Well, this is probably the last update you'll see from be before Christmas. I'm going to be very busy over the next few weeks for Holiday reasons and I've been getting more hours for work, which is a bit of a double-edged sword. Yay for more money, but also less free time. I apologize if anything doesn't quite add up time wise or even geographical wise for this chapter. It is an AU, but also it's been far too long since I've actually played FFVII and I feel a little embarrassed admitting that. ^^;
Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys there holiday season and I look forward to what next year brings!
Enjoy!
Aerith was humming a tune as she walked through the village, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of such a beautiful and open place when she saw Tifa and Cloud headed to one of the outer cliffs overlooking the canyon. She smiled, thinking it was nice that they were spending more time together now than in the alternate future. She recalled what happened the night before Zack and Sephiroth left to return to Shinra.
After revealing that she also carried memories from the future, Sephiroth pulled her to the side and, remembering the atrocity his future self had done, offered his deepest apologies, by lowering onto one knee and bowing his head. Aerith had done the same that she had done to Cloud earlier that morning and pulled him into a hug. She had forgiven him and, like the future Cloud had clearly said, she trusted him to do the right thing and make things better this time.
He had already done a good job. She could hear the voice of the planet and it was pleased. She felt very optimistic about this time around and continued on enjoying her day.
About twenty minutes later, on the highest cliff overlooking the canyon, Cloud was staring at his foe with a determined glare. He would overcome this challenge. It couldn't be any harder than the trials the drill sergeants used to make him do.
When he saw his chance, he charged ahead and aimed a punch, but his arm was easily grabbed and before he knew it he felt himself flipped up and over his target before his back slammed on the ground and he was looking up at the sky. Tifa bent over and smiled smugly at him. "Wanna try again?"
"I still don't get how Reno was able to capture you," was his reply.
Tifa giggled as she took his arm and pulled him back up. "Well, hand to hand isn't very effective when your opponent has a weapon, and he took me by surprise. He doesn't look like the kind that can fight well, but he can."
Cloud nodded in response before Tifa got back into her fighting stance. "Okay, no more flipping. I'll show you some basic moves.
Cloud mimicked her and she taught him how to block an enemy punch and how to unbalance a foe who is bigger and stronger. As he memorized each step before starting another practice spar the world around them began to fade and the only people in the world were the two of them. A vision came to him then, a possible future maybe, he thought, with the two of them as adults and two kids, a boy and girl. It was a family he had always wanted to be a part of and seeing the kids beside him with Tifa was too much to take in.
"Cloud, what's wrong?"
He snapped out of his day dream as he wiped his eyes, suddenly ashamed that she had seen him suddenly start crying. "It's nothing…just something I think my future self might have given up on." Was that it? The feeling he had was more of a feeling of loss rather than longing or an abandoned dream.
Tifa felt so bad for him, carrying such a burden, but her curiosity got the better of her. "Cloud, do you know if your future self and mine ever….became an item?"
The blonde shot her a startled look and she held her hands out defensively. "You don't have to answer, I'm just…curious."
Cloud tried to focus and channel what he could without encoring the wrath of another skull-splitting headache. "I can't recall memories, mostly just feelings, but I think we did have something, it was just complicated and confusing. There is something there though."
He looked over at her, hopeful that she wouldn't turn away or reject the idea. Instead she was trying to hide a small smile.
She took a few steps back and held up her fists again. "Come on, let's keep practicing."
Cloud smirked and mirrored her movements.
What the two sparring friends didn't see was the figure watching them from a few cliff tops over.
Zack was beyond bored in his office. He had managed to finish most of his paperwork the night before and the rest of it had been done that morning and now he was just sitting there with nothing to do. He wanted to get up and do something, but the general had warned that any behavior out of the norm would be seen as suspicious in the company's eyes. Finally he was summoned to direct a squad of Thirds on their mission. As he walked the line of warriors and relayed the orders he couldn't help but think back to when he had done the same with Cloud's squad. Zack hoped that his friend had woken up and wasn't suffering anymore pain.
The whole idea of having two different Clouds in one was odd, but Zack had seen much stranger things, and it surprised him when he saw his friend's eyes glow for that brief moment. Zack felt so much sympathy for him when the future Cloud made him promise not to die again.
"I'll try buddy, but if it comes down to it, I'd still give my life for my friends if I had to."
It wasn't something he enjoyed thinking about, but he had made up his mind.
After the squad had been deployed Zack sighed, wishing he could have gone with them when his PHS rang. Flipping it open he saw a new order pop up. The details made his eyes open wide.
Sephiroth had been waiting in his office. He had heard the news and had received orders to deploy, but he was waiting to see if his theory was correct. He got his answer when Zack burst through the door.
"North Corel, it's under attack!"
Sephiroth sighed, knowing it was a trap, both in North Corel and in this very room. There were landmines buried everywhere they tread. "They're testing us, Shinra wants to see just how trustworthy we are. That much is obvious."
