AN: DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of this, I've never really (by that I mean havent at all) played the game Final Fantasy 7. This story is centered around the movie Advent Children, with a few tweaks here and there. Reviews are always welcome, but especially advice and critiques about how I have used the materia. I want to know if I can actually do any of what I've typed and not be ruining anything.
Anyway! I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or its characters, but I do own a few OC's and I have Sephiroth's kick-ass theme as my cell phone ring tone so ha! Enjoy!
Suki and Tifa pushed through the crowd formed around the Shinra monument. They had heard that two men had taken a bunch of children the day before, and now they were in a circle around them.
Parents shouted out at them from the crowd, but none ventured past the children's circle. Mothers and fathers tried to speak to their children, but were met with stony silence. It was a chaos to try and push through, but Suki and Tifa had to find Denzel.
The shouts from the parents were starting to annoy Loz and Yazoo. To dissipate the growing crowd, Yazoo reached up and summoned a flock of monsters. At first they only created a wider girth around the circle of children, separating them from their parents. But then they began to leap into the crowd and chase down people as if they were mice.
Tifa rushed through the chaos formed from the monsters running rampant. Suki followed closely behind, her eyes scouring for any monster that would dare come close.
"Denzel!" Tifa spotted the boy and raced over to him.
"Denzel, what are you doing? We have to go!" Suki said as they reached him.
Denzel's gaze was fixed on the ground. Tifa reached for his chin to pull his gaze towards her, but the iris in his eye shocked her.
"Oh, Denzel." She shook his shoulders, trying to get a reaction from him.
"Tifa, we have to get him out of here." Suki said. The monsters were cutting down people who ran every which way, it was only a matter of time before they were seen as lunch meat.
On the other side of the circle of children, Yazoo and Loz took hold of a chain and readied themselves to pull down the monument.
"And what are we up to?"
They stopped and looked behind them. Reno and Rude approached them, with Reno holding his buzz baton casually over his shoulder.
"We know mother is here." Yazoo said. Loz nodded and gestured to the monument.
"Yeah. This statue, monument thing, was built by Shinra." Loz said.
Reno smirked comically. "Oh no, you're just too clever!" He tapped the side of his head.
"Except, you're wrong." Rude said.
"And wherever she is we just don't know!" Reno laughed. Yazoo smirked and looked down at them.
"What, the peons aren't trusted?" Yazoo toyed. Reno was aghast at the insult. He looked back and forth between Yazoo's cocky face and Rude. Eventually, he settled on getting angry, and ran at them.
Tifa shook Denzel's shoulders again. "Denzel, we have to get out of here!"
Suki heard the clacking of claws on the stone behind them, and turned around to see one monster running towards them.
"Look out, Tifa!" Suki readied herself to knock away the monster when suddenly a massive foot came down from the sky and crushed it. Suki stared wide-eyed at the giant summon monster.
"Holy shit. . ." Suki did not like where this battle was going.
The giant creature roared at them before flying over to the monument. Suki and Tifa watched as it ripped apart the chains on the monument and began to charge an attack.
"Tifa, cover Denzel!" Suki flung herself over top of them and squeezed her eyes shut.
The blast sent them all flying, and Suki was separated from Tifa and Denzel. She rolled to a stop on the hard stones and groaned.
"I hate this summon."
People were quickly leaving the scene. Suki rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up. She looked around the area and located Tifa. Denzel was shaking her shoulder, and it sent a pang through Suki's chest. Had something happened to Tifa?
Denzel looked around until his eyes landed on the giant flying summon. He glared at it and got to his feet.
"Son of a bitch!" He shouted and ran at it was a raised fist.
Suki gaped and jumped to her feet. "Denzel no!"
She raced forward, but in her heart she figured that she'd be too late to stop him. That monster was going to eat him!
Denzel was halted suddenly as a metallic hand clamped down on his shoulder. He watched as it configured itself into a massive gatling gun.
"You look after mama!" The man said, and unleashed hell on the monster. Tifa came to and hurried over to Denzel. "Marlene better be safe, huh!"
Suki stopped beside Tifa. "Hey Barret! Long time no see!"
"Girl where've you been?" Barret ran towards the monster as he fired away. His gun jammed when he had successfully obtained the monsters attention, and he began to panic when it turned its massive head towards him.
