OWAN: Updated… now let me sleep!
Chapter 29 "I Wanna Know Why History Repeats"
Alex looked at Vincent and smiled as they sat around waiting for the others to come back. "You know, there's a precedent to this kind of thing." Vincent shrugged, glad to have shade to recline in. "Yeah I know, you already told me the story about Barghest." Alex gave Vincent a light kick in the chest, granted in Get of Fenris this was the equivalent of a laughing slap on the back.
"Do you think I'm in the habit of repeating myself? I mean the story goes farther then that. I take it you know that your Vlad Tepes never actually existed?" Vincent, who was picking up on the "body language" of Garou pretty well, stood up and punched Alex's chest with his right hand. "Of course I know that Vlad Tepes didn't exist. Granted knowing you as I do, your going to tell me where the story originally came from, right?" "Right."
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(A very long time ago)
There is no word in Cetra for 'castle'. The closest you might come was "great home", but that was because castles were a thing of Jenova. They were built to control and command everything around them instead of coexisting with it. And in the tallest tower of this castle a woman sat drinking a crimson liquid from a jewel encrusted chalice. The castle was a surrounded by a great verity of bodies that hung limply from great sticks that came to metal points, many of them silver.
As the woman sipped her drink, a flood of black shadows entered the room. She casually looked at the mass of shadows from which a pair of red eyes emerged and offered her guest a drink from her cup. "This is hardly in keeping. I would have expected you to come in claws swinging swatting my servants left and right." The shadows finally came fully together, and turned into a man. He had shoulder-length white hair, and he was wearing midnight black which contrasted strongly with the woman's brilliant white clothing.
Of course the woman's hair contrasted with her outfit the same way the man's did his, it was jet black except for a single streak of white parting it. "I saw no reason to slay a swarm of pathetic flies just because they were caught in a spider's web. If I wanted to do something I would crush the spider between my claws, like this." As the man spoke his fingernails lengthened into claws for a moment before retracting back. The woman evidently suspected that her guest wasn't interested in a drink, so she just took another sip from it.
"Yes, its been made quite clear to me from various difference sources that you don't survive having Barghest pay you a visit, even if you are dead to start with. You also aren't the type to give someone a five minute head start. So what did you come here for? Oh and do you mind if I call in Rofrud and the others?" The man known as Barghest didn't comment one way or another, so the woman just snapped her fingers. Three masses of shadows flowed into the room and took the form of three men.
The one closest to the woman was also the youngest, he was a red head, and he looked at the man with open awe. "Wow it's Barghest! I'm gonna get killed by a master, do me, do me!" Barghest's eyebrows ever so slowly rose upward. "Varda, I've forced a few of Jenova's best to tell me about you. But though I've heard several voices screaming in pain tell me you seek odd companions, none of them managed to prepare me for this." Varda gave a whistle and a man dressed in black and white walked in carrying a tray with four more jewel encrusted chalices.
"You'll have to forgive Rofrud in general and me in particular for not bringing you a drink. I know you do, but somehow I doubt you'd come to meet on anything less than a full stomach. Anyway, Rofrud used to be human, as opposed to my other two mates, so he's bound to be exocentric. Granted, when you can exist for as long as I, sorry as long we can, you come to value those who can surprise you in any way. That's his job after all. Three husbands, one for entertainment, one for stability and advice, and one for… other kinds of entertainment. You should try it some time. But then, you wolves and Cetra are hopelessly focused on monogamy. So, what did you come for?"
Varda gestured toward a piece of furniture obviously made from the body of some kind of animal, which Barghest seated himself on. "It's well known that you decided to betray the Wyrm, that and she has regretted her attempts to make you change your position. Mainly because of your… 'humans', was it you said? You realize that they're an affront to Gaia in every sense of the word?" The servant who had brought the tray made a quick and surreptitious exit from the room after giving his mistress her new drink.
"Rofrud, you're going to have to put your re-death wish on hold. It looks like our friend has come to talk of hunting others. Now forgive me, Barghest, but it seems like everything on this planet is an affront to Gaia except you. Besides, it's not like I took a bunch of dirt and gave it life, or ripped a rib out of somebody's chest and somehow turned it into a being. You see, my humans are the equivalent of domesticated Cetra. I inbred them for optimal performance in various areas. Speed of reaching full maturity, intelligence that lets them follow my orders and understand why they should."