"So what do we do? Do we go and defend Shinra, or…"
"Or what, forsake everything to aid the enemy?"
Zack clenched his fist. He knew they'd have to make a difficult choice sooner or later, but he didn't think it'd be like this.
"Let's go, I'd like to prove that we're loyal and get back to a normal life." With that Sephiroth led the way out the door.
Zack waited until they were in the stairwell and away from prying camera eyes and ears before commenting. "So what, we're going to fight our own friends? If they get captured or killed we'd be traitors."
"We're traitors either way," Sephiroth replied.
In shock, Zack was about to ask what he meant when Sephiroth continued. "So, what's the best way to prove to Shinra that we're loyal and not harm our friends?"
Relief flooded through Zack. "We'd have to make it look convincing," he added with confidence.
"No need to worry about that, but Scarlet will still be trying to wipe out the townspeople. That's where the challenge lies. We have to do what we can to protect them while keeping Shinra blinded."
Zack folded his arms behind his head as they continued to descend. "That'll be tricky."
Sephiroth looked thoughtful, "Not if we play our cards right. I assume you remember that strategic class Genesis used to teach regarding materia."
Zack's eyes gleamed with realization. "Yeah! That's perfect!"
Sephiroth smirked. "It doesn't seem so tricky now, does it?"
The ravenette smirked as they made their way to the awaiting chopper. "Not at all."
Tseng was at the helm piloting with Rude sitting in the other chair in the cockpit as the two SOLDIER Firsts strapped themselves in.
"The target town is filled with Rebels and traitors. Our mission is to eliminate them. Scarlet was there testing some weapons nearby when they were attacked. The last transmission we got was that the rebels were being lead by mysterious figure cloaked in red and the ex-Turk Reno."
Zack blinked, confused. "I thought there was no such thing as an ex-Turk."
Tseng glanced over his shoulder at him and Zack didn't like the look in his eyes. "There isn't."
. . .
The trio had arrived in the night, trying to warn the town's people to leave before Scarlet had arrived, but fate wasn't on their side. Scarlet had decided that night time was the perfect time for a bonfire and went to work unleashing her new weapons and testing out how effective their long-range flamethrowers were on the houses. Her efforts were rewarded with shouts and panicked cries. One of the buildings exploded, lighting up her face as she laughed at the promising results.
Barret was filled with rage as he and the others worked to try and get the people out from the burning buildings. Vincent stood back, concealed by the shadows as he tried to figure out why this attack was happening now. It was too soon. Judging by his own memories he concluded that this event shouldn't have happened for at least another year. What could have caused the attack to happen so early?
He had little time to think about it as he saw Scarlet from a distance wave her hand and another man piloting one of the weapons launched a rocket into another house. It struck the bottom floor and caused the second floor to go up in flames. Vincent was about to turn to meet up with Barret when he heard the high squeal of a baby crying.
"That's Dyne's house! Dyne!"
Vincent saw Barret racing for the house that had been hit, but Reno was trying to hold him back.
"There's nothing you can do," he heard Reno shout.
"Get the hell outta my way Turk!"
Barret threw Reno to the side and ran straight into the burning threshold of his friend's house. The glass in the upper floor shattered from the heat and the cries became more panicked from the infant. Vincent wasn't sure if Barret would be able to make it upstairs in time, so he went into action. Using his cape, Vincent easily made his way up the tree and launched himself into the bedroom.
Fire was everywhere and the smoke was so thick the Turk couldn't see. He relied on his other sensed to find where the baby was. Reaching into the crib that had been knocked over, he pulled back the blankets to reveal a very scared, but thankfully unharmed baby girl. Taking her in his arms, he wrapped the end of his cape around her for protection and turned to call out when he heard a dangerous creaking. He ran for the window as part of the roof caved in behind him.
He landed in the burning embers of another building when the chopper arrived, hovering around twenty feet above him. The flames whipping around him from the wind and blowing his cape, making him seem all the more ominous.
Tseng's eyes widened for a moment before composing himself. "Vincent Valentine."
Rude's reaction was better concealed, but Sephiroth could tell he was just as surprised as Tseng. The two SOLDIERs were preparing the jump out and confront them when Tseng spotted Reno and began firing on the redhead.
To his credit, Reno was very quick and managed to dodge most of the bullets until one struck him in the shoulder and he went down. "Shit," he seethed with pain.
"Reno," Tseng called out on the chopper's megaphone, "you've turned your back on the company and your family, you know the punishment."
Reno glared as he looked up before cracking a grin and shrugged with his good shoulder. "Sorry boss, I got to see the big picture and I realized my family was on the wrong side."
Tseng aimed and made ready to fire when Zack shouted a warning.
"Look out!"
Suddenly the chopper's rear burst into flames at the same moment one of Scarlet's machines fell over, also bursting into flames.