"Uh-oh!" Barret threw his arm over his head and waited to be eaten, when a red streak leapt out and attacked its face.
Red XII and Cait Sith bounded around the monster, attacking it when they could.
"Well if it isn't my favorite pair of animals!" Suki cheered when they attacked the monster's legs.
The giant summon creatures attention was captured again, and as it began to charge another attack it was hit by a giant ninja star.
Suki and Tifa looked up and watched as Yuffie descended in a parachute. She detached herself when she hit the ground, and threw the material off of her.
"Alright, who's been touching my materia?" Yuffie readied her weapon.
"The bad guys, naturally." Tifa said. Yuffie scrunched up her face and charged into the battle with a shout.
Suki smiled. "Finally, there's someone just as small as me kicking major ass!"
Tifa went to reprimand Suki for using such language in front of Denzel, when they were suddenly surrounded by the smaller monsters. There were too many for the women to fight off successfully. Tifa shielded Denzel and Suki took a stance in front of them.
As everything seemed lost, Suki's eyes widened as Cid fell in front of them and swiped the monsters away with one rotation from his spear.
"She's a 'bute!" Cid gestured up into the air with his thumb and a wink. "The latest model! I'll give you the grand tour afterwards!"
Denzel was amazed by how many people had just shown up to battle the giant monster. Where had they all come from? Who are they?
"Where can I buy a phone?"
Suki whipped around and beamed at her mentor.
"Vincent! I'm glad you could make it." She said and gestured to the monster. "We've got a bit of a problem on our hands."
Arien stepped into her view from behind Vincent. She took one look at the summoned monster and her eyebrows shot up behind her bangs.
"That is one giant evil looking chicken." She turned her gaze towards Suki and smiled widely. "I hope you don't mind, but I'm crashing your battle party."
"We could use the help." Suki said.
"I thought you'd want these." From in his cloak Vincent brought out a pair of modified hand guns. Suki gave an excited squeal as she took them from him.
"My babies!" She examined the guns with pure adoration in her eyes. "Have you missed mama?"
Arien turned towards Tifa and Denzel hesitantly as Suki conversed with Vincent. She found Tifa's eyes and found no outward malice displayed from her.
"Marlene is safe with Cloud." Arien informed her quietly. "Don't worry, those creeps didn't touch her."
Tifa nodded her head seriously. "I saw what happened at the church. When Suki was defeated, I really thought that it was all over." She walked forward suddenly and wrapped Arien into a tight hug. Arien's eyes widened in shock from the reaction she had elicited from the barista. "Thank you, for keeping Marlene safe."
Arien was unsure of how to process this sudden acceptance. She felt hope resonate in her chest that made her realize how much her heart ached before this moment. So she reached up and awkwardly returned the hug.
"We should join in the fight." Vincent's voice pulled Arien back to her senses, and she pulled away from Tifa with a nod.
"Right." She reached into her coat and pulled out a pair of gloves with odd metal modifications along the knuckles and top. As she slipped them on, she reached back into her coat and rummaged through it, but couldn't find what she was looking for.
"Here." Vincent held out two orbs of glowing materia. Arien smirked and took them, pressing them both into her arms.
"Thanks Vincent, I'd forgotten that those creeps stole all my materia."
Vincent turned towards the giant monster and studied its limbs. "You'll return them after this battle."
Arien pouted but didn't say anything. Suki stared at her curiously.
"Why'd you put the materia in your arms? And what's with the gloves?" She asked.
Arien flexed her fingers and tightened the straps. "I'm not very good at using weapons, nor am I great at hand to hand combat. So I substitute my meager skills and use materia to make my punches stronger. The metal on my gloves works as a conductor when I use thunder materia."
Suki gaped at her. "So you mean you're useless?"
Arien glared icily, and it froze Suki into place. Her gaze was strong and it looked full of promise. Promising death that is. Suki shivered and her heart began to accelerate.
"No, I don't think I'm useless at all." Arien said slowly, and in a voice that sounded completely unlike her own. She stepped towards Suki and smirked when the shorter girl stepped back. For an instant Suki could feel the aura change around Arien. Her eyes took on a malicious glint, something she had only ever seen in one other persons eyes. It was so shocking that she registered it immediately as dangerous,and made to step back and grasp her guns tightly.
