response, the leader of the Cetra sacrificed herself to seal this calamity and her weapon.
After fighting against two powerful enemies, Gaia became severely weakened. The planet needed even more time to recover, however, this was not meant to be. An enemy rose from the ashes, but this was not some powerful force. No. It was rather weak compared to the prior enemies. In a sense, this enemy held the power of influence. He could manipulate things and people in his interest, disregarding everyone else except his bottom line.
This enemy was human, and a large one at that.
Shinra started a company with profit in mind, thus, wanting the cheapest way of gaining it. Since many people required a form of energy in their everyday life, he figured he could tap into this industry, but first he needed to find a source of energy. He searched for the cheapest energy and found it in Gaia. Soon enough, he began draining away the energy of Gaia for his own greed. As the need of energy increased, his company expanded, taking away more and more energy.
This was not without its risks. Mutated creatures and rebels made it hard for Shinra to continue his business. He could not rely upon the local forces to take care of these new threats so he hired scientists to create a strong warrior, one that could stand up against the powerful mutated creatures.
Thus SOLDIER was created. Normal humans strengthened with a mixture of mako and Jenova cells. It took a certain type of person to withstand this concoction. Many became victims of mako poisoning until they figured out a protocol, but this was not enough for Shinra. He needed an ultimate weapon, one huge trump card. Instead of waiting for the SOLDIER to be born, the scientists decided to start as soon as possible, at the fetal stage.
The ultimate weapon grew up into a fine, young man. He fought for this electric company though he began questioning who he was and what he was there for. That started the chain reaction of him leaving the company and joining Jenova in her conquest of the planet. In all that, a small band of rebels, Avalanche, stood up against the two. They triumphed every single time.
Jenova was defeated once and for all. With her out of the way, the planet had a chance to recover or so they thought.
The unknown entity took this opportunity to strike while its enemy was weakened from a powerful enemy and human greed. All this time, it spent recovering its energy and building its army out of the eyes of anyone. Gaia rallied the heroes of the previous war and her remaining forces against this enemy, but this was not enough. They needed a miracle.
Four figures surrounded a pool of water, all sporting grim expressions. The water showed various activities, none of which were favorable for these people. If anything, they became more and more restless as the fighting progressed.
"Dammit!"
"Zack, language!"
"Sorry," Zack muttered as he lowered his head. "It's just frustrating. I wanna help Spikey."
A large hand came down on Zack's shoulder before grasping it. "I know. I know that all too well. We all feel the same way." He looked at the other two people.
"Thanks, 'Geal," Zack said with a small smile. He placed hand on his mentor's hand and then looked at the only female in the group. "Aerith, is there anything we can do?"
The pink clad female looked up from the water. "I wish I can answer your question. I really do, but… I can't." Being a spirit allowed her access to certain abilities, but it took away others, namely a way to affect the physical world to an extent. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," the fourth person in the group spoke up. His green eyes looked over his three companions. "You've done nothing wrong. If it wasn't for my actions, we wouldn't be in this predicament."
"Seph," Angeal started, full of concern. He released his grasp from Zack before pulling his friend in a hug.
Sephiroth stiffened upon contact, not being used to such a warm embrace. He returned that hug with uncertainty. "I –"
"I know, it took me some time to get used to it," Angeal said as he eyed a certain former first class SOLDIER. To think, it took a fighting prodigy to draw that human part of him, being able to interact with others without intimidating them or boring them to death. "And it's not your fault." He looked to the other two for confirmation of his statement.
While Aerith remained silent, Zack had strong opinions on this, which he wasn't afraid to voice. "Not completely your fault. If it wasn't for that bitch, you wouldn't have thought about doing those things. She took advantage of you when you were vulnerable and twisted the truth for her selfish needs."
"I know, but I made those decisions," Sephiroth muttered in a dark tone. "I did it willingly."
"You were manipulated," Angel said with a soft manner.
"Yeah, don't make me come over there and punch you," Zack said as he slammed his right fist into his left palm, causing Aerith to giggle. "I mean it. Don't beat yourself up for it. I'll do it for you." He grinned and pouted when a hand smacked him upside his head.
"Zack," Angeal warned and crossed his arms over his broad chest.
"I know. I know," Zack whined. "Still there's gotta be something we can do."
"Genesis is helping," Angeal said, referring to his childhood friend. He turned his attention back to the water. With the way things were going, Genesis became the hero he always wanted to be, but there wouldn't be many people to celebrate it by the time the war was over. That was if they were victorious. "You know every bit helps."
Aerith nodded her head. In spite of this, it wasn't enough. They needed more, more fighters, more power. It seemed the enemy held the upper hand in all areas. It became very frustrating even for someone as patient as her.
