Author's Notes: Legal crap. I own a computer and a variety of books of Witchcraft, LOTS of incense, religious items and some herbs. Please don't take them away, Square people! After all, I'm not really altering the characters (aside from Aeris' Gothiness) or anything....
Anyway. I decided to have a go with Tifa, because I've ignored her altogether, and also I created my own vision of what happens during the SOLDIER-Making-Of-Process-Thing. Also a fun little bit with Reno, and how Aeris got her necklace. Enjoy.
Every day, Tifa Lockheart devoured the daily newspaper, Nibel Province Herald, hoping for any mention, however small, of Cloud. First, she read Midgar's news, then the bulletins from the Wutese front, with the idea that he would be involved somehow, what with him being in SOLDIER and all.
Every day, she was disappointed. There was mention of Sephiroth, yes, and of the other powerful Wutese warlords, and the newest developments with the AVALANCHE situation, but no Cloud. She even checked the obituaries, wondering if he had suddenly died, perhaps from Mako poisoning after the infusion process.
Every day, she checked the mailbox, hoping for a letter, and every day she found nothing.
Her friends laughed at her. After all, they had always hated Cloud. She herself had never really been that attached to him, but when he had tried to help her on the day her mother died, and when they had met at the well, she had found that he wasn't all that bad. At first, her search for news was spawned from a curiosity as to how he was doing, since he was from Nibelheim, but slowly, it had turned into wondering how things were for the boy.
Every day, she went about her business, spending hours with Master Zangan, and every day, she hoped.
*****
Today was the day, the day when the training group would finally undergo the Mako treatments and take one step down the road of inhumanity. A small step, yes, but the first step was, as everyone knew, the hardest, and then it got easy. Easy to kill, easy to ignore screams of anguish and cries for mercy, easy to slaughter innocents, easy to commit rape, easy to burn down villages of 'rebels' who were unlucky enough to live on the wrong side of a border, easy to be inhuman and ignore the little voices that told you that things were wrong, the little voices that would eventually go away if you told them to shut up and leave you alone.
Cloud suspected that Sephiroth had told his own little voices to shut up a very long time ago.
Cloud didn't know the half of it, really.
Very few people had the faintest idea of a quarter of it.
Today the group would undergo the first stages of the infusion process. There had been a big assembly, with Professor Hojo, brutal dictator of the Science Department, inventor of the infusion process, and head of the mysterious Jenova Project that people weren't supposed to know about. The gaunt man had explained what would happen.
First, they would have to fill out a liability waiver. This was very important, because Shin-Ra did not need lawsuits on the behalf of brain-dead vegetables with eyes that glowed so brightly they were painful to look at.
After they filled out the waiver, they would be taken to a large showering facility where they would be drenched with a Mako and water mixture. After drying off, they would go to the infusion center and would be strapped to the operation tables. This was because the Mako that would shortly course through their veins would fire off muscles, cause twitches, and make their bodies writhe and shake and jerk about.
The needles would be inserted into both arms and both legs, with a longer, thicker one in the center of the chest, all burning with the exquisite green glow that was Mako. Exsanguination tubes would drain their blood, allowing their entire circulatory system to fill with the luminous emerald fluid, for just a moment, infusing their very being with the power, and then pumps would kick in, and force the Mako out and the blood back in. While it was in the holding tanks, their blood would be tainted with fresh Mako, to ensure complete infusion.
By now, their eyes would have taken on the brighter glow that was the sign of the process. A few weeks before the process, the entire group had been tested with a little injection of Mako, to ensure that there were no potentially fatal allergic reactions during the actual infusion. All but a few had passed and had not exhibited the itching, the swelling, and the faint green colouration of the skin that showed an allergy. Well, some might have covered it with cosmetics or some form of concealment. Those who had would undoubtedly die on the tables, their lies revealed as an agonized rictus that would forever mark their faces. The ones who passed the test earlier bore the faint light in their eyes that spoke of light Mako treatment.
After the initial stages, when they had all been examined for signs of insanity, mutation, or any of the small host of side-effects that resulted from the process, they would then be permitted to take the final step.