"Because you'll kill them otherwise?" Varda nodded approvingly. "As I said, the necessary intelligence. So what did you come here for?" "The Cetra are dieing." "Boo freaking hoo. You're going to pause for a moment so that I can drink enough blood to cry my tears. Why should I give a fang what happens to you Cetra? That's why I left that pathetic continent, the entire war was nothing but foolishness."
Barghest stood up, walked over to Varda and picked her up by the throat in the space of a heartbeat, had anyone in the room had one. "You know, it's not too late for me to kill you." Varda's voice was slightly strained by her position. "You make a very good point." Following a brief tearing sound, Barghest dropped Varda and turned around. There was small wound on his back and a slash in his clothing. Rofrud looked up at Barghest and smiled apologetically before looking down at the pointed tips his hands currently ended in as if he hadn't meant to use them. "Umm, Varda, it's starting to look a lot like I won't have to put my demise on hold."
Barghest picked up Rofrud by the ruff of his red coat. "You know that was a very honerable thing you did, defending your mate. But after my death, I've come to realize, that honor isn't everything." Barghest threw Rofrud through the nearest wall, sending vampire and stone alike showering into the hallway. Barghest turned back to Varda and continued speaking. "You and I both know what will happen if Jenova wins."
Varda rubbed her neck and then nodded. "She's told me. We move from planet to planet and destroy everything. At least she does, but that's foolish of her. This world offers so many pleasures for us, this is such a grand game, why should we seek to end it?" Barghest shrugged as he looked at the red chalices. "We are unlikely to reach a compromise on that issue. However, soon the Cetra will be unable to face Jenova. Our only hope to defeat Jenova is for us to face her together."
Varda eyed Barghest carefully. "Then what? Without Jenova, what prevents you from ending me?" Barghest helped Rofrud back up and dusted him off, removing a few pieces of brick that had landed on him. "I'm a Garou: my word is my bond." All of them knew where that was going. "Of course, I'm not about to say that you can stay here. You and your humans are not going to draw one more breath or drink one more sip of blood on Gaia. But the Cetra have enough magic to send you to another planet, and I'm sure that you'll be able to screw that world over like a bitch in heat, and you can take all of your husbands with you." Varda crossed her legs sitting on nothing.
"You need me more than I need you. I can always go back to Jenova, you can't. So instead you me and my husbands go some place, and we look after each other. My humans stay. No vampires will be left on this planet, but I didn't bring my humans here from the Northern Continent just so that they could get uprooted again. I'm not changing my mind. Make your choice." Barghest made it.
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Jenova looked down on Varda and smiled as much as she could. "A most excellent gift, my child. You have come back into your mother's good graces, this white wolf has caused a great many problems for me. Your humans also show much promise." The white wolf in question was impaled on four separate sticks, one held by Varda and each of her husbands. Varda looked at Jenova and smiled.
"Actually about that, well mom it's like this. We've had a rocky history, what with you making me and my race just to serve as wolfhounds. Mother, did it ever cross your mind that if you want a wolfhound you should breed for something with the right amount of intelligence to hunt wolves and not a hair more? Because to be quite frank I'm through with you. After all, you don't even know that when we die we turn to dust."
A large pair of red eyes suddenly opened and looked right into Jenova's face. Varda gave a sharp tug as did her husbands, the sticks did a lot of damage tearing back through Barghest's flanks as they were yanked free, but Barghest had a vampire's and a Garou's' ability to regenerate. He had spent an hour impaled on those sticks that came to silver points (Varda with her intricate knowledge of what was inside a body (obtained by ripping it out slowly) had made sure that the sticks went through the lungs and other useless organs, and the wounds vanished almost instantly.
"Hello Jormangundr, my name is Fenris." Varda and her husbands twirled their pikes and drove them right through Jenova before she even knew what was happening. Barghest hit Jenova like a felled tree hits an unlucky squirrel beneath it. Her head was ripped clean from her body which sprayed green liquid into the sky. Varda ran a hand through the liquid and then smiled to herself as she licked her hands. She stumbled for a moment, and Rofurd caught her but she straightened up quickly. "Nothing to worry about dear, just a power rush. You boys take some of her blood as well, makes Garou blood taste like chocobo piss, no offence Barghest. Now then, mother..."
Varda picked Jenova's head up off the ground and smiled at her while Jenova just looked back and somehow managed to speak. "Varda how could you?" Varda casually tossed Jenova's head into the air before catching it again with her other hand. "I told you that I'd be getting back to my family today, didn't I? Vampires have been around for less than a century, Cetra have existed longer than even you could count.
