Current Votes: On whether I should turn this into a Trilogy, or just make
it hella long.
1 For Trilogy
0 For One Hella Long Ass Story
~*~
Title: Mako Blue Horizon
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Still At Gold Saucer
Author: Kage Kashu
Archive: Ask. Give credit where it's due. Then... ?
Genre: General. Humor/Drama/Angst/Romance/Action/Adventure
Story Summary: What would happen if Cloud never went to Midgar? Who would take his place? And who would take Sephiroth's place as Jenova's right hand? Because of a Mako induced illness, Cloud never went to Midgar. Because of his absence, things that were supposed to happen never did, and things that were never supposed to happen did. Sephiroth-centric with Cloudy moments.
Chapter Summary: Zack is back on his feet... And the crew at Gold Saucer gets a surprising wake-up call. Then we get to see what's going on at Shinra!
Disclaimer: Dun own them, wish I did.
Author's notes: You need to have played the game to get this part. Things get stranger. And I figure... Normal thinking is between 'these things'. Jenova is going to be between -these, 'cause I didn't feel like being more creative for her-. And Aerith is going to be between ~these~. And Sephiroth's younger self is going to be between \these\. (Yeah, that works!) I suppose I also need something for talking through electronics. So, that will be in between =these=.
Warnings: Very AU. Vincent being girly. O.o' The girls being confusing... Scarlet being... introspective.... and a frustrated Elena. I guess...
~*~*~*~*~*~
Great Glacier
He was lost again... kind of. And it was even colder out here after that nice warm (hot) house. At least now, he had warm clothes. And what do you know? Almost everything fit, even the boots.
He'd given Mr. Holzoff the Behemoth hide in return for the stuff, so he didn't feel bad about taking it. He'd even managed to get a bath. He was really glad of that, especially after he realized how much dried Mako he'd had on him. Yuck.
He hopped up to the top of a rock to sit. He was a bit tired, after all of that walking. As he stared contemplatively at the trail, he realized something.
He could hear someone murmuring, not too far away from him.
He blinked. "?" He stood up, a little too quickly and fell from the rock. "Ouch!"
He tried to sit up... but his head hurt. A hand moved to the back of his head, and he pulled it away, only to see it covered in blood. Damnit!
He was a bit surprised, however, to see a pale face framed by icy blue hair, just before the darkness creeping up from the edge of his vision overtook him.
~*~
Ghost Hotel, Room 3, Gold Saucer
A shrill, piercing shriek echoed through the room, and, Cid rather thought, the entirety of Gold Saucer after that.
He stared at the source of the disturbingly feminine sound. Vincent, wide- eyed, was pressed up against the wall next to his bed, as a rather cute fluffy blue thing sat on his bed, staring at him. The poor man was hyperventilating, Cid noticed calmly, before shoving his own head underneath his pillow.
The clock on Vincent's side of the room had said 7:00. Shit. He sat back up, noticing that the blue creature was gone, and Vincent seemed to be settling back in to sleep.
Cid never stayed in bed this late. It was two hours later than his regular wake up time... and waking up late had always been a bad start for him. He glowered at the clock, willing it back to 5. It didn't work.
"Damnit," he muttered, getting up. His wake up call had at least been amusing, so he probably wouldn't be in too foul a mood by the end of the day. He yawned and stretched, replaying the scene in his mind. Heh. Although he could have done without that terrible sound, it was still kind of funny.
What he wanted to know was how Vincent managed to get back to sleep so fast. At least... he thought that the other man was asleep.
He eyed the prone figure on the other bed. He still thought that Vincent was too frail... Maybe he didn't eat enough? He kind of reminded Cid of one of those night-owl goths that he used to share a dorm with, back when he was in college. Long black hair, black and red clothes, buckles.
Although, Vincent had taken most of that off, before going to bed. He had, Cid decided, very girly feet.
Surprised at himself, he chuckled. It was true, though. Vincent had rather elegant feet, far more suited to a woman. A dancer, or a swimmer. Not to a man. Much less a one-time assassin.
He pulled on his shoes, trying to light a cigarette at the same time. It didn't work very well. Somehow, he managed to burn his foot, and that just wasn't good.
