Okay, first of all, I really want to give a big thank you to all of you that have reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story.
I honestly wasn't expecting much when I started this, as OC stories generally don't get a lot of attention, and self-inserts are usually ignored altogether. So, while the plot was a little different from the norm, I was still expecting it to be more of a "write for fun" story than anything. Seeing how many people are enjoying it just makes it so much better, you know? I'm glad.
Anyway, I've gotten some pretty mixed opinions as far as the names for the borrowed characters go. Some of you are okay with the way I have it now, others would prefer me to do what I did with Zuko/Zian- keep the name sounding similar but change it nonetheless, and the rest of you want me to keep everyone's names true to the original. I'll think on it a little more, and I might put up a poll of sorts to let you guys decide.
Umm, that's about all I can think of off the top of my head, so I'll just continue with the story. Please read on and enjoy. :)
[Edited on 4/23/20]
This chapter has been updated with new information that's come out since I first posted it. If you feel up to it, you can reread it. If not, you can read the main changes at the end or in the latest chapter (11).
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Chapter 7
Ten years. Gone in the blink of an eye.
I sighed as yet another failed synthesis curled up into acrid smoke. Cole would be more than a little upset, but I couldn't find it in me to care at the moment.
I was fifteen.
Puberty actually hadn't been that bad this time around. I wondered if it was because I'd already gone through it once, so the hormone thing wasn't as out of balance. I didn't know, I wasn't a doctor.
Zack would be leaving for ShinRa next year, and Cloud in three.
I also learned that memories of my past life had been slipping away without me noticing. Honestly, I'm surprised that I managed to remember so much for so long, but it was still a pretty big blow to suddenly realize I couldn't remember things I'd considered important.
I was scared.
I was afraid of forgetting my old family, of forgetting what it was that made me who I am, that ShinRa would finally reach Nibelheim next week, that the "game events" were so close now, that so much had already changed (Tifa's ma hadn't died yet, Cloud was training with Master Zangan, my own Ma was pregnant and oh God, that shouldn't have happened, and I was the cause of all of this and how much was this going to change things?), terrified of losing my new family to that series of horrible tragedies, anxious and desperate in trying to figure out a way to keep them safe when the inevitable happened-
"Damn it, Castalia! I thought I told you no more experimenting!"
I jumped, wincing when the pestle and mortar I'd been using fell to the floor, shattering with a crash that seemed almost deafening. Cole stepped forward, face red and expression incensed as I hurried to clean it up.
"Cole-"
"Don't you try apologizing! You know how expensive phoenix down is, and here you are wasting all of it in silly projects! You're a young woman, Cassie, you should know better by now!"
An increasingly familiar mix of frustration and guilt went through me at his words. Guilt because I knew he had a point and frustration because...well...I wasn't making any progress.
A little over two years ago, I'd gotten this...idea.
Phoenix Down was, as the name implied, created using the down of a phoenix. However, it wasn't quite as simple to create as it sounded. The down needed to be finely ground before being combined with a powdered elixir. The result was a fine, velvety substance that could be applied topically onto an injured person or injested orally. It was a grueling item to make, as both the down and the elixir had to be prepared a certain way (and have you ever tried to ground a feather? It's not fun), but there was no denying that it was a powerful and useful item to have. It was when I had finally managed to make a passable one that inspiration struck.
New medicines were discovered all the time.
Technology was continually changing and improving.
Revolutionary ideas came out every day.
So, why couldn't I invent something stronger than a Phoenix Down?
I wasn't looking for something to bring back the dead- no matter what world you lived in, no mortal man had the power to do that -but if I could just make something strong enough to keep them from dying should something happen...Something that succeeded where Phoenix Down failed...I knew it was ambitious, and I knew it was probably impossible, but damn if I wasn't going to try.
Ma and Da, Cloud and the new baby, Tifa and Vincent...
The clock was ticking, and I would fall apart if I lost them.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Cloud groaned as he stared up at the sky.
"Wanna go again?"
He couldn't quite stop the smile that tugged on his lips. "I think I'm going to call it a day, Tifa."
Tifa shrugged, but there was no mistaking her smug expression. "Okay. See you tomorrow, Cloud."
"Bye."