Thus, from the view point of history, I have infinitely more in common with Barghest then with you, so like I said, I'm getting back to my roots. Who knows how I might have turned out if I hadn't been a vampire? I might have been a Garou, I do rather like the way the Black Furies look at life. What gives you a right to call me your child? Even as we speak a treachery that I know would impress even your mind is destroying you.
You gathered your vampires in one place to celebrate my return, and now Barghest's four legged friends are just about to fall on them. Of 'about to' are the key words, because my humans have a great aptitude for fire, and your vampires are hiding in a forest. All that the Garou have to do is pick off those ones who manage to somehow get out, which won't be many. You can't get past a solid ring of fire in shadows or by flying, not when the forest over you is burning also.
As the forest burns, well it'll be sunrise in an hour, and all my 'kin' with no shade, even you can figure it out, because that's what you have to offer us Jenova, burning. Oh yes there's power, but you don't offer that to us, we can take it, just like I did, just like my husbands will.
You can take your Great Journey, your Blessed Mission, and The Burden Of Being A Superior Being, and shove them down your throat. I've got a new phrase for you "Manifest Destiny" and I have other ideas about what vampires should be, and they don't involve being your lapdogs. Because if you wanted us to be your hunting dogs you should have bred with just that much intelligence and not a wisker more, but you didn't, so here we are." All you can offer us is to turn this world into a funeral pyre like you have to so many more. Why? What the hell did the universe do to you?
From where I stand, you're nothing but a child, a young pup tearing up everything it can reach. Well in my castle, mindless animals who misbehave are punished. That's what I want, and that's what the Cetra can give me, a castle, order, rules, and of course me at the top. Now granted because I'm at the top I don't actually punish animals, I have other's for that. Barghest I believe you would like to finish this?" Varda threw Jenova to Barghest who caught her gladly. "STOP!"
Barghest looked up at the group of Cetra who had emerged from their hiding places once Jenova had been dealt with. "What in the name of Fenris do you want?" The man who had given the command was just an ordinary Cetra, not even Garou. "It is never right to extinguish a defenseless flame of life." Jenova's head tried to leap from Barghest's hands, but he held on tight. "Really? You call this defenseless? You would not end the life of one who has killed so many of your and my kin? What do you suggest we do then? Let this serpent reassemble herself?"
The Cetra was far too self assured for Barghest's liking. "We'll bury her in ice where she will never again be able to do any harm." Barghest tossed Jenova's head to the Cetra and snorted, shifting back to his Cetra shape. "Fine. Indeed, this is a day for realizations. I have suddenly discovered that I prefer the company of my natural enemies to that of my own kind. At least they understand responsibility.
Varda, let us go find a better den. Maybe a planet that is populated by beasts of every conceivable type that all want to kill us. Then we can go around slaying them without an ounce of hesitation. It's better than this world filled with beautiful monsters and idiots." Before the Cetra could make any kind of rebuke, the four vampires and Barghest vanished into black shadows which suddenly turned into bright silver light as five beings rode the Lifestream out to a new world.
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"And that's how the Wyrm was defeated, if not destroyed. Due to our combined skills and your race's natural tendency towards treachery the battle was won, and due to mines towards empathy the war was lost." "We won't take half measures this time." "Damn straight." "Just one problem. Look up."
Vincent Valentine and Alexander Diamondclaw looked up at death. Both of them faced their imminent demise with much less hesitation then most people would have. Granted, Vincent and Alexander were by no means human. Alex was a Get of Fenris, his long natural lifespan had in no way made him uncomfortable with death. Bred by many generations of Get of Fenris and wild wolves, Alex was a culmination of the Planet's ability to defend itself just as much as the thing he now faced.
Vincent Valentine had been a Turk, and day after day he had washed the blood of those who's only crime was getting on Shinra's bad side from his hands. Metaphorically at least, because Vincent had always worn gloves and most of his killing was from long range. This had been improved upon by his transformation to a vampire, because he was now already dead. He had already looked death in the eye, and death had blinked. Whatever happened next would happen next, but he awaited it calmly. "Know anything that will work against something that big?" /Against a WEAPON that also has Gaia's blessings? Not really.\ "Me either."
Vincent checked his guns, though he already knew that both were loaded and perfectly ready. Though the "bloody euphoria" had worn off from when he had drunken Alex's blood back in Junon, he was still in his younger state and close to the peak of his superhuman abilities, which he knew he would need all of. The thing was huge, and it was clearly a WEAPON , nothing like this could be purely natural. It was not as big as the Valar, but it could have matched the size of smaller airships, or swatted helicopters from the sky with ease. It was attacking the town of Mideel for reasons that any sane person could only guess at.