~*~
Food Court, Gold Saucer
Reno sat rather heavily next to Cloud with a cup of triple-shot espresso. He glanced at the blonde, who was rather cheerfully feeding Nibie most of his very large breakfast. "Did it wake you up too?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
"The scream," he clarified.
Cloud shook his head. "I was already awake." Then he grinned. "You know those little statues in the rooms?"
Reno nodded, sipping his drink, then grimacing at the taste.
"Seph chopped one in half." Cloud chuckled. "He sleeps with his sword. On the bed with him."
Reno blinked. "Hm... Reeve has tattoos," he said, feeling that was the only thing he could say to match that.
"Wha?" Cloud shook his head. "I thought you were ignoring him?"
Reno paused for a moment, then put a hand to his mouth. "Oops..." He dug a paper out of his pocket. He glanced at it to make sure that it was what he was looking for, then shoved it into Cloud's face. He sipped at the espresso, waiting for Cloud's reaction. He smirked when the blonde began to look confused.
Cloud shook his head. "I don't get it."
"Simple. I am not to be held responsible for anything I say or do before the fifth cup. Of coffee that is." He pointed at the signatures at the bottom of the page. His own, Tseng's, Rude's and Rufus'. Elena's wasn't there, because she hadn't been a Turk when the contract had been made.
Cloud nodded. "So, you're not responsible for early morning slip ups? Okay, then. What are they of?"
Reno grinned, "The one's I saw looked tribal. You know, similar to some of the stuff Nanaki's got. The one on his shoulder looked like a cat if you stared long enough."
Cloud arched an eyebrow, "And I'll bet you did."
"Like yer one to talk, lover-boy. I know you didn't sleep where you were supposed too." He waggled a finger in Cloud's face. "so, how was it?"
"Hey!! That's no way to speak to the innocent!"
"Who's innocent?"
~*~
Service Pipes, Gold Saucer
Yuffie stared at Jessie and Tifa. "So... Was that the last one?"
Jessie flipped her wrench around. "Yeah. It looks so."
Tifa rubbed he palms together. "How much is he going to pay us, for this?"
"30,000," Yuffie murmured. "That leaves us with 10,000 apiece, and after paying Cloud back, we'll each have at least 3,000 left." She grinned.
"Hell, yeah!" Jessie laughed maniacally. "And we're still going to...?"
Tifa nodded, "Definitely! How about you, Yuffie?"
"Kitto! But... do you really think it'll work?"
Tifa and Jessie glanced at each other, uncertainly. Tifa finally nodded again, "Definitely."
"Hell, yeah," agreed Jessie.
"Kitto!" Yuffie grinned, "How do you think we should do this?"
Tifa rubbed the back of her neck, in a manner reminiscent of Cloud, "I think we'd better do this before we get to that temple..."
Jessie frowned, "I think it may have to wait..."
Yuffie agreed with Jessie. "I don't think we have enough time before we get there..."
Jessie nodded. "I think we may as well leave Uncle Reeve and Barret out of it."
"Why?" asked Tifa.
Yuffie chuckled, "They're to manly looking... Seph's gonna be hard enough..."
They all laughed, and headed back to Battle Arena, to find Dio.
~*~
Weapons Development, Shinra Building
Scarlet Highwind, once married to the very same Sidney Highwind, who was traveling now with AVALANCHE, threw her latest creation at Hojo, as the scientist exited her office. There was no way she would consent to giving the creepy man tissue samples. Besides that, knowing a little about his current research, she knew that doing so just might get her into more trouble than it was worth.
She decided that next time he asked, she was going to break his arm. Definitely. That was one thing she respected Reeve for. The man apparently had no qualms about breaking his one-time-friend's arm on a regular basis.
As it were, she kind of missed the man. When he left, a lot of things around the offices changed... and not for the better. Hojo had gotten more demanding, and Rufus... well, that was another story that she really didn't want to think about.
Up until recently, Hojo's complaint about the "kamikaze blue rabbit" had gone ignored... that is, until said rabbit began making attempts on Rufus' life. That was right around when Rufus' named his heir. The rabbit.
It wasn't certain whether or not the creature was intelligent or not... but apparently, it figured it would be in good stead if it could get rid of Rufus. And Rufus... seemed to have a perpetually bandaged foot, because the rabbit seemed determined to take him out, piece by piece. Foot first. Specifically, right foot first.
