Important notes: Using Japanese as the basis for Wutainese language. Because Vincent married Yuffie, who is royalty in Wutai, he accepted her last name and not the traditional other way around. This is because the Wutainese people would probably like to keep the same name for the ruling family. P o ws - Prisoners of War. Ryuu is indeed from two of my other stories and looks exactly the same as "Rod Turk" from Before Crisis, this is because I love the character and it's easier for me to use him since I have already expanded his character in other places. He is NOT Rod Turk in this story, he is just modeled physically after him and coincidentaly is also a Turk. I will treat him as an Oc since he has never been expanded on in any game. He is also rather skilled in photoshop, read on to understand! Zack and Seph have no modesty in this chapter, be warned they can carry on a conversation completely naked!
Koruyuha - Thank you for the first review!!! I appreciate the feedback. As for it being confusing about how the Older Cloud knows the things he does, it will be explained in Cloud's Version of "Flashbacks". All of the three, not counting Cloud twice, points of view will have a chapter type dedicated to them to explain certain details. Zack's will be called "Flashbacks", Cloud's will be "Memories", and Sephiroth's will be "Hallucinations". They will fill in the blank spots that the main plot doesn't cover. And as for Zack and Seph's reaction, it's going to be good! I promise! ^_^
1- Young Cloud
2- Zack
3- Older Cloud
4- Sephiroth
RYUU - sinisteral (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) art (slash) FFVII-Before-Crisis-20367394
ZARA - evil-monkey-chu (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) art (slash) Ninja-66291825
Interrogation
4th Viewpoint
Well that wasn't very nice. A second before killing the soldiers, they bashed both of us over the head. Or at least that's what I think happened. The blow to the head really is messing with my memory. "Wakey, wakey." That was about the only warning I got before what felt like daggers were dumped over my head. My eyes snapped open to realize I had been soaked to the bone with a bucket of ice water. And apparently I'm naked. "Finally you wake up. You've been snoozing for hours, buddy." My eyes focus slightly on the person in front of me. There is a red-haired male dressed in casual black attire. "Nice to meet ya, my name's Ryuu." Wutainese for dragon, yet he is obviously not Wutainese. "Who are you?" He snorts and raises an eyebrow. "I don't have to tell you a damned thing. I'm not the prisoner of war here, and besides I just told ya. My name's Ryuu. Don't go looking for the last name either, that one doesn't reach prisoner's ears."
Prisoner of war? Dammit this is what I was trying to avoid! "I am General Sephiroth of the ShinRa Army. I suggest that if you value your life, you will return my Lieutenant General and my clothing before setting us up with comfortable transport back to Midgar." A smirk is my only response for a moment, and then he answers. "I know exactly who you are Sephiroth. And unfortunately for you, I don't really give a damn. As for your Lieutenant, well… His blow to the head was much more severe than yours, we didn't know who he was in time to administer proper medical care and he died several hours ago." A bluff. A blatant bluff to incite violence. "Lies. The mako in Zackary's body would heal any wound that your men could have dealt him outside of blowing him up. Where is my Lieutenant General?"
Ryuu just smirks even wider. "I already told you. He's dead. When I said 'blow to the head' I meant we put a bullet in his brain. No one important to us, you're the important lookin' one. You want pictures? I didn't think you would be into that kind of stuff, but hell if you insist." He lifts up a folder and pulls out three photos. The photos are slide across the table to me and I cautiously take them. I can't stop my heart from spasming in my chest at the sight. They depict Zackary's body with a bullet wound on the forehead, an exit wound, and a hole in the back of the head, the entrance wound. His eyes are milky and dead, but surprisingly they are what tip me off to another scam. Those aren't Zackary's eyes. "Fake." Ryuu smiles and laughs slightly. "Nothing gets past you huh? Well I guess that is good enough proof of who you are. You're right, those are doctored photos. Your buddy is being interrogated in the room next to this one."
Despite knowing beforehand that Zackary was safe, I couldn't help but feel relieved at the confirmation. "Why are we being questioned like this? We are ShinRa personnel, Generals at that. We should be released immediately." Ryuu frowns for the first time and a realization strikes me extremely hard. This man is a Turk. Why would Wutai have Turks? Wutai shouldn't even know they exist. "I'm afraid we can't do that. You saw something you weren't supposed to see." I notice for the first time, suddenly much more aware, that this is not only not a man but he isn't even normal. This is a mako'ed up teenager. A ShinRa Turk? "You're a Turk. A young one at that. Why am I being held against my will by a member of the company I work for?" Ryuu's frown deepens slightly and he sighs.
"I don't work for ShinRa. And yeah, I'm a Turk. You got your facts mixed up if you think ShinRa is the only organization with Turks." I detect no lies in that statement, which is probably even worse than if I had. "Were you trained by ShinRa? You are mako enhanced. Have you defected from the ShinRa Turks?" He shakes his head. "Nah. My dad was a Turk for ShinRa, I had no connection to it other than that. The mako is from him. I was trained by him. And when the fuck did this turn into my interrogation? Now how did you get here?" I see no point in lying, the truth is far less believable than any lie anyway. "I was sent here by the Lifestream. We were dropped off in a valley of southern Wutai." Ryuu raises an eyebrow but doesn't look very surprised.
