Another Time, Another Place
Authors Notes- Contains slash, angst, swearing, violence and character death.
Pairings- Sephiroth x Kuja, Cloud x Aeris, Vincent x Tifa, Rufus x Tseng, Reno x Yuffie.
Disclaimers- I own none of the characters mentioned hither.
"Shall we?" Cloud paused before the doors with a Fire materia at the ready. Tifa and Vincent exchanged a glance, ruby eyes meeting ruby eyes, before nodding. There was a blinding flash as the door was blasted open, the edges curling away. Droplets of molten metal sizzled on the stone floor. They blinked, colourful flashes bursting before their eyes. Then Vincent moved forward and stepped through the hole, into the darkness.
It was dark here too. A little light spilled in from the hole in the doors, showing dimly lit glass and more doors leading away. Tifa reached for the wall to steady herself as she straightened up and felt plastic, unpleasantly damp and slick under her fingers. She pushed experimentally and there was a low buzz as the lights kicked in. Project Kuja was revealed.
The room was round, and directly before them was a tank, with a kind of screen made of glass, held in place by heavy bolts. It was moulded precisely to the figure that was held there, arms spread as though crucified. Blue liquid pulsed and swirled softly within the glass tank but did nothing to obscure the creature which looked almost as alien as Jenova. Cloud's first thought was of Sephiroth, but beyond the mass of silver hair there was no real resemblance. It was too pale, too small and too effeminate to be anything like Sephiroth. Two feathers swayed softly in the liquid. It looked completely unearthly, more ghost than human.
"So this is Shinra's project.." Cloud's voice interrupted the long silence. "It doesn't look that dangerous.."
"Project Kuja's power lies within magic, not physical strength," Vincent replied. "Although it spoke little of what happened in its world and its own abilities, it was familiar with various types of spell. Including some Shinra had never observed before,"
"Do we have to keep calling the project 'it'?" Tifa asked, walking over to the tank and examining the suspended figure. "It's not a specimen. It was a person with a real life before Shinra interfered,"
"He, then," Vincent acknowledged her request.
"Are you sure it's male?" Cloud smiled faintly as he joined Tifa. "And where do we go from here?"
"I suppose there isn't much we can do," Vincent said softly. "After being in animation, it would be very weak and dazed at first. We could overpower it quite easily and.. eliminate it,"
Tifa froze at the rather heartless suggestion. "Spoken like a true Turk," she said bitterly. "Kuja didn't hurt anyone. He's more of a victim than anything,"
Vincent's expression didn't change. "What else did you have in mind?" He asked. "Whatever it is, it's dangerous. It might not be Kuja's fault at all, but whatever Shinra have done has clearly left it deeply disturbed. What if it was released some time? Would that be a kindness? Would it be fair to the next children who trespass through here? Because something like this won't go unnoticed forever,"
Cloud placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder. "He's right, really. Kuja is a danger to others. It might be better for everyone if we just... well... ended it all,"
"You can put it as nicely as you want to," Tifa tore herself away from Cloud's reassuring touch. "It's still not fair to kill him. I won't take any part of it,"
"Neither can I.." Vincent said, turning away from them. Cloud looked up, astonished. Vincent had never struck him as being particularly emotional. Even about Sephiroth, the son of his lover, he had gone to the battle without any qualms. Sephiroth was dangerous, Sephiroth must be killed. It had been as simple and as sad as that.
"I've been a victim of Shinra's experiments too," Vincent went on. "I've probably even contributed to them during my years as an employee. You could say I got what I deserved for refusing to stop them, even when my own Lucrecia was involved. I didn't try hard enough to stop Hojo,"
"Now that's not true," Tifa started to protest. Vincent silenced her.
"But this person didn't do anything to deserve what they got," He continued, indicating the glass tank. "They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And I know how much I had to go through and.. well, it must be considerably worse if you can't even accept it as retribution," He paused, a little awkward under their gaze. "I mean to say that although I think it would be easier and better for everyone if Project Kuja was terminated, I know what it's like and I don't think I could take part in it," There was a long pause and Vincent left the room, looking suddenly angry.
