Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII
A/N: Rating for violence, profanity, some trigger warning, and spicy stuff.
Although my female character has a relationship with Genesis, it won't be a love triangle.
*Lucka Circe is pronounced LASH-ka KER-ki
*I posted this story on my AO3 account with the same title, though my username is different.
She scooped a spoonful of a cold, creamy, and not too sweet chocolate ice cream from the big bucket on her lap. Not even bothered to lick, she just gulped down the whole thing.
Once, she scooped again, then swallowed.
Second, more furious this time, she nearly coughed.
Her eyes were far away when she ate. Sometimes she glanced down inside the bucket. She gave an appraising nod silently. It's delicious, she thought. Then, she'd stare blankly again into nowhere.
She didn't even realize her hand scooped in robotic motion. Again and again, until her eyes burned, and she couldn't breathe right. Oh? Was it because of the cold ice cream?
No.
It was from the warm stream on her cheeks, her blurry gaze, and a punch in her gut. The storm of emotion ragged wild inside her chest, one by one on its awakening. They made her whimper, then choked. As her eyes burnt, her head hurt. She drew her free hand to wipe out the tears and rubbed them with a harsh swipe when something appeared in the corner of her eyes.
"Who are you?"
Her head snapped to the owner of a deep, husky voice, where a bare chest, tall silver-haired man, studying her intently in his still demeanor. His eyes were a bit narrow. Regardless, she didn't miss how his body tensed.
A really familiar figure, she realized.
She glanced around with slow movement at her surroundings before meeting back with his shining green slit eyes. Soon, her hollow eyes changed into shock, then confusion, and rested into an unexplained dreadful acknowledgment look. Her breath intake became more rigid as if a big tight knot blocked her throat, and a slithered chill went down her spine, with a cold wave wrapped around her body in an instant. Unblinking, she slapped her cheek hard enough. The action awoke her by the eeriness of reality after the throbbing pain on her abused skin screamed aloud.
It isn't a dream.
"I'm Lucka," she murmured, her eyes wide open.
He stood there for another moment. Not even moving an inch from the door threshold while he found a girl eating a bucket of ice cream, sitting on his kitchen floor, right under the dim light in the middle of the night.
A girl with long wavy hair, as light as snow. Her long and thick white eyelashes shadowed her stoic pale gray eyes that seemed wet. Did she just cry?
His eyes trailed down, and he was stunned by how her skin appeared as white as a sheet. It made the veins across her face, and the pale flushes on her nose were more noticeable than other people he knew who had fair skin, including him. Eventually, his eyes left her face. He caught a glimpse of a bronze necklace chain hidden under her oversized ivory sleeping t-shirt—which hadn't fully covered her thighs—and a pair of furry navy slippers that stood out against her overall whiteness.
Somehow, her mere physical presence gave him a fraction of a strange feeling that crawled inside his skin. He firmly believed it was not fear; he was the deadliest living weapon on Gaia. Nothing could scare him. It was something else; she had a mystique aura.
She was like a ghost.
"How can you get here?" he asked.
After she slapped herself and recovered from whatever struck her mind, she eyed him for a long time. Afterward, in only a split second, like nothing happened and everything was normal, she dug into her ice cream again. She licked it as she glanced up at him. Her eyes were almost innocent, yet she sounded a bit wary.
"I don't know, General Sephiroth," she said.
He blinked, though not impressed nor surprised. "Are you from Silver Elite? How dare you sneak into my house."
She raised one eyebrow. Her expression faintly showed annoyance from the accusations. "No, and no. I was eating this ice cream in my bedroom, and suddenly when I rubbed my eyes, you appeared, and here I'm in your kitchen." She ended with an awkward shrug.
He didn't buy it, of course. But oddly, the girl didn't try harder either.
She caught his eyes, letting out a defeated sigh and glancing down at her ice cream. Then she stood and walked towards him, her eyes flickered with something. "I'm not from Gaia. Well, you could check this." She handed the bucket to him, and he spotted a hint of hope in her tone.
He took it. His eyebrow furrowed as he examined the packaging. The company address was clearly written, and where did it come from. But strangely, he never heard any of them.
"I'm from Earth, another planet," she said and grabbed back the bucket to resume eating.
Sephiroth quirked his eyebrows at her behavior. He almost thought she was purposely using the ice cream to distract herself. Was it her attempt to hide her fear?