"Hold on a second." I nod and he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cell phone. A speed-dial number and he is holding the phone to his ear. Apparently someone answered because he started to talk. "Bring him over here." That was all the conversation included. We waited for a moment before the door was opened and a very much naked Zackary was marched in, groaning about how much his head hurt. He looked up at me and grinned slightly. "I knew they were lying." So they tried the 'killed your friend' move on him too. Behind Zackary a woman walked into the room, dressed in skimpy black shorts and tank top, yet I could tell instantly this was a Wuatinese ninja. She too was no more than a teenager and I was infinitely shocked to see she was also mako enhanced. Since when did any Wutainese allow themselves to be injected with mako?
Zackary was pushed into a chair next to me and the girl took a seat next to Ryuu across from us. "Yo, my name is Zara. Don't think to be prying for any more info like your little friend here did, he didn't get much more than a smack on the back of the head." Zackary responded instantly with an indignant glare. Ryuu reintroduced himself for Zackary's sake and soon we were sitting at a stalemate. I was the first to speak. "Where are we?" The answer was instant, "Wutai." I rolled my eyes and sighed. Typical no extra information answer from Turks or ninjas. "Are you working for Deepground?" The question was harsh and straightforward. Deepground? I made a mental note to pay attention to any more references to it. "No." Both nod and suddenly relax.
"You're not lying. Well then let's be a little more formal. My name is Zara Kisaragi, I'm the Princess of Wutai." Princess of Wutai?! Her name was supposed to be Yuffle or something, not Zara. "You're lying." The woman raises an eyebrow at our simultaneous response. "How so?" Zackary takes the liberty to expand for the both of us. "The Princess of Wutai's name is Yuffie, not Zara. We are Generals of ShinRa, we have to meet with the Lord of Wutai every so often to keep the peace." Zara laughs and shakes her head. "Wrong. I'm Yuffie Kisaragi's daughter, Zara Kisaragi. My mother is the Lady of Wutai and my father Vincent Kisaragi, formerly Vincent Valentine, is the Lord of Wutai. My grandfather on my mother's side, Lord Godo Kisaragi, passed away several years before I was born."
3rd Viewpoint
The blast tears apart my clothing, but luckily leaves me and my bike relatively unharmed. Not saying it didn't hurt though. I just kept barreling on through the attack and straight for Azul. My avoiding his attack obviously shook him and he quickly moved from my path. I don't really care and take the time to clear out a couple more dozen soldiers and monsters. His little escort isn't that big, just enough to keep him concealed from immediate view and have his back covered. I make a sharp turn and repeat the same maneuver, wiping out countless soldiers in each long charge. Azul fires off another blast at me, but I swerve away from it, letting it kill his own men. Yet he fires again and I repeat the process, no harm in letting the lug do my work for me.
4th Viewpoint
Well that was some shocking information. The Princess of Wutai was only a child, about ten or eleven, when we were on Gaia last. If she is already old enough to have grown daughter, I can only shudder to think how long we have been gone. Zackary is thinking the same thing and he wilts visibly. "Have you ever met… a Cloud Strife?" I am shocked to hear the sad little question from Zackary. He sounds so defeated. Yet even more surprisingly, both of the people in front of us break into a huge smile. "You bet we have!" If our heads weren't spinning before, they sure are now. "Huh? How? Where?" Ryuu is the first to respond to Zackary's rapid-fire questions. "The man is a legend. He was the strongest First Class SOLDIER of ShinRa. He rose through the ranks like a madman! After you went missing they had some trouble replacing you, so he was up for consideration for the position of General."
I am not so shocked that they knew we were missing, we are so important in the ShinRa army that any length of time not accounted for would be all over the media. What is shocking to me is that: One – Cloud is obviously well known and strong and… most likely grown up, and Two – they are using the past tense. "What do you mean 'was'?" They both tilt their head to the side and grimace. "Well… That was back when there was a ShinRa." All of a sudden it felt like I had been struck with a hammer. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. "Was a ShinRa"? How could that be? ShinRa is the biggest corporation on the planet, there can be no was! "You're lying." Ryuu sneers. "For once, no I'm not." Zackary leans across the table, now desperately. "What happened to the SOLDIERs? What happened to Cloud?!"
Zara shakes her head slightly. "We can't tell you anything more yet. We need to get clearance from HQ to tell P.o.W.s anything like that. But we can have you taken to the base where they should be able to give you clearance. I know you probably think we're at war with ShinRa forces from the battleground you saw, but we aren't. We are allies to what remains of ShinRa. Strong allies, my father was a Turk when he was young for example. And as for ShinRa itself… Well Neo-ShinRa is about ten times stronger anyway. Right now you are in Beret, a small naval military base on the coast, only a couple hundred miles west from Tsukia. We need to take you to our main military base in the city of Wutai. We can then arrange for you to maybe get to Aquene for some more info."
I nod slowly, absorbing the information. There is so much about this new world I don't know about. I have never even heard of 'Aquene' and the mere idea of the Lady of Wutai marrying a Turk is absurd to me. Neo-ShinRa? What's the difference? I can only hope that we will get some more information in Wutai's capital. Being a prisoner of war has it benefits though, it means we are to be fed and given a place to sleep. Zackary doesn't seem to be taking the news of having for wait to hear about Cloud very well, but he nods for the sake of moving forward. This is all so confusing, and I can only imagine that it's all killing Zackary, what with the worry about Cloud and the fight for survival. "When do we leave?" Ryuu looks me in the eye and I can't help but think of Cloud for some strange reason… "Tomorrow." At least we are leaving soon. But I still can't help but wonder… What the hell have we wound up in the middle of?