The chopper spun out of control and the occupants had no choice but to jump for it. Sephiroth landed gracefully while Zack had to tuck and roll before jumping to his feet. Tseng flipped in the air a few times to slow his descent before landing as smoothly as a cat while Rude copied Zack's example.
When the Turks looked back Vincent was gone, but Reno was trying to get into the house. Tseng pulled out his gun and fired at Reno as Zack shouted out to the ex-Turk. Reno stopped and the bullet just missed as Tseng had aimed at where Reno would go and not where he currently was. The head Turk turned and glared at Zack, but the SOLDIER ignored him. "Reno, why did you betray us?"
The redhead locked eyes with his friend and then glanced behind him.
Rude raised his gun, "there's nowhere to run."
Reno only kept his eyes on the SOLDIERs as he kept glancing behind him.
Zack wasn't sure what Reno was thinking, but Sephiroth caught on. "Zack," he whispered. "Barret must be trapped inside. I'll take the Turks after Reno, you try and get him out of there."
Zack nodded in response, not wanting the Turks to notice what they were planning.
Sephiroth then glared over at Reno and charged for him. The redhead turned to flee away from the building as Rude and Tseng fired on the fleeing fugitive. Sephiroth caught up to them and the two Turks flanked him on either side. "He is our responsibility general, with all due respect."
"I failed my last mission partially because of Reno. I aim to correct my mistake."
While they followed after Reno, who was using all of his parkour skills to evade his pursuers, Zack made his way into the burning building. During the confrontation outside the building had collapsed even more and it was hard to get around without walking into flames. Zack found a discarded blanket on the floor that hadn't been touched by the flames yet and picked it up to protect himself when it revealed a body of a villager. Zack was saddened by the discovery, but had no time to react as the second floor creaked and moaned ominously.
The SOLDIER coughed and choked as the smoke got thicker the deeper he went. Still there was no sign of Barret. Maybe Sephiroth had read Reno's message wrong. Then he saw an arm over by the staircase and was relieved when he recognized it as Barret's. "Hang on! I'm coming!" When he got there his eyes widened with shock at the discovery. The arm he had seen had been crushed and severed just below the elbow by a heavy wooden support beam. Barret was on the other side, bleeding heavily and unconscious.
Taking part of the blanket, Zack ripped it and tied the smaller piece around Barret's arm to stop the bleeding. Mission or no mission, Zack wasn't about to let one of their team die. "Don't worry, I got you."
Zack carefully threw Barret's good arm over his shoulder and got him upright before rushing out of the house as the ceiling started to cave in behind him. They made it out and Zack collapsed outside, sighing with relief before he looked over at Barret. The man was awake now, but he was fighting back tears as he gazed towards the house that once belonged to his friend.
"I'm sorry; there was nothing I could do for your friend."
Barret fought harder to stop the tears that started to fall as jaw quivered from the failed attempts. "Marlene…Dyne I tried….sweet Gaia I tried…MARLENE!"
Zack wasn't sure what had happened, but it tore him up to see such a tough man like Barret breaking down. Footsteps suddenly alerted him and he looked over his shoulder to see Rude standing there, the firelight flickering in the reflection of his sunglasses.
. . .
Reno had found himself cornered. Tseng had followed him through a large tunnel which the fugitive thought would be a good way to limit his chaser's movements and they'd be less likely to use materia for fear of collapsing the tunnel, but he didn't expect Sephiroth to cut him off on the other side. Thankfully, he knew they were on the same team and charged passed him, using his skills to launch himself up and over. He didn't expect Sephiroth to grab his foot. The redhead went down and looked up just in time to see Tseng appear in the distance. "What the hell man," Reno hissed.
Sephiroth looked over Reno's shoulder and nodded before pulling out a his fire materia and cast a powerful firaga 3 at Reno. Tseng saw the flames surround his ex-subordinate and heard the pain-filled scream.
Tseng approached the general and watched the flames as they slowly died down. It was clear from the heat of the flames that there'd be nothing left but ash. "He deserved a quick death."
"You mean a Turk bullet to the heart," inquired the general. "No. After what he put Zack through he deserved what he got."
Tseng saw the look in the general's eyes and saw that he meant every word of it.
"A fitting end for a traitor."
Sephiroth nodded, "Let's go back into town and finish the mission."
Tseng followed silently behind.
A few minutes after they left, Vincent emerged from behind the rock with Reno behind him. The Turk was fuming, but also thankful to be alive. "I can't believe he was actually going to roast me!"
Vincent said nothing as he put away his mastered ice materia. "Sephiroth saw me behind you and acted before Tseng could see me. The fire was just to conceal our escape."
"He didn't need to do it three inches in front of my face," the redhead pouted.
Vincent turned to him then. "There's nothing more we can do here. We need to meet up with the others and get back to base."