"'Loveless,'" Zack grumbled as he located the title of the book that Genesis was holding. While that book was a classic, it gave a certain red head ideas. He thought the guy needed to expand his reading library. "I think he needs to find something new… too bad we can't rewrite it."
"Sometimes I wish I can rewrite my past," Sephiroth sighed a long one. He brushed aside a stray lock of silver hair. It was something he thought about every day. If he was offered one wish, just one wish, he wanted to redo many things.
"Time travel is impossible," Angeal said. He knew this all too well. In his time there, he made many attempts to go back in time, but he eventually came to accept this reality. Shifting his weight, he attempted to find another comfortable position.
However, it got Aerith thinking. She recalled the vast library of information at her disposal. "I think I have an idea. We will need to do a lot of reading, and I can pull a few strings."
"You mean the Cetra library?" Sephiroth inquired with a raised brow. He figured the others would be allowed to that wealth of information, but his admission was questionable.
The Cetra nodded her head. "Yes. I believe I can convince them to even let you in. We have a common enemy, and we're running out of options." She counted on the others to be desperate enough to allow a former enemy into the library. If not, then she needed to find another way for him to help out. There was always taking out the materials to a hidden location, but she knew they would catch on soon especially since she knew Sephiroth read at a fast rate. His retention capabilities astounded her.
"What are searching for exactly?" Zack asked, not having reading as part of his hobby list. He didn't hate it, but he didn't like it either. If he had a decision, he preferred action over words.
"Time travel."
Large stacks of books covered a table with four half-dead people surrounding it. Technically they were dead. They were in various states and positions, ranging from fast asleep to bleary eyed. For the past twelve or so hours, they scoured many books as evident by the numerous stacks decorating their work place.
Angeal poked his former student. When he didn't respond, he switched tactics and began tickling Zack in his weak points.
Zack jerked away, falling off his chair and gasping for breath. The sleep fog still hung around him and made it hard for him to grasp the situation quickly. "What?"
"You were snoring," Sephiroth said on the blunt side, not bothering to lift his head from the table. At least, he wasn't drooling all over the pages. Good thing Aerith moved the book before puppy drool ruined it.
"It's not like other people are here," Zack pouted. He blinked several times, trying to figure out what happened to the book he was reading. "I swore I had it here."
"There's nothing useful in it," Aerith answered before closing yet another book. "I looked through it while you were sleeping."
"I'm going to grab some more books," Zack said and staggered to his feet. He grasped the edge of the table for balance and shuffled off to the nearest bookcase. It seemed like they were going to read every book in that damned library. So far, this was the most books he read, more than all the ones he read for his academics.
The black haired spikey male meandered through the aisles with no destination in mind. He took a split second to read the titles. Many of the titles appeared to be irrelevant to what they wanted to find. Cookbooks were useful except for now. Maybe he should consider giving a certain someone one of these along with a fire extinguisher. He doubted the recipient would be happy to receive this little gift. It didn't help the guy tended to possess a short fuse and a pyromaniac tendency. Good thing they had healing materia.
Next came a section on flowers and gardening. His thoughts drifted back to his former mentor. He remembered the guy was into organic food and used as much as he could, however, being in the city, he was limited due to the scarcity of good land available. There were more mouths to feed than farmers. That industry was not a thriving one. Well not there. He figured one leisure reading wouldn't hurt. Not knowing much about plants unless he was eating, he picked one that had a nice looking spine and title. Angeal better appreciate this.
Materia… they had yet to read all the books in that section. This was one of the subjects he actually enjoyed reading and researching. It was also the reason why the others read books from other sections, giving him that section. Granted it wasn't as large as the others, nonetheless, it wasn't small either.
Zack eyed the remaining books on the shelves and sighed. So far, he was halfway through his section. He grabbed a few books, not bothering to read the title before snatching them and headed to the table. Seeing as there wasn't much space available, he placed the books on his chair, ignoring the looks his companions gave him. He picked a large stack at random. Instead of setting it in another place, he looked at the title of the book on the top and knew where it went. Thanks to having to look around the large room, he returned the books into their places though he made a point to set it aside so the others knew they already read them.
The stacks began to disappear as he placed them away. It took him a good half hour to clear off half the table. Once space was available, the others adjusted their to read stacks, allowing them space to read without feeling cramped. They sent him their silent thanks. Seconds later, they buried their noses in their respective books.
Zack selected a book from the pile he grabbed. When he read the title, he smiled. He picked the one he thought Angeal would enjoy reading for leisure during a break. After turning the book to the back, he read the summary. It was quite strange the ancients possessed books that looked similar to the ones the humans created and owned. Zack decided to flip through the book so he could tell Angeal what it was about. Plus it could use it in a conversation. It would be nice to discuss things other than fighting, weapons, and tactics.
