The Future Imperfect
AN – Thanks for the reception so far! Particularly to those who reviewed, followed of favourited – it's always nice to get some validation that people actually enjoy your work.
Chapter Two
Aerith kept her eyes scrunched shut as she felt herself caught out of midair. Someone's arms holding her, check. Just like when Cloud had caught her in Sector 5 earlier… yesterday? Was it really only yesterday? She opened her eyes, expecting to see his mako blue gaze, blond hair and boyish face, only to frown in confusion at the face of her saviour.
Blue eyes, yes. But not the green blue of Cloud's eyes, or even the bright blue of Zack's. These were a darker blue, almost indigo, yet still they shone with that mako light. The face was rugged, square jaw with just a hint of a beard growing along the jaw line and on his chin, black hair that hung down straight with sideburns. Serious expression. Aerith's eyes took in the face and travelled down to the uniform… the same uniform that Zack used to wear and that Cloud was now wearing a modified version of. The arms that held her were more like Zack's than Cloud's, except even larger. The answer as to who had caught her came to her slowly, simply because she couldn't believe it. When the gil dropped she shrieked and practically jumped out of Angeal's arms, surprising him so much that he let go quickly and she fell onto the cold, hard concrete floor.
Aerith stumbled to her feet and stared at him. "Angeal! Angeal Hewley!"
Angeal looked confused. "Yes, that's right… and you are?"
"Oh Goddess." Aerith doubled over, breathing deeply. "This isn't possible, you can't be here."
Angeal raised an eyebrow as he looked around the tunnel they were in. "And yet, here I am. Not that I know where here is." He looked back at Aerith, taking in her bright red dress and elaborate braid, silk flowers bedraggled and ruined now. "Except that it is not somewhere I would expect to find someone like yourself. I feel like I'm at a disadvantage, you know my name but I don't know yours." This was one of the strangest simulations he'd ever been in, not a hint of monsters or enemy forces anywhere. Maybe the girl was meant to be giving him some kind of clue to help him meet up with the others and achieve their goal?
Aerith began laughing, hysterical giggles that alternated with sobs. "I'm Aerith."
"Are you ok?" Angeal asked in concern, approaching her. Aerith backed away from him, holding up a hand.
"No, please don't."
Angeal eased away again, hands held up peaceably. Aerith finally managed to compose herself and look him over. He was imposing, that was certain; a tall man with a muscular build. He had a confidence of bearing, a solidity about him which gave away his identity almost as much as his appearance. And of course, the giant sword he carried on his back was unmistakable. Even if he currently looked like he'd just stepped out of a shower - not that she was much better after her trip through the water.
But he shouldn't be here. It was impossible. He had died six years previously, by his student Zack's hand. Zack who just happened to be Aerith's boyfriend… a boyfriend she hadn't seen nor heard from for over five years now. Though from what Aerith had gathered from Zack's haggard recounting of it shortly after the event, it had rather been suicide through forcing Zack's to kill him than anything else. But there was no way that Zack had been mistaken on whether Angeal was dead or not as Aerith knew that Angeal had died in Zack's arms, and so Angeal could not be standing in front of her down in the sewers beneath Don Corneo's mansion.
Angeal watching the woman standing in front of him go very pale as her hysterical laughter subsided into wracking sobs. When they finally died away she took a deep breath and simply looked at him for a few moments before shaking her head in disbelief. When she swayed on her feet he rushed forwards to steady her, despite her previous antipathy towards him.