If it wanted to destroy human life and mako consumption it should have gone to Midgar rather than come here. But it was here, and there was nothing else to do about it. So the vampire and the werewolf stood their ground waiting for it to happen. The huge monster landed, hurled it's body against a rather insignificant building, completely obliterating it. Vincent and Alex rushed around behind the thing, and both of them hurled insults in tandem. /Over sized flying lizard! Your services are no longer needed, Gaia has the Get of Fenris to protect her!\ "Hey you! I'm going to use your skin to make me a new pair of boots! Then I'm going toss your head in front of Jenova as a gift before I kill her too! What chance do you have against her if you can't beat me?"
It was suicide and they both knew it. But they also both knew that they had to do anything they could to keep the WEAPON away from the hospital, away from Sephiroth and Aeris. The monster roared in rage as it turned around, apparently quite able to understand the heckling it was the receiving. It began to beat its wings again, not trying to lift its body up off the ground, but creating a mini hurricane around it by kicking up the air.
The buildings were fine, but Vincent and Alex were both thrown backwards by the winds. Both of them slammed up against the walls of a building like flies on a windshield, except with one key difference. /That is all the power you possess? Taste the wrath of Fenris!\ Before Alex even hit the ground he was shifting to his Crinos form, but even that 10 foot tall monster seemed small next to the WEAPON. Vincent didn't get up, but then he didn't fall either, he just stayed where he was, hanging in mid air and started shooting. He emptied Quicksilver's entire clip into the WEAPON, even if such things were less then fleabites.
They were nowhere near even being close to critical shots, they were nowhere near even hurting it, but it made Vincent feel better. Even as he did that, Alex reached the monster. He tore a chunk out of the monster's back leg, and the WEAPON screamed it pain. It kicked at Alex and slapped him with its wings.
Alex was close to half a ton of muscle and bone, and even taking a blow from the things back leg wasn't so bad. It tossed him away like a toy, but nothing broke. The moment he landed he snarled in defiance. Vincent finally dropped to the ground, and thumbed Quicksilver's release button. The empty clip shot out of the gun, as Vincent stood back up. He didn't reach for a new clip, the new clip came to him.
It flew out of one of his pocket and into his gun, all Vincent had to do was chamber it. He did that by grabbing the gun with his fangs to balance it and pulling it back. The WEAPON, however, was turning its attention to Vincent now that Alex was out of the picture for a moment. It looked at him and beams of intense light shot out of its eyes straight for Vincent. Vincent barely managed to dodge them by throwing himself flat on the ground again.
Those beams of light were hot enough to make most people's skins crack like dried paper, Vincent didn't want to think what they would have done to him. Lying prone, Vincent started shooting again. This time instead of the monster's side he got its face. None of the shots hit the thing's eyes, but these ones at least apparently pissed the WEAPON off even more. It stepped forward, and knocked Vincent aside with a swing of its neck.
Vincent went flying again, but had the presence of mind to turn into shadow before he hit a wall. Alex had managed to collect himself and get back in the fight so the WEAPON did not remain unoccupied for long. This time he was not simply nipping at the thing's heels, Alex was attacking it like he would a much larger chocobo. You had to get close to the thing's neck and crush it, that was how you killed something this big!
The WEAPONS wings, however, proved a great deterrence. They slapped around, beating at Alex with every flap. Quickly Alex realized getting close to the thing's neck was impossible, so he went for the next target. He began to tear at the thing's wings with every chance he got. Claw and bite marks soon peppered the thing's wings, as did bullet holes as Vincent opened up with third clip of bullets from Quicksilver and five bullets from Casull. The WEAPON rolled over, tossing Alex off of it, and beating its wings as it began to lift itself off. As it rose above the small town Vincent and Alex exchanged looks. "It's pissed." /Truly enraged.\ "Now or never."
Vincent dropped Quicksilver and used his right hand to reach into his clothing. He pulled out a very special black grenade, or at least it looked like a black grenade. He tossed it into the air before the monster had a chance to attack either of them. As the grenade spiraled up to its maximum height, Vincent clenched his fist. The grenade "exploded" though not in the normal sense of the word.
The grenade was composed entirely of shadow and blood, like most of his clothing. A shower of red mist covered the WEAPON. Vincent's "grenade" had the intended effect. If his blood reacted badly to Lifestream and mako, then the reverse must have been true as well.