As he skimmed through the pages, Zack tucked away the information. Sure, he didn't remember the details though he understood the general idea. His eye widened, and he jumped up, knocking his chair over in the process. The loud noise grabbed the attention of the other three.
"Zack," Angeal started but stopped when he saw his former student's expression. "What is it?"
"I found it!" Zack held the book on the page for the others to see. A large grin crawled its way onto his face. He never thought he would find it in a book about plants.
Aerith's eyes widened. No wonder why she remembered reading it. She read through all the books they had on plants, but with so many, it was hard remembering which book she read it. "I can't believe it." She wanted to bang her head against the table. While she read many books, she concentrated on the plants section.
Angeal raised a brow upon seeing the title of the book. "Oh?"
"Ehehehehehe. I figured you might want to read it for fun," Zack said with a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. It was by luck that he happened to pick the right book. Perhaps it was the goddess Genesis kept harping about. He never believed in any deity though he came close to it.
"That's thoughtful of you," Aerith said with a smile. She held out her hand for the book. When she received it, she flipped to the page Zack showed them. "Thanks."
"We'll need to figure out who to send back," Sephiroth said, a grim tone in his voice. He pupils became narrow. While he wanted to go, he knew all too well the risks involved, and that was something he was not willing to take a chance on. "I'm not going."
That left Angeal and Zack. Which one possessed a better chance of changing the past? Each of them held their strengths and weaknesses.
"You go," Angeal said, placing a hand on his former student's shoulder. His eyes told Zack he had faith in him and his abilities. "I know you'll make me proud. Make all of us proud."
Zack fidgeted, finding his feet to be the most interesting thing on the planet. "I… I'm not sure about that."
"Don't underestimate yourself," Sephiroth said, backing up his fellow former first class. "You've accomplished many things." He found motivating others to action, but when it came to reassuring an individual, he left that to someone who was better at it than himself, namely Angeal and Micah.
"While she's reading, we'll start preparing for your trip," Angeal said, trying to resist the urge to return the books to their proper place. He tended to keep his place clean and organized.
"That sounds good," Zack said as he followed the older former SOLDIERs.
Zack figured he couldn't stuff anything else in his pack. The pack wasn't large to start with. Their design was originally for students. Since the trip required a vast amount of energy, they needed to limit the mass, but at the same time, there were a few things he needed to bring back. Zack went through his list once more: antidotes for degrading, mastered materia, an extensive first aid kit, and a notebook full of advice the others wanted him to remember. They wrote in such a way that only Zack would understand the meaning behind it.
That left one missing component. Sure, he could bring the Buster sword from this time, but it was a huge red flag for their past selves. They wanted him to work behind the scenes, not causing a scene. Zack brought up the point of him only having the standard SOLDIER sword. While it was useful, he knew it wasn't suited for his style of fighting. He preferred a blade with more weight to it. The way he used it looked like it was an extension of himself.
"I feel naked without a weapon," Zack said after he finished packing. He then began fidgeting.
"We have that covered," Aerith's mother, Ilfana, said as she approached the former SOLDIERs. She was proud of her daughter, taking the initiative to put an end to this seemingly endless war. When she reached Zack, she held out her hands, palms facing up. A soft glow appeared before a weapon similar to the Buster sword appeared. It hovered above her hands.
Zack reached out and grabbed the handle. While it was heavy, he found a familiar comfort in the weight. He took a few steps back as to not hit his benefactor before taking a few test swings. It was balanced, and he did not have to consciously modify his movements to accommodate his new weapon. "Thanks." Now that he possessed a weapon, he needed to figure out a way to hide it.
Ilfana chuckled. "You can summon it and send it back. When it's not in use, it will be a… tattoo somewhere on your body." No one knew where it would appear as each person was different. However, the mechanics to bring it out and send it back was the same.
Taking it as his cue, Zack concentrated on sending it back. He found it frustrating until he realized he was concentrating on it too much. This time, he imagined himself putting his sword away. It disappeared from his hand. When he attempted to summon it, he reversed the process. It appeared in his hand. "Awesome." He sent it back once more.
"Take care, Zack," Aerith said and hugged him. She placed a quick kiss on his cheek before allowing others to say their farewells.
"I have faith in you," Ilfana said. She too gave him a hug though not a kiss.
"I give you permission to kick my ass if I ever go down that path," Sephiroth said with a small smile. To Zack, it spoke in volumes. He braced himself when the bundle of energy pounced on him and gave him a hug.
This was repeated with Angeal, who responded by wrapping his arms around Zack and returning that hug. "I'm proud of you no matter what. I know you'll make the right decisions. Have faith in yourself. You've come a long way."
Before he could change his mind, Zack motioned for the ancients to start the ritual.
What had he gotten himself into?