"I'd say I'm more of . . ." All of a sudden the familiar, horrible, aura vanished and she was smiling childishly and poked Suki in the forehead unexpectedly. "The hopeless variety."
Arien suddenly turned and raced off towards the monster, shouting out a war cry as she went. Suki remained rooted to the spot until she heard the roar of an engine behind her.
"I swear," She said to Vincent. "She just reminded me of my brother."
Vincent nodded briefly before jumping into the battle. Suki took this as a sign to quit messing around and she hefted her guns before racing off after them.
Suki jumped from one metal pillar to the next, catching up to the others fast. She watched as Vincent fired at the monster from a beam above her, the monsters cries of anger drowned out the boom his gun made. As she leapt up onto another beam she watched as Arien launched herself at the monster from above it and used gravity to help put extra force into her attack. Her fist collided with the monsters back, and Suki saw its armor crack.
Arien landed on a beam below the monster and rubbed her knuckles. "This damn chicken's shell is thicker than an armored truck."
Suki jumped onto the beam next to her. "Less talking, more fighting!"
"Stuff it, shorty! I haven't even seen you hit it yet." Arien shook her wrist once and formed a fist. She glanced at Suki from the corner of her eye mischievously. "What say you we have a little competition? The first one to bring it down wins."
Suki, ever the competitive spirit, nodded. "You're on! But call me short one more time, and I'll shoot your ass down from the sky."
They launched themselves up and rejoined the fight.
Suki ran along a support beam and fired at the monster's head. It cried out in anger and turned towards her, and she could see the attack forming in its mouth.
"Oh crap, not good!" She quickened her pace and huffed as her brain worked overtime to figure out a way out of this fast. The end of the support beam was looming closer. She swallowed her anxiety and launched herself into the air.
The monster's attack missed her, and she landed squarely on its head. Red XIII dashed back and forth between support beams and the monster, dealing damage as he went. Suki reloaded her guns and jumped up to unload it into the monster's skull. She hissed when it didn't do as much damage as she thought it would.
"What's the matter? Is that all you can do?" Arien mocked playfully as she pushed off from another pillar above the monster and dove straight towards its head. Her fists collided with it and the force behind the attack made it turn direction.
Suki jumped to another beam to reload her guns. "Just wait till I open a can of ass-kicking on this thing! Then you'll see what I can do!"
Arien recovered from her forceful attack, but the monsters movements threw her off-balance. She teetered frighteningly close to the side of its head before she regained her balance.
The monster flew higher, and it was almost at the point where the beams would run out. Arien went from launching herself down at it, to playing cat and mouse on its shoulders as she aimed materia-strengthened punches into it. On one of her dashes the monster suddenly jerked its whole body around and effectively dislodged her from prime attacking position.
The shoulder she was standing on slipped from under her, and she found herself falling downwards towards the ground. Suki crouched and tensed her muscles as Arien fell, before leaping right when the red-head would pass her going down. She caught hold of her and flung Arien over to another pillar.
"Sit back and watch this!" Suki charged her power into the barrels of her two guns before releasing it with the pull of the trigger. Two balls of energy erupted from her guns and shot at the giant summon monster. Its reaction time had lessened during the beating it was getting from everyone's combined efforts, so both hit it dead on.
Suki landed on the pillar beside Arien and looked haughtily at her. "What'd I tell you? Ass-kicking attack unit is open for business!"
"Eh," Arien shrugged and returned Suki's haughtiness. "I've seen better."
"Yeah, whatever. Keep telling yourself that, red-head."
Together they both launched themselves up again.
As the monster began to ascend past the point they could reach it, Arien and Suki each took a position on a different level. They watched as Cloud joined the fight, and the monster forced him down with a heavy kick. Cid gave the blonde a boost and launched him back towards the monster.
One by one, the members of Avalanche helped to propel Cloud higher into the air. Suki joined in on it as Cloud flew up to her level, and reached down to his collar to propel him up.
"Hurry up and take it down!" She shouted and flung him higher.
Arien leaped into the air and waited for him to be a little above her before she reached out and gave a strong push to his boots.
