Chapter 6 - Unexpected Negotiation Results
Sephiroth liked to think he had a firm understanding of the Wutai. What, with the entire month he spent studying their culture and ways before the war even began. Fighting against them for so long. Perusing their villages from afar with his enhanced vision to scout them. Going through several ceasefires and negotiations. He had come to understand what actions would have what consequences, and could predict things well in advance.
So when they were greeted by a messenger under the parley flag and asked for a ceasefire to begin negotiations once more, after the whole mess with the Cetra's capture and escape, he was rather taken offguard by it. He expected a storm of righteous rage from the Wutai for the treatment of Lady Yuna, an escalation in the war that would leave a bloody stain across the landscape. If it weren't for the fact that Wutai were an honorable people, and had never and would never take the white flag in vain to lay some kind of trap, he would have been very suspicious for one.
"Somehow, I feel the Cetra is involved in this," mused Sephiroth quietly to himself as he rode in a helicopter to one of Shinra's warships, to meet with and guard the President on this latest venture into the Wutai capital for negotiations.
It was the only logical conclusion. The only way this oddity made sense, despite that he would have thought the Cetra would absolutely refuse such a thing after her rape or near rape. Then again, despite what he had observed thus far from her, she was an unknown variable that he could not accurately predict. She had already caught him by surprise a number of times already, so he supposed he should be used to it. Though, he did wish the last surprise she had given him, and his comrades, had been forewarned somehow. Pain and fear were sensations he hadn't experienced in a long time, since he was but a boy in Hojo's labs.
Anima had briefly reminded him that he was quite mortal.
The sight of that monstrosity, especially it's underground form, had sent that chilling sensation down his spine, through his chest. Getting hit by a multitude of hybrid explosive/physical attacks while the summon had somehow magically bound and dragged him underground had been grueling, unable to dodge and defend himself, had bloodied him. It hadn't been nearly enough to defeat him, not even close.
But to actually damage him...
He controlled his urge to smile.
He wished the battle had been able to go on longer. Pain and fear he did not loath, in fact, he hungered for it, for a challenge that could actually press him, test him, force him to take it seriously. Unfortunately, Anima had fallen to a limit break with laughable ease. Moderately disappointing aside from the fact he had even been brought to one to begin with. Assuming these negotiations went as all previous ones did, with nothing to show for them, he'd get the chance for that brief challenge again he supposed...
"Most likely," came Tseng's voice in reply, "I largely believe these negotiations are at her insistence. There is no possibility of Lord Kisaragi not taking offense otherwise."
Sephiroth's gaze flickered up. "Have you a thought as to why?"
Tseng leaned his head back. "The Cetra, from what I noted when I briefly met her, had no love for war, is unused to its... depths, its dangers and cost."
Sephiroth frowned slightly. "You think she was frightened into this?"
"It is a possibility."
Sephiroth shook his head. "I disagree. A woman who could meet the top three SOLDIERs in combat without fear would not be cowed by what happened, or possibly happened, in that hut. If anything, I would think it would have had the opposite results."
"Perhaps," said Tseng, "Or perhaps you aren't thinking of the other end of the spectrum. It was not fear I was alluding to. I watched and studied her before I approached her. She has a distinct awareness of the cost of life around her. That 'dance of the dead' she does when she invokes the planet to claim the fallen. Her constant focus on mass revival spells and healing, confronting the three of you to not waste Wutain lives..."
Sephiroth understood. "You believe she's doing this to divert further loss of life?"
"You did say she gave you a chance to withdraw your forces before she attacked," pointed out Tseng, "She is capable of great destruction, but prefers to mend life instead from what I can tell."
Sephiroth acknowledged that with a frown. "Hmm..."
He shook his head. "I still doubt these negotiations will go anywhere. She has yet to go through the tediousness of these meetings, between a president who will not yield his demands and a leader who will not bend to them. Unless Shinra attains a reactor in Wutai, these negotiations will go nowhere."
Tseng nodded at that. "I suppose we'll see then."
It would be a waste of time, but perhaps he could glean more of the Ancient's personality from this, attain an understanding that might prove useful in predicting her in upcoming battles. He doubted she would confront the three of them like that again after all. He was looking forward to see what she did next, so long as she wasn't given the chance to devastate Shinra's forces again that is...
Somehow, Sephiroth supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by the sight he was greeted with.
