.:`'~ Legacy ~'`:.

-=-=-=-=-=-

Cool guys don't look at explosions
They blow things up and then walk away
Who's got time to watch an explosion?
Because cool guys have errands that they have to walk to..
Keep walkin', keep shinin'
Don't look back keep on walkin'
Keep struttin' slow motion
The more you ignore it, the cooler you look

-=-=-=-=-=-

Interlude

"So, where's the writer?" Cloud asked as he sat down at a table with a hot mug of coffee.

"Who cares?" Squall replied, sitting back in his seat and folding his arms nonchalantly.

Cloud made a small noise and leaned over his drink, sniffing the hot steam wafting from the cup. "I do," He answered quietly, "It's finally to a point where I get to do something important."

"What are you talking about?" Squall asked, looking at Cloud through the corners of his eyes.

Cloud shrugged and tore open a package of sugar, emptying the contents into his coffee. "All I've done so far is mope about in an empty canvas of your head, talk to some imaginary friends of yours, and daydream." He paused, "I think."

Squall snorted softly and shook his head, "You've had it easy. At least you haven't been painted the bumbling idiot from nowhere who was stupid enough to-" He was interrupted suddenly by a pair of hands covering his eyes from behind, and a soft voice chirping, "To what?"

"Aw hell-"

Rinoa giggled, "Guess who!"

"Oh no, it's Rinova, everyone run." Cloud commented, as he stirred his drink and took a testing sip.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and let go of Squall, pulling a chair closer to him and taking a seat. "That's what everyone was doing, last I recall." She said with a giggle, laying her head on Squall's shoulder. He shook her off immediately and glared at her.

"Get lost."

"Aw, that's not very nice is it Squally-poo?"

"Shut up."

"Awww, come on, play nice!"

"..."

"Leeeeeeoooon~!!"

"Oh Hyne." Squall pinched the bridge of his nose as the pitter patter of four small paws ran to the table.

"Leon!" Saitek howled, moments before crashing into the legs of the chair Squall sat in. The SeeD member grabbed onto the edge of the table to keep from falling over, and glared at the apologetic looking Lienlike afterwards. "Sorry!" The cub said meekly, then perked up with both ears, "Hey! So, what happens next? Do we get to go and beat up the bad guy?"

"Hey!" Rinoa scowled, folding her arms.

Saitek looked at her sheepishly, "Sorry. Bad girl?"

She smiled and patted him on the head.

"No." Squall answered, glaring at the surface of the table. Cloud remained silent, holding the cup of coffee in both hands and savoring the scent of hot mocha in the air.

"Aww..." Saitek's ears deflated, "Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"The next chapter isn't written yet."

"It isn't?"

"No."

"Why isn't it done yet? I thought this was supposed to be done awhile ago!"

Squall sighed angrily, "No one can find the author."

"Whattya mean? She's right here isn't she?"

"No."

Saitek quirked an eye curiously, "Yes she is."

"No she's not."

"She is."

"She isn't." Squall growled.

"But she is! How else do you explain what we're doin' now?"

Squall looked at the cub through the corner of his eye, noticing Rinoa watching them like a ping pong ball game.

"I mean," Saitek continued, standing on his two rear legs with his forepaws on the edge of the table. "If we're here talking, then she's gotta be here writing us talking, right?"

"It doesn't work that way." Squall answered, looking at Cloud to find the other poorly attempting to hide a grin. He glared at him.

"What do you mean? How else does it work?" Saitek rolled his eyes, "Even I know this."

"Because," Squall growled again, looking at Saitek, "This is the author's way of apologizing to her readers and betas, and we're not supposed to be treating this like something she's written, but rather, an apology from us to them for and from her."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind."

Cloud hid a snicker behind his hand.

"I don't get it," Saitek frowned, his tail waving lazily in the air, "She's gotta be writing us doing this stuff, right? So she's here. Let's drag her out and make her write the next chapter!"

Squall said nothing.

"I've got an idea," Nanaki suddenly spoke up from the front of the table.

Squall jumped. "Where the hell did you-"

"Why don't you and Rinoa go and find her for us?" Nanaki continued quietly, smiling toothily at his son.

Saitek paused a moment, then looked at Rinoa. "Uhm... But..."

"That's a great idea," Squall suddenly said, looking directly at Saitek, "Do you think you have what it takes?"

Saitek huffed, puffing his furry chest out. "Of course I do! Come on Rinoa... Rinova... Bad guy... lady, whoever you are! Let's do this!"

"But I don't-" Rinoa started, yelping in surprise when the cub suddenly grabbed her hand in his mouth and yanked her away.

Nanaki chuckled as he watched them leave, looking over at Squall and Cloud. "You're welcome."

Squall said nothing, but dipped his head a little. Cloud shrugged loosely and sipped his coffee, "I was enjoying the show."