He sighed quietly when she was gone, all at once proud of her and disgruntled at the fact that he had lost to an ten-year-old. He may have had years of fighting experience over her, but it only went so far when his body wasn't ready, and they had agreed to stick to martial arts- something that she had taken to like a duck to water while his mind was fighting his instincts over what to do. He figured that learning a whole new way of fighting when he was used to another could do that, but it was necessary.
He wasn't strong enough yet.
When he had finally managed to evade notice long enough to try heading toward the mansion, he had run into a pack of rather vicious Nibel Wolves. While they would have been nothing for him as an adult, as a child, it was a different matter. One hour and some really close calls later, the wolves decided he wasn't worth the trouble while he decided that he should probably toughen up before trying to wake Vincent.
So, he'd started training under Zangan.
It hadn't taken all that much to convince him, fortunately. With Castalia and Tifa already training under him, and once he had seen that Cloud was serious about getting stronger, he had agreed. It wasn't what he was used to, but he knew that if he tried any of the exercises he'd done in the future, he'd probably destroy his body. Zangan knew a child's limitations, so it was better to have him decide the whens and hows.
Castalia had been worried at first, which he could understand from an older sibling's perspective, but she had calmed down in time. He still hadn't managed to convince her to spar with him, but given his loss to Tifa...
"Cloud?"
He blinked and pulled himself out of his thoughts in time for the very subject of them to lean over with a smile.
"Were you sleeping?"
He sat up and stretched. "No. Just thinking."
"About?"
"Stuff."
"That explains so much," she said with a playful roll of her eyes. "Anyway, Da asked me to find you. It's time for lunch."
"Already?"
"Time flies when you're flirting with pretty girls, Cloud."
He choked. "Flirt?! With Tifa?!"
She grinned mischievously. "I never said Tifa, but thanks for confirming it."
It was a testament to how close they'd gotten when he felt heat rush to his cheeks.
"I don't like her like that."
He might have once, but with everything that happened, those feelings never had a chance.
"If you say so. Though I suppose I should be grateful that you're not interested in girls right now. Ma says you're going to be a very handsome man when you grow up, and I agree. So, when you do decide you want to settle down, I'm going to have my hands full chasing the hordes away. I'd prefer to get a little better with my fire materia before then."
"Castalia!"
He couldn't decide whether he was embarrassed, appalled, or amused. He settled on fond exasperation when she broke into peals of laughter. Castalia loved getting all sorts of reactions from him and probably considered it a personal challenge when he resisted. He should have been used to it by now, but she still managed to surprise him sometimes.
His attention turned to her again when her expression shifted.
"You know I love you, right Cloud? Even if I tease you a lot?"
He smiled slightly. "You only tell me every day."
Not that he minded. Every time she said it, he couldn't help but feel happy that he meant so much to her. Castalia probably knew that too, judging by the way her smile softened. She was quick to pull him into a hug and rest her chin on his head.
"Good. I don't want you to ever doubt it."
Her voice was low, almost as if she was speaking to herself, and he frowned a bit at the way her arms tightened around him. Something was off, but he didn't know what it was...She almost sounded...scared? What could she be scared of?
"...Cass? You okay?"
She pulled away and smiled, but it was still wrong. "'M fine, Chicky. It's just me being silly is all. I can't help but worry about you sometimes, y'know?"
He did know. Well, maybe they weren't considering the same dangers, but that didn't mean that their desire to keep each other safe was any less than the other.
"You don't have to worry. I can look after myself."
That didn't cheer her up at all. In fact, her expression actually seemed to become a little...resigned. "I know."
Worry began to stir within him. Castalia wasn't one to get into this sort of mood, and he quickly decided that he didn't like seeing her like that at all.
As if sensing this, she sighed and hugged him again. "Sorry, Cloud. I've been thinking a lot too. I guess a part of me just doesn't want to admit you're growing up."
So that was it. She was just coming to terms with the fact that he didn't need her to "protect" him anymore.
A strange mix of relief and sadness spread through him. While he knew that he'd never really needed her to look after him in the first place, he couldn't help but recall memories of before he'd arrived- the feelings of awe as his "Sissy" stood up for him and defended him from the other boys, and the fierce joy that came from knowing that she would always stand up to them because she could do anything and she was his sister and she cared-
His eyes stung, and his throat felt tight, but he didn't pay that any mind as he hugged her back.
"...Love you, Cloud."