"Don't screw it up!" She called and watched as Tifa jumped out to give him the last hand up. Arien let herself free fall for a little bit before landing on a lower column. Suki and Vincent leapt up to join her.
"Do you think he'll make it?" Arien asked. She began to worry for the blonde when the monster prepared itself for a really devastatingly strong attack as Cloud was still flying up at it.
Suki nodded. "He's fought worse before and been okay."
Arien bit her lip lightly. "You mean when he fought Sephiroth, right?"
Suki looked over at her, but her gaze was turned away so Suki was unable to get a read on her. She hadn't given it much thought since Cloud had revealed the red-head's involvement because she and Tifa had focused on finding Denzel, but she was now free to wonder about it.
Suki studied the girl who had somehow obtained her brother's heart and all her eyes could pick out was how wrong for her brother the red-head was. Arien didn't look or speak like a woman she thought her brother would develop affections for.
From what Suki had seen, Arien was naïve and borderline helpless without the aid of materia. Her personality was painfully shy but overly humorous. This was not the sort of girl to be paired with such a strong personality like Sephiroth's.
Suki found with some surprise that she was offended that such a meek girl was involved with her brother. But she tried to reason that there were still things she didn't know or understand about the red-head, and she may never understand them.
Arien was looking at her now, expectantly. Suki broke from her inner thoughts and tried to recollect what they had been talking about.
"Yeah, that would have been a more difficult battle." Suki drew in a calming breath and shrugged a shoulder offhandedly. "But you'd know about that. So this really isn't anything to worry about."
Arien nibbled her lip again and looked off to the side in a weirdly saddened shyness. "Actually, I don't know. I wasn't around whenever Cloud faced Sephiroth for the last time." She turned her gaze up and watched quietly as Cloud cut through the monsters attack and emerged on the other side. He plunged his sword into the back of its neck and began to drag it up its back. "Those years ago, something happened and I was taken away from the battle. I had only met Cloud so the members of Avalanche's identities were a mystery to me. I've been living with Vincent ever since . . ."
Suki rounded on her mentor. "You've had her at your house all this time?"
"Yes, I was asked to hide her from Shinra." Vincent answered. His gaze was trained on the red-head beside him.
"So that's why Reno and Rude were surprised to hear she was alive." Suki muttered. Vincent nodded and suddenly left to begin descending the building. She watched him go, slightly mystified by his red cape. She had always wanted to take it and wear it around.
"Were you involved in the battle as well?" Arien asked. Suki nodded.
"Yeah, I was extremely against what my brother was doing." She sighed as she remembered confronting her brother and announcing that she was going to fight against him. "I joined Avalanche not too long after that."
"You're his twin sister, right?" Arien asked. "Don't get offended, but you two look nothing alike."
Suki smiled just a little. "We were fraternal twins. And I guess I should explain why I look so much younger than him too. I have a bunch of Shinra scientists to thank for that." She sneered as she mentioned them. "They slowed my metabolic aging rate. I still age, but I won't be getting into any other bar but Tifa's for a long while."
"Vincent spoke about you a lot," Arien said with a small smile. "That is when I could get him to have a lengthy conversation. You're both good friends."
"Yeah, I'd like to think so."
Arien said nothing more but gave an understanding nod. They lapsed into silence and resumed watching Cloud fight the monster.
The monster gave out a loud pained roar before it plummeted towards the ground. It disappeared in a mass of light as Cloud landed skillfully on a metal beam above them. He surveyed the damage as he jumped down from the metal beams. The members of Avalanche joined in clambering down from their places until everyone was on the ground once more.
When Suki set foot on the ground, she was pulled forcibly into a one-armed hug from Barret.
"Man it's good to see you again, short stuff!" He squeezed her until she shouted loudly in protest.
"Barret put me down so I can shoot you!" She shouted. Barret made sure to give her one last squeeze before letting her plop onto the ground. Before she could fulfill her promise to shoot Barret, Suki was tackled into a hug by the Ninja Yuffie.
"Suki it's so good to see you again!" Yuffie cheered excitedly. "I haven't heard from you in forever! When did you start becoming Cloud? You never answer your phone anymore!"