At the steps of the pagoda in the capital village of Wutai, Lady Yuna stood at the front, next to her was Lord Kisaragi, signaling that Lady Yuna was the chief negotiator for these proceedings, and that Godo would advise her. She was dressed differently for once, in a black silken top and bottom that would have left her stomach and arms and legs bare. If not for the bandages covering them of course, the skin between them bruised an ugly purple or black and blue. The lack of them showing the bruising on her face, her eyes narrowed at him daring a comment.
It would seem both he and Tseng had guessed wrong: These negotiations were a message.
Lady Yuna was displeased.
Though, if she expected Shinra to react to it, she would be sorely mistaken. The Company default policy was to cover-up their actions and would prevent her from even gaining so much as an apology or an acknowledgement as to her treatment and what was done or nearly done to her.
He kept his face carefully schooled as President Shinra, Director Veld Verdot of the Turks, Tseng, and a number of other Turks as bodyguards approached the steps. A number of SOLDIER, and infantry lined the pathway behind them, an agreed amount to be allowed. The oddity of the group was a mild thing to note, as Shinra rarely sent multiple high ranking personnel to these proceedings. The President had only gone to the first negotiation attempt, and then hadn't bothered from then on in. Veld had never come to these before. He suspected it had to do with the Cetra. The Turk would want to come to his own conclusions about her, and the President was to greedy not to take the chance to lay his eyes on Shinra's next 'prize'. The fact that the Cetra had bloodied his top SOLDIERs and lay waste to an army had only made her more tantalizing for the fat buffoon.
The Wutai's delegations bowed, and Shinra bowed back.
"My name is Yuna, and I will be leading the negotiations. Your men will be led to a guest barracks," began the Cetra, addressing Shinra without wasting any words on pleasantries, "While you and your escort will follow us to begin."
Straight to the point. Something he could respect. Yet, it was not a trait that would be born out of a military lifestyle considering what they knew of her. Perhaps she held a dislike of politics and the theatrics of it? If so, was that natural for her, or something to have developed from her experiences? Not something he would normally care about, but anything related to the Cetra would be important.
They were led inside to a familiar meeting room. Large table, cushions to sit or kneel on instead of chairs, lit by candlelight with various paintings and greenery around the room. Very curious to Sephiroth was that aside from Lord Kisaragi, Yuna had no other advisors present; the only other Wutai in the room being the Crescent Unit serving as bodyguards. The lack of advisors was unexpected, and a large deviation. Not that someone else aside from Godo leading the delegation wasn't a deviation anyway.
Yuna sat first, Lord Kisaragi at her left. Shinra took the head at the other end of the table, Sephiroth at his left, Veld at his right, his Turks lining Shinra's side of the room. Sephiroth noted, before he sat, how carefully the various Turks watched the Cetra. Veld would be looking for opinions from his subordinates if Sephiroth had to guess.
President Shinra was the first to speak, "The Cetra of Wutai, if I may ask why you are leading these proceedings...?"
Yuna stared at him for a moment, as if considering whether she actually needed to answer that or not, before she spoke, "I have already told your General, I am not bound to Wutai, I am here as a vested third party chosen to be allied with them, and as of this moment, to impartially negotiate peace between both Shinra and Wutai."
Sephiroth's eyes took in Godo, watching for a response. There was no reaction. Shinra on the other hand sharped his gaze. There were many things to be taken from that statement, a lack of fealty to Wutai being the main one that Shinra would latch onto. It was the note of impartiality that drew Sephiroth's interest. Was it meant to be taken that her and Wutai's aims were two separate things? Or just a political phrase to imply but not mean it? He would always take it for the latter with any of Shinra's board of directors, but here? It remained to be seen.
"Hmm," mused the President, "I trust you know what Shinra wants? We have met with Wutai many times on this before now. I don't particularly enjoy my time being wasted if this is going to end the same as the last several attempts."
"Assume that I do not," said Yuna, not reacting, or perhaps not caring, about his tone, "What I know, is that Wutai wishes Shinra removed from their lands. What is it that Shinra desires to make that happen?"
"We want the right to search Wutai's land for a suitable place to set up a Mako Reactor," answered Shinra.
"And what, is a 'Mako Reactor'?" asked Yuna.
Sephiroth's eyes furrowed, studying her. The question was in earnest... how could she not know...?