Even if he ended up fighting Sephiroth for the rest of his life, coming back was worth it for this.
"Love you too."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
It had been coming for some time, he supposed.
"Vincent?...Is something wrong?"
He heard the question, but he remained silent as he considered how to broach the subject.
As she usually did, Castalia had made her way over to the mansion shortly after having lunch with her family. She'd seemed a little subdued, but she'd quickly assured him that it wasn't anything serious. Since nothing of high note had happened in the past few days, he had left it alone.
"I'm sorry if it's no good. Ma's been making some weird stuff because of her cravings, so Da and I've been cooking instead."
Instead, his mind had been preoccupied with another matter. While he had grown fond of Castalia, he could no longer put off the fact that there were too many things that didn't make sense. Little things that might not catch attention on their own, but together...
"Cloud thinks that the cooking should be left just to me, though, since Da's kind of comes out weird too. He-...he was the one that made lunch today..."
She was hiding something. Something important.
"...Vin?"
"...What are you keeping from me?"
He felt like sighing in resignation when she stiffened. For a long time, she stared at him, eyes wide in surprise before they filled with panic, then sadness and...guilt.
"I guess it was silly of me to think you wouldn't notice anything," she confessed in a near whisper. "But...I wanted to keep it a secret for just a little longer. Even after you went into detail about-...about Hojo's experiments and what Ms. Crescent did to save you."
Her eyes watered. "I knew that I should have told you, if no one else, but...But it's just so crazy that I was scared you wouldn't believe me. Or that if you did, you wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. I don't have a lot of friends, Vincent. Not like you. So...I kept putting it off. I'm sorry."
He had to admit that he was a bit curious. What could she be hiding that would make her think these things? However, as much as he wanted to, now wasn't the time to indulge his curiosities. Whatever she was hiding, it was causing her distress.
"...Do you trust me, Castalia?"
"Always."
No hesitation. He had to smile a bit at that.
"Then trust me when I say that I will not abandon you."
His eyes softened when his words seemed to have a profound effect. Did his friendship truly mean so much to her?
"...Thank you, Vincent."
"...Will you tell me?"
She hesitated, but when she met his gaze, she nodded slowly and took a shuddering breath.
"I-I...I had another life, once."
He couldn't stop himself from frowning slightly in confusion, but he remained silent as she ran a hand through her hair and continued.
"It's been so long that my memories of it are starting to feel like a dream, but there are parts of it that I try to remind myself of every day. Like my family."
"The merchants?"
She shook her head. "Not them. I never really knew them."
There was a moment of silence as she seemed to struggle with something. Finally, she sighed, and he saw a flash of anxiousness and resignation in her eyes before she looked away.
"It was a different family...A different world."
World?
"What do you mean?"
He was startled at the slightly hysterical laugh that escaped her. "I mean a world that's not Gaia. Can you imagine how confused I was to suddenly wake up in a world that I didn't think was real? To realize that I was a kid again when the last thing I remembered was being an adult?" She buried her face into her hands. "I thought I was going crazy. Sometimes, I still wonder..."
He pushed down his mounting concern- and disbelief -in order to carefully think over what he'd just been told. There was a very high probability that Castalia was suffering from some sort of mental instability (a result of whatever had caused the destruction of the merchant caravan?), but he would prefer to leave that as the final option. He wasn't going to make any sort of decision until he knew everything.
"What was that world called?"
Her head jerked up, and he couldn't fault her for the suspicion that colored her features (it was hard to believe no matter how one looked at it, and she knew that), but he remained firm. Slowly, she relaxed, and he knew he'd made the right decision in hearing her out when she gave him a tiny, yet painfully hopeful smile before answering the question.
An hour later, and his thoughts were reeling.
As impossible as it seemed (hislifeandthoughtsandfeelingsandeverythingaboutthisworldwasjustagame?), it made all the little discrepancies he'd noticed click together with a frightening amount of sense.
She'd known.
From the moment they'd met, she'd known who he was and what he'd gone through. As that disconcerting realization sunk in, he felt a jolt as it brought forth another question.
...Had that been the reason she'd befriended him? Had she truly cared about him at all, or had everything just been in the interest of meeting a "character" that she liked?
...No.
