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.
They held the first conference as a group the next day. Kuja still seemed a little cautious and it was quite understandable. He didn't contribute to the conversation, preferring to listen. The others were still cautious and somewhat suspicious of him which he supposed was understandable. He used the time to examine the others in the crew and read their auras, a useful trick he had picked up some time ago.
He regarded Cloud coolly as the blonde man gave some speech. He reminded Kuja of Zidane in many ways, although he was colder and less impulsive. Defeating Sephiroth had obviously been a long and hard ordeal, he could hear the way his voice faltered occasionally and those Mako eyes went blank. Whenever the name Aeris was mentioned, the blonde man's ivory aura was cut through by tiny jagged red lines. Great trauma there.
There was tension between Cloud and Tifa which the mage had picked up on instantly. They were joined by a strange aura- a strong pink. Friendship, loving purely as comrades. But there was a tiny struggling crimson flame dancing there that stayed by Tifa. Real love? Perhaps they had been close once? He could see it in the way she looked at him, a little despairingly and with a certain wistfulness at times. Tifa seemed a nice person, friendly and warm at once. It was a shame that any sadness should ever darken those sparkling ruby eyes.
Red XIII interested him, although in his world there were many non-humans far stranger than the lion-like creature and capable of speech. The creature seemed intelligent and was friendly towards Kuja. His aura showed no hostility, but great worry. Vincent? He could identify with the rather dark, silent man. Their lives were similar in many ways. He seemed very distant and emotionless, lost in a crimson aura that flickered to scarlet around the edges when the name Hojo was mentioned.
Cid? His blue eyes flickered to the blonde pilot who leaned casually against a wall. Kuja couldn't tell much about him although he was usually good at picking up a person's character. Barret? The tall man's dark gaze had alternated between staring at Kuja and Rufus with equal suspicion. His aura was a brooding steel gray. He was hard to read. Kuja gathered his thoughts and pushed a weak manipulating spell towards Barret. The man jumped instantly. 'Rufus is planning something' He told the black man silently and saw the instant flush of red race around the edges of his aura as his gunhand jerked upward. Very on edge. With a sight, Kuja dispelled the manipulation before anything happened.
The Turks seemed almost as one unit, he pondered. Elena was anxious to prove herself and more naive than the others. Rude was rather fussy about following orders where Reno seemed rather laid back. And Tseng- well, that was interesting. His aura overlapped with that of Rufus's. Some relationship there? He studied the way they interacted. Tseng seemed fiercely protective although perhaps that was just regarded as part of his job. To an outsider, anyway. He smiled slowly and felt Barret's eyes blaze again. Did he look so suspicious? He flicked a strand of silver hair from his eyes and met the intense gaze steadily.
Barret was troubled. He was torn between the arrogant former President and the cool, rather unearthly mage that had been labelled a great danger by one of the most powerful companies in the world. How could they possibly succeed against Sephiroth with people they couldn't trust within the group? He'd come to trust the others.. Cloud, Cid, Red XIII- even the strange and silent Vincent. But now they were expected to pair up with their enemy and someone who could be just as dangerous as Sephiroth? By his own admission he had killed and destroyed without a second thought. Well, Barret would keep an eye on them. Both of them.
Barret was worried again. Kuja smiled faintly and stared down at the table surface. A pen lay abandoned in front of him and he idly pushed it with his mind. Back and forward, back and forward.. tiny, controlled movements. He hadn't practised this in a long time.
"Kuja?" The mage's head jerked upward and the pen shot forward and skittered off the end of the table. No-one seemed to notice.
"Hmm?" He inquired, a million miles away in thought.
"Would you be capable of destroying the Guard spell around the crater?" Cloud repeated the question patiently. Kuja considered.
"I'm quite confident of my abilities.." He began slowly. "A Guard, or Protect spell shouldn't be impossible to break. I believe it is a strong one though?"
"We had to use the Sister Ray to destroy it," Rufus piped up, flicking his blonde bangs in a familiar way. "It was the strongest known cannon to be designed- powered by immense quantites of Mako energy. It cut straight through Weapon and destroyed the spell. Sadly it was damaged beyond repair after Meteor,"
Kuja frowned. "I'm sure I can do it," He said idly. It sounded arrogant but he was confident of his own powers. Under Trance, he was virtually indestructable. Whoever Sephiroth was, he couldn't be any worse than Zidane. He noticed a raised eyebrow from Cid. Did they doubt him? He shrugged, not particularly concerned.
"Then we'll go after Emerald Weapon soon and regain the Black Materia," Cloud stated. "I'm sure Yuffie will be delighted to supply the whole group with materia, hmm?"
Yuffie scowled furiously upon hearing that and pushed her short dark hair from her eyes. "I nev-" She began.
"Lovely," Cloud beamed. "We'll take the Highwind to the submarine which is currently at Junon Harbour and then locate Emerald Weapon,"
"We'll fight that thing underwater?" Barret looked unhappy.
Cloud held up an Underwater Materia. "This thing will cast a bubble of air around the whole group. Don't worry about it,"
"We're all going to attack it?" Tifa asked suddenly. Usually they only fought in groups of three or so.