Shinra had a brief moment of disbelief before answering, "A Mako Reactor is a type of power plant that extracts energy from the planet and turns it into Mako energy."
"And what do you do with this 'Mako Energy'?" she asked.
Shinra scrutinized the Cetra for a moment before slowly answering, "We use it for everything. To power our everyday electronics such as computers, it powers all of our buildings, it is used as fuel for boats or planes, to create materia or power our machinery..."
"Machina?" came Yuna's voice, sharp and just a tad surprised.
There was something in her tone that Sephiroth wasn't quite sure he understood. Both harsh and instinctual, as if she disliked machines, and yet uncertain as if she questioned that dislike at the same time. As if she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not. It was one of the more stronger reactions he had seen from her since their first encounter, and he found himself rather curious about it.
Shinra merely huffed. "Yes, machines. I know the Wutai prefer to live... old fashioned... the rest of us however have developed with the times. Surely you knew that?"
The President was probing, and frankly Sephiroth was rather interested in Yuna's response as well.
"I know next to nothing about how Shinra or the people who live in your lands lead their lives," was Yuna's rather blunt answer.
That got a raised eyebrow from the President. "I see."
Sephiroth would not speak the question aloud, but he sincerely wondered what rock she had been living under to not know this. Shinra controlled almost the entire planet after all. Still... she spoke honestly, there was no sign of lying. So, he noted honesty as part of her personality, she was not afraid to admit to a lack of knowledge, even if it could, and most likely would, be used to other's advantage. That she had little to no understanding of machinery and technology... there were so many ways that could be used against her. The Turks would have a field day with her, dancing circles she would never see.
"So, to summarize and make sure I understand this," began Yuna, "'Mako' energy enables your way of life. You and your people cannot live without it."
"Not without a collapse of our society," said the President, a tad of smug in his voice, "Mako Energy was Shinra's gift to the world."
More like the way Shinra controls the world and made it dependent on the Company.
Yuna frowned a little, thinking. "I can see why you need it I suppose. Just how much more of it do you need?"
"They need nothing more Lady Yuna," spat Lord Kisaragi, "They already have many reactors scattered through their lands. Their capital has eight reactors in it alone!"
Yuna's head turned from him to Shinra, waiting an answer.
"Mako energy isn't infinite," said Shinra with a huff, "We will need more eventually, and it can't hurt to bring Wutai up to the same standards as the rest of the world."
Yuna's eyes narrowed. "How the Wutai live their lives is for them, and them alone, to determine, not you..."
A dislike for people imposing their way of life on others. Another note for her profile.
"...beyond that, eventually is not now. Certainly there must be other areas that you could build these 'reactors' at," finished Yuna, her glare at Shinra a hard thing.
Coupled with the bruising all over her face, her harsh words gave her a rather hardened appearance; the wounded Cetra defiantly staring down the dictator without giving an inch. Genesis would have loved to have personally been here to watch it. Sephiroth could mildly admit he was impressed with her putting Shinra in his place, because she frankly wasn't wrong. Of course, he wasn't paid nor employed to give such opinions.
Shinra however didn't seem phased. "We've been in war for years now, Shinra is not going to back down with nothing to show for it."
"Pride?" Yuna scoffed.
"No more than Wutai's," countered Shinra, "They could easily have just allowed it to begin with, and the war wouldn't have happened."
"And allowed your abominable reactors which destroy nature around them?" said Lord Kisaragi with scorn, "Our lands thrive because we treat them well, not bleed them dry as you do. What is the point of bowing to maintain our sovereignty if the land we live on is dead? Not to simply mention giving Shinra complete economic control over us by adopting their energy and way of life."
He turned to Yuna. "Make no mistake Lady Yuna, building their reactor is an act of war itself, economic war, that would have let them dominate us without firing a bullet."
Let it not be said that Lord Kisaragi was not intelligent.
Yuna nodded slowly, turning to Shinra. "I suppose then, the crux of the matter is that you want a reactor, and the Wutai do not. So I ask..."
There was something in the way she shifted her position that drew Sephiroth's focus, they way she subtley tensed, her eyes focusing, her mouth firm set. "...is there nothing else that Shinra would desire in place of a reactor?"
Shinra scoffed. "What would Wutai have to offer that could compare to a Mako Reactor?"
"That is for you to decide," said Yuna, "There is much Wutai, or I myself, would give to end the war."