Whatever her circumstances might have been, he knew she had accepted that her life here was as real as the one she'd had before. That the people here were real. Perhaps they may not have existed in that sense on this "Earth," but who was to say that the man who'd "created" their world hadn't just glimpsed it somehow and credited it to his own imagination?
"Please say something, Vincent."
She wouldn't look so terrified if she didn't care.
She wouldn't fret when Cloud got hurt and vent her worries about protecting him (which had a whole new meaning to them now) even when it was just something minor.
She wouldn't smile so brightly when talking about the new baby or how her father was driving her mother crazy by being overprotective.
She wouldn't sound so fond, yet exasperated when regaling him with the Lockheart girl's latest bout of mischief.
...She wouldn't be crying big, heaving, heartbroken sobs like she was now because his silence had dragged on for far too long and she'd gotten the wrong idea.
"Foolish girl," he murmured as he sat beside her to pull her close. "How could I not believe you when you've given me no reason to do so?"
He wasn't at all surprised when she cried harder.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
"Cloud?"
Cloud blinked and turned from the book he'd been reading to see Matt standing in the doorway.
"Yeah?"
The man seemed to consider something before sighing, walking over to his bed and sitting down. "I know it's a bit late, but...how do you feel about the baby?"
He stared at him in confusion. "...Feel?"
Matt fidgeted and rubbed the back of his neck. "You know...since I'm your step-da."
Oh...
He snorted.
"I'm serious."
Cloud smiled slightly, both amused that he was asking at all and touched at his consideration. "I know."
There was a brief silence.
"...So?"
"So what?"
"Cloud."
Oh, Castalia was definitely rubbing off on him. He was starting to enjoy teasing people. Matt had probably been honestly worried about this though, so it was time to put him at ease.
"I'm fine with it, Da."
"Really?"
"Mhmm."
"You're not mad or upset or anything?"
He almost snorted again. As it was, a slight snicker did escape. "No, Da. I'm happy about it. Really."
He was a little worried, to be honest. This was a big step away from the past that he'd known and he wasn't sure what it would change, if anything, but he truly was happy about it. How could he be upset when he saw how happy it made his mother?
"I just wanted to be sure..."
Which already put him above countless other men who didn't take children into account.
"Okay," and just because he couldn't resist, "Feel better?"
Now Matt snorted. "I shouldn't have worried, huh?"
"Nope...but thanks anyway."
Matt smiled and ruffled his hair, which brought forth a halfhearted protest. Normally, he didn't like people doing that, but he supposed he could let it slide this time.
"Night, Cloud."
"Night, Da."
Cloud lay back down when he left and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, lost in thought. Finally, he smiled and placed his book on his nightstand before turning off the light.
Soon, he would wake Vincent. That would mark the end of these peaceful times and the beginning of the hard ones, but for now...
For now, he would relish the time he had.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo ~Chapter End
Oh my gosh. Five in the morning and I finally finished this chapter. See, this is why inspiration can be a bad thing. I need sleep, dang it!
Anyway, as you can see, there was a bit of a time skip. Two years, in fact. That places Cassie at fifteen and Cloud at eleven. A lot of stuff is starting to change, and yet none of it is canon related. Cloud has learned to relax a bit and is currently enjoying his second childhood, while Castalia is starting to tread away from those innocent times.
Honestly, I hadn't been planning on having Vincent find out so soon, but darn if he didn't get away from me and decide on his own. I figure it's still acceptable, though. At this point in time, they would have known each other for five years now, and it wasn't the sort of "see you once every other month" sort of knowing that the canon characters had with him. She visits him almost every day, so they're closer.
I hope I pulled it off okay. Let me know if I didn't, okay? I will seriously go back and edit this if it came out bad.
So...I'm going to go get at least thirty minutes of sleepy time before someone wakes me up. Sorry that I haven't replied to some of your reviews, but I promise I'll get to it. I hope you enjoyed it. Take care and until next time everyone.
P.S.
I would love you guys forever if someone made me some fan art. I've always wanted for someone to like my stories so much that they have to draw something from it. You don't have to, but…if you do make something, let me know.
[Edited on 4/23/20]
Major changes:
I had Tifa at eleven here, when she should have been nine. Although, now that her official birthday has been released, she's actually ten now (jeez, I was all over the place with her age in this chapter, wasn't I?).
The process for making a phoenix down has been slightly altered.
Minor changes:
Some spelling error correction and sentence rearrangement.