"I don't know how else we will beat it," Cloud frowned. "It's back and far stronger than before. The Planet wouldn't let just anything defend the Black Materia now, would it?" They nodded slowly. "So we'll take everyone and attack at the same time," Rufus looked distinctly pale upon hearing that. Barret hid a smirk. Didn't look like pretty boy Shinra had planned on actually fighting Emerald himself. Not that he himself was too cheery. He remembered sighting the massive Weapon as they had drifted around in the submarine. It was immense, a solid wall of heavy armour. But maybe with this Kuja fella and the Turks (he hated to admit it but they were good at fighting) they'd actually stand a chance. And maybe they wouldn't and Sephiroth would come along with that Masamune of his and take the Materia and it would all be in vain. Either way.
"We'll leave tomorrow!" Cloud stood and dismissed them. "Wait there!" He called as Rufus left. The ex-President scowled and walked over.
"Question," Cloud asked. "When you hear the Lifestream," He paused slowly. "Have you ever heard Sephiroth's voice in it?"
Rufus looked down. "I used to, sometimes," He frowned. "He did die, that was for sure. I could hear him in the Lifestream. He was lost and terribly confused. And he was there, always there. The others-well, they move on to the afterlife and only spoke when they wanted to tell me something.." Cloud could imagine the sorts of things the former President would have heard from voices of the dead, especially those killed by Shinra or in Mako reactor accidents. For a moment, he actually felt sorry for Rufus. "But Sephiroth, his presence was always there. He never really spoke to me directly. I don't think he even knew who I was or even who he was. Too much still held him to this world and he was suspended in the Lifestream. But I can't tell you why he came back. All I know is that about a year ago his voice ceased. And several months later the first signs of activity appeared at the Crater. We headed up to take a look at it and he seems to have been resurrected,"
"Do you think Aeris will be resurrected?" Cloud asked eagerly. "She always talked about coming back and she said she would meet me again-"
"I kind of assumed she meant on the other side," Rufus said bluntly. "But if Sephiroth can come back, maybe the Planet will let Aeris come back after this is over. After all, her sacrifice made it possible for the first defeat of Sephiroth,"
Cloud nodded wistfully. He prayed that he would see the pretty Cetra again, even if it meant he must die and cross over. The final sickening scene in which Sephiroth had impaled her as she prayed for the life of the Planet on the altar played over and over in his mind at night. Seeing her wide, impossibly green eyes open with pain, but no fear or shock. She knew he was coming and what she had to do. It seemed so unfair that she wouldn't be rewarded after all she had done. Of course, she had gone on to the afterlife but was that so wonderful without Cloud? He felt rather arrogant but he didn't think she was happy without him. He left Rufus standing there and wandered alone to the deck to think.
As he stood there in the shadows, watching the stars speckle the pure black sky, he was suddenly aware of someone else entering the deck. Hastily, he moved behind a crate. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right not.
Just Vincent, silently staring down at the sleeping world. And then another person came out, long dark hair swishing from side to side in the faint night breeze. Tifa? Cloud watched as she crossed over to Vincent and they talked quietly together. Was it his imagination or was the tall man actually being friendly with Tifa? Normally he was so cool and distant, but now he was meeting her ruby gaze and being positively civil. And it wasn't just that.. he recognised Tifa's little mannerisms as she fiddled with a loose strand of her and stared up into Vincent's eyes. She was flirting? Cloud felt a bitter rush of jealousy threaten which died almost instantly. He had loved Tifa, that was true. But it was Aeris who he now adored and he supposed that he hadn't been fair to Tifa. She'd kept a flame burning for him all these years and he had rejected her. If she now had a chance of happiness with Vincent- well, he wasn't going to stand in the way. 'Good luck, Tifa' he wished her silently and let her go from his heart.
- - - - - - - -
"Emerald.." Rufus paced the room he was sharing with Tseng unhappily. "Damn it, it took the Sister Ray to bring one of those monsters down! One of them killed me!"
Tseng let him rant away. "You look quite alive to me, sir," He pointed out. Rufus frowned and flicked his blonde bangs from his eyes in that familiar gesture.
"Sephiroth looks quite alive too and he was supposed to be dead," Rufus pointed out. "I refuse to think there was any way I could have survived being blasted by that thing and then falling 60 floors and waking up days later after the whole thing was over, way outside Midgar,"
"It does sound a little odd," Tseng said. He too had wondered how Rufus had possibly survived the attack. "You think you actually died?"
"I do," Rufus said. "I even remember after it hit- I was thrown from the top floor instantly but I remember being in the lifestream and don't tell me I was hallucinating or imagining things,"
"I suppose it makes sense," Tseng replied slowly. "And hearing the Lifestream too.. well, that's not usual. Only the Cetra are supposed to hear the voices of the dead. Perhaps you were brought back to atone in some way?"
Rufus looked unhappy. "I suppose so. I hope fighting that bloody Weapon counts as atonement. If I die for the Planet, that should make up for some of it. Then maybe it will stop making me listen to dead people blaming me for everything,"
"Whatever happened, I'm just glad you're back," Tseng said daringly. Rufus looked up.
"Really?" He frowned again. "I thought you'd be quite appalled to discover it. After all, it was my fault you almost died by Sephiroth,"
"All in the job description," Tseng replied. "When I recovered, Sephiroth was dead and I came back to Midgar to discover Shinra in ruins and you supposedly dead. It was.. hell,"
"............."
Their eyes met, Tseng's dark Wutainese gaze against Rufus's intense blue. No need for words. A second later, Rufus found himself pinned against the wall by Tseng who he discovered tasted pleasantly of cinnamon. 'Oh well,' Rufus thought to himself 'If I die tomorrow, at least I'll have made the most of my last night,'