It was also rather well known that the kamikaze rabbit was originally something of Hojo's. Hojo was the only scientist they had that could be that demented.
She stared at the gun that lay on the floor next to the door and sighed. She really wished Reeve hadn't left. He was probably the most sane person that shared an equal rank with her... Not to mention that the man was a mechanical genius. He was just good. The little robot that had been running around the building some years back was proof of that. It was also proof that the man was nearly as demented as Hojo, considering some of the things that robot had done.
Unlike some of the others around Shinra, she hadn't been surprised to find out that he had formerly been a Turk, either. Before the last time. A stroke of genius. He quit the Turks, and rejoined in a different capacity, several years later. The capacity in which he rejoined being something that he wasn't good with. Field work.
Then he moved on to working in Urban Development. He became the head fairly quickly, and his department was suddenly the most well organized portion of Shinra.
She was also one of the few who had known that the man had been blackmailing the president.
She chuckled, remembering some of the things she had found out about. There was this thing about the old man wearing a French Maid's outfit... And Reno, who was made a Turk a few days later had walked in on that.
Her chuckle became a full-blown cackle, "Kya ha ha ha!"
~*~
Turks Office, Shinra building
Elena chewed on one perfectly manicured nail, staring at the pictures that Rufus had asked her to go over. She wasn't sure why he really wanted to know everyone's ages... he'd been correct, though, when he said that everyone's information was wrong when it came to age. At least... most of the higher executives.
She'd actually managed to figure out a lot of them.
Scarlet: 34 Her papers claimed her to be 27.
Heidegger: 56 His papers said 35.
Rufus: 24 His papers said 30.
Palmer: ? His papers said 42.
Reeve: ? His papers had said 35. Considering that he had claimed to be 15 upon his second entry to the Turks... She'd managed to find some of his original paperwork... He had claimed to be 15 when he joined the Turks for the first time... In his photo, he looked to be about 10. And that was about 20 years before he actually left the Turks for the first time... There was about 5 years between his leaving and reentering the Turks... He guess of his age was about 45... but there was no way to be sure...
She started banging her head against her desk. Rude glanced at her curiously from his seat. She sighed, shaking her head at him. "I never was good at algebra," she admitted.
His face remained blank, and not for the first time, she wished that he would take those damned sunglasses off, so she could tell what he thought... or at least what he was feeling.
She put her work away and stood up. "Rude? Tell Tseng that I'm off on a specially assigned mission from Rufus, okay?"
He nodded silently, watching her go out. Once she was gone, he tipped his head back, asking the security cameras, "What did she need the algebra for?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
So... Read, Review. Tell me what you think. (I like it.) Is it any good? (Please tell me what you think.) My opinion is subjective... (I need objective opinions...)
Angefantasy, Illusions are nice... Heehee... Sorry. Yeah, Cloud has trouble sleeping more from the dreaming than the snoring (that boy could sleep through a rocket blasting off next door)... And methinks Seph would be very upset if he found out about that, ne?
Danyella Skyler Silverfire, Muahahahaha!!! Haha!! Hahahaaha!!! (Is that the royal "we"?)
ChibiBoko, Dear God... *personally agrees about Cid* *wink wink* *nudge nudge* About that tattoo.. it's special. *wink wink* Can't really blame Cloud fer not wanting to sleep all on his little lonesome, though... bad dreams, methinks. Palmer more creeps me out than anything else... (Especially the way I wrote him... He was ogling Cid. *snickers*) He asked for -lard- in his tea!
RavensHaelo, Eh, I thought it sounded fitting, you know, Rufus being Rufus, and Rude being Rude.
Miniature Rant of the Day---
On Towns: All considered, there are very few cities and towns that you can actually go to. There must be other ones, right? If there weren't, Midgar couldn't have gotten that big. They need farming communities and whatnot, right? So, it's okay to make up your own little towns and whatnot for Final Fantasy, because there aren't enough of them on the world map, right? So, if I do, it's not a bad thing, ne? We need a little help on this... I'm thinking about using little bits from 8, since I'm already using the occasional character from it, so, why not, ne?
If you actually read my rants, thank you.