He stared at her with an impassive look. "You should make up a better story. Though, I'm impressed you can get in without me noticing."
"No, no. You'll know if I'm lying." In a flash, her posture became more assertive. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulder, standing at her highest height as she stared at him.
He outstared her. His eyes pierced deeply, searching for something. To prove any evidence, anything he could discover. But he found nothing. There was only pure self-awareness in her eyes. Had he mistaken in reading her demeanor? She didn't flinch, not even for a second under his scrutiny gaze. On the contrary, she still licked her ice cream on the spoon, and her other free hand grasped the hem of her t-shirt. No sign of trembling, no sign of retreating.
His eyebrows crinkled. This girl was so weird. He couldn't help that her confidence and calm attitude intrigued him.
"Your ID," he said.
The girl frowned, then her eyes brightened up. "Oh! Right, well..." She trailed off as she put down the bucket on the counter behind and groped around her hips. She lifted up her t-shirt—which made him dart out his gaze—and drew out a card wallet from her black shorts pocket (that he thought she didn't wear). "Lucky you, I still keep it after I bought the ice cream." She extended her hand to him.
Lucky me? It should be you.
He was about to take it, but she pulled back. He shot her with a questioning glare.
"Could you please call Tseng of the Turks first?"
He frowned from hearing the name, but he didn't show any reluctance. Even if he hated the idea of the Turks mending his business, he asked calmly, "Do you know him?"
"Yes, I do," she said, inclining her head down to emphasize, "we will need his help."
We? Did she know what that man was capable of? Ludicrous, how could a captive need help from her captor's allies?
His eyebrows were furrowed deeper as he said, "Explain." Sephiroth shifted to fold his arms in front of his chest as if to give a picture of a more menacing gesture, like a tall, sturdy wall made from human flesh that overshadowed her much smaller body.
"As I've said. I'm not from this world. I don't belong here. You'll need someone that has access to cross-check the database," the girl said.
Despite his dominant posture, she managed to make herself at ease. She casually leaned back to the counter edge. As though they were some kind of old friend, hanging out in the kitchen discussing the weather.
Regardless of whatever self-assurance mask that she tried to show earlier, in fact, this girl dared to openly confront the probability of being interrogated. No, even she was the one who suggested asking the Turks first. The thought brought delight to his eyes. "You show me first, then I'll call him."
She was quiet for a beat. But her gaze never left Sephiroth's eyes. Then she said, " 'Kay, but in one condition."
He couldn't hold a smirk. Now the girl tried to lead him into a negotiation. He made a hummed noise for her to go on.
She spoke with wrinkled eyebrows. Her tone grew more serious. She said, "After I show you my ID, you should secure me from him. I don't want being dragged to Shinra's cell before he discovers I'm not from Gaia." She paused. "No, I don't want to go there even after that."
So she knew how the system worked and how the Turks' did their job. And as absurd as it sounded, despite her weirdness, he didn't mind having another talk with her. As it turned out, a little noise from his kitchen led him to an exciting encounter with this mysterious girl.
"Very well." He opened his palm and stepped closer to her. She handed the card wallet to him, and he started the inspection. There were more than ten cards divided under the plastic compartment. First, he drew her ID card.
|Lucka Circe. Born on June 20th, 2001, Lozani, North Macedonia…|
He arched his eyebrows when he read the lines. It didn't make any sense. The year was 0000, but she already looked like a girl in her adolescence. Even he'd never heard the name of her birthplace.
"How old are you?" He cast a suspicious glare, scanning her from head to toe.
"I'll turn 19 soon this summer." She sounded honest—he didn't detect any lie in her tone—and as if she could read his mind, she added, "Doesn't mention I'm from the future too."
"The future." He repeated, tasting the word in his mouth as though he'd never mentioned it before. Sephiroth was more puzzled than he anticipated.
She caught his unfocused eyes and sounded more cautious when she said, "Look, before your mind cracks, or even if you're curious what will happen in the future, I should know how I ended up here in the first place," she said, "because honestly, I don't know how."
He still held his gaze at her for another moment. Even though he couldn't merely believe the girl, he reconsidered the new information and decided he'd just play along. Then he nodded. "I will call him."
The General led them to his living room and turned the light on. She blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.
"Have a seat," he said and went to the hallway.