They would be placed in large pods that would be filled with diluted Mako and liquid air, contaminated with traces of the chemical that gave the members of SOLDIER their incredible strength. They would stay in the pods for a carefully controlled time period, then released and taken to the medical division for recuperation.
Their eyes would forever burn with the powers of the Planet's blood. Brown eyes would glow like lovingly polished wood under a shaft of sunlight, blue eyes would blaze with the colour of the lighting-flash, green eyes would luminesce with the strength of emeralds, of beryl, an exquisite glow that was rivalled only by pure Mako in hue. Eternally coruscating beauty, a gift and a curse, brighter than the luciferin that lent its light to the deep-sea fishes, paler than the sun.
Cloud's heart was in his mouth as he signed his name at the end of the form, initialled and dated where indicated, then inked his thumb and carefully pressed it in the square set aside for that identification. He stuck near Zack as they were led to the showering facility, stripped, and stepped under the nozzle that would spew radiance and near-Godhood upon him.
Green fire burned in their veins and the secrets of all Creation were made clear to them, and then, there was eternity.
*****
Reno sauntered into the lounge, plopped into a well-worn chair that had conformed to his shape years ago, reached over to the endtable, and grabbed his packet of cigarettes. He took a deep drag, then sighed happily.
"Sweet Lady Nicotine, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways!"
He puffed smoke rings as he counted.
"One. You're a bad girl. Two. You're great after sex. Three. You're great during sex. Four. You're a-"
He was interrupted by Tseng somehow managing to silently barge in, followed by Rude.
"Reno. Get out of that chair and straighten yourself out! You're a Turk, not a lounge-lizard!"
The red-haired Turk leapt up, desperately tried, and failed, to tuck in his shirt, and ran his fingers through his tangled and knotted ponytail. He stubbed out his cigarette on the arm of the chair and ignored the stench of burning upholstery. Then Reno smiled at his commanding officer.
"And what can I do for you, Tseng?"
Tseng smiled an icy smile that was devoid of feeling. "I need you to step up surveillance on the flower girl in Sector Six Slum. Hojo wants us to make sure that nothing happens to her. In addition, I need you to try and win her over to Shin-Ra's cause."
Reno sighed. "Crap. You do remember that her mother chased me out of her house with a hot frying-pan, don't you?"
"Considering the fact that you'd just squeezed her daughter's rear end, I don't find that at all surprising. I think it's rather commendable, actually. Maybe that would have cured you of your disgusting attitude towards that poor girl."
Reno's eyes widened slightly at the words 'poor girl'. Tseng was being a bit too nasty. Tseng was never nasty, unless he had something big going on, or if he really didn't agree with what he'd been told to do. And Reno knew that Tseng didn't have anything going on. Obviously, old feelings for the flower girl.
He grinned. "Yes, sir. I have seen the error of my ways and will go to confession immediately! I will never again squeeze, prod, goose, or poke another woman's rear or front ends again."
He stepped past Tseng, said "I'm on it!", and then squeezed past Rude, tweaking him on the bottom as he went.
And then he laughed.
As he walked down the hall, he yelled back, "I never said I wouldn't do it to a man!"
God, fucking up his superiors was fun.
*****
You could buy a human life in Wall Market. You could buy a gun, or a sword, or a small collection of crystallized souls in sphere form, from the Materia dealer, who secretly had a habit of grinding them to a fine powder and snorting the dust, getting high off forgotten wisdom. Any form of drug, any vice, any thing was to be had somewhere. The Don's women of negotiable affection strutted brazenly, calling out to any likely prospect, the girls from Honeybee Inn skittering around trying to avoid the Don's whores. The slowly steaming pile of refuse behind the weapon shop, the sound of a blackjack striking an unsuspecting skull, the flashing lights, all of it, Wall Market!
In a culvert, an emaciated man in a shapeless black robe, whose eyes shone unendurably bright, who bore a new tattoo, so new it had not yet healed, on his hand, who uttered only moans of pain, lay down to rest. Wisps of silvery hair stuck out from his hood.