Thank you, for reading.
1 For Trilogy
0 For One Hella Long Ass Story
~*~
Title: Mako Blue Horizon
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Still At Gold Saucer
Author: Kage Kashu
Archive: Ask. Give credit where it's due. Then... ?
Genre: General. Humor/Drama/Angst/Romance/Action/Adventure
Story Summary: What would happen if Cloud never went to Midgar? Who would take his place? And who would take Sephiroth's place as Jenova's right hand? Because of a Mako induced illness, Cloud never went to Midgar. Because of his absence, things that were supposed to happen never did, and things that were never supposed to happen did. Sephiroth-centric with Cloudy moments.
Chapter Summary: Zack is back on his feet... And the crew at Gold Saucer gets a surprising wake-up call. Then we get to see what's going on at Shinra!
Disclaimer: Dun own them, wish I did.
Author's notes: You need to have played the game to get this part. Things get stranger. And I figure... Normal thinking is between 'these things'. Jenova is going to be between -these, 'cause I didn't feel like being more creative for her-. And Aerith is going to be between ~these~. And Sephiroth's younger self is going to be between \these\. (Yeah, that works!) I suppose I also need something for talking through electronics. So, that will be in between =these=.
Warnings: Very AU. Vincent being girly. O.o' The girls being confusing... Scarlet being... introspective.... and a frustrated Elena. I guess...
~*~*~*~*~*~
Great Glacier
He was lost again... kind of. And it was even colder out here after that nice warm (hot) house. At least now, he had warm clothes. And what do you know? Almost everything fit, even the boots.
He'd given Mr. Holzoff the Behemoth hide in return for the stuff, so he didn't feel bad about taking it. He'd even managed to get a bath. He was really glad of that, especially after he realized how much dried Mako he'd had on him. Yuck.
He hopped up to the top of a rock to sit. He was a bit tired, after all of that walking. As he stared contemplatively at the trail, he realized something.
He could hear someone murmuring, not too far away from him.
He blinked. "?" He stood up, a little too quickly and fell from the rock. "Ouch!"
He tried to sit up... but his head hurt. A hand moved to the back of his head, and he pulled it away, only to see it covered in blood. Damnit!
He was a bit surprised, however, to see a pale face framed by icy blue hair, just before the darkness creeping up from the edge of his vision overtook him.
~*~
Ghost Hotel, Room 3, Gold Saucer
A shrill, piercing shriek echoed through the room, and, Cid rather thought, the entirety of Gold Saucer after that.
He stared at the source of the disturbingly feminine sound. Vincent, wide- eyed, was pressed up against the wall next to his bed, as a rather cute fluffy blue thing sat on his bed, staring at him. The poor man was hyperventilating, Cid noticed calmly, before shoving his own head underneath his pillow.
The clock on Vincent's side of the room had said 7:00. Shit. He sat back up, noticing that the blue creature was gone, and Vincent seemed to be settling back in to sleep.
Cid never stayed in bed this late. It was two hours later than his regular wake up time... and waking up late had always been a bad start for him. He glowered at the clock, willing it back to 5. It didn't work.
"Damnit," he muttered, getting up. His wake up call had at least been amusing, so he probably wouldn't be in too foul a mood by the end of the day. He yawned and stretched, replaying the scene in his mind. Heh. Although he could have done without that terrible sound, it was still kind of funny.
What he wanted to know was how Vincent managed to get back to sleep so fast. At least... he thought that the other man was asleep.
He eyed the prone figure on the other bed. He still thought that Vincent was too frail... Maybe he didn't eat enough? He kind of reminded Cid of one of those night-owl goths that he used to share a dorm with, back when he was in college. Long black hair, black and red clothes, buckles.
Although, Vincent had taken most of that off, before going to bed. He had, Cid decided, very girly feet.
Surprised at himself, he chuckled. It was true, though. Vincent had rather elegant feet, far more suited to a woman. A dancer, or a swimmer. Not to a man. Much less a one-time assassin.
He pulled on his shoes, trying to light a cigarette at the same time. It didn't work very well. Somehow, he managed to burn his foot, and that just wasn't good.