She sat on his fancy, large L khaki linen sofa as he instructed. Her eyes practically swept up the room. Despite the vast space, there was nothing much to observe. But at least, she could feel the projection of his excellent taste here. Her eyes were attracted by lining panels of huge windows with a thick, layered light gray curtain on each one in the corner of the room. Besides the windows was installed a white-rim glass sliding door that leads to the rooftop. While on the right side of the wall stood a floor-ceiling bookshelf with many books neatly arranged by colors.
Lucka turned her head back. She stared straight at her reflection on the flat digital television on the deep green oak console table. And when she found nothing else interesting—despite all of the collection of his deluxe furniture—she dug her slippers into a warm and fluffy white fleece rug that laid under the large square coffee table in front of her.
She barely played with the hem of her t-shirt when a faint footstep stopped right beside her. Lucka looked up to find the General was now cladded in a black cotton sleeping robe and already making his way to sit on the gray armchair. He was holding a screen-touch PHS and dialed a number. There was a fair amount of silence between them while he kept his gaze at her before the other line connected.
"Tseng," he said with a professional tone.
["General. Is there something I could help?"]
She could hear the muffled reply from the other man. Shamelessly, she moved closer to him, bluntly eavesdropping on them.
Sephiroth glanced at her, but he stayed heedless. "Some random girl was sneaking into my house. She could get in discreetly." He paused on purpose. Perhaps to let Tseng proceed with the piece of unspoken information of how high his home security was. And how he'd be alert easily by the slightest movement (because of his sensitive enhanced hearing). Then he continued, "She talked nonsense, telling me she doesn't belong to this world. Her name's Lucka Circe. I need a background check from you."
["What does she look like, Sir?"]
He eyed her for a brief moment. "She's young. She has wavy white hair, white eyebrows and eyelashes, her skin's so pale, and her eyes are pale gray."
A paused from the other side as though Tseng was absorbing the information he'd attained. ["It's rather unusual to cross a person with Albinism. It must be easy checking on her."]
"Certainly."
["Do you have other information, General?"]
"Tomorrow morning, I'll bring her and her ID to my office. She's under my surveillance. She'll stay with me until you give me the report."
She glowered at him, not happy with half of his decision. Even though he agreed not to assign the Turks to hold her in Shinra Cell, she hadn't expected him to drag her along to his office. She was about to protest, but Sephiroth shot another glare to shut her up.
["Very well."]
"Thank you." He hung up.
The General let her sleep on the sofa for the night. After double-checking all the doors and windows, his security alarm, and turning off the lights, he went to his bedroom.
Lucka was resting on her back. She spread the throw blanket across her legs. A single square cushion propped up her head, but her eyes couldn't stop staring at the dark ceiling as her mind wandered far away. She forgot about her melted ice cream, but it was the last thing she should be worried about. Tomorrow they'd go to the Shinra Headquarters. If she could sleep now and then wake up inside her bedroom (indeed). This whole encounter must be her weirdest, lucid dream. But if it wasn't, then she'd be bloody doomed.
In her entire life, she believed Gaia was only a fictional world created by some dude game developers in Japan. Who would ever imagine it existed in real life? And if this was real, were there any chances she could go back to Earth? What about Ryuu? Would he realize she'd disappeared?
Zeus, what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Sephiroth was nearly closing his eyes when something caught his attention. He reached out to the nightstand to have a good look at the object. It was a gray seamless orb. He knew for sure it was a summon Materia. He'd already read the spell and put his mana right after he came home earlier. But no monster or any creature had appeared. Yet, the orb was glowing a pale gold, which meant it was activated. His frown deepened; he was flustered. He sat in an instant as his head snapped to the door direction.
The girl.
Sephiroth blinked slowly. His mind had its own argument against him. In normal conditions, amongst the other Materia, they should be a kind of creature that would inhabit them. But she was a hundred percent human—although a weird one as she was eating ice cream when he found her.
No matter how he looked at her, she was mundane. He couldn't feel any magic coming from her. Sephiroth was torn. He didn't believe in such a coincidence that her sudden appearance could be from the Materia. Though on the other hand, she appeared in perfect timing. But wasn't it too soon to conclude anything? Sephiroth sighed. This could wait. Now he should sleep. After his last extended mission, he had a lot of work to do tomorrow.