'or I myself'? Something about the way she said that...
"Take a recess to these negotiations and think on it," offered Yuna.
Shinra nodded slowly, and studied her carefully, an interested gleam in his eyes. "Very well. I will consider my possibilities."
As they were led to the guest wing of the pagoda, Sephiroth's mind was abuzz trying to identify what the Cetra's goals were. Because he had been wrong, this wasn't just a message, or a naive attempt at negotiations, Lady Yuna was trying in earnest to end the war. Her words echoed in his mind again, 'I myself', and he began to replay his few encounters with the Cetra, trying to see if he could figure it out.
It took him until he was led into his own room and sat down on his bed to understand, and he was left momentarily flabbergasted. His first instinct was to throw out the idea, it was ludicrous, but...
He recalled, in the last battle, that look of surprise from her when he had ordered Angeal to capture her. She hadn't been expecting that, to be taken alive. He had figured, in their words before that battle began, that she had come out there to fight to the death for Wutai. That she would have been more than willing to give her life if it would bring Wutai victory. He had taken that as the typical Wutai fervor, to give their lives for their land. But it wasn't that, Yuna did not belong to Wutai, fealty to the land and the lord had nothing to do with it.
It was self-sacrifice.
He put that piece into the puzzle of the Cetra, and so much more of how she acted or what she did made sense. She was going to offer herself in place of a Mako Reactor in Wutai, she had been angling towards that the entire time. She knew they wanted her, that a Cetra was important enough for the three top SOLDIERs to go and capture, and was using that to weigh the importance of herself against the reactor. He considered the possibilities of it, of Shinra asking that, and found that she might actually succeed if that was truly her aim.
Then, he thought of Hojo and his labs, and found himself pitying her.
Because she had no idea what that sacrifice would cost her.
The next morning, Sephiroth found himself in the same position at the negotiation tables as before, this time though, he noted an eagerness in the President.
"There is one thing we may consider in place of a Mako Reactor," began Shinra after everyone was seated.
"Which is?" questioned Yuna.
"The services of the Cetra," said Shinra.
Lord Kisaragi looked positively furious, and if not for Yuna's quick hand on his shoulder, Sephiroth imagined the Wutain would have exploded. He took note of Yuna's face, she wasn't surprised in the slightest, so Sephiroth had been correct in his assumptions, this truly was her goal...
"If you agree to come and work for the Company," said Shinra, "To offer your services, allow us to study you, and answer our questions truthfully about you and your people, we will withdraw from Wutai."
"I cannot believe this outrage!" said Godo, beginning to rise to his feet.
"Very well," Yuna said without hesitation, "So long as the withdrawal is complete, and a treaty or some other binding contract in place to make sure Shinra stays out of Wutai, then I accept."
Lord Kisaragi was stunned. "Lady Yuna... you cannot think to... Shinra will destroy you!"
Yuna gave him a sad, self-depreciating smile. "A small price to pay for an entire nation."
Self-sacrificing indeed, and so very foolish, ignorant.
"Well then," said Shinra, looking rather pleased, "I wish all my business negotiations went as quick and smoothly as this did, my job would certainly be less stressful."
Sephiroth resisted the urge to scoff. He had stood guard at the President's suite enough times to know there was nothing stressing in the way the fat man lived in unfathomable luxury.
Lord Kisaragi was having a silent stare down with Lady Yuna, and the latter was not budging an inch. Finally, the man crumpled, sagging into the cushion he sat on, looking more than twice his age. "It will be as the Cetra wills it."
"I do have one request first," began Yuna, looking at President.
"Which is?" inquired Shinra.
"The dead from the last battle, are they still where they fell?" she asked, turning to Sephiroth.
He stiffened a little bit. "We have had little chance to retrieve and bury them."
"Then I ask to preform a Sending there first," she said, "The dead deserve their peace."
Shinra waved it off. "Do as you will, I need time to consider how this will be publicly handled."
Yuna shrugged her shoulders. "That's your problem."
"You will be involved with it without a doubt," pointed out Shinra.
Yuna merely held his gaze, not particularly caring.
"I can have a helicopter loaned out for you to use," said Shinra, "As I doubt it will take me the time it would cost you to get there on foot."
She gave him a puzzled look. "What is a helicopter?"
"Air transportation," he answered, looking amused, "My dear, you have much to learn about the wonders of technology."