~*~
Food Court, Gold Saucer
Reno sat rather heavily next to Cloud with a cup of triple-shot espresso. He glanced at the blonde, who was rather cheerfully feeding Nibie most of his very large breakfast. "Did it wake you up too?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
"The scream," he clarified.
Cloud shook his head. "I was already awake." Then he grinned. "You know those little statues in the rooms?"
Reno nodded, sipping his drink, then grimacing at the taste.
"Seph chopped one in half." Cloud chuckled. "He sleeps with his sword. On the bed with him."
Reno blinked. "Hm... Reeve has tattoos," he said, feeling that was the only thing he could say to match that.
"Wha?" Cloud shook his head. "I thought you were ignoring him?"
Reno paused for a moment, then put a hand to his mouth. "Oops..." He dug a paper out of his pocket. He glanced at it to make sure that it was what he was looking for, then shoved it into Cloud's face. He sipped at the espresso, waiting for Cloud's reaction. He smirked when the blonde began to look confused.
Cloud shook his head. "I don't get it."
"Simple. I am not to be held responsible for anything I say or do before the fifth cup. Of coffee that is." He pointed at the signatures at the bottom of the page. His own, Tseng's, Rude's and Rufus'. Elena's wasn't there, because she hadn't been a Turk when the contract had been made.
Cloud nodded. "So, you're not responsible for early morning slip ups? Okay, then. What are they of?"
Reno grinned, "The one's I saw looked tribal. You know, similar to some of the stuff Nanaki's got. The one on his shoulder looked like a cat if you stared long enough."
Cloud arched an eyebrow, "And I'll bet you did."
"Like yer one to talk, lover-boy. I know you didn't sleep where you were supposed too." He waggled a finger in Cloud's face. "so, how was it?"
"Hey!! That's no way to speak to the innocent!"
"Who's innocent?"
~*~
Service Pipes, Gold Saucer
Yuffie stared at Jessie and Tifa. "So... Was that the last one?"
Jessie flipped her wrench around. "Yeah. It looks so."
Tifa rubbed he palms together. "How much is he going to pay us, for this?"
"30,000," Yuffie murmured. "That leaves us with 10,000 apiece, and after paying Cloud back, we'll each have at least 3,000 left." She grinned.
"Hell, yeah!" Jessie laughed maniacally. "And we're still going to...?"
Tifa nodded, "Definitely! How about you, Yuffie?"
"Kitto! But... do you really think it'll work?"
Tifa and Jessie glanced at each other, uncertainly. Tifa finally nodded again, "Definitely."
"Hell, yeah," agreed Jessie.
"Kitto!" Yuffie grinned, "How do you think we should do this?"
Tifa rubbed the back of her neck, in a manner reminiscent of Cloud, "I think we'd better do this before we get to that temple..."
Jessie frowned, "I think it may have to wait..."
Yuffie agreed with Jessie. "I don't think we have enough time before we get there..."
Jessie nodded. "I think we may as well leave Uncle Reeve and Barret out of it."
"Why?" asked Tifa.
Yuffie chuckled, "They're to manly looking... Seph's gonna be hard enough..."
They all laughed, and headed back to Battle Arena, to find Dio.
~*~
Weapons Development, Shinra Building
Scarlet Highwind, once married to the very same Sidney Highwind, who was traveling now with AVALANCHE, threw her latest creation at Hojo, as the scientist exited her office. There was no way she would consent to giving the creepy man tissue samples. Besides that, knowing a little about his current research, she knew that doing so just might get her into more trouble than it was worth.
She decided that next time he asked, she was going to break his arm. Definitely. That was one thing she respected Reeve for. The man apparently had no qualms about breaking his one-time-friend's arm on a regular basis.
As it were, she kind of missed the man. When he left, a lot of things around the offices changed... and not for the better. Hojo had gotten more demanding, and Rufus... well, that was another story that she really didn't want to think about.
Up until recently, Hojo's complaint about the "kamikaze blue rabbit" had gone ignored... that is, until said rabbit began making attempts on Rufus' life. That was right around when Rufus' named his heir. The rabbit.
It wasn't certain whether or not the creature was intelligent or not... but apparently, it figured it would be in good stead if it could get rid of Rufus. And Rufus... seemed to have a perpetually bandaged foot, because the rabbit seemed determined to take him out, piece by piece. Foot first. Specifically, right foot first.