In a few seconds the hypothesis was proven correct, the monster roared and thrashed in pain as Vincent's blood attacked the thing's skin like acid. It screamed, bellowed, and then it plummeted like a stone. Sadly it didn't have the decency to die quietly and peacefully, it slammed into the ground and broke through it. Alex and Vincent did the only thing they could at this point. They ran.
Alex shifted back to his full lupine form, quickly. Every single person in the town of Mideel heard a voice suddenly shout through their minds. /IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, FLEE!\ Most of them did, and it was a good thing they did. The huge hole left by the WEAPON began to bubble over. Lifestream burst out of it as the WEAPON's body pushed it up forming a bubble that had to pop. Inside minutes almost the entire city of Mideel had been consumed by the Lifestream.
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Most people fled, but two people didn't. One because he couldn't, the other because she didn't want to. Aeris stayed with Sephiroth even as Alex's warning thundered through her mind. It happened quickly, which was one of the few good things about it. The hospital was near the spot where the WEAPON had landed, and thus a huge quantity of Lifestream surged over it. The green wave washed over both her and Sephiroth, pulling them under.
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/Damn!\ Vincent wasn't able to decipher what Alex said next. Not because his universal telepathy was suddenly failing, just that Vincent didn't know the meanings of the words Alex was using. The general gist of it was quite clear, however. Alex apparently was even better than Vincent in this area of "human" behavior. To judge from the sheer ferocity behind them and the quantity of words Alex was telepathically shrieking in Vincent's mind, he clearly knew how to swear a streak every color of the rainbow. /We've lost them.\
Alex finally managed to get himself back under control, and looked down at the hole before them with anger and contempt. The large opening bubbled with green Lifestream, but as Vincent looked down at it, but he knew something Alex didn't. Every light casts a shadow, and looking down at the ready supply of all the Lifestream he could ever need, Vincent knew he was now standing in the shade.
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Aeris suddenly found that she was a wolf. She didn't remembering transforming, and wondered if it had been some kind of internal defense mechanism, like the last time she had almost been killed. "Don't bother asking yourself why you look the way you do, there's no way to change it." Aeris turned around (performing it rather awkwardly as she wasn't used to walking on four legs) and found herself face to face (or face to legs given the difference in height) with Sephiroth.
If the difference between Sephiroth's appearance now and the way he normally looked weren't as stark as with Aeris, they were no less significant. Sephiroth was no longer dressed in his military outfit, instead he had on a simple black t-shirt and black sweatpants. Aeris' eyes were hopelessly drawn to Sephiroth's right hand, since Sephiroth didn't have his gloves on the "S" tattooed present on the back of his hand was all too obvious. As if noticing where Aeris was looking (not a hard feat considering her lupine body structure) he whipped his wrist around to hide that mark from view.
"You could have been 'A'; your mother was 'I', you know." No other words were needed temporarily, both Aeris and Sephiroth had already had this discussion. However odd it was, Sephiroth knew more about the two people who had been Aeris' real parents then Aeris did. Desperately seeking something besides Sephiroth's branding to focus on, Aeris quickly hit on her own problem. "Where are we?"
It wasn't telepathy the way Alex was able to communicate while in wolf form, because Aeris could hear her words reverberate in her own ears. It was as if somehow she was still able to speak in her normal voice regardless of what shape she was in. Sephiroth looked left and right as if there was any possible break in the giant swirling blackness which surrounded them. "We're in the Lifestream." Aeris probably displayed fear in one of the countless ways that made wolf body language so much more intricate and well defined than its human equivalent.
That had been one of those things Alex was suppose to teach her to control now that she could finally shift just by thinking about it. Not that it mattered in this situation, Sephiroth might practice body language that said nothing but he was a master of reading it. "We aren't dead. We're just literally in the Lifestream." Aeris relaxed visibly. "So what are we doing here?"
Sephiroth shrugged and sat down so that he could bring his eyes level with Aeris'. "Nothing in particular. It's the same thing I've been doing for the past, must be around 24 to 48 hours now. My internal clock is normally very accurate but something about this place distorts it. I've mostly been talking with the planet, if you can call a one sided conversation 'talking'."
"The others are going to be worried about us." Sephiroth shrugged and for one of the few times in his life, there was a sense of helplessness about him. "We'll get out when we get out. The Lifestream can't stand having actual bodies in it, so sooner or later we'll be kicked out." "A lot of good that will do us if we get kicked out like you were before."