Sephiroth turned his intellect on the President, weighing his words. It almost sounded like he was offering that as an attempt to sway her to their cause. If Yuna played her cards right, and kept herself in the President's good graces, she might not simply be thrown to Hojo. Not that she would know or understand the dangers of that.
Yuna merely hummed in response, rising to her feet. "Very well. Let us be on our way. Lord Kisaragi, I trust you can let your advisors and people know of my decision?"
There was an air of grief around the man. "As you will, Lady Yuna."
"I do request however," said Shinra, eyes narrowing, "That General Sephiroth goes with you to... keep an eye on things."
Yuna stiffened, looking outright insulted. "I am a woman of my word, President Shinra."
"I still insist."
Yuna scowled. "Fine," and turned to Sephiroth, "If you would lead the way, General?"
Sephiroth kept his face schooled as he walked from the room, Tseng following to serve as a pilot, leading her out of the pagoda, down the streets of Wutai, and to one of the waiting helicopters; Tseng took to the front, and Sephiroth climbed into the passenger compartment. He turned when he noted she hadn't entered, watching her stare at the helicopter with a bit of trepidation. Her eyes roamed it, a look of bafflement on her face. "How... does this machina fly?"
"The helicopter blades," he answered simply, pointing upward, "When the blades rotate, it creates a lift that propels it through the air, altering the angle of the blades allows you to change directions. The mechanics of it is a bit more complex, but that is the simple explanation."
She nodded slowly and took a hesitant step closer, still uncertain. He wondered briefly if she was a technophobe. Technophobia would make her interactions with Shinra... complex... to say the least, when they returned to Midgar. He offered out a hand, and she hesitatingly took it. He pulled her into the helicopter before he moved to sit and buckle himself in. She watched him before doing the same, sitting down and staring at the buckle for a moment, finger running down the strap and metal part, eyes wandering to the part to plug it into.
"This keeps us from falling out, keeps us steady when moving," she sounded it, not a question, more like speaking herself through a problem or a concept.
"Yes," he answered.
She buckled in with a click, and tested it out, pulling on it, leaning forward, and seeing how much she could stand with the buckle in. Finally, she settled back in and waited. Tseng was watching from the front, studying her actions. Sephiroth closed the helicopter doors, gave Tseng a nod, and the helicopter took to the air a minute later. Yuna briefly yelped in surprise, hands gripping the seat tightly. She leaned towards a window, looking out on the landscape below, a little queasy, before she stopped and turned to stare at the empty space across from her.
Sephiroth might have been content for silence under normal circumstances, but...
He respected the Cetra, for what she had done up to this point, and was willing to do; he kept his voice low enough for Tseng not to hear over the helicopter. "You have little idea of what you are getting yourself into, Lady Yuna."
She turned her head and stared at him silently.
"The Cetra are a subject of much interest within Shinra, and I imagine, within the Science Department," said Sephiroth with mild distaste, "If you are not careful with how you tread, you may find this out the hard way."
She didn't particularly seem phased. "I see."
"No, I don't think you do," he said firmly, "Your life will be forfeit in ways you cannot fathom if you so much as step out of line from what Shinra wants."
"As it was with Yevon," she rebutted simply.
He did not know who or what Yevon was, but he severely doubted it compared to Hojo. Yet... it sounded as if she was used to this somehow. Was this truly how her life had been? "Do you truly value your own life and freedom so little?"
Why would she give up her freedom so willingly? A freedom he had never had.
Yuna stared at him silently for the duration of the trip, her eyes unmoving, unblinking for an unnaturally long time, and only spoke when the helicopter touched down; Sephiroth immediately picked up on the pain in her voice, "I am a Summoner, like my father before me. The entire purpose of a Summoner is to die for others, that to fulfill my purpose would cost me my life, so that they may live in peace, in a Calm."
He stared at her in disbelief. A SOLDIER knew they could die, but it wasn't their purpose TO die. What kind of society created such a barbaric function?
She slowly shook her head and turned away, unbuckling, pure bitterness filing her voice, "Even though I discovered that entire purpose was built on a lie, that a thousand years of summoners died for nothing, it's been my entire life since my father left me, General, I know nothing else."
Sephiroth watched her open the door and leave, but did not immediately go to follow. He weighed her words in his head, the tones she took, her body language, the potential history behind what she had said. There was so much more to this woman than met the eye. But more than that...