Suki blanched as she thought of the last time Yuffie had called her. The Ninja had spoken on and on about some new materia she had found, or maybe it was developing, and Suki practically faked a heart failure over the phone just to hang up. She still answered Yuffie's calls once in a while, but never every time the Ninja called.
"I've been busy looking for Cloud." Suki explained as Yuffie released her. "And for the record I am way better at keeping in touch with people than that cross dresser."
Cid was the next to say hello. He refrained from giving out any hugs because he said that was too girly, but Suki knew he was only saying that because he hugged his wife all the time. She greeted Red XIII and Cait Sith, making sure to give them both a good scratch each behind the ear.
Their happy reunion was interrupted when from on the thirteenth floor of a building they heard an explosion. Kadaj was falling through the air, reaching for a black canister and getting shot at by what looked like Rufus Shinra.
Cloud darted towards his motorcycle and took off towards Kadaj. As Rufus fired at Kadaj, one of the bullets managed to hit the canister. Suki felt her stigma shock her as suddenly a green liquid began to leak out from the falling canister.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked as Suki grimaced from the short pain.
"I think that's Jenova's head." Suki shockingly realized. "Kadaj has gotten his hands on it! This can't be good."
Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz leapt onto their own motorcycles and took off through the city. Cloud followed them closely, trying to gain every inch he could to catch up with them.
"We should follow 'im with my Shera!" Cid said, pulling out a little black device. He pushed a button and they watched as the ship descended towards them. "All aboard! We'll catch up with them faster than you can say-"
"Man, just get on the damn ship!" Barret climbed on board first and waited impatiently for the others. Suki, Arien and Vincent were the last to board. Arien looked around the main room nervously.
"I can't say I've ever been in something like this before." She mumbled quietly. The members of Avalanche hadn't really taken notice of her up until this point, and she was grateful for their ignorance. She really didn't feel like explaining herself to them, especially the part involving a psychopathic lost love.
Vincent laid a gloved hand on her shoulder. "I'll take back those materia now."
Arien blinked and pouted a little bit before starting the process of removing the orbs from her arms. She hadn't gone into much detail earlier about her use of the materia, but the part she had left out was about how painful it was to remove them. Usually she went off on her own so that she wouldn't worry someone, but her options were limited now.
She placed her hand overtop of one arm and pressed her fingers slowly into the skin. The materia made it easy to push past the skin without tearing into it, but getting the materia out as the skin turned back to normal was the hard part. Her fingers curled around the orb inside of her arm, and she slowly began to drag it out.
She let out a loud hiss as she finished removing the first orb. Her arm was beginning to bruise, but it was otherwise alright. Arien handed the orb to Vincent and began with the other arm. This time she slipped up as she was pulling out the orb, and it left her arm a long cut that began to trickle out blood.
"Here you go, two materia." She handed the last to Vincent and placed her gloved hand over top of the wound, applying pressure to help it seal.
Vincent pocketed the two materia and pulled out another cure materia. He cast the cure on her arm, but by this time the cure had been used so often that it broke after healing her.
"That was my last cure." He said as he turned her arm over for inspection. "Hopefully we won't need another one."
By this time everyone on the ship had taken notice of the red head standing with Vincent. Yuffie strode over to them and studied her with a little scrutiny.
"Who are you? Where are you from? Where'd you get that coat? Why'd you put materia into your arms and how do you know our vampire buddy Vincent?"
Arien was astounded by the reel of questions directed at her with one breath.
"My name is Arien, I'm from Wutai, I put materia in my arms to conduct electricity through my gloves because I don't have much physical skill and I know Vincent because I've lived with him for the past two years." She paused nervously. "As for the coat . . ."
"It kind of looks like what Sephiroth wore!" Yuffie pointed out. "But it's different, there isn't any shoulder metal and it's shorter and with flow-y sleeves."
Arien nodded. "I modified it when I first got it a long time ago."
"Wait, you're from Wutai too? This is awesome! I never get to see one of my own this far from home!" Yuffie hugged the taller girl and gave her a smile. "Believe it or not, I know who you are. You made a scene when you left Wutai and went to Midgar with the 'Great General'."