Sephiroth shook his head sadly and looked down at the ground. "That was a mistake. The Lifestream is lower then it should be, so I got kicked out ahead of time. When you saw us fall in North Crater, Jenova somehow rescued Strife but I went into the Lifestream itself. The huge mako crystal you found around me works like a chrysalis does on a caterpillar, I will be able to break it when I am ready to leave." Aeris felt fear in her heart for a moment. "When will that be, Sephiroth? Meteor is in the sky, we need your help if we're going to think of any way to defeat Jenova!"
Sephiroth clenched both his hands into fists, and the black mark on his right hand was once again blatantly obvious. "That is exactly the point! I was useless against Jenova no matter how good a leader I was! That's why I'm here." Sephiroth's fist slowly unfurled as he looked out into the darkness. "Like I said, I've been having a conversation with the Planet. Or to be more exact, I've been watching. The Lifestream stores souls, and also stores the history of souls, even souls that aren't in it at the moment." The significance of what Sephiroth said hit Aeris instantly. "You've been looking over your own life."
Sephiroth laughed self-consciously, that was a new action for him as well. "I tried to. After a while it gets too painful to keep going. Watching all the different ways your own life can turn, all the different people you can kill and do worse things to." "So you stopped?" Sephiroth waved the question aside. "No, I knew the answer was in here somewhere, but I needed to look at something less painful. So I started to look at all the different lives of James and Mirri." Sephiroth began to laugh again, a sound born more of frustration then anything else.
"Most people have different destinies, like light refracted through a prism to make a rainbow. No person is by nature ever meant to be with someone else, we can choose our own path in the world. Destiny can be anything, people you love in one life can be people you kill in another. Except for James and Mirri. Watch." As Sephiroth spoke, the blackness seemed to shimmer. In its place, images began to play themselves out, accompanied by what Aeris spontaneously dubbed "Astral Subtitles".
"Little Zeek, you got big, I mean old, but, in a good way!" Sephiroth waved his hand and the images and sounds vanished into the blackness. Sephiroth turned his attention from where the images had been to looking at Aeris. "They're all like that. I can't say that James and Mirri are being controlled by destiny, it's more like they can control destiny. James and Mirri manipulate destiny whenever they show up, they always find a way to each other. They're like magnets, they attract, each other at every turn, and nothing that tries to get between them matters. Just watch them..."
"Kill them all, don't let any escape from this island. Dye with crimson the white clothes of all warriors with silver weapons. Dye with vermilion all the black clothes of all the warriors with iron weapons. Dye with red the color of their own blood all the clothes of our enemies. Kill all the enemies you see! Kill every single one!" "As you wish, my master."
"That's James?" "That's James." "Hard to tell." "Grow up, have your father and oldest brother killed while your being held hostage, get released, have to kill your younger brother because he fights for the people who held you hostage and killed the rest of your family, it would drive anyone loopy. James is even worse because he doesn't take well to seeing those he cares about in pain regardless of how well he resists attacks directed against himself."
"Is that your smallest needle? I DID IT I TOOK THE LINBURG BABY, I AM JOSEPH MENGELA!"
"Okay, he doesn't have a high pain tolerance, but he bounces back from it quickly."
"It's not going to be an orgy, it's a toga party." "Honestly, you're 21 years old, and tomorrow you're going to wrap yourself up in a bedsheet and pour grain alcohol all over your head. It's cute but I think I'll pass this time." "You want me to go alone?" "Baby, I'd prefer you didn't go at all." "It's a fraternity party, I'm in the fraternity, how can I miss it?" "I'll write you a note, I'll say you're too well to attend."
"This one depicts what our lives would be like if we were Turks." "How so?" "We spend all day getting drunk and figuring out how to screw with the system."
"I'll always be there to protect my Misaki!"
"Notice that at this point she has to take the gun from him." "I saw.'
"To the everlasting glory of the infantry."
"James is doing that?" "Yeah, he has a bad habit of being like a diamond, the more pressure you put on him the better he comes out."
"It had none of the normal connotations of 'women attacked in an alley' it was more like 'lioness beset upon by hyenas.'"
"Not much of a wizard if he grew your hair back all tangled like that."
"Permission to leave the ship Sir." "Why" "I want to give the Covenant back their bomb." "Granted" "You realize this is crazy right?" "Yes." "Unluckily for both of us, I like crazy."
"Miss me?" "Not at this range."
"Sir, you know Angua, she's not the type to stand around screaming and doing nothing. She makes other people do that."
"This world is made, OF LOVE & PEACE!"
"I ran out of gas! I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! It wasn't my fault I swear to god!"
"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."