"I think we need to get out of here." He told her, looking from her to the tunnel around them. They were standing on a ledge next to a deep channel of slow moving water, a channel that Angeal had pulled himself out of a few moments before he'd caught sight of Aerith sailing through the air towards him. Ahead of them there were some kind of gates across the whole tunnel, blocking any attempt to go further along it. Looking across the channel he could see another narrow ledge against the far wall. Combined with the terrible smell, it looked awfully like…
"Wait… are we in a sewer?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Genesis cursed under his breath as he landed hard on his injured shoulder. He took a couple of steadying breaths as he tried to breathe through the pain, beginning to get a bit worried. Whatever he had done could not be good, as any normal injury he usually shrugged off almost immediately. His SOLDIER enhancements combined with his general constitution meant that it had been a long time since an injury really affected him in any way. He sat up gingerly, bending one leg and propping himself up on the opposite arm whilst looking around to get his bearings. He seemed to be in some form of sewer system with dim, green lighting flickering overhead and the stench to go with it.
Genesis pulled himself upright, using the wall to support him and grimaced at the slime now covering his red gloves. Looking ahead, there was a crumpled form lying a few metres away next to a channel of water. Hesitantly he approached, until he was close enough to see that it was a woman lying on her side with her legs folded beneath her. He hurried over, ignoring his own injury for the moment as he rolled her onto her back, her head lolling helplessly. He used a hand to support it, but his fingers came away covered in blood from an injury to the back. Genesis pressed his cheek next to her mouth, feeling relief wash over him as he felt a very faint breath against his skin.
"Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess…" he murmured, brushing a strand of dark hair out of her face. She was alive, but barely. Genesis looked down at his bracer, feeling frustration that he didn't have a cure materia on him anywhere. He looked around the sewer for anything that could help, seeing nothing but dank paths and filthy water. In this situation there was a very real chance that her injury could become infected unless he could do something to help her. If she didn't bleed out first, of course.
He wasn't even quite sure where this drive to help her came from, but this was like no simulation that he had ever been in and he couldn't help but feel that she was the key to finding out the mission. Genesis gently lay her head back down and stood, trying to find something that could help. A flash in the water caught his eye, bright green materia. He peered down into the sewer, calculating whether he could reach it without having to fully submerge. A switch attached to some rusting machinery caught his attention and he flipped it, raising the sluice gates and allowing the water to drain away. Now he could see that the materia was in the hilt of a weapon that was caught up amongst some debris at the bottom of the channel.
Jumping down was easy for Genesis, as was tugging the hilt of the sword free. He didn't expect it to be so big, but when he finally had it in front of him he nearly dropped it in shock. Angeal's Buster Sword looked more dented than Genesis remembered, but it was instantly recognisable. He didn't remember Angeal habitually putting materia in it either, but the glint of green was coupled with a shining blue orb - a magnify, if he was wasn't mistaken. A quick check had him breathing out a sigh of relief, the green was a cure. Another jump and he was back in the tunnel, although he stumbled slightly on landing and had to put out his hand to catch himself, hissing when the pain lanced through his shoulder.
Cure materia in hand, he approached the woman and started casting. It wasn't a strong materia but had at least levelled slightly, allowing for more powerful spells. Genesis was habitually a magic user and had a lot of reserves when it came to casting, but even he was beginning to feel tired when the woman eventually stirred.
Stirred, opened up a pair of brown eyes so bright they looked almost red to Genesis, and then threw up all over his boots.
"Oh my god," she gasped. "I'm so sorry." She was on all fours, trying to stop herself retching again. Genesis stared at his boots. His lovely black boots.
He dragged his attention away from his ruined boots and back to the woman, helping her stand. She tottered on heels that were ridiculously high, in a short dress that he thought might have been purple before it had been subjected to sewage.
"Thank you." She said, looking up at him. Genesis blinked at the fact that despite being covered in sewer water and goddess alone knew what else, she was still very pretty.
"Do I want to know what you are doing down here?"
"I… we came to help my friend." She looked around. "Aerith?"
"I haven't seen anyone else." Genesis offered helpfully.
"We have to find them." The woman stumbled away, almost falling into the side of the tunnel. Genesis grabbed her arm to steady her.
"Not your best idea, I don't think."
"Please." She looked at him, expression pleading. "I have to try to find them, make sure they are ok."
"Are you aware how near to death you were when I found you? Even if you found your friends, you are in no fit state to support them."