It was also rather well known that the kamikaze rabbit was originally something of Hojo's. Hojo was the only scientist they had that could be that demented.
She stared at the gun that lay on the floor next to the door and sighed. She really wished Reeve hadn't left. He was probably the most sane person that shared an equal rank with her... Not to mention that the man was a mechanical genius. He was just good. The little robot that had been running around the building some years back was proof of that. It was also proof that the man was nearly as demented as Hojo, considering some of the things that robot had done.
Unlike some of the others around Shinra, she hadn't been surprised to find out that he had formerly been a Turk, either. Before the last time. A stroke of genius. He quit the Turks, and rejoined in a different capacity, several years later. The capacity in which he rejoined being something that he wasn't good with. Field work.
Then he moved on to working in Urban Development. He became the head fairly quickly, and his department was suddenly the most well organized portion of Shinra.
She was also one of the few who had known that the man had been blackmailing the president.
She chuckled, remembering some of the things she had found out about. There was this thing about the old man wearing a French Maid's outfit... And Reno, who was made a Turk a few days later had walked in on that.
Her chuckle became a full-blown cackle, "Kya ha ha ha!"
~*~
Turks Office, Shinra building
Elena chewed on one perfectly manicured nail, staring at the pictures that Rufus had asked her to go over. She wasn't sure why he really wanted to know everyone's ages... he'd been correct, though, when he said that everyone's information was wrong when it came to age. At least... most of the higher executives.
She'd actually managed to figure out a lot of them.
Scarlet: 34 Her papers claimed her to be 27.
Heidegger: 56 His papers said 35.
Rufus: 24 His papers said 30.
Palmer: ? His papers said 42.
Reeve: ? His papers had said 35. Considering that he had claimed to be 15 upon his second entry to the Turks... She'd managed to find some of his original paperwork... He had claimed to be 15 when he joined the Turks for the first time... In his photo, he looked to be about 10. And that was about 20 years before he actually left the Turks for the first time... There was about 5 years between his leaving and reentering the Turks... He guess of his age was about 45... but there was no way to be sure...
She started banging her head against her desk. Rude glanced at her curiously from his seat. She sighed, shaking her head at him. "I never was good at algebra," she admitted.
His face remained blank, and not for the first time, she wished that he would take those damned sunglasses off, so she could tell what he thought... or at least what he was feeling.
She put her work away and stood up. "Rude? Tell Tseng that I'm off on a specially assigned mission from Rufus, okay?"
He nodded silently, watching her go out. Once she was gone, he tipped his head back, asking the security cameras, "What did she need the algebra for?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
So... Read, Review. Tell me what you think. (I like it.) Is it any good? (Please tell me what you think.) My opinion is subjective... (I need objective opinions...)
Angefantasy, Illusions are nice... Heehee... Sorry. Yeah, Cloud has trouble sleeping more from the dreaming than the snoring (that boy could sleep through a rocket blasting off next door)... And methinks Seph would be very upset if he found out about that, ne?
Danyella Skyler Silverfire, Muahahahaha!!! Haha!! Hahahaaha!!! (Is that the royal "we"?)
ChibiBoko, Dear God... *personally agrees about Cid* *wink wink* *nudge nudge* About that tattoo.. it's special. *wink wink* Can't really blame Cloud fer not wanting to sleep all on his little lonesome, though... bad dreams, methinks. Palmer more creeps me out than anything else... (Especially the way I wrote him... He was ogling Cid. *snickers*) He asked for -lard- in his tea!
RavensHaelo, Eh, I thought it sounded fitting, you know, Rufus being Rufus, and Rude being Rude.
Miniature Rant of the Day---
On Towns: All considered, there are very few cities and towns that you can actually go to. There must be other ones, right? If there weren't, Midgar couldn't have gotten that big. They need farming communities and whatnot, right? So, it's okay to make up your own little towns and whatnot for Final Fantasy, because there aren't enough of them on the world map, right? So, if I do, it's not a bad thing, ne? We need a little help on this... I'm thinking about using little bits from 8, since I'm already using the occasional character from it, so, why not, ne?
If you actually read my rants, thank you.
Thank you, for reading.