"There's someone I have to protect, and it's not a burden someone forced on me. It's a decision I made for myself and I take full responsibility any time I fire a round. But he's the reason I squeeze the trigger. And I won't ever hesitate to do it till the day he accomplishes his goal.
"Well, our first meeting was a little awkward... You seemed to have trouble forming complete sentences. But, then again, so do most of my citizens."
"Are they all..." "Yes, they're all like that. Do you know why?" Sephiroth stood up as he made that announcement and Aeris shook her head (a gesture slightly more difficult than normal). A strange kind of madness played in Sephiroth's eyes as he spoke. "Because, Aeris, I think I've finally found what it is. Love is about hurting someone till you heal them."
"What do you mean?" Sephiroth immediately sat down again, and put his hands on Aeris' shoulders (as such they were) as he spoke." "That's why James and Mirri keep finding each other. James is never afraid to get hurt. I distinctly remember telling him the following right before we hooked up with Mirri, when he wouldn't stop calling me 'Seph' and I had to train him to only do it behind my back. Ahem... "Listen I don't suffer fools well and in case you can't tell right now your acting like a fool and I'm having trouble suffering it. So stop, stop before you have to write a book called 'help General Sephiroth is choking me to death: the James Firecat Story.'; but he just looked at me with that painfully optimistic smile and didn't say a word, and somehow my gloved hands didn't go round his neck. Unlike me, however, Mirri isn't afraid to hurt him. But, this hurts Aeris, don't try to tell me it doesn't." Sephiroth drew himself as far forward as he could, his eyes would practically been touching Aeris' except that her muzzle kept a modicum of distance apart. "It hurts Sephiroth." "It hurts Aeris. It hurts to be this vulnerable. To be this human." "We can't go back, can we?"
"No." "Then we can only go forward, or stay where we are." "As a commanding officer, I once told my men something when we were under attack. We were pinned down, and slowly being picked off. I told them that we could either die were we lay, or we could get up, keep going and die up there. I planned to die up there then, and my mind hasn't changed since!"
"We have to go forward." "You aren't afraid?" "Aren't you Sephiroth? Aren't you afraid of me?" "Me, afraid of you? Aren't you afraid of me?" "Never mind, Sephiroth." "Yes we have to keep going forward." "Here, like this? While I look… like this?" Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow "Perhaps we should agree on a definition of 'going forward'". If Aeris hadn't been covered in fur, she would have been crimson.
---
The green surface bubbled the moment Vincent dipped the empty jug into it suspend by a rope. He couldn't touch the Lifestream no matter what or risk that he too would be sucked into it. Slowly he lowered the jug completely below the surface, felt it fill and its weight increase, and then began to pull it out.
More then a little Lifestream splashed out as Vincent pulled it up, but that didn't matter. He had already found what he needed in Nibelhiem, and now he had Lifestream. That meant he just had to head to Midgar for the last two ingredients to the mixture. /What are you doing?\ Vincent kept pulling on the rope, and finally he had the jug in his hand. He sealed it, then pounded the top with his claw just to be sure..
Once he had managed to acquire his prize he returned his attention to Alex. "It's a gift for someone I know." /Garou used to carry silver blades for dealing with those of their rank who served Jenova, I take it you are preparing similar weaponry?\ Lifestream bullets? It was an interesting idea, of course, unlike mako, pure Lifestream couldn't be solidified. Still, bullets could be loaded with Lifestream to leak their contents after they hit something.
It wasn't a bad plan, just not Vincent's intended use for the jug. "Something along those lines." Even as Vincent spoke, the mako began to bubble again. Both of them looked at each other and wondered if once again the town of Mideel was about to be swamped with Lifestream. Before either could start running again, the Lifestream erupted.
Two bodies were propelled out of the Lifestream with incredible speed. The larger of the forms hit the ground with a "thud", and the smaller form hit the larger one with an "whumpf" and a muffled "ow". Even with their appearances slightly obscured by the neon green liquid, Vincent recognized them instantly. Both Sephiroth and Aeris took a moment to cough and retch out the last bits of Lifestream they had swallowed before they could fill their lungs with air.
Surprisingly, Aeris managed to form coherent words first. "Let's never do that again." Sephiroth spat out a bit more Lifestream as he managed to nod since he couldn't speak yet. Once he managed to clear his airway he turned to Vincent and Alex. "Nice to see you two, where is the rest of the squad?" /I have no idea alpha, the Ragabash, Glass Walker, Black Fury, and shapeshifter all vanished with their flying machine. Sephiroth spit out some more mako before replying.