"If you won't help me then I'll go alone." She ground out, face setting into a determined expression as she shuffled another stride along the wall.
Genesis sighed and shook his head. "No matter where the winds may blow, my friend. I can see you will not be swayed. Come, let us find your companions. Carefully." He admonished as she stumbled again. He picked up the Buster Sword in his left hand, trying not to wince as his injured shoulder took the weight. He then draped her free arm across his right shoulder, supporting her weight as she sagged against him.
The woman nodded, a small smile gracing her features. "Thank you. I'm Tifa, by the way."
Genesis inclined his head. "Gen." Just in case this simulation was meant to be some form of covert mission, he thought it best not to disclose his full name. Not many people hadn't heard of the three First Class SOLDIERs, after all.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Cloud stared at the long slender blade that intercepted the beast's charge, halting it in its tracks. With another sweep, the blade flicked and spun to decapitate it. Its momentum brought its body alongside Cloud's, thankfully missing him by a couple of feet. Not that Cloud was paying any attention to that, or in fact anything else at all except the tall figure wearing a long black leather jacket that was wielding the six foot long Masamune.
Sephiroth scanned the room for further threats before he turned to see whom he had just rescued. Cloud could only stare up at the imposing man, dressed in his uniform; black trousers, soldier harness over a bare chest and the long coat with shining silver shoulder guards that buckled at his waist but otherwise flared open down past his knees. His long silver hair drifted in what little air movement there was in the cavern and his cat-like eyes carefully assessed Cloud. But there was something else in his gaze, something that unsettled Cloud.
It hit him, suddenly. Sephiroth didn't recognise him. Sephiroth wasn't taunting him. He was simply… looking.
It was enough to break Cloud out of his stupor. As the SOLDIER took a step towards him, Cloud scuttled backwards, still mostly lying on the ground.
"Stay away!" Cloud cried, his voice significantly higher pitched than he would have liked. Sephiroth paused, a frown working its way onto his expression.
"I mean you no harm."
Cloud shook his head mutely, unable to think of any way out of his current predicament. Any second now, surely Sephiroth would smirk at him and run him through. Again. A phantom pain ached in his chest as a fragmented memory hit him. Static noise filled his mind and he clutched at his head as he tried to remember… the inside of a reactor, the stench of mako, the pain…
The hand clutching his head instead now pressed against his chest, just below his heart. His fingertips scrabbled on the textured corset as he tried to regulate his breathing.
"You are unwell."
Cloud shook his head. Sephiroth continued to just watch him, before carefully holstering Masamune at his side. Its length meant that even when sheathed the tip of the blade arced up behind him. Cloud twitched involuntarily at the sight, causing Sephiroth to narrow his gaze slightly.
"What are you doing here?"
"I fell." Cloud replied curtly. He was annoyed to find that his voice was still about an octave higher than it should be. Sephiroth almost looked offended, an expression that Cloud might have found comical if he wasn't so convinced he was about to be skewered.
"Fell from where?"
Cloud looked up at the distant ceiling, gesturing with a jerk of his clenched jaw. He couldn't see the hatch from here but it had to be almost directly above them. Sephiroth followed his gaze, staring up as though he could find the answers.
"I don't think it will be possible for us to return that way."
Cloud merely gave him a look, not feeling the need to discuss anything with the SOLDIER. Sephiroth looked around again, surveying the room. The only exit, as far as Cloud could see, was the huge pipe that the monster had come out of in the first place. But there was no way Cloud could climb up there in the dress and he certainly wasn't going to take it off in front of Sephiroth. Or allow Sephiroth to carry him. He shuddered at the thought.
Sephiroth must have seen the movement, as he suddenly shrugged off his long leather coat. Cloud just stared, open mouthed, as the taller man crouched in front of him and carefully held out the coat for Cloud to borrow. His expression gave nothing away, but he seemed to be treating Cloud as though he was a frightened animal.