"What's wrong?" Tifa whispered after a minute's silence. She was answered by a strange, drawn out scream from far away as Vincent transformed into Chaos. "He must really be pissed," She lowered her gaze. Cloud nodded.
"He'll be back when he's calmed down," He said simply and they left the room to wait in the library for Vincent's return.
It was almost two hours before he came back, having flown to Mount Nibel and wreaked havoc on the unsuspecting monsters of the area in his rage. Cloud remembered acutely the last time Vincent had transformed and massacred every monster in the area. Better than accidentally killing a friend, he supposed. During that time, Tifa and Cloud read most of the notes on Project Kuja. Some of it was absolutely horrific. Mako infusions, trapped in rooms with monsters to try and release his powers, lengthy interrogation.. Cloud looked rather disturbed, which was unsurprising as he too had been used by Shinra.
".........."
Vincent re-appeared silently besides Tifa, looking even paler than usual. "You ok?" She asked sympathetically and was greeted with silence. She lowered her gaze.
"Anyone have any more ideas?" Cloud asked quietly. There was silence. Tifa spoke up, her voice trembling a little.
"I thought perhaps we could just seal the area off," She said quietly. "It's certainly not a permanent solution but it should do for now. It should keep any inquisitive children away anyway. And then we can have a meeting about it later," The others nodded. It was the best solution for now. Tifa apologised silently to the suspended Kuja as Cloud cast a strong Seal magic over the tank. "Let's leave now," she suggested.
After leaving the room, Vincent and Cloud managed to weld the doors shut again by careful use of a Fire 2 spell. Another Seal spell was cast over the hidden room and then finally they concealed the door with another bookcase.
"That should do for now," Cloud said, regarding the hidden door in a satisfied way. "It will at least keep children and travellers away,"
"It still solves nothing in the long term," Vincent said darkly as he headed up the stairs. Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances before hurrying after.
- - - - - -
When they were on their way back, Costa Del Sol was scarcely in sight when there was a call on the PHS. Cloud answered it, steering the buggy over the rough terrain idly with his free hand.
"Yes?"
"Cloud? I know you're going to be.. surprised to hear this, but it's Tseng..."
"TSENG?" Cloud was more than surprised. "I didn't even think you were alive,"
"Oh yes," Tseng said calmly. "Takes a lot to kill off a Turk, you know. Woke up in Mideel after the rest of them had a nice funeral for me and Sephiroth was dead. Nice surprise for them all,"
"Well, that's lovely to know," Cloud said sarcastically, with Tifa breathing down his neck as she eavesdropped. "But was there any other reason for calling me?"
"Just thought I'd put you out of your misery and let you know I survived," Tseng replied in equally sarcastic tones. "I knew you'd be pining for me. Oh yes, and there was the small matter of disturbances in the Northern Crater,"
"What disturbances!?" Cloud accidentally jerked the steering wheel and sent them all careening down a rocky slope into a stream. "Oh fuck!" He dropped the PHS in his lap while he steered them to safety. Tifa instantly made a grab for it.
"Disturbances?" She asked, picking it up.
"Yes. Bits of dismembered monster everywhere, that bloody guard spell is back up round the whole area, that sort of thing," Tseng replied merrily. "Terrible mess. Thought you might like to sort it out, world-saving being your area of expertise,"
There was silence as the three of them stared at each other. Tseng was still talking away happily but no-one was noticing. After a long pause Tifa lifted it back up.
"Sorry.." She said. "So do you think Sephiroth might be back?"
"I think? Honey, I know. Haven't you listened to a word I've been saying? If you want to come and see for yourself, do a spot of investigation or whatever, we're staying at Icicle Inn,"
"We'll be there," Cloud nodded and Tifa confirmed it. "Er.. Who is 'we'?" She asked, curiously.
"Oh, all of us lot," Tseng replied carelessly. "Reno, Rude, Elena and a fellow by the name of Rufus.."