"Damn, they're probably doing more damage to wherever they are then whatever the hell has been going on down here. One of you two call them back here so we can plan." "I'll take care of it, Sephiroth." Sephiroth waited until Vincent finished giving directions to whoever was on the other side of the cell phone he was using before he spoke. "Vincent, why did you use my name? That's the first time I've heard you use it." Vincent returned the cellphone to a wandering pocket in his cloak. "I've had something of a revelation." Still on the ground, Aeris smiled up at the other three. "I think we all have, more or less."
FN: For those of you who didn't get it in the Lifestream, Sephiroth was basically showing Aeris a whole bunch of clips from various books, video games, movies, ect, that include character who have what I consider to be a MxJish relationship. Also, at first Sephiroth and Aeris are commenting on them but then they just sit back and watch.
Also, Munchkining, with no disrespect towards Edward Elric and other short (gets tackled by enraged State Alchemist who much like Vern Troyer is extremely powerful regardless of size) people...
Reading my new book "The Munchkin's Guide to Power Gaming (which I need to stop reading certain subjects (like the ones on horror) at night) it ends with a test to see how Munchkiny or over powered your characters are. Let's take a look (from pages 108-109 and 8 and 9)
1 The City blows up how do the players regard this event?
C: A worthwhile investment of explosives.
(Shot of Sephiroth and Mirri wearing sunglasses as Midgar goes up in a mushroom cloud)
Sephiroth: Damn, what did you use?
Mirri: Rude's special recipe. He wouldn't give me any details.
2: What do the characters resemble?
C: God
Sephiroth: You know I'm only going to take so much of this joke?
3 What is your players' preferred backup weapons?
B Something that will drop an enraged rhino at 30 paces.
Vincent: (Holding smoking rifle over his shoulder in classic badass with a shotgun pose as he walks over dead Materia Keeper) That was fun. What's next?
4 The enemy is a Species-style genetically engineered alien hybrid killing machine. How do the players think of her?
C: A cute babe.
Alex: Damn, that's one fine bitch! I'd like to snuggle up to her on a cold night in April!
5 The Heroes are tortured by a master criminal. What do they do?
C: Laugh heroically, tear free, eat the guards and feed the master criminal into his own paper shredder.
Reno: Are you guys done stuffing Hojo into the photocopier? It's that time of year when I celebrate my small raise by mailing the president a photocopy of my arse.
Mirri: Reno since when did you swear with a Corel accent?
Reno: Well I started just to increase my pull concerning you, but then I found out that it's a bloody bit more satisfying then the bulloxed up way we go about it!
6 The city is targeted by orbital strategic defense platforms. How do the players react?
C Go out buy a pair of $50,000 shades and a deck chair and prepare to "catch some rays"
Sephiroth: It's the only way I'm ever going to get a tan.
Mirri: The sacrifices we make.
7 Swords, what do you carry?
C A two handed greatsword that can only be lifted by someone with your superhuman strength, doubles your skill and damage, is totally indestructible, and was bequeathed to you by a god for no good reason.
Sephiroth: And I shall say, if any of you try to use Masamune I'll bash your brains out with my bare hands, understood?
Zack: Yes sir!
8 Handguns: what's the bee's knees?
C A .50 caliber Desert Eagle with laser sighting, custom grip, extended barrel, autofire conversion and hand packed rounds.
Vincent: That's not all. Check this out, the laser sight can be diffused... (small red dot grows larger) and presto, instant night light!
Niro: You're a vampire, what do you need a nightlight for?
Vincent: It's not about if I need those things, its about if I have them.
9 An enemy is fleeing what do you shout?
C: Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Freeze! (Reloads) Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Vincent: Hojo just wouldn't die, so I kept shooting him.
Sephiroth: Do I look like I need an explanation? Personally I'm so happy that he's dead that I could riverdance.
Mirri: Sir… you should never say that.
Sephiroth: Why?
Reno: (Enters with nightshade over his head) Did somebody say riverdance? (Jumps up on table and starts to riverdance)
Mirri: That's why.
Sephiroth: Ah.
10 What is your favorite character
B: Your veteran Soldier who, while crazy has some deep pathos at his core.
Sephiroth: How many of you people actually know the meaning of the word pathos? Who are you to say I'm crazy?
11 In regard to food what are you?
C Carnivore.
Alex: Raw red meat! Just give me a Vlakorados, I'll tear off the parts I really like and ride the rest home!
Reno: Check it out. It's my license to kill, maim, mutilate, damage, demolish, blow up, irradiate , fold, spindle, crash, torture, slaughter and burn. This sucker should me have me covered till Friday.