Cloud didn't move to take the coat, forcing Sephiroth to shake it towards him slightly. "Take it." He commanded, placing it on the floor and stepping a couple of steps backwards. "You are cold."
Cloud wasn't, really, but didn't know what else to do other than carefully grab the coat and shuffle backwards again whilst trying to ignore the fact that without his coat it was abundantly clear that Sephiroth really didn't wear anything underneath his SOLDIER harness. With a large amount of trepidation he gently slung it around his shoulders and clambered to his feet. The coat was so long on him that it brushed against the floor but Sephiroth didn't seem to care about it getting dirty, just nodding once before striding away. He moved over to the edge of the channels of water that ran along the edges of the room, looking into them before scrutinising the walls. Cloud could only watch on as his companion tried to find them a way out, his hands curling up into clenched fists by his side.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Okay, you can turn around now." Angeal shifted nervously, standing with his hands folded across his chest facing the wall.
"Are you sure?" He asked cautiously.
"Of course!" Angeal still hesitated before turning around, but sighed in relief when he saw that Aerith had finished changing and was twisting her hair up into a plait that she skilfully fixed a pale pink ribbon to. She was out of the red dress, now a ruined pile of material by her feet, into a pale pink dress with some comfortable looking boots and a red jacket.
"That's better!" She smiled, picking up a baton of some description and grabbing the large bag she had previously tied to her waist. "I'm not sure Madam M is ever going to forgive me." She looked sorrowfully down at the dress she had discarded. "But there is no saving that."
"Madam M?" Angeal was feeling more than a bit lost. What kind of scenario was the training room testing? This was nothing like anything he'd ever seen before. He'd even tried telling the room to end the scenario but nothing had happened. That wasn't right, Angeal had set the original Junon training platform up to recognise his voice commands.
He focussed back on the present to find Aerith gazing at him with an indecipherable expression. "Well, I need to go and find my friends." She informed him cheerily. "What are you planning to do?"
Angeal blinked. "Um… find mine too, I guess."
"What are your friends like? So I'll know when we find them." Aerith was still watching him intently, but her voice was light. If there was a slightly tense note in it, Angeal didn't know her well enough to notice it.
"I'm not sure you'll be able to miss them." Angeal shook his head fondly. "Genesis is… bright. Loud. Fond of fire. We'll probably hear him before we see him. Sephiroth is quieter, but if he's trying to find us he might just go through any obstacles in his way. I think we'll hear either of them coming."
"Sephiroth?" Aerith's eyes widened.
"You've heard of him, I guess?" Angeal huffed grumpily but a small smile played at the edges of his mouth. "With everything that has been happening with the war, he's been quite the poster boy." He started walking down the corridor, Aerith falling into step beside him.
"The war…" Aerith's voice trailed off and she gazed down the tunnel ahead of them. "Angeal, what's the date today?"
"Twenty sixth of August, why?"
"No, the year."
Angeal looked at her curiously, but she kept looking forward. "Why do you need to know that?"
"Humour me." She replied, her voice tight.
"It's the year zero." The of course went unsaid.
At that, Aerith stopped dead. She looked at Angeal with shock on her face, very like she had when she first saw him.
"No…" she said slowly, shaking her head and dropping her gaze to the ground. "No, it isn't."
Angeal was confused. "Of course it is?"
"No… it's year seven. Sixth December, year seven to be precise."
Angeal gaped. This was beyond any simulation that he had ever heard of. Projecting into the future? He shook his head. That simply wasn't possible.
"No, there must be a mistake."
Aerith lifted her green eyes up to meet him. "I'm sorry, but it's true. I don't…" She took a deep breath. "I should have said something earlier, but I thought maybe I had misunderstood. I know of you Angeal, because Zack has told me a lot about you."
"Zack has? Zack Fair?" Angeal conjured up his mentee in his mind, the young SOLDIER second class that was always so enthusiastic and who had a genuine heart of gold underneath his bouncy exterior. "I'm not sure I've heard him mention you."