"It's been my entire life since my father left me, General, I know nothing else."
The words resonated with him in a way that wasn't comfortable in the slightest. Hojo's labs, SOLDIER, Shinra, had been his entire life since Gast had left, had abandoned him, he knew nothing else either. While Gast hadn't been his father, the man had been the closest thing to a father figure Sephiroth ever had, who had actually treated him as more than an object, a specimen, a puppet general. While Sephiroth hadn't been created to die, he found that he and Yuna shared a similarity in a key way, and it left him disquieted.
He unbuckled and left the helicopter, watching from the dry spot they had landed on as Yuna stepped upon the empty battlefield, the nearby fort abandoned to the stench and decay of the rotting swampland Yuna had left it in the wake of Leviathan. Stepping in that muck, filled with submerged dead, was a sure-fire way to risk disease...
Except that she wasn't stepping in water.
She was stepping on it. Walking on it.
He watched her scour the battlefield with her eyes, landing on her staff sticking out of the water, where it had fallen in the battle. She walked over to it and took it into her hands. She took a deep breath, and began to dance with a single fluid motion. In that motion, his eyes briefly met hers, and he saw a world of pain and grief in them. He watched her spin, crouching down low and coming up high, her staff flowing through the air. She thrust it forward and bowed before pulling it back, thrusting it forward again, and bowing low. She rose up to her feet and spun her staff into the air overhead...
His eyes went slightly wide to see unlit torches on the walls and gates of the fort ignited into blue fire as the water propelled her into the air, rising under her feet. Green energy began to spill out of the various corpses on the battlefield, circling around her. Still she danced, ontop of the rising water, staff winging through the air appearing to guide the green energy around it.
Sephiroth recalled this 'dance' being described as one of the most beautiful yet terrifying things one of his SOLDIERs had ever seen. He found himself agreeing with that statement. Sephiroth was not one for faith, but there was something distinctly spiritual about this, something more. His senses were tingling as bodies burst into green energy and faded away, guided by the Cetra. Lady Yuna kept her face controlled, but there was sadness, pain, and grief in her every move. There was history in these well practiced motions, she had to have done this many times before, and despite how her body must ache to preform this 'Sending' with her wounds, she had not hesitated to do it. A notion of duty he more than understood, that he appreciated and valued himself.
He found himself entranced, watching the every twirl of her staff, the motions of her arms and legs, the rippling of her hair through the air... he did not know what he felt at that moment. This was a sight he could watch again and again, spellbound to it, to her, and yet... he also never wanted to see it again. It deeply unsettled him. If there were any lingering doubts that she wasn't more than human, that she wasn't a Cetra, they were gone.
Finally, the green energy settled back into the water, into the soil beneath it, and the blue firelight faded. All the dead were gone. 'Claimed by the Planet' as Genesis would say. The water lowered and set Yuna down, and she slowly made her way back, tiny ripples echoing through the water at each step. When she stood before him, he had a difficult time for once trying to figure out what to say. So, he went for the logical thing, if he understood what the purpose of a 'Sending' was, he took it as a religious ritual to give peace to the fallen.
He offered two quiet words, "Thank you," after all, she was giving peace to his men as well, and he could respect that greatly.
She gave him a sad, tired smile, and walked past him without a word, climbing into the helicopter. The ride back was in complete silence save for the helicopter blades. She looked tired, exhausted, and he was to lost in his own thoughts to try to spark a conversation. They returned to the capital of Wutai, and left the helicopter, making for the pagoda once more. They were directed towards the meeting room, apparently Shinra and Lord Kisaragi were convening again, over what, Sephiroth did not know.
The loud voices emanating from within however let him know it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"...is outrageous! How DARE you expect that of the Cetra!" thundered Lord Kisaragi, "How DARE you expect we will go along with it!"
Yuna sighed softly and took the lead, brushing past Sephiroth and stepping into the room. "Expect what of me, exactly?"
Shinra looked positivly pleased with himself. "I've been thinking of how the public would react to the sudden end of the war, and come up with a way that would spin it in all of our favors."
"Which is?"
"To those gathered, we would know it to be a Marrage of State," said the Preisdent smugly, then going for disdain, "To the public? They eat it up as a good love story."