Arien wasn't sure what to say, so she just nodded her head and offered Yuffie a smile. "Things were different back then." She felt her stomach tighten into a ball of nerves. She really hoped to keep herself in the background and not reveal who she was, but now she just hoped that it wouldn't be a scene like when she had first met Tifa. There wasn't any way she could leave the ship to avoid a confrontation with the whole of Avalanche now that they were airborne.
Yuffie nodded understandingly. "Don't worry. Tifa told me you were a good person for saving Marlene. I'm sure that I speak for the whole of Avalanche when I say that you're alright in our books!"
The Ninja gave Arien's arm a pat before going back over to Suki and Tifa. Arien stood rigidly still as she tried to process what had just happened. It had been short, but she had just been ousted and accepted all at once. She wasn't exactly sure what to feel.
Cid navigated the ship according to where Cloud steered his bike as he followed after Kadaj. They flew over what looked like the charred remains of a helicopter. Suki looked down through the massive window and saw Reno and Rude getting to their feet, looking charred but alright.
"I guess Reno tested Rude's tech again." She said as they passed them.
The ship quickly caught up with Cloud as he and Kadaj fell off of the road and into the destroyed ruins of the slums. They raced around until Kadaj entered the church. He emerged on the roof and hoped off his bike.
Kadaj unleashed an attack at him, and then switched to his two-bladed sword to fend off Cloud.
"Cloud! I brought you materia!" Yuffie emerged from another room, carrying an armful of the glowing orbs. The ship took a sudden dip, and it almost made her drop them. "Whoa! Hey, watch where you're going Cid!"
"Crikey lass, would you shut yet mouth?" Cait Sith said.
"Yo Cid, land this thing!" Barret boomed. Cid glared at him from behind the helm.
"You want off then you can jump. Get off my back!"
"He can handle this alone." Vincent said suddenly. Arien looked back at him. She had forgotten he was beside her.
"What?" Yuffie asked, clutching her materia. "I don't get it! Why can't we help?"
"Kadaj is a remnant of Sephiroth." Vincent informed them. "Think of him as a larvae form."
Arien shot a surprised look back towards him. Did that mean Kadaj could become . . . Sephiroth?
"Larvae?" Yuffie didn't like the sound of that. "Like a bug?"
"Vincent," Tifa said, gaining his attention. "Does Cloud know?"
Vincent was silent for a moment before nodding. "One would think."
"Then he's right," Tifa turned back towards the window and watched Kadaj and Cloud exchange blows. "It's his fight now."
Kadaj was moving around everywhere and Cloud was quick to follow. The two were exchanging blows long before Cid steered the ship into the rubble beside them. They were forced to move their fight to one of the taller buildings, where Cloud managed to toss Kadaj over the side.
Kadaj gripped the side of the building with one hand and clutched the container in the other. He glared as he watched his sword fall to the ground beneath him. Cloud leapt down to the ledge he hung from. They stared each other down, with Cloud's buster sword pointed at Kadaj. Suddenly Kadaj flung the container at Cloud. Cloud slashed at it reflexively and watched sort of shocked as the container split in two. Kadaj pushed off of the ledge and grabbed the remaining half of the container.
He reached inside of it and brought out something small, and oozing dark fog. Kadaj caressed it as he fell down backwards towards the ground.
"At last," he said, coveting the dark matter. "My reunion."
Cloud leapt from the ledge, trying to reach Kadaj before it was too late. Kadaj glared up at him defiantly.
"I bet you're dying to watch." He said and then shoved the material straight into his chest. It pained him a little, but when it was inside of him he straightened out as he fell and landed softly into a crouch.
Cloud flew right at him and swung his buster sword. His blade made a devastatingly powerful contact with an extremely long blade.
He stared in horror as Kadaj had disappeared and in his place stood the one who had destroyed so much. Silver hair flying around menacingly from the impact of the two blades added an ethereal sight to the dangerous man now standing before Cloud. The cat-like irises coated in Mako energy momentarily stunned the blonde when he looked straight into them, so full of menace and the promise of nothing good.
"It's good to see you," Sephiroth raised his head and looked into Cloud's eyes with an evil cool. "Cloud."
A/N: I included the scene where Reno and Rude square off against Loz and Yazoo because I found it hilarious in the movie! Reno's face when Yazoo insults him, its just priceless! XD
One chapter to go!