"No." Aerith shook her head firmly. "He wouldn't have. To you, I mean. I met him in April of year one."
Angeal blinked again. "But that's months away."
"I don't know how to say this… but one of the reasons I know so much and yet so little about you is that you died. A couple of weeks after Zack and I met. He talked about you a lot, how much he missed you." Aerith cast her eyes down again. "I'm sorry."
"I died?" Angeal was struggling to process what he was hearing. "Wait, so you think that in a few months' time you are going to meet Zack and he'll tell you about me when I die? That sounds… a little unbelievable."
"A couple of months' time for you, maybe." Aerith replied. "But for me… it was years ago."
"Because you think it is December, year seven." Angeal couldn't believe what he was hearing but something about the way she stated it as inescapable fact made him wonder.
"Maybe just keep an open mind for now? I can't offer you proof exactly, but I have the feeling you'll get it somehow. Call it a hunch."
"Right, open mind." Angeal nodded firmly. "I can do that."
"Okay then. Let's go see if we can find Tifa and Cloud."
Aerith started moving down the passageway, halting again when Angeal reached out to touch her elbow. "Wait… can you hear that?"
In the distance there was a rumbling noise. Angeal spun around, trying to find where the noise was coming from. "Down there!" He called, pointing towards a branching tunnel. Aerith kept pace as he hurried down it.
Jumping into their path was a sahagin, a monster that resembled a tortoise but was as tall as a man and particularly aggressive, trident pointed menacingly towards them. Angeal put an arm out to halt Aerith before reaching for his broadsword only to find that it wasn't there. With a grunt, he instead reached behind his shoulder for the hilt of the large Buster Sword he carried but rarely used. Approaching the sahagin, he parried several thrusts made from its trident and moved to strike. But the dim lighting of the sewer meant that he almost missed the pool of liquid that the monster had created on the path ahead.
"Look out!" Aerith shouted from behind, drawing his attention to it. With a yelp Angeal jumped back, just in time to see a fire spell fly past him and take out the sahagin. He turned to see Aerith brandishing a staff, the glint of a green materia in the handle.
"Thanks." He nodded at her, receiving a grin.
"No problem."
They continued on down the tunnel, making quick work of a few low level crab-like monsters that were in their way. But as they reached a T-junction, there was the sound of something different moving from the branch to their left. Angeal motioned for Aerith to press against the wall while he approached carefully. Aerith complied, creeping behind him while he waited.
Then, raising his sword, he stepped forwards towards whatever was coming.
A brunette woman cried out in alarm, while Genesis rolled his eyes.
"Oh do put that down, Angeal. Stop being so dramatic."
Angeal swung his sword back into its holster, relieved to see his friend. "I don't think you can really comment about anyone else being dramatic, Genesis."
Aerith came rushing past him. "Tifa! You're hurt!"
"Aerith!" The other woman cried. "Oh thank goodness." She winced as Aerith prodded her head. "I'm ok," she insisted. "Gen helped."
"Still…" Aerith rooted around in the bag she was carrying and pulled out a small vial that Angeal recognised as a hi-potion. "There are monsters in these tunnels, you don't want to get caught out."
Genesis sighed. "It's not like we couldn't take them." He huffed. "Talking of which, I found this back there. You should take better care of it, my friend." Genesis held out the large sword he was carrying. Angeal flicked his eyes down to look at it properly.
The world seemed to come to a screeching halt around him. It was in that moment that Angeal came to the startling, unbelievable and downright shocking realisation that everything Aerith had told him was true.
