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.
After a night of worrying, Vincent finally showed up to reassure them. They had landed the Highwind on the continent of Wutai, too far for Sephiroth to travel in a night. Vincent simply transformed, flew there and walked in the next day looking quite well. Tifa flew at him and hugged the silent man as soon as he appeared. He looked rather surprised but didn't pull away, patting her shoulder awkwardly with his non-clawed hand.
"I thought you were dead," She mumbled into his shoulder.
"Not at all," He stepped back and she released him, embarassed.
"Did all of Kalm burn down?" She asked hesitantly.
He nodded. "Sephiroth tried to enter the Inn. I managed to hold him off as Chaos for a while, but people started to be alerted to our presence. Sephiroth ran, but not before casting a fire spell. I summoned Leviathan but it was useless.." He turned away and Tifa knew immediately that he would be blaming himself for any lost lives.
"It's not your fault," She reminded him. There was no answer and after a long pause she walked off.
The rest of the day was spent recuperating after Weapon's defeat. After seeing the power of Trance, none of them had any doubts about Kuja's ability to destroy the Guard Spell. All that remained to do then was to find and destroy Sephiroth. Once that was done, the Black Materia needed to be hidden away again and hopefully life would resume as much like normal as possible. Except for Kuja. Tifa wondered what would they do with him? Shinra's machines had been destroyed. She imagined Rufus and the Turks could get hold of the blueprints and rebuild it, but it had proven to be terribly unpredictable. Even if they could locate Kuja's world, he might be thrown into it years into the future. It just wasn't safe. But she couldn't picture the mage settling down and living in their world. He had offered to help them but once that was over, there was nothing here for him.
And what about Rufus? He must be devastated after Tseng's death. She couldn't picture the ex-President living in hiding for the rest of his life. If only there was some way to rebuild Shinra.. the company still had tremendous funds and resources although no-one to claim them. Under Midgar law, as no corpse had been found, seven years had to pass before Rufus could be declared officially dead and the resources be taken over by another. But it couldn't open again as a Mako company. Tifa couldn't allow that and she doubted Rufus would do so after hearing the cries of the Planet. He had been brought back from the Lifestream for a reason.
And herself? Tifa blushed. Although they'd only spent the last few days together after five years of seperation, both she and Vincent knew they had something together. She couldn't go back to live with Cloud and pretend they were happy as friends. She had to follow her heart sometimes and stop doing what was best for others. But Cloud was so frail sometimes. It had taken Tifa to save him from himself when he was lost in the Lifestream. What would happen if she abandoned him now?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Yuffie.
"Whatcha doing?" Yuffie asked, plopping down besides Tifa. They sat on one of the high mountains in the area. The Highwind was landed around the other side, on a level plateau about half way up. Tifa had wandered off and found a peaceful spot overlooking a steep drop. The breeze was cool and pleasant and it was an ideal place to think.
"Just day-dreaming," She answered the young ninja and smiled nonchantly. But Yuffie wasn't the small child she was once. Tifa sighed.
"Actually, I was thinking," She answered truthfully.
"About what?" Yuffie pulled out a red materia and polished it idly. "Scared about fighting Sephiroth?"
"A little," She replied and then carried on. "Actually, I was more worried about what would become of us all. Afterwards, you know,"
Yuffie shrugged. "To be honest, I dunno if I want to go back to Wutai and carry on being a good little princess,"
"You like Reno, don't you?" Tifa turned to face the younger girl. Yuffie blushed childishly and nodded.
"And you like Vincent," It was a statement, not a question. "What about Cloud?"
"That's what worries me. Things were never the same between us after Aeris died. He loved her more than he had ever loved me," Tifa smiled wistfully. "We were friends though, and he went almost insane after Sephiroth was defeated. I don't know if it would be fair to leave him in that state again,"
Yuffie looked appalled. "You can't keep doing things for other people, Tifa. If Cloud wants to keep pining over some dead chick then you can't help that. Why make yourself miserable when you have a chance like this?" She leaned forward conspiratally. "And Vincent is pretty damn cute if you like them gothic,"
Tifa smiled. "Thanks Yuffie. I don't know.. I sometimes wonder if things might not have been better if I had died instead of Aeris. I used to spend ages travelling the world to find out if there was some way she could come back in my place. Then Cloud would have been happy and so would she,"
"Aeris would never have let you do a thing like that," Yuffie shook her head. "She knew she had to die and she went straight for it! And 'sides, who says she isn't coming back?"
"She's dead. She can't come back. Ever," Tifa pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
"Rufus thinks she can," Yuffie smiled brightly. "I was hiding under a table waiting to try and steal some of his materia- those Shinra have the best magic- and then he called Cloud back into the room and they talked," She shrugged. "I couldn't help overhearing,"
"What did they say?" Tifa asked, interested.
"Rufus has been hearing voices since he died and came back. Or nearly died. Whatever happened when Weapon hit his office anyway. And he says Aeris used to talk to him and she was the only voice that wasn't judging him 'cause of what Shinra did. And she told him to tell Cloud that they would meet again!"
"Oh Yuffie," Tifa sighed. "She probably meant in the afterlife,"
Yuffie shook her head vigorously and her dark hair whipped in the wind. "Not what Rufus thought. He said she sounded like she was comin' back one day. After Sephiroth had been killed and it was all over, of course,"
"Wow.." Tifa breathed. "If she came back, it would be perfect. Cloud would be happy. He'd have someone to look after him,"
"And you and Vincent could run off and go at it like bunnies!" Yuffie burst out laughing at the thought of the stately Vincent ever acting that way. Tifa couldn't help laughing as well. There was something comical about the way she had phrased it.
"Let's head back," Tifa suggested. "There's a lot to get ready if we're going into the Crater tomorrow," Yuffie nodded and bounded up. They ran back to the Highwind, suddenly optimistic about the battle that lay ahead.
- - - - - - - - -
Back at the Highwind they were greeted by a limping Dark Nation who had apparantly recovered from the attack. Tifa thoughtfully patted the great black monster, remembering the days when it had fought her alongside Rufus. It seemed positively cuddly now it had accepted her as being no threat.
"Everyone ready?" Cloud asked as they gathered upon the deck. There were nods of assent. "Good," He said, turning his back upon them. "I was thinking about this again earlier," He continued thoughtfully. "And whatever happens, even if Sephiroth is too strong for us.. well, it doesn't matter any more. Even if some of us die, we have friends waiting for us in the Lifestream. But I'd really like to save the Planet again. I don't want the lives to be lost in vain. I don't want Sephiroth to find the Black Materia again. We have to finish this now," He looked around the group thoughtfully. "This time, there is no Aeris to stop Meteor. We have to stop it from coming in the first place. And that's why we're going to end things with Sephiroth now. We're taking the materia with us- if he searches, he'll find us and we might as well stay together and defend it as best as we can. I know how Sephiroth affects me sometimes-" He shuddered here and Kuja noticed with great interest how another, weaker aura traced around Cloud's when he thought about it. Manipulation?
"-And so that's why I'm leaving the Black Materia in Red XIII's care," He handed it back to the feline creature. "I trust you to keep care of it,"
Red XIII bowed his head. "I'll try my best," He answered softly.
"Good," Cloud nodded. "We'll set off tomorrow then!"