Sephiroth did his best to not make a face. A political marrage? That was how he was going to explain the end of the war? Marry the Cetra off and cart it as a tale of love that brought two nations to peace? It made sense, had happened before in history, and the public would respond to it. He still found it rather disgusting and degrading, both to the Cetra and whoever she would be wed with. Not that whichever political bootlicker wouldn't get prestige for it. He briefly wondered who it would be...
"I can see the headlines now," said the President, "Cetra and the Silver General, first meeting as enemies..."
Wait, WHAT?
No.
No, he was not getting dragged into any more of the political games Shinra played, he had to suffer enough PR stunts as it was, he would not be used this way. "President Shinra, with due respect, I must protest this."
"I've already come to a decision Sephiroth," stated the President, voice going firm, "If I have to make it an order, I will. She is to powerful to leave unsupervised by anyone except one of our top Firsts; this serves as a cover to keep her under your watch."
Sephiroth's fists clenched tightly as he weighed his options. The Presidents reasoning did have merit, but he still did not want this. Let Angeal (who would never force the Cetra to do anything against her will in the marrage) or Genesis (who would enjoy the theatrics of it) play this game. He considered calling in every favor he had, how much the company owed him for his efforts, for the hell they had put him through with Hojo that he had never called them out on...
And then Lady Yuna laughed, there was an almost hysterical note to it. "This again?"
They all turned, and Sephiroth was momentarily caught offguard. "You've been politically wed before?"
"As a matter of fact," she said, a hint of chagrin to it, "Yes. Not that it lasted. Among other things, my would-be 'husband' ran me through with a spear and threw me off the side of a mountain."
Sephiroth raised both incredulous eyebrows at that. Just what kind of life had the Cetra lived before now?
Yuna slowly shook her head and turned for the door. "I'm tired and going to rest, so do as you wish. I've done this charade before, set up your sham wedding and give me my lines to speak."
She briefly turned to look at Sephiroth, a mixture of amused resignation in her eyes, and a touch of despair that left him unsettled. "Hopefully this one wont end up trying to kill me as well."
With that, she left, and he stared at the door as it closed. Did she truly, truly, value herself so little that she would debase herself to this? Apparently for the second time?
"Well then," mused the President, "It would appear I have a wedding to plan."
"I haven't agreed to this," said Sephiroth thinly.
"Then we will discuss it in private," said the President, "But in the end, you will bend on this."
'Over his dead body' was the thought that ran through his head as the two of them left the flabbergasted and disgruntled Lord of Wutai behind them and made for the guest wing of the pagoda...
Author's Notes: Sephiroth is not going to be happy, and Genesis is going to have so much fun at his expense. Also, Genesis called Ifrit on Zack in Crisis Core, right? Wedding gift for Yuna! :evilsmile;
Review Responses:
Unlike Us: Ah, my favorite reviewer returns in his full glory! Thanks for all the thoughts.
Yuna will slowly begin to move on from her previous life, though it will take time and effort, but in the end, Yuna is who Yuna is, and against Jenova, it might take everything Yuna has to face the Calamity. She is, as you say, particularly hard (ruthless) on (towards) herself. How the top SOLDIERs react to her, especially Sephiroth, remains to be seen, though she has already had an impact, and will continue to make one. I'm considering that the summons may be able to manifest themselves, though it wont be as easy as with a Summoner.
Anima and Yuna will have their moments, and aside from the absolute powerhouse summons of FF7 (KoTR, Zirconde, maybe Minerva), none of them will match Anima's power. Maybe Bahamut Zero, IDK, Bahamut might be difficult to figure out, as FF7 has like, 3 or 4 different Bahamut summons, so I'll have to put some thought into it, or recon out the additional Bahamuts for the purpose of the story. Child Persona Bahamut could have his uses...
As for Yuna's ignorance, we're all going to have fun watching her be introduced to various technologies, machines, and gadgets! :D. Yuna will thankfully be out of harms way for awhile, so no more brutalized Yuna for the time being, unless she does end up in the labs, haven't quite decided yet.
Patrick the Observer: Yeah... Yuna doesn't truly understand Mako Energy yet, but she will, especially when she eventually gets questioned on the 'Promised Land'. She's not going to like it. Raven Ninjas... I'm not sure that would really work, as aren't Raven's stripped of their humanity/free will/sense of self by whatever the hell Fuhito does to convert them? Not very compatible with a Ninja's individuality and independent actions.