He looked at the sword that Genesis held out to him, so similar and yet different to the one he currently wore on his back. It was carrying materia in its slots, something that Angeal rarely did with any sword as he preferred just a simple spell or two on a bracer. It also looked like it had been modified - it was subtle, so much so that he doubted Genesis had even noticed but when he had lovingly tended this same blade for years it was unmistakable. It also had a few more scratches and dents on it. For a moment he grabbed hold eagerly of the idea that maybe it wasn't his, that it was just a replica made to look the same. But then his eyes caught the tiniest mark near the hilt, a mark caused just after he got it and before his father passed away when he was playing around with it. A mark that he had never repaired, because it served as a reminder that honour could be similarly marred by a simple little mistake. No simulation would contain that level of detail. It left only one explanation.
"Angeal? Are you ok?" Genesis was talking to him, but his voice felt muffled, as though passing through water. All Angeal could see and think about was the Buster Sword while his brain tried to gather his scattered thoughts to understand that this was real.
"Seven years?" he finally choked out. Aerith looked up from where she was tending to Tifa. Her green eyes caught his and his gaze locked on. "Seven years?"
"Angeal, what's going on?"
"Yes…" her voice was little more than a whisper, but it nearly brought Angeal to his knees. He grabbed at the wall, ignoring Genesis's cry of alarm.
"Hey." Aerith was in front of him now. "Breathe. I know it's a lot to take in, but it's ok."
"What have you done to him?"
"No, Genesis!" Angeal realised that the redhead was about to lunge for Aerith. "No she hasn't… I mean… shit."
Angeal could see Genesis really rock back at that. Angeal never swore, not in all the long years that Genesis had known him. His friend drew near. "Angeal, I'll ask again - what is going on?"
"Genesis, that isn't my sword." Angeal gestured behind his back, noticing Genesis's eyes widen as he saw the hilt of Angeal's sword still sitting in its holster on his back.
"Then this is an incredibly good copy." Genesis eventually said, holding it up to look at it. "I mean, it fooled even me. Though now you mention it, it does seem slightly different."
"That's Cloud's sword." Tifa interrupted with a frown.
"It is, and it isn't." Aerith said softly. "It is now, but it wasn't always."
"Does anyone want to tell me what is actually going on?" Genesis huffed impatiently, leaning against the tunnel wall. "Not to mention all the time we are wasting here."
Angeal opened his mouth to reply, when another loud booming sound echoed around the tunnels, much closer than the previous noise.
"On second thought," Genesis arched an eyebrow at Angeal. "It might be time to go and find our dear comrade. I'm assuming he is here too somewhere and that sounds suspiciously like a noise he would make."
Angeal shook his head at Genesis's phrasing but pushed himself off the wall, even as Tifa gasped "Cloud!" and started making her way down the corridor. Whatever Aerith had done must have helped, she now walked comfortably – or as comfortably as possible when wearing killer heels and a ridiculously short purple dress. He picked up the second Buster Sword carefully before following at the back of the group.
Genesis set off after Tifa, soon overtaking her. As he rounded a corner he took the opportunity to check on his friend surreptitiously as he brought up the rear. Just because Angeal had recovered from whatever the problem was didn't mean that Genesis had forgotten. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't known Angeal as they had grown up in the same village together, yet he had never seen him look as rattled as he had earlier. However, knowing him so well meant that Genesis knew when to pick his battles and that continuing to push him for answers right now wouldn't help matters. Angeal would come to Genesis in his own time, once he'd had an opportunity to process whatever it was himself.
The banging noise was becoming louder, no longer sounding as though it was coming from down the tunnel but behind the wall to the left. Genesis looked with disgust at the filthy culvert separating him from the wall. With a grimace he stepped into it, mentally apologising again to his boots. Touching the side of the tunnel he could feel vibrations ringing through the old brickwork. Inching along, he finally pinpointed where it was coming from.
"Stay back," he warned, catching Angeal's eye. His old friend nodded, pulling the girls behind him. Genesis pressed against the opposite side of the tunnel and started to pull fire towards him. He kept it small, in part due to the amount of energy he had already used curing Tifa not long before. However, small for Genesis wasn't exactly the same as small for anyone else - particularly when it came to fireballs. The resulting explosion of brickwork, dust and mortar was rather impressive, if he did say so himself.