Another Time, Another Place

Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.

Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.

Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.

That night, Cloud thought about Rufus's words. Could he trust the ex-Shinra President? Somehow he thought he was telling the truth. Did this mean he was.. going to die? The thought brought no terror. He had faced death many times. He had even hoped for death sometimes. After Sephiroth's defeat part of him had toyed with thoughts of suicide. He had stared into the exposed Lifestream at Mideel and thought about simply leaping in and dying there, cradled by waves of souls. Aeris was there somewhere in her afterlife, sending messages to Rufus. But part of him knew it wasn't the answer and now he was proved right. There was another new risk to the world and he had to fight again. Perhaps this time he would be awarded death at the same Masamune that had seperated Aeris from this world.

He frowned. The thought of seeing her again in a world where nothing could trouble them was appealing. But something did not ring true about it. He doubted Aeris would tell him of approaching death although he was sure she could see it. She had seen her own death, he thought. The Cetra had whispered to her and told her what she must do, and she gone to her death unflinchingly, knowing she must cross over to the Lifestream before she could save the world. And there was something that troubled her. Like Tifa had said, Aeris had always talked about the future and meeting again. He had assumed that she meant in the Lifestream but that had never seemed quite right. After all of her talking about meeting again and coming back, did this mean that.. she would return to him? After this threat was removed from the world, perhaps she would be allowed to return? He hardly dared hope for it. Rufus may have heard her voice, but he was hardly the most stable person around. It didn't mean anything. He quashed the rising hope within his heart and went to sleep.

- - - - - - - -

The next day was frosty and bright. Cloud rose late and found the rest of them waiting for him downstairs in the inn. Cid looked distinctly unhappy about letting Shinra members near his precious Highwind again. Cloud didn't think the chances of Rufus running off with it were particularly high and told him so.

As they left the inn, they were attacked by a snowball-wielding Yuffie who seemed quite recovered from her ordeal. Despite the serious situation, Barret found great glee in seeing the former President and Turks being attacked by snowballs. His glee ended when Yuffie dumped the remainder of her snowballs down his back and ran off.

The sun was up and the sky was clear, so the long walk seemed more pleasant this time. Flash was still limping slightly still and so they spared the Chocobo from carrying a heavy load. After the first hour, they had to stop after Rufus threatened to faint. The former President wasn't used to great physical exertion. Yuffie immediately took up where she had left off and pranced around throwing snowballs and taunting the whole group, stopped only after Cid cunningly threw a snowball into her open mouth with great accuracy.

When they finally reached the Highwind, they settled back for a two or three hour journey to Nibelheim. Tifa headed for a deck, wishing to avoid the talk of war and such. She found Vincent already there and the two of them watched the land flash by in comfortable silence.

Yuffie sat in the stable with her Chocobo, fussing over the cut which had healed almost entirely now. It was surprisingly useful for taking her mind off her motion-sickness. And she didn't want to go to the main room where the air was thick with tension and unspoken accusations.

"Approaching Nibelheim!" Cid brought the Highwind down expertly, landing it within a short distance of the strange village.

"Who is going in?" Cloud asked. "We can't all rush in without causing a stir," After a few minutes, Cloud eventually agreed to take Vincent and Red XIII. He trusted the two to not get carried away in battle if there was any trouble. "I suppose I should go," Rufus said uneasily. "The locks on the storage for dangerous experiments usually needed a clearance code. If you try to break it by force you could do a lot of damage,". Cloud nodded. It made sense.

"Do you know the code?" He asked.

"I was the bloody President," Rufus pointed out. "My code opens everything that was Shinra property whether it was the Sister Ray blueprints or the cleaner's supplies,"

"Fair enough," Cloud didn't want a confrontation. "Then let's get going," He led the group through the village which was as quiet and unsettling as ever.

"This is Nibelheim?" Red XIII looked uneasy.

"Not really," Cloud shot Rufus a dark look. "After the village was destroyed and everyone killed, Shinra covered it up by rebuilding the place and hiring actors. It may look the same but it was completely rebuilt 12 years ago,"

There was something frightening about the area and especially the intimidating abandoned mansion that Rufus only dimly remembered. He'd been there once when he was perhaps 14 or 15, shortly before the village was burnt down. Then, it had seemed like a pleasant, beautifully-decorated place where Shinra employees had stayed whilst on assignments in the area. It had been somewhat less pleasant when he had discovered how much research had been done in the basement and how many lives had been destroyed and quietly covered up down there.

Cloud opened the massive doors. "There are a lot of monsters here now," He warned Rufus and Red XIII. "Stay close," They went quickly through the dark rooms with ruined, tattered furnishings. Soft rustles and clicks came from just outside their vision. Some of these monsters had just moved in, some were the survivors of various experiments.

Into the basement. Rufus had rarely visited any of Hojo's labratories and never this one. It was nothing like the brightly lit, sterile labs he remembered and more like an ancient torture chamber. Cloud and Vincent quietly went to work on the Seal spells and opening the locked doors whilst Red XIII and Rufus waited in awkward silence. Red XIII wasn't a judgemental creature but Rufus couldn't meet his eyes knowing much of the work here had been under Shinra's orders.

"You two coming?" They suddenly noticed the spells had been removed and followed Cloud and Vincent into the dark rooms that had been hidden from the world for so long.

"Ok, get to work on the opening mechanism," Cloud pointed it out. Rufus warily eyed the creature that floated, suspended in time. The machine was rather out-dated compared to those he had known, but operating it was quite simple. He typed in his code quickly and there was a sudden click. They all backed away as the machine sprang to life.

Four great metal bolts held the glass front in place. There was a whirring as they sprang out and soft wisps of blueish mist curled around the edges. The entire front was flipped upwards with a quiet hum and a rush of blue liquid as Project Kuja was released from his glass prison.

The blue haze tendrils curled and slowly disappeared, revealing Kuja. He knelt, almost unmoving and disorientated before them. Silver hair obscured his face. They discreetly reached for their weapons, watching for sudden movement.

"Kuja?" Red XIII made the first move. He slowly approached and sat quietly before the unmoving figure. He knew well how it felt when you were hauled up before scientists. One hand twitched and then swept silver hair from his eyes.

"Who are you?" The words came slowly, spoken in a strange and faintly cultured accent. He stood painfully and regarded the group. Reddish tendrils of light flickered around the tips of his fingers and they instinctively backed away.

"We aren't anything to do with Shinra," Cloud stepped forward. "The Shinra company doesn't exist any more.."

He was scanned by deep blue eyes. Mako-infused eyes. "Shinra..."

"They're over," Rufus said softly. The light brightened momentarily around Kuja and then faded. He seemed wary, but not about to blast them with a spell any time soon.

"Then what do you-" Kuja was cut off as he swayed suddenly and leant against the side of the open glass cage for support. Cloud approached. "Are you ok?" He asked. Kuja answered by falling unconscious to the ground.