*****
Aeris and Zack sat on the Mog's head, watching the children run and jump in the tiny playground. She leaned against him and sighed.
"Promise you'll never tell Shin-Ra about me?"
"How many times do I have to promise?"
"A million times would not be enough..."
Zack sat up and looked at her. "Have the Turks been bothering you again?"
She tried to look at him, but shifted her gaze to a little girl on the swingset. "...not that you'd really notice. Tseng never bothers me. He's always very nice and polite, but I can tell why he talks to me, and I can tell that he doesn't want to have to try and win me over to Shin-Ra. He buys me dresses and takes me to that sushi bar I like, and it's almost like he's trying to make up for having an ulterior motive. He does like me, though. It's just that he has to hide that behind a thin mask of wanting me for Shin-Ra." Aeris snorted. "As though they really want me so I can make everyone in the Slums happy!"
"Well, then, why do they want you?"
"Because, I've told you. Because my mother was an Ancient and my father was some important Shin-Ra guy. I don't even know how they found me. It's not as though they have some sort of Ancient detector."
Zack smiled at her. "Yeah, they do, and it goes 'beep, beep, beeeeeep' whenever you go near it, and they have to use it because you don't look different enough in all that pink and red and with your funny hair and the flowers! How could they pick you out of a crowd, anyway? You look entirely human."
She smacked him playfully. "You know that I don't look visibly different. Tseng said that there's only faint differences in the bone structure, and especially in that of the face...but it's my mind that they want. They want me to speak to the Planet and find out where the Promised Land is."
Zack tried to steer her away from the topic. "So, I heard that Beautifully Green Poison is going to be at Opaline Dream tonight...and I just happen to have a little something here for my favorite flower girl..." He reached into his coat pocket and drew out a velvet-covered oblong box, which he handed to Aeris.
She opened it and gasped. "Oh, Zack, it's beautiful!" She gently lifted out a thin length of black ribbon, from which dangled three silver triangles. "Will you fasten it?" She turned her back to him and gave him the necklace. He carefully tied it, lifting aside her hair, then extracted a few strands and held them to his nose, and inhaled deeply.
"Your hair always smells so beautiful..." He sniffed again. "Jasmine and ylang-ylang?"
Aeris turned back to him and smiled. "And a bit of patchouli. I know you like patchouli, so I added some scent to my shampoo. That vial of oil cost me twenty gil. I hope you're worth it!"
"Damn straight I am, after I spend all that money on a pretty necklace for an even prettier girl..."
"Am I really the prettiest girl, Zack?"
"Would I lie to you, Prettiest Girl?"
"You better not, or something bad will happen, I expect. Mom is pretty good with a hot frying-pan. I wish you'd been there when she went after Reno with it. I almost thought Tseng would have done it for me."
"...Yeah. Anyway, we have a bar to go to...is your mother home?"
"No."
"Good. I love seeing you dressed in black, you know. So nice and dark and sexy. Who would ever suspect the cheerful Aeris of looking like that?"
Aeris laughed. "Not my mother, and that's the point, isn't it? And you're right, we have some absinthe to drink and some friends to see." Zack leapt off the Mog, and she extended her hand. "Help me down?"
A/N: So! How Cetra and humans are different, Aeris likes sushi (but who doesn't?), Reno squeezed Rude's butt! Is Reno gay? Is he bi? Who knows? Will Clod pass the infusion process, or will he end up some Mako-poisoned wreck? Isn't he already a Mako-poisoned wreck? What's up with the guy in the black robe?
Now. I WANT REVIEWS. If I don't get reviews, I will kidnap Sephiroth AND Reno AND Vincent and lock them in my cold dark unfinished basement where they will have to live on Annual Commercial Gift Day decorations and insulation, and I'll take Jenova and Aeris and lock them in a different room (well, Aeris may stay upstairs) and I will hold them ALL HOSTAGE until I get some nice reviews. People who give me nice reviews will get a random piece of a character's clothing and a box of crescent cakes, how's that? And maybe, just maybe, I'll let everyone but Aeris and Seph go, and I'll pen them up in the back yard till they breed and give us lots of little tiny AeriSeph babies.