"You would." Squall muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Hm... Where's Vincent?" Cloud asked Nanaki, "Is he scheduled to appear?"

"Oh... I'm pretty sure he's lurking in a shadow somewhere. The author... I mean... he's probably waiting for the appropriate time to appear."

Cloud acknowledged with an 'Ah'.

There was a long moment of silence before Nanaki coughed politely, "This is awkward."

"It is." Cloud agreed.

"Mhm." Squall grunted.

"You know.. given the length of this little diddly so far, it's already roughly a third of a chapter length. You'd think the author would be smart and use this time to be writing the next chapter."

"Well, she claims to have already written most of it." Cloud said quietly.

"Like five times." Squall muttered again.

Nanaki snickered, then paused thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it... I don't believe 'diddly' is a word."

His chair suddenly broke from beneath him, and as Nanaki crashed to the floor he yelped, "Sorry!"

A random server nearby quickly replaced the broken seat.

"I heard she was going to rewrite the end of the last chapter." A deep voice suddenly spoke from another side of the table.

"There he is." Cloud stated, nodding his head in greeting as the ex-Turk stood ominously next to the group. Vincent tilted his head in response to all three of them.

Squall looked at him curiously, "Really? You mean... I -don't- get thrown into the glowing stream?"

"Lifestream," Cloud corrected quietly, sending a warning glance in his direction.

Squall shrugged. "Whatever."

"At one point it will happen," Vincent said, "But my resources tell me that she wishes to redo the ending."

Both he and Nanaki flinched.

"It was pretty bad." Cloud agreed.

"What resources?" Squall asked suspiciously.

Vincent looked at him and didn't answer. Squall rolled his eyes briefly.

"So why doesn't she do it?" Cloud asked suddenly.

Nanaki cleared his throat, "I believe it may be a sum of many contributing factors. One being her life, another her muses, time..." He shrugged.

Vincent's red eyes grew darker. "She keeps writing other things."

"What?" Both Squall and Cloud looked at him.

"Other stories... for other worlds."

"What about us, though?" Cloud asked with a small frown, shifting his weight in his seat.

Vincent shrugged.

"Great." Cloud muttered, looking down at his half-empty cup of coffee. "I'm going to be stuck in your head forever."

"It's not like I'm enjoying it either," Squall grumbled.

"What are you talking about? You're the hero of the story."

Squall rolled his eyes. "Yeah, only until -you- come along. Then everything focuses on you and I get tossed to the wind."

Cloud frowned, "You're still the hero of the story, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"No. I'd rather not be here. This is none of my business, it's not even my world."

Cloud scowled, "So you'd just let everything happen?"

"I don't have a choice!" Squall answered angrily.

"Maybe it's good that you don't!"

"Cut it out you two," Vincent growled.

Cloud and Squall went silent, but continued to glare at each other.

Nanaki coughed softly to hear his throat, "Well... This is going well."

When no one responded, Nanaki turned to Vincent, "So, do you have any idea when this next chapter or possible rewrite may be up?"

Vincent shook his head. "No. It's being worked on, but the progress is slow. It may be a few months... it may be a week. There's no way we can tell for sure. All I know is that it will happen. We just have to wait for it."

"I see..."

"What are these... 'other' stories?" Cloud suddenly asked.

Vincent turned to him, "Transformers and Bleach."

Cloud blinked at him. "Wait... what?"

"You mean we're being passed over for transforming robots and the cast of thousands?" Squall chimed in.

Vincent nodded his head.

"Great." Squall muttered.

"It could be worse," Cloud offered, "We could be crossed over with them."

Squall grimaced. "I -really- hope that doesn't happen..."

An evil cackle sounds in the air.

"She's kidding." Vincent says suddenly.

The evil cackle fades away... :(

…..............:`' ~ Author's Notes ~'`:................

Mkay, I just wanted to play around a bit. I really fail at these humor type things. ^^; and I got really lazy at the end there, and my BF walked in, so I had to end it because if he ever found out I was writing fanfiction I would be humiliated. xD If it at least brought a smile to your face, then my work is done!

I wanted to let everyone who has this story on alert know that Legacy is still very much in the works, and I really do appreciate the reviews I'm getting for it. I refuse to say it's on hiatus, though all signs point otherwise. I am very much considering rewriting the ending of the last chapter, extending the fight between Vincent, Nanaki and Rinova, but I'm still undecided. The indecision has sort of stalled my muses, so I'm attempting to work around it. ^^ I am now thoroughly convinced I jumped the gun on the story, and should have made this two stories instead of trying to combine it all into one, because the plot takes such a turn here that it really should have been on it's own and I'm having a really difficult time trying to do it smoothly.

Thank you everyone for your patience and continued support! I really am going to try and aim on continuing this story to it's completion! In the meantime, though, if you are a fan of Transformers and/or Bleach, I do have two stories I wrote for them in my profile. Feel free to read them also. :)